How much is the cost of being saved or being a sinner?

During our 17 years together, I don't think my wife has laughed at me more
than she has when we go grocery shopping together. I am one whom thinks
outside the box or should I say outside the grocery list. My desires drives
me to try new things all the time. There has been so many times when I will
look at something and tell Heather, that would be good, and then I ask the
deal breaking question, "How Much Does It Cost?" The sad fact is after
realizing the cost more times than not I have turned away from the things in
which I was close to buying.

The thought for today is does this same principle apply in our spiritual
lives. How much is the cost of being saved or being a sinner? First let us
examine the cost of being saved. I like to look at the cost to Abraham, the
Bible says: Gen. 12:1-3- Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of
thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land
that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will
bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I
will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in
thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

We notice here Abraham had to deny 3 things to follow the commandments of
the Lord.

The first was himself and the things that he desired for him. This same
commandment is given to the New Testament Christian also. Lk. 9:23- And he
said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

The second was he had to leave his country. Leave a land that he loved, a
land in which he was born and raised. We must do the same to be a Christian.
1 Jn. 2:15-17- Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16
For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will
of God abideth for ever.

The third was he had to leave his kindred and family. Can you imagine
leaving those whom is your family, those whom have embraced you and loved
you. The sad thing is often family is a great hinderance between people and
God. We must not let anyone come between us and God. The Bible says: Mt.
10:37-He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and
he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

At first glance the cost does seem high, more times than not people often
leave true religion on the shelf, due to the high cost. Let us always
realize that the price paid outweighs the cost to us. The Bible says Php.
2:8- And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Last but certainly not least what is the cost of being a sinner. Jesus said,
Mt. 16:26- For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

The Bible says: Rom. 6:23- For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of
God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The cost of being a sinner and dying a sinner is eternal death, and the
losing of your soul eternally !!!

I ask you to thing about and weigh the cost and please answer the question
that Jesus asked in Mt. 16:26c - ... or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul ?

Today please consider your soul !!!

Shawn D. Slone

No one knows the physical description of Jesus Christ

The other day I was involved in a "religious"discussion with a friend of mine and during our conversation, he made mention of the fact that no one knows the physical description of Jesus Christ and that he figured that different nationalities of people probably saw Him as looking like them. I told him that it didn't make any difference to me what He physically looked like and that I believed that is the reason the Bible doesn't tell us what he looked like. What, with the way that man thinks, we'd attach either way too much importance on His physical appearance or be prejudiced if we knew he looked like us. I reemphasized to my friend that I did not care what He physically looked like as that wasn't the important thing about Him.

Having told you about that recent conversation, I'd like to mention something else that I hope can be adequately related to it and then both of these items can be combined to bring about a spiritual lesson.

My second item is that February is observed here in the U.S. as "Black History Month." Now I'm not black, but I do have a personal connection to the observance of this month. As you've no doubt noticed during the course of this month, many well-known people of African-American descent are mentioned and their accomplishments and contributions to society are pointed out. I'd like to "point out" one particular individual and his accomplishments and in so doing, show you why I have a personal connection to our observance of Black History Month.

The African-American person that I'm going to tell you about is probably not known to most of you reading this. He's certainly not as well-known as many of the ones mentioned during this month's celebration, but to me personally, his contributions, not only to our society but to the whole world, are the most important. The man of whom I'm speaking is Dr. Daniel Hale Williams who was an African-American born in 1858 and died in 1931. Here is how and why his life connects to mine and why I'm so grateful that this man walked among us.

First, in the way of a short biography, he was one of seven children and he was basically abandoned at a young age by his mother when his father died unexpectedly. He rose from those humble beginnings to become a renowned medical doctor and some of his accomplishments include the founding of the first non-segregated hospital in the United States. He established the first school for the training of African-American nurses. He was appointed to the post of "Surgeon-in-Chief" of Freedman's Hospital in Washington DC by President Cleveland.

And there were other accomplishments by Dr. Williams but the one that ties his life to mine is the accomplishment I'd like to tell you about now. In February 2003 I underwent open-heart surgery, having a 6-way bypass procedure that was obviously successful as I'm here writing this editorial today.

The reason that operation was a success is because the procedures used in my surgery can be traced directly back to Dr. Williams. In 1893, in Chicago, Illinois, he performed the first successful open-heart surgery where the chest cavity was opened and a stab wound to a man's heart was sutured together and the patient lived. The procedures established by Dr. Williams set the standards for internal surgeries from then until now. So there is my connection to Black History Month and I'd like everyone to know about Dr. Daniel Hale Williams and his contributions to society.

Now let me get a little more personal here. I am truly impressed with the life of Dr. Williams, what he overcame to accomplish the great things that he did. The fact that he happened to Black, to be an African-American, makes no difference to me.

When they lifted me onto that operating table I did not care nor did I take one thought as to what the skin color of my surgeon was. I just wanted him to be sufficient to the task of saving my life. And I believe that he was that because of the procedures and standards established clear back in 1893 by Dr. Williams.

Now let me see if I can transfer the thoughts in my head to some words here on paper and thereby formulate a lesson for us. In the same way and with the same thought processes I had in my conversation with my friend and my thoughts regarding Dr. Williams, I don't care one iota what Jesus Christ looked like while on earth as a human being. His "physical" attributes makes absolutely no difference to me. What does make the difference with me is His "spiritual" attributes.

