The Case for Christ & 23 Minutes in Hell

I've been reading so many good books lately, I wanted to write a few notes so I can remember which book dealt with which topics.

The Case for Christ -- After his wife unpleasantly surprised him by announcing she had become a Christian, but pleasantly surprised him by the good changes in her life, atheist and Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Lee Strobel went on a journey around America to interview scholars concerning the Biblical Jesus Christ. In this book he presents what he found that lead him to believe for himself that Jesus is the Son of God. Lee said although these interviews lead him to believe in Christ, the biggest evidence of Christ's power is the radical change in his own previously immoral life. He said even his very young daughter noticed this positive change in her daddy!

One of my favorite parts is where one scholar talks of how different the apostles were after Jesus' resurrection. Before Christ died, the disciples were often timid and doubtful, but after they saw the resurrected Christ, they proclaimed the salvation story with boldness. They even suffered persecution and most were martyred because of their firm beliefs in Christ. As one noted, many people will die for things they sincerely believe in even if it is not true. However men do not die for a known lie. The disciples knew the resurrection was not a lie -- they saw the risen Lord. Therefore, they boldly witnessed because they knew persecution on earth is nothing compared to the glory of Heaven, and they were not afraid to suffer for the Truth's sake. "When the Son makes you free, you are free indeed."

23 Minutes in Hell -- This book is very sobering and reminds the reader of the realities of hell. Actually hell is so much worse than the human mind can imagine -- and it lasts for eternity! You do not want anyone to go there! Hell was created for the devil and the fallen angels, but we will go there if we refuse to accept God's offer of salvation through His Son. God doesn't send us to hell. Our unbelief does. God will not force you into His presence, His home, Heaven ... so come to Him through His Son.

http://spiritlessons.com/Documents/BillWiese_23MinutesInHell_Text.htm

When I got my composure, at least enough to start forming thoughts, I thought about saying to the Lord, I don't even think I asked Him out loud, I just thought it and He answered me. I said, "Lord why did You send me to this place? Why did you send me here?" He said to me "Because people do not believe that this place exists." He said "Even some of my own people do not believe this place is real." I was shocked at that statement. I thought every Christian has got to believe in Hell. But not everyone believes in a literal burning Hell. I said Lord "why did you pick me?" But He didn't answer me on that question.

I have no idea why He picked me to go there. I'm the least likely to go to this place. My wife and I hate evil movies. We hate anything bad. I don't even like the summer time, much less heat. It's filthy. There's no order. It's all chaos and disorder and disgusting. And I love everything orderly and excellent. He didn't answer me on that question. He said to me, "Go tell them that I hate this place, that it's not my desire for one of my creation to go to this place, not one! I never made this for man. This was made for the devil and his angels. You have to go and tell them! I've given you a mouth, you go and tell them."

I thought to myself, "but Lord, they're not going to believe me. They're going to think I'm crazy or had a bad dream." I mean wouldn't you think that? As I thought this the Lord answered me and He said, "It's not your job to convince them. It's the Holy Spirit�s job! You just go and tell them!" And it was just inside, "Yes Sir!" Absolutely, I have to go and tell them." You can't worry and fear what man is going to think of you, you just have to go and do it and let God do the rest. Amen? And I said, "Lord, why did they hate me so much?" "Why did these creatures hate me?" He said, "Because you're made in my image, and they hate me." You know the devil can't do anything against God. He can't hurt God, per say, but he can hurt His creation. That's why the devil hates mankind, and deceives him into taking him into Hell. And he inflicts diseases upon him, anything he can do to hurt God's creation.

(The Peace of God)
And then God flooded me with His thoughts. He let me touch a piece of His heart, of how much He loves mankind. Unbelievable, I couldn't even take it. It was so overbearing. The love He has for man, you can't take it in this body. You know how much we love our wives and our children? Well the love we have can't even be compared to the love God has for us. His love is infinitely greater than our love and our ability to love. It's just the same as it says in Eph 3:19, �...to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge...� It goes so far past knowledge, you can't even grasp it. I couldn't believe how much He loved mankind, that He would die for just one person to not go to this place. And it hurts Him so much to see one of His creation going to this place. It pains the Lord, He weeps to see one person going. And I felt so bad for the Lord.

