Decapitation or Targeted Pruning?

Concerning Loss in the Ministry

So I was reading in the Gospel of John today, chapter 16. Verse 5-15 really struck a chord with me, and not necessarily because of what it overtly says regarding theology. In this passage, Jesus has recently told his disciples that he is about to leave them (he means die.) The disciples are very sad at this point (probably because they know Jesus hasn’t been wrong yet and he’s not likely to start now.)

The passage got to me personally because I recently lost someone close in ministry. My Senior Pastor is no longer with our church. A lot of people (including myself,) have been feeling like the disciples in verse six: “sorrow has filled your heart.”

Jesus says, however, “It is to your advantage that I go away.” Christ was foretelling them about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit’s power, God could birth an exponential increase in growth (both personal and in the churches numbers/effectiveness.)

I was at a conference just yesterday when Dr. Bradford of the Assemblies of God spoke strongly about the continued need for the guidance and reliance on the Holy Spirit to birth the increase and not our own creativity or special programs. He shared that recent statistics show that only two major denominations have shown growth in the last couple years and both of them were Pentecostal (one of them being the AG). We absolutely need the Spirit’s guidance, even moreso in the absence of Christ’s physical presence.

It got me thinking, the disciples lost their leadership, but Jesus considered a Spirit-led life a necessary upgrade, and one more powerful than the original plan the disciples had signed up for. My leader wasn’t Jesus incarnate. He was/is a godly man and a good pastor, but God has something else in store now. There is an even greater move coming next and one that might not have come unless change occur first and the Holy Spirit become our headship and not a man.

Sorrow comes, it is not sin and Jesus didn’t rebuke it, but he reminds us of a kingdom principle in verse 15. “All things that the Father has are Mine.” It’s a reminder to me, personally, of what the Father owns: everything. If He chooses to reallocate some of His resources, it is His prerogative to do so.

His plan is so much better than our own. The disciples had their own plan and political aspirations for Jesus, just as we all sometimes do. Loss in ministry hurts so badly because it derails not just our ministry objectives (or seemingly so,) but who we are personally. It is a blatant reminder of our own humanity and insignificance in the grand scheme of things, (God’s plans are sovereign, relying on no man to achieve.)

We absolutely need a deeper move of the Holy Spirit. Only His plans are perfect and sometimes we get ahead of ourselves with our own scheming and planning thinking that we’ve got God’s will all figured out, and we forget that we, ourselves are only human.

unAmerican?

Surrendering My Citizenship?

I recently preached a missions sermon in my church, Williston Assembly of God. I approached the topic from an understanding of Basic Human Rights. While I was preparing this sermon, I really struggled with using that concept, not because it was hard, I just wasn’t really “feeling it.” I’d never heard a sermon like that before and I didn’t think that it would go over all that well, (mainly because it was outside of my own personal element—by that I mean that it wasn’t clever or laced with minor witticism that my sermons are known for.) The sermon came and went, and all went very well. The main thrust of my message (outside of scripture) was that the only real basic human right that we should all have is the option to hear the gospel preached at least once before we die.

Ironically, a week after my sermon, I heard a nationally known speaker take almost the same approach to his sermon about Christian conduct. I love it how sometimes God validates what you are doing by reinforcing and reaffirming your work through other sources you didn’t expect.

The idea of basic human rights got me thinking. The human rights that you may claim ownership over depend on your citizenship status and to which country you belong (with the exception of America—we tend to think that everyone deserves the right to do everything.) Our self-indulgent society has been over-played and exploited to such a degree that it’s enabled our self-indulgent narcissism. We Americans cry about special interests and want to see tax dollars funneled to groups that fall in line with our own ideals and cry foul when we don’t get our way.

We claim rights to do everything our wicked hearts desire (the right to marry same-sex individuals, right to kill humans post conception, the right to sodomize children [thank you ACLU and NAMBLA—your efforts don’t go unnoticed). People are so concerned with what they deserve that we have no time to serve. Why don’t we give up on our rights? As Christians, perhaps the best course of action to get our eyes off of ourselves and back onto our savior would be to voluntarily surrender our rights, to lay them down in lieu of something greater.

Our values must shift. The greatest thing of value is the human soul (Matt 16:26), much more valuable than all the dollars that can fund political programs or lobby interest groups. We need to once again live as if we are in the shadow of the cross and looking to the blessed hope of Christ’s return. If souls are not of tantamount importance to us, it becomes easy to focus on ourselves instead—on our own creature comforts and entitlements as Americans.

In essence, we have profaned God. The definition of Profane is to “make common.” We have ascribed a certain amount of mundanity to the battle for souls. Evangelism barely happens anymore—primarily because of fear or lethargy. The passion for the lost is a fire that has long since died in many American churches. We let the collection plate pass by empty in our services and give money to politicians who cannot save and do not know the hope we have in Jesus.

Wake up American Christians! We have a citizenship in something bigger and infinitely better than the American Dream—we should be pursuing the Godly Plan instead.

I had a pastor friend who had both a Canadian and American parent. Until he reached a certain age he was considered a citizen of both countries as a “dual-citizen.” There came, however, a time in his life when he was forced to choose which country he would belong to; he could not remain a dualie forever. I think that is exactly what we must begin to do to reignite our passion in this country: we must lay down our citizenship and all the rights that go along with it. Will we be known as citizens of the USA and cast our lot with a man-made system that has discarded any sentiment of the Almighty, or will we be citizens of an eternal kingdom, willing to sacrifice the temporal fading junk of this world in order to redeem the only thing of value and build up a kingdom of eternity?


And now for something completely different… theYP!


This month's worship song: Anthem (of a Generation) by Jake Hamilton

(this song is not mine, but I put together this video because several people have asked me how to play it.)

My Broken Medulla Oblongata?

The Christian Idiot Monitor

By nature, we humans have a need for community. We love to be among our own kind. Perhaps it’s because commonality seems to validate our own existence? Personally, I think it’s funny how we Americans are so in love with individuality and often think we’re exercising the freedom of expressing it, but really we’re just showing off to a group of clones. Take the goth trend for example, it was birthed by self-proclaimed social outcasts who did their own thing. Soon, they found likeminded others: social outcasts dressed in bondage pants and eyeliner. Now they are a movement that must be advertised to by companies seeking to capitalize on youth trends… think of successful stores such as Hot Topic. The goths are no longer outcasts, but have unwittingly become another clique: try bleaching your hair and wearing a new Abercrombie outfit—walk through a busy Hot Topic greeting everybody with, “Hey brah!” Yeah, it’s gained elitist status.

Cliques operate with their own set of unwritten rules, their own social morays and lingo. Christians are no different, and on many levels we’ve become another sort of clique. I was on vacation last weekend, but I heard buzz of a college kid who attended our church wearing a wife-beater/muscle shirt and jeans. He wasn’t dressed like the rest of the congregation and I wonder what sort of judgmental glares he might have received.

Think of how we speak in our churches. Could an unchurched person understand the preacher’s sermons or congregants’ conversations? Seriously, to translate we shouldn’t need a Christian to Secular dictionary… although my mind suddenly wonders about marketing such a tool to pay for my college education. Christianese is something that we all fall into from time to time—it’s easy if you spend large amounts of time locked within the “Christian Bubble.”

I listen to the radio when I drive, mostly because I want to catch current events and news. I like talk radio programs because I can’t stand most Christian radio, personally. Most of the music sounds exactly the same, often it’s because the music is just that: exactly the same. I don’t know who’s in charge of the programming, but how many times a day can you play the current Casting Crowns single?

I often listen to a talk radio program on American Family Radio during my lunch break. Recently, a guy discussed sociological dynamics resulting from birth rate data concerning the Muslim world versus the American culture—a topic which greatly interests me, (I can’t remember if I wrote about this in the past or not, but I recommend further research here!) Analysts predict the global takeover by Muslims within a couple generations because of their birthrate trends versus the western cultures family-limiting mindset.

