Links & Quotes

March 1, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

link quote

These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.

Planned Parenthood announces their plans for the 2014 election, and Michigan is on the list.

Rush Limbaugh’s take: Religious Liberty Defeated In Arizona …

…and the Gospel Coalition’s look at the same topic: When Tolerance Turns To Coerced Celebration

Here are some good ideas for supporting missionaries: Heart For The World

[VIDEO] Constitutional law professor slams Obama’s use of executive orders.

“You are not leading or teaching a child. You are leading a future adult. Everything you do and say will either serve to prepare them or prevent them from being ready. The more you maintain that focus, the better choices you’ll make as a mentor” (Tim Elmore). Read more: Two View Points To Avoid and check out Elmore’s book Generation iY.

“The full, literal meaning of the word ‘repent’ in the New Testament is ‘to feel remorse and self-reproach for one’s sins against God; to be contrite, sorry; to want to change direction.’ The difference in meanings here rests on the word ‘want.’ True repentance includes a desire to change!” —David Wilkerson

How the media misrepresents what scientists say about climate change

Chinese police break up child-trakkicking ring and save hundreds of babies 

[VIDEO] Cecile Richards (the president of Planned Parenthood) isn’t sure when life begins…

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Links & Quotes

February 26, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

link quote

These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.

“Truth wears well. Time tests it, but it right well endures the trial. … What a poor thing is the temporary triumph of falsehood!” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Proverbs 12:19

The “stimulus” that wasn’t: CBO Again Repeats Faulty Methodology

“The word ‘mercy’ here is extracted from misericordia, the Greek word for ‘misery.’ The full meaning of this word is: ‘to take to heart the misery of another, with the intention of giving him comfort and relief.’ So being merciful means taking on another person’s hurt!” Read more from David Wilkerson.

[PHOTOS] Amazing story captured in Life magazine of a 1950s nurse Maude Callen.

[VIDEO] Largest Lunar Impact Caught By Astronomers

What the IRS is trying now even has the ACLU upset: Stop The Assault

Wow! Check out this tweet from Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov

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The Global War On Christians (book review)

January 28, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

The Global War On ChristiansThe reports of violence against Christians is in the news almost daily, but it should be something which dominates our headlines. Less than five pages into The Global War On Christians by John Allen, Jr. I was smacked between the eyes with this statistic: “One hundred million Christians worldwide presently face interrogation, arrest, torture, or even death because of their religious convictions.” Talk about a wake-up call!

Allen does sound the wake-up call quite clearly. The first section of the book reads a little like Fox’s Book Of Martyrs from the 16th century, except these dispatches are happening right now! Allen takes us around the globe in this section with general statistics for each region, and stories of individuals that put a “face” on the already-sickening statistics. After reading this section, you may wonder, as I did, why these reports aren’t the lead news story every single day.

In the second section Allen debunks the five most common myths used to keep people comfortably numb to the atrocities happening to our Christians brothers and sisters around the globe. This is an excellent refutation to those who may say, “It’s not our problem” or “How could I do anything about this anyhow.”

In the final section of the book, Allen brings all of the stories and statistics right onto your front doorstep. He vividly and, I believe, accurately describes what will happen if we continue to allow this persecution to take place unchallenged and unreported. Truly this book is a wake-up call, and should be read by every liberty-loving, religion-cherishing, thoughtful person in America.

I am an Image book reviewer.

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“Home Run” (movie review)

March 19, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Home RunHome Run opens in theaters on April 19, 2013, but Betsy and I were privileged to see an advanced screening of this movie.

I’ll be honest with you: Going into the theater I was a bit skeptical. From what I had been told, and the little blurbs I had read and watched, it seemed like it was going to be a bit over-the-top Christianese. I am happy to tell you I was totally wrong!

Home Run follows a baseball player who has been suspended from his team because of his alcohol problem. One of the conditions of his return to the diamond is his attendance at some sort of 12-step program. Cory chose a Celebrate Recovery program.

I loved seeing the stark contrast between the messages of hope Cory was hearing in his Celebrate Recovery meetings, with the lack of success he was having outside of the meetings. Cory attempts to use his own willpower to overcome his addiction, and the emotional scars that led to it, but is unsuccessful at almost every attempt. In his Celebrate Recovery meetings he is hearing how people who surrendered to the love of Jesus (not just “a higher power”) were finding a freedom they had never known before.

