Offended by a Prayer?

I said yesterday that I try to avoid politics in this blog, and I do, but something has come up that deals with both politics and religion, and I feel I have to comment on it.
A video has surfaced of a now-prominent politician that, a few years ago, while running for office, visited a church at the same time that a visiting bishop from Kenya visited the church. In the video, the visiting bishop calls the politician to the front of the church and says a prayer for this politician. In this prayer, the bishop asks God to protect this individual from witchcraft.
Some people have gotten quite upset over this video. In this country, we have freedom of religion, and Wiccans are as entitled to their religious freedom as the proponents of any other religion. I think that it is significant to point out that: A) Not all Wiccans consider themselves witches (and, before you even ask, as far as I know, none of them consider themselves to be warlocks; those Wiccans that consider themselves witches consider their men to be male witches). B) Not all witches consider themselves to be Wiccans. C) The bishop praying this prayer was not from this country, and may not have been familiar with how our religious freedoms work, and, even if he was, he was in a church—he had no reason to expect that his words would ever be transmitted to anyone who was not a member of that church, and, therefore, should have had a reasonable expectation that his words would not cause offense.
Further, I don’t know for sure whether Wiccans would actually be offended at such a prayer, anyway. I think that they would realize that such a prayer would be a plea for protection from individuals granted supernatural abilities by the devil. The Wicca religion has no devil; they believe that the devil is a fabrication of the Judeo-Christian religion. So, does it really offend them if we pray for protection from something that they don’t even believe exists? It might, simply because it is indicative of a lack of understanding of their religious beliefs. On the other hand, traditionally Wiccans have been very secretive about their beliefs, but, then again, that may have been simply from fear of persecution.
After writing the preceding paragraph, I went and did a little research. At least a few Wiccans are, in fact, offended, not so much by the prayer, I don’t think, but by the fact that this bishop is noted as a “witch-hunter” in his native country. Of course, again, we are talking about witches as being people given supernatural abilities by Satan, and Wiccans don’t believe such people exist, so they, understandably, believe that this bishop is simply persecuting innocent people. To be honest, I don’t know much about this man, not having heard of him before today, and I’m not too sure that I don’t agree with the Wiccans. What I have read about this man’s methods are at least suspect. Now, whether the politician involved was privy to this information at the time, I don’t know.
In any case, we have a situation where a politician has been criticized for something that someone else said. Would it have been “politically correct” for this person to stop the bishop in the middle of his prayer and explain to him that you can’t talk about this other religion that way? I suspect that, at the time, that probably would have cost more votes. I can certainly understand people getting upset about what this religious leader said. I could understand if people wanted to know how much did the politician know about the bishop’s activities at the time (although I doubt that we will ever truly know that). However, to level criticism based on just this one video seems a little overboard to me. I think most of us Christians would appreciate a prayer that asks for our protection from witchcraft, even if some people don’t think that the sort of witchcraft that we would want to be protected from actually exists.

Facing Rejection

It’s a human response; we all want to fit in. Nobody likes to be rejected, especially not by people that we like or respect. It’s inevitable, though; no two people are going to have complete agreement on every possible topic of discussion.
Many places that I have worked have a strict policy that thou shalt not discuss sex, religion, or politics in the workplace, simply because these are where most of our hot-button issues are. These are the topics that can get people the most upset or outraged the quickest. The real problem here is that sometimes these subjects really need to be discussed. I have tried to stay away from politics, here, because I don’t feel that it is the purpose of this blog to discuss politics; religion is generally enough of a hot-button issue all by itself. I know some churches and other religious organizations form political organizations, because they feel strongly that religion ties into politics (and, to a very great extent, it does), but the IRS tends to frown on religious organizations taking political positions. A religious organization can lose its tax-exempt status by advocating a particular political candidate, but a political organization can get tax-exempt status as long as it is not religious, even if it has ties to a religious organization.
The point is, some people are very sensitive about some things. If you tell someone that the religious beliefs that they grew up with are not good enough to carry them into eternity, at least a few of them will get upset. If you try to share Jesus with someone, they may not appreciate what you are sharing. Does that mean you shouldn’t share? of course not. Scripture commands each of us to do the work of an evangelist. What you shouldn’t do is take people’s response to the Gospel personally. There will be many that won’t like it; that’s a given. There will be some whose lives will be changed dramatically. Some will even make it to Heaven because you took the time to share with them. If you worry about people rejecting the message, though, then you won’t share, and the consequences will be dire. If God lays it on your heart to share with someone, then do it.
It’s understandable if you have bad feelings about people rejecting God’s will. Samuel had a hard time with that in his day. God had to remind him that the people were not rejecting Samuel; they were rejecting God (1 Samuel 8:7). Out of all the things that have changed since Samuel’s day, one thing that has not changed is people’s willingness to obey God (or lack thereof). Some people are, and some people aren’t, and I suspect the ratio between the two groups has remained constant since the beginning of the world.

