Saturday, January 15, 2011
Dedication
This networking site is strictly dedicated to the respectful exchange of thoughts among existing friends and as a means of making new friends … as we (together) seek to understand God’s truth; pursue goodness within this world of evil; shed light on the paths of those who walk in darkness; empowering and equipping one another to be the people of God. It has the two-fold desired outcome of bring comfort to the afflicted and affliction to the comfortable. All postings must refrain from bad language, gossip, insult, outbursts of anger, and every form of malice. If you want to become a friend and making postings that are peaceable and considerate, then welcome! I pray God will bless our dialogue with His presence!
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Accepting everything means you believe in nothing. When it comes to right and wrong, sitting on the fence won’t get you – or the people you love – anywhere. Passiveness is not love. Rather, love is getting in people’s faces and telling them the truth.
ReplyDeleteYou and I have friends, members of our family, and a nation that is about to go over the edge. They don’t know it. They don’t even see it coming, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s true.
We have fooled ourselves as a society that if we don’t hear it, see it, or speak about it; well then it just doesn’t exist and all is well in our world. The truth is this: There is much evil in our world even though we turn our backs to it and pretend it’s not there. We actually are condoning it by doing nothing about it.
In 2 Timothy 4:2-5 we read – “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”
Sadly, there are Christians who think Jesus said to His disciples – “Go into all the world, teaching all men to live any way they want, and urging each to find his or her own path to God. Let not any one of you make someone feel inferior or victimized because of their beliefs. Above all, be tolerant. Verily, verily, I say unto you that what you believe and how you live do not matter, so long as you are sincere. And if you choose to come to the Father (or Mother, if you prefer) through Me, that’s cool. Now go forth to live according to whatever feels good to you.” And there was much rejoicing! What Bible translation was that! You won’t find that in any passage of scripture; yet, there are plenty of people alive today who live as if that’s exactly how the Bible reads. It seems that everybody wants to be cool with everybody else. Nobody wants to offend others or be thought of as narrow-minded or intolerant.
It’s tough being a Christian in today’s world, isn’t it? You want to follow Jesus; you want your friends to know about Him; but whenever you start talking about the Bible and what’s right and wrong, everyone jumps up and calls you a judgmental bigot. After all who are you to say what is right and what is wrong? And so, you keep your mouth shut. Or maybe you’re the kind of Christian who just wants to get along. Jesus promoted a life of peace, right? You’re wondering why you can’t love Jesus and the next guy love Buddha. The problem with that is you don’t fit in with some of your friends because you say you love Jesus … a name many prefer to curse or take in vain.
I want to encourage you in your Christian walk. If you’re feeling paralyzed in your walk with Jesus; if you’re fearful of what might happen if people find out what you truly believe; I want to take you to a new place where you will gladly stand up for Jesus Christ … no matter what the cost. I want to bring you out of the darkness of political correctness into the light, peace, and freedom of the truth. I want to take you from hypocrisy to consistency; from moral cowardice to moral confidence. I want to show you that it’s not just uncomfortable to be a Christian and be friends with the world at the same time – it’s impossible! I want you to speak out for the Lord out of love for your friends.
ReplyDeleteJesus didn’t say He was one of the ways to get to God; He said He was the only way. When it comes to being intolerant, Jesus is the leader of the pack. He will not let you stay on the fence.
As I said at the outset: Accepting everything means you believe in nothing. When it comes to right and wrong, sitting on the fence won’t get you – or the people you love – anywhere. Passiveness is not love. Love is getting in people’s faces and telling them the truth. I believe the Scriptures are straight forward; I believe Jesus was straight forward; I believe we too must be straight forward with people and be clear about all matters in life.
Tell me what you think. Do you agree or disagree? Let’s start the dialogue. My future postings will hit on current event topics for which the Bible speaks clearly. Please join me in this Christian World-and-Life view.
This topic’s timing is impeccable. I am in complete agreement. My life is going through major transitions at present. When I reflect back, I have concluded my happiest and most secure days were in my late teens. I had a strong, committed group of friends that were very much aware of who they were and what they stood for. We were of different faiths, but all Christians.
ReplyDeleteThen as I got busy with life, getting married and having a child, I let some of that commitment get replaced by, I don’t know- life- I guess. I still lived by the values of honesty and good-will, but I began accepting (or ignoring) things that in the past I would have stood firmly against.
I now find myself 20 years down the road and I realize I had gotten off course. The awakening started about a year ago, and really became apparent in our preparations and attendance at Glenn Beck’s 828 rally. I knew that things were going to be changing. They had to, in order to get back on course.
