Family Truths – Are they?

One of the chief things we do that dishonor God and those in the church and community is not doing the hard work of examen. 

 As you read the first paragraph you may have tried to change the “typo” examen to examine, and may not have picked up the not so subtle difference in the two thoughts conveyed in the different words.    

 Researchers tell us that 95% or more of the time – we clearly do not think before speaking (or acting), and when we do think, we do so typically based on what we feel or think at the moment. Much of what we feel or think depends on what we’ve been taught or caught along the way. 

 Alternatively, we can, in the remaining 3-5% of the time that we do take the time to think, look at things through the filter of our feelings or through examen; to weigh what we are considering against or in light of the Scriptures. Beyond most often reacting instead of thinking, we nearly always do so from our feelings and “training”, and fail to look at the assumptions and biases we have in light of God’s Word. The Scriptures were granted as Truth, not blind faith, for thousands of years, until our modern post-Christian era when “science” without Scriptures or God became the new rule. They were Truth because of the vast records that showed them to be proven truths.  

 We have all caught, been trained, educated, and socialized by our childhood, family, friends, teachers, dare I say it, media, and the aspects of American culture we live in, to see nearly everything and people in particular ways, and much of that does not stack well against God’s word.   

 Whether we were raised in a home where our values came from Buddhism, Christianity, Mormonism, Catholicism, Atheism, Agnosticism, etc., we for the most part accepted as real what our parents, classmates, teachers, clergy, the street, etc., taught us. And most of it without much thought.

 Socrates was noted for saying “The unexamined life is not worth living”, but I’d like to change it to “The life without examen is not worth living”. Examining things through our filters, we are sure to run off-course, unless we take the time for examen throughout our day. We will interpret what we read, what is said to us, by all that above input without looking at what and how God may view it. Yes, it takes hard work to view it with Him.

 We mostly live our lives without ever reflecting on the stories we’ve been told about any given topic and other people who are different from us in one way or another. Do you know that much of that may well be untruthful? Consequently, we perpetuate the myths and stereotypes subconsciously. Change and healing require us to develop a deep level of self-awareness. One component for that is to slow down so we can take stock of what it is that we have come to believe.

 As a personal example, many years ago we had hired a teen girl to clean our home, run errands, etc., and we thought of her and treated her as ‘family’. My mother came to visit one year and took me aside because this girl ate meals with us. “Servants never should be ‘permitted’ to be that familiar with you“, mom said. I had never given much actual consideration to why workers in my childhood home always eat alone, until mom’s comment. It started me on a journey to search for other Farr/Lula family ‘truths‘ that I’d been exposed to, and never chosen to evaluate with godly understanding. Growing up with an ethnic mother who had been raised understandably with some good and some decidedly unbiblical ideas that carefully divided spiritual life from real-life. I had managed somehow to have some healthy thinking but I’m pretty sure that many of those unchallenged family truths I ponder now have affected my view of other things and people yet today, and some of those that are false, I am not proud of. 

 The range of topics affected by such things is mind-boggling, from foods, cars, driving, athletics, people, work, down to the very items we use daily. We all may even choose what is acceptable in clothing, hair-styles, piercings, tattoos, on our caught values. While it could be good or less than good for example, we may trade cars (think Cell phones too) as our parents did. If you have not heard the story of the woman who after 3 generations asked why she needed to cut the end of the Sunday ham off before baking it, search Google or click here. In this case, it took three generations to reach the truth.

  We are bombarded by the media, magazines, internet blogs, and podcasts into every imaginable thread of thinking, and most of it is aimed with an attempt to sway our thinking, but seldom, if ever, are we offered the Scripture’s take on the presented view. Listening to what we hear and read will naturally fit or be rejected for a while into our preconceived way of thinking until we’ve heard their message long enough and loud enough to begin the process of modifying our views. That’s why most healthcare and Christian groups have been encouraging us to shut off the television, radio, and other sources of non-stop modern propaganda and fear-mongering especially since the pandemic got into higher gears. Politics too has raised its ugly head for a century or more and unfortunately you can’t easily find a source from the Left, Right, or even Christian media leaning that will actually point us to something productive and helpful. At present, two main topics in the “news” would be the pandemic and racial issues.

 Even that we call it “racism” is a biblical misnomer, for God created one race. Didn’t it start in Genesis 16 with Ishmael and Isaac? And was that racism, ethnicism, or just family jealousy?

