I’ll spit this out quick, before the armies of feminism try to gag me and strap electrodes to my forehead: Tim Tebow is one of the better things to happen to young women in some time. I realize this stance won’t endear me to the “Dwindling Organizations of Ladies in Lockstep,” otherwise known as DOLL, but I’ll try to pick up the shards of my shattered feminist credentials and go on.
As statements at Super Bowls go, I prefer the idea of Tebow’s pro-life ad to, say, Jim McMahon dropping his pants, as the former Chicago Bears quarterback once did in response to a question. We’re always harping on athletes to be more responsible and engaged in the issues of their day, and less concerned with just cashing checks. It therefore seems more than a little hypocritical to insist on it only if it means criticizing sneaker companies, and to stifle them when they take a stance that might make us uncomfortable.
I’m pro-choice, and Tebow clearly is not. But based on what I’ve heard in the past week, I’ll take his side against the group-think, elitism and condescension of the “National Organization of Fewer and Fewer Women All The Time.” For one thing, Tebow seems smarter than they do.
Tebow’s 30-second ad hasn’t even run yet, but it already has provoked “The National Organization for Women Who Only Think Like Us” to reveal something important about themselves: They aren’t actually “pro-choice” so much as they are pro-abortion. Pam Tebow has a genuine pro-choice story to tell. She got pregnant in 1987, post-Roe v. Wade, and while on a Christian mission in the Philippines, she contracted a tropical ailment. Doctors advised her the pregnancy could be dangerous, but she exercised her freedom of choice and now, 20-some years later, the outcome of that choice is her beauteous Heisman Trophy winner son, a chaste, proselytizing evangelical.
Pam Tebow and her son feel good enough about that choice to want to tell people about it. Only, NOW says they shouldn’t be allowed to. Apparently NOW feels this commercial is an inappropriate message for America to see for 30 seconds, but women in bikinis selling beer is the right one. I would like to meet the genius at NOW who made that decision. On second thought, no, I wouldn’t.
There’s not enough space in the sports pages for the serious weighing of values that constitutes this debate, but surely everyone in both camps, pro-choice or pro-life, wishes the “need” for abortions wasn’t so great. Which is precisely why NOW is so wrong to take aim at Tebow’s ad.
Here’s what we do need a lot more of: Tebows. Collegians who are selfless enough to choose not to spend summers poolside, but travel to impoverished countries to dispense medical care to children, as Tebow has every summer of his career. Athletes who believe in something other than themselves, and are willing to put their backbone where their mouth is. Celebrities who are self-possessed and self-controlled enough to use their wattage to advertise commitment over decadence.
You know what we really need more of? Famous guys who aren’t embarrassed to practice sexual restraint, and to say it out loud. If we had more of those, women might have fewer abortions. See, the best way to deal with unwanted pregnancy is to not get the sperm in the egg and the egg implanted to begin with, and that is an issue for men, too — and they should step up to that.
“Are you saving yourself for marriage?” Tebow was asked last summer during an SEC media day.
“Yes, I am,” he replied.
The room fell into a hush, followed by tittering: The best college football player in the country had just announced he was a virgin. As Tebow gauged the reaction from the reporters in the room, he burst out laughing. They were a lot more embarrassed than he was.
“I think y’all are stunned right now!” he said. “You can’t even ask a question!”
That’s how far we’ve come from any kind of sane viewpoint about star athletes and sex. Promiscuity is so the norm that if a stud isn’t shagging everything in sight, we feel faintly ashamed for him.
Obviously Tebow can make people uncomfortable, whether it’s for advertising his chastity, or for wearing his faith on his face via biblical citations painted in his eye-black. Hebrews 12:12, his cheekbones read during the Florida State game: “Therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.” His critics find this intrusive, and say the Super Bowl is no place for an argument of this nature. “Pull the ad,” NOW President Terry O’Neill said. “Let’s focus on the game.”
Trouble is, you can’t focus on the game without focusing on the individuals who play it — and that is the genius of Tebow’s ad. The Super Bowl is not some reality-free escape zone. Tebow himself is an inescapable fact: Abortion doesn’t just involve serious issues of life, but of potential lives, Heisman trophy winners, scientists, doctors, artists, inventors, Little Leaguers — who would never come to be if their birth mothers had not wrestled with the stakes and chosen to carry those lives to term. And their stories are every bit as real and valid as the stories preferred by NOW.
Let me be clear again: I couldn’t disagree with Tebow more. It’s my own belief that the state has no business putting its hand under skirts. But I don’t care that we differ. Some people will care that the ad is paid for by Focus on the Family, a group whose former spokesman, James Dobson, says loathsome things about gays. Some will care that Tebow is a creationist. Some will care that CBS has rejected a gay dating service ad. None of this is the point. CBS owns its broadcast and can run whatever advertising it wants, and Tebow has a right to express his beliefs publicly. Just as I have the right to reject or accept them after listening — or think a little more deeply about the issues. If the pro-choice stance is so precarious that a story about someone who chose to carry a risky pregnancy to term undermines it, then CBS is not the problem.
Tebow’s ad, by the way, never mentions abortion; like the player himself, it’s apparently soft-spoken. It simply has the theme “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.” This is what NOW has labeled “extraordinarily offensive and demeaning.” But if there is any demeaning here, it’s coming from NOW, via the suggestion that these aren’t real questions, and that we as a Super Bowl audience are too stupid or too disinterested to handle them on game day.
There has been much discussion over the years about whether to teach abstinence or safe sex in the schools and what is most effective. I have found as a counselor that if I teach and counsel godly or Biblical principles and values people tend to live better lives emotionally, physically, and spiritually. God did create us and as our Creator He knows best.
The safe sex side has yelled for years that kids are going to have sex any way so we ought to encourage them to do it, and do it safely. They have used every medium and famous person available to try and drown out the abstinence side and have done lots of name calling. Well, now we have scientific evidence that abstinence teaching is more effective than safe sex teaching. The question is, will the safe sex people pay attention or just keep yelling.
Kids are going to have sex. They are influenced toward that end every where they go. Let’s stop encouraging kids to have sex and teach them that if they wait till marriage they will be healthier emotionally, physically and spiritually.
God’s ways are not our ways naturally, but they are the best ways. After all, He is God and we are not.
Here is the article from this weeks New York Times. Yes, New York Times.
A study of middle-school students that found for the first time that abstinence-only education helped to delay their sexual initiation is already beginning to shake up the longstanding debate over how best to prevent teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
“This is a rigorous study that means we can now say that it’s possible for an abstinence-only intervention to be effective,” Dr. John B. Jemmott III, the University of Pennsylvania professor who led the study, said Tuesday, hours after results of the study were released. “That’s important, because for some populations, abstinence is the only acceptable message.”
In Dr. Jemmott’s research, only about a third of the students who participated in a weekend abstinence-only class started having sex within the next 24 months, compared with about half who were randomly assigned instead to general health information classes, or classes teaching only safer sex. Among those assigned to comprehensive sex-education classes, covering both abstinence and safer sex, about 42 percent began having sex.
Dr. Jemmott’s research followed 662 African-American students at urban middle schools, who were paid $20 a session to attend the classes, plus follow-up and evaluation sessions. The abstinence-only classes covered HIV, abstinence and ways to resist the pressure to have sex.
“Because African-Americans tend to have a higher rate of early sexual initiation than others, we thought that within two years, a reasonable number would start having sex,” Dr. Jemmott said. “If we went younger, we couldn’t show that intervention works.”
The research, published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, appears just as the Obama administration is eliminating federal financing for abstinence-only programs, and starting a pregnancy-prevention initiative that will finance programs that have been shown in scientific studies to be effective.
Recognizing the political sensitivity of the research, and how unexpected are its results, the journal ran an accompanying editorial cautioning that public policy should not be based on the results of a single study and that policy makers should not “selectively use scientific literature to formulate a policy that meets preconceived ideologies.”
“The results may be surprising to some in that the theory-based abstinence-only curriculum appeared to be as effective as a combined course and more effective than the safer-sex only curriculum in delaying sexual activity,” the editorial said. “None of the curricula had any effect on the prevalence of unprotected sexual intercourse or consistent condom use.”
The executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, Valerie Huber, said she hoped that the new study would lead to restored federal support for abstinence programs.
“The current recommendation before Congress in the 2011 budget zeroes out abstinence education, and puts all the money into broader comprehensive education,” Ms. Huber said. “I hope that either the White House amends their request or Congress acts upon this, reinstating abstinence education.”
Ms. Huber also said she found it especially interesting that African-Americans were the focus of Dr. Jemmott’s study since, she said, “our critics would contend that the abstinence message would be least effective with the most at-risk youth.”
Even longtime advocates of comprehensive sex education heralded the findings.
“This new study is game-changing,” said Sarah Brown of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, in a statement. “For the first time, there is strong evidence that an abstinence-only intervention can help very young teens delay sex and reduce their recent sexual activity as well. Importantly, the study also shows that this particular abstinence-only program did not reduce condom use among the young teens who did have sex.”
Ms. Brown noted that the abstinence-only classes in the Jemmott study centered on people with an average age of 12 and that unlike the federally supported abstinence programs now in use, did not advocate abstinence until marriage.
The classes also did not portray sex negatively or suggest that condoms are ineffective, and contained only medically accurate information. Dr. Jemmott’s abstinence-only course was designed for the research, and is not in current use in schools.
In January on “Fox News Sunday”, News Anchor Brit Hume said that Tiger Woods may recover as a golfer but that if he was going to recover as a man he would need to turn from his Buddhist faith to Christianity. Hume said of Buddhism, “ I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith.” He said that his message to Woods is “Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.”
You can probably imagine the uproar that occurred in the media world. The segment on Fox was a subjective piece in which the anchors were tasked to make predictions or give opinions on what would happen in the future on different topics and one of those topics was professional sports.
Hume is a Christian who is much more open about his faith than he used to be and he attributes that to a tragedy that happened in his life several years ago and to Christian friends who are good witnesses for the Christian faith.
Focus on the family aired a what I think is a great interview with Hume this week in which he talks about his career, his son’s suicide and his faith in Jesus Christ.
Below is the link to the Focus on the Family page that includes the interview and some others articles on Brit Hume.
The topic on Wed nights at 9PM cst on Life Support TV for February is Love.
Here are the notes for tonights session….. Please join us for the teaching and discussion.
Relational Problem: We confuse love with _____________.
We have been created for two important relationships.
God His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. Eph 1:5 NLT
PeopleNo one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us. 1 John 4:12 NLT
What is the most important?
LoveGod or LovePeople
You can get a gauge on one by looking at how you are doing on the other.
”Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, ” ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments Matt 22:36-40 NLT
A Christ-follower’s faith will manifest itself in ____________
For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, it makes no difference to God whether we are circumcised or not circumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. Gal 5:6 NLT
If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn’t love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever. 1 Cor 13:1-3 NLT
If I don’t practice love: Words, Knowledge, Belief, Giving and Achievements mean nothing.
God’s Love is Different than World’s Love
World’s love = Love __________
God’s love = Love others
But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. Matt 5:44,47 NLT
Love is What You Do, Not What You Say
Love Checklist Can Help You Fix Any Relationship
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. 6 It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 8 Love will last forever 1 Cor 13:4-8 NLT
(Replace love with your name)
How is it Possible for Me to Love Like This?
God Loved us first.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:9-10 NLT
There seems to be a lot more attention being paid to the way our culture has moved away from good manners and the respect of others. If you live in a bubble or work in a job where you never come into contact with people, I guess you can get away with it. Most of us interact with people all the time, whether it be professionally or socially, and as it has been said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
This is certainly true when you are making a first impression. You only get one chance to make a good first impression, and some people never learn and wonder why they fail at interacting with others. And there are times when you need to make a good impression, like on a job interview. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how well you can perform on the job, if you don’t make that good first impression, you may never get an opportunity to show your stuff. We are currently in a job market in which it is very important for the interviewee to realize that the power is being held by the interviewer.
I have been on the interviewer’s side and it blows me away how some people take such little care in their approach to making a good impression. Some people ruin a job opportunity before they even get started. For example; I was interviewing a guy once and out of the gate he began to trash his current boss. My next thought was, “If I hire this guy, how long will it take or what will it take for him to start publically trashing me.” I immediately ended the interview and warned him that trashing an old boss is not a good thing to do on his next job interview.
Who does a person applying for a job have to impress? It is important to be aware of that first impression made on the gatekeeper, the interviewer.
Answer cell phone. (Turn it off before you get there)
Ask questions about the company that could have easily been answered with a modicum of research.
Badmouth an old boss.
Pretend you have no weaknesses. Or tell me that your biggest weakness is perfectionism and you work too hard.
Share too much personal info.
Lie.
Ramble on endlessly.
Be as quiet as possible. (It should not be hard to get you to answer questions or socialize a little.)
Don’t ask any questions. I want to know that you’re interested in the details of the job, the department you’ll be working in, your prospective supervisor’s management style, and the culture of the organization. Otherwise, you’re signaling that you’re either not that interested or just haven’t thought very much about it.
She did not mention personal appearance, but don’t assume the interviewer likes beards, long hair, or piercings. He or she is the one you need to impress.
I know, these seem like common sense, but for some people, they are not.
How long do you pray about something? Most people quit praying before they get any kind of answer and feel very frustrated or ignored by God in their faith.
God not only says, “Keep praying”, but their is a lot to be learn and faith to e grown in the process.
Pray Until Something Happens
Christ-Follower: One who serves, imitates, chases after, and is changed by Christ. One who worships Christ with his/her whole life.
Luke 18: 1-One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must never give up.
