Napoleon's Comment about Jesus

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 I love this quote from Napoleon:

"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires.  But on what did we rest the creations of our genius?  Upon force.  Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him." 


Sadly, I think many Christians are more willing to die for Him than to really live for Him.  Dying for Him is usually theoretical, but living for Him would require a lot of actual, real-life changes.

Will you be counted among the faithful ones?  The ones willing to die for Him and live for Him?


I know I share these songs often, but they're worth it:  Oh, What Love and Sweetly Broken.  

And how about one more: Fearless.

(repost)

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This is a poem my friend wrote which she read to me over the phone the other day.  And it was so beautiful that I asked her if I could publish it on my blog.  Enjoy.  (I will publish it just as she sent it.)    The Very Most   Good morning, Father, Son and Holy Ghost I love you all the very most With my life layed down, I don’t want my own crown   Lead me, guide me, show me the way Thank you, Lord for this brand new day I Thank you Lord  for giving us your son  thank you Jesus for being the only one Who could save me  deliver me and raise me up Because you lifted your own cup.   Thank you, Jesus for the garden  For it led to my full pardon The road from there was fully destructive And from that walk my pain was abducted And at the end upon that cross You gave Your life so none would be lost   And when you rose on that third day With Your new life you made the way So on your journey with no thought for yourself you lived an...
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(This is a shortened version of my Bible study.  For full version, click here .)             Philippians 3:18-20 :   “. . . many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.   Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.   Their mind is on earthly things.   But our citizenship is in heaven. . . .”             As Christians, we are citizens of two different worlds – the world (including our own country and society) and God’s Kingdom.   And o ftentimes, these worlds are in conflict.  So ... how can we as Christians best live out this verse about being in the world but not of it?                   Let’s break down some of the challenges and differences we face.
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I think that Calvinists who deny double predestination are fooling themselves.  To not choose someone for heaven is to choose them for hell, especially if those are the only two options and if God created them to be exactly who they are for certain reasons (which He didn't, except in Calvinism).   Instead of just admitting that Calvi-god predestines people for hell, Calvinists soften or obscure it as much as possible to make it seem less harsh, less deliberate, than it is: "God passes over people... He just lets them be the sinners they already are... He leaves them to themselves... He doesn't force them to reject Him, He just doesn't give them saving faith..."  (I wonder if they'd try so much to soften it if they thought themselves one of the non-elect.)   It's  really just haggling over terminology because it all amounts to the same thing: I n Calvinism, God predetermined that the non-elect would be who they are and do what they do, and He made sure ...
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[I redid Point #5 and #6 in the Alana L. series on my other blog (and re-lettered the posts).  But instead of going back and changing the already-posted points on this blog, I'll just add the posts in their own little "series."]  Point #5 still :   P:  "Sovereign, sovereign, sovereign, sovereign."   Natural vs Moral On a slightly different track:  If you listen closely when Calvinists talk about God's "sovereign control" over things, they'll often emphasize His control over nature, even bringing up verses about it.  And since we agree that God caused/controlled something like a storm or famine or illness at some point in biblical history, Calvinists will then make us think that we must also agree that He causes/controls human decisions and moral evils too.  That if we accept one, we must accept the other. Vincent Cheung  ( The Problem of Evil ):  " God controls not only  natural events , but he also controls  all human aff...
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Read this article by The Activist Mommy.  Go ahead; I'll wait. Wichita Library Board Debates Whether to Ban Sex Offender's from Children's Events So ... as taxpayers ... isn't it awesome to think that your local library would be unwilling to take the steps necessary to protect your children at public children's events from registered sex offenders, simply because it might offend some people in the LGBTQ-community!?!   And look at what that Thomas Witt said, shaming people for taking steps to protect kids, accusing them of having "offensive" ulterior motives, as if parents shouldn't be allowed to take steps to protect their children.   I don't care what someone's motive is or if they have some sort of secret ulterior motive ... We should all be taking steps to protect children.  Period! But apparently the library board would rather allow registered sex offenders to mingle, up close and personal, with your children than risk hurting ...
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Finding the right greeting card can be so frustrating.   Like, where is the "I'm sorry you got arrested and will probably spend the rest of your life in prison ... but even though this terribly affected our family and friends forever, I love you anyway and hope you have as merry of a Christmas as you can, under these circumstances" kind of card? Oh, the headaches of trying to find the perfect card! (And, no, I'm not joking.  I mean, yes I am, to a degree.  But in a "if I don't laugh about it, then I'll cry" kind of way.)
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Where There is Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth! (repost)

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(I'm not sure if I'm right about this; it's just what I think is a possibility right now.) “And throw the worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”   ( Matthew 25:30 ) “The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”   ( Matthew 13:49-50 ) I used to wonder about the “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”   Where is this place and who gets thrown there?   It sounds like an awful place to be, and I always assumed that it happened in hell. But what I couldn’t figure out is why the “servant who hid the talent” in Matthew 25 is thrown there, too.   It makes it sound as if a believer (a lazy one) ends up in a place with weeping and gnashing of teeth.   But how can that be if “weeping and gnashing” happens in hell, as seen in Matthew 13 ?   How can a believer end up in hell? But I think I may s...
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 (Spoiler alert) Besides Christmas, Easter Sunday is the one day that many people will take their families to church - their young children all shiny and happy, dressed up in their Sunday best - even if they don't go any other time all year.   It's the day that seekers might dare to show up, looking for truth and answers and hope, even if they're too scared or stubborn to set foot in a church any other day.   And it also happens to be the day that the Calvinist pastor at my ex-church decided to pull back the curtain on a beloved Easter tradition to a room full of visitors and seekers and their small children, taking it upon himself to ruin childhood innocence and Easter-morning-fun all over the place.   I mean, seriously, imagine that you're a non-believer, a seeker, who - after all the fun of watching your children hunt for their Easter baskets and Easter eggs, and everyone's happy and hopeful - decided that for the first time, you'd bring your kids t...
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