Merry Christmas: The entry of Jesus Christ into Human History

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Merry Christmas!  May the Lord Jesus Christ be at the center of your celebrations this holiday season.  Truly truly Christmas is all about Jesus Christ.  

Does the date really matter?  Not really.  Are some of the Christmas traditions rooted in paganism? Yes they are.  Yet despite those concerns, this Christmas can and is all about Jesus Christ in my heart.  It should be the same for you.  Set new traditions and new standards within your home, to make Jesus Christ the center of your Christmas celebration.  There is nothing wrong with that.  There is nothing pagan about that.  

In the Bible God taught us to observe days of thanksgiving to remind ourselves how God has shown us love and mercy. Feast dates were instituted by the nation of Israel to remind them of the moments in history when God had helped them, like the exodus from Egypt.  There isn't anything wrong with using the calendar year to keep our hearts and minds centered on Christ.

Christ is great.  Christ is the real deal.  We need to make sure we never forget, and always focus deeply on Jesus Christ.  We humans are people of habit.  When we get in the habit of recalling Jesus in this time, we can keep him front and center. 

God came into human history.  He suited up in the form of a person, Jesus Christ, to save his people.  He went on a rescue mission to save humanity.  

There was no hope before Jesus Christ, there was only sin and the rule of evil.  Evil has destroyed our planet.  It's given birth to every horror imaginable: child sex slavery, starvation, diseases, abortion, genocides perpetrated by secular dictators, divorce, broken families, wars of greed and wealth, racism, sexism, violence against those with differing views, and even the horror of the genocide of entire races of people. Think of the Jews during World War II, the people of Cambodia during the genocide, and millions of Africans during the Rwandan civil war.  

Many get so upset when Christians say that the world is an evil place.  They seem to think there is no evidence.  Yet there is so much evidence all around us!  Have they not lived in the terrible 20th century?  They have, but they are blind.  They have their secular humanist glasses on.  Many today can't see past the borders of the United State's wealth and affluence.  Despite their own propensity to bash and mock the American way of life, they live in a cocoon of safety provided by it.  Despite the rhetoric, the problem of sin and evil is obvious.  

God didn't make those things.  We did those things.  God gives us the choice.  He lets us choose how to live.  Do we do good or do evil?  Most today choose passive selfishness.  And apathy is the same thing as doing nothing.  It's not helpful.  Some choose good though.  They're the ones constantly mocked on television, internet, and newspapers.  They're labeled as crazies for standing for things like religious freedom, conscientious objection, faith lived in public life, or standing for Christian sexual ethics.  They're even mocked for praying.  

Jesus Christ came into the world to save people like us, lost, self-destructive, addictive, selfish, consumerist, and given to random sexual encounters at bars on Friday night.  We've prostituted ourselves at bars, at parties with friends, to people we hardly know, just for the fun of it.  How deep is our moral confusion, how inexhaustible is it?  Yet Jesus came for people like us.  He came to save us who go from divorce to divorce, for us who give ourselves to every stranger we catch feelings for.  He even came to save the LGBTQ activists celebrating their sinful behavior in a parade, who spat on a Christian minister who accidentally walked too close to the procession.  I saw a graphic describing the evolution of gay rights, it said: 1990 - we want tolerance. 2000 - we  want equality. 2015 - bake the cake bigot!  And the graphic showed a rainbow colored gun pointed to the head of the baker.  Oh how the oppressed have become the oppressors.  Yet Jesus came to save us who oppress the innocent.  Jesus came to save us who abused and mocked the gay community.  Jesus came to save those lost within the gay community.  He came for us all, and we would only turn to him. 

He came to save a culture that considers ministers less than scum, and Caitlyn Jenner as heroic.  He came to save those who were actively in rebellion against everything he stood for.  Jesus came to save us, the ones lost in sin.

The message of Jesus Christ is that it's never too late.  You're never too far gone.  You're still completely open to the chance of calling out to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all sin, to turn from your old ways and embrace the way of holiness.  

Sin has destroyed our world.  Sin has destroyed us in many ways, some more than others.  Yet the most terrible situation of sin is that whenever we do evil and live in these awful ways, we sin against God himself.  God understands perfectly, right from wrong.  He knows all the right ways to live.  And he's told us those ways.  Yet we didn't listen.  We mocked the Bible, despite how history had hung around it.  We mocked the Christian faith, despite how our country was founded on it's precepts.  I've done those things personally.  I was once the chief mocker of the Christian view.  But now I'm an advocate.  I sinned against God himself, the creator of the universe.  Have you done the same?  Have you contributed to the evil state of our world?

If so, it's not over for you.  It doesn't matter what you've done.  Have you had an abortion?  Jesus will remove that sin.  Have you engaged in homosexuality?  Jesus will remove that sin.  Have you hurt your family?  Jesus will remove that sin.  Have you stolen from others?  Jesus will remove it.  Have you been lazy and selfish all your life?  Jesus will free you from that.  Have you raped someone?  Jesus will remove that sin.  Have you been hateful?  Jesus will remove that too.  Have you killed someone?  Jesus will remove that sin too.  Have you hated God and mocked his name?  Jesus will forgive that sin too.  He will make you white as snow, gifted in his righteousness, and set you on a new path of repentance from all evil.  He will change you into a person who lives in holiness.  He will wash away all your sins and give you new birth into a living hope.  

This incredible sage began about 2,000 years ago in a little town in the middle east.  A baby boy was born in a manger because there wasn't any room at the motel.  Isn't it ironic that the one who made the world from nothing couldn't find a hotel room?  Much less a hospital for a safe birthing procedure!

