Hey Satan

Praise God Almighty!
May the Lord of all the universe bless you today!

WWJD?

What Would Jesus Do?

Over the past ten to fifteen years, a popular saying among believers has been, “What would Jesus do”?  So popular in fact that the slogan graced many car bumpers and wrapped many wrists with the initials WWJD.  Many see it as a cute Christian catch phrase that was adopted by pop culture.  Others see it as a tangible way to make a decision in a tough situation.  Is it really that easy?

Every day, Christians attempt to reconcile faith and lifestyle based on their understanding of right and wrong, sin and righteousness.  But what is their “understanding”?  Is theirs right?  Is mine right?  Is it truth?  Rumor?  Hearsay? 

The understanding of Jesus is going to be different for each individual based on their experience with Him and their knowledge of His teachings.  People are people after all and bring their own desires and prejudices to the table when asking “WWJD”.  So, in essence, WWJD becomes WCIR (What Can I Rationalize?).  Thus, for the average person, relying on a slogan as a guidepost is reckless and imprudent at best. 

What are we to do?

 “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12b).  As believers, we have a responsibility to be faithful and obedient to God.  Being faithful and obedient means studying His word, trusting His word, and applying it to every aspect of our lives.  It means making time for prayer and devotion.  It means careful consideration of our choices, not reliance on a coin-flip or a catch phrase.  It means knowing that we serve a loving God who provided a real guidepost for our lives when He gave us the Bible. 

So, What Would Jesus Do?  Obviously it depends on the situation.  However, careful consideration through Bible study and prayerful meditation will allow believers to hear God’s will, enabling them to make the best decision.  Even Jesus prayed.

So, to answer the question “What Would Jesus Do?”; He would ask the Father for guidance.

Our hope

I would ask that all of you take a moment and pray for our country.  Every decade we fall farther into the pit that Satan is dragging us into.  Pray for revival. Pray for our future.

Many blessings,
Joshua

Prayer Pointers

How do you pray?  What do you pray for?  Why do you pray?  Many pray for protection for their loved ones.  Others pray for help for themselves or others when faced with difficulty.  Most certainly, people pray for forgiveness for their sins against God and their fellow man.  As Christians, we ask God for a lot.  Many of us, out of faith, lay all of our burdens at his feet because we know in our heart of hearts that the Lord will provide for us and protect us according to His will. 

What about praise?  Praise is the most important, yet the most overlooked, part of prayer.  Praise means giving back to the Lord for all of the blessings He showers into our lives every day.  The definition of praise is “to express warm approval or admiration of.”  But in the case of God, our praise should look more like exaltation.  Make it a heartfelt expression of respect, gratitude, adoration, and reverence. 

 In the NIV Bible, the word praise appears 296 times.  The Lord desires our praise and wants to hear how much we love Him.  Let Him know you love Him and how thankful and grateful you are for all that He has done for you.  Personally, I like to start my day with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving for all He has blessed me with and for the new day and new opportunities ahead. 

Finally, when you are spending time with the Lord, don’t do all of the talking.  Prayer should include quiet time where you can be still and listen to what God has to say to you.  This marvelous time in the presence of the Almighty God is best spent as a communication, not a list of requests. 

Many Blessings      

Memorial Day: So When Did We Forget?

Barbeques.  Parties.  Parades.  Flag waving and fireworks.  A day off of work.  For far too many people, this is the first thing they think of when they think of Memorial Day.  They can’t wait for the 5:00 bell on Friday afternoon.  The anticipation of a long weekend of celebrating with family and friends has their motor in overdrive.  Perhaps they will catch a ballgame, or pitch some horse shoes, maybe go fishing with their friends or their kids.  These things are all fantastic and bonding with family and friends is never a bad thing.  But do we stop to remember?  Does anyone understand what Memorial Day is really about?  Does it come up in the conversation at the barbeque?  In the fishing boat?  Beside the pool?  Do you take time to explain it to your kids?  So, when did we forget?

The National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics shows that, at present, there are over 22 million veterans living in these United States.  That makes up roughly 6.8% of the current U.S. population.  Chances are you have a veteran in your family.  Chances are even better that you know a veteran.  These are people that we look at and interact with on a regular basis.  So, when did we forget?

My paternal grandfather Harold Foltz served in the U.S. Army during WWII.  He was stationed in the Philippines, a hot bed of Japanese activity.  He lost friends there.  He fought for his life there.  He fought for his country there.  He fought for me there.  He fought for you there.  My great uncle and my maternal grandfather both served in the Merchant Marine, keeping our coast safe from what everyone thought was an imminent German U-boat invasion.  They stood guard for me.  They stood guard for you.  So, when did we forget?

