Meat for the Hungry

    In 1991 the movie, City Slickers , premiered. Three city boys decided to spend their vacation driving cattle on an authentic cattle drive. The experience, they surmised, would end their mid-life crisis and in the process they’d become genuine cowboys. Their vacation commenced at a dude ranch in the southwest where they learned and prepared for the drive. It was here they met rugged, mean-looking, and very seasoned trail boss, Curly. The drive begins normally, yet as in all comedies and good stories, chaos quickly follows. Along the way, the main character, Mitch, played by Billy Crystal, learns from Curly, played by Jack Palance, the secret to life is one thing . When Mitch asks, “What’s the one thing?” Curly says, “That’s what you’ve got to figure out.” Mitch goes wild trying to discover what Curly means by one thing. In the end, Mitch seems to learn his one thing. Satisfied, he returns home to live the proverbial happily ever after. According to the City Slicker...

DOCTRINES OF DEMONS Are you grieved that our culture thinks so little of the God who created us and the world in which we live that they accept when our Sovereign, Holy God is reduced to a caricature or a joke in a monologue? I mean, where is their fear? Not just reverential fear, I’m talking real out and out fear of Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. [1] Do you think it’s just a sign of the times and the prophesied falling away? [2] In Luke 18:8, Jesus asked a question, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” You might think this is a rhetorical question, but it’s not. He’s telling of things to come and trying to make us think. So, what type of thing would cause a believer to lose faith and possibly walk away from the TRUTH of the Holy Scriptures they may have known from childhood [3] or as an adult that brought us to Christ?

I was first made aware of the 2007-2008 best-selling book, THE SHACK , by a co-worker, who stated, “This is the best book I have ever read.” I accepted the book and took it home to read because the cover listed raves reviews by Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, and Michael W. Smith, Christian recording artist. Nevertheless, it sat on my nightstand for weeks and for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to read it. The day I decided to return the unread book to my co-worker, I received a letter and monthly catalog from Southwest Radio Church. The correspondence read, “The Shack” teaches New Age thought. “Ah-ha!” I thought, “Now I know why I couldn’t read this book.” The Holy Spirit had kept me from reading until I could be warned of the errors within. Then He gave me the desire to read as an exercise in discernment.

    http://www.cantonrep.com/article/20150803/LIFESTYLE/150739777 On Valentine’s Day, the doctor for whom I work, purchases red carnations for every patient who comes that day for treatment. This affection towards his patients has always impressed me. From my first day on the job, November 17, 1999, I have admired this man. I never knew a doctor who not only bought flowers for his patients, but also made personal phone calls to each new patient following their initial treatment. So last week, when I picked up the bouquet of carnations, I paused for a moment to consider the crinkly, sweet-scented, little flowers. I thought about our patients and the delight each flower would bring and then I reminisced about my high school days. If I remember correctly, our Tri-Hi-Y Club sold Valentine carnations. Any student could purchase a single carnation or more and club members would deliver them to their special someone. A white carnation meant friendship. The pink carnati...

https://pixabay.com 229117 Wisdom . Have you ever contemplated this word and its meaning? No, of course not. Why would you waste time thinking about something humans gain with study, life experience, or just seem to possess? Still, as wasteful as it may seem, lately I’ve been pondering wisdom . It’s true, wisdom abounds. There’s academic wisdom, science wisdom, business, sports, etc. Yet, this is acquired wisdom – knowledge gathered and expanded over years of study, trial and error. When knowledge in any subject is learned, wisdom usually follows. Wisdom applies the knowledge and these two fit together like a nut and bolt. Isn’t it interesting we even have the capacity to develop wisdom? How do we do it? And why is our amazing brain able to take in all we learn and experience and then produce wisdom ? The explanation can only be God .

“Any of you ready for a “Puritan Christmas”?” Andreas Köstenberger asked, in his blog, “A Puritan Christmas”. [1] Sure, I thought. But, how did the Puritan’s celebrate Christmas? Continuing to read, I was surprised to discover the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas. In fact, in Scotland, from 1580 through 1660, the Puritan’s controlled Parliament actually outlawed Christmas. When the Pilgrims immigrated to the New World, they did the same. Christmas, they had decided, was a pagan corruption of the true birth of our Savior, believing the word holiday, a combination of two words – holy and day – implied one day more holy than the next. “They for whom all days are holy can have no holiday,” [2] became their condescending response to Christmas, “…nicknaming it "Foolstide" and banning their flock from any celebration of it throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.” [3] Nevertheless, they may have a point. Consider our western traditions. Even the word, C h r i s t ...

“Oh, give THANKS to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” [1] Recently, I’ve come to realize I’ve lived a somewhat sheltered life with regards to T h a n k s g i v i n g . Oh, I’ve learned of our nation’s history and read some of the pilgrim’s writings, yet my research, until now, has been from the settler’s point of view. Quite by accident, I came across an article from the website:  http://Indians.org . The author, Thomas A. Ferguson, called our white, European American idea of the first T h a n k s g i v i n g a view “…based on the mythological concept and approach Western minds have when dealing with the various Native Populations.” [2] He paints an extremely condescending and contemptuous picture of the Pilgrims assuring us the Native American does not view this holiday with the same love and fervor we do.