Sinful Pride is the motive force of the world. Sinful Pride is what makes the world system go round.

Sinful Pride is also Satan's sin. Which is why his children practice it as their number one concern.

Sinful pride in one's personal "good works" and in one's personal "goodness" is at the center of every false religion worldwide.

But what exactly is "pride," and why exactly is it even sinful?

Pride, *sinful pride*, is NOT: "feeling good about an achievement."

Sinful pride is NOT: "feeling good about your country, your team, or your kids."

Sinful pride IS two things: believing, thinking and feeling that you are good enough to get into Heaven by your own efforts. (You're not. You have broken the moral law in many places.)

And two: believing, thinking and feeling that you, of yourself, are morally better than other people. (You're not. If you think you are any better, you are committing the worst sin, pride, by thinking that. You are a Pharisee.)

Sinful pride precludes and prevents the humility necessary to trust God.

A person without Christ does not have the ability to do anything pure and good, because he or she has *no spiritual connection* to God.

So, no matter how good an unbeliever's external action looks, the root motivation of the action is self-pride, not God. Therefore, no matter what is done without a spiritual origin of motivation in God is *ultimately* evil, sinful and bad.

Despair not only of our own sin, but also especially despair of our own righteousness, comes when we realize that even our best good works are evil because of their origin in a self separated from the only SOURCE of good: God. (The Bible says "all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.")

This leads us to humility and to Jesus for forgiveness of our sins and deliverance from the punishment of them in Hell.

The reason prideful people do not come to Christ is that they want to maintain control, keep up the false front of their goodness: "I'm a good person."

But God says that there is NO ONE who is a good person. ("There is no one who does good, no not one.")

No one is good but God.

Every human is a sinner desperately out of control and in need of deliverance from the wrath of God for what he or she is and what he or she does.

The Bible says, "Today is the day of salvation."

None of us is guaranteed to be alive tomorrow.

PS: Two other ways people try to "get rid of God" are by:

1. Denying His existence (in the face of the overwhelming evidence of creation and conscience to the contrary).

2. Money worship. With enough money, people think they will never have to get on their knees and beg God for help.

One thing we can do is to not adapt the godless world's way of thinking and talking...

Jesus tells us to be "salt" and "light."

Maybe pepper your speech with the truth of God.

Maybe, instead of saying "bless you!" when someone sneezes, say, "God bless you!"

If someone says, "Why do you have to bring God into this?," say, "This is America. You aren't being *intolerant* are you?," or "You believe in freedom of speech, right?" (With humor and a smile, for God's sake!!)

Maybe, instead of "Happy Easter," say "Happy Resurrection Day."

Maybe in addition to saying "Merry Christmas," say, "This is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus our Savior."

Instead of saying, "If he does that, he's gonna die!," say: "If he does that, he's gonna see Jesus in Person!"
(I did this the other day at work at the canteen counter, and it gave an electric shock, with eyes wide open--so fast, so assumed, no one can say anything without opening a can of worms and all of THEIR non-provable faith/assumptions that they don't want to talk about...)

Jesus said be as "shrewd as snakes." Shoot your arrows of love and faith and truth into the hearts of the "faithless."

Give them some hope. Give them the good news, first and foremost.

Let's hold on to the Truth--we, all of us. Our American culture is a far cry from where it should be, spiritually.

Our faith is our armor (our "shield")--and Holy Scripture is our sword.

Get my drift? No spin.

That's the way.

No more of the "monkey business" of accepting assumed evolution.

The Spirit blows where He wants to.

That's the main thing.

Put on your bravest face and lovingly confront the malignant forces in our culture.

Stand against the self-centered Narcissism of our "Have it Your Way!" age.

We'll be workin' them angels overtime-- they'll be trying to help us in every situation!

Let's save some from the larger bowl of God's wrath.

To the pure, all things are pure.

To know Him, obey Him.

Trust & obey.

The people who don't like this, will be the ones to be be bringing up the "taboo" subject of faith.

Then you can tell them how to get their sins forgiven and get to Heaven. (Through faith in Christ.)

Assume the truth of your faith, in the same way they assume the lies of atheism and evolution and moral relativism in theirs.

Let's not let God die out, or be forced out, of our conversation.

It is your God-given right and your right as an American.

Just a suggestion.

God willing, you will see the wisdom in this. :)

Heaven knows we need it.

It will hit them like Scripture.

Jesus bless you,

C

P.S. Other salt and pepper suggestions:

"God's creation."

"That's the Bible truth."

"That's the Gospel truth!"

"Thank God for atheists."

"The boss is giving a 'Come to Jesus' message.'"

"He thinks he can walk on water."

"Do not judge hypocritically."

"As you believe, so shall it be done unto you." (Done with a little dramatic flourish.)

"He's laying down the law, like Moses."

"...knowing right from wrong."

"Charlton Heston was great in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS..."

Have you seen the movie "THE APOSTLE"?

"Those Philistines over at..."

"He preached a jeremiad to the board."

"A voice crying in the wilderness."

"He suffered like Job in that hospital."

"Thank You, Jesus!"

"Praise God..."

"Lord knows...."

"God's wisdom says..."

"The Bible says..."

"The Golden Rule says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

"He was a God-fearing man."