While listening, the author made an interesting comment when the host asked him about his involvement with the Muslim world. He’d replied that during a few years he was in the USA pursuing a “Tent-Making” Masters degree. Confused, the announcer asked for clarification. The author was amused how on a blatantly Christian radio interview, nobody understood his Christianese comment.

I understood the comment, and the moment he’d made it I had this thought: “What a stupid thing to say. How’s the secular audience suppose to follow along?” Clarifying, the author explained that he pursued a secular degree with which he could work a job to support his ministry, (we have Paul’s example as a tent-maker in the new testament while he planted churches).

One of the other problems I have with many Christian radio stations is the apparent lack of intellect by the announcers/supported programming. Of course, much of it is very good, but the morning programs usually cater to the happy feel-good crowd. Ministers who have a real heart for Truth and delving into scripture tend to look down on those of their ilk that are full of “seeker-sensitive fluff,” or give messages that just make people happy so they will keep coming back for their weekly, happy-pill sermon.

This morning, for example, the radio DJs spoke about introducing knock-knock jokes to their pre-school aged children. It was funny and heart-warming right up until it got stupid, (and I don’t mean the children’s jokes—I understand children’s humor.) A caller explained that her child had made up a knock-knock joke about photosynthesis. My son is very smart; at seven, he knows chlorophyll and a little about photosynthesis, (for crying out loud he knows that a butterfly cocoon is called a chrysalis!) so this didn’t seem far-fetched to me. The announcers laughed and had to ask her to explain what photosynthesis was because they didn’t know. I slapped my forehead in frustration; ask that question to any seventh or eight-grader and they will know exactly how to define it.

Here is the basic message that we just sent to the secular audience: Christian sentiment and an elementary education are all that are required to make you the best person to publicly advocate the Christian faith via live, national broadcast.

It gets better… no, not really. The lady explains that photosynthesis is when the leaves change color. What?!? Seriously? I’m imagining that scene from The Waterboy when Bobby Boucher insists to his professor that, “Momma says alligators are ornery because they got all them teeth but no toothbrush,” insisting it’s not because of their brain chemistry. Any junior high school student knows that photosynthesis is the process by which plant life uses the sun to make its own food.

See, we as Christians have typecast ourselves as soft-spoken fools; we have only one music preference beyond hymns; and display a shmoozy-huggy-love to everybody else, (except those unlike them—or already in the clique… then you’ll just get the silent treatment until you go away.) This Christian bubble effect is damaging to church growth and development, but most people inside it can’t understand what’s happening. They’re unable to fathom the idea that anyone outside the bubble wouldn’t want to come inside.

Christians should display the full range of emotions, be very knowledgeable, and be ready at anytime to mix in the non-christian crowd with a heart to love them, (not just to proselytize, rather to demonstrate real Love so that the Holy Spirit can bring hearts to repentance and eventually to conversion.)

We humans forget our place. It’s never our job to bring restoration or conviction to the secular world. The outside world will feel the power of the Spirit by seeing us do things rightly. We need not force others to change, or even to accept Christian morality; in time, the Spirit will do all that—that’s His job. The problem is that we’ve been trying to effect change from the outside for so long—something that never works, and we’ve gotten used to the idea that if we can mold someone on the outside into what we want, they will internalize it. (A great contemporary example if you’re a nerd like me: the last episode of Heroes season 3 and the beginning storyline regarding Sylar the super villain in Season 4.) I truly believe that part of this is tied to the demasculization/feminization of the church; most women I’ve met who’ve been married more than five years have admitted that they thought “[they] could change the things [they] didn’t like about [their] husband.” Change comes from within, not from without.

We can preach this message until we’re blue in the face, and many of us do—all the while our targets shout amen and hallelujah! We’re not successful, however, at removing the blinders from our congregants because they haven’t realized that the “Christian Bubble” isn’t the way of perfection.

Personally, I think this generation of “Comfortable Christians” has become too lukewarm to realize our plight; we’re content to let a well-oiled, (albeit inherently broken,) machine continue running, pumping out a flow of deadly status quo. After all, in the end we can always just blame the decline of American Christianity on the Democrats, right?




And now for something completely different… theYP!

