TV Writers Attack Christians at Christmas

The TV show, NCIS is very popular and it has a lot of people tuning in to see how the stars outwit terrorists, thugs and the dark underworld. Each week a new episode tries to draw us into the plot and, like the old Perry Mason series, turn our minds inside out with the surprise ending.

The recent episodes tried to fool us on one of the holiest days of the year for Christians by a bait and switch scheme. Here is how they did it. The most probable villains were switched with the least likely to be villains. That story line, along with a very heavy dose of Political Correctness, shows conservative Christians killing Muslims with suicide bombs for reasons that are regularly promoted by Islamic radicals but never seen in the entire 2000 year history of Christianity.

Here is my question: Did the writers do this as an act of:

1. Supreme ignorance. (They are unaware that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and 90 million adults in America follow Christ.)

2. Supreme intentional hatred. (The writers are so full of rage they will do anything to show Christians in a bad light.)

3. Supremely bad writing. (The writers ran out of real villains and thought that this script would go over big in Hollywood.)

4. Supreme fawning over Muslims. (the writers want to get Muslims to finance their new projects.)

5. Other? Why do you think the writers would do such a thing?

Hope at Christmas

This letter by my very good friend Maurie Loomans, appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer recently on the YOUR VOICE column. Maurie Loomans of White Oak is a retired medical research scientist and Elder who writes as a deep thinker about God's world. He was born in 1933, the year of President’s Roosevelt’s first inaugural address.

White House, churches should inspire hope

As Christmas approaches, the holiday does not make it better for those who are facing unemployment for the first time. It is a fearful time. For instance: Will I be able to keep my house? How can I have health insurance? Will my child be able to go to college?

However, this scenario is not the only time this country has faced this problem. Consider what it was like in the time we call the Great Depression. In his first inaugural address in March of 1933, President Roosevelt said:

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

Seventy six years later we face a similar situation. In my judgment, fear has reached pandemic proportions in 2009. So far I have heard nothing from The White House that neither alleviates fear nor provides reasonable hope. The question is whether the message of Christmas is pertinent to this problem. I believe it does.

The biblical story found in Luke as said to the shepherds is, “But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Then a multitude of angels came and said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

And later Jesus in His ministry says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” When put together, it appears that God’s peace is an antidote for fear.

President Roosevelt goes on to say: “More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.”

My hope is that the current administration will take realistic actions that will create good jobs and that churches across this country will help people turn fear into peace.

Danes Place Obama Higher than Jesus

Here we go again. A Danish newspaper has printed a story that attempts to make Mr. Obama a contemporary Saint and Jesus a very common man. Will it work to cause Believers to rise up and protest? Will it work to get atheists and their friends stand up and shout because they think they have won the battle? Probably, but does it matter?

These kinds of things matter little to real spiritual life. It will not change when, and how many people find eternal life in Jesus Christ. Back in the Seventies when sex, drugs and rock music were rampant, many preachers practically mad ea living by preaching against all three plus beards and lack of bra's. But we saw the greatest revival in history fall from heaven despite the earthly appearances of widespread evil. Maybe we pray harder in hard times.

It is easy to think that God acts on what He reads in the papers and sees on TV. When a confessing Christian becomes President we all cheer and sing the National Anthem as though God was finally going to run the rascals out of Washington, D.C. But, it did not happen that way when George W. was in the Oval Office.

Today is the day of salvation. No need to wait for a better day. There has never been a better time to preach the good news, teach God's word and witness to God's love. We are in the days of great harvest. I know that the prophets of doom will disagree because they are often caught up in news headlines not God's headlights.

There are most Christians alive today than ever before. There are most Spirit filled Seasoned Believers who know God's word and have maturity and experience in leading than in all history. I wish I could live another 100 years.

I am not a Baptist, at least not formally, but I like the Baptist sign above. (My Baptist Church gave me the "left foot of fellowship" way back in 1969. I was too innovative back then too.) I am still an entrepreneur who wants to see new, exciting and cutting edge ideas prevail in the Kingdom of God. Why should Procter and Gamble have all the creativity?

Let's face it. Most churches and most of its leaders are stuck in a village church mentality that leads them to desire to be the best church in the first Reformation. They are still trying to be Luther and Calvin instead of God's leader in the current Reformation.

The model is that of professional football: 22 exhausted professional men who desperately need rest entertaining 20,000 non professional men who desperately need exercise.

