Biblical illiteracy in the News, Moses Nominated?

July 4, 2009, 21:36
Filed under: Uncategorized

leahy soto

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will begin confirmation hearings July 13, shrugged off the GOP concerns being raised about Sotomayor, saying some in the GOP were going to oppose any Obama pick – “even if the president had nominated Moses.”

Biblical literates would never nominate Moses for confirmation to any office.

^Exodus12So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Talk about skeletons in the closet! Moses had one literally buried in the sand!

^{Exodus 3:11}But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”

I does not seem that Moses had the self confidence to stand up to scrutiny. One answer like that and the committee would vote him out.

^{Exodus 4:10}Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Public speaking skills are necessary for a appointee. Moses was sorely lacking in this.

^{Exodus 4:14}Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

A nominee must be expected to stand on his own, not have a partner to speak for him for him.

^{Exodus 4:27}Now the LORD said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness ” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.

Oh well, there goes the conservative vote. Looks like Moses would not have had a chance!

3 Comments

Biblical Answers for a Biblically Illiterate Atheist.

July 1, 2009, 22:37
Filed under: Christ, faith

atheist

So much biblical ignorance, so little time. what do some of these “churches” teach?

This broke my heart when I read it at http://thebeattitude.com/2009/05/28/losing-my-religion-why-i-walked-away-from-christianity/

A portion of the writer’s comments and his 20 points in blue and my answers in black. What do you think?

The change was a culmination of things that I could no longer ignore. Faith is belief in the unseen and unprovable, but still requires a foundation for that faith. With the countless religions of the world, I began to question why the god of the Bible is more believable than all other gods worshiped on earth. With the mountain of evidence staring me in the face, my faith began to die.

Last fall, I finally moved past guilt and admitted to myself that I no longer believe in Jesus or the god of the Bible. Surprisingly it was a relief. Not because I wanted to run wild and sin freely, but because I no longer felt the weight a Christian carries. The weight of guilt, unworthiness and fear of god’s judgement. I continue to spend my days striving to be a good husband, father and son. I help others in need around me as often as I can. The big difference is I do these things today because it brings me joy, not because I believe it brings an imaginary god joy.

For those wondering, here is a condensed “Top 20 List” of the things that led to my rejection of Christianity.

1.God is wrathful, jealous, hateful, and kills nations of people like it is a bodily function. He is certainly not just or “holy” in nature.

1Jo 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

God has in His own time for His good purposes ended civilizations. These were specific instances of specific cultures. We do not know what would have come from those societies, God does, and He had His reasons. We know that to bring salvation to mankind the nation of Israel had to exist, to show the greatest love of all. A Tribe that would endanger the existance of the branch of Jesse would need to go. God more often showed amazing mercy to peoples, Nineveh, the Gentiles, and all who would repent.

2.The act of throwing people into infinite torture and punishment for not believing a Jewish guy from 2,000 years ago was God’s son, or unknowingly worshiping the wrong god, is extremely cruel and sadistic.

Deu 32:4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Select for Copy; Double click to (de-)select all

Psa 19:1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

It is truly amazing that any at all are to be with God in eternity. I am not an expert on Hell, and praise God will never be.

Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The rescue is here, do not reject it and blame the rescuer!

3.The statements, “God works in mysterious ways,” or “It will all make sense in heaven,” are little more than irrational cop outs. This God allows horrible atrocities to be committed against innocent men, women and children every day.

Eph 2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience–

The world is not a terrarium run by a benign overseer making sure all is well. The bible is clear that at one time we had a Paradise, but not now. Satan is alive and well, and is the Prince of this world until Christ returns. How do people see evil and attribute it to God instead of to the father of all lies? This one amazes me. God has given us free will to be as evil as we wish. It is as if all mankind is Job, and we are tested to see if we will curse God and die. It looks as if some will. How much of the evil you reject is man made? All of it? It is because of this evil that judgementmust come.

Genesis 6:5
The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. GOD HAS THE SAME ISSUES WITH MAN THAT YOU DO.

4.Bloody animal and human sacrifices are illogical demands by a divine god as payment for petty wrong doings. These actions are no different than the rituals of archaic pagan religions. Not to mention the bizarre ritual of symbolically drinking human blood and eating human flesh.

Mat 12:7 “And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

The old testament sacrifices taught that sin has a price in innocent blood. The Lord’s table is the culmination of that and a reminder to us of the price paid for sin. To reduce the ordinance of communion to an act honoring of cannibalism is exceptionally small minded. We are to live on the Bread of heaven, and be sustained by the life of Christ. Each time we eat or drink we need to remember the source of our strength and life, Christ. It is a mnemonic device, not a magic act.

Luke 22:20
In the same way He also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant [established by] My blood; it is shed for you.

What an amazing metaphor! More than a metaphor, blood was the symbol of life! This brings us into communion with each other and God.

5.If God loves us and wants us to know and believe in him, why be so completely invisible? What is the purpose of being so illusive to those who believe and worship him?

I do not find Him illusive at all. He is always there for me, always.

Hbr 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

How would it be faith if it were concrete before you? Such is the test. The odd thing about the testis that it is open book, and He will provide you with a measure of faith if you ask.

6.God never manifests himself or performs miracles as he regularly did for the Israelites in Old Testament stories.

I see miracles in changed lives everyday. I am one. See above, faith is the key.

Psa 97:6 The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.

Ask God to take the scales from your eyes and you will see His majesty! Creation celebrates the Creator!

7.Prayers are never answered. Certainly not in the way Jesus described. Prayer has absolutely no affect on the world around us.

I have seen prayers answered! Prayer has great effect on the world, “greater is He than the one who is in the world”. God is ,however, not a dispenser of miracles to be manipulated! Jesus Himself asked God to pass the Cup of His death away, but that was not to be, Jesus also prayed,”Thy will not Mine.” God will do His will, it is His will to at times manipulate things as we ask, but not always. He is not existant to do our will, we exist to do His. Do not put God to a test, He is above it.

8.Jesus did not fulfill major Old Testament prophesies or even fulfill his own promises and predictions.

Have you read Isiah 53? And hundreds of others, from the book of Genesis on the bible points to Jesus! And if you are going to start with “This generation shall not Pass” please remember there are still jews in the world, generation can also mean race.

Mar 15:28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.

There is one of many.

Jhn 7:42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? Jhn 19:36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.

I could do this all day.

9.The authors of much of the Bible are unknown. And of these unknown authors, the men who wrote the gospels likely never even met Jesus considering they were written 40-70 years after his death. A far cry from reliable testimony.

This historical inaccuracy is glaring.

1Cr 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

This was written by Paul during the lifetime of people who had seen the Risen Savior. Mark was dictated during Peter’s lifetime. Read Lee Strobel, he does a better job than I of clearing this up. The life of Jesus has more first person accounts than most of the things we accept in ancient history. Many more. To clear up the matter, John was written by John, Luke was written by Luke, Micah was written by Micah, there is a pattern here. All was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

10.The Bible is repeatedly contradictory with itself, reality, and the laws of morality. Couldn’t God inspire a less poorly written book?

Use the link to Blue Letter Bible, there is a section on biblical “conflicts” that will help. These are the things that should be discussed in any good Sunday School. There is no conflict of morality or reality. For 66 books written on 3 continents over a thousand years the bible is remarkably coherent, miraculously so.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

11.The Bible is open to interpretation. Everyone interprets it in the way that suits them best or serves their purposes.

Scripture interprets scripture, the same Holy Spirit that inspired it is still available to interpret it. I am so sorry that ,yes, people abuse and manipulate Scripture, and that is sinful . Apostasy began in the time of the book of Acts, as the church formed so did Gnostic and apostate groups. Here is a good guide for you, if someone “interprets” something in a way not seen before in a few hundred years, I will bet it is wrong.

2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

12.Throughout history, Christians have justified horrific actions by the Bible and its teaching.

Throughout history Christianity has been a mass of sinners run by sinners. Horrible things have been done in the name of Christ. I concede that point with remorse and we need to beg the mercy of God for what the Church has done. None of it was done with true biblical mandate. Most of it was done by groups and power structures who did not follow the bible, and in fact rebelled from it.

Jesus Himself criticized a group of Christians who were on the wrong track, He hated what they were doing, but the behavior of sinners is no excuse to reject the Savior. These words were spoken by the Risen Savior Himself. It seems you and Christ have that in common.

Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

13.The Bible promotes hate and persecution against women, homosexuals and those who worship other gods or no god at all.

Those societies most influenced by Christianity, the societies we call Western, have the most women’s rights and the most rights for homosexuals. Compare us to Islam. Homosexuals are killed! Women still can not drive or own property. Jesus’s group of supporters had many women, there are many church leaders, Lydia, Phoebe, mentioned in the bible. The Jews were taught by God to honor all human life, except in time of war. I find no base for these claims. Old Testament law concerning homosexuals was specific to the nation of Israel. Paul stood on Mars Hill and respected the beliefs of others. Scripture teaches not all are called, and to love our neighbor, no mention of religious proclivity.

Hbr 12:14 Follow peace with all [men], and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

14.According to the Bible, nearly 70% percent of the people in the world will burn in hell because they don’t believe Jesus was the son of God.

Jhn 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

As a member of the 30% I thank God! I also recognize my responsibility to tell the 70% about Jesus!

15.The only reason I was a Christian was because I was indoctrinated into the religion as a child as a result of the culture and region of the world in which I was born.

You were not a Christian, if that is the case. God sees the heart not the membership card. No one is a Christian due to family or culture, only when the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and brings the repentance that causes a fear of God do we make Christ the King of our lives and become a member of His flock. You must become a new creature to be of the family of God.

Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

16.Christianity has no more rational or factual foundation than any other religion on earth that I openly reject.

I do not know what other religions you have rejected, I assume all of them. That may be a good start. Our foundation is Christ, rational, and quite factual.

Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

17.The Christian church is disjointed and can’t even agree with one another.

Yes it is. Mostly due to a lack of standing on the bible. Man made rules and traditions are devisive. You might be surprised how much bible based Christians agree, but we are human, fallible, and sinful. Do not judge the King by His subjects!

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

18.Christians are not at all ethically or morally different from non-Christians.

I honestly apologize if that has been your experience. Here is what a true Christian should be filled with:

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

19.Today, powerful church leaders steal, lie and molest young children. The church repeatedly attempts to cover up these atrocities, only to reluctantly apologize as a last resort.

Yes, again I concede and add that in my humble opinion it is going to get much worse. Any church that would attempt to cover such sin is no Church of Christ, it is a society of man using the things of God as weapons against an ignorant populace.

2 Peter 2

False Teachers

¹ There used to be false prophets among God’s people, just as you will have some false teachers in your group. They will secretly teach things that are wrong—teachings that will cause people to be lost. They will even refuse to accept the Master, Jesus, who bought their freedom. So they will bring quick ruin on themselves.² Many will follow their evil ways and say evil things about the way of truth.³ Those false teachers only want your money, so they will use you by telling you lies. Their judgment spoken against them long ago is still coming, and their ruin is certain.

1 Timothy 4

A Warning About False Teachers

¹ Now the Holy Spirit clearly says that in the later times some people will stop believing the faith. They will follow spirits that lie and teachings of demons.² Such teachings come from the false words of liars whose consciences are destroyed as if by a hot iron.³ They forbid people to marry and tell them not to eat certain foods which God created to be eaten with thanks by people who believe and know the truth.

20.It is absolutely irrational to continue to believe archaic teaching with the amount of knowledge we’ve gained through science and technology. The Bible reads like a book of primitive folklore, not divinely inspired insight into our true reason for existence.

Mark 12:31
“The second is this, ‘ YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Is this teaching outmoded?

Mark 12:33
AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE’S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

This one?

Romans 13:8
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:10
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

James 2:8
If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ” YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.

I hope these never go out of style. There are many scientists that believe,and were brought to belief by their studies. One thing science can never provide is reasons for existance, that is out of the realm of science. As one who has read a lot of primitive folk lore, I do not see the similarities. The Bible is unique.

Peters words are true now as they were then.

⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: To the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day.⁹ The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised—the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The skies will disappear with a loud noise. Everything in them will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be exposed.^[a] ¹¹ In that way everything will be destroyed. So what kind of people should you be? You should live holy lives and serve God,¹² as you wait for and look forward to the coming of the day of God. When that day comes, the skies will be destroyed with fire, and everything in them will melt with heat.¹³ But God made a promise to us, and we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth where goodness lives.

¹⁴ Dear friends, since you are waiting for this to happen, do your best to be without sin and without fault. Try to be at peace with God.¹⁵ Remember that we are saved because our Lord is patient. Our dear brother Paul told you the same thing when he wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him.¹⁶ He writes about this in all his letters. Some things in Paul’s letters are hard to understand, and people who are ignorant and weak in faith explain these things falsely. They also falsely explain the other Scriptures, but they are destroying themselves by doing this.

¹⁷ Dear friends, since you already know about this, be careful. Do not let those evil people lead you away by the wrong they do. Be careful so you will not fall from your strong faith.¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to him now and forever! Amen.

31 Comments

Biblical Illiteracy, Rampant and Wrong

June 26, 2009, 06:15
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ATHEISM

illiterate `

There is a reason our church has Bible in the name. We study the bible, we learn from the bible, the bible is our, well,.. bible! It has always amazed me how ignorant, and I mean that in the nicest way, people who call themselves Christians are of the bible. I do not mean those who claim a different doctrine, I mean those who have no clue. They are Legion.

Here is a clip going around the net that has been plagiarized so much I can not find the original, but I have read things in the Barna surveys that are similar, I hate to believe this, but I do.

” The Bible remains the most popular book of all time, and almost all U.S. homes (93 percent) have at least one. Yet only half of U.S. adults can name a single Gospel, and most don’t know that the first book of the Bible is Genesis. A 2000 survey showed that even 60 percent of those chapter-and-verse-quoting Evangelicals thought Jesus was born in Jerusalem rather than Bethlehem. Similarly, a 2004 survey of high school students found that 17 percent thought “the road to Damascus” was where Jesus was crucified and 22 percent thought Moses was either one of Jesus’ 12 apostles or an Egyptian pharaoh or an angel. Half of high school seniors also thought Sodom and Gomorrah were married. “

Do you think this may be true? I have seen ‘Jay Walking’ on TV, so I guess anything is possible. When my youngest was in elementary school there were children who did not know who Jesus was, so the survey kind of fits into what I have seen. I have a guy who showed up at church two times, the only two times he has ever been in a church in his life.

This level of ignorance has an awful penalty for our society. There is no way our culture can have a biblical word view if it does not view the bible. The most painful part of the situation is it is our fault. Me, you the reader, we are responsible. I would rather argue about Calvinism, or Infant Baptism, or Lutherans like theoldAdam, or did Driscol say a dirty word, or is McArthur right about total cessation, or should Warren have used Isa in his prayer as a name of Jesus. you can get 100 comments on Internet monk if you claim[quite rightly] that “church” as we know it is in trouble. I would rather argue what in the end is opinion with people who read the bible, than go out and read and share the bible with people who have no clue.

I love Christian blogs. they keep me sharp, give me a sense of community, introduce me to people iwould not get to meet otherwise and help me shape my own thoughts by bouncing them off of others. If you are reading this you enjoy it also, I enjoy reading comments and posts by and IKE, and JEOFURRY, AND REV. ANDY and GRACESHAKER, THE OLD ADAM, JOE, SHAWN, JOHN, JOY, my friend ROB who called from Texas when I hit a rough spot, and the rest of the frequent fliers and occasional visitors. On a good day there are about 100 of us who pass through here. We do not all agree on everything, but we all, praise God, have much more than a passing knowledge of Scripture, and I believe a passing knowledge of Christ that we each seek to grow and extend.

I would much rather speak to Christians, even ones I am in disagreement with than go out into the world and attempt to spread the Gospel. I share a common language, world view, jargon, and fellowship with Christians. Out in the world people think we are crazy, they do not understand a faith based in the Unseen that has more of a reality to us than sun up this morning. Our faith draws us together as we share the experience of a common reality.

No matter who gets the blame the reality is that the Bible plays no part in the life of most Americans today. What I consider to be the very word of God, writings inspired by the Holy Spirit, is a bunch of old literature to most. The best selling book of all time has little effect on the lives of most of my fellow citizens. Even many church goers, nominal Christians, many who would argue, and may be correct for all I know, that they are Heaven Bound Children of the Most High God, have no working knowledge of Scripture. They do not read, study, or understand Holy Writ, would not turn to it for solace or wisdom.

Many churches do not stress the reading of the Bible, and all too many sermons are not scripture based. The old joke about the preacher who had a great sermon ready, if he could just get some scripture to go with it, is a reality in many churches. It is entirely possible for someone to be a regular attendant of an organized church and still not be familiar with the organization of, or stories in the Bible.

So those of us who love the Bible and love Godand love our neighbor need to share the whole of the word with our society. We need to spread our love of scripture with the world. Our mission should be to get them to give it a try, see what wisdom, what love, what provision has been laid up in a storehouse of verse!

Psa 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

9 Comments

DUI Court, Lawyers and Tryers and Beers, oh my!

June 20, 2009, 09:57
Filed under: Uncategorized

dui

“but Occifer, I only had tee martoonnies!”

I spent 5 hours at DUI court Friday. Jesus forgives all, but you still have to do the time for the crime here in the world. There were 120 cases brought before the judge that session. If that is how many cases were presented in one court session, and not all the drunk drivers are caught, how many people are under the influence on the roads today? God protect us from the impaired, they are legion. .

Would you believe that people show up for court on their second DUI wearing the shirt from their favorite bar? No kidding, for real! One fellow had a St. Patrick’s day shirt with a picture of a beer can, while another guy advertised for a local tap room. If cameras were allowed I would make a gallery for you of people who just do not “get it”.

Out of the approximately 120 cases, 7 pleaded guilty, including my friend. This either means that in almost 94% of the cases brought there were gross mistakes of identity, improper police procedure, mechanical failure of breathalyser tubes or hospital blood alcohol tests, or you are pleading not guilty because the system is designed for you to do so.

The Judge did everything he could to talk these 7 people out of pleading guilty. He told them he would not accept their plea unless he was sure the defendant understood their rights, the consequences of the plea, the penalties of the crime, and the lack of appeal afterwards. This was explained to them all as a group and to each individually. Judge Toole did a fine job of explaining all this. One thing however was not brought up. The Truth.

Never mentioned in the proceedings, having no relevance I could see, were the facts. If you were consuming alcohol or mind altering substance before or during the operation of a motor vehicle, you broke the law. If you broke the law there is a penalty. That would be a justice system. We do not have a justice system in this country, we have a legal system. The major difference is that in a legal system, justice is almost blind to the truth, blinded by the far more important legalities of the system.

The famous example I heard of this for years is the ” Trunk lid malfunction”. There for a while in the 60’s, during a routine traffic stop, the trunk of the car would mysteriously spring open. There were occasions where this phenomenon resulted in the officer seeing a shipment of drugs in the trunk, and brought about a an arrest leading to a conviction. Now we have probable cause laws and the result is that Police now ask, may I look in your trunk. If you do not wish them to look there, they will not, until the drug dog is called, barks at the trunk, and gives probable cause.

As much as I value individual rights, it seems that the whole of the system has turned into cops vs. lawyers. The cop writes up the charge and the lawyer picks it apart. Truth of the action is of great concern for the police officer, but not for the attorney. I feel this is proven by the system itself. We have a charge called ‘ false arrest’ that face police who would overstep their bounds, but there is no charge of ‘false defense ‘ for defendants and attorneys that seek to obfuscate the truth to their own ends. Any sort of behavior seems acceptable in defense of legal charges. If a man says I didn’t do it, and you have absolute proof he did it, is not this lying perjury? No, not in defense. Overhearing the privileged attorney client conversations in the back of the room was quite enlightening.

So my honest friend will spend time in jail, pay huge fines and court costs, loose the ability to apply for a license to drive for over one year, [ he quit driving after the incident until such time he could trust his own sobriety] and be on probation afterward. All of this is balanced out by being able to say, “I told the Truth.”

Jesus taught us that the truth will set us free. This does not mean a “get out of jail free” card issued to Christians, it means that even in prison we are free from the chains and bondage of lies and the father of lies. We walk in the light even in the dark places. My friend said, “There must be something for me to do in jail.” If only all of us had that Kingdom Mission mindedness. In Truth, we all have something to do, where ever it is that God sends us.

