you gotta be kiddin!

Spiritual Gifts- Healing

2012-01-17T09:33:00.001-06:00

We come to the gifts of healing in our study of the charisms of the Spirit. Once again, we remind ourselves that the context of these verses is the church gathered. Beginning in 11.2 the Apostle has been talking about propriety in worship as the church gathers. it is in this context, that he has mentioned the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Paul sees these as equipment that the individual believers have distributed upon them by the Spirit so that they may minister one to another. In the same way that the other gifts are not the sole property of the one on whom they have been distributed, neither is the healing gift the express possession of one individual.

Interestingly enough, when we look at the verbiage we recognize the plural in both the word "gifts" and "healings". What is the significance of this? Some have recognized that the gifts of healings refer to various healings of various diseases. The thought being that there is a variety of proficiencies in healing various diseases. But T. Holdcroft implores us to look deeper than that saying"... the Bible by no means restricts its presentation of God's provision for human healing to a limited scattering of gifted healers..." Truly, the gifts of healing may "shine forth" through many as the church gathers. God has given us direction in James 5.14,15 for the sick to call the elders of the church for prayer and anointing with oil. But any can used in healing, if they are open to the Holy Spirit's manifesting himself in such a way through them.

That these gifts are often attached to evangelists is of no surprise. Mark 16.17,18 reminds us that these signs shall accompany the proclamation of the Word. For we often see the celebration of healing and forgiveness in the same breath (Ps 103). We see these gifts in the lives of those apostles in the book of Acts. But these gifts of healing and other miraculous signs are not limited to those who are apostles as some have said. Philip, for instance (Acts 8.6) did many miracles in Samaria and Barnabus (Acts 14.3) had the word of grace confirmed by signs and wonders. Here in 1 Corinthians Paul is reminding them of the significance of the diversity of the Spirit's manifestations among them when they gather. We ought to be pricked to measure our gatherings against those of the Corinthian church, and to seek the gifts of healings and make room for them among us, realizing that we are given these gifts to compliment and equip the body of believers.

A wrong view of Marriage

2012-01-15T18:24:00.000-06:00

I am responding to an article written by James Peron.

One of the more prevalent arguments waged against marriage equality is historically equivalent to creationism. Creationists ignore science and argue, based entirely on their reading of Bible mythology, that the world is 7,000 years old and that species don't evolve. For them, reality has to fit their theology, not the other way around.

Here, of course, James is demonstrating his ignorance of creationism. Not all of those who believe in that the earth has God as it's author believe that the earth is 7000 years old (actually none of them believe that! since Moses was likely writing in the 12th century BC!) and certainly many who actually look at the sciences of cosmology seen likely evidence in things like the cosmological constant and various other scientific evidences that point to the possibility of a creator. For the Christian truth (be it scientific or theological) is absolute and will always be consistent within itself.

One of our projects at the Moorfield Storey Institutehas been the fight for marriage equality. To do that, I've had to do something that opponents of equality fail to do: research. I've read a dozen or so decent histories of marriage, countless papers on the situation regarding the laws, and contemporary looks at what really does happen when marriage equality is realized.

OMG he can read! Seriously, is he honestly saying that people of faith are ignorant of the history of marriage?

In that study I realized that marriage and the origins of life are similar. There are two basic views. One assumes that marriage was created pretty much as it supposedly existed in 1950s America. There was a husband, who was a wage-earner, with a stay-at-home wife and 2.1 children. For good measure, there was a dog, a cat, and grandparents who provided babysitting when Mom and Dad had to attend a business dinner.

Of course, actual marriage in the 1950s wasn't even like that, but then marriage has never been like that. Faith-based history is different. Focus on the Family claims that "God created marriage as a loyal partnership between one man and one woman." The Protestant Reformed Churches of America, a Calvinist outfit, claims that "God created the family in paradise as the first institution He made." They are also quick to tell you that "woman is not man's equal (except in terms of their salvation)."

Here James pseudojournalism is clearly mistaken. Jesus and Paul was an advocate of equality between the sexes. many of his followers were women, they advocated the empowerment of women into spiritual leadership, and assured their followers that "in Christ there is neither male nor female". Evangelicals today clearly recognize that there is equality, but we also recognize a distinction between the sexes. This is something that the liberal left has difficulty recognizing (except between the sheets).

The creationist view of marriage is that a divine being magically made marriage appear one day by creating a man and a woman and having them make a family (which always raises the question as to the sexual partners of the children of that first couple, especially as the Biblical account has Eve giving birth only to sons).

And the view of Peron and his ilk is that men and women magically appeared from some prebiotic soup mixture (that also magically appeared) and through millions of years of accidental mutations a man and a woman popped out of the soup and mysteriously knew what their penis and vagina were for! And thus the species was able to propogate!(though the thousands of ooppsies and tragically misformed left not a single fossil as evidence of their existence)

However, not even the Old Testament verifies what the creationists argue. It showed marriages to be anything but the Focus on the Family version of a loving couple and their loving children. The men of the Old Testament, including patriarchs of the Bible, often had multiple wives. Abraham supposedly had relationships with Sarah and Hagar. If the Book of 1st Kings is to be believed, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines -- which really does sound like male bravado more than anything else.

OT is describing the fall from God's ideal as it records these things. In it's recording of these things it is not endorsing the actions. Jesus came to restore the ideal of marriage as a man and a wife for life in Matthew 5.32; 19.9 etc. If one can read the texts for themselves they can see that Jesus is restoring a standard that is higher that the one being lived out. Surely even James Peron can read that... if he dares!

When you look at the real-world history of marriage, you don't see any evidence for this creationist view. What you see is that marriage evolved and has kept evolving. At different times, in different places, marriage filled different functions. The functions marriage filled determined the nature of the marriage at the time. Form follows function.

When land was the major means of production, marriage was intimately tied to the acquisition of land. Under Old Testament law, a man was obligated to marry his brother's widow, as it helped keep land in the family. Where land was a prime consideration, marriages were often arranged, and marrying close kin was common.

Clearly - James must have misread this. The purpose of the levirite law was to propogate the lineage of the deceased brother. In fact, Israel was not a land owning society. The Israelites were nomadic peoples at the time of that law being written. Sorry James!

In Imperial Rome, families that ruled the city were very concerned with the politics of marriage. Alliances were formed or dissolved through marriages and divorces. Meanwhile, the husband wasn't expected to necessarily love his wife, or desire her. No one was horrified if he stepped out on her with a mistress, or even a male lover, provided that rules meant to preserve the social hierarchy were followed -- at least in public.

While this is true, there were many that were horrified (even in Rome) at the dissolution of the family and wrote to warn that the fall of the family unit and marriage in particular would end in the collapse of the Roman empire.

Marriage, at other times, was primarily about household production. The natives of North America had male functions and female functions. Various tribes allowed same-sex relationships, provided that one of the partners took on the role assigned to females. In addition, they often ascribed mystical powers to this individual as a "two-spirit" being, encompassing the spirits of both genders.

The further one gets away from the divine understanding of marriage as a God inspired institution the more utilitarian and empty it becomes. Respect for others and honoring within the family unit and marriage itself is the cornerstone of the family.

For most of human history, marriage was not about love at all. The idea of marriage being about loving couples is very much a modern idea. Of course, once love and mutual nurturing became a prime function of marriage, it opened the door to same-sex marriages, as well.

Rome's ruling families saw marriage as politics, not love. Marriage was to insure that a political elite held power. Romance was found outside marriage. Sexual satisfaction could be found there, as well, with partners of either sex, with little disapproval. A homosexual Roman gentleman could still have his romantic interest, because that was not the function of marriage.

What was on display was rampant hedonism not a display of marital commitment as it should be. Even those who acted out homosexually were smart enough to know that 2 people of the same sex cannot create children. Therefore, the marriage was entered into to create a family.

The moment someone tells me "marriage has always been" something or another, I know they are ignorant of the actual history of marriage. It has never "always" been anything. It has taken different forms, with different social rules attached. Those forms and rules changed as the function of marriage changed.

Not true- Marriage has always been about the propogation of a legitimate family. Hence the creation of terms like "bastard child" and "illegitimate child".

In our world, the function of marriage is not about land, politics, or even procreation. It is about love and mutual support between the spouses. Given the modern function of marriage, it is hardly surprising that gay couples want to be included. They have the same needs and wants as other couples, and marriage provides them the same benefits and serve the same functions as it does for straight couples.

Marriage is not a stagnant institution. It is a vital, evolutionary institution constantly changing forms as the functions it fills adapt to new circumstances.

In fact, the idea that loving homosexuals should marry is undone my Mr. Peron's argument. Marriage isn't about love but about legitimizing family. Since homosexuals are incapable of having children themselves there isn't any need for them to be married. Well, except the real one behind the homosexual agenda... that is the social legitimizing of homosexual relationships. The reason the gay agenda has so soundly embraced this marriage idea is that they want to be legitimized in society. They want to be seen as the biological equivalent of the heterosexual couple- but alas, they cannot be what they are not. I do not endorse violence or hatred of homosexuals, nor do I endorse prejudice or somehow keeping homosexuals from their civil rights. But marriage is not a civil right of the homosexual as it is biologically driven- hardwired into the species.

My suggestion is that James Peron... do a little more research!

Gifts of the Spirit 3

2012-01-04T16:50:00.001-06:00

Once again we revisit the "manifestations" of the Spirit- this time regarding the gift of faith. The term used by the Apostle Paul for manifestation is phanerosis means to "bring to light" or "shine forth". We are confronted by Paul's understanding of the "manifestation gifts". These spring forth and reveal the character and nature of God. These are Spirit-imparted and reveal themselves in the corporate gathering of believers (usually). When we speak of the NT 's use of the term faith we see that it is a fruit of the Spirit in Gal 5 where it should likely be translated faithfulness. We know also that Paul understands saving faith to be a gift from God (Eph 2.8-10). But what he has in mind here is a sort of turbo charged trust in God. There are those times when we are out of our depth in God and need to walk through deeper waters than our experience in Jesus has prepared us for. God gifts us with a faith beyond ourselves. Recall the stories of men and women of faith who stood in the face of adversity and believed. You can imagine the need for this in a congregation of saints who will soon come under persecution for their allegiance to Christ. This may manifest itself in the purchase of property, in the trusting for healing or raising the dead.

Some confuse this with extraordinary faith of individuals who habitually trust God for great things.But this is inspirational. In brings in the God-perspective on a specific incident. The gift of faith lifts one from the natural realm and shows a divine perspective. Of course, nothing is impossible with God. Yet, it seemed that Jesus' own miraculous ministry was weakened by the lack of faith in his home town (Mark 6.5-6). Lest the body of Christ be limited in performing the will of God, the Almighty has provided this great and glorious gift. It springs forth and reveals the path of faith from within the believers. We this faith manifest itself in the peace that allowed Paul and Silas to sing hymns at midnight after being beaten and imprisoned.

Certainly, God wants us to be open and seeking this gift. May he fill our hearts with supernaturally derived faith as well as the growing trust in the faithfulness of our Savior.

Resolutions for 2012

2011-12-30T11:36:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple resoutions that I am prayerfully considering.
   1. To develop a more intensive prayer life
   2. To refuse to compromise my character or my soul
   3. To develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle
   4. To honor my wife- she deserves it for living with me!
   5. To love the unloveable and God's difficult children
   6. To Challenge myself on leadership through reading and relationships
   7. To Persevere in tough times
   8. To Speak truth- even when it will not be well received
   9. To lead from internal conviction and yet to listen to those around me

10. To increase savings and giving to others

Spiritual Gifts #2

2011-12-30T11:18:00.003-06:00

We continue on to discuss the gift of knowledge. There are those who seem to feel as if this is a residential gift in the mind-heart of an individual. As if God places an occasional smarty pants in the body of Christ who knows things. Now, I want to thank God for the hundreds of people who are smarter than me in the church where I serve. They have been a resource to the church and to myself in confusing times. But though they are operating in knowledge they are not operating in the gift of the Word of knowledge. The Word of Knowledge is a revelation based gift- much like the Word of Wisdom that we wrote about earlier. The Word of Knowledge comes usually in a time of prayer although, occasionally it just shows up in our minds while we are about the business of ministry. It isn't, as one author writes " the ability to understand scripture in a way that only comes by revelation". That is a dangerous and unbibilical doctrine! Scripture is to be used to judge revelation not the other way around. The objective standard of the Word of God always is the measuring stick of the subjective revelation of the prophetic and revelatory gifts.

The Lord moves among his church in profound ways. His purpose is to work his will of strengthening, encouraging, comforting, healing, etc among the body of Christ. He does so by revealing a bit of knowledge to someone open to the gift so that it may be used by God to instigate the process of healing or strengthening. For instance, we read of Jesus knowing that he had been touched by someone with faith. The woman with the issue of blood was revealed to Jesus by a word of knowledge. Clearly the Spirit revealed that to Jesus. (We know that many of the miracles of Jesus were done by the anointing of the Holy Spirit on his life because he claimed in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4) that that is what drove him to do the miraculous. And we have Luke's synopsis of Jesus' ministry in Acts 10.38 where it clearly says that his ministry of "doing good, healing all who were under the power of the devil" was Spirit directed.) But we also see similar working of these gift in the body of Christ in the book of Acts. Peter should have been pretty impressed with the offering placed at his feet in Acts 5. But he knows something is amiss. He calls Ananias to task saying things that could only be known by a revelation of God.

Thankfully, the Word of Knowledge doesn't always end with someone being struck down by God! Often it is used to establish trust in the heart of someone so they may receive a prophetic directive or a Word of Wisdom which is to follow. " I saw you under the fig tree..." Jesus said to Nathanael. This fact known by revelation opened up Nathanael to the rest of Jesus' ministry. So as your seeking the greater gifts in obedience to God command in 1 Cor 12.31 include an openness to the Word of Knowledge.

Understanding Spiritual Gifts 1

2011-12-28T12:17:00.000-06:00

As I perused the internet looking for some information regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit I became increasingly concerned that not only do many not practice the gifts but many are so ignorant of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that they cannot even define them correctly. Disconcerting to say the least! How can we be a Spirit-filled people if we cannot define the objective descriptions of the Spirit's working among us?

So let's take a look at the 9 charisms mentioned in 1 Cor 12. Other sections of Scripture speak of motivational giftings and offices within the church but 1 Cor 12 clearly identifies these gifts as manifestation gifts. Their purpose is to reveal the Word of God, the Mind of God, and the Power of God to the situations within the believers gathered. John F. MacArthur is certainly no sympathizer with the charismatic movement but is forced to acknowledge that these gifts were "specific enablements" for the purpose of "authenticating or confirming God's Word". Unfortunately, MacArthur himself has called these gifts "temporary sign gifts"-despite the complete lack of any indication in this (or any other) text that these gifts were designed to be temporary. Miracles were common in the first century among those followers of Christ. So much so that some miracles became "ordinary" (Acts 19.11). They were not worked strictly by the Apostles alone. Indeed, the NT records many healings and miracles by those outside the 12. Paul seems to be encouraging the proper use of the charismata in 1 Cor 12. It is clear that the purpose is to manifest the Spirit for the common good (12.7) Donald Gee reminds us that these gifts arose out of individuals who had been personally filled with the Spirit. He writes, "The very phrase "manifestation of the Spirit" makes this clear. The Greek Word is phanerosis, 'a shining forth.' The nine gifts...are examples of different ways in which the indwelling Spirit might reveal himself through believers."
So, let's examine these manifestation gifts.

The Message (Word) of Wisdom- This is more than some sanctified natural gifting. It has little to do with human intelligence. All of these gifts are divinely imparted. Since the gift of healing has little to do with medical science- wisdom should not be expected to be connected to intelligence. Neither is the Word of Wisdom simply the application of the divine wisdom that comes down (James 3.17). That is the application of the teachings of Jesus. One author I read taught that the Word of Wisdom was a way of proper interpretation of Scripture. As important as good hermenuetics is, it is not connected to the Word of Wisdom. The Message of Wisdom is a spiritually imparted nugget of divine purpose and application. It is differentiated from the Word of Knowledge in that it gives a directive on what should happen based upon God's perspective. It is the revelation of God's mind on what to do in a particular situation. It is actionable. It is recognizable in the council rooms and board rooms of the church when the leadership is prayerfully seeking to honor God. It is seen in prayer meetings and presbyteries over those who are seeking direction for life and ministry. It is seen occassionally at the altar, as the Holy Spirit moves through everyday christians caring for one another. We see evidence of this revealing of the divine tactic in Acts 13.1f, when during a time of prayer, worship and fasting, the Holy Spirit said "Set apart for me Barnabus and Saul to the work I have called them." Before this we have no indication that Paul would lead a great missionary endeavor. But God knew what to do when the believers gathered did not. God can see the future, knows intimately the giftings of individuals, and can choose to reveal this to the seeking church to clearly direct the path of the church.

I have experienced the Word of Wisdom on numerous occasions. I often look back upon those keystone moments. They are like the divinely inspired stepping stones of my life. Looking back I see confirmed the path of God's plan and am encouraged. God sent men and women at key moments in my life to speak a Word of Wisdom to me regarding the direction of my life and ministry. When I am facing decisions that are not clear, I seek the Lord and he helps me by his Holy Spirit. often God uses others to speak a Word of Wisdom to me. It is not the wisdom of their age, nor the wisdom of scriptural principles, for these are too broad. This is the Wisdom perscription from Jesus. Is this not what we mean when we say Spirit led? Let the Spirit lead you in to his purpose by being open to the Word of Wisdom. Seek it out, desire it, be eager to be used in that gift and you will not only live a profitable life for the Kingdom of God but you will be a blessing to those around you.

When the Athiest Dies

2011-12-16T13:09:00.004-06:00

Today Christopher Hitchens died. He was 62 and lost his battle to esophageal cancer. His career as a provocative journalist and his penchant for attacking religion- especially Christianity- established him in some circles among the intellectual elites in Britian. He was the author of God is not Great (Twelve Books), a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and visiting professor of liberal studies to the New School. Hitchens published a series of letters to Douglas Wilson entitled "Is Christianity Good for the World?". These are worth the read by folks of either persuasion.

He leaves behind 3 children and a wife. For those of us who are believers, we recognize the ultimate sadness is that in spite of engaging with some of the most brilliant minds in Christendom he has slipped into a Christless eternity and is destined for perdition. Yet, he had powerful witnesses to faith and will be judged according to the truth he knew. Certainly he had rejected, even at the end, the message that a real salvation comes to those who place their faith in Christ, and not in their own intellect.

How about your friends, loved ones, and neighbors? Have you given them an adequate witness of faith to offer them a way out from spiritual ruin? Paul said to the Ephesians " I am innocent of the blood of all men for I have not hesitated to proclaim the whole will of God..." (Acts 20.26f)- have we been faithful proclaimers of God"s message of Grace and Love to those who are in our lives? After all the love of God extends to them as well. Christ followers need to speak up before it is too late.

Worse than an Unbeliever

2011-12-07T17:43:00.001-06:00

Reading the Tribune the other day and the author reminisced about his father who worked 2 jobs in order to keep food on the table and heat in the house. And as I pondered on that for a while I realized that I didn't know very many men who worked that hard for their family. For all the complaints about "living wages" and union benefits I don't know too many who are working a FT job and a PT job as well. Some won't even look for work.

Paul wrote to Timothy, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (1 Tim 5.8)

Of course there are circumstances that mitigate this a bit- such as a horrible economy, but I am thinking that this is extremely harsh language. How is a believer ever WORSE than an unbeliever?

1.) He is worse in that his witness is blown. We represent God to our families. And as fathers we are to be haveing our hearts turned toward our children (Mal 4.6). Even the unbelievers would look with distain upon a man who doesn't care for his family.

2.) He is worse because he fails to do his part and then blames God for not providing.

3.) He is worse because he shames the name of the ultimate provider- Jehovah jireh by not working in conjunction with Him.

Seems that our view of work as menial or trivial is far from the reformers views of "vocation" and calling. Further, if we see certina forms of labor as beneath us is that not a form of pride?

Strange Fire in the House of the Lord

2011-11-30T12:16:00.001-06:00

by J. Lee Grady

We need to be careful. Current fads involving angels, ecstatic worship and necromancy could push us off the edge of spiritual sanity.
No one fully understands what Nadab and Abihu did to prompt God to strike them dead in the sanctuary of Israel. The Bible says they loaded their firepans with incense, ignited the substance and "offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them" (Lev. 10:1, NASB). As a result of their careless and irreverent behavior, fire came from God's presence and consumed them.

Zap. In an instant they were ashes.

When Moses had to explain to Aaron what happened to the two men, he said: "It is what the Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near to Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored'" (v. 3). Although we don't know the details of what Nadab and his brother did with the holy incense, we know they were careless and irreverent about the things of God.

"We want the miracles of God, but we also want the fear and reverence of God. We cannot allow this strange fire to spread unchecked."

This ancient story has relevant application for us today. We don't use incense or firepans in our worship, but we are expected to handle God's Word with care and minister to His people in the fear of the Lord. In other words: No funny business allowed. We aren't allowed to mix God's Word with foreign concepts or mix our worship with pagan practices.

Yet as I minister in various churches around this country I am finding that strange fire is spreading in our midst-even in churches that call themselves "Spirit-filled." Pastors and leaders need to be aware of these trends:

1. Deadly visitations. In some charismatic circles today, people are claiming to have spiritual experiences that involve communication with the dead. One Michigan pastor told me last week that some church leaders he knows promote this bizarre practice and base it on Jesus' experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. The logic is that since Jesus talked to Moses and Elijah on the day He was glorified, this gives us permission to talk to dead Christians and our dead relatives.

Although little is said about these experiences from the pulpit (since the average believer is not ready to handle this "new revelation"), people in some streams of the prophetic movement are claiming to have visitations from Aimee Semple McPherson, William Branham, John Wimber or various Bible characters. And we are expected to say, "Ooooooo, that's so deep"-and then go looking for our own mystical, beyond-the-grave epiphany.

That is creepy. Communication with the dead was strictly forbidden in the Old Testament (see Deut. 18:11), and there is nothing in the New that indicates the rules were changed. Those who seek counsel from the dead-whether through mediums and séances or in "prophetic visions"-are taking a dangerous step toward demonization.

2. Ecstatic rapture. Not long after ecstasy became known as a recreational drug, someone in our movement got the bright idea to promote spiritual ecstasy as a form of legitimate worship. The concept evolved from "spiritual drunkenness" to the current fad in which people gather at church altars and pretend to shoot needles in their arms for a "spiritual high." Some preachers today are encouraging people to "toke the Holy Ghost"-a reference to smoking marijuana.

I hate to be a party pooper, but the Bible warns us to "be of sound judgment and sober spirit" (1 Pet. 4:7). There is plenty of freedom and joy in the Holy Spirit; we don't have to quench it by introducing people to pagan revelry. Christian worship is not about losing control. Those who worship Jesus do it "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24), and our love for God is not measured by how violently we shake or how many times we fall on the floor.

Recently I told a friend in Pennsylvania that when people get tired of this drug imagery it won't be long before we see some Christians having sexual experiences at the altar. "It's already happening," my friend said. He described a recent "worship concert" in which one of the musicians simulated sex while stroking a microphone and whispering sensual phrases to Jesus. What is next-orgasmic worship? God help us.

3. Angels among us. Angels have always played a vital role in the life of the church. They are "ministering spirits" sent to protect, guide and strengthen believers (Heb. 1:14). But suddenly angels have become the rage in some segments of our movement. People are claiming to see them everywhere, and often the stories don't line up with the Word of God.

During the Lakeland Revival last year in Florida, a man from Germany took the stage and claimed that an angel walked into a restaurant while he was eating a hamburger, took his intestines out and replaced them with a gold substance. Others have testified that angels took them to heaven and operated on them. And many are claiming that angels are dropping feathers, gold dust and precious gems on worshippers.

I know God can do anything. He can make an iron axe head float, hide a coin in a fish's mouth and use a little boy's lunch to feed a multitude. Those were genuine miracles that He can still do today. But we still have to use caution here. There are counterfeits. If we promote a false miracle or a false angel in the Lord's house, we are participating in strange fire.

I know of a case where a man was caught planting fake jewels on the floor of a church. He told his friends he was "seeding the room" to lift the people's faith. I know of others who have been caught putting gold glitter on themselves in a restroom and then running back in a church service, only to claim that God was blessing them with this special favor. Where is the fear of God when Christians would actually fabricate a miracle?

This is a time for all true believers with backbones to draw clear lines between what is godly worship and what is pagan practice. We want the miracles of God, but we also want the fear and reverence of God. We cannot allow this strange fire to spread unchecked.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.

Lincoln's Prayers of Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T11:18:00.001-06:00

After Gettysburg President Abraham Lincoln wrote his Thanksgiving Proclaimation where he wrote "I do therefore invite myfellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those whoare at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart andobserve the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praiseto our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to themthat while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singulardeliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our nationalperverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who havebecome widows, orphans,mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we areunavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the AlmightyHand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may beconsistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony,tranquility, and union."

If we are to be consistent with the Spirit of the holiday as Lincoln understood it, we should be offering 4 prayers.

1. Praise to God for his Goodness
2. Repentance for sins and rebellion as a nation
3. Petitions for mercy for all those without
4. Healing for our nation

May I suggest that we forget about the Turkey and the desserts for a few moments this Thanksgiving and pray these four things that we may show due deference to the God of the blessings and know from whence they have come.

The Halloween Controversy

2011-11-01T11:26:00.004-05:00

This Ask The Pastor question is from a mother in the congregation that is concerned about Halloween.
She writes, "Should Christians participate or not?
In the conversations, these points have been spoken.

Christians who participate in halloween, go door to door, costumes of all kinds, etc.

Christians who say its totally wrong for christians to participate and new christians get offended and say their being judged.

