O-Dark-Thirty

The Apostles were dismayed and brokenhearted, for their Master and friend died on a Roman cross. They knew the Sanhedrin orchestrated the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. The terrified Jewish leaders eliminated the single biggest threat to their continued leadership of Israel, and they used the Roman occupiers as their weapon. The High Priest thought he killed Jesus. You cannot kill God. The Roman cross did not kill Jesus. Jesus gave his life up. When he declared "It is finished", Jesus meant that the debt for sin was paid. God gave us the greatest gift we never deserved. God gave us forgiveness. Someone needed to tell the Apostles that God's ultimate forgiveness was in the cleansing blood flowing down the cross on Good Friday. So on Easter Sunday, Jesus, the Christ, rose from the dead. The grave could not hold him. Death could not claim him. Jesus is Everlasting Life, the Savior, our Lord, God made man, the Way, the Truth, the Son of God, the King of k...

Jesus died. The lives of the Apostles changed irrevocably. Never again would they walk with Jesus, expecting an exalted place in the new kingdom after the restoration of Israel. I'm sure they shed copious tears, for their Master,  their friend and their hopes. The followers of Jesus hid from authorities, afraid their fates were inextricably tied to the fate of their Teacher. They were right.

Easter. Easter is the most joyous of events in Christendom. Easter should be the greatest event for all mankind, but it doesn't work that way. We only have to look at the original Bible account to see why the world thinks of bunnies and not resurrection. On Palm Sunday, according to John 12, the world celebrated the coming of the Messiah to Jerusalem. The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the king of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now...

We are born selfish. God knows this, as do all parents.  Marriage is not a contract, as society would have you believe. A contract states that one party will do something for the other party, who in turn has certain obligations. A contract is binding as long as both parties do what they said they would do. A marriage is a covenant. In a covenant relationship each person pledges to do what they are supposed to do. God entered into a covenant relationship with Abraham, which is fortunate for Abraham and for us. The covenant God gave certain promises and Abraham answered with promises of his own. Abraham and his descendants (us) break those promises all the time. God, however, remains faithful to His covenant. Here’s the point. Marriage can NOT be selfish. The Marriage covenant says that you will put the needs of your spouse above your own. That sounds so simple… … but if you are reading that and have the slightest twinge of “See, I told you so! You are supposed to be ...

How do you define your relationship with God? I could give you a few seconds, but if you are trying to list all the ways you deal with God, then you are probably wrong. You don’t define your relationship with God. God already defined it. That relationship is simply Creator and Created. Our rebellious nature cringes at the thought that we must be servants to God. Funny thing is, that’s exactly where Satan went wrong too. We are created to be the servants of God. The plus side is that God loves us enough to actually create us for that purpose. Think about that for a second. God, the Almighty, Omniscient, Omnipresent God of Everything actually created you. Nobody is an accident. God is never surprised. Not one individual was ever born that God wondered “Now what am I going to do with him/her?” Each of us is special, and that is a point we must learn and know all the way the very center of our beings. God is a personal God. Even most Christians don’t fathom that statement....

My cousin Lee Elston of Brown City, Michigan died yesterday. Really, he was my mother's cousin, but that's such a mouthful. Lee, Jan, Kathleen and Paul (Yeah, I stole this from Kathleen's page) I have only a few memories of Lee, since he was ten years older than I. He visited us when we lived in Rhode Island, so that would be 1964 or so. Perhaps it was spring or summer. Dad was trying to fix something in the yard – I doubt it was sewer since we lived in the city, but it sure seemed to be a septic tank in my memory. Lee pitched in and dug for hours with Dad. I remember that because I tried to help, but real work had little attraction for an eight year old. Now that specific task is lost forever. I don't recall, and the only people who would really know are gone.  I wasn't very old, but I remember Mom talking to someone about Lee and how all the local girls just fell in love with him. Tall, tanned and toned with dark hair and a quick smile.  A...

So I received a newsletter from Stansberry Research written by Porter Stansberry titled Stansberry Research is Leaving the Newsletter Business Forever . Yeah, right. I read the entire newsletter  - all thirty (30) pages of it - and I ended up laughing my butt off. Porter ends this message by inviting people to sign up for his new service, Porter Stansberry For Lifetime (I think - that part was a bit muddled) with, of course, the warning that this was a once-in-a-lifetime-never-gonna-do-it-again offer expiring January 31st. (Yes, I'm late putting this one out, but I wouldn't want you rushing to sign up anyway.) This isn't news, folks. It's another sales pitch, sent to those of us who were subscribers. Is Porter changing his strategy? Sort of. He's now going to offer only the lifetime memberships to his service, which will include his Stansberry Terminal software. The software designed to make you wealthy. Only if you're selling it. His Lifetime m...