POISONED BY OUR OWN TONGUES

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 “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. Fore every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.” James 3:5-8

      Two snakes were crawling along when one snake asked the other, “Are we poisonous?” The other replied, “You bet we are! We’re rattlesnakes. Why do you ask?” To which the first snake replied, “Because I just bit my tongue.”

     That little joke has more truth in it than you might think. It’s good for a laugh, but whether or not a snake can poison itself by biting it’s tongue is just a reminder that you and I can certainly poison ourselves with the bite of our own words.

     A lot of people seem to think their words will produce no consequences. I guess they believe they can say whatever they want to say, and nothing bad or negative will ever happen. That just is not so! Most of the time,  if we really discuss this issue honestly, we will admit that words can hurt others badly. It’s more than just hurting someone’s feelings. Words often damage lives, mangle reputations, and words will often create all sorts of ill will. But, the one thing we often do not discuss is how damaging our own words are to ‘ourselves!’

     When you lie or say things that are shadowed so as to deceive someone, you may have just destroyed your own reputation. You may have lost the trust of the person to whom you spoke, or the person you spoke about. When you brag or make yourself appear important by your words, you may well lose the respect of the very people you are trying to impress. When you play political games by making promises, creating conflicts, or toying with agendas in order to get your way, you are nothing but a verbal prostitute, selling yourself for the sake of gain. Your words betray you as a person with  selfish and evil motives. The poisonous bite of your words may do far more damage to yourself than to everyone else.

     Even today, the truth James wrote about is an important lesson for us all. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” Whenever you hear evil things come from a person’s mouth, it is evidence of evil in the heart. Evil is a poison we cannot afford. Just as the bite of a rattlesnake can kill, so the bite of evil, poisonous words can kill. The unlikely person at risk is quite often, the very person speaking these words.

     James knew that Christians must do better. He said this about the inconsistency of the tongue that both cursed and blessed. “With it ( it being the tongue), we bless our Lord and Father, and with it ( again, it being the tongue), we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.” James 3:9-10

     This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Bite your tongue.”

     All I can say is that you might want to be very careful. You may find poison in those fangs of yours, and you may find that your bite may just well be deadly to yourself!

     Here's a bit of advice from my own daughter. When she was 12, she said to me, "Dad, you need to keep your words sweet, because some day you may need to eat them!" Smart Kid. I don't want to be poisoned by my own tongue. Do you want to be poisoned by yours?

 

YOU ARE ALTOGETHER LOVELY!

“Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name

(Philippians 2:9).

 

HE IS ALTOGETHER LOVELY

To many people, Jesus is just another person who is the subject of a painting, a poem a statue or a song. But those who have heard His voice, who have felt His pardon for their sins, or who have received His benediction, to them He is music, warmth, light, joy, hope and salvation.

      

He is a friend who never forsakes, a friend who lifts us up when others try to push us down. We cannot wear Him out as we pile on our grief’s and troubles. He is always ready to lift us up and help us out. He addresses with the same love ; He beams the same smile and shows us compassion.

There is no name like His. It is more inspiring than Caesar’s name, more musical than Beethoven’s name and more conquering the Napoleon’s name. It is more eloquent than Demosthenes’ name and more patient than Lincoln’s name.

The name of Jesus pulsates with life. It weeps with pathos, groans with all pains, stoops with all love and the breath of His name is far better than any perfumes.

There is no one who can pity like Jesus or who can welcome a prodigal home like Jesus, or make a drunk sober instantly or turn a street woman into a queen for Jesus.

Who like Jesus can catch the tears of human sorrow in a bowl and save them for a time of need and wipe them away in an instant?

I struggle with trying to find a metaphor that would suit Jesus. He is not like an orchestra making all that wonderful music, that would be too loud and it could be out of tune. I don’t think He is like a sea or the waves crashing into the shore in all their fury because that would be too  boisterous. He is not like some far off mountain with all the lightening flashing around it or the snow capping it’s top. I would think that would be too solitary and remote.

