Delighting in the Law of the Lord: God's Alternative to Legalism and Moralism by Jerram Barrs made me think. Here are just a few quotes from the book.

"We need to put away from our thoughts any notion that the law was given as a means to earn fellowship with God. This was never the purpose of the law. The law was given to those aware of their constant need for mercy and pardon."

"In Lutheranism the primary place of the law is to bring conviction of sin; and some in the Reformed churches are deeply influenced by this view and seem to forget that the primary use of the law is to instruct us in the character of God and in his design for our lives as his creatures and beloved children."

"Follow the lead of those Christians, from whatever tradition, who read Psalms 1, 19, and 119, and who, because they live by the Word, take delight in reading the law, in meditating on its precepts, and in seeing them as beautiful and liberating, and who then give their lives to following the requirements of the law every day in their homes, in their workplaces, and in all their relationships. Above all, we will not go wrong if we see the law as rooted in the loveliness of God’s character, for the more we love the Lord himself, the more we will love his commandments. Such an approach will enable us to see the law as a friend and as a comforting guide and benevolent teacher—even when the law is convicting us of sin and leading us to Christ for forgiveness."

Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Gregory Koukl is a very helpful book for engaging with those who disagree with you. It's focused on speaking with unbelievers who have an entirely different worldview, but the tactics described here are helpful in any disagreement or debate in which you want to stay cool tempered and speak with love and grace. This is one I will certainly reread. Kindle ebook Price: $1.99 (Feb 23-Mar 2)

The October issue of The American Family Association Journal has two interesting blurbs.  Though they are on separate pages and treated separately in the journal, they are quite connected.

The first blurb tells of Christian music artists Michael and Lisa Gungor.  I'm not familiar with them, but apparently they have recently come out denouncing the Bible's doctrines of creation, Noah's flood, and the actual existence of Adam and Eve.  No surprise that they are under the influence of a so-called pastor named Rob Bell.

The second blurb asks what happens to a scientist and professor at Cal State University if he calls into the question the "accepted" geologic epochs related to the age of the earth and dinosaurs.  Answer:

He gets fired.

Mark Armitage was fired by Cal State.  Why?  Because he dared to write a paper about recent soft tissues discovered in triceratops fossils.  Those soft tissues would have "decayed into nothingness" he said, if that creature really lived 65 million years ago.  Soft tissues such as blood, skin, tendons and so on can only last a max of perhaps 10,000 years.  This is just good, solid, observational science!  And it gets you fired at Cal State U.

Other soft tissues have been discovered in dinosaur fossils, too.  Some bones found recently in Canada had skin on them and these bones were considered to be 60 million years old by secular scientists!  Read up on this and more at AnswersInGenesis.org

Why can a Christian who is a professor of science say he is a Christian and believes in creation or intelligent design not get fired, but the moment he expresses doubt over the millions and billions of years paradigm he is axed?  Simple.  Because the theory of Darwinian evolution absolutely depends on massive, incomprehensible amounts of time.  It's their explanation for every gap and hole in the theory.  Why don't we see tons of transitional fossils, you know, in-between creatures?  Oh that's due to it taking billions of years and those fossils just haven't survived those long epochs.  Give time and chance long enough, and these two apparently personal forces can do anything?  Nothing shall be impossible for time and chance.  (This is also why secular scientists hate any belief in a global flood.  They realize that would blow all their geologic assumptions and clocks out of the water.  And then, there's that whole God judges sin thingy too.)

Friends, give up the Bible's teaching on creation and often everything else in the Bible goes with it.  If Genesis 1 cannot be trusted, then why would we trust Genesis 2 and 3?  The Gungor's also do not believe in gender being a divinely assigned entity.  Do you see the domino effect here?

But if we did not have literal human ancestors created by God in the image of God, who really did rebel against God and fall into corruption as sinners, then why did Jesus come?  Would God send His Holy Son, Jesus, to die for the instinctual behaviors of highly evolved animals?  

Friends, the gospel is at stake from the very first chapters of the Bible.  May we not forget it.  May we not allow our children to be duped, either, by educators and really smart and well-meaning professors or Hollywood actors.  