 I don’t buy the “white privilege” nonsense I read about, because the Bible tells us that any human being belongs to the one-and-only ‘race’- the human race – no matter which ethnicity they claim. And we are all loved by the Trinitarian God and all of us are created in His image. Each of us has enough of our own faulty beliefs and focusing on just white Europeans is just plain nuts. Over the centuries, America has had issues and hurt nearly every different ethnic group and religion. The foolishness was humorously captured by the “Merry Minuet” 60 plus years ago by The Kingston Trio that intoned: 

“The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.

 The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.

 Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.

 And I don’t like anybody very much!”

It’s not a United States of America view, it’s international and sadly most human, done without examen and those issues have caused many to be abused and killed. I feel fully blessed that when I meet someone that I no longer see, as I did in my childhood, an Italian, Pole, Englishman, Frenchman, German, African, Indian, etc., I see an American – unless they are a recent immigrant, and then hopefully they will become all American and do it without losing their native culture’s heritage unless they choose to.

 Self-awareness in light of God’s Word brings great light to our thinking in every area that makes reality step outside the camp of culture – just as God desires His children to live. 

 “For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the Holy of Holies by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, so that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” Hebrews 13:11-13

 While it may involve many different types of things, our inherited, taught, trained views often are strictly about the differences we have with others. I had little exposure to darker-skinned people, people of other faiths like Jewish folk, day-laborers, or the super-rich as a child. For example, growing up in the mid-Atlantic states in the 1940s-50s there were no Mormons found on the streets near me, in my schools, or in my home. The views that I appropriated for many years were unchallenged by examen until I moved near Arizona’s Mormon community and discovered many Mormons with the Farr surname.

 I suspect that I’ve not even scratched beneath the surface of what I believe to be true to check it for accuracy with God’s word and character.

 That challenge is there for me – and for you perhaps – as we hear “Cancel Culture”, Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, Woke, Critical Race, Revisionist History, etc. weighing them against what we have in our heart and mind to what God has revealed in the old and new Testament – particularly what was taught by Jesus.

 There may be some elements of these that are well-founded – care for those that are under-served, or oppressed, but none offer any solutions, just scorn for those who “have”, and none offer the love that Jesus taught or the redemption found in Him alone. It is Christ alone that brings hope to their broken worldview.

 Two thousand years ago He changed the world, and Satan has moved fiercely to undo it all, and the culture of the 21st century too often reflects his success. Let’s not give him a hand with his destruction, instead become strong, vocal leaders of Truth, Love, and Kindness to all.

Memorial Day 2021

Memorial Day is all American, all celebration, but we also remember the cost of the freedom we hold so dear.  There are hundreds of thousands who have given their lives in wars since Lexington and Concord in 1775 who have created those freedoms.  One has but to look at the cemeteries around the globe where lads and lassies loyal to the USA lie buried so far from home. 

There is but one race – the human race, but every ethnic group among us is represented in those graves, including many who joined the fight while ostracized or shunned by many in this country.  The exclusion and persecution you can call racism, I just call it stinking thinking – stinking, foolish, sinful, and just plain wrong since the only race is the human race, and if you recall we all have been created in God’s image and deemed by Him so highly and are one with us all and worthy for that reason alone.

Today, our flag flies (as it does 24/7) because we recognize and rejoice that this country is the very best because as has been attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville: “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” As a veteran I want our flag to fly as a sign that America is still good as it was founded and multiple generations of us have served.

What a wonderful day as we recall that the freedom which has made us good and able to celebrate has come at a horrific cost. I suspect few families in our land today have not been deeply touched by the recent or past lost military men and women. Many families and individuals today still suffer from those losses.

But now, I think it’s time for me to enter the political fray.

Yep, I’ve been quiet long enough, and since, like you, I have opinions, I think it is time for me to share them.   I hope you’ll not turn off your mind, but ponder what I say, because as I see it you and I have to be at some point on a continuum of Liberal (on the left I presume) and Conservative (on the right).

And it would appear that there is where the major division occurs and tempers rise and kindness and peace go out the window and violence enters in.

I’d like to take you back to a story told by a well-known professor who on a different topic would share an applicable short story with his students.  He would ask them to close their eyes and ponder getting on an airplane flight to their favorite place.  He’d say to them that on this flight you will find a seat in the fuselage, and you could freely choose the side of the isle you wanted to sit on. Either side, he would tell them will get you there – at the same time and place.  He would then ask which wing is most important, the left or the right for the success of the flight? 

The ONLY correct answer is both are equally important; one is not superior to or more necessary than the other.

Do you see the parallel I’m alluding to?

Precisely!  Just as we need a left and right wing for a successful flight, we need both the liberal and conservative views to keep our ship of state afloat.  One is not more important than the other.  That’s where the nation can thrive and that’s why the two-party system is necessary and works.  

