Maslows Heirarchy of Needs

The other day I found myself in a high school health classroom.  On the board was a triangle divided into some parts and each one was labeled with different various things.  This Triangle was labeled as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  It looked similar to this following illustration.

Abraham Maslow was a Psychologist who became known for this Hierarchy of needs,  a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. Maslow was a humanist.  In 1963 he was nominated for president of Association for Humanistic Psychology at its founding meeting.  in 1967 Maslow was named humanist of the year.


Humanism is a philosophy, or world view, based on belief in the dignity of human beings, informed by science, and motivated by human hope and human compassion.   Humanistic psychologists believe that every person has a strong desire to realize his or her full potential, to reach a level of "self-actualization".
 

Self-actualization involves fulfilling your human potential and becoming all that you can be.  The focus is on the self.  It is about advancing the human race, intellectually and evolutionally through the perfection of self and raising oneself into the state of self actualization to best benefit human kind.  The Hierarchy to achieve this is all about meeting ones own personal needs and developing those to a point of fulfillment.


If that sounds a bit religious, it is.  Many religions, especially the eastern religions are all about the self disciplines to achieve an ultimate human state.  Some would call it Nirvana, and others would call it something else.  Peoples of India actually believe that you can work on your perfection over many lifetimes until you reach that ultimate human goal.  Whether it is self actualization, self awareness, achieving nirvana, or whatever you call it, self is the main focal point.


Christianity is unique among the belief systems of the world in that it does not teach anything about the self.  In fact, it says the self can do nothing.  While the Humanist believes that self actualization comes through the meeting of personal needs on various levels to attain self actualization to then reach out to others, Christianity says that we are to set our own personal needs to the side, and focus on Jesus Christ and surrender to His will and He will then use us as an extension of himself to reach others, not to have a better life in this world, but to have eternal life in Heaven with our creator.


Let's take a little look at the Hierarchy of needs and compare them with scripture.


First off, at the foundation of Maslows humanist theory, a person has to meet their basic needs; food, clothing, shelter.  As the theory goes, if your basic needs are not met, you cannot advance and be any success in any higher levels of understanding.  In Christianity, Jesus teaches us just the opposite.  Matthew 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  He concludes by saying, 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Immediately we see the foundational difference right off the bat.  Humanists say my own needs are preeminent, where Christ says He is first.  1 Corinthians 3:11 No one can lay any other foundation besides the one that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.


Second on the Maslow hierarchy is safety and security.  The personal safety and security is in making sure that the personal physical needs are to be met without worry.  If you can have a stable secure source to meet your basic needs, only then can you move on.  Again, this is all about self, and securing material needs in physical ways.  It could be considered that this is the level at which a gold digger operates.  They want to gain enough security and stability to meet their wants and needs through marrying into enough finances to secure those personal needs.  Christianity again is just the opposite.  God makes no promises to the believer about personal safety or security.  In fact, persecution is promised.  2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.  But, Christians don't find their safety and security in physical things.  Again, it is found in Jesus, and it comes despite what is happening to us physically.  Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Maslow says that once we have our physical needs met, and have secured them and feel safe that we have them, then we can move along to personal relationships, friendships, love interests, family, and the like.  Others come in third behind our own personal needs, and are in fact only meant as a means to meet our personal needs for relationships.  The argument would be that good relationships cannot be had or maintained if we have not met our needs and feel safe that we will have those needs met continually.  Christianity again, looks to Jesus.  It is only through the Holy Spirit He gives at salvation that gives us the capacity for true love.  If we have Jesus as our foundation in all things, we find that the love He gives will lead us to meed the basic needs of others even at our own expense.  Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31) takes the focus off meeting our own needs and places it on doing for others as we would have them do to us (Luke 6:31).  Because we know God meets all of our needs through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19), we can then go about meeting the needs of others.  Our relationship is with Jesus, who leads us to love others the way He loved us (John 15:12).


Next on Maslows Hierarchy is Esteem.  When our needs our met, and secured, and we have good relationships, we can then start feeling good about ourselves.  This here is really about pride.  You become proud that you have met and secured those needs, have stable relationships, and have accomplished things in life.  You are now a self made person who has pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and made a name for yourself.  Hard for others to speak ill of you when you have accomplished so much.  Again, The Bible says just the opposite.  Philippians 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.  For the Christian, all personal achievements in life are counted as nothing.  We know that pride comes before a fall (proverbs 16:18).  Mark 7:21-23 lists pride as part of the evil things that defile a man.


At the top of the Maslow Hierarchy is self actualization, the successful human being.  Everything along the way, physical needs, security, good relationships, positive self esteem, are all tools to be used along the way to reach the highest state of human person-hood, the alpha being.  It is all about me.  Jesus tells a story about such a man who had reached self actualization.  Like 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.  Here, self actualization is put into perspective.  All that we can gain or do or achieve in this life is a big nothing.  James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.


1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.


Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.


These are the things they are teaching our children.  The religion of Secular Humanism, man without God, is what is being taught our children.  Then people want to wonder what is wrong with this nation and why we are no longer the great nation we once were.  Well, everyone is to busy being taught to look out for number one, themselves, instead of looking out for each other as God teaches.  We are taught that we can ourselves become a self actualized being instead of being taught that we are sinners in need of a savior, Jesus Christ.  Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?



Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

14 Short Years

It's been 14 years since that awful day when terror struck our shores.  The memory of that day has become bittersweet when I look around and see what has happened in our country since that day.  Rather than being a rallying cry that brings us together, the effects have ripped us apart and caused us to turn against each other and against the very principles that our nation was founded upon.  Not that we were not already heading in that direction, but the rapid acceleration since that day has been staggering.  While we saw the towers crumble into a pile of dust in seconds, the nation has been crumbling into a pile a dust in the years since.


Who would have ever thought that those who we honored as heroes on 9/11 would now be looked at with such disdain and be targets for assassination in our cites.  At the same time who would have thought that they would have been transformed from  people who protect and serve our communities into a branch of our military force being used against us to prevent such horrible crimes such as organic farming or home schooling.


Who would have thought that our government would turn to spying on its own citizens or groping grandma's at the airport?  Who would have thought we would be flying drones over our citizens for law enforcement purposes?  Who would have thought that we would have to prove our citizenship to drive a truck?  Who would have thought that people would have to censor their own words for fear of losing their jobs?  Who would have thought that we would be jailing people for their religious beliefs?  Who would have thought that we would be so angrily divided as a people?  Who would have thought that we could pass a law to force people to buy something?  Who would have thought that an open socialist could be running for president and have any kind up support at all?  Who would have thought that the racial divide would spread further apart instead of coming together?


There are so many more "who would have thoughts" that I could list.  I could fill a whole paper with those questions.  It's a day I look at and think that it should have brought us together and turned us back towards God, that has instead caused us to defiantly turn our backs on him to the point where we now consider sin to be a good, and belief in him something worth being jailed for.


