Phil Robertson & WWJS

The reason that people have their panties in a wad over this Phil Robertson thing is simply because the majority of humanity can accept the idea of a heaven where good people go who have lived good lives, but also lean toward rejecting the thought of an "eternal torment" place called hell.  I happen to believe fully in both because the Bible teaches this truth.  But for those who do believe in a hell, the begging question is how to avoid it.

Because of our laws, our views on karma, our reward systems, and every other part of culture, the logical accepted way to get into heaven is to be a "good person."  If we've done enough right, and it outweighs our list of wrongs, then we must be going to heaven.  Only "bad people" go to hell.  But if THAT'S true, then the question begs, "How good is good ENOUGH?"  "Good" to one may not be "good" to another.  Hitler was someone's son. They may not have viewed him as evil, though the rest of us probably would.

So is it then a majority vote?  If so, who casts the ballots?  In the eyes of gay & lesbian groups, they have viewed Phil Robertson's quote as a "ballot" cast against them.  Many gays & lesbians believe in heaven, God, and a moral code and attend churches weekly.  So they are wondering how DARE someone cast that ballot against their ability to get into heaven?!?

But here's the truth that I know...that Phil Robertson knows, I believe.  There isn't ONE of us worthy to cast a ballot, nor make a determination on what must be right and wrong, or dub someone "good enough" for heaven.  THAT responsibility is God's and His alone!  So if we don't determine who is or isn't good, and God does, then how does this standard leave His mouth to reach our ears so that we're not just left guessing?  That would be the Bible. But the problem there is that NOBODY is good enough to live up to the standard set by this book!  God knew that too.  He didn't send a list of right and wrongs that He knew we couldn't uphold to simply laugh at us and scoff because of our failure at righteousness, tho.  There was a plan.  One that would pay the death sentence that is the ONLY payment for sin and satisfy the law that He, Himself, instituted.  And that's why He sent Jesus.  What we deserve, hell: eternal death and punishment, because of all the things HE listed as wrong in scripture (yes, homosexuality is one of those things along with lying, cheating, murder, adultery, coveting, putting anyone or anything as a priority in our lives over God, etc., etc.) was trumped by God's love for humanity in the death of Jesus Christ and is granted to ALL through an acceptance of this gift.  It goes against everything we trust in in our merit based sociological systems, I know.  But that's grace.

Phil didn't just come up with what he said. God did. Robertson may have stated it a little harshly, maybe. But it doesn't negate the truth of it. Nor the grace, love, and mercy God offers those who are caught up in ANY of the "sins" listed in scripture. I've not been a participant in that particular one (homosexuality), but there are certainly others that I have been.  And what I deserve is no different whatsoever from anyone else.  NONE of us are perfect!  We are all sinners saved only by God's grace.  We (including Phil) are ALL deserving of hell.  None "good enough" to make it into heaven on the merit of our own spiritual report cards. Those of us who are assured that heaven will be our eternal home are only confident of that hope because we have accepted the gift of Jesus' death on the cross.  We have no room for pointing fingers.  Grace just changed everything.

So, WWJ...um...S: What Would Jesus Say?  Let me be very clear, do NOT lump me in the crowd that looks at the Robertson issue with A&E and yells, "Christians need to stand up for what's right!"  If we talk double standards, yes, I believe there is one in this nation on free speech when it comes to Christian beliefs and morals. But I don't believe that it is a battle won in the media, Facebook, pulpits, or especially the White House! This may shock some of you, but I don't think that's what's needed here!!! I don't think that would be advised by our Savior either.

I can here the collective, "HUH?!?" What would Jesus say?  Well, let's see.  I believe He's already said it. Fellow believers, people who choose not to follow Christ will not act as though they are Bible thumping believers and neither should they be EXPECTED to!!!  Jesus said it on the cross, remember?  "Father, forgive them. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING!" (emphasis mine)  (Click here to read it for yourself.)  How dare we argue something with the very people to whom we are trying to extend hope?!? That makes NO sense! Phil was asked a question.  He answered it.  Do I think he's being treated fairly?  No.  But he is not the first and will not be the last.  So do we sit by and do nothing?!?  Absolutely not.  "Then what do we do?" you ask.  I'm so glad you did.  But let's start with what NOT to do from the words of scripture, the same source from which Phil drew his deductions shared with GQ.

