The Prophecy Answer Book

Prophecy can be a scary word. It has been one for years for me. I have always struggled to see what I have to do with prophecy and what prophecy has to do with me. What does it all mean? Why should I be concerned about it?
If you are anything like me, then David Jeremiah's Prophecy Answer Book is for you.
Dr. Jeremiah is an expert on Biblical prophecy and an eloquent writer who makes the word "prophecy" seem a lot less intimidating. He smoothly addresses the issues that many people wonder about--current events, the rapture, the antichrist, the tribulation, the second coming, etc.
This book was a breath of fresh air for me. Dr. Jeremiah doesn't beat around the bush with abstract answers and allegorical references, and leaves little to the imagination. He comes right out and clearly answers big questions and little questions alike.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to learn more about Biblical prophecy and the end times.




I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson. I was not required to write a positive review. All of the descriptions and opinions of this book written above are my own.

The Jesus You Can't Ignore by John MacArthur

We live in an age where truth is a blurry subject. Postmodernism tells you to make your own truth. Jesus tells us something completely different.

In The Jesus You Can’t Ignore, John MacArthur shows us how relentless Jesus was about defending the truth. Instead of being soft and “hearing people out,” Jesus would call out the religious leaders of the day about their misconceptions of the truth. The Bible tells us in Jude 3 to “contend earnestly for the faith.” As “nice” and “loving” and dare I even say, “Christlike” as it seems to try to reason with people with different worldviews, that’s the absolute opposite of what Jesus did.

I will be honest and say that this book, from the second that I opened it, was a challenge to read. It shatters everything I have been taught, that you should just accept what other people believe, and love it out of them. Initially, I was wary because I thought that MacArthur was going on the attack against people. That’s not the case. His tone is perfect. Additionally, as long as one is a believer in God’s word, MacArthur’s argument is irrefutable. The whole entire book is chock full of Biblical examples in which Jesus is bolder and harsher than we normally choose to believe.

That said, read this book. Let it shatter your perception of how “nice” Jesus really is. Let the Holy Spirit show you how absolute the truth of God really is.

I guess I've been a bit of a blogger lately.
There has been a lot going on...and I feel like writing about it.
First off, I have noticed something. I've noticed that in a lot of Christian culture, we do this thing. "Oh, we need to learn to hear God." or, "Oh, we've been so sinful." or, "Ohhhh, that we would seek His face."
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with seeing the need for improvement in our walks with God...that's totally good. Seriously. And maybe it's just me, but I'm not a fan of a "prophetic worship song" called "We have been Prodigals."
Maybe I'm not looking at the big picture, and maybe there is stuff going on that I don't know about behind that song, but I am pretty sure that a lot of people aren't as bad as they think. Maybe it's comparison syndrome. I don't know--but I sure do that a lot. "Man, this guy is so full of the Word. I need to get into the Word." Or, "Oh man, that guy's new song is totally what God wants to say right now. I need to seek God and write a song like that." Maybe, though, God wanted THAT guy to write that song. And God always wants us to grow in our knowledge of His word, but I think that having an "I-need-to-be-as-much-as-this-person" kind of attitude is the wrong one.
I have come to the realization (or well, God has shown me, along with my church, we're learning this as a family) that our approach, if we want to be successful in understanding what the Bible has to say, has to be that of a son/daughter. We are ALREADY loved, affirmed, accepted, supported by family, all that stuff that our human souls so desperately need, that's ALREADY provided. I lost my train of thought, time for bed....

Do you care to know what gets me worked up more than a lot of things? It is, in fact, the reason I am studying psychology in college right now.
I have a buddy who I work with that I constantly feel like I'm on thin ice with. I have always felt like this guy keeps my life under a microscope and so any time I screw up, he knows it and if I ever try to give him advice or tell him I think he should do something, he began to throw those mistakes back at me. Now, don't get me wrong, we're cool right now...but I just hate the fact that if he comments on my facebook status saying "ridiculous" I can't tell if he's serious or if he's just being silly. And I wish my life wasn't such a big deal to this guy. Everything's a big deal--at least it was--if I couldn't hang out, it was always "Dude, why?" and when I said it was to hang out with my family, he would always say that I was his family and that I "never spend time with him."
It has always been difficult thinking about my friendship with him after thinking about some of my friendships at church...(oh yeah, this guy will tell you he's a Christian, I'm not trying to take away from that, but...) because, let's make a situation.
After church, a friend asks me if I want to go see a movie. "Not today man, I can't really afford it." "Okay man, that's cool!"
After work, this friend asks me if I want to see a movie. "Nah man, I really can't afford it." "Oh my gosh...you have 4,000 dollars in the bank. You're so selfish man. You never hang out."

