This just in; the real Jesus has opened a twitter account. His first five tweets…

@WomanatWell “Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

@ManontheRoad “”Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

@FishingSimon “”Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

@FastingPharisee “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.”

@TaxingTree “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

No sinners prayer, no repent, no you’re a sinner????? I’m not to sure that this Jesus is the real Jesus.

Tags: Jesus, twitter, words

I don’t like to do a whole lot of talking about Rob or Mars and the like here in the blog world. I’m going to bump up against that line with this post and tell you that I think you should go and listen to the podcast from 11.15. Dan Allender spoke and as that Sunday was also the first day of gun season I did not attend. I was just able to listen to the podcast today. It is phenomenal. You can find it here if you’re not a regular subscriber.

I was part of a conversation about forgiveness recently. Two statements were made and I’d be interested in your opinion. We were discussing the book that I brought up a few weeks ago.

First statement:

All grace is cheap.

Second Statement:

No, It is not. God’s grace was bought with the blood of Jesus. It had a huge price.

What do you think?

Utah lawmakers tend to quickly fall in line when the influential church makes a rare foray into legislative politics. So Tuesday’s action could have broad effects in this highly conservative state where more than 80 percent of lawmakers and the governor are church members

From here

To be sure this post is not about Gay rights but more about how influential a church/religion can be.  Conversely it shreds the concept  that there  is actually a seperation of church and state.

As a wise man once told me “I’m in favor of the state when the state is in favor of me; otherwise I don’t give a damn”.

Nolan Ryan. Reggie Jackson.

“Ryan is the only guy who puts fear in me. Not because he can get you out, but because he can kill you.”–Reggie Jackson on Nolan Ryan during the 1974 season, during a stretch in which Ryan struck out 1,079 and walked 521 in a three year span. (Wit and Wisdom of Baseball, 136)

I’m glad Nolan Ryan is back in baseball.

Tags: Baseball, fear, Nolan Ryan, Reggie Jackson

Ok, I go through phases where I don’t go to the sites that call themselves online discernment sites at all. I like those days. They’re usually stomach bile in the back of the throat free. The other day a friend sent me a link to this video. It was soundly lambasted on the usual suspects site here. I watched it once. Then again and finally one more time. I have to be honest I don’t understand what is wrong with it. Can you tell me? I mean he says, “Look if we’re doing something of God you can’t stop us and if we’re not, then we’re done anyhow.

Bunny trail update:  Mordecai’s family had fully assimilated into the Syrian culture.  They could not physically be distinguished from the native people.  Adele Berlin, in The JPS Bible Commentary, wrote, “It seems likely, given the context, that Mordecai is a member of the king’s secret police.” This is in reference to him sitting at the King’s Gate, prior to overhearing Big and T (as I have un-affectionately named them) plotting the assassination attempt on Xerxes life.

In a letter from God to the exiles in Babylon, Jeremiah wrote these words (Jer 29:4-7):

⁴ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 

Seek:  An active verb.  To actively work towards something.

In a study on Esther from Beth Moore, I read this quote:

Mordecai’s action on the king’s behalf shows that a Jew can also be an excellent citizen.  “Those who, in modern times, deny any Christian interest in political processes cannot have read with sensitivity the stories of Mordecai, Joseph, and Daniel.  A conflict of interest indeed may come, and has come to many.  But each of us, until it does, can take to ourselves the exhortation which in God’s name the prophet Jeremiah addressed to the exiles in Babylon to ’seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you’.  (J.G. McConville, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ester p. 163-4)”   (Beth Moore, Esther, p. 53)

I think there is great danger in characterizing political actions as a wrong focus for a Christian.  If you use ANYTHING that comes from a free government, than you are participating.  Example:  This very blog.  We have freedom of speech in this country.  In Canada, they do not.  Therefore you are benefiting from the politics/government of this country AND using it to further God’s kingdom (hopefully).  Those out there who don’t think we should be involved in politics, this question is for you:  Will God ever call someone to be in politics or government at any time?  If no, then you need to tell that to the Christians (and yes, there are some!) in Congress, the Statehouse, the White House.  If yes, then why?  Maybe, like Queen Esther, there is a greater goal, a higher purpose that we can’t see now (or ever).  Consider Proverbs 21:1:

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD;
he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

And a few verses down from this, I find:

The plans of the diligent lead to profit
as surely as haste leads to poverty.

You know, God gives us freedom.  Freedom to succeed, freedom to fail.  Often we learn more from the latter than the former, but it is freedom nonetheless.  I am BLESSED to live in a country whose forefathers wrote in the blood of their families that they recognize that freedom.  I am humbled by the courage of those men and women who fought so I can have the freedom to speak out against the inhumanity of this world and FOR the only way to true freedom which is Jesus Christ.  This freedom makes it easier to impact  the rest of the world.  Look at the AIDS work in Africa, look at the great things that are being done by Rick Warren, Bono, every college student that supports clean water…all these things stem from the earthly freedoms we are blessed with.  Why would we NOT want to protect the single-most important concept (freedom, in case you missed it) that makes it easier to help those in need, easier to speak out against true injustice, and easier to tell people of the Way, the Truth, and the Light?  Will that freedom be misused?  Absolutely.  Then with God’s help, we must be stronger than the evil ones, love more than the pagans, and give bigger than the wealthiest.

I know we all love to read, but ultimately, our worldview must come from the pages of God’s word.  In it, we read of moderation in life, extremism in faith and grace, and conservatism in morals and judgment.  So, if American life allows me to live these Biblical ideas to the fullest, then I will fight also for that continued freedom.

I thought you might like to read this short article.  When the Poor Die.

Our first day in Swaziland Pastor Gift told us about Maswane and asked if we would be willing to go pray with her. When she was five years old she was raped which is how she contracted HIV.

She was raped again when she was seven and has never once consented to sex with a man. One of the men who raped her has died, and the other is free; he escaped to South Africa. Her virginity as well as her life has been brutally ripped away.

We have had a place to submit ideas for our authors to write posts about for some time that hasn’t been working all that well.  However, that has been updated.  So feel free to use the submission page (the link is on the left side of your screen) to share your ideas with us.  However, we want you to remember that just because you want us to write about something, that doesn’t mean that we want to write about it.

Thanks for your continued dialogue.

I couldn’t help but post this nearly picture-perfect abuse of Scripture, as illustrated by a tinfoil-hat-wearing Christian with slightly too much knowledge of video production for his (and our) own good:

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Now – I don’t hide my political affiliation, nor my utter (and nearly complete) disdain for the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Even so, I think that stretching the historical (and linguistic) truth to shoehorn the newspaper into one’s voodoo-theologics is just plain silly…

PS: Apologies for my AWOL-ness recently – I hope to be through this particular stretch of woods in the near future…

[HT: A 'Christian' friend of mine...]