A World of Experience

He is praying for US

2012-02-04T16:42:00.000-06:00

About a year ago Ruth and I were sitting in a church while visiting our kids listening to a preacher who was trying to impress someone with his wisdom while expounding on John chapter 17.

He said that Jesus never prayed for the lost of the world, he only prayed for his own, meaning his disciples and his followers. He was using this text to justify his next statement which said that in his church, “We only pray for our own people, we don’t pray for those outside our church.”

After asking a few questions I found out that his church supports no missionaries and places little effort in reaching those outside of his church.

I have been wrestling with that arrogant statement ever since hearing it. I am wondering if he echoes the maintenance philosophy of most of our modern day evangellyfish churches whose main focus is to preserve their little “Bless me club.”

If you read Jesus’ prayer in John 17 you will discover that indeed Jesus didn’t say to pray for the lost. Instead, he told his disciples, we are included in that audience, to pray for the church. As Jesus looks at the lost, harassed, and helpless multitudes, his concern isn’t that these lost people remain in their hopeless state. Instead, his concern was that his followers and ultimately his church WOULD NOT GO to the lost world.

Listen to the words of Jesus in John 17:18 as Jesus petitions his father, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”

Ironically, that pastor was right in believing that Jesus isn’t concerned so much about praying for the lost but his biggest concern is that his church WOULD NOT GO to the lost. In effect, Jesus had that church in mind as he prayed that prayer in John 17.

Needless to say I was not impressed by the man or his doctrine and I don’t believe that the Lord was either.

THE WORLD IS WATCHING US

2012-01-23T09:10:00.001-06:00

Sometime ago I wrote an article entitled “The mark of a Christian.” The teaching was one that Jesus gave in John 13:34-35 where he said that the world would be able to tell what a genuine Christian looks like because they love one another.The epitome of maturity for the Christian is to have the same attributes that Jesus showed us as he laid down His life for us.

If the world can easily recognize a real Christian, most certainly people can easily recognize immature one.
Have you ever heard this expression or maybe even voiced it yourself? “If that is what a Christian is like, I don’t want to be one.” This is a very honest yet indicting statement.
Unfortunately mature Christians are easily outnumbered by immature ones and their behavior inaccurately portrays the image that most people observe.
The fruit of mature Christians establishes God’s credibility in the world’s eyes and conversely His credibility is discounted by the behavior of the immature ones.
Paul confronts this serious issue as he writes to the Corinthian church. In I Corinthians 3:3 he tells this church, “You are still worldly, for since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?”
What are the improprieties in the church that the world so easily sees and repels form? Paul summed them up with two words; jealousy and quarreling.
The two most successfully used tools of the Devil used to keep the church from bringing the light of the gospel to a dark and dying world are these two weapons.
We all have met and know people who have never matured, never grown beyond wielding the destructive swords of jealousy and quarreling.
The number of casualties that have succumbed to these two weapons are too numerous to count.
Martin Luther made a profound statement once that has haunted the church ever since. He said, “The only two days that really count in our lives, are This Day and That Day.” This Day refers to today, and That Day refers to the day that we all stand before The Judgment Seat of Christ and give an account for the things that we did on This Day. You can read about it in the rest of I Corinthians chapter three.
John, the disciple of Jesus, sums up the issue on I John 2:28 where he tells us that we all must grow to maturity so that when we stand before Him on That Day we will be confident and unashamed before Him at his coming.
Folks, let us put off childish behavior and grow up so that we will be able to stand before Him with our heads held high having fought the good fight. HALLELIJAH!

How in the world did we get here?

2011-12-04T07:40:00.000-06:00

In the last article I addressed the problem of apathy in our churches. If you haven’t read the previous article, “The immunization of the Gospel,” you should read it as it sets up the need for this follow up.

David was expressing a very important and overlooked principle when he said these words in I Chronicles 21:24. “No, I insist on paying the full price, I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”

David knew that he had offended the Lord and he must make an offering to the Lord so he asked Araunah to let him use his threshing floor as a place to make this sacrifice. Araunah offered to give David the wood and oxen for the sacrifice as a gift. This is what precipitated David’s response that “Unless something costs you, it is not a sacrifice.”

Herein lays the problem within the church today. Christians have been offered cheap grace and they have whole heartedly accepted it. When something has been given to you which costs very little or nothing it is human nature to treat it with little or no esteem, or maybe even contempt.

The gospel today is promoted as easy, just believe, or mentally assent to its claims and your eternal home will be in Heaven, after all God loves everyone unconditionally and as a result forgives everyone unconditionally.

Another factor that has influenced “Cheap Grace,” is the doctrine that many churches push today preaching that Christians are eternally secure. There is nothing that they can do to lose their eternal destiny.

Knowing human nature, what effect would you expect that this teaching would have on the Church? It would be like a parent feeding junk food to their child everyday and then wondering why the kid is overweight.

I believe that this doctrine promotes apathy in the lives of Christians. If I am eternally secure, I can live for myself and allow God to fit into my life wherever and whenever there is space available and that pretty much describes most church goers today. If and when it is convenient, I pay some attention to God.

This whole modern day philosophy is completely contrary to the teaching of the New Testament.

Listen to what Jesus has to say about this idea of “Faith of Convenience” in Mathew 10:38&39. “Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Paul in writing to the early Christian Church in Rome addresses the same requirements when he says that the very least that you can do is to offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Romans 12:1. In II Corinthians 5:15 he tells that Church that since Jesus died for us we should no longer live for ourselves but to live for him. In Colossians 3:5 he tells that Church to put to death our earthly nature.

So, what will it take to turn the church around so its people live for God and not for themselves?

Church history records for us that the Church grows stagnant, apathetic, and ineffective during times of prosperity, but grows strong and very effective during times of persecution and trouble. Isn’t it interesting that many churches promote the idea that unless you are prosperous, God is not blessing you, and they wonder why there is so much apathy in their churches?

Hard times will bring the Church together and purge out its luke-warm apathetic followers.

Surgery is never pleasant and spiritual surgery will be no less. When trouble comes, and it will, let’s “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you have trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2,3

“Blessed is the man who preservers under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 11:12

What kind of church is God looking for, a weak, apathetic one, or a strong mature one? I think that He has our best interests in mind and there is only one way to achieve them.

Keep the faith brothers and sisters, there are better days ahead.

Immunization against the Gospel

2011-11-15T08:32:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago I walked into our son’s office. It was a Saturday night and he was preparing for his Sunday school lesson that he was to teach the next morning. I asked him what class he taught and he replied, “I only want to teach young people, I am sick and tired of teaching adults.” I immediately said, “Jeff is it because the adults have been immunized?” “Exactly,” was his response.

The word immunize is a medical term referring to taking small, weakened doses of an infectious organism so that the body can build up an immunity against the real thing when it is exposed to it.

Now, immunization is a good thing when confronting infectious diseases but, becoming immune to the only hope for eternal life is a bad thing.

How does one become immune to the gospel? The same way one becomes immune to measles, by being exposed to a weak, anemic, and powerless message, but for the Christian it is week after week.

Jesus spoke to this issue in Matt. Chapter 13 when He referred to something that Isaiah said in chapter 6. “Though seeing they do not see, though hearing, they do not hear or understand. You will be ever hearing but never be understanding: you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become callused: they hardly hear with their ears, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

Timothy warns us in II Timothy chapter 3 that in the last days church people will be “Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

He is a sobering thought. After describing church people in verses one through five Timothy says this, “Have nothing to do with them.”

“Hold it,” you might say, “I thought that church people were safe people to be around.”

Paul, while referring to the nominal Christians, says that these people are, “Always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.”

I think that is what my son was saying about not wanting to teach adults anymore. They are always learning but never seem to apply what they learned to their lives.

Paul also addresses this issue in his letter to the Hebrews in chapter five when he says, “You are so slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s Word all over again. You need milk, not solid food.

Some pretty sobering thoughts concerning the state of the Church that we all love and weep over.

Have you ever wondered why?

2011-10-15T15:42:00.000-05:00

     I have often wondered how we can have so many multi-million dollar church buildings that pack-in crowds by the thousands each Sunday morning, but yet have so little impact on our culture and its system of morals.
     It seems that the antagonism toward Christianity grows stronger each day as people look to the church to point the finger of blame for their ills instead of looking for the only solution to their emptiness.
     Why is this happening?
     A couple of weeks ago I was passing through the community where I grew up. I knew that the church I had such fond memories of as a youngster was building a new building so I stopped in for a look. I had heard that the attendance on Sunday mornings had dwindled down to twenty to thirty people. The pastor was convinced that the solution to the scarcity of attendees was due to the austere old building. A slogan was decided upon, although not original, “If we build a new building, they will come.”
     As I was walking through the new building, I could see how their adopted slogan had influenced the scope of the building program right down to the mailbox slots to accommodate well over a hundred families.
     As I was driving away I was asking myself, “Why would people drive several miles on Sunday morning to hear a preacher stroke their egos to make them feel good about themselves after which they would be asked to put a considerable amount of their hard earned cash into the collection plate.”
     Several years ago I was asked to build a movie set for a movie being shot in the Twin Cities. I built false fronted buildings that had curtains on the windows and pictures on the walls as one looked past the imitation brick walls to view the rooms inside. It all looked so real until you stepped around to the side and saw one sided walls with 2X4’s bracing the walls hoping that no strong winds would blow until the movie was complete.
     Is that a fair analogy of the American church when church goers are prepared for good times rather than the persecution and trouble that accompany Godliness?
     Here lies the challenge. Beautiful buildings are usually mortgaged requiring large amounts of money placed into the offering plates to meet the obligation of the debt.
     In most cases the preaching is tailored to and dictated by the mortgage payments. A feel good about yourself gospel is substituted for a life changing gospel requiring repentance. If sin and the repentance of such is mentioned, the offerings will reflect the disapproval of the contributors.
     Church, you need to know that Christians in other parts of the World are weeping and praying for revival in the weak and self-absorbed American church.
     There are no tears for revival found here other than the ones shed by Jesus for His church. We have exchanged God’s desire for us to be Holy for being happy.
     We need to hear the message of repentance which includes, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” Mathew 16:24
     Folks, the preaching of the cross is foolishness and offensive to the world as Paul told us so long ago. ICor. 1:18
     We have bought into the philosophy of compromise and tolerance to the extent that we have become a stench in the nostrils of the world. Instead of drawing people to the cross, we are driving them away.
     No cross, no power. No power, no hope. No hope, an empty, hollow, and defeated life.

GOD IS STILL ON HIS THRONE

2011-09-18T14:19:00.001-05:00

     When my wife Ruth was teaching Bible school near Nairobi, Kenya she had a very unusual student.
     Ruth had a student in her class by the name of Samuel. He came from Northern Kenya and was from a Muslim family. His father had four wives with 21 children.
     One day during break Ruth sat down with him to get his testimony.
Samuel married a girl from his village while he was in the Kenyan Army. When his wife delivered their first child she became insane. She had to be tied to her bed with ropes around her wrists and around her neck because she was wild and unrestrainedly.
     Samuel tried every doctor that was available, both medical and psychiatric doctors from all over the country of Kenya after entreating his Muslim God. He spent a lot of money for doctors. They all told him the same thing, she was insane and there was nothing that could be done for her. She would only get worse and he should abandon her and think of the child.
     One day about five months after the birth of the child a man came to his Army base and asked for him by name. After meeting Samuel he asked him if he could go to his home. Samuel didn’t want to take him home because of his wife, but after persistence, he relented and took the man home. He had never seen him before and had no idea who he was.
     Samuel gave him a meal and the man asked Samuel if he would go to church with him the next day, which was Sunday. At that point Samuel said that he was so desperate that he would try anything, so he agreed. He had exhausted every medical possibility to no effect plus Allah had not answered any of his prayers for help so this was his last chance. He thought that he would try the Christian’s God.
     It was getting late in the day and the man asked if he could spend the night with Samuel and then go to church together tomorrow.
     The next day they went to church and somehow the man left Samuel alone and went somewhere else where Samuel couldn’t see him. Samuel has never seen the man since that morning.
     Samuel said that he had no idea what the service was about because he sat there and cried during the whole service.
     Samuel went home after the service and when he arrived at home and walked into the house he saw his wife sitting on the edge of her bed.. He asked the woman who took care of his wife why she was untied. The woman replied that she asked a while ago if she could be untied because she felt better.
     Samuel couldn’t wait to get to church the next Sunday. The pastor asked if there were any visitors and Samuel stood and asked for prayer. They told him to come forward and they laid hands on him and prayed for him. Samuel was born again during that service.
     Samuel went home and when he walked into the house his wife was sitting in front of the mirror combing her hair. She had not done anything to herself since the baby was born five months ago; she had to be taken care of by someone else.
     From that time on Samuel’s wife has led a normal life and is completely well. To this day she still has the rope marks around her wrists and neck.
     His wife had planned to go to Bible school with Samuel but she got pregnant and had to put that idea aside.
     Samuel transferred to our Bible school from another school so he could get a four-year degree. He planed to go back to his village and preach to the Muslim people.
     Samuel had been dead for 15 years in the eyes of his family. When he had become a Christian his father disowned him as a son and vowed to never speak to him again.
     I asked Samuel to contact me when he graduated from Bible school and was ready to go back to his home village to minister. He contacted me in the summer of 1994 and told me that he wanted to start a church in Nairobi and make trips into Muslim territory to minister.
     A friend of mine had asked me to recommend someone in Africa who needed some monetary help to set up a ministry. I put the two together and Samuel began to receive support from our friend.
     In the fall of 1995 I received an e-mail from Samuel telling me that he had recently made a trip to his hometown to hold a weekend seminar to strengthen any Christians who would come and preach the gospel to the non-Christians.
     The results of the weekend were nothing short of fantastic. Several Christians came to be ministered to and to rededicate their lives to living for Jesus.
     During the weekend one-person came forward to receive Jesus as their Savior, this is where it gets good, that person was Samuel’s father. Samuel had not seen his father for 15 years. Can you imagine the high excitement when he saw his Father receive Jesus?
     Samuel’s father was a Muslim leader in the village and had over 30 families under him as their leader.
Samuel’s father now holds classes in his home on Sundays, but he is not teaching Muslim law, he is teaching them about the love of God from the Bible.
     Today Samuel is the pastor of a church in Nairobi, the Capital of Kenya. He has a growing church with outreaches to several other communities including his home town.
     The following is from a weekly update called “Friday Fax.”
     “Africa is more open for the gospel than it has ever been,”
reports DAWN Africa Coordinator Danie Vermeulen. “Thousandsof Muslims are finding Christ, and some of the most exciting church planting movements are among Muslims. Civil wars, AIDS and political repression are other factors leading growing numbers to be open for the gospel…”
     These are exciting times for us Christians as we are going to see the “Spirit poured out upon all flesh,” (Joel 2:28) as we have never seen it since the days of the “Book of Acts.”
     Keep the faith brothers and sisters.

Some compelling thoughts

2011-08-19T13:31:00.000-05:00

     I have had numerous people ask me this question over the years, “Jim, what compels you to do what you do, spending a lot of time and money traveling to various parts of the world helping and teaching people?”
     Early this past spring I was visiting with one of my previous customers. She was asking me where I had been recently and what my plans were for the upcoming summer. After answering her she retorted with this statement, “Jim, I have never met anyone who lives like you.”
     Some may have taken a statement like that as a compliment, but when she said it I was actually hurt because she was saying that my lifestyle as a Christian was seen by her to be very unusual.
     The last words of Jesus as He addresses his eleven disciples before He leaves the Earth began with these words, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”
     As he speaks to his disciples he is not just giving them and opportunity but he uses the word “Go” which is an imperative verb, which is a command.
     It is my belief, and this is the driving force behind my lifestyle, that Jesus is telling every Christian that he must “Go and make disciples of all nations,” which means that every Christian must discern what his or her God given talents are and use them to fulfill their obligation to this command. He needs to ask himself, “How can I use my gifts to fulfill my part in, “Making disciples of all nations.”
     One might say about the woman who made the statement to me, “Apparently, this woman has not met many Christians.” The sad thing is that she has met lots of Christians who believe that Jesus’ last words are a suggestion rather than a command.
     Another fact that compels me is a story that Jesus tells us in Luke Chapter 16.
     In this narrative, Jesus tells of a rich man who dies and finds himself suffering the torment of Hell.
     He compels Father Abraham to send someone from the dead to go to his brothers and warn them so they will not end up like he did. “Perhaps,” he says, “If someone who has returned from the dead goes to my brothers, they will believe and repent of their sins and avoid this place of torment.”
     This man knew the spiritual condition of his brothers and he did not want to see them end up in the same eternal torment that he had to look forward to.
     As I read this story, and I believe that it is a true story, not just a parable as some believe, I can hear the damned who are suffering the torment of Hell crying and COMPELLING ME to go to the nations and warn them that their only hope both now and eternally is to repent of their sins and trust the one who died to make eternity something to look forward to and not something to fear.

THERE IS HOPE

2011-07-03T10:50:00.002-05:00

A few years ago Ruth and I were sitting in the lobby of a hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia. We were in the lounge area observing the folks who shared the room with us.

A few feet away sat a couple of teenage Russian girls. They were chatting with each other as teenagers everywhere do. In addition to talking, they were smoking profusely. After observing them for a few minutes I started a conversation with them. No matter where we have been in the world we have found that the younger generation speaks very good English. In the course of our conversation I asked the girls, “Why do you smoke, don’t you know that smoking will shorten your life expectancy?”

Their answer was profound but not unexpected. They answered, “Why not, we have nothing to live for anyway, there is no hope.”

As I write this article I am back in the Arctic region of Alaska where I spent several weeks last summer. I have returned to help finish the pastor’s house that we started last summer.

Hopelessness is as pervasive here in Northern Alaska as it is in Russia or in the lower forty eight, or any other region on the planet.

Webster defines HOPE as “To desire with expectation of or belief in fulfillment.”

As I follow what is happening to our country, it seems that tomorrow’s news couldn’t be any worse than today’s, but then tomorrow comes and it is worse.

The foundations of our country seem to be crumbling before our eyes.

The homosexual debasement has marched boldly out of the closet and into the public squares and its full blown ugliness is now showing up in our churches of all places. God help us, how much more disgusting can it get?

The financial towers of strength are about as strong as the moral towers.

Listen folks, Islam is not just another religion. It is a religious ruse disguised as a religion of peace but purposed to impose Shirah Law which has as its main goal to dominate the world whereby we either convert to its diabolical enslavement or die.

This too has crept into some of our progressive churches where the parishioners are encouraged to pray to Allah, Buda, or any other god that meets their fancy.

As we try to discern what is the world is going on with our beloved country some of us are asking, “Is there any hope?”

It was the preachers in the pulpits of this fledgling nation over two hundred years ago that woke up America so she could throw off the tyranny that was imposed upon us. It will take that same kind of courage and sacrificial willingness to save our nation that it took to found it.

It will take the preachers of America, Godly voices that have been placed in those pulpits, for such a time as this--to arise and stand for truth without compromise.

Our foundations are being attacked and the sad thing is that most of us do not even realize that it is happening.

Preachers, open the Word of God and pour some truth into your veins so you can stand for righteousness. The old adage applies to you, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”

The seeker friendly gospel that you are preaching may be pleasant to the ears of your listeners, but it does not please God.

I wonder when He will say, “Enough is enough?”

THE GREATEST LIE

2011-06-05T17:35:00.001-05:00

As I observe the way people live their lives today it seems that they have absolutely no anticipation that there is any hope and guarantee for anything beyond today.

Everyone knows that certainly one day they will die but the general consensus is that only one of two things await them, neither of which is to be feared. They will either cease to exist, if they have led a raucous life, or they will go to some kind of heaven. The later is for those who have not strayed too far off the path as they compare their lives to that of their neighbors.

If those are the only two options for the hereafter, why not live your life to the fullest and pursue happiness as you define it.

These two doctrines are becoming more popular as we struggle through these confusing days in which we find ourselves.

Knowing that most people have adopted these beliefs, many of our churches today realize that if they are to maintain the memberships that they need to survive, their teachings must be compatible.

“The narrow minded churches”, the term given to the Bible believing churches, maintain that the Bible has specific guidelines for living that keep their adherents from making poor decisions leading to all kinds of heartaches and collateral damage to friends and family.

It seems that today’s definition of happiness and its pursuit thereof, encourage us to live with the least amount of constraints. Throw off the old fashion taboos.

This philosophy as it permeates our churches allows for just about any kind of behavior and beliefs for that matter.

The liberal doctrines lean toward removing the narrowness that orthodox Christianity teaches which is that Jesus, as He claims in John 14:6, is the only hope for salvation and eternal life.

The liberal church of today has embraced the belief that all roads lead to the same end, which is some form of nirvana or paradise.

This Eastern philosophy is being accepted more and more by our culture and ultimately by our churches is called “Universalism.”

It is a lie that is becoming more and more popular by our culture of tolerance and sadly our churches are picking up on this popular belief.

It has been called the “Greatest Lie” by some because it is the easiest and least constraining way, so they think, to walk through life.

Jesus wisely addresses this lifestyle in His Sermon on the Mount in Mathew chapter seven, verses 13 and 14 where He says, “You can enter God’s kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to Hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But, the gateway to eternal life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.”

The road less traveled can be a lonely one, but assuredly it is the one with the least amount of potholes and pitfalls leading ultimately to an oasis that refreshes forever.

“And the angel showed me a pure river with the water of life, clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb, coursing down the center of Main Street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruits, with a fresh crop each month.” Revelation chapter 22, verses 1 and 2.

The road will be narrow and the gate narrow, but the walk will be worth it as the eternal benefits are out of this world.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the father except through me.” John chapter 14, verse

Life at 0 degrees 38 minutes North Latitude

2011-02-25T11:52:00.000-06:00

Last summer I wrote an article a few miles south of the Artic Circle in Northwest Alaska.

As I write this article I am 43 miles north of the equator on the Kenyan border with Uganda in East Africa.

I have traveled here to visit and teach in some of the churches that Ruth and I helped plant on the continent of Africa.

It has been a very busy time as well as a humbling time for me as I fellowship with these African Christians. These folks come to church with two purposes, to worship the Lord and be taught his Word. They expect no sugar coated gospel because they want to grow and mature in their faith so that one day when they stand before him they will not be ashamed. (A stark contrast to American Christians). They rejoice when the teachings exhort and convict them.

One Sunday morning I gave a very hard teaching on how husbands should love their wives. You may not think that this teaching would be applicable to these folks but in a culture where the husband must purchase his wife from her father, the relationship between the husband and wife tends to be one of ownership rather than partnership. The going rate for a good wife in the area where I am is eight cows plus some cash. The young man must actually buy the cows and take them to the father-in-law to be and present them to him. If the father-in-law lives in a town he then will sell them for cash. Tribal traditions still run deep in that he must receive the cows as a commitment of the young man’s sincerity regarding his daughter. He wants half of them before the marriage and he will accept the other half after the marriage takes place. There is to be no default on the agreement as the tribal laws are all in the favor of the father. Incidentally, a cow costs about $100. They are mostly horns and hide with very little meat under the hide.

The congregation received the teaching very well. I got lots of affirmation in smiles and nods from the women, but it wasn’t until that afternoon that I got any indication as to how the men received it. I was resting in the pastor’s house when the pastor told me that there were about 20 married men waiting for me in the church.

As I walked into the building my heart was humbled when I realized they had been waiting for me for nearly an hour so that I could give them further instruction and encouragement. I got them together in a group and pulled up a chair and taught them for another hour as to what God expects of them as husbands and fathers according to the Word of God.

When I consider that some of these people walk up to 5 miles and some bicycle two hours to get to church, I am taken back. One pastor and his friend from one of our other churches rode their bicycles to the church on that afternoon. As I was talking to them after our meeting he told me that they would have to push their bicycles most of the way home since it was uphill and the walking paths were rough and sandy. It would take them two hours to get home and they didn’t think that they would arrive before 8:00. Half of their journey would be in the dark.

The expressions on their faces as they lean toward me to catch every word is one of almost fear that I may cut my teaching short.

Once a month the churches hold all night prayer meetings to pray for the needs of the people. The pastor told me of the last meeting at his church where some people from a village about 6 miles away brought a young girl who was paralyzed on her left side and blind in her left eye. The congregation prayed for her and she walked home and went to school the next day. Now there are several people who come to the church from that community.

One of the things that sadden me as I get to know these people is their battle with Malaria. We are not far from Lake Victoria, the headwaters of the mighty Nile River. There are lots of mosquitoes in this area and they carry Malaria. Since I will be here for only two weeks I can take a Malaria preventative, but for those who live here they don’t have that option since the preventatives are very hard on one’s kidneys if taken long term. As a result, they all have or will get Malaria. There is no cure once you have it, it tends to reoccur frequently. The symptoms are high fever, headache, and diarrhea. It must be treated with Quinine. It is especially hard on young children with a 50% chance that children will die before they reach the age of 5.

The pastor of one of our churches has two children, their first child died from Malaria at 6 months and the wife lost another while she suffered from Malaria during the pregnancy. During my stay with them, both of his children had Malaria as well as the wife.

One of the things that stands out after having spent two weeks in this city of thirty thousand plus people is that I only saw two over weight people among the thousands I met on the streets everyday.

A high price to pay

2011-01-05T11:19:00.000-06:00

I would like to share a story with you that was told by an old preacher by the name of Paris Reidhead who died in 1992.

This is a true story that takes place in the early 1850’s

After making his fortune in the California goldfields an Englishman decided to return to his homeland. After traveling overland from California he had a little time to kill before catching a ship for New York so he decided to see New Orleans. He ended up down at the slave auction where slaves were being sold. He noticed a young girl on the auction block. The bidding was frantic and he overheard two sleazy characters who were bidding on the young girl with intentions that turned his stomach. As the bidding increased the bidders dropped out and the successful miner walked up to the auctioneer and told him that he would offer twice as much as the latest bid. The bidders gasped as his bid was the highest that any slave had been sold for at this auction block. The miner paid his bill, received a bill of sale and walked up to the young girl standing on the auction block. As he stood next to the auction block, the young girl stepped down and standing eye level, spit in his face. She then screwed up her face and said, “I hate you.” After wiping off his face with the back of his hand he reached up and took the girl by the hand and led her away. He took her down the street and they walked through the door of an office building. After the payment of some money, he received some papers which he then handed to the young girl. “Here is a certificate giving you your freedom,” he told her. “I hate you,” she hissed. “You don’t understand,” he told her; “these papers set you free, no one owns you.” She said, “What! You paid twice as much for me as anyone else who was sold in that place, and you are giving me my freedom? I DON’T BELIEVE YOU.” “Yes,” he answered her; these papers give you your freedom. “Stop mister,” she cried.” Do you mean to say that you bought me only to set me free?” He answered, “Yes that is why I bought you, to set you free.” At that, tears flooded into her eyes, eyes that had not shed tears for a long time, especially tears of joy. Her face softened and she fell to her knees, reaching out to put her hands around the miner’s boots she laid her face on those rough boots and through tears she sobbed, “you bought me to set me free… you bought me to set me free. You paid more for me than anyone has ever paid before, just to set me free.” Then with tears streaming down her face, she cried out as she looked up, “Oh sir, all I want in life is to be your slave… you bought me to set me free.”

Listen folks, this is your story too. The Lord Jesus Christ bought you to set you free and when you come to that realization it will be the joy of your life to bow before Him and tell Him that you will be His bond servant forever.

He bought you; He bought you to set you free! Not only from Hell, but from the world, and from the flesh, and from the Devil…He bought you to set you free. Bow to His feet and take from His hand the great gift of salvation that He purchased with His own blood, remembering, HE BOUGHT YOU …TO …SET YOU… FREE!

Are you sure?

2010-12-19T06:01:00.000-06:00

Here is an old poem that represents our culture and how its values have changed us all. Our culture is not the one that our parents and grandparents remember and for that matter the church which has been changed by the culture is not the church that our parents and grandparents attended.

I think that you will agree that the author of this poem, written many decades ago, somehow saw into the future and addressed the sorry state of the church today.

Said the Robin to the Sparrow,

“I should really like to know,

Why these anxious human beings

Rush about and worry so.”

Said the Sparrow to the Robin,

“Friend, I think that it must be,

That they have no heavenly Father,

Such as cares for you and me.”

I believe the Robin and the Sparrow must have been sitting in a tree in front of the average American church today.

Why is it that our nation has become a moral wasteland at the same time that a recent poll found that eighty-five per cent of all Americans consider themselves Christians?

These same folks who identify themselves as Christians have abortions, vote for pro-abortion candidates, embrace the homosexual lifestyle, do not keep their marriage vows, and live together in adulterous relationships.

I am wondering if these folks have been deceived into believing that they are Christians.

The churches teach that all one must do to become a Christian is to say a little prayer something like this, “Jesus I ask you to come into my heart and become my Savior.” After mouthing these words, they are quickly told, “Now you are a Christian and you will spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus.”

Now that they have said these words they qualify to become members of a club we call church. Once they join, they qualify to receive all the benefits of the church plus they are usually told that now that they are Christians, they can’t lose their salvation no matter what they do. In other words, you can keep on living your old lifestyle and still receive all the benefits of the church and you get Heaven as a bonus.

The Bible has different expectations from the followers of Jesus. The teachings of Jesus expect us to give our very lives for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Today’s church teaches that Jesus gave His life so that we could be the masters of our own kingdom and have the best life possible here on Earth.

We all love to talk and sing about following Jesus as long as we don’t have to go where He is leading and that is to the Cross where are told to take up OUR cross and follow Him. That cross represents death to our agendas.

We see that the life styles of most church people are no different than those who make no pretense about being a Christian.

The Bible is clear in that it states that once a person becomes a Christian, they are a “New Creature.” They do not indulge in the same sinful activities that they once did.

There is a teaching of Jesus’ in Mathew chapter 13 concerning the wheat and the weeds. The problem here is that they look so much alike that it is difficult to tell them apart. The weeds look like Christians, they sing like Christians, they talk the talk of Christians, but they are not Christians. Reality strikes home at the end of this parable when at the harvest the wheat is gathered into Heaven’s storehouse and the weeds are burned in the furnace.

