Yep...I did it again...stoled something.....but I am sure the young men at the Rebelution wont mind !


Character (Part 4): Choosing The Bible And The Bullet
Read this story. It could change your life.




The Communist soldiers had discovered their illegal Bible study.

As the pastor was reading from the Bible, men with guns suddenly broke into the home, terrorizing the believers who had gathered there to worship. The Communists shouted insults and threatened to kill the Christians. The leading officer pointed his gun at the pastor’s head. “Hand me your Bible,” he demanded. Reluctantly, the pastor handed over his Bible, his prized possession. With a sneer on his face, the guard threw the Word of God on the floor at his feet.

He glared at the small congregation. “We will let you go, “ he growled, “but first, you must spit on this book of lies. Anyone who refuses will be shot.” The believers had no choice but to obey the officer’s order. A soldier pointed his gun at one of the men. “You first.”

The man slowly got up and knelt down by the Bible. Reluctantly, he spit on it, praying, “Father, please forgive me.” He stood up and walked to the door. The soldiers stood back and allowed him to leave. “Okay, you!” the soldier said, nudging a woman forward. In tears, she could barely do what the soldier demanded. She spit only a little, but it is enough. She too was allowed to leave.

Quietly, a sixteen-year-old girl came forward. Overcome with love for her Lord, she knelt down and picked up the Bible. She wiped off the spit with her dress. “What have they done to Your Word? Please forgive them,” she prayed.

The Communist soldier put his pistol to her head. Then he pulled the trigger.


~ Jesus Freaks, by dc Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs ~
I have a question for you: was this girl’s sacrifice worth it? I mean, it’s one thing to lay your life down for a family member or friend or instead of denying Christ, but all she was asked to do was spit on the Bible for goodness sake! If I were in her shoes, with Communist soldier’s invading my Bible study, I’d be praising God that they came up with such an insignificant requirement! I don’t intend to be crude, but if you’ve ever sneezed or coughed when you were doing devotions, you’ve probably already gotten spittle on there. So what’s the big deal?

If you are inclined to agree with the last paragraph, I beg you to realize that her decision was one of extraordinary significance. She chose the precious Word of God over her own comfort and safety; a decision you and I make every single day, but almost always in the opposite direction.

Her sacrifice was worth it because it symbolized something much greater than simply a leather-bound Bible and a quarter-teaspoon of spit. It was a choice between her earthly home and her Heavenly Home, between her persecutor’s threats and her Savior’s promises. She had nothing to lose and everything to gain by choosing God’s Word over earthly comfort. Are we ready to make the same choice?

The answer is that we do make that choice, and we almost always choose comfort. We choose to “spit” on rather than sit under the perfect instruction of Scripture. You and I are constantly “spitting” on the Holy Word of God when we aren’t willing to sacrifice our meaningless comforts for some truly meaningful guidance. And I don’t care if that offends somebody. We offend God, my friends.

A sixteen-year-old girl in Asia laid down her life rather than neglect God’s Word. Are you willing to lay down your magazine? Pray to God that He will grant you the grace to be faithful to His Word. Because, honestly, most of us are too weak to shut-off our computer in order to have some distraction-free devotional time. It won’t get easier till we work harder.

You could say the Bible is “Chicken Soup for the Christian’s Soul.” It feeds our spiritual well-being and our strength of character. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word.” (Psa. 119:9) We will leave our souls starved and our character unguarded if we fail to make the Bible top priority.

Do you want to impact this world for Christ? Do you want to be a Godly young man or woman? Sidney Howard said, “One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.” What are you willing to sacrifice? When will you stop offending God by neglecting one of His primary means of grace in your life, His written Word?

Do not let the opinions of your friends or the customs of your family get in the way. Make the change today.

Start asking yourself the questions, "What does priority mean to me?" "What does it look like when something is top priority in my life?" "What does neglect look like?" "What other means of grace am I neglecting?" and most importantly, "What does the Bible have to say about all this?" Start with Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:1-2. Ask yourself, "What are these verses saying? What do they mean for me?"

Was that girl’s sacrifice worth it? You can bet the world it was.


In Christ, Brett Harris

Judas the man who never knew Jesus

I read this chapter in Max Lucado's book "On the Anvil" recently and it really struck me....it's not a long chapter ...it's is worth the read.


I've wondered many times what kind of man this Judas was. What he looked like, how he acted, who his friends were.

I guess I've always stereotyped him. I've always pictured him as a wiry, beady-eyed,sly,wormy fellow, pointed beard and all. I've pictured him as estranged from the other apostles. Friendless. Distant. Undoubtedly he was a traitor and a quisling. Probably the result of a broken home. A juvenile delinquent in his youth.

Yet I wonder if that is so true. We have no evidence (save Judas's silence) that would suggest that he was isolated. At the Last Supper, when Jesus said that his betrayer sat at the table, we don;t find the apostles immediately turning to Judas as the logical traitor.

No, I think we've got Judas pegged wrong. Perhaps he was just the opposite. Instead of sly and wiry, maybe he was robust and jovial. Rather than quite and introverted , he could have been outgoing and well-meaning. I don't know.

But for all the things we don't know about Judas, there is one thing we know for sure: He had no relationship with the Master. He had seen Jesus, but he did not know Him. He had heard Jesus, but he did not understand him. He had religion but no relationship.

As Satan worked his way around the table in the upper room, he needed a special kind of man to betray our Lord. He needed a man who had seen Jesus but who did not know Him. He needed a man who knew the actions of Jesus but had missed the mission of Jesus. Judas was this man. He knew the empire but had never known the Man.

We learn this timeless lesson from the betrayer. Satan's best tool of destruction are not from outside the church; they are within the church. A church will never die from the immorality in Hollywood or the corruption in Washington. But it will die from corrosion within - from those who bear the name of Jesus but have never met him and from those who have religion but no relationship.

Judas boar the cloak of religion, but he never knew the heart of Christ. Let's make it our goal to know....deeply.