Addicted to Grace

Not so long ago, I was very sick.
Through literally thousands upon thousands of people praying for me, God moving on behalf of me and a lot of support from my family - I made it.
Today, I am one of the very few people who can say they survived Stage 4, 'Terminal' Cancer.

Occasionally, I think back to that time when I was so sick and still serving a church.
Things never stop in a church - you have the joyful, the proud, those wanting to control, the blissful and of course, the grumps.
And I remember thinking how so unlike the early Church we have become today.

Looking to the New Testament and the early church, they were addicted to grace and drawn to an interdependence upon one another.
I wish, in this day and age, for the sake of the Body of Christ, Christians would refrain from glossing over their sins, quit excusing their actions and just give it up to God and accept forgiveness and grace from His hand.

Funny thing about both forgiveness and grace; they are free but they have to be wanted to be obtained.

Sadly, many do not want these free gifts any more; the institutionalized Christians doesn't really feel the need for it because instead of becoming a master at repentance, many have become the master of excuses to justify wrong acts.

Not long ago in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), nobody in leadership ever spoke of our societal, institutional sins like racism.
I am thankful to have lived in the era when this was confessed and forgiveness sought from God and those who were injured by willful sin and ignorance.
Yet, while this sin was institutionalized there were others which were simply ignored; like pride and legalism - although Jesus Himself railed against these as well.

When I was a child, consuming alcohol or befriending or being a homosexual, whom we slammed with our rhetoric of 'faggot' and 'queer'; these were sins which would send a person straight to Hell on a pathway designed for the demons of Lucifer.
I am equally thankful to be living in a time where some, a few strong Christians, are ministering to those in both the homosexual community and the bar scene.
God's grace cannot be communicated to another human being by hurting them with words or violence; if every person has equal value before God as a human then they also are equally entitled to His forgiveness, mercy and grace.

But whether the sin is racism, sexual addictions, alcohol addictions, pride or something else; all sin is to be repented of and forgiven by the grace of God.
And this being true, if God so readily forgives, why does the Christian first fail to seek His forgiveness and then once it is obtained, shun those who have sought grace?

One group of people who excel at giving forgiveness without judging one another is Alcoholics Anonymous.
It has been so effected that there are over 250 other 12-step programs in the United States today; attempting to help people with every issue from being over weight to serious narcotic addictions.
A major problem with Christians today - we don't want to admit that we're addicts; we are addicted to our sins, our behaviors we attempt to justify and we're addicted to self-love of that person in the mirror.

Somewhere, when I was sick, I read of this person in the phenomenal Teen Challenge program, working and striving to be free of an addiction to crack cocaine.
The woman stated, 'Crack isn't for people to feel good; it's for people to fill nothing.'

That's right - and that is what all of our sins do - make us numb to that inner conviction which silently shouts what is right and wrong.
We want to silence it; not to hear it - for if we hear it, we might be forced to obey that voice and admit there is something wrong with ourselves.

Whether it is crack, alcohol or any thing else, these things we do and use so that we will feel good; they are for wounds that cannot be seen on the outside but remain dangerous to our heart and soul.
Yet, the woman who explained her addiction to crack in such terms of reality, also insisted a cure began first, only when repentance occurred. 

To nearly alcoholics or narcotic addicts in recovery, they will agree that the spiritual element in their restoration is essential.
Yet, to many of them, steeples and pews seem gutless, phony; people masking their true pain and urges so that others will have a 'respectable' opinion of them and their family.

In Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), when a member wants to drink, they can call another member

any time of the day or night and that other member will come right away to help them.
When was the last time you heard of a church member calling someone other than their pastor at 4 in the morning for some type of help?

Quite frankly, I never have - and many times, even when the pastor is called, it is to deal with a family grieving a death, rather than helping a member deal with a sin.

All member in these recovery programs are treated on the same level; that's why they only use their first names.
And these programs are about radical honesty and radical dependence on one another.

Sound familiar?
It should, because that is what we read in the New Testament. 
The recovery programs for addicts in the 21st Century, have their success because they used God's model for the Church...and it still works.
We as the Church can learn a lot from addicts; for we need to become dependent on one another again, while being addicted to grace.

