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As of late, all of the overpaid pretenders (actors) in Hollywood seem ever so eager to spout off their political views.  I know because major news networks keep reporting on it.

Tina Fey, Howie Mandel, Stephen Colbert and crew all joined the Matt Damon parade and took their jabs at republicans at the recent Emmy ceremony.  Yet, I never read a report of a Hollywood celebrity bad-mouthing democrats.  At most, you might rarely hear of a celebrity who supports republicans.

This just leads me to one of two conclusions.  Either,

1) The republican celebrities out there are smart enough to realize they are not qualified political analysts, and therefore are smart enough to keep their mouths shut about it in the public venue.

or 2) Republican celebrities are also mouthing off, but all of the media is SO biased that anything anit-democrat never gets reported.

Don’t get me wrong, celebrities are just as entitled to their political opinions as I am.  But, I don’t use my professional audience (which has nothing to do with politics) to promote those opinions.

In response to all the latest liberal Hollywood spewings, all I can say is “thank you.”  Matt, Tina, Johnny, Sara, Barbara… I have never really enjoyed any of your work because of your great political prowess.  And now,  I can count any time I might have spent watching your broadcasts as free time, since my list of people I cannot stand to watch only continues to grow.  Thank you, Matt Damon.

Why?  To quote my good friend Slacker1:  “Because there was no one here to stop me.”

The article is here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,423462,00.html

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A quote of the summary of the legislation–

“The Democratic bill also would:

—Roll back $18 billion in tax breaks for the five largest oil companies and require energy companies to pay billions of dollars in royalties avoided because of an Interior Department contracting error. [*1]

— Require the release of oil from the government’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try to push down gasoline prices. [*2]

— Make it a federal crime for oil companies holding federal leases to provide gifts to government employees, a response to a recent sex and drug scandal involving the federal office that oversees the offshore oil royalty program and energy company employees. [*3]

— Provide tax credits for wind and solar energy industries, the development of cellulose ethanol and other biofuels. [*4]

— Require utilities nationwide to generate 15 percent of their electricity from solar, wind or other alternative energy source. [*4]

— Give tax breaks for new energy efficiency programs including the use of improved building codes and for companies that promote their employees’ use of bicycles for commuting. [*4]”

Indulge me in my interpretation if you will:

*1 =  A distraction tactic to use gifts/fines as a means to draw public attention away from the fact that the “Interior Department” contracting screwed up.  An 18 billion dollar screw-up, apparently.

*2 = The promotion of yet another government bailout as the solution to a problem.

*3 = The only reasonable portion of this legislation: the outlawing of bribery.  I didn’t realize we needed specific legislation to outlaw bribery, but okay, I’m on board.

*4 = The leverage of tax benefits and bureaucratic legislation to expand the government’s control over public and private business operations.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I cast my private citizen vote for ANYTHING other than democrat.

Jesus was no dummy.  Scripture says he did not entrust himself to man, because he knew what was in the heart of man. (John 2:24)

In case you are not familiar, let me fill you in.  In the heart of man[kind] you will find faithlessness, deceit, gossip, slander, hatred, anger, jealousy, selfishness, ambition and betrayal.  And this is in those who love you!

I’ll be honest:  it’s been a disappointing season of late where people and relationships are concerned.  I think we have enough material to launch several seasons worth of “Christians Behaving Badly.”  At its core, disappointment is when expectations are not met.  Sometimes the problem is the expectations were unfair or unrealistic to start with… but sometimes it’s just that people, being people, fail.  Expectations are not met, and we are left disappointed and hurt.

If you intend to spend any amount of time in any aspect of service or ministry, here is something you need to learn now:  The very people you lay your life down for in love and service will be the very people who, at the least, will leave you, and more likely will attack you, if not crucify you.

This is not the bitter complaint or  wounded whinings spilling out… this is just fact.  Scripture backs it up over and over.  Moses, David, Jesus, and Paul are just a few of the biblical leaders who we see pouring years of their lives to in leadership and service to the people of God, only to have those same people turn around and accuse, attack and abandon them.  Usually when things got rough, I might add.