Remind everyone about these things, and command them in God’s presence to stop fighting over words. Such arguments are useless, and they can ruin those who hear them. 2 Timothy 2:14 (NLT)

A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. Proverbs 15:1 (NLT)

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Romans 12:19 (NLT)

Let's stop acting like spoiled brats and saying we gotta stand up for Jesus!  Jesus can handle His own!  He's waiting on us to stand up for the broken, the sick, the hurting, the needy, the hungry, the tired, the confused, the addicted, THAT'S who we need to stand up for!  THAT'S who Jesus gave His life for!!!  You can't make the change you want when you do it top down. Jesus knew that.  That's why He never instructed us to "love thy President, Mayor, Governor, Congressman, King, Pastor, Elder or otherwise."  He said, "love thy neighbor."  Right before Jesus' ascension, He gave the instructions to start with those closest to them geographically and work outward from there!  Click on this scripture reference and read Acts 1:8 (NLT).  This was God's plan all along!  Christians have been acting like we can save God time by forgetting our neighbor and trying for the big fish!  That's never worked!  So what can we do that WILL make a difference?

“The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31 (NLT)

You know that guy standing on the exit ramp begging for a dollar?  Stop, get out, and give him $5 and pray for him while you're there.  "But he might be running a scam!"  Click on the scripture reference and look back at Romans 12:19.  That's not your call or your problem.  You know the single Mom who checks you out at the grocery store or serves you in your favorite restaurant?  Cook her a meal to feed her family because when she gets home, she's probably too tired and would enjoy a night to concentrate on her kids.  You know the college students in your town that may be staying over Christmas because they can't afford to go home?  Buy one of them a gift and invite them to your home to spend it with your family.  Give your sales clerk a friendly smile and understand that they are just as stressed as you and that their day would be better if they could make yours better as well.  Pay for the person's coffee behind you at Starbucks just because.  Give toys to a family in your community who you know needs them.  Act like you're a child of God and that you believe what you claim!  Watch your attitude.  If you know Jesus, all of the fruit of the Spirit (click the underlined part to read the list) are in you and at your disposal.  LIVE IT!!!  Be hope.  Be grace.  Be mercy.  Be the Church.  Be Jesus.  Err on the side of grace.  Love the unloveable.  Forgive the unforgivable.  Don't think you can do that?  That's exactly what Jesus did for you!  Who do we blame for the mess the world is in?  Go look in the mirror!  No, you didn't do it alone.  Neither did I.  At some point the collective Church forgot her mission and her call to obedience.  We devised our own plan and thought we could do better.  We didn't.  We can't.  Get back to basics.  Love because your are loved.  Serve because you have been served.  Give because you have been given to.  And one by one by one by one, we will see the change we seek in our communities, our nation, and our world.

I welcome your comments!  PLEASE click on the words "No Comment" or "Comment" (whichever is listed just to the right of the posting time directly below this paragraph) and post a comment of your own.  You must also choose a profile from the drop down list, or just choose "anonymous" from the list and type your name at the end of your comment in the actual comment box.  Clicking the PUBLISH button posts your comment and you're good to go!  Use the social media links there to share to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts directly.  THANK YOU for stopping by!  Till next time...

BIBLE: How To Win Back A "Fallen" Christian

BEFORE READING THIS BLOG, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU READ MY BLOG FROM A FEW DAYS AGO, LEAVE 99 AND GO FOR 1.  IT SETS UP THE ATTITUDE AND SOME OF THE LANGUAGE I WILL BE USING HERE IN THIS BLOG.

I'm not speaking to this question having gone through some kind of seminary class on the theology of rescuing wayward Christians.  Neither have I been to some psychology classes that gives me some kind of degree to hang out a shingle and start a counseling firm.  I have a Spiritual Gift of counseling, but no degree.

So what are my credentials?  I have only one.  I'm one of the wayward Christians who have been rescued...on more than one occasion.  A "success story" type description would be a bit of a stretch.  I made it through once, only to do again what I swore would NEVER happen again!  But I'm also one of the fortunate ones.  I'm in love with Jesus today and I'm learning more and more about Him every day.  There's hope for those like me.  Maybe you know someone like me and you want more than anything to see them in a better place.  Read on. There's no formula, but here, you'll get a little advice, a few guidelines, and, I pray, a lot of hope!!!

