Our Choice...Obediance or Idolatry

1Sa 15:2-3 This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'"

I have to be honest. Sometimes when I read the bible, particularly the Old Testament, I find myself asking why. Why so much death, why so much destruction? I know that this was the way of the world at this time; however in this situation as in many others God decrees this death and destruction. For those who have trouble with the concept of election, I’m not sure how you can read the MANY sections of scripture like this one and reconcile this in your mind. In any case, my point in asking why is not to question Gods motives. I believe in election, and because of this, I don’t struggle with God’s decisions to bless some and curse others. He’s God, He made us, He gets to do what he wants; its one of the benefits of being God. What I’m questioning is simply God’s reasons. What is he trying to teach me through this story?

At this point we find Saul, acting like a typical child of Israel and doing the exact opposite of what God had commended.

1Sa 15:7-9 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

1Sa 15:10-15 Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: "I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions." Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night. Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, "Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal." When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD's instructions." But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?" Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest."

So the obvious lesson here is that God desires total obedience. But I was still left with the nagging doubt about God’s reasons for decreeing the total destruction of a people group including women, children, and all animals. At this point I did something I’m ashamed to say I haven’t done much. I just stopped reading and started praying. I figured, God’s a big boy, he should be able to handle my questions. I simply asked God why, and waited for His answer. To my surprise, the answer immediately came.

I’m not going to claim special revelation from God; but the bible says that the Holy Spirit will reveal the truth in the word to us so I’m going to go with that. Now I didn’t hear a voice from heaven. I simply all at once understood the passage. Here’s what I’ve got.
The story of Israel in the Old Testament is the story of deliverance. It’s the story of God’s choosing his people from among the peoples of the earth. It’s the story of His saving them from slavery in Egypt. Finally, it’s the story of His keeping them both through protection and punishment. As you probably know, the story of the children of Israel is analogous to our own journey with God. God calls us, draws us, saves us, and keeps us till the day of Christ.

When the children of Israel left Egypt they encountered many obstacles on the way. God’s only expectation of His chosen people was that they would simply trust Him, obey Him, and allow Him to fight their battles. These obstacles represent the things in our lives which can become idols for us: possessions, people, security, money, predictability, etc.

As the children of Israel made their way to the promised land, God protected them and provided for them but then they reached the promised land. God’s requirements changed at this point. Now God wanted them to go back and destroy those things which presented as obstacles. God knew that if they weren’t completely destroyed they would rise up and destroy His children.

Of course His children repeatedly messed up. In this case Saul sinned against God by keeping the king of the Amalekites alive as well as many of the cattle. It’s VERY interesting to me to see what happens next. When Samuel catches up with Saul, he as erected a monument in HIS OWN honor. In other words Saul has committed idolatry. He took God off the throne of his heart and placed himself on that throne. His sin is summed up in verse 23.

1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."

Saul’s mistake eventually cost him the kingdom.

God expects that once he has established us in His grace that we will fight with all that is in us to kill off every THING that stands as an obstacle to God being our one and only love. He doesn’t leave us alone to do this. He helps us in this battle, indeed he is really fighting on our behalf. If we however fail to completely put to death these things which vie for our affections, then we have given ourselves over to idolatry and we will eventually be overcome by that thing we have chosen to be our god. God allows this pain in our lives because eventually when we reach the bottom, he hopes we will cry out in repentance and make Him king once again.

Pray for the Persecuted Church in India

Persecution in India: Francis' Response from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.

Unified in Our Division

1 Corr 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

This verse struck me tonight. I started reading this chapter and in the first nine verses I decided the following:

1. Verse 7 says Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. The Greek word translated into “Spiritual Gift” is actually the word “charisma” from which we derive the word charismatic however the translation of Charisma is actually “deliverance” it is not at all intended to allude to the Spiritual gifts commonly associated with the charismatic movement.
2. Verse 9 says God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. Barnes says “The word “called” here does not refer merely to “an invitation” or an “offer of life,” but to the effectual influence which had been put forth; which had inclined them to embrace the gospel.” Therefore Paul was a Calvinist.

Now those of you reading this may be getting a bit uneasy at this point which is why I would like to digress to the first sentence of this post. Verse 10:

1 Corr 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Paul begs the Corinthians to be PERFECTLY UNITED in mind and thought. Man, we have fallen so far from that standard. I have fallen so far from that standard. We spend so much time and energy trying to be right, and in the process we are wrong automatically because we become disunified.

I’m thinking about all the believers who feel the need to meet separately because of the charismatic issue (on both sides of it), all the believers who are disunited over the Calvanism/Arminianism issue. And then there are a million other stupid things we fight about. It’s no wonder many look at the church and just laugh and turn away. We can’t even agree about what songs to sing in our churches let alone what we believe.

Sure I believe that arriving at truth is important. I believe that driving out heresy is important as well, but we have gone way beyond that.

Paul offers us the answer in verse 17:

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

He says, God sent me to preach the gospel to you, but not with human wisdom. Why…because we are dumb, and when we try to understand an infinite and holy God who is WAY bigger than we can imagine we get it wrong…every time. When we try to do this with our own wisdom we empty the cross of its power and THAT is where our unity must lie…in the cross. That’s the one thing we can all gravitate to and be united around. It’s the only thing that really matters.

God takes our unity very seriously because it is partially through the unity of believers that he calls the lost. My prayer tonight is that God would help me to be more concerned with the unity of His church than with being right.

Jesus, the Lamb Who Takes Away the Sin of the World

I want to spend some time this week remembering Jesus sacrifice for us. Holy week begins on Palm Sunday and while I grew up Lutheran and we celebrated Palm Sunday more so than I have experienced in the non-denominational churches I have attended since. I think that’s kind of sad because Palm Sunday is really quite a remarkable event. Before I talk about what happened on Palm Sunday, I want to spend some time talking about the Jewish celebration of Passover.

We learn about Passover in Exodus 11 when God told Moses that he was going to kill all of the first born children in Egypt. He told Moses to have the Israelites put the blood of a lamb over the doorpost of their houses so that the Spirit of God would pass over their house and not kill the firstborn in the house.

God told the Israelites that this would become the first month of their year and that this would become a festival for them for all generations. The Passover was to occur on the 14th day of the month. But on the 10th of the month it was the designated day for the Passover lamb to be selected outside the city and would have been walked in to the city to the person’s home.

Exodus 12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

This was the day that Jesus chose to ride into Jerusalem even though he always walked everywhere. He did this to fulfill a prophecy.

Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

In that day Kings rode on horses to show their power. Jesus rode on a donkey to show his humility.

John the Baptist introduced Jesus by saying, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29). The Jews had been celebrating Passover for 1,500 years. They would have understood the significance of John's statements.
Isaiah 53, written many years before Jesus was born, details the trials the lamb would experience.

Isa 53:7-10 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

The High Priest would then take the lamb to the Temple, where it would be tied in public view so that it could be inspected for blemish. In the same way, Yeshua sat and taught in the Temple courtyard for four days. He was inspected and questioned as the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law sought to trip him up in His words and entrap Him. They could not, because He was perfect and without blemish (Lancaster1996).

Jesus is our Passover lamb. Hosanna in the Highest!

Psalm 1

Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

My first inclination when I read Psalm 1 today was to whiz through it like I usually do but right away I was stopped because when I read verse 1 I just had to stop and think on it. I think sometimes the Spirit in us just says; hold up here, there’s something I want to show you.

Verse 1 is a very simple verse, it’s not difficult to understand, it doesn’t require a lot of explanation, but there are so many implications that even for my own sake I feel the need to write about it.