Today, we accept the fact that people are going to lie in church.
For example, 'How are  you doing?'
And the person will answer, 'Oh, I'm fine...'
But the truth is something similar to their children being in drugs, their marriage is falling apart and their dog just died an hour ago.

We have allowed the Church to become a society of respectable liars.
As such, those same addicts go to recovery groups instead of the Church because they don't feel comfortable in a 'Holy' place where people lie.
Another reason, to the person whose life is falling apart because of substance abuse, they don't realize that church people aren't all together with their lives either.

In these programs, 'This is who I am and this is my sin...'

I have never heard any person in the body of Christ confess to one another in such a manner, although this may be the most accurate portrayal of what the apostles meant by confessing to one another.

There's an old AA saying: 'Religion is for people who believe in Hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there.'

Our inability to admit the emotional or spiritual Hell we endure in life is one of our problems.
It is also why so many emerge from Church, Sunday after Sunday, with a self-satisfied pride.

Attending Church is an expression of need; of our need for God and the family of God.
There are millions of Christians who leave their Church parking lot every week with an overwhelming emptiness because reality is often covered in church with a false veneer of respectability.

If the lost and hurting world could see the Church as a place which welcomed broken people so they may be healed and restored, then we as Christians would have a greater impact on the world than all the evangelism programs and events combined.

The Body of Christ should never be done with this work; for, we are never done offering forgiveness to those who are lost, broken and hurting.
Like them, each Christian must be addicted to His grace; only by this can we be restored.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.

Christians & Politics

Many years ago, I wrote a political column for the University newspaper of the college I attended.
The college was located in the Coalfields of the Mountain State; which soon put my column in the 'must read' section of the campus because it was entitled, 'The Conservative Corner.'
The area was, and to a large degree still is, dominated by Democrat machine politics.

WV Tech, Old Main

It was a time in which I was afforded the luxury of developing my thoughts and write of my political convictions and beliefs. At the same time, those beliefs and convictions were tested and tried by those who opposed my viewpoint.
I learned to defend my position and quickly learned that in political talk, it is much easier to attack the messenger rather than defeat the message.

Given the nature of the current season, it has become appropriate to return to my roots as a mid-term election nears.
With the experiences that I have had over the past several years, health/spiritual/emotional, these have given me a different view and outlook as to what is taking place on the political stage; with the first and foremost question being, 'Where does the Christian fit in?'

Truthfully, many Christians have dropped out of the entire political scene; and that's sad.

Some see politics as 'dirty' and rightly so in many cases; the Christian is to be pure and undefiled, so, they will avoid it all together.
Other Christians see themselves as being 'otherworldly' and politics is a beast definitely of a fallen world. Therefore, in seeing the Christian as a citizen of another Kingdom, they have chosen to abandon this Kingdom altogether.

Yet, Jesus instructed us to give to Caesar what is Caesar and our Caesar is our government.
God has greatly blessed the American public by giving us a representative Republic; not to be involved in at least some way would be an act of disobedience to the Lord.
As such, our culture is decidedly and traditionally of a Christian nature; yet, Church and State is not to mix in governing - but Christians as a whole do wield the largest number of votes and the greatest power when we are held together.

To prove this point, one needs only to look toward the last Presidential election in America. 
Regardless of what party anyone supported, across our nation we witnessed a man and his wife, who are Mormons, trying to convince the American public that they were part of a "normal" evangelical faith - no different than a Baptist.
At the same time, over 1/3 over the American voting bloc believed the current President running for reelection was a Muslim.

While these two issues are still up for debate, one thing is true for America - Christian involvement in the political scene is a recent phenomenon. While Christians have always been involved, in recent years the involvement has escalated to near-machine politic levels.
And this is not a good thing, for Scripture teaches us that our victory comes, '...not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit...'

Until the late 1970's, for a political candidate to talk about their faith was very rare; though there were exceptions like John Kennedy's Catholicism.
But when Jimmy Carter entered the 1976 Presidential race claiming to be an evangelical, born-again Christian - a silent majority of believers swept him into the White House over President Ford, who had been mildly tarnished by Watergate.
Yet, Carter was too liberal for many of those who voted for him and they soon felt betrayed. The result was the election of 1980 as a former actor named Ronald Reagan became President of the United States.

