Bill's Ramblings

[COLOR=Blue]... When I was just a lad I was raised to believe that God, if He existed, was not concerned with anything that we did here on the earth. As I grew, I noticed that the rules, for my behavior, were constantly changing. In fact, by the time I was seventeen, it was not only acceptable that I had relations with a female, it was expected that I would. There was no concept of sin in my family, what-so-ever. When I turned my life over to my LORD, the very most comforting thing about that event was that there was a standard in my life and it had not changed in thousands of years and I was assured that it never would.
... Today, on this and many other forums, I see young folks seeking to redefine the limits of their existence. Mal. 3:6 and Heb. 13:8 are two rock solid scriptures that every Christian, young and old, should learn to be passionate about. These are certainly not the only two concrete scriptures, the Bible is filled with nothing but solid and foundational building blocks, but these two must be understood before any understanding will ever be found in the Bible.
... No man will ever change God's mind and no man will ever change the world without God. When I was seventeen, I joined the U.S. Army and set about righting the world. President John Kennedy and my dad (Howard J. Bennet) were the reason I joined the military and the condition of my world, tempered with a bleeding and ultra liberal heart, convinced me of the need for change and I was determined to be a part of that change.
... I was determined to see to it that black men would no longer be seen as black but they would just be seen as men. With the murder of Dr. King that dream also died and there has been very, very little change and none of that because of me. When Vietnam came to the forefront I saw a people that deserved freedom and I volunteered to serve there three times, seeking to further that aim. The Vietnamese people live under the heavy hand of Communism today because the American People did not have the vision nor did they have backbone to allow their military to do the job they were designated to do. The net result was that, without God, I changed nothing.
... With God I have seen scores of men and women change their lives and as a result they have changed their destination from eternity in Hell to continual, timeless, presence with the Father in Heaven. Because of God, working to glorify Himself through me, I have become a man of value.
... So this standard that I have come to hold so close and has changed my life so much, what is it. Many, because we live under grace today, seek to ignore it but I cannot. In the first five books of the Bible the standard of God is found. The Ten Commandments do give a sketch of the standard but a reading, a slow meditative reading of the Pentateuch puts meat on the bones and give great depth to the law of God.
... So, you ask, "Do we live by the Law?" The answer of course is no. Save Jesus, n9o man has ever lived the life that the Law demands but where folks go amiss is that they believe the Law [B][I]was[/I][/B] our teacher when in reality the Law "is" our teacher. The first five books of the Holy Scriptures are important, to Jew and Christian alike, because they teach of about God and exactly what God would prefer to see of us.
... We can never be made Holy by the Law because when we break any single rule in the Law we are guilty of breaking the Law, all of it. By the time I was twelve I had snitched enough candy and cookies and lied about it enough that even I knew that I was a liar and a thief. I could not un-break the Law so I was guilty.
... But God extended His grace to me and I accepted it. So, now I can continue to lie and steal, right? Not so and as Paul put it, God forbid. When he was still alive, I had great respect for my dad and even though I messed up, I worked hard to obey him. Likewise, now that I am under grace, God's own grace, I demonstrate my love for Him by doing my very best to never dishonor Him and to do that I am still being taught, by His Law, what he expects from me.
... So you tell me, okay, that you know the Ten Commandments because you committed them to memory. Let me do what I'm famous for, I'll give you a eal life example of why you need to study, every day.
... The FBI, I'm told, has a department of it's officers that deal with counterfeit money. I was told by a former agent that is a friend of mine that after they are familiarized with the art of counterfeiting money that they spend a portion of every day handling the genuine article so that they are very familiar with the US Governments currency. You see, if you are familiar with the real thing, no one can pass the phony to you without your seeing it.
... The point of all of this is this, we have a standard for living! The standard is delivered in the first five books of the Bible and the other sixty-one books ratify the truth of those five. If you do not study God's word, for yourself, it will become distant and hazy to you. When that happens, Satan will destroy your witness.
... God bless and please, study.
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