See my web page sweetenlife.com for more exciting ideas about Christian growth and influence.

Christianity and Faith in American at Christmas

A few super sensitive, left wing Atheists are complaining that any display of an angel, a tree with ornaments or the nativity scene assaults them and makes them feel deep emotional pain. As a therapist with several degrees in counseling, psychology and interpersonal communication I want badly to communicate love and acceptance to all persons and especially non Christians. However, it does seem that such claims by Atheists are a bit far fetched and meant to provoke Christians.

On the other hand, some who profess to be Christian are, outraged and offended themselves. The right wing politicians especially are vocal about their inner pain and some people suggest that such public attacks by non believers will destroy Christianity. It might be good to see how Christians are faring in America to see if martyrdom is a common occurrence in our churches. According to The Rasmussen Report, Christians are not feeling very assaulted. Or, if they are, they just keep on following Jesus to church. The following are from their news report on Christmas Day 2009.

1. Forty-four percent (44%) of America’s adults attend Christian church services at least twice a month, and 92% of these regular churchgoers believe the God of the Bible is the one true God.

A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that another six percent (6%) of adults attend church about once a month, 17% attend occasionally, and seven percent (7%) profess a religious belief other than Christianity.

2. As Christmas approaches, 18% of regular churchgoers read the Bible daily, 32% read Scripture several times a week, and 20% about once a week. However, 26% say they rarely or never read the Bible. Thirty-seven percent (37%) reflect on the meaning of Scripture in their lives on a daily basis.

Forty-nine percent (49%) pray to seek guidance on a daily basis and 43% pray to confess sins daily. Just seven percent (7%) say they don’t pray for guidance at all in a typical week, and 13% don’t pray to confess sins.

3. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say that, over the course of the past month, they have had a meaningful discussion about their faith with a non-Christian.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of regular churchgoers consider themselves to be born-again Christians. This figure includes 91% of Evangelical Christians, 63% of other Protestants and 25% of Catholics.

Among those who are not “born-again,” 37% say someone in their church has talked with them about accepting Christ as their Savior over the past month.

To my mind, these statistics sound very promising and encouraging. Even the Rasmussen data on the ages of church goers is positive. But, we males are lagging behind the females. Why are we harder for God to grab? Or, are Christian leaders missing the mark when it comes to attracting males?

4. Fifty-six percent (56%) of regular churchgoers are women, 44% men. Women tend to attend more, volunteer more, pray more and read the Bible more than men.

Forty-one percent (41%) of regular churchgoers are under 40 years old, 38% are between 40 and 65, while 22% are 65 or older.

MARLEY'S GHOST

MARLEY was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to.
Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.

Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, his sole mourner.
Scrooge never painted out old Marley's name, however. There it yet stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door, -- Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge “Scrooge” and sometimes Marley. He answered to both names. It was all the same to him.

Oh ! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, was Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! External heat and cold had little influence on him. No warmth could warm, no cold could chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn't know where to have him. The heaviest rain and snow and hail and sleet could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect, -- they often "came down" handsomely, and Scrooge never did.

Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, "My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?" No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blindmen's dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, "No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!"
But what did Scrooge care! It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance.

**This description of Scrooge is the best illustration I have ever seen of a hardened, callous sinner whose heart and mind and spirit are so deadened to human life and nurture that he prefers loneliness and rejection to warm fellowship.

Just imagine for a while the cold, hard, penetrating eyes and the lack of compassion that covered his face like a steel mask. No knight in armor ever had a more forbidding visage than Scrooge. No one wanted to be near Scrooge.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The fellowships who follow Christ that we call churches are called to be the opposite of Scrooge. In Ephesians 5:22 ff we read that the fruit that grows from the seeds planted by the Holy Spirit are-Love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, gentleness, meekness and so forth.

But, his nephew and family lived out their poverty stricken lives with joy, love and good cheer. What a contrast. The wealth of Scrooge did not bring him joy and certainly did not endear him to others. But sick little boy, Tiny Tim, although crippled physically was a giant in the Spirit.

How do we do this? By being filled with the Holy Spirit and stirring up that Spirit to grow as much fruit as possible. Who will you be like this Christmas? Scrooge or Tiny Tim?

