Alcoholism

I don't go to bars, but I've come to see that bars are one of the most toxic environments for a person. Because while it's not always the case, people who frequent bars are often people who tend to claim a belief in God, but make no effort to stop, or even to slow, the sin they're committing. They tend to embrace it. The overall environment is very toxic, because it creates the implication that alcoholism is okay, even for believers.

A controversial issue in the world is gay marriage. People can pinpoint a number of verses, from the creation of man and woman in Genesis, to Jesus mentioning it again during His ministry, to the fact that sex with the same gender was punishable by death under the Mosaic law to which we are no longer bound for salvation, thus we no longer punish sin with death.

But bearing all those verses in mind, are you aware that there is equal evidence in the Bible that alcoholism is a sin that will send you to Hell? In fact, I'd go so far as to say there's more evidence for alcoholism. Here are a few verses:

1 Corinthians 6:10

. . . nor thieves, nor coveters, not drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Isaiah 5:11

Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!

Ephesians 5:18

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Proverbs 20:1

Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler, and whoever staggers because of them is not wise. 

Galatians 5:21

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

And then on top of that, there are the effects of alcohol, which include things like drunk driving which leads to murder, bar fights, and even abuse of family members, and more - all things which the Bible CLEARLY forbids. Alcohol itself isn't forbidden, as evidenced by the fact that Jesus and the disciples had wine at the last supper, but they did not get drunk off of it. Drunkenness / alcoholism is a clearly-defined sin, from which God commands us to abstain. There are many, many ways to overcome an alcohol addiction. And you don't need alcohol to "escape" from your problems. There are better ways. Why not find some of them?

God bless you all, and guide you according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Appreciation

I feel moved to make this. I just want to say that if you're out there trying to spread the word, and you're not seeming to get results, and you're feeling down, don't. You never know what kind of impact you're going to have. I myself have been feeling like that for awhile. And I can only trust that God is using me in some way. However, a lot of people have helped me along in my faith journey, and most of them don't know it. I want to thank some of them here - as many as I can think, given how tired I am right now. I don't write this to "glorify" them, but rather as encouragement for them and all those who have been feeling like I've been.

- http://shieldoffaith62.blogspot.com - I've emailed you before. That one single post you wrote [HERE for anyone interested!] made me reconsider so many things that were wrong in my life. I never explained most of them to you. A few of them have been mentioned here, in various posts. I don't know if you still read this blog, but if you do, I just want to say that the impact of that post was even greater than I probably let on at the time. Also, I have a few more CDs that I've since decided to get rid of. Right now I don't feel like putting out the money for postage to have them recycled, but they will be disposed of eventually and I don't listen to them anymore. Hopefully this will be the last batch!

- Demon Hunter - It was awesome having Christian metal to listen to. Like most things, it wasn't enough to fully hold back my ignorance at the time, but it was always there, in my subconscious and in my CD collection. (I still like your music, but recently gave both CDs to someone, just to be nice, you understand - let's pray for that person; I think they could use it, just like I did.) And your music helped around the time I was starting to recover. I don't want to go into specifics, but I'll say that your music helped me be more resolved with God's will at a time when I really didn't want to face facts.

- Mortal Treason - I know almost nothing about your music, to be honest. I don't really listen to it anymore. It's nothing personal, and now that I'm writing this, maybe I'll check it out again sometime. You guys were my introduction to the really heavy Christian stuff. I mentioned the idea of such Christian music to a friend, and you guys were the band he recommended. He sent me one song ("Khampa Nomads", I think it's called?) and that was just awesome to me, and it was the only Mortal Treason song I ever listened to (I should really give you guys another chance, wow) but even that one song managed to have an impact.

- Becoming the Archetype - similar to Mortal Treason. I only ever listened to a couple songs by you guys, but it still had an impact. "End of the Age" was stunning to me. I deluded myself a lot back then and said that I was still a Christian when I really clearly wasn't, and "End of the Age" really spoke to me in a way that almost no other music could. 

