Watches and Warnings

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX 
328 PM MDT FRI JUL 18 2014 
 
NMC035-182145- 
/O.CON.KEPZ.SV.W.0065.000000T0000Z-140718T2145Z/ 
OTERO NM- 
328 PM MDT FRI JUL 18 2014 
 
...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR CENTRAL OTERO 
COUNTY UNTIL 345 PM MDT... 
 
AT 322 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS REPORTED...PRODUCING  
QUARTER SIZE HAIL...AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH.  THIS 
STORM WAS LOCATED 17 MILES EAST OF CLOUDCROFT...MOVING SOUTH AT 5  
MPH. THE CORE OF THE STORM WAS PASSING JUST EAST OF MAYHILL. 
 
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... 
  SIXTEEN SPRINGS... 
  WEED... 
  SACRAMENTO... 
  MAYHILL... 
 
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM... PREPARE IMMEDIATELY FOR LARGE 
HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER... 
PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING AND AWAY FROM WINDOWS. 


 
The above warning is an actual weather warning from the National weather service as I am typing this article.  The national Weather Service puts out various types of weather related watches and warnings to help protect the public from the danger that are posed from severe weather events.  They are intended to save lives of people in the area from the potential dangers of the incoming severe weather by informing them of the current and future location of the threat and the nature of the threat faced.


Having been involved in the world of weather for many years, I have seen people who continually ignore these watches and warnings.  they don't take them seriously.  They have become complacent because they have not experienced the worst of what they are being warned about.  I've had people tell me in tornado warnings that they did not need to pay attention because the tornado never strikes where they are.  just because it hasn't, does not mean that it won't this time.  Just because it did not strike here, does not mean it did not strike there.


Other people actually get mad at the messengers.  They complain about the weatherman, and about the weather service.  They complain about how they are always wrong and never know what they are talking about.  They then make claims that they think they know more than the weatherman and "prove it" by repeating old false wives tales and such.  It never occurs to them to think that they really could be in harms way and that they really do need to take the watches and warnings seriously.


 I've seen people who are in a panic at the last minute realizing that the storm is actually really heading toward them this time.  Panic and confusion set in.  They are unaware of what to do or where to go because they have never really paid attention to what they were being told in the watches and warnings that were put out to inform them.  Some of them actually further endanger themselves by doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing.


This is exactly what happens with God and the Bible too.  People of God go out and share the word in various ways, warning of various dangers facing people and the possible consequences of those dangers.  They give notice of what one should do to avoid those dangers and be safe from them.  They are words of life when facing death.


People do Gods messengers just like they do the weatherman.  They make fun of them, laugh at them, disrespect their knowledge, and generally think they know better than anyone else.  They come up with all kinds of reasoning to justify why they are right and the messenger of God wrong.  They will arrogantly make false proclamations about the situation when in truth they know nothing about it. 


Unbelievers are often lulled into a false sense of security.  They think that because a particular warning has not come to pass that it isn't ever going to, or that it is even possible.  This false sense of security causes them to become bolder and bolder in their disregard of the warnings provided in scripture.  They will ignorantly put themselves further into harms way being totally oblivious to the dangers.


The weather service and the Christian can only put out the warnings, and pass along information to help people to survive.  Neither can make people heed the warnings or do what it will take to stay alive.  Neither are responsible for those who do not heed the warnings.  The job has been done to sound the alarm.  It is up to the individual to accept the warnings, and heed the advice.   We all hope and pray that people will survive the storms in life and live, both in this life and the next. 

Hurricane Andrew:

Does the Church have it Backwards?

Colossians 2: ¹⁶ Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
¹⁷ Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.


Most of the time when people use this verse, they are generally making the case that we are no longer under the law, that the law has been done away with, and that we therefore no longer have to be obedient to what God has said through the law.  But, is this what the passage is really saying?


I propose that it may be saying just the opposite of what most people use it for.  It may just be saying to let no man judge you for KEEPING the Sabbath and FOLLOWING the dietary commands, or using the Jewish calendar to denote holy days and keeping them.  Some of the biggest debates in Christendom surround the idea that we need to be obedient to the whole Bible.


Many Christians today have been taught that they no longer have to do what the bible says to do because certain parts of the Bible have been done away with.  Is this so?  Christians often use the previous verses to substantiate their claims.  
 

¹³ And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
¹⁴ Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
¹⁵ And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

The argument is that the OT laws were blotted out.  The truth is, what was blotted out was the penalty for violation of Gods commands.  Jesus himself said,  Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  That fulfilling was His substitutionary death in our stead.  In no way were any of Gods commands declared null and void.  

 

this easy believism and grace without responsibility is what has watered down the churches message.  It has destroyed the witness of Christians.  Rather than being separated from the world through obedience to God, the church has become part of the world, nearly indistinguishable from unbelievers.  The rates of sin within the church are just as high, if not higher, than outside.  

