"My Wonderful Week, Part Two!!"

TOMORROW'S the day!! Here's the link where you can view the LiveStream of our wedding....https://www.facebook.com/cedesnchet/ (1:30 tm'w!!)

The weather is supposed to be sunny and 70 degrees, and we are very happy for God's Goodness in leading us together!!

"My Wonderful Week, Part One!!"

Not only am I getting remarried to a WONDERFUL Christian woman on Saturday (my FIRST wife died over a year ago), but yesterday I became a Grandpa for the fifth time!! My oldest, Jenna, had her FIRST baby yesterday...congrats to Jason and Jenna!!  The baby, Jason Jr., weighed in at 10 pounds 22 ounces....my bride-to-be and I are SO happy for them!!

As they live in North Carolina, Jenna, Jason and the newborn will be unable to attend the wedding now but we plan to visit them SOON, Lord Willing!! And, on Friday I'll be back with "My Wonderful Week, Part TWO" and say more about how you can view the LiveStream of the Wedding.

"Real 'Spring' Weather Will Come in GOD'S Time...Not Ours"

Though many calendars announced that "Spring Begins" on March 20th, here in the Northeast it has not FELT like Spring (to say the least!!)  And many (even those who believe in God's absolute Sovereignty) seem to be unhappy about it, stopping just short of openly QUESTIONING Him.

So let's clear the air here.  In Scripture, God promised that "Springtime would never cease" but where did He say Spring would BEGIN on March 20th?? It's now APRIL 20th, exactly one month past the date MAN said "Spring Begins" and there are some flowers and trees which are blooming, but in general it's very COLD, as if it could still SNOW, even.  Where did God in His Word say this wouldn't ever happen? Answer: He didn't.

If God had to follow OUR timetable for when "Spring Begins" then doesn't that make US God and HIM the servant??  Think about it.  Maybe the cold weather is meant to confuse the nutty Global Warming crowd, who knows what God is doing.  Anyway, WE cannot fully understand HIM so we should not question Him with the almost accusatory mentality we sometimes have.  He will do what HE wants...He is OUR judge...we are not HIS.

On March 23rd I wrote the following in my blog "I trust that my heart is submissive to God's Sovereign Will...I know that Spring weather will come when HE wants it to, and I need to be patient."  (This was actually written on March 20th, the "first day of Spring," though it felt like WINTER that day.  Somehow, the date of the post switched from "March 20th" to "March 23rd.")

There's nothing wrong with praying "Bring The Spring, Lord" as long as we remember that He IS Lord about when He brings it.

"Liberal Mainstream Media Ensuring Trump's Re-Election"

Though I voted for him, there's much I don't like about Donald Trump.  However, the Liberal mainstream media has been totally unfair and unhinged in their "reporting" about him and it makes me, at this point, determined to vote for him AGAIN unless he really, really blows it..

For the past almost year-and-a-half, the Libs have constantly run stories suggesting that Russia helped Trump steal the 2016 election.  Yet, when Trump ordered military action last week, they shamelessly switched gears to stories like "RUSSIA THINKS TRUMP IS HITLER" and "TRUMP RISKING A WAR WITH RUSSIA."  Pray tell, why would Russia have "helped" elect a "Hitler"?? And why would Trump risk a war with the ones who supposedly helped elect him in 2016?? These "reporters" are totally shameless, in my opinion.

Trump is absolutely correct when he dubs Liberal news as "Fake News"...the fact is, they can't forgive Trump because he's a white, Republican capitalist and they are mad because the PREVIOUS guy is gone...he was the exact opposite, you see.  And he got the exact opposite treatment from the mainstream media that Trump is getting.

Keep it up, Liberals...see what happens when Trump runs again, and wins again, in 2020...because of YOU guys!!

"The Kennedys Exposed"

In my opinion, the only way the new Kennedy-Kopechne movie could have captured Teddy better was if ROBERT WAGNER played the Senator!! (Warning: there MAY be some Spoilers in this blog...it depends on how much you already know about the incident portrayed in this movie.)

If only one fifth of this movie is accurate, Teddy was a self-centered, selfish and spoiled snob surrounded a bunch of enablers who (pardon the pun) kept his political career afloat after Mary Jo's death.  But in my opinion, the movie does more than expose TEDDY for what he was.

The movie also exposes The Kennedy Clan for what THEY were.............in a word, evil.

And yes, that includes the much-idolized JFK and RFK.

See, JFK and RFK were better looking than Teddy....and they tend to be sympathetic figures because they were assassinated. Teddy was NOT good looking, and someone died because of him, instead of him being the one who died.