God Is Manifest

In Genesis 18, Abraham is visited by three “men” and he puts forth a great deal of effort to ensure that these three are well taken care of. He has Sarah bake fresh bread, he has one of his servants kill a fatted calf, and he brings out milk and butter… Clearly these three are important, even though we are never specifically told how Abraham recognizes them. As the chapter progresses, though, we find out that one of the “men” has a plan to destroy the city where Abraham’s nephew, Lot, is living. As they discuss this, the other two head towards Sodom. In Genesis 19, we find out that the other two “men” were actually angels, but they are going to test the people of Sodom, and give them a chance to show their worth before making a decision whether to destroy the city or not. The men of Sodom prove themselves to be the scum of the earth, and fire and brimstone rains down as planned, but not until after they escort Lot and his wife, and the two daughters that didn’t marry Sodomites out of the city. By this point, we understand that God has taken human form, specifically so that He can talk with Abraham face-to-face. Abraham must have realized who he was talking to, as evidenced by the preferential treatment he gave his visitors. How did he know? I would have to say that he probably felt God’s presence and so just knew. Of course, it’s possible that Abraham recognized God in human form because he had met God in human form before.
In Genesis 14, Abraham met up with someone named Melchizedek, the King of Salem, and Priest of the Most High God. Where did he come from? It doesn’t say in Genesis 14, but it does say that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. In Hebrews 7, we are told that Melchisedec is without father or mother or beginning or ending of days, which would suggest that he was God Himself. It does seem odd that if God used the same manifestation in chapters 14 and 18 of Genesis, that it would not have referred to Him as Melchizedek both times. I am forced to conclude that God appeared to Abraham differently on those two occasions. Of course, this begs the question, why is it that Abraham is the only person in the entire Old Testament that God net with in the form of a man? (NOTE: I realize that Jacob seemed to think that he wrestled with God, but I personally don’t think that it was God Himself, but even if it was, then why only those two?)
Moses met with God once, in Exodus 3, but God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush. The Bible says that Moses could see the flames in the bush, but he could also see that the bush was not being consumed by the fire. Was it necessary to show Moses a miracle in order to get his attention?
After Moses accepted his assignment, he led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, and they were led through the wilderness by a pillar of smoke by day, and a pillar of fire by night. That was the only manifestation of God that most of the Israelites ever saw.
1 Timothy 3:16, talking about Jesus, refers to Him as God manifest in the flesh. We have a tendency to think of Jesus, in the flesh, as being the Son of God (or God the Son), and, while Jesus was in the flesh, there was a definite difference between that flesh, and God the Spirit. In very many ways, however, Jesus in the flesh was just another manifestation of God. God did not want us to attribute divinity to that flesh; perhaps that’s why Abraham was the only person in the Old Testament to meet God in the flesh.
Nebuchadnezzar may have seen Jesus before his time, though. In Daniel 3, we are told that the king had the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, thrown into the fiery furnace, but when he looked in, he saw four “men” walking around in the furnace, and the form of the fourth was “like the Son of God.” How would Nebuchadnezzar recognize a Son of God? Perhaps, like Abraham, he simply felt God’s presence…