The first phrase is blessed is the man. The Hebrew word for blessed is “esher” is in the pleural form and is used here as an interjection. Because of that, the translation isn’t quite accurate. Instead of “blessed”, it would be more accurate to say “Oh how blessed!” or “Oh how happy is the man!” including the exclamation point. It is intended to be forceful.

Who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
You could say; “who does not order his life according to the advice of unbelievers”. Man, this really gripped me. Don’t we do that all the time? I mean, seriously. Most of our lives look a whole lot like the lives of unbelievers. We do take their advice. Maybe I don’t go to an unbeliever and ask for advice on matters related to my faith. But I might on other matters. And it strikes me as I read my own words that everything is a spiritual matter. Our finances, our job, our plans, where we live; are all spiritual matters. But this doesn’t just mean physically asking for advice. More so it really means that our lives shouldn’t look like their lives. We send our kids to schools run by unbelievers. We put money into the stock market so we can retire to the beach in Florida. Even in many churches, we take marketing advice from secular firms to try and figure out how to get people to come. Some churches play secular music and dumb down the messages calling them “spiritual” rather than Christian so as not to offend. My point here by the way is not to pick out any particular thing like schooling, retirement, or church marketing and call it evil. Each of us should consider our individual situations before God and arrive at our own conclusions. What I am saying is that I think sometimes I’m a bit too quick to simply accept the world’s way and pattern my life like anyone else rather than going to God and asking Him how He would have me order my life. This brings me to verse 2.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD
The alternative to patterning your life after the unbeliever is to go to the bible for advice for living. Instead of patterning our life after the world, we should be patterning it after the Word. When we take delight in the word, when we meditate on the word (think about it) rather than on the worlds ways what happens?

Psalm 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

When we go to the word we find there the source of life and growth that will not dry up, it is always there to provide the nourishment we need to continue growing and eventually produce fruit.

Aliens Among Us

Deut 10:17-19 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

As a staunch conservative I have traditionally opposed Illegal immigration. I have opposed amnesty, healthcare, education, and government benefits as well. But like Randy on American Idol, I have to “Keep it real” so, I have to say I was a bit surprised when I read Deuteronomy 10 where it says that God loves aliens. Not little green ones but aliens, as in immigrants. In fact, they are grouped right in there with orphans and widows. But then it goes a step further to say that we should love them too. Right, we’re supposed to love everyone including our enemies I get it. But that’s not why God says we should love them. God says we should love them because WE are aliens too!

When God removed the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt they became aliens among the nations. We know also that in the same way Christ saved us from slavery to sin and now we are living as aliens in the land until he comes for us to take us home to the Promised Land.

So what does this mean for us? One thing it does not mean is that illegal aliens should necessarily be given amnesty. Illegal immigration is just that…illegal. The United States has the right to create laws to protect its borders. It has the right to stand on the border and stop those from entering who should not be here. But what about those who are here? The Bible gives some insight into this:

Aliens should not be oppressed.
Exodus 22:21 "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.

Aliens should be allowed to eat the leftovers from the farmland.
Lev 19:10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.

Aliens should be treated with respect and decency.
Lev 19:33 "'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.

Yikes!
Lev 19:34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

They should be given access to justice in our courts
Deut 1:16 And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien.

They should not be subjected to substandard working conditions.
Deut 24:14 Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.


A portion of the tithe should be set aside for the alien.
Deut 26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

These are just a few of the many verses in the Bible that deal with aliens, but these verses represent the common themes that the Bible discusses with regard to aliens. I think the Bible covers the topic relatively comprehensively.

So how are we doing? If I had to give us a grade, I’m not too sure I could give us very high marks. Aliens live all around us; they work on our farms and in our factories. They have little access to work, justice, protection, or healthcare.

Every year, between 14,500 to 17,500 foreign men, women and children are trafficked into the United States. Ohio is the fifth worst state for human trafficking.

Ohio businesses employ migrant labor in many different sectors throughout the state. Most of the migrant labor in Ohio and the United States is concentrated in poorly regulated industries that demand cheap labor. Such industries include textiles, agriculture, restaurants, construction and domestic work. In 2004, Ohio employed over 15,000 migrant workers where most worked in the agriculture sector. Agriculture is Ohio’s most lucrative sector in which it generates over six billion annually. The majority of migrant laborers are Mexican and they are recruited from Texas, Florida and Mexico. The dairy, nursery and landscaping industries in Ohio also experienced large growths in migrant laborers, especially because others are unwilling to work in unfavorable conditions (e.g. long hours and no insurance).

Because these industries experience minimal governmental monitoring, both documented and undocumented migrant workers are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation that can lead to bonded labor or indentured servitude. In its 2002 report, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services estimated that over seventy percent of the migrant workforce in Ohio does not have legal status in the United States. This places migrant workers at risk of becoming victims of forced labor and trafficking. Law enforcement’s lack of training and understanding of trafficking has further made many experiencing or witnessing forced labor to come forward, fearing reprisal from traffickers or punishment from legal authorities. Most cases of forced labor have been treated by law enforcement as illegal immigration issues where the victims are often treated as criminals. This is most likely the case with Ohio.

http://www.ccv.org/downloads/pdf/Ohio-Report-on-Trafficking.pdf


Aliens living among us allow our food to be produced at prices which are below the actual cost of production. This cheap labor allows us to have cheap groceries. However many of these aliens are not treated well and they are not paid fair wages for their work. Fear of deportation and poor language skills keep them from seeking available and necessary healthcare services. Their children do not always receive schooling ensuring that the cycle of poverty and neglect continues. We make excuses for this saying that they shouldn’t be here anyway. Agreed, but they are here, so we should not be turning a blind eyed to their plight. They deserve basic human decency. I’m praying that some with the skills in the church would step up and offer ministry to them.

The next time I go to the grocery and buy corn or cucumbers for under a dollar I’ll be thinking about this verse and then saying a prayer for the aliens among us who made it possible.

James 5:1-4 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

Spiritual Amnesia

Deuteronomy 6:10-14 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you.

In this section of scripture Moses outlines a concept for us I’m going to call spiritual amnesia. This is the amnesia that we get when things are going well and we forget about the One who made our success possible.

In this case, Moses was speaking to the Israelites right before he was going to send them off into the promised land. Moses has also been told by God that he is about to die. He will not be going into the promised land with the Israelites. So in this section of scripture we see the picture of a man who has devoted most of his life to freeing these stubborn ungrateful people from slavery, giving them his last appeal. These are the last words he is going to get to tell them before he dies. It’s like a parent sending their kids off to college, permanently. You want to tell them everything you think they should do so they don’t get into too much trouble.

Moses tells them that God has given them so much blessing. He was about to take them into a land that they did not own. God alone would do the conquering so they could occupy the land. Once complete, the Israelites were promised a land flowing with milk and honey, houses they didn’t build, wells they did not dig, etc. But the warning that follows is what I would like to focus on.

It says be careful that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. See, we have a tendency to get amnesia. We know that the story of the Children of Israel’s release from slavery is not only a literal historical occurrence; it is also a metaphor for our salvation. God brings us out of slavery to sin through Jesus into a new world, His kingdom. In that kingdom we have access to Gods provision, protection, and care. However, like the Israelites we tend to get amnesia. When things are going wrong we have no problem focusing on God, usually because we’re questioning him, crying out to him, asking for help. But when things are good we tend to forget that it is God who brought us out of slavery and into this new world. Its is God who’s provided all the blessings that we have to lose.

So how do we keep from getting spiritual amnesia? That question is answered in the verses that directly precede the ones above.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Gods answer to spiritual amnesia is simple. Love God more than anything else. How do we do that? By taking his word and making it part of our every day lives. His word is to be written all around where we can see it. I love that my wife does this. At any given time you will find bible verses written on the walls in our house for our kids to see. We take them in the car. They are on my iPOD. His word is at my work. Everywhere. I am almost never without his word in one form or another. Of course just having it along is not the point. We have to internalize it by reading it and memorizing it.