First and foremost, YOU need to realize that you're no different.  Name the sin.  Whatever it is that someone else has done, it's no worse than anything you've done!  The moment you think yourself better, in any way, than the person you want to help, you give the enemy a foothold in the outcome.  The devil will consistently spin the conversations with that attitude unless you first surrender that spirit of superiority to Christ, repent of it, and be a conduit of grace because you fully understand that it took the same Spotless Lamb's blood to save YOUR sin as it will theirs.  If you can't reach this place, let someone else handle it.  But this is important for ALL Christians to realize, not just a few.  It's the recognition of the power of the grace and forgiveness in our own lives that supercharges the effectiveness of our testimonies and counsel to others.  It's "Being A Christian 101!"

Second, you need to realize that tough love and scare tactics rarely work.  It's not something you see in scripture either.  Giving your life for someone else's is one thing, if you want to call that a form of tough love.  But there's no greater love than that.  THAT kind of love is not only in scripture, it is what Jesus did for us all!!!  Discipline is in scripture.  It even says that God chastises those whom He loves.  So I'm not saying there should not be discipline.  But Jesus never exercised, endorsed, or encouraged any form of tough love!  It causes resentment in the one you're trying to help.  Resentment causes a desire for separation.  The moment you further separate the person any more than what they already are, that is the moment you turn them over to that "roaring lion seeking whom he may devour."  The devil WANTS them alone!  Without protection, they're easy prey.  It's the 1 who has left the 99.  Yet this seems to be the FIRST thing that many Christians do!  We feel like we can't handle it or don't want to, so we take a hands off approach.  We look at them and say, "I'm not sure you're even a sheep.  And if you ARE one, you're not like us and we don't want you or to be associated with you."  But in doing this, we remove the protection of the influence of other Christians in their lives.  We paint a target on the back of the sheep and say, "Here you go, devil.  You can have this one.  He's not worthy to be in our group!"

I can hear your thoughts, "So then are you saying to CONDONE the sin and act like nothing is wrong?"  ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!  Scripture doesn't do that either!!!  Sin is sin and it cost Jesus His life!!!  We need to, again, FULLY understand of what Jesus has forgiven us, before we EVER start trying to point out the ins of others!  We're quick to go to Matthew 18 and say that we should consider them o be like tax collectors and other sinners.  But did we do what Matthew 18 pointed out before it ever got to that point?!?  It lists a step by step process!  But read what happens we choose not to forgive someone who asks for it in Matthew 18:21-35.  It doesn't do well to withhold forgiveness.

So then, WHAT IS THE ANSWER?!?  It's simple.  Love.  That's it.  A simple four letter word.  Love in SPITE of the sin, not because of it.  Love the SINNER, not the sin.  Remember the shepherd going out to find the 1 and leaving the 99?  Remember what his staff is for?  NEVER use the pointy end on the sheep!!!  That is for the enemy, the devourer, not the one you wish to protect.  Guard your words carefully.  Be transparent about your own failures.  Take responsibility for any part you played, even if you don't think you did!!!  This can't be about you.  It's about them.  It is reducing yourself below your rights and what or who you believe you are to reach out to someone who doesn't DESERVE your rescue attempt, but you love them or Jesus or both enough to try.

Now let me say a word about counseling.  I've been through counseling.  I went through about 3 years of it a number of years ago.  It worked some wonders in my life at the time.  I identified a lot of things that helped me to watch out for pitfalls in the future.  But it did not keep me from making the same mistake again!  There are all kinds of great programs out there for all kinds of different problems.  But an alcoholic will always be tempted by alcohol.  A drug addict by drugs.  A porn addict by porn.  These things are readily accessible by anyone who wants to try hard enough.  But NOTHING out there works as well as the move of God in a person's life!  I don't care how many programs you send someone to, Jesus is still better than any doctor or counselor.  I believe in the work of doctors and counselors!  I DO!!!  But Jesus is making the lasting difference!!!