Go, And Sin No More

I think most of us are familiar with the story of the adulterous woman brought before Jesus for judgment. If nothing else, we all know better than to cast the first stone, based on what Jesus said (some of us end up throwing a lot of stones anyway, but that’s beside the point). One thing that I think some people miss, though, Jesus told her that He didn’t condemn her, but He didn’t say that what she had done was okay.
She was fortunate enough to have been caught in the middle between Jesus and the Pharisees. She probably didn’t feel fortunate at the time; under Roman law, adultery did not carry a death sentence, but under the Law of Moses, it did. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to either affirm the Law of Moses, which would lead to a charge of insurrection against the Roman government, or not, which they could then use to accuse Him of heresy. So this woman, who ordinarily would have been left alone, is arrested, and taken to Jesus, presumably on her way to be stoned. That must have been a frightening experience. In any case, Jesus sidestepped the question entirely, and did not address her guilt or punishment, and instead addressed the guilt of her accusers. Once the men who were prepared to stone her walked away, then Jesus asked her, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?” She, fortunately, had the wisdom to say, “No man, Lord.” He responded, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
I think some people get the idea that Jesus didn’t condemn her because she had done nothing wrong. I don’t think that the Scripture suggests that. He didn’t say that she hadn’t sinned, rather, He told her not to sin any more, which, in fact, suggests that she had sinned. I think that it is safe to say that the entire episode had nothing to do with her guilt or innocence, but on the willingness of sinful men to accuse other people. Are any of us truly guilt-free? Yet, we have this ideological flaw that, if we look at our sin, and we look at someone else’s sin, well, at least my sin isn’t as bad as his sin… But, in God’s eyes, sin is sin. At judgment day, you can’t tell God, well, at least I never killed anybody, He will just remind you of the people that you have hated for no real reason badly enough that you would have been glad if they had died.
I don’t imagine that it was easy for the adulterous woman to walk away from the lifestyle that she was accustomed to. Of course, having come that close to death because of the way she lived was probably enough incentive to keep her on the straight and narrow. Some people don’t turn to Christ until they have had a similar experience. The rest of us need to learn that kind of urgency. Either way, none of us can keep from sinning for any length of time, it is only the grace of God that sustains us. We need to give God our best, and pray that our efforts will be blessed.

Nobody's Perfect

Some have posed the question, “Why would God use people like ______ to do His work?” Fill in the blank with just about any character in the Bible you would like. For example, Abraham, father and patriarch of all of Israel, the man to whom the Promise was given, tried to pass off Sarah as his sister once because he was afraid that he would be killed by a man or men that wanted Sarah for themselves. Of course, the man that he feared most was indeed attracted to Sarah, but, since he believed that Abraham and Sarah were brother and sister, he just took her. It turns out that he wasn’t the kind of guy that would have killed a man just to take his wife, anyway, but even if he had been, shouldn’t Abraham have trusted God to protect him? Of course he should have. So, basically what we have learned about Abraham is that he suffered from cowardice. So why would God use someone like Abraham?

If that were not bad enough, apparently Abraham was so ashamed of himself for his actions that he didn’t tell Isaac about it. Many years later, Isaac and Rebekah were in the same city, Gerar, under the same king, Abimelech, and Isaac told the same lie for the same reason. So why would God use someone like Isaac?

When David was king over all of Israel, he found himself attracted to a woman that was one of his neighbors, in fact, she was the wife of one of David’s mighty men. He had her brought into his home, and later had her husband killed, so that he could marry her. Why would God use someone like David?

Peter denied the Lord three times, after promising Jesus that he would follow Him into death if it came to that. I can somewhat understand that Peter’s world had just been rocked; he followed Jesus for three years, and, even though Jesus tried to warn him what was coming, Peter was not ready for the arrest. While he was trying to figure it out, to reconcile what he thought he had known with what had just happened, some people started talking to him about being one of Jesus’ disciples. Why would God use someone like Peter?
To be honest, we could go down the list of all the people in the Bible, and they all have faults, except for Jesus Himself. Some of them were fortunate enough to not have their faults actually mentioned in the Scriptures, but every one of them had faults. Paul even talked about his thorn in the flesh; how he sought God to remove it, but God finally told him that he needed the thorn to keep him from being exalted above measure (in other words, God didn’t want Paul to get a big head).