It does work better when both parties are working for a common result — getting the airplane and country to the best destination for everyone on board (and not for special selfish interests).  Pity the passengers in a plane that loses a wing; pity the country’s inhabitants, when one party shouts down and rolls over the other.

That does work best when we all want the best of the best for the country and people, even with differing ways to get there.   We are blessed in America that we can still and freely participate in electing those we think best, encourage our leaders on both sides to stop tearing the other side down, force ALL the media to action by pulling our financial support from them until they stop bashing one side or the other and report fairly without their personal slant on things. You and I both know that both sides are guilty of all this.

And lastly for most of us, pray for God’s hand to bring sanity, love, gentleness, joy, patience, peace, kindness, faithfulness, goodness and most of all perhaps self-control to our land.

God bless America,

don

Sunday Worship Revisited

I can only imagine what the first-century church worship was like – but I’d guess they were fearfully and quietly hugging one another and eager to hear from the Old Testament and any letters from wandering leaders, but not shouting and making loud music for fear of bringing Roman authorities who might bang on their locked doors to persecute them — probably it’s that way in China today. They came to be strength for one another and for teaching of holiness and right living. Since much of the OT is focused on lamenting I’d suspect that a common thread in those services was the reading of those parts of the bible calling for individual repentance.

Thanks to COVID, each Sunday we watch two services online and attend a third. Each of the three has a very strong message from the Word of God, but stark differences in worship styles, I guess suited to differing congregational ages and with vastly different purposes.

The first has a small worship team that is on stage with a minimum of what I’d call “show” leading the congregation in some old hymns mixed with perhaps a contemporary song sung with perhaps just a guitar, keyboard, and violin, giving ease to the possibility that the congregation might join in. By their very demeanor, such worship could never be taken as performance – just leading the church with honor and quiet praise to God. However, if you went to the main worship building on this church campus, you’d find lights, fog, and in my opinion, people performing as they might in Vegas. I’m prompted to ask what heavenly purpose does this feed, and how much of it is aimed at making seekers feel at home, good, and is it focused on raising the emotions or to come before our Creator and His Son?

The second service we attend online is a large church, with a massive pipe organ, choir, orchestra, and a very good message to take us deeper into our walk with God. During COVID the smaller choir stands socially distanced with books open and sings, as it seems to me – as unto God. No fog, no rotating and flashing lights, no performances by anyone involved. On youth Sunday, even the children’s choir seemed more attentive to God than in church one or three. Nearly all look joyful, as does the first church, but they also appear more worshipful with no theatrical effects.

The third service is in a smaller church that does not feature the fog but does have rotating lights and a small group who gyrate, jump, with sound often above 80 decibels that gets their congregation swaying, waving hands, and for the most part – not singing. I can’t help but notice that many stand outside the worship center until the preaching starts to avoid the assaults to their ears and their Christ-focused mood they would like to bring to the service. I am tempted to join them, but do believe that God wants me to learn to accept the new with a good attitude and join in. I’m old school but when did the sanctuary become a worship center, née performance hall? I’m not there quite yet, but I’m working on it.

In this age where society has apparently peaked, and now is in a severe decline in morals, attitude and behavior – where is the church bringing a message of lament and repentance, and why is it not doing so? Why is it that when a church does call for prayer time, that few, very few, show up? While the world is “going to hell in a hand-basket”, the church at large seems to rally with feel-good services with no focus on what God has called His children to bring to the world. I’m certainly not against the good news that is out there, but that doesn’t seem to be shared either, and certainly is not found in the media. Perhaps the age-old saying ‘heavenly minded but no earthly good” applies somewhat because the teaching is sound and fundamental but in this author’s opinion “church” as normal fails to be making a difference in day-to-day lives in godly societal influence.

Sadly, we can see the problem, but at this point, I, you, and the rest of us may just write critiques and do little else. If change does not come from the church, the decline will continue no doubt until either God intervenes by crisis or radical “saints” raise up and start a revival of repentance and Christ-focused living.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’
God created man in His own image, in the image of God
He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:26a, 27a

Note:  One race only – the Human Race in many colors, many tribes – one humanity.  And man has perverted these things and judges others in their differences as “less than” and “not equal to me”.  But it is not so in the Kingdom of God.  And one day, God Himself will reconcile it all to His plan and design.