The Supreme Court of the United States

The lesson in this for the Christian today is the fact that before a public Christian voting bloc entered national politics, most Americans had a favorable view of Christianity and the Church.
Today, decades later, most young people associate only negative ideals with the Church; anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-environment and so on.

As such, to many, Christians have sold their soul to political power instead of selling themselves out for the sake of the Gospel.

The question remains, 'Where do we fit in as Christians?' but there is no clear answer.
Scripture gives us various answers.

Unlike the American Republic, King Solomon combined Church & State, leading Israel to its most glorious time.
Elijah, however, railed against King Ahab and his wife Jezebel; at the same time the Prophet Obadiah sheltered God's true Prophets while administratively running the King's court.
The Prophets Amos (one of my favorites) and Hosea condemned the sinfulness of the Kings of Israel and compared the people to being as stupid as cows and religiously promiscuous as prostitutes.
Isaiah, on the other hand, he was King Hezekiah's court prophet.
Daniel was exiled as a young man, but served as a high administrator for two different pagan governments.

Which of these is right for us today?
Are we to combine our culture with our faith or are we to separate them as far apart as we can?
In society there are good arguments for both camps; who is right?

Well, the truth is that Christians will readily accept some parts of the culture while rejecting other parts; it is not an 'all or nothing' proposition.
There is nothing 'traditional' about American society; no other society in history has developed itself in a way by which it accepts all other cultures.

Americans have chosen from the beginning to keep our faith and government separate because the Colonists did not want 'home' or 'state' churches dictating their lives in the New World.
Seriously, if we face up to it, state churches and government ordained religions do not have a

good track record. Catholics and Protestants were still killing each other in Ireland well into the 1990's.
And while most of those battles were essentially terroristic strikes, other religions have been less tolerant - Communists and Islamists make conversion a capital crime.

In America, Christians are the majority; does that mean we are to rule and if so, to what extent?
What is the example of Christ?

The truth is that Jesus didn't react much different than we do at times; in fact, we should do what He did more.
Jesus accepted much of His culture, but at the same time He reached out to those deemed as heretics like the Samaritans, and the unclean, such as Lepers. 
He even broke Sabbath, dare I say Church, rules when it was necessary to teach us that our hearts are far more important than our actions.

The New Testament teaches us that Government is necessary, even ordained by God; but government certainly is no sponsor or friend of the faith.
And at times, God even raises up wicked rulers which persecute the faithful.
The Disciples became martyrs as did countless early Christians at the hands of the Roman Emperors.
In modern times, Americans do not see religious persecution very much unless they travel to the Third World; instead, we see a government turning away from the faith at every turn.

One interesting fact is that Islamic nations totally embrace the state-run religion model; but today, most 'Christian' nations do not.
Yet, both Christianity and Islam, the world's two largest religions, seek to influence the culture around them and even the world.
And both has done so in both positive and negative ways throughout the centuries.

Oddly enough, the evolution of this issue in both religions can be seen in our our societies and cultures treat public prayers.
in America, we will have people argue over prayers announced on the PA system at a Friday night football game.
In the Muslim world, society comes to a screeching halt five times a day and citizens are forced to pray.
Personally, I have found forced faith is no faith at all.
But I digress.

Sometimes the accusation is leveled that government uses religion to control or influence the people so that those in power can stay in power.
The accusation is historically accurate but governments hardly need religion to seduce their politicians toward an authoritarian rule over the people they are to serve.
And this is not just an issue for Christianity, other faiths rely on forced behavior for compliance.

For example, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), moral police patrol the streets and businesses looking for Muslim rule-breakers; the worst offenders are punished each week in a place called 'Chop-Chop Square.'

The Taliban banned the education of women; therefore, the Islamic strong-hand is not confined to the Middle East.
In China, where Communism is the government style as well as a form of religion, the Red Guards enforce laws such as the wearing of eye glasses or possessing money.

