A Goody From Woody

Who Is To Blame?

2011-06-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

How would you go about explaining the mess we are in as a country? When you look at the myriad of problems America faces, from economics to immorality, from materialism to cultural decay, from a major shift toward socialism and a centralized big government to mediocrity in education, activist judges and systematic secularism—who is responsible for all of these problems?

Is it the Democrats, Republicans, or the Independents who are responsible? Is it the liberals, the conservatives or the fundamentalists who are to blame?

If we are looking for someone to unload on, may I remind you President George Bush is not in office!

A lot of the blame for these failures has to be the Church. I am speaking not of denominations, but of all Christians who make up the church. God sent His Son to redeem individuals and place them in a local church, with His last commission to go and make disciples (Matt 28:19-20). Jesus knew that transformed people, believers, would change the society. Believers will reform, invigorate and overcome the slide and decay of sin that is a natural part of our world. Redeemed people always make a difference!

Perhaps the reason society is the way it is, in my opinion, goes back to the loss of vision of God’s people. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” The New Living Bible renders this verse, “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.”

How did we come to this point in history as God’s people? History tells us that starting in the 1920’s and 1930’s, a fundamentalism swept across America. They believed they should separate from the world—hence the terms, sacred and secular. Since people are the most important part of society, they should win people to Christ, but not get involved in art, media, law, politics, government or schools and education etc. So all these areas were left in the hands of non-believers.

Do you remember what Thomas Jefferson wrote when he warned, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”?

We are ignorant of our calling by God, our history, and even what the Bible teaches about how to live in a sin-cursed world.

If I had time, I would develop the secularization of our public schools. You can’t have an atheistic worldview and expect students to come out moral adults. Young people know more about what is politically correct than they know any of the Ten Commandments. Also, if I had time, I would write at length about the growing expanse of our government at the expense of our liberties. The man who gave us the great book, Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton, wrote, “Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God.”

When our country was formed, the number one and number two books that helped people were The Bible and The New England Primer (1777). Parents, teachers, and pastors used the books to educate the children learning to read. What did they learn as they began their reading and education? “Pray to God. Call no ill names. Love God. Use no ill words. Fear God. Tell no lies. Serve God. Hate lies. Speak the truth. Take not God’s name in vain. Spend your time well. Do not swear. Love your school. Do not steal. Mind your book. Cheat not in your play. Strive to learn. Play not with bad boys. Be not a dunce.”

This was a lesson for children. Some people will say, “Who cares?” “What’s the big deal about God and morality?”” That is the right question, “Who cares?”

It would be easy as Christians to protest and say, “It is too late!” Let’s just leave and go to another place—avoid the pain. Some like John MacArthur say God has us under judgment. I don’t disagree.

But can we turn the tide of secularism inside our country and a threat of Islam from outside? I believe so with all my heart.

What is needed is radical discipleship to Jesus Christ and to His Church. Bible reading, prayer, witnessing, sacrifice are not just for Pastors and leaders. Each person who says Christ is their Savior is a part of the solution.

When we learn what discipleship is, and the worldview that is a part of it, the world will change because we have changed.

Recommendations:

1. Be part of a home Bible study. Use The Truth Project and commit to prayer, study, and obedience for 13 weeks.

2. Pray for fruit in your witness and evangelism of the lost. Ask God for 10 non-Christians and then pray for them, invite them to coffee or tea and share your testimony of God’s transformation in your life.

3. Remind yourself daily that both Christians and Patriots gave their life for what they believed was true freedom and liberty. Freedom is a precious endowment and requires careful stewardship.

4. Lastly, I recommend you choose one of these books to have your eyes opened and your heart pricked:

· Total Truth, by Nancy Pearcey

· Battle for Truth, by David Noebel

· The Bible—I’m not joking. You can read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in three months, six months or a year. Check out “You Version” on the internet, iPhone app, or go to a Christian bookstore for many plans.

Dr. Adrian Rogers, a great Southern Baptist pastor and now with the Lord, used to say about how difficult and sad the world mess is, “When the night grows darkest, the stars shine the brightest.”

I am only one disciple, but I love Jesus and I’m out to change the world for Him! How about you? Take the four challenges above and we will, by God’s grace, change our world for the glory of God and all our benefit.

We believe in redemption! Let’s get busy!

Deal or No Deal

2011-05-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

Deals are made every day between two people, or organizations, or corporations. But a deal with the devil is something to stop and think about.

A few years back, Nancy asked me to take her to the movie, The Devil Wears Prada. This movie was about a high-powered fashion magazine editor, Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep. Andrea Sacks, a recent college graduate who traveled to New York to work as a journalist is played by Anne Hathaway. However, Andrea gets a job as a co-assistant working with Miranda Priestly and gets the deal of her life—travel, money, power—all right in the center of the women’s fashion world.

The only problems she had were losing her boyfriend, betraying her co-worker, telling lies, sleeping with a co-worker, etc. She sold her life to the devil. She sacrificed her personal life for her career.

I remember another movie of the same genre. I did not see the movie, Bedazzled, released around 2001-2002. The story was about a naïve Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser) who is granted seven wishes by the devil to share Allison (Elizabeth Hurley), the girl of his dreams, in exchange for his soul.

Somewhere in the 1940’s a hit movie was made called, The Devil and Daniel Webster (later re-released under the title, All That Money Can Buy). This RKO movie is about a poor, downtrodden former Jabez Stone, who in 1840 New Hampshire, sells his soul to “Mr. Scratch” in return for seven years of luck and prosperity. All he wants in money shows up because he took advantage of his neighbors. He is alienated from his wife, so “Mr. Scratch” sends Stone a beautiful house servant that entrances him. His son is also under her influence and acts out in rebellion.

With the clock running out, Mr. Stone begs for help from the attorney and orator and fellow New Hampshirite, Daniel Webster. Mr. Stone asks if there is some way to cancel the debt to the devil. Daniel Webster takes the case.

A trial is held and the jury is made up of popular Americans, now deceased, who were all classified as evil men—all men who were tricked by Satan just like Mr. Stone. Webster wins the trial by convincing the jury that they were tricked and says, “Don’t let the country go to the devil, free Stone.”

The jury agreed and as Daniel Webster leaves the courthouse, the devil whispers to him, “I promise you, your dream of being President of the U.S. will not happen because of what you did today.”

This very popular genre of literature and movies all started with the German legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles back in the 15-16^th century.

Even Charlie Daniels and his band wrote a ballad about this: “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”—a great country song.

The Bible tells us a lot about bad deals:

· Esau selling his birthright for a single meal (Gen 25:28-34; Heb 12:16-17)

· Sons of Jacob selling their brother Joseph into Egypt (Gen 37:27-28)

· King Saul bargaining with the witch of Endor (1 Sam 28:3-25)

· Herod bargaining with Salome (Mk 6:21-28) which ended with death of John the Baptist

· Judas bargaining with chief priests (Matt 26:14-16)—betrayal of Jesus

If you put a bottom line to this blog, it would be two-fold:

· Don’t bargain your life away. Invest it for God and people. 2 Cor 5:9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”

· No person on earth gets a second chance after death. Rom 6:16-17, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.”

God Bless,

Woody

P.S. Don’t fall for “fool’s gold”! The devil always offers that which cannot satisfy, because he masquerades as an “angel of light”. (2 Cor 11:14)

Stay alert!!!

Is it ever right to lie? What do you think?

2011-05-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

During the last presidential campaign I read widely and discovered that there is a lot of media bias. At first it annoyed me and later on it helped me to ask questions that clarified my understanding of mistakes, lies, lies by omission and how the speaker, journalist, was writing.

From childhood you’ve heard about “white lies”. You’ve read, no doubt, about compulsive lying. (By the way, a big battle is going on to see if compulsive lying will be added to the Bible of Psychology called the DSM III – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. The term they want to use is Mythomania or Compulsive Lying Syndrome.”

Some of my favorite quotes have to do with language and lying. Here are a few of them:

1. “No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.”

—Abraham Lincoln.

2. “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.”

—Mark Twain.

3. “The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a

thousandfold.”—Aristotle

4. “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick

themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”

—Winston Churchill

So what does the Bible say? Are there any examples of people lying and it turned out to be a good thing?

The first encounter of lying took place in the OT, Genesis 3:4-7, 22. Satan was tempting Eve to disbelieve and disobey God’s command to not eat from the tree in the center of the Garden of Eden. Satan was tempting Eve to disbelieve and disobey God’s command to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan told Eve, “Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” He went on to tell a half-truth, “You will not surely die…your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.”

Satan was half right. Their eyes were “opened,” and they did not immediately die. But the half-truth was still a lie. Jesus said, “Satan has no truth in him, “He is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

One example of a good outcome, even through a lie was stated, is the story of Rahab in Joshua 2:4-6. She hid the Israeli spies in Jericho from the King and soldiers of Jericho. She lied to save the lives of the Jewish soldiers. Rahab and her family were spared when Israel did conquer this city. In Hebrews 11 Rahab is mentioned in the hall of fame. By faith her life and family were saved.

The next example from the OT is very interesting. Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife in Gen 12:11-20; 20:1-12. Isaac did the same. He lied about Rebecca being his wife (Gen 26:7). In both cases God had to intervene to save Abraham and Isaac.

Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:20 are not commands that forbid lying. The Scripture says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This statement is made in the context of justice and a legal system. Any false testimony would do great harm in a court of law. The justice of God requires everyone to tell the truth in a court of law. If a lie is told, the person can be found guilty of perjury and sentenced to jail and fined.

Proverbs 21:6 enjoins, “The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death.” Truth is the only way to advance in God’s kingdom.

I almost forgot lying by the Hebrew midwives who kept the Jewish boys alive after they were delivered, but lied to Pharaoh and his servants about this.

Several comments come from this question. Nowhere in the Bible are we to assume that lying is a good thing. In fact, Revelation 21:8 says that liars and the ungodly will be in the lake of fire forever.

Is lying ever justified? I believe so. In cases of war, danger of murder and criminal acts make me believe one can and should lie to save and preserve life. A person who is trying to deceive a would-be murderer or an enemy on a field of battle or even a home invader trying to steal, rape or murder, is justified in not telling the whole truth.

My favorite story of Corrie Ten Boom has to do with her lying to her German guards in prison camp during WWII. She told the guards there were lice in the barracks to keep the guards out, to allow them to study Scripture, and for personal security. It was only a half-lie—there were some lice in that barracks.

Lying is acceptable only to stop evil. In all other cases we must tell the truth.

We know that God is truth, and His Word is truth. He cannot lie. God does not favor lying and does not tolerate sin. God does not endorse “white lies”.

If I am to grow in Christlikeness, then I am commanded at all times to tell the truth!

Few people will ever be put in Rahab’s, or the Hebrew midwives’, or even Corrie Ten Boom’s position.

As a powerful encouragement, I would ask you to consider Dante’s epic poem, “Inferno” (Italian for Hell). He wrote about an imaginary trip where he went thru hell on his way to Paradise (Heaven). In hell, he found nine different layers or circles that went downward. He wrote about everything from lust to gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, and treason. Treason was the bottom of hell. Next to last was lying. For Dante, writing in the 14^th century, lying was totally unacceptable for a believer in Christ.

If we “change” because of God’s Word in our hearts, how do you see lying in our culture?

God Bless,

Woody

The Man in the Red Suit

2011-05-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

GOODY FROM WOODY

If I mention his name, what picture comes to your mind? Satan!!! If you are like a lot of people, you’re thinking of an image that is not Biblical. If you are thinking of a man in a red pair of P.J.’s with a tail and horns on his head and a three-pronged pitchfork (trident), you would be in error.

So where did we get this idea of Satan as a more or less cartoon character? During the middle ages the pastors and priests and church leaders who worked mostly with people who could not read or write decided to make fun of Satan through their teaching, preaching, and even their art. The leaders of the church knew Satan fell from his place in heaven as an archangel because he wanted to usurp God as the one who is worshipped (Satan’s pride). Hence to poke fun of or jest or demean Satan as a man in a red suit etc. was born. The only problem with this idea was that by the second generation and following, the image remained without an explanation.

The Bible tells us that Satan is an angel created by God, the most powerful of the angels (the three most powerful being Michael, Gabriel, and Satan—first called in the Scripture, Lucifer). Satan was, according to Scripture, created a perfect being. He is described as originally being wise and completely righteous (cf Ezek 28:12-18). He is described in the Bible as beautiful (cf Ezek 28:12-18, esp. “your heart was lifted up because of your beauty”).

Rebellion followed this disclosure by Satan and he and one third of the angels of heaven followed Satan and were expelled from God’s presence. They later showed up after God created the world and Adam and Eve. Satan did what he always does—he gave the temptation to disbelieve and disobey God, to Eve. He convinced Eve that she could “become like God” (Gen 3:3-5). Eve fell for the trap and enticed Adam to follow. Eve was deceived and Adam was willful in rebellion. The curse that God put on people, the earth, and the cosmos is now part of our everyday life.

So Woody, why write on Satan? The answer is easy to explain. In North America only 27% of adults actually believe Satan is real. Less than 40% of born-again adults believe that Satan is real. This means 60-73 % of adults do not believe Satan is real. (Barna Resources)

To their credit the people of the Middles Ages at least knew they had an enemy, even if they portrayed him in a red suit, horns, pitchfork and tail. They were attempting to learn how to defend themselves against the archenemy of our souls.