Replace the word "religious" with "believing" or "person of faith." (It is a gracious way to get people to ask what (or Who) you believe in.")

Instead of saying you are a Christian, say you are a "believer in Jesus."

"Until the Lord comes again."

"That living Hell over in Iraq."

"The difference between Heaven and Hell."

"From on High."

"God loves you."

"Jesus forgives."

"Jesus saves."

"Believe in Jesus and be saved forever."

Use some salt--just don't overdo it! :)

One final one: each and every time someone screams "Jesus!" or "Jesus Christ" in vain, as a blasphemy, using His Holy Name as an exclamation point, say:

"Now that you've brought up Jesus..."
"He loves you."
"He died for you."
"Praise His Holy Name!"
"Preaching the Gospel again, Bill?" (with humor and irony)

or, if you really got guts:

With total kindness and total firmness...
"Please don't take the Name of my God and Savior in vain. That is really offensive to me, and it is against H.R. policy."

Everyone deserves respect, even Jesus, don't you think?

Never use these with sinful ego or sinful anger, but in the power of the Spirit of Grace.

Use these with kindness and grace, or humor, or loving confrontation, as the Lord leads.

There was a blessed Hispanic man named Joe Valdez at T-Mobile where I used to work. He was a bearded man with, at times, a "big presence." He would lovingly salt his speech with the phrase, "the Lord.." That changed the atmosphere in that call center building from godless to reverent. It definitely had a big effect on me.

May Joe's tribe increase!

Jesus bless you,

C

PPS: I peppered this email with the titles of every single song on the latest RUSH album, "Snakes and Arrows."

That's what some Old Testament Messianic prophecy is like--you can't see some of it except in retrospect...

Later, it's so obvious that it flashes out at you!

your conscience

Prophets and apostles and the fact that they were appointed by God and the fact that their prophecies were accurate.

the Holy Spirit's confirmation

the love in it

the faulty men in it--realistic

no glory for "man"

the flawless logic, never broken by a single sentence

the self-evident truth in it

it is self-authenticating

the historical truth in it

the archaeological confirmation

the scientific confirmation

the psychological/emotional confirmation

the universal truth confirmation

the moral law confirmation

internal cross-referencing

no mistakes in it--none!

no self-contradictions, though there are over 40 authors over 1,500+ years

the confirmation of 11 disciples viciously tortured and martyred, not denying it's truth to get out of those horrors

the testimony of billions

the endurance of the Scripture across thousands of years

the miraculous preservation of the Scripture--over 5,000 copies

99.5% agreement of the Received Text--this is unparalleled in ancient literature
(the 0.5% differences are mostly word- order and alternate spellings of names and things like that. These cannot even be considered"typos.")

Over 250 PERFECTLY FULFILLED Messianic prophecies.

If you do not believe that the Bible is the flawless Word of God, then "you got a lotta 'splainin' to do, Lucy!" :)

1. The Bible says JESUS is the ONLY WAY to Heaven.

2. All other religions contradict logic or themselves.

3. Atheism is held entirely by faith, rejecting the *evidence* of creation, consciousness, conscience, beauty, non-material thoughts, the universal moral law, design in creation and the intuitive conscience.

4. Judaism has been fulfilled and succeeded by Christianity.

5. Islam is filled with lies, hate and contradictions.

6. Hinduism and Buddhism are logically untenable.

7. Occultic and Satanic religions presuppose the existence of GOD and Christ.

8. Evolution is an unproven theory held by FAITH: life cannot come from non-life. (a MIRACLE is needed)

9. Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, and all other pseudo-Christian religions contradict the Bible while pretending to accept it.

10. All religions other than Christianity teach salvation by good works.

11. Christianity is the OLDEST faith--it was there in the Garden of Eden.

The only true faith is the one that affirms what the infallible Bible affirms:

1. The self-existent God, the Holy Trinity: The Father, The Son-Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit) created everything out of nothing.
2. Jesus is God.
3. There is a moral law.
4. Humans are evil sinners who have broken the law.
5. Hell (eternal torment) is God's justice for sin. Unbelievers go there immediately when they die.
6. Jesus is the ONLY Savior from sin, death and Hell.
7. Jesus is the ONLY Way to get to Heaven. Believers go there immediately when they die.

...according to official Hindu belief.

According to the Eastern worldview, EVERYTHING is an illusion.

Therefore, truth is not possible--truth is an illusion, too.

So this statement that "truth is an illusion," disproves itself:

If it is true, then it is false.

If it is false, then it is false.

According to Hinduism, there is no "starving" in India.

According to Hinduism, there are no children in India.

According to Hinduism, there is no such thing as India.

According to Hinduism, there are no gurus making these claims.

Yet, they exist, and so does India and children, and the fact that they are starving.

Hinduism is a great lie of Satan.

Over a BILLION people are buying this lie, to their eternal damnation.

God said that He would punish those who hate Him to the third and fourth generation.

He will not share His glory with the literally MILLIONS of Hindu gods that are worshiped.

Indeed.

Also God is NOT synonymous with His creation.

There is no reincarnation, except in a fictitious imagination.

Believe in Jesus-God, and get your sins forgiven.

Heaven and Hell are the only two destinations for the airplane of life.

Only believers in JESUS get into Heaven.

Everyone else goes to the Other Destination...