Ecclesiastes 12:10

As John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence .”  In our world today, we hear a lot of opinions and thought on many subjects without a lot of facts.  But what is the truth on those matters?  Jesus told us that God’s word is truth (John 17:17).  With that in mind here are a few facts to consider: We can't become more Godly by becoming more worldly. James 4:4 The amount of your faith will not save you if your faith is wrong person.  John 14:6 You will be persecuted if you do the right thing. 2 nd Timothy 3:12 What you say matters even if you don’t “mean it” Matthew 12:36 Those that are engaging in sin will not go to heaven. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Baptism is an essential part of salvation. Mark 16:16; 1 st Peter 3:21 We are not saved by faith alone James 2:24 Most people won’t go to heaven....

Crazy hypothetical: Data or Troi * If you had to choose which who would you rather be:   A person that always knows exactly what any person they come in contact with is feeling and has a total and instant empathy with them, so much so that they then share that same feeling. Any emotion a person bring with them is now your own. Or,  A person that has no emotional connection to any person, so much so that they often confused by any emotional response. They are distance and aloof from the feelings of other, so they recognize them but they are not affect by other emotions expect on a logical level. [i] Who would you be? *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class. This one can be used to examine how and why act towards people. [i] IE I know that that person is angry but it won’t intimidate me but I can understan...

    In his book “ How Do You Kill 11 Million People?”  , author Andy Andrews asked that question about the Holocaust that occurred in Nazi Germany. It was not asked about why that it happened but rather how it occurred. He asks the question this way: “ Why, for month after month and year after year, did millions of intelligent human beings –guarded by relatively few Nazi soldiers– willingly load their families into cattle cars to be transported by rail to one of the many death camps scattered across Europe? How can a condemned group of people headed for a gas chamber be compelled to act in a docile manner? ”   The answer was surprisingly simple. In short, they lied to them. And, sadly, they believed it.  The Jews were told it was for their protection.  First, as barbed-wire fences were erected, encircling entire neighborhoods, leaders assured them that the physical restrictions being placed upon their community were only temporary necessities of war...

Crazy hypothetical: I don’t even think that will get you in the Justice Society* What is the lamest super power you can think of [1] ?  What is the most unless super power you can think of [2] ? Is there anything that could be classified as a super power [3] that could not have ANY practical purposes? Examples: You can predict the future but only things that are inconsequential. You can produce tremendous amount of sweat on demand, like enough to fill a mop bucket.  You are the master of static electricity. *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class. This is great way to talk about spiritual gifts and talents and how they all can be used. [1] Don’t say Aquaman [2] I told you not Aquaman! [3] Something that is beyond human ability

     On December 2 nd 1804, Napoleon was to be crowned the emperor of France.  The ceremony was held in the famous Notre Dame Cathedral and the official crowning was to be done by Pope Pious the 7 th .  In a blending the French traditions with ancient Rome pageantry, the Pope was to place the crown on Napoleon’s head and by his authority declare Napoleon the emperor, but at the moment of the crowning, Napoleon unexpectedly turned and, forestalling the Pope, crowned himself.  His message was a subtle but direct statement.  He was the greater authority; no one was giving him the crown. He was taking it.        This event came to my mind as I happened passed a religious program on the television.  The host of the show was leading a prayer for people that were suffering illness.  As he listed each malady one at a time, he said, “and it will be gone now!”  His prayer sounded less like a request and more li...

Crazy hypothetical: D ō mo arigat ō , Mr. Roboto * You have been offered an opportunity to have your body replaced with a sophisticated android.  You will look and sound the exact same [1] but your body will be able to do amazing things.  It will be much faster, stronger, and more durable.  It would in essence make you the most physically gifted person in any field.  It will not wear out or get weaker.  The only down side is you would lose most sensory feeling.  You could no longer smell or taste anything.  While you would still see and hear, your sense of touch would be limited to the most basic like wearing a very thick glove over your entire body.  So a hug or handshake would have no warmth to it.  You would never feel hot or cold or a breeze across your skin.  You would never feel tired, or hungry but also never satisfied or well rested.  All bad or good sensations would cease. You would be the exact same all the tim...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering about my obsession with Stockholm Syndrome. At first I thought it was a bad thing but now I am starting to really like it.   I worry about redundancy in my preaching.   Redundancy is when you just keep doing the same things over and over.  It's kind of like the lessons are in a feedback loop, they keep returning to the same subjects over and over.  As a listener, I hated when a preacher would get up and a minute into the lesson I’m think this again? Now for a preacher to some degree, repetitiveness is your job.  Your job is repetitiveness. You are doing your job by being repetitive. The truth of the Gospel need to be taught again and again [*] . But redundancy can take your symphonic ideas and turn them into background elevator muzak.     So how do you avoid redundancy? Here are some things I have tried  1.  Keep Good Records The computer age has been very helpful in ...

     One of the more comical moments in Scripture for us (but I’m sure at the time was terrifying for them) occurs in Acts 19:13-16.  Here seven of the sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were attempting to cast out an evil spirit.  Apparently it had become common for some exorcists to try and ride on the coat tails of Jesus and his followers by casting demon in the name of Jesus.  After this man tires to remove the spirit by “ Jesus whom Paul preaches ”, the demon gives a humorous response. “ "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"      The spirit then uses his power over the man, to use the vernacular, but a major league whooping on the boys. They flee beaten and thoroughly walloped.  It seems their level of connection with Paul and Jesus didn’t give them much respect in the demons eyes.     There are still lots of folks that like to use Jesus and his followers for their creditab...

Crazy hypothetical: Pseu-pseu-pseudonym * In many different artistic endeavors (writing, music, acting) an artist will adopt a pseudonym**.  It is usually done to conceal an identity or avoid confusion.  Say you are in a situation that in order to work in your chosen field you are asked to adopt a pseudonym.  Do you think it would be wrong for a Christian to do this?  Is this a form of lying?  Would the reason given to adopt the pseudonym change how you feel?*** *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class.. ** A pseudonym is a name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from his or her original or true name. These include stage names, screen names, pen names, nicknames, aliases ***  For example J.K. Rowling was told by her publisher that her series wouldn't be ...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering why they call it a Fiat? Probably because if you get mad enough, you can throw one.    I always thought that Bible class numbers are a more accurate measure of the health of a church than worship attendance. I think it was Ira North that said “ as the Bible class goes, so goes the church ”.  But even those numbers can be off if we don’t make Bible class a priority in the church.  I've seen lots of churches that have poor class number because they don’t really make the classes worth attending. I’m focusing on adult Bible classes since if the adults come then the children will as well. [*] Here are some things that might help to fix that:              1. It’s all about the options.     If you only give folks a choice between one type of class and not coming, more people will take that choice to not come.  More classes make for smaller cla...

   All my life I have heard people in prayer thank God for the blessing we have in this country to be able to worship without any fear persecution from authorities.  I’m not “ a prophet or the son of a prophet ” but with the changes in our modern word, I wonder if that will be the case for much longer.  That might seem a radical idea to some but consider how quickly our world is changing in how it thinks about moral issues (homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, etc) and how quick it has become to pass laws to control “undesirable” behavior and thinking.  I not sure that an expectation of increased political pressure on churches is too radical a guess, however let me say something even more radical: I’m not sure we should be thanking God that we are not persecuted more.  I'm thinking about Acts 5:41,  “ So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His...