Jesus has some very sobering words in Mathew chapter 7 concerning this issue. “Not everyone who calls me Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but He who does the will of my Father in Heaven. Many will say to me on the day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in You name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many miracles in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”

I think that the upshot of what Jesus is saying here is that maybe we are asking the wrong question. Instead of asking,”Do you know Jesus,” they should be asked, “Does Jesus know you?”

Who will be first

2010-11-16T05:35:00.000-06:00

The winter of 1997 found Ruth and I living on the island of Trinidad in the West Indies. I was helping the congregation build a new church building.

One of the church members who lived in the capitol city told me of a friend of his who was the pastor of a church in a rough part of the city. He told me that white folks usually don’t go there and they certainly don’t after dark. The pastor friend sent word that he would like me to come and speak to his church on a Sunday evening. I wasn’t too exited at the opportunity at first, but after several pleadings, I consented. I told him that I would come, but I would not bring Ruth and I would only come if I was escorted by some big, really big guys, since the church was about a half mile walk from the bus station.

The date was set and we arrived at the church just fine thanks to a couple of big black brothers walking by my side.

I sat near the back of the church during the worship part of the service. About 15 minutes into the service a tall beautiful black woman came in and sat beside me. After looking at her and the way she was dressed I asked the Lord, “Is she what I think she is?” He spoke to me and said, “Yes, she is a prostitute.” I thanked the Lord for sending her as I had not spoken in a meeting with a prostitute in it to my knowledge.

Eventually, it was my turn to speak and I delivered a strong message on the lack of integrity in the church and the fact that God wants to purge falsehood and phoniness from his church. The Lord must have been convicting people because I saw a lot of heads hanging down including the pastor’s.

Upon conclusion of the message the pastor asked if anyone wanted to come forward and repent of their lack of integrity. I then walked to the back of the church and was impressed to step out the side door so I could pray for those inside. I wasn’t out there but a few minutes and who should walk out the door and stand next to me but my seatmate, the prostitute.

I thanked the Lord for sending her out to me and then struck up a conversation with her. After some conversation I asked her if she was a Christian. Her answer was, “No.”

I then said to her, “Madame, you are probably the most honest person in this church tonight. She said, “Why do you say that?” I answered her, “You are one who is not pretending to be something that you are not and you know the spiritual condition of your heart.”

After explaining what it means and what it takes to be a Christian I asked her if she would like me to pray for her. She gladly consented.

I then did something that may seem strange. I took both of her hands in mine and asked the Lord to show her how much He loves her and to show His goodness and kindness to her. The Bible says in Romans 2:4 “The goodness of God leads people to repentance.” After I finished praying for her I gave her a big hug.

I believed that the Lord touched her heart because she thanked me with tears running down her cheeks.

I have a hope that one day when I get to Heaven; she will walk up to me and say, “Jim, do you remember me?” I will answer her with, “Praise the Lord, I surely do. Please tell me your story.”

One day Jesus told a bunch of church leaders who were questioning Him that the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the Kingdom before the leaders of the church because they knew the condition of their hearts. You can read about it in Matthew 21:31.

God is looking for and reaching out to those who hearts are pure and undivided. There will be no double-minded people spending eternity with Jesus.

A Rare Virtue

2010-10-30T12:22:00.000-05:00

A few years ago our son had a business partner with an interesting background.

After graduating from the Navel Academy, he served a stint in the Navy. He then worked in a variety in business experiences including being an advisor to the governor of California.

During one of the conversations that I had with him he told me that of all of the people that he had ever know in his life he had only know 5 “Men of Integrity.” When you think of all of the IMPORTANT PEOPLE that he had crossed paths with during his lifetime that is a very sad declaration.

As I was relaying that conversation to my daughter-in-law, her reaction was, “How sad that he had never met many Christians.”

My immediate reaction was, “What is even sadder is that he had probably met many Christians and he could still make that statement.”

The word INTEGRITY is a word that is used only rarely these days.

Integrity is a word that comes from the verb meaning to integrate, which means to incorporate something into a larger unit so as to make the larger unit complete.

The definition of a person of integrity can be defined so a third grader can understand it is a person with an undivided heart.

Most people are quick to tell you that their hearts are compartmentalized even though they don’t know it. One part of their hearts is reserved for their faith, if they have any. They will be very quick to inform you that, “Their faith is a very private thing.” When you hear that statement you will know that their faith, what little there is of it, does not have any effect or influence on other aspects of their lives or other compartments of their hearts.

Let’s look at some other compartments in their hearts. One compartment is reserved for work or career. One compartment contains their marriage. Another compartment harbors their political bent or conviction. Another compartment is reserved for their leisure activities, and the list of sub-compartments goes on and on.

The key to understanding most people is that the convictions or passions of one compartment of their hearts have little or no influence over the convictions of the others.

How else could a person carry on a sexual relationship with someone who is not their spouse? Or for that matter, how could a person attend church on Sunday, listens to God’s Word and laws proclaimed, and then on Monday go to an abortion clinic to have an abortion and then on Tuesday go to the voting booth and vote for a candidate who not only advocates abortions but passes laws legalizing such murder. How else could a person use perfect English on Sunday and then for the rest of the week use profanity that would embarrass an Army drill Sergeant?

I think that you are getting the picture now. The Bible calls this kind of person a double minded person.

James 1:8 tells us that, “a double minded person is unstable in all of his ways.”

In Psalms 119:163 God says that He, “Hates and abhors lying.”

Have you noticed that lying has become very fashionable these days? People are becoming very competent at it; politicians are some of the most accomplished liars. When one practices something long enough, they become very good at it. Lying always covers up an inconvenience.

People of integrity have no compartments in their hearts. Every aspect of their lives is integrated into one complete heart and are influenced by all the others. God has placed a conscience in every man’s heart for this very reason.

Jesus was confronted by some of the church leaders who asked Him which of the commandments was the most important. His answer was, “You are to love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, and with ALL your soul, and ALL your mind.” Mark 12:30

In the book of Revelation, Chapter 21, God tells us who will NOT be partakers with God in eternity. These are people who are not people of integrity. Among the list are “All Liars.”

We need to repent of our double-mindedness, purify our hearts of all its compartments, and turn our lives completely over to our creator who is the Lord Jesus.

IS LIFE WORTH THE GAMBLE?

2010-10-01T13:18:00.000-05:00

A cemetery in Indiana has a hundred year old tombstone with the following epitaph:

Pause, stranger, when you pass me by.
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be.
So prepare for death and follow me.

Someone scratched these additional words of wisdom on the bottom of the tombstone:

To follow you I’m not content,
Until I know which way you went.

Wise counsel can sometimes even be found in a cemetery.

I have told a story that delineates the wisdom of the epitaph many times and since I never tire of hearing it, I will tell it again.

A Frenchman by the name of Blaise Pascal lived during the middle 1600’s. He was a brilliant mathematician who is credited with the invention of the mechanical calculator.

Pascal became a devout Christian in his late teen years and since he was an intellectual, his colleagues were mathematicians and scientists.

One of the discussions that that he had with an atheist friend has become a classic. The discussion goes something like this:

Pascal asked his atheist friend what he believed would happen to him upon his death. His friend responded, “I will cease to exist.” He then asked his friend, “What do you happen will happen to me upon my death?” The atheist responded, “You too will cease to exist.”

The atheist friend asked Pascal what he believed would happen to him upon his death, and Pascal responded, “Since I am a Christian, I will spend eternity with Jesus and the other believers in what we call Heaven on the New Earth.”

The atheist then asked Pascal the final question, “What do you believe will happen to me upon my death? “Since you are not a Christian and your life shows no evidence in that regard, you will spend eternity suffering in Hell with all of the other non-believers.”

Then Mr. Pascal summarizes with this very wise statement. “If you are right in your beliefs, upon our deaths, you and I will both cease to exist, but, if I am right then you will spend eternity suffering in Hell, and I will spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus. As I see it, you my friend, you cannot win and I cannot loose.”

As I have traveled across this planet I have noticed that most people live their lives gambling that the Bible is not true and since they do not believe it, they feel no compunction to honor its dictates. As a matter of fact, opinion polls show us that most of what we call “church people” do not believe that the Bible should be taken literally and their lives demonstrate their belief.

I believe that Mr. Pascal would say to these people, “You cannot win.”

SIN has such a strong allurement that most people are willing to gamble their eternal destinies in hopes that the Bible is NOT true or relevant.

I have asked myself this question many times, “How long has it been since I have heard a warning of the consequences of remaining in my sinful lifestyle?” I am sorry to say, “Much too long.”

The fruit on the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden was beautiful and looked deliciously tempting, but that is not the reason she took the bite. She ate of the apple because it was forbidden. The fruit on that tree probably were not any more beautiful or tastier than any of the others but she knew that it was wrong and she was not going to be told not to taste it. But look what one bite of it did for it”s tasters. It got them evicted from Paradise and ultimately it destroyed them.

God’s ways and His laws are very relevant for us today and the consequences for not believing them and following them are just as deadly as they were for Mr. Pascal’s friend.

While we yet live, there is hope for our eternal destinies, and that hope is found in none other than our creator, and His name is Jesus.

The word repent means to turn around and go the opposite way, but it means more than just turning our lives around, it demands changing loyalties.

Whereas before we lived only for ourselves and for the moment, after repenting, we put Jesus in the forefront of our lives and follow Him and His direction which can only be found in the Bible.

HOW IN THE WORLD DID WE GET INTO THIS MESS?

2010-07-30T17:04:00.000-05:00

A Frenchman by the name of Jean Paul Sartre taught that since we have no idea of who we are, where or what we came from, or where we are going, we have no hope for the future.

With this as the foundation of our belief, the present is all that we have or can count on. Future goals are not valid or may even be foolish.

This philosophy has permeated our institutions of higher learning for the past few decades resulting in the “NOW GENERATION” which could also called “THE CAN’T WAIT” generation. The pleasure of the moment is the only sensible goal for our existence. After all “YOU ONLY GO AROUND ONCE IN LIFE SO GET ALL THE PLEASURE YOU CAN GET.

The fifteen dollar word for this hopeless and futile belief is Existentialism.

The manifestation of this Godless doctrine is lawlessness, crime, rioting, abortion, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, and a rotting drug culture.

If what today’s culture teaches is true, then man is impersonal and has no more value than any other part of the Universe. There can be no moral distinction between cutting down a tree, killing a mouse or a whale, or destroying a human life. If a human is essentially no different than a tree or a whale, then his future is no different and his value has been reduced to zero which results in despair.

When man tries to destroy God and His plan he ends up destroying himself.

But, there is another philosophy that makes sense and gives us hope and that is the Biblical philosophy.

Eric Sauer in his book, “From Eternity to Eternity,” says, “As the creator of the course of history and the governor of Heaven and earth, God controls the universal process. Therefore, as the Lord of history, He and He alone, can explain history. Therefore, the Bible is the Book of mankind, the key to world events. Our understanding of the world of human affairs depends upon our attitude to it.”

In reality, there is no hope outside of the Biblical perspective.

The church that our parents attended taught a different gospel than we hear in most churches today. Today’s gospel, incidentally, the word gospel means good news, offers about as much hope as our culture offers.

I want to share a graphic example that was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago.

A couple of weeks ago while working in Nome Alaska, several of us rode down the beach about 15 miles to a gold mining camp. The camp brings up about 200 miners for two weeks at a time and allows them to mine for gold on the beach. They have sluice boxes set up for each of them and they are allowed to work the sand and gravel in an area around their box. They shovel the sand and gravel into a tilted box where water washes the sand and gravel down a slope over a carpet lying on the bottom. Since gold is heavier than the sand and gravel it settles into the carpet while the sand and gravel washes out the end.

I was talking to a miner after supper and asking him questions about his operation. One of my questions was, “How do you know that the same sand and gravel that you are running through your sluice box today was not run through someone else’s box two weeks ago, or last year, or for that matter will be run through someone else’s next week or next year.”

His response was, “I was thinking that same question as I was working and not finding any gold. All I am getting out of this is a sore and tired back.”

That got me to thinking about the kind of preaching that we hear in most churches these days. All of the precious nuggets have been picked out of the seeker friendly message so that no one is offended. There is nothing more offensive than someone telling you that you are a sinner and need of repentance. The result is that all that is left is a lot of words that have no hope, no encouragement, no direction, and above all else, no salvation. It is just like fine sand running through an hourglass that accomplishes nothing except that time is running out for both the preachers as well as the listeners.

The gospel is full of precious nuggets if it is preached in its pure form without being diluted or polluted.

Those miners pay a lot of money to search for gold only to find that it has been picked over before they got there and those church goers pay a lot of money to sit in the pews only to find that the message that they hear has been picked over before they are allowed to hear it.

Psalm 119:72 says “Truth from your mouth means more to me than striking it rich in a gold mine.” (The Message Bible)

There is no place like Nome

2010-06-19T23:31:00.000-05:00

As I write this article I am two degrees south of the Arctic Circle (about 120 miles) in the city of Nome, Alaska. We are working within a stones throw of the Bering Sea helping to build a house for a missionary pastor.

It was here that gold was discovered in 1898. Miners used to pan the beach sand for gold and today they are still looking for gold but they use pontoon boats with pumps on them to suck the sand off the bottom so they can remove the gold from the sand. They dive in wet suits and operate suction hoses while their partner operates the separation process topside. The water temperature is about 32 degrees but I am told that 20 feet down it is colder than that. When I lived here over 40 years ago gold was worth $35 per ounce. With gold over $1200 per ounce there is a resurgence of activity with lots of people making a good living as miners, not only from the ocean bottom but also from the streams.

43 years ago, Ruth and I along with our two boys lived in this community where I taught math to the Eskimos. When we lived here it was pretty basic with boardwalks on the main street. Now they have concrete sidewalks and asphalt streets. They even have water and sewer for the whole town of 4000 people. We had no TV so the children didn’t know what they were missing by not dressing and acting like the sophisticated folks in the lower 48. Satellite TV has changed all that. They have abandoned their traditional Eskimo dress in favor of polyester and nylon. Even tattoos have gained popularity as well as drugs.

I asked an old timer the other day when she noticed a shift in the value system. She answered, “When we got TV”

I have a fondness for this city because it was here that I became a Christian.

I had grown up in a denominational church and heard Bible stories all of my life. I even knew a few Bible verses by heart, but the old adage, "Just because you walk into a barn, that doesn't make you a horse." Well, the adage is correct because I had grown up in the church and I wasn't a Christian.

I had been teaching math and science in the city of Bloomer, Wisconsin. I heard of a man who had grown up in Bloomer who was the superintendent of schools in Nome, Alaska, and was visiting relatives on his way back from a meeting in Washington, DC.

I was able to meet the guy and after a few minutes he said to me, "Jim, if you want to come to Nome next year and teach math, the job is yours.”

Now, to a young adventuresome guy like myself, saying do you want to come to Alaska and teach, is like saying, "sick'em" to a dog.

I went home and said to Ruth, “Honey, we are going to Alaska, I have a teaching job if I want it.”

Now, we must back up a couple of years when I first got out of college. I had decided that I wanted to teach out west. Ruth and I took off after graduation and went as far west as Colorado to interview. For some reason I didn't like or want any of the jobs available and on our way home we went via the Black Hills of SD. While sitting in a restaurant in Custer, I said, "I wonder if the superintendent of schools is in at this hour." I went to the phone and called the school and sure enough he was in and asked me to come right up for an interview. When we got home there was a contract to teach waiting for me in the mailbox.

Ruth's reaction to the contract was, "I am not going to live that far away from my folks."

Now, you can imagine what her reaction was to my coming home and saying, "Guess what honey, we are going to Alaska." I had better not repeat what she said.

That fall found us winging our way north. We had moved through the mail by parcel post. During that summer our youngest son Randy was born and by moving time he was six weeks old, too young for any immunization shots, "we'll get them there," we said.

We weren't in Nome more than a few weeks when the baby got "Whooping Cough." Nome didn’t have any permanent doctors; only young residents who volunteered to go to Nome for a couple of months and help out. These young whippersnappers had never seen "Whooping Cough" in the lower 48 and had no idea what it was. Randy would cough until he stopped breathing and we would have to pick him up and pat him on the back until he started breathing.

I really thought that I would be digging a grave for that boy before we left Nome. I was also teaching adult education at night and an old Eskimo woman in my class diagnosed the illness for me as she lost a couple of children to "Whooping Cough."

About that time our oldest son Jeff, was sick as well and spent some time in the hospital.

We were going to an Eskimo church that had about 5 white families. The denomination sent an evangelist up to our church to evangelize the Eskimos. There was to be a week of evangelistic meetings and while Ruth stayed home with the boys I took in a couple of them. On February 26th, 1967, while sitting near the back of the church, I asked the Lord Jesus to forgive of my sins and save me.

It took nearly losing my boys to get me to the point where I couldn't look any direction but up, fortunately, I looked up, and He looked down and saw my need.

I was the only white face sitting in the audience that night and I believe that I was the only one to get saved. What God won't do to save one soul is more than we can imagine.

As I walk around town there have been lots of changes. The one thing that has not changed is the high prices. Milk is about $10 a gallon, a 12 pack of Coke is $12.00. A sheet of plywood is over $50 and a yard of concrete is $350.00.

Since frozen food and fresh items must be flown in almost all of the meat that I have eaten is either Moose or Musk Ox, supplemented by Salmon. When we lived here we lived on Reindeer and Salmon. Reindeer is still available in the meat market.

Here we are in June and the temperature is in the 40’s with a strong wind coming off the ocean. Throw in some rain into the mix and it gets challenging. I don’t expect to see the sun very often.

The superintendent of schools goes to the church that I am attending. I told Ruth over the phone that she doesn’t have to loose any sleep wondering where we will be living next fall.

He had you in mind

2010-05-14T09:58:00.000-05:00

As the creation story unfolds in the book of Genesis we notice that God creates the animal kingdom to inhabit the Earth He had made a few days earlier.

The animals are created in pairs at the same time. Incidentally, for evolution to be credible, both male and female of each species would have had to evolve at the same time and pace in order for the species to propagate. If we think about that, it takes a stretch of faith to imagine that happening for all of the species.

Getting back to the creation account we find that each animal including man has a counterpart enabling them to carry on life.

As we study the details of this plan we soon notice that there was one who didn’t have a counterpart and that was God himself. Was He so busy during the six days of creation that He forgot about Himself? Upon further inspection we learn that He had a much more extensive plan.

God’s magnificent plan was that the Church was to be His counterpart. The Church is referred to as the Bride of Christ in Scripture.

We see His love for His bride displayed to its fullest extent on Calvary’s Cross where He suffered and died for His bride so she will not have to suffer the punishment for Her sins.

He has promised that He will never leave or forsake His Bride.

The marriage union of the man who was created in His own image, and his wife, is patterned after the relationship of Christ and His bride. Our marriages are to be a picture of the creator’s marriage.

As we look at the relationship that God has designed for a man and his wife we can understand how God looks at the ungodly sham that man has made of the relationship of marriage.

The sins of homosexuality, adultery, and fornication, are a direct, blatant, rebellious, defiant, and deliberate attack against the Creator God and his plan for men and women and their relationship to each other.

Our progressive culture has tried to sanitize the sins of homosexuality, adultery, and fornication. We call homosexuals gay. Sounds like a fun lifestyle doesn’t it?

Adulterers and fornicators have affairs, or they are living together. Sounds like innocent liaisons don’t they? Most of them are strictly plutonic of course.

The fact remains that they are blatant attempts to show God what they think of His seemingly narrow minded rules.

The fact also remains that God hates sin, it’s the primary reason that He suffered and died, and man’s feeble attempts to satisfy his fleshly lusts are just that, SIN. He must deal harshly with those who refuse to repent of their rebellion.

Listen people, we are eternal creatures. We are told in the book of Jeremiah that He knew us even before we were in our mother’s womb. We existed in God’s mind even before the earth was created and we will exist for eternity after our bodies die.

His plan, even including His rules for living have always had our best interests in mind irregardless of what we may believe.

Let the Words of the Bible exhort you with these final words.

“Mark well that God doesn’t miss a move you make, he’s aware of every step you take. The shadow of your sin will overtake you; you’ll find yourself stumbling all over yourself in the dark. Death is the reward of an undisciplined life; your foolish decisions trap you in a dead end.” Proverbs :21-23 (The Message Bible)

If you find that the shadow of your sin is overtaking you, remember these words from Jeremiah 29:11-13

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Repentance means to turn from sin and follow his plan.

People, His ways are always best.

What repentance is not

2010-04-29T08:37:00.000-05:00

I have found that in most churches in the USA today the word repentance is seldom if ever mentioned.

It’s a word that has been dropped from the Christian vocabulary because it is a little too harsh, like the word sin.

Having grown up in a nominal church, I had no idea what repentance meant because it was never mentioned.

In the spring of 1971, Ruth, the boys, and I were living in Southern California where I was teaching school. I had been a Christian for about four years and had felt a stirring that the Lord was somehow encouraging me to devote my life to missions. We had applied to Wycliffe Bible Translators to study linguistics at the University of Washington, Seattle that summer.

The classes were taught by Bible translators who came home from their mission fields for the summer to teach at the University. The teachers as well as the students lived in a couple of sorority houses just across the street from the campus. I can still remember listening to some of the stories that the teachers would tell as we took our meals together and fellowshipped together.

One missionary from Southern Mexico told a story one evening that I never forgot.

He had translated the book of Luke and had the translation ready to go to the printer. He was reading back some of the portions of the book to his helper who was a native from a tribe who spoke the language he was translating. He came to the word that he had chosen for the word repentance and he asked his language helper to tell him what this word meant. The native said that this word meant when a man was walking down a jungle trail and he hears that up ahead along the trail some men are lying in ambush waiting to kill him. Upon hearing this, the man turns around and goes back the other way.

This is the word that he had used to translate repentance. Suddenly he realized that he had chosen the wrong word. He called and had the printing process stopped so he could edit it.

Now, I have thought a lot about that story over the years and I have come to the realization that what most Christians believe repentance is relates to the man walking down the jungle trail.

Repentance means to turn your life around and in effect follow the Lord, but not for the above reason.

I believe that real repentance is when one comes to the realization that he or she is indeed going down the wrong path in life and they are living in sin. Their sins have separated them from God and they need to turn away from them and ask Jesus to forgive them and now serve Him instead of serving themselves.

I don’t believe that anyone gets saved because of his or her fear of going to hell. Hell, fire, and damnation preaching never saved anyone for the reason just given.

In Revelation 21:8 we have a list of those people who will not be in Heaven and the first one on the list is the “Fearful.” I honestly believe that the reason that some churches are full of people is because of the threat of Hell that the church holds over them. So are these people attending church because they have truly repented, or are they fearful of the punishment for not being there?

Repentance is when we come to the realization that our life and the direction of our life are not pleasing to God and then we turn around and after asking forgiveness serve Him and His agenda and no longer pursue ours.

Is this a one-time thing? Absolutely not, we need to make frequent corrections as we walk down the trail that we call life.

As always scripture says it best. IICor. 7:10 tells us, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

Jesus primary purpose in coming was not to save us for Heaven, as most Christians believe, but to save us from SIN. Heaven is a benefit that comes with having repented.

Did God create Evil?

2010-04-18T09:02:00.001-05:00

DID GOD CREATE EVIL?

There is an ongoing debate being carried out these days among those who seemingly have little to else to do but to try to bring God down to their level.

Let me fill you in on their line of reasoning.

We are seeing so many events being carried out in the world that are bad or evil. Things like sickness, immorality, hatred, murders, and even the killing of children and babies not to mention wars.

Evil seems to be running rampant and yet God has made everything.

The scoffers are quick to tell you that if God created everything, then God created evil. According to the principle that our works define who we are, then God must be evil.

As we address these serious charges, let’s do it in a way that both theologians and children will be able to understand.

We all know about something that we call heat. We can have a little heat, some heat, lots of heat, red heat, white heat, and we all know about the super heat that is in the sun.

On the other hand we can have very little heat or even no heat which the scientists call absolute zero which is the coldest that it can get. Absolute zero or no heat is minus 458 degrees.

Interestingly, there is no such thing as cold, if there was we could find temperatures less than – 458 degrees.

Cold is only a word that is used to describe the absence of heat.

What about darkness? Is it something, or is it a word that we use to describe the absence of something else?

We can have dim light, normal light, bright light, or even blinding light. Darkness exists only in the absence of light. If you have even been in a cave in what we refer to as pitch darkness, you know that darkness cannot get any darker.

Death is much like darkness. When life departs from a body the result is death. It is not the opposite of life; it is the absence of life.

Lets get back to our original question, which was did God create evil? Is the violence that we see in the world the manifestation of evil? If it is, then evil must exist unto itself.

Evil, like darkness, does not exist unto itself; it is simply the absence of God. Evil is a word that we use like darkness or cold, or death. It is the absence of something.

God did not create evil, it is the result when man does not have God’s love present and at work in his life.

When there is no heat, cold is the result. When there is no light, darkness is the result. When there is no life, death is the result. When God’s love is not present in man’s heart, evil is the result.

I think that the Apostle John summed it up best when he said, “The way we know we’ve been transformed from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well, that eternal life and murder don’t go together.”

Taken from the Bible: IJohn 3:14-15

Remember this: Sin is never accidental, it is always intentional.

One more very sobering thought. Not only is evil the absence of God, but the indescribable suffering and anguish that the condemned will experience in HELL will be because of the absence of God.

Something to think about.

ONE DEAD, ONE WOUNDED

2010-01-23T11:26:00.000-06:00

I heard some disturbing news the other day that stirred my heart.

In the city of Houston, Texas they are building an “ABORTION SUPER CENTER.” It has been advertised as the second largest such facility in the World second only to one in Beijing, China. It contains 78,000 square feet and its third floor is dedicated solely to late term abortions.

It is no coincidence that this facility is located between the largest concentration of two minority groups living in the city, the black population and the Mexicans.

Let me explain the significance of this location.

An organization called “Planned Parenthood” was founded in 1942 by a woman by the name of Margaret Sanger. In her book entitled Women and the New Race, she writes, “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” In an article she wrote entitled Pivot of civilization, she refers to Blacks and immigrants as “human weeds, reckless breeders, spawning human beings that never should have been born.” In the same article she said that “The genetic makeup of the poor and minorities was inferior.”

Now we see why this Abortuary Super Center is located in the section of town closest to the large Black and Mexican populations.

There are two forces at work here. One is to eradicate those who have been determined by the Eugenicists as those who have no right to LIFE. The other motivating factor is MONEY, huge profits and absolutely no guarantees of the results.

The 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing killing of unborn boys and girls was January 20. Since then over fifty million children have died because their mothers thought them inconvenient.

Another alarming statistic tells us that the abortion rate is around 40%. Statistics are sometimes difficult to understand so let me translate this so even your third grader can understand it. For every ten expectant mothers, four will make the decision that they don’t want their baby to live and will have it killed.

How many of you would get on an airplane if you knew that 40% of all flights crashed and everyone on board dies. Statistically, the most dangerous place in America is not riding in an automobile without seatbelts or even in an airplane, but in the womb of one’s mother.

The high court handed down the order, social workers make the arrangements, and the medical profession then destroys the life of the innocent and helpless. Today it is the unborn; tomorrow it is likely to be the elderly or those who are incurably sick.

Enough statistics and sad news, lets get down to the good news.

I would like to address and offer hope to the wounded causalities of the abortuaries, for you see, two people enter the clinic, one dies and the other walks out wounded. Not so much wounded physically, but wounded emotionally and spiritually.

Is the lie that they are told that killing one’s unborn child will have no long-lasting consequences any different from the lie that the serpent told Eve, “Did God really say?”

Millions of women are lied to when they are told, “You shall not surely die,” when in fact they are wounded for life.

Here is the subtle irony in this lie. In their proclamation, “My life, my body, my choice,” they bring liberty only to the men in their lives because by eliminating the unwanted child, the man is not required to accept any responsibility for that life that the couple has created. Women’s liberation has only liberated men, not women. I like what someone once said, “Real men don’t kill their babies, they raise them.”

One last statistic, I read that 50 % of the women living in the United States have had an abortion. This seems high to my naïve mind, but if it is even remotely close, then there are millions of women who are haunted and tormented by the guilt that they must carry each day by the mistake that they made, five, ten, twenty, or even thirty some years earlier.

They carry a guilt so heavy that they are ashamed to even tell their husbands, children, or friends. Every time they see a newborn baby or stand in front of someone’s refrigerator they are saddened because their baby’s picture will never receive the honor of being displayed on a magnet on her refrigerator.

Where can she find the hope, joy, and peace that can turn her wound into a healed scar?

There is only on hope for her and that is delineated in the Book of Revelation found in the Bible. “They overcame (their accuser) by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony.” Revelation 17:11

You must see dear ones, that confession is good for your souls because it is the only source of freedom from the bondage of secrecy that has held you captive all of these years.

Here is the sad part of this secret. There are millions of bound women sitting in churches week after week longing for release from their bondage and the church holds the keys to their shackles.

Unless she confesses her sin to Jesus, IJohn 1:9 and to others, Rev. 17:11, she will not receive forgiveness and ultimately be able to forgive herself.

The church must come alongside these women and not ignore them because only Jesus can turn their testing into a testimony.

Every time I drive by a particular church in our town my heart does a little flip when I read the marquee out front. It reads in bold letters, “JESUS IS LORD.”

It is my prayer that every church would proclaim this truth by living it.

Is God even remotely interested in our problems?

2009-12-27T15:01:00.000-06:00

Is God even remotely interested in your problems?

We all need to hear a faith building story occasionally to keep us focused on the bigger picture, and that is that God is bigger than our circumstances and He is interested in our individual trials.

While my wife Ruth was teaching Bible school near Nairobi, Kenya she had an interesting student by the name of Samuel. Samuel came from Northern Kenya and was from a Muslim family. His father had four wives with 21 children so far.

One day during break Ruth sat down with him to get his testimony.

Samuel married a girl from his village while he was in the Kenyan Air Force. After his wife delivered their first child she went insane. She had to be tied to her bed with ropes around her wrists and around her neck because she was wild and could not be restrained.

Samuel tried every doctor that was available, both medical and psychiatric doctors, from all over the country of Kenya. He spent a lot of money for doctors. They all told him the same thing, she was insane and there was nothing that could be done for her. She would only get worse and he should abandon her and think of the child.

