Month: December 2017

Today is the last day of 2017. At midnight tonight we not only turn the page, we open a whole new calendar with 365 blank pages waiting to be filled. Are we approaching the New Year with hope and eager anticipation or with fear or dread? Where I live in Tinley Park, a Chicago suburb, we had about four inches of snow on Christmas Eve followed by forecasts for weeks of single digit and even below zero temperatures. It reminds me of Psalm 147:16-18, “He sends the snow like white wool; he scatters frost upon the ground like ashes. He hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold? Then, at his command, it all melts. He sends his winds and the ice thaws.” So right now I’m hoping for and anticipating the thaw. But trusting in Jesus Christ gives us much more for which to hope and anticipate than just a change in temperature.

A very good friend of mine describes his conversion this way, “When I was told that God was offering me complete amnesty from all of my sins by repenting and accepting Jesus Christ as my savor, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.” It is only through the grace of God that we can begin each day with a clean slate free of past sins, regrets, pains, fears and anger. I am told the Greek word used in the New Testament for repent actually means changing your mind. We not only need to change our heart through faith in Christ; we need to change our mind about how we approach the present and our future. Paul writes, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

Those blank pages will fill up fast with job and family responsibilities. There will be things we must do; things we should do; and things we want to do in the New Year. There will also be pressure from the enemy to divert our energy and time to trivial or meaningless things. We must ask God daily to help us fix our thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. (Philippians 4:8) It all boils down to how we will spend our time in the days, weeks and months ahead of us in 2018.

It has been said that the most precious gift we can give anyone is our time because it is something we can never get back. My experience has taught me that when we make time for God, for those we love and for others around us who are in need, we will fulfill our own needs in the process.

I pray that each of you have a healthy, fruitful and blessed New Year one day at a time.

 

Jesus warned us against worrying about the future. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:34) Corrie ten Boom wrote, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” Pastor Ben Stewart’s God at the Movies sermon gave us this good advice from the movie Creed: “One step; one punch; one round at a time.”  Those types of admonitions have led many of us to live one day or even one step at a time with little thought at all about the future.  Not worrying about the future is only half of the story.

The enemy loves to echo Woody Allen’s statement, “If you want to make God laugh, show him your plans.”  In my more than six decades of walking with the Lord, I have encountered His sense of humor on more than one occasion, but He always laughs with me and never at me.  When I try to plan on my own without His help, He shows me how ridiculous my plan is and we both have a good laugh before getting to work together on a real plan.

Yes, God encourages us to plan for the future, with His help.  “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity.” (Proverbs 21:5)  “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the lord.  ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’”  (Jeremiah 29:11)  “Commit your actions to the lord, and your plans will succeed.” (Proverbs 16:3) “We can make our plans, but the lord determines our steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)  “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” (Proverbs 19:21) These are only a few of the many passages that lead us into taking a look into our future with the Holy Spirit showing us what to look for and how to plan for it.  It is only with His help that we can do so without worry.  Worry free planning is His specialty. “But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever, His intentions can never be shaken.” (Psalms 33:11)

Planning is necessary. Lewis Carroll wrote, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Taking a long look at our future with the Holy Spirit as our guide, we discover the goals God has set for us and the glory of our final destination.  Only one road will get us there and Jesus is the way. With Him we can live in the present while planning and hoping for the future without fear or worry.

By the way, planning for the future is much simpler when you have turned 74.

It is Christmas Eve again and everyone is turning to the book of Luke for that traditional story of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in a stable and the amazing angelic birth announcement to the shepherds in the field with their flock. I love that scripture. It is a comfortable, familiar image of God’s entrance into the world and it is worth reading each year. But if you want more of the story, it is John who sets the stage for us in his gospel and his Revelation.

John reminds us that Jesus always was, is and always will be God. (John 1:1-7) (Revelation 1:8) It was determined before the creation of the universe that God’s love and mercy would require Him to become a man and provide salvation from sin to all who believe through His sacrifice on the cross. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. He is God. He could have simply taken the form of a man or even become half man half God, but that wouldn’t provide the perfect sacrifice needed. He had to be both 100% man and 100% God.

To become 100% human, He had to begin where all human life begins (since the creation of Eve) as a fertilized egg in the womb of a woman. God’s Holy Spirit came over Mary and she conceived. (Luke 1:35) God, who is His father in heaven, also became His father on earth. Jesus became a fetus nurtured and growing in the comfort and safety of Mary’s womb until her delivery time came that night in Bethlehem. We celebrate His birth each year but His human life really began nine months earlier as did yours and mine.

