What Does Christianity Have To Do With Islam?

There is only obligation Christians have with Muslims  and it is specified in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

So, in view of Christ's commandment to his disciples, is the Pope's arrival in Cairo for the purpose of converting and baptizing the Mohammedans to Christianity?

I don't think so.

Pope Francis arrives in Cairo on Friday hoping to mend ties with Islamic religious leaders just as Egypt's ancient Christian community faces unprecedented pressure from Islamic State militants who have threatened to wipe it out.

In an address to the Egyptian people this week, Francis spoke of his hope that his visit would help bring peace and encourage dialogue and reconciliation with the Islamic world.

But it comes at a painful time for Egypt's Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, three weeks after Islamic State suicide bombers killed 45 people in twin church bombings. 

Those attacks followed a cathedral bombing that killed 28 people in December and a spree of murders that has forced hundreds of Christians to flee North Sinai, where the group is most active.

The Muslims are simply being faithful to the commandments of their Prophet. Unfortunately the Pope doesn't understand that precept and just wants to make nicey-nice with these butchers. As a former Catholic, this really astounds me. But then again, the priesthood has decidedly been traveling in uncharted socialist waters for some time.

POPE FRANCIS says “there is no such thing as Muslim terrorism”

The Christmas Star

Most of my life I have resided in areas that were well lit at night. Only the brightest stars were visible. So my first time camping was a revelation. My God, there are a pants load of stars.

The Ancients did not have to deal with halogen lights. Except for the moon and whatever you could burn, when the sun set, it got dark and stayed dark until the sun rose again in the morning. But the stars....

The Ancients watched the heavens as we watched the Game of Thrones, but they did it every night and they took notes, copious notes.

They used the stars to determine seasons, for navigation. The lunar  calendar was based on the phases of the moon as it circled the earth. They noticed that while almost all stars were stationary, some stars moved across the sky. The Greeks called them planets - "asteres planetai" (ἀστέρες πλανῆται) - wandering stars.

Astrological studies sought to assign significance to celestial bodies and the movement of certain stars and planets assumed great importance. This is why the story of the Star of Bethlehem is so important today.

The convergence of Jupiter, Regulus and Venus occurred in 2 B.C. and this is what the Magi were tracking. Jupiter and Venus appeared to be on a collision course. To the Ancients, this was astounding. To their naked eye the two "stars" appeared as one. And where this happened was also of great significance.

This convergence occurred in the constellation of Leo, which was considered a royal constellation. Within Leo is Regulus, the "King Star."

There was a lot going on within the Roman Empire during this time. For more on this phenomenon, go here.

Science And Christianity Are Not Incompatible

There is so much nonsense accepted as truth regarding the church's resistance to science. Is simply isn't so. Christians have realized for centuries that there is a God of order because of all the order they can observe in Creation. Monasteries were often the only places where science and mathematics were studied and preserved.

From the Wintery knight:

Few topics are as open to misunderstanding as the relationship between faith and reason. The ongoing clash of creationism with evolution obscures the fact that Christianity has actually had a far more positive role to play in the history of science than commonly believed. Indeed, many of the alleged examples of religion holding back scientific progress turn out to be bogus. For instance, the Church has never taught that the Earth is flat and, in the Middle Ages, no one thought so anyway.

[...]It was only during the “enlightenment” that the idea took root that Christianity had been a serious impediment to science. Voltaire and his fellow philosophes opposed the Catholic Church because of its close association with France’s absolute monarchy. Accusing clerics of holding back scientific development was a safe way to make a political point. The cudgels were later taken up by TH Huxley, Darwin’s bulldog, in his struggle to free English science from any sort of clerical influence. Creationism did the rest of the job of persuading the public that Christianity and science are doomed to perpetual antagonism.

