OUT OF THE BOX

Look at the picture of the old car riddled with holes. Inside the car two men are slumped over dead in the front seat and one in the back seat. The photograph looks like a scene from a gangster movie or from the life of Bonnie and Clyde. Based on this description, what would be your answer to the following questions: What kind of people are in the car? What kind of people fired on the car? How would you describe the relationship between the people in the car and the people who fired on the car? What was the objective of those who fired the shots? People are very surprised to learn the true answers to these questions. The picture is from an article in the December 1991 issue of National Geographic about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The actual caption reads as follows: Slain by friendly fire, shipyard workers John Adams, his father, and a friend were five miles from Pearl Harbor when their Packard was hit by shrapnel from errant five-inch Navy shells. American anti-aircraft ...

  Psalm 61:-1-3 When I was a child I marveled at the stories in the Bible. There was something in my heart that longed to see the manifestation of God’s presence working intimately among His people. I wanted to experience the Lord’s presence in the same way as did those people in the Bible. I especially remember sitting in a revival meeting in our Baptist church and feeling such frustration at how complacent and satisfied the people seemed to be. The Lord was with us; I knew that. But I felt so strongly He wanted to do more and that He would surely come if we asked Him. I decided to do something about it. When the pastor gave the invitation at the end of his message, I walked up to him and asked if I could say something to the congregation. He stopped the music, asked the congregation to be seated, and stepped back so I could speak. I am sure he thought it would be a good thing and “safe” to let a sixteen year old boy speak to the congregation. Everyone listened intently. I looked ...

  THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES OF REJECTING GOD There was a revival among the Christians and churches in Cuba as Fidel Castro and the communist party were coming to power. A missionary who was in Cuba at the time told me that most of the Christians supported Castro. They believed his promises. Like the socialists and communists of today, he was promising them equality and all the utopian benefits that come about by redistributing the wealth. Once he was in power…reality struck hard. Everyone became equally poor and under the power of a government that controlled everything and told them what they could and could not believe. The Bolshevik revolution in Russia promised to free the people from what they considered to be a repressive regime and replace it with the equality and prosperity of a socialist and communist utopia in which all their needs would be met by the government. But with communism’s rise to power came oppression, suffering, poverty, shortages, and the absence of freedom. Th...

  To those of you who visit and read my blog, I thank you from the depths of my heart. I do appreciate all of you. Please consider making a comment in the comment section. Let me know if my articles have blessed you or your friends. Thanks again, Billy Long broblong@gmail.com P.O. Box 101, Longs, SC 29568 USA

   Dear Friends, This post is made up of three parts dealing with abortion. I am re-posting them because of the seriousness of this issue. As you will remember, New York recently enacted a law allowing babies to be aborted even during the 3rd trimester, which would be right up until the time of birth. Other states are following their example. This law also allows them to kill the child if the aborted baby is born alive. Now California’s governor just signed into law a bill that will allow the death of the child up to 28 days after birth. This is child sacrifice. This is a cruel and wicked abomination. It is these practices that will bring the judgment of God upon our nation. It is time for Christians to pray and for pastors to speak up in the pulpits. --- Billy Long   PART ONE THE BRUTALITY OF ABORTION BODIES IN JARS Excavations of pre-Israelite Canaan uncovered a large number of jars containing the remains of children sacrificed to Baal. Other excavations discovered many...

For those spiritual veterans who have been through trials, disillusionment, and disappointments, this post is written to encourage you to persevere and stand in faith trusting God’s ability to perform His will in your life as you surrender to Him in faith and obedience.    Facing discouragement and seeing the failures of God's people we are often tempted to lose heart and faith. We have seen what we thought were the wrong people succeeding and the wrong people failing. Like John the Baptist we have seen the glory and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God!" Then we sat in our "prison cells" and said, "Are you the one or do we look for another? Did I miss it?"   We stood on the mountain top and cried out, "This is it!" And we crawled on the valley floor crying, "Where did it go?" We said, "Lord, I'll never leave you nor forsake you" and later denied Him before the rooster crowed. We slept while others were in their Gethsema...