We've all heard of the wise guys who showed up right?  I imagine they were quite perplexed for some time.  Maybe they had dreams about the birth of a special person who would change the world.  I've often had strange dreams that leave me wondering for days.  Maybe they dismissed those dreams as simply the odd clamorings of a human mind.  Until one of them noticed a bright star.  Perhaps he had seen it in a dream.  And he started to follow.  And the others followed.  There they found the new born Jesus Christ.  

Could they have comprehended the mystery?  I doubt they understood fully.  They probably looked down on the baby and thought: "I wonder what this could mean?"  Yet I bet there was also an incredible sense of awe, though they didn't quite understand the awe, they were compelled within to worship this child as their Lord.  Amazing, isn't it? 

It isn't always easy to fully comprehend.  I still have my doubts at times.  I think about the Bible, the life of Jesus Christ and the current state of the world... and I wonder to myself: What is all this?  Does it really make sense?  How can the birth of one man, God, and his life, death, and resurrection free me from sin?  How can it give me eternal life?  Why this way?  Why not another formula?  Jesus Christ took my place?  God's wrath for me fell on Christ?  Isn't that a bit intense?  Why would God want to slaughter me, and send me to hell if he's good and loving?  I still ponder those questions.  But there is something else too: Today I'm willing to admit that I don't fully comprehend all of it.  I'm willing to be humbled by life and circumstances to the point that I can receive it, and see it working in my life.  I'm willing to leave the door open to further thought, while confidently trusting in Christ.

I'm a human person, I'm not God.  I can't see every angle.  In fact family and friends have more than once called me out on areas of my life that need to change.  And they were right.  I can't see certain things because of my own prejudice.  It's the same way when I look at the cross of Jesus Christ.  I can't perceive the full meaning and majesty of it.  Often when I look upon it my gut reaction is to look with my old eyes and see an anachronism.  But in the Spirit, I can see the iceberg beneath the surface of the meaning of it.  I can't see all of it.  But I can see more, in the Spirit.

My questions remain, but so does my faith.  I've put my trust in Jesus Christ.  He is my savior.  Do I understand every verse and every passage?  No I don't.  Do I see the work of Jesus Christ in my life?  You bet I do.  Do I feel the connection to him?  Yes I do.  Do I sense a greater implication in the mystery of his life, death, and resurrection?  Yes, yes, yes I do.  

I don't understand all the Bible.  But I trust every word of it.  And I'm willing to put the Bible above my own opinions.  The Bible is right and if I disagree with something in the Bible guess whose wrong?  I am.  You are.  God's word is true, time will show it to be true.

The mystery of Jesus Christ changed the world forever.  If I can't perceive the fullness of it, that's a Justin problem, that's not God's problem and I don't need every single detail to make an informed decision for reasonable faith in a reasonable God who has reasonably saved me from a just penalty for my own iniquity.   

God came into human history.  Emmanuel means "God with us."  God came.  He lived a perfect life.  He went to the cross for us.  He died for us.  He was bodily resurrected for our salvation.  He came to perfect us.  Jesus declared victory over death when he bodily resurrected.  Jesus Christ is alive today, resurrected and glorified seated in authority at the right hand of God the Father. 

And in the future he will present us to God the Father in perfect holiness, and present to us a perfect reality.  A reality with no more sin, death, and misery.  No more death!  I've been working in nursing homes for months now serving there, and I've seen the horror of death.  And something about it seems wrong.  Death is wrong, death should not be.  

Death is a disease and Jesus Christ is the cure.  

So God the Father will remake reality itself a mystery called the coming of the Kingdom of God.  He will build a new Earth and a new universe freed from the plagues of death and sin.  There we will live with God forever in peace, joy, and unending life.  Is it really so unbelievable?  I don't think so.  God made the universe.  We messed it up.  He's given us a chance for redemption.  We receive it, stand as pillars of it in this temporal universe and then when we pass through the shadow of death (physical death) we will live eternally is a recreated universe where death has no place.  That works for me.

I hope it works for you too.  It's the truth about everything.  It's the hidden formula of life, behind all the piffy doctrines of humanism, naturalism, and the false realities of this world.  None of them make sense, they don't add up, and they don't adequately interpret the observable universe.  Christianity does in fact adequately explain all facets of life: origin of life, meaning of life, morality of life, and the destiny of humanity and the universe.  Origin, meaning, morality and destiny.  Test and observe.  Naturalism can't touch that.  It's garbage, half-baked presuppositions based on false beliefs.  



Despite the secular revolution in our country, Christians are pushing back.  They are appealing to heaven, to God, to change our nation.  God is answering those prayers.  Jesus Christ is the center of life.  He is the center of all we do as Christians.  I urge you to use this holiday time to delve a few steps closer to the mystery of his life and his gift to us, his chosen people. 

Focus on Jesus Christ this Christmas, he is truly the savior of the world.  We don't seem to fully understand how much he's done for us, but that's OK, we can praise him and worship him anyway.  Over time we will grow closer and closer to the wonderful savior.  Amen. 

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The New Revival: The Coming Awakening of the Millennials

The divine overarching story of humanity and the universe itself is playing out right before our eyes.  It's happening everyday.  It's all around us.  You can feel it.  It's all encompassing!

It's like a song in the backdrop.  It's like a quiet melody on the wind.  You can feel it when you stare down an empty road in the midst of night.  You can sense it as you stand alone in a wooded forest, listening to the timbers creaking.  You feel the enchantment of it, staring up into the star filled sky.  On the way to work it's happening.  These are the moments of life itself.  Maybe we'll talk about them in the next life.  Maybe it'll just be written down somewhere, and we'll never think of it again.

