When Evil Is Beautiful

 In the world of evil there seems to be a progression. In the beginning evil looked evil. Evil worked by fear. We are afraid of monsters and demons that look like monsters and demons. So evil progressed from monstrous to beautiful.

Why are demons portrayed as beautiful? Monsters want to take something from us. A beautiful monster will get us to give it to them freely. Beauty invokes desire. Desire, by nature, requires something worth having. The devil know this. He can be monstrous if need be. But he can also be beautiful if necessary.

"And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light." 2Cor. 11:14

Just because something is beautiful and desirable does not make it right to have or good for us. Satan did not tempt Eve by being monstrous. He beguiled her with smooth words and enticed her with a beautiful appearance. Some things never change. Desire has destroyed more souls than fear ever could.

A Lesson

When everything is a crisis, nothing is a crisis. Or so it seems.  It's like the boy who cried wolf. People stop hearing even when the warning becomes real. This is a lesson that every preacher of the Gospel should learn.

Does God repeat Himself in the Bible? Sure He does. With a span of sometimes centuries between the times He spoke. When we read the bible we see themes and patterns emerging and we do well to heed those words. But let a preacher preach on the same subject or give the same warning time after time and soon, no one will hear that preacher anymore. Especially if nothing in life really changes.

Don't be the boy who cried wolf. Don't be the preacher who tries to light the same fire every time. Don't be the husband who makes the same promises or the wife who makes the same threats day after day.

It's he who endures to the end who will in the end be saved. Not him who runs the fastest of who climbs the highest. Endurance takes time. And patience. And wisdom.

Truth That Isn't So True Anymore

 Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing. Until sports became about making money and not about winning anything.

College athletes are students first. They get paid with an education. That was a big lie that we used to believe.

Discipleship is not a program. Except when your pastor is too busy to spend time training disciples. Except when the emphasis is on evangelism first and not on training young men on how to become a pastor. How to work with people and how to craft a sermon that real people can benefit from hearing.

There are truths that used to be true, but in the modern world seem to not be true anymore. Is this what it means to call light, darkness, and to call darkness, light? Thank God that His word, though old, is still true. And God is not too busy to help us in our hour of need.

I just set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn only works once. After that you must have something to say that inspires and moves people.

My Thoughts For Today

 I go to church on Wednesday night to hear the word of God preached. To be fed with some hidden manna.

The events of 9/11 happened. I remember it happening. People over reacted and freaked out about it. Pastor Mitchell did not. Neither did I.

The death of my wife affected me far more than 9/11 did. The death of my wife hurt me personally. 9/11 hurt us as a nation, but me, not so much.

Perspective helps us endure the trials of life. Experience helps us rightly process the events of life.

Most of the anti-America sentiment comes from universities and the national news. Most people do not feel like those radicals do. I've lived through this before.

The Jesus People Revival, of which we are a part, saved us from the turbulent and dangerous time of the 1960's.

Pray for your pastor that he can rightly divide the word of God and that he can bring us sermons like apples of gold in pitchers of silver.

A Biblical Perspective.

"let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak..." James 1:19

God gave every person two ears and only one mouth.  James understood this when he wrote these words. Some people feel the need to speak up or to speak out or to defend what they believe. They are swift to speak and slow to hear.

Being a pastor means that the focus of your ministry is speaking. Speaking in prayer, speaking in counseling, speaking in preaching, and speaking in fellowship. Their job is to bring a word in season for those who are weary I wonder if pastors ever get tired of talking?

Some people feel it is a sin not to speak up to defend the faith. It's is God's word. Let Him defend Himself.

Men feel the need to fix problems. Fixing means working or giving advice. Contrary to popular opinion, men do like to talk.

Women, we are told, like to talk. They like to teach and instruct which involves a lot of talking. Women see the world in a unique way and they definitely talk about their world in their own way.

Children should be seen and not heard. But they learn early on how to talk in an appropriate manner.

The Bible makes is clear that we all, men, women, children, and pastors need to keep watch over our words. Swift to hear, not swift to speak, is the Biblical perspective.

Why I Blog

 I do not keep this blog because of the number of followers I have or the amount of money I make from it. I do not write to impress anyone. I use this blog as a sort of online journal. I write things that are important to me. I write things that I feel strongly about. I mull over ideas and when an idea rises above all the others, I may write that idea here.

I also suspect that AI bots are scouring this blog looking for published material to steal. I don't care. I used to think that I had thousands of views every day. Now I guess that there are thousands of bots looking for data.

If you are a real person and you are interested in what I write, welcome aboard.

I have been blogging for over 10 years now. I'm not going to quit because high tech is involved in this enterprise. My blog is my thoughts and my ideas. It's how I see the world. No pictures, no video, no monetization. Just me writing because I need to write.

Local News

I am going to try subscribing to the newspaper. It's old fashioned. It's only on Sunday. But it's not too expensive and maybe I can stay on top of what's happening outside of church. It will start delivery tomorrow. And it gives me access to the digital format too.