So why is it, that all through the Bible, God used imperfect people to carry out His perfect will? Let me ask you a question: What other kind of people would He have used? The Bible tells us that all have sinned, and all have come short of the glory of God. Let me ask you another question: If God hadn’t been able to use imperfect people all through the Bible, then how would He ever manage to be able to use you? Or, for that matter, how could I believe that God could ever use me? To be honest, I still struggle with that concept. But, if you and I wait for someone perfect to come along and do the work of God, we are going to have a long wait. He has already been here, and He has left it up to us, now. We just need to open up and let Him work through us.

Kid's Stuff

There’s an old story about a woman that, for some reason or another, was not able to make it to church on Sunday morning, but she sent her young son. Upon his return she asked him what the sermon was about. The boy, not expecting a pop quiz, thought about it for a few minutes, and finally said, “Many are cold, but a few are frozen.” That took a little time for mom to figure out that the pastor had preached from Matthew 22:14. The next week, though, the son apparently still had the temperature on his mind, because he came back and said that Jesus had promised us an extra blanket. Mom had to call the pastor to find out what that was about, but he explained that he had preached from John 14:16.
Kids come up with some interesting things, sometimes. I know that when I was a kid, I got the idea from the story of Ananias and Sapphira that when people died, a hole opened up in the back where you could stick a wind-up key in, so that they didn’t have to be carried away, they could be walked. I didn’t know that the Israelites buried their dead as mummies, much the same way the Egyptians did.
Some other things have been floating around the Internet, supposedly written by children in Sunday school class:
In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world, so he took the Sabbath off.
Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree.
Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark.
Noah built an ark, which the animals come on to in pears.
Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night.
Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients.
The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten ammendments.
The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.
The fifth commandment is to humor thy father and mother.
The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.
Moses died before he ever reached Canada.
Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.
The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.
Samson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah.
Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles.
David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.
Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.
When Mary heard that she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.
When the three wise guys from the east side arrived, they found Jesus in the manager.
Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.
St. John, the blacksmith, dumped water on his head.
Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule, which says to do one to others before they do one to you.
He also explained, "a man doth not live by sweat alone."
It was a miracle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.
The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.
The epistles were the wives of the apostles.
One of the opossums was St. Matthew who was also a taximan.
St. Paul cavorted to Christianity. He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage.
A Christian should have only one spouse. This is called monotony.

Compel Them to Come In

In Luke 14, Jesus tells a parable about a Lord who has planned a celebration, a feast, and has invited many people to attend. Apparently, these people all seemed pleased at the prospect when they were invited, but, for various reasons, begged off of attending the actual event. Seems awfully strange to me: usually you don’t any trouble getting people to show up for a free meal (heck, if a dinner is being held as a fund-raiser for something that most people think is a good cause, you can get people to line up to pay $100 a plate for overcooked chicken). In any case, this Lord finds himself with a big dinner prepared, and no guests. He tells his servants to go out into the streets and the hedges and take the halt and the blind and compel them to come to his dinner. Clearly, this is directed at us. We, as God’s servants, have been commanded to compel people into the Kingdom of God.
Now, many people have taken this to mean that we should browbeat and Bible thump people into accepting Jesus as Lord. They will tell you that it is not enough for us make sure that those around us know that we are Christians, we must make sure that they understand that they are going to Hell if they don’t accept Christ, and just how severe the torment in Hell will be. I respectfully disagree. It seems to me that, in this day and age especially, people know what Hell is, and, although I suspect that most people underestimate Hell, they do generally understand that they don’t want to wind up there. I think that it is much more important to get across to people how much God loves them, and that He really wants people to come to Him, and that He is prepared to reward those that diligently seek Him. In other words, the carrot usually works better than the stick (don’t misunderstand me, though, not everyone will respond to God’s love initially, and you may need to talk about Hell—allow yourself to be led of God, and it will all work out).
Think about Paul and Silas in the Thessalonian jail. They didn’t preach Hellfire and brimstone to the jailer, or to the other prisoners, they just praised God. One might wonder how they were able to praise God in that circumstance, but they had an understanding that God didn’t torture them, the enemies of God did, and, even if they didn’t understand why God allowed them to be tortured, they knew that God had a plan, and that they didn’t have to understand His plan; they just had to play their part. As they praised God, though, the jailer fell asleep; there was an earthquake, the chains fell off their arms and legs, and the jail doors opened up. The jailer woke up, and seeing the doors open, assumed that his prisoners had escaped. I’m not sure what would have happened if his superiors would have come in the next morning and found him asleep with an empty jail, but I’m sure it would not have been pleasant. He pulled out his sword and started to kill himself, but Paul stopped him. When the jailer realized that none of the prisoners had escaped, he knew that he was not dealing with ordinary men. In the first place, he had never seen doors and shackles just spontaneously open before, and, in the second place, not only did they not escape when given the opportunity, they cared enough about him to not let him take his own life. Why should these prisoners care about him? The answer is that they cared about him because God cared about him. Paul and Silas recognized that Jesus died for the Thessalonian jailer’s sins, too.
My point is, they didn’t tell him that he was going to Hell for throwing them in jail; instead, they followed God’s demonstration of power with a personal demonstration of God’s love. That’s what the Thessalonian jailer really needed to know, and that’s what most people today really need to know.