One day about five months after the birth of his child a man came to his military base and asked for him by name. Samuel found him at the front gate and after a short conversation the stranger asked Samuel if he could go home with him. Samuel wasn’t in the habit of entertaining visitors because of his wife’s condition plus he had never seen this man before and had no idea who he even was.

Samuel gave him a meal and then the man asked Samuel if he would go to church with him the next day, which was Sunday. At that point Samuel said that he was so desperate that he would try anything so he agreed. It was getting late in the day and the man asked if he could spend the night with Samuel and then go to church together tomorrow. The next day they walked to church together and as they approached the church the man left Samuel alone and went somewhere else where Samuel couldn’t see him. Samuel has never seen the man since that morning.

Samuel said that he had no idea what the service was about because he sat there and cried during the whole service.

Samuel went home after the service and as he arrived home and walked into the house he saw his wife sitting on the edge of the bed. He asked the woman who took care of his wife why she was untied. The woman replied that she asked a while ago if she could be untied because she felt better.

Samuel couldn’t wait to get to church the next Sunday. The pastor asked if there were any visitors and Samuel stood and asked for prayer. They told him to come forward and they laid hands on him and prayed for him. Samuel was born again during that service. Samuel went home and when he walked into the house his wife was sitting in front of the mirror combing her hair. She had not done anything to herself since the baby was born five months ago; she had to be taken care of by someone else.

From that time on Samuel’s wife has led a normal life and is completely well. To this day she still has the rope marks around her wrists and neck.

His wife had planned to go to Bible school with Samuel but she got pregnant and has put that idea aside.

Samuel transferred to our Bible school from another school so he could get a four-year degree. He had plans to go back to his village and preach to the Muslim people.

Ruth had a soft spot in her heart for Samuel and from what she told me Samuel had a lot of respect for her as well. He was one of the nicest fellows you could ever meet. He has a very gentle spirit and a very good sense of humor.

Samuel had been dead for 15 years in the eyes of his family. When he had become a Christian his father disowned him as a son and vowed to never speak to him again. In many Muslim families if a member becomes a Christian, they actually hold a funeral service for the member who has defected.

I asked Samuel to contact me when he graduated from Bible school and was ready to go back to his home village to minister. He contacted me one summer and told me that he wanted to start a church in Nairobi and make trips into Muslim territory to minister.

A friend of mine had asked me to recommend someone in Africa who needed some monetary help to set up a ministry. I put the two together and Samuel began to receive support from our friend.

Later that fall I received an e-mail from Samuel telling me that he had recently made a trip to his hometown to hold a weekend seminar to strengthen any Christians who would come and preach the gospel to the non-Christians.

The results of the weekend were nothing short of fantastic. Several Christians came to be ministered to and to rededicate their lives to living for Jesus. During the weekend one-person came forward to receive Jesus as their Savior, you probably guessed it, that person was Samuel’s father. Samuel had not seen his father for 15 years. Can you imagine the high excitement when he saw his Father receive Jesus?

Samuel’s father was a Muslim leader in the village and had over 30 families under him as their leader. Samuel’s father now holds classes in his home on Sundays, but he is not teaching Muslim law, he is teaching them from the Bible.

The following is from a weekly update called “Friday Fax.”

“Africa is more open for the gospel than it has ever been,”

reports DAWN Africa Coordinator Danie Vermeulen. “Thousands

of Muslims are finding Christ, and some of the most exciting

church planting movements are among Muslims. Civil wars, AIDS

and political repression are other factors leading growing numbers to be open for the gospel…”

These are exciting times for us Christians as we are going to see the “Spirit poured out upon all flesh,” (Joel 2:28) as we have never seen it since the days of the “Book of Acts.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews made a comment about this phenomenon when he wrote, “Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without even knowing it.” Hebrews 13:1&2

Keep the faith brothers and sisters.

ARE WE GETTING THE PICTURE YET?

2009-12-05T18:32:00.003-06:00

Last December Ruth and I stopped into the politically correct “MART” to buy a couple of things. While waiting for my wife to shop, I asked a clerk, while standing in front of a plastic replica of a beautiful green Spruce tree, “Sir, what are you permitted to call this tree?” “It’s a holiday tree,” he responded. And, if I wish you a Merry Christmas, what are you allowed to respond?” His response was, “Happy holidays.”

No big surprise to any of us unless someone has just awakened from a 10 year coma.

What is going on? It seems like there is a conspiracy to destroy Christmas and the conspirators are becoming bolder and more successful with their agenda.

There is one thing though, that we realize all too well. The God haters are NOT out to destroy the 3 P’s of Christmas. They are PROFITS, PRESENTS, and PARTIES. What they seem bent on destroying is the prefix of Christmas, or in plainer language, they want to remove “Christ” from Christmas and everything He stands for.

I predict that before long it will be illegal for a church to display a manger scene on their own property. Does that seem impossible when it is illegal to disparage disgusting behavior inside the church?

In Canada, it is a hate crime punishable by harsh fines and even imprisonment, to criticize homosexuality, abortion, or Islam. In England, you are a “Hate criminal” if you wear a Christian cross in public.

You may be wondering, “Who is behind this assault?”

Is the ACLU who just recently forced a Catholic church to remove their manger scene from the median in from of their church where they had displayed it for over 60 Christmases?

Is it the NEA? In some public schools it is illegal for a student to wear a tee shirt with a Christian logo or inscription. Thankfully, in our local public school those kinds of tee shirts are still OK.

Or, is it the court system that has told us that we must be religion free in this country?

A recent poll in the USA revealed that 25% of our population consider themselves atheist. What is also interesting is that the Supreme Court has ruled that atheism and humanism are religions.

I think that the contention is not IF there will be an established religion in this nation, but WHAT religion or religions will be recognized and endorsed or even tolerated.

The secularists have convinced America that only Christianity should be illegal.

In 1962 Justice Black led the US Supreme Court to declare that prayer in the public schools was unconstitutional.

In 1963, the Bible was declared “Illegal” in the education of our children.

Then in 1980, the court determined that the 10 commandments were no longer permitted to be displayed in “public” buildings, especially our public schools because, (this is interesting) “If the posted copies of the 10 commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate, and obey the commandments.”

We now find that the atheist-humanist religion has blown away the foundation upon which this country was founded and the inmates are in charge of the asylum.

Why do the atheist-humanists hate any semblance to Christianity and why are they singling out just us?

Webster defines religion as “a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.”

Christianity is an affront to the religion of atheism and humanism. They both worship the same god incidentally, “the god of self.” Christianity puts restrictions on the god they love, themselves.

If you can remove the God of the Bible, there are no more rules, remove the rules and you are free to pursue any lifestyle.

By your own rules, abortion becomes a choice, marriage becomes a meaningless arrangement of convenience, and the god of self does not have to answer to anyone.

This attitude or rebellion goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden where man responded to the Devil’s challenge when he said, “Did God really say, THOU SHALL NOT.”

So now we come down to who is really behind the conspiracy to destroy Christianity?

Jesus had a comment regarding this when He said, “He who is not for me is against me and he who does not gather, scatters.” Mathew 12:30

One more thought in regards to the religion of self.

When one challenges an atheist with this question, “Since you do not believe God created everything, you actually believe that everything that we can see in the Universe was created out of nothing?” How can an intelligent person look you in the eye and say that everything was created out of nothing? The whole purpose of humanism with their promotion of evolution is to discredit the Bible and ultimately discredit the God of the Bible and of course, replace Him with his own god, himself.

With this belief in the humanistic doctrine do you really think that they are intelligent enough to come up with this grandiose conspiracy theme all by themselves? I don’t think so. There is a diabolical intelligence behind these pawns, and that is what they really are, dispensable pawns in the hands and plans of an evil schemer.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

What is the mark of a Christian?

2009-10-31T12:23:00.000-05:00

WHAT IS THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN?

While attending a university in London, Mahatma Gandhi the future leader who would sway the hearts of hundreds of millions of his own people in India, became almost convinced that the Christian religion was the one true, supernatural religion in the world. Upon graduation, and still seeking evidence that would make him a committed Christian, young Gandhi accepted employment in East Africa and for seven months lived in the home of a family who were members of an evangelical Christian church. As soon as he discovered that fact he decided that here would be the place to find the evidence he sought.

But as the months passed and he saw the casualness of their attitude toward the cause of God, heard them complain when they were called upon to make sacrifice for the kingdom of God and sensed their general religious apathy, Gandhi’s interest turned to disappointment. He said in his heart, “No, it is not the one true, supernatural religion I had hoped to find. A good religion, but just one more of the many religions in the world.”

Loving one another is not optional, it is the way that all the world will know that we are Christ's disciples! Gandhi’s conclusion is a sad but shockingly true reminder of the neglected power of a Christian family. This morning in a very real way the way you live, the way you talk, and the way you respond to your brothers and sisters reflects who you really are as a believer. Do you really love your brothers and sisters that God has placed all around your life?

God’s Plan for brothers and sisters is loving one another.

God’s Method for brothers and sisters to love one another is His Spirit.

What does John say God expects from us?

One of the characteristics that usually accompanies affluence is the spirit of independence. I am sorry to say that this same spirit can creep into our churches.

How can I evaluate whether I have succumbed to this spirit? Am I really living the Christian life or am I just living for myself? Many people will quickly say that one cannot and should not judge one’s faith because it is a very private thing.

Many people wear Christian symbols on their clothing such as a cross, but is that the mark of a Christian?

Jesus speaks to this issue and as usual He doesn’t mince words, He cuts to the chase.

As Jesus sees His ministry coming to a close He tells His followers that He will be with them for only a short time. He then gives them a clear definition of the true mark of a Christian.

In John Chapter 13 and verse 34, He tells them, “A new command I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

The next verse gives us the answer to our leading question. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

He is giving them a command with a condition. His point is that it is possible to be a Christian without showing the mark, but if we expect the world to know that we are Christians we will show that mark. The mark is our love for our Christian brothers and sisters.

The next paragraph may not be a popular interpretation but none the less, here is what He is saying. “I am giving the world the right to judge whether you and I are real Christians on the basis of how we treat our fellow Christian brothers and sisters.”

Every person’s DNA has been preprogrammed to recognize real love and to gravitate toward it.

When the world sees how Christians from different doctrinal views treat each other, they make an evaluation, and rightly so.

It is not the doctrinal differences that divide true Christians, but it is the lack of love that the world can sense in the Church of Jesus Christ.

He is not asking us to embrace everyone else’s doctrinal position, He is telling us that when we see a brother or sister in need and we have the ability to meet that need we must come alongside of them and love them.

Several years ago Ruth and I were members of a church in Hudson. We were made aware of a need of another church in town. This congregation had a large church building that was in dire need of paint.

Our congregation decided to not only help them paint their building but we also bought the paint. I remember spending a few Saturdays painting that old building alongside their people.

Oh, how sweet the fellowship and unity that act of love and kindness precipitated.

He instructs us in John chapter 15 and verses 13 and 14 with these words. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

According to Jesus’ teaching if we Christians love each other as He has loved us, every church would have to start a new building program because our present buildings wouldn’t hold them.

Some may wonder how that kind of love could be implemented in their churches. When new people visit your church and notice the patches on the knees of your trousers, you will have found the secret.

Can we Pick and Choose?

2009-10-19T18:59:00.004-05:00

Many years ago while studying at the University of North Dakota; I had a Physics professor who claimed to be a Christian. I can still

Remember his provocative statement to the class. When you go through a cafeteria, you take only the foods that are agreeable and savory to your palate. The ones that don’t appear appetizing or maybe you have never tasted them before; you pass up and don’t accept.”

Now here is where it got divisive. He went on to say, “The Bible is like that. As you read through it some things are appealing and comforting to you while others repulse you. Accept the things that appeal to you and reject the things that don’t.”

I can still remember the interesting class discussions that transpired while we were supposed to be studying Physics.

Little did I know that within 40 years, that exact philosophy would be the status quo in today’s churches and not the exception as it was in those days.

As one sits in America’s churches today, you have the opportunity to hear the humanistic gospel, the social gospel, the permissive gospel, the prosperity gospel, the emergent gospel, The Purpose Driven Gospel, Your Best Life Now gospel, the church growth gospel, the seeker-sensitive gospel, the who are you to judge gospel (After all, everyone goes to Heaven anyway), the homosexual gospel, as long as you were baptized gospel, the only believe gospel, and the God loves you unconditionally and forgives you unconditionally gospel. Oh, did I mention the politically correct gospel?

My, my, what have we come to? We ask ourselves these days, “Why are people leaving our churches in droves these days?” Every major denomination in loosing people and some are loosing lots of them, and we are asking why?” According to Christia research, between 65 and 75 churches are closed every week in the US. Thoses are permanent closings.

Maybe the question that we should be asking is why would people want to attend our churches? What did the church offer in the past that is missing now?

I believe that most people realize that the all the world has to offer is promises that it cannot deliver. They also realize that there is nothing within themselves that can fill the empty void and longing they are feeling as they search for a fulfilling life.

Where do they look? Some people look to the church for the only power that can change an empty life into a full abundant life, and what do they find? They find an array of gospels that I mentioned above and sadly every one of these phony gospels are void of the power that they are searching for. Most of them leave in frustration (and in droves I might add) and return to hopelessness. Many leave to preserve the faith that they do have and have their own devotion time at home on Sunday mornings and others gather a few likeminded believers together and form a home church.

Here is the serious footnote to all of this change that we have seen in today’s churches.

Revelation chapter 21 and 22 is very explicit on the kinds of people who have no hope because as John puts it, “Their place will be in the fiery lake of burning brimstone.”

But this is not the group of folks that I am writing about. What about all of the “Progressive” Christian leaders who have so thoughtlessly pushed for the doctrinal changes that we have mentioned.

John also addresses that issue in Revelation chapter 22 where he says, “And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

So, the big question on my mind is, “How is it possible to return to the “Gospel of the Kingdom,” that the early apostles preached with power and conviction?

I think that the only answer and it is not a popular one, is tough times and lots of them.

Ruth and I have visited many churches in Africa where finding enough food for today doesn’t leave much time or interest to embrace any other gospel than the one that teaches, “Live for Me, and I will supple all of your needs.” Mathew 6:28-34

How in the World did we get into this mess? You may say, “It is our governmental leaders that we elected.” If the “other party” was in power, they would straighten out this mess. Listen; let me give you a definition of politics that your third grader can understand. Politics is doing what is necessary to keep me and my party in power. It is all about me, my, and I. We all know what power does to a person, it corrupts. So, good luck if you are looking to your political leaders to get us out of this mess.

So, to what do we look for hope? Better to say to WHOM do we look for hope. I believe that it was the churches who got us into this mess when they began to preach the “CAFETERIA GOSPEL” that I mentioned above.

When the CHURCH gets on its knees and repents, things will change, but if that doesn’t happen, like they say in Louisiana, “Ya ain’t seen nuttin yet.”

2009-09-15T15:13:00.000-05:00

It’s all about the money

A few years ago Ruth and I had the privilege of teaching in an East African Bible school where we were training pastors. Most of our students were already pastors who were working toward their four year degree.

One of their favorite topics of discussion was to get me to tell them about the church in America.

When I would tell them about the liberal doctrines that have crept into our churches such as discounting the inerrancy of scripture, the neuter gendering of God, the ordination of homosexuals as well as issues that many pastors are afraid to address such as divorce and abortion, my students were appalled.

Their questions always came back to this, “Why won’t American pastors address these issues?”

Here is how I would answer them.

Put yourself in the typical American pastor’s position. He has a nice building or is in the middle of a building program. The church is making big mortgage payments. The pastor is receiving a comfortable salary and he is building up a nice retirement fund.

The money to meet these expenses comes from the offering baskets that are passed each Sunday morning.

If he is bold in his renunciation of these HOT TOPICS, he is going to offend some people and some issues may offend lots of people. In the American church people vote with their feet. If they don’t like the preaching, they leave. He is at risk of loosing his comfortable life style so he tells the people what they want to hear so they will feel good about themselves. The pews stay full and so do the offering baskets.

After that explanation my students all wondered how the churches allowed themselves to get into the position of such compromise.

I too wonder the same thing. In many churches you won’t hear teachings and warnings about how our beloved churches are being hijacked with a powerless gospel.

About 25 years ago a wise old Bible teacher by the name of Dr. Walter Martin warned the mainstream denominations with these words.

“There is a progression that takes place in liberal theology: It begins with a corrupt bibliology, a corrupt view of the nature and inspiration of Scripture. They have a corrupt theology because once you are picking and choosing from the Bible what you want, your theology has to suffer from it because your human reasoning is corrupt. Every major theological seminary that has turned from orthodox Christianity began with disbelief of Biblical doctrine. There wasn’t a single exception.

This corrupt bibliology then leads them to the next step. Their theology began to be touched by it, their view of the cross and the virgin birth were immediately questioned; then came the miracles of Christ. And finally they had emptied the gospel of all its content: they were simply using the outward shell so that they could go on collecting money from the people and the churches; because they knew that if the people in the pews knew that they were apostate, they would throw them out. So the strategy was, hang on to the trust funds; hang on to the money they’ve got; hang on to the properties they control, and they will gradually educate the laymen into this new approach to theology.

And finally they take control of everything. This gradual process feeds this theological poison until you become immunized enough so that you don’t know what’s happening to you. And when you wake up to what’s happening, it’s too late, they’ve got everything.”
(Taken from his book, The Cult of Liberalism).

Today’s liberal church leaders have learned their lessons well from their evil forefathers. They knew that in order for them to advance their pet projects, one of which is affirming a lifestyle of the unrepentant practice of homosexuality as a viable one for the Christian and even the clergy, they would have to attack the inerrancy of scripture.

If we as Christians will not believe the Word of God, it is clear in its pronouncement of the sinfulness of homosexuality, and stand against it, then we won’t stand at all, we will fall.

In the greatest sermon ever preached, Jesus warned us with these words, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to Hell, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to eternal life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 13:7

In the same sermon He said, “You cannot serve both God and money.”

2009-09-13T12:38:00.000-05:00

WHAT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO?

Today I find myself asking the same rhetorical question very frequently, “What is the right thing to do in this situation?”

My frequent prayer is, “Lord, I need wisdom more today more than ever.”

It has been said the one of the wisest men to have ever lived was Solomon. We can find his writings in the book of Proverbs located in the Bible.

It was his desire to pass on his wisdom to the generations to come. It seems from his writings that he was very concerned about the plight of young people and the decisions that they must make while growing up.

Growing up in Solomon’s day was nothing compared to the decisions confronting our young people living early in the 21st century, although his temptations were very similar.

One of the catch phrases that our young people must deal with constantly is, “Let’s do it, it’s the right thing to do.”

So, how does one know what is right?

Solomon gives us some good advice in the 10th chapter and verse 13 in his book of Proverbs. He says, “Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning,”

Then again in Chapter 14, verse 33 he tells us that, “Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning.”

Here, he is equating wisdom with discernment. Most people would define discernment as knowing the difference between right and wrong.
There are two different kinds of wisdom, however. As you progress through the education system, you gain more and more wisdom. But that kind of wisdom is worldly wisdom, it will hopefully get you a good job and keep it, but the wisdom that Solomon is talking about is not that kind of wisdom. Here, is instructing us about Spiritual wisdom. This is the kind of wisdom that we all need, for it keeps us on the path of life that is the smoothest, the good life if you will. It keeps us out of the pitfalls of life and ultimately out of the pit for eternity.

I like what a wise old theologian once said. Charles Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not telling the difference between right and wrong, but between what is right and almost right.”

Wow, that’s what I need today. I can easily tell the difference between black and white, but telling the difference between white and almost white is a challenge.

Sorting out the shades of truth is a difficult job, but does it have to be so formidable?

The mortality rate for a young person swimming through the shark infested waters of today’s culture as they grow up is very high, but there is hope.

There is hope for all of us and especially the young person looking for help.

At Christmas time we read the Old Testament prophecies in the book of Isaiah describing the coming Savior. One of His titles is “The Prince of Peace.”

A Christian is one who has asked the Prince of Peace to come and reside in his heart, save him, and then follow His leading.

If we have done that, then we have that help that we so desperately need available to help for those tough decisions.

The Prince of Peace resides in our hearts to give us a quiet check when something is even one shade off of white, as well a giving us real PEACE when something is pure white, but we must listen to that still small voice.

Someone once said that we experience real peace when nothing is missing and nothing is broken.

Isn’t that what we want to feel in our hearts as we sort out the options while making a decision that we will have to live with?

A wise lady once said, “The decisions that we make today are the building blocks of the quality of our life tomorrow.”

If we, as Christians, listen to the Prince of Peace residing in our hearts, nothing will be missing and nothing will be broken after we make that important decision.

Who wants to stand on a shaky foundation that results from a decision that turns out to be almost right?

Now, when I quoted that verse in Proverbs chapter 10, I only gave you the 1st half of the verse. Let me give you the whole verse, “Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, BUT a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.”

WHOA- don’t we know all too well the results of using poor judgment?

2006-11-19T15:21:00.000-06:00

Excuses for unbelief

It is amazing to listen to people’s excuses for not believing the Bible. I wonder what people think when they read the book of Acts. Do they read it like they go through the line at the cafeteria? Some things appeal to them and some don’t. Some things are appetizing and some aren’t.

What do they do with scriptures like IITimothy 3:16 which says, “All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching.”

What about Hebrews 13:8 which says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

When it comes to divine healing many Christians agree with the non-believers as they scoff at people praying for the sick. They are quick to point out those who were not immediately healed by saying, “See, Joe Blow was prayed for and he didn’t get healed, as a matter of fact he died.”

When you hear those cynical comments you may want to remind them that they forget that medical doctors disappoint millions of people every day. As a matter of fact nearly every person in the cemetery had been to see a doctor just prior to them being sent to the undertaker.

Do we go to lengths to discredit doctors and hospitals? Do we deprive our loved ones the opportunity to see a doctor when sick just because Uncle Harry didn’t get well after seeing a doctor? That would be cruel.

Why object to divine healing just because all are not miraculously healed. Do we deprive our loved ones the opportunity to get healed by the Lord just because we heard that Aunt Lucy is still ailing after being prayed for. I would call that lacking compassion.

The next time you meet someone who is hurting, muster up a little compassion and pray and ask the Lord Jesus to heal them. Whether they get healed or not, it isn’t you anyway who has that power, it is God Himself. You don’t have to apologize if nothing happens, you just pray and leave that decision up to Him.

The following is a great testimony of what you can do when you have compassion for the sick and hurting.

The city of Kakuma in northern Kenia is one of the poorest areas of East Africa. It's close to the Sudanese border and known for it's large UN refugee camp, home of 100,000 people that fled south Sudan, Congo, Somalia and Ethiopia. Daniël and Marlies Hoogteyling, a young missionary couple from the Netherlands, started a church in Kakuma to reach out to the young people from different tribes and nations. Daniel reports:

"Three weeks ago we took the young people to the local hospital to pray for every patient and for the staff. The next morning, when the doctor came to check the patients, he found out that everyone (except two people) were completely healed, and he could release them from hospital. The medical staff was very excited, and of course it was also a great encouragement for the young people, that God would use them to see people healed."

Source: Daniël Hoogteyling, Youth Apart

2006-10-29T14:36:00.000-06:00

A few thoughts of my own at the end of this short article.

A new survey conducted by the research division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention looks at reasons why adults leave evangelical Christian churches.

This past summer LifeWay Research polled 469 adults who once attended church regularly in an effort to find out why they stopped going -- and also to discover what it would take to bring them back. According to the study, 59 percent of formerly churched adults say they left because of changes in their life situation. The top two specific life situations cited were schedules that became too hectic to allow for church attendance, and family responsibilities at home that prevented church attendance.

Brad Waggoner, president of LifeWay Research, says the recent survey shows how radically American culture has changed. "It used to be that Sunday was protected as a day of worship," he notes. "It's not good news that people are finding lots of competition with the church."

On the other hand, Waggoner observes, "I guess there's a little bit of good news that at least people are being honest that it's their lives that are out of whack." However, he points out, other reasons people gave for leaving church included feeling that other church members were hypocritical or judgmental, or the perception that their former church was run by a clique that discouraged involvement.

In regards to that last reason, Ruth and I have experienced this phenomena bigtime.
One of the last churches that we were involved in had an attitude that went something like this. You are welcome here, come sing songs with us, put money in the offering, lots of it, we'll smile at you and we may even shake your hand before you go out the door, but don't expect to get involved because we have a clique here and unless you have been with us from the beginning don't expect more than a cold handshake and weak smile brother because that's as close as you'll ever get.

You may think that I am exaggerating, but this is the philosophy in many churches and we wonder why people drop out.

Here is my definition of a clique, it is the sound when you pull the trigger of a gun and you have no cartridge in the chamber, just the hollow sound of "CLICK". What can be accomplished with an empty gun, not much.

Let's let the scripture comment on this by reading 1st John 3:10 "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; neither is anyone who does not love his brother."

What is the acid test of what the real Church of Jesus Christ is about, "Do they love the brethren?"

2006-10-29T14:23:00.000-06:00

Have you ever wondered where "In the World" the church is headed? Read the following quote and you will see.

"I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and hence counterproductive to the evangelistic enterprise than the unchristian, uncouth strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition. Classical reformed theology has erred in its insistence that theology be God centered not man centered."

"Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem."

"Classical theology defines sin as 'rebellion against God.' The answer is not incorrect as much as it is shallow and insulting to the human being."

"do not say that the central core of the human soul is wickedness. If this were so, then truly, the human being is totally depraved. But positive Christianity does not hold to human depravity, but to human inability."

-Self-Esteem: The New Reformation by Robert Schuller

2006-10-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

Is the contemporary Gospel "Another Gospel"?

Are we really to believe that within 12 months of being saved, under the sound preaching of the Holy Spirit empowered Biblical gospel, 95.2% of the 'converts' (over a quarter of a million people) had become 'backsliders'?

by Michael J. Penfold

Central to every genuine spiritual revival, has been the public preaching of the gospel. Directly through this means (Titus 1:3) the Holy Spirit has awakened multitudes to a proper sense of the dreadfulness of their sin against heaven. They have been stripped of all self-righteousness, broken in repentance and have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who satisfied God's demands against their sin at Calvary. Sadly, in the evangelical scene today, such true and lasting manifestations of the convicting and converting power of the Holy Spirit are now rarely seen. So where did it all go wrong?

During the 20th century, there were two major developments in relation to gospel preaching. Up until World War 2, practically all evangelical churches held two preaching services every Sunday; one aimed at edifying the church; the other at converting sinners. The first move was to jettison the gospel service (with its accompanying prayer meeting), in favour of another study teaching session for Christians. The indoor evangelistic service was not replaced with a 'street meeting'. It was simply dropped. Secondly, there was a fundamental change in the content (not just the style) of the gospel message itself. Several major features of the historically tried and tested gospel sermon were abandoned. Thus, if you compare the sermons preached by Peter and Paul in the book of Acts, along with those preached during genuine revivals since that time (by men like Nettleton, Edwards, Wesley, Whitefield, McCheyne, North, Spurgeon, Torrey, Moody, Rea, Marshall, Laidlaw and Frank Knox) with the contemporary gospel, you will find a world of difference.

All of this has serious consequences, because the contemporary gospel produces altogether different results to the historic Biblical gospel. For example, in 1991, a major 'evangelical' denomination in the USA - consisting of 11,000 churches - launched a huge push in evangelism. After securing 294,000 'decisions for Christ' in 12 months (26.73 per church), only 14,000 new members came 'into fellowship' (1.27 per church). Are we really to believe that within 12 months of being saved, under the sound preaching of the Holy Spirit empowered Biblical gospel, 95.2% of the 'converts' (over a quarter of a million people) had become 'backsliders'? And what of the general membership of contemporary 'evangelical' churches? Where have all the serious Bible students gone? Where is the clear line of demarcation between today's Christians and the secular world - in language, entertainment, music, dress, associations, ambition, interest and outlook? These are symptoms of a root problem, namely the abandonment of public gospel preaching and the alteration of the content of the Biblical gospel message. But what is the true gospel? Let us examine four essential elements which are missing from most of today's evangelical sermons, gospel tracts and 'introduction to Christianity' courses.

1. THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL BEGINS AND ENDS WITH GOD.

Firstly, the Biblical gospel begins and ends with God, whereas the contemporary gospel begins and ends with man. Here, in abbreviated form, is how it runs. "People today are suffering from feelings of emptiness, loneliness and low self-esteem. However, the aching 'God shaped vacuum' within you can be filled, when you say sorry for your sins and commit your life to Jesus. God has a wonderful plan for your life and wants you to be personally fulfilled and have a real feeling of happiness and satisfaction. You matter to God - that's why Jesus paid for your sins on the cross. He loves you and wants you to ask Him into your life today You cannot save yourself, that's why you really need God in your life. You have tried everything else - so why not give Jesus a try too? All you have to do is ask Jesus to be your personal Saviour and you will be saved. Why not pray this prayer after me...

Writers like George Barna, Bill Hybels, Lee Strobel and Rick Warren, tell us that our churches will only be 'seeker-friendly' when we start addressing the needs of '21st century unchurched Harry and Mary' (the 'me' generation). Thus the contemporary message has moved away from the New Testament God-centred pattern, and tailored itself to appeal to the self-centred generation of secular relativists who dominate our society. By contrast, the Biblical gospel begins and ends with God. When Paul preached to the Gentiles in Lystra, he opened by saying, "We...preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, who made heaven... earth... sea and all things that are in them" (Acts 14:15). He began by laying a foundation of a 'creator God' who is sovereign, good and patient. Again, when preaching to the Gentile philosophers in Athens he stated, "...God, who made the world and everything in it.. since He is Lord of heaven and earth.. now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained." (Acts 17:22-31). This was always Paul's approach when preaching to pagans. His message to Felix was the same. He told him about God's righteousness, his own lack of self-control and judgment to come (Acts 24:25).

