compassion or condemnation?

in the book of matthew, chapter 9, we see Jesus looking at the crowds out of jerusalem and the Bible says that He was moved with compassion, because they were like "sheep without a shepherd." i recently went on a trip to the decadent city of new orleans, one of many that i have made in my lifetime, and was dismayed to learn that despite recent hurricane activity, the city was still as evil as ever. however, i was able to make a trip down to the french quarter and even on bourbon street (gasp)! while some may find this disturbing, i invite them to remember the people that Jesus associated with were anything but upstanding members of their local church. during the course of the night, i did not drink anything stronger than pepsi (dr. pepper was hard to find there and sweet tea was even harder, and i thought it was a southern city!) and struck up conversations with quite a few people there on the street and was able to share Christ with them. at one point, i was relaxing in the jacuzzi in the hotel courtyard after a physical training session and a couple came over and we started making the usual small-talk, where everyone was from, why we were there, etc. i was surprised to learn that they lived only a couple of miles from the hotel and they also worked in french quarter on bourbon street in one of the topless bars. he was the dj, and she was the bartender. i was able to have a very meaningful conversation with them about Christ and what the Bible said about their relationship and a variety of other things. i ended up getting to see them again before i left and was able to talk some more with them about salvation. what struck me as odd was that this couple lived in the south, where there is a church in practically every square mile of every city and town, and had never heard the gospel. this is a reproach on the church. we had the same problem in seminary. we began to learn that there were people who lived only a few hundred yards of the seminary that had never heard the gospel. all of them had heard about Jesus, but never about sin and the separation it created between God and us and the need for a Saviour! i'm sure that this can be said about countless churches throughout our country and the world today. so where are we going wrong?

i believe the first place we have missed the mark is in our view of the lost. notice that Jesus was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd. not because they were sick, or poor, or destitute, or repressed. He hurt because they had no idea of the fate that awaited them, and they had no hope without Him. we as a church collectively have made great strides over the last few years in getting the gospel out. however, i believe we are still missing the mark. here is the lithmus test: when you go out on missions, are you going because you feel like you need to, or are you going because you truly hurt for those you are ministering to? when you give your money to missions, are you giving out of obligation or guilt, or are you giving because you lose sleep at night thinking about those who die each day and go to an eternal hell?

the second place we have missed the mark is in our view of the sinner. we seem to think, again as a church collectively, that we are better than those out there who don't go to church and who participate in sinful activities. we condemningly refer to them as drunkards, homosexuals, abortionists, drug addicts, etc. nowhere in the Bible are we listed as qualified to judge the sinner. we are told to judge each other as Christians and to hold each other accountable, but the only person qualified to judge the sinner is Christ, and the Bible says that He will one day. the reason we are not qualified to judge them, is because we are in the same boat they are. the only difference is that we have had our penalty paid for our sin. that makes us no less sinners as it does the homosexual or the child molester or the murderer. if we break part of the law, then we are guilty of the whole of the law. we are all lawbreakers. the next time you think that you are better than those "sinners" around you, try and go a day without sinning. good luck. however, if you can accept the fact that we are just as depraved and deserving of the same punishment as everyone else, then you can get past your self-righteousness and go into the less-than-desirable places and reach out to others who are lost just as you were once. there is a group of ladies that go into the strip clubs and witness to the dancers there to teach them about the glory of their created bodies and to show them a better way than exploiting themselves.

i must say, that i am guilty of this very thing. i tend to think of it in terms of "us and them." however, this past week in new orleans reminded me that the place we are going to find the lost is not in our churches. so instead of hiding our light under the bushel of the church, we need to carry it out into the darkest places of our worlds, however big or small, comfortable or not, and let it shine brightly. a lost sinner is far more likely to respect someone who comes into their world to reach out a hand, rather than standing in the church doors pointing at the cross on their steeple. a good friend of mine told me something a while back that changed my whole perspective on missions: expect lost people to act like lost people. (thanks jason!) only when we can stop looking down our noses at those participating in activities that we find reprehensible, only then can we be truly effective witnesses for our Saviour! remember, there but for the grace of God go we! aei pistos!
-C.

