psalm 23 [for the workplace]

PSALM 23 (FOR THE WORKPLACE)

The Lord is my boss, and I shall not want.
He gives me peace, when chaos is all around me.
He reminds me to pray, before I speak in anger.
He restores my sanity.
He guides my decisions that I might honor Him in all I do.
Even though I face absurd amounts of e-mail, system failures, copier
jams, back-ordered supplies, unrealistic deadlines, staff shortages,
budget cutbacks, red tape, downsizing, gossiping co-workers and
whining customers, I won't give up, for You are with me.
Your presence, peace and power will see me through.
You raise me up, even when the boss fails to promote me.
You claim me as your own, even when the company threatens to let me go.
Your loyalty and love are better than a bonus check.
Your retirement plan beats any 401K, and when it's all said and done,
I'll be working for you a whole lot longer!

Thanks be to God!

-- Author Unknown

the satan convention.....

THE SATAN CONVENTION

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil
angels, he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We
can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We
can't even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something
else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship
experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power
over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their
conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that
experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do. Distract
them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital
connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?", shouted his angels.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent un-numbered
schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then, borrow, borrow, borrow.
Convince the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work
6 or 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their
lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their
family fragments, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the
pressures of work."

"Over stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small
voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they
drive, to keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their
homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays
non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that
union with Christ."

"Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their
minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with
billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes,
mail-order catalogs, and every kind of newsletter and promotional
offering, free products, services, and false hopes."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from
their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming
week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send
them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.
And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and
small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled
emotion."

"Let them be involved in soul-winning. But crowd their lives with so
many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they
will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and
family unity for the good of the cause."

It was quite a convention in the end. And the evil angels went eagerly
to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy,
busy, busy and rush here and there.

Has the devil been successful at his scheme?

-- C.S. Lewis from The Srewtape Letters

the history and study of the word "easter"

A Special Study regarding the word "Easter."

     Today , we will take a look at the word "Easter, and
  trace it back to ancient England.  Today Easter is a purely Christian
  term, however it has a very dark past indeed.  Now I am sharing this
  with you not to ruin your Easter Celebration, but to share the truth with
 you.  Also let us keep in mind that most Christian Holidays, including
 Christmas in December, came from ancient pagan Holidays as well.

     The word "Easter" does not appear even one time in the Original
 Transcripts.  After all,  there are no Hebrew or Greek words for it.  In
 the Original Manuscripts it uses the Hebrew word [ pesach ] which
 means Passover, the same applies to the New Testament in the
 Greek Transcripts [ paschal ] as well.  In fact the first time that
 Easter ever appeared in our Bible was with the very first King James
 Bible in the 1600's, and it was used only one time in that Bible,
 that was in ( Acts 12:4 ) where it was substituted for the word
 Passover, by whom we do not know.

     So where did the word "Easter" come from anyway?  Surprise,
 surprise, a Pagan Holiday which was in honor of a their goddess of
 the dawn, of spring, and of reproduction. So let us begin.....

     Now an ancient Babylonian legend had it that a giant egg fell from
 heaven, was rolled ashore by the little fishes, and hatched by doves
 into Ishtar, or Aahtoreth.  This legend over time became known even
 in Europe, and became firmly entrenched in ancient Britain and was
 celebrated during the Vernal Equinox.  The name Ashtoreth was
 transliterated into the Gaelic tongue as "Eastre." This was a form of
 Baal worship. ( One might note that whenever Baal worship was
 practiced, it included animal and human sacrifices involving children!

     During this festival pagan priests called Druids preformed religious
 rites involving dancing around phallic pillars, temple prostitution, and
 sacrifices in honor of Eastre.  Also eggs have always been associated
 with her, and wherever Baal worship has appeared. Thus Easter eggs
 are part of the ancient celebration of the goddess as well. The Easter
 Bunny is a more recent twist on an ancient theme, inspired by the
 same spirit, rabbits have long been associated with reproduction and
 with Ashtoreth, or Eastre.

     How did ( Eastre ) or Easter replace Passover?

     Now since the pagans were already celebrating their holiday at
 about the same time as Passover, the Church once again decided to
 sanctify their holy day as a method of converting pagans to
 Christianity.  So why not chance the name just a little, clean it up and
 get rid of their sacrifices, and make it a Christian Holy Day.  It was
 then that Eastre's day became known as Easter.

     Also, remember our old friend Constantine the Roman emperor?
 The man who decided to change the Sabbath from the seventh day to
 the first day of the week, and then muscled the Church into accepting
 that.  The man who dared to change God's Word, well he struck again.
 You see Constantine convened the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. a
 council that he hand picked I might add.  This council unanimously
 ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the
 Christian World on the first Sunday after the full moon following the
 vernal equinox; and if the full moon should occur on a Sunday and
 thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should by
 moved to the following Sunday.  Therefore Easter and Passover would
 become separated, and have been ever since.  This is why we
 celebrate Easter of a different day each year!

