Lead Me Not Into Temptation

I saw this printed on a hand towel. I do not know the source of this riff on The Twenty-Third Psalm.

"Lead me not into temptation ... oh, who am I kidding ... follow me, I know a shortcut."

We all know many shortcuts. Every human is tempted numerous times each day.  Even Jesus was tempted. The Bible records one major temptation episode that Satan launched against Jesus but surely there were many more.  Two are very obvious.

Jesus surely was tempted to heal his good friend Lazarus before the man died but he intentionally delayed his arrival. Lazarus' sister was angry and disappointed with their friend, but Jesus had a reason for his delay. Read the story at John 11: 1-44. "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"

Jesus clearly dreaded what was to come for him on the cross and he was probably tempted to do exactly the thing which he said he could do (Matthew 26:53). He did not do it because it would have meant that Satan had won. "But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?"

Jesus is the only person who has ever live a life totally free of sin. Here is the hard part. He was tempted just like we are. Hebrews 4:15

Peanuts

I do not know the source of this story. Those viewing this in translation may wish to read the synopsis below because this story will probably not translate well.
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The new preacher in town had for several days been visiting all the church's elderly members and especially those who were "shut-ins" in poor health. Blanche was the last person on his list.

Blanche was a kind old lady who had long ago lost all her teeth. She absolutely refused to get dentures and therefore had the sunken lips look of a very old person with no teeth. Her speech was affected by her lack of teeth. She was delighted to see the preacher.

"Oh, preachah! I'm tho happy to thee you!"

"Blanche, I'm glad I could come by."

The two sat on the couch and talked about the church and Blanche's health until the phone rang.

"O, preachah,  I gotta go get that. Ith probably Hortenth.  The callth me every day about thith time. I'll be back ath thoon ath I can."

"OK, Blanche. I'm not going anywhere."

 The phone call seemed to drag on and on and the preacher felt a rumbling in his stomach. He saw a bowl of peanuts on the end table and knowing that Blanche would not mind, took a small handful. Then another handful. Then another. Suddenly, to his dismay, he realized that he had consumed the entire bowl of peanuts.

When Blanche came back into the room, the preacher apologized profusely, but Blanche was not concerned.

"Oh preachah, thath OK! I done thucked all the chocolate off of 'em anyway!"

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This is a joke story: A new preacher visits an elderly church member and in her brief absence to answer a phone call eats all the peanuts from a bowl on a table. When the preacher apologizes for having eaten all the woman's peanuts she tells him not to be concerned because she had already sucked all the chocolate off the peanuts.

Casein Protein Intolerance

             Agalee Jacob, a Canadian dietitian and diabetes educator. says. " Lactose intolerance , which is an intolerance to the sugar found in milk, is one of the most common food intolerances, but an intolerance to casein can sometimes cause similar symptoms." Casein is a milk protein rather than a sugar. Milk to most people is a harmless and tasty food ingredient. To persons with a milk product intolerance it is basically a poison.
             Intolerances to food products which most people can safely consume. can, in the intolerant individual almost instant bloating, cramping,. flatulence. and diarrhea.Sufferers acn experience either or both of these food intolerances.
             It is possible to purchase lactose-free products which can be safely consumed by the lactose intolerant person but not all of these products are also casein-free. An example is a "dairy free" coffee creamer which contains "casein. a milk derivative."
             In our lives as Christians, many things are tasty and pleasant but they can also sometimes cause discomfort or even intense pain. Sports.our occupations, literature. culinary adventures, travel, etc, can all be positive and fulfilling experiences. When they are allowed to become obsessions that interfere with our family and Christian duties. they can cause injury in our lives. Anything which distracts us enough to make us less useful to our families and to our Lord is damaging.
              Oddly enough. some Christians unintentionally cause severe injury in their families their personal lives. and in their relationship with the Lord. when they become obsessive about "church work.
               These are people who are unable to say "no" to any church related request. It is important to understand that God is not the one asking you to be involved in EVERY church project or activity. Often, when you try to do too much you end up accomplishing very little and you may cause emotional and spiritual injury to yourself and others along the way. How does it honor God for you to perform forty-five church projects at the cost of neglecting your husband and your children? Your emotional and spiritual burnout does not honor God. It makes you less useful to Him.
               It is much better to choose two or three activities into which you feel especially led by the Lord and to do them excellently without neglecting yourself or your family.

