November 22, 2000

Hello World!

This site is getting close to a year old. I have received numerous thank you notes and compliments on this site. I'm really pleased that I have had so many visitors.

I need to give credit where credit is due. First of all, God gets full credit. He has made all of this possible through a series of events that have fallen into place.

My journey began when I was just a happy Methodist college student. I was a country boy, raised up in a small, rural, Methodist church. I had been a Methodist all my life. Then a minister of another denomination sat me down and told me what he considered to be the truth. He told me that Methodist could not get into Heaven because we were not baptized correctly. Also, he did not approve of a family member of mine playing the piano at our Methodist church. That's when I really started thinking about my beliefs and denominational differences. I thought about what the minister had told me and studied the Bible on my own. I decided that Methodists are not going to hell for having music in the church. I also learned of the big baptism debate. You can read my thoughts on baptism here: baptism.

Then I met another person who shared their beliefs with me. This person forced me to do some serious soul searching. I had to think about what I believe and why. They introduced me to the "metaphysical" and new age world. I only scratched the surface of this faith. But I did learn enough to know that it's not for me. It involves the use of crystals, numerology, astrology, and fortunetellers. This faith also teaches that we will be reincarnated over and over again until we reach a higher plane of existence. It also involves the use of mantras. One book encourages us to repeat the following mantra: "I am the resurrection and the life." This mantra and others are used to make things magically happen. They also introduced me to a Unity church in Dallas that brings all of this together under one roof. I attended a Sunday school class there that taught that Jesus was just a myth and that we have to be our own Jesus.

I'm not criticizing them. In fact, they opened my eyes to the spiritual nature of Christianity. I have been a Christian most of my life and have never been to a church that clearly explained the spiritual nature of Christianity to me. God was always described as being somewhere far away or only to be found at church on Sunday mornings. However, the Bible says that God is also here, with us and in us. I have never called myself a Charismatic. I have never spoken in tongues or prophesied. I'm not discrediting the Charismatic. I'm just saying that those things are not required when God makes His home with us.

Then I met a person that introduced me to Feng Shui. This is an ancient practice of manipulating energy fields. It involves the use of idols to bring good fortune. One of the idols is a three-legged frog with glowing, red eyes (pretty scary looking). These idols are placed in strategic locations in one's home and office in order to bring wealth and good luck. At first, I thought Feng Shui was harmless and fun. Then I realized that this is the same thing that made God so angry with His chosen people that He almost wiped them off the face of the Earth. He severely punished them every time they turned to idols.

I am no longer involved in Feng Shui, "metaphysical" or new age activities. Presently I know that there are churches in our own neighborhood that are not Christian. I have also become aware of the Jesus Seminar group that meets at the First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth. They say that Jesus was the son of a Roman soldier. They also teach that his body was buried in a shallow grave and was eaten by wild dogs. However, they don't have any proof of these "facts". All of this has inspired me to create this web site. It seems that the basic principles of Christianity are being challenged. That's why I have placed the basics on my site.

And finally, I need to give credit out to the wonderful people that I work with. They are responsible for getting me into HTML and web design. Ok, it's not their fault that my site is not as advanced as some other sites. I have intentionally kept my site simple. My main goal is to share the word of God.

Many thanks go out to all of you that have visited my site. I appreciate the kind notes of encouragement.