Let me begin this post by saying that I never meant for this to be a “preachy” site or something I could use to force Christianity upon anyone. However I am a Christian. The teachings of Christ are what I believe in and they are the source of my strength. I can not help that it shines through in my everyday life. I do not apologize for it. I simply state it so that all will know where I stand. The fact of the matter is I came to a place in my life when I knew I did not measure up to God’s standard. When I looked at the character qualities that He called good, righteous, and holy, I simply did not see myself. I had lied, I had not always honored my father and mother, I had not loved the Lord God with all my heart, soul, and mind. I was a sinner. I knew I deserved judgement. All seemed hopeless to me. But then the veil was lifted. I saw my hero for the first time. It was as if Jesus Christ rode in victoriously on a steed called Love. His shield, forged from the mercy of God, covered me and protected me from the Enemy who wanted to destroy me. He then brandished His sword, Grace, and He crushed the sting of Death and Hell. He gave me a new heart with new desires and He gave to me a new life.

Earlier this year my family received a dizzying blow. My fifteen year old cousin was killed. I will not go into the details here but suffice it to say that it was an accident and his passing was untimely. My aunt has mourned his death and has wondered why this had to happen to her son. My other family members have not gone unscathed in this. Tyler’s death has caused them to wonder about God, death, life, the afterlife, and the meaning of it all. He was an upstanding young man whose potential was unfathomable. How could this happen? Where was God? However through this darkness it seems that a light has dawned. God has raised up His voice and proclaimed once again (albeit for a different reason) “Let there be light!” A change has come over my family. A change that involves…joy. God is beginning to heal the hurt. No wound goes without it’s time of pain and tenderness. But the pain does subside. Strength does return. So it is with my family’s wound. Now my aunt, her siblings, and others have a new excitement about what God is doing and will do in their lives. They know that this life is not all there is. They are beginning to see the fringes of God’s Kingdom. They are beginning to realize that there is more to life than just what we see.

What is the moral of this story? I enjoy studying and debating apologetics and theology. It’s my delight to study the difficult passages and seek out their meaning so that I might defend the Christian faith. But now I have seen a great truth demonstrated before my eyes. There is no argument or evidence in favor of Christianity that brings with it the same power and impact as the testimony of a broken heart that was mended.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” Isaiah 61:1

—Josh H.

First of all, I would like to welcome you all to the new and improved, “Christmas flavored” Smoak House. And I hope everyone found our domain change to be easy and painless. We appreciate your patience with us.

Now on with the topic at hand: Rocky. Let me start by saying that I have yet to see any of the Rocky movies in their entirety (I will soon be rectifying that). But I know the basic premise of the story. In the first film, a small-time boxer who is basically a nobody gets a chance to fight in a major event which catapults his career as a pugilist. The subsequent films continue his story of overcoming life’s obstacles. Even though I am not particularly a boxing fan, I am a sucker for stories that tell of the struggles, failures and triumphs of “the underdog”. So I am naturally drawn to movies like Rocky.

I have to admit that I had my doubts when I first heard about Sylvester Stallone’s new film “Rocky Balboa”. My first thought was that Sly must be hurtin’ for cash and was trying to play off of an old crowd pleaser (in much the same way as the Rolling Stones having a tour like every year whether they release a new album or not, because they can just play their old hits). Then today I was listening to the God’s Mac podcast in which the host was talking about the new Rocky film. He played some clips of an interview that Sylvester Stallone did with Motive Entertainment. In the interview, he spoke of how he grew up in a Christian home (his family is Catholic), but that once he got into “the real world he “lost his way. He admitted that he made some bad choices. It really got interesting when he went on to talk about the film itself.

Stallone stated that he had gone through alot of ups and downs in the last decade or so and he wanted to be able to tell some of the lessons in life, faith and values that he’s learned. But he pointed out that nobody cares about an actor. He needed to tell his story through a character that people knew and that people trusted. Rocky, he felt, was that character. He really felt that God was moving him in this direction and that it was Jesus that was prompting him to write this screenplay.

