8/20/15

From Mark Copeland... "GIVE ME THE BIBLE" The Problem Of Biblical Illiteracy

                          "GIVE ME THE BIBLE"

                   The Problem Of Biblical Illiteracy

INTRODUCTION

1. A growing problem is one of biblical illiteracy...
   a. Not just by those in the world
   b. Also in the church
   -- "Americans revere the Bible - but, by and large, they don't read
      it. And because they don't read it, they have become a nation of
      biblical illiterates." - George Gallup and Jim Castelli

2. How bad is it?  Consider these results from various surveys...
   a. Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels
   b. Many professing Christians cannot identify more than two or three
      of the disciples
   c. 60 percent of Americans can't name even five of the Ten Commandments
   d. 82 percent of Americans believe "God helps those who help
      themselves" is a Bible verse
   e. 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife
   f. A survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50
      percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife
   g. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that
      the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham
   -- "Increasingly, America is biblically illiterate." - George Barna

[Biblical illiteracy is like a poison, wreaking havoc in the lives of
individuals, in our churches, and in our communities.  To understand
how, consider...]

I. THE POISON OF BIBLICAL ILLITERACY

   A. ITS EFFECT ON INDIVIDUALS...
      1. God's people have always been destroyed by lack of knowledge
         - Hos 4:1,6
      2. Where there is lack of God's Word, the people faint - cf. Am 8:11-13
         a. In ignorance they make the wrong choices
         b. When they stumble, they do not know where to turn
      3. Without a knowledge of God's Word, a person has...
         a. No real direction or guidance in life - Psa 119:105
         b. No true joy or peace in life - Psa 119:111,165
      -- How many lives are being destroyed, how many people are
         stumbling through life, because they do not have the light of
         God's Word guiding them?

   B. ITS EFFECT ON CHURCHES...
      1. Churches languish for lack of teachers; teachers are few for
         lack of knowledge - He 5:12
      2. Churches are led astray by false teachers and false doctrine,
         for how can the ignorant know what is false? - cf. 2Pe 2:1-3
      -- How many churches are "dying on the vine", or into wholesale
         apostasy because their members cannot discern between truth and error?

   C. ITS EFFECT ON COMMUNITIES...
      1. Our standards of morality are skewed, where good is evil and
         evil is good - cf. Isa 5:20
         a. We slaughter the innocent (abortion), sparing the guilty (no
            capital punishment)
         b. We reward the wicked (movie stars, entertainers), depriving
            the good (teachers, etc.)
         c. Divorce is made easy, adultery looked upon lightly,
            fornication "an affair, a relationship", homosexuality an
            alternative lifestyle
      2. The effect of such things destroy our families and communities
         a. Evil (pornography, promiscuity) is allowed to spread in the
            name of "freedom", ripping families apart
         b. Children are deprived the kind of parenting that is their
            God-given right
         c. Leading to juvenile delinquency and greater evils
      -- Consider how the moral fabric of our nation and others in the
         world is becoming unraveled when "everyone does what is right
         in his own eyes" - cf. Judg 21:25

[The poison of Biblical illiteracy has infected and sickened our people,
our churches, and our communities.  Is there an antidote to this poison?
Indeed there is...]

II. THE ANTIDOTE TO BIBLICAL ILLITERACY

   A. DAILY DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING IN PRIVATE...
      1. The truly blessed person feeds upon the Word of God daily - Psa1:1-3; 119:97-98
      2. A systematic practice of prayerful Bible reading as part of a
         daily devotional...
         a. Will bring a person closer to God
         b. Will gradually increase one's understanding of the Word of God
         c. Will offer strength, comfort and hope that only the
            Scriptures provide
      -- Are you willing to do your part, everyday, in stamping out
         Biblical illiteracy?

   B. FREQUENT IN-DEPTH BIBLE STUDY WITH OTHERS...
      1. The faithful Christian realizes the value of mutual edification
         - He 3:12-14; 10:24-25
      2. Churches often provide the opportunity for Christians to study together
         a. In their Bible classes on the Lord's day, during the week,
            and in their homes
         b. Where they can benefit from the knowledge of other Bible students
      -- Are you willing to participate in such activities to stamp out
         Biblical illiteracy?