As a former military officer I can tell you, if I were fighting a foe and they did not believe that I was real, I would win that battle with no difficulty—every principle of warfare I could use to defeat a person. The principles of warfare adopted by our U.S. military in 1921 have not changed much over the years. They are:

1) Objective: What is the defined goal

2) Offensive action: Seize the initiative

3) Surprise: enough said

4) Economy of force: focused resources

5) Security: never tell your enemy what you are doing

6) Mobility: work for the enemy’s disadvantage

7) Cooperation: all for one, one for all

Every principle people use to fight wars, Satan uses on us. Think of how he uses each principle and you’ll be wise. How can you defeat this enemy of our souls? If you are a Christian and you don’t believe Satan is real, ask yourself, “How can I believe God or His Word, the Bible, and not believe what the Bible teaches?” In short, you don’t believe in your heart what God says. That would be a fatal flaw in your life. (Read 2 Thes 2:3-5.)

C.S. Lewis wrote the book, The Screw Tape Letters, in 1942. The book is about a senior demon “Screwtape” giving advice to his nephew, also a demon (junior demon) named Wormwood. Lewis, thru these characters, gave advice to be sure “The patient” was forever damned—separated from God for eternity.

Lewis wrote in the preface, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence (where most Americans are today). The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They (the demons) are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

Two major helps for the believer are these instructions from the Word:

1) 1 Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. “

May I remind you it is the old lion that roars, not the young ones. So when the old lion roars, he is trying to scare you to run from him and into the jaws of the young powerful lions. Be on the alert!!

2) James 4:7 says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

Two applications:

§ The first part of the Scripture says to submit to God. That means your mind, your thoughts, your body, work, marriage and goals. Turn them all over to our Great God. Stay in the Word and pray!

§ Resist the devil. Avoid people, places and things that lead to temptation.

Lastly, Satan shows up daily to take the joy out of Christian’s lives. We must put on our military armor (Eph 6:10-19) and remember that Satan is a defeated foe. Jesus said in Luke 10:18-20, “And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."

God Bless,

Woody

P.S. For extra credit, go back and reread Martin Luther’s hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, especially if you feel weak, vulnerable, or harassed. The truth of this hymn will greatly encourage you.

Evil Leaders

2011-05-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

GOODY FROM WOODY

Do you see the linkage of evil with evil leaders? I have been comparing Adolph Hitler, who died April 30, 1945, by a self-inflicted shot to his head with Osama bin Laden who died less than 24 hours and sixty years later, with a shot to the head by a Navy Seal during a power struggle.

When Hitler first came to office, he wrote in his journal, “This evening I have made a covenant with Satan.” (From archives printed in Hitler, the Scourge of Europe.) The “prince of darkness” really was in league with Hitler and others like the Ottoman Empire killing 1.1 million Armenians in 1915, the slaughter of Rwandan people by Tutsi in 1994, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Joseph Stalin in Russia, Idi Amin in Uganda—all could be added to the list of evil leaders in league with the prince of darkness.

Osama bin Laden, like Hitler, believed all problems had their origin in the Jewish people. They both called Jewish people evil. How ironic! Bin Laden called the West, especially the U.S. and Israel, evil!!

The Mastermind of 9/11, Bin Laden, died and all people should pause to thank God that he is no longer around to do more evil.

It is interesting to read the headlines for May 3, 2011: The New York Times stated, “Bin Laden killed by U.S. Forces in Pakistan, Obama says, declaring Justice has been done.”

As a Christian reading this headline, how should I think about this moral action? Here are my thoughts:

1. This evil leader is dead, and that is a great accomplishment, according to our understanding of a “just war theory.” (This theory is a great historic Christian understanding of how we reason and measure the justification of lethal acts of force in warfare.)

2. Osama bin Laden, like Hitler, created great tragedy for all the people he killed. Hitler killed six million people. Osama, left to his plans and desires, aspired to do the same or something similar. Thanks to the Navy Seals, that threat is gone. Al Qaeda, Osama’s organization, is still a huge threat. He organized this terrorist group in 60 different parts of the world.

3. God says in Ezekiel 33:11, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?” Having been a soldier in combat, my response to Osama’s death is I am thankful the evil leader is gone, but I’m not happy about it, sober and pensive but not celebrating.

4. The subject of war produces different thoughts for Christians. If we believe in a “just war theory” then we use force to eventually create a culture for peace. War is the absence of peace. That is never our goal. But in a fallen world where sin exists, it becomes necessary from time to time to protect people from destruction by evil leaders. If war is the absence of peace, then evil is the absence of good and God is the ultimate “Good.” God calls us to be peacemakers and follow His Son in order to do good. James 4:1-2 says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.”

5. Lastly, a word about justice. Bin Laden did not receive justice. He experienced death. Justice comes from natural and divine law. It is placed in our hearts by God and that’s why we know right and wrong and ethics. Our founding U.S. documents reflected this thinking. Justice is based on law. That means when a person breaks the law, they are arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced. Even in a combat theater there is military justice that can be carried out based on law. (Uniform Code of Military Justice, The Constitution allowed congress to create this type of law in the military—Article 1, Section 8.) Bin Laden’s death robbed us of this opportunity. But where he is now he knows he will still stand trial in a higher court for his evil and God will have the final and last word.

According to the Bible, we are in a spiritual war more than a carnal war and here are Paul’s words to us: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

2 Cor 10:3-5

God Bless,

Woody

Question From A Friend

2011-04-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

GOODY FROM WOODY

A friend asked me recently, “Woody, what is the biggest threat, philosophically, to Christianity in our society?”

My answer was brief at the time of my conversation. So let me try to answer the question in a larger version.

Years ago I read from R. C. Sproul, that every culture has to have something that unites it, some kind of viewpoint that brings it together. He said if you study all the civilizations of history, you will see that each one had some dominant philosophical or religious idea that tied the people together. That unifying concept can be religious, or philosophical or even a mythology. But there has to be some idea that ties it together. Scholars, social scientists, missionaries, evangelists and pastors understand this. Ideas shape a culture, so they are of first importance.

As I look at our Western world and culture now, it is up for grabs. There is not one dominant philosophy or religion or theology that has a consensus. In the middle ages the Judeo-Christian faith dominated people’s understanding of the world. Now, as great numbers of people turn away from the Judeo-Christian understanding of man and the world, there have been all kinds of philosophical ideas fighting for dominance in our void-filled world. The battle is on! (David A. Noebel wrote a book on this problem: The Battle for Truth—I recommend it.)

Back to the main points. If there is one overreaching concept in our culture gaining momentum, it is secular humanism. Secularism means simply: This time, this world, is all there is. Humanism is simply the whole focus on man. God is totally out of the picture (practical atheism). There is no eternal dimension to secular humanism. They say this world is all there is, there is no heaven, no hell, no moral code (unless they make it up as they go along). Everything is here and now.

William S. Lind writing in the Marine Corps Gazette, December 1994, p 37, wrote, “In the United States of America, our traditional, Western, Judeo-Christian culture is collapsing. It is not collapsing because it failed. On the contrary it has given us the freest and most prosperous society in human history. Rather, it is collapsing because we are abandoning it. Starting in the mid-1960’s, we have thrown away the values, morals, and standards that define traditional Western culture. In part, this has been driven by cultural radicals, people who hate our Judeo-Christian culture. Dominant in the elite, especially in the universities, the media, and the entertainment industry, the cultural radicals have successfully pushed an agenda of moral relativism, militant secularism, and sexual and social liberation.”

Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey have part of the answer to this growing problem in their book, How Now Shall We Live? (p 329). They say, “Nowhere has the secular (humanist) worldview gained a firmer foothold than in our nation’s schools, and since the education of our children shapes that future, we must begin to take our redemptive message right into the classroom.”

St. Paul stated, “Where is the philosophy? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?” (1 Cor 1:20, Holman Christian Standard)

Read on your own how Paul appeals to those of us that are not brilliant or exceptional but says, “God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.” (1 Cor 1:21)

God Bless and Keep telling the Truth!!!

Woody

P.S. Parents of young people in High School: One great way to teach a Biblical Worldview to your kids is a two-week camp at Summit. (Go to: summitministries.org for more information.) Great environment and great preparation for life!

Goody from Woody: April 22, 2011

2011-04-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

I’ve given a lot of thought lately to the subject of heaven. (A few weeks back I wrote on hell.) Heaven on your mind and in your heart changes and challenges a person. It has refocused me on that which is eternal. I’ve searched the scriptures about heaven and, oh my, my heart has been thrilled – like looking at your child just being born, or seeing your grandchild. It is beyond words, but let me try to put it on paper.

In the world of biblical counseling and discipleship we always deal with problems: lots of messes in life. Our joy and privilege is to point people to the Savior and the scriptures. We tell people to look for the Savior in the problem. When you find Him there, you’ll also find in Him the solution. They go together. To be with the Savior is to be in Heaven, both now and in eternity.

That was the premise of Augustine’s book The City of God, written 413 AD. Augustine compared the city of the world with the city of God. What great nuggets of truth taken right out of the Bible. Augustine’s challenge to his generation was to choose which city they would live in. Life in Christ—Heaven on earth and in eternity, or life in this world (and in the end, hell) are the only two choices that are given.

We all grow weary and tired with the physical, emotional, financial problems of this life. When I think of these things I am reminded of a story from 1952. A young woman, Florence Chadwick, stepped into the water of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for fifteen hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat along side, told her she was close and that she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was on the boat that she discovered that she was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was the fog…I think if I could have seen the shore, I could have made it.”

“If I could have seen the shore I could have made it.” How do we do that if Heaven is our goal? The author of Hebrews tells us how. (Heb 12:1-2 NASB) “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Did you see that shore? “Fixing our eyes on Jesus.” The answer is so clear. We daily choose to read God’s word, pray all the time, fellowship with our loving God, enjoy intimate moments with our Savior, and worship—not just once a week at church, but daily as we journey through this city (the world) to the city of God (Heaven).

To use Brother Lawrence’s expression, “We practice the presence of Jesus in all that we do, all that we think, all that we attempt.”

I know the enemy loves to distract us from real joy and peace. It is a mental and spiritual battle. Don’t lose heart; I have seen the shore today. Have you?

God Bless,

Woody

P.S. John Owen, the Puritan Pastor, said “What you think about Heaven is a test of character; pursuing only the things of this world means we failed the test.”

John 14:2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.”

John 13:36 “Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.’”

Hebrews 11:16 ^“But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

Hebrews 13:14 ^“For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seekingthe city which is to come.”

Rev. 21:1-3 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.”

Psalm 27:4 “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.”

Rev. 22:4 “‘They will see His face’—the greatest blessing in the heavenly city.”

—Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology

Questions to Ponder:

· Is there a longing in your life for heaven (literally according to Rev. 21-22, a new heaven and a new earth)?

· What practical good would be produced in you if you spent more time thinking about Heaven?

A Goody From Woody: April 14, 2011

2011-04-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here we go again! Driving around our city of Indianapolis you’ll observe a number of billboards. They tell us:

“You don’t need God – to hope, to care, to love, to live.”

Nearly every major city in the USA has seen the godless messages. The messages are rooted in atheism, agnosticism, humanism, skepticism, and free thought organizations.

They tell us you can be “Good without God”, “Be good for goodness sakes” and “Don’t believe in God? You’re not alone.”

The Center for Inquiry is behind our billboards in Indy, D.C. and Houston. Ronald Lindsey, organization president said, “We are not trying to convert anyone by this campaign, if conversion implies persuading people there is no God. We are trying to prompt people to consider and converse about some of the myths surrounding the nonreligious, in particular the myth that life without God means a joyless, meaningless, selfish, self-centered life.” (A kind of friendly or gentle atheism.)

And just for the record, no doubt you missed the Humanist (atheistic) Conference April 7-11 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. So you didn’t hear Richard Dawkins, Steve Wozniak or Rebecca Goldstein—I know you are sorry you missed that opportunity!!!

So how do you respond to an atheist? The natural response would be to tell your friend, co-worker or whomever, “Let me tell you about the evidence for God, the origin of the universe, miracle of life, design, matter, energy, space and time and the supernatural.” You know whole libraries are full of these arguments for the existence of God.

Before you talk to an atheist why not prepare yourself to ask questions. (I got this idea from Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.)

Tell the person to start the Q & A that you know they do not believe in God because they have examined some of the evidence available to them. The problem they have is their worldview! They believe the only thing that is true is the physical or material world.

So ask questions from the physical world. You might want to tell him that two people strongly convinced of their position of absoluteness can still have a civil conversation.

First question: 1. “How many needles or spines on all the porcupines in Asia? I believe we can safely assume you do not know the answer.” The second question is: 2. “What is the weight of all the sand on Marco Island, Florida? Probably you don’t know that answer either. It seems reasonable that there may be some things that you do not know.”

We can agree some people pretend they know everything. So now the field is level—no one knows 100% of all the knowledge that is available. The only one whom I believe is all knowing is God (omniscient), but you don’t believe that.

Thomas Edison, one of the great scientists of the past, said, “We do not know a millionth of one percent about anything”. Let’s pretend your friend the atheist knows one percent knowledge of all the knowledge in the universe. But that would still mean that 99% of the knowledge you still do not know. And in that 99% of knowledge you might find ample evidence to prove the existence of God. If you are not supercilious (haughty, contemptible) you would have to admit there could be evidence for God.

To look at this from another angle, let me make an absolute statement, such as, “There is no silver in Kentucky.” What is needed to prove this statement? I need absolute information that there is no silver in Kentucky—under any rock or mountain, stream or river. If we find one nugget under any tree my statement would be false. On the other hand, for one to say, “There is no silver in Kentucky,” I didn’t need all knowledge. I just need one nugget of silver that I find there.

