CARM Newsletter 09-05-07

Welcome to the Sept. 5, 2007 Newsletter

Mini-devotional - Abiding in the Light.
"And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all," (1 John 1:5).

The first thing God says in the Bible was "Let there be light." Jesus said that we speak from what is within us (Matt. 12:34). It's interesting to note that the first thing God says that is recorded in the Bible deals with light. The verse that we're looking at says that God is light. This means that God is pure and that within him there is no darkness; that is, there is nothing unholy, nothing impure.

When we fellowship with God we are abiding in the light. The more we fellowship, the closer we get to that light and the brighter it shines upon our souls. This means that we will see more of ourselves when the shadows that cover the dark parts of our souls vanish in the intensity of the presence of God. We will see those dark corners, those unholy areas that we sometimes purposely ignore. We all have them.

But, we need to seek that light so that that which is unholy within us might be exposed. As a result, we confess our sins, our newly exposed sin, and repent of them. This is a privilege and an act of God's grace to show us those areas within us that need to be addressed. Of course, this is all made possible by the cross of Christ. Jesus' precious blood cleanses us of our sins and grants us the ability to dwell in the light of God so that we might seek to be more holy before him. Let us not seek to abide in darkness.  Rather, let's seek to abide in the light, no matter how bright it gets.

Windows Vista
Well, I finally did it.  For a month now I've been working with Vista.  Its better than XP, more stable.  I got tired of rebooting XP twice a day.  Remember, I really push my system when I work with CARM (3.0gz, 800FSB, 4gig ram, 500 gig HD, 2 19" LCD monitors).  But, boy is it tough doing a backup to another drive.  I want to backup the entire system in case the hard drive I'm using crashes (which would only happen at THE most inconvenient time.)  With a back up, I could slip in the copied hard drive and be up and running quickly.  I bought the upgrade from XP to Vista, but doing the upgrade hoses the admin privileges -- not good when installing and configuring other programs (two Bible programs, graphics programs, web design programs, etc.). 

So, after a lot of research I figured out how to do a clean install, which took a few hour.  After 2 weeks of tweaking, staying up late, and working to fine tune the new build, I finally got it working just right.  But, now I can't back it up to another drive.  I bought Norton Ghost for this, but it doesn't work properly. So, I did yet another day's research (unplug usb stuff, disable UA, etc.) testing, trying backups, etc., all to no avail.  I gave up.  So, abandoned copying the drive and to another drive I tried installing a fresh copy on a backup drive, but I'm having problems.  I can't get it to work, even though I've done everything I did the first time the same way.  This is a truly frustrating.  Long story short, I have given up.

But, Vista Ultimate (I have the Home Premium upgrade) has the ability to back itself up to another hard drive.  Unfortunately, it costs around $400 to buy the full version program.  So, after all this being said, is there anyone out there who has a Vista Ultimate CD that they're not using (it does happen) that I could purchase at a discount?  If so, could you please contact me at [email protected]?  Thanks.

Mountain Meadows
Next week I'll be out of the office because I plan to drive down to Utah to visit a friend of mine, Bill McKeever. He runs the Mormonism Research Ministry (mrm.org). September 11 will mark the 150th anniversary of the Mountain Meadows massacre. Bill and I, along with a few others, will be driving down to the site for that commemoration service. I plan to take pictures and video.

If you haven't already been made aware of this, there is a movie in the theaters called "September dawn." It is a very accurate depiction of what happened at this massacre. I highly recommend that you see it.

Advertising on CARM
After talking to a friend I decided to go ahead and offer advertising space on the CARM website.  As CARM expands and we try and get more staff, I'm hoping that such advertising would help pay for  the upcoming needs, as well as present ones.  So, if you are interested in advertising with CARM please go to the CARM homepage and click on the link at the upper right.  It will give you the necessary information.

Love and Hate
CARM is constantly getting e-mails of thanks and praise and condemnation.  Here are a few...in the raw.  (At the suggestion of a reader, the hate mail is first so that the last taste in your mouth, is the love mail). "
  • Hate mail:
    • "Why is there so much confusion from a book inspired by god? Even you yourself had to go back and have bible study to see why things maybe taken out of context? I really think people like you and your kind are a virus on all human kind. If it was up to christians or catholics then we wouldn't have cars, eye glasses and maybe even central heating and cooling. Go about your faith, just keep it away from me and my children. I know god exists and god never needed to have us read a book to know him. So get over yourself. Spend more of your money on a church and worship your pastor like the rest. Then when you find out he is a pervert  you will just move on and goto the next church. Just look at how much people of your religion has influenced our world. Even something as little a spell check program. Christian is shown as misspelled if you don't capitalize it. Where as no other religion gets this treatment. Maybe people should start reading the bible and start holding true to its teaching. We will be able to kill people for working on the sabbath. Stone unruly children, and even look at long haired men as heathens. Grow up, follow your heart and your common sense. Don't take the easy way out and turn to a man made book. God is in our hearts and our soul. If anything, we are all a form of god going through school. People like you keep making us flunk. I marked you as spam so don't bother replying."
    Love Mail:
    • "It was with great joy that I found your website and began reading some of the content you have compiled. I found myself doubting my faith, my salvation, and my desire to live a godly life.  It all seemed too hard, too cumbersome, and too deep.  However, that was before the Holy Spirit, obviously, directed me to you website tonight.   I am going through some major testing right now, mostly dealing with family and work, but I now realize that they are nothing more than a spiritual struggle that I needed to leave at the alter of my King. It is with my deepest gratitude that I thank you for your dedication to helping those that are searching for truth.  God is Blessing you and He will continue.
    • "i just wanted to give you kudos on your site. i use to be a mormon and it was sites like yours that finally led me to the truth and i left the church. now i am truely born again and never been happier. i am praying for your ministry because i know that there are a lot of curious and confused people out there, that the mormons are just waiting to prey upon. i was glad to see that your site is on the top of the list. with a mormon running for president, people are sure to have a lot of questions about the church. keep up the good work. god bless you!!! "
    • "What you do is by nature controversial.  My father often tells of a guy in the GM plant who once told him, "I can't stand you!"  My father asked the man to write this down and sign it, so Dad could show his boss.  When the man asked why, Dad said, "If someone like you can't stand me, I must be doing a great job around here."  I think the same applies to you.  God bless you and keep up the good fight for His kingdom!"

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From the CARM Theological Dictionary

Intermediate State
The period between death and resurrection. The condition of the person in the intermediate state is debated. One theory is that the person is without a body, yet is conscious, and that he will receive his body at the resurrection. Another theory states that the person has a different sort of spiritual body that will be lost at the resurrection when body and soul are reunited (2 Cor. 5:1-4).

Be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium.

Rev. Matt Slick, your missionary to the  Internet. Equipping the church to defend the faith in a secular society.

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Notes

  1. Walvoord, John F., and Zuck, Roy B., The Bible Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, Inc.) 1983, 1985.

 

 

 

 
 
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