I’ve certainly been there, over and over again, and I know many others who have as well.  Even recently, I extended myself, my home and my finances to host a party for longtime members of our ministry.  Only two weeks later and halfway across the country I get the news of their gossip and judgment of the ministry to some shared acquaintances.  This seems minor, but it hurts.  And unfortunately, this and much worse behavior is all too common treatment of servants, leaders, and fathers in the faith.

So what do you do when the people who you lost sleep over, spent money on, prayed for, ministered to and laid your life down for walk away on you, or in a heartbeat turn and begin to attack you?

Some start lobbing their own grenades in counter-attack.  Tempting, indeed, but not Christ-like.  Some decide the cost of serving the Lord is simply not worth it, and walk away from ministry or the Church altogether, bleeding and wounded.  Also tempting, but it doesn’t accomplish anything except rob the Body of Christ of some wonderfully gifted saints whose leadership and service we desperately need.    Lately, I have to keep pulling my own mind and soul back to the response Jesus had: forgive and continue to fulfill his ministry destiny out of love and service to the Father.

There is nothing any of us face in ministry that Jesus did not also face and overcome.  The Word says that he is able to sympathize with our weakness, having been tempted in every way. (Hebrews 4:15)  And, no matter what he faced, he did not sin in his response.  I certainly can’t claim that success in every situation yet, but that standard is what gives me both direction and hope when people disappoint and hurt me.

Jesus spent years teaching the crowds and pouring out his life to love and train his disciples.  And where were they when things got hairy?  Most abandoned him, Peter denied him and Judas betrayed him.  And only a naive person would believe that there weren’t at least a few who shouted “hosanna” as Jesus rode in on the donkey, who then joined the crowed and shouted “crucify him” less than a week later.  We certainly didn’t see the 5000 he fed with the loaves and fishes showing up to defend him, either.

And yet, Jesus didn’t get bitter, angry, wounded, mad at God, or walk away from what he was sent to do.  Not only did he forgive them, he continued walking the path he knew was chosen for him and he died for those very same people!  This is amazing to me, and keeps me in check when I start getting angry or in self-pity.  I just ask myself, would I be willing to die for those people who are out there now saying rotten things about me?  Would I extend myself in service to those who genuinely believe they are in the right in speaking or acting against me?

Anytime my answer isn’t ‘yes,’  I know I am the one who still needs to repent and become more like Jesus.

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.  And if this cup cannot pass me by, not my will but Yours be done.

It seems there has been a rash of public mass-shootings in our country recently.  Shopping malls, schools and churches are where our country’s biggest cowards are increasingly choosing to unleash the destruction of their personal issues on innocent strangers.

The news articles read nearly the same in every case….. a disturbed person with a long, well-known history of red flags finally snaps, opening fire in a public arena killing as many total strangers as possible before turning the gun on themselves.

This is the most cowardly act that can be committed.   

The perpetrators of these crimes are not “disturbed,” “troubled” or lost souls “crying out for help”…. THEY ARE COWARDS.

You’re not “making a statement.”  You’re not “leaving a legacy.”  You’re not “finally being noticed” or “making others suffer as you have.”  You’re a selfish coward, who will die as a selfish coward, and only be remembered as a selfish coward.

By slaughtering innocent people and taking your own life, you have let those who hurt you WIN.  It’s time you take your own life back and stop being controlled by others.  It’s time you choose to stop being defeated and to win.  Don’t  be a coward; have the guts to live.

“Why are biblical values so important? Biblical values and biblical ethics speak to life’s purpose, and the duty of parents is to prepare the next generation to morally take control of the society.

    Without a sense of biblical otherness, without a sense of biblical fairness, without a sense of biblical compassion, without a sense of biblical honesty, without a sense of biblical integrity, without a sense of biblical justice there is no hope for a free society.  There’s no hope for the future. 

A republic like ours cannot survive without biblical ethics.  Not just ethics, without biblical ethics.  As our forefathers understood, a democratic republic cannot flourish apart from Christian values.  That does not mean everyone needs to be a Christian, but what it does mean is this:  If there is no standard or value system higher than human intellect, then all men are at the mercy of whatever authoritarian elite is able to rise to power.  If we don’t have a common value system that is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, there is no security. 

