Author: newlifenarrabri
Glory to God
Spurgeon: Immanuel
Immanuel
“‘Immanuel, God with us.’ It is hell’s terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it. . . . Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, ‘God with us,’ back he falls, confounded and confused. . . . ‘God with us’ is the laborer’s strength. How could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labor if that one word were taken away? . . . ‘God with us’ is eternity’s sonnet, heaven’s hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus of the angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. . . .
Feast, Christians, feast; you have a right to feast. . . . But in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem. Let him have a place in your hearts, give him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived him, but think most of all of the Man born, the Child given.
I finish by again saying, A happy Christmas to you all!”
C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the Old Testament (London, n.d.), III:430.
Today’s Sermon
You Will Comply Or Else
The “tolerance” war goes on
From lifesitenews.com:
NEWSFREEDOM,GENDER,HOMOSEXUALITY,POLITICS – U.S.Wed Dec 19, 2018 – 11:40 am EST
Christian baker sues Colorado officials for pressuring him to make LGBT cakes
DENVER, December 19, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Christian baker in Colorado who won a high-profile religious liberty case earlier this year is back in court, this time going on offense against the state officials he says are continuing to persecute him for refusing to create pro-LGBT products.
This summer, the U.S. Supreme Courtruled7-2 that Colorado officials had discriminated against the Masterpiece Cakeshop owner’s religious beliefs while trying to force him to bake a cake for a same-sex “wedding.” But on June 26, Autumn Scardinafileda complaint against Phillips for declining to bake a cake that would be pink on the inside and blue on the outside, to celebrate his “transition” from male to female.
Two days later, Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD) director Aubrey Elenis wrote a letter concluding there was probable cause to conclude Phillips had unlawfully denied Scardina “equal enjoyment of a place of public accommodation.” It ordered the two to enter compulsory mediation to reach an amicable resolution.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the religious liberty nonprofit that represented Phillips in his original case, responded by filing a federal lawsuit against outgoing Democrat Gov. John Hickenlooper and the state civil rights commission, accusing them of ignoring the Supreme Court’s ruling and continuing to discriminate against Phillips’ faith.
“Jack had no choice but to file a federal lawsuit to defend himself from this targeting,” ADF’s Maureen Collinswrote. “He should not have to fear government punishment for his faith when he opens his cake shop for business every day. But it appears that Colorado will not stop harassing him until he closes down or agrees to violate his faith.”
The case went before the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on Tuesday, Colorado Public Radioreports.
Jim Campbell, an ADF attorney representing Phillips, argued that the commissioners, all of whom were appointed by Hickenlooper, are acting as both accusers and judges in the case, which is particularly concerning in light of bias they’ve expressed against Phillips online.
“One current commissioner has publicly referred to Jack as a ‘hater’ on Twitter, one of several indications of the commission’s ongoing bias against Jack and his beliefs,” Campbellsaidprior to the hearing. “We’re asking the federal court to immediately stop Colorado’s efforts to punish Jack in order to shield him from a biased agency and ensure that he is not forced to express messages that violate his faith.”
Attorneys representing the state responded that the commission is merely enforcing duly-enacted state laws against “discrimination,” and that Phillips should be equally willing to make a pink-and-blue cake for a “gender transition celebration” as he would if the same design were requested for any other purpose.
Judge Wiley Daniel rejected ADF’s request for a preliminary injunction as overly broad, but gave them additional time to craft a narrower request with more specificity about the actions they wanted to stop. “Whatever I do here will be appealed,” he added.
“At this point, they’re just targeting Christians. This is outright Christian persecution,” Colorado Christian University policy analyst Jeff Hunt, a friend of Phillips,toldCBN News. “Jack Phillips is very much a canary in the coal mine with regard to the very important legal issues we’re going to be facing.”
Though many conservatives celebrated the earlier Supreme Court ruling as a win for religious liberty,others warnedthat the narrow ruling ultimately failed to solve the problem because it was about the hostility the commission showed Phillips rather than his right not to bake certain cakes.
Read the full story here
Sodom & Gomorrah Feel Hard Done By.
From The Babylon Bee:
Sodom, Gomorrah Wondering Why America Hasn’t Been Obliterated YetDecember 19th, 2018
AFTERLIFE—Former residents of Sodom and Gomorrah, speaking to reporters in the afterlife, recently questioned why the United States hasn’t been wiped off the map by Almighty God yet.
Those who once resided in the notoriously sinful cities are beginning to complain that America is still in existence, despite its senseless slaughter of the unborn and unquestioning acceptance of activities that were considered unthinkably perverse just a decade or two ago.
“Yeah, we were pretty jacked up—but have you seen some of the stuff that goes on in America nowadays?” one man said, shaking his head, which was on fire. “People are letting their kids dress up as drag queens and dance for money in gay bars. They literally kill hundreds of thousands of babies a year. They bomb foreign countries 24/7. We did bad stuff, sure, I’m not denying that—but come on! Even I can see the nation needs a hearty helping of fire and brimstone.”
“I mean, He can do what He wants, but if I were in the US right now, I’d be heading for the hills,” he added, shrugging. “And I wouldn’t be salty about it either—wouldn’t even look back.”
They also pointed to the fact that The Big Bang Theory has been running for over ten years.
Another Al Gore Failed Prediction
From wattupwiththat.com
Ten years ago, @AlGore predicted the North polar ice cap would be gone. Inconveniently, it’s still there
On December 14, 2008, former presidential candidate Al Gore predicted the North Polar Ice Cap would be completely ice free in five years. As reported on WUWT, Gore made the prediction to a German TV audience at the COP15 Climate Conference:
Al warned them that “the entire North ‘polarized’ cap will disappear in 5 years.”
Watch the video:
Here’s the polar ice cap extent today:
As you can see from the graph above, Arctic sea ice came nowhere close to disappearing during the summer minimum, and has rebounded to be within 2 standard deviations in the last few weeks.
During the summer minimum, the North polar ice cap looked like this:
Arctic sea ice from September 18 – 24, 2018, image from MODIS
The sea ice extent today:
Why does anyone listen to Al Gore ?
Today’s Sermon
Today’s Sermon
Babylon Bee: Link Between Personal Holiness and Chair Stacking
It’s in the Babylon Bee so you know it has to be true!
Study Finds Strong Connection Between Holiness And Number Of Chairs You Stack After Church ServiceDecember 5th, 2018
U.S.—A new study performed by LifeWay Research revealed Wednesday that there is a “strong connection” between your personal holiness and the number of chairs you stack while tearing down a church service or other church function.
The report looked at thousands of churchgoers from all over the nation and found that all across the board, the more chairs you stack, the further along you are in your sanctification journey.
“People who stack lots of chairs were found to be very close to Jesus, while people who just stand around and talk were found to be basically pagans,” said a study intern. “There are lots of baby Christians out there, of course, who fall somewhere in between. Brand-new believers tend to mill about the meeting room and reluctantly grab a chair or two before slinking away and muttering something about having to go pick up their kids.”
The study also found that the number of chairs you can carry at one time is a significant indicator of how Christlike you are. “Men who pile up 7 or 8 chairs at once and effortlessly fling them atop a stack were much more likely to be committed disciples of Christ,” the report read. “If you’re only grabbing one or two at a time, it’s time for a heart check.”
