Abby Johnson's unPlanned Story
Friday, November 29, 2019
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Harry Morton of Hard Rock Cafe Dead at 38
38 year old Harry Morton was found
dead though the circumstances of his death were not immediately forthcoming.
Drugs were suspected. His younger brother died some years ago from an overdose.
Harry was the son of Hard Rock Café’s co-founder, Peter Morton, and grandson of
Morton’s the Steakhouse founder, Arnie Morton.
Harry was known in the restaurant
business in California and had dated some of Holywood’s famous such as Lindsay
Lohan and Demi Moore among others. While in college he worked summers at the
Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas before becoming involved in the development program
of Hard Rock Café. He had his own night club business.
“When will we ever learn,” used to sing Peter, Paul , and Mary back in the
1960s. It seems like mankind is ever learning but unable to come to the
knowledge of the truth.[1]
What is truth he seems to be missing? It’s the fact that man is a spiritual
being and we must seek for the spiritual realities of life, if we hope to find
any sort of lasting happiness.
The Scriptures tell us that the “flesh
profits nothing.”[2] Apostle John so aptly
wrote, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world
passes away and the lusts thereof, but whoso does the will of God abides for
ever.”[3]
But we’ve been taught since childhood
that we need to study hard to get a good job, so that we can be happy. Study
Hard = Good Job = Money = Happiness. But it just doesn’t work that way. Why?
Because we put the needs of our flesh above the needs of our spirit and our
flesh is never satisfied. It always wants more: more food, or more alcohol, or
more soft drinks, or more chocolate, or more sugar, or more tobacco, more
sleep, or more television, or more sex, more money, or more power, or more
fame, or more properties, or more drugs.
Ultimately, the lusts of the flesh choke
out the spirit from our lives. We find momentary pleasure in these phyiscal
appetites while our heart, our soul is left empty. Like God’s people who lusted
in the desert for meat and God gave it to them. But His Word informs us, “He
gave them their request but sent leaness to their souls.”[4]
In the past we seen in the deaths of
Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, River Phoenix, Michael Jackson, and many others
that fame and fortune don’t bring the happiness that they are made out to
bring. Van Morrison said when he reached the top that it was like entering an
empty room filled with nothing.
Please don’t neglect your spiritual
life and let the things of the world choke out God’s presence in your life.
Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be
added unto you.”[5] In Isaiah we read, “Why do
you work for that which profits not and spend money on that which satisfies
not? Harken diligently unto Me and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear unto Me: hear and your soul will live.”[6]
What we
really need is God in our lives. We need to reconnect with Him and know that He
loves us. We need to know that our lives have purpose and meaning in Him. We
need to have forgiveness from the guilt we feel from the wrongs we’ve done. We
need freedom from fear of man, from fredom fear of failure, freedom from fear
of death, and freedom from meaninglessness. That’s the salvation He is
offering.
God has that
freedom, that forgiveness, that purposefulness that we seek. But like anything
that’s worth something, we need to make a concerted effort to find it. But if
we seek, we shall find.[7]
He says, “You shall seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me, with all your
heart.”[8]
Are you searching for God with all your heart? Or are you letting your flesh
and the desires of your flesh choke your spiritual life?
Apostle Paul
warns us, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;
but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the
carnal mind is enmity against God.”[9]
In his letter to the Colossians he writes, “Set your affections on things that
are above, not on things on the earth.”
He continues
and warns that we should put to death the carnal impulses like illicit sex,
uncleanness, unrestrained affection, evil desires, and greed, which is
idolatry.[10] These behaviors and
desires become the things we worship instead of God in the Spirit. They become
idols. We are worshipping idols. God is a jealous God and will not have any
other Gods before Him. They ultimately won’t satisfy and may even bring us
death in their pursuit.
Please make a
renewed effort to bring God into your life. Apostle Paul tells us that God is
not far from anyone of us and if we seek Him, we will find Him for in Him we
live, and move, and have our being.[11]
Jesus Himself tells us He wants to have fellowship with us, He wants to live in
us, and all we need to do is call upon Him. Please call upon the Lord with all
your heart. He is your all and all. He’s all you really need. If you have Him,
you have everything. Call upon Him today!
[1] 2
Timothy 3:7
[2] John
6:63
[3] 1 John
2:16-17
[4] Psalm
106:15
[5] Matthew
6:33
[6] Isaiah
55:2-3
[7] Matthew
7:7
[8] Jeremiah
29:13
[9] Romans
8:5-7
[10]
Colossians 3:5
[11] Acts
17:27-28
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Monday, November 25, 2019
Journalists Who Exposed Planned Parenthood’s ‘Baby Body Parts’ Trade Found Guilty!