But the three Kennedy sons had the same corrupt FATHER (played brilliantly by Bruce Dern in the movie) and I just find it hard to believe that ALL of the apples (plural) didn't "fall far from the tree."  Even the most stoned-out supporters of JFK and RFK will acknowledge that they were womanizers, and it's obvious Teddy was the same way....why was he out there late at night, alone, with Mary Jo to BEGIN with? It is well-documented that Joe Kennedy, their dad, taught his boys to exploit women all they could and that marriage vows meant nothing.

And JFK, RFK and Teddy did not REBEL against Joe....they went along with his sinful counsel.

This movie highlights ol' JOE and that's why it exposes his three sons as well (not just Ted.)

It's about time America stopped glorifying the Kennedys. The idolatry of them has led to the acceptance of the open womanizer CLINTON, and the celebrity status the Kennedys still have leads voters to be susceptible to Presidents such as Obama and Trump. Enough, already.

The "Chappaquiddick" movie was SUPERB, and I hope it helps stop the idolatry of the Kennedys!

Message I'm Bringing at a Local Nursing Home Soon...

"The Only Way of Salvation"

 (READ  Acts 16:25-34)                           4-14-'18,  11am

 

 

 

 

In the passage we are about to briefly consider, the Apostle Paul, and Silas, in the earliest days of Christianity being spread across the world, were thrown into prison as an indirect result of "proclaiming the way of salvation" from sin openly to the public ( Acts 16:17.)  They were then beaten with rods and the jailer in charge was commanded to "put them in the inner prison and fasten their feet in stocks" (16:24.) The jailer was no doubt vaguely aware of the message Paul and Silas brought, but was only concerned with doing his job and making sure he obeyed orders to keep them locked up.  (If they escaped, he'd be in very big trouble.)

 

Now...if that were you or me, being accused and abused for obeying Jesus by proclaiming the way of salvation, we might be a bit bitter.          Or angry.         Or self-pitying.

 

...Not Paul and Silas!!  Just the opposite, verse 25 says they were "praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them." It was nothing short of a Miracle that they were doing exactly the OPPOSITE of what most would do in that situation, especially considering that the text says it was "midnight" and (to put it mildly) they'd had a very, very long day.  God's Holy Spirit directed them, no doubt, to pray for those who falsely accused, and beat them, and imprisoned them.  Paul, himself, was once one who persecuted Christians and put them to death, and he was present when Stephen was martyred in Acts 7, praying that God would not hold this sin against his killers.  No doubt Paul, now one who followed Stephen's example (as Stephen followed Jesus' example), prayed that those who treated him unjustly would also come to know the way of salvation like he, himself had.

 

Then, there came a second Miracle.

 

God caused an earthquake which opened all the doors, and the jailer woke up and was ready to kill himself because he faced certain death if anyone escaped!  But amazingly, all of the prisoners were still there! And this brought about a third Miracle because the jailer (no doubt a very hardened and callous man to that point), "fell down trembling" before Paul and Silas and said "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"  See, because of the miracles he saw, this jailer was convinced now that Paul and Silas really DID teach the way of salvation, and it is the simple answer which he got from them that is the main focus of this message.

 

Paul and Silas's answer was, simply, "BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND YOU WILL BE SAVED."

 

Notice with me, please, in the few remaining minutes of this message, what Paul and Silas did NOT say, and then what they DID say, to this jailer regarding the way of salvation from sin.

 

First, notice they did not tell this jailer to believe IN the Lord Jesus Christ, as if to believe that He existed as a historical figure was enough.  They told him to believe ON the Lord Jesus Christ, and he'd be saved from his sin.

 

In other words, Mr. Jailer, in answer to your question, cast yourself up ON Him for salvation, trust in Him alone for forgiveness, believe ON Him and you'll be saved. Rely ON Him, cast the burden of your guilt ON Him, believing HE is the sacrificial lamb for the sins of all who believe ON Him.  Merely believing IN Him, that He existed, is not enough, you see!

 

In Acts 4:12, the Apostle Peter said, referring to Jesus the Christ, that "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved"...we must ALL believe ON Him, and Him ALONE, for eternal salvation.  There is no other way to be right with God, to be saved from our sins, than to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is the Way of Salvation...the ONLY way, and it's what Paul and Silas told the jailer to do!

 

Secondly, they did NOT tell the jailer to believe on anyone or anything else BUT the Lord Jesus Christ.

