Friday, November 30

Staying in the land of Promise and Purpose.....

Jeremiah 42:10-18(NIV) 10 'If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. 12 I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.'

13 "However, if you say, 'We will not stay in this land,' and so disobey the LORD your God, 14 and if you say, 'No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,' 15 then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there, 16 then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die. 17 Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.' 18 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be an object of cursing and horror, of condemnation and reproach; you will never see this place again.'


God tells us what will happen with our choices. I and my dearest friend, my wife, are on the journey to finding that purpose for us individually, together, and as a family.
Pray for us as we journey this weekend into the wilds.

THANK YOU to a dear friend for connecting me with those who would help me in my need for a laptop. I have been entrusted not only with a ThinkPad, but also a Dell desktop system that are in a better shape than I ever dreamed.
Thanks to those who answered prayers and the prompting of God.


In Christ,
Jim

Wednesday, November 28

A compass that points in the wrong direction.

An open attack on Christianity and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is hidden well in the most innocent of media, the children book genre. And one of the biggest opponents of such Christian authors as Lewis and Tolkien is the voice of 'reason' and 'impulse' of this series written to jar the world loose of Lewis' Narnia and Tolkien's Middle Earth fantasy realms.

Philip Pullman, labeled in one article "the most dangerous author in Britain", is unashamedly promoting his series as a direct attack upon God. "My books," Pullman remarks in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, "are about killing God." Pullman, banking apparently on the announcement of his series to propel his agenda of open literary warfare upon the Christian realm, expressed disappointment. "I've been surprised by how little criticism I've got. Harry Potter's been taking all the flak," Pullman complains, "Meanwhile, I've been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said." True, when set side by side, the Harry Potter series is, by far, the lesser of the two evils. And apparently, with the help of New Line Cinemas, Mr. Pullman is making up for the oversight made by "America's Bible belt" back in 2003, when he was interviewed for the Herald article.

According to Steve Meacham, the reporter of the piece entitled "The Shed where God Died", His Dark Materials (the series title that contains the book, The Golden Compass, as its first installment) is Pullman's reworking of the 17th century classic poem, Milton's Paradise Lost, disguised as a children's adventure story. Pullman is attempting to rewrite the biblical story of Heaven's battle for control.

Mr. Meacham calls Pullman's creatures "some of the most magical creatures ever devised" without realizing that all Pullman has done is put an atheistic and agnostic bent to well known 'mythical' creatures that abounded throughout literary history. Creatures like a "King of the armored bears"; "a gas-balloonist-aeronaut", a "Shaman", "dragonfly-riding spies", and two homosexual angels have been well represented in other formats and literary tales. "A rich tapestry of characters," Meacham states, "with only one common quality: in the moral maelstrom of Pullman's multiple worlds, you're never sure who is on whose side." Meacham hasn't apparent read Pullman's material, as Pullman himself stated, "My books are about killing God."

With the well documented agenda, Pullman ensures that his take on the battle for the moral fabric of our children is popular for the targeted audience with the candy of the fantasy genre. At least Meacham realizes that Pullman's series is about "the heretical notion that there was once a war in Heaven, and the wrong side won."

Pullman takes the journey through life; a transition from innocence to experience, where knowledge triumphs over the fragile structure of ignorance, and distorts it into a transition secure in nativity where ignorance is the new reality. In an age where science and religion struggle to rediscover the reality of co-support through the realization of a Creator, Pullman
scoffs at "religious intolerance" through the 'rite of passage from childhood to adult' with "the potential of science, mathematics, art or literature, and becoming consumed by questions of social justice or inequality" that he send his two main characters, Will and Lyra--his new teenage Adam and Eve. Pullman takes direct aim at the biblical accounts of the battle in
Heaven and the Fall of Man and rewrites it through the eyes of the vanquished, acting as if he has personal knowledge of the events that transpired. "Despite the armored bears and the angels, I don't think I'm writing fantasy," he says, "My books are psychologically real.

The Golden Compass, the least offensive first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy which is labeled Northern Lights in England, is an even more watered down version of the material Pullman spouts into the minds of our future generations. In a 2001 interview, Pullman expressed again his purpose in writing such a series; he wanted to "undermine the basis of Christian belief." Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, decrees Pullman's efforts as the "pernicious effort to indoctrinate children into anti-Christian belief system, which is evidenced in all facets of our society as the method through which we are destroying ourselves. We kill babies, destroy literature that is the basis of our republic, and are intolerant of the very religion that created the view of tolerance.

But, why is there so much outrage from the Christian community over such an obvious fraud of the truth? The series follows the adventures of a streetwise girl named Lyra, who travels through multiple worlds populated by witches, armor-plated bears, and sinister religious assassins to defeat the authoritarian and oppressive forces of a senile God. Through the medium of alternate history, Pullman causes the Reformation to create consolidation where the Catholic papacy is moved from Rome to Geneva under John Calvin and ends up being ran by a cabal of celibate men obsessed with sin's eradication through self-flagellation and 'preemptive penance' of a 'get-out-of-hell' free card mentality that pursue the heroine as she seeks to set right the injustice of her best friend's kidnapping, her father's exile, and ultimately her own homicidal pursuit by the villainous institution. Offering an 'extended celebration of the marvels of science: discoveries and theories from ....cosmology....dark matter...possibility of multiple universes', the series centers around the allure of unscientific invention, fantasy.

Such is not uncommon within the literary realm today as the atheists and agnostics seem to gain more and more ground in their spewing of anti-Christian rhetoric. But this is the first book aimed so openly at destroying Christian beliefs in the future generation, our children. Instead of salvation, Pullman wants to overturn such 'ideological tyranny and rejection of this world" and promote idealized afterlife that knows no creed. To this end, Pullman rewrites the historicity of the fall into a 'loss of protean innocence' that leads to 'a gain in self-awareness.' Throwing historical and biblical knowledge out the window, Pullman declares," Wee need to ensure that children are not forced to waste their time on barren rubbish."

Instead of "tribal and mythical yearnings for kings, gods, and supermen', according to Laura Miller of the New Yorker, Pullman's 'fantasy series' is founded upon "the Enlightenment." This is Pullman's solution to the theological problem plaguing our youth, the approved atheistic method of half-truth, misdirection, implied factual theories, and plain outright lies offered through the guise of an 'enlightened worldview.'

This means, in Pullman's eyes, that children should focus on castration and female circumsion. Sexual love is the mystical process of entering adulthood. "The idea," Pullman declares, "of keeping childhood alive forever and ever and regretting the passage into adulthood ---whether it's a gentle, rose-tinged regret or a passionate, full-blooded hatred....is simply wrong."

Life doesn't begin at conception, but rather further down the line, when 'you realize you were delivered to the wrong family by mistake.' Pullman declares that religion doesn't allow "responsibility and delight" to coexist. The bible is a story of an "imaginary number" that might not be tangible but can be used to calculate "all manner of things."

"Spiritual" and "spirituality", though not understood by this self-proclaimed atheist and agnostic, compels him to feel he has "say something about moral education." He points out that Macbeth taught us that killing is as horrible for the killer as for the victim, and Jane Austen's Emma teaches us about the cruelty of mocking others. "We can learn what's good and what's bad, what's generous and unselfish, what's cruel and mean, from fiction," Pullman declares, "There's no need to consult scripture.'Thou shalt not' might reach the head, but 'Once upon a time' reaches the heart."

Pullman compares 'theocracy' as an atheistic state like Iran or the Soviet Union of Stalin's fame, characterized by "a scripture whose word is inerrant", priestly authority that "tends to concentrate in the hands of elderly men", and a police force secretly operating with the "powers of an inquisition." Religious thought is, in the opinion of this anti-religious atheist, the active pursuit of power gathering by human beings through an absolute humanistic truth. Throwing up his own 'atheistic worldview' and declaring it to be a theocratic expression of thought allows this author to integrate himself in the hearts of the future with little accountability.

Although supporters declare Pullman's work in His Dark Materials the greatest children's fantasy work to date, Pullman considers his efforts to be 'realistic.' Referred to as the atheistic "C.S. Lewis" and "J.R.R. Tolkien", Pullman would rather be considered the equal of such authors as J.W. Rowling of Harry Potter fame, or Jane Austin, or even Milton, Tolstoy, Blake and Chekhov.

Pullman scoffs at Tolkien, a fellow alumnus of Oxford, as "fundamentally an infantile work." "Tolkien is not interested in the way grownup, adult human beings interact with each other," Pullman remarks in the article Far from Narnia posted in the New Yorker. "He's interested in maps and plans and languages and codes."

C.S. Lewis is the most 'non-Christian' Christian theologian, in Pullman's eyes. "Here's a simple test: What is the greatest Christian virtue? Well, its charity, isn't it? It's love. If somebody who knew nothing about Christian doctrine, and who had been told Lewis is a great Christian teacher, read all the way through those books, would he get that message? No." This despite the sacrifice of Aslan, an innocent victim killed for the actions of Edmund who had committed crimes against Narnia. This despite the loving actions throughout the Narnia series of the main characters, the Pevensie children.