Without Christian values, our republic degenerates into the whim of the majority or the whim of a dictator, and that’s exactly where we are today in the sense that we are no longer guided by a common value system which is other-oriented.  That is why the family unit is so important. 

The family is the value-generating institution of our society.  It’s the most vulnerable element of our society.  Once it becomes secular in its methodology of raising children and the next generation, there is little hope for the society.  When you remove biblical values from the society then all individual rights are protected only insofar as the majority that believes in those rights remains in power.  Should a dictator come to power, those rights can evaporate overnight. 

That is why we believe it is very possible, and from where we sit it is even very probably that your children may be the last generation in

Whoever says they want to spend all day in bed, or even worse all weekend, has clearly never done so.

Granted, it might be more enjoyable if you aren’t wracked with fever, aches, cough, burning lungs & throat and sinuses backed up into last week.  Even so, laying in bed more than about 15 hours just HURTS.  After awhile I wasn’t sure which was worse, the pain and wretching of trying to be upright and out of bed, or the pain of staying IN bed.

I recommend NOT getting sick and spending 60 straight hours in bed.  It really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.   But now you know my excuse for not posting anything exciting.

And now that I’m out, what have I done?  Come to sit in front of the computer, of course?!  Wow.  I need help.

Here we are, nearly finished with the first month of 2008 already!

I always like to take time to reflect on the previous year and set some goals for the upcoming year. Not so much because it’s “New Year’s,” but because that’s when I usually have time OFF to actually pause and think about such things.

One of my goals this year is to post here more regularly. Believe me, the goal is really for MY benefit, not necessarily anyone else’s (though maybe something I have to say sometime might encourage someone else?). I expect the discipline and process of readying myself with something to share will produce some growth. And if nothing else, at least I will feel like my hosting fee was not a waste of money!

I hope this coming year is a good one for you. I hope you have clearer direction for your future, the encouragement of observing God working in all things on your behalf, and drawing nearer to Him.

‘See ya ’round! Happy belated New Year!

Has someone failed to pay you the wages you earned?  Check this out & be encouraged: 

James 5:4

“Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields,

and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you;

and the outcry of those who did the harvesting

has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

I found this so amazing.  Not only do YOUR cries reach the ears the Lord, but the WAGES themselves cry out against those who were supposed to pay you!  The money which belongs to you, so long as it is not in your hands, will continue to cry out against your oppressor!  Wow!

The Lord hears.  And He is faithful.  May those who have wronged you repent quickly and make restitution, otherwise misery is coming for them. (James 5:1)

But for you….

Psalm 34:17

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.

Psalm 37:18

“The days of the blameless are known to the LORD, and their inheritance will endure forever.“

Remember when we used to write letters?  I mean actual letters… on paper… and we would put a stamp on them and mail them.  And receiving one was a treasured piece of love from that person… we’d read it over and over again, and save it.

But, that was a lot of work, of course.  It took time to write, cost money to send, and took even more time to get a resonse.

 With the advent of email, we had no excuse not to keep in touch.  We could send a letter instantaneously, and get a response within minutes.  What’s more, we could send the same letter to several people all at once, for free!

But, it got to be a lot of work, copying and forwarding and replying to all in order to have some sort of discussion with more than one person.

Along came forums and message boards– hallelujah, we were saved!  Now we could have “discussions,” even if we were all on different continents, and we didn’t have the hassle and expense of coordinating a “conference call.”  We could all read others’ comments and share our own thoughts at our leisure.

 I remember when a “discussion forum” really was “discussion.”  Sometimes it was even heated debate, but at least it was genuine communication and exchange of thoughts between people.

Have you noticed now that, despite the great ease and ability technology has afforded us to communicate, we do so less than ever before?

I almost NEVER get letters in the mail.  I don’t think most people today know how to write anything more than what can fit on a post-it note.

Emails and “discussion” forums have little “discussion” anymore.  Most of what I receive or see posted is nothing more than a forwarded message, or a link to an article or video.  Occassionally, the link is accompanied by the sender’s brief comments, but not usually. 

