Putting the Blog to bed, Good night, Calvary's Voice & NJBC Choir singing I Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb (2008)

We all serve and answer to someone, who do you serve?

Never Underestimate the Power of Prayer... Moving Testimony

By Robert Catanese

Well friends, we begin another week.  I am going to share with you a very personal story. It is the story of how my daughter came into this world.  My hope is when reading this, it will spark something inside all of you to truly believe that there is incredible power when we pray!  It is a power that is God given to all of those who believe.  

Now, there are some that will say this was merely a stroke of luck, although the doctors to this day have no answer!  There are some that will say it is divine intervention, I do not if that is true.  But I will say it is a miracle that God had answered our prayer when my family was in a time of need.

This is a story perhaps, that occurred so that someday I would be able to share and testify to all of you. So indulge me, for just a minute...

It was just about 6 months into the pregnancy of my daughter, when the doctor started to realize, through ultrasound, that she was not growing.  The doctor promptly referred us to a Perinatologist to further investigate.  We started going to this doctor twice a week for the next 2 months.  Within that 2 months, every visit was the same, she was not growing and they had no answer.  To my dismay and frustration, I demanded an answer from the physician, she had none.  

All she would or could say was that the baby was not growing and was not progressing and that she was concerned.  In one of the visits that we attended to the obstetrician, the staff recommended that we go to genetic counseling.  Now, because the doctors had no answer for what was actually wrong with our daughter, or would not positively diagnose her condition, they asked us if we wanted to abort the baby!  I looked at the doctor, and without hesitation we told him to.... well I will leave that up to your imagination and we left.  And changed doctors.  

Now, the pediatrician we had picked out to go to when the baby was born just so happened to be Chief of staff at Miami Children's hospital.  I took the liberty of getting to the bottom of my unborn child's condition by showing him the ultrasound over the past month.  I will never forget what he told me.  I had finally received a diagnosis. 

After his careful observation,  I knew then why we were sent to "genetic counseling"....

He informed me that there were 3 conditions my daughter possibly had. 1) Gastroschesis, which is a condition where the intestines and the "gut" grow outside the body, in other words, her abdomen was not sealed.  2) Diaphragmatic hernia, which is where the diaphragm develops outside the body.  Both conditions upon birth or cesarean would be life ending.  3) Trisomy 21 aka Down's Syndrome, which was obviously the best of all 3 diagnoses.

We were devastated.  Now, I come from a very close knit family, so it wasn't that hard to recruit prayer warriors for this time of need.  From that day to the day she was born, my entire family began praying, friends, people in our church and people we didn't know began an incessant ritual of prayer that was unrelenting.  We were lost in the emotion of what was placed in front of us, and needless to say were very despondent, but whatever gift we were to be given we would cherish no matter what condition and for any amount of time.  

And the prayers continued...

As the situation played out, my wife at the time, was to be monitored overnight due to a decrease in my daughters heart rate. She was in her 8th month.  When I came to pick her up the following morning, the doctor was there and said my daughters heart was laboring throughout the night and that we had to have the baby now, or we would lose her.  We were in shock, the moment of truth had come, we didn't know what to expect.  

Now knowing the 3 scenarios that were at hand, I have never prayed so hard in those minutes leading up to the cesarean birth.  When the doctor said she is out, I stood up to look over the drape, and started to cry uncontrollably!  The doctor said there was a nuchal cord problem, which is a very thin umbilical cord, which was the reason she wasn't growing.  But, how is the cord even there?  What was it attached to??  

When I looked over the drape, she was perfect, pink and intact!  Just tiny, in fact she was born 3 pounds 12 oz.  She was in the Neo-natal intensive care unit for 2 weeks.  The doctors said she was thriving, even though she was premature.  We took her home at just 4 pounds.

Next month we will celebrate her 18th birthday!   This is my miracle testimony that I know share with all of you. When you believe my friends, all things are possible through Christ who strengthens me!  Never, ever underestimate the power of prayer.... Never

Good-O-Meter: "Good Enough," "I'm a Good Person," But what is the Benchmark?

