Does this remind anyone of THE ONE?

A CALL TO LIBERTY

We believe that true liberty is the exercise of freedom by the individual as he exercises personal responsibility in ALL things according to the Scriptures. Based on Philippians 2, consider the following outline:

I. TYRANNY AND BONDAGE

    A. Definition of tyranny: The arbitrary or despotic exercise of power over subjects and others with a rigor not authorized by law or justice and not requisite for the purpose of government. To exercise power simply to prove one has such power; often synonymous with cruelty and oppression; to gain sufficient control over another to force the other to do the former's service at will. ...makes one think both of the ongoing US congress, and to a lesser extent legalism!

    B. Definition of bondage: Involuntary servitude; imprisonment; captivity; to be brought under the control of another; restraint of a person's liberty by compulsion.

    C. Types of tyranny leading to bondage...check out Paul's statements in Romans 7
       1. Gradual and relaxed dependency upon another for my provision and/or protection. What about the current government's 'stimulus package'?
       2. Urgency demanded by another calling for my immediate reaction of dependence upon them.
       3. Intimidation by another forcing one to act against his will. This could be oppression by Satan through fear: fear of poverty, fear of death, fear of consequences of sin, etc.
       4. Brute violence that brings force upon one to submit to the will of the violent one...communism, etc.

II. FREEDOM

    A. The God-given capacity to do as one thinks best without any restraint or control, except the laws of nature.

    B. To be released or exempt from restraints or controls.

    C. Aligning one's mind to agreement with God's Word to learn the truth. Abiding in the truth learned and agreed with sets one free from the restraint of sin, ignorance (biblical 'darkness') and the arbitrary opinions of others. This could include legalism of Pharicaical rules etc. But Jesus said, "Know the TRUTH and the truth will set you free". ...gospel of John.

The Vagaries of My Old Age

Crankshaft
By Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers

The Work of the Holy Spirit

VIII. The Believer's Responsibility

A. Introduction
    1. Intelligent Motives-must recognize positional truth in order to have correct motives for living for God
    2. Prescribed Obligations-1 Cor 10:32 supernatural requirements placed upon the believer, therefore they need supernatural power to live-2 Pet 1:4; Eph 5:19-6:4; Col 3:16-4:2
    3. Dependence upon the Holy Spirit-only two powers to live by, your own or the Spirit's
    4. The Word of God-1 Cor 2:10-3:3-how you deal with the Word tells something about you-Col 3:16
    5. A Spiritual Transformation-what is true about who you were and who you are now "in Christ"
    6. Terminology Used - Spirit Filled
        a. The Spirit upon you in OT and Pentecost - John 14:16-17
       b. He that is Spiritual-Gal 6:1 - any believer
       c. Filled with the Spirit-Eph 5:18 - empowered to live according to the supernatural

B. The Power to Overcome Evil-John 15:5; 1 John 2:15-16; 5:4
    1. The World-the system of thinking and doing run by Satan, the prince of this world -John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11
    2. The Flesh-The tree/wood illustration
    3. The Devil-Satan-alive and well

C. The Power to Do Good
    1. The Fruit of the Spirit-John 15:1-11; Gal 5:22,23
        a. Love - An action for the benefit of another without regard of cost to oneself, which is

Inclusive of the Whole World
Exclusive of the World System
Inclusive of the True Church
Without End
Toward Israel
Sacrificial
Unrequited and Pure

We Old Folks Enter the Obama Era

The Work of the Holy Spirit

VII. The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Christian

A. Regeneration-Tit 3:5
1. The necessity - John 3:6; Eph 2:1-3
2. The impartation of Life - John 10:10; Rom 6:23; Eph 2:1-3
a. A Knowledge of God - 2 Pet 1:3-4
b. A New Reality in Prayer - Heb. 4:16
c. A New Reality in the Reading of God's Word - 1 Pet. 2:1
d. A Recognition of God's Family - 1 John 3:14
e. A Divine Compassion for a Lost World - 2 Cor 5:11
3. Acquisition of the Nature of God - 2 Pet 1:4
4. Induction into the Family and Household of God - Col 1:12
5. Inheritance of a Son's Portion - Rom 8:16-17
6. God's own Purpose to His Eternal Glory - Rom 8:28-30; Eph 2:10

B. The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
1. According to Revelation - John 14:17; Rom 8:9,11
2. In Relation to Anointing - 1 John 2:20,27
3. According to Reason
4. In Relation to Sealing - 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13; 4:30

C The Baptizing of the Holy Spirit
1. The Word "baptizo" - To place into and associate with that which you have been placed into
2. The Determining Scriptures - 1 Cor 12:12-13; Gal 3:27; Rom 6:1-4; Col 2:9-13; Eph 4:4-6; 1 Pet 3:21
3. The Thing Accomplished
a. Organic Union - Rom 11:17
b. The Fourfold prayer of Christ - John 17:11,21-23
c. The Only Ground for Imputed Righteousness - Rom 4:5; 5:17
d. Due Recognition of the Union - Eph 4:4-6
e. The Ground of Appeal for a Holy Life
4. The Distinctiveness
a. Not Regeneration - Regeneration is Christ in you; Baptism is you being placed in Christ
b. Not Indwelling - Indwelling is the Spirit in you; Baptism is you being placed in Christ at the beginning of your salvation
c. Not Filling - Filling is the Spirit empowering you for holy living, multiple times, Baptism happens one time.