Read Romans 6:23.  Notice the use of the words "is death."  Friends, when Christians sin, there is still DEATH!!!  Hear me?  Let me repeat that.  When Christians sin, there is STILL DEATH!!!  When I sinned, I had all kinds of friends - CHRISTIAN friends - dessert me!  They all told me, "That's the consequences of your sin."  WHAT?!?  No.  See, we don't get to sentence our brothers and sisters to any kind of consequence.  They're dying inside!!!  If they truly know Jesus, there is conviction, there is grief, there is mourning, and yes, there is a part of them that has died.  It is the part called "a right relationship with God."  And that part is the very heartbeat and breath - the LIFE - of a believer in Jesus.  There is NOTHING you or anyone else on this earth can say or do that will cause more death in a person's life that being outside that right relationship!  They may not realize it.  They may deny it.  They may reject a belief in it.  But that's not THEIR choice either!!!  That's Bible.  Death is the payment - the wages - of sin.  God said that would happen.  And our belief as far as what treatment sinners need doesn't mean a hill of beans to God!  He's got this.  He doesn't need our help.  GOD is the Judge.  God is the Jury.  And HE will pronounce sentence.  He has given us two commands, basically.  They are NOT, "watch and see how many tears they cry at the altar, I need to know if they are REALLY sorry!  I can't tell from up here."  He's never deferred and said, "Pastor, how many years of counseling do you think he needs before I let him serve Me again?  Now I know I can't let him back in the capacity he was because you people won't accept him that way."  Sounds ridiculous, almost blasphemous, doesn't it?  But that is the attitude we take.  That's the way we expect God to act.  When He has told us our two responsibilities: love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves.  Period.  We love them.  We ache with them when we see the sentence (if He chooses to pronounce one) on their lives.  Because we know that but for the grace of God, there go I!

People have looked at Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, Michael English, and the like, and have shamed them and shunned them and refused to listen to them because they have sin in their past.  Well SO DO YOU!!!  The ONLY difference between them and you is that everybody knows what THEY did!!!  What would happen if someone were to read your most private sins that you hope nobody ever finds out about in a public arena?  THEN how would you feel about grace?!?  You'd want a little, wouldn't you?  But we need PROOF that they've repented!!!  NO YOU DON'T!!!  God's a big boy.  He said He would handle that part.  LET HIM!!!  Personally, I think that is a total blatant display of a lack of faith in God!  When Christians do that, it is a window into their own relationship with God that says, "I really don't believe it when I say that God can handle anything, even that which He has promised to handle."  In that situation, YOU are the problem, not the one who is wayward and crying out on the inside for someone to help and listen.

Understand, I'm not trying to get any kind of sympathy or "preach" to friends who turned their backs on me.  I left that to Jesus.  All but 1 has allowed me to restore my relationships with them through Christ.  Thank You, Lord, for that!!!  And I have left the 1 in the hands of Jesus and have accepted his decision not to have any further contact with me.  He has that right.  As far as I know, he will never see this blog.

Truth be told, people who have experienced public sin, people such as those listed above, probably have a closer walk with Jesus than any of you!  WHY?!?  Because HE is the "Great Shepherd" who left the 99 and went after them and now holds them close to His chest!  HE is the "Great Physician."  HE is the "Wonderful Counselor."  Not YOU!  Not Dr. Phil!!!  No Dr. Drew!!!  JESUS!!!!

Let me tell you, friends, I have learned more about the power of God in my life (thus the lives of others since He loves us all) after my "fall" than I ever did before!!!  I'm closer to God now.  I have a renewed sense of purpose.  I have a renewed calling, even though His first call on my life has never been revoked according to Romans 11:29.

I also believe that the closer a person is to a wayward Christian, the more responsibility they have.  Parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, best friends, spouses, children, whatever - we have the responsibility of getting our hands dirty.  Scripture makes it VERY clear what our responsibilities are in Galatians 6:1-3.  Pay strong and close attention to the words "GENTLY" and "HUMBLY."  Plus God says in James 5:19-20 that those who bring them back - those who embark on a rescue mission - end up saving a life and a multitude of sins!  The question to you is, "Do you mean what you say?"  Do you really LOVE that person?

There are many out there who have children, parents, friends, etc who have "gone off the deep end."  I'm no pro.  I have no shingle and no degree.  There are no formulas.  But if you need to ask a question, I would love to help if I can.  Feel free to write me.  You can use the link on the right of this blog under the ABOUT ME section.  I will write you back.  And PLEASE take time to comment below!!!  Share this blog on YOUR Facebook page so that your friends can read what's here.  I believe this information to be so very important.  Just click on the Facebook and Twitter links that are somewhat grayed out below this blog near the "Comments" section and you can share to either one you wish.

Thanks for taking time with me.  I hope and pray this helps you and many others.  Till next time...