Thank God for leukemia

My history as a disciple of Christ is long and not very pretty. I was saved in high school at a meeting of Young Life Campaign. I was fifteen at the time. My family had never been inclined toward attending church. In fact, my dad, who was raised by an authoritarian father in the Methodist church, had declared his intention never to set foot in a church again, after his father divorced his mother and ran off with his secretary, who was twenty years his junior. My mom had been raised in the Episcopal church and was much more inclined toward her faith tradition, but in deference to her husband (see Ephesians 5:33b) she didn’t press the issue of church attendance. Occasionally, my brother and I were sent to church with some neighbors, because, I think, mom felt guilty about not providing us with spiritual training. Charlie and I didn’t enjoy that experience. 

When I was a sophomore in high school, there was a very popular freshman who invited me to a Young Life meeting at his home. I attended mainly because I knew the “cool” kids went to Young Life. To my surprise I found myself deeply moved by seeing kids I admired responding positively to the gospel message. I continued attending weekly throughout the rest of my high school career. One weekend in my senior year, I attended a Young Life retreat at the beach and surrendered to Christ. 

Surrender might be too strong a word. I decided to call myself a Christian, but I really didn’t have much of an idea of what I was getting into. Even after that retreat I didn’t feel compelled to attend church services, although I was a faithful Young Lifer. When I started college at an Ivy League university, I clung to my faith primarily as a buffer against the culture shock that hit me like a tidal wave, when I moved from little old Portland, Oregon, where I had been a top high school student and student council leader, to New Haven, Connecticut, where I rubbed elbows with people like William Howard Taft IV and Rock Brynner, son of actor Yul Brynner, not to mention scores of prep school graduates. 

My closest friend at Yale was a kid from Everett, Washington who also was a Christian and a public school grad. We attended church at Battell chapel on the campus. The pastor was William Sloane Coffin, who was deeply involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. My recollection is that most of his sermons were about getting involved in activism, rather than building up the congregation in the faith. Bob and I both resigned from Yale at the end of the first semester. 

Because I had been lauded by faculty and parents as a “leader” in high school, and I suppose, in part, because of Coffin’s emphasis, I began to fancy myself a little bit of a leader in my Christian life, too. I transferred from Yale to the University of Oregon, where I got involved in Young Life leadership. By my senior year I was, at age 20, the club leader of the South Eugene High School Young Life club. I lived in a boarding house, fondly known as “the Home,” which was run by a couple who headed up the local Young Life board. All of the residents, four men and three women, in addition to Mr. and Mrs. Green and their daughter Wendy, were Christians. It was a wonderful environment in which to grow my faith. 

Eventually, at the behest of Mrs. Green, most of the residents began attending an Assembly of God church that was headed up by a brother and sister team who billed themselves as Lead Pastor and Associate Pastor respectively. I was baffled by the charismatic nature of the Pentecostal church. The speaking in tongues, the dancing in the aisles and all was a little much for my rudimentary understanding of Christian doctrine. The Lead Pastor seemed to me to be taking advantage of the mostly blue collar and farm community congregation, and getting rich in the process. When Mrs. Green and the Associate Pastor ran off together to evangelize the world, leaving Mr. Green and his teenage daughter behind, I was devastated. I had no idea that Christians would act that way. 

No one was to blame except me, but at that point I began to have serious doubts about my faith, and by the time I graduated and headed off to dental school, I had rejected my faith. At that point I began to run away from God and kept running for about thirty years. In fact, debauchery became my lifestyle to the extent that it destroyed my marriage, shortly after my first wife and I adopted a son. 

Patrick was about 14 when he came home from school one day and asked if he could go to the local church with a friend to play basketball. I said that would be fine, as long as he had his homework finished and was home at whatever time I specified.  The basketball games became a weekly ritual, and then I learned that, in addition, Patrick was attending a youth service after the basketball games. Later that year, he wanted to go to a youth retreat called Winter Youth that was sponsored by a number of churches in the state. He had a good time, and then began to attend the church youth group on Sundays. 