Our current administration has stopped our war against the folks who perpetrated the horrible attacks against us and have taken actions that have actually helped our enemies advance and grow.  We are making deals with  nations that want to destroy us and arming groups whose goal it is to overthrow us.  The war that came to our shores on 9/11 2001 has not ended and our enemies will continue to try and achieve their goal of world domination and every human being subject to sharia law.  Imagine the irony that we now fund this.


We lost thousands of lives on that day, and thousands more since with countless thousands maimed trying to put an end to this, only to now see us cowering in fear if we even make a cartoon, cowering in fear if we say no to  Muslims practice, cowering in fear to speak against them.  We have people who call others bigots for speaking up against Islam, but those same people who call others bigots think nothing of hating on Christians, taking away their businesses, fining them, jailing them, telling them they can no longer hold certain jobs.  Is this how we are honoring our fallen?


We lost a lot more on 9/11 than just those few thousand lives.  We have lost our way

A Dividing Line

A couple of months ago I started to notice something....  I wasn't sure what it was at the time.  As time has gone by it has been coming more and more into focus.  At first I thought it was just me.  Am I the only one noticing these things?  Or am I just viewing things differently now?  I realized that I was not the only one noticing these things.  Also I think in part that God is continuing to change me and mold me more and more into the likeness of His son.  What I was noticing were things happening and changing across society at large and things being exposed that were once hidden.  All of these things pertained to how we viewed God and whether we were submitted to His will and not our own.


The release of the abortion videos has frighteningly been largely a ho hum for many.  Most people who support abortion have not even bothered to watch them and think they are just conspiratorial lies.  Christians mostly have been totally appalled at the depth of the depravity to which we have fallen.  Unfortunately there seem to be some Christians who fall into the former group and not the latter.  It has further divided people and made harder their positions in most cases.  It is a situation that God cares a great deal about, and has judged nations over.


Then we had Donald Trump come on the scene.  His big entrance included some strong words on immigration.  People have further divided on this issue, but in this instance, it seems to have made people reverse course and go against what they had previously supported.  It also revealed more openly the hatred people hold in their heart for those who differ with them.  People have had horrible and yet superficial reactions to Trump.  He's just the facilitator as that would have come out at some point anyway, and has.  Whether people realize it or not, how we treat foreigners, strangers, and immigrants is very important to God.  I don't think either side has even considered that, nor when confronted with it seem to care very much.  Again, this was just another point exposed where people had to make a choice.  This too is an area where God has judged nations over. 


We had the gay marriage ruling in June that has now come to the point where the government is now jailing Christians for their beliefs in God.  This was a day long warned about but that most people felt assured would never come about.  How is two same sex people getting married supposed to affect anyone else?  It's their private business.  Except now we have Christians having their businesses, homes, livelihoods, and now even their freedom taken away as a result of this ruling.  This subject is even splitting the church as some denominations have become false religions that seem more interested in the lust of the flesh than the will of God.  It has completely finished removing us from our foundations on Godly principles with the judge jailing the clerk for her faith saying that it would be a bad precedent to allow Gods law to supersede the will of the court.  So we now have it declared that Government is above God.  Problem is, people are buying that argument.  Not surprising though since we are now in the 3rd full generation raised without the Bible or prayers being taught that we are just animals that sprang up accidentally from some prehistoric soup cocktail. 


Now more than ever before I feel this next election is not just about who our next leaders will be, but about whether we will accept or reject God.  Frankly, I think it is our last chance based on what I am seeing with God exposing all of the evils for everyone to see and forcing people to take a stand one way or another, for or against Yahweh. 


The silence of the Christian too may be seen as complicity in these things as well.  We not only have to just give lip service to our convictions in the Lord, but also stand up for what we believe with actions.  We need to speak out what we believe to a lost and crumbling nation.  We need to not fear what they may say or do to us, for if God be for us, who can be against us?  Now more than ever we need to be obedient to the word of God and set the example for others, even if it means jail or worse.  Again I hearken back to Esther, who knows if we were not put here for a time such as this?


The agenda of the evil one has been laid bare.  We have been given notice.  Choose this day who you are going to serve.  Will it be the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, the Creator of the universe?  Or will you reject that path and take your own route or that of another god?  Wide is the path that leads to destruction, and narrow is the way that leads to life.  Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life.  no man comes to the father but by me.  You show that be being obedient to Him.  Jesus also says, if you love me, keep my commandments, not do as thou wilt.  


Judgment is coming.  God is still in control.  At this very moment He is working in the world and preparing His way.  We are either for him or against him.  It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.  We ought to obey God rather than men.

I Won't Tolerate Intolerance

Tolerance:  the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with ~Oxford dictionary


This word people on the left like to throw around when Bible believers point out what Jehova has said in His word.  They use it as a bludgeon to try and beat down what God has said.  Those who use the word do not practice what it says as they don't put up with dissent or allow other opinions and behaviors they do not agree with.  It is a hypocritical double standard.


One of the arguments they use is that Christianity teaches tolerance; that Jesus himself does so.  Is this true?   Does God tolerate sin?  Let us take a look.


The bible quotes Jesus, John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  Is this a tolerant saying?  Is Jesus here allowing for any other belief, or opinion on how to get to the Father?  I think not.


When Jesus confronts the pharisees, is he tolerant of their actions?  Mathew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?


Seems to me that Jesus, by action, thought, or word lays it out that He expects that there is only one way and that no other way is tolerable.  We cannot get to heaven through Mohamed, Buddha, our own good deeds, or any other way.  The ONLY way that we can be saved from our sins is through Jesus Christ.  Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.


The other argument that those on the left give in response to this is that Christianity is hate because it does not allow for other views.  The odd part about that argument is that the left itself does not tolerate Christian views.  Christianity is barred from being taught in schools.  Its symbols are barred from public display.  It's practices are being increasingly criminalized.  Again the left hypocritically does not practice what they preach.  What the left calls hate, is actually what the Bible calls love.


John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.


The same Chapter goes on to explain why so many reject Jesus as a symbol and embodiment of love and acceptance.
 

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.


For a variety of reasons, people reject the notion that, Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  They do not want to recognize that what they do is sin, therefore they hate the light.  Yet, somehow, they want to turn that around to say that Christianity is hate when the exact opposite is true.  Jesus came to give us all life, and life eternal, but what they can't deal with is having to do it Gods way.


We as believer try to tell people what is going to happen for their rejection and we are called the haters.  How can we hate someone that we care for so much that we are willing to share with them the way to avoid eternal punishment?  How can it be hate to want what is good for others?  The bible describes this too.  Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  They reverse the order.


So the questionis, is God tolerant?  No.  God will not accept evil.  God will not accept sin. 
Proverbs 6:16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.


But that does not mean he hates people.  He loves them enough to give them a way of forgiveness.  He loves them enough to send his followers out to tell them the good news.  Yet these same folks who claim to be so tolerant can't stand this notion and do everything in their power to stamp it out so they can continue to live a sinful lifestyle apart from God.


Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,


As much as people like to complicate things, a simple line really says it all.  Matthew 12:30
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

A Time Such As This

Esther 4:14
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?


