The View of Our Lives

I don’t know about others, but I really like my home to look good from the street. For me this means I don’t want it to look unpleasant or for there to be garbage or unnecessary items that detract from the home and the plants around the home. I remember my mom being frustrated if we brought someone into the house through the garage. We really thought it was silly, but it seems that I have inherited that trait. I don’t know about other’s garages - but mine is the place that we allow stuff to pile up - stuff that needs to be organized or thrown out. For the most part the stuff in the garage is out site and, temporarily out of mind. It has stuff in it that I just don’t want to deal with right now - so I put it in the garage - in hopes that someday I will decide what to do with it. At the same time, for the part, I prefer to leave the garage door closed - unless I am working in the yard and need to go back and forth to the garage to retrieve tools and implements.

Okay, so I don’t want you to see or look at the junk in my garage - and I certainly don’t want to pull the stuff out of my garage and place it in front of my house - because it represents stuff I want out of site. For sure there is work that needs to be done in and around my garage - but for now, I want to keep it out of site - until I am motivated from on high to clean up my act and organize it or throw it out. But I hope when you come to visit me the garage door is closed and you will have to come to the front door and push the door bell. I will be glad to see you, but we will both know there is stuff in the garage - that neither one of us want to see. I want the view when we meet to be unclouded.

Faith and Works - A letter to Glenn Beck

July 8, 2015

Glenn Beck Program

1270 Avenue of the Americas  
New York, NY 10020

 Glenn:

I decided to write you a letter – hoping that you actually get it and read it and consider it.

 

My wife and I attended your 82810 event – it was a high point to us and I truly think you are a patriot for our country. Thank you!

 

However, since then I have been troubled by your expression of faith – and I know you don’t want to hear this.

 

First, as a Christian it is important that Christ is the center of everything, and that we proclaim him as LORD above all else - without a hint of contradiction.

 Secondly, as a Christian, it is important that we understand that Christ accomplished everything for our salvation – there is no work that we can do to add to the finished work of the Cross. We were dead in trespasses and sin and Christ made us alive.

 

Finally, as we tell others about Christ and our faith in Christ it is imperative that the above precepts are clear to our audience in our presentation. We are turning to Christ to be in relationship with him eternally and away from religion and any appearance of saving ourselves.

 

I believe for you to call yourself a Christian it is important for you to turn completely to Christ and completely away from the Mormon faith. I am pray that you will do that.

 Thank you for considering this encouragement.

 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8-10

 …thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Eph 1:16-23

SO, THEN, HOW DO WE LIVE NOW?

So, the highest court in the land has decided that same sex marriages can be conducted despite the fact that God, the author of life, made us male and female and has defined marriage is between a man and woman for the purposes of: procreation, companionship, and enjoyment. Hmm...what now? 

It seems the high court did not consider the Bible, God’s holy word, when they rendered their 5-4 majority opinion against traditional marriage in favor for same-sex marriage. What does this mean for those who, up to this time have sought to use God’s Word as a blueprint for their lives? Do we give up and throw in the towel? Does it mean we follow the lead of the majority opinion? Does it mean we divorce our wives and/or husbands and find a same sex partner to marry so we too can be gay? No! 

Though this may indeed be a historically bleak time, God is not dead and we should continue to hold on to him as the author and perfecter of  our lives. We should continue to revere, read and memorize his word as his blueprint that contains all the answers to all of the issues of life. We should remember that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and if we know God as our Lord it is only because of his mercy and grace that he has accepted and saved us. We should remember that we have nothing to be proud of, that our salvation is a gift from him and that among our job assignments as believers is to love others as ourselves (Mark 12:31). It is also our assignment to pray for others: Christians and non-Christians alike. 

Certainly we should pray that the Holy Spirit will usher into the kingdom new converts whose eyes are being opened and whose minds are being enlightened day by day. While this is certainly a difficult time, we must remember that God is Sovereign over his creation and this means he knows what he is doing and does all things well (Mark 7:37).

Expecting Holiness in the World

Expecting Holiness in the World

Recently Franklin Graham decided to move the monetary holdings of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Organization from LGBT-friendly Wells Fargo Bank to another bank that isn’t as “in-your-face” LGBT-friendly. Well, surprise, the response seems to be that Franklin Graham isn’t being a loving “christian”. The public likes to think of God as loving and accepting of all and this perception logically flows to the LGBT community. No argument, Christians are sinners and supposed to love them. 

