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Here is some Gospel for you. This one is Candi Stanton singing her brand of soulful Gospel and praise. Yea sister thats what I need to hear in my times of trouble "Haleluja Anyway". "You may not feel like it but say Haleluja Anyway" "Praise Him until your situtations turns around, lift your voice and say "Haleluja Anyway".
Well the recent violence in Norway is just another in a long line of violent events that the world has seen throughout history. In reading the comments that come after many of the on-line news stories of this event I see that people are always trying to link the guy Anders Behring Breivik to some group. I guess they do this because they want to have some understanding and with that some ways to control or predict this in the future and maybe prevent it. Some of the people commenting latched on to the fact that he claimed to be Christian and the people claimed religious extremists are always the ones doing this stuff. But we don’t have to look far to find people doing the same thing who are not religious at all such as Timothy McVeigh who said science was his religion (an Atheist), or Jared Lee Loughner who appeared to have no belief in God at all. Other claimed it was people with the right wing point of view that Breivik had that breeds this violence. But one of the people that knew Jared Lee Loughner in high school said “As I knew him he was left wing, and quite liberal.” Some of the news agencies quickly claimed that the event must have been done by Islamic terrorist, before they learned the suspect was Norwegian. And of course this event does not play into the theory that the racist guy that comments on my blog, has that paints black people as the ones who we are to fear.
This kind of thinking just plain lacks logic. Well Breivik is a 32 year old man so we should fear all 32 year old men. No that’s not it, but he is a white Norwegian so we should fear all Norwegians. Nope that won’t work. He is Christian so we should label religion as dangerous in spite of the majority of people of faiths throughout the world that love, do good, and are peaceful. You see no matter what group we try to blame there are none that are responsible as a group. It is just misguided individuals from different races, beliefs, or ideals. Crazy comes in all flavors.
The one thing that they all have in common is an intolerance of people who look different, or think differently than themselves, and often not just intolerance but a fear. What is sad and ironic is that the people who are looking to link these violent acts to a certain group of people are thinking and judging a group of people with a broad brush of fear and mistrust and going down the same illogical thought path of intolerance and fear that often brought about the violence. This kind of judgment of others is based in PRIDE. Thinking somehow that you and your group of people are above this other group and somehow immune to this pattern of violence. But in reality this is just the kind of thought that leads us down these paths of hate, and fear and doing it and talking about it causes other to do it and eventually we have some crazy person who listened to our hate and fear rhetoric and takes it to the next level of striking out in violence against the perceived fear. Or in some cases a mob yelling hang him or crucify Him. I just saw a story of a fire bomb at an abortion clinic, and commenters are saying things like "makes me want to go burn a church". Yea that makes perfect sense.
Once we get to a place where we are controlled by fear we no longer are really in control at all. Scientific studies have shown that when fear comes into our thoughts the ability to reason leaves. We become controlled by more primitive survival parts of our brain. When I read the messages of the racist who comes to my blog, he can’t even debate with logic. He says things like “Fear not @ssh0!3” and tells me the bible say to not be afraid more than 50 times, and then in the same sentence he tells me to be afraid of all black people. Yea, that makes perfect sense. You see the bible says about those who choose to turn away from the light that is God and go toward the dark “in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness.” And it say in the last days there will be those who are “ giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.” So you see you can go to a point where you conscience is no longer in operation, and you don’t even see that what you do is wrong. So it is no surprise that when I write this stuff I attract this nonsense. The bible says it will be this way.
Fear has often been used by leaders to control the people, because it makes people unable to think clearly. They will often pick a certain group and use misinformation to vilify a group and then use fear to motivate the people to take action against them. Pretty soon they don’t even know that what they are doing is wrong, because they have no operational conscience. This is called a broken moral compass.
The problem is it starts off with pride, and then judgment of someone different, and then fear, and down the slippery slope to not even knowing how wrong we are in our prejudice of a certain group. And in the end we focus on our differences instead of our human similarity. I said this before “Looking for similarity not difference is the way to get along.” and that statement brought about a message full of name calling and profanity. Yep that seems level headed and logical. See what I mean?
