Faith

Latest Podcast: What hill are you willing to die on? Episode 95

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has become public enemy number one to the pro-vaccine community.

In a call to action Sunday he said, “We need to resolve here and now that this is the hill we need to die on. They have come for our jobs, they have come for our transport, now they’re coming for our children. We have an obligation as parents to protect them. There has never been a government in history that has told its people, we are going to demand children sacrifice and take risks to save old people. It’s always the other way around. The old, the mature, the adults, always put themselves at risk to protect their children. This is an ethical issue. It’s a moral issue. It’s an issue of character for each of us. And it’s an issue about democracy and public health.”

As a Christian, I’m wondering aloud, what hill would I be willing to die on? How about you?

This podcast presents some powerful information on the state of the union as we enter 2022. Here’s another link I promised my listeners:

Finding real hope in a world gone mad

But once again, despite the circumstances, I exhort you to have faith, over fear!

B-

A Perfect Prayer for Your New Year

This prayer from Billy Graham, written for The Saturday Evening Post in 2008, is just as timely today as it was over a decade ago.

Our Father and our God, as we stand at the beginning of this new year we confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance as we face the future.

We each have our hopes and expectations for the year that is ahead of us—but You alone know what it holds for us, and only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we will need to meet its challenges. So help us to humbly put our hands into Your hand, and to trust You and to seek Your will for our lives during this coming year.

In the midst of life’s uncertainties in the days ahead, assure us of the certainty of Your unchanging love.

In the midst of life’s inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to turn to You for the stability and comfort we will need.

In the midst of life’s temptations and the pull of our stubborn self-will, help us not to lose our way but to have the courage to do what is right in Your sight, regardless of the cost.

And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits, open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our hurting world, and help us to respond with compassion and sacrifice to those who are friendless and in need. May our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmist: “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end” (Psalm 119:33).

We pray for our nation and its leaders during these difficult times, and for all those who are seeking to bring peace and justice to our dangerous and troubled world. We pray especially for Your protection on all those who serve in our armed forces, and we thank You for their commitment to defend our freedoms, even at the cost of their own lives. Be with their families also, and assure them of Your love and concern for them.

Bring our divided nation together, and give us a greater vision of what You would have us to be. Your Word reminds us that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12).

As we look back over this past year we thank You for Your goodness to us—far beyond what we have deserved. May we never presume on Your past goodness or forget all Your mercies to us, but may they instead lead us to repentance, and to a new commitment to make You, the foundation and center of our lives this year.

And so, our Father, we thank You for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look forward to it with expectancy and faith. This I ask in the name of our Lord and Savior, who by His death and resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the world to come.

Amen.

Ending the Curse of Roe v Wade: A Call to Pray

The Supreme Court could end Roe v Wade.  We must pray.
The Court’s decision will be made on Friday.

If you want to know where I stand on this, take a look at our family portrait (below).

I’m posting a summary of a wonderfully written, extensive article, on this monumental case currently before the Court. A link to the full article is found afterward.

Remember, all we need are five justices to see the light of truth.

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Roe v. Wade remains one of the most controversial judicial decisions in American history. Even after 50 years, dozens of additional abortion decisions, and an ongoing vigorous national debate, most Americans oppose most of the abortions that Roemade legal. Even the most creative legal scholars have failed to find a reasonable constitutional justification for Roe, and most have stopped trying. Roe’s abortion regime is far more permissive than the common law or statutes, in England or America, have ever provided. Lower courts have never been able consistently to discern and apply the subjective holdings in the Court’s abortion cases. And even the Court’s chosen basis for creating the right to abortion—the detriment that prohibiting abortion would impose—has been significantly undermined by dramatic economic, legal, and social changes in society and culture.

From changing public sentiment on abortion to advances in medical technology that reveal the mysteries of fetal development to expanding opportunities for women, the redefinition of their societal roles, and a wanting connection between abortion and women’s economic and social progress, it is appropriate for the Court to—as Justice Ginsburg rightly noted—follow the changes that have occurred elsewhere in society and put a halt to its misguided leadership on the issue of abortion.

Roe and Casey went beyond distorting or incorrectly interpreting the Constitution; they ignored the Constitution altogether, exceeding the judiciary’s proper authority in the process. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization provides an opportunity for the Court to correct this grave error.

https://www.heritage.org/the-constitution/report/dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization-opportunity-correct-grave-error

Three Rarely Told Thanksgiving Miracles

Miracle #1 – It was November 1620. The Pilgrims’ ship, the Mayflower, accidentally sailed right past the natural harbor in which they planned to land. Good thing.   Hostile natives had seen the boat offshore and were waiting to ambush the ship and its 102 passengers.

