Thursday, November 30, 2006

THE NEWEST OLD THING: RAT RODS





Last week (Wednesday-Saturday) I was in Daytona at the annual Turkey Run car show. This event is held inside the Daytona Speedway, and is one of the largest car shows in the country. This year there were 5,150 participants. That's a lot of cars! Which makes it almost heaven for a gear head like me.

I know I need to quit the car thing, but...but I like 'em. I think I know exactly how Eve must have felt in the Garden of Eden when she looked at the forbidden fruit. She knew she shouldn't. But it was soooo nice and beautiful and desirable. So... she took it. That was me at the car show. If I didn't look, I could resist the temptation to buy quite easily. But I looked. I looked until I could have looked my eyes away(ht Spurgeon).

I didn't buy anything, however, because my car didn't sell. Phooey! But I did see some really cool stuff. I had intended to take some pictures for the blog, but I forgot my camera every day. Phooooey!

The cars that caught my attention the most were "rat rods". Rat rods are a throw back to the days when most of us couldn't afford to have a really nice car, so instead of spending money on the appearance, the drive train (motor, tranie,rear end) received the attention. I think maybe nostalgia is the driving force behind the old car craze.

Anyhoo, these are some pictures of rat rods that I gleaned from other places. Take care as you look at these pictures. Your past is comin' to getcha.

By the way, I suppose that you have noticed that all the cars pictured above are dirty low down Fords. If you will look closely, however, you can see that they each have Chevy motors. They were built Ford tough using Chevy stuff!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

REJOICE!!! YOU HAVE ARRIVED!

Hopefully you have noticed the changes on my sidebar. There are a number of new links and updated older links. Congrats to the new ones! You have hit the "Big Time"! Be sure and notify all those who said you'd never amount to much.

There is a down side to your new found celebrity, though. Your life has peaked. It's all down hill from here.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

A NON-DRAMATIC STORY OF DEALING WITH DEMONS

While checking out some blogs that I like to read, I came upon this post by Scott Hill http://fide-o.blogspot.com. It reminded me of an incident that occurred a few years ago in Mexico while I was serving as a missionary there.

A Mexican Independent Baptist pastor, who was serving a church in Veracruz, came to visit me one day. This was a bit unusual, considering that he had ridden a bus over 90 miles to get to my house. Since indigenous pastors are notoriously poor, I wondered why he had sacrificed his meager resources just to come for a visit.

The mystery was soon cleared up, though, as he began to tell me that he had a serious problem with a member of his church. He said "We have a brother in the church that is demon possessed. He is fine during the day time, but as it begins to get on toward evening, he begins to scream and cry and even curse. This goes on until morning. By then he is so tired that he has to sleep and can't work." He went on to say,"I am trying to get a group of faithful Christians together to come to Veracruz and have an all-night prayer meeting with this brother in order to cast the demon out of him. Will you help?"

That kinda put me on the spot because I had never cast out a demon before. I had never advertised myself as a demon caster outer, nor did I have any desire to learn about casting out demons. However, I did and do believe that demons exist. I believe that they are against God and His purposes. I believe that we are engaged in spiritual warfare. I believe as Paul said in Eph.6:12 that we "Wrestle....against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." But here is what I don't believe: I don't believe that Satan or his minions have any inherent power. They have no power other than what is given to them.

With that in mind, my response to this sincere pastor's request was fourfold:

#1 Stop calling him brother, because, if it is true that he is possessed, he is not a brother in Christ.

#2 Neither Satan himself nor his demons have the ability nor the authority to possess anyone at their whim. Satan cannot take it upon himself to knock down a person's will and take over without permission from God and/or that person.(Isn't it strange that people are willing to grant that power to Satan, who is not sovereign, but not to God who is?) See the 1st two chapters of Job. Although Job in this text was not being "possessed", he was being attacked. However, the principle is clearly taught here that the Devil cannot do just anything without permission. He couldn't touch Job's possessions without permission and he couldn't touch Job' s person without permission, and even then, Satan's boundaries are clearly set.