Teach Another, Teach Yourself

Romans 2:21 says, in part, “Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” Paul goes on to talk about the hypocrisy of telling other people to do things that one is doing oneself, but that’s not really my point. It has been said that teaching others is like learning twice. In all honesty, a lot of what I know (or at least think I know) I have learned by trying to teach others.
The Bible also says that if you commit your works unto the Lord, then your thoughts will be established. That sounds kind of backwards, but, a lot of times it’s easier to wrap your mind around something that you are actually doing. I personally don’t have a lot of faith in the Harold Hill method of learning. We, as human beings, though, tend to want to learn everything we can about something before we start doing it.
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says that even if he had all knowledge, and understood all mysteries, if he didn’t have charity, it wasn’t any good. I hasten to point out that the words charity has morphed somewhat over the last four hundred years. At the time the Bible was translated, charity meant, simply unconditional love, particularly love for one’s fellow man. Since then, the word has come to mean organizations set up to allow one to express such care with one’s checkbook (that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I do think that a lot of people write checks out of guilt, when they could do a lot more if they would just get involved and actually do something). Again, the point is that it isn’t so much what you know, it’s what you do and why you do it (doing the right thing for the wrong reasons doesn’t get you anywhere with God).
When I first started blogging, I didn’t really have an idea of what I wanted to blog about; I just wanted to write, and publish what I was writing. As time passed, I realized that the best thing for me to write about was the really important thing: God. The more I blog, the more I feel I understand. Of course, I try to research what I write, and not just post what I think. You may have heard the question asked, Why is it that the people who know the least, know it the loudest? I get annoyed myself at people that want to teach everyone else but aren’t willing to put any effort into learning; they are so busy talking that they don’t listen. God gave us twice as many ears as mouths for a reason. I don’t want to be like that. I know that I have, at times, just pushed through what I thought without really knowing, but I try to restrain myself.
The bottom line is, if you want to know what the Bible says, you should study it (2 Timothy 2:15), but you should make some attempt to teach it to others. Make sure that what you are teaching is actual Scripture. If you can’t back up what you are teaching with the Bible, then you shouldn’t be teaching it. If you have to take verses out of context to make your point, then your point is wrong (there is a Scripture that says Judas went and hanged himself, there is another one that says, go, and do thou likewise, and another that says, that thou doest, do quickly, but it would be foolish to put those three thoughts together as a teaching point).
Do something with what you have learned, even if you feel you haven’t learned enough (I certainly don’t feel that I know anything of any real importance—and what little I do know I learned by teaching). Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, we all do; as the saying goes, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Just be prepared to learn from your mistakes. That’s a hard way to learn, but it’s harder to forget the lessons learned that way. So get busy!

More Abundant Life

Two Bible verses from Sunday morning: John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” and 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
It never really occurred to me to put those two verses together before, but they go together very well. Jesus came that we might have more abundant life, because God doesn’t want us to have the spirit of fear. I have to admit that when things don’t go the way I expect them to, I can get pretty excited about it. I have learned to keep those feelings to myself, pretty much, because I know that God is in control, and I don’t want to freak other people out, even when, on the inside, I’m freaking out. All things work together for good, right?
That’s easy to say when things are going according to plan. If I know what to expect, it’s easy to take it all in stride. If something happens that catches me off-guard, then I am in trouble. I shouldn’t be, because I know that God has His plan, even if I don’t always see it.
Trust and obey, for there’s no better way… We know that old song, don’t we? How well do we live it? I mean really, when things seem to be going wrong and you don’t know what’s going to happen next, can you really just sit and trust Jesus? We should be able to. I think sometimes we’ve been let down so many times by so many different people, but He’s not like us, He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Absalom

