Posts Tagged → Christian
World Views
I often hear people complaining about politicians that are in Washington and how they should be replaced. I have been guilty of that many times but recently I have been seeing some things that that should have been obvious to me but I have had my head in the sand. The problems are not politicians but rather the world view of the people that are electing them. Many people have come to a point where they are either opposed to religion (atheist) or just do not know how they feel about it (agnostic). In either case, there is a lack of formal belief system. Without a formal belief system, people tend to change their values depending on what the majority of people believe.
In this day where the majority of our culture falls into this category of not having a formal belief system, the mass media shapes the values of the people. The media is a financially driven system where they are driven by ratings that equate to advertising dollars. We can all attest to the desire to go outside when there is a siren nearby. We are drawn out to see what it is about. The same holds true when people drive on the freeway and there is an accident. Even though the accident may only be on one side, both sides of the freeway are backed up because everyone drives slow to see what is going on. These are often referred to as “rubber neckers”.
This human nature of being attracted to a controversy is exploited in the media making their reporting suspect and lacking objectivity. If society’s value system is shaped by this non objective medium, then reality is skewed. If the people’s values are not based on a non moveable system of beliefs then people can be convinced to believe anything. The world cultures are swayed by the one with the loudest voice and with no standard of truth then people are constantly changing values. The dangerous part of all this is that our culture is being shaped by television, and radio that is only driven by ratings. Remember before that to get those ratings the media exploits this natural attraction to controversy. They report on any type of story as though it is a controversy and always take the angle that someone is a victim.
This reporting centers on the unjust behavior of passing judgment on others in the form of hatred. This so called hatred becomes hate speech and this become violence or a denial of someone’s freedoms. So the theme of the reporting is that the only real truth is that it is wrong to judge anything because in doing so, it is hatred. I am not talking about judging people but rather judging anything, behaviors, or whatever a person could conceive. Over time, this reporting has worked because no one has a belief system that is based on a unchanging truth. Once people have accepted that truth is relative except the one truth that judgment is wrong, then it is easy to convince people of the dangers of religion. They go the extra mile and single out one religion and that is Christianity. They portray Christianity as a tool of hate because it has immovable standards that cannot be twisted by the media.
In the world view where nothing is wrong except the passing of judgment, then there is no room for Christianity. This portrayal of Christianity is completely misrepresented but that is not relevant in their eyes. The end game is to eliminate anything that could be used to stifle unbridled chaos. If the Bible is true, then one must face the reality that a person’s actions DO have consequences. If the Bible is true then a person is responsible for the choices they make. This reality of a person being responsible for their actions is just too much for our society to take. We live in a society that does not want to take responsibility for their actions. I am old enough to see the changes over the years and see how society has changed.
Unfortunately for this generation, truth is still truth whether the people choose to acknowledge it or not. People often read stories like this and become hostile because their own conscience convicts them. They know what they are doing is wrong deep inside yet they convince themselves that if enough people believe it, then it is okay. They see stories like this and become anxious and mad at the person telling the story because they see it as passing judgment. Remember, in this culture, the only absolute wrong thing to do is to pass judgment. They often misquote the verse, Matthew 7:1 that says “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” They have shaped this verse to mean we are not allowed to judge anything or anyone. They take it out of context because they want to use the Bible as against those that would quote it. This verse is making a point that a person reaps what they sow. Basically if you judge you will be judged. If you forgive, you will be forgiven. You can see my point. This verse does not mean you cannot discern right and wrong.
People become hostile toward those that would claim Christianity and claim that the Bible passes judgment and if you believe it then you are passing judgment. They are completely wrong in this assessment. The Bible gives guidance how we are to live and is truth. We that have the world view that believe the Bible, we are not passing judgment but rather understand that we are incapable of living flawless according to the Bible. We understand that if we were able to do this, then there would be no reason for Jesus to die for our sins. I am as big of sinner as your average run of the mil axe murderer but I also understand that by grace, I am forgiven by my faith in Jesus’ death on the cross. I do think we have an obligation to live as the Bible tells us to but when we fail, we have an advocate that pleas on our behalf (1 John 2:1). As believers we get up when we fail and continue on. We do not beat ourselves up and see ourselves as unworthy. By ourselves we are unworthy but through Christ’s payment, we are worthy.
