tag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:/blogs/rod-s-blog?p=3Rod's Blog2019-05-23T15:24:29-04:00Really Only Dustfalsetag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/63766142020-07-05T12:31:03-04:002022-05-29T12:13:43-04:00"Songs in the Night" released<p><a contents="" data-link-label="Store" data-link-type="page" href="/store" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/48de2c297340646aaf2801cda78c0c2769bf6ef1/original/songs-in-the-night.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p>Glory to God! My fourth album, "Songs in the Night" was finally released after numerous hurdles and many hours of studio labor.</p>
<p>It's been almost two years since my third album, "Called" was released. As an artist I'm always trying to improve the next album, and this one is no exception. I believe it's my best sounding to date. The Lord deserves nothing short of the very best, and that is why I sweat the details. Being in the recording business for many years taught me that quality doesn't just happen, it takes work. Lots of it. I hope that as you listen to this album, you will agree that it was worth the wait.</p>
<p>The digital download version of the album is available now from my <a contents="store page" data-link-label="Store" data-link-type="page" href="/store" target="_blank">store page</a>, as well as all the other places where music is streamed or sold like <a contents="Apple Music" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/songs-in-the-night/1518897980" target="_blank">Apple Music</a>, <a contents="iTunes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/songs-in-the-night/1518897980" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, <a contents="Spotify" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/album/0328OHNZrYsjpgFU146td9?si=QaGq1Q8MRbi9tXRiItNeUg" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, etc. If you can purchase it from my website it's better, because the other stores take a big cut in royalties. As it is, I've lost money on every release. But as you probably know, I don't do it for the money. I do this labor of love as an offering to the Lord and as a ministry to you, dear listener. If the Lord allows it, I will continue producing music until the day I die.</p>
<p>The physical CD version of "Songs in the Night" is being produced as I write this. Expected arrival will be sometime in July. But my new policy is this: if you order from my store <a contents="here" data-link-label="Store" data-link-type="page" href="/store" target="_blank">here</a>, every digital download album also includes the physical CD. So you can purchase the download for "Songs in the Night" right now and you'll get the CD as soon as it arrives. I'll let you know when it's in stock.</p>
<p>The last few months have been difficult ones for many people, including myself. Sometimes I feel like the world needs the physical necessities of life much more than the intangible work of a songwriter and musician like myself. After all, you can't eat music or wear it. But then I imagine what kind of a world this would be if there were no hymns, no spiritual songs, no making of melodies in our hearts to the Lord. Would you want to live in a world like that? Not me.</p>
<p>I also think about this: in Heaven there will be no need for the kind of work most people do here on Earth. But the Bible tells us that there WILL be music! This gives me great encouragement, as there are only a few things that the Bible says we will definitely be doing there. I'm glad I'm already doing one of them!</p>
<p> </p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/57648922019-05-23T02:05:26-04:002021-08-06T12:27:26-04:00Banned By Facebook<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/c02e004ae1f3e2f9359a10263370d45384b6fcb4/original/banned.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">This is the post that put me in Facebook jail. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">It was meant as a response to Christians who believe that all leaders, including Donald Trump, are put into power by God. Hosea 8:4a is one of many scripture verses showing that the Bible does not teach this. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Tyrants like Adolf Hitler have used Romans 13 to tell people that God expects them to submit to all governmental authority, no matter how immoral or unjust. Apparently, the idiots at Facebook thought this was not "respectful to everyone", deleted the post and suspended me from Facebook for 24 hours. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">And lest you think that it was just a stupid algorithm designed to flag all images of Hitler as disrespectful, I went through their dispute process and explained to them that my post did not support Adolf Hitler, but quite the opposite. Yet after reviewing my dispute, they still decided against me.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Even if the post had been supportive of Hitler, it should not have been censored. But we need to understand that we have no First Amendment right of free speech on Facebook. There is no guaranteed freedom of expression. Facebook will decide what you can or can't say, just as if you lived under a totalitarian government. No matter how arbitrary or absurd their rules may be, we have no choice but to submit.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Keep in mind that your entire account can be removed at their whim. You could lose all your content if you haven't backed it up. And you could lose the ability to contact all your friends unless you've shared alternative contact information with them.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Also keep in mind that Facebook owns Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. They could possibly compromise your freedom of expression or your privacy on those platforms as well.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">It's ironic that Facebook has so much in common with the Hitlerian authoritarianism that they profess to hate. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">But I would like to remind everyone that the Internet has been around much longer than Facebook. There are two other ways to connect with other people without using these tyrannical social media platforms: email and websites.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large"><strong><a contents="This is my website" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">This is my website</a></strong>, and I own the domain name. Neither Facebook nor anyone else can control its content. You can comment freely <strong><a contents="here" data-link-label="Blog" data-link-type="page" href="/blog" target="_blank">here</a></strong>, or use the <strong><a contents="webmail" data-link-label="Contact" data-link-type="page" href="/contact" target="_blank">webmail</a></strong> to contact me directly at any time.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">I predict that unless there is some kind of an uprising and people start dumping Facebook, authoritarians like Mark Zuckerberg will continue to tighten the censorship until Christians are forced to decide whether they will compromise the truth or whether they will be faithful to God's truth.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Having your own private email and web domain is not as expensive as you might think. I've seen web and mail hosting services for as little as $5 a month. Some are based offshore in countries where privacy laws are stricter than in the U.S. If you're active online commentator, I recommend you prepare yourself so that when censorship ramps up even more, you'll have an alternative way to communicate.</span></p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/54397542018-09-22T17:02:43-04:002018-09-23T01:44:34-04:00What Can One Person Change?<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/ff640d6b70b4bb1f6d22f30a1d0f46707af0dbdb/original/serveimage-2.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><em>Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. -</em>Margaret Mead </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_regular">Recently, I was talking with a friend about the current state of world affairs. He wondered if there was really anything one person could do to change things for the better. It's a fair question, considering the tidal wave of evil that seems to be engulfing us. I reminded him of the thought expressed in the above quotation by Margaret Mead. But this weekend I looked up that quotation and saw it in a somewhat different light. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_regular">You see, there is also a small, thoughtful group of committed citizens changing things, but for the <em>worse</em>. They are light years ahead of the rest of humanity in strategizing evil deeds. Call them what you like: tyrants, technocrats, international bankers, trans-humanists, globalists, Zionists, New World Order people, etc. And they know that one person CAN make a huge difference. But since they work through deception because their father (Satan) is the father of all lies, they try to create the illusion that they are invincible and that one person can't change anything. </span><br> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_regular">As Christians, we know that even though Satan appears to be winning he has already lost. And yet we can be so easily discouraged that we fall for the lie and believe that change is futile. If you trusted Jesus, you already know that change is possible because He changed you from a hell-bound sinner to a Heaven-bound saint. But a Christian can change even more than that. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_regular">The next thing they can change is their own thinking through the power of God. But first they must desire to change, and that takes courage, humility, hard work and a love for truth. Unfortunately many professing Christians do not want to pay that price and will use Bible prophecy as an excuse for inaction (for example, "things will get worse so why fight it?"). Or they will say they're too spiritual to concern themselves with earthly things, thus becoming no earthly good for God or for the rest of us. Whatever the excuse may be, they are just kidding themselves. But if they truly desire to change their own thinking, they can change the thinking of the people in their sphere of influence, no matter how small that change might be. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_regular">Someone once said that our lives are the sum total of the people we have associated with and the things we have read. There's a lot of truth to that, so much that often we are unaware of the changes that outside influences have made in us. Therefore we must choose our friends and books wisely. Obviously the Bible would be our wisest choice in books, and if we take the Bible seriously, we see that God is not too fond of crowds or large numbers. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_regular">When you read the Bible, you understand that it's mainly the story of a very small committed group of God's citizens that changed history. It's the story of a handful of people who trusted God enough to resist pharaohs, kings, emperors, false prophets, etc. The ultimate example of this is Jesus and the Twelve. The influence of these few caused the eventual downfall of the Roman Empire, the most powerful force of that day. Here in the United States, a small minority of colonists (maybe 10%) prevailed in the American Revolution against the British Empire, which was the greatest military power in that day. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_regular">So if you want to be right with God and on the right side of history, you probably don't want to follow the crowd or "go with the flow". Be part of that small, committed group of citizens on the side of God, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).</span></p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/52873762018-06-10T11:28:57-04:002023-08-19T11:24:35-04:00Today’s Christian worship music is the new “Trance”<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/48b387fb8049fc9a84051e05b5fa6cd6da847f1d/original/serveimage.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Some of you are familiar with Trance music. The dictionary defines a trance as a state of mind in which someone seems to be asleep and to have no conscious control over their thoughts or actions, but in which they can see and hear things and respond to commands given by other people. I would add that demons can also influence someone in a trance, and I believe that some contemporary Christian "worship" music has become the new Trance music. Sounds crazy? Allow me to explain. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">I don’t think I have ever heard anyone express the opinion which I am about to state. It is strictly my own, and you are free to disagree and comment. But it is a studied opinion after many years of observation, and in a field (music) to which I have devoted most of my life. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Christian music once consisted mainly of hymns, later to be augmented by Negro spirituals here in the U.S. Other cultures incorporated their unique genres also, so today there's Christian Hip Hop, Reggae, Latin, etc. But when you attend a typical church, modern “worship” music goes something like this: a long meandering song short on lyrics, written to be more feeling-oriented than scriptural, and small melodic riffs sung over a chord progression that has very little movement or variation. All this gives the song a droning, meditational New Age hypnotic feel. I believe this is putting many people into a trance-like state. Going into a trance in order to have a religious experience has been a part of pagan cultures for centuries. Eastern mysticism has influenced American culture since the 1960s, so it’s no surprise that it would influence Christian music today. Many Christians are not even conscious of it. The influence has been so pervasive that we've been subconsciously conditioned to it. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">I’ll give you a small example of subtle conditioning: hardly anyone ever talks about “reaping and sowing” anymore, which is a phrase derived from the Bible. However, we hear “what goes around comes around” all the time, which is related to the concept of Karma, reincarnation and the circle of life. This expression is rooted in Eastern mysticism, which is Antichrist, yet even as Christians we often find ourselves mouthing it. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">In the same way, many Christians have come to believe that by repeating certain words or musical phrases in a “worship” song, we draw close to God and meet Him there. But none of this is biblical. By repeating musical phrases endlessly in these modern worship songs, they are employing something similar to a “Mantra”, which is a pagan practice that has roots in Hinduism. Modern worship music that incorporates these techniques prepare the worshiper to have a spiritual experience, but unfortunately the spirit they meet may NOT be the Spirit of God! </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">I don’t know if these modern Christian music artists (I will not name names) are doing this deliberately or if they are subconsciously channeling the spirit of the age, which is Antichrist. But the result is the same, and I don’t like it. So I avoid it in my own writing, especially if the purpose of the song is to prepare a listener to "worship". Actually, I believe that worship should be a way of life, not an event. Therefore, I worship every time I create music for the Lord, or do anything to bring glory to His name. But no matter how we worship, we should be careful to test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 John 4:1).</span></p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/51830392018-04-15T14:08:22-04:002018-04-15T14:08:22-04:00There Is A Way That Seems Right<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/62ad4a8c5000a4eebd9adf53ab70cba0b88a7def/original/img-20180415-134100-482.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Any of you who saw the answer to my little Bible quiz know the verses in Proverbs that were nearly identical. Here it is: "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (KJV) </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">That was one of the first Bible verses I ever memorized. It had special significance for me for two reasons. First, it reminded me of how deceived I had been before coming to faith in Jesus. I did not grow up in a Christian home, and in high school my humanities teacher convinced me there was no God. And I lived the life of an atheist for many years, totally convinced that I was right. That’s the scary nature of deception, because you don’t know when you’re a victim of it. Nobody believes that what they “know” to be true is a lie, otherwise they wouldn’t believe it! So my belief “seemed right” as the Bible says, but it leads to death. Second, I was surprised to find the same Bible verse repeated almost word for word. God doesn’t usually repeat Himself like that, so I think it must be VERY important for God to have repeated it. We must be very careful to guard against deception. Okay, I think most of us can agree on that principle. But the real test is applying it, and here is where you and I may need to re-examine what we believe to be true. Many Christians would say that that good cannot come out of evil, but what they support tells an opposite story. Specifically I’m referring to the war in Syria that is raging as this is being written. Fact: we are dropping bombs and killing many innocent people, including Christians. Fact: we have not been asked to intervene in Syria, and the Christians there strongly support President Assad. Fact: the USA is mostly hated throughout most of the world. But here in America we are told that we are waging these wars for “freedom” and other countries are “envious” of our greatness. Something doesn’t add up. We intervene in foreign countries that pose no threat to us, supposedly to stop some evil there. But in the process we commit evil ourselves. Did God say that the end justifies the means? No, I think that was the communist Karl Marx who said that. And we will not hear a word today from America’s pulpits about this immoral and illegal war in Syria. My pastor will talk about it, but the vast majority of pastors won’t. Do you think God can bless an aggressor nation? Are we sure America is on the right side? Because if it isn’t, we can only expect God to judge us. I think the judgment has already started.</span></p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/51705602018-04-08T11:15:04-04:002023-12-10T11:58:22-05:00Never Trust Government To Protect You<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/0044a91e2518041468cb4bb780c35930726accfa/original/serveimage-228.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Are you still trusting government to keep guns out of the hands of criminals? How's that worked out for us lately? I'll tell you exactly why it hasn't worked: the world's biggest criminals are IN government! We Americans need to stop being so child-like, and we need to stop trusting the government to protect us. Do you really think it's impossible for criminals to exist within government that use pawns to cause shootings in order to scare people into demanding more gun control laws? That's how they fool the public and amass more police power for themselves! They already have more money than they will ever need, but they want more. They want total power. They want full control over you and me. And they will use every possible manipulation or scheme to get it. I know it's hard to accept that some people could be THIS machiavellian, but that's because you and I are not psychopaths. Even though the Bible warns about how the wicked lie in their beds plotting evil all the time (Micah 2:1, Psalms 36:4), we tend to think others are like us. You and I are predisposed to think we're being paranoid when the evidence of such evil presents itself. Psychologists call this "normalcy bias". Maybe that explains why most Russians just LOVED Joseph Stalin, the tyrant who caused the deaths of over 40 million people during his rule in the USSR. When the Russian people would hear about the atrocities happening in their country, most would say, "If only Stalin knew". He knew!</span></p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/51585682018-04-01T00:42:44-04:002018-04-01T00:42:44-04:00Jesus Paid It All<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/021b4eb5ae7c112b1a5fe26cc623125d408d0d86/original/serveimage-237.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Blessed Resurrection Sunday everyone! </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Yes, Jesus loves you and me. Yes, He died a cruel excruciating death because He loves you and me. Yes, He did that so that you and I might live through Him. All of that is true. But, dear believer, don't EVER think that it was about us! Above all, He did it to bring glory to the FATHER! (John 21:19) </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">It is God who should receive, not just part of the glory, but ALL OF IT. We will never be truly worthy of His love! He CHOOSES to love us despite the fact that we are quite unloveable. I'm reminded of a friend who wrote a song titled "It's So Easy To Love You". Well, that ain't how God sees us without the atoning sacrifice of Jesus! Remember what God says about our own righteousness. He compares it to filthy rags! </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Remember that Jesus is perfectly just and righteous, yet at the same time perfectly loving and merciful. My finite human mind cannot possibly understand His consideration of a wretched sinner like me in light of these seemingly contradictory truths about His character and nature. No wonder the holy angels sing His praises! Should we do any less?</span></p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/51554492018-03-29T23:53:10-04:002018-03-30T00:25:09-04:00"Good" Friday<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/edd0ee0b52868d56007a90f54af474b44230d200/original/img-20180329-235021-230.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large"><em>Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.</em> (Matthew 27:45) </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large"><em>And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. (Mark 15:33) </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large"><em>And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.</em> (Luke 23:44) </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">John 19:14 tells us that Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover, which means He was crucified at the same day that lambs were being sacrificed throughout Jerusalem. This is symbolic, because Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. But there was another symbolic event that day. Three of the Gospels tell us that there was COMPLETE DARKNESS for three hours while He hung on the Cross. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">In the Jewish calendar, this would have been from 12:00 noon to 3 P.M. It's quite possible that Passover meals were already being served and/or eaten during this time. Imagine this happening in complete darkness during the middle of the day for three hours, and during the most holy feast of the year! Darkness any day of the year would be frightening enough; for it to occur on a high holiday should have had the Jews wondering if God was angry with THEM. It was as if God was judging them, disgusted with their hypocritical worship and their meaningless rituals while they crucified their Messiah. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">In fact, God DID judge Israel about 40 years later when Jerusalem, the temple, and the Jewish priesthood were utterly destroyed. And if God destroyed His "chosen people" because they refused to repent, don't think for a minute that He won't judge America for rejecting Him! Something to think about this "Good" Friday.</span></p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/51457872018-03-24T12:33:41-04:002018-03-24T12:33:41-04:00Condemened No More - Hip-Hop Remix dropping soon<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/9c0bf479e37aed9ba6848108ccda87f1bbf76ff2/original/condemned-no-more-cover-12.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" style="text-align: justify;" /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">I'm looking forward to the remix of "Condemned No More". Now I'm just waiting for my guest CHH artists R.E.D.D. and The RNF Status to do their thing and add the verses. In the meanwhile, here's the cover for the single. Yeah, I know I look like I just got out of prison. But in a spiritual sense, that's what happens to all of us when we first put our faith in Jesus Christ! </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">Just as anyone in prison has lost their physical freedom, anyone who sins and does not belong to Jesus is imprisoned by that sin. They are a slave to sin, with no freedom to stop sinning (John 8:34). But whoever believes in Jesus is freed from the prison of sin and unbelief that results in condemnation (John 3:18) and is set free indeed (John 8:36). They are condemned no more, and can now walk in the Spirit. (Romans 8:1). That verse is what I based the chorus of this song on.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">By the way, we don't have to make "walking in the Spirit" some kind of mysterious otherworldly thing. It just means having the ability to obey the truth and not to obey the lie. Christians sin not because they can't help it, because help is always available to anyone who has the Spirit of Jesus living in them. Christians sin because they willfully resist the Spirit. Non-Christians, on the other hand, have no choice but to sin because it's human nature and they don't have the help of the Spirit. Resisting sin is a characteristic of the divine nature, therefore the power to resist sin can only come from a divine source. We call that source the Holy Spirit, and we call this power grace. And we define grace as the God-given ability within us to obey the truth.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="font_large">If you belong to Jesus, I hope this track captures a little bit of the joy you must have felt when you knew you were condemned no more!</span></p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/51202412018-03-09T15:31:33-05:002018-03-09T15:31:33-05:00Redeeming the Time<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/e08a0b514d532bd2370ff53435b50d4ce98b7056/large/redeem-the-time-cover.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">People make salvation more complicated than it is. It all comes down to believing the true God, Jesus Christ, AND loving Him. Not believing as the demons do, for the demons know who He is and believe what He said but they don’t love Him. They hate Him! (James 2:19).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">For the rest of us, there is a book that tells us all about Jesus. Men have been trying to get rid of this book unsuccessfully for thousands of years, but it's still as true today as when it was written. It's called the Bible. If you believe and love what it says, you will believe and love this Jesus and you will live your life in light of that truth. (Romans 10:9). That's salvation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">You will not live your faith perfectly, because perfect faith requires sinlessness. And we know that sinlessness is impossible for the seed of Adam (all people). But that's why Jesus, the sinless One, had to pay the price for my sins and whosoever would believe in Him (John 3:16).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">All this is simple enough to be grasped by a child. In fact, Jesus Himself said that unless we received the kingdom of God with the faith of a little child, we would not enter into it. (Mark 10:15). It is only as we continue to live in this world full of darkness and sin that our hearts (the real "who" that we are) become hardened to spiritual truth. Decades of relentless "education" that denies spiritual truths has its effect on most who live a long life here. If I was writing a book titled, "How This World Really Works", chapter 1 would be called, "The Conspiracy To Conceal Christ".</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">That's why it is quite a defeat for the devil and his demons when an older person comes to faith in Jesus. God is still able to open the spiritual eyes of the most hardened sinners and have them see these simple truths. I thank God He did it for me. Sadly, that is the exception to the rule (Matthew 7:13).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The goal of the devil is to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10). He tries to do that whether you belong to Jesus or not. If he doesn't kill your body right off the bat, he works to steal your time and destroy your usefulness for Jesus. Therefore, as we are not promised tomorrow, we should not put off deciding in our hearts TODAY who Jesus really is. Neither should we put off living our lives in light of it. Because time is short (James 4:14), and the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Saving faith in Jesus is just the beginning, although a crucial one. What we do for Him afterwards here on Earth will be determined by our faithfulness. And the clock is ticking, so make every second count. Redeem the time.</p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/50150092018-01-09T15:08:27-05:002020-01-23T11:19:58-05:00What is true success? <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/7b8c8a1a03330acfd7c9783120a18d9ee7b644f7/original/serveimage-205.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>That's a question that I have often pondered. How success is defined can greatly influence the path we take in our lives. </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The natural human fleshly tendency is to relate success to numerical increases in things that we can number. More income, more popularity, etc. But for someone who labors for the Lord, the answer can be quite different. I say "can be" because in His providence, the Lord CAN provide large increases in these things. Abraham is a prime example of a goldly man whom He blessed with riches and influence. However, we make a fatal mistake when we automatically consider such increases in our lives to be blessings from God when in fact they could be stumbling blocks that the devil has placed in our path. The devil can "bless" too, and he knows how quickly most of us are likely to attribute our "successes" to God's favor.. even when we are living outside of God's will!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The words of Jesus come to my mind, when He told us to enter the strait gate (Mat. 7:13) and warned us that wide is the way that leads to destruction. Numerical increases of wealth or influence should be carefully examined to see whether they are from God's favor as we stay faithful to Him, or merely a devilish appeal to our "pride of life" (1 John 2:16). Finding success in God's eyes often means following a lonely, unpopular path that few are willing to pursue. It is the path to do what God has called us to do with our gifts and our lives regardless of the outcome, numerical or otherwise.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">My greatest inspiration comes from Jesus, who died poor, naked and deserted by everyone when He went to the Cross. And yet His story is the greatest success story of all time! Think of all the millions of souls that will spend eternity in Heaven because of His faithfulness! In a much smaller way, God knows that as we stay faithful to Him in the little things He has called us to do, we may reap a spiritual harvest that can't be measured by mere numbers. So be encouraged as you labor for the Lord today, no matter how you measure your success!</p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/49409952017-11-20T15:01:36-05:002017-11-20T15:01:36-05:00Home With The King Album Now Available<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/32717194b24a7d523331dbd8be6cb877971c26e2/original/revised-corrected-color-3000.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>In case you haven't been following me on social media lately, I've mentioned that my second album <em>Home With The King</em> will be officially available December 1, 2017 from places like iTunes, Spotify, etc. However, I am very happy to announce that the album is now available for immediate download from my <a contents="Store page" data-link-label="Store" data-link-type="page" href="/store">Store page</a>. </p>
<p>Just as with my previous release, all tracks are available either as <a contents="MP3 320 files" data-link-label="" data-link-type="album" href="/album/631473/home-with-the-king-mp3-files">MP3 320 files</a> or as high resolution <a contents="WAV files" data-link-label="" data-link-type="album" href="/album/631444/home-with-the-king-wav-files">WAV files</a>. But for this release, I've taken the sound quality to the next level. All tracks were recorded, mixed and mastered in 96K/24 bit resolution. Although the MP3 files sound better as a result of this, the 96/24 WAV version will blow you away! I had one of those rare moments this weekend when I totally forgot about the different hats I wear as writer, performing artist, engineer, etc. As I listen back to my recordings. I found myself just enjoying the music! What a concept! </p>
<p>As with my first release of Really Only Dust, the purchase of the Audio CD version will include the download version in whichever format you choose at no additional cost. The Audio CD is now $8.99 with free shipping in the USA. The album download version is $7.99 in either file formats. Individual tracks are 99 cents. The Audio CD will not be available to purchase until around December 1, 2017, which should still give you time to get it before the holidays. If you want the CD but wanted to get its included downloads now, please reach out to me and I will take care of you. </p>