But Christians should not deny our own history of relying on coercion.
Ireland used to levy a fine on citizens who didn't attend Church; while in 1492, the nation who sent Columbus across the ocean, Spain, declared that all Jews must convert.

The lesson for those of us who are American citizens as we look at our faith's past: when religion gets close to government, an abuse of power will almost always ensue.
The fact is that when the Church and State are joined together, if it works at all, it will only work temporarily and will end in the Church getting the short end of the stick as the people backlash against such a way of life.

I realize that the goal of every Christian is to fulfill the Great Commission of our Lord and truly be a part of the reaching of 'all tribes, tongues and nations.'
It is an earnest desire within my own heart; as it is in the heart of millions upon millions of people.

Yet, the truth remains that the Christian can never reach people from the top, down. It doesn't work that way because you can't force people to believe or to convert.
People are won to the faith simply by one heart at a time, from the lowliest citizen to the highest monarch; Christians work from the bottom, up.

Want proof?
Simply look to the Gospels, God chose Israel, the lowest of all nations from which to give us His Son. God chosen a gang of outcast, wayward men as His chief messengers to the Roman Empire.

Emperor Constantine I

And within three centuries, the lowliest, humble people had infected the known world with their faith as Constantine became the first Christian Emperor.

That's quite a success story, a story which can be repeated in our lives.
But it is not had by trying to conquer the government, but by conquering hearts with the Gospel.

While many pray for revival, I can promise you that revival won't come from the government or the Halls of Congress.
Revival must start within the hall of our hearts before it reaches anywhere else.
And that's our real place in politics, the witness of the Lord and the conscience of society using the twin weapons of grace and forgiveness.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.

Morality in a Changing World

"Nature is cruel, therefore we too can be cruel."

                                                                                                         ~ Adolf Hitler


When a person has cancer and survives, every day and every event of any meaningful proportion is a cause for reflection.
Over the last several days, nine black-robed men and women, acting as the self-appointed High Priests of American Morality, chose to destroy the traditional structure of the Marriage Institution.

The fact that millions disregard the purpose and sacred boundaries of marriage each day is irrelevant. 
Adultery, fornication, and multiple partners - these are engaged in every day by literally millions upon millions of people. But with this decision, something has changed.

Every man and woman decides the meaning marriage will have on their lives; it is not a governmental decision; yet, the American government has now taken that decision and placed morality and acceptability in their own hands rather than the hands of the populous.
I fear we have sawed off the lower branches of the tree on which society was built.
In this decision, the proponents have mistaken societal limits on their life for living life itself.

No society in the history of the world has attempted to live without a belief in the sacred; from ancient times we have idols and statues and "holy men" conducting religious rights and ceremonies.
Yet, with the dawning of the Twentieth Century, something changed; humanity began to look for 'other' explanations to our existence and to the basis for our values.

Today, we are only beginning to recognize the consequences of what we have allowed to happen when we lost the sacred.
Many Americans of our day live in a constant state of confusion; they cannot answer the big questions of life that have always engaged the human race - our meaning, our purpose, the nature of reality, etc.

Due to the fact that we have silently consented to the elimination of the sacred, we have changed the story, purpose and meaning to life.
As a result, less people with a Christian faith today in this country than ever before, as evidenced by the fact that every Christian denomination has declined in the last 10 years.
What is left is men and women, who are now adults, who have no idea as to what the over-arching story of humanity may be; feeling lost and alone, there is not promise in the future.

To millions, we live in a universe governed by chance

Yet, most people in world history have experienced the world where pain, suffering and tragedy is somehow linked to the sacred.
If you remove the sacred, you remove the meaning to the pain; and if you remove the meaning, then you remove hope of redemption and restoration.
Why would any person want to continue in a world such as this?

Years ago, Einstein remarked that the modern age has the perfect means, but confused ends. How much more true is that today?
For we know how things work, but we really don't know why.

Some scientists and evolutionary theorists have claimed that we have a "selfish gene" and the reason we do the things we do is because it is all a form of self-glorification or in seeking a reward.
For example, Mother Theresa did not minister to the destitute and dying out of compassion or calling, she ministered because she expected a reward from Christ.
Therefore, Mother Theresa acted out of selfish desires.

