If you don’t know GOD, don’t make stupid remarks!!!

A United States Marine was taking some college courses between assignments. He had completed 10 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan .

One of the courses had a professor  who was an avowed atheist, and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, “GOD, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform… I’ll give you exactly 15 min.”

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, “Here I am GOD, I’m still waiting.”

It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.

The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently.

The other students were shocked and stunned, and sat there looking on in silence.

The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, “What in the world is the matter with you?  Why did you do that?”

The Marine calmly replied,

“GOD was too busy today protecting America’s soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an idiot. So He sent me.”

The classroom erupted in cheers!

From LHM Daily Devotion:

Have you heard of the Presidential Prayer Team?

No, it’s not run by the government, and it wasn’t organized by any president, past or present.

On the other hand, the Presidential Prayer Team, a national ministry, has taken upon itself to organize prayers for the president of the United States and others who are in authority.

In many ways it is a good idea. It has been a powerful idea, and like the Scripture for today’s Daily Devotion says, it is also a God-pleasing idea.

But, according to the chairman of the Presidential Prayer Team, Mr. David Otto, there is a problem. His ministry is being hard hit financially because some of its members are not pleased with the way the government is going.

In a letter requesting funds, Otto says, “members tell us that they are discouraged, disappointed, and some have admitted they have stopped praying for the president and our nation.”  Then Otto said, they need $96,000 next month to keep the ministry going.

I’m sure this news makes BHO and thug-company happy, but it’s truly a moral dilemma for Christians. Albeit totally understandable; in fact, yours truly is totally guilty of the above. 

How does a Christian pray for pure evil? After all, one “heart” God has never penetrated is the devils.  These are people that condone the murder of the most innocent amongst us -the unborn.  How can one NOT lump them in with evil? And it just goes against the Christian nature to pray for evil.

On the other hand, Christians generally do their best to do as Jesus did: Show respect for those in authority. Yet the Constitution gives us “God given” rights to liberty etc. AND to rid ourselves of a despotic government.

So let’s publicly pray that the evil one’s GO AWAY to allow America to get back to the business of prosperity, freedom and liberty.

Perhaps the Presidential Prayer Team needs a new approach. If they pray for the restoration of America as “One Nation Under God”, I’ll donate.

Looking over the newspaper, an article caught my eye that told the story of a murderer who had just been sentenced.

His trial cost over $400,000 and had taken two months.

What interested me most was the man’s defense. He said he had killed another human being because his wife had refused to make him coffee that morning. Now if you’re thinking a lack of coffee might not be a good reason to murder someone, you would be right.

The defense had another reason for the murder. The murdered person had made a face at the perpetrator of the crime.  That face-making incident was just too much.

That got me thinking: I wonder how often a judge hears someone stand up and confess, “Yes, your honor, I did it. I was totally out of control and nobody else is responsible.”  Most judges I think would consider that kind of confession a refreshing change.

Scripture is filled with folks who pretend they’re fine just the way they are.

The Lord knows differently.

He knows all of us are sinners. Mark that. We just don’t do sinful things. We are sinners.

Christ’s entire life — from birth to crucifixion to resurrection and beyond — was dedicated to saving our souls. The Innocent died for the guilty.

His is an act of grace unique in the annals of history.

Yet, we have so many scoffing, making fun of and denying these facts.  Pity the fools.

Hat Tip:  Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries
By Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour^®

Jake, the rancher, went one day
To fix a distant fence.
The wind was cold and gusty
And the clouds rolled gray and dense.

As he pounded the last staples in
And gathered tools to go,
The temperature had fallen,
The wind and snow began to blow.

When he finally reached his pickup,
He felt a heavy heart.
From the sound of that ignition
He knew it wouldn’t start.

So Jake did what most of us
Would do if we had been there.
He humbly bowed his balding head
And sent aloft a prayer.

As he turned the key for the last time,
He softly cursed his luck
They found him three days later,
Frozen stiff in that old truck.

Now Jake had been around in life
And done his share of roaming.
But when he saw Heaven, he was shocked –
It looked just like Wyoming !

Of all the saints in Heaven,
His favorite was St. Peter.

So they sat and talked a minute or two,
Or maybe it was three.
Nobody was keeping’ score –
In Heaven, time is free.

‘I’ve always heard,’ Jake said to Pete,
‘that God will answer prayer,
But one time I asked for help,
Well, he just plain wasn’t there.’

‘Does God answer prayers of some,
And ignore the prayers of others?
That don’t seem exactly square –
I know all men are brothers.’

‘Or does he randomly reply,
Without good rhyme or reason?
Maybe, it’s the time of day,
The weather or the season.’

‘Now I ain’t trying to act smart,
It’s just the way I feel.
And I was wondering’, could you tell me –
What the heck’s the deal?!’

Peter listened very patiently
And when Jake was done,
There were smiles of recognition,
And he said, ‘So, you’re the one!!’

That day your truck, it wouldn’t start,
And you sent your prayer a flying,
You gave us all a real bad time,
With hundreds of us trying.’

‘A thousand angels rushed,
To check the status of your file,
But you know, Jake, we hadn’t heard
From you in quite a long while.’

‘And though all prayers are answered,
And God ain’t got no quota,
He didn’t recognize your voice,
And started a truck in Minnesota ‘

BETTER KEEP IN TOUCH!

Over 200 years ago, with flint and steel, Tom Dalton started a fire in his Blue Ridge Mountain cabin.

Requiring a cord of wood a month, the fire has been watched from one generation to another, moved from one cabin to another. It has become the oldest man-made fire in the United States — perhaps in the world. His descendants have kept the fire burning.

Now, that’s commitment!

Now-a-days, we don’t hear stories like that. No, we hear stories about spies who sell out our nation and her secrets.

We have to watch politicians get elected and promptly “forget” campaign commitments.

Political corruption and “politically correct” nonsense somehow became “the norm”.

The country turned its back and elected a Marxist. A muslim who apolgizes and declares we are NOT a Christian nation.  Balderdash.  We always have been and hopefully, always will.  That asinine statement was just further proof that that man doesn’t have a clue what made America work for over 230 years. What made us the most powerful nation in the world…

We weren’t looking. We weren’t committed. But last night it was quite clear that the conservative commitment seems to have new life breathed into it – thank God, literally.

Tying politics and religion together is often a fire in itself; yet, the cold hard truth is that the conservative movement is by and large Christian.  As such, we are often subjected to hate and vitriol from unbelievers, those who just “don’t get it”.  Let them knock themselves out. Never “let the bastards grind you down“.

In fact, let’s put a torch to that fire and keep it burning!

More importantly, let’s look to our best example of commitment: Jesus. His commitment to saving souls had Him misunderstood by men, betrayed and denied by friends, and crucified by the people He had come to save.

Now obviously we can’t be savior’s like that, but we can honor His commitment with a conservative commitment of our own.

Jesus stayed the course. We must, too. For our faith, our families and our nation’s future.

Sarah Palin was amazing last night as an example of conservative commitment – another voice that speaks for so many of us who can only sit out here and “squeak” in our humble but heartfelt and well-intentioned way. Some people wonder, “Why do you do it?” – in a word: Commitment.

Because… “The squeaky wheel gets the grease…“

“Trust”.  A lost treasure…

Some years ago a druggist in the eastern part of our country advertised this:

“WE ARE THE DRUG STORE YOU CAN PATRONIZE WITH CONFIDENCE-ACCURACY AND EXPERIENCE, OUR MOTTO.”

After many years of making up prescriptions for the neighborhood, it was discovered the druggist had been doing so without a license.

Not only was he not an expert pharmacist, he had never even studied pharmacy. It is impossible to guess how many people suffered in health from his inexpert filling of prescriptions.

The trust people had given him had been misplaced.

How often have we seen somebody lie to make a sale, or lie to get elected, or lie when they speak of love, or lie to get their way? For many, lying is far, far easier than telling the truth.

Only later do we find out how wrong we were. We often find we’ve lied not only to others, but to ourselves. Something that could – and often does – change the entire outcome of our lives for the worse.  We wind up miserable as do those who were lied to.

It’s pretty difficult to find someone you can trust.  My choice?    

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

With humanity: “Trust…but verify“. Ronald Reagan

On a cold Chicago night, four-year-old Barbara climbed onto her father’s lap and asked, “Daddy, why isn’t my Mommy just like everybody else’s mommy?”

