Always amazed at HIS graces...

[always-amazed-at-him]

IN THE EARLY 1970s, twelve of the most powerful men in the world were banded together by fate. They shared a powerful, fearful secret-so earthshaking, it could bring down the U.S. government if it got out…and it eventually did. It was in their best interests -both personal and professional- that this secret not become public. To succeed, all they had to do was to keep quiet and protect this lie…but they -12 of the most powerful men in the world- failed; and the word “Watergate” entered the history books.

About 2,000 years ago, there was another group of twelve men. They were witness to an event so earthshaking, we still celebrate it today. Afterwards, their lives were filled with turmoil-public humiliation, arrest and imprisonment, beatings, and for many of them, death by torture. Every one of them could’ve made this misery stop at any time and complete their lives in relative peace and comfort; simply by denying this thing they had witnessed…but not one of them did! They saw torture and death preferable to denying they had seen Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected, and taken-ALIVE!-into heaven!  

 The ministry, death by Roman execution and resurrection of Jesus has left little in the way of tangible evidence, beyond the testimony of witnesses. Just how much credence will you give the words of 2,000-year-dead commoners? As you ponder this, perhaps you might consider just what you yourself would find worth giving your own life for. The Watergate conspirators could not ”gain the world” by simply giving passive testimony to a lie-they desperately had to keep their mouths shut to survive; and yet they failed. Similarly, the Twelve Apostles of Jesus had only to keep still to survive, but could not, and conversely-their incessant testimony to the miraculous life and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus was ultimately their earthly undoing. The first group could not keep a secret; and the second group would not keep the truth secret-both, though their very lives depended on it.

 …AND IF ALL THIS IS TRUE, WHAT DOES IT MEAN? The Resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of Christian faith, and is GROUND ZERO for GOD’s free gift of Salvation and Eternal Life, through Jesus Christ, for us all: “ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.  We believe with our hearts, and so we are made right with God. And we declare with our mouths that we believe, and so we are saved.” [Romans 10:9-10, NIV]

 COULD IT BE THAT SIMPLE? YES! Just say with your mouth (and mean it in your heart) that JESUS is your Lord and Savior, and truly believe that HE was raised from death, and you’ve begun your walk to SALVATION & ETERNAL LIFE!

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS: Email us at [email protected] . You might find it helpful to contact a Bible-believing church in your own area, too.

May GOD richly BLESS you and yours! – Michael & Tina Moran

[always-amazed-at-him]

Well, maybe it’s NOT such a bad idea, after all…my favorite definition of RELIGION is “A box built by humanity to keep GOD in-particularly when HE becomes inconvenient”. Doing away with such barriers would do us ALL good…

Beginning in earnest in the early 1960’s, the first serious battle in the War on Christianity was the banning of prayer in public schools. This flew in the face of over 300 years of history and tradition, as from the very first, the settlers of North America based their governance on Biblical principal, and constantly sought the favor and direction of GOD through singular and communal prayer[1]. The prayer in question[2], not particularly Christian in nature; was found offensive by the Supreme Court because it had been written by a government official, to be recited by school children at the beginning of their day. Rather than rectify the error by allowing a prayer written by civilians to be used, the court preferred the nuclear option, and banned sanctioned school prayer altogether.

Though few seem to notice any more, a major tenet of Judeo-Christian belief is FREE WILL. Nowhere in the Bible are believers directed to impose their faith on others against their will. To the contrary, the Christian faith and the doctrine of salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior must be believed and freely accepted (Romans 10:9-10); not institutionalized by law. Conversely, our GOD is a gentleman…HE will not stay where HE is not wanted. Through such legal decisions, we as a people have told GOD to go away…and I believe HE has accommodated us in this.[4]

FIFTY YEARS LATER, it’s not too hard to see the results. Morality in our society is virtually unknown, along with any conception of absolute right and wrong - “whatever works for you” is the universal moral battlecry. Right alongside the “sexual revolution” of the 1960’s & 70’s came the inevitable “reproductive rights” movement; which is now bathing our nation in a river of blood-which we are forcing on developing nations by tying their acceptance of “reproductive health services” to continued financial aid. There is also the stuff that lives in all our neighborhoods, and is simply frightening: almost all CRIME RATES in the United States have doubled –in some cases tripled- since 1960[3]. Through the 1970’s the United States was the worlds’ biggest lender…now we are the worlds’ biggest debtor; on the threshold of national bankruptcy.

