Month: August 2024

A good friend of mine who is a Christian and pro life, posted Jeremiah 1:5, which is God’s first message to his young prophet. “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

I don’t hesitate to share my political views as a child of God, but not in my blog. Abortion is a moral and spiritual issue that some groups have made a political hot button. After reading that familiar post, I did some research and then responded that despite the alarm of pro choice groups after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v Wade and after some severe restrictions were enacted in a few states, more than a million babies were aborted in 2023. We don’t know the exact number because California does not report them and some other states under report, but it is over a million and God continues to count each of them as they arrive in heaven. How many of them were appointed by God to accomplish great things? Only God knows.

How much longer will God allow the mass slaughter of innocent babies? Only He knows, but it can’t be much longer before His righteous judgment is pronounced. Our nation is in serious trouble. We need emergency CPR (Christ, Prayer and Repentance).

I just saw this quote from Nietzsche on my Face Book time line, “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way or the only way, they don’t exist.” John 14:6 NIV reads, “Jesus answered him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” They both can’t be correct, can they? Do we choose the musings of that illustrious German philosopher, or the answer from the Son of God?

I made my choice 70 years ago and it was confirmed ten years later when I knelt in prayer at the entrance of the empty Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. Jesus is alive and preparing to return to Earth for his church. Friedrich Nietzsche died 124 years ago and his remains are still in the grave.

I used to think the New Age idea that all roads lead to the same place was modern, but I think it is one of Satan’s lies that has been around as long as he has. I thank God every day that my way is God’s way.

Forgiveness is a very important part of our Christian life. Christians are familiar with the example Jesus gives us how we should pray in chapter 6 of Matthew. We call it the Lord’s Prayer. The NLT translation reads, “…and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” It doesn’t get more important than that, does it?

One of my friends recently posted a quote from Mother Teresa. “Forgive them even if they aren’t sorry.” I commented, “Only God’s forgiveness benefits the one forgiven. Our forgiveness is for our own benefit.” Holding a grudge against someone only hurts you – not them. It is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

Please don’t misunderstand, forgiving someone doesn’t give them permission to hurt you again. It simply means you have moved on from that experience. with or without them. That is actually an action of love. The definition of love in the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians includes”Love keeps no record of wrongs.”

Stereotypes are labels, usually negative ones, placed on an entire group of people in an attempt to isolate that group. By definition, every stereotype is false, because no two people are the same, much less an entire group of them. Many years ago I took a course in logic and one rule was, “An argument based on a false premise will always lead to a false conclusion.”   I have been attacking stereotypes all of my adult life.

I have found the easiest way to destroy a stereotype is to get to know at least ten members of the group individually and personally. The first thing you will discover is that they are not all alike. The second thing you will discover is that they are much more like you than you thought based on the stereotype. If you get to know less than ten, there is a chance you will continue to believe the stereotype and label the few you know as exceptions.

In my roll as a corporate trainer, I found myself stereotyped and then labeled as an exception. I trained more than a few young men from Chicago with darker skin than mine. When they entered my classroom the first day, saw my gray hair, light skin and heard my Indiana accent they immediately got a chip on their shoulder that this old honky would decide if they get the job. Within two or three days they knew I not only wanted them to get the job, I wanted them to succeed at it. I became the exception to their old honky stereotype. If I ran into any of them today it would be like a family reunion, but I still may be the exception to some of them.

What does all of this have to do with living the Christian life? When you are a child of God, you are stereotyped by the world with all Christians as hypocritical, judgmental, hateful and egotistical (just for starters). We must lovingly demonstrate none of those traits to everyone around us until we become an exception and begin to cast doubt on that false stereotype. Praise God for giving us his Holy Spirit to help us live a life of witness.

People who know me have asked, “How could you grow up in a segregated Evansville, Indiana, in the 1940’s and 1950’s without any racial prejudice?” After all, we were just across the Ohio River from Kentucky and the Klan kept tensions high between us. The short answer is, “By the grace of God.” But this is how I got to who I am today.

First, J never ever heard my parents say one negative word about any ethnic group. I was taught to respect my elders no matter what they may look like. (I still do, but it is getting harder to find any at the age of 81.)

In 1954, I became a born again follower of Jesus Christ and my hero of the faith was Billy Graham. That same year, Billy lamented the fact that Sunday morning was the most segregated time of the week. He integrated his team and then refused to hold any crusade meeting that was segregated, even in the deep south. I loved to hear him preach. He held large, nightly meetings in New York City the entire summer of 1957. He spoke to over two million people live, in addition to the vast TV and radio audiences. I still remember watching on TV as Dr. King and Billy Graham stood side by side in front of a packed Madison Square Garden proclaiming that there is only one race, the human race, and everyone in that race needs Jesus as their Savior. Later, when the invitation was given, thousands of people with every shade of skin imaginable came forward together to accept Christ. I will never forget that image.

Many years later, I visited Christian Life Center where I found different ethnic groups worshiping together and hearing God’s word preached clearly. I knew it was my spiritual home.