<p>I wish you and your family a blessed time throughout the holidays, and for those of you in the USA, have a great Thanksgiving Day this coming Thursday! </p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/48122312017-08-12T15:16:16-04:002017-08-12T15:16:16-04:00Do not be deceived<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/fafded3e218838c09b22e74271e9ad2d93f840fe/large/img-20170812-104018-586.jpg?1502565254" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Compliance.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Brute animals complying with their drivers, blissfully unaware that they are headed towards an eventual slaughter and death. But are we humans any different?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Jesus mentions Hell 62 times in the Bible, more than He mentions Heaven. That's how concerned He is for the eternal destiny of our souls. He knows that Hell is real, it is eternal, and it is awful. And without the salvation Jesus provides to those who believe on Him, Hell is the destiny of all mankind. We are born with the sin nature and therefore come into this world condemned already, but God in His mercy and grace provides the opportunity for us to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Satan is likewise already condemned to an eternity in Hell, but without any chance of salvation because he is pure evil and has no capacity for repentance.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I used to have trouble understanding why Satan fought so hard against God if he knew that his future was already decided. But then I thought about what jealousy and blind fits of rage can do. Knowing that he is going down, the devil wants to take every human soul with him if for no other reason than to spite God. He knows that God is grieved by that, not willing that any human soul should perish. But perish they will if they don't repent before they die, and Satan wants to make sure they never get that chance.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I thank God that I was able to repent and believe in Jesus, but I had a few close calls with death in my youth that could have sent me straight to Hell. Satan knows this, so he is working every day to make sure people die prematurely. And what more efficient way is there to kill as many people as possible prematurely than war?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Over 100 million people died in the wars of just the last century alone. It is by far the greatest killer, and therefore the best vehicle for the damning of souls. As an added bonus, it enriches satanically influenced people who instigate these wars for profit.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">My plea to anyone who will listen is this: Jesus said in Matthew 5:9: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." Do we want to be blessed as a nation and give everyone as much opportunity as possible to repent and believe in Jesus? Then stop complying. Withdraw support for immoral, unjust and illegal wars. Romans 12:18 says that if it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This does not mean giving up on self-defense. We have a God-given right to life and self-preservation, but governments have a long and sordid history of inciting its citizens to support wars with phony pretexts. Rarely has America been directly threatened in the myriad of conflicts it has been involved in recently. And the whole idea of preemptive war is repulsive. Attacking someone first because you THINK they are planning to attack you is the very definition of aggression at best, and paranoia at worst.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Do not let partisan loyalty or some misplaced notion of patriotism convince you that it's okay to do wrong so that right will come out of it. This is yet another deception from Satan.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">If choosing right over wrong puts you in the the minority, so be it. Hitler had millions, Jesus had 12.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And the herd is usually wrong.</p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/47643642017-07-02T17:13:36-04:002017-07-02T22:20:06-04:00If You Love Him...<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/1e403710cd7331e105d73ac9f609c47feb6b317e/original/inshot-20170702-153952.jpg?1499024830" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">One of my Instagram followers pointed out that the post shown above was deep yet simply laid out. After thinking about it, I realized that it merited some elaboration on this blog. </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">When Pontius Pilate asked the question, "What is truth?", he meant it rhetorically as if to say that nobody knows what truth is. Of course, we as believers know that Jesus is Truth. Difficulty comes from not knowing and understanding exactly who Jesus is as revealed in Scripture, so that we are not in error when it comes to discerning the truth. This is why we not only need to study all the scriptures in context, but also to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to us and help us to have a right understanding of what we read. Once we have knowledge of the truth, we need to apply it. Both are required, and both are more easily said than done. </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">There are some truths than are more obvious, and there are some that require much more illumination, wisdom and instruction. An example of an obvious truth would be the wrongness of simple theft. Even a small child naturally knows that it's wrong for another child to take candy away from him. A not so obvious truth would be the wrongness of homosexuality. I'm going to use this example to point out why the search for truth is crucial to the understanding of right and wrong. </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the United States, we live in a country where the practice of homosexuality is legal. Most Bible-believing Christians know that the scriptures condemn it as a sin. However, when we read the scriptures in context we find that homosexuality is just one of many sins which the Bible condemns, and in fact is not even the worst sin. In Matthew 10:15, Jesus, referring to the unbelieving Jews in the cities he was sending His disciples to, said, "Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city." Sodom (from where the word <em>sodomy</em> originates) and Gomorrha were ancient cities rampant with homosexuality. </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The worst sin is the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ. By not believing in Him, you have no redeemer and no hope. You will need to pay your own sin debt to God, and that means spending eternity in Hell. Obviously in a country like ours that was modeled on Christian principles of individual liberty, unbelief in Jesus is also legal. Christian liberty includes the freedom of conscience given to us by God. He does not coerce us into submission to Him, and therefore tolerates our unbelief while we are here on this earth. </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And so it is with the legality of homosexuality. As a nation guided by Christian principles, we do not legally persecute homosexuals as in some Islamic countries. The problem is that legality confers certain rights and privileges which in turn set up conflicts in society, some of which are foreseen only by God Himself. People generally equate legality with rightness, and to some extent that's understandable. The original lawgiver is God, and all His laws are right. Governments such as ours that seek to model right principles have established laws which are purportedly consistent with those principles. But when laws contrary to His character and nature are enacted, it forces citizens to choose whether they will stand with God's Word or with man-made laws.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Many will accept the rightness of the man-made law because they either do not believe or do not understand the God-given law. Some believe in their hearts the God-given law is right, yet accept the man-made law because of blind submission taught from a wrong interpretation of some passage of the Bible, such as in Romans 13, or a false notion of Christian tolerance supposedly taught by Jesus in Matthew 7. And some accept the man-made law simply out of cowardice. So there are many reasons why people do not follow what God says is right and true or do not insist that man-made laws reflect that truth.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The committed Christian will always side with God's law, even when he or she does not fully understand why God's law is correct. This is where faith comes in. We simply can't know all the specific unforeseen future consequences of abandoning God's Word, but we do know there will be repercussions as surely as ripples radiating from a stone thrown into a pond. So, having at least this much truth revealed to us, we can conclude that legalized homosexuality and the accompanying legal rights such as rights of marriage, adoption, etc., will not result in God blessing a nation that adopts them. And that's just one example. I could give you many more, but it always comes back to the central question posed by Satan in the Garden of Eden: "Hath God said...?". The true answer to that question, and how we respond to it, determines the direction of a nation and its people. </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Do not be deceived. American will never be great again until we make America godly again. When enough people in America begin to do what's right according to His Word, we will see true revival and blessing from God. But it all starts with loving Jesus enough to take Him at His Word, even when the nation's laws, the rest of the world, and even your own opinions tell you not to.</p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/47576432017-06-26T21:08:59-04:002017-06-30T00:47:37-04:00"Really Only Dust" album now available!<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/3ace5b917e036818075064b69f4eba9d15621322/large/front-cover-final-digital.png?1498495340" class="size_l justify_center border_" style="text-align: justify;" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Praise the Lord! I am happy to announce that my album, "Really Only Dust" is now officially released and available to purchase!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This is the culmination of over two years of hard work. Much care went into the making of the final release. Some of you may know that in addition to being a songwriter and recording artist, I have also done audio mastering work for many of my clients. I've had a lifelong love affair with high-end audio, and my audiophile roots demand the very best in sound quality. And I want you, the listener, to enjoy the same experience I had listening to the final product in the studio. So I'm making the album available in three different formats here on my website, so that you can choose the one that's right for you:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>WAV:</strong> If you want the best of me, this is it. These are 24-bit, 44.1 kHz WAV files that are of identical quality to the high resolution playback from the studio mastering software. This is a lossless, uncompressed format, which means it sounds better than any data compressed format such as MP3. You will hear all the sound frequencies that were captured in the original recordings. It is also better than audio CD quality because there is less audible hiss due to the fact that audio CD is 16-bit and therefore noisier. Also, audio CD players employ "error correction and concealment", meaning that when the player's laser is unable to read the data from the CD due to problems with the disc or the player, it makes up the data whenever it can. I bet you didn't know that! This could explain why CD sound is often harsher and more "brittle" than the original source recordings.