As I watch a group of pigeons fluttering about on the pavement, I'm amazed.  Deep down I know something so complex couldn't arise from disorder and nothingness.  Such harmonious complexity takes a divine personality.  God is at work, now and especially when I'm not noticing.

The beauty of these wind swept moments are breathtaking, but just as prescient is the sorrow of the darkness of this world.  By darkness I mean struggle.  I can feel that so powerfully.  I have a mind where it takes off, and I can slide down into it, contemplating the incredible scope of the deceptions in this world.  They are massive, entrenched, and powerful.  Over such a short period of time the truth seems to have been entirely swept aside and every manner of filth, depravity, sin, and corruption have taken it's place.  So quickly it seems, so quickly.  One can build such good, and it can be circumvented so totally, so quickly. 

I am the future generation, the millennials, generation Y.  Yeah, it's interesting.  It surely is interesting. We've grown up, at least I've grown up hearing in the backdrop of my daily life, adults whispering: "I feel sorry for the next generation."  Or "I'm glad I'll be gone because the future is bleak."  

And then there's my generation... well.  They drink and drug and party quite a bit.  They think they're brilliant artistic anti-establishment.  But a lot of them are dumb, brainwashed pleasure junkies who parrot whatever the media tells them to believe.  They puke out liberal sentiments programmed into them by the television.  They go all out on party, wealth, selfishness, and sex.  They are so assured there will be no consequences and they live in denial when the consequences crash down upon them.  It's such a lost generation.  And nothing I can say changes it, at all.  I could weep for them day and night.  It wouldn't change anything.  Many of them are nothing more than dead walking.  I once was the same.

In sexual encounters at random, in drug highs, in drunken bashes, the trick was this: We thought we were taking.  But it was taking from us.  It's very simple, but profound.  Every single time, every high, every sexual blitz, every crazy night out, we were losing something.  And so many of us have ended up hollowed out.  This world took something precious from us.  It took the sacred from us.  The sacred is like a soft wind, a soft calm, a sort of blanket over the moment.  Warm and fuzzy.  Why?  Because it's true, it's moral, it's right.  It's a peacefulness, a closeness with God.  It's a sense of living in a state of rightness; of being good.  And being good feels so good.  It feels so great.  

With all the sinful depravity of this life, we stripped ourselves of the sacred for the sake of trite pleasures and those pleasures, appearing like sugary treats turned out to be meat hooks that dug into our flesh and turned us into slaves to desires we could never truly satisfy.  There is no end to the need for depraved encounters, sex addicts and porn addicts will tell you they need more and more depraved and twisted imagery to keep themselves sufficiently titillated.  You will hear much the same from the drug addict.  More and more. It's never enough.  

We thought we were so wise to turn from all the foundations, to write our own faustian story.  But it wasn't the real story.  It was a lie.  

And thank God that I discovered the real story.  The story has to be true to change the world.  It has to be true to change me.  That story is the saga outlined in the divine revelation known as the book.  The book changes the world.  Yet it's so hard for us to accept.  It was for me.  Why?  Because it tells me the unvarnished truth about myself.  It tells me all the things I don't want to hear.  It tells me about how I'm the problem.  It won't let me play it off on government, big business, banks, poverty, conditions, or anything else.  It forces me to realize something very simple:  What's wrong with the world is me.  I'm the problem.  And I've got a just reward in front of me because of my own selfish choices: total disconnection from God.  That drives people crazy, how could God send me away from him?  How could he send me to "hell"?  Well, I suppose God doesn't want evil people around him.  And to be honest, we aren't the victims of a mean God, we're the ones who have gone astray.  Our choices have set us on this course, and we all know it deep down.  

A former drug addict like me knows it quite acutely. 

Do you think there's something good about people?  Do you think people are good?  I'll quote the famed atheist scholar John Gray who wrote in his book Straw Dogs: "Humanists think there is something good about humanity? Why don't you try reading a newspaper?"  

Taking a look at the Fox News website (I'm a millennial I don't have a physical copy) the current top story on Fox News is the ongoing investigation into the San Bernardino terrorist attack.  One could pick up a newspaper on any given day and find the truth about humanity.  

The truth about humanity is that we need a savior.  Thank God that we have a savior.  This is the truth about life: I need to reconnect to the divine architect of the universe.  I need God to change me.  The right state of me as a human, is to be in total connectedness to God the creator of life.  I'm meant to enjoy closeness with the Heavenly Father and the enjoyment of his universe.  I'm meant to connect to eternal truths beyond this world.  The very meaning of life itself is to live in permanent relationship with God.  Can you perceive it?  Can you sense it?  Can you feel it?  Can you philosophically conceive of it?  Can you scientifically see the patterns in supposed chaos?  Can you understand the love of God?  And the most important question: Can you humble yourself, to that of a child, to receive this kingdom that is coming into the wreckage of this world?  

It is a divine mystery, the coming of this kingdom.  

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed,  nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” -Luke 17:20-21.

The kingdom of God is within you.  The kingdom of God is coming into this world.  Can you see it?

Sometimes when I'm standing there, in the darkness at night, examining the streets, watching the roads, listening to the wind and the air.. I can feel it.  I can feel the anticipation.  I can sense the divine poetry of the moment.  I can sense the poetic mystery playing like a song no one can learn.  It's beauty knows no depths, and it sings out, it shouts from every corner of the land, the buildings, the concrete, the trees, the grass, and the waters of the lakes and rivers.  It aches bitterly for the revealing of the sons of God and the final perfection of the universe for the coming of the King of Kings.  I can see it.  I can sense it within, the bitter aching for the rightness of the kingdom of God.