Fall Chi Alpha Newsletter

So I am putting here as my mid-month post my quarterly Chi Alpha newsletter. I am the Student Ministries pastor at Williston Assembly of God (www.willistonassembly.org) and part of what I do is run the college campus ministry (Chi Alpha) at Williston State College. I send out my newsletter quarterly (both snail mail and email) but wanted to put it up here as well.
WSC XA Fall Newsletter

I did reference a video clip called Seat Of Power in the newsletter and so I am posting that video right here:

Preacher Gets a Speeding Ticket

So I was heading home after a long day, driving though a section of heavy road construction. I turned onto the highway, a fifty-five mph zone and saw a state trooper parked down the way. I checked my speedometer; I was driving about forty miles an hour, so I sped up and hit my cruise at fifty-five. As soon as the trooper’s car was in my rearview mirror, I saw him pull out with his lights on, hot on my tail.

They always ask if you know why you were pulled over, don’t they? I think it’s a law. I explained that I didn’t know why, actually. He told me that I was going fifty-two miles per hour on his radar gun. Still confused, he told me that the speed limit had been reduced for the road construction and I realized that I had missed the sign (which was right on the intersection where I turned on. The sign had been in my blind spot so I never noticed it.

The trooper was very polite as he took my driver’s license, though he noticed that it was out of state. “How long have you lived here,” he asked. Truthfully I replied that it had been almost nine months and that I knew I needed to get an in-state license but had been extremely busy as of late.

He asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I was in Student Ministries the trooper chuckled and replied, “Yeah. You don’t have enough time for that.” He smiled; he probably had a relative who was a pastor and so he knew how busy pastors could get sometimes.

I was thinking about the whole situation and how it really relates to what I had discussed with a group of students recently. I told them that we are who we decide to be (yeah, I’m a big fan of Arminius,) and that we are constantly faced with choices as we go about our lives. “In essence, we are defined by what we do—what we choose to do and choose to become,” I’d said.

We know that with every action there are always the principles of cause and effect, and we can choose an action that doesn’t always seem to have the desired outcome, for example, a right action doesn’t always guarantee a pleasant outcome—such is the nature of a fallen world. In a world that so often can take us by surprise and so often gives us an unexpected outcome, it often shocks us when we get exactly what we deserve in the big scheme of things—when the absolutes of the world actually surface and we get exactly what we deserve. Yup, I couldn’t talk my way out of it, the friendly North Dakota state trooper handed me a speeding ticket. I had to pay a total of ten dollars. An out-of-state friend told me, “Heck, for just ten dollars, I’d speed everywhere I go.”

In previous blogs, I’ve mentioned this cultural idea that we all have of self-entitlement. We are all pre-wired to fulfill the selfish desires of our flesh, and when the consequences come to us we try to pass the buck by whatever means possible. Ultimately, we all want someone else to pick up our bill for personal failings, as taught by pop-psychologists and daytime television. It’s not my fault! My father didn’t hug me enough as a child! Nobody understands that I was just made this way. The devil made me do it. We are an irresponsible people looking for someone to blame. Don’t believe me? Well, don’t give anyone a cup of coffee with out a written, signed, and notarized release or you could wind up in court should it spill.

I was musing on this when I thought of the sign in my blind spot. I was a little irked. How was I supposed to know that the limit had changed? My inner nature wanted to blame someone else, that sign was ill placed for any motorists entering the highway from that intersection. But then I thought of the other indicators. There was a speed limit sign that was covered over; that should have told me something was up. I knew the road was under construction; orange cones were everywhere and usually that does mean a slow-down. Just because there wasn’t a sign as I expected there to be doesn’t mean that someone hadn’t reduced the limit. The problem was one of my perception and personal expectations.

On that note, I recalled a recent conversation with a friend about aborigines in jungle tribes across Africa. They hadn’t heard about God or Christ, how could they be expected to find salvation through the name of Jesus if that is the only way to gain eternal life and escape God’s wrath. Many people are upset at this notion—it doesn’t seem fair to us that God would make a covenant requirement with mankind and then not inform everyone of it. God said here’s the speed limit, but didn’t place the sign exactly where we all expected to find it. Here’s the rub: that doesn’t mean we can get away with breaking the law just because we didn’t notice it or recognize the sign for what it was. We still break that law. Besides, there are other signs, too. Most every people group in the world invented some sort of deity because they recognized the hand of a godly being by creation’s very nature. There’s also the issue of man’s conscience (or the fact that the law of god—morality—is written upon the heart man.)

