LABOR DAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2008

We here at Golgatha Ministry pray that you enjoyed a safe and happy holiday and that you remembered to invite God to be with you throughout.

The Pagan Pontiff September 1

The history of the church tells lessons good and bad. Its heroes include the noblest saints who ever lived, but its rosters also record scoundrels who have blackened its name. For example …
In 1460 29-year-old Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia of Spain fumed as he opened the letter from the reigning pope. Pius II was upset over news of another wild Borgia party. “None of the allurements of love was lacking,” the pope complained. He condemned Borgia’s orgies, warning him of “disgrace” and “contempt.”

But Borgia, ever more unrestrained, advanced in office until he purchased the papacy itself in 1492. He called himself Pope Alexander VI. His sinful exploits increased with age, and he always kept a stable of women.

But Pope Alexander was upstaged by his illegitimate daughter, Lucrezia Borgia. What we know of Lucrezia is sketchy but vivid. She was charming, shrewd, and bewitching. Her long, golden hair crowned her angelic face and reached almost to her feet. She inherited her father’s lustiness as a teenager.

Her brother Caesar had become a cardinal who mixed church work with immorality and murder. And another Borgia brother, Juan, was equally immoral.

In the 1490s Rome gossiped that Lucrezia was sleeping with her father and both her brothers—incest upon incest and that the brothers were violently jealous. On the morning of June 15, 1497, Juan’s corpse was found in the Tiber, bearing nine dagger wounds. Caesar was suspected, though nothing was proven.

Lucrezia became pregnant. The Vatican sought to hide her condition, but word filtered out. The child was named Giovanni. But who was his father? On September 1, 1501 Pope Alexander VI issued two extraordinary edicts. The first, which was made public, identified Giovanni as Caesar’s child. But the second, hidden in church vaults, identified Giovanni as the pope’s own son, making Pope Alexander both the child’s father and his grandfather.

A young monk named Martin Luther was watching.

I have heard terrible things about some of you. In fact, you are behaving worse than the Gentiles. A man is even sleeping with his own stepmother. Don’t you know how a little yeast can spread through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast! 1 Corinthians 5:1,6,7a
Morgan, Robert J.: On This Day : 265 Amazing and Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs & Heroes. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000, c1997, S. September 1

AUGUST 31,2008

Jesus loves me this I know --- for my heart His love overflows!

Welcome back my friends to what I like to call that piece of my mind that might have existed. This is that little area between what God has given me and what I have let myself use. It's a place where I try to actually let go of my feelings and put them into words and since I'm not very happy with my own words I try as hard as I can to find ways to put them into the words He gave us to live by. I don't make any claims about how smart I am or how talented because I'm not, but the one thing I do know is how Christ Jesus has taken over my life and allowed me to be a speaker for Him. I had plannerd for this Ministry to be a reflection of our old Serenity Site, which was in it's own right a huge success, but God has convinced me that we don't need to redo it because it was meant for the people who used it and Golgatha is meant to serve you who join us here now. I'll probably do most ov my talking on this page, but please keep watch on the main homepage because I will be adding a lot of things there as well. Right now I am working on a study of the Gospel of Mark which my son and I are using to test it out and work out any bugs and I will be adding it to the website for you to use. There won't be any charge for any of the materiel I offer, but I would love to hear your oppinions on it so that I can improve it. I am also working on writing a 4 or 5 week study on evangelism by looking at Paul in the Book of 1Thesselonians. I'm actually writing it for my wife Beautiful Becky and myself to share in the evangelism group we facilitate, but I'm hoping to share it with all of you as well in the hope that you will find something i n it to use to share God and His love with another. Beautiful Becky made me decide on a mission statement for my page to share with you and after several weeks of prayer what he gave me is "Taking Jesus to all His people" because that's what being a follower of Christ and the path He made for us requires. I have been pretty busy lately getting ready to share my first message in front of an audiance since 1982 and working on things for a series of talks of which mine last Friday was only the first in order to get our church congregation prepared spiritually for our big yearly fundraiser, but now got the most part I can relax and learn grom our other three speakers. O'm also working on materials to present at a prayer table during the event and organizing that with our evangelism group members who are working so hard to make sure that we usr the opportunity to share the love of God as much or more than raising money for the church, but with their help I should have more time, so I,ll be able to share more with you here as well. If you keep watch you'll notice a lot more links starting to go up including new writers pages for us to share with. I promise you that all of these people love both God and us and that we can all learn a great deal from what they have to say to us. Also there are some new links I will be adding to other sites that I pray you will be able to benefit from.