"In the beginning . . . God."  

Recently a video from an "Inspirational Speaker" has been making the rounds on Facebook and You Tube.  It is a man seeking to inspire women.  So, ladies from all walks of life have been ooing and awing and swooning over it.  The message speaks of God and women of the Bible (Ruth, Esther, Martha, Mary) and speaks of God's love.  So, it is clearly intending to be a biblical message of inspiration.  But it fails to pass the test in my book.  You can view the message here:

So, it is late...my typing stinks at all hours of the day...and I am blurry visioned. So, why you writing this then Lori...( I heard you ask me that.) Well, I have has this on my mind since Pastor Keith preached today. So, you can blame your pastor for this late night blog. (Great big hehe there).
Now, here is my thinkin. Luke 23:12 talks of a very unholy alliance..a unity that went beyond jealousy, envy, power struggles, race differences, common hatred. It talks about a unity of two, based solely on their mutual cowardice..their mutual small characters. .their mutual disregard for Jesus.
Luke 23:12 says these men, (Pilate and Herod) who had been enemies before this day, were now fast, united friends. Really...really...are you kiddin me? Two men who hated each other...jealous, envious, and after their own glory, united as one...how did that happen? Well, it is simple really. Misery loves company. These two men were called upon to do the right thing..be men of honor. ..men who could have and should have saved an innocent man's life on that ordained day. They could have taken the hard road and chosen Jesus...but they were cowards and gave him over to die. This immediately bound them together. This stand against Jesus...this stand against right..this stand against holiness bound them together like stink on a dog (ummm..cliff says something like that but he is asleep so...that is the best I got). Anyway, that led me to thinking. Do we do that? Why, yes we do. How many times in our sin do we turn from the people in community who are loving us enough to warn us about our sin..loving us enough to hold us accountable for our sin...and who do we turn to? Well, usually to someone who believes the way we do. We turn to those who "get us." We turn to those who "know what it is like." We turn to those who don't make us feel bad like, well, those holier than thou people. I have seen this in people who have left the church under discipline. They group up like minions in the "I hate CBC army" and talk about their woes and all that is wrong with that place. Boy, I would love to camp out at Herod...Pilate... and All the people under discipline's doorstep ..but the hard truth is I am guilty if this too. I hate the truth about my sin. I want other women to affirm me in it, so often, when I am confronted, I just go find new best friends. Friends who know how to walk on eggshells without cracking them...friends who understand that if you say anything I do not agree with (who cares if its in the Bible) well, I won't play with you anymore. God forgive me for that. Today, I was sick because I could identify so well with these two scoundrels. Oh my word Lori...grow up in Jesus. Just because the natural is that misery loves company of like minds does not mean I have to go along. I can beg God to transform me and help me not conform to flesh. How about you? Are you united to another for the purpose of the glory of God? Are you united to those consumed by him and aching for his holiness? Or...are you uniting yourself with those whose sin makes your sin ok? Are you united with those who have chosen something over Jesus, just like you? Are you seeking out relationships that point you to Jesus or relationships that point out how right and good you are?

Unity...whose side you on?

God make my unity about you. I beg you to help me seek out people whose love for you points out my sin with grace and truth. Amen.

I have gout.  All good preachers do.  C. H. Spurgeon had it.  John Calvin had it.  I rest my case.

In all seriousness, a gout attack is one of the more painful things I've experienced in life.  I had one so bad a few years ago that I finally decided to start doing some research and reach out to some of the folks in our church family for possible remedies.  Thankfully, we have a varied church.  We have those committed to natural remedies.  We have those committed to doctors and medical technology.  We have those committed to a more balanced approach.  So, I got solid advice from a variety of perspectives!

Personally, I avoid medicine or take it only as a last resort.  So, I gravitated to the more natural remedies.  And lo and behold, I have discovered the "magic" of tart cherries in fighting gout.  And, I have also experienced good success using an essential oil from lemons.

