Magistrate for "Ourselves"

 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land”.

 II Chronicles

Christianity teaches that God made all mankind from one source (Acts 17). And He granted to each people the lands of their habitation. Therefore, every human, regardless of his or her individual condition, shares in the common dignity of mankind. They matter. And every government has a duty to govern its people justly and to consider the impact of policy on their most vulnerable citizens. It is part of the plan of redemption. I believe this doctrine should inform how we think about our responsibility to our fellow Americans and how we treat foreign governments and peoples.

While we profess many enlightened ideas, lately we have failed to consider the moral cause of the poor, the wanton risks of war, racism and the failure our public safety policy. But I believe that for Christian Americans, the common dignity of mankind should be a compelling argument to re-examine the tired, old left versus right orthodoxies in welfare policy, foreign policy, immigration, race and criminal justice.

The poor on welfare are not all “lazy,” nor are “the rich” taking advantage of all of them. People of color are no more racism as a white man who just does not get it how people of color have been left out of the system from 1619 until 1965, “look at the history “ and listen to my fellow brothers sometimes. We just want to be validated and move on. Real life is often a series of unfortunate events. It has always been this way. In our arrogance, we often judge these realities harshly. However, to dwell on our failings is to forget the purpose of this discussion: Real people need real help. Welfare must be rethought – if for no other reason than the current system is insolvent. Inflation is the wrong answer because it robs the poor, reducing the value of their meager savings. That is morally repugnant. Nor can we simply eliminate all race problems it is so part of our country, economy and cannot be dropped overnight for the bottom line. This is a real problem, and it requires a real solution. 

We imprison our citizens for many crimes, but we do not reform them. With the war on drugs, we do not really distinguish between harming oneself and harming another. We do not provide prisons where the convicts can safely be reformed. Our criminal punishment system is corrupt. Prisons are recruiting offices for gangs, and terrorists. Prisoners are surrounded by vice, drugs, and are under the threat of assault by other inmates.

I often wonder what would happen if each young/old American voter who supported Barack Obama, or the Evangelicals who supported George Bush consider the anger and resentment that is being felt by their continued view points that have to always be right, because of past harm or fear; do we really distinguish between harming oneself and harming another in such a dehumanizing manor. All the American people get for their money is the reintroduction into society of persons who have been traumatized by this being separate but equal notion, educated on how to be better criminals or being blameless in their minds because my forefathers did it not me. Often this cycle is often released back into our communities and “the Band plays on” until another Trayvon Martin, same sex, Abortion, immigration, Rodney King pass the "Kool Aid".

 We must stop the system from preying on the most vulnerable (Americans (ourselves). It is wrong. And there is a responsibility to address it by changing our individual mind set and assumes our own responsibilities.
These issues will continue until the American people are tired of being badly led and renew their responsibility to ensure that the government is accountable and see all people as Americans not African Americans, White Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans or others but just Americans

God Bless You and This Ministry!

Resilient “God's Role”

"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet . . . O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!"  Psalm 8:3-6; 9



Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.

Have you ever asked, "When does a leader's confidence become arrogance? What does humility look like in a leader's life?" Psalm 8 answers those questions. It shows leaders how to balance their identity with their self-esteem. Consider how David perceives his identity and maintains both confidence and humility:



1.    David sees his own weakness and humanity. David realizes that in the sweep of the galaxy, man accounts for only a very small part.


2.    
 David sees his God-given position and privileges. David knows that God has made humankind a little lower than Himself.



3.     David sees a balance by giving all the glory to God. David closes the psalm the way he began. He magnifies the Lord and gives Him the credit for the good that has come from his life and leadership.

