Over Oathers Anonymous

Yes, I'm making up new words. It's for your benefit and that of Anonymous. Maybe you recall Christ's words in the sermon on the mount. One of His topics was oaths.

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
- Matthew 5:33-37 (ESV)

The problem for me is over oathing. Yes, I over eat also; That's another set of scriptures for another day. Over commitment. Over oathing. Over eating. That's me; that's Anonymous, and you can jump in this little confession session at anytime. I think I'm drowning.

Oaths and swearing are significant problems in our culture. We make all kinds of promises that we cannot keep, or even intend to keep. We say things just to end a conversation, so we can move on to what we want to do, and get away from that nagging person that what's us to commit to doing something for them. We embellish our stories and statements to make ourselves look better.

Christ, said don't do it. Don't add on to what you're promising. Do not say yes unless you mean it. Do add an excuse to your no. If you're not going to do it, say no. If you're going to do it say, yes. And leave it at that. If the other person has a follow up question, great. You and I don't need to add extraneous statements or excuses to the conversation. We don't need to swear by a higher power.

Well, prayer for anonymous. He needs help in this area. Keep him from he evil one. Maybe you need help too. Confessions appreciated (i.e. don't leave Anonymous alone).

Anonymously yours....

The Blessing of Faithfulness

American culture has a preoccupation with sexual fulfillment: affairs, love triangles, all manner of sexual relationships ... It is near impossible to watch TV or a movie without seeing some form of sexual immorality being glorified or projected as normal, and this is lived out in a considerable portion of our population. The ways of Christ and His Word are rejected as out-dated and even abnormal. The later is true. The former is a rejection of timeless principles.

While the standards of God are clearly superior to the ways of man, American culture and even the church have rejected, lost, or ignored Christ' teachings. True and pure faithfulness is the highest form of fulfillment, even sexual fulfillment. When a couple is sold out to each other, when they are deeply committed to one another, they will truly experience a blessing from God.

The adulterous ways of man are racked with relational problems. Complications, lies, deceit, jealously, disease, and many other problems plague the promiscuous sexuality of Americans. Pour relational skills and self centric desires break up couples, one after another. Christ words on divorce and purity are but a faint recollection.

I urge you all to be faithful. Know the blessing of being faithful. Be faithful to your bride, and Christ' bride, the church. Be faithful to the ways of God, and you will truly experience a blessing. Raise the standard of relational conduct. Show commitment, and project the commands of Christ in all that you do.

America Bless God

Rise Up O Men of God

Well we did it. It was a touch painful for a couple of us, but the blessing that flowed was incredible. An hour plus change and new location made a world of difference. Instead of 7am in Hutto, the men of New Hope are now meeting at 6am in Pf-ville. Honeycut, Luce, Gibson, Coker, Moore, Peterman and I shared a great time of fellowship, breakfast, prayer and discussion of the Bible. I'm very grateful to God that we could all get together.

The phrase "Rise Up O Men of God" came to mind as we parted company. In Matthew 5, Christ Jesus makes it clear that He did not come to abolish the moral standards of the Old Testament, rather to raise them. Not only is murder wrong, but hatred toward your brother is wrong. Not only is adultery wrong, lusting after a woman is wrong. Sin is a terrible condition, and we must deal with sin aggressively! We must raise the standard of Christ. We must rise up!

So, rise up we did! We rose up a bit earlier to learn the blessing of fellowship, and to learn the higher standards of Christ Jesus.

If a dose of worship from the old time hymn will motivate you, click below ...

"Rise Up O Men of God"

No Delight in the Death of the Wicked

I wish I understood it. I wish I could fully explain the logical and how's it derived. The truth is that I can't. It perplexes me to no end, and I am driven to help turn around this backwards thinking. I'm sure you've heard the type of statements I speak of. It's the kind of statement that equates good with evil and evil with good.

Last week Eileen Flynn, religion reporter for the Austin-American Statesman, posted an article on the Bible Flap between James Dobson and Barrack Obama. Eileen's blog deals with the basis for morality, "Is the Bible a valid source of morality?" Boy, did it stir up the discussion. As usual, a good number of Humanists and Atheists commented on her blog.

The perplexing part is how confused some people are about God and the Bible. Some assert that God is evil for destroying evil. Here's a quote from one of the posters,

"Thou shall not murder/kill…..God kills/murders everyone but Noah’s family." - TXatheist

TXatheist accuses God of violating his own commandment, and fails to acknowledge the evil of mankind. Murder is killing an innocent, not just any killing. Death is the penalty for sin, and God is by no means evil for being just. God is perfectly just in destroying evil, even if that means taking a guilty life. God has power over life and death, and promises to destroy all evil and death itself in the end.

More than that, God's wrath and punishment is a means of drawing people back to Himself. God has no delight in the death of the wicked, rather He is pleased when people turn from their wicked ways and live.

" ... O son of man, say to the house of Israel: 'Thus you say, "If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?" ' Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'" - Ezekiel 33:10-11 (NKJV)

The logic of TXatheist and others leads me to think they would prefer that evil remain in the world. Would heaven be heaven, if evil is not purged from it? Will the earth be new, if good ole' evil remains? How is God evil for removing evil? Rather evil seeks to remove righteousness. And righteousness seeks to remove evil. I rejoice in seeing the day that sin, and everything evil is removed from this earth.

America Bless God