IS YOUR HERESY DETECTOR CALIBRATED?

 I'm asking because you will need it...

While not everything that seems wrong is always wrong, and it is possible to be overly cautious to the point where we become suspicious of everything, it is still incredibly important in this day and age to seek discernment and to have proper knowledge of the truth so that when we are presented with subtle lies and dangerous heresies, we immediately know to close the door.   

We hone this "detector" by exposing ourselves daily to the pure Word of God.  Constantly immersing ourselves in sources of Biblical wisdom that are under the control of the Holy Spirit, starting with reading the actual Word,  listening to it, listening to sound teaching, listening to and singing music that is rich in correct doctrine,  meditating on the Word of God and praying. 

That all sounds good, but what if the Bible translations that we are being offered,  are themselves a source of heresy?  This is where discerning pastors, apologists, Bible scholars, especially those familiar with greek originals and also mature experienced christians are helpful.   The world is quickly becoming a minefield to new christians when it comes to what is being offered as "new and improved, amazingly relevant" Bible versions.  
Some of these versions may be literal translations, some paraphrases, some are not necessarily "bad", but maybe not the most accurate, but there are some that are downright dangerous. This post is about avoiding this last kind. 

Here's a little test to check your detector calibration.  A fairly well known verse from one of these new translations that seems to be gaining a lot popularity lately.  Can you tell which verse it is? 

The entire cosmos is the object of God’s affection! And he is not about to abandon his creation - the gift of his son is for humanity to realize their origin in him who mirrors their authentic birth - begotten not of flesh but of the Father! In this persuasion the life of the ages echoes within the individual and announces that the days of regret and sense of lost-ness are over! 

Hmm... me neither.  At least I don't think this would bring an exact reference to mind if I didn't know where it is from.  Personally, I'm not easily fascinated by this particularly wordy style that tries to come off as special, mystical or more relevant for today, but I could see a new christian finding it fascinating and thinking: "Oh wow,  this sounds enlightened.  Maybe they know something I do not ".   This actually happens to be John 3:16 from the Mirror Bible, which has some glowing reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.  
So what are some calibration points to check our detector sensitivity?   
The GOSPEL test: 
Does it accurately present and agree with ALL the main points of the gospel that Jesus preached?   
a)  God Loves Us - oh yes this is an easy one.  Even the worst heresies get this one right, because everyone wants to be loved.  Besides, these days it is not politically correct to be unloving in any way, (well except toward backward christian fundies... they deserve it because they're intolerant <sarcasm>)

b)  We are sinners - oh boy,  now this one is hard to swallow for many in fact it is problematic and not politically correct.  Any mention of sin or sinfulness in the passage above? oh no... that would not jive with the message that is being conveyed    
c) God gave His Son Jesus to die for our sins  - yes for our sins, not "to help us better ourselves" or "to help us realize that we've always really been just like God"
d) In order that IF we believe  - this is conditional.  Not everybody, but only those that trust upon this finished work of Christ
e) Then We will have eternal life  - It's something that we are given as a gift,  we're not born with a guarantee of eternal bliss.  In fact eternal torment is the default for humans because of our sin nature.    Anything that minimizes that chasm between how sinful we are and how great of a redemption we have been offered,  should really trigger some red flags.   No we are not just good people that happen to be having days of regret or be struggling with a sense of lostness.  We are wretched sinners fully deserving eternal punishment who have been snatched out of eternal fire by God's infinite grace.

Keep your heresy detector calibrated and don't be easily fooled.

  

Beware of the Tactics of Moab

 

Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord. Numbers 31:16 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. Revelation 2:14

Woman Comes Out With Details of her Relationship with Hillsong Church Pastor

Ever wonder what’s the deal with all those friend requests from scantily clad young women on social media?   I’m becoming more convinced that the left has been studying their Bibles very carefully and are excited because they have discovered the story of Balaam and Balak which contains yet another time tested method of causing huge amounts of damage to the people of God.  So they've deployed  an army of homewreckers and tramps out there that are bent on bringing down influential christian men and women.  People who can’t control themselves, maybe because they are undisciplined, hormonal or have unmet physical or emotional needs are easy prey for these agents of corruption.  Let’s not be naive!

Read Proverbs 7.  Again.

And wives,  your husbands needs are in many cases not just physical.  If you’re not both working on making building blocks to add to your marriage,  don’t be surprised if things take crazy turns.  Also, a little note: building blocks work a lot better when they're placed on solid foundations rather than sand. 

 

Can we please stay honest?

