PastorD's Blog

Back in August there was a lot of speculation about Todd Bentley. He presented himself, as an unconventional charismatic preacher who was preaching to tens of thousands of people in Lakeland. He seemed like a very unlikely character for God to utilize, but God used a lot of unlikely characters in the bible too. Our local paper ran an article on him and I found some of his antics to be less than godly. This big revival went on for about 100 days, then he abruptly left. Fresh Fire stated that he had planned to take his ministry on the road.

In a letter released to supporters on Friday, leaders detailed Bentley's shortcomings. It appears he had some sexual immorality issues. Seems like the budding relationship with the former intern-turned-staff, who also served as a live in nanny to his three children in Canada story finally got out!

I found it odd that our local paper ran the first article about him on the front page. His latest article was hidden on the back page. The board's recent letter ended saying, "Todd Bentley has demonstrated himself unfaithful to his wife by entering into a relationship with another woman, while still legally married... His sins have been sins of the flesh, and we do not defend them."

I thought to myself, what a joke! We do not defend them. No! We just hide them for a few months, and then we get the news papers and local stations to bury the scathing truth, so we don't loose our buckets of offerings from the "Side Shows"!

There has been much talk recently on the blogs regarding "Bible Study". I am a firm believer in the value of Christians coming together and studying the Word of God. Self study can be a valuable tool, but sometimes folks can become trapped in narrow margins of study. When people can come together, the Spirit of the Lord, will reveal a specific Word for a specific occasion. Sometimes the flock needs to hear something, they really don't want to hear! lol

"Consider the one thing in this world which you and I can touch that has 'eternity' written into its fabric. Its the Word of God. Every time I take the Bible in hand, I hold eternity, because the life force inherent in that Word exceeds all time and space. Without the Bible, the entire Christian message is lost. Without Bible study, the Christian life is wasted". (Jack Hayford)

The Bible reveals God's person. The Father, Son, and the Spirit. It also reveals His attributes, love, mercy, grace and truth, etc. It reveals God as the creator of the universe and all life forms. It describes His relationship with humans throughout history and His plans and purposes for our lives. With all this information being revealed, I find it interesting, that there is still so much confusion about the Bible..... According to a 1996 Barna survey, 42% of Americans say they believe the Bible is the literal Word of God. Surprisingly, half of all Americans believe the Bible is too hard to understand, so they seldom read it! And only about 12% claim to do daily Bible studies. There certainly appears to be a great discrepancy between what we say we believe and our true beliefs as demonstrated by our actions. I guess our actions are making our words look pretty pitiful! Yikes!!

The question of the day is:

Do You Believe Bible Study Is Vital To The Christian Lifestyle?

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow, but only empties today of its strength!

                      Charles Spurgeon

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.

                               Philippians 4:6

I ran across this inspirational nugget today and wanted to share it with everyone. It did not list an author, so I have no idea where it originated.

Be kinder than necessary, because everyone you encounter is battling something!

First let me say, that I don't ask this in any kind of judgmental fashion. My educational background is a major in Bible and Theology and  a minor in Christian Counseling and Christian Education. I tend to look at things in an examination way. You have herd me talk about "Fleshman" vs. "Spiritman". When I speak of it, I am relating to the human nature of man vs. the spiritual wisdom nature of God. An example would be: A lady who was a volunteer in the nursery got upset because someone didn't show up one week and she ended up serving two weeks in a row. She was like, I'm not going to serve because so and so, blah, blah.  Her attitude turned her away from service and she justified it by getting sucked into the all about me human nature. Someone of a strong spiritual nature would see through this and not get wrapped up in the story of all of it. It is actually a ploy of the enemy to destroy the body of Christ. To stop the gathering of believers. Everyone should be more mindful of that.

We are called to gather together. So, do people think they are being disobedient to God's word by not going to church? I realize some can not attend because they may be caring for a sick family member. Perhaps they have a child with a health problem or issue that makes attendance impossible. People have different situations to be considered. I'm just wondering about people who are able, but choose not to.

