Privilege or right?

I recently had a discussion with someone about the still-somewhat-new franchise/business tax that has reared it's ugly head in Texas.

Here's what I object to, in a nutshell:

1. I object to being forced by the state of Texas to spend a half-day of my time, unpaid, figuring out which forms they require me to fill out, in order to prove that my business does not owe the state any money.
2. I object to the current Texas constitution (which begins with the words, "Humbly invoking the blessings of Almighty God, the people of the State of Texas, do ordain and establish this Constitution." Off to a wonderful start!) being violated right now by the state forcing my business to prove that it doesn't owe any tax...rather than the state having the burden of proof on it, that it must prove that I owe tax.
   
3. I object to the state's Comptroller's office stating that "The Texas franchise tax is a privilege tax imposed on corporations, including banking corporations and limited liability companies, that are chartered in Texas. The tax is also imposed on non-Texas corporations that do business in Texas.

The last one was told to me by one of my business attorneys. She said, "doing business in Texas is a privilege."

No ma'am, it is not...not if you were born and raised in Texas, or a naturalized Texan, in which case the right to do business in Texas is your God-given right. It is NOT any kind of privilege.

What's the big deal, you ask?

Big government is taking away more and more of our God-given rights by trying to re-package them and "sell" them to us as "privileges."

Take driving, for instance.

The state of Texas currently claims that there is no "right" to drive in Texas. I will agree in part, because I certainly don't want drunken truckers from Mexico careening up and down I-35 in huge 18-wheelers...oh, wait, they're already here thanks to NAFTA and the hideous Trans-Texas Corridor which robs land from rural landowners like my step-father and others for no good reason other than to cater to the coming North American Union.

Anyway...for those of us who were born and raised in Texas AND people who move here and make the effort to learn the language and comply with our rules and customs here in Texas, driving is our God-given right to get around and transport ourselves, others, and our stuff.

Driving is NOT a privilege, it is your God-given RIGHT unless you are a non-Texas citizen (and "non-Texas citizen" includes illegal aliens (look up the definition, "alien" is clearly defined in the Constitution as a citizen of another country, and illegal means they did not enter by legal means.)

Yet the state of Texas claims that driving on public roads is a privilege. And yes, these would be the roads that WE paid to have built through our property and sales and federal taxes. (Making existing roads into toll roads is actually double-taxation, by the way!)

The gall. The sheer, unmitigated gall.

The state needs to get on it's collective knees right now (or seated, for those of us with painful knees) and pray to the almighty God in Jesus/Yeshua's name that He would soften our hearts that we might repent of our sin of pride and accept Jesus and be saved!

This past Friday's Bible study--the plan changed!

As I posted, I had planned what to study, but at the last minute, the Lord laid it on my heart to shift to studying something else--what He would have us study, which of course takes priority.

I was the only person present, and so, I studied what He said for me to study...Chapters 1 through 5 of Revelation, from the Complete Jewish Bible, (available for purchase here) published in 1998 by David H. Stern.

Wow! It's a little different, yet most of the important stuff is the same, as the Bibles I grew up with and know--primarily the King James (KJV), the New American Standard (NAS), and Ray Comfort's wonderful

Isaiah Chapter 1 this week, from the CJB

This week's Bible lesson is on Isaiah, Chapter 1, from the Complete Jewish Bible (CJV.)

The CJB is a fascinating Bible, since it was translated by a Messianic Jew named David H. Stern. CJB was published in 1998...just in time for the end times!

It's completely fascinating on many levels to read CJB and the differences--some subtle, some not so subtle--from the King James version (KJV) of the Bible, as well as one of my favorites, the New American Standard version (NASB.)

And you do not even want to get me started on the KJV versus the New International Version (NIV), so just click here if you want to know why I don't like the NIV translation of the Bible.

For now, Bible study this week will be held at 6:30pm in the cabin at my place on October 26th, 2007, but if I get responses that want it in New Braunfels, Austin, San Antonio, Blanco, or other spots in the hill country, I'll travel!

Please contact me at 512-six five six -9038 or thompsontraining at yahoo dot com if you can come!

I'm also putting out feelers on doing an additional Bible study on Sunday afternoons at my place...it's a very nice Sunday drive out to the country if you live in town!

Next Bible study will be Dripping Springs, Friday, 6:30pm

...unless no one calls me at five-one-two 656-nine zero 38 or emails me at thompsontraining at yahoo.com to say they're coming. If I don't hear from anyone by 5pm on Friday, October 26th, I'll go ahead and host it again at my place, in the cabin. It's nice and cozy in there, perfect for Bible study!

I am going to try to offer a Sunday afternoon time, please call or email or otherwise let me know if a Sunday afternoon time would work better for you. Usually, I have something I do on Sundays 2pm until about 4:30, but not always.

God loves all of us! Please have confidence in Him and in yourself. Don't let the enemy control you with fear. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you," --James 4:7.

Stay tuned for a quick and easy summary of the last Bible study, on Friday, October 19th...

Why New Age is really just old lies

Special-SPECIAL note: Location is moved to my property, because I don't think anyone besides me is coming this time. I will have it again next week, 6:30pm on Friday evening, and I may hold another one on Sunday afternoon so that it is more convenient for people who want to come out to the country on a Sunday afternoon (after my practice in Austin.) Please know that God and Yeshua/Jesus loves all of us and I thank Him so very much for blessing me and my family!

Special note:
Next Bible study is 6:30, Friday, October 19, 2007, location will be Crosswalk Coffeehouse and Café, Wi-Fi hotspot at Crosswalk Coffeehouse & Cafe, 489 Main Plaza, New Braunfels, Texas 78130. Phone: 830-620-7200. Open to all. Perspective is Messianic Jewish/Christian/end times.

If you're involved in the New Age movement or you believe in karma, you're probably doing it for the best of motives--you really care about other people and you want the best for everyone. And I respect that motive.

However, you owe it to yourself to hear the truth about what New Age and karma is really all about. Did you know that 3 of the biggest principles of New Age and karma are really just old lies from the Bible, from Genesis 3?

You're busy, I know, so I'll keep this short. But if you'll give me about 60 seconds, I'll explain. Is that a deal?

Here goes...


#1: New Age dismisses most of the Bible, saying it's not true and that it is not what God says, assuming there is a God. In a nutshell, New Age says, "Did God really say that? I think not..."

Truth:
Way back when, in the Garden of Eden when everything was hunky-dory and Adam and Eve were happy and sin-free...the snake/serpent sidled up to Eve and asked her about that ONE TREE that God had forbidden her and Adam to eat from.

Genesis 3:1: "Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the women (Eve), 'Indeed, did God really say, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?'"

So we see from scripture that way back about 3,500 years ago--when Genesis was written by Moses' hand, dictated by God--that Satan was twisting words and trying to put the idea in Eve's mind that God didn't really say what He said...or didn't mean it.

#2: New Age and karma are based on reincarnation--the notion that we never really "die", we just come back as something else. This is very attractive to people, since most of us are scared of dying...and it appeals to our sense of justice that if we wrong people in "this life", we just "come back" as something appropriate, right? The problem is, it's not about us, or what we think, or what sounds fair...it's about what God says, since it's His universe, we just live in it.

Truth:
Going back again to the Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis from the Bible...after the snake questioned Eve as to whether God really said to leave that one apple tree alone (see above), the conversation went like this:

Genesis 2-5: "Eve said to the snake, 'From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; (3) but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it or touch it, or you will die."

(4)"And the snake said to Eve, 'You shall surely not die!

(5) For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

So there is the lie of reincarnation...the snake (or serpent)'s lie to Eve that she and Adam would not die if they sinned by disobeying God and eating from that apple tree. So Eve ate an apple, and gave Adam some.

Hey, has anyone seen Adam or Eve walking around lately?

No?

Well, I guess they DIED. So it looks like the serpent was wrong and he lied. Big shock, huh, since the snake was sent by Satan, the father of all lies and sin.

#3: Hey, look, there's another lie...take a close look at Genesis 2:5 above. The snake is telling Eve that she can be like God. Does that sound like the New Age hogwash that "we all have God within us and we can all reach our human potential and we can all be little gods?"

Now you know the truth.

Please people, repent of your sins, including your unbelief in the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and His Son and Messiah, Jesus Christ/Yeshua (Jesus' Hebrew name), and your idol worship and other sins, and accept Jesus/Yeshua's wonderful sacrifice of His life on the cross for all of our sins (yes, me too, I am no better than anyone else), and then you can be reconciled to God and go to heaven!

Time is short. You don't have time to waste. Jesus is coming back really soon. Repent and accept Him NOW, and you'll save yourself a whole lot of misery eternally. Fail to do this and God promises that you will burn forever in the Lake of Fire if you fail to accept Him.

(And no, it's not about "the God I know would never let us suffer..." Who IS the God you know? Is he the real God? Is he the One True God of the Bible, who sent His son and Messiah, Jesus Christ? If not...then you don't know God and you're talking out your hat. It's not about your concept of who you think God is...it's about who He really is. He is the great "I AM!")

