The Bible is not a collection of stories, fables, myths,
or merely human ideas about God. It is not a human book.
Through the Holy Spirit, God revealed His Person and Plan
to certain Believers, who wrote down His Message for His
People (2 Peter 1:20-21).
This process is known as Inspiration. The writers wrote
from their own personal, historical, and cultural contexts.
Although they used their own minds, talents, language,
and style, they wrote what God wanted them to write.
Scripture is completely trustworthy because God was
in control of its writing. The means God used were
frail human beings, but the meanings he made sure
were recorded are God’s message to us. Its words
are entirely authoritative for our Faith and for Our Life.
The Bible is “Inspired by God.” Read it, and use its teachings to guide your conduct !!
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America
then in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
It’s easier to do what’s right when we gain Recognition and Praise.
To be sure our motives are not selfish, we should do our Good Deeds
Quietly or in Secret, with No Thought of Reward.
JESUS says we should check our Motives in Three Areas: 1) Generosity, 2) Prayer, and 3) Fasting.
Those Acts should not be Self-Centered, but God-Centered,
done not to make us look good, but to make God Look Good !!
The Reward God Promises is not material, and it is never
given to those who Seek it.
Doing something only for yourself is not a Loving Sacrifice.
With your next good deed, ask, “Would I still do this if no one would ever know I did it?"
Job 2:13-NLT They sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. And no one said a word, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.
Why did the friends arrive and then just sit quietly?
According to Jewish tradition, people who come to
comfort someone in mourning should not speak until
the mourner speaks. Job’s friends realized that his
pain was too deep to be healed with mere words,
so they said nothing. (If only they had continued to sit quietly!)
Often, we feel we must say something spiritual and
insightful to a hurting friend. Perhaps what he or
she needs most is just our presence, showing that we care.
Pat answers and trite quotations say much less than
empathetic silence and loving companionship.
There are many barriers that can divide us from other Christians: Age, Appearance, Intelligence, Political persuasion, Economic status, Race, Theological perspective.
One of the best ways to stifle Christ’s Love is to be friendly with only those people that we like. Fortunately, Christ has knocked down the barriers and has unified all Believers in one family.
His Cross should be the Focus of our Unity.
The Holy Spirit helps us look beyond the barriers to the Unity we are called to Enjoy.
These new Disciples used several names for JESUS: Lamb of God,
Rabbi,
Messiah,
Son of God,
King of Israel.
As they got to know JESUS, their Appreciation for Him grew.
The more time we spend getting to know Christ, the more
we understand and appreciate who HE is.
We may be drawn to Him for His Teaching, but we will come
to know Him as the Son of God. Although these disciples
made this verbal shift in a few days, they would not fully
understand until three years later. What they so easily
professed had to be worked out in experience.
We may find that Words of Faith come easily,
but Deep Appreciation for Christ comes with living by Faith.
Some people try to earn their way to God by keeping a set of rules
(obeying the Ten Commandments, attending Church Faithfully, or
doing good deeds), but all they earn for their efforts is frustration
and discouragement.
Because of Christ’s sacrifice, the way to God is already open, and
we can become His children simply by putting our Faith in Him.
No longer trying to reach God by keeping rules, we can become
more and more like JESUS as we live with Him day by day.
Let the Holy Spirit turn your eyes away from your own
Performance and toward JESUS. HE will free you to serve
Him out of Love and Gratitude.
This is Living “in the New Way” of the Spirit.
You are among those who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ, dear friends in Rome. God loves you dearly, and HE has called you to be His very own people. May Grace and Peace be yours from God our Father and the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
(Romans 1:6-7)
Paul showed his love for the Roman Christians by expressing
God’s love for them and his own thanks and prayers for them.
To have an effect on people’s lives, you first need to love
them and believe in them. Paul’s passion to teach these people
began with His love for them.
Thank God for your Christian brothers and sisters, and let them know how deeply you care for them.
Quilt of Holes
As I faced my Maker at the last judgment, I knelt before the LORD along with all the other souls.
Before each of us laid our lives like the squares of a quilt in many piles, an Angel sat before each of us sewing our 20 quilt squares together into a tapestry that is our life.
But as my Angel took each piece of cloth off the pile, I noticed how ragged and empty each of my squares was. They were filled with giant holes. Each square was labeled with a part of my life that had been difficult, the challenges and temptations I was faced with in every day life. I saw hardships that I endured, which were the largest holes of all.
