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Archive for the 'Angela’s Articles' Category

Green Eyed Monster

Posted in Angela's Articles on January 13th, 2012 8 Comments »

Jealous.  Envious. 

Two words that basically mean the same thing.  To be jealous means to be “resentful against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another’s success or advantage itself.”

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John the Baptist – An Advent Devotional

Posted in Angela's Articles on December 23rd, 2011 3 Comments »

Today’s passage comes from Luke 1:67-80 and centers on another baby who was born about six months prior to Jesus, who would prepare the way for the Lord God.

Read Luke 1:67-80:

Zacharias’s Prophecy
And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
         In the house of David His servant—
As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—
Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES,
And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US;
To show mercy toward our fathers,
 And to remember His holy covenant,
The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
         For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS;
To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
         By the forgiveness of their sins,
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
         With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH,
         To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.  


Thoughts
John the Baptist’s Backstory ~ 
Zacharius (a priest) and his wife, Elizabeth, had no children [Elizabeth wasn’t able to] and they were both too old to have any, when God intervened and told them, through His angel, that his prayer had been heard and Elizabeth would have a son.  He was told that they should name him, John.

John’s destiny and purpose which he fulfilled~

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Advent Devotional

Posted in Angela's Articles on December 9th, 2011 2 Comments »

Our family has a tradition of having a short family devotional time after dinner, while sitting around the table.  We have found that this is a great time to have our family’s devotions, because we’re already together, and can be consistent somewhat, with our routine.  We also have an advent candle holder, and this year, I thought it would be fun to use an Advent devotional, to add more meaning to our Christmas season.  The problem is, most advent devotionals you purchase spend about 25% or more of the lessons, teaching that Jesus is the “eternal godhead”, and other such things that I just don’t believe are Scriptural.  So, this desire and need for  a more Scripturally-accurate (I hope!) Advent Devotional, led to my blogging on this subject.  I have many days to go yet, but I thought I would share Day 7 with you.  If you like it, you can find others at my personal website.  I’m not sure how many I will get written, [no guarantees I can finish on time!], but this is a start.

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Amazing Teaching!

Posted in Angela's Articles on November 27th, 2011 6 Comments »

I know this isn’t my normal day to post – [so fellow bloggers, please excuse my interruption to our daily schedule!] – but I had to share this video of a sermon done by Pastor Mike Slaughter from the Ginghamsburg UNITED METHODIST church – a mega church located in Tipp City, Ohio.  What is so incredible about this teaching is that it is not your typical ‘mainstream Christianity’ teaching of what happens at death, but a Biblical teaching of the sleep of the dead until the resurrection.  He even mentions Plato’s immortal soul concept and how unscriptural it is.  My husband and I viewed this today, and we were pleasantly surprised at not only his belief and teaching, but that he had the courage and boldness, as a senior pastor of a mega church, to stand up on the stage to teach it!

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The Morning After Thanksgiving

Posted in Angela's Articles on November 25th, 2011 1 Comment »

It’s the morning after Thanksgiving.

Many are just now returning home after shopping all night long for their Black Friday shopping deals.

Many of you may already know that “on October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the fourth Tuesday of November as a national holiday.  Then, in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November (to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy). After a storm of protest, Roosevelt changed the holiday again in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November, where it stands today.” [www.earlyamerica.com]

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Thankful for Short Term Memory Loss

Posted in Angela's Articles on November 18th, 2011 5 Comments »

I have been counting my blessings this month of November, and one blessing that I thank God for is my short term memory loss  ~ just as Dory has, in the above video clip from the movie, “Finding Nemo,” she almost instantly forgets things.  As I grow older, the need to write things down before I forget them, becomes more of a necessity than just an organizational tool for my daily planner.  I like to think it’s because my brain is nearing its full capacity, because I am storing so much data, and am running out of room!

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Addiction

Posted in Angela's Articles on October 21st, 2011 27 Comments »

This is my new favorite band: Fireflight. I recently purchased their CD “For Those Who Wait,” and love absolutely all their songs, but I chose to post this particular one, because the lyrics speak to me and I hope they will speak to you, as well.