And this observation:

[...]Christians believed that God created the universe and ordained the laws of nature. To study the natural world was to admire the work of God. This could be a religious duty and inspire science when there were few other reasons to bother with it. It was faith that led Copernicus to reject the ugly Ptolemaic universe; that drove Johannes Kepler to discover the constitution of the solar system; and that convinced James Clerk Maxwell he could reduce electromagnetism to a set of equations so elegant they take the breathe away.

More here.

Your God Isn't My God - And Never Will Be

So there so much liberal talk that all religions are the same and we all believe in the same God and it doesn't matter what you believe you just gotta try to be good and blah blah blah yada yada crapola.

Muslims’ concept of the nature of God and forgiveness of sin is very different from a Christian’s.

Jesus’ sacrifice for sin is a onetime free gift for everyone as per Romans 10:9,10

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

God the Father took it upon Himself to reconcile mankind to Him.There is nothing we can do to justify ourselves to God.

Isa. 64:6

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy rag; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our iniquities sweep us away.

To illustrate how unimpressed God is with our self-righteous works, the term filthy rags refers to the cloth that a Hebrew woman used to absorb her monthly period. There is nothing you can do to earn God's grace.

In Islam, it is the exact opposite; you gotta work for it. You must submit to the Five Pillars of Islam that will spare you Allah’s wrath (maybe); these are:

1. Shahada – Profession of Faith (There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his Prophet)
2. Salah – Prayer 5X day Facing Mecca, the position of your body is also important and you can’t rest your ass on your heels or something like that.
3. Zakat – Giving of Alms (terrorists get 2.5% of your income)
4. Sawm – Fasting during Ramadan (Ramadan is the name of the ninth month in the Islamic calendar) and then gorging yourself once the sun goes down
5. Hajj – Pilgrimage to Mecca and get trampled to death by the thousands

There's more.
In 1 John 1:19 we know that once saved, we only have to confess our sins as they occur:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Muslims do not believe in original sin; forgiveness of current sins is a continual effort. Muslims use prayer beads to count the number of times they say these prayers asking for forgiveness; they pray over and over and over again because Allah is hard of hearing (or easily distracted) and if you are truly righteous you can repeat this all day long while rubbing your beads:

Waqur rabbighfir warham wa'anta khayrur rahimeen.So say, "Our Lord! Grant us forgiveness and mercy! For You are the Best of those who show mercy."
Quran 23:118

Rabbi inni zalamto nafsi faghfirli.
Oh my Lord, I have indeed wronged my soul!
Quran 28:16

Rabbana innana amanna faghfir lana zonoobana waqina 'athaban nar.
Our Lord! We have indeed believed. Forgive us our sins and save us from the agony of the Fire.
Quran 3:16

Rabbana latu akhitna in nasina akhta'na rabbana wala tahmil 'alayna isran kama hamaltaho 'alal lathina min qablina. Rabbana wala tohammilna mala taqata lana beh wa'fo'anna waghfir lana warhamna anta maolana fansorna 'alal qawmil kafireen.
Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error. Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which You did lay on those before us. Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. You are our Protector. Help us against those who stand against faith."
Quran 2:286.

Then of course there’s that whole Death To Infidels thing.
Oh, and pork. Can't forget their thing about pork.

The Religion Of Peace And Homosexuality

Islam is very specific about punishment of homosexuals. Imams also lend a particular flavor to Islamic practices regarding homosexuality.

Here are a few verses from the Quran:

Kill Them With Stones

Quran (7:80-84) - "...For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds.... And we rained down on them a shower (of brimstone)" - An account that is borrowed from the Biblical story of Sodom. Muslim scholars through the centuries have interpreted the "rain of stones" on the town as meaning that homosexuals should be stoned, since no other reason is given for the people's destruction. (Inexplicably, the story is also repeated in suras 15:74, 27:58 and 29:40).

Special Destruction For Homosexuals

Quran (7:81) - "Will ye commit abomination such as no creature ever did before you?" This verse is part of the previous text and it establishes that homosexuality as different from (and much worse than) adultery or other sexual sin. According to the Arabic grammar, homosexuality is called the worst sin, while references elsewhere describe other forms of non-marital sex as being "among great sins."