Stright Talk About Atheists

A Pagan With Nazi Tatoos

Over the last few weeks there has been some dust ups over signs placed in public places as well as government buildings over whether God exists or not. Atheists in Illinois have placed a very aggressive sign in the state capitol that attacks Nativity scenes, the birth of Jesus and the idea that God is real.

I am happy the atheists are finally coming out of the closet. They have been a hidden resource for far too long and used their influence through the shadow organizations to attack historic traditions of the USA through lawsuits, legal maneuverings and left wing judges. Now they are admitting their anti God and anti Christ and anti religious biases. Only when we flush out the real beliefs and ideas behind such groups can we get a true picture of who we are dealing with.

I have no doubt that Christianity will fare well in the public square of ideas if we get a chance to engage atheists honestly. As long as their aggressively promote their ideas as though they are from The US Constitution it is difficult to have a fair hearing. However, now they will need to be honest and open about their religious biases.

The atheist lobby has recently attacked Christianity, and all religious traditions, by suggestion that faith in God and organized religions have been and are responsible for most wars, oppressions and evil in the world. With the advent of radical Islam, the Crusades and other evil examples it is hard to debate their conclusions. However, when we and they must both stand in the full light of history and debate facts, the ideas of Judeo Christian thought are bright lights of liberty, justice and progression compared to pagan, Druid and atheist thought and behavior.

So, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us live daily with the truth that God sent His Son into the world to rid it of all sin, sickness and psychopathology. We Christians have often failed to live out the legacy of love and truth but all in all God's rule and reign are growing whoever the gospel has been preached. Without Judeo Christian thought we could not even judge a behavior such as war, rape, abuse and murder are good or bad. Even an atheist cannot argue for a position of superior morality and ethic without resorting to the Bible either overtly or covertly.

Worship God in Spirit and truth this week and celebrate the fact that when atheists take a stand we can better witness to God's love, power and healing.

Sin and Cold Weather Deaths

I have been posting on the topic of sin. I trust you will remember that my definition of "SIN" or the "Fallen Nature" includes all the traumatic issues that occur in nature. The tsunami a few years ago was the result of an earthquake that reminded us of just how fragile and broken "Mother Earth" really is. In my thought, this is evidence of the Fall. As scripture says, "Thorns and thistles cover the ground". When sin entered the earth the perfect, peaceful and life giving earth was changed into a place of trauma, death and destruction.

Here is the latest evidence.

In Ukraine 27 people have frozen to death since the thermometer dropped last week. Authorities in Romania said 11 people had succumbed to the chill, and in the Czech Republic the toll was 12.

In Russia and Ukraine and other Eastern European countries alcoholism is rampant. The ministry of our friends there does everything possible to take the gospel of Christ and His healing love to those nations and those people. Only the gospel widely preached and practiced will set them free from addictions.

Many of these deaths are the result of drunkenness. Sober people rarely fall into the cold snows and die from exposure. The people there were deeply wounded by Socialism and alcohol is a way to dull the pain. Pray for Liferoute.com and the team of courageous Christian's who are raisin g up an army of love, truth and power.

Jesus came to rid the world of sin. His birth reminds us that we can live free and enjoy His healing in our daily lives. Why live as though Jesus never came to earth to set us free? Accept your freedom and your place in the kingdom of God.

Jesus heals the broken hearted and sets the captives free."

Sin and MuslimTerrorists

On September 10, 2001 there was a special television program about "The Lost Boys of Sudan". Young men from families slaughtered by the Muslim dictators had come to the USA through Catholic Charities. They marveled that they could live here in peace, security and safety.

Although they were placed in Minnesota where the weather was very cold, they boys stated how much they loved the USA. One boy told about the time he went down to the river to get water. While bending over to dip the water an alligator jumped out and grabbed his little brother, eating him with a few short gulps. The young man said, "Life in my country was short, brutal and unpredictable, but here it is safe."

The next day, was September 11, 2001. I wonder how those same boys were feeling after the attacks by Muslim terrorists. That day US seemed about as unpredictable as the rest of the world. The contrast between the two cultures seemed to be less striking.

It is not, of course, for we still live in amazing peace and prosperity. Yet, the realization that safety is not guaranteed by our constitution has shaken all of us. Now we are anxiously start to look for answers to eternal questions.

