Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a influencal protestant reformer. He did many important things during his life. Luther strongly objected to the selling of indulgences, disputing the claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money. Luther wrote the ninety-five theses to confront this selling and the indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel. Even at the demand of Pope Leo X, he would not recant his works.  Luther objected to a saying attributed to Johann Tetzel that "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory [also attested as 'into heaven'] springs. Luther's works would later be banned by secular authorities. Luther was called in front of "the diet of worms" (council) and ordered to recant his works, to which Luther replyed:   "Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen."
This stand against this church officials was signficnt because noone before had dared to contradict the church, because Luther took a stand he iniated the Protestant Reformation. He was taken into safety at Wartburf Castle at Eisenach after this stand .While there he translated the New Testament from latin to german. before Luther''s translation, the bible had only been in latin and reserved for nobility. This was important as well because now everyone could read the bible.

Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, one of 12 nuns he had helped escape from the Nimbschen Cistercian convent in April 1523, when he arranged for them to be smuggled out in herring barrels. This was important because he formally had been a monk against marriage, now he married.

I believe Luther was important because he paved the way for the Protestent Reformation. Through his stand, christianity was seperated from the catholic faith. In the movie "Luther" he was very welled protryed accurately. The acting was great and did well to represent martin luther's life.
Luther was a prolific hymn writer, authoring hymns such as Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott  (A Mighty Fortress is our God)based on Psalm 49. Luther connected high art and folk music, also all classes, clergy and laity, men, women and children. His device for this linking was the singing of German hymns in connection with worship, school, home, and the public arena. Luther's 1524 creedal hymn Wir glauben all an einen Gott (We All Believe in One True God) is a three-stanza confession of faith prefiguring Luther's 1529 three-part explanation of the Apostles' Creed in the small cathicism. Luther's hymn, adapted and expanded from an earlier German creedal hymn, gained widespread use in vernacular Lutheran liturgies as early as 1525. Sixteenth-century Lutheran hymnals also included Wir glauben all among the catechetical hymns, although 18th-century hymnals tended to label the hymn as Tritarian rather than catechetical, and 20th-century Lutherans rarely use the hymn because of the perceived difficulty of its tune.
Luther's 1538 hymnic version of the Lord's Prayer, Vater unser im Himmelreich, corresponds exactly to Luther's explanation of the prayer in the Small Catechism, with one stanza for each of the seven prayer petitions, plus opening and closing stanzas. The hymn functioned both as a liturgical setting of the Lord's Prayer and as a means of examining candidates on specific catechism questions. The extant manuscript shows multiple revisions, demonstrating Luther's concern to clarify and strengthen the text and to provide an appropriately prayerful tune. Other 16th- and 20th-century versifications of the Lord's Prayer have adopted Luther's tune, although modern texts are considerably shorter.


i got my information
from:

The movie "Luther"
and
www.HistoryGuide.com/martinluther.html.com

John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life- TV, Internet and You

In CH. 8 of Don't Waste your Life., John piper talked about the difference between our "spiritual" and our "Secular" . Our Seculer vocations are our earthly jobs (i.e. Artist) and spiritual (i.e Missionaires, pastor) He says that you are not disregarding your spiritual vocation, because he may have called you to have a secular job and given you the passion to do that. In some way, God has called us all to be missionaries.he said that "work is not a curse, futility is."  that means  that if you work to glorify something higher than yourself, you don't view it as a curse, you see it as a means of showing your love for God.  When you work with futility. you have nothing to honor while doing it and you do it for the money.

The Secret millionare on ABC "Skid Row" episode (John Derber)

When "we" pass a homeless man or women with a sign asking for work or food or a little bit of change  while driving down the street whether it be in Oklahoma or Texas or anywhere, What goes through our mind at a 1st Glance "Well, They are lazy and cant find a job. It isn't my problem." , "Oh My Gosh Im not stopping ...They might mug me or something"  we rarely think about what the person has been though.
Skid  Row in L.A. has one of the biggest amount of homeless people in America. Many are trying to help, but are limited on funds and nescessities. Recently this year "ABC" (Channel 5 in OKLA.) premired a show called "Secret Millioniare". in the show, a "Millioniare" gives up "livin' on the ritz" to spend a week with people in need disguised and not allowed to tell anyone his/her real living situation. At the end of the week, the "Millionare" decides how much money to give to people making a significant difference for their community and reveals he is a millionare.
on the Skid row episode, our "millionare" was james derber. He went and spend a week ,living on only 50 dollers for the WHOLE week,  on L.A skid row. He met people who make a difference for those there. one man passed out items and necessities to the homeless and has given all of his time and money for the homeless . he dreamed to make a non-profit organization for his cause. John  Derber gave this man $25,000 and The man was able to build his non-profit . He also met a group if previously homeless people who made a b-ball tournment for skid row and made monehy through that for "skid-rowers" John gave them 25 G as well and paid for restoration of a historical mural that had been graffitied on and soiled.
He also met a women who had started a house for homeless single mothers. he gave her cause 50 G
People were blessed through his donations.
Honestly, i watched this episode a second time at mhy house and bawled my eyes out. We often sit on our hinneys when people need the love of god and help when they are struggling.


