technical issues.

Blogger won't accept my devotions this morning...
I did them, and my accountability partner has them.

I'll see if I can get them up later.
Sorry. eventhougyoudontcare.
--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Dreams.

Maybe the reason God doesn't do mighty works in my life is because I don't let Him. I quench the Spirit.

I think I get too focused on my own imperfections and flaws, and don't put enough on God's perfection and amazing power. I get too busy worrying about how much wrong I do, and not about how much good God does.

I think I get too focused on my flaws, and set my goals lower than they should be because of it. Maybe I shouldn't set expectations and goals that I can accomplish in my own strength.

Maybe it's better to set goals that are beyond my own strength; that way I won't be able to complete them in my own strength, and will have to trust God. Granted, I think it would be better if I were to trust God in everything without having to be forced.

I dunno. I've used a lot of "maybe" in this, and I'm not a big fan of maybe. Without big goals and such, you won't ever do great things. Or something like that.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Proverbs 25-26 Salmos 13

Proverbs 25-26

Pro 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

I’ve managed to let myself get rather arrogant lately. According to the Bible, I’ve been worse than a fool. It isn’t a fun thing, but it’s a good think to have to come to honest revelations as such. I can’t fix something if I don’t know it’s not broken.

Salmos 13

Psa 13:5 Mas yo en tu misericordia he confiado: Alegraráse mi corazón en tu salud.
Dios, quiero que mi gozo venga de ti, y no las cosas del mundo.



--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Proverbs 23-24 Salmos 12

Proverbs 23-24.

Chapter 23 can be summarized in one sentence: Stay away from “whores, strange women” (27) and alcohol. (30-32)

Chapter 24 is very similar to Matthew 5:44, in that it tells us to love our enemies, and not to withhold the Gospel from them (11-12)

Salmos 12

Psa 12:7 Tú, Jehová, los guardarás; Guárdalos para siempre de aquesta generación.
Psa 12:8 Cercando andan los malos, Mientras son exaltados los más viles de los hijos de los hombres.

Dios, ayúdame tener calma cuando los malos tienen éxito. Ayúdame tener paz cuando no tengo éxito.


--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Proverbs 21-22 Salmos 11

Pro 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
Lord, I want to put my heart in your hand. I want you to have total control of my life, and I want you to live through me.


Pro 22:4 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life
I've been rather arrogant lately. It might explain the mediocrity in my Christian life since Monday. I'd do well to humble myself.



Salmos 11

Psa 11:3 Si fueren destruídos los fundamentos, ¿Qué ha de hacer el justo?


Quiero que mis fundamentos sean hechos sobre Dios, y que El me sostenga.


--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Whatever.

I feel kinda small. Like, being tall really puts a weight on my shoulders. And I can’t explain it, but I feel that because I’m so tall, physically, I have to do tall acts spiritually.

And maybe I do. And I really think I do, because I’ve been stuck in a quagmire of mediocrity lately, and the Holy Spirit has been pricking my heart over it. And the thing that frustrates me the most is that I don’t know what to do. I try to wake up earlier so I can study and read the Bible more, but that just makes me more tired, and I don’t even study, really. I just stare at a my Bible and wish I was asleep.
And the harder I try to fight it, the deeper I sink. And I don’t want to be there, in mediocrity, but I keep trying to escape, with no avail.

I’m writing this during class. It doesn’t matter, though. Trent won’t read this. Plus, I’m having a really difficult time focusing on spiritual things lately.
I want to serve God, and I want to do what He wants me to do, and I want to do mighty things so He may be glorified, but I can’t even do the basic things.

And Kevin Hall is a really good guy. I really wish I could speak Xhosa, so that I could actually do something if I visited him in South Africa. Maybe I’m quenching the Spirit by saying this, but if I visit a missionary, I want to be able to speak the language. That means I can only got visit people in English, Spanish and French speaking countries. Xhosa isn’t even close to those. If I went to visit him, he’d be about the only person I could talk to, and he’s already accepted Christ.

Whatever.

I’m rambling, and not making any sense, but I really want to escape this “comfortable Christianity” funk I’m in. I’m praying for God to either rebuke me, give me a sorrow for my mediocrity (like in Psalms 6) or just to do something to get a hold of my heart. I don’t want to be a mediocre person, but I am. And that’s not giving enough glory to God. Blah.


