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This has been on my mind for sometime now. I have been trying to avoid the issue, but now feel that it is imperative that I make a small post on the subject matter. As a Christian, I find it a bit difficult to find films or television production that delivers the message of the Gospel accurately. It seems to me that many folks rate movies/shows as Christian as long as it mentions God in a line or two. No! Media is only Christian when it delivers the message of the Gospel in accordance to what the Bible says. We should not add or take away from God’s Word! What’s wrong with the media today? The devil seems to be working hard in order to lead many astray. My friends be not caught in these fatal traps. Let the Holy Bible be your first source by which you use to measure each and everything in life.

Since I am a big television person, I find it necessary to warn of some of the media that preach false messages, which can result in one being led astray. So I will use this post as a guide to some of the media that come to our television screen that are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

1. Touched By An Angel – Any discerning Christian can tell this show preaches a false message from its pilot episode right through to its finale. Where is the Gospel of Christ? Touched By Phonies teaches salvation by good works. I have never heard repentance, John 3:16, giving one’s life to Jesus and trying to live a Christ like life preached in that show. For instance, there was some episode in season one about some baseball coach who was a dying bitter guy and had lost his shot to play in the big leagues. So guess you can say he treated others badly. On his death bed the “angel” Monica told him that he needed to do the “right thing.” Huh? Didn’t Ephesians 2:8-9 basically say that we are saved by faith, that faith being in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour? Sure faith without good works is dead [James 2:17], because we can’t say we love Jesus and then willingly disobey Him or deny Him by our actions, but at the same time, the Bible is clear on how we are saved, John 3:16, John 14:6, Hebrews 11:6, Luke 11:23 and so many more Biblical examples..So why the constant teaching about doing good things and not a peep about Jesus and His Gospel?
2. Little House on the Prairie – Show has many lovely episodes, but ever so often there are some episodes which message is just false false false! Take the episode the Lord is My Shepherd 2 for instance, I know the name of the episode sounds very Christian like, however, some of the things said was down right a lie straight from the devil’s mouth. To cut the story short, the main character Laura went up to a mountain because she wanted to be closer to God. Though we can find God by just following 2 Chronicles 7:14, that’s all good. Laura was a kid and this was her understanding of how to get closer to God. Anyhow, while there, she met some guy named Johnathon which said so many outrageous things about God that it was absolute torture for me to listen to. Nevertheless, I listened. The young girl Laura wanted to know why God hadn’t responded to her prayer. So Johnathon, I’m guessing he was supposed to be some kind of “angel”, in a nutshell told her that God has many things to do and needs time to catch up with her prayer and that he is tired and taking a nap. I even remember John telling Laura that “he thinks God is sometimes even surprised about the way we feel about things.” Hello! Since when does God need time to catch up? God does not get tired and He is all knowing, nothing surprises Him. So maybe Johnathon was just trying to explain things to Laura in the way she would understand, that reasoning still does not give the right to tell lies on the Lord God. He could have simply said: “once your prayer comes straight from the heart, God has heard you and you just need to be patient”. Plain and simple. There are more examples, but I’ll just leave this just one. For those of you who watch this show, just beware of the message in some of these episodes.
3. Florence + The Machine’s – You Got the Love – Great melody, cool lyrics. The overall package of You Got the Love however was distorted by its anti-Biblical message found in its music video. In the lyrics:
   

   Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air,
   I know I can count on you,
   Sometimes I feel like saying “Lord I just don’t care”,
   But you’ve got the love I need to see me through.

