Hello!

I hope you had a great weekend.

Are you a Christian that lives outside the United States?  JCSM has a special web page called "The International Christians."  It links nearly 20 messages from Christians around the world and it reveals what Christianity is like in their country.  Please visit the page and if you are outside the U.S. and if we don't have someone representing your country already, answer a few questions so the world can know more about Christianity in your country!  Link: http://www.jcsm.org/InternationalChristians.htm.

Are you ready for the 3rd edition of "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained"?  It will be released on January 1st, 2004.  It will contain all of the great resources from the 2nd edition, plus an enhanced look, more graphics, and about 100 more explanations of the scriptures from the SAB's commentary in 2003!  On November 5th, you can begin reserving your copy!  There will be more on this special offer (which will include a bonus CD), later, so make sure you don't miss any devotional messages.

Please pray for Ernie Murry.  He is the old host for jcsm.org.  He has suffered some problems and is no longer hosting JCSM (which is fine because I'm a web host and I'm currently hosting JCSM).  Ernie is also avoiding my emails.  This is a problem because he has the software and messages from the JCSM Forum and he also has a list of our subdomains.  A few months ago, I publicly endorsed him for his work.  Now, I must warn you to avoid getting his hosting service and I hope that he can respond to my emails, so we can resolve this, soon.

My debate with John Blanton was canceled.  He was a no-show for Friday's equipment test and showed me a great deal of disrespect throughout the debate setup, so the debate didn't happen.  There is a very small chance that the debate will be postponed.

My debate with Farrell Till will be resumed this week.  It is getting long and frankly a bit tedious.  He is squirming, reinterpreting the scriptures, and ignoring a number of verses that don't align with his atheistic argument.  Nonetheless, I value your prayers and encouragement as I bring Christ's light to the unbelievers.  This debate has already been seen over 3000 times.  To God be the glory.

I pray that you are richly blessed, today.  Seek God and His kingdom and He will bless your life.

Skillet is supposed to release a new album this week.  If it's anything like their last, four albums, it should be awesome.  Check your local, Christian book store for details.  Next month, Jars of Clay and P.O.D. are releasing new albums!

Please pray for the 70,000 grocery store workers who are on strike in Southern California.  Today, I visited a Vons and they were picketing.  They will have some benefits removed, in a few days, if their union cannot settle with their employer.

This is your ministry, so please feel free to link to JCSM and forward these devotions to your friends and family. On JCSM, there are over 50,000 web pages of pictures, forums, midis, Bible lessons, humor, proverbial stories, links, devotions, poetry, prayer journals, and much more!

JCSM has encouraging sermons, exciting debates, and the Bible on MP3 online and you can freely stream and download them!  Come and listen at http://sa.jcsm.org.

If you consider yourself either a theological scholar, a seeker, or a student of the Word, then you'll enjoy the Inerrancy Discussion Board.  It's the #1 place for discussing the inerrancy of God's Word!  Come and see: http://www.inerrancy.com (the Inerrancy Discussion Board is sponsored and administrated by JCSM).

Would you like to support God’s work on the web? If this ministry has touched you in a special way, please pray and consider sending a gift to JCSM. You can join us in our vision to reach people on the web with the good news! Either email me for more information or simply go here: http://vision.jcsm.org.

Visit the JCSM Study Center!  We have over 450mb of resources like English and foreign Bibles, maps, ancient literature, commentaries, Greek and Hebrew dictionaries, and concordances and much more!  Plus, it's all free.  Link: http://study.jcsm.org.

Welcome to the new readers of this message! Here is your Devotion, A Moment of Introspection, JCSM's Challenge, the Word of the Week, a faith-builder from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained," and the Quotes of the Week. Have a fantastic week and God bless you!

Love in Christ,

Jason Gastrich, B.A., M.A.B.T.

ICQ#: 20731140

The Weekly Devotion (click here to listen!)

"Expect God's Blessings"

Hebrews 4:16  "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Matthew 16:27  "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done."

Deuteronomy 11:26-28  "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known."

Hebrews 11:6  "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

James 4:2 and 3  "You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.  Yet you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures."

Insight: God promises to bless our obedience; here and in Heaven.  Come to God and ask Him for help.  Ask Him to bless you.  He loves you and wants you to have His awesome blessings!  God will be faithful to His promises and He will give you what you need.  Make sure to use it for His glory and the spiritual edification of all people.

Prayer: "Thank you for loving us so much, Lord.  Thank you for wanting to bless us.  Help us to obey You.  Help us to know You and understand your laws.  Forgive us for falling short.  Bless us, so that we can bless You and others.  Lift us up, so we can keep lifting You up.  Thank you for giving us things that we do not deserve.  Praise You for being faithful to us.  Increase our faith in You.  Increase our love for You, too.  Give us great things, so that we can use them for your glory.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

James Madison (1751-1836) was known as the "Chief Architect of the Constitution" and was the 4th President of the United States from 1809-1817.  He was a member of the first United States Congress and was the original author and promoter of the Bill of Rights, of which he made religious freedom the first item.

