Monday, October 29, 2018
Little Artist Boy
Wow I haven't been here in a while. So much has changed from then till now. I cannot even believe how much is different. I hope to talk more about some of the stuff that fills my mind as I don't have many options to bounce ideas off of. I Still can't believe I am here doing this life and doing what I do. I still look back and think of what could have been, the tours, the people, the music and the passion. As each year goes by I feel a piece of me gets quieter and quieter inside. The artist gets smaller and smaller as life goes on and I do not know how I feel about that. I do know much of the inspiration goes when life is going well. So many years since the young boy was clawing through life trying to find a place. But I still am that same boy inside, he still lives here. I feel he doesn't have a voice as if he comes out so many are frightened of him. I have discovered he can still live while I live, its just different now. When I see a similar spirit as myself , he lights up inside and is dazzled by what he sees , but there is not much room for a troubled artist boy in the real world. The real world is relentless and keeps you in check, in control and is a punisher. There is still so many thoughts and ideas in my head, they never stop, they dreams and the visions still remain only they are not practical and she doesn't have use for them anymore. Its ironic cause he is the reason she fell in love and now he is locked away in the basement and cannot come out to play. What will become of the little artist boy...…..
Thursday, May 2, 2013
I'M BACK !!!!!!!!!!!
After a 3 year hiatus from the blogosphere, i am back with a fresh approach to things. Alot has changed in the world and i am going to write more honestly and more real. I may make some uncomfortable, but it will not be intentional. I just want to discuss all things that intrigue me and interest me. stay tuned it's gonna get REAL !!!!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Jesus Victory over Sin and Death empowers us THROUGH Grace to Overcome Sin....
So Now that we are under Grace, how do we deal with Sin. We know we are forgiven and are in Right standing with God through the Gift of Righteousness, but how do we deal with the temptations that present to us..........good question coming soon
Monday, March 15, 2010
Is the Church AFRAID of Sin?........or afraid of GRACE
I have had the benefit of some wonderful fellowship in discussions over the Grace message ( ohh no not grace....). I was raised in a church that taught me the Grace message from the writings of the apostle Paul ( MY HERO..which i will explain later). I was shown how FREE we truly are in Grace as is clearly demonstrated over and over again in the Bible by Paul. Unfortunately, over the past 20 plus years, i have had not one subject cause as much controversy as the Grace message. It seems that when you discuss God's Free Grace, the church wans to put limits on that grace. I will attempt to explain where i stand on this issue and hope and pray that all who read this can come to the undersatnding of how no message is more important that this message. I believe with my whole heart that the devil does NOT want this message to get out.
I was first exposed to the Grace message by Charles Swindoll over 20 years ago and it blew my mind and changed my life course permanently. Mr. Swindoll showed me a side of God i did not think could exist. That this loving God did not just send his son to pay the price for my sins , but to TOTALLY eliminate them from my life or the payment needed for them. This message touched me in such away that i was determined to LIVE for this GOD. however as a young teenager i encountered many preachers and christians who would always seem to want to put limits on God's grace saying things like " well Grace is good, but you need obedience too" , this was very frustrating as it was not in line from what my findings were in the Bible. I saw a Jesus who preached the "Good News" that had come to set the captives free, yet i was running into bondage and causing myself to struggle with this for years. As i grew older in my twenties i rediscovered the fire for the Grace message as i encountered a false preacher of sorts who questioned my theology on the all encomapssing Liberating Grace message. I must have went through a hundred scriptures that showed how we were set FREE from sin. " Christ died to sin ONCE for all" and also Romans 5:17 "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" and many , many more. Even at my worst times in my mid twenties, when i was not living as i should , i never once felt distant from God. I knew that the way i was living was wrong, but knew that it did not seperate me from God's Love or Grace towards me. God loved me enough to let me find my path to my destiny!.
Even when i was living out my own personal ecclesiastes i did not stop preaching God's grace to the lost , in fact even in those times i led many people to the Lord , showing them a all forgiving and grace filled Lord. If i had not been raised in Grace , i am sure i would not have been preaching to those formerly lost souls, instead i would have been preoccupied with my lack of "law keeping" lifestyle. I would have been so filled with guilt and condemnation over my lack of "living good" i would have never mentioned God or even worse never preached him to anyone. But i did and remember one party i led two girls to the lord who were blown away by a God who would not be a "sourpuss" and loved them unconditionally and just wanted a relationship with them, even with a few drinks in them. Do i reccomend this way of lifestyle absolutely not and in fact my (poor)choices delayed my now current blessed overabundant prosperity for some years. I do beleive that God turns everything into a blessing and i have been able to reach even more people for the lord than if i had not gone through that.