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Audio CD:</strong> Despite its shortcomings, CD is still the industry standard. It's something physical and tangible that you can hold in your hand and, with proper care, will probably outlive you. Although it's a 35 year old format, it still sounds better than any MP3 made today. And it's nice to have the included printed artwork and album notes. The master for this CD release was created from the same 24-bit WAV files as listed above, but converted to 16-bit as required by the CD format and then exported as a DDP file set. DDP (Data Description Protocol) is a special kind of format used exclusively for duplication purposes, because it ensures no loss of information from the mastering house to the duplicator. Without DDP, some duplicators will do additional editing and/or processing to the final master which can degrade the audio quality.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Note: I have noticed that duplicators will accept MP3 files and use them to create a duplication master that is then used to duplicate audio CDs. This totally negates the quality advantage of the audio CD format over the MP3 format, resulting in a CD that has the same lower quality of an MP3. As they say in the computer biz, garbage in, garbage out. Be assured that I will NEVER do that!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>MP3 320: </strong>Let's face it. Even guys like me that can hear the difference still use MP3's. Why? They're quick to download, they're compatible with just about every device, they don't take up a lot of space on your phone, they have embedded artwork and other metadata, and sometimes they can sound pretty good, especially if you're not playing them back on some super high end audio system that can reveal all their sonic flaws. So I make the MP3 format available as well, and I encode the original 24-bit WAV files to MP3 at 320mbps, which is the highest standard MP3 resolution available. They're slightly larger, but better sounding than most MP3 files.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A word about "Mastered for iTunes": Apple has been touting this as making their releases sound indistinguishable from the original masters. I think they are stretching the truth. The fact is that they still employ a "lossy" data compression format similar to MP3 which (at least in theory) will never equal the sound of the original 24-bit master. However, they do require the master submitted to them to be created by an "approved" mastering engineer in order for them to list the release as "Mastered for iTunes", and the mastering engineer has to employ "best practices" in the mastering process. I believe this is the only reason the "Mastered for iTunes" releases can sound better than the standard iTunes releases.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Well, guess what? I've been employing those "best practices" all along, even before Apple came up with them! So rather than me having to release a special "Mastered for iTunes" version of the album, and you having to pay Apple an extra 30 cents per song to get it, why not purchase from my website and get the highest sound quality included at a lower price?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The WAV and MP3 320 digital album versions are available to <a contents="download" data-link-label="Store" data-link-type="page" href="/store" target="_blank">download</a> right now from this website. The digital album will soon be available from all the usual music sources like iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc., although the sound quality will vary depending on the audio format supported by each distributor partner. The Audio CD is expected to be in stock July 2017. If you're interested pre-ordering the Audio CD, <a contents="contact me" data-link-label="Contact" data-link-type="page" href="/contact" target="_blank">contact me</a> and I'll put you on the list to notify you as soon as they're in stock.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Enjoy!</p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/47465232017-06-16T13:32:49-04:002017-06-16T16:05:14-04:00Freedom in Christ<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/a91a48ed891fd91ad46deb594e476ce4567e06f7/original/slavery-for-blog.jpg?1497633875" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Freedom.</p>
<p>Most people will agree that freedom is a desirable thing. There are many kinds of freedom, and today I'm only going to discuss the kind of freedom Jesus was talking about in John 8:34-36: freedom from the penalty and the power of sin. This is the freedom from which all other freedoms flow.</p>
<p>But first, we have to understand exactly what is sin so that we know what we are being freed from.</p>
<p>Simply put, <em>sin is anything that is contrary to God's character and nature as revealed in Scripture</em>. This is crucial to understand, because people have a tendency to create a god in their own minds, whether intentionally or not. If we worship a made-up god, that is a form of idolatry. That's why we need to rely on who Scripture says that Jesus is so that we know the true God and therefore know His character and nature.</p>
<p>But why do we rely on Scripture to tell us? Because it is authoritative, because it is inerrant, because its prophecies are fulfilled, and because the historical, archeological and scientific evidence back it up. And Scripture makes it very clear that Jesus is God.</p>
<p>No one can say that Jesus never claimed to be God. There are numerous Scripture passages that attest to His deity, such as in John 10:30 when Jesus said, "I and the Father are one". Take just one example: the explosion of miracles that Jesus performed while He walked this earth. Even the Pharisees that wanted to kill Jesus never questioned whether those miracles were genuine. Jesus performed those miracles to authenticate His claim to be God.</p>
<p>The evidence for the authority of Scripture can't be fully discussed in this brief blog post. Let's just say that if there are any skeptics out there who don't trust Scripture and what it says about Jesus, I suggest they do their own research and find out why the Bible is still standing after people have been trying to knock it down for over 2,000 years. </p>
<p>Once we know who Jesus is, we can then start to examine who we are. And when we take an honest look at ourselves, we know that we don't reflect God's character and nature perfectly as revealed in Scripture. And that's what sin is: anything that's contrary to God's character and nature.</p>
<p>We agree with the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Leviticus 11:44 says, "Be holy, for I, God, am holy", yet we know that we are far from holy. If we look at just the Ten Commandments alone and we're honest with ourselves, we know we've broken them all... even the ones that it would seem as if we have kept.</p>
<p>For example, take the seventh commandment that forbids adultery. If I never sleep with another man's wife, I haven't broken it, right? Wrong! God is referring to a principle in Scripture, which defines adultery as sexual activity apart from that of a natural man & a natural woman bound in matrimony. Anything apart from that is adultery. That covers a lot of territory.</p>
<p>And adultery doesn't even have to be the physical act. 1 Samuel 16:7 says that God looks at the heart, and Jesus said in Matthew 5:28 that if a man looks with lust at another woman he has committed adultery in his heart. So Jesus "upped the ante" and made it clear that spiritual adultery was just as sinful as physical adultery in God's eyes.</p>
<p>You see, it's all about what's going on in your heart. Some of us have broken it more and some of us have broken it less, but we probably have all broken the seventh commandment. I know I have, which is why I wrote the song "Freedom in Christ". Sexual lust was a besetting sin for me. And so I was a slave to it because I couldn't stop.</p>
<p>And it doesn't have to be sexual. You can lust for money, for power, for influence or status. Then there's gluttony, gossip, drugs, alcohol, etc. The list of lusts is endless. 1 John 2:16 calls it the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.</p>
<p>The problem is, you don't just wake up one day and say to yourself, "Okay, I'm not going to lust anymore". Because you know you can't stop. You know there will be a "next time". That's when you realize you really are a slave to sin. I'm sure you've heard the joke about the smoker who said, "I can quit whenever I want… I've done it a hundred times!"</p>
<p>The bottom line is this: apart from Christ there is NO freedom from sin, other than the freedom to pick which sin you want to commit. You cannot stop sinning on your own. That's why Jesus said in John 8:34 that anyone who sins is a slave to sin.</p>
<p>But Jesus also said in John 8:36 that if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. And in Luke 4:18 He said He came to liberate the captives. That is, captives to sin. Acts 13:39 says that through Him (that is, through Christ) everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.</p>
<p>When we trust Jesus as our Savior, we are free from both the the penalty of sin and the power of sin. The penalty of sin is death and damnation. Believers are free of that because they are fully forgiven and possess eternal life. But believers are also free from the the power of sin, which means we now have, through His Spirit, the ability to say "no" to ungodly lusts.</p>
<p>Jesus, God's only Son, not only paid for my sins by dying on the cross and taking the punishment that I deserved, He also gives the power to be obedient when I appropriate that power. That power is called grace. That power is through His Spirit, which the Bible says lives within every believer. So now, through Christ, I have the power to be freed from sinful lusts.</p>
<p>The question then becomes, will I appropriate that power? Do I really WANT to be free?</p>
<p>That's the reason I chose the photo above. Did you notice that the man could easily slip his arm out of the shackle if he chose to?</p>
<p>In John 5, there is a story about a man who had an infirmity for 38 years, and Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be made well?" It's a fair question.</p>
<p>Sometimes it seems easier to be a slave. It provides a convenient excuse. "Well, I can't be free of this because.... "(you fill in the blank). To someone who has been accustomed to slavery their entire life, freedom can be so unfamiliar as to be uncomfortable or even downright scary. Or perhaps, like the Hebrews wandering through the desert, they loved slavery more than freedom. They loved the lie instead of the truth. "Take us back to Egypt where at least we had leeks and onions instead of this manna!" they cried to Moses. How quickly they had forgotten the tyranny, the bondage, the abuse, and the hopelessness of slavery!</p>
<p>So it seems to have been with the man Jesus healed from infirmity, because after being healed, it says in John 5:14-15 that Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. In other words, that man went right back to the slavery that Acts 13:39 talks about. The man trusted the Pharisees and betrayed Jesus by snitching on Him!</p>
<p>Scripture does not record what happened to that man, but I'm sure that betraying Jesus can't end well for anyone.</p>
<p>How much loyalty do we have for Jesus? Once you know that He has freed you from the power of sin, it takes away the excuse for failure. Because now when you sin, it's not because you can't help it. You CAN help it! Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength".</p>