Since repentance is a change of mind towards God, how can a sinner repent until he has a true concept of God? Many 21st Century Westerners imagine that there are two Gods; the God of the Old Testament - harsh and unmerciful - and the God of the New Testament - loving and forgiving. Such is their fatal misconception. Or again, the average Westerner thinks that God, if He exists at all, is a most unfair God. He argues; "If there's a God why is there all the suffering in the world?" How foolish are his thoughts. Until he truly understands the good and holy nature of the God against whom he has grievously rebelled, he will never be saved. Thus, unless the 'true God' is clearly preached, all that will be produced is a multitude of false converts, who have never so much as caught one glimpse of the holiness, goodness and sovereignty of their almighty creator, "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Rom 11:36).

2. THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL MAKES A PROPER USE OF THE LAW OF GOD.

Secondly, the Biblical Gospel makes proper use of the law of God. A sinner must understand the gospel to be saved (Matt 13:15,19, 23, Acts 8:30-31, Rom 3:11). But before a sinner can understand the mercy of a loving God, he must understand the requirements of a righteous God. Now, the law is not the gospel and the gospel is not the law; but the gospel establishes the law (Rom 3:31). That law which the Gentiles have in their hearts by nature (Rom 2:15), Israel also had written on stone - and the purpose of this law is clearly stated by Paul: "by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20). Paul further states that he would never have known he was a guilty sinner without the law (Rom 7:7). Since no one can be saved without repentance (Luke 13:5) and no one can repent unless they know they are guilty, the true Biblical gospel must make proper use of the law, the chief end of which is to convince the whole world of its guilt (Rom 3:19).

The book of Romans contains the only systematic setting forth of the gospel in the whole Bible. Paul uses the word 'law' 38 times before he mentions the word 'love'. From Romans 1:17-3:19, Paul sets forth the case against the sinner. It is a sorry tale of condemnation, wrath and guilt. Finally, in chapter 5:8, Paul states that God commends his love towards sinners. Why does Paul present the gospel in this order? Because the gospel will not make any real sense to the sinner until he realizes he is guilty of rebellion against the law of a holy God. If we start by telling the typical Westerner "God loves you", he will puff out his chest and say in his heart "Why shouldn't He; I'm a good person?"

Preachers of the old school believed that a man would not grab a spiritual lifebelt, until he was convinced he was drowning; nor submit to medical treatment until was sure he had a disease - so they never set the remedy of the gospel before the sinner's mind until thoroughly convincing him of his sin. But the contemporary gospel knows better. It uses the carrot of 'benefits' instead of the stick of the law. It says, "If you come to Jesus you will be happy, fulfilled, be part of a loving family and spend eternity in a golden mansion - if you would like to have all of this, just say sorry for your sins and ask Jesus into your heart to be your Saviour." If only this were an unfair caricature or a straw man -but it is not. This is exactly how it is presented universally today in print and in the pulpit. The net result is that sinners 'come to Christ' with a false motive. Then when persecution and pressure come their way, they discover that they were not told the whole story. They are offended and quickly disillusioned. However, they have now been vaccinated against true salvation. After all, they tried Jesus and He failed.

As we seek to restore the true Biblical gospel we must remember that the issue is righteousness not happiness. True peace and joy are the fruits of salvation, but they are never to be presented in Biblical sermons as a draw card, to encourage sinners to 'make their decision for Christ'. We must understand that simply quoting "All have sinned", followed by a quick "But the good news is..."1 will never awaken anyone. Sinners must be faced with the fact that covetousness (the love of things) is idolatry (Col 3:5), hate is murder (1 John 3:15) and lust is adultery (Matt 5:28). Driving down the motorway, there are a number of excuses one can think of to justify going at 85 mph. ..until the law enters. When you see a Police car on the side of the road, your foot hits the brakes. By the law is the knowledge of sin. That is what will make a man, rushing headlong down the highway of life to hell, sit up and listen. He simply must see his precarious position or he will never repent.

Presented with a choice of either diamonds or a glass of water, who would not choose the diamonds? But take a man who has been lost for four days in the Sahara desert with nothing to drink and present him with the same choice. He takes the water. What has changed? The inherent value of the goods on offer? No. His perception of need. And so, let a man be utterly convinced from scripture, by the Holy Spirit, that he is lost, guilty and helpless and he will cry out, "What must I do to be saved?"

The proper initial reaction to the gospel on the part of the sinner is conviction of sin (John 16:8, Acts 2:37). But what is conviction of sin? It is more than just the ordinary smiting of the conscience (Rom 2:15). It is more than mere fear of hell. Simply being scared of the consequences of sin is not true Holy Spirit conviction. Nor is conviction 'admitting you are a sinner'. Balaam, Pharoah, Judas and many others admitted "I have sinned", but went to hell. Nor is conviction a mere head knowledge of the doctrine of the fall of Adam. Conviction is 'a proper sense of the dreadfulness of my sin against God'. Have you ever realized this? All sinners must echo David's realization in Psalm 51:4 when he said "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." Conviction of sin is vertical, not horizontal.

We must return to the true Biblical gospel and preach that men are sinners by nature and practice (Eph 2:1-2); that their very best endeavours are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and that they are utterly helpless to save themselves (Eph 2:8). As a sinner acknowledges that he is condemned, unclean and guilty, he draws near to salvation, for "The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart; and saves such as have a contrite spirit" (Psalm 34:18).

3. THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL SOUNDS A CLEAR NOTE OF REPENTANCE.

Thirdly, the Biblical Gospel sounds a clear note of repentance. Summarizing 3 years of ministry in Ephesus, Paul stated that he had preached "repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). Summarizing his whole life, he stated that he had preached that men should "repent and turn to God, and do works" answering to that repentance (Acts 26:20). Nowhere in the Bible did any apostle or evangelist preach that, "all you need to do is accept that Jesus died and rose again, ask Him to be your Saviour and you will go to heaven." Why? Because the Lord Jesus had commissioned them to preach three things: firstly, Christ died; secondly, He rose again; and, thirdly, repentance for the remissible of sins (Luke 24:45). Would we be happy with a cross-less gospel or a resurrection-less gospel? How then can we be content to preach a repentance-less gospel?

Contrary to contemporary thinking, salvation is not just mental assent or a mere nodding of the head to the death and resurrection of Christ. There is no saving faith without repentance. If you are a stranger to conviction, you are a stranger to repentance and therefore a stranger to salvation, for no one ever truly believed without repenting and vice versa. The first sentence the Lord Jesus uttered in His public ministry was, "Repent and believe the gospel " (Mark 1:15); and He continued to repeatedly warn that unless sinners repent they will perish. Jesus said "believe or perish" (John 3:16) and "repent or perish" (Luke 13:3. See also 2 Pet 3:9). All that will matter a million years from today is, did I repent and believe the gospel?

Only one sentence in the Bible states that God loves the world (John 3:16). A handful of other verses speak of God's love for undeserving sinners. Yet this precious and sublime truth is cheapened today, by its overemphasis at the expense of repentance, a subject which is mentioned 58 times in the New Testament alone. That is the reason why there is little or no true convicting power and blessing in the preaching of the gospel today. The Holy Spirit will not endue with power a message He has not authorized. A gospel without a clear note of repentance is another (false) gospel that brings God's curse on those who preach it (Gal 1:6-10). Why would God curse a 'preacher of the gospel' (one who adds or takes away from the essence of the true message)? Because his repentance-less message is damning souls, corrupting local churches and hindering revival.

But what is repentance? It is not penance or restitution (Judas paid the money back - he regretted, but never repented, Matt 27:3). It is not merely tears, fear of judgment (Felix trembled) or sorrow for sin (godly sorrow may lead to repentance, but is not the same as repentance, 2 Cor 7:10). It is not mere confession or admission of sin. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia (from meta, 'after', and nous, 'mind'). It means a complete change of mind - involving turning from sin to God, which resuIts in a change of life. It is illustrated by David in Psalm 51 and the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. It is defined in the following text: "Let the wicked for-sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him" (Isaiah 55:7). Let us be sure to sound a clear note of repentance every time we preach the gospel.

4. THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL PRESENTS A WHOLE CHRIST FOR THE WHOLE MAN.

Fourthly, and finally, the Biblical Gospel presents a whole Christ for the whole man. The object of faith is not 'the fact of the atonement' but the person of Christ. Paul did not tell the jailor to just believe the 'facts about Calvary'. He was told, "Believe on the LORD JESUS CHRIST" - Master, Saviour and promised anointed Messiah (Acts 16:31). But belief never simply means mental assent. It is trust, reliance on and commitment to Christ as Lord and Saviour. This is not the 'cool buddy Saviour only Jesus' of the contemporary gospel, who says "Come as you are and stay as you are". How solemn to see a large number who call Jesus Lord, shut out of the kingdom, despite their many religious works (Matt 7:21).

'Evangelical' churches are full of people who do not exhibit the fruits of salvation, but who are not embarrassed to say they are Christians. But if a man says he has faith and has not works, can that faith save him (James 2:14)? God saves people so that they will do good works (Acts 26:20) and live as His bond slaves (1 Thess 1:9). Therefore, any salvation experience that does not turn a rebel sinner into a basically obedient servant is spurious. "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.. every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast in to the fire" (Matt 3:8).

Liberal theologians have filled churches and preached a blood-less gospel and a deity-less Christ. Now, evangelicals have filled churches with a gospel that lacks a call to repentance. Which is worse? The net result is the same. Let us ensure that our sermons, our gospel tracts and the missionary endeavours we support present every aspect of the true Biblical gospel.

Available as a pamphlet from Penfold Book & Bible House Ltd.
www.penfoldbooks.com
Box 26, Bicester, Oxon, 0X26 4GL Phone

2006-10-11T08:18:00.000-05:00

A step in the right direction

What is the answer to school violence? Many solutions are suggested from metal detectors to armed teachers, but could there be something that our schools have lost some time ago.

In Mathew 24 verse 12 Jesus gives a prophetic account of one of the things that will happen at the end of the age. It reads, "Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of many will grow cold."

With a little digging you will find that this verse really reads, "the agape of many will grow cold." As wickedness increases people's desire to lay down their lives for others decreases.

My mind goes back to my teaching days in Southern California where I was teaching in an elementary school. Our school was an integrated school in that students from the inner city were bussed out to the suburbs and integrated into the white schools. We had a quite a mix of colors in our school and not a few trouble makers.

I taught in that school for four years and during that time I watched some of those trouble makers work their way up through the grades. I had a sixth grade homeroom so I knew that eventually I would inherit some of these problems. I had a stradegy and that was while out on the playground when I saw some undesirable behavior from one of the troubled kids, I would go up to him and put my arm around him and gently explain the disadvantages of their behavior. What I was doing was building relationships with these boys. I would tell them when they were in the fifth grade that I was going to have them in my homeroom next year and they were going to be one of my boys.

As a homeroom teacher I worked hard to build a atmosphere of having a sense of belonging to a group, (a family) who sticks up for one another and is proud of one another and you had better not mess with one of Burton's kids or you will have the whole bunch to contend with.

I still remember a big Mexican boy coming up through the grades who was a real problem for his teaches as he worked his way into the fifth grade. One day I walked up to him and looked up into his eyes and said, "Next year you are going to be in my homeroom." His reply was "All right." He said it loud enough so nearly everyone on the playground could hear him.

Could it be possible for us teachers to single out some of those "Loners" and "Misfits" and "Troublemakers" and plow a little of our lives into theirs.

I can still remember Ronnie's mother coming to school to see me one day and thanking me for the extra attention that I had paid to her son for he had no father.

Is this something that could be encouraged for our teachers to work on or does the "Sign of the times" prevail as Jesus' prediction said it would.

I would love to hear any comments.

jim@burtonia.com

2006-10-11T08:17:00.001-05:00

They don't get it

A while back I was talking to the school administrator and a school board member of large school district near where I live. The high school has about 2000 students. Both of these folks know about my lifestyle of serving in various places around the world these past 25 years. The board member turned to the superintendant and said that she would like to have me speak to the students in an assembly telling of my Christian service work and Christian commitment. While the board member was talking I saw a look on the face of the superintendent that told me that what I might have to say was completely irrelivant and it would never happen.

Does this recent experience have anything to do with the CBS News article that I read recently?

freeSpeech: Brian Rohrbough
Dad Of A Columbine Victim Asks "Why Did This Happen?"

Oct. 2, 2006 (CBS)QUOTE Sadly, our schools are not safe.
(CBS) "I'm saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today, and last week's school murders. When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting. Since that day, I've tried to answer the question, "Why did this happen?" This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value. We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children. Suicide has become an acceptable action and has further emboldened these criminals. And we are seeing an epidemic increase in murder-suicide attacks on our children. Sadly, our schools are not safe. In fact, we now witness that within our schools. Our children have become a target of terrorists from within. "

2006-10-11T08:17:00.000-05:00

An old idea that works

I read a recent article in the New York Times about corporal punishment in public schools. I thought that it was banished long ago, but some folks are finding that maybe we lost something when our modern society trashed this archaic practice.

I'll give a link to the article at the end of my blog.

I was reminded of my teaching days back in the late sixties when I was teaching Eskimo kids in Nome, Alaska.

I was teaching math in the high school and I had a couple of classes comprised of low achievers. Some of them were cut-ups and enjoyed giving their teachers trouble. About two weeks after school started in the fall one boy by the name of Henry came to me and said, "Mr. Burton I know what you need." About two days later Henry walked into my classroom with a smile on his face and an oak board about 3/8" thick by 2" wide by 24" long and writen on it with black ink were the words, "Board of Education."

I hung the board on the wall and about two days later I had to ask Henry to step out into the hall where I asked him to bend over. I then applied the "Board of Education" to the seat of learning. We walked back into the "Very Quiet" room and commenced the learning of Mathematics.

I used that "Board of Education" no more than a half dozen times and hung it on the wall for the rest of the year. I remember talking with other teachers about this group of students and hearing remarks like, "I can't do anything with them," or "That bunch is terrible." I remember saying one time, "That's odd, I don't have any problem with them, they are a great bunch of kids." I remember them looking at me with a look that said, "Yeah, right."

But I was truthful, I didn't have any problem with them and I really enjoyed those classes. As a matter of fact the guidance counselor asked me one day what my secret was for the sucess that I was having with my classes. I remember another occasion when I overheard the principal remarking that no one in her school used corporal punishment. Apparently no one voiced any complaints, students or parents.

Isn't it too bad that our modern society has evolved to such a high state of sophistication where the "Board of Education" has been replaced with such things as "Time Out?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/education/30punish.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

2006-10-11T08:16:00.001-05:00

Great quotes for today's church

"Christians don't tell lies - they just go to church and sing them."
--A.W. Tozer

"It is perilously easy to have amazing sympathy with God's truth and remain in sin." -- Oswald Chambers

"The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions." -- A.W. Tozer

"Get rid of this bunkum about the 'carnal Christian'. Forget it! If you're carnal, you're not saved." -- Leonard Ravenhill

"An unholy church! it is useless to the world, and of no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell's laughter, heaven's abhorrence. The worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church." -C.H. Spurgeon

"I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out." John Wesley

2006-10-11T08:16:00.000-05:00

The slippery slide of liberalism

Commissioned to personally study every seminary in the country that had had ended up liberal, just take a look at Dr. Martin's description of what happens the moment a church or a denomination moved away from the inerrancy of Scripture:

Every major theological seminary that has turned from orthodox Christianity began with disbelief of Biblical doctrine. There wasn't a single exception. This corrupt Bibliology then lead them to the next step. Their Theology began to be touched by it, their view of the Cross, the Virgin Birth were both immediately questioned; then came the miracles of Christ. And finally they had emptied the Gospel of all its content; they were simply using the outward shell so that they go on collecting money from the people and the churches; because they knew that if the people in the pew knew that they were apostate, they'd throw them out. So the strategy was hang on to the trust funds; hang on to the money we've got; hang on the properties we control, and we will gradually educate the laymen into this new approach to theology.

And then finally we will take control of everything. The gradual process of feeding you theological poison until you become immunized enough so that you don't know what's happening to you. And when you wake up to what's happening to you, it's too late they've got everything. That is not a baseless charge, I stand prepared to prove that the Cult of Liberal Theology in the United States has deliberately and consistently followed this methodology to entrap, control and dominate the denominations and the churches of the United States and our educational institutions. The study with Mr. Pugh confirmed the fact that once the Theology became corrupt, gradually then the view of Christ Himself underwent change.

2006-10-11T08:15:00.002-05:00

An interesting read, a little long ,but well worth the time

PASTOR HIDES BEHIND SKIRTDISMISSAL OF GRANDMOTHER SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER

By Frederick Meekins

Though one does not want to unduly interfere with the affairs of an autonomous church and though I am ambivalent about lady preachers, I can't help but feel that a 81 year old Sunday school teacher dismissed in large part because she is a woman has somehow gotten a raw deal.What makes this case most vexing is not so much that the church in question forbade women from the get-go from ascending to positions of dogmatic instruction but that this lady was relieved of her duties after fifty years of service.So why was it OK for her to be teaching all this time then all of a sudden her classroom ministrations transfigured into an ecclesiastical outrage that could no longer be countenanced?Though I cannot be absolutely certain, methinks I catch a whiff of Purpose Driven Warrenism in the air or at least the stench of the church growth movement.

On the August 24, 2006 edition of The Albert Mohler Program, listeners learned that the pastor came to the First Baptist Church of Watertown, New York in 2004. If female Sunday school teachers were such an abomination to this minister but were permitted by this church, shouldn't he have done the chivalrous thing and not accepted this particular pastorate to begin with?

The pastor claims that, after his arrival, the church began to experience a period of growth and this ruffled the feathers of some longstanding members. If this follows the pattern of this phenomena taking place in other churches across the country, this means rock music and jungle rhythms were probably introduced to attract a bunch of tattooed and possibly lice-infected young people more interested in dancing and carousing than actually worshipping God.

According to the Syracuse Post Standard, much of the stink stems from opposition to the pastor's removal of a stain glass window and crosses in the church (can't exactly have those scruffy hooligans feeling guilty about their sins, now can we, since that would hamper their self esteem). Part of church growth operational policy is that a church should not look like a church but rather like a rec center or a pub (and probably a brothel in a few years if the seeker sensitive trend continues much longer).

Standard Purpose Driven strategy in such a situation would be to neutralize the resisters by getting those whose egos have been stroked with the offer of ecclesiastical offices and honors to swear allegiance to the pastor and purge from membership those retaining their integrity through no unquestioning loyalty to no one but King Jesus. Makes you wonder if the problem with a lady Sunday school teacher in her 80's is not so much that she's a lady but that she's in her 80's and not led around as easily with a ring in her nose as someone considerably younger.

According to one witticism popular among Purpose Driven theorists open to different interpretations is that the pillars hold up the church.Though he was reluctant to discuss the matter in initial press accounts, the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Watertown was finally man enough to admit on the Albert Mohler Program that more than the teacher's plumbing was taken into account in this personnel matter. She was also let go since she was deemed not sufficiently submissive to the pastor and his cronies.This matter of whether or not a woman should be allowed into positions of doctrinal authority within the church is indeed a serious matter.

However, are all the other ducks in a row at this church as well?Is the pastor going to take a similar hardline position against those whose divorces were acquired under less than Biblical guidelines? Given that the First Baptist Church of Watertown is a member of the American Baptist Churches USA, one would think this pastor would have weightier matters to consider like whether or not a pastor so concerned about a literalist interpretation of Scripture should even be a part of that particular denomination, convention, association, or however else you want to classify it.

For you see, the American Baptist Churches USA is involved with a number of matters that make the scandal of a lady Sunday school teacher seem quaint by comparison. For starters, the American Baptist Churches USA is a member of the National Council of Churches, a group of borderline Communists cutthroats in clerical collars that make the rogues in the bar scene from Star Wars look ethical. Furthermore, a number of American Baptist USA congregations just about endorse homosexuality.

It is not like heresy is anything new to the American Baptist Churches USA and struck the leadership of the First Baptist of Watertown unaware. After all, one of that denomination's foremost personalities was none other than Martin Luther King, Jr.

While Martin Luther King might have done a commendable job for the cause of civil rights, he was hardly a font of orthodox Christian doctrine. According to columnist and pastor Chuck Baldwin, King denied essential Christian doctrines such as Christ's deity, the Virgin Birth, and the physical resurrection (in other words, those very things that make Christianity worth messing with in the first place). Furthermore, King's association with reported Communists and similar subversives has been well documented.

I wonder if the Pastor of First Baptist of Watertown would have the courage to put the smackdown on Dr. King or is that just something he does to old ladies? After all, unlike denominational bigwigs and assorted pressure groups, little elderly grandmother-types don't have much ability to yank the purse strings shut or block access to the other niceties of positions those deriving their livelihoods from emolumented parsonships often crave.

Though this debate within the church makes for an interesting back and forth, probably even more disturbing is the response coming from the town mayor. Since the pastor also sits on the town council, the mayor felt it was his place to weigh in on the debate with the following comments: "If what's said in that letter reflects the councilman's views, those are disturbing remarks in this day and age. Maybe they wouldn't have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are now."

Since this community apparently employ part time alderman, does the mayor speak out on personnel disagreements taking place at the day jobs of the others sitting on the council? More importantly, does the major plan to speak out against other religious organizations and groups that do not allow women to assume the highest levels of authority?

Since the mayor thinks he is some kind of equal opportunity crusader by kicking around the pastor of the local Baptist church, does he have the guts to take on the local Catholic church or is he just too afraid to take on the Vatican? Better yet, is he big and bad enough to take on the Muslims when they come to town as many times in that religion women aren't only banned from positions of authority but also barred from the very act of public worship. They only thing the mayor should be worried about is whether or not the church is in compliance with the fire code or if members take over too many parking spaces on the street.

The pastor claims that God intended men and women to fulfill different roles within the church, and for the most part he is correct. But as my grandmother Louise Schwartz use to say, the man might be the head but the woman can sure twist his neck. So the next time he calls upon the ladies of the congregation to prepare the pancake supper or whatever else the gastronomically carefree gorge themselves on at such functions these days, perhaps these women of conscience should flat-out refuse pointing out it is not their place to cook promiscuously for all kinds of men to whom they are not married.

For if we are to adhere to such an airtight interpretation of Holy Writ, does it not say women are to be keepers at home? There is not one word there about being the kitchen scullions of the church. And if the pastor does not like it, tell him to take it up with the disgruntled husbands that are no doubt sick and tired these days of all these extraneous groups and Purpose Driven this study and Purpose Driven that study that act like they are more entitled to the labor of these women than the men to which such women are married.

2006-10-11T08:15:00.001-05:00

Martin Niemoller

An early supporter of Hitler, by 1934 NiemÃƒÂ¶ller had come to oppose the Nazis, and it was largely his high connections to influential and wealthy businessmen that saved him until 1937, after which he was imprisoned, eventually at Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. He survived to be a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II. His poem is well-known, frequently quoted, and is a popular model for describing the phenomenon of social chaos, as it often begins with specific and targeted fear and hatred which soon escalates out of control.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

2006-10-11T08:15:00.000-05:00

Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989)

"I was baptized an Episcopalian, educated in Roman Catholic schools, converted as a an agnostic, trained under a Presbyterian, was ordained a Baptist, pastored a Lutheran church and teach in a non-denominational seminary. I don't think I've missed anything all along the way. And the one thing I have learned - let me tell you something that I have learned - I know the liberals, I know them well. I was one of them."

"And they are the most dangerous, insidious and all-pervading cult that's loose in the United States right at this moment. They make the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons and all of the mind sciences and the occult look like Sunday school teachers. Do you know why? Because these other people are outside the Church and these devils are in it! And they are doing it in Jesus' name!"

2006-10-11T08:14:00.002-05:00

How far is too far?

An evangelical church in Philadelphia distributed a brochure giving ten reasons to visit their Sunday evening service:

The air conditioning feels great.

Coffee and goodies for everyone after every service.

The music is upbeat and easy to sing.

You get to meet some really neat people.

The sermon is always relevant to everyday life.

You can sleep in on Sundays and still make it to church on time.

Child care and children's church are provided.

Free parking!

You can go to the shore for the weekend and still make it to church on Sunday night.

You will discover an awesome God who cares about you.
When I saw that I was reminded of an advertising brochure I had come across some years before. See if you can guess what is being described. This brochure was printed in full color with pictures of attractive people, and the cover read:
"This Is Where It's At." Inside it had headings like these:
It's about family.

It's about style.

It's about giving.

It's about fun.

It's about the best way to please everybody.

It's about caring.

Actually, the brochure was an advertisement for the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, Massachusetts. But its appeal is virtually undistinguishable from that of the churches I am describing.

-- James Boice, Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?

2006-10-11T08:14:00.001-05:00

Thinking of giving up?

Those who find themselves in compromised churches might consider discarding the idea of going to a church altogether. In this Reformation21 article, David Wells has some good advice, if you find yourself thinking along those lines:

This last year, there was a brief media buzz leading up to Christmas over the fact that many megachurches cancelled Christmas day worship services. (What sense could a Martian have made of the fact that in America, many Christians, on the one hand, were arguing for the freedom at Christmas time to place religious symbols in public places while, on the other hand, other Christians in the megachurches were closing the doors of their churches, on Christmas day no less, closing the doors on the most visible religious symbols in our society?!) The reasons given for this were that Christmas day is family time, that it was unnecessary to worship on Christmas day because many would have been to pre-Christmas services and, further, that it would be unnecessary because people were being supplied with videos for that day.

Skipping church on Christmas day is not the unforgiveable sin. Let us be clear about that. Nevertheless, this magachurch disposition was symptomatic of an attitude. It spoke to the fact that many people were not going to allow the church to inconvenience them on this day. Their decision also said something about their understanding of family - as if we have to choose between "family time" and worship! I thought that, from a biblical perspective, worship is what FAMILIES did together and so it is central to "family time," not something which interferes with it! And this matter of videos tells us that we are now in great danger of privatizing our faith in its entirety. If this becomes a habit, all Christians will have to do each week is to visit a (Christian) video store some time in the week to pick up their sermon for that weekend and then, in the privacy of their home, viewing it when the time is convenient. The local church would then become entirely unnecessary!

This attitude which diminishes the significance of being in church and which will not tolerate any inconvenience has had a strange incarnation overseas, if I can use that word. American missiologists like Ralph Winter have been strenuously advocating "churchless Christianity" as a new and exciting strategy. Their thought is that believers in other religious contexts need not separate themselves from those contexts but can remain in them as private believers, thereby preserving themselves from any kind of harm.

This, of course, is easier to do in a Hindu context in which one is allowed to choose one's own god from among the many that are worshipped. Christians, quietly and privately, are simply choosing to worship Jesus and ignoring the other gods and goddesses in the temple. They are never baptized, never make a public declaration of their faith, and never become part of a church. This arrangement is, of course, much harder to carry off in Islam. Nevertheless, Winter and others now estimate that there are millions of these "churchless" believers concealed in other religions. And is this not where American evangelicalism is headed? In fact, there are already millions of believers concealed in their own living rooms whose only "church" experience is what is had from one of the television preachers. Is it really a coincidence, then, that it is American evangelicals who are energetically arguing for the wisdom of a comparable strategy in the mission field in respect to their religious contexts? I think not!

Here we have an unholy alliance between raw pragmatism, a Christianity without doctrinal shape, one that in fact separates between having Christ as savior and Christ as Lord (an option that the N.T. never holds out to us!), and a lost understanding of the necessary role which the local church should have.

If we would but read our Bibles from the beginning, we would notice that from the beginning there was always an inescapable corporate dimension to believing. There were never "private" believers in Israel, nor should there be today. The reason is that there are vital aspects of the Christian experience which simply cannot be had alone, disconnected from the people of God.

2006-10-11T08:14:00.000-05:00

Avoiding Self-Help Evangelism

In many ways, Christianity doesn't work. It has ruined some crafty businessmen like Zacchaeus, who, by becoming a Christian, ended up giving half his estate to the poor and paying back those he had cheated four times the amount he had stolen....

I'm not even sure that Christianity works if the goal is happiness. There are deeply satisfying feelings I have of being secure, at peace, close to God. But there are also deeply troubling feelings. There are deeply disturbing times of wrestling with a God who reveals himself as someone other than the God I would like to worship. And there are times when the gospel's implications force me to enter a period of intense internal struggle.

I remember hearing preachers say that non-Christians are unhappy and unfulfilled, while Christians are "victorious" and "happy in the Lord." But that isn't always true.
I know non-Christians who are very happy. In fact, it is their contentedness which leads them to avoid discussions of religion. They don't think they need it.

If we seek to justify Christianity on pragmatic grounds, ours will continue to be just another
self-help, self-improvement program.

--Michael Horton, Made in America

2006-10-11T08:13:00.002-05:00

A great article by Albert Mohler

What If There Are No Adults?

The transition to adulthood used to be one of the main goals of the young. Adulthood was seen to be a status worth achieving and was understood to be a set of responsibilities worth fulfilling. At least, that's the way it used to be. Now, an entire generation seems to be finding itself locked in the grip of eternal youth, unwilling or unable to grow up.

Concern about this phenomenon has been building for some time. Baby-boomer parents are perplexed when their adult-age children move back home, fail to find a job, and appear to be in no hurry to marry. Though the current generation of young adults includes some spectacular exceptions who have quickly moved into the fullness of adult responsibility, the generation as a whole seems to be waiting for something--but who knows what?--to happen.

Frederica Mathewes-Green sees the same phenomenon. In her brilliant essay published in the August/September 2005 edition of First Things, Mathewes-Green describes this new reality with striking clarity.

She begins with the movies. Describing herself as a fan of the old black-and-white classics from the 1930s and 1940s, Mathewes-Green remembers how young actors customarily played the part of mature adults. Actresses like Claudette Colbert and Jean Harlowe were "poised and elegant" onscreen. She notes, "Today even people much older don't have that kind of presence." She then compares Cary Grant with Hugh Grant. The first Grant was "poised and debonair" while the more recent Grant "portrayed a boyish, floppy-haired ditherer till he was forty." She cites reviewer Michael Atkinson, who dubbed today's immature male actors as "toddler-men." As Atkinson describes the distinction, "The conscious contrast between baby-faced, teen-voiced toddler-men movie actors and the Golden Age's grownups is unavoidable."