By Elizabeth Nelson

If you were standing on a platform with your friends and loved ones and you were the only one that knew that there were poisonous snakes on the ground below, would you risk looking foolish to save everyone from a horrible, painful death and tell them or would you keep the truth to yourself, stay silent and let them jump down? Then maybe you do understand the mindset of us Christians, that have a heart for the lost, a little more. 

Maybe you've heard your neighbor say, "I've lead a good life," or maybe you're even one of those people that believes "I'm a 'good' person," but that's not what getting into Heaven and Hell is based on, "being good enough," or why did Jesus have to come down from Heaven and have to die at all? 

Perhaps some people actually believe, like this video with the Good-O-Meter shows, they can sneak into Heaven and think  that there will be a "scale," like a scale of Justice," that Christ is going to judge the way we lived our life and if our "good deeds" outweigh our "bad deeds," St. Peter will give us a "pass" and entrance into the Pearly Gates.

**buzzer** Nope, doesn't work like that.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

For we ALL [not some] sin and fall short of the Glory of God, but He made a way to escape the snakes and the pit he'll keep them in, because he's already paid our ransom. Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

"Why would a loving God send anyone to hell?" Oh, he didn't, it was their choice, if he had a choice all would go to Heaven," because God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and tocome to a knowledge of the truth, but He gave us a "Will" and they chose their path -straight to Hell.  So, whose fault is it, yours for not telling them that there is a poisonous snake on the ground, or theirs for not taking the precautions?  

Just as we choose our friends, why is it so hard for people to understand, those that are running head-long into hell were running from the most important friendship, the One that is  and always was patiently pursing them. Unfortunately, there is a consequence for their choice, because there will come a day [soon] when the lost that rejected Christ, he never rejected them, will have to face the Savior that they rejected. It's called the Great White Throne Judgement.

Obama: "One World Order, Small Minded Men and Women Must Surrender Their rights to an all powerful sovereign"

By Elizabeth Nelson

Remember, when Michelle and Obama told OFA volunteers,  as they were trying to sign people up for his failing signature healthcare plan, that he was god, and that  "they were doing "god's work?"  Now, that's going to make more sense as you listen to Obama's One World Order speech that he gave earlier this year.

"And for the international order that we have worked for generations to build; Ordinary men and women are too small minded to govern their own affairs.  That order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all powerful sovereign ."

Here we were, under the impression that he thought he was our Empiric Leader, but he's under the delusion that he's the Second coming Messiah, so the USA's destruction is Obama's caliphate.  I have another think coming for him, I'm still here so Jesus Christ he's not, but he may be the Anti-Christ, that's still to be decided when the real Jesus returns.  

Have you ever wondered if you'll be left behind and have a second chance, with the sealed 144 thousand?  Watch and listen in to my Church's Webcast this Sunday night  09/14/14 at 6pm and that question will be answered.  Better still, don't be left behind.

Throwback Thursday: Epic Video - Watch Ted Cruz's Dad Biblically Slam Obama, Lois Lerner & Eric Holder

By Elizabeth Nelson

Since we're about to go into elections, to take back our Senate, may I remind you of a riveting speech that Rafael Cruz, the man that raised Senator Ted Cruz under God's Holy Word, delivered straight out of Exodus 18:21-22. Ironically the very same passage my pastor spoke from Wednesday night, that tells us how to vote and shows us the qualification that we should be looking for in our candidates.  He focused the four requirements, two of which were that the candidate fears God and that they be a man of truth. Can you imagine where we'd be with that man in office today?

"The Bible talks a lot about politics" 

“He [God] gives four qualifications: able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness,” 

“Haven’t we had enough of men and women of lies in government?”

"Why do we keep sending the village idiots?

"this and will tell you a lie to cover up its previous lie"

“Whether it’s Lois Lerner, or it’s Rahm Imanuel, or it’s our illustrious attorney general, or it’s our president, they go from lie to lie to lie to lie.”

