Mr. Brown has a "Letter to the Editor" published that may be read here. He claims that conservative Christians don't want religious freedom! I must agree with him in a small part because of my knowledge of Reformed theology & their perverted doctrines. See my Baptist History / Reformed Theology uploaded report.

In his article, he opened up for debate with his email address. I emailed him & in his first response he asked me "In the four Gospels what does Jesus have to say about homosexuality or transgender?" My first post under this thread will answer that question to the best of my knowledge. I will first preface my answer with three statements. I use the King James Bible (some newer versions were  revised by homosexuals, which could alter the outcome if I used one of those). The terms "homosexuality" & "transgender identity" were not used in the Bible, therefore I would assume they were not in use at the time of translation because the Bible does speak of them in other terms. Finally, Jesus is the Word (John 1:1-14) and so I do not hold certain portions of the Word above other portions, such as the Gospels being more definitive, etc.

Jesus certainly referred to Sodom, and therby referred to it's practices and way of life. I've included two quotations.

Matthew 11:23-24: -  "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."

Luke 17:29 - "But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all."

So, we find the Lord spoke of the judgment God pronounced & procured on that wickedness as well as a rebuke to the folks at Capernaum, for their unrepentant hearts.

Mr. Brown, please feel free to examine my answer & comment on it.
My first question for you would be - Are you a Christian or a Non-Believer?

The following is a report of the book called "The Coming Destruction of the Baptist People." It is not a doomsday prophecy; it centers on the persecution & perseverance of people of the Baptist faith. The past histories of the Baptists are expounded upon and the Reformed ideologies seemed to often get in the way of those trying to serve the Lord.  This has been uploaded because of it's importance to one aspect of  the topic "Homosexuality, The Bible, & Christianity." Red-highlighted areas are most applicable.

The Coming Destruction of the Baptist People

By, James R. Beller

 

This book would be of special interest to people who identify with the Baptists, but would, surprisingly, also be interesting to all people concerned with accurate accounts of history. It is titled The Coming Destruction of Baptist People because the author believes people who don’t know their own history are destined to failure. Alexander Solzenitisyn said, “To destroy a people you must first sever their roots.” The book is divided into three basic parts.

The first part deals mainly with those who’ve held Baptist Christian principles from the time of Christ through the age of the Reformation. It highlights those who persecuted, those who were persecuted, and the events and ideologies that fueled the literal flames. Much of the history of the Paulicans, Donatists, Waldensians, etc. I had already learned about, though Beller’s book did a good job of refreshing my memory. References to the works of secular and non-Baptist historians that were included in this section helped me understand the gravity of events like whippings, permanent baptisms (also known as drowning), and various public executions.

The second part of the book recounts great revivals of Christianity not often found in textbooks. Names like Shubal Stearns, Obadiah Holmes, and John Leland are also found paired with the events the men were involved with. Stearns’ preaching and ministries led to the births of over 5000 churches. The Puritans gave Obadiah Holmes a harsh whipping. His crime? Preaching without licensure and holding unauthorized Baptist meetings. John Leland greatly influenced James Madison, and helped get the public to support Madison’s campaign. I must admit, I knew very little of the early American Baptists. I read with joy about those who followed God no matter what. Conversely, I read with a heavy heart of those who were tormented and tortured for doing just that.

Part three is of the principles that shaped the United States, many of which the Baptists held and some which were created to protect the liberties of all no matter what religion. I found interesting The Bloudy Tenet of Persecution, in which Roger Williams defended a Baptist preacher who was imprisoned solely for public preaching. Williams’ words on the imprisonment ultimately helped ingrain the ideas of freedom of religion and freedom of speech into American minds. I also found interesting the Presbyterian minister Samuel Rutherford’s rebuttal of this freedom of religion in his A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience. In one quote from the Free Disputation, Rutherford scarcely comes short of calling for genocide of “heretics.” It was hard for me to understand that there was a time in America that the church and state were openly married. For example, Connecticut was Congregational, Virginia was Anglican, and New York was Anglican/Dutch Reformed. This doesn’t just mean most of the people held to these sects. It means that church and that state were united, and in some cases people had to pay taxes to support the ministers, those who were not of that sect could not hold church services, and if a preacher tried to preach without a license he could be imprisoned. This makes me value the precious freedoms we hold right now.