--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Proverbs 19-20 Psalms 10

Pro 20:13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

Sleep less, work more. I don’t think the Lord could have spoken to me any louder.

Psa 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
Psa 10:5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
Psa 10:6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
Psa 10:7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
Psa 10:8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
Psa 10:9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.

If I’m doing the Lord’s work, I won’t want to hide in the darkness. If I’m doing the devil’s work, I won’t want to be seen, or be in the light.

Pro 20:13 No ames el sueño, porque no te empobrezcas; Abre tus ojos, y te hartarás de pan.

Duerma menos, trabaja más. No creo que sea posible que Dios me hablara con un voz más alto.

Psa 10:4 El malo, por la altivez de su rostro, no busca á Dios: No hay Dios en todos sus pensamientos.
Psa 10:5 Sus caminos son viciosos en todo tiempo: Tus juicios los tiene muy lejos de su vista: Echa bocanadas en orden á todos sus enemigos.
Psa 10:6 Dice en su corazón: No seré movido en ningún tiempo, Ni jamás me alcanzará el infortunio.
Psa 10:7 Llena está su boca de maldición, y de engaños y fraude: Debajo de su lengua, vejación y maldad.
Psa 10:8 Está en las guaridas de las aldeas: En los escondrijos mata al inocente: Sus ojos están acechando al pobre.
Psa 10:9 Acecha en oculto, como el león desde su cama: Acecha para arrebatar al pobre: Arrebata al pobre trayéndolo á su red.

Si estoy haciendo el trabajo de Dios, no querré estar en las tinieblas. So estoy haciendo el trabajo del diablo, so querré estar en la luz.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Proverbs 17-18 Psalms 9

Pro 17:10 A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
If I really am a wise man, I’ll listen to correction and people who give me wise counsel. And not only will I listen to these things, but I’ll actually learn from them.

Pro 17:28 Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
I’m not really a smart guy, but even if I keep my mouth shut, I’ll be counted as wise. And as much as I want to be a man, I’d do well to just be quiet.

Psa 9:16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

The Lord punishes us, yes, but it’s only because of our work.

Proverbios 17-18 Salmos 9

Pro 17:10 Aprovecha la reprensión en el entendido, Más que si cien veces hiriese en el necio.
Si soy un sabio, escucharé al consejos de los ancianos y etc. Y no solamente escucharé, pero aprenderé de ellos.

Pro 17:28 Aun el necio cuando calla, es contado por sabio: El que cierra sus labios es entendido.
No soy un inteligente, pero si mi boca está cerrada, estaré contado por sabio. Y quiero ser un hombre tanto, haría bien para callarme.

Psa 9:16 Jehová fué conocido en el juicio que hizo; En la obra de sus manos fué enlazado el malo. (Higaion. Selah.)
Dios nos castiga, sí, pero solamente a cause de nuestro trabajo.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

The slaughterhouse of human souls.

The main religion in Spain is Catholicism. Knowing this, I have a duty to lean as much about it as I can, and figure out how to unlock their hearts, and reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I interviewed an ex-Catholic, and this is what is the result. If you think it's too brutal, or too mean, then I'm sorry. I'm just reporting, word for word, our converstaions.

The slaughterhouse of human souls: The Catholic Church

Were your born into a Catholic family?

When you get married, usually momma takes daddy’s religion. Daddy was a catholic on both sides for generations. Hungarian on the father’s side German and Irish. Mother’s side was Scottish, Irish and English Anglicans, which is nothing more than the English Catholic church.
So, when my mother married my father, she became a catholic.

I was baptized a Catholic not long after I was born, and that was back in 1960. At about the age of 6, I received my holy communion. We moved from Oakland, a very catholic city, to Athens, GA in 1970. We went to the Catholic church there for a few years, and then mom decided to break away, and left them for a Presbyterian church, and were there for about 2 years.

We were there, and then broke there, leaving for an Episcopalian church. And all that is would be a American version of the English-Catholic.