   C. PARENTS ACCEPTING THEIR GOD-GIVEN RESPONSIBILITY...
      1. God gave the responsibility of spiritual training to the
         parents - cf. Deu 6:6-7; Ep 6:4
      2. Church may provide assistance with their children's classes,
         and yet...
         a. Parents should not abdicate their responsibility to the church
         b. Parents should be very much involved in the teaching
            programs of any church
      -- Are you willing to accept your parental duties to stamp out
         Biblical illiteracy?

   D. PREACHERS FULFILLING THEIR DUTY TO THE WORD...
      1. Preachers are to give heed to the Word, and to preach the Word
         - 1Ti 4:16; 2Ti 4:1-5
      2. We should expect preachers to be "men of the Book"
         a. Preaching and teaching the Word of God, providing exposition
            of the Scriptures
         b. Not entertaining us with "pop theology" and "pop psychology"
      -- Are you willing to require that preachers proclaim the Word to
         stamp out Biblical Illiteracy?

CONCLUSION

1. I was encouraged to prepare this study reading an article by Albert
   Mohler (The Scandal of Biblical Illiteracy: It's Our Problem)

2. I thought his concluding paragraphs to be especially on the mark...
   a. "Churches must recover the centrality and urgency of biblical
      teaching and preaching, and refuse to sideline the teaching
      ministry of the preacher. Pastors and churches too busy--or too
      distracted--to make biblical knowledge a central aim of ministry
      will produce believers who simply do not know enough to be
      faithful disciples."
   b. "We will not believe more than we know, and we will not live
      higher than our beliefs. The many fronts of Christian compromise
      in this generation can be directly traced to biblical illiteracy
      in the pews and the absence of biblical preaching and teaching in
      our homes and churches."
   c. "This generation must get deadly serious about the problem of
      biblical illiteracy, or a frighteningly large number of Americans
      --Christians included--will go on thinking that Sodom and Gomorrah
      lived happily ever after."

Are we willing to get "deadly serious about the problem of biblical
illiteracy"?  I hope the rest of the lessons in this series ("Give Me
The Bible") will encourage us to do so...

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

Noah’s Flood and The Epic of Gilgamesh by Kyle Butt, M.A.Harrison Chastain


https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=13&article=5194

Noah’s Flood and The Epic of Gilgamesh

by  Kyle Butt, M.A.
Harrison Chastain

One of the most remarkable and memorable stories in the Bible is that of Noah’s Flood. One man’s righteousness and courage separated him and his family from a vile world of sin. God’s disgust at the world’s wickedness brought about the worldwide Flood in which Noah and the other seven members of his family were the only humans saved, along with representatives of each kind of land-living animal that was alive at the time. This story is so well-known that virtually every children’s Bible story book features a rendition of it, and there are numerous references to it in the New Testament.
As could be expected, some who have read the story in Genesis 6-9 have questioned its validity. How could so many animals fit in the Ark? What would a global Flood even look like? How could the Ark float while being loaded down with so much cargo? Etc. When each of these questions is considered, sufficient answers are available to show that the biblical narrative is both scientifically accurate and historically correct (see Miller, 2014). One challenge that has been repeatedly brought against the biblical account of the Flood is that the author copied the story from previously written material. The most common claim is that the biblical Flood story is a rewrite of an ancient tale from Babylon titled The Epic of Gilgamesh.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a 2,900-line poem, written on 12 tablets, describing the life of King Gilgamesh and his reign over an area near the perennial powerhouse of Babylon. The tablets date back to about 650 B.C.; and scholars suggest that the material they contain comes from legend and myth that dates back to between 1800-1600 B.C. (Kovacs, 1989, p. xxvi). The 11th tablet of this work contains an account of a massive flood. Supposedly since it predates the biblical account, and is so similar to the story found in the Bible, then the author of Genesis must have copied material from Gilgamesh or its source material. Does this challenge to the biblical record hold up under a thorough investigation? Not at all.

Does the Fact that One Account is First Prove the Later Account is a Copy?

