Homeschooling Reason # 1

Going Up or Down? You Should Know Already.

Here is a video from a debate that took place during now-President Obama's Senate campaign. Watch particularly from :22 - :31.

Look, if you REALLY ARE A Christian; a believer in Jesus Christ and the atonement He provided for us on the cross, then you KNOW whether you are going up or down. You don't have to ask HIM about it. There are so many 'believers' who are NOT sure. They should stop calling themselves Christians. The church is responsible for this by the way. It has, for too long, preached a watered-down gospel. ( I will provide, in a future post some examples of this. Right now I am experiencing some technical difficulties with regards to videos.)



The President is not the only one like this, but he is the President, hence the high-profile standards. Don't tell me that we are on the same side because you believe like I do. You do NOT believe like I do if you do not know for a certainty whether you are going up or down. In all fairness, this video was a while ago, and it's possible that by sitting under the preaching of Jeremiah Wright, he learned of his true fate, but I doubt that. Heh.

Just my occasional political twist on matters of faith.

Brief Briefs

"Brief Briefs" is my new recurring entry for our two cents on current and newsworthy events. I hope you enjoy.

13-Year Old Father

Clearly this kid lacked some sort of sex education. How is it that the first thing he decides to do with it, once he can do something with it, is exactly what he shouldn't be doing with it. Didn't his parents see this girl he was hanging with, and that she was clearly much more physically mature than him?

He was 12 at conception!

Great Britain started down this path a long time ago. What path? They started down the path of a godless nation. They formed their own god to suit their needs; in government and society. Now they are paying the price. If this continues, he could be a grandfather at 25! America should take heed now. This is what happens when you remove God. And yes, her parents are just as much to blame as are his.


But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. Jeremiah 7:23-24, 28


Evolving Christians

Either you are a Christian or you believe in evolution. You can NOT have both. The Word of God states clearly that God created all things:

Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and dominion, for You created all things; by Your will they were [brought into being] and were created.
Revelation 4:11 AMP

For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification], Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened.
Romans 1:20-21 AMP

When you suggest that God did or didn't do something when His Word clearly states the opposite, you have broken the second commandment and created a god to suit yourself. This is what Adam & Eve did in the garden when tempted.

These preachers are preaching lies. We pray for their flock, that they not be led astray.

My Newest Motivation

For the two to three of you who actually read this blog, thanks! As you have noticed, I haven't been blogging lately. A few reasons:

1. The holidays are very active for our business and I really didn't have time.
2. The political rigormarole, while very interesting, is not really something I choose to blog on. Truth and Life is more about the real Messiah and His Word. (oops, there I go again).
3. My thoughts and convictions are a little strong for this world at-large. I know that shouldn't matter, but I try to avoid the conflict whenever possible. You should see some of the comments I get from some ridiculous people out there.
4. I haven't really had any inspiration.

Number four brings me to this:

Thank you to Mama and her rants for this kind award.


As I understand it, this award is given to blogs that show great attitude and/or gratitude.

I am now to bestow said award upon 10 other blogs that meet that criteria.

Give me some time to think about it, but thank you for the inspiration. Mama, you are, in fact, my favorite American sister-in-law. ;-)

I think I will, out of respect for the new incoming President, hold off until after his big day.

Please pray for him. Every President needs it.

Jason Upton

So Glad!

I am so glad that I know Jesus Christ. If not, I may have missed His Birthday!

Our business, a cleaning service, is soooo busy during the holiday season, Thanksgiving through New Year's, that we hardly have time to breathe. We work sometimes 13-14 hours a day.

This is the main reason why I haven't posted anything lately. Certain things have to take the back burner during this season. Truthfully, the celebration of the Baby Jesus is not the foundation of our faith. As our pastor says, Jesus grew up! It was the work completed on the cross of Calvary that changed my life.

But, see, He is with me every day. He healed my body, saved my soul and baptized me in the Holy Ghost.

If you do not know Him personally, then you need certain days to recognize Him. My personal prayer time did NOT take the back burner during the holidays, so I got to celebrate Him every day; He was with me all day.

We apologize if you didn't get the card or gift you were expecting. This post is your card; the gift is Jesus.

Merry Christmas!

John & Perla


Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4

2e

My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?


Proverbs 24:21-22

Forwarded Emails (Sowing and Reaping)

I received the following text recently in a forwarded email. DISCLAIMER: I have not checked any of the facts, just posted it as I received it....

DID YOU KNOW THESE FACTS?

I SURE DIDNT TILL NOW

Death is certain but the Bible speaks about untimely death!

Make a personal reflection about this.....

Very interesting, read until the end.....

It is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7):

'Be not deceived; God is not mocked:

or whatsoever a man sow,

that shall he also reap.

Here are some men and women

who mocked God :

John Lennon (Singer):

Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said: 'Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, today we are more famous than Him' (1966). Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times.

Tancredo Neves (President of Brazil ):

During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency. Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.

Cazuza (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet):

During A show in Canecio ( Rio de Janeiro ), while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said:'God, that's for you.' He died at the age of 32 of LUNG CANCER in a horrible manner.

