While reflecting on this morning's anniversary, I came across a great article posted on TownHall.com, and wanted to share it with you. It was written by Alan Sears who is a former federal prosecutor in the Reagan Administration, is president and CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal alliance employing a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.

Please take a moment to read it, comment, and email the author to let him know what you think.

God bless you, and may God continue to bless America!

9/11 and a Shining City

On September 11, 2001, Americans were reminded of two things—the dangers of terrorism and the greatness of the United States.

The dangers of terrorism were evident in the phone calls various passengers made to their loved ones when they realized the very planes aboard which they were flying had been hijacked. The dangers were also evident in the twisted and smoking remains of the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a field in rural Pennsylvania.

In all these places, American lives were lost—nearly 3,000 in all—and the United States momentarily appeared vulnerable, if not weak.

But a strange thing happened on the way to cowering and surrendering in the days that followed the attacks: namely, Americans of almost all political stripes united and a sleeping giant was awakened for a time.

We went from staring at our televisions in disbelief to uniting on our core beliefs and sending our military to find those who had committed these acts against us.

This focus was exemplified by President George W. Bush in his famous bullhorn speech delivered on the rubble of the World Trade Center, just days after the attack: “I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear from all of us soon.”

In this, the greatness of the United States was shining through. And the world could see that terrorists might knock down our buildings and steal the lives of thousands of our citizens, yet they could not steal our ideals or our love for country.

America has always rested on something greater than the differences that exist between her various citizens, something which transcends the diversity of each particular generation, allowing them to shake hands across the decades: thus the motto, E Pluribus unum.

We forget this so easily that it took an unprecedented attack on our homeland in 2001 to remind us it’s true.

On this eleventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, we need to remember the Americans we lost—the fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters who perished aboard hijacked planes, or climbing stairwells in the World Trade Center, or sitting at their desks at the Pentagon. Yet as we remember these, we must also remember that America’s greatness, recovered for a time amidst the smoldering rubble, is not a thing of the past.

We need to search out again the aspects of our tangible foundation which transcend our personal or political differences, and upon finding them we need to cling to them tightly.

And while it shouldn’t take attacks that cost 3,000 American lives to remind us the United States is a shining city on a hill, the attacks are a reality. Therefore, part of our response to them needs to be a renewed and ongoing attempt to understand the foundations on which this “Shining City” rests.

May God bless the United State of America and the families of those who perished eleven years ago.

God is in Control

This week, while preparing my lesson for the adult Sunday school class at Liberty Baptist Church, I came across a lesson that touched my heart and that God used to speak to me regarding the subject of "letting go and letting God."

I have included it below and I hope and pray that you are blessed by it as well.

In Christ,
Jason Jasper

God is in Control

I want to start this message by saying “God is in control”

It doesn’t matter what is happening in the economy, and it doesn’t matter what is happening on a political level, or who’s in the white house.
It doesn’t matter what they do to social security, healthcare, or anything else.

God is in control.
It’s not the government or the president or anybody else. As a child of God your destiny is secure, God is your source and Heaven never has a shortage or needs a bail out.

Exodus 1:13-17 - And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. 15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. 

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 

Let’s start with Moses, the deliverer of God’s people (He was destined to bring God’s people out of Egyptian bondage). But from his birth the enemy was set on his destruction. That which the enemy had marked for destruction, God had marked for life, Moses grew up in the Pharaoh’s house, he had the best of everything in the land, (and the enemy paid the bill).

Because God had it under control.

Exodus 13:17-18 - 

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: 

18 But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. 

The children of Israel knew the area (after all, it had been their home for over 400 years! But God knew there was a battle going on in the land and He knew that if they saw it that they would lose hope and want to return to bondage.

There are many times in life that from our natural perspective there are easier and faster ways to do things, but God has a better viewpoint, plus God has a higher purpose. Too many times our only initiative is to just get through it, but God’s intention is that we not only GET through it but that we also GROW through it.

Exodus 14:1-3 - And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. 

Here are the children of God from all visible evidence they are trapped, there is no way back, and there is no way forward, they are in that place no one ever wants to be.