In discussions of this nature, it is often helpful to ask the simple question of what would the situation look like if there really was a global flood that destroyed all but a few people. If those people survived such a flood, what would they have told their descendants? What would have happened in the retelling of the events when their children and grandchildren moved farther away from each other? After such an event, and so many retellings of the story over hundreds of years, would we expect to find differing tales that trace their origins back to the actual event? A brief moment of thought about these questions reveals that if a universal flood occurred, we would expect to find differing stories with (certain similarities) that date hundreds or thousands of years apart, and that arise from various geographical locations and ethnic groups across the globe.
Interestingly, that is exactly what we find. There are over 200 flood legends in different cultures all over the world. For instance, the Aztecs tell of a worldwide flood in which only two people, Coxcox and his wife, survived. Immediately following the flood, giants constructed a pyramid in an attempt to touch the clouds. In China, the legend is told of God sending a messenger to Earth to warn three sons that a flood was coming. The oldest was the only one to heed the warning, and he built a boat. As a result of his hard work he survived the flood. After the flood, the boat landed on a mountain, and the son had three sons that repopulated the earth. These are just two of the numerous flood legends from around the world (see Lyons and Butt, 2003 for more information).
The fact that one of these stories (such as Gilgamesh or various others) was preserved or written down first cannot be used to argue that it is (a) the correct and accurate description of what happened, or (b) the basis for the text of any narrative that was recorded at a later date. To illustrate, suppose that a certain battle occurred in the American Civil War. One soldier who was not there, but heard about it, told his friend. His friend embellished the story as he retold it to many others. One of those to whom he told the story decided to write it down just a few years after the battle occurred. Decades later, however, a young officer who took part in the battle decided to write a history of it. His memory was exceptional and he related the events much more accurately than the story that was being passed around by the soldier who was not even at the battle. If such events are possible, even probable, then we can show that simply because one telling of a historical event predates another does not make it more accurate, and does not mean the later story copied from it in anyway.

How Similar is Gilgamesh to the Genesis Account?

Even though the two accounts of the global Flood have similarities, it is actually quite striking to see the differences that exist between the stories. For instance, Gilgamesh tells of a man named Utnapishtim who, as a result of various gods wanting to destroy all people, was warned to build a boat 120 cubits on four sides by 120 cubits high, making the vessel a giant cube. The boat was finished apparently in five-six days, having six decks, and was loaded with gold, silver, ale, beer, butchered meat, “wine as if it were river water,” and a host of living animals. Just before the boat launched, the god Shamash rained down loaves of bread and wheat from heaven. Utnapishtim and all his family got in the boat, and a massive flood broke apart the Earth and drenched the ground for seven days. When it stopped and Utanapishtim looked out, “all the human beings had turned to clay.” The survivor then waited seven days and sent forth a dove, a swallow, and a raven. The dove and swallow returned, but the raven did not. The survivors then exited the boat and sacrificed to the gods. When the god Enlil saw that humans had survived, he was furious because “no man was to survive the annihilation.” The god Enlil then blessed Utanapishtim and his wife with the ability to be like gods and live an extended life (these details are taken from Kovacs’ translation of the poem, 1989, pp. 99-103).
While the similarities between Gilgamesh and the account of the Flood in Genesis are striking, there are vast differences that the Genesis-copied-Gilgamesh theory does not adequately explain. Why are the number of decks and the dimensions of the Ark different? How does Utnapishtim finish such a massive boat in so brief a time? Why such a large difference in the two accounts between how long the flood lasted (in the Bible Noah and his family don’t exit the Ark for a year, while Utnapishtim seems to spend only two weeks or a little more on the cubical boat). Why doesn’t the Genesis account include the swallow? Why does Gilgamesh say that one of the gods is unaware of the survivors?
The skeptic who insists that Genesis plagiarized Gilgamesh is then obligated to account for the various and serious differences. Once it is admitted, and it must be, that the Genesis account had some other source than Gilgamesh for those differences (i.e. God), then it must be conceded that the Genesis account could also have gotten all the details from that source, including the ones that are similar to the Babylonian poem.

What Would We Expect?