4 Comments

Excerpt from my Wife’s college paper.

June 17, 2009, 09:39
Filed under: Uncategorized

warning_born_again_christian_greeting_card-p137883635147345051q6k5_400 “I am a Christian. I hesitate to even disclose this because “Christian” does connote certain negative ideas of behavior, dress, mores, and judgmentalism. Unfortunately, in my opinion, some Christian groups behave more like a cult than a Christian society, and passing down judgments upon the rest of the world, and their own people. These groups are the ones newsworthy and therefore in the national media. But the small as the head of a pin Christian groups who are out there genuinely doing good works, not living to sit in judgment of others, not out seeking media attention, who are seeking knowledge and truth and committed to giving a leg up to others – to helping others, are not heard of. This is the type Christian subculture I am involved in and committed to. Christian beliefs were instilled in me through cultural transmission by my mother and father. When I turned eighteen I left the “mother” church in search of something else. I retained my Christian foundation, but found another way of expressing it other than the church I grew up in and even left the denomination in which I was raised.

As a teenager in the early seventies I was part of a counterculture. The seventies were a hold over from the sixties and hippies were still a part of the counterculture of which I myself was a part of.”

Do we need to warn others of our Christianity? Do we often add a caveat to our writings and to our speech? Do you share my wife Dawn’s concern that you will be viewed in a different light if someone knows you are one of “them”?

As a group we followers of the Way of Christ have not left a good witness. Is that fair? Is it the bad press we have recieved, or is it the truth that we have deserved? How proudly do you wave your Christian flag, or do you sheepishly admit to a faith, but point out you are not one of those. No judgement here, just asking.

8 Comments

The Culture Wars, I Refuse to Surrender.

June 16, 2009, 18:23
Filed under: Crazed Thought, Reaction | Tags: church, culture war, God, Heroes, Jesus, Pastors, SBC

The Cross and the Flag , not Mutually Exclusive

I have been told by preachers , politicians, and many Christian Bloggers, that the culture wars are over and WE LOST. In every war I have read about there are a few hold outs who refuse to drop their arms and submit. I join the ranks of those who become resistance fighters in hope, however slim of a turn around in fortune and an eventual victory. Even if victory is impossible I will still continue to fight until my commander and chief calls me home.

I think the reason so many feel the war is lost is that our leadership has been so horrible. We did not choose our battles well. Large formations of well meaning Christian soldiers fought in vain over issues that were a diversion from the real battle. The issue was never Democrat or Republican, it was family values versus blatant filth. Instead of marshalling the troops and training them to attack only the worse most obvious examples of darkness and sin, we boxed at shadows and made great mountains out of ant hills, while the problems of our culture worsened. Did we really think ‘ Harry Potter’ was the worst thing that could happen to our children? Western civilization has had witch stories since before The Brother’s Grimm collected them. We can show kids movies about a talking cucumber, but stay away from magic! Friends, talking cucumbers are not of God!

Why were we so upset that Disney had Gay Day? If we were not going to attend that day what do we care? And what is the difference between Disney movies and Harry Potter? Big Blue Genies may look cute, but the dijin are fallen angels. The movie ‘Pocohantas’ shows my ancestors digging for gold teaching children that the Pilgrim fathers came here to despoil the land, the truth is they wanted a Puritan State. Is that what we were going for in the culture war? If I boycotted everything that did not think and act in a way that met my approval I would be a Robinson Crusoe on an island of my own isolation. How does that move the war ahead?

Our generals missed the main camps of the enemy. Drugs have been and still are ripping our culture apart. How many can name the great Christian battle against them? Did we offer prevention programs in schools? Pizza parties for youth groups were designed more to boost our numbers, however well that worked, than to broadcast the dangers of drug use and provide coping behavior for an entire generation. Alcohol destroys families, kills youth and wastes life, yet few churches joined the battle even as far as hosting an AA group. Marriage success runs fifty- fifty even among the church, so while we have talked about the problem we do not seem to have had much impact, even in our own ranks. We seem to be better at uniting against an issue than forming a coalition for anything.

One great problem we have suffered in the war is fratricide. The other day I was on a site that just loves to pick on Mark Driscol. You may not like him or want him for your Pastor, that is your choice, but if your biggest enemy is Mark Driscol, you need to look around a bit more. People who love Jesus pick on Billy Graham, John MacArthur, the Internet Monk, and you and I when they get a chance. After the name of Jesus, all those mentioned are fallible. Are you surprised? only the Savior is without fault, and if we dig enough we will find something to complain about in all our brothers and sisters. Hold your fire! Our ranks are thin enough.

So as a surviving warrior I make my stand in the jungle of America. I love the values with which I was raised. My elementary school dismissed for Wednesday morning church school in good weather. We would go to the closest Protestant or Catholic Church for Bible study or CCD according to our denomination. Some students stayed behind and played ball, nobody judged. We began the day with The Pledge of Allegiance. Why not pledge allegiance to the Government in a government school? We had a moment of silent prayer. I have visited schools over the last thirty years. There is no silence, ever. I am not a barbarian for valuing this.

I still think taxes higher than a tithe are wrong, that abortion is awful and all too much turned to in our country. Using abortion as birth control is abhorrent to me, but signs in churches, ”Unwed Pregnant Women Welcomed and Supported” are not to be found. Legislation is not an answer, propagation of a culture of life is. I find most songs on some radio channels offensive, and no Britney, I could care less where Amy is. I do not like Gay Pride Parades, but what adults do in private is of no concern or interest to me. Forbidding someones closest friend and partner full access in medical emergencies seems barbaric. Anyone who pays rent and maintains a property has a right to live in it. Christians do not need to accept sinners behavior, but we do need to be understanding, as we know we too have fallen short of the Glory of God .

I do not wish to turn the clock back to the fifties or the sixties, I seek only to have my point of view accepted, as I accept the point of view of others. So quit if you want but for me the struggle goes on. My role model will be Hiroo Onada. He was sent to war in 1944 and continued his struggle until 1974, until his commanding officer told him to stand down.

onoda-Hiroo my Hero Can I do less? Do I have less faith and desire to obey my maker than this good soldier had to obey his superiors? I was told to ‘Fight the Good Fight’ and I will do so till ordered differently.

If Hiroo can hold out in the jungles of Guam for 30 years I can fight a bit longer here in Pennsylvania .

It would be easy to call Hiroo a fool, to ridicule him for being overly zealous, but he earned my respect, and although I think he was on the wrong side supporting a racist Imperialistic government that am thankful was defeated, he did his job, and then some.

28n_onoda_narrowweb__200x226 Hiroo’s commanding officer assists his surrender after 30 years.

Will my commander be as proud of me? Put me down as an armed belligerent, a guerrilla fighter. I will use my voice and my vote to the best of my ability in the hopes of someday hearing” Well done, my good and Faithful servant.” I will continue to shine the Light of the Cross that I love on the Flag of the country that I love, and pray that the pendulum will swing back to a more moderate, less secular state of affairs in the United States. Call me an optimist or a fool, but surrender is not an option.

6 Comments

He Leadeth Me, Oh Distressing Thought!

May 26, 2009, 16:14
Filed under: Uncategorized

P1010019 Yeah, I know where you want to lead me is a great place. I know I will enjoy being there. You have my best interests at heart, and I even know you love me. It’s just that being lead thing. It is agaisnt my nature. Something in the way I am built, the way my Creator put me together just rebels at the thoughtof being led.

I strain against the leash no matter what the destination, for it I would rather be in charge, follow my own lights. I do have a brain you know. If You wanted to lead somebody arround you could have got a dog you know.

5 Comments

No Liberty at Liberty?

May 23, 2009, 10:19
Filed under: Uncategorized

Liberty BUT NOT THE DEMOCRAT CLUB, FOR THEM THE SIGN IS:

D-no-democrats News out of Liberty, No Democrat club on our Campus!!!

Liberty University spurns Democratic club

By Washington Post | May 23, 2009

WASHINGTON – Liberty University will no longer recognize its campus Democratic Party club because its parent organization stands against the conservative Christian school’s moral principles.

The club, which has about 30 members, will no longer be able to use Liberty’s name, hold on-campus meetings, or be eligible for student activities money.

“I think it does the university a great disservice to stifle one side of the discussion simply because we are Democrats,” said Maria Childress, the club’s adviser and an administrative assistant at the school.

Brian Diaz, president of Liberty’s Democratic club, said he was informed of the school’s decision in a May 15 e-mail.

“The candidates supported are directly contrary to the mission of Liberty University,” the e-mail said.

Liberty has had a College Republicans club for years. The Democratic club formed in October and worked aggressively to elect President Obama.

“They . . . let the Liberty University College Republicans stay on campus, but they don’t let us,” said Diaz, 18, who will be a sophomore next year. “Sounds like censorship to me.”

Childress said she is trying to appeal the decision to Jerry Falwell Jr., who became the Lynchburg school’s chancellor after his father died in 2007. In the meantime, students who violate the rule face reprimands under the school’s conduct code, which could result in expulsion.

Being currently out of a paying position I would like to suggest to Liberty University that they hire me in a new post, called “The Guy who Advises Us on how not to look like Fascist Idiots”. I would work cheap, from my own home, and save them lots of time and energy, and serve my God and His Kingdom by preventing a fine institution from a foolish act.

I know how these decisions are reached. In a small group of like minded people someone brings up an idea, packs it into a snowball and it begins to roll down the mountainside until a village is wiped out in the avalanche. My suggestion is that I be allowed to examine the snowball for signs of intelligent life. If not me I nominate Andy Stanley, or Charles Stanley, or Stanley the maintenance man from the local high school. Someone who is a bit out of the forest so that a tree may be examined individually. The view from the Ivory tower is always myopic. Seriously, our own Jeofurry would be perfect. He is one of their own, not a dispy, and coming from the far country of North Dakota, knows a bit about snowballs.

This is NUTS! There are 30 people on campus, 30 out of thousands of students and faculty who chose to belong to the Dems. What threat or danger are they to the campus at large? Can the administration not see that shutting them down does more damage than good? The latest news is that the group may meet on campus, but not be recognized. I am not a fan of the party of Pelosi and Obama, not at all, but the whole point of our free society is to allow divergent beliefs to be expressed. Here is a short list of why if I were ”the Guy” this snowball would have been tossed on the stove.

Closing down a Democratic club shows no faith in a two party system.
The bad press generated by this will fill atheist blogs for years.
It is possible that this group sought change from within. I deplore some Republican methods and strategies, but I will stay to use my vote to , hopefully, bring the party back in line with my values. If I leave I will not advocate the dissolution of the party.
College is where youth rebel. Does anybody remember hearing an old adage that goes something like: “If you’re not a liberal when you’re in your twenties you haven’t got a heart; if you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 40 you haven’t got a brain.” I registered as a democrat at age 18 to vote for Al Harris in the primary. I represented 10% of his votes in my state. At twenty I was an active Republican and have been since, although Libertarian is looking good these days.
At a time when we want Christian bible studies on school and college campuses, this attitude of exclusivity serves poorly. We need increased dialogue with the other side, yet we fear it?

So I say, “Oi vey ist Mir” or, “I carumba ” or, ” Man, what were you thinking?” Liberty has a student behavior clause that states no student can harm the Witness of the University. No worries, no student could do the harm the administration did with one really foolish decision.

Ouch! That is really going to hurt!

9 Comments

The Church as seen by a Ret. Vol. Fire Chief

May 19, 2009, 12:11
Filed under: Bible study, Christ, Crazed Thought, Fire Fighters, History, roots of Willohroots, Jesus, What would you do?, faith | Tags: Chief, Fire Service, training

Fire training from www.wcupa.edu/.../training%20pictures.asp

It has pleased God to provide much of my training needed to pastor Dayspring Bible Chapel in fire-halls and in fire service. My leadership skills with volunteers [ still needing much improvement] , my teaching style, my counseling and discipline abilities were all honed in Fire Service at Mt. Zion Bicentennial Fire Dept. To me this makes biblical sense. Moses was trained as a shepherd, Nehemiah in a king’s court, Luke in study to be a physician and many more examples. God is a master of cross training.

Moving from Fire Service to His Service I have noticed a lot of comparison points where churches fall far behind firefighters. One area not lacking is technology. Churches use PowerPoint and email and websites, burning DVD’s of services and using audio visual aids with cutting edge science. This is an area in which I admit Dayspring is far behind. Other areas in the visible church could learn much from your local fire department, and my suggestion is we emulate or at least learn from America’s Bravest:

Mutual Aid, one company calling and receiving assistance from others
Member Retention, recruiting is fine, but keep what you have
Leadership Hierarchy, know who is in charge of what
Buddy System, a pair beats high card every time
Personnel Accountability , know who is where and their condition
Member Utilization, everybody works for the common good
Pre-Planning, prepare for the worst, think ahead
Bonding in powerful life relationships
Community Service, cat in tree, pool fill, non fire service calls
Effective Mobilization, calling out the troops in time of need
Fellowship in leisure activities, work hard, play hard
Emergency Reaction, no committee decisions on an alarm
Training, the only usable personnel are trained personnel

Take a look at the picture above. A college age woman is using a Dry-chem portable extinguisher on an imaginary fire. She has been able to hold the extinguisher, feel it’s weight, hear the sound it makes when it discharges, see its range and operate it in a safe environment. She has no doubt been taught the mnemonic,P.A.S.S. Pull Pin, Aim , Squeeze, and Sweep. Imagine how her success at reducing property loss and mitigating a hazardous situation has been improved by this training. Experience has taught that well meaning people without training have failed miserably in using hand held extinguishers. More than one person has dropped a CO2 extinguisher in panic at hearing the loud roar it made when used. Many frightened people have not pulled the safety pin, and strong men have broken many handles squeezing with all their might against the safety pin. The extinguishing agent does no good against fire if not directed at the base of the flame from the proper distance.
For the cost of a refill, $38.00, this woman has been made into a firefighter who could save millions of dollars. No doubt she sees now what area the tool covers, and now understands how big a fire may be combated with this device, and has been taught when the battle is worth fighting and when to bail out. An extinguisher in the hands of a trained person is a firefighting tool. An extinguisher without training is a red can on the wall that pleases insurance companies and is usable only as a door stop.

At church and in His service we fight the very flames of Hell. How much training do we provide? Pastors have seminaries [I have deep rebellion issues on this one that I will get to later] , Lay leaders have conferences, but does the guy or gal in the pew get training? Training applicable to real world scenarios? It just does not seem so. Here is a great read by Willohroots commenter Michael Bell, found on the Imonk site where we met.

Michael Bell

How To Stop The

Hemorrhaging:

A Follow Up To The Pew

Forum Data

May 15th, 2009 by iMonk

“As noted earlier, before the age of 24, most of those who will leave have already left, whether they be Catholic or Protestant.”

Mike points out What is happening, here is my take on Why: They are untrained. Putting a firefighter in a position of danger without proper training and equipment is a recipe for disaster. Best case scenario, he will quit the service feeling he is a coward and a failure, or worst case, he will die. The church is too often presented as an island of comfort, a refuge from a world of sin, a safe society where sin is presented as “their” problem and we claim to have overcome. When a young adult is loosed into a world of all nature of sin the flames are too much and the options are either to beat a hasty retreat or be consumed. There are some time honored training methods available to us, and we need to teach and preach them if we are to succeed. Here are some areas that we need to address:

Witnessing, not tracts, not acting plastic, but sharing Jesus in a real and meaningful way.
Confronting sin face to face, retreat is not the only tactic.
Preparation for condemnation from the world , it is going to come, be ready, your professors [most] think we are crazy.
Real world issues are not black and white: divorce, sex, drugs,etc, must be understood – not simply condemned.
History of the Bible and the Church, in truth, warts and all, knowledge is power and many of our youth are powerless.
Evils of the Church, we are His bride, but we have messed up a lot, from crusades to defense of slavery, the truth is good to know.
Denominational Distinctives, we do things differently, get used to it. Sure ,’we are right and they are wrong’, but God forgives [whoever we are].
Sin. Sin is fun in the short term. Admit it and do not fear, we face nothing alone, He is there.
Forgiving, forgiving , forgiving

The church has a choice, to be a a life raft floating on the sea of society, tossed by the waves and adrift, or a surf rescue society, trained people with a mission deliberately putting ourselves in harms way , with purpose and mission , to head out into danger for the purpose of rescuing the lost and drowning. We can be strictly a social hall, offering a nice place to have fellowship, or with training and the weapons provided by God, rolling out with a higher purpose, saving the lost from the flames that never die while keeping each other as safe as possible in a hostile environment.

We were saved to serve, not sit. Our service cannot be done without preparation. Next post, Training. What say you? Are you trained? Have you been to some good classes? Share, we all need to keep sharp.

6 Comments

Daughter Gradutes Cum Laude , BSRN

May 18, 2009, 20:35
Filed under: History, roots of Willohroots, Uncategorized

6 Comments

What am I doing here?

November 3, 2008, 04:28
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: churches, God, Pastors

Did you hear the one about the guy who tried to start a church? Some times I feel like a punchline. I am setting up this blog to find kindred spirits or at least kind read spirits with whom to share the joys and woes of working for God. It would be nice to get advice and encouragement from afar. Or aclose. I’ll take it any way I can get it. Here’s the sit rep.

God called me into the ministry in 1977. Being the fool sinner I am, I told Him No way. This was not my brightest moment. The Creator of all communicated with me in a real way and I got in a fight with Him. I told Him I did not like churches, could not stand preachers, thought church members were hypocrites and lame brains. There I was at Wilkes College down by the river bank, watching the Susquehanna go by, yelling at God. I am not even Pentecostal. Yep I won that fight, Showed Him who the captain of this ship is. I’ll sing for you, I’ll preach here and there, but shepherd that flock of yours? No way. Did I say I am a pastor? I still find fault with churches, in fact they rally tick me off [mine included]. I get along with a couple of preachers, but the line up on TBN mostly bring out the worst of my thoughts. I still think churches are full of hypocrites and lame brains but now that they have made me head lame brain I feel better. We are working on the whole hypocrisy thing. We are full of them, but have room for a few more.

The bigest difference between then and now is that i love these people. So varied, so diverse in age, race, back ground, education, at various levels with their walk with God, I love these people.

So here I am. That’s me, next post is the church.

2 Comments

What Kind Of Place Is This? I. : The Origin

November 3, 2008, 15:00
Filed under: History, roots of Willohroots | Tags: church, dayspring, pastor, preacher, SBC

Dayspring Bible Chapel does not readily fit in to any of the accepted categories. By that I mean, we’re not really an existing work as we have all new people, new name, we’re creating our own new traditions, but then again, we’re not a new start either. The branch that is Dayspring grew from the stump of something called the Wyoming Valley Baptist Church. Let me give you a quick history. In the seventies the SBC looked at a map and decided that Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, really needed a southern baptist work. Now the area had quite a few American Baptist churches and Independent Baptist churches, but was predominantly Roman Catholic with Methodist and Presbyterian presence. What church a person attended was by and large based upon his or her ancestry. Later european immigrants were RC, earlier English and German immigrants were not.

A tent revival was held and I’m told two hundred people walked the aisle. A church was needed to house these people so Wyoming Valley Baptist Church was formed. When the church’s temporary headquarters was leveled to put in a bypass a new building was sought for a permanent home. A fellow named Pacey ran a bar/shoe store on River Road in Plains. I find that an odd combination. Pacey was being charged by the stool (barstool) for his sewer hookup. He told the town fathers that he didn’t like that and for spite would sell his building to a religious organization that would not have to pay taxes just to teach them a lesson. He actually threatened to sell to a black religious organization but there were none in the market for a bar/shoe store at the time. The building was purchased and the SBC went to work.

I love how SBC churches work together when they have a mission, and the mission of destroying a bar, it seems, brought them great glee. They built a really nice meeting hall for approximately 100 people. They gave some donated bibles and hymnals from a church in Flordia that had upgraded, helped them call a pastor, prayed for them with loving hearts and turned them loose. While this was all done with the best of intentions, it didn’t work out. I can safely say that it didn’t work out because they went through twenty two pastors in twenty five years. What really had been built was a meat grinder for pastors, their families, and the believers who loved them. Put the latter into the mix, wait a little while, and watch the bleeding mangled mess that comes out the other side.

