Two Minutes With The Bible ~ Freedom's Light

Freedom's Light

by Pastor Paul M. Sadler

Berean Bible Society
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“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18).

Some time ago I read the fascinating autobiography of Governor William Bradford, who courageously led the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620.  The Governor documents how their quest for “religious freedom” brought them face to face with many perils.  He describes how, en route to what we now know as Cape Cod, they nearly went to a watery grave when the supporting beam of the Mayflower’s mainmast snapped.  By the providence of God, one of the families on board had brought a jack, which was used to reinforce the beam.
But this was only the beginning of sorrows.  The arrival of the Pilgrims on the shores of liberty was also filled with many hazards, as nearly one-half of their number perished the first year due to disease.  Nevertheless, their faith in our Lord remained unmoveable.  Throughout it all, they found much for which to be thankful that “first” Thanksgiving.  And so do we, for our “freedom of worship” was originally conceived in their sacrifice.

Today, however, this freedom is being threatened on every hand, both here and abroad. Perhaps the greatest threat is Islam! Christians around the world are being persecuted for sharing Christ with those who are living in darkness.  Islam, of course, is a religion of hate, which is clearly seen in the riots and recent murders of innocent Americans in Muslim countries.  The hallmark of Christianity, on the other hand, is love.

As we gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving, may we be mindful of the great price that was paid to secure our liberty.

May we be mindful that Christ also died for Muslims; only He can deliver them from the brutality of their religion and set them free from a life of oppression.
May we be mindful of our troops overseas who are the guardians of our nation, preserving our freedom to worship here in America without fear of persecution.  Many of these defenders of our values will be sitting in a bunker this Thanksgiving in some faraway country.  There was a popular saying at the time of our country’s founding which is as true now as it was then: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

May we all give thanks for the salvation that we enjoy in Christ, even the forgiveness of our dreadful sins that would have condemned us.  “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever” (Psa. 107:1).  AMEN!

Funny Friday ~ Earl Of Taint

 

Courtesy of EarlofTaint

He's kind of like The Music Man,

only it's tomahawk missiles,

not trombones.

~ Ride Safe ~

Sparky

Basil Chicken Linguine Recipe

 Basil Chicken Linguine
By my husband

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken breasts, chunked
1 large onion, chopped
½ cup Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon garlic or 1 garlic glove minced
2 tablespoons spinach Brushetta
1 teaspoon Basil
½ cup white wine
2 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Linguine noodles
Salt to taste


DIRECTIONS:

Put olive oil in pan. Add garlic and onion. Cook on medium heat until onion is tenderized. Add chunked chicken breasts, basil and salt. Stir cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add brushetta, tomatoes, cheese and wine. Continue simmering about 20-25 minutes until moisture is cooked off.

Separately cook Linguine per instructions, drain with cool water.

Pour cooked ingredients over Linguine noodles and serve.

Serves 4 to 6 people.

Patriots Day ~ 9-11 Tribute

September 11, 2001 Attacks

~ Ride Safe ~

Sparky

Bluer Than Blue

I just can't seem to shake it ... the overwhelming saddness I have felt since Maxie died.

It's been nearly a week.

I thought I would "feel better" by now. I think I've tried everything: cleaning the house, putting away or throwing out her things, talking to Sweetie about it, going for long walks, getting enough sleep, a B-12 shot, prayer, reading God's Word. We even had our good friends over (in whom's company I always enjoy) and watched our favorite funny movie "Young Frankenstein".

Nope. I'm still a dope.

I still see her in my mnd's eye. I can still feel her near me and I start crying all over again. I can't concentrate or feel happy about anything. I'm scared to death to ride. Case in point: I almost had a bad accident when I lost a dear friend to ovarian cancer in January 2007. We went for a ride on our respective metal steeds soon after Maggie went to Heaven and I almost ran mine off the road! Thank goodness the new rumble strips on the roadsides shook me out of the stupor and I put the bike back on the road without any further incident. Dang! One mustn't be distracted when riding. It's not like being on four wheels where mistakes are a little more forgiving.

This is so unlike me! I'm almost always so cheerful. I seem to be stuck in a perpetual Pity Party. [sigh] I gotta shake this thing.

Oh, well, maybe tomorrow will be better.

~ Ride Safe ~

Sparky

Two Minutes With The Bible ~ Everlasting Life

Everlasting Life

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Berean Bible Society
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Romans 8:2, when correctly read, is a most blessed passage of Scripture. To get the sense we should place a dash between the words “Spirit” and “of.” Thus it would read: “For the law of the Spirit — of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

When a sinner places his trust in Christ as Savior he is justified before the bar of God, because Christ’s death and righteousness are imputed to him. This is a judicial matter

But at the same moment something else happens: the Spirit regenerates and gives new life (Tit. 3:5). This is a law, an inexorable, unchangeable law. The sinner who sincerely places his trust in Christ as Savior is given life by the Holy Spirit. It is always so; it is never otherwise.