The following year he went to Winter Youth again, and shortly thereafter, he invited me to come and see him be baptized. Of course, I went to see this important rite of the church, not realizing that part of God’s plan was to draw me back to Himself. When Patrick emerged from the water after the baptism, the look on his face was one of total elation. He was almost aglow. I have always thought that was a little taste of what it was like when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with his face aglow. (Exodus 34:29)

At that point, God had me back. I spent the afternoon repenting, weeping and worshiping God. I found it easy to take up my faith walk again and was surprised by how much of Scripture I could remember. A few weeks later, God brought Jill into my life, telling me that we were to be married in order to minister together to strengthen families. Jill also heard from the Lord during our courtship. When she was finishing  her evening prayers one night, as she crawled into bed, she tells me that God told her, “You will get closer to Me [God] by marrying him [meaning me].”  

Once again I found myself in a leadership role, first as husband and later when we found ourselves involved in premarital counseling ministry. I’m afraid part of my motivation may have been that a leadership role was comfortable for me, and that it made me feel important.  Of course, that is a very dangerous mindset for a Christian. 

Jill and I ministered to families for many years, and we even started a marriage mentoring ministry in one church where we were members. Along the way, God taught us more about our marriage and about grace and humility than we taught any of our charges. That ministry eventually led me to a ministry to men who struggle with unwanted sexual behaviors. The men I met there taught me more about grace than any other human interactions I have ever had, with the possible exception of being married to Jill. 

When the pandemic came along, opportunities for ministry kind of dried up due to quarantine and the state’s closing of churches. And then about the time the pandemic was easing, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). That’s when I totally surrendered to Christ. I had no choice. I was powerless before this killer disease. 

When I did surrender, I finally was able to allow God to teach me to truly trust Him. A four year battle ensued, between me, the medical team, and the chemotherapy on one side and AML on the other. Of course, as we went along, I learned that God was carrying me in the palm of His hand. Most of the horrible things I was told to expect, fevers, nausea, vomiting, infections, hospitalizations, never happened. I’m not saying it was fun or easy, but it was obvious that God was in charge. Philippians 4:4-7 became my lifeline:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness[d]be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Throughout the whole battle, which culminated in my receiving a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) on May 8, 2024, I experienced the most amazing sense of joy along with the peace that passes all understanding. Along the way, I also learned first hand James 4:2-4:

2 Count it all joy, my brothers,[b] when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

It really is true. In total surrender to Christ, there is unfathomable power and freedom, even in the face of devastating illness. 

Would I have chosen AML as a discipling tool? Not likely. Was it a walk in the park going through three and a half years of chemotherapy and a year of recovery from BMT? Not at all. But the other side of that coin is all of the wonderful Christian medical personnel I met. Not only that, but I was able to minister from my hospital bed to unbelievers who not only attended to me, but some of them would drop by just to chat with me and Jill. We were able to share the love of Christ without preaching or proselytizing. We simply lived out our faith and watched God do amazing things in people’s lives. 

While I was engaged in battle, I reconnected with an acquaintance from dental school who was also battling AML.  Brian was a believer, and together we shared many faith building conversations. God had different plans for Brian, whom He took home to be with Him for eternity last October. But I think Brian experienced the peace and the joy that God gave me. He was rooting for me to make full recovery from BMT, even as his medical team told him that they had nothing more to offer him except palliative care. I can remember three different occasions when Brian called essentially to say goodbye, because he thought he was at the end of his journey. But God sustained him a bit longer each time, maybe so he could see God’s miraculous work of curing me. It was shortly after I was clearly having a recovery that mirrored the uneventful treatments I had had prior to my BMT that, I like to think, the Lord told Brian, “I have some more stuff for Tom to do here, but I am bringing you home to be with Me.” 

Brian told me shortly before he went home that he had total peace and that he was very happy for me, because I was making an amazing recovery. 

Surrender. That’s not a word that soldiers take lightly. But for you, sergeant, surrender not to the enemy but to the Commander In Chief, Jesus Christ, is the road to victory. Is there anything you are holding back from the Lord? Jesus said it. Repent and believe for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Mark 1:14-16)

Keeping a civil tongue

 When my wife Jill and I had been married only a year or so, we were invited to become involved in a premarital counseling ministry at our church. Since we both had a background of divorce, we were frankly quite perplexed by this turn of events. What could we possibly have to offer to young people in love and planning to marry? After all, we had both had failed marriages. As the result of long discussions and a good deal of prayer, we decided to accept the invitation to attend a meeting of the premarital counseling ministry. 