This is a great way to tell a story about faith and endurance through life’s hardships. The apostle Paul himself used many physical training analogies. One of the posters for “Rocky Balboa” picks up on this when it displays 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” In the interview Sly takes it a step further. He states that living for Christ is not something you can do on your own. Using the physical training analogy he says that we need a physical trainer. The church is a christian’s trainer. The church is where we get our nourishment. It’s through God’s word and the teaching thereof that we get our spiritual lives into shape so that we can fight the good fight. Many people have the attitude that since they have a “personal relationship” with God that they can do it alone and face life apart from the church. It is through fellowship with other believers and through learning God’s word together that a christian is best equipped to face this life. It will be interesting to see what sort of story Stallone tells through his Rocky character.

A website has been set up for the movie called Rocky Resources and I would encourage you to go to the website and click on the Greeting video on the right side of the site. What Sly has to say there interested me greatly and made me even more eager to check this movie out. Also you can get the mp3 for the Motive Entertainment interview on Rocky Resources under the Audio section of the site. I will certainly be setting aside time to see this movie. I don’t know if it will be great cinema but it (along with “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and similar movies) will be a step in the right direction of seeing the Kingdom come in the entertainment industry in a way that it has not been able to before.

Josh H.

Something that many people don’t know about me is that I am fascinated by the ancient Roman Empire. The Romans amaze me. They were ahead of their time in matters of law, warfare, government, technology, architecture. In many ways, Rome reminds me of America: proud, strong, wealthy. However, my fascination with Rome can be a two-edged sword because I see its more negative traits exhibited in America as well.

Now recently, I have been reading “The City of God” by St. Augustine, a book which came out of the author’s meditation on the fall of the Roman Empire. In it, Augustine covers everything from the fall of Rome to the miracles of the early church. The greater purpose of the book is to illustrate that there is a City of God and there a City of Man. These two cities are at enmity with one another. Of course the City of God will be the one to triumph (and indeed already has). He illustrates this by examining pagan religions, philosophical issues, and political/social happenings of his day (namely, the sacking of Rome). All of his digressions are meant to bring home the point that the City of God is made up of people who have chosen to live according to God’s precepts.

The first portion of the book is so interesting to me because it gives me a glimpse into Roman thought. Books I through V are a rebuttal of some of his contemporaries who blamed the sacking of Rome by the Goths, and the Empire’s subsequent end, on the Christians. After all it was the teachings of Christ that had lead to the abolition of worshipping the gods. The gods, they argued, brought this fate upon Rome for turning away from them and to the Christian faith. Augustine shows how calamities had come upon Rome in the past even while they served the gods. The historian Sallust stated that it was because Rome had become so powerful that it began to corrode from the inside. Indeed he said that between the second and third Punic wars (a series of wars fought against the ancient city of Carthage) is when Rome enjoyed its greatest harmony and its “pur[est] state of society. However, Sallust further states, this did not come out of their love of order but out of fear “lest the peace they had with Carthage might be broken.” Augustine points to Scipio Nasica, a Roman consul, who opposed the destruction of Carthage because if Carthage (and the fear thereof) was taken out of the way a host of evils would erupt out of Rome’s new found comfort in the absence of her enemies. Unfortunately, the Senate did not listen to Nasica and that is precisely what happened: bloodshed, civil wars, “the lust of rule”, etc. Thus inner corruption was its downfall and such corruption had begun to come upon Rome before Christ even appeared in the flesh.

“But the worshippers and admirers of these gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are nowise concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious. Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be glorious by its victories, or still better, secure in peace; and what matters it to us? This is our concern, that every man be able to increase his wealth so as to supply his daily prodigalities, and so that the powerful may subject the weak for their own purposes….Let the people applaud not those who protect their interests, but those who provide them with pleasure….

Let the laws take cognizance rather of the injury done to another man’s property, than of that done to one’s own person. If a man be a nuisance to his neighbor, or injure his property, family, or person, let him be actionable; but in his own affairs let everyone with impunity do what he will in company with his own family, and with those who willingly join him….Let there be erected houses of the largest and most ornate description: in these let there be provided the most sumptuous banquets, where every one who pleases may, by day or night, play, drink, vomit, dissipate….If such happiness is distasteful to any, let him be branded as a public enemy; and if any attempt to modify or put an end to it let him be silenced, banished, put an end to. Let these be reckoned the true gods, who procure for the people this condition of things, and preserve it when once possessed.” (emphasis mine).

