we will live peacefully

There are verses in the Bible that talk about Christians having peace. John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." and 2 John 1:3, "Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love." A lot of people say this means we wont have hardships and that we'll have good lives. That is not true. Matthew 5:10-12, "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." We will be persecuted, but in that time we should rejoice, and God will give us peace, and the endurance to withstand any trials. 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." Praise God, for helping us in this way. James 1 is also a great reminder that He is there for us. " James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who ^"love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He ^"brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. This you know, my beloved brethren But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

This is all I have to say for now. I'll try and write more tomorrow.

living differently

In my last post I said that we need to preach the gospel and not just live differently. Now I wasn't saying that we shouldn't live differently. We should, We need to be different than the world, but at the same time we need to make sure that's not our only goal. James 2:14-18 says, "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." Without having works, and living differently our faith is nothing, and that means our preaching is nothing. How can someone who has no works be saved? The answer is, he cant. I can say I'm saved and go around acting like the world, but then you can just look at my actions and whatever my works are and say I'm not saved. In Matthew 5:13-16 it says, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." If we hide our works then we are also hiding our faith. And if our faith is hidden then what good is it? If we hide our faith we are also denying that we know, love, and have a relationship with God. That is like saying we hate Him, so do not hide your works, and do not act like the world, but also preach His name.

People say that we cannot judge a book by its cover, but I say we can. In James, does he not say that those without works have no faith? and in Matthew 7:15-20 it says, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. "So then, you will know them by their fruits." Their fruits will show what they are. If their fruits are bad, then they too are bad. In the same way, if their cover is bad, then they too are bad.

Offending others

there's this blog I was looking at, and the description of the blog says this, "Too many Christians these days go on the attack, using a battle axe to kill weeds instead of spraying the roots. The purpose of this blog is to defend the garden, rather than attack the weeds." I asked the creator of that blog what that means exactly. He said, "Basically, many Christians waste time attacking beliefs both inside and outside the church, when we should be defending Christianity." I replied and told him, "sometimes to defend you need to attack also. We need to show people that all those other religions are false. We need to show them all the mistakes in other religions. And we cant do that without attacking." It's true, if you defend your own faith, then you're attacking, and offending those who don't believe what you do. The writer of the blog then asked me, "Do we need to show them that their religions are false, or do we need them to see that we're not like the others?"

First, if we just act different from everyone else, then we'll be considered Mormons. It's true, I tested it. I'm different from the people at my school, so now they just think I'm a Mormon. We cant go around acting different and not preaching to these people. God command us to preach to the ends of the earth, (Mark 16:14, "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.") When preaching the good news we are also attacking and offending other peoples beliefs, unless you just preach what people want to hear, like a lot of these so-called "great preachers". You don't preach what people want to hear, you preach what they need to hear. And while doing this you also offend them.

Next, How do we waste time? By attacking the beliefs we're also defending them. Look at Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Aurelius Augustine. Without those men, who attacked and defended their beliefs, we would still be selling faith, and still be selling a way to get in heaven. The bishop would be higher than the Bible. Without people attacking, we cant stop all these wrong beliefs. In order to only defend and never attack, you would have to stay silent your whole life. And even then you wouldn't be defending your beliefs, in fact if you were to always stay silent, you would be attacking God. You would be disobeying His word, and his commands. God commands us, he doesn't ask us, He commands us to go and preach the good news to all creation. I will not back down and stay silent, while people are cursing God. No one should stay silent.

Science Teacher

My Science teacher yells a lot and has a really bad attitude. I found out she has three kids, and no husband. This has changed how I view her. I use to see her as a really mean woman, but now I see her a woman who's struggling and needs some people that are willing to help her out and be nice to her. I also say she needs the Lord. It's really hard to like someone like her, but today I tried something new.

In Matthew 5:43-44 Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" I tried that today. It was hard to pray for someone who is always yelling, and making you angry, but it also helped me. It made me feel much calmer, and I kept reminding myself of what her life is probably like. The whole class period I prayed for her.

To end I want to ask you to pray for her and me.

One of the greatest heresies

If you haven't seen the Paul Washer videos, then you need to watch them. If you watched part of them and then got offended by what he was saying, then you need to see the rest, do some research and find out if what he is saying is true. I'll bet that you'll find that what he's saying is the truth, even if you don't want to. You'll also notice that he likes to point out one of the greatest heresies in his sermons.

One of the greatest heresies that Christians teach is that if you pray a prayer to God then you will be saved, forever. This is wrong. Anyone can pray, but there are few that actually mean it. In James 2:14-20 it says, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?" If you pray and you don't have faith or works, then you cant be saved. By praying that prayer it is like having faith without works, and works without faith.

I was listening to a sermon by Paul Washer. He said that a lot of preachers these days give 30 minute sermons, and 25 of those 30 minutes sermons are funny stories, finally after they finish their last five of minutes of their sermon, they ask people to pray and become Christians. Those people who pray probably weren't getting saved. They just thought that if they prayed they might look good, or maybe they thought they were getting saved and that was their first sermon, they ever heard. I must say though, if they did get saved then God was really working in their hearts, because there is no way someone can get saved after hearing 25 minutes of jokes, and a small 5 minutes sermon. When I heard Paul Washer preach on that it actually reminded me of one of my the old churches I went to.

