January 10th
 
Last Sunday Mary Daly, died at age 81. While you may not recognize the name, she was 
Arguably one of the most radical voices of liberal, feminist theology.  She had many things she was known for saying, like:
 “I hate the Bible,” 
 "if the God is male, then the male is God,"
She was by her own admission, a radical lesbian feminist, who had a defiance for Christianity, because it was so “masculine!” She also referred to feminism as  "pirates in a phallocratic society."
 
It seems the hallmark for this post-Christian society is how far the limits of scripture are
stretched and still maintain Christianity.  
It is safe to say that once society goes beyond the Word of God, it is left with a “revisionist” version. 
If the Word of God cannot set the standard for what we believe, then we have no standard and we are left to invent whatever we want to believe. 
 
As the scripture says, “For the time will come when men will not endure(put up) with
Sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”(II Timothy 4:3).
That is why we must be rooted in the truth and root for the truth so as to identify with 
God’s people and not be swayed from the truth.
 
Blessings,
 
Pastor Brian
 
 
 May 2, 2010
I read this years ago out of Max Lucado's book, "A Gentle Thunder."
In our day of changing the message in order to appease the masses, and risk
hurting their feelings, are we not doing more damage?
 
   The faces of the three men were solemn as the mayor informed them of
the catastrophe. “The rains have washed away the bridge. During the
night many cars drove over the edge and into the river.”
“What can we do?” asked one.
“You must stand on the side of the road and warn the drivers not to
make the left turn. Tell them to take the one-lane road that follows
the side of the river.”

“But they drive so fast! How can we warn them?”
“By wearing these sandwich signs,” the mayor explained, producing
three wooden double-signs, hinged together to hang from one’s
shoulders. “Stand at the crossroads so drivers can see these signs
until I can get someone out there to fix the bridge.”
And so the men hurried out to the dangerous curve and put the signs over their shoulders.
“The drivers should see me first,” spoke one. The others agreed. His
sign warned, “Bridge Out!” He walked several hundred yards before the
turn and took his post.
“Perhaps I should be second, so the drivers will slow down,” spoke the one whose sign declared,
“Reduce Speed.”
“Good idea,” agreed the third. “I’ll stand here at the curve so
people will get off the wide road and onto the narrow.” His sign read
simply “Take Right Road” and had a finger pointing toward the safe
route.
And so the three men stood with their three signs ready to warn the
travelers of the washed-out bridge. As the cars approached, the first
man would stand up straight so the drivers could read, “Bridge Out.”
Then the next would gesture to his sign, telling the cars to “Reduce Speed.”
And as the motorists complied, they would then see the third sign,
“Right Road Only.” And though the road was narrow, the cars complied
and were safe. Hundreds of lives were saved by the three sign holders.
Because they did their job, many people were kept from peril.
But after a few hours they grew lax in their task.
The first man got sleepy. “I’ll sit where people can read my sign as
I sleep,” he decided. So he took his sign off his shoulders and propped
it up against a boulder. He leaned against it and fell asleep. As he
slept his arm slid over the sign, blocking one of the two words. So
rather than read “Bridge Out,” his sign simply stated “Bridge.”
The second didn’t grow tired, but he did grow conceited. The longer
he stood warning the people the more important he felt. A few even
pulled off to the side of the road to thank him for the job well done.
“We might have died had you not told us to slow down,” they applauded.
“You’re so right,” he thought to himself. “How many people would be lost were it not for me?”
Presently he came to think that he was just as important as his
sign. So he took it off, set it up on the ground, and stood beside it.
As he did, he was unaware that he, too, was blocking one word of his
warning. He was standing in front of the word “Speed.” All the drivers
could read was the word “Reduce.” Most thought he was advertising a
diet plan.

The third man was not tired like the first, nor self-consumed like
the second. But he was concerned about the message of his sign. “Right
Road Only,” it read.

It troubled him that his message was so narrow, so dogmatic. “People
should be given a choice in the matter. Who am I to tell them which is
the right road and which is the wrong road?”
So he decided to alter the wording of the sign. He marked out the word “Only” and changed it to
“Preferred.”
“Hmm,” he thought, “that’s still too strident. One is best not to
moralize. So he marked out the word “Preferred” and wrote “Suggested.”
That still didn’t seem right, “Might offend people if they think I’m suggesting I know something
they don’t.”
So he thought and thought and finally marked through the word “Suggested” and
replaced it with a more neutral phrase.“Ahh, just right,” he said to himself as he backed off and read the words:

“Right Road—One of Two Equally Valid Alternatives.”
And so as the first man slept and the second stood and the third
altered the message, one car after another plunged into the river.
From A Gentle Thunder

Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1995) Max Lucado
 

 

The New Normal
October  2010
 
   Life brings with it continual adjustments. All of us experience setbacks,detours,
crisis, and shocks. Even churches face changes that force them to adjust. Be assured, 
precious friend, that Almighty God will never leave you or forsake you, no matter how
hard it gets or how lonely you may be. The Bible says, "I will never leave you or forsake
you." (Hebrews 13:5)
It was a few days after my sweet wife slipped into eternity, that my daughter, 
Joanna and I were talking. We were both remembering different things about how Lisa
would handle things, how she might respond to certain instances, and I said, "I'm sure am going 
miss her."
Joanna reminded me, "dad, its the new normal." 
But one thing is very clear, God is not upset or perplexed by the new normal.
Whatever crisis you may be going through, God will see you through.
We have His Word.