Fasten your seatbelts, kiddies. This is going to be a long one!

Something that many people don’t know about me is that I am fascinated by the ancient Roman Empire. The Romans amaze me. They were ahead of their time in matters of law, warfare, government, technology, architecture. In many ways, Rome reminds me of America: proud, strong, wealthy. However, my fascination with Rome can be a two-edged sword because I see its more negative traits exhibited in America as well.

Now recently, I have been reading “The City of God” by St. Augustine, a book which came out of the author’s meditation on the fall of the Roman Empire. In it, Augustine covers everything from the fall of Rome to the miracles of the early church. The greater purpose of the book is to illustrate that there is a City of God and there a City of Man. These two cities are at enmity with one another. Of course the City of God will be the one to triumph (and indeed already has). He illustrates this by examining pagan religions, philosophical issues, and political/social happenings of his day (namely, the sacking of Rome). All of his digressions are meant to bring home the point that the City of God is made up of people who have chosen to live according to God’s precepts.

The first portion of the book is so interesting to me because it gives me a glimpse into Roman thought. Books I through V are a rebuttal of some of his contemporaries who blamed the sacking of Rome by the Goths, and the Empire’s subsequent end, on the Christians. After all it was the teachings of Christ that had lead to the abolition of worshipping the gods. The gods, they argued, brought this fate upon Rome for turning away from them and to the Christian faith. Augustine shows how calamities had come upon Rome in the past even while they served the gods. The historian Sallust stated that it was because Rome had become so powerful that it began to corrode from the inside. Indeed he said that between the second and third Punic wars (a series of wars fought against the ancient city of Carthage) is when Rome enjoyed its greatest harmony and its “pur[est] state of society. However, Sallust further states, this did not come out of their love of order but out of fear “lest the peace they had with Carthage might be broken.” Augustine points to Scipio Nasica, a Roman consul, who opposed the destruction of Carthage because if Carthage (and the fear thereof) was taken out of the way a host of evils would erupt out of Rome’s new found comfort in the absence of her enemies. Unfortunately, the Senate did not listen to Nasica and that is precisely what happened: bloodshed, civil wars, “the lust of rule”, etc. Thus inner corruption was its downfall and such corruption had begun to come upon Rome before Christ even appeared in the flesh.

“But the worshippers and admirers of these gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are nowise concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious. Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be glorious by its victories, or still better, secure in peace; and what matters it to us? This is our concern, that every man be able to increase his wealth so as to supply his daily prodigalities, and so that the powerful may subject the weak for their own purposes….Let the people applaud not those who protect their interests, but those who provide them with pleasure….

Let the laws take cognizance rather of the injury done to another man’s property, than of that done to one’s own person. If a man be a nuisance to his neighbor, or injure his property, family, or person, let him be actionable; but in his own affairs let everyone with impunity do what he will in company with his own family, and with those who willingly join him….Let there be erected houses of the largest and most ornate description: in these let there be provided the most sumptuous banquets, where every one who pleases may, by day or night, play, drink, vomit, dissipate….If such happiness is distasteful to any, let him be branded as a public enemy; and if any attempt to modify or put an end to it let him be silenced, banished, put an end to. Let these be reckoned the true gods, who procure for the people this condition of things, and preserve it when once possessed.” (emphasis mine).

After this was done, removing the old memory stick was pretty much the same as on any other computer. I had to unlock a couple of clips, pull out the old memory, and then insert the new memory in its place. I then reattached the cover to the chassis and plugged her back up. I was definitely not dissatisfied with the performance of my computer; I just wanted to be able to get all I could out of it. The memory upgrade has definitely made a difference. Applications open faster and everything is just a little snappier. All in all it was a simple process.

My next venture into Mac Mini upgrading will be to replace my current optical drive with one that will burn DVD’s. Stay tuned. And thanks for letting me share this interesting (albeit insignificant) experience with you.

Josh H.