Psalm 106:48 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let ALL the people say, Amen! Praise the Lord.

Interesting to note this verse along with Psalm 106 that forms the concluding verse of the book IV of the Psalms. This is a beautiful liturgical call for all the people to come together to bless their faithful God.

Philippians 1:27-28 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved - and that by God.

Philippians is also a good scripture to read. It is discussing conduct united for a singular purpose. Paul is instructing the people to shift their "perspective" from the earthly realm to a heavenly one. They should live in this world as if it were the Heavenly kingdom. Stand fast means, they were not to stand alone in isolation, but come together as one in spirit and mind, united for a common goal. "Striving together" - which reflects a meaning of teamwork, expressed in Greek, which literally means, "to engage together in an athletic contest!

I just find it interesting that some attend and some don't. Then we have some, who are not believers in Jesus, but attend faithfully every Sunday, tithing and volunteering their time.

I ran across an interesting situation and I thought it would be a good topic for the Blog. Many of you know that I have been caring for my mother who is in the end battle of lung cancer. With her health declining and her increased medical needs I had to move her to a Hospice facility. Hospice is a wonderful place, I thank the Lord for the blessing.... I visit twice a day for hours at a time. Matter of fact, I'm there so much, some people think I work there.  While I was in the Cafe area, one of their Chaplains struck up a conversation with me. After he found out I was a pastor, he asked me what denomination I was. I told him I was non-denominational. He asked me why non-denominational? I told him, I felt when denominations get involved, religious superiority seeks to trump the life and love of Christ. I am not willing to allow that to be the focus in a persons life. Some one's own personal relationship with God/Christ is more important to me. He inquired about my credentials and asked me if I would be willing to participate in a Continuing Education program that they are involved in, and perhaps work as a flex and or volunteer Chaplin in the future. I told him I was interested in serving down the road.

As I drove home, I began to think about people and their end time needs. I know many "Christians" would believe that their duty is to convert "Everyone" before they die. In a perfect world that may be true. The people at Hospice come from many spiritual backgrounds Buddhist, Muslims, Hindu, Atheist, Christian, Jewish. The job of clergy in that arena is to comfort a person. To ask them what is important to them right now. To ask them if they have any concerns or issues THEY want to discuss. To inquire if THEY want or need prayer.

I honestly don't believe that it is appropriate for someone to "Push" their own spiritual agenda in this situation. So, I ask the blogging community. Am I, along with the other Pastors/Chaplains, who serve in this difficult area of ministry, just Rare Birds, True Servants of Christ? Maybe, even both? Do some people even see us as a "False servant of God, because we seek to comfort rather than convert someone WHO is not interested in conversion?

Please feel free to post your comments. It's truly important to me, to see what other's think about this unique situation.

Yikes!!! OK, maybe I'm just a little grumpy this morning or something. While reading my morning paper, I came upon this story. I thought to myself, a "Story".... It appears this teenage boy revered by many as the reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in the jungle as he blessed his devotees Wednesday with a light tap on the head, which they consider the touch of the divine. He never says a word... The followers of Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18,  believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern  Nepal in 2005, when believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes closed beneath a tree. He emerged this week and met his followers. One person said, "I got a chance to see God".  I thought to myself,  if that was God, there surely would be a lot more commotion than that! Heck, I'm not one to rain on anyone's parade and if this person and others feel they have benefited from this new found "Buddha God" I'm happy for them. I'll continue to drink my coffee and reflect upon my living God, as a read my Bible.

I also found it kind of odd, that several Buddhist scholars have been skeptical of the claims that Bamjan is a reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born about 2,500 years ago and became revered as the Buddha, or "Enlightened One". The scholars stated that, "meditating without food does not prove that he is the reincarnation of Buddha," "There is much study needed to be done".

Well, I thought to myself, "If their own scholars don't believe it, hopefully they won't be offended when I don't believe it".