The first project was to find a church with a strong leadership and conviction. It took a couple of invites from current members before I listened to the call! I knew immediately that this was a group of people that I would fit in with.
The next step was to end a relationship with someone who was unwilling to listen to the truth. We had this very conversation about whether you can actually love someone that you can’t be honest with. I realized that my attempts to ignore and make excuses for unacceptable attitudes and behaviors actually enabled the behaviors- and prevented me from being happy.
I am now happy (and scared) to say that I am starting over. I have lost a good number of friends in the past year because of my job loss and my unwillingness to keep silent on current events. I will continue to practice the skills necessary to not alienate people, but rather, to bring them closer to the Light and the Truth. I have already begun to feel the burden lighten!
My goal this year was to become a better person. I have been more honest, more open, and much more friendly. It doesn't always seem to make much of a difference; sometimes I feel like my efforts are completly in vain. Of course, if you didn't really know me before, you probably wouldn't be able to tell. Yet, I know that I have improved myself,even if nobody else knows it.
ReplyDeleteAs I travel down the road that is much clearer than it was a year ago, I realize how blind so many people are. This is not to say that I myself am not blind, or ignorant, but there sure are a lot more people that are more so. I feel so alone and lost most of the time, since I have recently discovered that the people that I call my friends, aren't really my friends in the truest sense. They are more like friend of pleasure, as Aristotle would put it. I am done pretending that I am someone I am not.
Sometimes I still feel like I change as I go between my dad's house and my mom's, but I don't think that it is necessarily me. I think that the two households are just so incredibly different that I don't even recognize who I am when I travel back and forth. All I know is who I want to be. I will work against the negativity in myself and in others around me telling me that I have no opinions of my own.
In the last six months, I truly have discovered that the world is one crazy and amazing place when you care to take a peek through the fog.
Meggie: Eight years ago (1 Jan 03), I wrote this Creed … this set of principles … for me to live by. It has inspired a change in my life. I hope it may bless your efforts to be all that God means for you as one of His children.
ReplyDeleteWith the help of God …
I will turn my problems into projects,
my sorrows into servants,
my difficulties into dividends,
my obstacles into opportunities,
my tragedies into triumphs,
my stumbling blocks into stepping stones.
I will look upon an interruption as an interesting interlude.
I will harvest fruit from frustration.
I will convert enemies into friends.
I will look upon adversities as adventures.
I AM a child of the living God … “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it.” (Philippians 1:6)
I CAN do all things … “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)
I WILL decide today to make God’s dream for my life my dream too … “It is God at work in you, giving you the will and the power to achieve His purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)
I BELIEVE that with God’s help I can become the person that He wants me to be ... “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
Ever since God created humankind … giving him the ability to think … we have consistently made wrong decisions. From Adam to Abraham; from Moses to Matthew to Mary; from Joseph to Jonah to John; from the Bible to backyards across the world; from the Church to the city; all are filled with people who have made wrong decisions … and thus, did not choose to do right.
ReplyDeleteToday our media venues are filled with people, children and adults; well-known and unknown; rich and poor; all colors of the race … filled with people who are making wrong choices with very little consequences or punishment.
Maybe you’re faced with a decision (right now) about what is right. Maybe (right now) your mind seems cluttered … because you’re filled with offers, suggestions, alternatives, pulling you in directions you’re not sure about.
The major contributing factor that’s making it difficult to make right decisions (today) is the postmodern era that we live in. Post modernism has so blurred the line between right and wrong that people have a difficult time discerning what kind of behavior is good, appropriate, and expected; what behavior is fundamentally wrong; and which choices are morally neutral. Thanks to the postmodern worldview, it’s considered foolish to declare that truth exists, and uncouth to suggest that one can have it. I want us (together) to answer the question “Is Right Still Right?” I want to make some real practical applications for the believer and why we need to know right, learn right and do right.
In Daniel 1:1-8; 2:48-3:23, Daniel (and his three friends - Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego) are deported to Babylon and handpicked for government service; he became a servant to King Nebuchadnezzar. God used Daniel to interpret dreams for the three different kings, one king on two different occasions. In Daniel 1, Daniel and his three friends begin their co-labor of service to the king. In chapter 2, Daniel is called upon to interpret the king’s first dream because none of his magicians or astrologers could do so. God helps him successfully interpret the dream, the king promotes Daniel and his three friends. In chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar constructs a gold image and commanded all the people to bow down to it, and worship it. Daniel and his three friends refuse to do so, the king finds out and orders the three friends brought to him. In 3:15 the king gives the three friends an ultimatum: either bow down or be thrown into the furnace. The three answered in a chorus of courageous and confident words recorded in Daniel 3:16-18. The three are thrown in the furnace and Daniel 3:27 records their silent and odorless testimony. Daniel chapters 4-6 record Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream, resulting in his being promoted again, followed by Daniel interpreting King Belshazzar’s writing on the wall. In chapter 6, then King Darius signs a decree that if anyone petitions another god besides Darius they would be cast into a den of lions. Daniel refuses, and with much hesitation and in great persuasion King Darius commands to have Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. And the next day, “when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.” And you know the rest of the story. If not, read it for yourself in Daniel 6.
