Boyd's Blog

2006-01-23T19:01:00.000-05:00

THE ANTICHRIST:
A question arose this past week about the "mark of the beast" and chips being implanted in people. The timing of the end is very clear in II Thess. 2
vs. 2 "Don't be upset or troubled by ANYTHING when people say the day of Christ is at hand" (saying the tribulation had already started).
vs. 3 "Don't let anyone deceive (to lead out of the right way into error) you"--2 things must happen:
1. a "falling away"--apostacia--great apostacy. Zodhiates says, "does not refer to genuine Christians who depart from the faith, but mere professors, who without divine grace, succumb to the Satanic deceptions of the Antichrist".
2. the "man of sin"/the "son of perdition" must be revealed.
Perdition here refers to someone who is determined to remain spiritually lost. Revealed is the same word used for the book of the Revelation--apokalupsis--meaning to remove the veil exposing to open view that which was hidden ( as a person would reveal a new staue).
vs. 4. the antichrist opposes everything God stands for and exalteth himself--arrogant and insolent.
vs. 7. the mystery of iniquity doth already work--everything for the revelation of the antichrist is in the works--was in Paul's day. The only reason Satan has not revealed him is because God has not allowed it to happen. vs. 7b "He Who now letteth, will let, until He be taken out of the way"--"letteth"=suppress, restrain, hinder. In other words, the antichrist cannot come until the One Who is "hindering" him is taken out of the way. Many theologians have tried to make this "hinderer" a lot of things, but I agree with many who believe this ONLY fits the Holy Spirit. WHEN the Holy Spirit is removed out of this world--at the rapture, since He dwells in Christians--THEN the Antichrist will step forward and "explain" to the world what happened. Dr. Henry Morris has some interesting statements about this: "The son of perdition will be the leader and icon of the global religion of pantheistic humanism, which will finally triumph in the last days. There will be a great amalgamation of religions combining the eastern, ethnic pantheism and modern New Age scientific and occult religions with apostate monotheistic religions ( including the pseudo-Christian denominations and cults left behind on earth after all true Christians have been removed by the rapture) under the charismatic, but despotic, reign of this great man who will seem to be the very apex of the age-long process of evolution." After he has full control of the world he will setup the "mark of the beast" discussed in Rev. 13:16-18 and 14:9-11. "Mark"=a mark cut in or stamped on.
SO, WHAT SHOULD WE DO IN THE LIGHT OF THIS INFO?
vs. 15 "STAND FAST"--don't backslide
"HOLD THE TRADITIONS WHICH YE HAVE BEEN
TAUGHT"--the teachings of Paul and the other apostles--not the traditions of the Pharisees that Jesus condemned.

2006-01-19T19:43:00.000-05:00

"EARNESTLY CONTEND FOR THE FAITH...."
This great verse in Jude 3 is packed full of URGENCY!!!!!
"I gave all DILIGENCE...it was NEEDFUL...and EXHORT you...
EARNESTLY CONTEND..."
DILIGENCE=speed, urgency, earnest effort
NEEDFUL=compelling, necessary
EXHORT=encourage
EARNESTLY CONTEND (one word)=to fight for
So, Jude tells us that we should really give our attention to the matter of fighting for the faith that was given to the saints. Fight to keep the Word of God from being watered down in this day of apostacy. Most of us do absolutely nothing while the devil succeeds in tearing the Bible apart page by page. The devil has been doing this since he met Eve in the Garden of Eden and asked her that deceitful question, "Hath God said...", or, "Did God REALLY say you would die?"--then says, "Ye shall not surely die." The devil uses the same lie today--"Does the Bible REALLY say that creation took place in 6 literal days?"--"BUT, you cannot deny the overwhelming evidence of 'science' that the earth is millions of years old." Timberly and Leroy gave us a set of 13 DVDs from Answers In Genesis. Ken Ham does a great job of refuting the devil's lies in this area.
Another area that concerns me greatly is in the acceptance of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) as being CHRISTIAN. At the Council of Trent (1545-1563) the RCC stated: "If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law (Catholic Rituals) are not necessary for salvation but...men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification..let him be anathema."
On Dec. 31, 1995, honoring the 450th anniversary of Trent, Pope John Paul II declared: "Its conclusions maintain all their value."
YET--Charles Colson claims in his book "The Body" that the Catholic church no longer offers indulgences. Dave Hunt sent to Colson the 17 pages on indulgences from VaticanII, including Pope Paul's anathema on those who deny indulgences today. Colson never acknowledged his error. The Billy Graham Ev. Assoc. published a special edition of Halley's Bible Handbook for its crusades in '62, '64, and '69 and boldly removed careful documentation of the evil of the popes and the slaughter of true Christians. Zondervan published a revised edition of Halley's Handbook in 2000 and likewise eliminated references to RCC's heresies and killing of evangelical Christians by Rome. When questioned about this, the president of Zondervan stated: "the purpose of the rewriting was...to give a more balanced portrayal of the history of Christianity." For decades Billy Graham has declared that his beliefs are essentially the same as those of orthodox Roman Catholics. He has praised the Pope as a preacher of the true Gospel, hailing him as "the greatest moral and spiritual leader of the past 100 years...He and I agree on almost everything."
Pat Robertson praised the Pope.
Jack Van Impe hailed him as a "defender of the faith."
J.I.Packer called the Pope a fine Christian man.
So, what is behind all this covering up for the RCC? Could it be that we are near the end of the age and the devil is programming the world to accept the RCC? In Dave Hunt's book, A Woman Rides The Beast, Dave gives some compelling reasons for believing that the woman riding the beast in Revelation 17:3-6 is the RCC.
She is "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." Perhaps the end is nearer than we think.
LET'S DO ALL WE CAN TO CONTEND FOR THE FAITH !!!!!!!