Allah Forgives Homosexuals If They Repent

Quran (4:16) - "If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both. If they repent and amend, Leave them alone" This is the Yusuf Ali translation. The original Arabic does not use the word "men" and simply says "two from among you." Yusuf Ali may have added the word "men" because the verse seems to refer to a different set than referred to in the prior verse (explicitly denoted as "your women"). In other words, since 4:15 refers to "your women", 4:16 is presumably written to and refers to men.

Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli of Iran said, in April of 2012, that homosexuals are inferior to dogs and pigs, since these animals (presumably) do not engage in such acts.

In November of 2012, a cleric on British television stated, "What should be done to those who practice homosexuality? Torture them; punish them; beat them and give them mental torture."

Source

My take on all this is fairly simple. Homosexuality is a sin, much like other sins, except that it is a sexual sin. Sins of the flesh (adultery, fornication, homosexuality) are dealt with more severely in scripture as these sins involve the body, which is made in the image of God. Under the New Testament, which is a covenant of Grace, there is only one sin that God will not forgive, that is blaspheming the Holy Spirit (attributing the works of God to the devil). No where in the New testament will you find admonitions to kill, maim or hurt homosexuals.

For all your fine jewelry needs: There is only Zuul.

Honestly, I don't know enough about demonology to guess whether this is a realistic concern or just another piece of sensationalistic verbiage. From Christianity Today.

The ruins at the Temple of Baal in Palmyra, Syria .

It's bad enough that Tax Day is the 18th, now this... 

Christians should watch out for two events that would take place simultaneously on April 19 in New York City and London, Christian author Michael Synder says.

On that day, reproductions of the arch that stood in front of the Temple of Baal in Palmyra, Syria are going to be erected in Times Square and in Trafalgar Square. That would coincide with an occult festival related to the worship of a demon named Baal.

Writing for Charisma News, Synder wonders whether the arches to be installed would be the giant "welcome signs" for the Antichrist.

The author says his fears are based on these facts:

"April 19 is the first day of a 13-day period of time known as 'the Blood Sacrifice to the Beast' that culminates on the high occult holy day of Beltane on May 1," he says.

April 19 is also the date of the Feast of Moloch, an ancient Canaanite god that is repeatedly vilified in the Old Testament.

I am curious why the nutcase Muslims in the ISIL didn't blow the Temple of Baal to bits. They took out churches and Lord knows what else but left this steaming pile of human sacrifice alone. I think it's because Baal and Allah are BFF's. Ancient pagans sacrificed their children to Baal by throwing them  into furnaces ... alive. I see that's making a comeback in the Muslim world. ISIS just torched about a dozen people trying to escape from Fallujah.

Another aspect of pagan worship was gross sensuality and religious prostitution (Temple whores) as  well as human sacrifice.

I'd say we're getting ready for Satan's coming out party.

Our Struggle, Our True Opponent

The news that the US DoJ was  considering prosecuting critics of global warming should have raised the  hackles of every freedom-loving, God-honoring person in America.

That’s why the news that Attorney General Loretta Lynch reviewed the possibility of pursuing civil action against climate change skeptics (“deniers”) was as disturbing as the report that Iran recently tested two ballistic missiles.

The Antichrist is coming; scripture in both the Old and New Testament has warned us, over and over the apostles warned us and it will surely come... and he will establish a world government. The movement towards this consolidation has been well underway, especially since the end of World War II.

There are several vehicles or strategies being used to accomplish this end; the most prominent ones right now are the United Nations and the global warming hoax.  Naturally Obama is upset that his climate control machinations as well as his legacy is unraveling. Either by force or by threat of law Obama will try to accomplish his dark ends. Ergo the DoJ was consulted in consideration of intimidating those who would resist this lie.