A closer look at The Epic of Gilgamesh presents Gilgamesh as a pagan, idolatrous king who tyrannically imposed his will on the land. One of his laws was to participate in sexual intercourse with every girl in his territory before they were married. This literature is just what one would expect from a society that had departed from the worship of the true God and distorted His Laws as well as an accurate account of the past. When we evaluate the biblical record, we can know that it was penned by Moses (Lyons, et. al., 2003) and is the most historically reliable collection of writings from the ancient world (Butt, 2004). The discovery of The Epic of Gilgamesh and other ancient writings that contain Flood stories does not call the Genesis account into question. On the contrary, it provides evidence that verifies the fact of a global Flood, and is exactly what any person who has given the idea much thought would expect to happen if the Flood were a historic reality.

References

Butt, Kyle (2004), “Archaeology and the Old Testament,” Apologetics Press, https://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=13&article=1347.
Kovacs, Maureen Gallery (1989), The Epic of Gilgamesh (Standford, CA: Stanford University Press).
Lyons, Eric and A.P. Staff (2003), “Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch: Tried and True,” Apologetics Press, https://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=36.
Lyons, Eric and Kyle Butt (2003), “Legends of the Flood,” Apologetics Press, http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=64.
Miller, Jeff (2014), “Bill Nye/Ken Ham Debate Review: Tying Up Really Loose Ends, Apologetics Press, http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=4801.

God’s Wood or Man’s Plastic? by Dave Miller, Ph.D.


https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=1554

God’s Wood or Man’s Plastic?

by  Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Evolutionists are confident in their conviction that their explanations demonstrate their independent, autonomous existence to the exclusion of God. They literally “jump through hoops” and engage in scientific “ventriloquism” in their quest to achieve legitimacy for their atheistic bent. However, when all relevant evidence eventually comes to light, it fits “hand in glove” with the presence of the God of the Bible.
Prior to the invention of modern plastics, what would the Creator have humans to do for suitable containers? Wood, stone, or clay, and eventually metal, pretty much exhausted the possibilities. Yet, government agencies, like the USDA and the FDA, generally have advocated the use of plastic for cutting boards and other surfaces that sustain food contact, on the grounds that the micropores and knife cuts in wood provide hidden havens for deadly bacterial organisms. As one Extension Specialist from the Department of Human Nutrition stated: “for cleanability and control of microorganisms, plastic is the better choice.”
However, the best research available on the subject suggests otherwise. Dr. Dean Cliver, a microbiologist with the Food Safety Laboratory and World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Food Virology at the University of California-Davis, disputes the oft’-repeated claim regarding the superiority of plastic over wood. His research findings, conducted over a period of several years, have consistently demonstrated the remarkable antibacterial properties of wood.
Dr. Cliver and his research associates have tested five life-threatening bacteria (Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter jejuni, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus) on four plastic polymers and more than ten species of hardwood, including hard maple, birch, beech, black cherry, basswood, butternut, and American black walnut. Within 3 minutes of inoculating wooden boards with cultures of the food-poisoning agents, 99.9 percent of the bacteria were unrecoverable. On the other hand, none of the bacteria tested under similar conditions on plastic died. In fact, leaving microbe populations on the two surfaces overnight resulted in microbial growth on the plastic boards, while no live bacteria were recovered from wood the next morning. Interestingly, bacteria are absorbed into the wood, but evidently do not multiply, and rarely if ever come back alive. In contrast, bacteria in knife scars in plastic boards remain viable (even after a hot-water-and-soap wash) and maintain their ability to surface later and contaminate foods. Treating wood cutting boards with oils and other finishes to make them more impermeable actually retards wood’s bactericidal activity. Microbiologists remain mystified by their inability to isolate a mechanism or agent responsible for wood’s antibacterial properties.
Do these research findings bear any resemblance to Mosaic injunctions 3,500 years ago which required the destruction of pottery that had become contaminated—while wood was simply to be rinsed (Leviticus 6:28; 11:32-33; 15:12)? Dr. Cliver concluded: “I have no idea where the image of plastic’s superiority came from; but I have spent 40 years promoting food safety, and I would go with plastic if the science supported it. I don’t necessarily trust ‘nature,’ but I do trust laboratory research.” Kudos to Dr. Cliver’s honesty. What about trusting nature’s God?

REFERENCES

Cliver, Dean O. (2002), “Plastic and Wooden Cutting Boards,” Unpublished manuscript.
Cliver, Dean O. (2002), personal letter.
Penner, Karen (1994), “Plastic vs. Wood Cutting Boards,” Timely Topics, Department of Human Nutrition, K-State Research and Extension.
Raloff, Janet (1993), “Wood Wins, Plastic Trashed for Cutting Meat,” Science News, 143[6]:84-85, February 6.
Raloff, Janet (1997), “Cutting Through the Cutting Board Brouhaha,” Science News Online, Food For Thought, July 11.

