By John Stallings
The other evening when we were watching the election returns, I witnessed a sad sight.
Eighty year old Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter was defeated by Joe Sestak. I don’t mention this from a political, but rather a human perspective.
Specter’s loss will be endlessly examined in the days & weeks to come, as will other losses. As for me, Specter’s situation had to do with the perils of switching parties in an anti-incumbent national environment. He was a living, breathing embodiment of the traits the voters seem to be fed up with these days.
I mention Specter only because of the look he & his wife had on their faces at their concession appearance & speech. There will be many more of these expressions on faces of individuals from both parties in the coming months. This elderly couple looked & acted as if they’d been forced to pass by the coffin of their only child who’d been held for millions of dollars in ransom & then killed. As they walked away it seemed as if their legs would hardly carry them.
Specter had been a Washington insider/elected official for thirty years & he had been an elected official, counting local office for forty years- all tolled. This is just one man’s opinion but the reality may be that after the smoke clears & they have time to process the verdict of the voters, this couple will be happier & possibly healthier.
Still I wondered about them as I saw defeat slip its cold arms round about their shoulders. I felt for them as I’m sure many others did. It has to be tough to let go after all the years in public office. Many of us know what it’s like to be forced, for one reason or another to let go. To let go when it’s not exactly our choice & walk away isn’t’ all that easy, but it’s one of life’s “required courses.”
LETTING GO
A father takes his five year old son to the bus stop for the first day of school. His hair has been trimmed. His shirt has been tucked in one final time. He has a new jacket & a brand-new back pack. Just over the hill a big yellow bus appears. “Now don’t be afraid,” Dad says, trying not to show his own fear. They hug. They exchange goodbyes. He climbs up the steps. They wave again. And then Dad gets in the car to follow the bus. Have to make sure my son gets to school alright. It’s hard to let go.
I remember when my wife left to drive our oldest daughter to Louisiana to go to college. When the car pulled out of sight, I went into my daughter’s room & lay down on her water-bed. I looked on the walls of her room & saw memento’s she had framed. One was a souvenir I brought her from a ministry trip to Hawaii. The thought hit me that my daughter was so proud of her father’s trip to Hawaii, that she cherished it as much as if she’d gone on the trip with me. I was deeply touched.
You guessed it; I started mopping tears from my eyes as I lay there on her bed. Then the worst thing that could have happen, happened. The phone rang. That was before the days of “caller I.D” so we just answered every time the phone rang. I shouldn’t have answered, because I was sobbing so hard I couldn’t talk. It was a local pastor’s wife who wanted to ask about a coming city-wide meeting our church was co-operating with. She said, “Oh, brother Stallings, what’s wrong?” I apologized to the dear lady. In the interest of full disclosure, I told her the whole story, whereupon she began to talk about how sweet it was for a father to feel that way about his daughter. I’m sure you know how it is, if not you will someday. It’s so hard to let go.
We had a case here in Florida that was publicized globally. A family was divided because a young woman was on a feeding tube & had been since her brain stopped functioning fifteen years ago. The son-in-law said unplug it but her parents said leave it in. It gave the politicians an opportunity to preen for votes. The Supreme Court sided with the son-in-law. The son-in-law is made to look like another Scott Peterson for wanting to let her go but a bunch of people who never met the wife were having a hard time letting her go.
In so many ways you & I can dwell in the drama of loss. We lose a job; a friend moves away, a relationship dies. A place that holds a lot of fond memories gets torn down. A co-worker retires & doesn’t come back. There may be no more difficult task for us as human beings than letting go. To be perfectly candid I never did “letting go” very well but I always had to let go anyway. We all do. How can we pull that off? How can we maintain our composure while letting go of someone or something we love? If you & I are really honest we have to admit that most of the things that have been taken away left covered with our claw marks.
Turning loose can be as big an ordeal as most of us will ever face. We all will have to turn loose at some point in our lives although what we’re turning loose of will be different for each one of us. My point is-we have to wrestle with letting go of something or someone at some point in our journeys. And letting go can be hard. However, unless we come to grips with it, we will not be able to grow.
There is a freedom that comes from accepting that the best we can do for the moment is to roll with life’s punches. Many times it’s fear that enters the equation when trouble comes to us. Experience has taught me that people tend to cope better at times when it seems their whole world is falling apart than they do when something small has gone wrong in their lives. The reason for this is that we don’t blame ourselves when something of tremendous magnitude happens to us. Consequently, we don’t have the fear factor that others will blame us. In times of crisis we let go for dear life- in order to move on, holding on to the things we can & letting go of the things we must.
Many of us have stood beside dying parents. It takes a lot of courage although in another manner of speaking we have no choice at a time like this. The process requires letting go, ceding control that was never ours but God’s to exercise in the first place. We can do this begrudgingly, regretfully & plaintively or we can do it with grace. When it comes our time to go, we have the same choice.
The other night Juda & I watched a television special about the life & career of pianist & comedian Victor Borge. He was a multi-talented entertainer & raconteur. Something he said in an interview struck me. He said, “I sometimes think about death & it makes me terribly uncomfortable to think I’ll lie down & die someday & the world will go right on without me. This to me is unacceptable.” He said it partly in jest but you could see he was speaking from his heart about letting go of life & all the things about it he so cherished.
The hour ended with his death at 91. He died in his sleep after returning from a successful foreign tour. His son spoke about his father & explained how his dad was in those last years. He’d lost his much adored wife to cancer & frankly had never gotten over it. He wanted to go be with her. A lot could be said right here- but suffice to say, life had conditioned the old man to really want to let go. It seems that the very old are protected that way. They become as oblivious to the fact of their leaving as babies are of their arriving.
Most of the things we are anxious about indeed most of the things we fear in life lose their power over us when we simply let go of our fears, & trust in God. To learn this lesson is the beginning of real freedom.
I have read that when people were placed in prison camps during World War 11, when they’d lost everything except their lives; there was a joy & acceptance & even good humor among the prisoners that was hard to explain. Fear trades in comparisons,–Who has what? Who has more? But when all the markers of distinction have been swept away & everyone is in the same boat, there’s no guilt, comparison or social climbing. The only thing people have is their lives & one another, of all else they’ve had to let go.
KARL WALENDA
I witnessed Walenda’s death on T.V in the mid-seventies. Karl Walenda, the patriarch of the famous family of acrobats called “The flying Walenda’s” was killed because he couldn’t let go. It happened in Puerto Rico where Karl tried to walk across a wire stretched between two tall buildings. He’d done such feats many times before but on this particular day there was some disagreement in the family about whether he should go ahead with the show.
It was a gusty windy day & swirling gusts of wind were clocked at more than thirty knots between the high rise towers that Karl intended to cross. Though it was stretched tightly between the city’s two tallest buildings, you could see the high wire vibrating in the wind. Still, Walenda had never canceled a show before so he decided to go ahead.
As he inched along the wire, holding tightly the long balancing pole, a sudden gust hit his body & tilted him sideways. He struggled for balance & it was clear he was in trouble. Onlookers saw him fight for control then plunge to the street below, smashing into the roof of a car. When his body was examined it was discovered that his fingers were still tightly clutched around the balancing pole. He had carried it with him to his destruction.
High wire experts rely on the balancing pole for their survival. As Karl Walenda once put it himself, “The pole is your safe guard; you can almost always keep your balance with the pole.” Yet experts also say there are times on rare occasions when it’s necessary to let go of the pole & grab the wire. Of course when an acrobat lets the pole fall & grabs the wire it’s an admission of failure. So for a famed acrobat letting go even if it means saving your life can be exceedingly difficult. In his split second decision to hold on to that balancing pole in the wind, Karl Walenda made a fatal mistake. He held on to the pole all the way down, falling with it clutched in both hands, all the way to the ground. I’m sure his gravestone was in scripted with more uplifting words but it could have honestly read, “He just wouldn’t let go…. of the pole.”
MINISTERS WHO CAN’T LET GO
Sad to say, many pastors don’t know how to let go when they step down as the pastor of a congregation, much to the peril of all involved. Now I’m sure there have been cases when a pastor stops being the pastor & remains in or around the church & the results have been just fine. But this is an exception to the rule.
In over 50 years I can scarcely think of a single case I’ve witnessed where a pastor remained in a church after stepping down when a mess wasn’t made of things. IMHO, his work there is finished & if he’s not careful he’ll undo the good he’s done. This happens too often. There should be a “stay away” period for an extended length of time & there shouldn’t be “face to face” involvement with the church for a season so that they can all move on emotionally. After that there are ways a former pastor could still be a blessing to his former congregation, in returning for previously arranged funerals or weddings, revival meetings as well as former pastor appreciation days.
Many times a preacher will leave a church after several fruitful years there & destroy all the good he did by meddling in the church’s business, even from hundreds of miles away. A man who’ll do this in my view is very immature. Can we say, “Control freak?” There’s no law against it but a God called man should have more wisdom. You might wonder why a former pastor even if he’s retired shouldn’t just hang around the church even if he’s otherwise not meddling. I can think of several reasons.
It would be extremely difficult for the man & his former congregation to make the transition to his no longer being pastor. His very presence would make change very difficult as it would reflect on him if & when one of his programs was changed. It would also be very intimidating for the new pastor. The temptation for the former pastor to meddle would be huge especially if certain changes were not to the pastors liking, something that would almost inevitably be the case. When a pastor leaves a church he should say his goodbyes, move on, cut ties with the congregation & let go. God has other work for him which should be the reason he left in the first place. If he left under pressure, then it makes all the more sense for him to “get outta Dodge.” To do otherwise is usually a problem & has a detrimental affect on the church.
Since I’ve opened this Pandora’s Box, let me say that none of this means a pastor doesn’t still care for the church, & vice versa. It also doesn’t mean he can’t maintain friendships but they should be just that, only friendships & not cross the line to pastor/parishioner relationships. Certainly neither the former pastor nor the congregation should do anything to make the pastoral transitional period more complicated. Wouldn’t be prudent.
HANNAH-THE MOTHER WHO LET GO.
Centuries ago, Hannah prayed desperately for a son, then when he was three, took him to the Temple & gave him to God. Talk about letting go!! In Samuel’s case he stayed there in the care of Eli & went on to become a prophet in Israel. Think about this; Hannah entrusted her son to the care of a man who had clearly failed in raising his own sons to be faithful to God. I can imagine she sometimes wished she could take back control of her son’s development. But she let him go because she’d given him to God so she had to content herself with making clothes for him & an annual visit.
Letting go is a part of life. Loss, separation & giving away are themes that run through the biblical narrative. One of the first actions of man was that he was to leave his father & mother & cleave to his wife. God called upon Abram to leave his father’s country & house. When Paul, writing to the Philippians speaks of how Christ emptied Himself, He said, -Though He was in the form of God, He did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself & became obedient to the point of death-even the death on a cross.
Jesus said to His disciples, If I go not away, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.
TWO OF THE MOST BELOVED VERSES IN ALL THE BIBLE
The mission of this message is to help us with the challenge of letting go. I’ve pointed out the problem, now under God I’m going to share two verses that will be extremely helpful in getting to the answer.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Many of us memorized these two verses in Sunday School years ago. In any list of favorite verses they would rank at the top. These verses are striking in their simplicity. There is nothing difficult about them. They can be understood by the youngest Christian yet comforting to the oldest saint of God. They have been the hope & encouragement of countless multitudes of God’s people across the centuries. These words cling to the soul because they speak to a great need we all feel for strength & guidance.
These verses tell us the basis on which God’s peace & guidance will come. I’d like to stress five words & each of them gives tremendous help in “letting go & letting God.”
1. Trust.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Trust is a Hebrew word that carries the sense of putting your full weight on something. To trust in the Lord is to lay your whole weight on Him. When a Christian experiences loss, they are still in good hands.
2. Lean.
“Lean not to your own understanding.” Leaning is what you do when you walk with a cane or a walker because you’re unsteady. It’s used in the Old Testament for leaning against a tree or large stone. You lean on something when you’re not strong enough to stand alone. A lot of trust is involved in leaning. We find encouragement here to “let go.”
3. Understanding.
“Lean not on your own understanding.” This word refers to the mental powers you bring to a problem. It’s simply the decision-making ability that God has given you. This word is telling us not to lean exclusively on our ability to figure things out. Lean instead on the Lord. Rest you weight on Him! It’s this struggle to figure things out that drives men to drink or drugs. Place the hurts & disappointments of life in God’s hands where they belong. Trying to figure out what went wrong in a relationship can be crazy-making. Don’t go there. Trust in God’s wisdom.
4. Acknowledge.
“In all thy ways acknowledge Him & He will direct your paths.” Factor God into every thing you do. Bring God into every equation where your life is concerned.
5. Direct.
“…He will direct your paths.” There are multitudes of multiplicities of saints living & dead that can testify to the fact that God will lead the way if we’ll trust him.
Let’s look at the word “He.” Who is the “He” of Proverbs 3:6? The “He” is the God of the Bible. The God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. The God of Moses. The God of Israel. The God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The God who spoke & a thousand million galaxies sprang into being. The God who has numbered the grains of sand. The God who knows the hairs on our head. The God who sees the sparrow when it falls. The God who holds the universe in His hands. That God, the Almighty, Transcendent God of the universe. He will direct your paths.
The God who says, “If you will but trust me I will take care of the details. Trust me. Rest your full weight on me. Acknowledge me in everything. And I, the God of the universe, will direct your paths.”
It may not be easy. It may not always be the way you want to go. It may not seem to be the shortest way.
But He will direct your paths. He promised—He will not fail! Rather than “hanging on for dear life,” lean on Him and,
LET GO FOR DEAR LIFE!
Blessings,
John
Monday, May 24, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Two Verses That Shook The World
By John Stallings
Certain verses in the Bible are so familiar to Christians that they require no introduction.
We know them, we love them & their words are etched in our hearts.
They are called “The great texts of the Bible.” Here are a few;
John 3:16
Romans 8:28
Psalm 23
Roman 3:23
Romans 6:23
Psalm 103:1
Now let’s include- “The two verses that shook the world.”
Here they are;
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.-Romans 1:16-17
These two verses describe the most transforming truth ever to grace the ears of mankind. Martin Luther was so shaken by them that he said,
“When by the Spirit I understood this passage-the just shall live by faith- then I felt born again like a new man. I entered through the open doors into the very paradise of God.”
These two verses shook him to the very marrow of his bones & turned his life upside down. It’s no wonder that he could no longer remain a monk at the monastery in Erfurt. Once the blazing truth of justification by faith set a fire in Luther’s soul, it burned so hot that it ignited a fire that eventually spread across Europe & to the ends of the earth.
Indeed these verses were the catalyst for birthing the Protestant Reformation. It was sparked by Romans 1:16-17. If there were no other reason than what these words did to & for Luther, they would be worthy of careful consideration. But wholly apart from Martin Luther, these verses demand our attention because they form the theme of the book of Romans.
If we don’t understand these verses we’ll have a problem understanding the rest of Romans. They constitute the quintessence of Paul’s theology. It is the reason he wants to go to Rome. More than that- the verses epitomize the heart of evangelical theology. As we’ve said, these two verses of scripture launched the Protestant Reformation & most clearly explain the difference between evangelical Christianity & the Roman Catholic Church.
