Trust and Money or Money and Trust

The issue of money in churches seems to be a major problem today. The bottom line is people are not giving to the local church anymore. Television ministries are making appeals for income to help them and the strong appeal seems to draw funds away from the local church. Whether good or bad, this is happening. However, this is not the reason for this article. The reason for this article is the fact that people are not trusting God with their finances.

Every person who reads this article will trust in things that they never take for granted. We trust that our power will stay on while away and our food in the refrigerator will not spoil. We trust that while cooking that Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner, the power will continue so it won't mess up our holiday. However, when it comes to church, we fail to trust God with our money?

     I found out that the majority of those who complain about money and giving are those that do not give. Their excuses are irrelevant in this issue. Trust in God with your finances is paramount to the Child of God. If you make a thousand dollars a day or ten dollars a day, the principle is still the same. Trust God with what you have and give to Him. People just don’t trust God, so they feel they cannot support their local church. Once the church goes under for failure to pay the mortgage, power, benevolence projects, etc., they complain as to why? The reason is very simple. People are robbing God.

     Proverbs 3:9 says “Honor the Lord with your wealth   and with the first fruits of all your produce.” Now, I know you anti Old Testament folks will say that is not for today, but explain why it isn't for today? Can you just take the scriptures out because it doesn't fit or suit you? God deserves the first fruits and not the leftovers. Everyone likes to be first in line for that good ole fashioned dinner on the grounds so they can have the best food first. The person at the end of the line gets the leftovers. Now, what I like about this verse is the next one in chapter 3. Verse 10 says “then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”  That is powerful.

     God will take care of those who give and the Bible records this as well.  Malachi teaches us that: But what about the New Testament in giving? Look at what Cortni Marrazzo wrote in Crosswalk.com on July 17, 2008. (http://www.crosswalk.com/family/finances/is-tithing-for-the-new-testament-believer-11579309.html)    The article gives scriptures that explain why it is important.  He writes that in Matthew the 6^th chapter, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be”.  Therefore, if you feel you cannot give to your local church, then where is your heart? People will spend money on Cell phones; Cable or satellite television, expensive clothes, etc., but complains when the offering plate is passed. A person can go out and spend on payday $40.00 for a nice meal, but yet not give God a penny. What is wrong with this?

     This is the ultimate sad part about this scenario. You attend church and not give, but yet, you complain when the doors are closed or projects cannot be completed. You are the reason my friends. You are a thief and you will not, and let me stress this again, in this author’s opinion, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God as a result of this. My reason is twofold. The first is that most of the time, those who do not give, quit church and God. Therefore, they walk away from God because of MONEY.

The other reason is simply trust. The Word of God teaches us to come to Him in Faith. Can you honestly say you can trust God for everything but your money and that not cause you to step away from Him? Every person in the last 33 years of me preaching that has “griped and complained” about tithing have walked away from God. You can run to another church, but the problem will still follow you. Your life is in shambles because you cannot trust God in all things. This failure will harm not only you, but others around you.

5 things that happen to people who fail to trust God with their money.

1: Marriage issues
2: Children are disobedient
3: Health Issues
4: Joy is not present
5: There is no peace in their hearts.

You decide what is important to you. Matthew 22:21 says that for us to give to Caesar what belongs to him and to God what belongs to Him. You decide. Do you want to give to God or not?

The spiritual crumbling of America

This is from the the Continental Congress "THAT it is an indispensable duty which we owe to God, our country, ourselves and posterity, by all lawful ways and means in our power to maintain, defend and preserve these civil and religious rights and liberties for which many of our father fought, bled and died, and to hand them down entire to future generations."

Should Christians be involved in Politics? I am going to cut and paste a blog from a man who I agree with. He wrote this in 2008.  I will give his website for his credit. I may not agree with all he does, but this I do agree with.   (April 5, 2008

Why Christians should and must be involved in politics

By Bryan Fischer

There are at least two main reasons why followers of the Judeo-Christian tradition should and must be involved in politics, reasons derived directly from the Scriptures themselves. I'll discuss the first today, and the second in a subsequent column.

Here's the first:

All political power has been delegated by God. As the great apostle says in Romans 13:1, speaking of civil authority, "There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."

This explains the fascination that Americans have with politics: politics, even if people are only dimly aware of the fact, is all about who among us will have in their hands the very authority and power of God himself to direct the affairs of our common public life.

God rarely acts directly in human affairs. (That's why we call them "miracles.") Rather than working apart from us, it is his customary practice to work through us, through men and women to whom he delegates his authority, whether in the home, in the church or in society.

He is always looking for willing servants who have a humble recognition that their authority is not their own but has been delegated to them by God, and who have a humble awareness that they are accountable to him for their use of it.

It is unconscionable for Christians to absent themselves from the public arena on the grounds that "Christians shouldn't be involved in politics," when the Bible they profess to believe tells them that political power comes exclusively from the very God they worship.

I've had people tell me that Christians shouldn't be involved in politics because it's so "messy" or "dirty." Well, I tell them, I was a pastor for 25 years, and I've never seen anything as messy at the statehouse as I have seen in the church. So if messiness is a reason to avoid participation and contact, we all ought to stop going to church immediately if not sooner.

And it's utterly illogical to abandon the supervision of our public life to those who have no respect for the God who grants them their authority.

D. James Kennedy was often told by fellow believers that Christians should just stay out of politics altogether. In response, he'd point out the irrationality of that idea. How can a Christian in good conscience, he would say, think it's a good idea to deliberately abandon the governing of our society entirely to atheists and secularists?

Jesus taught his followers, as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount, that we are "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world." Salt was used, in the absence of refrigeration, to arrest the spread of decay. Light, of course, was and is used to dispel darkness.

His point quite simply is that he intends his followers to penetrate all of life so that by our presence the spread of moral corruption can be arrested and darkness and ignorance about important matters can be replaced with illumination and truth.

And anywhere Christians refuse to engage, and so remove both salt and light, we ought to expect nothing but decay and darkness. When Jesus said we were the salt of the earth and the light of the world, he meant that we are his Plan A and there is no Plan B.

Further, if Christians think followers of Christ should just stay out of politics, then they have forfeited the right to complain about cultural decline and have forfeited the right to use instances of moral decay as illustrations in their sermons.

Many Christians seem particularly fond of complaining about how bad things have gotten, and yet immediately turn their firepower on any Christian who agrees with them but actually tries to do something about it.

Since lawmakers hold in their hands the very power of God, Christians in truth have much more reason to be concerned about political matters than our secularist friends.

In fact, as famous Dutch statesman Abraham Kuyper said, we not only have reason to become involved in the political process, we have a moral duty:

"When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith."

May his tribe increase.

© Bryan Fischer)

So, why is America crumbling and what is the result of such crumbling? It started because either just one person or a small group of people complained about something. Then the Christians felt compelled not to stand up because they felt they should not make a stand for what is right. I'm not talking about literally fist blows, but taking a stand to say "No," We are not going to accept this. You(Christians) have been told so long that the separation of Church and State makes us (Christians) have to just accept what they (lost) tell us. There is no such thing as separation of church and state. It is not in the constitution. What is in the constitution is that the State shall not make a church. So,  here is what has happened that you (Christians) have allowed to happen.