 

There is no more fear of Yahweh in believers any longer.  The salt has lost its savor and is being trodden under foot.  Every vestige of our heritage as Christians is being removed from society.  Over the last 50 years God has been removed from nearly every institution.  Where have the Christians been?  

 

Believers!  It is time to repent and return unto the way of the Lord.  Time is short and the harvest is ripe.  Turn away from the lie of grace as a license and do as thou wilt churchianity.  It is time to submit yourself to do what God has commanded you to do.  We serve a might God, not the other way around.  God is not our magic genie to make us feel all warm and fuzzy and give us the things we want.  We are His servants who are to do as HE commands of us.  Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  ² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Did God Just Say That? pt 3

A few weeks ago I shared the story of how God talked to me and gave me a parking spot in the front row of the grocery store.  I took a lot of grief sharing that tale.   Some people don’t think God talks to people.  Others think God would not be so trivial.  Still others questioned why me and why not some elderly person.  I could not answer those questions, nor did I even try.  God does what God does for reasons only He knows.  It is not for us to wonder why, it is for us to obey and live.

There was one person who gave an interesting perspective.  They brought up Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.  They were thinking that God used something insignificant to see if I was listening and faithful and that down the road there would be something bigger.  They were right.

A little over a week ago, I found a receipt for a certified letter in my mailbox.  It said that I needed to go down to the post office to sign for it and pick it up.  Now, normally I don’t do certified letters.  They almost always mean bad news.  Suddenly I had that familiar thought in my brain.  It was the same way as the parking event.  “Go and pick it up.  It will be ok”.  

 
I gave pause, just like I did before.  Did I just hear that?  Did God just speak to me again, or am I just wishful thinking.  I went back and forth in my head as I drove down to the post office.  Was it me?  Was it God?  But I did know from the parking incident that following through brought a blessing.  Perhaps this too would end up being a blessing?  There was only one way to find out; be obedient and go get the certified mail.

I wish I could say that things went as smoothly and quickly as getting a parking spot and whizzing through a checkout line.  It has not.  What was uncovered with that certified letter was years of underhanded sneakiness and deceit that has been going on behind my back.  It exposed some dark dealings meant to rob me of what was rightfully mine.   Those who have been exposed are not just going to step aside either and are digging in to fight tooth and nail. 

Normally, what has been uncovered and the subsequent fallout would be very stressful.  It would be a normal reaction to be angry.  While it is taking some effort on my part to further uncover things and do my due diligence to rectify the wrong; there is a peace in me about this.  The matter is already settled.  God already said it will be ok.  It is already finished.

While I was at work before getting home to write this, God spoke to me in another way; through a preacher.  The program I was listening to came from Joshua chapter 1.  He was explaining how Israel was about to go in and possess the land that was already theirs.  It was already a done deal.  God had already given it to them.  Certainly it was not easy.  Israel fought many battles along the way before they actually owned the land.  But, while they fought the battles, the outcome of the war was a foregone conclusion.  It was theirs.  They just had to root out those who were there.

The Bucket List

Every Semester as part of our children’s health class in our school district, the pupils are given an assignment of creating a bucket list for themselves.  For those of you who might not know for some reason, a “bucket list” is a list of things a person would want to do before they died.  It comes from the old phrase “to kick the bucket”, which most people know is kind of a slang term for dying.  The idea was popularized by a movie of that name starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman that came out in 2007. 

In the movie we see two old dying men gallivanting around the world fulfilling their dreams and accomplishing goals.  The Morgan Freeman character then comes to an epiphany about what the two were doing and decides that rather than fulfilling personal alone, he would rather try and spend his final days with family and close friends.  The adventures end and we see the difference between fulfilling the selfish desires portrayed by Nicholson as he spends a lonely holiday by himself as compared with the more selfless Freeman who is seen loving and laughing with family.

When a child of 13, 14, 15 years old is asked to do such an assignment, they usually default to a list of desires and achievements purely to satisfy their own lusts and desires.  They all want to hang with that famous musician or movie star, drive some fancy car, participate in some extreme sport, go to some distant exotic place, and do all this with their best friends.  I rarely see family time involved, but really that, I think, is beside the point.

This kind of a lesson could be a wonderful teaching opportunity for the children, but it really gets passed by.  All that happens is another reinforcement of the “me first” mentality.  The school is not allowed to judge, direct, guide, the students in any way.  It is deemed ‘healthy’ for the students to express their selfish desires without judgment or critique, without any values placed on their choices.  The most important value is that their self-esteem not be hindered in any way and even promoted. 

What is wrong with that?  One may ask.  Our children should be told how special they are and we should never harm a children’s ego or they may be scarred for life with feelings of inferiority or complexes for which they will need to be medicated and seek counseling for.   A child can’t be told that any value they hold is right or wrong.  All viewpoints are to be validated and not judged.  We’ve all heard this secular humanist argument before, and for many years.  It has failed.