NOT ASHAMED
Paul begins by making the amazing statement…. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.”
A synonym for ashamed is -embarrassed. Some folk are happy to be a Christian as long as they can be “Secret Service” Christians. They don’t want to be embarrassed by coming out with a clear-cut testimony for Jesus Christ.
There are a lot of things that we can be ashamed of. We all have things in our past we’re not exactly proud of. We are often ashamed of our bodies. Our bodies are too fat, too skinny, too wrinkled, too many freckles, too dark or too light. And don’t those pimples know just when to show up to cause the most embarrassment?
We can be ashamed of our behavior. Most of us have had the experience of being a dinner guest & accidentally knocking over a glass of water on a nice clean table cloth. Or you reach for the gravy & it dribbles all over the table. Or maybe you spill coffee on a recently cleaned carpet. All of us have social experiences where we have felt embarrassed by our behavior.
I went to pastor a church one time in a very prestigious city. As a matter of fact the city was the capital of the state & the church was quite an old church with a rich history. We were invited to have dinner one evening in the home of one of the main families of the church. We expected to be graciously welcomed & treated royalty. We weren’t disappointed. The atmosphere was on the formal side & everything was done “to the nines.”
After a time of fellowship we all sat around a splendidly set table & the sumptuous meal began, served in courses. Half-way through the meal I did something I’d never done before, nor have I done it since. As the meal progressed everyone relaxed & we began to share “funny” stories. Well, something was said that struck me funny. Unfortunately I had food in my mouth at the time & in an uncontrollable spasm, I spat it out on to that magnificent table. There are no words to explain how ashamed, embarrassed, & humiliated I was. The damage was thankfully minimal. I excused myself & cleaned up as best I could, our host graciously cleaned up the mess & the evening progressed undaunted. My wife & three young daughters were sitting at that table & I know they would have loved to disappear if that had been possible. I had recurring nightmares about that incident for years. Oh the burning shame of it all.
Maybe we’re embarrassed by certain aspects of our personalities. Maybe we cry too easily, or laugh too loudly or we can’t remember jokes, or we feel we’re too bland & tend to blend in with the wallpaper. We can be ashamed of our families & families can be ashamed of us.
You may remember a few years back when actor Mel Gibson was arrested for drunk driving. Gibson was belligerent with the police, made anti-Semitic remarks saying things he didn’t mean & acted like a complete jerk. I heard him say some time after this that he’d finally gotten some help for his alcoholism after this incident. He continued; “everyone has their threshold for embarrassment & loss of dignity. Mine happened to be, - to be humiliated on a global scale.”
I’m ashamed that my country who declares “In God we trust” won’t allow prayer in school.
I’m ashamed that most any religion can get a fair hearing in America, but Christianity is constantly minimized, dismissed & derided. I’m ashamed of leaders who seem to be ashamed of this great country. I’m embarrassed by a Speaker of the House who this week told people; “now that we have health-care, they could leave their jobs & pursue their dreams knowing that the government was providing health care.” My question to the Speaker is—“Don’t people have to eat too & pay their bills as well as deal with the tax tsunami that’s coming?” I guess she’d answer that the government also has some other very fine give-away programs to feed those who don’t prefer to work. All I can say is - this woman has a very bright future behind her.
There’s a commercial on television getting a lot of airplay lately sponsored by iamnotashamed.org. It features young & old, black & white, American & International, who joyfully proclaim, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” It’s one of the few commercials that I don’t tune out but instead give it my full attention from beginning to end. It puts a smile on my face each time I hear the Gospel proclaimed right down to hearing the Scripture reference from Romans 1:16.
As much as I love this, realistically, the world as a whole is & has always been hostile to the truth that is in Christ Jesus. I was watching Fox News recently & a panel of folk, most of whom I like very much was discussing the latest Obama pick for The Supreme Court. I believe her name is Kagan. I have no idea what the sexual orientation of the women is, but the panel was discussing it. The conventional wisdom seemed to be that Americans didn’t have the right to ask that question of the woman who will be a lifetime appointee. Even Obama has to answer to people every day of his administration but if this woman is elected, she’ll answer to no one until the day she dies. It’s very likely that someday before long this court will be asked for a ruling on “Gay marriage.” If this happens, in all probability the definition of marriage will be changed for the first time in our history.
It’s interesting that we who hold to the historic, traditional, Biblical position on morality in regard to the homosexual agenda are quickly labeled “Homophobic.” Franklin Graham who has courageously addressed the issue of violence as the means to a goal in the Islamic religion has been called “Islamophobic.” If you want to know the truth, the problem with our nation is - people are “Truthophobic.”
Paul’s pride in the gospel he preached is even more amazing when you think what the gospel had done to him. Paul had been imprisoned in Philippi, chased out of Thessalonica, smuggled out of Berea, ignored in Athens, laughed at in Corinth, & stoned & left for dead in Lystra. Paul, how can you even dare to come to Rome with a record like that?
Rome! The heart of the empire.
Rome! City of philosophers & poets.
Rome! Home to every conceivable idol.
Rome! Seat of emperor-worship.
Rome! Center of intellectual arrogance.
Rome! City built on war.
Rome! The Greatest city in the world.
Paul, what makes you think you can survive in such a place? The answer to that question is wrapped up in these two verses. When we get through with this piece, hopefully we’ll have a better insight into why Christianity is so feared in our time.
THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL
PAUL SAID, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for Salvation….
I’m reminded of a story of a vacuum cleaner salesman who went to a farm house to demonstrate his cleaner. A lady met him at the door but was hesitant to allow him to come in. The confidant salesman brushed by her, talking a mile a minute. The lady said….well, wait a minute…but the man was determined to demonstrate his cleaner. He dumped ashes out of his bag in the middle of the floor, & garbage & junk & everything. He said- “mam, if this vacuum cleaner doesn’t suck this all up in two minutes I’ll eat this trash with a spoon.” Finally the lady got a chance to speak & she said— “Well, you’d better start eating, we ain’t got no electricity.” No power!
The Apostle Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel because he knew it had power. After all, look what it did to him on the Damascus turnpike.
What does this powerful gospel do? It saves sinners. What else will save sinners? Not science, not education, not moral reformation, not fame & fortune or money. Think about it; the gospel & only the gospel saves sinners.
We sometimes think of salvation as past tense but here Paul is thinking of salvation in all three tenses—past—present & future. The Greek word salvation is SOZO, translated “saved.” SOZO means “to save, to make whole, to preserve, or make safe. Thus the word salvation is an all-comprehensive word & it includes all the benefits of the cross & the operations of God’s grace.
The gospel has the power to;
FORGIVE SINS [past]
IMPART NEW LIFE [present]
ADMIT INTO HEAVEN [future]
THOSE WHO BELIEVE
Now Paul tells us how salvation saves sinners;
….the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who BELIEVES!
The word –BELIEVE- means to make a personal commitment, to trust by an act of the will. It’s never enough to just hear the gospel; eventually you have to respond to it one way or the other.
Let’s suppose you weren’t feeling good & went to the doctor to find you had a rare disease with only one cure. The doc was very clear that the disease was absolutely fatal & there was only one medicine that could cure you. So you got your prescription filled & took it home, placed it on the table & forgot about it.
What will happen to you? If you don’t take the medicine you’ll surely die. The bottle of medicine can stay close to you on the table but that won’t help you. The medicine is yours because it was especially prescribed for you & has your name right on the bottle, but that won’t help you either. If you don’t ingest the medicine they’ll be having your funeral in a few days.
The gospel of Christ is the only medicine that can cure what ails us but if we don’t ‘take” the medicine there’s no hope for us. It’s no wonder Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel. No wonder he felt so honored to be able to preach about it & write about it.
THIS GOSPEL HAS THE POWER TO SAVE ANYONE & EVERYONE!
This marvelous gospel works on everyone who’ll believe it. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone regardless of, race, education, age, income, skin color, family background, religious preference, or moral standing.
This is the set of verses that turned Martin Luther’s life around, & in the process turned the world upside down. Let’s go further. In the gospel, a righteousness of God is revealed to us, a righteousness which comes only by faith.
If we study this closely, we see that Paul is using legal terms here that come right out of the courtrooms of the ancient world. Righteousness means “not guilty, innocent of all charges.” If we are righteous in God’s eyes we can stand before Him & be declared “not guilty.” Do you see how great the gospel is? It provides for us what we could never provide for ourselves. Nothing or anyone else could provide it either.
FAITH ALONE
When Paul wrote, -The just shall live by faith, he’s saying this great gospel will save if an individual places their faith in it.
Faith alone! Not by works of the law.
Faith alone! Not by keeping a list of rules.
Faith alone! Not by baptism.
Faith alone! Not by good intentions.
Faith alone! Not by sacraments.
Faith alone! Not by penance or almsgiving.
Faith alone! Plus nothing -& minus nothing.
I grew up in a religious environment that stressed the “does & don’ts” of the Christian life. Even as a young preacher, if I preached a sermon that seemed to lean toward grace rather than legalism, I’d be looked at with a somewhat jaundiced eye. The thought was— “if a preacher talks too much about grace that meant he was hiding something in his life. If you as a preacher are really right with God then you can “stand & deliver” & preach it straight.”
They would get off onto an extreme now & again but for the most part I still believe most of what the old-timers believed. Most of it had to do with personal modesty & integrity & walking out the biblical principles of holiness. Nothing wrong with that, as a matter of fact, we need more teaching like that these days. Yes, there’s our part in this salvation. There are things we must do & must not do.
Listen to Titus;
Who gave himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity & purify unto Himself a peculiar people Zealous of Good Works.- Titus 2:14
Does the above verse contradict Paul’s statement? If salvation comes by faith alone, don’t we still have to bring forth good fruit? Don’t we have to have some works to show that we’ve truly been born again? Yes we do!
However, IMHO, here’s where some get off the reservation - “getting the cart before the horse.” Listen to Revelation 14:13;
….Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors: and their works do follow them.
Our good works follow us to heaven; they don’t lead us to heaven.
BAD NEWS-GOOD NEWS
You & I have no hope of heaven outside of Jesus Christ. Good works cannot save us. That’s not the plan. Church membership cannot save us. Baptism cannot save us. Nothing you & I could do would make the slightest bit of difference concerning our eternal salvation. If we are trusting in a good life or a good religion to get us to heaven, someday we’ll be sadly & eternally disappointed.
The good news is; those who put their trust in Jesus Christ have been saved are being saved, & will be saved. Christ’s sacrifice in blood, received by faith, brings salvation to the believing heart, for it alone makes us recipients of the righteousness of God.
Never be ashamed of the gospel. Don’t be ashamed to teach it & share it with those you meet.
The gospel alone has the power to meet the deepest needs of mankind.
It alone has the power to wipe away the darkest stain of sin.
Praise the Lord!
Blessings,
John
Certain verses in the Bible are so familiar to Christians that they require no introduction.
We know them, we love them & their words are etched in our hearts.
They are called “The great texts of the Bible.” Here are a few;
John 3:16
Romans 8:28
Psalm 23
Roman 3:23
Romans 6:23
Psalm 103:1
Now let’s include- “The two verses that shook the world.”
Here they are;
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.-Romans 1:16-17
These two verses describe the most transforming truth ever to grace the ears of mankind. Martin Luther was so shaken by them that he said,
“When by the Spirit I understood this passage-the just shall live by faith- then I felt born again like a new man. I entered through the open doors into the very paradise of God.”
These two verses shook him to the very marrow of his bones & turned his life upside down. It’s no wonder that he could no longer remain a monk at the monastery in Erfurt. Once the blazing truth of justification by faith set a fire in Luther’s soul, it burned so hot that it ignited a fire that eventually spread across Europe & to the ends of the earth.
Indeed these verses were the catalyst for birthing the Protestant Reformation. It was sparked by Romans 1:16-17. If there were no other reason than what these words did to & for Luther, they would be worthy of careful consideration. But wholly apart from Martin Luther, these verses demand our attention because they form the theme of the book of Romans.
If we don’t understand these verses we’ll have a problem understanding the rest of Romans. They constitute the quintessence of Paul’s theology. It is the reason he wants to go to Rome. More than that- the verses epitomize the heart of evangelical theology. As we’ve said, these two verses of scripture launched the Protestant Reformation & most clearly explain the difference between evangelical Christianity & the Roman Catholic Church.
NOT ASHAMED
Paul begins by making the amazing statement…. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.”
A synonym for ashamed is -embarrassed. Some folk are happy to be a Christian as long as they can be “Secret Service” Christians. They don’t want to be embarrassed by coming out with a clear-cut testimony for Jesus Christ.
There are a lot of things that we can be ashamed of. We all have things in our past we’re not exactly proud of. We are often ashamed of our bodies. Our bodies are too fat, too skinny, too wrinkled, too many freckles, too dark or too light. And don’t those pimples know just when to show up to cause the most embarrassment?
We can be ashamed of our behavior. Most of us have had the experience of being a dinner guest & accidentally knocking over a glass of water on a nice clean table cloth. Or you reach for the gravy & it dribbles all over the table. Or maybe you spill coffee on a recently cleaned carpet. All of us have social experiences where we have felt embarrassed by our behavior.
I went to pastor a church one time in a very prestigious city. As a matter of fact the city was the capital of the state & the church was quite an old church with a rich history. We were invited to have dinner one evening in the home of one of the main families of the church. We expected to be graciously welcomed & treated royalty. We weren’t disappointed. The atmosphere was on the formal side & everything was done “to the nines.”
After a time of fellowship we all sat around a splendidly set table & the sumptuous meal began, served in courses. Half-way through the meal I did something I’d never done before, nor have I done it since. As the meal progressed everyone relaxed & we began to share “funny” stories. Well, something was said that struck me funny. Unfortunately I had food in my mouth at the time & in an uncontrollable spasm, I spat it out on to that magnificent table. There are no words to explain how ashamed, embarrassed, & humiliated I was. The damage was thankfully minimal. I excused myself & cleaned up as best I could, our host graciously cleaned up the mess & the evening progressed undaunted. My wife & three young daughters were sitting at that table & I know they would have loved to disappear if that had been possible. I had recurring nightmares about that incident for years. Oh the burning shame of it all.
Maybe we’re embarrassed by certain aspects of our personalities. Maybe we cry too easily, or laugh too loudly or we can’t remember jokes, or we feel we’re too bland & tend to blend in with the wallpaper. We can be ashamed of our families & families can be ashamed of us.
You may remember a few years back when actor Mel Gibson was arrested for drunk driving. Gibson was belligerent with the police, made anti-Semitic remarks saying things he didn’t mean & acted like a complete jerk. I heard him say some time after this that he’d finally gotten some help for his alcoholism after this incident. He continued; “everyone has their threshold for embarrassment & loss of dignity. Mine happened to be, - to be humiliated on a global scale.”
I’m ashamed that my country who declares “In God we trust” won’t allow prayer in school.