<p>And that's Freedom in Christ. What will you do with your freedom?</p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/47034592017-05-10T17:16:28-04:002017-05-10T18:19:38-04:00Legacy<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/a87b89737384168626ef971379f7bfcb9cd661af/original/legacy-blog.png?1494450864" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Lately, I've been thinking a lot about legacies.<br><br>So much of our time on this earth is spent on things that have no eternal value. They're only here for a short time.<br><br>Think about all the time we spend taking care of our physical bodies. Most of us nourish them, clothe them, exercise them, and make them as visually appealing as possible. Until a deadly accident or sickness comes along.<br><br>And then our bodies start to decay minutes after our death. Often, there are only a few photos and a grave marker to remind anyone that there once was a living body.<br><br>Or, think about your possessions. Many have spent entire lifetimes building careers or businesses. They have spent untold hours working and studying to create some kind of a legacy, perhaps as an inheritance for their families or as a testament to future generations that they spent their lives accomplishing a cherished purpose.<br><br>Some have succeeded. They have left monuments to their lives that we can point to and benefit from. But many others have worked just as diligently, or even more so, and yet the fruit of their labor has vanished from memory after their death as quickly as the morning dew. Perhaps it was squandered or neglected by the heirs. Perhaps it was destroyed by a storm or a war. Perhaps it was stolen by a tyrant, a thief or a divorce court. Perhaps, just because of the passing of time, it was forgotten.<br><br>Then think about your children, if you have any.<br><br>Most people see their children as their most treasured legacy. Good parents literally pour their lives into their children, hoping to instruct them in the right way. If you are a Christian, that means raising them to know the Lord Jesus (Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4). This is what God requires, and it is also should be your greatest desire for them.<br><br>Some of these children go on to live godly lives and continue the legacy to future generations. But others do not, and many heartbroken Christian parents watch their children grow up to despise everything their parents taught them and instead go down the path of evil.<br><br>So, what is the point to all of this, then?<br><br>If your hope is on the things of this world, then there is no point. All is a meaningless grasping of the wind (Ecclesiastes 11:10). Your life is like a vapor that vanishes with the dawn (James 4:14).<br><br>You may or may not be successful in the building of your legacy. Even if you are, your life probably won't be remembered much by future generations, if at all.<br><br>But if your hope is on the things of God, it really doesn't matter.<br><br>He has an eternal inheritance for you in Heaven. This inheritance is a spiritual one. One that cannot be destroyed by moths or stolen by thieves (Luke 12:33). What you do for the Lord on Earth is counted towards your legacy there, <em>despite the outcome here</em>. This is crucial to understand, because we often base so much of our well-being on the outcomes we see here on Earth.<br><br>It is only with our faith in Him that we can even muster the courage or effort to keep doing what is right even when there are no satisfying results.<br><br>As John Quincy Adams said, "Duty is ours, results are God's".<br><br>I wanted to encourage you today with this, because I know there are some of you who are wondering whether the life you are living is worth living or the things you are doing are worth doing.<br><br>If you know Jesus and you're doing it for Him, then the answer is yes! Your spiritual legacy is as eternal as the Word of God that promises it (Isaiah 40:8).<br><br>And words on this page cannot describe the incredible joy that you will experience the day you hear these words from Jesus Himself:<br><br>Well done, My good and faithful servant.Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/46729192017-04-22T12:01:41-04:002022-05-21T13:50:17-04:00Unconditional Love<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/3004d32702b352a76a9532159da758eedb41b2aa/large/unconditional-blog-crop.jpg?1492372292" class="size_l justify_center border_none" alt="" /><br>What is unconditional love?<br><br>In humans, it doesn't exist. At least not the kind of unconditional love that God gives.<br><br>The Bible teaches that God chose us for salvation. Before the foundation of the world, before we even existed. And later while we were sinners. In other words, He chose us before we chose Him. (Romans 5:8)<br><br>So before we even wanted Him or had a chance to clean up our act and stop sinning (as if we could ever stop sinning on our own!), God loved us.<br><br>He chose to love us, not because we were lovable. Just because! God can do that because He is sovereign. To be sovereign means He can do whatever He wants, because He rules.<br><br>But <em>why</em> does God love us? To show His glory. To show that He can take a worthless sinner like me and change him and use him. God has a lot of ways to display His glory. This is one of them. And He showed His love for us by sending Jesus to die for us. (Ephesians 1:9-12)<br><br>Tell me, would you send your only son (or other loved one, for that matter) to die for someone you knew was a horrible person? A person who had no idea what you were doing for them and wouldn't appreciate it even if they did?<br><br>This kind of love is totally unconditional. It matters absolutely nothing to God how good we are when He decides to love us. Our goodness plays no part in His decision. We can't do anything to change His mind. He chose to love us and to save us, and there is nothing we can do to add or subtract from that. His love is going to be the same <em>forever</em>. God decides, and that's that.<br><br>And yet, we are also told in the Bible to believe in order to be saved. It says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) Even before that in the Old Testament, it says to choose for ourselves this day whom we will serve. (Joshua 24:15)<br><br>So, if we have to choose to love Him, isn't that a condition in itself?<br><br>It depends on how you look at it.<br><br>Not only does God choose to love us, He also gives us the ability to love Him back. In other words, our faith in Him is actually a gift from Him. (Ephesians 2:8) Even our faith is not from us!<br><br>So then, is it really our choice to make? Why would God tell us to make a choice that He has already decided that we will make anyway?<br><br>My dear friend, that is one of the many mysteries of God that man has been trying to solve for centuries. Theologians have a word for it: antinomy. The dictionary defines an antinomy as a contradiction between two statements, both apparently obtained by correct reasoning.<br><br>In other words, two correct ideas that in human reasoning contradict each other, but work together perfectly in God's mind. And, after all, who knows God's mind better than God Himself?<br><br>The bottom line: we have no idea where God's sovereignty ends and man's responsibility begins in this matter. All we can do is accept by faith what the Bible says.<br><br>But, for the believer, what a wonderful and liberating thing it is to know that we can't change God's decision to love us! He loves us the same at our worst or at our best.<br>There's nothing we can do to make Him love us more, and there's nothing we can do to make Him love us less. It's unconditional!<br><br>In those times we are on the spiritual mountaintop and feeling we are closest to Him and living our lives fully devoted to Him, He loves us <em>just as much</em> as when we are in the deepest valley letting Him down and repenting for our disobedience and grieving in our spirit. Amazing!<br><br>Our feelings really don't change anything. God's unconditional love is the same reality no matter where we're at today.<br><br>That is, if we really belong to Him.<br><br>This is not an excuse to sin, because all sin has negative consequences for us. But it is a reason to return to Him when we do. (1 John 2:1) And to praise Him for giving us the ability to do so!<br><br>His unconditional love awaits. Run to it.Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/46642172017-04-15T02:54:43-04:002017-04-22T12:54:06-04:00Because He Is Glorified, We Also Shall Be<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/8e774b7bc3ab3aab3be74e6934033bb04dd769ed/original/glorified-blog.jpg?1492327541" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Before the world even existed, Jesus was in Heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit.<br><br>As finite created beings, we humans cannot possibly understand what this must have been like. However, in John 17, the Bible records that, before He was to be crucified, Jesus prayed to the Father and asked that He glorify Him with the same glory which He had with Him before the world was. That meant that Jesus was going to the Cross, and He would show His glory by conquering death itself and rising from the grave.<p>Jesus lowered himself and gave up the glory He had in Heaven when He came to walk the earth. But when He rose from the grave and ascended into Heaven, He was glorified again.<br><br>God's glory cannot be adequately described, because we cannot even fully see it. In Exodus 33, Moses asked God to show him His glory, but God only let him see His back because God said no man could see His face and live. And that glory was so intense that Moses's face shone from it, so much so that he had to put a veil over His face when he spoke with the Israelites, because the people were afraid to look at it.</p>
<p>God is described in Scripture as a consuming fire, and as light. He is described as having no darkness at all. That means infinitely bright. The disciples got a glimpse of that light when Jesus was "transfigured" to where His face shone like the sun. </p>
<p>Question: what do you think would happen to your eyes if you stared intently into the sun for a while? You probably would go blind, right? Then imagine what God's full display of light would do to you!<br><br>Face it, we as mortal beings simply have no way to approach that kind of awesome, infinite power. The power to create everything out of nothing. The power to do anything, anywhere, anytime. The power to live forever. The power to do what we cannot even imagine.<br><br>And then consider God's other qualities: perfect knowledge, holiness, goodness, love, truth and wisdom...<br><br>How else can we describe Him?<br><br><em>Glorious</em><em>!</em></p>
<p>In Luke 24, the Bible records the appearance of Jesus to the disciples after His resurrection. They knew His appearance well from having spent three years with Him, yet they did not initially recognize Him. But apparently He looked normal because they spent a good part of the day together talking. So we can expect that our own resurrected bodies will somehow resemble our present human form, yet look different.<br><br>Jesus instantly disappeared from their sight as they were sitting together at the dinner table. And later, Jesus appeared to them out of thin air as they gathered together in a room. But He was not a ghost, because they were able to touch His body. Jesus even <em>ate</em> in front of them.<br><br>So this glorified body must also have the ability to materialize and de-materialize. It can go through walls and travel instantly. For you Star Trek fans, that's way better than having Scotty beam you up!<br><br>Most importantly, glorified creatures do not have a sin nature. We know that the end result of sin is always death, both physical and spiritual. But when we are glorified and permanently removed from the presence of sin, we will live forever just like Jesus. Amazing!</p>