2006-01-04T16:23:00.000-05:00

Sorry, pictures are ABOVE, not below. I still don't have this all figured out!!!!

2006-01-04T14:55:00.000-05:00

BATHROOM UPDATE IS (almost) COMPLETED!!!!!
We used a dresser that Petra left here for the new sink; we bought the sink on a clearance table at Home Depot, hung a 3'x5' mirror that we got at a yardsale, papered the upper walls with paper from an outlet store in Louisville, built a half wall between the commode and sink, with a new tissue holder, framed the mirror with some molding Leroy gave to us, hung a needlework with elephants that Petra made for Mom several years ago, hung a framed puzzle (of which we have about 50--either framed or put together ready to frame--we have 16 puzzles hanging throughout the house), and added a rug runner on the floor. So, it looks a little different than it did. See pictures below: (I still need to cut down the top drawer of the dresser, and we want to get nice curtain from floor to ceiling in front of the tub)

2005-12-10T17:10:00.000-05:00

We tiled inside the patio doors, put in three counter cabinets and tiled the top like the floor. This is right behind the new sofa. Makes the entry a little small, but we hope to add a new room on the outside to use as an entryway--maybe this Spring.

2005-12-10T16:56:00.000-05:00

Mom tiling the upstairs bathroom. We used an old dresser that Petra was going to throw away,built a half wall at the end and put a new sink in the top, then tiled around it. I'll post some better pictures when it's done. Of course, it has taken us about 6 months to get this far, so who knows when it will be done. The big mirror we got at a yard sale for a couple of dollars.

2005-12-10T16:46:00.000-05:00

WE BOUGHT A NEW SOFA BED FOR THE FAMILY ROOM WITH A QUEEN SIZE BED IN IT.

2005-12-10T15:58:00.000-05:00

WE'RE STILL USING THE DECORATIONS THAT WE BOUGHT FROM PETRA WHEN SHE WAS IN THE 5th GRADE.

2005-12-10T15:38:00.000-05:00

I REARRANGED THE SHELVES ON MY BIG BOOKCASE SO I COULD HAVE READERS' DIGEST CONDENSED BOOKS ALL THE WAY DOWN. I NOW HAVE ALMOST 300 OF THEM.

2005-12-10T14:44:00.000-05:00

THE TREE IS UP!!!
Doesn't look bad for being 19 years old. We have friends coming over for dinner on Christmas day after Church, so we decorated a little.

2005-12-01T19:36:00.000-05:00

HERE'S AN INTERESTING ONE:
One morning a husband returned after several hours of fishing and decided to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, his wife decided to take the boat out. She motored out a short distance, dropped the anchor and began to read her book. Along came the game warden in his boat. He pulled up alongside the woman and said, "Good morning, ma'am. What are you doing?"

"Reading a book," she replied.

"You're in a restricted fishing area," he informed her.

"I'm sorry, Officer, but I'm not fishing, I'm reading."

"Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up."

If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," said the woman.

"But I haven't touched you," said the game warden.

"That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know, you could start at any moment."

"Have a nice day, ma'am," he said and left.

Moral of this story: Never argue with a woman who reads. It is likely she can also think.