Need we go further? If you can step back and take a long, careful look at our national fiber from the 1950’s until now, it would seem rather obvious that SOMETHING has changed…? GOD showed us the blessings that would be showered on those who love HIM, but HE made it very clear what would happen to a people that followed HIM, but then turned away[5].

SO…IS IT NOW TOO LATE? Absolutely not! Our Father in Heaven is the GOD of Forgiveness and Restoration; and always makes things very simple for us:

“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”   [2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV]

 HE may have turned from us, but HE didn’t go too far…please; just pray…HE is waiting to hear from you...

Footnotes...

[1] There are a wealth of official government records, writings and quotes of statements made by those involved in the birth and early years of English-speaking settlements in North America; far too many to list here. If you wish to discuss this further, please email us at [email protected]                                                       [2] "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country."  From Engel v. Vitale                    

[3]  Statistics as reported on http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm     [4]  See Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11 and Luke 9:5 for precedent               

[5]  Deuteronomy 28:1-14 summarizes HIS blessings, and Deuteronomy 28:15-68 explains the curse of HIS absence.

[6] LAST, but not LEAST: My thanks to the photographer who originally took the photo above. I stumbled upon the image many years ago on the ‘net; but have never known their name. If you read this, I would be blessed if you would contact me.

[always-amazed-at-him]

23 May 2016; 8:31pm                        CRUZ and the TRUMPIAN

I’ve been sitting here watching Fox News, and enjoying the confrontation between Ted Cruz and a currently anonymous “Trumpian” at a Cruz rally in Indiana. I have to give both Mr. Cruz and the valiant protestor credit-Ted, for maintaining his composure and not letting the tone of his voice rise in frustration and anger, and the young Trumpian for firmly holding his ground; not letting Ted ‘suck him in’ to meaningless discussions.  At this level it was a draw.

HOWEVER...in the course of the 8 minute long exchange, I was struck with an epiphany; which comes as most unsettling. While Mr. Cruz heralds himself as the Protector of the Constitution, the Great White Knight of Conservatism and the protector of Mom and Apple Pie, it almost seems as if he’s been...TURNED.  Not so much idealogically, but rather, tactically; in that he’s now using the same ‘LESS-THAN-HONEST-AND-FAIR’ procedures to present himself as our opponents!  

I first noticed this towards the end, when he challenged his young tormentor to Google “Trump punch him in the face”; claiming that The Donald TOLD a person in the crowd to commit this act. Now, I watched that when it happened live, and it wasn’t how I remembered it (but of course, being in my 60’s, I’m told memory is the SECOND thing to go) ; so I did the Google lookup...and...what do you think I found? Mr. Trump was saying, “...I’d like to punch him in the face...”. Hmmm...interesting. Not quite what Ted said; aye?...and this is only ONE item. What about Ted saying that Donald hates the 2nd Amendment, and that he has no intention of ever “building a wall” (I’ve always thought of this more figuratively, as “sealing our borders”)? The list is rather long...ALL MISREPRESENTATIONS!

As a rather high-powered attorney, Mr. Cruz is certainly aware that a single word difference can change the entire meaning and perspective of a sentence; and that statements edited ‘out of context’ can be quite damning to the speaker. So it appears what we have here is a “staunch conservative” using the same “SOUND BYTE PSYCHOLOGY” the left has been using since the first morning dawned on the Cold War! This is NOT GOOD. It is little more than revisionist history done on the tactical level; changing the perception of your opponents’ statements to do him harm rather than confront them on a real point-to-point and issues-to-issues basis.  

