A Myth In Our Day

"One of the many myths of our divorce culture is that divorce automatically rescues children from an unhappy marriage. Indeed, many parents cling to this belief as a way of making themselves feel less guilty. No one wants to hurt his or her child, and thinking that divorce is a solution to everyone's pain genuinely helps. Moreover, it's true that divorce delivers a child from a violent or cruel marriage (which we will soon see in Chapter 7). However, when one looks at the thousands of children that my colleagues and I have interviewed at our center since 1980, most of whom were from moderately unhappy marriages that ended in divorce, one message is clear: the children do not say they are happier. Rather, they say flatly, "The day my parents divorced is the day my childhood ended."

From 'The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce' [The 25 Year Landmark Study]

Unclean or Holy

We live in a day of such great individualism...we are all separate atoms...we may bump into each other...but never are we a part of one another, influenced and intermingled with each other.

According to this thinking the dad is an individual, as is the mom.

The children are separate little atoms, untouched by the parents actions.

What happens in mom and dad's life with God doesn't do anything "really" in the life of the children.

If the children want to be "in covenant" with God then "they" must be the ones who make that decision.

God forbid that the parents would be able to make that decision...or...gasp...that God, the Creator and Governor of Heaven and earth could actually make that decision for them.

But we see that the Bible teaches us that the parents actions do effect the lives and status of their children.

The Apostle Paul tells us "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy."

God is telling us that even one parent entering covenant with God makes a world of difference in the lives of their children.

Let's work out a story according to this passage.

Atom thinking is faulty.

There was an unbelieving family, dad, mom and the two sons.

One day dad hears the gospel and becomes a Christian...what does the Apostle Paul say happens in the lives of the children, what happens to their status before God?

Ooohh, they stay the same until they do something about it!!!!!

Is that what God says?

God says that when Dad trusted God and entered covenant [baptized] that the children went from being unclean...to holy...set apart for God.

The Outreach Program?

The following is from a book I am reading...it is called "Out of the Saltshaker & Into the world".

"If we don't grasp that Christ has freed us to be authentic, we will see evangelism as a project instead of a lifestyle. And we will tend to see non-Christians more as objects of our evangelistic efforts than as authentic persons.
I once asked a girl is she felt comfortable about evangelism. "Oh, yes!" she responded. "I do it twice a week." (Somehow it sounded more like taking multiple vitamins.) Evangelism isn't just something you "do"---out there---and then get back to normal living. Evangelism involves taking people seriously, getting across to their island of concerns and needs, and then sharing Christ as Lord in the context of our natural living situations."

Slip Away...Not Today.

I wonder what things would look like in the church of Jesus Christ if we were more united?

If we, as different churches and denominations stood together and upheld one anothers judgments and discipline cases.

This way if a person was to fall under discipline and in a worse case be excommunicated by the church, then this judgment call would go with them wherever they ran.

Of course this would be for their good...in order to open their eyes to cause them to see that they can not run and hide from the Lord, the Head of the Church.

This would bring a man to see that if he wanted his sin then he could not have the name of Christian.

And God willing repentance would soon follow.

Whats In A Ritual...Part 2

Back on June 29th I commented on rituals and their importance...I ended that post by saying,

"Since the people of God are the salt and light to the world...I wonder how much of the common law marriages we see today are not the world learning from the church?
But that is for another day."

I obviously have been side-tracked...but this is "that" another day.

A few days before my June 29th posting I was at a church that kept saying that they had an outreach in which 30 people became 'Christians', and then a few minutes later they would share about how great it was that 30 people made a 'decision for Christ'.

Their definition of a Christian was simply someone who made a decision for Christ...and this definition falls short of the mark.

Entering God's covenant is objective...it is something you can observe, it is not something that merely happens in the realm of the feelings...deep inside the heart.

When a person is baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they have entered covenant with God and have become a Christian.

When we make a mere decision for Christ the standard for being a Christian then we have taken away God's objective sign.