To say “there is no God,” is to make an absolute statement. I need evidence to prove my statement. So my research will require me to study my world, my universe, before I can conclude “there is no God.”

Only a person who has absolute knowledge can make an absolute claim.

For those interested I would recommend places to read. Ray Comfort’s little book God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists (www.livingwaters.com) and the other is Cornelius Van Til’s paper Why I Believe in God (www.reformed.org/apologetics).

Lastly, when talking to any non-Christian please remember you are an evangelist, an ambassador for Christ. Love and charity and kindness really matter. And if you don’t know your Bible well enough to contradict the physical arguments let me recommend you read:

1. Bible ( not a paraphrase)—read and study!

2. Only One Way – Richard Phillips

3. Scaling the Secular City – JP Moreland

4. When Skeptics Ask – Norman Geisler and Ronald Brooks

5. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist – Norman Geisler

6. Unshakable Foundation – Norman Geisler and Peter Bocchino (my favorite)

My absolutely last word for today: the word “fool” in the Bible does not mean some person that is not gifted intellectually. It has the meaning that they have used their intellect wrongly (which makes it a moral problem.) In the Bible the word “fool” primarily is the person who casts off the fear of God and thinks and acts as if he could safely disregard the eternal principles of God’s righteousness.

Psalms 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.”

1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—our Triune God Bless You,

Woody

A Goody From Woody

2011-04-07T09:43:00.001-07:00

Is hell disappearing? Back in 2008, Dr. Alan Segal, Professor at Barnard College said, “Absolutely!” In his book, Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion, the details speak for themselves.

In 2001, 71% of Americans said they believed in hell. In 2008, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, that percent was down to 59%.

According to Charles Honey (in the Pew Report), “Americans are redefining the doctrine of hell before our eyes.”

In August of 2008, Pope John Paul II said in a weekly Papal address that heaven and hell were not really physical places, denying 2000 years of biblical and church teaching. (Matt 10:28; Luke 12:5; Mark 9:43-28)

What do you do with all the Bible’s teachings about hell being a place of unspeakable anguish, a place where the fire never goes out, or a place of punishment and torment?

Charles Honey in a Religious News Service article entitled, Belief in Hell Dips, But Some Say They’ve Already Been There, said, “Skepticism about hell is growing even in evangelical churches and seminaries, says one theologian here, a bastion of conservative evangelicalism.”

“In a pluralistic, post-modern world, students are having a more difficult time with (the idea of) people going to hell forever because they didn’t believe the right thing,” says Miles Wittmer, professor of systematic theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.

“That’s the biggest question out there right now: Would God send someone to hell if they were someone as good as me, but didn’t believe what I believe?”

Do you see what is happening in evangelical circles? People are reasoning from their experience (I don’t think, believe, feel), rather than from the Bible. Their reason runs opposite of what the Bible teaches. They say, “how could a ‘good’ God send a person to hell forever?”

Our culture has moved and the shift has been significant. The culture is experience-oriented more than truth or Bible-oriented. It has adopted a natural, not supernatural view, even of God. It is a culture of non-judgmentalism and they hold a view of life that is self-focused and therapeutic, man-centered, not God-centered.

Professor Segal said, “They believe everyone has an equal chance, at this life and the next.” Thus, “hell is disappearing, absolutely.”

If you were to ask what happens to people when they die, here are several popular theories and representatives of those who believe them. The popular theories that deny hell are:

· Annihilation. They say you live and then you are destroyed. No hell for you. (John Stott and Edward Fudge)

· Reincarnation. This denies the existence of hell by confining individuals to earth during consecutive lifetimes in a process that ends in a nirvana or heavenly bliss. (Hindus, Buddhists and some Muslims)

· Purgatory. Advocated primarily by the Roman Catholic Church. They believe purgatory is where you go but it is not punitive or retributive, but rather for cleansing. No biblical support can be found for this. (Pope Benedict XVI)

· Universalism. Liberal teachers or preachers teach that there is a heaven and a hell, but God would not let anyone go to hell because of His love. (John Hicks and Pastor Rob Bell)

· Humanism. As a group they tend not to deal with any theological or eschatological question. They tend to believe that hell is inconsistent with what they perceive to believe about Christ. (Roy Wood Sellars)

· Life After death is unlikely. (Bertrand Russell)

· Post-modern Evangelism. Unbelievers get a second chance after death. (Clark Pinnock)

· Orthodoxy. What the Bible actually teaches. (Turtillian, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, and some but not all pastors and teachers of today.

For millions of people who are identified as post-modern, “truth” is not an absolute, it is not even divine revelation as the Bible teaches—it is a matter of personal choice. “Truth is what I chose to believe,” they tell us. And they choose not to believe in hell.

Everyone wants the modern “God”—the “God of love.” But they want to neglect His other attributes like justice, righteousness, truthfulness and holiness. That leaves us picking and choosing God’s attributes. Or, to put it another way, we want God on our terms not His.

There are only two kinds of people in the end! There are those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in hell chose it. (Norman Geisler, Unshakable Foundations).

God Bless,

Woody

Chicken Little

2011-03-23T06:43:00.001-07:00

Have you ever heard of the children’s poem about Chicken Little? The main character in this fable in the form of a cumulative tale is a chicken who believes the world is coming to an end. The phrase, “the sky is falling,” is repeated often in the story. This poem has passed onto our English language as a common idiom for a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is around the corner.

Just in case you’ve never read the story, Chicken Little has an acorn that drops on her head and she runs to tell her friends, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Lucky, and Turkey Lurkey, that the sky is falling! The panicked group runs off to tell the king what has happened. Before they get to the king, the cunning Foxy Loxy invites them into his den—but they never leave.

I believe the poet, whoever wrote it, wanted to make fun of those who speak or preach about the end of the world.

I believe Chicken Little was right!

When I survey church history, I am reminded of godly men and women who believed the second coming of Jesus was imminent. For example, John Wesley said, “The spirit in the heart of the true believer says with earnest desire, ‘Come Lord Jesus.’” D. L. Moody said, “I never preach a sermon without thinking that possibly the Lord might use that sermon to call out the last of the saints who should go to make up the full number of God’s elect and to bring about the Lord’s coming.”

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan (one of my favorite pastors) said, “I never began my work in the morning without thinking that perhaps He may interrupt my work and begin His own. I am not looking for death. I am looking for Him.”

Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, offered many years before she died, that she expected the soon return of Jesus.

Of course, all of these saints were wrong.

But I believe, like Chicken Little, that the world will come to an end someday. The Bible teaches this.

When I was a young man in a small Southern Baptist Church, I heard frequent sermons on the end of the world—with a fiery judgment. The preachers painted a picture of intense fire, suffering, and judgment.

If you check your Bible, God sent a judgment similar to this in Noah’s day, but it was with water. 2 Peter 3:5-7 tells us that in the end times, because of the wickedness and sinfulness of people, the world will end with fire. “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”

God knows how to preserve us even when the earth and the cosmos are being destroyed. How can He destroy the earth and at the same time save and preserve us? That’s what 2 Peter 3:10-16 answers. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”

“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”

“So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

Several applications follow:

1. What type of people should we be if our world will soon disappear with fire and judgment?

2. What do we hold onto that is not permanent? What needs to be given over to God?

3. Should we lose our hold on earth if He will soon destroy it?

4. Perhaps today you will start to dedicate your time, life, and possessions to that which will not end! What does that mean to you?

God Bless,

Woody

P.S. Chicken Little was telling us that truth—but her timing was wrong.

A Goody From Woody

2011-03-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

They are perhaps the most hated family in the nation! I’m talking about the family that makes up the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. This group of church members (primarily one family) has 50-75 members.

They were sued and their case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue in winning their free-speech case before the court was about all their placards and hate speech. They ranted at funerals of many of our U.S. soldiers killed in combat, stating they were glad the soldiers were dead. Their signs read, “Thank God for 9/11,” “Fag the Troops.” Other signs I can’t or won’t print because they are in language that the Bible forbids.

The Westboro Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church known for its stance against homosexuality. The church’s protest activities include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag; their protest is very anti-Jewish vitriol.

The founder of this church (family) is Fred Phelps, a disbarred lawyer. He is a past civil rights activist in Kansas and ran for public office five times. His preaching and protest theme seems to be to warn others of God’s anger. He and his family church have participated in at least 40 protests per week over the past ten years.

President George Bush signed into law in May 2006, the Respect for America’s Fallen Heroes Act to counter Phelps and his family church. Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, in 2007 signed into law a bill that keeps protesters 150 feet away from funerals—a kind of buffer zone.

Phelps is primarily known for his hate speech against people who sin. All their propaganda is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League.

The children in this family church are taught lullabies about people going to hell. Pause for a minute and think about these 3-5 year-olds learning not about how to sing “This Little Light of Mine, I’m going to Let It Shine,” or “Jesus Loves Me This I know, For The Bible Tells Me So,” but rather songs that condemn people to hell who are homosexual (can’t use their other words), Catholics, Jews etc.

As a pastor and counselor, I would call this family church a cult. The church members are prisoners to the pastor and his ideas. They are enslaved to hate and to the opposite of all that I know about the Triune God and our Bible.

Good theology can bless and benefit us. We can grow in our relationship with God and become like His Son. Bad theology can harm both our relationships with God and with other people.

I am saddened about this cult and its leadership. The Bible I read talks of God’s love for sinners. He hates sin in both non-Christians and Christians. His Son died and was buried and rose from the dead (the Gospel) in order that we people might have forgiveness of sins, abundant life, peace with God, and eternal life.

If we are believers, we are a changed people and our language changes too. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian believers (Eph 4:22-24), he talks about how to grow and change in Christ. In chapter 4:25-32, he talks about “putting off the old self” and “putting on the new self” in Christ. In this he gives us four rules for communicating:

1. Be honest (vs 25)

2. Keep current (vs 26-27)

3. Attack problems, not people (vs 29-30; 4:15)

4. Act, don’t react (vs 31-32)

By the way, disrespect is a sin (Eph 6:2). So is name calling (John 4:11; Pro 30:11); so is an angry countenance (Gen 4:6) and all ungracious speech (Eph 4:29; Col 4:6).

Don’t hate the pastor or people of Westboro Baptist church. Pray that God will send true Christians to witness to them. God’s mercy has been granted to us, and even in rebellion to God, we should come down on God’s side—hate the sin, but love the sinner. One of the watershed moments in the OT is this:

“But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do,
what God is looking for in men and women.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don't take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.”

–Micah 6:8

God Bless,

Woody

P.S. Romans 12 reminds us to overcome evil with good.

Change you can believe in?

2011-03-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Are you convinced now? “Change you can believe in” was the campaign promise. Don’t ask, don’t tell (DADT) is the military language adopted in 1993 that mandated discharge of openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual service members. I believe approximately 14000 service members were fired from 1993 til May 27, 2010 when congress, under President Obama, changed the law.

Many in military leadership believe this will undermine moral and readiness. Most polls (72%) indicate the majority of Americans wanted this repealed.

Last week the other shoe dropped when the President refused to uphold marriage between a man and a woman. DOMA is code for Defense of Marriage Act, passed in congress in 1996 as a effort to keep marriage between man and a woman and not two men or two women.

It is always interesting to see this move in light of politics, when the nation and world is focused on Wisconsin and the tension between balancing the budget and unions. When at the same time, we hear about all the demonstration in the Middle East. This has to be politically a good strategic move for the President.

However, I am not looking at this through the lens of politics. I am focused on what the Bible says about the decision. Laws have consequences. When you argue that two consenting adults should not be deprived of their constitutional rights for “spouses” you’ve taken the bait. They are not “spouses.”

Political correctness and polling what people want, has replaced what God says He will bless. Not everyone believes or cares what Christians think or believe.

Politicians declare they favor a marriage between a man and a woman, but don’t have convictions to back it up because of the homosexual lobbyists. Secretary Sebelius professes to be a practicing Catholic but allows abortion legislation. Notre Dame professes to be a stronghold for Christian families, but awards our President, who is antifamily, an honorary doctorate in law.

In Luke 6:43-45 – Jesus declared “For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasurer brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”

I am not endorsing Mike Huckabee for any office, but I do believe he is right in his latest book “Simple Government”. His first chapter says it all. He writes, “By fighting for marriage and the traditional family, we’re also fighting against poverty and crime.” He also wrote “unless society as a whole is committed to moral behavior, everything we build for our families can be destroyed in an instant.”

Righteous fruit comes from a good tree but unrighteous fruit comes from whom and what? You answer the question. Your answer will shape your life and many others for the future.

The Reason for Turmoil Around the World!

2011-02-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

I’ve been reading the headlines this morning. Nothing new! Conflict and riots in Yemen, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain, Iran and celebration of 250,000 in Cairo, Egypt.

And on the home front—Wisconsin folks battle it out—unions vs. conservatives who want to stop spending.

Bottom line—our world is in a terrible state—wars, civil disobedience, cruelty and evil deeds on every front around the globe.

As I reflect on these things I am reminded of a worse situation than all this. It is the spiritual state of every person around the globe. The reason the world is a mess is because each person around the globe has a fallen heart—a sinful heart.

If you would like to know the secret to living through these perilous times listen, listen, listen to these words in Ephesians 2 from The Message translation.

You can have God’s peace and joy and comfort as the world falls apart at the seams.

1-6 It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
11-13 But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.
14- The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over.

If Jesus solves our problems—sinners who desperately need a Savior—then He is also the solution to world problems.

Don’t fret—live in peace with God and pray that the world would come to know their Savior.

God Bless,
Woody

P.S. You may want to check out the ABC eNews (Association of Biblical Counselors.) Leaders Unite to Launch the Biblical Counseling Coalition.

During the past year, over two-dozen leading pastors, biblical counselors, and Christian educators have been prayerfully discussing whether the time is right to launch a new coalition of organizations, leaders, and participants in the biblical counseling movement. Those leaders are excited to announce the official launch of the Biblical Counseling Coalition (www.biblicalcounselingcoalition.org).

Pastor Steve Viars, the President of the BCC Board of Directors, captures the BCC’s purpose.

“The BCC is all about promoting relationships and providing resources. There are many tremendous organizations and individuals involved in the biblical counseling movement. The BCC seeks to connect such men and women in a way that creates a natural and healthy synergy. We believe that together we can accomplish more.”

Remember September 11th

2010-09-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2010 is coming. It has been nine years since the attack on America by Islamic terrorists called al-Qaeda. Four commercial jet airlines hijacked and crashed into the Twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington VA, and a field near Shanksville PA.

When 9-11-10 comes this week I’ll be reflecting on the difference between Islam and Christianity. Consider some of our differences.

Islam claims that Jesus and Mohammad were both prophets sent by Allah.

If Allah sent both Jesus and Mohammad then they would never contradict each other. But they do in major ways.

Consider Mohammad first. He was born in 570 AD. When he was forty years old he had a “revelation” in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. That was recorded in what we now know as the Koran (Qur’an). In 622 he fled opposition; this was the beginning of Islam. When Jesus and Christians rejected his teachings he returned to Mecca. He denounced the idols that surrounded the famous black stone or Kaaba Stone, and declared that it represented the one true god, Allah (formerly the moon god).

When Mohammad was 25 years old, he worked tending a caravan. The woman he worked for was a widow who was 15 years older than he was. She fell in love with him and asked him to marry her. She was wealthy. They married and had two sons (who died young) and four daughters. After the children came along Mohammad’s life was more of leisure and his duties were limited to running the family produce stand in the market.

At age 40, he had his first “vision.” He interpreted this as his call to be a prophet from Allah. At this time in Arabian religions there was no concept of either a “prophet” or “apostle.”

The term “prophet” was used in the hope that the Jews would accept Mohammad as the next prophet, while the term “apostle” was likewise used in the hope that the Christian would acknowledge him as the next apostle.

Mohammad’s appeal worked for pagans (polytheists) who followed his leadership, but both Jews and Christians rejected him and his teachings.

The concept of “revelation” in Islamic thought is very different than it is for Christians and our Bible.

The word “revelation” in Arabic literally means “handed down.” It means that the Quran did not come “through” or “by” any man, in this case, Mohammad.

There are therefore no human authors of the Quran. Allah speaks through Gabriel to man, and man is the receiver and not the originator of the Quran.

This is in contrast to the biblical authors who even identified themselves as the ones who wrote their particular books. Christians have no difficulty in saying Jeremiah wrote the book of Jeremiah or Luke wrote the book of Luke. They do not feel that this lessens or limits the inspiration of the Bible in any way.

But with the Quran there is the denial of any human or earthly sources for the material that was handed down from heaven by Allah through Gabriel.

While Mohammad was rising to power, and under pressure from family and friends, who were polytheists, he decided to allow and admitted it was OK to pray and worship the three daughters of Allah: Al-Zat, al-Uzza, and Manat (which is polytheism).

This led to the famous “Satanic verses” in which Mohammad, in a moment of weakness and supposedly under the inspiration of Satan (according to early Muslim authorities), succumbed to the temptation to appease the pagan mobs in Mecca. (Sura 53:19).

The story of Mohammad’s temporary appeasement of the pagans by allowing them their polytheism cannot be ignored or denied. It is a fact of history.

Many Muslim scholars say that Mohammad was sinless. But this refutes that completely.

While at Medina, he decided to go back to Mecca and force everyone, the polytheists, the Jews and Christians, to follow Allah—whether they wanted to or not. So riding on a camel with a vast array he rode into Mecca with a sword in his mouth to conquer by force.

Consider now Jesus. According to the Old Testament, Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection were foretold. (See Micah 5:2 to see where he would be born. Isaiah 40 and Micah 4 tell us his coming would be broadcast by John the Baptist.)

No soothsayer or prophet announced Mohammad’s coming.

The birth of Jesus was miraculous—a virgin born Savior. Not so Mohammad.

According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ lived a perfect and sinless life (2 Cor. 5:21).

Even in Jesus’ trial before Pilate, no charge could be found. They had to lie to come up with a reason for his arrest.

But Mohammad was not so. He was a natural human being who had all our sins and afflictions and therefore needed a Savior just as we do.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with palm branches waving to the cry “Hosanna.” He did not come as a conquering warrior. He came as deliverer from the bondage of sin and death.

During Jesus’ life on earth, He performed many miracles. He healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, and stilled storms and the seas.

According to the Quran in dozens of places such as Sura 17:91-95, Mohammad never performed a single miracle.

According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ was unique in that He was divine as well as human. This is why Jesus is called “God” in John 1, 8, 18; 20:28; Acts 20:28; Romans 9;5; Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8, 10; 2 Peter 1:1, etc.

When we turn to Mohammad, we find that he was only a man.

According to the New Testament, Jesus preached the love of God and was the greatest example of that love: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

In contrast, we have no record in the Quran of Mohammad preaching on the love of God.

Jesus never instructed His followers by way of example, command, or precept to kill in His name, to rob in His name, or to subdue enemies in His name.

But Mohammad did. Mohammad even took his adopted son’s (Zaid) wife. And then he had a “revelation” that Allah said it was OK for the prophet to take a daughter-in-law for a wife. He had 15 wives.

Lastly, Jesus was crucified, and resurrected from the dead. He conquered sin, death and the grave. He physically rose again on the third day in the same body that had hung on the old rugged cross. He died for our sins in order to justify us. Romans 4:25

But when Mohammad died, he remained in the grave. He did not rise again. Mohammad is dead but Jesus our Savior is alive forever.

Forgive the long blog, but these are just the fragments of differences between Mohammad and Jesus.

Pray for the followers of Islam and Mohammad. Love not hate is the secret. Use what you’ve discovered here to talk about our differences as a tool to witness.

God Bless,
Woody

Goody From Woody

2010-09-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I gave lots of thought to Dr. Jay Adams’ book, A Call to Discernment, Distinguishing Truth from Error in Today’s Church.

What led me to think about Dr. Adams’ book was listening to a few minutes of Mr. Glenn Beck and his rally called “Restoring Honor” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

The “blogs” last weekend went wild over Mr. Beck’s rally. People love him or hate him but few people are neutral in referencing him.

Just a bit of background on Mr. Beck. He grew up in Everett, Washington and was raised a Roman Catholic. He became a disc-jockey at the age of 13. His mother died and the family moved to Bellingham. Beck moved 4-5 times from one radio station to another, and married and divorced his first wife. He struggled with drug and alcohol abuse for a season and in the mid 90’s went thru recovery. He married his second wife, Tania, in 1999. They decided before marriage they wanted to be members of a church. With encouragement from his daughter from his first marriage, Glenn and Tania joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

No one can doubt Beck’s popularity, his love for his country, conservative values, love of our constitutional form of government, etc.

The irony of last weekend was a Mormon calling American Christians back to revival. Worse yet, non-discerning Christians proclaiming “Amen.” Christianity and the Mormon Church (they prefer to be called The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but most of the devout call themselves Mormons—no offense intended) are theologically not in the same category.

Christianity sees Mormonism as a cult. Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844) founded the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints in 1830 in New York. The headquarters for the organization is in Salt Lake City Utah. The Mormon Bibles are the book of Mormon; Doctrine and Covenants; Pearl of Great Price; The Bible (KJV only or Smith’s “Inspired Version”); and authoritative teachings of Mormon prophets and other LDS “general authorities.” When you ask the question “who is God?”, Christians say “the One God is Triune (one God in three Persons, not three gods): Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Often the title, “God” designates the first Person, God the Father. God is a spiritual being without a physical body. He is personal and involved with people. He created the universe out of nothing. He is eternal, changeless, holy, loving, and perfect.

A Mormon would have a totally different answer. “Jesus is a separate god from the Father (Elohim). He was created as a spirit child by the Father and Mother in Heaven, and is the “elder brother” of all men and spirit beings. His body was created through sexual union between Elohim and Mary. Jesus was married. His death on the cross does not provide full atonement for all sin, but does provide everyone with resurrection.

You can see we are not talking the same language as Mormons.

My point from the beginning is simple. American Christians are not discerning the call to revival that Mr. Beck is asking for. How can a Mormon who believes what he does about God, call American Christians, who do not agree with Mormon beliefs, to revival? And revival to what—the God of the Bible or the god of Mormonism?

Pray for the Becks. Pray for America.

Ask the God of the Bible for revival—not a political or economic change, but a heart change toward Christ—for His glory and our benefit.

God Bless,
Woody

P.S. Dr. Russell Moore at Southern Seminary in Louisville has written a great blog on God, the Gospel and Glenn Beck. I commend it for your reading. (Go to www.russellmoore.com.)

Ashamed or Not Ashamed?

2010-08-30T06:41:00.001-07:00

I sit today and have this question in my heart about the contemporary church and Christians generally. Are we ashamed of Christ?

Consider the foundation of my question. In 2 Timothy chapter 1 (please read both chapters one and two for a great understanding of Paul’s appeal to the young preacher Timothy), Paul says, “So then, don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but rather share with me my suffering for the good news by the power of God.” 2 Timothy 1:8

Consider where Paul was when he wrote this epistle. He was in prison for preaching Christ. But this verse tells us Paul wrote he was not a prisoner of Rome, but of Christ.

Suffering, or the possibility of suffering for Christ, had caused both Phygellus and Hermogenes to run away from Paul. We can understand their fear of being jailed or losing their life, but still they have to be labeled as “ashamed of Christ.”

Living in a “postmodern” world where Emergent church leaders have “conversations” with the people of our culture, I get the impression that these leaders are ashamed of Christ. I seldom read about their use of the word “sin,” “salvation,” “heaven,” or “hell” (most would argue hell doesn’t exist.)

Heaven help the church today if these leaders abandon Christ and the absolutes He communicated to all men and women to be saved.

Not only do I wrestle with why people want to “talk” but why not talk about the “star” of our show—Jesus?

Recently I read Charles H. Spurgeon’s work on “Eccentric Preachers.” In this work he gave the definition of “eccentric” (quoting from Dr. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary): “It signified deviating from the center, or not having the same center as another circle.” Spurgeon noted, “The word has come to mean singular, odd, whimsical and so forth.” Spurgeon noted for preachers and Christians we move in a circle not quite coincident with that which is followed by the majority.

I was blessed by reading Spurgeon’s work. He was called the “Prince of Preachers.” He was labeled and made fun of by many. But in his lifetime he preached to 10 million people (1834-1892) without a sound system.

I suppose Spurgeon, by moving in a “different circle” than his London culture, really was eccentric. I would say he was not ashamed of Christ.

Ask yourself today, “Do the people that know me know of my love and devotion to Christ? “Does the person at the grocery store, gas station, school, work and department stores know I am not ashamed of my Master?”

If the answer is they don’t know that about me, then why not? Either you are ashamed of Him or you are not a believer in Christ.

Paul’s appeal to young Timothy is my appeal to you who follow Christ today (in our postmodern world): “Do your best to present yourself to God tried and true, a workman who won’t be ashamed, handling the Word of truth with accuracy.”

God Bless,
Woody

Goody From Woody

2010-08-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

If you have read a newspaper, magazine, or listened to radio or TV, you have heard in the last six months the word “Sharia.” Sharia, or Islamic law, means literally “the path to a watering hole.” The Guardian newspaper in UK describes Sharia as, “…a religious code for living, in the same way that the Bible offers a moral system for Christians.” Sharia is the legal code practiced in all Muslim countries and is based on two sources:
• The teachings of the Quran—the Muslim holy book that they believe is the Word of God, as dictated to the prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel.
• The Teachings from Sunna—the custom or practice of Islam based on the life of the prophet Muhammad as recorded in the hadith (the report or narrative of what the prophet said or did in his life.)

These Islamic principles of jurisprudence create a real problem for people in non-Muslim countries. Even though we live in a republic that has a Constitution and Declaration of Independence, the question is can the two legal systems co-exist, since Sharia deals with day-to-day life, from family, sexuality, hygiene, politics, economics, banking, business, contracts and social issues?

What America is facing today is what happened in Europe in the last fifty years. Well, just a slight bit of difference. What happened in European society was a creeping Sharia but in the U.S. it is nothing less than overwhelming.