This, in fact, may be the most fertile ground to witness about Christ. Americans are ready to listen to information about God during a crisis. Over the past few years our nation has changed in its attitude toward problems. We have moved away from taking sin, sickness, disease, disaster and accidents for granted. At one time we thanked God for good gifts. Blessings were seen as abnormal and pain was an everyday occurrence. Now we assume that all sicknesses and diseases will be healed, poverty erased and pain eliminated.

Historically, people knew that evil was real, sickness and death were constant companions and we hoped for heaven. That reality has changed. OSHA, community health groups and media imply that any accident, sickness and disease is an aberration. Media now that broadcast every anthrax death as though it were the bubonic plague. Now we take peace, prosperity, safety, health and long-life for the norm. Sickness, accidents or terrorist attacks are inconsistent with the world as we want it. A 99% record of success is seen as failure.

Firestone

Only in America would we put a company like Firestone out of business for failing once in 20 million products. We believe in a perfect world created by OSHA and spoiled by greed rather than one created by God and spoiled by the fall and sin. I am happy that OSHA and other government groups exist but I did not expect them to usher in the new millennium. I do not look for lions to rest with lambs any time soon. The terrorist attacks woke us to the fact that evil exists; now we are trying to understand how it affects us.

I am no scholar 911 memorial that he could not find an explanation for evil. For over 30 years I have been thinking about evil and sin as they apply to psychopathology and psychotherapy. I am a pastor/therapist interested in God’s gifts of healing. I have to deal with the reality of evil in the lives of people every day. Widows, mothers of fatherless children, parents of psychotic kids and abused wives seek me out in a constant stream of pain that will not allow me to deny the reality of evil. I have good friends whose cancer brought despair and death. Some were spiritual giants while others laughed at God yet both groups were sick unto death. How do we explain that?

The issue before us is a challenge, but perhaps we can look at it with wisdom and some beginning understanding. We might call it, with apologies to Tina Turner, “What’s Sin Got To Do With It?” Several years ago, a book by Dr. Menninger named, What Ever Happened to Sin? hit the market. In it he addressed the confusion between sin and psychopathology. I will address similar issues but broaden the discussion to include fallen nature in general.

As a pre-test to this topic, let me ask some questions. Which of the following statements makes the most sense to you? The reason we were attacked @ 911 is

1. Our nation’s sin. We deserved it. “God would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah if He did not judge America in this way.”
2. The attackers are evil people, rotten to the core. They were just living out their sinful natures and violent religion.
3. The terrorists were gaining honor for Islam and its people. We need to understand how they feel about the Crusades and their fall from world influence and leadership.
4. They chose to do wrong.
5. All of the above in some combination.
6. There is no real evil. All good and bad are in the head.
7. I do not know. Only God knows for sure.
8. It is a combination of all these things

The answer to such a question tells us something about the way or ways we see sin, sins, evil and “why bad things happen to good people.”

Are Muslims simply worse sinners than folks from a Christian background? Is evil only happening among Muslims and atheists? Is evil real?

Tiger, Media and the Big Ten Commandments

As you watch TV, read the papers and hear the comments made by pundits, think about which of the Big Ten they support and which they deride.

Here are all of the Commandments. Because some faith traditions choose different parts to emphasize there are actually more than ten commandments. Here are all 12 possibilities.

1. I am the Lord your God-
2. You shall have no other gods before me
3. You shall not make for yourself an idol
4. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God
5. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
6. Honor your father and mother
7. You shall not murder
8. You shall not commit adultery
9. You shall not steal
10. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
11. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife
12. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor

Read and reflect on these commands. Are some rejected by the public square and others promoted? Number 12 in this list says that God dislikes and rejects coveting. However, wanting what my neighbor has is actually one of the core values of "The American Dream".

And, idolatry is so popular that a TV show is called, "American idol".

Think about it. What would Christmas be without coveting, idolatry and dishonoring the sabbath? I know, I know. It is a lot of food for thought but I am on a diet!

Tiger Woods and the Big Ten

Almost every day when I watch TV I see advertisements that encourage me to violate the Ten Commandments. I rarely watch shows such as 2 1/2 men and Desperate Housewives but I can't miss their ads. I am sure Tiger watches some TV. In fact, he is on TV and a lot of the talk on TV encourages us to join them in violating the Big Ten Commandments.

I saw today that Accenture has cut its ties with Tiger as has Pepsi. They regularly beg us to forget the Big Ten and let our lusts rule. So why are they so tough on Tiger now? What is he doing that most TV, Newspapers and Radio programs don't do continually?

