Born To Die

We caught part of Polar Express over the weekend.  The animation is great.  Towards the end of the movie the train conductor tells the boy that the meaning of Christmas resides within him.

How utterly sad.

How hopeless.

How depressing.

How humanistic.

I've been meditating on Ephesians 1:4-5 the past couple of days.  It was used in the Sunday sermon.
               According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
             of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
             him.
               Having predestinated [marked out beforehand] us unto the
             adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
             to the good pleasure of his will.

Absolutely none, not one twinkle of time as we know it is accidental.  No event in the life of any human is accidental.  Before the world was created, before time began God marked out [predestined] the redemptive story.  All of history, every single event, is part of the redemptive story and is therefore predestined by Him. 

That means that before time began the Godhead marked out Christ to die.

He was born for the express purpose of dieing.

The meaning of Christmas is found in Christ alone.

My heart leaps  for joy as I ponder that.  Thank God the meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with me.

Written by Nikki

Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanksgiving Prayer–Norman Rockwell

Now Thank We All Our God

Words by Martin Rinkart

Now thank we all our God

With hearts and hands and voices,

Who wondrous things hath done,

In whom His world rejoices;

who, from our mother's arms,

Hath blest us on our way

With countless gifts of love,

And still is ours today

O may this bounteous God

Through all our life be near us,

With ever joyful hearts

And blessed peace to cheer us;

And keep us in His grace,

And guide us when perplexed,

And free us from all ills

In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God

The Father now be given,

The Son and Him who reigns

With them in highest heaven,

The one eternal God,

Whom earth and heav'n adore;

For thus it was, is now,

And shall be evermore.

T'was the Day Before Thanksgiving

T'was the day before Thanksgiving and all through the house

all the creatures were stirring even Jacqueline the mouse.

The menu was posted on the bulliten board with care

in hopes that the dinner would soon be there.

The fat cats were snoozing all snug in the sun

while visions of gibblets danced on their tongue.

And Mom in her apron, wiping flour off her sleeve, 

was just sitting down to a hot cup of tea.

When out from the kitchen there arose such a clatter,

she sprang from her chair to see what was the matter.

Away to the kitchen she flew like a flash,

threw open the french doors, and drew a deep gasp.

When what to her wonderous eyes should appear,

but two magic dish fairies with all of their gear.

They wiped and they rinsed; they rubbed and they scrubbed

'til the dishes were free of dinner and grub.

As they hung the last dish towel, they said with a grin

Happy Thanksgiving to all, let the feasting begin.

Review of the Documentary 'Agenda: Grinding America Down'

The documentary Agenda: Grinding America Down is a great place to get some of the blinders removed. This documentary carefully introduces the history of the communist's party agenda to destroy America. This isn't a conspiracy theory movie. Idaho legislator Curtis Bowers spent two years researching the topic. During the course of the film he interviews people such as Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum, Mike Smith of HSLD, and the Honorable Edwin Meese III--all respectable members of the conservative movement.

Mr. Bowers begins by defining communism and its goals. He traces their history, not only in American politics, but also education and religion. He then illustrates the urgency needed to stop this movement and suggests tools whereby it could be accomplished.

As another election cycle is gearing up, this documentary could be a useful tool in your decision making process.

In his book Ethics, Dietrich Bonhoeffer states,

     "What is worse than doing evil is being evil.  It is worse for a liar
      to tell the truth than of a lover of truth to lie.  It is worse when a
      misanthropist practices brotherly love than when a
      philanthropist gives way to hatred."  (pg 67)

Why?  Shouldn't we rejoice when wickedness is turned away from?

The example that immediately comes to mind is Satan taking on the form of a serpent in order to deceive Eve.  At the core is evil.  He disguises himself in respectability and proceeds to wax eloquently.  It all sounded so good to Eve and Satan's entrapment was complete.  In reality, she did not equip herself to do battle with evil. 

For reasons that I don't understand, people have difficulty believing that our government would lie to us or use us.  The reality is that the evil of socialism has wrapped itself up in respectability.  We are made to feel guilty if we oppose welfare, or called a racist if we are against affirmative action, and declared unpatriotic and against the troops if we question foreign policy and the use of troops in the world. Vladimir Lenin said the the goal of socialism is communism. No one can question the inroads socialism has made in the past 10-15 years.

Success!

What could be better then tasting the 'fruit' of our labour?