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. -Romans 8:19-23

Yet this life is so fearful.  There are so many giant mountains in the distance.  Just like Luke Skywalker faced when he hung by a beam at Cloud City.  Just like Frodo examining the gates of Mordor.  Just like Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane.  Fear is a deadly enemy to those of making for home.  It captures me at times, and I can't help but feel weakened by it. Yet the story continues, the saga goes on.  After all, we have narrative minds.  We're drawn to the story.  We're drawn to the heroic, the great leader, the great hero on his journey to save that which as been lost.  Our own cinema and books often reflect the divine overarching meta-saga of paradise lost, humanity lost in the dark wilderness, and the redemption of mankind through the God-man Jesus Christ.  And the future eternal reign of the King of Kings.  It's beautiful.  It's epic.  It's the truth about life.  It doesn't change.  It's not one of many truths, it's the only truth.  

The stakes are exceedingly high, so high, so high, the souls of mankind hang in the balance everyday.  So many are led astray.  So many evil forces and terrifying strongholds exist.  It makes me want to shutter in fear, and shut down completely! 

"Do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." -Matthew 10:26-31

Jesus said, "Don't be afraid, I'm with you."  He says the same to you and I today: "Don't be afraid, I'm with you."  

Jesus Christ changed everything in my life.  He took me from the king of clowns, a drug addict with serious mental issues, to putting me on the front lines of an intense spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of the people of the world.  I found it a bleak situation. The forces of light are not winning, in fact we're thoroughly losing on just about every front.  

I entered former strongholds of light and the power of the Spirit to find the systems of defense crumbling.  I found the guards on the walls were elderly, and no young men had come to take the places of the aged and infirmed.  I found women lost in sex, drunkenness, and selfishness.  I saw beautiful women, with wisdom in their eyes, and zeal for changing the world, I saw them lost, broken, addicted, driven mad by the half baked philosophy of this world, run amok, turned into sex toys for depraved men and destroyed completely.  And I can only think why Lord, I can see the goodness in them, yet they are addicted, lost, emotionally destroyed, and so far gone.  Is there any hope I wondered?  I found the old women passing out of this world, leaving no legacy, because their children had all turned from the faith of the old.  I found broken lines, crusted entrenchments, empty, all the enthusiasm gone, all the zeal collapsed, and I found in-fighting, despairing, and crumbling of the foundations of the hope of humanity, the Christian faith itself!   

Yet I realized something.  God is still at work.  He hasn't gone anywhere.  And even if I see so few young people, so few millennials willing to take up the call... I realized.  I took up the call.  I'm standing here.  I've taken up my spiritual armor, I've taken up the sword of the Spirit.  I've taken up the cause of Jesus Christ in this world, to share the gospel, to be preservation and moral goodness to this world.  Even if no one else does, I'm here.  And I'll keep fighting.  God is at work in the world.  He came to my mutilated remains on the fields of darkness of addiction, and post-modernism and this farce of a culture addicted to television, fine cuisine, self indulgence, and consumerism.  My mind ripped apart by it.  My soul crushed.  And he carried my remains to Jesus Christ who poured his own life into mine, and suddenly from death itself, from total spiritual decay and physical collapse, I stood anew redeemed out of the world by the precious gift of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his blood for my blood.  He changed everything.  He woke me from the dead.

The story of humanity itself is that of a wayward people fleeing their creator, and of the pursuit of God toward his people, and the coming of God into the nightmare of his own people.  Jesus Christ appeared in the haze of the evil planet Earth, bringing redemption.  That is the saga of humanity.  Every leader has to understand this over-arching narrative, this story.  But it's not just a story, it's not just a narrative.  It's the truth about life.  It's the history and personality of humanity.  It's the full description of the universe around us.  It exists and so do we.  So does God.  And we need God.  Jesus Christ brings us home to God.  In Jesus Christ we can change the world.  But when we try to build a peaceful paradise outside of Jesus Christ, it crumbles in our hands.  So many in this world want peace, but they don't want the prince of peace.  And there can be no peace without the prince of peace Jesus Christ.  

The time is now friends.  This is our great moment.  We millennials have been so led astray by the liberal media, by secular universities in this country, we've been led astray by philosophical lies, we've been led astray by arrogance.  We've been led astray by drugs, alcohol, by the sex revolution, and by the selfish consumer society.  But it's not too late!  It's not too late!  It's not too late!  We can stand here.  Now.  We can change the world.  But we can't do it alone.  If and when we choose to place the Christian faith, Jesus Christ at the center of our efforts to change this world, then we will bring about the greatness we wish to see.  

We want change.  We want to help people.  This is the mission.  This is the message.  Millennials must humble themselves and come to Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness we wish we didn't need.  But we do need it.  Call upon Jesus Christ.  Take up the banner of the truth!  Start a movement.  Start a revolution!  

The hour is late friends.  The forces of darkness are moving in all directions.  Our own defenses have been corrupted and crippled.  Our generation has slipped into many traps and deadly snares.  But it's not too late.  If you can believe that Jesus Christ really is who he claimed to be.  Then there is a chance.  Can you believe?  Can you really believe?  Can you accept it?  Can you accept that and receive Jesus Christ the son of God, the redeemer of humanity as your own personal Lord, comforter, and savior?  

Can you perceive it?  Can you sense it?  Can you see it in every moment?  Can you read it in the pages of the book?  Can you live it?  Will you repent of your old ways?  Will you turn to Jesus Christ?  Will you take up your spiritual armor and fight against the lusts of your own desires?  Will you build boundary walls in your mind?  Will you fight your sinful desires which fuel the self destruction of the human race?  Will you receive the son of God as your redemption, your righteousness, the remover of your sins?  Are you ready for a new life?   Are you ready to be born again?  Are you prepared to know the deepest truths in the universe?  Are you prepared to encounter God himself?  