The thing we have to fight is agreeing with the enemy. We must not agree with the Devil, because God has us in his control.

The devil knows the power of words, he knows the power of our self-talk (what we say to ourselves), and he wants you to line up your confession with your circumstances-he knows that if you focus on your circumstances that you will just get depressed. But God wants you to line up your confession with His Word.

Fear says: I can’t pay the bills.

Faith says: The LORD will provide!

Fear says: I am going to lose my job.

Faith says: The LORD will direct my family!

Fear says: It’s over, there’s no way out.
but…
Faith says: I don’t know what God is going to do and I don’t know how He’s going to do it…
but I know God has it all under control.

Exodus 14:4 - And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so. 

Exodus 14:13-14 - 

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 

14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. 

There is an enemy in your life, a battle that has been going on, it seems like you’ve got it under control, but you turn around and it’s there again, You pray and pray and you felt like you’ve got the victory but just when you start to make some progress there it is again.

God said: “The Egyptians whom you have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.”

You’ve done everything you know to do, you’re exhausted, you’re at the point of giving up… “what’s the use? it’s hopeless, I can’t do it.”

It’s when you get to that point that you’re finally in position for a miracle! You’re finally in a position for God Almighty to do what you could never do. He’s just been waiting for you to recognize YOUR weakness, and HIS strength. You’ll never know His strength till you recognize your weakness.

The Lord used the Apostle Paul to illustrate this point:

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 - And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 

Paul had to realize that God is in control.

He also used his twelve in the gospels of Matthew and Mark:
The Lord saw the disciples out on the sea fighting a violent storm, but Scripture says that He waited till the forth watch of the night to come to them on the water.
why?

#1 – Because they didn’t need him yet. Some of them were experienced fishermen who had no doubt been through a storm or two in their lives. They could handle a storm. So why did He wait? Because they still had strength, and as long as THEY had strength they didn’t need HIS strength.

The disciples had to realize that God is in control.

Also…
#2 – It is more than likely had they still had strength, they wouldn’t have received Him in the way that He came to them.

God may want to do something new and incredible in your life, but He can’t get it through to you until He gets you in a place where you can’t do anymore.

God wants to do something in your life that He has never done before, and to do that He has to bring you to a place you have never been before.

You and I have to realize that God is in control.

Exodus 14:21-22 - And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. 

Notice how Moses acted on FAITH and God MOVED. Notice it was Moses’ hand outstretched and not God’s, but at the same time we can see that it wasn’t Moses’ strength that was used but God’s. Moses did everything he could do and then God did the rest.

Because Moses realized that God is in control.

Here is a lesson that I believe will change your life – God is certainly using it to change mine – if you don’t get anything else I am saying this morning, get this:

While many are sleeping, God works the night shift!
The greatest miracle of your life may be just one hour away. It always gets the darkest just before the dawn. When the light seems the farthest away, you can bet that it’s also just around the corner!

When the children of Israel were in their darkest hour they had mountains on either side, an Egyptian army on their heels and there was the Red Sea in front of them – but when God started to work, when they opened their eyes in the morning, there was no longer a Red Sea but an eight lane highway!

PRAISE GOD He is in control!

Exodus 14:29-31 - But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. 30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. 31 And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses. 

The children of Israel saw with their physical eyes that God is in control!

And here is one of the most awesome things; they went through the midst of the Red Sea…
with dry feet.
Not only can God bring you out of trouble, but He can bring you out without even a trace of what you have been through.
Exodus 14:30-31 - Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. 31 And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses. 

An excellent example of this is the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed–nego. The fiery furnace was made so hot that it instantly killed the soldiers who were commanded to throw them into it, and yet when those three Hebrew boys WALKED out of it, not only did they not have even a single hair singed, but they didn’t even smell like smoke!

Listen church! I don’t know what you may be facing today, but the Lord told me to tell you, He’s got it all under control! And if you’ll just quit worrying, and complaining, and fretting, and fuming, and start trusting and praising Him, He’s going to turn it all around.

There are even some enemies that you have been fighting that you are not going to have to fight anymore.

