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"Underweight Christians"
Contributed by
Jim Pennington
February 5, 2007
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In today's world, especially in the United States, the amount of obese and overweight people has become an epidemic. We as a society have evolved into eating machines. With so much food to choose from and seemingly endless supply, too many have made eating an art form. Physical activity is confined to the "wanna-be" athlete. Children don't play outside; they are entranced by television or computer games of all types. The need for self-entertainment no longer exists.
Adults are too busy working, providing all the latest gizmos for their children and themselves. They no longer have time to engage in anything more strenuous than reading the daily newspaper. This also can be done online, eliminating the arduous walk to get the paper. Even then we drive our cars to the end of the driveway to retrieve our mail if we can't get it delivered to our door.
Going outside for any length of time is simply out of the question. It's either too hot, too cold, or it looks like it might rain. Our allergies won't permit us to cut the grass. We'll pay someone else to cut it for us. However, we make sure all lawn work is done while we're away, so the noise doesn't bother us while we're on the phone or surfing the 'Net.
We're consumed with all this "stuff" to make our lives in the flesh more enjoyable, while at the same time we starve ourselves for lack of spiritual food. Why can't we be as passionate and hunger-driven for God's Word as we are the pizza delivered from our neighborhood Giovanni's?
If we were as enthused about our next Bible study session as we are about where we're going to eat our next meal, maybe we could gain some weight in our spiritual body. We are killing ourselves from overeating in our flesh. At the same time we are starving our spiritual body.
Try something for just one day. Time yourself for that day, writing down how much time you spend eating. That night, after you've finished eating, spend the same amount of time reading your Bible and praying. Of course, physical weight won't be affected, but you will soon notice your spiritual body "filling out" and "getting fat."
As Christians we tend to be thin and starving for that eternal nourishment. We should be filling our plates and eating as much as we can while we still have the opportunity to do so. Our eating in the flesh may send us to an early grave, but stuffing our spiritual body will prepare us for an eternity with Jesus. Nourish your body with earthly food, but fill your eternal being with Jesus and see which lasts longer.
So spiritually speaking, eat up, everyone! The food is free and the kitchen is always open. Eat the food of life and get as fat as you wish. Remember what God's Word says in Proverbs 28:25b -- he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat. [KJV]. This of course refers to the spiritual prosperity of the believer, but it is a good point nonetheless!
Amen . . .and pass the Bible, please!
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"Proving the Expanding Universe"
Contributed by Jim Pennington
September 14, 2006
The universe as we have come to know it has suddenly become older and larger than first proven to be. Scientists of the world have spent decades and countless amounts of money proving the universe to be so big and so old. After agreeing to a certain size and age, they had to develop what they call facts to back up their hypotheses.
In other words they had no idea, so the consensus was to set a time and size frame, regardless, then go about making everything else fit into these parameters. All this time and money was spent convincing the science community and the world that they were right. Who could deny it; the smartest scientists in the world had developed a theory and then set about proving it by making up formulas to fit their cause.
Now all of a sudden, it seems the universe is 15% larger and older than they had "proved" it to be. If they had proof, how then could it be any different than what they said before? With this new information, everything in their proof theories are wrong and will have to be adjusted to fit their new findings. More time and more money, but hey, isn’t that proving that the proof they had before was wrong? And what proof will they offer that proving the new data as proof will prove they are right? Well, I’m confused and convinced that the only thing they’ve proven is that they don’t have a clue, and they're proving it.
Do you think they’ll admit to being 15% wrong, or try to convince the world that being 85% right is close enough? I think they will prove their findings with more funding, of course, until the next time more proof is needed to explain why their proof was off.
However, I for one am very glad for them. You see, the more time they spend adjusting their theories and proving they are wrong, they spend the same amount of time and money proving the Bible and the word of God to be right. Imagine all the publicity and debating this will bring about. What better way to spread God’s word than to have the scientific community conveying to the world what Christians already know?
It’s a shame they won’t use the book of documented facts already available to them. This book is proof positive and has never had to be updated or re-proofed. The Bible stands at 100% and unlike all the other theories, God says if you can prove one-word not true then you have proven it all to be false.
Now based on the opposing side's track record, in whose book of facts will you place your faith?. The one proven to be 15% wrong this time, or the one proven to be 100% right every time? Will you risk heaven on an 85% chance someone else’s’ theory is right, or go to hell because they were 15% wrong?
You decide, you make the choice, but I know as every believer knows how the universe came to be, and the proof is written on our heart.
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"Beyond Love"
Contributed by Jim Pennington
August 18, 2006
Do you know someone that has lost a mate? They can’t really explain what their feeling, but to simply say they love them and miss them doesn’t even start to identify their loss.
Two people that have spent a lifetime together form a bond that is only understandable to those that have experienced the same thing. They lost the person that knows them better than anyone else. They raised each other, and raised children together. They suffered when the other one was hurting, feelings were expressed through a touch or a simple smile. Strength was drawn from the other just by their presence.
No one could make you angrier or happier than that person. No one can share what you had, and no one can understand. You can sit and travel back through a lifetime with them. You can go places and do things that no one else has ever seen or done.
The inner most secrets you spent a lifetime protecting. Those things that only you and your mate know about. The only person that knows, the only one you can trust with no limits, the one person that loves you for being you.
The one you don’t have to explain things to, the one that forgives without you asking. The one person that is with you not because they have to but one that is with you because that is where they want to be.