I guess that is why Jesus said Fear Not. You can see in the example of Jesus that He did not fall for the segregation, hate and fear against groups of people that were part of His time. In his day it was the Samaritans, and women that were scorned and looked down upon, but Jesus went out of his way to travel through where Samaritans lived so He could talk to a Samaritan woman at a well and reveal to her who He was.
She was surprised that he would talk to her because she recognized that He was a Jew and she knew Jews did not talk to her kind. In John 4:9 she said “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. The result when Jesus crossed this social line of bigotry was He created the first woman evangelist, who shared with the others in her town about Jesus the guy who “read her mail” and about Him being the Messiah. You see Jesus was not about intolerance of others He was inclusive not exclusive. He was not about hate, He was about love. He was not about judgment of others, he was about grace, and forgiveness. And He and anyone that truly follows Him are not about violence, because he taught us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek. When the woman encountered this love that did not look down on her kind she ran to tell the people of the city. John 4:29, she said “Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” And I today say the same thing to you COME SEE, and that is for ALL people not just the ones who look like me or think like me. Come and SEE, could He be who He claims to be?
Jesus and the disciples condoned slavery and I’m thankful! (AZ are you crazy?) A recent comment placed on an inappropriate post (Fortune Teller Part two) because it has nothing to do with the subject matter said this. The children of slaves were innocent. They suffered due to the scripture regarding slavery in the Bible. This can not be denied. Did Jesus condemn the institution of slavery? He certainly didn't. His followers used language which gave tacit approval to it: Ephesians 6:5-9: Colossians 4:1: 1 Timothy 6:1-3 Does all morality stem from the Bible? No, secular society has outlawed slavery. Is the Bible literally true? If so, Ephesians 6:5-9: is the perfect justification for slavery. We now believe slavery to be unequivocally evil. Any Christian church will tell you that. Maybe slaveholders weren't really Christians? Is there vague language in the Bible which will "prove" my assertions untrue? He most likely does not want a real answer and just wants an argument, but because he at least did not engage in personal attack as he did before (I’m somewhat certain it is the same guy) I will humor him and try to answer the best way I can. After all maybe he will someday understand. And God is not willing that any should perish. So one more try.
Did Jesus Christ and his disciples condone slavery? Yes, they did, and we must be thankful for it! Thankful? Huh? Did I just say that? I must be out of my mind, right? Actually, I would be out of my mind not to be thankful. What? Well keep reading and see why.
One of the greatest apostles of Jesus was Paul, who had this to say to slaves and their masters: "Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to Christ; not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatever good thing each one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is bound or free. You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him." (Ephesians 6:5-9, WEB) (Please note: "Servants" in this passage means "slaves," or “bondservants” as some Bible translations have it.)
Regarding slavery, here is what Jesus said: "If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people." (Matthew 20:26-28, CEV) "Whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else." (Mark 10:44, NLT)
The slavery Jesus and Paul spoke of is a very different type of slavery than we know. The slavery they condoned is serving people with absolute selfless love, regardless what positions we are in: doctors, teachers, employers and employees, parents and children, and yes in that time bond servants, and masters. Jesus taught that the two most important commandments are number one, love God, and second, love others as you love yourself: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31, ASV) Jesus never condoned the cruel and ruthless slavery that humans have brought upon one another, because if you love others as you love yourself you would never be a ruthless cruel slave master. It seems so obvious doesn’t it.