Climate change alarmists have already made significant inroads against our liberties. In the 114th Congress alone, almost 100 bills were proposed that reflected climate change environmental concerns.

Climate change is now considered a source of terrorism by leftist puppets.

Mother Gaea must be honored...

Hand in glove with worship of naturalism is the rise of Satanism throughout the world. In Europe and the US there is evidence to show an increase in Satan worship and animal/human sacrifice.

PETA, you listening?

In 2010 seven Russian teenagers involved in Satan worship were prosecuted for sacrificing humans and eating parts of them.

In Mexico Satanic animal sacrifice is becoming common and human sacrifice is used by the drug cartels to seek supernatural protection for their drug trafficking. Our porous border security ensures that these twisted individuals can cross into America with ease.

Our struggle, however, is not against other people or human government:

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Forgiving Is Easier

Jesus Is Not Cool. He Is God.

The WashPost has an editorial on the recent trend in Church services designed to attract a new generation of cool, hipster Christians.

Do people want Christianity to be cool? What happens when churches become too driven by the desire to be trend-savvy and culturally relevant? Can a church balance hipster credibility within an orthodox tradition?

These were questions at the heart of my book “Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide,” which released five years ago. The book seemed to fascinate reporters, with outlets like The New Yorker, The Atlantic and NPR covering what they saw as a deliciously paradoxical story.

“If the evangelical Christian leadership thinks that ‘cool Christianity’ is a sustainable path forward, they are severely mistaken,” I wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, The Perils of ‘Wannabe Cool’ Christianity. “As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don’t want cool as much as we want real.”

Five years later, has the cool-church movement done anything to reverse trends of declining church attendance, particularly among young people?

Most evidence suggests the answer is no. Recent Pew Research data showed across-the-board declines in Americans who identify as Christian and dramatic increases in those who are “unaffiliated” with religion, particularly among younger adults.

This sounds like the "seeker" type of Christianity where instead of feeding the flock to enable them to become ambassadors for salvation, pastors aim to make non-Christians feel comfortable with watered down doctrine and popular music. Being comfortable with sin is not a wise career choice. Accommodating evil has rendered many popular denominations useless to God.

The mission of the Church is to prepare believers for ministry. By ignoring biblical instruction the purpose, the goal of the Church is defeated. Hosea 4:6 states that:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Much of Jesus' earthy ministry was devoted to instructing the Jews; His Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) and the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24) were instructions on how He expected them to live.  Scripture is replete with these instructions and yet the New Testament has not a single verse regarding corporate worship. You cannot sing your way into Heaven. It's not about the music, it's about changing your life to align it with God's Word. Unless you are fully committed to reading and comprehending Scripture, you cannot serve properly nor can you resist the pressures of life that discourage so many people.

There is a cost to discipleship. You can't sugarcoat it or hide it behind a trendy facade. You cannot please God and the world. As stated in Matt. 6:24:

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, wealth or greed ~sig94].

ZoNation

After 4:17 you can tune out as Alonzo stops talking.

The Crusades Are Not Jihad

For an excellent summary of the confusing, dualistic, homicidal mishmash of religo-politial bullshit that is Islamic doctrine (I have a copy of the Koran and it is psychotic gibberish to me) go here.  But, like in most of life, not all Muslims subscribe to violent jihad. Many Muslims are like Christians in that they pick and choose what doctrine they believe. More on that later.

More on the creator of the video, Bill Warner.

Bill Warner holds a PhD in physics and math, NC State University, 1968. He has been a university professor, businessman, and applied physicist.

Dr. Warner has had a life-long interest in religion and its effects on history. He has studied the source texts of the major religions for decades. Even before the destruction of the World Trade Center he had predicted the war between Islam and America.

Dr. Warner’s training in scientific theory and mathematics shaped how he analyzed Islamic doctrine.