2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)
Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. Eph 6:18 NLT
The Benefits of PUSH-ing
1) Keeps me focused on God and not me.
when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you. Matt 6:6 NLT
But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. (Message)
For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. Rom 8:7 NLT
2) Gives me time to think it through.
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Rom 8:26 NLT
3) My faith is tested and strengthened.
Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the LORD tests the heart. Prov 17:3 NLT
When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. James 1:3-4 NLT
4) I am ready for the answer.
Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope Eph 3:20 NLT
For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. Phil 4:13 NLT
How Long Do I PUSH?
Until God changes me or the situation.
What Do I DO While I PUSH?
1) Be patient.
Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Ps 37:7 NLT
“Be still, and know that I am God” Ps 46:10 NIV
2) Expect an answer.
Think of the wonderful works he has done, the miracles and the judgments he handed down, Ps 105:5 NLT
Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you.
He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. Ps 55:22 NLT
Hey guys….What an incredible week to make excuses to go outside. I hope you are taking opportunities. Lisa and I took a walk in the Colleyville Nature Center last evening at dusk. It was awesome.
I will make this weeks note more short and sweet than last weeks.
One of our core values at LCC we have always strived to live up to is “Excellence honors God and inspires people.” The apostle Paul wrote, “whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” Col 3:17 At LCC, as a Christian Community of Faith, we believe we are representatives of Christ and we strive to always honor him in our work and with our facilities. That includes the way we serve and the way we present our facility.
At our church and any church, the facility is part of the first line of ministry as people think about attending LCC and as they enter the door. A facility and a ministry that is well cared for goes a long way in establishing trust and comfort for people who are looking for a church to call home. We only get one chance to make a first impression. So we work hard to do all areas of ministry with excellence and to keep our facility as clean, pretty, and safe as possible.
About once a year, we have a day of service where LCCers gather and spruce up the place. I know, it may not be as glamorous as feeding the poor or some of the other ministries we do in the community, but it is just as important. The church building behind the 7-11 in Euless is our current place of ministry and the place where we create first impressions for those looking for God and to be part of a church family.
Tomorrow morning, Saturday Jan 23, is one of those work days. We will gather at 8:30, assignments will be made, and the plan is to be finished around noon to noon thirty. Maybe earlier if we have the people to “git er done”. We will be doing some painting, cleaning, and organizing. There is a place to serve for everyone and, as in the past, it will be a great family sense of accomplishment when we are done.
If you have not committed yet to being there….Please join us…You will be glad you did. Please reply to this email if you know now you can make it. Or if you don’t know yet, just show up in the morning. It helps our planning if we know you are coming.
Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday. Are you thriving or just surviving? Many people just kind of go into survival mode and stay there. God wants us to thrive rather than survive. So I am calling Sunday’s teaching, “From Survive to Thrive“. Pretty catchy title huh??? Be there and invite a friend. We will be doing our first live streaming of our entire service on Life Support TV.
If you are part of the LCC family I look forward to hanging out with you on Sunday. If you are looking for a church home, please be our guest. And if you are a friend of LCC that serves and worships at another church, I hope you will be there on Sunday morning.
Last Wed night at 9:00pm we did our second Life Support TV web cast through Ustream. It was a great night. I teach live on video stream and we have an open chat room that anyone can join and participate in the discussion.
People pray for God’s will in all parts of their lives, but especially the places where it seems to be most important and life changing. As a counselor and a pastor, I have had people tell me that they believed, that “This is what God wants them to do.” How do they know? Usually it is based on feelings and the idea that God wants us to be happy. This can cause a problem. Our feelings are not an accurate gauge on which to discover God’s will. You know we can have some pretty mixed up and messed up feelings.
Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 1 John 4:1 NLT
Satan can make sin sound good.
Even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. 2 Cor 11:14 NLT
How do I Know God is Talking? Ask yourself some questions?
1) Is it in agreement with God’s Word?
Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will remain forever. Luke 21:33NLT
I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who in his love and mercy called you to share the eternal life he gives through Christ. You are already following a different way 7 that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who twist and change the truth concerning Christ. Gal 1:6-7NLT
2) Would Jesus do it?
Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. Phil 2:5-6
…God chose them to become like his Son… Rom 8:29NLT
if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your hearts…jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and motivated by the Devil. James 3:14,15
3) Have I sought counsel from mature believers?
…many counselors bring success. Prov 15:22 NLT
…with many counselors, there is safety. Prov 11:14 NLT
Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Col 3:16 NLT
4) Does it fit with how God has gifted you?
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Eph 2:10
God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. Rom 12:6
5) Is it about me or someone else? God wants me to be responsible for me.
So why do you condemn another Christian? Why do you look down on another Christian? Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God. Rom 14:10NLT
…Jesus said this to let him know what kind of death he would die to glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.” 20 Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them–the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who among us will betray you?” 21 Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?”