As Mathewes-Green explains, "Characters in these older movies appear to be an age nobody ever gets to be today. This isn't an observation about the actors themselves (who may have behaved in very juvenile ways privately); rather, it is about the way audiences expected grownups to act." Fast-forwarding to today's Hollywood culture, she observes: "Nobody has that old-style confident authority anymore. We've forgotten how to act like grownups."

Frederica Mathewes-Green is surely correct in seeing this contrast. Gladly, she not only depicts the reality as we now face it--she goes on to explain how we have arrived at such a state of institutionalized immaturity.

As she sees it, "The Baby Boomers fought adulthood every step of the way." In other words, Mathewes-Green points to the parents of this current generation of young adults as the locus of the problem. Speaking of her own generation, she remembers: "We turned blue jeans and T-shirts into the generational uniform. We stopped remembering the names of world political leaders and started remembering the names of movie stars' ex-boyfriends. We stopped participating in fraternal service organizations and started playing video games. We Boomers identified so strongly with being 'the younger generation' that now, paunchy and gray, we're bewildered. We have no idea how to be the older generation. We'll just have to go on being a cranky, creaky appendix to the younger one."

Mathewes-Green's analysis pushes back even further than the baby boomers. She blames the parents of the baby boomers for trying to protect that generation from the realities of a cruel world and a hard life. Having fought and survived the great trial of World War II, they wanted to protect their own young children. "They wanted their little ones never to experience the things they had," Mathewes-Green explains, "never to see such awful sights. Above all, they wanted to protect their children's innocence."

Mathewes-Green is a writer of great ability. Her picturesque imagery makes her point with poetic force. She describes the days "when large families lived together in very small houses" and when "paralyzed or senile family members were cared for at home." When the realities of life were not hidden away, institutionalized, and sanitized, children grew up understanding that life itself is a trial and that adulthood requires a willingness to grow up, take responsibility, fend for oneself, and fight for one's own.

In summary, Mathewes-Green believes that the parents of the 1950s "confused vulnerability with moral innocence. They failed to understand that children who were always encouraged to be childish would jump at the chance and turn childishness into a lifelong project. These parents were unprepared to respond when their children acquired the bodies of young adults and behaved with selfishness, defiance, and hedonism."

In her historical analysis, the parents of the baby boomers attempted to separate childhood and adulthood into two completely separate compartments of life. Childhood would be marked by innocence and adulthood by responsibility. As Mathewes-Green warns: "Be careful what you wish for." Missing from this picture is a period of urgent transition that would turn the child into an adult. What we face now is a generation of children in the bodies of adults.

Understanding the reality of the problem is a first step towards recovery. Nevertheless, mere description is insufficient as an answer to this crisis.

In days gone by, children learned how to be adults by living, working, and playing at the parents' side. The onset of age twelve or thirteen meant that time was running out on childhood. Traditional ceremonies like the Jewish Bar Mitzvah announced that adulthood was dawning. This point would be clearly understood by the young boy undergoing the Bar Mitzvah. "By the time his body was fully formed, he would be expected to do a full day's work. He could expect to enter the ranks of full-fledged grownups soon after and marry in his late teens. Childhood was a swift passageway to adulthood, and adulthood was a much-desired state of authority and respect."

Today's patterns of schooling do not, in the main, appear to produce a similar result. Instead, the educational process continues to coddle, reassure, and affirm young people without regard to their assumption of adult responsibilities. This approach, Mathewes-Green explains, prepares children "for a life that doesn't exist."

When a generation is continuously told that its options are limitless, its abilities are boundless, and its happiness is central, why should we be surprised that reality comes as such a difficult concept?

Mathewes-Green points to the delay of marriage as the most interesting indicator of what is happening. As she notes, the average first marriage now unites a bride age 25 with a groom age 27. "I'm intrigued by how patently unnatural that is," Mathewes-Green observes. "God designed our bodies to desire to mate much earlier, and through most of history cultures have accommodated that desire by enabling people to wed by their late teens or early twenties. People would postpone marriage until their late twenties only in cases of economic disaster or famine--times when people had to save up in order to marry."

Is the current generation of young adults too immature to marry? Mathewes-Green insists that if this is the case, it is only because the older generation has been telling them they are too immature to marry. Does early marriage lead to disaster? Mathewes-Green is ready to prescribe a dose of reality. "Fifty years ago, when the average bride was twenty, the divorce rate was half what it is now, because the culture encouraged and sustained marriage."

Look carefully at how she describes the personal impact produced by this pattern of delayed marriage: "During those lingering years of unmarried adulthood, young people may not be getting married, but they're still falling in love. They fall in love, and break up, and undergo terrible pain, but find that with time they get over it. This is true even if they remain chaste. By the time these young people marry, they may have had many opportunities to learn how to walk away from a promise. They've been training for divorce."

Rarely does one article contain so much common sense, moral wisdom, and promise. The way to recovery surely must start with a rediscovery of what adulthood means and a reaffirmation of why it is so important--both for the society and for individuals. Adulthood must be tied to actual, meaningful, and mature responsibilities--most importantly, marriage.

There is reason for hope. Many in this new generation demonstrate a willingness to buck the trend. They are the new pioneers of adulthood, and they will be uniquely qualified to influence their own peers and to reshape our own culture. Taking marriage seriously as a life-long commitment, they will be more inclined to raise children who will understand what it will take to live as adults in our time of confusion. They will understand that eternal youth is not a blessing, but a curse.

This article originally appeared on August 19, 2005. For further reading, see Dr. Mohler's commentaries, "The Generation That Won't Grow Up," and "Looking Back at 'The Mystery of Marriage,'" Parts One and Two. Audio of "The Mystery of Marriage" address is available here.

2006-10-11T08:13:00.001-05:00

A quote that hits home

"Isn't it staggering when you think that one sermon on the day of Pentecost produced 3000 Christian people? And we had some cities yesterday where 3000 sermons were preached and nobody was saved. And it doesn't even faze us. The church used to be a lightning bolt, now it's a cruise ship. We are not marching to Zion - we are sailing there with ease. In the apostolic church it says they were all amazed - And now in our churches everybody wants to be amused. The church began in the upper room with a bunch of men agonizing, and it's ending in the supper room with a bunch of people organizing. We mistake rattle for revival, and commotion for creation, and action for unction. Look, I think this is a critical hour in history, the most critical hour in history; the Middle East is ready to blow up... the prestige of this nation we love has gone down ... As someone said, "We live in a theater of the absurd...
When did you last tiptoe out of the sanctuary when you dare not say a word? The church has to rediscover two things. One, the majesty and the Holiness of God, and the other, the sinfulness of sin."

Leonard Ravenhill

2006-10-11T08:13:00.000-05:00

Fellow workers

The last half of 1992 found Ruth and I living on an orphanage in Central America. We were sent there by an organization that had been helping this orphanage. We went there with the idea of staying long term but shortly after arriving we found that the deck was stacked against us. Other couples had preceded us and had lasted only a short time, one couple being close relatives to the American couple who actually owned the property.

We put our hearts and souls into the work but realized that we were being held at arms length. It was hard to pin down what was happening, constant remarks kept puzzling us until after a few months it was obvious that these people considered themselves martyrs, having left the comforts of the US to live in the third world and because of this great sacrifice, they we up for a special reward and it seemed to us that they weren't going to share any of the "Glory."

Now I realize that we will all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ someday to be judged according to our works, but I think what these folks didn't realize was that this orphanage was the Lord's work and that no one could put a single claim on it or any of it's accomplishments.

Ruth and I have been in churches where this same spirit prevails. We were welcome to attend and give money, but that was a far as we were to go.

I keep going back to Romans chapter 12 which starts out by saying we are to present, or offer our bodies as living sacrifices, but then it goes on to say that we are only one part of a larger body and that each member belongs to all of the others. When our giftedness is blended with the giftedness of all of the others, the body becomes whole, balanced, effective, and it functions as it was designed to function.

ICor. 3:9 tells us, "For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, you are God's building."

If we are His fellow worker, we certainly are expected to be a Lone Ranger.

See you next week.

2006-10-11T08:12:00.001-05:00

Liberal Protestantism is doomed

I live in a community not unlike most communities in the US where most of those who attend church attend a liberal denominational church where attendance is decreasing and many churches are closing their doors as the aged membership eventually die off.

Statistics tell us that the liberal denominations are loosing millions of members each year, not so much from members dying, millions are simply walking away.

I hear many people asking the obvious question, "Why is attendance down?"

One author hit the nail on the head when he wrote, "Americans are vacating progressive pews and flocking to churches that offer more traditional versions of Christianity," Shiflett asserts. This author is not subtle, and he gets right to the point: "Most people go to church to get something they cannot get elsewhere. This consuming public--people who already believe, or who are attempting to believe, who want their children to believe--go to church to learn about the mysterious Truth on which the Christian religion is built. They want the Good News, not the minister's political views or intellectual coaching. The latter creates sprawling vacancies in the pews. Indeed, those empty pews can be considered the earthly reward for abandoning heaven, traditionally understood."

In this case, seminarian Andy Ferguson, who had questioned the anti-supernaturalistic claims of his seminary professors, was confronted by a fellow seminary student who said, "We've been talking about you. We know you're having a rough time, and we've finally figured out what your problem is . . . . You're the only one here who believes in God." Andy Ferguson decided that his fellow student was right. "They believed in things like the redemptive power of the universe, but I was the last one there who wanted to defend the biblical God--the God who makes claims on us, who said we should do some things and not do others, and who put each one of us here for a purpose."

In the end, Andy Ferguson left the liberal seminary, converted to Catholicism, and went into the business world. He told Dave Shiflett that liberal Protestantism is doomed. "Mainline Protestantism will reach a certain point where it will appeal only to Wiccans, vegetarians, sandal-wearers, and people who play the recorder. No one will feel at home there if they believe in God."

Man, does that last quote speak volumes to me.

2006-10-11T08:12:00.000-05:00

SERIOUS STUFF

I have found myself spending considerable time reading the "Sermon on the Mount" lately, Mathew 5,6, &7.

It includes some serious teachings on how to live the Christian life. It seems to me that most preachers and teachers fail to give these teachings much time these days, I wonder why?

Last week while on vacation a couple of states west of where we live, I delivered a message to a church on Sunday morning on one of Jesus' tough teachings, forgiveness.

We find that his teaching on this subject is quite clear in the prayer that he taught his followers that we call the Lord's Prayer. We can rattle this prayer off so easily we don't even have to think about the words.

Mathew 6:7-13 includes the Lord's Prayer but verse 7 warns us against babbling words that we aren't serious about.

Verse 12 petitions the Father to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

What Jesus is really saying here is that our Father will forgive us our sins to the same extent that we forgive others when they sin against us.

In the start of Mathew 7 Jesus gives a similar teaching when he says that we are not to judge others.

What Jesus is teaching here is that if we find a tiny fault with our brother, in the words of Jesus a tiny speck of sawdust in his eye, we are able to see this speck in our brother's eye only because we have a similar fault, or in Jesus' words, a huge plank in our own eye.

If I can find a fault in my brother's life, it is because I have the same fault only several times bigger in my own.

Serious stuff.

See you next week!

2006-10-11T08:11:00.002-05:00

A Win-Win situation

Occasionally, I like to remind my self of a story that I heard several years ago.

Blaise Pascal lived during the middle 1600's in France. He was a brilliant mathematician as well as a scientist.

He had a conversion experience late in his teen years that changed his life. He has been know for his faith as well as his brilliant mind, but you probably won't hear of this first attribute in most university mathematics studies, I never did.

There is a wonderful story about a discussion that he had with one of his learned colleagues that I have used many times when speaking to groups.

Pascal opens the discussion by asking his colleague what he believed would happen to him after he dies. The colleague responds by saying, "I believe that I will cease to exist." Pascal's next question was similar, "What do you believe will happen to me after I die?" The response was the same, "You will cease to exist."

The learned man then asks Pascal, "What do you believe will happen to you after you die?" Pascal's response was, "Since I am a Christian I will go to Heaven and live in eternal glory." The gentleman then asked, "What do you believe will happen to me after I die?" Pascal's response was, "Since you by admission are not a Christian, you will go to Hell where you will spend eternity suffering the torments of Hell."

Now Pascal cuts to the chase by saying, "Let me summarize this discussion. If you are right we will both cease to exist upon our deaths, but, if I am right, I will spend eternity in Heaven with all its glory and majesty, but you will spend eternity suffering the torments of Hell."

"Now, as I see it, no matter who is right, you can't win and I can't loose."

If you are a Christian today, you too can say what Pascal said, but if you are not I am afraid that you have little hope, the only shred of hope being to become a Christian. I can help you with that today, just ask.

jim@burtonia.com

See you in a week or so, I am going fishing for a few days, for fish as well as men.

2006-10-11T08:11:00.001-05:00

Are you called of God?

Sometime ago I wrote an article about "The good life." The good life involves giving your life away to serve others.

This week I want to look at an incident that Isaiah writes about in Chapter 6 and verse 8.

"I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Ã¢â‚¬ËœWhom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, Ã¢â‚¬ËœHere am I! Send me'"

I don't believe that this is an incident where God is speaking to Isaiah specifically. It is more like Isaiah overhears God asking generally, "Whom shall I send or who will respond to my call?"

I believe that God is looking out over the Earth and asking who will respond to His call, it's as if He is asking, who out there is listening to my call?"

We hear people say things like, "God has called me to do such and such." Others say, "I have never heard God call me to do anything."

The problem is not in the call; the problem lies in our hearing, because He has called us all.

In Matthew 22 Jesus is giving a teaching about the wedding feast in which the ones He invited refused to come so He extends His invitation to everyone in the whole world.

At the end of His teaching in verse 14 Jesus says, "for many are called, but few are chosen."

Not being a Calvinist, I believe that the choosing is on our part. How many of us have been listening to the call and then chosen to respond?

The chosen path is narrow my friends and not many choose to walk it.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14 that we should, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Can I add, "Few choose to find it?"

Have you chosen to listen to God's call for your life and if you heard His call, have you chosen to walk His path in the company of the few?

I overheard one O'l boy in Louisiana say, "See y'all later, and if I don't see y'all later, I'll see y'all in Heaven, and if I don't see y'all in Heaven, you in a heap of trouble."

See y'all next week.

My email addres is:

jim@burtonia.com

2006-10-11T08:11:00.000-05:00

How shall we pray?

During the fall of 1988 I had been praying for the Lord's guidance as to where we should spend the winter working for Him. My prayers went something like this, "Lord somewhere in the World someone is praying and asking you to send someone with my gifts and talents to come and help them. Lord, I want to be the answer to someone's prayer." If we pray like that I don't think that we can miss God.

I wrote three letters to three different mission bases regarding needs that I knew they had and I received three letters stating that if I were to come it would be an answer to their prayers. Now, what do I do? I kept praying. About this time I heard of a need in the country of Zimbabwe, southern Africa. After checking on the cost of the airfare, I wrote this one off because we didn't have the means, "Oh man of little faith."

This need in Zimbabwe kept rolling through my mind and one night in November I couldn't sleep because of this reoccurring thought. I finally got up about 1:00 PM and made a call to the mission base in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.

When the phone rang in the mission house the director was just walking out of the morning staff prayer meeting. When I asked him how they were praying for the need I had heard about he responded by saying, "We have been praying for over three years for someone to come and build this building for us and no one has come." I responded by saying, "I will be there."

Within a week or so someone in the church donated the amount that we were short.

In the three months that we were there I built and completed a men's and women's toilet and shower facility for a Christian retreat center, plus I got the walls up on a guest cottage.

As I hear the news coming out of Zimbabwe today, I can't help but wonder how those Christians are doing. I know that the white farmers that we knew are gone; their farms have been confiscated and given to the henchmen of the president. I also know that the people are hard pressed for food.

When we were there in 1989 the exchange rate was one US dollar for one Zimbabwean dollar. Today, due to the rape of the country by the president and his henchmen, the exchange rate is one US dollar to 200,000 Zimbabwean dollars. Their smallest bank note is for 500 Z. dollars and that will buy one sheet from a roll of toilet paper. What the government should do is print larger $500 bills, save a lot of trouble wouldn't it?

The farms can no longer feed the population and the government continues to print large amounts of paper money causing the inflation rate to rise over 100% per month.

In a crises situation where there is seemingly no hope, but, there is hope if you are a Christian.

In the eight chapter of Romans we are told, starting with verse 35, "Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Verse 37 says, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

This has not caught the church in Zimbabwe by surprise, because when we were there over 15 years ago the church was preparing for hard times ahead. As we visited the churches and listened with discerning ears, we could hear in the worship and messages that God was telling His people to expect hard times in the future.

Is the Lord preparing the American church for hard times ahead? I think if we listen with discerning ears, we too will hear the subtle hints that He is dropping.

See you next weekend

My email address is
jim@burtonia.com

2006-10-11T08:10:00.001-05:00

Child-like faith

Sometimes a part of my carnal nature wants to flex its tired muscles and say, "Why can't I be like other people?"

They put in their 60 minutes on Sunday morning and consider their spiritual obligation fulfilled for the week.

Why do I have to pray everyday, read the Bible everyday, take those long mission trips every year with the long plane rides living under less than desirable conditions for months at a time? Haven't I done enough for one lifetime, where does a Christian go to sign up for retirement?

These 65-year-old muscles are less flexible than they used to be and ask the above questions with more frequency. I don't think that it's the years as much as the miles.

The paradox is that I cherish His fellowship more and more these days even though the burden seems heavy at times.

In Mathew chapter 11 and verses29 and 30, Jesus tells me, "Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke fits perfectly and the burden I give you is light."

Herein lies the answer to those nagging questions. He tells me that there is help available; I don't have to carry the load alone.

The kind of yoke He is talking about here is a yoke that a pair of oxen would have on their necks which is attached to the load they are pulling.

Jesus is telling me that He is offering to get alongside of me and carry part of the load and the good news is that He is willing to carry the heaviest part and He offers me the lightest part.

I wonder if the whining Christians that I hear are trying to carry the whole load by themselves?

I have also seen Christians who seem to be carrying no load at all. Do you suppose that the joy that they get from the Lord is their strength?

If I allow God to put His burden on me, it will produce fruit in my life and as the burden squeezes down on me, the grapes, (fruit) will produce sweet wine and if I let God carry his part of the load the result will be beautiful tasting wine, not whine.

Isn't that the difference between wine and whine, one is sweet and one is bitter.

I am going to keep pressing on.

See you next weekend.

2006-10-11T08:10:00.000-05:00

Dare we dream big dreams?

As we go through life we dream about things that we would like to do. Dreams fall into categories; some are easily attainable, others fall into another category we label, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if" and some are just so far out that they fall into a category like "going to the Moon.

I have had several "Wouldn't it be wonderful if," dreams fulfilled. I have thought for years how I would love to preach to an all black church someday. I believe that the Lord must have dropped that dream into my heart one day because for a country boy who never even had any aspirations to preach, it isn't likely that I came up with that one all by myself.

Well, that one came true when a few years back when Ruth and I were invited to travel to West Kenya, Africa to speak in a church. We were teaching in a Bible school at the time and one of our students invited us to his home church.

Ruth taught a ladies seminar on Saturday afternoon with 350 in attendance. One 87 years old woman walked 3 miles to hear her. She was the first white woman to be in that church.

Sunday morning I was to be the speaker. I had wrestled over what kind of a message to give and finally settled on a message on "repentance."

As I walked to the church on Sunday morning I noticed something unusual upon entering the churchyard. I asked the pastor, "Why are there cars in the yard?" In rural Africa very few people own cars, the people walk to church, some of them several miles rain or shine.

The pastor replied, "The news has spread that there will be a white man speaking this morning and several governmental people have come to hear you." Sure enough, when I entered the building there they were off to the side sitting together in a group.

I gave a strong message on the need of repentance and when I concluded I asked the congregation to join me on our knees as we repented of our sins and asked forgiveness.

There were about 1000 people in the building that morning and they all went to their knees, yes I glanced over to the officials and they too were on their knees.

After about 15 minutes my wife Ruth took the microphone and told the people, "now that we have repented of our sins, let's thank the Lord for what he has done for us."

Wow, was I glad that we were on the platform because it got a little wild in that place. They were shouting, dancing, and some were jumping with joy, and yes, even those officials were joining in the excitement.

Ruth and I have been to other African churches where some of the young people had never seen a white person.

Now, that is above and beyond anything that I could have dreamed when I wished, "wouldn't it be wonderful if I could preach to an all black church someday."

See you next weekend.

2006-10-11T08:09:00.002-05:00

Don't touch that stone!

Last week I mentioned the teaching in Mathew where Jesus warns us to enter through the narrow gate, which leads to eternal life.

I have observed a sad practice occurring in the church over the years. It is best described in Proverbs 22 and verse 28, which warns, "Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers."

In the old days property boundaries were designated by boundary stones set on the corners of the property.

A dishonest person could steal some of his neighbor's land by moving the stone. Now, one wouldn't move a stone a lot or it would be noticed, but if he just moved it a foot or so each year, it would go undetected and a foot or two each year would amount to a fair amount of stolen land after a few years.

I see the same thing happening in the church. The ancient boundaries set up by our forefathers are slowly being moved.

What I see happening is that our culture, as well as our spiritual leaders, are slowly chiseling away at the narrow gate that leads to eternal life.

Our apostate theologians are using their intellectual hammers and chisels to chip away at the narrow gate to make it accessible to more people.

There are some issues that God takes very seriously and yet we don't hear many warnings about them from our leaders.

One of these issues is forgiveness. We hear a lot of teachings about the unconditional love of God, and that's good, because His love has been shed abroad on all of us in equal measure.

Listen, forgiveness is not available to us unconditionally, there is a basic condition and we qualify for it as we forgive others. It's in the Lord's Prayer, right?

Jesus also teaches on this in his Sermon on the Mount. He says that if we don't forgive our fellow man his offenses against us, our Heavenly Father WILL NOT forgive us our sins. SERIOUS STUFF!

The seriousness of the problem is shown in Mathew 18 with the parable of the ungrateful servant. In this story a man owed the King a lot of money, the debt was so large that it was impossible to be repaid, as much as all the money in the whole world. The King forgave him his debt after the servant begged his forgiveness, but the servant would not forgive his fellow servant the debt of only a few dollars. The King heard about it and threw the ungrateful servant in prison until he could pay the debt, which was forever since it was impossible to repay.

We owe God a huge debt; our debt of sin is so huge that it is impossible to pay; yet God paid it for us by dying on the cross to cancel our debt.

One of the problems that I see with the breakdown of the family, which leads to divorce, is that divorce usually takes place because of unforgiveness.

One or both of the marital partners offends the other or thinks that they have been offended and it soon turns into contempt, which leads to hatred. Hatred says that you owe me and I am not going to forgive you. Sound familiar?

If unforgiveness is the primary cause that leads to divorce, what does the Bible have to say about people who hang on to this expensive baggage?

In IITimothy chapter 3 and verses 1-3 Paul warns Timothy that in the days just before Jesus returns people will be unloving and unforgiving, among other things. They will act and look religious but will lack the power of God. You can read it for yourselves.

Here is what these verses tell me. People who carry unforgiveness as baggage in their lives may look and act like Christians, but it is only on the outside because they have rejected the power to make them Godly.

What is the power that can transform them? Repentance!

Mathew chapter 5 and verses 23 and 24 instructs us, "So if you are standing before the altar in the temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, [or if I may add, you have something against someone] leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God."

If we won't forgive our fellowman their offenses against us, it's our pride that keeps us from doing that, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us our sins and the eternal condition of our souls is very bleak.

Remember the narrow gate? Modern theology is trying to widen it by teaching that God's love is so big that there is room for all of us to pass through.

I am afraid that it is indeed too narrow for anyone to pass through it with the baggage of unforgiveness strapped tightly to our backs.

See you next weekend with another, but lighter blog.

2006-10-11T08:09:00.001-05:00

What is the good life?

I can still remember to this day the first time that I tasted cotton candy. It looked so good. The big, puffy mound of pink silk wrapped around a paper cone begged to be indulged in.

At the first bite, I found that all I had was a minute taste of sugar left in my mouth, only a slight taste. Where was the promise of the mouthful of ecstasy? It had vanished like a fleeting vapor.

Life is like that. An ever illusive promise that once the carrot at the end of the stick is grasped, it either turns sour in your mouth or fails to deliver the satisfaction it promised.

So what is the good life that the preprogrammed hole in every man's heart longs for?

When I first became a Christian, I found a verse in the book of John. John 10 verse 10 reads, "The thief's purpose (The devil) is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose (Jesus speaking) is to give life in all of its fullness."

Now THAT is what I was looking for, life in all its fullness. For that matter, isn't everyone?

Now to get on with the question, how do I find this life, this abundant life?

In the book of Mathew, Jesus is giving a marathon-teaching lesson. He has several thousand people seated on a hillside listening to him teach on the important issues of life.

Near the end of His teaching He inserts a sad statistic. Let's listen in to this subtle truth in Chapter seven, verse 13. He says, "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate, the highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few find it."

Jesus tells us that the "good life is so illusive that only a few find it. Now, I realize that He is talking about eternal life here in these verses, but doesn't eternal life start when one becomes a Christian? He is saying that few Christians ever find what He calls the abundant life, or live life to its fullest.

In another of His teachings in Mathew 16, verse 25, we find the key to this full life that so few ever find. "If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it." Isn't that the broad highway that multitudes are racing down? He then zeros in on the answer. "But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life."

There it is, the narrow gate that leads to the true, good, abundant life. We must give our lives away.

He also tells us in Mathew chapter 20 and verse 26 that if we want to be great in God's kingdom, we must be the servant of all.

We must realize that when we were created, we were given a peculiar personality along with special gifts so we could bless other people. These special gifts were not given to us so we could bless only ourselves, but they were given to us so we could bless others as well.

In the book of I Peter, chapter 4 and verse 10, we are told, "God has given special gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you." Doesn't this say that God wants to use us to be the conduit to bless others?

A modern translation of Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10 says, "Never pass up the opportunity to do good to everyone, especially your Christian brothers and sisters.

And in one more verse we wrap up the truth. I John 3:16 says, "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters."

Now we see why the path that leads to the narrow gate, that opens up to the good life is so sparsely traveled.

One thing is certain. Life is precious to all of us, we will go to great lengths to preserve our lives. The ironic thing is that if we aren't willing to give our precious lives away, we will lose them.

It is like the big puffy mound of cotton candy. We think we are biting into something that will give our taste buds a real treat only to find we took a huge bite of sugar flavored air.

There is so much talk these days about leaving a legacy after we are gone.

The legacy that I want to leave behind is to have it said of me, "There was a man who not only found, but took a big bite and tasted the GOOD LIFE."

See you again next weekend with another post.

2006-10-11T08:09:00.000-05:00

How could she do such a thing?

Have you ever walked by an older car and looked at its rusted holes and beat up fenders? Maybe you have seen a junkyard with its acres and acres of abandoned cars.

Sometimes I stop and look at one of these disgraceful looking cars and try to imagine what it must have looked like when it was new. I try to image what the new owner must have felt like the day that he drove it home from the dealership. It's hard to imagine that at one time this beat up piece of junk was once polished and pampered by its proud owner.

Everyone has watched TV and seen the sad faces and emaciated bodies of children who are hungry, sick, homeless, or dying. They look so old and worn out, but they too were once, and for some not too long ago, newborns with proud owners, most of them anyway.

There was someone who had high expectations for them and now they are like that neglected and discarded automobile.

I want to tell the story of four beautiful children and how they got to a place where they were homeless and destitute. The characters in this story are true. I have tried to put together the events leading up to their abandonment as best I could based on what the children told of their past lives. They were abandoned by their mother in the market. It is hard to imagine what would cause a mother to abandon her children, but it isn't hard to imagine the anguish and heartache that led up to and following the event.

As I ride the crowded bus to the market, my mind goes back to when my son Dennis was born. It was eight years ago, it seems like only yesterday. Then, a year later, Elmer came along. His father was more caring then Dennis' father. I used to see him regularly. He would come around quite often. It seemed like he wanted to have a family and family life. After the two girls were born I saw less and less of him. With four kids to feed, clothe, and take care of it is getting harder and harder to come up with the money.
We are a family, but it has gotten to the place where I can't keep them anymore, especially with the new friend that I have now, and the threats that he makes. Why does he have to be so mean to them? I remember the last time that I tried to take them to the market and leave them. When I got there, I just couldn't go through with it. Do I have the strength to go through with it this time? When we get into the crowd, I will quickly slip away and leave them. They will be all right. Someone will find them and take care of them.

They are all over there looking at the toys on that table, I'll just sneak behind this booth and it will be all over.

As I sit on the bus riding back to the house my mind is racing with all kinds of thoughts. Where are they now? Little Jenny is only two, she can hardly walk. Her big brother Dennis will take care of her. I wonder if I should go back and try to find them. No, I have been through this thing a thousand times. It is the best thing for them. I can't bear to seen him abusing my children anymore and with there being no food in the house, wellÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

As I get home, the house seems so empty. Little Jenny isn't here to hang unto my legs. Becky isn't here to help me fix the meals. The laughter of the boys is absent. Oh God, I wonder if they are all right.

As I lie in bed trying to go to sleep, the tears run down my cheeks. It is the first time in how many years that I have been alone? Where are they tonight? It is so dark out there. Did they have something to eat tonight? So many questions and I have no answers.

As I ride to the market on the bus, my mind is flooded with all kinds of questions. Will they still be there? Oh, how I want to see them again. Will they still be there? Has someone found them and abused them? Have the police found them? Have they been getting something to eat? It has been nine terrible days and nine tormenting nights since I have seen my babies. I ask people in the market if they have seen four children. They tell me that they have seen many children. What am I going to do? If I find them and take them home, what will he do to them? If I can't find them, how can I live with myself?

It would seem that after all these weeks without them the pain would ease, but it doesn't. I ask myself, what kind of a mother would abandon her children after raising them all of these years? I miss Dennis and his sense of humor. He is so intelligent. I was hoping that he would be able to go to school and be somebody, and Elmer, so sensitive. Those two beautiful daughters, those big dark beautiful eyes. What am I going to do without them? How can I go on?

The epilog to this story is that after living on the street for eight days and nights, living off banana peelings and garbage, they were found by the police. The judge assigned them to the orphanage where Ruth and I were working. If you were to visit the orphanage and see these children, your life would never be the same because part of your heart would remain with them.