We know when Jesus died and rose from the dead because of the Jewish Passover, so the early church celebrated His death and resurrection in the spring in competition with the pagan spring rituals. The exact date of Jesus’ birth is not known, but it most certainly isn’t December 25^th. The early church made the decision to celebrate Jesus’ birth in competition with the pagan winter solstice rituals. The enemy has been trying ever since to take back those celebrations by injecting secular or even pagan symbols into our Easter and Christmas celebrations. None of that really matters. The only thing that does matter is that we focus at least once a year on the miracle of God’s arrival on earth in the form of Jesus. He truly is “the reason for the season” and may we never forget the reason He came. In His own words Jesus tells us, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

I pray that each of you have a blessed celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

 

 

The term “War on Christianity” was coined a few years ago, when some retailers told employees to say “Happy Holidays” instead of Merry Christmas and Christmas trees were to be called “Holiday Trees” instead.   There really is a war being waged against God’s church, but that war has been going on since the time of Jesus and it has nothing to do with a holiday greeting or the name given to a pine tree.  Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.  Be happy about it!  Be very glad!  For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.” Sounds like spiritual warfare to me.

For the last seven decades, I have witnessed many advances the enemy has made here in our country.  In my early years, we were a predominantly Christian nation, but with Constitutional guarantees for everyone to be able to express their opinions and beliefs without fear of persecution and to be able to worship or refrain from worship as we pleased.  In spite of differences of belief or opinion, there was a mutual respect.   The predominant philosophy was, “I may disagree with what you are saying, but I will fight to my death to defend your right to say it”.  We now have become a predominately secular nation where people find almost everything offensive and seek to silence all opposition or establish “safe places” away from those “frightening” opposing views.  The American Library Association announced that during 2015 there were 274 challenges to material in school libraries and for the first time ever the Bible was among the top ten challenged books.  The only reason given was “religious viewpoint”.  What a drastic and sad transformation our country has gone through in my lifetime.

In 1957, when I was 14, the number one song on both the Billboard Pop and Country charts was “The Three Bells”. It is a song about the birth, wedding and death of Jimmy Brown and the chapel bells and the prayers of a small congregation that marked each of those three occasions.  I remember being with a group of teenagers from our church going to or from roller skating or some other activity.  When that song came on the car radio there was silence until it was over.  We were Christians, but we were also teenagers so silence like that was very rare.  That song had deep meaning for us because it covered an entire lifetime in just three verses.  Although we were just getting started in life, it was a reminder of our mortality and how quickly the seasons of life come and go.  If that song were to be played just once on a pop station today there would probably be demonstrations and boycotts against that radio station, its owner and advertisers.  Just another example of how far our nation has fallen.

Since the enemy continues to wage war against us, let us prayerfully  put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17), trust completely in the power of God’s Spirit within us (Romans 8:11) and form a “Special Forces Unit” to penetrate enemy lines and rescue as many souls as we can from Satan’s prison camp of sin, shame and fear.

 

In every decade of my life (seven so far) some Bible scholars have looked around and determined that the signs Jesus spoke of to His disciples (Matthew 24) or those described in the books of Daniel or Revelation were taking place convincing them we were living in the end times. In 1988, many people read the 88 reasons Jesus is coming back in 1988 and reacted either with great anticipation or fear, depending on their relationship with God. Those people were either disappointed or relieved when that year passed without incident. In September of this year (2017) on the Jewish Feast of the Trumpets, it was believed by many people that the planets and stars were aligned for the first time in recorded history to coincide with the description of the second coming of Christ recorded in the book of Revelation. That time also passed without incident. There have even been Christian sects at other times that have been so sure the end is near they sold all of their property and possessions, gave the proceeds to charity and moved to a mountain top to prepare for the end of the age and Jesus’ return, only to have to come back down the mountain to begin their life all over again in disappointment and discouragement. Even before I was born humorists mocked those end of the world prophets. Mark Twain once wrote, “When the end of the world comes I want to be in Kentucky. Everything there happens twenty years after it happens everywhere else.”

We know that God’s word is true, but it is based on God’s timeline – not ours. His timeline is based on His unfailing love and mercy. He does not want to end this world until all who will accept Jesus as their savior have done so. (2 Peter 3:9) Just think of the countless people who have accepted Jesus Christ since 1988 or any of those other “end times”. You might even be one of them.