Absalom was an interesting character. One of King David’s sons, Absalom was very popular; I would have to guess that he was charismatic. Even when he was trying to have David killed, the king ordered that he be captured alive, but, I’m getting ahead of myself.
When Moses judged Israel in the wilderness, his father-in-law, Jethro, told Moses that he was going to wear himself out listening to every petty grievance that every Israelite had with any of his brethren. Jethro convinced Moses that he should pick out faithful men from the congregation of Israel to hear the minor cases. Apparently David, as king, was not familiar with that particular piece of advice. We find that, as David is trying to judge Israel, Absolom is talking to people that are waiting to have their grievances heard, and whatever they want, he tells them that they are right, and it’s a shame that they have to wait so long for justice. If only the king had appointed someone to hear their case, instead of hearing every case personally…
Before long, Absalom had managed to convince an awful lot of people that he would be a better king than his father. Once he felt that he had enough support, he led an uprising against his father, and attempted to usurp the throne. Of course, the bravest and mightiest warriors in the kingdom supported David, and they ended up putting down the rebellion in fairly short order. It might have lasted a lot longer, except that Joab ignored David’s command to not harm Absalom, and killed him the first chance he got. Without Absalom, the rebellion died quickly.
In one respect, Absalom was right; David should have appointed judges to hear minor cases, as Moses did before him. In another respect, Absalom was wrong, because, as David’s son, he probably could have convinced his father of the wisdom of that plan, had he tried. Instead, he went out and used his one piece of wisdom to undermine the king.
David was the man that God placed over Israel. Absalom might have eventually inherited the throne, had he done the right thing. Granted, Solomon had already been named as David’s successor, but things happen. We know, now, that Solomon ascended to the throne and ruled for a very long time. Absalom didn’t know that would happen, and, in fact, if he had lived a righteous life, he might have been chosen over Solomon when the time came. He tried to sneak his way into power, and got killed for it.
Sometimes we, as human beings, find ourselves in situations that just don’t make any sense. The boss says, do this or get fired, but what he wants done doesn’t make any sense. So, maybe we do what the boss says, but grumble about it to our co-workers. Now, if what the boss told us to do was wrong, who ends up getting blamed? I’ll give you a hint: Probably not the boss. If it works out for the best after all, then all that grumbling comes back to haunt us.
Sometimes it isn’t the boss, it’s the pastor. Now the Bible tells us that God will give us pastors according to his heart. Pastors are still human beings, and they make mistakes, same as the rest of us. When your pastor makes a mistake, though, (or you think that he has made a mistake) there is exactly one person that you should talk to about it: your pastor. If he can’t explain himself to you, then pray about it. I know there have been times when I disagreed with my pastor, and we could not come to a mutually satisfactory agreement; some of those times, after a few days, I came to an understanding as to why he felt that course of action was necessary; other times, he came to an understanding as to my objections, and changed his course of action. In either case, it really came down to outliving the problem, rather than solving it. Keep in mind that all things work together for good, because God is in control.