talkin bout my generation

we are failing. the price is going to be great, perhaps more than we are willing to bear. what are we failing? we are failing our kids. our youth are being thrown to the wolves with no weapons with which to defend themselves. what wolves? the wolves of the secular society. we are becoming a society that is increasingly less godly and more secular humanistic.

what are we doing to combat this? the same thing we have done since the 1950s. and we stand back with our chests puffed out and rest on our "blessed assurance" thinking that we are preparing them for the world. after all, we send them to church, and to youth camps, and teach them to have a "quiet time". the problem is, it's not working. let me say that again, it's not working!

why isn't it working? because we have dumbed down kids and give them fluffed up Bible stories that are so shallow they make a bathtub look deep. the Bible says to "train up a child in the way he should go." it does not say to tell them a bunch of stories with morals to them. those are called fables people. aesop has some very good ones. and consequently, when our youth stand before a humanistic professor demanding to hear proof in the existence of God or that the Bible is true, all they can do is spout Bible stories.

we teach kids to compartmentalize their lives, where church and God fits in one, school fits in another, family fits in another, etc. or to "prioritize" their lives. you know, God first, family second, school third, etc. these are both flawed ways of thinking. we should teach them that Christ permeates and should be the center of all we do, not sitting at the top of our priority list. when we do that, He is excluded from the other areas of our life.

we are even failing in our so-called Christian schools. they come out with an education that is comparable to a public school, but with a Christian spin on things, and they have no depth, no change in thinking, no worldview perspective. just a trumped up religious private school education, where we can all feel good about ourselves and say "i sent my kid to Christian school!" in the end, it's all about appearances and feelings.

make no mistake, unless we abandon the kumbaya mentality of the 1950s and start preparing kids to face the challenges of today's intellectual and secular society, our churches will dwindle. the numbers of professing Christians will diminish. and it may just be a precursor to the prophecy in the New Testament concerning the many that will leave the faith. the book of James is very specific. those who teach will be held to a stricter judgment. that goes not only for pastors and youth pastors, it also goes for parents, teachers, grandparents. i think i may have to go and cover up my mirror, because the finger i'm pointing ends up pointing back at me.

can your mirror remain uncovered?

socialism, nostradamus, and asteroids

in case anyone was paying attention, an asteroid the size of a 10 story building buzzed past earth, missing us by only 40,000 miles the other day. while this may seem like a long way off, it is only 1/7 of the way to the moon, and only 2x as high as our highest satellite. if it would have hit the earth, scientists predict it would have been the equivalent of a large nuclear blast. what's even more interesting is that it is within the earth's orbit, which means we will have plenty of near misses from this thing in the future.

also, if you are into that sort of thing, the mayan calendar runs out in the year 2012. why is this significant, you ask? well, up until now, the mayan calendar has been the most accurate of any calendar ever devised by man, partly due to the mayan's advanced astronomy. many believe that the mayans believed this date to be the end of time. nostradamus, while normally a quack, has had some interesting predictions that make eyebrows raise in terms of how accurate they are, and he states that we will have a major celestial upheaval in our solar system when our sun travels through a cosmic disturbance, producing three different eclipses in the same day. interesting.

then there's obama. our immensely popular president, seemingly loved by all worldwide. he is ushering in a new era of socialism in our country. a totalitarian regime where the government owns all and controls all, including our finances. one major economist is predicting that the u.s. economy will collapse by 2012, due to the over-spending of our government.

interesting stuff. the Bible says that no man will know when Christ will return, and people have been predicting it ever since the disciples' time. however, the year 2012 seems to possibly have some major omens attached to it. what if there were only 3 years left on earth? how would you spend them? what changes, if any, would you make to your life knowing that you would stand face to face with the Creator, the Christ, to account for your life? make no mistake, every day we are living on borrowed time. what will you say when you are asked to give a report of how you spent and invested the time that was entrusted to you?

