Am I Going to Heaven?

Check (4) below what you think is necessary to get you to heaven.

1. Follow Jesus
2. Forsake all.
3. Put Jesus on the throne of your life.
4. Confess Jesus before men.
5. Promise to live for Jesus.
6. Give your heart or life to Jesus.
7. Ask Jesus into your heart.
8. Commit your life to Jesus Christ.
9. Get your life turned around.
10. Turn away from the world toward God.
11. Surrender your life to Jesus Christ.
12. Make Jesus Lord of your life.
13. Invite Jesus into your life.
14. Be water baptized.
15. Turn from your sins.
16. Be willing to turn from your sins.
17. Be sorry for your sins.
18. Keep the Ten Commandments.
19. Do the will of God.
20. Do your best, sincerely.

Now proceed and find out if you are going to heaven.

Iranian Christian Given Death Sentence

Iran is continuing its relentless attempt to force persecuted Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani to recant his faith in Jesus Christ. New reports state that Iranian officials are still pressuring the pastor, who has been sentenced to death for his Christian faith, “to renounce his faith in Christ and accept the prophet Muhammad as his savior.”

A Candymaker's Witness

I had this little card with the origin of the candy cane written on it, and since Christmas is right around the corner I felt that it would be a good time to share it. It's an interesting origin for a piece a candy I never gave any thought to. God bless, and Merry Christmas!

Jesus' Mark on History

I have been re-reading a book recently entitled "Evidence for Christianity" by Josh McDowell and found this snippet within that I would like to share. I quite enjoyed it and believe fellow Christians will likewise appreciate the praise given our Savior.

Understand the Times Prayer Request

This prayer request was sent to me via email from Understand The Times International; the organization that Roger Oakland heads, if you know the name. He is a minister, speaker and author who penned books such as Another Jesus? regarding the Eucharist. I am a prayer supporter of his ministry and as such bring forth his prayer requests to my fellow Christians. I hope you will hold Mr. Oakland up in your prayers.

Cult Methodology

I decided to comprise this list for our mutual edification that entails the tactics of cult coercion; that is a cult’s general efforts to bring someone “into their fold.” Not every cult functions or uses every tactic listed below, but some or most appear in their dealings with both those without their sect and (to keep everyone faithful) those within. This list has been compiled by men who study cults and their tactics, and have dedicated their lives to reaching out to those caught in such a sect and extracting them, by the grace of God. It is for those who are part of such a system, and for everyone who ought to be warned about these tactics that I present this list. God bless.

Evolution's Social Baggage

I opted today to post an excerpt from an excellent book entitled "In the Beginning" which is a scientific defense of the Genesis creation account and the worldwide flood in Noah's day. I found this passage about the social aspects regarding Evolution thought provoking. I'll leave the rest to the author, Walt Brown, Ph.D.

That Most Needful Thing (John 3) Part 2 of 5

3:5-6 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
My original understanding of verse five was that “water and the Spirit” meant hearing the gospel followed by regeneration as the Holy Spirit came to dwell within a believer through faith. This is in fact how a man is saved. See Romans 10:9-10; 17; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5. But there is another possibility that this verse suggests that I have been duly considering of late. Nicodemus was clearly stuck in a physical mentality. Jesus said he had to be born again and the Rabbi thinks of coming out of the womb a second time.

That Most Needful Thing (John 3) Part 1 of 5

Sitting under some convicting preaching about the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, the teacher (a gentleman named Bill) touched on a few verses in John chapter 3 that set me to serious thinking. This series of posts is the result of meditating on John 3, and I pray that the results are mutually beneficial. I expounded verses 1-21, which contains the whole of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This section is an amazing passage in which the gospel is clearly, plainly, and vividly given to Nicodemus. Let us see what else there is to see, God willing.

Messianic Prophecies

I have compiled a list of the Old Testament prophecies regarding Jesus' life, death, and resurrection as it was fulfilled in the New Testament. I pray that anyone viewing these fulfilled prophecies may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing have life in His name, John 20:31. The list is arranged by citing the Old Testament (OT)/then the New Testament (NT), then the subject matter as it was written in the Bible chronologically. Note that some prophecies listed consider both Jesus' first and second advent.

