Testimony of a Video Blogger

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) I have a confession to make. I'm not an alcoholic. I'm not addicted to drugs. But I am a computer geek. (There. I said it. I feel a whole lot better.) I spend large amounts of time on and in front of the computer. (More than the average person.) And I guess this is meant to be a sort of testimony of what God has done with someone who has this propensity, loves Him with all his heart and uses how he's wired to share the Gospel of His beloved Son. It was in February 2008 that I prayed to the Lord and asked Him to open a door of ministry online. I had effectively been out of professional ministry for about a year (after having been in it the better part of the last 15). I had no idea what God could or would do. He had a blogger (me) and a video blogger (me again) and a Bible teacher. (You can take the man out of the pulpit, but you can't take the pulpit out of the man.) And with Windows Movie Maker in hand and a newer laptop, Christ (in me) went to work. I stepped up my vlogging. I began posting to godtube (now tangle.com) and youtube. And I hit 10,000 video blog views in 4 months (June 2008). (My wife and I celebrated.) I sought to take it to the next level. I thought, "If I can get this amount with this many posts, how much more can I get with double, triple, quadruple?" I stepped up my vlogging again. And I hit just short of 60,000 video blog views 6 months later (Dec 2008). It was around that time that I struck gold. The online application Twitter was rising as the latest social media star. I latched on and never let go. The following year of 2009 ~ quite frankly I just don't know how I will ever be able to top it, but I'll try ~ in 2009 I hit just short of 180,000 video blog views for the year. (That's almost 500 per day.) And people were/are watching (and reading the blog posts, too) from all parts of the world: The Philippines, India, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, North Korea, Venezuela, Italy, Turkey, Malaysia, The UK, Iran, Mexico, The Netherlands, Chile, France ~ on and on the list goes. (Could this be a fulfillment of Matthew 24:14? I think so.) At the writing of this post my vlog views have just surpassed one quarter million (with thousands of visits to aheartforgod.net annually). These numbers may not compare with others in bigger markets and with bigger names, but from a nowhere town in a nowhere place they're huge. All praise to Jesus alone. (So how might God use you?)

12 Things Atheists Believe About God

Do you believe in God? Atheists don't. Webster's defines an atheist as "One who believes there is no deity (supreme being)." And so the dictionary definition is quite clear. Atheists don't believe in God. (Didn't I already just say that?) But atheists do believe some things about God. "What do you mean, Pastor Mike?" you might be thinking. "How could that possibly be?" When you don't believe in something it necessarily requires that you do believe things "about" that particular something. You follow? (Read that last sentence again.) And I was considering what could be included on a list of things that atheists believe "about" God and I came up with the following (below). Do you agree with me? What might you add to the list? Or am I just totally off my rocker? Here are:

12 Things Atheists Believe About God...
(click on verses to read)

1. He's a figment of our imagination. (John 20:27)
2. He's not real. (Psalm 14:1)
3. He's a liar. (Numbers 23:19)
4. He didn't create the world. (Genesis 1:1)
5. He wasn't born a Man. ((Luke 2:7)
6. He didn't live a sinless life. (Hebrews 4:15)
7. He didn't die on the cross for sins. (John 19:30)
8. He didn't rise again from the dead. (John 20:18)
9. He won't be returning to earth. (Acts 1:11)
10. They won't be standing before Him for judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)
11. He isn't named Jesus. (Matthew 1:21)
12. They are Him. (Atheists are "god.") (Genesis 3:5)
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The Lord Cometh (instrumental)

Pastor Mike shares his original instrumental about the return of Christ. Lord come!