Let me back up a bit. Although this invitation seemed to come out of the blue, in fact I believe it fit in with God’s plan for our young marriage. When Jill and I were courting, we both had some interesting encounters with God. During that time, the Lord impressed on me the message that He intended for me to marry Jill so that together we could minister to families for the purpose of strengthening marital and family bonds. This message resonated with both of us, since we had weathered the storm of marriages that ended in divorce, and we had seen our respective children grow up in the shadow of the uncertainty that is inherent in the lives of the children of divorced parents. 

During that same courting period, Jill told me that she had a message from the Lord in which He told her that she would “get closer to Me [God] through marriage to him [Tom].” Neither of us felt we had any detailed understanding of what these messages meant, but as we are told in the old hymn, we needed to 

Trust and obey, for there is no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. (source)

So, we attended a couple of ministry meetings, and then we agreed to undertake the training for the privilege of speaking into the lives of people who were interested in entering into the covenant of marriage. We met with a lot of couples. We attended a lot of weddings. Frankly, some of our most important interactions with couples manifested in their deciding NOT to marry. 

Eventually, I earned a masters degree in Biblical Counseling, and our ministry expanded to include counseling with married couples. Many of the couples we worked with were young and starry-eyed, and others were contemplating a second or even third marriage. Among the married couples we met, some just needed a little encouragement and advice. Others had very dark and discouraging histories including violence and betrayal. 

As you may imagine, the young starry-eyed couples were sometimes the most challenging, but others among them were the most uplifting and inspiring. They were the ones who were able to see past the stars in their eyes to the reality that marriage was more complex than simply saying, “I do,” and living happily ever after. 

Some of those young couples remain in our circle of close friends to this day. One of the husbands periodically challenges me with faith related questions or challenges. This morning, he texted me to say that he was challenged by some passages of Scripture. The first passage was Proverbs 13:3

Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;
    he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

At first glance, this passage seems to indicate that we should keep our big flapping mouths shut so we don’t come to ruin. But I think the meaning is more nuanced than that. God made us in His image, which means that we were designed to be communicators. Here is what I wrote in my reply to this young man. 

 My take on this one is that we need to be careful what we say and how we say it, not only for our own protection, but because of the damage we can do to others. James 3:5-9 - "How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,[a] and set on fire by hell.[b] 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God." Note verse 8: "no human can tame the tongue." Have you ever wished you could eat the words you just said? Once they are said, there is no undoing the damage of ungracious words. Our only hope to avoid such situations is a) abide in Christ and speak His words, and b) "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

I will address some more of the passages to which this thoughtful young man referred me in future posts. I guess my point today is that every soldier is trained in the proper use of his weapons, but that doesn’t mean that, in an unguarded moment, he can’t shoot himself in the foot. Now it is pretty normal when we injure, say, a finger to soothe it with our tongue. Perhaps, that is how we get the idiom about putting one’s foot in one’s mouth. Lock and load soldier, but keep the safety on until it is time to go into battle.

A RED LETTER DAY, and a challenge.

Today is a day that many Christians have been praying for and that many others have been hoping for. Today, the Supreme Court of The United States (SCOTUS) struck down the heinous 1973 Roe v. Wade SCOTUS decision, which essentially made abortion a right protected by the US Constitution. In the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, SCOTUS reversed Roe v. Wade after 49 years and some 63 million child deaths, not to mention deaths of some of their mothers. 

This decision does not make abortion illegal, but it removes the Federal "right to an abortion found in the Constitution" that the drafters of Roe v. Wade created by misinterpretation, bad due diligence, and as the Dobbs decision quotes on page 52 of Justice Alito's majority opinion:

Roe was on a collision course with the Constitution from
the day it was decided, Casey perpetuated its errors, and
those errors do not concern some arcane corner of the law
of little importance to the American people. Rather, wield-
ing nothing but “raw judicial power,” Roe, 410 U. S., at 222
(White, J., dissenting), the Court usurped the power to ad-
dress a question of profound moral and social importance
that the Constitution unequivocally leaves for the people.