Note from Midwest Christian Outreach Ministry

Take Notice of this Act of Mercy

War is never nice and the toll is difficult for family and friends to reconcile many times. Joy and I are very interested in history and the Second World War has always captured our attention. Some of the worst atrocities on mankind were committed and some of the most heroic and selfless acts in an attempt to save defenseless humans were carried out. One such story is that of Irena Sendler who has been attributed with saving 2,500 children during the holocaust. You may have seen an email going around recently the contents of which Snopes has confirmed.

There recently was the death of a 98-year-old lady named Irena Sendler. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an ulterior motive ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German). Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried, and she also carried in the back of her truck a Burlap sack, (for larger kids). She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.During her time and course of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save some 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs and arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it, and reunited the family. Most, of course, had been gassed. Those kids she helped were placed into foster family homes or adopted. Last year Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She LOST.
.........Al Gore won for doing a slide show on Global Warming.

America-on the Spiraling Downward Path, Part 13

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > U.S.

22-Year-Old's Virginity Auction Hits $3.7 Million
Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A San Diego woman who is auctioning off her virginity said she has now received a bid of $3.7 million, according to a published report.
Natalie Dylan, a 22-year-old San Diego woman, said she got the idea for the auction after her sister was able to pay for her college education after prostituting herself for three weeks, according to the London Telegraph.
Dylan has a degree in women's studies. She told the paper she hopes to pay for an advanced degree in family and marriage therapy with the proceeds from the auction.
She told the Telegraph that she doesn't think she's the only one who will benefit from the auction.
"I think me and the person I do it with will both profit greatly from the deal," Dylan told the paper.