If you think I exaggerate, please note the stories coming to us:
• Foot-washing facilities at airports at tax payer’s expense. This is also being done at many universities across America at either state expense or student fees. Question: Is this not a violation of our Establishment Clause? This seems one religion is getting preferential treatment over other religions in America—just the opposite of what the First Amendment is all about.
• Muslim taxi drivers all across the U.S. have refused to carry passengers who are carrying alcohol or who have been drinking. They also refuse to pick up blind people who are accompanied by seeing-eye dogs, since dogs are dirty or unclean to their faith.
• The building of prayer rooms to accommodate prayer time for Muslim at Tyson Foods in Shelbyville, TN. The holiday of Labor Day is a work day now but the Muslim holiday of Eed al-Fit (end of Ramadan) in the fall is now the norm at the same plant.
• Should I mention the proposed mosque at or near ground zero in Manhattan? There is a groundswell of opposition to building or expanding Mosques across the nation according to the New York Times (August 7, 2010). From Murfreesboro, TN to Temecula, CA to Sheboygan WI there is a pushback.
The Times said, “In all the recent conflicts, opponents have said their problem is Islam itself. They quote passages from the Koran and argue that even the most Americanized Muslim secretly wants to replace the Constitution with Islamic Sharia law.”
In America we believe in the freedom of religion—but what if Islam is not just a religion but about a political agenda? Then what?

The struggle today is our Constitution and natural law versus Sharia. (See my blog of two weeks ago to understand where our law comes from.)

Lastly, you may want to pray and think more about the latest episode of “creeping Sharia.” Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Iman trying to build the Mosque at Manhattan is now an envoy for the United States. President Obama has chosen this Iman who said 9/11 happened because of U.S. policies. He also refused to say Hamas is a terrorist organization.

However, Rauf is now our envoy to Muslim countries for the next twelve months. The “outreach” to Muslim countries means he will travel the world at tax payer expense creating good will.

As I think about and pray for our country this morning, my thoughts and prayers for the U.S. are this: 2 Chronicles 7:14. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

God Bless,
Woody

For more information, please visit the following websites: http://www.americanthinker.com (Top ten reasons why sharia is bad for all societies) http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications (Sharia Can Never Happen Here?

Goody From Woody

2010-07-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

July 28, 2010

President Abraham Lincoln once said, “The philosophy in the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.”

How we Americans think about creation affects our view of the laws of our country. The Founders of our country understood this and therefore could write that “all are created equal” and that all people possess God-given “unalienable Rights” based on the law of Nature, which proceeds from “Nature in God.”

The concept of law (legal theory) is built on the relationships between law and morality. Natural Law is a view of law that sees God as Creator who gives people through eternal reason the ability to understand Natural Law because as people we are created in His image (imago dei) and we as people have intrinsic value based on God creating us. This view helps us really understand the effect of creation on what we think and the laws we create in regard to abortion and euthanasia. Because we are created in God’s image we will protect life.

Our country has had the benefits of Natural Law through most of its history. A new philosophy of law has appeared over the years and it is called Positive Law. This view of law sees man with temporal reason creating laws that are relative and subjective. They do not believe that God is involved in this process or product at all. Because they do not believe in creation man does not have intrinsic value and is left with only human reason to create social norms or power over people through law. This group finds it easy to support abortion and euthanasia.

How did America shift from Natural Law to Positive Law? If you look back in history you’ll find three reasons. They are:

1. Influence of Friedrich Nietzsche, the German atheist (1844-1900) who created a philosophy that “God is dead” and mankind is self-sufficient.
2. Utilitarianism. This is a moral theory that sees an action as morally right if and only if it produces at least as much good (utility) for all people affected by the action or any alternative action the person could do instead. This means there are no absolutes in law. It all depends on the person.
3. Charles Darwin (1809-1882). His writings on the Origin of the Species and his philosophy and teaching that mankind is basically a high functioning animal. Darwin was also an atheist.

If you put the influence of all three of them together you’ll see we as a country have shifted to Positive Law based on the rejection of God as Creator and with that the elevation of mankind to a place where only God belongs.

Next time you are reading about judges or lawyers or congress and the word law is used, it might be wise to know -- are they referring to law as our Founding Fathers believed it to be, Natural Law (based on God as Creator and therefore people having intrinsic value) or Positive Law where man is the center of it all and does not have intrinsic value.

By the way Positive Law changed its title to “legal realism” or “critical legal studies.”

The person nominated to be a Supreme Court Judge by President Obama is in her own words a “legal realist.”

Man-centered law that attempts to cut God out of the picture and ignore his laws will be out of step with reality. Pray for all those who lead us! Pray and put into practice Romans 13:1, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established…”

Goody From Woody

2010-07-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

John Owen, perhaps one of the sharpest theological minds in Puritan history said, “Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers.” (Owen 1616-1683)

I’ve been thinking lately, as most American are, about our economy. Two ideas are on the stage for acceptance: capitalism or socialism.

Throughout world history these two ideas of social organization have squared off against each other. Either collectivism or individualism will prevail. Collectivism has taken many forms: fascism, welfare-statism, socialism and even communism. I left out Nazism—add that also. The only social system that has worked for individualism is laissez-faire capitalism. (The French term means “let do” or “let it alone” in reference to the economy. In 1680 it was first used to advocate for leaving industry alone—to be free from government intervention.)

For the average Christian in America it is obvious that the battle to lead our country to socialism is in high gear. If you interviewed college professors, politicians and main-stream journalists, you would hear the callous and base put-down of capitalism. They believe socialism is “morally” superior to capitalism.

Dr. David Noebel, in his book The Battle for Truth, writes “The Christian worldview embraces democratic capitalism (laissez-faire) for a number of reasons. The Bible not only grants man the right to private property, but also calls for man to be a good steward of his property, and the free enterprise system affords man the most opportunity to act as a responsible steward by creating wealth and opportunity. Further, the competition in a free market works according to the principle of comparative advantage, which affirms the inherent worth of every individual.” (Page 295)

Which system is more just? Dr. Noebel writes, “Capitalism is also more socially just than socialism. While the socialist calls for economic equality, capitalism respects the Biblical requirement of equality before the law. This does not, as the socialist contends, cause the rich to get richer and the poor poorer. Rather, it encourages the rich to create more wealth, thereby aiding all of society. The policies of redistribution, including welfare systems, only multiply the problems for the poor—creating needless bureaucracies and concentrating too much power in the hands of the government. Conversely, capitalism encourages freedom in the political sphere. This removes the danger of granting sovereignty to the state instead of God.” (Page 296)

If the Christian understands the battle over the economy today in worldview terms, he or she will end up in favor of capitalism and free enterprise. This truth was very evident to Frederick Engels (the father of communist theory) who said, “If some few passages of the Bible may be favorable to communism, the general spirit of the doctrine is, nevertheless, totally opposed to it.” (Page 296)

Socialism does away with private property and even individual responsibility. (Read Isaiah 65:21-22; Jeremiah 32:43-44; Acts 5:1-4, and Ephesians 4:28 supporting capitalism.)

The only theology I know supporting socialism is called “Liberation Theology,” misreading and misunderstanding Acts 2:44-45. Personal salvation is based on a relationship with our wonderful Savior. Liberation Theology is “collective” salvation from so-called economic, political, and social conditions. Personal salvation from sin or social collective salvation from economic, political, and social problems? The government “saves” us, or we will choose salvation from sin through Christ. You can’t have it both ways.

In a culture that has abandoned “absolute” in relationship to God, moral laws, ethics, etc. in favor of relativism, it is great to be reminded of what John Owen wrote, “Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers.”

God’s truth is by its very nature absolute. It does not depend upon any time, place, or condition to be true.

Jesus said, "There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses. So he called him in and said, 'What's this I hear about you? You're fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.' Jesus went on to make these comments: If you're honest in small things, you'll be honest in big things; if you're a crook in small things, you'll be a crook in big things. If you're not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store? No worker can serve two bosses: he'll either hate the first and love the second or adore the first and despise the second. You can't serve both God and the Bank.” Luke 16:1-2, 10-13 9 (The Message)

God Bless,
Woody

Goody From Woody

2010-07-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite quotes is from C. H. Spurgeon, who said, “The religion of both Old and New Testaments is marked by fervent outspoken testimonies against evil. To speak smooth things in such a case may be sentimentalism, but it is not Christianity. It is a betrayal of the cause of truth and righteousness.”

So, with that in your heart and mind, let me bring up the name of a deceased radical who still reigns in our world—Saul Alinsky. Alinsky was a community organizer from Chicago who traveled the U.S. and gave lectures on college campuses and union halls, to persuade people to follow his socialism. He wrote two books, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals (this was dedicated to Lucifer, the first radical), and his second book, Reveille for Radicals.

Rules for Radicals was published in 1972. Alinsky’s favorite word in this book is “change” and his next favorite was a phrase “Community organizer.”

Alinsky wrote, “What follows is for those who want to change the world from what is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the “Haves” on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the “Have-nots” on how to take it away.”

Alinsky was born in 1909 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. His parents were “strict orthodox Jews” and so was Saul, until he was 12 years old. He said he had kicked the habit of orthodoxy by that time.

What makes Alinsky noteworthy, even though he is dead (1972) is his influence on organizing for more power today.

When Alinsky said he “believed in change,” Brannon Howse stated, “Alinsky means revolution.” “Alinsky said we need to have a socialist communist revolution. We need to do away with private property, free enterprise, free market, capitalism. But we do it over time, by penetrating every institution and changing their worldview.”

Alinsky called for radicals to defend their agenda by ridiculing the opposition. He wrote, “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counter attack ridicule. It infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.”

Robert Knight said of Alinsky, “he is all about using deception, manipulation, and raw power to bring about a communist future.”

Who has been influenced the most by Alinsky’s writings? Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama are high on the list. Clinton wrote her senior thesis at Wellesley College on Alinsky. The title of her paper was, “There is only the Fight, An Analysis of the Alinsky Model.” She wrote, “If the ideals Alinsky espouses were actualized, the result would be social revolution.”

President Obama taught at least four years of the Alinsky model as a community organizer in Chicago. Obama did his primary work by building coalitions of black churches.

Interesting to me is that Alinsky’s ideas were not original. They started with a Neo-Marxist in Italy by the name of Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci said a guns and bullets revolution never works but he said “gradualism, infiltration and the dialectic process” was a sure thing.

A final thought on Alinsky. He was deeply influenced by the social science insights of his times, one developed by his professor at Chicago: that the pathologies of the urban poor were not hereditary but environmental. This idea, that people could change their lives by changing their surroundings, led him to take the obscure social science phrase, “the community organization,” and turn it into, in the words of Alinsky’s biographer Sanford Horwitt, “something controversial, important, even romantic.”

Don’t overlook this idea. Change my surroundings and you change me. The Bible tells a different story. God’s Son came to change our hearts even if the environment never changed. We call that salvation from sin, not liberation from a job, community or government.

In case you haven’t paid attention to the TV news or news magazines, the assault on Biblical absolutes and Christian values has been the threat for Alinsky and followers since 1972.

What can you do to change this slide toward socialism? C. H. Spurgeon’s quote at the beginning of this blog says it all. Call it evil!!! Read your Bible every day! Learn to use the Word of God daily to see how
1 Chronicles 12:32 can be used in your life!
1. “Understand the times”
2. “Knowledge of what to do”

God Bless,
Woody

To check out the 11 Rules for Radicals, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals

Goody From Woody

2010-06-21T12:47:00.001-07:00

I have been pondering over 2 Timothy 2:2 lately. Paul states: “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

To put this another way, “a truly great teacher lives on in the lives of his students!”

As I think about this idea, several men from church history come to mind. One man stands out clearly: Charles Hodge. Mr. Hodge was educated at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and Princeton Theological Seminary. He married the great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin.

Mr. Hodge graduated in 1816 from Princeton and became a professor there in 1822. He started the Princeton Review in 1825. He excelled in NT exegesis and didactic theology.

During his lifetime, Mr. Hodge taught more than three thousand students. Thousands of people heard him preach and even more read his words. Most notable of his writings is his three-volume set of Systematic Theology.

I was amazed at a tradition Mr. Hodge started at Seminary graduation in 1868. After the benediction was pronounced, the graduating class made a circle around Charles Hodge at the middle of the front campus. They sang several verses of the hymn, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” Then, making a tighter circle with each graduate crossing his arms across his chest and grasping the hands of the students on either side, they sang together “Blest Be The Tie That Binds,” followed by the doxology. After Hodge pronounced a benediction, he shook hands with each student, and all went their separate ways to minister the gospel as pastors, missionaries, and church leaders.

Three of Mr. Hodge’s children became pastors, two became faculty members where he taught, and a grandson, C.W. Hodge, Jr. also taught for many years at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Charles Hodge invested his life in his students. I believe he was doing what Jesus commanded His followers to do: make disciples and then invest your life in them.

Think with me about the people in your life and in your sphere of influence—friends, family, co-workers, neighbors. Whom do you believe God has given to you in whom you can invest your life?

“So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. Pass on what you heard from me—the whole congregation saying Amen!— to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn't get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It's the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain.” 2 Timothy 2:1-7 (The Message)

God Bless,
Woody

P.S. A great quote from Charles Hodge is this: “The ultimate ground of faith and knowledge is confidence in God.”

Goody From Woody

2010-06-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Ergun Caner preach in Florida a few years ago. Dr. Caner is president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, and a great writer. Oh, by the way, did I tell you he is a convert from Islam to Christianity?

I was reading his book called, When Worldviews Collide recently and came across a significant insight. He writes that our culture is in chaos. Everywhere you look you see on TV, media, government and in our public schools, the same. Canter writes (page 29), “It is the world in which we live, and it isn’t pretty.
• A culture of victimization: no one is responsible.
• A culture of syncretism: all religions are the same.
• A culture of relativism: all religions are equally true.
• A culture of confrontation: how loudly people state their opinion is more important than the content of their messages.
• A culture of hyphenation: people are invested in movements and causes, based on their subgroup or movement, and they define themselves by this hyphenation.
• A culture of medication: we treat the symptoms but not the core diseases of yearning, guilt and pain.”
Canter calls these thoughts the “modern-day theater of the opinionated.”

