Here is a link to a video a friend sent to me today.  The video has a message which clearly shows a non-believer’s point of view, but the same words shown again in reverse show how that view is changed when they become a believer.  Good job!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIKPeggcOeg 

Today, I woke up thinking about the greatness of God.  In particular, Him being eternal, having always existed and will always exist.  We think in terms of time regardless how we look at things.  For example, we can comprehend always existing from one point and forever into the future, but to think of God who has always existed in the past makes the noodle hurt.

God is forever in both directions, past and future.  He has always been just like He is today and has never changed.  Many of us tend to think that God started everything with the creation of the earth, our beginning, but God has always been in the past.  Go back 100 billion years and God is there, go back 100 trillion years and God is still there, go back 100 trillion years times 100 trillion years and God is still there.

The thought that was in my mind this morning was that there never was a “first” thing God did.  He always has existed, so there never was a “start” to His work.  What did God create first?  You might be tempted to think about the creation account in Genesis, but what about before that?  It is all relative to something that is based on time, like our universe, something inside the realm of time, but God lives outside the realm of time, which is hard, if not impossible for our brains to comprehend.

God has a Kingdom that is also eternal, it has always been and will always be since He is eternal.  But since God never had a beginning, there was no “beginning” to His Kingdom.  We have no idea what God has created in the past, long before He created our universe.  Boy, will it be great when we get to heaven and find out how all this works ;)

I once heard of something very simple, but also very deep. You know how we use the phrase, “oh, it just dawned on me” or something surprised us?  Well, “Nothing has ever dawned on God”, He has all knowledge, He knows everything past and future, you cannot surprise God.

When we realize that we know very little about God and His greatness, it surely should bring comfort to us, realizing that He is more than enough for any issue that should come into our lives and God would choose to love us so much.

Evangelicals had to vote for Obama to allow him into office.  Time to open your eyes and see what you have done and it is only Day 2!

“U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday will lift restrictions on U.S. government funding for groups that provide abortion services or counselling abroad, reversing a policy of his Republican predecessor George W. Bush, an administration official said.” - [More]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE50M4WJ20090123

And that kind of goes along with empowering what the FDA did today, the innocent unborn will soon be a big cash crop:

“The first human trial using embryonic stem cells as a medical treatment has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.” - [More]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/23/AR2009012302168.html

“As the new Obama administration swings into action, at least 11 high-level LGBT appointees appear poised to join the effort.” - [More]

http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20247266&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=568864&rfi=6

“Another controversial clergyman who delivered a prayer at one of the inaugural events was Rev. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. The selection of Robinson as the church's bishop for New Hampshire has divided the Episcopal church, with entire congregations withdrawing from the U.S. Episcopal Church and realigning themselves with the more traditional Anglican Province of Uganda. Robinson delivered the invocation on January 18 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Some observers speculated whether the Robinson pick was an attempt by the Obama team to pacify homosexuals alienated by the Warren selection

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/election/706

Homosexuals will soon be serving openly in the military as Obama overturns Clinton’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policies.  But how is this all coming about, who’s fault is it?  The Christian community is the one at fault, as I mentioned before, if it were not for those who “Claim” to be Christian voting for him, he would not be in office.  It is hard for me to understand why any real Christian voted for a man that supports late term murder of children and forcing homosexual superior rights upon everyone.  Some have elevated color or other issues (such as their own economic well being)  above God and that violates the first commandment, they have exchange their own god for one true God and woe unto them unless they repent!

We may have once been a Christian nation but with all those churches throughout our nation that have fallen into compliancy, refusing to preach the truth and calling people to repentance, instead they just add more programs to their schedule to make everyone feel good.  They have exchanged the term “condemnation for ”“conviction” allowing their flocks to continue in sin without any conviction.  It it time to wake up! 

You think maybe I am too strong on this and that the nation is fine?  Check this out:

“In a CBS News Poll conducted in early 1993, 56 percent opposed the idea. And just as many people (42 percent) opposed even allowing homosexuals to serve - not even if they kept their sexual orientation a secret - as favored permitting it. Today, though, only 17 percent of Americans oppose allowing gays to serve at all.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/21/opinion/pollpositions/main4744165.shtml

Now only 17% of Americans are Christians?  Probably far less than that!!!

Obama is in office for one reason only, the nation has become so evil and corrupt that this is the type of ruler God has put over us.  God is calling us to repent! It is time for all those that claim to be believers to repent and turn from our evil ways.  It is time to shut off the TV and turn to God’s Word.  It is time to get out and proclaim the Truth regardless if people are offended.  It is time for those of us who claim Christ in our heart to seek out the Lord and spend time with Him, to break up our hardened hearts and let God’s nature flow through us!