And this rangy, spirited man with bristling gray hair, the very image of "an intelligent and amused stork" according to Laura Miller, has found the attention he has sought on the American side of the Atlantic through the very agency that brought such acclaim to Tolkien's creation, New Line Cinema. The plan is to create His Dark Materials into another epic series. The Golden Compass, with Nicole Kidman in a starring role, is the watered down version that has Director Chris Weitz hoping for a pass from religious movie goers from their offended sensibilities and Pullman supporter's, such as www.bridgetothestars.net, decrying the "removal of [the characters'] religious motivations [that] make the institution incredibly bland, a mere band of thugs with a domineering power for no apparent reason." David Craig, of James Bond fame and the movie's co-star, wishes for more overt religious overtones, too, because "the debate that Philip Pullman raises is incredibly healthy." The only saving grace for such supporters of Pullman is Weitz's realization of establishing a "foundation for....a film trilogy."

With the water downed version of the first book being offered by New Line Cinemas, one is left to wonder at the future of such an epic, where "the religious zealots [are] trying to prevent the spread of wisdom [and experience] who are the bad guys" and the histories of humanity have been wrongly written by the incorrect victors. Pullman uses seemingly innocence to pull his young victims into a world that declares physical unions are encouraged and only begin with a kiss......

It is this process, of taking an innocent view and enticing a reader to commit to the continuation of a series before realizing the outcome has been widely used by religious and secular authors alike, but never in such an evil and villainous way as Pullman does in His Dark Materials. "I think I'm writing realism," Pullman tells reporter Steve Meacham.

This realism is set in fantastical distortions, where the trinity is reduced to one being, a feminine divine, based upon liberal feministic theology which mixes in Marxism and a socially progressive viewpoint of traditional Gospels where Jesus is a political revolutionary and doctrinal truth leads to oppression. The traditional reliance on a Divine being is transposed by a new realization of mutual relations.

Some declare this to be a beautiful, Christian story that will cause us to discover the true God, who loves us to the point of sacrificing everything to hold on to this God through wars with the authoritan oppressors who declare a false God. These supporters declare this trilogy to "help believers to reflect on their own faith."

Can anyone say, "Emergent Church?"


Sources:

www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

Hitchens, Peter. "This is the Most Dangerous Author in Britian"
Mail on Sunday. 27 January 2002 (p63).

Meacham, Steve. "The Shed where God Died."
The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 December 2003.

Miller, Laura. "Far from Narnia"
The New Yorker. 26 December 2005

Silence on the airwaves.....

"Your words have upheld him who was stumbling and You have strengthened the feeble knees." Job 4:4

Sometimes when you are straining for a word, struggling to hear the voice of reason and wisdom; the silence of the very air echoes throughout your ears so loud and you don't 'hear' anything because of all the background noise.

I have that feeling, a feeling that has prevaded my bones for several months now, that there is something around the corner, something about to happen, something that will alter the world I currently live in personally and worldwide. But there is nothing but silence now, like the anticipation right before.......

That 'calm before the storm' feeling. That 'wait for it' feeling. And I don't know if I am responding in my all too human, all too broken state but I don't hear the whispers of my Father, only static.......That 'end of a vinyl record' noise.......

But, like David, Job and the mighty ones of the Bible have done in the past, I will remain faithful, I will remain on my knees prayerfully praising all He has done, is doing and will do.

I will bolster my faith with the words He has written in the Bible, and I will seek His strength in my feeble knees as I struggle to pray, struggle to seek what His will is.

I will seek out my brothers and sisters for uplifting prayer and supplication, in accountability and strength of purpose with my band of brothers. I will stand and....

As a friend of mine said to me, "Struggle well."

The sword is too heavy to swing now, so I will plant it in the fertile soil of my Father's purpose and hold on tight until the storm is passed.

I can only recall the verses that were given to me by the Men in The Woods......

"But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

and abide in His strength.

In Christ,
Jim

Tuesday, November 27

Repeating the Fall....generation to generation

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman, "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5 NIV

Adam stood by, while this exchange was going on and decided to stand on his hands, not doing his God designed duty of protecting beauty and order from the chaotic whisperings of the Enemy. And so we fell once Eve took a bite of the fruit and gave it to Adam. And the process of a creation gone wrong became the norm as mankind started to die. All because we sought to obtain God qualities to fill our God-like bodies……

And we've been dying ever since. You would wonder why God put the cherubim at the entrance to the Garden if you failed to take into account what man has done since the eviction from the garden. He has continued to seek those God qualities and powers to fill a body no longer living according to the designer's intention. He has continued to put himself further and further from God by trying to limit God to what he can obtain within his own means. And, for over two thousand years, we haven't learned from our mistakes.

We seek justice in our society; against those who would kill, maim, harm, or alter someone else's life. We seek awards for damages for the minorities who are abhorrent to God's design, because we are God's design and who better to know its limitations that the created themselves. We profess love, but leave the other side of the balance out of the picture….because wrath, righteous vengeance, and correction aren't our boundaries, but the boundaries established and represented by the Designer.

And, in seeking this humanistic justice, we allow a woman to become a vengeful or indifferent god by giving them the decision on whether to bring another life to term. We appoint the snake to once again give whispers of the distorted truth so that they will decide that having a child isn't fitting in their 'schedule for achievement' or 'productive to a happy lifestyle'. And again, we Adams stand to the side and allow the corruption of beauty and order as we fail to speak out because 'it’s a woman's body.' We appoint those who would 'toe the middle ground' and say it is a individual moralistic issue as cultures begin the slow decline into extinction, because birth rates are far lower than the aging population needs to stay healthy.

We allow this justice to be defined by individuals or minorities instead of realizing that the majority rule has always been the American way, that the few who work in the government represent not themselves but the PEOPLE. All Americans, those born by birth and those legally mixed into the great melting pot of our society. Instead, we allow corruption to rule the day under the banner of tolerance, wiping only our heritage from the moral fabric of the nation and adopting whatever seems to be the flavor of the moment. Gone are bibles and prayer from schools, gone is the traditional education system, gone is the need to have God defined wholly and completely by the leaders of our faith, and gone is the desire to reach out beyond ourselves.

We look at the Old Testament and laugh at the Israelites who wandered the desert for FORTY years, until the generation that had mocked God's blessing of the Promise Land was dust in the wind. We marvel at the seemingly stupidity of a chosen people to time and time again flaunt their humanistic greed to be gods in their Creator God's face. We look at the modern day remnant of the once great nation and tell them they are too rigid, too intolerant, as bombs explode in their cities and their children die. We make our decisions based upon what WE want and what WE need, and ignore the basic cry for a redeemer beyond our capabilities to bring us back to the original intent.

Too difficult to define, then leave out the parts that don't fit our own definition. Too hard to conceive, then make our conception less intrusive and labor intensive. We spend more time making excuses to excuse our own laziness and lack of purpose than realizing that the purpose we feel the call for lies before us…..just a few steps ahead. Instead of realizing that our opinion that the burden of a God who is beyond our understanding and who loves us enough to punish sinful deeds and lustful thoughts with consequences, we seek to define a god who will do our will and obey our commandments. Instead of listening to the words of a God-man who died on a painful Cross to realize for us a redeeming grace that would resound throughout the generations since, we look to discredit Him to cover our own shame of His wrongful death.

We are still trying to become god.

I just felt lead to be frank today.....this is what I feel in my heart, the fire of God's wrath and anger, His pure wonderment at a creation who would still mock Him. Take it as you wish.

A call for REVIVAL!!!!!!!!!!

I want to give my personal appeal to all followers of Christ and Christian leaders in south east Michigan to participate in some way in "The Uprise: Michigan". I'm inspired by the new generation of spiritual leaders that God is raising up in Michigan.

This young man, Brad Stenman, a senior at Grosse Point South, is organizing this call to repentance. Our future is bright with young leaders like this. We are participating in both the fast and the event itself.

Blessings,

Pastor Brent Hanson

Hear Brad's interview here: http://www.newsongcommunitychurch.com/michiganuprise.html

New Song Community Church is a spirit filled interdenominational church in fellowship with both the FCA (Fellowship Of Christian Assemblies) and TANGA (The Apostolic Network For Global Awakening). TANGA is a fellowship of churches associated with Randy Clark and Global Awakening. New Song has a firm belief that God's supernatural power should be a natural thing for everyday people based on Jesus Christ's finished work on the cross and his resurrection. Signs and wonders should be a regular, every day experience. The greatest miracle of all being the salvation of our souls! Find out more at www.newsongcommunitychurch.com

Contact Info
New Song Community Church
1655 Glengary Road
Wolverine Lake, MI 48390

www.newsongcommunitychurch.com

Pastor Brent Hanson
248-926-8190

Monday, November 26

A touchy subject touched upon

"Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were".
~Cherie Carter-Scott, "If Love Is a Game, These Are the Rules"

"God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships." 2 Corinthians 5:18 (GW).

I had forgotten in the midst of the battles that I face to vocalize the creed to which I believe all children of God are called to…. Ozuyewicasta Hoka Hey. In the Lakota language, it means "Stand fast, warriors", and is what the Lakota warriors would shout as they launched themselves into battle. I believe that we are all warriors in the Army of God and called to battle in various arenas; be it physical, spiritual, or even mentally. We each have our weapons which we can turn to God's use, or devastate our own.