22 Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow me.” John 21:19-23NLT
6) Is it convicting but not condeming?
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1NLT
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. 1 John 1:9 NLT
God wants us changing to be more like Jesus. The enemy wants us to be shamed into losing our worth.
7) Do I have peace from God?
You won’t know the peace is from God unless you are faithful to God.
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace 1 Cor 14:33NLT
And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. Col 3:15 NLT
I have been watching the uproar of the crazy respone of Pat Robertson to the Haiti disaster. I have been asked by several for my response for a pretty insensitive non-Christain like statement. I get a daily newsletter called God Issues from Dr. Jim Denison, President of The Center for Informed Faith, Dallas, Texas, and pastor of the Park Cities Baptist Church. And I think he wrote a great and Biblical Response…..So I am passing it on to you…. Here is part three
Haiti and the devil (part three)
”Think of our new village here as the home of Jesus Christ, not the scene of a disaster. Life is not a disaster. Life is joy! You don’t have food? Nourish yourself with the Lord. You don’t have water? Drink in the Spirit.”
This was the message of Rev. Joseph Lejeune in Port-au-Prince, shouted over a loudspeaker to the grieving Haitians who gathered around him yesterday for worship. This morning’s New York Times tells the story of the vibrant evangelical community on the island, rallying their people in prayer and commitment to Christ. Caught in one of the worst natural disasters in human history, they are seeking ways to glorify God and spread his grace.
Why did God allow this tragedy? As we noted last week, it has been alleged by Pat Robertson and others that the slaves who rebelled against the French in 1791 made a pact with the devil–they would worship the spirits of the island for 200 years if he would free them from their oppressors. The nation has suffered ever since from crippling poverty and natural disasters. What are the facts?
Examine the allegedly Satanic prayer made by Boukman at the Bois Caiman Ceremony:
”The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The god who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man’s god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good. Our god, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It’s He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It’s He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men’s god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that speaks in all our hearts.“
White Europeans saw Boukman’s rejection of “the white man’s god” as a rejection of the God of the Bible. When he prayed to a different god, they alleged that he prayed to the devil. Here apparently originated the claim that their slaves made a pact with Satan. In fighting their slaves’ rebellion, such an interpretation obviously served their cause.
But Boukman never prayed specifically to the devil, or pledged himself and his followers to spirits for 200 years. And there is good reason to doubt whether Boukman even prayed the “prayer” attributed to him. His chant is considered inauthentic by some historians; there is no eyewitness account of it.
So what do we know for sure? There was a ceremony on August 14, 1791 which began the rebellion in Haiti. It probably involved the ritual slaughter of a pig and used voodoo traditions. Nothing more can be known with certainty.
What about voodoo on the island? A Christian should have definite concern here. Ninian Smart, an expert on world religions, describes Haitian voodoo as an amalgamation of Roman Catholicism and African religion. The Christian God presides over the earth, sending his angels, the spirits, to us. These spirits, drawn from African tradition, are invited to possess the worshiper. Rituals range from lighting candles to sacrificing animals (including pigs, symbolic of freedom and strength).
Missionaries in Haiti report that voodoo remains a real obstacle to biblical faith. Several readers with personal knowledge of Haitian culture have responded to my essays last week with descriptions of a very dark spiritual climate among some on the island. But if we blame the January 12 earthquake on voodoo, we must blame the January 13 earthquakes in Indonesia and the Philippines on Islam and Christianity, respectively.
Is the tragedy on Haiti an expression of divine judgment and wrath? Why did God allow this disaster? Let’s continue tomorrow.
There is a new TV commercial that stars an old character, Elmer Fudd. Elmer Fudd has a speech impediment and he is one of the most famous or well known of the Looney Tune characters. We love to laugh at Elmer because of his weaknesses. He was made famous for being an arch enemy of Bugs Bunny. When Fudd enters the scene he turns to the camera and says, “I am a hunter.” and then we all laugh as he says, “I hunt wabbits.” We laugh at the way he pronounces his “R”s and we laugh because we know, that no matter how hard he tries, he is never going to catch that ”scwewy wabbit.” But you got to admire the guy. He never gives up. In episode after episode he is back and soundly being defeated by that “waskly wabbit”. Yet he follows the advice Sir Winston Church made in speeches during WWII who said we will fight them anywhere and “And we shall never surrender.” And in another speech, “We will never, never, never, never give up.”
How does one do that? I mean, I know Elmer Fudd is not real. Or is he? But how does one go forward and never surrender, never give up? Elmer Fudd could do it, no matter how many times he failed, because he knew deep down inside that above everything else he was a hunter. And his purpose in life was to hunt “wabbits“.
