“Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts,” (Acts 8:22)

There is much said on guilt by psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, ministers, hairdressers, and even bartenders.  They have all heard their share of guilt stories and most of the time guilt is looked upon as a bad thing.  A quick google search will reveal a lot more information about the destructiveness of guilt than its value.  Guilt is almost always looked at as a negative, but if we look at guilt as a negative, it is easy to miss positives that true guilt can play in our lives.

The dictionary calls guilt “the act or state of having done a wrong or committed an offense.”  This is pretty straight forward.  Guilt is an indicator something going wrong. It is the negative feeling that accompanies a negative behavior.  Guilt in itself is not wrong.  It is the warning light on the dash board of our car.  In society today, we are basically told to cover up that light.  We are told it is wrong to feel guilty and so we are told, in essence, to deal with the symptoms of guilt rather than the causes the guilt.

Guilt originated in the garden.  Adam and Eve ate of the one thing that was forbidden and they hid.  They were not experiencing some sort of false guilt planted by Satan.  They were facing the real feelings of guilt after the real trespass of God’s commands.  After they presented themselves to God, God did not tell them to wipe out those evil guilt feelings from their mind.  He was not angry for their guilty feelings, but for their rebellious actions.  Guilt was not the wrong.  It was an indicator of wrong.  Because of the trespasses in the garden we know that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)  So sin is with us always, regardless of the message the world tries to give.

Later in the New Testament, Jesus used the hypocrisy of men to save an adulterous woman from stoning.  After all the would-be “stoners” walked away, Jesus did not tell the woman to go and not feel guilty any longer because she had a reason to feel guilty.  He asked her who was there to condemn her.  “She replied, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.'” (John 8:31)   He told her to go and sin no more. He did not deal with the symptom of sin, but the act of sin.  He told her to stop the action that led to guilt.  To often today we stir real guilt and false guilt both in the same pot and make the feelings the same.  The consequence of this is a lot of people not dealing with root causes of their sinfulness.  John tells us in 1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”  We need to deal with the sin, not just the feelings of sin.

I have told the story many times about the man who would just walk up and hit people for no reason.  He felt terribly guilty about it and went to therapy.  After months of therapy, he finally felt cured and shared his relief with a friend.  “I still  hit people for no reason, but I don’t I don’t feel guilty any more.”  A humorous story, but all too true today.  We are told not to feel guilty about acts that we should feel guilty about. If we remove the guilt, we will not deal with the acts.  Guilt is often the vehicle that transports us to a place of healing so we should not ignore it.

Down deep we know when we are guilty, and we don’t want to face reality, so dealing with the surface feelings becomes much easier than dealing with the deeper truths.  Two men were on trial for armed robbery. An eyewitness took the stand, and the prosecutor slowly moved to what would be his climatic conclusion of questioning. “So, you say you were at the scene when the robbery took place?”

“Yes,” the witness answered.

“And you saw a vehicle leave at a high rate of speed?”

“Yes,” the witness answered again.

“And did you observe the occupants?”

“Yes, two men.”

“And,” the prosecutor boomed, “are those two men present in court today?” He turned and faced the defendants.  At this point the two defendants sealed their fate. They raised their hands.  We know when we are guilty, we often just need to come clean.

If we would just test our guilt feelings, we would realize that many of them have a legitimate basis.  There was an NFL player back in the day who had terrible pain in his knees.  He would just have them shot up with pain killers and play the games anyway.  After years of doing this, he retired and his knees were beyond repair.  He was virtually a cripple.  The pain in his knees was an indicator that there was something wrong that needed to be dealt with.  Covering up the pain was like us covering up our guilt; it keeps us from dealing with the root problem and it will just continue to get worse.  Soon it will cripple us.  Guilt is often a warning sign, flashing away, letting us know there is a malfunction and we must take the time to look at problem and deal with it.

As is the way of the world, everything is topsy-turvy.  Legitimate guilt is made to seem false, and false guilt is made to seem legitimate.  We are told we shouldn’t feel guilty about acts of sin, but we should feel guilty about acts of righteousness.  We are told that any guilt we might carry inside our hearts by being separated by our savior is illegitimate.  But we are also told that if we shake the forbidden fruit from the tree and eat, we should shake off the guilty feelings that will follow.  There is only one way to shake off the guilt and Dr. Luke tells us how in Acts, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)  You notice he doesn’t say, “just don’t feel bad anymore.”  That just doesn’t work.

There is a lot more authentic and necessary guilt out there that are signposts pointing to disaster than there are bouts of false guilt.  We must not fear guilt any more than we fear the burglar alarm going off on the back porch.  We should not fear the alarm, but the burglar. We should not fear the guilty feelings but the actions that set them off.  Of course, there is such a thing as false guilt and the key is how do we distinguish between good guilt and bad guilt.  Next week I will get into how we tell the difference. Until then have a great week…

“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  Matthew 15:8

One of the things that we are instructed to do in the Word is to honor God.  In these fast-paced times when honoring almost everything but God is rampant, it can be easy for believers to forget their obligation to honor the creator.  Honor has several different meanings all of which can be applied to our relationship with God.  First of all, it can mean to greatly esteem, secondly it can mean to fulfill, and thirdly it can mean privilege.  In one way or another all three of those meanings should come into play in our worship of God.

First of all, we should esteem God above all else.  We can do that in many ways, but most importantly we must believe in His Word.  It is hard to say that we are honoring God if we don’t read the Word and obey its instruction.  If we want show respect to the boss at work, we do what he says.  That is a form of honor.  If our hearts our right, we are honoring to God.  The Word says that the greatest commandments are to “Love the Lord God with all our heart and mind and soul, and to Love our neighbors as ourselves.”  If we fulfill the instructions in the Word with those two things in mind we will be esteeming God as we should.