ReplyDeleteLike Daniel, I can say with genuine certainty and with absolutely no arrogance, I have a direct line to absolute truth. I didn’t uncover it; I didn’t create it. I wasn’t the first to see it; or even recognize it. I have a direct line to absolute truth because I accept God’s Word as the authentic revelation from the Author of truth.
The sixty-six books in the Bible provide me with God’s directives and principles for my life. God took time to have His Word written down over a period of 1,400 years by some 40 different authors … so that I can learn right, know right and do right. For thousands of years, this divinely inspired Word has been preserved so that I may know Him and obey His will. And as I read the words in the Bible, I see God’s character being revealed; and by discovering His character, I discover what values and choices give Him the most pleasure.
You see, to do what is right is to conform my life to the directives and principles found in the sixty-six books of the Bible. Not to a newspaper, horoscope, fortune cookie, political correctness, or off a talk show. To do what is right is to side with the truth of God. Our desire as believers to do right should compel us into the Bible everyday to learn right from the Author of Truth.
Since retiring from full-time duties as an U.S. Army Chaplain, I’ve been spending considerable time cleaning my home office space to make it functional for increased ministry at Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel (MN). In the course of shifting through piles of accumulated papers, I found myself re-reading the numerous kind cards and letters I’ve received over the past 12-years as Chaplain to the Chapel Foundation … for which I am indeed grateful. They still encourage my soul. At the same time, I’ve read and appraised the far-fewer disparaging notes of distain. These signed or unsigned words from members, attendees and readers of publications largely demonized my labors with the Chapel Foundation. Needless to say, they were in stark contrast to countless others who positively responded to the same preaching, teaching and writings. Upon evaluating their scathing critiques, I came to a realization – Though persecuted for rightly proclaiming God’s Truth (the Bible’s righteousness), for bearing witness to man’s only hope (through faith in the saving grace of Christ’s work), and for boldly standing in obedience to His leading (the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit), I’ve got the Almighty’s promise of protection on earth and the ultimate reward of His holy fellowship for eternity.
ReplyDeleteWho wouldn’t want and seek such a promise and reward? Given our spiraling global depravity, what true child of God would not want the Divine defense of the Almighty … for the living of these days? And realizing that this earthly existence is fleeing … with every passing moment of time … who wouldn’t desire the blessed assurance of life eternal in heaven? But I hasten to say: The promises of God are only fulfilled if the biblical mandates are met. They are conditional, not optional; and certainly not to be partially satisfied, but fully manifested.
The critics of my uncompromising stance on moral issues (i.e., homosexuality and abortion), seem oblivious to the more profound awareness that their dispute is not with me – but with the authority of God’s Word. In fact, their criticism only confirms their lost or immature estate … for which I continue to pray that their eyes and ears may be opened to the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.
Friends, when you articulate a biblical worldview (contrary to the popular politically correct position), you are being faithful to the honesty of God’s Word. And when you are maltreated for a virtuous stance … from those both in and out of the Church … you are made happy by the prize Jesus promised – “10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Mathew 5:10-12 NIV) And Luke’s account adds this cautionary word of Jesus, “26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26 NIV)
On another occasion, Jesus said to His true followers, “19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the One who sent Me.” (John 15:19-21 NIV)
ReplyDeleteTherefore, according to God’s Word, our critics either don’t know the Godhead or prefer to act in rebellion to His authority. Their actual issue is not with those who profess righteous living, but directly with the Almighty whose clear Word they choose to ignore or blatantly defile. These opponents wrongly take issue with the “messenger” of God, rather than to acknowledge their outright defiance toward the “Message.”
On the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus uttered the “Lord’s Prayer” for His followers … for all those (including you and me) who will remain obedient to God’s Word. He prayed to His heavenly Father – “I have revealed You to those whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your Word. 7 Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. 8 For I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name—the name You gave Me—so that they may be one as We are One. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave Me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” (John 17:6-12 NIV)
My friends: Be encouraged by God’s promise and reward to those who remain true to His Word … knowing the Lord’s protection is upon you and heaven awaits only those who are faithful to the Truth unto death.