The Tragedy Of Heath Ledger: Without Jesus Christ One Has Nothing

(C) Copyright 2008, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved.

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(Luke 14:23; Titus 1:16; Galatians 6:1-12 )

You can have it all by the standards of this world, but without Jesus, you
have NOTHING! The world is mourning today the loss of a great actor, Heath
Ledger. At just 28 years old and with an already impressive list of acting
credits on his resume including an Oscar nomination, Ledger was a major star
in the movie industry. Like many of the stars in the entertainment
industry, he was also very troubled. His battle with heroin led to the
break-up last September with actress-girlfriend Michelle Williams who is the
mother of their 2-year-old daughter. Reports are that he battled with
depression and insomnia. It really makes you at least wonder how much
affect playing some of the dark roles he did, the gay cowboy in “Brokeback
Mountain,” a heroin addict in the movie, “Candy,” and his latest role as the
dark and macabre Joker in the newest “Batman” movie to be released this
summer, had on his real life.

Sadly, there is no hint of any faith in Ledger’s life. He recently spoke of
death in an interview, dealing with the subject from the typical perspective
of someone who sees death as simply the end of life. Like so many in the
entertainment field, their faith is in themselves and in this fleeting life
that ends sooner than anyone expects it to. The cold hard reality of this
life is that it will end one day for each of us. Usually before we are
ready for it to end. At that moment, in that instant, we will immediately
be standing before God our Creator. God is not going to be interested that
we were a successful Hollywood actor or whatever our profession may have
been. The only thing God will be interested in is do we have a personal
relationship with Jesus by faith, nothing else.

Please take a moment today and pray for Heath Ledger’s family, friends, and
many fans. I pray that his untimely death will be a reminder to all of how
brief this life really is. I pray that those who mourn his loss will find
the comfort and strength of Christ and that they will turn their lives to
Him. If you have not accepted Christ into your heart and life yet, the
Bible says that today is the day of salvation. I would invite you to go to
my website, www.liveprayer.com and click on the button that says PLAN OF
SALVATION (direct link: www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html ). Read those
words, pray that prayer, and accept today God’s gift to you, the gift of His
son Jesus.

Knowing that there is the better percentage of two full generations living
today that don’t go to church, were not raised in a Christian home, and have
no spiritual foundation to their lives, I am motivated daily to bring these
people the Truth of God’s Word and the hope and love of Christ before they
fall into the hands of the many cults and false religions that exist today.
Let me help you understand something. When man sinned and his relationship
with God was broken, there became a void in man that only God can fill. Deep
down, sinful man knows something is missing in his life, something that the
things of this world can’t fill, and he begins a search to fill that void.

Everyone who lives has to deal with the trials, the pain, the challenges of
living in this sinful and fallen world. Those who have no spiritual
foundation to their life will spend their teen and young adult years trying
to fill that spiritual void with the things this world promotes such as
alcohol, drugs, relationships, sex, money, career, material possessions, and
all the other temporal things of this life. It is usually when a person hits
their 30s that they realize that the things this world offers simply do not
fill that void they have in their life. That is why during their 30s and 40s
so many people begin to explore the spiritual side of their life.

Those of us who know Jesus Christ as our Savior, who know the Truth of God’s
Word, have the ONLY answer these people are looking for. That void in their
life is there due to their broken relationship with God their Creator and
can only be filled by being reconnected to God their Creator thru faith in
His Son Jesus Christ. What upsets me more than anything else is to watch the
cults and false religions of the world boldly and aggressively market
themselves to the lost and hurting in this world as the answer they are
looking for. They don’t do this by creating their own subculture and hoping
people will come to them, they actively go out and pursue people, using the
resources of this world to reach them with their lies and false hope.