While I might enjoy what was sent, it really doesn’t qualify as “communication” with the person who sent it.  There are people I get several emails a week from, but we haven’t actually “communicated” in years.  And, if I should happen to respond to a generic posting with some actually personal interest or sharing, it’s usually met with….   nothing.

I remember when sending a message to someone actually meant saying something?  Now, we have maxed-out inboxes and empty relationships.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the conveniences of technology.  But, somewhere along the way, true substantive exchanges disappeared?  I miss actually knowing people, not just their screen name and favorite video-hosting site.

Most believers I know want to know the Truth of God.  We want an accurate understanding of God, His Word, and to live accordingly.

This is certainly a godly, Biblical and admirable desire, to be sure.  So, where do people go wrong?  How do we end up with “extremists,” “radicals” and “flakes?”

I think there are a lot of things that can derail a person.  We are imperfect people, living in a sinful world.  And, we have an enemy who will take us out any way he can.  If a person cannot be tempted into blantant sin or rebellion, then a perversion of truth will often take a person out.

God has revealed His character and His nature in the Word– the whole Word.  The Bible declares more than once that “God does not change” (Num. 23:19, 1 Sam. 15:29).  Who God is in Genesis does not change in Revelation.  God does not hold one standard in the Old Testament, and then change His mind in the New Testament. 

 I have often heard people argue that there are “contradictions” in the Bible.  But I don’t find this to be true when viewing any portion of scripture in light of the principles and nature of God presented in the entirety of scripture.   Any portion viewed alone can be interpreted a number of ways, but compared against the whole Word of God it is more likely to be properly understood.

 So how do well-meaning believers, who start following a path of genuine truth, end up shipwrecked?  By not continually examining their beliefs and the fruit of their lives according to the WHOLE Word of God.  Exalting any one truth, to the exclusion of the rest of the Word of God, will always result in warped doctrine… which in turn, will take a believer off-track in their faith and discipleship.

Let’s take an extreme example:  extreme pro-life activists.  I am “pro-life.”  I believe that human life on the earth begins at conception, and that to willfully abort that life at any point is murder.  I believe this position is Biblically based, and many, many people agree. 

Where could this belief go wrong?  Bombing an abortion clinic.  To focus exclusively on the truth of defending unborn children, apart from the context of the WHOLE Word of God, will lead people to justify murderous, vengeful acts as the godly thing to do when scripture clearly states otherwise.  (Ex. 20:13, Rom. 12:19)

This is an extreme example, of course, but it happens much more often than we realize.  As soon as a person’s revelation and focus on any one “truth” starts producing behavior and fruit that is contrary to the whole Word of God, then there has been a perversion.  

This is a subtle trap of the enemy, because it starts out as genuine truth.  But taking that truth out of the context of the entirety of scripture will always lead to destruction.  It will take a person out of the fellowship of church, out of serving the Lord, and into judgment, isolation and sin.  A righteous cause never justifies violating the Word of God to accomplish it.  If the pursuit of a “truth” is producing fruit that is not according to the Spirit of God (Gal. 5:22), then something is wrong.  

How do we avoid perversions of truth?  It’s very simple– stay continually in study of the WHOLE Word of God.  The Word of God is living and active (Heb. 4:13), and is able to teach and correct us as needed (2 Tim. 3:16).  Error happens when we start to form ideas based on our memory or opinion about what we read in the Word ONCE.  Continual time in the Word causes us to be firmly rooted in truth.

Another key to remaining balanced is allowing input from other mature believers.  We are designed to thrive from regular contact with others.  Psychological studies have shown time and again the great detriment, even to the point of death, that humans suffer for lack of contact with others.  There is a reason that solitary confinement is used as a punishment, and even then there are strict guidelines on its use— isolation ultimately produces insanity. 

This is true in the spiritual sense as well.  To remain isolated in our beliefs and doctrine, with no healthy input from others will lead to warped, insane beliefs.

 If we are to walk in Truth in our lives, we must have the counsel of the WHOLE Truth of the Word of God– through our own study, revelation of the Holy Spirit, and godly connection and fellowship with the Body of Christ.

Let us be WHOLE according to the Word of God.