Social conservatives in my home state of New Jersey are especially pleased with the outcome of the governor’s race. Republican Chris Christie, announced pro-lifer and supporter of conventional marriage, beat liberal Democrat Jon Corzine. Christie has a normal family—that is, a wife and kids—while Corzine is divorced. Christie’s election may give him the opportunity to nominate four New Jersey State Supreme Court justices. His belief in traditional marriage would hopefully mean that these nominations would dampen the chances of activist legislation from the bench. Christie is also tough on crime having formerly served as a U.S. Attorney for the State of New Jersey who tried 100 criminal cases successfully without a single reversal.
There is indeed, political redemption in New Jersey, and, if here, perhaps it can happen in any state. That a state previously so left-leaning as to sweep Obama into the White House with a stunning plurality only a year ago could upend Corzine, who is pro-choice and would sign a same-sex marriage bill, is a comfort in politically left-moving times. And in Virginia, which went Democrat in the 2008 presidential election for the first time in decades, Republican candidate Bob McDonnell, a social and religious conservative, also trounced his opponent in the governor’s race.
Perhaps a significant block of New Jersey voters has commendable second thoughts about government spending excesses that will potentially bankrupt generations to come. Perhaps a good number are reconsidering the faulty wisdom of government funding of abortions in an unwieldy health care bill. Perhaps a majority is enraged over government corruption, immoral legislation, sleazy politics in general and negative campaigning specifically. Hopefully, rampant property taxation, wild deficits and liberal nonsense are being seen as the moral insanity they really are.
More importantly, I hope all this reflects a healthy return to biblical morality—a mirror of Heaven’s principles for conventional marriage, healthy families and fiscal responsibility. The campaigns of winners and losers alike were financed by currency bearing the inscription "In God We Trust," and our national Pledge of Allegiance contains the phrase "one nation under God."
The timeless warning still stands in Psalm 9:17. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." To those yearning for spiritual stability, the wonderful alternative still stands in Psalm 144:15b: "…Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!"
Dave Virkler
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
GOP Offers 'Condensed' Health Bill
The battle has raged on for months but seems like it has been going on for years. And in some ways it has. It is the highly controversial and comprehensive revision of the health care system in America. The fight has been vicious because the outcome promises to be so very vital.
Obviously, even the very best system of care can be approved upon. But many oppose this major program that is a major part of the President’s campaign promise of 'Change you can believe in'. They believe that the new plan will corrupt the world’s best overall health care. Further, they cite that it will place massive financial demands on an already fragile economy while reducing personal freedoms.
Part of the debate has been over the mountain of paperwork that makes up the Democratic plan. The legislation consists of approximately 2,000 pages of heavy legislative language. That alone leaves many skeptical, or seriously scared, since few can read it all and most could not understand it even if they could.
In reaction, the GOP has released a much more compact version that pares the opposition’s guidelines to ‘only’ some 230 pages – an approximate 90% reduction. The Republican plan focuses more on incentives, medical savings accounts, lessening jury and malpractice awards, and other similar things that tend to run insurance premiums through the roof. The plan differs, too, in that it would not require all employers to offer insurance and make all persons and families to buy some sort of protection even if it be against their will. And unlike the Democrat’s bill, the Republican plan would also stop funding on most forms of abortion.
Once again American’s citizens have been plunged into a massive cloud of bureaucratic confusion perpetrated by those who are elected serve them. They are being asked to accept a life-altering law that even those with legal backgrounds admit not having fully read or adequately grasped. And the people are being asked to trust the government to control the most personal and crucial aspect of their daily lives even while that same entity is near legendaryfor its absurd levels of inefficiency and endless red tape.
In short, the U.S. government has grown too big, too powerful, too aggressive, and too complicated to effectively satisfy and serve those it was designed to protect. Foe instance, just take a peek at the current IRS code. Bottom Line: Citizens are being forced to sort out, and side with those who claim to be most truthful, caring, and competent - a Herculean task to say the least!
On this hot topic, one prominent leader has taken a different tact. He contends that the so-called ‘health care crisis’ is more a ‘health crisis'. It does seem to make perfect sense that a serious decline in health care costs would results if the American people ate better, slet more, exercised some, and resisted physically negative and morally detrimental types of behavior. An improvement in the nation’s physical and moral behavior may just be the single best, and cheapest, way to improve overall health standards and also stabilize current health care costs. Sadly, that solution is viewed as too simplistic and seems just too logical for most bureaucrats to grasp. Besides, most politicians are too scared for their jobs to ever point fingers at the voters who elected them – even if those things be true and right.