Outside of my family I have many friends that have served in different branches of the military.  Several of them are combat veterans from Desert Storm.  Others have served more recently in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I love them just the same, but they are not the same men that walked into the recruiting office and signed up to fight an enemy that is hell bent on eradicating the “western” way of life.  They are changed.  Forever changed.  Most of them cannot, or simply will not talk about the things they have seen.  One friend is deaf in one ear because of an IED.  He lost his hearing but others lost so much more.  Arms, legs, lives.  The survivors are just that—survivors.  The things they witnessed; the Hell on earth they went through changed them.  They cannot forget.  So, when did we forget?

Some will say that Memorial Day is a day to remember the fallen and the combat weary, and it certainly is.  But it is also a day to express the eternal gratitude we should all possess toward those who served so bravely and selflessly, standing guard so we can sleep safely each night.  Even the survivors lost a part of themselves to that world. 

Who do you know?  Your dad?  Your sister?  Your best friend?  Your neighbor?  Go shake their hand.  Go thank them.  Hug their neck and let them know how much you appreciate the fact that they were willing to give up their lives so that we could all wave our flags, watch the parades, and have our barbeques.  Without our veterans, there would be no United States of America.  Lest we forget. 

Theology of Scripture

I believe in one true and living Triune God.  I believe that He has revealed Himself to humanity in many different ways.  However, we learn the most about God, His character, and His plan for us through the Scripture.  Herein, I will describe the nature of Scripture.  Then I will cover the manner in which a Christian should read Scripture in order to connect with the word of God on a deeper level.  Finally, Christians read Scripture for a variety of reasons.  But, why is Scripture relevant today?  These are the areas I will touch on in this statement on the Scripture.

Through the plenary guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the 66 books of the Bible were written by man to convey God’s revelation of love to humanity.  In its original form, Scripture is the inerrant, authoritative, spoken word of God whose soteriological nature testifies to all things concerning the redemption and salvation of humanity.    

The Holy Spirit inspired men to write the books of the Bible.  To say the Spirit’s inspiration is “plenary” is to say that Scripture is fully or completely inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Scripture is the standard-bearer of the Christian faith.  However, this inspiration was not limited to the original writers of the Bible. 

The Bible was written over the span of around 1300-1600 years.  So, it was not put together in the form that we have it today until all of the books were completed.  Someone had to put them together.  Those who were involved in the councils and formed the creeds that gave us the Christian Bible were also guided by the Holy Spirit. 

“In, through, or in spite of its clearly human, historical characteristics, Christians confess that Scripture repeats, conveys, or reflects the words of the living God” (Fowl, 2009, p. 2).  Though the Bible has gone through many hands and been the subject of countless attempts at interpretation and re-interpretation, the core message remains the same.  Because the possibility of errors in transcribing and translation exists, “the earliest text available should be sought, as well as the best translation” (Leclerc, 2013, p. 34).  In these earliest forms of Scripture are found the inerrant words of God. 

The Bible “is a book addressed to the whole people of God” (Leclerc, 2013, p. 40).  Its soteriological nature means that it reveals God’s doctrine of salvation for all of humanity.  It provides a backstory and a roadmap to redemption.  Through the backstory, God’s character is revealed as well as His plan for us.  That would be the Old Testament.  The New Testament provides the roadmap to redemption through Jesus Christ as well as the way to entire sanctification through Christian living.

 “Scripture fulfills its purpose when God fulfills God’s purpose in us” (Leclerc, 2013, p. 40).  What God wants most from us is obedience and fellowship.  Fulfilling that desire for God should be the main motivation behind studying Scripture.  The Bible teaches us how to communicate with, fellowship with, worship, and be redeemed by Him.  Fowl (2009) says that “Scripture reveals all that believers need to sustain a life of growing communion with God and each other” (p. 10). 

“All Scripture is inspired by God—The Spirit of God not only once inspired those who wrote it, but continually inspires, supernaturally assists, those who read it” (Thorsen, 2004, p. 84).  This is a process called double inspiration and was also prescribed by John Wesley (Leclerc, 2013).  As discussed, the Bible has a soteriological nature.  Therefore, “reading the Bible…is always intended to aid in our progressive sanctification” (Leclerc, 2013, p. 38).  A Christian should always read Scripture with that in mind.  Believers should allow the Spirit to guide them to the message, and then apply it in a way that will grow their relationship with God.  “Christians need to be sure that our interpretations and embodiments of Scripture are always directed toward enhancing our prospects of reaching our true home” (Fowl, 2009, p. 39).

A Christian reader necessarily needs to be sure to remember that “no single verse, or even passage, is to be interpreted in isolation from the whole Bible” (Leclerc, 2013, p. 40).  The message of Scripture is not revealed in a single verse or passage.  It is only when readers consider the message of the Bible as a whole that a valid interpretation can be made of any single part of the Bible.  Reading the Bible in this manner prevents Christians from picking out verses to satisfy a predetermined interpretation of a passage—called eisegesis (Leclerc, 2013). 