Dennis Edwards
The journalists who investigated Planned Parenthood were found guilty of various crimes last week in California. You may remember the vÃdeos recorded in secret where top representatives of Planned Parenthood cajouled about the prices of different aborted baby parts. The officials of Planned Parenthood said arrangements could be made during the abortion to secure a certain part of the aborted baby with minimal damage. The judge in the case ordered the jurry to find the jouralist guilty of crimes and in obedience the jurry did so. Planned Parenthood has been awarded $2million dollars in damages. You can read more about it here.
Let us pray for the brave jouralists who dared to take on Planned Parenthood and the million dollar evil abortion industry. Let us remember the sanctity of life and God’s commandment “Thou shalt not kill.”[1] Let us remember God’s commandment to take care of the poor and the needy. Let us remember Jesus’s own words, “In as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto Me.”[2]
We have become dull to the devil’s dirty work. We sit idly by watching television, or we go shopping while the innocent souls are cut assunder in the name of “freedom of choice.” Our society continues to reject God and accept every type of blasphemy against Him and all He stands for.
Let us read and pray Psalm 94 together against the enemies of God and against the poor and innocent. The prophet cries out to God for help against a strong and powerful wicked adversary.
“O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs; O God, to whom vengeance belongs, show thyself. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.”[3]
Lord, how long will evil continue to triumph? How long will society let organizations like Planned Parenthood continue their dirty work against the unborn child? How long will men keep silent and not take a stand against the iniquity that is being done? How long will You, O Lord, not act and save the souls of the poor innocents against the strong and mighty organization Planned Parenthood which has had governamental and international support?
Lord, we pray for the journalists in California who loved You enough and loved the innocent unborn children to risk their careers and even lives to expose the evil shenanigans of Planned Parenthood. Arise, O Lord, in their defense. Raise up the right hand, O Lord, and defend the righteous cause of the undercover journalist in California. Defeat the lies and the craftyness of Planned Parenthood’s lawyers and bring their counsel to nought and the counsel of the judge in the case to naught. Raise up a defence and the finances needed to take the case to a higher court who will deal more righteously with the events and the issue of abortion.
Let us continue to read from the Psalm where the prophet adresses the evil doers.
“Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastises the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teaches man knowledge, shall not he know?”[4]
Of course, He will. He is God. But God in not in our thoughts. We have educated ourselves to believe we come from monkeys through a random natural process. There is no fear of God in the land, because we are not even sure He exists.
The prophet continues with words of truth.
“The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Blessed is the man whom thou chastens, O Lord, and teaches him out of thy law; That thou may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.”[5]
God promises throughout His Word to save the righteous and contemn the wicked. Our hope as non-violent, peace-loving Christians is in God, not in man, nor the systems of men. Our Christian heritage is stained with the blood of the martyred believers who died for their faith. But their blood was the seed of the Church. Christianity overthrew Rome without raising a sword of steel. The only sword raised was the truth of God’s Word which was coupled with the loving sample of the believers. Believers who loved not their lives even unto death to obey the loving principles of their Lord and God.
The prophet challenges his friends and acquaintances.
“Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”[6]
Often, we get no response as men fear for their lives, or reputations, or positions in society or their employment. The “silent majority” remain silent out of fear of man and what man can do to them.
The prophet continues.
“Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slips; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.”[7]
Only the Lord helps us. And if man helps us, it is because God has raised him up. Our comfort, our sure rock, our strong tower is the Lord.
The psalmist goes on.
“Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frames mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.”[8]
The judge in the case demanded that the jury find against the journalists. He refused to let the jury hear the conversations that were recorded by the journalists secretly. The “law” was on the side of Planned Parenthood, the law of abortion which the Christian journalists were working against to expose for its evil and selfish motives, i.e., finacial profit! One Planned Parenthood official boasted she would be able to buy a new fancy car with the profits she would make with the sales of the aborted baby parts.
But God’s prophet takes comfort in knowing that God is on the side of righteousness and truth and love. The prophet reaffirms his beliefs and predicts the destruction of the wicked.
“But the Lord is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. And He shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off.”[9]
Please pray with me for the journalists and their lawyers. Pray God raises up a righteous defence and that the decision made last week can be overturned and even lead to the overturning of “Roe vs Wade.” And if not, pray for God’s righteous judgments against the wicked and a wicked society that has forgotten God. “For the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God.”[10]
You might find the above film interesting: "Unplanned."