Still, I thought of another argument against the idea of moral laws, it also fits neatly into the speed limit analogy. My wife was in a college class discussing the topics of ethics in the classroom (she’s studying to get her teacher’s degree.) How should sexual health issues be treated? Should we teach abstinence, should sex-ed be taught at all, should schools distribute condoms and other prophylactics? One student explained that fundamental Christians are all idiots and don’t look at the fact that “Everyone is having premarital sex,” explaining that condoms need to be distributed to prevent the need for abortions—she grew up in a strict, sexually repressed home and was speaking from personal experience.

Yeah, she said, “Everyone is doing it.” Doesn’t that apply to speeding as well? Have you ever met someone with a license who hasn’t exceeded the speed limit at some point? Since when did the law and morality become subject to the whims of those that it governs? Hey everybody, look at the high percentages of people who have seen pornography online—it’s the number one searched topic… why don’t we start broadcasting it on network TV in primetime? Heck, let’s show clips during Saturday morning cartoons! After all, everyone’s doing it!

Just because mankind has a corporate sinful nature, that does not justify their sin. We have this idea that, since we’ve all been committing sin for a while and nobody has really called us on the carpet for it, that it must be okay. The consequences haven’t caught up with us yet, that does not mean they have ceased to exist.

It may seem that everyone is promiscuous, but what about all of those other warnings out there that this is dangerous? What about STDs and emotional heartbreak? Everyone is dealing with the fallout of their sinful actions, but we overlook that because we want to indulge in our own desires. These are the warning signs! But people who speak out about that are branded as idiotic fundamentalists, as unenlightened, weak-minded individuals that are forced to lean upon the crutch of religion. I suppose I’m fine with that—I’d rather some hoity-toity latte drinking yuppie call me names than need to rub anti-itch cream on my nether-regions whenever I have an outbreak or need to keep a detailed list of every person I should call to inform that I’ve just learned I may have passed herpes on to them. I was recently amused to see a booklet of Hallmark-type greeting cards meant to pass on this news; the front of one had a cute smiling kitten basking in the sun—inside it says, “Smile! By the way, you may want to get tested, I just found out I got The Clap.” Yeah, I’m thankful I don’t have to deal with that fallout, but that doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with it happening in this world. I have kids; what kind of world do I want them to come of age in?

Everyone’s doing it? So what if they are? It’s like we’ve all just decided that we can decide what our own personal speed limits should be. When the cops pull me over next time, it will go like this:

“Sir, do you know how fast you were going?”

“Of course, ninety-five miles an hour.”

“You realize this is a school zone? The limit is fifteen.”

“You don’t understand; I’m driving a black Escalade.”

“The limit is fifteen. There was a child in the crosswalk.”

“Can you tell the difference between these two? See, this one is black, that one is red. This car is black.”

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to step out of the car and walk a straight line.”

I can’t afford an Escalade. I can barely afford gas. The point is this: the law is the law, our own point of view, desires, opinions, or predispositions (even our birth place or ancestry) have no bearing on it. The world is not a fair place. We all start out under different, unique circumstances. God is more difficult to find in communist China than in America because of the “Bamboo curtain.” God is more difficult to genuinely serve in America than in China because of our culture of apathy. It’s harder to afford an Escalade when you work as a Student Ministries pastor in rural America. We need to stop whining about fairness and focus instead on the truth—on the law that remains sovereign to our own designs, despite our own desires.

There are subtle and overt references that all point back to the sign, back to that Speed Limit God placed on the side of the road. It may be that it’s now in our rear-view mirror, but just because it’s behind us does not make it any less relevant. It should be ever more important in light of that state trooper we see down the highway. We all die; we all will have to face the judge in the end for breaking that limit, and unlike my ticket, we can’t opt out of our court date and simply mail the court a check for ten dollars. The payment costs so much more than that.


and now for something completley different...theYP!