Just as I trusted my physical well-being to the abilities of the surgeon who performed the operation on my heart and thereby saved my temporal life, I trust the omniscient and infinite abilities of Jesus Christ to save my eternal life. I believe that, by being obedient to His Gospel, the operation He performs on my soul will be that which cleanses and saves it.

Yes, as we bring February to a close, I feel a connection to Dr. Williams and his accomplishments and the matter of his skin color matters not as far as I'm concerned. His being there and his abilities is what matters to me.

At some future time, I don't know when, my life will come to a close. When that occurs, what Jesus Christ my Savior looked like while on earth matters not either. His having come here, sacrificed His life on the cross and arose from the grave is what matters to me. Because of that, I know that if I remain faithful to Him, when I proverbially occupy that "operating table" I have no doubt about the outcome of the "operation." My soul will wake up in paradise.

Ron Covey

　

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President Barack Obama ordered his administration to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA

President Abraham Lincoln loved to employ this brain-teaser to make a point
to constituents. He would ask, "How many legs would a sheep have if you
called his tail a leg?"

Naturally, they would meekly respond, "Five." "Wrong! You are mistaken.
The sheep would STILL have just four legs. Calling a TAIL a LEG doesn't
make it so!" *

In the same way, calling a law "unnecessary and unfair" doesn't make it so!

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama ordered his administration to stop
defending the constitutionality of a federal law (the Defense of Marriage
Act or DOMA) that bans recognition of gay marriage. White House spokesman,
Jay Carney, stated that President Obama is still "grappling" with his
personal views on whether gays should be allowed to marry but has long
opposed the federal law as unnecessary and unfair.

There is a warning in Scripture that must be heeded:

"Woe to those who call EVIL good, and good evil;
Who put DARKNESS for light, and light for darkness;
Who put BITTER for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"
- Isaiah 5:20

Instead of repealing the law, an APPEAL must be made to the RIGHT STANDARD:
THE WORD OF GOD. The Word of God describes homosexuality as something that
is "against nature" and "shameful" (Romans 1:26-27). It is sinful! Those
who practice such things will NOT inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10).

There were people in Corinth in the first century A.D. that at one time
engaged in this immoral behavior BUT. they were "washed," they were
"sanctified," and they were "justified" in the name of the Lord Jesus and
by the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 6:11). How so? Because they turned
from their sin in repentance (see Acts 17:30-31), placed their trust in
Christ and His redeeming blood (see Acts 16:30-31), and were baptized
(immersed) into Christ and their sins were washed away (see Acts 2:38;
22:16).

We must call sin what it is: SIN! Why? Because we want to "bash" those who
engage in it? NO! Because SIN - ALL SIN - CONDEMNS AND DESTROYS (see
Matthew 7:13-14; Romans 6:23).

But Christ came to save sinners (and that includes ALL of us, Romans 3:23),
and He WILL save us -IF- we will place our faith and trust in Him (Acts
16:30-31), turn from our sins (repent, 2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confess our
faith in Him (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) in His name (Acts
2:38).

May each of us ACCEPT the proper Standard (the Word of God) in determining
what's RIGHT and what's WRONG, ADJUST our lives accordingly, and SUBMIT our
lives to Christ for Salvation!

Won't YOU?

David A. Sargent

Benjamin Franklin

"If you wouldst live long, live well, for folly and wickedness shorten life." 

Benjamin Franklin, American author and printer, political theorist, postmaster, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat (1706-1790)

 

Watson beat the human challengers

After two days of matches Watson beat the human challengers.  And it
really wasn't close.  The prize was one million dollars, which IBM
(Watson's owner) will donate to charity.

To equip this super computer required 16 terabytes of memory, hosted
by 10 racks of servers and two large refrigeration units.  This
equipment is housed in its own room in IBM's Yorktown Heights campus.
To enable Watson to pull up appropriate answers for the questions
asked, 6 million logic rules were programmed into its memory.

Some may look at this event as the dawning of a new era on earth.  Is
this the emergence of artificial intelligence that will become
superior to human intelligence?  Will these new super computers evolve
themselves into foes that their creators never intended?  Many
shuddered at the computer named HAL in the movie, "2001: A Space
Odyssey".  Is that what we're witnessing?

With God's help, I view this in another way.  This amazing super
computer helps me to marvel all the more at the human machine.  The
advantage Watson seems to enjoy is preprogrammed information and
processors that enable the machine to recall that information when
needed.  Though not as rapid, perhaps, our brains do an amazing job of
storing and recalling volumes of information.  And we don't need an
entire room or massive refrigeration units to enable us to operate.

Watson is the result of decades of computer science and research.
Where did we get such a sophisticated mechanism as the brain?  David
was given the answer in Psalm 139:13,14: "For You [God] formed my
inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.  I will praise You,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and
that my soul knows very well."

To create another machine like IBM's Watson will require many
scientists, much money and a good bit of time.  But amazing biological
super computers (i.e. brains) are reproduced virtually every time a
child is born.  And these children are the ones who will develop newer
and better machines.

Those who believe Watson to be another step in Godless evolution are
just like people Paul wrote about in Romans 1:20-22: "For since the
creation of the world [God's] invisible attributes are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they
knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but
became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were
darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools."

This is not to say that researchers at IBM believe they are playing
the role of God.  But anyone who denies God's role in the design and
appearance of mankind upon earth are just what Paul said they are -
fools (see also Psalm 14:1).  Watson does nothing to discredit that
proclamation.

Timothy D. Hall

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

"You can be pleased about nothing when you are not pleased with yourself." 

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Engligh aritocrat and writer (1689-1762)