Do calvinists follow Calvin and not Christ?

I once had a friend tell me that he wasn't a Calvinist because Calvinists follow Calvin, and he (my friend) follows Christ. Well if you aren't a Calvinist then you're an Arminian. Doesn't that mean you follow Arminius? Just because we believe the ideas of John Calvin doesn't mean we're his followers. We believe that what he said is true, but we follow Christ. If the case is that Calvinists follow Calvin, and that means that they don't follow Christ, then no one follows Christ. You believe a lot of the things that your pastor preaches is true, that means you follow your pastor, and not Christ. You believe a lot of what your parents tell you is true, that means you follow your parents and not Christ. Do you see how pointless it is to say that Calvinists follow Calvin? Of course we follow his teachings, but he teaches about Christ, which also means we follow Christ.

Revival

Have you ever seen someone who's said, "I've been praying that God would bring a revival to my Christian school for years. He hasn't brought a revival yet, but I'm still trusting in Him." And then you ask the man, "Well what have you done?"
"I've prayed to God."
"Well haven't you tried preaching to the students?"
"No. All I'm doing is praying and trusting that God will bring a revival." Good job for praying and and trusting in Him, but you have to do more than that. You need to preach to these people. How can there be a revival if you don't preach to them? Well now you could be saying, "but it's God's job to bring the revival." How is He going to bring revival without you first preaching to the people. God uses YOU to preach to the people. You plant the seed, you water it a little, AND THEN God will make it grow.

You can't expect a man who knows nothing of God to accept Him and go to heaven. That person first has to hear about the Word of God. And how will he hear about it? You will tell him about it. In Mark 16:15 it says, And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." It doesn't say "Pray that all creation will be saved." It says "Go into ALL the world and PREACH the GOSPEL to ALL CREATION." Once again I will say this, God uses you to start the revival. Then He works in their hearts.

America

America has gone from a good place, to a bad place. A lot of Christians have also changed. Sometimes I wonder just how many people that say they're Christians, really are. Here in America we have so much freedom to worship God, and at the same time too little. For now I'm going to talk about why so much freedom can sometimes be bad, later I'll talk about how so little freedom can be bad.

Because we are allowed to worship God, and we are not being killed for it, we don't worship Him enough. We don't read our Bibles enough and we don't preach enough. Some Christians have also decided to go against God and make up their own beliefs about Him, they also make their own Bibles. People are trying to add to the Bible. Why do we need to add to the Bible? It's already perfect, it is God's word. We think that we can help God make new rules, we think we can do more than God. That's crazy talk, God is perfect. You just cant add to God's plan. What we need now is men like Luther and Calvin. We need men to show these "Christians" that they are wrong.

EDIT: There is this one guy I like. His name is Paul Washer. He goes hard on people, check out this video. If you get offended by watching the first part, then you should probably watch the rest, do some research and see if what he says is really true. I'll bet that you're going to find that he's speaking the truth, even if you don't want to.

best day of school

Today was the best day of school. during science we went to a different class, a funner class. The girl that tried to flirt with me wasn't there today. She's been trying to get me to "fall" for her ever since she's seen me. I dont think she's used to guys not responding to her. Anyways, I also made some friends. Kind of. We played tag after lunch. Tag is a fun game, it's not only for little kids. We finished math early, and all of my classes have been really easy. That's all for now. Adios.

Rodney Mullen

I think Rodney Mullen is an amazing skater, but there are things I don't like about him. First I'm going to say why I like him.

Rodney Mullen, like Bob Burnquist, made a lot of changes to skateboarding. He invented the flat ground ollie, which is the one almost everyone uses. He also invented the curves to the sides of skateboard, I cant remember what that does, but it does help in skateboarding. He is also called the king of skate. He's a freestyle, and street skater.

I don't like him because I read his biography. He swears, and he claims to be a Christian. Then he calls the Bible a book for geeks, or a nerd book. What kind of Christian would do that?

games

notice I added some games, just because I like those ones. Oh! some new posts will be coming up soon.

1. The body of Christ (should Christians support churches that aren't their own?)

2. Do Calvinists follow Calvin and not Christ?

3. Rodney Mullen

more school

I got switched from health class to Spanish. And, I think I'll put a list of my classes. They'll be in order from my favorite class to my least favorite.

1. P.E.

2. History

3. Spanish

4. English

5. Math

6. Science

I love school, oh and I still haven't lost my faith. ;) So far this semester seems to be going by extremely fast. I just love public school. I haven't had a lot of homework. Ummmmm...................I cant really think of anything to say, so...........goodbye for now.

website

so I just decided to create a website for the fun of it. You can check it out and tell me what you think if you'd like. Just go to the skater's place.