We read about the old covenant in the Old Testament of our Bible. The laws of human conduct given to Moses; the sacrifice of innocent animals for repentance of sin; and the need for priests to enter the presence of God to intercede for the people who would die in God’s presence on the mountain or the Holy presence of God in the tabernacle or temple. Then God sent his Son with the new covenant!

Jesus described to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well a new relationship with God he makes possible. God is Spirit and it no longer matters where or when you worship him, but only that you worship him in spirit and in truth. Jesus later told others that he is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him. He shed his innocent blood on the cross as a once and for all sacrifice for sin, replacing animal sacrifices. When Jesus died, an earthquake tore the heavy curtain from top to bottom that separated God’s holy room in the temple from worshipers, demonstrating that we can now enter God’s presence without fear in the name of Jesus Christ.

There are some preachers who claim the laws of the Old Testament don’t apply to Christians because we are under grace and not law, but that is NOT what Jesus teaches us. Jesus makes it clear that he didn’t come to replace God’s laws of human behavior, but to add spiritual laws for us to follow as well. It is no longer enough not to kill someone, we must not hate them. It is no longer enough to refrain from the physical act of adultery, we must not lust after someone  in our heart who is not our wife or husband. We are not saved by obedience to the law, but as followers of Jesus Christ, we must be obedient to our heavenly Father. The parental rules he has established for his sons and daughters have not and will never change.

Of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the aspect of God I have the most trouble explaining to a non-believer. In my younger days, he was called the Holy Ghost and that caused even more confusion. A Christian is not possessed by a spirit, even a holy one.  When we become followers of Christ, God places his Spirit in our heart to guide and empower us if we choose to respond to his promptings. We still have our God given free will. I have learned the hard way when the Holy Spirit prompts me I only have two choices, do it or regret it.

My first experience with the Holy Spirit was as a new Christian at age eleven. Reading the King James Bible (the only translation we had back then) with full understanding. There is no other explanation for that. I soon learned to recognize when God is prompting me to do or say something. It is not a voice or picked up by any of my senses, but it comes straight from my heart to my mind and I know the source.

After all of these years, the Holy Spirit guides my fingers on the keyboard as I write this blog. I know it is his message and not mine because when I read a post from several years ago I think, “Boy, that is good, I wish I had thought of that.”

One of my friends posted this question on social media, “What is a true Christian?” Becoming a true Christian is a simple process that is the same for everyone. God in his mercy and grace did the hard work. All I had to do was believe in and desire to follow Jesus Christ. He renewed my spirit and placed his Holy Spirit in my heart to guide me 70 years ago. Living as a true Christian in this world is when it sometimes gets complicated or confusing.

God created each of us as unique individuals with unique DNA, fingerprints and personalities. When we become true Christians, we become his son or daughter and he loves us all the same. But he understands our strengths and weaknesses and his calling is different for each of us. The Holy Spirit will keep us on the path God has chosen for us.

There are some characteristics that unite true Christians. Paul called them fruit of the Spirit and lists them in Galatians 5:22-23. True Christians exhibit all of them because of God’s Spirit within us. Read those verses often to make sure you are recognizable as a true Christian to those around you.

Many years ago anthropology professor, Margaret Mead, told her class that she believed the first sign of a civilized society is a human femur that had been broken and had mended. When an animal breaks a leg in the wild, they die. They cannot run from predators and get to food, or water. They are easy prey. A healed bone is proof someone else tended to the injury and stayed with them to nourish and protect them until they were back on their feet again. Caring about others is what makes a society civilized.

As Christians, we are instructed to be kind, caring and even loving to those around us. Did you know that when you do those things you are civilizing your society? Now you know.

You know how much Christian lyrics of all kinds mean to me. I want to share with you a song I wrote 14 years ago. One evening my devotion took me to my favorite book of the Bible, John’s Gospel. As I read a familiar verse, I saw a reference to a verse in Exodus. After going back and forth a few times, my hands reached for the computer keyboard to make some notes. There  on the screen were two verses and the chorus of a song. I added a third verse from a poem I had written years earlier. For nearly two years, those words kept going through my mind without a melody. Then one morning as I drove my wife to her cancer doctor, the melody came to me and as I pulled into the parking lot I sang it for the first time. I don’t remember what Carol said, but I will never forget her smile. Since then, only 24 people and 2 dogs have heard me sing it,

When the Jews were slaves in Egypt and Moses got the call a voice from a burning bush told him to free them from it all. Now Moses wanted to know who was giving him this task. God said, “I am. Tell them I am sent you when they ask.”

When Jesus healed the sick and did other wondrous acts people wondered who he was and how he knew so many facts. They asked, “Are you a prophet, even Moses or Abraham?” Smiling Jesus told them, “Before Abraham was I am.”

Jesus died on the cross to save us all from sin and strife. He rose on the third day to prove hi s gift of eternal life. I will never cease to praise him every night and every day and his still small voice I hear as I bow my head to pray.

Chorus: I created this vast universe, much more than you can see. When Earth was a barren wasteland, all life began with me. Believe and I’ll be with you like a shepherd with his lamb. When they ask you who you serve just say, “I am.” When they ask if you’re a Christian shout, “I AM!”