The point is that the 9 justices who handed down the Roe decision 49 years ago, essentially disenfranchised the American people by "enacting" a Federal "right" which is Constitutionally the business of the Legislative Branch and not that of “raw judicial power." In so doing, they removed not only the peoples' voice in the Congress, but the responsibility of duly elected state governments to determine, through elected officials, what that state's laws regarding abortion should look like. The Dobbs decision corrects that unconstitutional scenario, returning the power to make those decisions to the people (We The People), through their elected legislators. 

Now, of course, we can expect the pro-abortion political faction and Big Abortion to perpetrate massive violence throughout the nation. They have promised to do so this very evening. 

As Christian soldiers, we find ourselves in a challenging position. On the one hand, we can rejoice that the innocent image-bearers of God in the womb have gained some bit of protection, but at the same time we need to become even more compassionate for women who find themselves with child, when they hadn't planned to be. There are serious concerns these women are facing. Sometimes, they are being forced to seek abortions, because the child's father demands it on pain of physical harm or worse. Sometimes, they find themselves pregnant as the result of rape or forced human trafficking. The debate and the strident political arguing will continue, and may even increase in the aftermath of Dobbs. 

In my opinion, this challenge is one the church cannot afford to ignore or even take lightly. The rate of abortion among self-identified evangelical Christian women is appallingly similar to that of the general population. How will the church compassionately minister to these women? How will the church minister to unbelievers who have relied on abortion as last resort "contraception?" How will the church protect itself and its properties from the violence that is sure to come? 

God has told us that each human being is made in His image. (Genesis 1:26) That means not only the babies in wombs, but the mothers who are carrying them. If the church fails to step into this new paradigm with real solutions for women and their children, we will have failed to live up to Christ's command that His Ekklesia be salt and light in a dark world. (Matthew 5:13-16; 16:18)

I confess to having felt a bit hopeless and helpless in the whole abortion morass since 1973. Now I believe there is hope that many babies and their mamas will be protected from the scourge of abortion. That may present them with a whole host of other (but thankfully less dire) problems. 

When I was in high school, occasionally a female student would "go to live with her aunt out of state" for nine or ten months. This was code for giving birth to an "illegitimate" child and giving it up for adoption. The practice seems to have disappeared, even though there are thousands (or more?) of couples who are longing to adopt; so much so that adopting children from overseas has had to fill the void. 

The Book of James tells us that "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." I believe that in God's economy this verse applies to the post Roe v. Wade world in a magnificent way. Visiting orphans, of whom there may be many more now, in my own experience involves not only visiting but adopting an "orphan." His mother was in a broad sense a "widow." The birth father of my son, took advantage of her and then deserted her. I have had the good fortune to meet her some 20 years ago. She is a lovely woman who eventually married and had three more children. When my son was 18, he made contact with his birth mother and his three unknown siblings.

Of course, not every adoption works out this well, and this is where James's mandate to "visit orphans and widows" comes into play. These people, moms and children alike, have suffered unspeakable trauma, when the family that God intended for them did not materialize. My son, for example, made contact with his birth father via a letter and told him that he had only one question: "Why?" The man, who I regret to say was a youth pastor, denied knowing anything of what my son was writing about, including knowing his mother. I know that was traumatic for my son, because he told me it was. He felt rejected and devalued by a man who should have been not only teaching young people compassion, but living it out himself. 

To be completely candid, his birth mom told my son that his birth father was married and had three other children at the time. I can see the moral, ethical and emotional dilemma this new child created for him. He chose to deny any responsibility. He also chose to lie and mislead for his own protection, rather than confess and repent. I was the one who benefited from that cowardice. My son is an upstanding citizen, husband and father to two beautiful little girls, my granddaughters. 

But I digress. My challenge to all of us Soldiers of the Cross, is to do some self reflection, soul searching and praying about how we can be the church in this post Roe world and "visit the orphans and widows." There are God's image bearers who will now find that the "easy" solution of abortion is no longer an option. We need to be there for them, some how, some way.

