MY TRIBUTE

This is Memorial Day.

It has become a strange holiday.

People don't seem to know what to do with it.

We're supposed to remember those who gave their lives for our freedoms.

Only fighting for freedom has gone out of style for about half of the country.

Seems that many people think since we have it, we can't lose it and if we lose it, oh well.

That's because they don't know what it is like not to be free.

They don't read books about it in school, because it is politically incorrect to teach that The United States of America is virtuous, or great...certainly not better than any other country.

In this nation of laws it has become fashionable to allow some laws to be broken for the sake of some ethnic convenience.

Historically, people from all over the world have struggled, sacrificed, studied, scrimped and saved to be able to come to this land of opportunity.

Now, all they have to do is cross the border, have a child and presto...instant ratification and gratification.

Now, instead of immigrants learning our culture and assimilating, we must bow to theirs, become multi-lingual, relinquish those things that have unified us in the past and cater to their needs, economic, social and medical.

For thirty one years my father served in the armed forces of our country. He was a career officer in the United States Air Force.

During World War II, he served in the South Atlantic theater in the field of communications.

My father was fiercely patriotic, understood freedom and was willing to give his life to preserve the unity and values of this country.

The other day I heard a United States politician call for a total withdrawal of our troops from Iraq.

He was giving encouragement to a group planning an anti-war demonstration, suggesting that they carry signs reading, "Support our troops...end the war in Iraq."

Well, I look forward to the day when our troops can come home.

Nobody likes war, except a few stupid warmongering pseudo-militia groups.

But I'll tell you this: the slogan, "Support our troops...end the war in Iraq," is a slap in the face of our current military personnel, a slap in the face of the service my father performed for these ingrates and is therefore a slap in my face.

It is not a slap in the face because it is anti-war.

People have a right to oppose war.

Many people, including my father, opposed our involvement in World War II.

But he saw the necessity for it, supported it with his life and would never have dreamed of saying or doing anything that would demoralize his fellow military personnel....period.

That, he thought, could best be left for after the war and for history to decide.

It is a slap in the face because it represents an attitude on the part of that Senator, and those who think like he does, that says "We will not respect the processes by which we as a nation have decided that these things are done and will not stand in unity for our country."

In any other time they would be branded as traitors and imprisoned or hanged for treason.

I brand them thusly now.

The slogan should be: "Support our troops...WIN the war against terrorists."

There are those who want to set a time-table for troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Aid and abet the enemy by telling them when we will quit.

Some have compared this war to the war in Viet Nam.

It is absolutely nothing like the war in Viet Nam, and anyone who thinks it is is either unbelievably ignorant, and knows (or will admit) nothing about the Viet Nam war, how we got into it, what went on during it or how we got out of it.

The only way this war will become like Viet Nam is if we quit in defeat.

There are those politicians who want to do that.

They are the ones who will turn this war into another Viet Nam.

So, on this Memorial Day, I urge you to pray for and support our troops by insisting that our political leaders see to their battle needs.

Give them the wherewith all to win this effort.

Mark my words, failure to do so will result in a future attack on our country, the inability to resist the attack and the eventual overthrow of our country.

We will lose our freedoms and will become a country where citizens are de-fingered for disobeying the despot-in-chief, beheaded for "crimes against the state," imprisoned for expressing their point of view.

We will become a land where women are possessions, must hide their faces, obey men's commands and subject themselves to horrors unspeakable.

Let us use this Memorial Day to remember the sacrifices made by our predecessors.

Let us remember the trite, but nevertheless true, saying, "Freedom is not free."

Let us realize that the desire for freedom beats in the heart of every human being as a God-given trait of our species.

Then, let us bring honor to the memory of those who have gone before us to make this a nation that is the not only the land of the free, but also the home of the brave.

ANOTHER BLOG ABOUT PRAYER

The thing that makes me sad is that there are certain things that I know.

I don't think them, I know them.

But one cannot state that he knows certain things, lest he be accused of excessive pride.

Only what I know is the truth.

Not to admit that I know it would be lying.

So I am faced with a dilemma.

Exhibit pride or lie.

What kind of choice is that?