I’m ashamed that most any religion can get a fair hearing in America, but Christianity is constantly minimized, dismissed & derided. I’m ashamed of leaders who seem to be ashamed of this great country. I’m embarrassed by a Speaker of the House who this week told people; “now that we have health-care, they could leave their jobs & pursue their dreams knowing that the government was providing health care.” My question to the Speaker is—“Don’t people have to eat too & pay their bills as well as deal with the tax tsunami that’s coming?” I guess she’d answer that the government also has some other very fine give-away programs to feed those who don’t prefer to work. All I can say is - this woman has a very bright future behind her.
There’s a commercial on television getting a lot of airplay lately sponsored by iamnotashamed.org. It features young & old, black & white, American & International, who joyfully proclaim, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” It’s one of the few commercials that I don’t tune out but instead give it my full attention from beginning to end. It puts a smile on my face each time I hear the Gospel proclaimed right down to hearing the Scripture reference from Romans 1:16.
As much as I love this, realistically, the world as a whole is & has always been hostile to the truth that is in Christ Jesus. I was watching Fox News recently & a panel of folk, most of whom I like very much was discussing the latest Obama pick for The Supreme Court. I believe her name is Kagan. I have no idea what the sexual orientation of the women is, but the panel was discussing it. The conventional wisdom seemed to be that Americans didn’t have the right to ask that question of the woman who will be a lifetime appointee. Even Obama has to answer to people every day of his administration but if this woman is elected, she’ll answer to no one until the day she dies. It’s very likely that someday before long this court will be asked for a ruling on “Gay marriage.” If this happens, in all probability the definition of marriage will be changed for the first time in our history.
It’s interesting that we who hold to the historic, traditional, Biblical position on morality in regard to the homosexual agenda are quickly labeled “Homophobic.” Franklin Graham who has courageously addressed the issue of violence as the means to a goal in the Islamic religion has been called “Islamophobic.” If you want to know the truth, the problem with our nation is - people are “Truthophobic.”
Paul’s pride in the gospel he preached is even more amazing when you think what the gospel had done to him. Paul had been imprisoned in Philippi, chased out of Thessalonica, smuggled out of Berea, ignored in Athens, laughed at in Corinth, & stoned & left for dead in Lystra. Paul, how can you even dare to come to Rome with a record like that?
Rome! The heart of the empire.
Rome! City of philosophers & poets.
Rome! Home to every conceivable idol.
Rome! Seat of emperor-worship.
Rome! Center of intellectual arrogance.
Rome! City built on war.
Rome! The Greatest city in the world.
Paul, what makes you think you can survive in such a place? The answer to that question is wrapped up in these two verses. When we get through with this piece, hopefully we’ll have a better insight into why Christianity is so feared in our time.
THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL
PAUL SAID, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for Salvation….
I’m reminded of a story of a vacuum cleaner salesman who went to a farm house to demonstrate his cleaner. A lady met him at the door but was hesitant to allow him to come in. The confidant salesman brushed by her, talking a mile a minute. The lady said….well, wait a minute…but the man was determined to demonstrate his cleaner. He dumped ashes out of his bag in the middle of the floor, & garbage & junk & everything. He said- “mam, if this vacuum cleaner doesn’t suck this all up in two minutes I’ll eat this trash with a spoon.” Finally the lady got a chance to speak & she said— “Well, you’d better start eating, we ain’t got no electricity.” No power!
The Apostle Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel because he knew it had power. After all, look what it did to him on the Damascus turnpike.
What does this powerful gospel do? It saves sinners. What else will save sinners? Not science, not education, not moral reformation, not fame & fortune or money. Think about it; the gospel & only the gospel saves sinners.
We sometimes think of salvation as past tense but here Paul is thinking of salvation in all three tenses—past—present & future. The Greek word salvation is SOZO, translated “saved.” SOZO means “to save, to make whole, to preserve, or make safe. Thus the word salvation is an all-comprehensive word & it includes all the benefits of the cross & the operations of God’s grace.
The gospel has the power to;
FORGIVE SINS [past]
IMPART NEW LIFE [present]
ADMIT INTO HEAVEN [future]
THOSE WHO BELIEVE
Now Paul tells us how salvation saves sinners;
….the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who BELIEVES!
The word –BELIEVE- means to make a personal commitment, to trust by an act of the will. It’s never enough to just hear the gospel; eventually you have to respond to it one way or the other.
Let’s suppose you weren’t feeling good & went to the doctor to find you had a rare disease with only one cure. The doc was very clear that the disease was absolutely fatal & there was only one medicine that could cure you. So you got your prescription filled & took it home, placed it on the table & forgot about it.
What will happen to you? If you don’t take the medicine you’ll surely die. The bottle of medicine can stay close to you on the table but that won’t help you. The medicine is yours because it was especially prescribed for you & has your name right on the bottle, but that won’t help you either. If you don’t ingest the medicine they’ll be having your funeral in a few days.
The gospel of Christ is the only medicine that can cure what ails us but if we don’t ‘take” the medicine there’s no hope for us. It’s no wonder Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel. No wonder he felt so honored to be able to preach about it & write about it.
THIS GOSPEL HAS THE POWER TO SAVE ANYONE & EVERYONE!
This marvelous gospel works on everyone who’ll believe it. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone regardless of, race, education, age, income, skin color, family background, religious preference, or moral standing.
This is the set of verses that turned Martin Luther’s life around, & in the process turned the world upside down. Let’s go further. In the gospel, a righteousness of God is revealed to us, a righteousness which comes only by faith.
If we study this closely, we see that Paul is using legal terms here that come right out of the courtrooms of the ancient world. Righteousness means “not guilty, innocent of all charges.” If we are righteous in God’s eyes we can stand before Him & be declared “not guilty.” Do you see how great the gospel is? It provides for us what we could never provide for ourselves. Nothing or anyone else could provide it either.
FAITH ALONE
When Paul wrote, -The just shall live by faith, he’s saying this great gospel will save if an individual places their faith in it.
Faith alone! Not by works of the law.
Faith alone! Not by keeping a list of rules.
Faith alone! Not by baptism.
Faith alone! Not by good intentions.
Faith alone! Not by sacraments.
Faith alone! Not by penance or almsgiving.
Faith alone! Plus nothing -& minus nothing.
I grew up in a religious environment that stressed the “does & don’ts” of the Christian life. Even as a young preacher, if I preached a sermon that seemed to lean toward grace rather than legalism, I’d be looked at with a somewhat jaundiced eye. The thought was— “if a preacher talks too much about grace that meant he was hiding something in his life. If you as a preacher are really right with God then you can “stand & deliver” & preach it straight.”
They would get off onto an extreme now & again but for the most part I still believe most of what the old-timers believed. Most of it had to do with personal modesty & integrity & walking out the biblical principles of holiness. Nothing wrong with that, as a matter of fact, we need more teaching like that these days. Yes, there’s our part in this salvation. There are things we must do & must not do.
Listen to Titus;
Who gave himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity & purify unto Himself a peculiar people Zealous of Good Works.- Titus 2:14
Does the above verse contradict Paul’s statement? If salvation comes by faith alone, don’t we still have to bring forth good fruit? Don’t we have to have some works to show that we’ve truly been born again? Yes we do!
However, IMHO, here’s where some get off the reservation - “getting the cart before the horse.” Listen to Revelation 14:13;
….Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors: and their works do follow them.
Our good works follow us to heaven; they don’t lead us to heaven.
BAD NEWS-GOOD NEWS
You & I have no hope of heaven outside of Jesus Christ. Good works cannot save us. That’s not the plan. Church membership cannot save us. Baptism cannot save us. Nothing you & I could do would make the slightest bit of difference concerning our eternal salvation. If we are trusting in a good life or a good religion to get us to heaven, someday we’ll be sadly & eternally disappointed.
The good news is; those who put their trust in Jesus Christ have been saved are being saved, & will be saved. Christ’s sacrifice in blood, received by faith, brings salvation to the believing heart, for it alone makes us recipients of the righteousness of God.
Never be ashamed of the gospel. Don’t be ashamed to teach it & share it with those you meet.
The gospel alone has the power to meet the deepest needs of mankind.
It alone has the power to wipe away the darkest stain of sin.
Praise the Lord!
Blessings,
John
Saturday, May 8, 2010
SIX MYTHS ABOUT DEPRESSION
By John Stallings
….Whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul David took the Lyre & played It; so Saul was refreshed. 1 Sam. 16:23
….For day & night thy hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to thee & did not hide my iniquity.
Psalm 32:5
To appoint unto them that mourn……the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness…..
Isaiah 61:3
I think it’s safe to say we’ve all experienced bad days from time to time. For some, these bad days can stretch into bad weeks, bad months or even bad years. Some people find themselves in a kind of funk sayings things like “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, my life is worthless.”
I’m not a stranger to mild depression, neither am I an expert. However it’s important to know some of the basics about it, because though we may not experience depression directly, odds are someone in our family will.
The story is told of a husband who noticed that his wife had lost her joy & did nothing but mope around the house. This went on for weeks until one day he suggested that she see a doctor. She was in agreement so the husband made an appointment with a competent psychologist in their city.
During the first appointment the doctor realized that the woman was suffering from a mild case of depression that he felt didn’t need medication. He walked around his desk & asked the lady to stand up. He stepped over to her, took her in his arms & gave her a warm hug. The husband watched with interest as his wife’s face lit up & she started to look like the woman he used to know. The doctor said, “Now see, this is all your wife really needs sir, a nice big warm hug at least three times a week, are you willing to do your part? The man said, “Yes sir doc, & I think it’s wonderful. I can have her here any day but Friday, that’s my golf day.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if depression could be cured that easily?
A doctor from UCLA says that if you want to know what depression feels like, just imagine you have the worst case of jet-lag you’ve ever experienced, combined with the worst grief you’ve ever felt, then throw in a migraine headache. Months could pass before it lifts.
Another well known psychiatrist likened depression to a window in a house. Most windows are dressed with some sort of shades or blinds. Then usually drapes or curtains are added. This lessens the starkness of the light coming through & is adjustable by the people in the room. The person with depression has no such window dressing, thus he or she lives constantly in the glaring light of “reality.”
There are dozens of faces to depression. There is clinical depression where medical intervention is called for. There is acute depression, manic-depression & situation- induced depression. I have no credentials nor training that would equip me to advise in those areas. Perhaps a more common depression is “walking depression,” a chronic condition like walking pneumonia. It’s so prevalent it’s called the “common cold” of emotional disorders. The person feels terrible but has no acute signs.
Listen to one young college woman describe her feelings;
“I’ve suffered from walking depression all my life. I think a lot of people do. Some people look at life as a glass half full & others see it as a glass half-empty. People like me who suffer from walking depression see life as a glass half empty. Without words it comes & suddenly, sharply, one is aware of being separated from every person in ones’ world. At one’s feet there are chasms that had been invisible until this moment & one knows their loved ones will always be across the chasms.
I never feel enthusiastic about anything. I have little faith in positive outcomes. I don’t believe in myself, I don’t trust anyone. I live my life in a fog. I stumble around unable to get motivated because I’m afraid of what I might run into. I feel too flat to do anything exciting.
Walking depression lives in your bones. It makes your bones feel like tubes of water-heavy & unstable. I’m always asking myself if it’s worth it to stand up. I’m never sure I have the internal structure to get me through a task. It takes so much effort.”
When it comes to the area of spiritual depression the word of God compels me to speak. This isn’t so much a clinical or deep depression, but rather a profound sorrow, sadness & gloom; a feeling of being “very down.” Some Christians try to deny its existence because it’s not necessarily a good advertisement for Christianity; but it does exist. Many people of my generation they don’t like the word depression & would never admit to it in their lives. Depression sounds too much like the devils work, & sometimes it is.
I’ve given the following advice to numerous people who wouldn’t admit to being depressed;
“If you have lost all of your joy, if the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup (if that’s going to be the best part of waking up, you might be better off in bed) if you haven’t smiled in so long no one can remember it, if you no longer enjoy the things you used to love, if you feel like God has gone to Key West & lost your phone number, if your face carries the message that you’ve been Baptized in lemon juice & weaned on a pickle, you’d better swallow your spiritual pride & call it what it is (depression) before it becomes something exceedingly worse.”
When was the last time you had this kind of feeling; like you might do something drastic? Truthfully this happens & it happens to the best of Christians.
Paul tells us in Eph.6:12—for we wrestle not with flesh & blood but against principalities, against powers, against the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.
This doesn’t mean that we go looking for a devil behind every mood-swing but neither should we ignore this truth.
For most of us, if we get into an emotional fog, we know it’s just a temporary feeling brought on us by certain circumstances. Sometimes getting out of bed is hard & people have no energy & can’t concentrate. These feelings usually lift but if they start interfering with our daily life very long it might be clinical depression & then a person should seek professional help. The music David played for Saul lifted his spirits temporarily but the spirit came back over & over again. I think that’s one of the reasons so many billions are spent on music; people are seeking to ward-off depression.
I’m convinced that shopping sprees are another way many people try to lift their spirits. They live with the idea that they’re one shopping trip from happiness. What happens is, they fill their houses up with things they don’t need & as soon as they “lick the candy” off their latest acquisition, they are right back where they started.
Then there are those who use food, alcohol or some other substance to lift their spirits but it’s a lift that doesn’t last.
Here are six misconceptions about depression.
1. WEAK PEOPLE GET DEPRESSED.
The truth is that it takes a strong person to bear up under depression. Saul stood head & shoulders above any man in Israel. He had broad shoulders & a strong constitution but he was still depressed.
Periodically we read about sports figures, people who make their living being stronger than the average person, admitting to depression. Anyone who’s ever read the story of Elijah knows that weakness in no way describes this Prophet, but he got depressed & begged God to kill him. No wonder, he’d just run over 100 miles trying to put distance between himself & Jezebel who’d threatened to kill him.
David was a mighty warrior & leader of men but even a cursory reading of the Psalms he wrote reveal his bouts with depression. For a whole year he didn’t write a song or tune his harp.
Certainly Jeremiah wasn’t a weakling but he got so depressed he walked into God’s office, laid down his prophet-credentials, accused God of lying to Him & vowed never to say God’s name again as long as he lived. From now on God would be “old-what’s-his-name-in-the-sky.” You will remember that Elijah couldn’t stick to that vow when he discovered that God’s words were-“like fire shut-up in my bones.”
Another wrong attitude about depression is;
2. IT’S A SPECIAL HELL RESERVED FOR THE FEW.
If you have been reading the popular magazines & newspapers in the last few years, or for that matter listening to the media you’re aware that we are presently living in the “age of melancholy.” The World Health organization says that by the year 2020, if present trends continue, depression will rank second only to heart disease as the number one disabler of persons. On any given day depression affects 18 million Americans. 12 million will go untreated. Chances are 1 in 5 of us will experience an episode of depression in our lives. The question is, if it strikes, “Where will we go for help?”
3. SOME PEOPLE THINK DEPRESSION IS A MENTAL ILLNESS.
Depression can be a chemical imbalance in the brain, but in truth many illnesses, mental & physical are caused by some sort of chemical imbalance. i.e. Diabetes, etc.