Essential oils are a growing trend.  Some of them are to be ingested (like my lemon oil).  Some are topical.  Some are aromatic.  There is little doubt that various essential oils can have very positive effects on our health and well-being.  More and more Christians are discovering these benefits.  And more and more Christians are starting to sell these products for companies like doTerra.

So, why in the world am I, a small town pastor, bothering to blog about this topic?  Well, suffice it to say the range of issues I have to deal with as a small town pastor never cease to amaze me!  I am blogging about this because, like so many other trends or fads in our culture, this one also has potential to be spiritually harmful.  Let me explain.

First, for decades the essential oil business has been controlled by New Age proponents.  The language used in promotional materials and by some representatives is semi-Hindu, much like many proponents of yoga or certain types of massage.  So, it is common to hear that essential oils will increase your "chi" or "help you center" or "create a sense of oneness with the universe."  Other phrases such as "life force" or "inner god" or "spiritual breath" or "meditation" may also be employed.  I strongly caution followers of Christ to not be sucked in by such unbiblical language and ungodly concepts.  The only "life force" you need to tap into is the Risen Lord Jesus.  And the only meditation you need to do is on the written words of God in the Bible.  So, do not be ignorant of the enemy's schemes (2 Cor 2:11).  The journey away from the absolute truth and authority of the Scripture begins with one, often tiny, step.  

Second, avoid creating a dependency on essential oils (or anything else for that matter).  Addictions come easy for us fallen idolaters.  So, the Christian believer who simply cannot relax or defeat anxiety apart from a pill or an oil or an aroma ought to think very seriously about where his or her faith is.  A Christian parent who relies solely and repeatedly on aroma therapy to calm their child ought to also ask serious questions about how this might impact their child spiritually.  Lavender may very well have calming effects on children.  So does rocking a child while singing "Amazing Grace" softly into his or her ear.  Just ask our grandmother's!  A warm bath or a rub down may help a child unwind from a day's worth of school anxiety.  But so does reading and meditating and praying with that child on Psalm 131.  And, if the child is just being a selfish rebel, we dare not forget the rod of correction (Prov 22:15).

Do you see the point?  Medicine and natural remedies are gifts of God.  But they are not God.  My physical ailment called gout has been alleviated from time to time by cherries and lemon oils.  I am grateful.  But what if I were a Christian with gout living in the jungles of Bolivia with no access to anything remotely like our modern medicines and essential oils?  Would my life with Christ be weaker or stronger than it is here in the comfort of my American home?  I think it might actually be stronger!  But the point is nothing is really essential to me except the Lord Jesus Christ.  Any substitutes for loving and obeying Christ's Word must be named for what they are - dangerous idols.  And friends, we can make an idol out of almost anything.  So, may God help us guard our hearts, from which flow the springs of life (Prov 4:23).  May our default response when dealing with any of the pangs of life not be to run to the altar of our medicine cabinets or essential oil bottles.  Insetad, may we have the heart of Paul the Apostle:

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:7-8).

Wow! Instructing a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp is a practical and Christ centered guide to Biblical parenting. The Tripps rely heavily upon the Word of God as they explain the importance of dealing with the heart issues behind your children's behavior. They take serious the Christian responsibility for parents to disciple their own children. The main thrust of the book is formative instruction where parents train their children in the ways of the Lord. It is a great help! I found this material encouraging and convicting. I highly recommend it!

"Knowing brothers, beloved by God, that He has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but in power and with the Holy Spirit and with full conviction . . . And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the Word in much affliction , with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.  For not only has the Word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.  For they themselves report . . . how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come" (1 Thessolonians 1:4-10).

This is the Apostle Paul's commendation of the Church at Thessolonica.  In these few short lines, we see the power of the gospel to save sinners from idol worship, to grow saints in holiness, and to give the Church a blessed future hope!  All this and more happened to the recipients of this letter from Paul; and it all happened "because our gospel came to you . . . in power."