   Mind you, throughout the song she never mentions Jesus, but many folks argue that she is in fact referring to Him. I don’t know but based on the content of the lyrics, we can generally assume she is. Anyhow, if you watch the music video, you’ll notice the way in which the artist carries herself is completely contrary to the Word of God. I don’t know if it was her intention to act as an exotic dancer, but human beings are blessed with talent. Surely there must be a more modest way in which this can be done. I think.
   1 Timothy 2:9-10,” In like manner also, that women adorn (dress) themselves in modest (decent) apparel, with shamefacedness {bashfulness} and sobriety“;
   And for those of you who believe that she isn’t out to preach anything, I got one verse for you. 1 Corin 10:31 - “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” After watching such a music video someone might say: “Wow, it’s really easy to be a Christian. I can call Jesus my Saviour and dress and behave like that.” If  being a “little sexy”, as one blogger puts it, is right by God, I believe He intends this kind of intimacy/sensuality of the body ONLY for spouses (a married man and woman) and it should in no way be publically paraded as in how we so often see it today. In other words, kept for the marriage bed, enclosed by four walls and a roof!

4. What if God Were the Sun – This is a movie. The name of the movie in my opinion is insulting, but this is just my opinion. God is not the sun and never will be. He created that great ball of fire. Geeze, there are no what ifs about it.  Now this movie, might try to twist your emotions, it does have a touching story. However, that story got spoiled with the subtle false message it wanted to preach. Basically, some Jewish woman was dying. She had great faith in God, but there was no message of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. Some time in the movie I remember her saying she was “going home”, this was in relation to after her dying. Right. Last time I checked, Jesus said that He’s the only way to heaven. (John 14:6) So, I’m not sure what home the woman was really referring to.

It’s all great that we believe in God but it’s salvation! when we believe in what He did for us on the cross, strive to live a life like Him, a life out of sin. A life of continual repentance and desire to draw in a closer relationship with God. The Gospel of Christ is very simple. I don’t know why folks feel they can teach something else and then brand it Christian.

We are to know that we are sinners, that we cannot get to heaven without complete dependence on Jesus Christ.  We are to love God, follow His commands and hate sin. We are to feel remorseful of our sins and repent of them. We know we are seeking out/living the Christ like life when we enjoy the Word of God, enjoy chatting to friends about the Lord Jesus, deeply bothered when we disobey God…these things. There’s no Christian without Jesus CHRIST as King and Lord of our lives. Just believing in God, doing “good” things does not bring forth salvation. We got to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we have to love Him, love others and love our selves. When we say we love Him, we got to strive to live the way He did. It’s hard with all the temptation in the world, but He is the narrow gate to heaven.

If you want the Gospel, read the Bible. If you want to see references of it onscreen, watch movies like Flywheel, Fireproof, the Board. Want to hear it through music? Listen to Don Moen, Natalie Grant, Phillips Craig and Dean…plus many more.  Either way, let the Spirit of God lead you. Not sure about something? Just keep reading the Bible, keep praying and speak with other believers who know and love the Lord.

Watch out as the enemy is quite crafty, the creep.

God bless!

We all face tough times in life. Tough times do not define who we are, but it’s how react and handle ourselves and others in these moments that defines character. The awesome and wonderful gospel is that the Lord GOD expects us to run to Him in any situation, good times and in this case the not so cool ones. During difficult situations, we are often faced with many life defining decisions. So why try to handle all of the burden on our own? Of course, we are called to stand as best as we can on our own two feet, but no where is asking for help ever a disgrace.  So let us not allow difficult situations to hang its grey clouds over our heads for longer than it should. For the good Lord has commanded us:

Joshua 1:9 – “… Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be you dismayed: for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

I find that continuous and unwavering prayer brings great comfort and peace in my life. Prayer is less than seconds away and its the shortest distance between a problem and a solution. Isn’t that great? Knowing that God is always listening and is ready to show us the doors if we just put our faith in Him.

Love the Lord friends and always remember His wonderful promises!