Biblical writers celebrate Jesus as the plumb line by which everyone is measured—see Rom 14:15, 1 Cor. 8:11-12, and Eph. 4:21; 5:2.  Therefore, when looking at Scripture, “evaluate them by the standard of Jesus’ life and words” (Thompson, 1994, p. 78-79).  It only makes sense that Scripture be interpreted in light of the New Covenant.  Christians are no longer under the Mosaic or Davidic covenants of the Old Testament.

The ultimate aim of reading Scripture is to allow God to reveal himself to believers as they make their way toward entire sanctification through the grace that He has shown to humanity.  “For Christians, the ends of reading, interpreting, and embodying Scripture are determined decisively by the ends of God’s self-revelation, which are directed toward drawing humans into ever-deeper communion with the triune God and each other” (Fowl, 2009, p. 6-7).

Another aim for reading Scripture is teaching.  In order for a teacher to be believable and effective, they must know the material.  It is no different for teachers of the Bible.  Students will be easily turned off if most of their questions go unanswered because the instructor does not know.

By unpacking the interpreter’s bag of Inductive Bible Study tools, Scripture comes alive and is shown to be relevant in today’s world.  Many biblical principles are universal and are easily translated from one culture or situation to another. In these cases, the cultural gap is not so broad.  However, in other cases the principles may be more specific to the original audience.  Here, the bridge between cultures is very wide and requires much work to cross.  By discovering the historical and literary context, one can begin to move from the ancient world to the modern world.  Understanding the world of the ancients allows us to begin to understand the true meaning of a passage.  From there, readers can evaluate the text and apply the passage to the modern world.

“Reading and searching the Scriptures then are the food of the Christian life that gives nourishment and energy in order for us to become all that God has created us to be” (Leclerc, 2013, p. 38).  Scripture is relevant to Christians today because it is where God continually shows Himself.  It is where readers can go to meditate on and discover the plans God has for them.  Inside are truths that are as universal and timeless as God Himself.  His love and His word endure forever.

It is through Scripture that Christians learn about God—His character, His ways, His love and plan for humanity.  Through inductive interpretation, readers are able to go far beyond the surface level of the text and discover true meaning of Scripture that God wants us all to see.  “God ‘authors’ Scripture not to warrant some grand system of theological ideas to guide people in orthodox confession, but rather to lead sinful people into thankful worship of a forgiving Lord” (Leclerc, 2013, p. 38).

           
References

Fowl, S. E. (2009). Theological interpretation of Scripture. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books.

Leclerc, D. (2013). Discovering Christian holiness. Retrieved from http://www.ebscohost.com

Thompson, D. L. (1994). Bible study that works. Nappanee, IN: Evangel Publishing House.

Thorsen, D. A. (2004). Interpretation in interactive balance: The authority of Scripture for John Wesley. In B. L. Callen, & R. P. Thompson (Eds.), Reading the Bible in Wesleyan ways: Some constructive proposals (pp. 81-104). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.

Sin Triggers

What Causes You To Sin?  Now there is a loaded question.  But, think about it.  What are your “sin triggers”?  Sin triggers can be anything that causes us to sin, but especially those things that cause us to knowingly sin.  Everyone has them.  I have them.  Everyone tries to escape them.  I try to escape them.  After all, no good Christian consciously wishes to sin.  We try to please God in all that we do.  At least, that is what we strive for. 

But the devil is a cunning little deceiver.  He puts things in our path that stir up selfish, sinful desires.  Smokers, drinkers and addicts fight these desires every day and, sadly, most of them lose the battle.  But it is not only the addict that struggles daily with “sin triggers”.  We all do. 

Many of our sins are committed out of greed, lust, and a need for acceptance.  We want more than we’ve been given, we want what someone else has, we want to be noticed.  Our triggers cause a war to rage inside our heads.  On the one side you know that it is wrong.  On the other, you try to rationalize your sin or to talk yourself into believing it is okay to do this sin.  We think to ourselves, “Who is it going to hurt?” 

But that isn’t really the point, is it?  The Lord only restricts us from things that cause harm to ourselves, others and our relationship with Him; lying, adultery, murder, greed, jealousy, etc.  So, who do these sins hurt?  Everyone you love.  Everyone I love. 

So, I ask again, what are your sin triggers?  Is it perusing a social media site and finding yourself coveting what someone else has?  Perhaps it is looking at ads and being jealous of the way someone else looks.  Maybe you have an addiction to pornography that you cannot resist once the computer turns on.  Everyone fights a different battle, but we are all battling the same enemy. 

