Christians Bug Me

Now that I have your attention let me clearly state that I am a Christian. As a Christian, I am convinced that I also bug people. When I bug people, I hope that it is mainly for reasons like speaking the truth in love.

What bothers me, and many other people, is when Christians act inconsistent. As human beings, we all have a degree of hypocrisy in our lives, and I am desperately working to remove anything in my life that does not reflect Jesus to the world. The reality that all of us have a long way to go to be like Jesus should keep us humble and deeply appreciative of the grace God has extended to us. Since we need mercy as we strive to be like Jesus, we should be merciful to those who bug us. So I am bugged, but merciful.

Now, let me tell you why I am “bugged”. I am bothered by influential religious leaders and their early endorsements of certain presidential candidates. As religious leaders, I believe there are three criterions they should use when endorsing a candidate.

First, the candidate should be qualified to lead our country. Second, the candidate should have a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the three divine institutions on earth: family, church and government. He or she should also understand how these three institutions should work together in their distinct functions to create a better nation. And thirdly, the candidate should be a person who desires to please God and help people in their position of service. According to the Bible, candidates whose religious doctrine teaches that they are a god, and candidates who support abortion are not pleasing to God.

So, why would influential Christian leaders give these candidates early endorsements?

Let me also state clearly that my loyalty is to the will of God and not a political party. So, in every presidential election, I try my best to objectively evaluate each candidate based upon the three factors I mentioned above.

With the exception of John McCain and Hilary Clinton, I was not familiar with the candidates in both the Democrat and Republican debates. My unfamiliarity and ignorance assisted me in being objective as I listened to each candidate.

Using my three standards as a frame of reference for endorsement, it did not take long into the second Republican debate for me to realize that one candidate stood head and shoulders above the rest. The reason I am “bugged” is because I feel the other religious leaders should have noticed this also.

Since they did not notice, it has caused me to question their motives for endorsing the candidates they chose. I hope they did not endorse certain candidates because they are fearful that Senator Clinton will win. Christians should be led by faith and not by fear.

I also hope their endorsement was not a political move to align themselves with the person they thought had the greatest chance to win. I am reminded of the fact that when choosing a leader, God looks at the heart as much as anything else. The shepherd boy David was the least likely to be chosen as a king by the people, but God had a different plan because of his heart. He was uniquely prepared by God to slay the giant of his generation (1 Samuel 16-17). More than ever, America needs a leader like David who is called and gifted by God to lead us in this time of uncertainty and division.

Anyhow, I want you to know that I am getting over my state of being “bugged”. Over the last couple weeks, I have been encouraged as the candidate, who in my opinion, stands head and shoulders above the rest based upon qualifications, worldview and Godly motives is gaining ground in the polls.

Because I know I am susceptible to deception, I fervently pray for God’s wisdom as I choose a candidate, and I pray for God’s will to be done as a new president will be elected to lead our country in 2008. More than anything else, I just want the best person possible in the oval office. To me, based upon my criterions and the candidates, the choice is obvious.

I am sure my thoughts have bugged someone. I’d love to hear about it.

May God’s will be done (Matthew 6:10)!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

An atheist was walking through the woods, admiring all the "accidents" that evolution had created. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. Turning to look, he saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him. He ran away as fast as he could up the path.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the grizzly was closing. Somehow he ran even faster, so scared that tears came to his eyes. He looked again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pounding, and he tried to run faster. He tripped and fell to the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up, but the bear was right over him, reaching for him with its left paw and raising its right paw to strike him.

At that instant the atheist cried, "Oh my God!"

Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all these years, teach others that I don't exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The unthankful atheist looked directly into the light and said, "I would feel like a hypocrite to become a Christian after all these years, but perhaps you could make the bear a Christian?"

"Very well," said the voice.

The light went out. The river ran. The sounds of the forest resumed. Then the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed its head, and spoke: "Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful." David Holdaway

I want to encourage everyone to take some extra time this week and thank God for all the wonderful things He has done for us. I also want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a blessed holiday week. Don't eat too much and drive safe as you travel to visit family.

This Sunday at Every Nation Tallahassee we will be speaking on what it means to "Know Thanks". I hope to see you there. God bless.