As confusing and overwhelming as the current health care legislation is, thankfully the one thing of infinitely greater value that has been made crystal clear. Religious systems over the centuries, even some under the banner of Christianity, have made salvation and the forgiveness of sin far more complicated than the actual requirement of the Creator God.
In 2 Corinthians 11:2-4 the Apostle Paul made reference to allowing man’s conditions for redemption to alter or exceed those of God’s. In verse 3 he wrote, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Salvation is amazing and miraculous. But has been also made quite simple.
Ironically, the ultimate example of this very truth was seen at Christ’s crucifixion. One of the thieves being executed at His side recognized the Savior’s deity and ability. At one point he uttered these word in the midst of his great agony, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." (Luke 23:42) The Lord’s simple response to this sincere request is seen in the very next verse. “And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." A wicked and guilty man’s external redemption could not have come more simply or dramatically. And the same blessed method still holds true some 21 centuries later!
The details and facts of the current health care maze has exceeded the average man’s grasp. Even those in the ‘know’ really don’t 'know' what the extent or the ultimate impact on the nation will be. But God’s spiritual health care plan is, and has always been, both clear and comprehensive. The premium was paid in full on the cross at a price far beyond what money can ever buy. (1 Peter 1:18, Isaiah 55:1)
God’s forgiveness policy is available, free of charge, to any and all who choose to accept it in simple saving faith. There must be only a full understanding and a serious and correct answer to the question asked 2,000 years ago by a desperate man in a dingy prison cell. His plea from the heart was this. "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:29) The immediate answer was every bit as short and profound. “So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:31)
When this powerful response becomes one's personal reality it will always bring the greatest possible 'Change you can believe in'. That divive alteration is spelled out in 2 Corinthians 5:17)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
How do we know that change is really true and lasting? First, because it happened to me. Then too, scores of others, who have believed in the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ, have likewise experienced the supernatual results and eternal promises of His great salvation plan.
Bill Breckenridge
Obviously, even the very best system of care can be approved upon. But many oppose this major program that is a major part of the President’s campaign promise of 'Change you can believe in'. They believe that the new plan will corrupt the world’s best overall health care. Further, they cite that it will place massive financial demands on an already fragile economy while reducing personal freedoms.
Part of the debate has been over the mountain of paperwork that makes up the Democratic plan. The legislation consists of approximately 2,000 pages of heavy legislative language. That alone leaves many skeptical, or seriously scared, since few can read it all and most could not understand it even if they could.
In reaction, the GOP has released a much more compact version that pares the opposition’s guidelines to ‘only’ some 230 pages – an approximate 90% reduction. The Republican plan focuses more on incentives, medical savings accounts, lessening jury and malpractice awards, and other similar things that tend to run insurance premiums through the roof. The plan differs, too, in that it would not require all employers to offer insurance and make all persons and families to buy some sort of protection even if it be against their will. And unlike the Democrat’s bill, the Republican plan would also stop funding on most forms of abortion.
Once again American’s citizens have been plunged into a massive cloud of bureaucratic confusion perpetrated by those who are elected serve them. They are being asked to accept a life-altering law that even those with legal backgrounds admit not having fully read or adequately grasped. And the people are being asked to trust the government to control the most personal and crucial aspect of their daily lives even while that same entity is near legendaryfor its absurd levels of inefficiency and endless red tape.
In short, the U.S. government has grown too big, too powerful, too aggressive, and too complicated to effectively satisfy and serve those it was designed to protect. Foe instance, just take a peek at the current IRS code. Bottom Line: Citizens are being forced to sort out, and side with those who claim to be most truthful, caring, and competent - a Herculean task to say the least!
On this hot topic, one prominent leader has taken a different tact. He contends that the so-called ‘health care crisis’ is more a ‘health crisis'. It does seem to make perfect sense that a serious decline in health care costs would results if the American people ate better, slet more, exercised some, and resisted physically negative and morally detrimental types of behavior. An improvement in the nation’s physical and moral behavior may just be the single best, and cheapest, way to improve overall health standards and also stabilize current health care costs. Sadly, that solution is viewed as too simplistic and seems just too logical for most bureaucrats to grasp. Besides, most politicians are too scared for their jobs to ever point fingers at the voters who elected them – even if those things be true and right.
As confusing and overwhelming as the current health care legislation is, thankfully the one thing of infinitely greater value that has been made crystal clear. Religious systems over the centuries, even some under the banner of Christianity, have made salvation and the forgiveness of sin far more complicated than the actual requirement of the Creator God.
In 2 Corinthians 11:2-4 the Apostle Paul made reference to allowing man’s conditions for redemption to alter or exceed those of God’s. In verse 3 he wrote, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Salvation is amazing and miraculous. But has been also made quite simple.