Let me be blunt. While we have become content with building beautiful
buildings with all the modern conveniences and technologies of the world for
our people to enjoy, while we have set up our own TV, radio, music, and
publishing empires to preach to ourselves, the cults of the world like the
Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Kaballah, Scientology, Moon’s Unification
Church, the false religions of the world like Islam, Buddhism, B’hai, Hindu,
and the many New Age philosophies, are reaching out to the lost and hurting
in this world through secular TV, radio, music, advertising, and publishing
vehicles that reach the world’s masses each day.

We have forgotten that Jesus told us to, “Go out into the highways and
hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” (Luke
14:23 KJV) At some point it became too much work to go out and reach people
and much more financially profitable to simply preach to the choir. So we
abandoned the world, retreated to the subculture we created for ourselves to
enjoy, and in the process have left the souls of men to the scavengers of
satan who are having a field day leading the lost into eternal damnation,
while we sit in our $20 million buildings singing about going to Heaven.

SHAME ON US, AND GOD WILL JUDGE US!

One of the fastest growing cults today is Scientology. As I have shared with
you in the past, cults and false religions are nothing new to the time we
are living in. Man has been trying to find ways to fill that void created by
his broken relationship with God since the very beginning. You don’t go too
many chapters into the Book of Genesis until you come to the story of the
Tower of Babel. That story is literally about men who decided to create
their own religion. The cults and false religions of this world are all
traced back to the hearts and minds of men who lived in rebellion to God.

The Mormon cult came from the imagination of that pedophile murderer Joe
Smith, another pedophile murderer Mohamed dreamed up what we know of today
as Islam, Mary Baker Eddy created the Christian Science cult out of her
blackened heart, and Charles Taze Russell created the Jehovah’s Witness
cult. Every cult and false religion can be traced back to a man who lived
his life in rebellion to God and created the cult or false religion out of
his imagination. The Truth, the Christian faith actually started in the
Garden of Eden and comes directly from God Himself, the very God who created
the heavens and earth and made man in His own image.

I am always amused at people who reject the story of Christ and God’s simple
plan to redeem fallen man, yet buy into the wild theology of cults like
Mormonism and Scientology. Christianity requires that you use your God-given
intelligence to make the choice to accept Christ as your Savior based on
reality. Cults like Mormonism and Scientology require that you abandoned all
intelligence and blindly believe wild stories based on no facts. I have to
be honest with you, I will never have enough faith to believe the fantasies
of Mormonism or Scientology, but many who are hurting and lost and looking
to fill that spiritual void in their life, will.

I love you and care about you so much. I pray that you will not neglect the
commandment we have from our Lord to share the hope and love of Christ and
the Truth of His Word with those you meet along your journey. The Lord
didn’t sit in a church and wait for people to come to Him, HE WENT TO THEM!
Christ is our example and we need to not only follow His example but His
words to, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in,
that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14:23 KJV)

This is not complicated. We have the better percentage of two full
generations of people out there who have never been to church. They are
living their lives void of Christ and His Truth. We know they have a
spiritual void that at some point they will try to fill. That is why now
more than ever we need to be bold and aggressive in letting people know that
there is only ONE TRUTH in this world, there is only ONE ANSWER for their
problems, and there is only ONE WAY to fill that void in their life…FAITH
IN JESUS CHRIST!

God’s desire is that none be lost, that all come to repentance. May that
become our desire as well. Those who follow cults like Mormonism and
Scientology are on a conveyor belt to hell. Let us bring them the Truth of
God’s Word and the hope and love of Christ, so that they can get off before
it is too late and get on the conveyor belt to HEAVEN!!!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY? The fact is you will
die one day. At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or
be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your creator.
To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now
available via AUDIO each day. Simply go to http://www.liveprayer.com/Audio.cfm
Also, you can now listen to the Daily Devotional by phone by calling 1-727-342-5673

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Former Cocaine Addict Turns Live Over To Jesus Christ

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Is It OK For A Christian To Smoke Marijuana?