With less that 17% of the nation being Christian, we have a HUGE mission field right here in the USA.  It is time to wake up and change the nation, it is time for the lost to be brought in and those that have turned from God to repent and be restored back to God where they belong.  It is a call for action, are you ready??

It is hard to understand how a debate about homosexual acts ever came into the Christian Church.  Scriptures are clear right?

Well here are some, what do you think? :

Lev 18:22-25 ~ Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 
Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. 
Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:  And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.

Lev 20:13  If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Some might say this was under the Law and not applicable today under Grace.  Well then:

Rom 1:26-27 ~ For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

There is also a passage that some translations translate “Effeminate” as “Homosexual” such as the NIV, Amplified, New Living, etc:

1Co 6:9-10 ~ Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Some will point out about Sodom and Gomorrah and say the real reason for their destruction was not for the perversions such as homosexuality, but rather because of their lack of hospitability.  Scripture is clear again:

Jud 1:6-7 ~  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.  Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.  

Yes, “Strange Flesh” is translated often to “homosexuality”.

People who wish to justify homosexuality for either themselves or people they know or those they wish not to offend, often will say this is not enough, that the passages or too vague.  How much clearer can Rom 1:26-27 above be?  Even this passage some try to say is just talking about lust and not about homosexual sin.  Many years ago, I had a great Pastor, Cliff Kahl that said over and over and over, that “the flesh will justify ANYTHING if we want it bad enough”.  This happens every day in Churches all over the world.

Back in September 2008, when Ray Boltz admitted to “being” homosexual, he said that he always thought the Church had it all wrong about homosexuality and that they were probably wrong about other things too.  See how opening the door to one sin, he then opens it to reject the parts he wants to reject?  This is a man who has done so many wonderful things for the Kingdom of God, but finds himself living in openly gay lifestyle and for what?  Inside, his flesh had to justify the lust he felt even at the cost of his family, work for God and even his own soul until he repents, along with all those that will be weakened in their faith who looked up to him (although I pray and believe that.God will restore him again to the faith once the sin has run its course).  That is the power of justifying your flesh at the cost of God’s Word.

Another commonly used comment you will hear from people choosing that sin, is that they are “born that way”.  Ray Boltz said that God would not send him to hell because God created him that way and that he was only being want God created him to be.  This is another step of deception.  With such statements you invalidate what you believe about God, by thinking God would create a person and force on them a sin which He has already clearly condemned as an abomination.  No matter what anyone tells you, to commit a homosexual sin is just as much choice as any other sin which God condemns!  You are not born to live a life of fornication, nor a life as a liar, nor a life as an adulterer, it is all by choice and when you make the wrong choices, God will condemn them.

Look at the Lev 18:22-25 reference, it says that the nations which were being destroyed before Israel where polluted with these sins and that is why God was driving them out.  It had nothing to do with the Law, He had not given those other nations The Law.  God did not make mankind to be with the same sex and it is a perversion of His creation to do so.  Nothing can change this, the homosexual act is sin regardless of how look at it!

Great Deception?

While it takes several different deceptions to try justifying the act of homosexuality, there is a greater deception, that it is “who they are”!  People approach the act of homosexuality as an all or nothing view.  That is, people are considered to BE a homosexual and thus move with abandonment to the “homosexual community”.  At some point they realize the ARE a homosexual as if there are something different from the rest of people on the planet.  It is this abandonment into the “Lifestyle” which changes the mindset and enforces this great deception.

There is no different between for a  person who commits a homosexual act than a  person who commits adultery, it is simply a sin of choice like anything else and as such can be repented of and forgiven.  While a person who commits adultery is sometimes referred to as an “adulterer” that does not mean they are different from any other people, it is just a title for those that practice that sin.

Many people who are locked into the sin of homosexuality are deceived into believing they are no longer “normal” or that they are different from everyone else and seek out others in the same sin to build a support group so to say, to help convince themselves they are normal people, that their life is not one of perversion and everything is all okay.  They are still completely normal, just tied into an act of perversion.  God still loves them and wants them just as He does anyone that has fallen into sin, but He will NOT accept the sin!  If the people repent and turn to God, He will embrace them, but not with the sin they carry, any more than He will accept someone who is locked into adultery, backbiting, unforgiveness, etc.