I thought it would be both interesting and refreshing to reflect upon The Golden Rule. The content is drawn from my own material, as well as others, including (Brown, Broadus, Bartlett's Quotations, Ryle, Spurgeon, Lold-Jones).

                     The Golden Rule

Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

The Golden Rule represents one of Jesus' best known teachings. He commands, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." This is what is know around the world as the Golden Rule. Similar teachings were given by other notable teachers. Confucius (ca. 500BC) said: "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." Aristotle (ca 350 BC) said: "We should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends to behave to us."  In the Apocryphal book of Tobit, it is taught: "What thou hatest, do to no one". The Talmud relates that Rabbi Hillel taught: "What is hateful to thee, do not do to another". Philo taught: "One must not himself do what he hates to have done to him". These are similar to the teachings of Jesus, but they are different. Notice that all of these teachings (with the exception of Aristotle's, which applies only to "friends") are stated in the negative.  They tell what you should "not do". Only Jesus' teaching is stated positively ("Do to others...."), and Jesus' teaching applies to ALL, both enemies and friends. "Our Lord makes it a rule for positive action, and towards all men". In other words, Jesus is not just telling us to refrain from evil, He is commanding us to ACTIVELY do good to others. This is a far cry from the example set by the religious leaders of that time. The morality taught by the scribes and exemplified by the Pharisees, seems to have been "Do to others as they do to you - Love your neighbor, hate your enemy- Love them that love you, do good to them that do good to you- Lend to them from whom you hope to receive again; and as those who do you injuries, the rule is, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".

The poor example of the religious leaders of the day made necessary Jesus' teachings concerning the Law. And what better way was there to conclude His teachings than with one easily memorized rule that summarizes all He taught concerning the Law in the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus ties the Golden Rule to His previous teachings by beginning , "So in everything....." (which can be translated, Therefore). The Golden Rule can be seen as a summarizing concluding statement for all of Matt. 5:17 through 7:11. Note that in Matt. 5:17, Jesus referred to the "the Law and the Prophets." And so Jesus enveloped His teachings concerning the Law in the Sermon on the Mount with reference back to the Old Testament, as if to underscore the continued importance and validity of the Old Testament teachings.

Indeed, Jesus'  statement that the Golden Rule "sums up the Law and the Prophets" adds extra weight to the rule, and requires us to be diligent in carrying it out. To practice this rule, and to make it the basis of our dealings with others, is not merely to apply a trite saying to our lives, but to live a life in compliance to the written commands. It is to please the Living God. It is to live a life acceptable to Him. 

(TB)

I thought it would be both interesting and refreshing to reflect upon The Golden Rule. The content is drawn from my own material, as well as others, including (Brown, Broadus, Bartlett's Quotations, Ryle, Spurgeon, Lold-Jones).

                     The Golden Rule

Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

The Golden Rule represents one of Jesus' best known teachings. He commands, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." This is what is know around the world as the Golden Rule. Similar teachings were given by other notable teachers. Confucius (ca. 500BC) said: "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." Aristotle (ca 350 BC) said: "We should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends to behave to us."  In the Apocryphal book of Tobit, it is taught: "What thou hatest, do to no one". The Talmud relates that Rabbi Hillel taught: "What is hateful to thee, do not do to another". Philo taught: "One must not himself do what he hates to have done to him". These are similar to the teachings of Jesus, but they are different. Notice that all of these teachings (with the exception of Aristotle's, which applies only to "friends") are stated in the negative.  They tell what you should "not do". Only Jesus' teaching is stated positively ("Do to others...."), and Jesus' teaching applies to ALL, both enemies and friends. "Our Lord makes it a rule for positive action, and towards all men". In other words, Jesus is not just telling us to refrain from evil, He is commanding us to ACTIVELY do good to others. This is a far cry from the example set by the religious leaders of that time. The morality taught by the scribes and exemplified by the Pharisees, seems to have been "Do to others as they do to you - Love your neighbor, hate your enemy- Love them that love you, do good to them that do good to you- Lend to them from whom you hope to receive again; and as those who do you injuries, the rule is, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".