One has to know who he or she is. One has to know his or her convictions. One has to know that she is a part of something bigger than herself. One has to know who he is, and when one knows who he is, then one can never be satisfied if he is not doing what he is purposed to do.
At twenty-seven years old I realized and accepted the conviction that “I am a Christian.” Until that happened, even though I had in word and belief become a Christian at an early age, my faith was weak and ineffective. I was all over the place spiritually. My adult life up to that time had no real purpose and the dreams and pleasures I sought in life were unfulfilling and easy to give up. I was not doing what I and all human beings where created to do. I was not worshiping God.
When we get to heaven, we will be perfected. In our perfected state we will spend eternity worshiping God. That is what we will want to do because that is where real life, joy, and contentment comes from. Jesus said he came to give us life. He came to give us a rich and satisfying life. (John 10:10) And He does that through the sacrifice of his own life, so we can be forgiven for our sins, and connect to the giver of life, our Father in heaven. And once we are connected, we can truly worship because we become, through the Holy Spirit, spiritual beings.
And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” Rev 5:13
Once we commit to worship God here, before we get to heaven, then we can experience heaven on earth. Jesus said he came to earth to bring us the Kingdom of heaven. And we experience that Kingdom through the worship of God with our lives.
Once I realized or accepted that the only way to be truly fulfilled was to be who I was meant to be and started moving towards the purpose that comes with who I am, my spiritual life started changing rapidly. As I started worshiping God with my life, my mind and my spirit started transforming into who and what God purposed me to be.
It all started with the heartfelt commitment to the fact that I am a Christian, or a follower of Christ.
Where did that take me? Now I can truly say, “I am a Shepherd.” The deep desire that God put in my life is “to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matt 28:19-20
As I followed God’s commissioning of my life to grow his church, the commission He gives all of us when we answer the call to follow Christ, He put into my heart the desire to be a shepherd in His church. He put into me the conviction to teach disciples to obey all of His commands and develop a community of faith into a fruit bearing group of disciples. The joy of my life is to see Christians develop into worshipers of God who produce spiritual fruit in our lives that consist of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Gal 5:22-23 That’s what keeps me going. God’s desire is for us all to experience the full life that produces that incredible fruit.
Do you want to get there? All of us are not called to become shepherds or pastors, but we are all called to grow and play our role.
It starts with this conviction, this commitment. “I am a Christian.” And as a Christian, “I hunt the things that are of God for God.” And I will never, never, never, never give up.
How about you? Step out in faith…Worship who you have been created to worship…And life change will happen…..
If you are part of the LCC family or if you are looking for a church to make your home. I hope I see you Sunday. If you are part of another community of faith, don’t miss your pep-rally this Sunday.
Gotten behind on posting Proj 365 photos. I am attempting to post a photo a day as a journal of the year. Some days it is hard to find a photo shot or to remember to do it. Other days it is hard because I have so many. Whatever the day is though, it makes me stay much more aware of what is going on around me. I think that helps emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And the memories are going to be awesome to look back on…..
Jan 8, 2010 - Landry the Spy Dog
Landry’s last day living at our house. Nick moves to his new apt tomorrow
Jan 9, 2010 - Nick's new Apt View
This is the view from the living room of Nick’s New Apt in Las Colinas.
Jan 10, 2010 - Two Hours Before
I love getting to LCC on Sunday morning before anyone else. I walk around the building thinking and praying about the morning.
Jan 11, 2010 - Monday is Day Off
What do I do on my day off? A lot of relaxing.
Jan 12, 2010 - Living Stone Wall at LCC
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 1 Pet 2:5
Jan 13, 2010 - Afternoon Equip Test
Afternoon of first Life Support TV broadcast check to see if connecting.
Jan 14, 2010 - Developing Leaders
This is a photo of our monthly Iron Men men’s leadership development group. Proverbs 27:17
I have been watching the uproar of the crazy respone of Pat Robertson to the Haiti disaster. I have been asked by several for my response for a pretty insensitive non-Christain like statement. I get a daily newsletter called God Issues from Dr. Jim Denison, President of The Center for Informed Faith, Dallas, Texas, and pastor of the Park Cities Baptist Church. And I think he wrote a great and Biblical Response…..So I am passing it on to you…. Here is part two
Haiti and the devil (part two) by Dr. Jim Denison
The tragedy in Haiti continues to claim the attention of the world. According to this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Haitian officials have said that the death toll could top 100,000. The earthquake was magnitude 7, estimated by the United States Geological Survey to be the equivalent of half a million tons of high explosive, or the energy of several nuclear bombs. Could this disaster be the judgment of God?