When I did graduate work I read H. Richard Niebuhr’s, Christ and Culture. He outlined positions typically held by Christians in regard to culture. He listed:
• Christ above culture: Christians are oblivious to culture around them.
• Christ against culture: Christians take an adversarial stance against anything culture offers.
• Christ of culture: Christians attempt to mimic anything popular in culture.

I believe St. Paul has a better idea on how to deal with our culture (which is very postmodern). In Acts 17:16-21, Paul is deeply imbedded in his culture. He is in the marketplace, and there he offers Christ to common people and philosophers. He was in the real world. He was not running from a fight, nor was he afraid. What did he do with his culture? He gave them this:
• Christ confronting culture: Christians neither hiding from evil nor assimilating it. As Canter, in his book, stated: “Surrounded by sin, Christians confront it and persuade the sinful to come to Christ. This is a believer’s stance. We are not oblivious to culture, nor do we shrink from it. We are not silenced by culture. Instead, we present Christ with every available tool in every possible context.”

Think with me, please. How are we being silenced? In our work, at home, in the church, in our culture, is there anything that prevents you from communicating the good news of the Gospel? If there is, get rid of it. Move on. We are God’s answer to the chaos in our culture. Give them Christ! God will be glorified if you do and Satan will be delighted if you don’t.

God Bless,
Woody Church

P.S. Don’t forget—go and read Acts 17:16-21. The tools for confronting our culture with Christ will leap off the pages of God’s Word!

PC

2010-06-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

Goody from Woody

I’ve been thinking a lot lately on the subject of Political Correctness. I have three books on the meaning of words like: Why You Say It, by Webb Garrison; The Jewish Book of Why, by Alfred J. Kolatch; and The Christian Book of Why?, by John C. McCollister. None of these books helped me understand the roots of political correctness.

What comes to your mind when you hear these words? You are probably thinking, like me, of words that are full of PC: tolerance, multiculturalism, diversity, and feminism. Where did the ideas come from?

If you unpack the word tolerance, it means that one person never expresses an opinion or judgment about someone else’s ideas, beliefs, or values from a worldview of biblical Christianity (absolute truth). Does this mean someone demands that we only accept another worldview—anything and everything but that Christian Worldview? Tolerance is not very tolerant of biblical Christianity.

How about diversity? Isn’t that like preaching that homosexuality is just as valid as all other forms of sexuality? If we disagree, we prove that we need sensitivity training and help in being normal.

What about multiculturalism? Isn’t that valuing many cultures? No—it can only mean criticism of our Western culture and our ideas of being a melting pot of people from all the world.

Multiculturalism rebels at the notion that we as a country were founded on a very distinct Christian worldview. Especially troublesome for these folks is the notion of patriotism.

What about feminism? Isn’t that about equal rights for women? No—it is about the destruction of what was once a patriarchal society (all OT and NT thru 1980’s), to matriarchal society. The goal of this group is very anti-family and anti-father. Who has taken the father’s place in this new shift in American culture? The welfare state!!

I have read from dozens of authors—both Christian and not—that believe political correctness is a masking term for cultural Marxism. It is a movement that would rob all of us of our freedoms of speech and all of our other liberties.

How should a Christian respond to political correctness (cultural Marxism)?

The only answer is to follow God’s Word! If God calls homosexuality a sin, we should also. If anything, including feminism tries to destroy our homes and families; we should call it what it is—sin! Call out sensitivity training for what it is—an attempt to destroy freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

If you have time, you might want to find the articles written by William Lind, a history professor who wrote about this topic at www.academia.org. Also, you might want to read Grave Influence, by Brannon Howse. It is extremely helpful.

Lastly, don’t we fight sin with truth? Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’”

God Bless,
Woody

Goody From Woody

2010-05-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

In the early 1900s, Charles Darwin’s (1809-1882) theory of evolution was very popular. He had written Origin of Species and The Descent of Man. Adolf Hitler embraced the teachings and ideas of Darwin and evolution. In the 1900’s people began looking for fossils that could be missing links between apes and human beings.

In 1912, three men claimed they found one of these missing links near Piltdown, England. The skull looked like an ape’s skull, but it also had human features. The fossil soon became famous around the world.

But the skull was a fake. This find was a hoax!! A German scientist closely examined the skull and the finds near it—an orangutan jaw, an elephant molar, a hippopotamus tooth, and a canine tooth from a chimpanzee. It took 40 more years after people were made to believe it was true to know the truth. There were even 500 scientific essays written supporting this find.

Every April 1 (April Fools’ Day), I remind myself that things may not be as they are portrayed.

Darwin was committed to naturalism, the belief that all that exists is the natural world. To him there is no spiritual world, no Creator God.

As Brannon Howse states in his book, Grave Influence, 2009 (p.218):
“If there is no God or Creator, then everything happens by chance or mistake.”
“If there is no God, then man was not created in His image.”
“If there is no God, then there is no right or wrong.”
“If there is no God, there is only the natural world.”
“If there is no God, then man does not have an eternal soul and there is no life after death.”
“If there is no God, life has no meaning.”
“If there is no God, man does not have a free will, for he is the product of his environment.”

When I think of Darwin, I think of Psalm 14:1. “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.”

The Bible is clear—the “fool” is a person not necessarily lacking in “mental power”, or has intellectual deficiencies. It is rather a person who is morally deficient. The person chooses to ignore the God who created the world and everything and everyone in it. That person is spiritually blind.

Proverbs 14:9 states, “Fools don't care if they sin, but honest people work at being right.”

Don’t be fooled today! One of the ways to not be tricked is to do this—trust Christ. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” This can be the prayer that you pray today.

God bless,
Woody

Extra credit: Look up Jeremiah 17:1

Upstream

2010-05-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

I heard a sermon a few weeks back by my son-in-law, Scott Luck. He used a reference from Joshua chapter 3. The Jewish people had been led out of Egypt—where they had been slaves for 400 years. Over a million Jewish men, women and children waited at the Jordan River to cross over to the “Promised Land” that God said would be theirs. Their future hope and home was across the River which was at flood stage since it was harvest time.

Joshua had told the people to follow the priests into the River when the priest carried the “Ark of the Covenant” before them.

No doubt all the Jewish men, women and children were wondering if they would die in the Jordon River or would God make a way through it.

Joshua chapter 3 tells us that God was “working upstream” at a place called Adam where the Jordan River had started to back up. By the time the Jewish people crossed the Jordon, they were able to walk over on dry ground. Amazing!

God knew the need of His people before they did. Crossing a swollen Jordon River at flood stage is impossible for man. But God, in His Providence was “working upstream” to stop the Jordon River. In everyday language God is always “working upstream” for His people.

I have been at the Jordon River during harvest season, and it really does flood. But God was working ahead of His people to do what He had promised.

Do you believe God is “working upstream” in your life today? I sure do!

Not long ago I visited one of my doctors to deal with a minor physical problem. I had not planned on seeing that doctor or his staff for another month. But one of the workers had lost a friend in a car accident and was grieving. She said she needed to know how to talk to the children of the deceased man. I knew then that God had been working upstream because I have talked many, many times to children about the loss of grandparents and parents. In fact, I’ve done workshops on the topic. That day was a reminder that God had worked in my life for years (working upstream) to help the people in that office.

What problem are you facing now? God is working even if you can’t see evidence of it today. (The Jewish people couldn’t see 15-20 miles upstream either).

The sure confidence of Romans 8:28-29 came to mind. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Did you see that God works all events in the lives of His people for their good?

Providence means “to see before”. God sees before us and behind us. He knows all things—and He works it all together for our good and His glory. (Read, at your leisure: Ps 104; Hebrews 1:3; Col 1:17; Acts 17:28; Neh 9:6.)

So where is God working “upstream” in your life?

God Bless,
Woody

P.S. Did you know that Roger Williams in 1636, who was a religious exile, named a city in Rhode Island “Providence”? He was struck by “God’s merciful Providence” which he believed God had allowed the early settlers to find and enjoy.

Leaving or Living a Legacy?

2010-05-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

Do you know the name of Wilbert Awdry? He was a pastor and served in Wiltshire England. As a little boy he tagged along on pastoral visits with his father who also was a pastor. Wilbert loved riding the train and engaged railroad workers in conversation everywhere he went.

Wilbert was not a great academic student and barely graduated from college. Wilbert was not very successful as a pastor. In fact, he was fired by his church and at that time considered leaving the ministry. He loved God and he loved people.

Something happened to Wilbert when his son Christopher was a child suffering with measles. Because his son was confined to his bed, the pastor amused his son with a story he made up about a little train engine that was sad because he hadn’t been out of his train shed for a long time.

Christopher begged his father to tell him the story over and over again. Wilbert finally wrote the story down and illustrated it with some crude line drawings of trains with faces on them.

Wilbert’s wife, Margaret, saw more in the children’s story than family entertainment. She urged her husband to take the little book to a publisher. Wilbert was shocked that they liked the book and wanted to publish it. The little book called, The Three Railway Engines, was first published in 1945.

Twenty six books about train engines followed—all with different names. Do remember Thomas or Gordon? Edward? Terrence or Bertie? All these stories were about little train engines with different personalities who interacted in very simple, but very human dramas. Every story had a moral lesson. These train engines, like people, had good and bad times. They learned to laugh, love, give and receive. Wilbert always wrote about redemption—taking selfish or sinful actions and getting God’s help to redeem the people.

Wilbert Awdry said of his little train stories, “The important thing is that the engines are punished and forgiven—but never scrapped”.

Even though he was not a successful pastor, Wilbert Awdry took the gospel message of grace and redemption to all the world. Ask any child if they’ve heard of Thomas the Train or Thomas the Tank Engine and you’ll see how successful the pastor really was.

When Wilbert Awdry was asked what he wanted engraved on his tombstone, he said, “He helped people see God in the ordinary things of life…and he made children laugh.” What a legacy! He died in March 1997.

May I ask a probing question of you? What will be your legacy? How will you be remembered? Will you leave a lot of money to your children and friends? Will they remember you as kind and grateful? Will they consider themselves rich (not in money) for being friends with you? We all will leave a legacy. I’ve been thinking about this. I hope you will also.
A final word from St. Paul in Colossians 3:15-17, “Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.”
God Bless,
Woody

A Picture Is Worh A Thousand Words

2010-04-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

You have heard, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Let me explain. Matthew 24:2 says, “And He said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.’”

Now look at this picture. What do you see? It is the Western Wall, or at least what remains of the old second Temple in Jerusalem. Jews had prophetically predicted the destruction of Jerusalem—which took place in 70 A.D.

Today this wall is treated like an outside or outdoor synagogue. I’ve been there at the Western Wall on two trips to the Holy Land and watched the devout Jewish men or boys bowing in prayer repeatedly. Everyday hundreds of religious Jewish men go there to pray and meditate and mourn.

Why do they mourn? They continue to grieve over the loss of the Temple—the place where they worshiped and sang and prayed. They lament the destruction of what was the site of countless blessings from God.

The Western Wall is sometimes called the “Wailing Wall” or “Place of Weeping.”

You will recall the Muslims who controlled Israel for many years tell us (tradition) that their prophet Muhammad tethered his famed horse there at the wall. His horse was named Buraq. So Arabs call the Western Wall, “Al-Buraq.”

Even though women and kids may not go down to the Western Wall to pray, they all (men, women and children) can assemble at the perimeter and weep over what has been lost.

This wall from 70 A.D. to the 1967 six-day war was controlled by other people. But on that day when the Jewish people regained control over old Jerusalem, they regained control over the wall. On that day, according to Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, “There was one moment in the Six-Day War which symbolized the great victory: that was the moment in which the first paratroopers - under Gur's command - reached the stones of the Western Wall, feeling the emotion of the place; there never was, and never will be, another moment like it. Nobody staged that moment. Nobody planned it in advance. Nobody prepared it and nobody was prepared for it; it was as if Providence had directed the whole thing: the paratroopers weeping - loudly and in pain - over their comrades who had fallen along the way, the words of the Kaddish prayer heard by Western Wall's stones after 19 years of silence, tears of mourning, shouts of joy, and the singing of "Hatikvah" (which means hope).

What does all this mean for you and me? It means our God who is Sovereign over all things and people allowed Jerusalem to fall, including the Temple. Even the 21st century Jewish people wait and pray for Messiah.

But Messiah Jesus has already come and it is He who said the destruction of Jerusalem would happen. And it did. What has God promised for you and me for this moment in history? Acts 1:11 tells us, “They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.’” The New Testament ends with these words from Revelation 22:20, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly’ Amen Come, Lord Jesus.”

Be on your guard! All He promised will take place!

God Bless,
Woody

False Prophets

2010-04-08T06:41:00.000-07:00

Goody from Woody
April 7, 2010

Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943), was a famous American poet. One of his most famous works is as follows:

"First Dentistry was Painless”
First dentistry was painless;
Then bicycles were chainless
And carriages were horseless
And many laws, enforceless.
Next, cookery was fireless,
Telegraphy was wireless,
Cigars were nicotineless
And coffee, caffeineless.
Soon oranges were seedless,
The putting green was weedless,
The college boy hatless,
The proper diet, fatless,
Now motor roads are dustless,
The latest steel is rustless,
Our tennis courts are sodless,
Our new religions, godless.