Christians who participate in an alternative (fall fun fest) and new christians call that hypocrisy.

Christians calling it the devils day. "

Let me be the first to say I hate Halloween. I hate it for the drama that it creates in good followers of Jesus.

1) I don't believe that the Devil gets a special day to call his own. True, Halloween has it's roots in paganism as do many of the holidays we celebrate. Christmas and Easter for instance can be traced to Solstice and Spring rituals. Yet the church has rejected the pagan underpinnings of those holidays and infused the holidays with new meanings. This hasn't traditionally been done for Halloween- though many evangelical churches offer an alternative to the Halloween- calling it a Fall Festival or what have you. This, in my estimation is not hypocrisy but redemption. We are redeeming the time for the days are evil ( Eph 5.16) At CLC there is fun games and OUTREACH to the community and kids. A salvation message is always included at some level.

2. While I think it is probably pretty questionable to accept candy from strangers (something we teach our children not to do the other 364 days of the year), I don't see it as sin. If we find ourselves glorifying death or Satan or even macabre we are in error. It is certainly not something that we should be encouraging our children to do. The cause of the flood of Noah was the sin of VIOLENCE. (Gen 6.5,6,13) With that said, the Old Testament is pretty violent, so even when my kids dressed up like bible characters there was a violent side! It isn't wrong for children to dress up and pretend the other 364 days and so there is no sin in them dressing up on that day. Christian parents should do everything they can to differentiate their participation from the worlds. On the other hand, when else are the neighbor kids coming over ? It wouldn't hurt to drop an invitation to church in the bag along with the candy. if you are concerned about the school day and it's celebrations, I always gave my kids the option of staying home... and they almost always did stay home.

3. The bible is very clear about judging each other by "what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new Moon celebration or a sabbath day" Col 2.16ff We have "died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to it's rules: 'Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!'"? Believers have all been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom, so celebrate the redemption by using every day to glorify God! So if your little girl wants to dress up like Snow White you can find the gospel in that story. (The church as the bride poisoned by sin waiting for redemption from the prince (Jesus)). And you can redeem that!

Hope that helps!

Cultural Hatred

2011-11-01T09:24:00.000-05:00

It doesn't make sense to me but there seems to be an increase of hatred for people of the Christian faith. Christianity gave the world some marvelous advances (and continues to do so!). Among them hospitals, penal system, a judicial system the strives (albeit imperfectly) for justice, and the Red Cross. Christians worked to heal the sick during Europe's plagues, they started the Salvation Army, and YMCA. It was Christian leadership that lead to the abolition of slavery, the women's vote, the civil rights movement, and the end of child labor. Currently, Christians take the lead in mission work among the nations poor, shelters, and homeless ministry.

These days the leading edge of Christian faith seeks to bring health to marriages, protection of the unborn child, protection of children, working in nations where there is poverty and loss, etc.

Amazingly, this is the faith that has engendered the hatred of so many. Anti-Christian activity is on the rise in Europe, in India, and in the US. In Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity, author David Limbaugh uncovers a mountain of evidence of large-scale, across-the-board discrimination against Christians in the public and academic spheres—accompanied by an alarming determination on the part of the political left to eradicate Christian influences from our culture and even our history lessons. I frequently hear derogatory comments made on Television toward the church or people of faith. It does seem that this is on the rise.

So this morning in my Bible reading I came across the verse in Mark 13.13 "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." I guess we shouldn't be surprised, eh?

Manning Up

2011-09-29T13:41:00.001-05:00

ASK THE PASTOR

I have a friend who is going thru lost work,money is low, him and wife are not together any more. He has low self esteem, depression, does not like himself anymore, he hates himself cause he messed up his life big time. He owes so much money they what to garnish his wages they want to take him to court. I talked with him and we prayed over the situation. He has lost everything. Can't seem to be happy and no joy anymore. He has mention suicide. He tells me he can't deal with the world anymore. All he wants is to get is life back some how. He says he plays lotto games so he hopes to win big so he can pay off his debts. He stays home does not want to go out, he says he gets a few hours of sleep at night.He cry's himself to sleep, he broke down when we were talking. He does not eat regular. All he has is himself. What can he do before its to late? thanks

Wow, sounds like a difficult battle this friend is in. Christ's forgiveness absolves us from the guilt of the past and he gives us freedom from condemnation. It seems the enemy of this man's soul - the devil- is really beating him up. Once the enemy can get a person into the cycle of thinking that it is all his fault ( it is unlikely to be true that it is all his fault) then there is a sense of unworthiness and hopelessness that accompany the mind pounding that the temptor is giving him. There are 3 life changing truths that every person needs to come to grips with as a follower of Jesus that will set this friend free.

1. The Past is the past- Once confessed before God, your sins are forgiven. Period. Excuse my crude analogy here but there is no reason to dig around in the toilet- that was yesterdays meal. When we allow our thinking to go back and dig around in the past we are likely to let the past be our present.

2. There is a future that God has for you. As long as you continue to let the past bind your mind you will not be able to make the changes necessary to embrace the future. Forgiving yourself, may be a key component in this growth step. Jer 29.11f Let your hope come alive and embrace the good things in the future. Fight discouragment actively and step out in faith. Don't wait for the feelings to change. Learn to dream God's dreams after him.

3. The present should be used to grow in Jesus. Read the Word. Believe the Hope that he brings to you. Walk by faith. Avoid the Shame cycle by living your life in a such a way as to be done with the past. Ask forgiveness from those you hurt, and move on. Oh, and there is a devil already so quit beating yourself up, he is good at his job and doesn't need your help.

Simple? yes... but not easy. I will pray for your friend in the heat of the battle. Tell him I said... "Don't give up, Man up!"

Falling under the Power

2011-09-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

A person recently asked me "Pastor, is there Biblical precedence for being slain in the Spirit?"

I am not sure where the term Slain in the Spirit comes from. Perhaps from Maria B. Woodworth-Etter 1885. The Muncie, Indiana Daily News (Sept 25,1885) tells of "Dozens lying around pale and unconscious, rigid, and lifeless as though in death." She called this the "slaying power of God". In recent days this seems to be the trend in some evangelistic meetings. A pastor or evangelist when praying over people has someone laying on hands while praying over someone. Slaying is a strong term that initiates death. There are a few people in the Bible that have been slain by God... Ananias and Sapphira come to mind (Acts 5)! But certainly this is not what people have in mind. There are numerous instances of people falling under the power of God in the Scripture. The Apostle Paul fell at the revelation of Jesus as he was on his way to arrest and persecute the church (Acts 9.3-4) In this passage Paul falls prostrate at the overwhelming presence of the risen Christ. According to Acts 26 so did the rest of those with him. John the Apostle also "fell at His feet as dead" in Rev. 1.17. Daniel (10.4ff) fell under the power of God. In these circumstances the presence of God overwhelmed the physical body and emotions of the individual. It is not unthinkable that the finite would be overwhelmed by the infinite! These experiences accompanied the revivals of John Wesley, Peter Cartwright, Charles Finney and George Whitefield. These men were not Charismatic or Pentecostal per se but had these dramatic psychophysical phenomena in their services.

Yet, increasingly, what we see is a preacher trying to make it happen as if it was the sign of the anointing of God. While the power of God is a sign of the Holy Spirit's anointing it nowhere in the NT manifested itself in this way. The anointing of God came upon men and women and initiated inspired speech and praise, but no "falling out". We need not seek the falling down as an experience to be sought. When and if it ever happens to us, it is a sign of human frailty and weakness. Neither is there any biblical cause or warrant for pushing someone (it likely will offend them and scandalize those watching) or jerking them while you pray for them. The Holy Spirit doesn't need our help to overwhelm the individual. God is able to meet needs, answer prayers, cast out devils, and heal the sick with out resorting to gimmicks.

But we are called to believe in the supernatural power of the Spirit to meet these fantastic and numerous needs that surround us. We are called to seek the Lord in authentic and fervent prayer. Seeking expereince for the sake of expereince is misguided. Seeking experiences that do not measure up to the Bible trivializes the real purpose of God. And seeking the Lord is a highly subjective and personal act of devotion. I have, at times, been overwhelmed by the power of the Spirit in times of deep intercession and prayer. Sometimes in tears, sometimes laying prostrate on the floor, sometimes in joyful exuberance. But the experience of being overwhelmed is merely a side effect of the act of pursuing God. And pursuing Him and surrendering to his agenda are all that matters. He will answer when we begin to seek him and not the side experiences. As one preacher put it, "It doesn't matter how hard you fall down or how high you jump... only that you walk right when you leave."

Handling Finances Faithfully

2011-09-22T10:17:00.003-05:00

The Bible offers a lot of advice on how to handle your finances. running yoru checkbook God's way insures order and blessing over your finances. Below are some notes from a previous study on Stewardship.

Biblical Stewardship

I. Stewardship recognizes God is the source (and owner) of it all Luke 16.19-31; Lev 27; Ps 24.1Stewardship means that all "our" money really belongs to God and that he will hold us accountable as managers of his supply. Consider Psalme 24.1ff all that the earth contains is the Lords. Leviticus 27 speaks of tithing as more than a matter of giving to support the local ministry, it is a declaration of ownership. By giving to God the tenth portion (the first among ten) we declare God's ownership of all we have.

II. Stewardship requires Discipline in Spending Mt 25.14-30;Few of us have more than enough (though we are better off than we sometimes admit!) clothes, cars, homes, etc. But by the standards in the world we are rich. Disciplining ourselves is not something that Americans are good at but we must learn to say "no" to the wants we wrestle with. If we discipline ourselves with things like coupons, taking advantage of sales, and buying in quantity we will have more than enough.

III. Stewardship realizes that money can be used to build your faith Lk 16.10-13; 1 Tim 5.8; Mt 6.21; Pr 13.11; Pr 28.19f
Finances are a great place to buidl your faith. Your wallet is sometimes attached to your heart, when we lack often it is a heart problem that drives that hardship. Knowing Christ by faith we must endeavor to expand our practical faith by living out the commands and disciplines of faithful stewardship. Since everything in the kingdom is by faith- it is not unthinkable that God would use money – or that lack of it- to stretch your faith

IV. Stewardship rejects Debt and borrowing money Ps 37.21 Mt 22.21; James 4.13-14; Luke 14.28-30; Pr 22.7; Rom 13.8
Danger- Debt is a poison that drags down the soul and the spirit. When we have a debt – as righteous people we are to pay it off – as testimony to God. We should be careful to not incur debts that do not appreciate. Most do not. Scripture teaches that we shouldn’t presume upon tomorrows supply- James 4. We need to keep ourselves free of financial obligations- rather than be enslaved by the debts

V. Stewardship rejoices in Saving Pr 6.6-11; 21.20; 30.24f; 31.16
This is a heritage you can leave to your children! Scripture tells us to work while we have the energy- Go to the ant- store in the summer. You can take advantage of situations that come your way- without encumbering yourself in interest. I try to live by the 80/10/10 rule. Live off of 80%; give 10% to God ; Save 10% for the future

VI. Stewardship relishes giving 1 Cor 16.2; Ps 24.1 Mt 6.19-21; Gal 2.10; James 1.27; Pr 3.9-10; 2 Cor 8. 3-9
The Bible says so much about this that I will leave you to search it out completely. The scriptures above challenge us to a regular giving pattern.. Biblical Giving 2 Cor 8.3-9 consists of
i. Regular weekly giving
ii. Joyful giving
iii. Proportional giving ie., 10% tithe
iv. Worshipful giving
v. Expectant giving

VII. Stewardship reaches beyond stuff to God for satisfaction Phil 4.19; Luke 12.15
Luke 12.15 says "a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" to be truly satisfied we have to seek the Lord. Phil 4.19 tells us that the deepest security and significance come from God.. Be careful to seek the face and trust the hand of God (instead of seeking the hand…)

Handling Disagreements

2011-08-26T09:48:00.002-05:00

So how do you handle disagreements among the brethren?

Keep things in perspective - A variety of opinions is a welcome diversity that causes all of us to grow. Don't reject someone because they see things differently than you do.

Don't transfer your disagreement - Lack of uniformity can actually testify to our ability to forebear with one another. Especially because of our differences. Don't let your disagreement regarding one thing foster hostility and disagreement in all areas. For instance, I pray with and am friends with some very nice believers that disagree with my position on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I sincerely believe they are wrong, but they are still good people and wonderful friends.

Don't question motives- When you disagree take the argument at face value, and don't speculate about the motivations.

Personal differences aren't sinful-Some issues are informed by a different world view. Perhaps informed by culture, or doctrine. Certain things are clearly taught in scripture others are inferred, still other positions are arrived at because of systematic study. Sin involves a compromise of moral or spiritual guidelines. Remember the saying in the the main things unity, in all things charity.

Don't hestitate to say- "You might be right but I have to follow my understanding of what is right"

Parenting Mistakes Yield Lessons

2011-08-23T11:12:00.004-05:00

Remember when you brought that bundle of joy home and you came to the realization that you had the power to make this little one an engaged and articulate student or ... to really screw them up. I remember that revelation and it scared me to death! Over time as my children grew I recognized the imprint of my life on theirs, especially my mistakes and flaws. They seemed to be replicating in the life of my children and I was concerned about it. I prayed and sought counsel from others. I read and attended conferences on parenting. I just wanted them to turn out okay and not wrestle with some of the same things that I did as I grew to maturity.

Here are some simple lessons I learned.

1) Staying positive. There are days when this alone is a challenge, but I assure you that it is important. My bad attitude set the temperature in the house. When I am positive and filled with faith that we are going to survive and overcome the challenges that we are facing it is amazing how it informs the discussions and attitudes of my kids.

2) Little sinners. Recognize your children for what they are. They are not innocent little angels that have relocated from heaven. They talk back, get cranky, steal and lie, and a thousand other things. (remember #1). You see they are just like you. They need need to learn about consequences for their actions and the need for mercy. They need to experience real forgiveness - full and deep. They need to be taught at a moral level- this is acceptable and that is not... and why.

3) Stay Structured. If you don't have guardrails your kids will end up driving off the cliff. Bedtimes are bed times (while they are not set in granite, neither are they suggestions). Naps are important. Small children NEED to sleep. ( a one year old needs a minimum of 14 hours a day! for more info) Before you buy the uniform and ball gloves- make sure they understand that they are making a commitment for the whole season- no quiting! Homework needs to be done on time. It needs to be done after school in the allotted slot. The list goes on and on. These structures are important and are character forming in the hearts of our little ones.

4) Put your guilt away. I know that you always wanted Junior to be your little buddy and that you feel guilty that you work all day but you are REQUIRED to be his parent. Don't parent out of laziness or guilt. You will have to be tough sometimes now in order to have the great relationship you want in the future. We are talking about your child's needs... not your own needs.

5) Educate your self. Read, study books, listen to mp3's, talk with friends, go to seminars, take a Sunday school class on parenting. Sharpen your skills as a parent.

6) Be flexible. What works for one child will likely have to be modified in another in order to achieve the desired results. When my teenager assured me that he was well advanced beyond his youth pastor and that he no longer desired to attend the Youth Group I was flexible. I said, "Well Son we are Christians and attend two services each week. But you don't have to attend Youth Group... You can sit in the adult service if you are bored up there. " He never attended a single adult service. The goal was spiritual growth. Since I could tell he wasn't walking on the water yet I didn't care that he got it somewhere other than the youth pastor.

7) Your being played. The little darling knows that you think the sun sets and rises upon their smile. They know that you basically don't want to do much in regards to parenting. They will try to tell you what you want to hear. Believe about half of what they say (remember #2). You won't be able to tell by looking when they start to lust, steal, masturbate, go to third base with their boyfriend, etc. Suspect everything. Leave little room for problems and they will have difficulty manifesting themselves.

8) Eat together without the TV on. Talk. Talk about what happened in school. Talk about the Word of God and how it applies to you (dinner is a great time form family devotions). Talk about politics, science, something you read. Keep the door open. Trust me the teen years come and they will try to close it on you. Build the relationship with your kids over and over.

9) Prioritize fellowship. Keep yourself and the kids in church. Make very few excuses to miss fellowship. Our life is the Word and Worship. Sports, homework, etc are poor excuses for missing church. That's right I said it! You need to put everything in its place so that a spiritual life will develop. Look around parents... spiritual lives don't develop by accident- they are purposefully designed in the lives of the children.

So there, are some of my lessons I've learned I'm sure there are more. What about you? Have any lessons you want to share?

Approval

2011-08-03T16:00:00.002-05:00

Father of mine, if you could see
Would you approve of the life that I lead
My everyday choices and language and such
Fail, so it seems, to mean very much

My character was formed by watching you then
When you walked in the kitchen and in the den
Stoic and quiet, you tackled your day
Even the last ones passed quietly

Were you afraid when they told you of death
Did you worry like I do about your last breath
Did it break your heart that you wouldn't retire
And sit with your grandkids around a fire

I want you to know that in me you loom large
Though you are out there or up there with the stars
I wish you could see what I have become
I hope you'd approve of the things I have done

In moments of quiet and darkness and fear
I fail to be strong as I would if you were near
I know that my foibles and sins would trouble you
But if you were here, you could inform me on how to get through

The gapping hole left in the soul of a lad
is still on the inside - and it drives me mad
I work very hard in hopes of your nod
Approval, ever silent, so onward I plod.

Tough Measures for Tough Times

2011-08-02T16:56:00.007-05:00

For whatever reason the world seems to be increasingly harsh. Men and women of faith are all undergoing a thorough working over by the spirit of the age. It seems to me that almost every day I hear of another person who has fallen into deep sin that is life transforming for their family. So what should we do in the face of a hostile living environment?

1) Be encouraging- Since so many people are struggling let's make our words powerful and encouraging. The best way I know to do that is to sprinkle liberally encouraging promises in our conversation. "Let your conversation be seasoned with salt..." wrote the Apostle to the Gentiles. He knew that the most powerful words are divine words. And, while it might be tempting to ramble along meaninglessly, or to trade in the gossip of the office pool, remember the likelihood that somebody there needs to be encouraged today. Ephesians tells us to "Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs so that it may benefit those who listen."

2) Be sensitive-Looking beyond the surface takes an extra moment but sometimes you can see the toll that the struggles of life are taking on those in your work place or prayer group. When they are hurting, avoid the words of unsolicited advise and use, instead, words of compassion and hope. Struggles don't come at good times, they pile on in bad times. So be sensitive to the hurts, needs and cares that your friends and family are having to fight through.

3) Be positive-Negativity is death. The sign of a spirit-filled life is making music in your heart to the Lord. PRAISE! There is no time when it is inappropriate. Hope is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. No matter what you are facing God has more than enough power, wisdom, strength and help to get you through. Make a stand yourself and encourage those who are slowly being poisoned by negativity and hopelessness.

4) Be prayerful- Some situations are impossible... unless God acts. He doesn't act until he is invited into the situation. So you and I will have to be prayer warriors. Seeking the face of God to do warfare against the real enemies of our soul. Your enemy is not your boss, your struggle is not with flesh and blood. Rebuke the devil with all authority, resist his subtle advances and temptations, and submit yourself to God completely and you will have a victorious outcome. Pray for those who are hurting, those important people in the ministry of your church who watch for your soul- they are under incessant attack. Let God's power be released through your prayer life.

5) Be on your guard-While we minister to others, occasionally there is a transference that happens. Their burdens bring discouragement upon us. We find ourselves sharing their doubts and sinking into their despair. Guard your heart, as Solomon taught his son, for out of it flows the issues of life. Caution is needed that we don't go too fast, too deep, for too long. Is your life balanced? Are things good at home, in your marriage, with your kids? Are you working productively at the office? Are you developing new friendships? Are serving spiritually somewhere? Is there music in your life?

Overcoming the darkness isn't that hard...we just have to turn on the light! Let your light so shine...

Separation Anxiety

2011-07-29T10:02:00.002-05:00

I have a friend who is considering leaving his wife. He has "fallen out of love." He now blames her for nearly everything from his lack of happiness to global warming. Sad. I have tried to tell him that her offenses are not insurmountable. But he has made up his mind. She must go. The kids are going to be heartbroken. There will be all that back and forth of the "my weekend" vs "Your weekend". I think he fantasizes that his life will be so much fuller without her bothersome traits. Certainly, he looks forward to connecting with another gal who will meet his needs, provide him with happiness, and give him a fresh start. He doesn't get the part where his kids will reject this new lover and despise him for putting them in a position where they must choose which parent to align themselves with. He probably hasn't thought of the therapy cost for the kids. Rejection and other confusing emotions take a toll. Alimony and child support will be there to suck his meager check down to a point of almost poverty. One mortgage will turn to two... or none as everyone moves into different apartments. Likely, he will have to dip into the college fund and savings that he had for his kids. Hopefully, that won't doom his children to low paying jobs for the rest of their lives. Will the children continue to follow the faith of their fractured parents? The spiritual implications are overwhelming to consider. It is ugly. And it is uglier than his fantasy life will allow him to admit.

What leads to this is sin. What perpetuates this in this case (where there is no adultery, alcoholism, or abuse) is a selfishness. Funny (or sad!) how our selfishness and sinfulness lead to this kind of brokenness. Sin always separates. There is an anxiety that I feel as I watch this family implode. And I know, that if everyone involved could see the hidden costs of divorce they would rethink the simple acts of loving, forgiving, and restoring in order to keep the family together.

As followers of Jesus (not merely 'believers in') we know that forgiveness has a premium place of priority. It is hard to let go of offenses, but when we do we often find that we are not the innocents that we thought ourselves to be. Facing our own need of forgiveness often tempers our judgment with mercy. Pray for this family, and all the others that you know of who are living in separation anxiety.

An Essay on Forgiveness by C.S. Lewis

2011-06-21T15:50:00.002-05:00

We say a great many things in church (and out of church too) without thinking of what we are saying. For instance, we say in the Creed " I believe in the forgiveness of sins." I had been saying it for several years before I asked myself why it was in the Creed. At first sight it seems hardly worth putting in. "If one is a Christian," I thought " of course one believes in the forgiveness of sins. It goes without saying." But the people who compiled the Creed apparently thought that this was a part of our belief which we needed to be reminded of every time we went to church. And I have begun to see that, as far as I am concerned, they were right. To believe in the forgiveness of sins is not so easy as I thought. Real belief in it is the sort of thing that easily slips away if we don't keep on polishing it up.

We believe that God forgives us our sins; but also that He will not do so unless we forgive other people their sins against us. There is no doubt about the second part of this statement. It is in the Lord's Prayer, it was emphatically stated by our Lord. If you don't forgive you will not be forgiven. No exceptions to it. He doesn't say that we are to forgive other people's sins, provided they are not too frightful, or provided there are extenuating circumstances, or anything of that sort. We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated. If we don't we shall be forgiven none of our own.

Now it seems to me that we often make a mistake both about God's forgiveness of our sins and about the forgiveness we are told to offer to other people's sins. Take it first about God's forgiveness, I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different. I am asking him not to forgive me but to excuse me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing. Forgiveness says, "Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before." If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive. In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites. Of course, in dozens of cases, either between God and man, or between one man and another, there may be a mixture of the two. Part of what at first seemed to be the sins turns out to be really nobody's fault and is excused; the bit that is left over is forgiven. If you had a perfect excuse, you would not need forgiveness; if the whole of your actions needs forgiveness, then there was no excuse for it. But the trouble is that what we call "asking God's forgiveness" very often really consists in asking God to accept our excuses. What leads us into this mistake is the fact that there usually is some amount of excuse, some "extenuating circumstances." We are so very anxious to point these things out to God (and to ourselves) that we are apt to forget the very important thing; that is, the bit left over, the bit which excuses don't cover, the bit which is inexcusable but not, thank God, unforgivable. And if we forget this, we shall go away imagining that we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves without own excuses. They may be very bad excuses; we are all too easily satisfied about ourselves.

There are two remedies for this danger. One is to remember that God knows all the real excuses very much better than we do. If there are real "extenuating circumstances" there is no fear that He will overlook them. Often He must know many excuses that we have never even thought of, and therefore humble souls will, after death, have the delightful surprise of discovering that on certain occasions they sinned much less than they thought. All the real excusing He will do. What we have got to take to Him is the inexcusable bit, the sin. We are only wasting our time talking about all the parts which can (we think) be excused. When you go to a Dr. you show him the bit of you that is wrong - say, a broken arm. It would be a mere waste of time to keep on explaining that your legs and throat and eyes are all right. You may be mistaken in thinking so, and anyway, if they are really right, the doctor will know that.

The second remedy is really and truly to believe in the forgiveness of sins. A great deal of our anxiety to make excuses comes from not really believing in it, from thinking that God will not take us to Himself again unless He is satisfied that some sort of case can be made out in our favor. But that is not forgiveness at all. Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse, after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness, and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it.

When it comes to a question of our forgiving other people, it is partly the same and partly different. It is the same because, here also forgiving does not mean excusing. Many people seem to think it does. They think that if you ask them to forgive someone who has cheated or bullied them you are trying to make out that there was really no cheating or bullying. But if that were so, there would be nothing to forgive. (This doesn't mean that you must necessarily believe his next promise. It does mean that you must make every effort to kill every taste of resentment in your own heart - every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out.) The difference between this situation and the one in which you are asking God's forgiveness is this. In our own case we accept excuses too easily, in other people's we do not accept them easily enough. As regards my own sins it is a safe bet (though not a certainty) that the excuses are not really so good as I think; as regards other men's sins against me it is a safe bet (though not a certainty) that the excuses are better than I think. One must therefore begin by attending to everything which may show that the other man was not so much to blame as we thought. But even if he is absolutely fully to blame we still have to forgive him; and even if ninety-nine per cent of his apparent guilt can be explained away by really good excuses, the problem of forgiveness begins with the one per cent of guilt that is left over. To excuse, what can really produce good excuses is not Christian charity; it is only fairness. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single great injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life - to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son - How can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night "Forgive our trespasses* as we forgive those that trespass against us." We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it is to refuse God's mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says.