Jesus talked about the parable of the person who was forgiven much, that who would appreciate the forgiveness more, even back then they knew that ther one who has been forgiven more would appreciate it more. regardless if we have lived an immoral life or a so called "good" life we all have fallen short in God's eyes without Jesus. But i still do beleive it is easier for a person who has been forgiven much to appreciate and have the FULL revelation of God's Grace.
So what does all this mean? i believe unfortunatley the church is scared of SIN.. i believe that many preachers and christians believe that if they fully preach Grace as it is discssed in the Bible the church will go out and live a licentious lifestyle or have a "licesne" to sin!. I totally disagree, let me make it Crystal Clear , i HATE sin, it destroys lives, marriages, families and many other things BUT i believe that in order for the Church to reach it potential and its full understanding of who we TRULY ARE IN JESUS, and change the world!!.. grace needs to be taught!
If you remember the movie "lean on me " with morgan freeman. Freemans character changed a school from one of the worst to a success. in one scene he sees the cafeteria with cages around everything and he says "if you want people to stop acting like animals..stop treating them like animals". This is a great point echoed by a therapy model i use in psychotherapy called the "strengths based model" it is used in a number of situations where it takes the focus off of the patient from what they CAN'T do to what they CAN do!. This is i believe the message that the Grace message is trying to show us. That when we focus on ourselves and what WE are doing right or wrong it takes the focus off of Jesus and what he HAS done for us!. The strngths based model of therapy is very , very succesful and has worked for years in prisons and in substabnce abuse to marriage counseling.
So what does the Bible have to say about our RIGHT STANDING : Romans 3:24 (Amplified Bible)
[All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus
Romans 6:11 (Amplified Bible)
Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus
1 Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified Bible)
But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin].
1 Corinthians 1:2 (Amplified Bible)
Interesting note addressed to a church who was disobedient in so many ways ! He praised!!!!!them and called them HOLY!!
2To the church (assembly) of God which is in Corinth, to those consecrated and purified and made holy in Christ Jesus, [who are] selected and called to be saints (God's people), together with all those who in any place call upon and give honor to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Galatians 2:16 (Amplified Bible)
16Yet we know that a man is justified or reckoned righteous and in right standing with God not by works of the Law, but [only] through faith and [absolute] reliance on and adherence to and trust in Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). [Therefore] even we [ourselves] have believed on Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law [for we cannot be justified by any observance of the ritual of the Law given by Moses], because by keeping legal rituals and by works no human being can ever be justified (declared righteous and put in right standing with God).
Those are just a few of the many, many , many scriptures that talk about our RIGHT STANDING with God, so how did the church get to the point where we seem to be afraid of our status with GOD?
I beleive the biggest culprit is two areas 1, is the 1 John 1:9 scripture. this scripture i beleive is the most misunderstood scripture in the Bible. the letter was writing to the Gnostics who were basically saying they didnt need any forgiveness of sins because they didnt have sin. this was NOT written to the church it was describing how PRE JESUS we had all sinned and we had an advocate the father to forgive us. you might be shocked let me explain this further. lets use our brains here for a minute . I was taught by many that when we sinned we had to just repent and we would be forgiven sounds good right?...wrong. NO ONE can repent for every single sin they do all the time. We sin many times and do not even remember those? the Bible describes sin as anyhting that lacks faith, so in essence if i doubt that God will come through in a situation thats sin..According to that logic we would spend ALL our days repenting and getting NOTHING doen for the Lord. lets thing about it in an even deeper situation, lets take it to the extreme. Lets say i am a devoted Christian who has led many people to the Lord and served diligently and by some awful temptation i cheated on my wife and in the midst of fornicating i died of a heart attack ( which happens...i worked in a hospital and have heard it all), but i didnt get chance to repent for that ATROCIOUS sin...am i going to Hell because i didnt repent???????. That is NOT biblical. so why is it taught? i beleive that ishow the devil works takes one scripture and makes a doctrine out of it and makes the church forget all the hundreds of other scriptures that say we are forgiven...ITS MADNESS!!!!!!!!.
I propose a different theology ( thats biblical) that RIGHT LIVING AND DOING is a FRUIT! when we know we are forgiven...we are so grateful that we want to live right and Gods GRACE empowers us to Live right. because PAUL stated this when he said "the things i know i should do, i dont...etc" even paul couldnt do it in his flesh. The flesh is powerless against sin and to say we can abstain in the power of our flesh is to lessen what JESUS did on the cross!!!. I believe that when the church truly realizes the freedom they have been given we will no longer see people skipping out on church after a saturday night out on the town, or hanging their heads on sunday after a fight with their spouse on the way to church. No they will no that they HAVE been forgiven and will move forward and will be changed from the inside out by GOD, not by our flesh. example how many times have you and i tried to STOP doing something, seems like i can resist for a little while, but then i always fall back into it, however when i say JESUS i CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT YOUR POWER, he is right there to eliminate it out of our lives. When we make Jesus thr center of our life and give up our control and will , he changes us from the inside and makes achange that STICKS!!!.