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Mark 3:27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

I remember enjoying the TV show, “The Incredible Hulk” when I was younger. I remember when David Banner would get into trouble, his eyes would turn green and he would turn into something else much more powerful than he was before. A monster would literally take over his existence for a brief period to fight for him until his enemies were defeated! You already know where this is going right? Although that was make believe, I have learned that God can do the same thing in the Spirit. There are times when our enemies seem to be in a more powerful position in our lives, or the sin that we struggle with so often seems to have us cornered. Bottom line, there is something within us that is there to fight for us. When we are not strong enough in the flesh to handle it, there is a “strong man” that dwells in us that is prepared to take over our existence and fight for us.

Your temple, or your body, cannot be spoiled until the strong man within you is defeated. But I got news for you. God cannot be defeated by your enemies. The only thing that can defeat God in you is YOU! It’s not that you can literally defeat God, but you can defeat the God in you! You can minimize the strength of God in your life by not practicing righteousness, or practicing sin. You can minimize the God in your life by not praying, reading your word, or keeping your relationship with Him solid. It’s just like a marriage. If you do not spend time with your spouse and invest in your marriage, you will never really know that your marriage is strong enough to last. The same with the Spirit of God. If you do not spend time with Him, then you will not have enough “strong man” to handle your weaknesses. Your faith is built on hearing His Words. Once you have the faith, then you will believe in the strong man within you and He will handle your struggles and your enemies. So, to keep your goods unspoiled, you must have the strength of the strong man in your life. Even when you feel far from God, you have to trust that He will fight for you and believe that you can make it on His strength and not your own.

~~The EX Daily Word

My buddy John brought this to my attention, couldn’t agree more!

Out of so many religions, Jesus Christ is the only one who proclaimed that He is not a religion but a relationship with God, and the only one true God who provides, saves and protects. While other Gods or Goddess in other religions demand to be served, or demand self work to attain heaven.

Buddha never claimed to be God, Moses never claimed to be Jehovah, Mohammad never claimed to be Allah; and YET JESUS CHRIST claimed to be the true and living God.

Buddha simply said, “I am a teacher in search of the truth” ; Jesus said: ” I am the truth”

Confucius said: “I never claimed to be holy”. ; Jesus said: “who convicts me of sin ?”

Mohammad said: “unless God gives his mercy over me, I have no hope” ; Jesus said: “Unless you believe in me, you will die in your sins”.

May peace be upon you.  Shalom.

I knew of a man’s grave, the epitaph on whose tombstone read ‘Here lies an atheist, all dressed up, but with nowhere to go.‘  Lewis replied: ‘I bet he wished that were so.’”

- C.S Lewis

I saw the following question while browsing the web, and so too found a great answer elsewhere. So I’ll just post it here for reference.

Question:
If God knows the future then is freewill predetermined?
Freewill therefore is impossible unless the concept of God doesn’t exist. That is the only logical conclusion because if God knows the outcome of every situation and every situation is going to end the way the God predicted it, then it therefore leads to the result that the person didn’t choose the outcome but instead that God planned it.

Answer:
“God knows everything, yes. The first thing we must understand about God is that He is not bound by space or time. He sees not the past, nor the present, nor the future. There is no file cabinet that God goes to to look up what we have done or what we are going to do. He sees everything as it is happening at once. Now, God is omniscient because yes He does see everything that we are going to do ahead of OUR time. But, He also knows and can see what we should have done, what we can do, what we shouldn’t do, and what we are doing. His knowledge is like a web. He knows all the paths we can take. It is our choice what paths we can take. He ultimately wants everyone to go to Heaven. Is that a reality? No, becuase we still have that choice. God Himself, sees a reality that has all of us in heaven with Him. But will that happen? The choice is up to us.” – Ray

Many are under the impression that once someone accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, they suddenly get this “no more trouble for me armor”.  On the contrary, this is not so at all. When I received Jesus Christ, I felt as if I had another chance with life to fix all the damage that I had done. I was granted God’s Holy Spirit and He became and is my guide to the life I live now.

John 7:
38 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive….