- Antestor - If I'm not mistaken, you guys were the first unblack metal band I ever heard. The very idea of that had such an impact, I can't even explain it. The first song I listened to was "Betrayed". I was really depressed at the time, so of course that song spoke to me a lot. The lines "But if the Christians that I've seen / represent the true God of Heaven / then it's not a place that I want to be" actually made me stop and think a few times about the kind of person I was being. I also really liked the song "Mitt hjerte". That song was absolutely stunning to me.

- Elgibbor - Your album "War" spoke to me a lot. I really like the music on that album. I have to listen to that again soon. All of it coming from a former satanist yet. That last part may sound a bit silly now, but it was really meaningful to me. I also have that (out-of-print) long-sleeve shirt from Metal Helm for "War", with the flames on the sleeves, and that guy riding a horse on the front. That shirt is seriously awesome, and somehow made me feel a lot better about things.

- Emperador - You guys are crazy. My introduction to you guys was a live video on YouTube where you played "Gloria en la oscuridad". That was terrifying. I'd heard all kinds of extreme music, but nothing like that. The guitar intro was absolutely infernal; Pastor Vampire's shrieks were genuinely off-putting; and Pastora Rosa Negra's vocals were creepy. I loved it! And then I found out that you guys started a metal church? That idea was so awesome to me. That was just amazing, the idea of fellowship with a metal theme. I did more research on Iglesia Caverna, and I was just so inspired. I won't say where I live, but I don't live near you, but even though I can't visit Iglesia Caverna right now, know that it has had an impact on me regardless.

- Dani - I don't know your full name, but I know you're a member of Iglesia Caverna. I've talked to you before - only a few times, but still - and found that beneficial, too. It's hard to explain what our conversations have done for me, but they had a positive impact nonetheless.

- Divine Symphony - Your album "The History" has this distinctly "liturgical" feel to it, and I really appreciate that. It's like the music at my church - except, you know, with symphonic unblack metal thrown in. Anyway, it all started with "Frustrered Dreams", and looking back, it's actually a rather silly place to begin. Because it starts back when I was practicing meditation, and I used to use music a lot. Other bands had these long, extended interludes that were conducive to meditation. I tried a few times with the short interlude in "Frustrered Dreams", but generally failed to achieve anything. See: the song was primarily about God, not occultism, so naturally it didn't yield the results I expected when I tried to meditate to it! It's a silly thing to say now, but back then, that one simple little thing, had a huge impact on how I perceived meditation. The song made me rethink it a lot, and made me want to put more importance on God in my life. But it didn't even stop there. "Reform" is a great song, too. Those clean vocals were amazing. Now, "Unfinished Era". That song is definitely worth mentioning here. That has made me think so much, I can't even describe it here. Overall, that song has just made me think a lot about things. I could point out the specific line, "Lies and false promises deceive God's people and make them do things that God hasn't asked them to do". I was doing a lot of things back then that God wasn't asking me to do, for a number of reasons. That one line made me reconsider some of the things I was doing.

O Majestic Winter - I've talked to one of you personally before. I loved the weird, raw style you guys did on "Defiling the Serpent's Temple". Your faith/conviction came through really clearly on that album and it spoke to me.

Comunidad Pantokrator - Another metal church! I've spoken to one or two of you before (under a different name, like almost everyone here). I also saw a YouTube video about you and found it really inspiring. Again, even though I'm not in a position to go visit you right now, know that you have still helped me.