Biblical Marriage

2011-06-08T18:05:00.004-05:00

Ask the Pastor Question-Is it true if you are not married in church, you are still single?

Well, the simple answer is no. Since marriage in our culture is a contractual negotiation honored by the Government it is a reality- as long as a license was purchased. Are you more married if you were married in church? No, but you may more accurately understand the nature of marriage. Biblical marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman and God. Usually done in front of witnesses, this covenant is before God and meant to be lived out with integrity. Soem folks say there are many types of marriages in the Scripture. This is a distortion of the biblical message. Jesus spoke very clearly in Matthew 19.4ff about marriage saying that "... in the beginning the Creator made them male and femaleand for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh."

So why not just pledge before God? Good point, except some people have used this line to avoid the public proclamation of marriage. Marriage is the building block of the family. Strong marriages equal a strong society. So we have to honor the societal rules surrounding marriage so that we may be legally regarded as "partners" in the ownership of homes, children, etc.

So we always ask that couples pledge bibically and publically when we perform weddings around here.

Pulled Upward

2011-05-31T16:33:00.005-05:00

C. Brian Larson writes, "No matter what our station, daily life in a fallen world is a walk through a gauntlet of belittlement...(we) are bombarded by false values and beliefs that cheapen God's creation, by personal slights and insults, by Satan's accusations. (Our) minds are assaulted by scabrous images in the media and by profanity that is objectionable to God precisely because it debases the creation... After such a week, it's a wonder that a person can walk into church with any sense of worth..."
This is so true. We listen to the voices around us pelting us with the fecal remnants of a Godless life like monkeys throwing their mess around in the zoo cage. We cannot help but come home each night with those demonic visages filling our minds and the accusations of a Godless society ringing in our ears. We struggle on through the week. But after a few days of this brow beating we come into the presence of God. (Some people say that the day of the church building is gone but I prefer to walk into the house where my pastors and elders are praying and interceding for me through out the week; to a place where I have met God numerous times before; to the altar where my vows were taken, my children dedicated to the will of God, my sins were bared before a forgiving God.)

Into that place I walk, and I find the presence of God. From the moment the music starts and the worshipful singing begins I feel myself pulled upward. Like a hand gently lifting my tired body from the heap of the worthless self... my legs strengthen. My back begins to straighten up and my wounded heart begins to release the anxiety it is carrying and beats more freely. A few deep breaths and the presence of God comes to give me succor and strength. Then comes the preaching of the Word of God. The speaker has pondered and prayed; he has listened and labored to find the words that will communicate God's intent for his beloved. The Word is not condemning, nor is it a scolding voice. God is not frustrated, not angry in some sort of divine petulance but he is inviting, calling out, reaching to me to lift me up. He is lifting me to him. The Word of the preacher comes and lifts my soul and I begin to see with a new vision, so unlike the one sold to me by the world. I smell hope cooking in the oven of my soul, I hear courage coming into the vacuum of my once fearful heart, I feel the rush of a new strength coming into me as I see that it is true... Nothing is impossible with God!

My legs gain the strength to stand, my heart knows that I can face another day, my spirit begins to take on the indomitable presence of God. I am shaped, formed and reformed. I am empowered, encouraged and enamored with the one who died for me. I am responding to the Spirit's challenge to me... "will you rise again and take up the challenge of another week?" Rise I do, knowing that I am not alone- to a vacuous world so in need of what I have already received, yet unknowing. And in the hope that I can make a difference for one before it is too late I prepare to make another charge, not in my strength but in the strength of the one who lifts me to his breast and imparts his power in me.

That is the reason I go to church, to be pulled upward.

Camping Misses the Call

2011-05-20T16:16:00.004-05:00

Well, it has happened again. Another person who, though he evidently can read what the scripture clearly says about setting dates for the Lord's return, thinks he knows better. Hmmm- maybe he is just stupid! Yeah that is it, he is a dingbat! Except the rest of the world now thinks that we are the same kind of dingbat!

Coworkers will now raise one eyebrow and ask "Doesn't your church believe in the return of Jesus?" "Yes but..." you will fain to explain the difference as you drop your eyes to the floor and shuffle your uneasy feet. This is the same thing that happens when anyone violates the clear command of scripture. Jesus taught in Matthew 24.36 that "...of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." NASB. But the dingbat always thinks he is above the restrictions of scripture, and even when the members of the Trinity aren't sharing the information there is always some dude who thinks he made the cut and Jesus is left without the knowledge.

Here is a little Biblical instruction for dingbats and future dingbats- the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus... it is impossible for him to tell you when he is coming back because (as Mt 24.36 clearly says) he doesn't know!!!!

There are lots of people who think that they have the right to circumvent the clear teaching of scripture by walking according to their own thinking. Camping's 'Prophecy' is a glaring hindrance to witness for the king and will sting the church and stifle the witness of the local church and the individuals in those communities (Thanks alot Harold!)But what about those that hold bitterness, get drunk, sleep around, etc. Aren't they ignoring the clear teaching of the Word too? So I guess they are hindrances on a smaller scale.

So - my advice- read and obey the Word of God to the best of your ability. Don't be a dingbat!

Full House beats a Pair

2011-05-14T12:55:00.005-05:00

"Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full." Luke 15.23

In this parable Jesus reveals a matter of the Father's heart. Sometimes we can think that God has an affinity for small gatherings. Church leaders often think that the smaller intimate gatherings of the believers afford more vulnerability and intimacy. And they are correct in that assumption. Small can be advantageous, but it is the Lord's will that his kingdom be crowded.Father God wants his house full!

God isn't worried about overcrowding. Did you ever think that God intends us to be city dwellers in eternity? John saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, descending from heaven (Rev 21.1). While some of us think that it would be pleasant to have 50 acres to wander in our glorified bodies through out eternity- it seems God wants us together. While Jesus was concerned that "few would find it", the narrow way is available to many and God wants all to enter in.

Don't you think that the church should be more diligent in inviting in those around us so that Heaven might be "full". So do you love someone enough to invite them to join you forever? What can we do to invite the whole neighborhood to heaven with us?

Maybe you and I should invite somebody today!

Is it Finished?

2011-04-21T08:10:00.003-05:00

The great cry of the Savior from the Cross was "It is Finished!". What did Jesus mean when he said that? The fuller context of John 19.30 tells us that "...Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." So to what was Jesus referring?

One thing that was over was the humiliation of the privileges of Heaven and embracing the role as a human. Paul would write many years later, "He made himself nothing, taking the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form." (Phil 2.7)It is almost unthinkable of the condescension of God to walk as a man, to face temptation as a man, to live an exemplary sinless life as a man, and to walk pointing to God with his whole life but in human strength. None of this could be possible unless he was empowered by the Holy Spirit. In this was Jesus could say as so many have said in their last days of life- It is finished. It is a statement of hope and a declaration of confidence that he "would not be left to see decay" but would be vindicated.

Another thing that Jesus is referring to is the agony of the Cross. Clearly, the pain of the cross was on his mind. He was in excruciating pain. He was humiliated as a criminal guilty of a capital crime. He was hung before the public naked and was publicly beaten and spat upon. Medical descriptions of the cross, even those that are conservative, describe a horrific pain. But Jesus was enduring this for me and you. He was guilty only of love and obedience to the Father. This pain was tweaked by the sense of abandonment that Jesus died with. His cry "why have you forsaken me" describes the feeling in his heart. But Jesus was able to push past his feelings and cling to the hope of life eternal gained for others. Above all this was a truly heroic moment. It is finished refers to the agony of the cross.

But more so than all that was the determination that Jesus was "finishing" the atonement. The term is a declaration of completion. Salvation accomplished on teh cross is complete. To the thief on the cross the promise of paradise demonstrates that even if our hands and feet are nailed down we can be saved. There is literally nothing left for us to accomplish! All the human emotions of trying to earn God's love or trying to justify ourselves are inaccurate feelings. Rather, the Christian believer needs to walk in the confidence that all that has been accomplished on the cross is enough to satisfy the love of God and the justice of God. Our sins of the past and future are washed away. Our failings are linked to our inability to think of ourselves as redeemed people. The longer I walk with the Lord the more I recognize that Christ's loving sacrifice is all there is for me to stand upon.

"When all around is sinking sand, On Christ the solid rock I stand..."

This week as we look to the wonderful cross- be careful not to add a single effort of your own to salvation. It is not because you chose so correctly, nor that you attained some spiritual wisdom, nor that you have straightened out your crooked life. All these have happened because of the cross.

Glory to the Lamb of God that took my sins to the cross! Glory to the love of God that sent the Son! Glory to the One who sent my sins to the depths of the sea. My life can begin again because "It is finished!".

Holy Week Poem by Max Lucado

2011-04-14T13:58:00.000-05:00

Road. Dark. Stars. Shadows. Four. Sandals. Robes. Quiet. Suspense. Grove. Trees. Alone. Questions. Anguish. 'Father!' Sweat. God. Man. God-Man. Prostrate. Blood. 'NO!' 'Yes.' Angels. Comfort. Footsteps. Torches. Voices. Romans. Surprise. Swords. Kiss. Confusion. Betrayal. Fearful. Run! Bound. Wrists. Marching. Courtyard. Priests. Lamps. Sanhedrin. Caiaphas. Sneer. Silk. Arrogance. Beard. Plotting. Barefoot. Rope. Calm. Shove. Kick. Annas. Indignant. Messiah? Trial. Nazarene. Confident. Question. Answer. Punch! Peter. 'Me?' Rooster. Thrice. Guilt. Proceedings. Court. Rejection. Prosecute. Weary. Pale. Witnesses. Liars. Inconsistent. Silence. Stares. 'Blasphemer!' Anger. Waiting. Bruised. Dirty. Fatigued. Guards. Spit. Blindfold. Mocking. Blows. Fire. Twilight. Sunrise. Golden. Jerusalem. Temple. Passover. Lambs. Lamb. Worshipers. Priests. Messiah. Hearing. Fraud. Prisoner. Waiting. Standing. Shifting. Strategy. 'Pilate!' Trap. Murmurs. Exit. Stirring. Parade. Crowd. Swell. Romans. Pilate. Toga. Annoyed. Nervous. Officers. Tunics. Spears. Silence. 'Charge?' 'Blasphemy.' Indifference. Ignore. (Wife. Dream.) Worry. Interview. Lips. Pain.

Determined. 'King?' 'Heaven.' 'Truth.' 'Truth?' Sarcasm. (Fear.) 'Innocent!' Roar. Voices. 'Galilean!' 'Galileee?' 'Herod!' 9:00 A.M. Marchers. Palace. Herod. Fox. Schemer. Paunchy. Crown. Cape. Scepter. Hall. Elegance. Silence. Manipulate. Useless. Vexed. Revile. Taunt. 'King?' Robe. Theatrical. Cynical. Hateful. 'Pilate!' Marching. Uproar. Prisoner. Hushed. Pilate. 'Innocent!' Bedlam. 'Barabbas!' Riot. Despair. Christ. Bare. Rings. Wall. Back. Whip. Slash. Scourge. Tear. Bone. Moan. Flesh. Rhythm. Silence. Whip! Silence. Whip! Silence. Whip! Thorns. Stinging. Blind. Laughter. Jeering. Scepter. Slap. Governor. Distraught. (Almost.) Eyes. Jesus. Decision. Power. Freedom? Threats. Looks. Yelling. Weak. Basin. Water. Swayed. Compromise. Blood. Guilt. Soldiers. Thieves. Crosspiece. Shoulder. Heavy. Beam. Heavy. Sun. Stagger. Incline. Houses. Shops. Faces. Mourners. Murmurs. Pilgrims. Women. Tumble. Cobblestone. Exhaustion. Gasping. Simon. Pathetic. Golgotha. Skull. Calvary. Crosses. Execution. Death. Noon. Tears. Observers. Wails. Wine. Nude. Bruised. Swollen. Crossbeam. Sign. Ground. Nails. Pound. Pound. Pound. Pierced. Contorted. Thirst. Terrible. Grace. Writhing. Raised. Mounted. Hung. Suspended. Spasms. Heaving. Sarcasm. Sponge. Tears. Taunts. Forgiveness. Dice. Gambling. Darkness. Absurdity. Death. Life. Pain. Peace. Condemn. Promise. Nowhere. Somewhere. Him. Us. 'Father!' Robbers. Paradise. Wailing. Weeping. Stunned. 'Mother.' Compassion. Darkness. 'My God!' Afraid. Scapegoat. Wilderness. Vinegar. 'Father.' Silence. Sigh. Death. Relief. Earthquake. Cemetery. Tombs. Bodies. Mystery. Curtain. Spear. Blood. Water.

Spices. Linen. Tomb. Fear. Waiting. Despair. Stone. Mary. Running. Maybe? Peter. John. Belief. Enlightenment. Truth. Mankind.

Alive. Alive. Alive!

The Problem of Self Deception

2011-03-30T07:41:00.003-05:00

Untrustworthy. That is my assessment of my own heart. I have made poor decisions in the past based upon my emotions. I have trusted my own thoughts and plans and found them to be in error. I have convinced myself in the past that wrong is right and right is wrong. I know it to be true that the "heart is deceitful", as Jeremiah says.

Being Decieved is easy. But it is the ultimate betrayal when it is your own heart that betrays you. James tells us that this has roots in a shallow relationship with the Lord. "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (James 1:22) Amazingly, it is possible for us to be in church hearing the word, read the scriptures often and yet have a predetermined plan that we will only obey those commands that "make sense" to us. This, of course, means that we are our own Lord and Jesus... well Jesus isn't. As scary as that may be, it gets worse.

We spiral into a deception that is self induced and get farther and farther from the will of God. This is further exasserbated by the religious veil that is cast over our lives. We can lie and decieve, cheat and connive, and lust and covet- all the while we are singing "Praises to Jesus". What we are sometimes to dull to percieve and what others cannot tell at all is that our praises and prayers are rejected from heaven. God rejects those attempts are relationship with him. Isaiah's generation had their hypocritical religious actions rejected by God. He said in Chapter 1
When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen

It seems like the people going through these actions needed Isaiah to tell them they were wasting their time because they had so decieved themselves.

A sobering thought.

The Secrets of Self Control

2011-03-28T07:13:00.002-05:00

Gal 5.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

In a recent article Daniel Akst bemoans the fact that we are losing the personal battles in self control. He warns, "...Human nature hasn't changed, but the landscape of temptation sure has. Technology is a leading culprit. From refrigeration to credit cards to automobiles to the Internet, technology makes it possible for more and more people to live surrounded by "supernormal" stimuli. Technology goes hand-in-glove with capitalism, which plays a large but complex role as well...In the future, self-control is only going to get harder. People across the world are more affluent, more mobile, and less tradition-bound. Behaviors that were once taboo or outlawed are gaining acceptance, and so can be indulged stigma-free."

This is all bad news to those of us who are charged to "walk by the Spirit" and "not gratify the desires of the flesh". In a world where there is such a lack of personal integrity , where morality is seen as passe and archaic, and where self indugence is celebrated as 'self actualization', it will be increasingly difficult for men and women of God to live out a Biblical morality.

Akst further reminds us that this is a predictor of success."We now know that small children who can refrain from seizing a treat grow up into more successful adults in almost every way. Among students, self-control is a better predictor of academic success than IQ.." I suppose we should not be surprised that God's way ends up blessing those who walk in self-control.

Self-control gives us the ability to manage our anger, our lusts, our appetites, our covetousness, our money, and a thousand other impulses that assail our senses. We are better people for learning the secrets of self-control.

Accountability. Making ourselves accountible to another is a key to self-control. Sometimes we do that after the fact, such as letting your spouse review your calorie intake when you are on a diet. Sometimes we do that before the fact, "Honey, don't let me drink too much at this party we attending." This takes some minor organization and must be set up ahead of time.

Predetermined consequences. We might commit to ourselves that if we have difficulty watching inappropriate movies that we cancel the cable package that allows that channel into our home. Or we might precommit to only go out to eat Saturday night if the garage gets organized. This can be a motivational method but it still requires discipline.

Contagious Discipline. I have discovered that when I am disciplined in one area I find a way to be disciplined in other areas of my life. Exercise, for instance, helps my prayer and Bible reading habits.

Spirituality. But ultimately, walking in self-control is equivalent to walking in the Spirit. When I am submitted to God totally, loving him with my whole heart, and surrendered to his will I don't want to personally grieve Him. By discovering God's opinion of my issues I learn what pleases Him and can adjust my life accordingly. Knowing my life pleases Him is an amazing feeling. It is a powerful motivator to be 'right' with God. And that is likely the greatest secret of all in this world.

Study scriptures Prov 25.28; 2 Tim 1.7; Prov 1.2; Phil 4.13; 1 Thess 5.6-8; 1 Pet 5.8-9; Mt 26.41

Letter to my Enemies

2011-03-23T13:11:00.003-05:00

Yeah, you know who you are.
You are more interested in tearing me down than in helping me grow. You spread stuff about me to others and some of it is true. You do everything you can to entice me to sin- be it in rage, or lust, or covetousness, or whatever. You try to discourage me and when that doesn't work, you go after my family- hoping to discourage them from walking in the ways of God. You hinder my relationship with friends and confidants and try to poison their thoughts concerning me. You are a hitman to assassinate my character. You judge me. You provoke me. You entice me. You tempt and torture me.

I hate what you do to my friends, too. You twisted perverts! You suck all the joy out of their lives, and destroy every precious thing in their lives. You are so slick sometimes they can't even see it is YOU that did all that. You are quite the liars!

I am sick of it. Sick of giving in to your discouragement. Sick of the flesh acting out. Sick of the lies. Sick of the slick sales job you use to entice. I am sick of you using my own lusts against me. Sick of the emptiness that I feel when I give in to your despair.

So I am determined to humiliate you. You better watch out because I am coming right at YOU. I will continue to live my life for God. I will not care about what others think about me, and I will not compromise because of you! You are losers- everyone of you. That will be clear soon enough. I am sure that God will smite your jaw and rattle your teeth soon enough. So I hope you enjoyed this cause this is the last time I am giving you a thought. You are of no account to me. I am done with you.

The Grand thing about Grandsons

2011-02-23T15:58:00.002-06:00

Last night we went to a restaurant that usually has enough distractions to keep my gluttonous mind occupied. We had family members there and were celebrating a birthday. Food was great and the atmosphere was warm and inviting. We laughed and enjoyed each others company. Generally, a great evening.

There was one family member who was a great distraction, though. It wasn't because he is too big - he is only 7 pounds. It wasn't because he was loud because he slept though out the dinner. It wasn't because of his health challenges- there are no symptoms of those yet. It was because he is so cute!

We sit around the table and pass him along like he is a rugby ball. Amazingly, he remains asleep for the full trip around the family table. Occassionally, he opens an eye or two to squint at the new "full back" who has taken the hand off.

I know that there will be times when he really is loud and probably will cause a different kind of scene in the restaurants but these days he just sits sending out the "vibe" and disturbing the wait staff around us with his cuteness. It is pretty cool.

When my wife and I had our children we were separated from the grandparents by many miles and, therefore, they only saw them on holidays when we would make the trip north. I have regrets about that because the really grand thing about being a grand parent is being included in the family. I am sure that mom and dad can handle my grandson without my help. They are very capable individuals. But sitting at the round table and getting the occassional hand off is all I need these days. It is really "grand"!

Basic Rule of Cellphone Etiquette

2011-02-11T11:04:00.002-06:00

by Denise McCluggage

Gone are the days when people whipped out a cell phone to demonstrate how "with it" they were. Now nearly everyone who wants a cellphone -- teenager to drug dealer -- are running about wireless. Hot it may be, but hip it isn't. And thankfully fading in impact are the "Guess where I am?" calls.

Still, there are those who think they are impressing everyone by rearing back to send their bell-like laughter into the unwired ether. And many cellphone calls are the inane (to anyone nearby) "natter" calls full of "...and then I go...and he goes."

No wonder cellphone backlash, even cellphone rage is with us. One report: Two men in a cafe were beaten and their phones destroyed by two others after the pair ignored repeated requests to curb their loud and continuous yakking on their phones.

But to digress into the future: Let us talk now of Instant Communication. Cellphones are perhaps closer to "instant" than anything else we have known, but they are like drum beats to the telegraph. How about tiny chips implanted behind the ear to power thought messages and direct them to the correct recipient? No palm this or e-that. We speak here of direct and instant. Certainly nothing as crude as a handheld gadget that plays a few bars of Beethoven to let you know someone wants a word. Instant.

The cell rule for places of worship: Leave the phone at home, in the car or at least turn it off before you enter. God may call you, but it's unlikely He will use Verizon.

There will be no audible interruption. No patting pockets or rummaging about in bags trying to track down the illusive trilling. No disrupting the foursome at the next table (who frown in unanimity). No bringing up short the preacher in mid parable; the speaker in mid point; the soprano in mid aria.

However, even with Instant Communication there will be that telltale defocusing of the eyes, that sentence left hanging, that thought sent fleeing. And there's the rub. Those quick little absences of yours tell Present Company that something more important than they are has blipped your radar screen. And that, dear cellphone user, is what's most annoying to Present Company - being tuned out, turned off, dropped out for an unknown on a phone.

That's what is inescapably rude - the disruption of a call, whether by the Instant Communication of the future or the cellphone of today. A call imposes, infringes, presumes, intrudes. That's not nice. Phones have always been intrusive from the time they were on the wall with a crank for summoning "Central." Even today few people within earshot of a ringing phone can ignore it though it may mean dinner or ardor growing cold. In business, the face-to-face customer always seems to be secondary to the prospective one on the phone. Just visit any department store and see.

As travelers, if we hear our flight is suddenly canceled we are far better served if we immediately get on the phone and not on a long line to await our turn.

Love it or hate it (or both) the phone is supreme. We inherently resent the command of the ring just as we unconsciously respond to it. I think that's why people in restaurants, airport shuttle buses, supermarket check-out lines - all those places where cellphones ring, buzz, tootle, beep or orchestrate - are so annoyed by the beck of a phone. It's because their first impulse is "I'll get it!" But it isn't for them.

Thus it is not just the cellular phone, but the telephone itself that is the source of the problem. It demands; we comply. That's rankling to us at a basic level. Untethering the phone and allowing it to roam wireless, like the neighborhood's most bothersome dog that has chewed through its leash, has simply given new range to the phone's propensity for mischief.

Keep in mind, the more available you make yourself the more available everyone will expect you to be. People will actually be miffed if you are not instantly and constantly available rather than being pleased when you do call.
We are all in our own way slaves to it, and to be mustered - mistakenly and in unfamiliar places - is off-putting. We resent it. And thus we resent the person who says: "Hello?" into the instrument.
But back to cellphones; resentment of their summoning sound is just a small part of what makes them, as some would have it, a "scourge." Actually, that part can be dealt with easily since silencing them scarcely limits their usefulness. Instead of an audible sound a vibration or a small flashing light on the end of a special pen greatly narrows the circle of those who know a phone is asking to be answered. So the noise of the phone can be handled.

But how about the noise of the user?

It's an interesting matter - why do cellphone users shout into it as if it were a tin can connected to another by a string? I have a friend whose normal tone of voice is perfectly, well, normal. But let him flip open his cellphone and you'd think he's trying to yell at deaf Uncle Lloyd in the lower forty over the pocketa-pocketa of a Fordson tractor.

I said one day at lunch when his bellowed "hello" had turned a few heads, "You know, there's a microphone in that little thing. It can hear you." I later set an exercise for him - if he felt required to change the level of his voice in the transition from face-to-face to phone, try lowering it. He did. It worked famously. Now no one can tell if his talk is phone time or face time. Try it.

And if you can't be heard, don't raise your voice; raise your body and exit to the back hall where the pay phones are. Or go outside among the other jackhammers and shout all you like. Realize that shouting in a restaurant (an office hallway, a bus, a bookstore) is rude and uncalled for, whether you have a phone in front of your face or not. If you are not aware that you are shouting (and some are not) then take your cue from the response of those around you. If anyone looks, lower your voice.

I have a theory why people shout into cellphones, beyond the fact that the early instruments maybe needed such help. I think the shouting has to do with barely hearing the person on the other end. And just as we raise the decibels to make certain a non-English-speaking person can understand what we are saying, we tend to shout when we can't hear. Make sense? Of course not. We are human.

The Rules

Here are some basic rules of etiquette for using your cellphone. (Car phone use is another subject.)

First, think of your phone as a tool for emergencies (i.e. the baby sitter to say that your child has made a hole in one of a neighbor kid's head with your nine iron; the hospital to say your father's long-awaited kidney is on the helicopter; your staff to alert you the jury is returning; your neighbor to say Ed McMahon is hovering about your door with a massive rectangle of cardboard.

Second, think of your phone as a portable answering machine. It takes messages and when you are in an appropriate place, say your car BEFORE you unpark it; a park bench far from anyone else; a phone booth (!) no one else wants (phone booths are fairly quiet), etc.

Restaurants:

Ask if there are special restrictions on phone use.

Initiate only essential calls.

Keep conversations brief to terse. Use an at-table call primarily to make an appointment for a more appropriate time for a call-back.

If you simply must be available you can put your phone on "vibrate" - say for your anticipated dinner companion to tell you that he is caught in traffic like a grape in aspic so have another drink. (If your phone does not have a vibrate capability maybe it's time for a new one.)

Practice speaking in a quiet conversational tone. If no one looks your way I think you've got it.

Theaters, concerts, meetings etc:

Check at the entrance to be sure your phone is "off." If you're compulsive, check for voice mail at breaks. (Remember, you used to have to go home to check your messages.)

If the only time you could get tickets to take the kids to "The Lion King" coincides with the only time a major mucky-muck is available for a conference call, put your phone on "vibrate" close to your heart and dash for the exit at the first tremor.

