[ONE and ALMIGHTY GOD!]

Jury,

I see this is your first post, so WELCOME to Christians Unite.

If you read the host of Scriptures posted here in part one and part two, you will see that the Holy Bible most definitely declares that God the Father, God the Son (JESUS), and God the Holy Spirit are ONE and ALMIGHTY GOD!

One would have to believe in a book like the Koran or something other than the Holy Bible to believe any differently. I believe in the Holy Bible, and the Holy Bible answers this question most completely and perfectly. Jesus Christ is Almighty God - The Creator. HE humbled Himself and took the form of a man to die on the CROSS for us. HE arose from the dead on the third day and is our Living Lord and Saviour forever.

I don't believe in just a man, but JESUS isn't just a man, nor has HE ever been.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Colossians 2:8-10  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

Psalms 100:3  Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

[Perfect and Completed Work of Jesus Christ on the CROSS.]

AMEN BIGD!

There are many reasons why a Christian can have 100% assurance of salvation in this age of God's Grace:

The finished work of JESUS on the CROSS that results in our redemption, sanctification, and atonement. This is obviously the work of JESUS, not our work.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we are immediately Baptized by the Holy Spirit of God, and the Seal of the Holy Spirit is placed on our hearts, setting us apart forever as a purchased possession of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

It is our belief and faith in HIM an HIS work that saves us for eternity. It's a good thing that salvation is not our work, rather the Perfect and Completed Work of Jesus Christ on the CROSS.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Philippians 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

[but the opposite is true.]

I've tried many different browsers that still use portions of Internet Explorer to work. Now I'm using Mozilla Firefox that is independent of Internet Explorer, and I'll never go back. There is no comparison on speed, and there are all kinds of other content available for Firefox (i.e. latest news, RSS feeds, etc.). I don't miss Internet Explorer based browsers at all. The extra speed is great for folks who still have slow dial-up connections, and that's what I have.

This week, I tried the email program designed to go with Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird. It's also free, much faster, and much safer than the Microsoft based products. It's a keeper and FREE!

Firefox and Thunderbird are open source software, and that means they will always be FREE! Some might think that means they would be of lesser quality, but the opposite is true. Both of these products are excellent, and many of the security holes of Microsoft products has been closed by using these. In fact, there is no comparison with speed, safety, and quality. Used together, this dynamic duo is fun, has many more features, and you can also say bye to the frequent crashing problems of Internet Explorer and Outlook.

Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are MUST TRY programs. They are both FREE with no strings attached, and they are rated higher in speed, safety, and features than the commercial products.

Love In Christ,
Tom

2 Corinthians 5:20-21  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[AND IT'S FREE!]

Pastor Roger,

Brother, I'm sorry to be answering this so late. I only use freeware to make animated gifs, so I might not have the best answers for your questions.

I make a series of stills first to make the components of the animation. Two freeware programs are great for this:  DeKnop Button Maker and Photo Filtre. Both are available from SnapFiles, CNET, and other safe places to download software.

When I finish the group of stills I want to use, I use another freeware program to put them together in an animation: Microsoft Gif Animator.

This might be the hard way of doing this, but it works for me - AND IT'S FREE!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

What is your phobia, and how does it effect you?

 I don't have any bep...does that make me weird? oh, oh! now I'm afraid of being weird because I'm not afraid!  

Bronzesnake

   On a certain day about 6 weeks ago, I would have told you I was afraid of a 600 pound nurse coming at me with a needle.

Every day, I'll tell you it's two kinds of snakes, and they're all deadly:

poisonous land snakes

poisonous water snakes

UM?? Air snakes - if there is such a thing.  

Steve Irwin snarling and holding my alligator boots.  He said

Many of you have played a word association game, but this is a phrase association game.

The real object of this game is to make it funny, but keep it clean.

It can go back and forth between one that gives a straight line and the next providing the laugh line, or each one can be a laugh line. Here's an example to get things started, and others can go from here:

_________________________________

I looked in the closet and couldn't believe what I saw,

What is your phobia, and how does it effect you?

What is the biggest problems for kids today and why? Answers from young adults would be most welcome.

   What irritates you the most and why? Finally, here's your chance to vent your frustration.  