But what about the LAW and all the laws that describe bad stuff. good point however the Bible describes the LAW as being fullfilled and also Paul states that The strength of sin is the law." 1 Cor. 15:56. The law was given to bring us to the end of ourselves, to show us WE CANT'T and JESUS can!!!!.
What about Abraham he was under a covenat of GRACE and lived a far from perfect walk, yet he was accounted to righteousness and God called him a friend? in fact that covenant of grace extended up until mt sinai, notice how the jews complained and grumbled and not one person died up until mt sinai before the law was given. God constantly blessed them , because of GRACE!!!!!!. no one died until the LAW was asked for and given.
My friends we have been given the most precious gift God has ever known his UNMERITED FAVOR!. we are free, free, free, free, free to follow after God with our full desire , free from guolt of our mistakes. We are not on a system of Meritocracy, where we get what we earn , no we are given ALL because of WHAT was given for US. We LOVE, because he loved us , when we were not worthy of anything. Do not get caught up in the fear that christians will go crazy with a "license to sin" notice as J osteen says " they sin even without a license".
Enjoy God's Grace and do not put limits and rules on it, i urge you to do a comprehensive study on God's Grace. God is not a double minded man, he cannot say in one scripture we are free from sin and then in another say we have to "work" for it in another. we need to use our brains here. again i will state this I HATE SIN!!! it has caused NO benefits in my life and live my life depending og God's grace to carry the yoke of sin in my life. Because i have this FREEDOM, when i do miss the mark i do not hide from GOD, instead i THANK him i AM forgiven and seek him , like i never missed a step. I will give you a personal glimpse into my life. I recently "missed the mark" and thanked God for his Grace and my Righteousness based on Jesus's work and not my own and was able to minister to a sick child at my work and Lay hands on him and preach to his family. If i had been "caught" up in my "sin", and been focused on how bad i was by doing that "sin" this young man and family would have missed an opprtunity for GOD"S LOVING KINDNESS in their lives. I do NOT say this for a pat on my back , but rather to show you the importance of GRACE and how it empowers us to WALK after GOD FREELY and with BOLDNESS!!! GOD Bless!!
I was first exposed to the Grace message by Charles Swindoll over 20 years ago and it blew my mind and changed my life course permanently. Mr. Swindoll showed me a side of God i did not think could exist. That this loving God did not just send his son to pay the price for my sins , but to TOTALLY eliminate them from my life or the payment needed for them. This message touched me in such away that i was determined to LIVE for this GOD. however as a young teenager i encountered many preachers and christians who would always seem to want to put limits on God's grace saying things like " well Grace is good, but you need obedience too" , this was very frustrating as it was not in line from what my findings were in the Bible. I saw a Jesus who preached the "Good News" that had come to set the captives free, yet i was running into bondage and causing myself to struggle with this for years. As i grew older in my twenties i rediscovered the fire for the Grace message as i encountered a false preacher of sorts who questioned my theology on the all encomapssing Liberating Grace message. I must have went through a hundred scriptures that showed how we were set FREE from sin. " Christ died to sin ONCE for all" and also Romans 5:17 "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" and many , many more. Even at my worst times in my mid twenties, when i was not living as i should , i never once felt distant from God. I knew that the way i was living was wrong, but knew that it did not seperate me from God's Love or Grace towards me. God loved me enough to let me find my path to my destiny!.
Even when i was living out my own personal ecclesiastes i did not stop preaching God's grace to the lost , in fact even in those times i led many people to the Lord , showing them a all forgiving and grace filled Lord. If i had not been raised in Grace , i am sure i would not have been preaching to those formerly lost souls, instead i would have been preoccupied with my lack of "law keeping" lifestyle. I would have been so filled with guilt and condemnation over my lack of "living good" i would have never mentioned God or even worse never preached him to anyone. But i did and remember one party i led two girls to the lord who were blown away by a God who would not be a "sourpuss" and loved them unconditionally and just wanted a relationship with them, even with a few drinks in them. Do i reccomend this way of lifestyle absolutely not and in fact my (poor)choices delayed my now current blessed overabundant prosperity for some years. I do beleive that God turns everything into a blessing and i have been able to reach even more people for the lord than if i had not gone through that.