#3 Without a doubt, this man has opened a door in his life to let those demonic influences in. Find out where the door is open, exhort him to repent of that sin thereby closing the door to satanic influences, exhort him to seek Christ for salvation, and the demon will be gone.(James4:7) "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

#4No amount of praying, pleading the blood, or rebuking the devil, will do any good if he is unwilling to repent of sin, trust Christ, and resist the devil.

Well, the pastor left my house not a little offended. I dare say that he was hoping for a very dramatic and emotional experience that he would be able to tell about for years to come. A tale of spiritual warfare in which he and a few holy men of God prayed all night, confronted the demon, rebuked him in the name of Jesus and pitched him out on his ear. But, if he took my advice, there would be very little drama. No possibility of humbly shaking hands with the brethren while proudly saying "We did it! We cast out a demon!"

THE CONCLUSION OF THE STORY

I didn't hear from the pastor for a while, until we met at an area wide youth meeting. He came to me and said that he hadn't cared much for my advice at first, but as he thought about it, he began to think it was worth a try. He began to investigate and found that the family of the young man was deeply involved in the occult: fortune telling, astrology and such. After making a profession of faith, he had distanced himself from his family's satanic practices for a while, but soon the temptation was too great and he began to participate again. That's when the problem started. The pastor told me that when they confronted him about this, he confessed, repented, surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, moved out of the house where the temptation was and had no more trouble with demons. No drama. Just simple obedience to the Word of God.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

CHECK THIS OUT!

Dan Philips has written a brilliant, and somewhat confrontational defence of Calvinistic dispensationalism. It is well written and articulate. Since I could never treat the subject nearly as well; please read this post.



Biblical Christianity: Twenty-five stupid reasons for dissing dispensationalism

Sunday, November 12, 2006

NEWS FLASH!!! THE DOXOBLOGIST TO PREACH AT SMALL LOCAL CHURCH



Although his booking agency normally doesn't allow him to appear in insignificant venues of congregations less than 1000, the Doxoblogist, aka Jeremy Weaver, has made an exception and agreed to preach at Way of Life Baptist Church.

"I guess I can make an exception just this once" said the Doxoblogist, " as long as you understand that if I say anything smart or quotable,the quote will be my property and cannot be used without giving me proper credit and financial consideration".

To this I hastily agreed saying,"Sure, Jeremy, if you say anything smart, we'll be glad to pay you for it."

Friday, November 10, 2006

I LOVE THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE

I love the Doctrines of Grace. By Doctrines of Grace I am referring to the system of thought that is often known by the nickname Calvinism. They are as follows:

Total Depravity or total inability

Unconditional Election

Limited Atonement or Particular Redemption

Irresistible Call or Effectual call

Perseverance in Grace

Many people are terrified of these truths, I believe, simply because they dethrone man and his 'free will', and enthrone God and His sovereignty. But hey! That's the very reason I love them.

Left to myself, I would never have sought Him. Left to my free will, I would have sought only my own pleasure. But ,thanks be unto God, I was not left to myself. He, who set His love on me before the foundation of the world(Eph.1:4), not only paid for my sins in Christ; He orchestrated all the circumstances of my life to lead me to a saving surrender to His amazing grace (Rom.8:28-30).

The effect this truth has on me is to cause me to fall before Him, to take my place in the dust as a helpless, repentant sinner, and to acknowledge His right to sit upon the throne of His glory.

I love the Doctrines of Grace because they teach me to worship. This is the essence of true worship: To see Him as He is and myself as I am. When that happens I cannot help but worship.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

WHAT I'M UP TO RIGHT NOW (IN CASE YOU'RE INTERESTED)



This is my current project. It is a 1968 Nova. I am trying to get it ready to take to the Turkey Run at Daytona Thanksgiving week. Hopefully, it won,t be coming back home with me.




This is a'66 Nova that I sold recently unfinished.










This is a '55 Chevy that I sold a few months ago. Shoulda kept it.

This week, I am preaching Sunday morning, Monday night, and Tuesday night at Faith Baptist Church outside of Lakeland ,Fl.

Brethren, pray for me!