Edit:  I also want to thank this one company. I don't know the name of the company, but they make these daily calendars with Bible trivia questions on them. I get a daily calendar for Christmas every year, and given all that had taken place over the past few months in 2014, I certainly welcomed receiving that one instead of the ones I got previous years that tended to have rather vulgar messages (which last year I specifically asked not to get, hence the Bible trivia one instead.) I thought it would be rather easy since I knew the traditional Bible stories (Noah, Jonah, etc) and had been reading the Gospels fairly extensively, along with a few psalms and a bit of Revelation. But I realized pretty quickly that I knew almost nothing on this calendar. And the questions are taken from the KJV (note: the KJV, like all English translations, still isn't a 100% perfect translation, but hey, it's really close) so it's not like they're taking these questions from some really weird text, just canonical scripture. Finally around... April, I think? I decided to I needed to know more of the Bible. I decided read the Bible from beginning to end. I usually read a chapter a day, which isn't much, but it's more than I was reading before! Right now I'm up to 1 Kings. You know, I've heard skeptics say that if you read God's word in its entirety, you'll allegedly doubt your faith. On the contrary, I've learned more about God - truths which admittedly some people don't like to admit, such as that God has indeed gotten angry at people before, and has struck people down before. Of course, to the best of my knowledge, this doesn't happen today, since forgiveness now comes through faith (which leads to repentance) through Jesus, not OT law, but it has happened in the past. Of course it all may not seem like it makes sense if you cherry pick out-of-context verses as skeptics like to do, but in the wider context of scripture it does indeed make sense. Also, since reading the Bible more, I've learned about how there are translation errors in modern translations (see "like all English translations" link above) which is where most skeptics derive these alleged "contradictions", which didn't actually exist in older Hebrew translations. A lot to happen as a result of a daily calendar!

Here are other bands/people I want to thank, for the impact you've had:
Nephesh, Winter's Dawn, Wintersoul, Herr Darkpriest (Verdelger, Ancient Uncreated Incarnation), Doctor D (Armageddon Holocaust, Bealiah), Unblack Star, Diamoth, Requiem Eternam, Flock of Crows, Nattesorg (Demodus Rotundus, Frostnoise), Azmaveth (the band from Puerto Rico), Betheos Abshalom, Forgotten Sorrow, Reobote, Edificador, the people from White Funeral (and Antivenom and Lunar Invasion), Hazeroth, Boanerges (Poland), Surmount Darkness, Holy Blood, Blood Covenant, Destroyer of Lie, Dying Blaze, Hawthorn, HB, Timōrātus, God Enthroned, Slechtvalk, Kissing the Crown of Thorns, Hazael (band from Brazil), Dustt, Santuario (band from Costa Rica), Sorrowstorm, Christageddon, Comunidade Golgota, Mental Destruction, Blackhouse, Veni Domine, Nocturnal Freeze, K Megiddo (Torches in the Void, Thy Fiery Haze), La Chambre Ardente, Tsidkenu (band from Mexico), Broken Flesh, Obliteration (band from USA), Disencumbrance, Truth Remains, Nehyam, Soteria, Arch of Thorns, my pastor, my one teacher from back in school (I don't want to name people I know personally so I have to be vague; I was the kid who laughed at all your jokes), Belzidum, Orationem, Palvonta, Kirche Gothika, Flyleaf, KJ-52, Falling Up, William McDowell, Cold Embrace (band from India), Neohadth, Worshiper (Brazil) ...

There are even more I could put, too. All of the above (and more) have had an impact on me somehow. Most of these people probably don't even know I exist. Most of them aren't famous, and so I'm sure some of you understand the struggle I've been facing lately. So this post has two purposes. To thank those who have helped me, and to encourage others who feel their impact isn't important. It is.

God bless and guide you (including readers) according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.

Callings

I feel like a big problem among Christians today is a misunderstanding about our calling.

Romans 14 explains this pretty well.

It seems to me that people have a tendency to take what they are individually called to do, and base the actions of all Christians on them. For example, and I really don't want to give an example, but for example, one person in the unblack metal scene recently left the scene because that person has come to believe that unblack metal (and all metal) is evil. They proceeded to tell other Christians to leave the scene as well, or they would go to Hell.