Now on to slavery as our western mind or perspective knows it or thinks of it. In the Old Testament, God did permit slavery for Israelites, but that slavery was also very different than the horrible treatment of slaves we know from the slavery of blacks in America. For example, God ordered male slaves to be set free after six years of service; but if the slaves loved their masters and didn't want freedom, the masters could have them for life. If girls were sold as slaves, the masters should care for them as wives; the masters should treat them as daughters if they married their sons. The penalty for kidnapping and selling people would be DEATH. (Exodus 21) On Hebrew slavery Leviticus 25:35-43 says this ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.’ Notice that the sole motive for allowing ‘slavery’ is actually humanitarian so the poor can continue in the land, and that it is NEVER ‘forever’ like the slavery we think of. The type of slavery we think of was forbidden and you would get the death penalty for doing it as you will see if you read Ex. 21:16 and Deut. 24:7. The only clear case of involuntary servitude that was allowed was in the case of a thief that was too poor to make restitution for goods stolen, and here is was strictly an economic measure to repay the wrong doing – see Ex. 22:3
But why didn't Jesus condemn the institution of the oppressive form of slavery of the Romans? To answer this, we must understand why Jesus came to Earth in the first place. He came here to fulfill very specific missions in a short span of time. Simply put, he was command-oriented. That means he was set to accomplish only what he was commissioned to do by Jehovah God Almighty. Jesus' coming was, first, to teach people about God's Kingdom, and, second, to die in order to save us. And by accomplishing his mission, he really in turn will abolished slavery for ever (but this won't be fulfilled until God's Kingdom is fully established on Earth). Once the Kingdom begins to reign in full power on earth (and it will), there will be no more tears, pain, suffering, and everyone will be happy and in peace for eternity. This is obviously a bigger more all encompassing long term goal than focusing on this Roman slavery issue. This is typical of those who put God on trial they only see the small picture and the present time. Just like those who tried and crucified Jesus. They wanted a savior that would free them from the Roman occupation and when He could not be controlled and did not do what they wanted Him to do they turned on him. We do that to when God won’t do it our way and in our time, and the way we think it should be done. We put Him on trial bring up accusations such as the commenter said “. They suffered due to the scripture regarding slavery in the Bible.” But it is just not true or founded when you really think and really want to see the truth. We want God to free us of what we see as the problem, like slavery, or bigotry, Roman occupation, or human violence and the suffering that comes with it. But God’s plan will free us of all of that and much more, in fact He will free us of SIN, PRIDE, FEAR, HATE, GUILT, SHAME, GREED, BITTERNESS, RESENTMENT, SUFFERING, SORROW, REBELLION, LIES, INJUSTICE, ARROGANCE, and so much more. And most importantly DEATH !You see when God’s plan plays out it will ALL be resolved
Right now and to all eternity, those who choose to follow Christ become the slaves to righteousness, of Jehovah God and His Son Jesus, our Messiah. We serve with gladness selflessly, for God is the best master anyone could ever have. If you ask me, we would be crazy not to rejoice over this privilege we have! But God will not force you into being His servant, because He is not that kind of master. In the end we all are slaves to something in our lives, some by choice, some not. I myself am a slave to my mortgage payment, and my other financial obligations. As Bob Dylan said “Your Gonna have to serve somebody.” “It may be the devil or it may be THE LORD, but you’re gonna have serve somebody”. Me? Well I choose to serve the Lord because being a slave to Him allows the most freedom. And it is a lie from Satan the father of lies that tells you anything else.
Thanks again to the commenter who gave me something of value to write about even if it was not the intent, but God will always turn bad to good for those who follow Him.
A powerful show from the "Paint The Town" tour, promoting the album Mission Bell. The band playing with power and it appears this is a whole show. This recording has a live feel with lots of crowd involvement being up in the mix.
Using what God has given you (The Drawing) Or. . . What is in your tool box?Many of you may not think that you can make a big impact in this world. You are poor, lack resources, or you feel you lack talent, or ability, or knowledge, but I am going to tell you that can make a huge impact and leave a lasting impression on this world. To do this I will show you how a little doodle or drawing I did made a difference.
My father had a very long battle with illness. In fact he was on oxygen for over 16 years. He was on Hospice care for more than three years and at the end never left bed or his room for the last 20 or more months of his life. One day while I was over at my parent’s house to help out I was passing time with my child. My daughter likes to draw and so do I, so we sat at the table together doodling. So as I sat there I drew this little rough drawing that said God So Loved The World. It was of course based on the Bible scripture from John 3:16.
