Hello, Chile!

Hola, Chile! Bienvenido al grupo de lectores de cien y otros dos países que también Hola,visitan este blog. Espero que algunos de los mensajes útiles o significativas.
El "Traducir esta página" gadget directamente por encima de la "Páginas vistas en total" Counter tiene la capacidad de traducir el texto Inglés de este blog directamente en español.

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Book Comment: Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws?

Campus Crusade for Christ is the world's largest Christian ministry.  In 1952, the founder of the ministry, Bill Bright, wrote a small 16 page evangelistic tract entitled "Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws?"
The tract has been in print ever since and has been used millions of times in personal evangelism.  It is also used by evangelicals to explain the evangelistic approach of the tract to non-evangelical Christians.  Copies of the tract are available from the organization.  Wide distribution of the tract is encouraged by the organization.

The Four Spiritual Laws are:
1. "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life."
2. "Man is sinful and separated from God.  Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life."
3. "Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin.  Through Him you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life."
4. ""We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives."

Each of these Laws is amplified and explained in the tract.  In the more recent printings of the tract, several websites are recommended.
www.startingwithGod.com
www.growinginChrist.com
www.whoisJesus-really.com
www.everystudent.com

Some Reasons Why Mormons Are Not Christian

Mormons insist that they are Christians but there are many sharp divergences between orthodox Christian doctrine and Mormon doctrine.   Listed below are just a few of them.


Orthodox Christian doctrine:  Do not add to scripture. Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32, Proverbs 30:5-6, Revelation 22:18-19
Mormon doctrine: The Mormon canon includes three additional scriptures: The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, and The Doctrine and Covenants.

Orthodox Christian doctrine:  God is not a man, but a spirit.  (Numbers 23:19; John 4:24)

Mormon doctrine:  God was once a man like us and, even now has a physical body.

Orthodox Christian doctrine: There is only one God, who created all of existence. (Isaiah 44:6)

Mormon doctrine: There are millions of Gods, each of whom has created his own universe.

Orthodox Christian doctrine: God is pre-existent and eternal.

Mormon doctrine: God was once a man on another planet who earned godhood by his good works.  He and his wife populated this world with their spirit children (us).

Orthodox Christian doctrine: Jesus is pre-existent and was present at the creation. 

Mormon doctrine: Jesus was the first spirit child of God and his wife.  He married several of the Marys named in the New Testament.  His first brother was Satan.  We are subsequent sons and daughters of God.

Orthodox Christian doctrine: God is one God who exists as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Mormon doctrine:The Trinity is three gods united in purpose.

Orthodox Christian doctrine: The ultimate destiny of individual Christians is sinless perfection in an eternal relationship with the Lord.

Mormon doctrine: Each Mormon man may become a god through his good works and create his own universe.  He and his wife will populate their universe with their spirit children.

Orthodox Christian doctrine: Salvation is by grace through faith based on the shed blood of Christ.  Good works are a result of salvation.

Mormon doctrine: Salvation is by faith and by following the commands of God.  The shed blood of Christ is not the source of salvation.  Salvation is conditional on faith, repentence, baptism, and keeping the commands of God.


"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?   And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matthew 7:21-23.

Mitt Romney

This is not, never has been and never will be a political blog.  You will never know how I intend to vote in the upcoming national elections.  Sometimes, though, my posts may touch tangentially on politics as I discuss something else.  This post, for example, will be about the American politician Mitt Romney.
 
For those readers in other countries, as I write this on Tuesday night, the political caucuses in the State of Iowa are choosing the presidential candidates they favor for the nominations as representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties in the upcoming (2012) United States presidential election.   One of the Republican candidates is Mitt Romney, a Mormon.  The caucuses are politically important because they are the first test of the strengths of the various candidates with the voters.  There are still 49 other states and several territories which must also express their choices.

The nationally distributed newspaper, USA Today, had an article recently entitled"Christians are tough crowd for Romney." (The online title is "Mormon Romney struggles to win over Evangelical Christians.") Many Evangelicals are wary of voting for a Mormon because they do not consider Mormons to be Christians.

Actually, by law, there is no religious test for eligibility for the office of President of the United States of America.  The office could be held by a Hindu, or a Buddhist, or even an atheist, but it is understandable that voters would be most comfortable with a leader with whom they feel they share certain basic values and beliefs.

Mormons are known for their strong family values, strong work ethic, conservative social values, and non-orthodox religious doctrines.  They are led by a Prophet who speaks authoritatively for God.  They do not believe that revelation from God was completed within the Bible and have added additional scriptures.

Tomorrow, I will detail some of the reasons most Christian denominations do not feel that Mormons are Christian.

Addendum on 4 January 2011:
Last night in Iowa, Mitt Romney won the endorsement of Iowa Republicans as their choice for the position of candidate to represent the Republican Party in the 2012 United States Presidential election.  Mr. Romney edged out Rick Santorum, a Roman Catholic, by a margin of only 8 votes out of almost 125,000 votes cast.  The candidates now move to the state of New Hampshire.

The Democrats, as expected, gave their endorsement to the incumbent candidate, United States President   Barack Obama.

The Devil's Future

"When the devil reminds you of your past ... remind him of his future." Teresa of Avila


As you grow closer to God, the Devil and his angels step up their attacks, usually in ways no one else but you would notice; self-doubts, opportunities to indulge in whatever is your strongest temptation, tests of your patience and acceptance of others,  obsessive thoughts, and many more.  It is not necessary for the Devil's purposes that he pull you away from Jesus.  He will be happy if he can make you ineffective.


The Devil and his angels are in all-out war against God.  They have to be if they are to have any chance (they don't) to escape the fire.


"Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Revelation 12:12



"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:" Matthew 25:41

The Church Readerboard

I have no problem introducing humor into Christianity.  One of the funniest comics around is Michael Jr ., an overtly Christian comedian.

One of the places witty humor is often seen is the church readerboard.  The wittiness of the sayings often revolves around double meanings of words.  You decide what you think about this one.  The picture position is moving around on the Facebook page.  What the sign board says is: "God has no favorites - our sign guy does - Go Preds!"
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grace-Cumberland-Presbyterian-Church/177767247314
The "Preds" are the Nashville Predators, a professional hockey team in the National Hockey League.

Tim Tebow

(Some videos will not play properly when you click on the triangle.  Instead,  click on the title line in the picture and the video will begin .  When the video is completed, close the You Tube pop-up window to return to this blog.)


Tim Tebow (Timothy Richard Tebow) was born in the Philippines in 1987 to Baptist missionary parents. He has been the “star” on the football field since he was a boy; through high school, college, and a budding professional career.  Unlike so many “stars,” Tim Tebow’s main point of conversation is not himself.  Every conversation with Tim Tebow becomes a conversation about Jesus!  Not everyone is happy about that.

Here is a video of Tim Tebow in action. He is number 15 in blue.

In this video, he is number 15 in white, running as well as a professional running back.

Against the Dallas Cowboys.

Here is blasphemous “comedic” skit  on the American television program, Saturday Night Live, poking fun at the fact that Tebow’s team, the Denver Broncos, has been winning games even though his own personal game statistics are not particularly impressive overall.  The skit is saying he must have had “help.”

Tebow has never said his team is winning because of his faith. What he has said is that he plays hard and to the best of his ability at all times because he dedicates what he does on the field to the Lord. He does what he does for the glory of Jesus.

Listen to Tim

Read about Tim

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tebow