Ironically, the ultimate example of this very truth was seen at Christ’s crucifixion. One of the thieves being executed at His side recognized the Savior’s deity and ability. At one point he uttered these word in the midst of his great agony, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." (Luke 23:42) The Lord’s simple response to this sincere request is seen in the very next verse. “And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." A wicked and guilty man’s external redemption could not have come more simply or dramatically. And the same blessed method still holds true some 21 centuries later!
The details and facts of the current health care maze has exceeded the average man’s grasp. Even those in the ‘know’ really don’t 'know' what the extent or the ultimate impact on the nation will be. But God’s spiritual health care plan is, and has always been, both clear and comprehensive. The premium was paid in full on the cross at a price far beyond what money can ever buy. (1 Peter 1:18, Isaiah 55:1)
God’s forgiveness policy is available, free of charge, to any and all who choose to accept it in simple saving faith. There must be only a full understanding and a serious and correct answer to the question asked 2,000 years ago by a desperate man in a dingy prison cell. His plea from the heart was this. "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:29) The immediate answer was every bit as short and profound. “So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:31)
When this powerful response becomes one's personal reality it will always bring the greatest possible 'Change you can believe in'. That divive alteration is spelled out in 2 Corinthians 5:17)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
How do we know that change is really true and lasting? First, because it happened to me. Then too, scores of others, who have believed in the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ, have likewise experienced the supernatual results and eternal promises of His great salvation plan.
Bill Breckenridge
Monday, November 2, 2009
New Promises For Windows 7
The long awaited Windows 7 has arrived. And for scores of PC users it promises to be their computing salvation.
Microsoft, who is the author of the operating system that fuels the mass majority of the world’s personal computers. is hoping to erase the painful memories of their previous Operating System that was called Vista. The much-hated software became notorious for being slow, oversensitive to assumed security threats, and incompatible with scores of hard and software that many users needed to accomplish their everyday tasks. But Bill Gates' company promises that Windows 7 will fix all of that and eliminate the negative issues from virtually all previous versions.
Mac, who is Windows main competitor and known for a much more stable OS, has been airing clever ads in reaction to the Version 7. In one convincing TV commercial, two men are speaking on the subject. One represents Windows and the other the Mac. When the Mac man asks why Windows 7 is a worthy purchase, Mr. Windows begins a series of reasons, all coming with older and older changes in his clothing style. Each wardrobe switch goes back to the time period of the previous Windows OS. For example, he states that Windows 7 is worthy because it fixes all the issues of the previous version - Windows XP. The next change shows an even older clothing and hair style, only this time he states that buying XP was good back then because it fixed all the issues of the previous OS – Windows 2000. This backwards progression, using the same promise of better things to come, continues all the way back to Microsoft’s earliest operating systems.
The Mac ad is simple and quite effective. It suggests that Windows has been making huge promises of correcting their previous operating systems since day one. If so, why would the new Windows 7 be any better? The ad does have an element of truth. It is clever and convincing since Mac has suffered far less ‘issues’ over the years than their arch rival.
The public will soon have yet another opportunity to use their purchasing powers based on each company’s current promises and performance records. Neither is flawless, but perhaps one is better when the two are honestly evaluated side by side. But in the end, all that is at stake is a small expenditure of cash and perhaps some computing frustration and productivity.
And while computing is used in nearly all areas of modern life, it is far from the most important thing in all of life. The Bible speaks on the only subject that will matter after the last operating system is devised and the power cord is yanked on the last computer. The issue then will not be about what was the better way to get to heaven – but what was the only way?
The writer of the book of Hebrews reveals the superior nature of the ministry of Jesus Christ. In the eighth chapter he pens, “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6)
Then in the following chapter, the author reveals the additional promise and eternal life in Christ. “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
That unique role as the ultimate Mediator is further defined in 1 Timothy. In chapter two the Apostle Paul describes how the better ministry of Christ is, in fact, the only valid way whereby man can be redeemed from the plague and penalty of sin. Verse 5 begins, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
Windows 7 may just keep some of the promises it boasts of. If so, that is good news to its users. But best news is, and will always be, the “Good News” of salvation in Jesus Christ. His is a promise to save fully and finally as Hebrews 7:25 confirms.
“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
Bill Breckenridge
Microsoft, who is the author of the operating system that fuels the mass majority of the world’s personal computers. is hoping to erase the painful memories of their previous Operating System that was called Vista. The much-hated software became notorious for being slow, oversensitive to assumed security threats, and incompatible with scores of hard and software that many users needed to accomplish their everyday tasks. But Bill Gates' company promises that Windows 7 will fix all of that and eliminate the negative issues from virtually all previous versions.