The man who built the Titanic

After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be.

With an ironic tone he said: 'Not even God can sink it'. The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic

Marilyn Monroe (Actress)

She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said:

'I don't need your Jesus'. A week later, she was found dead in her apartment

Bon Scott (Singer)

The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang: 'Don't stop me; I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell'. On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.

Campinas (IN 2005)

In Campinas , Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend.....The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter holding her hand, who was already seated in the car: 'My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You.' She responded: 'Only If He (God) Travels In The Trunk, Cause Inside Here.....It's Already Full ' Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact. The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken

Christine Hewitt (Jamaican Journalist and entertainer)
said the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written. In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.

Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus.

Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.

'Jesus'

PS: If it was a joke, you would have sent it to everyone.
So are you going to have courage to send this? I have done my part, Jesus said

'If you are embarrassed about me, I will also be embarrassed about you before my father.'

You are my 8 in 8 seconds. I am not breaking this. No way!

I'M TOLD THIS WORKS!!!!!

Bishop T.D. Jakes '8 Second Prayer.' Just repeat this prayer and see how God moves!!

'Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart, and bless me, my family, my home, and my friends, in Jesus' name. Amen.' Pass this message to 8 people {EXCEPT YOU AND ME}.You will receive a miracle tomorrow. I Hope that you don't ignore and let God bless you.

Yes, God’s truth is that we will reap what we sow. This is as much a truth as it relates to a prosperous harvest as it does a cursed harvest.

OK, so I 'replied to all' on this one with a link to this blog entry with two intentions:

1. To provide the recipients with a true yet not exhaustive teaching of the Word of God on sowing and reaping & witchcraft.

2. To draw more regular readers to our blog.

So here we go...

The email quoted Galatians 6:7 correctly. However, the Word of God also states this:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21

I highlighted the word ‘witchcraft’ in verse 20 because that is one thing I want to address here.

WITCHCRAFT

I receive many forwarded emails. I read most. I forward very few. A majority of the forwarded emails out there have a tag-line at the end similar to the one this had, i.e., “if you send this to x amount of people in y amount of time, something will happen”. This is witchcraft. It is not the law of sowing and reaping as God has set forth.

The concepts in this email are true. If you have forwarded it because you wanted to share the truth of God’s Word with someone, and believe that the Word of God has touched you in such a way that it has changed you or the way you think or the way you live your life, then take God's Word at its fullest and at least take the time to delete the crazy ‘spell’ at the end. To do otherwise, now that you know the truth, would be hypocritical. I challenge you all, knowing God's view of witchcraft, to delete the little encantations from here on with whatever emails you get, and then send them. If you send me one with a curse or a promise at the bottom, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I wasn’t the one who sowed witchcraft.

SOWING AND REAPING

God’s law of sowing and reaping is that, as this email stated,

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Galatians 6:7-8

The email was unclear in that it appeared to say that if you mock God, you will reap a curse for it. That is not what the scripture says. When the Word of God says God is not mocked, it is refrring to this:

Look, God has set up order in this world, both natural and spiritual, that follows the law of sowing and reaping. This will NOT change. You will reap that which you have sown.

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 8:22

Whatever you sow, that’s what you will get!

Take a look at the Word...

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:11-12

And again,

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Matthew 7:18

And yet again,

For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

Luke 6:43-44

God ordered that each grass, herb, & tree brought forth fruit ‘after his (its own) kind’. Have you ever seen oranges on a grape vine? Have you ever seen a snake birth a horse? That is how God set everything in order.

If you sow kindness, you'll reap kindness. If you sow hatred, you'll reap hatred. Anger=anger, spite=spite, love=love, money=money, violence=violence. Yes, I said money. And if you forward a lot of emails, what will you get? OK, I know that’s funny and all, but it’s true nonetheless.

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We'd love to hear from you. You can click on 'comments' below and leave your 2 cents.

Someone Please Tell Them it's Not April Yet

The atheists are at it again. They are trying to steal another holiday. Why is it that they are not happy with their own holiday? Why do they have to take ours too?

Nonbelievers' sign at Capitol counters Nativity


Does this mean there will be no egg roll at the White House next year? If you are reading this hungry then you may have read that last sentence wrong. Try again. Ooops, that will be the Obama administration, right? He's gonna have to do all that POTUS stuff! How funny, seeing as he is not even a christian.


OK, so some of you are probably trying to figure out when National Atheist Day is....

April 1st, every year.


The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.


Psalms 14:1

Obama is NOT a Christian

Here's proof.



*clarification - that is his grade school registration, not his birth certificate. In order to register, he had to take on Indonesian citizenship. In order to take on Indonesian citizenship, he needed to be a muslim.

And if he is a christian now, then he is a converted christian. But Mr Obama has never once been able to pinpoint the moment of his conversion, as any true believer can.

And then there's this: If PE Obama has converted (muslim to christian), it would greatly affect his relationship with the muslim world.