There is an even greater issue when they are led to justify their sin and pretend in their minds that God accepts them.  They have deceived themselves into an area that they may not come back from.  It is a horrible thing when people who practice sin can go into a church or create one that accepts the sin they have justified.  There are a number of churches (or so they call themselves) around the globe that are accepting people bound in unrepentant sin, allowing them to believe they are Christian and heading to heaven.  This is not limited to those bound to homosexual acts, but of all kinds of sins.  They have deveined themselves to a point where they feel no conviction and without conviction there will not be repentance and without repentance the sin will remain and the person will NOT be saved.  They are damming themselves to eternal judgment simply because they are want to sin…

God loves the sinner, but will NOT accept the sin!  God is there for those who wish to turn!

Remember Church, we need to love all sinners and pray for them that they will find their way home.  Every time you hear the name Ray Boltz (or any other fallen soldier), pray for him that God will put him in a place were he can repent and be shown the love of God!

Announcements say that early finds of a huge natural gas resource 50 miles off the coast of Northern Israel.  One report says it could be large enough of a find to supply Israel for 15 years.

It could be the largest find in history:

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=18030

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSLI20969520090118

Do we all become pew potatoes thinking that we have arrived, this is it, we have a Christian life so now we just wait for that blessed day we go to heaven? 

You would think so, by the appearance of typical churches here in the USA.  We are to be about the work of the Kingdom, not just passing time until we die or the Lord returns.  Every day being upon this Earth is a privilege, to be part of God’s Kingdom, allowed to do His work, to be His hands and feet.  How many more moons do we have left to bring in the harvest?  Remember that old song:

In the Highways:

In the Highways, in the hedges
I'll be somewhere working for my Lord.

If he calls me, I will answer
I'll be somewhere working for my Lord

We need to always be somewhere working for our Lord.  This time of Grace is not for us to simply play around and wait until we can get out of here, it is basic training for us.  If we do not learn and implement God’s ways here, how will we be ready for reigning with the Christ?  Remember, that is what our future holds for us!

What did Jesus say about us working?

Luk 17:7-10 ~ But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Then we have Paul who tried to show us that we need to focus on God not our own little fleshly lives:

Rom 12:1-2 ~ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

He says that ye may prove the “will of God”.  To whom, to yourself?  No, to everyone around us.  We are examples unto this world.  Is there much difference between us and the world?  He said “be ye not conformed to this world but be ye transformed”.  Do we see much transformation?

Here we have Jesus saying that the work he has commanded us to do is expected of us and we have Paul saying that we are to present our lives as a living sacrifice which is our “reasonable service”.

Let me ask you this question, does you life show this transformation?  Are you out working for the Lord?  When He comes will He find you busy about His work?

Mat 24:46-47 ~  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

While we still stand on this Earth, we are to be busy.  Not just physical work, we do not want to all become like Martha:

Luk 10:38-42 ~  Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.  But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:  But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

We need to be at His feet, learning of Him and using this relationship to reach the world, not our own fleshly methods.  Only when we are filled with Him through the Spirit are we ready to help those that struggle.

Do you realize we are to reach the fullness of Jesus?  This is why we have what some call the five fold ministry:

Eph 4:11-14 ~  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

It is simple, we are to continually grow unto the full measure of Jesus, that we “be no more children, tossed to and fro”.  The five fold ministry is there to train us up, “perfecting the saints” to take our role in the Kingdom, out in the highways working for our Lord.

It is the hour to learn and to prepare ourselves spending time at the feet of Jesus and putting into practice those things that we learn!

As Christians we are directed to obey the laws of the land as long as it does not cross our religious beliefs:

Rom 13:1-5 ~ Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.   For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.  Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

1Pe 2:13-14 ~ Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

But what does this cover?  Everything!  Yes, speeding is breaking the law, if they can cite you for your action then it is breaking the law.  Yes, that governs copyright laws also, which applies to movies, music, books and computer software!  It is the restriction by copyright of computer software that brought this issue to my mind many years ago and conviction set in.  Friends would get one of the latest games or perhaps a new develop tool (I have spent a good portion of my life as a software developer) and it was an easy thing to get a copy and use it without paying for it.  Well, however you try to candy coat it, the fact does not change that by our copyright laws it is stealing!

What about music?  Yes, it is just the same, when you copy a song for a friend, if it is copyrighted, it is illegal and is stealing not “Sharing”.  If you have received music you know is copyrighted, then you have either received stolen goods or are in the state of stealing them yourself.