Mac, who is Windows main competitor and known for a much more stable OS, has been airing clever ads in reaction to the Version 7. In one convincing TV commercial, two men are speaking on the subject. One represents Windows and the other the Mac. When the Mac man asks why Windows 7 is a worthy purchase, Mr. Windows begins a series of reasons, all coming with older and older changes in his clothing style. Each wardrobe switch goes back to the time period of the previous Windows OS. For example, he states that Windows 7 is worthy because it fixes all the issues of the previous version - Windows XP. The next change shows an even older clothing and hair style, only this time he states that buying XP was good back then because it fixed all the issues of the previous OS – Windows 2000. This backwards progression, using the same promise of better things to come, continues all the way back to Microsoft’s earliest operating systems.
The Mac ad is simple and quite effective. It suggests that Windows has been making huge promises of correcting their previous operating systems since day one. If so, why would the new Windows 7 be any better? The ad does have an element of truth. It is clever and convincing since Mac has suffered far less ‘issues’ over the years than their arch rival.
The public will soon have yet another opportunity to use their purchasing powers based on each company’s current promises and performance records. Neither is flawless, but perhaps one is better when the two are honestly evaluated side by side. But in the end, all that is at stake is a small expenditure of cash and perhaps some computing frustration and productivity.
And while computing is used in nearly all areas of modern life, it is far from the most important thing in all of life. The Bible speaks on the only subject that will matter after the last operating system is devised and the power cord is yanked on the last computer. The issue then will not be about what was the better way to get to heaven – but what was the only way?
The writer of the book of Hebrews reveals the superior nature of the ministry of Jesus Christ. In the eighth chapter he pens, “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6)
Then in the following chapter, the author reveals the additional promise and eternal life in Christ. “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
That unique role as the ultimate Mediator is further defined in 1 Timothy. In chapter two the Apostle Paul describes how the better ministry of Christ is, in fact, the only valid way whereby man can be redeemed from the plague and penalty of sin. Verse 5 begins, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
Windows 7 may just keep some of the promises it boasts of. If so, that is good news to its users. But best news is, and will always be, the “Good News” of salvation in Jesus Christ. His is a promise to save fully and finally as Hebrews 7:25 confirms.
“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
Bill Breckenridge
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Taking Offense at the Cross
A seeming “tempest in a teapot” has brewed a storm of controversy at Penn State University. A majority of students approved the annual “White Out” t-shirt to be worn creating a sea of white at the annual “White Out” game. However, some highly offended objectors noted that the single vertical blue stripe with “Penn State” in bold letters printed horizontally across it was too much like a cross. Six students officially objected the shirt’s design, but the Nike-produced shirts are a sell-out with 30,000 shirts sold.
The Philadelphia Anti-Defamation League even lodged an official complaint citing the design’s Christian connotation. Designers claim any similarities to the Cross are purely accidental.
What should be noted at this great institution of higher learning is not the offense of the cross but the incorrect grammar on the shirt’s back inscription. In large letters across another vertical blue line is printed: “Don’t be intimidated… It’s just me and 110,000 of my friends.”
While that is generally accepted expression, it is technically incorrect English. “Me” is cast in the nominative case, not objective, and should properly be “I.” But it is better, I suppose some would say, to see unintended crosses everywhere than note improper English 30,000 times at the State University football game.
Actually, the oversight is a compliment to the cross. When people object to the visibility of the cross, it underscores 1 Corinthians 1:18. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing….”
Crosses in the ancient world were death instruments—necrotic emblems of rebellion against Roman authority. In Christian history, the cross is the place of Christ’s ignominious death and the shedding of His blood for our sins. Crosses can adorn chapel spires and even be icons worn around one’s neck, but imagined on college t-shirts is just too much for the nit-picking, politically correct crowd.
If the offense is because of the cross’s true meaning, a kind of perverse appreciation is accepted. Christ endured it and so should all believers. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The strict demarcation between competing philosophies and colliding world views is spelled out in 1 Cor. 1:18 and 19. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’”
The only way we rid ourselves of death, hell and even improper philosophy and lifestyle is through the cross as Paul says in Galatians 6:14. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Who would have thought that a secular design on a state university t-shirt would give me the opportunity to share the real meaning of the cross? Perhaps it is a fulfillment of
Psalm 76:10. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise You…”
In the hymn “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” Elizabeth Clephane caught the meaning of the cross:
I take, O cross, they shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss;
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.
Dave Virkler
The Philadelphia Anti-Defamation League even lodged an official complaint citing the design’s Christian connotation. Designers claim any similarities to the Cross are purely accidental.
What should be noted at this great institution of higher learning is not the offense of the cross but the incorrect grammar on the shirt’s back inscription. In large letters across another vertical blue line is printed: “Don’t be intimidated… It’s just me and 110,000 of my friends.”
