Mysticism and Prophecy in the Christian Church

A question was asked in an on-line forum, “How can we religious promote the spirit of mysticism and prophecy in the Christian people?” It took me couple of days to consider this question and whether I wanted to attempt to answer it. The following is my attempt to adequately define the terms mysticism and prophecy and their place in the Christian Church today.

The terms mysticism and prophecy in Biblical Christian terms have always been controversial as they conjure up visions of non-Christian practices performed by peoples such as the Druids, the priestly class in Britain, Ireland and Gaul, who are portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity.

The term mysticism is an –ism based on mystery, or “religious truth via divine revelation”, the term originating in the 14th century. The use of the term today signifies “anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown” (see #1 definition of the word in dictionary.com i.e. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mystery).

Mysticism or mystics are simply those who have a deeper understanding of a spiritual truth that the average citizen does not understand. Daniel spoke of a mystery that King Nebuchadnezzar asked to be interpreted by his wise men in Chapter 2 of Daniel. The Apostle Paul used the word mystery in his letters to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Ephesians, and the Colossians, as well as his letter to Titus.

Mysticism or mystics are not necessarily anti-Christian, as I’ve heard from some well-meaning Christians. It is just that these truths are not comfortable for most Christians. In our society, we want Christian thought that does not bring us discomfort or pain. Entire volumes have been written about escaping trials or learning to “deal with” tragedy in our lives. The book, “The Prayer of Jabez”, by Bruce Wilkerson, is a book about how Christians should pray like him, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” (1 Chronicles 4:10) Bernie Kjos combats this thinking in his rebuttal of Wilkerson’s book in his column, “Problems with the Prayer of Jabez”. (http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/Jabez.htm)

Suffering is only one of the mysteries that are mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. Another is found in the Book of Job. The question, “Why do bad things happen to good people” has been around as long as there have been people on this earth. And as we see in Job’s case, it wasn’t because he was bad, or wicked, as his comforters tried to rationalize.

Prophecy is another mystery that is difficult to explain. Biblical Prophecy is often thought to be only the foretelling of the future. But prophecy in terms of Biblical truth is always more than that. It can be simply putting popular events in light of Biblical truth, such as is found in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

In this passage, Paul was not only speaking futuristically, but also how events he was seeing were relevant in God’s economy in his day. You don’t have to be a prophet to see that all these issues are coming to pass. A modern day “prophet” could simply be someone who gives you God’s perspective on the nightly news. In other words, how current affairs are lining up with what God’s prophets of old said way back when.

Probably the best way to promote mysticism and prophecy to today’s church is to become as knowledgeable as possible on God’s perspective on what’s happening around us and then live a life that honors God. The prayer that we all call “The Lord’s Prayer” is a good place to start. Allow this prayer to consume your life, that you recognize that 1) God is your Father in Heaven, 2) You desire Him to return and want His will working in your life like it would if you were in Heaven right now, 3) that you are relying on Him for all your basic needs, 4) that you wish to live a life of daily repentance for your sins, which are debts that you owe, and that you will give others the benefit of the doubt when they owe you a debt, and 5) that you need help to keep away from the temptations of this word, which are many, and deliverance from the Evil One.

A couple of Christian writers of note are Soren Kierkegaard, C.S. Lewis, or Watchman Nee. They would all say from experience that to experience things that put us out of our comfort zone is to experience the Christian life. A life without hardship or difficult is not a life that has been tested, and therefore a life that doesn’t know what it can actually accomplish through the power of the Holy Spirit working through it.

Just Shut up and Sing

Carlos Santana recently was recently honored by Major League Baseball before the annual Civil Rights Game in Atlanta Sunday. Along with Morgan Freeman and Ernie Banks, Santana received a Beacon Award for his work prior to the game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves.

The 63 year old legendary guitarist, a native of Mexico, then bashed the states of Georgia and Arizona for passing controversial immigration laws, stating, “The people of Arizona and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Obviously, Carlos Santana is one of the many in the entertainment business who feel that since they are successful in one area of expertise, they are experts in all areas of life. Just like actors Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, who have shown themselves to be woefully ignorant of the facts before they get enmeshed in political situations, Carlos Santana shows himself to be equally ignorant of his own country’s tough immigration policies.

* Before Mexico reformed its own policies last year, simply being in Mexico illegally could result in imprisonment in a Mexican prison for up to two years followed by deportation.

* The Mexican constitution bans direct ownership of land by a foreigner within 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles, from any border and 50 kilometers, or 30 miles from any coastline.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger, had he migrated to Mexico instead of the United States, could not have been governor in any state in that country. If Argentina native Sergio Villanueva, a firefighter hero from the 9/11 attacks had moved to Tecate instead of New York, he would not have been allowed to join the fire department.

* There are only two jobs in the entire United States that are reserved for natural born citizens: the President and the Vice-president.

* Under Mexican law, it is a felony to be an illegal alien.

