Man this is cool. I finally spent the time learning how to set this up, and it was quite some work, but appears to be well worth it. I have a PPTP VPN already setup, but I wanted to set something else up because the Microsoft encryption algorithm just isn’t that secure (when compared with the top level AES-256 encryption). OpenVPN is awesome, because for one, it’s free. And two, it is unbelievably secure (when set up properly). The one downside is its lack of user-friendliness. I had to read a lot of the manual to get various functions to finally work. Also, everything, both on the server and client sides, is text file based. I can handle that, but many people cannot and I can understand that. But before you even start with this, you need a good networking foundation of how VPN networking works because many of the concepts will be alien to you if you don’t. So for those who just want a quick and easy VPN to connect into their home network, just stick with Microsoft’s PPTP VPN. But for those who really want tight security between their network and a remote location and who don’t have any money :), this is the solution for you. Be ready to do some reading and banging your head against your keyboard at times though. It took me a couple of days to finally get it working. Keyword is patience …
“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” 1 John 2:3
Do you love holiness and the law of God? That question is hard because I do at times as a result of Christ’s work in me and at other times I don’t because of remaining sin. Two competing desires, one of them waging war against what the other desires. This verse rings in my ears sometimes and I become fearful, because, well, I so often do not keep His commandments. You could phrase the verse like this: if you keep His commandments you can know you have come to truly know Christ. That’s scary. It makes me think of the verse in Philippians 2:12-13, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” This “knowing” of Christ is not just knowing facts about Christ or giving mental, intellectual assent to Him as a good moral teacher, but loving Him intimately as the supreme being of the universe, because He first loved us through the cross.
I’m the worst sinner I know though. I’m petty, idolatrous, deceitful, evil, fearful, distrusting of God, easily angered and irritable, passive, and just plain rebellious toward God many times. All of these things display ways in which I have not believed the Gospel deeply enough and they expose areas in which there is unbelief in Christ in my heart. May God have mercy on me, a depraved sinner. But is John saying that we keep His commandments perfectly in order to be accepted by God? That is so often how a verse like this is interpreted by people. They’ll say, “Yeah, yeah, be good, obey God, and then he will like you.” Not at all! Rather it is the reverse for those who love Christ. For believer’s who have trusted Christ alone to be their righteousness replacement, God has accepted them fully, and therefore, as a result of that love shown to them, with a renewed nature they seek to bring Him honor through adherence to His law, because now they actually love to do it, it is no longer a burden as before. And yet many times I don’t. I find this fight going on within me, a desire to love God and a desire to turn to sin. Paul displays this struggle within believers in Romans 7. It is God alone who is holding me back from pursuing the depths of sin because, as Jonathan Edwards says (paraphrase), our straying hearts are pressing with great heaviness toward hell and it is only by His grace He does not let us to pursue it. Lord, bind my wandering heart to Thee!
Earlier in verse one of the same chapter, John says, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” So John assumes we will commit sin and offers the remedy for restoration to God in order that we may not continue in it: the precious blood of Christ. This is extremely comforting for me when I consider the weight of my sin and His love for me to save me from His wrath due to me for that sin. I must not find my comfort so much in adherence to the law, but rather in Christ alone and His work on my behalf, and then seeing that work itself out in my life through His continual regeneration to become like Him which brings assurance of salvation. I am utterly dependent upon Him to change me and must pursue Him pleading with Him to work in me greater holiness. “For it is God who is at work in you to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
If you have come to truly know Christ, you would also confess that He has supernaturally entered your heart by the Holy Spirit and made you new from the inside out, having poured out His love into your heart. Since believers are those that now possess a regenerated nature, we also have new desires and a restored will, to praise God in all we do, whereas before, we could have cared less. It is no longer a burden to obey God’s law (like it was before conversion when we thought we had to adhere to it in order to be saved), but now it is a delight, it is life, health to our souls, and most of all, glorifying to God. We are not trying to pay Him back for what He has done for us through the cross, but are simply enamored by the love He has so clearly shown us in the cross itself, that in it He rescued us from God Himself and His deserved wrath. We are freed to obey Christ because of His accomplishment!
So the times I consider this verse, as soon as I become afraid and fearful because of my sin, I must run to the cross where my Savior bled and died, in order that I may be assured of His love and become conformed to His image, that by His power alone, I may be progressively changed and sanctified, increasingly turning away from sin. We should all be questioning the authenticity of our faith in light of Scripture and if you love the world and your sin so much that Christ isn’t really a thought in your mind (but you just give lip service to Him), you have good reason to question your faith and thus your salvation. How is it we know we know Him? How do we have assurance? We do what He commands out of love for Him, in faith, not out of duty (which doesn’t last). Beg God to grant you eyes to see the value of Christ and cast your cares upon Him that you may be saved.