Now that solution may seem a bit extreme to you, especially if you struggle even reading it a little. But think about it like this. Some people are never without their sports. They listen to it in the car. ESPN is never off the TV when they are home. They get it on their cell phones and on their computers. I have known many people like this. They LOVE sports. You see, we love what we give ourselves to. If you give yourself to sports then you will love sports. If you give yourself to a job, then you will love your job. If we give ourselves to God, then we will love God and whether things are going good or bad, we will not forget where our help comes from.

Management God's Way

I’m reading in Numbers and I’m about halfway through. Up to this point it appears that the book is largely about spiritual leadership, or more accurately submission to leadership. The reason say this is because of the following verses:

Situation 1:

Num 11:1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD

Situation 2

Num 12:1-2 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this.

Situation 3

Num 14:1-2 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!

Situation 4

Num 16:1-2 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.

It seems as though Moses spent a good bit of his time fighting off one mutiny after another. This is somewhat amazing to me because after all the Israelites had been through I’m not sure how in the world they could have arrived at the conclusion that Moses was not God’s appointed leader for them. I’m not sure how they could have possibly thought that God would put up with these insurrections.

As a manger of people I can really identify with Moses to a certain extent. Whenever you lead people, especially from a Christian viewpoint you try to do what is right and best for the group. You try to lead them in the best way you know how. But there always seems to be a few in the bunch who just don’t accept your leadership. They just don’t want to be led. They typically gossip with others about decisions that have been made. They try to stir up trouble and build coalitions against you. It’s very difficult for me to not want to retaliate when these situations occur. I feel justified since I am the appointed leader. I have been placed in that position.

The first thing I want to point out is Gods response:

Situation 1:

Num 11:1b and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

Situation 2:

Num 12:10 When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy;

Situation 3:

Num 14:12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they."

Situation 4:

Num 16:21 "Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once."

God is quick to come to Moses’ defense. He did not leave Moses on his own to deal with these people by himself. God quickly came to his aid and was ready to destroy the whole Israelite community if need be. The takeaway from this is that when we are placed in a subordinate position under another we better think long and hard before we criticize or undermine their authority. Bible says that God places leaders in their positions for a reason and even if they are not very good at what they do, when we work against them we are really opposing God. This is not a place you want to be as is indicated in the three situations above.

Another interesting piece of this however is Moses' reaction to these issues. He probably would have been well within his rights to say, "God, you do whatever you want with them. They drive me nuts and they don’t want to be here, just kill them and I can get back to my life." But of course he didn’t do that:

Situation 1:

Num 11:2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down.

Situation 2:

Num 12:13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, "O God, please heal her!"

Situation 3:

Num 14:19 In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now."

Situation 4:

Num 16:22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?"

In every case Moses intervened on behalf of those he was leading. In each case he prayed for them and asked God to spare the people who had wronged him. The takeaway from this is that to lead properly we have to have love for those who we lead. We have to be willing to forgive the wrongs of those who don’t care for us. We have to be willing to let God fight our battles. Most importantly we have to be willing to set our ego aside and simply lead knowing that God is actually the one in charge and we are simply his chosen instruments for a time. There will always be those who oppose us. They don’t actually oppose us, but in reality they oppose God and God will fight his own battles. He will defend his honor.

Oh Brother, Here We Go...Ed's Talking About Parenting

Well…I’ve decided to deviate just slightly from the topics that I have been writing about because I’m currently reading in Numbers and to be quite frank, I got nothin’.

Ok so here’s what I need to tell you. You probably don’t want to hear it because you haven’t yet accepted the truth. Someday you will, but that day hasn’t come yet. This blog however is all about getting at the truth so here we go. This is a profound truth of the universe that you just simply are going to have to accept. Here it is…

Your child is almost certainly not a genius.

I know, I know, I’m an ignorant fool. You hate me and how dare I! Now that we’ve dispensed with the indignation, just take a minute and let that sink in. Dwell on it. Accept it. Make it part of you.

While we’re at it, here are a few more truths you are going to need to accept.

1. Your child is not a genius
2. If your child is smart, its not because of anything you did
3. If your child is dumb, it probably is at least partially your fault but don’t worry, whey will learn enough to survive without you.
4. Your child does not deserve to be three grades ahead of the other children their age, not two, and not even one.
5. If your child is well behaved, it’s not because you are a wonderful parent. And you should know that most gifted children are treated for behavioral issues so there’s more proof that your kid isn’t smart.
6. If your child is a brat, it probably is at least partially your fault and they will probably be a brat till they die.

Why am I telling you all of these shocking things? Because I am tired of all of the prideful people I come in contact with bragging about their average children as though they were the next Einstein. Only two percent of children are “gifted”, so what this means is that ALL of your children CANNOT be gifted.

It’s sometimes annoying for me to talk with people about their kids and while I try to do that as little as possible because quite frankly I just don’t care that much; I try to act interested for your sake. So when you get all braggadocios and ridiculous I just tune you out. When you wax philosophical to me about your parenting technique and you haven’t yet had a challenging child or haven’t had any child I laugh and remember when I felt the same way before I had kids.

God has taught me a very important lesson about my kids. My kids were given to me for a reason and that reason is not that God just thinks I’m going to be a really great parent. God created my kids with their own personalities. They were born with their own penchant for sin and mayhem and troublemaking. I didn’t instill in them most of the good things they have at their disposal and I’m not responsible for most of the rotten things they tend to do either. They just are who they are. So why were they given to me? Were they given to me so that I can make them like God, or make them like me, or simply make them behave? No…I believe they were given to me because I need them to refine me, to make me softer, to make me more loving, more gracious, more merciful, to make ME more like God.

I have noticed a disturbing trend among some Christians. This trend is the belief that as a parent it is my job to drive out all of these negative things from my children and to turn them into perfect little God fearing Christians. I think that is a very haughty sinful attitude. I lived under that oppression for a while and unfortunately my children did too to my discredit. Sure it is my job to present them with the truths of the gospel and to show them Godly love and discipline so they don’t reject the truth out of spite because of my hypocrisy. It’s also my job to discipline them, to keep them alive, and to teach them to act correctly in society so that God’s name isn’t disgraced by their behavior. But the problem with the heresy that teaches that I need to drive every little problem out of them with a switch from the oak tree out back is that it leaves no room for God in the equation. I read a book recently that said that if I don’t beat my children with a switch till they submit to me totally that I have failed them as a parent, I don’t love them, and that they will likely grow up to be ax murderers. I have talked to well intentioned Christians who espoused the same attitude.

Another problem with the whip first ask questions later crowd is that it causes people to live with incredible guilt. Because despite their best efforts and all the whipping, their kids still don’t behave. Then they get told by fools who think they know that they just aren’t consistent, or they aren’t doing it hard enough, or often enough. Let’s get serious for a second; kids have died at the hands of loving parents because of this garbage. Some kids don’t submit, some kids rebel all the more.

This is the part where many begin quoting bible verses. Folly is bound up in the hart of a child…etc. Isn’t it interesting that there are so few verses in the bible about parenting. Isn’t it interesting that there are next to no verses about parenting in the New Testament? Isn’t it interesting that Jesus had almost NOTHING to say about child rearing? Oh wait. He did say we should approach God like a child. We tell our kids that we have to hit them because God wants them to act like adults! People, there’s something very wrong here.

