God provides a way

I have been away from this for several weeks now and I apologize for the absence. I have had quite a few contracting production jobs that I really needed in the last couple of weeks. These jobs on top of my job search has made blogging take a back seat. Rest assured I really enjoy bringing the gospel to bear on the day to day of life and will be blogging as often as I can for the sake of directing my heart and others to the great glory of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

The last time I blogged I promised to talk about a fourth thing to consider when it comes to Halloween. Many would call this an alternative or a substitute but I believe that God in His great grace and mercy ordained that there be a great thing for Christians to celebrate on this day. October 31st is reformation day. It is considered the beginning of the protestant break from Roman Catholicism. Every single church that exist apart from the Orthodox, Anglicans and the Roman Catholics owes its existence to the break that began on this day. It was this moment in history when Martin Luther pounded the 95 Thesis on the door of the church in Wittenberg. It was this action that began the separation that became protestantism and ultimately has birthed evangelicalism. For modern Christianity this is perhaps one of the most important days on our calendar. Why? Well we need to remember the things that caused this separation.
We need to keep before us the points that many of these reformers gave their lives to make. Because without these basic things kept before us we are prone to repeat the errors, that led to the problems, that caused a need for reformation. These are the sort of things that can help to fortify our children's hearts and faith. Reformation day is a really great time to celebrate the lives and the issues that birthed the vibrant rich Bible saturated churches that we have today. We need to remember these things lest we lose them.

I am all for remembering the birth the death and the resurrection of Jesus. But keep in mind we would not have the opportunity to know and enter into an unmediated relationship with Jesus were it not for the reformation. I am not really arguing for an alternative to halloween I am advocating that we embrace something that God in His grace ordained to happen on this very same day. I believe God gave us this so that we could be engaged in something that was God glorifying. Something that could completely crowd out the worldly pagan celebration that we call halloween. I hope that this gives you food for thought as you consider what you do in the future so that you and your families might live a more God focused life.

When words speak louder than...words

A discussion with a friend reminded me of one of those things that pagans do that reveals a tacit admission that they know there is a God. This acknowledgement means that they are without excuse and are actively suppressing the truth (Romans 1:18-19).

What is this acknowledgment? It is found in the words that they say. When someone gets angry at someone or something they quite often declare that God should enter into the situation and bring damnation upon it. They will declare this at inanimate objects if they happen to produce physical pain for them i.e. dropping a box on ones foot or smashing a finger in a door. What I find remarkable about their request for God's damnation is that it will even be shortened to just His name, or just Jesus Christ name. So what? Well I have yet to hear any other name under heaven used in this way. I have never heard anyone asking Buddha or Mohammed to damn anything. Why?

Let's think about it. When someone is in a situation like this they are looking for some means of mental satisfaction. The average pagan innately hates God. They usually claim that there is no God or that they cannot know there is a God. Yet these very same people will readily call on His judgment on something in their pain and anger. I propose that calling on God in this manner gives the pagan a mental satisfaction that calling on Buddha or Mohammed cannot give.

Our pagan is angry or in pain. They want something to salve them mentally. They have usually already judged God declaring that He cannot be good and all powerful by allowing so much pain and suffering in the world. So they trot out the use of His name in a frivolous and blasphemous manner. In a sense they say if you won't take care of eliminating the pain and suffering then damn the pain and suffering. This frivolous use of God's name or Jesus name makes them feel powerful because for a moment they have verbally shaken their fist at the God that they hate. They have defied this God that they hate by breaking His law of not blaspheming His name. The mental satisfaction that they derive from this activity can only exist because there really is a God and His Son's name really is Jesus the Christ. Buddha and Mohammed simply will not satisfy because neither of them are truly God. So the next time you hear someone swear with God's name or Jesus name realize that their reference to God is damning. Their words are self satisfying because there really is a God for them to be angry with, and no matter what they declare to the contrary their use of His name shows that they know He exists. Their blasphemous words speak so loudly of God's existence that their denials of His existence are mere whispers of irrationality. So instead of getting offended by them, recognize their self condemnation evident in the very words that they use. Allow their personally damning actions to drive you to pray for them and perhaps share the gospel with them. The best example of grace they may ever see may issue from the love of a person living a God focused life.