The author was obviously disturbed while doing his research for this book. He found that nearly all modern textbooks – even the Christian ones- neglect the records of these men and these events. Some modern historians, and ministers are pointed out and quoted. The philosopher/historian R.J. Rushdoony said, “Does God require us to tell the truth at all times? Such a proposition is highly questionably.” Theologian Jim West said, “The commandment does not say ‘thou shalt never tell a lie’.”  These Reconstructionist Reformed men are suggested to be behind part of the deception going on about Baptist Christian history.

          The book also sports an epilogue, telling of omissions and compromises made by various Christian ministers. Also suggested is a plan for “Repairing America” through the principles that made her great, such as freedom of religion (not to be confused with religious toleration). Why does America need “repairing?” Well, ministers are taking licenses to preach once again, aren’t they? They get their 501(c) 3 tax exemption from the government and promise to espouse public policy. I believe America may be just one step away from again persecuting Baptist Christians and ministers.

 

It's the answer we've all been waiting for! Where are those ten ideals from??

Drum roll please......

Isn't the weather just absolutely beautiful right now? And the strawberry runners once again need reigned-in or they won't leave any grass for my brother to mow : )

Oh, yes, back to the government plan --

Those ten "planks" are from the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, that's right, we've adopted pretty much all of it. The anti-Commie U.S. is no more. Ever wonder why we still love red China even though she's poisoning our little children with lead toys & not to mention the cheap goods we use to make our lives miserable? A few weeks ago I was using a hoe & the metal plate on the end of the wooden handle kept unloosing itself. Made in  China! I'm not saying we are communist.... but our political spectrum is embracing the values based upon Communism.

The Republic for which we stand has become the Democracy/Socialist State to which we surrender. BUT - in theory we still have the right to vote! Remember that Hitler was voted into office. Remember the '00 and '04 elections. Don't forget the voting machines with NO paper trail or record. Yeah, those who count the votes decide everything. I say remember - the Bible says "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen," but the establishment is telling you FORGET (through the big sports games, stupidly exciting lives of celebrities, the rising price of gas, and all the other stuff the average American has on his/her mind).

The next part of my quote from the Bible, Revelation 2:5, says "and repent."

That's what we must do. It's not really the fault of Socialist infiltrators, the scum of the earth or anyone anywhere else. It's our fault. As in YOURS! And mine. We get caught up in daily lives of meaninglessness and forget to give a tithe of our time to God. We may think of the tithe as being a tenth of our money... but shouldn't we give at least a tenth of our time to read the Bible, pray, seek His face, and then get to action by writing editorials, going door to door, & having a burden for those around us?

We've come to the Kingdom for such a time as this. We can sit back and be ignorantly happy with ourselves or we can do something for God and have the true joy of the Lord.

....The Bible.

Yeah, I finally read it, cover to cover. I get a kick out of folks who've never read much or any of it, yet like to tell us that we're "doing it all WRONG!" I'm particularly referring to public evangelism - street preaching, door knocking, open air witnessing, etc. I wish they'd tell me how Jesus did it. Or Elijah. Or Jeremiah. Or Paul. Or ...

There are countless Bible examples of God's people spreading the Word in every imaginable place (even college campuses - II Kings 22:14- and <how could you guess?> right out in the open to crowds of people - just do a Bible search for "multitude!").

Another odd discovery I unearthed was that if you take the first and last few words from the first and last books of the testaments... you come up with two  very interesting phrases!

Genesis - Malachi
"In the beginning - a curse."

Matthew - Revelation
"The book of - He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!!!"  <I added the exclamation points : ) >

Coincidence??? The Old Testament was under the curse! Under the unattainable Law! Then in the New our sins are cleansed when we repent and follow the Son - and we have the great hope of Christ's return. I see it as another reason to keep the putrid apocrypha out of God's book. There may be some neat stuff in there too, but it's not got the touch of God on it!

As sort of another side note, the book of "Jasher" is mentioned in Joshua 10:13 & 2 Sam. 1:18 - also, not Bible, but would most likely prove worth reading if I find a copy of it.

Now that summer's here... hopefully I can get back to posting regularly. There has just been too much going on to be able to write posts multiple times a week. <sorry>

And, lol, I am now using just Firefox. It doesn't seem as hungry for long posts as IE was!

I've tried posting stuff 2 different times... and Internet Explorer keeps eating what I write! I have IE and Firefox, but I'm soon going to just use the fox. This post will probably go through just fine (go figure).

So, a big thank you to mr. gates. 