An Unusual Sports Story

There is an interesting situation that I heard about in the news, yesterday. It seems that there is a high school football team that has found a freshman that is a phenomenal kicker. At the tender age of fourteen, this individual can kick a fifty-yard field goal. Now I’m not a big football statistician, but I would think that there’s one or two NFL teams that would like to sign a kicker that can kick a fifty-yard field goal, and probably more than a couple of NCAA colleges that would be willing to pay scholarships to such an individual. I realize that there are NFL kickers that can kick close to seventy yards, but fifty yards is still pretty respectable, and considering that this is a fourteen-year old we’re talking about, as an adult, this person will probably be kicking a good deal farther.
I should point out that this is not a public high school. This is a private school with a faith-based educational plan. I should also point out that this student is a girl.
This leads to an understandable quandary: Should a female be allowed to play a contact sport in a male-dominated league? On the other hand, it seems fairly evident that this young woman has a God-given gift (why would God give her a gift for kicking a football? I don’t know, but if she does it better than the guys in her league, then I have to believe that it’s of God).
I can appreciate the difficulties of having a mixed gender contact-sport league. Of course, we’re not talking about her sharing a locker room with the male members of her team, but there are other considerations. I certainly don’t like the idea of teen-aged boys tackling teen-aged girls. At the same time, if she is allowed to play, I don’t think the other team should be penalized with a restriction on tackling the kicker if given the opportunity. I have to consider, also, the difficulty of playing a defensive lineman on a team facing her team. What if I, as a lineman, break through the line early, as she is about to kick. Don’t I have a responsibility to my team to stop her from kicking the ball? If I were facing a kicker of my own gender, I wouldn’t think twice about tackling him. If I am to tackle her, then I have to consider where to put my hands in the process. What if I hesitate in my actions while I try to determine the most prudent course of action, and she is able to get the kick away before I stop her? I have, at this point, let down my teammates, although it isn’t entirely my fault. To be honest, if football turns into a mixed-gender sport, I think that a lot of the rules would need to be changed. I don’t really have too much trouble with the idea of a girl kicker on a boys’ team, but, if an exception is made for her, then some people would have a hard time with the idea of banning a girl from, say, the quarterback position, even though that person would be tackled several times per game by several different boys.
Her supporters point out that the rule book doesn’t specifically say that girls can’t play, so letting her play isn’t really an exception. They seem to think that the objection to her playing stems more from the fact that other teams feel at a disadvantage because she is an exceptional player. There may be some truth to that, but I would hope that the reason that she is barred from play is for her own protection, and, to some extent, the protection of the guys on opposing teams that shouldn’t have to make a decision as to what to do if they manage to break through the line early before she has a chance to kick the ball. In any case, I would think that she has gotten enough publicity from this that she will, in a few years, have a promising career in the WNFL, if that’s what she wants.

The Rapture

The word rapture simply means, “ecstatic joy or delight.” Interestingly enough, the English word rapture comes from the Latin word Raptus, which meant to carry off. One might wonder how an English word meaning ecstatic joy could come from a Latin word meaning to carry off; it would seem that our predecessors could imagine no greater joy than for Jesus to carry them off to Heaven.
I have been criticized for using that word as a Christian term, on the grounds that it isn’t Biblical. I have to admit that the word itself does not appear in Scripture, but the idea is pretty evident. In 1 Corinthians 15:50, Paul tells us that flesh and blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Clearly, we need to change before we can enter in. In verse 51, it goes on to say that we shall all be changed, even though some will not sleep. Sleep, in this instance is that same sort of sleep that Jesus was talking about when he said that Lazarus was asleep. In other words, some people will die, and then be resurrected, but some people will still be alive when the time of judgment comes, and will not have to suffer death. In verse 52, we are told that this change will happen in the twinkling of an eye, in other words, essentially instantaneously. Verse 53 goes on to say that this is because corruption must put on incorruption, and mortality must put on immortality.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, it talks again about the last trump, that Jesus will come for us, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and those that are alive and remain shall arise to meet them in the air. After that, all of us will be with Christ for all eternity. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 reminds us that the Lord shall come as a thief in the night, referencing Matthew 24:43-44 where Jesus compares His return to a thief coming to rob; if people knew when the thief was going to come, then they would no doubt be ready. Since we don’t know when Jesus is going to return, we must always be ready.
In Matthew 24:40 Jesus prophesied that there would be two in the field, and one taken, and the other left. It’s possible that He was referring to farm workers in a natural field, but in John 4:35, He tells His disciples to start harvesting the fields, even though it was four months until the time to harvest a natural field. The passage in John is very clearly talking about working with people, winning souls. If the passage in Matthew is talking about the same thing, then Jesus is referring to two people that are out winning souls, but one is ready, and the other one is not. Of course, if that’s the case, then the two women grinding at the mill in verse 41 would have to have some spiritual significance, also, but I’m not sure what that would be (my best guess would be studying Scripture, but that’s just a guess).
By the way, a number of people have written books about what signs will precede the second coming of Christ. I am not going to mention any one in particular, but let me say this: These writings are speculative at best. I am not even going to attempt to debunk them; they may even be right. I make it a point to not concern myself with such things, because one misinterpretation could have long-lasting consequences. What if I spend my life looking for one sign before I get myself ready, and then get hit by a car before that sign occurs? Or, what if I’m mistaken about that particular sign, and it isn’t supposed to happen until after the rapture? When I get to Judgment, can I say to God, “But God, Doctor Theolophisus’ book says the rapture wasn’t supposed to happen until after the polar bears became extinct!”? Will God give me a pass because I wanted to do the right thing; I just read the wrong book? Jesus warned in Matthew 24:4, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” Don’t misunderstand me, I am not accusing anyone of intentionally trying to deceive us, but the onus is on us to ensure that we don’t allow ourselves to be led astray.