This post is not about who will ultimately serve as president for the next 4 years, but about correcting a false notion that somehow conservatives and christians are part of an overwhelming majority that is being defrauded in this country.  The notion that this country is really pretty much all red except for a few tiny patches of blue.  Now I know that this is a meme that is supposed to be funny,  and I get that.  but I also know that there are many who actually think it's true.

While I'm certain there is massive fraud happening, and I hope it gets exposed,  let's be HONEST with ourselves:

1)  The population density of those "little" patches of blue is astronomical compared to some of those vast red areas.  You can't compare LA or NYC with Northern Nevada wastelands.

2)  bu...but what about those huge crowds at Trump rallies?

Seriously?  Do you really believe in this age of technology that physical presence at rallies really matters that much?  

I've been doing 100% of my work remotely.  My employer hasn't yet stopped to pay me because I wasn't there in person.  
Quite possibly this was part of the left's strategy, to instill a false sense of confidence by appearing small and vulnerable.  It worked.   

3) Remember Matthew 7:13?  

"Enter through the NARROW gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are MANY who enter through it."

Yes this verse is about true christians vs fake ones who are actually part of the world, but that principle applies to the republican/democrat dichotomy as well.  I firmly believe that there is no question about which side true christians should be supporting.  That's a different discussion that I won't go into here.

Believing the lie that in the fight between good and evil, good is automatically a supermajority is negating the word of God.   
In 1 Kings 19 when Elijah goes into depression and hides in the desert, God tells him:  

"Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him."

 What God meant was not "See, the overwhelming majority is with you".  He meant "See,  there is a significantly sized remnant, you are NOT alone!" 

4)  Believing a lie about the enemy is UNWISE.  It creates a huge disadvantage in battle.  It's like getting bad intel... you end up with unwanted casualties.  Do we really need that?

 "Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster" Sun Tzu

5)  God does not care about the numbers, so we shouldn't play the numbers game.  It's a ridiculous and stupid game.  I hear christians saying things like "Well, I believe that the majority of american citizens are for this or that political cause".   Who cares?   First of all, we are NOT a pure democracy,  Second, what if the majority of american citizens choose to vote in an unbiblical way, are you going to switch sides because the majority says so?   What if Gideon (see Judges 6-8) said: "Lord, we got rid of the majority advantage so we shouldn't go fight"?   Right is right even if the majority calls it wrong. 
We need to acknowledge the fact that the statistic of how many "christians" are in this country refers to "how many call themselves by that name".  I haven't heard statisticians yet ask each person they are polling:  "what evidence of fruit does your Christian walk have"?  again, back to the #2... the gate is narrow.

Bottom line: 

If we do have a majority, it is NOT an overwhelming one, and it is NOT a permanent one.  

Believing a lie is SELF DEFEATING and does not help our cause. 

"So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:31,32

Let's stay honest.

Updated translation for M-ai Regasit

Music here.  This is a very old copy off a copy of a copy from a cassete tape from that time before CDs and digital media, so quality is not so good, but it remains my favorite rendition. 

M-ai regasit - grupul Cadmiel - Oradea


M-ai regăsit când eu pierdut în mine
Mă răstigneam pe altarele de lut
Când prăbuşit zăceam  în neputinţă
Când faptele ţărână m-au făcut
You found me once again when lost within myself
I crucified myself on altars of clay
When fallen, laying there powerless
When my own deeds broke me into pieces

Chorus1
/:Tu m-ai cules din pulbere cu harul. 
C-a să mă-mbraci cu dragostea dintâi
Şi mi-ai şoptit tu-mi eşti mărgăritarul
În Dragostea-mi de-ea pururi să rămai. :/ 
You picked me up from the dust with your grace
To clothe me again with that first love
And You whispered: "You are my pearl"
Abide in  My love from now forevermore

Azi eu alerg tot mai grăbit pe cale
S-ajung acolo sus la dreapta ta
Să trec prin poarta biruinţei tale
Prin poarta ce se cheamă Golgota
Today I run more huried on The Path
So I can arrive up there on Your right side
To pass through the gates of Your triumph
The gate which is called Golgotha

Chorus2
Şi dac-adesea cad sub greul crucii
Şi mă pândesc ispite în ascuns
Şi atuncea mulţumiri ţi-aduc Isuse
Căci harul tău îmi este îndeajuns.
And if often I fall under the weight of the cross
And temptations stalk me secretly
Even then, I bring you thanks Oh Jesus
For your grace is enough for me.

