Enjoy a Peaceful Smoky Mountain Retreat
If you are contemplating a visit to the Great Smoky Mountains, please consider visiting our lovely three-bedroom rental cottage, Rocky Top, located in the Hidden Mountain Resort in Sevierville, Tennessee.
The You Worthy of Being You
Is there anything about your life that can be changed that you would like changed, any habit, speech pattern, body type, act of conduct, or spiritual transformation? Would you like to change it? Are there people you think highly of that would like to see it changed? What is the major benefit that would result? If it can be changed there is someone who can change it – – – you.
We are far enough from New Year’s to make this more than a flippant fling that fades. This is to be a genuine energetic empowered effort. Why not go for it? Others have made a sustained 180 degree change. Wouldn’t it make you feel good and proud, the good type of proud? There is an egotistical kind of pride which is improper. There is another kind of pride that makes you ashamed not to be your best. That is the good and highly motivated kind you should have regarding all of life. Well then, go for it.
First get the Lord involved in it. Make sure it is something He would like to see and is willing to partner with you to achieve. Talk to Him about it. Ask Him to help you. Then commit yourself to Him, and resolve to give yourself fully to making the change.
Define clearly what you would like to change. Think what it is about it that you deep down genuinely dislike.
Next, give yourself a defined insight as to what you would like to see as a replacement.
Envision and list steps to be taken to reach your goal. Define each step as to what and when you would need to take each.
At the Battle of the Big Horn the Native Americans, Indians, were well organized. One detachment had long sashes around their waist, so long they went to the ground and were a couple of feet longer. They had a lance they drove through the sash deeply into the ground. This meant here I stand and will not under any effort be moved. Thus, they marked their territory and resolutely would be moved. That is the type of commitment you will need to make your desired change. Fix that image in your mind and tell the Lord of it.
Do you know someone who has made a dramatic productive change you can talk with about such a change? Don’t think you have to go about making your change exactly as they did. However, it can help you define your “work in progress” program.
Resolve “to put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness..” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
The Art of Deception XY
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters…” (“James 1:16-17).
In considering deception, be certain you avoid deceiving. Do unto others as you would like them to do to you. If you don’t like being deceived, don’t deceive others. Hold yourself accountable for your actions.
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7-8).
This is embodied in the ageless dictum: You always reap what you sow. You always reap later than you sow. You always reap more than you sow. In summary, “actions have consequences.”
The Bible consistently warns against deception, both in the form of false teachings and personal deceit. Deception, at its core, is a manipulation of truth, and the scriptures emphasize the importance of guarding oneself against it in both spiritual and everyday life.
This line from the poem “Marmion” expresses a great truth, “Oh, what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive.”
An old southerner in my youth introduced me to this simple, but significant truth, “One lie is the pappy of another.” In other words, once you lie you have to perpetually tell other lies to cover the previous ones.
God’s word keynotes the final filter is for truth to be central in every aspect of life. By staying rooted in God’s Word, cultivating spiritual discernment, and maintaining personal integrity, Christians can effectively avoid the traps of deception.
We are to remain vigilant and discerning, as deception often presents itself as truth, cloaked in righteousness. Similarly, in Matthew 24:4-5, Jesus cautions His followers to “watch out that no one deceives you,” referring to false prophets who would arise in the last days, claiming to represent Him. This reinforces the need for personal responsibility in verifying teachings and staying grounded in the truth of God’s Word.
A great deception results when a person clenches his or her fist and says, “It’s my life. I am the captain of this ship. No one rules this life but me! I will find my own way. I will be my own lord and savior, my own master, my own guide.”
The Bible urges believers to “put on the belt of truth” (Ephesians 6:14). The term is used regarding spiritual warfare. The weapons for spiritual warfare are listed. Truth is one of the weapons. Having it at the waste means always having it available for both offense and defense.
Happy Father’s Day
Jesus looked through the lexicon of human language for a word to link Jehovah God with a human entity to help our understanding of what God is like. In doing so He was portraying for us what this human entity should be like. He chose the word “Father.”
He taught us to pray “Our Father which art in heaven…”
The role of dad has so deteriorated in our day that to call God Father is to evoke a negative image of Him in the minds of some children.
Dad, here is a hard question. In your home are you a hero or a zero?
Let’s consider some traits of a home grown hero — dad.
It starts with compliance with this instruction: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
Now, there is a target worth shooting at! The best gift you can give your children is to love the Lord and the second best is to love their mother. In doing so you are setting a worthy example of what love really is.
-Develop a “we” mentality, not a “me” mentality. After the marriage ceremony life becomes “us” not “me and thee.”