There are hundreds of ways outlined in the Word that we can honor God.  If we read what He says, take it to heart, and follow through with His commands our actions will be honoring.  We are told that we should use the Bible as our textbook for behavior, and when we do, we honor Him,  “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”  (2 Timothy 3:16-17)  We are told to pray and when we do, we honor Him, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”   (Philippians 4:6)  We are told to put others first and when we do, we honor Him, “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3)  We are told to study the Bible and when we do, we honor Him, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth”  (2 Timothy 2:15) We are told to we need to accept the sacrifice of the Son and when we do, we honor God.  “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)

When we esteem the Word, do what it says, we honor Him. When we ignore the Word, we dishonor Him.  It is pretty clear.  But we shouldn’t get this wrong.  We are not following God’s instruction so that we can earn His love.  We are following God’s instruction because we love Him and want to show our love.  We earn nothing by our actions; we show something by our actions.  We show honor.   We can get so caught up in our own lives that we forget that honoring God should be our top priority.  I told you a few weeks ago about “top-button” theology.  If we get our top button right on our shirts, all the other buttons will align.  That top button is honoring God.  If we get that right, the rest of life will align.  If not, all other things will be askew.

Honor also means to fulfill our responsibilities.  If we honor our obligations, that in itself is honoring.  We no longer walk this earth on our own accord.  We represent  Christ.  Along with that representation are certain kinds of behavior that glorify Him.  God has told us that he has paid a debt for us in full.  “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)  He will honor that.  We, in turn, can show our love by honoring the obligations we have to Him.  It is clear what He asks of us, “He has told you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.”  (Micah 6:8)  We will honor Him, by honoring what we are called to do. Many Christians spend six days a week sowing wild oats and then come to church and pray because of crop failure.  That does not honor God.

Honor also means privilege.  It is an honor to serve God.  “But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.”  (1 Samuel 12:24)  If we consider our service to Him an honor, that is honoring to Him. Paul tells us that, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)  If we are doing things for God, it honors God.  If we honor God all other things will be taken care of.

Our honor thanks Him for His grace and mercy.  Our love for Him recognizes His love for us.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  (Deuteronomy 6:5)  So, it is an honor to honor Him, and we should honor the command to honor by honoring Him whenever and wherever honor is possible.  Phew, that is a mouthful, but with God’s help we can do more than say it- we can do it.

“For every house is built by someone, but he who built all things is God” (Hebrews 3:4)

Years ago I listened to a discussion between a creationist and an evolutionist and it has really stuck with me.  It was very interesting and although both men were very intelligent, my faith was bolstered by the great points made by the creationist.  One point that he mentioned really stuck with me.  I know that it is probably obvious to everyone else, but for me, well, it was an epiphany.  Basically he said it is not logical that the eye could have evolved, and he supported his argument with statements from a variety of evolutionists who basically said the same thing.  Here was his point: unless the eye is complete and functional, it does not work.  Why would something that is so detailed and complex but non-functioning continue to evolve? Why would anything continue evolving which has no use until completion?

The eye is so complex that even Darwin, the godfather of evolution, admitted that the chance it could have evolved was beyond belief.  In Darwin’s Origin of Species he wrote “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest sense.”  Okay, Charles, if I get this right, it is logical for all parts of the body to evolve, except the eye because it is so complex.  We then, in theory, should be eyeless beings.  I just can’t see it (pardon the pun).  Psalms tells us should praise God because “(We) have been remarkably and wonderfully made. (His) works are wonderful, and I know this very well.”  (Psalm 139:14) That refers to every part of us, not just our eyes.  We are made in God’s image.  We are special.

Darwin is not the only evolutionist who struggled with “seeing” the eye as an evolutionary  problem.  There are mountains of quotes from those who believe in evolution who find the evolution of the eye an almost untenable propostition. The reason stems from its incredible design that defies any logical explanation other than a designer.  They, of course, do not admit a designer as a possibility, but just admit that it is a conundrum that they must ignore.  But we don’t have to ignore the wonderful design of the eye because we can be assured there is a designer.   “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”   Isaiah 64:8

John Blanchard, author and scientist has some interesting information about the eye.  It is one fourth-thousandth of our weight, yet we receive 80% of our information about the outside world through the eye.  Our retina contains about 130 million rod-shaped cells which detect the intensity of light then one million nerve fibers transmit impulses to brain, while at the same time six million cone-shaped nerves respond to color variations and send those impulses to the brain.  Our eyes can handle 500,000 messages simultaneously and are being constantly cleaned by just the right amount of fluid to keep both eyes clean in one five-thousandths of a second.  Wow, and guess what.  We are not the only ones that have eyes.  Thousands of  living creatures have eyes.   When did these eyes develop in the evolutionary process?  It boggles the mind that something so unbelievable just “happened” in thousands of different species, regardless of how many millions of years you add to it.  It is much harder to think eyes just developed, rather than came about in a completed fashion.

Some scientists readily accept evolution, even though it is scientific folly, because they refuse to accept any alternatives.   Dr. George Wald (co Nobel Prize winner in Biology and professor of Biology at Harvard) said: “There are only two possibilities as to how life arose: one is spontaneous generation arising to evolution, the other is a supernatural creative act of God; there is no third possibility.  Spontaneous generation, that life arose from non-living matter was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by Louis Pasteur and others.  That leaves us with only one possible conclusion- that life arose as a creative act of God.  I will not accept that philosophically because I to not want to believe in God, therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation arising to evolution.”  At least Dr. Wald is honest.  He will believe anything, no matter how preposterous, so he will not have to believe in God.  What a  sad admission.  How many other scientists feel the same way but fail to admit it.

