1. Blessed is the one who reads aloud, hears, and keeps the words of this prophecy. [Rev 1:3]

2. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. [Rev 14:13]

3. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on. [Rev 16:15]

4. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. [Rev 19:9]

5. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. [Rev 20:6]

6. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. [Rev 22:7]

7. Blessed are those who wash their robes. [Rev 22:14]

The Earth grows weary of her travail,
Of the violences we commit,
Of the gifts we profane,
Of our blasphemies,
Of our lusts,
Of our lies,
Of our idols.
Free your Creation from her bondage
And all those who put their trust in You.
To them, grant them the grace of holiness
So that they may walk in Your ways
And live by Your truth.

Lord God, I have not put my hope in anyone but You,
Be mindful of my lowliness.

“They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, undiscerning untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.  Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die–they not only do them, but even applaud those who practice them.” -Romans 1:29-32

“For I envied the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have an easy time until they die, and their bodies are well-fed.” –Psalm 73:3-4

“I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals. They have become a burden to Me; I am tired of putting up with them.  When you lift up your hands in prayer.  I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen.  Your hands are covered with blood.” –Isaiah 1:14-15

I have had more than a few sobering talks with my dad to know that a prosperity gospel will never suffice the soul.  Such gospels abound in our culture, feeding off the greed of many in the American public.  They exist within and without the church.  They wear the hat of both the Republican and Democrat.  They are both imported and exported.  A whole lot of people believe them.  But if you have lived any amount of time and deserted the delusional worldview that all is right in the world or that people can fix their own problems, you know that such gospels give you know hope.  If blessings from the heavens or from the earth come to you based on your merits, then there is no hope for redemption for the broken, forsaken, low sinner.

My dad and I have talked about this in detail, especially when either one of us has felt like that sinner.  Once, when my dad was having a bad day, he told me, “sometimes I wonder why God doesn’t just send us to hell.”  I tried to comfort him.  But after I gave it some thought, I began to wonder the same thing myself.  Why doesn’t God send us to hell?  God doesn’t have to redeem us to be a good God.  He doesn’t need us.  He doesn’t owe us anything.  We’ve never merited His kindness, both in the sense that His kindness is so valuable and our evil is so sinful.  God doesn’t need to save us.  And on our worst days, we can think that perhaps God should just end it all and send us into that abyss that stares back at us constantly.

More than anything else recently, the Haiti earthquake has awakened us to the state of our world.  That country was in great need long before this tragedy.  People were living off less than $2.00 a day.  That’s unimaginable for us who live in the West.  Such poverty made this earthquake much worse as the buildings crumbled and people were thrown into disarray.  Even as compassion ministries came in to help clean up that desperate country, the sin of man was on display.  Looting, murder in the streets, philanthropists using charity as an opportunity to flaunt how much money they have–all these things and many others gave us, or should give us, a wake up call.  Our world is in travail.

Do you love that our God is a God of justice?  With all this sin and all this tragedy, it confounds me that more people are praying for the wrath of God to come down upon those who would commit such sins when compassion and love is necessary.  Don’t you love that God will punish the indifferent hearts that go on while so many people could use our money much better than us?  Don’t you love that God will give justice to the widow rather than sheer revenge, discerning the human heart and exposing the wickedness within it?  You should.  It would be unjust for God not to punish sin with flaming fire in full when the blood of the oppressed cries out as it lays on the ground.

It isn’t just limited to Haiti.  This suffering abounds in lives of people across the globe.  Where is the God that will uphold the way of the righteous, they ask?  What does good do if God is not there?  He will do justice in His time.  Though suffering abounds in this life, He will repay us doubly for our sins.  He will be just.

When you are so aware of the darkness of man’s heart, and of your own, it isn’t uncommon for you ask like my dad did, “Why doesn’t God just send us to hell?”  It’s a good question.  We all deserve it.  At the very least, God could kill us all and extinguish the human race or begin it again with a more righteous earthly father than Adam was for us.  But He doesn’t.  He passes over sins.  He forgives iniquity.  He is long-suffering, patient and ever compassionate.  He allows everyone to live and He redeems His people, not only passing over their sins but justly taking their due punishment on the cross so that no one could accuse or condemn them.  God adopts sinners as sons and daughters.  His Spirit dwells within them as He conforms them to the image of His Son and promises them a reward in heaven for their obedience, which could never merit such a reward.  He doesn’t send us to hell.  Why?