"It's bout time we have men and women of truth in public office"

"Aren't you tired of candidates that will tell you all kinds of things in their campaign and when they get into office they will do the exact opposite? It's about time we stop looking at their rhetoric and start looking at their record most of these candidates have a record"

“Jesus said, ‘Ye shall know them by their fruit,’” 

“Stop listening to [a candidate's] rhetoric; look at their record. It won’t do you any good to listen to a politician that tells you, ‘Oh yes, I’m pro-life,’ and they've voted for abortion seventeen times.” 

"Don't listen to what they say listen to what they do."

"Covetousness -  these politicians covet power, that's why they've been in office so long." 

“If you fear God, you obey God’s precepts.” 

“For example, you defend the sanctity of life. But beyond the moral code, that means you live a life of integrity, honesty, hard work, individual responsibility, the rule of law, and yes, free enterprise and limited government. The Bible has a lot to say about all those.”

“Equivalent of federal government, state government, county government [and] local government.” He commented that as the people were only to take the most important cases to Moses, the lower-level government was to handle the majority of matters.

“That is Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution; that’s the Ninth Amendment and the Tenth Amendment,” “The essence of federalism in two verses of Scripture.”

Everything we need in the Bible, including the Constitution - our Founding Fathers had it right. It started with Moses and the Ten Commandments and ended with One Nation Under God.

Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson UnPHILtered on ISIS "Convert them or Kill them"

By Elizabeth Nelson

Phil Robertson was on Hannity discussing our situation with ISIS, with his Bible in hand, and he and Hannity what we should do with ISIS and we know darn well that the Liberal media is going to have an issue with what he said, but should they? I'll even restructure it for the liberal left, sit down first.

   

"Hey America, the Declaration of Independence is my book marker."

"For those who find me [wisdom] find life and receive favor from the Lord, But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death." Proverbs 8:35-36

Hannity: "What is the answer?"

"In this case, you either have to convert them, which I think would be next to impossible. I'm not giving up on them, but I'm just saying either convert them or kill them," " we're going to have to deal with this group way more harshly."

Phil has a heart for the lost, pure and simple, but he has a realist's mind:

"I'd much rather have a Bible study with all of them and show them the error of their ways and point them to Jesus Christ,"

"However, if it's a gunfight and a gunfight alone, if that's what they're looking for, me personally, I am prepared for either one."

Now, you're liberal "open-minded, tolerant" panties are in a wad, because a Christian openly spoke the truth, and told you that we should offer ISIS an option to their Islam cult by showing them Jesus Christ BEFORE we take their life?  How is this totally different than your option of:

"We must go over to Syria and destroy, exterminate, eradicate and annihilate  ISIS"?

Oh wait, it is different, Phil's way is a lot like Israel's strategy with HAMAS, that strategy that you were calling "evil," because it's a preemptive warning them before we attack them and take their life, right?  This way, we're giving them a choice before we kill them, because even Phil says they won't covert, so either way they die.  How does Phil know they won't convert, because he knows that we Christians won't turn, but at least this way we would have told them the truth before they took their last breath.

Phil is also right in that the more us Christians point the way to the Truth and the Life, the more the Liberal left is going to hate us for it, but we were warned that day would come. 

"Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man." 

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." 

So, here we are again, but this time with ISIS and a feckless leader with no strategy, but this time with a "leader" that prefers to create power vacuums and sides with terrorists over patriots.  

Rand Paul, although an isolationist, makes a couple great points here:

Taking out al-Assad isn't the option we need, because much like Libya and Gaddafi, that causes a power vacuum that is filled with a Jihadists. In a nutshell, we created this ISIS problem we're in by fighting alongside al-Qaeda and arming [out of Libya] the Syrian rebels so that they could try to overthrow al-Assad and in doing so created a safe haven for ISIS in Syria.

Putting the Blog to Bed, Good Night: ZZ Top - Jesus Just Left Chicago

Yeah, the 80s, that was when music was great; I guess ZZ stating, "Jesus left Chicago," is stating the obvious too, no? LOL