There is no Biblical evidence that any genre of music is inherently evil. I can understand how metal could become a snare to some people, but it's not a snare to everyone. For me, the unblack scene is one of the most godly things I could be participating in. Unblack metal actually brought me closer to God. I eventually actually left behind all of the pagan/occult/satanic music I used to like, and turned to music that worshiped God instead. When certain things happened in my life, unblack metal led me to question a lot of the occult things I was practicing. When I wanted to listen to dark music, unblack metal was always an option, and there was often some band whose music had a dark enough sound to satisfy me. That's the purpose of evangelism - to call out to people, just as the scene is doing. Unblack metal is a wonderful tool to spread the word to people. I, and many others in the scene, have been led into a right place with God through this.

And on the other hand, you do, indeed, have some people who were misled by the darkness of the overall black metal scene, the stuff I left behind, and were ensnared by it, instead of turning further to the God-glorifying music in the unblack scene.

So the issue isn't that this genre is inherently evil, the issue is that people aren't putting God first in issues like this. And I keep talking about metal, but it's not just about metal - it's about ALL things in life.

If you listen to unblack metal, and find it becoming a snare to you, pray to God about it, and don't be afraid to listen to what He has to say. If you feel unblack metal is becoming a snare to somebody else, don't be afraid to bring it up. Just don't assume that it's universally a sin when there's no Biblical evidence for it. This is how it is for everything in life. Whatever is going on, put God first. Avoid sin as the Bible clearly describes it. And for everything else, pray to God about it.

It's not just a problem with others, either. It can be a problem with you, yourself. We as individual people disagree on a lot of things, and interpret scripture in different ways. The problem comes in when those differing viewpoints aren't based on God's word, or on God's individual plans for us, but instead are based on our own desires, and what we want to believe, rather than what we are instructed to believe. It's important to have an unbiased, scriptural view of things, and not be guided by what you individually are being misled to want by the devil and his demons.

For example, I once believed in reincarnation. The Bible says that man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, which created a conflict with my beliefs at the time. In that case, you couldn't have just passed it off as me "having a different interpretation of scripture", because I was ignoring scripture. Nowadays, I've learned to reject reincarnation. It's no longer a snare to me, and I now understand the truth of that verse. Now, I also used to practice what you could call "sorcery", but Hebrews 9:27 says nothing about that. However, Deuteronomy 18:10 to 11 does, and so does Revelation 22:15. Of course, I've left behind "sorcery" as well. So it's important to be sure your beliefs are backed by scripture.

The best way to resolve that is to think of it this way:
Do you believe what you do because of the Bible, or in spite of it?

Can you back up your views with scripture, or does it contradict your claims?

God bless you all and guide you according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.

Homosexuality

http://adam4d.com/dont-hate/

Simple. This puts the whole situation into perspective perfectly.

Obligatory note, I haven't read every single thing this guy's ever posted, but I've read a lot of it and liked it!

Mormonism

http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/book-of-mormon-1.htm

Simple.

Also, as I always point out when I put links, I know nothing about the site above. I only posted it for that one specific page. I don't know if the overall website is reliable.

Something Personal

Still doubt the reality of what I talk about on here?

There's something about me that I've only ever told a couple family members. I just feel like sharing it here because I was reminded of it today.

Now, ever since I was young, probably like 12 years old or so, there's been an inverted pentagram embedded into my right hand. Now, I did not put it there. It just appeared there. 12 years old is around the time I had just barely started getting into dark stuff.

Throughout all my years of practicing occultism, this pentagram was there, as a natural part of my hand print. But see, it was never a full pentagram - those have five lines, but this one only had four. The horizontal line in the middle was missing.

It was very indicative of what was going on in my life at that point. I was listening to satanic music, practicing all kinds of stuff that the Bible outright forbid... Of course, I never thought any of that was wrong, so I never made the connection. I knew it was an evil symbol, but I never realized the significance of it appearing on my hand. I thought it was just an odd coincidence.