Knowing that the Lord will never let go of us unless we refuse to walk in his ways, allows us to let go of everyone else and everything else! It allows us to detach from the enslaving dependencies that abandonment fears set up in our hearts and lives. Awareness of the Lords constant love frees us to continue to love the people and even things, we have emotionally detached from but to love them now in such a way that they are free from us and we from them. We might only have one umbilical cord when we are born, but once that is cut we go on to grow other ones, cords attached to all sorts of people and things. These cords, invisible to the naked eye, limit where we can go and prevent us from entering into and onto the path of life. We grow them so that we will always be attached to someone or something, believing they will keep us from ever being abandoned or alone. In fact, the opposite is true. 

They prevent us from being free to love in a freeing way.

Other gods: The psalmist recognized that just because people believe in God it does not prevent them from believing in other gods, even gods of their own making. He saw the religious people of his day, especially the religious officials, giving lip service to God but actually worshipping other things like money, sex, power, and prestige. Oh, they did not bow down ostensibly, at least, in most cases. Yet, their behavior made it clear that they were attached, nailed to, much lesser gods,¨ much more demanding gods, multiplying sorrows¨ that the one and only true God. These other gods today we would call them addictions, ¨ obsessions, ¨ compulsion force obedience to them. Once we are in their clutches there is no deciding¨ to walk in their ways of death and slavery or not. Our free will is weakened so much that we, in effect, have no choice but to comply with the demands of these demanding gods or should we say "demons¨  At first, these gods deliver every time-drink that drink and you all get high, shoot that needle and you all get ecstatic, have that all about me thing and you all get pleasure, eat that cake and you all calm down. Once they capture the human heart then they demand more of the substance before delivering the goods and eventually stop delivering- true abandonment! Amen.

The Scriptures teach that God intends for you to enjoy life! You don’t have to let life’s challenges overwhelm you. God wants to help you face life with confidence and enthusiasm! He wants you to be encouraged and He wants you to experience a happy life!  if you want to encourage yourself in God you need to act like God would act. Express kindness toward others. Love them in spite of their failures. Don’t take your anger and frustration out on them.

David would face more challenges in life after this incident. But the key to staying encouraged in life is to walk with God and live according to God’s instructions. When you deviate from that you will lose your joy.

God Bless You and This Ministry!

Just "The Evolution of Mindfulness"

Throughout the history of the Church, the Holy Spirit has blown fresh breezes of renewal and reform. For instance, there were many attempts to seek purity and renewal through monasticism and through various efforts to reform the whole church. Some of these attempts gained a measure of success, but others failed miserably. Why, finally, did efforts at reform become Reformation with a capital “R”? Why did a certain monk and university professor and priest named Martin Luther blow breezes of reform that become a whirl wind, when previous efforts could barely move a single leaf on the tree of Christendom? That is why the reformation of the 16^th century was based on Jesus Christ alone as the rightful head of his Church and the Center of Christianity and must always be acknowledged, worshiped and followed as such; any ongoing Reformation of the church in my obedience must be focused on Christ alone as Savior and Lord.

“Others have attacked the pop’s morals,” said Martin Luther, “I have attacked his doctrine.” It is not difficult to find examples of misbehavior in the life of the church throughout its history, from the Book of Acts to past articles in the newspapers. Because we humans are sinners, it is obvious that moral vigilance is constantly needed. But the reformation of the sixteenth century was aimed at a deeper level, at the central doctrine of the faith. Doctrine is deeper than behavior? Yes, when doctrine is understood as describing our relationship with God. Crucial though human behavior is, God comes first, and doctrine tells about God and his will and actions. At the center of the reformation is the doctrine of Justification by faith. Any other factor is only secondary compared to this because justification by faith has to do with Jesus Christ and what he has done for us and everything else is subservient to him!

Doctrine is not dry. That’s why when Luther discovered in the scriptures that we are made right with God only through the loving forgiveness of God at the cross; it was a “born-again experience” for him. Luther was a professor of Biblical Theology at the time. Here’s how the professor put it, in his own words: “Night and day I pondered the Bible, especially Romans 1:16-17, until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that ‘the just shall live by faith.’ Then I grasped that the justice of God is theta righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith…Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning” and even after reading that,” I sometimes would ask myself Why, I may not know till I die then in eternity you can explain it to me.”