Looking for love in all the wrong places

A headline on CNN this week read, "18 killed amid panic at Germany's 'Love Parade'". The Love Parade started in Germany in 1989 a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It has been held every year since. It was created to be a political statement. They were calling for international understanding and peace. The creators thought they could do this through love and music. So this big music festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of people has continued until this year when 21 people died at the festival in a crowded underpass. People came looking for peace and love and found death. Things like this exult in man's ability to solve his own problems. Seeking peace in man whose biggest problem is sin is a futile enterprise. There will never be peace as long as there is sin. Jesus was the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). He told the disciples that He was leaving them a peace that was different from the world. He said that He was leaving His peace with them (John 14:27). The world's peace is an empty promise that it never delivers on. God's peace is available to anyone who repents of their sinful ways and trusts Jesus as their Lord. The peace that we receive from the Holy Spirit is one that the world cannot understand (John 14:16-17). Why does the world not understand it? Because they have not received the Holy Spirit and they are not interested in keeping God's commandments. I am not talking about developing a legalistic righteousness. But Jesus Himself said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Was Jesus calling us to be legalist? No! If you love someone don't you do things that will please them. If God has placed a love in your heart for Jesus and His kingdom you will find yourself longing to keep His commandments. This is not to make you more righteous but this is simply to take you to the feet of Jesus. Those who desire to live a God focused life will find their hearts embracing and seeking after God's law as a means of knowing Him better.

Eclipse...of reason

There is a really insightful article on foxnews on the newly released movie Eclipse, called, "Conservative Imprinting In 'Eclipse'?" While the article is insightful in pointing out some trends and counter culture conservative morals in the movie it fails to realize the greater point of those morals. Morality is never just morality for moralities sake. Morality is rooted in something for a reason. Morality in western culture has been derived from the moral law of God as we find it in the Bible. This is one of the reasons why morals and law seem to go hand in hand. We see the opposite all the time because immorality often leads to unlawful acts. What we often miss though is that the goal of morals or the moral law is not to restrict us but to reveal to us what is pleasing to God. This is why David could say that the law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul...and...the precepts of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart (Psalm 19:7-8). The idea of making the soul alive and causing a heart laden with sin to rejoice is not a picture of restriction. David says in the same verses that they make the simple wise and they are so pure they enlighten the eyes. So they give us understanding and they help us to see things more clearly. David sees them as so desirable that he paints them as valuable as gold and sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:10). How many people do you know that feel this way about God's law. The point of God's law is to bring us to God. We will never be more satisfied then when we are satisfied in Him. This is where the morality of Eclipse while it might be a good formal acting out of morals is totally bankrupt. The heros in the movie maintain their morality and virginity but to what end and for what reason. Simply love waits...I guess. But you see if the vampire gets the girl in the end she will be joining the undead who cannot give birth because that would be the opposite of what they are. We also know that vampires are the enemies of God because they hate the cross. So if the heros win and maintain their morals then they will be together forever damned. How is that supposed to be a fulfilling end??? The point of morals is to bring is into greater fellowship with God in the context of all of life. Because of morals all of life becomes an act that leads to worship of God. Maintaining virginity until marriage is so that we come into marriage celebrating and consummating the relationship in a way that mirrors Jesus own fidelity for His bride and His bride's fidelity for Him. The goal of morality is to truly engage in the most awesome thing that anyone has ever conceived of -- namely to stand in the presence of the most awesome being that has ever existed. So join with David and delight in God's law and meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1:2).

Why would Steve Jobs and Apple care about porn

Interesting blog on Apple and porn can be found over at a fellow bloggers site. What intrigued me about the issue is the justification and reason that Job's gave for not allowing porn apps on the iOS line of products. He actually told a potential customer that if they wanted porn they could buy someone else's device. But the main reason is apparently the protection of children from porn. This has resonated so well in the marketplace that Microsoft has announced that Windows Mobile 7 will be porn free. What does this all mean? Everyone understands at a base level that this is the right thing to do. Why? Because God's moral law is written on the heart of men. They may not acknowledge that the source of their morality lies with God but they still adhere to His morality even if it is inadvertent (Romans 2:15). Jesus said that if we look at a person with lust in our hearts we have committed adultery with them already (Matthew 5:28). So while Jobs cites that he is protecting children and Microsoft just makes a declaration they are both bending their knee to the Lordship of Jesus who is the author of the law. Pray of the leaders of Microsoft and Apple that God may indeed bring them into His kingdom and cause them to be ambassadors for His kingdom. In the meantime lets be sure to maintain a covenant with our own eye's so that we are not led astray from a God focused life.