I felt His heart, He let me just touch a piece of His heart. He felt such sadness for His creation going there. And I thought "I've got to go out and witness and take every last breath I have and go tell the world about Jesus, How good He is." I mean, we have the gospel. It's good news. It's good news, and the world doesn't know. They have to be told! You know, we have to share this knowledge. People just have a lack of knowledge in this area. God wants us to share with them how good He is, and how He hates this place.

He said to me also, "Tell them I am coming very, very soon." And He said it again, "Tell them I'm coming very, very soon." Now I think, why didn't I say to him, "What do you mean Lord? What's 'soon' to you?" That's how we think. But I didn't ask. You just don't think to ask those things then. You just want to worship Him so much. The peace of God that comes over you being next to Him is unexplainable. I've been in anointed services, but there is no comparison to the love and the peace of God you feel being next to Him.

And then I looked up and I saw those demons on the wall, that were so ferocious, they looked like ants on the wall! They just looked like ants! They were still big, but with the power of God next to you, all of God's creative power, they looked like ants on the wall. I couldn't get over it. I thought, "Lord they're just ants!" And He said, "You just have to bind them and cast them out in my name." I thought "boy, the power He's given the church." These things that were so ferocious, we were no match for a devil without Jesus, none. They're ferocious, but with Him, they are nothing! A boldness rose up in me right then, when I saw these creatures I felt like saying, "you creatures were the ones torturing me, wanting to tear me apart? Come on! Come on now!" Maybe a little bit of my flesh rose up or something, you know, I thought,�Jesus get 'em."

Beach Pictures

Michael at the build-your-own-car store.
Broadway at the Beach
June 8, 2008

Can you find the skeleton head?

Cheeeeeese!

Michael in the suite at Plantation Resort
Surfside Beach, SC
June 9, 2008

Michael with his new Indiana Jones whip. He ate McDonald's food.
And LOOK who is watching cartoons....ummmhmmm. ;-)

It'Sugar & Pirate

It'Sugar is a new store at Broadway at the Beach.
They had this cool castle made out of over 200,000 Jelly Bellys!

Michael was in candy heaven!

All sorts of candy!

Andrew and Michael found some edible Legos and a few other treats.

Michael posed with the pirate at Key West Grill.

Fun at Broadway at the Beach

Michael and Grandma pose for a picture at one store at Broadway at the Beach, Myrtle Beach, SC. June 8, 2008
















I found a sign made just for me! :-D














Who knew coffee was the needed ingredient? I don't even like the stuff!

















Aha! Yes, another fitting sign!












Andrew and Stephanie take time to pose for a picture. June 8, 2008

Vacation Pictures

Michael enjoyed jumping the waves at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on June 8, 2008.















Checking out the Atlantic Ocean.

















Broadway at the Beach
Myrtle Beach, SC - June 8, 2008













Broadway at the Beach
Myrtle Beach, SC

Beach Trip

We got home from the beach around 8:30 this evening. Had an enjoyable time. It was plenty hot which is good for being in the water. We spent a lot of time in the pool and walked some in the ocean. My mom, Stephanie, Andrew, Michael and I left Saturday morning and arrived in Myrtle Beach, SC around 1:00, I believe. We stayed at the Plantation Resort in Surfside Beach a few miles south of Myrtle Beach. I enjoyed meeting some of Steph's church friends, Marie and Travis Loy. They are the whole reason Stephanie and Will got this opportunity to go to the beach this entire week. Since Will could not go down until Monday, Steph invited me, Andrew and Mama to go down the first few days. It was the first time my mom went to the beach in many years. Michael had a great time swimming, jumping over waves in the ocean and watching cartoons in the room. Also he got an Indiana Jones whip at Kmart which he demonstrated for us.