Pumpkins

This was found in the Bible of my wife's grandmother. There is no indication as to the source of the material.

"From one pumpkin to another."
"A woman was asked by a coworker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"
The coworker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you for all the world to see."

"This was passed on to me by another pumpkin. Now it's your turn to pass it on to other pumpkins. I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch."

Spam Phone Calls

I received a phone call from Woonsocket, Rhode Island (USA) and totally ignored it. In fact I deleted it. I do not know anyone in Woonsocket or the entire state of Rhode Island. The call was either a wrong number or what is called "spam." (The derisive word "SPAM" comes from a canned spiced ham product which many people consider to be awful but which many others enjoy. It has a reputation similar to that of the also unfairly maligned fruit cake.)

Spam phone calls are a particular problem in the United States. Massive numbers of automated phone calls are sent by businesses trying to increase their profits or are sent to deliver a particular message (often political) to as many people as possible.  This type of Spam is merely a nuisance. In 2017, the United States Federal Trade Commission received 7,157,370 complaints about spam calls. The problem is escalating. There were 4.5 billion reported spam phone calls in the United States in June of 2018. These spam phone calls are essentially total garbage.

A second type of spam calls is is intended to be hostile and is criminal. One form of these aggressive attacks is intended to completely clog up phone lines and render them useless. This is a form of denial of service attack.

An even more criminal type of spam attempts to deceive or trick as many people as possible to respond to the call and to voluntarily give out their personal information such as bank account numbers, credit card numbers, computer sign-on passwords, etc. The motive here is to steal money.

In today's world  everyone is constantly surrounded by what is essentially SPAM; totally worthless garbage. Messages flood at us from television, movies, radio, music, books, news organizations, junk mail, flyers, and other people. The vast majority of it is secular or explicitly non-Christian. Some of it is malignantly anti-Christian.

There is an old saying in the Southern United States about a person so holy and high-minded that he or she is of no use in the real world. This is not what God wants. He wants us to let Him use us for His purposes here in the real world. We are told to he holy (separated) because God is holy, but we are also told to be "in the world but not of the world." Essentially, do not be useless.

Ignoring the vast majority of the garbage swilling around us does not mean that we must have no interest in culture, or learning. or books, or music, or sports, or fashion, or outdoor activities, or politics, or any other thing. It does, however, require us not to chase after every wind (especially those which we know stink). It also requires us to learn to recognize "the stink" even when a little perfume has been added.

Leviticus 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7, 1 Peter 1:16, John 15:19; 17: 14-16, Ephesians 4:14, Ecclesiastes 6:9

2624 Year Old Tree

In the State of North Carolina in the United States, scientists studying a very ancient stand of trees have discovered one tree (designated as BLK227) which they can accurately date as 2624 years old.  This means 505 BC.

The date was established by taking tiny non-damaging core samples. Many of the other trees in the forest are at least 2000 years old. These 110 Bald Cypress trees are located along the Black River and predate the reign of Alexander the Great (356 - 323BC). These trees were over 500 years old when Jesus was born.

Things Which Repel Visitors to Our Churches

My 87 year old mother recently had to have a total knee replacement because her knee joint had degenerated to the point where the meniscus and cartilage were both totally worn out  resulting in bone on bone movement within the joint. Now her knee is a nice metal contraption.

After joint surgeries several weeks and sometimes months of physical therapy are required yo regain full functionality of the joint. My mother was assigned to a local physical therapy center which is housed in a very impressive multistory brick office building.

The problem: the front of the office building has a set of seven steps leading up to the front door. Inside, the elevator is at the back of the building at the end of a long hall. The physical therapy practice is located on the third floor. WRONG! For a person who has difficulty walking and who needs a walker or a cane to get about, access to their therapy would seem to need to be made easier rather than more difficult.