So are you going to sit around and play "angry birds" on your  fancy iphone or watch csi:ny or something when the lord calls you or are you gooing to answer the call???

think about it...


Mandy

John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life- TV, Internet and You

Television- Friend or Foe?
When TV first came out, you would never find a "Victoria's Secret" commercial or a "Viagra" Ad.  Shows were rarely racy or contraversial. Sometime after the 50's or 60's (No idea exactly lol) shows became more racy and commercials followed.
TV can be either bad or good. First, ways that it can be good..

Ways that TV is Good

• Weather Update, Political Updates, Crime Updates, School Closings, and ETC.
• TBC (some of the time)
• see your kid's football game
• Some shows
• Oklahoma Sooners Football Games  ( OU!!!)
• And More

But Tv has some problems Such as

 Ways that TV can be Bad

• Mature content
• Gore
• distract from important things
• obtain unwanted behaviors (usually in younger kids, who tend to mimic TV and movies)
• Junk Shows (Jershey Shore *sorry people*, Skins, and other pointless shows)
• annoyingly memorized shows (Spongebob.... *cough*)
• unwanted info (yeah....)
• time loss

The main ways that Tv has negatively affected me are

Ways that ...well you know what i mean

• Time Loss
• Distraction from important things
• wasting my time with dumb shows

Sadly, I'd have to say i spend way more time with electronics than I have with God... I need to spend less time worrying about the world and more time praising Him who Created the world.

In Closing, Tv like anything can be either bad or good... so will you choose to waste your life.. or redeem?

(To be Continued....)

Mandy

Brain-washing kids into christiAnity is NOT ok!!!!!god says train a child in the way he should go, not force a child. Children should be taught but given a choice as well!
We need to spread christianity not brainwash it into people.

Don't Waste your Life

Galations 6:14 says "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" Boasting in the cross happens when you are on the cross. So what does being on the cross mean??? When we trust God, we become "new". the world is no longer our source of our joy, Christ is. We need to not focus on wordly things like "if we are getting an iphone 4" and focus on our lord and exalt his sacrifice for us. and "boast" only in his birth, life, death, and ressurection.

Galations 2:20 says "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me"
How does it make sense to say "I" died and yet I live?
The life I now live in the flesh" (so we are alive) The "I" who lives is the new "I" of faith, the believer and new creation lives. Our old self died on the cross with Christ. God's Son was our link so his death becomes your death and his life becomes yours. He is the Lord.

I live my spiritial life by faith. I go to school or to places everyday and trust that God will kept me safe(which he has) sometimes hard times in my life will weaken the trust; I need to trust no matter the circumstances. god sends struggles for a purpose. We do NOT know His will. We need to trust him in EVERYTHING. Even when you go through VERY hard times. We NEED to TRUST HIM!.

With this in mind, are you leading the life Christ wants? Or are you wasting your life by turning your focus from him to your own wants?
Mandy

Alter Walk ^^

I've never really known much about the "alter call" but apparnatly around the 1800's before the 'alter call' Ministers and Church groups would have have "camp meeting" and  would include passionate preaching and extreme (and some slighty weird....) responses.. such as Crying out, Shrieking, Groaning, Fainting, Swooning, Twitching ,and weeping. Minister's viewed these responses as evidence of god's work.....*cough* may i just say these sounds more like responses to semester exams then evidence of holy spirit. I think that our actions and our ways in our daily life and walk in christ show his power, not bodily movements (excuse the humor). and the alter walk was later adapted as a new way of response tallying... i refer back to the daily life tidbit i said earlier when i say its not our response at the time but how we apply it....