I also like how the movie didn’t lead to an all-too-typical Hollywood fairy tale, they-all-lived-happily-ever-after ending. Instead we see Cory on the road to recovery, but with many relationships and situations still to be reconciled.

The movie is rated PG-13 for the subject matter of alcoholism (and the other addictions discussed in the Celebrate Recovery meetings), and for a rather intense scene with Cory’s drunk, emotionally-abusive father. So I wouldn’t recommend this to families with younger children, but anyone else who is struggling with an addiction, or who knows someone who is, should see Home Run when it opens on April 19.

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Free? To Do What?

February 6, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

At the En Gedi Youth Center, the students loved when our schedule said “free time.” To them: Free time = me time!

Is that how you see your “free time.” Is your free time your me time?

For a Christian, being free should mean something completely different. It’s not time for me, but Peter wrote:

Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. (1 Peter 2:16)

Free time is not me time, where I get to decide what to do, when I want to do it, and with whom I want to do it. That’s actually slavery to my passions or appetites.

Freedom is the ability to quickly obey God in service.

Any time I delay in obeying God’s call to serve, I am really disobeying Him. If I call Jesus my Savior and my Lord, then He has freed me from the entanglements of sin so that I may quickly say “Yes” to His call to service.

I love the King James Version’s phrasing of this verse: not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. I am either obedient and serving, or I am disobedient and malicious. There is no middle ground.

No excuses.

No cover-ups.

I know I am free when I am thrilled to be able to quickly and readily answer God’s call to be a servant.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Getting Back Up When Life Has Knocked You Down

July 23, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

The Bible never presents life as some sort of pie-in-the-sky, walk-in-the-park, everyday-is-always-rosy picture. If it did, we would reject the Bible because our experiences would immediately tell us otherwise. Instead, the Bible realistically portrays the challenges, and the pain, and the heartache, and the disappointments of life. But as it does so it also shows us that God’s way is the only way out of our sorrow and into His joy!

In our P119 Spiritual Workout series, we saw the bookends of the section daleth (Psalm 119:25-32) are:

I am laid low in the dust (v. 25) → You have set my heart free (v. 32).

How do we get this freedom when we are knocked down and laid low in the dust?

The Jews saw the Hebrew letter daleth as a door. Specifically, a door through which humble people stepped into a greater realization that He is God, and I’m not … that He has the answers, and I don’t … that He is in control, and I’m not. So part of going from down in the dust to a free heart is humbly acknowledging that you need God’s help!

In verses 26 and 27, the psalmist recalls his past history, and in so doing he is reminded that God has always been there. God has never left him nor forsaken him, so here’s what the psalmist resolves to do:

  • Teach me = I learned something before, so let me learn again.
  • Let me understand = help me to discern, distinguish; tell things apart. This word is used for things that are divinely disclosed; in other words, they’re things you and I cannot figure out on our own.
  • Meditate = talk with my soul about these new things the Holy Spirit has disclosed to me.

In verse 28, the psalmist says that his soul is weary with sorrow (or as the King James Version states it: my soul melteth for heaviness). The only way to overcome this is to ask for God’s help to energize us to go forward.

In the final four verses of this section you can sense the psalmist’s strength returning as he makes these bold statements:

  • keep me from deceitful ways (v. 29a) = keep me from lying to myself (NLT).
  • be gracious to me (v. 29b) = give me the privilege of knowing Your instructions (NLT).
  • I have chosen (v. 30a) = I have determined (NLT).
  • I have set (v. 30b) = I am long-sighted (on God), not short-sighted (on my problems).
  • I hold fast (v. 31) = the KJV says I have stuck to it!
  • I run (v. 32) = I will [not merely walk, but] run the way of Your commandments (AMP).

So when you are sad/disappointed/injured, run TO God. Don’t cling to your own (old) ways of thinking. Let Him take you from I am laid low → You have set my heart free.

If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.

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Free To Be A Slave

April 25, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I just love the oxymorons in the Bible! Without the spiritual component, these statements appear to make no sense at all. But through the lens of God’s Word, they are energizing!

Like this one: I can be free to be a slave.