National Ad Campaign Plans New 'God Speaks' Billboards

by Allie Martin
March 17, 2005

(AgapePress) - A massive billboard campaign featuring several "messages from God" will soon be unveiled all across America.

Six years ago an anonymous donor funded a non-denominational campaign promoting God, and it quickly spread to more than 10,000 billboards around the United States. The campaign featured 18 separate messages -- profound and pithy one-liners based on scripture and "signed" by God. Now the DeMoss Group, Inc., and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America have jointly announced the second phase of the "God Speaks" campaign.

Mark DeMoss is president of the DeMoss Group, a public relations firm for faith-based organizations and enterprises. He says the new campaign is expected to have far-reaching impact. "We're excited about it," he says. "We think the timing is right."

DeMoss says since the first campaign, significant events have refocused Americans' attention on faith, God and spiritual matters. For that reason, he says, "We think it's a good time to do this again."

The new campaign includes nine new messages such as "The real Supreme Court meets up here," "As my apprentice, you're never fired," and "It's a small world ... I know ... I made it." DeMoss says he believes the new campaign will attract as much attention as the first one did.

"There's great competition for billboard space in this country," the Christian public relations firm president says, "and the fact that billboard owners would donate space that often costs two or three or four thousand dollars a month per billboard for a campaign with these kinds of messages is very encouraging to us."

Publicity from the first group of ads created worldwide attention, and DeMoss is confident the second wave of ads will be equally effective. According to the organizers of the nationwide advertising project, the main goal of the God Speaks campaign is to get people focused on the God of the Bible.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.

http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion02431.shtml

Additional information on ChristiansUnite.com is available on the Internet at http://www.christiansunite.com/
Copyright © 2003 ChristiansUnite.com. All rights reserved.

Christian Educator Warns Parents of Video/Curriculum Redefining 'Family'

by Jody Brown
March 18, 2005

(AgapePress) - A Christian educator says parents, not schools, should be the ones telling children what constitutes a "family." That's why he is warning parents across the country to be wary of a diversity and tolerance curriculum that has been distributed to thousands of public elementary schools in the U.S.

The curriculum includes a video/DVD called "We Are Family" and accompanying teachers' guides. Produced by the We Are Family Foundation (WAFF), the video features scores of popular television characters promoting "diversity" and encouraging children to consider that a family may go beyond the traditional concept.

For example, the letter introducing educators to the video states that "children will learn about different kinds of families and will explore the importance of appreciating cultural diversity." And when children are asked to discuss who might be part of a family, teachers are urged to "ask further questions of the class if they only give ... traditional answers" such as mommy, daddy, sister, and brother.

Finn Laursen, executive director of the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI), has seen the video. His reaction? "It is evident that our children have become the targets of special-interest groups that insist on promoting the homosexual lifestyle within the school setting," he says in a press release.

According to Laursen, it was obvious to him why children's loved and respected TV characters were employed in the video: to promote the concept that families may be different than the time-honored traditional family. He says the school setting is not the place for that.

"Most American families do not send their children to schools to have the concept of traditional family polluted by special-interest groups -- and for this reason [families] need to speak out," he says. The CEAI spokesman says parents need to contact their schools and insist that their children not be forced to view the video.

"Our community should not be bullied by political correctness or fear of being considered intolerant," Laursen says. "Let's get back to the teaching of the basics and leave family and sexual morality issues to our parents."

The intent behind the We Are Family music video featuring characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Barney was brought to light in late 2004 by an investigative report by AFA Journal, a publication of the American Family Association. Ed Vitagliano, who wrote the article, says when he read in an Associated Press story that the video was intended to promote "diversity and tolerance in classrooms," he decided to examine the WAFF website to discover whether or not the issue of homosexuality was included. "It was -- and in spades," he says. (See related article)

http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion02439.shtml

Additional information on ChristiansUnite.com is available on the Internet at http://www.christiansunite.com/
Copyright © 2003 ChristiansUnite.com. All rights reserved.