The Bible reveals God. Many choose the smorgasboard approach to accepting the Bible - taking what we like, leaving what doesn’t reflect “our concept of God. It comes down to who God is and what the Bible: his word to us, says. Is God - God? - Holy, Just, Sovereign, Good, etc.? Is the Bible God’s word? - our blueprint for living? Many have de-throned God and ignore his word (the Bible). Ironically much of the Bible discusses this throughout His Story (history). 

The Bible explains that there will be opposition to the preaching of the cross. Jesus spoke of two roads - a broad way that many are following leading to destruction; and a narrow way that a few are following leading to life (Matt. 7:13-14). Christians are to love God, and love people. Devoted followers of Christ who are on the narrow way,  make decisions that frustrate those on the broad way, while hoping many will change course and join the road that leads to life. Those following the narrow way desire holiness in the world that draws us to God and his word.

Printed in the 6/19/2015 edition of the Winston-Salem Journal

Does Integrity Matter?

Recently there has been a great deal of news about the 2016 presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton for the office of President of the United States. Ms. Clinton known for having previously been the First Lady while her husband was in the White House and most recently having served as the Secretary of State under the presidency of Mr. Obama. Asked by a reporter about her notable achievements during her tenure as the Secretary of State, Ms. Clinton was unable to name even one. Ms. Clinton was the Secretary of State during the attack on the United States embassy in Benghazi, Libya. Yes, this is the  2012 attack where Ms. Clinton and Mr. Obama blamed the attack on an anti-Muslim video. This is the attack where Americans in charge at the embassy had asked for help prior to the attack but no help was provided. This is the attack where, unfortunately, four Americans were brutally killed. We know now that the attack had nothing to do with any video - that Ms. Clinton and the president of the United States told a convenient lie to cover-up their ineptness as protectors of American lives on foreign soil.  In this instance, integrity didn't matter.

Since Benghazi, it has been learned that Ms. Clinton chose to by-pass government procedures concerning electronic communications including e-mail and handle such communications via private e-mail accounts rather than government email accounts. It has even been learned that she chose to store these electronic communications records on a privately owned server at her home in Chappaqua, New York. When asked about her electronic correspondence during her tenure as Secretary of State Ms. Clinton said that these communication were held on her server and belonged to her and not to the government for whom these communications were performed. When asked to turn over there communications/emails she said that she went through the and separated the personal from the official communications and turned over only the official communications. Now certainly in a perfect world where we can trust our politicians to be above board and honest this would not be a problem, but it would seem that a better approach would have been to turn over all the emails and allow, in essence, a third party to separate the  official from those that are private. Since rendering the screened emails as requested, Ms. Clinton has announced that she deleted all the other emails on the server, essentially saying that she had no plans to allow anyone to see what was still on the server. In this era of Lois Lerner and the IRS scandal where Lois Lerner's emails surprisingly, could not be located as the IRS said that they had accidentally erased them and now Ms. Clinton has conveniently erased her emails and possibly any information to the contrary. In this instance, it seems Ms. Clinton is choosing to act above the law and choosing to be a law unto herself - as one who does not have to answer to anyone. It seems that when politicians are at or near the top they see know reason to coming under the authority of anyone else. The tax-paying public must rely on the character and the integrity of the individuals, in this case Ms. Clinton - even though such integrity cannot be proved.

To many, this is probably a small thing. But small things can become big things. Those who can be trusted in small things can generally be trusted to take care of business when it comes to big things. And, those who cannot be trusted to take care of business in regards to small things cannot be trusted to take care of business when it comes to big things. With Ms. Clinton putting herself up as the democratic candidate for President, Ms. Clinton's actions in the instance described above does not give her a passing grade for her being trustworthy, acting with integrity in this small thing. Ms. Clinton is not ready for prime time as a presidential candidate as she has failed to demonstrate integrity. Yet, my greatest concern is that it seems that Ms. Clinton's integrity is not even being called into question. It seems that she is the candidate and the only criteria for her being the candidate is her gender, not her readiness, and certainly not her integrity.