It wasn't "the Lord Jesus Christ AND your good works," "the Lord Jesus Christ AND going to church," "the Lord Jesus Christ AND Mary, the Pope, and priests," and it wasn't " the Lord Jesus Christ AND a good Protestant church," either.

 

...It was simply "Believe on the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and you will be saved"!! Yes, the jailer was immediately baptized after he was saved, but it wasn't a condition of his GETTING saved, it was an act of obedience and gratitude to God because he WAS (saved) by believing.

 

My dear friends, the Way of Salvation is close to every one of us today and all WE have to do to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ like this Phillipian jailer did! It's really just that simple!

 

We can't trust in our baptism, our church membership, our supposed "good works," in Mary or the saints or the fact that we liked Billy Graham's messages or in ANYTHING or ANY ONE but Jesus Christ ALONE.

In closing, in John 14:6, Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me." And in Romans 4:5 we read "to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." THIS is no doubt what Paul and Silas said to the jailer, and what they would say to you and me this morning.  Jesus Christ alone IS the Way of Salvation, BELIEVE on Him and be saved! May everyone here in this room be believing on Him for salvation from their sins.  Let us pray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of "Acrimony" and Taking Action

In years past I've said funny things in movie theaters, but last night beat them all.

For example, several years ago I was watching the "Elektra" movie and was bored out of my mind.  A lady sitting behind us must have been bored also, because she was talking VERY loudly on her cell phone!  The usher came down to tell her to shut it off, and I called him over to ask a favor.  "Can you turn the MOVIE down?" I whispered.  "See, I can't hear what  that woman's saying, but it seems to be more interesting than this movie."

Then, a year or so later, we were getting ready to watch "Ray," the Ray Charles movie, and we were sitting in the back row of the packed theater.  About 30 seconds before it started, the door flung open and an out-of-breath man, gasping for air, asked me "Is this RAY?"  Without missing a beat, I sang a line from the famous Ray Charles soda commercial from the 1980s...."You got the right one, bay-bee...uh HUH" (Lol.)

But what happened LAST night was perhaps the funniest thing I've ever said in a movie theater (in my opinion, anyway.)

My Beloved and I were watching Tyler Perry's new movie "Acrimony," a welcomed relief from the many things we have to take care of during the day for our upcoming April 28th wedding.

On three different occasions during "Acrimony," the screen went totally BLACK (though you could continue to hear dialogue.)  Of course, I brought it to the attention of the theater the first two times it happened, but when the blackout took place for the THIRD time I marched out of the theater and told some moviegoers I passed (still sitting in their seats) "This time I'm going to show THEM acrimony," Lol!!

Never, in all my years of moviegoing, have I ever encountered glitches like this when a movie was shown!

The sad thing is only one other lady, and one other guy (a short guy in a Camo outfit with a huge Napolean Complex), joined me in my trilogy of exits to inform the manager what was happening.

And that's the part of this story that's NOT funny.

Think of it, all of the moviegoers paid the same fee that we did, but none of them seemed to want to stand up and be heard when the theater, in essence, was delivering "damaged goods" for our money.

They sat there looking at the blank, black screen and then watched  OTHERS try to stand up for them...their minds apparently as blank as the huge, pictureless, once-silver screen.

We (those of us who protested appropriately) got our money back AND free passes to another movie.  I doubt if the lazy ones who sat inside the theater got any compensation at all, however.  It's hard to make a case that you deserve a refund if you accept the messed-up merchandise with complacency!

Yes, some of the still-seated ones laughed when I passed them and said my "acrimony" joke, but it was a nervous laugh....as if they were saying to themselves "look at THAT guy, what's the big deal?"  It always has been that way in life, there will always be those in the last row who speak up first, and those in "the front lines" who lag behind and yet see themselves as wise, so far ABOVE guys like me.

But I want you to know we hold no acrimony against them...we're too busy holding our total refund, and our two free movie passes, to do that!

"Mom B."

On March 9th, I wrote about "Mother" passing away.  Now, as of last Thursday, another of my "adopted moms," one I called "Mom B."(pictured), has died also.  I'm going to her Wake today. She was 88 when this photo was taken. My last living "adopted mom" is BEA, who is 91 and in failing health.

On a happier note, I combined my poem and art (both posted here recently in separate posts) and our local paper published them!! It hit the streets right before "Easter" which no doubt raised some eyebrows because the poem is about Christmas (Lol)!! Anyway, here you go...

 

 

And just so you know I didn't TOTALLY pre-empt Resurrection Day, my art appeared on our church bulletin cover again this past Sunday...

 

 

Well, getting ready to go to a Wake....