* Mexico deports more people annually than the United States.

* Those people who aid and abet illegal aliens are imprisoned.

Here are a few more rules about living in Mexico:

* Foreigners are admitted “according to their possibilities of contributing to national progress.” (Article 32)

* Mexico ensures that “Immigrants will be useful elements for the country and they have the necessary funds for their sustenance and for their dependents.” (Article 34)

* Foreigners may be barred from the country if their presence upsets the “‘equilibrium of the national demographics, when foreigners are deemed detrimental to economic or national interests’, when they do not behave like good citizens in their own country, when they have broken Mexican and when they are not found to be physically or mentally healthy.” (Article 37)

* The Secretary of Governance may “suspend or prohibit the admission of foreigners when he determines it to be in the national interest.” (Article 38)

* Mexicans who help illegal aliens enter the country are themselves considered criminals under the law.

* A Mexican citizen who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison. (Article 127)

**This was posted by Ed Nelson on April 27, 2010 in a article called, “Think Arizona’s Immigration law is Too harsh?”**

These are just a few of the rules and regulations that Mexico places on immigrants coming to their country. I’m guessing that Carlos Santana doesn’t really want to have the discussion about whose immigration laws are more restrictive.

I got the title of this blog entry from a book by Laura Ingraham and I thought the title just screamed to be used again. My hat is off to Laura Ingraham and Ed Nelson for his blog entry about Mexico’s Immigration laws.

So, my words to Carlos Santana, whose music I love: “Until you actually know what you’re talking about, just shut up and sing (or play).”

(To read the full article, “Think Arizona’s Immigration Law is Too Harsh?” by Ed Nelson, go to http://borderalert.usbc.org/taking-back-america/enforcement/think-arizonas-immigration-law-is-too-harsh)

When Is a Church Not a Church?

According to the Associated Press, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is getting ready to abolish their celibacy requirements for its gay and lesbian clergy after decades of debate that have divided the denomination and split Protestants worldwide. The policy change has already been adopted at its national assembly last year but they need approval by the majority of their 173 presbyteries, or regional church bodies. The new policy will take effect July 10th, after all the presbyteries have voted. The deciding vote, expected Tuesday night, would come from the liberal Minneapolis-St. Paul presbytery.

According to Michael Adlee, a church elder and executive director of More Light Presbyterians, which advocates for gays and lesbians, “More people will be able to live the truth of their lives, parents will talk more about having gay kids, and people will come out in Presbyterian churches.”

The church currently requires its officers to either be in a monogamous heterosexual marriage or to remain celibate. That is currently the standard in most traditional Protestant churches. As a member of the clergy is not only a leader in the church, but is supposed to be a moral example as well, anything less is grounds for that clergy member to be removed from their office.

Let us get right to the heart of the matter. The definition of the word church by dictionary.com gives numerous definitions. Most have to do with Christianity or God or the Christian faith. When you take God out of the church, it simply becomes a structure or a building where meetings can be held. In other words, without God and Christianity, there really is no such thing as a church.

The question is, then, “Has the Presbyterian Church stopped being a church?” Only Christians worship in a church, the God being worshipped there is the Christian God, the God of the Bible. The actual word church comes from the old English word cirice which, stems from the Greek kyriake (the Lord’s house) which comes from Greek kyrios (ruler, lord). The word Christian means “Christ like”, it is never about cultural popularity or the feelings of the people participating in the worship. The word worship comes from the Old English wordscip (condition of being worthy, honor) from worth. A sense of "reverence paid to a supernatural or divine being" is first recorded c.1300. The focus is always on the object of worship, not the people doing the worship.

To remove the celibacy requirements for non-married clergy in a Christian church is to say that if Jesus Christ was your pastor and He was not married, He could engage in sexual activity outside of marriage and there would be no sin. That very thought is repulsive. Jesus set the standard for all church members by the very life He lived on this earth. And even though for over 2000 years, the church has been about Him, when He walked this earth, He was all about everyone else. His entire focus was on God the Father and How He could please and honor the Father with His life.

When has life or truth ever been about being able to have sex with someone? Michael Adee, the executive director of More Light Presbyterians says (again), “More people will be able to live the truth of their lives…” How? By engaging in an activity that God says denies the very truth of His word?

Now, this does not address the argument that some people were born gay or lesbian, that God made them that way. But if a single heterosexual man or a single heterosexual woman chooses a vocation to serve God either here in the United States or abroad on the mission field, they are both called to sexual purity. If that same man or woman has strong sexual feelings towards members of their own sex, they are still called to that same purity. Doing anything else is telling God, “My feelings are more important than being obedient to the truths set out in Your Word.” As my mother once said, “You may not be able to do anything about the way you feel, but you can do something about what you do with those feelings.”