Tiger is simply a man of his era. It is an era that promotes greed, idolatry, free sex, parental disrespect and many gods. In fact, anyone that would say that there is only One God just as the Big Ten says, are ridiculed, mocked and harassed. So, when Tiger is very successful at greed, is he made into a semi god but when he violates one about sex he is vilified?

Crisis in America

Jesus Calms The Storm

I must admit that I am very sad and even somewhat depressed. The way Obama and the Democrats are tearing America apart is unprecedented. I normally do not get down but see things in God's perspective but reading that the Dem's are going to pass the health care take over left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

But it is more than that. The EPA has declared CO2 to be a dangerous gas and are dedicated to bullying, bludgeoning anyone who breathes to be a danger to the planet.

The bullying is one of the things about Obama that really concerns me. The Left is mean, cold blooded and hard hearted when it comes to disagreements. The have no commitment to freedom of speech or freedom of conscience. All Christian hospitals will be forced to do abortions. All Christian charities will be forced to hire sexual deviants.

The leftist obsession with sexual deviancy and abortion are oppressive. They will bully people into compliance. I saw it in the mainline denominations and we can see it in judicial rulings now. In Scandinavia the left insists that homosexuals be hired on every church staff. The insist that all kinds of extremely dysfunctional sexual obsessions be funded by tax dollars and will persecute Christians who disagree.

Read this article about Massachusetts if you do not believe me.

I do not know what to do but pray. I urge my readers to pray. But, as Romans 8 says, "We do not know how to pray as we ought..."

Lord, teach us to pray.

How to Help Christian Sinners

Wait!

Stop!

Cut that out!

How can I write such an outlandish headline? What does it mean? Either a person is a Christian and holy or a sinner and not a Christian. Those two things are mutually exclusive.

Really?

I came to the Lord at age ten so I have been ruminating on this issue for a very long time. I grew up in an environment where I thought that being a Christian meant that I was supposed to be perfect just like God was perfect. I thought I knew what perfect meant when I read it in the King James Bible so I tried hard to be a perfectionist. I failed; and failed; and failed; and gave up.

Once I gave up I pretended to be a sinner who did not care anything about God, church or the Bible. I was at war with myself and with God's ways. Failure at perfection made me into a failure at life. Then, one night in June of 1958 I was headed to Benton, Illinois to pick up my gambling, smoking, drinking carousing friends and go to a bar in West City. This was a town of ten bars and fifty houses where underage kids could carouse without police intervention. I loved West City because I could put on a "bad boy persona" and no one would know I was from a Christian home.

I had left Ina, population 300 or so, early so I could miss the Preacher Brother Boatright and the Evangelist who was holding a revival in our Church. After work at Dowzer Electric Company in Mt. Vernon I hurried out of town in a 1957 Ford Fairlane. But I did not get far because even a new Ford can't outrun God's Spirit.

The County Line Road is two miles south of Ina and I sped pretty fast toward that demarcation point between Jefferson and Franklin Counties in a big hurry to escape the convicting presence of the Holy Spirit. A little over one mile from Ina I had a strange experience. I can still remember that I was passing the Burma Shave signs that dotted the right side of Highway 37. The dash lights on that Ford Fairlane brightened and a strange cloud filled the car. Then I heard it: "Gary! Choose this day who you will serve."

The voice in my head was not loud but certainly strong. Not shrill but with a sense of finality. I knew it was God speaking. I had only one choice. When a boy is reared in the Holiness Movement he knows that we never say "No" to God. I said, "Yes."

Actually I did more than that. I replied: "You Lord. Only you have the words of Life."

The lights dimmed and a sense of perfect peace filled the car. My life was changed forever. But I was still not 100% perfect and without sins, faults and stumbles. But I still had peace and knew who I was in Christ.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are born less than perfect with areas of Bondage, Rebellion, Guilt and Shame. Thankfully, God provided His only Son to take care of all four of those core issues.

Bondage: Dead: God Regenerated me and I was Born Again to new life as a Child of God

Rebellion: My way is best: God Converted me and turned my heart toward Him

True Moral Guilt: Deserve Justice: God Justified me and Forgave that Guilt

Shame: Loss of Identity and Inheritance: God Adopted me as an Eldest Son with His Family Identity and eternal Inheritance

After I was Reborn, Converted, Justified and Adopted I stumbled, made errors in judgment and sinned. But I am still in His family.

"Nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus." RO 8:39

My kids and grand kids have my name and my inheritance. They will always be mine no matter what they do. They are imperfect and struggle in immature ways. I expect children to be imperfect but to grow in maturity, just as I did.

It is kind of crazy to believe that any person can be without sin, rebellion, guilt and feelings of shame. God provided a way for us to confess our sins and pray for each other so we would be healed. James 5:16

If we never had any rebellion or bondage or guilt why did God tell us how to deal with it?

How do we deal with Christian sinners?

Expect everyone to fail, sin and have guilt

Provide safe places for all persons to come for confession and forgiveness

Tell stories about falling, confession, repentance, and healing

Ask God what He wants to teach us each time we fall

Come to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace in our time of need

What Must Change?

The biggest challenge for Christians is not sharing the gospel so others can come to faith in Christ. That seems awfully clear. One must recognize that Christ died for our sins and ask God to apply the sacrifice to us. Everyone must come to salvation through Christ.

It is not necessary to know any theology or Bible in order to receive Christ. The Holy Spirit does the work. When I was young I thought getting people saved was my responsibility. I was very concerned about the style, the words and the environment. Then I heard testimonies from people who were deeply touched by the sovereign work of God and came to faith in Christ as a result. They were converted without much if any urging from people. It occurred to me that God does the work of salvation but He sometime allows me to be a witness and midwife.

But as I became a preacher, teacher and Christian Helper I saw that the remnants of the Fallen Nature continued to haunt all Believers. This meant that I needed to know how to help myself as well as others apply the most appropriate biblical remedy to their places of fleshly challenge.

In the last post I mentioned how much I learned from Dr. James Kallas whose model included three aspects of fallen nature. Bondage, Rebellion and Guilt. If that is true, then Christ's sacrifice must have been applied to all three of these horrible problems. Before a doctor can apply a remedy for a disease he/she must first diagnose the exact nature of the problem. A muscle strain is not treated like a broken bone even if both cause leg pain.

Bondage is treated differently from Rebellion and both are treated differently from Guilt.

Bondage means we are dead in trespasses and sins. We did not CHOOSE to be sick sinners but we are. Dead men tell no tales and make no big changes in their lives. Only a power greater than the Bondage can bring change.

Rebellion means we CHOOSE to act disobediently. The themes song is, "I'll do it my way". It is ego, self focused and narcissistic.

True Moral Guilt is not a feeling. It is a forensic fact that when we trespass of the law we are guilty whether we "feel" guilty or not.

So, when Christ came to earth and agreed to redeem us from our fallen natures, he had to take care of all three of these issues. If Christ had made us alive in a New Birth but had not taken care of our True Moral Guilt we would still be in trouble with God. Guilt requires Just Punishment and Jesus took care of the Justice we deserved through Justification or Forgiveness.

And, if had Jesus not also taken care of our Rebellion and turned us around from our obsessive path toward destruction, we would be in trouble. We would continue to be pursuing behavior that rebels against God. But Christ also Converted us and turned us around when He also Justified us and gave us new life through the New Birth. All three problems were solved.

Christ's life, death, burial and resurrection offers a New Birth, Justification and Conversion. He covered all three of the main issues remaining from then Fall. Praise His Name!

Now what? Is that all? I used to think so. But I was troubled. Everyone I met had deep problems from a lack of personal Identity. That went along with a lack of understanding their spiritual Inheritance. Most of us are deeply damaged. What is that called? I read, studied and prayed and came to a biblical conclusion. There was a fourth dimension of the Fallen Nature. I discovered that the Bible called it SHAME.

SHAME! What is that? In the Bible Shame is shown to be theologically, spiritually and emotionally different from Guilt. True Moral Guilt has to do with Justice with condemnation or Punishment. Shame has to do with a loss of Identity and Inheritance. The result is deep emotional scars and relational conflicts.

Adam and Eve were born free of sickness, sin and guilt. They also had a secure sense of who they were as their Identity as God's chosen people was made extremely clear. They had a conscious notion of their Inheritance.

But in Genesis 3 we see that sickness, death, rebellion, guilt and shame resulted from their decision to disobey God. The Hebrew word for shame is bwash and it means "to have a loss of face". Now what is the remedy for Shame?

New Post about Tiger

Go to my other blog for information about Tiger and Elin. Who is guilty?