When I look at what is around us, I see evidence for God.  When I look at our bodies, I see evidence of God.  Paul tells us, “For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.”  (Romans 1:20)  If we look at the wonder around us and examine the amazing design of our bodies, earth, and universe, we are without excuse.  There will be those who stand before God someday and say that our bodies are amazing and our universe is amazing, but then say they still weren’t sure that He actually existed.  I don’t believe that weak agrument will hold water.

GK Chesterson has a great quote that I really like, “It is absurd for the evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into anything.”   To me, complexity spells out design. In a devotion a few weeks ago I told you about a cartoon of two scientists saying to each other that if they could just create life in the lab, they could prove that it doesn’t take intelligence to create life.  Besides the irony of the statement, I am thinking that if anyone could ever create a telescope that could do what the eye can do, I guess that would prove that it doesn’t take intelligence to create the eye.  Ironic, huh?

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9

It is easy to get tired when we fight a prolonged battle of any kind. Whether we are trying to lose weight, break a habit, change an attitude or battle against someone battling against us, it can be a long and tedious road. Sometimes the battle fatigue gets so heavy that we start to lose heart. We look at the mountain ahead of us instead of the the next step. We fixate on the enormity of the task and get the overwhelming desire to just put the work aside and give up. As we know, however, if we stop doing something, it is twice as hard to get going again and sometimes, unfortunately, we never do.

Chapter 17 of Exodus records the battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites. The Amalekites were descendants of Esau, so this was sort of a family feud. Amalek was the leader of the Amalekites, and in Deuteronomy 25 we learn that they took advantage of the exodus from Egypt by picking off the old, sick, and weary that lagged behind the group. It was much like the predators in Africa which follow herds and wait for one to get separated from the larger group and then attack. “Remember what the Amalekites did to you on the journey after you left Egypt. They met you along the way and attacked all your stragglers from behind when you were tired and weary.”

Now they were once again in a battle with those same people and Moses was reminded of their dirty tricks from the past. Moses told young Joshua to choose a fighting force and that Moses would stand atop a hill with the rod of God in his hand. Moses would raise the rod of God and as long as his arms were raised, Joshua would have the upper hand in the battle.

Joshua and his men fought hard, but as Moses began to become fatigued and started to lower his arms, the tide of battle would turn in favor of the Amalekites. Finally, when it looked like Moses could not hold on any longer, his brother Aaron and a man named Hur raced to help him. Exodus 17:12 records what they did, “When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.”

Moses knew he had a job to do and others depended on him doing it. But regardless of how important it was, there was a limit to his physical strength. We are not God. We are not all powerful. We will reach our limits in our battles. We can learn much from Moses, Aaron, and Hur in these verses and the lesson of these verses is two-fold.

First, the rod that Moses raised to heaven was his reliance on God’s strength while engaged in battle. It was like the prayers we raise in difficult times. As fatiguing as it may be, we must continue to go to Him and to raise our prayers to heaven. It is often easy, especially in trying times, to neglect going to Him for our strength. When we are fighting evil, we must remember that God, too, is engaged in our battle. We are not asked to fight the battle alone. Moses was in the battle, but so was Joshua and hundreds of others. When we are in a battle we can enlist others to help us as well. God expects that. He will bring those people into our lives that can help us to fight and to remain strong.

Secondly, we need others to strengthen us in moments of weakness and we need to strengthen others when they face difficulties in their own battles. When Aaron and Hur supported Moses, it was as though they were coming alongside him in prayer. They supported him when weakness ravaged his body. They did not replace God, but helped Moses to remain strong in God.

Our support of others should always point them to who God is and what he can do. Our battles might be small like better eating habits or large like handling the loss of a loved one, but regardless, the rod of God needs to remain pointed upward so that God can be engaged in the battle, as well.

First Timothy 2:8 says, “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” Keeping our eyes on Jesus and our hearts raised to him is the only way we can fight the battles before us. Remember what John said in his gospel, “I have said it before, and I will continue to remind you as my brothers and sisters – we cannot do anything apart from God.” (John 15:5). We should be quick to support others in prayer and not be afraid to have others join us in prayer. All of us are in battles and we need each other for support. God did not reprimand Moses for his fatigue, but answered his prayers and the support of Aaron and Hur with a victory over the Amakekites.

Prayer is our link to victory. Joshua defeated the Amalekites with the sword, but we too have sword to take into battle with us. Our sword is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17 says, “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.” It is the only offensive weapon we have. All of the others are defensive. So it is important that we know how to wield the Word as God would want us to and we will only know that through prayer.

In James we learn that we should “confess your sins (weaknesses) to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed (strengthened). The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. (James 5:16)

A man had a dream about going to Hell where he went into huge banquet room that was filled with food and people, yet all were starving because their arms were splinted and they could not get the food to their mouths. Then he dreamed he saw the same banquet room in heaven yet everyone was enjoying the food. They were feeding each other. We all need help and we can all give help. With each other’s help “(we) will soar on wings like eagles; (we) will run and not grow weary; (we) will walk and not faint.”

“For I am the Lord, I change not.” Malachi 3:6

Changes in our lives are difficult.  There has been no time in recent memory that has had so many changes as we have seen  in 2020.  Covid, wildfires, riots, and unrest have all been crammed in a single year.  Now we are on the verge of an election that could further change our lives.  How we handle these changes will say a lot about us. If the changing world around us controls what goes on inside us we may need to look toward the Changeless One for strength. Some people don’t want to accept their need for change. The story is told about a doctor who told a man to give up red meat, so he stopped putting ketchup on his hamburgers.  That is not the way to handle change.

We get used to a certain routine and to suddenly have that altered is not without its accompanying stress.  The world is an ever-changing place that we have little control over.  It is a road full of potholes and obstacles between times of smooth driving.  People say that “The only thing you can predict about the weather in Oregon is that you can’t predict the weather in Oregon.”  Well, that is true about life.  Just when we think we have it figured out, along comes something new- it might not be particularly good or bad, painful or wonderful, or it might be one or all of these things.  What we do know is that it is different.  What we do know is that it is change- and that is something that can be difficult.