Today is the day.  

There is still hope.

The light shines in the darkness.

And my generation, young people will come to know it.  

Because my generation deserves to know, like our parents and our grandparents came to know, that they are designed creatures, created beings, designed and crafted by the beautiful, enchanting artist, an architect, a quiet being lingering in the backdrop, listening, loving, and caring for us... the God who made the universe itself.  Can you understand the full weight of that?  Can you perceive the expansive meaning behind that?  God is real.  You should be free to know him.  Like I've been made free to know.  By calling out to Jesus Christ for help, like I called out to Jesus Christ for help.

I write this because I want you know in the most sincere way the meaning I had ached for so desperately that I almost died several times filled to the brim with pills, drink, and drug.  Jesus Christ is the truth.  He is the answer.  In him is the real truth of life.  It's not a game.  It's not an old superstition.  It's really real.  

I want you to know so badly, because it's so hard to see behind all the televangelist nonsense, the megachurches, the false teachers, and the way Christianity is portrayed in the media as a sort of backward superstition of the foolish.  But I found something very different.  

I encountered God himself.  He's real.  You can be with him through his son Jesus Christ.  You don't have to like it, but it's the truth.  Please receive it.  Please trust in him.  Please call out to him.  We have much work to do, the hour is late in these spiritual battles.  We need you now.  Join the resistance, join the revolution.  

May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be yours, always, amen.  

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If I could Buy every American Christian a Gift Bag of Books and DVDs it would Include

Christmas gifts are fun to exchange during the holiday season.  We often do it at work or with friends.  Most often we'll exchange gifts with family around the holiday.  I was thinking about what I might give to American Christians to help them live out the truth of the scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I came up with this list of ten hypothetical items.  Sorry, I'm not Oprah Winfrey, these items won't turn up under your chair tomorrow.  If I had that kind of money I might consider it though!  

This list is not exhaustive, and I could've included many great books over history but I focused on fairly recent books based around ideas that need to grow within evangelicalism.  Thanks and enjoy :)

1. The Bible - even within evangelical Christianity the Bible needs to be read.  It needs to be read much more.  We can watch sermons, listen to Christian rock, and view snappy small group curriculums... but none of those things are the Bible.  The open Bible is the most deadly world changing force in the universe.  Yet many Christians, and I myself have been guilty of this from time to time; we're enveloped in all the evangelical culture, but our bible is closed.  First gift: Here's a fresh new Bible and multi-colored highlighters friend, lets get to work.  It's all in there.

2. How Shall We Then Live? By Francis Schaeffer.  The next gift from me to you is a great title by the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer.  I'm also including the DVD companion.  This is a must read for Christians: Audiobook, DVD series, kindle, nook, even the honest to goodness paperback copy, read this now.  Read it many times.  Worldview, it's about worldview and the shifts happening in western culture. It was written over 30 years ago yet it's spot on for the moments we face today.

3. The Truth Project DVD by Focus on the Family.  Hosted by Del Tackett this DVD series is simply astounding.  I thought it might be tacky or boring, but it was a shockingly powerful march through the foundations of the Christian worldview and Christian apologetics.  Vital, absolutely vital.  Every Christian needs to view this series. 

4. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton - This is a classic read on the philosophical defense of the Christian faith.  Chesterton wrote powerfully on the paradoxes within our faith.  This one is a must read, your welcome.  Available free on Librivox in audiobook form.

5. The Sky is Not Falling by Chuck Colson - The writings of Chuck Colson are vital to the current Christian generation who are often theologically illiterate, incapable of defending their faith, ignorant to religious liberty threats and the importance of Christian activity within politics. Chuck Colson speaks directly to current Christianity with his critiques on political issues and worldview, as well as engaging culture with the gospel. I have the audiobook version, because I love audiobooks.  Paperback is just as good too though.

6. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis - Everyone should read Mere Christianity.  It's become a staple of modern evangelicalism, which is a very good thing.  C.S. Lewis in this book describes the reason behind believing in the God of the Bible.  This book was formed from a series of broadcasts given on BBC radio by C.S. Lewis regarding belief in God long ago.  But this book remains highly relevant today.  Enjoy.

7. The Conviction to Lead by Albert Mohler - We live in a time in history when there is a great vacuum in leadership.  Good men are prevented from leading while small men intent on enriching themselves tend to lead in government and in religious fields.  It's an ugly state of affairs.  But thankfully Dr. Mohler has written a wonderful treatise on how to boldly lead based on biblical convictions.  Audiobook format I enjoyed greatly... your welcome.  Be a great leader, do it for Jesus, not for dollars.  We're tired of clowns on television who do it for dollars.  We're tired of "evangelical" rock stars and pastors intent on making money and showing how important they are.  Instead of that, be a leader of conviction.

8. Unraveling the Origins Controversy by David DeWitt - We need to understand our own origins.  We're taught evolution, over billions of years, from rocks to men, but that just isn't biblical.  It doesn't make sense either.  Therefore I'm including an excellent book by Dr. David DeWitt which covers everything on the origin of the universe.  It's an incredible book.  I studied it for a class at Liberty University.  It's great, enjoy.

9. The Weight of Glory and other Addresses by C.S. Lewis - This is a great read/audiobook.  I love it actually.  I got it for you specifically because of one of the essays on it called "Why I am Not a Pacifist."  It was by given C.S. Lewis to a pacifist society in the United Kingdom, during World War II.  A lot of people today seem to think that Jesus was some sort of nicer-than-nice pacifist hippie.  I think it's pretty clear from the King of kings descriptions in Revelation and other books of the Bible that Jesus is not a pacifist.  But this essay in particular changed everything.  I thought Jesus meant love and submission "unqualified" in the scriptures and that any violence or fighting back was wrong.  C.S. Lewis changed my mind.  I went to the scriptures to see if Lewis was right, sure enough, he was.  Enjoy.