“A voice is calling,  ‘Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.  “Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;  Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it  together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’” Isaiah 40:3-5

Note: The Bible is filled from end to end with God’s plan for unity.  Such words to us: to examine our hearts to see that we are in the Faith; to give preference to others; think more of others than ourselves; to love others as we love ourselves; to care our neighbor as we do [care for] ourselves. God’s word commands us to be of the same mind as one-another, and to be at peace with all men where possible in us.

So yes, it will all happen as told in Isaiah 40 (and elsewhere in those 66 books) when God is ready to bring this age to a close, and in the meantime you and I could and can choose to embrace everyone – for everyone has been created in God’s image. 

Today our nation remembers Martin Luther King Jr. for his efforts to help us remember and recognize that all people of all colors are those created in Gods’ image, and we have the choice this day and every day to embrace every individual we encounter as just that.  

When I speak, think, or act today, will it be burned up in the fires of Christ on judgement day, or move with me into Eternity.  As I read the Scriptures, those things that will burn will be all those that were not done “in Christ”

“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is:
fear God and keep His commandments,
because this applies to every person.
For God will bring every act to judgment,
everything which is hidden,
whether it is good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Christmas Day 2020

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, is a hymn remembered by those who have a long history of church-going.  The weeks before Christmas are called the Advent Season, while the world recalls the waiting for the Messiah to come.  While the wait is over, for many the wait has been for a festive time of commercialism, gift-giving, and parties, but has missed the overarching pieces of the event.

Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

The Bible tells us that the Jesus who we know of is God and He left the glory of heaven to be born as a poor child in the poor war torn country to bring life to fallen mankind. His sinless life, led to His purposeful sacrifice on a cross for our sake, but for the further opportunity to live in His kingdom while we are still here on earth in preparation for our eternity in heaven with God.

This hymn reminds us that the freedom He gives cannot be bound by man, nor do we have to wait until we are in heaven to live the life focused on life with Him today.  We can if we choose live different from the world with our life centered on Jesus, giving rise to a life of godly fruit before everyone.

For the fruit of the Spirit of God is:
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and yes Self Control.

Have a Jesus blessed and Jesus infused  Christmas and life.

September 11, 2020 Reflections

This is a perplexing day. With so many people whose lives were forever altered by the events of 9/11/01 (the world I dare say), it is a day of remembrance.

Rightly so.

For many September 11 is a day mixed with rejoicing and mourning.  REJOICING and praise to God that more were not killed on 9/11 and in those wars, and that our nation was made great by God’s instilling His precepts and love in the hearts of our founding fathers. MOURNING those thousands who have been taken from us by the ongoing actions of terrorists and the loss of countless thousands who have died making this country free.  And in 2020 that mourning includes attacks on our police, ethnic minorities, political division, and a me-first attitude that has become pervasive in our society, replacing an other-centered life mandated by the God of Creation through His Son, Jesus.

It can,  and perhaps should also be a reminder of the countless cost of all the previous wars and earlier terrorist attacks that have required the lives of men and women to keep our land truly “the land of the free and brave”.

But we are also faced with the almost daily news from the Federal court system that has been interpreted to say with a resounding NO, to the question “Can the state acknowledge God?” While the laws read that government cannot institute religion, which bans mandated Bible reading and prayer, it clearly also says not to inhibit religion but seems with the decline of prevailing moral judgment to have instead instituted a different religion in America … Atheism.

But most of all, I believe we should find sack-cloth and ashes and mourn for the loss of God in our nation, and then we should, we must, rise up and put a stop to these things and reverse that which strips America of her greatness.

I’ve quoted it before; I’ll quote again what began with a much-maligned gentle Spaniard named Christopher. Mr. Columbus in his own writings said the purpose of his trip was to “…take the Gospel of Christ to the new world“. One hundred and twenty-eight years later the Mayflower Compact was also quite emphatic in its purpose. It reads:  “In The Name of God, Amen. … Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith,….” 

Our founding fathers from William Bradford on focused their minds and hearts on and their obedience to – Christ. They laid the strong foundation upon which this nation was built. That it has lasted 400 years is incredible, unless one considers that the God who claims the Bible as His manual for man’s life, is behind it.

In the 1830’s French statesman and historian, Alex de Tocqueville wrote that “Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.”

Sadly, that is no longer the case, and as our Federal government has carefully mandated the removal of our Judeo–Christian foundation and God from the hub of our value system and structure. The result of 50 years or more of this direction is that we’ve become a land filled with greed and immoral behaviors that have found us scorned abroad and filled with rage against one another (as is witnessed by any reading of a daily newspaper).

de Tocqueville also wrote sometime in the 1830’s “ America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” “Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.”  Not any other religion mind you, and not an empty Christianity, and not Atheism or Agnosticism either, but a vital living, Christ-IN-me Christianity, is what this nation was made of.