<p>It would take more than this blog post to completely describe what our future glory will be like, even if I knew everything. But in His Word, God has shown us a small part of what's in store for us by describing Jesus, resurrected and glorified.<br><br>The Bible says that one day we will be like Jesus. And that means that because He is glorified, we also shall be.<br><br>This Resurrection Sunday, we meditate on the glory that Jesus demonstrated through His resurrection, and we celebrate what He accomplished for you and me.<br><br>He is risen!</p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/46548912017-04-02T00:42:15-04:002017-04-22T12:54:34-04:00Because He Is Glorified, We Are Sanctified<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/8bc70274dc480f6448c107810c2e4333c58c200c/original/glorified-blog.jpg?1490485034" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Sanctification.<br><br>A fancy word thrown around by pastors and Bible scholars. What does it really mean to you and me?<br><br>If you read my blog last week, you know I talked about what happens when we have a saving faith in Jesus. We are made right before God. He declares us "not guilty" and we stand before Him in Heaven's court as if we had never sinned. He treats us as if we were like Jesus, His Son... perfect!<br><br>But of course, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that we are very far from being like Jesus. We know we are really still sinners, even after coming to faith in Jesus. We know we are far from perfect. We are painfully aware of our shortcomings. We know that God knows all the secret sins of our heart.<br><br>Perhaps now we are even <em>more</em> convicted of our sins, and the more our hearts grieve that we are so far from being like Jesus.<br><br>Friend, if this describes you, be encouraged! You are ready for sanctification. You are ready to be used by God.<br><br>In Mark 2:17, Jesus said something to the self-righteous religious leaders that was very profound. It applied not only to them but to us just as much today.<br><br>He said that He had not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.<br><br>A proud, arrogant, self-righteous person can never hear the call of Jesus to repent from sin, because they can't see their sin clearly. They only see their good. Or, they see their good as outweighing their sin. They maximize their good and minimize their sin in their own eyes. They do not accurately see how ugly and offensive their sin really is. They do not have the eyes of God, so they can't see their sin clearly.<br><br>For the sake of argument, let's say someone was 99% perfect. By human reasoning, that person should be considered righteous by God and should get some kind of a pass from God, right?<br><br>Okay, what if I offered you some homemade chocolate brownies, and I told you that 99% of the batter was made from organic imported cocoa, farm-fresh eggs, and pure cane sugar. But 1% was ground-up cockroaches and dog poop.<br><br>Would you eat it?<p>God's vision is perfect. He is holy and pure. Even the slightest sin is horrible and offensive to God. Sin cannot mix with purity and perfection. It pollutes and adulterates. It is poison. It is death.</p>The Bible says that as high as the heavens are above the earth are God's ways higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. That's pretty high.<br><br>And it says that to God, our good works are like filthy rags. In the original Hebrew language of the Bible, "filthy rags" translates to menstrual cloth. Yep, that's KOTEX back in the day.<br><br>Knowing all of this, it's a wonder that God can stand us at all. In truth, it's only because of Jesus that He can.<p>So, when Jesus said He had not come to call the righteous to repentance, He really meant that He did not come to call to repentance those who were righteous <em>in their own eyes</em>.<br><br>But to sinners, those of us who acknowledge that we are not righteous, He <em>does</em> call to repentance!</p>And then, because Jesus has been glorified in Heaven as God's Son who conquered death, and has interceded for us through our faith in Him, we're justified and made right before God in <em>standing </em>and<em> </em>He treats us as <em>if </em>we were righteous! Do you see how that works?<br><br>Jesus called us to repentance. We repented of unbelief in Jesus, and now, we are in a position to be used by God. We are ready to be sanctified.<br><br>Sanctification is the process of being sanctified, of being made holy and perfected. We begin to see other sins that we need to repent from. He begins to show us how to become more like Him. Conformed to His likeness. Thinking more like Him. Talking more like Him. Acting more like Him.<br><br>This is where the rubber meets the road. It's a process. A very long process. A life-long process.<br><br>And it's hard.<br><br>In fact, without the Holy Spirit, it's impossible.<br><br>Thankfully, Jesus said we would have help. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the helper, and He told us He would send Him to help us.<br> <br>We need the illumination that only the Holy Spirit provides. We need the Holy Spirit to prompt us to do (or not do) certain things. We need Him to help us understand what we read in the Bible.<br><br>But if we truly belong to Jesus, the Holy Spirit <em>will</em> help us. We <em>will</em> persevere. We <em>will</em> make progress. We will have victories.<br><br>Not in a straight line up. Perhaps not as much as we could. Maybe not like someone else. But we <em>will</em> become more like Jesus. The Bible promises it!<br><br>There will be some changes in our hearts that will manifest themselves in ways that others may see. And there will be other changes that only God will see, and only God will know just how far He has taken us. Either way, our love for Him will propel us forward.<br><br>Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will obey My commandments."<br><br>Every step of obedience we take, no matter how small, is a step in the process of sanctification. It is a step in the right direction on the road toward the final destination.<br><br>Jesus walked that road of obedience... all the way to the Cross. Perfectly.<br><br>Our walk of obedience will not be perfect, and yet...<br><br>it will still end in our perfection!<br><br>That's glorification, the subject of my next post.Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/46458792017-03-26T10:07:41-04:002017-04-22T12:55:10-04:00Because He Is Glorified, We Are Justified<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/8bc70274dc480f6448c107810c2e4333c58c200c/original/glorified-blog.jpg?1490485034" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>In about 3 weeks, we will be celebrating the most important event in all of human history.<br><br>That event is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He proved that He conquered death itself by rising from the grave. By doing so, he displayed His glory.<br><br>He is now in Heaven... glorified!<br><br>Soon I hope to make another song available to download, entitled "Glorified". As I continue to work on the music in the studio, I want to talk about the glory of Jesus, and what it means for anyone who puts their faith in Him.<br><br>When God the Father sent His Son Jesus to die on that cruel cross, He knew there was no other way to save us.<br><br>He knew we would never be good enough to go to Heaven. Only perfect creatures can live there, because Heaven is a perfect place. It's where God's throne is. If you or I could go there in our present condition, Heaven would stop being Heaven. It wouldn't be perfect anymore. We would mess it up, just by being there.<br><br>Do you see why God can't let us into Heaven by our own efforts? We can't just be a "good person" and live a "good life". We will never be good enough. We will always fall short of perfection.<br><br>The Bible calls that sin. We were born sinners.<br><br>So if we can't go to Heaven, that means we would perish, and be separated from God forever. The Bible calls that Hell.<br><br>That's the bad news, because it's impossible for us to change our sin nature.<br><br>And yet, the Bible says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.<br><br>But what does it mean to "believe in Him"?<br><br>It all comes down to loving the truth.<br><br>It's not enough to say you believe in Jesus or even to believe He exists. That is not a faith that saves anyone. Even the devil and the demons believe Jesus is who He says He is, but here's the difference:<br><br><em>They don't love Him! They hate Him!</em><br><br>Believing Jesus means <em>loving</em> the truth, because Jesus said He <em>is</em> the truth.<br><br>Loving the truth means agreeing with Him (read the Bible to find out what He said) and seeing ourselves as we really are, as He says we are- as sinners needing forgiveness from God and needing to repent (turn from) our sins.<br><br>The first sin we need to repent from is the sin of unbelief in Jesus. That is the one sin that can keep us out of Heaven.<br><br>Do you believe Jesus is your Lord and Savior? The Bible says that God gives us the faith to believe. But it also says we must ask for it. We must show God we really want it.<br><br>When God gives us the gift of faith and we truly believe, we then believe what Jesus said, we love what He said, we hold on to what He said, and we have a desire to live according to what He said. Because what He said is Truth with a capital T. And we love the truth, so we love Him.<br><br>It doesn't mean we stop being sinners. But it does mean that God forgives our sins. All of them. Past, present, and future.<br><br>When we believe in Jesus and believe that His death on the Cross paid for our sins, it's like this:<br><br>Jesus shows up in God's court with payment for our sin debt to God, and we ask God to apply that payment to our sin account. We ask God to accept Christ's sacrifice as payment for our sins.<br><br>When God does that, our sin debt is paid in full. Once for all. He then treats us as if we were like Jesus and had no sin. Case dismissed!<br><br>We are now justified (made right) before God. Forever.<br><br>Once we are justified by repenting from unbelief in Jesus, God begins to help us repent from our other sins.<br><br>That's a process called sanctification. More on that in my next post.Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/46362772017-03-19T15:22:44-04:002021-09-10T12:37:54-04:00Thanking Him for Tender Mercies Anew<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/4cf988f1bb18dcabfcf3805e70da5dd5220cd20d/large/tendermerciesblog-1-crop.jpg?1489951313" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /><p><em>"Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, <br>Because His compassions fail not. <br>They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." <br>(Lamentations 3:22-23)</em></p>You'd think it would be easy to thank God when everything is going our way, wouldn't you?<br><br>When our health is good, when we have the material things we want, when there's enough money to pay for everything, and when we're surrounded by loved ones, it's easy to think God is blessing us.<br><br>And so we naturally want to thank Him, right?<br><br>Unfortunately, that is not human nature.<br><br>It is said that prosperity makes monsters, and adversity makes men. Just like kids that get everything they want and are never told "no", we become spoiled when everything comes easy.<br><br>This is why persecuted Christians in the poorest countries are stronger in their faith. They are more thankful for what they have.<br><br>As fallen human beings, we have a natural tendency to be proud, selfish and entitled. So we take many of God's blessings for granted. Even something as simple as the next breath we take.<br><br>Be honest...<br><br>How often do you wake up in the morning and start to think about something <em>other</em> than thanking God for keeping you breathing throughout the night as you slept?