Usually we think of freedom in terms of, “I’m free to do whatever I want to do.” In the natural this is freedom; but in the spiritual it’s slavery.

Think of it this way. When I say, “I’m free to do whatever I want to do,” I’m saying that I am in charge. But I am sinful … selfish … envious … short-sighted … petty … vengeful … and a whole laundry list of other nasty things. So when I want to do what I want to do—when I think I’m free to control my own life—I’m still a slave. A slave to sin.

There’s a price for this “freedom” to be my own boss. The price is death (see Romans 6:23).

But because of what Jesus did for me on the Cross, I don’t have to have this “freedom” that leads to death. I can be free to be a slave. Check this out:

But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. (Romans 6:22)

I have a choice to make:

  1. I can choose to call my own shots (so-called “freedom”), and have to pay the penalty of death; or,
  2. I can choose to be a slave of God, and receive His gifts of holiness and eternal life.

I’m choosing option #2!

How about you?

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Torn Veil

April 10, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Our Where’s God? Easter drama reached its climax when the veil in the temple was torn by Christ’s death on the Cross. All three of the synoptic gospels record this—

At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51; also see Mark 15:38 and Luke 23:45)

This was so significant in answering the question “Where’s God?” The veil prevented anyone from going into God’s presence (except the high priest on the Day of Atonement). This made God’s presence something of a mystery: Does God see me? Does He care about me? How do I get to God? Can I even approach Him? Would He receive me or would He reject me?

The best way to remember the definition for atonement is like this: at-onement.

In one moment, when Jesus said, “It is finished,” all that separated us from God was removed! And we can now live forgiven! We can now be at onement with God!

The veil not only literally and physically hung in the temple, but it figuratively and spiritually hangs in our hearts. This is what the Apostle Paul writes—

But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:14-18)

Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross allowed the Heavenly Father to tear apart the physical veil in the temple. Have you allowed the Holy Spirit to tear apart the spiritual veil in the temple of your heart? Here’s how you can know that the veil has been torn apart—you can notice that you are being transformed more and more into Christ’s likeness.

That’s the significance of the torn veil! That’s the power of Christ’s atonement!

If you missed any of the message in our Where’s God? series, you can find them all here.

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Freedom Of Religion

February 25, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This is not a political post. This is an urgent issue that should concern all Americans.

President Barak Obama’s Health and Human Services Secretary has issued a ruling which outlines her definition of how “Obama Care” must be implemented. In effect a single person’s decision, sanctioned by the president of the United States, has become an edict: a law that must be followed.

This is dangerous on so many levels! It violates everything our Founding Fathers tried to avoid when they wrote our Constitution. They wanted independence from a king who could make laws singlehandedly by edict. Therefore our Constitution was wisely designed with the checks-and-balances of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches all involved in every law.

This particular ruling by our HHS Secretary is dangerous. If we are silent and let this slide by unchallenged, it will lead to the undoing of our Constitution.

I don’t consider myself a political activist. And I don’t ever recall a time I have used my blog as an appeal to my readers to take any sort of political action. But we cannot remain silent on this!

One of the best websites to see the timeline of decisions, to read the HHS ruling, and to see how others are responding to this attack on our freedom is the Manhattan Declaration. Please visit this site and sign the petition. I would also encourage you to read and sign the Manhattan Declaration as well.

Do NOT remain silent on this!

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Freedom Begins Here (book review)

February 7, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Freedom Begins Here is not a book for everyone, and I actually hope it’s NOT a book for you. It’s a book for those trying to break free from the powerful hold of sexual sins.

Pornography is a multi-billion dollar business: People are getting rich, and people are being destroyed. What may have started out as a quick peek has turned into a crippling bondage for millions of people. If you feel trapped by addictions to porn or other sexual sins, but you’re ready to break free, this is a great place to start.

This book is a 30-day devotional. These devotional thoughts don’t hem-and-haw around the issue, but address it straight on. It’s addressed in a way that doesn’t make light of the addiction, but doesn’t make the addiction hopeless or fatal either. At the end of each day you will be given a reflection and a prayer, to help you think about the freedom principle you’ve just read.

Don’t stay trapped. Don’t let pride tell you that you don’t have a problem. Don’t let shame tell you that you can never get free. You can be free!!

Get this book and get started on getting free!

I am a Gray Communications book reviewer.

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