WORDPRESS HACKED…

Subject: My WordPress site has been hacked.

If this morning, upon receiving my devotional email, you clicked on my devotion or site’s link you know you were taken to an awful site. This is because my WordPress site was hacked. Fortunately, it was only on the mobile device side of things, that is, it was only when using a mobile phone that was hacked. You can still go to my site via a desktop or laptop computer without problem. I am so sorry for those of you who accessed my devotional via a cell phone as the site that you were taken too was too terrible to even describe.

What is being done? My son, Tim, contacted my web provider and they have put security cleaning actions into effect to get rid of the hackers code that affects mobile phones. This has been taken care of and as of right now it is safe and clean. On top of cleaning they have installed a firewall to prevent this from happening again.  It cost my sons five hundred dollars to have this mess cleaned.

What can you do? Tim suggests that you go to your App Store on your mobile device and search using the word malware. There are more apps for Android than iPhones due to more vulnerability on Android phones but there are free apps to make sure your phone has not been compromised. It is also suggested that you use malwarebytes on your desktop and laptop (just in case). Malwarebytes has a 30 day free trial you can use to clean your machine. It is thought that only mobile phones are affected but it is not a bad thing to just make sure your desktop or laptop has not been breached via the email that you opened on your cell phone.

Once again, I’m so sorry about this.  It grieves me that such things happen.  Yours and His,  Max E Smith
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TRUE MEANING OF EASTER

Guest article written by my son, Dan.  He is minister of First Christian Church in Bradenton, Florida.

“What is the true meaning of Easter? It isn’t about cute little fluffy chickens, nor
does it have anything to do with Easter bunnies. And it isn’t even about Easter eggs. Why is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ important to us in 2018? We can find out the answer from Jesus. The real meaning is a three-word answer: the new covenant.

In Luke 22 we are shown the night before Jesus’ death. Remember what Jesus said when He
was establishing the Lord’s Supper? Luke 22:20 says; After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. The heart of Easter lies in His words, “the new covenant between God and his people.”

A reading of the Old Testament (Covenant) shows the people bringing their lambs to the priest to sacrifice for their sins. No one had access to the presence of God. Only the high priests could go into the Holy of Holies and into the presence of God, and then only once a year to offer a sacrifice of blood on the alter.
This was the old order of forgiveness of sins. The promise during that time was that God was going to provide a Messiah, a Savior.

Jesus is the one God’s prophets had promised to save mankind from their sins and to give them a deep heartfelt relationship with God the Father. The new covenant would be an everlasting covenant.
See Jeremiah 31:31-34, Jeremiah 32:39-42, and Isaiah 55:3.
When Jesus came, He was a representation of the sacrificial lamb to take away the sins of the world. He was the final sacrifice. We no longer have to sacrifice animals to make atonement for our sins. Jesus has done this once and for all. It’s His blood that cleanses us from all sin. He was crucified on the cross. The sin of the world was upon Him, yet He was without sin and blameless. He bore it all. This is why Jesus is referred to as the ‘Lamb of God’.

Jesus, our Savior, our God, our Redeemer – voluntarily laid down his life as our sacrificial lamb to pay for our sins. When he rose from the dead three days later, he gave victory over eternal separation from God (death) to all who put their faith and trust in him. That is the new covenant – everlasting life spent with God through faith in all that Jesus Christ has done and continues to do.”

TOO BUSY?

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.
In his opening address he said, “We can’t keep Christians from going to church.”
“We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth….”
“We can’t even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their SAVIOR.”
“Once they gain that connection with JESUS, our power over them is broken.”
“So, let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don’t have time to develop a relationship with JESUS CHRIST.”
“This is what I want you to do,” said the devil:
“Distract them from gaining hold of their SAVIOR and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!”

“How shall we do this?” his demons shouted.
“Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered……”Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.”
“Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.”
“Keep them from spending time with their children.”
“As their family’s fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!”
“Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.”
” To Keep the TV, DVDs, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home.”   “This will jam their minds and break that union with CHRIST.”
“Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what’s important, and they’ll become dissatisfied with their wives. ”
“Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night.”  “Give them headaches too! ”
“If they don’t give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere.” “That will fragment their families quickly!”

“Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas.”
“Give them an Easter bunny so they won’t talk about HIS resurrection and power over sin and death…”
“Even in their recreation, let them be excessive.”
“Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies.”
“Keep them busy, busy, busy!”
“And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences.”
“Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from JESUS.” “Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.”