If you don't know what I'm talking about go to mozilla.com/firefox
If you can't stand getting kicked off or having unexpected errors, it's what  you need!

By the way, the pic is of a tomato I grew last summer.... yummm...
It's a Delicious variety (I'm pretty sure they hold the world record in size and/or weight).

Forgive me if this doesn't work, as I'm trying to put in a graphics link. I'm okay with computers, but no geek : )

Repent America is a group of people that go around the country preaching, teaching, and witnessing. They've been in our general area numerous times, and in York specifically at least once that I know of. They are the group that basically lined up Kent Hovind's seminars in Dover, during all the uproar on the creation/evolution debate.

Please check out their site. It's got pictures, their schedules, updates, and more stuff.

Here goes ---

<a href="http://www.repentamerica.com">
<img src="http://www.repentamerica.com/
rabannersmall.JPG"
border=0 alt="Click HERE"></a>

Psalms 33:5
He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

Zechariah 9:17
For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!

Do you not know "that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" Romans 4:2

Psalms 107:8
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

But instead of praising God for HIS goodness... we often praise ourselves, don't we? "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?" Proverbs 20:6

God's quality of goodness is certainly a blessing to us, while we really don't deserve it. Think about this - what could a murderer or thief do (as in good works) to make the judge pronounce him innocent?? He can't do anything positive to make his past wrongs right, except for accepting the penalty for his wrongs. If the judge was to  be a good judge, he MUST pronounce a guilty sentence if the defendant is truly guilty. It would be wicked for him to let a murder back out into the streets to kill another innocent person. God is a good judge; therefore, he can't let your good works "outweigh" or undo your bad.

Isaiah 64:6 ..."all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

I Corinthians 15:56 - The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
I Corinthians 15:57 - But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ["It is finished!"]

Our sins can be blotted out completely, but we must first be willing to realize that we've all done wrong and the "good" things we do will never save us.

One kind of government was roughly planned on these ten points. Please read them and see if our nation is like or unlike this form of government.

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 
(Let's see - do we "owe" the government rent on the land we "own?" Maybe we're just leasing it,  if we owe them property tax rent. How much freedom to use "your" property do you have if you cannot put up a building, do repairs, or use it for another purpose like commercial, ag, etc. without governmental permission??)

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 
(Do some research on when and how the 16th amendment was passed. Then find what the courts ruled about it. (i.e. - Bowers v. Kerbaugh-Empire Co., “After full consideration, this court declared that income may be defined as gain derived from [whatever source]." Income tax as we think of it kind of slipped in the back door.)

3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. 
(How about some heavy inheritance taxes to get us started?)

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
(1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill apparently makes it ok to take assets of whoever it deems "terrorists" or those against the government, without providing due process).

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
(Look into the "Federal" Reserve, and you'll find it's not federal, there's no reserve, and they can pull some important strings in our nation.)

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
(What the government has the power to tax, it has the power to control. Consider the FCC and DOT.)

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
(When the government subsidizes, it takes over some control. It's then one step away from taking the rest. Consider the Dept. of Agriculture and Dept. of Commerce and Labor.)

8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 
(What effects do the minimum wage laws have? Executive order 11000 also has some interesting ideas for - uh - helping us - during a time of emergency)

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country. 
(Oh, what the wonders of zoning can do for a nation! The suburban sprawl now gets to pay taxes to support the cities!)

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production...
(Government schools - funded by your tax dollars whether you have children or not! What about school-to-work programs?)

To read the article I wrote this comment about, please visit it at YorkBlog.com

This view of "god" isn't correct. That same baby smiling will soon lie and rebel. Flower fields are often overrun with weeds. A sunset may precede death-bringing storms.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - so how can "god" be in the beautiful things, but not the terrible, ugly ones? He can't.

That's why he's not. At least not in the sense you're supposing. Romans 1:25 talks of those who would change God's truth into a lie, to worship and server "the creature more than the Creator." The Creator God is very different from the Creatures god. The Creator God is distinct from His creation.

Please don't misunderstand me - "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." Psalm 19:1. All things were created by God, to fit in their rightful habitations - but the fall of man began the corruption of beauty - and God cannot be part of sin/corruption.

So, to put it simply - God is not in the tree or sunset, but he did create the substance and plans for them. But the degradation of all things will not continue forever - "...the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10

2 Peter 3:12 says, "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." That was addressed to those who had put their trust fully in Christ. I encourage you to do just that.