No, I picture Him as the.....

 

“Lilly of the Valley"

"The Rose of Sharon"

"The Bright and Morning Star"

"The Altogether Lovely One.”

 But more to the point.....  I picture Him as THE SON OF GOD!

 

I hope you took the time to listen to the song in the video and that it touched your heart. My goal is to encourage you to get closer to the Lord.

 

Let me know.  Pastor Bob Coutts

Wit's End Corner

Wit’s End Corner

 

“At their wits end, they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out.”

Psalm 107:27-28

 

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner,”

Christian, with troubled brow?

Are you thinking of what is before you,

And all you are bearing now?

Does all the world seem against you,

And you in the battle alone?

Remember, at “Wit’s End Corner.”

Is just where God’s power is shown.

 

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner,”

Blinded with wearying pain?

Feeling you cannot endue it,

You cannot bear the strain?

Bruised through the constant suffering,

Dizzy, and dazed, and numb?

Remember, at “Wit’s End Corner”

Is where Jesus loves to come.

 

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner”

Your work before you spread?

All lying begun, unfinished,

And pressing on heart and head?

Longing for strength to do it,

Stretching out trembling hands?

Remember, at “Wit’s End Corner”

The Burden Bearer stands.

 

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner”?

Then you’re just in the very spot.

To learn the wondrous resources,

Of Him who faileth not.

No doubt to a brighter pathway,

Your footsteps will soon be moved.

But only at “Wit’s End Corner”

Is the “God who is able” proved.

Antoinette Wilson

THE GREATEST TRAGEDY

When we hear of earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, airplane crashes and other such catastrophes, we are shocked at the resulting loss of so many human lives. But there is a greater tragedy. It is the death of someone who could have been saved!

            God’s judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah was terrible. Suddenly, He sent fire and brimstone from heaven to destroy all of the cities inhabitants. But the greatest tragedy was not that those people perished, but that they could have been saved. Lot had warned his sons-in-law in Genesis 19:14 but “he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.” So they died, although they could have been saved.

            The flood was a world wide catastrophe. The Bible says, “the same day were all the fountains of the deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” Genesis 7:11-12. How the people must have desperately fought to save their lives! But Jesus said later on, “The flood came, and took them all away.”

            Was the loss of life in that worldwide deluge the greatest tragedy? No! What was worse was that the opportunity of salvation had been available to the people of the earth for 120 years. But Jesus said of them, “They knew not.”  They let the Lord Himself close the door of the ark without ever having used it.

            According to the law of the Bible, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Romans 3:10. But God, in His great love, sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and accomplished the greatest deed in the history of mankind. He brought forth salvation when He shed His blood on Calvary’s cross for sins. Not only did He die, but He also arose from the dead for our justification. (Romans 4:25).

            Now you can avoid the greatest tragedy. For over 2000 years the Lord God has caused the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be preached throughout the world. The warning is going out even to this day. “We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5:20.

            The commission of the Church of Jesus Christ on earth will soon reach its conclusion. The events taking place today so precisely fulfill the prophetic Word that anyone can see that we are living in the last days.

            Have you accepted God’s offer of mercy? Have you received Jesus Christ, who shed His blood for your sins? Have you received Him as your personal Savior? Are you saved for eternity? Maybe you will say, “No,” or “I don’t know.” Unfortunately that is when the greatest tragedy can befall you and you will be eternally lost.

            Avoid that catastrophe by coming to Jesus this very hour. Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.”

            If there is darkness in your heart, if you are tormented by your past sins, if your conscience is sin laden, Jesus Christ offers you full forgiveness and a glorious salvation. Jesus said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37. If you read these lines and know that this means you, then please get on your knees now and call on Him to save your soul.

            Tell Him in truth and repentance, “Yes Lord Jesus, I accept you as my Savior and Redeemer.”  By doing this you will avoid becoming a casualty of the greatest tragedy in your life: namely, to be lost forever when you could have been eternally saved.

