I was researching a completely different topic when 1 Timothy 5:20 popped out at me today at lunch time. It’s talking about elders/leaders in the church. I always thought issues were addressed behind. Implications? Ali and I talked about it on the patio.
Publicly rebuke those who sin, so that the rest will also be afraid.
1 Timothy 5:20
2020 has certainly turned out to be a bizarre year. Pandemic. Cities moving to eliminate law enforcement. Statutes. Mandatory mask orders. Division. I find some of these things bothersome.
What I’ve noticed that bothers me more than most anything else is a distinct lack of Christlikeness among some professed Christians.[ref]Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, Phillipians 2:5[/ref] I’ve noticed this among friends, among acquaintances, and among well-known figures I follow, but have never met. What is Christlikeness? Basically, being like Jesus.[ref]https://www.yourdictionary.com/Christlike[/ref] I am seeing less of that, especially considering the issue of masks. What have I been seeing?
Things like this- Folks with tons of followers on Twitter who claim Christ also referring to every person who wears a mask in public as fearful, complaint, sheep, even slaves who can’t think for themselves. My, what a joy it must be to be like God[ref]1 Samuel 16:7 & Psalms 44:21[/ref] and know every man’s heart! I had a very long post I was working on about this topic including lots of examples. I tend to do that when I feel passionate about something, and how people represent Jesus is something I get very passionate about.
This morning, this video popped up in my YouTube feed. So, I think I will let Todd talk about it while I work on some memes. Enjoy!
Several days a week find me commuting a little over 70 miles. Once in a while a take an alternate route that takes me through open range land. You know you’re in open range land when you’re driving down a road, usually a Farm-to-Market road, and you suddenly cross cattle guards and the fences disappear. This type of driving demands your attention so toss the phone in the seat beside you. Why? Because livestock has just as much right to the roadway as you do and a 1,200 lb. piece of beef will destroy you and your vehicle.
So I noticed a few months ago when the little beefs were just learning to walk/run that when I approached they appeared to briefly think for a nanosecond or two and would then bolt off in whichever direction they happened to be facing at the time. Of course, sometimes that direction would send them bolting in front of the 3-ton truck I was expected to keep under control.
Obviously, one of the safest things for me to do was to slow down when I approached them. A few months ago the sight of one of our bovine friends would bring me to a crawl of about 30 mph. Not so much today. Today, I continued past them at a nice 50-60 mph, depending on their proximity to the roadway.
One of the things that occurred to me today was how their mommas would never panic. Momma cows always looked at the approaching vehicle and then went back to munching on grass. Why did that occur to me? Because, today, most of the calves (when do they stop being calves?) did the same thing. They’ve gone from panicked rushing in whatever direction, to dashing away from the road, to taking a few steps away from the road. I expect that soon enough they will, like their mothers, look up and not react at all.
This occurs even though the 6,000+ tons of steel still pose a mortal threat to my little bovine friends, despite being familiar.
When I was thinking about that, I couldn’t help but wonder, how often do we as individual believers or the church do that? How many issues have we accepted culture’s changing norms as okay? How often do we not fear what we should due to our familiarity with the threat it poses?
Culturally, where are we? Do we accept things that could kill us spiritually simply due to their familiarity?
How does the title of this post make you feel? Even knowing what I was going to write later in this post, it was uncomfortable to type those words out. It was inspired by a podcast in which I heard the phrase “The whole Gospel is really comedic…”
I was taken aback.
Are you uncomfortable? Insulted? Curious? Think about that for a second before continuing please.
(more…)One of the things that has become apparent during the events surrounding COVID-19 is that our supply chain for everything runs like a well-oiled machine, but right on the edge. Whether it’s parts to build cars or ingredients to build a dinner, a shutdown in one part sends waves throughout the entire system.
With some foods getting more difficult to get and my general need to eat better, the wife and I decided we’d start growing a tiny bit of our own food.