De ce nu vă doresc un An Nou Fericit de data asta

În limba română avem o expresie:  "Curaj găină că te tai"... pentru asta nu trebuie traducere că orice român știe ce înseamnă.   Oricine care are un dram de simț al realității, își dă seama că situația viitorului apropiat nu apare prea strălucită pentru creștini și conservatori în general. Tendința lumii spre o părtinire anti-creștină e  reală și flagrantă.  Persecuția creștinilor există deja în multe locuri,  nu numai în Iraq, Siria, Coreea de Nord, dar și în țările așa zis "moderne" și "evoluate", țările Scandinave precum Suedia și Norvegia.  Chiar dacă în state nu putem să-i spunem încă "persecuție",  au fost exemple de asuprire împotriva creștinilor,  și persecuția în sensul plin al cuvântului, nu e departe când se ajunge deja la etapa asta.
Șansele ca lucrurile să se întoarcă spre bine în mod magic, sunt slabe,  temporare și îngreunate de lipsa de unitate în biserici și în mișcarea conservatoare în mare parte,  lipsa de înțelepciune a populației, și mentalitatea de turmă.
Inamicul se folosește din plin de toți acești factori spre avantajul lui.  E un inamic calculat,  metodic, care își menține trupele într-un marș constant, acaparând teritoriu nou cu fiecare pas.  Chiar în timp ce ai noștrii se opresc să celebreze și să-și facă timp de o sărbătoare mică pentru fiecare avans minuscul,  inamicul continuă să înconjoare, și să adauge câte un panou la țarc, aducând mai aproape ziua când în final pot să trântească poarta și să-i pună lacăt cu masele naive înlăuntru ca apoi să-și ducă la îndeplinire planurile draconice.

Pus față în față cu un astfel de prospect,  a vă dori un "An Nou Fericit" sună cam gol.  Totuși sunt urări care vreau să le fac pentru fiecare din voi.

Mă rog ca Dumnezeu să vă dea

Har să stați tari,  

Perseveranță să răbdați până la sfârșit 

și

Victorie peste cel rău în final. 

Mă rog pentru binecuvântări peste

finanțele voastre,

sănătatea voastră, 

relațiile voastre cu prieteni și cei iubiți.

Mă rog ca Dumnezeu să vă protejeze

Familiile, 

(să vă țină împreună și să vă protejeze de orice rău)

Mai ales copii voștrii,

cei născuți, 

și cei ne-născuți, 

Cei mai în vârstă 

și cei care nu se bucură de sănătate. 

Cer să fiți binecuvântați cu

Bucurie adevărată, 

în ciuda încercărilor care ne așteaștă.  

Mă rog pentru

darul înțelepciunii, 

ca să faceți decizii corecte 

când veți avea de făcut alegeri grele.

În final, precum spune cântarea veche și iubită de mulți:

"Şi câte n-aş mai vrea, o, scump Isuse,

În pribegia mea pe-acest pământ;

Dorinţele ce îmi rămân nespuse

Le împlineşte Sfântul Tău Cuvânt!"

Să vă împlinească Domnul 

dorințele ascunse ale inimii 

care sunt după voia Lui.

Eventual pot să spun că vă doresc 

La Mulți Ani !!! 

fiincă cel puțin în românește sună mai bine.

         

Why I Won't Wish You a Happy New Year

In the romanian language, we have an expression:  "Curaj găină că te tai".   It translates roughly to "Take courage dear hen, I'm about to butcher you".  It is a sarcastic sort of thing someone with a dark sense of humor might say in a seemingly hopeless situation.  Well anyone that has any common sense, should realize by now that things in this world aren't looking peachy for Christians and conservatives in general.  Blatant anti-christian bias is here, persecution of christians is already happening in some places, not only in Iraq, Syria and North Korea, but in so called "modern" and "evolved" countries like Norway and Sweden.  While in the US we can't call it persecution yet,  there have been instances of oppression, and full blown persecution isn't far once things get to this point.   The chances that things will magically turn around for the better are rather slim, temporary, and made worse by lack of unity within the church and conservative movement as a whole, lack of wisdom in the population and lemming mentality.  All of these factors are being taken full advantage of by a calculated, methodical enemy that keeps his troops marching on, gradually grabbing new ground.  Even while our side stops to celebrate and throw a little party for each little win,  the enemy continues to encircle and add new fence panels to the corral, bringing closer the day when they can finally slam the gate shut on the naive masses and proceed with their draconian plans.
In the face of that sort of prospect, wishing you Happy New Year sounds rather hollow, but there are things I do want to wish each one of you.

I pray that the Lord will give you: 

Grace to stand strong,  

Perseverance to endure to the end
and 

Victory over evil
in the end.  