I was sermonizing on Philemon and I was frightened because of the subject matter….well, not really the subject matter but the "S" word that is prevalent throughout this brief letter from a Pharisaic Christian to an Asiatic Christian, and two different lifestyles. It was the "slavery" word that is the gist of this letter, Paul asking Philemon to forgive a runaway slave of his mistake since he was a convert. I have several African Americans in my congregation and more than enough Caucasians that hate that word, either through experience or through cultural awareness. But I wanted to touch upon how redemption was sought by both the person in question, Onesimus, and a brother in Christ, Paul. But, God has a way of bringing into sharp focus that which He would have me to understand.

A friend of mine, dear to my own heart, as Paul speaks of Onesimus being of his heart, has been facing severe trials and tribulations in their life lately. It seems the more they seek the Father's face, the more various aspects of their life comes into painful retrospection or struggling sorrow. And it never seems to cease, unlike it seems to my friend those various Biblical figures finally overcome their own.

And one person directly involved in the struggle my friend finds themselves in, came to them the other day asking how they could ever make up for the pain and sorrow caused. And how forgiveness could be given by my friend to them, so despicable was the sin against them. And my friend, struggling to keep their head above the water of despair, asked me for my opinion and assistance in this question.

And God brought Philemon up for my attention. Many of us find ourselves in Onesimus' position; facing a major problem due to our blindness or wrong choice. In a position of being unable to rewrite the mistake, take back what was lost, and finding ourselves facing devastating consequences if we turn ourselves over to those we've harmed for disposition. Philemon was well in his rights, as a citizen of Rome and a slave owner, to allow Onesimus to be turned over to the authorities to be sent to the mines or work details that usually killed the unfortunates that were so punished. It is even implied that there was more than just Onesimus leaving his slavery without his owner's permission but that he even stole something from Philemon. Not exactly what would make Philemon more amenable to forgiveness, as Paul was asking.

And Paul, despite letting Philemon know that he felt that he could demand (based on the shared Christian tenants they both shared) that Philemon forgive and release Onesimus from his slavery, left open for Philemon to do 'the right thing' in this regard. Forgive or Punish. Although Paul relied heavily on the shared Christian faith and his own personal relationship with Philemon, he did not demand.

And, as we can see by the verse in 2 Corinthians, Paul also showed the redemptive relationship we have in Jesus Christ, that should let Philemon to the 'right action' in Onesimus' regard. Restore the lost relationship, and as Paul says in Philemon, find that the person who is restored is in better shape than they ever were before. True redemption requires repentance and forgiveness, sometimes to the point of waiving the cost of compensation rightly due. Sometimes it takes another, who has seen or been involved with the person who shattered the relationship, to step forward and offer to pay the price for that person to the one they seek forgiveness from.

So, I told my friend this; In light of the forgiveness we received from our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ His son, we have no choice but to forgive so that we can be worthy of the forgiveness given. But, to go further, we need to realize that redemption sometimes requires the act of forgiveness to be complete: including any compensation rightly deserved. Though the restoration process will be long and hard, it is the ultimate repayment of any indebtedness incurred and should be the ultimate goal.

We all have faced our slavery; either slavery of culture, experience, or viewpoint. We all need to seek the forgiveness of our debts to another and realize that we are indeed called to restore the relationships lost, as our Lord and Savior died on the cross to restore ours with the Father.

And instead of seeing the "s" word in Philemon, we should realize that the true word is "Servitude". Service to another regardless of our position or title, rank or financial status. Then, true slavery will never be able to raise its ugly head again on the American landscape.

I hope that I expressed this clearly as I did to my chapel congregation. I neither condone or accept the act of slavery, sorrow with my brothers and sisters of faith in the period of American history where it took place upon our shores, and seek to see that it never again is able to be something we face ever again. Neither do I believe that the Bible endorses slavery, indeed, in Philemon I think we see that Paul recognizes it as a societal problem and an unchristian one.

In peace,
Jim

Wednesday, November 21

GotQuestions.com devotional

a brief history of Thanksgiving - the original thanksgiving celebration was held by the Pilgrim settlers in Massachusetts during their second winter in America in December 1621. The first winter had killed 44 of the original 102 colonists. At one point their daily food ration was down to five kernels of corn apiece, but then an unexpected trading vessel arrived, swapping them beaver pelts for corn, providing for their severe need. The next summer’s crop brought hope, and Governor William Bradford decreed that December 13, 1621, be set aside as a day of feasting and prayer to show the gratitude of the colonists that they were still alive. These Pilgrims, seeking religious freedom and opportunity in America, gave thanks to God for His provision for them in helping them find 20 acres of cleared land, for the fact that there were no hostile Indians in that area, for their newfound religious freedom, and for God’s provision of an interpreter to the Indians in Squanto.

Along with the feasting and games involving the colonists and more than 80 friendly Indians (who added to the feast by bringing wild turkeys and venison), prayers, sermons, and songs of praise were important in the celebration. Three days were spent in feasting and prayer.

From that time forward, Thanksgiving has been celebrated as a day to give thanks to God for His gracious and sufficient provision. President Abraham Lincoln officially set aside the last Thursday of November, in 1863, “as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father.” In 1941, Congress ruled that after 1941, the fourth Thursday of November be observed as Thanksgiving Day and be a legal holiday.

Scripturally, you find things related to the issue of thanksgiving nearly from cover to cover. You find individuals offering up sacrifices out of gratitude in the book of Genesis. You find the Israelites singing a song of thanksgiving as they were delivered from Pharaoh's army after the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 15). Later, the Mosaic Law set aside three times each year when the Israelites were to gather together. All three of these times [Unleavened Bread (also called the Feast of the Passover) (Exodus 12:15-20), Harvest or Pentecost (Leviticus 23:15-21), and the Feast of Ingathering or Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:33-36)] involved remembering God’s provision and grace. Harvest and Tabernacles took place specifically in relation to God’s provision in the harvest of various fruit trees and crops. The book of Psalms is packed full of songs of thanksgiving, both for God’s grace to the Israelite people as a whole through His mighty deeds, as well as for His individual graces to each of us.

In the New Testament, there are repeated admonitions to give thanks to God. Thanksgiving is to always be a part of our prayers. Some of the most remembered passages on the giving of thanks are the following:

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6).

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men" (1 Timothy 2:1).

It is also interesting to note that one of the charges brought against mankind universally is that, although we have an innate knowledge of God and of His provisions to us, we are unthankful (Romans 1:18-21). This is brought out in one pastor’s attempt in trying to illustrate the importance of sharing with those having less than we have. He had asked the children to come to the front and sit in the front pew on both sides of the church. Then he began to hand out a few M&M’s to the children on one side and none to the children on the other side. After doing so, he stood back and asked if they noticed anything wrong. One child, on the side having the candy, piped up, and indicating the child next to him, said, “Yeah, you gave him three, and you only gave me two!” So, too often, instead of noticing all that we have been given and being thankful for it and sharing it with others, we focus on what we don’t have instead.

Of all of God’s gifts, the greatest one He has given is the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus paid our sin debt, so a holy and just Judge could forgive us our sins and give us eternal life as a free gift. This gift is available to those who will call on Christ to save them from their sin in simple but sincere faith (John 3:16; Romans 3:19-26; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:13; Ephesians 2:8-10). For this gift of His Son, meeting our greatest need, the Apostle Paul says, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15).

We, like the Pilgrims, have a choice: in life there will always be those things that we can complain about (the Pilgrims had lost many loved ones), but there will also be much to be thankful for. As our society becomes increasingly secular, I am afraid that the actual “giving of thanks to God” during our annual Thanksgiving Holiday is being overlooked, leaving only the feasting. May God grant that He may find us grateful every day for all of His gifts, spiritual and material. God is good, and every good gift comes from Him (James 1:17). For those who know Christ, God also works everything together for good, even events we would not necessarily consider good (Romans 8:28-30). May He find us to be His grateful children.

Men to Men ministries entry by my brother, Garry....

Character Counts
What is character? A definition I once heard for character was that, “Character is that which we display even when we think no one is looking.” This is fine from the world's point of view, but the simple truth of the matter is, someone is always looking. God not only sees the deeds we do when we think they are being done in secret, he sees the attitude of our hearts when we do them; whether done in public or in private. Perhaps a better definition from a godly point of view would be, "Character is not forgetting that God is always watching and that everything we do is to bring honor and glory to Him. It is putting into practice the attributes of a holy, loving God."

In the study book, "The Man God Uses," Blackaby lists several godly character qualities he believes should be evident in the life of every Christian man. These character qualities, like so many other godly characteristics we strive to practice are not things that develop over night. They are characters that only the Spirit of God can help us achieve. Since there are several godly characters mentioned in The Man God Uses, instead of glossing over all of them at one time, I would like to look at each one individually over the course of the next several weeks. So, the first character we will look at is the character of “holiness.”

The Character Of Holiness
Character is developed in the life of a Christian as he continues to allow the Holiness of God to fill his life and become part of his own nature. In The Man God Uses, the author describes holiness as, “being set apart and separate from anything that does not please God.” It goes on to say that we cannot make ourselves holy. “We become holy only through the power of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.”
Though our holiness will never reach God’s level of holiness, we can learn through scripture about God’s holiness and strive to make the attribute of holiness a part of our own lives. [It is when we become aware of God’s holiness that we see our lack of holiness.] (1) Isaiah noticed this when in a vision he saw God seated on his throne and the Seraphim were calling to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 6:3) In this vision he saw his own sinfulness and unworthiness and he cried out to God. Because Isaiah had a heart that wanted to serve the Lord God, God was able to shape him and mold him in the likeness of His own holiness. God was able to use Isaiah because of his willingness to surrender himself to God. Because of his desire to become holy as God is holy, Isaiah became a great voice for the Lord his God through out his life.