sleep well, friends. for tomorrow may not come for many or all.

i'm dreaming of a "Christ" Christmas

how many "shopping days" are left till Christmas? my response? who cares! every year i rant and rave about the commercialism of Christmas, and this year, i have really been tested on my sincerity. i heard it said once that a person often speaks loudest against the thing that they do not want people to know about themselves. while that may be true in many instances, it made me stop and look at myself. i realized that while watching an old classic at my job at blockbuster. what classic, you ask? why "a charlie brown Christmas", of course! in it, charlie is fed up with the commercial "racket" that Christmas has become. and in exasperation, he throws up his hands and asks if anyone can tell him the true meaning of Christmas. there sits linus, trust blanket in hand, and tells charlie that he knows the true meaning of Christmas and proceeds to quote from Luke 2 the very familiar passage of the shepherds and the birth of the Christ-child.

now, it must be noted that it did not hit me until later, that i am a hypocrite. this year has been a particularly tough Christmas financially for my familiy. we have struggled to buy presents for the boys, and have opted out of buying gifts for each other so that we can provide Christmas for them. well, one particular day i was throwing a pity party for myself, complete with music, over our financial situation and it not seeming like Christmas because we weren't hanging out at the malls (too much temptation to spend money we don't have) and being so busy we didn't have time to put the tree up as a family, i went to work begrudgingly in a meager attempt to keep our family afloat financially. while there, the aforementioned movie was on, and i found myself halfway paying attention to it while attending to the duties of my job. the movie went off, was replaced by another, which carried us to quitting time. this morning, i awoke and had to, rather got to spend the day with my sick 4 year old. we had a great time, putting up the tree, and watching a movie and building a train set. that's when it hit me. i had fallen victim to advertising brainwash! while it may have been on the subconscious level, it was still there, none the less. i was thinking Christmas was about buying, decorating, and carols. while these are not bad things in and of themselves, they become idols when they take our affections off of our Saviour! my Christmas idol was set up in my mind, and left me empty. i then turned back to Christ and asked for forgiveness and vowed in my mind to make this year's Christmas the best one yet, even if i don't receive a single gift!

what is your idol this Christmas? what are you looking for to make this a perfect Christmas? are you looking for snow? i just spent the weekend in rochester, ny with the marines of alpha company, and there was snow. it was nice, and i found myself dreaming of a white Christmas. are you banking on getting or receiving that perfect gift? is it dreams of the american nostalgic Christmas complete with parties, dinners, and caroling filling your mind? is it the decorating and enjoyment of the lights filling the neighborhood lawns? or maybe it is something a little more religious. is it the Christmas cantada at your church? or the Christmas eve mass or service? is it december 25th, the day itself? what happens when it is over? i always used to love the "spirit" in the air in the weeks leading up to Christmas morning, and then it was over, and i was left feeling empty and disappointed in the days following. the newness of "stuff" wore off and it became something else to pick up while cleaning my room.

this year, my prayer for myself and my family is that in our time of want, maybe we can focus a little more on the true meaning of Christmas: Emmanuel. God with us. Christ laying His glory aside to become a human being to live and die for us, so that we might have the ultimate gift of all: eternal life with Him in Heaven!

jim jones jungle juice anyone?

on a morbid, but interesting note: tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the jim jones massacre that took place in guana. for those of you not familiar with the story, jim jones was a pastor-turned-cult-leader that led a group of some 400 followers to the jungles of guana where he convinced them to take place in a ritual murder-suicide. those who refused or survived were chased down and shot by his "temple guards". they were told that guana was to be the promised land, but when they arrived, they found a place that was far from paradise, but were told they could not leave. these were intelligent people, too. they were not some kooks with iq's of 50. they were bankers, lawyers, company presidents, men, women, and children. jim jones was so convincing that he even met with president jimmy carter at one point. (and given president carter's latest meetings, it now comes as no surprise!) what happened? how could one man, lead so many seemingly intelligent people astray?