The Apostle Paul addressed the issue of sexual purity several times in the New Testament, but a couple of verses in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 says it all: Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

For an entire denomination to disregard the truths of God’s Word in favor of the feelings of a minority of the population is unimaginable. But the Presbyterians have now decided to go with the flow. Mark Chaves, a professor of sociology, religion, and divinity at Duke University told Reuters, “They're making this change amid a larger cultural change. General public opinion on gay rights is trending pretty dramatically in the liberal direction.” The PCUSA is following the footsteps of the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Church of Christ in attempting to be culturally relevant by making the Gospel a little less offensive to its membership.

I’m just reminded of one last scripture, which the Presbyterian Church would do well to remember. It’s found in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 3: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm-- neither hot nor cold-- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Katy Perry’s Stolen Childhood

Katy Perry recently stated in Vanity Fair that her strict upbringing “stole her childhood”. Miss Perry, known for her pop song “I Kissed a Girl” and her recent marriage to British comedian Russell Brand, said that her strict Christian parents prevented her from “growing up like most kids”.

I wonder, does Miss Perry think the world was safe back in 1991 when she started to attend first grade? In 2001 in the United States, 74% of non-family child abductions were girls and almost ¾ of the abducted children who were eventually murdered were dead within three hours of their abduction. Now granted, this is ten years later, but the truth is that the 1990’s were not that much safer than 2001. In 1998, three quarters of parents polled said they worried that their child would be abducted. And one third of them said that it was a frequent worry.

What is the definition of “strict” to Miss Perry? She couldn’t say the words “Dirt Devil” or “deviled eggs” and was forced to listen to Contemporary Christian Music instead of the popular music of the day. She had friends that sneaked her secular CD’s so she could listen anyways. And her mother would only read the Bible to her. One fine point Miss Perry omits is that at least her mother spent time with her reading to her. Even if it was only the Bible, most psychologists and family counselors will tell you that time spent with them is one gift that a child will always remember.

Another sense that she was robbed of her childhood was that Planned Parenthood was portrayed as an abortion clinic. Really? You mean she was actually given an accurate description of Planned Parenthood? (See Abbey “s book “UnPlanned” for an insider’s view of what Planned Parenthood is all about) Oh, the horror. She says she didn’t know it “was for women and their needs.” Yeah, right. See “Forbidden Grief” by Theresa Burke to see how psychologically damaging an abortion is to everyone involved, both men and women, but especially women, not even mentioning that it takes the life of an actual living human being. (the word fetus is Latin for offspring)

Miss Perry’s childhood was restricted in much the same way that a guard rail on a bridge restricts cars driving along a road. It prevents them from doing what cars that go off the side of the road will do, which is plunge into the area the bridge is spanning. I think Miss Perry is veering a little off the road here.

While her parents may have been a bit overzealous in their child rearing, and what parent isn’t sometimes, she makes it sound like they forced her to wear a chastity belt to school, endured endless interrogation about her whereabouts and the other children she socialized with, and beat her for the slightest infraction of their rules.

Miss Perry lives in a fantasy world where everything is peaches and cream and the world is a fun place to live. Why not? She’s a popular celebrity and people listen to what she says as if she actually knows what she is talking about. The mainstream media doesn’t criticize her because she is politically correct and has done nothing to draw their ire. Even though she is a role model for young girls in that critical stage of their development as young women, whether or not she wants to be, she stands for nothing of substance and promotes things that I am sure her Christian parents would be appalled at. Abortion and homosexuality, even if only experimentation, are major forces that would destroy young people when they are at the prime of their lives and just beginning to see what their life is really intended for.

One day Miss Perry may understand that even the best parents admit to making mistakes. You are required to have flown at least 1500 logged hours in order to qualify for an Air Transport Pilot’s license and fly for the major airlines. You have to go through at least 9 years of schooling and numerous tests in order to be a medical doctor. It takes around 7 years and passing a major law exam (called the bar) in order to practice law in most states. And you have to take a test and qualify before a board in order to be a plumber. Every career from being a police officer to being a truck driver to becoming a teacher requires training. Parenting is the only job that is performed by unskilled labor learning on-the-job. And the job is always different for each and every child because no two children are the same and what works with one child may not work with the next.

Children don’t come with an instruction manual and anyone who undertakes to raise a child in the world we live in today should be applauded for the effort rather than being raked over the coals. Miss Perry’s success is undoubtedly a result of extraordinary parents since success in the entertainment industry is dicey at best. Her self-confidence is evident as she performs and that self-confidence did not become a part of her as a result of the water she drank or the culture in which she was raised. This self-confidence came about despite the culture in which she was raised. That can be directly attributed to her parents, and more specifically, for her, her mother. Mothers model womanhood to their daughters through their actions and interactions with others just as fathers’ model manhood to their sons.

It will be interesting to see how Miss Perry views motherhood and the responsibilities that come with parenting when the little child that comes from her womb (if she stays away from Planned Parenthood) is starting to grow up in such a dangerous world. As one person stated, “When I was seventeen, my parents were so stupid. It is amazing how much they learned in the next 4 years.” Miss Perry is definitely not there yet.