We so often forget the very real power of God's good news that He saves sinners by grace through faith in the perfect life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  Recently, a member of the church I serve sent me a testimony to how God had been and continued to change her through His Word and Gospel.  Her testimony was a real "pick-me-up."  I was reminded why I get up and do it all again each day, regardless of how tired I am and how messed up the world (and often the church) is.  I share it below with her permission, and with names changed or just removed.  The names are not the point anyway.  This could be anyone!  The only Name that really matters is the Name of Jesus!

I’m just going to come out and say it. My view on female/male relationships is not the healthiest.  My parents divorced when I was 3. My father was in and out of my life until I was in middle school when I finally told him to stay away. My mom lived with a man until I was in 8^thgrade and finally married him after his credit was good.  She divorced him when I was in college.  She remarried the man she left him for and stayed married to him in an unhappy marriage until she died.  I have never been on a real date that didn’t start with or end with sex, save one and I felt awkward and backwards doing it. My mom did not allow me to date until 16 and even then she guarded that door fiercely. She didn’t do it in the name of protecting my heart or leading me to honor God, she did it because she was afraid of the bad things I would do like getting pregnant or getting a disease and ruining my life. When I finally escaped to college I created a long list of sexual partners, not boyfriends, not lovers. I was nothing more than a free prostitute. I married the only man who pursued me even though I knew him to be a compulsive liar and unable to provide for a family. He was little more than a stalker but wanted more from me than sex. Before we married I got pregnant and had an abortion. Initially I didn’t intend to do that, but my mother pushed hard for it.  Falling back on my feminist upbringing and not the Holy Spirit who was begging me not to do it, I did it. Later I married him so we could get student housing at IU and kept it secret for at least 6 months. I divorced him after our first child was born because one night he threw a baby swing and stroller at her and me. Physical violence was a normal part of our relationship and not one sided. I left him for his best friend who I lived with for 3 years before we married.  Not once did I consider what God wanted for me in this area of my life until I met my current husband. By the grace of God only, I am now married to a loving, honorable, godly man who adopted my daughter and who I have 2 other children with.   I struggle daily with sin in this area of my life and struggle desperately to be a godly wife to him. I fall short often, but my motivation to keep trying is to honor God and that shift in paradigm has changed my life and how I do relationships.

Some might wonder how I can come clean with this kind of confession.  Well first, although I feel sorry for my actions, I don’t feel guilt. I am a new person in Christ. I am freed from guilt. It has taken a long time to get to that place. I also don’t think my story is all that different from others and I want other women to know Christ redeems the worst sinners. I am from a broken generation—a generation that has no idea how to have intimate relationships. How in the world are we to teach our children how to have relationships?

This precious sister then went on to show how God was teaching and guiding her to raise and teach her own children a new and better way - the way of Christ.  By God's grace in the Gospel, the generational cycle of spiritual poverty will be broken!  Oh dear friends, Jesus saves!  Say it out loud today - "Jesus saves!"  Tell a lost co-worker today - "Jesus saves!"  Speak the words to the hurting, the broken, the lost, the dying, the desperate, the prideful, the greedy - "Jesus saves!"  

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16).

If you are struggling against pornography or if you want to help others in the fight, then you should read Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace by Heath Lambert. It Is a great resource. It's filled with sound theology and enough Scripture that anyone who reads it will find it challenging, convicting and helpful. It is a practical guide to growing in purity. I thoroughly appreciated it and know it will be one that I will reread and share with others. What makes it such a great resource is that it starts with the gospel and then from there looks extensively at a variety of weapons that can be used in the fight against lust. Dr. Lamber provides an arsenal to be used in the battle. This book is certainly worth the effort and time it will take to read it. Lambert sets his sights high, “In this book, I want to share with you the amazing depth and effect of Christ’s power to eradicate pornography from your life. Whether you struggle with pornography yourself or are trying to help someone who struggles, I have good news for you: no matter how intense or long-standing the struggle, it is the work of Jesus Christ to set people free from such sin.” Here are some more great quotes from its pages.

"God does not forbid sexual immorality because he wants you to be miserable; God forbids it because sexual immorality leads to brokenness, sadness, emptiness, death, and hell. Righteousness, on the other hand, leads to fullness, joy, peace, and life. According to Jesus, sin is not complicated. There are two simple choices and two guaranteed consequences—the easy path of sexual immorality, which will kill you, and the hard path of radical warfare against it, which will lead you to the fullness of life."