I was reading a post the other day in which the writer was asking people to pray for a particular physical thing.

Let me be quick to say that I believe it is superlatively important for us to pray about things.

Not everything, but in general, things.

Many people quote Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and all these thing shall be added unto you." as though it is God's promise to give you things if you seek Him.

Of course you are smart enough to realize that the word "but" is used as a conjunction, connecting this thought to the ones that go before it.

Thus we know that the verse is saying that if we seek God and His righteousness above all else, that we don't have to worry about food, shelter and clothing.

We have to work for them, we just don't have to worry about them. Worrying about them will not add a cubit to your height or an hour to your life.

So many people find it necessary to pray about the minutia of life.

Such is not necessary.

For instance, you need not pray about whether it is God's will for you to witness the Gospel to others.

His Word tells us to do so in Matthew 28:16-20.

He said do it.

So don't pray about it, just do it!

For many people, prayer is a way to get God to go along with their wants, whether they be wants of healing, riches, stability or whatever.

I wrote a little verse about it. Sing it to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon," the Peter, Paul and Mary hit of years long gone.

It goes like this:

God my magic genie does what I ask;

For Him to do what I command is not too hard a task.

Say the incantation, "In Jesus' Name;"

And when you've gotten what you want you'll know you've won the game.

That is so pagan, so superstitious, so blasphemous!

Scripture tells us that when we abide in Jesus we can express to Him the desires of our heart and He will give them to us.

In the context of the whole counsel of God, though, this means that if our desires for ourselves match up with His desires for us, He will give us what we want because what we want is what He wants for us.

You see, prayer is not our way to manipulate God, it is His way of letting us know what He is up to and inviting us to go along for the ride.


It is also one of the means by which we die to self and yield to Him.

It is like a conversation with an expert in a field in which you are a novice, but one who does not look down on you, rather seeks to teach you His field.

Most of us pray gimmie, gimmie prayers (uh...myself included BTW).

"Lord, take away my illness. Give me health."

"Lord, make Aunt Suzie well give her health."

"Lord, you know I need $400.00 to make it through the month. Give me wealth."

(Don't you just love how we tell God what He knows?)

"Lord, Heal my marriage. Make my spouse a better person so we can live together."

"Lord, strike my jerk of a boss with lightning so I will have a better time at work."

"Lord, this business belongs to you. Make it prosper, 'cause it's yours."

"Lord, give apoplexy to that lady who cut me down at church the other Sunday. Get even with her for me."

How much more satisfying our prayer life would be if we would learn to pray:

"Change my heart, O God."

"Lord, help me be more like you every day."

"Lord, if this illness kills me, let me be looking forward to the unspeakable joy of being face-to-face with my blessed Savior."

"Lord, I give this situation to you. Do whatever you want to with it."

"Lord, give my boss a special measure of peace today and help me be the employee I should be to earn the paycheck I get."

"Lord, I offer myself as a living sacrifice to you today."

"Lord, I give this business to you. Help me to work hard so it can grow your way."

"Lord, this is your business. Do what you want with it."

"Lord, help me give myself 100% to my spouse today, expecting absolutely nothing in return and thus show forth your grace and peace."

"Lord, help me die to self a little more today than I did yesterday."

Life is very hard.

Because we live in a fallen world, things happen.

Living our lives for Christ is even harder.

Circumstances? Well, they are just that: circumstances.

Will they change?

Maybe.

But if not, like Paul, we need to say, "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I'm found."

MY BLOG

A place where I tell you what I think and you can tell me what you think about what I think (but not what you think about what my other readers think)...I think.

There is an interesting string of comments on my post about Reality TV part one.

In it, an anonymous commenter made a comment to which I commented.

Then, an also anonymous commenter, came to the defense of the previous anonymous commenter.

I, of course, commented on all the comments, plus a few that had not even been made.

If there is one thing I hate (sorry if that's not a gentle enough word) it is anonymous commenters.

I never, ever leave their comments in my comments section, except when I do.

Which is probably as often as I delete them.

Maybe some commenters choose to remain anonymous because they don't have a blog and just happened by to read mine and commented on it.

Maybe they're just lilly-livered, yellow-bellied sap-suckers.