WORSHIP SONG:
(dont remember if I used this one or not)

Get Your Gay Ass Back In Church

Get Your Gay Ass Back In Church

So, the title’s not meant to be vulgar. It is a very real sentiment regarding the biggest area we (the Church) have surrendered to the secularists: our speech.

You know this is true: you secretly dread Christmas-time song services because of those old Yuletide hymns. Come on, you know the ones that talk about our “gay hearts” and mention things like “the ass and the oxen” laying. Think about the last time you heard those hymns in church; you see the verse coming and panic about a measure and a half before the music gets there—you don’t know what to do. Deep down, it feels like your pastor is trying to trap you into publicly cussing. It’s like you feel as if you this is all a test, like maybe the proper course of action was written on the church membership document you signed but never read. The music arrives and the music falters slightly; only a little less than half actually sing that line, the rest drop out, or fake a cough, and then quickly recovers as everyone breathes a sigh of relief as disaster is averted.

The funny thing about that particular hymn is when you hear some folk try to squeeze the word “donkey” into the rhythm structure; it doesn’t work to well. We get uncomfortable around the words the world uses because we have given up many aspects of Godly terminology to our worldly counterpart and we have relented our battle against worldly influence. Perhaps relented is the wrong word, certainly relinquished would be correct, though.

Just the other day I was at our Church’s youth center and someone got really excited and jokingly yelled something like, “You stupid piece of… cheese!” Everyone commented on what a nice save it was (indeed, cheese was not the insult she had first formed in her mind). This girl, who I know is not a Christian knew just enough about me to understand that I was a pastor. And everyone knows you can’t curse in front of a pastor—you get to heaven based upon how good you are, and pastors will tattle such things to Jesus. Jesus is like Santa Clause: there are too many people in the world, so he basically makes a list and checks it twice—so as long as you seem hunky-dory those two times He checks in on you, then you won’t end up in Hell… unless some goody-goody Christian rats you out. I really think some people use that faulty logic.

Regarding language, there are two types of people in the world. The first type of person is afraid of letting a slip of the lip happen in front of their Christian peers. Oh, it still happens, but they are embarrassed and don’t want their religious friends find out that they used dirty words. The other type really doesn’t care; in fact, they want to shock and offend as many believers as possible for a variety of reasons. The second group is in a sorry position, but can’t be helped unless God gets a hold of them. Fortunately, I believe the first group is the majority. Of course, the flip side of that coin is that most of our nominal believers (professing Christians who live like heaven one or two days a week, but act like Hell the rest of the time) also tend to fall into that category.

Christians, as opposed to the world, have a language of their own that few understand. Each denomination has its own dialect. In my opinion, Christianese is an example of how we have surrendered ground in our culture war against the forces of the world (yeah, I’m talking about the spirit in this world: the forces of Satan.) I find it sadly ironic how the lost don’t know what we are talking about when we speak of things like Communion or anything Eucharistic. They don’t like being called post-modern because, not knowing its definition, they see it as an insult. Mention to an unbeliever that you’ve been “covered by blood” and the cops will arrive at your door in short order. So they have no idea what we are talking about and we get offended by the words they use when they talk like they normally do. That’s the perfect setup for a communicative disconnect.

We thin-skinned, touchy-feely type Christians are too easily shocked and offended. We shrink back from the more course type of individual, fearing the toxicity of their words like it might somehow contaminate us and undo all the regeneration Christ has birthed within us. We avoid the exact type of person that we are supposed to be influencing positively fearing that they will negatively impact US! That’s absurd! Did Christ really make us new creatures or not? If Christ has truly impacted us and transformed us, then we can take the heat—if you cloister yourself away from the world (which YOU are called to influence for the Kingdom) then you must ask yourself if you are truly saved; the secluded Christian is one who that is not living in the power of the blood. Those sorts are 2 Timothy 3:5 people, or those “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”

I know that many of these aforementioned people are pillars of our churches and who am I that I can question their conduct? I am a Christian who is walking in freedom and calling to influence back this depraved environment. Colossians 2:21 refers to people who decree that believers must “not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” The passage says not to submit to those sorts—that we should have freedom if we have really been set free from “the elementary principles of the world,” if we have “died with Christ,” [to them]. In fact, verse 23 states that this cloistering lifestyle “surely has the appearance of wisdom [but only] in self-made religion.” Monasticism was not the Christian life style modeled by our Lord.