"The meek eill inherit the land and enjoy great peace!"
Psalm 37:11

"Meekness is the mark of a man who has been mastered by God."

Geoffrey B. Wilson

Ok, it's not very often that you will find me arguing with someone elses devotions especially when they are printed and sold in Christian bookstores because I don't look at myself as being on that level. And this one may be correct in some places which I won;t argue with, but this one really got me thinking about what they were saying. This comes from a very popular devotional that Beautiful Becky uses and normally I find it really insightful, but just the way they dhose to present this one on this one day really bothered me and I had to throw what I see from reading this Psalm out there for you to think about as well.

Now, I can see that being meek could help us to see God as our Lord and Master, but I don't think that He ever seeks to master us. The devotion starts out by likening us to a wild horse that has to have his spirit broken before he can be used. I've got to tell you honestly that I have a big problem with that because the God I know made me in His image and that means my spirit, not my physical body. Wgich tells me that the Father wants me to be a reflection of His spirit and love and how can I do that if my spirit has been broken by him. No, if I'm going to use an analogy involving a horse it would be the way a horse is gentile and trusting because he knows that the master's hand is there to protect and guide him, not to punish and break him. I tully feel that the meek are simply those who do not promote themselves as first, but work calmly to hrlp others while trusting that God will protect us and lead us where we need to go to hoin him. Far from being broken when I surrender to Jesus the Holy Spirit empowers me.

Solidarity August 31
No one played a larger role in the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe than Karol Wojtyla of Krakow. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Wojtyla had attended an underground Catholic seminary by dodging military patrols and taking secret classes in convents, churches, and homes. At length he graduated, donned clerical robes, and traveled to a small Polish village to serve as priest. Communists, meanwhile, were replacing Nazis as the oppressors of Eastern Europe; but with intrepidity, Wojtyla performed baptisms, heard confessions, offered Mass, foiled the secret police, and thwarted authorities.

The years passed, and by 1978, the village priest had advanced to become the first non-Italian pope in 456 years—John Paul II. On one of his first outings, the new pope heard someone in the crowd shout, “Don’t forget the Church of Silence!” (that is, the church under Communism). John Paul replied, “It’s not a Church of Silence anymore, because it speaks with my voice.”
John Paul soon returned in triumph to Warsaw where his plane landed over the protests of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Oceans of faces met him everywhere, weeping, praying, shouting. Communist leaders in Russia and Poland trembled as they listened to his words: “Dearest brothers and sisters! You must be strong with the strength that flows from faith! There is no need to be afraid. The frontiers must be opened.”

Within a year, spontaneous strikes occurred throughout Poland; and in Gdansk, Lech Walesa stood atop an excavator and announced a strike in the shipyards. Back at the Vatican, John Paul watched, prayed, and spoke to a group of Polish pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. “All of us here in Rome are united with our compatriots in Poland,” he said, signaling his blessings on the strikers. Within a week the Communists made historic concessions, and on August 31, 1980 the Gdansk Accords were signed, permitting the first independent union in Eastern Europe. There was no mistaking the role of the Polish pope, for Lech Walesa signed the papers using a brightly colored Vatican pen featuring a picture of John Paul II.
The Iron Curtain was crumbling.

