It finally dawned on you, there is something to be said about healthy eating and exercise. So you decided the best route to the exercise piece was to get a bike.
You went to Amazon-- found the bike for you and ordered it. Since you're on Amazon Prime shipping was free and expedited. Three days later a big truck pulled up to your driveway -- Two men proceeded to unload a huge box, which upon your instruction and with your supervision, they deposited in your garage.
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool”.
In admonishing Israel for her sin, He extends an amazing three-part olive branch to the people:
• Repent of your sin and I will erase the stain of your sin.
• With that done we can re-establish our relationship.
• Then you and I can talk the situation over.
Thoughtful observers of the current state of our nation, regardless of political ideology agree on this point – There is an atmosphere of bitter anger permeating the country. Of course, politicians and partisan pundits blame "the others" of being the angry ones.
What has led to this hostility? I believe the answer is complex-— I believe just about everything in our society has become politicized and polarized: the air we breathe, the climate, our beliefs and traditions, education, news, sports, skin color, gender and national origins.
We just celebrated April Fool’s Day, but let me propose something for you to think about that is not a joke…Hell will be full of believers.
"Believer" is an inadequate term to describe Christians because it doesn’t indicate the essence of a true Christian which is a "follower" of Jesus Christ. I believe in Satan, but I don't follow Him. James 2:19 says that demons “believe and tremble” at Jesus, but they don’t follow Him. Satan knows Jesus. He lived with Jesus in Heaven. He spoke to Him…and tempted Him. Satan is absolutely a “believer” in Jesus, but he’s not a “follower”.
Abide: “to accept without objection” – “to continue in a Place (Webster’s 7th Collegiate Dictionary)
Genesis 13:13 “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” In studying the scripture there is a principle called “The Law of First Mention.” Genesis 13:13 is the first mention of the word sinner(s) in the Bible. It references those abiding in the ancient city of Sodom. Sodom was one of the “cities of the plain” located somewhere around the Dead Sea. The city was infamous for its pagan worship and its depravity. Zondervan Bible Dictionary (M.C. Tenney) notes its name became synonymous with “vice, infamy, injustice, and judgement”.
Following the ouster of prayer in public schools in the 1960’s I don’t recall when secular forces began their quest to remove manger scenes from the public square. In their ignorant intolerance they used Thomas Jefferson’s * (whom they now decry!) letter of January 1, 1802 to the Danbury Baptist Association of Danbury Connecticut containing the phrase “a wall of separation between church and state” reassuring the Baptist that the government hands were tied from interfering with or in any way controlling the affairs or decisions of the churches in America. They used the wall phrase as a shoehorn into the constitution to turn freedom of religion into freedom from religion (note Thomas Jefferson never signed the constitution nor was he present at the constitutional conventions of 1787).
