I Can Never Say It Enough

The End Of The Presbyterian Church?

Every baseball fan knows the phrase "Three strikes and you're out", and the Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly has just struck out. Big. 

This year the Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly met in Detroit MI to hold their biennial meeting. They discuss hundreds of items and many times God is guiding their decisions. I'm not so sure this year. This year the PCUSA voted to allow its clergy to perform same-sex faux marriages. The church leadership has changed the language in the church's Book of Order to replace references to "a man and a woman" with the politically correct "two persons".

Defending this position, Seattle ruling elder Nathan Sobers said "The Gospel is about fairness." (Sobers is married to his male partner of 27 years.) Actually the Gospel is about a lot of things: sin, redemption, love , forgiveness, and very importantly the kingdom of God and reaching for the kingdom of God. Matthew 6:10, Luke 9:1-2, Luke 8:1, Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 24:14, Matthew 19:16, Matthew 19:23-24, Luke 13:28. Matthew 13:19, Mark 10:15, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 13:38, Luke 1:30-33 all teach about the Kingdom of God. Yes, fairness is in the Gospel but probably not the re-defined fairness that the LGBT community demands of God. Instead of defining fairness as letting people sin because they like to sin and a loving god would allow them to sin because it would be "fair", God's promise of fairness reads a bit more like this:

For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. (Colossians 3:25)

Surprised That Atheists Perform CCM? Not Me

As reported by Elisabeth Prata, the Christian flavored metal band As I Lay Dying has outted themselves as atheists. Surprised? Think about it: How many Christian music artists have hired hitmen to kill their wives? My guess is a number somewhere between "none" and "not any", but that's just a guess. 

Of course being a Christian performer doesn't prevent us from sinning, the Holy Spirit helps us from committing sin (Galatians 5:22) but the title of Christian does nothing... except sell records to goats. And yes, people who believe that As I Lay Dying was a Christian Metal band have been duped utterly and completely. You can point the finger of blame at promoters and record companies who have no problem taking your money, you can blame As I Lay Dying front man Tim Lambesis for your misconception that the band is Christian, because at one point he did say he was a Christian. But in the end you only have your self to blame.

"You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? (Matthew 7:16)

The Angel Of The Lord = Who 2

I am just finishing up the Four Streams Bible Reading Plan, (the plan I selected to use when reading the bible this year) and I am now reading Revelation and Zechariah at the same time, and wow. Those two books together is worthy of a major study on its own. The point here is that it's been well over a year since I read Zechariah last (last years plan was chronological and I'm way behind on this years plan as it's quite demanding) and I've forgotten almost all of Zechariah.  

As I've mentioned before, the Angel of the Lord is a character that pops up in the Old Testament and if you don't pause to consider what is going on, you'll miss the incredible appearence of Jesus in the Old Testament. Now occurrences I've found in Zechariah show clearly who the Angel of the Lord truly is. As I read through Zechariah 3 last night I read it in the NIV, which put the passage in clearer terms for me than previous reads:

My Best Fathers Day.

Months ago, it seems like years ago, my bride and I had planned to spend Fathers Day first in our home church (I was scheduled to be greeter too), then by attending a Tim Hawkins concert (VIP Seating, etc!) then maybe a 'steak bake' out on the patio with the kids and my favorite 4 year old, or possibly a drive up into the mountains with my love to find a little place we've never found before. I normally don't make plans far in advance but for a chance to see Tim Hawkins I'll buy my tickets months in advance and probably spend too much money on the Plus Package. Then dad had his surgery... 

So instead of Fathers Day morning coffee on the patio and watching the sunrise glint off the mountains as I read a chapter from John, I spent Fathers Day morning following an ambulance to a hospital in Florida.