Spinuzzi’s Blog

3 Doors Down has a song called “Duck and Run” that I really like. Here’s a part of the lyrics and the reason I like it:

All my work and endless measures
Never seem to get me very far
Walk a mile just to move an inch now
Even though I’m trying so damn hard
I’m trying so hard…

The Freshman sat in his dorm room at the University of Texas at Arlington. Everything was ready for leaving. The instructions concerning his stuff were written. The charter fishing boat in Galveston, Texas had been located. The charter rate was fairly cheap, as this was mid-week instead of on a weekend. All of The Freshman’s belongings in the room were neatly packed, except for the weight belt, of course. He had cast his own weights for SCUBA diving out of lead. The belt was fully loaded (it would take him down deep and down fast), but could be hidden under the long, loose shirt he wore. By the time the charter fishing boat operator could react to The Freshman being overboard it would be too late - The Freshman would be too far down, out of reach. Safe. Finally safe.
The Freshman took one last look around. He was calm, having planned his exit for weeks. He loved the water, and this way there would be no body to bury, no expensive casket and burial plot to cost his parents money. The Freshman had cost them enough. It all made sense: Why stay here? This life was futile. Pain. More pain. Uselessness. Time to check out, lift the burden. He had explained it all in the letter that would be found here in the dorm room. (more…)

Reuters reports that, after a couple had been caught having sex in a church confessional in Rome, “the bishop celebrated a “Mass of reparation” in the cathedral where the confessional box incident took place to make up for the sacrilege”. OK, so repentance before Christ isn’t good enough. And renouncing the act as sin isn’t enough. Instead the Catholic Church has to have a religious ceremony to repay God for the sin and, I suppose, re-sanctify the cathedral. Again we find the Catholic Church engaged in denying what the Bible teaches and resorting to pagan ritual to try to appease God. Jesus was pretty clear about what it takes to please Him, and it certainly isn’t some ritual that was designed by man and is in truth for man.

Mt 15:7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’

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I ran across a very interesting website today: http://www.theresistancemanifesto.com
This site, primarily run by Mark Dice, has been making waves in the news media – waves that the mainstream media is doing its very best to suppress. Why? Because Dice is doing everything he can to expose the truth, as he sees it, behind the war on Iraq and the reality of politics and religion in America. Those who wish he would shut up contend that he is doing our military harm by hurting morale. I find I agree with Dice that those who are putting their lives on the line for us deserve to know the truth. Let me put it this way: If your wife or husband was cheating on you, would you want your best friend to keep quiet about it and not tell you in order to keep your morale up or to ’save’ the marriage?
From my initial and cursory look at the site I believe he is correct, though I have not examined enough so far to be able to fully endorse his views. I see it as hopeful, though, as most Americans are either fooled, sticking their heads in the sand, too proud to admit the truth, or just plain ignorant (willingly). The Bible warns that God’s people perish for a lack of knowledge, and it is my firm opinion that this means both Biblical knowledge and the ability to see world events for what they are by being informed and analytical.
I am forever amazed at how much Americans are willing to believe lies in order to be comfortable. Because of tradition, pride, or what they were raised with they accept lies that fly in the face of reason. So they turn a blind eye to things such as the Satanic connections (more…)

I was greatly amazed, and confused, actually, by the reports of a Baptist Church (is this a Christian organization?) preaching hate (Romans 14:10), openly trying to offend people, and using tactics usually found in Islamic and homosexual circles to get their message across. As a Christian I am appalled at this perversion of the message of Christ. Yes, Christ is "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense", and, He came to set " brother against brother and father against son", etc., but not in the manner in which the Westboro Baptist Church is promoting.

 The protesters were carrying signs bearing slogans such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."

AP Photo: **FILE PHOTO** Westboro Baptist church member Gabriel
Phelps-Roper, 10, and his sister Grace Phelps-Roper,…

Whatever happened to 1 Corinthians 13? Especially verses 4, 5, and 6? "Does
not act unbecomingly"  "love does not brag and is not arrogant"  "does not rejoice in unrighteousness"  Yet these people are thanking God for the deaths of others. Sounds like Jihad to me. Certainly the members of this "organization" were acting arrogant about the court’s decision. Is arrogance a trait of love?

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Is that what the Bible says?

I recently received an e-mail with a video clip from
“Final Act Productions” that promotes a pre-tribulation period rapture, and a
secret one at that. This idea, which I was also taught while growing up, is so
blatantly erroneous that I felt I had to address it. Fortunately it has been
addressed many times before. Unfortunately most of ‘Christendom’ has closed its
eyes and ears to the truth that is so plain in the scripture, choosing rather to
believe this fairy tale that is almost as old as Christianity.

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I believe that Scripture teaches that we can. (Answer to Leona’s question was so long I thought it should be a post.)

Certainly “no man” can take us out of Christ’s hand, and as long as we abide in Him we are most certainly saved, but if you search the scriptures carefully, paying close attention to what Jesus and His apostles said you will see that we can always choose to leave God - to take ourselves out of His hand. The Lord is looking for those who are committed to Him and to a relationship with Him. It is this relationship that saves us. We see in the parable of the seeds that some joyfully embrace the gospel, but then fall away because they are entangled in worldly things or have no ‘root’ in themselves (no real commitment). In the parable of the wayward son we see that the son was safe in his father’s household, but chose to leave. The father does not force him to stay, but allows him his free will. The father wants the son to return, and is joyful over the return. But not all do return. Hebrews 6 tells us: “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity….For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the
age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance…” We are warned several times in scripture that ‘those who endure to the end will be saved’, and that if we deny Christ, he will deny us before the Father (Matt. 10:32). (more…)