I’ll tell you what it really means to worship the Lord.
Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly.
Free those who are abused!
Share your food with everyone who is hungry;
Share your home with the poor and homeless.
Give clothes to those in need;
Don’t turn away your relatives.
Isaiah 58:6,7
Morgan, Robert J.: On This Day : 265 Amazing and Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs & Heroes. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000, c1997, S. August 31

Thank you my friend for letting me share my feelings with you and for sharing the love of our glorious Savior Jesus Christ with me. May God truly bless you in every way in Jesus name we pray;

AMEN

Today's thoughts and devotions{

Hmmmm.....
I've had a hard time deciding what to write here today. My biggest problem is with a question of faith. Don't worry, my faith in God is right where it should be. No my problem is a lack off faith latrly in others who are supposed to be confirmed in Christ Jesus and yet do not appear to follow His wonderful example. In fact I see them doing things I know that God gas commanded us all not to. And I see them doing these things in our very church we attend and it is really hard to decide what I should do about it. These are all people I have cosidered frirnds. Some of them don't even know that they are doing wrong because they are to wrapped up in ;etting everyone know how wonderful they are to see what their words and actions are lacking. Others do see, but they have been in church there so long that they are used to everyone automatically doing as they tell them and if they don't then they have to prove their power for "the good of the church."
But if I make a fuss abouy any of this isn't that me judging them? Didn't Jesus warn us that only the Father can pass judgement? And I am definately not wven close enough to perfect to start the stones flying. Besides, as I said, these are people I have considered friends and I would never want to hurt them.
And so, after a lot of thought and fighting with the fact that entering my own church right now is an action that just thinking about makes me physically sick I told my wife that she would have to xover for me in the discussion group we lead and told her and a couple of closr friends that attend that I would be absent for awhile so that I would not make things worse.
And so I settled down and started praying and asking God to show mr if I was doing what he wanted by handling things this way.
Now all that keeps running trough my heart is an okd admonition that if you wan't a better pastor or a better church then pray for the ones you have. And I keep running into Paul's teachings that if we know that our church or it's members are erring and we turn our back then we are as guilty as they are sunce as God's wittnesses we have a responsibility to Christians in trouble every bit as much as non-Christuans. And so, like it or not it seems that God has answered my question. I can't judge and rhey may refuse to lisren to me, but I have an obligation to them and the Lord to attend and let them see my example and pray that God will lead us all to follow closer to him.

And speaking of prayers answered by the Father I think this devotion will fit in well for today. I pray that ot is what womeone can use, I know I can.

"I prayed tp the Lord and he answered me;

He freed me from all my fears."

Psalm 34:4

I really don't think that I am qualified to add much to the beautiful words of the Psalmist. But I do so thank God that he does this for all of us. I pray contantly to my God in words and actions. Wgen Jesus said to make our lives into a prayer he meant just that. And when someone admonishes me to pray for those in my church I take it ti mean more than to spend my time on my knees. Oh, I do talk to my Father about these things bit if I want my prayers answered then He ezpects me to more. Because He wants me to use my actions to set an example of what following Jesus really is. I may not go in and rause a fuss, but I can still let them know by my own acyions and words. So again I thank my God for hearing and answering me. I may not like facing people I care for to let them know this message from God, but it's what he wants, so I must follow his will. May we all do as Christ would have us; in His blessed name,

Amen

Please notice that there are new links to pages for Becky and Joe and welcome them to our site. Keep watching as Emmy's and Mollies pages go up probably tomorrow. If you would like to join us hear at GOLGATHA MINISTRY please email me at thomast@zspeedy.com. Just remember before we talk that this site is strictly a Christian ministry. All are welcome here but to have your own blog page you must put on only content that is Christian and only then if it comes from His Holy Bible.

In the meantime I will continue to pray to our merciful Father to guide and shelter all of his children;