We’ll be sharing our journey in a series of videos. I hope you’ll join us as we go. Maybe you’ll learn something and I definitely plan to be asking questions in the videos as well for help from those with more experience.
Thank you, stay safe, and God bless.
Ali and I recently decided that it was selfish to deny the world the pleasure(?) of the chance to listen to our patio talk at the end of the day. We spend many evenings just talking on the patio. Yes, today we talked about these topics.
So many of our days wind down with a discussion on the patio. The topics vary based on what is going on in our lives but frequently involve religion, politics, or current events.
We put our first episode out on Spotify and briefly introduced ourselves and spent a few minutes talking about the education system. Please listen and give us feedback!
This beef stick from Wyoming Gourmet Beef gets good marks. It might be the best one I’ve tried so far.
So we got spearmint oil, among other stuff, in our November Wellness Box. I’ve been uploading the box openings. I was left a comment wondering what I was going to use the spearmint for.
Well, as most anyone my age is bound to know, growing older brings wisdom, and pains. Specifically it has brought me joint pains. Lately, I’ve had some days where my shoulder and elbows have been aching in the morning. They usually stop after a couple of hours. However, I’ve rubbed the below combination of oils on them in the morning and they stop aching almost immediately.
5 drops of carrier oil (I used jojoba oil)
3 drops spearmint oil
2 drops wintergreen oil
Personally, while there may be another brand that won’t harm you, I would use nothing other than Young Living Oils for any topical application or ingesting. Don’t be fooled into thinking that everything that says essential oil on it is the same. I was. Once. Turned out that instead of saving money, I was throwing it in the trash. I bought some at a large discount chain and diffused it about four times and got a massive headache every time. I know of others that have had the same experience.
I was raised in church. I’ve often joked with folks that in the church of my youth, the pastor had to push his way through the our family to get the doors unlocked. That experience formed me and gave me some connections that have lasted my lifetime.
We changed our church affiliation when I was 13. The involvement didn’t change at all. I did the Monday evening visitation where we’d go and knock on neighborhood doors to talk to folks about Christ. I sat in Sunday School. I sat in Sunday Morning Services. I sat in Wednesday evening services. I was taught all the standard things that I assume almost every other Western Evangelical was taught.
I don’t remember anything being taught to me about the sons of God taking daughters of men as wives. I was not taught that chapter 6 in Genesis records an episode where a divinely established order was violated and resulted in the birth of part-spirit being, part-human giants (nephilim). I wasn’t taught anything about the divine/spiritual realm other than about Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and Satan. I was certainly never taught anything that included “other gods” in any meaningful way.
Psalm 95:3
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
But without other gods, if they are nothing and non-existent, what is this verse saying? Is it saying the LORD is a great King above made up beings? Above nothing? Further, what do we do when the god Dagon[ref]1 Samuel 5:7[/ref] is referred to in the same manner, with the same word, as the LORD[ref]Exodus 3:18[/ref]?
Along with this what was left out, there were things I was warned away from. To me, apocrypha might as well have meant anathema. I came to the conclusion that these books were deceptive and had no value. They weren’t scripture, and were therefore useless. They were to be avoided and I obeyed. I remained willfully and intentionally ignorant of their content.
Maybe we should treat them like bible commentaries or Christian books written today. That was my moment. Wait. What?
That’s what started my latest journey in understanding. I’d noticed that some quotes in the New Testament didn’t have the little letter and the note referencing the scripture that was being quoted. Many did. I use my references and always try to check them. Once in a while, you find new testament writers quoting a work that existed outside of scripture. Jude:14-15 for example.
I was a bit stunned to find that some were quotes from the Book of Enoch. You know, one of those books to avoid. I ended up stumbling across this guy, Dr, Michael Heiser[ref]https://drmsh.com/[/ref] and some of his teachings. The understanding his teachings give has helped the Bible make much more sense to me. I’d challenge you to listen to some of what he teaches.
This is longer than I intended so I’ll end it now with a summary of what he says to relieve any ideas he may be heretical: