Irredeemable?

 

Hillary may have been right, sort of.

There just may be people that have been so influenced by the evil one that they may very well be irredeemable. Hillary accused Christians and conservatives of being irredeemable and a “basket of deplorables,” but those who celebrate accomplishing their evil deeds with ill intent are the true offenders. On October 7^th, 2023, radical Islamist terrorists gleefully killed, raped, and brutalized Israeli civilians, including forcing parents to watch their infant children burned to death before being killed themselves. Hamas video-taped their wickedness for the world to witness, yet American college students continue to support Palestinians and Hamas while vilifying Israel and their own country. While the murderous Hamas degenerates may very well be beyond salvaging, these wayward young people are not totally lost.

College professors, many of whom were once violent, radical leftists themselves, (see Bill Ayres and Bernadene Dohrn) are now in position to indoctrinate our future leaders with leftist ideology. While these leftist “educators” demean the nation that allowed them to prosper, they foster discontent among their students. These former anarchists neglect any responsibility to promote the free exchange of ideas that would enrich the lives of their charges. They are instead creating automatons that cannot think for themselves or explain their support for all things left, without spouting slogans and phrases their professors infused into their brains. These America hating, freedom despising Marxists are enemies of God. These leftist professors just may fall into Hillary’s definition of irredeemable, although they certainly check the box as deplorable.

Those that under the guise of “gender affirming care,” brainwash children by encouraging them to experiment with alternate sexual identities, prescribe puberty blocking drugs or worse, perform sexual mutilation surgeries, will have a special place in hell should they fail to turn from evil and repent. School administrators, teachers, psychiatrists, doctors, and legislators that shield gender confused children and refuse to inform parents that they wish to change their pronouns or transition, deserve the harshest condemnation. Parents are responsible for their children and any decisions that have life-altering consequences must be made by the parents, not the child or some so-called “expert.”

Abortion is another matter. Celebrating the murder of unborn children harkens back to the Canaanites who burned their children alive on a bronze bull statue as sacrifices offered to their deity Baal. Each of us began within our mother’s womb, deserving to be born. It is the personification of evil when leftists attempt to justify the killing of another human being as “my body, my choice.” Unfortunately, the unborn human being has no choice in the matter. Abortion is premeditated murder, pure and simple. It is barbaric when a pre-born child, that can feel pain, is torn apart in the birth canal, right up to the time of delivery. Abortion is evil and those who practice it are selfish, uncaring, and heartless. Without a change in heart, they will have a difficult time explaining themselves at the judgement seat.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” Isaiah 5:20-21.

The democrat party continues with reckless rhetoric that is inciting violence and tearing the fabric of society apart. They sow division and smear their opponents with vicious lies, all in a selfish effort to attain power. Democrats fail in their responsibility to represent their constituents in government. Democrats engage in obstruction, harming their constituency by refusing to fund necessary national security apparatus, while blaming their opponents. Democrats are corrupt, utilizing whatever tactics are necessary for them to gain and maintain power.

We are all image bearers of God, are unconditionally loved by Him, and He wants all of His children to come and share eternity with Him. Yet, when does it become time to “shake the dust off our sandals?” When evil seems to have completely poisoned a person’s soul, how can we possibly reach out in love to express to them the love of Christ through our actions and speech? We cannot return hate for hate. That would only close the door on any opportunity for the Holy Spirit to influence a lost soul. As difficult as it may seem, it is essential that we see those who are lost as brothers and sisters in need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ, just as we all are.

Evil will thrive in this world if we fail to recognize it and call it out. Evil will never relent of its own accord. Pretend it is not there and it will grow stronger. Evil can be committed by good, but misguided people. Good intentions can also lead one to commit unspeakable evil. What is right in man’s law is often not in line with God’s will. Failing to understand that evil is real will allow the evil one to prosper in this world. Good people are lost to the evil one every day. Returning animosity to that screaming leftist only feeds the evil one’s plans to lead more people away from God. Evil may have won a few battles, but we know who prevails in the end. Repaying hate with love and kindness may just grease the skids enough to open that door just a crack for the Holy Spirit to enter and begin to lead them to Christ.

“My friends, if any of you wander away from the truth and another one brings you back again, remember this: whoever turns a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner's soul from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. James 5:19-20.

Weaponized Ignorance

 

Worshipping worldly aspirations.

Shout out to Senator John Kennedy for coining the term “weaponized ignorance.” Virtue signalers. Transgender activists. Global warming disciples. Defenders of illegal alien criminals. Hamas supporters, antisemites, and Islam lovers. Socialism aficionados. Public education indoctrinators. Avowed leftists. Race baiters. The ever leftward leaning media. Useful idiots all. Ignorance can take many forms and can be weaponized in a variety of behaviors. Intelligence is not a prerequisite for the activist class.

“The vocabulary of the political left is fascinating. For example, it is considered to be 'materialistic' and 'greedy' to want to keep what you have earned. But it is 'idealistic' to want to take away what someone else has earned and spend it for your own political benefit or to feel good about yourself.” Thomas Sowell

Intelligence is definitely not required for public service. Perhaps candidates need to pass a test prior to placement on the ballot. This would absolutely improve the quality of our elected representatives, but a better-informed public would be able to prevent the absurdity that exists today.

“The best defense of democracy is an informed electorate.” Thomas Jefferson

The right to peacefully protest and to petition the government for a remedy for their grievances is enshrined in the 1^st Amendment to the US Constitution. Leftist funded anarchists, paid protesters, and self-proclaimed do-gooders attend well organized and often violent demonstrations. Those are not peaceful protests. Those demonstrations are not to petition government for valid grievances. Those are insurrections, carefully planned to create chaos and organize a rebellion.

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” Isaac Asimov

Far too many of our public education institutions allow, or perhaps encourage, indoctrination of students to leftist ideology. Rather than educate those students to be productive members of society, they create automatons incapable of rational thought, spouting slogans spoon fed to them by leftist “educators.” Public schools in the US are failing. Test scores are falling below those of some third world countries. Our future leaders are emerging from the rot ingested from our schools and universities.

“In addition to an education, kids were supposed to graduate with some basic values, self-discipline, and life skills. A little common sense wouldn't hurt either. Our schools don't teach that anymore. Instead, we're more concerned about kids having self-esteem and feeling good about themselves than we are about preparing them for real life. The politically correct crowd has taken over our schools, and as a result we are failing our children.” Donald J. Trump

Rational people operate within the rules of civil society and tend to make logical decisions. Irrational people make poor decisions and defy the rules of order without regard to the consequences of their actions. The left has created a generation of irrational people that are used to further the cause of fundamentally transforming this nation into something it was never intended to be. Irrational hatred drives the speech and actions of these deranged leftists. And that hate has spread to erstwhile “normal” liberals and democrats. Unhinged attacks upon the very freedoms protecting the citizens of this nation push society ever closer to a new civil war.

“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.” Martin Luther King Jr.

The democrat party has decided that hatred of all things Trump is a winning strategy. Fact is, that there are no policies from the democrats that are positive for the citizens of the United States. Their platform, especially their obsession with promoting abortion and transgenderism for children, is void of anything positive. They have devolved into incessant ranting about Trump being an existential threat to democracy. It is truly sad that so much hatred is misdirected when democrats should be offering an alternative plan other than simply opposing anything Trump and Republicans propose.

“There will always be dissident voices heard in the land, expressing opposition without alternatives, finding fault but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side and seeking influence without responsibility.” John F. Kennedy.