Jesus talked about the parable of the person who was forgiven much, that who would appreciate the forgiveness more, even back then they knew that ther one who has been forgiven more would appreciate it more. regardless if we have lived an immoral life or a so called "good" life we all have fallen short in God's eyes without Jesus. But i still do beleive it is easier for a person who has been forgiven much to appreciate and have the FULL revelation of God's Grace.
So what does all this mean? i believe unfortunatley the church is scared of SIN.. i believe that many preachers and christians believe that if they fully preach Grace as it is discssed in the Bible the church will go out and live a licentious lifestyle or have a "licesne" to sin!. I totally disagree, let me make it Crystal Clear , i HATE sin, it destroys lives, marriages, families and many other things BUT i believe that in order for the Church to reach it potential and its full understanding of who we TRULY ARE IN JESUS, and change the world!!.. grace needs to be taught!
If you remember the movie "lean on me " with morgan freeman. Freemans character changed a school from one of the worst to a success. in one scene he sees the cafeteria with cages around everything and he says "if you want people to stop acting like animals..stop treating them like animals". This is a great point echoed by a therapy model i use in psychotherapy called the "strengths based model" it is used in a number of situations where it takes the focus off of the patient from what they CAN'T do to what they CAN do!. This is i believe the message that the Grace message is trying to show us. That when we focus on ourselves and what WE are doing right or wrong it takes the focus off of Jesus and what he HAS done for us!. The strngths based model of therapy is very , very succesful and has worked for years in prisons and in substabnce abuse to marriage counseling.
So what does the Bible have to say about our RIGHT STANDING : Romans 3:24 (Amplified Bible)
[All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus
Romans 6:11 (Amplified Bible)
Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus
1 Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified Bible)
But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin].
1 Corinthians 1:2 (Amplified Bible)
Interesting note addressed to a church who was disobedient in so many ways ! He praised!!!!!them and called them HOLY!!
2To the church (assembly) of God which is in Corinth, to those consecrated and purified and made holy in Christ Jesus, [who are] selected and called to be saints (God's people), together with all those who in any place call upon and give honor to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Galatians 2:16 (Amplified Bible)
16Yet we know that a man is justified or reckoned righteous and in right standing with God not by works of the Law, but [only] through faith and [absolute] reliance on and adherence to and trust in Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). [Therefore] even we [ourselves] have believed on Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law [for we cannot be justified by any observance of the ritual of the Law given by Moses], because by keeping legal rituals and by works no human being can ever be justified (declared righteous and put in right standing with God).
Those are just a few of the many, many , many scriptures that talk about our RIGHT STANDING with God, so how did the church get to the point where we seem to be afraid of our status with GOD?
I beleive the biggest culprit is two areas 1, is the 1 John 1:9 scripture. this scripture i beleive is the most misunderstood scripture in the Bible. the letter was writing to the Gnostics who were basically saying they didnt need any forgiveness of sins because they didnt have sin. this was NOT written to the church it was describing how PRE JESUS we had all sinned and we had an advocate the father to forgive us. you might be shocked let me explain this further. lets use our brains here for a minute . I was taught by many that when we sinned we had to just repent and we would be forgiven sounds good right?...wrong. NO ONE can repent for every single sin they do all the time. We sin many times and do not even remember those? the Bible describes sin as anyhting that lacks faith, so in essence if i doubt that God will come through in a situation thats sin..According to that logic we would spend ALL our days repenting and getting NOTHING doen for the Lord. lets thing about it in an even deeper situation, lets take it to the extreme. Lets say i am a devoted Christian who has led many people to the Lord and served diligently and by some awful temptation i cheated on my wife and in the midst of fornicating i died of a heart attack ( which happens...i worked in a hospital and have heard it all), but i didnt get chance to repent for that ATROCIOUS sin...am i going to Hell because i didnt repent???????. That is NOT biblical. so why is it taught? i beleive that ishow the devil works takes one scripture and makes a doctrine out of it and makes the church forget all the hundreds of other scriptures that say we are forgiven...ITS MADNESS!!!!!!!!.
