Toxic Baloney
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Thursday, June 05, 2014 | |
Toxic baloney. When it comes to worldwide media coverage of Israel, that’s increasingly the diet we’re being fed. And that toxic baloney is slowly poisoning the hearts and minds of millions. Example #1: The Land Listening to today’s media, one gets the notion that Israel is a greedy land grabber, reluctant to share with anyone else. The fact is, the Arab world is nearly 800 times the size of Israel. Not eight or even eighty. But eight HUNDRED times as large. So why is Israel being pressured to give up the tiny slice it has to the many who have much more? Example #2 Regional Conflict It is increasingly suggested that Israel is the source of most trouble in the Middle East. But what about the horrific war in Syria—which has nothing to do with Israel? What about the massive unrest and murderous demonstrations in Egypt? From the instability of the Iranian nuclear program, to Sunnis killing Shiites in Iraq, the Middle East has never lacked for trouble—quite apart from Israel. Example #3 The Security Fence Along the West Bank Prior to the violence of the second intifada, there was no wall, and suicide bombers walked right into Israel and detonated deadly explosions. Since the construction of that barrier, the bombings have almost entirely stopped. There are dozens of countries that have fences or walls at their borders including the U.S., Turkey, Northern Ireland, India, Spain, Thailand, the Netherlands, Finland and Yemen. Does Israel not have a right to protect itself against suicide bombers? You don’t get this kind of perspective from the mainstream media. I’m not saying Israel is perfect. No country is, including ours. But I am saying that many of the charges being made are distorted and one-sided…to keep us from knowing “the whole truth.” The ultimate truth to keep in mind--the age old promise of Genesis 12:3 regarding Israel: I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
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Gizmos and Gadgets
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Thursday, May 29, 2014 | |
Gizmos and gadgets. You'll see a ton of them if you go camping. Over Memorial Day, I couldn't help but notice the massive amounts of stuff people trotted out to their campsites. There were all kinds of ingenious quick-shade gizmos. Few who lugged them out and set them up could resist the urge to hang from them cute little lights of various themes.. Then there were more traditional dining canopies—their netted walls and zippered doors defying the most eager of flies a share in a meal in the great outdoors. I saw all kinds of cooking implements. Things for which I have no name. Things for which I could not even guess a purpose. Many felt the need for a full-sized gas grill. So naturally, those were packed up, set up and fired up. There were elaborate outdoor rugs and lawn coverings. I saw a thousand different lawn chair designs, each more fancy than the last. (Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration...but it sure felt that way). All of this, mind you, for a three day weekend. That's the thought that hit me as I saw the sweat that went into taking down and packing up all this.....stuff. For some folks, this process took several hours! When the Bible calls us “strangers and aliens on this earth,” shouldn't that give us pause to evaluate the gizmos and gadgets that fill our homes? Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of man has no place to rest His head.” James 4:14 cautions us, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” I would never presume to be your judge. I'm struggling, like you, to understand what it means to follow Christ in the area of stuff. I'm not sure of all the answers. But I think for me, part of the answer has to be less gizmos and gadgets. |
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Time Capsule in our Backyard!
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Thursday, May 22, 2014 | |
Time capsules—we've all seen these eclectic collections stuffed into cornerstones of new buildings in an attempt to give future generations a cultural snapshot of a previous era. My wife and I discovered that we actually own a time capsule—our pop-up camper, also known as a tent trailer. For the uninitiated, it's a metal box with a roof that cranks up, revealing canvas sides and a set of beds on each end. It's like a tent—only much nicer. But more than a decade ago, we upgraded to a hard side trailer known as a fifth wheel. It's nicer yet. Thus, for nearly fifteen years, the tent trailer has convalesced behind our garage in what used to be our garden—now a retirement property for aging campers. This weekend, we got it out, cranked it up, and discovered it was exactly how we'd left it. Yet oddly enough, it appeared to us both like a time capsule of sorts. Sifting through the contents, we confirmed that sheets and blankets, zipped up in protective plastic cases, were free of mice or insect infiltration. Unopened packages of paper plates, cups, and plastic eating utensils were nicely stacked in one cabinet. In another, a fire starter—affectionately known in our family as a "clicker"—that still sparked to life with flame. Yet there were also signs of decay. The latches that hold down the collapsible roof have grown stiff. The decals on the sides continue to fade with years of exposure to the sun. And looking underneath, there's the ominous presence of rust. Ol' Bessie cleaned up nicely, but she's showing signs of age. Like you—and me. Which takes me to 2 Corinthians 5:1. "Our bodies are like tents that we live in here on earth. But when these tents are destroyed, we know that God will give each of us a place to live. These homes will not be buildings that someone has made, but they are in heaven and will last forever." Aren't you glad there's a “forever?” |
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Sin
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Thursday, May 15, 2014 | |
Sin. “Everybody” says “nobody” talks about it anymore. So I’m about to. Sin is falling short of God’s perfection, His holy standards. The Bible teaches that “all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23). No Christian would argue that “the wages (or results) of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Most of us are comfortable acknowledging the wrongness of sin, its penalty, and the way out of sin God offers through Christ. But acknowledging our sin in the nitty gritty of life…that’s a different story. Forgive me for the list I am about to offer. It almost certainly contains an item or two you would prefer to “discuss” rather than bluntly label as sin. But I stand by this list. It is not comprehensive, but is designed to focus on a few sins with which many of us have grown so comfortable, we rarely see them as sins.
Each sin in this list has so much Bible condemning it, the very act of our rationalizing is the evidence that we’ve grown soft on sin. But God has not. Our unholy accommodation notwithstanding, sin is still sin. It’s time to confess. Time to repent.
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Why Is Loud Considered Cool?
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Thursday, May 08, 2014 | |
Why do we like our music so loud? Go to a concert—whether rock, pop, country or Christian—and your ears are almost melted off by the end of the evening. Go to most restaurants that are considered “in”….and chances are the music is cranked up so loud that you have to yell to carry on a conversation. Driving an expensive car is not enough to be truly cool. What you need is a subwoofer that’ll blow out glass. LOUDNESS. That’s what makes you cool. And the question, again, is why? Well in the restaurant world, there actually are some answers. Research shows that with the music amped up, we eat more, drink more, and do it in less time. So restaurants can ring up more sales in less time. But that still doesn’t explain our cultural welding of loud and music to become a de facto standard of coolness. Our love for all things loud has even crept into our churches. Now don’t get me wrong. As a brass instrument player, I get loud. I kind of like loud. But there’s a problem when loud is ALL we love…and loud is ALL we play. The Old Testament prophet, Zechariah , urged us, “Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling." Job, in his suffering, prayed, “Teach me, and I will be quiet…” David was a man who knew all about living loud. From noisy battlefields, to boisterous parades, to joyous worship music. Yet he wrote in Psalms 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” It might just be that your personal bent is toward loud music, loud living. But if we are going to connect with the Living God, at some point, we are going to have turn the volume down. Literally. Spiritually. Regularly. |
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