"If you are struggling with pornography, Jesus wants you to understand that you will need to get tough with your sin. You will need to employ radical measures to limit your access and starve your temptation... even people who lack eyes and hands can still lust and sin in their hearts. Jesus is urging something even more radical than a onetime physical amputation. He is telling us that when we are tempted to sin sexually, we must act aggressively—every time we are tempted and in every way required to avoid the sin."

"You will need to employ radical measures in at least three areas. You only look at porn when you have the desire to see it, when you have the time to look at it, and when it is available to you. Nobody looks at pornography without all three of these elements coming together. In your fight to be free from pornography, you must learn to take radical steps to eliminate each one."

"In fighting temptation: outward measures, regardless of how radical they are, can never change your heart. This is why it is critical to employ radical measures in your thought life first. You need more than a change in your circumstances to win the battle; you need a change in your heart."

"Men look at pornography out of an arrogant desire to see women in a way that God does not allow. They show arrogant defiance to God’s commands, rejecting the delight of sexual intimacy in marriage and deciding for themselves what they believe is better."

“Porn is only consumed by thankless people.”

“The logic of lust requires you to be discontent with what you have and pay attention to all the things you don’t have. The logic of thankfulness requires you to focus on what you have already received and to be overcome with thanks. Gratitude is the opposite of greed.“

“If you struggle with porn, one of your greatest needs is to grow in the grace of gratitude. Just because you may never have thought about it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Porn is only consumed by thankless people. The desire for porn is a desire to escape from what the Lord has given you into a fake universe full of things you do not have and will never have. Porn is the trading of gratitude for greed”

“Every greedy glance at pornography is a missed opportunity to be thankful to the Lord and to others for all the good things in your life"

“Lust guarantees that as soon as you possess the object of your longing, you will get a new greedy desire for something more. This explains why marriage isn’t the cure for lust that singles believe it will be. Once a man has a wife, he starts wanting the next thing he does not have. This is the vicious cycle of lust.”

"When you sin, you are the one responsible (Mark 7:21–23). Other people can sin against you, make your life difficult, and entice you to sin, but they can never make you sin. When you sin, it is always your fault, and you should never say or do anything to make it sound like the fault lies elsewhere."

"Worldly sorrow is legitimate sorrow. The issue is not whether a person is sad; instead, it is what they are sad about. The focus of worldly sorrow is the world. People experiencing worldly sorrow are distressed because they are losing (or fear losing) things the world has to offer... Worldly sorrow is sad over losing the things of the world, while the focus of godly sorrow is God himself. Godly sorrow is pained over the break in relationship with God."

"The call to be in Christ is the call to be holy. Christian, hear the Word of God: the impurity of pornography stands in direct opposition to who you are in Christ. The blood of Jesus beckons you to holiness. You are summoned to look like Jesus. Therefore you must flee from living like an unbeliever and inflicting sexual harm on others. You must run passionately away from porn and toward holiness, love, self-control, and grace. The great call of your life is to be holy, as Jesus is holy. Pornography stands firmly opposed to that call. You must run from it and toward Christ."

I am a child of the 80s.  I grew up on Mork & Mindy.  It was there I, like so many others, got laugh-after-laugh watching the crazy antics of Robin Williams.

Robin's suicide is old news by now, but I am not a blogger who feels driven to be the first to comment on everything happening in the news, culture, and world.  I like to ponder, consider, read and listen.  I try to do so, by God's grace, with a biblical worldview as my filter.  Like many others, I am saddened by his death, and my condolences are with his family, though they will never know me or even read this blog.  So, my remarks are not meant as anything other than a generic commentary on the situations faced by Robin Williams.