Statistical methods applied to the Islamic texts showed that:
· Islam is far more of a political system than a religion.
· There is no unmitigated good in Islam for the Kafir (non-Muslim).
· Islam’s ethical system is dualistic and is not based on the Golden Rule.
· Islamic doctrine cannot be reconciled with our concepts of human rights and our Constitution.
· The great majority, 96%, of all Islamic doctrine about women subjugates them.
· The Sunna (what Mohammed did and said) is more important than the Koran in a Muslim’s daily life.

Video at Intellectual Froglegs

H/T to iOTW.

The Crusades

For more information on the true nature of the Crusades, go here.

Thanksgiving Morning

A quiet Thanksgiving morning, got some snow yesterday and it is still snowing gently. It is very peaceful outside. This is the view from our diningroom.

Starting to smell the turkey.

Doing some reading about the inter testament period  - roughly 400 years between the Old and New Testament. Fascinating time. The conquests of Alexander the Great set the stage for the conflicts between the Hellenistic Jews (the Seleucid Empire), the Pharisees and Christ.

A good day.

DNA Lugnuts

The perverts are gaining ground here and abroad. We were advised time and time again that once you started to relax societal standards of morality, the remaining standards would quickly disappear.

From the UK Telegraph:

Laws banning incest between brothers and sisters in Germany could be scrapped after a government ethics committee said the they were an unacceptable intrusion into the right to sexual self-determination.

Here it comes, another exercise in creative "I Have A Right" making.

“Criminal law is not the appropriate means to preserve a social taboo,” the German Ethics Council said in a statement. “The fundamental right of adult siblings to sexual self-determination is to be weighed more heavily than the abstract idea of protection of the family.”

Their intervention follows a notorious case in which a brother and sister living as partners in Saxony had four children together. The couple had been raised separately and only met when the brother, identified only as Patrick S, was an adult, and his sister Susan K was 16.

Patrick S was sentenced to more than three years in prison for incest and the couple have since failed in their bid to have the guilty verdict overturned by the European Court of Human Rights.

Mark my words, the next trial case will involve Patrick S, an adult, and Sam S, a five year old boy. There is no end to the cruelty and perversion of the left.

The family was forced to live apart after the courts ruled that there was a duty to protect their children from the consequences of their relationship.

Two of the couple’s children are disabled, and it is believed that incest carries a higher risk of resulting in children with genetic abnormalities.

"Genetic abnormalities" - Ya think?!?!

The Egyptian pharaohs took a long, bumpy ride down that genetic dirt road a few millennia ago and it seriously loosened their DNA lugnuts.

Even A Broken Watch Is Correct Twice A Day

Bill Maher defends Christianity, kinda:

Maher: There are illiberal beliefs that are held by vast numbers of Muslim people –

Rose: A vast number of Christians too.

Maher: No, that’s not true. Not true. Vast numbers of Christians do not believe that if you leave the Christian religion you should be killed for it. Vast numbers of Christians do not treat women as second class citizens. Vast numbers of Christians –

Rose: I agree with that.

Maher: . . .do not believe if you draw a picture of Jesus Christ you should get killed for it.

Story here.

The Abomination And The Beast

Some interesting ideas on who the Beast, the Anti-Christ, will be and how Solomon's Temple will be rebuilt.

Pray God you're no longer here when this hits the fan.

He Is Risen

Christ redeemed us from sin, he paid the price in full.

We didn't deserve it.

We cannot earn it.

It is a gift.

The empty tomb was His receipt. It is the seal of His promise, His warranty.

The grave of Confucius is in his home town of Qufu, Shandong Province,China.

Muhammad is buried in the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi Mosque, Medina, in Saudi Arabia.

Buddha was cremated and his ashes spread.

Those graves, those ashes, bespeak their lack of divine power.

There is only one empty tomb.

Sectarian Violence In The Central African Republic

As the son of a missionary, a very good friend of mine was brought up in the Central African Republic. His brother, Chuck, is there as a missionary right now and we are praying for his safe return next week.The CAR has been in turmoil for years and it is getting worse.