The legacy media continues to trumpet opinion as if it is reporting the news objectively. When facts are omitted or ignored when they fail to bolster the left’s argument, journalists fail in their duty to report and inform the public. As the Fourth Estate, they are to hold the powerful accountable, for both parties. That is about as far from the truth as more than 90% of legacy news reporting is negative toward President Trump and Republicans. When will people realize that they are being spoon fed a narrative that is detrimental to civil society?

“The press is called the Fourth Estate. It is definitely a power, but to misuse that power is criminal.” Mahatma Gandhi.

Islamophobia is cited almost as often as “white” people are decried as racists. Wake up and smell the roses, Muslims intend to overrun the western world, eliminate our freedoms, and institute sharia law. Sharia law will prohibit homosexuality, freedom of expression, and end all other religions. Yet leftists fail to understand that they have no place in an Islamic society and would likely face a death sentence should Muslims come to power.

”Islam is more than a religion, it's much more than a religion, it's a way of life, it is a one-party political system that has a very elaborate legal system that can put you to death if you leave it.” Reza Aslan.

Secularism is encroaching upon the Judeo-Christian values that this nation was founded upon. This is the very reason behind the chaos that is overwhelming western society. Secularism lacks the moral compass that Christianity provides. Secularism denies our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, ordaining the worship and love of self over the worship and love of God. The one who had no sin that sacrificed Himself, took upon our sin, and rose again so that we may have eternal life is the solution to all that ails our society. All He wants is our heart. Follow Jesus and hatred melts. Follow Jesus and love triumphs. Follow Jesus and reject the ignorance that leads to chaos and death. Love one another as He loves us. This must be proclaimed loudly and proudly from the pulpit. God’s will is recorded in black and white, not in shades of gray. Pastors must call out what is evil. We are sheep in need of spiritual guidance. If the pulpit is silent or lacks the courage to call out what is wrong in God’s eyes, that pastor not only fails in his/her duty to properly serve the Lord, but risks losing their sheep to the evil of the world.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.” Jesus Christ.

Follow Jesus, the light of the world!

 

 

 

Words

 

Fever pitched rhetoric has consequences.

Enough already! Just because I disagree with your politics or you disagree with mine makes neither of us evil. We are all merely pawns that the proletariat uses to accomplish their ends. As we point fingers at one another, leftist activists, politicians, and journalists that continually provoke both sides are laughing all the way to the bank. When we engage in hateful rhetoric with our neighbors, evil secures and maintains its’ power. As we fight amongst ourselves, evil actions are kept hidden in darkness, allowing the purveyors of evil to prosper. Hate is a tool that the father of lies uses to sow division and strife, poisoning our very souls.

A house divided cannot stand. If this nation continues on its current trajectory, another civil war is not out of the question. The hatred sown, almost exclusively from the left, is tearing the fabric of society apart. Friends and family discussing politics often evoke a knock-down, drag-out argument that can end in relationships forever fractured. Some on the left even refuse to interact with family members that are conservative. How ridiculous is that?

For all you on the left that have never even bothered to watch any of his interactions or events, Charlie Kirk was not evil or a nazi. Charlie Kirk preached the love of Jesus Christ and that you should use your intellect to think logically for yourself. There was no hatred. There was no homophobia or transphobia. He spoke the truth and offered an invitation to all viewpoints to engage in productive and respectful dialogue. And for that he was murdered. Those who celebrate his death are overcome by the evil one.

For all of you on the left, guns do not kill anyone, only those who use them to commit violent acts. Black on black gun crime has skyrocketed, yet in the increasingly rare occurrence when police shoot a black man, newscasters report it as if it is an epidemic. Police kill whites at 3 times the numbers of blacks, so the argument that blacks are unfairly targeted lacks merit based upon the facts.

For all of you on the left, the criminal justice system in the United States has so many checks and balances that protect criminal’s constitutional right from unjust convictions, that an only an estimated 1-5% of all incarcerated criminals have been unjustly convicted. That means that 95-99% of individuals, no matter their skin color, have been justly convicted and sentenced appropriately. So, those persons of color in prison have earned their just rewards, rendering the argument that persons of color are unjustly and disproportionally incarcerated, moot.

For all of you on the left, government is not the answer, it is the problem. Welfare has imprisoned generations of minorities, trapping them on the plantation of entitlements, eliminating God and fathers from the family unit. Healthcare costs have been inflated by penny on the dollar reimbursements by Medicare and Medicaid, causing providers to increase costs to private insurance companies to make up the difference. Obamacare provides subsidies directly to the insurance companies and not to the insured. That disastrous strategy will do nothing but drive up premiums! Public education continues to fail our children as legislators throw ever more taxpayer dollars at it to “fix” it. Over 80% of school budgets go to teacher’s salaries and benefits, so it is obviously not just about the children. This wasteful spending drives up property taxes, pricing potential home buyers out of the market and forcing homeowners, especially retirees, to forsake home ownership. In plain terms, when government intervenes, government fails miserably. Winners and losers should succeed or fail based upon merit.

For all of you on the left, perhaps it is finally time to follow the science. Biology determines that there are but two genders, male and female. Men cannot ever become fully functioning women and women can never become men, no matter how much they want it to be so. Gender dysphoria morphed practically overnight from a mental disease into a condition in need of “gender affirming care.” Any doctor performing any gender altering care to minors should be charged with malpractice and banned from the medical profession. “Transgender” adults, if you can reconcile your “life” choice with God, more power to you. Loving your neighbor does not require others to affirm poor decision makers within their fantasies.

The left is a clear and present danger to this nation. Democrats have hitched their wagons with the insanity that is the left. The left is doing the devil’s work, dividing and conquering this one nation, under God. The invective arising from leftist democrats is constant and deafening. The rhetoric masks their true intentions; They have nothing to better the lives of the American people other than casting aspersions at their “opposition” party and its leader, Donald Trump. Allowing democrats, in their current form, to have any power in the decision making in Congress, State, or local government, will be to the detriment of our Constitutional Republic.

We, the people, have far more in common than the difference in our politics. We are all unconditionally loved by our Father in heaven, despite our shortcomings. For all the differences that seem to take precedence in our worldly lives, it is our spiritual lives that matter most. While it may seem difficult at times to love our neighbors as ourselves, without it our world will continue spiraling out of control. Hatred is easy, love takes a conscious and concerted effort. If we loved one another as much as Christ loved us, wars would end, families would unite, and communities would thrive. Placing God first in our lives is the greatest commandment, loving our neighbors as ourselves is the second. Embracing those two commands along with recognizing, confronting, and rejecting evil, is the recipe to heal our broken nation.

“Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

“You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.” 1 John 4:4-6

Rules of Engagement

Man on the street interviews highlight just how out of touch many in our nation have become. Questions that once were common knowledge are often fumbled by our next generation of leaders. But they can recite verbatim from social media influencer’s videos. Decisions driven by some “Tic Tok’ video publisher’s unhinged rantings without possessing the ability to properly filter out the noise, is a recipe for disaster. This is what you get when teaching life skills become secondary to preaching CRT and striving for equity of outcome. In just a few short years, woke education policies have created a generation that has no clue.

Political ideology drives individuals to vilify those in which they disagree. Far too many on all sides of the political spectrum fall prey to this insidious behavior, especially on social media. Civil dialogue has become a lost art. In a head long rush to embrace “wokeness,” society has elevated selfishness to the preeminent position in society. We are cautioned to live in this world without becoming overcome by it but the world is clearly winning. Compassion has been twisted into a means of assuaging those who willfully choose to reject common decency and morality.  Tolerance is manipulated to reject common sense and allow abhorrent behavior to be normalized. Acceptance has been corrupted to foster disregard of accepted societal norms. Equity of outcome replaces equality of opportunity and the whole of society suffers in this misguided attempt to elevate those perceived to be marginalized by society.