(The Yellow-bellied Sap-sucker, for the uninitiated, is a type of woodpecker.)

(Lilly-livered, on the other hand, just sounds neat.)

It could have been worse.

I could have called them a "fawning, earth-vexing, fustilarian ," but that might not have been considered nice.

I was actually reprimanded for not having been gentle enough in my response to anonymous commenter number one.

To which my response is, in the words of a famous cave-man, "Uh....what?"

Let me explain.

See, I take only Jesus seriously.

I do not take me seriously.

I do not take you seriously.

For the most part, the world just needs to lighten up and get a life.

We do not need to be offended on others' behalfs.

They will, no doubt, be offended on their own any time they want to be.

Especially if they spend much time on my blog.

The thing is, this blog is read all over the world.

Granted, only one person from each quadrant of the globe reads it, but still...that's all over the world...isn't it?

But the good news is nobody HAS to read it.

Why read something that offends you or that you think offends someone else?

There is too much to do in life to go around getting offended by various blogs.

After all, you are not going to "set anyone straight" (least of all, me) with your comments.

And, contrary to popular belief, my blog is not a democracy.

You have an absolute right to your opinion.

You do not have an absolute right to express it on my blog.

I practice censorship.

I censor foul language, stupidity (although one might make the case that I also practice same), and whatever else I feel like censoring.

It is downright un-American.

But then, so are some of my readers. They are from Great Brittain, Australia, New Dehli, and Old Amsterdam.

So read away, if you like.

If you don't like...just go away.

And remember: I may seem rough around the edges. You may think I am a pompous twit. Some people actually don't like me (snif-snif).

But I'm really a very loving, lovable, laid-back, easy-going, soft-spoken, life-loving, fun-having, smart-allically old grump.

My wife tells me I'm nuts.

I tell her, "Always keep that in mind."

TRY TO FOCUS!

What one thing characterizes Christianity?

Is it prayer?

Muslims pray.

Hindus pray.

Maybe its praise!

Muslims say, "Allah be praised," every time they speak the name of their prophet.

Hindus praise a myriad of gods.

Perhaps it is worship.

Muslims gather in mosques for worship.

Hindus gather at shrines to worship.

Singing! That must be it: singing!

Muslis sing.

Hindus chant (a sort of singing, I guess...think Gregorian chants, etc.)

Could it be sacrifice?

Animalists sacrifice.

So do Voodoo practicioners.

OK.

Sit down a grab hold of something. This is about to get really rough.

It must be the spirit of God.

Sorry.

Many pagan tribal cultures are involed with the "spirits" of the gods.

Let me tell you what sets Christianity apart from all other religions, sects, cults and religious segments.

It is a person named Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

It is a person named Jesus, who the Pharasees understood to be calling Himself the "Great I Am," and considered it a blasphemy worthy of crucifixion.

It is a person named Jesus, who was crucified and then was resurrected, as witnessed by the testimony of over 500 people!

(Think of that! In a courtroom, two or three witnesses are enough to establish the truth.)

It is a person named Jesus, whose followers were willing, individually, to die horrible deaths at the hands of others, rather than deny their faith in Him.

It is a person named Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God the Father and who shall someday judge both the quick and the dead.

It is a person named Jesus, who took upon Himself the sins of the whole world in order that God's wonderful plan of salvation might be accomplished in the heart of any person who will turn to Him in faith, trusting in, and only in, His finished work at the cross for salvation.

It is a person named Jesus, who was predicted over 600 times in the Old Testament to be born, live, die, to be raised from the grave and to return for His own.

It is a person named Jesus, by whom all things were made that were made, making Him the Very Creator!

It is the person named Jesus, who wrestled with men, walked in the furnace, and who is, and will be named King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

My friend, you can stand in an elevator and converse with people all you want about some generic god or gods and they won't bat an eyelash.

But talk about Jesus and you'll get a rise out of them.

Use His name for swearing, cursing or damning and that's OK.

Speak His name with reverence and awe and you'll be attacked, maybe verbally, maybe physically.

Tell somebody, "God loves you," and they'll smile and nod and say, "Oh, I know."