I am a bad blogger. I know I have left you guys hanging for a while now with no updates. You have to understand how hectic everything has been. I have been helping Lyndsay prepare for her upcoming VN weekend. Also I have been learning the fine art of domestic plumbing. Some of the old galvanized pipes that supply my home with cold water have gotten clogged over the years to the point that our water pressure is rather low and one sink (our vanity) runs rusty water. Well that used to be the case. My father-in-law and I (and Steve too) have been working over the last week to replace those galvanized pipes with modern, efficient CPVC. We got the bulk of it done last Saturday but we have had to go back in and “tweak” some things thoughout the week. That has kept me busy every evening after work this week. But we are back in action, the water pressure is awesome and we can finally, for the first time, use our vanity’s sink. No more rusty water! Woo hoo!!!

So today I was thinking of what I should write about for my next post. The answer came when I was cleaning out some folders on my computer. I came across something I wrote back in late ‘05 or early ‘06 (I don’t exactly remember). You see, something that really beaks my heart is to see people either lose their faith in God because of something that happens to them or something they do. I also hurt for the scores of people who believe that this life and this world are hopeless because of “all the evil” or “all the pain”. In other words, they lose sight of Jesus as King. So this was something that I had been thinking a lot about at the time that I wrote this. Then I saw something on TV that illustrated it amazingly. So I got to thinking “What if I wrote about this? What if I wrote a book that encouraged believers who feel that God is not there or that they deserve God to be there because of something they have done or some problem they can’t shake?” Nothing groundbreaking, just something that would help prodigals get back on track with God and perhaps help estranged sons and daughters of God remember who they really are and who God really is. So I ended up writing what amounted to a prologue to such a book. But that’s as far as I got. Perhaps I should revisit this and seek God’s will in what I should say. The inspiration and the passion for the topic is definitely there, but I’d need to do some research and some Bible study to really make this something useful and encouraging.

Anyway, I have posted the prologue here for you all to read, consider, and critique (and perhaps tell me to not quit my day job). My inspiration for the title is explained here as well. Enjoy. Comments are welcome.

A People Lost

By
Joshua Horne

Prologue

I could not believe my eyes. As I sat staring at the television, my mouth hanging open, I saw the whole thing unfold before my eyes. I had been struggling for weeks with the knowledge that God wanted me to write something. I perceived a vague whisper of something deep in my spirit but it had not yet come to light. There was something God wanted me to say. Now, I guess in a way I had an inkling as to what it was. But for some reason I just hadn’t been able to get my mind around it and come to the place where I could put it down on paper.

Now here it was unfolding before me….on a rerun of “Bonanza”. You know the old frontier show. Ben Cartwright and his three sons live out a cowboy’s life tending cattle and farming the land. They own a mighty, beautiful piece of real estate that they have christened “the Ponderosa”. This particular episode was titled “A Woman Lost”. Ben Cartwright is visiting San Francisco and happens upon an old friend. Her name is Rita Marlowe. She once had a family: a husband and two children. They were killed when the hotel they were staying in caught fire. Only Rita escaped. She felt so hurt and betrayed by life and fate that she allowed herself to harden and take on a lifestyle where she’d never have to care about anybody again. She had also become an alcoholic and a not-so-great saloon singer. She was constantly running low on cash flow and always had an eager eye out for a chance to make some loot (just so she could be as self-reliant as possible). Ben pities her and convinces her to come back to the Ponderosa to stay with him and his family until she can kick the alcoholism and get on her feet again. While there she is miserable and just wants to go back to drinking and living paycheck to paycheck. She hates the thought of relying on the Cartwrights for food and shelter. Then she meets Mase Sindell. A former prize fighter, he walked away from the ring after destroying another fighter with his fists. Mase now does woodworking for the Cartwrights and is working his way toward owning his own woodworking shop. Ben once loaned him some money to start a shop but he never used it. He wanted to earn the money and buy the shop himself. He was a man of honor and hard work. Out of nowhere a promoter shows up to try to convince Mase to return to the ring for one night….and throw the fight so that his opponent, an up-and-coming fighter, might create a name for himself. Mase’s reward would be $1,000. Mase turns him down flat. Rita, knowing that greed is a weakness for her, is amazed at the integrity, resolve, and steadfastness of this man. Attributes that she knows she does not possess.
As Mase gets to know Rita, he falls in love with her and proposes to her during a picnic lunch. She says yes. But what she does not reveal is that that same promoter has asked her to use Mase’s affection for her against him and has offered her money to get Mase back in the ring. She tells Mase that she will marry him if he fights and gets the $1,000 so that they can start their life together right. The night of the fight, while Mase is taking punch after punch because he is not suppose to fight back and win, Rita is planning on boarding a stage coach back to San Francisco behind his back (because she has already earned her loot by getting Mase to fight. Ben Cartwright catches her just in time and takes her to the arena where the fight is taking place. As she sees the beating that Mase is taking on her account she is cut to the heart. She is faced with what she has become. And now she is letting this man take a beating physically (and soon emotionally once he finds out she lied to him). She goes to him when the round is ended and asks him to stop the fight. She now sees and has to admit that she cares for him more than money. She has once again become her true self. She is once again able to put someone above herself.