            It is said of those in Noah’s day that “…they knew not.” And the Bible says this about those in Lot’s day: “He seemed as one that mocked.”       WHAT DO YOU SAY?

 

Pastor Robert Coutts

PUT THIS ON YOUR REFRIDGERATOR TODAY

Where Did We Go?   Date: (Unknown)  To: Everyone else: From: Those who have vanished  Re: The truth about what happened

   This is to tell you exactly what is involved in the sudden disappearance of people around the world. It’s as simple as this: We who belong to Christ were called into the air above the planet in the rapture.

   Yes, that kooky, ridiculous, pie-in-the-sky, fly-away event that Tim LaHaye and other preachers of what you’ve thought of as fantasy have been proclaiming could happen at any moment did, in fact, happen.

   You are hearing, or will soon hear, every conceivable explanation of what caused this astonishing disappearance. Here are our guesses as to some of those explanations:   It was some sort of quantum evolutionary leap, which will ultimately be great for mankind.  It was a mass abduction by extraterrestrials --an outgrowth of the singular abductions that have been reported over the years.   It was a natural, scientifically explainable cosmic interaction that some human physiologies could resist, and others couldn’t.  It was a supernatural movement into a higher form for those who disappeared –an ascension to godhood.  It was punishment from the great cosmological mind, removing the evil from the world.

   Don’t believe any of these or other explanations. To find out the absolute truth about what the mass vanishing actually involves, read in the Bible 1 Corinthians 15: 51-55 and 1Thessalonians 4:13-18. Also read John 14:1-3 to find out where we who vanished are presently located.  Now that we are gone –and our leaving has everything to do with your immediate future—the following will happen in order very similar to that listed here. These and other events  will occur over the next seven years.

    Total chaos will rule for a time. (Luke. 21: 25)

    Governments will get control through sometimes-harsh methods. (Rev. 17: 12-13)

    One world government will come together. (Ps. 2: 1-3)

    A one-world church will form. (Rev. Ch. 17)

    A world leader from Europe will step to the forefront and take charge of the peace process. (Dan. 9: 26-27)

    Israeli government and Israel’s enemies will sign an agreement of peace that ensures peace and safety. (Dan. 9: 27; Isa. 28: 18; 1 Thes. 5: 3)

    Peace will not last, as a coalition of nations--led by Russia--will invade the Middle East. (Ezek. 38: 1-12)

    God, himself, will destroy all but one-sixth of the invader forces. (Ezek. 39: 1-5)

    Much of the world will be hit by the deadly effects of the invasion. This will possibly include chemical, biological and nuclear aftereffects. (Ezek. 39:6-7; 11-16)

   The world leader will solidify his power following the Russian-led coalition’s destruction. (Dan. 8: 23-25; 11: 36-39)

   Two Old-Testament-type prophets will come on the world scene and preach about Christ while condemning the world’s evil. (Rev. 11: 3-6)

   Meanwhile, God will put His protection upon 144,000 Jews who have converted to Christianity so that they can begin to preach God’s saving message to the people of the Tribulation. (Rev. 7: 3-8)

   At the same time, God will allow strong delusion to come over all who heard the Gospel before the Rapture, but, fully understanding the offer of salvation, refused to accept Christ. These will believe Antichrist’s and Satan’s, lies. (2 Thes. 2: 11-12)

   Antichrist, after months of trying, will finally murder the two Old-Testament-type prophets. But they will come back to life and be taken into Heaven while the world watches. (Rev. 11: 11-12)

   Antichrist will receive a supposedly deadly head wound. (Rev. 13: 3)

   He will appear to resurrect from the dead, being then possessed by Satan. (13: 3-4)

   Antichrist will stand in the Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. He will claim to be God, and demand worship. (2 Thes. 2: 3-4)