Now as all good southern baptists know, right next to the soverignty of God is the autonomy of the local church, so that when some mess like this exists the cure can only come from within. I admire the courage of the men who accepted the call to this work. I am forced to admire their courage else I would have to doubt their sanity. Through all of this a core group of “deacons” and key leaders hung in there. They prayed fervently that God would finally have mercy on them and send them a decent pastor instead of all the fellows they had put up with to date. That’s the origin.

2 Comments

What kind of place is this? Part 2: The Middle Kingdom.

November 3, 2008, 22:28
Filed under: Uncategorized

Not long ago and not far away, my Pastor, Tom was running out of church every other week, to go preach at Wyoming Valley Baptist. God had put it on his heart not to let the doors shut. As a bi-vocational pastor, he does something at a Nuke plant, the flock would want to visit with him after services, but he would fly on a twenty minute ride to preach to the “faithful few” ,all three of them, at WVB. The weeks he was not there Walt, a very good bible preacher was.

The solution was to send me. When I started preaching there my girls’ idea was to just to invite all three of them up for breakfast and preach over desert. [Baptists have desert even at breakfast, it is a hobbity thing] It was not a bad idea, I am a great breakfast cook and only a fair preacher, but that is just not How Things Are Done, so preach away! My wife is a very good piano player so they could have had the traditional 2 for 1, but the remnant had there own talent pool. Now I did not marry my wife for her piano playing. I married her because she was, and to me still is, the hottest woman in the world. Any way I was now a preacher. The remnant liked that. I don’t think they liked pastors.. Pastors have some authority. Preachers were fine, you see them on Sunday they educate/entertain and move on. And do not forget the altar call, visitors or not, it is not church without 1. Alter call, 2.Doxology, 3.Prayer request/Testimony, 4.Plate passing, 5.Traditional hymns, 6.Message, 7.Cupcakes.

The 7 essentials were fine with me as I was just the preacher, and hey, they gave me $50.00. So I preached and they were happy. Some people returned to the church some new folk showed up. My family my and I were miserable. We were disconnected from two churches, as every other week left us out of the loop. Also there were control issues. The three remnants were 1 family. Husband, wife, husband’s mom. He was the Deacon, she was the Boss. This went on until the church grew enough to call a real pastor. The same people using the same methods that had failed so many times before went on a pastor hunt.

As happened many times before, they loved this guy, …at first. As the honey moon turned to civil war the pastor got me to join. I then was involved in a painful process that saw another pastor down the road and the church reduced to about 10 people. ” Could you come preach for us? ” AgAIN? but now I was a member. read, ” What kind of place is this”, Part 3 The Great Flood[s]

4 Comments

Avoid Guilt By Association, be a NINNIE

December 13, 2008, 10:16
Filed under: Crazed Thought

How to avoid Guilt by Association be a Ninnie!

I am going to become an Neo Independent Nondenominational Neighborhood Isolationist Evangelical. That would be NINNIE, for short. I will stop reading ANYONE’S books, blogs or articles. I will associate with no one and go no where. That way nobody can GBA [guilt by association] me. Actually if somebody does, I won’t know about it.

All my fellow Ninnies will meet to worship in individual cubicles, so as not to associate with each other. We will deny membership to anyone who would want to associate with us, or anybody else.
We will practice 5th degree separation, refusing to associate with anyone who CONSIDERED associating with anyone. By the way 3rd degree separation is refusing to associate with Masons and 4th degree separation is refusing to associate with Knights of Columbus.
You will not be able to accuse us of preaching prosperity as we will reach no one, and to avoid conflict we will have no ministry. We will be against both out reach and impact.
It is not hard to be a Ninnie, just hard to be friends with one. For more information on the NINNIE movement don’t dare contact me or any of us, we will not associate with any of you, we just don’t know with whom you have associated.

Comment:

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9 Comments

Tasers for Christ, Shocking Love

January 24, 2009, 11:29
Filed under: Uncategorized

There is much talk on the web these days about church discipline, as well there should be. There is also a lot of information on youth ministry. So with tongue firmly in cheek, I offer this imaginary blog post. It was inspired by a post, by a true servant of God who is in youth ministry. Pray for him, it is a rough job! The following has no basis in reality, but I hope brings a chuckle.

YouthMinister Blog says…

We had a lock in last night. 27 youth were confined in the church basement with pizza, games, cool Christian movies ,and surround sound Casting Crowns and News Boys. The pastor organized the event, but was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict with his Christian Bridge Club. I have never been invited to this club, it must be about bridging the gap to the unbelieving, I think.

Things went well. No one died. I had 5 Red Bulls to keep going and I still feel great. The shaking is subsiding. There were a few problems. Two 7th grader girls were hanging on an an 18 year old boy and try as I might to communicate the undesirability of this they refused to cooperate. One girl who is a member of the church and should know better was just behaving poorly. It was a bit frustrating. Well I am going to the clinic now. My wife says it is not a good sign to have nose bleeds and facial tics, but the other youth ministers have the same simptoms so it can’t be bad. Maybe we should have prayed before we started the night off.

Willohroots responds:

Ah, an opportunity to teach church discipline! Good luck with that. We live in a culture without discipline, hence your problem.. I used to do teen ministry. I am thankful that it is past tense. I would suggest using a Taser, since I am not in your church and will not be there when it all breaks lose. I will read the news on the blogosphere, “Youth minister Tasers two 7th graders for raging hormones and an 18 year old just because. He then Tased a member of his own church and held the button down till the battery died. ” I guess you can’t do that, but would not Student Ministry be more enjoyable if the most heard quote was, “Don’t Tase me man, don’t Tase me!” ? I mean more enjoyable for you. I’ll bet we would get a lot more volunteers to work with youth if we issued Tasers. Hey this isn’t like adultery is it? You know where Jesus said don’t even think about it? Naw, can’t be. After all there is no commandment “thou shall not Tase.” Can you not think of a young person that a few thousand volts administered at the appropriate time would not be a blessing? Spare the volts and spoil the child. Tasers are small, relatively inexpensive and their use takes little training. Life Way will soon offer Tasers at a reduced cost to SBC churches. AoG churches offer their own version,” Slain in the Amperage”, which has the added feature of causing the target to speak in strange tongues while voltage is applied. The Methodist model is not recommended, as it consists of a recording that says, “Imagine you were Tased, Hurts doesn’t it?” Shalom,, and you better pray before you open the doors to youth!

17 Comments

Close the Church of Christian Criticism

January 27, 2009, 09:11
Filed under: Uncategorized

The Internet has been a real blessing to me. It has enabled me to continue my education, expand my Christian contacts [like you, I hope, dear reader], entertain myself with youtube and blog-reading and even help me to witness the Truth in love and minister to those in need. It also drives me right out of my mind.

In the past I could ignore those groups of people who say they are Christian, and may well be , yet practice something I find disturbing, like snake handling, or legalism. Now I am exposed to things I formerly was able to ignore. At the top of my personal Ignorance list was the existence of a cottage industry full of vehemence and bile, that group of people who say they are Christian and spend their lives criticizing everything that happens in a building with a cross on the roof. Don’t get me wrong, there are some loose wingnuts on the wheels of modern Christianity, and pointing out the insanity is healthy! I am not talking about those of us [me] who desire to point out wackos and frauds; I mean people who take on whole denominations, entire -faith-groups of mainstream believers, or really well known figureheads of the faith.

Is there any point in declaring Billy Graham to be anathema? All right he is old and says some odd things today, but have you read his stuff? Did you see his track record? If we were all anathema like Graham there would be a lot more Christians. Is it necessary for the Kingdom to declare John Macarthur a heretic? I have problems with dispensationalism, the whole Jesus just making a touch and go but not really landing is odd to me; I don’t own a Scofield, but MacArthur preaches the gospel! If you do a little googleing you can find somebody against anybody! It is not only individuals that get the indictment of heresy, the Southern Baptist Convention is working for the devil if you listen to some. Now I have been in the SBC tent for 12 years, there are issues. Are they apostasy? Are they anathema? Again, if you look you will find some group nailing away at another group as if they get paid a quarter a word.

Has the discernment of God’s people so decreased that we can not tell a Todd Bentley from a Ravi Zacharias? We can’t perceive a difference in message from Benny Hinn to Tim Keller? We can’t see a change in group dynamic from C.M.A. to the K.K.K.?

We need to read and follow Paul’s advise to the Philippians, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.” I listen to a lot of sermons. I am not seeking an error in another’s ways, I am seeking to be fed on the word of God. If there is something on the plate I do not like, I don’t throw the whole dish to the ground and condemn the cook, I take what I like and praise the meal.

Please look out of the box you live in. Look at Europe. Can you call it Christian? Have you seen England? Do you think we live in an age where we can pick each other apart without serving the Enemy? It just can’t be that hard to separate the wheat from the tares. People my age will remember the Supreme Court decision on pornography. In attempting to define it one judge said, “you know it when you see it.” That definition did not stick, but come on, you know it when you see it. I do not think you need a PhD in theology to know good doctrine from false. Good doctrine may not be perfect doctrine, but it is not purposely false. As for false doctrine, you know it when you see it, it is a lot like porn.

44 Comments

Image is Everything

January 31, 2009, 10:19
Filed under: Uncategorized

So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Gen 1:27

The question on the table is what does it mean to be made in the image of God?
The word image is translated from the Hebrew word ,Tselem. The Definition given on Blue Letter Bible is as follows:
a) images (of tumours, mice, heathen gods)
b) image, likeness (of resemblance)
c) mere, empty, image, semblance (fig.) In my words, we are a model. We are a representation, [or should be, or could be] of something much greater than ourselves.
If we are a work of art, God Himself is the subject we are modeled after. Now a model of a 747 CAN’T FLY, AND NOBODY CAN SIT IN IT, Because IT IS A LESSER REPRESENTATION.
Please do not say God made us little gods and please do not say that I said that, that is not the point. We are little models of God. What does that mean? Well, as God can create, so can we. As God can imagine, so can we. As God can emote, so can we; and, the biggie, we are Triune beings. We have a body, we have a soul, and we have a spirit. You can’t argue with me on the first as you are corporeal, the second one is the basis for most religion and discussed a lot in the bible, and what animates and feels love, rebellion, happiness , etc. is your spirit . Blessed are the poor in spirit said Jesus and Deut 2, God hardened Sihon’s spirit, etc.

So here we are little models of God sitting around wondering if the model maker exists. For this reason I find the tragedy of Atheism almost humorous.
So if we are in His Image we should be capable of being like, and thinking like Him, right? Well, that was what the Devil said in the garden, you can be like God, in fact that is the cry of the cults still to this day, be like God in___ easy lessons. Our first parents ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we can be like God!
That did not work out for us. The world we live in today is a result of people thinking they know right from wrong better than God. We call that Sin.
God then gave us rules, so we would know right and wrong, and although that did not work to have His models act like Him, it did show us what sin was, and is. Jesus came not only to teach, not only to provide Divine forgiveness, but He came so He could go, and in leaving this realm physically , to send back a Helper who would do something amazing, give us a God like Heart, be our conscience when our conscience fails, to teach, guide, assure, reveal, guide us into repentance, and so fulfill the prophecies that our hard hearts would be transplanted with hearts designed closer to the original model, that we would have the mind of Christ and the heart of God. For us to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and thereby really be an image of our Creator, we need to stay in the Vine that is Christ,(John chapters 14, 15, 16, 17). That pleases God! We then bear fruit. Not through our striving or our efforts, but through abiding in Christ. (Submit to Him by trusting Him for all.)
During the World Wars, from what I have read, naval officers and lookouts studied recognition models, models of ships at various scales, so that when something appeared on the horizon they could recognize it. I wonder, if someone used me for a recognition model, would they get an idea of what my God is like?

Hebrews 1:3 in speaking about the Messiah says:”Who being the brightness of [His] glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” Christ was an express image. The greek suggests a printing engraver’s plate that stamps out the same image when pressed into a medium, in other words, when the world pressed the Savior He left the image of God. If you want to know the character and characteristics of God look at Jesus. In fact the Greek word for image in this verse, charakteer[sp], is where we get our word character. If we are serious about being an image the way we were designed to be, we should pray.

Heavenly, Glorious, God, may we model Your love and compassion for all mankind and never reflect to the world in such a way that would make You look bad. This is impossible for us, but all things are possible in Christ, so we pray in His name for the Spirit to mold us daily, Amen .

22 Comments

Baby Jessica, Will you pray for her?

February 1, 2009, 08:30
Filed under: faith

This is one of the struggles in our church, Dayspring Bible Chapel. Please read this and support us with prayer. Thank you

Patty said 6 hours ago:

We do need your prayers. Baby Jessica was born on April 21,2008 weighing 5lbs 7ozs and perfectly healthy. On August 5th, almost 4 months into her young life she was life flighted to Hershey Medical Center. She was near death with her eyes sunken, her abdomen sunken and her soft spot on her head sunken. She was in renal failure and her liver was shutting down. She was bagged for urine and there wasn’t a drop. Jessica had no tears when she cried. She was ashen gray and lethargic. Her weight was just 6lbs 13ozs, not even a pound and a half since her birth almost 4 months ago. Little Jessica’s condition was the result of being starved by her birth parents. As our Jessica laid in the arms of angels the doctors worked feverishly to save her life. She responded immediately to being hydrated. Her kidney’s started working again and the rest of her body was coming back to life. She is a miracle of God. She started to eat with no difficulty at all and gained almost 2 pounds in 5 days at the hospital. Children and Youth were called in. They contacted us to see if we would take Jessica when she got out of the hospital so she wouldn’t have to go in to foster care. Jessica’s mother is my husband’s sister who has had her other two children, now 6 and 8 years old, taken off of her 4 years ago.
Jessica came home to us on August 15th. She was so tiny and frail. She is the most lovable sweet baby. She gained another 3 pounds in the first 6 days we had her. She is doing wonderful now and is perfectly healthy again, praise God! Jessica’s case was handed over to the District Attorney, but charges have not been filed as of yet. I have found out that Children and Youth may not have gotten needed medical records for the DA to prosecute and the charges may be dropped. My husband and I went to Hershey ourselves and got the records and are presenting a package to the DA on Monday 2-2-09, with the records, pictures and a letter to explain to the DA why justice needs to be done for Jessica. Children and Youth are planning to put Jessica back into the home of the people that almost murdered her. Her birth mother is an alcoholic among other things, with a good size criminal record and had her other two children taken away from her. Her supposed birth father, has a very long criminal record that includes assault and battery (on a woman) terroristic threats, drugs and alcohol abuse. Jessica would be in grave danger if she were to go back with her birth parents. We are trying to get a lawyer for Jessica, pro bono. I have gone from full time to part time employment to take care of Jessica and we have 3 other kids at home to take care of. Money is tight, but God’s grace and blessings are incredible. There is a court hearing February 25th for the courts to give Jessica’s birth parents visitations. Right now we have to take Jessica every Tuesday for “parenting classes” with her birth parents as ordered by the court. These classes have proven to very traumatic to Jessica. She goes in screaming and comes out crying or she falls asleep crying. But Children and Youth claim these classes go “wonderful” I have learned this is an organization that only cares about parent’s rights not the child. When we got Jessica most of her hair was gone from her pulling it in anguish when she was being starved, and she also would not sit in a car seat without screaming. Since we have had her she has stopped pulling her hair and she goes in the car seat. Since these parenting classes, though, she is pulling her hair again and is crying in the car seat again. She was very friendly to strangers and now she just buries her head in my shoulder and won’t go to anyone without crying. She is being made to suffer again by being made to be with the people who wouldn’t feed her. Please pray first of all that the DA presses charges very soon and they are convicted. Please also pray that Jessica will never have to go back with her birth parents again, unless they have changed their life style of drugs and alcohol and abuse. We dedicated little Jessica last Sunday. It is all in God’s hands. We pray for wisdom for us to do what needs to be done to help Jessica get justice and for her to be able to live in a safe loving, godly home the rest of her life.

Willoh… Jessica was Daysspring’s first baby dedication. Please pray for protection for Jessica, strength for Patti and Bob, and that the justice system will protect this beautiful little baby.

11 Comments

SBC ANNOUNCEMENT [or alphabet soup]

February 3, 2009, 18:59
Filed under: Crazed Thought

The SBC announced through the NAMB that the BF&M will be available 24/7, am/pm/ , to the members of the NEPBA and other groups within the Pa./NJ BCC . Also the NASB and ESV will be available for ESL classes ASAP.

Also the SBC will ask the WMU and CBF to watch their P’s and Q’s .

Be advised the IMB states the GSEC in the GAP motivates the CPMS according to the ASR.

Most important the NAMB needs to seek the AWOL church member’s POV, PDQ, before they are SOL.

14 Comments

Why is church so hard?

February 5, 2009, 01:00
Filed under: Uncategorized

Don’t say it isn’t. There are too many unchurched believers, burned out pastors, rebellious youth, and empty spots in the pew for me to buy into “easy church”. I have been in many churches and hung out with enough church people ,heard enough complaints and felt and witnessed enough pain to know it just isn’t easy.

There should be less interpersonal problems in church than out. We are all to have the mind of Christ, to be of one mind in our mission, so what gives? Don’t take this wrong, I love Dayspring and our small but growing church family. Being a pastor has turned into one of the greatest experiences of my life, this is not a complaint fest, but there is aways a bit of friction or an issue somewhere. There is aways maintenance and tweaking needed. I spent over a decade as a Vol. Fire Chief, and I find a lot of parallels ,actually a lot more than I would have expected. That said, Dayspring is still the smoothest functioning church group I have been involved with.

Am I jaded? Getting asked to leave a few churches, and being in a soap opera church for a while can leave scars, but from what some of you say and from reading a lot of church blogs, I am far from the only wounded Christian. I have often thought if we hired the billboard next to the church to say.” hurt in your last church, come here to heal” we would pack the place. Still might do that someday. Hanging with preachers has convinced me that trouble abounds. Get some of these guys alone, build some trust and the plastic smile breaks off into a pained grin, and then morphs into a death mask. A lot of these guys are hurting. No wonder Barna says over 1000 preachers leave ministry every month!

All right, maybe some of these guys are their own worst enemy. I have made enough messes myself, but taken as a group, used car salesmen seem happier at their jobs. By the way in a recent poll used car salesmen were called more trust-worthy than pastors. Correlation? I am not a seminarian,[ by choice, by the way]. Some of the most miserable pastors I have met are about one year out of seminary and six to eight months into the pulpit. No offense ,but more classes in humility and a couple less in Higher Biblical Criticism might be a better preparation to serve in a church where the deacons know they will stay and you will move on.

Here is some theory, just theory, please submit your own. Top 10 reasons church is hard. In no order.

People who are sure of being right about eternity sometimes think they are eternally right.
People who have been at a chuch for years feel ownership of it, not stewardship.
Church family blood is a lot thinner than blood family blood.
If the church pays the preacher, and I put money in the plate, then you work for me and I am your boss, right?
I am here to serve God and if you get in my way I will hurt you, in His name. [this one works in the pulpit and the pew]
Why should I examine myself, I’m Saved, Sanctified and Saintly?
My feelings are the most important thing in the church, God loves me, and would not want my feelings hurt, even if it is necessary for growth.
Expectations , realistic or not, must be met or disappointment reigns.
The meter of God’s will is success, God would not back a loser. This success is of course instant and miralulous.
There are ways to do things, and the best ways are the old ways. the argument , “we have always done it like that” is a trump card. [note to Baptists, that means it wins]

Hard as it is, it is worth it to me. I never grew much outside the church, also, I get paid [kind of] to be there. I understand why it just doesn’t pay a lot of people to be there.

17 Comments

Cheery Thoughts for the February Blues

February 5, 2009, 23:19
Filed under: Uncategorized

This time of year many of us struggle to keep a stiff upper lip, or struggle to keep up, or just struggle. The cold, the short days, slow economy, bad news and lack of outdoor activity combine to drag even normally chipper people down. Since some say you are what you think , here are some tasty bits of food for thought.

Never ever think, “oh it can’t get worse”. Never.

The wisest man speaks not until he has completely thought out the, ah , ah, ah, you know, ah…..the thingie.

Why do we pray so well when we’re bad, pray good when we are poor, yet pray poorly when we have it good and pray badly when we are well?