Loss can trigger depression. I’ve known people who had a great loss in their life, went into depression & never snapped out of it. This can happen with the loss of a spouse. Loss of any kind can trigger depression. Some people get depressed when they start getting older & grieve over loss of youth. Most of us snap out of it by considering the alternative.
Pain can also trigger depression. I read an article recently that in America, back pain is a leading cause of depression.
We are in a culture that so idolizes youth that today many teenagers & pre-teens are suffering depression because of the prospects of aging.
The pace of our modern day life also causes some people to be depressed. In my forties I kept such a rigid travel schedule along with being a pastor that I often had mild spells of depression. In 1981 I went to China & several other Oriental countries for three weeks & when I came home I thought I’d never get back to normalcy. People who are depressed will often say the world seems “surreal” to them. I don’t think we realize how jet travel, computers, cell phones & fast cars (all of which I use) have robbed us of the normal human scale of life.
Researchers say that cortisol; a stress hormone can also cause depression. It’s harmless in small doses but when stress causes inordinate amounts to constantly be pumped into the body it can rob us of energy, mobility, our sex drives, & our basic ability to feel human emotions. I read about a man who experienced this to such a degree that he lost all ability to love his wife, parents & his children. He had pushed himself so long trying to be successful that he was, in the vernacular, burned-out; so burned out that he no longer had real feelings. I hope & pray it was temporary for him.
4. ANOTHER MISCONCEPTION ABOUT DEPRESSION IS THAT IT’S A RESULT OF SIN IN ONES LIFE--& THAT DEPRESSION ITSELF IS SIN.
This is not so. Charles Haddon Spurgeon the great 19th century preacher often called “The prince of preachers,” the man God used to light the fires of the 19th century revival movement suffered from depression most of his adult life. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be away from his pulpit two or three months a year because of depression. I don’t know whether this is true but many scholars think that Paul’s “Thorn in the flesh” may have been depression. I will say however that if Paul wasn’t depressed he missed several good chances. After all, his kin, his race, & his people largely rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
And what about some of those churches? Maybe he was depressed by the failure of the churches he planted to live out their life in Christ. They were a constant anxiety to him. (2nd Cor.11:28.)
Abraham Lincoln; at the height of the Civil War said, “If the misery I feel was equally divided among every member of the human race, there would not be a single smiling face among us.”
The Bible tells us that Moses, Jeremiah, Job, & Elijah all had bouts of depression. I have a feeling that some of the best people suffer from depression. The truth is life is not always a stroll through a rose garden. There are mountains & valleys. There are many downward slopes. I have known pastors who didn’t want to take Mondays off because they were still stressed out from Sunday & they didn’t want to feel that bad on their day off. They could enjoy a day off later in the week much more. We should learn to see these depressed times less like a pit to climb out of & more like a tunnel to pass through.
But we can’t blame all depression on things like the pace of life, stress & chemical imbalance. We mustn’t overlook the possibility that unrepentant & unconfessed sin is a major cause of depression.
Saul had every right to be depressed. God had anointed him to be king of Israel but he disobeyed God & gradually backslid. God ended up giving the kingdom to David. Saul, the man with all the potential in the world ended up committing suicide on Mount Gilboa.
When David’s baby died he was able to throw it off but when it came to his sin with Bathsheba & the murder of her husband, his writings show us it continued to depress him. I suspect that a lot of people would get rid of depression if only they got rid of their sin.
You could say it like this; ---when we grieve the Holy Spirit by our sin, He turns around & grieves us back.
Another myth about depression is that;
5. DEPRESSION IS ALWAYS BAD.
In Saul’s case, God was dealing with him causing him to be depressed because of his wrong doing. There is only one thing I can think of that is worse than depression & that’s for a person to become so dead to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit that they can totally ignore Him. When that happens we are beyond help because it’s impossible to repent. This is what Jesus meant when he said the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the unforgivable sin. (Matt. 12:31)
According to Hebrews 12:6-- “God chastens whom He loves.” We are convicted of sin & righteousness & judgment. (John 16:8) We ought to take a measure of hope if we are in sin & its depressing us. There remains the possibility that we will humble ourselves before God & receive His aid & forgiveness.
If we’re experiencing depression we should ask ourselves questions like; am I harboring bitterness toward another person? Have I addressed the sin in my life? Am I feeling guilty about something? Have I turned away from God? Am I being a faithful Christian? And so on.
6. FINALLY, SOME DEPRESSED FOLK FEEL THERE’S NO HOPE FOR THEM.
This is a myth. If the depression is a chemical imbalance, there is prayer & there are also medications that can do wonders. Many other depressed people can be helped by a change of diet, rest or by taking up a hobby for physical activity. I read somewhere that it’s impossible to actually be depressed while exercising. I’ve known people who always had headaches & were so sick it kept them constantly depressed. A trip to the doctor revealed they were eating too much sugar or other bad foods & when this changed they were different people.
One of the best ways to fight a mild case of depression is to do something. We don’t feel our way to a different way of acting, rather we act our way to a different way of feeling. If you wake up one morning & feel depressed, talk to depression like you would a person.
· “O.K depression, I see you are here & that’s alright but you have to understand I’ve got a lot to do. I’m getting out of this bed depressed. I’m going to shower, if necessary depressed. I’m going to eat breakfast depressed. I’m going to work depressed & I’m going to work all day depressed if that’s the way it has to be. Then I’m coming home depressed. I’ll eat my supper depressed & I’m going to church depressed.”
It’s possible but not probable that depression will still be there when they sing the first worship song. It could possibly still be there after the second song. But if you’ll keep on singing & praising something will happen & depression will have to go for James said “Draw nigh to God & he’ll draw night unto you.”
In all the years I’ve been preaching, I’ve rarely felt like preaching when I first started. But after I’ve been preaching about 5 minutes, something happens & I start feeling different. Then I don’t feel like stopping. Many people over the years have been grateful that I don’t go by my feelings.
If a person’s depression is spiritual in nature, the result of sin, that person can find release by turning to the God who loves them.
Psalm 32 continues;
5. I acknowledge my sin to you, O, Lord. & I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord; then you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6. Therefore let every one who is Godly offer a prayer to you; at a time of distress, in the rush of great waters, they shall not be reached. 7. God, you art a hiding place…..
There isn’t a “twelve step program” for avoiding depression, but there are however some steps we can take if we’re facing it.
We should ask ourselves the questions; do we have trouble making decisions? Do we experience a lot of uncontrollable crying? If a person is living on the verge of tears all the time, though as I said I’m no expert, I think that should be recognized as serious & an individual should seek help either through personal prayer or through Christian counseling.
If a person is having trouble getting out of bed, can’t seem to make it to work or to school, or if thoughts of suicide are creeping into their head, in these cases immediate care is necessary & steps should be taken with a professional.
WHEN HOLIDAYS COME UP IT WOULD BE LUDICRUS NOT TO INCLUDE,
POST HOLIDAY DEPRESSION.
Have you ever noticed that depression can strike after a holiday, or for that matter, after any of the great celebrations of life? We feel the build-up of excitement & all of the sudden its over. The problem is that big days tend to magnify all our emotions. We suffer from an intense case of the “oughts” during the holidays. We believe we ought to be able to give our children all the things they want, & we ought to be able to satisfy all the time demands of our extended family. We ought to spend the holidays in the middle of a great big adoring family. Unfortunately the real holiday experience never quite lives up to our “oughts.”
Nurses report that the maternity ward of a hospital can be one of the saddest places in the world. The initial rush is gone. Now the baby is keeping you up all night; you are tired & discouraged & asking yourself—“why did I ever get myself into this situation?” They even have a medical name for it; Postpartum Depression. After any great success or triumph after any of the great accomplishments of life, there’s normally a reaction, a falling back. You can almost feel things slowing down, returning to the routine & the mundane.
WE SHOULD BE CERTAIN TO TALK TO GOD ABOUT OUR MOODS & REMEMBER PRAYER IS A POWERFUL TOOL AGAINST DEPRESSION.
When Jesus was having a difficult time He went to God & cried out, “Please God, deliver me from this.” We should make certain we’re getting enough rest & ask ourselves if some unresolved conflict or unconfessed sin is causing this. But no matter what, I encourage anyone battling depression to seek help from God & also from trained Christian professionals if necessary.
No one needs to be held captive to depression, there is a way out.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.—Isaiah 61:3—
Blessings,
John
….Whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul David took the Lyre & played It; so Saul was refreshed. 1 Sam. 16:23
….For day & night thy hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to thee & did not hide my iniquity.
Psalm 32:5
To appoint unto them that mourn……the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness…..
Isaiah 61:3
I think it’s safe to say we’ve all experienced bad days from time to time. For some, these bad days can stretch into bad weeks, bad months or even bad years. Some people find themselves in a kind of funk sayings things like “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, my life is worthless.”
I’m not a stranger to mild depression, neither am I an expert. However it’s important to know some of the basics about it, because though we may not experience depression directly, odds are someone in our family will.
The story is told of a husband who noticed that his wife had lost her joy & did nothing but mope around the house. This went on for weeks until one day he suggested that she see a doctor. She was in agreement so the husband made an appointment with a competent psychologist in their city.
During the first appointment the doctor realized that the woman was suffering from a mild case of depression that he felt didn’t need medication. He walked around his desk & asked the lady to stand up. He stepped over to her, took her in his arms & gave her a warm hug. The husband watched with interest as his wife’s face lit up & she started to look like the woman he used to know. The doctor said, “Now see, this is all your wife really needs sir, a nice big warm hug at least three times a week, are you willing to do your part? The man said, “Yes sir doc, & I think it’s wonderful. I can have her here any day but Friday, that’s my golf day.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if depression could be cured that easily?
A doctor from UCLA says that if you want to know what depression feels like, just imagine you have the worst case of jet-lag you’ve ever experienced, combined with the worst grief you’ve ever felt, then throw in a migraine headache. Months could pass before it lifts.
Another well known psychiatrist likened depression to a window in a house. Most windows are dressed with some sort of shades or blinds. Then usually drapes or curtains are added. This lessens the starkness of the light coming through & is adjustable by the people in the room. The person with depression has no such window dressing, thus he or she lives constantly in the glaring light of “reality.”
There are dozens of faces to depression. There is clinical depression where medical intervention is called for. There is acute depression, manic-depression & situation- induced depression. I have no credentials nor training that would equip me to advise in those areas. Perhaps a more common depression is “walking depression,” a chronic condition like walking pneumonia. It’s so prevalent it’s called the “common cold” of emotional disorders. The person feels terrible but has no acute signs.
Listen to one young college woman describe her feelings;
“I’ve suffered from walking depression all my life. I think a lot of people do. Some people look at life as a glass half full & others see it as a glass half-empty. People like me who suffer from walking depression see life as a glass half empty. Without words it comes & suddenly, sharply, one is aware of being separated from every person in ones’ world. At one’s feet there are chasms that had been invisible until this moment & one knows their loved ones will always be across the chasms.
I never feel enthusiastic about anything. I have little faith in positive outcomes. I don’t believe in myself, I don’t trust anyone. I live my life in a fog. I stumble around unable to get motivated because I’m afraid of what I might run into. I feel too flat to do anything exciting.
Walking depression lives in your bones. It makes your bones feel like tubes of water-heavy & unstable. I’m always asking myself if it’s worth it to stand up. I’m never sure I have the internal structure to get me through a task. It takes so much effort.”
When it comes to the area of spiritual depression the word of God compels me to speak. This isn’t so much a clinical or deep depression, but rather a profound sorrow, sadness & gloom; a feeling of being “very down.” Some Christians try to deny its existence because it’s not necessarily a good advertisement for Christianity; but it does exist. Many people of my generation they don’t like the word depression & would never admit to it in their lives. Depression sounds too much like the devils work, & sometimes it is.
I’ve given the following advice to numerous people who wouldn’t admit to being depressed;
“If you have lost all of your joy, if the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup (if that’s going to be the best part of waking up, you might be better off in bed) if you haven’t smiled in so long no one can remember it, if you no longer enjoy the things you used to love, if you feel like God has gone to Key West & lost your phone number, if your face carries the message that you’ve been Baptized in lemon juice & weaned on a pickle, you’d better swallow your spiritual pride & call it what it is (depression) before it becomes something exceedingly worse.”
When was the last time you had this kind of feeling; like you might do something drastic? Truthfully this happens & it happens to the best of Christians.
Paul tells us in Eph.6:12—for we wrestle not with flesh & blood but against principalities, against powers, against the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.
This doesn’t mean that we go looking for a devil behind every mood-swing but neither should we ignore this truth.
For most of us, if we get into an emotional fog, we know it’s just a temporary feeling brought on us by certain circumstances. Sometimes getting out of bed is hard & people have no energy & can’t concentrate. These feelings usually lift but if they start interfering with our daily life very long it might be clinical depression & then a person should seek professional help. The music David played for Saul lifted his spirits temporarily but the spirit came back over & over again. I think that’s one of the reasons so many billions are spent on music; people are seeking to ward-off depression.
I’m convinced that shopping sprees are another way many people try to lift their spirits. They live with the idea that they’re one shopping trip from happiness. What happens is, they fill their houses up with things they don’t need & as soon as they “lick the candy” off their latest acquisition, they are right back where they started.
Then there are those who use food, alcohol or some other substance to lift their spirits but it’s a lift that doesn’t last.
Here are six misconceptions about depression.
1. WEAK PEOPLE GET DEPRESSED.
The truth is that it takes a strong person to bear up under depression. Saul stood head & shoulders above any man in Israel. He had broad shoulders & a strong constitution but he was still depressed.
Periodically we read about sports figures, people who make their living being stronger than the average person, admitting to depression. Anyone who’s ever read the story of Elijah knows that weakness in no way describes this Prophet, but he got depressed & begged God to kill him. No wonder, he’d just run over 100 miles trying to put distance between himself & Jezebel who’d threatened to kill him.
David was a mighty warrior & leader of men but even a cursory reading of the Psalms he wrote reveal his bouts with depression. For a whole year he didn’t write a song or tune his harp.
Certainly Jeremiah wasn’t a weakling but he got so depressed he walked into God’s office, laid down his prophet-credentials, accused God of lying to Him & vowed never to say God’s name again as long as he lived. From now on God would be “old-what’s-his-name-in-the-sky.” You will remember that Elijah couldn’t stick to that vow when he discovered that God’s words were-“like fire shut-up in my bones.”
Another wrong attitude about depression is;
2. IT’S A SPECIAL HELL RESERVED FOR THE FEW.
If you have been reading the popular magazines & newspapers in the last few years, or for that matter listening to the media you’re aware that we are presently living in the “age of melancholy.” The World Health organization says that by the year 2020, if present trends continue, depression will rank second only to heart disease as the number one disabler of persons. On any given day depression affects 18 million Americans. 12 million will go untreated. Chances are 1 in 5 of us will experience an episode of depression in our lives. The question is, if it strikes, “Where will we go for help?”
3. SOME PEOPLE THINK DEPRESSION IS A MENTAL ILLNESS.
Depression can be a chemical imbalance in the brain, but in truth many illnesses, mental & physical are caused by some sort of chemical imbalance. i.e. Diabetes, etc.