2005-11-30T13:28:00.000-05:00

JESUS SITTING ON YOUR SOFA......
Kendra, in her "sermon" about movies said something about Jesus sitting on your sofa watching what you watch. I get a paper called "Do Right" from Bob Jones Univ.--quotes from Dr. Bob Jones Sr., the founder of BJU. I thought this month's fit this situation. Here's the quote:
"I was reared down in the South and was brought up rather
formally in religious training; and I am honest with you when I say
that the first time I ever heard Billy Sunday pray it shocked me.
He was preaching. He stopped preaching and began to talk to Jesus
as if Jesus were right there. While he was talking to Jesus he turned
around and said to the song leader Homer Rodeheaver, "Rody, what is
the fellow's name who came to see us yesterday and wanted us to hold
a meeting in his place?" Then he went on, "Yes, Jesus, Mr. So-andSo,"
and he continued to pray. It did shock me. I am honest with you. But
you know, men and women, I knew one thing: Jesus Christ was real
to Bill that night.
The trouble with most of us is that Jesus Christ is not real to us.
What this country needs is an old-time, ever-present real God. You
need a God, Brother, when somebody is dead and the hearse backs up
to the door. You need a real God when you come to where the road
parts and you do not know which way to go. I am glad I have that
kind of God."
Which reminds me of a great old poem"
If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two--
If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do.
Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room to such an honored Guest,
And all the food you'd serve to Him would be the very best,
And you would keep assuring Him you're glad to have Him there--
That serving Him in your home is joy beyond compare.

But--when you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door
With arms outstretched in welcome to your Heavenly Visitor?
Or would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in?
Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they'd been?
Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn't heard?
And wish you hadn't uttered that last, loud, hasty word?

Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out?
Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?
And I wonder--if the Saviour spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing the things you always do?
Would you go right on saying the things you always say?
Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?

Would your family conversation keep up its usual pace?
And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace?
Would you sing the songs you always sing, and read the books you read?
And let Him know the things on which your mind and spirit feed?
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you planned to go?
Or would you, maybe change your plans for just a day or so?

Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends?
Or would you hope they'd stay away until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on?
Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?
It might be interesting to know the things that you would do,
If Jesus came in Person to spend some time with you.
THAT'S THOUGHT PROVOKING, ISN'T IT?

2005-11-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS:
A bumper sticker in Berkeley: "Animals are little people in fur coats".
These people are really CRAZY!!!!!!!!!

2005-11-16T15:04:00.000-05:00

GOALS......
Troy has a great subject on his blog--"do you have a plan to reach your goals?"
Peter gives us a great plan for us to reach our goals. II Peter 1 says we should ADD to our faith--the faith has to be there first. (You can't teach a dead man how to walk, and you have to be saved before you can begin to grow in Christ.) 7 things are listed for us to add:
1. virtue--having the right standards in our lives--purity must come before growth
2. knowledge--not ONLY knowing about the Lord, but, also, knowing HIM
3. temperance--we say "self-control", but, actually, we CANNOT control ourselves--we need
SPIRIT control
4. patience--bearing up under persecution; allowing the Lord to DO with us whatever HE pleases
5. godliness--being made conformable to Christ; being like HIM
6. brotherly kindness--loving other Christians; I John 3:14 "We know that we have passed
from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother,
abidth in death."
7. charity--loving like God loves; see I Cor. 13
THERE'S A GREAT PLAN FOR REACHING OUR GOAL OF SERVING HIM.

2005-11-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

I LOVE COLLECTING GOOD BOOKS
I keep a list in my wallet of books I need to complete my collections of books by authors I admire: Louis Lamour, Dick Francis, Agatha Christie, Helen McGinnis, Georgette Heyer, Allistair McLean, Elizabeth Peters, Lillian Braun, Dorothy Gilman, and Reader's Digest condensed books. Lately I've been collecting sayings about books. I've found several sites that have several hundred such quotes. Following are some of my favorites:
"Show me the books he loves, and I shall know the man far betterr than through mortal friends." Dawn Adams
"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." Joseph Addison
"When I get a little money, I buy books; if any is left, I buy food and clothes." Deciderius Erasmus 1466-1536
"If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads." Emerson
My favorite--"Never lend books, for no-one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have left me." Anatole France
"The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn't know how to read." Benjamin Franklin
I hope you enjoy reading as much as I do.
But I didn't always enjoy reading. I graduated from college, went to grad school and had NEVER read a book for pleasure--had never read a complete novel. I only read what I HAD to read to pass my tests. Then I met Candy. The first summer we were married she said, "Let's go to the library." I thought she was crazy, but because I loved her, I went with her. She checked out a huge stack of books--I looked throught the whole library and didn't find one book I wanted to read. When I would come home from work and wanted to talk, all I got was "mmm" if she was in the center of a good book. Finally out of desperation, I asked her to give me a book I'd enjoy reading--obviously, she enjoyed it. She handed me a Mary Stewart novel, and for the first time in my life, I stayed up half the night reading to see what was going to happen. Then I was hooked on reading.