I so too have received a best friend, my Comforter whom comforts me in times of trouble. This trouble, is the prime of this post. The world that we live in today is much so governed by sin. Once upon a time when I was so blind in my sin the amount of trouble in the world didn’t seem to be so great. By the power of the Holy Spirit, my eyes and ears have be awakened to the corruption of the world. I’ve come to the revelation that a lot of the media, such as movies, music that we watch and listen to does influence our minds whether we want to admit it or not. I remember back when I didn’t care too much about God I listened to and watched some very dark media. These all perverted my thoughts. Whenever I got angry I listened to popular rappers, 50 Cent/Eminem, or heavy metal album Queen of the Damned. Now, I’m not mentioning these because I’m saying they should be banned. I’m just saying that hey, what we put inside of us changes us.

Music is pretty much everywhere, in all forms of entertainment. We hear it in movies, television commercials, many of us play it when we study, when we go to sleep, while driving and even when we wake up. So with that, the lyrics that we listen to, the essence of the sound influences our minds, bodies and even our very souls.

Thank goodness that God caught my heart in time before I acted on some of my thoughts. I say some of my thoughts, because to be honest, I did act immorally on many; cursing, cutting, lusting..just to name a few.

Now what does this have to do with trouble coming? Well, since I was once a part of this junk I couldn’t really see anything since my eyes were dimmed with darkness. Now, one of the troubles that one faces as a believer is lack of hope. This is a faith shattering trouble.  The lack of hope comes as a result of the corruption in the world. I see so much corruption in the world that we live in today, murder, rape, folks being so hateful towards the Gospel of Jesus Christ/the Gospel of perfect love, that I wonder to myself sometimes what’s the point. Whenever the Holy Spirit calls us to speak the Gospel and we keep quiet we believers ourselves are rejecting God. When we reject God, we sin, and as many know, sin separates us from God. Then through our separation we often feel drought-ed of God’s presence. Then we start questioning our own faith. I have a mate whom once believed in God and then sadly, for whatever reason, could be this,  just stopped believing in His existence. How devastating!

Hebrews 10
26 “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

This is just one of the many forms of trouble, which kills our faith without our even knowing. Spreading the Gospel is every believers’ mission. For one, when eyes are opened to the Truth and the love of Jesus Christ is felt, one begins to hate the things that which the Lord hates, sin. The only anti-dote to sin is Jesus Christ. No other way can save us from our sins.

John 14:
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We believers are called to spread the Gospel, because Jesus Himself commanded us to do so. To reject His command is an act of disobedience and is sin.

Matthew 28:
19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Other troubles may come in financial bankruptcy, loss of a family member. We cry out to God, why? Why me, or why us? We never really know why God does the things He does. However, we know that God is eternally good and He never gives us too much that we cannot bear.

1 Corinthians 10:
13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

Plus with Him as our Rock we can overcome any trouble we may face. All physical bodies return to the ground from whence it came at some point. A family member/relative or friend physically leaving the earth is inevitable. Sure we miss them, but the way I see it, the real loss is when while still on earth, the passed away one rejected Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Money is great to have. However, we can’t take it along with us when we leave this earth. So basically, we shouldn’t get too attached to it. Besides, any earthly riches that we gain are to be used for the glory of God. That is, to help others in need. Accumulating money whereby it remains stationary in an account is pointless. Earthly wealth is temporary, so we should not let our desire for it consume us. Let God be always first in our hearts.

Sometimes we need to break something down, like a house, to make it into a better one. I believe many times God does this in our lives. As we did not create ourselves, God did, we can’t possibly know everything about ourselves. However, God does. He knows the number of strands of hair on our bodies, the very nature of our hearts. Sometimes there’s something that’s preventing us from becoming the person God intended us to be. So a certain amount of “trouble” comes into our lives in order to bring us into “full mode” with God.  We go to school, study, and at the end of the semester we get a bunch of exams. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like exams much, but it’s a wonderful reward when the results come out and my performance was outstanding. It’s then that I realize that I truly know my academics.  In the same instance, when we overcome our spiritual troubles, it is truly wonderful. Our faith is strengthened and we walk a step closer to God. God always allows Himself as a solution to our troubles. No matter what they may be.