The poor example of the religious leaders of the day made necessary Jesus' teachings concerning the Law. And what better way was there to conclude His teachings than with one easily memorized rule that summarizes all He taught concerning the Law in the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus ties the Golden Rule to His previous teachings by beginning , "So in everything....." (which can be translated, Therefore). The Golden Rule can be seen as a summarizing concluding statement for all of Matt. 5:17 through 7:11. Note that in Matt. 5:17, Jesus referred to the "the Law and the Prophets." And so Jesus enveloped His teachings concerning the Law in the Sermon on the Mount with reference back to the Old Testament, as if to underscore the continued importance and validity of the Old Testament teachings.

Indeed, Jesus'  statement that the Golden Rule "sums up the Law and the Prophets" adds extra weight to the rule, and requires us to be diligent in carrying it out. To practice this rule, and to make it the basis of our dealings with others, is not merely to apply a trite saying to our lives, but to live a life in compliance to the written commands. It is to please the Living God. It is to live a life acceptable to Him. 

Now that Obama has been elected our next president, many are still sickened on the inside. I will include myself in that category. So what now? For me it's pretty simple. I remain a positive person. I'm spending a lot of time with my ill mother. I focus time on others, who appear in need of simple acts of kindness.  I'm mindful of God's blessings and trust in Him for the future, whatever that may be.

So I'm wondering, whats important to our faith based blogging community. What surrounds your mind the most? Are you able to separate yourself from the things that are consuming our country? Do you feel that relief will be forthcoming or do you believe we are destined for a more disastrous situation?

Please feel free to share your comments. I think it may be helpful for others to see what our everyday folks are thinking. People of all faiths are encouraged to reply.

I tend to be a pretty positive person, regardless of the affliction of the day. lol  It seems many folks are under constant attack in these days we live in. My mother is very ill with cancer and I have been staying with her at night. On my way to her house last night, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things, and ran into a lady at the deli counter. I don't know about you, but God always seems to direct me to a person in need of a kind word.  We had a little conversation about her issue and I reminded her that we have today! God's been good enough to give us another chance!

When I got home this morning, I thought about the lady and I decided to email her a little devotion that came to my mind. This has been taken from a collection of writings by Barbara Johnson, in case anyone is interested...

HOW CAN I BE MORE CONFIDENT?

Sometimes I meet people who think I'm a little too joyful, that I'm ducking reality and ignoring the facts. I'm just looking at them and trying to find joy, not misery.

We know there are 365 days in a year, but I believe there are only three days we should be concerned about dealing with correctly. And two of those days we can do nothing about, yesterday and tomorrow. Yesterday is a canceled check, and tomorrow is a promissory note. But today is cash, ready for us to spend in living, and that's why I say wake up and rejoice and take advantage of the FRESH START. There are no mistakes, nothing has happened, and nobody has goofed it up, we've got today! We've got another chance!

Now if you can go through a few days like that, pretty soon you've got a week and maybe even a month when you have rejoiced over every new day and not worried about the past. And if your trusting in God/Christ, you surely don't have to worry about the future.

I like the Bible's advice: "No, your beauty should come from within you. The beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit that will never be destroyed and is very precious to God" (1 peter 3:4).

This is a previous written blog, that I wrote  for the Tampa area. However, some conversations have come up, on a recently posted blog about the possibility of some, taking scripture out of the proper context. I thought I would share it with the Orlando area :

It is well known that if you quote people out of context you can have them say just about anything you want! We all know that politicians are experts at this craft, especially around election time. Unfortunately, that's exactly what some people do with the Bible. It's amazing what the Bible can be made to say if it's quoted out of context. In fact, it's often said that a Biblical text out of context becomes a pretext. That is, it is used for the purposes of "presenting ideas" which are more in line with the mind of the speaker than with God's mind.