Mandy <3

Christmas

Merry Christmas Followers ^^

Halloween=Good or bad..?

Is Halloween good or bad... well both...
let me tell how it can be bad. .. first off ..Is it just me or do teen girl and Adult girl's costumes seem to get shorter and shorter skirt lengths.. (they are...by the way). Some parents even trust their teens to go to partys on halloween they don't know a thing about...and dont know that it may have alcohol and kids that are high (not on sugar high ...people) and also people letting their kids wander around random parts of town without supervision at all....also there are alot of cute and modest costumes for kids and adults.... but some (alot) of people seem to prefer... to be.. a vampire  (especially because of twilight :P eeeh Edward Cullen Bleh :P), zombie cheerleaders (dont know why..), Demons,  the ever so not modest nurse, skimpy disney princess (wow...), and other skimpy or non-valued costumes. well, so you're probably thinking what good is there in halloween... well halloween is what we make it to be... other words... people can make their halloween bad through the above... but we can make it good as well.. i mean getting candy and dressing in a costume is the general idea of halloween we  have the choice to corrupt it or make it good... we have the choice to dress up modestly and not as ocult monsters.. kids can dress as Nancy Drew (lol...) or as such.. we choose what our halloween is by what our choices are..... do you want to corrupt your choices and make halloween a bad thing or will you choose to make it a good thing ....

Special Olympics

Today, I got to volunteer with Special Olympics. I became really good friends with the people i worked with. I got to help them with bowling and got to learn about them and their stories. The people that i worked with were named Dawn, Jolina, Barbara, and Laura.  I felt more comfortable than i first thought i would be at the event, because I understood and could relate with them more because of having my own disabilty, Asperger's Syndrome. It was a great experience and through i learned alot more about ways of overcoming and i also learned about these women's struggles and their lifes. I saw that us(my group) being there at the event and the event itself lifted these people's spirits. This was a really moving experience that not only taught me more about struggles and overcoming but also resulted in many new friends. This experience was very special to me and i learned more about these people and possibly.....i think, i learned a little more about my self. 

Important Qualities for Friends

The Bible says in Proverbs 17:17 "A friend loves at all times." 
A true friend is there for you whenever you need them, no matter where you are or what you do. They don't have to agree with what you've done or said. They love you no matter what, when, where, or how!
a true friend's love is boundless, seamless and eternal! You can tell them anything and know they will listen and that they wont judge you.


The Bible also says in Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron so a friend sharpens a friend"  True friends help each other up emotionally, spiritually and physically. Friends give each other strength, encouragement and love. True friend's shared trust and acceptance of each other, they are the one person who can impact their  friend's heart.


Proverbs 18:24 says "a real friend sticks closer than a brother" A true friend is faithful no matter what.


Proverbs 27:5-6  says "A open rebuke is better than hidden love! Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy." Sincere friends speak the truth in love, even when it hurts. True friends are honest and open with each other. Without honesty, friends will lose their trust in each other.


Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 say "Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."  True friends help one another when they are in need and strengthen one another.



The most important verse on friendship though is John 15:13-15 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you. No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known unto you. Jesus is the pure example of a true friend, for He laid down His life for His "friends." What is more, anyone may become His friend by trusting in Him as his personal savior, being born again and receiving new life in Him.


I struggle with telling my friends things when i know it will hurt them.  I need to feel able to tell my friends things involving them or telling the truth even when i know it hurts.  i think i could improve on this.


A person who has been a good friend to me outside of school is Mattie, who also has asperger's.
True, Mattie has her quirks, (she is obssesed with twilight to a point she thinks its real and thinks she is Bella) and for about a year, i stopped talking to her altogether because i just was at a loss on what to do. about 4 months ago i emailed her and we are talking again. Mattie told me she realizes that it is a problem she needs to fix and asked me to help her. and we are friends again  Mattie is a good friend because she has always had a positive viewpoint :)and is a great girl. she accepts me and i am accepting her. I struggle and she struggles, but the difference now, is that we are helping each other through the struggles. and also we are learning more about each other. and we just accept each other for who we are, quirks and all  :) Mattie is a accepting and forgiving friend and that is why she is a true friend to me :)

Thx for Following
Mandy <3


Here are some great quotes on friendship:

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." 

"There are no such things as strangers, only friends we haven't met yet." 

"A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself.

"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out

Jackie Evancho (9 yo Opera singer w/ Sarah Brightman "Time to Say Goodbye" on America's Got ...