One should always question “new things” and transformational changes within society. Failure to do so will facilitate the default to our innate human selfishness. Awareness of our ill-advised proclivities will help to strive toward selflessness and service to our neighbors. In order to help make this world a better place, we often must deny our needs in order to serve others. This world was never intended to revolve around any single human being in order to fulfill their wants and desires. Affirmation of those trapped within their selfishness only rewards ill-advised conduct. There is a reason that laws and rules exist. Without them, humanity regresses into human animals, only concerned with their own needs and desires. When identity or ideology supersedes empathy and concern for fellow human beings, we become ego-driven, self-centered malevolent beings that are antithetical to the ideal human condition.

Those that believe that it is paramount to properly love their neighbor by affirming behavior that is contrary to science and accepted societal norms, harms not only society but harms the mental health and well-being of the subject of that misguided love. When principles of conduct become vague and undefined, such as acquiescing to the theory that whatever is your reality is truth, the more unorthodox the standard of conduct becomes. Our society is in a free fall away from reality. Leftists seek to destroy the fabric of this nation and remake it into a socialist, authoritarian state and many are fooled into supporting this disturbing conspiracy.

The fears of a nation were manipulated and used to control this nation as it faced the uncertainty of a novel coronavirus pandemic that was far less lethal than our government and public health officials asserted. Fear is used to stoke hatred and to destroy those who would challenge this dangerous “woke” ideology that has replaced common sense. Fear enables individuals to do whatever it takes to protect their position and power. But fear is a liar. Reason and truth must be restored to overcome fear, and that truth is that we are all brothers and sisters with God as our Father. Fear divides us against one another. The common enemy is clear for those who choose to see. Government has been weaponized against “we the people,” and too many cheer it on.

Biden promised a return to normalcy and to unite the nation. His rhetoric has further divided this nation. His policies are destroying our economy, ended our energy independence, acquiesced to Russia's aggression, relinquished our role in the world to China and is destroying the dollar as the primary currency of trade. It is time to deny ourselves and identities as Democrat or Republican. It is time that we elect those who choose to serve us, rather than rule us. It is time to roll back the insanity that has overcome our nation. We are one nation under God and its high time we act that way.

The American Ostrich

 

If we give them what they want, we will get what we deserve.

Cartoons often depict the ostrich hiding it’s head in the sand as danger approaches. Children will cover their eyes or hide when frightened. And we sometimes find ourselves turning away when faced with unpleasant circumstances, particularly when others are hurting or suffering. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignoring danger leads us to minimize the impending danger that is about to overwhelm us. If we fail to recognize the direction our nation is headed and the imminent danger it brings, we may just as well hide our collective heads in the sand. Just as the ride of Paul Revere awakened the populace to the advance of British troops, many are issuing warnings about those who would fundamentally transform our nation and redefine accepted morals, values and societal behavior. Ignore those warnings at your own risk.

There is a clear and present danger that lurks within our society. Too many in our society acquiesce to the gradual erosion of our Constitutional Republic and the enumerated rights that it grants. Their collective silence is deafening. Parents, too busy with their daily routines, fail to attend parent/teacher conferences. Curriculum is altered to mirror leftist ideology and far too many parents fail to engage, unaware of what their children are being taught. If we shirk our parental responsibilities and cede the responsibility to instill their values in their children to a government run school system, that unfortunately are more and more resembling indoctrination camps, we abdicate our roles as parents. When Terry McAuliffe the democrat running for Virginia Governor, Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Federation of Teachers, the National Association of School Boards and apparently, Merrick Garland, the Attorney General of the United States denigrate the rights of parents to challenge school boards, free speech is undermined and our nation fails.

Ever so slowly, the sleeping bear is awakening. Parents were able to see firsthand what their children were being taught while schools were shut down due to Covid-19 and broadcast virtually. And they did not like what they were seeing. Parents that had the audacity to attend school board meetings and voice their concerns are now considered “domestic terrorists” by the Department of Justice. Really? School board members are apparently triggered when parents demand a role in the education of their children? Why wouldn’t it be appropriate for those who fund education with their tax dollars and have children attending the schools that they paid for, have a say in how and what their children are taught and how their money is being spent? Loudon County, Virginia has become the flash point in the battle against Leftist ideology, such as Critical Race Theory and the embrace of "transgenderism". A very condescending and rude school board actually fanned the flames of anger and poked the “mama bears” in that district. This boiled over and led to the blue State of Virginia electing Republicans in the Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General offices and flipped the State legislature from blue to red.

Many of us in this great nation should learn a great lesson by what happened in Virginia. When the electorate is engaged, change, for the greater good, will happen. The Left only seeks to divide us based on our differences. We need to unite our nation and embrace each other in spite of our differences. We are more alike than different, created by our Father in Heaven and equal in His sight. That is how we need to treat each other, like the brothers and sisters that we are. We need to learn to love our neighbors as ourselves. We need to understand and identify evil and reject it, and right now the democrat party is knee deep in all that is wrong with the world. If the democrats refuse to release their embrace of leftism, we need to reject them. Get engaged. Run for office or support those who share your values. We cannot sit back and let someone else do the heavy lifting. If we allow evil to triumph, we will have no one to blame but ourselves. We need more mama and papa bears motivated to protect our children and our nation. Will you stand up and be counted or will you hide your head in the sand?

All the World’s a Stage

 

All the world’s a stage and we are merely players in it. Sounds like a perfectly worldly assessment of our roles here on earth, but is it actually accurate? The cast of characters in our play is led by the author of our story, God Himself. The hero is played by none other than Jesus Christ, the true and only Son of the Father. The villain, portrayed by the fallen angel Satan, who prods and cajoles God’s children into engaging in all manner of sinful activity. The objects of the hero’s affection are played by God’s created and beloved human beings. Plot – God’s overwhelming love for His children causes Him to send His only Son to suffer and die as a sin offering in their place to defeat death so that all of God’s children have the opportunity to be with Him throughout eternity.

Act I – Creation of all that is, starring the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God creates the heavens and the earth and it was good. God was lonely, so he created someone to have fellowship with, a human being. God created His children with free will and in His great love for us, gave us dominion over everything on and over the earth and it was very good.

Act II – The fall of man, starring Adam, Eve and all of mankind throughout the ages.

Adam and Eve are tempted and fall for the lies of Satan. As punishment, they are evicted from the Garden of Eden. This begins a series of unfortunate events. Free will is a blessing, but humans all too frequently make into a curse. It causes man to engage in all manner of depravity. God is not pleased. God saves the righteous man Noah and his family, but brings a flood to drown out all of the evil in the world. Noah’s descendants repopulate the earth, but evil returns with a flourish. Righteous people are few and far between and prophets, inspired by God try over and over again to bring the others back to God. Some prophets are killed and some are banished. Over and over God gives His children the chance to return to Him, but Satan has much influence over society. Generations come and generations go with God’s children failing to live up to God’s standards. God invokes the final solution.  

Act III - The Lamb of God suffers, dies and rises to deliver us all from the death and punishment that we justly deserve.

Rather than relegate this rebellious generation to oblivion, God has mercy on His children. There is no way that anyone can live without sin and no way to earn salvation. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That Word is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who has been with God and the Holy Spirit from the beginning. Just like the calvary charging over the hill in the nick of time, God provided the final solution. Because God loved His children so much, He sent His one and only Son to stand in for all of us sinners. Rather than banish us from His presence, God did what only a perfectly loving Father could do. Jesus Christ, true human and true God, would take our place and endure a horrific death that truly was meant for each one of us. As the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, all that Jesus endured was also experienced by the Father. Perfect love, perfect forgiveness. Then, with the entire past, present and future sin of the world on Jesus’ shoulders, the Father abandoned Him, severing Their everlasting connection, leaving Jesus to die utterly alone. But that was not the conclusion of the story. Jesus rose, defeated death, and opened the door to our salvation!