   The false prophet will direct all worship to Antichrist, and will erect an image of him. (Rev. 13:11-17)

   Antichrist’s regime will institute a computer mark and numbers system. It will be both to control the world’s populations, and to cause all to worship Antichrist, whose number in all of this is 666. (Rev. 13: 16-18)

   Those who refuse to accept Antichrist’s mark will be murdered. Beheading will apparently be the regime’s chosen method of offing these “traitors.” (Rev. 13: 15; 20: 4)

   Antichrist will begin a systematic genocide against the Jewish race that will make Hitler’s Holocaust look mild by comparison. (Rev. Ch. 12)

   He and the false prophet will also have all the new believers they can find, rounded up, tortured, then murdered. (Jhn. 16: 2; Rev. 13: 8)

   While Antichrist hunts down and murders people by the millions, God’s judgments will begin to fall directly on the rebellious people of Planet Earth. (Rev. 6: 17)

   Millions upon millions will die while God’s wrath pours out in a series of three types of judgments, each consisting of seven specific judgments, for a total of 21 judgments. (Rev. Chapters 6through 18)

   When all is said and done, more than one-half, possibly as much as two-thirds, of all human life on Earth will die of the plagues. (Rev. 6: 8; 8: 8; 9: 18)

   God will prepare, and the Jewish remnant will flee to, a hiding place, probably Petra, the ancient city carved in the rose red-colored rocks of the Jordanian wilderness. (Rev. 12: 6, 14)

   Antichrist and his forces, led by Satan, will pursue the Jewish people and try to murder them, but the pursuing forces will be swallowed up by the Earth. (Rev. 12: 15-16)

   While the Jewish and many of the Gentile people still alive remain safely protected, God’s wrath will fall in greater force. (Rev. 16: 1)

   The sun will go partly dark, while at the same time heating up to seven times hotter than normal. (Rev. 16: 8-11)

   A great object will fall into the ocean from space. Its impact will kill life in the sea, and most likely will destroy coastal areas with tidal waves. (Rev. 8: 8-9)

   Another asteroid or other mass from space will strike Earth and will poison much of the planet’s fresh water sources. (Rev. 8: 10-11)

   Great, unprecedented earthquakes will happen simultaneously all over the Earth. (Matt. 24: 7; Rev. 16: 18)

   People will be so frightened they will have heart attacks, just from the things they see are yet to come. (Lk. 21: 26)

   A supernatural plague of huge insect-like creatures will be released from the abyss, and they will sting all who have the mark of the Beast. Men and women will try to commit suicide because of their great pain from the stings and bites of these demonic creatures. (Rev. 9: 3-6)

  God will then move in the minds of all military forces on Earth to gather in the valley of Jezreel, the plains of Esdraelon, near the ancient city of Megiddo. This is Armageddon. (Joel 3: 14; Rev. 16: 16)

   The “Kings of the East,” a huge army out of the Orient numbering more than 200 million troops, will invade to make war with Antichrist’s and the other world’s forces. (Rev. 9: 15-16; 16: 12)

   Jesus said of this time, that if He didn’t come back, everyone and everything would die because of the fighting about to take place. (Matt. 24: 22; Mark 13: 20)

   Jesus will return with the armies of Heaven. His armies consist of the mighty angels and Jesus’ Church, which will have been raptured at least seven years earlier. (Rev. 19: 11-14)

  Antichrist’s armies and all others will try to prevent Christ’s return. (Rev. 19: 19)

  Jesus will simply speak, and all armies on Earth will be rendered helpless, most killed. (19: 15-18)

          You have only one chance to survive: accept Jesus Christ as Savior (Read John, chapter 3). This will involve refusing to take Antichrist’s mark when it is instituted. If you accept the mark, you are eternally doomed.

          Note to those not appointed to God’s wrath (1 Thes. 5:9-11): Perhaps you should pass this memorandum to your lost family and friends before you vanish. Then, post it on your refrigerator.