I propose a different theology ( thats biblical) that RIGHT LIVING AND DOING is a FRUIT! when we know we are forgiven...we are so grateful that we want to live right and Gods GRACE empowers us to Live right. because PAUL stated this when he said "the things i know i should do, i dont...etc" even paul couldnt do it in his flesh. The flesh is powerless against sin and to say we can abstain in the power of our flesh is to lessen what JESUS did on the cross!!!. I believe that when the church truly realizes the freedom they have been given we will no longer see people skipping out on church after a saturday night out on the town, or hanging their heads on sunday after a fight with their spouse on the way to church. No they will no that they HAVE been forgiven and will move forward and will be changed from the inside out by GOD, not by our flesh. example how many times have you and i tried to STOP doing something, seems like i can resist for a little while, but then i always fall back into it, however when i say JESUS i CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT YOUR POWER, he is right there to eliminate it out of our lives. When we make Jesus thr center of our life and give up our control and will , he changes us from the inside and makes achange that STICKS!!!.
But what about the LAW and all the laws that describe bad stuff. good point however the Bible describes the LAW as being fullfilled and also Paul states that The strength of sin is the law." 1 Cor. 15:56. The law was given to bring us to the end of ourselves, to show us WE CANT'T and JESUS can!!!!.
What about Abraham he was under a covenat of GRACE and lived a far from perfect walk, yet he was accounted to righteousness and God called him a friend? in fact that covenant of grace extended up until mt sinai, notice how the jews complained and grumbled and not one person died up until mt sinai before the law was given. God constantly blessed them , because of GRACE!!!!!!. no one died until the LAW was asked for and given.
My friends we have been given the most precious gift God has ever known his UNMERITED FAVOR!. we are free, free, free, free, free to follow after God with our full desire , free from guolt of our mistakes. We are not on a system of Meritocracy, where we get what we earn , no we are given ALL because of WHAT was given for US. We LOVE, because he loved us , when we were not worthy of anything. Do not get caught up in the fear that christians will go crazy with a "license to sin" notice as J osteen says " they sin even without a license".
Enjoy God's Grace and do not put limits and rules on it, i urge you to do a comprehensive study on God's Grace. God is not a double minded man, he cannot say in one scripture we are free from sin and then in another say we have to "work" for it in another. we need to use our brains here. again i will state this I HATE SIN!!! it has caused NO benefits in my life and live my life depending og God's grace to carry the yoke of sin in my life. Because i have this FREEDOM, when i do miss the mark i do not hide from GOD, instead i THANK him i AM forgiven and seek him , like i never missed a step. I will give you a personal glimpse into my life. I recently "missed the mark" and thanked God for his Grace and my Righteousness based on Jesus's work and not my own and was able to minister to a sick child at my work and Lay hands on him and preach to his family. If i had been "caught" up in my "sin", and been focused on how bad i was by doing that "sin" this young man and family would have missed an opprtunity for GOD"S LOVING KINDNESS in their lives. I do NOT say this for a pat on my back , but rather to show you the importance of GRACE and how it empowers us to WALK after GOD FREELY and with BOLDNESS!!! GOD Bless!!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Apple iPhone 3GS vs. Palm Pre: In Real Life
Okay so i have been away for awhile sorry. I have been very busy changing jobs and lost track alittle. I just switched carrier and went to sprint to buy the Palm Pre. This phone is AMAZING. I will not buy an Iphone for a few reasons: 1.NO PHYSICAL QWERTY don't listen to the apple fanboys who say it is fine..bologna its not the same. 2 i dont like apple and their pursuit of world domination. I do thank them for raising the bar as the Iphone is a great, great phone. . I however went with Sprint because i was on Verizon and while there service is stellar they SUCK!!!!!. they cripple their phones with there own crappy UI's and make you pay for every little thing. My plan on sprint woud cost me $209 dollars a month on verizon, $129 on sprint for 2 phones with unlimited everything!!!!!. But back to the Pre it amazing the multitasking is reason alone, yyou can have multiple tasks open at once and the spring gps is EXREMELY GOOD and ACCURATE. but never mind me read this great honest review
Apple iPhone 3GS vs. Palm Pre: In Real Life
Posted using ShareThis
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
New Power Chords
Chords: New Power Chords
We often play power chords on the E-A-D or the A-D-G - the thicker and lower strings. This gives a great bottom-end chunk to the song, and the notes used in power chords (the 1st and the 5th notes) give the chord an open feeling, adding further power to it. For the unfamiliar, we often play the C power chord as such:
---------
---------
-----5---
-10--5---
-10--3---
-8-------
However, to give more textures and colors the song try playing chords on the upper registers, but many of us do not know how to use the thinner strings, the E, B, G, and D strings to play power chords. Here's how, using the C power chord again:
-----8---
-13--8---
-12--5---
-10------
---------
---------
I often use this for the chorus if there are two electric guitars, so that the guitars don't duplicate one another. Even if you're playing alone, you can use this to bring up the dynamics of the song, and this works especially well if you do this with while sweeping (by slowly depressing up and down) your wah.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
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