Act IV – Final Act - Judgement Day.

Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. The Evil One will be banished to the pit of fire. A new heaven and a new earth will replace our broken world. Death will be no more. All of God’s children have the opportunity to accept that Jesus died for them and is the true Son of the living God. That is all that is asked of God’s children as a precursor to life eternal in paradise. Everyone has the opportunity to accept and believe until the final trumpet is sounded. But why wait until the last minute? Nothing else is required. Accept and believe in the one who took your place on the cross. Turn your life over to Jesus. It’s actually very simple. Jesus stands ready at your door. You only need to open it and invite Him in.

Pray this simple prayer, “Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross to rescue me from sin and death and to restore me to the Father. I choose now to turn from my sins, my self-centeredness, and every part of my life that does not please you. I choose you. I give myself to you. I receive your forgiveness and ask you to take your rightful place in my life as my Savior and Lord. Come reign in my heart, fill me with your love and your life, and help me to become a person who is truly loving—a person like you. Restore me, Jesus. Live in me. Love through me. Thank you, God. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”

Satisfaction

Citing a Rolling Stones song as the basis for a Christian blog article would seem to make unlikely bedfellows. After all, the Stones were the original drugs, sex and rock and roll band. Nothing Biblical about that unless you’re talking about Sodom and Gomorrah. One of their early hits “I Can’t Get no Satisfaction” closely mirrors problems every Christian runs into as they try to be in, but not of the world. You see, humans are control freaks, some worse than others, of course. We try to go it alone. We try to disregard that helping hand from above because either we don’t want to bother God with trivialities or we believe that whatever talent our Maker has bestowed upon us, makes it unnecessary to ask for our Lord’s help. This could not be further from the truth. From the first verse of the song, “I can't get no satisfaction. I can't get no satisfaction. 'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try. I can't get no, I can't get no.” When it becomes all about us, we lose our direction and fall away from God.

If it is worldly goals that drive us to succeed, no success is truly satisfying, because there is always another mountain to climb, another record to be broken and another challenge to overcome. We can never have enough money, fame or love to satisfy our cravings. 1 Peter 1:3-9, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” If pleasing God is our goal, He will always be pleased with our efforts, no matter how feeble they may be. If God is pleased with us, we attain that which we cannot alone, our lives filled with our Father’s love.

From another verse of the song, “When I'm ridin' round the world and I'm doin' this and I'm signing that and I'm tryin' to make some girl who tells me baby better come back later next week 'cause you see I'm on losing streak. I can't get no, oh no no no. Hey hey hey, that's what I say. I can't get no, I can't get no, I can't get no satisfaction, no satisfaction, no satisfaction, no satisfaction.” This world we live in was created for us by our Father in heaven. Everything we have and are is a gift, given to us by a loving Father. Every misstep, every success and everything in between is a gift to be cherished. When we are thankful for what we have, it is always enough. When we look to please our Lord and worry about our needs secondary, we can get that satisfaction that is so fleeting for those that are not only in the world, but are of the world. This life is fleeting. Nothing more than a short stopping point before eternity. When things are looked at in their proper prospective, we will never be disappointed. When we look at that mirror and see that unworthy, sinful human being that is loved in spite of all of our shortcomings, we can be satisfied. When we realize that our sin is no more, that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ took the punishment we have so justly deserved, we can truly be satisfied. When we realize that our Father prepares a place for us in His house if we only believe, we can be not only satisfied, but overjoyed at the prospect, that after this life, we will live in eternity with our Lord.

Jesus said in John 14:1-7, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” If our God is pleased and loves us, who can truly say they can’t get no satisfaction? God’s grace is our greatest gift. Be truly satisfied in that no matter your circumstance on this earth.

Baby Steps

On July 20th, 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first human being to step foot on the moon. The words he uttered were actually, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” His statement is typically quoted as “one small step for man.” While Armstrong made a giant leap for mankind, it was just one small step in the progress of space travel. As a sinful, broken humanity, we take many baby steps in our walk through this life. Many of these steps end up taking us back instead of forward. Humanity’s selfishness often leads us astray. Our selfish nature compels us to be disobedient. Our selfish nature compels us to place our wants and needs above others. And our selfish nature consistently erodes away at our relationship with our Father. The selfish proclivities of a broken humanity are fed, not with the bread of life, but an affirmation of those immoral behaviors, by the former ELCA presiding Bishop, Herbert Chilstrom. Before all you tolerant and accepting Christians begin casting stones, know this, I am a far greater sinner than anyone who engages in homosexual relations. Yes, you heard it here, my sins are far greater than yours. But, it’s not about me is it? I cannot, by my own volition, earn my reward in heaven. Even though so many claim otherwise, this is not a matter about sex. It is a matter about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and what He did for all of us unworthy sinners.

As we take our baby steps in our faith journeys, we are faced with many forks in the road. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus said that this was the second most important command. Problem is, some of us are so concerned with loving our neighbor that we forget to love our Father first, which Jesus said is the most important command. Mark 12:28-31, “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

One step away from God.

Those who affirm that which God prohibits, simply encourage the innate human selfishness, placing human desire before the love of the Lord. Ignoring or acquiescing to unlawful activity is not a prerequisite to properly love one’s neighbor. Properly loving one’s neighbor sometimes involves correction, especially if that behavior leads them to love themselves, their identities and desires more than God.

One more step away from God.

For a man of God, once chosen to lead the largest Lutheran denomination in America, to read between the lines and come to believe and promote that the Bible merely addressed homosexual rape or abuse and condemned only those acts, is more than a giant leap, it is simply delusional. Chilstrom so desires the normalization of homosexual behavior, he ignores obvious and clear evidence in the written word. Romans 1:26-27, “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” We have God’s law written on our hearts, whether we believe or not. This is what our “consciences” tell us when we engage in behavior that is not pleasing to our Father.

Take a step back to God.

When we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts and open our minds to the truth, we come to faith in the Risen Christ. We are simply empty vessels waiting to be filled with the love of Christ and we cannot believe without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our spiritual awakening means the death of our former lives. The person we once were dies and we truly begin to live as a servant of Christ. He is all that matters. Ourselves, our time and our possessions are gifts from God. Everything we are or are going to be is based on God’s will for us. If we place our desires above the love of the Lord, we deny Him. If we place conditions upon God that He must accept us as we are, we deny Him. If we love ourselves more than we love Him, we deny Him. Romans 6:11-14, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” Offer yourself fully to the Lord. Be an instrument for Him. Live to give God all the glory. Reject those that would have you deny the Lord as necessary to “properly” love your neighbor.

Queer Eye for the Faith Guy

The Bravo Channel, a cable network, offered up a show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”, from 2003-2007, where 5 gay men, adept at interior design and personal clothing selection helped straight men become more contemporary. Usually the straight guy needed an upgrade from his typical ensemble of blue jeans and a flannel shirt or his home and/or apartment needed to be transformed into something that did not fall into the category of man-cave or worse, a pigsty. This show was popular for several years and became a favorite of the twenty-something college crowd.  The effort to mainstream the LGTBQ lifestyle eventually led to the formation of the LOGO cable network, launched in 2005, that caters to that lifestyle choice. Those that have chosen an alternate lifestyle are now often looked upon and cool, hip and enlightened, especially in the secular world.  Bishop Mark Hanson of the ELCA follows in the footsteps of those cable networks as he caters to those choosing to lead an alternate lifestyle. Much effort is put into anti-bullying, directed primarily as support for LGTBQ individuals through the “It gets better” project. Understand that it is absolutely reprehensible to discriminate, bully or treat those that choose alternate lifestyles as someone to scorn. Everyone is a child of God and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, no matter their life choices. What is problematic though, is that Bishop Hanson affirms that lifestyle even though Scripture is abundantly clear that God does not approve.