Miracle #2 – As they explored another harbor farther north (Plymouth Rock) they discovered an even better situation—a fresh water river teeming with fish, a large flat, previous cleared 3-acre field for growing crops, and a high hill perfect for their cannon to ward off enemies.  A Native Indian tribe had previously developed the farmland, but the entire lot had succumbed to a recent plague. As a result, no native tribes wanted anything to do with the land for fear it was cursed.

Miracle #3 – That first winter of 1620-21 was a horridly cold one. The Pilgrims were hardly prepared and nearly half of the Pilgrim community perished from a variety of maladies. An Indian named Samoset shocked the Pilgrims by approaching them speaking broken English!  Samoset then introduced the Pilgrims to his friend, Squanto, who spoke perfect English.  Together, Squanto and Samoset helped the settlers survive after the first winter.

As opposed to the North American settlers farther south in Jamestown who had a slogan, “Damn your soul, grow tobacco,” the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock were peaceful, God-fearing folks who had wonderful relationships with their native neighbors.  During that first Thanksgiving in November of 1621, the surviving English families had experienced great hardship and loss. Nonetheless, they fellowshipped with deep appreciation for their Indian friends and thanked God for all they had.

Here’s to the true spirit of Thanksgiving!

Preparing for Spiritual Home Invasion

I’m writing this on a Monday. Two Saturday’s ago our dwelling place was invaded with absolute chaos.

It was a spiritual attack.

For quite a few years now my wife and have made our primary residence in a small apartment on her parents’ property. We’re here to take care of them as they run the last leg of their earthly journey. Thus far they’ve both made it to 96 years of age. We strive to make sure their home, and our quarters, are filled with the Spirit of the Lord. This has been a place of fellowship, Bible study, and prayer ever since we arrived here.

If that day of chaos two Saturdays ago was described in a brief, Bible-like, paragraph it might read like this:

Brian and his wife were away for the day while others cared for his wife’s elderly parents, affectionately know as Grandma and Grandpa. Suddenly a spirit of chaos was unleashed on the home.  It began when the family cat bit Grandpa’s hand in the middle of the night spreading blood everywhere. Eventually the next 24 hours were marked with blood, urine, and dog feces in the house. The water heater also exploded. 

We came back home to absolute chaos.

That’s when the Lord clearly gave me instructions to “anoint each doorpost on the property with oil,” to proclaim to the devil that their property was off limits to any spiritual power, principality, or dark force of the enemy. I was reminded that God also instructs us, Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

I did all of those assignments with vigor.

One way to appropriate your faith for supernatural protection is to anoint your home with oil. Oil represents the power of the Holy Spirit and is a symbol of faith in God’s ability to cleanse and make holy. It is an act of consecrating your home to Him.

In Exodus 12, God gives Moses instructions for observing the Passover. The families of Israel were to choose a lamb or goat without blemish, and kill it at twilight.  They were to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and top of the doorposts of their house.  The sacrifice was to be cooked and eaten in their homes, and they were not to go outside until morning.

God told them: “On the same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn…and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.  I am the LORD.”

“Now the blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague will not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Ex. 12:13).

The Passover lamb was prophetic of the sacrfice Jesus would make for the sins of all. The blood on the doorposts would be forever a sign of protection to be eventually completed with oil rather than blood. Indeed, Jewish people to this day place a mezuzah, containing the Ten Commandments, on their doorpost as a sign of their trust in the God of Creation.  My wife and I have one on the door to our apartment. Daily upon entering our domicile it reminds us of the eternal covenant relationship we have with the High Priest of our faith: Jesus the Messiah. The One who stated, “I am the way, truth, and life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.”

Little did I know what was to follow my anointing endeavor.  My dear mother-in-law suffered a  stroke Sunday night. A few days later she was in hospice care at home. She’s at the end of her journey and soon to see her Savior.

The Lord knew this stroke was to occur.  The Bible is clear, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).  All forces of evil needed to be on notice to stay off the property as something very significant was about to occur in the life of one of Jesus’ followers.

Upon praying and anointing, the home in which my wife’s mother will conclude this life became one of complete peace. All chaos has been chased away. The family is in unity. The Spirit of God is abundantly evident.

Friends, something very significant is taking place that is worth considering. The entire world is in various stages of of lock-down, mask requirements, and vaccine certificates. What’s being attempted by the devil is unprecedented. It’s much greater in scope than just containing a virus.

God’s calling upon His people to come out of this wicked world.  He’s giving specific instructions, as He did Israel, to come under His shelter of protection.  We are to place the Blood of Jesus over our doorposts.  This includes not only the doorpost of our heart, but our physical dwelling.

Draw near to God as never before.  Jesus said the Holy Spirit will remind us of His Word, lead us into all truth, and show us things to come.

Amen

Post Script: My mother-in-law died peacefully last night, surrounded by her husband, children, several grandchildren, and even two great-grandchildren. It turned out to be a precious night of fellowship and conversation that last hours after she passed.

I’m reminded of 1 Corinthians 15:55 –
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”