The person ignoring or even refusing baptism can claim with his/her whole heart how much they love Jesus, how they want to talk with Him [pray] and listen to Him [read the bible] and live their whole life with Him, and even eat at His table [Lord's Supper].

Many people may read the above and say..."and...what's wrong with that!?"

Well...let's use those same arguments for a young couple "in love".

They really love each other but don't need some ritual or ceremony to prove it.

They can just go through all the motions of marriage because they have made that heart decision to love each other and be devoted to each other...right?

When we read the Bible we see that God is the One who has ordained rituals, they are very important, life changing, status changing.

We must not ignore them!

The Beast Within

And Jacob recognized it and said, "it is my son's tunic". A wild beast has devoured him. Without a doubt Joseph is torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sack cloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, 'for I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.'

Jacob was correct...a beast had gotten to his boy...and this wild, wicked, hungry beast was close by...in fact it was in the very room.

This beast was very likely crying false tears...as it watch his father's heart being torn out and stomped upon the ground.

This beast gave false comfort...all the while knowing it could truly comfort the father by telling the truth of what really happened...ahhh but that was for the next scene in this play.

Riddle Help

Here is some help with the riddle.

I will start a sentence but you will have to fill in the blank.

The fill in the blank will have the ........look to it.

If you fill in the blank with the right words, speak the words out loud, think about it, try saying the first word with a bit of a lisp, then I think you should get one of the first flower children.

You can use this name to find out the other.


The Nissan Altima...........

The Volkswagen GTI..........

The Dodge Viper..........

I hope the hint helps.

The Flower Children

In the 60's and early 70's we witnessed "Flower Power".

We saw the rise of the Flower children.

Put on your thinking caps for this riddle.

The Bible speaks of some flower children long, long before the 1960's.

I am thinking of a flower children movement in the Old Testament...

Two children are in this movement...one was the 'cause' of it...the other the byproduct of it.

Give me the names.

Hows It Going So Far?

In my first few years as a Christian I met a guy name Mark.

Mark was an ex-Pro Body Builder.

He had become a Christian and was doing a sales promo at the gym I was working out at.

He was very aggressive in his sales pitch.

One day he had a guy in the office...had shared the sales pitch with him and the guys replied, "sounds good, I'll think about it".

Mark answered him, "have you been thinking about working out for quite a while now?"

To this question the guy answered, "oh, for about a month or two."

Then Mark hit him with, "You've been 'thinking' about working out for months...has it got you into any better shape...you better stop thinking about it and start doing it!"

The guy signed up.

A good lesson is to be learned here, not just in the fitness realm either.

You can think about being a great dad...but that doesn't make you a great dad.

You can have all the right talk about the business world...but that doesn't make you a great business man.

You can spend hours reading book about God and the Christian life...but knowing isn't the same as practicing.

I am reading books on evangelizing and reaching out to our culture with the life and power of the Gospel...some really great stuff.

But if I never close the book...and keep in perpetual "learning mode"...then I will never truly profit from what I took in.

What we learn really and for truly blesses us when we put it into practice...its the difference between being an egg head and a man of wisdom.

Its time Humpy Dumpy had a great fall in many Christian mens lives.

A Workers Wages

God's word tells us that a worker is worthy of his wages.

This means that we shouldn't be stingy when it comes to paying our pastor.

By their actions some churches show that they really do not value God's word and spiritual guidance in the same way they would the menial things of this life.

They will take their car in to get fixed and pay someone 60+ dollars an hour to do the work...but when it comes to paying a man who labors to instruct them and guide them with God's word they can become very "tight" fisted.

Now...to look at things from another angle.

If a pastor is being paid then he should labor for his wages.

A pastor is also a shepherd, this means he is not merely a "teacher"...his "job" isn't only standing in the pulpit and teaching God's people.

As a shepherd he is to get to know God's people, come out of the study and into the lives of his people.