the Bible is very clear about those whom God places in positions of leadership. He says in the book of James, that leaders will be held to a far stricter judgment. Jesus said that if a person was to lead a "little one" astray, it would be better for a large stone to be tied to that person's neck and cast into the sea. God takes the role of pastor very seriously.

however, as we have seen throughout history, whenever a person who is in leadership goes astray, the results are usually catastrophic, whether that be in a church, an organization, or a country. a historian made the observation that every leader in history who was prideful, and claimed to have the answers to problems, ultimately led their followers to ruin (hitler, nero, napolean, etc.) that is one of the things that scared me about the past election. neither candidate had a sense of humility about them, but rather both were very adamant in their claims to have the answers to america's problems. it is said that pride goes before a fall, and i worry about the fall to come.

however, no other place do we see disasterous results of leadership gone awry than we do in the pastorate. wars have started because of divisions within the body of Christ. the name of Christ has been blasphemed among the people because of haughty preachers, building their towers of babel just to climb to the top and come crashing down in glorious spectacle in front of every news camera in the world. whenever a preacher starts to rely on himself and not on God, then we see destruction awaiting ahead, and the enemy blinding the eyes so as to not see the warning signs. the apostle paul said that if anyone, be it man or angel, preaches a different gospel than the one he taught, then let that man or angel be cursed. i look around, and i see many preachers that would be listed as cursed in paul's opinion.

i take this very seriously, as i am currently awaiting where God will call me, along with my famliy, to serve Him. the idea of being that leader who leads to destruction, literally frightens me to no end. and so, i have resolved that no matter where i go, or what i do, i will do my best to seek his face. i try and always remember that i am nothing special. there is no difference between me and the person sitting in the pew. we are both called to serve and to minister. the only difference is in the expectations. my standard is higher. whenever we as pastors tend to think to highly of ourselves, or of our wisdom, let us remember jim jones and the legacy he left. it is said that "there but for the grace of God, go I". that is very true. we all have the capacity in us to be a jim jones, because of our sinful nature. let us stay subject to God and His laws, and always rely on His wisdom, not ours!

falling away

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron
1 Tim 4:1-2 (NASB)

i know it has been a while since i posted, so i thought that i would spend some time and comment on the latest goings-on in our great u.s. of a. as a Christian, i have often wondered about what paul said in 1 Tim. 4:1-2 (see above) about many falling away from the faith. many times, i find myself with a bit of arrogance like peter, saying i would never fall away. moreover, it completely perplexes me how anyone could follow the beast that is mentioned in Revelation. however, in light of the recent election, it has become more apparent to me of the superficiality of many professing Christians.

when we read the Bible, we can see throughout time how God's children always seem to turn their back on Him and follow other gods whenever things did not seem to be going their way. we can see it in the wilderness with the israelites making the golden calf. we can see it when the israelites were exiled to babylon and many of them bowing down to baal or to nebuchadnezzar. in Jesus' time, we see His own disciples fleeing at His arrest. it seems the Bible is full of people running when things get tough. why should today be any different?

in the recent election, we saw americans come out to cast their votes for their candidate. i realized by talking to many professing Christians how easy it is for those who say that they love Christ to "fall away". the choice between the two main candidates seemed to be an easy one for those who professed to believe God's Word. one candidate was in opposition to the widespread slaughtering of innocent babies through the means of abortion, and one candidate was not only in favor of abortion, but also the reprehensible practice of partial birth abortion as well as letting a baby who survived an abortion die in the delivery room by denying him/her care. one candidate was in favor of limiting marriage to be between one man and one woman, another candidate not only favored taking away states' rights to make their own legislation concerning marriage definitions, but also favored federal legislation legalizing gay marriage as well as a new hate speech law making it illegal to say anything negative about homosexuality. while these two items by themselves should be enough for any Christian to make a well-informed, biblical decision, thousands upon thousands of professing Bible-believing Christians voted for the pro-abortion, pro-homosexuality candidate.