This story is not an attempt to pass judgment on anyone but rather to point out human nature because we are fallen by nature. God does forgive us but we have to repent, or have a meaningful change from our ways. Those of us that follow the Bible are failures by any measures. We get up when we fail and accept Jesus’ payment and go on. Every person in the Bible with the exception of Jesus were terrible sinners. David was a murdering cheat but God said he was a man after HIS own heart.
It seems to me that our problems in the world are not who the politician is but rather the world view of the people that are electing them. That includes myself in this assessment. Maybe we can focus our energy on doing God’s will and not on blaming the media, politicians, or any other groups. This early Saturday morning where my wife had to work left me thinking about the world and the condition of it. I just wanted to express my opinions on the issue.
Believe God
A friend sent me an email and pointed out a Bible scripture to me and it made me think. He told me that believing God is more important than believing IN God. When I began to think of the reality of this I remembered several places in the Bible where it said just that. This is a profound statement because we hear all the time that 80% of the people in this country believe in God. These polls are always pretty generic and basically all it says is that people believe in a higher being and not in THE God. We have heard many times starting all the way back to Adam and Eve that to sin means death. This death is not only a physical death but a separation from God. Since it is virtually impossible to live completely sinless, God gave us a way to be saved from this death by sending his son , a sinless man, to die and pay for our sins. This payment though free for us has a requirement that we believe. In Romans 10:9-10 it says…
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
According to this scripture it is important to not only believe but to speak it. The Bible puts so much weight into faith. The Bible repeats over and over again that faith is the moving factor that moves God. Although it is true that we are not saved by our works, the Bible is clear that if you have this faith you will have works. In James 2:18 it says…
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
This faith is not just a philosophy but a requirement. The Bible clearly says in Hebrew 11:6 that if you want something from God, that you must believe…
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Simply believing in God is not enough because even the devil himself believes in God. James 2:19 says…
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
When I say believe God as opposed to believing in God I mean that if a person believes God they will take what he says and follow his commandments. Yes there will be failures and thankfully when we do, we have a savior to advocate on our behalf 1 John 2:1…
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
There must be a change that is visible from the outside. If a person truly believes something there will be a visible sign. The person’s life will be noticeably changed. Just as was quoted in James 2:18 above, a true faith will have works…not as a requirement but simply as a result of that faith. Another thing that is interesting to note is how the Bible puts a lot of weight behind a confession of this faith. It is not easy to confess this faith to non believers. This confession is an outward expression of the faith that is within. This is not a small thing. Even in the prophetic words of Revelation during this 1000 years the people overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and by their words. Revelation 12:11…
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
This testimony is not just someone saying what someone else wants to hear. This is confessing their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior against all odds. In this story there was not physical reason for them to have faith. The appearance of things looked pretty gloomy. This is why I think it is important to tell people about your faith. I do not think it is necessary to push it down their throats. If they do not want to hear it then they have made their decision. If you truly believe that Jesus’ death saved you from eternal death then you want to tell people.
