Not sure about this, but I may have had a revelation: the devil is using media to steer an entire country and culture. Liliya and I were on a drive down to LA and we turned the radio on and scanned to the first channel that came through the static. "Hits 93.1 Bakersfield". The first song that came on was about dirty sex and chains. I turned it off. A few minutes passed so I turned the volume back up. Next song: Also about sex...sex with aliens. I decided to start counting. The next ten songs that played were primarily about sex. Two out of the ten weren't, but they were about partying. (Also interesting to note, four of the songs had the phrase, "I'm a devil/demon" or "you're a devil/demon" in them). Pretty amazing, the top songs on the radio right now are all about sex; painting their pictures with extremely graphic words. These are the songs that most of my students listen to, memorize and sing along with without consideration. Wow...scary stuff. They get 30 minutes of Bible lessons each week at youth group and the rest of the time their minds are blasted with Kanye West, Katie Perry, The Bachelor, Twilight, Cosmopolitan and countless other outlets of trash. I was trying to think back to what was on the radio when I was younger. "KISS FM": Backstreet boys, Ace of Base...sappy love songs mostly....but no vulgar sex. 

An aquantance that teaches Jr. High said there is a pandemic of pornography amongst the Jr. High students at their school. Twelve and thirteen year old girls are taking pictures of their naked bodies and texting them to boys from class. Teachers are catching seventh graders having sex in the bathrooms! Where are these young children learning this stuff? Turn the T.V. on and you'll find the answer. It's no wonder our youth are engaging in insane activities...their eyes, ears, hearts and minds are swimming up a constant stream of filth that pours from T.V's, movie screens, and radio stations. They are simply repeating what the media tells them is normal and acceptable behavior. Media hasn't always been this vulgar. The great deceiver knows that this stuff would've been boycotted had he started pushing it out immediately in the potency that we see today. He's been working at turning this ship for a long time. It has been a slow, methodical process of brainwashing and conditioning. Things we laugh at today would've never been tolerated fifty years ago. But that's the whole point...He's steering this ship, and we're letting him do it. 

What do you think? Am I being oversensitive? Would we see the same corruption of our youth if there was no media? Let me know your thoughts.  

Can heaven really be heavenly without hamburgers?

It's seems that it might be. As I've been reading through Isaiah I keep finding these strange little doors that lead me into whole other worlds I never knew existed. Recently I stumbled upon Isaiah 11:7 "The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox." Interesting. During the future reign of Christ even the most vicious carnivores will eat the grass of the fields. In many ways the Millennial Reign of Christ directly parallels the time in the garden of Eden where God's rule and reign is perfectly obeyed, so I wondered if maybe this was how God had originally created the system: a no death, non-meat-eating order. I was a little skeptical, honestly. I don't know about you, but I've always found it weird to think of animals in the garden of Eden not eating each other...I mean, come on...look at the crocodile! Do you really think God gave him those teeth for chewing the cud? Or the black widow? Why would God give her a venomous bite if she was supposed to suck on pollin all day? Well, despite my preconceived notions, I flipped over to Genesis, and you know what I found? Eden was a vegetarian's paradise! Check out Genesis 1:29-30 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. In Eden, according to God's design, everyone ate only plants.

 We know that Eden was life as God intended it to be, and that one day God will restore that perfect state at the end of the age and we will be with him forever in heaven. Does that mean that there will be no meat eating in heaven as well? Revelation says that there will be no death. You certainly can't have hamburgers without dead cows. (bummer). We also see in heaven that there is the tree of life that bears twelve kinds of fruit and that those who are in heaven have the right to it. So, as far as my study led me, there will be only fruit and plant eating in heaven...but I could be wrong and there might be an In-and-Out there!

What do you think? Will we only eat fruit in heaven? Will we even eat at all in heaven? Here's one more...if we do eat, and we have our glorified bodies, will we produce waste in heaven? Sound off with your comments below!

I find it slightly un-nerving reading all the "Burn in Hell, Osama" posts on Facebook and Twitter. Yes, I understand he was public enemy number one. Yes, I understand that his entire life was a constant plotting of wickedness and violence. Yes, I understand he took the lives of many innocent people, and yes, I even understand that I will never be able to fathom the crippling loss and drowning sorrow that fills the families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks. Still, as Christians, it seems wrong that we should ever rejoice or gloat that someone is in hell. Anyone who jokes or makes light of someone being in hell obviously does not understand the horror and utter agony that hell is. Hell, in all honesty, is so terrible and eternal that the weight of it should cause us to not wish it on even our worst enemies. God did not create hell for people (Matt 25:41) and it was never his intention that people should suffer there. God does not delight in the death of the wicked. "Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?" (Ezekiel 18:23)

I think God is grieved when people turn their back on His love and mercy and so choose hell and eternal death. I think we should despair for all lost souls, but rejoice in God's justice.

Thoughts or comments? Am I wrong? Let's dialogue. 

People complain a lot about difficulties that God allows in their life. I know because I am one of the complainers. We often hear (or say) the words "How could God allow this to happen to me?". But what about the things that God DOESN'T allow to happen...the things he protects us from that we don't even know about?

Yesterday, my wife and I had an interesting conversation about one little sentence in the book of Job. It says: The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything Job has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” (Job 1:12)  Interesting! God put a limit on what Satan could do to Job. Ultimately, God allowed it, but God had put a limit on what was allowed. Satan had boundaries within which he had to work to afflict Job; and God was the one who set those boundaries. Satan is not allowed to do anything to us unless God allows it. 

That really got me thinking. "I wonder what types of things Satan desires to do to us but that God has not allowed?" We know Satan has come to steal, kill and destroy, so what is stopping him from doing so to the full extent? Answer: God. I wonder what kind of plans Satan has devised against me, but God has protected me from by not allowing it. I'll never know! I speculate that God has protected me from most of the enemy's attacks and has only allowed those that ultimately will be for my good. This is good news...God has hand picked my afflictions! He knows which ones I'll be able to handle (1 Co 10:13) and which ones will work out for my good! He won't ever give me something that is beyond my ability to bear. This gives me strength to endure the trials that He does allow, knowing they are custom tailored by my loving Father, chosen specifically by Him out of the many hundreds of propositions and ploys of Satan. God is in complete control of what happens in my life and is working it all out for my good. I should be thankful for the trials that He does allow, and even more thankful for the trials that He doesn't allow!

Hurray for His handpicked afflictions!