As stated in the Man God Uses, we can only become holy through the power of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit. That’s why Paul ended chapter seven of Romans as he did when he said, “Wretched man than that I am, Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” And because of what Christ did for us on the cross, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) We have been set free to live holy lives. Lives that do not have to be enslaved by the sin that is in us as we continue to live in our fleshly bodies. Paul saw that it was only through the redemptive power of Christ that we could live holy lives for God and be victorious over sin.

Living holy lives is like being on a spiritual journey as stated here in Isaiah 35:8 “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.” [God is building a highway of holiness that the wicked cannot travel. God desires that our lives be that highway, the road over which others may be drawn. An unholy heart and mind are barriers, roadblocks on that divine highway that keep us from effectively praying and seeking the Lord. If we choose to fill our minds with pornography, violence, immorality, hatred, promiscuity, and self-centeredness, it becomes spiritually impossible to produce fruit of an opposite condition, a holy condition. The condition of our hearts will reflect our actions, and our actions will reflect the condition of our hearts.] (2)

What Is Holy Living Some of the evidences we and others will see in our lives if we are living holy lives are outlined in the following Scripture.

II Corinthians 7:1a points out that if we are living holy lives our lives will be pure, "Purifying our bodies from everything that contaminates body and spirit." And 7:1b says that by living a holy life we are showing a "reverence to God."

I Thessolonians 4:3-5 defines holy living as avoiding sexual immorality, learning to control our own bodies in an honorable way. We are not to live our lives in passion and lust like the heathens. Verse 6 goes on to point out that a person who is living a holy life does no harm to his brother or takes advantage of him.

According to Ephesians 5:1, "Holy living is observing God's holiness and being imitators of Christ's love." Because Christ was the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), by imitating Christ's holiness, we are observing God's holiness.


Staying on Track So, just as Christ was pure, righteous, gracious, merciful, and loving to name just a few things, we too must practice these things in order to live holy lives. How then do we stay on track and continue living holy lives? First , we continue by spending time in God’s word on a daily basis. Just reading it is not enough. We must apply it to our hearts, memorize it, and let it be the thing we fill our minds with, not the garbage around us. Secondly, by constantly reviewing the Spiritual Check list mentioned at the beginning of this study. Thirdly, remember that there is an enemy out there who wants us to fail, so never take off the armor of God, keep it on at all times. Fourthly and most important of all, we continue by realizing that we cannot be holy on our own. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to fill us and to empower us from within.

God did not tell us we had to be perfect, He knew that as long as we were clothed in human flesh we would never be perfect. He did however, tell us to be holy as He is holy, "Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.' (Leviticus 19:2). Therefore if it is something he has commanded us to do we can know first of all that it is not something that will be impossible for us to do and secondly it is something He will help us to do.
Let us continue to strive for holiness as we press on to be all that God has created us to be.

Garry....

1. The Man God Uses, Henry & Tom Blackaby, 1998 The Way Press, 8th printing 2005
2. The Man God Uses, Henry & Tom Blackaby, 1998 The Way Press, 8th printing 2005

Thankful for the heroes; past, present, and future.

Remember that song by Bonnie Tyler, "Holding Out for A Hero"? You know the one where she belts out the question, "Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?" She isn't the only one who is "holding out for a hero….."

The world is crying out for a hero, who meets the description in Tyler's song of being "Strong…..Fast…..and Fresh from the fight." And, of course, there is the major requirement for our heroes today; they have to be 'larger than life' beyond any realm of uncertainty and untimely reactions.

In Zechariah 10:7 (NASB), we can see a biblical reference to heroes of old. "Ephraim will be like a mighty man, And their heart will be glad as if from wine; Indeed, their children will see it and be glad, Their heart will rejoice in the LORD." The Young's Literal Translation has the first part as "And Ephraim hath been as a hero."

In Genesis 10:9, we have "He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." Again, Young's has "mighty hunter" as "hero in the land" and the reference to Nimrod as "hero".

In Zechariah 9:13, "For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece; And I will make you like a warrior's sword." Young's shows the last part of the verse to be, "And I have set thee as the sword of a hero."

Jeremiah 50:9 of the Douay-Rheims Bible (DRB) version states, "For behold I raise up, and will bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north: and they shall be prepared against her, and from thence she shall be taken: their arrows, like those of a mighty man, a destroyer, shall not return in vain." Again, "like those of a mighty man," is referenced in Young's "as a skilful hero."

We see what the hero means in biblical terms; strong, skillful, and true. A hunter of exceptional strength and courage. And we can point to those in our society who meet those qualities.....

Most of us can point to the last time America saw its wealth of heroes displayed before the world stage, on 9-11. From the rescue workers that comprised Fire Fighters, Police, Transit Authority officers and common citizenry; our nation stood in painful awe as we watch them rush into the bulidings and work to bring those trapped out, and cried out in sorrowful loss when the Towers fell and took them from us. Or listen to the reports in the hours and days to come of those on the plane who declared, "Let's roll …" and gave their lives so others might be spared, namely our Nation's capital buliding and those who lead us.

Still others will point to those who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting for a people that the media would have us believe don't want us there. Who stand the watches, the lonely patrols, and the dangerous interaction with enemy forces and cherish that one child who smiles at the gift of candy, that one parents who thanks them for standing the gap. While their own countrymen say, "We support you," while voting to limit funds for equipment or giving the enemy the upper hand by declaring the soldiers overburden and incapable of victory and calling for a withdrawal.

All of these heroes, past and present, either in wartime or peacetime attacks are heroes true. They fought for the overburden, the oppressed, the starved, the battered, those in dangerous situations, and those in need of a hand. They are heroes. And, I am extremely grateful for them, who so valiantly and effortlessly put their own lives upon the line to rescue those who are in need of their heroic efforts.

A hero, who is strong, fast, timely, and fresh from the fight……that is what is needed in the churches of today to seek out the battlefield of the souls, where the Christian faith is rapidly losing ground by inactivity. Someone who will stand up, much like our heroes upon Flight 19, who said, "No more!" These spiritual heroes, who labor under the darkness and out of the limelight, are as vital as those heroes who gave their lives in those Twin Towers.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving Day for those who fight; whether it be overseas in a battle between democracy and dictatorship, at home in the political halls of power where abuse is rampant and heroes are few, to the darken streets of America's lost where they labor for the souls of those in desperate need of a Savior.

I raise my sword in salute, I bang my shield in declaration, and I bow my head in humble honorarium of those I have stood with wearing the uniform, or those I kneel with in grateful communication, and those who take the banner from the fallen and raise it high.

As for the gods that society gives for the succor of the lost, I cannot tell you where those creative, powerless, and unrealistic gods are but I can point you to the One who is Above All....who loves you, and wants you for His own. He is my Captain and my King, Lord and Savior...Jesus Christ.

May the Lord Bless you, May the Good Lord keep you and turn His face towards you. May the Lord keep you and bring you peace on this day of national Thanksgiving. And may the soul I touch today understand the eternal gift for tomorrow, so that they too may know the power of thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Tuesday, November 20

The future of the Church lies in its untapped leaders

Bill Hybels, pastor of the phenom church in South Barrington Illinois, Willow Creek Community, where I received the Call from God to pursue ministry has a special place in my heart, since it was during the ACTS2 conference years ago that me and God got into the discussion of where He wanted to use me. And, much of Pastor Hybels' design for a church—which my current church uses a partial model of---is the reason behind the demise of my outreach to the leadership of my immediate Christian community. When you run your church as a business, you are going to attract business-minded and trained people.

Pastor Hybels realize that the Willow Creek model of church didn't do the purpose it was designed to do, and much has changed out of the Willow Creek crew since. But most significant, to me at least, is his discussion on what needs to change within the church leadership model.

"We can no longer afford to leave people leaderless in the arena of the church. For the church ever to reach its redemptive, life-giving potential," Hybels remarks in an article in Leadership Today magazine, "It must be well led. It must be powerfully envisioned, strategically focused, and internally aligned. Members must be motivated; values must be established and enforced. Resources need to be leveraged."

How do you motivate someone who gains nothing of the perks of the business world in a business church? You can't. You reach out for those people who, in Hybels' own words, "come out of leaderless homes and schools and jobs and athletic teams [and] discover, maybe for the first time in their lives, the excitement of being valued, of being included, of being told that they are indispensable for the achievement of a common vision."

These are the leaders of the evangelical church that are being passed over, being discarded through the incorrect application of the business church model to their calling and abilities. It takes a strong leader of an established church to reach out to these undiscovered and untapped resources, to give them the wings on which to fly and to lead the various ministries of the church out of the business model church and into the realistic, 'old-school' model that has been abandoned for years. To call people accountable together for their spiritual growth, as an individual, as a community and as a body. Maybe that is why Paul remarked in Romans 12:8, "Men and women, if you've been given the gift of leadership, for God's sake, lead."