Our walk to glory was not intended to be easy.

Luke 24:
26 “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

If we intend to be Christ like, it can’t be any different for us.

John 16:
33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Followers of Jesus Christ, like Him so too shall be persecuted by worshipers of hate. More trouble! But….

Matthew 5:
10 “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Non-believers themselves face many more troubles. Non-believers most often live by the standards of society. Clearly the standards of society have be corrupted. Since non-believers have no faith or hardly, little faith, they often have a harder time getting out of their ditch. It is only through God, through the love of Jesus Christ, that we are delivered out of despair, out of our troubles. This is why it is the duty of us believers to spread the Gospel, those who chose to receive shall be saved. Those whom do not shall remain slaves to unrighteousness.

John 8:
34 Jesus answered them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”

One might say there are non-believers whom live moral lives. True, but none of us are without sin. Sin separates us from God so we need to have faith in His plan for salvation to gain eternal life. Physical death is only to be feared when one have not received the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Non-believers claim that we believers often “shove our God down their throats”, and want non-believers to believe in God out of fear. Certainly not! Believers of the One True living God are often so overwhelmed by God’s love they just want folks to know it as well. A relationship with Jesus Christ is the best relationship of anyone’s lifetime! Many believers were once slaves of sin, once enslaved we searched endlessly for ways out and found the only way out through Jesus Christ. We feel it to be our duty to tell others of this remedy. My mates, the scary place is hell, an eternal hell is even scarier. You don’t believe in the existence of hell? Well, this is your decision but I do believe with this mentality you’re headed for trouble! An eternal one at that. Dear non-believer, it is of your best interest to sought out Jesus with your heart. It’s not going to be easy, life on earth is not easy for any one. Well, it certainly hasn’t been easy for me. So what’s the difference? The eternal love /comfort of God is. I shouldn’t tell you this, but before I used to make my passwords all related to folks whom I care for. We human beings often let each other down. As a result, my passcodes have changed many times. My passcodes are now all related to God in one way or another, the relations haven’t changed since. God does not fail me! I don’t often understand His actions, but should I really? He wouldn’t be God if I did. I don’t even always understand my own actions, much less!

Psalm 73:
​​​​​​​​28 “But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.”

Regardless of the troubles we face, in everything we do, may we do it for the glory of the Lord God. May we love Him, love others and love ourselves!

Hebrews 10:
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while,

“He who is coming will come and will not delay.

38 But my righteous one will live by faith.

And if he shrinks back,

I will not be pleased with him.”

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Amen!

After centuries of attacks on the Holy Bible, the Bible still stands strong today, and so it will continue to be proclaimed forever more. Why? Simply because it is the Word of the living God. Thus one thing we ought to remember is that we believers needn’t ever argue on the validity of God’s Words. After many attacks the Bible has proven Itself to be historically sound.

Therefore, we only need to proclaim the Bible, It’ll defend Itself like a lion out of its cage so too defends itself.

There are times when I fail to follow this law like the way my Lord so does, so is.

John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I do believe when we fail to love we reject Jesus Christ, because He is love. Though it may not have been our intentions, but ultimately this is what happens. Sadly.

Let’s remind ourselves shall we?

1 Corin 13:

3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, ^b but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

So let’s be loving, shall we?

In His Love,
Lisa

There are those that seek Jesus with all their heart and others whom seek Him with dishonourable intentions. However, in the act of their wickedness they come to see Him and find out that they could only ‘condemn’ Him for the love that He is. Moreso, will even come to find that the magnitude of His love, grace and mercy far outweighs the discrete ideology of the mind.

Either way, all tongues shall confess that Jesus is Lord. One way or the other.  :)

God bless.