There are many things I could write  here but I will not do such a thing. If you, being the reader cannot see for yourself what is happening, then I am sorry. Christ did indeed say to render to Caesar the things of him and render to God the things that are his. Jesus called the Pharisees a bunch of Hypocrites. Christ got involved in Politics.
Kings were basically appointed by God back in the day. When they messed up and most of them did, then tragedy would follow. Today, God has given us the power now to elect our leaders. We must pray and decide what is important.
Prophecy:       You mark my words. One day we will hear that the Pledge will lose the words "one nation under God."   and "in God we trust" on our money.
Christians will say, "oh well, we must adhere to that."

Prophecy:     You mark my words. One day some of you will be told you cannot have a Bible study in your home because of ordinances. You will have to decide. What will you decide? Most will say, "oh well, we must adhere to that."

Prophecy:     You mark my words. One day they will come into your church and tell you what you can preach because the law says that (whatever sin you preach against is legal). You will have to decide. What will you decide? Most will say, "oh well, we must adhere to that."

When you stand before God on the day of judgment, then what will you say?

The Christian Heathen

Let me be a little sarcastic in this post, even though it will make some kind of sense. There is no such thing as a Christian Heathen, but the term should be used for people who act like Christians and Heathens at the same time. We all know who these people are and in fact if we were honest, we may even fit the bill at times ourselves.

So, here goes my top five lists of Christian Heathens. They are in no particular order.

1: The shouter and curse person at the same time. Sunday services are filled with Praise the Lord and Hallelujah. These people are shouting the isles down with good "church" words. However, once Sunday is over with, their other language kicks in. "Christians" who can curse worse than a sailor, and I was a sailor and I honestly say I have heard these people use language that I never heard while stationed on a ship  in the early 80's. The bible says "You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks"   Matthew 12:34 (ESV).
2: The Prayer and the gossiper at the same time. Prayer services are just beginning and Sister so and so and Brother so and so are taking prayer requests down on their notepad. They are tearing the prayer walls down praying for someone's addiction and terrible habits. Once church is over with they are on the telephone sharing such stories all in the name of God. "At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention."  I Timothy 5:13 (NASB).
3: The spiritual food and secular food at the same time. The Pastor just said A-men. The Saints are shaking hands and hugging necks. They are getting in their vehicles and heading to their local restaurant. Once they walk in the door, they assume the minimum wage girl behind the counter should drop what they are doing and run to wait on them. They (church) wait in line because other Pastors have dismissed their congregations.  They get up to the counter and the action begins. Now, remember this Saint has just come from Church. Also remember this behind the counter minimum worker has not been in church. So, they start their order. Something happens and the food is wrong. The God loving all peaceful Saint blows a gasket and complains to the other saint in line who is getting frustrated b/c they have to wait awhile and number 2 above starts. They voice their opinion as to the satisfaction of the worker and go to their tables. To show these workers they are totally fired up ill with them, they leave their trash on the table to teach them workers a lesson. Now, I wonder what would happen to their church if that worker came and left their trash on their pew? Just saying. "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4:29 (ESV).
4: The Teacher and ball player at the same time. Brother so and so is the sunday school teacher for the junior boys class. Man, he loves his job. He takes the boys fishing and camping and they just love him. He is the best God fearing man in the church; until Saturday afternoon. That is when he takes his own son to the ball park to play baseball. The umpire is awful. Blind as a bat and can't find the strike zone. All the opposing fans love to come to this park, because they know that fan will let it all out at the umpire. He is spitting and fussing and his face is red because he called out his son. What nerve he must have. He goes to the fence and let's him have it. He high fives the other dads while they are talking about the umps and  how terrible they are. Yessir, he is a great Sunday School teacher. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4:29 (ESV).
5: The communion drinker and other drinks at the same time. Communion service just concluded. An awesome time in service. The stale crackers and grape juice hit the spot because of the symbol it stood for. he was excited about what the Lord was going to do in the church. Just last night he bought the crackers and juice for church today. Tomorrow he goes back to the same store and buys his alcohol and chips. He will now have another communion time with his lounge chair and television set. The same person who rung him up yesterday rings him up today. She is puzzled as to the difference, but he says, "it's ok to have a drink or two."  "But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.  You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.  For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit ^[b]while yet in his mother’s womb." Luke 1:13-15 (NASB).  
I don't think this person (not John) is great, do you?

We all have problems. Lord knows I have my fair share of them. However, you and I are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. I realize that I have done some terrible sins (have you?) and I am glad that God said David was a man after God's heart. That gives me hope for my terrible sins. I ask that you forgive me for what I have done to you and I will likewise. I do not want to miss heaven over something as small as a sin. I am reminded of the missionaries who never really got to preach to the South American Indians back in the early days of the 50's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Auca), but as a result of their sacrifice, such Indians came to Christ.

People are watching you and you must ask yourself a very simple question. Am I living for Christ on Monday just as much as I am on Sundays?

Man is the leader of the house

Let me start this blog off by stating that I am not a male chauvinist pig. I am stating what I feel is wrong with married couples today, and such “wrongs” are filtering into the church, which is causing problems. We do not have men who are leaders in their households anymore because they are either afraid of their wives or they are unlearned. The Christian man must bring back the love of Christ in the household by being what God intended him to be. 

 I will use three scripture verses to make my argument and I trust you will accept them.

I Corinthians 11:3 in the English Standard verses says “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.”

I Peter 3:7 in the English Standard verses says “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

Genesis 3:16 in the English Standard verses says “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you”

Now, that we have them out of the way, let me make another disclaimer. I am referring in this blog to a husband and wife team where both parties are Christians. I am not referring to a situation where the wife is saved and the husband is not. However, that can be discussed at another time, but I still think Genesis 3:16 can still fill in for that situation as well. Getting back to my point. I was in the store the other day and I saw a friend of mine. We did our usual pleasantries and finished our conversation by talking about church. I inquired where he attended and his reaction surprised me. He told me the church and I said , “oh, I thought you were a (name of denomination).” His reply, “Well, I use to attend so and so church, but my wife threw such a hissy fit, that I just started going where she was going.” I asked him was he happy and he said no. I then felt like I had to say something and I did. I asked him how come he did that. His response was just as sad. I want to keep peace in my household.

Now, let’s understand this. The husband is the spiritual leader of the household. I did not say that, but the Word of God says that. Women, your husband is the spiritual leader of your household and you must and I strongly say it that way; you must adhere to the program that they are following. 

True story. My wife and I were the pastors of a certain church before the year 2000. We had a precious lady who attended, but her husband didn’t attend. He was lost and just never came to church. Neither me, nor the previous pastors could reach him. A new pastor moved into the town to pastor a different denominational church. That man said and I quote, “I will go to church if we go to that church.” The wife came to us and asked our opinion. Without reservation, we said GO Be with your husband in that church. That church believed in Christ and ours did too. She went to that church with her husband after attending our church we pastored for many years. He got saved and is now a leader in that church.

When the husband fails to be the leader of the house or rather, when he allows the wife to be the spiritual leader of the household, then the house is living wrong. The man of the house should step up to the plate and be the spiritual leader that God’s Word instructs him to be. I Corinthians 11:3 in the English Standard verses says “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.”

Wives should submit themselves to their husbands according to the Word of God. This should not be a difficult task if you are serving Him (Christ) faithfully. You may think it is difficult, but once you walk with Christ and follow his commands, then I share that your home will be different.