Now most Christians do not deliberately pull scripture out of context. We all have our pet peeves and axes to grind, but lets hope that we don't willfully "twist and distort" scripture to serve our own purposes. However, many Christians unwittingly take Bible verses out of context by "ignoring" the context. In fact, it is sad to say, that most Christians habitually run the risk of pulling scripture out of context because they do not give enough attention to the surrounding context. What exactly do I mean by context? Context is more than just the surrounding verses of any text of scripture. Context means the surrounding paragraphs and chapters and ultimately the entire book of the Bible in which the text is located. The more you come to know the historical background and the original occasion and the intended purpose of that book, and the theme and the structure and the argument of that book, the more "we" will be helped and controlled in our interpretation of any text in that book of the Bible.

The basic and obvious reason why understanding context is so important is that God did not speak  a single verse of scripture without context. There is always a historical context and a literary context to a verse in the Bible. Therefore the question of "what does this verse mean today?" should always be preceded by "what did the verse mean when it was written?" What was the historical situation? Who was writing and to whom was he writing? When, where and why was the scripture written? What type of literature was used? Was it prophecy, parable, poem, letter, historical narrative or some other form of literature? Knowing the answers to these questions is all part of knowing the context of the verse and this knowledge enables us to properly proceed from "what did it mean then?" to "what does it mean now?" Once we have done this homework, our applications for today will be more sound and less speculative because they are squarely based on God's original intention of the text.

The Pharisees Mentality Blog was moved to the Orlando Fox web site. In an effort to post it in both locations something went awry. I'm not sure if it is a Fox glitch or what. I was going to attempt to fix it, but it has been posted on the "Community Page" and no re-postings or revisions can be done as long as it is there.....

Anyway, if you were still interested, you can check it out at "Fox Orlando".

It appears that there is a great following of the Pharisees religious sect in today's times.  The Pharisees constituted the largest and most important group. They controlled the synagogues and exercised great control over much of the population. It's interesting to note that the term "Pharisee" means "separated ones".  They separated themselves from the masses and also in the study and interpretation of the law (the word).  They appear in The Gospels as opponents of Jesus. This should come as no surprise because they were indeed, self consumed with the oral tradition, the teachers of the two-fold law: written and oral. They saw the way to God as being through obedience to the laws.

The Pharisees were strongly monotheistic. They accepted the O.T. as authoritative.  They viewed God, as concerned only with the life of a person without denying that the individual was responsible for how he or she lived. The Pharisees opposed Jesus because he refused to accept THEIR interpretations of the oral law....

Funny if you think about it, They put THEIR interpretation above the the "Walking, Breathing, Living God" who was right before their eyes!  They continued to "Talk The Talk", but were unable to follow the  living example and understand "The Walk"!!

We have the same thing today and I caution people to be alert and wise. They present themselves just like the Pharisees of the past. They will focus on small amounts of scriptures and neglect the more important things that Jesus taught..... They will appoint themselves as all knowing, in regards to  whom meets the Christian criteria.

Jesus was very careful with his chosen disciples. He chose people who would be shepherds of the flock. These people always represented similar qualities. They didn't put themselves above others. They gathered the lost, maimed, and sick. They gathered those who knew some of the word and mostly,  those who knew NOTHING. There were no formulas presented, to see if they were a "True Christian Follower". Many, simply got in  line, and followed. The statement of Jesus, I will make you fishers, of men, should be considered. His code was to find, seek and gather, not  to stand as a wolf foaming at the mouth separating the flock.

As the body of Christ, we are to work to assemble the body. We should never be driven to separate and Mame it.

Lastly, we should use our minds, so we will not be deceived by those who operate in such a manner. The Pharisees just "Talked The Talk". Jesus, "Walked The Walk".  :+)

With all the religions of the world, which one do you personally find the most annoying and why?  Is there one that you also find interesting in concept?

There are many to choose from. Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, Christian Science, Seventh  - Day Adventism, Unity, Islam, Judaism, Sikihism and Buddism  just to name a few....

Feel free to discuss the major pseudo Christian religions of the west and the Non-Christian religions of the east. Some may wish to reflect upon the Occult religions and systems and the New Age Religions.

The winner is??????????????????