Is it possible that some folks have elevated the act of childrearing to almost the level of idolatry? Is it possible that people are overly hard on their kids because they are too proud to admit that they are embarrassed when their kids don’t act just right? If Mary and Joseph followed some of this so called wisdom they should have beaten Jesus within an inch of his life when he stayed behind in the temple instead of coming home with them. The bible says that they were greatly distressed. It’s notable that the scripture doesn’t mention the whipping he should have received. It’s also notable that the New Testament talks more about parental restraint and not discouraging your children than it does about punishing children (which it is almost completely silent about).

So here’s my question. Is it ALL my responsibility? I’ll answer for you, of course it isn’t. God has some responsibility here too. The bible teaches that it is God who draws the unbeliever to Him. It is God who grabs the heart of a person and snatches them from obscurity into a new life with Him. It’s God’s presence in the life of a believer that causes them to want to change. The bible says we are incapable of changing without God.

We CANNOT drive our children to God and we CANNOT make them Godly.

And think about this…what if God held you immediately and severely accountable for every sin? No grace, no patience, no mercy. No, this is not the God of the bible. The God of the bible is a just God certainly, but he is endless in love and grace, and mercy. He waited patiently for me to get my act together and now he has given me little people to show me just what He has had to put up with all these years. I owe it to them to show them just a little picture of His justice AND grace. But in the end they belong to God and He will call them if and when He chooses and one thing is for sure…just like my salvation had nothing to do with me, neither will theirs.

Old Testament Sacrifices

I learned something new about the sacrificial system of the Israelites recently. If you have an NIV Study Bible you can find this info in the notes of Leviticus 4.

There were 5 main types of sacrifices offered by the Israelites.
1. Burnt offering – This was a voluntary act of worship for unintentional sin.
It was an expression of devotion and surrender to God.
2. Grain offering – This was also a voluntary act of worship and a recognition
of Gods goodness and provision.
3. Fellowship offering – This was also a voluntary act of worship.
It was intended to be thanksgiving and fellowship.
4. Sin offering – This was a mandatory atonement for specific unintentional
sin, confession of sin, and cleansing from defilement.
5. Guilt offering – This was also a mandatory atonement for sin requiring
restitution, cleansing from defilement.

There was a specific order these offerings was to be made:
1. Sin or guilt offering – Sin has to be dealt with first.
2. Burnt offering – Next the worshiper pledges complete devotion and surrender.
3. Fellowship offering and grain offering – Finally there is thanksgiving for
God’s goodness and fellowship with God.

I thought it was interesting that the sacrificial system of the Israelites so closely matches the process of salvation described in the New Testament. Christ (our high priest) made the sin offering on our behalf. The high priest for the Israelites made the sin offering on their behalf. Once we accept this offering made for us and surrender our lives to him as an act of worship we are ushered into fellowship again with God.

As You Pass By

Exodus 33 is one of my favorite chapters in the entire bible. A little background: In Exodus 32 Moses went up on the Mount Sinai and spent forty days with God. On the mount he received the 10 commandments and then God told Him to go down because the people had built an idol and were in sin. So Moses went down off the mountain, smashed the 10 commandments, burned the calf in the fire, and grinded it to dust.

We pick up the story in Exodus 33v. 2

Exo 33:2-3 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."

Keep in mind that until this point God has been leading the people with a pillar of cloud by day and fire at night.

Exo 33:12-16 Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

Moses recognized that it was God that set them apart from all the other nations. Without God they were no different from anyone else. God was apparently pleased with this realization.

Exo 33:17-23 And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD (Jehovah), in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

Exo 34:5-8 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, Jehovah. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "Jehovah, Jehovah, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.

Takeaways:
First, there’s the notion that without God, we are no different from anyone else on the earth. With God however we are very different. We don’t need to apologize or make excuses for the distinction. God makes us different and people will notice, and they won’t like it but that’s their issue with God, not us. God will fight those battles and win them in His time and in His way.

Second, even though God was about to destroy the Israelites for the sin of idolatry, when Moses asked, God relented and not only didn’t destroy them, but then revealed Himself to Moses in an even more amazing way that He had done to date.

Third, when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God said I will show you my goodness. So God’s glory and His goodness are tied together. The word for goodness can also be translated, beauty or gladness. So God was saying, I’m going to show you everything about me that is good and beautiful, but I can only let you see it from the backside or you would die. Keep in mind here that Moses had just spent 40 days with God on the mountain and yet he wanted more. This is a very bold thing to ask of God, and yet God granted the request. It’s an amazing thing to think about the fact that we are physically incapable of experiencing God in His fullness in our human bodies. That experience would overwhelm our mortal flesh to the point of death. Think about that the next time you enter into worship.

Finally, if you ever wonder what God is really like, these are your verses, because in these verses God describes Himself. As God is passing in front of Moses he essentially worships Himself. In His description of Himself He basically says that He is loving and just. Any description of God that portraits Him as the loving cuddly buddy that does not also include His a description of His justice and punishment of sin is a false representation. Of course the reverse is also true; you cannot have one without the other.

As You Pass By
jagged mountain
surrounded in clouds
shrouding the glory of Your presence
circling round
cover me with Your hand
so I can see the train of Your robe

as You pass by
the rocks come tumbling down
as You pass by
the earth shakes, the skies break
as You pass by
Lord let me see Your beauty
then You come to me in a whisper
(the earth and sky and sea just fade away)
Lord just let me be there to catch a glimpse of You
as You pass by

(by Ed 8/03)

There’s a lot to ponder. I hope you will take some time to think about this amazing God we serve today.

Missions Monday - Nigeria

More than 100 Christians have been killed in Jos, Nigeria, since Jan. 17, when violent riots broke out between Christian and Muslims.

The violence was triggered by a Muslim attack on St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Nasarawa Gwong. According to Voice of the Martyrs “It appears to the Christians here that elements inside the Nigerian Muslim community actually prepare for events like this and then look for an incident which they can then escalate into a crisis. The intent is to drive Christians out of this area down to the south,”

Church leaders said Muslim youths also attacked buildings belonging to the Christ Apostolic Church, Assemblies of God Church, three branches of the Church of Christ in Nigeria and the Evangelical Church of West Africa. On Jan. 18, authorities imposed a curfew, and the city is under the close control of Nigerian troops.

Hundreds of believers have reportedly been wounded. “We have been witnessing sporadic shootings in the last two days,” Rev. Chuwang Avou, secretary of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria told Compass Direct News a few days after the attacks began. “We see some residents shooting sporadically into the air. We have also seen individuals with machine guns on parade in the state.”


Source: Voice of the Martyrs
http://www.persecution.com/public/homepage.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51

The Urim and the Thummim - Exodus 28:30

Something just doesn’t sit right with me about the Urim and the Thummim (pronounced Tumim) first mentioned in Exodus 28. Most of the stories in the Old Testament involve God intervening directly and interacting with men. I like that. It shows that God is a personal God who is involved in the details of our lives. We see God as the powerful conqueror for His people. We see Him as the counselor, as the law giver, as the judge, and many other roles. In all of these roles however, God is directly interacting with His people.

So now we come to Exodus 28. Moses has come down off the mountain. He has presented the people with the 10 commandments. The people saw him go up on the mountain which was covered in clouds with lightning flashing all around. Moses was given instructions for the building of the ark of the testimony, and the tabernacle where God would dwell with His people, and now in Exodus 28 God gives Moses instructions for the clothing for His high priest.

God gave Moses very specific instructions for the pieces of the outfit for the High priest. Part of the outfit was the Urim and the Thummim (UT)

Exodus 28:30 Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron's heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD.

There is no description of the UT in the bible. There is no description of how it was used. There is no description of how it worked. But we do know that God intended these two stones to be used like lots to discern His will in a given circumstance and there are however a number of accounts of its use and the types of decisions that it was used to make. The following are all of the accounts of the use of the UT in the bible.