The story of Esther is one of the most dramatic books in all of scripture.  The story of  Jewish girl taken by force to be part of the Kings harem to choose a new bride from who is chosen to be queen.  Dire circumstances fell and increased government persecution of Gods people came to a boiling point when a descendent of a former enemy of the Jews gains power and influence and tries to have all the Jews put to death.  Esther must then use her position, defy the formal protocols of the land, possible facing death as a result to stand up and make it be known to the king exactly what was up.


The above verse came at the time when she was being asked to stand up for Gods people and proclaim the truth, even if it meant her demise.  We today are facing hard times.  While we are not yet at the point of being annihilated, we are at the point of having our ability to live and express our faith openly taken away.  The full force of government is being used to try and make us go against our God with the threat of loss of property, livelihood, family.  We are regularly ridiculed and lied about, demonized by those who wish to silence us.


Looming in the backdrop of all this is an old enemy of Christendom; Islam.  For 1400 years those who follow Mohamed have been venturing on a quest for world domination and the extermination of Christians and Jews.  Unbelievers here side with them and give them favored status, while attacking and removing all symbols and remembrances of Christendom from our national memory. 


In modern memory we can still look back and see what happened in Germany to the Jews and see very eerie similarities to what is starting to take place in the US.  The German government too gave favored status to Muslims while attacking and removing anything Jewish from German memory.  They, like has begun here, were being made as the scapegoats.  All that was wrong could be placed squarely on Gods people and if only they were not there, we could evolve into the great human utopian era. 


Now is the time for believers to stand up and proclaim the truth of God to the nation and to the world.  It is time we stand up and live our beliefs faithfully and recommit ourselves to do that which God wills us to do.  It is time to stand up and call out the evildoers and expose what they are doing.  For if we remain silent at this time, God will raise up those voices elsewhere and we will not be spared.  Who knows whether we have been placed here for a time such as this?

Sexual Misconduct

Luke 8:17 For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.


This verse has been so true.  How many times have we seen dark hidden scandals come to light in recent years.  Somehow, they all seem to revolve around sex in some way.  If there seems to be one gotcha thing, sex seems to be the one temptation that befuddles many and brings the mighty down low.


There are two high profile cases in the news right now.  We have Denny Hastert who seemed to be one of the only squeeky clean politicians who we find out has been secretly paying to keep quiet homosexual encounters with former underage students when he was a high school wrestling coach.  Then we have the Duggars who has a child who while still a child molested his younger siblings.  Locally we had a high school swim coach having a lesbian affair with a student, and a custodian who was accused of assaulting an underage girl.  Even a local youth pastor was caught with child porn in his computer.  It seems to be everywhere.  Go look on any sex offender list and you will be shocked how many are right in your neighborhood. 


It is not really new though, but over the last years has really had some spotlight cases.  Tonight, as an oddity, and could seem almost intentional by the DJ, the radio station right after news about Hastert played the molester Michael Jacksons PYT (pretty young thing) which now really has a sick connotation knowing what we know now about the Jackster.  Recently we found out about sex island where underage girls were trafficked for the pleasure of the rich and famous.  We had the assistant to one of the most famous football coaches ever, Joe Paterno, who was found to have been molesting boys right on the campus of Penn State and everyone seemed to have a blind eye to it.  We of course know about the Catholic Church and its scandals with homosexual pedophiles.
 

Seems to me it was a part of the "sexual revolution".  I remember watching a late 60s movie starring William Holden who played an old rich widow who took up with an underage teen hippie.  In the end of the movie, he decides that love is love and it is OK and beautiful as he knowingly commits statutory rape.  You had Buddy Holly who married his 13 year old cousin.  Songs on the radio about "Sweet 16" and "Young Girl" as well as others skirted the idea of sexual relations between adults and underage girls.  It's always been a wink and a nod as girls as young as 12 are allowed backstage to have sex with rock stars.



2 Tim 3:13 tells us about these things when it says. "But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."  That has been pretty much all I have seen since the first Catholic pedophile story broke and all of these evil deeds began to be brought to light over the years.  Our morality is degenerating to where folks thing they can get away with and even in cases celebrate their perversions.  Groups like NAMBLA are now seeking normalcy on par with what the homosexuals have done in their war on sexual morals. 


Many of these predators are imposters who pose themselves as persons of good report who can be trusted, and in the end do untold damage not just to themselves but to entire organizations, groups, religions, and the like.  They are doing the Devils work in making a mockery of the word of God and His standards by posing as an angel of light and doing dark and dirty deeds behind closed doors in the secrecy of darkness. 


Each time one of these cases arises, I can hear the anger and hurt in the responses of folks who have been victims of these activities.  They lash out, seeking to avenge their pain on others.  The cycle of hurt and heartache can last into future generations.  There is only one cure for this.  Jesus Christ. 


It saddens me to think how many folks will reject the one who can heal all of their pain from being victimized by these predators because they posed themselves as representatives of Jesus to be able to get that access.  I've seen this especially with the Duggar case where folks are lashing out against Christianity and acting with hatred towards God, not understanding that what happened was against what God says and wants.


Psalms 34:18 says, The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  God wants to heal your wounds.  If you have been hurt by abuse in any way, God knows and He cares.  He wants and desires for you to turn to Him.  He can wash that pain away.  He can teach you to forgive.  He can replace the pain with love and tear down those protective walls and set you free from your anguish.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.  Whosoever the Lord sets free is free indeed.

Why is the Bruce Jenner Story Important?

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.


In recent days and weeks we have been bombarded with the story of Bruce Jenner becoming now Caitlin Jenner.  His story as a transgender is being heralded throughout all of the media.  He is receiving awards for his heroism in being so public about his transformation from a man to a woman.  He is promoted as a hero to be followed and emulated.  It's a long cry from the box of Wheaties and the decathlon victory for which he was once heralded. 


Many people ask the question about this story, why should we care?  What is the big deal?  Aren't there more important things going on in the world?  Well this is a big deal.  We should care about this story.  It is something very important in the world.  I know people will be thinking, c'mon, really?  Yes really.


This nation was founded upon and operated under the general principles that were found in the Bible.  People like to argue that point, but the evidence is too overwhelming to deny it.  This creates a problem for some people.  They don't want to live their lives under those principles and would rather live some other way.  Probably the most vocal and outspoken of those folks would be your LGBT and whatever other initials you can add to talk about sexuality that goes against what God has said in his word.  They can't have the nation with its morals based on something that says what they do is sinful and wrong.


So, you must go about changing the culture and moving it away from those biblical principles.  This began in the 60s when Bibles and prayers were removed from the school systems.  Now people would no longer be educated on those Biblical principles and they can began exchanging those morals for "newer more modern thinking". 


Within a decade, the sexual revolution had begun.  A whole generation was set out into early adulthood without those old fashioned principles binding them in any way.  Free love and sexual experimentation were the order of the day, in direct conflict with what God says in His word.  Homosexuality was taken off the mental disorder list as a first step towards its "normalcy" and away from it being "sinful" (along with other sexual activity).