We’ve seen a lot of this from the likes of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi over the last 25 or so years. You might even say they ‘perfected’ the American version of the technique in the House and the Senate, then handed it off to the upper echelons of the Democrat party. It was practiced to some extent by Al Gore, particularly when speaking of global warming. It was used with great effect by Barack Obama in his campaigns and right through his entire reign. Hillary Clinton is something of a master at such ‘tactical editing’, but then, she’s had a lot of practice!

BUT I DIGRESS...I reckon my point is...if the conservative candidate is going to use the same tricks as our leftist opponents (and by so doing, roll in the same dirt), what makes him  (or US, by association) any different? Have we sunk so low that we believe the goodness of our ends justifies the evil of our means? If that be so, how & where does it stop?...and WHO will say when it should stop?

For me, this puts Mr. Cruz in an entirely new light. Up until today, I kinda thought he was one of the ‘good guys’; maybe just a bit difficult to get along with. Now I’m not so sure about that. He’s looking more like the next generation of the

ESTABLISHMENT...sneaky, disingenuous (yeah-a PC word to make it hit home!), and intent on getting things done HIS WAY or NO WAY, and the rest of us be damned!

http://www.npr.org/2016/05/02/476492159/watch-ted-cruz-clashes-with-trump-supporter-he-is-playing-you-for-a-chump

[always-amazed-at-him]

RESURRECTION SUNDAY is the single most important date on the Christian calendar. While today’s cultural focus on family, children and gifting make Christmas the favorite of many-and surely the KING’s birthday is not to be taken lightly-the fact remains that without the Resurrection of Jesus, there would be no Christianity at all!

          Consider the event: the man Jesus is executed as an act of political expediency (John 18:14), and was certified as dead by the Roman soldiers assigned to execute Him (and they were certainly no strangers to death! They went so far as to jab Him with a spear to be sure life had left Him.) He is entombed in a borrowed grave on Passover Friday, and the grave is sealed and guarded by authorities to prevent tampering; as there were already rumors that death would not hold Him.

         In the mists  of early Sunday morning, the sealed tomb is found thrown open, first by several women disciples-and the Roman guards are nowhere to be found! For a Roman soldier to abandon his post without orders was a certain death sentence, so this was highly unusual. Upon entering the cave, it is found to be empty…Jesus is GONE! Even his disciples are confused and mystified. Where has He been taken?

         There is some evidence as to what has happened. The temple officials were quick to say the disciples had stolen the body, and they conspired with the Roman authorities in this (Matthew 28:11-15). They couldn’t maintain this story for long, however; as reported “Jesus sightings” were everywhere! Also, the disciples were hidden away and cowering somewhere in Jerusalem since the Crucifixion, paralyzed with fear-they were totally incapable of such heroics.

         Beginning with Mary Magdelene, the disciples were the first to see the Resurrected Christ; but they still remained quiet and out of sight until the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost some weeks later-as Jesus had promised them. At that moment, they all suddenly and inexplicably became aggressive evangelists, preaching the Good News of Salvation &  Eternal Life for all. Despite prison, torture & death, not one of these early Christians ever recanted their statements of the Resurrection (consider this against Watergate, where 12 of the world’s most powerful men could not maintain their silence to effect a lie…)

         Jesus was then seen by numerous people in the days after His body mysteriously vanished from the tomb, ending with Him reportedly being taken bodily into the clouds-in front of a crowd of over 500 witnesses. This is supported by there being no earthly remains of Jesus ever found.

         There are many prophetic passages in the Old Testament that are perfectly filled by Jesus life-and brief death (see Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7 and 53:5-7 to start). There are too many details noted in these statements made hundreds of years earlier for them to be considered self-fulfilling generalities (such as “the virgin will be with child”, “He was pierced for our transgressions”, and “He spoke not in His own defense”).

         The final item for us to consider here is the tearing of the Temple curtain. This heavy cloth divider, more like a hanging carpet than what we consider a curtain, was in the Temple in Jerusalem as the final partition of the Holy of Holies. It was a physical symbol of the separation that existed between GOD and man. At the moment Jesus died on the cross, the Perfect Sacrifice for the sins of mankind had been made, and this curtain was torn completely in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51).      