While that is generally accepted expression, it is technically incorrect English. “Me” is cast in the nominative case, not objective, and should properly be “I.” But it is better, I suppose some would say, to see unintended crosses everywhere than note improper English 30,000 times at the State University football game.
Actually, the oversight is a compliment to the cross. When people object to the visibility of the cross, it underscores 1 Corinthians 1:18. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing….”
Crosses in the ancient world were death instruments—necrotic emblems of rebellion against Roman authority. In Christian history, the cross is the place of Christ’s ignominious death and the shedding of His blood for our sins. Crosses can adorn chapel spires and even be icons worn around one’s neck, but imagined on college t-shirts is just too much for the nit-picking, politically correct crowd.
If the offense is because of the cross’s true meaning, a kind of perverse appreciation is accepted. Christ endured it and so should all believers. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The strict demarcation between competing philosophies and colliding world views is spelled out in 1 Cor. 1:18 and 19. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’”
The only way we rid ourselves of death, hell and even improper philosophy and lifestyle is through the cross as Paul says in Galatians 6:14. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Who would have thought that a secular design on a state university t-shirt would give me the opportunity to share the real meaning of the cross? Perhaps it is a fulfillment of
Psalm 76:10. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise You…”
In the hymn “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” Elizabeth Clephane caught the meaning of the cross:
I take, O cross, they shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss;
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.
Dave Virkler
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Windows 7 - Still More Promises
The long awaited Windows 7 will make its debut on Thursday. And for scores of PC users it promises to be their computer’s salvation.
Microsoft, who is the author of the operating system that fuels the mass majority of the world’s personal computers. is hoping to erase the painful memories of their previous Operating System that was called Vista. The much-hated software became notorious forbeing slow, oversensitive to assumed security threats, and incompatible with scores of hard and software that many users needed to accomplish their every day tasks. But Bill Gates' company promises that Windows 7 will fix all of that and eliminate the negative issues from virtually all previous versions.
Mac, who is Windows main competitor and known for a much more stable OS, has been airing clever ads in reaction to the Version 7. In one convincing TV commercial, two men are speaking on the subject. One represents Windows and the other the Mac. When the Mac man asks why Windows 7 is a worthy purchase, Mr. Windows begins a series of reasons, all coming with older and older changes in his clothing style. Each wardrobe switch goes back to the release of the previous Windows OS. For example, he states that Windows 7 is worthy because it fixes all the issues of the previous version - Windows XP. The next change shows an even older clothing and hair style, only this time he states that buying XP was good back then because it fixed all the issues of the previous OS – Windows 2000. This backwards progression, using the same promise of better things to come, continues all the way back to Microsoft’s earliest operating systems.
The Mac ad is simple and quite effective. It suggests that Windows has been making huge promises of correcting their previous operating systems since day one. If so, why would the new Windows 7 be any better? The ad does have an element of truth. It is clever and convincing since Mac has suffered far less ‘issues’ over the years than their arch rival.
The public will soon have yet another opportunity to use their purchasing powers based on each company’s current promises and performance records. Of course neither company's OS is fully flawless, although one does seem somewhat more stable when both are evaluated side by side. But in the end, all that is at stake is a small expenditure of cash and perhaps some computing frustration and productivity.
While computing is used in nearly all areas of modern life, it is far from the most important thing in all of life. The Bible speaks on the only subject that will matter after the last operating system is devised and the power cord is yanked on the last computer. The issue then will not be about what was the better way to get to heaven – but what was the only way?
The writer of the book of Hebrews reveals the superior nature of the ministry of Jesus Christ. In the eighth chapter he pens, "But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises." (Hebrews 8:6)Then in the following chapter, the author reveals the additional promise and eternal life in Christ. "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."
That unique role as the ultimate Mediator is further defined in 1 Timothy. In chapter two the Apostle Paul describes how the better ministry of Christ is, in fact, the only valid way whereby man can be redeemed from the plague and penalty of sin. Verse 5 begins, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
Windows 7 may just keep some of the promises it boasts of. If so, that is good news to its users. But the best news is, and will always be, the "Good News" of salvation in Jesus Christ. His is a promise to fully save and fully secure as Hebrews 7:25 confirms.
"Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him,since He always lives to make intercession for them."
Bill Breckenridge
Microsoft, who is the author of the operating system that fuels the mass majority of the world’s personal computers. is hoping to erase the painful memories of their previous Operating System that was called Vista. The much-hated software became notorious forbeing slow, oversensitive to assumed security threats, and incompatible with scores of hard and software that many users needed to accomplish their every day tasks. But Bill Gates' company promises that Windows 7 will fix all of that and eliminate the negative issues from virtually all previous versions.