In our quest to decipher Biblical prophecy, I think we are overlooking some basic facts. The end of this world will come for each of us when we breathe our last breath, so in a real sense we are all approaching the end time. Christians in many parts of the world are now experiencing the great tribulation as they face martyrdom simply for proclaiming their faith in Jesus Christ. That great tribulation is coming our way. When I was young no one ever dreamed of setting up a security system at our church to protect worshipers, but even small churches are doing so in the wake of the church murders in South Carolina and Texas.

Jesus tells us no man, no angel and not even He knows the day or the hour when He will return. (Mark 13:32) I don’t pretend to be a Bible scholar or a student of prophesies and I certainly am not able to read the mind of God. I simply thank God every day for every opportunity I have to serve Him here on this earth as I raise my hands to heaven and declare, “Surprise me, Lord!”

 

One of my favorite axioms is, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it and those who know history are destined to watch others repeat it.”  I can relate to that statement.  The on the street interviews on TV of young people who are completely clueless about the most basic facts of American history and even about recent news items are meant to be humorous, but they are scary to my generation and we aren’t laughing.

By the time I graduated from high school I had a good overview of world history and a very solid grasp of American history from the founding documents and American Revolution through our industrial revolution and all of the changes and wars our country had been through.  In addition to memorizing dates to pass exams, I studied the stories of the men and women who had an effect on our country’s development.  People are what make history come alive for me.  As a result I became more aware of what was going on around me, looking at each current event from an historic perspective. Of course as I have said many times, current events when I graduated from high school are now labeled ancient history.

When most people in a society are ignorant of history it is easy for others to spread lies and rewrite history to fit their agenda.  I especially hate it when they try to rewrite history that I have lived through.  When my generation is no longer here to correct them, I fear American history will no longer have any meaning or truth.

The Bible is my favorite history text book.  As my friend and brother Niyi Gbade says, “God uses us to present history for His purpose because history is His story.”  God inspired the writers of scripture to record His creation of the universe as He described it to them. Then He inspired them to chronicle His relationship with mankind from the Garden of Eden through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sin.  He then inspired others to record the history of the early Church of believers who spread the Gospel making it possible for each subsequent generation to believe in Jesus Christ and have eternal life.  Biblical history comes alive with first hand eyewitness accounts, personal testimonies and the stories of people who have either opposed or furthered God’s kingdom.  Even the scriptural account of creation is substantiated by Jesus who was not only an eyewitness but a participant.  The worst and best acts of mankind are recorded, each with God’s object lesson.  The Bible is God’s truth and mankind’s “manufacturer’s guide”.  It is history that lights our way into the future.

The most important thing to me in this generation of relativity and revisionism is that God protects His word.  In 1 Peter 1:24-25 and so many other passages, God assures us that His word is eternal and unchanging.  I can be confident that long after my generation and I are gone from the scene, God’s true history will never be destroyed or rewritten.  His story will be there for future generations.  I pray they will make good use of it.

After more than 74 years in this world I am still learning how to live in it and not of it. It is all about my relationships with and reactions to those around me. Scripture is very clear about our loving relationships with other Christians, but we must also deal with people every day who don’t have the love of Jesus Christ in their hearts. Paul writes “Live wisely among those who are not believers and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” (Colossians 4:5-6) Jude tells us, “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God.” (Titus 2:11-12)

The common thread in those two scriptures is wisdom. Wisdom is more than accumulating facts and knowledge. One of my favorite examples of the difference is: “Knowledge is when you know that a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable. Wisdom is not putting one in your fruit salad.” Solomon knew that true wisdom only comes from God and he asked God to grant it to him. As Christian believers, we are so blessed to have the wisdom of God in us in the form of His Holy Spirit. All we have to do is pay close attention to His instruction.

There is good and evil in this world in which we live. Wisdom allows us to identify each and then react accordingly. How will we be affected by our environment and circumstances here on earth? The same boiling water that softens the potato also hardens the egg. It is what we are made of, our character that determines how we will be affected by our surroundings. As we grow in the Christian faith, our character becomes more and more like that of Christ.

In this world we are encouraged and strengthened by the love and fellowship of other Christians. We are called to interact with those who are seeking and draw them to God by our example and our testimony. We will also encounter evil in this world and that is when our “fight or flight” instincts kick in. The word of God and His Holy Spirit equip us to fight against evil, but there are times when evil temptations try to grip us and we must flee like Joseph fleeing Potiphar’s wife. In the words of that Kenny Rogers song, we must “know when to walk away and know when to run”. There have been times in my life when I have fled from evil and times when I have stood my ground and fought evil. In both cases the Holy Spirit has given me the wisdom to know what to do and the strength to do it.

The good news is this world is not our final destination. We are only passing through.

