To love and befriend the 'sinner' is a courageous walk!

Rather than burning atheists alive with fire, how about burning them with sacrificial love? Percy Bysshe Shelley Poems Queen Mab: Part VII. SPIRIT 'I was an infant when my mother went To see an atheist burned. She took me there. The dark-robed priests were met around the pile; The multitude was gazing silently; And as the culprit passed with dauntless mien, Tempered disdain in his unaltering eye, Mixed with a quiet smile, shone calmly forth; The thirsty fire crept round his manly limbs; His resolute eyes were scorched to blindness soon; His death-pang rent my heart! the insensate mob Uttered a cry of triumph, and I wept. "Weep not, child!" cried my mother, "for that man Has said, There is no God."' "Holiness is not a wall between us and the world" as Dr. James Russom says. To live a good Christian life there has been so much emphasis on the things we should not and no longer do and the places we no longer go, that we construct a wall and ask others to join us on our side of the wall of life. The courageous walk is up to the challenge to create a new understanding of "in the world, but not of it, removing the stigma or fear that if we fellowship with sinners we put our spiritual life at risk and become like the sinner. This might be true except that there is a difference between the fellowship with sinners (philadelphia = brotherly love) and koinonia (kindred fellowship) with Christians wherein we find accountability and commradery on the narrow way; yet we owe it to every man to extend brotherly love. We can only have koinonia with fellow believers. John the apostle would teach that the key lesson he felt Jesus wanted him to get across was "love one another!" The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."' But wisdom is proved right by her actions" (Matthew 11:19). The Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples,"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:29 - 32). There is Jesus praying for my effectiveness in the world and that of other Christians: we are salt, light, and the revelation of the Gospel, the representative of Jesus that reflects him to others. Show love. To people that do not know Christ, show them love. Let them see Christ in you. Ask questions. The only way you're ever going to find out about a person is by asking questions. Listen. Most everyone with holes in their lives are waiting for someone to just listen to them. Turn other toward Jesus. Let them know there is one who can wonderfully, beautifully change their lives. In His high priestly prayer, John 17, Jesus prayed: "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. John 17:13-19 Lest they think this only applies to the original disciples; Jesus went on to pray: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, John 17:20 Jesus prayed that as sanctified believers (holy and set apart to God) we would be used of God "in the world." Jesus demonstrated what He meant by that by his own life and ministry. Is there not a better way to get the point across to an atheist than to burn him alive with fire? Fire burns outside in, love burns inside out and renews and transforms in the process. Love is the way of a courageous walk.

Color of Autumn

In the beginning God said “Let there be light and there was light” Genesis 1:3. But it wasn’t until 1666 when English scientist Sir Isaac Newton discovered that when pure white light passes through a prism, it separates into all of the visible colors. Newton also found that each color is made up of a single wavelength and cannot be separated any further into other colors. As Jesus radiated the prismic glory of God, because in Him is light and as Christians we are ‘salt and light’ to the world. As Jesus is visible in me, there is color.

In an autumn season, we see leaves changing colors blending into an array of beauty especially as the sunlight hits them. Breathtaking landscaped horizons in every direction give me pause for prayer and appreciation to the God of light for letting me be a part of that light.


Further experiments demonstrated that light could be combined to form other colors. For example, red light mixed with yellow light creates an orange color. A color resulting from a mix of two other colors is known as a metamer. Some colors, such as yellow and purple, cancel each other out when mixed and result in a white light. These competing colors are known as complements. Surely, there is a spiritual application here. Christians are colorful, some colors are metamer and some are complements. Some are warm colors and some are cool colors. Understanding that each color is separate visible radiance of light lends a colorful picture of the beauty of holiness and Christ in us the hope of glory.

Mother's Day!

"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." - Abraham Lincoln

In the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth. It was good. For whatever reason, the existence of evil predated the creation of man. Evil was not extinguished with the creation of man. But rather at the time God created Adam and Eve, there was in fact evil with which the tempter interposed temptation, before yielding, evil held no power over Adam and Eve. Once they disobeyed God, eating the forbidden fruit, the terror of evil and suffering and pain was now a blight. In the birth, life and death of the Son of God, Jesus was victorious in redeeming humanity. He broke the power of evil and the curse of the fall, the curse of death was replaced by resurrection power. At Pentecost, the disciples were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Evil remains, but it’s rendered powerless by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and gifted to us by God’s benevolent saving sanctifying grace and power.

To those who would identify with God’s holy and become the church of empowered believers, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also.” (John 14:12). Did Jesus really mean this? I believe he did.

As a small man, a family man and an educated man but an individual who faces each day with a physical infirmity, a pastor of the Christian faith in the 21st century, I welcome advisement and counsel from anyone who might enlighten me if I make assertions in a manner not consistent with Holy Scripture. I contend that there is an excellent model of ministry instituted by Jesus and carried forward by the apostles and the New Testament church as recorded in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. In fact, the entire New Testament is a model for ministry. If Jesus fed the multitudes, healed the sick, raised the moral social standards in addressing the way children and women were treated, clarified legal definitions such as 'who is my neighbor', et.al. - is he suggesting that the church can extend this ministry into the 21st century and up until he returns? Why not?

History of our own lives

The Importance of History in Our Own Lives

History well told is beautiful. The story of our life, the word of our testimony, and of the place where we live, the corner of this wonderful world we occupy, is a story that must be told. And the actual story is the one that should be shared. Historians know the importance of drama but also of accuracy. Biography and military history and the epic stories of faith appeal in part because of the tales they contain. History as art and entertainment serves a real purpose, on aesthetic grounds but also on the level of human understanding. Stories well done are stories that reveal how people and societies have actually functioned, and they prompt thoughts about the human experience in other times and places. Shall we not engage in recounting the past or shove past memories in to the forgetful closets of our mind. The very beauty that inspired our fathers and mothers should inspire us to be immersed in the simple stories of those who came before us and that time invested in immersing ourselves to reconstruct perhaps albeit remote pasts, far removed from the immediate, nevertheless present present day utility. Exploring the ‘pastness of the past’ itself involves a sense of beauty and excitement, and ultimately another perspective on human life and society.

Substitute Teaching

Each day is a day that God has given us, and each person we meet during that day and the places we go- each moment of that day is in His hands. The joy of discovering the world He has given us and the beauty of each day is further evidenced in the lives of children. As a substitute teacher within the public school system from time to time, my life intersects with many different students in a diverse backdrop of educational learning experiences- and I marvel at the simple yet complex nature of each person, the uniqueness of each moment and the adventure of each day.