Returning to the Lord

“Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?' (8) Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?” “In tithes and offerings. Malachi 3:7-8

About two years after I repented for my sins and received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I went through a rough time in my walk with the Lord. It was during this time that I began to back slide in my faith. As a discouraged Christian, one of the first things I stopped doing was going to church. Because I was no longer going to church, I stopped paying my tithes. I would remain discouraged in my faith and disobedient to my Lord for about a year.

Through sovereign circumstances and conversations with friends who remained Christ followers, I once again began to seek the Lord. Desperate to get back in good standing with my God, I submitted my heart and my will to Christ’s Lordship.

I remember calling my pastor and asking him to meet me at work. We talked about my struggles over the last year, and what it was going to take for me to stand strong in my faith. I was so disappointed in myself that I had betrayed the God who died for me on the cross. I made a commitment to never waste another year of my life by not serving Jesus.

After our conversation, I repented for my sins and prayed with my pastor. As he was leaving my office to return home, I asked him to follow me to my car. While walking to my car, I began to count in my head how much I owed God in tithes over the last year. At the car, I grabbed a pen out of my glove box and wrote down my gross monthly salary on a piece of paper. Then, I multiplied my monthly gross salary by twelve, and wrote a check to my church.

Why did I write this check? It was very important to me to prove my repentance was genuine. I could think of no better way to do this than write a tithe check. As I wrote the check, I remembered the words of Jesus, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Tithing puts God first in our life with our money.

After handing the check to my pastor, for the first time in a year, I felt the joy of the Lord enter my heart. It was such a wonderful feeling to know that I was no longer robbing God with my tithes and offerings. There was such peace in my soul because I knew the curse of disobedience and robbing God was no longer going to manifest in my life. Since that moment, I have been living a life of obedience to my Lord, and experiencing His blessing and favor on my life.

Does Money Solve Problems?

Have you ever thought, “If I had more money, all my problems would go away?” According to an article "8 lottery winners who lost their millions" by Ellen Goodstein, Bankrate.com, there are many lottery winners who are proof that this type of thinking can be very deceptive.

(1)"Winning the lottery isn't always what it's cracked up to be," says Evelyn Adams, who won the New Jersey lottery not just once, but twice (1985, 1986), to the tune of $5.4 million. Today the money is all gone and Adams lives in a trailer.
(2)William "Bud" Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988 but now lives on his Social Security. "I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare," says Post.
(3)Suzanne Mullins won $4.2 million in the Virginia lottery in 1993. Now she's deeply in debt to a company that lent her money using the winnings as collateral.
(4)Ken Proxmire was a machinist when he won $1 million in the Michigan lottery. He moved to California and went into the car business with his brothers. Within five years, he had filed for bankruptcy.
(5)Willie Hurt of Lansing, Mich., won $3.1 million in 1989. Two years later he was broke and charged with murder. His lawyer says Hurt spent his fortune on a divorce and crack cocaine.
(6)Charles Riddle of Belleville, Mich., won $1 million in 1975. Afterward, he got divorced, faced several lawsuits and was indicted for selling cocaine.
(7)Missourian Janite Lee won $18 million in 1993. Lee was generous to a variety of causes, giving to politics, education and the community. But according to published reports, eight years after winning, Lee had filed for bankruptcy with only $700 left in two bank accounts and no cash on hand.

Susan Bradley, a certified financial planner in Palm Beach, Fla., and founder of the Sudden Money Institute, a resource center for new money recipients and their advisors says, "In our culture, there is a widely held belief that money solves problems. People think if they had more money, their troubles would be over. When a family receives sudden money, they frequently learn that money can cause as many problems as it solves."

As the wealthiest man of earth, King Solomon learned that affluence didn’t satisfy. All it did was give him greater opportunity to chase more mirages. People tend to run out of money before mirages, so they cling to the myth that things they can’t afford will satisfy them. Solomon’s money never ran out. He tried everything, saying, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.” (Ecclesiastes 2:10)

What can we learn from a person who once had everything his heart desired?

In Ecclesiastes 2:11 Solomon answers this question by writing, “When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”