One last story. My wife is a preacher. She is a great preacher. When she was a teenager many years ago (sorry hun), she was preaching. There was a woman in the church whose husband would not allow his wife to come and here my wife preach.  The woman apologized to my wife who was a teenager then and my wife said no problem. The woman honored her husband. He is saved today.

So, to all you wives out there and to all you husbands out there. Are you following the Word of God in truthfulness or are you trying to please your household? 

How people act in public

The world should never judge anyone according to the Word of God. However, it is apparent that some people are not bearing forth good fruit. The Word of God also says you will know a tree by the fruit it bears. Let me share some things that I noticed the other day at the local restaurant that I frequently use. I hate to use the word "idiot," but these folks were just that. An online dictionary said that one of the definitions of idiot is stupid. That same online dictionary said the definition of stupid is someone who lacks common sense or intelligence. I like that better.

I also accept the fact that we shouldn't call people those things but come on folks. The way some of you act in public is just down right embarrassing. It was a Tuesday night and the fireworks show had just finished. The crowds started coming in at 9:00 p.m. (Restaurant closed lobby at 10:00 p.m.). The lobby was filled and people were waiting in line. The poor workers were working just as hard as they could. One person ordered 5 small burgers. The poor worker said, "would you like some ketchup?"  The person said no. Then she said her usual thank you. He (customer) said, "yes, I would like some." This process went on and on with the customer wanting one or two of everything he could get. There is nothing wrong with that, but wouldn't it been easier on the workers if he would have asked for all of it at one time instead of making the poor worker go back and forth?

OK, for the title part. A group of individuals came in. It was a party of 15. They went to the ? church down the street. Now, before you go off on me, I am  not picking on the ? folks. I know they are ?  for two reasons. Their clothes dictate this and plus I know them. Anyway. They had some very sour faces because there were allot of others in front of them. Once they got their food and was sitting down to eat...Well, this is the part. The restaurant was pulling down the gates. It was closing time. No problem for the customers in the restaurant; they could continue on eating. However, the poor worker behind the counter could not clean the lobby until the customers left. At 11:00, they left. They stayed an additional hour just chit chatting.

While they were chit chatting, some of their kids went to the counter and made 5 additional orders. Ordering things like the $1.00 frosty. Small things. Not at one time. But, 5 different times they went back and forth. That same worker had to stop their work. Wouldn't it had been easier adults if you would have sent one person to get 5 different small $1.00 items and you got up and helped them?

Let me share some personal observations:

1: Your attitude toward the general population stinks. Why would someone desire to be with you in church? You have condemned them from the beginning. People would smile at your kids and do the "googly goo" stuff at the babies and you would make frowning faces and them and not recognize them for their efforts to show good hospitality. 

2: Be nice and smile to those folks.

3: People see you and then they associate you with church and that just isn't good.

4: Stop complaining when you eat 1/2  half of your hamburger and they left the pickle off of it. They will replace your burger. So, you get a burger and half for the same price.

5: When you do take  your burger back, please, please, please, show some Christian love to those workers. Your hatred by "slamming" the burger down will not win that many souls to Christ nor get them to come to your church.

6: Pick up your nasty trash when you leave. When a worker comes out to clean the lobby and they have to first wait for you to talk about how your church is the only saved church in the world plus picking up your nasty trash you leave on the table: well, think about it.

7: Stop leaving tracks on the table stating that "that one eyed monster(television) is going to send you to hell.

8:Smile again and say thank you when they unlock the door for you. At least say good night when they say good night to you.

9: Talk to other folks in the store and not talk down to them.
10: Go Home at a normal  hour because you are just too old to be out that late     :-)

Against Homosexuality I

Chapter 1:

Introduction

 Recently someone posted a statement on a public forum board; A social media outlet. They made the statement that they support gay marriage. Naturally, several individuals jumped in with their support for this person’s statement. The author of this paper gave his response and merely mentioned that the Word of God was against it. What happened next was a barrage of anti-God and anti-bible statements from one individual. A public form on certain websites are no different from what happened many years ago in public forums in each city when something was brought up and the public had the opportunity to discuss it. The reader must be aware that once they publish something, it is open for debate. This paper for example will be open for debate as well.

 A Preacher friend of mine was associated with a ministry back in the 80’s. He felt he should write a letter to the opposing minister trying to encourage and help him. When all of this ended up in court the opposing minister’s lawyer had this letter blown up to about six feet tall by 3 feet wide. What was intended for good, turned against the preacher. His intentions were taken out of context. When a person posts something on a public forum, it is open for anything.

 Chapter 2:

Homosexuality as a rebellion Romans 1:25-27 (ESV), because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. Paul is saying that homosexuality is rebellion against God’s supreme purpose in creation, and an uncultured distortion of His moral and flawless strategy for His created order. The Word of God is clear on the subject from the very beginning. Genesis records the story that God made man and He (God) said that man should not be by himself, and with that nature, God made a helpmate for man and that person was a woman. There is no mistake that God felt that man and woman should be together. This comes to light more when they are considered one flesh and his (mans) statement that she (woman) is “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23 NASB).

 Chapter 3:

The Word of God “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” Genesis 1:28 NIV). That one verse should be enough to satisfy the opinion makers about what God’s plans were for His created world. Man and his mate (woman) were to be productive. There are 16 different translations to this passage and they all say the same thing.
 Be fruitful…
 21st Century King James Version: "Be fruitful and multiply"
 American Standard Version: "Be fruitful, and multiply"
 Amplified Bible: "Be fruitful, multiply"
 Contemporary English Version: "Have a lot of children!"
 Darby Translation: "Be fruitful and multiply"
 English Standard Version: "Be fruitful and multiply"
 Holman Christian Standard Bible: "Be fruitful, multiply"
 The Message: "Prosper! Reproduce"
 New American Standard Bible: "Be fruitful and multiply"
 New International Reader's Version: "Have children and increase your numbers"
 New International Version: "Be fruitful and increase in number"
 New King James Version: "Be fruitful and multiply"
 New Life Version: "Give birth to many; grow in number"
 New Living Translation: "Multiply"
 King James Version: "Be fruitful and multiply"
 Young's Literal Translation: "Be fruitful, and multiply"

 There should be no other message clearer than those translations above. God intended for man and woman to be together. God created man and then made woman. Two different individuals that could reproduce. He told them to have children and settle the world. The only way that children can be born is through procreation by a male and female. One man can never have a child. There is no way physically possible for that to take place. A woman cannot have a child unless a man is involved someway. God’s plan was to have man/woman together to create families together. There is no place in God’s family for people of the same sex getting together to fulfill his commission in Genesis. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters, nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders…” (I Corinthians 6:9-10 NIV). “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind it is abomination” (Leviticus 18:22 KJV). “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13 KJV). “and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error” (Romans 1:27 NEW AMERICAN STANDARD).

Chapter 4:

 Nature proves Homosexuality is wrong. Look out your window or step on the front porch early in the morning and listen to the bird calls. Watch the two birds together. The most interesting are two pair of doves; one male and one female. When the Lord destroyed the world via the flood He told Noah to bring in the animals. Everyone who has been in Sunday school or Vacation Bible School as a child recalls how the animals came in by two’s; male and female so they could reproduce. Every zoo in the world when they want to reproduce their animals will get one from the opposite sex. Drive down any street in the world and find one dog in heat and you will find 5 other male dogs around her. Nature proves it is wrong.