[Jesus Walking on the Sea - Part 2by George H. Morrison]

Jesus Walking on the Sea - Part 2

by George H. Morrison

The Long Delays of Heaven

Among the many lessons of this miracle we shall note three. First remark the long delays of heaven. The night must have seemed endless to the twelve. Hour after hour dragged on, and hour after hour brought no word of Jesus. And it was not till the Roman guard in Caesarea had changed for the fourth watch, that the beloved voice was heard over the waves. Had they lost heart and hope? Did they suspect that Jesus had forgotten them? We are always ready to think ill of God, because of God's great method of delay. But of this be sure that when our need is greatest, God is closest. He may delay, He will not disappoint. We must be schooled out of our impatience somehow. We must be trained in waiting and in trusting. It was not only for a night of prayer that Jesus lingered. It was to teach His own that patience of hope which was to win such triumphs for the Church.

Christ Comes by Unexpected Roads

I see, too, that Christ comes by unexpected roads. That night the twelve were longing for their Master, but they never dreamed that He would come that way. If any sail went beating up the lake, their hopes rose, for Jesus might be there. But even Peter, most sanguine of them all, had never guessed that the waves would be His street. Yet by that unexpected avenue the King approached, and on unlikeliest highways He is coming still. By what strange roads Christ enters human hearts! By what strange ways He comes into our homes! A word, a visit of a stranger perhaps, a sickness or a death—and He is here. And it is all so different from what we looked for, that we do not recognise it is the Lord. There are ten thousand thoroughfares for Jesus. His ways of ingress into human souls are endless. Let me not bind Him. Let me not limit Him either to my preconceptions or my prayers. He puts to shame my wellworn offers of salvation, and comes to men by unexpected roads.

We Sink When We See Nothing But the Storm

And lastly, this meets me in the story: we sink when we see nothing but the storm. When Peter looked to Jesus he was safe. But perhaps a wave came and towered like a wall before him, and for the moment he could not see his Lord. He saw the waves, he felt the spray, he heard the wind. But he looked and he saw no face, no arm, no hand, and in that moment Peter began to sink. Do we still detect that presence in the tempest? Do we discern the presence and the love of God in the confusion of our common day? When we see nothing but the storm, we sink. When we see Christ enthroned in it, we triumph.

_______________________

By George H. Morrison
_______________________

These beautiful messages by George H. Morrison are distributed freely and Internationally in the excellent freeware Bible Study package called e-Sword. These messages are representative of many sweet Christians who want to put excellent Bible Study material in the hands of many, free of charge.

You can obtain e-Sword at:
http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Author: Rick Meyer
(The goal of Rick Meyer is to freely distribute Bibles to every country on earth in their own language, and that goal gets closer by the day. Thanks to countless Christian individuals and organizations with big hearts, many excellent Bible Study tools are also being distributed with e-Sword around the world, free of charge.)

[Jesus Walking on the Sea - Part 1by George H. Morrison]

March 21

Jesus Walking on the Sea - Part 1

by George H. Morrison

And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea— Mat_14:25

Jesus Felt the Necessity of Being Alone with God

It had been a day of trial and stress for Jesus, and when the sun set, the danger was not over. There were terrible risks in that enthusiastic crowd that surged and swayed upon the mountain side. The miracle of His feeding the five thousand had made a powerful impression. It had struck deep into these fickle hearts. And if the cry once rang along the hillside "Jesus is King!" who knew where the echoes of that cry might end? Christ recognised the peril of the hour. He felt the supreme necessity of prayer. It was a moment in the Master's life when His greatest desire was to be alone with God. Full of that quiet authority that moved the crowd as wonderfully as it calmed the sea, Jesus constrained the disciples to depart, and sent the throng away. How they would talk as they travelled homeward! How gladly, as the first gusts of storm swept down on them, would they descry the gleaming of their cottage windows! I see the children plucking their mothers' robes, and crying, "Mother, where is the Teacher now? We left Him on the hill—has He no home?" Perhaps some of them would learn in after days that it was home and heaven and life for Jesus to be alone with God.