So much of it is uh, the same, a few different things, but it’s basically the English Catholic church. I belonged to the Episcopal church almost all my life. Basically a catholic for 12 years, Presbyterian, 2 years, Episcopalian rest of my life. When I moved from Athens, GA to Social Circle, GA (2001), they had two (white) churches there, Methodist or Baptist. I became a Baptist. That was about 5 years. I moved to Roswell, and were invited to another Baptist, which I’ve been in for about two years.

When was it, with all the bouncing around, that you accepted Christ as your saviour?

It was long gradual thing, and I might have it written down somewhere.

Do you have any idea,? Was it in the catholic church, or where?

In the Catholic, Presbyterian , Episcopalian churches, they don’t preach a gospel of salvation. It wasn’t until I got to Social Circle that I heard the Romans road. It took me a while to comprehend that. And I didn’t fully comprehend it until I started going to my current church. At Social Circle, I had to unlearn a lifetime of stuff, and the problem is most of your protestant church, and all the others, they don’t teach salvation.

And the Catholic Church thinks it’s this big monolith, unified thing, and its…Its very divided. In the protestant world, everyone and their brother made a church. In the Catholic world, you have all these different diversified thoughts, all under one umbrella. From the outside, the Catholic looks unified, all the same, monolithic, uniform, solid front. All the same. Once you get in the Catholic church, you see the truth. They kept all these ideas under the Catholic moniker.

So what does the Catholic church teach as far as salvation?

This is hard for most to comprehend, but the Catholic Church, it is not the Church of Jesus, it is simply a church about Jesus Christ. A catholic actually believes in salvation through infant baptism. That that ritual removes the stain of original sin, made the baby a child of God, member of Church, and it started the process of salvation. (Obeying Rome’s ordinances, and partaking in her stuff) Salvation is a process to the Catholic Church, where as in the Bible, we see it is a decision.

In the Catholic Church, the process of salvation is never complete. It starts with baptism, then the sacrament of first communion, later there’s the sacrament of confirmation, where you’re made an adult, and they view marriage as a sacrament as well. And confession, and last rites. A whole load of stuff.

Describe what you mean by sacrament.

The way it is with them, Ok, they’re like mile stones.

What happens if I don’t reach enough mile stones?

It’s a never ending process. The problem with them is they never know it’s enough.

So there’s no security of salvation?

No. You never know if it’s enough. Ok, supposedly, your salvation is through infant baptism, removes original sin, and starts the process of salvation. It starts a lifelong process. In the Bible, we see that salvation is only through Jesus Christ, and no one else. The Catholics teach that it’s only through the church.

The Bible teaches that you must have the right relationship with our Lord and Maker. The Catholic church believes you must have the right relationship with them.

The Catholic church believes that you should have last rites, holy unction, mass, all theses sacraments. Even after you die, you go to purgatory, and your family has to pay to have masses to get you out.

Everyone goes to purgatory?

Yes. No matter what you are, a monk, nun, saint, priest, you go to purgatory. And your family has to go and pay the church to have masses for you so that you can be prayed out of purgatory. The problem is that when you die, you don’t know how long you’ll be in purgatory, which is never in the Bible. And no one can tell you.

And what happens in purgatory?

Now purgatory, like I said, and I’ve studied the Catholic church. And I studied it both there and since I’ve left, and I’ve read the Bible, and the whole thing is the purgatory is not in the bible ever. Purgatory was actually dreamed up by the Catholic church. What they did was dream it up to control the people and make money off them. Billions of people have been born, lived and died as Catholics, and went to a supposed purgatory.

Trillions of dollars have been spent on buying masses to get them out of purgatory. It’s the best money making scheme ever.

Now, the Bible never mentions purgatory. In a true church, the Bible is the ultimate, and only, authority. In the Catholic church, it’s one of many.

What are some of those books?

The Catholic church places a lot of stock in tradition. And there’s probably 150+ volumes of tradition, of which, one of those is the Bible. SO, to a Baptist, the Bible is the one and only authority on everything. To the Catholic, the Bible is one out of 150. And with 149 to 1, the Bible gets very outweighed.

And some pope somewhere invented purgatory. And it’s the greatest scheme in history. It’s not found in the Bible, but it’s all throughout Catholic tradition. The Catholics avoid verses like the end of Revelation. They just ignore it totally, and go on their merry way, dreaming up things that have no Biblical foundation.