God's pours out grace in abundance

Tonight we were able to share our faith for several hours at a local street fair where God has graciously allowed us to have a booth. Our goal in going there is to simply spread the seed of the gospel and pray that the Lord of the harvest will cause it to take root and bring souls to Him. God was abundantly gracious to us. A great group of like minded people joined us as we proceeded to share the gospel through tracts and personal evangelism. God brought many to hear. The number of people coming to us was so many and so continuous that we were looking at 9PM and tear down time and it really seemed like almost no time at all had past. I am amazed at the overwhelming number of people that He brought to us tonight. We did nothing to deserve this or merit it. We did nothing clever. There was no advertising gimmick. We simply have set up a booth at the street fair like we have for the last four years. God sent the people. All I can say is the we serve a God who does so much more than we could ever ask or think. He is magnificent and merciful. Pray for the many people who heard the gospel tonight. Pray that God will bring a great harvest to Himself for His glory. Pray that God will protect our souls from pride. That He will help us to keep our eyes on Him the author and finisher of our faith. Pray that He would be the apple of our eye and that we would remain focused on Him and His glory.

Sometimes even pagans acknowledge the wisdom of God

There is a social article on CNN.com called, "I believe in evolution, he doesn't". The article is in a "dear Abby" like column where Wendy Atterberry (aka: the Frisky) weighs in on peoples questions about life. What caught my attention about the article is the way that the Frisky ends up advising the couple. She basically says, "that beliefs are the basis for entire life philosophies values and behavior." She goes on to say that, "if the couple can't talk nicely about it (evolution vs. creation) now, it won't get any better later." She says that if she is not willing to accept him as an equal and back off then she should probably move on. Wow!! I almost could not believe what I was reading. God tells us in His word to not be unequally yolked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). This woman is basically saying something similar but not exactly the same. She is pragmatically pointing out that it probably will not work and she would be better moving on. As a Christian I would be saying to the guy, "Do you really love God more than your evolutionist girlfriend?" Because at the end of the day if you really love God more, then the girlfriends beliefs will have to change or there will always be dissension, which is not pleasing to God. But what is really going on is that the guy probably really loves the girl more than God. So the issue is that he is trying to reconcile it all into one package. You may say that this is hard but Jesus is the one who said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me (Matthew 10:37-38).” In this case the guy has chosen the girl over the cross, and it is the girl getting the good advice from a pagan source. This is one more indication of how far a Christian can drift from the mooring of glorifying God in whatever they do (1 Corinthians 10:31). What is the solution? We need to get people to turn back to pursing God passionately with all that they are.

What are we looking for in the search for freedom?

Today's blog has been triggered by an article on CNN called, "Bikini or headscarf -- which offers more freedom?" In it the woman who is being interviewed by Oprah is discussing how she married a muslim and how her daughter has taken to wearing a head scarf. She talks about the way that wearing a bikini as a young woman gave her a sense of power and freedom. She goes on to speak of how that same thing is happening for her daughter in a different way through the head scarf. What I find interesting in all of this is the base assumption that everyone tacitly understands. That assumption is that we need to be freed. No one really talks about what we are seeking to be freed from, just that we need to be freed. What kind of freedom does a woman in a bikini get? She gets the freedom to control the attention of men. She gets the freedom to express (or expose as the case may be) herself. This is essentially a grabbing of attention using her body. It is man centered. It is a re-enacting of the lie the serpent told Eve in the garden. You shall be as god's (Genesis 3:5). The head scarf is the same sort of thing turned inside out. The woman in the head scarf is submitting herself to Allah and essentially working her way to heaven. The same lie out of Genesis applies here. She is seeing herself as capable of appeasing god somehow. She has power with god because of what she does. Romans 3:10-12 sums it up nicely by saying no one does  good not even one. When people do things in the flesh that are for the sake of personal freedom pay attention. In most instances what they want freedom from is freedom from a righteous and holy God. The girl in the bikini wants to be free of moral restraint. The woman in the head scarf wants freedom from a God that you cannot please or satisfy with your actions. You see God has written His law on our hearts (Romans 2:15). Our consciences seek to accuse us or excuse us. Our hearts should go out to these people. We have found freedom in Christ (Galatians 2:4, 5:1). As we pursue a God focused life it is my prayer that God would cause us to share our freedom in Christ with those who have not yet come to experience that freedom.

Grassfire or misfire???

I receive e-mails from a political action group called grassfire because I signed a petition at the urging of a friend a few years ago. I received a new request to sign a petition on May 17th. It was for another group called the Media Research Center. Here are the opening lines of the petition request.

The Media Research Center has just launched an important
petition opposing Comedy Central's plans to air a cartoon
series about Jesus Christ called "JC" where he would move
to New York to "escape his father's enormous shadow."

I'm urging all members of our team to read the details
below and then sign this important MRC petition.