There are so many examples in the Bible about believing God as in trusting him. Remember the story of Abraham willing to sacrifice his son for God? In that case his faith was rewarded and a sacrifice was supplied. Romans 4:3 says…
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Abraham did not just believe in God, he believed God. He saw God for who he was and treated him that way. He understood that God was even more important than his own son. Abel’s faith resulted in works and that faith was recognized… Hebrews 11:4…
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
There are so many other examples that I could quote but the point is clear. Jesus died and paid for the sins that we were incabable of doing. The only way we can gain access to that payment is by faith. This payment is free for us if we will just take it but without faith it is impossible to please God. The only place that I have found in the Bible on how to gain faith is by hearing the word of God as spoken so clearly in Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The bottom line is that you must spend time in God’s word, the Bible if you are to gain faith. There is no other way around it. The world is against you so you need to spend time in God’s word or you will get beat up regularly. The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance the scriptures when the time comes. The Bible speaks of a time when you will be killed for his name. Matthew 24:9 says…
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
I must admit this scared me when I was younger. At the same time I was thankful for living in a Christian nation where people were friendly to Christianity. I knew this would come some day but thought that it would not come until after my life time. Over the last twenty years I have been shocked to see how those that oppose God have been very militant and gone to court to remove any reference to God in public life. I have spent many hours on Friendfeed being attacked for my faith. My point is that it is not something that is coming, but rather something that is here. Our country that use to be so friendly to Christianity has changed to a point that sees Christianity as a threat. The hostility is there and growing. I cannot tell you how important it is for you to spend time reading God’s word. Do not worry that you cannot understand it because the Holy Spirit will reveal it to you if you faithfully read it in faith.
I can remember a time when I would read the Bible with the intentions of proving it wrong. I remember I use to take scriptures out of context for the sole purpose to show contradictions. It was not until 1986 when I truly accepted Jesus as my Savior and desired nothing but him that his words were revealed to me. I get chills just remembering that time because it was real and it is still real. If you are a believer you need to spend time in God’s word and not worry about what people are going to say about you. They will attack you for sure and you know that. Jesus said in John 15:20…
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
If you are doing God’s will, the world WILL persecute you. There is no question about it. The only way you will be able to stand in that day is if you spend time in the Bible to keep your faith strong. The Holy Spirit will speak through you in that time. It is not about being good or being bad. It is about Jesus! If you do not believe me just try an experiment. Go into a room of unbelievers and begin a casual conversation about God in a generic sense. Most people will not have a problem with it but the moment you mention Jesus’ name you will see them squirm. They will either attack you, or change the subject, or just leave. There is power in Jesus’ name and if you do not spend time in God’s word, you will not have the faith to stand. Christian music will not do it for you. It has to be hearing the word of God. Remember, simply believing in God is not enough as even the devil himself believes. You must believe God. FAITH. You cannot get faith any other way than to spend time in God’s word. The world finds us as an annoyance now and in some cases as a threat. Soon and very soon we will not be tolerated. Now is the time to take this serious and believe God. I just want to thank my friend Jack for bringing this to my attention. This is something that I needed to hear myself. Sometimes we get so busy with life that we do not allow ourselves to have time for God. I am thankful to have friends that are there to remind me what is important.
God With Us
Who are we— that You would be mindful of us?
What do You see— that’s worth looking our way?
We are free— in ways that we never should be.
Sweet release— from the grip of these chains.
Like hinges straining from the weight,
My heart no longer can keep from singing.
All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.
My heart sings a brand new song.
The debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.
Lord, You know— our hearts don’t deserve Your glory;
Still You show— a love we cannot afford.
Like hinges straining from the weight,
My heart no longer can keep from singing.
All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.
My heart sings a brand new song.
The debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.
Such a tiny offering
Compared to Calvary;
Nevertheless,
We lay it at Your feet.
Such a tiny offering
Compared to Calvary;
Nevertheless,
We lay this at Your feet.
All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.
My heart sings a brand new song.
My debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.
Position Defined
As I browse through many social networking sites, I find myself taken back to 1992 when I was stationed at RAF Bentwaters in England. It was during this time when the presidential election had occurred and Mr. Bill Clinton had won. I must tell you that I am both socially and fiscally conservative meaning that I support policies that are both socially and economically conservative. As I have stated many times in the past, my measuring stick on what is right and wrong is the Bible. In fact I use the King James Bible as my source. During the 1992 presidential election I saw some traits about Bill Clinton that really bothered me. I saw him as both a social and fiscal liberal. It was his first act in office that confirmed my suspicion when he removed the restriction on the government paying for abortion at military facilities. He instituted the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy in the military relating to homosexuality in the military. This policy was a compromise though he wanted open homosexuality in the military.