Loss can trigger depression. I’ve known people who had a great loss in their life, went into depression & never snapped out of it. This can happen with the loss of a spouse. Loss of any kind can trigger depression. Some people get depressed when they start getting older & grieve over loss of youth. Most of us snap out of it by considering the alternative.
Pain can also trigger depression. I read an article recently that in America, back pain is a leading cause of depression.
We are in a culture that so idolizes youth that today many teenagers & pre-teens are suffering depression because of the prospects of aging.
The pace of our modern day life also causes some people to be depressed. In my forties I kept such a rigid travel schedule along with being a pastor that I often had mild spells of depression. In 1981 I went to China & several other Oriental countries for three weeks & when I came home I thought I’d never get back to normalcy. People who are depressed will often say the world seems “surreal” to them. I don’t think we realize how jet travel, computers, cell phones & fast cars (all of which I use) have robbed us of the normal human scale of life.
Researchers say that cortisol; a stress hormone can also cause depression. It’s harmless in small doses but when stress causes inordinate amounts to constantly be pumped into the body it can rob us of energy, mobility, our sex drives, & our basic ability to feel human emotions. I read about a man who experienced this to such a degree that he lost all ability to love his wife, parents & his children. He had pushed himself so long trying to be successful that he was, in the vernacular, burned-out; so burned out that he no longer had real feelings. I hope & pray it was temporary for him.
4. ANOTHER MISCONCEPTION ABOUT DEPRESSION IS THAT IT’S A RESULT OF SIN IN ONES LIFE--& THAT DEPRESSION ITSELF IS SIN.
This is not so. Charles Haddon Spurgeon the great 19th century preacher often called “The prince of preachers,” the man God used to light the fires of the 19th century revival movement suffered from depression most of his adult life. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be away from his pulpit two or three months a year because of depression. I don’t know whether this is true but many scholars think that Paul’s “Thorn in the flesh” may have been depression. I will say however that if Paul wasn’t depressed he missed several good chances. After all, his kin, his race, & his people largely rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
And what about some of those churches? Maybe he was depressed by the failure of the churches he planted to live out their life in Christ. They were a constant anxiety to him. (2nd Cor.11:28.)
Abraham Lincoln; at the height of the Civil War said, “If the misery I feel was equally divided among every member of the human race, there would not be a single smiling face among us.”
The Bible tells us that Moses, Jeremiah, Job, & Elijah all had bouts of depression. I have a feeling that some of the best people suffer from depression. The truth is life is not always a stroll through a rose garden. There are mountains & valleys. There are many downward slopes. I have known pastors who didn’t want to take Mondays off because they were still stressed out from Sunday & they didn’t want to feel that bad on their day off. They could enjoy a day off later in the week much more. We should learn to see these depressed times less like a pit to climb out of & more like a tunnel to pass through.
But we can’t blame all depression on things like the pace of life, stress & chemical imbalance. We mustn’t overlook the possibility that unrepentant & unconfessed sin is a major cause of depression.
Saul had every right to be depressed. God had anointed him to be king of Israel but he disobeyed God & gradually backslid. God ended up giving the kingdom to David. Saul, the man with all the potential in the world ended up committing suicide on Mount Gilboa.
When David’s baby died he was able to throw it off but when it came to his sin with Bathsheba & the murder of her husband, his writings show us it continued to depress him. I suspect that a lot of people would get rid of depression if only they got rid of their sin.
You could say it like this; ---when we grieve the Holy Spirit by our sin, He turns around & grieves us back.
Another myth about depression is that;
5. DEPRESSION IS ALWAYS BAD.
In Saul’s case, God was dealing with him causing him to be depressed because of his wrong doing. There is only one thing I can think of that is worse than depression & that’s for a person to become so dead to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit that they can totally ignore Him. When that happens we are beyond help because it’s impossible to repent. This is what Jesus meant when he said the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the unforgivable sin. (Matt. 12:31)
According to Hebrews 12:6-- “God chastens whom He loves.” We are convicted of sin & righteousness & judgment. (John 16:8) We ought to take a measure of hope if we are in sin & its depressing us. There remains the possibility that we will humble ourselves before God & receive His aid & forgiveness.
If we’re experiencing depression we should ask ourselves questions like; am I harboring bitterness toward another person? Have I addressed the sin in my life? Am I feeling guilty about something? Have I turned away from God? Am I being a faithful Christian? And so on.
6. FINALLY, SOME DEPRESSED FOLK FEEL THERE’S NO HOPE FOR THEM.
This is a myth. If the depression is a chemical imbalance, there is prayer & there are also medications that can do wonders. Many other depressed people can be helped by a change of diet, rest or by taking up a hobby for physical activity. I read somewhere that it’s impossible to actually be depressed while exercising. I’ve known people who always had headaches & were so sick it kept them constantly depressed. A trip to the doctor revealed they were eating too much sugar or other bad foods & when this changed they were different people.
One of the best ways to fight a mild case of depression is to do something. We don’t feel our way to a different way of acting, rather we act our way to a different way of feeling. If you wake up one morning & feel depressed, talk to depression like you would a person.
· “O.K depression, I see you are here & that’s alright but you have to understand I’ve got a lot to do. I’m getting out of this bed depressed. I’m going to shower, if necessary depressed. I’m going to eat breakfast depressed. I’m going to work depressed & I’m going to work all day depressed if that’s the way it has to be. Then I’m coming home depressed. I’ll eat my supper depressed & I’m going to church depressed.”
It’s possible but not probable that depression will still be there when they sing the first worship song. It could possibly still be there after the second song. But if you’ll keep on singing & praising something will happen & depression will have to go for James said “Draw nigh to God & he’ll draw night unto you.”
In all the years I’ve been preaching, I’ve rarely felt like preaching when I first started. But after I’ve been preaching about 5 minutes, something happens & I start feeling different. Then I don’t feel like stopping. Many people over the years have been grateful that I don’t go by my feelings.
If a person’s depression is spiritual in nature, the result of sin, that person can find release by turning to the God who loves them.
Psalm 32 continues;
5. I acknowledge my sin to you, O, Lord. & I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord; then you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6. Therefore let every one who is Godly offer a prayer to you; at a time of distress, in the rush of great waters, they shall not be reached. 7. God, you art a hiding place…..
There isn’t a “twelve step program” for avoiding depression, but there are however some steps we can take if we’re facing it.
We should ask ourselves the questions; do we have trouble making decisions? Do we experience a lot of uncontrollable crying? If a person is living on the verge of tears all the time, though as I said I’m no expert, I think that should be recognized as serious & an individual should seek help either through personal prayer or through Christian counseling.
If a person is having trouble getting out of bed, can’t seem to make it to work or to school, or if thoughts of suicide are creeping into their head, in these cases immediate care is necessary & steps should be taken with a professional.
WHEN HOLIDAYS COME UP IT WOULD BE LUDICRUS NOT TO INCLUDE,
POST HOLIDAY DEPRESSION.
Have you ever noticed that depression can strike after a holiday, or for that matter, after any of the great celebrations of life? We feel the build-up of excitement & all of the sudden its over. The problem is that big days tend to magnify all our emotions. We suffer from an intense case of the “oughts” during the holidays. We believe we ought to be able to give our children all the things they want, & we ought to be able to satisfy all the time demands of our extended family. We ought to spend the holidays in the middle of a great big adoring family. Unfortunately the real holiday experience never quite lives up to our “oughts.”
Nurses report that the maternity ward of a hospital can be one of the saddest places in the world. The initial rush is gone. Now the baby is keeping you up all night; you are tired & discouraged & asking yourself—“why did I ever get myself into this situation?” They even have a medical name for it; Postpartum Depression. After any great success or triumph after any of the great accomplishments of life, there’s normally a reaction, a falling back. You can almost feel things slowing down, returning to the routine & the mundane.
WE SHOULD BE CERTAIN TO TALK TO GOD ABOUT OUR MOODS & REMEMBER PRAYER IS A POWERFUL TOOL AGAINST DEPRESSION.
When Jesus was having a difficult time He went to God & cried out, “Please God, deliver me from this.” We should make certain we’re getting enough rest & ask ourselves if some unresolved conflict or unconfessed sin is causing this. But no matter what, I encourage anyone battling depression to seek help from God & also from trained Christian professionals if necessary.
No one needs to be held captive to depression, there is a way out.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.—Isaiah 61:3—
Blessings,
John
Friday, May 7, 2010
Learning To Lean Milestone
ByJohn Stallings
Thirty-four years ago this month, in 1976, with $4,500 borrowed from a friend, we went to the Mark 5 studios in Greenville, South Carolina to record 10 of our brand new compositions.
The songs included “Learning to Lean.” Of course we had no idea that song would emerge & be embraced by so many.
It would be easier to tell what gospel singer/singers have not recorded the song than to tell which ones have recorded it.
I noticed that YouTube has put that early recording up for everyone’s listening pleasure. If you click on the link below you’ll hear “learning to lean” in it’s earliest form & before the words were even available in any book store.
Though Cecile Blackwood & all the guys who made up The Blackwood Brothers became my friends many years before most of them went to heaven, I never learned how they got the song so quickly, but they did & had it on the national charts before I could blink.
One year later learning to lean was awarded Nashville’s prestigious “Dove Award” & the rest is history.
We weren’t responsible for putting this song on You tube, but it’s there at least for now. If you click the link below you’ll be able to hear that first historic recording & it won’t cost you anything but about four minutes.
I guarantee you’ll be blessed if you can take the time to listen.
Blessings,
John
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2qXZhmTXhA
Thirty-four years ago this month, in 1976, with $4,500 borrowed from a friend, we went to the Mark 5 studios in Greenville, South Carolina to record 10 of our brand new compositions.
The songs included “Learning to Lean.” Of course we had no idea that song would emerge & be embraced by so many.
It would be easier to tell what gospel singer/singers have not recorded the song than to tell which ones have recorded it.
I noticed that YouTube has put that early recording up for everyone’s listening pleasure. If you click on the link below you’ll hear “learning to lean” in it’s earliest form & before the words were even available in any book store.
Though Cecile Blackwood & all the guys who made up The Blackwood Brothers became my friends many years before most of them went to heaven, I never learned how they got the song so quickly, but they did & had it on the national charts before I could blink.
One year later learning to lean was awarded Nashville’s prestigious “Dove Award” & the rest is history.
We weren’t responsible for putting this song on You tube, but it’s there at least for now. If you click the link below you’ll be able to hear that first historic recording & it won’t cost you anything but about four minutes.
I guarantee you’ll be blessed if you can take the time to listen.
Blessings,
John
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2qXZhmTXhA
Saturday, April 24, 2010
An Open Letter To The President, Members of Congress, And the Press
By John Stallings
Dear Sir/madam,
If our nation survives, this time in history will be remembered as the time when the Constitution was trashed, the founding father’s principles were trodden underfoot, precious freedoms for which blood was spilt were arbitrarily destroyed, politicians in Washington arrogantly made up the rules as they went along & governed against the will of the people.
It will be remembered as a time when the law was circumvented by our national leaders deigning to insert themselves as the law, slowly dismantling our Democratic way of life.
Mr. Obama, you seem to be not only someone who isn’t convinced of American exceptional ism, but someone who resents the very country who elected him. While we wage righteous wars to liberate people of other countries you & your party are passing laws to curtail the freedoms in our country.
You have traveled the world bowing to our enemies & snubbing our friends. You caved to Russia by signing a nuclear agreement that could have been written by Putin himself.
I never thought I’d see the day when I’d hear America’s president begrudgingly say “America is a Superpower whether we like it or not, & because of this we run the risk of being drawn into some dangerous global situation.”
I didn’t realize when we sent our best & brightest to spill their blood on distant soil to beat back oppression & feed starving millions that we were “being drawn into some situation.” I thought we did it because that’s who we are.
Personally, I like the idea of my country being a dominate superpower, especially when I consider the alternative. I don’t even understand a mentality that has to question whether or not we like America being powerful.
I’ve been disturbed by your traveling the world apologizing for this great nation. If this country is so abysmal, why are there no lines streaming out of the U.S of A. I’m sure you’ve noticed they’re lined up trying to get in. Isn’t it interesting; they’re coming from the countries you think we ought to emulate & coming to the country you’re doing your best to “Fundamentally transform?”
The United States has gladly assumed enormous burdens of manpower & treasure to defend & provide a shield for the free world against hostile regimes & takeovers. Just in recent weeks we’ve led the way in supplying manpower & materials to rebuild nations that have been torn apart by natural disasters.
Our hardworking farmers have shouldered the task of feeding the world with our vast supply of grain. We have the greatest cities, national parks, system of super-highways, health care & research facilities, educational establishments, the greatest vacation spots, the greatest corporations & proportionally the largest middle-class of any nation in history. Why don’t you ever talk about these things?
I never thought I’d see the day when honest dissenters would be called racists. On the whole, Americans aren’t racist. If this was a nation of racists, there couldn’t be a black president.
Mr. Obama, in the dead of night, you have forced through a health care program that will not work, [thus far none of your programs is working] increased our national deficit & put yourself at loggerheads with the policies of Israel, a tiny nation trying to survive. I might add- a nation that has always been America’s friend.
No president in my memory has ever divided the country as quickly & pervasively as you have. What’s more, you don’t seem to care. What’s even worse, you seem to have no regard for, nor will to hear the voices of the people who elected you to office.
Speaking of division, you will no doubt remember the ancient story of Solomon & the two women both claiming to be the mother of the same baby. Wise Solomon declared there is only one solution: the baby must be split in two, each woman receiving half of the child. The liar screamed “divide it.” Solomon instantly gives the baby to the real mother realizing that the true mother’s instincts were to protect her baby while the liar revealed that she didn’t truly love the child.
This- to me has always been a perfect metaphor that applied in a marriage, family, church or a nation i.e.—the individual with counterfeit affection never seems to mind standing by & watching unity & cohesion destroyed.
I never thought I’d see a president lead us to abandon our plans for continued space exploration & further explain that a system we paid billions for would fade into oblivion. From now on we’ll hitchhike into space with the Chinese or the Russians & very soon the space-stations flying above our heads will be controlled by someone other than Americans. Not a good scenario.
I never thought I’d hear Scientists clap their approval when their president tells them—“Forget the moon, let’s go to an Asteroid.” Maybe they’d also like to forget that soon there’ll be an outpost on the moon or some other planet but it won’t belong to Americans. I understand that these scientists would like to keep their jobs & not join the growing millions of unemployed, many of whom have given up even looking for work.
I never thought I’d see the day when so many promises would be broken, so many lies would be told, congress would deliberate behind closed doors, bribe its membership, & marginalize those who couldn’t be co-opted or bribed.
I never thought I’d see the congress of The United States act so arrogantly, saying - “we’re not worried about the Constitution,” or “there are no rules here, we’re making it up as we go along,” & calling our Founding Fathers a bunch of “old rich white men.”
I never thought I’d see the day when the President, the Speaker of the House, & other leaders would so shamelessly destroy the trust the people have always given them & be affected by it about as much a gnat landing on their sleeve.