Even Oprah knows that!

But tell them to turn to Jesus for salvation and watch how fast they turn you off!

There are lots of people who call themselves "Christians."

There are few who find Him.

The Bible tells us that the road is wide that leads to eternal destruction, and there are many on it, whether they know it or not.

The Bible tells us that the road is narrow that leads to eternal life, and there are few on it.

Why?

Because the point is not prayer.

The point is not praise.

The point is not worship.

The point is not singing.

The point is Jesus.

He is the one who characterizes Christianity.

Just Jesus.

He is the physical manifestation of God.

He said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father."

Jesus.

What could I write to do today to get Christians to focus on Jesus?

What would God have to do today to get you to focus on Jesus?

REALITY TV? Part 2

Our local Christian TV station has started airing a lot of "non-mainstream" preachers.

I use the word, "non-mainstream," because I don't know what else to call them.

One of them began this rant about how God wants all of His children to prosper.

He proceeded to equate God's prosperity with the accumulation of goods and monetary wealth.

He said we did not drive the car we want because our faith is weak.

He drives a Beemer.

He told us of how he has "visioned" in his mind the house he wants, and God has provided it for him, complete with a pool, two stories, three bathrooms for himself, his wife and two kids (why not four bathrooms, by the way?), and a two-and-a-half-car garage.

"All you have to do," he said, "is to envision the wealth God wants you to have, and He will provide it for you.

Of course, he provided plenty of scripture passages to prove his points.

"Give (to his ministry, of course...as a "seed") and it will be given to you, pressed down...", well, you know the rest.

I wondered to myself: Why is this man preaching this message to the richest people on earth?

Why doesn't he take this message to those who really need it?

He should be preaching to the Christians in India, who are prohibited from earning a significant living.

He should be preaching to the Christians in Somalia, where the next meal is very much in doubt.

He should be preaching to the Christians in China, who must worship in underground churches.

Do not the very Scriptures he was "sharing" with us apply in poor countries?

Do not the very Scriptures he was "sharing" with us apply in countries where Christians are being put to death daily for just being Christians?

What, I wonder, is the cross he bears?

What, I wonder, is the sacrifice he makes?

What, I wonder, is he doing for those poor people in China?

I'm not at all certain that he and I worship the same God.

REALITY TV? Part 1

I was watching our local Christian TV station.

A preacher was standing at the front of the platform, just about to fall off, or so it seemed.

The congregation had locked arms and was swaying forward and backward when suddenly the preacher swept his arm in front of himself.

As he did so, the entire congregation fell backward like dominoes.

WOW! I thought. What power the Holy Spirit must have! He can knock people over!

How edifying!

How up-lifting!

How Christ-like!

How Biblical!

Biblical?

Oooo!

I ran and got my Bible to look up all of the instances where the Holy Spirit caused whole congregations to fall over when motioned at by the preacher.

Not one example.

How can this be, I wondered?

I must be missing something.

I looked in Bible dictionaries, topical Bibles, concordances, commentaries.

Nothing.

This is terrible!

If the Bible is God's revelation of His character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption, where is the part about dominomic congregations?

If "everything you need to know about God is found in the Word of God, nothing you need to know about God is not found in the Word of God and everything you think you know about God that is not in the Word of God you just made up," then God must have made a mistake leaving out the part about falling backward in unison at the sweep of a preacher's hand.

God made a mistake!

He did not reveal enough!

He must have much more to reveal!

That, my friend, is Voodoo Christianity.

He has revealed all He needs for us to know.

There is no further revelation.

Not one single preacher has learned one single thing about God that He has not already revealed for us all to know in His Word.

If you are not satisfied with what God has revealed in His Word, you are not satisfied with God.

If you are not satisfied with God, you are not saved.

You need to come to know Him by placing your faith in, and only in, the finished work of Christ at the cross of calvary and His resurrection.

You do not need to place your faith in your extra-Biblical experiences.

You do not need to place your faith in some prosperity "gospel" (which is no gospel at all).

You do not need to place your faith in God's healing power.

You need to find sufficiency in Christ alone.

If God chooses to give you wealth, that's His business.

