Tag: Life

  • Where Was Jesus From?

    Over the years I have often heard the phrase ‘Every church has one’, and in every single case it was not meant to refer to a piece of architecture within the building. Oh sure, you could say every church has a cross. Which would probably be true of most protestant churches. But that is not what the phrase was ever attached to. Rather when someone used the phrase ‘Every church has one‘ it was a reference to a person and was generally not used in a very flattering way. The phrase is meant to identify a stereotype, that may, or may not, be likable, and then to assert that stereotype is common enough as to be able to predict finding it in other churches other than your own.

    And even though we should all be cautious about building stereotypes, the truth is that for all of our differences, we have a lot of commonalities, and we tend to act in similar ways and to mimic behaviors of others. And these behaviors and mannerisms we hold in common allow us to identify stereotypes. And being human, we then tend to ridicule and debase those stereotypes we find different than our own.

    However, today I am going to tread on that dangerous ground, and sincerely pray that it is the example and the analogy that you find value in, and not the fact that the example is born out of what could be called a stereotype.

    In our church there is a very nice older gentleman who is extremely outgoing and friendly. His name is Bob. And while I am hesitant to state that you must certainly have a Bob in your own church, I am fairly confident that you know the type of person I am referring to. That one person who always has to greet everyone. And everyone means every single person who comes through the door. Any door. Including doors they may not be standing at or watching.

    And Bob will generally go on a mission prior to every Sunday service to make sure he has worked his way up and down the isles in order to greet everyone in the sanctuary. And Bob will generally ask a question or two as he greets you and welcomes you to the church. However, Bob is an elderly gentleman. And as such, his memory is probably not as sharp as a younger person. And I can certainly empathize with Bob. The last few years have found me in increasingly more situations struggling with trying to remember something that I am sure I should have right on the top of my head. In Bob’s case, there may be times when he just does not remember you or may not recall a previous conversation. Which will end up with repeats of Bob’s favorite questions. The top one of which is “Where are you folks from?”

    Now granted, if you do know a Bob in your local church, they may not ask the same question all the time. However, here in Hawaii we see a lot of new faces all the time. The number of locals is really quite small. Whereas the number of tourists or transient families is quite high. Military family turnover is regular and constant. Such that the church is always seeing new families arrive and families that seemingly arrived yesterday depart. So, the one question that Bob asks repeatedly is “Where are you folks from?”

    When someone asks you where you are from, they could have a very wide variety of driving motivations which are generally difficult to discern. They could be fascinated with those who have traveled from faraway places. They could be looking for a familiar link or common experience of a place they can relate to. Or they could even be trying to discover whether or not you are one of those people. That would be the people from places they find seedy or less than desirable. Whatever the motivations, I’ve always been fascinated with people who have to know where you are from. I’m usually thinking to myself “I’m from Earth. Why? Are you from a different planet?” However, I usually end up asking the person where they are from.

    But there might be a better question to ask someone when they ask you where you are from. And that is: “Where is Jesus from?” I wonder how Bob might answer that question? I assume that most people would answer that Jesus was from Nazareth: “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.” Matthew 2:23 KJV.

    But when someone asks you where you are from, don’t they really mean “Where were you born?” And for Jesus, that would be Bethlehem: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,” Matthew 2:1 KJV.

    Sometimes they mean “Where did you grow up?” And certainly Jesus spent a few of His younger years in Egypt: “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.  When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.” Matthew 2:13=15 KJV.

    Or they might even mean “Where did you work?” And for Jesus, most of His career was based in Galilee: Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.” Matthew 26:69 KJV.

    But were any of these places really where Jesus was from? Was He from Bethlehem, Nazareth, Egypt, or Galilee? He was called as one from these places, but no, Jesus came down from Heaven where He had been for all of eternity with God the Father: “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;” John 13:3 KJV. Jesus came FROM God and He went TO God.

    And this is the real danger in wanting to know where someone is FROM, it is much more important to know where they are AT. Do you know where Jesus Christ is AT today? Is He a part of your life? Is He your Lord and Savior? He wants to be.

  • Who Owns Death? (Part II)

    I left off this topic in part I with Satan having stolen the spiritual life of humanity from God.

    13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. 15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, (Ephesians 1:13-15 KJV)

    Ephesians 1:13-15

    The redemption of the purchased possession is our spiritual life. And why would our spiritual life need to be purchased? Paul tells us for the praise of His glory. God’s entire plan from the outset was for His glory and His honor. He could not have redeemed us, nor would we be a purchased possession, unless He had first lost us, or allowed us to be stolen away by Satan. This was God’s opportunity to demonstrate how far He would go for His creation not our opportunity to demonstrate some loyalty to the creator.