If you forget both "off" and "vibrate" and your phone rings, turn it off instantly. (And as unobtrusively as possible so nobody will suspect you are the jerk responsible). No matter what: DO NOT ANSWER IT!

Museums and art galleries:

Consider the reasons you are in such a place and be there totally. Turn off the phone, or better yet check it with your coat or tote bags.

Someone else's house or office:

Turn off your phone. If you are expecting a call of extreme importance, ask if it is acceptable that you receive an inaudible signal so you can leave the room to take the call.

Places of Worship:

Leave the cellphone at home, in the car or at least turn it off before you enter. God may call you but it's unlikely He will use Verizon.

Airline Travel:

Follow airline personnel instructions. Usually cellphones must be off as soon as the aircraft doors are closed until the doors open again on arrival. (Unless otherwise informed on long apron delays etc.)

Be particularly diligent if you have a cellphone with you but haven't used it lately. It could be on; there is adequate evidence the electronics within can interfere with those that guide the plane.

Face-to-face with someone:

Do not talk on the phone while someone is trying to take your order in a restaurant, locate an upgrade for you on an airplane or return the shoes you had half-soled. Attend to the face-to-face business totally even if you have to ask the one on the line to hold. Continuing to use the phone while nodding and signaling to the person in front of you is belittling and so extremely rude I've only seen the obnoxiously self-important do it.

Now here's a thought: Do you really want to be available all the time? Does that truly make you more productive, or does it just spread the productivity thinner over more time?

I once read studies of supermarkets vying to stay open longer than their competition. Then surveys demonstrated that beyond a point they were not necessarily increasing business, but rather spreading it out. And expensively so.

Keep in mind, the more available you make yourself the more available everyone will expect you to be. People will actually be miffed if you are not instantly and constantly available rather than being pleased when you do call.

Think: Do you really need to be - or want to be - "connected" 24/7/365? And ask: what's it doing for that tension across your upper back?

If you can summon the discipline to be unavailable at certain times - and even for uncertain lengths of time - it's doubtful much will change, except your peace of mind. I remember from childhood a friend's mother at an eat-over-supper halting her daughter's urge to jump up and answer the phone. She told her: "If it isn't important you've wasted the effort; if it is important they'll call back."

And that was before answering services or recording devices picked up after a few rings. That phone call was like the tree in an unpeopled forest: it fell and was forgotten, unnoticed forever.

The world still turned.

2011-01-19T13:30:00.000-06:00

Source of Faith Radio Haiti from High Adventure on Vimeo.

Getting out of Debt

2011-01-19T09:45:00.005-06:00

In order for us to survive the current economic misery we have to make some adaptations to the new environment. We can survive not because we are "turning the corner" economically but because we have learned the lessons from our experiences. We should be learning that a life of easy credit isn't easy except under optimum circumstances; that things won't stay the same; and that we are to be able to carry our own weight financially. Remember, when we are encumbered by debt we make Mammon the master of our lives rather than Jesus.

So a few thoughts on getting out of debt- This is something that you MUST do to get freedom and to find peace.

1. If you have credit card debts pay more than the minimum
David Braze of Motley Fool writes, "First, break the habit of paying only the minimum required each month. Paying the minimum -- usually 2% to 3% of the outstanding balance -- only prolongs the agony. Besides, it's precisely what the banks want you to do. The longer you take to repay the charges, the more interest they make, and the less cash you have in your pocket. Don't play their selfish game.

Instead, bite the bullet and pay as much as you can each month. If your minimum payment is $100, double that to $200 or more. Examine your normal expenses -- you can find the money. (For a gazillion ideas, check out our Living Below Your Means discussion board.) Skip eating out at lunch, and bring it from home instead. Eliminate desserts. Give up happy hour. We all have "luxuries," and you know what yours are.

Make a few sacrifices, and you will find the extra dollars needed to increase your debt repayments dramatically. Those increased payments will save you hundreds, if not thousands, in interest payments. Plus, you will get out of the hole you've dug for yourself much more quickly. Is it fun? No. But it sure beats living a hand-to-mouth existence, fearing bills each month."

Dave Ramsey has an alternative plan. Make a list of all your debts and sort through them. Put the lowest one on top. Make minimum payments on all your debts except the top on the list. This one you pay down as fast as possible. Continue with the plan until all your debts are liquidated. Before you can do any of that, however, you will need an emergency cushion of $1000. Save that first. Use in only for emergencies. And above all put away ALL your credit cards. Pay cash for everything.

2. Cash out your savings account
You could cash out your savings and investments and use the proceeds toward debt repayment. Yeah, no one wants to do that. But sometimes it's just wisdom. Again Braze says, "Even when debt interest is at 12%, your investments would have to pay more than 18% before federal and state taxes to equal that outflow of dollars. We doubt the dollars in your savings account are earning anywhere near that rate of interest. Pay off the debt, and it's the same as getting that 18% return without any risk on your part. The higher the interest rate on your debt, the more attractive repayment versus investment becomes."

3. Borrow against your life insurance or your 401k
Do you have life insurance with a cash value? If so, borrow against the policy. Do you have a 401k or a 403b? Borrow the money from yourself and pay your self the interest. Again- stop using credit or you will just be further in the hole. Generally, you can borrow against these at below commercial rates and the debt repayment is a short term plan. Stay on the plan!!!!

Whatever you do you have to move to a cash economy. That is tough these days but it's a lesson learned. You didn't build these debts quickly don't foolishly think that you will pay them down quickly. Financial freedom isn't for the faint of heart. But God can and will help you. Buckle down and get free.

After you knock down your debts conintue in the 80-10-10 principle. Live off of 80 percent, honor God with 10 percent, and put 10 percent in a savings account for the rest of your life. Eventually you will be in the enviable position of financial freedom.

6 Signs of Backsliding

2010-12-28T12:33:00.003-06:00

What is backsliding? Backsliding is talked about in a number of ways in scripture. It is ‘falling away’ ie., apostacy, ‘falling from grace’, becoming ‘Luke warm’, etc. The term backsliding refers to a 'turning back' or a 'revolt' or 'a going a stray'. It may come from the birthing process of a calf. When the cow is giving birth occasionally the calf will be in process of the birth, but will slide back into the womb of the mother. When this happens the farmer often has to tie a rope on the legs of the calf and pull it out to save it. For the Christian, our lives are the process of the new birth. When we revert back to our old ways we are sliding back. Through out the scripture men and women are challenged to “examine themselves to see if they be in the faith”.

1.) Tepid followers- Spiritual heat is important. Through out the scriptures the Lord commands his followers to “never be lacking in zeal” and to “keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord”. Sometimes a believer gets lulled into a lukewarm state by the pressures of life. Other times we allow ourselves to grow tepid because we grow “weary in well doing”. It is an accommodation to the flesh because we are tired of keeping the Spiritual heat on. Don’t take your spiritual life off of the burner.

2.) Costly Compromises- If your life has many secrets and hidden sins, you are very likely backslidden. If you feel you have absolution from some of God’s commands because “God understands your heart” you are likely backslidden. (In fact God does understand your heart, and that is why he gave you the commands in the first place!)
Compromise is always the enemy of obedience and the blessing and favor of God come only to his obedient children. Compromise by its very nature is the subjugating the commands of God.

3.) Prayerlessness- Lack of prayer is both a cause and a symptom of backsliding. If you fail to have quality time with God on a consistent basis you are slipping away from God. Paul wrote to the Galatians that it was not possible to justify themselves apart from Jesus Christ. Why would we think that we would be able to live righteously without him? While everyone is in a different place with regard to the development of their prayer life, each of us should be developing! No one can set a minimum time for you to pray each day except the Holy Spirit. I would wager that he will help you set that goal if you simply ask.

4.) Church attendance and Fellowship suffers- Look at your church attendance and the fellowship you have with men and women of faith. It isn’t hard to see if your dedication to God has slipped. There are some who say that it is possible to be a Christian without fellowship in a local body. This, of course, is ridiculous. Jesus established the church to be a place where the body could minister to each other. This can’t happen when you are not in regular attendance. Children need to be taught, people need to be prayed for, love need to be given, and truth needs to be received. Left to our own devices we will always pick and choose the truths we (our flesh) like to hear.

5.) Strained Relationships- Look at your most intimate relationships and you might see the evidence of your backslidden heart. Often we find friction in our most intimate relationships because we are convicted by the truth of God. We avoid praying with our spouses and children, we don’t read the Word together, and we are angry when others do so. This is a sign of our backslidden heart. We will struggle to be right with God as long as we have rebellion in our hearts. Every wall inside our hearts must come down before him.

6.) Hypocrisy- The greek word for hypocrite is used of an actor. It literally means false face. If you find yourself unable to “be yourself” it may be because you are hiding behind the false face. Talking a good game can maintain your status before men, but God knows from the jump that you are a phony. Demanding of others what you don’t demand of yourself; a lack of mercy in your dealings with others; and an unwillingness to apply the truth that you know already are signs of this problem.

There is a cure for the backslidden heart. It is simply repentance, getting down to the real issues before God- becoming ‘naked’ before him. Ask for forgiveness for your cold, rebellious, and hardened heart. In the times that I have done this, God has always taken me back to the simplicity of the love relationship with him. What is the most important commandment? To love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength…

I pray that your heart of stone will be replaced once again with a heart of soft tissue. Repent!
For further study

The Grand Design- Truth or Fiction?

2010-12-16T13:05:00.002-06:00

By William Lane Craig

Editor’s Note: When it came to the creation of the Universe, God just wasn’t necessary. This is the conclusion renowned English physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking has made in his latest book with Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design. “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going,” Hawking writes. According to Hawking, the big bang was a natural event that would have happened without the help or involvement of God. Thus, Hawking and Mlodinow’s new book has made a big bang among laypeople. But what about these authors’ conclusions? How accurate are they? William Lane Craig, noted Christian philosopher and theologian, responds to Hawking and Mlodinow’s new book.

The Grand Design and Philosophy
Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow open their book The Grand Design with a series of profound questions: What is the nature of reality? Where did all this come from? Did the universe need a Creator? Then they say, “Traditionally these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead. Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics. Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.”1

The professional philosopher can only roll his eyes at the effrontery and condescension of such a statement. Two scientists, who have to all appearances little acquaintance with philosophy, are prepared to pronounce an entire discipline dead and to insult their own faculty colleagues in philosophy at Cal Tech and Cambridge University — many of whom, such as Michael Redhead and D.H. Mellor, are eminent philosophers of science — for supposedly failing to keep up.

The professional philosopher will regard their verdict as not merely amazingly condescending but also as outrageously naÃ¯ve. The man who claims to have no need of philosophy is the one most apt to be fooled by it. One might therefore anticipate that Mlodinow and Hawking’s subsequent exposition of their favored theories will be underpinned by a host of unexamined philosophical presuppositions. That expectation is, in fact, borne out. They assert their claims about laws of nature, the possibility of miracles, scientific determinism, and the illusion of free will with only the thinnest of justification. Clearly Mlodinow and Hawking are up to their necks in philosophical questions.

What one might not expect is that, after pronouncing the death of philosophy, Hawking and Mlodinow should themselves plunge immediately into a philosophical discussion of scientific realism vs. antirealism. The first third of their book is not about current scientific theories at all but is a disquisition on the history and philosophy of science. I found this section to be the most interesting and mind-boggling of the whole book. Let me explain.

Having set aside a Monday afternoon to read Hawking and Mlodinow’s book, I had spent that morning working through a scholarly article from Blackwell’s Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics on a philosophical viewpoint known as ontological pluralism. Ontological pluralism is a view in a subdiscipline of philosophy whose name sounds like stuttering: meta-metaphysics, or, as it is sometimes called, meta-ontology. This is philosophy at its most ethereal. Ontology is the study of being, or of what exists — the nature of reality. Meta-ontology is one notch higher: It inquires whether ontological disputes are meaningful and how best to resolve them.

Ontological pluralism holds that there really is no right answer to many ontological questions, such as: Do composite objects exist? According to the ontological pluralist, there are just different ways of describing reality, and none of these is more correct or accurate than another. There literally is no fact of the matter at all in answer to these questions. So if you were to ask, “Is there such a thing as the Moon?” the ontological pluralist would say that the question has no objective answer. It is not true that the Moon exists, and it is not true that the Moon does not exist. There just is no fact of the matter about whether there is such a thing as the Moon. Ontological pluralism is thus a radical view that is defended by a handful of philosophers.

Imagine my astonishment, therefore, to find Hawking and Mlodinow espousing ontological pluralism (without being aware of the name) as their philosophy of science. They call their view “model-dependent realism.” They explain that models are just different ways of interpreting our sense perceptions. In their view there is no objective reality to which our models of the world more or less accurately correspond (page 7).

Mlodinow and Hawking are thus extreme antirealists. For example, contrasting young earth creationism and the big bang theory, Hawking and Mlodinow claim that while the big bang theory is “more useful,” nevertheless, “neither model can be said to be more real than the other” (page 51).

One cannot help but wonder what sort of argument would justify adopting so radical a view. All that Mlodinow and Hawking have to offer is the fact if we were, say, inhabitants of a virtual reality controlled by alien beings, then there would be no way for us to tell that we were in the simulated world and so would have no reason to doubt its reality (page 42). The trouble with this sort of argument is that it does not exclude the possibility that we have in this case two competing models of the world — one the aliens’ and one ours, and one of the models is true and one false, even if we cannot tell which is which.

Moreover, the fact our observations are model-dependent does not imply that we cannot have knowledge of the way the world is (much less that there is no way the world is). For example, a layman entering a scientific laboratory might see a piece of machinery on the lab table, but he would not see it as an interferometer, since he lacks the theoretical knowledge to recognize it as such. A caveman entering the laboratory would not even see there is a piece of machinery on the table, since he lacks the concept of a machine. But that does nothing to undermine the objective truth of the lab technician’s observation that there is an interferometer on the table.

Mlodinow and Hawking, not content with ontological pluralism, really go off the deep end when they assert, “There is no model-independent test of reality. It follows that a well-constructed model creates a reality of its own” (page 172). This is an assertion of ontological relativity, the view that reality itself is different for persons having different models.

If you are Fred Hoyle, the universe really has existed eternally in a steady state; but if you are Stephen Hawking, the universe really began with a big bang. If you are the ancient physician Galen, blood really does not circulate through the human body; but if you are William Harvey, who discovered circulation, it does. Such a view seems crazy and is made only more so by Mlodinow and Hawking’s claim that the model itself is responsible for creating its respective reality. It hardly needs to be said that no such conclusion follows from there being no model-independent test of the way the world is.

All this is, however, beside the main point. The main point is that despite their claim to speak as scientific torchbearers of knowledge, what Hawking and Mlodinow are engaged in is philosophy. The most important conclusions drawn in their book are philosophical, not scientific. Why, then, do they pronounce philosophy dead and claim as scientists to be bearing the torch of discovery? Simply because that enables them to cloak their amateurish philosophizing with the mantle of scientific authority and so avoid the hard work of actually arguing for, rather than merely asserting, their philosophical viewpoints.

Why Does the Universe Exist?
In their book, Hawking and Mlodinow seek to answer three questions that they set themselves in chapter 1:

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

2. Why do we exist?

3. Why this particular set of laws and not some other?

Curiously, their answers to each of these questions turn out to be very brief. In fact, (2) gets folded into (1) and so does not even receive a separate answer.

Hawking and Mlodinow’s answer to questions (1) and (2) is an appeal to the “no boundary” model of the origin of the universe, popularized by Hawking in his book, A Brief History of Time. Our authors simply expound the model without adducing any evidence for it or mentioning any of the alternative models to it. Nor do they respond to the criticism that the so-called “imaginary time” featured in the model is physically unintelligible and therefore merely a mathematical “trick” useful for avoiding the cosmological singularity which appears in classical theories of the beginning of the universe.

Still, their exposition is not without interest with regard to the beginning of the universe. For example, they write: “The realization that time can behave like another direction of space means one can get rid of the problem of time having a beginning, in a similar way in which we got rid of the edge of the world. Suppose the beginning of the universe was like the South Pole of the earth, with degrees of latitude playing the role of time. As one moves north, the circles of constant latitude, representing the size of the universe, would expand. The universe would start as a point at the South Pole, but the South Pole is much like any other point. To ask what happened before the beginning of the universe would become a meaningless question, because there is nothing south of the South Pole. In this picture space-time has no boundary — the same laws of nature hold at the South Pole as in other places” (page 134-5).

This passage is fascinating because if we take the analogy seriously, it posits a beginning point to both time and the universe. Despite the fact imaginary time behaves like another spatial dimension, Hawking allows the circles of latitude to play the role of time, which has a beginning point at the South Pole. When Hawking speaks of “the problem of time having a beginning,” what he means is “the age-old objection to the universe having a beginning” (page 135) an objection which his model removes. That age-old objection is the question, “What happened before the beginning of the universe?” Hawking is right that this question is meaningless on his model. But what he fails to mention is that the question is equally meaningless on the standard big bang model, since there is nothing prior to the initial cosmological singularity. Or either model the universe has an absolute temporal beginning.

So the question is, Why did the universe begin to exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? Hawking and Mlodinow advocate what they call a “top-down” approach to this question. The idea here is to begin with our presently observed universe characterized by the standard model of particle physics and then calculate, given the no boundary condition, the probability of the various histories allowed by quantum physics to reach our present state. The most probable history represents the history of our observable universe. Hawking and Mlodinow claim that, “In this view, the universe appeared spontaneously from nothing” (page 136). By “spontaneously” they seem to mean, without a cause.

But how does that follow from the model? The top-down approach calculates the probability of our observable universe given the no-boundary condition. The top-down approach does not calculate the probability that the no boundary condition should exist but takes it for granted. Such a condition is not metaphysically or physically necessary. If the universe came into being uncaused from nothing, it could have had any sort of conceivable spatiotemporal configuration. For nothingness, or nonbeing, has no properties or constraints and is governed by no physical laws. Physics only begins at the “South Pole” in the no boundary model. There is not anything in the model that implies that that point came to be without a cause. Indeed, the idea that being could arise without a cause from nonbeing seems metaphysically absurd.

Hawking and Mlodinow seem to realize they have not yet answered the question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” They return to this question in their concluding chapter and give a quite different answer. There they explain there is a constant vacuum energy contained in empty space, and if the universe’s positive energy associated with matter is evenly balanced by the negative energy associated with gravitation, then the universe can spontaneously come into being as a fluctuation of the energy in the vacuum (which, by a clever sleight of hand, they say “we may as well call … zero”).

This seems to be a very different account of the universe’s origin, for it presupposes the reality of space and the energy in it. So it is puzzling when Mlodinow and Hawking conclude, “Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing in the manner described in Chapter 6” (page 180). Here it is said that the nothingness spoken of in Chapter 6 is not really nothingness after all but is space filled with vacuum energy. This goes to reinforce the conviction that the no boundary approach only describes the evolution of our universe from its origin at its “South Pole” to its present state but is silent as to why the universe came to exist in the first place.

What this implies is that Hawking and Mlodinow have not even begun to address the philosophical question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” For “nothing” in their vocabulary does not have the traditional meaning “nonbeing” but rather means “the quantum vacuum.” They are not even answering the same question. Like the philosophy student who, to the question, “What is Time?” on his final exam, answered, “a weekly news magazine,” so Hawking and Mlodinow have avoided the tough question by equivocation.

Why Is the Universe Fine-tuned for Life?
If they have failed to answer questions (1) and (2), what about (3): Why is there this particular set of laws rather than some other? The issue here is explaining the apparently miraculous fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life. Hawking and Mlodinow express this idea by observing that “in recent years physicists began asking themselves what the universe would have been like if the laws of nature were different” (page 159). Unfortunately, this statement is very misleading. Scientists grappling with fine-tuning are not asking what the universe would have been like if it were governed by different laws of nature. Rather they are asking what the universe would have been like if it were governed by the same laws of nature but with different values for the physical constants appearing in them and with different quantities for the initial conditions on which the laws operate.

Nobody knows what a universe governed by different laws would be like. But because we are talking about universes governed by the same laws, but with different numbers plugged in for the constants and quantities, we can calculate what kind of universe the laws would predict (just as Hawking and Mlodinow illustrate on page 159-62). So question (3) is malformed as stated. The real question is: Why this particular set of constants and quantities rather than some other?

Now there are three possible answers to that question: physical necessity, chance, or design. Hawking and Mlodinow reject the hypothesis of physical necessity: “It appears that the fundamental numbers, and even the form, of the apparent laws of nature are not demanded by logic or physical principle” (page 143). Since Mlodinow and Hawking want nothing to do with a Cosmic Designer, they opt for the hypothesis of chance. Since the odds of our universe’s being fine-tuned for intelligent life are so incomprehensibly remote, Hawking and Mlodinow appeal to the Many Worlds Hypothesis to augment one’s probabilistic resources to the extent that it becomes inevitable that a finely-tuned universe will appear by chance somewhere in the World Ensemble or multiverse. If there are an infinite number of randomly ordered universes in the Ensemble, then a finely-tuned universe will appear somewhere in the Ensemble by chance alone.

If the Many Worlds Hypothesis is to be serious science rather than metaphysical speculation, some sort of mechanism needs to be provided to generate the World Ensemble. The mechanism to which Hawking and Mlodinow appeal is Richard Feynman’s “sum-over-histories” approach to quantum theory. This is the approach Hawking uses in the no boundary model to calculate the most probable history of the universe, given the no boundary condition, to our present observed state. Hawking and Mlodinow take these alternative histories that the universe might have pursued to be actual, parallel universes that are just as real as our universe.

Unfortunately, this is not science but a gratuitous piece of metaphysics. Feynman’s sum-over-histories method is just a mathematical tool for calculating the probability of a subatomic particle’s arriving at one point from another. One imagines all the possible paths the particle could have taken and then on that basis calculates the probability of its reaching the observed destination. There’s no basis for interpreting this mathematical “trick” to imply the ontological reality of concrete, spatio-temporal universes.

Hawking and Mlodinow also appeal to M-Theory or superstring theory to generate the World Ensemble of universes exhibiting various values for the constants of nature. Such a speculation is problematic in a number of ways that they do not discuss. First, the “cosmic landscape” of 10500 different possible universes consistent with nature’s laws that M-Theory allows are just that: possibilities. They are not real worlds, anymore than are Feynman’s histories.

Second, it’s not clear that 10500 possibilities are sufficient to guarantee the existence of finely-tuned universes in the landscape. What if the probability of fine-tuning is less than 1:10500? This may be especially problematic concerning the arbitrary initial conditions.

Finally, does the multiverse itself described by M-Theory exhibit fine-tuning? If it does, then the problem has only been pushed back a notch. It seems that it does, for as Hawking and Mlodinow explain, M-Theory requires precisely eleven dimensions if it is to be viable. Yet the theory cannot account for why just that number of dimensions should exist.

Moreover, Mlodinow and Hawking do not even mention, much less respond to, Roger Penrose’s trenchant criticism of the Many Worlds Hypothesis for explaining fine-tuning in his The Road to Reality. Namely, he argues that if we were just a random member of a World Ensemble, then it is incomprehensibly more probable that we should be observing a much different universe than what we do, which strongly disconfirms the Many Worlds Hypothesis. There is no excuse for Hawking’s failure to respond to his erstwhile collaborator’s criticisms of Hawking’s view.

Conclusion
In summary, despite Hawking and Mlodinow’s vaunted assertions and constant sniping at religious belief throughout this book, there is actually genuine profit in it for religious believers, especially for those interested in natural theology. For the authors affirm and argue for the facts of an absolute beginning of time and the universe and of the apparently miraculous fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life. Given the desperation and/or irrelevancy of their proffered answers to the questions that motivated their inquiry, their book turns out to be quite supportive of the existence of a transcendent Creator and Designer of the cosmos.

William Lane Craig, Ph.D., D.Theol., is research professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, La Mirada, California.

Notes
1. Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design (New York: Bantam Books, 2010), 5.

your faith has made you whole

2010-12-14T13:02:00.002-06:00

In Luke 18.42 we are told of a blind man who saw things more clearly than many around him. Although he couldn't see what was going on he had become pretty adept at listening to the rumblings and the rumors that were on the street. He had listened to the stories that passers-by were telling of this man Jesus. They were tales of healings, and teaching of great wisdom. He had accessed in his own mind who this Jesus might be. When things began to stir around him he wanted to know what was going on. When they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was going by he began to cry out for mercy using the Messianic title "Son of David". he was rebuked and told to be quiet but kept pressing in past the shushing of the crowd. He knew that what he wanted could not be given by men but only by God. Jesus noticed the voice of the man with so much faith and healed him saying, "your faith has made you whole."

What did the blind man see that we miss so often.
1) He saw who Jesus was.
2) He saw his own need clearly.
3) He knew that public opinion meant very little- just get close to Jesus.
4) He knew what he desired and asked for it unashamedly.
Jesus recognized all that as faith. As I said last Sunday, faith is the currency of the Kingdom of God. You must have some, to get what you want from Jesus. The crowd will discourage you from pressing in, you may not even know Jesus very well, and you may even feel you are limited by your short comings and blind spots, but if you press in he will give to you what you need.

Are you asking? Are you crying out as he passes by? Are you aggressive in your pursuit of him inspite of all the nay saying of others (even other christians) around you? If you are, YOUR FAITH..., will bring you to wholeness.

Son of Man

2010-11-29T12:19:00.002-06:00

Ask the Pastor Question;

In the Book of Mark, Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man, yet forbids the evil spirits to refer to Him as the Son of God. At that time, I understand why He didn't want people to know that He was the Son of God but why was the Son of Man a more acceptable or applicable title, if you will?

Here is a sticky question but, simply put, Son of Man is used by Jesus of himself in describing his humanity. The term is used 90 some times in Ezekiel as a reference to the humanity of the prophet. I believe that this was used by Jesus to reference his incarnation. As Phil 2 says, "He humbled himself and became a man..."

You are right in recognizing that (especially in Mark) Jesus was trying to keep his identity as the Son of God a secret lest there be some form of political uprising and the gospel of the kingdom would be turned into some shallow short-lived political thing.

What makes this tricky is that the term was used in Daniel as a messianic term (7:13-14). Yet because of the number of times that Ezekiel is called son of man it is more likely that the reference would be understood by Mark's audience as a term of humility. This then makes the title in Daniel a possible reference to the incarnation.

Reasons the Devil wants you to be Ungrateful

2010-11-29T11:10:00.002-06:00

1) Ungrateful people are sour and miserable to be around. They are completely self centered in the worst sense of the word. They are, therefore, horrible witnesses for Christ and his selfless act of saving a lost and broken world.

2) Ungrateful people are susceptable to the self loathing and mental fragility that leads to all manner of internal turmoil. There really is something to that "stop and smell the roses" thing! If the enemy of your soul can confuse you, you will lose the vision that your life has purpose for God's kingdom.

3) Ungrateful people are so completely self absorbed that they are not pleasant to be around. If we fall prey to ingratitude we find ourselves alone- and in that place we can do little damage to the kingdoms of Hell and much damage to self.

4) Ungrateful people are easy prey to doubt and unbelief. They spend little time examining their own life (if they did they would realize the mercy that God has given them). Someone has once remarked that the unexamined life is not worth living. Certainly that is doubly so for the ungrateful.

5) Ungrateful people have poisoned souls. They are toxic in their poisonous negativity. Grinding down even the most cheery person and offending those that are looking for spirituality. Most people run from their malevolent poison, and those that don't, wish they did.

So refuse ingratitude and embrace a lifestyle of thanksgiving. 1 Thess 5.16b "...in every circumstance give thanks, for this is the will of God."

Choose 5 things to be grateful for this day. And tell someone how thankful you are!

The Transfiguration

2010-11-04T21:29:00.002-05:00

This question came from "Ask the Pastor". The transfiguration scene from Matthew 17:1, a couple of questions:

How did Peter, James, and John recognize that it was Moses and Elijah that appeared before them? I'm quite certain they never met but perhaps God opened their eyes and revealed it to them?

What was the purpose of the transfiguration? Was it to give Peter, James, and John a taste of what heaven would be like? Was it to meant to commission them as God spoke saying "This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him" Please explain.

Well, of course there was no way to know who these two apparitions were unless there was something in their dress or they were carrying some clue. For instance, the white bearded figure with the two tablets or the camel hair outfit on Elijah (see John the Baptist description). I assume that to be the case, that there was some clue in the manner of presentation. The purpose of the transfiguration was to demonstrate that the prophets (represented by Elijah) and the Law (represented by Moses) bear testimony to Jesus. This was a great revelation to the three in the inner circle of the disciples. Two of those three wrote in the New Testament (as opposed to,say, Bartholomew or Thaddeus), the other was the first martyr. So it would be important revelation to the writers of the NT and the first martyr of the Apostles (Acts 12.1). All of them clearly got the message as is witnessed by quotations from the OT Law and prophets in their books and one needs to only look at the speech of Stephen in Acts 7to see how this all plays into the attempts to reach the first century Jewish audience by quoting from their scriptures.

There doesn't seem to be anything here that is intended to relate what heaven is like. The purpose is revelation of Jesus. Peter actually quotes this moment (2 Peter 2.16ff) so we see it's intent is christology not eschatology. Without a clear, accurate, and articulate vision of Christ we cannot attempt to bear witness to Him. May God give us the revelation of the Son!

Treating Each Other with Value

2010-10-12T10:25:00.003-05:00

"For by the Grace given me I say to everyone of you:Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you...Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another about yourselves." Rom 12.3-10

I am amazed everytime I hear about a follower of Christ who is 'on the outs' with another believer. Despite evidence to the contrary, Christ-followers are supposed to behave differently toward all men, especially each other. What Jesus envisioned and Paul described here is a kind of relationship that believes the best of one another and refuses to give the enemy any ground to stand in the relationship of the redeemed. If you have frutrations, bitterness, hard feelings, and other relational difficulties with other disciples God sees that as inexcusable. Jesus said that making things right with another believer is more important than your worship (Mt 5.24)[and nearly every thing else you will do today!] so leave your gift of worship at the altar and go get right. The vertical righteousness is easy for us (though it cost Christ his life on the cross!) it is the horizontal working out of the righteousness of God in and among us that seems to cause problems.

In the text above we find a sort of check list that might be helpful in relationships between christians. Check yourself against this...

1. Grace-esteem- None of us is worthy of salvation and we continue to be less than profitable servants. We must see ourselves as recipients of grace and mercy. Further, our view of ourselves must be in line with our "measure of faith". This leaves no room for pride or huberous or arrogance. Are you prideful and arrogant or humble in your esteem of your self?

2. Sincere love- In spite of our differences, God expects us to rally around the commonality of the cross. Our mission and our working together must spring from sincere love. The greek word for sincere here is 'without wax'. Sculptors used to mask flaws in their work by filling the blemishes with wax. God wants our mutual love to be without wax... after all there is no masking and no faking real brotherly love. How sincere is your love?

3. Hatred- Evil, sinful and behavior that glorifies anyone other than God must be eschewed vehemently. What's your hate level?

4. Mutual devotion- Because you are my brother in Christ, I want success for you and blessing on your life. I cannot be self seeking; I cannot prioritize my own comfort or desires above yours because we are devoted to one another's success. Are you living with this devotion to your fellow believers?

5. Honoring one another- To value a brother or sister this high stands in stark contrast to the way of the world. We are to defer to one another, to value each other as co-heirs with Christ as indispensably precious. This is more than a heart attitude, though it sure begins there. This is a matter of behavior and treating one another as valuable not dispenable. How are you treating your fellow heirs with Christ?

Temptation Question

2010-10-04T09:23:00.002-05:00

I received the following question via the 'ask the pastor' site.

In Luke 11:4, "And lead us not into temptation". I am inquiring as to why the text is suggesting such a thing when clearly as christians it is understood that God does not tempt or "lead" us but rather Satan or our own sinful nature brings us into that place, yet Jesus says this is how we should pray to the Father? Please explain. Thank you

Clearly, God does not tempt anyone (James 1.13-15) but he does test us (Gen 22.1). While the determination of our occassions to sin is always the impurity of our hearts, or as Paul called it 'sin in us' (See Rom 7.21-25), circumstances play a big role. The glutton has no business in the bakery. This is a prayer that God would not lead us into circumstances that would put us in the place of temptation. It might be easier for the person with the penchant for gluttony to work in a steel mill. Perhaps there is less temptation there. This section of this prayer is a plea for God to be sensitive to the weakness of our flesh while he is directing our lives.
Some commentators say this is a rhetorical device used to show that God has the power to prevent us from falling into sin and so it is a plea for protection.

So, in summary, I would see this as a plea for sensitivity to our weakness (under the right circumstances I will fail you, Lord!)and a request for protection fo the most valuable commodity in our lives- our relationship with God. As one writer put it, "Such constant (daily) spiritual inventory serves us preventative care of the soul."

Some Reasons for Unanswered Prayer

2010-09-29T13:10:00.002-05:00

1. Doubt James 1.5-8
2. Asking with wrong motives James 4.3
3. Treating your wife poorly 1 Peter 3.7
4. Praying for Show Matthew 6.5,6
5. Unforgiveness Mark 11.25,26
6. Lack of persistence Luke 18.1ff
7. Pride Luke 18.10
8. Unbalanced life John 15.7
9. Vain repetition Matthew 6.5
10. Not according to God's will 1 John 5.4
11. Not understanding Jesus' Name John 14.13,14
12. Rebellion Mal 3.7
13. Lack of Unity Matthew 18.19
14. Loving Sin Ps 66.18

Counsel, Anyone?

2010-09-14T07:38:00.002-05:00

So you think you might need counseling, eh? Last night I realized that after listening to peoples issues most of my counseling comes down to one of 6 responses. Take a look- maybe you don't need my counsel at all!

1) God is good. Life is sometimes hard, though. Live and act in direct correlation to the simple truth that God is good. If he directed you to do something hard, to give generously, to love the unlovable... trust his goodness- you will, ultimately, be blessed for it! (Not to mention the personal development of the holy habits formed)

2) It's not about you. Sometimes we have our own pain and struggles so close to us that we suffer from a sort of spiritual myopia. We forget that God loves others and is working on them too. We need to be anxious less about our own self (our comfort, our agenda, our plans, etc) and look to find a way to bring the will of God into anothers life.

3) Just stop it. There is no easy way to say this but your overeating, your binge drinking, your drug habit, your nicotine issue, your obssessive/compulsive behavior, your sexual acting out, and all other self destructive behaviors are all under YOUR control. With God's help (and forgiveness) you can overcome them. And it begins with an ending. So knock it off!

4) Quit crying over spilled milk. Frankly, what you upset about is completely out of your control. It happened so long ago, or it wasn't a big deal to anyone but you. So it is time to get over it. Man up, get perspective, and move on with God's grace.

5) Read and Pray. 95% of all situations are answered in the Word of God. Dust off that Bible and get into it. Develop a godly routine in your life of prayer and the Word. His voice will direct, confirm, and speak to you as you faithfully develop these two most basic Christian disciplines.

6) Give it to Jesus. It is over, its it the past... or maybe it's just too much for you. Your worry won't change a thing, your fretting is killing you and interrupting all your relationships. Head to the altar and give it to your Savior. He cares for you.

There you go. Pick the one that is the most applicable and do it. You can send me the $95 counseling fee in the mail (smile)

9-11 Tribute?

2010-09-09T09:55:00.003-05:00

I am worried about the unreasoned and reactionary responses from some Christians with regard to the Mosque 2 blocks away from the 9-11 site. The way I hear many Christians talking it seems like they think the government should somehow forbid this. Listen people - the last thing we need is government intrusion into religion! While I am no friend of Islam, I am a fan of freedom of religion.

Now this nucklehead pastor in Gainsville FL is buring the Koran. Exactly how does that make christians different than the flag burning terrorists? How does that even remotely honor the dead of the Trade Towers. Come on people... get a grip!

What is KILN?

2010-09-08T14:50:00.003-05:00

The concept of KILN comes from Jeremiah 18.1-10. KILN is a place of reforming and reshaping then being placed into the fire to be set and made ready for service. KILN is a time of soaking in the presence of God and asking God to change us, his church, and make us useful for his purpose. This Sunday night will be our first KILN mtg this fall. I invite you to come out Sunday Evening at 5:30 PM for this special time of surrender and prayer.

Jesus Saves! and so should you!

2010-09-07T15:51:00.003-05:00

Too many of us are living on the edge of economy. We are over indebted. We borrow too much money. We owe, we owe so off to work we go!

But in an economy that is fragile a great number of Christians are reviewing their budgets. I have often preached the 80-10-10 budget. We should be living off of 80% of our income, tithing 10% to the Lord through the local church and stashing 10% of our income into a savings account. At minimum we should do this until there is 3 months salary in a savings account.

It seems to me that the Lord has been warning us recently (with the fragile economy, etc) that we must get ourselves into a solid place financially. Are you hearing that in yoru prayer time too?

God No Longer Needed????

2010-09-02T17:54:00.008-05:00

Stephen Hawking, the eminent British theoretical physicist says in his new book that God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an "inevitable consequence of the laws of physics". In his previous writings Hawking was careful not to tread to harshly on the doctrines of the church and it's doctrine of God as the Ultimate Cause. He warned that the theory was incomplete. Hawkings surety and dismissal of God as Ultimate Cause and Creator is shocking in that he has not advanced the theory of the "Big Bang" cosmology much farther than in his previous works. certainly , not to completion.

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," Hawking wrote. So how can a thinking Christ follower hold to the doctrine of creation?
1. Hawking, like Sagan and many along side him- does not explain where things came from, only how that which is could have come to be. His elaborate explanations of theory, while fascinating, are incomplete. Where did the universe come from? Like many before him, he treads the path of shoulder shruggers and best-guessers and claims the universe is all that ever was! In effect, the universe is eternal (though existing in many forms over time).

2. Hawking speaks of spontaneous creation as if he has seen it. But of course, no one has seen this happen and never will. just take a moment and think of all the other things that have spontaneously created over time... ur, I guess that is a short list of zero isn't it. (the thing in the back of the fridge was already something before it became the fuzzy stuff that it is now!)

3. This is based upon multiverse theory. This is the theory that there are many universes and we just happen by coincidence to occupy the one-in-a-billion universe that could support life. Of course, there is no evidence of these supposedly plentiful universes out there. The argument basically says that there must be billions of attempts to make universes that are all arranged differently and (licky us!) we get to be the ones who popped out of the primordial soup! So your life is meaningless- a cosmic accident without purpose. Enjoy! Even so, the multiverse may have been God's idea in the first place! listen to Dr. Don Pages "Does God love the Multiverse?"

4. And what of this gravitational phenomina? Are we to conclude that the gravitational rate is random? Check this out The precision of gravity is so amazing that I don't understand how anyone with half a brain could believe otherwise. And what of other fine tuning? Nathan Schneider of Seed magazine writes, "Scientists now recognize that if space were expanding at a slightly different speed, or if the strong nuclear force were just a little off, our universe would be a hydrogen mush incapable of supporting life. The chances that the cosmic conditions needed for even a single living cell would come about in a random toss-up are astonishingly low, often called the 'fine tuning problem.'" Certainly Hawking must see that? Coincidence? Mistake?

5. Ultimately, we must determine what and who to trust. Hawking is a brilliant and compelling mind but God is eternal and all knowing. Why would we trust anyone but God? Hawking is a flawed and fallable human. And if history of science tells us anything his writings, like his most recent opinion will change. But there is one that never has to adjust his theory... he is the Truth and the Way.

In the beginning God...

What is Above Reproach?

2010-08-31T08:03:00.002-05:00

1 Tim 3.2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. 4He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5(but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

There is a demand in the scriptures for those in spiritual leadership that is easy to misunderstand. In 1 Tim 3.2 tells us that spiritual leaders are supposed to be above reproach. Some feel that this means that a pastor or elder should never be accused of some activity that is offensive. This certainly cannot be the intent of Paul when he wrote this. Jesus himself, as well as Paul the Apostle, were accused of various activity that was scandalous. Jesus hung out with "sinners and drunkards" and Paul often faced the demand to accommodate the Jewish believers who insisted that he honor the Old Covenant rituals such as circumcision. The scandal was pervasive through out the NT church. The term "above reproach" does not mean that Christian leadership cannot be accused of wrong doing, only that the accusation should not be founded. Otherwise, Jesus and Paul would not be eligible for leadership in the church! Spiritual leaders cannot minister in truth when they are bound to the judgments of others.

While it is clear that there is a concern for the reputation of the Gospel in view, it has little to do with accommodating one's lifestyle to the wishes of others. One would have to limit his lifestyle to the lowest common objection of the most ignorant and spiritually clueless individual. The reason we know that this demand is not about accommodation to others "sensitivities" is that this "above reproach" is defined in the descriptors that immediately follow. These characteristics of respectable spiritual leaders are the kind of things that all Christians should aspire to. A solid and faithful marriage,sobriety, wisdom, sufficient knowledge of the truth and ability to teach, not greedy, solid family leadership, etc. These moral examples and the testimony of the leader should not be the issues that scandals are derived from.

Often, those familiar with older versions of the scriptures will quote "abstain from the appearance of evil" as if it meant that the spiritual person should avoid anything that looks evil. Well, this is precisely NOT what is being said in the 1 Thess 5.22. It has nothing to do with appearance (as in the way things look) and everything to do with where evil (sinful behavior) appears. In fact, the newer translations have picked this meaning up.(NIV Avoid every kind of evil!)

This frees that christian leader to worry less about what others are thinking as they judge behavior and concentrate on having truth in their hearts and serving
the Lord with integrity. There is less of a temptation to be a "man-pleaser" and a freedom to truly be a "God-Pleaser"!

Satan's Top 10

2010-07-28T15:29:00.002-05:00

Here is Chuck Pierce's list of Satan's 10 ways to sidetrack us from God's will.

1. Cares of the world- We divert our eyes and desires to the world around us instead of keeping our eyes on the One who made us.

2. Anxiety-Anxiety is friction within our inner person that keeps us from walking in peace or wholeness.

3. Weights on our spirit- These weights are burdens that we bear in the flesh.

4. Unforgiveness- Unforgiveness is holding resentment toward and individual who has wronged us.

5. Poisoned spirit- We allow the hurts that we encounter in life to cause a root of bitterness to arise within our spirit and eventually defile our whole body.

6. Grief- Grief is a function of loss that can be embedded in our emotions. grief has a time frame. If we go past that time frame, the enemy produces hope deferred within us. We then lose our expectation in God and others.

7. Unstable emotions- Instability is the lack of being able to stand. Our emotions eventually rule us, and life becomes a roller coaster ride.

8. Accusations- The accuser of the brethren loves to reproach us and remind us of everything that we have done wrong.

9. Condemnation-Condemnation is the opposite of conviction. Whereas conviction leads us to grace, condemnation says that there is no way out for any wrongdoing we've done.

10. Sin and iniquitous patterns- Sins author is Satan. Unconfessed sin can lead us to a pattern of iniquity. Iniquity diverts us from the path of life.

Each of these can fragment the way we think and cause our spirit ot lose the power that God has made available to us. God has made each of us with a spirit soul and body; and He has ordained us to be whole. If Satan can trap us with any of hte above issues, we will become like the person whom James describes:" he who doubts... is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways" James 1.6-8. Our mind becomes divided (our way of thinking become unsure), and we lose the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through our spirit.

Thankful

2010-07-22T15:24:00.001-05:00

You know I ran across an old box of letters
While I was bagging up some clothes for Goodwill
But you Know I had to laugh at the same old struggles
That plagued me then are plaguing me still
I know the road is long from the ground to glory
But a boy can hope he's getting some place
But you see, I'm running from the very clothes I'm wearing
And dressed like this I'm fit for the chase

'Cause no, there is none righteous
Not one who understands
There is none who seek God
No not one, I said no not one

So I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own

'Cause we're all stillborn and dead in our transgressions
We're shackled up to the sin we hold so dear
So what part can I play in the work of redemption
I can't refuse, I cannot add a thing

'Cause I am just like Lazarus and I can hear your voice
I stand and rub my eyes and walk to You
Because I have no choice

I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own
I'm so thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own

'Cause by grace I have been saved
Through faith that's not my own
It is a gift of God and not by works
Lest anyone should boast

Caedmon's Call

A Question of Moral Perfection

2010-07-16T11:24:00.003-05:00

Hey Pastor Dave, on occasion I stumble through passages of scripture that need some clarification and instead of emailing you I just keep reading. I have decided not to do that any longer...here's my question:

In the text, 1John 2:1 "I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One".

1Peter 4:1 "he who has suffered in his body is done with sin". (I know he is referring to Christ in this passage but missionaries have suffered as well)

1John 3:6 "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him".

I think you get the picture as to where I'm headed. Now, I understand that all have sinned but these passages raise the question as to the possibility of escaping the clutches of sin or at least on a temporal basis. Am I reading to much into these passages as well as others? Deep down in my heart I would like to believe that there is a possibility to achieve this lofty goal but then reality sets in and tells me otherwise. I don't know, part of me thinks that by accepting our sinful nature means accepting second best and part of me would like to believe that God wants to pull us out of that defeated way of thinking. Perhaps the answer is just that, it's a process and although we will never achieve perfection we can draw closer to God, thereby, minimizing the amount of sin we commit. I am familiar with this way of teaching but you have to admit these passages are not clear in suggesting this. I know this inquiry may seem strange coming from me but these passages seem to paint the wrong picture that's all I'm saying. Appreciate your thoughts, when you get a chance.

Hey- good question

The struggle is a theological one and an anthropological one. The belief that one can achieve a sinless life is called perfectionism or sinless perfectionism. It is tempting to read verses like those you mentioned and others (be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect) as calls to sinlessness. Some of that desire is based on the misery of living with this burden of a weak flesh. The question is theological because it relates to what God has done. The question is anthropological because it deals with the nature of man (ie., is there ever a time on earth where man can be free from the flesh or the sinful nature NIV)

Jesus taught his disciples to pray for forgiveness daily (Matt 6.12); he told us to pray often because the spirit was willing and the flesh was weak (Matt 26.41); and Paul seemed to advocate (Rom 7.18-19) that grace would triumph over the fleshly nature not by eradication but by the Holy Spirit’s empowerment (Rom 8.1-4). In 1 John 1.8-10 the Apostle tells us that to say we have no sin is deception, and John assures us that we have an advocate with the Father who will forgive confessed sin. He tells us that to say we have not sinned is to call God a liar. While urging his readers not to sin 1Jn 2.1 he assures that there is a defense attorney (advocate) who speaks to the Father in our defense. Clearly he cannot move on to chapter 3 and then mean that he readers should reach perfection! The NIV is correct in showing the continual case of the verb meaning to sin. It reads “no one who continues to sin” has seen or known him. The powerful work of the new birth in the life of the believer uses the tools of conviction, teaching, and encouragement to free us from specific sins. (1 Jn 3.9) The Spirit also empowers our mind, body, and human spirit with the capability to deny the fleshly habits and cease to walk in those ways(Rom 8.9) . So we are growing in our divine nature 2 Peter 1.4. Through these “great and precious promises” we are “participating in the divine nature” and “escaping the corruption of the world caused by evil desires”.

My assessment is that there will never be a time when I am free from incidents of sin, because I cannot divorce myself from the weak flesh that is the result of Adam’s transgression. There will come a time when I am divorced from that sinful nature entirely when, as the Apostle Peter writes, salvation is revealed (1 Pet. 1.5) in the last time. The believer will be delivered from the fleshly nature and receive a spiritual body (1 Cor 15.45-55) like Christ’s resurrected body. Salvation and deliverance will then be complete.

This does not mean that the Christian does not strive to mature (perfect Mt5.48) his walk. There are theological systems that tend to bring believers into a lackadaisical and apathetic acceptance of their fleshly nature. These systems emphasize the finished work of Christ (cf. Col 1.24) to the detriment of the ongoing work of the Spirit in the life of the believer. Passive acceptance of our sinfulness is not a proper response to our sin nature. It seeks to control. When the Flesh controls (Rom 8.5-8) the believer cannot serve God, cannot please God, cannot think rightly or submit to God. The flesh is no friend… it is an enemy and the believer must be as ruthless as possible to overcome it by the Spirit’s power. The believer in Jesus must strive to grow and mature continually in Christ.

So what then do these passages mean that concerned you?

1 Peter 4.1 is a passage to suffering Christians (cf v 12) Peter is encouraging the disciples to have the attitude (4.1) that Christ had- suffering (in obedience to the Father- not for sins, crimes or sickness) helps us overcome the flesh. That is why (4.19) we should “commit ourselves to God and continue to do good” when we suffer in God’s will. Neitzche – the atheist philosopher (God is Dead) said “That which does not kill us makes us stronger” (He later lost his mind and spent the last ten years of his life in mental darkness because of his rebellion against Christianity). What Peter would say is “That which causes us to suffer in the will of God, makes us stronger by killing our dependence upon the flesh.”

So we strive for moral perfection all the while knowing that we will never reach it. That, however, doesn’t mean that there will be days when we can look back and say with the Psalmist (Ps 17.3) “Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin…” I wish those days would increase in all of our lives. But in the end 364 days of sinless perfection cannot cancel out the one day of lustful thoughts, greed, or pride. There is no redemption but in the shed blood of our King! So why grow? why pursue holiness? Why die daily (1 Cor 51.31)? It is but a tribute, an honoring, a replication, and an imitation (Eph 5.1) of the Lord whom we serve. In so doing we properly (Rom 12.1,2) worship our King. And the world looks on and sees us as a city on a hill, a light on the lamp stand and they will “see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”.
________________________________________

This Too Shall Pass

2010-07-09T12:29:00.000-05:00

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be-

If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me-

If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too-

Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains

That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear-
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near.

...Helen Steiner Rice

Living DD in a Starbys World

2010-07-06T14:40:00.004-05:00

If you have been to Christian Life Center, you know that it isn't Starbucks. Oh, we have a couple couches and free AC and coffee; but it is definitely not Starbucks. It is more like Dunkin Donuts than Starbucks. You won't be able to have your mocha-frappa- latte. Not that we are against that. I think you should drink whatever caffeinated drink you desire... but just don't expect massive trendiness here, bro. That's not us.

We keep spending money on orphanages and missionaries overseas- so we don't have money to repaint all the trendy colors. We worship in a classic building. By that I mean there isn't much in the way of recessed lighting and snappy ambiance. It smells like... like a church! Old wood, stained glass, candles, and coffee. And the people are sometimes preoccupied with serving and organizing studies and small groups and service projects and food pantries and missions dinners, etc. They are trying to be friendly... but they are working hard. The music, is kind of raw- definitely needs polishing if we were gonna record- but were probably not gonna. We sing, but for the King! (And we won't even mention our dance moves!!!)

But what we have is the real deal. We have worship that connects and sermons that are practical challenges to live a Christ-centered life. People who are genuine- and a little bit broken. We don't aspire to be the place where you come in and get comfortable- in fact, our prayer is that the Holy Spirit will make us all a little uncomfortable. At least too uncomfortable to stay and do so little when the world around us is hurting so badly.

So while Starbucks is all the rage, we are just keeping it real- like DD. Enjoy!