Conflicts in Genesis

Evolution is just one of many ways of trying to explain our existence without a Creator (Charles Darwin simply updated a very old belief with some scientific-sounding words). Mankind has been trying to explain life-without-a-creator for thousands of years and none of this caught God by surprise. Since God created our minds He knows how we think; and how we will think when we separate ourselves from Him. God wants us to believe He is our Creator but will not force us. Romans 1:20 tells us that God provided the physical creation so that we could “clearly see” His invisible attributes by looking at what He made.

The Myth of Evolution

The following chart will help you better understand the weakness of evidence used to convince people that Darwinian evolution actually happened. We do observe changes in living things, but what caused those changes and what do they mean?

Andurun Explored: A Book Review of Dragonsong.

Greetings friends.

I had recently sent Dragonsong to a book reviewer and magazine editor, Glynn Young, for his perusal and professional opinion. His initial review and impression of Dragonsong has arrived, and here is what Glynn had to say:

"I’ve been reading a new fantasy novel called The Canticles of Andurun: Dragonsong by Ian Thomas Curtis. I’m about halfway through it, and I’m completely enthralled with the world Curtis has created. The sheer imagination involved boggles the mind. A big story like this also requires a very tight control of the fictional world that’s been created, or otherwise the story will get away from the author and the reader. Curtis has pulled it off; it’s an amazing novel. The author blogs at What’s in a Name."

If you want to visit Glynn for the rest of his article, as well as other book reviews and more, you can find him at Faith, Fiction, Friends; his blog dedicated to literary work. I'm glad to know that Dragonsong is being read and enjoyed. As any more book reviews arrive I'll keep you posted!

Update: if you wish to read the full review Glynn gave Dragonsong click here. God bless!

Prayer Request for Beth Schield




This prayer and donation request
 was given to us at work, and I
 wanted to share the plight of this
 family with everyone so we can
 lift them up in prayer to the Lord.

Dear Sir or Ma'am:

The Lord be with you.

Saint John writes, "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another," I John 4:9-11

I write you to encourage you to show your love and mercy to one of our sisters in Christ Jesus, Beth Schield. She is the wife of the Rev. Kirk Schield, in Two Harbors, Minnesota.

Lessons from a Chair

Let us, for the sake of demonstration, look at a common chair. Say you wanted to sit down in your living room. You approach the nearest chair, place your faith in that object, and seat yourself. If it holds you upright, your faith has been well placed; the chair is a worthy object of said faith. If it begins to wobble you realize that you may have to switch seats: that chair is not providing the assurance that it can perform the function it is accredited with. If it falls straightway out from beneath you, and you find yourself sitting on the floor, then the chair was indeed a poor object to trust that it might hold you up.

Bible, Baptism...Beer?

TWO HARBORS, MN -- It was a Sunday during Advent, and inside a small pub a few blocks up from the north shore of Lake Superior, 17 people gathered around four bar-top tables shoved into a ring.

Betsy Nelson, the bar's cook, lit two candles with a cigarette lighter as Addison Houle strapped on an acoustic guitar and sang a slightly off-key rendition of "We Three Kings." Curt "Fish" Anderson sipped a beer as TVs overhead flickered with NFL pregame shows.

"Father, thank you for this time we can share on Sunday morning with new friends," prayed Chris Fletcher, an emergency medical technician, part-time bartender and seminary student who has led this service every Sunday morning at Dunnigan's Pub & Grub since last summer. "We're getting to know you, and getting to know each other better."

Would you attend church in a bar in which alcohol is served during the service?

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to take a little time to share with you the importance of the One who we celebrate on Christmas Day: Jesus Christ. Did you know that Jesus is the only Person in history whose being born into the world was foretold literally thousands of years in advance?

Just Thoughts

This is a letter I received months ago regarding a conversation I had with my mother. She wrote partly to unbelievers as an exhortation, partly to believers as an admonition, and entirely to the glory of God, for His exaltation. I love listening to her talk; would that you could hear it in person; she is animated and alive with the Spirit of God. The rest of the Post is entirely her. God’s blessings!

Christmas and the Messiah

Greetings again. I am posting one of my wife's letters which she has invested time and love into writing, to edify her family about Christmas's origins and Jesus' unique role as Messiah. I want to share what she wrote for them, so please recall the context it is written in if it seems to be personally addressed (it is).

To Them That Have Ears, Part 2

You don't even know what questions to ask, because a created being has decided to redefine truth (to suit a preference, or impose an uncertainty on souls that happen to be seeking for reassurance).
Man always wants the last word but is happy to change the words as his "reason" allows, as cultures shift, as seasons change, etc...