    In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. (I John 4:9-11 KJV)

    1 John 4:9-11

    In God’s plan, there was nothing we could do on our own to keep our spiritual life. It was His love towards us and His action of sending His only begotten Son into the world that we then have the opportunity to live through him. Otherwise, we are dead in sin:

    24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (I Peter 2:24 KJV)

    1 Peter 2:24

    God clearly had to take physical action on the part of His creation, in order for us to regain our spiritual lives. And that would not have been necessary if we were not already spiritually dead. And we are spiritually dead because we chose the lie of Satan over the truth of God, and through those actions God allowed Satan to steal away our spiritual life.

    But what about our physical life? Who owns that? And we are going to physically die, right? It should be pretty evident that everyone that has lived, has died. Even Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, who was born into this world as a man, and lived as a man, died on the cross. Did Satan steal away Jesus’s physical life on the cross? And if Satan had dominion over the physical life, why wouldn’t he have just stopped Jesus from coming into the world in the first place?

    The plausible answer is that Satan does not own our physical death. He has no control over it, nor can he influence it, nor does he know the time, the place, or the method by which we depart this physical world.

    Consider Satan’s discussion with God concerning the servant Job:

    And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. (Job 2:3-6 KJV)

    Job 2:3-6

    Note that Satan first suggests that God put forth His hand and touch the bone and flesh of Job so that he would curse God to His face. And this was after making the argument that Job’s integrity was due to God preserving his physical life. If Satan had control over that physical life, why wouldn’t he have just taken action on his own? And then note that God gives Job over to Satan but does not allow him to take his physical life? How could God have protected Job’s physical life unless he first owned it?

    Obviously, He could not have. And yet He did because God owns our physical lives and our physical death. The Angel of death is an emissary of God. Likewise, God owns physical life as He demonstrated in raising Lazarus from the dead and more than 500 when Jesus Himself walked out of the tomb. When Jesus Christ prayed in the garden to not have to drink of the cup, it was not the death of the cross that burdened His soul, rather it was the impending spiritual death He would take on when He was separated, for the first time ever, from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

    But why is all of this important to us today? And who cares if Satan owns our Spiritual death while God owns our physical death? Well, I believe it is important because we tend to get the two mixed up and place the emphasis in the wrong place. And I have even heard this preached incorrectly at times, or at least with great confusion. There is one passage that confounds the atheist:

    And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? (Luke 9:23-25 KJV)

    Luke 9:23-25

    Jesus was saying if you strive to save your physical life, you will lose your spiritual life, but if you lose your physical life for His sake, you gain spiritual life.

    There are some things that I can absolutely guarantee you today. And one of those is that you will physically live forever. Oh sure, you will physically die in this world because of the sin curse and God keeping us from partaking of the Tree of Life, however, God will raise you from that death, all of us, believers and unbelievers alike, in order to stand in judgement before Him. And if you are still spiritually dead in that day, your physical life will be lost in Hell forever, however if you are spiritually alive in that day, your physical life will be spent as part of God’s family for all of eternity.

    Don’t lose your spiritual life over this physical life, nor lose your eternal physical life by not gaining your spiritual life in this physical life. You simply need to believe on the name that is above all names, the name of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who died on the cross for the sins of the world and sits at the right hand of God the Father today.

  • When Do We Commit to Life?

    Here is something I penned some 17 years ago concerning Terri Schiavo and her husband’s decision to remove her from life support:

    The question then, as it is today, is when do you commit to life (or not)? When we realize that life is a gift from God, and that it is He who grants it and He who takes it away, we begin to understand how precious it is to Him and what our responsibility should be to it.

    Unfortunately, there is little regard for the sanctity of life today whether it be unborn children being aborted, murders throughout our country, euthanasia, physician assisted suicides, or senseless acts of war crimes.

    But God’s position on life hasn’t changed since the beginning of time. It is He who grants life and sustains it. God, being a infinite omnipotent, and omniscient being, expresses himself through his creation. His entire creation from the expanses of the universe to the creatures that crawl, walk, fly, and swim in the seas of the planet Earth.

    However, mankind is the one creation made in his image. We are the one creation meant to have a lasting and loving relationship with Him as part of His family. When God created humans, He created family. And when we are caviler with life, we are being irresponsible with that which was made in God’s own image.

    Our society needs to return to a sanctity for life. Human life. It is the disrespect for human life (or cheapening of human life) that leads us down the path of disregard for others and to begin to make ourselves as gods. We cannot create, Satan and the angelic hosts cannot create, only God can create life where there was no life, and we should respect that and do everything we can to cherish and preserve it where possible.