As Pastor Hybels' says, "For the world's sake, lead. For the sake of lost people, lead."

To work in a church, people must go beyond the temporary, glittery, and eternally worthless motivations and have a eternally motivated drive inside themselves. It is these people, who have the drive to weather the trials and tribulations of church service, who give the leadership its power, leverage, and ability to lead the church in the commission that God gave us all; to spread the Good News.

When we return to that idea, that the very people who are being shepherd by the leadership are the future of the leadership and the effective power of a driven church, then we will find that those very souls we have helped grow can sustain us in the lean times.

Just my thoughts,

Jim

What makes a Christian different than anybody else?

Faithvine has a contest, asking writers to submit their article about this question. Below is my entry. I do not know if it will win any accolades. But I submit it for your review.

Just one thing and one thing only, makes a Christian different.

Depending upon who you asked, you would get several varying answers to the question, "What makes a Christian different from anybody else?" They would fan the wide range of opinion, from reactionistic to nothing different. But everyone has an opinion.

I would say you can sum up the difference in a Christian through one word and one word only. Anything else falls ultimately down upon this one thing, an expression—a perceived thing that is as real and vibrant as it is unseeable. It is what everything else, I feel, Christianity claims is based on. One word that spans so many cultures and generations, indeed, the very fabric of history and is such a vital part of our society. The absence of it causes nations to fall and economies to collapse.

Hope.

It is this that makes Christians different from everyone else. And it shows clearly in the lives, words, and deeds of those who would claim the eternal hope of salvation. Hebrews 6:11(NKJV), "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end." It is that assurance, no matter what the unforeseen future holds for those who believe, that allows the Christian to move despite fear and troubled times.

In today's society, where nothing is for granted and everything is subjected to interpretation and self valuation, this factor of hope is beyond the Christian's personal truth and gives anchor during the storms of life in the foundational truth that is beyond human comprehension. Hebrews 6:19 (NKJV) talks of the hope…."This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast."

It is the hope of being something more than our sinful, broken bodies can be in this world of fallen creation that makes a Christian different than anybody else. Galatians 5:5(NKJV) states, "For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." To attain something that we, as humanity, had but surrendered; lost and cannot recover on our own merit; that is what makes a believer different, the promise of righteousness hoped for and Eden regained.

There are a host of self-help books upon the shelves of bookstores throughout the land, selling the one thing that humanity as a whole, regardless of race, creed, or culture, is seeking. How to restore what each one of us feel inside of us is missing, lost within the pages and dim views of the past. Why are we here? What is our purpose?

We react violently as a people to scientific theories that we are an accidental reaction to a mindless, soulless universe that is just set up so to sustain this chance mistake. We seek our purpose in family history, national awareness, and in our hearts. And we find that everything in the world, in this creation gone mad, is worthless when we come to the end of things and die. No treasures found, no wealth stored, can cheat the Grim Reaper from his collection. Or, so the worldly secularist would have us believe and deny within our souls of its lie.

A little under 2,000 years ago, a man came upon the scene of the world stage, centered in an area called Galilee. He claimed to have the answer to the soul's cry and he demonstrated power that was uncommonly common in the world at the time. But he stepped beyond the reality of physical hope, which is what a majority of his own countrymen thought he represented, and established the eternal hope that has sustained His followers since; defeating death. To become the hope of salvation to a world even, as yet, unborn. To pay a price no man could pay and therefore give us the ability to reclaim what was lost and unattainable.

Hope.

That is why the Christian can say, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Psalm 42:11 (ESV)"

That is what makes a Christian different.

Monday, November 19

Thankfulness that I am blessed to have.....

I sent this as a mass email to those who I am interactive with in my life, but I wanted to post on the blog to reach those who I don't have physical contact with but only reach here.

I do not want to forget to express to each of you how much you have meant to me this past year in the life I have lived. You may not think you have had much to do with it, but I think otherwise.

Above all, I want to again (as I do each day) express my thankful appreciation to my Father above, who loved me enough before I was even born to send His son, Jesus, to die on the cross and so pay for my sins. And for the purpose to which He has called me.

To my Wife, who has lived three years with me in the struggles we have faced; the good, the bad, and the okay. God has blessed me with you and though I fail to express it all the time, all the time it is there in my heart.

To my children, who have given me the blessings of faith, showing me how to love as a child, and have shown me that my endeavors to show the Truth, Life, and Love of our heavenly Father are and have not been in vain.

To Chaplain John, who has given me the way to express and fulfill the purpose to which God has called and remained faithful through the execution of His plan.

To those whom I have sought counsel, have given counsel, and have gained far more than I have given……thank you for your time.

To my Chapel congregation, there are no words to express how much each of you saints have taught me in the honor of being your Chaplain/Pastor in the past year. May we continue to grow in the Father's love together.

To the prayer warriors, who have upon bended knees, stood with me and my family in prayer as I have been honored this year to have such a group to be thankful for belonging to. I want all the warriors to know that they hold a special and dear place in my heart and prayers as we face this fallen world together, binding what would be bound in heaven upon the earth and fighting the fight for our dear brothers and sisters who are in need, in crisis, or who are wandering the darkness.

To those who have 'put up' with me on the Special Olympics Team Walled Lake, who's athletes have shown me the meaning of success regardless of hurdles to overcome.

To those who have been involved in ministry with me, for me, and whom I have served for. It is an honor to have such fruitful work to perform and dedicate myself to with such companions.

To those who have stood in faith with me, for me, and allowed me to give of my faith in return, I am thankful for your kindness, patience, and faithful love.

To those who educate my children and the children of this community, who strive to instill the values of a better society despite the societal slide that is taking place, who stand their faith in the face of such.

To those who fight the battles of the faith, individually, corporately, and in hand-to-hand with me, I can think of no better warriors to stand with and fight for those who are wandering the darkness.

To those who stand on distant shores, fighting for a people who have need of a better day. I cannot express my thankfulness at your sacrifice for those who cannot express it.

To those in the family of Christ whom I have had the honor of serving with, being a part of the community with, and have seen the love of our Messiah shown in your actions, I am thankful to have the moments we've shared in our Father's work.

To those who read my writings, who give their thoughts and reactions to them. I am thankful that you have taken the time to read, and then express, what each meant to you.

To those I haven't mentioned above, there are too many ways that God has blessed me with your presence or interaction to remember oft hand, but know that I thank God for each of you.

As always, Paul says it better than I ever could……

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother [and sister], have refreshed the hearts of the saints. (Philemon 1:4-7 NIV)


Senior Chaplain Jim Hutson
Meadowbrook Chapel
Chaplain Service Corps

A badge of honor.....

Jeremiah 4:4 O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the Lord,[a]or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins. (NLT)

[a]Hebrew: Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart.

This rite was established by God to be a special badge of His chosen people, the sign of their consecration and covenantal relationship with Him. It was superceded by the new convenant established under Christ, but is still practiced by most cultures today. But it also had further meaning....

It was a sign of purity. In Isaiah 52:1, we read "Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you."

As we seek to purify our hearts and clothe ourselves in the armor of the Lord in preparation of the battles we fight on behalf of the King, we need to remember to circumcise our hearts to God, making ourselves marked as Kingdom warriors.

As the saying goes in the world today, Christianity is the only army to eat its own wounded.

As we fight the battles for the Kingdom, let us keep an eye out for our struggling brothers and sisters who fight in the darken landscape of the world. Rather than overwhelm our brethren with accussations and ill thought, let us stop alongside them and give them strength. With God given guidance and Holy Spirit blessed words, we can renew our struggling warriors and strengthen the line.

If your heart is circumcised to the Lord, then you will not strike your brethren on the battlefield by mistake. Let the Lord guide you in the accountability and recovery of those God calls His own.

In Christ,
Jim

Thursday, November 15

I write often for a website I've posted on the list to the left called CULTURE DEFENSE, ran by AFR. Here is an article by Marvin Sanders, the AFR Network Director. I think he has captured the topic quite effectively.


http://www.culturedefense.org/2007/11/echoes_of_vietnam_war.html

Prepare to dive.....understanding what to expect Installment 2 of the INSIDE OUT adventure.

I have been serving you poorly, those of you who have been hanging out for the Larry Crabb updates I promised in a timely manner. I have read the chapters, and have reread them to highlight certain statements and even re-re-read them to reorientate myself to express what I have learned. I ask forgiveness......and a hint of warning...

Are you ready to dive?

We have established in the last installment of the study of Dr. Crabb's INSIDE OUT, that God loves us so much that we cannot, regardless of how broken and sinful we have been, ever be unable to ask for that love and be renewed in the spirit to a point of redemption. Unlike most declarations from the churches of the world, we can move in a broken state in redemption and salvation. There is no promise, whether implied or expressed, that our lives will suddenly be 'perfect' or 'joyful' once we accept salvation's gift. Rather, quite the opposite. We can still suffer, DO still suffer, because of the broken, misaligned creation we both live in and are ourselves.
Paul considered it true joy to suffer for Christ's sake, because it brings us closer to God and Jesus. But I digress.

Chapter Two and Three, respectively are entitled "An Inside Look Can Be Frustrating" and "Knowing What to Look For." I would say both these chapters are preparation chapters, for the dive that none of us want to take, because of our unclear and untruthful expression of what we fear to find there and then how we can possibly deal with such depth pressure. Niether this book or the process it champions is for the weak-hearted, and yet we all are weak-hearted for we'd not be in this position of pretending our lives are 'joyful and complete' in our humanistic needs.

