Mind-blowing!

Marine GySgt Jethro Gibbs (one of my favorite TV-show personalities): "Family is more than DNA. It's the people who care most about you."

Jesus cared for people. Despite the outrage of public opinion, He chose, over and over again, to care for people that were considered unworthy of love. Many people (my own DNA-family included) consider me unworthy of love. I won't disagree with the merits of such a decision; rationally speaking they have probably made a good decision! What staggers me though is the number of people who love me that have no DNA connection to me whatsoever!

First and foremost of these is my wife. Through the miracle/mystery of marriage ("the two shall become one") we have become bound with ties stronger than DNA. Next are a number of elder men who, over the years, have chosen to give of themselves to mentor me in one area or another of my life. There are also a few men, my peers, who have the heart and patience to look past the grossness of "me" to the Spirit living inside me. They have truly taken on the mind of Jesus when they choose to love me.

Scaredy-cat...

Islam scares me. I've been looking at the Koran and it scares me.

I am not shaking in my boots; nor am I petrified. Just very concerned at this force of evil arrayed against us. I have never much been interested in Islam. It was always just another religion to me. But after just a tiny bit of research I have changed my views. Here are some of my discoveries; I highly recommend you educate yourself concerning them:

• The Koran preaches war/violence more than it does peace. It commands Muslims to convert all men to Islam. Failing that, they are to kill them. Should they themselves fail to take up the banner of this Holy War (jihad) then they themselves are to be killed.


• Thus Islam, at its very foundation, is radical, militant, violent, supremacist, and terroristic; both to its converts and its own adherents. Radical Islam is not the minority. It is the heart and true soul of the religion. "Peaceful" Islam (if such a thing exists) is actually not real Islam but pseudo-Islam.


• Mohammad was a terrorist, murderer, slaver, polygamist, pedophile, robber, marauder, and false prophet. (You have got to look up the history of this man; especially his interactions with the Arabs and Jews in Mecca and Medina.) Yet he is still considered Islam's most holy man.


• The Koran promotes violence, murder, slavery, prostitution, female genital mutilation, sexual gratification for men, and the limitation of rights for women. And by "promotes' I really mean to say "commands". It is right there in black and white. Read it. I was shocked to see it.


• The Koran itself, as a literary work, is repetitive, badly worded, unclear, and full of historical mistakes and outright lies.


• The Koran, as the bedrock doctrinal foundation of Islam (a religion demanding allegiance from all mankind), does not offer appeal or relevance to all people of all time and of all cultures.

These are just a few points made vividly clear to me in my first forray into discovering Islam. There is so much more darkness one finds when you study the history, culture, governments, and current state of Islam. There is a conspiracy of enormous proportions when you compare the shrinking pouplations of non-Islamic countries and the increased immigration of Muslims into them. I can only whisper to you, "Take a look."

Why do I care? A friend of mine told me that events on such a macro-level are hard to imagine let alone affect. He is probably right. But what I do see is a "force" I never imagined existed. And the exciting thing for me, a follower of Jesus, is the apparent direction this "force" is taking the world; Islam is marching us directly into end-times events. Which means we will soon get to be with our Lord!! That is what really excites me...and doesn't make me so scared!

Paradoxical

We just recently finished studying through the book of Romans at my church. The last chapter (16) was pretty much just Paul saying "Hello, I miss you!" to his many Christian friends in and around Rome. BUT...there was some powerful wording hidden in the midst of his farewell. Take a look at verse 17:

Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.

My pastor pretty much blew past this but my heart was screaming, "WHOA!!! Hold the horses! What is this!?!?" This verse seems to go against so much of Christian doctrine. The church teaches love, forgiveness, and gentleness. Today's Christian culture calls for understanding, openness, and a certain dose of tolerance. We are counseled to be supportive, to make ourselves attractive to the lost world around us. It seems we have a paradox; how can we embrace our enemies and avoid them at the same time?

Let's do a word study of the original language.

• "Note those" ...to look at, observe, contemplate; to mark; to fix one's eyes upon.


• "divisions" ...dissension, sedition


• "offenses"...trap, snare, stumbling block


• "doctrine"...teaching


• "avoid them"...turn aside, turn away, keep aloof, shun

It appears to me that we are adjured to keep away from those people actively opposed to our Christian walk. This is definitely food for thought. And a strict bridle on us should we choose to don it.

But the greater question is how to correlate the two opposing ideas...accept or avoid; love or shun; seek or flee.

One thing I do know is the importance of a living relationship with Jesus. His Holy Spirit in us will be the guiding force that promises to help us through the tough decisions and intimate challenges we face. Godspeed.

Church

Jonathan, you make an interesting point. Why do we work so hard at making church? Is there another way? Or has our culture pinned us in a corner concerning church life? Have we gone blindly along and apathetically accepted the established church that has been doled out to us?

I recently learned of a family that left such a church (it was a very good church, one not unlike many of today's Christian churches) and simply started meeting with other families who had also grown weary of the business that church had become. Their new "church" now fits seamlessly into their lives; it is no longer an event for which they take time off of life to participate in. They don't have to work at it. No production, no upkeep, no board meetings, no payroll, no advertising.

Church has become an ingrained part of their life and their life has become the church. Church no longer is the place where they go to fellowship. That happens throughout the week. Church isn't where they go to evangelize or where they bring their friends to get them saved or where they drop off their kids to get them to behave better. That all happens during the course of their everyday lives. Church oozes out of them during the regular hours of their lives and not just during the posted services.

This concept of church-life has many interesting repercussions. For starters, many lives are freed up from the traps of "ministry". So many kind-hearted Christians get pulled into service-oriented ministries in order to prop up their establishment-churches. But when the church is your life there is no need for any of those ministry positions. Every life is a ministry to others when you enter into church-life. You don't need youth ministers; every adult parent in your group naturally becomes one. You don't need a helps ministry; needs are cared for when they are seen by those in your fellowship. You don't even need a pastor as the church defines one. When every person in the fellowship digs into the Word daily the wisdom of God will be ever-present. It is amazing what leadership (and where He will bring it from) God can bring into a fellowship that enters into church-life.

All those servants who struggle under the weight of the establishment are now able to simply carry Jesus' yoke, which is much lighter than man's. Their hearts will still want to serve and they will. But I venture to think that their service for the Kingdom will have a greater and wider reach than the doors of their church building. Their service will travel further than their boards or elders could envision. They will enter into real life; the kind of life Jesus disgusted so many by getting knee deep into.

But the greatest blessing that church-life will bring is its impact on the world. The heaviest charge brought against the church is its hypocrisy. And the church is guilty. Church-life, however, is a Jesus-inspired movement into true spirituality.

Can a change occur that will rock the foundations of Christendom? I hope for it but doubt it. Love has grown cold in the churches of the world and a great apostasy is in full swing.

Can a change occur in you and me? I think it should. I pray it will.

Yell

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.

This little verse hides an immense secret. Here's the secret: God does not want me to yell. Now it's not a secret. Now I know. I should not be yelling. No yelling at my kids or any kids. No yelling at my coworkers. No yelling at my wife. No yelling behind closed doors. No yelling in public. No yelling...ever. And the words we speak should not be harsh, negative, mean, or noisy. hmmmm...