This is a big assignment, Sergeant. Don't let the CIC down!

Podcasts and Plants

While I was waiting for Jill at the dental office this week, I listened to a podcast with N.T. Wright, British theologian, titled "Making Sense of the Trinity." I highly recommend this podcast. It presented a new paradigm for me not only in thinking about the mystery of the Holy Trinity but also in thinking about sharing the gospel with others. 

Here are a few thoughts that came to me as I listened to the podcast:

In my experience as a Christian, I have always been told that God loves us and sent Jesus to pay for my sins, so that I could be forgiven of my sins and be good enough to go and be with God in heaven. In the podcast, Wright talks about it this way: God loves us, in spite of our sin, so much that He wants to come and live among us. He longs to be our God and have us be His people. There are a dozen or more places in Scripture where God states His desire to dwell among His people. This is, for me, a whole new way of looking at the situation. Let me try and explain the difference this makes in my mind. 

In my former way of thinking, I was focused on my sin. I am a sinner in need of a Savior. That is true, of course, but since my focus was on my sin, I was missing out on a whole dimension of understanding God's love. The fact that I need a Savior is patently obvious to anyone who knows me, and the Apostle Paul wrote, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Later he wrote, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) These two verses are part of what has been dubbed the Roman Road to Salvation, which is sometimes offered as a concise statement of the gospel message. 

While the Roman Road clearly and concisely explains the need for a Savior, the method of salvation and the results of salvation, it is a bit like a recipe in a cookbook. If, like me, you love to prepare food, especially for others, you may find reading recipes to be a delight. But the recipe doesn't satisfy in the same way that eating and sharing the meal that results from following the recipe does. The recipe stirs the imagination, but the tasting fills the senses. The Roman Road is the recipe, but God also told us, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Psalm 34:8)

For me, I think my knowledge of my earthly father has colored my perception of my Heavenly Father, and others I have spoken with admit to the same thing. My father was a decent man for the most part. He loved me, I'm sure, but he never said it in words until about a week before his death, when I was 61 years old. I grew up with strong moral instruction in a secure household, but I was never able to discuss feelings or emotions with Dad. 

As a result, I have struggled with an image of my Heavenly Father as an authoritarian, who loves me enough that He condescended to send Jesus to clean me up so that I might someday go to heaven and be with Him. Wright's view, that God loves me so deeply and passionately that He wants to come and live with me in spite of my sin, is revolutionary to me. 

Here's how I understand what Wright says in this podcast. The Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has lived eternally in community and perfect love. God's plan is that the love and community shared by the three persons of the Trinity is now being extended to include the people He created. God created "the heavens and the earth and the waters under the earth and everything that is in them." (Genesis 1) He completed the creation by creating mankind (Genesis 1:26) to be His people, and He gave them free will to make choices in the perfect world He had made. 

Mankind chose to ignore God's commandment (Genesis 3:1-6), and thus sin entered the world. This was not a surprise to God. It was one possible outcome of giving man free will. God planned from the beginning that if (and when) mankind chose this path, He would intervene. Enter Jesus (the Son). Mankind needs a Savior, and Jesus came in the form of a human being to free mankind from the devastation of sin. Isaiah 61:1 puts it this way:  

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me [Jesus],
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Now Jesus appeared as a flesh and blood human being so that mankind could interact with Him on a personal level. He also came to bear witness to the Father. In John 14, 

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Once again, the disciples knew who God is through the Scriptures and the traditions of the Jewish community, but that was like the recipe. Jesus walked among them for three years so they could "taste and see that the Lord is good." 

Jesus' mission included paying the price of sin for all of mankind. His death made the payment, and His resurrection sealed the deal by conquering death, so that people can live eternally, free of sin. When these final tasks were complete, Jesus left the earth and His human form and ascended to His Father in heaven. Now here is where God's plan gets really interesting.  Before He left, Jesus told the disciples,   

...I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17)

So, now we have the whole of the Godhead introduced, each Person of which has a role among men.  Jesus told his twelve, 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father..." (John 14:12)

How could men do "greater works than these?" Because the Holy Spirit will indwell and empower them, and there are many more of them than the one man, Jesus. It was this plan that led to the disciples' ability to spread the gospel message, not only of salvation (focus on sin), but also of God's passionate love for mankind (focus on God's love), throughout the entire world. 