Then around late 2013 (when I was 19) is when I started getting away from that stuff. Not a lot, just a little bit. Over the course of the next year, as I've explained before, I completely dropped all occult stuff in my life. I had some tough decisions to make, but I decided to stick with God. He'd gotten me through so much by that point, and everything else in my life was just failing me more and more; the only logical decision was to follow Him, or at least lean on Him to guide me. So I had to face the reality that the Bible spoke against a lot of what I had come to believe up until that point. And those were points where God was telling me what the truth was, but I didn't want to accept it. But I trusted in God, and over time, in my reflections on life, in my research, etc etc God guided me to the truth, and helped me to accept it, and realize how my old beliefs were, indeed, lies. I left behind all of the evil I once embraced in my life, and finally replaced it entirely with God.

So at some point in early-mid 2015, I remembered the pentagram on my hand. I decided to look at it again, and something new was there.

There was a line cutting clean through the pentagram.

It wasn't the line that was missing from the pentagram. Rather, there's a thick, obvious line cutting across and through the very middle of it, like the lines in those red "no" signs.

Just thinking about that makes me stop for a second. It's not like it was a random symbol; it was a very accurate one given what was going on at that point. And when I asked God for help, when I decided to trust Him, when I finally understood what Jesus' sacrifice really meant and accepted that, He blotted it out. I have such a hard time forgiving myself for things. And I still struggle with my imperfections. (Which reminds me of [[this]]. I like this comic a lot.) But this line, actually crossing out the symbol on my hand, is just so powerful to me. Whenever I struggle with my past or mess up somehow, I think of this. It reminds me of where I used to be, and how bad things were then, and where God's gotten me now - to such a better place. A couple times, I've talked about my past with people, and it's just surreal. It feels like I'm talking about a different person completely. My life's not just suddenly "great" now, but the lack of evil forces intruding into my life and the addition of God's love is certainly a plus, to say the least!

This symbol is such a great visual reminder to me of God's greatness. Of all the wonderful things God's done in my life the past two years. It's so humbling. It's His way of saying to me, "It's okay now. That's gone from your life. It's not a part of you anymore."

Amen.

PS, funny how God can even take an inverted pentagram and make it work for His glory. And hey, since it's common knowledge now that the inverted cross is actually a Christian symbol, the devil's running a little short on symbols here!

PPS, did you know you probably have a cross on your hand print? Extend your hand so your middle finger is facing directly away from your face. On your palm, there is a straight line going up, toward your middle finger. Around the middle of your palm, there is a line going perpendicular to that one. Both lines form a cross.

Update 2020: Here are pictures.

Judaism / devil

Messianic Judaism - basically it's (intended to be?) what the church was around the time of Jesus. Judaism, but modified by Jesus and His instruction to us. Acknowledging Jesus as the prophesied messiah, but holding Old Testament custom a lot more closely than is taught by Christianity.

I'd still need to do more research on the topic overall before I felt right saying too much about it, but there is one problem I've noticed.

It appears there's some questionable discussion taking place regarding the devil, some taking the "normal" Jewish teaching that he doesn't work as Christianity teaches. That the devil supposedly isn't a fallen angel, but instead one that just does as God instructs him to do. However, it's crucially important to keep in mind that this is not true.

I say "crucially" important for a reason. First of all, Jesus, the prophesied messiah, specifically referred to the devil as falling from Heaven:

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Second, and most important, the book of Revelation talks about the devil as an enemy of God who will be punished:

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.


These are two sources that are crucially important to keep in mind. Remember what is written in Revelation:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,

and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.





I'm not writing this just for one group, not by any stretch - it's just something I noticed in certain discussions. I'm writing this for everybody. The important thing to keep in mind above all else is to follow God, prayerfully learning and following His commands as closely as we can. And some will interpret certain things differently, but this is a case where I felt like it was important to speak up about it. There's a line where interpretations step outside of sound doctrine, and denying what Jesus said, and what the book of Revelation says, is crossing it. 

God bless and guide you all according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.