We were working through a book of brain quizzes on the way down, and one of them dealt with states and their abbreviations. When I mentioned Indiana, Michael stated, "Indiana? That's Indiana Jones' first name!" :-) Also his face was really shiny last night. I thought it was squeaky clean from all the pool water. Stephanie brushed his teeth and Michael said, "Are my teeth all sparkly like my face?"

We went to Broadway at the Beach, and Andrew bought Michael some candy at It'Sugar. Pretty neat store. I will have to post pictures as soon as I transfer them from my camera.

Here at home I heard it hit 99 today!

This is enough for now.

Oil prices hit new record high!

My dad sent me a link yesterday. Oil was up almost $11 a barrel and set another record high at $138 per barrel. Ugh. I remember when hitting $60 a barrel was SO high! Now we are more than double that. Oh well.....nothing much to do about it. Supply and demand at work, right?

Here is an interesting article I read recently. I'd never thought of taxing the oil companies quite this way before .... hmmm.

Windfall-Profit Nonsense

By John Stossel

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama want to raise the price of oil, as well as most everything else, and lower the value of the pension and mutual funds that union members and retirees depend on.

Of course, they don't describe their plan that way. Instead, they call for a windfall-profits tax on the oil companies.

But it's the same thing.

Taxing a "windfall" sounds appealing, but stock prices are based on expected profits. Throw a new tax on profits, and retirement portfolios of regular people take a hit.

"Hillary will impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use the money to temporarily suspend the 18.4 cent per gallon federal gas tax and the 24.4 cent per gallon diesel tax during the upcoming peak summer driving months," says her website (http://tinyurl.com/3jtlfp).

"They sure can afford it," she told an audience in Indianapolis.

Whom does she think "they" are?

Obama says: "It isn't right that oil companies are making record profits at a time when ordinary Americans are going into debt. ... That's why we'll put a windfall profits tax on oil companies...".

Taxing "windfalls" is politically rewarding, but in the final analysis, only people pay taxes. When a corporation is taxed, the burden falls on workers (through smaller raises), consumers (through higher prices) and shareholders (through lower stock prices).

Do Clinton and Obama really want to tax these innocent people just to spite oil executives for high profits?

Anyway, what is a "windfall"? Any answer is arbitrary. Obama says it's the profit made off oil that's priced above $80 a barrel. Why not $70? Or $90? Did he pull that number out of a hat?

At least he's honest enough to call his tax a windfall profits "penalty." But why do the companies deserve to be penalized? Have they behaved badly?

It's not their fault that demand for oil skyrocketed because of booming economies in China and India, and that tensions in the Middle East pushed prices up. It's not their fault government regulation keeps them from drilling in promising locations like Alaska and offshore, and harasses them when they want to build new refineries or expand old ones. It's not their fault the dollar has deteriorated dramatically.

Being in the oil business is profitable, but not as profitable as you may think. Last year, average earnings in the industry (net income divided by sales) were 8.3 percent. (They are lower this year.) Other industries have done better. Beverage and tobacco firms had returns of over 19 percent.

Yes, oil company profits have surged as the price of oil rose, but bigger profits are good for America. The vast majority of the money goes not to the pockets of oil executives, but to exploration for new oil. If you take the money away, who is hurt?

We don't have to speculate because we have experience to draw on. "We tried this windfall profits scheme in 1980," The Wall Street Journal writes. "It backfired. The Congressional Research Service found in a 1990 analysis that the tax reduced domestic oil production by 3 (percent) to 6 (percent) ...".

Repeating that would not be a good thing for the harried working families Clinton and Obama claim to champion.

Spiking prices and profits encourage investors to take risks to find more oil, develop oil substitutes and increase efficiency. We don't need a "national energy policy" because we already have one. It's called the free market. When oil prices rose a few years ago, old fields with hard-to-reach oil in Oklahoma were suddenly worth operating (http://tinyurl.com/5bqmog).

Economics 101: incentives matter. Now that the price of oil has reached a new high, oil companies and other entrepreneurs have more incentive to find new sources of energy.

Only that -- letting the profit-motive work -- will bring the price of oil down.

Interfering with markets may be good for politicians, but it's bad for everyone else.