Healthy Minute- Vagus Nerve Hacks

He's Still in the Fire (song)

God Knows (poem)

 Thou knowest them that trust in Thee!
What precious words, O Lord, are these!
Here let Thy suffering children flee,
When struggling mid life's mysteries!

For to our childish minds, Thy will
Looks ofttimes hard, and passing strange;
Loving, we doubt and fear Thee still,
And long Thy wondrous ways to change.

Not thus we cry, would we assail
That saintly soul with blow on blow;
Not thus should Sorrow, stern and pale,
Put forth her hand and lay him low.

What needs he, Lord, of pain and smart?
To Thee is he not consecrate?
His joy, his hope, his all, Thou art,
Ever on Thee he loves to wait.

Ah, dearest Lord, Thou knowest best!
Thou knowest them that trust in Thee!
Blessed the soul, yea, doubly blest, 
When Thou dost try its constancy.

Upon the soft and crumbling stone, 
The sculptor spends a passing hour;
He strikes immortal blows alone
When chiselled marble feels his power.

And when the ore is rich and rare
The miner strikes and strikes again;
Labor and toil he need not spare,
He never can exhaust the vein.

Thou knowest, Lord, a stone to choose-
Worthy the labor of Thy hand;
Thou fearest not the tool to use
That gives it shape at Thy command.

Thou knowest many a hidden mine
Where Thou canst enter at Thy will;
Treasures of faith therein are thine,
Worthy of e'en the Master's skill.

Ah, Lord! we will not stay Thy hand
With folly's questions, folly's fears;
Thy ways we cannot understand- 
Forgive our weakness and our tears.

Move on in Thy mysterious way,
We'll stand aside Thy work to see;
Faithful the work, and blessed they,
Who cannot trace, but trust in Thee.

-Elisabeth Payton Prentiss

God Works With What We Are (video sermon)

Ye Have Perverted The Words Of The Living God

". . . ye have perverted the words of the living God . . ."  Jer. 23:36)

"For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God . . ."  (II Cor. 2:17)

"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."  (Deu. 4:2)

"Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."  (Pro. 30:6)

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Rev. 22:18-19)

The attack on God's word is very real, and it has been ongoing for thousands of years.  In fact, it all started when the devil questioned God’s word at his very first appearance in the Bible in Genesis 3:1: "Yea, hath God said . . . ?"

But, being the author of confusion, he hasn’t produced just ONE bad Bible.  That would be too easy to expose.  No, he has produced hundreds!  I recently read that over 900 complete or partial English translations exist.  WHY?  Is it not just to keep everything all confusing and cumbersome so that you’ll have to TRUST SOMEONE ELSE to tell you what’s right, what the true word of God is?  NEVER!

You can do it all by yourself without taking anyone's word for anything.  I Thessalonians 5:21 says to PROVE ALL THINGS, so YOU can do that.  He didn’t say to trust someone else to do it for you.  YOU can do it for yourself.  Here’s ten ways, ten quick and easy checkpoints for you to show people exactly WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEIR BIBLE.  You can waste your time trying to explain manuscript evidence to them or you can cut to the chase and show them what the devil has done to their Bible . . .

Daniel 3:25:  The words "the Son of God" are changed to "a son of the gods," thus promoting polytheism instead of the deity of Christ.

Micah 5:2: The word "everlasting" is changed to "ancient times" or something similar, thus attacking the deity of Christ.

Matthew 1:25: The word "firstborn" is omitted, which allows for the Roman Catholic heresy of the perpetual virginity of Mary.  

Matthew 5:22: The words "without a cause" are omitted, which makes it appear that it's a sin to become angry for ANY cause, an obvious error, since "the anger of the LORD" is mentioned thirty-two times in the Bible and Ephesians 4:26 tells us to "be ye angry, and sin not."  

Luke 2:33:  The word "Joseph" is replaced with the word "father", another attack on the virgin birth of Christ.  

Romans 14:10: The word "Christ" is changed to "God', which attacks the deity of Christ (see verse 12) and allows for the teaching of a general judgment for everyone instead of a special judgment for Christians. 

Colossians 1:14: The word "blood" is omitted.

I Timothy 3:16: The word "God" is replaced with the word "he", thus attacking the deity of Christ and the incarnation.  

II Timothy 2:15: The word "study" is omitted from the Bible's only command to "study" the word of God. 