     Of course, in the modern World today the term Easter has become
 a purely Christian word. No one offers their children before phallic
 poles, or worships the statue of a woman with many breasts on Easter
 day. But Christ is equally pushed out, and I can't help but believe that
 our old enemy 'satan' is behind the whole affair. He simply kept
 introducing distractions such as eggs, bunnies, Easter baskets until the
 resurrection of Jesus became an afterthought, and finally not thought
 of at all, except by a very few. Thus the true significance, of Christ's
 triumphal victory over death itself, is lost in the shuffle I am sorry to
 say.
 

the history and study of the word "easter"

A Special Study regarding the word "Easter."
Today , we will take a look at the word "Easter, and
trace it back to ancient England. Today Easter is a purely Christian
term, however it has a very dark past indeed. Now I am sharing this
with you not to ruin your Easter Celebration, but to share the truth with
you. Also let us keep in mind that most Christian Holidays, including
Christmas in December, came from ancient pagan Holidays as well.
The word "Easter" does not appear even one time in the Original
Transcripts. After all, there are no Hebrew or Greek words for it. In
the Original Manuscripts it uses the Hebrew word [ pesach ] which
means Passover, the same applies to the New Testament in the
Greek Transcripts [ paschal ] as well. In fact the first time that
Easter ever appeared in our Bible was with the very first King James
Bible in the 1600's, and it was used only one time in that Bible,
that was in ( Acts 12:4 ) where it was substituted for the word
Passover, by whom we do not know.
So where did the word "Easter" come from anyway? Surprise,
surprise, a Pagan Holiday which was in honor of a their goddess of
the dawn, of spring, and of reproduction. So let us begin.....
Now an ancient Babylonian legend had it that a giant egg fell from
heaven, was rolled ashore by the little fishes, and hatched by doves
into Ishtar, or Aahtoreth. This legend over time became known even
in Europe, and became firmly entrenched in ancient Britain and was
celebrated during the Vernal Equinox. The name Ashtoreth was
transliterated into the Gaelic tongue as "Eastre." This was a form of
Baal worship. ( One might note that whenever Baal worship was
practiced, it included animal and human sacrifices involving children!
During this festival pagan priests called Druids preformed religious
rites involving dancing around phallic pillars, temple prostitution, and
sacrifices in honor of Eastre. Also eggs have always been associated
with her, and wherever Baal worship has appeared. Thus Easter eggs
are part of the ancient celebration of the goddess as well. The Easter
Bunny is a more recent twist on an ancient theme, inspired by the
same spirit, rabbits have long been associated with reproduction and
with Ashtoreth, or Eastre.
How did ( Eastre ) or Easter replace Passover?
Now since the pagans were already celebrating their holiday at
about the same time as Passover, the Church once again decided to
sanctify their holy day as a method of converting pagans to
Christianity. So why not chance the name just a little, clean it up and
get rid of their sacrifices, and make it a Christian Holy Day. It was
then that Eastre's day became known as Easter.
Also, remember our old friend Constantine the Roman emperor?
The man who decided to change the Sabbath from the seventh day to
the first day of the week, and then muscled the Church into accepting
that. The man who dared to change God's Word, well he struck again.
You see Constantine convened the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. a
council that he hand picked I might add. This council unanimously
ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the
Christian World on the first Sunday after the full moon following the
vernal equinox; and if the full moon should occur on a Sunday and
thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should by
moved to the following Sunday. Therefore Easter and Passover would
become separated, and have been ever since. This is why we
celebrate Easter of a different day each year!
Of course, in the modern World today the term Easter has become
a purely Christian word. No one offers their children before phallic
poles, or worships the statue of a woman with many breasts on Easter
day. But Christ is equally pushed out, and I can't help but believe that
our old enemy 'satan' is behind the whole affair. He simply kept
introducing distractions such as eggs, bunnies, Easter baskets until the
resurrection of Jesus became an afterthought, and finally not thought
of at all, except by a very few. Thus the true significance, of Christ's
triumphal victory over death itself, is lost in the shuffle I am sorry to
say.

jelly bean prayer

JELLY BEAN PRAYER

Have you heard the story of the jelly beans?

The black ones are a symbol of our sinful heart, cold and hard not a good start.

The red ones would be, the blood shed for you and me.

The white ones would mean washed white as snow, by the blood of Jesus do you know?

The green ones mean growth for our clean heart, so we can tell others of Jesus, now that's a good start.

The yellow ones would mean streets of gold, like the ones in Heaven, as in the book of Revelation are told.

The purple ones are to mean like the robe He wore, when our sins on the cross He bore.

So the next time you see a bag of jelly beans, you will know what the colors mean.

- Another Version -

* RED * is for the blood He gave.
* GREEN * is for the grass He made.
* YELLOW * is for the sun so bright.
* ORANGE * is for the edge of night.
* BLACK * is for the sins we made.
* WHITE * is for the grace He gave.
* PURPLE * is for His hour of sorrow.
* PINK * is for our new tomorrow.

A bag full of jelly beans colorful and sweet,
Is a prayer,
is a promise,
is a very special treat.

-- Authors Unknown