So, why does the leader of the largest Lutheran Church in America decide that what God has obviously forbidden, is to be affirmed by God’s church? Hanson tries to explain that, somehow, God is telling us new things and that apparently, God (through the Holy Spirit inspired authors of Scripture) could not possibly fully understand that the alternate lifestyle would evolve as it has. It is also the misguided love of neighbor that drives his crusade to normalize the homosexual lifestyle. Is the sin of homosexuality any worse than any of the sins supposedly good Christians commit every day? No, it is not. Whenever I, as a married man, look at a woman with lust in my heart, I commit the sin of adultery. Whenever I place my needs ahead of God’s will, I place myself on the altar and push my Lord away. Should the church affirm this type of behavior as right with God? Of course not! 1 John 1:8-10, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ, Hanson has the authority to declare the entire forgiveness of all of our sins. But, what he does not have, is the authority to declare that which God has forbidden, is no longer prohibited and is acceptable in the eyes of God.

We trust that the leaders of God’s church are inspired by the Holy Spirit to lead us in ways that are pleasing to our Lord. We accept that the message from the leaders of God’s church is the truth and they would never lead us astray. But, they are not only ministers of God’s church. They are also sinful human beings just like every one of us. When one uses human understanding to try to discern God’s will, one may just hear what they long to hear, rather than where the Holy Spirit is leading. When one believes that their own imperfect human love approaches the pure and perfect love of our God, one can disregard the truth and replace it with the desires of imperfect human beings. All believers are equally inadequate before God and fall woefully short of the glory of God. But, when God’s children trust the leaders of God’s church and are led astray by those leaders, a heavy burden falls upon those leaders. Just as the police officer is held to a higher standard of the law, the leaders of God’s church must endeavor to preach the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that with the power of the Holy Spirit, those that are lost may come to believe. If they lead their flock astray, Jesus said in Luke 17:1-3, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves.”

The misconception that one must accept sinful behavior as somehow pleasing to God in order to properly love the neighbor, makes no sense whatsoever. Do I expect that my brothers and sisters in Christ look upon me as righteous, even though I am a greater sinner than they? Do I withhold my love of my brother until they accept my sin as acceptable to God? It doesn’t matter what your sin. It doesn’t matter what you have done. It doesn’t matter what you have failed to do. Faith in the living Christ is what matters. And if you truly love the Lord, you will want to please Him. If you want to please the Lord, you will try your best to delight in His will and walk in His ways. If you love Him, you will want to give all the glory to His Holy Name. My Savior and king died for me, an unworthy sinner and I am forever grateful. It is time for Mark Hanson lead his flock to the truth and not simply placate those that want their earthly desires affirmed.

Bite the Hand

As a person who shares his household with three Siberian Huskies, I understand how important it is to make certain that my dogs understand and acknowledge that I am the alpha male of our pack. The alpha dog has first priority at feeding time and any treats or toys must be surrendered without question. (no growling allowed!) Any protestation from the dog must be answered and corrected. The dog must submit to the authority of the alpha in order to maintain control of the animal. Some humans, however, are not as easily trained and do in fact, bite the hand that feeds them.  ELCA presiding Bishop Mark Hanson has the temerity to challenge the very truths he is charged to uphold. The office that he holds is one of great responsibility. The Presiding Bishop acts as the chief ecumenical officer of the church and supervises all of the synodical bishops. The presiding bishop chairs the biennial Churchwide Assembly and approves the agendas for the assembly, the Church Council and its executive committee. The Presiding Bishop has the responsibility to establish policy and doctrinal direction, and oversees the administration of the entire church. The presiding Bishop also is charged to maintain sound doctrine and to enforce discipline against pastors engaging in heretical teaching. So, if the ELCA loses its way, the buck stops with the presiding bishop, since the responsibility to “keep the ship afloat” ultimately rests with that office.

Revelation 22:12-13, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” God offers His grace freely, to anyone who has faith in the Risen Christ. ELCA scholars endorse, and some teach, the idea that man is saved by grace alone, regardless of faith or belief. This gospel of universalism is not the official doctrine of the ELCA, but those that choose to believe this false gospel are welcomed and accepted without the slightest effort to correct this errant belief. John 16:7-10, Jesus said, “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” Luther explained these verses in one of his sermons. “However, here the Lord speaks quite differently, and says, “The Holy Spirit will convict the world in respect of sin, because they believe not on me.” Unbelief only is mentioned here as sin, and faith is praised as suppressing and extinguishing the other sins, even the sins in the saints. Faith is so strong and overpowering that no sin dare put it under any obligation. Although sins are present in pious and believing persons, they are not imputed to them, nor shall their sins condemn them.” Although we are no longer bound by the law, it remains valid and violations continue to be sins, no matter what this errant denomination teaches and believes. But, when we believe in the Risen Christ, those sins will no longer lead us to condemnation.

Our Lord and Savior gave His life for us, and the leader of the ELCA decides that he is the one who makes the rules and rejects the conditions of the One who offers salvation. Hanson and the leaders of the ELCA refuse the gift of grace by faith to embrace the gospel of universal salvation, or grace alone, no faith necessary, deceiving the faithful with appealing and pleasant words. They uphold the love of the neighbor over the love of our God, advocate that we should strive to fix our broken world, and emphasize the goal of social justice. These things sound so right, but what is truly missing in their ministry is the most important thing, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How much longer will the Master tolerate these impudent and presumptuous children that continually bite His benevolent hand? 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

Walk the Walk

A popular wrist band seen on Christians over the last several years read WWJD, or What Would Jesus Do. This wrist band was to remind the wearer, when faced with decision making, to temper their choice by pondering what our Lord would do if faced with the same circumstances. The wrist band has waned in popularity as of late, but its message remains true. As we dwell in His Word we learn how our Lord responded to the people and the circumstances that he encountered. Jesus was compassionate, loving and kind, especially to those in need. Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick and lame, gave sight and hearing to the blind and deaf, cast out demons and instructed us about God’s Word throughout his ministry on the earth. Even death was not a barrier to His healing ministry. Not only did Jesus heal those afflicted by physical ills, He healed those that were suffering in their spiritual life. But, Jesus did not simply heal their infirmities. He forgave them and cleansed them of their sins. Jesus then guided them toward the path of righteousness.

Jesus taught about God’s Word using parables that were very pertinent to the people of that day. They identified with Jesus’ teachings because He included references that were applicable to the daily lives of the people He taught. Some of these parables are not as easily understood using our modern sensibilities. Simply reading the parable and considering it literally does not always afford the reader the capacity to properly understand the lessons Jesus was teaching. This is where a good study Bible is necessary to help one understand in today’s terms the lessons that Jesus was communicating. You will find that even though Scripture was written long ago, it continues to speak to each one of us and remains just as relevant to our daily lives today as it was to the people living in Jesus’ time. Thessolonians 2:13, "And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe."  Engaging in regular Bible study is also a very important step to take in your faith journey. The fellowship afforded and the insights gathered by two or more meeting in our Lord's name will allow for His Spirit to positively influence your understanding of the Word.

