Sunday, February 26, 2012

The Road to Ruin

by Aleta Kay

          It starts out innocent enough: a little white lie, then justification of the lie. Your conscience starts to bother you but you turn it off. One little slip up isn’t so bad, is it? The next time temptation hits it’s a little easier to give in. No one will know and if they do you can lie your way out of it again. Your conscience doesn’t bother you as much.
          The next temptation that comes will be stronger than the last and the urge to resist it will be less. You may come up with a more elaborate lie or you may decide you’re entitled to whatever pleasure the sin provides. You may decide to ignore the situation. Guilt is hiding in the closet of your mind nearly unconscious.
          James 1:12-15 says, “Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.”
          Romans 6:16, 21 says, “Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, you become the servant to whom you have yielded; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit did you have then in those things whereof you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.”
          In other words, you are either a slave to your lusts and passions or you are a slave to moral goodness and rightness according to God’s rules, laws and statutes. The question is: WHO OWNS YOU? You do not (contrary to public opinion) own yourself. You are either owned by Satan, the master of all sin, lust, deceit and deptravity; or you are owned by the Lord Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for your sin by shedding his blood on the cross and spending three days and nights in the belly of the earth, and rising again the third day, marking the debt PAID IN FULL.
          Did you notice the progression: temptation, lust (considering the temptation), enticement (moving toward the lust), and finally giving in to the forbidden thing (sin). Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” But it doesn’t stop there. The same verse goes on to say, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
          WHOSE SLAVE DO YOU WANT TO BE?

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Whose Fault Is It?

The Blame Game
by Aleta Kay
        
         I've been studying Biblical counseling lately because I really want to be able to help people. We live in a world with a massive number of hurting people. Our jails and mental institutions are filled with people who can't deal with life. I know I can't help everyone but I want to help as many as I can.
         Pop psychology says nothing is your (our fault). It was our great-grandfather's fault because he was mean to his kids and that made them mean to their kids, yada, yada, yada. So--what--that means we don't have choices? If we don't have choices, if we are not responsible for our actions then there is no point to the Ten Commandments. There is no point to having laws or rules because "we can't help it."
         We have been told we live in a sick society. We have been told that every sin we commit is a disease: alcoholism, drug addiction, homosexuality. If that is true then God is a liar and completely unable to help us. I am living proof that that is a lie. God took away my temper and replaced it with His peace. He took me from being an abusive parent to a loving, caring, nurturing parent. Yes, there are still some things I struggle with like self-esteem. I struggle with self-confidence, believing that I can achieve anything worth while. I do not have an organized mind, therefore not an organized house either. I used to tell myself it was because that's how my mom was. Our house was clean but cluttered and things scattered. I can use that excuse for myself or I can let God teach me to be better. I just have to learn to listen to Him.
          The Bible tells us not to be drunk with wine, wherein is excess but be filled with the Holy Spirit. That means we have a choice. Every alcoholic started with a drink. I know that not everyone who drinks is an alcoholic, but if you never take that first drink you can be sure you will never be an alcoholic. If a drug addict never takes that first drug he/she will never be a drug addict. People use drugs and alcohol as a means of socialization but also as a means of dulling emotional pain, or escaping from problems they don't want to face. This is sin because those things take the place of God in our lives--a God who loves us and wants to help us. And He is the only one who can set us free from those things. More about this later. I have to leave for work now.

Here's a teaser for you, though, totally unrelated:
My newest novel "Mending Fences" will soon be availabe in e-book form through Amazon.com. The story is about Robert McGinn, ex-preacher, ex-husband, ex-father who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Now he'd like to mend all the broken fences in his life. Is he too late?


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Do You Despise God?