I pray for blessings 

on your finances,

your health,

your relationships

I pray for

protection over your families 

(that they may be kept together and protected from harm), 

especially

your children 

those born, as well as the unborn, 

and the elderly 

and 

those struggling with illness.

I pray that you might be blessed with 

True joy 

in spite of the adversity 

that awaits. 

I also pray for

the gift of wisdom, 

that you might make 

the right decisions 

when faced with tough choices.  

As one of my favorite songs says:  

"Şi câte n-aş mai vrea, o, scump Isuse,

În pribegia mea pe-acest pământ;

Dorinţele ce îmi rămân nespuse

Le împlineşte Sfântul Tău Cuvânt!"

"And all the things I wish for, precious Jesus

During my wonderings on this earth

All the deep desires of my heart which remain unspoken

Are fulfilled by your Holy Word!" 

May the Lord fulfill those deep desires of your heart 
which are according to His will. 

Eventually I will say this:  

"La Mulți Ani"... 

"Here's to many more years"

God bless all of you

             

Picking up where I left off 8 years ago.... what a year this has been!

So while 2014 has been a tough year of losing my hearing (almost completely for all practical purposes) ,  and finding out that my liver has sustained some serious damage from HCV,  putting it in borderline cirrhosis state, 2015 proved to be awesome in several ways:
I received cochlear implants in both ears which are both successful (to different extents), essentially giving me the GIFT OF HEARING again.  This is a HUGE deal for a musician, and for the conversationalist part of me that has missed being part of discussions and communication in general.
While my hearing isn't perfect,  the improvement is vastly superior to what hearing aids did for me before I went deaf, and obviously phenomenal compared to complete deafness.

In May and June,  I went through an 8 week treatment for Hepatitis C with a new (and super expensive) drug that has done miracles.  Within 10 days, my viral count went from 2700000 to less than 15,  by the end of the 8 weeks, it was undetectable (doesn't mean it's not there, but equipment just can't detect it).   12 weeks after treatment,  the virus was still undetectable.  Please pray that further tests will continue to stay negative as there are still chances of remission however tiny.

So these are two of the biggest personal blessings I'm counting for last year, although they're not the only ones.  I'm also thankful for experiencing blessings in our 15th year of marriage.  I'm thankful for the sweet moments and the new insights we have gained during this tough year.  

All of that medical intervention, didn't come cheap (The cochlear implants alone cost as much as our house),  and while insurance, picked up most of the tab, we still had to pay a sizeable chunk, plus costs for the kids and Georgie's medical and dental treatments.  My wish for next year is that we might get back on track to getting out of debt financially,  and that we might be able to make progress in preparing our house for sale so that we could find something more suitable for our family.  I have a feeling these two things are mutually exclusive.  Not sure how to proceed, but we pray for wisdom.

The story of the explosive cat.

This is an old post, from a couple of years ago which I forgot to actually publish, so it is back dated. Might as well post it
We have a cat named Disney who liked to fool around and didn't listen to all the teaching about "abstinence". She got bigger and bigger... We started trying to think of scientific names for this new phenomenon: Catus Bombatus, stuff like that. One day I saw something in the backyard that looked like unexpoded ordnance... I almost called in the bomb squad. She kept getting bigger and it seemed like it was taking forever. Finally on Sunday Morning I went outside to check on her, and she wasn't in the "nesting place" I made for her. After some looking around, we found that she had her kittens in the litter box! To me, this counts as proof that animals are generally pretty STUPID (although some things I've read recently indicate that humans are really catching up fast in the stupidity dept.). So the kittens were all tangled up in a ball with their cords and the placenta since she couldn't chew them apart because they were covered in hardened kitty litter and cat poop. I had to do the honors and cut the cords on all of them (I swear I'm not the father!) and dispose of the mess. The girls enjoyed taking the kittens and bathing them and drying them. Then we gave the mama cat a bath since she too was covered in bloody hardened cat litter and crap. That resulted in some scratches on my arm, but overall inspite of the fact that she was terrified, she tried hard not to scratch me.... she's a good cat. After she finally dried up, we let her go to her kittens inside and .... they all lived happily ever after.