Judges 1:1-2 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?" The LORD answered, "Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands."

Judges 20:18 The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, "Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?" The LORD replied, "Judah shall go first."

1Sa 10:22 So they inquired further of the LORD, "Has the man come here yet?" And the LORD said, "Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage."

1Sa 23:2 he inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" The LORD answered him, "Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah."

1Sa 23:4 Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, "Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand."

1Sa 23:10-11 David said, "O LORD, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, God of Israel, tell your servant." And the LORD said, "He will."

1Sa 23:12 Again David asked, "Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?" And the LORD said, "They will."

2Sa 2:1 In the course of time, David inquired of the LORD. "Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?" he asked. The LORD said, "Go up." David asked, "Where shall I go?" "To Hebron," the LORD answered.

2Sa 5:19 so David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The LORD answered him, "Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you."

2Sa 5:23 so David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, "Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.

It’s interesting to note here that there is no mention of the use of the UT after the time of David.

So anyway this all bugged me. I really wanted God to be there at the beck and call of his people the way the bible seems to describe. Or does it…I’ve been trying to read the bible like it’s the first time I’ve read it and I’ve also been trying to read it without all of the notions that have been provided to me by previous teachers. Not that it’s bad to learn from others but I’m trying to read the bible like it is the only source of truth. (I got this idea from Frances Chan in his book Forgotten God. He questions if we would arrive at the same conclusions about God if the bible were our only source of truth.)

So with that said, as I think about the bible up to this point in Exodus we are given a condensed view of more than 2000 year of history. We are given many accounts of God interacting with only a very few people. Because of these accounts, we are impressed with God’s interaction with men and long for that kind of relationship with Him. But the fact is, most people on the earth never had any interaction with God. They were not given the benefit of His council, or His immediate presence. Even the children of Israel had a distant relationship with God. They knew he was fighting for them, he was present in clouds and fire but not in a personal way, in fact it was quite the opposite. Their relationship with God was one of blessing for obedience and punishment for disobedience but both were in an indirect and impersonal way.

So why would the God of the universe chose to interact with people in such an impersonal way as the UT. I don’t pretend to know God’s reasons for doing things the way He chose to do them but I think the answer may lie in the progression of revelation throughout history.

In the Garden, God walked and talked with men. After the fall, He no longer interacted with men in that way again. He chose certain men and women for interaction to accomplish His purposes. Then we have the Urim and Thummim, where God interacts by the use of lots. After David, God worked through the prophets and there was no more mention of the UT. Then there was a period of complete silence where God was largely absent in the lives of men. Then Jesus came and God walked with men again for a short time. After the death resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Spirit of God was given to men. For me the answer came in the realization of the fact that I tend to forget the Spirit’s presence in my life. I go through periods of time where I try to keep Him constantly in the forefront of my attention but inevitably I forget. But I neglect to recognize the blessing that is mine in the fact that He is always there to guide me in my decisions. My wife and I often talk about what it would be like to go through life without the Spirit’s guidance, without His leading, without His help in decision making. But the early Israelites didn’t have the Spirit; they did not have His leading. They had direct revelation to certain men, they had God’s physical intervention in their lives at times, but they did not have the Spirit to guide them individually. In the absence of the Spirit’s presence they would have no way to discern the proper means to proceed in any given situation.

So what do I take away from the use of the UT in Exodus. Well, I guess I thank God that I have the presence of the Spirit in my life to guide me in making decisions. I also take away the realization that God truly does intend for His children to seek Him for guidance when making life’s decisions. This realization makes me want to more fervently seek Him for answers to life’s questions. He wants to answer them.

Missions Monday – The Karen People of Burma

For decades the government of Burma has carried out a genocide against its own people. More than 500,000 people have been killed in Burma (also known as Myanmar) in the last 30 years. More than 3,300 villages have been burned to the ground by the Burmese military. The government of Burma is controlled by the military (Tatmadaw) in the form of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). A parliamentary government was elected in 1990, but the military prevented it from convening.

In an effort to terrorize the ethnic groups into submission, the Burma Army uses religion as a weapon of war. When it is convenient to do so, the army cloaks itself in Buddhism and stirs up anti-Christian sentiment. Churches are often the first targets in attacks on ethnic villages, while more often than not Buddhist temples are left untouched. In Chin state, which is 90 percent Christian, soldiers tear down crosses and force villagers to build Buddhist pagodas. Burma does not affirm Buddhism as the official state religion, though Buddhists total nearly 83 percent of the population. (Christianity Today, Rogers, 3/04)

One heavily targeted people group within the Burmese population is the Karen people. The Karen people are more than 40% Christian. A Burmese official boldly stated recently, “Soon there will be no Christians in this nation. You will only be able to see a Karen person in a picture in a museum.”

In the midst of the genocide in Burma, God is at work. One believer is reported to have said, “Without this genocide, maybe this worship would not be happening, and people would not be coming to Christ.”

Please pray for the people of Burma.

The following video is not suitable for Children.

Clash of Two Titans

I figured since I could care less about football I write about the clash of two titans that actually have significance beyond the lining of the wallets of the NFL and CBS.

Exodus 14:11-15 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

I love those verses! God has brought the Israelites out of Egypt and they have watched Him perform miraculous wonders to secure their release. Now the armies of Pharaoh are closing from the rear and they are faced with the red sea in the front. In the midst of this terrible predicament Moses gives them a pretty good pep talk. He tells them to stand firm and watch the Lord deliver them. But I love what God says to Moses. Why are you crying out to me? Tell them to move on.

So in the midst of their predicament the Israelites are crying out to God. Crying out seems like the right thing to do; it’s what I would do. God has a different perspective however. He says, “What are you standing around crying out about, I got this! Move on!” God’s expectation is that the Israelites would simply turn their back on their problem and move on. When I get into trouble, I like to fixate on it. I read books about it, I talk to EVERYONE about it, sometimes I even pray about it.

Please understand that I’m not saying that the answer to all your problems is to ignore them and expect God to clean up the mess. What I am saying is that when God leads you in a task or when you find yourself in trouble for following His will you do not need to consult others, or worry about the outcome. God will carry out His purposes, they cannot be stopped.

Hymn -- by Ed

There’s a hunger in the soul,
that cannot be filled by men
it finds its source in spirit,
and looks for home again,
soaring upward through the heavens,
leaving earth’s firm grasp behind,
and finding its release
in the loving arms of Christ

This hunger is not passing,
its pangs will never wane.
Until the spirit enters,
and makes you whole again.
filling even darkest corner,
with the everlasting light,
and quelling satan’s fire
with the conquering love of Christ

One day I’ll stand before him
In that wondrous shining home
And I’ll sink into the river
that’s flowing from His throne
and reaching up I will eat
from that glorious tree of life
and finally find fulfillment
in the precious love of Christ

Stranger in a Strange Land

Exodus 2:22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, "I have become an alien in a foreign land."

I’ve been thinking about this verse for a couple days now. I think because it’s kind of the way I’ve been feeling lately. Moses names his son Gershom. Ger is an Egyptian word meaning sojourner. Shom is a Coptic word meaning foreign or strange land. The definition of sojourner is a person who resides temporarily in a place.

Moses was simply saying that he was temporarily living in a foreign land. But it seems to me there’s a deeper truth here. Moses was born in Egypt, he should have been dead by all intents and purposes since the Egyptians were busy murdering all the Hebrew children. God spared Moses from death and then caused him to be raised among the rulers of Egypt in Pharaoh’s own household. But Moses wasn’t content to be raised with the silver spoon. He saw the plight of his people and wanted to help them but didn’t know how. His passion got him into trouble when he killed an Egyptian man who was beating a Hebrew. So Moses was called out of the Hebrew people, he was called out of Egypt where he lived as a sojourner and then God used him to call the Hebrew people out of Egypt. The Hebrews lives as sojourners in the wilderness before the reached the promised land.