10. The Gospel of John (movie) - This movie changed my life.  Well, Jesus Christ changed my life.  But you get what I mean.  I was never very good at reading.  Ironic, since I write so much.  Anyway, when my cousin gave me this movie, which is word-for-word John's gospel (GNT) I must've watched it over one hundred times.  Why?  The words of the scriptures bring the Spirit of God.  So I listened and watched.  Eventually this led me to cry out to Jesus Christ in submission and request for help.  Then my life changed forever.  It's very well done, not corny at all.  Use it as another way to expose yourself to the scriptures.  

I almost got you...
Mining for God (DVD) featuring William Lane Craig, others.
Evolution vs. God by Living Waters (DVD)
Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

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Volunteers are Awesome: They Change the World

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Thank God for volunteers. They change the world. I’m completely serious right now. God bless volunteers. What would we do without them? Well, I imagine we’d do a lot less. 

I’ve often wondered at what I could do in the world with 10 good men. Or 10 good women. Imagine what a church can do with 10 good volunteers? It changes everything. It’s no longer a minister or two against the world. Its a team, then an army, and pretty soon a movement!  

Lay ministers, lay staff, as they call them are real game changers. It changes an impact from hundreds to tens of thousands. There’s a crisis of volunteers I think. I work in the Salvation Army, and at our corps we generally have good amounts of volunteers. Well, it depends on the corp. The corp I work at is blessed with a lot of volunteers. But none of them are under fifty. That’s just a fact. 

Millennials like myself are hard to coral into a community, or into doing free work. Volunteering is essentially working and helping for free. Millennials aren’t too concerned with being in community, despite the growing and intense loneliness expressed by those who spend a great deal of time on social media. Let me suggest to millennials: Be part of a community. Make a commitment, good times and bad, to be a part of something greater than yourself.

Choose wisely. Of course I’m going to suggest the Salvation Army in your area! Why not? Salvation Army takes Christianity to the extreme. And we millennials are often extreme. We want to do things that have meaning. It’s not extravagant, packing boxes and hauling carts full of food, but it’s more meaningful than all the videogames, social media, nights at the bar, and party events combined. 

Change the world. That’s what your always saying millennials, so do it. Do it the nitty gritty real way, by working hard in the thankless role of the volunteer. Nobody is going to toot your horn when you’re a volunteer, well, aside from me. 

Volunteers change the world. I love volunteers. Watching volunteers work hard, day and night is the most encouraging thing. I want to cry when I see them, because they are so wonderful. 

Yet even if millennials aren’t willing to grow up and step into charity service, church service, and food pantry volunteering don’t worry, they’ll still end up in the same place. We regularly receive volunteers from the county jail and from young people on probation! So either way, young adults end up at the pantry sorting goods. Either they come to volunteer, or they come to get out of the jail for a few hours. I prefer volunteers, but either way it'll happen.  Young adults will have to find a way to grow up and become a part of community, or they can remain children behind bars. It’s a conundrum. 

I’ve found it very rewarding to engage in community. I never did in the past. I thought it was stupid and I preferred to be on my computer or playing videogames. Yet when I cleaned up and found Jesus, I began to enjoy community and fellowship. I slowly stepped back into the world. I slowly became a part of community, even though it was at times difficult and strenuous. Often it was so difficult to deal with personalities and annoying people that I almost withdrew again. But I stuck it out. The benefits of long term friendships and relationships far outweighs the pains of disagreements, conflicts, and annoyances. 

Thank God for volunteers. They change the world. Without volunteers charities couldn’t function. Without volunteers food pantries would be empty. And I could say the same for donors, who are so generous in the United States. They give so much and it’s wonderful to see. It’s amazing to see businesses stand for the good of the community. It’s crushed much of my own pessimism in life, seeing the generosity of so many toward our causes. 

I never really cared about charity, about religious organizations, and really about much of anything to do with civilized society. I just wanted to have fun. Today, after meeting Jesus I’m in love with non-profits, religious charities and organizations that generously serve their communities through donations. And most of all I’m in love with volunteers who take time outside of their work schedules to serve causes they believe in. 

As much as I talked big in the past about wanting to help the world and save the world, I could never manage to step into a non-profit and volunteer my time. Isn’t that interesting? As much as I sat around smoking pot and philosophizing about the latest liberal hope for humanity, I never really did anything about it. Now that I know Jesus, I do it unto the Lord. And I know it matters. 

Thank God for volunteers. They change the world, when so many talk big but don’t deliver, they actually step forward and do the work. Are you called to volunteer your time? It doesn’t have to be 15-30 hours a week. You could volunteer 1 hour a week, or even 1 hour a month. I’m calling on all people, most importantly young adults and millennials to break the selfishness mold in our culture and volunteer in meaningful ways in our communities. Be the change in the world. Do it for the Lord. Take care, God bless you, amen. 

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A Time for Christ: How Can I Set a New Standard this Christmas Season?

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Christmas season is well upon us, and I find myself asking this question: How can I make this time of year about Christ? How can I make him the centerpiece of my Christmas season? 

That was how it was designed actually. Many Christians say that the Christmas season is pagan; all the rituals are pagan in origin. They are actually somewhat right. But they are also quite wrong. In the ancient Roman empire the first Christians were attempting to evangelize the pagan spiritualists, gnostics, syncretists, and other faiths within the empire. They did this quite effectively by “converting” pagan holidays into Christian holidays. It’s a highly advanced form of missionary evangelism centered on allowing the individuals to remain within their cultural context. The sadly ineffective counterpart to this cultural approach is mission station evangelism which tends to attract only a few who are already out-casted from their current culture. 