-Don’t trash your future. When you think of the future, think of sharing it together. Develop a strong sense of a future together.
-Don’t develop a “greener grass” attitude. A person loses a sense of dedication when they begin thinking more about “what ifs.”
“Earth to father, come in father …”
Our liberated society has broken down most moral and ethical standards. In doing so we have created the world’s most dangerous environment for children. We have a new fatherless America filled with children who are so emotionally damaged by their parent’s behavior that they will likely have trouble making commitments and forming families themselves.
Such dads are zeros. What is needed is more dads who are heroes. That is, dads who exemplify what a dad should be, what a husband is like.
Not only is ours a society of the absentee father, but it is a culture that often so preoccupies the interest of the dad that even if he is home he is preoccupied with something somewhere else. Give your children your attention if you want theirs. When you are there, be there.
A hero dad is like a pace car at the start in a NASCAR race. They set the life long pace. There is an old song with these lines. “What they see is what they hear.” HAPPY FATHER’S DAY.
Dad, Don’t Be a Dork
Happy Father’s Day. It comes at a time the family is under attack, rather than siege. Young women are urged to remain single and those who are married are encouraged not to have children.
A new crisis threatens America that is even more ominous than Communism was a decade ago. It is a fatherless home. Today 38% of the children of America live in homes where the biological father isn’t present. This contrasts to only 17% in 1960. There is another type of fatherless home. It is the type where the biological father is living with the biological mother but he has forfeited the responsibilities of the role of a father.
Parents often speak of wanting to instill principles. In order to do so there must be a gift of PRESENCE before there can be a gift of PRINCIPLES.
Lessons are more easily caught than taught.
Presence says, “I need you, we belong together.”
Presence says, “I care, we need to be together.”
Our Heavenly Father has time for us. The Scripture says, “…the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers…” (I Peter 3:12).
Nearly 80% of the persons involved in the “U.S. News” survey think both the mother and father should spend more time with their children. Presence is essential for the communication of principles.
As dad once again came in from the golf course to pick up his bowling ball for an evening out the child asked, “Mom, who is that man that comes in here and kisses you and spanks me?”
Life is often depicted as a candle. The parental role is more like a torch which is held for a brief moment to be handed on to the next generation. Make it burn as brightly as possible.
Dr. Ernest Gordon, Dean of Chapel at Princeton University ended one of his books: “In the wild seas of violence that characterize our time we are in deepest need of islands of sanity, or harbors of humanity.” Be the kind of person you want your child to be. Model values. Based on your child’s observation of you, what would your child say is important to you? In what do you invest your time and energy?
Demonstrate to your child that Jesus, the church, and your family have top priorities with you. If you do, your child will help every day be what I wish for all dads who read this a . . . . HAPPY FATHER’S DAY.
No Shroud in the Tomb
Once more the Shroud of Turin is being questioned regarding its authenticity. The origin and history of the Shroud are complex and deeply intertwined with religious tradition, scientific inquiry, and historical debate.
The earliest undisputed historical reference to the Shroud dates back to the 14th century in France. Around 1354, the cloth was displayed in a church in Lirey by the French knight Geoffroi de Charny. It was initially met with skepticism, even from the bishop of the region, who claimed it was a forgery.
Despite early doubts, the relic gained popularity and was transferred over the centuries through various hands, eventually coming under the ownership of the House of Savoy. In 1578, it was moved to Turin, Italy, where it has remained ever since, housed in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.
Scientific examination of the Shroud began in earnest in the 20th century. In 1978, a team of scientists under the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) conducted an extensive examination. They concluded that the image was not painted, burned, or otherwise manually created by known artistic methods. However, the mystery deepened in 1988 when radiocarbon dating tests performed by laboratories in Oxford, Zurich, and Arizona dated the cloth to between 1260 and 1390 AD, suggesting it was a medieval forgery.
Martin Luther who was highly skeptical of relics in general said, “If they had all the pieces of the True Cross that they claim to have, they could build a whole forest.”
An unresolved question is where was the Shroud prior to 1578 and how was it originally concluded to be authentic. Consider the biblical accounts regarding the original cloth in reaching your conclusion.
MATTHEW 27: 59 (NKJV) “When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth.” Wrapped = entyliss?
MARK 15: 46 “Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. Wrapped = eneile?
LUKE 23: 53 “Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen,” Wrapped = entyliss?
JOHN 19: 40 “Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.” Bound = de?
Notice it was “strips of linen,” plural.
JOHN 20: 6, 7 “Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.” Peter’s perusal of the tomb included seeing the “handkerchief” and “the linen cloths” which earlier John described as “strips of linen.” If there had been a shroud he surely would have included what he saw. There was no shroud. Case closed.