PastorTim

Counting the cost

I don’t know what it’s like when you stop for gas, but it’s hard for me to even look up at the screen anymore. Every now and then you catch a glimpse of the total price you just paid at the pump for a tank of gas, and ouch! Most of us can remember thinking how unbelievable it was when gas prices rose to $2.00 a gallon. Those were the days! Now, any time I pay close to $3.00 a gallon using my Kroger card, I call my wife and we celebrate! I suppose most have just gotten used to paying more for at the pump. It’s easy to get used to the pain, that is until we take time to think about it! It’s the age-old peril of desensitization. A big word to be sure but a simple principle. 

According to the dictionary, Desensitization is a method to reduce or eliminate an organism's negative reaction to a substance or stimulus. In psychology, desensitization (or graduated exposure therapy) is a process for mitigating the harmful effects of phobias or other disorders. Agoraphobics, who fear open spaces and social gatherings outside their own home, may be gradually led to increase their interaction with the outside world by putting them in situations that are uncomfortable but not panic-provoking for them. In other words, by exposing someone to small doses at a time you can change the way they react to a certain situation or issue. A brilliant strategy, and it still works!

New and cutting edge you say. No not really, it’s the same strategy that Satan has implemented for ages. Get people use to small doses of sin, and then they will begin to accept sin over a long period of time. Not possible you say. Let me ask you; are there things today that are considered acceptable that were completely unacceptable a few years ago? Sure, there are, and it’s happened without a fight because our culture has been eased into to thinking that it’s OK.

Charles Colson in his book Loving God, talks about how pivotal issues are introduced to society. They are blasted into the realm of discussion through a crisis or tragedy, (news, movies, print media), then they become debated and discussed (books, talk shows, editorials), then they are defended, (organizations, celebrities, laws), eventually the issue that was repulsive and unacceptable is now acceptable and celebrated. Of course, the process takes time, but the strategy works. Look around our culture today and you can see where we are in relation to where we came from.

So, what’s one to do? Well, I’m glad you asked. Listen with me to the words of Pastor Peter…. “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer 1 Peter 4:7”, and again, ”Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”  Now what Peter is reminding us of is that we need to pay close attention to what’s happening around us so we are not led astray by the devices of Satan.

Gary Richmond, a former zookeeper in his book, “A view from the zoo”, had this to say: Raccoons go through a glandular change at about 24 months. After that they often attack their owners. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound dog in a scrap, I felt compelled to mention the change coming to a pet raccoon owned by a young friend of mine, Julie. She listened politely as I explained the coming danger. I'll never forget her answer. "It will be different for me. . ." And she smiled as she added, "Bandit wouldn't hurt me. He just wouldn't." Three months later Julie underwent plastic surgery for facial lacerations sustained when her adult raccoon attacked her for no apparent reason. Bandit was released into the wild. Sin, too, often comes dressed in an adorable guise, and as we play with it, how easy it is to say, "It will be different for me." The results are predictable.

Listen; paying too much for gas is nothing compared to the price of sin in a person’s life. Gas may be expensive, but salvation is and always will be free!  That price was paid when Jesus died on the cross. Paul reminded us, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” When it comes to God’s gift of salvation, you don’t have to stand in line or pay a high price, it’s all yours because God not only counted the cost, he paid it for you!

 

 

 

 

Parental Rights

A United States Supreme Court nominee that is unable to provide the simple definition of a woman. When the now Supreme Court Justice was going through the nomination process, Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council said, “Regardless of how Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings go, (and she was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice) it's safe to say they'll be remembered for one thing: her inability (or outright refusal) to define the word "woman." Jackson's "I'm-not-a-biologist" answer has been memed, parodied, and mocked the world over. But it's also, one news outlet warns, contagious. Just how deep does this gender illiteracy go?”

If that weren’t enough, NCAA level sports authorities credentialing and celebrating as real live men participating and laterally stealing awards from committed and dedicated female athletes. Dan Hart, senior editor at The Washington Stand wrote recently, “A biological male has won two women’s professional cycling titles in the last three months, with the latest victory coming by a margin of almost five minutes over the female second place finisher. An increasing number of current and former female athletes are stepping forward to protest the phenomenon as the percentage of Americans opposed to the practice continues to climb… The number of Americans who oppose men competing in women’s sports is also climbing. A new Gallup poll released Monday revealed that almost 70% of Americans believe that athletes should only be allowed to compete on teams that match their biological sex.”

My friend Cheryl Crumley of the Washington Times wrote, Sadly, times are changing in America to the point the religious scales are tipping, fewer and fewer are attending church, and more and more are buying into the lies and deceptions of the LGBTQ agenda, as well as the lies and deceptions of a woke culture that’s confusing the younger masses into pitting classes against classes. We’re losing the melting pot. We’re losing the common virtues and principles. We’re losing our religion. Enter the Human Rights Commission with its looming recommendations for LGBTQ diversity and inclusion.

