Tals-2-cents!

 Revival.  That's what I need, that's what this country needs, and it's what this world needs. So, I've been hearing about the Asbury Revival in Kentucky and seeing footage of it.  Apparently it's been going on awhile.  On the surface it seems like exactly the thing that we need. Of course Satan would be thrilled that there is no revival at all. In Acts 10, Peter is summoned by Cornelius, a gentile centurion of Rome with many people under him.  Peter goes and preaches the Gospel of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection and being Jesus being "Lord of All" (which was and still is blaspheme to some groups).   At this time, the Holy Ghost descended upon those in attendance - and gentiles (the uncircumcised) - and even the circumcized witnessed the fact that non-Jews could receive the Holy Spirit and be brought into the Body of Christ.  At this very early time of the Church (Body of Christ), there were many believers (of Jewish origin) who doubted this...

Stephen in Acts 7 was speaking truth to high priests who should have known how to conduct themselves in the performance of their priestly duties as well as how not to be hypocrites. Stephen preached everything from the time Abraham was led out of Mesopotamia to the Israelites being led out of Egypt by Moses to Solomon building a temple. He preached it all and he shucked that corn all the way down to the cob.  The high priests needed to hear this from one of our first deacons - and also who would be considered Christianity's first martyr.  This is what he said that really torqued off the high priests : " 51 Y e stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye .   52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:   53 Who have received the law by the dispositi...

 In the Old Book, but not too old the passages Psalm 1:1-2 provide guidance to followers of God.  "1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.   Starting right off the bat, "Blessed is the man".  The antonyms of the word "blessed" include:  cursed, condemned, damned, disapproved, unblessed. Consider this rewording:  Cursed is the man that walketh in the counsel of the ungodly, who standeth in the way of sinners, and sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Try:  Condemned is the man.... Try:   Damned  is the man.... Try:   Disapproved  is the man.... Try:   Unblessed  is the man.... How many of us know of or have been a person that doesn't have the discernment to recognize "the ungodly", "way of sinners", or "the seat of the scornful".  How can we not walk away, not stand in, or not sit in the presen...

It was after Carver Elementary School in Raymond, Mississippi voted for the election of Gerald Ford for president after he became President after the resignation of President Richard Nixon.  1976, Carver Elementary and even my classroom voted against the "peanut man" for the guy with a cool name similar to the cars that many parents drove.  Yep, that was the logic of my classroom of 3rd graders in our early November social studies (or whatever) class.  We were being taught the power that American's have as Americans - the ability to affect the process by voting. This was also before the actual winner, Jimmy Carter led our country to long lines at the gas-pump, inflation that reminded folks of the Great Depression, and to international embarrassment by allowing Iran to capture and hold captive 52 American hostages for 444 days.  These days were bleak and drab looking as many of our overly smoggy polluted cities and as depressing as the funky attire that people wore in...