Before you just close this window I really want you to read this and consider what our response as Christians ought to be. I looked up the source material on the Media Research Center web site. The first is an article called "Jesus, Mohammed, and Comedy Central". The second is the actual petition that you can sign called, "Petition Opposing Comedy Central’s New Faith-Bashing Show and the Anti-Christian Double Standard". These are links that will take you to these sites if you so desire.

To begin who are the people who are promoting this hatred of Jesus Christ. And make no mistake they are bashing the Jesus of Christianity not the Jesus of Mormonism or the Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses (I know these are both cults but this is an important distinction). If they were bashing the Jesus of these cults they would not cast Jesus as the Son of God. The people at Comedy Central that are planning on making this cartoon series are natural men. They are spiritually dead. They are pagans and we can expect them to do pagan things. The truth is they hate God and the idea of God for good reason (Romans 1:18-25). They are under God's wrath for their unrighteousness. They cannot truly understand a Christians reaction to these things because our reason for not liking them is we have been made spiritually alive and they are spiritually dead (1 Corinthians 2:14). They particularly hate Jesus because He will ultimately testify of the evil of their deeds (John 7:7). In short we should expect the unsaved pagan world to hate Jesus and ultimately to hate us (John 15:18-19, 1 John 3:13).

This presents a dilemma for us as Christians seeking to live a life that is focused on God. The unsaved world has a certain amount of respect for Muslims because their faith is not a true faith. Their faith is a faith that claims you can repent and do good works that will appease their god. In a sense they make man powerful and able to influence God. The Muslim makes demands that comedy central not do something and they capitulate because there is no real condemnation from Mohammed or Islam. We are called by Christ to be different. In Matthew 5:39 Jesus called us to not resist the one who is evil...but to turn the other cheek. The actions of Comedy Central are evil and have a blasphemous and evil intent. Surely they have slapped all of us as Christians. Should we be responding by demanding to be treated with the same respect as Muslims and other cults? Wouldn't Jesus have us turn the other cheek? Paul in Romans 12:19 calls us never to avenge ourselves but to leave it to the wrath of God. After all vengeance is God's and He will repay.

The second part of our dilemma is how do we love these folks at Comedy Central? In Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus clearly calls us to love our enemies. He wants us to be different from the world. If you read the petition you will find that it is not different from the world. It is demanding that we be treated like the rest of the world. It asserts our rights and makes accusations. I do not see how anyone at Comedy Central will feel loved upon receiving this petition. We have an opportunity before us to do something different from the world and yet it looks like we are going to botch it. What we should be doing is seeing this as an open confession of their sinful hearts. Then we should figure out how to reach out to these guys and demonstrate the love of Jesus to them. At this point we would be demonstrating a trust in the ability of the Holy Spirit to convict them of their sins (John 16:7-11). Brothers and sisters lets not start a grassfire on this one. I believe it will only be a misfire that is bound to backfire. Lets instead seek to live a God focused life and realize that He has got this under control. This should free us to love those who are doing this evil in a way that perhaps might bring them to the feet of Jesus. After all isn't that what were here for anyway?

The threat of prayer

As I reflected on yesterdays post, it occurred to me that those who oppose prayer have a real problem on their hands. First of all many of those that oppose Christian prayer claim to be atheist. That is they do not believe in any God. Now I do not believe in the tooth fairy or the easter bunny or celebrating halloween, but I do not go around trying every legal thing within my power to shut those things down. Why because they have no power over me. Interestingly enough the atheist involved in bringing lawsuits and the ACLU have overlooked on multiple occasions Muslim prayers or Hindu prayers. Why? These prayer hold no threat for them. They are no threat because they do not have any power over them or over anyone for that matter. But Christian prayer is a different story. Romans 1:18-20 tells us that something within them recognizes God. They suppress their recognition of God. One of the ways that they do this is by squelching Christian prayer any time they can. This action by the atheist of our world to try and squelch Christian prayer no matter what else they may say is an admission that these prayers are a threat to them. By opposing Christian prayer they make a tacit admission that the God of Christianity is real and that He threatens the life and existence without God that they desire. So take heart when the world opposes you. It is not so much you they oppose but Jesus Christ who indwells you by the Holy Spirit. Rejoice when the pagan opposes you because what they recognize within you is God's image. You have been counted worthy to face opposition for living a God focused life (Acts 5:40-41).