Events happened rapidly a few years later. In 1517, Luther posted “95 Theses” on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, protesting the abuse of papal authority and the selling of indulgences (designed to release time of punishment in “Purgatory,” as the Church now taught) Luther’s theses were based on scripture’s revelation of the role of Christ in making sinners right with God by grace through faith. After various hearings and debates, he was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in December 1520. Luther did not want to found a new church. But one was soon to begin, especially after Luther risked his life in taking a bold stand at the Diet (convocation) at Worms, Germany, in 1521, when he refused to take back what he had written. Many doctrinal implications resulted from Luther’s central scriptural discovery. Although originally intended as a teaching movement within the Catholic Church, eventually the “Protestant” wing of Christianity took on an identity of its own, with the following at the center of its theology: justification by grace alone (God’s love, not our goodness) through faith alone (not works), with Scripture alone (not popes or councils) as supreme authority, exalting Christ alone as Lord and Savior. Instead of a hierarchy of priests dispensing merit through a complex system of seven sacraments, only the two sacraments actually commanded by Christ (Baptism and Communion) were retained as free gifts of God’s grace (although confession came close to this status). Also, the “priesthood of all believers” means that all Christians (not just clergy) are priests in the sense of helping one’s neighbor to receive God’s grace in Christ, and bringing God’s forgiving word to the world. In addition, the daily vocations of all Church members really matter to God not just those of priests, monks, and other “religious types.”

Church and state were not often totally separated as the Reformation spread. Luther taught that there are “two kingdoms,” which means that God works in both civil rule and Church and Christians are to do so also. Influential princes aided his Reformation immensely. John Calvin, who became the theological father of Presbyterianism and the “Reformed” churches, felt that the Church should dominate the state; for a time Calvin himself was ruler of Geneva, Switzerland. In England, King Henry the 8^th, whom the pope wouldn’t allow to divorce, married a new wife anyway, and when excommunicated, founded the Church of England. By the mid 16^th century, the evangelicals (Lutherans) had spread the Gospel to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. After armed conflict, the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 allowed both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism to exist in the Holy Roman Empire. Whether a region was to be Catholic or Protestant was usually based on the decision of the local ruler. Only in the “left wing” of the Reformation was there significant protest against governmental involvement. By whatever means, a sweeping Reformation had taken place in amazingly short time.

Doctrine is crucial. Martin Luther once said he would gladly be a Catholic and would even “kiss the pop’s toe “ if the pope would accept and teach “justification by faith alone.” Is the Roman Catholic Church today ready to do this, and, if so, would we, like Luther be ready for reunion? For some people to say “I’m a Protestant” really means, “I’m not a Catholic” (and proud of it!). On the other hand, some pastors and theologians wanted the word “catholic” to appear in the name of the church that eventually became many “ Lutheran Churches”. Some suggested that we are “The Evangelical Catholic Church.” I ask, what are the differences between “Catholicism” and “Protestantism” today? Is there any sense in which we could be called “catholic”? When the Church most needed reform, God provided the means of reform. May the Holy Spirit continue to do so!

God Bless You and This Ministry!

The Power of A Promise

"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." Matthew 28:18

The ability to empower others is one of the keys to personal and professional success. I think, "No matter how much work you can do, no matter how engaging your personality may be, you will not advance far in life, church if you cannot work through others."

When you become empowered, you certainly work with and through people, but you also do much more. Simply defined, empowering is giving your influence to others for the purpose of personal and organizational growth. It's seeing others' potential, then sharing yourself-your influence, position, power, and opportunities-with others with the purpose of investing in the lives of others so that they can function at their best.

The act of empowering others changes lives, and one of the greatest things about it is that it's a win-win for you and the people you empower. If you empower others by giving them your authority, it has the same effect as sharing information. You haven't lost anything. You've increased the ability of others without decreasing yourself.