I know it is easy to say, “ah, that is trivial, it doesn’t matter”.  Go back and read those Scriptures above again.  You as a Christian are bound by the laws of the land, it does not say some of them or just the ones you perceive to be important.  Guess what, it applies to taxes too!  This year I noticed I had been doing my taxes wrong for years and will take a hit this year to correct that error.  Oh, I could just ignore them and no one would be the wiser, but God does not miss anything nor does my heart that convicts me.  It is something that has to be fixed.

Okay, let us say that everyone agrees and we know we are not to break those laws.  How far does copyrights apply?  From what I can see,  if you purchase a accompaniment sound track your are purchasing a license to the music and lyrics to perform the song in public.  Without this license, you would be obligated to receive permission to use the lyrics or music.

Take Me In – The Road to nowhere

In the previous post "The Band Petra - Where to Begin?" I mentioned about a song called “Take me in” that my wife wanted to sing at church.  The first step was to find an accompaniment track giving us both the license and music for the song.  Since the song was published a long time ago, there are none available that I could find.

The next step of this journey was to track down the copyright owner and obtain a license to sing this song to our small congregation.  Since the band has retired, I located a place on the Internet where it credited Bob Hartman as the author and so I contacted him.  He graciously replied and directed me to another link:

http://www.growingchristians.org/mfgc/rock/TakeMeIn.html

That gave me a copyright supposedly in 1986 to a “Glory Alleluia Music” company.  I had little success at tracking down that company, but it looks like they may have evolved into, merged with, was bought by or somehow became Tempo Music Publications, Inc.:

http://www.christianguitar.org/csong16203/Kutless-Take-Me-In

Okay, now it is time to track them down.  I then discovered that many years ago they sold off all their copyrights to Lorenz Corporation:

http://www.tempomusic.com/about.htm

After looking into the Lorenz Corporation, I could find no reference to the song but requests to license music must be submitted in writing and to all IIRC, at least 14 days to process.  No mention of costs or anything else.

At this point, my journey down the copyright rabbit hole ends.  All this just to sing a simple song in church.  For what reason, what causes the problem here?  Copyright on Christian media.  I understand that people want to make a living.  I understand that they want to receive from their work and I am not against that, but I sure wish there were more Christians out there that would generate quality public domain work or at least cut deals where after a few years of profit making, their copyrights would expire so they would be available for use.

While it does appear that the song might be covered by the Christian Copyright Licensing Inc, which I am not sure if our congregation has, it still seems overly binding for what is supposed to be the Kingdom of God, the Body of the Christ.

So, at the end of the journey, the song will not be sung, the blessing that may have been there is lost and all do to a never ending copyright.  Yes, I say never ended as the copyright expiration dates always get moved back and have for decades due to Mickey Mouse.  Huh?  Our government seem to extend the copyright durations every time Mickey Mouse’s copyright is about to expire.  At this point it appears we will never have copyrighted material expire and move to the public domain.

Copyrights and the Christian World

As I mentioned before, I can understand people wanting to make a living.  But in our Christian world there should be difference with the secular world.  As an example, look at the copyrights and royalties on Bible translations.  What is the motivation of making a translation, making money?  Translations based on profit?  Hmm..

Look at all the sermons around Christendom where ministers claim “God gave me this message to share with your” and then follow that up with “Order the complete set now for only…” often costing more for the media than secular for profit, educational material of the same size.  And usually always included the dreaded Copyright.  If what they said was true shouldn’t the copyright read “© Copyright 2009 by Almighty God, All Rights To Freely Copy”?  There are some ministries that do give their resources away freely or at the most at cost and I commend them, but often they are still tagged with a copyright notices, restricting others from using the work or substantial portions of the work.

Conclusion

We are tired of these copyright issues and will spend more of our time keeping up with sites such as:

http://www.sharesong.org/

They try to get you to purchase the CCLI for your church, but it is not a requirement, at least when people upload their songs they are on the terms that they can be used with or without a CLLI.

As everyone knows, I keep calling for an awakening, we need one drastically in the music industry also!

When I was first Born Again in Feb 1990, one of my early tapes (yes, I still used cassette tapes often in those days) was a Christian band called Petra.  I did not know a lot about the band other than they had been around for some time and had quite a few member changes over the years.  For a number years there, I bought all their new CDs (yes, I moved up : ) and I kind of lost track of them in the late 90’s as I did for most of the Christian music field as this was a time when secular computer programming work along with finally getting married carried me into a form of back burner Christianity for a number of years.  Of course, that dark time is clearly over for me and, as another one of my early music tapes by Carmen would say “I’m sold out the whole route” completely Born Again, “Radically Saved” that is ;)

Anyway, my wife had heard Petra from my old CD and tapes for some time.  One song she wants to sing in church is “Take Me In”.  It is a wonderful worship song.  I cannot tell you the hours I would sing that to God in worship along with others from that album back in my early days.  I do not think bands have a clue at what praise their praise generates to God from others reaching out to God through their music.  Talk about a ministry that goes on and on long after the person has went home to heaven!