Like what?

Confession, like purgatory, is not found in the Bible. There’s another concept which is transubstantiation. What that means is that the bread and blood at communion literally turns into the flesh and blood of Christ! Total heresy! The Bible says to eat and drink them in remembrance! Nowhere in the last supper does Jesus say, ‘That the priest will turn this into my flesh and blood”

So they have no assurance of salvation.?They also don’t follow the Bible as the supreme word of God?

Right, they believe that the Church is the authority, and not the Bible. What makes this mind boggling is there are over 1billion Catholics worldwide, and around 20% USA!

So that means that at least 1 in 5 people in the USA will go to hell when they die?

Yeah. And that’s not the Mormons, Jehovah’s witnesses, atheists, agnostic, protestants, and everyone else. It’s mind boggling.

And it’s the main religion of South America, Mexico, Central America, French Canada. America is basically the protestant bastion of all the Americans, and we’re not doing a real good job. Go to Europe, and it’s at least 50% Catholic. All of the countries. And they’re worldwide!

Every country worldwide has a massive population. And the Catholic church refuses to release number. There could be as many 1.5 billion Catholics. But they’ll never admit it. They’re too secretive.

They won’t tell you where all the churches are. Nor how many people are in them, or anything! You will never know how many Catholics there really are. We know there’s one pope, and the rest is classified.

The biggest thing about them is this they’re not Christians. They don’t meet the definition. They’re about Jesus, but aren’t a church of Jesus. It’s a slaughterhouse of human souls. They do enough to make you think you’re saved, but won’t save you.

And the Catholic inquisition has killed 10's of millions of people. Joseph Stalin killed 60 million. They think the catholic church has killed more than that. The inquisitions followed them all over the world. The worst was in Spain. No question. Spain was the worst.

The only thing people that killed more than the Catholic church were Mao sing Tung, and Hitler. They’re the number three killer in history. Hitler, over 100 million, Mao Tse Tung, at around 100 million. The Catholic church reaches about 70 million. And they’ve never apologized to the family of the victims. And when they killed someone, they would take everything he or she had. All of it.

If you could say something to every Catholic right now, what would it be?
I would tell them the words of the Bible. The words of Christ. And this was wrote to the Catholics, from in the Catholic church, Revelation 18:4-5”

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

What that’s talking about is the Catholic church. Jesus Himself said to come out of that church, and not to be a part of it! It’s so bad. Go to Revelation 18, and just start reading. The whore in the book of Revelation is the Catholic church. The one who is drunk with the blood of martyrs. To me, that’s the blood of those in the inquisition, and all the people killed by the catholic church. The Catholic church has created more horrors than anything on earth.

They take an order of celibacy, yet have a woman on the side. They create whores! Rome, Catholic capital, has one of the highest prostitution (per capita) than almost anywhere.

So you have accepted Christ as your saviour?

Yes.

And would you say that it would be possible for someone to be saved from hell in a catholic church?

I would venture forth to say, and like I said, this is my personal belief, from my experience, I still believe that there have been people who have made it to heaven not because of the Catholic church, but in spite of it. There’s nothing in the catholic church that would lead you to heaven.

But as a faithful Catholic, you wouldn’t make it?

And this is the killer, no matter how long you do anything in the Catholic church, no matter how long you’re a monk, nun, priest, altar boy, anything, you will never, not even once, will you hear a clear presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the true way to heaven and salvation.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Proverbs 15-16 Psalms 8

Proverbs 15-16 Psalms 8
Through both chapters, there is a strong repetition of the fact that God knows our hearts for how they truly are. There’s no point in hiding from Him, because we can’t.It’s better to just be a man, admit your faults and dedicate yourself to changing.

And in Psalms 8, we see how amazing, how powerful the God who sees us really is.

Proverbios 15-16 Salmos 8
Por ambos capítulos, hay un repetición fuerte del hecho que Dios conoce nuestros corazones verdaderos. No sirve para esconder de Él, porque no podemos.Más vale ser un hombre, admitir nuestras faltas, y dedicarme a cambiar, que esconder. Y en Salmos 8 vemos el poder, el asombrar del Dios que no conoce de verdad.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--