No matter how bad you have it, somebody thinks you have it better than they do.

Never say God does not care about you, or God doesn’t care at all, God cares about all, including what you say.

When you get to the bottom of your pit, be glad it is not a septic tank.

The male Praying Mantis mates once, then gets his head bit off, and you think you have lost your head over sex!

When life gives you lemons, scurvey looks like a good option.

Count your many blessings, they may be tax deductible.

There are times you will feel as useful and noticed as the first “r” in February.

Never give up, it ruins your opponents thrill of victory.

At the door of opportunity, just when you think you got it knocked, you learn you have to ring the bell instead.

All the stuff you learned in school was not useless, it kept the teachers off the dole.

Never worry about money, money can’t buy everything, even though everything costs money.

Don’t lose sleep over inflation, unless you are in a life raft.

Prayer is not about asking God for stuff, prayer is stuffing yourself with God.

That’s all I got, I hope it helps. This is as deep as my pool of wisdom runs. Spring will be here soon, the celebration of Resurrection, hang in there!

How do you cope with winter blues? willohroots.wordpress.com

9 Comments

I am a nervous wreck, Post traumatic ?

February 7, 2009, 12:54
Filed under: Uncategorized

I don’t say this lightly. I know a lot about wrecks. I have totaled, smashed up and destroyed, my share of Detroit’s production. I have also responded as a Fire Fighter and Fire Chief to quite a few 10-50’s or MVA’s [motor vehicle accident]. I know a wreck when I see one. The primary duty of the first responding officer is to give a scene analysis, so here we go, this would be my report on myself.

“Arrived on scene, very short trip, to find vehicle still on the road, engine running, two wheels in the berm , driver concious, but stunned, verbally responsive 4×5, no obvious sign of trauma, but somehow entrapped. no visible cause for accident, damage slight, calling for transport of victim for evaluation. Securing scene. “

I mean I am still going to work and church and fixing broken cars and thawing pipes, I an still on the road, but not moving at the rate of traffic. Things are passing me by. My quick wit has a new time delay feature. I am stuck in an unseen rut.

I also am familiar with Nervous. I do have a psych degree and worked in a ward for a while, more than that I grew up with a family that suffered from advance agoraphobia. Fear of the market place. Not wanting to leave the house, mom, or not wanting to leave familiar territory,dad.

Therefore, I feel certified to diagnose myself a nervous wreck. The clinical term for this is Wreckius Nervosis. I got it.

As a Christian I know Jesus said “Don’t worry”, and I don’t. I have been given faith abundant and overflowing. I cast my cares at the foot of the cross. Worry is not the black ice that caused the wreck. I am an Alfred E Neuman poster boy. [If you get that do penance] So I search for a causal factor for my condition. I think I found it on the good old internet! http://www.helpguide.org/mental/post_traumatic_stress_disorder_symptoms_treatment.htm

Here are my symptoms as found on that sight.

Sense of a limited future (you don’t expect to live a normal life span, get married, have a career)

PTSD symptoms of increased arousal

Difficulty falling or staying asleep
Irritability or outbursts of anger
Difficulty concentrating
Hypervigilance (on constant “red alert”)
Feeling jumpy and easily startled

Other common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder

Anger and irritability
Guilt, shame, or self-blame
Substance abuse

Sugar is a substance people, don’t panic, so is caffeine, and I am beating myself with both. I don’t know how I got it , but I got it. The hyper-vigilance thing is a real hoot. My wife wakes me up gently and i leap up ready for battle or bail-out. My daughters say,”dad” and I grab guns, fire extinguishers, tools, rope and a flash light. I am ready baby! Sometimes even I have to laugh at my self. This reaction is odd for me, as i spent 16 years with a two way radio that 24/7 would alert me to some ongoing mess I was supposed to go and take charge of,hopefully improving the situation. Never once did that alert really freak me, the “man on fire in yard” call got my eyebrows to raise, but I took it all in stride. Iam the son of the son of a fireman, grew up in a firehall, no less was expected. Actually in a few towns where I did mutual response i was often the guy people looked to when the sewage hit the fan. Now the cat knocks over a picture and I am stress city.

The only problem is, I never thought I went through anything to warrant PTSD. I was never kidnapped or in combat [bar fights do not count], or abducted by aliens with their fiendish probe. i did not suffer abuse as a child nor have i been in natural disasters[other than flood recovery 4x]. I guess it can add up, a cumulative effect. Multiple car wrecks, chronic pain syndrome, bad fires, cancer operations, getting bounced from church, [just as bad as a wreck or cancer, honest], raising daughters, changing jobs, false diagnosis, paralysis, death of friends and family.

I just read that, no wonder I am PTSD! Revelation! I never listed it before, boy do I feel better. My Jesus was with me through it all. He used these things to mold and shape me, never letting go of me for a minute through all this. He made me a man who cares about Hospital visits. He made me to understand pain and weakness. I went through what I had to go through to really love the people I minister to, and I do love them dearly, each and every butt-pain one. I would die for them. So I have PTSD, Jesus will get me through this too. His track record with me is amazing!

The purpose of Willohroots is conversation about the things of God and His people, this is off subject, but it felt good to say it. i will not make a habit of this.

6 Comments

What church should be, not hard, not sin

February 8, 2009, 18:48
Filed under: Uncategorized

Having read here, and in many articles and blogs, criticisms of the state of the church today ,and ”Why Church is Hard”, it is my turn to offer an opinion. See if this has the ring of truth.

Imagine for a moment a place where you could come and not be judged. A place where you would be safe to be honest about yourself without fear of being put down for your short comings. A place where these words were honored.

Judge not, that ye be not judged.

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

There should be a place where I can go and get help with those things that trouble me, a place where my weaknesses are looked at as a source of ministry, not condemnation.

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

I long for a place where everybody shares common values, has a common mission, and is unified by a Higher Cause.

“Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,

make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
do not {merely} look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,”

Could you imagine the joy that would spread if there were a group of people who were sworn to love, to love even you no matter who you were or what you had done. A place where people lived by this commandment:

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

What if we could worship in a place without false righteousness, where the only thing righteous was the Blood of Christ, not the Preacher, or the Deacons, or the mega-tithers, where we were all sinners looking to Him for mercy?

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The Reason church is hard is one word, SIN. We have decided we know more about what is right in His Church than does God. Is that not the very definition of the Original Sin? Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Based on that meal we now know more than God about how to assemble and what to do. The church needs to hear the criticisms of Rob and Chris. They are not fools, but brothers in the Lord, reporting the conditions they see and what they have experienced. Their experience, like mine and most likely yours has not all been positive.

So they say get rid of full time Pastors. They say it is the Church building, or the culture, they blame the denomination, or the Seminaries [I will own that one] , but the truth is we are to blame, we sin. The bible tells us all we need to know about being a true family, a bride deserving of her Husband when He comes again. The answer is in scripture and in prayer.

Worshipful Father, merciful Author of reality, we ask forgiveness for not following your Word in our assembly. May the Holy Spirit bring a season of Revival to the Bride, that we may truly love your people in the image of the Risen Savior, Jesus Christ the Messiah.

12 Comments

Music, Do We Worship Wierdly?

February 13, 2009, 09:39
Filed under: Uncategorized

Jeofurry and some French guy were listing their favorite Hymns over at Jeofurry’s Jesus Journey. I would like to sing with them, I guess I know 18 out of 20 of those beautiful songs. Putting on a harmony to one of the old hymns of the faith is a worshipful experience . It got me thinking about our play-list and the fact that Dayspring Bible Chapel plays some really odd music, for a church. We never planned it, our list just grew as we found something. Here is a portion of our play-list, done with 2 guitars, two female singers, an organ, drums, and me singing back up.

You got to serve somebody, Bob Dylan
Jesus is the answer, Jesse Dixon
Why me Lord, Kris Kristofferson
Jesus on the Mainline, traditional
Testify, Me! [what a blessing to here people sing my song!]
Put your hand in the Hand , Gene MacLellan
Rock my Soul, Peter Yarrow arrangement
Oh Happy Day, our own arrangement based on Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Angel Band, the Stanley Brothers
People get ready , Curtis Mayfeild

I’m using my bible for a road map , Don Wayne Reno

We are working on a Van Morrison song now. These songs are in the mix with some golden oldies and some contemporary Christian music. We do not do endless repitition or songs that seem to thin. Here are some contemporary title we do that you may know.

All in all
Trading my sorrows
God of Wonder
He is Jehovah
All because of Jesus
Forever
Sing
In Christ alone
Cry out to Jesus
He reigns

We have a gig at a coffee house near the church, pray the gospel message is uplifted. So what do you think? Any suggestions? Comments? How wierd are we?

16 Comments

Read me my rights, Arresting Church

February 14, 2009, 10:17
Filed under: Uncategorized

As an American citizen, I am blessed to live in a country that recognizes I have rights. These rights are not credited to a system of government, but to God himself, and the state has promised not to revoke them. No matter who is in power, or what I have done, I retain these rights and the ability to exercise them, and to have any of them limited in any way takes a costly and complicated judicial process. Even if I lose, due to due process a portion of my rights, I still have protection under the law. My punishment cannot be cruel or unusual, and I retain rights to appeal, and even to protest. We must never cease to thank God for this system and do all we can to ensure its continuance.

Do we have rights in church? If the founding fathers gave credit to God for our rights within a secular community, should there not be rights for the people of God, in His House, in a Sacred community? Do church folk have a right to expect ….anything? In this country do we sign our rights away when we walk in the door of the church? Don’t think I am being silly, the first amendment guarantees free speech. How free is your speech in the average church? Can you disagree? Can you even question? Do you have rights if you are accused? Do pastors have rights? More rights? Less?

I propose a Bill of Rights to establish what may and may not be expected in church as far as intellectual freedom is concerned.

Church shall make no rule infringing on the right to doubt. (Matt. 14:31) And immediately Jesus stretched forth [his] hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” This was said to Peter, and he even though his doubt was mentioned even by Jesus the Messiah, was of certain use to the Kingdom. Doubt itself needs prayed on and is the natural condition of man. Church should welcome, pray for, pray with and love doubters. Most of us at some point will get a turn.
Church shall not abridge the right to disagree. While membership or participation in ordinances requires shared faith; open, honest variance of opinion is part of a free society. Church needs to be a place where debate can take place in Christian love. (Acts 15:39) “ And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;” This disagreement rendered neither unfit for service, and in fact was used by the Lord to further the Kingdom.
The people have a right to bad days, even in church on a Sunday. (John 11:35) ” Jesus wept.” If the Savior allowed Himself emotion why do we feel a need to put on a plastic smile mask at Service? When the people are feeling low they should be most welcome at church, not avoid it because they can’t be as upbeat as their fellows.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, they shall have the right to say “NO” to committees and assignments. (1 Cr 7:23) ” You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” The Spirit that empowers and equips must also motivate; forced labor is often Spiritless labor and does not bear fruit.
The process of Sanctification being ongoing, and incomplete for most if not all, the right to be wrong is not to be abridged for Pastor or Parishioner. Where there is repentance there should be forgiveness.(Matt 18:21) “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? ” We have no right to expect perfection in the Pulpit or the Pew, only in Christ.
The people have the right of intellectual freedom, and may read, listen to, watch, attend, what they will. Some of these choices may be detrimental, but the value of freedom of the mind is so high that allowances must be made and the Holy Spirit trusted to do His work in pruning the branches of desire to conform to to the Vine of Christ. Legalism does not hurry sanctification, but hinder it by denying opportunity for discernment.( Phl 3:8)” Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ,” It was the Holy spirit that changed Paul’s value system and caused him to put those things he formally valued in the septic tank. This right does not preclude loving condemnation of the acts that seem biblically improper, it precludes the condemnation of the person .

So what do you think? Is this fair? is it Biblical? Do you have additions? Disagrements?

Have you had instances where these rights were violated? Here at Willohroots, you have the Right to opine.

9 Comments

“Repent!” Jesus commanded, but How?

February 17, 2009, 00:46
Filed under: Uncategorized

I remember reading a tragic story years back about an incident between a recent immigrant and an armed man. In a horrible case of mistaken identity and misinterpreted intent, the armed man drew a gun on a fellow from Nigeria and said, ”Freeze!” This word was not in the newly arrived man’s vocabulary and he walked forward and was shot. Meaning is everything. There is no communication without shared definitions. Part of a preachers job, the main part, is to explain the Word of God in a way that reaches the heart of the listener. King James Only preachers spend a lot of time explaining the language to the listener. All of us want to make sure the words of the prophets are understood, and the Word s of the Savior made clear.

We are preaching/teaching through Mark at Dayspring. This past Sunday one of the verses read and expounded upon was this: Mark 1:15

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

You have heard this preached as have I, no doubt many times. How many different meanings have you heard for the word repent? Or how many different ways has this very important passage been “unpacked” for you? I remember it preached as ,”an about face, turning away”, J. Vernon McGee says something like that. I have heard it as an emotional experience of sorrow for crimes against God, C.H. Spurgeon leaned on that. Now these are my two favorite preachers, and when they diverge I honestly find it a bit disconcerting. I wish they would all get along, but you know we are Protestant. I do not always agree with these guys, not that I am fit to polish their pulpits, brain but I trust Scripture alone. Sola Scriptura.

So what do you do when the brain-trust is not in agreement? Your home work.

I am not schooled in Language. When I attempted to learn Hebrew in college the wonderful and kind Rabbi Katz, said, “Maybe God has given you other gifts, but language? I don’t think.” Now I had a couple years of Latin , many years of German, and a failed attempt at Russian. These languages, at the level of proficiency I have, are of little use to a bible scholar. I must use a Lexicon and concordance to get an understanding. Let me share my study.

The word repent used here comes from the Greek word “Metanoeo”. It occurs 36 times in the New Testament. Ten (10) times in revelation, and each time it means the same. To change one’s mind. Searching around I see that some scholars add an emotional element, but if I just took the common factor that all agree on it would be, “to change the mind”.

In the Old Testament the word we translate as repent is ” nacham”. It has an emotional element of sorrow, or comfort. It shows as comfort 57 times and repent 41. Obviously there is an element of emotion here, it is almost all emotion.

So what did Jesus want us to do? My degree is in Psychology. I think it gives me a different slant, in a way. I think He wanted us to change our minds. Not change a decision we make like the expression is used today, “I thought I wanted pizza, but I got a burger.” No, I think literally He wanted us to CHANGE OUR MIND . Change it. Change the wiring. Many of the things that we once found to be positive reinforcements now hold no appeal. Things that were once negative, like reading the bible or hearing a sermon now are pleasing. Distance from God that once held no concern, is now considered horrible. Is that not what Paul said, the things I once held so dear are now dung to me? What a change in his mind! Paul studied law after law and teacher after teacher, and ended up preaching the law nailed to the cross and following the Teacher that he once persecuted.

What good is it just to feel sorry for sin? There are those who feel bad each time after a sin but sin none the less for the pleasure it brings. That was me. But when your brain is rewired, when you are deprogrammed from the lies of the Devil, sin loses its grip, it no longer reinforces itself. Metamorphosis is changing form, metanoeo is a metamorphosis of the thought process itself. Understanding the word repent is core to the message of Christ, more important than knowing the word “freeze” when a weapon is aimed. I want to follow the command of the Savior.

The amazing Good News, is that we do not need to do this ourselves! Luke 24:49 ”And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be enbued with power from on high.”

We are blessed with power from God to make this change. That is the Good News, the Gospel, there is a way for us to spend eternity with God. This repentance is a process. Since sanctification is a life long work, repentance will be part of our lives until we depart, or He comes back.

What definition do you wish to embrace? Of course the Christian feels sorrow for causing the Savior to suffer and die, of course we wish we had done better, differently. But is it ours to weep, or to work? Do we sit in a pile of ashes and scrape at the scabs of our sin? No! We pick up the Cross with a changed mind and follow the path of Yeshua the Messiah! The old patterns of thought, self above all, short term reward, disbelief and rebellion do Him no good.

Almighty Father, Ruler of all, thank You for the change You bring into our lives by the Quickening of our souls. Holy Spirit mold the very thoughts of our mind to become acceptable to You. Shape us and mold us. We want to look like Jesus in Your Eyes. It is in His name we pray to You, Amen.

19 Comments

Crooked Judges, Welcome to my Town

February 16, 2009, 23:16
Filed under: Uncategorized

courthouse_sm My county made world headlines! The courthouse mentioned in the news and shown here is 3 miles south on River Street from Dayspring. It is a magnificent building created 100 years ago this year, when coal was king and money flowed. Sculptors and painters were brought from Italy to paint frescoes and murals of local and American historic scenes, and to sing in the rotunda is an acoustic joy. And now this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7887502.stm

Two judges traded the future of our youth for filthy lucre. They even owned a yacht in Florida named, “Reel Justice”. I do not believe America has a Justice system. Justice is beyond man. We have a legal system, and law is an imperfect science. In a time when people seek to remove the 10 commandments from the courthouses in the nation, here is some scripture that should be carved on the walls, or better yet the heart of those who would be judges.

Amos 5:12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate [from their right].

Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: [but] in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

Deuteronomy 1:16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear [the causes] between your brethren, and judge righteously between [every] man and his brother, and the stranger [that is] with him.

Deuteronomy 16: 18,19 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear [the causes] between your brethren, and judge righteously between [every] man and his brother, and the stranger [that is] with him. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

The words of scripture tell us so much, it is time for our culture not to pass them by, but to embrace them. Pray for the Judges to repent. Pray for the victims who were unjustly treated. Pray that Jesus would come with His justice.

6 Comments

Daddy, were you in the Culture War?

February 19, 2009, 23:37
Filed under: Uncategorized

war02 Some of the blogs I read agree with John and Yoko. The war is over, not the war in Iraq or Afghanistan [it seems, unfortunately peace is evasive over there] but the war in America, the culture war.

Not only am I told it is over, the hurtful part is that I am told Christians should not have been a part of the culture war, we should never have been involved in politics, our struggle is in the spiritual world and we should keep our noses out of the business of the country.

Let’s use the Wikipedia definition of Culture war. “The expression was introduced again by the 1991 publication of Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America by James Davison Hunter, a sociologist at the University of Virginia. In it, Hunter described what he saw as a dramatic realignment and polarization that had transformed American politics and culture.

He argued that on an increasing number of “hot-button” defining issues — abortion, gun politics, separation of church and state, privacy, recreational drug use, homosexuality, censorship issues — there had come to be two definable polarities”

I don’t get it. If I live in the United States, [I do], and the USA is a democracy, [it is, well a democratic republic], and I care about the future, [which I do], why should I not be involved in the battle? And it is a battle. Do I need to give up social involvement because Jesus saved my soul? Was that in the fine print?

Let me give my opinion on the culture war issues, and i would like to hear yours.

Abortion, no Christian can LIKE abortion. I do not think the government should fund it. I think churches should be pro adoption, and put their money where their heart is. Don’t try to tell me youth can not abstain, some do. Sex education is health education. Promiscuous sex is unhealthy. Teach that.
Gun politics. I have been raised around guns all my life, I live in the country. I have a gun permit to carry concealed. I will not give up my God given right easily.
Separation of Church and State. I would like to see separation of atheism and state. Separation does not mean disintegration. It surely does not mean the boys on the football team who want to can not pray before the game. This issue has gone way too far.
Privacy. I am a private person. If I am on a long distance call talking about bombs, I would like the FBI to come visit. Please.
Drug use. We need to seal our borders. Seal. Like tupperware. Prohibition didn’t work with alcohol, isn’t working with drugs. Invest in youth, street programs are cheaper than prison. Big area for churches to get involved.
Homosexuality. I feel adults can do what they want. Have a ba.. never mind, but when behavior sickens me, don’t say I am a homophobe. I am not afraid, I am grossed out. I don’t care if they marry, marriage in this country is a joke 52% of the time anyway. [ just my opinion, and not just because of divorce]
Censorship. This is my hardest one. I hate censorship, but Brittany Spears new song about Amy, and two live crew, and gratuitous sex scenes. It is repulsive. I am not against nudity. Nudity can be artistic and beautiful, with out lust, but my eyes are bombarded with dung. Have you tried to see a movie lately? I appreciate the old jurists comment, “Porn, you know it when you see it.” Again you can not legislate morality.

I don’t think Christians can tell everybody what to do. I also think Christians owe it to the culture they live in to be salt.