Becky, Dennis, Little Jeny

My class, Dennis in green shirt, Elmer behind and to his right.

2006-10-11T08:08:00.002-05:00

I don't need to apologize for God

While working in Southern Louisiana this past winter rebuilding houses that had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, it was part of my job purchase supplies. Some days would find me making 5 or 6 trips to either Home Depot or Lowes.

I usually start my day by asking the Lord to orchestrate my steps so as to be a blessing to Him that day.

Upon my first visit to Home Depot one morning I was standing in the checkout line waiting my turn when I noticed that the checkout girl was not having a good day. Her back was hurting her so much that she couldn't even bend over. When it was my turn to check out, I asked her about her back. She replied, "It's killing me."

After I checked out, I was walking across the parking lot toward my truck when the Lord spoke to me. He asked me, "Why didn't you pray for that lady?"

I offered no explanation and then He, anticipating what I might have said, added, "you don't have to apologize for me if I don't heal her, all you need to do is to pray, I am the one who does the healing."

A couple of hours later I was standing in a different checkout line at Home Depot when the same woman walked by me. She walked around a corner to talk to another employee.

Not wanting to disappoint the Lord, I walked over to her and asked if I could pray for her back. Her response was, "Please do."

I put my hand on her back and asked the Lord to touch her and make her whole. That's all, short and sweet.

Two days later I was back in Home Depot, but this time I was in the return line. When I looked at the desk I saw that it was the same lady I had prayed for two days before.

When it was my turn to be waited on she looked over to me and pointed at me while shouting, "There is that guy, the one who prayed for me." She turned to the woman next to her and said, "He prayed for my back."

I asked her, "How is your back?" She answered, "It is great."

As I think back on this story, it is interesting to see how the Lord orchestrated this woman's work schedule and mine so she would get prayed for.

He then made it possible for our paths to cross so she could testify to her healing.

I am not going to hesitate again about praying for someone that the Lord puts in my path. If they are touched, "Praise God." If not, that is none of my business.

It really comes down to our perspective on the book of Acts in the Bible. Is it a history book, or is it an instructional manual?

2006-10-11T08:08:00.001-05:00

A small lesson learned

There is a saying that goes something like this, "A man is only as good as his word."

There is a portion of scripture in Jeremiah that I have known about for several years and it always keeps me on the narrow road, hopefully.

Jeremiah 5:1-5 "Run up and down every street in Jerusalem, says the Lord. Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one person who is just and honest, I will not destroy the city. Even when they are under oath, saying, As surely as the Lord lives, they all tell lies!

Lord, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to turn from sin. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.

Then I said, But what can we expect from the poor and ignorant? They don't know the ways fo the Lord. They don't understand what God expects of them. I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they will know the Lord's ways and what God requires of them. But the leaders, too, had utterly rejected their God." NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

A very sad and humbling portion of scripture. Can this be said about the Christian church? I surely hope not, and I certainly don't want this to be said about me.

The first part of Jamurary I went and looked at a mobile home that had a tree lying on it. The owner was 84 years old and had no insurance. He was not a Christian. I told him before I left that day, "I will return and repair your roof for you." As the weeks passed I couldn't get anyone to go and repair the roof. The teams are placed by the assistant pastor of the church we are working with and there just weren't any spare people to do the job.
Not a day passed when I didn't think about the promise I have made. That promise kept nagging at me, and it seemed that I would have to go home not having fulfilled my commitment.
A couple of weeks ago the assistant pastor was away for a few days and I was left in charge of the teams. I was free to place them where I felt they could be used effectively. A team from Indiana had a couple of carpenters on it and the first job on Monday morning I sent them to do that repair job.
When they returned home having completed the job, with a very positive reaction from the owner, it felt like I had just been relieved of a huge debt.
In one of Robert Service's poems, "The Creamation of Sam McGee," there is a line that says, "A promise made is a debt unpaid."
Incidently if you go up on the net and get that poem, I think that you will enjoy it.

Praise the Lord, I have not made any other promises lately that are not in my power to keep, and I surely won't in the future. There is too much riding on "My word" to throw it around loosely.

2006-10-11T08:08:00.000-05:00

The testimony continues

Last week I told of a couple in their 70's whose house had been flooded and about a team from Indiana who started putting it back together.

The Lord had spoken to the man and told him that He was going to take care of him.

At the end of last week the owner told me that he had been overwhelmed by the progress of the house and the quality of the workmanship. As he was thinking about how fast the house was coming together, the Lord spoke to him again and told him, "you haven't seen anything yet."

This week a team from Missouri came to continue working on his house. They completely painted the inside and put ceramic tile in the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry area.

I had added up the amount that our church had spent so far and it was a little over $5,000. I had projected that it would take at least $7500.00 more just to finish the house, which did not include appliances. After a meeting with the head pastor here at the church it was decided that we didn't have the funds to finish the house and if some more money didn't come in we would have to hold up on the progress.

The Missouri group finished the painting and ceramic work by lunch time on Friday and as they were about to have their lunch the pastor told everyone including the owner that their church was going to be sending a check for $10,000 to finish the house. Needless to say there were lots of tears running down people's cheeks before that episode was over.

It is exciting to be were God is moving and to have just a wee little part of seeing Him bless His people.

2006-10-11T08:07:00.003-05:00

Testimony Time

Most of the work that we have been doing down here in Louisiana fixing houses that were damaged during the hurricane has been for poor people who have no one to turn to but the church. They have no insurance and no money for repairs.

Proverbs 19:17 says, "He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.

A team from Indiana and I were sitting around having lunch today at the house that we were repairing for a couple in their 70's. Their house had about 5' of water in it and they lost everything. He was telling us that during the hurricane they were staying in Georgia and while he was praying the Lord spoke to him and told him not to worry because He would supply all of their needs. The Lord rebuked him when he reminded the Lord that he had no money to put the house back together. The Lord told him that He would supply their needs and not to worry.

After they got home and saw the condition of their house with about 6" of mud on the floor and everything in it ruined, the Lord again reminded him not to worry, He would take care of it. The next day about 15 young people showed up from a church up north and cleaned out the house and carried everything out to the street. The following day another group, this time several doctors showed up and finished cleaning out the house.

Shortly after our church here in Louisiana contacted him and told him that we were going to do the repairs and pay for the materials to put the house back together. As we were sitting there listening to him telling us that we were the ones God had in mind to come and do the repairs I don't think there was a dry eye in the bunch.

What a blessing to be the answer to someone's prayers.

We have had contractors come down from Illinois who have told us that they didn't have much work so they took off to come down to help us. When they returned home they contacted us and told us that the Lord had flooded them with work since they returned home, so much work that they have decided to return and help us for another week.

About a month ago a team came from Indiana with a crippled man who had to use a cane to walk. He said that he didn't know what he was doing down here but felt the Lord impressing him to come down and help with what he could. He walked around the project and with one hand on his cane and with his other hand cleaned up the debris and put it into a wheelbarrow to be hauled away by someone else. The next Sunday after the team arrived home he showed up at church walking without his cane.

Good things happen when one obeys the Word of God.

2006-10-11T08:07:00.002-05:00

What is the tie that binds?

A few weeks ago I took a team of men to Violet, to gut out a pastor's house. Violet is a community south of New Orleans right next to the levee. The total community had close to ten feet of water, and consequently every house and building was flooded.

Yesterday Ruth was standing in the checkout line at Wal-Mart where she starting talking to a lady who was a pastor's wife from Violet, a pastor's wife from a different church than the one I worked for. We have had some wonderful conversations with people while standing in those long lines. Once we open our mouths and say only a couple of Northern, unaccented, words they always ask, "where ya'all from?" When we tell them, they all want to know what we are doing down here. This opens up the way to good conversations.

Ruth and the pastor's wife got into a great conversation about people's attitudes while going through distressing times. Of course everyone else around them listened because what else is there to do while standing in a checkout line.

Now keep in mind that nearly everyone that you meet down here has lost nearly everything that they have spent their lifetimes accumulating. Household possessions, some have even had their houses swept away, cars, businesses, churches, schools, everything they hold dear, has been subjected to the wrath of Katrina, which incidentally means, "cleansing."

They were discussing the strong magnetic like hold that possessions have on our lives and the fact that Americans have subjected themselves to and sold themselves out to this illusive lust for things. When these things are taken away, they find themselves in a vacuum.

The beautiful thing we have noticed about most of the Christians, which we have met down here, is where they have their anchor. This catastrophe, for the most part, has showed these Christians the more important things in life.

Not only are Christians drawn together tighter, but churches have been drawn together and are working closely together. It is wonderful to be a part of the brotherhood of believers and work shoulder to shoulder with fellow Christians of different persuasions.

2006-10-11T08:07:00.001-05:00

ow many are 47,000,000?

January 22 was the 33rd anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, that legalized the murdering of the unborn.

It has been estimated that forty seven million unborn babies have died as a result of this decision.

I was wondering, how many are 47,000,000. I wanted to get an idea of the enormity of this crime so I did a little work with my calculator.

I used the same font size as they use for printing the newspaper and tried to calculate how many names would fit on a piece of 8 Ã‚Â½ by 11 paper. I used the average number of letters in someone's name to be 12, considering that everyone has a last name as well as a first name.

After finding out how many names would fit on one piece of paper, I divided that number into 47,000,000. It would take 160,500 sheets of paper to hold the names of these murdered children.

If you were to lay these sheets of paper side by side, the sheets would stretch for 21 Ã‚Â½ miles.

If you should decide to stack them atop each other the stack would be 53 Ã‚Â½ feet high.

Now, I have a better idea of the seriousness of this crime.

How many people are involved in this heinous crime? I am aware that 47,000,000 women are responsible for their abortions, but it is more than these women who are responsible. The healthcare people, now there is an example of an oxymoron for you, are making billions of dollars performing these evil deeds as well as all of the people who are deceiving these woman by telling them that these aren't really babies. It even falls on the politicians whose doctrine includes murder.

What is the saddest segment of all of these people are the folks who sit in church on Sunday mornings singing praises to the creator of, and the redeemer of all people and then on Tuesday mornings go to the polls and elect public officials who promote these death laws. These people are the epitome of the definition of a double-minded person.

It is interesting to me that if the church would really act like the church, many of our society's problems would vanish.

2006-10-11T08:07:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER TEAR JERKER

I took a team of eight men to a community south of New Orleans called Violet, where we were to clean out a house belonging to a pastor. This community had from six to eight feet of water in their buildings. This fellow's house was raised up so he had only about three feet of water.

His house was a sad story in that he had no flood insurance so it had no coverage for the destruction and loss of everything in the house, but that wasn't the saddest part of the story. The pastor is 63 years old and has lived in that community most of his life. About six years ago he planted a new church after buying a grocery store building and remodeling it. He signed the note from the bank and used his own house for collateral. He had built the church up to 55 people and then Katrina hit.

The following are a few photos of what is left of his church building and his house. There was a farm on the windward side of the church building and several large hay bales were washed into the side of the church and knocked the concrete wall in and are now inside the church. The county has condemned the building and will tear it down. There are no people living in this community so his church people are gone and his building is gone as well.

We piled his household possessions in a pile next to the street and all he has left is an empty shell of a house with a mortgage on a church building that is worthless. His wife has cancer and she says that she is not moving back to the community.

As the pastor talked with us during the day, as we cleaned out his house, I don't think that I saw him without tears in his eyes any part of the day.

2006-10-11T08:06:00.001-05:00

How tight is our net?

A few weeks ago I wrote an entry entitled "You are welcome, but not too welcome." The article was about the tight cliques that are prevalent in our churches. Unless one belongs to the "inner circle" you are only a spectator and a dispenser of money at offering time. I have been thinking about this phenomenon a lot and have wondered what this does to the effectiveness of the church body.

Before I reflect on this problem in our churches I want to say that Ruth and I spent 5 months working with a church in Louisianna this past winter which does not have the problem that I talk about in this blog. A wonderful church where people have the opportunity to grow and are expected to grow.

Ruth and I have spent a lot of time in the past 25 years near the oceans of the world where people make their living from the sea. We have seen lots of fishing nets of various shapes and sizes. They all have one thing in common, they are made of, in some cases, miles of string or rope and these cords are attached together with knots. The knots are tied tight to create a mesh strong enough so fish and other animals can't slip through the holes.

When the disciples were called away from their nets to follow Jesus, he told them, "from now on you will become fishers of men." These men made their living by catching fish and the technique used included the use of nets.

As members of the body come together to form a local church body or congregation, they knit themselves together; tie themselves together with knots of relationships. When a local body is made up of a tight clique, you have a string of people tied together with a few tight knots. Can you imagine a fisherman going out to catch fish with a piece of rope that has several short pieces of rope fastened to it with tight knots. It doesn't look like that kind of net would be very effective in catching fish.

But, isn't that what we have in those churches where a small clique of "the chosen" have taken ownership of the church?

Then, the other question is how effective are they at catching fish? There seems to be a relationship between the quality of the net, namely the integrity of the knots and rope, and the amount of fish that are caught.

A little persecution would take care of these problems and put the priorities back in proper order.

If that is what is takes, "bring it on."

2006-10-11T08:06:00.000-05:00

He who dies with the most toys wins

Before I became a Christian I purposely and with great effort blanked out thoughts relating to what I could expect to be my fate after I died. I had been raised in the church so I had heard enough of the gospel to realize that after death there are only two destinations, so I blanked out, or tried to, my eternal destiny.

That exercise is a pretty big order for anyone and he needs some activities to help him do that. I think that people gravitate toward keeping busy and having fun to do just that, blank out the more important things in life.

I am showing two photos at the end of this blog. They have been taken of a beautiful, or was once a beautiful, home on the beach in Waveland, Mississippi. The first photo shows of what is left of the foundation of this beautiful house. You will notice that there is nothing left of the house; even the bricks are all but gone. The houses on the beach took the full brunt of the 32-foot wave that crashed ashore. The first lots next to the beach are clean, and as one goes inland just a couple of lots you can see the accumulation of the debris from the houses between them and the beach. By the time you get in only 5 or 6 lots the debris is several feet deep from the previous houses.

The second photo is taken where the back yard once was and if you look closely you can see what is left of the owner's toys. You'll see his Corvette upside down. Close examinations show his Harley Davidson. The man was apparently into restoring John Deere tractors because his fully restored Deere sits alongside of the rest of his toys.

When a man's world comes tumbling down even his toys succumb to destruction.

It seems that the Lord is slowly chiseling away at the unimportant priorities that I have stacked up in my life. What are the really important things that I should be focusing on as I live out the rest of my life. I don't think that toys should be very close to the top of my list.

2006-10-11T08:05:00.002-05:00

Sacred Icons of the Church

1969 found Ruth, the boys, and I living in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. I was teaching junior high math and we belonged to a big denominational church. The church ran two services on Sunday morning. At the young age of 29 I was the chairman of the congregation. I have thought about that a few times through the years and have wondered why they would promote a man that young to such a position. I sometimes think that people confuse zeal with maturity. What I lacked in maturity I made up for in zeal. The fact that I allowed myself to be in such a position at that age would certainly point to my maturity, or lack of it.

I remember one Sunday when the pastor was to be away, I was asked to give the sermon. Another man in leadership was asked to give the liturgy. During the liturgy the pastor used different areas of the front of the church to read the different portions of the liturgy. During one of the prayers, he would go through the altar rail and kneel in front of the altar. I remember the instructions that he gave us in performing our duties during his absence. One of the important items of protocol was that since we were not ordained, we were not to pass through the altar rail and approach the altar. I can still remember something going through my young, immature mind, like this, "I wonder what the cleaning lady does?"

When Ruth and I arrived here at the church in Slidell, LA where we are staying and hosting teams, we were told, "This kitchen is yours, use what ever supplies you find and what ever equipment you need."

We had a team here last week from Wisconsin and one day while I was talking to the Pastor in the Kitchen I told him about our kitchen privileges here at the church and I also told him that we have not had one single women even come into the kitchen while we have been here to inspect the kitchen. He then told me, "That would never happen in his church because the kitchen is a sacred place." It would seem that it could only be approached by invitation and or with a chaperone.

A while back I wrote about the experience that Ruth and I had as we headed up a summer youth program in a suburb of Los Angeles where a handful of women quenched the spirit of the program. I can still see women sentries standing in the kitchen doorway with their arms folded, guarding the entrance to the kitchen. You can just about imagine the expressions on their faces as they stood guard duty.

Isn't it interesting that we hold certain things or places as sacred and the thing that is most sacred, we abuse.

I Cor. 3:16 & 17 says, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is SACRED, and you are that temple."

2006-10-11T08:05:00.001-05:00

TRASH PILED HIGH WITH MEMORIES

We have a FEMA adjuster living with us here at the church. I told him a while back to be on the look out for anyone who could use some help with their house. Galatians 6:10 tells us to never pass up an opportunity to do good to others, and especially to our brothers and sisters. Well, I have been doing good to our Christian brothers and sisters here in the New Orleans area and I am constantly looking for opportunities to do good to the non-Christians as well so when I heard about this young police officer who's yard was in such a mess that they couldn't get a FEMA trailer into his yard, I jumped at the opportunity like fleas to a dog.

I took a couple of men from a church team that came down from our old church in Shell Lake, Wisconsin and we went down to Lake Katherine to meet this young policeman. Lake Katherine is where there are only 15 houses left standing of the 350 before the storm. We were loading up trash into a wheelbarrow and hauling it across the street to pile it up to be picked up later. I noticed one of the men picking up the pieces of a cedar chest and carrying it across the street. I was thinking of the treasures that it must have contained while I was picking at my pile of trash. I noticed that long strings of lace were intermingled in the trash that I was cleaning up. I found several pieces of this lace from 10 to 15 feet long. As I was picking up the third piece of lace I looked up and there hanging on the side of the house, attached to a very rusty coat hanger, was his wife's wedding dress. Needless to say, it looked pretty shabby. As I stood looking at the dress the man said, that was my wife's wedding dress. I opening my mouth and said, "George, you better convince your wife to stick with you, and she won't need another one." His reply was, "I guess you are right."

You can't clean up people's treasures without a touch of sadness entering into your heart. I looked down George's street where only about half of the houses on that street are still standing and thinking, "Everyone of those empty lots is where a family once lived and now they have no house and they can't even find any of those treasures that they once held dear, even those wedding dresses from those houses are scattered across the road in the swamp or maybe the winds carried them to Mississippi, I guess 180 mph winds could carry them that far.

2006-10-11T08:05:00.000-05:00

here is the promise of His coming?

There is a subtle picture as one looks at the destruction of neighborhoods that I overlooked at first. As one drives down the streets and looks at the destruction I noticed that large Pine trees have died. Some of these trees are huge, probably at least 50 t0 60 years old and some older. When I noticed these dead trees I asked someone about them and was told that they don't like salt water. As the salt water soaked into the ground the trees died.

What went through my mind immediately was that these trees haven't experienced this phenomenon before in their lifetime.
I have been told over and over again that we haven't seen anything this before in our lifetime.

My mind immediately went to the scripture in II Peter 3: 3,4,9,10,11,12 which says, "First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is the coming he has promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, the heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it's coming."

One day these folks were living as though life will go on as it always has, and the next day disaster struck as it never had before.

2006-10-11T08:03:00.000-05:00

What is the cause of disasters?

There is a little obscure verse hidden in the book of Amos, which asks, "When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?" Amos 3:6b.

After the hurricanes this fall I heard conflicting commentaries on this verse. Some said that the verse was applicable to the hurricanes in the Gulf coast, but most people said that the verse did not apply. I think what they meant was, "the verse applies to disasters in other places, but not here in America."

I used to wonder, "How could God bring judgment upon America?" I knew that it was about time that He shook this country but I wasn't farsighted enough to see how He could bring that about. Then, 9-11 struck and I began seeing how judgment comes and now with the Gulf coast hurricanes it is much clearer.

Sometime ago one of the women of the church asked the pastor, "Why is it that when I drive into New Orleans, I get this tightness and oppressiveness as I enter the city" The pastor told her that there is a spirit of lust over this city and the heaviness is due to the demonic spirits which posses this place.

I think that it is interesting that all of the Christians who live in this area will tell you, without reservations, that God has started to bring judgment on this area. When they tell you that the city planners have gone ahead with their plans to hold Mardi Gras in spite of the disaster, they will add, "What does it take to get these people's attention, they are provoking God's wrath."

2006-10-11T08:02:00.000-05:00

The Church is More Than a Building

The following photos are taken from the inside of a beautiful church
building in Chalmette, a suburb of southeast New Orleans. 600 people
used to worship in this building Sunday mornings. Now the building is
ruined and the community has no population.

70,000 people lived in this community and everyone was flooded out,
including this church building. As you look at the map of southern
Louisiana, you will see that there are thousands of acres of swamp and
marshland. As the hurricane roared through this swampland, the tidal
surge pushed the muck and marsh grass ahead of it and generously
deposited it in all of the buildings. One of the huge crude oil
storage tanks at the refinery failed and added its sludge to the mix.
If you look closely you can see the sludge on the floor of the
sanctuary.

The men who are mucking out the buildings must remove about 6 inches
of muck from them with shovels and wheelbarrows.

The church building, which took the brunt of the storm, sheltered a
new steel building behind it, which was about to open as a prayer
center. This smaller building was spared damage other than having 6
feet of water and sludge inside of it. It has been cleaned out and
now awaits sheetrock and insulation. I was down this week and
replaced the breakers and outlets so the electricity could be turned
back on. They want to use this building as a distribution center as
well as a chapel as the people start trickling back into town.

One of our problems is that we are experiencing a temporary shortage
of sheetrock.

The work seems overwhelming, but all we can do is one job at a time
and one day at a time.

2006-10-11T08:01:00.001-05:00

The church should be the church

Sometimes I hear things that I wished I hadn't heard and I see things I wished I hadn't see. I am having some of those same things happening to me here in Louisiana this winter.

You really can't know for sure what color the toothpaste is until you squeeze the tube. The same thing can be said about people. When things are going well they can put on a pretty good act, but when circumstances get a little dicey, the color of the toothpaste is evident. There is so much work to be had down here that roofers are charging $150.00 per hour and getting it. Other tradesmen are taking advantage of the environment as well. I hate to have to say this but Christians are seeing opportunities to take advantage of in this environment as well. Those are the things that I wished I hadn't seen or heard. Enough said on that topic.

We have seen the worst of the destruction by now. I was talking to a Salvation Army volunteer this week who told me that he has seen all of the world's disasters over the past 12 years and he has NOT seen anything that compares to the devastation here on the Gulf Coast. I am posting a couple of photos that only show a little of what I am talking about.

The house in the middle of the street is interesting in that it is two blocks from its home lot but the interesting thing is that if you look closely you will see that it still is sitting on the concrete slab. Now houses don't float very well sitting on several tons of concrete and you wonder at the kinds of forces that it takes to float something like that two blocks.

I have lots of photos to share as the weeks go by and I haven't even mentioned the Gulf coast of Mississippi yet.

2006-10-11T08:01:00.000-05:00

2006-10-11T07:52:00.000-05:00

Where in the world, are we going?

When I think about where the church here in the States is heading and I comment to Ruth, or maybe a better way of putting it, I complain to Ruth about what I see happening, she says, "Maybe it's better just not to think about it." I think that we have an advantage or disadvantage, depending how you look at it, because we have seen the church or I should say, experienced the church on other continents where issues that we are divided on here are non-issues because these folks believe what the Bible says, in other words, they take Biblical doctrines seriously. What we do take seriously, and it's not Biblical doctrines, it's the belief of getting along with everyone, "Let's try to get along with other religious views like, after all, didn't our Born again President once say that Christians and Muslims pray to the same God?"

The word compromise means that when an issue divides two parties, both parties must alter their stand on the issue and give in to the other's position. Usually, the one with the most rigid position must give up the most and be reconciled with the one with the loose position. I could mention a couple of positions that the church has waffled on but that is not the purpose of this writing.

Let me share some thoughts from conservative columnist David Brooks of The New York Times. He says that Americans no longer take religious doctrines seriously, we assume that religious differences are temporary, that denominational distinctions will eventually fade away, and we will all be united in God's embrace.

Americans are inclined to think all people of goodwill are "basically on the same side." Remember our president's quote?

The result says Brooks, is a religion that is easygoing and experimental rather than rigorous and intellectual. To fill their pews Brooks writes, pastors emphasize the upbeat and the encouraging and play down the business of God's wrath. In modern "seeker sensitive" churches, "the technology is cutting edge, the music is modern, the language is therapeutic, and the dress is casual." OUCH, I added the ouch.

Is it possible that those who are on the outside of the church looking in, like Brooks, see us more clearly than we see ourselves?

Charles Colson says that, "We must fight the temptation to treat our faith the way we treat our careersÃ¢â‚¬â€as a source of entertainment, fulfillment, and happiness. Remember the warning of C. S. Lewis: If you're seeking happiness, don't choose Christianity, choose port wine. When it comes to the culture, there's no such thing as peaceful coexistence. If we're not defending the truth, fighting for Christian values in all of life, the truth will be sacrificed on the altar of mainstream secularism.

So, once again I must ask myself the question, "Where in the world, are we going as the Church?"

2006-10-11T07:50:00.000-05:00

15 Out of 350

This is a picture of one of the fifteen houses left standing out of the 350 in the neighborhood where we are working.

2006-10-11T07:49:00.003-05:00

What's happened to the fear of God?

I have been reading some thoughts of Jamie Lash in his book "?This was your Life." Following are some of his thoughts that have given me a broader perspective of what the fear of God is and what it should be.

Any sin, whether of thought, word, or deed, attacks God's character. It dishonors Him because it indicates that we do not believe His way is best. We question His wisdom or His kindness or both. When we sin, we are saying to God. "?I don't trust you. I trust me. I want what's best for me; I'm not so sure about you. I'm going with my own plan." Thus we exalt ourselves and demean God at the same time”a nasty combination.

We must acknowledge Him as a good God whose plans are better than our own. "?The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in his steadfast love." Psalm 147:11

R.C. Sproul writes:

That the world has little respect for God is vividly seen by the way the world regards His name. His name is tramped through the dirt of this world. It functions as a curse word, a platform for the obscene. No honor. No reverence. No awe before Him.
In the Lord's prayer we often confuse the words "?Hallowed be thy name: with part of the address as if the words were "?hallowed is your name." In that case the words would merely be an ascription of praise to God. But that is not how Jesus said it. He uttered it as a petition, as the first petition. We should be praying that God's name be hallowed, that God be regarded as holy.

There is a kind of sequence within the prayer. God's kingdom will never come where His name is not hallowed. His will in not done on earth as it is in heaven if His name is desecrated here¦.Heaven is a place where reverence for God is total. It is foolish to look for the kingdom anywhere God is not revered.

Everything good starts with respect for God. Satan constantly calls God's character into question, knowing that all sin begins with the suspicion that God is not good. The devil's strategy has not changed since he approached Eve in the Garden. Once he established this suspicion in her mind, disobedience soon followed. Disobedience follows disrespect.

The lies that Satan formulates to demean God's character are designed to turn our hearts away from God. Obviously, if our view of God is tainted with thoughts of His being uncaring, unconcerned, unjust, cruel, tyrannical or boring, we will not get very excited about following Him. People who do not want to follow God are people who do not know what God is like. The cure is the truth.

When we see God as He is, we can no more help trusting Him than we can help breathing. "?When you see Him as He is," writes Joy Dawson, "?it becomes a preposterous thought not to obey Him!" We are in a battle and our minds are the battlefield. We must be diligent to reject thoughts that slander God's character.

It looks like our problem is that we do not have a healthy image of who God is, but isn't that what our culture is busy undermining?

2006-10-11T07:49:00.002-05:00

The ground is level, but some piles are higher.

Ruth and I were driving home tonight after working on a house that we were repairing after Katrina disrupted life here on the Gulf Coast when a Spiritual truth revealed itself in a very profound way.

We had just driven past a church that had its parking lot filled with all of the furniture as well as the carpeting. The pews alone about filled the parking lot.

Next we drove by a marina where lots of expensive boats were sitting in mud. Apparently the boats rose up with the flooding and then mud was driven under them while they were elevated and now they are moored in muck. Some were across the road on dry ground. The covered slips were not covered any longer.

Then we drove through a neighborhood where lots of houses are still barely visible under several trees that are resting on them. As we drove down the streets every house had everything that they had in their houses piled next to the street. You can see all of their appliances, furniture, TV's, all of the contents including clothes heaped up in a pile plus most of them have stripped the sheetrock and insulation and piled that up as well and then they have cut up the trees that had littered the yard and piled those up next to the street as well.

As we drove past these houses Ruth turned to me and said something like this, "?You can tell the difference between the poor folks and the rich folks because the rich folks piles are higher." We saw where an old boy had hastily painted a sign in front of his pile that said, "?This is the result of 30 years of work."

My mind immediately went back about 20 years to a book that I had read by Francis Schafer by the name of "?Ash heap Lives."
The gist of the book was that Americans spend about 75% of their lives working to buy things that eventually end up on the Ash heap.

Of course you could imagine the scripture verse that rolled through my mind about then as well. Mathew 6:19-21 says, "?Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust, and flood waters, destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust, do not destroy, and flood waters cannot touch, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I added "Flood waters."

We are so slow to learn and the sad thing is that some of us never do learn until it is too late.

One more story. We have a FEMA inspector living with us here at the church and he told me of meeting with a man who had lost everything in the hurricane plus his wife died just about the time Katrina hit. When the inspector met with him he said that he has lost everything but the thing that he is having the most trouble with is that he had nothing left to remember his wife by, even the love letters that she wrote him now are gone. The inspector said at that point the interview was over because he was crying just as hard as the man. He had to leave to regain his composure.

2006-10-11T07:49:00.001-05:00

Our first look at Katrina's rage

November 4, 2005

Yesterday I got my first look at the needs here in Slidell, LA.

Ruth and I have our trailer parked in the churchyard about three miles north of Slidell. The damage was not as bad here as it was closer to the coast, but just a couple have miles south, and it is like driving through a war zone. The first thing you notice is the trees have most of their branches stripped off, just the bare tree with maybe a couple of branches left. Those are the ones left standing.