This theme of calling out is repeated throughout the bible. Abraham is called to move from his home and move to the place where God told him, he was also called a sojourner.

David was called out from his brothers and ultimately ended up living in caves to escape Saul’s wrath before he became king.

Noah was called to build the ark and became a laughing stock among the peoples of the time.

Nehemiah was exiled to Persia and ended up being sent to Israel to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall.

Esther’s father had been carried into exile and she was ultimately used to save her people.

Jonah was called out to go to a strange sinful land and after his disobedience and punishment ultimately led the Ninevites to repentance.

All of the prophets were called out and most were rejected because of the message God gave them to deliver.

Jesus himself lived as a sojourner as he traveled.

So I guess the point is it should really be no surprise that first, God calls his children out of the world. Second, God’s calling fundamentally changes the trajectory of a person’s life and makes them sojourners in an increasingly strange land. It should be no surprise to us that the world doesn’t understand why or how we go about His work. It should be no surprise that they mock. It should be no surprise if at some point they may stop tolerating us.

Oh, but there’s one more calling out. If he’s called you out here on Earth and you have lived as a stranger in the land, someday He’s going to call you again. In a flash of light he’s going to call us out for good and meet us in the air. Then the sojourners will finally be at home. I can’t wait!

Abortion - An Issue of Racism and Sexism

I’d Like to re-post something I wrote a couple years ago; first because I’m reading Exodus chapter 1 which is all about abortion and second, because two Sundays ago was Right to Life Sunday. One thing I never want to be accused of is being vague about the truth, so here it is. God hates abortion. Abortion is murder. People who perform abortions are murderers and will be punished as such. I want to be more gentle with those who may have had abortions, since there may be someone reading this who has had an abortion. I feel that many are deceived into believing they are doing the best thing they can both for themselves and their children. They may be scared, hopeless, helpless, and / or alone. This is a shame and the responsibility for these mothers falls squarely on the church. I have nothing but love and compassion for anyone who has ever found them self facing this difficult decision. Never-the-less, there is forgiveness and healing in Jesus for all sin. My purpose in writing this is not to condemn anyone. that is God's prerogative. It do condemn the thinking of those who would argue for the utility of abortion.

Much of this info is shamelessly stolen from various sources.

Abortion statistics (CDC website)

20% of abortions are acquired by married couples not single women.
80% of abortions are obtained by people >20yrs old not teenagers.
39% of abortions are obtained by non Caucasians even though they only make up ~20% of the population.
African American women are almost four times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2.5 times as likely.
Over 60% of abortions are among women who have had one or more children

Abortion facts
A baby’s heart begins to beat on the 21st day after conception.

Brain waves are detectable at 40 days (they may be there earlier but are not detectable).

20 weeks is considered the earliest a baby can live outside the mothers womb.

There are somewhere between 170-340 pregnancies due to rape in the US each year. This is much less than 1% of total abortions.

The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ($9,570 for a single woman with no children) is more than four times that of women above 300% of the poverty level (44 vs. 10 abortions per 1,000 women).

37% percent of providers offer abortion at four weeks’ gestation, and 97% offer abortion at eight weeks. Thirty-three percent offer abortion at 20 weeks, after which the number of providers offering abortion services drops off sharply. Only 2% of all abortion providers provide abortions at 26 weeks’ gestation. Obviously even abortion doctors feel that after 26 weeks it’s too late.

When does life begin?
Of course we all know when life begins but since we Americans like to parse the truth to justify our sin, I'll allow you to pretend for a moment that it possibly starts at some later point. In this case you must submit to the following argument:

A person can only be dead or alive there is no other state,
THEREFORE
If a person is not alive they are dead, AND
If a person is not dead then they are alive…correct?

The legal definition of death is the following in all 50 states:
Determination of Death Act (UDDA). It states that: "An individual who has sustained either
(1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or
(2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem is dead.
A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards."
This definition was approved by the American Medical Association in 1980 and by the American Bar Association in 1981. Today all fifty states and the District of Columbia follow the UDDA as a legal standard of death.
If this is the definition of death then by using our argument above the definition of life is:
The presence of both circulatory and brain function.

Using this definition a baby is alive by 40 days gestation (probably earlier)
40% of abortions occur after 9 weeks. This means that at least 50% of abortions occur after the baby is legally alive. Remember, I'm making a legal / medical argument since much of society has rejected the spiritual argument that life begins at conception.

The charter of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, is guiding here. "All men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
The first right is "life," for without it, there are no other rights.


Abortion is a racism and sexism issue:

Abortion is used worldwide as a method of sex selection.

Pro choice feminists oppose sex selection abortion because it often leads to the death of girls.

Sexism = an explicit or implicit belief of practice that quantitatively distinguishes one sex over another.

Racism – Margret Sanger the person who started Planned Parenthood was part of a project called the “Negro project” which supplied contraception to blacks in the name of eugenics.

• Eugenicists strongly espoused racial supremacy and “purity,” particularly of the “Aryan” race. Eugenicists hoped to purify the bloodlines and improve the race by encouraging the “fit” to reproduce and the “unfit” to restrict their reproduction. They sought to contain the “inferior” races through segregation, sterilization, birth control and abortion.

• Sanger embraced Malthusian Eugenics. Thomas Robert Malthus, a 19th-century cleric and professor of political economy, believed a population time bomb threatened the existence of the human race. He viewed social problems such as poverty, deprivation and hunger as evidence of this “population crisis.” His answer was to restrict population growth of certain groups of people. His theories of population growth and economic stability became the basis for national and international social policy.

• Despite the falsehoods of Malthus' overpopulation claims, Sanger nonetheless immersed herself in Malthusian Eugenics. Grant wrote she argued for birth control using the “scientifically verified” threat of poverty, sickness, racial tension and overpopulation as its background. Sanger's publication, The Birth Control Review (founded in 1917) regularly published pro-eugenic articles from eugenicists, such as Ernst Rudin. Although Sanger ceased editing The Birth Control Review in 1929, the ABCL continued to use it as a platform for eugenic ideas.

• Sanger built the work of the ABCL, and, ultimately, Planned Parenthood, on the ideas and resources of the eugenics movement. Grant reported that “virtually all of the organization's board members were eugenicists.” Eugenicists financed the early projects, from the opening of birth control clinics to the publishing of “revolutionary” literature. Eugenicists comprised the speakers at conferences, authors of literature and the providers of services “almost without exception.” And Planned Parenthood's international work was originally housed in the offices of the Eugenics Society. The two organizations were intertwined for years

• Planned Parenthood has gone to great lengths to repudiate the organization's eugenic origins. It adamantly denies Sanger was a eugenicist or racist, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Because Sanger stopped editing The Birth Control Review in 1929, the organization tries to disassociate her from the eugenic and racist-oriented articles published after that date. However, a summary of an address Sanger gave in 1932, which appeared in the Review that year, revealed her continuing bent toward eugenics.

• In “A Plan for Peace,” Sanger suggested Congress set up a special department to study population problems and appoint a “Parliament of Population.” One of the main objectives of the “Population Congress” would be “to raise the level and increase the general intelligence of population.” This would be accomplished by applying a “stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation [in addition to tightening immigration laws] to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.”

Planned parenthood has aborted >12 million black babies.