Confess Your Faults

There is an old story about three ministers from different churches in the same town who went fishing together. After spending some time in the boat with their lines in the water, one of the three men pointed out that each of them had to deal with the problems of the members of their respective congregations, but they didn’t really have anyone to talk to about their own problems. “It’s just us, in the middle of a lake; there’s nobody else around. Why don’t we confess our faults to each other, and we’ll all feel better?”
The other two men considered it, and decided that it was a fine idea, but since it was the one man’s idea, he should go first. “I’m afraid that I have a drinking problem. I am able to remain sober throughout the week, and I have managed to avoid any of my congregants when I’m inebriated, but, every Friday night, I just have to get my drink on.”
The second man said, “Well, to be honest, I have a gambling problem. I like betting on the horses. Recently, I have lost so much money at the race track that I have begun taking money from church funds to support my gambling problem.”
The third man said, “My problem is that I’m a terrible gossip, and it’s killing me to be stuck in this boat with this juicy gossip; I just can’t wait to get back into town!”
The Bible does tell us to confess our faults one to another. I think that a lot of that stems from the fact that if you have someone close to you that knows what your weaknesses are, then possibly he (or she) can help guide you away from those temptations when they inevitably arise, and if you know their weakness, you can do the same for them. The problem that we run into is a matter of trust. If, for example, I feel myself drawn to alcohol, and I know that drinking is a problem for me, I probably would not want that to be common knowledge amongst my fellow church-goers; that means that I am only going to talk about my problem with people that I feel I can trust (and that may be only my pastor). Maybe I should want that to be common knowledge, so that more people are looking out for me, but, human nature being what it is, I probably don’t really want anybody to know what my weakness is. I would be constantly worried that every time I overslept, people would whisper that I was hung-over, etc.
The bad part about that is, we should be able to trust our Christian brothers and sisters. Notice I said ‘should.’ Unfortunately, even the best Christian is still human, and we human beings make mistakes. I will admit that I have let slip things that were told to me in confidence (usually because I didn’t realize at the time that those things were being told to me in confidence), and I have to expect that other people will make the same mistake. At the same time, with the understanding that we all have faults, I should be able to confess mine to you, and you confess yours to me, without either one of us feeling less about the other.
By the way, I want to point out that it says to confess your faults one to another; it does not say to confess your sins. Under certain circumstances, that may work out to be the same thing, but you can tell someone that you feel you have a problem with gambling without going into details about how often you visit your local Off-Track Betting facility. Now, I am not telling you not to confess your sins, I am telling you that it is not a Biblical requirement. If it makes you feel better to talk to someone else about specific things that you know you have done wrong, or if you feel that it may help them to know what things you have done wrong in the past (in those instances, probably best to make it clear that those things were waaaay in the past), then you can do that. Make sure that you pray about it beforehand, and consider that your confession may become a burden to the person who hears it. All I am saying is that you are not required to confess your sins to any man. Some churches make a minister available specifically so that you can confess your sins to him, and, of course, whatever you confess to him, God hears also. That’s the Biblical requirement, that you confess your sins to God. Quite frankly, I think confessing to a minister is mostly just a psychological tool—it makes the confessor feel better (especially if the minister hearing the confession assign some form of action or actions to be taken in order to be forgiven). Many times when we confess our sins to God, we walk away wondering if He really heard us. If we confessed with a whole heart, then He did, it’s just that sometimes He’s too busy to acknowledge.