So how did a “Bonanza” rerun bring to light what God was trying to get me to see? The history of Christendom is littered with the corpses of the fallen. Those who having heard the message of the cross, followed Christ for a season until a critical moment. That critical moment could have been the first time they were abused. It could have been when they first had their heart broken. It could have even been when they got an unhealthy dose of modern church legalism and it made their stomach turn. From that critical moment on, these people were not the same. The gospel and the Kingdom walk began to seem like a sideshow to their true lives. It no longer seemed like the “power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). Up to this point the person in question could have been the most outstanding of people. But now you would hardly recognize that person as being a Christian. When I look at Rita Marlowe, I see someone I know. More than one person I know. In fact I see myself along with many others I’ve known. We have heard the term “backslider” thrown around to describe such people. I’m not sure if that is the right word to use for such a case. But one thing is for certain: backslidden or not, these people feel defeated. They feel hurt and betrayed by life and fate and God. “If the gospel is so powerful, then why do I fail when I try to live according to it? If God loves me so much then why don’t I feel loved? If the Christian life is suppose to be so exciting and so wonderful and if this is the “most important decision I’ll ever make” then why do I feel so…bored….beaten…restless….wretched? Why isn’t everything hunky-dory?” Before we get to the reasons why, let’s discuss “How”. How did you go from a preacher’s kid to a party animal? Why did your Christian fellowship slowly shrink to the point that you surrounded yourself with only the most worldly of people? Why does it seem that the child-like faith of your youth has turned to doubts, questions, and a backseat view of God?
You see, you also are just like Rita Marlowe. You once trusted God. You once gave yourself over to complete trust in Him. Though you were far from having not a care in the world, your outlook was positive. You were ready to take your school, workplace, or city for Christ. Then the blow came. It seemed as though life looked you in the face and said “I’m going to destroy you” and then proceeded to keep it’s word. Like Rita, you have retreated to a place and a mindset where you keep God at arm’s length. You do not want to find yourself trusting Him because the last time you did that you found yourself to be too vulnerable. What was your critical moment? Did your father betray you or hurt you? Did someone you care about die for seemingly no reason other than “it was in God’s plan”? Did someone at church look down on you because you had long hair, a tattoo, an ugly past? Keep in mind, I’m not just talking to those who are estranged from God. My message certainly goes out to the prodigal sons and daughters who may be reading. But I’m also speaking to the guy who will be quick to give the correct Sunday school answers (“yes, God is sovereign and good and powerful and my strength…”) but when the real world, real life, comes calling you don’t think of God. You instead begin to plan in your finite human wisdom how to get out of the situation yourself. It’s almost laughable! Why do we do it? Why do we insist on being such posers? We say we are Christians. We give ourselves the same title as Paul the great missionary, and Peter, who saw 3,000 people saved in one day because of the message he preached. There are times that if I list my name alongside those great men I’m reminded of an old Sesame Street song: “one of these things is not like the others.” You may wonder why you feel so defeated. You may wonder why you no longer have the strength or willpower to be a Christian anymore and you’ve just walked away. Perhaps you are like me and you can’t stand when someone acts like something they are not and you saw too many of those types at your church. Whatever category you fall into, you want to know that there is more. You’ve been waiting for a sign, something that confirms to you that…

We…are…more…than…conquerors!

Our friend, Ollie Horne (no relation), had the opportunity to visit Ukraine on a mission trip last year. He had always had a heart for that part of the world. While he was there he felt God calling him to move his family there and start a church. He believes that he heard the voice of God in this matter and now he is doing it. He is being obedient to call of God on his life.