As I was about done with the drawing my father called me into his room to ask me for a drink of water. I went in with the drawing in my hand. He said “what’s that in your hand?” I showed him the drawing and he said he liked it. I asked him if he wanted it and he said yes and told me to hang it on the wall where he could see it. Well this was real strange because my father was not a believer and really was turned off when I brought up Jesus. So I taped it to the wall so he could see it and then got him some water.
The next day I was over there again and out of my dad’s room I heard him say “What’s the rest of it?” I said “what is the rest of what?” And he said “what is the rest of the John 3:16 thing?” I was very surprised and went in and told him the whole scripture, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life.” My dad said, “That Son, is that Jesus?” I told him that is was indeed Jesus, and he said “Oh” and that was the end of it. The next day I was helping my mom change sheets on my dad’s bed and I told my dad that to fully understand a scripture you need to know the context of it in the bible. I said I know you read the bible when you were young, but do you know the context of that John 3:16 scripture? He said he didn’t and asked me to tell him about it. I just about fainted. So I told my dad about a guy named Nicodemus who was one of the Pharisees in Israel, a supposed learned man, who came and said he thought Jesus was a “teacher sent by God”. Jesus replied that unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said “How can a man be born when he is old?” Jesus replied and told him of how we are to be re-born in the spirit, and then said this “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son Of man be lifted up. That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” and then Jesus said the John 3:16 scripture. So I said to my dad, you see the people in the wilderness were being bitten by poisonous snakes and Moses was told to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. And whoever looked upon the serpent on the pole was healed from the poison of the snake. I said dad, what Jesus is saying that just like that serpent was lifted up on a pole that he would be lifted up on a pole (crucified) and looking upon it would heal us of the poison of sin that we received from that serpent in the Garden of Eden. My dad said he had never heard it put that way, and I said “well you have now”. So then I told my dad that the whole bible was about Jesus just like this serpent on the pole was. He said he did not see that the Old Testament was about Jesus. So I asked him if I could come over and read the bible with him to show him where Jesus was in the Old Testament, and he said he would like that. So the door was open and I was able to talk to my father about Jesus. Latter on as he was losing his ability to remember he would ask me if I knew about John 3:16, and he would tell me all about it. So here I was praying that I could share the Gospel message with my father and this little drawing I did opened the door, and in the end he shared it with me. I did not think that God would use that, but God takes what gifts, and talents, and unique properties, he has given us and can use them to change lives. You may not think that you can be an evangelist or that you have anything special but God made you and gave you just what is needed to reach the ones he has placed in your life to impact. Abraham and Sarah were unable to have children yet God made them the parents of a nation, Moses was slow of speech yet he was the mouthpiece of God, Gideon was a coward hiding in a wine press and he was raised up to be a courageous leader of a nation, and the apostles were a bunch of uneducated fishermen who were used to spread the message of Jesus and change the world. In Col 3:17 it says we are to do ALL things in deed and word in the name of Jesus. 1Corinthians 10:31 says “whatever you do, do ALL for the glory of the Lord”. So whatever it is you do. A carpenter, teacher, janitor, artist, musician, car mechanic, clerk, accountant, athlete, or invalid, it can be put to use by God to make an impact on others. You never know what will impact others, but if you are not doing ALL things for Jesus then the everyday things you do will not have an impact. I could have drawn anything on that day but I chose to draw for Jesus. I chose to use that time and what little skill I had to glorify God. I had no intention, and no idea, that it could or would be used in the way it was. So today as you go about your day, in whatever you do, go about it with Jesus in mind. You may find that God places someone in your path that can be changed by just the thing you have in your tool box.
You were made for a unique purpose and the skills and talents, even lack of talent, ability and disability, and your personality, and you experiences, are a part of your special design. And these are the things God has placed in your individual tool box, so you can do His work. Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are His workmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”. You see we are not saved by our good works but instead are saved in order to do them. And when these works flow from your special design and calling then you have a great opportunity to impact the people you come in contact with. All work, no matter what it is, can be sacred and special if it is done as if you are doing it for God.
For more on this check out this teaching by Jesus on putting you talents to use, and a stern warning to those who don't. Matthew 25:14-30