This little girl is so amazing! Jesus has blessed her so much!!

Listen to this little girl's amazing voice! in the video she got to sing with her role model Sarah Brightman

she "learned" her songs from Sarah by studying her voice. Sarah, you might have some competition :) Jackie's voice is so amazing and developed for nine. enjoy the video!

My Thoughts\Lyrical study on "Slow-dancing in a Burning Room" by:john mayer

I think the song is about a "guy" who was in a relationship, put himself out there for her and thought it was love. They were happy and shared it for a while but now the girl is blaming him for the relationship and says its nothing to you" and he is hurt and she doesn't know why. He loved her but she kinda turned on him and now "they are slow dancing in a burning room" or in a rocky or fallen relationship. and he wished it could of turned out differently and they could of learned from it. I think its a good song (w/o one bad word) and is deep and is good to listen to sometimes.  The bible says not to unevenly yoke yourself with others. I think before you go into a relationship consider the results and what you want out of it
Mandy

Important qualities

The 2 most important qualities I look for in a spouse are a Christian and accepting of me and my autism. I believe in Christ, the bible says to not unequally yoke yourself with non-believers. I want my future husband to share my beliefs and values. I also want my future husband to accept me for who I am, autism and all. Sure, I have challenges, but so does everyone, mine just come in different forms.yes I struggle but I also overcome. I want my future husband to accept me as I am. I am a teenager living with a form of autism,called aspergers. I have been blessed with the ability to communicate and be a prolific speaker on the world of autism. I have also been blessed to be going to a private christian high school And be a sophomore there. Last year I had a 3.75 GPA. I may have autism and struggle with it but I have greatly overcome. I want my future husband to accept this and all that I am.

Qu'ran Burning: My opinions

Hi again,
This time I'm gonna give my opinions on the burning of the qurans to protest the mosque near ground zero in Nyc.

Rev. Terry Jones of Florida planned to burn qur'ans as a means of protest against the mosque that is to be be built at Ground Zero.  Many people including President Obama have told him it would be better to back down.  They fear that burning the Qur'ans will endanger our soldiers overseas in iraq and afganistan.  Jones has back down at this time.
In Afghanistan, hundreds of angry Afghans burned an American flag and chanted "Death to the Christians" to protest the planned Quran burning.
This act will send a wrong message to the Muslims, even though we don't agree with them, burning the Qur'an is not the way to handle this!

Should we as Christians, who have ourselves in the past and the present been presecuated, do the same to others just because we don't agree with their beliefs? No, we shouldn't because God says to do onto others as you would have them do unto you. If we are presecuting others, what message are we sending as Christians? Not a good one. I believe we can share our opinions, but not through mocking, presucuting, and disrespecting others.  We should give our opinions peacefully and show God through our ways and what we do.  Jones by doing this, is sending a wrong idea of Christians.  If we are what we say we are, christians, are we going to do what we think is justified by our own ways or what God told us how to treat others, even though we do not agree with them, and what is right. 

Well, thanks for following my blog.

Hope this post helped,

Mandy <3

Please share your opinions.

MY OPINIONS ON "Satanic Event to be Held at OKC Civic Center"

The "Church of the IV Majesties", which claims to be the only "legal" satanic church in Oklahoma, is having an event "which includes a satanic exorcism" at OKC Civic Music Center this October 21.  Here is some quotes of their opinions, James Hale of OKC says this "The church is made up of people who believe in Satan as a friendly entity, people who believe there are no gods and people, like himself, who believe they are gods. Hale says that the Ritual Exorcism that they will be performed as a blasphemy ritual used as a pardy to poke fun at the Roman Catholic Ritual.  The Oklahoma Civic center, which has also hosted Easter pagents, will host this satanic event. I hope this next quote sheds some light on the situation ""man created god and that man can destroy god. Thus man is god." So Hale if you are blaspheming something, you are on the contary, doing it to your self. and you stated so yourself in your quotes. Christians, we do need to spread the word. but i think this one will eventually take care of itself. However, not all situtions will take care of themselves. just remember don't always follow the status quo, do what is right and stand up for our God.

Thx for Reading!!!

Please give your opinions.

Mandy

 So if you want a link here it is




Read more: http://www.newsok.com/satanic-group-to-hold-october-event-at-oklahoma-citys-civic-center/article/3490365#ixzz0yVMT0Q00