<p>I will confess that gratitude for God's loving kindness and tender mercies doesn't come easily to me. I have to work at being thankful!<br><br>My natural tendency is to go through the day thinking about the things that are wrong with my life, not to count my blessings. Then I catch myself, confessing it and asking God for forgiveness.</p>
<p>But there is so much that God knows about my present and future circumstances that I can't possibly know. What if some of the bad things are actually blessings in disguise? </p>
<p>What terrible job did He keep me from being hired for? What bad person did He keep me from getting close to? What if I got that last minute phone call that made me late leaving the house because He kept me from being in a car accident had I left on time?</p>
<p>How about you? What disasters has He helped <em>you</em> avoid? You will never know on this side of Heaven. But if you are reading this, through His loving kindness and tender mercies He has kept you alive another day. For that alone He is to be thanked!<br><br>However, we do have many other obvious material blessings to count and to thank Him for. You probably are healthy enough to get out of bed, have a roof over your head and clothes on your back. You probably have a family and friends that care.<br><br>I know some people don't have these things, so I'm not trying to ignore real problems. Jesus Himself said that in this world we would have many troubles. But He also said we should take heart, because He has overcome the world!<br><br>So, fellow Christian, there you have the first and greatest blessing we possess. That God, in His kindness and tender mercy, opened our eyes of understanding and gave us the faith to believe God's Word and Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. And that by believing in Jesus, we have eternal life.<br><br>Each day, we have that eternal blessing from Jesus. At the end, that's the blessing that really counts.</p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/46036712017-02-26T12:17:48-05:002017-04-22T12:55:53-04:00I get the joy... do you?<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/235455/edf24298c4c652cb0bba08f5ce33610cd8e007cf/original/joy2.png?1488132215" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Does this word make you think of people jumping up and down like maniacs? People looking like they've had too much sugar or caffeine... or some other drug? Is that what the Bible means when it talks about joy?<br><br>Judge for yourself:<p><em>Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 NASB)</em><br><br>Keep in mind that when James the apostle wrote this, Christians were under severe persecution. They were being disowned by their families, fired from their jobs, and even killed. It cost something to profess faith in Jesus. Jesus Himself said that if anyone wanted to follow Him, they should count the cost.<br><br>And yet James wrote that we should count it all as joy??<br><br>So obviously the joy that James is writing about is a different kind of Joy. It's a settled confidence and peace in knowing God, and knowing (by faith) that He has everything under control and is using it to perfect and complete His children.<br><br>As we persevere (keep on keeping on) we develop endurance, which makes our faith stronger until we are "perfect and complete"... in faith and in everything else. In the life to come, for all eternity.<br><br>I know that I'm far from "perfect and complete". Let a trial come my way, and there goes my peace. And in comes fear, anger, doubt, impatience. Maybe for something as small as my phone breaking!<br><br>Does this sound a little like you?<br><br>What if we had to go through some really bad stuff? How would we hold up? Would our faith get stronger or weaker?<br><br>I don't think God expects you to have a silly grin on your face after you get hit with bad stuff. But if you have the joy that James is writing about, you have a smile on the inside and in your heart. It will enable you to go through some really bad stuff. And if God chooses to let you come out of it, you'll look back on it and wonder how you ever made it without cracking up.<br><br>I know. I've been there. In truth, it wasn't my great strength that kept me. It was God's.</p>Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/45977462017-02-19T14:19:46-05:002017-04-22T12:56:25-04:00Nothin' but the blood of JesusWithout the shedding of blood, there is no covering of sins.<br><br>It's a brutal fact.<br><br>Think about this: have you ever wondered why we wear clothes?<br><br><em>We read in Genesis that when God made Adam and Eve they were naked. But sin came into the world, and sin distorts everything. Sin distorts nakedness. Immediately Adam and Eve knew they were naked, and they tried to make coverings out of fig leaves. God came to their rescue, providing garments by killing an innocent animal. This was the first blood sacrifice; it was a covering for their sin. (Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis)</em><br><br>How unfair was that? An innocent animal had to die because of Adam's sin. Prior to that, Adam and Eve walked naked before God because they had never sinned and therefore had no shame about anything. Their relationship with God was perfect and they enjoyed perfect communion with Him. They trusted Him completely.<br><br>But once they believed the lie instead of the Truth (which is God, because He is truth and there is no lie in Him) the trust was broken.<br><br>And now they had betrayed Him. All because they chose to believe a lie about Him, despite the fact that God had done nothing but good for them.<br><br>And they knew it. Which is why they felt shame. It was not just because they were physically naked. They were spiritually naked before Him, and they knew that God <em>knew</em> they had sinned. And they felt shame for doing the dishonorable.<br><br>If you love God, you will know what I'm talking about. You will, like me, sin against Him and then hide behind spiritual "fig leaves". You may stop talking to Him and pretend He isn't there. You may even get angry at Him. You may try to distance yourself by getting involved in various distractions.<br><br>All of that is temporary, just like Adam and Eve's fig leaves.<br><br>The permanent covering for our sin is Jesus, the perfect blood sacrifice.<br><br>How unfair was that? An innocent man dying to cover our sins!<br><br>But only a perfect blood sacrifice could cover every single sin ever committed. It <em>had</em> to be Jesus, who had never sinned. Even His enemies never accused Him of committing a single sin (except for the sin of blasphemy when He made Himself equal with God).<br><br>And He <em>was</em> equal with God. Which is why nothing but the precious blood of Jesus covers all sins, including yours and mine.<br><br>I'm glad that God was not fair!Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/45629302017-01-25T00:58:27-05:002021-08-12T12:56:16-04:00Condemned No More - lyrics & melodyThere are many hymns lyrics that are structured with verses followed by refrains. On the surface, this structure is similar to verses and choruses (A and B sections) used in many popular songs. But because of the emphasis on scriptural depth, hymns often employ many more verses than typical pop songs. It is not uncommon for hymn lyrics to have 4 or more verses. It's a great way to include a lot of rich content. But a lot of verses in a pop song format usually makes them way too long! I wanted <em>Condemned No More</em> to have at least 4 verses, so I made the verses and choruses somewhat short. This allowed me to have a song under 5 minutes and still keep much of the lyrical content.<br><br>Many hymns have a short musical interlude (turnaround) between chorus and verse that provides the literal "breathing room" for the singer. After you sing a powerful chorus, it gives you a chance to catch your breath before singing the following verse. Typically, part of the end of the chorus is repeated to accomplish this. But I decided to use a motif played by guitar. This works as a "bridge" and makes the song more interesting because it incorporates the ethnic folk flavor that echoes the song melody.<br><br>I believe the best hymns incorporate both lyrical depth as well as memorable and accessible melodies. And it's important that the melody be simple enough for anyone to enjoy singing it. That's the whole point to worship music... God wants everyone to worship Him, not just good singers! So I tried to write <em>Condemned No More</em> with the singer in mind.Really Only Dusttag:reallyonlydust.com,2005:Post/45505922017-01-14T23:49:18-05:002017-04-22T12:57:22-04:00Condemned No More - how it beganSome songs are born unexpectedly, and such was <em>Condemned No More</em>.<br><br>I became a Christian later in life, so I wasn't raised with the hymns. But after studying the Bible a few years, I started to appreciate the old hymns. They were like preaching set to music, very different from a lot of contemporary Christian music which sounded like secular pop music with watered-down Christian lyrics. But many hymns were written hundreds of years ago and come from the European classical music tradition, making them sound strange to the modern ear. Sometimes the melodies are difficult to follow and clumsy; sometimes they are downright boring. And sometimes the old English words seem out of place. I mean, who uses <em>thou</em> or <em>thee</em> in 2017? It's a shame that the timeless truths contained in these hymns should be shackled with antiquated constructs.<br><br>But what do hymns have to do with <em>Condemned No More</em>? One day I was singing a hymn, and as I thought about the lyrics I began to feel a deep sense of joy. I began to improvise spontaneously and came up with a chant for it. I liked the chant so much that I figured it was worth making it a brand new song. And it became the chorus for <em>Condemned No More</em>.<br><br>The hymns influenced me in other ways, too. I'll save that for another post.Really Only Dust