John Baker died in 1868 and is interred in Fort Fairfield, Maine. It might not mean much to you, but it does for me. Because of Mr. Baker’s tenacity, I live under the American flag instead of the Canadian flag. Also, we have Fort Kent and Fort Fairfield because he put up an American flag and stated the land belonged to the United States. That act put him into a New Brunswick jail, but he knew where his citizenship lay. There is a Christian song that contains the words: It only takes a spark to get a fire going.

If one Christian would stand for his citizenship, what a change it could bring on future generations.

Philippians 3:20 

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Ephesians 2:19 

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

Is home worth taking a stand for, no matter what the cost?

Give it some thought.

Gary

“I have no special talent; I am just passionately curious.”

Albert Einstein, Theoretical physicist

The smartest man of his generation recognized we must dig if we want gold. We must dive if we want pearls.

Proverbs 25:2-3 

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable.

Proverbs 28:9 

If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

What would have been the future if Moses had not checked out why that bush wasn’t burning up. Be curious and open “The Book.”

Give it some thought.

Gary

Luke 20:34-36 is a passage that reveals a tremendous truth about heaven. The point of the passage is that earthly relationships that we have here are not in heaven.

 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

According to Jewish law, if the husband died, the next of kin had to take her as a wife. This story is about a woman who went through seven of the boys.  It almost sounds like the song “Henry the Eighth” by Herman’s Hermits, but in that day, it would be probably have been named “Judah the Seventh”.

Do you think that Gramps wants to look like the old fellow you remember in heaven or that an infant wants to be an infant in heaven?   Get to know the Scriptures and you won’t be making it up like so many do about heaven.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Let’s say this was the only verse of Scripture you ever laid eyes on. What could you extrapolate from what you read?

Luke 16:22

 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

Don’t say the rich man didn’t have the angels carry him because he was rich, for the verse doesn’t state that. At the same time, don’t say the beggar was carried by angels because he was poor.  Again, the passage doesn’t support that. The only thing you can draw from this verse is that they both died, but their final destination was different.

Hebrews 9:27

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Some rich men do make it, like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Then we have this verse.

1 Corinthians 1:26

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

The notable word is “many.”

Give it some thought.

Gary

“I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian Religion. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling, they would have been rich; and if they had not that and I had given them all the world, they would be poor.”

― Patrick Henry

Isaiah 53:4-6

Surely, He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

If you don’t leave this truth with your loved ones, you haven’t left anything of any value.

Think about it.

Gary

In his 1971 song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Denver croons an ode to those winding roads that lead you back home. The writers had never been to West Virginia and John wasn’t from that state. Still, it became ingrained in our psyche for over fifty years.

Most are looking to going back to a place that doesn’t exist except in their untrustworthy imaginations. They should be looking for that permanent and sure home that awaits the believer.

John 14:2

 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

Like the Motel 6 advertising slogan: “We’ll leave the light on for you.”

Give it some thought.

Gary

Recently I sat in the waiting room of a surgeon’s office. There was a sanitized version of an IRA song playing in the background. I looked around and realized I was the only one who understood the song.  For eighteen hundred years, the Irish tried to get the British out. I mentioned it to the doctor and he said they played a variety of genre, so he didn’t know why it was playing. I don’t think he knew what it was about either.

Most people don’t know what they are listening to in those lyrics, but for some it has great meaning. Case in point is the song “Rivers of Babylon.” It is from the book of Psalms and speaks of a broken-hearted people who couldn’t sing a holy song.

Psalm 137:1-4

By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.

On the willows there
we hung up our lyres.

For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How shall we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?

Know your song and where it should be sung.

Give it some thought.

Gary