The pastor took me to a few homes that we will be working on. As you drive along the streets you drive by solid trash. The people have taken everything out of their houses and piled it next to the street because of the flooding. Lots of them have also stripped the sheetrock and insulation and piled that by the street as well. Big trucks are coming by and picking up the trash.

Now, this is not the severely affected area, I have not seen those areas yet, next week will show me the real disaster areas.
We have some work teams coming next week and they will be working on a couple of houses close to the church.

Let me tell of one of these houses. About six months ago a family refinanced their house. The mortgage company told this couple, "?You have had this expensive flood insurance for ten years and have haven't needed it. Drop the insurance because you don't need it and save the money." Well, you know the rest of the story, their house was flooded and of course they have no coverage. We are going in there and replace the insulation and sheetrock starting next week. There are many, many stories similar to this one.

Next week I go up to Waveland, MS to see a church and was flooded and at this point is out of business. Everything needs to be stripped.

Ruth and I have been out and about the last couple of days and have talked to several people as we stand in the in long lines to check out, etc. When they hear our funny accent they ask us what we are doing here and upon hearing our plans, thank us sincerely for coming down here to help them.

Needless to say it looks like a busy winter as well as a rewarding winter.

2006-10-11T07:49:00.000-05:00

You are welcome, but not too welcome

Since Ruth and I have moved around a quite a bit over the years we have spent some time looking for churches in which to fellowship.

Now, when you look at what Christianity is supposed to be all about it would seem that churches would bend over backwards to welcome new people into their fellowship. We have not found this to be the case, however. Older, established churches have a core group of people who assume ownership of the congregation, or church, if you will. It is natural for clics to develope among those who are like minded and it happens in churches as well. When outsiders come into the church or I should say, try to come into the church, the clics resist those who try to get in. A benchmark for behavior is found in Galatians chapter five. Does our behavior in regards to welcoming outsiders come under the heading of the "fruit of the Spirit," or the "lust of the flesh." I know that human behavior says that two is company and three is a crowd, but does human bahavior stand as a "Holy excuse?"

I have talked to pastors who have told me the same thing in regards to new pastors trying to fit into the congregation.

It seems that in some churches that we have been associated with have an invisible sign over the door, it is not so invisible after you have been there awhile, which reads, "?Welcome to all who enter these doors. Please come in and worship with us, leave you offerings, but then quietly leave. We only want your numbers on the roll and your offerings in the bag, but don't try to get too chummy with us as we have our inner circles of the brethren and we don't want anyone else mess'n things up.?

Is it no wonder that people are leaving the organized churches and seeking more user-friendly mediums?

For decades the primary way that Americans have experienced and expressed their faith has been through a local church. That reality is rapidly changing, according to researcher George Barna, whose new book on the transitioning nature of America's spirituality, entitled 'Revolution', describes what he believes will be the most massive reshaping of the nation's faith community in more than a century.

"These are people who are less interested in attending church than in being the church," he explained. "We found that there is a significant distinction in the minds of many people between the local church - with a small 'c' - and the universal Church - with a capital 'C'. Revolutionaries tend to be more focused on being the Church, capital C, whether they participate in a congregational church or not."

"A common misconception about revolutionaries," he continued, "is that they are disengaging from God when they leave a local church. We found that while some people leave the local church and fall away from God altogether, there is a much larger segment of Americans who are currently leaving churches precisely because they want more of God in their life but cannot get what they need from a local church. They have decided to get serious about their faith by piecing together a more robust faith experience. Instead of going to church, they have chosen to be the Church, in a way
that harkens back to the Church detailed in the Book of Acts."

One of the most eye-opening portions of the research contained in the book describes what the faith community may look like twenty years from now. Using survey data and other cultural indicators he has been measuring for more than two decades, Barna estimates that the local church is presently the primary form of faith experience and expression for about two-thirds of the nation's adults. He projects that by 2025 the local church will lose
roughly half of its current 'market share' and that alternative forms of faith experience and expression will pick up the slack. Importantly, Barna's studies do not suggest that most people will drop out of a local church to simply ignore spirituality or be freed up from the demands of church life. Although there will be millions of people who abandon the entire faith community for the usual reasons - hurtful experiences in churches, lack of interest in spiritual matters, prioritizing other dimensions of their life - a growing percentage of church dropouts will be those who leave a local church in order to intentionally increase their focus on faith and to relate to God through different means.

That growth is fueling alternative forms of organized spirituality, as well as individualized faith experience and expression. Examples of these new approaches include involvement in a house church, participation in marketplace ministries, use of the Internet to satisfy various faith-related needs or interests, and the development of unique and intense connections with other people who are deeply committed to their pursuit of God.

Man has been designed to worship and serve something or someone, if it isn't God who is their focus then it will be something else like their own agendas or their own little group.

Needless to say Ruth and I can identify with this new trend in the church, but I must admit, it is not without saddness that we do so.

2006-10-11T07:48:00.002-05:00

When it's all been said and done

It was July of 1980 and I had been sleeping soundly when about 11.00 PM one evening the phone rang. The voice at the other end of the line asked, "?Jim, did I wake you?? I, in a somewhat drowsy voice replied, "?No, I had to get up to answer the phone anyway.?

The caller paused a few seconds and then asked, "?Are you busy Jim?? My reply was, "?Tell me what you have in mind.? The caller then went on to tell me that a movie was being shot in the Twin Cities and a movie set was needed. Would I be able to meet the set director in a hotel in Bloomington tomorrow morning? My reply was that it sounded interesting and I would be there.

I used to take my retired Dad with me on interesting jobs so the next morning found us talking to the set director in the lobby of a fancy hotel in Bloomington. The whole production crew was staying in this hotel including the actors and actresses.

I can still remember Dad and I standing in the lobby when this giant of a man walked up to us and extended his hand to us.

In the 70's the defensive center for the L.A. Rams was a man by the name of Roosevelt Grier. Well, here we were talking to Rosy Grier in the flesh and I was thinking, "?I surely wouldn't want to get run over by this guy on the field or off for that matter.?

Rosy was one of the actors in the movie being shot.

After the set director explained what was needed, he took us to the site in Apple Valley, MN where the set was to be built. Before he left us he handed me a fistful of 100 dollar bills and said, "?Get what you need and have the set ready for shooting by sundown three days from now.

Because the Twin City area was an area where a lot of Scandinavian people settled it has a lot of blond and I might add, beautiful girls living there. The prostitution rings on the east coast were picking up the run away girls who were living in and passing through the Twin Cities and taking them back to the East Coast to be used in their evil commerce.

A former Minneapolis policeman by the name of Al Palmquist was the director of Midwest Challenge and he had been having lots of success rescuing these girls and rehabilitating them. The program was so successful that the evil elements had struck back by torching his office in downtown Minneapolis, and this is where I came into the picture.

The movie was to be a documentary of his work and it's success and one of the scenes was a reenactment of the torching of the office building.

I spent the next day buying building materials. The building was to be a brick building so I purchased 4x8 sheets of paneling that looked like brick. I visited a salvage yard where I purchased used windows complete with the curtains and a front door.

One of my men and I went to work the next day building the set and by the evening of the third day we were putting the finishing touches on the set when the production crew rolled in followed by the actors and at last he fire trucks rolled in.

After dark the cameras started to roll and two tough looking characters could be seen sneaking down the sidewalk and stopping in front of the building. One of the goons quickly smashed the front window and climbed in to open the door for the one with the can of gasoline. This also allowed the camera a nice wide view of the action that was to follow.

The two thugs did a thorough job of ransacking the office before pouring gasoline around, sparing nothing; even the couch got a soaking. When their dastardly deeds were complete, they left, but not before one of them threw a match through the open window as they ran down the street.

The film crew shot a few seconds of footage as the building went up in smoke and flames before the fire trucks rolled in and hosed it down.

I was told that by noon the next day everything would be cleaned up and hauled away and one would never know that a building had been on the site.

That incident has provoked a lot of thought over the years. I have thought of how that event so typifies our lives. We put a lifetime of effort and time into building our lives and then in a few seconds it is over and gone. If what we have done with our lives has made no eternal impact or significance in the lives of others, it will have been lived for nothing and in a few short years there will be absolutely no evidence that we ever lived.

SO SAD

2006-10-11T07:48:00.001-05:00

The results of preaching repentance

This is the second part on repentance. If you haven't read the previous one, you need to scroll down to the message on "?What repentance is not.?

In the spring of 2001 Ruth and I were living in Kenya, East Africa where we were teaching in a Bible school.

We had been invited to travel across the country to the western border where Ruth was to give a seminar for the women Saturday afternoon and I was to preach in the church on Sunday

Ruth held her seminar for about 350 women. She was the first white woman that had been in the church and one 85 year old lady walked over 3 miles to hear her. She returned home on the back of a bicycle.

On Sunday morning there were about 1000 people in church. As we approached the church I noticed that there were several cars in the parking lot. I asked the Pastor about these cars as very few African people living in the rural areas own cars. He said, "?The news of your coming has reached the ears of lots of people and they have come to hear you.? There were local government officials there I was told and I noticed their big Mercedes Benz cars in the lot.

As I sat on the platform waiting for my time to speak I placed the "?Important people? who were sitting on my right near the front.

I preached a hard message on repentance. After I finished I invited the audience to join me as I knelt and asked the Lord to forgive us for not repenting and thus making a mockery of his finished work on the Cross. Upon that invitation all of the adults and lots of young people went to their knees and cried out to the Lord. It got a little noisy in the place and after about 15 minutes Ruth went to the microphone and told the people that now that they had repented they should thank the Lord for what he has done in their hearts.

Now if it was noisy in the building when they were on their knees praying, it was nothing like what happened next. The crowd exploded into rejoicing. They shouted, they jumped, they danced, and they ran around the place. I was glad that we were on the platform because it looked a little crowed out there and I didn't want to get run over. Yes, I looked over at the "?Important visitors,? from time to time and they too had been on their knees and had joined in on the celebration when given the opportunity.

The Pastor thanked me afterwards as did many of the congregation.

I have often wondered what would happen if that same message were given in one of the churches here in "?sophisticated? America. Would the results be the same or would I not be invited back.

I do recall one time when I preached a message on "?The judgment seat of Christ,? and how we all will stand before Jesus to give an account of our lives, and the Pastor avoided me, and wouldn't even shake my hand afterwards. That happened here in the States, I don't think that I would have received that reception in an African church.

2006-10-11T07:48:00.000-05:00

What repentance is not

I have found that in most churches in the USA today the word repentance is seldom, if ever mentioned.

It's a word that has been dropped from the Christian vocabulary because it is a little too harsh, like the word sin.

I had an experience as a young Christian that I too, having grown up in the nominal church, had no idea what repentance meant.

In the spring of 1971, Ruth, the boys, and I were living in Southern California where I was teaching school. I had been a Christian for about four years and had felt a stirring, if you will, that the Lord was somehow encouraging me to devote my life to missions. We had applied to Wycliffe Bible Translators to study linguistics at the University of Washington, Seattle for that summer.

The classes were taught by Bible translators who came home for the summer to teach at the University. The teachers as well as the students lived in a couple of sorority houses just across the street from the campus. I can still remember listening to some of the stories that the teachers would tell as we took our meals together and fellowshipped together.

One missionary from Southern Mexico told a story one evening that I never forgot.

He had translated the book of Luke and had the translation ready to go to the printer. He was reading back some of the portions of the book to his helper who was a native from a tribe who spoke the language he was translating. He came to the word that he had chosen for the word repentance and he asked his language helper to tell him what this word meant. The native said that this word meant when a man was walking down a jungle trail and he hears that up ahead along the trail some men are lying in ambush waiting to kill him. Upon hearing this, the man fearing for his life, turns around and goes back the other way.

This is the word that he had used to translate repentance. Suddenly he realized that he had chosen the wrong word. He called and had the printing process stopped so he could edit it.

Now, I have thought a lot about that story over the years and I have come to the realization that what most Christians believe repentance is relates to the man walking down the jungle trail.

Repentance means to turn your life around and in effect follow the Lord, but not for the above reason, not in fear for your life.

I believe that real repentance is when one comes to the realization that he or she is indeed going down the wrong path in life and they are living in sin. Their sins have separated them from God and they need to turn away from them and ask Jesus to forgive them and now serve Him instead of serving themselves.

I don't believe that anyone gets saved because of his or her fear of going to hell. Hell, fire, and damnation preaching never saved anyone. Repentance is when we come to the realization that your life and the direction of your life is not pleasing to God and then you turn around and after asking forgiveness, serve Him and His agenda, and no longer pursue yours.

In Revelation 21:8 we have a list of those people who will not be in Heaven and the first one on the list is the "?Fearful.? I honestly believe that the reason that some churches are full of people is because of the threat of Hell that the church holds over them. Are these people attending church because they have truly repented, or are they fearful of the punishment for not being there?

Is this just a one time thing? Absolutely not, we need to make corrections frequently as we walk along this trail we call life.

2006-10-11T07:47:00.002-05:00

The rest of the story

This is the second part of the story "Enlarge my borders." If you haven't read that part, scroll down to it and read it first.

Pius turned out to be one of our best students. He completed his fourth year and graduated with the rest of his class.

Ruth and I returned to Africa the next year to teach the first term again. Pius went back to his hometown in Western Kenya to complete a one-year internship in his home church. He traveled back to see us a couple of times while we were teaching. He had met a girl and they had decided that they wanted to get married. We had met her and she seemed like a nice girl.

In that culture, when a boy finds a girl that he wants to marry, he sends his father to her father and they negotiate what is called a "Bride Price." This is a price that the boys father, or in this case the boy since the father had no money, must pay the girl's father for his daughter. Well, unfortunately Pius aimed a little to high and this girl happened to be the Bishop's daughter. His price was $7,000.00. Now $7,000.00 doesn't seem like a lot of money to some of us Americans, but in a country where the average daily wage for a worker is $1.00 per day, it's the same as a million. Pius was shooting for the moon and he only had a BB gun. The marriage was called off and Pius was shot down.

Pius had told me that when his internship was over he wanted to pursue his vision. It seems that in the middle nineties God had given him a vision to start a church in a Muslim town on the Kenyan-Ugandan border. The town is called Malaba. When he told me of this vision I told him that when he completed his internship, Ruth and I would help support him for the first two years to get his church up and running. In October of 2003 he moved up to Malaba and started knocking on doors and doing street and market evangelism. We rented a hall for him to meet in and his first convert was the wife of the landlord, and wouldn't you know it the landlord was a Muslim.

Pius was 32 years old and was still single. He expressed that he would like to have a helpmate in his ministry. He had met a girl in his home church who was the worship leader and he eventually asked her to marry him. I told him that Ruth and I would help him with the bride price. His father went to her father and after a hard day of negotiation, they came up with a price of 7 cows and a goat. The value of 7 cows and a goat came to about $1,000.00

Now I had been sharing with people about our negotiations for a bride for Pius. One day I received an unexpected check in the mail for $500.00. People came up to me and offered to help buy the bride. One man gave me a $100 bill on a Friday and the next Monday he told me that over the weekend he was cleaning out his glove box on his pickup and ran across an old travelers check, and it was for $100.

I sent the $1000.00 over to Pius and he had his bride, free and clear. Most men buy their bride on the installment plan and if they ever default, the father-in-law can reposes her along with the kids. I wanted no financial encumbrances on this marriage, in other words I wanted a clear title.

Pius' church grew and his landlord told him that he didn't want him meeting in his hall any longer. I asked Pius to look into buying some land. We bought a lot for him for a little over $3,000.00 and then for another $1500.00 put a church building on it. The week that they were to move into the building, they were kicked out of the rented hall.

About this time their first baby came along and they called her Ruth, after my wife. If they have a boy it is to be James after me.

As we near the end of our two-year commitment, we are in the process of building them a house on the property. It is time for the church to be on its own so we are cutting them loose. I don't believe the people can have a sense of ownership in this church with American money paying the bills. They need to get behind this thing themselves and look to the Lord instead of looking for some rich American sending money over every month.

They are up to 70-75 people in church on Sundays with home meetings going on during the week as well.

My goal is to let them go and with the freed up money start another work.

2006-10-11T07:47:00.001-05:00

Lord, enlarge my borders

About the middle nineties I found myself adding a new prayer to my daily prayers. It went something like this: "Lord, is there someway that I can make an impact on Muslims? I admit that I have never even met one and surely don't even know where I could meet one in this part of my world, but I would like to have a part in impacting Muslims."

Now, I prayed that prayer for several years and never saw anything that could resemble an answer to that prayer.

In the fall of 2000 Ruth was experiencing some medical problems. They had been occurring for some time and the doctors didn't consider them too serious, but to us they seemed serious. When a woman who has been through her change in life and all of a sudden starts to pass blood and it continues, it would seem to be serious.

One evening she went to the phone and called our Pastor and asked if she could meet with the elders to have them pray for her as the scripture in James calls for. His reply was, "Ruth we are having a special speaker in church tomorrow. Why don't you go forward after the meeting and have him pray for you?"

After church on Sunday Ruth and I went forward to have this speaker pray for her. He had his wife with him and his wife layed hands on Ruth and prayed for her healing. After she finished the man turned and looked at me and said, "Your ministry is going to change, and it will change before Christmas." That is all he said.

Ruth's medical problem cleared up, but I didn't see any change to my ministry. I received a call to go to Texas for the winter and head up a building project for a Christian organization. This is what I had been doing for more than twenty years during the winter months.

In March of 2001 we were about to come home for the winter. I still remember praying one morning during my prayer time, "Lord, I realize that I don't have too many years of ministry left, I would like to invest my time in people rather than buildings."

We arrived home the first part of April and the first Sunday in church a woman walked up to Ruth and said, "I would like you to have this book." It was a copy of Bruce Wilkerson's "The prayer of Jabez." We both read the book and found that the first part of his prayer was, "Lord enlarge my borders."

A week or so after that the Pastor called us and asked if he could come out to the house and talk with us. While visiting with us he asked us, "Jim and Ruth, I would like you to consider going to the country of Kenya this next winter and teach in a Bible school."

On December 24th, Christmas Eve, Ruth and I were on an airplane heading for Africa.

The first day of school I was talking to some students and someone found me and said, "Jim there is someone in the office that I would like you to meet." I met a young man who had come with his pastor by the mane of Pius. He told us that he had three years of Bible school and would like to transfer into our Bible school so he could get his fourth year. He went on to say that he had no money but the Lord impressed upon him to go to the school this morning and talk to someone. I immediately took one of the staff aside and asked him about Pius and his potential. I was told by a fellow who knew him and thought that he had lots of potential. I immediately made arrangements with the school for Ruth and I to pay his tuition and books and for our son and daughter-in-law to pay his room and board.

Next week will be "The rest of the story"

2006-10-11T07:47:00.000-05:00

Why didn't you tell us?

It was the spring of 1970 and Ruth, the boys and I were living in Southern California. We had arrived in California that spring and I needed a job until I could sign a contract for the following school year. I landed a long-term substitute-teaching job in Long Beach.

A few weeks before school was to get out I, along with all of the other teachers received an invitation in our mailboxes. The invitation was for a Friday night out with our spouses. There were no details except that we had to RSVP by a certain date.

Now nothing sets a bunch of women's tongues a wagg'n like an invitation with no details. I listened to lots of speculation on what it was to be about and I heard lots of excuses as to why some were not going to go. I overheard the lady whose classroom was next to the lady who gave out the invitations say, "This gal has some bucks and whatever she does, she does it right."

Well, that was enough for me, for anyone who does something right has the resources to see that it is done right. I turned in my RSVP and got ready for the surprise.

We were to meet in the school parking lot at 6:30 on a Friday night. Ruth and I along with about a dozed other couples showed up at the school on time. At 6:30 sharp an old double-decker bus pulled into the parking lot. Now a couple of years before that the city of Long Beach had purchased the "Queen Mary" and had her sail into the Long Beach harbor from England. They turned her into a convention center. Part of the deal was for a couple of the old London double-decker busses to be brought over on her deck to be used as a promotion for the Queen Mary.

When this old bus pulled into the parking lot I knew we were in for a time. We all boarded the bus, of course Ruth and I headed for the top deck, and we headed down the coast of California. When we got to the city of Newport Beach we pulled into the parking lot of a nice restaurant. We entered the restaurant and found that a room was reserved for us. The lady had already planned the menu and within a few minutes we found ourselves diving into some fine cuisine.

After dinner, and a fine one it was, we walked out of the restaurant and walked over to a ferry that carried us across the bay where a big party boat was waiting for us. It was now dark and this thing was lit up like a Christmas tree. The boat took a long, slow tour around the bay where some of the movie stars had their homes, or at least one of their homes. I can still remember going past John Wayne's home and wondering if the "Duke" was home tonight or was he sitting in some hot tub soothing his muscles after falling from his horse during a movie shot.

We had the boat to ourselves, she even had a band for us so we could dance if we wanted to and the bar was open for those who wanted to drink, and some did since they didn't have to drive home.

After the boat put us back on shore we walked back to the bus and returned back to the school parking lot.

Now, Monday morning in the teacher's lounge was something to savor. The teachers who had made the excuses for not wanting to go with us were moaning and groaning to say the least.

"Why didn't you tell us that this lady was going to go to all that expense?"

"Well" the lady whose classroom was next-door to the hostess said, "I told you that this lady had the bucks and whatever she does she does it right."

I have thought about that experience many times since and I am reminded of the time that Jesus said to his followers, "Follow me." They had all kinds of excuses why they didn't have the time or the inclination to follow him.

There will be multitudes of people who wake up from the resurrection and find that their excuses for not following Jesus have cost them to miss the grandest party, a wedding party actually, its the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Universe has ever imagined.

There will be Christians as well who wake up from the resurrection to find that God was telling the truth when he told us in First and Second Corinthians that we missed the purpose of our lives and we must stand before Christ and give an account of our lives. Our excuses for not serving him here while living on the planet really turned out to be excuses of unbelief.

2006-10-11T07:46:00.003-05:00

My testimony

Isn't it interesting how events can set the stage for the unfolding of your life? Call it prophetic if you will.

I had grown up in a denominational church and heard Bible stories all of my life. I even knew a few Bible verses by heart, but the old adage, "Just because you walk into a barn, that doesn't make you a horse." Well, the adage is correct because I had grown up in the church and I wasn't a Christian. I suppose all of those who had gone to church all of their lives with me thought they were Christians, like I did, but I don't think they all were.

When I found Ruth, my future wife, our folks thought that it was a perfect match, since we were both of the same denomination, and even the same sect of that denomination. It turned out to be a perfect match, but not for that reason.

I had been teaching math and science in a small town by the name of Bloomer, Wisconsin. I had heard that a man who had grown up in Bloomer was the superintendent of schools in Nome, Alaska, and that he was visiting relatives on his way back from a meeting in Washington, DC.

I was able to get a chance to meet the guy and after a few minutes he said to me, "Jim, if you want to come to Nome next year and teach math, the job is yours."

Now, to a an adventuresome guy like myself, saying do you want to come to Alaska and teach, is like saying, "sick'um" to a dog.

I went home and told Ruth, we are going to Alaska, I have a teaching job if I want it.

Now we must back up a couple of years when I first got out of college. I had decided that I wanted to teach out west and Ruth and I took off right after graduation and went as far as Colorado to interview. For some reason I didn't like or want any of the jobs available and on our way home we went via the Black Hills of SD. While sitting in the restaurant in Custer, I said, "I wonder if the superintendent of schools is in at this hour." I went to the phone and called the school and sure enough he was in and asked me to come right up for an interview. When we got home there was a contract to teach waiting for me in the mailbox.

Ruth's comment to the contract was, "I am not going to live that far away from my folks."

Now, you can imagine what her reaction was to my coming home and saying, "Guess what honey, we are going to Alaska." I had better not say what she said.

Well, we went. We moved through the mail by parcel post. During that summer our youngest son Randy was born and by moving time he was six weeks old, too young for any immunization shots, "we'll get them there," we said.

We weren't in Nome more than a few weeks when the baby got "Whooping Cough." Nome didn't have any resident doctors; only young residents who volunteered to go to Nome for a couple of months and help out. These young whippersnappers had never seen "Whooping Cough" in the lower 48 and had no idea what it was. Randy would cough until he stopped breathing and we would have to pick him up and pat him on the back so until he started breathing.

I really though that I would be digging a grave for that boy before we left Nome. I was teaching adult education at the time and an old Eskimo woman in my class diagnosed the illness for me as she lost a couple of children to "Whooping Cough."

About that time our oldest, Jeff, was sick as well and spent some time in the hospital.

We were going to a missionary Eskimo church that had about 5 white families. The denomination sent an evangelist up to our church to evangelize the Eskimos. There was to be a week of evangelistic meetings and while Ruth stayed home with the boys I took in a couple of them. On February 25th, 1967, I sat near the back of the church, on the right hand side and asked the Lord Jesus to forgive of my sins and save me.

It took nearly loosing my boys to get me to the point where I couldn't look any direction but up, fortunately, I looked up, and He looked down and saw my need.

I was the only white face sitting in the audience that night and I believe that I was the only one to get saved. What God won't do to save one soul is more than we can imagine.

Praise the Lord.

2006-10-11T07:46:00.002-05:00

Will our decisions follow us all of our lives?

Someone wisely said, "?The decisions that we make become the foundational building blocks of our lives.

We stand or fall, succeed or fail, and experience joy or sadness because of our decisions.

An experience that reinforced this truth occurred the winter of 2005.

Ruth and I were living in the Central American city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We were helping a missionary who has devoted his life to the young ones who have fallen through the cracks of life, the orphans and gang members.

I had not known much about gangs and to my knowledge had never met a gang member. I think most people who walk the path through the middle of society never rubs shoulders with the down and outers like thieves, murderers, prostitutes, gang members, and others who are walking at the edge of the societal path. Well, during the course of Jan. through March of '05, Ruth and I rubbed shoulders with all of them.

The missionary with whom we worked ministers in the inter city of the capital. He has established a storefront church in the seediest part of the city. One day I asked him this question, Alvin, "?what percentage of your congregation comes from a respectable background?? His answer was, "?None of them, they are all ex thieves, murderers, prostitutes, drug addicts or dealers, street people, and gang members.? Sounds kind of like the folks that Jesus used to hang out with doesn't it?

My job was to give the message every Sunday morning in the church and Ruth's job was to teach the women's discipleship classes on Monday nights.

In the course of the winter we got to know many of these folks and I must admit when someone has been lifted out of a deep dark pit and placed on solid ground in the light, it shows and it is fun to be around them. They ooze with appreciation.

Another aspect of our being there was to visit with the young prisoners. To go into the youth detention centers and see 13 years old boys and girls locked up behind bars gives your heart a sinking feeling. You can't look at these children and not think, "?That boy or girl is the same age as one of my grandchildren. (I have ten of them so almost every age is represented.) Sometimes I would turn my head and look the other way. Why were they in there? A lot of them were incarcerated because their stepmother or stepfather had sent them out into the streets to steal food or whatever and they got caught.

When I visited the young gang members, it was worse. Here were young boys, ages 13 to 17 locked up for being gang members.
60 % of the family units in Honduras have no father. They grow up without the guidance and leadership that comes with having a father in the home. Boys have a built in need for a father figure so without one, they turn to the gangs.

When one joins a gang it is for life. The first thing that you do after you get and survive a beating by your future brothers is to get a tattoo. The tattoo must include the name of the gang that you are entering, either the 18th street gang or the MS gang. Some boys put the tattoo on their face, arms, chest, hands, or back. Now they are in, and they can't get out.

In the country of Honduras gang members are considered terrorists and the consequence of being a terrorist gang member is if you get caught you automatically get a 6-year jail sentence.

One does not have to be involved in breaking the law, only get caught with a tattoo on them and they are thrown in jail for 6 years, no trial, straight to jail.

When they get out, they go back on the streets; of course they still have their tattoo. If the police catch them the next day on the street wearing a tattoo, back to jail they go. If they get caught in the wrong section of the city, namely on the turf of the other gang member, they get killed. There is not much of a future for these young boys.

Some of them come to the Lord while in jail and get saved. Now they have the same problem, when they get out they cannot get caught by the police or they return to jail or if they wander over on the wrong side of the city and get caught by the rival gang they are dead.

Alvin has to get them out of the city right away to a safe place, like Teen Challenge or some other Christian safe house. He has lost several boys because the rival gang has caught them and killed them.

I have gotten a whole new perspective on tattoos since that experience. One of those decisions, right?

2006-10-11T07:46:00.001-05:00

Who's really in charge here?

The spring of 1970 found Ruth, the boys, and I living in Southern California. I had signed a contract to teach in Orange County, the city of Fullerton actually. Having nothing to do until school started, I was hunt'n a summer job.

Somehow, I found out about a prospect in one of the suburbs of Los Angeles called Compton.

Compton is the city that is next to Watts. Watts may bring back some memories in that is where some folks experienced deadly riots where whole blocks were burned to the ground and things got out of hand for a while.

Well, Compton had been experiencing a color shift in what we would call demographics. The white folks moved out and the black folks moved in. Now, here is where the problem lies. While the white folks moved out into white neighborhoods, they continued to attend their old churches in their former neighborhoods, in other words they wouldn't let go.

Here was the plan, and of course we have heard the phrase, "?The best laid plans of mice and men often seem to be the toys of fate.?
Let's see how this thing unfolds and how Ruth and Jim and the boys fit into the plan. The plan was to somehow incorporate the black neighbors into the local church. "?Let's have a summer program to bring the black kids into the church and maybe we will get some of the parents.? Great idea. This is where Ruth and Jim come in. "?Jim, you organize a summer program, and bring them in. "

Well, I sucked in the bait and went for it. I met with the local pastor and he was all for it, a few of the members that I met seemed to be for it as well. Let's go.

The church had a beautiful facility. It had once had a school program and there were several classrooms as well as a full sized gymnasium. Great.

I contacted several churches, white churches, and they agreed to send me several teenagers each week to help with the program. Ruth would be in charge of the classrooms with a multitude of programs and I was in charge of the gymnasium with a basketball program. Now there were about 6 or 8 churches in this program and we were to play each other's basketball teams as part of the summer program.