We believe that Christians should always obey the laws of the land as long as those laws do not violate our Christian beliefs.  This includes what some might consider trivial such as intentionally speeding on the road, or violation of copyright.  Just because it seems like everyone does it, that does not make it right.  If it is in violation of the law of the land then it is a sin, plain and simple.  While I am not prefect, I do my best to not open doors to sin as much as I can.

So, I spent some time trying to hunt down an accompaniment track of the song.  During this hunt I find out that Petra as a band had retired.  That was news to me since I had not kept up with the Christian music industry even though I only listen to Christian music.  I found their official store and asked if they knew were I could find the background track, but the news was not good.  They said that it was extremely rare as it was out for production for quite some time and my only hope was to find a used one somewhere.

After a bit more digging, I came by  House of Bob:

http://www.houseofbob.com/

This is the site for Bob Hartman, the founder of the band who stayed with it until its retirement.  Browsing the site, I was surprised to see a little of his testimony as I had never heard any part of it.  One point in his life, drastically changed it forever, it was at Kent State University, where the tragedy of the war protest ended with four students shot and killed.  That started his mind working and within a year Bob received Jesus and was Born Again.  Later, he would go one to start the Ministry known as Petra.  I am sure glad he did, I have been blessed over the years enjoying their music and I know they have many rewards waiting in heaven for them and many more to come.  I cannot imagine how many people have turned to Jesus through their music and how many people their music has helped them to focus on God.

While talking about Petra, I have to mention also about John W. Schlitt.  Be sure to watch his testimony at:

http://www.johnwschlitt.com/promoters/biography.html

For more information about Petra, check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra_band

Casting Crowns has a number of great songs.  One that of such truth is Slow Fade.  My pastor mentioned at church yesterday how there is usually a path before we come to sin.  I am reminded of the passage:

Jas 1:13-15 ~ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

We may not always notice the path, but we open the doors in our lives to evil by the little things as much as the big ones.  Everyone of us need to watch out for the signs of that “Slow Fade” and reverse its course before it comes to fruition.

In the song, it says “It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings”, that is the point where you have opened a door because you have given over your will to the tempter.  The first glance may not require your will, but the second time, it is your will to look.

In another line it says “For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow”.  You are an example to those around you including your own family of loved ones.  What path are you leading them down?

One key sign that you are sliding down that path is shown in the line “It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray”.  Do you still see things clearly or are things of righteousness becoming hazy, not so easy to discern anymore?  Often, this is due to us ignoring what the Spirit is saying to us and allowing our own will to take control.  The Spirit of God will become more and more quiet if we do not listen!  Another reason is lack of God’s Word, we much take in God’s Word every day to remain strong and alert. 

While there are many more points in the song, the primary one is, as the song says in “When you give yourself away, people never crumble in a day”, it is by “Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid”.  It is a step-by-step process and every step of the way, we make the choices, as God has already said:

1Co 10:13 ~ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

We ALWAYS have a way of escape, but we must notice the escape and follow that path.  That ball is always in our court.

This year, my wife had heard me say I like a song they played on Enlightened – XM Satellite on our cable music channel.  She went hunting and found this album.  The song I had heard was Breaking Chains.  What a wonderful song.  If you have read much of this site you understand I love power victory songs and this is a good one.

Breakin Chains

by Beverly and Kimberly Sexton / Southern Flame Music / BMI
Performed by Three Bridges

Chorus
Can’t you hear the sound of breaking chains No longer bound / No more the same Freedom for captives in Jesus’ name Can’t you hear the sound of breakin’ chains

Verse 1
Though Paul and Silas in chains were bound No bits of iron could keep them down They started praising and when they sang They heard the sound of breaking chains

Verse 2
There at the alter on the day I knelt Its hard to tell you of the power I felt Just how it freed me I can’t explain But I heard the sound of breaking chains

Verse 3
The day is coming when the saints will rise The law of gravity will not apply The graves will open and those that remain Are gonna hear the sound of breakin chains

Be sure to pick this album up.  Good songs and of course, it has Breakin Chains!  Come on people, I hear that clang clang….  Yep breakin’ chains dropping to the ground!