Granted, a lot of this has changed. I have confronted him and sparks flew, and that's part of why its so weird now. I want to be his friend, and I love the guy to death. He's a special guy. He has his issues like anyone, but I like him, but I don't want to give the impression like I have no other friends or family (another thing I have told him.)

Anyway, I don't know why I really brought that up, but I did...

I'm a Steelers fan. I like a lot of teams, actually, but when it comes down, I'm a Steelers fan. The Steelers are a very hated team. So somehow, I get crap about them.
The thing that keeps me from being really passionate about sports is all of the pride. Pride of the players as well as the pride of the fans. The fans are worse though--they are bragging on something they don't and can't control. I know a lot of Bengals fans--one in particular is very hating of the Steelers. This year was a bit rough given that the Steelers lost both contests with the Bengals.
Now, what I'm getting at here is that the thing that goes hand in hand with pride in sports is disrespect. It's like, keep your hate. I don't want to hear about how great you think your team is and how crappy you think my team is. That's what I really don't like. And I'm as bad as any about hating teams, because I could list a few that make me red in the face. But I do my best to not rub in losses, or even mention them, because I know that not all sports fans are competitive (I'm not, for one) and you're likely to irritate someone like that.
I think that's all...

Long time no write...long time need to write. I think I've almost moved on from journaling, but I guess it's still kinda cool.

Have you ever made a "Lord, change me here" kind of list?
I have one of those. I never really write them down, but it's stuff I keep in my head that sometimes comes up, but usually remains unrepeated and then, without realizing it, God really does it. Stuff like giving me a work ethic...it's usually not a magical moment when all of a sudden I'm entirely different, but something that happens over a few weeks of going to work and class and doing my best and then realizing that's all I can really do.
Anyway, what's on the list right now is something like this, "Lord, change my fear of the future/Lord, change my fear of being someone I'm not."
A good friend of mine and I have talked about stuff we want to do, one of which is to write a movie/TV show, which is actually what I'm going to school for. I am still scared of stereotypes, though...I don't want to JUST be a writer, you know? I am scared of that being what defines me. As Paul says, I don't want to have confidence in the flesh.
I want to be a Christian first and foremost, and a writer second.
Maybe it doesn't make much sense, but oh well.

I'm having one of those mind-racing days again, some days I get to cleaning the kitchen and when there's no music or television making noise, I just get to thinking.
Last night at the membership class (I finally became a member of the church I've called home for five years now, ha) we got to talking about the core values of the church and one of them (and there was discussion) was moderation in our lives and in worship. How we're not about one person yelling and screaming and wailing (which I really liked talking about, ha) but if we're gonna shout, we all do, and overall we don't want to create an environment belittling (I think the word my pastor used was ostricising or something like that..) anyone who doesn't scream or run or shout all the time.
And then my pastor's wife (who is also considered a/the pastor) talked about how it was kind of a culture shock when she went from being a youth pastor to being a pastor pastor because in youth ministry, everyone is expected to be radical and on fire and stuff, and then to approach this concept of moderation was kind of weird. (that was totally a run-on sentence.)
And that made me smile, because I've been thinking about youth ministry these past few days (I spose it's been about a week, I played at FCA last monday..) and you're telling these young people that they need to stand up for Jesus Christ, and then if they don't get the chance to, they feel bad, because they haven't made some huge impact for Jesus on their culture.
And I was one of those. All through high school, I was trying to do some big stand-up-for-Jesus thing. I have never led one person to Jesus, especially not in high school. And I hate to say it, but high school is nothing like real life so it's kind of hard to imagine doing so.
I mean, I am proof that what we're trying to do in youth ministry isn't exactly working. Well, it's working in the long run. But I mean, the best thing I learned was keep going to church and survive high school, and then the world gets real. But then, at the same time, it's a culture shock. The only thing I could teach young people is 'go to your church, pay attention, and get through high school.' but that's not enough. That's not life.
What I'm trying to say is--how can we REALLY reach youth? How do you REALLY teach them to be like Jesus? How can you preach and teach a very very real gospel to an atmosphere where everything is plastic? It's really something that only God can do. And since I have no idea where to start, I'll just pray.