From wikipedia:

"In most interpretations of Sharia, conversion by Muslims to other religions, is strictly forbidden and is termed apostasy. Muslim theology equates apostasy to treason, and in most interpretations of sharia, the penalty for apostasy is death."

So, not only now will the islam-extremists be out to get all of us, but particularly our exalted leader personally. The Secret Service better get ready.

2e

Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In what way do we rob or defraud You? [You have withheld your] tithes and offerings. You are cursed with the curse, for you are robbing Me, even this whole nation. [Lev. 26:14-17.] Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. [Mal. 2:2.] And I will rebuke the devourer [insects and plagues] for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine drop its fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you happy and blessed, for you shall be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.


Malachi 3:8-12 AMP

Yup, Just Like That...

PLEASE DON'T WAIT. RECEIVE HIM NOW. BELIEVE NOW.

Jamaica - Sunday - Wow!

Hallelujah! Byron was the first person in the doors of New Covenant on Sunday morning!

He even got a new shirt for church from someone!


We ministered in their Sunday morning service, teaching and preaching on the importance of submitting to the vision of the house, the man and woman of God and how that is all connected to fulfilling your destiny.

After the message, as we prayed for the people of New Covenant,

Brother Smith


Sister G


and Sister Donna
all were healed of deafness or pain in their ears!

Byron recommitted himself to follow God and claimed Pastor White as his man of God!

Sunday night, we were back in Topsham.

Perla and Lee

The church in Wanstead joined us there. It was good to see Pastor and Mother Stevens again.

(Should I get a hat?)

New Covenant from Mandeville also came and all three churches joined together for a great time of worship.






God showed up and God showed off!

The people were encouraged by the Word of God. There was another man healed in his ears that night. As we prayed for the people, the presence and power of God fell and filled all the believers anew. Everyone was refreshed by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

The mission work of Revival Fires Fellowship International and Overflowing Life Christian Center is bearing much fruit in Jamaica.

When it is time to give to missions, we ask that you remember the faces and places we have shared with you today. Your giving facilitates these good works.

The churches in Jamaica are moving forward in God.

Come back this week for videos from our trip...

Jamaica - Saturday

TOPSHAM, Jamaica

The view from the Topsham church.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, (without our carry-on). After the drive from Kingston to Mandeville, we checked and freshened up a bit. Then we went to Pastor Williams’ house in Topsham for dinner. We spent some time with him and his family.

During our time in Topsham, we had some time to see some of the work that has been done on the church building. They have installed beautiful new doors.

The floor has been completely tiled.

It was bare cement before. They have completed the new lettering over the pulpit area also.

The back room, for visiting ministers, is finished and fully furnished.

The bathroom also has been completed.

Pastor Williams also showed us some of the damage caused by this year’s hurricanes. He personally lost about 2/3 of his crops. The stones were washed away on the path to the church in certain places,

as well as under the various footbridges. Hurricane Gilbert was severe enough to uproot trees.

The pigs, however, survived.

They are reproducing.

This one is even currently, ‘with pig’, Pastor Williams said.

MANDEVILLE, Jamaica

On Saturday, we spent some time preparing for ministry on Sunday. We also got out and about in Mandeville waiting for our afternoon appointment with Pastor White.

We came across Byron.

Actually, he came across us. He appeared very concerned with whether or not we were enjoying our vacation. We shared with him why we were actually in Jamaica. After speaking with Byron for a bit, he started asking us for money for food. Since we were on our way to Juici Patti, the Jamaican equivalent of McDonald’s, we told Byron that we would buy him a beef patty.

The security guard at Juici Patti was none too pleased to have Byron there. Byron sells packets of seeds on the street and they did not want him selling his seeds inside. That was their verbal statement anyway. Byron put down his box of seed packets but they still were insisting that he leave. I assured the guard that Byron was with us; he would be eating with us and leaving with us. I got that all too familiar ‘you silly american’ knowing smile look from the guard as he walked away.

While we spent time in Juici Patti with Byron, the Spirit of God moved in the restaurant and gave us a word for Byron’s life. Many others were listening attentively as we shared the truth of God’s Word with this man. We could see people listening in and nodding in agreement to what was being said.

Byron had been speaking very negatively about people and the way he gets treated. We shared with Byron the truth of sowing and reaping and that the negative treatment that he regularly receives could be a direct result of the negative way he treats others. It is a biblical principle of sowing and reaping.

As we left Juici Patti, we encouraged Byron to come to church right there in Mandeville the next day where we would be ministering.

PASTOR ALANDO WHITE

Later that afternoon, we met with Pastor Alando White and his wife, as well as another member of their church. Pastor White was the one who had contacted Bishop McIver with a desire to come under his leadership and apostolic covering. Pastor White showed us around some different areas of town and told us about their various ministries there in Mandeville. It turns out that the main part of Pastor White’s vision for ministry is to minister to street people and rehabilitate them and place them back into society. I think we found Byron’s pastor.

After our time with the Whites, Perla and I had dinner at the hotel, continued preparing for Sunday and then rested up for a full day of ministry in Jamaica on Sunday.

Coming up...Jamaica - Sunday - Wow!