It is so very important to spend time in God’s Word on a daily basis. We all can set aside ten minutes of quiet time that we can share with our Lord. Every time we read God’s Word, our Lord is speaking to us. Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Each and every verse of Scripture is written for our benefit. In these troubling times we need to rely on what our God has put to writing, rather than what the enlightened leaders of the ELCA and other misguided churches would want us to believe.  God's truth is there for us.  He is not telling us something new in order to satisfy selfish human desires.  If we fail to dwell in His Word, we may just fall prey to these "new" teachings.  So, rather than hit that snooze button again, use that time to commune with our Lord and read His Good News for us. Use a daily devotional  guide to help you get started, or you may just want to open the Bible randomly and begin reading. God speaks to each of us, individually, through His Word. We need only to take the time to open His Word, read it, and open our hearts and minds to hear Him.

We don’t need a wrist band to remind us how our Lord wants us to conduct ourselves in this world. We have His instruction manual for us and if we simply read and study His Word, we will have all the information we will need to walk the walk with our Lord. Learn to live out the words of the Sunday school song, “Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by HIS love.” When we explore God's Word we will grow in our Christian faith and love. As we begin to understand His plan for us, we will discover how to share the abundant and unending love our Lord has for us. 2 Corinthians 4:13-18, "It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  Praise be to God!

Good Works or God’s Work?

Many Christians give of their time, talents, and possessions to serve those that are in need. Our Lord instructs us to reach out to the hungry, the lonely, the imprisoned, and anyone else in need as we would provide for our Lord Himself. But, are we truly fulfilling Christ’s mission if we fail to do this to the glory of our Savior’s name. What differentiates those that perform these tasks in Jesus’ name and those that simply do this out of the goodness of their hearts? One does not need to know the Lord to give of oneself much more than many Christians would ever do. Those Christians that fail to nurture the spirit of those that they serve, do them a great disservice. If one fails to fill their heart with the Holy Spirit when doing good works, one can easily fall into the trap of the evil one and become enamored of oneself and those good works that we accomplish. Romans 15:18, "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me." Something as simple as telling someone that Jesus loves them while serving in a soup kitchen is even more important than providing food for them. We don’t need to proselytize to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our actions can serve as a beacon to those we serve. But, we must do these things in Jesus’ name and be selfless as we serve. Matthew 20:28, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Luke 22:26-27, “But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” Just as our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ came to serve, so should we be servants of our Lord. It is not our willingness to merely perform these tasks; it should be our willingness to serve the Lord.

Matthew 6:1-4, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” It is so easy to forget why we reach out to those in need. When we do justice toward our fellow man, we tend to congratulate ourselves for reaching out and expect, to not only impress our neighbor, but to impress our God. When we are so wrapped up in doing good deeds, we often lose sight that our Lord taught us that this is what He expects us to do, in His name. For everything that we have and are is a gift from God. Our good deeds are merely a faint reflection of our Lord’s love for us. Every day the Holy Spirit taps us on the shoulder, offering us opportunities to serve Him by reaching out to our brothers and sisters. We are not to take credit for doing what our Lord taught us. John 7:37-39, “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” When we truly believe, we will be filled with the Spirit so that we become the instruments by which the Holy Spirit uses to minister to the world. All our good works flow from the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we can joyfully reach out in true Christian love to our neighbors, and proclaim the glory of our Lord.

There are many agencies that reach out to the world in need. Some are Christian, some are not. Some Christian missions tend to downplay the Lord’s role in their mission, instead choosing to be politically correct and tolerant with the emphasis on demonstrating their love for their neighbor. There will always be secular agencies that reach out to feed the poor, but as Christians, we are not only called to feed the poor, we are to pronounce our love of our God by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.  When we engage in our good works, we do so to bring the glory to our Lord and to bring those we serve to God. So, we must remember that this life is but a mere whisper of what lies ahead. John 6:32-35, “Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.” 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” Feeding the body without feeding the soul with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will only lead to spiritual starvation and death. “The first and highest, the most precious of all good works is faith in Christ.” - Martin Luther from Chapter II of the Treatise on Good Works.  So, fill your heart with the love of the Lord and let the Spirit flow like a river while you go out and do God's work.  Praise be to God!

The gospel of Radical Inclusiveness

During a live town hall meeting, ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson revealed that he believed that Christians need to promote “Two gospels”. He described that these “Two gospels”, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of radical inclusiveness must be proclaimed equally, sort of like doing a “two step” dance. Bishop Hanson said that the two were inseparable, that one cannot exist without the other. He seemed genuinely well intentioned while explaining that we must, as Christians, reach out in love to everyone, despite our differences. He called for all Christians to reach out to those of differing faiths, opinions, and lifestyles with the love of Christ. While he is correct in calling us to reach out to others in Christian love, he betrays his real intentions. He believes and the ELCA promotes that this gospel of radical inclusiveness is equal to the Gospel of Christ. To push a radical, progressive agenda by disregarding God's Law and eliminating sin, is not abiding by our Lord's will.  To love our neighbor is the second most important commandment.  To love our God with all our mind, all our hearts, and all our soul is first and foremost.  What the leadership of the ELCA needs to realize is that we must first declare our faith through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Without faith, our inclusiveness, welcoming and tolerance mean nothing.  Without our faith in the Risen Christ, all our love, all our work toward social justice, all our goals and ambitions are meaningless.  Once we accept the truth of our Lord and Savior, only then will we be able to properly reach out in true Christian love.

The type of love that is necessary to fully reach out in true Christian love is known as “agape” or divine love. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, being one with the Father, was the only human capable of this unconditional divine love. He willingly gave His life to save all of us unworthy, sinful human beings who continually fall short of our Lord’s expectations. Even while suffering and dying on the cross, He had the temerity to ask His Father to forgive His executioners. When we think that we can attain this divine love apart from our Lord and Savior, we fail to realize that we are utterly incapable of expressing this divine, perfect, and unconditional love. Exercising our imperfect love with the misguided assumption that it is agape love, we assume that we can, in fact, forgive as our Father does. Filled with this imperfect, immature love we decide that what God declares as sin, should now be acceptable because we act in the name of love.

Through this self-righteous regard of our just and praiseworthy love of our neighbor, we look to Scripture and decide that, because God’s Law conflicts with our worldly desires, that the authors of Scripture must have somehow misunderstood God or that now God is telling us something new. Our God is all powerful, all knowing, yesterday, today and tomorrow. He knows everything that has happened or is going to happen. This world and everything in it was designed and planned by our Lord. How is that now He is telling us something new and to what self appointed Apostle of Christ has this new interpretation of Scripture been revealed? Anyone who can convince oneself that the Holy Spirit was misquoted or that the writers didn’t hear our Lord appropriately when the Scriptures were written, are peddling nothing but a false gospel. Those that question the Virgin Birth, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and advocate that there are many paths to salvation that do not include faith in the Risen Christ, preach apostasy.

We must love others as our Lord first loved us. Jesus said in John 14:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” To emulate Christ’s love is the standard that all Christians strive for. But, we are not capable of this divine love, especially if we try to express this love without first surrendering our lives to our Lord and Savior. This is where the trouble lies. If we wish to attain this unconditional love of our own volition, we are destined to fail. Without our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we are nothing. The leadership of the ELCA promotes the self, good works, social justice and love. If we fail to deny ourselves and surrender ourselves to Christ, we cannot accomplish the love that our Savior requires to be His disciples. It is all well and good to talk about love, but when it revolves around man’s imperfect love, this love can lead to ruin. Understand that most that fall prey to this misguided interpretation of love have the best of intentions and truly believe that they are filled with the love of the Lord. When you are truly filled with the Holy Spirit, you will gladly obey God's Law, not manipulate His words to satisfy your worldly desires.  But, since the leadership of the ELCA promotes a doctrine of love that is centered, not in Christ, but in the self, they are chasing a false reality.