Why Speaking in Tongues is for everyone

2010-06-16T11:09:00.002-05:00

Occasionally, I still run into the argument that only specific people can speak in tongues. This is of course true if we are talking about the public use of the gift. Concerning the saints gathered together the Apostle Paul writes, "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good."(1 Cor 12.7) But of course, the Apostle is speaking of the use of the gift in public where it is needful that the gift of tongues be interpreted. (Looking at 1 Corinthians we see that he is dealing with the church gathered together from 11.17 onwards to 14.40) We read that Paul himself distinguishes the practice from private tongue speaking in 14.18-19. Declaring that he "speaks in tongues more than all of you."

Paul uses 1 Cor 14 to spell out his insistence that intelligibility is to be preferred when saints gather together. But in so doing he does reveal some benefits of speaking in tongues (see my June 5 2007 post). Among them Speaking directly to God, praying his perfect will, personal edification and strengthening faith and making a statement to unbelievers.

When we read the book of Acts we see people baptised into the Spirit. This is distinguished from salvation as a secondary experience as the Ephesian disciples found out (Acts 19). they had only been baptized into the baptism of John and had not "received the Holy Spirit" yet. We know that these "disciples" are believers in Jesus already because Luke never uses that term lightly and always refers to followers of Jesus when he does use it. When they did receive the baptism into the Spirit they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

We see that the Holy Spirit baptism comes after salvation. When, in Acts 8, they had heard the message and responded in faith and water baptism the Holy Spirit had not been distributed. After Peter and John laid hands upon them they saw the powerful demonstration of the Spirit fall and Simon witnessed this and wanted to purchase the power to Baptize people in the Holy Spirit.

If the Baptism into the Holy Spirit were identical to salvation then these verses would be confusing. How can one be baptized in water, and have faith but not have the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit given with the laying on of hands? How can one dedicate himself as a disciple and not have salvation? But since the Scripture is referring to a secondary experience we understand the role of these apostolic intercessors in bringing them into the expereince.

Paul commanded all believers to live under the control of the Holy Spirit in Eph 5.17. Living "Full" of the Spirit means more than to be excited about Jesus. It is an empowering (Acts 1.8) act that is desired for all of the followers of Christ. Jesus demnded that all "wait until they are clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24.49) before they attempt ministry. We have seen that tongues accompanies this baptism into the Holy Spirit. So it should be expected that this promise that Peter preached about at Pentecost, is for all "you and your children and for all who are far off- for all whom the Lord our God will call."

So "seek earnestly" the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and all the gifts of the Spirit. They are there for your asking.

Haiti: Redux

2010-06-08T15:00:00.004-05:00

As I am thinking through some of the details of the up coming trip to Haiti, I am moved at the memories of the trip earlier this summer. The brokenness of the people and the epic proportions of the tragedy of that earthquake. It is hard to think about because I get so completely overwhelmed. What can we do?

We can build showers for the orphans and improve their quality of life. We can buy a water filter for their supply and the supply of the villagers around them... insuring health for the future. We can go and be a witness, help feed the poor,and support a local pastor who is meeting needs of orphans and villagers alike.

What can we do... we can raise money for the trip. I am inspired to see what can be done when we all come together and give toward this trip. Please help us if you can.

Jus' Stuff

2010-06-01T15:57:00.002-05:00

I heard it again this morning on the news. A man was being interviewed and he recounted the tree falling from his front yard and through his roof. "Scary, he said but everyone is all right and it is just stuff- it can be replaced." Kudos to this dude who obviously has some things in perspective.

Stuff is important and expensive but it is not the important stuff in life. Ya know what I mean Vern? Stuff is the material that we spend our life accumulating and slaving for in order to come to the conclusion that it isn't worth all the effort.
now I like nice stuff. You should have seen my face when I ran over my cell phone with the mower... you would know that I appreciate some stuff.

But the reality is that the stuff can be (in fact, needs to be) replaced (frequently!) So don't get all stuffy... remember that people are the irreplacable things in life. So don't forget your peeps!

Uglier than Pride

2010-05-21T20:46:00.004-05:00

You see it all over the place. The arrogant look of the competent soccer star; the smug look of the little league superstar; the haughty glance of the person who is a tad bit prettier than the rest of us. Pride is ugly. If you like me it repulses you to the core. For years there have been people who have tried to turn it into a positive character trait. We talk smack on the basketball court, we speak highly of ourselves on our resume, we blog as if we had all the answers to the questions of life (ouch!). But no matter how hard we try to promote pride and mask it as confidence it smells bad and makes us sick to our stomach! Even more so it sickens God. James 4.6 God resists the proud. Hmmmm. The God of love who pursued us even to death on the cross is repulsed by our pride- even to the point of resisting our prayers and our person. Wow, he is made sick by it too.

But there is something uglier than pride. It is hard to imagine but it is true. It is spiritual pride. Pride that masks itself in pseudo-spirituality; Pride that covers its ugliness with the language of the Spirit but is profoundly of the flesh; Pride that judges others as less than self. Spiritual pride condemns others, judges others, and can't see the failings in their own hearts. It is the ugliest thing that anyone will ever see! It makes me sick when I see it- especially so when I see it in me!

I was talking about spiritual pride the other day with my best friend. She said to me that "people who have this kind of pride- spiritual pride- had better have their knee pads on because pride comes before the fall."

Well said.

National Day of Prayer- On or Off?

2010-05-06T07:59:00.004-05:00

Since President Obama has cancelled the White House's involvement in the National Day of Prayer one has to ask what the purpose of the NDP is.

For millenia national leaders have declared a day of fasting and prayer to show humility and reverence in times of stress and trouble. It is curious that the President, who "prays everyday" according to White House insiders, would not see value in leading the nation in that reverential humility. Especially so, with the violent storms that have ravaged the land, the terror threats and attempted bombing in Times Square, and the economic hardship that currently rocks the nation. We are left to assume that the controversy that might ensue from a nation unifying to pray is being avoided.

Nevertheless, we in the church must pray. We are commanded in 1 Tim 2.1-2 to pray for "for all men, for kings, and for all who are in authority". Of course, that should be more frequent that the first Thursday in May. (I pray for those in authority on Wednesdays, btw). We citizens, regardless of creed or religion, should set aside time to beseech God for blessing on our country. This is no vague patriotism. It is a recognition that mankind, and the US in particular, needs divine help.

We Christians need to pray, especially today, for God's blessing on America. Not that we may be blessed more than other countries (though we already are) but that we show God our recognition of our own desperation and a thankful heart for all that has come our way.

"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chron 7.14

Getting Away with It

2010-04-19T17:52:00.005-05:00

There seems to be some confusion regarding believers that sin. First, all believers sin - so I guess were talking about ourselves here. When believers sin we have an advocate with the Father... Jesus is our defense attorney! Thank God for that grace that we are assured of. But what about willful sins?

Willful sins are those sins that we willfully determine we will not repent for but continue to practice. The scarey thing about willful sins is that God didn't offer any sacrifice in the OT for willful disobedience. Look if you want but you will not find an OT offer for grace and forgiveness over willful sins.

This is because willful sins are those unrepented sins that we practice without yielding to the truth that we know from being taught the Word. The Word of God reveals that truth to us and we must adjust accordingly. It is a mistake to think that the Lord adjusts.... we are the ones who need adjustment!

The first step in the adjustment is repentance. Repentance is the reversal of all that has hindered our walk. Thieves stop stealing, slanderers stop talking junk, fornicators stop their sexual immorality, and lusting eyes learn to look away. Repentance is the 180 that God offers us. It is a U turn on a lonely stretch of highway that is going the wrong way. It is our privilege to turn around and respond to God's grace as he offers it.

The danger in ignoring this is that we can become hardened in our sin and miss the u turn opportunity. The bible clearly says that there is a sin that leads to death. It is dangerous to flirt with rebellion when the end is a Christ-less eternity.

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion" heb 3.15

Why Christian Counseling Doesn't Work

2010-04-01T17:54:00.002-05:00

I don't think that Counseling (Christian or otherwise)never works- let's get that straight first..Its just that most of what passes for counseling is the teaching of coping skills and communication techniques. Those are great things and helpful. Counseling also involves revealing or leading the counselee to see a truth. The problem is that counseling demands absolute honesty. I am amazed at the number of Christian couples who come in to my office and whose story varies from one couple to another. One might come in saying my wife, Suzy, never responds to my sexual advances. Then when Suzy comes in she tells of the rough approach, or the verbal abuse that accompanies the relationship and the story begins to make sense.

Your own honesty is the lynch pin of your counseling. When you don't tell the truth, you affect the counselors ability to give good advice and direction. This is all the more true with Christian counseling because the person your speaking to is a mentor and a guide for your soul. No problem, you say, I always tell the truth. Well, often we are deceived. Sometimes from the enemy of our soul, sometimes we are blinded by the patterns we have observed, sometimes we are deceived by our own wishful thinking, sometimes by the lie of another. How then can the heart be absolutely honest with the counselor when it is deceived?

So the difficulty is that truth is not always seen by either the counselor or the counselee. The Holy Spirit needs to be involved in the process. Here the Christian counselor has a great advantage as he may receive words of knowledge and wisdom from God and the Holy Spirit's impressions. Yet when believers come into the counselor or pastors office there must be full disclosure- first to self, then to the counselor. To hide certain truths is to work against the healing process.

I guess what concerns me most is that there is always a blame placed on the concept of counseling. (IE., we tried counseling but it didn't work...) When the real issue is a matter of personal integrity. A commitment to tell the truth and an openness to the Holy Spirit.

The Scripture teaches that healing comes AFTER the confession of faults to one another. James 5.16

More Reasons Christians Shouldn't Live Together

2010-03-26T15:29:00.003-05:00

It's REBELLION
1 Thess 4.3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:£ that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own body£ in holiness and honor, 5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Its DISHONORING yourself
1 Cor 6.13...The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

It's DANGEROUS
Rev. 22.12“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

14Blessed are those who wash their robes,£ so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

It's DESECRATION
Eph 5.31–32 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

So why would you want to be with someone who doesn't want to be with you enough to do it right? Why should YOU compromise with a coward? If they can't commit, you must omit (them from your life.) The harsh reality is that even though it hurts now it will hurt less than when the coward finds someone else more interesting later on.

7 Reasons not to Live Together before Marriage

2010-03-26T15:21:00.003-05:00

Ripped from the St Cloud Diocese Website

1. Those who live together before marriage tend not to marry. Over 50 percent of couples who live together will end their relationships before marriage.[1] Moreover, while many couples choose to cohabit in an attempt to test the relationship and prevent the pain of divorce, the "premarital divorce" is often times just as painful as divorce itself. [2]

2.Those who live together before marriage have higher separation and divorce rates. The Journal of Marriage and Family reported marriages that are preceded by living together have 50 percent higher disruption rates than marriages without premarital cohabitation.[3] The Universities of Chicago and Michigan reported that those who cohabit before marriage have substantially higher divorce rates than those who do not; the recorded differentials range from 50 to 100 percent.[4]

The University of Wisconsin at Madison researchers report that cohabitors perceived greater likelihood of divorce than couples who did not cohabitate before marriage and the longer couples live together outside of marriage, the higher likelihood of divorce.[5]

3. Those who live together before marriage have unhappier marriages. A review of 10 cohabitation studies found that those who cohabitate prior to marriage show a significantly lower marital quality and have significantly higher risk of marital dissolution at any given duration.[6]

Couples who lived together before marriage also separated more often, sought counseling more often and regarded marriage as a less important part of their life than those who did not live together before marriage.[7]

4. Those living together before marriage have more frequent disagreements, more fights and violence. Three studies find this to be true. Pennsylvania State University researchers found that those who live together were more negative and less positive when resolving a marital problem and when providing support to their partner.[8] They also found that husbands and wives who had lived together before marriage were more verbally aggressive, less supportive of one another and generally more hostile than spouses who had not lived together.[9]

Another study found that couples who cohabitate before marriage have less problem solving skills, poorer communication skills, and are more negative while attempting to resolve marital conflicts compared to married couples who have never cohabitated.[10]

Research reports couples who live together have more frequent disagreements, more fights and violence, lower levels of fairness and happiness with their relationships compared to married people.[11]

5. Those who live together do not experience the best sex. The National Institute for Healthcare Research found that couples not involved before marriage and faithful during marriage are more satisfied with their current sex life than those who were involved sexually before marriage.[12] Another study done by the Family Research Council found that 72 percent of all married “traditionalists” (those who strongly believe out-of-wedlock sex is wrong) reported high sexual satisfaction. This is roughly 31 percentage points higher than the level by unmarried “non-traditionalists.” Religious women are most satisfied with the frequency of intercourse and were more orgasmic than are the nonreligious.[13]

6. Those who live together before marriage experience more behavioral problems. Compared with married couples, cohabitors report higher levels of:

Alcohol problems.[14]
Aggression is twice as common.[15]
Greater marital instability, lower marital satisfaction and poorer communication.[16]
Depression rates are more than three times higher.[17] According to a study done by the National Institute of Mental Health the depression rates of cohabitating women are second only to those twice divorced. [18]
Women being assaulted is 56 times higher.[19]

7.Living together outside of marriage negatively impacts their children. David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, researchers from the National Marriage Project, found that children living with cohabiting biological parents who are unmarried are 20 times more likely to be abused and children whose mother lives with a boyfriend who is not the biological father are 33 times more likely to be abused than children with married biological parents.[20]

Compared to children in intact families, children in cohabiting households had more behavioral problems and poorer academic scores,[21] and are five times more likely to experience their parents separating.[22]

Numerous empirical studies indicate that living together does not produce healthier, happier marriages, but the contrary. Mature love is built on the security of knowing that your love is exclusive and permanent.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sources
1. Popence and Whitehead, "Should We Live Together?" 2002, p. 6, http://marriage.rutgers.edu/publicat.htm
2. McManus, Mike & Harriet. Living Together: Myths, Risks, & Answers. Howard Books, New York, 2008, p.61.
3. Bumpass, Sweet and Cherlin, “The Role of Cohabitation in Declining Rates of Marriage” Journal of Marriage and the Family 52 (1991) 913-927.
4. William G. Axinn and Arland Thorton, “The Relationship Between Cohabitation and Divorce: Selectivity or Casual Influence?” Demography (1992): 358.
5. Elizabeth Thomson and Ugo Colella, “Cohabitation and Marital Stability: Quality or Commitment?” (Study of more than 13,000 adults) Journal of Marriage and the Family 54 (1992): 266.
6. Alfred DeMarris and K. Vaninadha Roa, “Premarital Cohabitation and Subsequent Marital Stability in the United States: A Reassessment,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 54 (1992): 178.
7. John D. Cunningham and John K. Antill, “Cohabitation and Marriage: Retrospective and Predictive Comparisons,” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (1994): 90.
8. Dr. Catherine L. Cohan, “Living Together Pre-Marriage May Lead to Divorce,” Journal of Marriage and Family 64 (2002): 180-192
9. Ibid
10. McManus, Mike & Harriet. Living Together: Myths, Risks, & Answers. Howard Books, New York, 2008, p. 72.
11. Susan L. Brown and Alan Booth, “Cohabitation Versus Marriage: A Comparison of Relationship Quality,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 58 (1996): 668-678.
12. David B. Larson, MD, NMSPH, et al, “The Costly Consequences of Divorce: Assessing the Clinical, Economic, and Public Health Impact of Marital Disruption in the United States,” National Institute for Healthcare Research, Rockville, Maryland. (1994): 84-85
13. David Larson and Mary Ann Mayo, “Believe Well, Live Well,” Family Research Council (1994).
14. Allan V. Horowitz et al, “The Relationship of Cohabitation and Mental Health: A Study of Young Adult Cohort,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 60 (1998): 505-514.
15. Jan E. Stets, “The Link Between Past and Present Intimate Relationships,” Journal of Family Issues 14 (1993): 236
16. Ibid 236-260
17. Popenoe and Whitehead, “Should We Live Together? What Young Couples Need to Know about Cohabitation Before Marriage,” National Marriage Project, Rutgers, (1999): 7.
18. Lee Robins and Darrel Regier, Psychiatric Disorders in America: The Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study (New York: Free Press, 1991), p. 64.
19. University of Wisconsin’s National Survey of Families and Households, American Family Association Journal, July 1993.
20. Popenoe and Whitehead, Should We Live Together?” What Young Couples Need to Know about Cohabitation Before Marriage,” National Marriage Project, Rutgers, (1999): 8.
21. Ibid.
22. Cynthia Osborn, W.D. Manning and P.M. Smock, "Married and Cohabitating Parents' Relationship Stability: A Focus on Race and Ethnicity," Journal of Marriage and Family 69 (2007): 1345-1366, p. 1345.

The Slide Away from God

2010-03-24T12:59:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I was musing to myself how far the US has come from its inception. Originally, the colonies were birthed out of a Biblical world view. While their application didn't always display absolute devotion to God, they recognized a few things very clearly. #1 - Rights come from God. The constitution of the US clearly reveals their view that the Creator has given men rights. #2- The role of the individual is accept the freedom to chase after (pursuit of happiness) the God given rights. #3- The role of government in this view is limited to assuring the ability to pursue those rights that God has given to man. Thus the government is to keep others from infringing upon the right to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Over time we have seen a shift away from the absolute truths of the Bible. Secular Humanistic philosophy differs from the Biblical view in that it puts man in the drivers seat. Human beings determine what is good - therefore (#1) rights come, not from God, but from the collective of men's best thinking This rejection of Biblical absolutes sets the stage for the following. The individuals role then is (#2) to aspire to the greatness of the group and the governments role is to (#3) to codify and insure the rights decided upon by the group.

Next in the slide away from God is the pursuit of Socialism. Based upon Humanism, the morphing is slight but important. (#1) Rights come from the elite leadership of the people, (#2) the individual works for the purpose to secure, for all the group, the rights deemed acceptable, and (#3) the governments role is to enforce the access to those rights and to squash any individualism that might threaten those predetermined rights.

Marxism is the next step in the slide away from a Biblical worldview. Here the rights are determined by (#1) Government. (#2) The individual is simply a cog in the communist machine- he loses all power to own for himself or to express individualism. He exists for the collective. (#3) Government is charged with the redistribution of all wealth.

If you read this far. Thanks. I'm sure that wasn't easy. Notice that in the first worldview people exist because of God's design and the government is the servant of the people. This is completely reversed the further you get away from a Biblical worldview. Man is no longer a free moral agent but the slave of the runaway governing body. Notice also, that Government usurps the place of God. It is the determiner of value, worth, and rights. Friends this is a dangerous slope, because all men are sinners, no men can be trusted with absolute authority.

In the recent days, the US has taken giant steps toward usurping the place of God and the individual. Confiscatory taxes on individuals, Education Reform, Nationalized health care, and the list goes on. Only when we return to the Scriptural understanding of man and God will we find the fulfillment of our aspirations for freedom. Americans need to wake up. Christians need to wake up and see that our country is being lead further away from a Biblical worldview and further into deception. As Government increasingly steals the place of God in the lives of the people we can be sure of a few things... deception will increase, it will be harder to reach the lost, and judgment will ensue.

When the Wheels fall off

2010-03-19T22:06:00.003-05:00

Sometimes it seems that there is a constant barrage of stuff to deal with. When the personal life is strong, the professional life is having problems; when that is strong, there are family issues, etc. Is it that we are drama magnets? Is it that we can only focus on one thing at a time? Is it that we are that incompetent at life?

We find ourselves struggling to stay afloat, engaged, active and growing. It is hard. It is life's gut check. Funny how a cancer scare, or a blood test with questionable results, or even the loss of job can stress you out and redirect your priorities. Often when that happens, there is no one around to encourage you. You have to "encourage yourself in the Lord." (1 Sam 30.6)

The people had abandoned David after a failure. They spoke of stoning him. There was no one to encourage him. So...he did it himself. When the wheels are falling off the wagon we have to develop the habit of speaking the promises of God to ourselves. (2Peter 1.4) "The barren soul becomes pregnant only with hope." When the hope quotient is up you can face anything; when the faith is vibrant you can rise above the biggest swell, and outlast every storm.

If that is where you are today... don't give in, encourage yourself with the great promises of God. Today, mine was about God's great power, from Eph 3.20

...Exceeding above all we can ask or imagine...

Get Radically Committed

2010-03-13T07:39:00.004-06:00

Acts 5.13 tells the story of how after the deaths fo Ananias and Sapphira people recognized that beign associated with the church was no trifling matter. God was taking this thing seriously. And so many were afraid to "join" them.

What is that joining all about? The context tells us that these folks were still associated with the church but they hung out on the fringe. What God was asking for from his church was a full on radical commitment. Association and commitment! These days the most radical thing you see in church is a soul patch on some dudes face. Christ deserves and demands more.

People don't see the importance of church membership these days because we have reduced it to signing a card. Or attending a set of classes. Church membership is a fearless commitment to the cause of Christ and the vision of a local assembly. I think that commitment is radical by todays standards! Many won't commit to a single thing in their life and they are the poorer for it. Rick Warren says that people who attend church and don't commit to membership are "Spiritual Adulterers" - equating the no-commitment to living together without committing to marriage.

Church membership is a two way commitment too. The Body of Members commit to watch out for one another (speak the truth, encourage, get involved, etc.) and to help one another (food pantry, minitries of helps, help with a bill now and again) as well as provide teaching, opportunities for growth and ministry, and service. God seems to move in amazing ways when people are in committed relationship.

So before you sign the card... ask yourself if you are ready to get radically committed.

Boycotting China

2010-03-05T11:45:00.004-06:00

Sara Bongiorni decided that her family would try to live an entire year without using products that were made in China, and her findings are detailed in a book, "A Year Without 'Made in China': One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy."

As she describes in an NPR interview, it is very difficult to avoid buying Chinese products. She spent weeks trying to buy birthday candles, and couldn't find sneakers for her children not made in China. Eventually she found sneakers made in Italy which cost $70 versus $15 for the pair made in China. When her coffeemaker broke, it was impossible to find a unit NOT made in China, so she ultimately was left with the old-fashioned option of heating water in a pan and pouring it over the beans each morning. Does that mean that French presses and Bialetti's are now made in China?

Bongiorni admits, "There's no way you can live anywhere near a normal life without buying things from China." She notes, for example, that nearly all telephones and cellular phones are made there.

So why do I avoid buying Chinese made products?

1) well its not because I am a bigot-

2) it revolves around their persecution of the Church there in China. They are among the most aggregious violators of personal religious freedom in the world.

3) And then there is the issue of censorship & imprisonment of journalists, cyber-dissidents and press freedom activists (consider missionarys who wander over the border and are imprisoned or human rights workers)

4) Consider the child, prison & sweatshop labour (we wonder how we can buy stuff so cheaply)

5) Think about the wholesale slaughter of endangered species & government sponsored slaughter of domesticated animals (several endangered species are almost gone)

6) Catastrophic pollution (16 of the world’s top 20 most polluted cities are in China)

7) Defective and dangerous products (remember the lead painted toy scandals... but maybe consumers are rethinking that)

When I shop, I read the labels. That is all you have to do. I put the "Made in China" thing back and buy the "Made in Honduras (or nearly any place else)" thing in the cart. When I find a made in USA label I give a shout!!!! But I am mostly quiet as I shop these days.

Daley Ridicules Supreme Court

2010-03-04T08:14:00.004-06:00

This week Mayor Daley ridiculed the nations highest court's decisions regarding guns ownership. “Why can’t I go to the Supreme Court and sit there with a gun and listen to the arguments? If a gun is so important to us on the street or someone’s home, why can’t I go to the Supreme Court and sit there with a gun? I’m not gonna shoot anyone. But, I have a right to that gun,” Daley said. What an stupid thing for a public official to say! There is a bit of a difference between carrying a gun in to a public environment and being allowed to have one in your home.

Well, Mr. Mayor, the city of Chicago has banned hand guns long ago, how's that working for ya? Is there a dearth of murders in Chicago? Have you seen the end of street violence? Can you guarantee the safety of the citizens of Chicago? Well, of course not. And that is the problem. You have outlawed the ability for a private citizen to guarantee for himself what you are unable and unwilling to do.

But let's take Daley's ridiculous argument on. There are some people who are allowed to carry guns into courtrooms... they do it all the time. They are the police. Evidently, it isn't the gun that is dangerous- it is the mindset of criminal behavior. So, Mayor D you just want your people to have guns... and the rest of us are just potential victims for the criminals, right?

Owned Desires

2010-02-20T10:44:00.002-06:00

This morning while waiting for a friend in a coffee shop, I was pondering how our desires change over time. I don't think I am speaking strickly about getting old but about the redirection of our desires. Much of this has to do with people we live and work with.

When I was a employee for a paint contractor- I would head off to work in the morning and as I got to the job I would lay aside all my desires (sleep in, eat a nice "Saturday breakfast", loaf around, etc) and embrace his desires. I did this because I was on the payroll (his dime- his time). If the boss wanted me to train people I did. If he wanted me to fire someone I did. You get the picture.

But when I went home I stopped embracing his desires and again took up my own. I know that doesn't sound amazing but it is when we compare it to the kingdom. Follow my thinking.

When I came to Christ in surrender I laid down my desires, most of them sinful, and yielded myself to Jesus. Sure there were times when my mind drifted back to those desires but I fought through those because I wanted to be a person of integrity. If I claimed Christ-I wanted to live Christ. During my walk with the Lord I have learned his nature and kindness and the wonder of his character. In this time I have embraced his desires fully. Most of my desires now are "borrowed" from him. Those desires that I embrace these days were given me by him- they are learned. (I hope that makes sense). So I care about others, and am concerned about them because he is. I help people because he is prodding me to. It doesn't mean I don't have selfish days where I try to do my own thing. But those desires are largely dormant. Growing in Christ means that you have owned desires... that you heart is infected with the heavenly virus.

However, and here I confess too much perhaps, I have noticed that when I give in to the selfishness- I can fall back into the habit of rejecting his desires and embracing or recreating my own. I can hide the secret desires of the flesh from everyone but God. And the very thought of this frightens me.