Our children have been dumbed down to the lowest common denominators educationally, socially, and morally in the effort to not leave anyone behind, or to not make anyone feel like a failure, to not bruise any ego and to promote a positive attitude towards one’s self.  No one is punished for doing wrong, and everyone is rewarded whether they achieved or not. Everyone is made to feel like they are right (even when they are not).

The opportunity that is missed in the educational process in an assignment like this is truth.  It is a fantastic moment of teachability to our youth about how to properly prioritize our lives.  It is a grand moment where death, and what comes after, can be discussed.  It is a perfect time where different world views can be compared, analyzed, and scrutinized.  Yet, the powers that be in the educational world deny this wonderful learning moment in favor of teaching the kids that the only truth is whatever they feel is truth; that there are no absolutes.

In the Bible, we are given a bucket list to live by.  It starts with love the Lord your God who created you and to serve Him alone, believing upon His son Jesus who God sent to reconcile mankind to the Father.   It ends with loving your neighbor as yourself.     It is filled with great and noble works such as feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned.  It lists as good, things like taking care of widows and orphans; helping strangers in need.  Also on the list the difficult tasks of loving your enemies and doing good to those who are not good to you.  We could learn the great value in forgiving others and turning the other cheek.  Even perhaps the hardest thing of all, and one which shows no greater love, laying down ones life for another. 

We can only barely even imagine what life would be like were those things were on our bucket list.  I can scarcely imagine the great joys and peace that would be felt in a world where everyone is looking out for his fellow man and the best interest of others is the first priority on everyone’s mind.  Nor can I totally imagine a world completely devoid of any of them.  What a dark and horrid place this world will be when the full force of evil is unleashed and the spirit of God is removed.

Number one on the Biblical bucket list is to share this good news.  We are to tell others of how Jesus has made it possible for us to be forgiven of our selfish, lustful, evil ways and being reconciled to Father God through His precious shed blood; how Jesus rose again on the 3^rd day defeating death and clearing the path that through Him we might pass from death unto life.  That through the Holy Spirit that indwells us when we believe, that we will be capable of living out the Bucket list given to us in the God inspired words of the Bible.

You Gotta Serve Somebody

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

This is one of the most well-known verses and concepts in Christianity; the idea of being set free. We talk about it all the time.  We speak of the freedom we have in Christ Jesus on a regular basis in the Christian world.  For God to have taken the steps to send his son down to suffer and die to set us free there must have been something that we have been set free from, right?  

 

Romans 8:2

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.


So romans 8:2 says we are freed from the law of sin and death.  What is the law of sin and death?  What is sin?  Whatsoever is not of faith is sin we are told in Romans 14:23.  So anything we do, say, or think that does not include, recognize, thank, and/or glorify the Lord and put Him first is sin.  This is actually the default state of mankind.  In Romans 3, Paul quotes the old testament in v 10-12, ^“As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”  We all tend to seek our own way; look out for old number one: ourselves.  This attitude of the heart is what leads to lying, cheating, stealing, murders, gluttony, and any other “sin” you can come up with.  It all starts in the heart.


God has a standard though, Jesus lays it out in simple terms when asked in Mathew 22: 37-40,   Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.  Paul further expands this concept to show that this state of the heart does lead to righteous action in Romans 13:8-10 ~  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.


We, in our natural selves are incapable of fully living in the way God would have us to live.  To be in the presence of perfection, one must be perfect.  Since we have not been perfect (or have been sinful) we are unable to enter into Gods presence.  This manifests itself in death.  Sin leads to death, or as Paul puts it in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death.  So, what we are set free from is sin, our natural desire to have self as number one, and the result of that sin, death; or separation from Yahweh. 


But, we were not set free from sin and death just to be free.  We are not given a license to do whatever we want to. Before we accept Jesus, we did not have a choice whether we sinned or not.  John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.  It was our nature to sin.  We were bound to it and are now set free from that to…   commit more sin?  No!  (Romans 6:1)  We are set free from sin so that we may do what is right.  Romans 6: 17-8 ~ But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.  Did you catch that?  We then become servants of righteousness.  A sinner saved through the grace of Christ by his death and resurrection becomes free from being bound to sinful selfish ways and is freed to love others and seek to serve others, putting self aside, just as Christ put his own desires aside to serve us. 


In the words of the Bob Dylan song:
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.


The Devil really doesn’t care who you serve as long as it is not the Lord.  There are a million paths to hell, but only one way that leads to heaven; Jesus.  The devil will even try and trick you and tell you that staying away from Yahweh and His son is freedom, when the truth is it is only death.  Choose this day whom you are going to serve.  As for me and my household, we serve the Lord.