There is a hole in our heart that can only be filled with Christ. When we try to fill that emptiness with the self and the things of this world, it feels empty and we are still alone and unfulfilled. Our hearts long for that relationship with our Lord and He is the only one that can truly fill that emptiness within our hearts. When we finally decide to deny ourselves and place Christ at the center of our lives, we are filled with His joy. He becomes the central motivation in our lives. Everything we do or accomplish will be done to give glory to our Lord. Things of this world will truly fade in importance. It is only when the self dies that we will truly begin to live and begin to approximate the love that our Father has for us. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no mind has conceived – these things God has prepared for those who love him” 10 for God has revealed them to us by his Spirit.” It is only when we truly love our Lord that will we begin to realize how much He really loves and chrerishes each and every one of His children.

The Slippery Slope

In an effort to more accepting of other cultures and religions, ELCA scholars have concluded that faith in the Risen Christ is not necessary to ensure one’s salvation. This concept of “universalism” that is being promoted by the ELCA is based on the premise that God is a loving God that freely grants His grace and offers salvation to everyone, regardless of one’s belief. This, as many of the ELCA’s more modern doctrinal shifts, contains only a part of the truth. Yes, God does freely offer the gift of salvation to everyone, but the caveat is that one must accept and believe that Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, suffered and died for us as a final atonement for our sin. There is no other way. John 14:6-7, ”Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” The ELCA teaches and believes that there are many ways to God, but that Christianity is a “better” way. Apparently, Christians will get upgraded accommodations in our Father’s house.

They also teach and believe that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. This again is also a half truth. Both religions do, in fact, worship the God of Abraham and Moses, but the Islam faith denies Jesus Christ as  Savior and son of God. Furthermore, Islam rejects God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, believing in God (Allah) alone. Since there is no Savior in the Islamic faith, they remain under the law and reject God’s grace. John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” Those that remain under the law continue to be under the penalty of original sin. Without our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, there is no atonement for their sin and those under the law are due the penalty for that sin. But, because the leadership and scholars of the ELCA wish to portray themselves as enlightened and all accepting, they endorse the principle of receiving God’s grace and salvation without our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, according to this concept of universalism, our Savior is optional and everyone is saved no matter what they believe or do. If we choose this path, for what purpose would we worship our God? If it doesn’t matter, why should we believe, pray or worship at all? We may as well enjoy life to the fullest and experience any and all that there is in this world. This is just more evidence that the leadership of the ELCA is greasing the skids on a pathway to hell, in a headlong rush to lead their membership away from the Lord.

We must continue to fight the good fight and inform those that are unaware of this false gospel promoted by the leadership and scholars of the ELCA. We must remain true to the Word of God and work to promote the Gospel to all nations. The Bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA stated in his address to the June 2010 Assembly that we don’t need to turn the heart of every Muslim to Christ. Jesus gave His final instructions to the Disciples in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-19, “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” We must choose to obey our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim His Gospel to the world. For those without faith in our Lord remain lost in their sin. As disciples of Christ, it is our responsibility to expose the false teachings that are being promoted by the leadership of the ELCA. Too many souls are at risk to simply leave this denomination and turn our backs on those that choose to remain or those that are unaware. We must always reach out in Christian love in the hope that the Spirit will open their hearts and minds to lead them back on the path to salvation and away from the slippery slope of the false gospel of tolerance, justice and acceptance that is being promoted over the Gospel of Christ.

Tough Love

Is the ELCA evil? Absolutely not! Is the ELCA misguided? Absolutely. But the reasons they are misguided are not as clear as one would care to admit. Those leading the ELCA are using a different tact in an attempt to do God’s work. They attempt to reach out to the world by doing good works in an effort to spread God’s love. What tends to get lost in the translation is that we are called do God’s work to fulfill his commission, that is, to preach the Good News and make disciples of all nations, or to bring people to God. So much about the ELCA is tied in to God’s love. This misguided attempt to spread God’s love prompts the ELCA to amend Scripture to be more welcoming, tolerant, and accepting. Part of being a Christian is denying oneself in order to place our Lord at the center of our lives. Where the ELCA has it wrong is that we need to come to God, He has already come to us and offered us His grace through the sacrifice of His Son. We need to hear the Word and make that decision to turn our lives over to our Lord. Then we will truly learn how to share His love. Changing the tenets of and watering down our faith to make it easier and more attractive does nothing to save the souls of those thirsting for the answer that is our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jesus wasn’t always such a nice guy. He wasn’t all about love and healing the sick and lame. Luke 12: 49-53, Jesus said, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Jesus explains that following Him will be the cause of much division.  He also addresses God’s judgment as fire on earth for the wicked. He differentiates between those that are righteous and those that are separated from God by their lack of belief and actions. It is not easy to be His disciple. Much sacrifice is necessary and it will cause division among family members when they are no longer first in our hearts when we accept the truth that is Christ Jesus. The cost of being a disciple is high. Jesus said in Luke 14: 26-27, 33“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even life itself – such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you cannot be my disciples.” We must love Jesus more than anything, including life itself. We must completely surrender ourselves to His will.

The prevailing winds in the ELCA are leading toward the doctrine of universalism, or that there are many paths to God and salvation. This means that they question the very foundation of our faith.  Our Lord and Savior gave His life so that we can live eternally with our Father. In John 14:6, Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In John 11:25-26, He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” There is only one path to our salvation and that is through our faith in the Risen Christ. There is no other way to the Father except through our faith that Jesus Christ suffered and died as a final atonement for our sin. Without that absolute faith, not even our love of each other, our good works in the world, and our welcoming, tolerance and acceptance of everyone, will lead us on a path to salvation.

Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love one another as He loves us. Our faith comes with a cost. We are freely justified by God and granted salvation by simply accepting the truth that is the Risen Christ. When we believe, we will gladly give up everything. The most important thing in our life will be our faith and the command to go out and make disciples of the world. The very core of our Christian faith is diluted when the ELCA minimizes our Lord’s role in the church while it emphasizes and celebrates man's opinion, reason and imperfect love. Without Jesus at the center of our lives we will be unable to accomplish our Lord's command that we love one another as our He loves us. That means engaging in some tough love and not reinterpreting Scripture so that anything goes in order to prove our love, acceptance and tolerance of everyone. Jesus is first and foremost.  Grace is freely offered, but we must come to Him to accept it.

Faith will Save. Love can Deceive

Faith is the complete trust that Jesus Christ redeemed all humanity by sacrificing himself as atonement for our sin and that by believing that He is the only Son of God and was raised from the dead, we will receive the grace that grants us eternal life with our Lord. Love is the strong affection one has for another arising out of kinship, personal ties, admiration, or devotion. Often the differences between these aspects of our relationship with our Lord tend to become blurred. Faith is the way to our salvation. Imperfect love can lead in the opposite direction.

True faith in the risen Christ is not only believing that Jesus Christ is truly the son of God, who carried our sins to the cross, took the punishment that we deserved, and defeated death so that we may live, true faith requires us to give up our lives for Him. In order to be our Lord’s disciples, we must turn over control of our lives and live as our Lord commands. Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through who we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Through our faith in the risen Christ, we have a new relationship with God. We no longer are the sinful beings that deserve God’s wrath and punishment. We are granted, by His grace, the total forgiveness of all sin and an invitation to join our Lord in His house. The chasm between God and His children has been bridged by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When we first believe in the risen Christ, our hearts are filled with the Holy Spirit. When we believe and place Christ first in our hearts, we will no longer be alone. We will want to please our Lord and live in a manner that He commands.

