Parallels of Politics.

Mark 6:14 ¶ And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
15 Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.
16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.
18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.
19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not:
20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.
23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
26 And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.
27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.

The death of one of the greatest preachers in history. This passage is very interesting because of some simple parallels between the story and what is happening in America right now. First, let's take a look at "king" Herod. A quick observation of history will let you know that Ceasar was the king of the Roman empire at this time, so Herod's title was really just a formality, and in reality Herod was just a puppet of the government. Second, look at the girl. She was obviously the neice of Herod, but was being subjected to a demoralizing exhibition of herself, in front of her uncle and many wicked men. Her purity was being put on display for all to see, and we are told that the men watching were pleased with the show. Thirdly, look at the men who were with Herod. These are wicked men who have no moral character, and who revel in thoughts and imaginations of impurity and sin. Finally, take a look at the preacher. A man who was doing what was right, and was put into prison and finally killed because of his stand.

Most of us know the story, but now to the parallel. America can be put into the place of the girl. The purity of this nation is on display for all of the wicked men (political leaders both of our country and of the world) to see. As a whole the nation shamelessly displays itself, hoping for the adoration of the masses, and desiring the pleasure that comes from applause. Herod (Mr. President) enjoys and encourages the show, and for a pretense offers the girl (Americans) as much as they want of things he does not own. He has no kindom, nor does he have any money, yet he open-handedly "gives" billions of dollars away for every little project imaginable. Then comes the disaster, America's mother (sin) decides that it would be easier to live without a godly influence. So rather than get the prosperity of money, she teaches her daughter to hate the man of God. Hate those "old fogies" who preach about doing right. The man of God is destroyed. Sin abounds, and sooner-or-later the parties involved open their eyes in Hell wondering what could have happened. Wake up America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This could be you!!!!!!!!!

The Scars of Sin.

Scars: the remants of past battles, or the signs of former stupidity.

Sin will always scar your life. Not just your sin, but the sin of others will leave scars (some of them very deep). We must always remember that scars do not just disappear, they remain and usually forever. The decisions of our parents will always leave some scars in our lives. Divorce, death, and general decay in a family will produce scars that make excuses for bad behavior in the lives of children throughout the rest of their lives. Poor money management, anger issues, deceit, lies, treachery, and many other forms of sin will damage, and even destroy the tender tissues of the growing mental processes of a child. Our own mistakes, battles, and stupidity will scar our lives to the degree that every time we look at something (or unfortunately someone) the pain of the scars will come back, and often we will find ourselves fighting the same battles over again. We must be careful of how we act, and of how we react to all situations. SIN WILL ALWAYS SCAR YOUR LIFE.

The good news is, however, that God and serving and trusting Him will always heal the wounds, mend the pain, and cover the scars. However, we must be willing to have that intimate, and consistent walk with God that is required to let the wounds and scars heal.

This is the day. for the week of 7/27-7/31

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

God truly blessed in this week of Family Camp! The preaching from God's Word was awesome, and God only knows what will come as a result of His people being saturated with His Word all this week!

That was a kind of side note.

My thought for this devotion is that the heart will deceive you. There are numerous areas in which this can happen, but I would like to deal with one particular area today. This area is purity. The world today is an exceedingly impure place. Ungodly thoughts, imaginations, and actions run rampant in our society, and greatly affect our young people, as much as, or more than the older people. Some Biblical examples of this attitude can be seen.

The example that comes to mind, and that I will use for this devotion, is that of Amnon, David's oldest son. He had allowed lust to consume him over a young woman, and then a friend of his convinced him to wickedly take matters into his own hands. Amnon had been allowing his heart to over-rule his head. As Christians, Christ is our head, and His Word is the Law for our lives. When we begin to "follow our hearts," we often disregard our Head (Christ) and allow ourselves to think or do impure things as a result. We must always do our very best to submit to Christ, our Head, and those who He has put over us (parents, pastors, etc.), so that we may remain pure and spotless before God and man.

Facebook=wickedness. Period.

Psalms 101:2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
101:3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

Recently I was informed that in order to effectively connect with my former Bible College friends, I would need to go to Facebook. I tried this out for about one minute. I don't care how many good people are on Facebook, the site reeks of wickedness the minute that you log on. I was unpleasantly surprised to see a number of young people who I knew from church and other Christian activities, flaunting themselves in a manner that does not glorify God. Where do young Christian people get the idea that using the ways of the world will get them ahead as Christians. Is blogspot that much different than Facebook? Well, I haven't had any experience on Blogspot like the one on Facebook. It seemed as I entered the site at Facebook, that the whole thing was about making someone think that you are something you are really not. This may seem harsh, but you so-called good young people mingling with a lot of not-so-good young people will not further the cause of Christ. I will go far enough in this to say that Facebook is full of if not sexual misconduct, sensual activities, and will lead some of these young people astray. If Blogspot ever gets like what I experienced in just a few moments on Facebook, rest assured that there will no longer be a blog on here in my name. I have heard of people being churched for their activities on Facebook, and after seeing this place for myself, without actually seeing any of the pages of the college students, I can easily see why. How long will it be before Christians actually get real with God? No, There is not a page on Facebook for Joshua Barkley any longer, it lasted maybe five minutes. I don't really care what you thing about this post, nor do I consider this an unreasonable post. God is not pleased with Facebook, and neither should any Christian be pleased with this wickedness. What made you get this angry over Facebook, you ask? I saw the potential for great wickedness in the pictures of a few young Christians, and was grieved within my spirit by the presence of the Holy Spirit. I don't care how many parents are on here, I don't care how many college staff members log on, in direct contradiction to a message I personally heard the staff's pastor preach, AND I DON'T EVEN REALLY CARE WHETHER OR NOT YOUR PASTOR OR HIS WIFE OR HIS FAMILY OR HIS SECOND COUSIN TWICE REMOVED ARE MEMBERS, but I do care about the people who, already heading in the wrong direction, will go on down the path to destruction, based on the actions of you who are Facebook members. For those of you who didn't already delete this, God bless you, may you do the right thing. I won't know your reaction, because I won't be back on Facebook.