2005-11-11T18:39:00.000-05:00

THIS MOTIVATES ME:
Martha Snell Nicholson wrote the following poem, which describes the Judgment Seat of Christ very well. Remember that the Judgment Seat of Christ (JSC) is for Christians ONLY. Unsaved folks will stand at the Great White Throne judgment (I Cor. 3, and 5; Rev. 20:11ff)
HIS PLAN FOR ME
by MARTHA SNELL NICKOLSON

When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ
And He shows me His plan for me,
The plan of my life as it might have been
Had He had His way, and I see

How I blocked Him here, and I checked Him there,
And I would not yield my will--
Will there be grief in my Saviour's eyes,
Grief, though He loves me still?

He would have me rich, and I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
While memory runs like a hunted thing
Down the paths I cannot retrace.

Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break
With the tears that I cannot shed;
I shall cover my face with my empty hands,
I shall bow my uncrowned head . . . .

Lord, of the years that are left to me,
I give them to Thy hand;
Take me and break me, mould me to
The pattern Thou hast planned ! ! ! !

I hope that encourages you to serve the Lord as much as it does me. The JSC has nothing to do with sin, (sin is taken care of at the cross). The JSC is ALL about works--what we are doing for our Lord right now in this life. I get the idea from the Word that this judgment will not be a quiet, private matter--look at I Cor. 3:13--notice 3 phrases:
"work shall be made manifest"=make apparent or public
"day shall declare"=make known
"it (our work) shall be revealed"=Greek word is apokalupto=our word apocalypse; unveiling of a secret or something unknown.
Sounds rather public to me. Guess we all need to stay busy in His work.

2005-11-11T01:40:00.000-05:00

GLENDA, THIS IS FOR YOU......
Always thought green snakes were O.K.? READ ON........
Green garden snakes can be dangerous, Yes, green snakes, not rattlesnakes.

A couple in Sweetwater, Texas had a lot of potted plants, and during a recent cold spell, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze. It turned out that a little green garden snake
was hidden in one of the plants and when it had warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa. She let out a very loud scream.
The husband, who was taking a shower, ran out into the living room naked to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake under the sofa. He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About that time, the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the leg. He thought the snake had bitten him and he fainted. His wife thought he had a heart attack, so she called an ambulance. The attendants rushed in and loaded him on a stretcher and started carrying him out.
About that time, the snake came out from under the sofa and the Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he is in the hospital.
The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor man. He volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled up newspaper and began poking under the couch. Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief. But, in relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa, and the neighbor man, seeing her laying there, tried to use CPR to revive her.
The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches. An ambulance was called again and it was determined that the injury required hospitalization.
The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that he had been bitten by the snake. She went to the kitchen, brought back a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat.
By now, the police had arrived. They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when the two women tried to explain how it all happened over a little green snake. The ambulance took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.
Just then, the little snake crawled out from under the sofa. One of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table that was on one side of the sofa. The table fell over and the lamp on it shattered and as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes. The other policeman tried to beat out the flames and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog, who, startled, jumped up and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid the dog and smashed into the parked police car and set it on fire. Meanwhile, the burning drapes had spread to the walls and the entire house was ablaze.
Neighbors called the fire department and the arriving fire truck started raising its ladders as they were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires and put out the electricity and disconnected the telephones in a ten square city block area.

Time passed--both men were discharged from the hospital, the house was rebuilt, the police acquired a new car, and all was right with their world.....

About a year later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a cold snap for the night. The husband asked his wife if she thought they should bring in their plants for the night. She shot him.

2005-11-10T23:47:00.000-05:00

WELCOME TO BOYD'S NEW BLOG!!
This sure is a brand new experience!!
Joshua was up here Mon. to Wed. and set this up for me and seemed to think I could do this--I've been at it for about 3 hours so far and this is as far as I've gotten!!!!

The picture is the new front porch we built . It adds a lot to the house, but like a lot of my projects, you can see that I need to FINISH the job!!! Need the lattice on the right side and the spouting.