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Thus says the Savior

What does salt do? My favorite pastor Tom Harmon teaches this about salt: Heals, ask any dentist Preserves, saves from spoiling and rot Melts ice, the world is a cold place Provides Flavor , imagine the country with no Christians! Tasteless!

So I am going to stay salty. I’m not ready to give up this war, I do not want to legislate Christianity, but if we do not add the salt to this country it will fester and rot, freeze over its heart , and have no taste. Maybe that is what this is all about, are we going to have a tasteless country?

27 Comments

Nathan, David’s Judo Instructor

February 23, 2009, 11:50
Filed under: Bible study

_44141875_judo_throw270-1 As part of our study in repentance, started by our study in Mark of the words of the Savior,” The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”, we studied Psalm 51 and the events that lead up to it. It was a great chance to talk about one of my favorite Old Testament stories, the conviction of David by the words of Nathan.

Let me tell you a bit about Judo. Part of Judo is throwing techniques. There is an art here . It is not about using brute strength to pick someone up and bodily hurl them, it is about manipulating the opponents balance, placing yourself in the proper position, and following through. Balance ,position, and follow through, like Golf. In Judo we say break the opponents balance, fit- in, throw. Just like Nathan.

Nathan was charged by God to be David’s pastor. What a job! As King of Israel, David had incredible power, but unlike a pagan king, he did not have absolute power, David still needed to answer to God. Most of us know the story, Bathsheba, Uriah, adultery, lies, murder. David seems to have been alright with his sinner self for over a year. He needed someone to give him a wake-up call, someone to show him just how far off the mark he had fallen. I can’t imagine there would be many volunteers. ”Go tell the King that he is a murderer and a liar and an adulterer, I will wait here, tell me how that went, will you?” It was God that sent Nathan. Now the Judo part.

If Nathan had walked in to the Kings chambers thumping a scroll, or telling David he was hell bound, or saying, “You know, David, I personally am not a murderous adulterer”, David would have had a chance for self defense, excuse making, or to summon the guards to shut Nathan up, for good. Nathan used good Judo. He told a story of cruelty to a poor man by a rich man. He painted a picture of an innocent loved pet, plucked from the loving arms of a poor man by a mean rich man. David was furious! The king would bring justice and punish the wretch who would do such a thing. His balance was broken, and then the fit- in, Nathan set the positions up perfectly, “That man is You”. Davids heart provided the motion for the follow through, and David went down, or at least his vanity and pride did, causing the writing of Psalm 51, the Hymn of repentance.

Isn’t this a model of Evangelism? I know somebody will post,’I was saved by a Chick Tract” , but as we are charged to do the work of an evangelist can we not emulate Nathan. First- engage people in a dialogue that does not cause rebellion but thought, secondly – show them how they, personally, fit into God’s plan for redemption, follow through by providing loving discipleship.

Isn’t this a great model for exhorting a brother or sister who can’t see the mote in their eye? Can this not be used to get the attention of a Pastor who is in error? Nathan did not condemn, he let David’s own conscience make the throw.

Holyer than thou, legalistic, bible banging rhetoric did not work with David, why do we still employ it in the church?

Have you ever had a moment when a friend, a preacher , the Holy Spirit himself played Nathan to your David? Was there ever a time in your christian walk where the Lord brought your sin before your eyes in a dramatic moment? No one ever promised you that the ongoing work of sanctification would be painless.

Have you had the opportunity to play Nathan’s role, used as a tool in convicting some one of their sin against God? How did it work out? Part of the community of Christ is that we can help each other by lovingly pointing out issues that must be addressed. Does your church encourage you to participate in each others life in such a fashion? I am sure God gives such encouragement.

God, help us to speak like Nathan, to hear like David, help us to correct with Love, and be corrected without resentment, all for the Kingdom of Jesus the risen Christ.

8 Comments

I get no respect

February 24, 2009, 22:31
Filed under: Christ

Last Sunday I preached my heart out over Nathan and David and Psalm 51, and most of all Jesus and the Good news. I went a little over, unusually, but then we started a little late too. I had done my homework and prepared a message to soften the heart of the unreformed and uplift the heart of the saints! As soon as I closed in prayer I lifted my head and saw, in the very back row, scorecards. Yes, held high above the heads of the “back row boys” were white placards with numbers to indicate my “performance”. I am a serious guy so I took this seriously, and I thought at first I did OK. A 7.5 from a rough scoring judge, and to my delight, a 9. Unfortunately the guy with the 9 looked up at the score, held up his index finger to me, and quite thoughtfully rotated his card until it read 6 and then nodded. I was heartbroken! Then they laughed and ditched the cards before the church started to mill for fellowship.

I guess some might get angry, or think this out of place in a house of worship, but I rejoice, these guys are miracles. 9 into 6 guy I have known for 30 years. He tried to join a church once and learn about the Lord, but they told him Satan made fossils and to drink one beer meant damnation, also they taught anybody not in their little group pr at least in complete agreement with them was also hell bound. So he quit. Three years ago his uncle, a man he loved dearly died, and 9 to 6 invited me to do the funeral. He has been at church ever since, and was baptized two summers ago as a believer in the gospel of Christ.

7.5 guy I have known and loved for over 30 years. For decades we would debate the affairs of the cosmos. Evolution, God, the bible, and I never won one argument. Two years ago at Wednesday night prayer, we each took a name of someone we loved and prayed for salvation. We prayed the Holy Spirit would quicken dead hearts. I prayed for 7.5. I have taught that God answers prayer. I have had God answer prayer, but when this guy walked into church I could have dropped over. He now describes himself as a Christian, reads his bible as a believer not a critic, prays, and I hope will come forward for baptism. I waited 30 years to get here, I am not hurrying the Holy Spirit on this one.

So I am not mad, I thank God they are there. They take God seriously, but love to torture me. That’s Ok. They are not clowns, they dig into the sermon material and we often go over the same scripture over coffee. I am not there to get them to respect me, my mission is being accomplished.

Today at the gas station I got further abused. Harley man stopped me. I haven’t seen him in a while. He and I met at the church about six years ago when I was pulpit supply [again, long story]. I was walking around the huge wooded back lot behind our suburban church, and Harley appeared. He had a rottweiler on a chain, and a gun on his hip. “If you step on my land I will shoot you! If you are from that church, you are my enemy! I will sick this dog on you you S.O.B.”, and many expletives were not deleted. I informed him that if he liked his dog he would keep it under control, and if he shot at me he bloody well better hit, as that would cause me to loose my religion, and I just might, maybe, shoot back. He liked that. We have been friendly ever since, and he ended up leading the movement to have a neighborhood peace dinner where the church apologized for offending and hurting the neighbors.

So Harley started telling me he has a new God, Uff. His heart is failing rapidly, it is down to 6%. Harley said his family said a novena, it did not help, he prayed to Jesus, and God, but they were “busy”. So the Rottweiler told him to pray to the dog god Uff. He did, and he feels better. No respect, huh? But I know him. He is calling me out. He is dying, and figures if he proclaims out and out blasphemy I will respond. He is right. I will be at his house to talk about Jesus, thanks Uff.

So I get no respect, but I do not deserve any either. I will put on a clown nose [never did it], sing like Elvis [ ok I have done that, kinda] , or stand in front of people to explain the unexplainable and attempt to describe the indescribable , [ I do it as often as possible] and do whatever it takes to get someone to grasp the Truth.

15 Comments

Testimony, Tears, Transition, Joy!

March 16, 2009, 16:49
Filed under: Uncategorized

dayspring-color-poster2 Have you ever had a day so packed with emotions that there was not time enough to express or cherish them? We are more Baptist than Pentecostal, not prone to have emotion sway us, but to follow Paul”s exhortation, “Come, let us reason together.” Today church was much different.

We have started service for almost five years with the other elder in the church [ there were only two of us] reading a passage of scripture I would give him , prayer and announcements. Normally elder Ed would do this with out a hitch, but words came hard, it was his last time with us. God has called him to another ministry. Ed is the strongest man I know. Ed is our local Chuck Norris, and Chuck Norris is famous because he never met Ed on the mat. He is so self disciplined! It shows in his skills as a drummer, in his devotion to the Lord, and in his ability to have victory over the donuts in the cafe’ after worship. He has preached the Truth with conviction and force of purpose from our pulpit, taught in our classes, and dug into his own pocket to help some one who is down and out. Today was the first time I saw this great public speaker struggle, not only with words but with his composure.

I saw the strongest man I ever met cry. His features contorted, his eyes filled with tears, and the same mental concentration that allows his 6th degree body to break wood and stone was just not enough to break the emotions that filled him. He made his announcement that he and his wife were moving on in love.

It was unexpected, his desire was for our little body to understand that there was no conflict, no problems, but the man who was instrumental in Ed finding salvation was offering a different ministry. Dayspring is a mission field. We are not your church on the corner with an established history filled with established Christians, most of us are works in progress, and at the beginning stages at best. We are a group saved only by the Grace of God. We have no programs, no set classes, we are but two years old this Good Friday and have seen lives change.

Oh how I will miss my brother! He paid all the bills, collected the offerings, wrote checks to help people every time I asked him to with never a question. He filled in for me when my weaker health would fail, balanced me when I went too far , actually, really was my right hand man. He moderated our meetings , and brought peace to conflicts with the skill of a Judge of Israel. He was in fact at one point my fleece. When the flood of change came at Wyoming Valley Baptist, and a decision was needed to be made I prayed to God for guidance and direction, and asked that if it were His will for me to be the Pastor he would bring Ed into the fold as I was not prepared at that time to go it alone. God sent Ed, I never asked him to come, and lives have been changed in the name of Christ.

Another wave of emotion followed. I preached some uplifting scripture of hope and then asked a couple to come up and share the hope that God had given them. They testified to lives lost in years of addiction and gave glory to God for bringing them through, finishing by saying they were going to get married after living together for years, as that was the right thing to do before God. They were moving and real and so down to earth. When they mentioned that on the day of my daughters wedding I was with them at 4 am praying to keep them straight and sober, I lost it. I can not believe that my God is so merciful as to allow a sinner like me to be a part of His plan , and be used by Him as an agent of change in the lives of His people. Thank you Jesus.

God can top anything, and did. When I returned to the pulpit a guy in the back said, ”You got a guitar? ” I handed him my guitar and this song he had written about God bringing him to sobriety rang out with the skill of a Nashville musician. He had people singing along to a song they had never heard before. It was very different, and very right for the moment.

The level of emotion brought out some confession and established anew closeness with some of the guys I have been ministering to opening the door to a bi-weekly men’s prayer group. I hope the intensity did not blow the mind of our first time visitor, he had never seen anything like this before, and neither had I.

So transition, testimony , tears , joy, isn’t that life? Ed paid me a great complement, the greatest I have ever heard, he said no one should doubt I preach the Gospel, it shows in my life and in the the church. I will spend the rest of my life trying to live up to those words, and will honor them only with the power of the Holy Spirit. Isn’t God great in His mercy to be part of our lives? Pray for Ed to prosper, and for the men and women of Dayspring to step up. It will take a crew to fill those shoes.

12 Comments

Doctrinal Adultery, Cheating on God

February 28, 2009, 16:09
Filed under: Uncategorized

Word usage, word meanings, morph over time. The word ‘gay’ is the only example needed to prove that point, but there are many more. Adultery today in our secular culture refers to ” cheating” or “having an affair”, which of course means fornication, despite a vow to God not to do so, but sounds better. You might get a better feel for the true concept of adultery if you look at a definition of adulterate.

Main Entry:: ¹adul·ter·ate
Pronunciation:: \ə-ˈdəl-tə-ˌrāt\
Function:: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s):: adul·ter·at·ed; adul·ter·at·ing
Etymology:: Latin adulteratus, past participle of adulterare, from ad- + alter other — more at else
Date:: 1531

: to corrupt, debase, or make impure by the addition of a foreign or inferior substance or element ; especially : to prepare for sale by replacing more valuable with less valuable or inert ingredients /from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adulterate

So many people with whom I communicate have thrown away the gospel of the bible due to adultery. They have rejected the teaching of Jesus because of things the Savior never said . The simplicity and beautiful mystery of the message of the Messiah has been replaced with far less valuable ingredients. In some cases even where the entire Evangelical doctrine has been maintained , ingredients have been added to it that reduce the palatability , making the biblical expression:

Psalm 34:8
O taste and see that the LORD is good;How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

impossible in that setting, as the flavor of the original has been perverted with ingredients never meant to be in the recipe . With Almighty God as the head chef, it takes an amazing spirit of rebellion for the sous chef to add even a pinch of seasoning to the original . Would Emeril have a sense of humor if one of his assistants took it upon his/her self to redesign a signature dish? Emeril’s in New Orleans offers this:

Oyster Crusted Atlantic Salmon
with Dill Preserved Yukon Gold Potatoes, Tuna Bacon Asparagus, Fennel, and Cauliflower Bernaise

What would the career path be of the chef at this restaurant look like if they decided clams are better than oysters? Or basil beat dill, or should be added. How long would a waitress last who took it upon herself to pour a can of spinach over the whole thing,” ’cause, you know, its like healthy and all.” If Emeril has such control over his ‘kingdom’, why do we take control over God’s?

I would like to lay out some of the additions that have done damage, some changes to the recipe that make the Gospel sicky sweet or bitter.

worship or veneration of anyone or anything other than the triune God [God Himself made this a commandment]
rules like “no mixed bathing” or “no dancing”
church membership as a requirement to worship
positions that elevate one sinner above another, we are all sinners
political positions, required voting
denominational distinctives , “factions” is a sin
cultural biases marketed as “religious” [clothing, hair, music styles]
extra-biblical doctrine, 66 books say it all, no more are needed
condemnation of other denominations, watch your own mote
restrictions of intellectual material
forced acceptance of geological or biological histories
“second’ baptisms, concentration on the demonic

What if the warning at the end of the bible applies to the whole book, not just to Revelations? Revelation 22:18 says

I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;

I do not have the guts or bravado to risk the wrath of God by amending His book. Were the Words of Jesus and the writings in the Gospel, the history and wisdom of the Old Testament, were these not enough, that mere man must add to the mix? If there is enough for salvation and obedience and fellowship with God, why add?

Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Is it humble to tell God what He forgot? Please, you be the one to tell Him he left some stuff out, He was not clear enough. I am going to stand over here while you have that talk with Him. Lightning hurts.

I would not mind so much, if it were not the extras that drive people away. It is like people who say, “I do not like pizza, anchovies are too salty for me, and they are gross!”. Ask them if they ever tryed pizza without anchovies and you get a blank stare. They never knew you could get it that way, never knew there was such a thing as anchovie-less pizza.

We know what God feels about stmbling blocks. Let us avoid the millstones and get the unadulterated Word out there. Be humble, your add ons may be right, I am not arguing if they are morally correct, but they are yours! Keep them to yourself. The children of Israel kept worship of Yahweh God , but added to it. Here is God’s opinion of such practices.

Ezekiel 6:9
“Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations.

Mighty, wonderful , loving God we praise you and fall before you, worshiping only You, as taught by Jesus the Risen Messiah, the prophets, the Apostles, as brought to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Forgive us for the errors in our understanding, or well intended but foolish attempts to improve the Perfect. Help us to learn and teach Your Way, Your way, not ours. we ask it in the name of our savior Yeshua Your Son, our Savior, light of the world, amen.

12 Comments

Beware the Ides of March

March 10, 2009, 11:07
Filed under: History, roots of Willohroots

“(3/15/2008) Fifteen years ago this date, two local firefighters lost their lives battling a fire in Pittston City. Today, the community took time to remember our fallen comrades by attending a special Mass before proceeding to the former Water Street Bridge in Pittston City. The bridge would be the focus of events, as it was officially renamed the “Firefighters Memorial Bridge” in honor of John Lombardo and Leonard Insalaco who lost their lives on that fateful day.

Many area departments, including Station 112 participated in the events today. It was our special way of honoring all those who came before us and made the supreme sacrifice.”

“May they never be forgotten”

Photo and quote above from Avoca Fire Dept’s, great site http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.avocafire.net/img/incidents/P015.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.avocafire.net/inciden

Another anniversary coming up. It really doesn’t seem so long ago. As I remember the call came in late in the evening during a serious snow storm. Multiple alarm fire Main St. Pittston. My rural company, where I served as Chief was not called, but at the time I was a member of West Pittston Hose Co. No.1 , a volunteer outfit in the neighboring town. I knew I would have a delayed response, but I thought I might be of some help on the ladder truck. I did not run my red light and siren while responding and would not have needed to, as the streets were deserted.

Route 92 pointed right at the fire, and I could see the smoke “pushing” from the building before I crossed the bridge into Pittston City. As soon as I got parked, Frankie Roman, City Chief at the time, told me to shut the gas main off in the rear of the building and to look for two firemen making their way out the back. Len Insalaco and John Lombardo had gone in the front on Main St, and the floor had collapsed. Frankie asked me to vent the roof ASAP. I never got off the aerial ladder onto the roof. The rubber roof of the hundred year old building was bubbling, and there was no way I would put myself or anyone else on it. We were helpless. We went into “surround and drown” mode. Lenny and John were gone.

There were two signs of love on the rise of the next day. One was Scranton City firemen. Without being called, on their own time, a crew came down to recover the bodies of our brothers. The other was the sign of the cross. On the neighboring building, a cross of ice had formed thirty feet high, dead center over the scene. There was probably some scientific explanation for this, maybe, but those of us who believed saw the cross in our time of loss. Scientific explanation or not, thank you Jesus.

I did not know John well, I still miss Lenny. Our talks covered the full range of firehouse conversation: fires, women, cars, God. I speak about God with more purpose and urgency these days. You never know which conversation will be your last.

Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.“

10 Comments

Do we make the Truth Accessible?

March 2, 2009, 22:00
Filed under: Bible study

CMA church in Flood

Here is a shot of a Church building in my area during the 06 weird weather mini flood. /source flickr.com/photos/lisamulvey/340821980/

The sign on the church says,”The Bible’s treasures are for those who dig for them.” It doesn’t mention swim to them. This photo really shows how many of our churches are viewed by outsiders. Even if you thought there was something of value to be had within, are you going to wade through the muck to get there? Churches can be seen as little islands with a crew of castaways cut off from the mainland of society. If you had the guts, or foolishness to wade to the door, would you find it barricaded with plywood, do you need to pry your way into church?

That water is the wonderful Susquehanna river swelling out of it’s banks. This seems to happen once in a while; our church floods to the point of boat tours of the basement and parking lot on occasion. Flood waters recede, mud cleans up, but this image sticks in my mind. Thirty years ago I was a believer, but unchurched. I had to wade through a lot to get into some churches. The natives know the drill. When to stand, where to sit, who is friendly, and they know the words to the music and when to laugh at the preacher’s attempts at humor. Breaking into the cast away tribe is not easy. It must be done on their terms, their schedules. Not everybody has the ability to get to the island unassisted.

Every member must be a landing craft. We can’t just invite people to come to church, the river is daunting. We must pick them up, or meet them on their dry land, and escort them inside, introducing them to the ways of our particular tribe. Next time you ask someone, “Why don’t you come to our church?’ have this picture in mind. It is in theirs. Take them for a ride in your boat first for a while, them pull up on the shore gently. Take them to church before services, like on a Saturday. Let them get used to the lay of the land of the island before all the scary natives show up. Even friendly natives are frightening when there are more of them then there are of you.

11 Comments

I was RIGHT!, so what.

March 6, 2009, 16:27
Filed under: Uncategorized

pluto1 This is one of my favorite t-shirts from the nice folk at Mental Floss. http://www.mentalfloss.com

Mental Floss makes my family’s favorite board game creatively entitled, “Mental Floss”. We like it better than Trivial Pursuit, a game my family refuses to play with me unless they get to ask sports questions. Always, exclusively, sports questions, and I do not know any answers to that subject. I have learned that by saying “Ty Cobb” [ I do not know who that is] I get one right once in a while and really frustrate them. I excel at trivia because I have always been a reader. I was sick a lot as a kid, hence the lack of sports knowledge, and amused myself in the pre-video game, three channel days by reading.