In his comments on the tragedy two days ago, Pat Robertson spoke of a pact made by the island’s inhabitants with the devil. His statement has been criticized by many and defended by others. Rev. Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network has released a statement: “His comments were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Boukman Dutty at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a famous pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French. This history, combined with the horrible state of the country, has led countless scholars and religious figures over the centuries to believe the country is cursed.”
What is the actual history behind this allegation?
First, I want to be as fair as possible to Rev. Robertson. He is by no means the only person who refers to this alleged pact with the devil. While the historical record is ambiguous, as we will see, this tradition has been widely quoted over the centuries. The CBN statement made on Wednesday notes that their ministry “has been working to help thousands of people in Haiti over the last year, and they are currently launching a major relief and recovery effort to help the victims of this disaster. They have sent a shipment of millions of dollars worth of medications that is now in Haiti, and their disaster team leaders are expected to arrive tomorrow and begin operations to ease the suffering.”
Now let’s examine the tradition Rev. Robertson and others have cited. The fact is that no one knows if the alleged Haitian pact with the devil actually happened. The CBN statement notes “the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Boukman Dutty at Bois Caiman.” Rev. Robertson misspoke in identifying this event with the reign of Napoleon III, who didn’t come to power until 1848. But what about the event itself?
Here’s what we know: on August 14, 1791, slaves in the northern part of Haiti gathered to begin a revolt against their French masters. Led by a voodoo priest named Dutty Boukman, they spawned a revolution which expelled the French and established the Republic of Haiti in 1804.
Here the story blurs. One tradition claims that Boukman led his slave followers in a voodoo ritual in which they slaughtered a pig and drank its blood. Then they allegedly made their pact with the devil: if he would free their people from the French, they would serve his spirits on the island for the next 200 years. By dedicating their country to Satan, they caused the economic deprivation and natural disasters which have plagued Haiti over the last two centuries.
Since their supposed pledge to the devil was up in 1991, how could it have caused the January 12 disaster? In April of 2003, President Aristide made voodoo an official religion in Haiti; some claim that this act renewed Haiti’s pact with the devil.
There’s another way to tell the story, however. We’re out of space for today’s essay, so we’ll continue on Monday. In the meantime, the most important thing Christians can do is not to speculate on the causes of the tragedy but to respond with prayer and compassion. Rev. Robertson’s ministry has sent millions of dollars of medications. What will you do for Haiti today?
I have been watching the uproar of the crazy respone of Pat Robertson to the Haiti disaster. I have been asked by several for my response for a pretty insensitive non-Christain like statement. I get a daily newsletter called God Issues from Dr. Jim Denison, President of The Center for Informed Faith, Dallas, Texas, and pastor of the Park Cities Baptist Church. And I think he wrote a great and Biblical Response…..So I am passing it on to you….
Is God punishing Haiti for worshipping the devil? Pat Robertson claims that Haiti made a pact with Satan for which the island’s 9.7 million inhabitants are now facing the wrath of God. Let’s examine Robertson’s statement in biblical perspective, investigate the historical background behind this alleged pact, and consider the intersection of natural disaster and divine love.
We begin with Robertson’s actual statement : “Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’
“And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. Desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, et cetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now, we’re helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable.”
I need to make four biblical responses.
First, God loves the suffering people of Haiti. He cares passionately for the poor and oppressed. His word tells us, “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done” (Proverbs 19:17). The Lord said of King Josiah, “He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” (Jeremiah 22:16).
The alleged 1791 Haitian pact with the devil would put our Father on the side of slavery and Satan on the side of those seeking freedom. The reverse is actually the case. Satan is a “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44), a thief who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10) and seeks to make us “slaves to sin” (Romans 6:17). Satan enslaves—God liberates.
Second, the Haitians are suffering because we are fallen people living on a fallen planet. In the Garden of Eden, this tragedy would not have occurred. In God’s perfect plan there would have been no Hurricane Katrina, no tsunami in southeast Asia, no cancer or heart disease or earthquakes. But when we fell into sin, the entire planet was affected. As a result, “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22). The earthquake is not the Haitians’ fault. God cares for their pain as his own.
Third, God’s people must respond. We are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12), his hands and feet. He will help the suffering Haitians through us. Give to help the relief effort; go if you can; pray fervently. Don’t speculate on the causes of this crisis—respond personally and practically.
Last, I must state that Robertson’s statement is unbridled audacity. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, said that it is “absolute arrogance” to claim that we can interpret such events as divine judgment (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/white-house-advisor-valerie-jarrett-speechless-pat-robertson/story?id=9555714). Franklin Graham said that Robertson “must have misspoken” and added, “God loves the people of Haiti.”