If God chooses to heal you, that's His business.

Our only business is to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

When we do, we will receive the gift of persecution.

When we do, we will receive the gift of a daily death.

We will also receive the gift of eternal life.

We need nothing more.

Those are the marks of real, saving faith.

LOCAL?

As you know, I work at Kingdom FM Christian Radio .

We are a local Christian radio station.

"What does that mean, " I hear you asking earnestly.

To some people "local" means running a few local pastors' programs, doing a local weather forcast and maybe a traffic report here and there.

That's local...right?

Wrong.

As important as local programming is, it is not what it means to be local.

Being local means that radio personnel are involved in the community.

To be local, a station must have a presence at local events: walks-for-life; see you at the pole; So-and-So Men's conference; This-and-That Women's conference; local ministry luncheons and whatever other local ministry events take place.

The station should do a remote broadcast from these events whenever possible. This does not have to be expensive. Even a cell phone can be used to do a remote broadcast.

To be local, a station must be personally involved in local churches.

Personnel should visit local churches with a simple 5 minute presentation about the station and how it can help the church.

To be local, a station's personnel should visit local Christian businesses, letting them know about the radio ministry and making them aware of opportunities for them to let the community know they support Christian radio.

Looking for opportunities to interview as many local minintry leaders as possible is another way to make the station local.

Not only is the ministry leader involved in this way, all the people he or she leads are involved, too, because they will want to listen for their leader on the radio.

Stations can be even more local by doing brief local news programs and public affairs shows.

Public transportation information, shows about parks and recreation availability, water restriction information, local informational seminars and other areas of interest could easily be put into a five or ten minute program.

These also help fulfil FCC's requirement for public affairs broadcasts (although care should be taken not to be political).

All of this accomplishes two things: 1) it keeps the name of the station in front of the local community at all times and 2) it demonstrates to the community that they are what's important about local Christian radio.

Just broadcasting local sermons is good...but that's not all there is to being local.

If you ever wonder how to best increase your audience, what you put on the air will help, but what you do in the community will actually grow the audience.

I'M BAAAAAAK!

I had to go to, and speak at, my Brother-In-Law's funeral.

It was a sad day, but as funerals go, it was tastefully and nicely done.

My sister is adjusting well.

After I got back, I got a bad case of the flu.

I strongly recommend against it.

I was going to give you a play-by-play of my illness, but when I mentioned that to my good friend and co-worker, Caleb, he discouraged me from doing so, seemingly thinking that you were not particularly interested in graphic word-pictures of my projectile V & D.

So, fear not.

In the interest of securing your sensitivities, I will forgo the V & D descriptions and will move on to my "sick" humor.

One of my experiences included a high fever (104) and chills.

While under a bed sheet, two wool blankets and two comforters, I was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably.

My sweet wife, whose lot it fell to care for me during this ordeal, came to my bedside to ask, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

My answer was, "Would you please close the meat-freezer door?"

At one point I suggested that we move the bed into the bathroom.

But that is getting too close to discussing V & D, so let's not go there.

Later, as the fever began to break, I began to sweat.

My bed sheet, blankets and comforters now weigh 7 times as much as they did.

I, on the other hand, weigh eight pounds less.

So it wasn't all bad.

I'll get back to writing soon.

See? I wrote a whole post without once getting into a discussion of V & D.

But it was hard.

DEFECTIVE LEADERSHIP - PART TWO

The defective Christian leader has a really effective punch to throw in defective leadership:

GOD.

God is the Christian defective leader's "ace-in-the-hole" for the ultimate in condescension and control.

"God told me to tell you this."

"Do a good job, now...God likes thoroughness."

"Did you double check your work? God hates mistakes."

What it amounts to is that for many so-called Christians, Christianity is a matter of who can exhibit the best behavior.

But Isaiah 64:6 tells us: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

By this we know that our behavior can never please God in-and-of-itself.

If it could, Christ's trip to the cross was for nothing, for we could effect our own salvation by right behavior.

When another tells you that God told him this or God told her that, you are up the proverbial creek.

Can't argue with God.

Does God like perfection?

Well, yes, He does.