These were just a few examples of my distrust of the man. My opposition to him was more socially than economic. Again, I thought he was catering to the extreme left in this country and forcing policies on the country that were not welcome except in the most liberal areas of our country. I spent eight years being angry at Bill Clinton. I genuinely hated him for his stand on issues. Many Christian friends of mine would point out to me that we are to pray for our leaders and not bad mouth them as I was doing. This only made me more angry that my own group was piling on me or so I thought. It was not until later after he left office that I realized they were right. I was so angry and full of discontent with his leadership and hostility to everything I believed that I could not even be rational. They were right in that I was wrong to hate him.
I spent eight years being angry when it was unnecessary. This was followed up by the presidency of George W. Bush. I voted for him twice and I must admit that I have been disappointed by him. My disappointment is for just the opposite reasons the media dislikes him. My problem with him is that he is not conservative enough. I was involved in electing the Republican revolution in 1994 when they promised many conservative agendas. They promised the “contract with America” with several policies they intended to pass in the first 100 days of Republican controlled Congress. The media came after them with full force. They called the agenda the “contract ON America” and successfully intimidated the Republican Senators and Representatives. They went after the then Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich labeling him as a right wing extremist. Since many in our country listen to the news media and actually believe they are neutral and have no agendas this tactic worked.
Despite having control of both houses of Congress, the Republicans were useless. They cowered to the media fearing they too would be attacked. What the Republicans failed to see was that whatever they do, it will always be painted as right wing extremism by the media. They have taken the road of appeasement as opposed to getting anything conservative done. With each election our Republican leaders have failed to deliver on promises to their conservative constituents. They have promised the world and delivered nothing. Their appeasement has worked in keeping their jobs though many in the conservative movement have reached the end of our trust of them.
John McCain was chief among these Republicans that turned on us while being a Senator. Time after time he voted on key issues with the Democrats. The media gave him the name “Maverick” and he wore it like a badge of honor. I truly believe that to this day John McCain still fails to see where he went wrong. He was elected, and reelected over and over again and turned his back on his constituents. John McCain has earned the title RINO which stands for Republican in name only by many conservatives. As time went on conservatives were left with no one to vote for. There are many like myself that are tired of voting for the lesser of the two evils. I have reached the point that I will not vote for someone just so the other candidate will not win. I think it was time for our side to lose big so they will be reminded that they do have a constituency that they owe. They will either back their constituency or not be reelected.
Along comes the 2008 election where Barack Obama wins the election. I have mixed feelings with him. There are many problems that I have with him and one of them is his mixed signals when it comes to his profession of Christianity. He claims Christianity but then back peddles when asked to clarify that he is born again or even believes Jesus’ statement that he is the way, the truth, and the life and that there is no way to get to God except through him. Another is the unwavering support for his preacher Mr. Wright that is clearly racist and preaches racism in his own church. Many times Mr. Obama claimed that he went to this church for 20 years and never had a problem. Only when the heat was applied during the campaign when several unflattering videos of Mr. Wright appeared on Youtube did Obama retract that support. It is my belief that this retraction was not genuine and Barack Obama does have the same racist beliefs as Mr. Wright. It is hard for me to imagine going to a church that preached this message for more than 20 years and continuing to go if a person did not believe it.
Putting all this aside and taking the advice of my Christian friends who earlier told me to pray for our leaders I would like to say that I am willing to give Barack Obama a chance. I am actually happy that we can say we have our first black presidents though I have extremely powerful reservation on his stand on issues. I refuse to spend the next eight years being angry like I did in 1992. I really believe God is in control and that Barack Obama can possibly be a good president with our prayers. I am tired of playing all the political games. I am tired of all the divisiveness and hate. I choose to be happy and I encourage those conservative friends around me to do the same. God is bigger than the situation and to deny that is denying his ability to reign. After all, if you think about it, if John McCain would have won, you would have more of the same lip service while turning his back on us. This election would have been another disappointment with John McCain in office as well.