If we have not already, we are in jeopardy today of losing our goodness as never before, and while this is still the best country in the world, we’ve certainly lost ground. Farr ancestors fought for our freedom during the revolutionary war and civil war, and we served our country during two wars of the 20th Century, and my heart breaks to see our country failing in crucial arenas that could quickly see our demise. We’ve become a land needing missionaries to reach OUR hearts for Christ, along with being the land that uses its God-given resources better than anyplace else in the world to send its followers of Jesus into the rest of the world to share the gospel.

Today 9/11/20 there is no capital PU in puod, no laughter, just a reminder of our heritage, and a prayer that each of us will take up the banner of Christ, and do our part to take America back to her God-fearing roots and remain One Nation Under God.

Dads Are Special

Here we are, the day after Father’s Day 2020, and having perused Facebook comments about fathers, I’ve been pondering the two fathers in my life that have sculpted whatever good is in me.

My earthly father (Col. Donald E Farr) brought me partway, demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, lacking only the self-control to take care of his body such that he left this life with a heart attack at 56 years young when I was 21. Mom was 51 when he died and she never dated after he died, saying that “No-one could replace your daddy“, for the next 30 years. Mom had it right!

How Dad managed to model such care, love, and so many golden truths and leave the legacy of what a good husband, father, community, and business leader is to such an unteachable son can only be the work of God.

Like most stories I read yesterday on Facebook about fathers, pictures of our dads are rare, because they were usually behind the camera, but those we do have are precious to us all. The one above taken and retrieved from a 16mm film clip during WWII is Colonel Farr with my sister and “little colonel” and the other is of Dad through the years.  I miss him more each year, not less, and I carry the names “Farr” and “Jesus-Follower” with honor, and I hope with a little dignity.

As I recall, Dad didn’t talk about his faith in God, he just lived it and saw to it that his children were brought up in the church learning about God and Jesus in Sunday-school and church membership class. I don’t recall much about grandpa, because he died when I was three, but some of the writings of grandma reveal a deep faith that must have led to what I saw in my earthly father. Sadly, he died before I had enough maturity to grasp such things.

My Heavenly Father picked up the unfinished task when Dad died five years later and Jesus has walked me through great seasons of growth and desire to be like Him, teaching me when I have been teachable to study to understand what holiness is and could be in me.

I rest in the promise of Philippians 1:6: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” It’s quite obvious to all who know me, and even to myself that I have a long way to go, and at 75 time is slipping quickly away.

Beyond Following Jesus – Into Apprenticeship

“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The verse above did more than catch my attention before I wrote my first book. The one below Matthew 5:20 urges me onward each day.

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

As I pondered whether to write a second book, these two became powerfully tied to the verses in my mind and heart.

In Matthew, Jesus announces here that He has all authority here on earth, and has commanded us to GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES, TO BAPTIZE THEM AND TEACH THEM TO OBSERVE ALL HE SAID WE ARE TO DO – and that if we do not do that it will be a reflection of the lack of sincerity of our walk (righteousness).

The consequences for that, God alone can and will determine for us each individually. 

Those verses raised questions that had me look at church as it is done today and moved me forward to research for a second book. My next book, if published, will be the result of that research. (See a tad bit of the research in my November 2019 blog on the church today)

What I discovered is that church today focuses mostly on God’s Grace, which is good, but only one aspect of His character. There is also a strong focus on baptism and in the churches that I’m acquainted with – most often either exegetical and topical teaching. What seems to be missing in many churches is a focus on the other parts that talk to us about our obedience and the making of disciples who will go on to be disciplers. Those aspects all combine toward a transformation of our character that enables us a life that fulfills the commands of Jesus.

A friend of mine recently commented on the foundational need for those of us who are serious about being in the world, but not becoming part “of” it. In essence, he said that self-awareness and self-discipline are required for being intentional about our growth as related to spiritual formation. A seminary class on spiritual formation Mark had taken was an exercise in self-examination through prayer, study, and feedback from others. Character and leadership development go hand in hand and spiritual formation is an essential element of character development. He recalled it as foundational. It is the stuff of Discipleship and Apprenticeship.

In bygone eras there were three primary ways to your future: you were born into wealth, you were apprenticed into a career, or through circumstances of choice, yours or others, you found yourself indentured. If you were apprenticed, it might have been by your parents or guardians, or by your choice to learn a trade. In the 17th century, it was not uncommon for a court to indenture someone for non-capital crimes. One of my ancestors arrived in America indentured to an emigrating family because she had run afoul of the law in England.

This blog deals with a future because of self-choosing to be apprenticed to a known master in a specific calling.

It is most probable to see one’s self as a Christian, and yet not be a disciple or a follower of someone and not end up like that person. Choosing to move beyond being a believer, even follower, to becoming discipled apprentice to Jesus is a life-altering decision in our maturing – for by poor choice we may ultimately move decidedly away from our Christian beliefs – as we understand them now.

Recall again Matthew 5, verse 20, where the Master told His followers: 

“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

So it is for us if we want to know our Savior face-to-face in an interactive way – we too must go beyond the normally expressed ways of a church-going or societal-following believing Christian. Following the “trends’ of our society, we could easily find ourselves following, linked, even apprenticed to someone harmful to our growth and sanctification.

For example, apprenticing ourselves to a prosperity-gospel televangelist, politician, gambler, or another nefarious being maybe a sure road to losing Jesus in the process. We don’t have to look too widely to see those who have “apprenticed” themselves unhealthily.  

Earlier in his life, Charles (Chuck) Colson might have been a good example of apprenticeship gone bad. Mr. Colson is also a good example for us that God can redeem even those who have become unquestionably lost by choice.

As Dallas Willard suggested, most of us have a purposed desire to do right things before God, but keep a back door so that we can sin if we need to.

Stop! Ponder that thought. Think about it in your life and I suspect you’ll find, as I have, that our lives confirm what he said. And yes, we frequently find we “need” to, even though at any one time we can choose with the power of Christ’s blood to say no and avoid sinning. (That does not mean we can be sinless — that is Jesus alone).

Just as we’ve read above, being a Christian in our thinking and becoming an apprenticed disciple are not the same and have vastly different outcomes.

The New Testament book of Luke recorded for us:

“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40).

That’s the whole point of being a disciple of Jesus: we imitate Him, carry on His ministry, and become like Him in the process. So much of our success in becoming a whole-life disciple depends on the apprentice’s attitude, thinking and motive.

“The Christian stands, not under the dictatorship of a legalistic ‘You ought,’ but in the magnetic field of Christian freedom, under the empowering of the ‘You may.’” Helmut Thielicke

To summarize an apprentice’s journey: becoming an Apprentice to Jesus takes us beyond what is normally thought of today as being a Christian.  

It is a choice we individually may make that requires:

• A life-vision for an interactive walk with Jesus 
• An attitude of humility
• Repentance, Confession and Surrender
• Intentional Effort 
• Self-awareness
• Self-discipline of an Athlete
• Dedication of a Soldier
• Diligence of a Farmer
• Exercising the Spiritual Disciplines
• Practicing the Presence of Christ
• Prayer
• Study & Meditation
• Interaction with fellow believers
• Feedback 
• A plan

Let the journey begin.

Based on a True Story

Have you noticed that many books, movies, television programs, news stories, etc have the phrase, “Based On A True Story” before the “story” begins.   That’s because such things are highly fictionalized.

Take for example:

• Green Book
• Apollo 13
• Zane Grey books
• The King’s Speech
• Seabiscuit
• Erin Brockovich
• Schindler’s List
• The Evening News (any station)
• Weather Reporting
• Murder on the Orient Express (inspired by the Lindberg Kidnapping)
• Titanic books and movies
• A Long Walk to Water

So why is it that so much that we’re “fed” is fictionalized?

The revisionists tell us that what was taught in our classrooms during the last Century was highly fictionalized as well.    Sure there have been tall tales – Washington and the “Cherry Tree Incident” or was it an apple tree – that story might be different depending upon where you went to school.

But revisionists have a motive.  The goal is to wipe out the truth and lead us to accept their version of things, moving us toward a one world government or socialism.  Again, depending on which news source you watch – for some are worse than others.

There is another situation we should consider that deals with what we take in every time we look at the news or read a paper or magazine.  The overused phrase “unauthorized to speak about this” or something like it greets our reading eyes and ears.   It wouldn’t surprise me that such a statement appears in almost half what we read or see.

This morning in just three news articles I found the following:

• “But a person close to this-town’s city government, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said . . . “
• “…according to a business associate who heard Mr. ___ say”
• “… The current and former employees, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigations, said”

If they are not authorized to comment – why the heck does the media go to them for any reason – much less quote them?

Yes, it’s true the media needs the disclaimer to prevent their being sued, but are we so hard up to find legitimate news to fill those 24-hour broadcasts that they must turn to really far out sources.   And MUST it carry over into every other form of “news” as well?

Or is it to provide the income for the stations to pay the salaries of their reporters and executives?    And, is it sensationalized so that listeners, watchers and readers don’t go somewhere else for the daily feeding?

Wait!  How about the bestselling book of all time? The Bible!

Is it Truth?  Yes!
Is it fictionalized? No!
It is sensationalized?  No!
Is it based on random contributors who are not “authorized”?  No!

It contains God Breathed inspiration to perhaps 40 authors over what some scholars say is 1500 years.  Each writer was called by the Author of Creation to write their portion and the very breath of God inspired their writing.

There are no odd-ball comments, or pieces that do not fit the overall span of thousands of years, no outlandish claims, just the Truth from God that has for two millennia (or more if you consider the time when there was no written word), guided civilization.

The very underpinnings of our local, state and federal government are based on the principles found within the pages of the Bible, or have been until the revisionists and their ilk began removing the Triune God from our land.

First they successfully removed Him from the classrooms, moved on to remove Him from the public square, and then replaced it with pluralism and narcissistic manipulation, where what the individual wants trumps even God’s design and intention.

It’s time we put God back into our society.  My take, is that it starts with each of us taking a deep look at our beliefs, actions and yes, even the words that come from us, and begin to give honor and commitment to His leading and calling on our lives.

Political Circus Takeaways

What might we learn from the Ford -vs- Kavanaugh political circus.   I believe there are some key takeaways in a variety of aspects that have been revealed through it.  They are (but not limited to):

• Spiritual
• Educational
• Societal
• Relational
• Political
• Personal

Each touches the others, and begins and ends with our national rejection of God in all six arenas, and the principles that guided the founding of not only our nation, but most of the individual states.  To begin, it’s best that I insert here a quote from Dr. Dallas Willard as a framework.

Human persons were created to live and work in a domain of the mind and spirit from which we learn that out of all the aspects of reality God is the most primary. To miss this fact is to miss the most elemental building block of human existence. Sadly, such basic education is widely missing in our society today. From The Divine Conspiracy Continued: Fulfilling God’s Kingdom on Earth. Copyright © 2014 by Dallas Willard amd Gary Black

Following WWII and the burst of economic growth in America, there has been a systematic casting off of the very spiritual underpinnings of our society.  It doesn’t take much thought to see how life changed.  Some changes were long coming and needed – racial disparity, women’s rights, but in the midst of that we began to see both men and women throw off biblical guidelines for moral behavior that were included not only in the Bible, but in most other religions and societies.  Sadly, our decline became nearly worldwide as others tried to follow our excesses.

The sexual revolution of the 60’s led to the legal political funding of abortion, and free sex sent wrong messages to both genders. Instead of lifting good and moral behavior, we focused instead on the excesses – Haight Ashbury, race riots, Woodstock, protesting.

Puberty became, for too many, a challenge to copulate freely, and while those urges have been around for thousands of years, the restraints came off and both sexes began to desire the “fruits” of sexual freedom.  Sadly, for women, this has often brought young men into thinking that all women want what the boys wanted, and with the restraints cast off, too many young men have deeply traumatized young women.   Often the trauma has been pushed down and does not surface for decades.   Oh, and yes there are some men who have suffered at the hands of women as portraited in The Graduate.

One lesson to learn from this is that what happens to us in our formative years forever alters our behavior.  Some of that is for the good, too much is negative and affects every aspect of our relationships the rest of our lives.  With the breakdown of the family, young children have too often lost the healthier aspects of a home life with both a mother and father.

Our memories are faulty at best, and it is no wonder that Dr Ford, has only sketchy details of the incident that has scarred her life.  Over time our minds alter what was, into what we think “was”, as filtered by all the dysfunctional things that happened in our lives over time.

My sister and I were blessed as our parents loved each other.  Dad worked, mom raised two kids.  I’m blessed with a fairly functional set of parents that loved their children also, but dad’s work meant very little father time as a child even with the clear message that we were loved, so I managed to struggle with rejection and abandonment – some of it environmental but much of it because of my own temperament during the 1940’s and 50’s.

I have tried to recall the bullying that took place in my own life – recalling specific instances – the situation, the individuals, and at best I can recall only some of the emotional response six decades later.   When pressed I can come up with certain details (paying protection to peers in High School), but I can only guess at who they were, and how I was able to be in such a place to be bullied in the first place (what was it about me that made me a target?).

Even my conclusions, I can see, are suspect by the environment of the 40’s and 50’s.  As to the “who”, I’d probably pick those that I recall having a hard time with, even though they may not have been the ones who corralled me in the halls and demanded money.   And is my memory clear that it happened once or often?   NO, it is not.

The year we graduated from High School, I had somewhat come out of my protective shell, but still I’m often haunted by even a hint of rejection and abandonment, and it has altered my life too often over the years.  Seeing the environment today, I hate to give thought to what my life would have been like had I been raised in the 60’s and beyond.

While alcohol, drugs and sex outside of marriage have existed for generations, societal restraints kept most of us from such things.  That and tight family structures that would not allow us to hurt our families by such moral failures.  My class had no dropouts, no known pregnancies, no known drug use, and only moderate to no alcohol use.   Within a couple of years there were multiple pregnancies, many dropouts, and major addictions.

What do individuals do with God when the restraints once imposed by family and society are withdrawn?   They either cling to God, or take a stand that ultimately says there is no God, or that if there is, times have changed and His word needs to be updated.  Witness how few churches still have worship music instead of praise music that looks a lot like performing arts.

In America we’ve seen our schools no longer use the Bible to teach right from wrong, and moved all the way to the only “right” things are what’s right for the individual.   Young men and women now want to do with their bodies only what seems right to them at the moment, not caring for who else is hurt.   School rules try to cope with it, but do not teach moral values and the behaviors that come from godly character.

It’s clear that someone hurt Dr. Ford, and Mr. Cavanaugh is the one in her memory that did that.   His memory and records seem to deny that, but the process as it has unfolded in our troubled society has deeply hurt not only the two of them, but countless others close to them, and I believe our society as a whole – as we’ve been dragged through it by various news media that are trying to keep us riveted to their particular vein of patter.

In a society where it’s all about “me”, the relationship aspects have stripped away the unconditional commitment to marriage, and taken us to a place where more than half of those that identify themselves as a couple are not married, but cohabiting.   Cohabiting that is, as long as if feels good, but when it stops feeling good, one or the other bails.  I don’t trust the divorce statistics because they range from 38 to more than 50 percent failure and from what I have read they all are based on somewhat skewed analytics.   But we do know that the level of divorce has risen until recently, and the lowering today is in part due to the fact that fewer couples are marrying.

Our partisan political structure has become equally sad with what’s good for the nation as a whole turned into what’s best for what each politician thinks best serves him/her.   We’ve so eliminated God from every part of our public and private worlds and what He has said is good, right and unchanged, that we’ve become a nation of ridicule to the rest of the world.

What would happen to our land if:

• our schools brought back biblical training to the classrooms,
• we had a political leader or leaders who took us back to the basic goodness that was once found in our land as rooted in the Scriptures and did so with the humble demeanor of Jesus,
• our newscasters went back to reporting the news instead of creating things to keep viewers attached to their particular views,
• R-rated movies went away and were replaced by those that lift up right living,
• as a nation we restored God’s plan for relationships as one man one woman in lifelong committed marriage,
• we chose as a people to give highest regard to human life at all ages and our government repealed Row -vs- Wade,
• all of us began anew to put on Christ’s armor and think, give and receive the unconditional love that Jesus gives, and
• we thought more highly of others, giving preference to the good and acceptable things in Christ alone that we’ve forgotten.

This blog could go on much deeper, but I think to conclude it I should like to complete the quote from Dr. Willard that I began above.

Again, we will state the objective here perhaps more clearly: the principle responsibility of ministers is to faithfully and accurately represent to others the nature of God and his ways so that people who are willing and able to listen (those with ears to hear and eyes to see) can begin to think about and imagine who God is, who they are, and how the world is designed to work effectively in harmony with God’s good will. From The Divine Conspiracy Continued: Fulfilling God’s Kingdom on Earth. Copyright © 2014 by Dallas Willard amd Gary Black

As a pastor to marriages, I am compelled to call myself and those who would ponder their lives anew, to open themselves to a deeper understanding of God’s call on our lives.

Again Dr. Willard suggests:

We cannot behave “on the spot” as Jesus did and taught if in the rest of our time we live as everybody else does. The “on the spot” episodes are not the place where we can, even by the grace of God, redirect unchristlike but ingrained tendencies of action toward sudden Christlikeness.

The answer for much of the ills of America today is found throughout the entirety of the Scriptures.  The Great Commandment in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus tell us that we are to love one another as we love God and ourselves.  And in 1 Timothy 4:7-8 Paul writes:

“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” 

Perhaps we might alter the future for the good if our own individual behaviors would better reflect Christ in our actions.  Without Christ, I don’t believe much will change in a positive vein here in America, but the pell-mell continued deterioration of our society will no doubt one day lead to His judgement on America even as it will in our individual lives when we stand bowed before Him.