Complex Jellies Jump 200 Million Years by Kyle Butt, M.A.


https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=2374

Complex Jellies Jump 200 Million Years

by  Kyle Butt, M.A.

New finds surface every day in the scientific community that remind us of the inadequacy of evolutionary explanations about the natural world. A recent discovery of fossilized jellyfish is just such a find. Until a few months ago, the oldest fossilized jellyfish were supposed to be about 300 million years old [NOTE: The millions-of-years scenario is false, cannot be verified, and is based on faulty assumptions. I am referring to it, not to suggest that it is valid, but to show how dramatically evolutionists themselves must adjust it.]
In October, 2007, Paulyn Cartwright and her team of researchers reported finding and studying several fossilized jellyfish, which they dated to be about 505 million years old (2007). In a news release discussing the research, Jen Humphrey stated: “Cartwright said the jellyfish described in the article are also unique because they push the known occurrence of definitive jellyfish back from 300 million to 505 million years, a huge jump, and show more detail than anything previously described that is younger” (2007).
Notice that with a single fossil discovery, the alleged age of jellyfish jumps a gargantuan 200 million years. Does it not throw serious doubt on geological time that the time can be adjusted so quickly, with such little evidence? And where are all the jellyfish fossils from the alleged period of 300-500 millions years ago? Obviously, they were alive and thriving, but a record of their existence in the rocks is absent.
What is more, Cartwright and her team mentioned the detail that was preserved in the “old” jellies. What does the detail show? The detail shows that the jellyfish that are supposedly 500 million years old look like jellyfish that are five years old. They have hardly changed at all in “500 million years.” Cartwright and colleagues stated: “Further, some of these fossils share commonalities with modern cnidarian orders and families...” (2007, emp. added). Jen Humphrey, breaking Cartwright’s research down to a popular level of understanding, wrote:
[T]he researchers said that there is enough detail to assert that the types can be related to the modern orders and families of jellyfish. The specimens show the same complexity. That means that either the complexity of modern jellyfish developed rapidly roughly 500 million years ago, or that the group is even older and existed long before then (2007, emp. added).
Isn’t evolutionary theory grand? On the one hand, it purports to explain how things evolve so quickly that they leave no fossils. On the other hand, it alleges that jelly fish were so well adapted that they did not change for 500 million years. In truth, that which explains too much, explains nothing.
Do evolutionists really expect us to believe that humans evolved from an ape-like creature to our present state of complexity in about 10 million years, but that jelly fish remained virtually unchanged for 500 million years? Why do evolutionists suggest that the fossilized jellies are millions of years old if they look just like modern jellies? The only reason is that the jellies were found in falsely dated rock. It is time that we demand that reason be applied to evolutionary dating methods and allegations about animal antiquity. If evolution really does what evolutionists claim, jellies would have evolved to such a level of complexity in 500 million years that they could build submarines and launch torpedoes at their prey. But, alas, they are still just jelly fish.
“Old” jellyfish look like “modern” jellyfish for a very simple reason that has nothing to do with evolution. When God spoke the world into existence, He instructed plants and animals to multiply “after their kind” (Genesis 1:21,24). Jellyfish have been faithfully doing just that since the beginning of Creation.

REFERENCES

Cartwright, Paulyn, et al. (2007), “Exceptionally Preserved Jelly Fish from the Middle Cambrian,” PLoS One Beta, [On-line], URL: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone. 0001121;jsessionid=7734CFFE68E81C3AC5BF038E7413D017.
Humphrey, Jen (2007), “Fossil Record Reveals Elusive Jellyfish More Than 500 Million Years Old,” [On-line], URL: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/plos-frr103007.php.