This reminds me of a Veggy Tales episode that I saw when my kids were young. Veggy Tales is a Christian cartoon where talking vegetables often told a moral story illustration God’s love and power. There was an episode where one of the characters was scared of the “boogey man”. The group sang a song “God is bigger than the boogey man”. After all these years that kids show has stuck with me. I am actually singing it inside 
. The message of that song was so simple and is still true to this day. I am not calling Barack Obama the boogey man by any means. I do not see him as a bad man but rather a man with differing moral views than I have. Nevertheless I believe with God in control, he can be a good leader. I fully expect a lot of heat over my stand and that is fine with me. I think having faith in God is way more important than being angry and ruining my family life. The Bible said in Hebrews 11:6…
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Do you believe it? I do!
Lifeshare
I have been seeing a lot of logos all over Facebook about something called Lifeshare. I stumbled on someone’s post saying they were about to go live so I clicked on the link and found over 100 people gathered to watch a live video stream of several people talking about how they have a dream to use our online spaces to spread the word about Jesus. This site appears to be a service of Lifechurch, a multicampus church that is just telecasting one Pastor to multiple places over a television. I was intrigued so I kept watching. They said a few prayers and gave examples of how their online presence could be used to share the good news of Jesus. Some were using Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, blogs, and a new toy called Gospelr. Gospelr is a microblogging service simalar to Twitter but geared toward sharing the gospel among others. This service even interfaces with Twitter so that when you send a message on Gospelr it also sends it on Twitter adding a watermark “Gospelr” at the end. It must be something if it made it on the front page of Techcrunch, a technology related blog.
While I am sometimes skeptical about methods like this that can be confused with conforming to the world, I am willing to give them a chance if they are Christ centered and preach Christ as the only way to salvation. Being someone that is naturally attracted to new technology related toys, I always try these things out. I must say that I was impressed by the enthusiam the group had for sharing the gospel. At first I was afraid the motivation may be to spread their group and the toys, using Jesus instead of the other way around. I did not leave with that impression. I enjoyed myself enough that I plan on participating again. I love to learn about Jesus through the Bible. One resource that I have found that is amazing is the teaching series of Les Feldick. He starts in Genesis, and goes right through Revelation. He makes a point to tell you if something is his opinion or scriptural. I want to use our online presence to spread the gospel as well and not be tempted to get carried away with the toys and forget why we are on.
My church, Eastpointe Community Church is similar to Lifechurch and has a similar style. I feel comfortable in this type of environment. I think we have such a huge platform, that it is ashamed to waste it. I find myself bashing the media for bias. Maybe instead of bashing it, we should join it and change it from within. Is there any rule that says Jesus can not be on the media? As one Pastor said once, instead of cursing the darkness, shine a light. Maybe these guys have a good idea. I will keep checking it out. Well it is getting late so I better get this posted.
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.
John 14:6, KJV
Homesick
You’re in a better place, I’ve heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I’ve rejoiced for you
But the reason why I’m broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you
I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
I’ve never been more homesick than now
Help me Lord cause I don’t understand your ways
The reason why I wonder if I’ll ever know
But, even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same
Cause I’m still here so far away from home
I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
I’ve never been more homesick than now
In Christ, there are no goodbye
And in Christ, there is no end
So I’ll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again
And I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
I’ve never been more homesick than now
The Coloring Song
I stumbled on this video on Youtube and I have not heard it for more than ten years. This is The Coloring Song by Petra.
Everything
I found this video on GodTube of a song from Life House called Everything. It is a very powerful video about someone being overcome and trying to get to Jesus while the world holds her back. It looks like some act that was put on by some church members with a song playing in the background. I must admit that it really moved me. If you are a believer and this does not put a tear in your eye, then you are stronger than me.