Ollie has made the following video to share some of his feelings and his passion about this venture. Lyndsay and I will greatly miss Ollie and Cristi, but we both agree that this is what they need to be doing. I truly believe that they are in the center of God’s will.

Enjoy Ollie’s video and please remember to pray for them. You can visit the Lifepoint…Kiev website to learn more about how you can help and pray.

Josh H.

Lately I have heard (and read) the words of different Christians who are trying to motivate other believers to be involved in changing our nation through applying Biblical principles in their lives, careers, and through politics. And all of these seem to always refer to a time in which the church seemed utterly frozen. The time between the fifties and the eighties in which so much “end times” preaching was being taught and so many Christians were erroneously taught that Christ’s Kingdom is “not of this world”. Christians were taught to not be involved in the things of earth because Christ would be returning any minute.

Here we are in 2007. Many of the pretribulationists (“futurists”, “Left Behindists”, whatever) have stopped their date setting. Mostly because every attempt to nail down when the so-called Rapture would be has been wrong. The starting point for figuring this out was the re-founding of Israel as a nation in 1948 (a misinterpretation of Matthew 24:32). They also misinterpret Matthew 24:34 and figure a generation to be about 40 years and so they arrive at or around 1988. In fact there was a book that stated that the “rapture” would occur in 1988. That book was likewise wrong. Yet Jack Van Impe, Hal Lindsey, and the like march on and on spouting their doctrines of doom and gloom.

Tonight I happened upon a program entitled “Pulpit Classics”, hosted by Jerry Falwell, which broadcasts many of today’s preachers and their sermons from back in the day. Tonight’s episode of “Pulpit Classics” featured Jack Van Impe. You may know him. He’s the big-haired, fast-talkin’ end times preacher who seems to have the entire Bible memorized (though he often quotes scriptures out of context). This particular sermon featured on “Pulpit Classics” was entitled (as if you couldn’t guess) “Troublesome Times”. His first sentence was “We are living…in troublesome times.” He further stated that the terrible events going on in the world leave him convinced that Christ’s return is imminent.

Webster defines the word imminent as “ready to take place”; “hanging threateningly over one’s head.” This sermon that was being broadcast on the “Pulpit Classics” program was originally delivered in 1974. It is now 2007. It has been 33 years since Mr. Van Impe made that statement. We have seen Webster’s definition of imminent. I wonder how Jack Van Impe would define the word. The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is a chapter that is often thought to refer to the so-called end times. Yet Jesus states in verse 34 of that chapter that “this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” Which generation? Why, the generation to whom he was speaking of course. That is the reason why he used the demonstrative pronoun “this”. So who is right? Jesus or Jack Van Impe? Van Impe uses Matthew 24 to refer to things yet to come. Jesus, when he spoke Matthew 24, said that it would happen in the lifetime of those living at the same time as him (i.e. “this generation”). Who is right? I think you all know the answer to that one.

I think it is time for us all to reconsider what we’ve been told concerning end times. Describing in detail my point of view on the subject is not the point of this post. The point of this post is to get people to stop just accepting what some Bible teachers are out there proclaiming even when it clearly doesn’t make sense when you look at scripture. You may think that it’s just their opinion or that it doesn’t really matter. The way in which you view the future greatly affects the way you live in the present. Would you buy a house now, if you knew you were going to lose your job in 6 months? Probably not. Would you try to end abortion, protect traditional marriage, attend seminary so as to be a preacher of the gospel if you knew it would all end tomorrow? Probably not. You may think that Bible prophecy is above your head or that Revelation is just too hard to understand. It often doesn’t make sense to people because they approach it with ideas in their heads that they gained from listening to the likes of Jack Van Impe. They are taught that Revelation teaches “this” and when they don’t see it people think to themselves “Well, I guess I’m just not smart enough to understand Bible prophecy. I’m no Jack Van Impe.” That’s because it doesn’t teach what futurists say it teaches. They have an idea of how the end times saga will go down and then they force that preconception on the scriptures. Give yourself a chance to hear God on the matter and perhaps He may just revolutionize how you view the future, as well as the present.

Josh H.

PS: On a somewhat related note, there is an article on the TimeMagazine blog claiming Jesus Found Dead In His Grave. Disturbing.

Let’s set this city ablaze
We’ll burn down the monuments and
Build mountains in their place