 Chapter 5:

 The early Church Fathers The Didache (teachings of the twelve apostles) “You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, and {Pederasty or paederasty is a bond between an older man and an adolescent boy separate from his direct family.} you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder child by abortion nor kill one that has been born” (Didache 2:2 [A.D. 70] Terullian “All other frenzies of the lusts which exceed the laws of nature, and are impious toward both [human] bodies and the sexes, we banish, not only from the threshold but also from all shelter of the Church, for they are not sins so much as monstrosities” (Modesty 4 [A.D. 222]). Eusebius of Caesarea “Having forbidden all unlawful marriage, and all unseemly practice, and the union of women with women and men with men, he [God] adds: ‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for in all these things the nations were defiled, which I drive out before you. And the land was polluted, and I have recompensed [their] iniquity upon it, and the lnd is grieved with them that dwell upon it’” (Proof of the Gospel 4:10 [A.D. 319]).

 Chapter 6:

 I was born that way When God created the world He said that He would create man in His image. Once He created man, he seen man was lonely and made woman to help him. He told them to “make babies” and the process would continue. Man was born to be a dad and women were made to help the man and once the fall in the garden, they would have children. Very plain and simple. A Christian is an individual who exists in agreement to the instructions of Jesus Christ, irrespective of the delicate cost, identifying Christ’s lessons to be definitive truth. Such submission is made conceivable when a person is saved as an outcome of faith in what Christ did for him. Once a person is born again, he is empowered to abandon all effects which God proclaims to be evil. As evidence of his conviction, a true Christian will no longer desire to live in a state of constant sin. There are times when the Christian will struggle with their past sins and even new sins, he will not desire the same lifestyle which was going against the Word of God. I John 3:9-10 teach us that someone who is saved doesn’t practice sin. For the person who says they were born that way is going against God’s Word. The bottom line is a person who is practicing homosexuality is doing this because they desire to live this way. Those who attend church and feel they are Christians are feeling this way so they can appease their guilty soul. I person who drinks alcohol or uses tobacco is the same way. When a person chooses to do such things, is no other reason but to do them.

The squirrel

While driving to church this morning, I observed a squirrel on the road about 1/2 mile in front of me. Naturally, I did not slow down. I watched this squirrel do the following. Let me set the stage. It was on the left hand side of the road. It ran to the middle and stopped. Then it ran back to the left and turned sharply around and ran to the right hand side of the road. Once it got to the right hand side about 6 inches from the side of the road I chose to move slightly over to the middle. I was trying to be nice. The next thing I heard was a thump. That squirrel in a split second decided to run back across the road. My front tire decided to meet the squirrel. Well, you know the rest of his short life. I was reading in Matthew's gospel about the men who went to the birthplace of Christ. They had to follow the star. I questioned our small congregation today about what would have happened if they would have taken a detour and turned back? I question you today. Why do you start the walk and then turn back? Why do you begin a wonderful journey to get upset because of various reasons and turn back? Why? Life is hard and no one around us can deny that. However, just think of the blessings we have when we live for Christ. Life in heaven is surely worth the walk. Just don't turn around. If you desire to see what faith is, read the life of Perpetua. She never turned around when the hope of losing her father and child came into play. I am reading in one of my College classes the life of Perpetua. I am reading this from the book "Getting To Know Our Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction" This book is located at http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Know-Church-Fathers-Introduction/dp/1587431963 If you just want to know about Perpetua, then go to this website: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/martyrs/perpetua.html ( I would recommend purchasing the book to read about all the Church Fathers).

My response to whites and blacks worshiping together

May 25, 2012 Pastor Ron Nichols response to certain individuals who feel that Whites and Blacks cannot worship together. There are categorically no Scriptural grounds or biblical authority in the Old Testament or the New Testament to teach the forbidding of Whites and Blacks worshipping together. This idea or thought that says churches should be segregated is nothing but a white man’s KKK mentality. People who attempt to stop others from worshipping God are not really using the Word of God as a defense. They take certain scripture’s out of context in their defense. Scriptures such as II Corinthians 6:14. They use the first part where it says to not be unequally yoked together. However, they fail to finish the verse when it speaks of unbelievers. They cut and paste what they want for their own use. The Word of God is clear on this matter and we can go a step further by saying the Word of God is clear about whites/Blacks marrying as well. I have heard people say that when they saw a White/Chinese married that that were ok. But when they saw a white/black married, it was not ok. The Bible is clear on this subject as well. Intermarriage is not a sin and nowhere in the Bible is it preached against; Old or New Testament. Here is a common list of Scriptures that people use in their defense of speaking against interracial marriage. Once again, they pick and choose and not use the entire verse. They must see that these verses are not talking about races, but faith. Genesis. 21: 21 took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. Genesis. 24: 3 not take a wife . . . of the daughters of the Canaanites. Genesis. 26: 34 Esau . . . took to wife Judith the daughter of . . . the Hittite. Genesis. 27: 46 I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. Genesis. 28: 9 Esau . . . took . . . the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. Deuteronomy. 7: 3 neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Joshua. 23: 12 remnant of these nations . . . make marriages with them. Judges. 3: 6 gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Judges. 14: 3 a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines. 1 Kings. 11: 4 his wives turned away his heart after other gods. Ezra 9: 2 they have taken of their daughters for themselves. Ezra 10: 10 transgressed, and have taken strange wives. Nehemiah. 10: 30 not give our daughters unto the people. Nehemiah. 13: 25 not give your daughters unto their sons. Malachi. 2: 11 hath married the daughter of a strange God. II Corinthians 6:14 unequally yoked…with unbelievers. Now, if these verses stress that it is not speaking about races toward marriage, then how come you cannot use the same ones in relationship to worshipping? I am going to cut and paste a lengthy website submission from Dr. Steve Davis: Our Pastor is trying to integrate our church! Q: “Our pastor (who probably reads your website) is trying to integrate our church. We’re a white church and have always been white. He’s trying to bring in blacks and Mexicans, and he’s going to divide our church down the middle. I say, they have their own churches, let them go there and let us worship in our church. How do you feel about this? Does it make you proud that people read the kind of things you have on your website and then split their churches over it?” A: No, it does not make me proud. It makes me ashamed before the Lord. Ashamed that any human being could worship his or her Creator and deny another human being the right to worship the same Creator under the same roof. What’s wrong with this picture? After church, we can all go down to the buffet, and stand in line together. At the buffet bar, a black woman can stand ahead of a white man and pass the ladle to him after she puts food on her plate, and he in turn can pass the ladle to the Mexican, who then passes it to the Asian who passes it to the white person next in line. Then, they all go to tables under the same roof and eat, fellowship with their families and then leave and go to the mall or to Wal-Mart afterwards – where again, all are under the same roof. Monday through Friday, these same whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians work at the same companies, eat in the same restaurants, go to the same doctors, and take classes at the same colleges, while their children all are in the same classrooms. But, come Sunday, they can’t (make that “won’t”) worship their Creator under the same roof. One other comment I hear a lot about is that whites and blacks worship differently and therefore should not worship together. Blacks and whites might also eat differently and buy different types of products. But somehow, the local buffet has figured out how to bridge that gap to suit the appetites of all the customers in the area, and so have Wal-Mart and the other national chain stores. How can they do it and the people of God not be able to figure it out? The only answer I have come up with is that they wanted to and we didn’t. http://www.stevedavis.org/mixed%20church.html I love his comments on “worship differently” toward the end of his answer. There is no need for me to paraphrase his comments. It sums it up about right. So, I will end my defense by stating that I feel that three things are in place here. 1: You are ignorant. Christ was a Jew. People who are anti w/b worshipping together still on a whole worship Jesus Christ. Why? If you hate blacks so much… I think the story of the Good Samaritan explains that answer somewhat. The religious leaders passed the man by, but the Samaritan stopped. His family hated the Jews. But, yet he forsook family traditions of hatred and helped a fellowman. You are ignorant because if you really knew the love of Jesus, you would not feel this way. 2: You are evil. That may sound harsh, but you can eat beside a black man. You can work in a truck with a black man. You can bring your old use clothes to a black man’s house if it burns down, but you cannot sit beside that same black man in church? If that man was dying on the streets you would most likely lead him to Christ. But yet, you cannot sit beside him in church? If that black man was hungry you would make him come to your back door and give him food. But yet, you cannot sit beside him in church? Moses married someone from a different race. His sister complained and she was punished. She learned a valuable lesson. She was evil until her evilness was removed by God 3: You are afraid. What if you attend a church and the church elects a black man over you as a Deacon? What if the church elects a black Pastor? What if your Sunday school teacher of your kids was black? This troubles you because you might have to sit in the board meeting with a black man. Jesus died for only the whites? Jesus died for only the blacks? Jesus died for all. Peter opened the door when he had to go to the house of Cornelius after being told by God in a vision. He was just like you. But, when he allowed the Holy Spirit to change his views…