America-on the Spiraling Downward Path, Part 12

A Chilling Account and a Word of Warning

Most Americans would probably be surprised to know that Sen. Edward Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, and former Vice President Al Gore all were once solidly anti-abortion. That seems almost incomprehensible now, but the record is clear -- and the pattern is chilling.
By the time Jesse Jackson and Al Gore came onto the national stage, abortion rights represented a major plank in the Democratic Party platform. Jackson had actually written attacks on the abortion culture, pointing to the disproportionate number of aborted African-American babies as evidence of racism. Al Gore ran for both Congress and the U.S. Senate on a pro-life record. When both men launched campaigns for the presidency, they changed positions on the abortion issue.
As for Ted Kennedy; he was pro-life as late as 1971, after New York had already legalized abortion. As Anne Hendershott documents in her article, "How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma," in 1971 Sen. Kennedy wrote to one of his Massachusetts constituents with these words: "When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."
From the very moment of conception. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Hendershott then explains:
But that all changed in the early '70s, when Democratic politicians first figured out that the powerful abortion lobby could fill their campaign coffers (and attract new liberal voters). Politicians also began to realize that, despite the Catholic Church's teachings to the contrary, its bishops and priests had ended their public role of responding negatively to those who promoted a pro-choice agenda.
Anne Hendershott wrote her article in light of the possibility that yet another Kennedy may sit in the U.S. Senate. "Caroline Kennedy knows that any Kennedy desiring higher office in the Democratic Party must now carry the torch of abortion rights throughout any race," she explains. Hendershott documents the assurances that Caroline Kennedy has already paid to the abortion rights movement: "Ms. Kennedy was so concerned to assure pro-abortion leaders in New York, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Dec. 18, that on the same day Ms. Kennedy telephoned New York Gov. David Patterson to declare interest in the Senate seat, 'one of her first calls was to an abortion rights group, indicating she will be strongly pro-choice.'"
Indeed, Caroline Kennedy's unusual campaign for the appointive senate term from New York -- the seat now held by Sen. Hillary Clinton -- has prompted her to reveal that she supports same-sex marriage and virtually unrestricted abortion rights. She opposes parental notification laws and seems to advocate the entire body of pro-abortion orthodoxy.
The most important section of Anne Hendershott's article does not concern Caroline Kennedy, however. Instead, she documents a strategic meeting in the 1970s when the Kennedy family met with liberal Catholic theologians to formulate a mechanism for changing their position on abortion -- and thus for taking the position directly opposed by their church.
Look carefully at Hendershott's narrative:
At a meeting at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, Mass., on a hot summer day in 1964, the Kennedy family and its advisers and allies were coached by leading theologians and Catholic college professors on how to accept and promote abortion with a "clear conscience."
The former Jesuit priest Albert Jonsen, emeritus professor of ethics at the University of Washington, recalls the meeting in his book "The Birth of Bioethics" (Oxford, 2003). He writes about how he joined with the Rev. Joseph Fuchs, a Catholic moral theologian; the Rev. Robert Drinan, then dean of Boston College Law School; and three academic theologians, the Revs. Giles Milhaven, Richard McCormick and Charles Curran, to enable the Kennedy family to redefine support for abortion.
Some of these names are well known, even to non-Catholics. Robert Drinan served in the U.S. Congress from 1971 to 1981, when Pope John Paul II ordered all ordained priests to refrain from electoral politics. Drinan was so pro-abortion that he opposed the partial-birth abortion ban until ordered by superiors to drop his opposition. Charles Curran, an ethicist and moral theologian, was later removed from the faculty of the Catholic University in America for his views in opposition to the church's teaching and authority. He currently teaches at Southern Methodist University.
Hendershott provides more details of the meeting at Hyannisport:
Mr. Jonsen writes that the Hyannisport colloquium was influenced by the position of another Jesuit, the Rev. John Courtney Murray, a position that "distinguished between the moral aspects of an issue and the feasibility of enacting legislation about that issue." It was the consensus at the Hyannisport conclave that Catholic politicians "might tolerate legislation that would permit abortion under certain circumstances if political efforts to repress this moral error led to greater perils to social peace and order."
Father Milhaven later recalled the Hyannisport meeting during a 1984 breakfast briefing of Catholics for a Free Choice: "The theologians worked for a day and a half among ourselves at a nearby hotel. In the evening we answered questions from the Kennedys and the Shrivers. Though the theologians disagreed on many a point, they all concurred on certain basics . . . and that was that a Catholic politician could in good conscience vote in favor of abortion.
This is a chilling account of a meeting that, without any doubt, contributed to the deaths of countless unborn babies. At this meeting the Kennedy family was handed a theological rationale that served as political cover. It was a rationale that allowed this powerful family to put its influence in service of abortion rights, even as family members continued to claim identity as members of their church.
There are important lessons here, to be sure. One lesson must be this: There will be theologians who seem ever ready to find a way to subvert the teachings of their church, even as they seek to remain in its employ and trust. The second lesson is like unto the first: There will ever be politicians who are looking for political cover, and will gladly receive this cover from those willing to subvert their church's teaching. These lessons are by no means limited to the Roman Catholic Church.
We are all in Anne Hendershott's debt for her documentation of this sad spectacle. The warning represented by this historical account is troubling to see, but impossible to miss.
....from the blog of Al Mohler

The Work of the Holy Spirit

Subject: Wed nite study guide...taken from L. S. Chafer's Systematic Theology, Vol 6

I. His Deity (See verses on Trinity)
A. The Holy Spirit possesses all the ATTRIBUTES of God. Some are:
1. Eternal- Heb. 9:14
2. Omnipotence- Lk. 1:35; Ro. 5:19
3. Omnipresence-Ps. 139:7-13
4. Omniscience- 1 Co. 2:10-11
5. Love - Gal 5:22
6. Faithfulness - Gal 5:22
7. Truthfulness- 1Jo.5:6
8. Holiness
a) His Name
b) The Unforgivable Sin -Mt 12:31-32..rejection of Christ, or blaspheming the Holy Spirit
9. Sovereignty Rom 11:36
10. Self-Existent
B. His Works declare Him to be God
1. Creation - Gen. 1:26-27; Job 33:4
2. Striving - Gen. 6:3; 2 Th. 2:7-8
3. Inspiration - 2 Ti. 3:16; 2 Pet 1:21
4. Generating Christ - Lk. 1:35
5. Convincing - Jo. 16:8-11
6. Restraining-2Th. 2:6-8 2
7. Regeneration - Ti. 3:5
8. Illumination - 1 Co. 2:14+?; Jo. 16:12-15
9. As a Paraclete - Jo. 13:1-17:26
a) Comforter
b) Helper
10. Witnessing - Ro. 8:16; Heb. 10:15; 1 Jn 5:9-10
11. Anointing - 2 Co. 1:21; 1 Jo. 2:27
12. Baptism 1 Cor 12:13
13. Sealing - 2 Co. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; 4:30
14. Filling- Eph. 5:18
15. Intercession - Ro. 8:26-27
16. Sanctification - Ez. 37:28; Ro. 15:16; 1 Co. 1:30
17. As an Earnest -2 Co. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14