by Aleta Kay

          Many people claim to be Christians. I often wonder what they mean by that. The word Christian means follower of Christ. Jesus said, “If you love me keep my commandments.” He also said, “Be ye holy for I am holy.” No, we cannot be perfect in this life but as we grow in our knowledge of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, we should actively do fewer wrong things that we know are against God’s laws, rules, and statutes. Our sins should become more a lack of doing His will and less of overt sins: drunkenness, idolatry, witchcraft, fornication, adultery, etc.
          Consider 2 Samuel 12:7-10. In this passage the prophet Nathan is confronting David (a man after God’s own heart) after his sin with Bathsheba. The nation of Israel was at war. David was the king, the commander in chief. He could come and go as he pleased, though his rightful place was in the offices of the palace overseeing the running of his country. Instead he went up on the rooftop of the palace and looked out with pride over his realm. As he turned to the side he saw a beautiful woman (Bathsheba) bathing on the rooftop. They didn’t have planes in those days so the chances of anyone seeing her were very slim. She probably thought she had complete privacy. Her husband, Uriah, was out on the battlefield.
          David lusted after her and sent a servant to have her brought to him. She became pregnant. When she told David he told the captain of the Uriah’s unit to have him put on the front lines where he subsequently died. It was murder by order of the king in order that he might have another man’s wife. He already had several other wives.
          When Nathan confronted David he said, “…Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and I gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have given thee such and such things. Wherefore (why) hast thou despised the word of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.”
          Notice that God did not hold Bathsheba guilty. She had obeyed her king. She had no idea anyone would be watching her as she bathed. Notice also that God said David had hated God’s commandment (thou shalt not commit adultery and thou shalt not kill), and in so doing hated God himself.
          Dire consequences followed David’s sin. First of all the child conceived in that adulterous relationship died at birth. Secondly, one of his sons (Absalom) later raped his half-sister, Tamar, then turned on her with hatred. Finally, his sons conspired against him to overthrow the throne. His own sons tried to kill him. There was never again peace in David’s household. It is a serious thing to despise God and his commandments, laws, rules, whatever you choose to call them.
          Every action we take has a direct consequent. Good actions or choices result in rewards or peace. Bad choices, decisions or actions result in chaos, torment, tragedy, dissension, heartbreak, misery and depression, sometimes even death. Every one of us must face the consequences or rewards for our actions. The choices were ours; the consequences belong to each individual.
          Yet, God’s love prevails. David repented of his sin. He still bore the dire consequences but later God said of David again that he was righteous in God’s sight.

Monday, February 13, 2012

We Have A Need To Pray

by Aleta Kay

          I am not a political activist but I have grave concerns about the political future of our country, and thus the economical future as well.
          For the past several elections it seems the candidates are so afraid of their competition that they feel the ONLY way to win is by spreading lies, innuendos and half-truths about their opponents. They give a broad pen stroke of what they might like to do if elected, but rarely get down to specifics. Well, they can’t really be specific about what they will do if elected because they don’t have a crystal ball to tell them what will get passed through Congress.
          The Democratic party wants to play daddy to everyone making less than $300,000 a year. They seem to think we are little children incapable of taking care of ourselves and have made us complacent and lazy. It seems a good many of us want the government to tell us how and what to eat, what kind of vehicles we should drive, what kind of health insurance we should have, etc. We have become so used to the government taking care of us that we are terrified of what will happen if they stop. So we keep basing our political decisions on who we think will do the best job of giving us tax breaks, food stamps, unemployment, regulated insurance and bank loans. We get upset if the government cuts programs that hurt us, but we elected people that like to bail everyone out of trouble. Guess what? We are so far in debt we are now owned by China. Has anyone considered what would happen if China decided to call in the debt?
          We have become so concerned about the environment that we are cutting off our proverbial noses to spite our faces. Sure we need to conserve our resources. Sure we need to protect endangered species of animals, but what about human life? If we don’t take care of human life who will protect the animals and the environment? We have developed a philosophy that is way out of balance.
          God never promised the government would take care of us. He promised He would take care of His children. If you don’t belong to God maybe you should reconsider your options. God loves you. The government doesn’t even know you.
          The Bible tells us that righteousness exalts a nation. Look at the difference in the moral and economical climate of this country before prayer and God were kicked out of school and public life and compare that to the moral and economical climate of today. If you think it is a coincidence, or it is the result solely of other factors, that we have more disease (and more SERIOUS disease) today than ever before, more pornography, more sexually transmitted diseases and at younger and younger ages, and more and more people living on Welfare, you are delusional.
          We have one morally upstanding candidate with enough intestinal fortitude and backbone to take the heat, take a stand and say what he believes. His name is Rick Santorum.
          If you want this country to once again be a great nation; if you want to turn the tide of drug addiction, sex addiction, and sexually transmitted diseases then get on your knees (if you can, sit and pray if you can’t) and put into practice 2 Chronicles 7:14—“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” If we want God to bless America again then we need to repent of all the evil we have allowed, and have done ourselves. We need to plead with God our Heavenly Father to forgive the collective sins of this country. We need to be willing to follow His rules, live His way. We need to plead with Him to turn this country around. Then we need to trust Him to do it. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
          We need to pray with our friends and loved ones that God will see fit to once again give us a righteous leader—Rick Santorum. With God all things are possible. My prayer is that God will remove every obstacle to Rick’s nomination, that He will cause Mr. Santorum’s opponents to stumble. The Bible tells us that all governments and rulers are set up or appointed by God. Who will stand with me? Who will join me in this prayer that God will allow us to have a righteous leader again? “If two or more agree as touching anything it will be done for them.” If you don’t want to leave a long comment, just leave your name or initials so I’ll know I have some prayer support in this. God bless.


