Mmhmm

Where have all the blog entries gone??? Weeeeeeell, the past two weeks have been crazy busy for me. Moved into our new apartment. Lovin it. Bought sofas, a TV, sound system, groceries (just had to throw that in there, lol). The internet has been out until yesterday!!! Argh! But thankfully, Cox was able to fix whatever the problem was on their end. So now everything’s settled.

Funny story … so we went to pick up our TV yesterday near Deer Valley – which for the folks not from the Valley, Deer Valley is a 45 minute drive on the freeway. Scott and I got up early and made our way out there. Right as we get there it starts pouring down rain. I cannot remember seeing it rain this hard. We hoped it might lighten up after a few minutes. No luck. We were forced to head all the way home and come back later, possibly next week to pick up this TV we’d already waited a week to pick up. On the drive home, the rain was depresingly thick. After a few minutes, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how much I am not in control of my life. God is in control. Everything that happened that morning was part of God’s perfect predestined purpose. Therefore I have no choice but to accept it, and thank God for His goodness to me. Turns out we were able to make the long trek again later that evening to get our beautiful television. Anywho, good stuff.

Right now I’m refreshing on the KJV Only issue because I have a good friend who is KJV Only. I will then be re-reading Scripture Alone by Elder James. Then Disputations of Holy Scripture by William Whitaker about Sola Scriptura! w00t!

That’s it for now. Hope everyone’s havin a jazzed weekend

Rusty

Apple will burn you

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210315,00.html

I won't say I told you so

Life Without the Internet

Our internet has been out for over a week. It was up for a few hours on Sunday, but other than that ... nada. Cox is sending out another tech. We're hoping they give us a brand new line, or do whatever to get us back onto the World Wide Web. Until then, expect updates few and far betweenly

Case of Base

P.S. - Do not be alarmed at the time of this entry's posting. It signifies the lateness of the customer service from Cox Communications =)

On My Own

Welp, finally did it! Scott and I got an apartment. Two bedroom, two bath(rooms). Plenty of room. The move went smooth. We're hoping to get our sofas, and every bachelor's top priority: a big screen tv with surround sound ASAP =).

I love it.

Yayage

Rustyrust

Various Trials

Yesterday was a very very bad day for me. Had some issues with my skewl loans, which caused issues with my class schedule (which is getting more important since I’m near the end of this long journey called an “education”), which led to trouble with my health insurance through the skewl, and on and on we go. It was definitely the most stressful day I’ve had in a long time. But the purpose of this entry is not to whine and complain. I’ve done enough of that to myself already, believe me. I have been terribly convicted by the Holy Spirit of God because throughout this entire difficult day, I didn’t trust God.

I worried … a lot. I let the stress affect me to the point that others around me could tell I wasn’t myself. It wasn’t as though I lashed out at anyone. But I wasn’t cheerful. I wasn’t joyful. Because I sought my happiness from my present situation, I was unhappy.

As I’ve reflected over the past day, one passage of Scripture was burning within me:

“1James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. 2Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; 10and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. 12Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 16Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. 19This you know, my beloved brethren But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 21Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. 22But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” (NASB, Bold Emphasis Mine)

There is so much in this text that applies to my situation.

The Holy Spirit has reminded me through His holy Word to be thankful in ALL situations. God has purpose in everything that happens in my life – the good and the bad. I need to have faith and not doubt. God is the Sovereign One. He has planned each of my steps, so why should I worry?

The moment my terrible circumstances began to overtake me I should have gone to God in prayer. I should have reminded myself of the promises of God.

Is not our God the Deliverer?

Does not our God have only good intentions for His elect people?

I should have been a doer of the Word, and not a hearer only.

By the kind intention of God, He has granted me repentance and shown me my error. But I am humbled. I’m reminded once more that I need God’s sustaining grace to make it through each and every day.

3 John 1:4

Sunday afternoon I was able to hang out with my old dgroup from GCC. I’ve said this many times before, and I gladly say it again: those boys were the most difficult part about leaving Grace Community.

We ate some health food (haha, yea right), then spend about an hour and a half talking about the hypostatic union of Christ – and it wasn’t even MY idea =). One of the students had a question about how God can be said to not change (Mal 3:6) if God the Son took on a human nature. Excellent question! I was amazed at the intelligence of the question! Clearly it was something that this particular guy, Joseph, had thought through and wanted to reconcile this issue so as to better understand his Lord. Isn’t that the desire of all Christians – to know more about the triune God?

Once we finished, Dan and I chatted for at least a couple hours. Dan is a dear brother whose friendship I value greatly. He is without a doubt one of my best friends. He took the guys on a service trip to Central America, and had some joyous times with them. As he told me about the trip I teared up more than once … and for different reasons. I was overjoyed to hear of how the Lord blessed their work. I thanked God when I heard of their love for one another. I was moved to hear of how much they have spiritually matured.