Lord, Help me to serve you with a whole heart. Create in me a new heart ready to hear, let me love what you love... let me cry over what moves you... let me rejoice over the things that bring you joy. Create the desires in me... occupy my heart and inculcate the things of heaven into my spirit so that I may lose myself in serving you. Let me, like a kernel of wheat, die and then bear fruit. May I spend enought time with you everyday that my desires are shaped. Lead me in the everlasting way...AMEN

How to confess to wrong doing

2010-02-12T09:52:00.002-06:00

These 7 points are thoughtfully put together by Ken Sande in his book Peacemaker.

As God opens your eyes to see how you have sinned against others, he simultaneously offers you a way to find freedom from your past wrongs. It is called confession. Many people have never experienced this freedom because they have never learned how to confess their wrongs honestly and unconditionally. Instead, they use words like these: "I'm sorry if I hurt you." "Let's just forget the past." "I suppose I could have done a better job." "I guess it's not all your fault." These token statements rarely trigger genuine forgiveness and reconciliation. If you really want to make peace, ask God to help you breathe grace by humbly and thoroughly admitting your wrongs. One way to do this is to use the Seven A's.

1.Address everyone involved (All those whom you affected)
2.Avoid if, but, and maybe (Do not try to excuse your wrongs)
3.Admit specifically (Both attitudes and actions)
4.Acknowledge the hurt (Express sorrow for hurting someone)
5.Accept the consequences (Such as making restitution)
6.Alter your behavior (Change your attitudes and actions)
7.Ask for forgiveness

This sounds so simple but is lacking in EVERY CONFLICT that comes into my office! If these were practiced by the church families and marriages we would have sound relationships that would be a testimony to those around us!

Alien Visitation

2010-02-02T15:08:00.002-06:00

Imagine if you will that visitors from outer space visit the planet tonight. They land in Chicago and get a hotel room. Curious about this planet and the American culture that they are here to visit they tune into the TV in their hotel room to find out what are the issues that this culture faces. After an evening of cruising the channels they determine that the things that are uppermost on our minds are not the problems of our rotting inner cities, not the debilitating pace of life, nor the breakup of the nuclear family. It seems that we are not bothered by the fact that our children are spending their strength and their fortunes on drugs and drink, nor are we bothered by the soaring crime rates, and we are not bothered by the loneliness and disorientation that so many face in our society. The moral decline that is evidenced by the lyrics to Lady Gaga's and R Kelly's songs is what we are trying to address on the TV. No, after one evening of watching commercials and seeing the products that are being advertised they would identify the issues that are uppermost on our minds. Those things would be easily identifiable as bad breath, body odor, indigestion, depression, constipation and erectile dysfunction.

Why are we so blinded to the real issues that plague us? Why do we not see the moral decay that is eating the foundations of the righteous institutions in our country. God help us to see what is a real issue and what is a figment of Wall Streets need to sell us one more thing.

The Importance of Worship

2010-01-18T14:41:00.002-06:00

What sets your life apart from that of your co-workers and friends? If you are a worshipper of God it is probably what you did first thing in the morning. Believers usually develop the habit of starting their day with worship early in their walk in the Spirit... my time of worship usually begins in the shower (a great place to sing praise to God). Soggy but sincere!

Adoration, thanksgiving, praise, worship- all are nuances of the same act. To praise God is to thank him for what he has done, to adore him is to express love, to give thanks is to demonstrate appreciation, to worship is to declare the high worth of the One who is over all. Each of these are empowering to us personally. We are unlikely to give a second gift to a person who does not seem appreciative of the first gift we have given them. In the same way, our praise and thanksgiving is an invitation to keep giving to us. Does that sound selfish? Well, it isn't! It is a recognition that we are completely dependant upon the God of the Universe for all that we are! 'Without Him, we can do nothing', the scripture assures us.

Christening our day with praise is defining for us the purpose of the day. We are to live to bring honor and glory to King Jesus by the way that we live our lives. Who else is worthy of being honored with our "unceasing" attention (1 Thess 5.17). Whatever we put our hands to, whatever direction our labors take us, they are to bring glory to Him (Col 3.17).

Yet often I know that Christians fail to begin their day properly. It stands to reason that no believer can give the whole day who does not give the first fruits of their day to the King! What could be more defining and shaping than lifting up the Name of the Savior. This habit of surrendering the rest of the day will reap the blessing of God. It will shape our decisions and our attitudes. It will correct our tendencies to lean on the flesh for decisions, and to adopt fleshly attitudes throughout the day, and it will set the enemy on his heels first thing in the morning.

Jesus taught that each day has enough trouble for itself. Trouble can find its way into any day, but the day that begins in praise and adoration consistently makes the declaration... Jesus is Lord and as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

Scared...are You?

2010-01-04T19:56:00.003-06:00

Are you scared? I am getting there. The recent terrorist attempt to blow up a plane with Americans flying in from Yemen has me a bit tweaked. Seems that we can't determine that a single Muslim man with no luggage and who is buying a one way ticket to the US should make some red flags go up. Further, it is bothersome that his name was actually known - he had been turned in by his father! This is now the second terrorist attack under the present administration. It seems to me that there simply isn't the war-time mentality that should be there in the security sector. Sympathy for the terrorist, but not for you and I. Concern about the rights of everyone except the honest and hardworking tax payers in our society.

The whole global warming thing seems to have been bolstered by bad science. At least that is what we are finding out as we read the emails from the creators of the famous "hockey stick" graph. Seems that this was all a sales job from the panic mongers.

I get a bit scared, too, when I see how our culture has fallen prey to the freakish and weird. A short look at the news or the news paper these days shows how our societal standards have fallen. Things once eschewed are now embraced publicly, and proudly and the next generation is growing up with the leftovers of relativism and nihilism. Basically, nothing has any intrinsic meaning, anything goes because nothing matters, and the worth of something or someone is based strictly in the utilitarian view of them. This undermines every institution in our land. Without a sense of right and wrong, without a clear understanding of human worth and honor, without a view of having to answer for our actions against another we stand at the brink of collapse.

This administration is seeking to set in place what seems to many (most) a foolish expenditure. This health care debacle is sending us down a horrible path. Already the Mayo Clinic is refusing to take Medicare payments because the payout is so low. Soon we will see the outworking of this failed policy that no one knows how to fund. So our taxes will skyrocket. Those who are not working will not be encouraged to work, those who live in reckless debt will not be rebuked, but the workers- those who work and pay taxes- will bear this burden too. Sunday's tribune had an article on the 2010 tax revolt that is brewing in the US. What will happen if people simply refuse to pay their taxes? What would happen if on April 15Th no envelopes came into the IRS? None. The Obama mantra of "Splurge. Borrow. Repeat" would stumble and sputter. Then what?

Anarchy? Chaos? Violence in the streets? like I said... it is getting scary.

Step Two to Balancing your life- Find Passion

2009-12-28T09:40:00.002-06:00

There is no sense of balance in living as a slave. While most jobs have unpleasant things to do, the life of that finds passion and works in that area of passion is bound to find more joy and peace. I am not suggesting that we are to avoid work... work is a source of joy and peace and balances our life. But only when it is something that we can be passionate about. Carpenters should like working with wood, pastors should like working with people, and dog groomers should enjoy working with animals. It makes too much sense.

The shame is that so many of us don't have a clue about the things that we are passionate about. Spend some time taking an inventory of your internal passions. Some of those are God ordained strengths and gifts that waiting to be released to the world. When you are in that "sweet spot" you will be able to find the sense of balance that will be fulfilling.

Ironically, the joy and peace is found after the intensely selfish moments of introspection. Too often people get locked into looking at themselves. Real fulfillment happens when we give ourselves to serve others in the areas of our passion. Balance includes the focus of our passion on those who are around us.

Step one to balancing your life-Self Nurture

2009-12-18T11:46:00.002-06:00

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony."

Thomas Merton

The first step to balancing your life is to take care of your self. Essentials to this are rest, exercise, down time, spiritual meditation, and listening to your body.
Now at Christmas time it is almost a sin to talk about rest. But it is quite frankly the key to enjoying the season!

Too many of us try to get by on stunted sleep. Burning the candles at both ends can't be healthy... and often leaves us physically exhausted and affects our attitudes negatively.

Exercise stinks. (My opinion!) But the heart rate has to rise above sleeping occasionally- (smile). Long walks, time in the gym, regular calisthenics all have their place in a life of balance.

Chill time is crucial as well. You will be better for time in a hot bath, or sitting in the favorite chair reading something you don't 'have' to read for work. Rest and rejuvenate.

Prayer and meditation are also indispensable. They are the exercise for the spirit. To be fit as a fiddle physically and be spiritually shallow is a weakness. Your poor body will have to drag that aching spirit with you. Have you prayed today?

Listen to you body. Is it happy? Are you eating right? those aches and pains are the language of the body, describing the poignant need for a change in body management. Have you practiced fasting? Are you nurturing yourself?

The life of balance will lead you to a truer happiness than one of intense but frivolous energy expense. Remember the race is not to the swift, but to those who can endure...

To Santa or Not to Santa...

2009-12-15T10:42:00.005-06:00

A lot of Christian parents face the dilemma of "to Santa or not". When my kids were little we were torn on whether to tell them about Santa or not. I didn't want to practice a form of deception on my kids and have them doubt other things that I was telling them (ie., the gospel of Jesus). So we, my wise and amazing wife and I, determined to keep them free of the juvenile delusion that is Santa (and the Easter Bunny for that matter). Yet, the question arose how to have them react with the kids at school and their little cousins who were believers (in Santa). We didn't want to be the buzz kill for the others but wanted to speak truthfully to our kids.

Truth is important in communicating to kids. And Christmas is gotta be confusing. Elves are fake, angels are real; wisemen from the east- real, reindeer with irridescent noses- not so real. Come on, and thingk like a kid. If they grow up thinking that storks bring kids, and bunnies bring candy, and elves make toys, etc. they are likely to not differentiate between the truth of the love of God for them and the childhood stories. Yet children deserve the freedom to develop their creative intellect and imagination too. So how do you practice truth and live in the world we live in?

For my wife and I, we felt that it was okay to teach our children that Santa was a game that people play. We told them that we would always tell them the truth because we were christians and that they were in on the secret of the Santa game. We asked them not to ruin the game for the other kids but to play along. It was fun to watch them look at us and giggle as other kids talked about Santa. We would wink and play along.

Not sure what you all have done... but that worked for us. We ended up unafraid of the fantasies of the world around us but with our kids trust in tact. And that trust has always served us well.

The Discriminatory "Non-Discrimination Act"

2009-12-11T11:21:00.002-06:00

By Matt Barber

(Though I feel this is a very serious subject, this has some humor in it!- PD)

Today's Democratic leadership is a predictable lot. They've cornered the market on mass manipulation through semantic tinkering. It's a relatively easy code to crack. To decipher what Democrats mean versus what they say one need merely apply the "forked-tongue test."

If Dems say "Fairness Doctrine," expect unfairness in spades. When Harry Reid tags Obamacare the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," we know that the patient gets hosed, and the "care" breaks the bank. Indeed, if the 111th Congress were to pass the "No Kicking Fuzzy Puppies Act," bet your Obama tax hike that Nancy Pelosi would be first in line to punt Poochie across the Capitol Rotunda.

And so it goes with the characteristically mislabeled "Employment Non-Discrimination Act" or ENDA (S. 1584 in the Senate and H.R. 3017 in the House). According to its leftist proponents, ENDA – which is under consideration in both houses of Congress – would merely insulate people who choose to engage in homosexual conduct (sexual orientation) or those who suffer from gender confusion (gender identity) against employment discrimination. But in truth, this legislation would effectively codify the very thing it purports to combat: workplace discrimination.

ENDA would force – under penalty of law – Christian, Jewish, or Muslim business owners to hire people who unrepentantly choose to engage in homosexual or cross-dressing behaviors, despite the fact that those volitional behaviors are in direct conflict with every major world religion, thousands of years of history, and uncompromising human biology.

This is no different than compelling a deeply religious business owner to hire and accommodate an "out and proud" adulterous "swinger." It's a direct assault on the inalienable rights of people of faith. It pits the government directly against the free exercise of religion and is, therefore, unconstitutional on its face.

During his second term, President Bush issued a Statement of Administration Policy on ENDA, pointing out its clearly unconstitutional nature. "[ENDA] is inconsistent with the right to the free exercise of religion as codified by Congress in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)," noted the statement. "The Act prohibits the Federal Government from substantially burdening the free exercise of religion except for compelling reasons, and then only in the least restrictive manner possible. [ENDA] does not meet this standard."

The fact that our current president both supports ENDA and prefers our sacred Constitution as potty paper for the aforementioned Poochie makes ENDA no less unconstitutional.

Chai Feldblum (pronounced "high" as in "stoned") is a lesbian activist and sexual anarchist attorney who supports legalized polygamy and bisexual polyamory. She has been nominated by President Obama to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This is like having Michael Moore guard the donuts. In the past, Feldblum – ENDA's chief framer and, if confirmed, one of five commissioners charged with its enforcement – has candidly summed-up the mindset behind the bill.

Feldblum believes that the battle between religious freedom and unfettered sexual license (aka, "gay rights") is a "zero sum game," meaning that the two cannot possibly coexist in harmony. One must triumph over the other. (Guess who wins in her twisted analysis?)

When asked about the Christian business owner or religious organization that morally objects to hiring people openly engaged in the homosexual lifestyle, Feldblum snapped: "Gays win; Christians lose." And where Americans' constitutionally guaranteed right to religious liberty comes into conflict with the postmodern concept of "gay rights," Feldblum has admitted having "a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win." Of course Feldblum's analysis is entirely arbitrary and completely unsupported by any reasonable constitutional interpretation or federal precedent.

In fact ENDA would – for the first time since the Constitutional Convention – extend special, federally preferred government status to individuals based upon a changeable and objectively aberrant sexual lifestyle, rather than requiring that such status be delineated by immutable, non-behavioral characteristics such as skin color or gender.

Former Secretary of State Collin Powell put it well when he said, "Skin color is a benign, non-behavioral characteristic. Sexual orientation is perhaps the most profound of human behavioral characteristics. Comparison of the two is a convenient but invalid argument."

But Ken Hutcherson, a prominent, well-respected African-American pastor from the Seattle area, summed it up even better, stating rather incisively: "Don't compare your sin to my skin."

Don't Go to Church if...

2009-12-01T15:17:00.002-06:00

I hear all the time that people have given up gathering with other like minded believers. They routinely tell me that their relationship with Jesus is much deeper than gathering to watch a "worship concert" and hear a teaching. And, surprisingly, I agree. It is possible to have a relationship with God outside the walls of the assembled brethren. But I would be remiss if I didn't say that I have also heard stories of great tragedy from those who wandered from fellowship. Families that broke up, morality that crumbled, and souls that were... well, lost because they wandered from faith. The scripture warns that we should gather frequently to make sure we are challenged by the Word preached and that we can worship (with or without music).

So don't go to church if...

You are looking to appease God by some form of religious "doing". Attending services doesn't necessarily please God. Some of the sickest and most twisted people attend services regularly... thank God, they need it! Gathering with the church is a way to insure that you will have a challenge to your mind and spirit by the Word; you will be given an opportunity to fulfill the biblical mandates to worship in song, in heart, in giving, and in service to others; and it insures you the opportunity to help others.

Don't go if you are selfish and only care about yourself. We are people who need each other and are unashamed of that fact. We have chosen to stick together and gather to make a greater impact than we might as individuals in this society. Together we can help the brother or sister who is short grocery money this week by all throwing in $5. What do people do who have a friend in need but don't attend church? In my experience, they send them to the church!

Don't go if you aren't serious about worship. At least here at CLC we are pretty determined to connect with God. Through songs, through silence, through meditating on a scripture, etc. we are trying to connect with the gracious one who saved us by his blood.

Don't go if you know everything. There isn't any room for your big brain in the place. Of course, the question isn't have you heard it before... the question is are you living it out every day. Are you loving? Are you kind? Are you giving? Are you selfless? Are you... like Jesus?

Don't go to church if there is no hunger for change. The last thing the Lord needs from his kids is another hard hearted and recalcitrant kid. The place is already slammin' full of hypocrites. (don't fear... there is room for another!)Soft hearts are demanded by him in order to be molded into the Jesus shape.

But for me I need it. I need my friends and my family to challenge me to live for Jesus the other 6 days of the week too.I need to be reminded that watching hockey isn't the biggest priority in my life- loving people is. I need to be moved by the testimony of fellow strugglers, i need to hear about miracles in other peoples lives, I need to be moved emotionally by songs, videos, images, and stories of the goodness of my God. It gets me through. But more... it gets me out of the church and into the world. This time with a mission to help another and point to a Savior.

Absorbing Shocks

2009-11-10T08:41:00.004-06:00

I've been connecting with a lot of old friends. (Most of my friends are old :-) - but by that I mean that these are people I've know for a while!) Some I haven't seen in many years. For a lot of us life has been difficult. Personal loss, relational challenges, sickness, economic hardships, ministry troubles... the list goes on. I reflect on the things that I have gone through over these recent years, and that list is pretty scarey as well. So I have come to the conclusion that God doesn't keep his kids from the problems and drama of life.

When I say that I know full well that my life could be much worse if Christ were not daily intervening in my messy and imperfect life. I have "dodged the bullet" many times and I realize that it is not my "ninja reflexes" that accomplished that but rather the faithfulness of God. Yet, 'into every life a little rain must fall' the saying goes. These things test our resolve, our faith, and nearly everything else in our lives. How we respond determines the impact of the events that test us.

This summer I watched with horror as two people I care about greatly flipped in their canoe at the base of a multistory water fall. Freaking out didn't help so we all pitched in and pulled em out of the drink and emptied their canoe and put them on their way again. At the end of the day, it was a blip on the radar. One minute they were just hats floating through the rapids... a few hours later they were laughing around a fire. Now don't get me wrong, it could have been bad. But attitude and friends helped make the situation better.

Likewise when we are in the thick of it... when stuff is hitting proverbial fans... when life sucks the strength out of you... we need to do a few things to survive so we can laugh about it later.
1.) Look for friends to help your through it. Hopefully you will have amassed a large group of supporters and encouragers in your life by that point. Lean on them and they will help you "out of the drink".
2.) Make sure that you have a great attitude of faith and a positive outlook on life. That will help you through
3.) See number one? remember that there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother... his name in Jesus.
This is my story. God hasn't protected us from the bumps in the road... but he is a heck of shock absorber!

Prophetic Ministry

2009-10-27T15:26:00.003-05:00

Too often Christians misunderstand prophetic ministry. They think that prophetic ministry is spooky or scarey. Many pastors shrink from having prophetic brothers and sisters into their churches because there is a certain amount of control given up when we let anyone minister in our pulpits. This fleshly fear is the kind of insecurity that the Devil plays with in the heart of the pastor or minister. But churches need prophecy. The word of the Lord needs to be shared in the life of the church for the health of the church. Describing the church meeting the apostle Paul writes (1 Cor 14.26) "Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." NKJV Any restriction on the giftings out of fleshly fear will stifle the church from being "edified" or built up.

Here are some healthy guidelines for prophetic minsitry in the church.

First, prophecy is public. One glance at 1 Cor 14 will clearly tell that all must be able to "say Amen!"ESV to the prophetic word. At CLC we are very leery of any word that is private. Even when Paul was told that he would be bound to prison(Acts 21.11) it was done publicly. This insures clarity and accountability.

Secondly, prophecy in the church must be judged. No word should come forth that is not stood up and examined (1 Cor 14.29). The person at the pulpit who is in charge of the meeting, should acknowledge the Spirit's moving. Too often pastors run away from "hear what the Spirit is saying". Sometimes someone will speak out of emotion, or out of their flesh and not out of the Spirit- it is important that leadership gently confront the speaker in an effort to encourage the gifts but insist upon their genuineness and integrity.

Third, prophecy should flow from a clean vessel. I disregard any prophetic word from a liar, a thief, a greedy heart, or a person in sexual sin. It may be necessary in some circumstances, to restrict prophetic words to those who are known to the leadership.

Fourth, prophecy needs to be pastored. It is too easy to remember wrongly the word spoken over your heart. Emotions run high and cloud our hearing. These days it is easy to get a recorder to get the word exactly right. We ask each person who receives a word to write it down (or better, type it out) and give it to their pastor. That pastor should go over the following things with his sheep. (1)What things were revealed that I understand ; (2) What things were revealed that I do not understand (pray for clarity); (3) what action points are there for the person to perform, (4) What things do they need to trust the Lord for. That directive of the Lord that is honored will be certain to be a blessing.

Prophetic ministry is a powerful tool used to build up the church in it's holy faith. It builds the commodity of hope in the heart of the individual. We all need hope- it is the foundation of faith. And faith is the currency of the Kingdom.

Keep on Keeping on

2009-10-08T07:59:00.003-05:00

Certain times in our life are defined by dry heavens. There seems to be no rain, no voice from God, no answers to prayer, and no freedom. These times feel exhausting and laborious. We find ourselves weary in doing good and begin to question all that we have previously learned from our times with God.

These times are a test of our spirits strength and perseverance. They are tedious and seem to be long and drawn out. When we are going through them we have to remember that we are not out of God's line of sight.And we are certainly loved by him during this time.

Apollo 11 had an experience that reminds me of this. As they were orbiting the moon NASA lost communication with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren. the world waited in silence to see if they would emerge on the other side of the moon and reestablish communication. During that phase of the trip the Astronauts went through the dark side of the moon and lost contact with the guiding voice of Houston. The key to surviving the dark side of the moon was to keep doing what you had been trained to do and to keep on doing what you were supposed to do. Any deviation from the plan and they might end up careening through space completely off the mark.

When I am going through these testing times I don't change very much. I might intensify my prayer life but that is about it. I do everything in my power to stay on course. Of course, my emotions can get the best of me at times and I can fail or sin. This reveals weakness in me and in my character. Thankfully, God is forgiving and merciful - Always. I learn through these times what I am made of.

Eventually I know that I will pass outside of the dark side and communication will be reestablished. What a sense of relief! What a sense of victory! But until then, we keep on keeping on.

Feeling Burned Out?

2009-09-18T15:31:00.004-05:00

Here are a few things that I have learned from bouts with burn out. Burn out is a bit like depression except that it is linked to production, success, or achieving. These five steps will help get life back on track and restore the strength and meaning to your life.
#1 Cut back- choose to produce more and higher quality work by doing less. Delegate to others, ask for help, get out from under the feeling of being overwhelmed.

#2 Rest- Start by lining up your leisure times as appointments far in advance. Don't let anything steal family time. Don't let date nights wane. Don't surrender your quiet times - ever!

#3 Sleep- Get some... get a lot because you look and act ugly when your tired and burned out. It's that serious

#4 Start exercising- the physical needs discipline and your exercise plan will release the dopamine in your brain to help you feel better

#5 Daily spend prayer and devotional time. in burned out times I like to read devotionals that others have written.

These steps will put you in the place (when practiced diligently) that you will rise out of the depths of burn out and find healing for your soul.

Lessons learned while Working

2009-09-06T18:09:00.001-05:00

I enjoyed reading this today hope you do too.
by Mary Schmich

I've been working since I was 16. I've been a waitress and a writer, a college admissions officer and a movie-theater candy-counter clerk. In honor of Labor Day, here are some things that working has taught me about work.

1. Work is hard. That's why it's called work.

2. Calm down. The work that must get done will get done. Or you're fired.

3. Deadlines are the enemy of perfection. They're also your best friend.

4. Your boss has a boss too. That explains half the crazy things she -- or he -- does.

5. Listen to the assignment. You may think it's stupid. But be sure you understand what you're being told to do before you do the thing you think is smarter.

6. As one of my first bosses told me: Be loyal to individuals, but never be loyal to an institution because it will not be loyal to you.

7. Some bosses are very wise.

8. Your job is harder than other people think, but not as hard as self-pity tells you.

9. Looking busy and working effectively aren't the same. But only the fortunate few get credit for making work look effortless.

10. Your boss doesn't understand what you do. Let her -- or him -- know occasionally.

11. It's easier to second-guess the boss than to be the boss.

12. As a business-school professor once told me: Power doesn't corrupt; power reveals. That knowledge won't change your workplace, but it might change your perceptions.

13. Keep your psychodrama to yourself and not only because your work chums could wind up as your superiors or subordinates.

14. Sad but true: Work is a bond, but the workplace can be as ferocious as "Survivor." You can rarely be sure your work friend is your true friend until you're off the island.

15. The above is especially true of workers at different levels of power.

16. Flattery won't get you far. If it does, it's called sucking up.

17. Respect. You can't expect it if you won't give it. This applies to the ranks above and below you.

18. Don't quit when you're mad. Or drunk.

19. Alcohol never helps get the job done. Never.

20. Sad but true: Team players don't always come in first.

21. Neither do sick people who won't take sick days. Stay home.

22. Find work you love. If you can't, find things to love about your work. If that fails, remind yourself that there's always, always someone with a worse job.

23. Work pays for the fun.

24. Everyone feels underappreciated.

25. At least once in your working life, you will hear at least two of these phrases: "Don't take it personally." "We've decided to move in a different direction." "I wish I could offer you more, but ..."

26. The boss is not thinking about you as much as you're thinking about the boss. But she -- or he -- wants your approval too.

27. Bosses are like the weather and the pop charts -- they change. You're likely to outlast more than one.

28. Yes, you are lucky to have a job. But that's not license for your employer to exploit you.

29. Power trumps talent. And effort. And experience. All the way up the ranks.

30. Work gives life purpose. But it's not the only purpose. It's a piece of your identity. But it is not you.

10 Tips for being a Better Wife

2009-08-13T07:06:00.002-05:00

1. Flirt with your husband at inappropriate times. Rub his back while he’s talking to a friend on the phone. Pinch his butt in church. Whisper in his ear in the doctors waiting room. Keep romance alive

2. Keep yourself clean and attractive. Don’t always give him the “sweatpants, no makeup, greasy hair, baby burp- look”. Work out enough to be strong in your old age. Dress nicely. If you get dressed up to go to dinner with your girl friends, then make the same effort when you two go out to the show.