I John 5:7: The words "the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost" are omitted, and sometimes the entire verse is missing.

Most modern translations will fall short on well over half of these verses, so these are good verses to memorize and use readily.  Having this list printed out is good, but having it memorized is better and far more effective when dealing with a person, so please memorize it and use it skillfully for the glory of God.

 -James L. Melton

biblebaptistpublications.org

Halloween Alternative

 

In the United States (and other countries), Halloween has become one of the most popular unofficial holidays. On the upside, retail sales boost the economy around this holiday.

On the downside, the holiday has become a time of increased crime in many places (especially arson and other acts of violence) on Halloween night as well as the night before.

When did this holiday begin and why? Was Halloween’s origin paganistic or is there something more behind Halloween’s history?

On the Halloween origin, some researchers claim that the holiday can be traced back about 2,000 years to the Celts of Europe who occupied parts of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France. It was a pagan festival called “Samhain” (pronounced “sow-in”) that celebrated, more or less, the honor of the dead and involved the offering of large sacrifices of crops and animals.

Around AD 600, Pope Boniface IV created All Saints’ Day, and Pope Gregory III later moved this holiday to November 1 in an effort to give a Christian alternative to this pagan celebration.

Christians who did not want to celebrate pagan festivals celebrated something of positive spiritual value—in this case honoring the saints and martyrs. With the overwhelming expansion of Christianity in Europe, All Saints’ Day became the dominant holiday.

A couple hundred years later, the Roman Church made November 2 All Souls’ Day to honor the dead. This may well have been influenced by the continued persistence of the day of the dead by the ancient Irish, Scots, and others in Europe. Standing against this, many Protestant Christians celebrate October 31 as Reformation Day in honor of reformers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others who spearheaded the Reformation in the 1500s.

Although many affirm that Samhain was the origin of modern-day Halloween, it is significant to note how many cultures throughout the world have celebrated a “day of the dead” (often with sacrifices), occurring at the end of summer and fall. There seem to be too many parallels to call these similar celebrations a coincidence.

It seems no coincidence that cultures all around the world in both present and ancient times have had a holiday when the dead were remembered and animals were sacrificed. We can make a pretty strong argument that this holiday goes back to a time when all the peoples lived together—and then they took this holiday to various parts of the world.

Proper sacrifices in the Bible were associated with sin and death. This goes back to the first sacrifice in Genesis 3:21 when the first two humans sinned against God. The perfect creation that God had made was now marred with sin that deserved death.

Genesis 3:21-Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Leviticus 17:11- For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Romans 5:12- Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

It should be obvious from a Christian perspective that many modern practices of Halloween and days of the dead have evil intent.

1 Corinthians 10:20- But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

There has been considerable paganism that has been associated with Halloween over the years. Evil acts such as vandalism; arson; destructive pranks; and glorification of sensuality, death, and demons are in strong opposition to the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:19-21- Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

So, a word of caution must be given to Evangelicals who promote some of the questionable modern practices of Halloween.

If anything, an alternative in opposition to Halloween should be offered by Christians. Psalm 24:1 points out that everything belongs to the Lord. Therefore, there is no reason to let Satan have Halloween. Despite Halloween’s origin, it is not his day in the first place!

Psalm 24:1- The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

So where do you go from here? Please encourage your pastors and elders to have some sort of church function to counter modern practices of Halloween. Of course, one of the only nice things that Halloween really has to offer could also be involved—sweet treats (in moderation of course)!

If a Christian alternative is not possible in your location, then take advantage of this opportunity to share with “trick or treaters” the message of the gospel, how Jesus Christ has conquered death, and the forgiveness that can only be found in God.

Part of this real history is the bad news that the rebellion of the first man, Adam, against God’s command brought death, suffering, and separation from God into this world. We see the results all around us.

But the good news is that God has done something about it.

Jesus Christ the Creator, though totally sinless, suffered on behalf of mankind the penalty of mankind’s sin, which is death and separation from God. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice; he died on a cross, but on the third day, he rose again, conquering death, so that all who truly believe in him, repent of their sin, and trust in him, are able to come back to God and live for eternity with their Creator.

Romans 5:8- But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

I Timothy 2:4-6- Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

What a wonderful Savior—and what a wonderful salvation in Christ our Creator!