Like most Americans, I was a "fan," not of his political views or personal views, but purely of his comedy.  I was entertained by him, although not everything he did was worthy of my attention.  But when it came to comedy, Williams was the king.  He would walk onto a talk show and the host might as well have not shown up.  It instantly became The Robin Williams Show.  I got a kick out of his insanity and non-stop shennanigans.  But it was obvious from a biblical perspective that Robin wanted the attention.  He craved it.  Needed it.  He in no way wanted the spotlight on anyone other than himself if he were on a stage.  Though it made for good comedy, it speaks to an underlying darkness or struggle.

Louie Anderson on Fox News actually said exactly what I have just said, in his remarks about what made Robin special.  Louie said Robin wanted that stage, that spotlight, that attention.  And he did whatever it took to get it.

Maybe we label him a control freak?  Maybe we label him selfish or self-centered?  Or maybe, like is often the case, his antics were hiding a deep pain or hurt or struggle.  I don't know if anyone has ever studied those voted "Class Clown" by their senior class, but it would make an interesting project to see what hurts and pains might have been under the surface of their ceaseless clowning around.  We all too often put on a happy face to hide a weeping heart.

I do not know what if any religious affiliations Williams had.  His dad was a Christian raised in a mainline denomination, while his mother was a Christian Scientist (with that being an atrocious misuse of the name of Christ).  To my knowledge, at one point in his career, which was plagued by alcohol and cocaine addictions, he credited the humanistic "mind over matter" mantra of Christian Scientism for helping him sober up.

But it's clear now that he found no lasting freedom, no true healing, in looking deep within himself to tap into some supposed "divine spark" or power in humanity.  Indeed, no one who seeks salvation from within himself will ever find it there.  Jesus said what is inside a man is defiled (Mark 7:20-23).  The Prophet Jeremiah said man's heart (his mind and desires) is "deceitful above all else and desperately sick" (Jer 17:9).  Humanism, in whatever form is comes to us, make us our own saviors.  It did not work out practically in the end for Robin, and most tragically it did not work out spiritually either.

I read recently that anti-depressants are now the most prescribed medicines in America.  I also read that over 30,000 people commit suicide in America every year.  Our citizens have been saturated in public schools and universities and by countless media outlets in the religion of humanism / secularlism / materialism and it leads ultimately to nihilism.  This is the view that everything amounts to nothing.  Nothing really matters.  Live.  Die.  Decay.  Fertilize plants.  Repeat process.  

Maybe in a billion more years, we human animals will evolve the ability to see through these satanic lies?  I'm being sarcastic, of course!  These satanic lies are precisely why we are the most wealthy, depressed people on the planet today.  We are looking anywhere and everywhere for glory, satisfaction, and happiness.  Soul deep peace.  And no wonder, we were created for just such things!

But these high ideals cannot ultimately be found in medicines, drugs, drinks, human friendships, marriages, children, self-help books, essential oils, witchdoctors, mantras, yoga, P90X, sports, 4-H or even in the church, per se.  All these may very well be fine in and of themselves.  But needing any of them to cope with life or treating any of them as ultimate sources of power and satisfaction is idolatry.

These things we most crave are found only in the Christ of the Gospel that the Church has proclaimed for two thousand years plus.  I am not saying true Christians never suffer from depression.  The Bible is chocked full of examples of God's redeemed people battling depression.  Read the Psalms.  Lamentations.  Habakkuk.  2 Corinthians 4.  Time and time again you will see God's people lifting their eyes to their Savior God when they are depressed.  To their God and His Gospel and Promises they fly!  And in Jesus the Savior, they find their rest, again, and again, and again, and again.  Until He calls them home to finally and fully experience perfect, eternal peace, joy, happiness, glory and satisfaction.

It's all in Him.  It's all about Him.  It's all for Him (Rom 11:33-36).  Turn your eyes on Jesus, and away from yourselves.  This is the meaning of life:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and for Your pleasure they exist and were created" (Revelation 4:11).

All the money, best doctors, best health foods, best psychiatrists, best secular counselors, best rehab centers and best religions of the world could not save Robin Williams' soul and set him free from sin's heavy chains.  They will fail you too.

God help us give up all fakes and substitutes.  Jesus is the Real Thing.  He is enough.