Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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Ben Zornes

The Symptoms and the Disease

The Symptoms and the Disease

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There was recently a soft-porn movie that got way too much hype and publicity both from the giddy, fan-girlish pop culture and from the scolding, furrowed brow evangelical world. I refrained from commenting, or blogging about it, because it seemed that the internet was already too congested with content about this movie; and I, personally, was tired of seeing the pictures and silly spin-off titles for articles. If you’re wondering which movie it is, it has something to do with the number 50 and the gradients between white and black.

blogpost 02.28.15The one comment I made on Facebook was this: I’ve resisted commenting until now: #50shades is a symptom, sin is the disease. Let’s start talking about the disease, not just the symptom. [Read more…] about The Symptoms and the Disease

Didn’t God Make Marijuana?

Didn’t God Make Marijuana?

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Since Colorado legalized Marijuana, I have had the question raised a number of times, how we as Christians ought to think about using or abstaining from it. As with most things we need to be wary of the dangers on each side of the argument. All too often Christians want to easily categorize something of this nature as intrinsically bad and then proceed to catalog it in the book of bad things we never think about. On the other hand, many people argue that since God made pot He intends for us to, like, use it, right man?!

5115795925_bd60e903f7We must think biblically when faced with a substance like this that is only growing in its popularity. I think it is erroneous to categorize the plant itself as icky, bad, wrong. On the other hand, the argument that God made it is true enough; however, we also need to recognize that God made a lot of things and we are responsible to use them wisely, for His glory and our good. Just because God made rocks doesn’t mean he intends us to chew and swallow them. Just because there is a plant, doesn’t mean we’re supposed to get a high from it. Just because we have sexual organs, doesn’t mean that we are to use them indiscriminately.  [Read more…] about Didn’t God Make Marijuana?

My Kindle Premiere

My Kindle Premiere

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School of Christ CoverMy first book, “The Fruitful Christian Life” is now available on Kindle! I would be much obliged if you’d consider picking up a copy through either my online store or if you’re into “Kindle-ing” you can download it here. Also, if you have already read it, or once you read it, if you’d kindly leave an honest review on Amazon, that would be lovely!

The Consequences of Repentance

The Consequences of Repentance

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The goddess Diana
The goddess Diana

An often unforeseen result of preaching a Gospel which demands repentance is that it is certain to cause discomfort to our current way of living. We need to understand that repentance is the first domino to fall, but it isn’t the last. When either an individual or a society repent, we need to understand that repentance is only the first tremors of the earthquake and that there is more shaking to be done down the line! Simply put, when a man repents of his sinful and idolatrous ways and confesses his faith in the One True God, and in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, he is turning his back on one way of living, and embracing an entirely new way of living. This is as much as saying repentance has consequences.

One biblical example of what I’m referring to is the fellow named Demetrius, an Ephesian, that we are told about in Acts 19. Demetrius was a silversmith (Acts 19:24) and by all accounts a pretty good one; and also, it would seem, rather a mover and shaker in the whole silversmithing business. His specialty was making silver shrines of the goddess Diana. As Paul was lingering in Ephesus (preparing for his return to Jerusalem), and as a result of other preachers who had come through that city, a vibrant church was beginning. These believers, as a result of their repentance, were forsaking the worship of the false goddess Diana. [Read more…] about The Consequences of Repentance

Heading to Nashville (All Things to Me Update 3)

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I know it has been a while since I updated you all! I am still in a bit of a state of disbelief imagethat this dream is actually happening! Thank you so much!

I’m officially on my way to Nashville next month (March 15-21)! I’ll be recording all week long. However, currently all the studio musicians are already working hard on their parts. So, please be joining us as we pray for God’s blessing on this project!

The songs are all selected, the arrangements are finalized, the tickets are booked, and we are excited to finally be able to get this project into your hands! I deeply desire that these little tunes of mine would be a great blessing in your pursuit of living a life that declares that Christ is “all things to me!”

The Real State of the Union (Part Sixth)

The Real State of the Union (Part Sixth)

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The final thing I’d like to address is the budgetary claims the President made. President Obama touted the fact that the Federal Government’s deficit will be the lowest it has been since 2008, a mere 3224056738_8463b09018$468,000,000,000. This was spun as positive news, when in reality this is irresponsibility at its finest! The Federal Government’s total revenue this year is $3,340,000,000,000 (that’s $3.34 trillion, but I think the zeros need to be included); the proposed White House budget is around $3,900,000,000,000. This leaves a shortfall of around $468-564 billion depending on what reports you look at! This will cause our national debt to rise to a staggering $18,690,000,000,000!!
If a citizen who makes $50,000 annually, spent the way the government is spending, that would mean they would be $8000 in debt after just one year. The atrocity of this is put well by this statistic from Brillig: “The estimated population of the United States is 319,903,034 so each citizen’s share of this debt is $56,578.89.” My 1 year old daughter currently owes more than I make annually! For all this talk about our responsibility to future generations, this is hypocrisy at its finest.
We are to provide and protect our offspring. Furthermore, it is painfully obvious that our children will pay the price for our fiscal irresponsibility and greed. This is fundamentally wrong, for we are forcing children to pay for the crimes of their fathers and rather than leaving them blessed and free, we are leaving them cursed and in bondage to the penalty of our greed and irresponsibility. The proposals and policies being discussed by the President as well as by many in Congress are commonly irresponsible and lacking in consideration to the safety and security of our grand Nation’s future. [Read more…] about The Real State of the Union (Part Sixth)

The Real State of the Union (Part Fifth)

The Real State of the Union (Part Fifth)

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The President made this claim in his State of the Union address: “no challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.” This is, perhaps, the President’s most irresponsible and alarm3224056738_8463b09018ist statement of the speech. The claim of man-made global climate change is founded on models that have been shown to be rigged to produce an outcome in support of the environmentalist agenda. So called “climate change” is not the greatest threat to future generations; the wholesale murder of them through abortion is a threat to future generations, our $18 trillion deficit is a threat, our abandonment ofBiblical Christianity and the morals contained therein is a threat…climate change (while climates and their changes certainly can produce dangerous weather) is not our greatest threat.
First off, the notion of global climate change assumes that we humans know what the “normal climate” is for our planet. The global thermostat is being fiddled with, by we carbon belching humans and if we ain’t careful we’re gonna roast! But the evidence points to the fact that a warmer climate is better for us as humans and that we are actually heading into a warmer eon from a period of relative coolness (in which the life-expectancy was rather shorter). Longer life span also means more humans living long, more able to innovate new ways of feeding more people and helping to take care of this home God has given us! We must not assume that we know what is the precise ideal climate for earth. [Read more…] about The Real State of the Union (Part Fifth)

Ben Zornes