In our verse above God tells us that He does not change.  Isn’t that great to know.  In this ever fluctuating play called life, the playwright is unchanging.  The nature of God and His great love for us do not change. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life.”   God loves us.  That does not change.  He willingly made the greatest sacrifice so that our lives would not have to be as up and down as the roller-coaster world we live in.  As unknowable as the world is, God’s love is knowable. The canvas on which our lives are painted is evil, but God owns the paints.  He can cover that evil with a life that is beautiful.

The word tells us, “So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence”   (Hebrews 6:18) .  That word confidence is a nice one to hear in this uncertain world.  God cannot lie.  He loves us and wants to do what is best for us. We can read books on philosophy or self help, but these can’t be read as “gospel” because there is only one gospel.  The
scripture is the only perfectly reliable book that has been written.  If we want to feel confidence in change, we need to read the book authored by the only consistent author the world has ever known.

If we read something like, “For the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance” (Psalm 94:14), we can get excited because amidst change God gives us a never-changing inheritance.  But what good does it do to hear this truth if we don’t know what the inheritance is?  How do we know what the inheritance is?  By searching the Word.  There was a story of a man that who had two little boys.  One little boy who was so pessimistic that he was miserable all the time and the other who was so optimistic that his father felt he was dangerously unrealistic.

The father felt he needed to bring them to some sort of middle ground by teaching them that things are not always good or always bad. He told them he had a surprise for them. For the pessimistic boy, he had filled a room full of toys that he knew would have to make him happy and with the other son he filled the room with manure so that the boy would at least be able to accept the reality that not all things are positive.

After a while the father checked the toy room and the boy was
sitting in the middle of the toys crying.  “There are too many toys here.  I can’t figure out where to start.  Please let me out.”  The father was blown away, but knew that at least his other son will have learned a lesson.

He went into the manure room and was astounded to see his son digging through all the manure. “What are you doing!” he shouted.

His son looked up with a big grin and said, “With all this manure, I know there has to be a pony here somewhere, and I going to find him.”

Optimism is good, but optimism in God is better.  There is value to being realistic and that realism can be based on the unchanging promises of God.   In this time when loyalties are as fragile as crystal and today cannot be used to predict tomorrow, it is wonderful to realize that God has promised to never leave us nor
forsake us.  …“for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” Hebrews 13:5   So let the changes come because He is with us and we do not need to walk in fear because we can walk in faith! We can trust God with all the changes, and know that He is more than able to help us and that He even has plans to bless us.

With God as our anchor, the winds of change need not toss us to and fro.  So often what seems an awful change is remolded by God’s hand to be a change that changes our lives for the better.  Remember, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.”  It is God who can take changes and make them into something special.  The way for us to handle change is by leaning on Him Who does not change.  The more we let God control the changes in our lives, the less the changes in our lives will control us.

“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we were among you for your benefit,”  1 Thessalonians 1:5

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle captured the essence of persuasion in a book called Art of Rhetoric.  He presented a very cogent description of the three foundational pillars necessary in persuading others.  Each of these pillars appeals to a different part of our “humanness.”  If we are going to persuade others, we will usually appeal to the ethos, pathos, and logos receptors of the person we are trying to persuade.  Advertisers, philosphers, coaches, conmen, salesmen, and politicians, in fact, anyone in the persuasion business, taps into the power of these three aspects of human nature.

 Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address has been  broken down regarding ethos, pathos, and logos ever since he scratched it on a napkin and delivered it over a hundred years ago.   Although his speech was very short it is one of the most powerful speeches in history. It touched on all three principles of Aristotle’s philosophy of persuasion- thus it touched us. 

Many of us unknowingly make appeals using these principles in our everyday lives.  Anytime we try to sell a product, idea, or service we will use techniques that will tap into ethos, pathos, and logos.  I believe that we should always keep these things in mind when we are presenting the gospel message to those around us.

Essentially, ethos means character.  It has the same root as ethics.  It appeals to others not so much through the message, but through the person presenting it.  We often judge a message first by the credibility of the person delivering it.  If we have qualms about the deliverer, we will have qualms about the message.  Our first impression of the message will always be the messenger. How many times have we heard the comment, “You can’t believe that.  Look at the source.”  No matter how fine the message, it can be negated by an unreliable giver.  Conversely, some are persuaded by a good messenger with a lousy message.  The optimal situtation, of course, is a good communiqué delivered by an honest communicator.

Paul was one of the greatest evangelists of all times.  He had that critical credibility through his consistent Christlikeness.  His message was accepted by many because people saw an honesty in him that made his word honest. We know that two people could say the same words, but one set of words could carry more weight because the person giving them has more character. When Paul spoke to King Agrippa in Acts 26, he was able to get an audience because of his integrity, courage, and character.  In other words, his ethics. His life pointed to something more than what others have and that made people want to listen to him.  It made a powerful king want to listen to him. Do we have that part of the persuasion formula?  Do people look at us in positive way that will make a message of God’s love seem logical coming from our lips?  If they don’t, we are fighting a uphill battle trying to give the gospel to others.  Our lives should point people to Jesus before our words or few will even listen to the words.

Pathos means feelings and emotion.  It is the passion that we express and it is passion that others feel.  We appeal to others emotions with our own emotions.  That well-known saying “people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care,” is true.  That is the Pathos portion of our message.  If we don’t love those to whom we are presenting love, they will have little love for what we are presenting.  If we live our Christian lives looking like we are sucking on lemons, we will have a hard time persuading others that our life is the life they want to experience.  One way of showing we care is by being excited about who and what we care about.

Agrippa was moved by the emotion and enthusiasm with which Paul spoke. He was passionate about Jesus and everyone he met knew it.  The old camp song, “If you’re happy and you know it… clap your hands…stomp your feet…etc.” is sending a message.  If we are happy in Jesus, it should show.  Paul did what we should do- he told Agrippa what Jesus meant to him personally and that special relationship showed in his words and actions.  He told what kind of impact Jesus had on his life.  He told Agrippa the same things that we can tell others about our own lives.  It is not wrong to appeal to that emotional part of people.  It is a hole that they want to fill.  Emotion is not wrong.  Passion about Jesus is not wrong.  In fact, without passion for Jesus, we will have a hard time persuading anyone to step into a relationship with Him.

Logos means word of reason or logic.  Some believe that believing in God is illogical.  I find that it is just the opposite.  If I believe believing in God is logical,  I should be ready to express that. 1 Peter 4:14 says, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” Paul did not just make an emotional appeal to King Agrippa.  He appealed to the reasoning part of the king as well.  Some of the most intelligent men in history have accepted the reasonableness of the scriptures.  Yes, there are intelligent men on the other side, too, but the case for God is not one without support in the creation around us.  We must, with confidence, be ready to point out the trueness of the Word whenever the opportunity arises.

The gospel is emotional, but it is not all about emotion.  The gospel is reasonable, but it is not all about reason.  The gospel is the perfect blend between feelings and logic.  Neither rules, but neither is lost.  A faith built on just one will be lacking and will not hold up when under attack.  And of course, the gospel is built upon the character of Christ.  We cannot allow our lack of character to come in the way of sharing the great character of Christ.  We need to live holy lives (ethos) so that we can take the Holy One to others.  When others see our passion for the message (pathos), they will listen to the message.  When we then give them the reasons for believing (logos), they will begin to think. For many that is the first step in the acceptance of the God of this universe.

We are all called to be lights and share Christ with those around us.  If we think about all that God has done for us, why would we not share?  We should think about ethos, pathos, and logos and ask ourselves if our message reflects all three.  In 1 Thessalonians  1:15 Paul puts it well, “For our gospel did not come to you in word only (Logos), but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance (pathos). You know what kind of men we were among you for your benefit (ethos).”   People use persuasive principles every day for nefarious reasons; we have the greatest truths about life to share, and certainly, we should do all we can to make the message clear to everyone we can.

There was once a preacher who was upset because a mere actor drew bigger crowds than he did.  He asked the actor why that was so.  The actor responded, “because I present fiction as truth and you present truth as fiction.”   That is the key for us as well.  We have the truth.  The way we present that truth is key to its receptiveness by others.   No other message we can give is more important than, “(He is) the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by Him.”  Like the fearless Paul in front of a powerful king, let us stand boldly in front of a skeptical world and give “the reason for the hope that lies within us.”

Part 2

If you have not read last week’s devotion, you might want to check it out (or review it).  This is a continuation of the same theme and it might not make sense without a quick revisiting of last week…

…So the only way to properly look at ourselves and the world around us is by looking at the Word before looking at ourselves and others.  If we know the Word, we will not put things in it that are not there.  We will not take our pet peeves and create verses to support them.  We will be able to see what things are breaking God’s Word and what things are just breaking our hearts.  We won’t let irritations become foundations to our beliefs.  Secondly, we need to check our own behavior to see if it could adversely affect others.  Is what we are doing so important that we would risk another person in the process?  If our actions can hurt others who are less mature in the faith, maybe the deed is not worth doing.  Lastly, we should be slow to judge others.  When we impose our list of personal dislikes onto others in relation to spirituality, it is wrong.

Can we look at murder and say that it is spiritually wrong?  Yes, scripture plainly states that it is.  Can we say that playing electric guitar for worship songs is spiritually wrong?  No, I am pretty sure that is not in the Bible.  Can we not like certain things? Sure, but we can’t build false doctrines on these things.  We can’t condemn someone to eternal fire because they don’t do everything we do.  We should not stumble ourselves or others, bottom line.

I heard a story one time about a man, we will call him Ed, who hated long hair on a man, so much so, he questioned whether a man with long hair could even be saved.  While out of town he visited a church and met a man in the lobby that had his hair pulled back into a long pony tail.  He had an immediate dislike for the man, who he had assumed was immature in the Lord (if he was in the Lord at all).  When the service began, the pastor called the man with long hair forward and thanked him for playing Jesus in the Easter play the week before.  Ed squirmed a little in his seat. The pastor then spoke of how the man had lost his sister to cancer and had agreed to grow out his hair for the play if people would pledge so much per inch for the local cancer center.  The pastor had him lean his head back and measured his hair.  It was 14 inches long.  With all the pledges from the church and community, the man raised almost $15,000 for the center.  That day Ed was changed.  Whenever he found himself judging others for inconsequential things, we would close his eyes and picture the man with his head tilted back, hair being measured, and instead of being critical Ed would measure his own actions against the Word of God.

So let’s not make doctrinal mountains out of spiritual molehills.  There have been church splits  and even family splits over things that don’t matter.  We get upset at little things and turn our backs on the big.  That seems to be the norm in every part of the world right now.  We pick and choose what to be enraged about and what to be accepting of, and we most often choose wrong.  Look at some of our own country’s stances on world issues.  We picket because of a single shooting of an individual, but accept the killing of thouseands of innocents in the womb.  We change laws to give women in our country free birth control, but ignore that over 90% of women in some countries go through forced mutilation.  We get all bent out of shape if we don’t give more than equal rights to homosexuals, but in some countries that we support homosexuals are being executed daily.  I could go on and on to show the unbalanced views that exist in this world.

Unfortunately, we do much of the same in the church.  We get upset at the attire that someone wears to our church and then listen with glee to a dynamic pastor on TV who blasphemes the Word of God but does it with charisma.  There is a pastor named Mark Driscoll who started what was called the Mars Church about ten years ago.  He is a good speaker and I listened to a few of his sermons quite a few years back.  I even subscribed to his podcast which was one of the most popular on iTunes.  One day while driving I listened to a sermon on his thoughts on sanctification and I was blown away by what he said.  As soon as I got home, I unsubscribed to his podcast and erased everything I had by him on my iPod.  What he said was completely unbiblical and crass on top of that.  Yet he had and continued to have a loyal following of thousands and had hundreds of churches in his network.  That was until a few years ago when it all came tumbling down. A whole lot of his weak theological beliefs, questionable personal decisions, shady economic moves, and unethical behaviors  were exposed and he was  asked to step down under a very dark cloud.  Yet, he still has his followers.  Many have jumped on the anti-bandwagon, but many of those are the same ones who accepted his teaching for years and just didn’t listen to it.  Pastor Driscoll once told one of his elders to step down because his “fatness” embarrassed him and the church.  He was worried about the “fatness” of others rather than the “leanness” of his preaching.

Here is the point of this.  Pastor Driscoll has been way off from the beginning, but he snookered even well-known pastors into supporting his efforts because his efforts were “cool.”  He was a hip new pastor who was bringing in numbers.  His church growth and church planting was on fire.  Unfortunately, much of what he said about the word needed to be tossed in the fire.  Yet, people flocked behind him.  Many of those people probably had really strong feelings about the stilted services of the past.  Their new approach to worship was the “right way” and the funky ways of old were not only passé, but probably unbiblical.  His was the new blue-jean worship leader that brought in enthusiasm and fervor.  So people accepted him and rejected the Word.  Now everyone is in repair mode.  My point?  We should spend more time worrying about truth than we do about peripherals that mean little in the kingdom.

So let’s not get our spiritual undies in a knot over what doesn’t even matter at the expense of what really does matter.  The truth of God’s word matters.  There was a Methodist church that split over the color of the pews.  A Methodist church which accepts every liberal cause and slant in today’s society.  A Methodist church which has homosexual pastors and will not allow the blood to mentioned in their hymnals.  A Methodist church which is on the cutting edge of every anti-spiritual activist cause and has founder John Wesley spinning in his grave.  That same Methodist church is worried about the color of its pews.

We need to prioritize our lives and especially our spiritual lives.  2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that,  “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”  Only the scripture should be our standard for how we look at the world.  When we get caught up in the petty it will almost always be at the cost of the important.  As Christians we should take stands for Truth and Christ is Truth.   It is too exhausting to get caught up in the minor and we won’t have enough strength to take on the major.

“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on the one who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.”  Romans 14:1-3

In Romans 14 Paul addresses a variety of issues that deal with gray area issues made black and white in the first century church.  Ironically, the same kinds of problems plague the church and Christians today.  First century Christians would hang their hats on such issues as eating meat or sabbath days and it would cause dissension in the ranks. They would take things of little consequence and make them cornerstones of their beliefs.  They would even take things that were not specifically addressed in the Bible and make them doctrine.  We do the same kinds of things today.

Our main concern should be for others.  That is hard for us to grasp.  We are in a day that promotes looking out for Number One.  We are encouraged to look out for ourselves first and if along the way we can help someone else, so be it, but we should never sacrifice our own wants to meet the needs of another.  It is this kind of thinking that causes division in what should be unity in the Body of Christ.

It is said that when the British and French were fighting in Canada in the 1750s, Admiral Phipps, commander of the British fleet, was told to anchor outside Quebec. He was supposed to wait until the British army arrived and then support them from the sea.  Phipps arrived early and became irritated by the statues of saints that dotted the harbor’s shoreline.  He told his men to target practice on statues.  No one knows how many rounds were fired or how many statues were knocked out, but when the land forces arrived and the signal was given to attack, the admiral was of no help. He had used up all his ammunition shooting at the “saints.”   That is what we are in danger of doing in the church.  We fire so much upon each other, that we have nothing left to face the enemy with.  We get caught up in fighting one another on small battles and ignore the true war that is waging around us.

My uncle was on of the most well-known Apostolic Faith ministers in the country, maybe in the world.  Apostolics had some very specific ideas that kept my uncle and me from having the kind of relationship that Christians should have with each other.  Little things like the wearing of jewelry and modes of dress were essentials in their doctrine. They were very outspoken on all issues regardless of whether they were gray areas or not. What we would consider personal preference they would consider doctrinal truth.  Thus if someone wore rings (even though they could wear incredibly expensive watches), they were in disobedience to God.  If one was in disobedience to God, their salvation was in great jeopardy.  It was very legalistic.  The very unfortunate part was that my uncle’s church had little to do with any other churches.  After all, the others were all wrong.

We all have our list of “preferences” that we make bigger than they should be.  In Paul’s time the people argued over eating meat that was sacrificed to idols.  Some said it was sacrilegious and others said that since idols were non-gods, the meat was just meat.  Both had their points and neither was wrong.  But neither should have built their church on that rock and some tried!  Here was what they should have kept in mind according to Paul.  It might be fine to eat the meat, but examine whether eating would cause another to stumble.  So, in other words, it might be legal for us to eat the meat, but is it profitable?  Will it affect my walk or another’s walk negatively.  Before we do something, we should examine the possible consequences of our actions to us and to others.  So, let’s take it a step further.  We should watch our own actions for the sake of others, and should also avoid being too critical of the actions of others.  Our actions and how they affect others should be a priority rather than how others actions fit into our priorities.  We often get these two mixed up.