Later years the fight was for acceptance of the gays.  They wanted to be recognized as legitimate and not seen as awful sinners.  This was easier to do with a population becoming less and less knowledgeable of Gods word.  After another decade, being gay wasn't really seen as such a bad thing.  It was just a lifestyle choice.  The measure of what was good or right was no longer the Bible, but just generally about what people thought was right.


There was a little setback in the 80s with the onset of AIDS and a slight return to more Christian values with a bit of a revival.  Many saw the AIDS epidemic as a direct punishment from God upon the sinful ways of the homosexual.  Certainly it can be said that the consequences of the lifestyle that was being led by many of them made them much more susceptible to the disease.  AIDS was turned around though and really became the most socially acceptable deadly disease ever.  A strong campaign was waged to shift people away from that thinking.  Instead of pointing out the sinful activity, the focus became "practicing safe gay sex".  Condom use became promoted as the cure all, even though it was useless in prevention. 


Another decade goes by and then comes the final push for "normalcy" of the sinful homosexual lifestyle.  The fight for gay marriage began; a drive to redefine what had been considered a Biblical god centered union of a man and woman was now being challenged.  The past two decades have been spent trying to undermine holy matrimony and moving it away from a union of a man and woman making a vow before God to merely a state sponsored contract between two persons.


The whole time this has gone on, the argument has been about redefining morality so that their activities would no longer be seen as something bad, but as something good.  In the process, what has happened is that to do this they had to make the ones who hold to the Biblical standard as the bad guys.  They have to hold the view that the entire foundation of morality that we based this country on was bad, wrong, and needed to be changed.  Also, those that held to those views were to be looked at as the new evil people. 


This brings us to where we are today with a 70 year old former male athlete getting all kinds of press, and a TV show, and awards given to Jenner.  Why?  Because the media is celebrating and promoting the new morality, the morality they want of the nation.  they are wanting a promoting a morality that goes against God, and against what He stands for.  And this takes us back to the verse I quoted at the beginning of this article, Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.


It is really the same argument we saw Satan use in the Garden of Eden back in the book of Genesis; Hath God said?  You won't surely die.  Behind all of this, and unknown to even many of those involved, are Satan and his demons.  It has always been his agenda to undermine God in any way he could.  The United States has for most of it's history been recognized by the principles under which they lived found in the Word of God.  Now we are falling under the wrath of God for our movement away from those principles.


We recently found out why the terrorists hate us so much.  Osama Bin Ladens papers were released and he told us why he hates the US.  One of the reasons he hated the west so much is because of its acceptance of gays.   He attacked civilians because we voted in leaders that allowed homosexuality to become normalized.  It wasn't the only grievance, but it was front and center.  He hated the US because we had moved away from those Biblical principles for which we once stood.  He was punishing us for our sins, sins clearly spelled out in the Bible. 


We spend all this time concerned over offending the terrorists because of pictures being drawn, or TV shows showing the prophet, or some other such silly thing.  We think we can appease them this way, but what it turns out is that to appease them really means that we need to return to the ways of God spelled out in the Holy Bible.  We need to stop promoting sin and glorifying sin.  This is why this Bruce Jenner transgender story is so important.  Bruce/Caitlin is now that face of the morality being shopped out by America. 


This is a main reason we have terror troubles.  We are promoting sinful lifestyles and trying to get other peoples of the world to live sinfully also.  How repulsive it must be for our leaders to be heard in many parts of the world calling for the acceptance and promotion of lifestyles that many find repugnant and evil.  This is why we are called the great Satan, because we are promoting satanic ways.  What is a Muslim, or Jew, or devout Christian to think when they see a pop magazine cover pasted with images of a man who is trying to be a woman?  Given awards on national TV because he doesn't know what sex he is?  Starring in a TV reality show that glorifies this perversion? 


Those of us who are serious believers need to take these things very seriously and get down on our knees, begging Gods forgiveness.  God writes, 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  We need to clean up our houses and be the shining examples of what Godly people are and what they stand for.  Then we need to take that message out.  It is the only way, and the only chance we have, now, before further judgement comes.  What we have seen with attacks, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, riots, unrest, and all the rest are just warnings meant to bring us to repentance before God fully removes His hand of protection from us. 


This is why the Bruce Jenner news is important.

Deal With It

Sometimes we try and ignore or avoid our problems; passing them off or just walking away. God wants us to deal with issues in our life, by letting Him deal with it. That means doing things His way, not our own.

Which Messiah Do You Follow?

The above is a meme I see floating around from time to time on the internet.  Let's take a look at it.

1) While we know that the Messiah was not born on December 25th, we also don't know that He was born on the feast of Tabernacles either.  Nowhere in scripture are we told to celebrate the birth of Messiah at all.  There are a lot of pagan rituals involved in the December 25th date and that was chosen as an appeasement to groups who worshiped the winter solstice.

2) The Name Jesus does not make a false Messiah.  Many languages have various pronounciations of the name of Messiah and none of them diminish His stature in any way.

3) Sabbath keeping.  Many folks argue this point greatly.  While there is no doubt that Israel was commanded to keep the 7th day Sabbath, when we move over to Gentile salvation, we see in Acts 15 the conclusion of the council of apostles was they the Gentiles not be charged with trying to keep the law.  Paul also tells us 2 Collossians 2:16 that we are not to judge people on that.  Romans 14:23 tells us that whatever is not of faith is sin.  If you are convicted to keep the Sabbath, by all means do so.  But, we are not to judge others if by their faith they keep another day.

4)  Did Jesus teach "new commandments" or His fathers?  Is this a distinction?  Our Savioir does give a new command...  John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  But He also gives us a simplified version of His Fathers commands.  Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.  Love God and Love others.  So, while you could say He gave new commands, they are really covering the Fathers.

5) Death, Burial, resurrection I will lump together because the controversy was lumped together.  Different sects of the early church were disputing with one another over which day was proper to keep that days of Salvation.  The Friday-Sunday was a compromise that also worked well with the calendar.  As with Christmas, I think of more importance is how people have slipped in Pagan rituals and renamed the Holiday after a Babylonian godess.  Eggs and Rabits have nothing to do with the Sacrificial offering of the savior.  Jesus Himself said we should do "this", the keeping of Passover, in remembrance of Him.  This is the high holiday of Christianity and should be bringing to remembrance how we were delivered from sin.  This story is told in the keeping of the Passover dinner.

6) Was the law done away with at the cross?  This one question is a major stumbling block in the faith.  The law was fulfilled in Yeshua/Jesus. He was the one sin offering once and for all.  When a contract is fulfilled, you are no longer bound by that contract.  This is explained in Romans 7.  1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.   Mark 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.  This shows that are indeed under a new deal.  The law was not done away with, but we are not contractually bound to it.  It still does have a role in showing how man falls short of the perfection of God and steering people who recognize this to the savior.  We can still do things in the law if we choose.  I purposely chose law here because the law is not the commandments.  The commandments, of which there are 10, are summarized as I said before in love of God and love of neighbor.  When one examines the 10 commandments, you can see how they fall into these two categories. 

