October’s Top Posts:

Here are the top ten for the month of October. If you haven’t read/watched have a look now. Be blessed and share with a friend!

  1. Faster Pastor Episode #2 Unity in Diversity with a full month to run and the little pick-up from the blogs Spectrum & Advindicate moves up from #4 to #1.
  2. The Ordained Women Pastors of China made me cry both times I watched it!
  3. Daily Disappointment a little piece I wrote as I reflected on the great disappointment of 1844
  4. Pastor Dwight Nelson’s Sermon “A Mighty Throng of Women: A Second Look at Male Headship” our third video is #4 this month.
  5. Donkeys, Elephants, & a Lesson Learned at Chick-Fil-A last months top post remained in the top ten this month.
  6. What U2, Bon Jovi, & AC/DC Teach Us About Church I wrote this blog more than a year ago, but my readership was much less then and so I reposted it this month & I guess enough folk hadn’t read it so it made it back into my top 10.
  7. Introducing Speiro Media Ministries thankful for the many that have supported this endeavor and praying many more will jump in!
  8. I Love Dayton one of my favorite blogs I have ever written. Probaly because of the deep nostalgia associated with this city and great love I have for Ohio/the people of Ohio and all they did for me in my life!
  9. Faster Pastor Episode #3: Training Journal Apps. This one is all about running.
  10. The Pink Slip another blog I wrote almost 2 years ago that I re-released brings up the tail of the top 10 posts for the month of October.

Faster Pastor: Episode #4: God & American Politics

Appreciated Pastor Dwight Nelson joining us today for our episode of Faster Pastor. I really resonated with much that my three other colleagues shared. I wish we could have recorded what happened after the video went off! Besides David teasing Albert for being Uncle Sam and telling folk to “Go Vote!” it was a lively discussion of four pastors that are acutely aware of the times we are living in and a desire above all else to see Jesus’ love shared with this nation, a flawed nation, but a nation we still all desperately love! Dwight had a beautiful prayer for all of us, that should be prayed over every single believer in this country–“no matter what happens Tuesday, keep us faithful to Jesus!”

Jesus Would Endorse…

Which candidate would Jesus endorse? A pretty silly question, since the answer is quite obvious! After analysis of both Mr. Mitt Romney & President Barack Obama it is clear that Jesus would endorse…

NEITHER!

Why?

Is it because Jesus wants a different candidate? Perhaps if Ron Paul had won the GOP nod or maybe if the Libertarian Party had more sway and their candidate, Gary Johnson, had a chance of winning.

No Jesus would not endorse them either.

How can I be so sure?

Because of Jesus’ track record.

Jesus refused to ever endorse a single candidate or show His hand a single time while He walked on this earth.

Now some may say, “well that is because there was no candidate to endorse.” “There was not the political strife in the first century that there is in the 21st century.”

Really?

History would tell a different story. Do any of these issues sound familiar?

  • A growing economic disparity betwen the upper & lower classes.
  • Frustration over taxes & tax policy.
  • Blurred lines between church & state.
  • Questions on what social issues should be under church jurisdiction & which should be under government jurisdiction.

Jesus’ world was ripe with political strife and on many occasions He was asked to step into the political fray and “endorse” a candidate:

“Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come,” –Luke 17:20a

The folk of that day didn’t think of the Kingdom of God in spiritual terms like we do now (yes we believe it is literal, but not a literal kingdom of this earth, God’s Kingdom on this earth is a Spiritual one in each of us), they saw the kingdom as an actual physical kingdom lead by humans on the earth. When the pharisees were asking about the kingdom they were talking about a literal earthly kingdom. But Jesus deflected their questioned, He turned their political question into a Spiritual discussion, 

“The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” –Luke 17:20b-21

Even after Jesus had clearly shown He was for a higher purpose than just the happenings of this world. His followers continued to want His insight & help with the political world they were living in,

“Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” –Acts 1:6 (This was after Jesus had died and risen from the grave).

And what does Jesus decided to talk about? The Holy Spirit & them being missionaries to the world,

“And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” –Acts 1:7, 8

In fact Jesus was so adverse to the political world and so frustrating folk with His political inaction that at one point in His ministry they tried to force Him to take a political stand,

 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.” –John 6:15

Jesus never disparaged Caesar, Herod, or any other political leader. In fact the one time He mentioned Caesar, maybe the one time He made any type of political statement, Jesus actually frustrated all sides,

“Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”…Show Me the tax money. So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” –Matthew 22:17 & 19-21

An answer that would irritate both the Romans and the Jews. “So wait a second what things can Caesar be over and what things is God over? Who gets to decide?”

Jesus on this earth refused to get involved in endorsing candidates or trying to establish any party or human power.

What is the best way to know what someone is going to do in the future? By understanding what they have done in the past.

Which candidate would Jesus endorse? Neither. He would do what He always did endorse His Father in Heaven and leave it at that.

Would it not then seem logical for the followers of Jesus on this earth to do as He did.

Especially us as Pastors? Isn’t that what we teach our paritioners, “Do as Jesus did.”?

Hasn’t someone gotten rich off of rubber “WWJD” wrist bands? (What Would Jesus Do)

Jesus didn’t endorse a man, He represented God and God alone.

Shouldn’t we?

****Note 1: This is not a statement against voting.

****Note 2: My friend David Asscherick pointed out the following statement to me, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’” Luke 13:32. This was stated in regards to a threat supposedly coming from Herod. While this doesn’t blow my understanding out of the water regarding Jesus never endorsing. It is a statement firmly warning/clarifying to Herod that his earthly power & consequences has no authority over what God will divinely do!

 

 

 

Faster Pastor: Episode #3 “Training Journal Apps”

All about running!

Daily Disappointment

In November of 1844 William Miller, the leader of the Millerite Movement & the man that predicted that Jesus would return on October 22, 1844 wrote these words,

“Brethren, hold fast; let no man take your crown. I have fixed my mind upon another time, and here I mean to stand until God gives me more light. And that is, Today, Today, & Today, until He comes and I see Him for whom my soul yearns.”

Today as I attended the funeral of a young lady whom today would have turned 34 had she not died in her sleep two weeks ago without warning, I was reminded why I as a believer in the 2nd Coming of Jesus should hope for and even live in expectation of His return TODAY.

You see if Jesus had come TODAY, Carla’s parents & brother, her exended family, and friends would not be going to sleep tonight in sorrow. If Jesus had come TODAY all the tears shed in that little A-framed church would have been wiped away, if only Jesus had come TODAY.

For those living close to the heart of Jesus there should be so much in this world that daily reminds us why we are disappointed that Jesus has not returned TODAY!

Every argument with our spouse…

Every moment of temptation we succumb to…

Every cross word spoken to our children…

Every political debate we watch…

Every distant war we try to ignore…

Every explicit billboard we pass…

Every innocent victim mourned by her mother….

should cause at least a modicum of disappointment that TODAY a cloud the size of a man’s fist has not appeared in the eastern sky.

This world is not our home and so TODAY we will hold fast to hope, letting no man take our crowns. 

We will live in expectation TODAY & EVERY DAY until He comes and we see Him whom our souls yearn, and on that day, our disappointment will be no more!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come TODAY!

The Ordained Women Pastors of China

It seems from this video that the female pastors see themselves a lot differently than the administration of the church explains them to be, “Ordained simply to meet government policy.” They see themselves as Adventist leaders with a mission! I shed a few tears at the end of this video. Please watch it is only 8 mins 52 secs.

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