To what or to whom are you addicted? Do you struggle with something that you wish would go away? Your weight? Your alcohol problem? Your need for the next high? Your addiction to overspending? Smoking? Gambling? Sex? Porn? Lying? Work? Exercise? Bingeing? Purging? Do you feel a need to hide your habit? It was fun when you first started, but now you wish you could stop, but you realize you can’t? It has you in its grip and you are now enslaved, imprisoned, and you no longer see your way out?

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COULD Jesus Have SINNED when He was Tempted?

Posted in Angela's Articles on October 7th, 2011 164 Comments »

(Originally posted here)
Could Jesus have SINNED?
I was thinking about this question the other day, when I went shopping with a friend and was tempted to purchase a few items that would not have been in our family’s budget… like this really cute crinkle skirt that was 50% off from Christopher and Banks.  It even matched the shirt & sweater I was wearing at the time!  But, I resisted.  Didn’t even try it on, because I knew I would love it.  So, I walked away.
Then we went to lunch here:  Galo’s Italian Grill.  If you’ve never been before, you’re missing out!
The food was delicious.  So delicious in fact, that I was also tempted to eat another piece of yummy bread that had a deliciously flavored oil to dunk it into…yet after already eating 2 or 3 pieces of it (I had lost count at this point in my delirium), and feeling full, I said ‘no,’ although my flesh was clearly screaming for more.
We all know that our Lord Messiah, Jesus, was tempted by the devil to sin, out in the wilderness, right after he was baptized.  Matthew chapter 4 (if you wanna look it up for yourself) tells us that Jesus was ‘led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.’  Jesus was victorious, as he resisted temptation, and did not sin.  (yay, Jesus!)
But, for some of us who like to go a little deeper, it begs to ask the question, “But, COULD he have sinned?”  Jesus did NOT sin, but was he able to sin?  Could he have failed this test?
Jesus is called ‘the last Adam’ in I Corinthians 15:45 and the Apostle Paul compares the two (Jesus and Adam), and how the first Adam got it wrong (and sinned) and the last Adam got it right (and was obedient to His God, to the point of death).  He writes, “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”  I Corinthians 15:21-22.
They were both men, who were uniquely created by God, without inheriting the sin nature from an earthly father.  They were both placed in a very unique position to either pass down death or life, to the generations which followed them.
 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens –
 Jesus the Son of God – let us hold fast to the confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.”
Hebrews 4:14-15
I believe Jesus could have sinned, and that’s why God exalted him so highly.  Because Jesus “humbled himself by becomingobedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.  For this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.”  Philippians 2:8-9.
End of story, right?  Well, not for Trinitarians.  This whole subject creates a huge problem for them, because they believe Jesus IS God or “God the Son,” and the Scriptures tell us in James 1:14 that “… God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”
  • If Jesus was tempted, but he is God, who cannot be tempted… we have a conflict!
Their answer is very confusing.  A typical answer goes something like this:
“First, the devil was obviously tempting Jesus for the purpose of causing Him to sin—to act contrary to the will of His Father. Satan knew that God couldn’t sin, neither could He be tempted with evil (James 1:13). He had fully known the character of God prior to his own fall. But now God had become a man in the person of Christ, and the devil had already proven that man was peccable. When man was tempted to sin, he had succumbed to the evil. Satan had seen it in the Garden of Eden and he had observed it thousands of times in Adam’s posterity. At this point then, the devil thought God had weakened Himself by the Incarnation – the union of a human nature with the divine nature. So, he tempted Christ with evil. It was the first use of “peirazo.” … So, even though Christ felt the full force of Satan’s temptation in His human nature (which is peccable), He did not and could not sin because He was also God (which is impeccable). The temptation was real but the ability to overcome it was infinite. As a Person therefore, He was definitely impeccable. The temptation was not a roll of the dice in the wilderness to see who would win—Satan or Christ. It was a demonstration of Christ’s power as the Son of God to be our adequate Savior. Satan meant it for evil but God meant it for good—the two uses of “peirazo.”  (taken from http://www.awordfromtheword.org/tempted.htm).