So, just as if we were trully preparing to dive into the depths of the physical seas, we have to literally look at what we can expect, in the wide view of changing, and then some guidelines to help us realize the dangers and pitfalls we could find ourselves unconsciously bound by.

Dr. Crabb states that most of us don't want simply to be "someone of behavorial patterns and biblical knowledge that are commendable," but rather "a different kind of person." We don't want to exchange one brand of jeans for another pair that's a different color, but the same brand. We want to find those comfortable, "NEW" jeans that are unlike anything we've ever worn. And we will come to realize that the only way to truly affect the change in our psychological problems is to realize true, genuine love because it is the absent of that love, the agape love, that causes our broken state in the first place.

James tells us that without good works, faith cannot exist. And that without faith, good works cannot exist. I finally understand that comment in a different way. Our moral effort will not produce genuine, agape love alone. It is the process that includes learning how to love in a genuine, pure way that creates maturity in our spirituality that coupled with moral effort produces the victory in those psychological problems we as Christians face.

The problem is that most of us use our humanistic understanding and limiting of God to define the steps in that process of changing the inner person to be that 'different kind' of us. We doom ourselves to failure because we don't realize that total dependence on God is vital in the process to overcome our human nature of self preservation and limitation. And, because of that blindness, we usually create two ineffective and foolish methods to change ourselves in a humanistic way.

The first is where a majority of us fall as Christians, and is nothing more than the shallow end of the pool. We feel doing our "christian duties" will heal and vanquish our inner problems that cause our outward discontent. We feel immersing ourselves in the Word, praying to our Father in Heaven, and/or serving others are the key elements in this process of change. Since we are obedient in such ways, we don't quench or grieve the Holy Spirit where our power to change comes from. We mouth the words that "we are new creatures, the old is dead and the new is born." But, without genuine and agape love, our best efforts and obedience are worthless.

Of course, that leads us into our second 'answer' to the solution, further dependence upon the gift of the Holy Spirit from which all good things come. The promised gift that Christ said would be with us as we struggle to create this different person of ourselves. Beyond our limited and fruitless efforts to do our christian duty, we acknowledge the 'special power' that comes from the Holy Spirit that is necessary and available to us alone for that achievement of the higher ground, the better person, the CHRISTIAN. Of course, this decision to fully trust the Holy Spirit is born too often of desperation or necessitity reflects our dependence on God because we feel the capacity to love richly, to be totally God-reflective in love, will develop naturally. All we have to do is wait patiently, waiting for the muscle of agape love to grow.

We pray that the Spirit will be released to do what needs to be done to heal our sinful and broken bodies and minds, all it needs is the decisive action of faith. To believe in the ability and not take any responsiblity.

Of course, both of these 'processes' tend to leave us feeling abandoned and increasingly unworthy of God's attention in the matter of change. The best of us in these circumstances are left to try harder, abuse ourselves deeper and affect a piousness that would make the greatest monks of the world wince in pain. The weaker of us, dare I say the majority of us, fall away from the church and our faith because we think we simply are too far gone where no amount of service to our christian duty or dependence on the Holy Spirit's power have the saving power we need. We turn on God and nurse our wounds in silence.

All we truly have to do is look to Jesus' model for change that He left us in the Scriptural accounts of His life and teachings. Whereas the first two processes don't require our active invovlement and responsiblity in diving into the depths, Jesus shows us that our active struggle in overcoming the obstacles that prevent our growing into the designed person God made us to be is the vital ingredient to changing into the 'different kind' of person.

We have to courageously stare into the deepness of the water and launch ourselves off the boat, pushing ourselves into the darkness of our souls. To do this relying on our humanistic viewpoints is folly and certain death. But we don't have to. All we have to do is go into those dark recesses of our souls with the knowledge of God's answers to the problems embedded there. And to rely on the strength of the Holy Spirit to help us face those obstacles so we can drag them out of the way, or destroy them completely, so that we can assure growth.

Rather than throwing up our hands and repenting of the sins that result from the deep-rooted problems, we instead work through the deep problems that result in deep sin. We claim responsibility for our limitation of overcoming sin by clearing the depths of the problems that create the propensity to sin. Daring to be shameful of our brokeness secure in the love of a Father who is dedicated to helping us overcome that brokeness. And when we become dedicated to cleaning up the inside, we can see the cleaniness on the outside. Just as the Scriptures tells us.

Of course, the look inside is a painful and often poorly done process because we rely on our ability to do it or rely totally on the Holy Spirit to do it without our invovlement. But we can realize through what we know now that the critical issues of internal character development require taking a look inside at the psychological level with biblical revelation. In using the biblical guidelines, sought by the seeking of God in our quest for change, equips us to dive into the psychological depths of our broken, sinful souls.

Our deep longings for what we don't have reflects our true roots and our true character, it shows both our designed humanness and our Creator. But it is often our ineffective and foolish strategies that cause us to continue to live in the pain of our depravity even as we think they are helping us overcome the pain by avoiding it.

The only hope we have of developing an accurate picture of the deep routed problems is to rely on God's willingness to help us in that work. By realizing that our dive to find the satisfaction that we were built to experience requires not a movement away from God, but to dive towards God who waits to help us experience it.

Starving for some food.....

Let my mournful cry and supplication come [near] before You, O Lord; give me understanding (discernment and comprehension) according to Your word [of assurance and promise]. Let my supplication come before You; deliver me according to Your word! My lips shall pour forth praise [with thanksgiving and renewed trust] when You teach me Your statutes. My tongue shall sing [praise for the fulfillment] of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteous. Let Your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen Your precepts. I have longed for Your salvation, O Lord, and Your law is my delight. Let me live that I may praise You, and let Your decrees help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek, inquire for, and demand Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments. Psalm 119:169-176 (AMP)

In a country that has so much, we are a starving people. So far gone in the process of starving that we no longer even want the food placed readily at hand. In a society that was once known for its richness and heritage, we have fallen upon very lean times, with the impending drought at the borders and no preparation to substain us through the painful season.

Thomas Guthrie said, "If you find yourself loving any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any persons better than Christ, or any indulgence better than the hope of heaven----- Take ALARM!"

I would add if your heart doesn't cry out on a daily basis for Christ to return, you are sinking into the secular world and are in danger or you are simply not being fed substaining meat.

I show a sermon last night that both inspired and disturbed me, incited me to action and pull the effectiveness out of any action that was inspired. It was, unfortunately, a sermon I think is abounding in the church today. The borderline sermon.

You know, that sermon that the Pastor/Teacher/Reverend (whatever you call your leadership) is slamming hard on the absolutes of Truth found in the Bible, but he or she starts pulling the punches........"Now, I'm not trying to say you HAVE to...." or "I am not saying absolutely...." Where a biblical truth is pointed out and then rounded out to remove the sharp edge of conviction. Where it seems a point is driven into our hearts and then quickly removed so that the pain of sin isn't felt for long. Where it seems a minefield is being walked......very carefully. Those sermons.

And these sermons are usually backed up by actions reflective of the 'pulling punches' rather than reaction to the truth. This one sermon said, "Don't become part of the culture." Yet, instead of services next week, the church is closed. Because of the holiday, Thanksgiving. As I am certain many of the larger and more 'seeker-friendly' churches will be. Church has become less important than the secular pursuits we are induated with daily. "If you bulid it, it is possible they will not come."

Instead of being at church, learning and extoling, stepping out into the community or even inviting the community to sup with the congregation, this church is closing that night, because??? well, mostly likely the leadership, the staff, and half the congregation will be gone for visits with family and friends.

I would look at the viewpoint of reduced attendance on that day as a sad, but usual thing.....and still open wide the doors to reach that one soul that is wandering. Seeking to feed that one, not knowing if it would possibly be the Lord come a-visiting or not and really not caring. Fulfilling a need so God can fulfill THE need.

But that's me. I'm not the one to pull punches, even at myself. And I think that the church needs to be absolute in its stance. Not the "by any means possible" but "by the grace of God." Instead of being culturally sensitive, we need to be soul redemptive.

To do that, we need the spiritual meat of God's Word placed upon our lips daily and to be held accountable for that personal responsiblity in our churches on a weekly basis.

Just my thoughts,
Jim

Wednesday, November 14

Keeping the focus forward.

"Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the Kingdom of God.'" Luke 9:62 AMP

How many times in our lives as Christians have we looked to past behaviors, past sins, or past regrets and wished for an opportunity to change those things. Forget the redemption of our sinful past, we would simply like to know what we know now and go back into those times to stop ourselves from making those choices. How often do we look at our current situations and curse ourselves for our failures in the past that caused the opinion, knowledge, or action that put us in the uncomfortable position we find ourselves?

We live in that past hurt; retain that past anger, or even embellish a past service, so we can pull it out when the going gets tough and claim a right to get a free pass through the current crisis. After all, we've paid our dues and done our time.

Or we use our past to prevent ourselves from attaining in the future, or answering God's call for us in the purpose for the kingdom. We point to the lack of 'righteousness' or 'our sinfulness' as due cause to stop our requirement to go where God would have us go, or to explain away the conviction of the Spirit concerning our spouse, our children, or continuing sin. We just show ourselves as unlearned fools.