I never thought I’d see a president & congress take an oath to uphold the law, & then turn around & in one fell swoop strike death-blows to the many accomplishments of Statesmen & Patriots over a span of more than two-hundred years. I wonder; are America’s leaders out to destroy Western Civilization?
I never thought I’d see the day when we no longer felt our leaders worked for us but rather, -now, we work for them, & elected officials would place their personal preferences above the welfare of the nation.
I never thought I’d see such naked abuse of power; when congress wouldn’t act in our best interest but conversely, treat us like juveniles -saying –“when you see what we’re ‘getting you,’ you’ll like it.” Really?
I never thought I’d see the day when our congress would, irregardless of public outcries, like a drunken deaf-mute, waltz happily off the cliff of fiscal irresponsibility.
I never thought I’d see the day when a group of grown men & women would forget that “Robin Hood’s goals didn’t justify Robin Hood’s actions” & good intentions can’t provide cover for criminal activity.
Mr. Obama, I never thought I’d see the day when the press, who obviously are so jaded & debauched that they have turned the truth into a lie, would forget that their Constitutional duty is to be a clearing house for the truth. Our national press whose job it is to keep watch over our government, whether it is led by Democrats or Republicans, today is firmly ensconced in your hip pocket.
I never thought I’d see the president, congress & the press actually believe they’d “pulled the wool” over the electorate’s eyes on health care, saying concern for the uninsured caused them to engage in unbelievable corruption, based on lust for power & control.
When you mock the tea-party movement, & equate their skepticism of your administration with a tendency toward violence, you are reminiscent of a hospital patient strolling down the hall with no idea his gown is open, giving a whole new meaning to “the ICU unit.” Treating a large segment of the population with disdain as you do makes it obvious to us that you’re trying to camouflage your fear with sarcasm.
Speaking of the tea parties, I noted that when asked what you thought of the tax day tea parties, you said you were "unaware of them." My question would be, were you "unaware" of them in the same sense that you were "unaware" of the sermons preached in the church you & your family attended for twenty years? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware that your own aunt was living in this country illegally? Were you unaware in the same sense you were unaware your own brother was living on pennies a day in Kenya? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware of the fact that a man you nominated for Secretary of Commerce was under investigation in a bribery scandal? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware the man you nominated for Secretary of Health & Human Services was a tax cheat? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware that the man you nominated to be Secretary of the Treasury was a tax cheat? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware that the men you nominated for U.S Trade Representative & Chief Performance Officer were also tax cheats? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware that the man you nominated to be #2 at the Environmental protection Agency was under investigation for mismanaging $25 million in EPA grants?
With all due respect sir, it seems to me there are people in comas who're more aware of what's going on than you are.
I for one am not a hater & I don’t believe the people who form the resistance to your agenda are either. We just believe that your health care program is more about creating more government dependency than it is about health. We do have a strong conviction that the temporary inhabitants of high office should comply with the Constitution, honor God-given unalienable rights, & respect our hard-earned private property. Frankly, it does seem to me that the left hates America when they’re not running it.
You are oblivious to the people who’re watching you, like a man who is jabbering away unaware of the glob of mayonnaise clinging to the corner of his mouth while the rest of us keep motioning for him to wipe it off -to no avail.
I never thought I’d see the day so many principles would be sacrificed on the alter of one issue [health care] & so many Americans would go to the streets because they had no where else to go, feeling they were now at the mercy of tyrants.
I never thought I’d see the day in America when we could no longer express our disapproval with words like Disappointment & Disillusionment. Now we find ourselves using words like, Shocked, Disgusted, Terrified, Outraged & Infuriated.
HOWEVER MR. OBAMA, I'D LIKE TO THANK YOU
You have awakened a sleeping giant. You’ve done a favor for the conservative’s that no one else could do. You’ve galvanized us & filled us with an awesome resolve & in your heart I think you know what that portends for you in November. Bill Clinton assured you if you got your version of health care passed your popularity would skyrocket. Just the opposite happened. If it’s humanly possible, your health care bill will be repealed & de-funded in coming months & years.
You were unwise to allow blind ambition to cause you to want too much too soon, but in your over-reach, your “fig leaves” drooped, showing us who you really are.
I also thank you for reminding us of something we temporarily forgot;
Laws mean nothing if they can’t or won’t be enforced. We also forgot that in electing a president we give him the power to destroy us if he so chooses. Is that what you really are attempting to do?
Know this; we’ll never trust you again & it’s a good guess that we’ll never trust national leadership again, at least not for a very long time.
America made a dreadful mistake in electing you. We were gullible. We should have educated ourselves much more than we did about the leaders who would impact our lives in such profound ways. The clarion call- “Wake up America” hasn’t been used over & over for decades for no reason.
It doesn’t do us any good to stick our heads in the sand at this point, because-at least for now - you own the beach.
But we’ll turn this situation around. We’ll turn it around with work, fervent prayer & at the ballot box in November. The sheep that stood still while they were being shorn won’t stand so silently when you start skinning them, & you will.
I have many regrets as I write this letter. Although few would listen to me, I did write several articles before you were elected, pointing out that we didn’t even know who you were. I’m sure I was preaching to the choir. I regret I couldn’t do more, but I’m not a political operative & don’t do this for a living.
I never thought in my worst nightmares that I’d end up feeling like I feel at this moment, -but here I am.
Just remember this truism ; “Once bitten, twice shy!”
We will not forget. As far as the election of this coming November is concerned, we’re there.
May God save our great Republic! I believe He will.
Regards,
John A. Stallings
Dear Sir/madam,
If our nation survives, this time in history will be remembered as the time when the Constitution was trashed, the founding father’s principles were trodden underfoot, precious freedoms for which blood was spilt were arbitrarily destroyed, politicians in Washington arrogantly made up the rules as they went along & governed against the will of the people.
It will be remembered as a time when the law was circumvented by our national leaders deigning to insert themselves as the law, slowly dismantling our Democratic way of life.
Mr. Obama, you seem to be not only someone who isn’t convinced of American exceptional ism, but someone who resents the very country who elected him. While we wage righteous wars to liberate people of other countries you & your party are passing laws to curtail the freedoms in our country.
You have traveled the world bowing to our enemies & snubbing our friends. You caved to Russia by signing a nuclear agreement that could have been written by Putin himself.
I never thought I’d see the day when I’d hear America’s president begrudgingly say “America is a Superpower whether we like it or not, & because of this we run the risk of being drawn into some dangerous global situation.”
I didn’t realize when we sent our best & brightest to spill their blood on distant soil to beat back oppression & feed starving millions that we were “being drawn into some situation.” I thought we did it because that’s who we are.
Personally, I like the idea of my country being a dominate superpower, especially when I consider the alternative. I don’t even understand a mentality that has to question whether or not we like America being powerful.
I’ve been disturbed by your traveling the world apologizing for this great nation. If this country is so abysmal, why are there no lines streaming out of the U.S of A. I’m sure you’ve noticed they’re lined up trying to get in. Isn’t it interesting; they’re coming from the countries you think we ought to emulate & coming to the country you’re doing your best to “Fundamentally transform?”
The United States has gladly assumed enormous burdens of manpower & treasure to defend & provide a shield for the free world against hostile regimes & takeovers. Just in recent weeks we’ve led the way in supplying manpower & materials to rebuild nations that have been torn apart by natural disasters.
Our hardworking farmers have shouldered the task of feeding the world with our vast supply of grain. We have the greatest cities, national parks, system of super-highways, health care & research facilities, educational establishments, the greatest vacation spots, the greatest corporations & proportionally the largest middle-class of any nation in history. Why don’t you ever talk about these things?
I never thought I’d see the day when honest dissenters would be called racists. On the whole, Americans aren’t racist. If this was a nation of racists, there couldn’t be a black president.
Mr. Obama, in the dead of night, you have forced through a health care program that will not work, [thus far none of your programs is working] increased our national deficit & put yourself at loggerheads with the policies of Israel, a tiny nation trying to survive. I might add- a nation that has always been America’s friend.
No president in my memory has ever divided the country as quickly & pervasively as you have. What’s more, you don’t seem to care. What’s even worse, you seem to have no regard for, nor will to hear the voices of the people who elected you to office.
Speaking of division, you will no doubt remember the ancient story of Solomon & the two women both claiming to be the mother of the same baby. Wise Solomon declared there is only one solution: the baby must be split in two, each woman receiving half of the child. The liar screamed “divide it.” Solomon instantly gives the baby to the real mother realizing that the true mother’s instincts were to protect her baby while the liar revealed that she didn’t truly love the child.
This- to me has always been a perfect metaphor that applied in a marriage, family, church or a nation i.e.—the individual with counterfeit affection never seems to mind standing by & watching unity & cohesion destroyed.
I never thought I’d see a president lead us to abandon our plans for continued space exploration & further explain that a system we paid billions for would fade into oblivion. From now on we’ll hitchhike into space with the Chinese or the Russians & very soon the space-stations flying above our heads will be controlled by someone other than Americans. Not a good scenario.
I never thought I’d hear Scientists clap their approval when their president tells them—“Forget the moon, let’s go to an Asteroid.” Maybe they’d also like to forget that soon there’ll be an outpost on the moon or some other planet but it won’t belong to Americans. I understand that these scientists would like to keep their jobs & not join the growing millions of unemployed, many of whom have given up even looking for work.
I never thought I’d see the day when so many promises would be broken, so many lies would be told, congress would deliberate behind closed doors, bribe its membership, & marginalize those who couldn’t be co-opted or bribed.
I never thought I’d see the congress of The United States act so arrogantly, saying - “we’re not worried about the Constitution,” or “there are no rules here, we’re making it up as we go along,” & calling our Founding Fathers a bunch of “old rich white men.”
I never thought I’d see the day when the President, the Speaker of the House, & other leaders would so shamelessly destroy the trust the people have always given them & be affected by it about as much a gnat landing on their sleeve.
I never thought I’d see a president & congress take an oath to uphold the law, & then turn around & in one fell swoop strike death-blows to the many accomplishments of Statesmen & Patriots over a span of more than two-hundred years. I wonder; are America’s leaders out to destroy Western Civilization?
I never thought I’d see the day when we no longer felt our leaders worked for us but rather, -now, we work for them, & elected officials would place their personal preferences above the welfare of the nation.
I never thought I’d see such naked abuse of power; when congress wouldn’t act in our best interest but conversely, treat us like juveniles -saying –“when you see what we’re ‘getting you,’ you’ll like it.” Really?
I never thought I’d see the day when our congress would, irregardless of public outcries, like a drunken deaf-mute, waltz happily off the cliff of fiscal irresponsibility.
I never thought I’d see the day when a group of grown men & women would forget that “Robin Hood’s goals didn’t justify Robin Hood’s actions” & good intentions can’t provide cover for criminal activity.
Mr. Obama, I never thought I’d see the day when the press, who obviously are so jaded & debauched that they have turned the truth into a lie, would forget that their Constitutional duty is to be a clearing house for the truth. Our national press whose job it is to keep watch over our government, whether it is led by Democrats or Republicans, today is firmly ensconced in your hip pocket.
I never thought I’d see the president, congress & the press actually believe they’d “pulled the wool” over the electorate’s eyes on health care, saying concern for the uninsured caused them to engage in unbelievable corruption, based on lust for power & control.
When you mock the tea-party movement, & equate their skepticism of your administration with a tendency toward violence, you are reminiscent of a hospital patient strolling down the hall with no idea his gown is open, giving a whole new meaning to “the ICU unit.” Treating a large segment of the population with disdain as you do makes it obvious to us that you’re trying to camouflage your fear with sarcasm.
Speaking of the tea parties, I noted that when asked what you thought of the tax day tea parties, you said you were "unaware of them." My question would be, were you "unaware" of them in the same sense that you were "unaware" of the sermons preached in the church you & your family attended for twenty years? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware that your own aunt was living in this country illegally? Were you unaware in the same sense you were unaware your own brother was living on pennies a day in Kenya? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware of the fact that a man you nominated for Secretary of Commerce was under investigation in a bribery scandal? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware the man you nominated for Secretary of Health & Human Services was a tax cheat? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware that the man you nominated to be Secretary of the Treasury was a tax cheat? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware that the men you nominated for U.S Trade Representative & Chief Performance Officer were also tax cheats? Were you unaware in the same sense that you were unaware that the man you nominated to be #2 at the Environmental protection Agency was under investigation for mismanaging $25 million in EPA grants?
With all due respect sir, it seems to me there are people in comas who're more aware of what's going on than you are.
I for one am not a hater & I don’t believe the people who form the resistance to your agenda are either. We just believe that your health care program is more about creating more government dependency than it is about health. We do have a strong conviction that the temporary inhabitants of high office should comply with the Constitution, honor God-given unalienable rights, & respect our hard-earned private property. Frankly, it does seem to me that the left hates America when they’re not running it.
You are oblivious to the people who’re watching you, like a man who is jabbering away unaware of the glob of mayonnaise clinging to the corner of his mouth while the rest of us keep motioning for him to wipe it off -to no avail.
I never thought I’d see the day so many principles would be sacrificed on the alter of one issue [health care] & so many Americans would go to the streets because they had no where else to go, feeling they were now at the mercy of tyrants.
I never thought I’d see the day in America when we could no longer express our disapproval with words like Disappointment & Disillusionment. Now we find ourselves using words like, Shocked, Disgusted, Terrified, Outraged & Infuriated.
HOWEVER MR. OBAMA, I'D LIKE TO THANK YOU
You have awakened a sleeping giant. You’ve done a favor for the conservative’s that no one else could do. You’ve galvanized us & filled us with an awesome resolve & in your heart I think you know what that portends for you in November. Bill Clinton assured you if you got your version of health care passed your popularity would skyrocket. Just the opposite happened. If it’s humanly possible, your health care bill will be repealed & de-funded in coming months & years.
You were unwise to allow blind ambition to cause you to want too much too soon, but in your over-reach, your “fig leaves” drooped, showing us who you really are.
I also thank you for reminding us of something we temporarily forgot;
Laws mean nothing if they can’t or won’t be enforced. We also forgot that in electing a president we give him the power to destroy us if he so chooses. Is that what you really are attempting to do?
Know this; we’ll never trust you again & it’s a good guess that we’ll never trust national leadership again, at least not for a very long time.
America made a dreadful mistake in electing you. We were gullible. We should have educated ourselves much more than we did about the leaders who would impact our lives in such profound ways. The clarion call- “Wake up America” hasn’t been used over & over for decades for no reason.
It doesn’t do us any good to stick our heads in the sand at this point, because-at least for now - you own the beach.
But we’ll turn this situation around. We’ll turn it around with work, fervent prayer & at the ballot box in November. The sheep that stood still while they were being shorn won’t stand so silently when you start skinning them, & you will.
I have many regrets as I write this letter. Although few would listen to me, I did write several articles before you were elected, pointing out that we didn’t even know who you were. I’m sure I was preaching to the choir. I regret I couldn’t do more, but I’m not a political operative & don’t do this for a living.