Now to the issue of parental rights! Cal Thomas, the Washington Times wrote recently, it was just a matter of time before choice became mandatory. Last month, a federal judge denied a request by parents of students in Montgomery County Maryland to be able to remove their children from classrooms when books containing LGBTQ characters are read aloud…This is indoctrination, and the judge’s ruling violates the First Amendment’s “free exercise” clause, which “protects citizens’ right to practice their religion as they please, so long as the practice does not run afoul of a ‘public morals’ or a ‘compelling’ governmental interest.”

It took Judge Deborah Boardman 60 pages to try to make her case. She claimed parents failed to demonstrate how the no opt-out policy would “result in the indoctrination of their children or otherwise coerce their children to violate or change their religious beliefs. “With or without an opt-out right,” Judge Boardman ruled, “the parents remain free to pursue their sacred obligations to instruct their children in their faiths. Even if their children’s exposure to religiously offensive ideas makes the parents’efforts less likely to succeed, that does not amount to a government-imposed burden on their religious exercise.”

Well, I along with most Americans beg to differ with Judge Bordman! This reasoning is flawed not to mention, unconstitutional. The creator of all mankind has designed for the parents of children to have full and complete authority of the children he has blessed and entrusted to them. Parents, especially in America, have the authority when it comes to the heath and well-being of their children! Children are a precious gift from God!

Congressman Jody Hice rightly observed, “whoever wins the spiritual battle wins the cultural war!” The prophet Jeremiah said, “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Jeremiah understood the times and acted accordingly, so must we! God has entrusted you and I with the important stewardship of this critical moment in our nations, and the worlds history.

We will have differences about many things but through it all I pray we stand firm on God’s word and God’s promises so America may be as Lincoln said, “the last best hope of earth!” John Adam’s in a letter to Abigail in 1776... “We cannot guarantee success in this war, but we can do something better, we can deserve it.” It is assured that we can deserve it, by acting worthy of ourselves! May it be said of us, that when it came to the lives and best interests of our children and grandchildren, we acted worthy of ourselves!

 

 

 

 

 

The fruit of our lives

Me, I enjoy the simple things in life. Sipping iced tea on the porch during a hot afternoon, the smell of honeysuckle in the air, and a slow walk through the park with my wife. Jesus reminded his followers over and over about the importance of abiding or staying connected to Him, He speaks of the fruit that our lives are supposed to bear and the long-lasting effect it is designed to have on those who follow in our footsteps. All this begs the question, what fruit will remain as a reminder of our lives to those who will follow?

What will those that follow us enjoy because of us? With thoughts of my grandchildren’s future in mind, I wonder what kind of world, what kind of culture, what kind of government will I be responsible for leaving them? “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” the psalmist wrote. Confronted with the absence of the influence of the scriptures in the classroom, which for the record were used in public schools as curriculum for the first one hundred and seventy years of our nation’s history! What kind of nation will my descendant’s enjoy...because of me? What will those that follow me in this life have to enjoy and benefit from because of my life?

I’m not talking so much about tangible things as I am speaking of spiritual and moral issues that confront us daily. I want to leave those who follow in my footsteps a clear moral and ethical roadmap to blessing and success. You may have heard of the Tytler cycle. If not listen in… The following quote is attributed to Scottish history professor Alexander Tyler in 1787, "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to poor fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

He goes on to say, “The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage” What a profound and troubling thought. What fruit will we leave the next generation?

Lastly, I asked myself the question, what will the fruit of my life teach those who will follow? Perhaps you have read the book and heard the phrase, the greatest generation. We heartily celebrate the lives of those who have fought for our freedom and laid the groundwork for all we enjoy today, and I think to myself, what a thrill to be called that. To be identified with the greatest generation who forged ahead in the face of incredible adversity and difficulty to make this nation even greater than when it was handed to them. The nation is great because of them, because of what they taught us with their lives and influence.  

But what about us? What about those who will walk in the park, plant the flowers and drink iced tea long after we are gone? What will they have, because of us? What will they enjoy because of us? What will they have learned because of us?

The scriptures of course give us great advice regarding our future and the future of those that follow… “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” May we never forget and may we always seek the Lord in our personal lives, in the lives of our families and in our nation.

Someone wisely said, “The fruit of our lives grows on the trees of others.” I believe that and I also believe that we were in the United States of America have the richest soil and the greatest opportunity to pass along to generation that follow a bright and hope filled future. The choice is ours to make. I want my life to bear fruit, and I want it to bear fruit that will remain!