    The movie Lifemark is a great true-life story about what happens when someone chooses life. I’d highly encourage everyone to go see it. It is based on the real-life documentary I lived on Parker Avenue which you can watch on YouTube:

    Seventeen years ago, and beyond, I chose life. And today I still choose life. Hopefully, life will be a part of your consideration when voting this year.

  • Are You Enslaved By THe Democrat Party? (II)

    Remember when Joe Biden warned a group of supporters that ‘they‘ (Republicans/Conservatives) were going to “put y’all back in chains“? All the while planning on tightening the chains around all of America (Black, White, Hispanic, Latino, Asian …).

    Well today I’d like to continue my thoughts on how the Democrat Party enslaves people and keeps them in chains. Because if you belong to the Democrat Party, you support some pretty horrific ideals that you lend credence to if only by shear numbers.

    MURDER – If you belong to the Democrat Party, you belong to the Party of murder. I usually follow the social norms and refer to the Democrat Party as the Party of Death. Democrats relish in it. They defend it with all their might. And they fight to expand it to new societal levels of inclusion. But today, I’d like to call it what it is. Murder. Abortion is the murder of innocent pre-born human babies. It is the taking of a human life.

    Now I am sure a lot of Democrats take great offense at being referred to as murderers, and they should. They should take such offense that they should examine their Party’s values and probably leave the Party. I know I would if I were a member of the Democrat Party. But if you are a member of the Democrat Party and you take offense at being labeled a murderer, then please convince me that you are not.

    Abortion is quite simple and it only becomes complicated when people want to defend it. Since people know that killing little babies is wrong, they suddenly claim that abortion is simply removing a “fetus“. Note the definition references “when the body structures are in the recognizable form of its kind”.

    But here is the duplicity and hypocrisy of the Democrat Party. Their definition only applies to human development. Bring any other kind into the conversation and suddenly not only does their definitions change, their rules become much more draconian. Everyone is horrified by bad treatment of cats, dogs, birds, dolphins … but only the Democrat Party Platform is OK with bad treatment of humans. If you disturb a Bald Eagle egg, you are breaking the law. If you abort a human fetus it is perfectly OK.

    Furthermore, there are about 30 States that have unborn fetal homicide laws. In the Democrat Party’s mind these are unrelated issues (this argument has been made many times and rather than supply just one reference, I leave it as an exercise to the reader to research). In the Democrat Party’s mind it is OK to abort the fetus if the mom chooses to, but if a pregnant mom is killed in a car accident, then suddenly it is not OK that the fetus died.

    Clearly, in Democrat Party logic parlance, it is OK to kill a human fetus in one instance, equating it to a non-human but not granting the same considerations as a cat, or a dog, or a bald eagle. But suddenly in the other situation the rules change and the Democrat Party agrees with the Republican Party that a life has been taken. Suddenly the Democrat Party grants the human fetus the same considerations as the cat, or dog, or bald eagle.

    The problem in the Democrat Party tangled web of non-logic foolishness is in defining when human life really and truly begins. Christians widely believe that human life begins at conception. That is, a Holy God performs a miracle, and creates a brand new life out of a physical act between two humans. We can all agree for the most part that it takes a male and a female of the human kind to procreate. The fuzzy part comes in agreeing on when the physical part gains the spiritual part. When does the soul and the spirit become relevant? And admittedly, not everyone agrees with the Christian world view that it is immediately at conception. And it is a pretty important point because in Democrat Party logic parlance, it literally defines when it is OK to kill and when suddenly it is not OK to kill.

    But I’m not here today to convince you that you should accept the Christian worldview. The Christian worldview has already been defended in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Bible. I’m here today for you to convince me that your worldview is defensible.

    By what measure do you decide when human life begins and a person becomes a person? And be careful how you answer. Because your criteria could potentially be used across an entire human lifespan. How do you know that a person is a person? And how do you prove that? A lot off people have offered a lot of answers to that question. And every time they answer they immediately validate hundreds of thousands of abortions murder. For example, I once had someone tell me their criteria was brain waves. Now never mind the difficulty in trying to establish the fact that measurable brain waves does indeed equate to a person being a person, measurable brain activity can indeed be detected in the womb at about six weeks. And this is fairly consistent medical knowledge. The problem is, more than 50% of abortions occur after week 6 (week 7 and up). So if you choose brain activity as the criteria for defining when a person is a person (as my friend did) then more than 50% of all abortions in the USA are murder by your definition.

    The Republican Party simply says that science and medicine today does not know enough to definitively say when a person is indeed a person. And since we do not know, the Republican Party chooses to err on the side of caution and preserve all life. And respect all life. Something the Democrat Party does not do.

    So how does championing the murder of unborn children enslave people? Look at the statistics. The majority of abortions occur amongst the African American community. Seems to me that if the majority of abortions are occurring amongst the minority of people, something is wrong. One of the first things Joe Biden did was restore funding for abortions in foreign countries. Our tax dollars taken to fund murder overseas. If that isn’t being enslaved, then we need a sanity check.

  • What is your cause?

    Pastor’s are not supposed to have a “cause” other than preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was always taught that you preach TO the people not AT the people. Unfortunately, even preaching TO the people (or just being a prophet in your own time) is more often than not interpreted as preaching AT the people. But fortunately we have the Holy Spirit and it is between you and him as to what you do with the Holy Word of God. My calling is simply to expound on the Word of God and leave the rest up to him (and of course you – of which I am included). The Word of God is the Word of God and it stands for all of eternity. I’ve actually had people come up to me in the past and say “give us a word from God”. As if people cannot get their own word from God. It doesn’t exactly work that way. God gives a word (wisdom) to those whom he chooses. Even with the prophets of old (Biblical times) God rarely gave a personal word for an individual to a prophet (unless it was to another prophet).

    And don’t believe for a minute that I do not believe in preaching Hell Fire and Brimstone. I do. People need to understand that there is a great destiny in life. And you can either spend that destiny in Heaven or in Hell. But it is not my place to preach AT the people. Even Jesus Christ himself made it clear that God sent his Son into the world to save the world not to condemn the world (John 3:17). Which is why I try to be careful not to care about your sin, but only to point out that there is sin and that I am included. Indeed, I am chief amongst sinners.

    But I must confess that indeed I do have a cause. I’m only human (which is just a fact not an excuse) and there are a couple of things that raise my ire more than anything else. And the biggest cause that gets under my skin is ABORTION.

    I just do not accept that abortion is a woman’s right to choose. It is not their right to do with their body as they see fit. That fetus is a human life. It is not some forming mass of tissue. It is a life formed by a Holy and Righteous God that has all power and authority over life and death. And the reason we (humanity) fall into this trap is because of my second top cause – the lie of evolution. The lie of evolution has tried to teach us that there is no God and that everything we see and experience is just happenstance without any Devine providence or guidance. And I’m sorry, but that is just a lie. I believe possibly the biggest lie ever told. The lie of evolution allows us to believe that God does not form a life in the womb and that a woman has a choice over her body and the life that it contains. Which simply is not true and I’m sorry, if you believe that a woman has a right to choose you are just wrong.

    Abortion is murder. It doesn’t matter what any of us believe. The simple truth (and it is simple) is that there is a God and he does hold all power and authority over all of human life. And when we unjustly take a life, including through abortion, it is by definition murder.

    And this bothers me greatly. US President Ronald Regan said that if you could not state for certain when human life begins (and I can, it begins when a Holy and Righteous God forms it in the womb. On day one.) then we owed them the benefit of the doubt. And we should give this cause the respect that it is due. None of us can definitely prove when human life begins. Neither science nor religion nor philosophy can definitively prove the start of human life. Science struggles with the conundrum of human life and denial of God. They can’t explain the miracle of life to begin with let alone Define the exact start of it. Religion obviously defaults to a God creating that life and has no choice but to accept the moment of conception as the definitive start of that human life. Philosophy tries to find a happy medium that fails on both fronts. On all fronts humanity has no choice but to accept human life beginning at conception. And by not doing so we allow for the murder of hundreds of millions of unborn babies worldwide every year.

    Rush Limbaugh wrote that his problem with abortion is that it cheapens human life. And this is an excellent argument. Abortion takes a human life created by a Holy God and formed in his perfect image and reduces it to an inconsequential event of less than the miracle it truly is. And this is having severe consequences on our societies worldwide. It is tearing our world apart.

    However my reason for carrying abortion as my cause is that it brings evil incarnate into our world. If a Holy God is the author of life, then the undeniable enemy of life is none other than Satan. Life is the gift of God and that makes Satan it’s number one enemy. Satan is the antithesis of life and his hatred would have him destroy it at all cost. And abortion is a huge lie that allows him to further his cause.

    And if I’m not being plain spoken here, let me just state that the people that participate in this industry are godless, evil people driven by the forces of darkness to include Satan himself.

    And if you think I’m being overly dramatic here, may I bring your attention to this story that recently emerged in the news. An abortion (so called) doctor (the irony of referring to these individuals as medical professionals makes my blood boil) for years stacked up human remains at his home and he wasn’t found out until his death. If this isn’t an atrocity on a par with the actions of the Nazis during WWII, I don’t know what you could use to make an argument for what is.

    Planned Parenthood and the (once again so called) doctors that practice under their umbrella are the agents of Satan and they represent evil manifested in our world. An abortionist who collected over 2,000 human remains and kept them at his personal residence is sick, evil, and disturbing on all levels. As an ambassador of Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry this doctor shows us to what depths of human depravity we’ve allowed to grip the world. It is horrifying to realize that we have come to accept this culture in our societies and the world.

    Obviously my desire is that your cause would be that all would be saved and come to know Jesus Christ as Lord of their life. But if there were one (or two) causes that you had to take up, how about carefully considering the lies of abortion and evolution? I truly believe that if anything could make a dramatic change on our societies and bring the world closer to a Holy God, it would have to be honestly and ethically dealing with the lies of abortion and evolution. With the evil that abortion manifests in the world (as demonstrated by this recent story) I pray you would join me in my cause (and that you would forgive me for having a cause).

  • Is Abortion Murder?

    I know I have made my opinion known on the topic of abortion within this blog in past posts, however, some topics are important enough, worth enough, to be revisited again and again.

    2018 National Right To Life March Washington D.C.

    January 22nd is the anniversary of the 1973 Roe Vs. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion as a “Constitutional” right in the United States of America.  During those 45 years since that ruling, there have been (conservatively) 60 million abortions in the United States alone.  To put this into perspective, six million people of Jewish decent were murdered by Nazi Germany between 1941 – 1945 during World War II.  If you are generous and allow a full 5 years across WW-II for the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany (in reality, they were slightly more compressed), you would achieve nearly the same rate of 1.33 million deaths per year for both Jewish people killed in the Holocaust and abortions in the U.S. since 1973 (1.20 million/year vs. 1.33 million/year for the Holocaust and Abortions in the U.S. respectively).

    2018 National Right To Life March Washington D.C. – march participants

    While both abortions in the U.S. and the Holocaust are (were) state sponsored events (the U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned abortion in the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973 as well as Government funding of Planned Parenthood – using taxpayer dollars – which sponsors abortions), the justifications that each hide behind are quite different (presumably to make one sound less horrifying than it really is).

    2018 National Right To Life March Washington D.C. – Marchers were of all ages, gender, and race.

    While the reasoning used by Nazi Germany to justify the murder of millions of Jewish people all across Europe are completely indefensible by any right thinking individual, the subtlety used to justify abortions within the United States are more cunning and deceiving.  Within the abortion argument in the United States we hide behind words like embryo and fetus.  By using these words to describe a phase of human life, we tend to isolate the subject of the abortion and make it sound less human and thus perfectly acceptable to remove and throw away.  We simply state we are terminating the pregnancy (vice acknowledging we are terminating a human life) and having safely justified our actions to ourselves, we move on.

    2018 National Right To Life March Washington D.C. – united in cause.

    But the question still remains: Is Abortion Murder?  Just because we have justified it to ourselves does not mean that it is OK.  Nor does it mean that we will not be held accountable for our actions just because we’ve excused ourselves of them.  Have we fooled ourselves into believing that the termination of a pregnancy (vis-à-vis abortion) is OK because we are not actually taking a human life, when in reality, we actually are?

    2018 National Right To Life March Washington D.C. – pause and think.

    I suppose if you are Atheistic in your world view, it doesn’t really matter.  After all, there is no God, no Moral code, and definitely no purpose or meaning to life.  Given the foundation the Atheist builds their world view upon, they really shouldn’t mind killing of any kind.  After all, with no God to answer to, and everything in existence being meaningless, it wouldn’t matter one way or the other if abortions were murder or not.  But if you are Atheistic in your world view and you are intellectually honest with yourself, then why do you care how the morals get defined?  There is no more control over which process wins here than there is with stars burning out in the heavens.

    2018 National Right To Life March Washington D.C. – marching together.

    If you are Agnostic in your world view you shouldn’t have an opinion unless you are directly affected by the issue.  And even then you should pick your friends carefully.  After all, if you had one influence in your life that favored abortion and another, equal influence, that opposed abortion, it would be pretty confusing for you.  The Agnostic would have to flip a coin in order to decide.

    However if you are Theistic in your world view, then you must believe that all life emanates from a God, a Creator.  And if you cannot definitively define the exact moment in time when that God-given, Creator induced life begins, then you had better err on the side of caution and treat all credible instances as human life.

    This is essentially what President Ronald Regan said during his time in office.  President Regan argued (from a Theistic point of view, without stating it explicitly) that if one could not determine the point that human life began (we may all agree that the individual cells are life), that you could not act responsibly in terminating that life without being potentially guilty of murder.

    So is abortion murder?  Consider that the fetus stage appears human in form.  We have hands, feet, a head, a torso.  A face.  Consider that at the fetus stage that we have a human heartbeat (~6 weeks), at the fetus stage we can measure brain waves/activity (~6 weeks.  Indeed the brain needs to be developed enough at this stage to govern organs such as the heart).  Consider at the fetus stage you can begin to see rudimentary facial expressions.  There are ultra-sounds of a fetus even sucking their thumb.  At the fetus stage you may even determine the biological sex of the child.

    Some have argued as to whether or not the child is sentient at the fetus stage.  We know that at the fetus stage the child reacts to stimuli such as pain.  Very early on the child can even react to the voices of its mother and father.

    These are what we know, in a rudimentary way, through both science and medicine of today.  Who knows what we will be able to discover or discern in the future?

    And of course there is the religious argument.  Christianity teaches that the person (the spirit – that part of you that will endure forever) is known by God (the Creator) before you are even formed in the womb.

    Is abortion murder?  How can any reasonable person say that it is not?  And we destroy thousands upon thousands of lives each year in the United States alone.  Isn’t it time that this practice is stopped?

  • Do You Meet Minium Requirements?

    A co-worker came into work the other day and matter-of-factly proclaimed:

    “I met the minimum requirements of motherhood this morning.”

    I had to chuckle.  We all have some set of minimum requirements we believe we need to meet in order to survive each day.

    But there are also a set of minimum requirements that others depend upon us to meet in order for their own survival.  If we do not nurture and care for our young, their chances of surviving in this world go down significantly.  And the younger the offspring, the less their odds for survival.  There are those in the world that are critically ill or injured that have a minimum requirement upon others for their survival.  If they do not have some very basic needs met in their lives, their odds for survival begin to plummet dramatically.  And we all depend upon others in some way or fashion.  How many of us in the world today could get by without a grocery store for food?  If your livelihood depends upon a vehicle, could you manufacture your own fuel and parts?  How many of us could provide for our own clothing and shelter?  What would our world look like and what would we, as humans be like, if we were all suddenly responsible for our own set of minimum requirements?

    These questions become all the more intriguing when considered from our base world views.

    For the Atheist it presents a fairly severe conundrum.    There is no meaning, after all, the entire universe is simply a petri dish of chemical and physical actions and reactions.  The fact that the majority of us seem to do our part is some outrageous statistic that is difficult to fathom at best.  Even great minds like Dr. Richard Dawkins and Dr. Stephen Hawking have stated that the appearance of order within the universe and our lives is, in fact, an illusion.  The idea that we would all just happen to come together and work towards some greater goal of survival is statistically unimaginable.  Where did this magical inner drive come from?  What is it within the natural universe that drives a process towards propagation of a species (or kind)?  The Atheist is hard pressed to find an answer within the confines of their own world view.

    For the Agnostic it really doesn’t matter what the answer is or where the drive to meet any set of minimum requirements comes from.  The Agnostic simply tolerates the status quo as it meets their own set of needs and desires.  If the Agnostic finds that any one set of their basic minimum requirements is not being met, they might become anxious, or desperate, or angry, but they couldn’t really tell you why.  Nor should they care if they are truly agnostic in their world view.  Why should the Agnostic care if suddenly the portion of the world’s food supply that they depend upon were to stop?  Sure it would threaten their very survival, but they are, after all, agnostic.  And for the Agnostic, Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be.

    For the Theist however, the drive to meet some set of basic minimum requirements for both ourselves, and for others, takes on a whole new meaning.  It is only within the Spiritual that we find real answers to the questions as to why we need to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Which is exactly why the founding fathers of the United States of America prescribed these basic unalienable rights as having come from God.  Because from whom else could they come?  Certainly I could not grant such rights to you, nor could you grant them to me.  And we cannot collectively grant them to each other.  Which is why governments of the world who set themselves up as the arbitrators of such rights fail and become oppressive to the people.  The Theist also recognizes that just as they have been granted these rights from a living God, they have an obligation outside of themselves or the rest of creation to protect these rights in and for others.  The Theist must meet a set of basic minimum requirements for both themselves and others because their God expects no less.  The mere fact that a God, a Creator, outside of our limited physical existence, has granted us life and given to us the pursuit of liberty and happiness, demands that we honor the Creator by protecting and preserving the minimum requirements  of life, liberty, and happiness in the lives of those around us.  It becomes our sacred honor and duty to do so.

    However, as important as these questions are, and as critical the preponderance of our answers to them is, they are not what I want to settle upon today.

    There is one greater question that faces all of humanity, from Adam and Eve to each and every person alive today.  It is a minimum requirement that every person that has ever lived, is living today, or ever shall live, faces in their own life.  And it is a minimum requirement that none of us can meet of our own accord.  We are all dependent upon a another to meet this requirement in our lives, and it is a requirement that, sadly, the vast majority of humanity never has, and never will, give careful consideration to.

    It is the question of Why?  What?  And Where?  Why are you here?  What is your purpose?  What is the meaning of it all?  And Where will you end up for all of eternity?

    There is one very eloquent answer to these questions.  It is found in the Bible, in John, Chapter 3, and Verse 16.  And that answer is:

    “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (KJV)

    The minimum requirement to understanding why we are here, what the purpose of life is, and to securing our place in all of eternity, is to simply Believe on the Person of Jesus Christ.  That He is who He claimed to be, the Son of the Living God, and that He came to pay the price for all my sins by dying on the cross and rising from the dead on the third day.

    A very important question, critical to each of all our eternities, and it has such a simple minimum requirement.  Believe on Him.

    How about you?  Have you met your basic minimum requirements for today?  More importantly, have you met THE basic minimum requirement for all of eternity?

  • Today Is The Day!

    “For I hope (wait for and trust) in You, O Lord;
    You will answer, O Lord my God.” Psalm 38:15

    In Psalm 38, King David cries out to the LORD acknowledging his sin and seeking relief from the suffering it brought. He knows (vs 9) that his LORD is aware of all his concerns, confesses his inability to do anything about them, then makes the declaration of verse 15.

    As with David, much, if not all our troubles can be traced back to our sin / sins. Though, we must remember the words of Jesus Christ in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” If we live in this world, we will have trouble and not necessarily because of anything we have done, and we can overcome in it because He has, and we are in Him.

    That said, our failures, disappointments, reversals, and more, may be traced back to the person we see in the mirror each morning. Someone once said: “I am what I am because of the choices I have made”. David, as should we, took full responsibility for his situation, and if we are to move forward from where we are today, it must begin at this place of confession. In Psalm 32:3-6, David says he suffered until he acknowledged and confessed his sin. Only then did forgiveness, relief from guilt, and reconciliation with God come.

    We all need  to be reconciled to this indispensable, Life-giving relationship; agreeing with Him about our condition, finding the abundant forgiveness He offers through Jesus Christ’s completed work, then, following His detailed instructions on how to get on and stay on His path (Psalm 32:8-11).   This fulfills our reason for existing, gains His favor, successes and life-sustaining supply. This gets Him the glory and honor He deserves and He mercies us with joy, rest and the inner peace He has guaranteed.

    Seek Him NOW while He can be found (Psalm 32:6).  Today is the day!  Know the benefits His way assures (Psalm 32:10, 11).  His unfailing love is here, now, and promises consistent ongoing personal improvement and future amazing outcomes to all who believe in Him.

    May this be yours in abundance, Today!

    For more help in knowing God personally:  https://www.cru.org/how-to-know-god/would-you-like-to-know-god-personally.html

    Carpe Diem!

    Mitch

  • Introductory Comments…

    “From Thy precepts I get understanding; Therefore, I hate every false way.  [For] Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.  Psalm 119:104-105

    I’m privileged to join LRPSP as a contributor / editor.  In a day of fake news and an unlimited array of information sources, getting the truth about anything proves to be a challenge.  But the Scriptures, as interpreted to us by the Holy Spirit, can give us God’s view on all things and offers wisdom that can make life work for us.  Why look to Him?  Because His Word tells us He is the only reliable source for truth.  He, our Creator and Sustainer, is that Source.

    There are many voices but only One we can depend on. There are many worldviews and paths to take but only a dynamic relational link to God through His Son, Jesus Christ, makes us privy to the vast liberating flow of Truth and Life that gives Light, revealing His path, His way.  He desires to do this in us.  It is only from this Foundation we experience the outcomes and success He’s intended. Otherwise, we are following “fake news” disseminated by the enemy of our souls, who only seeks “…to steal, kill and destroy”.  Any other way  but His is false.  Jesus said of Himself that “He is the Way, The Truth and The Life.  No one comes to the Father but through me.” John 14:6

    He’s promised to be our adequacy, sufficiency and security.  As our Maker, He is uniquely qualified to fulfill these needs.  As we choose His way and let Him work in us, it pleases Him and gets Him the Glory, Honor and Dignity that is His alone as Creator, Sustainer, Counselor, Guide…Our Hope, Deliverer, Redeemer…Friend.

    I trust your times spent reading here will be helpful.