Though I have told all of our guys many times over the years how much I care about them, I don’t think they really know the depth of my love for them. I know Dan would say the same thing. I have watched them grow up since they were little sevies. Now they stand ever so much taller than me as seniors in high school! LOL.

Truly they are my glory and my joy.

Thanks for letting me boast about these guys. They are all eternally IT with BLOG TAG, no double tag backs. Aha!

3 John 1:4, "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." (NASB).

Because of Christ, the Lord,
Case

Medhead, site updates, and one other thing

During the presidential election I was totally a Sean Hannity fan. Yes, I was Hannitized. Post-election news-withdrawal hit me hard, and it was then that I realized Hannity has nothing new to say. He was incredibly helpful to me during the election, but now, I can almost predict what he's going to say before he says it, verbatim: "...three hours a day, every day, that's all we ask" =)

Anywho, I've branched out since then: Rush Limbaugh, Dennis Prager. My favorite by far, is Michael Medved. In fact, today I became a "Medhead" which basically means I can access his show archives anytime. He's informative and really is the best when it comes to politics and pop-culture.

Did you see that I updated some of my links off to the right? I created a "News" section. Before you gasp, please don't despair over my linking to the Communist News Network or MSNBC. With Fox's poor poor coverage of the Hezbollah-Israeli War, I've forced myself to branch out (especially since CNN and MSNBC have had better coverage).

I will still watch FoxNews, because they are definitely more conservative. But man, I am truly disappointed with them.

Welp, good to get that off my chest =)

Big C

My take on the Hezbollah-Israeli War

CNN: “July 12th, Hezbollah fires a pair of rockets into northern Israel from southern Lebanon, and guerrillas capture two Israeli soldiers during an attack along the Lebanese border between the Israeli towns of Zar'it and Shtula. Eight Israeli soldiers also die in fighting that day. In response, Israeli ground, air and naval forces attack at least eight Hezbollah bases and five bridges in southern Lebanon.”

CNN: “July 13th, Israeli warplanes and artillery strike hundreds of targets in Lebanon including Beirut's international airport and military airports in Riyaq and Qulayaat. Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets into northern Israel, hitting Nahariya, Safed and Haifa. Israel establishes a naval blockade of Beirut, and late in the evening attacks the city's airport again.”

…

The past weeks have gone on and on very much like this. Please take note of who struck first: Hezbollah. Who or what is Hezbollah? Our U.N. Ambassador, John Bolton, describes Hezbollah as a state within the state of Lebanon. They are a militant Islamic terrorist organization bent on the destruction of Israel.

As I’ve done my best to keep up with the Hezbollah-Israeli War, I have been shocked at how many world leaders act as though Israel is out of line. Hezbollah shoots rockets into Israel, kills and captures Israeli soldiers, and people flip out once Israel begins to defend itself. Talk about a double standard.

If Hezbollah were to lay down her arms, Israel would agree to an IMMEDIATE cease-fire. But what do you think happens if Israel lays down her arms? Hezbollah continues firing!

Does not Israel have the right to defend itself against terrorist attacks? I believe they do. What I find completely horrific is to hear the cries of world leaders blaming Israel for this war. Let’s review: Hezbollah provokes; Israel responds. Hezbollah continues provoking; Israel continues responding.

By the way, these rockets that Hezbollah fires into Israel cannot be aimed like missiles can. They are shot with a general direction … usually towards Israeli civilians. By contrast, the Israeli army is doing everything they can to only attack military targets. Aren’t Lebanese civilians getting killed? Unfortunately, they are. And unfortunately for the Lebanese, Hezbollah uses residential areas to set up rocket launchers. You see, Hezbollah has every reason to want the Lebanese people killed. The more innocent Lebanese die, the more they win to their cause. Hezbollah want both the Lebanese and Israeli citizens to be slaughtered. Israel wants neither Israeli nor Lebanese civilians to die.

I pray that the terrorist organization known as Hezbollah is wiped from the face of the earth. So yeah, I support Israel.

Rusty

Two uber links

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,206456,00.html

and

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,206553,00.html

Big C

Update: have you checked these yet ppl??? =)

This should be a top story...

I called my mom Saturday afternoon to say hello. She and my dad are in Seattle on vacation. She asked if I had heard about the latest terrorist attack. I hadn't. She was shocked. One block from their hotel in Seattle, an American Muslim of Pakistani descent went to a Jewish Federation Office and shot six people. One was killed, the others wounded. Before he opened fire he shouted, "I am an American Muslim, angry at Israel..."