why would they do this? two main reasons can be noted. one, was his skin color. a large majority of the black vote went to obama simply because he was black. while it is also true that a lot of white voters did NOT vote for him because he was black, who is to say which form or racism is worst? the second reason, as many have noted, was the condition of the economy. they looked to obama to rescue them from their financial woes as some sort of pseudo-financial savior. excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but since when do we look to the government for our provision and for our financial stability? i thought God was our supply. i thought that the Bible said that our GOD shall supply all our needs? could this mean that those that voted for obama to fix the economy are looking to him to supply their needs?

this nails home one of the biggest reasons that those in Revelation will support the beast: he will hit them where their hearts are, their pocketbooks. it says very clearly that no man may buy or sell unless he receives the mark of the beast. this is why many will fall away. their precious money will be gone. it rings true, the love of money is the root of all evil. for money, many threw away any sense of loyalty to biblical teaching. please do not get me wrong. i am not saying that obama is the anti-Christ, as many have been. i say that the recent events are evidence supporting that the events in Revelation and 1 Timothy could actually happen.

so what are we as Christians to do? my pastor said it best the sunday before the election. we are to pray for our new president, and we are to yield to his authority as being given by God. the israelites wanted a king, even though they were warned what it would be like, so God gave them saul. maybe He has given america obama, because they thought that was what they wanted. when the apostle paul wrote about supporting the government, nero was caesar of the roman empire. this same nero was responsible for the widespread torture, persecution, and torture of Christians during that time. yet paul was saying that he was to be supported! if that was the case then, it is surely the case now, no matter whether we agree with our new leader or not. God knows the heart, and God can change the heart. so we must pray. we must lift our new president up on a daily basis to make decisions based on what God wants. finally, obama will answer to God one day for his sins, as we know from james that those who lead are held to a stricter judgment. at the same time, we will give an account to God on our obedience to His Word as well. "choose this day america, whom you will serve. as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"

and thus ends my diatribe on the election.

a midnight prayer . . .

my cries in the night seem to fall on deaf ears. God, are you there? are You listening? i know You must be. your Word promises that You are. but day by day goes by without answers. the more i try and listen, the louder life becomes. the thorns are surrounding me, choking and tearing me, stealing my source of sustainment. the sun is not a comfort. it is a thing to fear, in a dry and thirsty land.

man overboard. i am bobbing in the waves, watching the ship as it seems to sail away, leaving me adrift. but i'm a good swimmer. i can tread water. i have mastered the survival float. the irony of being destroyed by the very element that is needed for life is a daily reality. just floating, waiting for a lifeline. wondering what lies beneath the water, waiting for the chance to pull me under.

i am the shepherd of my home. i have been given the task of guiding them. protecting them. but protecting them from whom? from the world? from hunger? from the wilderness? from me? i will protect them, if it takes my last breath. i must press on. i must continue to look for safe pastures. failure is not an option.

the enemy surrounds me on all sides, licking his lips, savoring the taste of my downfall. will You continue to protect me? my family? yes, i know You will. You are faithful, when even we are not. as i walk through strange lands, with no map or knowledge of the territory, will You be my guide? the roads are strange, new to me. they are dark, i cannot see down them. where do they lead? which is a road, and which is a dead end? which one do i dare venture down? if i take the wrong one, will i be able to regress?

and so i cry. my tears form trails on my aging face, cascading to a salty end at the corners of my mouth. i look to the heavens, but right now, all i see is the cold, white ceiling. please allow the scales to fall from my eyes to see Your face. i seek You. not money, not renown, not comfort. only You. your wisdom is a treasure, buried deep, waiting to be discovered. will You reveal it to me? i know You are listening. i know You are calling. turn down the noise of life, so that my ears may clearly hear you. i need You.