My response to accusations

May 24, 2012 My response to a person who accused our church of not being a church because: 1: Name of our denomination 2: No actual building (brick and mortar) 3: Said we were a cult. I will address the third actuation first, for I feel this one is more offensive than the other two. I consider the other two as being just plain ignorant. A cult according to Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner in their book The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics, states that “Religious Cults are schismatic deviations of established religious bodies. They are generally led by a powerful individual who is convinced that he or she has the only true message of God.” There are five basic traits to classify a church as being a cult. 1: Extra biblical Revelation: This means they have their own secret book that they rely on and theirs is the book. 2: Presumptuous Leadership: This means the leader thinks he has the only message for you. Examples of such leaders were men like Jim Jones and David Koresh. 3: Exclusive Salvation: This means our group is the only ones who can be saved. 4: Limited Eschatology: This means Jesus is coming only for my group. 5: Persecution complex: This means the world is against us because we have the truth. To you who state we are a cult, I quote Matthew 22:29 to you: “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” You have spoken things that you are not knowledgeable of in your assessment of our church. In the Newsweek magazine on March 15, 1993 Sheik Oman Abdel-Rahman told his Muslim followers to “kill the enemies of God in every sot to rid it of the descendants of apes and pigs fed at the tables of Zionism, communism and imperialism.” This man assumed that his enemies were God’s enemies as well. Your actuation of calling us a cult is placing us in the same category as this person. Shame on you. I will now address our denomination by simply stating this. Visit www.foursquare.org and you will be enlightened on what we believe. Enough of that. My denomination stands on its own merits. I will now address your accusation we are not a church because we do not have a building. Acts 20:20 states that we should meet in houses as well. A building is not the church. The church is the people inside the building. Jesus did a vast majority of his work outside the buildings. He fed the multitudes after preaching to them in an open field. He told them to push the boat out a little ways that he was in so he could preach to the people. He preached by the seaside. He preached in the graveyards. The church is the people. The Word of God states that where “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20 The bottom line is that you do not like it that people of color attend our church. Therefore you have to make up things to hide your true feelings. Your hatred toward people of color will eventually be your downfall. Jesus died for all of us. Yes mam, He even died for you. With all of that being said, let me share this with you. My wife and I will be more than happy to talk with you about your desire to destroy this church. Let me stress that neither you nor the devil can destroy this church. The devil has tried to destroy the Church of Christ for thousands of years. He has failed and you will fail. Let me encourage you to come to Jesus yourself. Please know that He died for your sins and He does love and care about you. I say to you what Christ said when they crucified Him. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” Luke 23:34 My friend, you are not aware of what you are talking about, because if you were, you would be quaking in your boots right now. Come to Jesus.

95% Redneck

My wife and I were in a restaurant the other morning and I saw a middle aged gentlemen just walk in. He sat near us, so naturally I struck up a conversation with him. We chatted about work, weather, etc. Then I asked him if he had a relationship with the Lord and he said yes. I said great. "What church do you attend?" He muttered off about being involved lately with a bunch of churches and that presently he wasn't attending any church. He mentioned some churches he use to attend and I commented that I knew the Pastor and they were good men. We kept talking and he mentioned that he had visited a certain church. I made some comment to the extent that were people of color allowed to attend that church. Then the stuff hit the fan. He stood up and walked over to my table and said, and I quote. "I'm 95% redneck and I do not believe in mix churches." After hearing this man talk about the blessings of God, those words followed. I told him that I disagree with him in a nice manner of course. He preceded to tell me that I was wrong. This is 2012 and there are still people today who believe that people, regardless of their color cannot worship together. Shame on you! We finished talking with the gentlemen and I told him we need to go and I invited him to our church. He asked if people of color attended our church. Naturally being 95% redneck he didn't ask it that way. He asked it his way. I smiled and said this to him. "Sir, we have people who attend our fellowship." He then said he would not be attending. So sad

Simple way to do church

Tomorrow morning literally millions of people will enter some sort of structure to have "church" in the same way they have always done it. I challenge us tonight to think of something. What would happen if you went in and turned the pews/chairs around? What if you had preaching before Sunday School? What if you had Praise and Worship followed by Sunday School followed by Preaching? The point is what would happen if you did something different. Tomorrow there will most likely be around 5 to 15 of us meeting outside under the pavilion. I basically have my thoughts down and I will be speaking on Psalms 46:1. But, there should be some folks there who haven't been to church in awhile and I think I will give them a chance to jump in and participate with what we are talking about. We will spend some time in worship and just getting to know each other some tomorrow morning. Then when it is over with we will probably go out and eat at some local restaurant and watch the other good church folks act like idiots to the young girls behind the counters. That's another story. WE make church so complicated when it really should be fun. We make so many rules when all we need to do is just show up and allow the Holy Spirit to take control. Yes, things should be done in order, but not allowing others to participate is boring. We will have some young folks and old folks together. I pray we can have fun and allow the Lord to really show up and move us out of tradition and into something new and wonderful.

coming to church

Let me say for the record that there are legitimate reasons for not attending church every now and then. Let me be straight on the subject and please do not take offense at what I am about to say. We Americans should be ashamed of ourselves. I was pleased to be in a new church plant last night in Birmingham, Alabama. We were participaiting in the establishment of a Vietamese church. The testimonies of people riding bicycles for hours to hear the gospel being preached put me to shame. We have churches on every corner in America...
If you want to show the world that you love Christ, I beg of you to live for him. It is easy to say you hate the enemy but when you fail to acknowledge Christ allows the enemy to know you are not real. The testimony of a real Child of God is someone who doesn't have to say a word. They just live it and their family, friends, co-workers, etc. all know it. Just because someone wears a christian type shirt...Well you get the picture. Live for Christ in person and not just on the computer.