As we will see, Robertson should have checked his sources before making his allegation. Scripture calls us to “test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). And he should speak only the truth, in love (Ephesians 4:15).
Christians should pray now for the Haitians, asking God to redeem this horrific tragedy for his glory and their good. A suffering world will believe that God is love (1 John 4:8) when they see his love demonstrated in ours. As my friend Ken Medema says in one of his songs, “Don’t tell me I have a friend in Jesus without showing me first I’ve got a friend in you.”
“I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer me. I stand before you, and you don’t bother to look.” Job 30:20 NLT
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jer 33:3NIV
How Does God Answer Prayer?
1) Yes 2) Wait 3) No
Why Would a Loving God Say No?
1) God sees the big picture.
Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. Heb 4:13NLT
He guards the paths of justice and protects those who are faithful to him. Prov 2:8 NLT
2) He wants bigger and better.
My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isa 55:8-9 NLT
All of these people we have mentioned received God’s approval because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had far better things in mind for us…” Heb 11:39-40 NLT
3) God has a greater purpose.
Saying, “My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; Isa 46:10 NASU
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day. 17 These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever! 2 Cor 4:16-17 TLB
I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from getting proud. 2 Cor 12:7 NLT
How Do I Handle When God Says No?
1) Know God does with love.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Rom 8:28NLT
And when we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving-kindness and his truth. Ps 25:10TLB
2) God’s grace gives us power and strength.
Each time he said, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. 2 Cor 12:9 NLT
What Do I Do When God Says No?
1) Get mad
2) Get glad
Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. 3 For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.
We spend our whole lives trying to feel better, look better, beat anxiety and heal depression. Most everything we try has to do with changing our environment or our situation. Then we find out that this relationship isn’t any better than the last and money does not buy happiness.
Jesus said He came to earth to make all things new. He fixes us from the inside by making all things new.
I did a talk a couple of Sunday’s ago on this newness that Jesus brings. Here are the points from the talk.
Jesus came to offer us a beyond this world success.
Jesus said, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” John 10:10b
New hope for the temporal and the eternal.
New freedom in the spiritual not trapped by the world.
New Spirit lead faith in what is not seen. (Confidence)
New focus of worship.
New mission and purpose based on sincerity and humility.
New direction the world thinks is crazy.
New love that changes the old life.
New eyes that see the world like Christ and represent Christ.
Beginning this Wednesday night, January 13th @ 9PM CST, I will be broadcasting live via Ustream.com a live video and interactive chatroom Bible Study and Christian talk show I am calling Life Support TV. You don’t have to leave the comfort of your own home to join an online community. No matter where you are in the world, if you have a computer and access to the internet, you can join in for the teaching and conversation.
Life Support TV will be online support for Christian living.
Come join us for this new experience.
Here is some info you will find helpful.
What: An online video streaming live Bible Study I will be teaching. (Upclose and personal from my home)
When: Wednesday Night – 9:00pm – 10pm CST
Where: On your computer in the comfort of your home, office or wherever you can hook up to the internet.
Interactive: There is a chat room for discussion (otherwise known as chat). We will have teaching and I will make it as interactive as possible and we will open it up for more discussion at the end.
How:
Go to Life Support TV – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/life-support-tv - Save this site in your favorites or bookmark section (if you do this part now you will be ready when the class starts)
Sign up for free….You will need to have a free account to participate in the chat room….
After signing up take a look around the site and familiarize yourself. You can RSVP the upcoming schedule.
Notes for the session will be on my blog…. www.royalfarris.wordpress.com – The notes will be on a page with the same date as the study. Bookmark this site or put in your favorites so you can easily go to it.
Then show up with a pen and paper, listen, chat and take notes.
Invite friends to participate and send them the link.
Our first talk will be a three week series on prayer called “Conversations With God”.. I am looking forward to this. You can invite your friends or family. People all over the world can participate. The more we have signed up and participating in the class, the easier it will be for others to find us, by accident or if they are searching for a Bible study.
As we went into the new year Lisa and I had really been thinking about replacing the living room carpet with a hard-wood floor. We decided to hold off for a little while and save some more money so instead, we got a new dining room table. Great Buy, Great Table.
We think it is a great investment in the family. Doesn’t it look like a great get off your phones and computers and come to the table so we can eat and play games investment.
I remember when Nick was little I used to take him to Pro-Cuts to get our hair cut. He didn’t like it and gave me a hassle every time I took him. He said he didn’t want girls cutting his hair. So one Saturday we went to a local traditional barber with a striped pole out front. We talked about sports inside, and men hanging out together.
Nick has moved on to other Salons…..I have had Jerry and Lee cut my hair ever since. I look forward to going to the guys barber and talking politics, religion, and whatever sporting event is on the tube.