Did you see that last line, “Our new religions, godless”? Now before you say he was wrong, think about Friedrick Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900), the European philosopher who declared, “Gott ist tot!”—German for “God is dead”. Nietzsche attended one semester of seminary training but dropped out and said he had lost his faith. (His father was a Lutheran pastor, and his mother a school teacher.) What prompted this loss of faith and later declaring “God is dead”? I believe it might have been his reading of David Strauss’s Life of Jesus. The author Strauss had argued that Jesus was human but not divine. Ideas have consequences.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century. Two years ago, at Easter time, Gretta Vosper, a United Church of Canada pastor released her book, With or Without God—Why the Way We Live Is More Important Than What We Believe. This postmodern liberal theologian contends for the idea of the removal of authority and symbols in Christianity. She removed the cross from the worship center in her church, and she took the bible and its stand off the communion table. The communion table with the words, “Do this in Remembrance of Me”, was turned around so you could not read the words.

This Canadian pastor is trying to create a community that is non-exclusive.

But even Nietzsche knew that without God there is no morality.

What’s the point? We are living in an age where even, in some churches, language, symbols, the Bible and authority are being rejected.

I believe the poet Guiterman was a prophet: “Our new religions, godless.” Today we call this the Emergent Church (or postmodern theology).

Jesus talked about these people in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are plundering wolves” and in Matthew 24:11, “And many false prophets will be raised and will cause many to err.”

How do you guard against false prophets (religious leaders)?

YAHWEH

2010-03-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

March 31, 2010

A couple of years ago I picked up a news item from a religious service. The title of the article was “No Yahweh” in songs, prayers at Catholic Masses, Vatican Rules.

I was rather intrigued by the article since our children grew up singing, among other songs, “El Shaddai” sung by Amy Grant, and written by Michael Card and John Thompson. Of course El Shaddai is Hebrew for “God Almighty.” So why did our Catholic friends take the name “Yahweh” out of their prayers and songs at Mass? I wanted to know the answer since we taught our children from early on that God had a personal name, and it was “Yahweh.” We taught them other Old Testament names for God that described His attributes and character qualities. Some of those names are from Hebrew: El Elyon, “Lord God Almighty”; Adonai, “Lord, Master”; Jehovah Nissi, “The Lord My Banner”;
Jehovah Tsidkenu, “The Lord our Righteousness.”

I think you will appreciate why the Psalmist wrote, “Let them praise the name of the Lord: for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heaven.” (Psalm 148:13)

But the name “Yahweh” was removed for what reason? The Vatican wanted to be sensitive to Jewish people who do not pronounce YHWH (God’s name may be written this way – four consonants called the Tetragrammaton.)

Interestingly, without the vowel marks or sounds, no one knows how to pronounce the four letters. William Gesenius (1786-1842) suggested “Yahweh” as the most probable vocalization, based on history of Hebrew and Greek and Samaritan traditions.

I believe Christians want to reverence and respect God’s name. So as I was pondering all this I went back and said, “How did David refer to God in Psalm 23?”

David uses God’s personal name!!! He wrote “Yaheweh” is my Shepherd .…” Why did David do that? He could have several dozen names for God. I believe the answer is this is God’s name—His personal name. I may be called pastor, teacher, Biblical Counselor or even papa, but my personal name is Woody.

Political correctness may get me in trouble with people, but when you cry out in love, worship or praise to our wonderful God, don’t be ashamed to pray, “You ‘Yahweh’ are my Shepherd!”

God Bless,
Woody

Goody From Woody

2010-03-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

The name Lloyd Douglas may not register with you unless you are over fifty years old. But for some of us, it brings fond memories. Mr. Douglas was born in Indiana and even lived in Florence Kentucky for a short time. He graduated from Wittenberg College and pastored churches in Indiana, Ohio, and Washington, D.C.

When he was fifty years old he left the ministry and started a writing career. He wrote three of my favorite books: The Robe, The Big Fisherman, and Magnificent Obsession.

While still in college and living in a boarding house, Mr. Douglas tells several wonderful things he remembered. On the first floor, a retired wheel-chair-bound music professor resided. Each morning Douglas would stick his head in the door of the teacher’s apartment and ask the same question, “Well, what’s the good news?” The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair, and say, “That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat. The piano across the hall is out of tune; but my friend, that is middle C.”

If I had a gift to give all people on planet earth (other than salvation), this would be it: enough change!! We all need to know that we’ll not have more changes in our health or in relationships or jobs or church. Even the weather changes. Sometimes we like that and sometimes we do not.

Don’t you love the truth of Hebrews 13:8? “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

God is in charge! He is still in the business of being Sovereign and we can still call on Him for help, comfort, encouragement and peace. Why? Because He changes not.

He is our middle C!

God Bless,
Woody

Would you let me write about “age” or maturity?

2010-03-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

Statistics tell us a lot about our times. Currently two million Americans live in nursing homes. Fifty million Americans alive now are expected to spend their last days in a nursing home.

The population of Americans over sixty-five will grow from thirty-four million to fifty three million by 2020, according to the Census Bureau forecasts. The over-eighty-five-year-old population will nearly double to seven million by 2020.

When you think of “age” do you think Biblically? Listen to a few words from Scripture:

“You shall rise up before the grayheaded and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.” Lev. 19:32

“Wisdom is with aged men, with long life is understanding.” Job 12:12

“King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, ‘How do you counsel me to answer this people?’” 1 Kings 12:6

“O God, You have taught me from my youth, and I still declare Your wondrous deeds.
And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come.” Psalm 71:17-18
All our times are in God’s hands! God’s gift of time and age is unknown to all of us. That is why we are to redeem time—use it for God’s glory and other’s benefit. Paul said it this way, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16
Do you remember the famous line by the comedian Groucho Marx? He said, “Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.”
Age is a touchy subject for people—even Christians. We try to hide it, camouflage it, deny it, and lie about it. Why? Are we not at peace with this gift from God—age?
My prayer for you today—no matter your age, is this: “God, teach us to number our days, that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 96:12
God Bless your time!
Woody

Go On A Journey With Me

2010-03-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

Two thousand years ago this story occurred.

“Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus' feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.”

“Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, "Why wasn't this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces." He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.”

“Jesus said, ‘Let her alone. She's anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don't always have me.’” --John 12:1-8, The Message

As we look back 2000 years at this story, did you see, hear and smell?

Did you smell the pint of pure nard used to anoint Jesus’ feet? The whole room was full of the fragrance of Mary’s love and devotion to Jesus.

Did you hear the outrageous comments of Judas? Judas tells us it is a waste to use this expensive nard on Jesus’ feet. (It was equal to 300 denarii or approximately 300 day’s wages.) Listen to Jesus’ response to Judas, “Let her alone. She’s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial.”

Do you see the contrast? Judas is full of the deadly sins of greed and covetousness and even dishonesty. Do you see the generous gift of Mary of Bethany at the opposite side of the room? She loves and adores her Savior. She is devoted to Him. Money is only a tool to surrender to God so that others are benefited and He gets the glory. Mary was not stingy but extraordinarily generous.

Do you remember the C.S. Lewis quote that fits Judas here? Lewis wrote, “Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst.”

Go out and give generously of your money, time, and energy for the glory of God!!
God Bless,

Woody

Goody From Woody

2010-02-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

I can’t get 1 Chronicles 12:32 off my mind. God’s Word says: “Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do . . .”

Do you pray God will grant us Godly men and women who understand the times in which we live? Have you seen a lot of Godly wisdom displayed lately? In the church? The world? The congress?

Issachar is the tribe that Deborah came from in the time “when every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).

The Sanhedrin during Jesus’ day was from the tribe of Issachar. The Sanhedrin was known for its wisdom. We need Biblical wisdom today!!

When David became King of Israel, the people who were united behind him are listed (chapters 1-9 of 1 Chronicles). Every person and leader was important—they were all connected to what God was doing with a new King and new beginnings in Israel.

Proverbs 10:21 says, “Fools die for lack of wisdom.” The contrast in Proverbs is “wise” people—God’s people looking to Him in their salvation and God makes them “wise.” The opposite are “fools,” people who have no relationship with God or His Son, Jesus.

“Head knowledge” is everywhere around us. But true wisdom, which is a “knowledge of the holy” (Proverbs 30:3) and the fear of the Lord, is greatly lacking today.

There is an ignorance of the Lord and lack of sensitivity to sin in our day.
What can you and I do to change this? Try Paul’s words. Paul understood this need to “understand the times” in which he lived. He was wise. He said, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” –Philippians 3:7-11 NASB.
God Bless,
Woody

Quote: “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” -C.S. Lewis

Did You Think to Pray?

2010-02-17T09:15:00.000-08:00

Last week, a friend asked me a great question about prayer. She said, “I’ve been raised a strict Baptist and know that we’re supposed to pray. But, I’m struggling with why. God knows my thoughts, wants, needs, and my prayers and thoughts for others.” Why pray?

Let me answer this question of why with a definition of prayer – It is personal communication with God. Prayer includes requests for ourselves and others (called petition and/or intercession). It also includes confession of sin, adoration of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and praise and thanksgiving. Prayer is worship!

Let me also say prayer is not offered to God so God can find out what we need. Jesus tells us, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matt. 6:8).

1. God wants us to pray because prayer expresses our trust in God. And this trust can grow and increase with time. We are to pray with faith, which means dependence and trust in God’s plan for our lives.

Think about the attitude of a child trusting their dad and mom. We as Christians really are dependent on God for everything. Prayer is a way of expressing to God our attitude of dependence and our loving thoughts to Him. It is right and proper to pray to God and express our thanks and praise in His salvation. It is right to tell God we want to be like the Savior.

Remember the opening words to the Lord’s prayer? “Our Father who art in heaven…” (Matt. 6:9). This is the model prayer and it teaches dependence and trust.

2. God wants us to pray and love Him in dependence, but He also wants us to pray so we can enjoy fellowship with Him. If you enjoy friends on earth, don’t you long, when apart, to come together in Christian fellowship? So does God!

3. A third reason why we pray is that prayer allows us believers to be involved with activities that have eternal importance. When we pray correctly we are involved in asking God to increase His church, advance missions to reach lost people, and for “His kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Let me say a final word. Prayer is not “natural.” It takes a divine touch (salvation) (cf John 4:24). Prayer is “supernatural.” Scripture teaches God does not “hear” every prayer. The biblical doctrine of prayer always begins with God’s character, the necessity of man’s salvation in covenant relation with God, and entering into both the privileges and obligations of that relationship.

As a boy, growing up in eastern Kentucky, I heard a radio program called, the “Cadle Tabernacle” out of Indianapolis, five days a week at 7 AM. I heard these words:

“Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray? In the name of Christ our Savior, did you sue for loving favor, as a shield today?”

What a challenge! What a joy! What an honor to pray to God about everything!

Thanks for reading!! Go pray!!

Woody

REJOICE AND BE GLAD

2010-02-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

In everyday language, Jesus says in Matthew 5:11-12, “Give a cheer!” Is He serious? Let’s read this in the Message. "Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.”

Do you see both the problem and the solution Jesus is talking about?

When people oppose us (and the Gospel) we find it easy to become hard and angry. If we go on the defensive we are likely to forget the goal (salvation) and lose our joy in the process.

May I suggest the solution in the words of Eugene H. Peterson? “When we dance our faith, the enemy is disarmed and drawn into the celebration. Leaping joy is the sanity of blessing in a lunatic society. “ (Daily Readings)

What do you have that God has given you for which you can rejoice and be glad? Can you give a cheer in His name? Go ahead—say it quietly, but sincerely, “Yeah God!!!”

We are not called to fight the world, the flesh and the devil with this world’s weapons. We are called to be “witnesses” for Jesus—witnesses who love Him passionately and will witness with love, peace, and joy!

Don’t quit. Don’t give up. As Jesus says it, “You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.” (Matthew 5:10)

“So when that happens – give a cheer, even! For though they don’t like it, I do. And all heaven applauds.” (Matthew 5:12)

God Bless,
Woody Church

Would you like a C. S. Lewis quote? “I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to ‘rejoice’ as much as by anything else.”

Self-reliant! Self-sufficient! Are we really?? Boy, have I changed!!!

2010-02-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

In high school at graduation, I received an award – the W.W. Sebald Self-Reliant Award. It was money to be spent on my college education. When they gave me this reward I thought to myself (a young Christian), I really deserve this—I worked hard in school, played sports and worked after school and on weekends.

I really was self-reliant and self-sufficient.

But Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Jesus also said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).

Am I self-made, self-reliant, self-sufficient? No! No! No! That is a fantasy world. That type of self-world is empty of God completely.

The opposite view is a world where people are poor in spirit and deeply aware of being God-made and God-sufficient—everything comes because of the goodness, mercy and grace of God.

As a teenager I thought I was independent and could do it all by myself. I no longer believe that. As a Christian, I believe differently now. Everything comes from God. He is independent. I am dependent. He is complete. I am incomplete. I am nothing without Him.

To be able to receive anything from God, I must choose Him and my attitude must be to see myself in all dimensions—physically, spiritually, mortally as “poor in spirit”.

That’s the way I see it!

What does poor in spirit mean to you? Where’s your focus? Self or God? My challenge to you today is simple: empty yourself of you. See yourself as nothing, so that whatever God gives to you, you can be open to everything from His hand.

I am nothing today but I am also lost in wonder and praise for all God is to me and in me.