 

 

Looking around today at our cold, secular society it is hard to believe that just sixty years ago faith in Jesus Christ was considered mainstream and respected. In 1957, when I was 14, there was a great revival with the power of the Holy Spirit spreading like a wildfire throughout our nation. That year the number one song on both the pop and country music stations was, “The Three Bells” by the Browns. Here is the YouTube link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkbj56bnYs  as you listen to the words, try to imagine that song receiving one play on a pop or even a country station today. That song has emotional meaning for me not just because of my first name, but because I was 20 when I married my love and now only the third bell lies ahead for me. (That last bell tolled for Jim Ed Brown last year.) Our society has come a long way since 1957, but in the wrong direction.

Don’t get me wrong, our society was far from perfect back then. The enemy was stirring up racial hatred and fear in an effort to divide and segregate us. But the revival of faith strongly challenged that evil. Don’t let anyone tell you that the civil rights movement was political or secular and limited to the black community. That movement came about as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men and women of all races. I know because my heart was one of those affected.

I want to share with you two of my personal experiences from that era of racial unrest. The first was in the fall of 1961. I was in training at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. One Friday evening I was in downtown Biloxi and saw the lights of a football stadium in the distance. I walked toward those lights and began to hear the cheering crowd of what appeared to be a high school football game. An older black gentleman asked me if I was from the base and when I said that I was he told me I was in the wrong part of town and I should get back to the base for my own safety. He said, “You have nothing to fear from us, but if the police catch you in this part of town you’ll be in big trouble.” I still remember that gentleman fondly as my guardian angel.

The second experience took place seven months later and nearly eight thousand miles from Biloxi, when I began my tour of duty on Okinawa. I was assigned as analyst on the second shift working with the current analyst who was due to rotate back to the States in a few weeks. Ernest Lawrence, Jr. was a young black airman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He seemed surprised when I pulled my chair up close to him and paid attention to everything he shared with me about the job. Sometimes things got slow on the night shift so we would drink coffee and share our personal experiences. As a result, we became good friends. On more than one occasion we would continue our conversation in the mess hall while grabbing some breakfast before retiring. At times I received vile comments and even threats for simply sitting with Ernie and talking with him, but they were people whose opinion meant nothing to me and they were too cowardly to make good on the threats. Schools were being integrated and Ernie’s dream was to attend LSU. We lost track of each other but I sometimes wonder if Ernie ever made it to LSU. He was bright and articulate so if he did I know he was successful.

Now for the good news: another great revival is coming to our nation as God works in the hearts of men and women. I can feel it and it is just as powerful as it was back then. It will break through the walls of our churches with the power of the Holy Spirit and overflow into every aspect of our society. I may not live to see it come to full fruition, but you young believers have the glorious opportunity to take part in it and see the power of the Holy Spirit heal our nation’s wounds once again.

When I was a boy I used to hear the phrase “God only knows” a lot. It was used whenever someone did not know the answer to a question but did not want to appear dumb so they passed that hot potato to God. I believe the origin of that phrase might be found in the 37^th chapter of Ezekiel, where God showed Ezekiel a valley filled with separated and dry bones scattered all around then asked him, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” In his youth, Ezekiel might have answered, “Of course not, Lord.” But after having seen God’s power in action he knew that anything is possible if God wills it, so his honest answer was, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know the answer to that.” God then answered His own question by showing Ezekiel how to call those bones back together and back to life. They were again covered with flesh and skin forming a large army of living people.

God knows all; past, present and future. When He asks us a question He isn’t looking for information. He is focusing our attention so we can learn and understand some of that which He knows. We simply need to admit, like Ezekiel, that we don’t have the answer and then pay close attention to our Father’s explanation like the eager and obedient children that we are.

In this world of relativity and situational ethics, the enemy would love to convince us there are no absolute answers; either all answers are equally valid or no one really has the answer. That is what happens when we rely entirely on human wisdom and knowledge. As Christian believers we have access to the source of all knowledge and it isn’t Google. God is the source of the entire universe and He knows the absolute truths on which we can rely with complete confidence. Just as God has established the physical laws of nature that are scientifically proven to be universal and absolute, He has established spiritual laws that are also universal and absolute. Jesus did not say that he is one of the many ways to God. He said, “I am the way. the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) There is no “wiggle room” in that statement. It is absolute and leaves no alternative or doubt. Either Jesus was a delusional man or He is who He claims to be; the Son of God who takes away the sins of the world through His death and resurrection. There is no indication whatsoever of a single delusional tendency, but the miracles Jesus performed validate His claim.

How can anyone reject the Gospel of love, mercy, grace and eternal life? God only knows.