           …AND IF ALL THIS IS TRUE, WHAT DOES IT MEAN? The Resurrection is the cornerstone of Christian faith, and is GROUND ZERO of GODs free gift of Eternal Life and Salvation, through Jesus Christ, for us all: “ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.  We believe with our hearts, and so we are made right with God. And we declare with our mouths that we believe, and so we are saved.” [Romans 10:9-10]

         COULD IT BE THAT SIMPLE? YES! Just say with your mouth (and mean it in your heart) that JESUS is your Lord and Savior, and truly believe that HE was raised from death, and the FREE GIFT of salvation & eternal life with GOD is yours!

         IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS-please feel free to email us at contact_us@AmazedByGraceSpecialties. You might find it helpful to contact a Bible-believing church in your own area, too.

         May GOD BLESS you and yours RICHLY! – Michael & Tina

[always-amazed-at-him]

Biblical Parallels?

Several days ago, my wife & I were watching an old made for TV move, “Peter and Paul” (featuring Anthony Hopkins as Paul). Although we’ve watched it many times before, we still enjoy it as we’ve come to agree that it is probably the most Biblically accurate depiction of the story of Apostles Peter and Paul to date.            During the scene where Paul is confronting the Jews in the temple, I had the feeling of something contemporary being played out before us. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, it wasn’t long in coming to me.            Below is a brief descriptive essay that is the result of this epiphany. Please read it through once before referring to the reference notations.

The times were already tumultuous, and his words did nothing to calm things. The leaders of his own party, apparently jealous of him (1) and fearful of losing their power over the people, publicly ridiculed him; and did all they could to distance themselves, and worked to destroy him. (2) He spoke constantly in public, at venues large and small, drawing huge crowds wherever he went (3). While his message was generally well received (4),  there were those who disagreed; and took advantage of every opportunity to do him harm (5 & 6).  His meetings were regularly infiltrated and disrupted, sometimes to the point of being disbanded to a later date. (7) There were even occasions of violent outbreaks; but this was always initiated by his opponents (8 & 9). Leaders of the day publicly accused him of causing these disturbances by the things he said, and even accused him of hateful crimes and misdemeanors (10 & 11). However, no proof could ever be properly presented (12) and these charges were eventually forgotten.

(1) Acts 13:45: When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him. (2) Acts 13:50:  But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. (3) Acts 14:1-2: At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. (4) Acts 14:21-27:  They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders[a] for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25 and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. (5) Acts 14:5:  There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. (6) Acts 21:27-29:  When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.) (7) Acts 19:23; 29-31:  [23] About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. ... [29-31]Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. (8) Acts 14:19: Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. (9) Acts 21:30-31: The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. (10) Acts 16:20-21:  They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” (11) Acts 24:1, 5-6, 9:  [1] Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor.  [5-6] “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him. [9] The other Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true. (12) Acts 26:31-32:  After they left the room, they began saying to one another, “This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.” Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

{All passages taken from the New Testament, NIV. Passages that were skipped were not in any disagreement; they were simply irrelevant to the conversation}

Please don’t misinterpret or read anything into this. I am NOT saying Donald Trump is the new Apostle Paul; nor am I saying he’s GOD’s ‘Chosen One’. For goodness sake!...I’m not even sure I’m going to vote for him (although with Dr. Carson’s leaving the race, any real choice has become rather limited...)  All I’m saying is that there appears to exist a notable bit of a parallel in the action/reaction that history has recorded...aye? I do not know of another time where a man was so popular in general, but yet so reviled by those in authority...other than Jesus Himself...

[always-amazed-at-him]

How much more gracious could a Creator be? No matter what we’ve done, where we’ve gone or what has been said, we can ALWAYS return...humbled, as we’ve proved to ourselves and to history that we can NOT do it without Him; in repentance, knowing that we’ve offended Him in so much, and need His Spirit to redirect us; but yet hopeful and with a promise of great joy...KNOWING that as we sincerely seek Him with our new heart, He will completely forgive our iniquities and heal the damage we’ve done!