I glanced around me. Nobody else had such squares. Other than a tiny hole here and there, the other tapestries were filled with rich color and the bright hues of worldly fortune. I gazed upon my own life and was disheartened.
My Angel was sewing the ragged pieces of cloth together, threadbare and empty,like binding air.
Finally the time came when each life was to be displayed, held up to the light, the scrutiny of truth. The others rose; each in turn, holding up
their tapestries. So filled their lives had been. My Angel looked upon me, and nodded for me to rise.
My gaze dropped to the ground in shame. I hadn't had all the earthly fortunes. I had love in my life, and laughter. But there had also been trials of illness, and wealth, and false accusations that took from me my world, as I knew it. I had to start over many times. I often struggled with the temptation to quit, only to somehow muster the strength to pick up and begin again. I spent many nights on my knees in prayer, asking for help and guidance in my life. I had often been held up to ridicule, which I endured painfully, each time offering it up to the Father in hopes that I would not melt within my skin beneath the judgmental gaze of those who unfairly judged me.
And now, I had to face the truth. My life was what it was, and I had to accept it for what it was.
I rose and slowly lifted the combined squares of my life to the light. An awe-filled gasp filled the air. I gazed around at the others who stared at me with wide eyes.
Then, I looked upon the tapestry before me. Light flooded the many holes,creating an image, the face of Christ. Then our LORD stood before me, with warmth and love in His eyes.
HE said, "Every time you gave over your life to Me, it became My life, My hardships, and My struggles. Each point of light in your life is when you stepped aside and let Me shine through, until there was more of Me than there was of you."
May all our quilts be threadbare and worn, allowing Christ to shine through!
God determines who walks into your life...it's up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.'
When there is nothing left but God that is when you find out that God is all you need.
"Let me explain the problem science has with religion."
The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class
and then asks one of his new students to stand.
'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'
'Yes sir,' the student says.
'So you believe in God?'
'Absolutely. '
'Is God good?'
'Sure! God's good.'
'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'
'Yes'
'Are you good or evil?'
'The Bible says I'm evil.'
The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible! He considers for a moment.
'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him.
You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'
'Yes sir, I would.'
'So you're good...!'
'I wouldn't say that.'
'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.'
The student does not answer, so the professor continues.
'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer,
even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good?
Can you answer that one?'
The student remains silent.
'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says.
He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.
'Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?'
'Er..yes,' the student says.
'Is Satan good?'
The student doesn't hesitate on this one. 'No.'
'Then where does Satan come from?'
The student falters. 'From God'
'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'
'Yes'
'So who created evil?'
The professor continued, 'If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists,
and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'
Again, the student has no answer.
The Professor continues "Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?
All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'
The student squirms on his feet. 'Yes.'
'So who created them?'
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. 'Who created them?'
There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom.
The class is mesmerized.
'Tell me,' he continues onto another student.
'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'
The student's voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.'
The old man stops pacing.
'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you.
Have you ever seen Jesus?'
'No sir. I've never seen Him.'
'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?'
'No, sir, I have not.'
'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?'
'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.'
'Yet you still believe in him?'
'Yes'
'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist...
What do you say to that, son?'
'Nothing,' the student replies.. 'I only have my faith.'
'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God.
There is no evidence, only faith.'
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own.
'Professor, is there such thing as heat? '
' Yes.
'And is there such a thing as cold?'
'Yes, son, there's cold too.'
'No sir, there isn't.'
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested.
The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain.
'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat,
white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'.
We can hit d own to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that.
There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.
Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes
a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat.
You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat.
We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy.
Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'
Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom,
sounding like a hammer.
'What about darkness, professor.
Is there such a thing as darkness?'
'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation.
'What is night if it isn't darkness?'
'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something.
You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light,
but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it?
That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't.
If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him.
This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'
'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'
The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'
'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains..
'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God.
You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure.
Sir, science can't even explain a thought.'
'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.
To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.' 'Now tell me, professor.
Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'
'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.'
'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going.
A very good semester, indeed.
'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove
that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir?
Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.
'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student,
let me give you an example of what I mean.'
The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?'
The class breaks out into laughter. 'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain,
felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain?
No one appears to have done so.
So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol,
science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.'
'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'
Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student,
his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity,
the old man answers. 'I Guess you'll have to take them on faith.'
'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues.
'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?' Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is.
We see it Everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in
The multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.
These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'
To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself.
Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold,
a word that man has created to describe the absence of God.
God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have
God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or
the darkness that comes when there is no light.'
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