“To conclude, in one word; as often as we call God the Creator of heaven and earth, let us remember that the distribution of all the things which he created are in his hand and power, but that we are his sons, whom he has undertaken to nourish and bring up in allegiance to him, that we may expect the substance of all good from him alone, and have full hope that he will never suffer us to be in want of things necessary to salvation, so as to leave us dependent on some other source; that in everything we desire we may address our prayers to him, and, in every benefit we receive, acknowledge his hand, and give him thanks; that thus allured by his great goodness and beneficence, we may study with our whole heart to love and serve him.” [Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin translated by Henry Beveridge; Book One, Chapter 14, Section 22]

God bless,
Woody

SUFFERING

2010-01-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

Some people are guilty of propagating a false gospel! I’ve heard Pastors and lay people say God’s will for you is to be “healthy” or “prospering” or “successful.” I’ve searched the scriptures and the scriptures don’t say that. What they do say is this: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler.” —1 Peter 4:12-15, NASV

This means Christians suffer losses, financial reversals, accidents, sickness and even death. Christianity does not teach a “health and wealth” gospel. It does teach that we are called to suffer—to suffer like Christ. 1 Peter 2:21 says it correctly, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” Christ suffered and left us an example in how to go through this ordeal, walk the way He walked, faithful to His Father in all ways. I fear at times Christianity has been sold the false gospel of “Hallmark Christianity”—if you follow Christ you get a sweet greeting card from on high every day. You’ll never feel bad or sick or, heaven forbid, die.

False gospels always distort the truth. Christ is always made to look weak and helpless. Real gospel saves, and the real gospel sanctifies us; it prepares us to live for Christ no matter what crisis, pain, or problem or suffering. If we could see what our great God is doing behind the scenes we would bless, adore, and praise Him. He is completely in charge. Isa 55:8-9 tells us, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Reject the false gospels and stand for Christ. If need be, suffer like a good soldier for Christ. “You're all I want in heaven! You're all I want on earth! When my skin sags and my bones get brittle, GOD is rock-firm and faithful.”
- Psalm 73:25-26 .

Somewhere in our future a faithful God will say to us (if it is true of us) “well done good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your Master.” - Matt 25:21

God bless,
Woody

Live For Him and Live with no regrets

2010-01-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

My daughter, Marianne Cox, sent me an email a few days ago. I read her words and two words crashed upon my heart, “no regrets.” Think with me about those words, “no regrets” and your life. Let the words sink into your soul. No regrets physically—a famous baseball player comes to mind with his confession that he used steroids but denied it for years. No regrets emotionally—a famous candidate who ran for President admitted this week he fathered a child but had denied it for two years. Another example would be a world-famous golfer who is on the verge of losing his wife and kids because of numerous adulteries. No regrets spiritually. What if you spent your entire life on earth and rejected God at every turn? No church, no prayers, no Bible, no confession of sin, no knowledge of spiritual reality—and then you died. When that happens you will discover that you were wrong—eternally (never ending)—and that will leave you with the biggest regret of your entire life! Mercedes Lackey wrote, “If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.” No regrets. That is my prayer for you today.

Psalm 107:4-22 says it best:
“Some of you wandered for years in the desert, looking but not finding a good place to live,
Half-starved and parched with thirst, staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.
Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to GOD. He got you out in the nick of time;
He put your feet on a wonderful road that took you straight to a good place to live.
So thank GOD for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
He poured great draughts of water down parched throats; the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

Some of you were locked in a dark cell, cruelly confined behind bars,
Punished for defying God's Word, for turning your back on the High God's counsel—
A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy, and not a soul in sight to help.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time.
He led you out of your dark, dark cell, broke open the jail and led you out.
So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors, he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!

Some of you were sick because you'd lived a bad life, your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;
You couldn't stand the sight of food, so miserable you thought you'd be better off dead.
Then you called out to GOD in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time.
He spoke the word that healed you, that pulled you back from the brink of death.
So thank GOD for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
Offer thanksgiving sacrifices, tell the world what he's done—sing it out!”
-- Psalm 107:4-22 (The Message)

Today, live for Jesus. Love Him, serve Him, worship Him! Live for Him and live with no regrets.

God bless, Woody

Guard our hearts in 2010 & Let's begin with our words

2010-01-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

Just started a book by Eugene Peterson called, TelI it Slant. It’s about the words Jesus chose to communicate the glorious truths of God’s Good News to all mankind. Peterson argues that Genesis 3 was the beginning of our “language catastrophe.” Certainly Adam and Eve’s sin changed everything. Nothing is the same because of that event. Have you ever thought about how our words—our communication—has been affected by sin? Dr. Albert Mohler, on one of his recent plane trips, accompanied by colleague Matthew J. Hall, was lamenting with sadness the people around them on the plane and the communication they were using. Two young men behind Dr. Mohler and Mr. Hall were expressing their ideas in a very crude way—discussing the quality control on pornography. It is a true statement that “our words reveal our spiritual maturity or lack of it.”

If I encouraged you to watch your language I would only be focusing on the negative. If you want to change how you say something, on thing is essential: you must spend more time in deep fellowship with your savior. We can’t be in intimate fellowship with him and continue to use words or ideas that are not Christ-honoring. St. Peter says this in 1 Peter 2:1-2, “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

James 3:1-6 says this: “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is on fire by hell.

James really says it well and says it all. Let’s guard our hearts in 2010 and let’s begin with our words.

God bless,
Woody"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” -Luke 6:45

Change in the New Year

2010-01-07T18:25:00.000-08:00

Over the Christmas break my son-in-law, Pastor Scott Luck, told me a great equation. “Change of place plus change of pace equals a change of perspective.” (He had heard that from a pastor.) How very true and appropriate the statement is. As we begin 2010, we do not want to be thinking and acting the way we did at certain times in 2009. Many times we can look back and say, “I should not have been thinking that or doing that or even saying something unkind or not Christ-like.” All the more reason to remind ourselves and others, “God does not change” (Mal. 3:6) but He expects us to change daily!

Consider these changes for 2010:

1) What you need to give up in 2010 “change of place” to put you in a different place. Stopping TV watching or you fill in the blank, and start a Bible study or read a new book to show you a different understanding of life from God’s perspective.

2) Perhaps you need to give up a relationship that does not honor Christ. Any person that hinders your “pace” for Christ needs to be evaluated in sincere prayer. Are they influencing you for Christ or vice versa.

3) Lastly, remember time is important! We only get 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can’t do everything. Remember what the great Christian missionary martyr, Jim Elliot, wrote shortly before his death? “Only One Life, Twill Soon Be Past, Only What's Done For Christ Will Last.”

Ponder these thoughts about change - your change - no one can to it for you. It’s only you. “Change of place + change of pace = a change of perspective.” Change now for the glory of God and your benefits.

God bless,
Woody

Biblical Goal Setting for 2010

2009-12-30T18:57:00.000-08:00

Ephesians 5:16-17

Remember the Tyranny of the Urgent booklet from a few years back? Charles Hummel wrote this essay and his thesis is that all of us complain that there is not enough time in a day. He went on to make the observation that the greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important. Never enough time was his secondary thesis. The tyranny of the urgent means that we are letting things that are not important crowd out the important. That means that important goals like God goals, family goals or spiritual goals are usually taking a back seat to things that are not significant in light of eternity.

1. If you want a God-closeness relationship in 2010, you’ll need daily time in His Word. If you are new to reading God’s Word, some suggestions might be helpful. Take time daily just going slowly through the NT. Read a chapter or two; it will take you about a year. Another option: daily read the OT and NT in one year. If you choose this option, you will find several great Bible programs to facilitate this on your computer. If you do not have a computer, A Daily Walk, The Navigators, and Tabletalk by R. C. Sproul, all have programs that will allow you to order their books. All of these three basically monthly booklets encourage you to read them and read the Scriptures to give you insight and applications for each day. They are great tools!

2. The second suggestion for biblical goal setting in 2010 is daily time in prayer—focused time in reading and seeking God for who He is, not what we think we need. Putting God in His rightful place allows us to gain a better perspective on what we truly need.

3. Set family goals—meals together, prayer time together, worship time together, and play time together. Family means time with those whom God has placed in our lives by His design and for His glory.

4. Remember the great statement by Michelangelo? He observed, “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”

5. The last idea of goal-setting is important. What if God wants you to take training in discipleship/counseling through Rod and Staff in the New Year 2010? How could training help you to help others in a deeper way to find the joy of loving God and serving Him, and helping to serve others? Pray and ask Him. Tell us if He tells you; go for it in 2010! Let God be the focus, so that He can get all the glory. Thanks so much.

“Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.” -Ephesians 5:15-17

God bless,
Woody

Good Coming Out of Bad

2009-12-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite verses in all the Bible is Genesis 50:20. Joseph tells his brother, who had sold him into Egyptian slavery, “You meant this for evil, God meant it for good, for the saving of many souls.

“Good coming out of bad.”

That thought, “good coming out of bad,” was the message of the first Christmas.

Since the introduction of sin into the human race in Genesis 3, with Adam and Eve humanity has been in a “bad” straight. The first people on earth had sinned—and they needed to be rescued. God did just that.

He sent His Son on a mission of mercy to earth. He is the transcendent “Good.” He lived, died and rose from the dead, and now offers the ultimate “good” to any who will choose Him and His salvation—from “bad” to “good.”

I was reminded of another good that came from bad in the life of the great poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He had a son wounded in the civil war, lost his first wife Mary after only four years of marriage.

Twelve years after Mary’s death he married Frances (Fanny) Appleton. They had six children, including the son wounded in the civil war.

In 1861 Fanny was in the family library and caught fire from a match that dropped onto her dress. She died the next day.

From this bad and sad incident came the normal and expected grief.

But on December 25, 1864 Longfellow brought the “good” out of the “bad.” He wrote the world-famous poem, “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.”

I’ll print the poem, but please read the fourth stanza. This is great theology. This truth is for today. This is for you and me.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair, I bowed my head:
'There is no peace on earth,' I said,
'For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.'
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men.’

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Let God bring “good” out of your “bad.” He is in the business of Change.

Merry Christmas! Do you know Him as your Savior?

2009-12-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

Listen to what Psalm 22:25-26 says: “Here in this great gathering for worship I have discovered this praise-life. And I'll do what I promised right here in front of the God-worshipers. Down-and-outers sit at GOD's table and eat their fill. Everyone on the hunt for God is here, praising him. ‘Live it up, from head to toe. Don't ever quit!’”

The beginning of Psalm 22 is about the vivid suffering and crucifixion of Jesus. It is prophetic about Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection—the Gospel. We look back and thank God. The people who read or heard Psalm 22 looked forward to the meaning of God’s fulfillment of His promise.

There are over 300 references to the Messiah being fulfilled in Jesus.

Peter Stones, in his book, Science Speaks, says the probabilities of a man fulfilling eight of the prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 17th power—which is 100,000,000,000,000,000. Imagine the figure for all 332 prophecies being fulfilled by Jesus. That is 1 in 840, with 97 zeroes after it. Call that amazing!!

But God did it! Why? So we could celebrate Christmas? Yes, but not just say “Merry Christmas.” Rather, it is to say “Merry Christmas and I pray you know the Savior and His love for you!!”

C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, said “You must make a choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool. You can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”

I choose the latter!

“Merry Christmas! And do you know Him as your Savior? If so, sing or read Psalm 22:25-26 again.

God bless,

Woody

Facebook’s Word of the Year is “Unfriend”!

2009-12-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

It was Oxford Dictionary’s staff that chose the word of the year that would reflect the “ethos” and high-tech (read this on Facebook and Twitter) world that is rapidly changing.

“Unfriend” won the battle over other words like “hashtag”, a symbol (#) used on Twitter posts; “birther”, meaning conspiracy theorists challenging President Barack Obama’s U.S. birth certificate; and “intexicated”, people distracted by texting while driving.

“Unfriend” means “to delete someone as a friend on Facebook or other networking sites.”

As I reflected on this word “unfriend”, let me give you several observations:

➢ People are removed easily on a phone or computer – but not by God. Paul, in Romans 11, tells us about Israel rejecting their Messiah, but that allowed the non-Jewish person to have this wonderful salvation and relationship with God (cf. Romans 11:15). Paul says also in Romans 11 when a Jewish person comes to know their Messiah, it will be as if “going from death to life.”

➢ Have you ever thought how it must feel to be rejected? At this wonderful season of Christmas, the gospel of Jesus Christ tells us – NO, you are not rejected (Romans 11:1).

➢ My last observation of “unfriend” is this: why not take the next twenty days and think of an “unfriend” – someone you know who needs a letter, card, visit, friendly cup of coffee, etc. and for their sake and God’s, remind them “You matter to God and to me.”
Proverbs 18:21 ESV, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

Thank you “FRIEND”!

Are you an Apologist

2009-11-30T11:27:00.001-08:00

Did you know God has called you to be an apologist? No, I didn’t say to apologize! An apologist is a defender of the faith (cf Jude 1:3). To defend the faith (the Bible, God, salvation, etc.) is the command God gives His followers.

1 Peter 3:15 tells us, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”

The Roman statesman Seneca observed, “If you want a man to keep his head when crises comes, you must give him some training before it comes!”

That is part of our mission at Rod and Staff Ministries—a mission to equip and prepare God’s people to disciple and counsel other followers of Christ and also to defend and persuade non-believers (apologetics work) to follow our Savior.

Why not consider our training now? Every opportunity to win people to Christ is a God event. Get ready now!

Woody