Adventures in Denver: Happy Birthday Elijah!

Monday, July 16, 2007

Happy Birthday Elijah!

Hello, All! Sorry we haven't blogged in awhile. It was a fun and crazy week, and we lost track of time. My mom and sister, Corrie came to visit during the week, and we took Elijah to the Kansas City Zoo for the first time. After about two hours of animals he was pretty much all zooed out, though, so we had to find him a playground so he could burn off some of his excessive 3-yr-old energy. On his birthday, Kim and I made him happy-face pancakes, and some cupcakes. Then for his party we made two kinds of cakes, chocolate cake with strawberry icing (which Elijah picked out at the store, apparently becuase of its pinkness), and strawberry short cake. Elijah's birthday and birthday party went off without a hitch, and was quite a fun time. Check out more pictures by clicking in the Flickr bar to the left. Thank you to all of you who lavished him with presents and cards; he is truly enjoying all of them.

3 comments:

Kristen said...: I hope we can all have happy-face pancakes next time! Is Elijah enjoying his new tricycle?; 11:50 AM, July 19, 2007
Kim Kaan said...: i'm pretty sure elijah ended up eating just the berries off of his happy face pancake...quite sad really. oh, and elijah's tricycle is the coolest tricycle ever...it looks very retro. it's almost too hot to ride it outside right now though, but occasionally he'll ride it around the living room or kitchen. he hasn't quite got the steering and pedaling down yet.; 12:10 PM, July 19, 2007
Kristen said...: radio flyer is the way to go!; 7:12 AM, July 20, 2007

Coming to a Place of Deception

By Michael Wells

James 1:14, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”

Galatians 5:16-17, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

I am starting to believe that people are deceived because there is something in them desiring the deception. First, if Satan has the ability to deceive all men, then all men would be deceived. Obviously he does not have that kind of power. So what does he look for in a man that would allow for a deception? Satan is looking for something in the heart of man where the deception can begin. It would be impossible for Christ to deceive any person, for there is nothing in Christ that the flesh desires. True Christianity cannot deceive, for again, nothing in the flesh wants anything at all to do with Christianity.

Christianity has one message for my flesh: “Move over!” So what is it that makes man’s heart open to deception? I believe it is the desire of a heart that says, “I can be God.” Rephrased, it is the desire of the heart to be independent from God. This is why the Mormon religion is so successful; it is cleverer than the early Catholics who embraced the local gods of the people, or just gave them different names. As you know, many “Catholic” countries are rife with blends of Catholicism and witchcraft. Haiti is an example. However, the Mormons offer something more: man can actually become a god. Man can invite his wife to his celestial kingdom, where she can be eternally pregnant. This “deception” has incredible drawing power to those who have suffered under the hand of their unjust god, or who have served a god all of their lives. After all, who would not want to believe that he could become the one who hands out punishment and receives gifts from others?

Such a person is deceived with a ludicrous teaching, but moving past the cobweb to the spider, we see at the root a heart that says, “I want to be God.” Deceptions all offer the flesh something, and Christ is always taking something away from the flesh. When someone converts to Mormonism, or any of the other “-isms,” I never feel that the Mormons won one while the Christians lost one. Instead, I believe that the person, in believing the deception of Mormonism, actually revealed a heart previously hidden that is anti-Christ. Again, we see that nothing is working against us. God is permitting all the “-isms” for the revelation of hearts. The germ of every cult is this promise of keeping the flesh alive through some kind of God-playing. The amazing thing is that it holds any attraction, when it is so much easier to have a God than to play God.