He is to be hospitable...this means his house should be open for people to feel comfortable enough to "drop" by...not just "open" for a scheduled...annual visit.

Even though the pastor should not "merely" be a teacher...he should be a teacher.

If a man has been a pastor for many years and has been in several different callings over those years he might be tempted to play the old "replay" game.

Pull out sermon series that he used while being paid by other churches.

If the pastor does this in order for him to spend more time visiting and building up the sheep, or reaching out to the community and sharing the gospel, then one can appreciate his shrewd stewardship...but...if he reuses old sermons...and then uses the extra time for himself...catching up on some new novels...watching a few new movies his is behind on...ect...then he needs to repent of his actions...he is a worker and he should be acting in a worthy manner...because he is receiving wages.

Its Easy To Give What Isn't Yours

The Civil Government has learned how to fool people into thinking they are generous.

How do they do this?

Easy.

They give out money.

Who's money?

Oohh, now don't go asking that question...why would you want to ruin the moment?

Aaahh, but thats the catch isn't it...its easy to give out money that you didn't slave for and have to accumulate...isn't it?

The Government gets its money from taxes...they take it from one group of people and then make themselves look really generous by giving it to another group of people.

What would really impress me is the government taking the money from their own pockets and giving it out to certain grants or causes...but I won't hold my breath.

As Christians we can fall into this same type of trap.

The tithe means a tenth.

Many Christians don't tithe...for whatever reason.

Some take the money they should have given to their local church [where they are members] and spend it on new cars, clothes or other creature comforts and luxuries.

They steal from God...but boy oh boy their stolen car looks good...and that new stolen suit...top notch.

When the tithe goes to the Church then it is the responsibility of the Church to help out those in need.

If we are faithful in our tithe and want to help out individuals with money above our tithe that is great.

But we shouldn't keep money back from the tithe and use it to give to others.

This can put us in the same shoes as the government.

It can make us look very generous...but with who's money?

Quotes...Mark Twain

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you.
It is the principal difference between a dog and a man."

Behind The Scenes

Jesus watched the money pot, as people came by and put in their donations.

His conclusions were shocking to our ears.

The person who "seemed" to put in the least amount of money is the one who Jesus praises the most...Jesus said that she gave more...not less.

How does this work?

She gave what most would think is just peanuts...but those peanuts were all she had.

A person who is worth 10 million dollars gives a large donation and everyone ooohhhs and aahhhs. The giving is good but compared to how much they have is that "large" donation really as large as it first appears?

To a person with millions of dollars, a 500 dollar donation is like an average person pulling out 20 bucks and throwing it into the donation bag...but it seems like we still are impressed by outward appearances, aren't we?

11 Things You Won't Learn In the Public Schools

There is a great multitude of people in our culture who have been pumped out of the Public school machine.

Their thinking has been shaped or misshaped by daily feedings from the ol' trash can. Even if you haven't gone through the machine you have to fight against the prevailing thought trends that blow throughout our culture.

A friend of mine sent me the following email...it was good...I had to laugh...not because what is said is untrue but quite the opposite.


Advice from Bill Gates

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! To anyone with kids of any age,
here's some advice.

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in
school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish
something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a PDA until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for
burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn
from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought
you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try
delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are
interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go
to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

More Or Less

I can remember laughing at a skit on SC-TV years ago.

The skit was about a USSR game show...the game show was called "Propaganda".

The game show host asks the first contestant his question.

"Last week you received a half pound of wheat for food rations...this week you received a quarter pound...did you receive "more...or...less?"

The contestant thinks about it and yells out..."less".


The sound of a loud buzzer blars off stage.

"Sorry thats wrong", declares the host.

Then the host calls in the secret police who quickly drag off the contestant.

The next contestant is then asked the same question...and of course he answers by saying..."more?".

"You are correct comrade!"

This is an example of how some people mistake less for more.

Tomorrow we will learn how people mistake more for less.