Navi Pillay made the strong statement at a press conference in the capital, Bangui, on Thursday.

The UN's top human rights official described the hatred between Christian and Muslim communities in the Central African Republic as being at "a terrifying level."

Pillay also questioned whether there would have been a "far stronger and more dynamic reaction by the outside world" if the atrocities were not happening "in a poor country hidden away in the heart of Africa."

Reports of escalating violence in the republic had included decapitating children, cannibalism and lynchings, Pillay said.

Chuck has already had armed men storm into his home on several occasions. Rebels once rammed a rifle in his mouth and threatened to kill him.

The majority Christian government was overthrown a year ago by Muslim rebels; last December Christians tried to retake the capital but were repulsed. France and other African countries have sent peace keeping troops into CAR but they have been unable to stem the violence. Both Christian and Muslim refugees are fleeing into neighboring countries. 

Some 6,000 African peacekeepers and 2,000 French troops were deployed to the Central African Republic in 2013 to stabilize the country, but have a limited presence outside the capital.

Pillay also said the absence of law and order, apart from foreign troops in the country, meant that too little was being done to arrest those guilty of violence.

She told waiting reporters that "this has become a country where people are not just killed, they are tortured, mutilated, burned and dismembered."

The unstable African state was plunged into chaos when rebels who helped topple President Francois Bozize a year ago then started their own campaign to rule the republic.

Probably the only thing that has kept Chuck alive is that a regional hospital is supported through his mission - it treats everyone who needs medical attention no matter if they are Christian or Muslim. Because of this the combatants, for the most part, have left the hospital and its staff alone.

This Is War

America's Culture War has been fought on many fronts for generations. The introduction of Darwinism during the 18th century made progress against Christianity through liberal ideology and secularism. In part, Christian fundamentalism was in reaction to the growth of humanism in our society.

The battles are never ending; day after day Christians are assaulted with liberal propaganda on how to worship, how the bible is flawed, judging is hating, God's mercy extends to all without restriction and the biggest one - there is no such thing as sin.

Sin is what separates us from God. Sin is a conscious act that places man's will over God's. Every time we sin it is a resounding slap in the Face of Our Creator. It is sin that placed Christ on the cross, sin was the nails that kept Him there, God's holy and righteous Judgement put Him in the grave and Grace was the pry bar that rolled the stone away.

What's so wrong about telling people that? For it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that frees men from sin. And it is the Gospel that Satan fears.

How does this attract the attention of sodomites and those that support them? Simple, Phil Robertson quoted scripture. He brought out the sin in their lives by citing 1 Cor. 6:9-10 and the sodomites exploded.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Or is it something else? Matthew 24:11 states, "and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people."  What is a prophet and who are these false prophets?

Prophets can be defined as men who:

• Reveal the nature and attributes of God to men.
• Make known to men the laws of God.
• Call the people back to obedience to God’s laws.
• Warn them of Divine judgment upon sin, both personal and national.

So a false prophet would be one who lies about the nature of a powerful, omnipotent, righteous, holy God; trivializes or negates His laws; says that sin (disobedience to God's laws) is no big deal and maintains that there is no Divine Judgement to be feared. This is PsyOps in war, false propaganda designed to deceive the enemy and discourage the faithful.

And this is exactly what GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and so many others are all about.

GLAAD on Wednesday condemned his remarks as "some of the vilest and most extreme statements uttered against LGBT people in a mainstream publication" and said "his quote was littered with outdated stereotypes and blatant misinformation."

"Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe," GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz said. "He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans -- and Americans -- who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples.

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. "
John 15:18-20

No Matter How He Looks, He's Still Made In the Image of God.

A long time alcoholic, homeless vet allows some people to outwardly transformation him and is subsequently inwardly transformed.

This is the result of a Christian outreach organization called Degage Ministries. I think they're worthy of a donation or two.

Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God

.

I think sometimes you just have to show someone that, with a little work, a real difference is possible.

H/T IoTW