The judgment of the world

I am sitting in my local restaurant watching the crowd. This seems to be a favorite pastime for me. There are three young ladies at the register and one of them has pink hair. Naturally it is died. She is wearing all black and her two friends are wearing orange and blue respectively. Now, to the pink. She is ordering her food this very moment while I am typing this and her voice is just as normal as the other two girls. So, it begs the question, why the pink hair?

Does it really matter why she has pink hair? The world will quickly be the judge and say she is "goth" or she is on drugs or she is...

I am going to share one video that I trust you will watch. You have to watch it in its entirety to understand how the world judges on first looks.

Johnathan Antoine story on the same program. Simon Cowell made a harsh, negative comment when Johnathan and Charlotte walked on the stage. Once they heard them sing, their(judges) minds were all changed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt3Utn4mjeg

When we realize that people are different, then we can accept them for who they are. Remember when Christ died on the Cross, He said "Father forgive them" He didn't say Father forgive the whites. Father forgive the blacks. Father forgive the large people or skinny people or the ...

Stop the judgment.

No paper in the machine

I called a company to get some records faxed over and they said they faxed it. I had "my person" check their fax machine and they said they have not received my papers. I therefore called the company and politely asked them if they had faxed it. They said, "Mr. Nichols, we received confirmation that it went through." I asked could they re-fax it. They agreed. I told my person to check again. My person came out and apologized and said, "I was just looking into the room at the machine and I never walked in to see the machine was out of paper.

Here are some thoughts.

The fax came through but with no paper in the machine, it went through, but nothing printed. It makes me think that even though the company received confirmation that it came through, where was it?

Here is my thinking. When we are sharing our story of what Christ did for us, is our life coming through the machine to the individual we are speaking with?

I drove by a hunting camp the other day and I recalled hearing a church leader use language that was out of this world wrong. I approached him and said that he should focus more on cleaning up his mouth. His reply was that it wasn't Sunday. My view was that all the work I tried to do to help reach those hunters for Christ was thrown down the toilet with his language.

Let's make sure our "paper" is in our machines when we talk about Christ.

The grass, tree, shrub, and rest of it

We were waiting for our daughter to call us from Africa yesterday and we decided to find a shade tree and sit in the truck and wait. We rolled the windows down and the telephone ranged and my wife and daughter started conversing. I looked out my window and let me share what I beheld. There was a small patch of grass beside our truck and in this grass was an oak tree that was about 7 inches in diameter. There was some type of "sticker" vine alongside some tall brown straw type grass. Then there was the usual small stuff growing. There was some weeds growing beside some kind of fruit tree.

All of this was in an area of about 6 feet by 6 feet patch. It is ironic that all of these different types of "plants, shrubs, trees" were growing beside each other. It is ironic because they all seem to be healthy and growing in good spirits.

Why can't we as Christians grow together? There are just way too many denominations in this world and we just can't seem to get it right. A Hindu man came up to my wife just yesterday and asked her what denomination we were in. He then said, "why are their so many denominations?" My wife just shrugged and said basically that man can't get along with each other.

So, here is my question for you my friends. Why can't we get along with each other?

We visited a family from El Salvador Sunday afternoon and had a great time of fellowship. They couldn't speak English and we couldn't speak Spanish. My phone did all the work(type in words and it translated it) for me. They haven't been to church in seven years and they started coming to our church. We are trying to reach them with limited vocabulary.

Let's just all get along.

The Saints are coming, the Saints are coming.

I am sitting in my local restaurant mainly because my wife is working today and we drove in together. Since it is 12:22 p.m., churches have let out and this place is filling up fast. Let me describe the room. There are a total of 34 individuals in this room.

3 are kids

17 are over 60

the rest are between the ages of 18 and 60

There are 5 people of color.

12 tables are being used by these 34 individuals

All of these people and not one group is talking to the other group. Everyone of these people are wearing "Sunday go to meeting" type clothes. (you guys know what i'm talking about, so don't ask). If we are going by clothes, then everyone of them went to church. How come if that is the case they are not talking to each other?

The reasons?

1: they don't know them

2: they are really eating their lunch and in a hurry

3: they don't have time

Oh, this is funny. Two more just walked in and walked back out. The line was way long and they chose not to wait.

Here are my thoughts.

Why can't these folks talk to each other? They go to church according to their clothes. I am watching them and as my kids would say I am staring at them. Why will they not speak to each other. Tables are so close, but yet, the people are so far from each other.

I am thinking out loud. When visitors come into our churches, who speaks to them?

Just asking...

The locked keys

In my soon to be 28 years of marriage I did something today that I have never done before. I walked out of my house and locked the door with my keys in the house. This was a first for me. I forgot to charge my cell phone last night and my battery had only 5% battery power. I called my wife at work and the first time I called the fax machine picked up. I called the second time and it was busy. I called the third time and I got the assistant manager. I asked for Debra. My phone said to "charge your phone" and then Debra answered. I explained my situation and said I really do need you to come let me in the house. Naturally she laughed.

I can give a bunch of analogies about this but I will just state the obvious facts. I messed up. It was all my fought. I should have placed my keys in my pockets the night before like I have done for the past 28 years. It was my fault. As a result of my fault, I had to get help from someone close to me.

Now the Christian part of this story. Today, some of you reading this will realize that you have messed up. My message to you today is that you call someone and ask for help. It may be hard, but you just might not make it without help.

Our faith with God is depending on God. We cannot make it without God. We need His help everyday. He really does love to hear from his kids who say, "hey Dad, I messed up. Can you help?"

The clothes of a Christian

I write this today not to stir up trouble but to point out a point. I was working today in my yard and to be more specific, on my boat. This is my 6th boat that I have owned, for I have given away my previous 5 boats. So, I was setting up the seats and replacing the wood in the back(transom) and doing the odds and ends. Well, it was in the high 70's and low 80's while I was working on this boat and I was hot. I was dirty, my hair was a fright. My arms were bloody from all the cuts and scratches. I was just a fright.

Now, here is my thing. I left the work to drive to Wal-mart to pick up something and while I was walking in, I noticed that I was filthy. So, I sat down on the bench in the Air Condition lobby and started assessing my situation. Do I continue my path to the isle to pick up my item or just walk back away and get in my truck and drive 15 miles to my house and clean up? So, while I was sitting down, I started observing the people of Wal-Mart. I was trying to figure out who were Christians by their clothes. You know something, I couldn't tell. So, it made me think about this. What if you had a church on the beach. Or rather, what if the Lord directed you on Sunday mornings to set up a tent on the beach for the vacationers to come in and have church? Would you allow them in their swimming attire? Would they be allowed to sit on the front row or the back row in their bathing suits? I recently read of a church that felt the Lord impressed them to do such a thing. Man, the response was great. Souls coming to church in bathing suits.

So, would you allow a person to come into your church with shorts and flip flops?

I wonder when Jesus was walking by the seaside talking with the brothers if he was wearing his Sunday go to meeting clothes or his regular everyday clothes?The clothes don't make us saved or not. The repentance of our heart does that.

Dresses or pants or long sleeves or dress shoes or tennis shoes or flip flops. The heart my friends, the heart.

Changing your Bait

I went fishing the other day and I must confess that I love to fish. I enjoy all types, but mainly, I enjoy bass fishing. Now, any good fisherman worth his weight in salt will not spill his beans on his lures he uses to catch his fish. However, I will share some insights on what happened yesterday while fishing with a relative.