Music for the heart - grupul Cadmiel

I've been spending quite a bit of time trying to find out about this music band from Romania (Orade I think) that apparently did some recordings in the early 90s. The name is "grupul Cadmiel'. I've been trying hard to get to the source and find out about this group and were to buy their music but my search so far has been fruitless. My wife had a couple of copied tapes with their music and I decided to convert them to MP3 files so I can listen to them on my mp3 player, hence the need for better copies.
Anyway, I find some of their songs incredibly touching and uplifting. Call me a moron or whatever, yesterday I could barely hold back the tears as I was listening to them at work.
I wonder if I'm the only one that gets so deeply touched by this kind of music. On Sunday the church showed a movie in the evening service (Facing Your Giants). At first I thought geez, there goes the shallow american church showing movies about football instead of their Sunday evening service... Did I mention, I HATE FOOTBALL!!. Anyway, in the end I was in tears, and God really used that movie to challenge me to face some of the giants in my own life and to decide to not give up so easily. When I asked my wife what she thought... she said it's inspirational, but it's only a movie... it's not real life. Well I don't know, but I think if a movie or a song stirs up a persons emotions enough to make them think long and hard about their life and if this soulsearching results in a real, permanent change in that person's life, then that movie is no longer just a movie... it has become real in someone's life. This stage I'm going through with anger, confusion, depression, excitement and just searching for answers in my life, I hope it changes me for the good.
Anyway, last night I tried in vain to make those mp3s but it seems that my piece of crap computer probably has a fried soundcard or something. I don't have a preamp for the tape player, so the the output isn't even line level. I got so frustrated, but this morning I was able to record a couple of the songs and then I amplified them digitally, which is not the best thing, so the quality may be lacking but at least I have something.
So here are the results of my labor:
Introducing Grupul Cadmiel
The first song: http://www.cnw.com/~ulicip/Cadmiel/m-ai%20regasit.mp3
If this ain't grace, then what is?
M-ai regasit cand eu pierdut an mine / You found me again, when I was lost within myself
Ma rastigneam pe-altarele de lut / I was sacrificing myself on altars of clay
Cand prabusit zaceam in neputinta / when collapsed I lay there without strength
Cand faptele pagane m-au batut (I'm not sure I understand the lyrics here) / when the heathen deeds beat me ??? some thing like that.

Tu m-ai cules din pulbere cu harul / You picked me up from the dust with your grace
Ca sa ma-mbraci cu dragostea dintai / To clothe me with your first love
Si mi-ai soptit tu-mi esti margaritarul / And you whispered to me: "You are my precious jewel"
In dragostea-mi de-a pururi sa ramai / Remain in my love forever.

The second song: http://www.cnw.com/~ulicip/Cadmiel/miedor.mp3
Ok, this is not what most people would call "high quality music"... and it's probably not "cool" by most people's standards but listen to them... listen to the words. Tell me... am I the only one who feels this is powerful? maybe my medicine is just making me more emotional... wait a minute, I forgot to take my meds for a month now.

Watch out, I'm on steroids now!

I just finished one round of treatment with steroids for my hearing and it seems to help some. Maybe I'll continue improving for a while, but I'm kinda scared about the side effects. There are lots of them and I can definitelly feel changes in my body. I've taken different kinds of medication before, but I've never taken something that affected me this much... it's almost like I'm a different person. My body feels different... even my muscles feel like they're growing without me exercising them or maybe it's water retention? or just fat? But my joints actually feel different. It is supposed to cause bone loss, and even my teeth feel like they've actually worn down since starting this. And I don't know if this is totally to blame on the medication, though I think it is, I seem to have a pretty short fuse these days. On Easter Sunday in the morning I forgot to take my medication and on the way to church I had the nastiest temper that blew up into arguing about every little thing... I felt terrible sitting up there playing the piano while in my mind I just felt like wanting to break everybody's neck. And then as I was listening to the sermon, I realized all of the sudden that I had calmed down and I didn't feel that way anymore. So it must have had to do with some kind of withdrawal symptoms caused by not taking my meds at the right time.Oh and what set me off on Sunday morning was when I walked into church at 8:30 (we go early for practice) and right there in front of the door there's this huge inflatable football that I guess was part of some display trying to promote VBS this summer. Well maybe it's not such a big deal, but to me that was very offensive at that point. I was expecting to walk into church and see easter lillies or a cross or something about the ressurection, instead this stupid footbal greets me. It just made me think "Here's Christ dying on a cross for us, and we're so shallow that we're preoccupied with a dumb football game." Now I realize my reaction was probably a bit extreme, but I still don't think the timing was right for that, and in fact I don't think I want my kids to go to a Vacation Bible School where they hear more about football than about Christ. I think this points to how shallow this generation has become, and as I'm reading through 2Chronicles, 2 Kings, Isaiah and Hoseah at the moment, I can't help but notice the similarities between the way Israel/Judah acted in those days and the way the church tries so hard to walk with one foot on the narrow path and one foot in the world.