In other words, Trinitarians will introduce the “dual nature” that Jesus allegedly had.   They will tell you that his “man nature” was tempted, but his “God nature” wasn’t.  Just like when he died on the cross.  His “man nature” died, but his “God nature” remained alive and eternal.  (found in the Bible….uh, where???)
Could he have sinned when tempted in the wilderness?  Their answer would be a resounding ‘no’ because he wouldn’t be able to sin, because He was God.  The eternal Godhead, dwelling as the 2nd person of the Trinity in flesh temporarily, would not have been able to sin!
Does anyone else have a problem with this answer?  
If Jesus was God, and he was tempted to sin (although it was impossible for him to sin) then why reward the guy?  Big deal.  So what, if “God the Son” resisted temptation and did not sin?  According to Trini’s, he couldn’t have sinned, even if he had wanted to, because he was God.  I see absolutely no overcoming needed here, by this “2nd person of the trinity” and this “god-man” gives me little hope or example of how I can possibly overcome my sin in my life!  How can he understand what it’s REALLY like to be tempted, when he knew that he wouldn’t sin?  I find it becomes a bit of a joke, a farce, a huge lie even!,  (that someone recently accused me of being blasphemous about when I poked fun at  the Trinity dual nature theory (that by the way, is not found ANYWHERE in the Bible).  I find this theory of dual nature extremely insulting and blasphemous to the one and only living God and extremely insulting to the amazing work that His Son, Jesus did on our behalf.  It minimizes the effort it took for Jesus to resist temptation and to die for our sins, if he was merely stopping by earth as God to play a man for awhile.
I personally, do not think it was such a ‘done deal,’ but believe that just like Adam, Jesus had the potential to mess it up, once again, for mankind.  He could have sinned, like Adam had done, when tempted by Satan!  But, thankfully, he did not, and we now have a Savior to redeem us from our sins; a high priest who completely gets what it’s like to be tempted in every way, yet encourages us that we, too, can overcome temptation and not yield to sin; and a mediator, between us and our God.  (not a triune god who came to earth to save us himself.).
If you believe Jesus is God, my friend, I don’t mean to offend you, but I do pray that you will take a closer look at this theory which tries to explain who God and Jesus are, and see the holes that it has.  This should be a gigantic red flag for you!  The Bible should not have holes and conflicts, and if what you are believing has those things, then you must be honest with yourself, and take the time to carefully re-examine what you have been taught. It may be false teachings.  It may not… who am I?  Maybe I’m wrong.  Don’t take my word for it.  Grab your Bible and ask yourself, “Could Jesus have been tempted to sin?   Can God be tempted to sin?” and then use the brain that God has given you, to understand the simple message that He has revealed to you through Scripture, that Jesus is His Son, the Christ.
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Harvest

Posted in Angela's Articles on September 30th, 2011 3 Comments »

And He was saying to them,

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Luke 10.2



Christian growth statistics, posted by prayerfoundation.org states that  “If only 1 out of every 6 believers “reproduced” themselves one time each year, the entire world would be reached for Christ by the year 2020!”  Imagine that!

It’s not that there aren’t any people who would be converted to being followers of Jesus Christ…it’s that there are so few Christians who are willing to go out into the world to proclaim the good news of a coming Kingdom with their neighbor, friend or family!

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Simply ONE.

Posted in Angela's Articles, YouTube on September 23rd, 2011 47 Comments »

Below is a video clip that represents a simple presentation of who God is, who Jesus is, and what God’s plan is for the coming Kingdom of God.  The words go a bit fast, so you might have to watch it more than once to catch it all at first, but it’s a simple video message of the Gospel or good news of the Kingdom and Christ Jesus (inviting you to check out our local church plant at the end of it).

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