3. Fix up your bedroom so that it is a love sanctuary. It is hard to be romantic in a jungle of dirty laundry and dog hair.

4. Get over it. Forgive and move on. A bitter woman is unattractive. A lonely bitter woman is even less so- get it?

5. Listen to his stories. Make sure that the children don’t always interrupt and push him into the background. He may stop talking altogether. Remember- the kids will leave the nest… and then you will be stuck with a non communicative husband.

6. Don’t nag. Find the right time and place to share your frustrations and disappointments. Maybe the sentence should begin with “Honey, it would really bless me if you would remember to take out the garbage…” (as opposed to “ hey dimwit, take out the trash…)

7. Give him space to be himself but keep him close to the family. Tell him about what the kids are saying/doing. Tell him its time to have a talk with Junior. Tell him how important he is to the family- cause he is.

8. Sex. Lots of it and varied. The world is over sexed and full of temptation and lust. You are the best thing that ever happened to him…. Even if your 15 pounds heavier than when you met. So believe in yourself and your marriage- that God put the two of you together make “sweet music”.

9. Be a strong woman. Be confident and competent. But know when to let him “rescue you”. Every guy wants to be a hero. Every woman wants to be rescued by a stud. Let him know when you are a ‘Damsel in Distress’- but you can’t always be helpless.

10. Stay spiritually in tune with God. yeah, he should be the spiritual leader of the home but don't pile on when he isn't. There will be times when you are the strong spiritual link to the Lord. Be ready for it. And Pray for your man.

25 Tips on How to Stay Married

2009-08-13T06:41:00.003-05:00

by Sharon Randall

These are good... wish I'd have thought of them.

1. Always put her first - before work, friends, even basketball. Act as if she's the best thing that ever happened to you, because we all know she is.

2. Keep no secrets. Pool your money. Allow nothing and no one to come between you.

3. Pick your fights with care. Play fair. Show some class. Hurtful words can be forgiven, but they're hard to forget.

4. Fall in love again every day. Kiss her in taxis. Flirt with her at parties. Tell her she's beautiful. Then tell her again.

5. Never miss an anniversary or a birthday or a chance to make a memory. Memories may not seem important now, but one day they'll be gold.

6. Never give her a practical gift. If she really wants a Shop-Vac, let her pick it out herself.

7. Go to church together, and pray every day for each other and your marriage.

8. Pay your bills on time and make sure you each have a living will, a durable power of attorney and life insurance, lest, God forbid, you need them.

9. Love her parents as your own, but don't ask them for money. Never criticize her family or friends. On her birthday, send flowers to her mother with a note saying, "Thank you for giving birth to the love of my life."

10. Always listen to her heart; if you're wrong, say you're sorry; if you're right, shut up.

11. Don't half-tie the knot; plan to stay married forever.

12. Never go to bed mad; talk until you're over it, or you forget why you were mad.

13. Laugh together a lot. If you can laugh at yourselves, you'll have plenty to laugh about.

14. Never criticize, correct or interrupt her in public; try not to do it in private either.

15. Remember that people are the least lovable when they are most in need of love.

16. Never fall for the myth of perfectionism; it's a lie.

17. When you don't like each other, remember that you love each other; pray for the "good days" to return and they will.

18. Tell the truth, only the truth, with great kindness.

19. Kiss at least 10 seconds a day, all at once or spread out.

20. Memorize all her favorite things and amaze her with how very well you know her.

21. Examine your relationship as often as you change the oil in your car; keep steering it on a path you both want it to go.

22. Be content with what you have materially, honest about where you are emotionally, and never stop growing spiritually.

23. Never raise your voice unless you're on fire. Whisper when you argue.

24. Be both friends and lovers; in a blackout, light a candle, then make your own sparks.

25. Finally, be an interesting person, lead your own life. But always save your best for each other. In the end, you will know you were better together than you ever could've been apart.

Here's to happily ever after.

10 tips for being a better Husband

2009-08-08T13:35:00.004-05:00

I am no expert, but after nearly 29 years of being married, I’m confident that these Top 10 things any man can do to make himself a much better husband.

1. Be humble. We have to be willing to admit our failures to our wives and kids. Too often I have had couples who never offer real apologies and never give real forgiveness. When you make a mistake … own up to the facts. You will ultimately gain respect in the long run.

2. Pay attention when she speaks. Put the remote down, the cell phone away, and turn the TV down. Listen for her emotions not just facts to debate. Remember what she says and likes when you are being dragged around the mall… listen for gift ideas for future events.

3. Gentle , Big boy. The tone of our words, the harshness in which we live in the world, and our tempers often get in the way of real communication.

4. Think out loud. She might be surprised that you think at all. She might be mortified what you think about. But she will be excited to know your actually sharing your inner thoughts with her. (BTW- you can even share your struggles!)

5. Give Gifts. Women love to receive gifts. You don’t have to wait until Valentines Day, her birthday or your anniversary. BTW- you might try to spend your money on her rather than that new fishing rod!

6. Be Sexual. But don’t be perverse. Not everything is about the bedroom. If you honor as sacred your moments of intimacy you will likely have more of them to ponder…

7. Ask her about her day. Then listen to what she says. Don’t give advice unless asked.

8. Stop worrying about being on time. You will likely be late to some events… do you want to be arguing with her all the way there and back too?

9. Notice her appearance. She doesn’t smell like your buddy Bill… so tell her she smells good. If you like the way those pants look on her.. .tell her. Otherwise, you might end up with her smelling like Bill! BTW- you should shower too!

10. Hold her hands, rub her shoulders, and touch her in non-sexual ways. You will have to practice this. Please don’t count slapping her behind as an effective touch :')

Show Offs

2009-08-03T21:40:00.004-05:00

I got done mowing the grass today and walked up from the garage. In my defense, it is uphill, I had been mowing and working for the better part of the ninety degree day- by the time I got to the house I was exhausted. Did you ever get so tired that you were concerned about yourself? Well, that is how tired I was.

In my fifties I realize that I am not in great shape, but why are we so frail. My son fractured his heal and he was off his feet for 6 or 7 weeks! Clearly we bounce back and are designed to heal ourselves (that in itself is amazing!)But why weren't we designed to be more invincible. Why aren't we more like Robocop and less like, the Pillsbury Dough boy! The Apostle Paul gives us a hint in 2 Cor 4.7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Here he reveals that our weakness and frailty is a part of the grand design! The clay pot (our frail human body) is functional to carry the the majestic image of God and his glory. We can face amazingly horrible circumstances and difficulties and find our way through them. For the follower of Christ- the one who endeavors to live his life for Jesus- there is a promise that God will give us his strength to live by. God's power working through us is the testament to our frailty and his "surpassing strength". Doesn't this intimate that as Christ followers we are to be in over our head? Doesn't it say that we are to be doing more than "normal" living? Isn't there an implied promise of living supernaturally?

And while we are enduring afflictions and persecution and facing the press of life and even the blows against us we are allowing the life of Christ to flourish in us and be shown off to the world. Wouldn't it be better to live our lives as show offs?

Healthcare

2009-07-30T14:34:00.004-05:00

Maybe this will help us evaluate whether we are really in a health care crisis.

46 perent of African-American homes are headed by a single parent.

39 percent of twelfth graders engage in dangerous drug and alcohol behavior.

33 Percentage of the middle class who say they are doing worse financially than their parents

53 percent of Bogan High School (Chicago) students drop out.(JSMorton HS -5%

38 Percent of Americans say that they would get plastic surgery if they had the money.

26 percent of Americans are currently obese, while 86 percent of Americans could be overweight by 2030.

42 percent of Americans fear their children will make less money than they do.

33 percent of Americans are afraid they will never pay off their debts.

However, the good news is 89 percent of Americans are satisfied with their health insurancea>.(Including 70 percent of the 46 million without insurance)

Mr President, Come on- please, fix what is broken in our society. Abandon your call to socialize our health insurance!

When the President acts 'Stupidly'

2009-07-25T22:51:00.003-05:00

The Presdient this week waded into local political arrest of a Harvard Professor who was a friend of his. It is hard to believe that the President could not see the controversy coming. He, while claiming ignorance of all the facts, then presses forward into making an ill informed judgment.

Meanwhile, 1 in ten americans is unemployed. The economy is in the dumper- the stimulas is a failure (Ford posted 2 billion dollar profits- they refused stimulas money- yeah for capitalism adn the power of the market!) Race baiting is not the perogative of the highest office of the land. The presidents healthcare bill will largely and negatively impact seniors- some of the weakest of our citizens.

These are perilous times... People of God, we need to pray.

Seal with image of Jesus found in Tiberias

2009-07-24T14:28:00.001-05:00

by David Hacohen

Two embassy volunteers find lead seal from sixth century in Tiberius depicting Jesus on one side and a cross on the other side

A lead seal from the sixth century depicting Jesus was recently discovered in excavations by the Antiquities Authority in the Old City of Tiberias.

The other side of the seal has a cross with an abbreviation of the name “Christos.”

This is the first time a seal with the image of Jesus has been discovered in excavations in Tiberias. A number of similar seals have been found in Caesaria, which in ancient times was the capital of the province.

The rare seal was discovered by two volunteers, employees of the American and British embassies.

Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University, who is in charge of the dig, notes that the seal shows an important church official.

"The church here was stronger than we thought. This also shows that Judaism and Christianity met here and lived together in harmony,” he says.

In February of this year, a tenth century C.E. coin was discovered in the excavations in Tiberias that depicted Jesus on one side, and had the Greek inscription “Jesus the Messiah, King of Kings” on the other.

Professor Hirschfeld belives that the coin was issued in Istanbul in honor of the first millennium. He notes that the fact that the Jesus coin was found in a dig in Tiberias indicates that the Crusaders continued going to Tiberias even in the Muslim period (the tenth century C.E.).

Tiberias is the only site in Israel where such coins have been found.

Spiritual Gifts- what's yours?

2009-07-22T08:41:00.002-05:00

Far too often Christians fail to pursue their spiritual gifting. Often this is from simple ignorance. They do not know what their spiritual gifting is. When a christian cannot name his spiritual gifts he finds himself sampling areas of service and ministry that do not bear fruit. This leaves the Christian frustrated and longing for more fruitful and purposeful endeavors.

There are a number of passages in the NT that speak of the giftings of individuals. Rom 12, for instance, speaks of the motivational gifts of the Spirit. These are the directions for service and ministry that reside in the personality of the individual. This is quite different from the dynamic giftings of the Spirit that are listed in 1 Cor 12. Clearly, here the emphasis is on the Spirit's empowerment of the individual. This is relating to the unction or the anointing of the Spirit on a persons life.

I have found that the pursuit of living a purposeful life is often difficult. We try to be all things to all people- and of course, we fail to function at a high level. The key to this is to know your spiritual gifts. You can find your spiritual gifting by going to this page Take the inventory there find your spiritual gift. Then complile that information with the desires of your heart, the unique abilities, your personality, and your life experience and you will have gained some direction. Once this information is discovered, bring it into your pastor and ask him how best to use your gifts. You will find a life of spiritual purpose that can be used to make a difference in the world around you.

Saying "no" to Gambling in Illinois

2009-07-14T09:48:00.009-05:00

I am usually silent on this issue but with the Governor's newest budget proposals I feel that I have to speak out. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Governor is expanding the place of gambling and using it to balance the budget. Rather than cutting spending, which is what every responsible family and institution is doing these days, Illinois is going to expand spending on some things that should simply wait. Among them 5 million dollars to Northwestern University, a private institution!

So why shouldn't we gamble?

While no passage of scripture explicitly forbids gambling, we can with confidence claim that gambling is wrong. We needn't be squeamish about calling calling gambling wrong because we have the intent of God revealed to us in Scripture.
Rev. Hershael York writes "...With good reason, Christians are hesitant to label sins that the Bible doesn’t mention, yet we often have to distill principles from the Bible that we apply to contemporary situations. Pornography, computer hacking, or cheating on tests aren’t mentioned in the Bible either, yet believers who want to live like Jesus know intuitively and correctly that these behaviors run counter to the will of God. While biblical texts may not mention them explicitly, biblical principles speak to them directly."

So why is gambling wrong?

First Gambling predominantly affects the poor. Not that wealthy people don't gamble but that the industry is based upon taking peoples money in games of chance largely stacked against them. this disproportionally affects the poor who have much less of a margin for mistakes in handling their money. Gambling houses, poker machines are in it to win. They don't go broke because the odds are stacked in their favor. YOU are the only one that is gambling... they are not.

Secondly, the concept of gambling is contrary to the way God intended man's economy to function. The Scriptures are replete with references like (Genesis 1:28-30, Colosians 3.23, 1 Thessalonians 4.11,5.12-13, 2 Thessalonians 3.10) We are created to work, to labor, to invest ourselves. It is so woven into the NT that help and mercy were not shown to those poor who were able bodied but didn't work! When you paint my garage for money- it is a win-win situation. Services or goods for money. Gambling is based on a win lose situation. There are winners (they be few!) and losers (by the score!).

Further,gambling plays to the basest instincts of men and women. It is based upon the sin of covetousness (Ex 20.17). This greatly overlooked sin of the ten commandments is the heart of gambling.

Also,gambling ignores the biblical principle of stewardship. This principle teaches that we are to be held responsible for the way we spend our life, our energy, and our money.

Gambling is addictive behavior. Even if it is not for me and you there are others who are being enticed into gambling by the way it is marketed. We never hear of the thousands of people who have lost cars, homes, and reputations due to gambling. But we are regularly treated to the visual of a person receiving an oversize check- why is that? When we gamble we participate in the ruination of lives.

So now the new governor wants to increase the number of video poker machines by 45000. They will be in bars, truck stops and restaurants through out the state. Your kids will hear of all the winners and never see the cost of gambling. And our children will pay the price of this lifestyle of greed. They are being taught that there is an easy way that doesn't involve working, investing, etc. This is directly contrary to the scriptural admonitions to work hard and live productive and quiet lives. Too bad we can't teach the government to do what we all have to do... tighten our belts, spend less on frivolous things, and work hard to benefit the rest of society.

Until then Illinois will be full of losers and very few winners!

Recipe for Restoration

2009-07-09T23:19:00.001-05:00

To the Church in Ephesus

Rev 2.1“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

2“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

The Ephesian church was on the verge of crisis. It had been faithful and patient; they had been diligent and hardworking. They were bearing up under the pressure of demonic attack and spiritual warfare as well as the worldly influences that were assaulting them. Often we find ourselves on the brink of crisis because of the stress of living in our day and age and standing faithful for Christ. Like the Ephesians, we need the recipe for restoration.

1. Remember (v5)- the lofty heights of the intimacy that you once expereinced with Christ. It wasn't a fluke- it was the result of a devoted heart chasing hard after God. Find your first love again... love the Lord with everything in you.

2. Repent- otherwise you will be commiting spiritual suicide. All disobedience and rebellion is spiritual suicide. The Lord never wants to remove the anointing (lampstand) from our lives... that is always the discipline of the Lord to save us from ourselves.

3. Return -to your first works. Do the things that you once did when your hearts were on fire. Reading the Word, Radical prayer times, faithful obedience, etc.

When we practice these things, we avoid the impending spiritual crisis' of burnout,frustrations, and bitternesses and find again the joy of living in the love and service of a God who madly loves us.

Being Nice

2009-07-04T15:44:00.002-05:00

Every year until now the family has gone on vacation. This year we rented a wonderful home on the beach in South Carolina (after visiting grandma for a day or so). The funny thing about vacations is that they often require a bunch of family members to be confined to small space, share meals for the week, and make decisions together. Here is my conclusion after being with the people that I love in cramped space for a week.

Close proximity demands being nice and being flexible.

It seems trite and perhaps, at first blush, a bit juvenile to say it. But being nice is important. Relationships are tough and hang on a thread many times- being nice is important to the survival of even the most tightly bonded relationships.

whether the relationships are family or working relationships there are demands placed upon the proximity. Though we are told to be nice since childhood we are loosing the art of being nice. Part of this is the disconnectedness of our generation. Electric media separates people. Our lack of being together places less demands on being nice. Politics, job relationships, family- etc they all show the lose of being nice. Below are some tips

1. Smile. Maybe just view everything positively.
2. Say hello. act friendly.
3. Ask people how they are doing. Ask some personal questions.
4. Be a good listener.
5. Be courteous.
6. Be positive.
7. Be humble.
8. Offer to help.
9.Be sincere.
10. Assume the best about others.

Remember the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. Even though some people may not be nice to you at first, they will the more they get to know you.

Practicing Happiness

2009-06-18T17:10:00.003-05:00

I am reading a book on the Lost Virtue of Happiness. So far the authors seem to indicate that we have looked outside of our spirituality to find happiness that is, of course, really pseudo-happiness. What struck me was their insistance that happiness must be practiced to be deeply felt.

Likening life to a golf swing they insist that the bad habits must be worked out by practicing the correct swing. Likewise, they would insist, that life must be lived out by practicing the good until the bad is a distant memory. Deep spiritual change they say is a result of living out the spiritual disciplines. One of those is happiness. By "acting happy and confident" ( my terms not theirs) ones attitude changes. By changing ones attitude the deep abiding change of character becomes lasting.

There are so many people in this world (and the church too) that are miserable. They are not content with contentment but need to have something to complain about at all times. They are cynical and harsh; judgmental and brutish; they are brooding and bitter; and they cannot be happy for those who are expereincing joy nor can they experience sorrow with others who sorrow. Since this is a command of Christ- I wonder if it wouldn't be important for us all to just simply practice being happy.

Here is my list of things that one might do to practice happiness.
1. Smile Stand in the mirror and smile. Notice how much more pleasant you look. Determine that you will smile at many people today. Note their reaction. Smiling at strangers often disarms them!
2. Choose the Positive i am not saying that you should ignore evil or dysfunction but don't live in the shadow of the negative faith crushing news media outlets! Even if the world is coming apart at the seams, you are probably doing pretty well. After all you ahve a computer on which to read this blog!
3. Sing Preferably not the blues. (smile) Praise God for things in your life that you know are working good,
4. Remember God is working on your behalf. Rom 8.28 And we know that £God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose

What things do you do to practice happiness? Do you feel that "faking happiness" is phony or practical?

Family Tradition

2009-06-07T21:34:00.006-05:00

The family tradition- at least for the men in my family has been to take a spring trip to the wilderness in Canada. We go to a Provincial park in Ontario called Quetico. No motors are allowed. We paddle canoes, sometimes as far as 50 or 60 miles, to move through out the wilderness. it is pristine, unblemished, we drink the water from the lakes and eat what we catch. It isn't exactly living off the land but it is close. We have seen moose and bear come to make a visit in our camp ground, eagles and much wild life. I think that there are a couple reasons that I like the trip is that it is a wonderful bonding trip with my boys. We learn the ways of the earth, act silly, tell stories, and drink hot black coffee around a fire until we can't stay up any longer. It is hard work, but in a way that I don't normally do. Carrying the canoes across arduous passages and boulder strewn creviced is a workout!
But the fresh fried Walleye filets every night are worth the effort.

My boys seem to like it. I think they will be bringing me when I cannot do it on my own. As a tradition it is excellent. We usually read books aloud, discuss the scriptures, or wonder aloud about our dreams and futures.

The moon and stars oversee the evenings, the eagles soar over us by day. The campfire and the camp cooking warms the soul. The friendships and the love last forever.

Losing out with God

2009-05-28T14:01:00.002-05:00

2 Peter 2.19- 22 NASB 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves£ of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Every so often I get this question, "Can a person who has had a genuine relationship with Jesus lose his salvation?"

The answer to this question is much more simple than the centuries of church bickering would lead one to conclude. In the passage above we see three truths that show us that every believer is in danger of falling from grace (Gal 5.4) if he or she doesn't take seriously the relationship with Christ that they committed to in their salvation prayer. Peter is writing to false teachers who (v20) escaped the "defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Savior". Clearly this indicates that these men had salvation experience because one cannot know Christ without salvation. These men became "entangled again and overcome" v(20). this shows that momentary sins do not cancel out our salvation- when we become entangled there is always hope of deliverance from such sin... as long as we are not overcome by that sin. Falling back into a sinful act grieves the Holy Spirit (Eph 4.30) but it doesn't cause us to lose salvation- The only way one can be saved is to trust in the work of Jesus on the cross for salvation, and as long as we continue to strive toward the mark (Phil 3.14), watch our life and doctrine closely (1 Tim 4.16), press on to live in holiness under the Lordship of Jesus (Heb 12.14)and trust in his work rather than our own for full deliverance we remain in Him. Certainly there can be no meaning to Christ's warning to his disciples to "remain in Him" (John 15.6)if there is no possibility of being fruitless branches gathered up and "cast into the fire to be burned". So while we are to strive for a sinless life, momentary failures do not discount us for salvation.

The second thing we see in the verse is that because they had been "overcome" by their sin again- they were worse off in the end than in the beginning. now if they were condemned to Hell as sinners in the beginning- what possible way could they be worse if they still had salvation? Obviously - they couldn't be worse off... unless they had lost out with God. Now they stand doubly condemned- where once they sinned in ignorance (Rom 2. 7-8), now they are sinning boldly in defiance of God's provision of Christ (Heb 10.26)and their condemnation is all that can await them.

The third and final point I see in this passage is that losing out with God is a disgusting act- like a dog returning to his vomit. Having three dogs I can say that this is a disgusting act that makes no sense. That which we have once rejected as no good for us, shouldn't be embraced as our own without the accompanying reaction of disgust. And when a person's faith is shipwrecked (2 Tim 2.15-17)it is a pitiful thing in the eyes of the Lord. His will for our lives is to be fruitful and to live out the abundance of his riches and grace in this life.

Angels and Demons

2009-05-26T17:09:00.003-05:00

If your hoping I am about to review the recent film- sorry to disappoint. I am, however, willing to offer a review of what the enemy of our souls is up to. And you won't need a producation company to follow me around with a camera.

Lying Liars LieThe enemy of our soul and his demonic spirits are working against your life right now by speaking lies. They are lying about you to you. They are lying about God to you. They are lying to you about what others are saying. And they are lying about the things God has asked you to do.

Looking to LootThe enemy is also seeking whom he may destroy and devour. He is not content to tempt you (silly Christian!) He wants to completely derail you from the things that God has assigned for you to do. Pacing outside the doors to your heart he looks for every opportunity.

Losing LoserThe enemy is a loser. I mean this in the most accurate scriptural fashion. If you are listening to his lies then you are a loser too. The Word tells us that he is spinning in some of the final swirls before the "final flush" into captivity (for 1000 years). Surely he knows it because he, as you and I, can sense that his time is short.

If you are not aware of his efforts you may fall prey...so pray. And the God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet Rom 16.19

Fruitful

2009-05-26T16:37:00.003-05:00

I am surprised as I sit and meditate on my reading from 3 days ago. I find myself turning to the 15th chapter of John and chastise my self for ignoring the reading plan that I had devised for myself. yesterday , I felt that the Lord was telling me that this chapter is important for me right now. Today I reread the chapter again and again. "What is here, Lord?" I queried Him as I read the words on page. Like a teenager looking for car keys I scoured the pages and then I came upon it. It had been there all along... verse 5.

I guess I had been frustrated at the slow pace of ministry growth and having some questions about my own worth. "Am I washed up?... Am I supposed to feel this frustration?...etc?" i was looking for some great paradigmatic shift; some new secret formula; some hidden trick to ministering in Jesus' Name (centuries old and forgotten by the masses); but what I got was verse 5.

And verse 5 set me free. "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit."

Jesus has set the stage there for freedom and fruit. I need only to live in such a manner that I do not grieve his Holy Spirit so that He remains in me, and draw close and remain (abide, live) in Him (Jesus). And there will be fruit. Guaranteed

it is as simple as loving the Savior with all your heart mind and strength. I don't know how fruit happens- only that it does. I eat apples and never wonder why they hang out on the boughs of the tree so beautifully. Nope. Don't care why- God does it. He just makes sure that the tree that is tapped into the supply bears fruit.

Is it just me? Or does that set you free too?

National Day of Prayerlessness

2009-05-08T10:36:00.003-05:00

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV): "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Yesterday, we passed through the National Day of Prayer. Or, perhaps this year, it should be called the "National Day of Prayerlessness". It is fitting that the people of God call out to their creator and sustainer, even more so to do it in concert with one another on a selected day. National prayer goes back to 1775 when the Contintental Congress designated a time of prayer for the birthing of this "new nation". Abraham Lincoln called for a resolution to pray as a nation in 1863. Congress passed a law giving the President the right to select a national day of prayer under Truman.

And yet, these days it seems that there are fewer people praying. Even the people of God have lost their understanding of prayer. We have mastered the art of asking God for things and lost the art of surrendering ourselves in prayer! So perhaps it is fitting that President Obama failed to send even representation to any of the National Day of Prayer observances yesterday. In a nation that doesn't pray- it might be seen as a dangerous throwback to the archaic notion that our nation needs the help of God in the economic Tsunami that we are desperately trying to survive. (After all, we can print more money... right???!)

Those of us common folk see things a bit differently. Reports are that many are coming back to church, because of their difficulties and stresses. Perhaps there is a hue and cry in the hearts of the broken and beatdown that the Washington DC elite have insulated themselves from (are any of them facing forclosure???). Many people are starting to turn back to God- in spite of his bad press these last few years. But there probably won't be much in the way of relief from the economic hard times for a little while. The nation that ignores God so famously cannot turn to him once a year and expect blessing. The demand of God is to follow him with all our hearts.

And that is why the scripture says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord". So the Question needs to be asked...If a nation's God is money, power, and political influence... what is its reward?