This is not a post about 2012, though I did go see it while I was in SC and it was a sore loser, save “most” of the effects.  Flee from the deception to come surrounding the return of Christ!

I have been in this flesh long enough to know I don’t know much, but what I do know is what the Father says in His Word about it.  He gives us instructions on planning our paths, seeking, planting, and much more.  All this of course, is to be mingled with the counsel of the Father (in Word and Spirit).

Here are some tips for your planning and seeking:

• take 5-10 minutes every day and read verse by verse the bible.
  • “Proverbs” is a great place to begin if you have never read the bible.
  • Read in a place by yourself.
• spend 5-10 minutes every day in prayer (speaking in your mind) to the Father.
  • Be alone and meditate when you pray.
  • Repent, Ask, Find, Triumph  (RAFT)
• if you have more time, or find yourself bored, do one of the above.

By blocking out time and following your plan, you will find yourself more at peace and connected in the spirit than ever before.  Obviously, some people will have a larger appetite, so just schedule more time in and commit to it.

If it be in the Father’s will, I plan to be bringing you weekly bible studies, networking and video tutorials in January 2010 via GoChrist.org and other venues.  I will keep you posted as things progress!

So what are you doing differently next year?

What is your plan to glorify the Father?

I look forward to keeping in touch as we draw near to the conclusion of the matter concerning 2012 and many other things.  Don’t get too excited or hyped up over any “good news” to come, save the good news of Jesus Christ.

It’s time to start praying for our nation more fervently than ever. Join me as I pray for the united states, our leaders and indeed all souls in this great nation. We are very near the end of days (believe it or not), and we have prophecy coming to pass at a very rapid pace. Keep your eyes and ears open fellow servants!

Joshua Jones shares his thoughts about business video and video marketing trends. Things are really taking off for businesses that are employing video!

Since Twitter API hit the scene, there’s been a huge influx of new Twitter tools on what seems like a daily basis!

It can be confusing at times, not knowing which tool to use and, more importantly, how to use it.  I’ve tested nearly 50 Twitter tools that have had at least decent reviews, but I want to share the top 3.

First and most impressive, in my humble opinion, is HootSuite:
http://hootsuite.com/

For Twitter tools, this one is a stand up tool – it allows you to manage and distribute tweets across multiple twitter accounts. That’s just for starters – it also has a built in URL shortening service ow.ly (cute name too). Last but certainly not least, you can setup your tweets for timed distribution.

Since having niche twitter accounts is a great strategy for making money on twitter, you can really leverage this tool, together with the two below, to grow your online business or rise awareness for your cause fast!

Next, is Twollow:
http://twollow.com/

Twollow is a neat app, as it allows you to save hundreds of hours of searching for people tweeting about the things that interest you most. You can set the process up for each of your twitter accounts and assign niche phrases for the service to automatically follow. The more phrases, the better you results will be.

When it comes to following people, you want to spend your time communication with a list of followers that care about your content and with whom you can engage in conversation with. It may take you a week or so to find out just how powerful this tool is – but you can also take the shortcut can check your phrases against the twitter search (search.twitter.com) to see how many and what kind of results are coming up.

Lastly, we’ll look at TwitterFeed.
http://twitterfeed.com/

While at times this thing can be annoying, due to high frequency – you can setup twitter feed to post once an hour, or even better, 4 times a day (every 6 hours). This allows you to have relevant and valuable content flowing through your twitter accounts. Just like HootSuite, you can manage all of your twitter account under one Open ID login, which is very cool!

Imagine, having 10 twitter accounts for differing niches and keeping relevant content flowing through each of them, daily.. this tool is more for the twitter fanatic and it truly takes some common sense, otherwise you can fall into that spammer category real fast.

Five words of caution: Low Frequency, Nice Feed Content.

There are a ton more tools, as I mentioned I tested nearly 50 of them this past year. These are the cream of the crop to me. There are some honorable mentions though, and in no particular order, they are:

TweetLater – Great service for sending automated and timed direct messages and managing follower karma. http://tweetlater.com

TwitterCounter – A useful tool for doing some research into your new followers, competition and sharing your twitter profile on other websites with it’s embedded tools. http://twittercounter.com

Twellow – A twitter yellow page directory that allows you to seek out and follow people – it also has a great expanded profile feature when you confirm your twitter profile listing. http://twellow.com

I hope you got some value from these 6 tools and my brief review of them. I encourage you to test out new and emerging twitter tools as well, and post a comment with anything spectacular you find!

Joshua

PS: Follow me on Twitter, will ya?

I know you know what I mean!  Even if you’ve never cleaned your own carpets, but have seen the guy doing it, you know it’s a workout and a half.  If you’ve got tons of stains, doing it yourself is just impractical.