And for those who love Christ, who struggle with sin (which who doesn’t?), and who are afraid when they read a verse like the one at the beginning of this entry, be comforted. Only by returning to the cross can you find forgiveness, cleansing by His blood, restoration to God, and assurance that you are saved. This is what John means in chapter one of first John when he talks about walking in the light as He is in the light: coming to Christ to be washed clean and being exposed before Him, with all of your nastiness that you may be cleaned up. And as John says at the beginning of chapter two, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
James White gives an excellent response …
(Original): http://www.townhall.com/MediaPlayer/Aud … 3a32f1bb81
(Archived): http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/poli … k%20Obama/
Listen to the audio above, just five minutes long … And I have to ask myself, what kind of internal, fundamental morality and worldview is this man and those who support him coming from? It is anti-Christ, purely secular, atheistic in nature. And he approves of one of the most deviant, evil forms of abortion there is – Live Birth Abortions. How I pray believers would feel the weight of this issue in relation to the proclamation of Christ and the Gospel. It is not just one issue among the cornucopia of issues out there to mull through during this election. It is the primary issue, more than the economy, more than healthcare, and immigration. Why? Because to give approval to such an awful act is to risk the hardening hand of God coming to this culture to the point where the Gospel no longer has the power to save because the depravity is in too deep, much in the same way God has hardened Israel for a time for rejecting their Messiah (Romans 9-11). It’s not that God can’t save (because we know the Lord is without limits to His power), but that He would choose not to save and allow us to remain in our sin and be lost for eternity. Frightening. That’s the short answer though. I cannot with a good conscience support anyone who is pro-choice, yet Obama is even more radical than most. Abortion is just an unbelievably horrific, morally detestable, wicked, barbaric act that eclipses the goodness, holiness, and glory of Christ ultimately.
The Darkness of Abortion and the Light of Truth – John Piper (MP3)
Exposing the Dark Work of Abortion – John Piper (MP3)
Man, what an incredible article by Michael Horton.
http://www.modernreformation.org/defaul … amp;var2=1
“The Greeks love wisdom, so show them a Jesus who is smarter at solving the conundrums of daily living and the church will throng with supporters. Jews love signs and wonders, so tell people that Jesus can help them have their best life now, or bring in the kingdom of glory, or drive out the Romans and prove their integrity before the pagans, and Jesus will be laureled with praise. But proclaim Christ as the Suffering Servant who laid down his life and took it back up again, and everybody wonders who changed the subject.”
“The church exists in order to change the subject from us and our deeds to God and his deeds of salvation, from our various “missions” to save the world to Christ’s mission that has already accomplished redemption. If the message that the church proclaims makes sense without conversion; if it does not offend even lifelong believers from time to time, so that they too need to die more to themselves and live more to Christ, then it is not the gospel.”
“Today, we have abundant examples of both tendencies: denial and distraction. On one hand, there are those who explicitly reject the New Testament teaching concerning Christ’s person and work. Jesus was another moral guide-maybe the best ever-but not the divine-human redeemer. However, evangelicals are known for their stand against Protestant liberalism. On the other hand, many who affirm all the right views of Christ and salvation in theory seem to think that what makes Christianity truly relevant, interesting, and revolutionary is something else. Distractions abound. This does not mean that Jesus is not important. His name appears in countless books and sermons, on T-shirts, coffee mugs, and billboards. Yet it has become something like a cliche or trademark instead of “the name that is above every name” by which alone we are saved.”
There are so many other factors involved in the fluctuations of the climate than is reported by the “Going Green” CO2 profit-marketing movement … why don’t we listen to actual climatologists for once instead of Gore who knows nothing of the astrophysics affecting the climate? http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080103/94768732.html
Obama and his staffers have done a tremendous, uber-intelligent job at marketing to the younger generation. All of his speeches, short video clips I’ve seen on the internet, and other various audio clips where he speaks make it sound as if he’s bi-partisan and not like other politicians out there. “I’ll do things differently in Washington, unlike those other politicians, uniting this country instead of dividing it,” is basically all I’m hearing from him. Yet, if he wins the Presidency, he will encounter the same red tape the Democrats currently in control of congress have encountered, though they said the same thing he’s saying. He will have the same pressures coming down upon him in the White House just like every other President before him, preventing him from accomplishing wall he desires. He’s done great at marketing himself as a “third” “uniting instead of dividing” option over against the Republicans and Democrats, so he claims. He’s also popular because he has such a short political track-record; he basically does not have the dirt other older politicians may have from decisions they’ve made that may not have been the wisest.
But no one realizes that Obama’s short voting record in congress is one of the most liberal of any Senator! He’s not just a liberal Democrat, but a very liberal, far-left leaning Democrat. However, he presents himself as a middle of the road, “bridging the gap” type of politician that will move us in a new direction. Yes he will do just that potentially, and it may not be for the long-term good (though maybe, perhaps, for the short-term). But no one thinks in those terms anymore, so that’s why he’s so popular with the younger generation; they don’t think long-term, just the here and now (haven’t we all at some point in life though?). Anyway, I suspect Obama will win the Presidential race (though I very well could be wrong) as his appeal to people on both sides makes him prime to go all the way to the top. And yet it seems people from my generation would vote for him simply because he is charismatic, young, “trendy,” articulates himself very well, and can get a crowd all emotionally charged. The Republicans could learn a few things from him for sure about presentation. Sometimes they’re just boring, I do have to say. But I’ll take boring and traditional over socialist and trendy any day.