We were also allotted a large bus so every Friday would be a field trip day. We went to the Los Angeles zoo, the airport, the aquarium, and of course the beach among other interesting places. I still remember going to a nice beach called Redondo Beach. Can you imagine a whole beach full of white folks lounging on the beach when this big bus pulls up and deposits 50 or 60 black kids on its nice white beach. Well, needless to say, within only a few short minutes we had the beach to ourselves. You can imagine the looks on those white folk's faces when they walked by and saw Ruth lying on a blanket and about a dozen little black kids crawling all over her, like flies on a white handkerchief.

Things were going smoothly for the first few weeks of the program. We had lots and lots of kids. Actually too smoothly. Right in the middle of the program the pastor decided he needed to take a vacation, "?only two weeks,? he said, "?you can handle things Jim.? Yeah, right.

It only took a couple of days for, ?it to hit the fan.? All of the hostility that had been built up over the first few weeks cut loose. It only took a handful of women, it usually does, and they told us in no uncertain terms what they thought of those black kids mess'n up their nice clean church building. A couple of the glasses got broken in the kitchen and a few other things got scuffed up a bit. Those two weeks were about the longest two weeks of our lives. By the time the pastor returned any progress that we had made making inroads with the local people was destroyed. As I remember one mother and her 10-year-old son had started coming to church through the summer, but I think that they saw the error of their ways after we hightailed it out of Compton at the end of the summer.

The summer was an expensive one for us because Ruth had a miscarriage near the end of the summer. There went the shot at the little girl that we were wanting, part of the casualty list from the fall out of the "?best laid plans of mice and men.?

We sometimes only get one chance at an opportunity. Our hearts and the hearts of the many teenagers who helped us were in the right place, but we needed all of the ducks to be lined up in a row to make it work.

Ruth and I love those black folks, but them white folks really didn't want them black folks com'n round and mess'n things up for their nice little white church, after all, when you are "having church," the last thing you want to worry about is those neighborhood kids com'n round and mess'n things up.

I have thought a lot about that incident over the years and I have come to the conclusion that what that church needed was good "dose of prune juice" in the form of a strong message on "The older Brother." The older brother of the Prodigal son. I have taught that messge and it can be a good "dose of prune juice."

2006-10-11T07:46:00.000-05:00

Enthusiam without commitment

I heard a cute story that puts more light on this theme.

A plea went out for folks to help with a breakfast that was to be given to honor an expected guest. The hen said, "?I will give the eggs? and the pig said,? I will provide the ham.? The hen made a contribution to the meal whereas the pig made a commitment.

The spring of 1967 found Ruth and I living in Nome, Alaska. I was teaching math in the high school and Ruth was busy nurturing two young boys. In addition to my day job I had a night job teaching adult education. I had some Eskimo adults who were preparing to take their GED later that spring and it was my job to bring them up to speed in their math skills. The classes were from 7 to 10 PM with a half hour break somewhere in there. I must confess that some of those breaks dragged on a little especially when they started telling me stories.

I had a man in my class who was a janitor in the high school. He was in his middle 40's and had lived most of his life in an Eskimo village. He grew up without the benefit of the modern conveniences that they know today, like electricity, motor powered vehicles, alcohol, and welfare.

I can still remember him telling me a story about whale hunting. Back in those days the Eskimos hunted the whale in boats that were constructed with Walrus skins stretched over driftwood frames. They called them Umiaks or skin boats. They were about 25 feet long and could hold around a dozen men. I saw several of them when Ruth and I visited the Diomede Islands. Incidentally from that location, one can see two continents, two oceans, and two days. The continents are North America and Asia, the Pacific and Artic Oceans, and looking across the International Date Line you can see tomorrow.

The whale that the men were hunting sleep on the surface and when they are spotted the men paddle out to them in their Umiaks. They run about a ton to the foot and adults run up to 60 to 70 feet long. There could be 5 foot of whale sticking out of the water and the technique is to paddle right up to them and the Eskimo in the bow must stand up with a harpoon in his hand and stick in near the backbone of the whale. They had an explosive charge in the harpoon tip, which would go off when the harpoon was embedded near the spine. The whale was then paralyzed and subsequently killed. The boats would then tie a rope around the tail and slooooowly tow them to shore for a winter's supply of meat for the whole village.

My Eskimo student said that the men would take a few of the younger boys with them for training purposes. The boys would get caught up in the excitement as the whale was spotted and would paddle like crazy. As they approached the snoozing whale their enthusiasm waned somewhat and as they got right up to the whale they were actually paddling backwards. Their excitement had deflated as they realized that with one flip of his tail all of the crew would be swimming, or trying to learn to swim. I never met one who knew how to swim since they don't live close to water that ever gets much more than 40 degrees.

As I have thought about that story over the years I go back to the book of Luke. In chapter 9, starting with verse 57 we read this account. They were walking along the road and someone said to Jesus, "?Jesus. I will follow you wherever you go.?

Jesus then said, "?Follow me.? Then, we start hearing the excuses, "?please let me wait until my sick father passes on so I can bury him.? Another said, "?Please let me go back and say Good-by to my family.?

Jesus then tells them that real commitment means not looking back or reconsidering the commitment that you made, but following no matter where He leads or what He asks of you.

Jesus said, "Iwill never leave you or forsake you!" That's commitment. Does he expect less from us?

2006-10-11T07:45:00.002-05:00

The most primative living conditions that we have experienced

January of 1991 found Ruth and I landing in Manaus, Brazil. Shortly after landing we were taken to our thatched roof hut were we were to live for the next three months. We found that we needed a few supplies so we were whisked off to the city to purchase them.

While we were gone it rained. Now when it rains in the jungle, it rains. When we returned to our room we found the suitcases floating in about 6 inches of mud and water. Welcome to Brazil!

Before I went to bed that night I dug a 12? deep trench around our hut to carry off the rainwater.

We woke up the next morning to see what the next three months held for us.

The toilet facilities were located at the end of a path that led into the jungle where we found a hole dug with some palm fronds surrounding it. You put a foot on each side of the hole and squatted over the hole. The stench was so strong that one didn't linger any longer than necessary, in other words, no magazine rack nearby.

The bathing was simple, just walk down the 100-foot high bank to the river and dive in. The river was dirty, but refreshing. The problem was that by the time you climbed back up the bank, you were just as sweaty as when you went for your bath.

The clothes washing was just as simple. Ruth walked down to the river and waded in to where a huge log was resting near shore.
She placed her washing on the log and used it for a scrub board. As she stood knee deep in the water washing clothes the Angel fish would nibble at here legs and the kids fished for Piranha nearby.

Another American couple had come down to help with the building project, which was to build two dormitories on the bank of the river. Ruth knew that she was in for an interesting time when the woman told Ruth, "?I didn't come to Brazil to work in the kitchen, I am called to evangelize the port cities of the world.? How she thought she was going to fulfill that calling would be interesting since she didn't speak a word of Portuguese.

Different church groups came down from the States to help with the building project. One time the director came to Ruth and asked if she would prepare Pizza for the 50 people on the base. All she had for ingredients was flour, 1 pound of cheese, a few tomatoes, some eggs, and some onions. Thankfully the men were hungry and never complained about her Brazilian Pizza.

Another time she was asked to prepare a pancake breakfast for the 50 and have it ready by 7:00AM. She asked the evangelist woman if she would help her and she got this reply. "?I don't get up before 7:00 AM.? Ruth and I started the preparation at 5:30 and had pancakes for all of them before the evangelist got up.

We were 1000 miles from the mouth of the Amazon. It was ten miles across the river and it was 500 feet deep. The river fluctuates 50 in elevation from dry season to the rainy season. The rainy season started in February and one weekend it rained for 14 solid hours. Our thatch roof leaked so badly that we hung our raincoats across our clothes and put plastic bags over our bed.

One time Ruth was sitting in our lone chair with her feet on the bed and I was reclining across the bed. She looked up and saw a rat run across the bed between her and I. Shucks, I didn't even have my blowgun loaded.

We had snakes to contend with, armies of ants, bus rides with about three times as many passengers as seats, small portions of food, I lost 25 pounds in those three months, as well as parasite infestations that caused cramps so bad that I could not stand erect.

In spite of the hardships, we rejoiced knowing that God had sent us to this remote jungle site to be an extension of His love. These people rejoiced as well to see us labor beside them and serve them, but little did they know that we were the ones who received the greatest blessing.

I Peter 4:10, 11 says, "?Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.?

2006-10-11T07:45:00.001-05:00

Life is tough, and then you die.

In April of 1982 Ruth and I were living near Land's End in Southern England. It was our first mission trip. I was asked to build a classroom building for a Bible school. This is the trip that set the pattern for the rest of our lives because we had a prophetic experience that seemed to solidify that pattern.

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon and I had had my Sunday afternoon nap. We decided to take a walk in the rain. We gathered up our umbrellas and walked down the street about a half-mile. We came upon an old church that looked like it had been there several hundred years, one of those old churches that you might see in a picture with the stone walls and slate roof.

We decided to follow the walkway and explore the church grounds. The walkway led around to the back opened up to a cemetery. Cemeteries can be interesting but really old ones can be really interesting. We started to walk the paths weaving through the tombstones and reading the dates and epitaphs on the old stones.

The cemetery was not well kept, I suppose after six or seven hundred years people lose interest in respecting tombstones and those lying beneath them when they are older than most countries on the planet.

As we studied the inscriptions carved into the stones we noticed something. It seemed that after about 300 years the elements have taken their toll on the tombstones and they remain just a plain piece of granite, no words, no dates, nada, just a piece of cold stone.

As I stood before one of these nameless pieces of stone my mind drifted back about 300 years to the person who was to be remembered by this stone.

There is absolutely no record of this person's life, the only evidence that this person ever lived on the planet was etched on this stone and now after centuries the elements have erased that.

Here lies the remains of a person who went through life struggling like the rest of us, working to make ends meet so he or she could survive in this harsh life and now no one knows who they were and what they accomplished while they lived here.

Here comes the sobering thought. If this person didn't accomplish anything that had eternal consequences, his life was lived in vain. The only thing that he took with him as a result of his life was his name and dates of birth and death, which were etched on his tombstone and now even that is gone.

As I look up and down the street that I live on I see the majority of the people live only for themselves. Their priorities are to pamper their flesh and live a comfortable life with their families. They have lots of things to relieve the pain and stress of life, but what happens once they leave the planet and their bones rest beneath a stone with letters and numerals carved into it? Will it have been worth it all?

That Sunday afternoon in the old cemetery caught my attention, I don't want to go through life, stare death in the face and think back over my life and come to the cold, stark realization that it was all in vain. I want to take more than an epitaph with me.

2006-10-11T07:45:00.000-05:00

Hey, do you have a license to do that?

Last week I wrote about building a church building on a tiny island in the South Pacific.

I experienced another incident that I have thought a lot about these years since.

I was teaching high school mathematics at a mission school run by the local Assembly of God church and its mission program. Ruth and I are not Assembly of God people, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. The Assembly of God is the largest denomination in the Marshal Islands. They have churches planted on every island except Bikini, which is too hot for habitation, it is still radio active from the A-Bomb tests in the early 40's. Incidentally, you and I are still doling out money each month to the 2nd, 3rd, and who knows what generation of the family members who were evacuated from that tiny island before we set off the big one. The reason that I know that is one day as we were standing in the grocery store check-out line, I noticed $50.00 after shave lotion on the "?temptation shelves? that you must pass to check out. I asked the lady, "?Who buys $50.00 after shave lotion?? She answered the only people with that kind of money are the "?Bikini people." I than did a little checking and found out that she was right, the only people who did have money to burn were the Bikini people, and they get a new check to burn each month. Oh well, I guess that's what keep the economy chugging along.

The school was located on the island of Majuro, which is the capital of the country and the headquarters for the Assembly of God ministry. The superintendent of the whole mission lived at the school compound and we knew him, he used to sit in on the teachers meetings and I got to know him and his family quite well. At the teacher's meetings all the teachers were asked to give a devotional before the meeting. Some read a little scripture, some read a poem, and some like myself gave a teaching. The superintendent liked my teachings and one day he came up to me and said, "?Jim, I like your teachings. We have a lot of churches in our district and I would like you to teach in my churches. Do you have a license??

Now, I have a teaching license from several states, I have a driver's license, I have a fishing license, I have a hunting license, I have a license to live and sleep with my wife, and I have had several other licenses over the years, but he meant, a "?License to Preach.? My reply was, "?No, I have never had a license to preach.? His reply was, "?Jim, when you go back home for the summer, get a license to preach and I will give you lots of opportunities to teach in my churches.?

Now, as I look back on my life, I thank God for the grace that He has given me over the years to keep my mouth shut when my flesh wanted to open it and spew out my thoughts. This was one of those times when His Grace kicked in because here is what I was thinking. "?If I have to have a license to preach or teach the "?Good News? of the Kingdom of God in your churches, I will never get one, even if it is given me on golden parchment. Where in scripture are we told to wait until we get a license to preach??

The only time that I can remember where the disciples were told to wait, was in Acts 1:4 when Jesus told them to," wait until they were empowered from on High by the Holy Spirit. " That is the license that comes from Heaven above and it is not on a paper document.

Well, needless to say I never did get a license, and I didn't go back to the Marshals. We moved to South Dakota where I taught in a Christian high school.

I did a lot of teaching or preaching in churches around South Dakota during my tenure at that school. One spring I was asked to take the Easter sermon at an Assembly of God church. Of course you can imagine what was going through my mind about then, and of course I had a nice big smile on my face all through the message.

After the service some of the folks asked Ruth and I out to dinner as it was Easter Sunday as we were away from home and family. During the dinner conversation, one of the ladies said, "?Jim we are without a pastor here and we would like you to apply for the position.? My immediate answer was, to no surprise to anyone who reads this, "?But madam, I don't have a license.?
Her response was, "?Jim, these are the last days and we don't need licenses to fulfill the great commission.?

My thoughts exactly.

2006-10-11T07:44:00.002-05:00

Was it time and money well spent?

Last week I wrote about the high cost of sending American missionaries to foreign countries to save the "Heathen".

This week I want to share an experience that I have thought a lot about over the years.

In the fall of 1993 Ruth and I flew out to the Marshall Islands. I was asked to do some building and as it turned out I taught high school math as well in a Christian high school on the island of Majuro.

Soon after we stepped off the plane Ruth was asked to teach high school English as a second language. After consenting she was given a black grade book and told to "go at it." No text books, no cirriculum, nada, just a black grade book. I don't know too many college trained teachers who would rise to that challenge, but the lady did it and did it well. Fortunately we had a laptop and a printer so she was able to make hand outs each day. She prepared five to six hours each day for her classes and her day started around 4 A.M. to put the finishing touches on the days lessons.

Now back to the subject.

I was asked to fly out to an outer island called Malolap during Christmas break to help the congregation build a new church building. The Marshalls are a string of atolls just a few degrees above the equator in the South Pacific. An atoll is a series of islands that have emerged from the rim of an extinct volcano. The highest elevation on any of them is no more than six or eight feet above sea level. Since they encircle the old volcano they are somewhat circular in shape and some of the large ones have many islands around them. Since Malolap has a lagoon about seventy miles across, there are lots of islands around it. These islands are covered with Coconut Palm trees and some other trees that have long thin leaves.

As we were flying out to Malolap I sat right behind the pilot and he pointed out lots of interesting sights. Before and during WWII the Japanese occupied most of these South Pacific islands and built airstrips and bases on lots of them. We were to deliver mail to one of the islands before we got to the one I was to work on and the pilot told me that on this island there were still several Japanese Zeros, WWII Japanese fighter planes, along side of the airstrip. The American fighter pilots used to love to sneak in and strafe these planes as they were lined up next to the runway. The Japanese pushed them off to the side and they are still there today, after 60 years. As we came in for a landing there was a sunken Japanese ship right off the end of the runway with parts of it sticking out of the water. I enjoyed walking around these old planes before taking off for our island.

As soon as we arrived on our home base for the nest few days I was shown around the project. They had a beautiful little church that was built out of poles and thatch made from the leaves of trees. The roof was thatch and the sidewalls were thatch as well. They had even built the windows of thatch covering a frame that worked like an awning so it could be open for light and ventilation and closed during rainy times. This island had about 60 people living on it and they all attended this church, it was part of the village, in fact all of the houses looked like the church, just smaller. The next day we started to build the new church around the old one. Somehow they had received some American money so they could build a "modern church building." They had shipped in concrete blocks, sacks of cement, treated lumber for roof trusses, and sheets of galvanized steel for the roof.

We built the footings around the old building and then started up the walls with concrete blocks. While the men were building up the walls around the old church others were tearing down the old church building. Meanwhile I was building the roof trusses.

As I watched the building going up and the old one coming down, something struck me. What was happening here? The congregation treated me royally, each night the pastor went snorkeling and in the morning I had a nice fresh lobster sitting next to the cook shack for my supper that evening. The young boys climbed the Coconut trees each day to collect fresh Coconuts so I had plenty of Coconut water to drink. They even took me Tuna fishing one day, but that is another story.

No, something spiritual was happening here and I didn't have a good feeling about it. I was thinking about Latin America and how the big, fancy cathedral sits in the center of town, the most beautiful building in town. The building and its icons are venerated much more than the God they are supposed to proclaim.

Here I am helping to build the fanciest building in the villiage at the expense of the old one that seemed to fit so perfectly. But there was another factor that I was thinking about. The Trade Winds blew in off the lagoon right across the villiage. Now that is nice for its cooling effect, but salt laden mist is not healthy for galvanized steel roofs. They only last ten years at best. Thatch on the other hands is not effected by salt and when it becomes a little tattered one can just walk out to a tree and strip off a few leaves for repairs. I was wondering what will happen when the salt destroys the roof on this buillding? Do they cry for more American money to replace it or is there a thatch roof on that building today?

Beyond the rustly roof and the concrete blocks, did we destroy more than a beautiful village church building that fit the culture, or did we destroy part of the culture itself and maybe even erode a perspective, such as "What is this whole thing of Christianity and worship all about as it fits into my Marshalese lifestyle?"

Does throwing American dolars at a project always help the spreading of the gospel or can in hinder or even set back the advancing of the Kingdom?

My mind goes back to those peaceful days of living right next to the lagoon eating fresh lobster every night for supper, sipping on Coconuts water when thirsty, where some would call "Paradise."

2006-10-11T07:44:00.001-05:00

How do you define good stewardship?

I have always been one to try to get the most for my hard earned dollar. That practice has carried over into my giving, especially to missions.

I think this can be summed up with an experience that we had recently. Ruth and I were visiting a church close to home one sunday and they had a young family who asked to give the church their mission vision.

They felt that God was calling them to go to Japan as missionaries. They were in the process of trying to raise support money for their living and traveling expenses. They were visiting churches soliciting supporters.

After church I talked with the young man and asked him some questions. The first was how much do you need to raise? His answer was , "We need a minimum of $7,000.00 per month, but $8-9,000.00 would be ideal. I was not surprised because this is the average expectation for most American misssionary families. They need rent money, and they want to live in fairly nice accomadations, most of them need domestic help, a cleaning woman and or cook. They need medical insurance, life insurance, and a retirement plan. Then they need to be saving money so they can return home occasionally to shore up their support because supporters become disenchanted along the way and they need replacements. Well, the expenses go on and on becausse they need private education for their children, language schools, some have drivers, gardeners, and of course a couple of vehicles. Hey, I am not kidding, I have met several of these poor folks suffering on the "Mission Field."

Back to this young man that I was talking to. "What do you plan to do once you get to Japan , I asked? "I need to go to language school for the first two years." "And if you are not fluent in Japanise after two years," I retorted, "Then I will have to hire an intrepreter," was his response.

Numbers were started to roll around in my mind about then. Here is what I was thinking. "The church or several churches are going to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $168,000.00 to who knows what, to send this couple to language school and then who knows if they will be able to communicate effectively.

My last question was the clincher, "What will be your ministry once you get established? "We want to develop relationships with the people," was his answer.

Needless to say I didn't sign on to be one of his supporters and I walked away warning myself not to get cynical and let the chips fall where they fall. If people want to invest in this type of ministry, they can go for it, but there are more practical ways to invest in missions where the investment is lower and the return is higher.

My approach is to let the native born Christians, who speak the language, know the culture, have reasonable expectations for housing and all other living expenses, and are already living there do the work.

In some countries, $50.00 per month will support a pastor and his family.

Ruth and I send $200.00 per month to a pastor in Kenya and that supports the church along with his family. We will be cutting that back to $100.oo per month this fall and within a year stop supporting him as he will have his church self supporting.

How many native missionaries could we support for $84,000.00 per year including building them new church buildings?

Enough said!

2006-10-11T07:44:00.000-05:00

How do you define GRACE?

One of the more pleasant things about old age or even the approach of old age are the memories that jump out at you as walk out the rest of your life. Fortunately, for me, the good ones come to mind most often.

As I walk out my Christian life and reflect back on incidents that shaped my life, I constantly am confronted with the term "GRACE." The word gets richer and more complex as I grow in this thing called "GRACE" I find myself thanking the Lord more often for His dispensation of "GRACE" on my life .

I think back on an incident that occured in December of 1960. I came home from college on a friday afternoon and thought about what fun thing I would do before dark. We lived on the river while I grew up and I spent a lot of time on that river fishing in the summer as well as winter and ice skating. All the kids in the area skated several times a week.

As soon as I got home I ran and put on my skates and headed for the river. We used to walk on our skates from the house to the river.

The thing that I had forgoten was that they had been working on the dam that fall and had lowered the water and had only recently allowed the river to fill back up. The weather had been mild and as I was soon to find out, the coating of ice was thin.

I still remember skating out onto the ice and as I approached the deeper part of the river the ice started to crack. Within 2 or 3 seconds I felt the ice give wayand I broke through. I imediately put my arms out so I wouldn't go under. The first thing that I did was to try and climb out onto the ice, but I was futile because the ice kept breaking and I would go down repeatidly. Finially I stopped and after a couple of seconds I realized that I wasn't going to make it out at that rate. At that point I opened my mouth and shouted, "Jesus please help me!"

I was not a Christian at that point in my life, yes I went to church on Sunday and sang the hymns and did the other things that one does in church but I was not saved. I didn't think too much about death and eternity because deep down in the "honest" corner of my heart I knew that I wasn't in a right relationship with God. I had heard that one needed to "be born again" to see the kingdom of God but, like Nicodemus, I couldn't understand how that could be. It just didn't make sense to me, how could that happen?

This is the point in the story where Hebrews 1:14 comes into play. It says, "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation."

Imediately after I uttered the words, "Jesus, please help me," I started to kick my feet as hard as I could and I slid right up on the ice like a seal does when it comes up out of the water unto the ice. I slid unto the ice, got to my feet, and skated like crazy to shore.

That night as we watched the news we heard of another incident that didn't turn out so well.

The White Bear Lake hockey team was practicing on White Bear Lake and one of the players broke through the ice. Unlike me, he was surrounded with team mates and coaches and they tried unsucessfully to save him. The boy died that friday afternoon as his friends and watched in anguish.

That memory has run through my mind over the years hundreds of times and each time I ask myself, "Why me?" Of course it is always coupled with "What if?" and that can take me off into lots of areas, not the least of which is where would I be today if the names of those two boys were switched.

2006-10-11T07:43:00.002-05:00

Does God really need us?

I have thought a lot over the years about how we think that God is depending on us and that His work depends on our skills and talents. Now I realize that He has given us the great privilige of working in His vineyard, but sometimes we get a little puffed up and think that we are something. I think back of a story that keeps me in line.

1991 found Ruth and I in Antigua, Guatemala enrolled in a language school where we were studying Spanish. We had the privilige of rubbing shoulders with all kinds of people most of whom were missionsries, or aspiring missionaries.

We had met a young couple who had recently joined Wycliffe Bible Translators and were studying Spanish before going out into the field. One morning during coffee break he told us this story.

Back in the 70's and 80's it was a terrifying time in Central America. Fidel was busy propagating his gospel of communisn throughout those countries and it was a bloody time. Some of the Catholic priests had bought into his doctrine and were propagating their solution to the poverty which they called "Liberation Theology." In a good sized town in the highlands of Guatemala the government realized that in order to stem the spreading of this doctrine they declared "Martial Law." This meant that there were to be no gatherings of more than 6 people. This in effect put the church out of business. Before it went into effect the wise leaders of the church suggested that the people meet in homes and study the Bible together. Shortly after the declaration of "Martial Law" the priest dissapeared and was never heard from again.

As time went on some strange things began to happen. It was noticed that down at the river, small groups gathered from time to time and baptism services were being held. Seemingly incredible testimories were being spread about miricles taking place.

Some time later the government got a handle on things and lifted "MartialLaw." The church decided to open for business again and imported a high powered priest from Italy. Something needed to be done about the direction that the people had taken.

The first Sunday back in church the priest layed down an ultimatum, "Some unauthorized activities are going on with you people, now either change your ways, come back and embrace the theology that we teach, or GET OUT."

1500 people got up and "Got out." They left and formed their oun church. It was called "Jesus saves and heals Church." The church grew rapidly and they had to split into another church body so they called it "Jesus saves and heals church #2."

That civil rebellion in the 70's unknowly provided the fertile conditions for a revival that is going on to this day in Central America. It has been reported that in Guatemala 40% of the people are Evangelical Christians. I remember when our son Jeff and his wife Lisa came to visit us, we took a bus trip to a small villiage near Antigua. While talking to one of the shopkeepers I asked, "Where is the Evangelical Church in this villiage?" She answered, "Which one, we have 6 of them?"

Ruth and I have been in Honduras and El Salvador as well and the church is growing. It has been said that in El Salvador 45% of the population is Evalgelical Christian. El Salvador is the smallest of the Central American countries, but while we were there this past winter we met several people who attend a church where seven to eight thousand people meet every Sunday, and that was just one of the big churches.

While working in Tegucigulpa, the capital of Honduras this past winter, there was a big church about a block away from where we were staying. This church had planted a church in every one of the capital's districts and there are over 1000 districts in the city. They have planted churches in other areas of the country as well.

If your faith needs a jump start, maybe you want to vist Central America, but be careful, you can't visit one of these churchs and keep your hands in your pockets during worship, they will refuse to stay there.

2006-10-11T07:43:00.001-05:00

One experience on importance of prayer

In the late summer of 1986 I was looking forward to direction from the Lord as to where we could be used for the three months during the winter months. Ruth and I had been using our winters to serve him in various parts of the world and we looked for his guiding hand again this year. I sent out five letters to mission groups expressing our desire to volunteer our time to further the kingdom. By the fall I had received 5 letters telling me that if we were to come to their location it would be an answer to their prayers.

Now I had a real problem, how do I sort out his will from these expectant mission organizations. While I was praying about this I heard of a need in the country of Zimbabwe. I quickly put this aside after checking on the airfares, about $3500.00. I just didn't have the funds.

Ruth and I have put aside funds all year long for our upcoming mission trips through the years, I am not comfortable asking for financial help.

As I continued to pray about this challenge, my prayers were something to this effect, "Lord you have gifted me with gifts and talents that you gave me to be used in your Kingdom. I know that some of my brothers and sisters have been asking you to send someone with my gifts and talents to help them. Please put us in touch."
With a prayer like that how can you miss God?

It was in November that I had trouble sleeping because this "Zimbabwe thing" kept rolling around in my mind. One morning I got up at 1:00 A.M. and called the base director in Zimbabwe. He was walking out of the group's early morning prayer meeting when the phone rang as he walked by it. After a brief converstion, I got around to asking him, "tell me how you are praying?" He told me, "We have been praying for three years for someone to come and do this building project and no one has come." I felt convicted, and replied, "I will find the funds some how and come."

I went back to the leadership of our church and told them what had transpired. They agreed to pray with me. A week later the pastor told me that someone had offered to pay the difference in the airfare that we were short.

Now we are commited.

A week before we were to leave a dear lady in the church by the name of Connie came to church with a big chart with the twelve weeks that we were to be gone and asked for people to put their names in spaces agreeing to pray for us. Little did I know that this chart may have saved our lives.

Shortly after arriving on the remote base their dog had to be put down, it had lost all of its hair to mange and was suffering from sunburn as well as other maladies. We were at 15 degrees So. lattitude in the winter.

The next day we made a trip to the big city of Bulawayo to the pound and picked out a Doberman.

I can't remember how many times I woke up in the middle of the night to the dog's irate barking. When I would ask "what do you think she was barking at last night?" they would reply, "probably someone sneaking around up to no good."

Another thing that would awaken me about 1:00 A.M. was the sound of someone shouting at the top of their voice and it would go on until about 5:00 A.M. When I inquired about this racket I was told that this was David praying. Apparently I was not the only one who had their sleep disrupted by David's prayers. About two weeks into our stay a meeting was called and I found out that the adgenda centered around David and his high decibel level of praying.

I was never one to keep silent, even when it is not any of my business. I asked David what he was praying for. He said, "I pray for the saftey of our base and its people, I pray for the ministry of our base, and I do Spiritual Warfare in regard to these things." I then replied by saying, "If David is praying for my saftey and spiritual welfare, I am willing to loose a little sleep."

Well, majority rules, and David was asked to move a considerable distance away from the buildings and pray a little quieter.

After a couple of months on the base we were asked if we wanted to visit another mission base about 20 miles across the veld. A Christian man picked us up and took us to vist this outpost.

This base had about 25 white missionaries, some from the States and some from Zimbabwe. We were shown around and met the people. We met a family from Montana who went back home shortly after we left in April. We kept in contact with them over the summer. One day in the fall I heard a news clip about an attack on a mission base in Zimbabwe. I went to the phone and called the man in Montana that we had met in Zimbabwe on the base close to ours. He told me this story. "One day a group of gun toting disidents surrounded the mission base that we have visited and herded all of the people, about 25 adults and children, into the main metting room and tied their hands behind them with barbed wire. They then took a little baby from her mother's arms and smashed its head against the kitchen sink while everyone watched. They then walked around the circle and shot each one in the back of the head. They then burned the place down with the people isnside. There was a little 10 year old black girl that one of the families had taken in. They told this girl to go and tell everyone what we will do to "White missionaries."

I can't recall how many times I have thought about these events during those three months that we spent on that base and all of the prayers on both sides of the planet that were interceding for our welfare. Is it possible that our ashes might have blown across the African plane had it not been for them?