So I ended up knowing a lot. My dad called me a ”walking encyclopedia of useless information”. My eclectic self education made me stick out in class at school, not as far as I stuck out in gym, [Never ask a gym teacher for a set of written rules for basketball or baseball], teachers loved me or hated me. I was that kid you hated in geography who had read every issue of National Geographic from 1920 on. I was the one in social studies who new about the Hottentots, the one in English Lit. who enjoyed Beowulf.

Having knowledge without wisdom or even maturity is like having a full tank of gas in a sail boat, nice to have but of no earthly use. I argued with anybody that would listen that Pluto was not a planet. In my far less than humble opinion, Pluto just didn’t have the chops, it was a wandering ice ball. And now after all these years, I have been proven right! So what. I value “being right” less than I once did. There was a time in my life I would rather be ‘right than relational’. That is a psych term that means someone will burn their friendship with you before backing down on something when convicted of an issue.

I should not feel too bad about this, it seems it is the Christian way. Pick an issue, infant baptism, divorce, tongues, authority of the local church, Calvinism or the color to paint the lobby. Christians divide. So when we stand before the Great White Throne and Jesus Himself says,”I gave you two rules, love God , love each other, how do you think you did?” we will be able to answer, ” Lord, I never baptised anybody under five, I never remarried a divorced person, I pray in English, nobody told my church what to do, Once Saved Always Saved, and the lobby is a pleasing peach, although we had to throw Sister Emma out of the church over that one.” Do you think it will matter at that point? Are those answers to His questions?

I have fought over many things. I always said in school there are 6 continents. Europe and Asia are one continent and Genghis Khan proved it. I have fought for what I thought was right in church. Biblio-idolatry and legalism are not Christianity. Christ proved it. But now I am getting to an age, or stage where I would rather be relational than right. There are still some things I will hang onto, the pillars of the faith, but there are more and more issues that even if I will not agree with you, I will smile, nod and do my best to love you.

Being right matters less these days. Seven continents, six continents, who cares. Nine planets, eight planets, I still need to do my laundry on Monday. There will be rewards in heaven, crowns I am told. I doubt we will earn them by the correctness of our positions. I will bet I’m right.

6 Comments

Evolution, The Secular Holy Grail

March 8, 2009, 20:51
Filed under: Uncategorized

evolution1 http://michaelkrahn.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/evolution.jpg

M. Krahn has some good posts about evolution. This post is not about evolution, it is about intellectual freedom and freedom of speech, my freedom of speech, and yours if you hold the same opinions as do I.

If you have an inward desire to be abused and instantly labeled an uneducated foolish hater, just question the Theory of Evolution. It is not necessary to deny it, just question it, or emphasize the word theory, and, in most circles today, everything else you have to say on any other subject will be discounted no matter how wise or well formed.

Why has this become the Shibboleth of intelligent conversation? Why is it more appropriate to say abortion is good, or God is dead, or republicans should be exterminated? There is no more egregious faux pas in the halls of academia than to suggest Evolution may be a dead end street. One would assume all educated people are 100% convinced Darwin opened the doors of understanding, but hold on, it just ain’t so!

I have heavily edited Susan Mazur’s article from Scoops. It is not for Creationism, don’t take it wrong, these people may or may not be believers in God the Creator as I am, but they are not Darwinists either, read on.

THE ALTENBERG 16

Will the Real Theory of Evolution Please Stand Up?

By SUZAN MAZUR

AN EXPOSÉ OF THE EVOLUTION INDUSTRY

BEYOND DARWINSIM

“Unless the discourse around evolution is opened up to scientific perspectives beyond Darwinism, the education of generations to come is at risk of being sacrificed for the benefit of a dying theory.”
– Stuart Newman, New York Medical College

”There has never been a theory of evolution.” – Cytogeneticist Antonio Lima-de-Faria, Evolution without Selection

”It works by selection of traits produced by random variations in the genes. That’s essentially Darwin’s hypothesis. I think not. . . . There’s something wrong with the theory. It goes deep.” –Jerry Fodor

Here are more things “smart guys” say.

” He told me that if what is causing change is not selection, then maybe it is some laws of organization, but that “basically I don’t think anybody knows how evolution works.”

”The heritable traits, features of biological organisms – complex or simple – change over time. They change as a function sometimes of variables or other god knows what.”

“But the question that evolutionary theory is about, as opposed to questions about where did life start or something of that sort, the question of evolutionary theory is about when you get these changes in the inheritable structures of organisms – where do they come from? What are the controlling variables? “

” Darwin doesn’t explain how life begins, “Darwin starts with life. He doesn’t get you to life.”

So these guys have questions, more than questions, they see the holes in the logic. All these men are very educated in the field but the article even says they must be careful to mind their tounges . One more quote.

Stanley Salthe, a natural philosopher at Binghamton University with a PhD in zoology – who says he can’t get published in the mainstream media with his views – largely agrees with Lewontin. But Salthe goes further.

“Oh sure natural selection’s been demonstrated . . . the interesting point, however, is that it has rarely if ever been demonstrated to have anything to do with evolution in the sense of long-term changes in populations. . . . Summing up we can see that the import of the Darwinian theory of evolution is just unexplainable caprice from top to bottom. What evolves is just what happened to happen.”

” But neither will most science blogs report there’s a paradigm shift afoot because they share the same ideology as the corporate media. At the same time, the Darwin industry is also in bed with government, even as political leaders remain clueless about evolutionary biology.

“ Thus, the public is unaware that its dollars are being squandered on funding of mediocre, middle-brow science or that its children are being intellectually starved as a result of outdated texts and unenlightened teachers. ”

So will this be reported or taught or mentioned? No. The truth is Darwinism is the anti God. For now. What is important is to be anti-God, not to be honest or correct or well educated.

I am willing to listen to other opinions about most subjects. If the sources above say there are areas of evolution to be debated, I no longer want to be treated like hill-billy cousin with a second grade education when I weigh in with some of my opinions. Here they are.

God created life.
Each specie is designed for a niche by a loving Creator.
Science can not, and should not be expected to explain everything.
The wonders of nature show the Glory of God.
Jesus to this day holds all things together.
Belief in God is not a sign of low IQ.
God explained all this and more in His Word, the bible.
God created the duck-bill platypus to mess with zoologists who believe in evolution.
Man is not evolving, man is devolving further away from God.
You do not have to believe this, the bible says some will not.

Don’t let anybody tell you the case is closed on evolution, it really is just a theory.

19 Comments

Evangelical Grinches, are they Christian?

March 12, 2009, 21:24
Filed under: Uncategorized

grinch12 I have an issue that is really robbing me of peace and sanity. How can a christian be mean? I do not mean on occasion when your tooth aches and your tire goes flat and the neighbors dog ate your newspaper. I am asking about those people who wake up mean and go to bed sour. People who neighbors avoid, who make terrible bosses, who discourage and/or belittle others. I have no doubt you have met one. Almost every church has a few, some churches have a bunch.

How is this possible? And worse, The Barna survey of young people said this,

“One of the groups hit hardest by the criticism is evangelicals. Such believers have always been viewed with skepticism in the broader culture. However, those negative views are crystallizing and intensifying among young non-Christians. The new study shows that only 3% of 16 – to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals. This means that today’s young non-Christians are eight times less likely to experience positive associations toward evangelicals than were non-Christians of the Boomer generation (25%).” http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/16-teensnext-gen/94-a-new-generation-expresses-its-skepticism-and-frustration-with-christianity

One explaination is, we deserve it. This is what frustrates me most, the group of people who brag the most about the bible act as if they have never read it. Our Savior and His apostles taught well, but we seem to be failing the test. We are not practicing His Christianity.

Mat 6:15

“But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

If you believe as I do , that Jesus was more than a teacher, more than a man, that He taught with authority born of His position, I would think you would be serious about this one. Forgiveness is not an option.

Luk 6:31

“And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Do you need an M.Div. to get this one? You do not need to break it down into Greek or “unpack” it. This is not about reciprocal behavior, the other parties participation is not required. Be honest, do you see people in church, all of them, doing this?

I ask because people are sensitive. How many mean people in a church does it take to drive a seeker away? One. It is not fair, but if one person hurts the sensitive feelings of a broken person who has crawled into church for the first time in a long time, or ever, that person’s chance of remaining to hear the Gospel is greatly reduced. How many mean people does a child need to have contact with before he/she learns church is a bad place?

Mat 5:7

Blessed [are] the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

I need God’s mercy every step of my life. If I understand this verse, if I show mercy to others, God will show mercy to me. Is my lack of seminary training blinding me to something? It does not say to withhold mercy from gays or pregnant teens or the addicted. God loves mercy.

Since we are all sinners saved by His grace, and we sit at the feet of the Messiah to be taught, how do we all fall short of His words from Matt. 7?

Judge not, that ye be not judged.

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye?

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

I take the words of Christ quite literally , if we judge others, a job that, by the way Jesus says He did not come to do, John 12:47, I will be judged in like manner. When I think of the most judgemental people I have met, many are legalists who go to a Christian church. No one could stand up to the level of judgement they render, and Jesus says that is the level used to judge them! I want to judge mercifully, if at all.

So are these unmerciful self appointed judges Christian? How can we possibly tell? Still in Matt. 7 The words of the Savior:

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but

inwardly they are ravening wolves

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.“

What fruits? The fruit of the Spirit, Gal 5 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,faithfulness,kindness,

goodness,gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Sour grapes and lemons need not apply. I write this because the truth is that if we followed Jesus’s teachings everybody would want to hang out with us. Churches would be packed, children would keep the faith of their parents, and none of that is happening. We are not spreading as we should, it is time to take stock. Do you think the problem is with God? His Word? Or could it possibly be us? Instead of being fruitful we have cheapened our relationship with God by adding legalism. We were warned about this by paul in Collosians

“If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world,

do you submit to regulations– “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

Many of us are just not practicing Christianity. We are in a self-made religion that got away from what He tryed to teach us.“ Love God, Love your neighbor.”

Almighty Father, Creator of all created, forgive us, and guide us in love, to love, by Your love, for You are love. Amen

24 Comments

What is a Pastor’s Role in the Church?

March 22, 2009, 19:54
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: God, Pastors, preacher

manatcross

photo from http://www.mvmc.org.uk/testimonies.html[ I love it!]

Most of you know I never volunteered for this job. I came by the way of Jonah . I fought the call for 30 years, but ended up right where God wanted me, when He wanted me, and where he used me. As we changed from a failed 25 year old mess to a vibrant new church start, I changed from a 47 year old supposed escapee of God’s plan, to a living, new, church Pastor. The church is new, I am too. The church went through two floods, death of the head deacon, an exodus of the old school and a name change. I have experienced change on the same order. There is a joy in watching God do a complete make-over, almost as much joy as being the object His remodeling.

My ideas of what a pastor is, what he does, how he interacts with the people God has given him to love, have always been nebulous. I had no model, no education, no human mentor, no clue. I wish I could point to a pastor who made a difference in my life, but although I searched for such an experience, it was not to be. My years as a lay preacher certainly helped to prepare me, to a degree, with bible study and sermon presentation, but were of no help , and perhaps were a distraction or at best a false start for the role I have today.

I am convicted that “Feed My Sheep” is my main task. Jesus’s commandments to ”Love God and Love thy neighbor” are my objectives. I have learned that without the Holy Spirit I can do none of it. There is a lot less of me in me, and praise God a lot more of Him.

What do you think the job entails? What does it exclude? I have learned a lot from the comments of the readers here, but I have much more to learn. Perhaps it is an oversimplification, but so far being a friend to the people in the pews seems to take priority and also be amazingly rewarding.

Tell me, I might not follow your advice, but I will listen.

12 Comments

Tragedy or Comedy, What’s the Story?

March 23, 2009, 21:35
Filed under: Uncategorized

comtraj I have had the conversation, “Does God have a sense of humor?” many times. There are too many examples of ”coincidences” in my life that are so ironic only a loving God could set them up. I have been served my words and my judgements on a silver platter so often it is my the “blue plate special” at the diner of my life. These meals have not been served with bitterness, but with a kind, and merciful side dish of love.

I feel God is a master of humor. From talking donkeys to Jesus’s commandment to the formerly blind man, ”Don’t tell anybody“, there are things in the bible that just break me up. A woman telling David that her husband is well named, Adam and Eve hiding from God, you got to laugh. If the bible does not give examples of God’s humor to you, what about His creation? For every majestic creation like the eagle, there is the comic relief of the dung beetle, and other than divine funny bone, how do you explain the duck-billed platypus.? Or my life?

I view my life as a comedy, not in a shallow sit-com sense, but in a Shakespearean context. A tragedy and a comedy both have elements of pathos and humor, the real difference between them is the outcome. A Midsummer Night’s Dream” has an ending that leaves the spectator with a much different feeling than does Hamlet. The final act of the life of a follower of Jesus the risen Messiah is to be risen like Him and spend eternity with God worshiping and praising Him, so based on that final unending act, no matter what takes place between now and then, life is a comedy.

This attitude helps me fight depression and gives me a positive outlook on others. No matter how bleak the current state of events, my faith in the coming of Christ in power and glory lets me concentrate on the final act. As I minister to others with various degrees of effectiveness, and especially when my frustration levels climb to near the point of despair , it is good that I may get some distance and observe from the second row the play that is unfurling. One of the theatrical presentations now appearing at Dayspring is the story of B. and M. These are two guys who have attended services, Bible studies, and even participated in work days and ministries, but have yet to make a public confession of their belief in Christ, or to show that true repentance has changed their lives. So far that is tragic. The comedy is that they each think they are counseling the other.

I get detailed reports from M. that B. is “coming around” and “doing better” , and corresponding reports from B. that he “had a long talk with” M. and that he sees signs of “improvement”. Each has adopted the other as a ministry. Now on a secular, earthy level, I am sure this is a positive thing, but as a pastor I see the blind leading the blind. The good part is they have bonded and are beginning to care about someone other than themselves. There is undoubtedly progress toward a less self centered existence. The bad news is that each feels superior to the other, considering himself a minister, and the other a ministry. I receive these reports with great interest nodding and saying , “Oh, yes” in a therapeutic manner as self disclosure is always an element. The comic element is the seriousness of the report. One would think that spiritual enlightenment lurked around the corner, but in the last two years or so there has been no great advancement. The progress reports each gives the other has been mostly positive.

I am not posting anything I have not told these guys, but like good actors on the stage they seem ignorant of the voice of the narrator as they move through the scenes of life. When I am with them, whether separately or individually, I speak of Jesus and how he gives meaning and direction in life, how the Holy Spirit guides in wonderful ways, how God can make a message out of a mess, and how someday, sooner or later, they will meet with Jesus, and at that time He will judge the quick and the dead. Better to be quick than dead. I read evangelism books where the hero speaks to the subject for five minutes and, Praise God! , the sinner is face down on the floor begging Jesus to save him from hell. This does not jive with my life experience.

So we watch the drama unfold. Is it a tragedy? A comedy? If the dynamic duo described above realize Jesus is Lord and Messiah, and understand that serving Him is the true purpose of the believer, then what a wonderful comedy it has been! We will laugh at these two as if they were Laurel and Hardy, or Aykroyd and Belushi. But if they continue to bob and weave around the stage, when the final curtan is lowered, what a tragedy it will be. Two talented warm hearted men accompanying each other straight into Hell , each convinced he is somehow serving the other.

Pray it is a comedy. I hate sad endings.

15 Comments

Ticked Off, Anger Manages Me well

March 25, 2009, 22:22
Filed under: Uncategorized

anger_management There have been many time I have failed to manage my anger. Yelling at my dean was bad enough, banging my fist on his desk was way out of line. My wife and I have had some episodes of intense fellowship. We blame genetics. When her fiery Italian blood is up against my stubborn Welsh bones, there is no yielding in battle. We lived by one rule, it had to get settled, no going to bed mad. We were not trying to live by Eph. 4:26 BE ANGRY, AND {yet} DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, some times it was long after dark till we ironed out our situation.

Anger has shut my brain off many times. When the bible tells of of the battle of our new nature against our old flesh, memories of behavior ruled by anger shouts,”Amen!” . By god’s mercy I never killed anyone, or ended up serving time. I sure have hurt some feelings, ended a few friendships, and turned into a primitive brute on occasion. Studying Judo for a decade was a great help in controlling my body, but my mind still flamed on occation.

At 53 I am mellower by far. I would hope the Holy Spirit has been working on my sanctification, a drizzle of wisdom has been added, and some thorns in the flesh slowed down some of the instantaneous reactions that used to get me going. I was wrong to get angry most of the time, but not always. Often it may have been a crime of degree, as in getting angry good, getting mad bad. About 6 years ago when I was pulpit supply at what became Dayspring, I had an occurrence of anger provoked by behavior that would have caused Luther to draw his sword.

Dayspring is on the borderline of densely populated suburbia and the flood plain of the Susquehanna river . we are blessed with 3.8 acres of surprising woodlands right next to river road . One morning as I preached from the bottom of my heart imploring the Spirit of Christ to soften flint-like hearts, my sermon, my labor of love, was drowned out by the sound of a chainsaw. The trustee of the church has told his nephew’s friend’s neighbor that we wanted all the trees cut down and he could have the wood to burn in his fireplace. Although at the time the grounds were deserted 167 hours a week, this Cretan thought 11:35 Sunday to be appropriate for logging at a baptist church.

The sermon was forgotten. The thoughts of denuding this little patch of paradise and the unmitagated gall of harvesting God’s lumber during services was more than I could take. Eventa are a bit cloudy as i look back, but Paul Bunyon’s pick up pulled out with amazing speed for such and old vehicle. It is likely I offered to store his saw for him in a place not normally used as a garden shed. I returned and finished the sermon, as i remember it was on forgiveness. Oh well.

There are still some things that get me mad. those of you following the story here about baby Jessica know that this is an issue that raises blood preasure. [update coming soon, keep praying]
To not feed your baby, to allow a helpless infant to starve and dehydrate, this is a crime against humanity and God . The slowness of”the system” in dealing with an issue like this, well it just gets me angry! Twell me, am I supposed to pray for these people? Really? Can I pray a good Welsh prayer, ”Father bless them with meat to eat, enough to choke on.” I guess not.

Politics gets me mad, I have sworn off of it. Local politics in my area where judges sold the future of young kids for filthy lucre, that gets me mad. People misrepresenting my Jesus, that really gets me mad. I have been blessed never to run across one of those “Jesus hates fags’ protest groups. The thoughts of a soldiers funeral picketed by crazy people calling themselves Baptist brings thoughts of vigilante justice to mind.

Graceshaker has a post about Liam Nelson’s latest movie. It is a revenge flick, like one of the old Chuck Norris films. Get Chuck mad, everyone dies. I can’t watch it. Too much of the old me actually wants to bring my personal justice to the world. The better part of me knows vengeance is not mine, but His.

What lights your fuse? Am I the only guy with dry powder in a spark filled world? Be honest, what sets you off? Let us all pray to be loving, and let God be the judge. And one more question, is it sinful to want to see some folk on judgement day and after? I know God does not wish to see a soul in Hell, but I look forward to eternal Justice. Is that a “my bad”?

13 Comments

Definition, How do You Define Yourself?

April 3, 2009, 09:19
Filed under: Uncategorized

dictionary How do you define yourself? How do others define you? You are not going to escape being defined, if you try we will say, “there goes X, you know the one that avoids defining.” and you will be defined by that, by a lack of definition. Most people do not seek to avoid definition, instead they live for it. I am a teacher, a preacher, a truck driver, they define themselves by their profession. I am a Libertarian, a Democrat, a Republican, defining by politics. I am a Christian, a Jew, an Atheist, definition by belief system [yes atheist is a belief system]. Today a great division of definition exists where we define ourselves by our sexuality, straight, homosexual, transgender, or bi-sexual.

We use words to define ourselves, and the meaning of words change over time in light of the culture. When it was said in the 1500’s the church is an awful place, we meant it was a place filled with awe, now the same statement has a much different meaning. Had I lived 100 years ago I might have described myself as Gay, [usually] , but that statement today would be very misleading. I can not call myself pro-choice, even though I believe greatly in personal freedom, because that term now means something I stand against.