Founders En Masse Advocated Christianity by Dave Miller, Ph.D.


https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=2089

Founders En Masse Advocated Christianity

by  Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Popular propaganda spouted for half a century or more claims that the Founders and Framers of America were deists and largely irreligious men who sought to establish a secular society that celebrates all ideologies, religions, and philosophies as equally valid. This sinister “diversity” myth has inflicted untold damage on American society, bringing the nation literally to the brink of disaster.
The failure of the average citizen to examine the facts and assess the gravity of the situation is inexcusable. In reality, the religious orientation of the architects of American civilization, and their view regarding its importance to the establishment and perpetuation of the Republic, is easily ascertainable. Rather than wade through the myriad pages and books that purport to depict American history accurately, all one need do is simply reread the organic utterances issued by the Founders as they orchestrated the founding.
Though not including all those who rightly wear the appellation “Founder,” nevertheless, the Continental Congress comprised a substantial portion of those men, and they may clearly be designated quintessential Founders (see Miller, 2009, p. 3). They certainly constitute a representative cross section of the men who brought the Republic into existence. Consider one sample among many in which the Continental Congress en masse issued a proclamation to the entire population of the country on March 19, 1782:
The United States in Congress assembled...think it their indispensable duty to call upon the several states, to set apart the last Thursday in April next, as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer...that He would incline the hearts of all men to peace, and fill them with universal charity and benevolence, and that the religion of our Divine Redeemer, with all its benign influences, may cover the earth as the waters cover the seas (Journals of..., 22:137-138, emp. added).
The “Divine Redeemer” is Jesus Christ. Calling for Christ’s religion to “cover the earth as the waters cover the seas” is a direct allusion to two Old Testament passages—Isaiah 11:9 and Habakkuk 2:14.
 The Founders insisted that the stability of the Republic depends on the Christian religion, with its moral principles and spiritual framework. They felt that though other religions may certainly be tolerated in America, the peculiar doctrines and practices of those religions must not be allowed to alter the laws and institutions of the nation. Nor must those doctrines and practices do any physical harm to Americans or violate Christian morality (e.g., polygamy, homosexuality, and abortion). The Founders would be horrified at the notion of “political correctness” and its corrosive, destructive influence. They would have difficulty believing that Americans would ever even consider allowing Sharia law to be included in our courts, schools, or government. The Founders never asked that Hinduism cover the Earth, nor Islam, Buddhism, or Atheism. Rather, they begged God to cover the Earth with the religion of Christ as thoroughly and completely as the waters cover the oceans of the world.

REFERENCES

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 (1904-1937), ed. Worthington C. Ford, et al. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwjc.html.
Miller, Dave (2009), Christ and the Continental Congress (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).

From Gary... Pleasant things...


All jokes in the picture are cute in their own way, but I like the instagram one the best.  And after reading them I left with a warm, fuzzy feeling and lasted a long time (as you might have guessed- I like jokes). I imagine that quite a number of people like to read posts that make them feel good and ignore those that don't. But, what if your lifestyle NEEDED rebuke? What if you really needed to change how you life in order to please God? What then? How would you react if someone told you an unpleasant truth?

Consider...

Isaiah, Chapter 30 (WEB)
7 For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still.  8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever.  9 For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear Yahweh’s law;  10 who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and to the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits.  11 Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”  12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it;  13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.  14 He will break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won’t be found among the broken piece a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”  15 For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, “You will be saved in returning and rest. Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence.” You refused,  16 but you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”; therefore you will flee; and, “We will ride on the swift”; therefore those who pursue you will be swift.  17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five, you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill.  18 Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him. 

Too long America has turned its back on God. Too many Bibles remained closed and far too many people sit at home on Sunday- to get their "needed" rest.  Political correctness dictates that its not appropriate to even speak of God. This nonsensical thinking needs to be stopped!!!  I like something I read on facebook this morning by presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson...

 “We have to stop listening to these people who tell us that we cannot talk about God, we cannot talk about our faith,” the retired neurosurgeon said.  

https://cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/carson-stop-listening-these-people-who-tell-us-we-cannot-talk-about?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=marketing&utm_campaign=n-carson-god

The time has come for our country to listen to "hard things" and change for the better. Jesus reached out to people in love; he healed their diseases, addressed their misconceptions of God and his word and suffered and died for their sins. But, what many people conveniently forget is that he spoke about HELL more than anyone else.  

So, smile at the pleasant jokes, but at the same time, listen to God. Change as needed- you will have an eternity in heaven to be thankful you did!!!