A Storm Breaks Out to Teach the Disciples Dependence

Meantime the storm had broken. The clouds swept out the stars, the wind came whistling through the glens and corries, the sea ran high. And out in the midst of it toiled the disciples, Masterless, shelterless, helpless. It was a wild night after a weary day. It was a strange fulfilment of their promised rest (Mar_6:31). And yet I question if any holiday among the hills could have taught them as much as did that unmanageable boat. That very evening they had been ordering their Master (Mat_14:15). They had been giving Him advice about five thousand men. They had been eager to manage that great crowd for Jesus—and now they cannot manage their little craft! It was a very blessed and very humbling storm. It brought the disciples to their place again. It printed upon their hearts, as in a picture, that the secret of Christian power is dependence.

They Wanted Jesus and Yet They Did Not Recognise Him

And so the night wore on, and every wave that dashed into the boat deepened their need of Jesus. The crowds were home now, the children were asleep, and every light by the lake side was out. Then with the dawn came Christ. They spied a form, moving along the ridges of the sea, now lost for a moment in the trough of the waves, now dimmed by the showers of spray. And though they had longed for Jesus, and prayed for Jesus, and this was Jesus, they did not know Him, and cried out for fear. Sometimes we get the very thing we ask, and we do not recognise it when it comes. Sometimes we win the very help we need, and we are just as troubled as before. They cried, It is a spirit! The demon of the tempest was abroad, and Jesus—where was He? Who can describe their joy when the familiar voice rang over the white crests, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid!"

One Stood Out

Now there are times when a man's character is revealed, and one of these times is often that of storm. When we find Jesus sleeping in the tempest, it teaches us His perfect trust in God. When we rehearse Paul's conduct in the shipwreck, it opens a window into that noble heart. So here, from all the disciples, one stands out; and amid the spray, and in the driving wind of that wild morning, there falls a shaft of light on Simon Peter. It is Peter who cries across the storm, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee." It is Peter who flings himself upon the waves to get to Christ. And it is Peter who begins to sink, and would have gone to the depths but for the hand of Jesus. There is the strength and there is the weakness of that hero. There is the story of his life condensed. When the wind ceased, and the ship's company knelt down to worship Jesus, none felt so deeply as Peter that this was the Son of God.

See Part 2

March 21

A NEW BEATITUDE

"And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me."-- Mat_11:6.

OUR LORD put within the reach of His noble Forerunner the blessedness of those who have not seen and yet have believed; of those who trust Him though they are slain; of those who wait the Lord's pleasure; and of those who cannot understand His dealings, but rest in what they know of His heart. This is the beatitude of the unoffended, of those who do not stumble over the mystery of God's dealings with their life.

This Blessedness is within our reach also. There are times when we are overpowered with the mystery of life and nature. The world is so full of pain and sorrow, strong hearts seem breaking under an intolerable load. God's children are sometimes the most bitterly tried. For them the fires are heated seven times; they suffer, not only at the hand of man, but the heavens seem as brass to their cries and tears. The enemy of souls has reason to challenge them with the taunt, "Where is now your God?"

You and I have perhaps been in this plight. We have said, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?" We are tempted to stumble; we are prone to fall over the mysteries of God's dealings with us. But it is then that we have the chance of inheriting this new beatitude. If we refuse to bend under the mighty hand of God--questioning, chafing, murmuring at His appointments--we miss the door which would admit us into rich and unalloyed happiness; we fumble about the latch, but it is not lifted. But if we will quiet our souls like a weaned child, anointing our heads and washing our faces, then light will break in on us from the eternal morning. The peace of God will keep our hearts and minds, and we shall enter upon this blessedness of which our Lord speaks.

PRAYER

Forgive our sins, our faithless tears, and our repining murmurs. Lift us on the tide of Thy love into fuller, richer, deeper experiences. May we know what it is to have Christ in us, the Hope of Glory. AMEN.

_______________________

Written by F. B. Meyer

The F. B. Meyer devotions are distributed freely and Internationally in the excellent freeware Bible Study package called e-Sword. You can also subscribe to Day-By-Day By Grace at the above link for Living In Christ Ministries.

You can obtain e-Sword at:
http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Author: Rick Meyer
(The goal of Rick Meyer is to freely distribute Bibles to every country on earth in their own language, and that goal gets closer by the day. Thanks to countless Christian individuals and organizations with big hearts, many excellent Bible Study tools are also being freely distributed with e-Sword around the world.)