Recently I was challenged for being too ‘traditional’ and trusting of the past. I must admit that I do like the old songs, though I like new songs too. I do respect the legacy that our Lutheran forefathers have given us from the last century, but I am conscious that we are adding our own legacy to that today as well. I affirm the uniqueness within the Church and I uphold our distinctiveness and God because I believe it raised culture- up for a purpose...

The truth is however my holy discernment, “I see what is happening; your flesh is being crucified” The spirit is waking you up to move toward your life (Christ) – the only thing I REALLY want, which to me recaptures from a past that is the living, energetic, electrifying, FREE, Holy Spirit-filled kind of worship!!!

2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”

Is there freedom in this place of worship each morning? Are we free to worship God as the Spirit directs us? Or does our finely choreographed script bind us! Are we bound by our man-made rules and expectations as to how worship should be? Are some of us even bound by our very own tradition? Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom...

Just as electricity permeates every cell, just as electricity powers every function in our bodies – so the Holy Spirit permeates every Christian and empowers the Church – the body of Christ to function.

So...What else do we know about this Holy Spirit? What else can we ask of Him or claim from him - for ourselves as individuals and for us as the Church?

The Holy Spirit is a holy fire – He is the fire in the burning bush from which Moses was called. He’s the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the wilderness. He is the tongue of fire that rested on the heads of the believers on the day of Pentecost. He is the fire that burns in our own souls when we’re convicted of sin and wrong. He is the fire and empowers us to witness to others about the greatness of our God. He is the power that enables us to say, “Jesus is Lord”

The Holy Spirit is a creative, life-giving force. He was the force that moved upon the face of the deep at the dawn of creation. He was the force that made man a living soul. Romans 8:11 tell us that it was the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and it is the Spirit who gave birth to the church.

The Holy Spirit is a mighty rushing wind; - The wind that blew over the Red sea, partings it’s waters so the Israelites

It is interesting to note that when the Holy Spirit came upon Christ, the one who is pure and holy, the Spirit descended in the form of a gentle dove.

When the Spirit fell upon sinful human beings, however - he came as a blazing fire – To burn up every trace of sin, to let the light of Glory in, the revolution NOW begin – Send the Fire today!

It is the fire of the Holy Spirit that convicts us of our sin. It is the fire that brings to light the darkness. And it is the fire that burns out our impurities and leads us to a life of holiness.

I recently read, “after Christ “baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire” we must continue to pray for more fire so that the altar continues to blaze for the glory of God. There is only one baptism, but a continual filling. The more he fills us; the more he breaks us; the more he sets his fire upon us; the more we become like him.

An altar without fire is a temple without God. The fireless altar signifies a ruined temple. We must allow the fire to continue its work in us. We must preach with fire, pray with fire, and worship with fire. For fifty days after Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father there were no conversions. Then during Pentecost, which is the Jewish feast of harvest, the fire came and 3,000 people were transformed into believers. That is the power of the Holy Spirit fire.”

The Holy Spirit has an incredible purpose in the life of every believer. He reveals Christ to us - and through us to others. He gives us power. He teaches us to pray - and He prays for us. He brings to our attention the scriptures and their meaning-at just the right time of need. He is the Master of the house, which is our body. He baptizes us. He enables us to be faithful and to serve boldly. To testify to the work that God has done in our lives. He fills us with the fullness of God and He anoints us for service.

Is it any wonder our Founder would write-Tis fire we want, for fire we plead. Send the fire. The fire will meet our every need...We want another Pentecost, Send the fire today!!!

Is that your prayer at this time- that God would send His fire into your heart and life?

To fill you with passion and compassion for him and those around you?

Is the fire burning brightly on the altar of your heart, or has the fire gone out? Do you need to ask for an   fresh move, a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit today- I know I do, every day? Move Holy Spirit, Move in My Life let it be beyond morality, duties, rules, guilt and virtues yet leading us out of that beyond. Let us not just look at the source but beyond from which goodness as a mirror a source of God’s world view, “that is love”.

 God Bless You and This Ministry!