Jesus says that “if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away” (Matthew 5:29a, NIV).  Does that mean that Jesus wants us to cut our eyes out if they cause us to sin?  Absolutely not!  It means that we are to remove things from our lives that cause us to sin.  Many times it is only through drastic measures that we can conquer sin.  For some, it means a complete change of lifestyle.  For others, it may mean making small changes to avoid tempting situations.    

In any case, try to identify your own sin triggers.  In doing so you will not only be able to walk closer to God, but you can avoid the devil’s other great trick—guilt. 

Why Believe?

Why Believe?

It has been quite a while since I have posted here.  But, this morning the Lord put this topic on my heart and I figured I would share it with you.  Many people will ask why you believe in God.  Why does an otherwise rational, educated person hold on to these old stories, these myths, these fairy tales?  The answer will vary from person to person as it does with almost anything.  However, here are a few of the reasons why I believe.

The Gutter

In my youth, indeed all the way through high school, I was a devout Christian.  But, beginning in my freshman year of college, I fell away.  When I fell, I fell hard (for more on this see “Nobody’s perfect”).  Over the next twenty years or so, I found each day tougher to manage, every ant hill turned into Everest, every penny owed turned into a mint.  I was failing in every aspect of life.  I hit rock bottom, face down in the gutter.  In that moment, I heard God calling out to me and, for the first time in a long time, I called back to Him.  From that day forward, my life has done a complete 180° turn around.  My life is far from perfect.  But I have all I could ever need and more thanks to Him who continues to bless my family and I on a daily basis.

The Power of Prayer

The turnaround above is due in large part to the power of prayer.  God listens.  He hears our pleas and our prayers.  I have seen people in the most difficult of circumstances find hope and a path out of difficulty thanks to deliverance through prayer.  I know people who were literally at death’s door and found themselves released from the grip of death thanks to prayer.  I have seen the impossible made possible, the crippled made new, the troubled made free of their burdens. 

My mother was told that without a heart transplant she would likely be dead within five years.  They found her heart to be severely deficient in many ways, with too many diagnoses to list in a short blog.  That was eight years ago.  Today, she lives with a pace maker and an implanted defibrillator in her chest.  These are the things that were to help her make it through those five years.  She still battles daily to stay healthy and, no doubt, it is an uphill battle.  But, she has God on her side.  She has a legion of prayer warriors lifting her situation to God every day.  Ask her and she will tell you that she is still here today because of the power of prayer.  Ask me and I would have to agree.    

The Power of God

In my own life, God works wonders for me every day.  My job provides much of what we need financially, but not enough.  We live within our means.  However, things happen when you have a family of seven that are completely unpredictable.  But, I never worry about money.  Every time it seems we are going to fall short the Lord provides for us.  The money always comes from somewhere.  He is my provider and my protector.  He has seen my family and I through many rough patches and carried us over impossible terrain in order that we should stay on course.  There is nothing that I hesitate to take to Him for His blessing and His wisdom.  Thank you Father for all you do.

The Evidence

Many people will argue science vs. religion, evolution vs. creation, etc.  The Lord makes Himself evident to me every moment of every day.  I do not need any more evidence than that.  However, there are those out there that do need some type of evidence. 

Ok, here is some scientific evidence.  Matter does not spring about from nothing.  If it did, it stands to reason that new matter would still be springing forth today.  Bottom line, something supernatural had to make it.

Assuming that all of the conditions were right for the Big Bang to occur, there are still a few mathematical impossibilities to overcome.  First, the chances that the four major forces would form in such a way as to not tear the universe apart are in the trillions of trillions to one.  Second, the chances that life could form out of the primordial soup that evolutionists believe it did are roughly 10/40,000 power.  Now, put the chances of both occurring from nothing and the mathematical odds become staggeringly impossible to overcome.  By the way, any mathematician will tell you that 10/50 power is considered a mathematical impossibility.

Ever heard of Alexander the Great?  Most of us who have taken a fifth grade social studies class know who he is, or at least we remember the name.  He was a 4^th century B.C. Greek emperor.  We read about him in textbooks, the History Channel has done documentaries on him, and we accept it for the truth.  However, no contemporary accounts of his life exist.  In fact, the nearest mention of Alexander the Great occurs hundreds of years after his death.  But it is accepted as fact. 

Jesus.  Who was He?  Was He even real?  In the case of Jesus, the entire New Testament is written by His disciples, those that knew Him, and those that knew the Apostles.   These books were all written between 40 and 150 A.D., very close in time to His life.  The fact that each author has a connection to Christ himself and/or the Apostles serves to solidify the historical nature of His life, crucifixion, and resurrection.  Bottom line, there is more solid evidence for Christ than for Alexander the Great.