Did you ever grow some beans from seed? As I listened and these thoughts formed in my head, I got an image in my mind of a plant beginning with the seed, which contains all that is necessary for a new plant to grow and bear fruit. In my image the seed represents the Father, who provides everything. As the seed germinates, it sends down a tap root (Jesus), and as it emerges into a mature plant, it creates secondary roots and rootlets to nourish the fruit that is growing for all to see. These secondary roots are the Apostles to whom Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to indwell them. The rootlets are all the saints (also indwelt by the Spirit) who are sent out by the Apostles, who were sent out by the Son, Who was sent down by the Father. The result is a world full of good fruit. And all of the parts of the plant are intimately connected. Each part has a role to play. The ultimate outcome is a world full of good fruit that nourishes God's people (physically, in the case of the plant, and spiritually in the case of God's amazing love). 

When I finished listening, I was spiritually refreshed and  excited to share this new vision of what it means that we will be God's people, and He will be our God. Please let me know what you think of my little image.

Jesus loves the little children

We live in an age of information overload. One of the ways I overload my own information is by subscribing to the US Postal Service Informed Delivery service. The way it works is that you give USPS your email address, and they send a daily email showing you what to expect in your mailbox that day. Today it tells me I will be receiving some "junk" mail from Matthew Staver, who heads up an outfit called "Liberty Counsel." 

Staver keeps his finger on the pulse of political developments in Washington, D.C. of interest to Christians. The mail hasn't been delivered yet today, but based on the photo of today's mailing, this one is about the fact that the Democrat party is desperately trying to pass a bill legalizing abortion. They are terrified that the Supreme Court will soon overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1973 SCOTUS decision that has resulted in the murder of some 63 million American citizens. 

I am baffled as to why the Left is so bent on abortion. They claim to care for everyone under the sun: the aged, the working man, minorities, children (really?). Encouraging abortion just seems counter-productive. For example, they are always talking about preserving Social Security, including Medicare, to support us retired folk. In fact, they have even proposed Medicare (government funded health care) for everyone. But the funding for Social Security and Medicare is rapidly running dry, primarily because our elected "representatives" in Washington keep robbing it to pay for other important stuff, like overseas abortions and bridges to nowhere. 

If you are a working stiff (or have ever been a working stiff), you know only too well that that money comes out of your paycheck every week. And as the population grows older, there are more and more SS/Medicare recipients. Add to that the declining number of legally employed US citizens, and you get an ever increasing burden on the American worker to support all of these aging folks. So, tell me how killing off 63 million potential taxpayers is going to help keep Social Security afloat. And while we are at it, how does the ever increasing SS/Medicare tax (the result of an aging population and a shrinking work force) help the working man? And above all how does abortion help the children who have been slaughtered? Oh, and one more thing; the darling of the Left, Planned Parenthood, which is supported by your taxes and primarily exists to snuff out the lives of helpless, unborn children, seems to build its clinics in predominantly black neighborhoods. How is that serving minorities? Seems more like a thinly veiled attempt at genocide to me. 

So, what's your point, Tom? OK, here it is. THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE.  This is a spiritual issue. How did the United States of America, founded, according to the Mayflower Compact, for the glory of Christ, come to this juncture? It's simple, really. If you are a Christian and are paying attention, you will realize that we Christians have not been paying attention. Over the last century and a half or so, we have ceded everything in our nation to the secular, political Left. 

Education in this country originally was focused on teaching the Bible. Young children were taught to read, using the Bible. Some of our most revered universities were founded for the purpose of training clergy: Harvard, Yale, Princeton among others. Then came the "enlightenment," "a movement of the 18th century that stressed the belief that science and logic give people more knowledge and understanding than tradition and religion."* Then came Darwin's naïve "discovery" that everything was created out of nothing by accident. 