I had my "favorite" lure attached to my favorite rod/reel combo. I was casting and casting and casting and absolutely nothing happened. Well my fishing partner was fishing with his favorite lure and he was catching them left and right. So, guess what I did? Nothing! I kept on using my favorite lure to no good.

Here is my point.

Sometimes we have to change to catch the fish we desire to catch. I had some people from El Salvador attend our restaurant church this past Sunday. I now have to learn Spanish. Now, you may say they need to learn English. Well, that is true and that would be nice. But, they told me they have been living in my town for 7 years and not one time have they been to church. 7 years with no church. Someone has to reach them for Christ. I think that I will start to learn Spanish.

I will change my bait.

What do you value?

I was recently watching a re-run of M*A*S*H the other night and something Hawkeye Pierce said struck a thought in my mind. We as Americans have lost our value system. Hawkeye was the attending Physician to a wounded soldier. This soldier was wounded in his knee. His dad was a General and was visiting him. The next day Hawkeye came into the Generals trailer and told him his son had died. The conversation that followed is amazing. The General asked Hawkeye if he had any children. Hawkeye said, "No, i'm not married."

There use to be a time when we all said that. Children were associated with people being married. A Man and Woman united and then the children were born. Today it is not that way. Our society is littered with people who desire to experiment with living together first and if we have kids, no worries. Our values have changed.

According to this website, http://www.fatherhood.org/media/consequences-of-father-absence-statistics 24 million children live without a Father in the house. This same website says that between 1989 and 1990 217,798 children were born and infants without a father's name on the birthday certificate were 2.3 times more likely to die the first year of life compared to infants with a father's name on a birth certificate.

It is not an acceptable lifestyle to live together.

It is not an acceptable lifestyle to have children out of marriage.

Now, you cannot change what has happened. However, you can surely change once you have opened your eyes and seen the truth. Hawkeye may have had a whiskey distill in his tent, but man, he sure told us what he valued.

The behind the counter worker

I am sitting in a local restaurant this morning writing this article. This particular restaurant is on the local highway which connects two small cities together. It is well traveled by “outsiders” who are passing by as well as the locals. Today is no exception to the crowd. There is a mixture of outsiders and locals dining in this morning.

I am sitting here trying to figure out which ones are Christians by their actions. I see five sets of tables being utilized by these various groups. One table, the elderly man asked one of the elderly women to pray over their food. Does this constitute them being Christians? I see a middle age man and woman eating their food and discussing God, but yet, they did not pray. Are they Christians? The others are just eating and not talking. So, who are the Christians?

One man is at the front counter now complaining about his order. Is this man a Christian? The worker at the counter is definitely not a Christian (her works before coming in prove that) and she is smiling at the young man as he is complaining. I wonder if she saw him praying over his food prior to walking up to the register to complain. I wonder if she is not a Christian because of this young man’s actions.

Two bicycle missionaries come walking in now. Are they Christians? They have their black pants, white shirt, ties, and their satchels as they order their food. I got distracted and couldn’t see if they prayed over their meal. Others around them are ignoring them with the exception of one table. They are “whispering” and laughing about them. Does that make them Christians because they are riding around on bicycles sharing their gospel? I wonder what would happen if other denominations rode around on bicycles? Would our community see that as being Christian?

A boisterous child comes running in now. His mother is scolding him for being so loud and unruly. Some of the tables are murmuring among themselves stating how they would handle the situation. The mother is frustrated in her attempts to get her child to calm down. He is still very active. She is saddened in her eating. Not one person went to her and spoke. Several murmured to their eating partners about the situation. Is that mother a Christian? I wonder if she saw the praying eaters talk about her.

The prayers got up and walked out the door. They left their trash on their table. The worker behind the counter saw this. She turned and talked to another worker and both workers stared at the table. The behind the counter worker walked over and cleaned the table off. No tip due to this being a fast food restaurant. Just a disgruntled worker who isn’t a Christian cleaning the trash from a table where people prayed over their food.

A nice couple walks in. They greet the behind the counter worker with a smile and “how you doing?” She smiled back and said she is fine. They give the order and politely say thank you to the behind the counter worker. They walk by some other eaters and smile and speak. They sit down and join hands and say a small prayer thanking God for their meal. They talk some small talk and just as quick as they sat down, they were standing up. They clean up their mess. They walk up to the counter and ask the young lady at the counter for a rag. The behind the counter worker asks why. The young couple said they spilled some coke and they would like to clean it off. The behind the counter worker smiled and said she would clean it off. She walks over to the table and cleans the spill. The young couple waits with her and apologizes for their error. They share pleasantries with each other and depart. The behind the counter worker walks back and goes to fellow worker and talks. They both look over toward the table and smile.

I wondered if the behind the counter worker saw Christ today in the restaurant? Another group of travelers are arriving in now. In fact these are very intriguing to me. One is a set of women who are wearing long dresses, no make-up, and their hair all standing very tall. The other is a group of teenagers wearing tee shirts that has some sort of biblical connotation writing on it. They are in a “church” van. One of the tee shirts kids walks up to order. This young person is a teenager of color. One of the long dresses and long hair and no make-up look at the teenager and…

The cycle starts over again with this behind the counter worker.

Why churches should have "color"

Our society is filled with all kinds of woes. People are losing jobs on a daily attitude. Just today, I was told of a 40 something year old man that lost his job due to lack of business. He has worked in the same field for 24 years. This is heart wrenching for this man and his family. What will he do?

Television is making a mockery of what normal families should be like. Hollywood is showing the world that Christ isn't that important. Fill all of this with schools acting like idiots and you then have to look at our churches.

Drive by any normal typical church and look at the racial atmosphere of the churches. Why are churches, both white and black afraid to have people of color sitting in the same congregation? We can go to any restaurant in America and work with any race, but for whatever reason, we cannot worship the same God together. Why?

It saddens me to know that we have people who will openly say that they will not sit in the same church with someone who is a different color than them and be happy for saying such things.

My idea of a true heaven is anyone who is saved (born again). Not only the ?'s and the ?'s

If you have asked Christ in your heart, then you are it my friend.

So, I ask again, why can't churches have people of different color worship together? Because they don't want to do such a thing is the nice way to say it. I am more concerned about our young people today. Will they grow up to act the same way?

Look at your church my friend and ask a simple question. If someone of a different color walked in, would their be gasps and aw or would their be "welcome?"

The devastation of sin

We are all guilty of committing sins that are outlandish in nature. We are all guilty of doing things that we painfully regret. It is not why we do such acts, but how we feel when we do such acts.

I will not take time to quote scriptures in this blog, but instead just paraphrase such scriptures. We all know the story of how Peter denied Christ three times. We all know how his boldness made him stand out and say he would never. Well, how did he feel after the third time and he heard the rooster crow? He was utterly miserable. The Bible says he wept. He was miserable and since none of us was around, we cannot for certain actually say how he felt. I think I know how he felt by what Christ said. Do you recall when Christ told the followers to go and tell the disciples and Peter where he would be waiting? Christ knew that Peter was hurting or more importantly, suffering from his denial. Peter was afraid and in the moment of fear he gave in to his sin. His denial was more than he could stand. Sin may look pretty for a moment, but in reality, it is so ugly that it destroys not only your life but your way of thinking. You cannot focus on doing what is right when you have the devastation of sin in your life.