The other day on talk radio though, I heard someone say about Obama’s speech after he won the Iowa Caucus for the Democrats (and his speeches in general), that they’ve never heard someone say so much, with no actual content pertaining to the issues, so eloquently. I agree. He’s great at saying nothing very well. The other night was simply a pep rally speech after the Iowa Caucus. He said nothing of actual value, addressing any issues, but simply spoke from emotions. And that’s exactly what people like about him. He connects with the people’s hearts and emotions. And man, isn’t that what our culture bases almost every decision on now? “How does this or that thing or person meet my felt needs?” (Which is also how the evangelical church is preaching to a large degree, which is another issue). Obama is dynamic and presents himself very well, and I have to hand it to him, he’s brilliant in that regard. And I will not be voting for him, mainly over abortion, socialist healthcare, increasing taxation (which will just kill the economy), amongst a host of other issues. And this whole deal about “change”? Yeah, guys like him want to bring the same kind of change that’s coming to Europe right now: the nanny-state; the government invading into our personal lives, dictating what can and cannot be done on a micro-managerial level. Check this out … http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPF … Bp0IvlPkDw … where does it stop? That’s right, it doesn’t. Just watch the movie Children of Men to see where the nanny-state could potentially lead.
The Democrats would make it sound like Bush is the one imposing the government in all of our lives with the NSA warrant-less wiretapping (of, might I say, suspected terrorists communicating with other terrorists overseas who want to do us harm, like that of 9/11?), and yet, the Democrats are the ones in favor of bigger government, higher taxes, turning over more and more private services to government control. Makes no sense. Norway’s people are hating the choices they made now where the tax rate is like 75% or higher. The average person there is getting to the point where they cannot buy necessities because they have no money and the government is inefficiently handling the services they need. And Obama’s the forerunner of this type of neo-socialism in the US! This whole thing is really showing me how much people in my generation do absolutely no fact-checking on candidates. “He’s culturally popular, trendy, young, speaks to my heart, speaks on behalf of the poor and the working-class, not like those other politicians who can’t change things; therefore, I vote for him.” I will not be.
For my old chatroom, I was using a Java applet chatroom that had no real authentication, called Morevil Chat, the unregistered version. You have to pay for it, and it really isn’t that good, compared to the open-source one I have found. Now I’m using Ajax Chat that utilizes javascript, PHP, MySQL and XML to trasmit and receive messages. I’m very very impressed. The response time is phenomenal and you can setup registered users as well as allow anyone in as a guest with a username of their choice. Anyway, check it out! https://www.westerfunk.net/chat/
Also, here is the site I obtained AJAX Chat from: https://blueimp.net/ajax/
http://www.mojopac.com/portal/content/hellomojo.jsp
This free program makes it possible to install all your favorite applications on a thumb drive or iPod and take it anywhere with you. You can then connect your device to any Windows XP machine (like a public machine) and utilize all of your apps with no trace of it left on the host machine (including all of your browsing). Totally awesome! Haven’t tried it out at all, so I don’t know how it actually works in practice. And for the person using it, it is very secure. And that’s the problem I see. For me personally, it is a great way to be secure wherever I am. But what about for the hacker? The concern I have is for people who utilize this that desire to do harm to a company or organization. It’s super secure for the person using it, and that’s the problem; maybe it’s a little too secure. With the recent wave of Chinese corporate espionage taking place, this is just one more tool in their arsenal to obtain sensitive information. If this app leaves no trace of activity on the host machine (other than leaving a log of a device connecting via USB), it opens up organizations for the potential to get hacked hard and have no way to find out what the person actually did on the host machine. So this is incredible technology, and yet also opens the door for some serious holes.
One question frequently stops Christians in their tracks: “If the Gospel alone saves, then what about the heathen in Africa who never heard?” Can God justly convict a man who hasn’t heard about Jesus? Some people hear the Gospel and reject it, but most never hear it. How can God condemn them? Christians are ill-equipped to respond because they don’t really understand something vital about sin and mercy. Sin brings guilt. Mercy is a gift. Anyone who is a sinner receives punishment he deserves. Anyone who is saved receives mercy he does not deserve and which is not owed him. Think of this question: How could the sheriff send anyone to jail if he didn’t offer him a pardon first? The answer is simple. If he’s guilty, the sheriff is justified in throwing him in jail. There is no obligation to offer a pardon to a guilty man. The same is true of God. He can justly convict a man who has broken His law even though the sinner has heard nothing about God’s pardon in Jesus. God owes no one salvation. He can offer it to whomever He wishes. That’s why it’s called grace.