Things I Think…
1. The news cycle has mostly moved on, but the war for Ukraine is still grinding on. Joel Sterling Brown is a pastor there whose church has fed 80,000 refugees and housed 30,000…clearly being faithful to the calling God has placed on his life. It may be that God is calling you to help support him in his work…if so, you need to answer the call. For the record, I support the Ukrainian people in their battle against the evil that has befallen them from a vile aggressor in league with an apostate church. This morning I read that Russian snipers were picking off animal rescue workers…I pray that such meet their deserved end and for the complete liberation of Ukraine…
2. Certain pastors and politicians are ranting about a “woke” Jesus…believing those who see Him as He has revealed Himself in Scripture as weak and potential fodder for their culture wars. Let’s just cut to the chase…these pastors and politicians hate Jesus Christ and they hate those that follow Him. Period. They love the pursuit of temporal power at all costs and despise the way of the cross. They are apostate evangelists creating new apostates and they have their reward…
3. While I’m speaking of apostates…virtually all the self proclaimed “prophets’ are nothing more than polished liars tickling the ears of the ignorant for personal profit. If hell is for purification, they will have an entire section to themselves…
4. Love of country and love of Jesus will demand a choice as to which is the first love…choose wisely…
5. The most absurd concept spoken of today is “discernment”…my cat has more discernment than most Christians today…Christians will always favor the autocrats who promise comfort and baptize them in the name of the false god they have stolen from the True…
6. Another evangelical hero has bit the dust...well, he should bite the dust,but he won’t…see #4 & #5…the ones who expose him will be said to be the bad guys and liars…more on the story here…
7. I’m seeing a spate of articles about “why I’m still a Christian”…I haven’t read any of them,but if the final answer isn’t Jesus, they will lose their faith too…
8. The judgment of God is often hard to discern…but when I think of all the competent people who wanted public office in my lifetime compared to those who seek it today…I have to wonder if God has given us over to our basest desires…
9. The Beatitudes are my benchmark to check how closely I’m following Jesus…I never score well on that test, but I know I have the right benchmark…
10. I haven’t thought this through…but I think that the greatest deception is the idea that there is no such thing as sin… next would be the idea that there is any cure for sin outside of the transforming power of Christ moving within a Christian community…
#9–beatitudes as a benchmark to measure oneself by…If I ever teach it, that will be my consistent tagline. In the meantime, I’m woefully short of the standard…
#2–something was said sometime by someone about creating God in your own image. Clearly, the creature has no knowledge of the creator.
filistine,
I too fall way short…which tells me that I am striving for the proper goals…Christ has removed my fear of failure…
“Clearly, the creature has no knowledge of the creator.”
Unfortunately they have great knowledge of the other creatures…
I’ll hopefully read and comment more later, but for now, I just want to say that Joel Sterling Brown is a hero.
#2 Why am I not surprised? I’m very skeptical of anyone who engages in so much self-promotion for their cause, and I never wanted to waste time on the movie. I sat under a pastor for several years who always raging against adultery, and it turned out he was having an affair with a staff member. And, it wasn’t the first time. Ever since, I’ve been suspicious of people who spend too much time railing against the same thing.
#9 One of the best self-checks around!
CK,
Yes…a Christian hero…as is his entire family.
@#9–on all my tests, the teacher writes “needs improvement”
But I never was a good test taker!
Linn,
One of my quests is to turn our attention to the words of Jesus…Pauline theology has it’s place, but it must serve the main messages of Christ.
MICHAEL @4:51
AMEN
Great “Things I Think.
All bold and true. IMHO.
I’ve already seen (I just scanned, didn’t watch in their entirety) YouTube video implying the news about Ballard and the producer as an attack upon The Sound of Freedom, the implication being attacked unjustly by Hollywood leftist pedophiles. No doubt they exist, but it’s ignoring the meat of the story. Desperation to cling to narratives to protect one’s tribe are nothing new, sadly. I watched the Netflix documentary on the boy scouts last week and it horrified me.
In the past few years, the devil has created a Decision Tree that funnels a person from committed believer to anti-woke Christian Nationalist defending any number of sexual predators. One could write a “Screwtape Letters” chapter about it.
#2 reminded me of this excerpt from a post by Ben Cremer.
“I was always told that Bible characters like King David and Samson were the model of “manhood” and leadership. Movies like Braveheart, The Patriot and anything with Arnold Schwarzenegger added layers of expectations on me, on what I needed to do to be a “man.”
As I studied scripture along the way, I soon asked myself a pivotal question. Why wasn’t Jesus the model of Biblical manhood I was given? I think it is because Jesus wouldn’t have been considered a “man” according to the standards of masculinity I was being measured by, either.
Imagine how Jesus would be treated in this kind of culture today for washing people’s feet, for weeping, for being single, for riding a donkey instead of a horse, forgiving his enemies rather than fighting them, and for telling people to turn the other cheek and to put their swords away.”
#5 Sometimes I’m surprised I don’t have a bald spot from scratching my head over this one.
CK – Cleansing the temple and driving out the money changers is Jesus only “masculine” scene in the Gospels according to the modern definition. James and John’s testosterone-fueled idea was met with “You know not what spirit you are of” by Jesus.
So much here I have to comment on Michael, but I don’t have the time today. Nevertheless, I will shout an AMEN! to your thoughts here. And just to back you up on #2, it isn’t just the pastors and politicians, but lots of everyday people can be included here. I recently ran up against those types over at The Christian Post, when I tried unsucessfully to encourage more civil behavior to others, and I was met with mostly hostility, even from believers. I saw lots of rationalizations for being a Christian Jerk, and even people “downvoting” God’s Word.
Dan,
It’s exhausting…so many have sold their souls…