— Bodie Hodge

Aiming For Success

 Every year, when new year rolls around, people make resolutions. They say they'll exercise more, lose weight, be kinder to their family, or something like that. Sadly, most of these end up as nothing more than an attempt to modify their behavior for a few weeks and then are abandoned when the person settles back into their old habits.

Why? People have a goal, but they don't make the necessary steps to achieve that goal. 

Proverbs 29:18a- Where there is no vision, the people perish:

I've read a few books recently that have shed a little light on the difference between those who are successful and those who aren't. Let me share what I've learned.

The main changes that you need to make is to have a plan that's attainable and then slowly turn those changes into habits. Once they're habits, then you really don't have to think about it anymore. If it's not a habit, then we will slowly fall back into our old patterns. So how do we get from the goal to the habit?

In Jon Acuff's All It Takes Is A Goal, he suggests that you start by looking to the past. Make a greatest moments list. This list can be absolutely anything that you find precious. It could be a memory of a family vacation, or an achievement that you worked really hard to accomplish, something that makes you smile, whatever.

Now, look over your list. How many are achievements? How many were with those you care about? Are there any that were experiential moments? I bet very few are actual objects! His point was that once you understand what it is that makes your life worth living, you can know how to tailor your goals.

Now, you can strategize a plan. Your plan is like a vision wall. You'll have small, easy goals that you can accomplish quickly. These will lead to middle goals that take a bit longer to complete and could have people questioning if they are a good idea to attempt. And then the grand finale, the end goal that may take a year or longer but is what all the other small steps are leading up to.

Are you an accomplishment person? Do you like checking off boxes? Then create a scorecard that you can "tick" you way to the end.

Perhaps you are a relationship person. All of your greatest memories are done with others. Then you'd have goals that included a buddy. It could be a workout buddy, or a mom friend that has the same desire as you, or even a member of your family. 

Maybe you find fulfillment in experiences. You want to run a marathon, so you start with making it a quarter of a mile for a few weeks, then you build it up to five miles a month, a lastly you enter into the 5K you've always dreamed of!

Once you've accomplished your magnum opus, you probably won't stop there. You may go on to bigger and better in the same category. Or perchance, you'll chose an entirely new area to create your next goal around.

I have a few goals that I'm constantly working on. I am trying to get and stay in shape. I'm trying to strengthen my prayer life. I'm hoping to see my last two children graduate high school. I'm working on paying off all our debt.

Some goals are physical; some goals are spiritual. Some are practical, and some are necessary. These are my goals today. I've been in physically fit before. I've already had three children graduate high school. There are some debts that I've already paid off. Just because I've "been there, done that" doesn't mean that it has to come off my vision wall.

Whatever your goal, you need to bear in mind a few things. Each person is unique, and each season of life has its own challenges. A twenty-year-old mother of two toddlers can't expect to reach the same goals as a retired woman of sixty. A person who is struggling with a debilitating disease should not set a goal that a weightlifter strives to achieve. Keep in mind what your life is like, where your obligations lie, and how much time you have the ability to commit.

Philippians 3:14- I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

You may need to tweak your goals. Your vision wall may take longer than you want it to. But you should be aiming for something! This is your life that you will give an account before God for living. Do you really want to get to heaven and be like "I just let the river carry me to the grave"?

You may need to reexamine your mindset. Many habits are based on positive experiences (like our greatest hits list). A great tip from the Habit Workbook by Cultivate What Matters is you can incorporate cues that help you remember or bundle your goals with a habit you already have.

I take my vitamins when I eat breakfast. Having my coffee while I read my Bible is another bundle. Whenever I'm doing dishes or taking a shower, I pray (water is the cue). You can put your goals on autopilot by grouping them with established routines. 

Tracking your success is vital! We often get our focus on other people because we see how far they've come. Don't start comparing yourself to others! Create a way to track your achievements and notice how much you've accomplished and how far you've come. 

II Corinthians 10:12b- but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

Lastly, learn to forgive yourself. You won't perform a new habit perfectly 100% of the time! And that's okay. Just don't quit! Paul kept on going until the last moment of his life. Christ had the cross in view for over three years! Why? Because they knew what was waiting on the other side.

Hebrews 12:2- Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

II Timothy 4:7-8- I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

You're earning rewards in heaven. You're setting an example for the next generation. And you're allowing the Lord the lead you to the place where you can give Him all the glory while He's placing a crown on your head and granting you the title of Good And Faithful Servant!