7) replacement theology is not something the whole church believes in.  There are denominations and sects that hold to this idea of replacement, but that is not indicative of the entire church.  Gods grace being extended beyond the house of Israel to all of His creation would be a more accurate and proper description.

8)  We dealt with law in #6 but this is another denominational or sect issue.  Most churches I know of do not subscribe that Jesus taught against the Law.  Most teach He fulfilled it.

Some of these near the end are repeating themselves from previous points.

9) the time of Jesus' return...  Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.  It is pretty clear that the exact time is not known.  To understand this one has to look to Jewish wedding customs.  The wedding contract would be made and then the groom would go and prepare a place for His bride.  The groom did not know the day or the hour when he would go back to get his bride.  His Father only knew that time based on whether the groom had made a proper abode for His bride.  When finally the Father approved it, then the groom would go and get his bride.

10)  The Peter foundation issue is generally a Catholic issue.  Most churches teach that the confession of Jesus as Messiah was the foundation upon which the church was built. 

11)  People sure like to attack the sinners prayer.  There is nothing wrong with praying.  It is a good way to start out your new relationship with the Lord by talking to Him.  Discipleship and repentance is always going to be the expected result of a serious conversion. 

12)  I guess living the good life is a swipe at the prosperity preachers.  Again, this is another thing that is being over generalized and is not a part of the body at large.  It's popular in these mega churches, but not so much in the many many churches that dot the landscape.

13)  I saved this one for last.  If the Messiah came only for the lost sheep of Israel, there are a lot of us gentiles who are in for a big surprise.  Yeshua did not come just for Israel, but for the entire world, all of His creation.  1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  He had to come first to the house of Israel to fulfill the scriptures and that Gods promise that the whole world would be blessed through Abraham's seed.

In conclusion, I think this picture sets up some false dichotomies to promote a certain viewpoint.  They picked and chose a list of false teachings from various places and mashed them all together as if that is supposed to represent Christianity as compared to how pure the Hebrew Roots movement is.  It is an argument called a straw man.  You set up a fake premises, and attack that false premises to substantiate your own point.

What to Keep?

A little study time- thinking on page.

Proverbs 28:4 They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.

Forsake- azab (aw-zab')
A primitive root; to loosen, that is, relinquish, permit,
commit self, fail, forsake, fortify, help, leave (destitute, off), refuse, X surely.

Relinquish seems to be the best context here... could use forsake as well.

They that relinquish the law, they that forsake the law

Law- tôrâh (to-raw', to-raw') - a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch: - law.

They that relinquish or forsake the Torah...

We seem to run into a major question mark here at this point...  Does the word Torah speak of the Decalogue, the 10 commandments, or of the Pentateuch, the law of Moses?  This question is critical in understanding and would have a vast difference in meaning. 

In Simeon's Horae Homileticae DISCOURSE: 814 we see some principles laid out concerning this forsaking.  In summary it would be these:
1.    That obedience to God’s Law is unnecessary—
He will acknowledge the Scriptures to be a revelation from God; and would be greatly offended, if his belief in that revelation were questioned. But his faith in it is nothing more than a speculative assent: he regards not the authority of God in it; and by his contempt of that authority he says, in fact, that a submission to it is unnecessary.

2.    That not even the Gospel itself entails any obligation upon us—
Many who profess to believe the Gospel, and to make it the ground of their hope towards God, yet feel no constraining influence from all its wonders of love and mercy. They practically say, ‘True, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, and “died the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God

3.    That the way of wickedness is preferable as it respects this present world—
Finding pleasure only in the things of time and sense himself, he encourages the same taste in others. For, for what end “has God given us all things richly to enjoy,” if we are not to enjoy them? As for a compliance with the precepts of the Law, it is obvious that it must require continual self-denial: and what happiness can there be in that?

4.    That no evil is to be apprehended from it in the world to come—
This necessarily follows from all the rest: for, if he really thought that God would execute his threatenings against the violators of the Law, he would be more attentive to his own ways. But he persuades himself, that God is too merciful to punish any one in the eternal world, or, at all events, for such slight offences as he commits: and, by his open contempt of God’s threatened judgments, he says to all around him, that they have nothing to fear, since “the Lord will do neither good nor evil

These are 4 fairly common grounds upon which law is relinquished or forsaken, but still we are asked, which law?  The 10 commandments?  or the law of Moses.  Torah, in the general sense does not give an indication.  It is used interchangeavly.  This is why it may be confusing to some people.  Some feel that the entire law of Moses is to be followed if one is saved, and would point to a verse such as John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments as a verse that says we need to keep the law of Moses.  The greek word used entolē injunction, that is, an authoritative prescription: - commandment, precept.  We see here a focus on "commandment"  Would a different word be used in greek if the law of Moses were meant?

Luke 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.  The word for law used here is nomos.   law (through the idea of prescriptive usage), generally (regulation), specifically (of Moses [including the volume]; also of the Gospel), or figuratively (a principle): - law.  So we see here that if the law of Moses is mentioned, a different Greek word is used than in Jesus previous command to keep His commandments.  Keeping His commandments is the keeping of the 10 commandments, not the law of Moses.

Christ in John 13:34 gives us a new commandment.  "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."  In Romans 13:8,10 and Galatians 5:14 we see that this command to love fulfills the nomos, which could be the entire law of Moses, but Paul here in Romans 13:9 clarifies and goes through the list of the 10 commandments pertaining to loving others.    We can assume by context that Paul refers to the 10 commandments.

Mathew 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

On these two entole hang all of the nomos.  All of the law of Moses is fulfilled in these two commandments of Jesus. 

Collossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Wee see here another word used, the word for ordinances in Greek is dogma -  a law (civil, ceremonial or ecclesiastical): - decree, ordinance.

What can we conclude from this?  That Love of God and neighbor fulfills the requirements of the law and are the commands we are to follow when Jesus says to keep His commandments.  That the law is not "done away with", but, that we are freed from the judgment of the law that we are sinners worthy of death.  But, Do we keep the law of Moses?  Or the 10 commandment?  Paul seems to make it clear that love keeps the 10 commandments and the law of Moses. 

Romans 8: 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

The law of the spirit of life as we saw is to love God, love the son, love your neighbor (spirit).  The law of sin and death is the law of Moses (flesh).  The law could not save us from our transgressions.  It could only condemn us and make known to us our sinful nature.  When we try to keep the law of Moses, we are working in the flesh.  When we keep the law of love, we are operating in the spirit. 

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.


If we focus on the law of love, Love God, Love the son, Love others, we will do well.

I John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Obedience to What?

Give It Up

It is the natural inclination of a person to always want to "fix" things, and do so themselves.  The idea of giving up is not really in our nature.  What do the scriptures say?


I Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.