Bob May stole a glance across his shabby two-room apartment. On the couch lay his wife, Evelyn, racked with cancer. For two years she had been bedridden and all Bob’s income had gone to paying for her treatment.

How do you explain cancer, poverty, and differences to a child?

A copywriter for Montgomery Ward, Bob was deep in debt and depressed. Even so, that night he held his daughter near. Then, before he began, Bob prayed, he asked God to give him the words to answer his little girl’s question. God gave Bob those words. This is how they came:

“Once upon a time there was a reindeer named Rudolph, the only reindeer in the world that had a big red nose. Naturally, people called him, Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer.”

As Bob went on, he tried to share with little Barbara the knowledge that, even though some people and things are different, God has a purpose for them.

Bob’s story continued: Rudolph and his family were embarrassed by his condition, and others laughed at him. Even so, the time came when Rudolph was called upon to be the point-reindeer for Santa’s sleigh. And so it happened Rudolph became the most famous and beloved of all the reindeer.

When Bob was finished, his daughter laughed. Every night Barbara asked for the story to be retold and every night the father repeated the tale of Rudolph.

Eventually, Bob’s wife died. And once again, Bob turned to God for help. Sitting at his desk in his lonely apartment he worked on “Rudolph.” Through his tears, he worked at making the story into a poem, a Christmas gift for his daughter.

Barbara loved that story. So did the folks at Montgomery Ward. In 1938 Bob was asked to an employee’s Christmas party. He took his poem and read it. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Just thought you might want to know how the Lord brought about one of our non-Biblical Christmas traditions.
From a devotion originally written for “By the Way”

Twas the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*

*Not a Christian was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*See the PC Police had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas – no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people’s feelings, the teachers would say*

* December 25th is just a ‘ Holiday ‘.*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*

* At Lowe’s the word Christmas – was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears*

*You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate ‘Winter Break’ under your ‘Dream Tree’*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,

not Happy Holiday !*

Please, all Christians join together and

wish everyone you meet during the

holidays a

***MERRY CHRISTMAS***

Christ is The Reason for the Christmas Season!

The media loves to over-hype mentally deranged criminals who try to use their Christian faith for what they perceive as “doing God’s work” when they commit a heinous crime.

But like anything, there are always some “bad apples” and Christian faith is no different.

However, for every one oddball out there, there are millions of good, quiet, God-fearing Christians performing noble acts every day that the media gives scarce (if any) coverage of.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8

On October 20th, a terrorist, dressed in lady’s clothing, approached the women’s campus of Islamabad’s International Islamic University.

His loose-fitting robes concealed explosives wrapped in layers of ball bearings. When detonated it was intended to kill many people inside a cafeteria filled with hundreds of college-age students.

The terrorist shot the guard and prepared to enter the dining hall.

That was when Pervaiz Masih, a custodian for the school, stepped into the doorway.

Masih told the poorly disguised man he couldn’t go in. The man insisted, but Masih stood firm.

The terrorist detonated his bomb. Three students were killed — far less than what might have happened if Masih had not sacrificed himself.

Masih worked at the school for less than a week at a job that paid $60 a month.

Masih’s grave is unmarked and his family is behind in their apartment rent.

Masih was a devout Christian.

So I ask you this: What would motivate an impoverished man to sacrifice himself for kids of a different faith?

You see, true Christians know that terrorists and devils and death don’t have the final word.

Every day, true Christians sacrifice in the Savior’s Name.

This one sacrificed everything.

Source: Christian janitor died saving Muslim students

THE FINAL INSPECTION

The soldier stood and faced God,
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass.

‘Step forward now, you soldier,
How shall I deal with you ?
Have you always turned the other cheek ?
To My Church have you been true?’

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,
‘No, Lord, I guess I ain’t.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can’t always be a saint.

I’ve had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I’ve been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny,
That wasn’t mine to keep…
Though I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills got just too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I’ve wept unmanly tears.

I know I don’t deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears.

If you’ve a place for me here, Lord,
It needn’t be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don’t, I’ll understand.

There was a silence all around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod.
As the soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.

‘Step forward now, you soldier,
You’ve borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven’s streets,
You’ve done your time in Hell.’

Author Unknown~