Tom

Devotion for today and some ramblings

My first post on our new Ministry site and the first thing that comes to mind is to say thank you.
I need to thank the other members of Golgatha Ministry who you will come to know as I do if you read our Ministry web site. They are not yet set up to write to you but it won't be long now. And from past experience I'm sure that we will add new Christ Followers to the Ministry to offer many things for us all.
Second I feel the need to thank you if you are reading this. Right now this little Ministry is just starting out, but if my prayers are answered and we grow as the last Ministry I started did then we will not lack for friends here, but that is all the more reason to make sure we pray constantly for God's guidance in what we do here to make sure it is all to his glory and given out of love.
But most important of all I need to say thank you to our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing we have including our very existence would be here if it were not for God and no matter what we do we can never do enough to gain the love and salvation he offers and has already paid for us to receive just because he does love so indescribably. Jesus I thank you for letting me serve you by showing others your love each day.
Now, I have set this so that anyone can make comments because I believe in what I say and stand ready to defend my faith with His holy Words, but while I do invite all to comment or ask questions I must warn you that it MUST remain G rated and in polite form. If that ever becomes a problem then I will have no choice but to change the settings for making comments.
Now I do write many things which you will soon see on the web site, but I also enjoy just sitting down each day with a devotional and contemplating God's wondrous ways. One of my favorite devotionals is "Daily Light for Every Day" with Anne Graham Lotz published by J. Countryman. This little black book is simply a collection of verses from the Bible. Each day you find verses for contemplation in the morning and again in the evening. And while each set of verses does follow a common theme they come from every part of the Bible. Unlike most devotionals they don't include commentary or anything actually except for those wonderful verses it's amazing how many times I pick it up and read exactly what I need to hear. Notice though that I had to say need instead of want. Because sometime the message is that I am on the wrong track. But even then it is full of hope because it offers to let Jesus come and set my path straight again. So each day I would enjoy taking a verse or t and sharing them along with my own thoughts on them. Please remember though that my thoughts are just that. It's His word that does the real inspiring I hope that you get Some of what He gives me through them. For those of you who are not familiar with it I normally use the New Living Translation Bible If you are more comfortable with another version please feel free to use them.

"For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion because of the greatness of His unfailing love." Lamentations 3:21-22 (NLT)

His unfailing love. I wish with all my heart that I could truthfully say that I possessed that. But sadly my wife and kids can tell you that I don't. I do love with the love of a husband and father, so I do love them at all times, but I have to admit that there are times when I question why I try. Times when I get down and wonder if it wouldn't be better off just to chuck it all. As ashamed as I am I admit that there are even times when I wonder if it's worth what I go through to keep loving God. I know the answers and I always come to my senses quickly but the fact is that even if it's only for a split second my love has failed.
But what is truly amazing is that unlike any other parent who has ever existed is that no matter what we do, yes even when we turn and curse Him or deny that he exists he never stops loving us. He may let us go through hard times and I won't pretend to try and tell you why because there could be any number of reasons and I could list them all including the ones the Bible lists but it also tells us that none of us can ever fully understand His ways so that tells me that we also can't understand His reasons for everything. All I know for sure is that first of all it was when I stopped demanding answers and told Jesus that I accept him and love him and want to be as much like him as I possibly can that he started giving me some of the answers. And I know that he loved me enough that he stepped down from Heaven and the adoration of the angels and being in a perfect setting where he never had to suffer to put on a human life just so that He could be treated in the worst way, could be tortured in ways we can only imagine, and could die a death so horrendous that I can't even comprehend it when he had never done a single thing to deserve it. But eve over 2,000 years ago he knew that I would come along and mess everything up. He knew that by the time I was through I would earn eternal death. But with a love possessed by Him alone He beat me there and paid the price for me so that instead I det to look forward to eternal life with Him. And here is where I'm supposed to tell you that it was for you as well. Don't all the good ministers tell you how badly you have failed and that that is why you need Jesus? Well the truth is that we already know from reading the epistle to the Romans that we all fall short of God. But I'll tell you that I don't believe that that is why we need Jesus. Why would we need him to help with something he already fixed millinia ago? No, but I can tell you why we do need Jesus Christ. For one thing while He was here as a human He gave us an example of how to live our lives the right way so we don't fail as badly and we all need the lessons he taught. But the most compelling reason I can find is simply because he did it. He had no reason to suffer. He is God and has never done a single thing wrong. But he knew that I would. And yes He did know about you, but the truth is that if every other person ever born lived perfect lives he still knew that I would fail. And as my father his love never failed. Had I been the only person ever to sin he still would have done every single thing he did. All because he loves me so much that even though I might suffer at times, He paid the ultimate price to assure that it won't last. He paid my way into eternal happiness with the Father. That is love. That is the love I need. And I can promise you that it is a love he wants us all to have and he has already proved it. I pray that we all accept it and share it. In the precious name of Christ Jesus...