God is simple in His reply.  ”The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and full of faithful love” (Psalm 103:8).  We cannot fully understand that compassion.  But it is the source of hope for us in a world filled with injustice.

Christ died for our sins.

A week ago my pastor encouraged us [a group of crazy college kids] to really feast on the Word, and to develop a habit of getting in to it every day until our soul is happy in the Lord. He referenced several letters written by George Muller, all of which challenged the very right to call ourselves well read in the Word of God. Within this context, my pastor mentioned the typical college student’s tendency to latch on to practices while failing to truly embrace the principals over the practices they quickly grow to love. He then explained that as quickly as college students love one practice they essentially see the problem of legalism, and quickly over embrace a sense of hyper-grace and slip into a state of antinomianism.

Truly, the average college student is quite erratic in belief and behavior. Unfortunately, it only gets worse when in a large group, where the populous can indirectly create a false sense of what is moral and amoral. Though rooted in a message, book, or sermon the practice of embracing practices over principals is simply wrong and dangerous. At its very core it neglects the gospel.  Likewise, the one who abuses the theology of grace and despises all practice and indulges in lawlessness is also venturing off the road.

My pastor’s correction was quite wise and, I hope, a beneficial warning. Our goal should be to steer ourselves back to the center of the road by clinging to the cross of Christ and coming back, day after day, to scripture. It is only through scripture that we can possibly hope to know God and pursue righteous deeds. In light of this, I was inspired to write a blog-book of sorts, College Road.  It should be relatively short, about 18-25 posts throughout the final semester of my 5 year college career. I want to get to the core of the collegiate problem, reveal all its different guises, and most importantly help direct our gaze to the cross. I hope by the end we will be encouraged to live as Paul explained when he wrote the Corinthians, simply, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

by Tyler Thayer
Bound2Christ – boundtochrist.com – © 2010

Attorney and teacher Andy Schlafly, in response to what he has called “liberal,” “offensive” and “incorrect” translations, formed the Conservative Bible Project, a Wiki software-based site devoted to “clean(ing) up” the Bible.

While Schlafly has his critics, he has denounced their criticisms, calling them “liberals who are unhappy that their game is up.”

Am I alone in thinking how stupid this is?

The list ranks the top 10 books and authors which are successfully banned from schools or frequently challenge, usually by parents concerned about what their children read or by religious groups, such as the Catholic League.

Pullman has come under fire for his atheist views and in particular for one scene in his final book where his protagonists kill a character called “God.”

The first of Pullman’s books was made into a movie, “The Golden Compass,” in 2007 starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig of “James Bond” fame.

ALA’s rankings came in the middle of the annual “Banned Books Week,” where libraries across the country celebrate freedom of speech.

The Times, often criticized by the Right for having a Liberal bias, said that, “Democrats who support the compromise must find a way to prevent it from being used later to go after other tax subsidies and thus further deny Americans’ rights to make their own health-care decisions.”

This editorial is interesting in two ways.  First, abortion most of the time is not a medical procedure per quo. Pregnancy is not a disease or an injury or something necessitating an operation, such as a facial reconstructive operation for a burn victim. It is a choice the woman makes to end a pregnancy than in most cases is not life-threatening or a “condition.” It’s the creation of life.

The diction the Times uses in calling it a health-care decision makes it seem like going in to a doctor to treat a problem with your health.

Second, in a roundabout way, this column is a little bit conservative. While government-funded health care expands the role of the feds, government denying abortion is too liberal for Liberals. It’s a private decision that government should not intervene in.

But if they expect the public to fund health care, for the government to ensure that people get health care, than that same government has the right to affirm or to deny what its nation-wide insurance plan covers. Abortion is not health care and government is not obligated to kill babies for the sake of convenience.

The purpose of medicine is to save lives, not terminate them.

This introduction will include a timeline of Darwin’s life, thoughts on God by other “top scientists,” “Hitler’s undeniable connection to the theory,” and more content in hopes to turn students away from the “brainwashing of their students.”

You can read more on this story at AOL and at the book’s giveaway site.

Jonathan Ramsey, a member of my campus ministry and a good friend of mine, began having seizures about a year and a half ago due to a psychological condition called conversion syndrome. For many months, Jonathan struggled with depression, doubt and physical pain due to the recurring episodes. It has been awhile since his last seizure and since then he has been stepping up his blogging.

I’d encourage you to read some of his posts, especially one titled “The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Part 2″. My friend is honest about his responses to sin and his circumstances. But the common theme throughout his posts is grace, what got him through and what always gets us through.