“It will work!” “It will work!”   It was quite a plan!
The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there. Having little time for their GOD or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of JESUS to change lives

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?    You be the judge!     Does “BUSY” mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan’s Y-oke?

LORD, HELP US NOT TO GET TOO BUSY…                                                               Selected

YOUR MESS MAY BE YOUR MESSAGE

I profit from reading the devotions from Max Lucado.  He recently wrote “Your Mess As Message.”

I like the conversation Bob Benson recounts in his book, “See You at the House.”

“For a while it seemed his friend wouldn’t make it. But he recovered.  Months later Bob asked him,
“Well how did you like your heart attack?”  “It scared me to death, almost,”  his friend replied.
“Would you do it again?”  Bob asked.  “No.” was the quick reply.
Would you recommend it?”  Bob continued.  “Definitely not,” he answered.
“Does your life mean more to you now than it did before?”  Bob asked.  “Well, yes,” his friend responded.
“You and your wife always had a beautiful marriage, but are you closer now than ever?”  Bob continued.
“Yes,” his friend said.
“Do you have a new compassion for people-a deeper understanding and sympathy?”  Bob inquired.
“Yes I do.”  he responded.
“Do you know the Lord in a richer fellowship than you’d ever realized?”  Bob asked.
“Yes,” again was the response.
Then, Bob asked his friend again, “So, how’d you like your heart attack?”

I want you to know that we are all involved in the tragic possibility of suffering.  Every intelligent person knows that he lives every minute of his life on the brink of disaster. Life is transitory, perilous, potentially horrible. God does not cause tragedies.  Some misfortunes are cause by bad luck, some are caused by bad people, some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being  human and being mortal, living in a world of inflexible, natural laws.  Yet, pain, sorrow, suffering has its place in the scheme of things helping us to be more aware of the temporariness of life in this world and the value of relationships.

Like the poet said, “I walked a mile with pleasure and she chatted me all the way but I was none the wiser for what she had to say.  I walked a mile with sorrow and never a word said she, but oh the things I learned from her when sorrow walked with me.”

Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me for in My Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there you shall be also.”     John 14: 1-3

IS GOD IN CONTROL?

People so easily say, “God is in control.”  It seems to me that means that God is in control of the awful mess this world of people is in. I think of this illustration taken from the play “Green Pasture”: “The angel, Gabriel, is sent to earth to investigate the havoc of Noah’s flood.  Upon his return to heaven, he tells God, “Everything on earth is coming loose, nothing is nailed down any more.”  It speaks the truth of our day with so many foundations crumbling, falling apart.  Is God in control of this mess?  One of the favorite Scriptures is in Romans the 8th chapter, verse 28 which reads, “All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.”  I believe that this is true but it does not make sense unless you add the word, “ultimately.”  Yes, I believe that God is in control in the sense that in the end He will win and His people, Christians, will win with Him.  Absolutely, some day God is going to call a screeching halt to this old world and bring in a “New Heaven and New Earth.”  But, what does that say about the nasty here and now?

This is where man’s freedom of choice enters.  God gave man free will to obey or disobey, love or hate, chose heaven or hell.  God placed man in a natural world with natural laws, in a physical body with physical laws and given man a soul governed by spiritual laws. Only as man learns to live within these God given laws can he please His Maker and find deep inner joy.  God has given man His Word: living Word, Jesus and written Word, the Bible by which man can live meaningful, purposeful and abundant life here and hereafter.  God has given man the freedom to chose whether or not to listen to God.   God said, clearly about Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, HEAR YOU HIM.”

God will not violate His laws.  HE HAS LIMITED HIMSELF FOR OUR SAKE.  We are not puppets with God pulling the strings.  Rather, we are personally responsible before God for every word and action.  We are spiritual beings housed in a body of flesh responding favorably and voluntarily to God’s call to be reconciled to Him.  We look forward to that day when we can be at HOME with our Heavenly Father.  This old world is not our home.

Maybe this illustration will help.  Most parents do the very best they can to raise their children to be honest, God fearing adults. But, when the children become adults, they are responsible for their own lives. Parents can only watch and pray as their children grow up. They must not interfere.  Parents cannot do for their children as children must do for themselves as far as maturing.  They must make their own mistakes and hopefully learn from them and grow. Each human being must live their own life, whose else can they live?  Personal responsibility is the key to every one’s living.  Let God help you.  Don’t rob yourself of struggle.  Give Him control of your life.

IS GOD IN CONTROL?  YES, IF YOU LET HIM.