Moms are much better at pointing out possible consequences to their children than men are (oops, that might be sexist).  They might be heard saying something to their kids like, “Don’t run with that stick or you will poke both your eyes out.”  (I have often wondered how they could poke out both eyes unless they got up after they poked out one and fell again or were carrying a forked stick, but that is not for me to question.)  We need to scrutinize the situation as closely as moms do when they add up stick plus child plus ground plus running.  What will our actions possibly add up to?  What are the consequences of our behavior.  We too often scrutinize the behavior of others, while ignoring the consequences of our own.

I am not big on guys wearing ear rings.  Not sure exactly why that is, but I have never liked it for some reason.  Maybe my mom was insulted by a man wearing ear rings when I was in the womb, I don’t know, but it has never invoked a positive feeling in me.  I think I see it as juvenile.  But can I use ear rings to judge others by.  Is there scripture I can use for questioning someone’s spiritual maturity?  Can I doubt someone’s salvation because “no ear rings go to heaven.”  Of course not.  In some cultures that is the norm.  But unfortunately Christians too often use other peoples taste in dress, music, activity, food, etc. as a basis for judgement.  According to the Word, we are not to do that.

C.S. Lewis wrote about this in Mere Christianity.  He said, “One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting everyone else to give it up. That is not the Christian way. An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons—marriage, or meat, or beer, or the cinema; but the moment he starts looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning.”

I am really making four points here and am trying to pull them together.  1) We make too big a thing about the insignificant things that those around us do.  2) We often ignore much more evil things that go on around us.  Things that we should probably get upset about.  3)  We don’t worry about how our own actions affect those around us and don’t keep that in mind as we should. 4) The only true way to judge ourselves and the world around us is by looking through the lenses of God’s Word.  Trying to cover this much in one devotion is way above my ability, so this is the…

…end of part one!

“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”  2 Thessalonians 3:3

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”   (Psalm 91:1)

First a couple of apologies.  One, in last week’s devotion talking about Slenderman, I didn’t mention that the little girl who was stabbed did survive.  As depressing as the story was, that was at least a little bright spot, and I left it out.  Not good.  Secondly, sorry this is late today, but the good news is that it will be shorter than most of these novelettes that I have been putting out lately.  Unfortunately I have been taught (and have taught the same thing) that we should write like we talk- and you know how I talk.

Last week, I told you about the influence the internet and this new age of technology has on all of us.  It can be dangerous, but the key to recognizing any danger that lives around us is to tune into the power that resides within us.   If we don’t keep a relationship with God and instead live spiritual  lives full of rejection, we will live spiritual lives void of protection.  We are embattled by the world, the flesh, and Satan.  It would seem we are outnumbered, but as Paul reminds us in Romans 8:31, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”  Like someone wise once said, “God plus me makes a majority.”

The primary thrust of God’s Word is instruction on how
to abide in Him.   If we can begin to see His wonderful providence and His unfailing provision, we will begin to understand His unfailing protection.  The assurance that we receive from the Word can then be conveyed to others like our children, family, friends, and even strangers, so that they to can experience protection afforded in God’s perfection.   We need to be able to tell others, with confidence, that “[He is] my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!”

That means that we have to sell out to a life that is full with Christ, not just occasionally touched by Christ.   The thing that I fear might be happening in our churches and families today is similar to what happens in medicine.   When we go in for  an inoculation, we get just enough of the disease to not receive it in full.   I think that often we receive just enough of God to inoculate us against experiencing Him in all His fullness.   We are satisfied with little doses of Him as though that is all that is necessary.  When it comes to God, we need to experience the real thing.  If we don’t, not only will we lose to evil, we probably won’t even recognize it.

Until we admit that Slenderman is just one of thousands of evil influences meant to infiltrate our families, churches, towns, and countries, we will not armor up.  We will float along until slowly, imperceptibly, we are taken over.  By the time that England’s Chamberlain saw the light, Hitler was so strong that it would take the rest of the world to bring him down.   We must keep our eyes open and examine everything through the glasses of God’s Word.

I was reading Ephesians 4:11-16 today and verses 13 and 14 say, “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”  If we remain babes in Christ, not able to eat meat, we will be like infants.  We will be like those two 12 year old girls who were deceived by that which is not real.   We will be tossed by the winds of doctrine no matter where they blow and by the winds of deceit from whomever they come.

The well-known Puritan writer Thomas Brooks writes:

Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; He promises honor and pays with disgrace; He promises pleasure and pays with pain; He promises profit and pays with loss;  He promises life and pays with death.

We can put the word always in these sentences above.   Satan never delivers on what he promises because he wants the worst for us and if we listen to his lies, the worst is what we will get.

The only way to protect those we love (and even those we don’t) is by not appeasing the enemy but by defeating him.  Satan laughs at our puny efforts if we try to stand up against him on our own.  He has thousands of years of experience, no moral obligation to do the right thing, and fights dirty.   His minions prowl around infiltrating our homes and churches.  We need to be like the FBI guys who can recognize counterfeits.  They don’t study counterfeits, they study the real thing.  They study it so closely that they will recognized any irregularities in a fake.  That is what we must do.  We must study Christ and the Word so closely that we will recognize any irregularities that confront us.

Those who are more mature in Christ are obligated to help protect those who are less mature.  That can be our kids, grandkids, new believers, slow maturing  believers and even unbelievers.  We can’t do that without be able to recognize the enemies ourselves.   There once was a man who had trekked through many miles of a snowstorm to reach his cabin.  The security of the cabin lulled him into a sense of safety, so he neglected to take off his wet clothes and just lay down to sleep.  His dog would not let it go, however, and pulled on the man until he awakened.  The man took off his wet clothes and built a fire.  The man had become numb and did not realize the danger of his wet clothes and except for his dog’s urgings, would have died in his sleep.