    Indebted,

    Mitch

  • There Is No Honor In Death

    I lost my cousin today.  The son of my dad’s brother,  and the youngest of two children, he was known to the family as Little John.  I suppose from some throwback to the Robin Hood character.  But not to me.  To me he was always Big Bad John.

    John stood 6 foot 5 inches tall and for most of his adult life weighed more than 300 pounds.  He was younger than me, but he was a much bigger man than I ever have been.  Dad used to refer to him as the Gentle Bear.  John was intimidating in his size, but there was nothing at all intimidating about his heart.  John warmed up to everybody he came into contact with and was always looking for the good within people.  It is just the way he was.

    John passed away at 0500 EST this morning peacefully in his sleep after a short battle with cancer.  I have always been the rebel in the family, not seeking out relationships or contacts.  But not so with John.  These last few months, and really for the last couple of years, John confided in me maybe a little more than the rest of the family.  Almost to the point where the rest of the family was asking me if I had heard from him and if I knew how he was doing.  Perhaps to some extent, John was more respectful of our relationship than I was.

    Perhaps it was because I served in the U.S. Military and John never did and he always had such great respect for our Nation’s military.  Or perhaps he just cherished some of the moments we shared in our youth.  But whatever his reasons, Big Bad John wanted to share the last few months he had on this earth reminiscing with myself, his cousin.

    I’ve stated this before, but I’ll take this opportunity to say it again, Death is the antithesis of Life.  Jesus Christ said that he came to earth that we might have Life (and have it abundantly) (John 6:39-41).  God gave all of humankind Life from the inception of creation.  Death is the sin curse upon the world and Satan uses it as a feeble attempt to rob God of his created family.  And thus Death and Life are at odds with each other.  One brings joy and happiness, and the other brings sorrow and pain.

    I was at work when I got the call from my wife with the news that John had passed.  I must have been visibly shaken because my coworkers asked if I was OK, and one asked if the phone call was bad news after I had hung up the phone.  Even though I knew it was coming, and even though the family expected it at any time, the moment of the news was a point that shattered my soul.  Big Bad John was gone.  No longer may I take for granted his Skype calls or his IM chats, or the time that he wanted to share.  Those times are now past.  And the memories of those times are all that remain.

    If your world view is Atheistic, then I am saddened for you all the more. The one thing that evolution cannot answer for you is the emptiness in your soul at the passing of a loved one, a family member, or even a friend.  There is no science that explains the inexplicable bond that all of humanity shares over the helplessness of Death.  Even though as a good atheist you should know that it is all without meaning and that we are all just cosmic particles drifting in the vastness of the universe, there is still, to varying degrees in all of us, that unnatural feeling of loss that Death brings.

    If your world view is Agnostic, then you really should not care one way or the other at the loss of a life.  But the impact of Life and Death is still there and is still an unexplainable force that impacts us all.

    However, if your world view is Theistic, as mine is, then you should understand that God is still in control and that His Great Plan is playing out on the world stage and just how privileged we are to be a part of it all.

    Christians sometimes wonder why God allows Death in the world.  I believe that Christians shouldn’t wonder why God allows Death, but rather understand that God orchestrates Death.  God is the giver of Life and only He (and He alone) may take that Life away.  Consider the Life of Job.  When God asked Satan if he had considered his servant Job, and Satan accusingly challenged him on the blessing God had bestowed upon him, God allowed Satan free rein in Job’s Life but would not allow him to take Job’s Life (Job 1:1-12).  Because God, and God alone holds the keys to Life and Death.

    We like to depict Death as the Grim Reaper, as some evil character coming to take Life away, but in reality, the Angel of Death works for God, not Satan.  And Satan has no more say over your Death than what God allows within His plan.

    And thus, like Paul of Tarsus, we may proclaim, “Oh death where is thy sting, Oh grave where is thy victory?” (I Corinthians 15:54-56). Because the Theist, the Christian, has a great hope that this life is not meaningless, that there is order to it all, that there is a God who loves us and who has a Great Plan for His Honor and for His Glory and that we have the great privilege of being a part of that plan.

    I know that I know that I know, that one day Big Bad John and I will swap stories once again.  I know this because Cousin John told me that he was at peace with his King and his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  And I know that God is now holding Cousin John in His great hands, safely awaiting that day when we will all be united once again as part of God’s great family.  Not for me, and not for Big Bad John, but for His (Jesus Christ’s) own Glory.

    So Big Bad John, just know that in the meantime I will keep the faith, and as for me and my house, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD until that day that he either calls me home or He comes again to reunite all of His children in the ultimate culmination of this fantastic journey He has orchestrated for each and every one of us.

    John Keith Orman: March 24, 1965 – March 31, 2016image