God doesn't want us to forget our past, but to go into our past with the realization of redemption and the healing of the Spirit into the wounds of our lives, seeking forgiveness and forgiving those moments that have defined us. To allow the presence of God in the circumstances of the past so He can show us how He has used it for the future.

To plow, one has to continue in a forward motion; otherwise the plow will bind up and not perform the job it was designed to do. Even when we go into our past, it is with the intent of forward motion, to redeem what was lost, heal what was broken, and give to God the rest. To realize our past is an effective and helpful story for those who would listen.

What in your past is preventing you from going forward into the purpose God has for you? How can you go into the past and go forward through that situation that's holding you down?

Tuesday, November 13

From the mouth of babes.....

The Sky Angel Cowboy! Logan is 13, and listens to 89.3 KSBJ which broadcasts from Houston, TX on Sky Angel because he lives on a ranch in a very small town in Nebraska. He called us distraught because he had to take down a calf. His words have wisdom beyond his years. Listen to what he had to say www.ksbj.org/eblogs/morningShow/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/logan-calf-story-mixdown.mp3

A Millennial's view to an age old question.

A friend and coworker of mine came to me concerning a question that he was given concerning God. He wanted to have a discussion with someone who is a Christian, to understand their view. I was honored to be chosen as that person.

" If God exists and sees all of the suffering of mankind, yet chooses not to act, God is not good. If God sees the suffering, chooses to act, yet lacks the power, he is impotent. If God chooses to act, has the power, yet lacks the plan of action, he is not all-knowing.

Although my friend, who has the label of Millennial (the generation between 1980 and 1995), isn't a Christian, he considers himself a seeker, not quite ready to commit to one religious model over another. With the reply he gave, we can see the hope of this generation, and indeed society as a whole, in its ability to define its moral arguments without fear and without hesitation. When the truth of Christianity reaches such as these, the faithful will be that more stronger......

My 'seeker' millennial friend responds with this statement. "One of the major downfalls to the Problem of Evil and how it relates to mankind's perceived "powers" of God is that it relates his power to terms that we, as mortal beings, understand and can relate to. Terms such as suffering, evil, knowledge, and power are used in relation to the human capability of these words.

As humans, we KNOW that a person suffers from a sickness or injury, or that someone suffers through financial hardships. We consider brutal acts to be evil. Some are even so arrogant as to assume that they can know the extent of the powers of God. Such is the nature of a being which is "outgrowing" its use for a belief in a deity.

To overcome something, one must first understand the limits of the object (or in this case God) that are being overcome. The fault in this lies with the basic understanding of every follower of every major religion. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and omnipresent. All-knowing means that God possesses the intimate knowledge of everything that ever did happen, is happening, or will happen and the effects that will have on everything else. All-powerful means that God has the ability to do every conceivable action, up to and including create or destroy. Omnipresent means that God is everywhere at every given point in time and space.

When humans try to take these ideas and "dumb them down" to human levels of understanding, they become watered down.

Applying the previous statement to the Problem of Evil, it can be said that God IS acting on every bit of suffering with all of his power, and all of his knowledge, but the actions and effects are beyond our simple level of understanding.

Join me on the slippery slope momentarily; without sickness or injury (easily construable as "suffering"), there would be no use for doctors. However, with no conditions of unhealthy, the human population would have choked out the Earth's resources long ago due to overcrowding.

Along those roads, many of the perceived "sufferings" of mankind are brought on by our own doing. War, poverty, and hunger could all be solved at a much lower level than through the intervention of God.

Why would a mother continue to breast feed her child when the child is more than capable of feeding itself?

So among these ramblings, hopefully I've been able to point out my opinion on a few of the flaws with the Problem of Evil. We simply are incapable of understanding the bounds of something that has no limits."

Monday, November 12

You get what you give.....

Isaiah 66:3 (AMP)
[The acts of the hypocrite's worship are as abominable to God as if they were offered to idols.] He who kills an ox [then] will be as guilty as if he slew and sacrificed a man; he who sacrifices a lamb or a kid, as if he broke a dog's neck and sacrificed him; he who offers a cereal offering, as if he offered swine's blood; he who burns incense [to God], as if he blessed an idol. [Such people] have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations; 4So I also will choose their delusions and mockings, their calamities and afflictions, and I will bring their fears upon them--because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they did not listen or obey. But they did what was evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.


Pastors are using the Dianetics book by Ron L. Hubbard for inspiration and affirmation within the church walls. Scientology is being displayed as 'non-christian' inspiration for the Christian aspirations. And no one sees anything wrong with this.

In a recent poll, we find that a majority of the '83%' professed Christians in the American population really aren't anything close to the truth, and yet we are comfortable with 'seekers' and 'questioners' who are led by a watered-down, flower-child mentality of Love, Love, Love….without ever coming into the deeper waters of a relationship with the Lord and Savior. Polls have questions like, "Do you believe there are many paths to Heaven?" or "Jesus was a prophetic teacher, but not truly divine, Yes or No?"

When we stray from the biblical truths and muddy the waters with non-biblical sources that are touted as not totally truthful, but useful, we fall into a situation of accepting everything as "useful" so long as we flavor it with biblical wording. By being seeker friendly, we have become user-friendly in a way that is biblically dangerous.

By touting God's love and desire to have none perish, we forget that there will be those who will…..God has enabled us to live our lives in choice, not as some machine that has nothing to do but repeat their Creator's words. God has given us the ability to reach beyond man's attempts throughout the generations to be God and to understand that we are God's children, vested with His love and His grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

By touting God's love and desire to have none perish, we have 'newbie' and 'seasoned' Christians falling into sin and turning their backs upon their Savior because they are hit with the evilness and sinfulness of the world. They cannot understand how this partial picture they have been given of God can allow the death of a loved one who claimed faith, the sorrow over not being able to provide simple food for their families, or the loss of their ability to walk.

And the "name it and claim it" crowd, while partially truthful in their Scriptural references, tend to leave off the fact that it is God's ability to deliver and not ours to affect. Great for motivational and inspirational settings, how many Christians have turned from the faith because they haven't 'claimed what they named?' How many Christians fall because they think their faith is not enough?

As God tells us in these two verses from Isaiah, such hypocritical views are an abomination to Him. And will be dealt with according to His righteousness, by getting what they asked for…….delusions and mockery…….

Jim

Friday, November 9

What is your House??????

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

This is another of those verses where you know part of it….but not the whole picture. That is why it is important to go to the bible, even if you've identified the verse on a list of topical material or within an article, devotional, or writing. You should always look at the verse in context.

Joshua, the protégée of Moses, seems to be quite flippant with the people when he has them gathered at Shechem to remind them of the covenant given to Abraham, to warn them of their rebellious actions and its consequences, and to call them into repentance and service to the most high LORD. As if he's weary from the journey, indeed he dies after this final act, Joshua doesn't prod or cajole the people into seeking God's face. He simply tells them, do what you wish. This is what I chose to do, me and my household.

We seem to think, as Christians, that we need to go out and beat everyone over the head (not literally) with the Gospel. We need to enforce, refocus, and help them to envision that need of salvation. We don't.

It is not us, in any way, shape, or form, that saves people. It is not our words; it is not our deeds, and not even our actions. Yes, those all have an effect upon the non-Christian person and the unchurched, but it is not what saves or even causes that person to seek salvation. It reaffirms God's word, not create it.

We are to tell the story, show the biblical path of salvation, and leave it alone. To represent what Christ has done in our life, pray for those we come into contact with and leave it alone. In the Father's hand.

We struggle as Christians in the worldly environment, constantly seeking that middle ground….where we don’t offend those who aren't really for meat (full truth) and where we don't give the meat to the mature and hungry. And we wind up a mess, with fringe groups going one way or the other.

Our churches are seeking to be 'emergent' or 'relative to the society', the message of two thousand plus years has to be updated, revamped, and presented in a culturally sensitive way.

We no longer talk about Hell, damnation, sin, repentance, and the ultimate betrayal—rejection of God.

We speak of Love, joy, peace, contentment, and the pathways to those needs.

Accountability? Try reactivity…..

Discipleship? Try a program for your brain matter……..

Instead of speaking the truth, showing the fulfillment of the hunger that is the Holy Spirit conviction of the seeker, we throw tidbits out and try coaxing the seeker in the door……

I prefer Joshua's method.

" have reminded you of the need, the path to fulfilling that need, and now it is up to you. As for me, I'm all set."

As for me and my house……Jesus Christ is Savior, Lord, and King.

What's your house?

Thursday, November 8

When the leadership forgets.............

Pat Robertson, the Christian Coalition's high profile social conservative and 'prominent leader" of Christians, has forgotten what his own organization was founded for and what it is endorsing with his public endorsement of Republican frontrunner for President, Rudy Giuliani. According to the Christian Coalition website, the organization was created to "preserve, protect, and defend the Judeo-Christian values that made this the greatest country in history."

The Christian Coalition, the political organization that is allegedly made up of "pro-family Americans who care DEEPLY about becoming active citizens" who's sole purpose is to protect families. This is accomplished by Christians being actively involved in politics, to influence and change policies that are identified as political activism that will.....protect and defend the values of the American Nation. By invoking Reagan's call to do "the work of freedom", the CC claims to have worked to ensure that the Conservative Christians have the "critical education and information" to be effective in conservative politics.