Exodus 1:8-22 And there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are many and mightier than we. Come, let us deal slyly with them, lest they multiply, and it will be when there comes a war, they join also to our enemies, and fight against us, and get out of the land. And they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built treasure cities for Pharaoh, Pithon and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the sons of Israel. And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel serve with harshness. And they made their lives bitter with hard work in mortar and in bricks, and in all kinds of work in the field; all their work in which they made them do was with harshness. And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah. And he said, When you midwife the Hebrew women, and look on the birth stools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved alive the male children. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this thing, and have saved the male children alive? And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. For they are lively, and are delivered before the midwives come in to them. And God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and became very mighty. And it happened, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.

• Pharaoh started with enslavement, second they treated them harshly but they still flourished. Next pharaoh instructed the midwives to kill all baby boys. Finally he instructed all Egyptians to kill any Hebrew baby boy.

• It obviously didn’t work because 600,000 Hebrew men left Egypt when the children of Israel were released.

• Pharaoh started with subtle infanticide. He only progressed to open infanticide later.

• Sexism displayed:…Pharaoh only demanded killing males. This is to keep the population from growing. His policy was also racist… it was directed at the Jews. This is going on today in India and China where only girls are killed.

• God rewarded the civil disobedience of the midwives. The midwives lied to the Pharaoh. The bible says God hates liars but it says he “dealt well” with the midwives and “made them houses” meaning he actually caused their own families to flourish and grow. This shows where abortion falls on Gods list of dislikes.

I’m not the type of person who advocates for the bombing of abortion clinics or other forms of violence since these actions are outrightly sinful and counterproductive; however I can’t help but feel that most Christians are far too silent on this issue. People feel that since it’s the law of the land we simply have to accept it and hope and pray that it will some day stop. We don’t speak out publicly for fear of scorn from those who vehemently support the cause. As a man I’m told that it’s none of my business what a woman does with her body. Still other Christians will shush you because they feel that strong words about abortion push people away from Christianity and cause people to be turned off from the gospel.

"Honorius, who inherited the empire of Europe, put a stop to the gladiatorial combats which had long been held at Rome. The occasion of his doing so arose from the following circumstance. A certain man of the name of Telemachus had embraced the ascetic life. He had set out from the East and for this reason had repaired to Rome. There, when the abominable spectacle was being exhibited, he went himself into the stadium, and stepping down into the arena, endeavoured to stop the men who were wielding their weapons against one another. The spectators of the slaughter were indignant, and inspired by the triad fury of the demon who delights in those bloody deeds, stoned the peacemaker to death.
When the admirable emperor was informed of this he numbered Telemachus in the number of victorious martyrs, and put an end to that impious spectacle."

Telemachus stepped onto the floor of the Roman Coliseum and cried to the people “In the name of Christ, forebear!” The gladiatorial games were an accepted part of Roman life and wildly popular among the population. For his defiance Telemachus was stoned to death by the crowd. But his death was the death knell for the gladiatorial fights. No gladiatorial fight was held in the Rome after that date.

I know that we’re here to be winsome and lead a life that will cause people to glorify God, but Jesus didn’t hesitate to overturn the moneychanger’s tables. He never shied away from pointing out the sin in people’s lives. I can’t help but believe that if we are going to be salt and light to the word that we, like Telemachus, have to step out before men and in the face of a horror many degrees more grizzly than that of the gladiatorial games cry “In the name of Christ, forebear!”

Missions Monday

Ok, lookout ‘cause I’m going to preach, and not in a good way. I’m all worked up in my spirit about something that I want to share with you. (By the way, before reading this, go down to the bottom of the page and click on the number 6 song on the MP3 player for a better reading experience.) Now back to the post.

My prayer life sucks. OK? There I said it. Oh yea, I pray, but my prayers suck. Please pardon my indelicacy but it’s really the best word to use. I’ve read books about prayer; I’ve listened to sermons on prayer; but it sucks none the less. Why do you ask? Well I intend to tell you.

I listened to a missionary speak today. He’s from Iran. He talked about how people all over Iran are getting saved. Hundreds of thousands of people! He said that Iran is the most open muslim country to the gospel on the face of the earth. Think about that for a minute. I would have never thought. To be honest if you had asked me I would have told you that I thought it was probably one of the most closed societies to the gospel on the face of the earth. He also said that the church is on fire for God and they are dedicated to him no matter what.

The man began to talk about some of the people he knew about who had become Christians. One woman was brought before the Islamic court and was told that if she didn’t renounce Christ they would take her three year old daughter away. Her response…I can’t renounce my Lord. She hasn’t seen her daughter in six years. The girl would be nine now.

For those of you with kids, just stop and think about that for a few minutes. Can you imagine the horror of being in her shoes? Could you respond as she did? I didn’t know about her. My wife and I were planning our anniversary getaway today.

He’s got the little bitty babies, in His hands….. Do you believe it?

Then there are the two college girls who were sent to prison for being Christians. Seven months now they have been in prison. In August last year they were brought to court and told that they had to write and say that they denied Jesus is the Christ. They told the judge that they would not do so because God had spoken to them. The judge said, that is impossible, God does not speak to humans. The girls’ response…”are you questioning whether God is almighty?” The judge said “You are not worthy for God to speak to you.” The girls said “It is God, not you, who determines our worth”. The judge said, I am sending you back to prison, after you have had some time to think you can request to come back when you are ready to renounce your faith. The girls said, “We don’t need to think, our mind is already made up.” They are still in prison right now. I didn’t know about them. Did you watch the Grammy’s Sunday night?

He’s got the whole world in his hands…….. Do you believe it?

Don’t answer too quickly, because if you believe it, it has far reaching ramifications; deadly serious ones. See, the bible stories aren’t just stories. Daniel from the lions den…he was the prime minister of Iran. Esther, she was in Iran too. They both faced very difficult decisions because of their faith, in Iran. People are still facing these decisions RIGHT NOW, in Iran and many other places. What are you doing tonight?

Please don’t minimize what I am saying by justifying your lifestyle to me. I know that God intends for me to enjoy my life and my blessings. But we live in a very dangerous time in human history and we are at a serious disadvantage as Amercans. We are blind and deaf to the plight of most of the world because our comforts are all consuming. They take our time, our attention, and our money and they waste them all on what is passing away.

Acts 12:3-7 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.

Peter was put in jail for his faith, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. This is why my prayer life sucks. No, I realize that I can’t know about every injustice in the world. But I know about many. I rarely pray about them. My prayers are so self-centered, so shallow. In fact, often I feel like I don’t even have anything to pray about. It’s very sad really. There is so much to pray about and so little time.

I’ve decided that I’m going to make Monday, missions Monday here among the Theophiles. I want to pray for a different group of people each week. I’ll post something about them for everyone so we can all be praying for the same things. I feel like it’s the very least I can do considering how God has blessed me.

Please pray for the persecuted Christians of Iran.

Wells, Wells Everwhere but not a Drop to Drink (Genesis 26)

Isaac headed to Egypt because there was a famine in the land and he got to Gerar, which from what I can tell, is very close to what is now Palestine on the edge of the promised land. When he got to Gerar God appeared to him in a dream and told him not to go to Egypt but to stay FOR A WHILE in Gerar. The actual word used here is "gur" which means to turn aside from the road. It's obvious that God didn't intend for Isaac to stay there, but in verse 6 we read that Isaac dwelt in Gerar. The word for dwelt is "yashab" which means to sit down. So God told Isaac to turn aside and Isaac sat down.

Now regardless of Isaac's disobedience God kept his promise and blessed him greatly but Isaac's stay was not without problems. The King, Abimelech,tried to marry Isaac's wife because Isaac lied to him and told him it was his sister. When the king found out he scolded Isaac for his dishonesty. As a side note I find it interesting the Abimelech actually has more integrity than Isaac does and he's not a follower of God.