No reasonable thinking person can subscribe to this idea of a 'selfish gene' because if it was true, rape would be a normal part of natural selection.
It would be a mere technique in the spreading of seed by the most powerful.

In the real world, science fails when attempting to take morality from God; as do governments.
In nature, there are signs of compassion among animals - moral acts that are very human-like.
For example, chimps will aide their wounded, dolphins will risk their own lives to save or help their companions in the sea.
And if nature has a type of ethical code or law, doesn't it stand to reason that ethics and morality come from a Moral Law Giver who is not influenced by our reason or thought?

Yet, appealing to nature for an ethical code is not absolute; nor is it a wise move.
The same chimps who aid their wounded also resolve disputes by engaging in orgies.
On the other extreme, a Preying Mantis will eat its partner as it mates. Mallard Ducks will gang rape and then drown other ducks, and Chipmunks regularly eat their babies.
Therefore, all we can conclude by looking to nature is that there is an ethical code and both animals and humans will violate it.

As humans, we are outraged when Alzheimer's Patients are 'dumped,' or when children are pushed out of a Hi-Rise. 
Twenty years ago, the country was sickened by Susan Smith, who drown her own children; we were also shocked when a professional football player was acquitted of murdering his wife.
But if morality is evolved, on what ground do we feel outraged at these things?

Temple? or Court?

And if morality is not evolved, then it must be determined; if so, then who determines it?
The answer isn't government.
It's God...and God and the government are not one and the same, although society would rather you go to your government for help rather than God.
But I digress.

The uneducated, primitive people of centuries ago realized and knew within themselves that there was something sacred to this world.
Every culture had an additional god in their religious structure, 'the god beyond.' They knew there was a God beyond the mountain or water, but had not yet discovered Him.
The point is that they knew He existed without even being told; and they worshiped Him.
Sadly, we can know Him by name; yet, we ignore Him.

The Psalmist celebrates the created world as an expression of a Person.
How can personhood and beauty be ascribed to accidental collisions of matter?
It can't.

Our society today desperately needs a moral tether; or at the very least a sign post pointing to a Moral Teacher.
And that is the purpose of the modern Church.

In the 1990's through the early 2000's, society glorified the 'Anti-Hero'.

Television shows glorified men and women who played outside the rules and beyond the system to bring justice to a meaningless world.
Our society is still struggling to place meaning in the world because they have no direction or guidance; it is the responsibility of the church to do that very thing.

And until we point to God as we should and shoulder this responsibility, society is not going to change.
You don't change society or people for that matter, by forcing a new standard or by out voting them. Every person who changes, changes their life because their heart changes.
And that can only happen at the foot of the Cross.

Until next time, be true to yourself and God; win won for the good guys.

Forgiving the Unworthy

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

                                                                                                              ~ Mahatma Gandhi

C. S. Lewis once told of a time when theologians and other educated people were discussing what made Christianity different from all other religions of the world. 
Lewis walked into the room and when confronted by the question, he reportedly said, "That's easy. It's grace."

Grace.
Grace is God's unwarranted and undeserved love; it is this alone which is unique to Christianity and it goes against our natural instinct.
Forgiveness isn't easy; maybe that is why so many have experienced opposition to this 'free gift' of God, even in Christian circles.


Maybe, just maybe, that is why Jesus Himself spoke so much about forgiveness and the need for grace.
And maybe that was why God was so willing to forgive His people after centuries of rejection; He knew we wouldn't come to Him any other way.

In our world, we are use to some type of catch; there are of course, no free lunches.
But with Jesus it is different. 
In His teachings and illustrations, there are no loopholes which might disqualify a person from God's love.
Jesus portrayed God's arms as ever-extended; if we lack forgiveness or grace then it is only because it is ourselves who have turned away.

It seems that God takes joy in humanity; which should not be a surprise since He is our Creator.
He loves us, not because we have eradicated all the problems sin has caused - such as suffering and pain; rather, He loves us because we're lost and then we are found.
He rejoices at that moment when we stop being pursed by Him and turn and walk towards Him seeking His grace.
That would excite any Father - the humility of a repentant child.