Christians in those days took many of the symbols used by pagans and rewrote them to have Christian meaning. That way these new Christians could still have a similar ritual while centering the event on Jesus Christ. This helped transform and renew culture in the Roman empire. The final result of the efforts of these first Christians in the ancient Roman empire? They went from a persecuted minority to spreading across the entire empire. They went from being burned at the stake by Nero to being sanctioned and encouraged by Constantine.

God teaches us through the Old Testament to always remember what he has done for us. He taught the ancient Israelite's to celebrate yearly feasts like: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths.  The festivals were important because they reminded Israel that God was God and always would be their God. 

He taught them write the words of the OT laws on places in their homes, and to discuss them continuously.

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
 -Joshua 1:8 NIV

Into the New Testament, the church forming in that time regularly met together to rejoice in the wonderful grace of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:42-47. Click here for more scriptures on gathering together.)

I need those same reminders today, in the Christmas season, to keep me centered on Jesus Christ. I need it next year too. My family needs those same reminders, every year. We need to be reminded. We need to retell the story of how God came into the world to redeem his people. 

That’s what Christmas is really about. It’s about recalling Jesus Christ and sharing the story that changed the world. 

I can certainly understand and sympathize with those who call to “keep Christ in Christmas.” I’ve noticed some Christians, bloggers and others on the internet seem determined to shame those who want to keep Christ in Christmas. I guess I don’t understand why. These are good people trying to engage in the culture and keep Christmas as a centerpiece of American life. There isn’t anything wrong with that. Maybe we younger bloggers and writers could learn from the example of those who take a stand for religious thought on the calendar of humanity. After all history itself, time itself centers around Jesus Christ: B.C and A.D. 

Cultural engagement is so very important to the cause of Christ. And just as important is political engagement. Once again many younger, I think perhaps more "millennial-minded" Christians are intent on shaming those who protest, take a stand, or engage in the political and cultural arenas. I don’t understand why in this case either. I think it goes to a basic ignorance regarding the history of religious thought in western civilization, and a basic ignorance of the looming threats to religious liberty in the west. They just want to evangelize, which is great, but they don’t seem to realize that the freedom to evangelize is found within the political sphere. And it does in fact face imminent attack: Click here to read a PDF account of over 1,600 attacks on religious liberty in the USA: Undeniable: The Survey of Hostility Toward Religion in America by Liberty Institute.

But Jesus wasn’t into politics. Wasn’t he? The political leaders of the time were the Pharisees, did he ever confront them? Yes he did.  Jesus didn't lead a revolution against the pharisees or the Roman authorities through strength of arms, but he did lead a spiritual revolution.  And it changed the world forever.

Yet even if that reasoning isn't sufficient to convince, here is a simple argument: Romans 13:1 says "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."  In that period of time this meant obeying the laws of the Roman empire and the will of the emperor (as long as it didn't interfere with responsibility to God.)  Today we live in a country considered a constitutional republic.  Part of being a citizen of a constitutional republic is the civic duty of electing leaders and participating in the government.  Therefore, to obey the teaching in Romans 13 to obey governing authorities we have a civic responsibility to participate in our participatory democracy. 
 

The church Jesus founded has constantly changed and transformed cultures and civilizations across history. We need to be aware of the history and story of our faith across time, and the threats to our freedom to speak about Christ today. Some of us younger bloggers, maybe we need to turn down the Christian rock, tone down the contemporary worship service, shut off the TV, and start doing some real research on religious liberty, Christian history, and cultural engagement. 

Don’t shoot other Christians when they say, “keep Christ in Christmas.” They are fighting against a secularization taking place in our culture. If you can’t see it, it’s because you were born into it friend. I couldn’t see it at first either. I had to learn and see it. 

I had to read books like How Should we then Live? by Francis Schaeffer (and the companion DVD) and the Sky is Not Falling by Charles Colson. I had to watch documentaries like: Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed. I had to view the Truth Project series by Focus on the Family. I had to go to websites like the ACLJ, Liberty Institute, and Alliance defending Freedom and read their articles on religious liberty. I had to dig into things.  I would encourage all Christians to do the same.  We need to be educated on these issues.

We followers of Jesus need to constantly remind ourselves of the path behind us, our current road, and the way ahead. In so doing we can contend with key issues like gay marriage, abortion, religious liberty, naturalism, scientism, post-modernism, and many other issues.  We remain in Christ, in the Christian worldview more thoroughly when we discover the contending worldviews. We remain in the moment, relevant and able to speak meaningfully on key issues.  Including issues within the realm of Christmas, like the Christian message, how it inter-relates to government, culture, and business.  And it's tough.  Many want to remove all mention of religious thought from seemingly every aspect of our lives, until the only place we can practice our faith is in the chapel an hour a week.  They want forced equality in every area, including religion.

That would be reasonable if Christianity were just a myth, but it's true.  Since it's true, it ought to be at the center of American life.  Not forced on anyone, but when a majority hold to the Christian faith, we ought to allow it's inclusion in all aspects of life, not just in the chapel.  If people get offended, fair enough, a lot of things offend me too!  I'm offended by the depravity on the television everyday.  I'm offended by Miley Cyrus twerking on a guy wearing a black piece of plastic strapped to his crotch.  The culture looks at that and thinks "no problem, shes just expressing herself" but when they see a Christian praying at his workplace they go crazy, and they're mad and offended.  That's just ridiculous if you ask me.