As several studies have shown, and simply looking back down the annals of history, abortion is devastating the family dynamic and critically wounding the future of American society, at all levels. There are many foreign countries who are showing that the destruction of the next generation through controlled abortion and birth levels is being accomplished to the degree where the death of the aging in those cultures are the harbinger of the culture's demise. As the culture ages, the culture is dying because it is destroying its future.

Rudy Giuliani is pro-choice, which is fancy language for pro-abortion, and he is counting on American voters to overlook the difference between his record, values, and leadership and the morals of Christianity. But, as Pat Robertson's endorsement stated, the abortion issue isn't the issue that the coalition should be looking at; rather, the issues that Conservatives should be focused on is "the defense of our population from the bloodlust of Islamic terrorists" and "massive government waste and crushing federal deficits."

Of course, this is what the Giuliani camp is counting on, that the Christian conservatives are following the 'new' evangelical leaderships' generalization of the morals and ethical issues of the conservative christian and the foregoing of dealing with biblically 'rigid' principles. According to Marc Santora of the New York Times in his article "Giuliani Tries to Reassure Religious Conservatives", the Giuliani camp is calculating that "the evangelical movement [is] evolved and shown interest in going beyond the singular focus on abortion.......[and] will see a larger threat in the election of Hillary Rodham Clinton." In Giuliani's own words, "I am not a threat at all......maybe it is respect for the idea that I will be straight with you."

The problem is, Giuliani isn't being straight with anyone, except maybe himself and his agenda. Giuliani has claimed the title that the liberal media gave him in the wake of 9-11 of being "America's mayor", based on the portrayal of strength that he gave the nation during the aftermath of the attack. The media portrayed this mayor as a man for the times, wading through the chaos and destruction to show American will and resolve. According to his supporters, he took a city riddled with crime, corrupt government, and high taxes to a modern city in a way that proves bipartisanship and reduced bureaucratic regulations can exist in the cultural climate of today, something that cries "Alleluia!" to any conservative's heart. But, as is most commonly found in the Democratic Party's rhetoric, the truth is only partially told.

The 9-11 commission found that Giuliani's mayoral style prior to the attack contributed to the chaos and death that resulted in the minutes after the planes struck the towers, citing Rudy's failure to resolve feuding between the fire and police departments. This contributed, directly or indirectly, to the resulting high casualties in the rescue personnel because of inability to hear (in part) warnings from police helicopters about the impending collapse of the South Tower. The commission said it appeared that the two departments were designed to operate "independent, not together."

Giuliani's response was to redirect the focus away from his management of the crisis with a criticism of the commission, "Our anger should clearly be directed at one source and one source along --the terrorists who killed our loved ones." This seems to fly in the face of what Robertson views as the #1 priority of Conservative Christians, the protection of the population from those terrorist. This accomplishment is done by the examination of what went wrong, designing solutions to those problems, and implementing those changes to be consistent with the primary goal: protection of America. Yet Giuliani cries that any criticism of his administration of New York is 'misdirected anger.'

According to the Giuliani website, "America is hungry for a President who will say what he means, and do what he says... Rudy had the leadership qualities and the experience to handle whatever challenges America faces in the next 10 years." From what I understand of the current term limitations of the Presidential office, Giuliani would only have eight years (actually 6 if you consider how difficult it is for the exiting President to achieve anything the last two years of office) to "handle the challenges." Unless he is attempting another suspension of the electoral process, by suspending term limits for the Presidential office. That can't be true?

The only problem with that view is the fact that Giuliani was willing and insistent in trying to suspend electoral rules by pushing to postpone the inauguration of his democratically elected successor in the wake of 9-11. Instead of volunteering and showing service to the nation in standing beside the chosen successor to his administration, to ensure reconstruction and healing continued uninterrupted, Rudy tried to overrule years of American political structure. As it seems with the cultural denial of our nation's heritage, Giuliani seems to feel it is okay to ignore the process that secured his "success" as mayor.

Instead, when the attempt failed, our "American Mayor" jetted into the cultural limelight as "A Man with a Bullhorn", according to Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone magazine, to $200,000 speaking engagements, which have cumulated into a reported $11 million year speaking income. Which means he doesn't "need" the money for the position. So what is he seeking? In the smoky haze of scandals, Rudy stated over and over again that his personal life is not the business of anyone else. But we know that the highest office in the land can be tarnished and diminished by a scandalous man. Clinton is the most recent that we know of.

Prior to the 9-11 attack, Giuliani was considered by most New Yorkers to be an ambitious, self-serving politician who didn't care how his personal scandals affected the management of the 'city that never sleeps' and smeared its image. What happened to this bumbling mayoral mistake? When post-attack reports accused Giuliani of mismanagement and cowardly behavior, he deftly entered into the limelight wearing 9-11 as a badge of honor, misdirecting the attention given by opponents, as he stepped briefly into the benzene, asbestos, PCB, and dioxin (ingredient of Agent Orange fame) -laden atmosphere to declare it to be free of "significant problems" and to give the image of strength, determination, and power.

This is the image most Americans have of Rudy, standing next to the fallen towers with a face mask hanging limply from his neck. Yet, referring to a class action lawsuit being pursued against New York by thousands of cleanup workers who suffer from a host of diseases like sarcoidosis, leukemia, lymphoma, other cancers, and immune system problems, "The likelihood is that more people will eventually die from the cleanup than from the original accident," according to David Worby, an attorney who represents those cleanup personnel. Is this the kind of "American Mayor" we want to place into office as representative of all people?

Giuliani's administration was rife with corruption; from a deputy mayor being allowed to work on deals for the sports teams of the Yankees and Met despite his status of being on the Major League Baseball payroll to a commissioned $600,000 dollar report for the privatization of airport management of JFK and LaGuardia by a consultant who had ties with British Airport Authority, his handpicked management company to secure that contract to Bernie Kerik, Rudy's choice for director of Homeland Security, who was rejected after an investigation discovered a gift of questionable integrity from a company that wanted to do business with the administration.

Giuliani's own personal and professional life is rife with corruption, immorality, and unrepentance too. His highly publicized divorce, where he has gone so far as to lambast his ex-wife in the paper with childish name calling to the money that Giuliani's been paid by liberalists, criminals, and other questionable sources.

Even with a questionable history, unreliable confidence in his rhetoric of 'being straight with' us, and a less than stellar administration and personal image, we cannot use this to judge Giuliani's fitness to be our President. At least that is what Rudy would ask you to do. "I am no threat," he claims.

Yet, in view of conservative Christian views, he is. He is opposed to most of biblically provable teachings, from abortion to accountability. Giuliani truly represents the American people in the sliding and immoral behaviors that plague our great land, if you consider what he represents and his expectations.

Giuliani leaves the decision to abort to the woman, who is often bombarded with misinformation and limited access to resources opposing abortion by an industry that records billions of dollars in revenue each year. He accepts Planned Parenthood's illegal actions by donating significant sums to its operation throughout the 1990's. He was against any ban on partial birth abortions in 1999, but since has changed his view to banning such "except when the life of the mother is at stake." He now accepts "reasonable restrictions" on abortions, giving "parental notification with a judicial bypass." He claims a 66% increase in adoption while abortions decreased by 16% despite his understanding that the right to choose is a "deeply personal moral dilemma." These numbers have been proven to be 'exaggerated.' He believes that while it is okay to repeal Roe Vs Wade, it is also okay to view it as a precedent for abortion rights.

Rudy supports "domestic partnerships" and opposed President Bush's ban on gay marriage despite his statement of being supportive of "traditional" marriage. He extended all city benefits to same-sex couples during his administration as America's Mayor.

This is the frontrunner that is being touted as 'acceptable' to the conservative Christian. An politician who has redirected any accountability for his mismanagement of a city and a national crisis into a million dollar image that he cannot morally claim. He is opposed to the basic core issues that any Christian has to have an opinion of, and uses politick double talk to cover any issue that the Christian Coalition claims is the new focus of conservatives.

God has been left out of Robertson's endorsement of this Republican candidate. The positions that Rudy has taken which has put him at odds with the evangelical Christians and their values still exists and a misguided 'leader' of the conservative vote Christian weld doesn't change it.

It only muddies the issues that have created the societal immorality that riddles the American landscape. Rather than defining an acceptance of a candidate that is unfit for the office he pursues, it has only served to further witness of his unfitness to serve our values and destroys any effective resistance to the democratic candidate.

If Giuliani wins the vote to the office of the President of the United States of America, all we will have done as a people is to elect a male version of Hillary Rodham Clinton. As a follower of Christ, a conservative, and a evangelical believer, I cannot do that. Regardless the cost, I will vote the Constitutional party if Giuliani is the Republican's best hope.

If you don't feel that we, as Christians, can affect change, then Giuliani is your choice for President. If you feel that Christians should not stand the line, defend against the decay and demand the AMERICAN right for the best to represent us in the highest office in the land, Rudy is indeed your man.

But I ask you to consider this........

Look at the core values you, as a follower of Christ, hold in accordance with biblical truth (that truth that extends beyond your own influence and persuasion)and vote your conscious, vote your beliefs, and stand upon your values...do not give in to your fear.