Now, I consider myself a news-addict. I try to watch the news every day. I read news online. I'm fairly up-to-date on what's going on in the world. But why hadn't I heard about this??? So I called Scott to see if he'd heard anything. He hadn't either. What in the world was going on!?!?

When I got home from work later that night, my beloved foxnews.com didn't even have it on the front page!!! Thank goodness for CNN and MSNBC (feel free to quote me on this folks) for both listed them in their top stories. But Monday, nothing. Today, still nothing.

Why isn't this a top story? I believe this is being brushed aside because this terrorist claims to be an "American Muslim."

Please read this story. Please tell your friends and family about this. This is a major attack on U.S. soil, and I will not let it go unnoticed.

Disappointed by FoxNews,
Rusty

The Homosexual Agenda

This past Lord’s Day Elder James preached two sermons on homosexuality. He began by reading Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesians in Acts 20 and his address to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3. In both cases Paul is warning against false teaching and false teachers both inside and outside the Church.

In our day and age we don’t see many new heresies, but just a regurgitation of what has already come and gone (truly there is nothing new under the sun). What is unique to us is the ease at which heresy can spread. Mr. Heretic needs only a computer (probably a Macintosh) and the internet to share his abominable views with the whole world. It is our duty as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to put forth a ready defense against false teaching.

But with regards to homosexuality, what exactly are we to defend? And how? Are we to promote hatred towards the gay and lesbian community? Wouldn’t it be easier to go on pretending this issue doesn’t exist?

Certainly we should be clear that our message is not one of hatred. We sharply disagree with the homosexual lifestyle, but we by no means hate gays. In fact, if we hated the gay community we would ignore this issue altogether (which is all too easy to do imho). But as Christian people we do not enjoy watching sinners revel in sin. It would bring us nothing but joy to see homosexuals turn from their sins to serve our triune God.

James brought out that our best arguments against homosexuality are not the 6 references in the Bible that condemn it (Genesis 18, Leviticus 18, 1 Kings, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Timothy 1). The reason the Lord has given negative commands against same-sex activity is because God has positively defined human sexuality to function in a specific fashion:

Matthew 19:3-6, “3Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?" 4And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, 5and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'? 6"So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

The Pharisees did their best to trick Christ by asking a question about divorce. Notice the Lord’s response: “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE.” Jesus begins his response by reminding them that God is the Creator. Without this simple yet necessary truth we have no basis upon which to define human sexuality. God is the Creator who made them from the beginning male and female. From the start of creation God gave specific roles to men and to women. Verse 5 continues, “…FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH…” Who does the man leave? His father and mother. He does not leave his father and his father, or his mother and his mother. I realize this is redundant, but it is significant to address. Scripture defines what a family is supposed to look like right here. After leaving his family a man and a woman become one flesh. Keep in mind that this is addressing the issue of marriage. In marriage, only one man and one woman can become one flesh. A man and a man do not make one flesh. Nor do two women. Christ concludes by saying that God is the one who joins a man and woman in marriage – they should not be separated.

Good stuff eh?

The Doc then said something that served as a tremendous wake-up call for me: “There is a day coming when we will have to count the cost to condemn homosexuality.” For those of you who are news junkies like me know that James is absolutely correct. The homosexual agenda is not for equality (surely they have equal rights under the law). No, they want super-rights. They demand approval from everyone and seek to silence anyone who opposes their behavior.

Think I’m exaggerating? Pay attention to the news for one week. I guarantee that you’ll see court case after court case being battled over same-sex marriage/unions. Every day we are inching ever closer towards Europe and Canada.

We cannot run from this issue. I know it is a topic no one, not even most unbelievers, want to talk about. It revolts most people. 98.5% of the population are straight and would wish the homosexual discussion away. But it won’t go away because this is life for the homosexual. Millions upon millions of dollars are given for their cause. If they lose one court case, they will take someone else to court tomorrow. Welcome to America where everyone has the right to sue anyone else!

This is why it is so important to be prepared to give an answer for what we believe. We need to be clear. We need to count the cost.

If you’ve taken a sensitivity class at work, watched any number of shows on TV, or hung around Starbucks for any amount of time, you will be confronted with homosexuality and the homosexual agenda. They are ready to cram it down your throat without shame.

Next, Elder James asked what it is we are really being asked to do by accepting homosexuality. To accept homosexuality is to deny that God has defined how His creatures are to live, including human sexuality. To deny God this right would be to deny the Christian faith. Make no uncertain terms … we are being asked to deny our faith.

May we stand firm in the saving faith and say along with the Apostle: “15So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."” (Romans 1:15-17).

Case of Base