There are a couple things to note here.  One is that there is no promise here of an instant fix, or some sort of miracle as you would think of wanting.   When we humble ourselves and cast our cares upon Him, the promise is that in DUE TIME we may be exalted.  Part of humbling ourselves would be to trust that God knows the DUE TIME and to not fret about those cares.  Our adversary would love to get us all caught up in worry about things of the world and steal away our peace, joy, love, and witness.  We can resist those temptations knowing that even though we do suffer for a while, we will be made perfect, established, strong, and settled.


Jesus says in Mathew 11:
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.


Jesus here hands out an invitation to those who are overcome with the cares of this world and the problems they present.  He says to look to Him, not necessarily to solve all the problems you are worrying about, but that instead of being so stressed about them, so burdened by them, so overwhelmed; you will find rest in Him and through Him.  If we look to Jesus and learn of Him instead of focusing on our problems, we are promised rest for our souls. 


When we take upon the yoke of Jesus, He is leading us.  His ways lead us to peace and rest within our souls, even though all around us chaos may reign.  Through Him we find rest instead of weariness, hope instead of heartbreak, peace instead of tumult, love instead of anger, caring instead of hostility.  He leads us to those good things if we humble ourselves and take His yoke upon us.  Then we need not worry about the other stuff.  Yes, we still have to do things, and bad things will still happen, but we will no longer let those things overwhelm us, or take our focus.  We will remain in peace if we keep our eyes on Jesus.

Are We Proactive Or Reactive?

When I was young, I used to play football.  One of the lessons I remember about playing football was that you wanted your game to be proactive and not reactive.  You wanted your opponents on their heels, having to adjust themselves to what you were doing rather than the other way around.  It was one of the keys to victory. 


I was sitting around the other day thinking to myself, why is it that I do the things that I do?  That led me to this other thought of whether I was being proactive or reactive.   Each and every waking moment we spend in life, we are being either one or the other.  We are either causing people to react to what we say or do, or we are reacting to what others are saying or doing.  Neither is good or bad in and of itself.  It just is.  It is the nature of interaction.


When a person is proactive, they are making a particular choice.  Let's take something simple.  You are in a room with your family, and you stand up and announce, "I am going to the store".  You have done something proactive and decided to do something.  Everyone else has now been placed in a position to react.  They can go with, ask you to get them something, ignore you, laugh at you, whatever.  But, what you have done is to set the agenda.  Now, you may be able to compromise a little on the details based on others reactions, but you have set the direction.


What if the situation were more complicated?  A number of years ago, I had a health problem arise.  It was pretty serious, at least to me.  I just had no clue what the problem was, why it was happening, what to do to fix it, or even wondered if I would survive it.  I went to see a doctor.  they ran tests and mumbled some things I could not understand and offered me some pills.  I suppose I could have just been reactive and taken the pills and left it at that.  I was not satisfied with that.  I became proactive and sought a specific diagnosis.  I studied, got other opinions, And by the time of my last doctor visit, I pretty much was able to give the doctor a complete rundown of my symptoms, how and when they occurred, and what those symptoms seemed to indicate and a possible plan of action on how to improve it.  The last Doc just kind of agreed with me and again offered me medication I already learned would not work. 


I guess what I am saying is that it is hard to be proactive in situations where you are not knowledgeable.  My reaction to something was to become proactive through study, educating myself.  This again goes back to my opening football analogy.  You could not be proactive on the field if you did not understand the game.  You had to have an idea of what you want to accomplish, how to get there, and an understanding of the opposition, and what they were trying to do.
 

It is in this latter point that I think that many Christians are failing these days.  They are either totally reactive, basing their ideas and actions bouncing off surrounding events; or they are trying to be proactive, but don't understand the game, have no plan of action, and no understanding of their adversaries.  Both are recipes for failure.  You end up looking like uninformed complainers, offering no hope, and appearing hypocritical, not practicing what they preach.
 

The bible says, 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  As believers we should know our playbook, understand our plan of action, and be able to effectively implement the plays.  I'm not talking about formulaic responses, but truly understanding What God wants and expects and putting that to play in our lives.  Truly living for God is proactive and will cause a response in others.


Why is this the case?  The word itself explains this, Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  When we live out the word in our lives, and share our lives with others, it will naturally cause others to react to it, one way or the other.  It will either draw people in, or push them away.


The end game for the believer should be the same as God's in the 2nd half of 2 Peter 3:9 ..., not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  We should all be playing some role within the body of Christ towards that end.  We do that most  importantly by being obedient ourselves to that which God has called us to do, living rightly, using whatever talents and interests God has given us for the furtherance of the gospel.  Each of us has been given individual abilities, superpowers as it were, that we can use in His service.  Some pray, some preach, some provide, some sing, some clean up the mess, whatever.  It all goes to make the team run effectively.  That pass play won't work if the receiver runs the wrong route, or the lineman makes the wrong read and misses the blitzing linebacker.


Our touchdown is Jesus.  When we can lead someone to the foot of the cross and they accept Jesus as their Lord and savior, that is our score.  And the crowd goes wild! Luke 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. v10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. 


john3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  This is the gospel message.  It is the goal of the plan, the end game of the playbook.  Our whole lifestyle should be proactive in leading people to make this decision. 

It's Bacon!

The other day at my job, we had a holiday dinner at work.  Among the items served were, ham, beans with bacon, and green bean casserole with bacon.  For someone trying to cut out the pork products, that left me with the au graten potatoes, the dinner rolls, and the desert dishes. 


In a large setting you will always then end up with someone saying, "Aren't you having any ham?  It is so good!"  Followed by them trying to throw a big piece on your plate.  Then you explain that you are not eating pork and everyone suddenly kind of slides away from you at the break table.  They kind of get this, "oh, you are one of those" looks.


Seriously, If you are someone who has ever tried just dieting, you can have a hard time finding foods that will fit your diet.  But, you don't really notice that much until you start looking.  Going kosher is the same way.  Until you start making a conscious effort to do so, you just don't realize how many "unclean" foods we are being fed, and how much promotion goes into getting you to eat pig.


Have you ever tried going out to eat for breakfast trying to avoid pork?  You almost can't do it.  Bacon or sausage is the standard with nearly every meal.  Seriously, try it some time.  At McDonald's, for example, there are very few options that don't include pork.  A number of the small amount of items you can get are not even listed on the menu.  It's a secret menu item that you have to request.  Even the cashier are often unaware of them and have to call a manager to find it on the register.


It seems in the last few years, promotion of pork, especially bacon, has gone hog wild.  (pun intended).  I seem to recall this first with the old commercial with the dog  screaming, "IT'S BACON!!!!"  I think we people have gotten trained that way.  There are now bacon products for almost anything.  Bacon hot dogs, milk shakes, even edible bowls made of bacon that you can eat after you have consumed whatever it was (probably with bacon in it) in the bowl. 


People just seem to want to pig out on bacon.  (I know, another pun).  If you have a Facebook page, you can't escape people posting ridiculous bacon pictures of bacon wrapped in bacon deep fried in bacon grease, or some such thing.  It really has become a weird obsession with people; an addiction even.