Notes:
[1] Exodus 20:13
[2] Matthew 25:40
[3] Psalm 94:1-7
[4] Psalm 94:8-10
[5] Psalm 94:11-15
[6] Psalm 94:16
[7] Psalm 94:17-19
[8] Psalm 94:20-21
[9] Psam 94:22-23
[10] Psalm 9:17
Friday, November 22, 2019
Friday, November 15, 2019
Does Somebody Somewhere Love Me?
Has God ever showed you He loved you in an unmistakable way? Here’s one time He did with me.
As a university student in Ohio, I would often go hitch-hiking on a long weekends or during a short holiday period. At 20 years of age I had given up my Christian faith and delved into atheism and existentialism. To me, science was the truth and religion and faith were superstition. And yet, I was resolved to find the truth whatever and wherever it may be. Here’s a true story that happened to me where I knew someone “upstairs” was looking down on me.
I had decided to go see my friend Bruce who was at school in Omaha, Nebraska for the Thanksgiving Day break. I´m writing this on November 15th it’s -2ºC in Omaha with a humidity of 81%. Omaha, often the fifth coldest major city in the U.S., gets cold in November and it snows for Thanksgiving. But as a young adult, I felt invincable as young people do.
I was soon on my way with my small backpack containing my sleeping bag, a change of clothes and toletries. I would be travelling a distance of 900 miles or 1448 kilometers. As a “hippie” against the Vietnam War, I had long hair down to my shoulders like Jesus wore, but would keep it hidden in the scull cap I would wear. Most often the American truckers were conservative and very patriotic. As a rebelling young “hippie,” I wanted to keep my idenity out of sight. The war was in full bloom and some Americans considered the hippies as unpatriotic or cowards.
I had gotten various rides and was making good time across the country, though I didn’t realize at the time how dangerous hitch-hiking could be. One man in Pennsylvania pretended to help hitch-hikers, only to take them home and give them their last meal. Police later found some 25 bodies buried under his house.
As I travelled across Indiana and Illinois it started getting colder. Crossing Missouri outside of Kansas City, Kansas, the trucker pulled over and out I hopped. He was going west, but I would be travelling north from this point on up to Omaha, still another 185 miles or about 300 kilometers more. The trouble was that it was passing 11:00 pm and it was snowing and the wind was blowing. Already a few inches of snow covered the ground. The motorway was outside of town and I was left in what seemed like complete darkness. I managed to climb the retension fence, that all motorways have to keep animals from walking across, and started walking towards an área that seemed to be lit up. It was very cold and I was beginning to wonder if I would find something open at this time of night, a place to get out of the cold.
I soon came to a small residencial área. It was all middleclass homes, no shops, or gas station around, just houses. It was getting close to midnight and I was desparate to get out of the cold air. I wasn’t dressed for the snowstorm I was in. I started to see if anyone had left the door of their car unlocked. My father had often left his car unlocked in the driveway of our house as did many others at this time in America. If so, I thought, I could sleep in the car as I had my sleeping bag with me. But, no, every car I tried was locked. I was getting anxious. What would I do? Would I freeze to death?
Suddenly, I saw a young 11 year old boy running across the street from one house to another. I yelled out to him and he stopped to talk to me. Yes, I could come into his house and sleep in the basement. But I needed to be quiet. His mother and her boyfriend were in bed and he didn’t want to wake them up. He showed me the nice finished basement were I could sleep on a carpetted floor and off he went. As I lay down, though an atheist in my thoughts, I sensed that someone or something somewhere was watching over me and helping me. I didn’t know who or what it was, but I knew “it” was there. The next morning as the sun rose, I quietly snuck out the basement door before anyone could know the difference.
It would be some years later, that I would find God. I had refused to enter the military as I was obligated to do by the U.S. government and the FBI were looking for me. After my mother warned me by phone, I got down on my knees and called out to “God,” if “He” or “It” was there, to help me. But then I thought, what are you doing praying, you know there’s no God, you’re an atheist? But God heard my heart cry and two weeks later it was I who was stopping to pick up two young hitch-hikers. They also were against the war, and, after a short conversation, they led me in prayer to Jesus. I finally found the truth I had determined to find. And, yes, somebody did love me. His name was Jesus! “Ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” [1]
Dennis and Maria on their flight back from a humanitarian-mission trip to Angola
[1] Jeremiah 29:13