In the middle of the last century, SCOTUS, which had been packed with secular humanists, ruled that prayer in schools, reading the Bible in schools, the Ten Commandments (which are the foundation of English Common Law, the progenitor of our own statutory legal system) posted in schools...all of these were declared to be in violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment; to wit: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." Conveniently, ignored were the next two clauses: "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech." 

And so, the tables were turned, and  the foundation of education changed, from teaching children moral living and basic skills like reading and writing, to the "socialization" of our children. In other words, public schools are now intended for experimentation in social engineering and  for the indoctrination of our children to reject God in favor of the state (or "science," if you like) and to reject truth in favor of nonsense. While the Left says it reveres "science," it only does so for the purpose of making science a foil for religion. If science becomes inconvenient in the pursuit of their goals to enslave our children, it too, is abandoned in the name of "equity" and "inclusiveness" and "diversity." 

So, what about the Democrats' mania to pass a national law enshrining abortion before Roe v. Wade is overturned? Well, if you are inclined toward political activism in the slightest, I encourage you to keep up a running dialog with your representatives and senators. Write them, call them, email them, text them, and let them know where you stand. Jesus told us we are the light of the world. But he went on to say a city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and hide it under a basket, but they place it on a lamp stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. 

Being the light of the world means shining that light into what Paul called the darkness of this present age. Even a city on a hill can be hidden by a dense fog. Let us be the generation that lifts the fog that has settled on the church in America. Let us take the lamp out from under the basket (the four walls of our church buildings) and shine it into all of the darkness that surrounds us. Jesus said He would establish his Ekklesia, and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. What is Ekklesia? It is a group of people "called out" as a congregation. Why then do we keep "going in" to our church buildings. We have been called to be "in the world, but not of the world." Jesus prayed to His Father, "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one." (John 17:15). We are not called to be monks, we are "called out" of our comfort zones into the world to shine His light into the darkness. 

Our school children are lost, frightened, hopeless, desperate. They live in a world of darkness, confusion, insecurity. The public educators that we have hired to "teach," teach them that what matters is their feelings, not truth. And then we are astounded when one of these insecure, confused babies follows his feelings of rage, picks up a rifle and picks off a few of his classmates and "teachers." This is not truly an attack on individuals, it is an attack on the pent up rage of a child who sees no other way out of the darkness and pain inflicted on him by a once great nation that followed the Light, and then switched it off. 

Be the light in your sphere of influence. Teach your kids truth. Tell your school board you are not going to stand silently by, while they preside over the destruction of America's most precious resource, her children. Confer with your legislators so they know where you stand. Talk to your kids' teachers, the PTA, the school administrators. At the very least, VOTE! There is risk in doing these things, but like Esther, you were called for such a time as this. THIS IS WAR! Turn on your tac light, and get into the fray.

 

*“The Enlightenment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20Enlightenment. Accessed 13 Jun. 2022.

Lord's Day

It is the Lord's day! As I prepare my heart for worship this morning, I think of all the saints who are suffering persecution around the world and may not be able to worship freely and openly. I am reminded of Colossians 1:9-11

⁹ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy...

My brothers in arms, let us not forget to lift these comrades up in prayer. 

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

May God richly bless you today!

Resurrecting an old friend

In the roughly ten years since my last post on this blog, the world has seen drastic changes expressed in many forms: politics, religion, economics, education, health care, you name it. It is amazing to see what has changed. 

For me personally there have been changes, too. For one thing I am ten years older, and I am experiencing many of the frailties of an aging body. Last year, I spent six months in and out of the hospital battling Acute Myeloid Leukemia (for an account of that adventure, see my blog Red Cells and White Cells and Platelets, Oh, My!) This year I am in need of eye surgery, because the chemotherapy I have undergone, did damage to my corneas. I am a living testimony to the adage "Getting old is not for wimps." 

Another thing that has changed for me is a growing understanding of my Christian faith. My experience with leukemia has heightened in me the sense of how desperately dependent on the Lord I am; not only day by day, but also moment by moment. 