Recently, I was in the same situation – trying to decide if I should go and spend the 80 bucks and 3 days doing it myself, when I heard a radio ad for ZeroRez.  Since I frequent the station I heard it on, the message came across several times throughout the week, so I decided to have them come out.

Let me tell you, I was not only shocked but absolutely amazed!  I’ve had two other companies out since we bought our house, to clean the carpets.  Both companies, combined, couldn’t dent the effect of ZeroRez on our berber carpet.

Not only did they completely remove all soiled stains from our 6 year old carpet, but their patented process actually sanitized (not to be confused with sterilized) our carpet, leaving us free to roll around on the carpet with our kids again!

I bet you’re wondering what the before and afters look like, right? LOL  Here you go

So, if you’re in need of some piece of mind when it comes to your carpets, give zerorez a try.  http://www.myzerorez.com

Joshua Jones

I know some will want to flak me for this, but frankly it’s truth and it needs to be told.

Did you realize that God himself declared His purpose for man and that He’s been repeating it for thousands of years now?  It’s pretty amazing, let us examine further:

In the Old Testament:

2Kings 17:13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

Jeremiah 18:8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

Jeremiah 18:10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

Jeremiah 25:5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

Jeremiah 26:3 If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.

Jeremiah 26:13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.

Ezekiel 14:6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

Ezekiel 18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Zechariah 1:4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

In the New Testament:

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Luke 13:2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?  3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Luke 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:   47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Acts 14:15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

Acts 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

My point here is, when and where is it being preached?  I’ve been to many churches throughout the west and southeast coasts of the US, listened to hours upon hours of preaching streamed over the net and it’s sad to say, the key to God’s will (repentance unto the forgiveness of our sins) is rarely taught, let alone the rest of the meat in God’s Word.

We all fall short, so it’s not even up for debate that we all sin.  So if we continually sin (being prone to it while in the flesh), then we have need to wipe the slate clean every now and again, if not at every occurrence of this plague of the flesh.

We hear all kinds of preaching about “come on down to the alter and get saved“, “let Jesus into your heart“, “be born again!” and again you hear even more mundane and vague sermons like, “Once saved, always saved!“, “Just believe!“, and “Just sow your seed in us and God will give you a bountiful harvest!“.  It’s so ridiculous today that these false preachers and lovers of men more than lovers of God are taking over the airwaves of the Christian broadcasting networks.

If all God wants is for us to repent of our evil ways and listen to His Word, why wouldn’t we just do that?  It seems like a pretty clear call and consistent theme throughout the Word.

I’ll tell you why: because the message is all garbled up with the traditions of men, and these traditions are like a veil placed over the saving arms of the Father who created our souls.  You can read of this kind of covering and what God thinks of it here:

Ezekiel 13:17 Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,  18 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?  19 And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.  21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.  22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:   23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

The charge is pretty serious, and frankly it’s high time we all get to checking out what people say instead of just going with the flow of opinions, propaganda and hate.  Spread the good word; the gosepel of a risen Christ is a promise of eternal life in righteousness for those who believe on Christ and repent of their error and folly.

When the time comes for the white throne judgment all shall answer for those things beside their names in the Book of Life, the true record, kept up to date by our Father from the foundations of the world.  When you truly repent, He blots out the sin and it is forgiven.  Without Christ as the sacrifice, we would have run out of livestock many years of go offering up sin offerings for the world.

I hope you got some value and perspetive on God’s will and the purpose of His Christ here.   Thanks for reading!

Joshua Jones

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael.  They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door.  A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.

He said, ‘Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he
was  carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your  love for art.’ The young man held out this package. ‘I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.’

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier  had captured the personality of his son in the painting.  The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with  tears.  He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. ‘Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me.  It’s a gift.’

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son  before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son The auctioneer pounded his gavel. ‘We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?’

There was silence.

Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, ‘We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.’

But the auctioneer persisted. ‘Will somebody bid for this painting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?’

Another voice angrily. ‘We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh’s, the Rembrandt’s. Get on with the real bids!’

But still the auctioneer continued. ‘The son! The son! Who’ll take the son?’

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room.  It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. ‘I’ll give $10 for the painting.’ Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

‘We have $10, who will bid $20?’

‘Give it to him for $10. Let’s see the masters.’

‘$10 is the bid, won’t someone bid $20?’

The crowd was becoming angry. They didn’t want the picture of the son.

They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.

The auctioneer pounded the gavel. ‘Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!’

A man sitting on the second row shouted, ‘Now let’s get on with the collection!’

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. ‘I’m sorry, the auction is over.’

‘What about the paintings?’

‘I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would  inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.

The man who took the son gets everything!’

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross.  Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: ‘The son, the son, who’ll take the son?’

Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE…THAT’S LOVE