I remember in college, after my conversion to Christ, receiving the yearly placement card I had filled out as an underclassman. In the block that was used to define religious affiliation I had marked atheist. Reading it now was a slap in the face that brought me to my knees once again in repentance. The other choices were ‘Jewish’, that would not work, ‘Catholic’, I did not fit in there even though I tried, ‘Protestant’, I could think of nothing to protest, and ‘Other’. I checked ‘Other’, and wrote in “Christian”. I was a bit upset when it came back to me, Catholic. I tried again, and it came back Protestant. I hand carried it into the registrar’s office and sought satisfaction. “Surely, you have heard of this religion, there are millions of us!” I said in my young adult indignity, “Yes we have”, was the answer, “But Christians are either’ Protestant’ or’ Catholic’”. I still have a problem with this.

These days the church has defined itself to a ridiculous degree. There are Calvinists, Neo-Calvinists, Amillers, dispy’s, Fundamentalists, and more flavors then Baskin -Robbins. I have grown to use Tim Keller’s definition to describe my faith, Orthodox Christian, it works well. The danger of such description is that it may lead to, and does lead to division of the Church. the one invisible catholic [little c] universal Church is wracked with definition to the point of absurdity.

Defining the self is quite an industry. We have whole sections of this at the book store, are you a Capricorn? A type A personality? A Seeker? A Clear? An entrepreneur? The bumper sticker industry thrives on our desire to define ourselves, and others. Emblems for cars define us to the world, will you have your fish symbol with or without legs? Are you a scuba diver, or do you still have Kerry 04 on the bumper. Our cars define us too, a Hummer2 vs a Subaru, a Ford 250 diesel dually, verses a Hybrid. Working in Real Estate taught me a lot about self definition, some seek a home, other seek a badge of achievement.

I have defined in myself many ways over the years.

Reader
Rebel
Scuba diver
Scholarship winner
Judo player
Electrician
Judo coach
Fireman
Adjunct Instructor
Fire Chief
Preacher
Sales Man
Loan Officer
Pastor
Unemployed

I have learned to define myself from a biblical world view, but that has many differing categories , some that change form time to time, some that are the most constant foundation stones in my life.

Sinner saved by God’s Grace
Under Rower
Under Shepard
Clay on the Potter’s wheel
Evangelist
Elder/teacher
Servant

Definitions are important, they enable us to see ourselves , give us focus and meaning, but they can also limit and diminish. I want to be defined by Jesus,” Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” and again ,”Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.“

I want to be light, I want to be salt, and by the power of the Holy Spirit it is my desire that God will use me to season, preserve, heal, melt, give flavor, and show the Way of Christ to a lost world. I want to meet my Savior and be defined by Him in this way, “Well done, good and faithful servant” Is there a more glorious definition? A servant who has been both good and Faithful?

May we all meet at the Throne and hear those words from His Holy Lips.

What definition or combination of definitions do you use, or would you use to describe yourself?

11 Comments

UPDATE, COMEDY OR TRAGEDY? Victory!

April 3, 2009, 20:33
Filed under: Uncategorized

Blogs are not supposed to be am evangelistic tool, but if it works,,,

I Posted a story about M. and B. It was about the blind leading the blind. M. finally found my blog and read the story. His first reaction was that he could really help those two guys, then he realized he was the M. referred to.

Something clicked. He called this morning and asked, “What do I need to do to be Baptized?” He told me he realized his life was a mess and he believed Jesus could straighten it out. I was floored, and thankful. This has been a two year process, with more ups and down than the roller coaster at Knoebel’s grove. Tragedy averted. We will spend some time together this coming week in conversation, I need to be sure he has understanding, but I think his old, dead, heart has been quickened by the Holy Spirit. Praise God! This man has a story that would make a good movie, and the best is yet to come.

I have read many stories where a preacher would preach a powerful sermon, and someone would run down the aisle and give their lives to Christ. I have never personally experienced it, it could be my preaching is just not that inspirational. I rejoice that I have seen people, over time, finally come to repentance and belief. I am just finishing a book Zondervan sent me, “Flickering Pixels”, the author opines that today people’s salvation process not like a light switch , on and off, but like a dimmer switch, slowly ramping up to the light. I want to believe that. It would make me feel good about my preaching, for one thing, and give me hope for the glow of light I believe I am seeing in some at Dayspring. We are up to 6 or 7 in our spring Baptism class, with a few more wanting to talk about it. Not bad for a group of 50 or so.

Thanks for your prayers, and don’t forget B. There is much work to be done in our area, the Field is as white for the harvest.

10 Comments

The Christian Life, a Study in Humility

April 6, 2009, 18:01
Filed under: History, roots of Willohroots, Uncategorized | Tags: fool, God, humility

humbledman Does humility come easy to any of you? If so you have my respect and God forgive me, envy. Don’t worry , I will get rid of the envy by leaving it at the foot of the cross, and repent, but I could not deny it without false testimony. Humility has NOT come easy to me. I always wanted to be the “….est” at something. Smartest, coolest, toughest, quickest, some measure of outstanding achievement or performance. It may have been a result of being the youngest [there it is again], smallest[oh boy], fattest [no brag there], kid in my class. Reasons and rationalizations aside, I sought niches in which to excel. I wish I could tell you that this was channeled into socially acceptable, God honoring categories that led me to be a leader of industry and achievement, but that would be going back to the whole false testimony thing. A lot of the niches I wanted to be captain of were down right sinful. God takes His servants from some odd backgrounds. I rejoice that Moses was a stuttering murderer. I am given much hope in the Saul part of Paul’s life. Abraham’s failures allow me to more readily call myself a servant of the Most High, this is a group whose qualifications are not based on the individual, but on the Holy God who used them. When Noah went on a bender after doing all the right things he showed a humanity I can relate to, perhaps all too well, a lack of perfection that only goes to illuminate God by the contrast of His light to our dark.

God does not often use the prideful servant. The Holy Spirit fills the empty vessel, not the one filled with pride of self. Jesus called us not to lead, but to follow. Since from birth we are self minded, God must send people and instances and the Holy Spirit to act on us as Nathan acted on David. ”You are that man”, experiences are horrible to go through, but iron is heated, beaten and quenched to be made into a tool. If we offer God the ore of our basic existence, should we not expect to be refined? We can trust that His expert hand will not strike harder than we can bear, nor will He withhold the fire until the dross is skimmed away. God has caused or allowed many humbling experiences to come into my life; He has placed me in situations where I have been helpless, looked foolish, and/or had no hope except His mercy. Looking back these were times to praise Him, even though at the time of occurrence they seemed cruel, or at best humorous. I would like to share a few of these moments, for I am sure they will make you feel better about your humbling experiences. We all know that pathos is when you trip over a rake in the yard, comedy is when your neighbor does it. Allow me to be your neighbor and have a good natured laugh at some of these situations, I assure you that neither the neighbor nor I were permanently injured by these events.

On a scorching August day we were called to a ” assist the civilian” while Hanging around at the Fire House. The temp was bumping 100 degrees, and most of us were in shorts and tshirts. The Hermit had found a dead animal in his well and wanted us to pump out and chlorinate the cistern. A marvelous opportunity to train the new guys , girls, and juniors in the operation of a portable pump. I took the squad truck and about seven “newbies” and off we went to serve the community. We set up next to the well with a 300 gpm portable pump and two lengths of suction , with no hose needed as we would just blow the water out of the pump and out of the way. Everyone listened attentively as I, the experienced Fire Chief shared a chunk of my knowledge. They watched as I primed the pump and started the operation. Now it was their turn. I watched from ten feet away as the suction was re-lowered into the well, the pump restarted, but they had forgotten to prime, so no flow was to be had. I took a step closer as a rookie figured the problem out on his own, applied back pressure and re-angled the outlet. At me. 300 gallons per minute of rancid dead animal stew hit me right below the belly button. Do you think that is humbling? No, humbling is when this well water, freezing cold well water blows your shorts down to your ankles in an instant. Did I mention it was freezing cold water? The great Chief stood before the crowd with all the primary sexual characteristics of a Ken doll. That is Humbling.

I lay in a fetal position on a hospital bed unable to move. I had been this way for weeks with herniated discs. The local hospital was afraid to operate due to my cancer history and had shipped me out for expert surgery. As I lay there I asked God, “Can there be anything worse?” I advise you to avoid that comment . A 6′3″ man with bright red hair in a Ronald McDonald permanent showed up with a disposable razor. If you wanted to cast a flamboyant gay guy for a movie, you would cast this fellow. ”Time to shave your bummy for Doctor Martin!” , he announced with glee. Humbling. By the way, he was an excellent care-giver who understood a man’s pride, and did his best to preserve the gram of dignity I had left.

I was in a bible study/prayer group. I looked around the table at my fellow travelers, and realized I was superior. I was the only one with a college education, actually a GED would have been trump with this crowd. I was not on welfare, I was wearing clothes bought just for me when they were new, not from the Salvation Army store. I did however, have a problem. I could not pray. Since my mom died the previous year, I just could not pray. I called it prayer-locked. In front of a group I could sound like I was praying, but I was not talking to God, I was speaking so others would know what a good prayer I was. Then it was Tami’s turn to pray. She told God how happy she was for the miracle last night, that when she rechecked the cupboard with faint hope, there was a box of macaroni and cheese and her family had supper. ”Thank you Jesus for feeding us.” She meant every word, nothing fancy, just humble and honest, from the bottom of her heart. I did not get my turn, I was crying. My heart was broken, I was humbled, and once again I could pray. Thank you Jesus, thank you Tami.

I wish I had no more stories like this, but to keep the testimony true, I must admit there is a bunch. Some have no humor involved. I once thought I was pretty tough, but I found out my own skin cells could turn against me and take me out. I thought I was smart, but I have done the most idiotic things. My dependence on my God grows every day.

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

He hath shown me, and I rejoice.

14 Comments

Flickering Pixels, [from Bookshelf to Blog]

April 9, 2009, 11:20
Filed under: Uncategorized

flickeringpixels11 Todd and Tina Howard sent me a book to review. Here is an open invitation, if you send it I will read! I like books, and I like free, so this is a real winner for me. Rob the Texan Bar-b-cue chef sent me a book also that will be next, there are a few others, so here we go ,a new willohroots feature, From the Bookshelf to the Blog, my review. [I will also test drive cars and taste cheeses, please contact me for delivery.]

Reviews are by nature subjective, our perspective can drastically alter perception. It would behoove the reader to know I am a bibliophile. My house is too full, says my wife, of books. As Mike Bell is the Eclectic christian, I am the eclectic reader. I once spent three wonderful hours reading a 1938 manual on engine repair, wonderful read! I can also turn on a book, with dire results. I picked up the sequel to ‘Silence of the Lambs’ at an airport, and when I got home took it out back and shot it, repeatedly, for wasting two hours of my life I would never recoup. I am also very jaded when it comes to Christian books. I like John MacArthur, but disagree on some important points. I like Charles Stanley and agree with him , but his writing style does not thrill me. I did not like ‘Purpose Driven Life ‘at all, no apology. The Howards knew none of this when they shipped ‘Flickering Pixels’, but you do have this knowledge, it will help you understand.

Flickering Pixels is written much the way the municiple swimming pool in my old home town was designed. Perhaps the engineer turned editor. Shane Hipps starts us out in the kiddy pool, ankle deep. As a former advertising executive he quotes McLuhan [advertising guru] and says that Christians have long been taught that the Message [not the translation that irks me so, but the gospel] matters, but the Method, the way we spread the gospel, is flexible. I had to agree, I have been to those seminars, that is what we have been told. Yawn, another guy saying the same old same old, but then he hit a new twist.

The water gets wading deep around this point. Hipps describes how we are shaped by the medium. The bombardment of sight and sound has shaped and shifted the way we think, the way our brain functions. Hipps seems motivated by a frustration, his evangelical upbringing seminary training and Mennonite tradition gave him no help in evangelizing the lost. Paul’s method of linear thinking that was used on Mars Hill seemed lost in today’s word. I started to relate, as my attempts to preach people into the kingdom has been an abject failure. I was dog paddling on at this point.

Hipps believes that the amount of information bombarding us today has lead to a stunting of individual growth. He called it ”a permanent puberty of the mind”. Hipps explained how Systematic Theology needs to give way to Practical Theology and then brought examples of change in seeker/believer thought processes. This was the adults only section of the pool, deep waters indeed. When it was explained that today’s believer’s salvation experience is more similar to a dimmer knob than a light switch I knew this writer had something I needed, and this book would be read and reread.

The last chapters of this book are diving area deep. He could not have started with so much depth, you need to gradually wade in to get there. Hipps says we need to teach today with images, not necessarily power point images, images of real life. His whole point is that we are the message. In my words, to bring people to Christ we must be Christians. Pretty radical, right?

Here is a writer more approachable than MacArthur, more readable than Stanley, much deeper than Warren. This is a book that vindictes what we at willohroots have shared, what many of you post on your blogs. Fine doctrine is fine to have, but the heart and mind of Christ is to love others, to be an image of Christ by acting in love is not only the message, it is the method.

I never thought I would so strongly endorse a book. This needs to be required reading for anyone who would claim the title Christian. The antidotes of Christian love and the out takes from the Mennonite handbook ’Agreeing to Disagree in Love’ are uplifting enough, but I think this type of thinking is the antidote to the decline of the Evangelical church. I could paraphrase the book with these words,

Interview with Shane Hipps at Out of Ur ,

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2009/02/video_ur_shane.html

Jam 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” It is time for the deception to end.

flickeringpixels1

2 Comments

Good Friday?

April 10, 2009, 10:20
Filed under: Uncategorized

Cross in Dayspring Bible Chapel

When I was a youth ages ago, I could not imagine a group of people so perverted as to call the day their Savior died “Good”. Hey, I was young , nine or ten and very poorly eduated in the Christian doctrine. it took a lifetime but I get it now. It was a horrible Friday, but it was , for me, a Good friday? Is it a good Friday for you?

If you believe , ”When Jesus saw their faith, He said unto the sick of the palsy,” Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” and they were healed, it is a Good Friday.

If you believe His Mission was as He said, When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” and you have heeded that call, it is indeed a Good Friday.

If you believe Jesus had Power over all, as in: And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, “Peace, be still“. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. It is indeed a Good Friday.

If you believe Jesus raised the dead, And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her,”Talitha cumi”; which is, being interpreted “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” It is indeed a Good Friday.

And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, “Thou art the Christ”. If you Believe as Peter, it is indeed a Good Friday.

If you believe and are not ashamed, ”Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.“, it is indeed a Good Friday.

If you believe He said, Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. and have responded as did this man, “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief”.- it is indeed a Good Friday.

If you can see as clearly as blind Bartimaeus who said, ”And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.” and have cryed out in like manner, it is indeed a Good Friday.

If you believe as did the Centurion at the foot of the Cross, And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God”. it is indeed a Good Friday.

If you believe an Angel once said,” Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen; He is not here: behold the place where they laid him. it is indeed a Good Friday.

If you believe, it is a Good Friday. If you do not it is just another day.

6 Comments

Unwanted Holy Week Visitors

April 11, 2009, 12:48
Filed under: Uncategorized

WARNING, THIS IS A POST ABOUT VIOLENCE AND CONFLICT.

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. THE WAR IS ON!

Unwanted intruder seeks nuts at Dayspring

We have had an open door policy at Dayspring, but that may need to change. All God’s creatures moan for His coming ,Romans 8:22 “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now”, but some will need to moan outside. I received a call from a woman cleaning the church that said,”We have a problem”. Being a bit PTSD [see post], images of fire, flood and attack raced through my mind. ”Something is eating the windows.” Instantly I knew the culprit, the squirrels are back.

The church that sprung from Wyoming Valley Baptist, was built by SBC volunteers. God love these people. They came in their R.V.’s and stayed a week, ripping out the bar / shoestore combination,[ weird already, right?] and leaving a really nice church building in their wake. This was 25 years or so ago and if they had any error it was to assume that the church building would be finished by those the church was given to. It really never was. Small things like finishing around the eves was never completed. Since I have been in the pulpit there has always been more important things to do. This lack of attention to details somehow allows squirrels to get in, but not out. We had the same thing last year, a squirrel entered and then spent weeks of escape attempts but died in the effort.

Once again we have a visitor, more accurately an invader as visitors rarely chew our woodwork. Our Anderson windows now look like this.

Could be beavers, but more likely squirrels.

I tried to trap them, but the old hunter’s saying, “you must be smarter than your prey”, defeated me. I was feeding it/them. Now the strategy is to leave the window open so that he ,she, or them may simply leave. The problem with this is that one or more may enter, perhaps in hope of peanut butter filled traps, or feeding stations as they may be known in squirreldom.

Many Christians I know try to see a ’sign’ in all around them. Does this mean Dayspring is full of nuts? Or Squirrels? Most of us are a bit squirrely as judged by the world, but God loves us anyway. Does this mean we are at war with nature? We try to be earth friendly, but yes we do use styrofoam cups.

These invaders need to learn a biblical lesson, they can not win! We shall be victorious! Gen. 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

We shall be victorious! The war is on!

Dayspring, hand over the peanutbutter, or else!

Lord save us from The wild beasts!

16 Comments

Slightly out of Focus

April 29, 2009, 13:40
Filed under: Uncategorized

fuzzy-dog

For the last eight years my wife and I have worked in an office right down the street from my church. It was really handy to be available to the people who would drop in or to call if they had a need. We rarely took a day off, and I realize now that besides an income my job provided structure and focus.

You would think that being laid off would yield a lot of free time, at least I thought that being laid off would yield a lot of free time. Wrong again. Since the home office decided my wife and I were redundant, we have had the time to actually take one ride in the country. That is it. Where did all the time go?

Learning about being bi-vocational is a continuing process. Today’s lesson is that a bi-vocational preacher who is laid off still has a vocation, and in fact one that will swell to fill some of the void of a 40 hour week job that is no more. Men and women often define themselves by occupation , and I have seen people devastated by job loss. It is a gift to me that when asked, “What do you do?” I still have an answer. ” I pastor a church called Dayspring.” Every time I say that, I hope God does not lay me off.

The week after my corporate lay off I shared a fear from the pulpit. I shared that often in my mind an image appears,[ perhaps taken from the Robert Duvall movie, The Apostle], of the ‘Pastor Police ‘ showing up at Dayspring and taking me away in cuffs, apologizing to the people for the affront dealt them by being subjected to my rantings. For a sinner like me to have the honor of speaking the Mysteries of Christ, the Love of God, and His redemptive plan, seems totally outlandish. Should this Holy calling not be reserved for a Nazarene? Some one kept pure from birth, no fermented products, somehow dedicated to the servicew of god from childhood, a modern day Levite? How can it be that a man who has waded so deep in sin is chosen to preach and teach the Gospel? There is only one answer, ”But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”“

So I am bi- unemployed. It seems to please God to continue to allow me the privilege of loving His people and feeding His flock. Part of that responsibility and privilege is to support my family with a new job. I have no doubt He will provide, and no doubt a change was due.

When the job left so did my pattern of life, my schedule, my habits. The systems that had developed for sermon prep, study , even prayer were all affected by the lack of schedule. It is taking me a while to adapt. So my blog-cation is over, my “shock of change” , diminishing. It is time to learn to use the hours of the day in a new way.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Time to put things in focus.

5 Comments

Baby Jessica Update, Prayer Power, by Patty

April 29, 2009, 14:07
Filed under: faith

Follow up to BABY JESSICA, WILL YOU PRAY FOR HER?

To all Jessica’s angels and prayer warriors;

I can’t thank everyone enough for keeping Jessica, Bob and myself in your prayers. God’s love, grace and mercy is awesome!
Our sweet Jessica turned one year old yesterday 4-21-09. She is doing wonderfully! She is up to 16.2 pounds. She is still on baby food mostly, but we are introducing “people food” slowly as her digestive system seems to be very sensitive to flavored foods and starches. She is crawling, cruising and desperately trying to walk. Her muscles are still strengthening. Her legs and arms are strong. Her hips and mid section is still firming up. She is a maniac in her walker. (she backs up better than I do in my car)
What a personality! She is very stubborn and has quite a temper, (that’s how she survived) but she is the most lovable baby around. She is always hugging and giving kisses. She looks at you as if she sees your soul. It is very humbling. She knows Jesus. When we read her books and there is a picture of Jesus she kisses it. (I did not teach her that, she did that on her own, again, humbling) I can go on and on about her.
As far as her birth parents… the DA has pressed charges and we are awaiting the arraignment to set the trial date. They have been charged with “Course of Conduct” which is a 3rd degree felony. (not just child endangerment which is just a misdemeanor) The assistant DA working on the case is said to be an excellent lawyer and very tough. Praise God! When the DA pressed the charges all contact they had with Jessica was discontinued. (I no longer have to take Jessica every week for “parenting” classes with them. Again praise God!) Although Children and Youth are trying to fight this because they still feel they are putting Jessica back with her birth parents. There is a hearing in May with the Orphans court, but I don’t think the DA is budging on this. (please keep in prayer)
We have a new case worker with Children and Youth who is a blessing from our other one. She told me she is on our side and will do all she can to help us. Our other case worker did everything she could to get Jessica back with her birth parents.
The birth father told the DA that it wasn’t his job to feed the baby. (that went over real well) The DA is very disgusted with both of them and what they did to Jessica.
Please keep all in prayer. God is, as always, proving to me that He is in control. I know I have a promise from him that this little baby is not going back. Although I get very anxious at times, my faith is being strengthened.
Here is pictures of Jessica now.
Thank you again everyone and God bless!!!!