Isaac farmed the land and raised cattle and God continued to bless him greatly; so much so in fact that the people began to fear him because he was becoming to powerful. In response to his growing wealth the Philistines stopped up all the wells that he used to water the cattle and for drinking. That might seem like almost a harmless prank but it was actually a very serious problem. Isaac and all his family and cattle would have been in serious trouble very quickly.

In response to the aggression of the philistines, Isaac did not retaliate. Instead, he packed up and left. At this point we go through several rounds of well digging and well stopping. Each time one of Isaac's wells is stopped up Isaac packed up and moved. Finally he ended up in Beersheeba (which is to the north in what would eventually become the promised land). Once there, God appeared to him and renewed His covenant again, and promised to bless him. Finally Abimelech showed up again and formed a peace treaty with Isaac.

What I find interesting about this section of scripture is that Isaac is living in disobedience to God. He's in a place where God had not intended him to go. God blesses him but he encountered a great deal of trouble because of the choices he made along the way. I think sometimes we like to believe that our problems are thrust upon us by forces outside our control. We pray for God to remove the trial rather than looking at why there would be a trial in the first place. It seems like it's a popular trend these days to simply will your problems away. Some people's theology would say that God just wants us to be successful and that if we just have faith and pray, he will remove those roadblocks from our path. This however, is faulty theology because God sometimes is the architect of the roadblock. In this case God was driving Isaac back to the promised land. One he got there, God renewed the covenant and blessed him richly, so much so that Abimelech felt the need to come and create a peace treaty. We see these types of road blocks throughout scripture: Jonah and the whale, Balaam and his donkey, Paul in Acts 16.

If Isaac had fought against the Philistines for control of the land he may never have seen the end to his troubles. Instead, each time there is conflict Isaac backed off and actually moved rather than quarrel. When you find a roadblock in your path don't immediately try to plow it down. God may have put it there for a reason.

Also, I think there's something to be learned from Isaac's disposition throughout all these trials. He never retaliated against those who were being openly hostile toward him. He chose the path of peace and when given the opportunity with King Abimelech he made a peace treaty with him.

For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God" (I Pet. 2:19-20)

The next time you encounter a roadblock, before you complain or ask God to remove it, make sure He isn't just trying to save you from yourself.

Stewing Over Who I am in Him

Gen 25:30-34 He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright." "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?" But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

When I read this verse in the past I always thought that it was pretty rotten of Jacob to blackmail his brother into giving up his birthright. Tonight when I read this the phrase “What good is the birthright to me?” it caught my eye. I always thought of the birthright as Esau’s inheritance as the first born son and it is, but it’s more than that. As the grandson of Abraham Esau was not only in line for the inheritance of his wealthy father Isaac’s estate, but he was also first in line to be the recipient of the promises included in the covenant that God made with Abraham. So when Esau says what good is a birthright to me, he’s basically saying, look, I don’t give a rip about God right now, I’m hungry, give me some food.

This got me thinking about how many times I shove God to the back burner in my life when I have more pressing matters to worry about. God has made me the recipient of His covenant promise through Jesus. I am adopted as His son, and as His son, I am in line for His inheritance. But all too often I’m willing to ignore my relationship and give priority to seemingly meaningless trivialities of the day. Yeah God, I know I haven’t spent time with you today, but look, I need my sleep. Yeah God, I know I don’t pray much but look I don’t have much time to myself after the kids get to bed.

It’s not about guilt. It’s about remembering who I am in Him. If I can keep that first and foremost in my mind, then maybe I’ll be less likely to cast Him aside for a bowl of soup.

What's in a Name?

So last year about this time I decided that I was going to make it my goal to read through the bible every year. I've done that before but I wanted to commit to doing it every year. I don't tell you this as though that somehow that should make me more spiritual in your eyes, or that there's anything particularly magical about reading the whole bible as opposed to reading it in pieces. But one thing I learned last year as I read through is that when taken as a whole the bible tells a story, and it's a completely cohesive unified story even though it is actually 66 individually books written by many different authors over thousands of years.

So anyway, this year I decided that as I started reading I was going to pay particular attention to the individual people and possibly focus on some of the not so popular folks. It has helped that we're also studying some of the early bible patriarchs in our Sunday school class. As I read through the early chapters of Genesis I was paying particular attention to the names given to these people and what the bible says about their meanings.

Adah - ornament
Enosh - mortal
Irad - fugitive
Jabal - stream
Japheth - spreading out
Mahalalel - praise of God
Methushael - man who is of God

In each case the name given to the person ended up personifying their life in a major way. So I'm wondering; their parents could not have possibly known what these people would grow up to be like. Obviously God played a hand in their lives, and right from the beginning, right down to what their name was.

I love it when the bible shows me that God is involved in our lives in the most intimate ways. But that intimacy may look a bit different than I want it to. I want to think about God as though we was like my wife sitting across the room who's bound to listen to my complaining and whining, or bad attitude, and always be patient and loving in response. The reality I think, is that God has a very detailed plan; His plan is about Him not us, but we get to be involved. Because we're involved God weaves himself into the intimate details of our lives and as a result, our lives become part of the story He's telling the world. His story. I want to be able to say God, this story isn't going so good, can you please change this chapter?. But God is saying, Ed, you were created to be in this chapter, connect to Me and find out why.

So all this got me thinking about my name, Edward. All the references I could find say my name means wealthy guardian. I guess I could think of worse things to be named, but what I really want to know is if God was going to name me, what would He call me? Would he call me, "TV watcher", or how about "the great sitting wonder"? I think the name Methushael would be a pretty good one. It might not get allot of attention from the ladies, but I think if God saw me as "one who is of God" I think I would pretty happy about that.

What do you think God would call you?

So Why Write a Blog

I've been kicking around writing a blog for a while and have held off until now for a couple reasons. First, I wasn't sure I had anything of value to say. I have a lot swirling around in my noggin but I'm never sure that those ideas are things people want to read about. Second, I believe there's a danger in current trends in social networking and the bloggosphere. That danger is that people can get online, get a big head, and spout any kind of trash for others to read. Others read these ideas and take them as realities perpetuating their inaccuracies.

In addition to the aforementioned concerns I worry about my own tendency to get wrapped up in the concerns of the day. Anyone who has seen my posts on Facebook knows full well that I have a tendency to focus on the negative. The reality is I am very passionate about a ot of things and I like to talk about them. I try to make postings that will stimulate conversation however most of the time I get either no response or only surface reaction rather than dialogue. Facebook isn't really very good at facilitating discussion however which brings me to the reason for writing the blog. My hope is that by posting my ideas here that the people who take the time to read them will be more likely to respond and dialogue about them.

As for content, the title of the blog says it all. While I'm passionate about several topics none more so than that of my faith. Recently I read a post of Facebook by a homosexual acquaintance of mine who stated "You either believe we're equal or you don't". I thought about that statement for a while because of course, I don't support much of the homosexual agenda but I wondered if that automatically makes me an enemy of the average homosexual. I don't wish to be enemies of course, but increasingly I feel like as a Christian, my faith puts me at odds with more and more of society.

I don't intend for this to be a commentary on homosexuality but instead a commentary on society, how it relates to God and how I as a Christian relate to God and society. I can't help but notice that the homophobia of the past has been replaced with theophobia (the fear / hatred of God)of the present.

So this long winded explanation is to say that I consider myself a theophile, or a lover of God. As a lover of God, I find myself increasingly out of place in this world. This blog is a place where I Will try to take the words that I read in my bible and to relate them to the world around me to try and make sense of it all. I welcome you to come along if you choose.