It’s not the kind of love you have for your parents or your children. It’s the kind of love that goes beyond explanation or understanding. It’s the kind of love that will bring you together in eternity. It’s the kind of love that will bring them to greet you when it’s your time to go. They took so much of you with them that you don’t recognize who is left. What will this person do, what do they like, where do they want to go?
So many questions to ask and the only person to answer is a stranger. Everything has been built around the two of you, friends recognize you as a couple. So much is lost and you feel that so little is left. Advice and direction seem so unimportant and meaningless now, time is the only thing that will ease the pain and time will allow you to discover who was left behind.
We can’t feel your pain or measure your loss but we can love and comfort you and let you know we do realize your loss even if we can’t completely understand it. Relish the thought that no one can ever have what you had with him or her, it is yours and yours alone.
When next you see your mother or father in a far away place with the special look in their eyes. Let them visit for a time, tell them to say hi to mom or dad or say nothing at all.
They must make visits with their mind in order to survive in a world without them. The comfort that is received is known only to them, death cannot erase a lifetime of memories and life will not let us forget. But life through Jesus Christ will bring us together once again so that we may laugh and be young forever, with someone that knows us like no other.
For all those that have lost that special someone, God bless you and keep you until such a time you are once again reunited with your hearts desire.
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"The Importance of Reading the Bible"
Contributed by Angela Pennington
August 16, 2006
My first realization on the importance of reading the Bible occurred to me about two years ago when I was attending a church in the Kansas City area. I started attending services because that was where my brother and sister-in-law had been attending for quite some time. Within a few months I had developed friendships and had participated in different functions within the church. I loved it. It was awesome to me also to see how fast the church seemed to be growing with each passing week.
After about eight months that I had been attending this church, the church leaders introduced a gentleman to the congregation. We were all encouraged to attend some meetings he held once every few months regarding an "Apostolic Movement." Much of the congregation were interested in what he had to say. I myself was interested in attending this meeting just to see what this was all about. Fortunately, as you'll find out, each time one of the meetings was held was on a day I had to work. But for those who were unable to attend, audiotapes were recorded and distributed for those interested. After the first meeting was held not much seemed to change. But when another meeting came two or three months later, things within the church began to change.
People within the church seemed to grow very confused. Little about this "movement" was explained, and this guy just seemed to be spinning his wheels on why we should be gung-ho for this movement. We as a congregation were pretty much told to just trust the leaders of the church. But one thing that really stood out to me, and pretty much slapped me in the face was one night when my brother and sister-in-law were talking about all this at home; was when my brother was saying that this man was calling himself a Prophet. HOW DID HE MEAN THAT? That really scared me! I never felt such uneasiness in my heart. Even as a "baby Christian" myself, I knew "something seems very eerie here." My brother and sister-in-law felt the same. At that time I felt my spritual-self was in dire jeopardy! I started reading the Bible immediately on Prophets.
We took our concerns to members of our small group and one of the elders of the church was also part of it. We were told he would look into our concerns and get back with us. With each passing week we would ask what he came up with, but we were never given any feedback. Week after week we thought we would just tough it out long enough to see what goes on with the church. Attendance each week became lower and lower but we continued to keep attending. We didn't want our decision to be based on what others did or said, although we had discussed the situation with other people within the church. Until finally one Sunday service in particular we were pretty much told that the church is going along with this movement.
Right then we knew a decision among the three of us had to be made. We had prayed and prayed for weeks about this whole situation. I honestly felt God was telling me personally that if this were a true "movement" of God then more people would be drawn to it rather than steered away from it. There were several other red flags we noticed along the way that weighed in our decision-making.
We knew this was not right, not just for us but it wasn't right for anyone.
Needless to say we left the church. When this decision was made there was such peacefulness within all of us, we knew we made the right decision. God gave us the guidance and resources we needed to see that what was going on was wrong.
Though this time in our lives was hard and scary, we learned the importance of why we should read the Bible, why we should pray and why we should hand all of our cares and concerns to Jesus. All three of us grew from this experience. We also refused to let this experience change how we felt about attending and participating in a Bible-based church, with a pastor who stresses the importance of reading the Word of God. There's only one Word of God - The Bible, and as long as I trust in Him to guide and lead me and not be influenced by others, I will never be led in the wrong direction.
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"A Bag of Rocks"
Contributed by Cindy Elkins
August 14, 2006
Before the days of Christ, men offered sacrifices to God. Webster defines sacrifice as "the destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else." In Biblical times, sacrifices most often involved the slaying of an animal of some type -- perfect, without blemish -- prepared in a certain way, depending on the "something else" referred to above. In the New Testament, Christ's body was destroyed on Calvary, and He surrendered His life for our redemption, once and for all, thereby freeing us from the consequences of sin and converting us into something of value. He was the perfect sacrifice. However, we must also make sacrifices, the first of which is surrendering ourselves to God by laying our sins on the altar and accepting the gift of redemption that Christ purchased for us.
Our sacrifices do not stop there. No, we are not expected to sacrifice animals, but God does expect us to sacrifice daily, to surrender our sins and burdens to Him. Most of us, though, tend to collect and save our burdens and carry them around with us like a large bag full of rocks, until the weight gets so heavy that we cannot function. In this big sea we call life, those same rocks will serve to drag our soul to the deepest, darkest depths, where it will eventually drown. However, when we lay them on the altar (and leave them there) the weight is lifted from our backs and placed onto His, making it possible for us to continue on our journey for Him; and oh, how much more we can accomplish when we do not have to drag that extra weight around with us everywhere we go!
What's in your bag of rocks? Isn't it time to let God take the load so that you can move foward and accomplish great things for Him?