As I contemplate all of these things, I am convinced that I must speak up about them. I started this blog in January, 2009, because it was becoming obvious to me that Christians were (and are) under attack for our beliefs. This fact is, of course, nothing new. Jesus Christ, the author of our faith, was persecuted and eventually executed on a Roman cross, perhaps, the most humiliating, cruel, painful means of execution ever devised by the heart of mankind. But Jesus of Nazareth had an ace up His sleeve. On the third day after His execution, He stunned the world by rising from His grave and making that fact known by appearing in the flesh to hundreds of people. By doing so He inspired and empowered His followers, aka the church, aka the body of Christ, to go forth into the world and change it forever. Some people don't like that.

Over the twenty centuries since the church was founded, there has been an incessant desire among people in every age to destroy it. Why would people want to do that? After all, the church was the driving force behind the development of hospitals, universities, and even, or perhaps, especially the notion that there is a loving God Who cares about His creation. It is ironic that, in contemporary America, the enemies of Jesus of Nazareth vilify Him as a hateful man Who is a threat to humanity. 

Jesus Himself said, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) That is exactly what He did on that Roman cross centuries ago. Not even the Roman Governor of Judea could find any fault with Him (John 18:38). The Roman centurion who oversaw the crucifixion admitted, "Truly, this man was the Son of God." (Mark 15:39) But the religious leadership of the day demanded that Jesus be executed, primarily because He was a threat to their privilege and authority. You see, the common men and women in Judea had been longing for someone to come and release them from their bondage. In their minds, the Messiah (Greek: Christ) would one day come and free them from the tyranny of the Roman Empire. 

When Jesus arrived on the scene, he quickly gained a following among the people to whom He stated

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

There are credible accounts both in and outside the Bible of wondrous healings and other signs that this Jesus was no mere mortal. 

One of the foibles of mankind is that we view the world through our own filter, as my wife would say. For four hundred years, Israel had suffered at the hands of his enemies, but the people had not heard from a prophet who might show them the way out of their plight. Then a young man named John came on the scene. He was an odd duck who stayed in the wilderness, clad in a camel hair tunic, eating honey and insects. But those who listened to his message were encouraged, for he proclaimed

...“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:23)

Finally, after 400 years, John was bringing hope to Israel. Through their cultural filter, they wondered; was the promised Messiah coming at last? Would He come marching in with a heavenly army to rout the hated Romans? Would He at last set the captives [Israel] free? John baptized countless Jews "for the remission of sins." People were cleaning themselves up so they would be presentable before the Lord's Anointed, now that He was about to show Himself. He would need some loyal warriors for His army.

What they all missed was that Jesus didn't come to rescue them from the tyranny of Rome. They had a greater enemy. They had been enslaved by the Roman empire for decades, but they were prisoners of war in the age old conflict between the Holy God, Creator of the universe, and Satan, once the most beautiful among the angels, now fallen into depravity, the chief purveyor of lies and opposition to God. 

They were looking for a mighty general. They got an unassuming carpenter... from Nazareth, a dirty little town in the middle of nowhere. What this carpenter came to free them from was the prison of their own sin. Israel has a long history of paying lip service to the God who created them, rescued them from slavery in Egypt, led them to a land full of bountiful resources, while they pursued other delights, including pagan worship, child sacrifice, murder, adultery, avarice...well, you get the picture.

They were the "poor," who lived unfulfilling lives. They were the "captives" who needed liberty from the oppression of Satan, who encouraged their lasciviousness. They were the "blind," who needed to have their vision cleared, so they could see how they had created their own misery by following after false gods who promised "the good life," but delivered only pain. They were the "oppressed," who needed to be set at liberty from the oppression of self-serving ways that led them to endless misery. 

The Carpenter from Nazareth came to free them from that, because even in a political hell, such as Roman occupation of their homeland, freedom from the oppression of a guilty conscience and self-loathing, that is the real freedom. 

Down through the centuries since Jesus appeared, people have had a choice. They can opt for false gods, who promise paradise and deliver things like addiction, loneliness, fear, falsehood, death and destruction, or they can come to the Lover of their souls for comfort and rest.

"...Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

What will you choose? 

In future posts I will address in some detail the salient points I have raised in this post. Like it or not, we are all involved in a spiritual war. How we conduct ourselves just might turn out to be a matter of life and death. 

Stay tuned.