Mac, who is Windows main competitor and known for a much more stable OS, has been airing clever ads in reaction to the Version 7. In one convincing TV commercial, two men are speaking on the subject. One represents Windows and the other the Mac. When the Mac man asks why Windows 7 is a worthy purchase, Mr. Windows begins a series of reasons, all coming with older and older changes in his clothing style. Each wardrobe switch goes back to the release of the previous Windows OS. For example, he states that Windows 7 is worthy because it fixes all the issues of the previous version - Windows XP. The next change shows an even older clothing and hair style, only this time he states that buying XP was good back then because it fixed all the issues of the previous OS – Windows 2000. This backwards progression, using the same promise of better things to come, continues all the way back to Microsoft’s earliest operating systems.
The Mac ad is simple and quite effective. It suggests that Windows has been making huge promises of correcting their previous operating systems since day one. If so, why would the new Windows 7 be any better? The ad does have an element of truth. It is clever and convincing since Mac has suffered far less ‘issues’ over the years than their arch rival.
The public will soon have yet another opportunity to use their purchasing powers based on each company’s current promises and performance records. Of course neither company's OS is fully flawless, although one does seem somewhat more stable when both are evaluated side by side. But in the end, all that is at stake is a small expenditure of cash and perhaps some computing frustration and productivity.
While computing is used in nearly all areas of modern life, it is far from the most important thing in all of life. The Bible speaks on the only subject that will matter after the last operating system is devised and the power cord is yanked on the last computer. The issue then will not be about what was the better way to get to heaven – but what was the only way?
The writer of the book of Hebrews reveals the superior nature of the ministry of Jesus Christ. In the eighth chapter he pens, "But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises." (Hebrews 8:6)Then in the following chapter, the author reveals the additional promise and eternal life in Christ. "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."
That unique role as the ultimate Mediator is further defined in 1 Timothy. In chapter two the Apostle Paul describes how the better ministry of Christ is, in fact, the only valid way whereby man can be redeemed from the plague and penalty of sin. Verse 5 begins, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
Windows 7 may just keep some of the promises it boasts of. If so, that is good news to its users. But the best news is, and will always be, the "Good News" of salvation in Jesus Christ. His is a promise to fully save and fully secure as Hebrews 7:25 confirms.
"Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him,since He always lives to make intercession for them."
Bill Breckenridge
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
A Unique University
It’s not often I admit to being completely "taken" by an ad. By that I mean "taken up with" and not "taken in by." The ad was as honest a piece of effective advertising as I had ever seen. Sure, it was an ego seeker and its focus centered on me, or was it us?
A fine company that makes custom t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats must have found that there were lots of Virklers in the United States. There are, as our two-volume family lineage book shows. It is published every few years to update the family tree, which also includes the Farney and Zehr lineages. The families were interrelated way back in 1834 when my forebears sailed to America as immigrants.
Months ago, we received a classy, full color ad card offering a customized set of shirts and caps with "Virkler University" in block letters across the front at entirely reasonable prices. Just getting mail with personalized text is enough to catch your attention. We ordered enough for the immediate family, and, when the shirts came, we donned them for a choice family photo.
When I was speaking at a Bible conference this summer, I wore my Virkler University shirt to the dinning hall. The puzzled stares were a profile in group curiosity. Finally, a retiree who had some acquaintance with the name and had taught school in my hometown of Baldwinsville, NY, ambled over and asked, "Is that some sort of joke, or is there really a Virkler University?" I answered, "It’s really not a joke, and there is a Virkler University in the informal sense. Come to the men’s prayer breakfast tomorrow, and I’ll tell you about our school."
The next morning I shared the inside story.
A spiritual "school" with education in personal salvation and life’s hard knocks had been established in Alsace-Lorraine, France by Amish Mennonite farmers who had emigrated from Switzerland to escape religious persecution. They were in the Anabaptist tradition, and their religious convictions prohibited military service and membership in the state church.
The French government eventually ordered them to serve in the army, so in 1834, the small student body crossed the Atlantic Ocean seeking religious freedom and economic prosperity. After 42 days on the Atlantic, they settled in an area of upstate New York known as New France, a sprawling land tract in the North Country then claimed by Napoleon’s brother.
University "administration" was headed by fathers, and "satellite schools" were founded when families pushed across the country from upstate New York. As family size and enrollment increased, two tracks developed—one with a secular major, and one with a spiritual major. Some students worked primarily in secular pursuits and expanding their financial horizons. Others became students of unique higher education by studying the Bible and preaching the Word.
In my family’s particular campus branch, the records show each generation of students focused on Christ as Savior. Classes were mostly informal but purposefully perpetual. Many were held around family meals and devotions, some on vacations together, others in church—always in real time and real life.