Many of us miss the point of the stories Jesus tells us in Scripture; He shows us the value of

A Hypocrite

'real' people rather than 'good' people.
If you've never noticed who Jesus chose to hand out with during His life, it was not the false religious types who strut on Sunday Morning; instead it was real people who had real pain in their lives and needed grace.

The religious crowd wasn't His crowd, but the whores, tax collectors and reprobates were fully welcomed and they welcomed Him as well.
The 'Good Church People' of His day rejected Him.

I need to be fully honest at this point; I've met a lot of those 'good Church people' and have been disappointed in them.
I know a man whom I have never seen one bit of compassion or mercy in him towards others. I have seen him hurt his family, hurt himself and hurt others within his own church; emotionally that is, never physically that I know of but emotional pain can be just as devastating.
When people in his community see him in his church, those who know him don't want anything to do with that church because of how he treats others in life.
And to be quite honest, with people so destructive in the pews, I believe I'd rather hang out with the reprobates like Jesus did.

Millions of Christians know someone like the person I have described from my past.
In truth, we are all one step away from being that hard-hearted, cold, callused, carnal Christian

that ceases to forgive and becomes self-centered, disregarding everyone else.
We must always guard against this...for it may be one of the greatest sins we could commit.

Every Christian has been forgiven a mountainous amount by God; there's no question about that.
It is so large, that beside it, any person's wrong against me would seem to be an anthill in comparison.
How can we be so audacious to have received forgiveness on God's level and yet, cease to forgive one another?

This should not be seen as weak, nor as an excuse for the offender; rather it should be seen as imitating the One who moved Heaven and Earth to forgive you and I in the power of His grace.

If there is any doubt about forgiving someone who has sinned greatly against us, the Apostle Paul boldly states, 'Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.'
The Apostle understood the magnitude of God's forgiveness in his life; Paul never 'got over' being forgiven by the grace of God, nor should we.

If we allowed it, like Paul, grace would guide our lives until our death; and each day would be an experience of ever increasing victory in the Lord because only God's Grace can allow us to triumph over the world.

The theologian Karl Barth was once asked at a press conference what the "most profound truth" he had learned in his life.
Without hesitation, Barth answered:

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so..."

Barth was right, for Jesus' love is unconditional; which is why His grace abounds in our lives.

Now, if this is true, the question must be asked, 
'Why then do so many of us continue to try and earn His love when it is freely given?'
"Why can't people just accept His love?"
Somehow some have the idea that though they believe in God, God doesn't believe in them anymore.
Maybe it is because of how some 'Good Churches' with 'Good People' treat those different from themselves.
But nothing could be further from the truth.

When I was in the Cleveland Clinic, not knowing if I was going to live or die, but trusting God by faith that what ever happened would be for His glory - once I was lying in a hospital bed reading out of the Bible late at night.
I was suppose to have a surgery in the morning; I wasn't worried, just awake.
A nurse walked in, as they did about every two hours or so, and saw what I was doing and said, "You must be close with God."
I said, "Yes, He is quite fond of me. I may be seeing Him soon."

Well, it didn't happen at that time, but some day it will - I will meet the Lord face to face.
And I was right, He is fond of me; He is also fond of every person who honestly seeks Him in truth.
I wish the millions of Christians across the globe who think they are on God's 'bad' list would wake up and realize that Jesus didn't die for the righteous, but for those who needed forgiveness and grace.

You see, the Book of Life was not written in successive chapters; it was delivered in a print.
As evidence, just look in Scripture and see whom God loves and you will soon see that the people look more like a group of people you'd see at a County Jail.
There are murderers, thieves, liars, people who betrayed loved ones, harlots and worse; in fact, anybody who was unworthy of grace seems to be the very person whom God chased down to

Forgiven of all because of the Cross

love and forgive.

Friend, He still does.

God doesn't weigh the good and the bad; he blesses the good and forgives the bad because He can see who we will one day become because of His wonderful grace in our lives.
We are the Unworthy who have been forgiven.

Until next time, forgive the unworthy in your life and you'll be imitating Christ Himself, and you just may win one for the good guys.