Exodus 14:13-14 - And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. 

and you don’t have to turn but…

2 Chronicles 20:17 says,

Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.

...Stand still church and see the salvation of the Lord!
…Stand still church and see that the Lord is in control!

The Word of the LORD is the same today as it was back then: God has it all under control.

It’s time to move over and let Him fight your battles.
If you’ll just stand there right where you are, and if you’ll just lift your voice and begin to praise him, the El-Elohim, Jehovah-Jireh, The Great I AM, The Creator of Heaven and Earth, God Almighty Himself, will step right between you and your enemies, and He is going to fight the battle for you.
Paul and Silas were locked up in prison, backs beaten and bleeding, cast into the inner prison, their feet held fast in stocks, couldn't go left, or right, couldn’t go forward or backward, but they knew a secret (God has it all under control, and God works the night shift). And so at midnight, when all the other prisoners had succumb to their fate, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. God heard their song, and sent an earthquake, shook the bands from off of their arms and feet, shook the doors off their hinges, and ended up saving the jailer and his entire house! 

Because God has it all under control.

180Movie.com - PLEASE SHARE!

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." ~Edmund Burke

A Father's Wisdom - Teach Her Who God Is

I am currently in the middle of Dr. Meg Meeker's EXCELLENT book Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know. I can't say this strongly enough, but if you have daughters, this book is an absolute MUST read! So many things I thought I knew and so many things I had no idea! - just read it! :^)

Also (not by any type of coincidence) I am reading a couple books on evolution. Because both of these topics were going through my head at the same time, a passage from Dr. Meeker's book stood out at me and I wanted to share it. Enjoy!

In Christ,
Jason Jasper

A Father's Wisdom
(from chapter 8: Teach Her Who God Is)

Can you remember sitting on the edge of your three-year-old daughter's bed, watching her bundled in the peace of sleep? You gently leaned over her to kiss her forehead and pulled the blankets around her shoulders. No father can adequately articulate the experience of watching his sleeping child-it must be lived. Now, imagine you are walking out of her room. Could you turn around and look at her and believe that the sum of her existence rests in a mass of cells?

Certainly not. But this is exactly how a rank secularist is obliged to view his daughter. She is nothing more than a genetic product of his and her mother's DNA. The puffing of air through her tiny chest keeps her alive. Your time with her is precious, meaningful, but purely a biological phenomenon. Her thoughts and feelings can be traced to neuronal firing in her brain. One day you will die and she will die and that will be that. Life began through the splitting and rejoining of DNA and when they stopped functioning, she did too.

I can't imagine a father feeling this way about his daughter. When you look at your sleeping daughter, you are confronted with a spiritual reality that you can't deny. From the moment she was born, you sensed the awesomeness of her life,the fact that there is something mysterious and transcendent about it, that she goes beyond you and your spouse. A man can banter with his friends and colleagues about whether God exists. But a father looks at his daughter and knows. Often I find parents (particularly fathers) shy away from discussing spiritual issues with their daughters. Talking about faith is akin to talking about sex. We feel paralyzed. We choke. We don't know where to start. Or perhaps we're afraid because we don't have all the answers. Perhaps we struggle with faith. That's fine. You don't have to provide all the answers, and you can keep it simple.

Kids always want to know about God. Their questions are intuitive. If you don't give guidance to your daughter, she'll come up with answers of her own-which means your authority will be replaced by someone else's. This is how cults are formed. You wouldn't ask your daughter to cook coq au vin for dinner without giving her a recipe. And God is more important than dinner. Whether you're a Christian, a Jew, or a Hindu, when your daughter asks about God, you need to give her something to work with. Your daughter wants to hear something from you. And for most parents, that means imparting your own faith in God, which you learned, if nowhere else, while you were watching your baby daughter sleep.

King Obama?

I have been doing quite a bit of reading lately and it has caused me to start thinking a lot about our freedoms in this country and how they have been repeatedly trampled and are slowly being eroded. I personally am tired of our President “Alleged” setting himself up as a sort of king that is able to dictate policy against the will of “WE THE PEOPLE!”