In fact He inspired Matthew to record the words of Jesus: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

This, of course, is talking about showing love to the unlovely.

The entire book of Job is about self-proclaimed religious people who used their religion to try to convince Job that he was doing something wrong in God's eyes.

God said of them: "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." (Job 42: 7b)

In the end, it was Job who was instructed to pray for them, not them for him.

A real leader would NEVER play the "God card."

Only a dysfunctional, deffective leader would.

DEFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

How NOT to lead.

There have been many books written on becoming an effective leader.

I have noticed that there is a dearth of books on how to become a DEFECTIVE leader.

What a shame!

There are so many business owners, ministry leaders and others who seem to want to become proficient at defectivity in leadership.

So, thankfully, I am here to fill the void.

I have studied defective leaders and have compiled a sort of "to do" list on how best to be a defective leader.

1) Do NOT know your business inside and out.

If a truck pulls up to your unloading dock with widgets and galvin rods on board, tell your employee to unload the galvin rods, when you really needed the widgets unloaded.

This will cause the employee, who knows what both widgets and galvin rods are, to be confused and wonder if you have learned your company's terminology.

2) NEVER provide a job description for your employees.

Wait until they fail to do something you thought they knew to do and then castigate them for failure to do the task. If possible, redress them in front of other employees.

This will heighten their anxiety and may even move them closer to heart trouble, thus decreasing the surplus population.

The other benefit of not having job descriptions is that you can yell at anybody you want to when something goes wrong.

3) Whatever experience your employees may have in the business, be certain NEVER to draw upon it.

You will understandably feel threatened by the knowledge your employee has.

You will be much better of blustering, huffing and puffing, not to mention bluffing, your way through each day.

4) Do NOT use purchase orders, work orders, production orders, or any other kind of standardized written instructions for work needed.

Help employees depend on their memories to get work done.

Better yet, make THEM write your instructions down.

That way, if they misunderstand what you want done, there will be someone to blame when a task goes wrong.

5) Do not give true authority for decision-making to any employee.

To be a truely defective leader, you must not trust anyone.

You must be a strict perfectionist, and therefore must micro-manage every little detail of your business.

6) NEVER be consistent.

Consistency is so boring.

Employees should never know what to expect next.

Keep them guessing.

7) DO NOT show employees how important they are by greeting them pleasantly the first thing when you arrive.

You are the center of your business.

Why you could do this business all by yourself.

You don't need anybody, much less this miserable group of no-accounts.

Why be pleasant, anyway, especially if your business is some kind of ministry?

Making people feel loved, wanted and needed would only make people think the Holy Spirit had control of your life.

8) When you finish a telephone conversation, slam the phone down without any of the usual civilized pleasantries.

It is not really necessary to even say "Goodby." It's such a waste of time and might make somebody feel too good.

While on the phone, talk very loudly and abruptly. Be cryptic.

Whatever you do, don't sound genuine, unless, of course, the person you are talking to has something of value that you want...like money.

9) Do not learn the "inner workings" of your business.

If a supplier makes a mistake, or if a shelf is not put up correctly, or if a file is misplaced, you don't want to be the one who knows how to fix the situation.

You don't want to be seen as a person of Christ-like compassion.

After all, you hold all the chips, being the one who controls the paychecks.

10) Never live by the words of Jesus, "Do to others what you would have them do to you."

A much better plan than the "Golden Rule" would be the "Rule of Gold": He who holds the gold makes the rules.

11) If you lead a ministry, be sure to look spiritual at the right times, but don't let spirituality get in the way of your day-to-day activities.

Have a prayer time every day. But don't be overly influenced to pray for your staff.

Especially don't let your prayers translate into polite behavior.

12) Expect apologies, but never apologize.

A true leader would be quicker to apologize for a misdeed than he would to expect an apology from others.

You wouldn't want someone to mistakingly think you are a real leader.

John Maxwell once said, "Look behind you. If there is no one there, you are not leading...you are just out for a stroll."

I say, "Look behind you. If there is someone there, whatever you are doing...STOP. Someone might confuse you for a leader."

After all, being a completely defective leader takes work...loud, stressful, irritating, Type-A personality-developing WORK.