Do it NOW...pray something like this:

Lord, I am truly sorry for my sins, and I repent of them. I gratefully and joyfully accept Jesus/Yeshua's gift of His life on the cross as atonement for my sins, and I want Jesus to live in my heart forever as my Savior! I love you, God and I want to be with you in heaven and be your child forever. Thank you, God!

Then...go forth and do your best not to sin, and keep the Feast Days as commanded in the Old Testament (Exodus and Leviticus), and follow God's laws. They're in the Bible. Read it. Just start at the beginning, do a little every day.

Make no mistake--you are saved by the grace of Jesus/Yeshua...but then after that you should also go forth and spread the good news about salvation, and do good works for charity and help others.

Next Bible study Fri. 6:30pm New Braunfels

Our next Bible study will be Friday, October 19th, at 6:30pm at a coffeehouse or similar location in New Braunfels, Texas...stay tuned to this site for exact location. And of course, your suggestions are welcome! I am looking up coffee houses in NB, to find a place...

EDITED TO ADD: Friday, October 19, 2007 location will be Crosswalk Coffeehouse and Café, Wi-Fi hotspot at Crosswalk Coffeehouse & Cafe, 489 Main Plaza, New Braunfels, Texas 78130. Phone: 830-620-7200.

We will meet at 6:30pm, coffee and food will be provided.

Here's a map of where it is.

Scriptures to study:

1. Psalm 21
2. Hosea chs. 1, 2 and 3
   

May the Lord bless all of you,
Tam

October 12, 2007--Jonah 1

Last night it was just me, but still a great Bible study! I studied Johah Chapter 1.

In the Ryrie Study Bible (NASB, and thank you so much, sister Laurie!), the intro notes say that one view of Jonah's story is that it's an allegory for:

1. Jonah = disobedient Israel
2. The sea = gentiles
3. Great fish/whale = Babylon

Jonah's 3 days in the great fish's belly foreshadows the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, which was yet to come.

It also foreshadows the 3 days that Jesus/Yeshua's body lay in the grave. (With thanks to Rabbi David Hall of Zion in Austin, Texas.)

(Additionally, the Lord has laid it on my heart at that point in the Bible study that the USA is under divine judgment. Yes, the weather WILL get worse...)

Jonah tried to flee to Tarshish, which is very intriguing to me because my Ryrie footnotes say that Tarshish is in southern Spain, which is where the first Christians or any kind of believers in YHWH/God came from to discover America (i.e., Christopher Columbus in 1492.)(Yes, there were already native Americans here already, but they were not believers in the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.)

(The Lord is laying it on my heart that Jonah is about America.)

Jonah was sent to evangelize Nineveh, a wealthy city chock-full of idolatry and sin. Additionally, according to Rabbi Hall, Nineveh was attacking Israel. To say the least, Jonah wasn't happy about that. He was about as happy as a modern American Messianic Jew or Christian would be if we were sent straight to Baghdad to evangelize, or perhaps Tehran.

more later...gotta go...

Welcome to Bible Study with Tam!

Hi everyone,
The Lord has led me to create a Bible study and prayer meeting.

It will combine Messianic Jewish study with Christian study. First meeting is this Friday, October 12th, 2007, at 6:30pm, my place. Everyone is welcome, even if you are not yet a believer in God or Yeshua/Jesus. You just have to contact me first.

I will be the leader of this Bible study/prayer meeting, and I will be open to suggestions. This Bible study belongs to God, and I would respectfully and prayerfully ask that if you find me straying from God's Word and/or from Jesus/Yeshua, please let me know so that I can repent and get back on track. We are all human, and I am no better than anyone else.

Please email or call me if you're interested and I can give you directions. Email is thompsontraining at yahoo.com---just remove the "at" and use the symbol and you've got it. Phone is area code five one two, 656-9038.

We will probably be out in my cabin, but we'll see. Location will vary--I'd like to move the meeting around so that everyone who wants to join in will have a chance to meet with us. Stay tuned to this site for location info, or email me or call.

Refreshments will be provided by me: water, sodas, challah bread and a little bit of wine. If you want to bring a covered dish for potluck dinner, that is fine--I will provide plates, utensils, and napkins. Snacks are good, too! And of course, bring your Bibles and glasses if you need 'em!

In future blog entries, I will post what we talked about, without giving out names. I will keep people's names private and I will not post them here or other places online. Online participation through this blog is fine--just drop a comment in. I reserve the right to delete or moderate comments as the Lord leads me to.

Study topics for this week, that we will discuss at the meeting:

Jonah 1:1 through 4:6
Matthew 27:45 through 28:10

May the Lord bless you and keep you, and may we all repent and be saved in the name and precious blood of our savior and Messiah, Yeshua/Jesus Christ!

Any questions, please ask.