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Death. When it strikes, we grieve.

But for Christians, rejoicing goes hand in hand with death. Why? Because Jesus has conquered death and we have nothing to fear – only something to look forward to.

This poem helps us see both sides.

Read Departed for Glory.

Tim’s submitted a few poems lately – each with its own unique flavor. This one doesn’t disappoint.

Read Tim’s poem about unity within the body of Christ..

A poem about Hell.

Read it here.

Sabbath keepers and non-Sabbath keepers regularly spit fire back and forth.

The Jesus of the Bible calls for unity among believers. Whether you keep the Sabbath or not, avoid judging those who believe differently.

⁵ One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
⁶ The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Romans 14:5,6 (ESV)

¹⁶ Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Colossians 2:16 (ESV)

Check out what the Bible says to us about keeping the Sabbath. Read the following article and keep your Bible in hand . . .

Should Christians Keep the Sabbath?

Jesus came to earth to deliver Christians from suffering.

I’ve heard that one before. In fact, I’ve heard it quite often. My question to those who think that is, “Where in the Bible are you getting your information?” Since the dawn of time, Christians have suffered. Scan the list of God’s saints and find one who didn’t suffer. Noah. Joseph. David. Job. Hosea. Isaiah. John the Baptist. Paul. Peter. I could go on.

Why do Christians suffer? Find out what Scripture says about it.

Why Do Christians Suffer?

In November, I went to the Oregon Coast and beheld the most unbelievable sunset.

Amazing, isn’t it?

It made me think of Romans 1:18-20, where Paul says that everyone is without excuse, because God’s attributes shine through clearly in nature. I think David must have been watching a similar sunset when he wrote this Psalm, because he says about the same thing.

¹The heavens declare the glory of God,
   and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
²Day to day pours out speech,
   and night to night reveals knowledge.
³There is no speech, nor are there words,
   whose voice is not heard.
⁴Their voice goes out through all the earth,
   and their words to the end of the world.

Psalm 19:1-4 (ESV)

We don’t need to physically hear God’s voice thundering out of the sky or see Him levitate someone to believe He’s real. We can look around and know.

The second half of the Psalm talks about the Bible. David didn’t have the entire Bible, but what he did have satisfied him. The Bible spoke to him of God, just like nature spoke to him of God. We have God’s entire Word, so we should never complain. If David found rest for his soul in the limited portion of God’s Word he had available to him, we should find complete and total satisfaction knowing that God’s mysteries have been revealed to us.

David knew that in God’s Word life and contentment could be found. We rely on our “progressive” universities filled with all-wise professors, our enlightened media, and the latest scientific advances for our wisdom. Well, scrap all that crap. God’s Word contains all we need for life and contentment.

⁷The law of the LORD is perfect,
   reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
   making wise the simple;
⁸the precepts of the LORD are right,
   rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
   enlightening the eyes;
⁹the fear of the LORD is clean,
   enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
   and righteous altogether.
¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold,
   even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
   and drippings of the honeycomb.
¹¹Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
   in keeping them there is great reward.

Psalm 19:7-11 (ESV)

This poem reminds us that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ.

Read it here.

God has a way of chasing us down. He pushes and pulls and draws us gently (or not so gently) toward Himself. As people with free will, we can resist, but why would we?

Yet we do.

B avoided God for years, but eventually answered His call.

Will you avoid Him? And for how long? He’s calling.

Read B’s testimony of God’s grace here.

When I first read this poem, I thought it described a father – from a son’s viewpoint. But when I contacted the author (our own dear Tim), I found out it he intended it to be a poetic representation of Timothy’s feelings toward Paul. So, we could say that it does very nearly describe a father / son relationship as Paul calls Timothy, “my beloved son.”

Enjoy reading A Finished Course.

As I browsed around, I happened upon an interesting site . . . called Clickfire. I’m still not 100% sure what it’s all about, but I’m enjoying my exploration. It appears to be a combination of webmaster tutorials (php, html, css), webhost reviews (what about Parcom?), free website tools . . . and, most importantly, it includes an amazing Christian testimony from Emory.

He gave me permission to post his testimony on truthsaves, so if you have a few minutes, you can read it here.

Bible study. Choir. Music. Sunday School. “Christian” activities often overshadow our relationship with God. Busyness trumps our relationship with the God of the Bible.

If the relationship is dead, the rest is meaningless.

Read our article entitled Focus on Jesus here.

Christmas. It’s almost here. We can focus on spending all our hard earned money in order to go deeply into debt so we can enjoy fighting an uphill battle to re-balance our finances for 2009, or we can focus on the real meaning of the season – Jesus Christ.

I choose the latter.

Tim’s written a poem describing a man with just this kind of focus – a man dedicated to knowing and finding His savior.

It’s called What Christmas Means to Me.