A few special guided studies were like no other. For example, I studied radio long before becoming a broadcaster. When I was a boy, Dad took me to an early Sunday morning live radio program where he, his three quartet buddies and a young preacher were airing the Gospel. It was a fantastic lesson, and its impact is still felt every time this student makes a program even after 45 years of broadcasting.
I graduated not with a formal diploma but with a steady disposition to seek God’s best. Thelma and I established our own university campus, and our children have now graduated. Many Virkler University graduates have passed the final test and gone on to the ultimate post-graduate school in Heaven. They have laid all their educational achievements at Jesus’ feet while they await the rest of us graduates.
"Virkler University" may not be actual buildings and land, but it is a real school of spiritually guided studies. The core values courses remain unchanged with a changing world offering new and challenging electives. Our university on two continents and educating many generations is a great school with an enduring legacy. We wish this type of university education for everyone.
The name on the shirts and caps may vary, but the education of the soul ought always to be the same.
Dave Virkler
A fine company that makes custom t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats must have found that there were lots of Virklers in the United States. There are, as our two-volume family lineage book shows. It is published every few years to update the family tree, which also includes the Farney and Zehr lineages. The families were interrelated way back in 1834 when my forebears sailed to America as immigrants.
Months ago, we received a classy, full color ad card offering a customized set of shirts and caps with "Virkler University" in block letters across the front at entirely reasonable prices. Just getting mail with personalized text is enough to catch your attention. We ordered enough for the immediate family, and, when the shirts came, we donned them for a choice family photo.
When I was speaking at a Bible conference this summer, I wore my Virkler University shirt to the dinning hall. The puzzled stares were a profile in group curiosity. Finally, a retiree who had some acquaintance with the name and had taught school in my hometown of Baldwinsville, NY, ambled over and asked, "Is that some sort of joke, or is there really a Virkler University?" I answered, "It’s really not a joke, and there is a Virkler University in the informal sense. Come to the men’s prayer breakfast tomorrow, and I’ll tell you about our school."
The next morning I shared the inside story.
A spiritual "school" with education in personal salvation and life’s hard knocks had been established in Alsace-Lorraine, France by Amish Mennonite farmers who had emigrated from Switzerland to escape religious persecution. They were in the Anabaptist tradition, and their religious convictions prohibited military service and membership in the state church.
The French government eventually ordered them to serve in the army, so in 1834, the small student body crossed the Atlantic Ocean seeking religious freedom and economic prosperity. After 42 days on the Atlantic, they settled in an area of upstate New York known as New France, a sprawling land tract in the North Country then claimed by Napoleon’s brother.
University "administration" was headed by fathers, and "satellite schools" were founded when families pushed across the country from upstate New York. As family size and enrollment increased, two tracks developed—one with a secular major, and one with a spiritual major. Some students worked primarily in secular pursuits and expanding their financial horizons. Others became students of unique higher education by studying the Bible and preaching the Word.
In my family’s particular campus branch, the records show each generation of students focused on Christ as Savior. Classes were mostly informal but purposefully perpetual. Many were held around family meals and devotions, some on vacations together, others in church—always in real time and real life.
A few special guided studies were like no other. For example, I studied radio long before becoming a broadcaster. When I was a boy, Dad took me to an early Sunday morning live radio program where he, his three quartet buddies and a young preacher were airing the Gospel. It was a fantastic lesson, and its impact is still felt every time this student makes a program even after 45 years of broadcasting.
I graduated not with a formal diploma but with a steady disposition to seek God’s best. Thelma and I established our own university campus, and our children have now graduated. Many Virkler University graduates have passed the final test and gone on to the ultimate post-graduate school in Heaven. They have laid all their educational achievements at Jesus’ feet while they await the rest of us graduates.
"Virkler University" may not be actual buildings and land, but it is a real school of spiritually guided studies. The core values courses remain unchanged with a changing world offering new and challenging electives. Our university on two continents and educating many generations is a great school with an enduring legacy. We wish this type of university education for everyone.
The name on the shirts and caps may vary, but the education of the soul ought always to be the same.
Dave Virkler
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Atheism Alive and Well In The Big Apple?
Now it is their turn, according to the Big Apple Coalition of Reason, a group of organizations untied by one overriding principle - atheism.
Beginning on October 26th, the group will blanket subway stations in Manhattan where some 5 million computers travel each day according to the Metro Transit Authority. The advertisements will ask one simple question. "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?" The New York City campaign is just one component of a "nationwide effort" that will see billboards and postings in transit systems across the United States.