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(Please note: this is a Bill Keller devotional. I do not have a television show. Or anything like that.) A question I get at least once a day and many times a week on my television
program is, “Is it OK to smoke marijuana?” The person asking the question
always throws in that marijuana comes from God and that makes it all right.
There are also many websites that give people what they think is Biblical
support that smoking marijuana is acceptable for a Christian. Before I deal
with this issue in more depth, let me answer the question first. NO! Letter
N. Letter O. NO!

Why no? Let’s start first with the fact it is ILLEGAL! You really don’t need
any other reason. However, putting that fact to the side, let’s deal with
the argument that it is OK to smoke pot since it is a creation of God. Yes,
God did create the plant marijuana comes from. However, God NEVER intended
you to dry the plant out, go to 7-11 and buy a pack of Zig Zags, crumble the
dried plant in the rolling paper, roll it up and smoke it. That my friend is
a perverted use of God’s creation.

In addition to the fact it is illegal and a perverted use of God’s creation,
smoking marijuana is extremely harmful to your health. It is actually worse
than smoking cigarettes and can kill you. Sucking that toxic smoke into your
lungs will not only ruin your health and take years from your life, but it
is polluting the temple of the Holy Spirit. The only difference between
smoking marijuana and putting a loaded revolver to your temple and pulling
the trigger is the gun will kill you instantly and smoking marijuana takes
some time.

Lastly, the only reason you smoke marijuana is to get that “high” feeling.
God wants us to have a SOUND mind, not an altered mind! When you are high,
you are not able to think clear and under the influence of marijuana will
make choices that you normally would never make otherwise. We have spoken in
the past how every day we make many choices. Our choices to follow and obey
God bring blessings. Our choices to rebel against God bring consequences.
When you are high you are much more likely to make choices in rebellion to
God and His Word and end up paying a huge price for those choices.

Listen my friend, satan is the great justifier. He will always help you to
rationalize and justify sinning against God, almost making it seem like the
right thing to do. There is absolutely NO Biblical support for smoking
marijuana. The same game people play in using the Bible to try and justify
the sin of homosexuality is played in using the Bible to try and justify
smoking pot. Taking verses out of context, stating a verse means one thing
when it clearly means another, making assumptions the Word does not support,
are all tricks the enemy will use to try and justify smoking marijuana.
Never forget, satan is a LIAR!

Let me add that I am well aware that marijuana is also used medicinally by
terminally ill people with cancer and other diseases. We are talking about a
fraction of 1% who are in this group and have been legally prescribed
medicinal marijuana by a doctor. What we are talking about today is the 99+%
who smoke marijuana illegally simply to get high. I am also well aware of
the efforts by some to legalize marijuana and the various arguments on both
sides. The biggest mind altering substance is already legal and that is
alcohol. We don’t need another mind altering substance legalized that will
create even more marijuana addicts. Marijuana already destroys so many lives
and legalizing it will only destroy more.

I love you and care about you so much. If you ever wanted a great example of
the power of our culture today, just the fact I am doing an entire
Devotional on this issue is proof of that. While for most reading these
words today, this topic is a no brainer, I can assure you there will be many
who think there is nothing wrong with smoking marijuana. They will tell you
it is no different than alcohol, though they forget one small detail.
Drinking alcohol, as bad as it is, is legal while smoking marijuana is
against the law. It is not only illegal but is ruins your health, alters
your mind, is a perverted use of God’s creation, and destroys lives.

For those of you in bondage to marijuana or who knows someone who is, I want
you to know that it is no accident you are reading these words today. God is
speaking to you about quitting. The first step to finding freedom from this
bondage you are in to marijuana is to want to quit. Once you come to that
place, God will help deliver you and set you free by His power. It is like
any other bondage, you need to find people to be accountable to, drop those
in your life who are still part of that world, and fully surrender to the
Lord and find His strength each day to walk in victory.