"Cursed by all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ." - "America's Providential History," by David Barton, pg. 93

"Religion is the basis and Foundation of Government." - "The Papers of James Madison," by Robert Rutland, pg. 299, 304

"It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage . . . before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe." - "The Myth of Separation," by David Barton, pg. 120

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it.  We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to government ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." - "America's Providential History," by David Barton, pg. 221

"Religion, or the duty we owe our Creator, and manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence;" - "James Madison and Religious Liberty," by Gaillard Hunt, pg. 166

"The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the World and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities to be impressed with it." - "Madison and Witherspoon: Theological Roots of American Political Thought," by A.D. Wainwright, pg. 125 

"Christ's divinity appears by St. John, Chapter 20:2: 'And Thomas answered and said unto Him, my Lord and my God!'  Resurrection testified to and witnessed by the Apostles, Acts 9:33: 'And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.'" -  "Biography of James Madison," by William C. Rives, pg. 33-34

A Moment of Introspection

Some Christians think they are on God's permanent mailing list of blessings.  However, God makes it clear that we need to be seeking Him and asking Him for the things that we truly need.  Are we doing this?

Ask God to bless you.  Pray to Him and tell Him about a specific need in your life.  Make sure that you are ready to "put feet on your prayers" and make an attempt to get whatever it is that you feel God wanting you to have.  Don't just sit idle and do nothing.

God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!

shama (Hebrew) - obey: to hear intelligently (often with the implication of attention), consider, discern

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Genesis 5:2 - God created a man and a woman, and he "called their name Adam." So the woman's name was Adam, too!

Genesis 5:4 - Finally, sometime in the next 800 years, Adam begat some daughters. These nameless ones are the first (and nearly the last) girls to be born in the Bible. Maybe the rest of the women were made from male ribs.

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained" responds:

* Even in today's culture, we can see how the man's name is preferred. When a couple get married, the woman takes his name.

* The Bible doesn't record every name or event. This doesn't necessarily make extra-biblical people and events unimportant.

(This explanation came from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained", by Jason Gastrich.  This book is on CD and explains over 3,000 difficulties regarding the entire Bible at http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.org.)

If you have a problem with someone, make sure you are following God's Word.

Are you a spiritual drain or energizer to people?

Our life will be so supernatural from living by faith and obedience that people will know we are different and saved.

When you have a conflict with someone, you don't have all of the facts; especially regarding their perceptions of you.

Can you say, "I am wrong"?

It takes a lot of energy to fight someone in your mind.

These quotes came from God, me,

Do you need more quotes?  We have thousands in our archives!  They are located here: http://quotes.jcsm.org.

These quotes can be used for sanctification and fun. Most of them are directly based on scripture and scriptural principles. Some of the quotes are humorous or rhetorical, others are written from sermons and Bible studies, and some are lyrics from songs. If you’d like me to go into more detail on any of them, please email me.

Like most verses in the Bible, they can be debated. To use what I’ve written in the most beneficial way, try and trace them back to the scriptures and apply the true principles to your life in a meaningful way! Please don’t sell my quotes or publish them for profit. If English is not your first language, you may not understand some of the quotes. I'm sorry, but some of them are English metaphors and deal with multiple word meanings. God bless you all!

Please make a commitment to pray for this ministry. As every believer is tempted and tried, this ministry faces trials also. God has blessed me, JCSM and the people who have been reached! Unfortunately, the enemy knows this and spiritual warfare is the result. Please at least pray that the devotions continue to be written religiously, the web pages stay on the www and the readers are blessed, sanctified and protected from evil. Thank you very much in advance!

Do you want to help people receive the good news?  We’re reaching new people every day with God’s awesome Word! If God has blessed you and you wish to send a love offering to JCSM, please send your gift to the address below.

You can join our vision and help this ministry! Your donations will keep these ministries running and further our visions for evangelism. Hundreds of web pages have been created to lead people to the Lord. Frequently, we make new ones and they are used to bring more and more people into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. We’re certain there will be more ways to reach people in the future.

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization.  If you wish to contact us in the mail or send support, please make checks payable to Jesus Christ Saves Ministries.  Here is our mailing address:

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

3219 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. #212

San Diego, CA 92117

Along with getting support, we also give support! JCSM regularly gives to churches, Christian ministries and needy people. Another function of this ministry is to do counseling. We are always answering questions about life, the Lord and everything in between. Lastly, we do a lot of research on religious topics on the internet and library. You will definitely see the results of our hard work and your loving support, in the web pages, and in the weekly devotions!

Fishes and Loaves (FALO) is a great, missions organization.  They have helped many people embark on missions trips to the uttermost parts of the world.  If you are interested in missions, please visit http://www.gofalo.net.

Do you need to find a solid, Christian church?  I've attended numerous, Calvary Chapel churches and I've been very blessed by their Bible-based sermons, inspiring worship, and kind members.  If you don't have a home church, if you're traveling, or if you need to find a new church, I recommend visiting the following site and locating a Calvary Chapel near you: http://www.calvarychapel.org.

OCCM (Online Christ-Centered Ministries) has certified JCSM as a ministry that preaches the true, biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.  OCCM is a professional membership association for Christian ministries and people that reside on and off the internet.  Are you OCCM certified?  For more information, go here: http://www.occm.org.

Would you prayerfully consider supporting JCSM with $5 per month?  If God leads you to take this step of faith and bless this ministry, PayPal will process a donation subscription for you.  It will only take a minute and you can join us in this dynamic ministry that constantly reaches people all over the world.  Here is the link for $5 donations: http://5.jcsm.org.

Over 50,000 web pages!

Jesus loves you!

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."