[By the way, the definition of Alleged is “Represented as existing or as being as described but not so proved; supposed.” – so it fits perfectly with a guy who has spent almost $ 1.4 million (not including actions taken by the United States Department of Justice on your tax-dime) to keep his birth certificate concealed. You know what a birth certificate is, right? It’s that tiny little piece of paper that is given out by the hospital to certify that a live birth has occurred on such-and-such date and in such-and-such place. It’s a pesky little thing that proves your eligibility to hold the office of President of these United States… but whatever.]

Anyway, during a bit of inspiration (however brief) I decided that I should compile a list of complaints that would point out many of the abuses of power that have been going on in our country.

1. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

2. He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

3. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

4. 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.

5. He has imposed taxes on us without our consent.

6. He has taken away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments.

7. He has suspended our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

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.

OK… so I have a confession to make… this isn’t really “my list.” It was written in the summer of 1776 and is contained in a formal document called The Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson penned it and it was then signed by fifty-six Americans, forever changing the course of this country. It was written as a first step to throwing off the chains of tyranny imposed on a free people by King George III.

They began their letter of complaint with “When, 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.”

Am I suggesting that the time has come to dissolve the political bands? Is it time to start over? I’m not sure… but one thing I am sure of is that I will be seriously researching the purchase of land in the great State Country of Texas.

Back to the complaint: “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 the 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.”

Our founding fathers chose to end their letter of complaint by appealing to our Heavenly Father. They knew what signing that document meant for them, they knew the struggle that lay ahead… and most assuredly, they knew that He was the only One that could help.

Funny you should come to me...

Troubled by the way his son turned out, the Jewish lawyer went to see his rabbi. "I brought him up in the faith, gave him a very expensive bar mitzvah, and it cost me a fortune to educate him. Then he tells me last week he has decided to be a Christian." Rabbi, where did I go wrong?"

"Funny you should come to me", said the rabbi. "I too brought up my son in the faith, spent a fortune putting him through university, then one day he says to me he has decided to become a Christian".

"What did you do?" asked the lawyer.

"I turned to God for the answer", replied the rabbi.

"And what did God say?" pressed the lawyer.

"He said, 'Funny you should come to me. Two thousand years ago, I had a son......"

Very touching... this kid has his act together.

President Obama

There are so many things I want to write about... but in my current mood... I don't think now is such a good time. I started jotting notes and upon review realized that it wouldn't be a good idea as many of them would come across sounding angry, disappointed... and possibly even racist (depending on the reader).

I'll just leave you with a quote I heard many years ago:

"When I was a child I thought that anyone could be president... now I believe it."

Weekly Memory Verse

Mark 10:45 - For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Protect the Family...YES! on Proposition 8

UK Warns US "Don't Follow Our Lead"

Stop Imperial Judges...Support Proposition 8

Weekly Memory Verse

James 1:27 -
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Joy's K4 to K5 promotion!

Joy,

We are so very proud of you! You did such a great job this year.
We were amazed at the way you stood on stage at your promotion ceremony and recited all those poems and that incredibly long list of Bible memory verses.

God has truly blessed our family with you and we know He has BIG plans for your life.
Love, Mom & Dad

Something new for our site!

We will be posting a "weekly memory verse" for you to meditate on. Please don't underestimate the importance of hiding God's Word in your heart (Psalm 119:11).

Hope you enjoy it.

God Bless,
Jason Jasper

Weekly Memory Verse

Romans 8:14-15 - For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 - For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Is the Grand Canyon Proof of Noah's Flood?

I just read this great article and couldn't help but share it with my readers (both of them).

Enjoy!

God Bless,
Jason Jasper
______________________________________
Is the Grand Canyon Proof of Noah's Flood?
Creation Science Evangelism, May 29, 2008

Two people can often look at the same thing and come to opposite conclusions. The Grand Canyon is a perfect example. Evolutionists use it as proof that the earth is billions of years old, claiming that the Colorado River carved the canyon over millions of years. Bible-believing Christians interpret the canyon as a spillway from Noah's Flood. One believes it formed slowly, with a little water and a lot of time. The other believes it formed quickly, with a lot of water and a little time. What a stark difference. (click here to read the entire article and see a video)