Lincoln, Luther, and King

Beating our Heads Against the Wall Again... We Americans typically assume that we can swallow poison and not be harmed. We swallow poison because it tastes good, and then wonder why we're sick. I'm not talking about physical poison here. I'm referring to the harmful influences we allow in our lives, oftentimes without thinking. It’s as if we are oblivious to the fact that risky decisions can actually lead to unpleasant outcomes. Perhaps the time is ripe to understand the consequences. Some Ways that Americans Swallow Poison

I think this is an interesting article. The tack that our country has taken, to privatize profits yet socialize losses , puts the burden for someone else's mistakes squarely on the shoulders of you the taxpayer. Now that bank CEOs can no longer pay for their plush offices with remote-controlled La-Z-Boy, now I must make the La-Z-Boy payments myself. But I'm still not allowed to sit in the chair and enjoy its benefits. Yet when that CEO makes a good decision and makes a profit, he doesn't have to share it with me - he gets to keep it all to himself and his company. So at its core, this is Middle-Ages Feudalism, where us peasants (American Middle Class) have no choice but to pay to insure the lifestyles of the rich and famous. I agree that it is difficult to gauge the proper balance of government regulation of economic industries. But on the other token, I'm against socialized welfare to cover other people's bad decisions. It just perpetuates ...

I hate Santa Claus. Every year when Christmas comes around, I can't help but think that Santa is next to the devil. Before you flame me, please realize I'm not saying that Santa is bad, or that "Saint" Nicholas was not a good, godly man.

Want to evangelize during "Halloween"? Need a Christian Pumpkin idea? Here's how to carve your own Jesus Defeats Death pumpkin. I made this pumpkin in 2002 using the 3-shade method of pumpkin carving. You can actually do this with any picture by using a picture editor to convert your picture to 3-tone (white/gray/black). When you actually carve your pumpkin, you carve just the outer skin off for the gray areas, and carve all the way through to the inside of the pumpkin for the white areas. Tip: As you expose pumpkin flesh, it immediately starts to dehydrate and shrink. I'd suggest after carving your pumpkin, to lightly coat exposed areas with some clear coating like petroleum jelly to preserve your pumpkin (AS LONG AS WHATEVER YOU USE IS NOT FLAMMABLE!)

I personally don't celebrate Halloween. Since Jesus came to give us life and light (guidance) in this world, I can no longer in good conscience participate in a holiday that celebrates death and darkness (and every evil thing conceivable). Here in Detroit folks use it as an excuse for vandalism the night before Halloween, calling it "Devil's night", despite the fact that the night belongs to (and exists because of) God. So on October 31, I encourage people to celebrate something better - "Reformation Day."

Since one of my pet peeves is undefined acronyms, please be advised that CCM in this post stands for "Contemporary Christian Music". Satire mode on. Today I'm Martin Luther and Paul the Apostle combined. I’ve finally figured it out! I’ve discovered the key to 21st century Christianity! Yes! I’ve discovered that to be a spiritual role model in the church that Jesus Christ started 1977 years ago, you have to be sexy ! That’s right! Just look at all the beautiful Christian music artists out there. Oooh they’re hot! Boy, I could just watch them onstage all day. Forget what they’re singing…I just want to watch them! They are sizz-lin’! You see, we’ve finally discovered that the key to Christianity is outward appearance . The world’s been saying it all along, and we’re finally catching on. To become great in the kingdom of God, you gotta be SEXY!

I'd just like to point out that my post from yesterday was intended to portray one side of an issue. As a comment to the post astutely pointed out, using skits etc. can be an effective means to communicate truth. Personally, I am not against using anything that can be an effective tool to evangelize and make disciples of Jesus Christ in our modern culture. (My own sister is part of a Christian mime ministry called Mimeistry.) But I have to qualify that statement. In my mind, when the church of Jesus Christ resorts to Bingo nights, lotteries, 50/50 tickets, serving beer, playing Fear Factor, and Friday night fish frys, we are inadvertently communicating that the gospel of Jesus Christ is irrelevant. Instead we should be communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ as the "hook". When we have to invite our neighbors to a church-sponsored Super Bowl Bash instead of a Bible study, this implies the Bible is superfluous to Christianity. When we woo non-Chri...

A post at Cerulean Sanctum on “ Spiritainment ” brings up an interesting topic. A topic that puts me in Martin Luther mode. I’m sorry this is going to be a long post. But this is actually a sore spot for me after weathering a church split a few years ago. I am now of the opinion that the majority of American Christians, though sincere, have very little depth to their roots. Sure, we’re all smiles and hugs and love when the winds are fair. But when adversity comes, we wither, flee, give up, stop attending church, go away, fail to make a stand, and give in to satanic pressure like a wet paper bag. We live in a modern culture where our god is no longer the God who created the universe. Instead, our god is our own convenience. And the enemy of our souls is no longer the devil and his worldly systems. Instead, the enemy is offending someone. The unpardonable sin of the 21st century is to offend a church-goer in any way. And I’m not talking about the kind of offense that Paul mentioned whe...