Patty S

How could anyone ignore this face?

4 Comments

Dan, We’ll miss You, till we meet again.

May 4, 2009, 12:21
Filed under: Christ, faith

wallpaper_3d_christian_calvary_800lg Our newest family member, Dan F. was called home to be with the Lord suddenly Sunday morning in his home. There are as yet no details. Dan was a recent addition to our fellowship, bringing a joy of the Gospel of Jesus and a real outgoing personality, I will miss his voice saying, “Go on now,Tell it!” , as I preached.

Friday night we spoke for an hour on the phone. Dan told me that he was ready to tell his story of sixty years in hope I would right a book about his life. I will need to wait till I meet him in glory to hear it all, but let me share what I do know from his testimony.

Dan grew up in a large Italian family in New Jersey as the only white kid in the neighborhood. It must not be easy to be a white minority member, but what was harder still is when the family finally moved to a white neighborhood, Dan did not fit in at all, as he was socialized in a African -American community and was never able to adjust to his new setting. Once again he was an outcast. He said he tried prison on the East Coast and the West Coast, and preferred neither.

Dan struggled with addiction and anger management. He married a beautiful black woman he called the love of his life, and served as a deacon, the only white member of a black church, and felt quite at home there. Addiction has no respect for title. Deacon, pastor, husband, the monster that is addiction can never be ignored or it will strike even after it has been pronounced dead.

I met Dan after he left a Salvation Army six month program. Sixty years old and starting over once again. The church gave him a grub stake to get proper clothes, and he began a menial job, truly starting from the bottom again. What courage it must take to get up in the morning in a strange town, alone, fight the good fight of life, working , battling addiction, trying to make amends with loved ones damaged by the selfishness that comes from the addicts life. Great faith is needed to gather strength to go on.

We were at a homeless shelter feeding those gathered, when Dan gave his testimony. People stood up as he walked from the podium and got in line to hug him. I never saw that before. His message of his own frailty and God’s power reached across racial and social lines with the power of a lumberjack’s ax. His dependence on God’s mercy for a victory gave hope to us all.

When we last spoke there was a weariness in Dan’s voice. It was the sound of a man who had packed three lifetimes of pain and struggle into one non-stop dramatic episode. The world will not understand, but most of you will, a loving God gave Dan what he desired most, peace and rest. Death to the world is the end of life, to us it is the beginning. Imagine Dan with an incorruptible body that has no destructive desires, no damaged parts, no scars and war wounds. Imagine him with a heart, not broken with failure and short coming, but filled with the awe of God. Imagine him in a place where his speech patterns and color will be irrelevant. That is Dan’s future, that is Dan’s eternity.

I feel privileged to have met Dan, to be a small part of his life, to have heard a small part of his story, and to have been his friend and pastor at the end of his earthly run. It is a joy to know that Dayspring was a pleasure to him, and provided a church home for a short but important time.

Dan died struggling with life, I am sure he was in a period of victory , but even if he had slipped into defeat, but I am sure it would not affect his Salvation. Our future of being in His Presence does not depend on our victories in life, but in Christ’s Victories on the Cross! Dan knew who His Savior was, why he needed Him, and fought the battle with all his might. Can any of us do better?

Dayspring will have a memorial service for Dan F. Sunday night May 17th. We will be sad, yet we will celebrate. We will invite Dan’s associates from the S.A. and the rooms he visited in meetings, and celebrate the Victory that gives us the Great Hope. There will be music and funny stories, and definitely, cake. We will sing our songs of the faith, and also Against the Wind, a Seeger song that Dan said described much of his life. Pray that flint hearts will be softened and the Word received.

When I get before the Throne and start to praise my God for all Eternity, I just know there will be a voice in the background saying, “Yes!, go on now, Tell it!” Thanks Dan, you were an encouragement.

5 Comments

Fred Phelps banned from UK

May 6, 2009, 06:05
Filed under: Crazed Thought, Uncategorized | Tags: banned, Crazy Christians, Jesus, nut bag, UK

One of 22 banned from entry to United Kingdom

On more than one occasion Fred Phelp’s behavior has caused me to wish Baptists had a Bishop in the hierarchy, or at least a hierarchy. Baptists love and support the independence of the local church, so there is no one who has the authority to defrock the disguisting, or remove the tinfoil hat wearing idiot as long as there is some sort of group willing to gather in front of the pulpit.

Fred is the guy with the “God Hates Fags” signs. He is the guy that takes a crowd of like-minded [? mind?] folk to protest at the funerals of soldiers who died in service to our country. He is the guy some folk think of when you say,”Baptist”. Fred founded the Westboro Baptist Church where I am told a bunch of his relatives and a few odd ducks manage to miss the whole point of the greatest teacher of love the universe has ever seen.

So the United Kingdom bans this guy, his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, a hamas terrorist , and nineteen others from entry. Here it is fron The National Post>>

Britain has blacklisted 22 people from entering the country, accusing them of fomenting hatred, glorifying terrorism or being capable of inciting ethnic violence in the country.

A list of 16 of the people was published yesterday to “name and shame” them, according to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

The list included U. S. conservative talk-radio host Michael Weiner — also known as Michael Savage–Fred Phelps, a U. S. anti-gay activist, Hamas lawmaker Yunis Al-Astal, Jewish extremist Mike Guzovsky, former Ku Klux Klan leader Stephen Donald Black, neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe, and several Islamic preachers.

The frustrating part of the story is that Fred gets international publicity. Isn’t that the way it goes? Some guy like Jeofurry who preaches his heart out and works for flood victims, and spreads the love of the Gospel will be known by a few of us, Fred gets mega multi- media press. Where is the Baptist Pope when you need him!? Can the name Baptist be copyrighted so there is a brand name recognition issue? If you were trying to pass kookie-cola off as Pepsi a team of lawyers would have your lunch and the brown bag it came in. Mr. Phelps can use the name baptist and we have no recourse , and don’t get me started on that title Reverend that he uses.

Fred will not land at Heathrow

Free speech is to be supported. Mr. Phelps is entitled to every wacko thought in his head, and to open up his mouth to speak such drivel. My issue is that to use the name of the historically most tolerant religious denomination as he does, to speak for my Lord Jesus as he claims to , and to call yourself a minister of God as you are the world’s worst witness of His Love, does damage to the Kingdom that surely makes the devil smile. Those of us who claim to speak for God as prophets, or speak the Word of God need to tremble in fear that not only what we say, but the way we say it, is pleasing in His sight . There are far more glorious places than England to be banned from.

10 Comments

Christians [or Critictians ] Attacking A.A.

May 7, 2009, 20:44
Filed under: Jesus, Uncategorized | Tags: addiction, Alcoholics Anonymos, church, Critical christians, love, pastor

Does this seem like an evil prayer to you?

There are times I would like to secede from the flock called Christian. Perhaps I could be known as a Jesusian, or a Yeshudist. It could be a genetic thing,

I do come from a long line of protestants, the people who have 1st Welsh Baptist, 2nd Welsh Baptist and Plain Old Baptist churches on corners of the same street, attended by relatives, some of whom still speak to each other. It could also be shame that motivates my desire for distance.

There is a segment of the church that shares all of my main theology. They and I could say the same creeds, read many of the same books, admire the same martyrs, sing the same hymns and serve the same Lord. You would think that these brothers and sisters and I would share the same ‘world view’ having very little variation in opinion or behavior. You would think. I do not mean the Phelps contingent, or snake dancers, or the Toronto blessing gang, they get written off as the crazy cousins with unfortunate tendencies that everybody hopes miss the reunion. I am talking about people who are just wrong, way wrong, and claim the rightness of God.

The spotlight falls today on that group of the righteous that hate Alcoholics Anonymous. They are not just critical, all groups and individuals could use some criticism, and AA is certainly not above criticism, these people are haters. I really never thought anyone could hate AA. Any group dedicated to getting people sober must have some redeeming qualities, but not to this group of Critictians, [my new word, they are a lot like Christians on the outside, but filled with a hollowness where the love is supposed to go] who go so far as to declare that a demon dictated the twelve steps.

There is a great way to reach out to a newly sober seeker! Tell her that the group that taught her a way to stay sober, and upon which she is leaning for support was started by the devil. I won’t put up a link to such nonsense, but a quick google will get you to all kind of sights like that. Do they have a picture, or a recording of said demon at work? No. They have inferred this because A A does not preach the Gospel in a way that they approve . It does not matter that A A does not preach the Gospel at all, the fact is that A A mentions God, and these people have the copy-write on all that is godly.

It would do my heart good to see these people apply the same standards in all of the different facets of their lives. If they were off the coast on a cruise in a storm, floundering, and the Coast Guard shows up to help they should say,”Away with you,you are not a Christian organization , God will save us!” It should not matter to them that the Coast Guard is not designed to preach the Gospel but to save lives, or even that some Coast Guard personnel are certainly good Christians, no, a blanket condemnation is in order.

If, God forbid, their home was to catch fire, do not send the fire department. Some of the firefighters are agnostic, [few], there may be an atheist with them, but almost certainly some will have a St. Florian medal, as they are good Catholics. “Away , go away let it burn, you pray to a saint, not to God through Jesus, leave you follower of the whore of Babylon!” It should not matter that the fire department exists to save lives and protect property, not spread the gospel, or that some of the members are fine Christians, they should be condemned!

Alcoholics Anonymous is not a Christian organization. It was not designed to spread the Gospel, it was designed to spread sobriety. It is in the same category as the Coast Guard or the Fire Department, a life saving service comprised of good, dedicated people of purpose. If I am in danger on the water or in a fire I will accept help from a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or Jane. I will them thank Jesus for their help and pray for their soul.

I wonder if the Critictians are willing to get up at 3 am. and go to a bar to get someone who has fallen, bring them home, watch them puke and love them the next day. It is easier to call the drunk a sinner and move away. It is no wonder why there are so few Baptists with overt drinking problems, we throw them out. A A provides a useful service, 24/7 world wide. Many in my church go to meetings. They know A A is not perfect, but then again neither is my church.

Thank God I am not an alcoholic! How horrible it must be to be compelled to drink, knowing full well the pain it will cause to self and loved ones! I am also not a T-totaler either, although I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a drink. I don’t drink because it just doesn’t fit into my life often, not because of moral conviction. I may have a beer this summer, but I thank God that many in my church will not, because one drink opens a floodgate for the alchoholic.

I am working on a guide to assist Pastors and Lay Leaders to work with people in recovery in AA. These people need a Savior! Telling them the life raft they cling to was made by Satan is not part of the program. Critictians make it impossible to bear witness to the Gospel of Christ by their very nature of condemnation. Please let me know your thoughts on AA, your concerns, your experiences.

John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Are we here to condemn? Or to spread the news of His Salvation!

8 Comments

Fire truck dedicated to Willis ‘Pop’ Hapeman

May 9, 2009, 09:02
Filed under: Fire Fighters, History, roots of Willohroots, Reaction

Mt. Zion's new truck dedicated May 9 in honor of my Dad.

The company started in 1976, and this is the first brand new rig ever to go in the barn. My dad rebuilt the engine on their first truck, a 1956 Ford, they have come far.

I have been asked to say a few words in honor of my Dad. The guys and girls at the company really thought a lot of him. There is a plaque on the pump panel, in honor of Willis ‘Pop’ Hapeman. Dad was blessed with 53 years in fire service. I was really surprised when, at his funeral, the Pittston and West Pittston Fire Companies put the aerial ladders at full extension forming an arch for the hearse and parade to go under. we call it putting up the sticks. It is an honor seen most often when a firefighter dies on the job, but I guess dad fought enough fires in both towns to deserve the honor.

He was a leader as Fire Chief, then President, then Pop. He offered marital and relationship counseling to people who had no one else to talk to. People would confide the most private things to him. He was a very special man. I grew up in a small town where Dad wad the borough electrician. He was responsible for the town fire alarm. That meant I got to blow the siren a lot. What a thrill for a young boy to make such a loud noise! Dad had a key ring with keys to about half the houses in town, in case they needed electrical work he could get in to do it. He was trusted, and with reason. He was honest to a fault.

It will be an honor and a privilege to speak on his behalf today. There are some things I will not mention to the crowd that I would like to share with you, as shared burdens weigh much less.

My dad never saw my family sing in church. When the girls were young my wife would play keyboard, I would play guitar, and we would sing in various churches as a way to serve our God. He never saw that. I have been preacher for almost thirty years, fill in, old age homes, Church of Christ, Baptist, Congregational,etc. My dad never heard me preach. I was a soloist in churches and school , college,and churches. My dad never heard me sing. My dad did not believe as I do. He often said, “When you are dead you’re dead!” He wanted no part of church.

My readers can understand why, when he died I went through a two year period of depression. He had told me that if I became a preacher he would break my leg, and if I became a Baptist preacher he would break both my legs. Threats like this from a big powerful man must not be ignored. I was made Pastor the week he died. I stood over his bed, looking at his legs, both broken from within by cancer, and just had to wonder.

I loved my Dad. We spent so much time together as business partners, hunters, and firemen. My life was often in his hands, and he always pulled through. Once another company shut my hose line off while I was in a working structure fire on the nozzle, once. After Dad straightened them out that would not be repeated.After the 72 flood electricity had me stuck to a pipe in a basement and he kicked me off,[ he said he enjoyed that], and we will not speak of the bar fights here. As far as eternity, I have thread bare hope of a deathbed conversion. All things are possible with God, and even if we are separated after time ceases I still owe Dad much. He taught me a good trade, made me a Fire Fighter and Chief, taught me to shoot straight with firearms and people. There is no doubt he was a good and honorable man.

I need to get in fire company mode, dry my eyes and look the part of a past Chief honoring a past Chief. On a purely secular level it will be a great day, I just am not sure I can function on a purely secular level these days.

Pray for my brother firefighters, they are some of the best people I know. Introduce them to the Savior with love, Amazing Grace should be more to them than the name of the song they play at a fireman’s funeral.

12 Comments

Christian School Student Suspended for Prom

May 14, 2009, 06:30
Filed under: Uncategorized

Is this a Kingdom Serving Witness?

Heritage Christian school in Ohio has suspended Tyler Frost for going to the prom with his girlfriend. Heritage Christian school has a statement up on their website that you may read for yourself.

http://www.heritagefindlay.org/index.cfm?i=6416&mid=1000&id=199128

Naturally this bad call will get a lot of press. When was the last time you read in national news about a decision that seemed odd on the part of a secular school? Well it happens, but does not create a feeding frenzy like this. The world is watching those of us in the Christian community very closely, as nothing can damage us more than the pain we inflict on ourselves. While we are taught not to generalize about nationality or race, it is acceptable in the world’s eyes to say, ”There go those Christians again.” Prejudice against us is perfectly acceptable.

In an unsigned statement on their site, this paragraph may be found:

In the Old Testament, Joseph was in a place of temptation and he fled. Unlike this situation, he didn’t put himself in that place. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” II Timothy 2:22 says, “Flee also youthful lusts but follow after righteousness faith charity and peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” When the school committee, many years before I became the principal, set up the policy regarding dancing, I am confident that they had the principle of fleeing lustful situations in mind. The question as I see it is, should a Christian place themselves at an event where young ladies will have low cut dresses and be dancing in them? Isn’t it contrary to the example of Joseph and the verses that I stated?

I feel really bad for the author of that statement in particular, and for the culture of that school in general. In fact, more than ‘feel bad’ I dispair of the entire society that takes the Gospel of Christ and tries to shove it into a man-shaped box, instead of trying to grow people into a Gospel -shaped, Christ -shaped community. Is the author telling us that he struggles with lust issues due to a low cut dress? Is a little cleavage all it would take to have him fall into sin? If the sights at a Prom are so disturbing, how would he go to the beach, or even the Mall? I have an idea, let us put women in a coverall outfit, we will call it a burka, so that the sight of an ankle, or a thigh, or a breast will not cause us to sin, oh yeah, wrong religion.

I am trying to guard myself from sin and sarcasm and snarkiness, but failure is imminent. If Christianity had always had this attitude missionaries would never have gone into the topless peoples of the islands, we would let them burn for fear of temptation. If this attitude was the correct one we would not be doing teen outreach, as there are young women who have grown up in a culture of ’sex sells’ and in appearance are dressing like a display case for Victoria’s Secret. If this attitude was correct our Savior would not have gone amongst the prostitutes and tax collectors.

Joesph fled a seductress, not a woman in sexy garb. It was not the woman’s appearance to be avoided, it was her behavior and intention. I hate it when people pull a verse from a story and say “Here you go, I am right!” Paul’s advice to Timothy had nothing to do with anyone’s outward appearance, but was wise advice to a young pastor on maturing past a point where the flesh has control, “youthful” is the word, and becoming strong in the Lord. What about the rest of the story?

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

And the Lord’s servant [fn] must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,

Does it seem to you that our administrator is heeding these words? Is this patiently enduring [what he thinks is] evil? Try to tell me that this man has not caused a foolish ignorant controversy. He did.

The point of the Christian life is not to leave the world, but to live in it by the Power of the Holy Spirit avoiding sin not by adherence to rules, but by the guidance of the very Heart and Mind of Jesus that indwells us by the Gift of the Spirit. Legalism in all its forms denies the Deity of the Holy Ghost and His power. This was not an orgy Tyler was going to, it was a Prom, with teachers and chaperons. The lesson Heritage has taught here is two fold:

One, we are weak and need to avoid situations that might tempt us. Two, we are better, or at least we think we are, than you Prom goers, oh yeah, and by the way, you are going to Hell.

There are rules to every organization. My point is not to flaunt rules, but this is a situation that should have been handled man to youth, in love, and in private. Christian schools need to prepare students for life, not act as a cult. The Amish do not require 17 year olds to give up the world, they get a choice when they are a little older. Maybe they trust their young men more. I have seen this type of legalism result in two very different but equally unfortunate situations. Unmarried men at 30 and 40 years of age, not bringing new life into the world to carry on the Christian traditions, and escapees of legalism who fall into the traps of sin in the world for which they were totally unprepared. Perhaps Heritage is promoting a culture that is not based on the freedom that is in Christ, but on the rules that are based on the weakness of sinful man.

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This is one of the struggles in our church, Dayspring Bible Chapel. Please read this and support us with prayer. Thank you

Patty said 6 hours ago:

PTSD symptoms of increased arousal

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Will the Real Theory of Evolution Please Stand Up?

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AN EXPOSÉ OF THE EVOLUTION INDUSTRY

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Willohroots

Recent Posts

Archives

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Tags

2 Peter 2

False Teachers

1 Timothy 4

A Warning About False Teachers

Liberty University spurns Democratic club

News

Wilkes ceremony celebrates tradition, future

WILKES-BARRE — Tabitha Hapeman of Harding joined a long line of nurses in her family as she received her bachelor’s degree in nursing during Wilkes University’s 62nd annual commencement Saturday.

BY KRISTEN GAYDOS STAFF WRITER

Comment:

This is one of the struggles in our church, Dayspring Bible Chapel. Please read this and support us with prayer. Thank you

Patty said 6 hours ago:

PTSD symptoms of increased arousal

Other common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder

Will the Real Theory of Evolution Please Stand Up?

By SUZAN MAZUR

AN EXPOSÉ OF THE EVOLUTION INDUSTRY

BEYOND DARWINSIM

BY KRISTEN GAYDOS
STAFF WRITER