Michael De Dora Jr., executive director of the New York Center for Inquiry, defends his group, citing the recent American Religious Identification Survey. The study found that those checking "none" for religion was 8 percent of the population in 1990 but has almost doubled to 15 percent in 2008. This effectively makes "no religion" the fastest growing religious identification in the United States. He also says that the ads are not meant to be anti-religious. They are rather to raise awareness about people who don't believe in a god and to show that individuals don't need religion to be good people and productive members of society.
Many people view atheists as those who have just considered the available options about God and have come to the conclusion that He simply does not exist. That is not a very good option according to Psalm 14:1 where the writer says, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'"
But disbelief in the reality of a Creator-God takes far more than a simple decision based on simple evidence or supposed lack of it. According to Paul in Romans chapter one, it takes a great deal of conscious effort and the mental stiff-arming of obvious facts to arrive at such a conclusion. He shares his reasoning, beginning in verse 18 of the chapter. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)
The Big Apple Coalition of Reason is just partly right when they claim that people don't have to believe in a god to be good people and productive members of society. They may indeed be great cultural assets, using their God-given gifts and abilities. They may even be ‘good’ by the standards of society. But Psalm 14 totally dismantles the definition of ‘good’ when it is applied against the standard of a holy and just God. Verse 3 reads, ”They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.”
For any ‘good’ or productive member of society to someday face the living God, and avoid His righteous wrath, will require that they first stop suppressing the idea of His presence both in the universe and in their lives. Hebrew 11:6 puts it like this. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” God requires the believe that He 'is' real.
But that faith must be more than only admitting He is there somewhere and somehow. That is just the start. The faith that turns a lost soul into a living saint is spoken of later by Paul in Romans 5:1 where he writes, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And in verse 8-9 he carefully records that God’s love and redemption is open and effective even while we suppress and reject his existence or plan of salvation. Verse 8 declares, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
The question to appear in Manhattan on the 26th is, "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?"
The answer again that most profound of all questions, at least on the spiritual level, is ‘no’. Why? Because, "There is none righteous, no, not one.”
But even that wretched 'no' can be instantly changed to a wonderful ‘yes ’when the truth of 1 Timothy 4:10 is personally applied from the heart.
“Because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe." (1Timothy 4:10)
Bill Breckenridge
Beginning on October 26th, the group will blanket subway stations in Manhattan where some 5 million computers travel each day according to the Metro Transit Authority. The advertisements will ask one simple question. "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?" The New York City campaign is just one component of a "nationwide effort" that will see billboards and postings in transit systems across the United States.
Michael De Dora Jr., executive director of the New York Center for Inquiry, defends his group, citing the recent American Religious Identification Survey. The study found that those checking "none" for religion was 8 percent of the population in 1990 but has almost doubled to 15 percent in 2008. This effectively makes "no religion" the fastest growing religious identification in the United States. He also says that the ads are not meant to be anti-religious. They are rather to raise awareness about people who don't believe in a god and to show that individuals don't need religion to be good people and productive members of society.
Many people view atheists as those who have just considered the available options about God and have come to the conclusion that He simply does not exist. That is not a very good option according to Psalm 14:1 where the writer says, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'"
But disbelief in the reality of a Creator-God takes far more than a simple decision based on simple evidence or supposed lack of it. According to Paul in Romans chapter one, it takes a great deal of conscious effort and the mental stiff-arming of obvious facts to arrive at such a conclusion. He shares his reasoning, beginning in verse 18 of the chapter. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)
The Big Apple Coalition of Reason is just partly right when they claim that people don't have to believe in a god to be good people and productive members of society. They may indeed be great cultural assets, using their God-given gifts and abilities. They may even be ‘good’ by the standards of society. But Psalm 14 totally dismantles the definition of ‘good’ when it is applied against the standard of a holy and just God. Verse 3 reads, ”They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.”
For any ‘good’ or productive member of society to someday face the living God, and avoid His righteous wrath, will require that they first stop suppressing the idea of His presence both in the universe and in their lives. Hebrew 11:6 puts it like this. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” God requires the believe that He 'is' real.
But that faith must be more than only admitting He is there somewhere and somehow. That is just the start. The faith that turns a lost soul into a living saint is spoken of later by Paul in Romans 5:1 where he writes, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And in verse 8-9 he carefully records that God’s love and redemption is open and effective even while we suppress and reject his existence or plan of salvation. Verse 8 declares, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
The question to appear in Manhattan on the 26th is, "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?"
The answer again that most profound of all questions, at least on the spiritual level, is ‘no’. Why? Because, "There is none righteous, no, not one.”
But even that wretched 'no' can be instantly changed to a wonderful ‘yes ’when the truth of 1 Timothy 4:10 is personally applied from the heart.
“Because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe." (1Timothy 4:10)
Bill Breckenridge
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