I John 5:12 says: “He that hath the Son hath life….” John 3:36 says that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” and Col. 3:3 declares that the believer’s life is “hid with Christ in God.”

Thus the Apostle could say: “The law of the Spirit, [that of] life in Christ, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Adam forfeited his life by sin, but the believer’s new life can never be forfeited, for this life is nothing less than the life of Christ, in whom the sinner has already died and paid for his sins — and in whom he now stands perfect and complete before God.

It is a law, a fixed unchangeable law, that sin brings forth death (Rom. 5:12; 6:23; et al). This is called “the law of sin and death,” but the believer has already died for sin in Christ and has been given new life by the Spirit. Thus “the law of the Spirit,” that of “life in Christ,” has made the simplest believer “free from the law of sin and death.”

Thank God for “the law of the Spirit,” everlasting life through the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.

---

To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Film Review: The Butler (More Hollywood Leftist Lies)

And yet another Hollyweird Leftist film I'll be sure to miss. I hope it's not "against the rules" to post this article intact. I can't find the link for it on-line.  Michael Reagan is one of my favorite political authors. I think his piece says it all, especially since he was there.

~ Sparky

                                                             = = =


The Butler
By Michael Reagan · August 22, 2013

There you go again, Hollywood.

You've taken a great story about a real person and real events and twisted it into a bunch of lies.

You took the true story of Eugene Allen, the White House butler who served  eight presidents from 1952 to 1986, and turned it into a clichéd "message movie."

"Lee Daniels' The Butler'" stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, a fictional character supposedly based on Eugene Allen's real life.

But let's compare the two White House butlers.

Guess which one grew up in segregated Virginia, got a job at the White House  and rose to become maître d hote, the highest position in White House service?

Guess which one had a happy, quiet life and was married to the same woman for 65 years? And who had one son who served honorably in Vietnam and never made a peep of protest through the pre- and post-civil rights era?

Now guess which butler grew up on a Georgia farm, watched the boss rape his mother and then, when his father protested the rape, watched the boss put a bullet through his father's head?

Guess which butler feels the pain of America's racial injustices so deeply that he quits his White House job and joins his son in a protest movement?

And guess which butler has a wife (Oprah Winfrey) who becomes an alcoholic and has a cheap affair with the guy next door? (I'm surprised it wasn't the vice president.)

After comparing Hollywood's absurd version of Eugene Allen's life story with the truth, you wonder why the producers didn't just call it "The Butler from Another Planet."

Screenwriter Danny Strong says he was trying to present a "backstage kind of view of the White House" that portrayed presidents and first ladies as they really were in everyday life.

Well, I was backstage at the White House -- a few hundred times. I met and knew the real butler, Mr. Allen, and I knew a little about my father.

Portraying Ronald Reagan as a racist because he was in favor of lifting economic sanctions on South Africa for its policy of apartheid.

If you knew my father, you'd know he was the last person on Earth you would call a racist.

If Strong had gotten his "facts" from the Reagan biographies, he'd have learned that when my father was playing football at Eureka College one of his best friends was a black teammate.

Strong also would have learned that my father invited black players home for dinner and once, when two players were not allowed to stay in the local hotel, he invited them to stay overnight at his house.

Screenwriter Strong also might have found out that when my father was governor of California he appointed more blacks to positions of power than any of predecessors -- combined.

It's appalling to me that someone is trying to imply my father was a racist. He and Nancy and the rest of the Reagan family treated Mr. Allen with the utmost respect.

It was Nancy Reagan who invited the butler to dinner — not to work but as guest. And it was my father who promoted Mr. Allen to maître d'hote.

The real story of the White House butler doesn't imply racism at all. It's simply Hollywood liberals wanting to believe something about my father that was never there.

My father's position on lifting the South African sanctions in the '80s had nothing to do with the narrow issue of race. It had to do with the geopolitics of the Cold War.

But facts don't matter to Hollywood's creative propagandists. Truth is too complicated and not dramatic enough for scriptwriters, who think in minute terms, not the big picture, when it comes to a conservative.

Despite what Hollywood's liberal hacks believe, my father didn't see people in colors. He saw them as individual Americans. If the liberals in Hollywood -- and Washington -- ever start looking at people the way he did, the country will be a lot better off.

Copyright ©2013 Michael Reagan