I never thought in my worst nightmares that I’d end up feeling like I feel at this moment, -but here I am.
Just remember this truism ; “Once bitten, twice shy!”
We will not forget. As far as the election of this coming November is concerned, we’re there.
May God save our great Republic! I believe He will.
Regards,
John A. Stallings
Thursday, April 15, 2010
There Will Be Blood!
By John Stallings
A group of mountain climbers were climbing in the Swiss Alps. The lead climber lost his footing & fell, dragging the next two climbers after him.
The other climbers braced themselves for the jolt. As the three went over the cliff the rope pulled tight & suddenly broke in half. The others watched in horror as their three fellow climbers fell four thousand feet to their death on the glacier below.
Once the others were safely back they examined the broken rope. They discovered that there was no red strand running through it. The special type of rope they used had an identifying red strand. It had special strength to withstand the extreme tension they had experienced in their accident that day. The current rope, though, was a cheap imitation. It was a weak substitute. It cost three men their lives.
Most of us remember hearing in Sunday School about a red strand that runs through the Bible. That red strand is a strand of blood. If that red strand is left out what is left is weakened to the endangerment of the souls of men. It loses its power to save.
Sadly, blood is such a repulsive thought to many that they’ve sought to remove its mention from Christian songbooks. However, when speaking of Christ’s passion, bible writers use the word “blood” three times as often as “death.” Jesus could have died in many different ways without shedding His blood, but there is a special significance in that precious blood being shed.
We live in a sad hour. Many of the main-line denominations are proclaiming a mere social gospel. As for me, the blood is the bed rock of my faith & I’ll cling to this blood & its power to save & keep. Apart from the blood of Christ we’re all doomed to spend eternity in a devil’s hell. Others may call it unnecessary but I’ll just stick with the blood of Jesus. Robert Lowery got it right when he penned,--“Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
THE MODERN DAY CHURCH IS LOSING BLOOD
Songs like “Nothing but the blood,” “There is a fountain filled with blood,” “Are you washed in the blood,” & “There is power in the blood” are still sung in some places but fewer & fewer & there aren’t that many newer songs or praise choruses focused on the blood. The Cross, yes; redemption, yes; but the Blood, not so much. We’re eager to speak of life but hesitant to speak of blood. I’m told that even among Catholics, centered as they are on the Eucharist, they are more apt to speak of “the Cup” than “the Blood.” Could it be true that with our churches designed to look like malls, with information booths, coffee shops & book stores with everything bright & shiny, we wittingly or unwittingly are trying to remove the sting of offense from an “arcane bloody gospel?” Are we trying to distance ourselves from what has been called a “slaughterhouse religion?”
THIS MIGHT DISTURB YOU
Vampires are hot stuff right now. These creatures leer from the covers of books, magazines, T.V & movie screens. Vampires lust after their prey wherever they can be found. Following up on the Twilight movies, Stephenie Meyer’s wildly popular vampire-romance series, hundreds of vampire publications have been published in the last three years. These vampire stories borrow greatly from Christian theology, because of the idea of achieving immortality through blood.
Like it or not, & most of us will not, these modern parodies mimic Christianity because of the ingesting of blood. This is what we do symbolically at the communion table. Of course the drawing of a parallel between the vampires who live on blood & the atoning nature of Christ’s blood is a cheap counterfeit of the true salvation offered through the blood of Jesus.
In a medical setting blood is considered to be a hazard. Steps are taken to cover clothes, eyes & hands from contact with the patient’s blood. Rescue workers are constantly trained to take precautions to avoid contact with the blood. HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C can be transmitted through accidental contact with an infected person’s blood.
There is one man’s blood however that is sought after by those who recognize its importance. Although man’s blood can kill, Christ’s blood can heal. Those who wash in it become free & forgiven. It’s strong enough to wash the clogged, putrid, infected & malignant puss of sin from your heart, soul & mind. It can wash away all of our tears, broken hearts & broken souls. Christ’s blood opens the windows of your heart & lets the sunshine in.
BLOOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
From outside the gates of Eden in Genesis 4, to inside the gates of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, the Bible is filled with the importance of blood in regards to salvation.
We first hear of blood with the animal sacrifices Abel made unto God. Later, Noah offered sacrifices to God. Abraham was tested by God when he was commanded to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
It’s interesting to me that if a person picks up a Bible & reads from the first page, in 22 chapters they come to the story of God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his son & God subsequently stopping him & allowing a ram to be sacrificed instead.
One might think that God would tuck this story further back in His Word, after a person had a chance to read more “uplifting” things. People might be turned off reading a story like this before they have an opportunity to read more about the wondrous love & grace of God. People might misunderstand & say something like, “well, this Christianity certainly is a gruesome business.” It’s possible that a person might not read any further after reading this story, in spite of the fact that God didn’t require Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
The point being; God didn’t think a blood sacrifice was somehow “off the reservation.” God takes the shedding of blood seriously. He doesn’t seem to concern Himself in the least with someone finding the subject distasteful. This fact should & certainly does tell us something very important.
The story is told of a large religious service that was being conducted at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco. The Christians in attendance became aware that the minister delivering the main address wasn’t thoroughly Christian. He was a great speaker but it was evident he was directing his eloquence against the power of the blood of Christ. When the old “wind-jammer” finally finished, you could have heard a marshmallow fall on a carpet.
Everyone knew something would have to be said, but no one knew what to say. Finally a, timid elderly lady stood up in the audience & began to softly sing the great hymn written by William Cowper as a rebuttal to the modernist minister. A hush fell over the place as the folk assembled there heard the faint but familiar words;
“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that blood lose all their guilty stains.” Before the lady could complete the second verse, approximately a hundred people rose to join her. By the time she reached the third verse nearly a thousand Christians all over the audience were singing that wonderful song of faith. Then these words were sung by the joyous crowd, -Dear dying Lamb thy precious blood shall never lose its power, till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.
For the Jewish people, an important festival related to blood. While they were slaves in Egypt, the death angel was going to pass over the land. They were to take a lamb without blemish & slaughter it & some of the blood was to be placed on the doorposts & the lintel of their houses.
The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; & when I see the blood, I will pass over you & no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you. [Ex. 12:13]
Just as the Jews were slaves in Egypt, you & I were slaves to sin. But that was before the blood of Christ was shed for us on Calvary. In the Law of Moses, the Jews were given numerous regulations that involved the use of blood.
Listen to Leviticus 17:11—For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the alter to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life.
BLOOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Jesus was riding high in the popularity polls of Israel until the day He pulled out His “cannibal sermon.” In John 6:50-60, Jesus began to talk about his broken body & His blood. He told the people that unless they ate His flesh & drank His blood they had no life in them. Slowly the crowds started to dwindle away. They didn’t grasp the concept; neither did the disciples grasp the concept. To be frank, they weren’t anywhere near the concept yet. It must have been a sobering moment when Jesus looked at His twelve disciples & said,-will you also go away?
At the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus explained it further; -This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.-Mt. 26:28
Paul said, -Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood…Roman 3:25
The apostle Peter reminded Christians,-You know that you were ransomed….with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without spot or blemish. 1 Pet. 1:18-19
In Revelation a scene in heaven is observed where no one is found worthy to open a scroll. Then we read;
And they sang a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals…for thou wast slain & hast redeemed us to God by thy blood…Rev. 5:9.
Not Abel’s blood that cried out from the ground,
Not that blood.
Not the blood of bulls & goats,
Not that blood.
Not the millions of gallons of blood that was shed over many hundreds of years, that had no power to cleanse,
Not that blood.
Not the blood of murder & mayhem,
Not that blood.
Not the 50,000 deaths of the American Revolutionary War,
Not that blood.
Not the 646,000 causalities of the Civil War,
Not that blood.
Not the multitude of casualties of WW1 and of WW11,
Not that blood.
Not the 211,000 American soldiers who died in Vietnam,
Not that blood.
Not the multiple thousands of casualties of the war in two Iraq wars,
Not that blood.
Not the blood of millions of martyred Christians throughout the centuries,
Not that blood.
The blood of Christ alone. One man. One cross. One blood.
The apostle John explains that the shed blood of Jesus is the cleansing agent in the life of the Christian throughout our lives. He writes;
If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.-1 Jn.1:7
If I’m reading that right, if you & I aren’t having fellowship with those of like precious faith, it must follow that we’re not walking in the light.
1. THE BLOOD OF CHRIST’S BACK PROVIDES HEALING.
When He walked the earth it was mandatory that Jesus heal people because it had been prophesied that He’d be a healer.
One of God’s first promises to Israel in the Old Testament was---I am the Lord your God who heals you. He called Himself Jehovah-Rapha, meaning-God our healer. Jesus, being God’s son, did exactly what His father did.
Isaiah said, speaking of Christ -Surely He took up our infirmities & carried our sorrows…but He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we were healed.-Ish. 53:4
Throughout the Old testament God showed Himself as a merciful healer.
Pilate’s lacerating whip on Jesus’ back provides us with divine healing. I might add right here; when ObamaCare finally kicks in & America sees what it really is, we’re all going to have to go back to divine healing. Thankfully, Doctor Jesus is still making house calls.
2. THE BLOOD PROVIDES FOR US A SOUND MIND.
A crown of thorns was placed on Christ’s head & a Roman soldier probably took a spear & struck it, causing the thorns to stick deep into His brow. One writer has said the long spike-like thorns could have easily stuck down through His eyelids making prison bars for Him to look through on His way to Calvary.
Christ’s mind never entertained one vile affection. For thirty-three years He walked in a body subject to the same temptations as were are yet Satan never succeeded in polluting His mind. This means you & I can silence the accuser’s mental attacks by declaring victory through the blood that spilled from Christ’s crown of thorns.
The reason our minds endure constant assault is because life’s battles are fought there. It’s Satan’s preeminent area of attack. He attacks when we’re awake & when we’re asleep. He attacks with tormenting thoughts, bizarre dreams, fearful flashbacks & attacks our conscious & subconscious mind.
Friend, here’s how we can counter every Satanic attack. Rebuke him with the blood of Christ. When you plead the blood against old Satan, you remind him that he ripped into Christ’s body with a whip, nails, thorns, & a spear, drawing that Holy Blood. When you do that, he’s hearing you recount the worst mistake he ever made. You can be sure Satan won’t linger & let you pummel him by pleading the Blood.
1 Corinthians 2:16 says we can claim “The mind of Christ.” Paul told Timothy—God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love & a sound mind. [2T1 1:7]
Hebrews 9:14 says, How much more then will the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says—We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Christ’s death liberates the mind. Don’t permit Satan to harass you with the Blood-covered, confessed sins of your past. Christ’s Blood has freed you from that bondage.
3. FROM CHRIST’S RIVEN HANDS AND FEET HE PROVIDES VICTORY FOR OUR WORK AND OUR WALK.
There’s an interesting Old Testament passage that deals with the application of blood on the Levite priests. Leviticus 8:23 says that priests were sprinkled with blood “on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet.”
This emphasized anointed hearing, anointed working and anointed walking. The blood anoints our work and our walk.
4. THE BLOOD FROM CHRIST’S SIDE PROVIDES FOR CLEANSING OF THE SOUL.
The spear going near Christ’s heart opens up a flow that cleanses from all sin. Leviticus tells us that life bubbles from the circulatory system. It’s impossible to live without blood. Our eternal life depends on Christ’s uncontaminated thoroughly Holy Blood.
A person may know all about the Blood theologically but unless it’s applied to their lives, nothing will happen. I can go to a Doctor & get a prescription, but if I take the medicine home & never open the bottle & ingest the medication, it can’t help me. I could go to the computer & Google the medicine until I knew everything about it but if I never took the medicine I’d get no help from it. You may have heard about Jesus all your life but until you by faith receive Him into your life His redemptive power is of no advantage.
Many years ago in Detroit, Michigan, the famous evangelist Dr. Charles Finney preached on the text-“The blood on Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
After the service a stranger asked Dr. Finney to walk home with him. Advised against it by church officials who knew the man, Dr. Finney went with the man.
Ushering the preacher into the rear of a building, the stranger locked the door & put the key in his pocket. “Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you believe what you preached tonight?”
Dr. Finney said, “I most certainly do.”
The man continued, “We’re in the back of a saloon. I’m sole proprietor. Mothers come in here, lay their babies on the counter & beg me not to sell liquor to their husbands. I turn a deaf ear to their cry. We see to it when a man leaves here he’s well under the influence. More than one night a man leaving here has been killed by the train the runs behind the saloon. Dr. Finney, tell me, can God forgive a man like me?”
Finney replied, “I have but one authority, the Word of God which says, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
“But that’s not all” added the man. “In another room we run a gambling hall. If a man doesn’t spend all his money on liquor, we bring him back here & with marked cards see to it that he’s fleeced out of his last dollar. We often send men home penniless to a hungry family. Dr. Finney, I’m sole owner. Tell me honestly, can God forgive a man with a heart like that?”
Again Finney replied, “I have but one authority, the Word of God which says, “The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
The man spoke again.” That’s not all. Across the street is my home where live my wife & little daughter. Neither one has had a kind word from me for five years. Their bodies bear marks from my brutal attacks. Dr. Finney, do you think God could forgive a man like me?”
Finney’s head lowered. His eyes filled with tears as he said, “My friend, you have painted one of the darkest pictures I’ve ever gazed upon, but I still have one authority which says, “The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
The man opened the door, ushered the preacher into the night, then never left that room till daybreak—not before ripping up the decks of cards & pouring the contents of the bottles down the sink. Across the road at home he sat in his living room. His little girl called, “Daddy, Mother said breakfast is ready.” When he answered his little girl kindly she ran back to her mother, “Daddy spoke kind to me. Something is the matter.” The mother followed her little girl to the living room. The man took one on each knee he explained to their amazement that they had a new husband & daddy. He said, “I’m done with that business across the street!
The man later became a member, then later a leader in a leading Detroit church. When asked to tell how his life was changed, he’d reply, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
It reaches to the highest mountain.
It flows to the lowest valley.
The blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose its power.
Andréa Crouch
Blessings,
John
A group of mountain climbers were climbing in the Swiss Alps. The lead climber lost his footing & fell, dragging the next two climbers after him.
The other climbers braced themselves for the jolt. As the three went over the cliff the rope pulled tight & suddenly broke in half. The others watched in horror as their three fellow climbers fell four thousand feet to their death on the glacier below.
Once the others were safely back they examined the broken rope. They discovered that there was no red strand running through it. The special type of rope they used had an identifying red strand. It had special strength to withstand the extreme tension they had experienced in their accident that day. The current rope, though, was a cheap imitation. It was a weak substitute. It cost three men their lives.
Most of us remember hearing in Sunday School about a red strand that runs through the Bible. That red strand is a strand of blood. If that red strand is left out what is left is weakened to the endangerment of the souls of men. It loses its power to save.
Sadly, blood is such a repulsive thought to many that they’ve sought to remove its mention from Christian songbooks. However, when speaking of Christ’s passion, bible writers use the word “blood” three times as often as “death.” Jesus could have died in many different ways without shedding His blood, but there is a special significance in that precious blood being shed.