For many people, going in to a new place or situation can be intimidating. Walking into a church may seem to be totally foreign to them. Our churches need to be welcoming but many churches, intentionally or unintentionally, put up obstacles to non-members. Following is a short list of attitudes and factors which may prevent people from encountering the Gospel in a church. Is your church guilty of any of them?

1. Some churches may be victims of their own "success". Their church is intimidating by being enormous with massive crowds of people. Many people are uncomfortable in large crowds.

2. Some churches unfortunately have a history of hostility to people of other races or nationalities.

3. Some churches have such an emphasis on their senior pastor that they develop a "cult of personality" with a very passive congregation.

4. Some churches fall into the Prosperity Gospel heresy and dilute and trivialize the Gospel by attempting to please everyone.

5. Some churches become very insular and appear to be hostile to outsiders.

6. When someone asks a visitor to move out of "their seat" this sends a very unwelcoming message. Some churches even practice pew rental. The seats in the church belong to the Lord.

7. Some churches are intentionally located on campuses far from urban population centers to reduce the numbers of undesirable people who may attempt to attend their services.

8. Intense micromanagement of the church by a pastor or the deacons and/or elders can give the church a repressive atmosphere.

9. Visitors may be officially allowed but not really noticed or actively greeted. This gives off the smell of "You can come if you want to."

10. The church wants to grow for questionable reasons such as the pastor's ego or for an ever increasing need for more revenue. These churches are impressed with themselves. Visitors are not stupid and they can feel this.

11. In some churches, visitors can feel the hidden hostilities which the church members have brewing with each other. The church members are unpleasant and phony. Hypocrisy is one of the worst smells.

12. Some churches are stuck in the past.  All the members are elderly, with no young families or children. These churches are dying.

13.  Some churches talk all the time but do nothing. No one wants to be associated with this.

14. People hate social cliques, and especially when they are present in a church.

15. Many people are made uncomfortable by church members who obviously use excessive "holy" terminology with no attempt to use plain language to express the same ideas. This smacks of an "insider" mentality. Even worse is the use of archaic English. God does not care which language you use, He understands them all.

16. One of the quickest turnoffs to a visitor is for them to see someone being a "respector of persons."
The poorly dressed repentant prostitute is just as important in the eyes of God as is the rich man or a celebrity.

17. It says something extremely negative to a visitor when the church sanctuary is empty five minutes after the church service ends.

18. Weird, lustful, or disapproving glances aimed at them are noticed by visitors.

19. Many people are uncomfortable when public attention is drawn to them. "Stand up if you are a visitor." "Hold up your hand."

20. Many churches expect the unchurched to act and speak like Christians. We have to speak to them as they currently are without giving the impression that we are in any way approving of their totally messed up situations. The place for the sick should be a place of healing.

Our churches should be welcoming places, This does not mean we should not uphold biblical standards. There must never be any compromises of the Gospel message. It means we should be like God. God is the real point of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This is really the Parable of the Joyous Father.

 

UN4GIVN

A post from this blog's past: https://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2015/06/car-tags.html  was about licensed "vanity"car tags with unusual readings which the driver may use for an extra fee above the required standard registration fee.

In the parking deck where I work, I recently saw a new tag which intrigued me: UN4GIVN. Using the English language letters and numbers this would transliterate as "unforgiven." What in the world could this mean?

After considering multiple possibilities, including a reference to a movie title or that the driver was a defiantly unrepentant philanderer, I decided that the most likely meaning was as a sarcastic insult to Christians, who often describe themselves as forgiven sinners.

Children's Easter Egg Hunt

Today is Easter!  He is Risen!

This week, on our block, there was a children's Easter Egg Hunt party.  The flier which was sent out to announce the party had, in large bold letters, "BYOB!" Then the anagram was explained: "Bring your own basket." Then, in parentheses: (Adults, bring your own bottle if you wish.)

Some Christians believe that the current observance of Easter in the West is totally pagan. What do bunny rabbits, baby chickens, and Easter Eggs have to do with the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead? Others believe that the secular trappings of Easter are harmless and a fun time for children. Regardless of what you think about the current Western observance of Easter, why would adults feel that they must bring alcoholic beverages to every gathering? Even to a children's party?