This story is the story of today.  So many lie down in the numbness of sin and  deception and think they are safe.  It is our job (if I can compare us to St. Bernards for a moment), to rouse them from their slumber.  It is up to us to point out the need to take off the cold and sinful attire that will eventually lead to their demise.   Of course, we cannot do that if we, too, are lying down ready to slumber in our own sins.  God is our protector and we are to be like Him.  That makes us protectors, as well.   If we are going to be protectors we must, “Put on the full armor of God so that (we) can stand against the tactics of the Devil.”  (Ephesians 6:11)  No need to appease Slenderman and his cronies.  Let’s just beat them.

“You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”     (Psalm 32:7)

Last week I wrote a devotion that covered our responsibility as Christians to be role models.  I mentioned the internet in passing, but I would like to talk about something that I saw on TV a few years ago that has some relationship to what I talked about yesterday.  It was on a show called 20/20 (I am sure you are familiar with it) and as usual it was very well done both in information and production.   It told a heartbreaking story of two twelve-year-old girls who stabbed a good friend 19 times in the woods and left her to die.  The little girl, also 12, crawled out of the woods and was discovered by a bicyclist who called 911.  She said that her friends had stabbed her.  The ambulance rushed her to the hospital to try to save her life and the police began a huge man(kid)-hunt to try to find the two girls.

They located them five hours later, still in the bloody clothes, still carrying the knife.  The girls readily admitted what they did and why they did it.  The shock of the crime spread quickly and for the first time most of the adult world learned of a fictional internet character called Slenderman and the strange influence he had on thousands of young people.  As I watched, I was sickened but not surprised.  I was not surprised because the pace of technology has outpaced  most adults.  This is the first era of teaching where the students are ahead of the teachers and kids are ahead of their parents.

Yesterday in class I asked a student to go to a site on the computer to use a fairly sophisticated tool for creating 3D plans for woodworking projects.  As I watched, he quickly went to the site, did a few mouse clicks, and was full-speed-ahead on creating a project.   Naively, I said that he must have already been familiar with the site.  He said that he wasn’t and, in fact, didn’t even have internet at his home!  It took me hours to negotiate the site and complete a project and he was doing it in minutes.  It is as though today’s kids have developed intuitive skills of computer principles that they cannot explain, but just know.  They are old enough to negotiate any game, site, or activity on the net but are too young to make wise decisions about what to do with what they find.  A very bad combo.  How can these kids be so smart about stuff?  Probably because the average students spends 7 1/2 hours daily on electronic media.  Young teens send an average of 15,000 texts a month.   Ninety-five percent of parents are completely oblivious to what their kids do on the net, who they text, or what they text.   No wonder they are so much brighter than us. No wonder we see so many negative repercussions from their activities.

Back to Slenderman.  The best I can tell, he is a character that was created on the net through drawings and photographs and is presented as real, but of course, was not.  He had almost a cult following of thousands of young people who followed him on the net, contributed to the stories of his sightings and actions, drew pictures of him, sent in supposed photos, and often supported his true existence.  Although his was not real, he had become real.  He was like a shadowy Sasquatch who lived in that mystical world that some say exists and some say is, well, mystical.  He was influential and scary and hardly any adults even knew he “existed.”  The two little girls conspired to murder their friend and spent months planning it. Why? It was to prove that Slenderman was real. When police arrested them, they were on their way to a patch of woods where his mansion supposedly existed, and where they would live with him forever.   The attack was their way of proving loyalty to him so that he would invite them into his home.  It is almost too fantastic to believe.

To check how prolific this Slenderman phenomena is, the producer’s of 20/20 picked out 10 families at the local school and with parent permission interviewed the kids and parents.  Not a single parent had heard of Slenderman, not a single 12 year old had not.  All of the students had visited sites, played games, and listened to stories about his existence.  Only one student was sure that he was not real. The others were unsure.  None of the students had shared their internet “relationship” with this character with their parents.  In fact, when asked, every student admitted that they frequented sites that their parents did not know about.  Some admitted that their parents don’t even ask about their internet exploration. Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but if I wanted to take over the the mind of the world, all these changes in young people would be a great place to start.  They are being moulded, some a little, some a lot, but moulded just the same.

Okay, I have ranted about the “evils of technology” long enough.  What does this have to do with God’s Word where technology wasn’t even a glimmer in the eye?  A lot, I think.   We are in a battle for our kids and for this world and we don’t even know it.  I am afraid we are pulling a Neville Chamberlain.  Chamberlain was the prime minister of England during the years previous to WW II.  He ignored the rise of Hitler, appeased him at every turn, and denied the possibility of war- that is until Hitler had overrun several countries, was firmly entrenched, and was so powerful that the battle necessitated a world war.

Today there is a group that wants us defeated, wants to capture our kids, who wants to see us all dead and gone.  I am not talking about Hamas or ISIS or Al Qaeda or any other terrorist group in the news.  I am talking about who Paul wrote about in Ephesians when he said,  “For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.”  (Ephesians 6:12).  Satan is real and he is on a roll right now.  Unbelievers fall to his possession and believers to his oppression daily.   I know this smacks of the outlandish, but that was exactly what Neville Chamberlain said in the months before Hitler had taken over half of Europe.  He made a treaty with Hitler, trusting that it would result in peace.  In the meantime, Chamberlain threw several countries under the bus, Hitler broke the treaty anyway, and continued his quest for world domination.

Here are a quotes from Chamberlain and his successor Winston Churchill that explain their opposite attitudes toward the rising unrest around them.  Chamberlain said, “My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.”  

On the other hand, Winston responded with,  “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.   We cannot rest easy in our beds.  We are surrounded by crocodiles and if we continue to feed them, we will insure that they will eventually feed on us. “

The question is this.  How are we to approach the rising unrest around us?   Well, today was the current events and historical perspective of our problem.  Next week I will let you know how we as Christians should respond to the war-torn culture we live in. This part was obviously too long on its own, so I will finish up with “chapter 2” next week.

Here is a hint:  “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”   (Psalm 91:1)