Thursday, February 9, 2012

Are You An Enabler?

by Aleta Kay

          There is a fine line between helping someone and crippling them, between compassion and control.
          It starts with an illness and you’re just doing a few things to help out. Then they start to feel a little better but their energy level is still very low and their muscles are nearly atrophied from lack of use. So you do a little more and you spend more time with them so they won’t feel lonely.
          Soon you find you are doing almost everything for them. Worst of all they have come to expect you to do all those things. They have become so dependent on you, you no longer have a life of your own. It has become a one-sided friendship: they are getting all the benefit and you are getting nothing but frustration and a feeling of being used and taken for granted.
          Maybe it made you feel good at first. After all, you were being a good neighbor, a helping hand, a compassionate friend. All of those are good things but God never intended us to lose sight of His purpose for ourselves as individuals. He has a purpose and plan for each and every one of us. We are indeed supposed to help each other. Helping others should be just providing needs and services that they are unable to do for themselves. I’m not talking about chronically ill people who will never get better. That is an entirely different issue.
          If you want to preserve a friendship you must also preserve the sense of dignity that belongs to that person. You must not become a surrogate parent, thus making them entirely dependent on you. Temporary illnesses should only require temporary help. Keep your own identity, your own life intact while you provide that helping hand. You’ll both be glad you did. And it needs to be done expecting nothing in return. Jesus loves us unconditionally as described in I Corinthians 13:4-8a. Have great friendship.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Providence of God

by Aleta Kay

          As you’ve probably learned by now, I love God and His Word. Just a little side note here: there is only one Word of God for English-speaking people—the King James Bible. All the other “versions” are men’s interpretations of God’s word. The King James was translated from the original Greek (New Testament) and Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament). Many verses and passages in the newer “versions” take away the blood sacrifice of Christ. They change the meanings of the verses and passages by changing the words to more modern words.
          God’s Word is full of wisdom. Psalms 33:11-19 tells us how and why we can trust God. It says, “The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works. There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. An horse is a vain thing for safety; neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.”
          Did you catch all that? God’s counsel, His word will stand forever. No matter how many times they try to change it, no matter how hard they try to squash it, the Word of God cannot be destroyed. His Word will stand forever. If God is big enough to create the whole universe from nothing, He’s big enough to preserve His Word. Would you want a God who is not capable of preserving His Word? How would you then know His character and strength?
          Secondly, God blesses the nation that follows Him. The Jews (Israel) turned to idols time and again. Time and again God had to use adversity through their enemies, slavery, famine, and war to teach them the error of their ways so they would turn back to him. Still, he promises to bless the nation that follows him. When Israel follows him they are blessed with peace and prosperity. The United States of America has been blessed for centuries because they followed God. In the 60’s we sat back and allowed our government to kick God out of our society. I believe, as my pastor recently said, that we kicked him out of our homes first. Consider if our society, our morals, our youth, our attitudes are better off today than they were fifty or sixty years ago, before we deliberately jumped off the path God had chosen for us.


Friday, February 3, 2012

I Didn’t Mean to Say That!

by Aleta Kay

         You’ve been arguing and saying mean, hateful, hurtful things to each other. You make up and apologize. You say, “I didn’t mean to say those things.” You’re lying to yourself. We say mean things because we want to hurt back as we’ve been hurt. We know from our own experience that words hurt worse than blows. Physical wounds heal but the scars created by harsh, cruel words can last a lifetime and turn us into emotional cripples. We know this and use our words as weapons anyway.
          The Bible tells us in Matthew 12:34, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Luke 6:45 says, “A good man out of the treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaketh.”
          God used words to speak everything into existence. Mark 11:23 says that if we have faith and not doubt we can tell a mountain to move and be cast into the sea and it will be done. We use our words far too lightly. We don’t consider the power they have. Words can build someone up and make their spirits soar, or they can cut through the soul like a machete.
          Do we have a right to be so careless with our words? Do we have the right to destroy a soul that God himself created? How dare we destroy a soul so precious in God’s sight? We don’t want to hear preaching about hell but not hearing it will not erase its existence or its torment. Hell is the final destination for anyone who chooses to ignore God and His love and compassion for the souls He has created.
          Also, our own actions, our own words condemn us and destroy the relationships we claim to value so highly.
          Psalm 34: 12, 13 says, “Let him who means to love life, and see good days, refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile: and let him turn away from evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and pursue it.” You CAN take the time to think before you speak, to consider your words and their impact. Be a builder, not a destroyer. When you build people you strengthen them and your relationship. Just make sure you are sincere when you do. My mama always told me “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything.”