Take someone who is running from the law. They can never sleep at night in peace. They are always looking over their shoulder and they can never trust anyone. The devastation of sin is the same. We are always wondering what will be the outcome of such action. Even when Christ is walking with us, we at times take our mind off of Him and we succumb to the temptation of sin. The consequences of such actions lead us to live in regret and misery. However, we must establish ourselves to the point that when we accept the action that comes from our actions, we can go on and walk with Him again. I saw a little boy fall down the other day. Man, he cut his knee and he was screaming in pain. However, his mother made him stand up. She made him after a few moments of mothers love toward him continue walking. Sin is devastating, but let's keep walking. You will make a mistake. That is certain. Just don't stay down in that pit when you make such mistakes.

Tests in High School is a waste of time

The minimum school days in Alabama is 180 days according to this website that was accessed on January 14, 2012 ( http://teaching.about.com/od/ProfilesInEducation/a/Alabama-Schools.htm ). Let us do some math and we can show just by doing math that taking tests will use up valuable time in our schools that could be used for more study.

Let's say for talking purposes that you have 7 periods each day. For argument sake, you have tests each Friday. If you have 7 periods a day, you in essence meet 180 times minimum for each subject. Let's do some subtraction.

The average school will lose one day per school year for Homecoming activities, Christmas parties, some kind of assembly or field trip. Just those days will add up to at least 5 days. That now leaves you with 175 days.

Some more subtraction. Tests on Fridays will subtract 36 days of study time to write answers down. You have now lost 36 days plus 5 days plus an additional 3 days for unforeseen circumstances. That is a grand total of 44 days. That gives you now only 136 days of school learning.

Here is my proposal to offset such waste of time. Throw away the idea or notion that you have to test everything you teach. That is totally ludicrous and it is almost barbaric to keep this tradition going. Here is another alternative for tests. According to Lynn Jacobs and Jeremy Hyman from http://www.delaneykirk.com/2008/10/how-to-take-goo.html, taking notes for yourself is the single best way to engage in and remember the lecture.

The key to this is remembering the lecture. The idea is for our students to remember what was taught to them. Therefore, grade the notebook and see if they are taking notes. The idea that you have to test the student to see if they remember the material is asinine. What if that student had problems in the car before attending school? What if they had problems with parents, or siblings and their mind just isn't into the test? A student studies all week and then has one bad day and gets a bad grade and we label them by the test.

Throw away the tests and grade the notebooks.

Alternate lifestyles are kind of wrong

It is not ok to live a lifestyle that is separate from God. You deceive yourself when you think that because you attend church or throw a few pennies in the offering plate, you are committed to Christ. It is sad or sickening; depends on which way you want to flow with this for people to parade around the world claiming their relationship with Christ is solid when in fact they are far from Him. There is forgiveness for all sins. However, you must come out from among the dead and start living with the living. What you use to be when you were in sin should change when you come into Christ. When a man marries a woman, he doesn't continue to see his past girlfriends. Our relationship with sin should be the same way. When we come into Christ, we should try and walk the way that Christ walked.

Do you recall the story when the rich ruler came to Him and wanted to serve Him? Christ told him to honor the commandments. The rich ruler said, "great, I am doing these." (paraphrasing) and then Christ told him to sell all he had to give to the poor. The man walked away from Christ due to this. HE HAD HONORED THE COMMANDMENTS but gave up God because of a little money. Sad!

Now, we live in a world that says Homosexuality is acceptable. In spite of the growing secular humanist trend to think "it's ok to be gay," it's not a righteous lifestyle. Most vocal Christians are not homophobic, but are trying to share Christ's love for homosexuals and trying to keep them from horrific judgment. (http://www.allaboutgod.com/is-homosexuality-a-sin.htm)

Our world is littered with people who claim to be something their not because they honestly don't want to change their lifestyle. It is not McDonald's fault when a person is overweight. It is not Marlboro's fault when a person gets cancer from smoking. It is not the local car wash problem if your car is still dirty. You were born into sin for the Word teaches us that. However, once you know the difference, then you choose to continue that lifestyle is your choice. God created us in His image and if you think for one second that God was a ? because you are one, then you are mistaken my friend. You are a ? because you desire to be a ?

Now, on the day of judgment and I am not your judge. I will stand before my Father for my actions, but let's be clear on this. Christ loves you and he desires you to change. You can change if you want to change, or you can continue to live the same way. Judas went to church for three years with Christ and you know what happened to him. Change my friend, change.

Our Blood is the same color

The color of skin has caused many problems over our lifetime and I suppose it will continue to serve as a serious issue unless we come to terms with this remarkable opportunity to show love. Charles Manson wanted to create a race war and he would come to be the savior of this tragedy. Churches today are fighting over people of color worshiping together. True story. We wanted to have a kids crusade on a certain street in a certain town. I went to the local authority (mayor) and got permission. I didn't have to do such a thing, but I chose to inform him of my actions in case we had cars lined up watching the crusade, due to it being an outside event. This particular city leader told me that in no way any "coloreds" would attend his church. I will not bore you with my comments to him about how Christ died for all and we are all His kids, etc.

There is a time that we will all stand before a Jewish looking Christ one day my friends. White, blacks, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Africans, and the list goes on. The only thing that will matter will be what He says to us. I asked this question many years ago and I ask this same question in 2012. Can a person be a Christian if they hate someone due to the color of their skin? The answer back then is the same as today. No. If you hate your fellow man due to the color of their skin, then you cannot live for eternity in heaven.

I am in Wendy's restaurant right now. Across from me is a young man who has a Black father and a white mother. According to some churches, he is not welcomed. Why? What did he do to be born the way he is?

My wife and I went to a tent revival many, many years ago. We were sitting behind the pillar of the church when all of a sudden she gasped and said "oh my God!" I thought she was having a heart attack. I asked her what was wrong? She replied and I quote her. "Look over there." I looked over there and three elderly Black women were sitting under the tent. They came to hear the Word of God being preached. I am no man's judge, but I ask the question. Is this pillar in heaven or not? We will know a tree my friends...

The dignity of death

Death is inevitable in our lives. We will all face the "reaper" one day. We can run and hide from the law, i.e. D.B. Cooper, but in the end, Death will find us. I will not waste your time by telling you that your heart should be right with God when you take that final breath. Man, the consequences of not being right with God will be painful. This post isn't about that. This post is about the people who fail to live the word dignity in their visits.

Someone who is dying doesn't need undignified guests. Do you know what that means? There are many individuals who come and visit and they visit for the right reason. However, is that reason right? The average person doesn't know the real answer. The real reason is that they come to "gaulk" at the individual. That person is slumped over in the bed/chair. Their countenance is lacking human viewing. Their speech is lacking clarity. Their handshake is weak. Their pleasantry is changed to groaning.

Then here we come and we stare at them and say the normal "bless their heart" statements. If you are visiting the deathbed of a friend and you desire to help, then visit away. If you come to rob them of their dignity by gaulking at them, then stay away. That person deserves better respect than what we give them. The only difference between them and you is that they know they are about to depart soon and you think you are not. Look them in the eye and treat them with respect for they are still the same person they were before death became their life. Give them the dignity they have earned prior to death coming to their doorpost. Look them in the eye and love them for this could be the last day you love them on earth. Now, you come to their doorpost to bring your "i'm so sorry" statements when you never darted the doors while they were alive and full of dreams. That is so hypocritical my friend. Try this today. Find that person that you use to be friends with and try to start again. Don't let death bring you closer to someone that you should have been closed to in the beginning.