If you are in bondage to marijuana or know someone who is, I will be praying
today for the Lord to deliver you or the one you know from that bondage.
Smoking marijuana is just a momentary escape from life that doesn’t solve
your problems, only compounds them. Satan wants to keep you in bondage to
marijuana, God wants to set you free. I will be praying for you or the one
you know today to quit listening to the lies of satan whose goal is to
destroy you, and start listening to God who wants to bless you.

The greatest high of this life doesn’t come from smoking pot, the greatest
high in this life comes from the Spirit of the living God!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY? The fact is you will die one day. At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or
be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your creator.
To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm

Encouragement for Women Whose Husbands Have Fallen Into Pornography Part II

This is part I:  Encouragement for Women Whose Husbands Have Fallen Into Pornography

Read Part 1. by Debi Pryde

How Could He Do Such a Thing?

Perhaps you are wondering, How do men or women get entrapped by something as vile and self-centered as pornography and masturbation or by any kind of sexual immorality, for that matter? How can a husband say he loves his wife and then engage in such raunchy behavior? Women who are faced with questions like these often feel deeply betrayed. As the impact of their husband’s sin presses on them, they usually vacillate between anger, insecurity, and sorrow. Trust is shattered, and fear quickly slides into its place. Because involvement with pornography isn’t usually understood or expected, women often struggle to grapple with the realities of such an enslaving habit. With good reason, it is a sin that causes a wife to feel strangely violated. Something or someone else has used what she believed was exclusively hers alone.

To a woman who is reeling in the aftershock of discovering her husband’s vice, it seems senseless and incredibly stupid for him to risk losing everything that is dear in order to gratify sexual urges that are so base. Yet responding with disgust and bewilderment is the way most of us respond when we hear about someone who is enslaved to some devastating sin. We are surprised because we do not fully comprehend the power of sin or believe every person is vulnerable to being controlled by it.

Women who are discouraged as they try to understand their husband’s slippery slide into moral failure should consider the sins they might be enslaved to—perhaps to sins that don’t have the same consequences or stigma that enslavement to pornography does. Is gossip a problem? Worry? Anger? Is there complete self-control with the things one buys? Is credit- card debt a battle? How about time management, time in prayer, and Bible study? Do you have any difficulties there? No matter who we are or how well we have managed to keep ourselves from the clutches of sin, we all still need to be exhorted to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us” (Heb. 12:1, KJV). Sin is incredibly deceptive, powerful, and tailor-made to easily exploit every person’s weakest link. One person’s besetting sin may not be another’s.

It’s easy to see sexual sins as heinous when they don’t tempt us. But what about our own besetting sins? Have we made up our mind to flee from them only to be entrapped when our pet passions got the best of us once again? Have we asked for forgiveness again and again and still failed? If we are not careful, we can become just like the Pharisee who self-righteously told the Lord (who let us know the Pharisee prayed with himself), “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess” (Luke 18:11-12). Whenever we, like the publican, derive our sense of being right with God from what we do or do not do, we become puffed up with pride, critical of others, unmerciful, and unforgiving. We can forget that God’s grace is no more grace if we deserve His forgiveness and righteousness. If we come to God in our own merit, we will find not approval but rejection.

It isn’t uncommon for a woman betrayed by her husband’s immorality to become so prideful and self-righteous that she prays, but God refuses to listen. The Scriptures teach us that “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5). At the same time, her husband, who sinned so grievously against her, might humbly acknowledge his sin and turn in repentance to God. He may discover that the Lord is ready to grant him full forgiveness and restoration of fellowship. What a strange twist—the betrayed wife behaves like the Pharisee while her husband acts like the publican, who ”standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). The sinning husband can be forgiven and restored even while his wife, who was sinned against, can be estranged from God. What a sobering reminder that none of us deserves God’s mercy or forgiveness. None of us can be forgiven because we deserve to be. Humility elicits God’s compassion and grace, but pride elicits His opposition completely. “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:14). The truth is, all of us can be as enslaved to sin as the husband who is enslaved to pornography. And the path to victory for us is the same path of victory for him.

What We Need