II. Types and Symbols of the Holy Spirit
A. Oil - Ps. 45:7
B. Water - Jo. 3:5; 7:38-39; 14:4
C. Fire - Ex. 13:21; 1 Pet. 1:7
D. Wind - Jo. 3:8; Acts. 2:2; 2 Pet 1:21
E. Dove - Mt. 3:16
F. Earnest -2 Co. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14
G. Seal - Rev. 7:2
H. Abraham's Servant - Gen.24

III. The Holy Spirit and Prophecy
A. Author of Prophecy - 2 Ti. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21
1. Inspiration - God the Holy Spirit supernaturally directing the writers of Scripture without waiving their human intelligence, their individuality, their literary style, their personal feelings, or any other human factor, recording His own complete and coherent message to man in perfect accuracy, the very words of Scripture bearing the authority of divine authorship.
2. Foretelling - Predictive
3. Forthtelling - Declarative
B. The Subject of Prediction - The Work of God by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

IV. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament
A. From Adam to Abraham
1. Direct References -
a) Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13 - Creation
b) Gen. 6:3 - Restraining sin
c) Job 27:3; 33:4 - Our dependence on God the Holy Spirit for life.
2. The Revealer of Truth - Jud. 14-15
B. From Abraham to Christ - Different than today
1. Indwelling - Came upon people for some service
2. Baptizing - Foreign in OT, Imputed righteousness looked forward, Jo.8:56
3. Sealing- Foreign in OT
4. Filling - Same as Indwelling, Came upon people for some service

V. The Distinctive Character of the Present Age
A. The Church was a Mystery in the OT - Eph; Col. 1:26-27 - All prophecy of OT deals with trace the course and final destiny of Israel, the nations, angels, and the promised land.
B. A New Divine Purpose - the calling out from both Jews and Gentiles of a heavenly people, the bride and body of Christ.
C. An Age of Witnessing - Acts 1:8; 2 Co. 5:18-19
D. Israel Dormant - God's work with them is suspended Rom.11
E. Special Character of Evil - Gal. 1:4; 2 Th. 2:7; 2 Co. 4:3-4
F. An Age of Gentile Privilege - Mystery (see above)

VI. His Work in the World
A. The Restrainer of the Cosmos World 2 Th. 2:3-10
B. The one who convicts the unsaved - Jo. 16:8-11
1. of Sin
2. of Righteousness
3. of Judgment

VII. The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Christian
A. Regeneration - Ti. 3:5
1. The necessity - Jo. 3:6; Eph. 2:1-3
2. The impartation of Life - Jo. 10:10; Ro. 6:23; Eph. 2:1-3
a) A Knowledge of God - 2 Pet 1:3-4
b) A New Reality in Prayer - Heb. 4:16
c) A New Reality in the Reading of God's Word - 1Pet 2:1
d) A Recognition of God's Family - 1 Jo. 3:14

.........to be continued

The Name of the Game is ... ... CONTROVERSY

America-on the Spiraling Downward Path, Part 11

"In 1993, near the height of America's anger over out-of-control crime, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote a seminal article for the American Scholar on 'defining deviancy down.' Moynihan argued that crime had gotten so out of control, Americans responded by simply defining deviancy down until many crimes seemed normal. ... One response to the crime epidemic was to redefine violent crime as a 'public health issue.' Traditional law enforcement was simply incapable of dealing with the 'social pathologies' and 'root causes' of the wave of gun violence and the like. Fortunately, this approach, while far from dead, was relegated to the back burner by the successes of anti-crime initiatives in places like Rudy Giuliani's New York. The solution, it largely turned out, wasn't to become more tolerant of criminality by recasting it as a cultural or lifestyle choice or by invoking root causes (as The New York Times often did), but to become less tolerant of crime. In New York, turnstile jumpers, graffiti artists, even the infamous 'squeegee men' were treated as the lawbreakers they were. One heartening moral of the story is that sometimes deviancy can be defined back up. We learned a similar moral after 9/11. For years ... policymakers in both parties debated how to define terrorism. Is it a law-and-order issue or a military threat? If it's a military threat, how do we define a 'proportionate response' -- this legalistic phrase entered the national-security lexicon back then, too. By the end of the 1990s, the best and the brightest of the Clinton administration found the answer in a lawyerly kind of proportionality, blowing up empty office buildings as a way to 'send a message' in response to attacks on America and her interests. After 9/11, the gloves were off. The far left beseeched the government to retaliate with, at most, a proportionate response, but no one cared. We toppled the Taliban as a warm-up act. Terrorists weren't criminals anymore, they were enemy combatants, ineligible for the Geneva Conventions. But the war in Iraq and reports of American zeal in the war on terror have left a sour taste in our mouths. That there have been no terrorist attacks on our soil only bolsters the sense that terrorism is manageable, even banal. Barack Obama leads a counteroffensive from a legal establishment that wants to treat terrorists like any other criminals. Terrorists in Mumbai or Jeddah are little more than the squeegee men of the New World Order." --National Review Editor Jonah Goldberg