Even Christians are in on this.  You will get a HUGE argument ending in being called a heretic and a false teacher if you happen to point out that the Bible says we should not eat pork.  That is one of the hottest no no's in all of Christendom it seems to say that God might want us to have a "clean" diet.  So many believers are stubbornly unwilling to give up anything they want as an act of service to God.  Our religion has become self centered and not God centric.  God serves us and we can do whatever we want is the easy believism cheap grace taught in many pulpits today.


No, choosing to eat kosher is not putting you or anyone else under the law.  No one is going to be dragging anyone to the edge of town and stoning them for disobeying God's and national law.  No one is going to hell, per se, for eating bacon.  But, there are consequences for our actions.


One of those consequences is our health.  How can anyone argue against God's diet as being the best one for us to live our days healthy?  Is anyone going to say God is wrong on His choice of diet that He would like us to consume?  Paul puts it this way, Is the law sin?  God forbid, for I would not have know sin if it were not for the law.  and John describes sin as being, "transgression of the law".  The kosher diet is the right one for believers, whether they want to admit it or not, or follow it or not.


The real question for believers is this, why are so many believers stubbornly opposed to what God has laid out for us to do?  The bible was fairly clear on this point that as a human, we are a stiff-necked and rebellious people.  There is none that seeks good.  We all want to do what is right in our own eyes, not God's.  It is our nature.


We have to be willing to and consciously submit our will to Gods each and every day, and on constant guard.  It is an act of praise and worship to be obedient to the most high.  It is putting God in his proper place in our lives when we submit ourselves to His ways and put aside our desires.  Is it easy?  No.  But, we have a helper residing in us when we are saved that will help us along the path of righteousness if we are willing to submit. 


Pork is not a need.  It is a want.  It is a desire.  When we put that want ahead of what God wants, we turn that desire into an idol.  With our actions, words and posts, we set up bacon as a false God to whom we are more willing to submit to than the Lord out God.  It is time we start paying attention to what God wants, and doing what God says we should do.  One can argue all they want about the "law", but when you look back before the "law" you see Noah loading animals based on clean and unclean standards set by God.  Something to consider.

Can You Handle It?

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine.  During the course of the conversation, my friend mentioned a common theme that many people believe is true but one that I am not so sure is.  The idea is this; that God will not give you more than you can handle.

This is a pretty common theme that I hear all the time.  I hear it from both church goers and unbelievers as well.  It is one of those "universal" themes that people seem to have about God.  I think that also in time of great difficulty it is kind of comforting to ones self to think that I can handle this because God would never give me more than I can handle.  Is this true?

The concept come from I Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.  It certainly seems here that this is indeed a statement right out of scripture that God will never give you more than you can bear.  But we need to look a little closer.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.  When we start out here we find the people to whom this is written in the same plight of those who use the saying, in a position of troubles.  But, what kind of troubles?  These are very specific issues with these people.  They are temptations that they have fallen to.  The temptation to which they have fallen, and so many others is the temptation to sin; or go against God's will.  We often find ourselves at our wits end in a situation where we have made a decision and are suffering the consequences thereof.  We've all been there and it is nothing uncommon.  We have all been disobedient and had to suffer the consequences.

but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able...  This is the part people like to take out.  We can handle anything because God won't let us get in over our heads.  We have to think about this one here a minute.  Yes, God is faithful...  faithful to whom?  God is faithful to His children.  If you are not a child of His, God is not obligated to be faithful.  This verse, after all, was written to believers.  It was for believers.  It is believers who will not be tempted above what they are able.  Unbelievers will not even see a temptation as a temptation.  It will not be something they would even be interested in avoiding.  An unbeliever will plow full steam into temptation and revel in it.  They might comfort themselves with these words, but they will continue doing the same things.

For the believer,  "but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."  The question is, what is that escape?  For the believer, that escape is the Word.  In Mathew 4 we see Jesus being tempted by the devil.  With each temptation, Jesus gave example for us on how to escape temptation.  It is written, it is written, it is written.  And it wasn't just the words, but also the fact that Jesus believed the words and obeyed the words.  Obedience to the word of God is the way of escape from temptation that will allow us to bear it.  If we are not going to be obedient to the word, we will not be delivered from the temptations.

The truth is this, God will allow us to get in way over our head.  He will let things get so bad sometimes that we have no clue what to do.  Everything will seem out of control, topsy-turvy, and one thing right after another until our heads are spinning.  We know from Romans 8:28  that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  If you don't love God, God may be using those circumstances to force you into a corner to make a decision.  The way of escape that God has for mankind is through His son Jesus Christ.  That is the whole point.  Without Jesus, we can't bear it.   The load of our sins that we have will cause us an eternity of torment beyond anything we can imagine.  We don't have to bear that weight though.  We can give it to Jesus.  Jesus is the way of escape from all the temptations we have fallen into, and obedience to God's ways will keep us from further temptations.

2 Peter 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Turn It Around

We got a lot of problems in our nation right now.  I don't think I need to go through the list because most of us in this country have an idea.  Republicans blame democrats, democrats blame republicans, conservative v liberals, black/white/brown, men v women, You name it, there is a side and an opposite duking it out.  Meanwhile there is the 400 pound gorilla sitting in the room.  The Gorilla is sin.


Sin is something that for us humans comes natural.  Lying, cheating, stealing, hating, blaming, accusing, slander, violence, bloodshed...  it's there throughout our history as the human race.  In the times we live in now, many sins are not only tolerated but even celebrated.  There does not seem to be much holding back the sinfulness any longer.  It goes on unabated and the sinners just puff their cigars and swig their brandy snifters all while chuckling their way to the bank enriching themselves with worldly lusts at the expense of others without even the slightest twinge of a guilty conscience.


Sin is a destructive force.  It decays and rots things away.  It leads to disease and war, famines and unrest.  No good end comes to where sin reigns.  Anger, hatred, suffering, poverty, and revolution are just some of the consequences that can be expected when sin has settled into a culture and permeates the fabric of a nation.  It is characterized by self centeredness and self pleasure with a lack of caring about others. 

I paint a grim picture, yes, but we are in grim times where we are witnessing what I have said and more.  Our future looks even dimmer as the consequences of sin bury us ever deeper into chaos and anarchy.    We are near the edge of collapse.


What we are seeing is a result of our choice as a people to walk away from Yahweh, the God of the Bible.  We rose from a tiny little union of loosely confederated states to the greatest and richest nation in the history of the world based solely upon the principles of God found in scripture and extrapolated into the national culture.  God honors those who honor him. 


We have long ago left that path though, removing Bibles and prayer from the everyday teaching of our people.  We took God and unceremoniously dumped him into the trash bins of our society and decided we in our greatness no longer needed His divine blessing or protection.  We've spent the last 50 years removing every symbol of God from our town symbols and public places.  The creator of the universe is relegated to a Sunday morning service in which many of the congregants don't even know God's ways much less desire to follow them.