This world is hard to understand.  Yet here we are, in the Christmas season.  Christmas, well, Christmas... It’s a tough thing to understand. Somehow the message of Christ has been lost or at least de-emphasized. It’s become more about giving gifts to one another, the bright tree, the lights on the houses, eating lavish meals, and buying more and more stuff. That’s how it always was in my family. There was really little to no mention of Christ. My grandpa would give a one liner before the meal.  We'd smile at his old traditions. My Grandma on the other side of the family would usually mention something quick.  We'd wait patiently for her to finish, somewhat annoyed, then move on.  That was about it. 

 

Today being a born again Christian I look at those family routines and I wonder to myself, how can I set a different precedent in my family? I’m sure one day I’ll be married, with children; How can I establish a tradition in my family that places Christ at the forefront?

I saw a tree on Facebook being shared, going viral, a tree shaped like a cross with lights on it. On the wall next to it were Christian images like the cross. It was beautiful. I thought, now that’s a wonderful way to keep Christ at the center. Me and my family, we could kneel down together on Christmas morning and pray to the Lord. We could sing songs together, praising the Lord. My wife and I could share a short message, a devotional of the story of how Jesus came into the world. We could then give gifts to one another, preempting the gift giving with an indication that Jesus gave us the ultimate gift of eternal life. 

“We give gifts to one another because he taught us to love another and serve one another.” 

Jesus said,“love one another, as I have loved you so you must love one another.” 

We could then eat a meal, praying before the meal and knowing that God is the provider of all our needs. Then we could watch cheesy Christian Christmas movies. 

I imagine that’s how Christmas was 100 years ago in the United States. It was a truly Christian nation.  Every aspect of life was centered of the Bible.  And that worked very well.  The Bible was taught in school.  Prayer was in school.  And it worked really well.  It produced the greatest generation.  But try learning that in public school today!  I had to dig for the facts regarding Christianity's centrality to the USA.  It was like religious facts were specifically excluded from histories and accounts, or at least minimized.  I had to do serious independent study to learn these things.  The famed evangelical leader Albert Mohler referred to it in "The Conviction to Lead" as an intentional subversion.  And he said he sees his job as subverting the subversion.  I wonder, has Christmas been subverted?  If so, how can I subvert the subversion?

When I was growing up I thought Christmas was all about Santa Claus!  They taught us this bogus story that Christmas was about a heavy set bearded guy in red, from Germany, that gave gifts to people down their chimneys. They also said that somehow this story was repeated in cultures all over the world. And they would teach us the names of Satan Claws, I mean Santa Claus in various languages. How’s that for a half-baked syncretist distortion of the meaning of Christmas? 

Christmas is about Jesus. But we see this spiritual battle in our world manifested by the changing meanings of Christmas, Easter, and other holidays from days of reverence to days of self indulgence and sin. It’s amazing to witness. 

The Christmas season is about Jesus. But we have to fight to keep that meaning within it. Other meanings, produced by the spiritual battles in the high places attempt to shift that meaning to something else entirely. Same thing with consumerism, it pushes that process along because selfishness means profits for big business. But it’s all about Jesus. In fact everyday is about Jesus. But we form certain times of the year to center our lives on the history within the Bible.  We center our calendar year around the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I want you to think about this carefully: How can you set a new standard within your family this Christmas season, to keep Christ at the center? It won’t always be an easy thing. We don’t like change. Our families may even mock us for our beliefs. But hopefully we can find a way to make Christmas about Christ. That was the original intent. If your heartset on not participating at all, because you believe Christmas is pagan in origin, fair enough, but perhaps you could find times of the year to remind you and your family of the wonderful gift of eternal life from Christ Jesus our Lord. 

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I'll Fight to bring the Light of God to the Lost Souls of Our Time!

The founder of the Salvation Army William Booth said, "While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight
While little children go hungry, as they do now,
I'll fight
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight
While there is a drunkard left,
While there is a poor lost girl upon the streets,
While there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight, I'll fight to the very end!” 

At the beginning of December every year the Salvation Army honors this powerful statement with "I'll Fight" Day. 

Many of us were lost, addicted, troubled, and very self destructive. Personally I used to sit around every day complaining, loaded up on this or that, running my mouth. I was so good at victimizing myself and portraying every situation as a tragedy happening to me.
I always said, "I want change!" But while I said it, I sat there and did nothing. I smoked pot, drank, sat on the internet, and wanted change.

Today, I am the change. I'm doing something. 

William Booth said, "Do something!" 

Today, I do something. The world is a scary place. Someone has to stand up. Will you?

Someone else isn't going to stand up. Everyone is headed for the bar, the club, the strip joint, or the dope house. Everyone is headed to the white picket fence, the big bank account, the luxury lifestyle, and such selfish endeavors.

If someone is going to take a stand, it's got to be me and you. There is no one else. If you're reading these words, it's you. Others aren't going to take our place. Either we do something special, now, today, or we watch the world, our country slide deeper and deeper into darkness. You know I'm right. Take a stand.

In the past I sat around smoking dope and complaining saying "I want change." Today I serve in the Salvation Army; today I am the change. I'm through complaining, today I'm doing. Thank God for that. There is nothing worse than sitting around feeling sorry for yourself because we all got such a raw deal. 

Will you fight? I'll fight.

Today I'll fight. Tomorrow I'll keep fighting. 

While women are sold into sex slavery, as they are today, I'll fight
While unborn children are given over to death, as they are today, I'll fight
While men are drug addicted and lost, as they are today, I'll fight
While young people die in mass shootings, while a single child in India goes hungry, while there remains one lost soul, without the light of Christ, I'll fight
I'll fight to the very end!

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