We live in a sad hour. Many of the main-line denominations are proclaiming a mere social gospel. As for me, the blood is the bed rock of my faith & I’ll cling to this blood & its power to save & keep. Apart from the blood of Christ we’re all doomed to spend eternity in a devil’s hell. Others may call it unnecessary but I’ll just stick with the blood of Jesus. Robert Lowery got it right when he penned,--“Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
THE MODERN DAY CHURCH IS LOSING BLOOD
Songs like “Nothing but the blood,” “There is a fountain filled with blood,” “Are you washed in the blood,” & “There is power in the blood” are still sung in some places but fewer & fewer & there aren’t that many newer songs or praise choruses focused on the blood. The Cross, yes; redemption, yes; but the Blood, not so much. We’re eager to speak of life but hesitant to speak of blood. I’m told that even among Catholics, centered as they are on the Eucharist, they are more apt to speak of “the Cup” than “the Blood.” Could it be true that with our churches designed to look like malls, with information booths, coffee shops & book stores with everything bright & shiny, we wittingly or unwittingly are trying to remove the sting of offense from an “arcane bloody gospel?” Are we trying to distance ourselves from what has been called a “slaughterhouse religion?”
THIS MIGHT DISTURB YOU
Vampires are hot stuff right now. These creatures leer from the covers of books, magazines, T.V & movie screens. Vampires lust after their prey wherever they can be found. Following up on the Twilight movies, Stephenie Meyer’s wildly popular vampire-romance series, hundreds of vampire publications have been published in the last three years. These vampire stories borrow greatly from Christian theology, because of the idea of achieving immortality through blood.
Like it or not, & most of us will not, these modern parodies mimic Christianity because of the ingesting of blood. This is what we do symbolically at the communion table. Of course the drawing of a parallel between the vampires who live on blood & the atoning nature of Christ’s blood is a cheap counterfeit of the true salvation offered through the blood of Jesus.
In a medical setting blood is considered to be a hazard. Steps are taken to cover clothes, eyes & hands from contact with the patient’s blood. Rescue workers are constantly trained to take precautions to avoid contact with the blood. HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C can be transmitted through accidental contact with an infected person’s blood.
There is one man’s blood however that is sought after by those who recognize its importance. Although man’s blood can kill, Christ’s blood can heal. Those who wash in it become free & forgiven. It’s strong enough to wash the clogged, putrid, infected & malignant puss of sin from your heart, soul & mind. It can wash away all of our tears, broken hearts & broken souls. Christ’s blood opens the windows of your heart & lets the sunshine in.
BLOOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
From outside the gates of Eden in Genesis 4, to inside the gates of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, the Bible is filled with the importance of blood in regards to salvation.
We first hear of blood with the animal sacrifices Abel made unto God. Later, Noah offered sacrifices to God. Abraham was tested by God when he was commanded to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
It’s interesting to me that if a person picks up a Bible & reads from the first page, in 22 chapters they come to the story of God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his son & God subsequently stopping him & allowing a ram to be sacrificed instead.
One might think that God would tuck this story further back in His Word, after a person had a chance to read more “uplifting” things. People might be turned off reading a story like this before they have an opportunity to read more about the wondrous love & grace of God. People might misunderstand & say something like, “well, this Christianity certainly is a gruesome business.” It’s possible that a person might not read any further after reading this story, in spite of the fact that God didn’t require Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
The point being; God didn’t think a blood sacrifice was somehow “off the reservation.” God takes the shedding of blood seriously. He doesn’t seem to concern Himself in the least with someone finding the subject distasteful. This fact should & certainly does tell us something very important.
The story is told of a large religious service that was being conducted at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco. The Christians in attendance became aware that the minister delivering the main address wasn’t thoroughly Christian. He was a great speaker but it was evident he was directing his eloquence against the power of the blood of Christ. When the old “wind-jammer” finally finished, you could have heard a marshmallow fall on a carpet.
Everyone knew something would have to be said, but no one knew what to say. Finally a, timid elderly lady stood up in the audience & began to softly sing the great hymn written by William Cowper as a rebuttal to the modernist minister. A hush fell over the place as the folk assembled there heard the faint but familiar words;
“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that blood lose all their guilty stains.” Before the lady could complete the second verse, approximately a hundred people rose to join her. By the time she reached the third verse nearly a thousand Christians all over the audience were singing that wonderful song of faith. Then these words were sung by the joyous crowd, -Dear dying Lamb thy precious blood shall never lose its power, till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.
For the Jewish people, an important festival related to blood. While they were slaves in Egypt, the death angel was going to pass over the land. They were to take a lamb without blemish & slaughter it & some of the blood was to be placed on the doorposts & the lintel of their houses.
The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; & when I see the blood, I will pass over you & no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you. [Ex. 12:13]
Just as the Jews were slaves in Egypt, you & I were slaves to sin. But that was before the blood of Christ was shed for us on Calvary. In the Law of Moses, the Jews were given numerous regulations that involved the use of blood.
Listen to Leviticus 17:11—For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the alter to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life.
BLOOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Jesus was riding high in the popularity polls of Israel until the day He pulled out His “cannibal sermon.” In John 6:50-60, Jesus began to talk about his broken body & His blood. He told the people that unless they ate His flesh & drank His blood they had no life in them. Slowly the crowds started to dwindle away. They didn’t grasp the concept; neither did the disciples grasp the concept. To be frank, they weren’t anywhere near the concept yet. It must have been a sobering moment when Jesus looked at His twelve disciples & said,-will you also go away?
At the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus explained it further; -This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.-Mt. 26:28
Paul said, -Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood…Roman 3:25
The apostle Peter reminded Christians,-You know that you were ransomed….with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without spot or blemish. 1 Pet. 1:18-19
In Revelation a scene in heaven is observed where no one is found worthy to open a scroll. Then we read;
And they sang a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals…for thou wast slain & hast redeemed us to God by thy blood…Rev. 5:9.
Not Abel’s blood that cried out from the ground,
Not that blood.
Not the blood of bulls & goats,
Not that blood.
Not the millions of gallons of blood that was shed over many hundreds of years, that had no power to cleanse,
Not that blood.
Not the blood of murder & mayhem,
Not that blood.
Not the 50,000 deaths of the American Revolutionary War,
Not that blood.
Not the 646,000 causalities of the Civil War,
Not that blood.
Not the multitude of casualties of WW1 and of WW11,
Not that blood.
Not the 211,000 American soldiers who died in Vietnam,
Not that blood.
Not the multiple thousands of casualties of the war in two Iraq wars,
Not that blood.
Not the blood of millions of martyred Christians throughout the centuries,
Not that blood.
The blood of Christ alone. One man. One cross. One blood.
The apostle John explains that the shed blood of Jesus is the cleansing agent in the life of the Christian throughout our lives. He writes;
If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.-1 Jn.1:7
If I’m reading that right, if you & I aren’t having fellowship with those of like precious faith, it must follow that we’re not walking in the light.
1. THE BLOOD OF CHRIST’S BACK PROVIDES HEALING.
When He walked the earth it was mandatory that Jesus heal people because it had been prophesied that He’d be a healer.
One of God’s first promises to Israel in the Old Testament was---I am the Lord your God who heals you. He called Himself Jehovah-Rapha, meaning-God our healer. Jesus, being God’s son, did exactly what His father did.
Isaiah said, speaking of Christ -Surely He took up our infirmities & carried our sorrows…but He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we were healed.-Ish. 53:4
Throughout the Old testament God showed Himself as a merciful healer.
Pilate’s lacerating whip on Jesus’ back provides us with divine healing. I might add right here; when ObamaCare finally kicks in & America sees what it really is, we’re all going to have to go back to divine healing. Thankfully, Doctor Jesus is still making house calls.
2. THE BLOOD PROVIDES FOR US A SOUND MIND.
A crown of thorns was placed on Christ’s head & a Roman soldier probably took a spear & struck it, causing the thorns to stick deep into His brow. One writer has said the long spike-like thorns could have easily stuck down through His eyelids making prison bars for Him to look through on His way to Calvary.
Christ’s mind never entertained one vile affection. For thirty-three years He walked in a body subject to the same temptations as were are yet Satan never succeeded in polluting His mind. This means you & I can silence the accuser’s mental attacks by declaring victory through the blood that spilled from Christ’s crown of thorns.
The reason our minds endure constant assault is because life’s battles are fought there. It’s Satan’s preeminent area of attack. He attacks when we’re awake & when we’re asleep. He attacks with tormenting thoughts, bizarre dreams, fearful flashbacks & attacks our conscious & subconscious mind.
Friend, here’s how we can counter every Satanic attack. Rebuke him with the blood of Christ. When you plead the blood against old Satan, you remind him that he ripped into Christ’s body with a whip, nails, thorns, & a spear, drawing that Holy Blood. When you do that, he’s hearing you recount the worst mistake he ever made. You can be sure Satan won’t linger & let you pummel him by pleading the Blood.
1 Corinthians 2:16 says we can claim “The mind of Christ.” Paul told Timothy—God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love & a sound mind. [2T1 1:7]
Hebrews 9:14 says, How much more then will the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says—We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Christ’s death liberates the mind. Don’t permit Satan to harass you with the Blood-covered, confessed sins of your past. Christ’s Blood has freed you from that bondage.
3. FROM CHRIST’S RIVEN HANDS AND FEET HE PROVIDES VICTORY FOR OUR WORK AND OUR WALK.
There’s an interesting Old Testament passage that deals with the application of blood on the Levite priests. Leviticus 8:23 says that priests were sprinkled with blood “on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet.”
This emphasized anointed hearing, anointed working and anointed walking. The blood anoints our work and our walk.
4. THE BLOOD FROM CHRIST’S SIDE PROVIDES FOR CLEANSING OF THE SOUL.
The spear going near Christ’s heart opens up a flow that cleanses from all sin. Leviticus tells us that life bubbles from the circulatory system. It’s impossible to live without blood. Our eternal life depends on Christ’s uncontaminated thoroughly Holy Blood.
A person may know all about the Blood theologically but unless it’s applied to their lives, nothing will happen. I can go to a Doctor & get a prescription, but if I take the medicine home & never open the bottle & ingest the medication, it can’t help me. I could go to the computer & Google the medicine until I knew everything about it but if I never took the medicine I’d get no help from it. You may have heard about Jesus all your life but until you by faith receive Him into your life His redemptive power is of no advantage.
Many years ago in Detroit, Michigan, the famous evangelist Dr. Charles Finney preached on the text-“The blood on Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
After the service a stranger asked Dr. Finney to walk home with him. Advised against it by church officials who knew the man, Dr. Finney went with the man.
Ushering the preacher into the rear of a building, the stranger locked the door & put the key in his pocket. “Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you believe what you preached tonight?”
Dr. Finney said, “I most certainly do.”
The man continued, “We’re in the back of a saloon. I’m sole proprietor. Mothers come in here, lay their babies on the counter & beg me not to sell liquor to their husbands. I turn a deaf ear to their cry. We see to it when a man leaves here he’s well under the influence. More than one night a man leaving here has been killed by the train the runs behind the saloon. Dr. Finney, tell me, can God forgive a man like me?”
Finney replied, “I have but one authority, the Word of God which says, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
“But that’s not all” added the man. “In another room we run a gambling hall. If a man doesn’t spend all his money on liquor, we bring him back here & with marked cards see to it that he’s fleeced out of his last dollar. We often send men home penniless to a hungry family. Dr. Finney, I’m sole owner. Tell me honestly, can God forgive a man with a heart like that?”
Again Finney replied, “I have but one authority, the Word of God which says, “The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
The man spoke again.” That’s not all. Across the street is my home where live my wife & little daughter. Neither one has had a kind word from me for five years. Their bodies bear marks from my brutal attacks. Dr. Finney, do you think God could forgive a man like me?”
Finney’s head lowered. His eyes filled with tears as he said, “My friend, you have painted one of the darkest pictures I’ve ever gazed upon, but I still have one authority which says, “The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
The man opened the door, ushered the preacher into the night, then never left that room till daybreak—not before ripping up the decks of cards & pouring the contents of the bottles down the sink. Across the road at home he sat in his living room. His little girl called, “Daddy, Mother said breakfast is ready.” When he answered his little girl kindly she ran back to her mother, “Daddy spoke kind to me. Something is the matter.” The mother followed her little girl to the living room. The man took one on each knee he explained to their amazement that they had a new husband & daddy. He said, “I’m done with that business across the street!
The man later became a member, then later a leader in a leading Detroit church. When asked to tell how his life was changed, he’d reply, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
It reaches to the highest mountain.
It flows to the lowest valley.
The blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose its power.
Andréa Crouch
Blessings,
John
Friday, April 9, 2010
"THE DROP"
By John Stallings
Last night Juda & I enjoyed a Mexican meal with my eldest daughter Marvelyne, her daughter Madison & hubby Marcus.
As always, Carson, Marcus’ faithful Black Lab service dog was present. Carson doesn’t have a lot to say [I’m kidding] but a lot of love shines through those hazel eyes.
I believe I’ve shared with my readers the story of Marcus being blinded by a drunk driver in a car crash in his home town of Saint Louis, Mo. Marcus was eighteen. He made a valiant comeback & travels the nation as one of the most effective & in demand motivational speakers out there. Marcus, Marvelyne & family now make their home in Orlando.
“The drop” tells the story of Marcus’ accident & subsequent recovery. As part of that recovery he was dropped off miles from his rehabilitation center with only a cane- & found his way home. Marcus did this despite not being allowed to ask directions from anyone & of course Carson wasn’t in the picture yet.
The film only runs seven minutes but is done in a highly professional manner & is well worth watching. One of my twin daughters, songwriter/ recording artist Martha Munizzi, is one of the writer/producers on the film & plans are in the offing at some point to make it into a full length movie with a national release.
At the top of the blog page, a link is provided if you’d be interested in watching “The Drop.”
May you be blessed by Marcus’ story.
Blessings,
John
Last night Juda & I enjoyed a Mexican meal with my eldest daughter Marvelyne, her daughter Madison & hubby Marcus.
As always, Carson, Marcus’ faithful Black Lab service dog was present. Carson doesn’t have a lot to say [I’m kidding] but a lot of love shines through those hazel eyes.
I believe I’ve shared with my readers the story of Marcus being blinded by a drunk driver in a car crash in his home town of Saint Louis, Mo. Marcus was eighteen. He made a valiant comeback & travels the nation as one of the most effective & in demand motivational speakers out there. Marcus, Marvelyne & family now make their home in Orlando.
“The drop” tells the story of Marcus’ accident & subsequent recovery. As part of that recovery he was dropped off miles from his rehabilitation center with only a cane- & found his way home. Marcus did this despite not being allowed to ask directions from anyone & of course Carson wasn’t in the picture yet.
The film only runs seven minutes but is done in a highly professional manner & is well worth watching. One of my twin daughters, songwriter/ recording artist Martha Munizzi, is one of the writer/producers on the film & plans are in the offing at some point to make it into a full length movie with a national release.
At the top of the blog page, a link is provided if you’d be interested in watching “The Drop.”
May you be blessed by Marcus’ story.
Blessings,
John
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