While up until this point this seems like just one big rant, but it isn't.  I am taking a brief look at the state of affairs as they are and considering how they might be fixed.  There is only one way that I know of, and that is a revival.  We as a people have to turn back from our wicked ways and commit ourselves to follow the Lord, and to do what he says to do.


It's funny how some people can't even stand to have the ten commandments in a courtroom, but if we would humble ourselves just a little and decide to follow them instead of trashing them, we would see a turnaround like no one has ever seen.  Is it so bad to tell the truth?  to honor parents?  to not go after the neighbors wife?  Isn't it best to have fair business dealings and not to cheat people? 


I suppose in our sinful nature that might be too much to ask of any individual.  We don't have to do this in our own strength though.  God will help us.  He will empower us to do what is right.  He will give us a new heart that will desire to do what is good in the sight of Yahweh.  We just have to acknowledge that we are screwed up, that sin controls us.


Once we come to that realization, we are then open to accept Gods fix for our sinful ways.  God came down in flesh and dwelt among men.  He lived a perfect life that we are unable to.  He was beaten and killed; a punishment that we deserve for our wrongdoing.  He took all of our guilt upon himself and offers to give us His righteousness in exchange so that we might be reconciled with our creator, Yahweh.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.  If you love him, keep his commands.  Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.


The reward is far more long lasting than just seeing the repair of an earthly nation, but it comes with an eternal reward of spending eternity with our creator in a perfect place where sin and corruption do not exist.  There is no more pain, or sorrow.  The streets are made of gold and the gates of fine jewels.  A river of life runs through it.  It is hard to even imagine such a place.   No crimes, no hate, I don't know this for certain, but I don't even think there will be any dust bunnies collecting behind the sofa to have to clean up.  lol. 


The choice is yours.  As for me...  I choose the Lord.

Restoring Love

Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:


When I was a younger man, there were many things that I held onto in my heart that happened to me in my childhood.  I was angry about those things and rather than dealing with them, I stored them deep inside.  Perhaps it was because at the time I did not know how to deal with them, or I did not want to; maybe a bit of both.  Whatever it was, those hurts that went unresolved that I was mad about began to work on me. 


As time went on, I began to use that anger and those earlier events as an excuse.  They were things I would use to explain away my failures and shortcomings and lay the blame upon someone else rather than upon myself.  I became bitter towards those who I felt had wronged me; family, former friends, crowds, women...  whoever.
 

This bitterness took root in me.  I couldn't trust people.  They would only hurt me in the end; make fun of me, hurt me, reject me.  I isolated myself so that I couldn't be hurt.  This was only self perpetuating though.  You can't form good relationships with others if you don't trust.  It would only lead to more hurt and more blame; more hardness in the heart.
 

Over the years, I had become estranged from family, had few friends, and became somewhat of a hermit.  This continued even though I had accepted Jesus Christ into my heart.  There were other issues that the Lord had decided to deal with first.  I guess like an onion, He had to peel away the layers to reveal the next one.  While it is true that His word is sharper than a two edged sword, He uses it with skill and precision like a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon. 


While long ago I had dealt with some of those bitterness issues and let go of most of those burdens I carried, there were still things unresolved.  God just does not cut away the bad stuff, but He also heals and restores the good things.  He just does not take away the pain and leave an empty dwelling, but wants it filled with His love.


Over recent times, the Lord has reminded me what it is like to have friends.  He has slowly returned me to my family.  It's been a blessing that I really find difficult to describe.  It's been over 30 years since I have seen some of my family.  All those years I let be robbed because I let the sun go down on my anger, it grew into bitterness, showed forth as wrath, and led to malice.  I guess it takes time to root that stuff out?


It makes me think of another important aspect... fellowship with the spiritual family.  We are told not to forsake the gathering, but when you get angry and hold it in, you begin to set the stage for that fellowship to be cut off.  Not only with other believers, but with the creator himself we can find ourselves distanced from.  How can we hear our heavenly father when we have ought against our brother?  How can we be blessed when we can't bless?  While I certainly don't feel totally estranged from Yahweh, we could be closer, and in this restorative process I think that closer is what He wants.
 

It's a good thing to find out that you are loved.  It is especially sweet when you have not felt all that loved.  When rejection turns to reception we can rejoice on the reclamation.  Would you like to feel that restoration?  Would you like to feel the love that you have never felt or that has been put so far away from you that you can scarcely remember how it feels?


God so loved you that He came down here to earth in the form of a man, lived the perfect life that we are incapable of, and sacrificed it so that we may take His place in righteousness.  No greater love has someone than this, that he lay down his life for you.  That is what Jesus has done.  Accept His sacrificial offering and believe that Jesus is Lord.  Believe that he rose again on the third day.  Believe that He has ascended to be on the right hand of the father making intercession for us always.  He is making those intercessions for us so that we might have restored what sin has taken away, the devil has stolen away, and what we have given away.  Begin reading His word and applying it in your life, and let Him work in replacing anger and restoring love.

The Burden

Over the years, as a minister, youth leader, apologist, writer, teacher, friend, neighbor, I have spent a great deal of time sharing and expounding upon God and His word.  In all occasions, I have sought to, studied, and prayed that I was giving the truth of the word to the best of my understanding.  It is a great responsibility that not just leaders have, but every bible believer has, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 


It can truly be a difficult task with so many doctrines out there, so many different interpretations that seem almost contradictory to one another.  I've spent many years in debates over these differences.  I did so because somewhere within me lies this desire to want to know the right ways, and to be sure that I am sharing the truth with others.  I cannot imagine how I would feel if one day I discovered that I had led people astray.


My main goal and desire has never been to be right, or to uphold any church doctrines.  The most important thing on my heart that I want to share with others is the way to Jesus Christ and the salvation that He offers to all through His atoning death on the cross and His resurrection that allows us to have our sins forgiven and to be made right with our creator.  I want nothing more than to have others share in the joy of being reconciled with the Father through the Son. 


I also want to see believers living victoriously in Christ, learning to act and think as the Father.  To that end all scripture was given by inspiration of God and is profitable to that end of both salvation and living a holy life.  It is only through the power of the Holy spirit we receive at salvation that can empower us to do so.


It is a hard burden though.  There are many struggles.  You struggle with yourself, knowing how imperfect and unworthy you feel to carry out such a task.  You struggle with the enemy who throws out all sorts of confusing religious doctrines to muddy the waters.  You struggle with your emotions that desire so strongly for others to come to Jesus, and stay living in the way.  You worry about whether you yourself are teaching rightly.
 

I've only done these things on a small scale.  I can't imagine the weight of a mega church congregation all looking to you to steer them in the right direction and be the example they can all look to.  


We who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak the bible tells us.  Where do the strong go when they feel weak?  Where does the teacher go to get answers?  Sometimes the burden feels heavy.  I suppose that weight drives us to our knees where we can find answers and regain strength, lifting the burden so we can carry on. 


Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.