Understand that we should expect crude speech and conduct from the nonbeliever or the new believer. At least they are sincere when they use such words. Such words don’t bother me anymore—and not because I am comfortable with them. I value sincerity. The two Godly principles that will transform our world are Biblical love and true sincerity. As Christians, we should expect the world to act in the flesh, yet work to see the lost saved; then, we must let the Holy Spirit deal with their conduct in His own timing.

Why is the alternative of Pro-Choice not equal and opposite; hasn’t it ever struck you oddly that there is Pro-Life but no Pro-Death? Why do let the opposition define the terms of modern vernacular. A political example: Bailout, or Stimulus—why wasn’t it called something like “Directed Funds for Political Allies?” And why are bills written by Congress that don’t change any laws that normally affect your typical American, but instead seem to “protect” us with the inclusion of special interest groups or minorities who already have that same protection?

See, we’re losing ground under the guise of having it protected. Obama’s democratic Congress is writing into law many bills that will reiterate the protection of the American people that we already enjoy, such as the illegality of hate crimes. Those bills go on to define those same old rights but then specifically define extended protection to groups such as homosexuals, gay rights activists, and even pedophiles (in some versions of the bill). Laws define marriage as a man and a woman joined legally; new bills assert the same, BUT ALSO same-sex unions.

Old laws simply get modified including language, which actually makes the former obsolete so we really lose some of our rights. We think that we are getting protection whereas we are actually losing it. This is just how our religious ground has been lost. We nod and smile thinking we are still protected while the outcome is actually subverting our beliefs, like an innocuous chess move that seems unthreatening. We sometimes even applaud those decisions and don’t see how one or two moves later that previous move was the pivot point for being forced into checkmate.

By elevating certain interest groups’ personal feelings regarding issues such as “hate speech,” the government is creating special classes of individuals that include lifestyles we Christians preach against. These special classes have more rights than the average American. For example, I have the right to religious freedom (which includes my freedom to evangelize) but the rights of a homosexual will be infringed upon if I witness to him or her because the Spirit’s conviction (a guilty feeling) can be called victimization through “hate-speech.” It won’t be long until it is illegal to preach the whole Word of God. Someone will be offended by my personal beliefs (which are fundamentally Christian.) I believe that marriage is God ordained between only a man and woman, that abortion is wrong, homosexuality is wrong, I have the duty as a husband to protect my family (even if it means arming myself,) and many other such mandates. When I have the right to believe these things, just not to vocalize them, teach them, or act upon them in any way—that is the death sentence to Christianity.

We are involved in a Cultural Cold War. This subversive war on Christianity will be won or lost by the definitions of the terms. This should not surprise us. AntiChrist is described as a leader who comes in through political means, using methodology that is subversive (imagery of one wielding an arrowless bow, rather than a sword, as others are described.) I believe we are in the last days, but even five hundred years ago the spirit of AntiChrist was at work in the world (2 John 7).

If we plan to win this war, we must advance the kingdom forcefully—reclaiming lost ground and taking back even more, starting with our vocabulary. We should call people on this. If opponents are allowed to continue unchecked as they steal our cultural relevance (through this mafia-hit on our dictionaries) our attrition rate will only escalate, leading to the further decline of our faith. Fight back.


and now for something completley different... theYP




August blog's worship song: We Like Sheep (YouTube/Tangle)

Jesus Is My Friend: the sermon

so you all know that viral video... the Jesus is My Friend song by Sonseed? I actually showed that at my church as my main illustration for a sermon on the necessity for relationship/friendship evangelism. Since it really fits in with what I've been blogging about, here is the trimmed and edited sermon complete with video illustrations.