Cheating in a culture without God

There is an article out today on Yahoo about how rampant cheating hurts China's research ambitions. I am drawn to this because this problem will get worse in America as we drift further away from the God of Christianity. China has actively worked to suppress religion throughout its modern history. This has resulted in a culture that has no authority to answer to outside of the state. All men even men in China know that there is a God (Romans 1:19). The problem is that they have suppressed the truth of God and believed a lie in order to alleviate their consciences. What this has produced is a society that for the most part will cheat, plagiarize and resort to ghostwriting to get by. The article sites that in research papers bought and sold in 2007 fully 70 percent were plagiarized. This points to a moral decay in the society that can only be helped by one thing. Bringing the Lord Jesus to the people of China will reform their hearts. This happens in an effective manner when people really come to know Jesus. The Holy Spirit living within them convicts of sin and the need for righteousness (John 16:7-11). But the bigger issue I see is the increasing moral decay in the United States. As a society we are drifting away from God. This is happening for a variety of reasons but the single biggest issue lies at the feet of pastors and their churches. What has happened is we have taken the presentation of a message oriented around the unchanging and awesome God who has rescued us from eternal damnation, and replaced it with a message that is oriented around the people and their world. The God in this second message is the means to an end and the end is us. He serves us. This is a far cry from the message of Jesus to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24). What has happened is most people who attend church are comfortable with allowing that and perhaps devotions in their home to be the biggest expression of public Christianity that they make. We have become a society of Christians consumers living in our Christian ghetto content to let the world go. The majority of people manning the oars in the boat of our society are pagan. They have no moral base outside of the tattered remains that have been passed down from our forefathers. The direction they are rowing us is away from the light of the gospel. How can this change. Politics will not do it. The only answer that can rescue a society adrift is for Christians to live like Christians. We must bear the glory of Jesus to the people that we meet. If we do not share the marvelous message of Jesus redemption with them they will not hear and if they do not hear they cannot believe (Romans 10:17). The only hope for a changed society begins with you and me being willing to live God focused lives to the glory of Jesus Christ.

Is there a reason to agree with Sam Harris? Why?

Today I will conclude my dealing with Sam Harris's talk on why we should ditch religion at the TEDs conference. I have addressed some of the issues raised by Sam Harris and qouted by John D. Sutter in an article on CNN.com called, "Philosopher: Why we should ditch religion." These comments in the article are recaps from his 20+ minute video presentation on the TED web site. (There is a link to it in the link above if you want to see it.) Sam's case is an emotionally charged one. He makes the statement that, "Religion has convinced us that there's something else entirely other than concerns about suffering. There's concerns about what God wants, there's concerns about what's going to happen in the afterlife." This statement is a legitimate statement if there is no God. But as I have talked about in earlier blogs Sam has not made His case that there is no God. Rather Sam has made the case for suffering and the insufficiency of religion using appeals to human dignity and man's knowledge as ultimate determinate factors without explaining the basis for either. Sam depends on God's image in man without acknowledging that dependence. However I would agree that the Christian church is often too caught up in trying to force unsaved pagan people to live a life that is moral by God's standards. The pagan man hates God (Romans 1:30). We are not called by Jesus to change the actions of people. Changing peoples actions makes us Pharisees (Matthew 9:11, 12:2). God said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Since we cannot change the heart of men our job is not to change pagan men and women but to introduce them to the one who can change their hearts. 
Sam also talked about how there is no reconciling Islam and Christianity and indeed he is correct. The problem is that Sam sees all religions as the same and here is the fatal error. Jesus made it clear in John 14:6 that He is the way the truth and the life and that no man comes to the Father except through Him. This then explains the problem with all religion outside of the Christian faith. It is the need of Jesus to be the central figure in the lives of those that would be reconciled to God that drives Christianity. We do not kill or force our belief on others because it is God that changes their hearts. What do we do? We kindly and compassionately share the gospel with those that God places in our lives. Our heart for them is to save them from God's wrath. If they reject that then they are rejecting God. At that point our focus should be to live God focused lives before them. The only way the society will be changed is if Jesus Christ first changes us.

Christian consumers

Last week I talked briefly about Christian businesses. Let's discuss the issue of Christian consumers. Forget the fact that some people are just simply never satisfied with anything. That is a different issue for a different topic. Today I would like us to consider how we represent Jesus when we go out into the world. For instance if you have a fish logo or other Christian items affixed to the rear of your vehicle that's great. My question for you is does your driving show a respect and high regard for the authority that God has placed over you. Do you normally speed down the road and cut people off? Those items on the back of your car are telling the world your allegiance. What about when you go out to eat. If your waiter or waitress see you pray before you eat do they get a good tip for a job well done? Or do they walk away grumbling because you give them a skimpy tip? You see when we go out into the world we might be the only representation of Jesus that these people ever see. It is becoming more and more common for me to find people who do not even know why Jesus came when I go out and street witness. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” This is just a gentle reminder that we are ambassadors of the King of kings. Do people see our lives reflecting a focus on God?