Our Lord has a perfect love for His children. No matter what wrongs we do, sins we commit, the times we disregard God’s Word or fail to return our Lord’s unconditional love, He will love us and always offer His redeeming grace if we only believe. There is no earthly sin that will cause our Lord to retract that gift of grace and our salvation, as long as we truly accept Christ. So does this mean that we can live our lives regardless of the law? No, it still remains as God’s moral and ethical design for His children. Once the law was all important, and God’s punishment for those that violated the law was severe. Since Jesus Christ suffered and died as atonement for our sin, adherence to the law is no longer necessary to ensure our salvation. With Christ as the cornerstone of our lives and first in our hearts, we will gladly abide by God’s command and obey the law He has set before us.

It is when we try to share our love as our Lord loves us, without first surrendering ourselves to Him, that we will fail, often times, miserably. Using our imperfect love will cause us to make decisions that we ourselves believe to be right without truly considering our Lord’s will. While that it is true that our God loves all of His children, unconditionally, He also expects us to obey His law for us. Often, when one searches for a way to justify a particular end, the path to the true conclusion is often overlooked. Trying to find a path to that predetermined destination will often propel us on a course leading away from our Lord’s will. We need look no farther than the ELCA. By trying to be everything to everyone and elevating worldly aspirations over our Lord’s will, the ELCA has actually hindered their efforts to share God’s love in the world. In fact, the ELCA has so perverted their attempt to share God’s love that they promote the social justice agenda over and above the call to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is when we place the love of ourselves and our agenda first, and consign our Lord to a secondary position, that our imperfect love will ultimately deceive. Romans 16:17-18, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people.”

Sound Doctrine?

The ELCA continues to question the validity of Scripture and how it pertains to the current age, most recently adopting doctrine to accept practicing gay clergy and allowing ELCA churches to bless gay unions. While some may disagree with this action, this is not a matter that affects the salvation of the individual that accepts this new doctrine. All of God’s children are welcome to accept Christ and receive the grace of God, no matter what their sin. And further, we must love and accept our brothers and sisters in Christ, because we all fall short of the glory of God. Bound conscience though, is another matter. This new doctrine, invented by the scholars and leaders of the ELCA, will have far ranging consequences for those that accept this doctrinal change. This errant doctrine disregards many of the tenets of our Lutheran faith. Martin Luther, in the Augsburg Confession, see Augsburg Confession, stated in Article II, Original Sin, “3) They condemn……who, to obscure the glory of Christ’s merit and benefits, argue that man can be justified before God by his own strength and wisdom.” The doctrine of bound conscience allows for man to use his experience and knowledge when interpreting Scripture, and further gives greater weight to man’s own understanding, even if it may be contrary to Scriptural intent. Bound conscience accepts the idea that one can use their own experience and judgment to interpret Scripture in any way they truly believe is true, and that other brothers and sisters in Christ must respect that person’s interpretation, even if it is in error.

Much of the rationale used to justify bound conscience is to allow those of differing opinions to remain in Christian fellowship. In other words, it really doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as we all get along and share our Christian love with one another. In one of his sermons, Martin Luther addressed those that attempt to use misguided schemes to alter traditional Christian teachings and replace the very tenets of our faith. “It is the duty both of preachers and of hearers first of all and above all things to see to it that they have a clear and sure evidence that their doctrine is really the true word of God, revealed from heaven to the holy, original fathers, the prophets and apostles, and confirmed and commanded to be taught by Christ Himself. For we should by no means ever let doctrine be manhandled according to the pleasure and fancy of the individual who adapts it to human reason and understanding. Nor should we let men toy with Scripture, juggle the Word of God, and make it submit to being explained, twisted, stretched, and revised to suit people or to achieve peace and union; for then there could be no secure or stable foundation on which consciences might rely.” While it is important to maintain our fellowship in Christian love for one another, this cannot be accomplished at the cost of disregarding Scripture.  Our faith affects our very salvation and the grace God gives us.  Our love for one another is secondary to our faith and must take a back seat when God's Word is at risk.

Luther’s teachings from almost 500 years ago are still relevant today. While the ELCA looks to maintain harmony in the church, they continue to cast doubt upon the very teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is difficult enough being a Christian in today’s modern and enlightened new world without having to further deal with our own church ignoring or minimizing God’s Word, thus bolstering the arguments of the opponents of Christianity. Although bound conscience is not to be used in matters that affect salvation, the ELCA leadership’s persistent skepticism of Scripture and long held truths of our faith is driving the greater ELCA away from our Lord. In a clear rebuke of the doctrine of bound conscience, Luther said, "The world maintains, as do many people who do not understand, that we should not fight so hard about an article and thus trample on Christian love; rather, although we disagree on one small point, if we agree on everything else, we should give in and overlook the difference in order to preserve brotherly and Christian unity and fellowship. No, my dear man, do not commend peace and unity to me when thereby God's Word is lost...The Word was given unto us for eternal life and not to further outward peace and harmony... Therefore, do not talk to me about love and friendship if that means breaking with the Word or the faith, for the Gospel does not say love brings eternal life, God's grace, and all heavenly treasures, but instead 'the Word.” Luther presents a case against the very argument the ELCA has used to uphold the doctrine of bound conscience, and he makes it very clear that it is contrary to God’s law and intent.

Love of Self Leads to Sin

How can this be? Did not our Lord say, “Love thy neighbor as thyself”? It is when our self becomes the center of our lives that we fall into the trap of sin. Yes, we do need to love ourselves or else we will not attend to our own basic needs, physically and spiritually. But first and foremost, we need to keep our Lord at the center of our lives. It is through our Lord that all things are possible and without Him, we are lost. Our selfishness shows when we cling to the notion that our accomplishments are due to our own innate abilities, not because we are able to use the gifts that God has so graciously provided to us. When we place our own modern and enlightened opinions over and above Scripture, we place ourselves upon a pedestal and diminish our Lord’s role in our lives. The First Commandment is “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”

It is when we love ourselves too much that we place ourselves before our God, and we fall into sin. The more we turn inward to praise ourselves, the more we turn away from God. We must be able to humble ourselves before the Lord. James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” Considering ourselves too intellectual, too enlightened, and too modern for an ancient book to be relevant today is akin to denouncing our Lord. When we place our causes of social justice, acceptance and tolerance above the Word of God, those things become our god. When we endeavor to interpret Scripture in a way that is more pleasing to us instead of what our Lord intended, we separate ourselves from Him, making us first and our Lord a distant second.

We separate ourselves from God when we lift ourselves, our possessions, or our self identities to a higher level of importance than Him. Searching for fulfillment in our lives, outside of Christ, leads us to neglect our Lord and not find the time to dwell in His Word. All the time we have is what our Lord has given us. Why is it so difficult to spend time reading the Bible and engaging our Lord in prayer? He loves us so deeply that He sent His only Son to die for us. He has given us everything we are and all that we have. All God asks of you is to return His love. There is always time to watch TV, text or call your friends, or surf the internet. Why can’t we give back some of time our Lord has given us, in prayer or by opening His Word and reading the good news that He has proclaimed for us.

In this day and age, we must become strong in the Spirit to successfully overcome the false gospels that permeate our society. We need to properly equip ourselves to proclaim God’s Word. Ephesians 6:13-18, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”Our Lord has given us the ammunition to defeat evil if we only take the time to read and learn His Word. Hearing the Word on Sunday is not enough to maintain your armor against the evil of this world. Read His Word often and meditate on it. We can all find a quiet ten minutes per day to read and dwell in the Word. This is not too much to ask of God’s children. After all, our Lord has spent an eternity preparing this wonderful world for us and it would only be appropriate to thank Him by placing Him first in our lives.