Death of the (Un)Righteous

I awoke to the news that Osama Bin Laden had finally met his end in a fire fight in his compound in Pakistan. We have waited for almost 10 years to hear that news, that justice, blind though she may be, finally was served to the man responsible for the deaths of 3000 Americans on that calm Tuesday morning in 2001.

The old saying that you can run but you cannot hide (forever) is true. Eventually, things were not going to go his way and, just like Saddam Hussein, another barbarous villain of our times, his time is now over.

Now, that being said, as a Christian, recognizing the reality of Hell and the torment that Osama Bin Laden is experiencing right now, I have to be cautious about rejoicing over his death. In Proverbs 24:17-18, it states, “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him.” The thing that we rejoice in is that God’s Justice was finally served. As it has been said, “the wheels of Justice grind slowly, but surely”. No matter what you thought of Osama Bin Laden, he chose to live his life was filled with hatred and violence towards anyone who held a view different than his own. The decisions he made in this life will follow him to the next life, where, contrary to Muslim beliefs, there will probably not be 72 virgins waiting for him. When it comes down to it, the decisions we make in this life follow us to the next, and yes, there is a next life.

Probably the issue that will either lighten our hearts or haunt us through eternity the decisions we make in the here and now. And chief among those decisions is the all-consuming question, “What will you do with Christ?” I say chief, because the answer to that ONE question will determine where you make your final abode. I believe that people in Hell who had the chance to accept and follow Christ, but chose not to, will be haunted with that question forever.

Whatever you believe about the afterlife, Osama Bin Laden is experiencing the reality of a Righteous, Holy God and he knows what we do not know. He knows what is on the “other side of the veil”. And something tells me that he’s more than a little bit surprised that the afterlife is not all that he expected it to be.

A former pastor of mine retold this quote by Mark Twain. “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.” I am sure that captures the view of many in the West today.

Obama's Birth Certificate

President Obama released his Birth Certificate after two and a half years of people asking whether or not he was constitutionally eligible to actually be President of the United States. The question in most people’s minds is (including Oprah Winfrey in a taping she held for an upcoming show): “What took you so long?”

For the most part, that particular drama is now over. I was never really that concerned about it because if Obama was kicked out of the Oval Office, the next one to fill that spot would be Joe Biden. It gives me chills (and not the good ones that run “up and down you leg”) to think of that scenario.

But it brings up another drama; the continuing saga of a whether or not we should have an African American man in the White house. I for one have never had a problem with our President being African American (is it still politically incorrect to say he’s “black”). I have a problem with this particular African American being our President. But it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s an African American. It has more to do with the fact that he’s inept and unqualified for the job. No amount of on-the-job training is going to fix this problem. The man seems incapable of learning even the basic tenets of economics or leadership, both which have been completely absent since January 20, 2009.

Peniel Joseph stated that the problem with the “birthers”, as they are called, is that they suffer from “a deep seated and vicious racism” which is fundamentally connected to a white supremacism in this country”. Peniel Joseph is a history professor at Tufts University. Apparently, Mr. Joseph missed the memo that we live in a “post racial” society now that the greatest country that ever existed has elected an African American to be its President.

Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. said, “So it is time to call this birther nonsense what it is --- not just claptrap, but profoundly racist claptrap”. When tens of millions of people who live in this country are concerned because their elected leader will not provide a simple document proving that I had to provide in order to simply get a Maryland Driver’s License, this is not claptrap, much less “profoundly racist” claptrap. Obama has a problem with credibility. Not too many people believe him anymore. It’s like that old joke that you can tell when a politician is lying because his lips are moving. Here’s a clue: not everything is about race.

If the people at the Miami Herald, including you, Mr. Pitts, had done their job in the first place in 2007 instead of acting like infatuated schoolgirls hoping Barry would look your way, most of this “claptrap” would not have happened. The mainstream news outlets, both the print as well as broadcast news, asked tough questions of the conservative candidates and tossed softballs at Barack Obama. One candidate was vilified because the speaker who opened the night for his candidate dared to use Obama’s full name: Barack Hussein Obama. John McCain actually was called racist because of this apparent faux pas (And to think we conservatives are called hateful and intolerant).

And of course, we can’t omit the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has made a career of calling white people racists. He told the Politico that Donald Trump’s campaign to get Obama to release his birth certificate was deeply rooted in race. “Any discussion of [Obama’s] birthplace is a code word… It calls upon ancient racial fears.” Jesse Jackson is an enigma in and of himself. He’s a reverend who has never been the pastor of a church and a politician who has never held an elected office. He did march with Dr. Martin Luther King, though. I really think that Dr. King, if he were alive today, would be distancing himself from Jesse Jackson and others like him because with Jesse Jackson, it’s all about the color of skin rather than the content of character. They lack any content of character at all. The only reason people like him continue to bring up race is that without the “race card”, they have no authority and no following. Without racial tension, the Jesse Jackson and Al Sharptons of this world don’t really have a place to go, no purpose for being here and no platform from which to speak.

I’m not saying that racism does not exist. Unfortunately, it does. In its ugliest form, it has caused untold harm to millions of innocent people worldwide. We all identify with people who look like we do, hold our own same core beliefs, and have similar tastes as we do. Heavy metal rock fans don’t hang out with the Euro-Techno beat crowd, the Country Western industry or the hip-hop crowd. Personally, outside of my immediate family, I don’t have many friends that are liberal in their politics or who vote the Democrat ticket. But that is not racism. That's called preference.

To some degree, we all have a bit of racial preference in us to the extent that we all feel most comfortable with people of our own culture, people of our own nationality, people who look like we do, talk like we do, think like we do and act like we do. This is how we were all wired from birth. My first dog did not like people dressed in coveralls, like workmen used to wear in the early 60’s. She had a bad experience with someone in coveralls and from that day forth, she would growl at anyone wearing coveralls, even my dad. My first wife’s dog did not like people in uniform. Right after we married, I joined the Army National Guard and came home one day in uniform and met a very angry Irish Setter. Once she saw that it was me, she stopped growling and came bounding towards me wanting to play. She got past the external appearance and realized I was still me, just in clothes she was not used to seeing me wear.

In other words, once we get to know a little about the person in question (IE vetting them to understand who they really are), the race issue becomes moot. Then we can have a dialogue about the issues without all the invectives and name calling. The issue is character. Obama has proved his character by his actions over the past two and a half years. In the words of the Prophet Daniel (a Jew, different culture, different look, different language, yet with character that stretches as far as the eye can see), : “ You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.”

To read more by Thomas A. McLoughlin, go to http://insearchofintelligentlife.com or http:docsboyblog.blogspot.com

Jump the Shark

The television season is being tweaked again and questions are already being put forth as to which shows will no longer be with us, adding to the ranks of unemployed thespians everywhere. Oh, the agony.

The people who should be unemployed are the screenwriters who serve up this drivel and expect the average American to sit and watch it. I thought Congress was trying to outlaw torture. The Yahoo! Home page has a recurring list of “Shows that are on the bubble”, meaning that their viewership is declining. And rightly so, most of the shows they mention on the major four networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) deserve their status “on the bubble”.

I was born in 1959, at the beginning of the 60’s, ands all we had growing up was the three majors (ABC, CBS and NBC) with a local fourth network that played re-runs that we all loved. I watched Ed Sullivan on Sunday nights because there was only one television in the house (black and white, of course, with tubes in the back) and that’s what my parents wanted to watch. The Soaps were king of the afternoon (except on the fourth channel) and television was pretty mundane, with the most radical thing we saw was James T. Kirk (a white man) kissing Lt. Ohura (a black female) on Star Trek or the comedy of the Smothers Brothers.

Now, with hundreds of channels on cable, you have hundreds, if not thousands of options and there’s still not much to watch on television. Reality television shows have made celebrities out of people whose only claim to fame is their willingness to be humiliated in front of millions of viewers every week. And the list of people who are famous just because they are famous is growing. Fred Allen said back in 1950, “Television is a new medium. It’s called a medium because nothing is well-done.” Anne Landers once said, “Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other.” Karl Marx once called religion the “opium of the people”. I remember that there was a cartoon by Berkley Breathed, “Bloom County”, where a computer monitor quoted Karl Marx’s view of religion and implied that this was no longer the case. It wasn’t religion, but mass media (i.e. television) that was the opium of the masses.

The term “jump the shark” comes from a Happy Days episode where Fonzi (Henry Winkler) is waterskiing and jumps over a caged shark in answer to a challenge. Imagine, if can remember that far back, Fonzi wearing swimming trunks, and his signature leather jacket, waterskiing. Then, in all the “coolness” that surrounded this character, having to jump over a caged shark in order to prove his bravery. The term is supposed to mean that the series in question has reached its peak and lost its audience appeal and is about to be cancelled. An interesting fact is that “Happy Days” continued for another seven years before finally being cancelled. But I digress.

I was talking with my brother the other day and he came to the conclusion that Network Television (the main three networks) has not put out anything new or original in decades. In fact, Hollywood is bankrupt as far as new concepts for movies. They are literally scraping the bottom of the barrel when they put out “Yogi Bear: the Movie”. It was a cute cartoon in the 60’s. But a live action movie? Not so cute. My sister sais that there are some movies where you pay money to see them and actually lose part of your soul. At least you won’t be getting back the two hours you spent watching that thing back.

Shows that capture our imagination is what people want, like the plot where a “Geek Squad” nerd gets a mini-computer data base of all classified information concerning US national security infused into his brain was brilliant. Or the FBI agent whose brother is a math genius and uses mathematical equations to solve crimes. Or the guy who can tell if you’re lying by the micro expressions we all use and uses this skill to, again, solve crime? The problem is that these story lines, by their very nature, have a limited lifespan. How long before the “geek” becomes a “cool” CIA agent and marries his smokin’ hot female handler/partner? Or how many times can the FBI agent’s brother say, “I can use an algorithm to predict where the criminal is going to strike next” and still be interesting? After only a season or two, the public, as it is wont to do, gets bored with the predictability of the series and moves on to something new.

Most of Network Television programming has “Jumped the Shark” before a new series is even introduced. This is because most of Network Television’s programming is based on some gimmick to keep the viewer interested. “Bonanza” didn’t use a gimmick. It utilized the family dynamics of the Cartwright family and lasted 14 seasons on network television. Neither did “Mash”, a comedy about doctors and nurses in Korea during the conflict, which lasted 11 years and revolved around the ever changing life of a group of Army Medics in a time of war and their attempts to deal with their situation through humor.

Most people like television. It is one place where you can be opened up to whole new worlds while sitting in the comfort of your living room. For its potential, it is relatively inexpensive, and has the ability to change us in positive ways, to enrich society. Instead, we get “Jerry Springer” and “Oprah”, reality television that isn’t real, and more ways to shock and scare ourselves silly until we just sit in front of the television just accepting whatever comes into our homes without question. David Frost once said, “Television enables you to be entertained in your home by people you wouldn’t have in your home.” Someone else said, “If television is not an idol that we worship, why are all the chairs in the living room facing it?”

To read more by Thomas A. McLoughlin, go to http://insearchofintelligentlife.com or http:docsboyblog.blogspot.com

The Point of the Cross

Christianity has been called a “slaughterhouse religion” with its emphasis on the painful, violent and bloody death of a man on what has become the symbol of that relationship. This weekend is Easter Weekend with tomorrow being Good Friday. A man died on a bizarre form of execution almost 2000 years and we call that good? Why is that good?

Until Jesus walked among us, we were without hope, living our lives in a fruitless day-to-day grind that eventually ended in a solemn ceremony where we were put back into the ground, a few words said for the comfort of those left behind and that was all there was to it. Or was that it?

Jesus didn’t come to earth to make us feel better about ourselves or to give us words of encouragement without substance. If anything, He came to point out that our lives were completely futile without the knowledge, and complete reliance on a God who desperately loved us and was determined that there be a way for us to spend eternity with Him. But in order to give us the Good News, He had to give us the Bad New first: We were completely undone and without hope in the world. Our lot was desperate and there was no hope. The Bad news is that if things did not change, we would spend a short time on this earth struggling to make ends meet only to spend a much longer time separated from the One who created us in a place that we did not belong, a place of misery and torment.

The Bad News could be summed up in just a few words: The Law. The Law was what we call the Old Testament. In it were all the rules and regulations that we were supposed to follow to keep our relationship with God alive and well. The problem with the Law is that you had to follow everything in the Law completely or you were guilty of breaking all the rules. “Well, rules were made to be broken”. Not these rules. These rules had severe penalties for running afoul of them. James 2:10 says “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” This would be like you being caught spitting on the sidewalk and then being convicted in a court of law of every crime the judge knew of, such as armed bank robbery, murder, sedition, infanticide, kidnapping, and wearing white after Labor Day. The Law was written to show us that we could not keep all the rules. There were just too many and they were too obscure for us to keep up with them all.

The Law was put in place to teach us about how God wanted us to live. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:24-25, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” Oh, and just obeying the Law wasn’t enough. You had to obey the spirit of the Law. It’s intent. You could keep the entire law perfectly and still miss the point entirely if you didn’t have the right attitude while keeping it. A little bit of pride that you’re doing your part and you’ve blown it. Oops.

Jesus was the only one who could keep the law in its entirety and do it right because He was the One who wrote the Law. And He knew it was too much. Then why did He write it that way? He wrote it that way in order for us to see that we needed God’s help. We, as a people, are a board mule. (In case you don’t know, a board mule is a mule that you have to hit across the head with a 2 x 4 to get its attention.) We had a problem and Jesus was (and still is) the answer.

Here’s where the cross comes in. The Old Testament tradition of sacrificing a lamb at Passover was a precursor to Our Good Friday Celebration. In the Old Testament, they celebrated Passover to commemorate the children of Israel just before they left Egypt, when they sacrificed a spotless lamb, put its blood on the sides and the tops of the doorposts, and ate the meat roasted over an open fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. God then “passed over their houses when the firstborn male of ever household was killed” in order to get Pharaoh to let the children go. Jesus was to be that sacrificial Lamb. Revelation 13:8 calls Him “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” John the Baptist called Jesus the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.

This was no Freudian slip. When Jesus was died on the cross, Matthew 27:51 says that “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” This meant that God, through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, finally opened the way for man to enter the Holy of Holies (God’s presence) from then on without the sacrifice of another lamb or bull and without the intermediary of another human being, Jesus being our only intercessor. Hebrews puts it this way: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) It also says in Chapter 1:3, “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” The work was done and salvation for all men was now available. That’s what Jesus meant when He said “It is finished!” while on the cross.

Christianity without the cross is pointless. It is the symbol of the relationship God wants to have with all mankind (every man, woman, boy and girl), but it is also the key to that door that was locked for so very long. Easter is not just a time to dust off the bible and go to church, then afterwards gather with friends and family and have a big dinner and enjoy the nice weather, although to most people, that’s all it means. It is a time to celebrate a new relationship that God Himself made possible through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. The bones of Mohammed are still in the grave. The bones of Abraham are still in the grave. The bones of Confucius are still in the grave. The bodies of the founders of every religion are still in their graves and all that is left is their bones. But Jesus alone left behind and empty grave because he rose from the dead and is alive today. Let this Easter be a beginning of a new relationship between you and God.

To read more by Thomas A. McLoughlin, go to http://insearchofintelligentlife.com or http:docsboyblog.blogspot.com

Embrace the Suffering

I was born and raised in a large Roman Catholic family. As Jim Gaffigan says, we were “Shi’ite Catholic” to the extent we never missed church on Sundays, never ate meat on Fridays in Lent, were quiet on the three hours between noon and 3:00 PM on Good Friday, and went through rigorous religious training growing up. As far as I can remember, until I left home when I was 19 years old, we only missed church twice while growing up. Both times I think we were camping somewhere and the car was broken down.

Camping was one of my dad’s favorite hobbies. He learned about it from the Boy Scouts and really enjoyed it so he thought it would be a great adventure, and an inexpensive one to boot, for our family of eight kids. In the summer time, it was nothing for my dad to come home on Friday afternoon and shout out to us kids, “Load up the trailer”. Another camping trip was about to begin.

Our vacations were always camping trips. And we always found a church to attend on Sundays. Some of my best memories are of an outdoor church at Canyon Dam National Park in Texas, where church service was in an outdoor amphitheater with the birds chirping and the squirrels chattering while the priest said the mass.

I attribute my own relationship with God to the fact that my parents made sure we were always in church on Sunday. When I first went into the US Air Force, I slept in on Sundays, but something always gnawed at me telling me that there was someplace I was supposed to be.

When I started my journey to become a devoted follower of Christ, I was in Austin, Texas. I remember finding an announcement for a Baptist Church and thought, “It’s time to go back to church”. The only thing that was certain was that it would no longer be a Catholic Church.

I finally bowed my knee and asked for forgiveness in September, 1982, at RAF Mildenhall in England and I never let go. I attended at least two church services a week, and later three, for the 3 ½ years I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall. When I left the Air Force in December, 1985, to attend college at East Coast Bible College in North Carolina, that number went to around five services a week. I was hearing the Bible preached continually, including lectures from my professors every day. Suffice it to say that since I asked Christ into my Life, I’ve heard literally hundreds, if not thousands, of sermons on every topic under the sun.

In all that time, I heard some inspiring sermons, some funny sermons, some downright boring sermons (better than Levitra), and some sermons that made me think, “That’s 45 minutes I’ll never get back”. I only remember about two of them over the years. I don’t really remember what the topic of most of them was. But I do remember what the topic was NOT about. No sermon I have ever heard ever talked about embracing the suffering. I heard about ENDURING the suffering. I heard about AVOIDING the suffering. I even heard about what our attitude about the suffering should be.

Unless I read a book by one of the “mystic” writers, embracing the suffering was never a topic of discussion. And that only happened after I became a devoted follower of Christ to the extent that nothing else mattered except what God wanted. The most difficult words that ever came out of my mouth were, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” I would rather eat a thousand pounds of crow (and I’ve eaten my share) than to say those words.

Embracing the suffering is, however, a topic that is throughout the New Testament. Paul speaks of knowing Christ and knowing the “fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3-10, 11) This is a difficult thing to understand. It is a longing for what God want in your life the Way He wants it to happen. James says to consider it Pure Joy when you face trials of many kinds.

Embracing the suffering is more than that. It is allowing that God did NOT make a mistake when He took Jody from me. It was not a slip when He allowed me to have my stroke in 2005. That was no accident when He allowed me to lose my ability to play music or my ability to fly for a living. Losing my house because I could no longer keep up the payments and losing all my dreams and ambitions was NOT a mistake on His part. Embracing the suffering means that God DELIBERATELY took those things from me and it is a good thing.

When God takes one thing from you, it means He has something much better for you somewhere down the road. Maybe not right away. Maybe not for a long time. But somewhere down the road, His plan will work better. Someone once said, “To God, Good is the enemy of the Best.” It means that you’re finally trying to get on the same page with Him, not the other way around.

I wish I could say that if you do this once, it’s a settled deal. Sorry. Think of any trial you’ve only gone through once. Not very often, huh? This one is worse. Why? Because we as human beings are so prone to seek the comfort zone. And the Cross was not a place of comfort. Yet Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”This was such an important part of His message that he stated in Luke 14:27, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

For some people who are a little older, there was a television show called “Father Knows Best”. In real life, there is a Father in Heaven and he really does know best. This is just the beginning of what Embracing the Suffering means.

Dont Ask Dont Tell

This is the year that will go down in history, people have said. They don’t know the half of it. In a lame duck session of Congress, after a brutal beating at the polls in November, the United States overturned “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), the military ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the military. With much fanfare, and taking a “victory lap”, President Obama quickly signed the bill into law to the applause and acclaim of most of the liberal left, claiming that this nation is not one “that says ‘don't ask, don't tell,’ we are a nation that says, "out of many, we are one,”.

For the first time in the history of the United States, gays and lesbians will be allowed to serve openly in the military. The last bastion of real world common sense has been finally overrun by the liberals and activist gay agenda. DADT was bad enough, but this is a horrendous decision. Two decisions by arguably the two worst presidents in the history of the entire United States. Both decisions made and signed into law by evidently heterosexual men for the benefit of a very minute minority.

Since the gay population of the United States is approximately 8.8 million people (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) or 2.5% to 3%, this is catering to a very vocal minority with a real political presence that intimidates most politicians. The big problem, one writer states, is not the gay population. It is the people that compare homosexual rights to civil rights, which is an affront to everyone who lived under the old segregation laws. Yet, some of these same people sing along with this horrible chorus just to be included in the party. It’s a tough thing to destroy every last vestige of your dignity just to be liked. How pathetic is that?

Firstly, my concern is not with the feelings of those homosexual men and women that are unable to serve because they cannot “live a lie” and serve in the military without acting on their physical impulses. This is not about being “against” anything, although I am not personally attracted to that lifestyle. Not because I am homophobic. Homophobic implies that I am afraid of homosexuals. I am not afraid of homosexuals. As I said, I am not against anything. But I am “for” God’s righteousness. And allowing gays in the military might be the tipping point for God in His patience with this country.

We have been blessed by God in this country in that we have never been under the rule of another nation. Ask the French or Polish what it was like to have foreign soldiers patrolling their streets at night to enforce curfews they did not choose. We’ve been attacked twice on our own soil (December 7th, 1941, and September 11th, 2001) and that caused all kinds of problems. Think about what it would be like to have to fight a war in your own back yard. The last time that happened was the Civil War over 100 years ago. We’ve been fortunate to always fight on someone else’s soil. Watch the movie “Red Dawn” if you want to get a small taste from Hollywood’s view (though very distorted and with handsome actors and pretty female actresses). Real life never looks quite the way Hollywood makes it out to be.

For those choosing to serve, they will have to endure long briefings on how the homosexual life is now an acceptable lifestyle. Anyone who differs will be shown the door, whether they want to leave or not. How will chaplains be able to preach the “full gospel” if all references to such “sexual sin” have to be removed. Most people don’t know that when DADT was formalized, numerous general officers (ranks 0-7 through 0-10; the generals, admirals, etc) immediately put in their retirement paperwork and got out rather that serve under such a bad ruling. They were forced to stretch out their retirements so it did not look like the entire general corps was abandoning Bill Clinton after his fateful decision.

Allowing gays to serve openly will cause a plundering of our military to a level we‘ve yet to see. And once our military has been destroyed (from within), it will be an easy thing for our country to be destroyed from without.

Gays who have served honorably but were “outed” and then forced to leave the military speak of “suffering in silence”. I’ve seen numerous news stories about how a gay serviceman was continually persecuted because of his “secret lifestyle” and the emotional damage he suffered because of it. It reminds me of Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming student who was killed near Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998, due to his sexual orientation. Although I in no way condone what happened to that young man, you get the feeling that we haven’t heard the whole story about this instance that initiated hate crime laws on both state and federal levels. And I don’t think that we’ve heard the whole story about most of these other stories.

Suffice it to say that a gay person serving in the military does not suffer any more than any other person suffers who is not free to do anything they want. It’s a matter of choice and personal responsibility. Since there is no draft, no one forces anyone to serve. In fact, it is considered a privilege to serve in the United States Armed Forces. Most of the current jobs in the military have a civilian counterpart (with the exception maybe driving a tank, flying a fighter jet or attack helicopter) that pays more and allows you to choose where you live.

Is this the last straw for God? It took a lot for God to finally bring judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. And those places had been at the height of rebellion for years. Can America get back on track with God and restore herself as a country that has God as its basis for existence? Has America gone too far in its excess? Only God knows. But remember this: God handed Israel over to captivity for 400 years (where they suffered, not in silence, but openly, under the hands of cruel nations) to teach them a lesson before He restored her to her former place in this world.

Let’s hope, for everyone’s sake, that this is not the case. One thing is certain. God is patient. But only just until we cross that line in the sand. Let us pray that we have not gone that far.