If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD. Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed. -Jeremiah 3:1-3 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. -Jeremiah 6:15 Friday, November 17th, 2011 marks one of those very rare times in my life. It was one of those times when proclaiming Christ a particular event happened, and when it did, I knew it was going to stick with me like a traumatic event I just couldn't shake. You never forget the atmosphere. You never forget the place. You never forget your feelings. You never forget the faces. Never the faces. You know, I talk to a lot of people about Christ and I get a lot of different reactions. Everything on the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual scale you can think of I believe I've seen. Some are more frequent than others. Reactions of apathy, self-righteousness, plain 'ole unbelief, and anger are run of the mill in the south. But this one reaction Friday night was a rare one. I can only think of a handful of times this has happened and I bet out of a line of 500 people I could pick those same people out 10 years from now. Their faces are stuck in my brain. Those moments have been etched there and I've often asked God why. It was a normal Friday night outreach and the night began for me with refuting basically a whole church youth group and older woman from...

I ran across a blog a few months back entitled How is an Andy Griffith Church going to reach a Lady Gaga World? and I've been trying to find the time to write a response. I feel like a response to this question is fitting for our heavily pragmatic church age. I think this question opens up the door to some very core issues dealing with the nature of man, the nature of God, and power of the gospel and the authority of scripture. What prompted a response from me was the fact of the pastors ending to the blog. He said he just didn't know the answer to this question. I was shocked; shocked mainly because this is a fundamental issue at the core of the gospel and this shepherd of souls doesn't know which way to turn. Well, I've found the time and I wanted to write a reply. The blog might go a bit long, but I think it will be worth sitting down and thinking through. You just can't expect to answer critical questions like this in a five minute snippet. I think if we take a little time to answer three basic questions we can have an answer for all ages, cultures and situations. Those three questions are: What is the nature of God? What is the nature of man? What is nature of scripture and the gospel? I believe that if we get answers to these three questions, the question posed by the blog mentioned above can be put to rest eternally because we will be giving a finite question an answer rooted in the eternal Word and that answer should never change. Here's the thing. Before we get started, if you aren't willing to research the scripture, pray over them and dig through this scripture by scripture then stop right here. Go no further. You aren't willing to seek truth. So close the browser page already. If, on the other hand, you are willing to dig, search, pray and learn then let's move forward with the Spirit of Christ and His Word as our guide. May He meet...

The problem of pain and suffering is a big problem, philosophically speaking, for a lot of people, but probably not as many people you as think. It seems to me that most people default to it as a means of staving off Christianity, and it's kind of juvenile that way. It's not something they've given a great deal of thought to; just mainly a way to get God off their backs. Philosophizing requires time and introspection. The former is whisked away by the unflinching demands of busy lives—given away, really, and probably to avoid the latter. Anything but the latter. Perhaps it's because if they see what's inside of them, they may feel the need to address it. Kind of like avoiding the couch for fear of what's underneath the cushions. To those for whom the reality of suffering and the existence of the Christian God conflict, I say this: if there never were such a thing as human suffering, or if were only a tenth of what it is now, would you know it? Of course, not. You'd be used to it. Well, how do you know that isn't the case now? How do you know that things couldn't be worse, a lot worse, and God, through His providential care, restrains sin's annihilative effects? Could things really be worse? You bet they could, and you and I both know it. But even if it were already as bad as it gets, how does taking God—who gives all things purpose—out of the equation make suffering more copacetic? I mean if suffering serves a purpose greater than itself, what legitimate charge can we really bring against God? But if doesn't—if chaos is king—if the universe is a tornado of discord and our lives a trailer park—what then? Are you consoled? Do you feel better now that you know no one is helping you? because no one can help you? because there is no one? Some people win the lottery; some people get cancer. It's all the result of a cosmic roll of the dice. Is this it? Is this all there is? Is there more? What...

"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness..." -Ephesians 5:11 There are a great many people who would "Amen" this verse and try to live it out in a God honoring way. The will abstain for all forms of wickedness, constantly examine their associations and analyze each choice as to honor their Lord. We have no problem abstaining from things the Lord calls wicked. However, that's not the whole verse. It's the second part of the verse that many simply ignore. The rest of the verse goes like this: "...but instead expose them." Here I think is the wisdom and challenge of the Lord. It's one thing to abstain from things, but very rarely (if at all) will you ever find in scripture a command to abstain from something without replacing it with a positive faith filled response. It's takes no faith to sit in your house with your opinion about the world. It takes faith (and might I add "actually caring") to lift up your voice like a trumpet and show the people their transgressions. I want to point you to three resources for fighting the The New Holocaust. Make copies or buy these resources and hand them out to friends, family and strangers. Resource # 1 - A new movie by Living Waters Publications called "180" is available for download absolutely free. Here is the link. Download it, burn it to DVD and pass it out. It's high quality and very captivating. Watch the entire movie online for free. Resource # 2 - Ligonier Ministries, the teach ministry of R.C. Sproul, has published a book on abortion. Purchase it here for someone you know. Resource # 3 - Butch Rumble preached one of many great sermons on abortion at our churches annual Sanctity of Life Sunday. Download the sermon here. Burn it to a CD and pass it out. God bless you in your fight to take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness AND exposing them....

Jeremiah 13:23 Can the... Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil....