Month: June 2020

Hated Heroes

~ TheLonelyPastor ~ Leave a comment

Just like many little boys, I use to dream of being a police officer. I always looked up to them. Even after I grew up a bit (some would argue it could never happen!) and no

Kid Cop
Not the author

longer dreamed of being a cop, I still looked up to them. I met way too many good men (and later even some good women) who loved their job, and who were truly following a calling to “protect and serve” – who believed their lives mattered and that they were making a positive difference in their communities.

I’ve cried with cops, I’ve stood and let some vent their frustrations. I’ve prayed with them. And I have even gotten past external-content.duckduckgoa few bad seeds who tried their best to cause me to despise them (ask me about a certain Arkansas State Police officer back in 1988, I believe it was). Yet I never grew to hate police.
And just like the way I was raised to judge people based on who THEY are – the “content of their character”, not on a representative few, I still view the statistically small number of bad officers as aberrations to the badge and uniform – as they to the majority of cops who just want to make a positive difference – who don’t care about your skin color – they simply want to make a difference.
And here we are – with a society that has decided that all police officers, of every ilk, of every department from Sheriff’s departments to local and state law enforcement – are all seasons-2evil, wicked, hunters of black men for sport. Statistics don’t matter. Reality is in the eyes of the one narrating the story by the mainstream media.
So I ask: why would anyone put on the uniform, pick up their badges, and go to work to save an ungrateful population that apparently now thinks they are worse than the antichrist? Why would the respond to a domestic disturbance knowing that there is a significant chance of being attacked or even killed? Why respond to that crying mother who’s child has disappeared? Why pull over and help that motorist with a flat tire on the side of a dangerous interstate highway?
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Because police officers have become the new hated minority in this country. Judged not by the color of their skin, but by the uniform they put on to protect YOU. Judged based on an apparently accepted narrative based on the extremely small minority of their coworkers.
Someone please again explain to me how it is morally wrong to judge an entire ethnic group based on the actions of the minority of them – which become an incorrect stereotype… But is just fine to judge all police and law enforcement by the actions of these very small minority of bad players?
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And lest we forget – a black male is exponentially more likely to be killed by another black male than any other means… other than abortion. But our society doesn’t loudly bemoan, protest, riot, or try to shut down the nation over the actual epidemic of black-on-black crime (which is glorified in the entertainment industry, including that produced by African-Americans), or the same regarding Planned Parenthood and other purveyors of literal genocide and eugenics.
No – we have to ostracize and shred the hearts and jobs of hundreds of thousands of caring, justice-minded, and hard-working men and women who willingly put their lives on the line for you and me every single day – despite the growing hate that they did absolutely nothing to deserve.
And now, even Lego toys is pulling (even if now claimed to be a temporary halt to marketing) of police sets and figures?18Clx0A
Meanwhile – while my voice can do little, I will pray for ALL law enforcement. For those who are honorable (often-times genuine heroes), that they would remain safe and not lose heart – that they get to return home to their families after each shift. And yes, for the small number who are truly wicked individuals – whether “dirty”, or hate-filled bigots – that the LORD would break their hearts to see the sin of their ways and that they might repent before they breathe their last (or harm another soul).
pray4police

Image of God, Sinners, and the Only Answer

~ TheLonelyPastor ~ 1 Comment

Humanity – all of us – were created in the Image of God (Imago Dei). We all have marred that image by sin – the fundamental problem of the world. Every last one of us bears that disease. For some, it is demonstrated in fornication or other sexual immoralities, for some – covetousness and stealing. or any other many names we give to the expression of sin – including the various forms of hate.

Because we are utterly contaminated by sin, we are unable to do anything about our ugly, wicked state. In fact, left to our own nature – “there are none righteous, no not one – none seek after God”. We are spiritually dead. And guess what – spiritually dead people act like spiritually dead people and many do REALLY bad things. Indeed – the current ugliness is actually one of the oldest problems mankind has been guilty of – one that goes all the way back to Cain and Abel – HATE.Hate2

That leaves us with a conundrum – we are lost in our sin – condemned and fully deserving of the full wrath of God that will be poured out on ALL unrighteousness of man. But God…God, in His perfect, sinless Son, took on my sins, bearing the shame, and gave His life to redeem me, that I would no longer bear the shame and reproach I deserve. And in that death, Jesus broke the chains of sin that so surely bound us to our sin (including hate). But for WHO did Jesus make this incredible atonement for? ALL who would believe…of every nation, tribe, peoples, and tongues –

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” ~REVELATION 7:9 & 10

You see – our current “sin of the day” is HATE.

HATEWe’ve labeled it as the misnomer of “racism” – but there is but one race, the Human Race. But there is still ungodly, unbiblical hate based on any outward condition or appearance. Hate is the exact opposite of what Jesus came and perfectly modeled. And the answer to HATE – is to answer it with love. To confront ANYTHING people use to divide with truth – beginning with the foundation of the Gospel.

20861955_1513045045426817_8991208828585337000_oJesus didn’t come to save one particular ethnicity. He came to redeem a people from ALL people groups and ethnicities. He came to conquer sin and death. Through His own death, HE demonstrated the very same kind of love His people are commanded to show to all the rest of the Image Bearers of God – of all nations, tribes, and tongues! A love that knows no skin color or background. A love that isn’t conditioned on others believing as we do (though there is a biblical “preference” for the brethren), looking like we do – etc. The Gospel is the Answer. God’s Word gives us the details, the hows, and the whys.

Please Stop Abusing Scripture

~ TheLonelyPastor ~ 1 Comment
Brethren – there is NEVER an appropriate time or circumstance to force meaning or personal views onto Scripture. It is never appropriate, regardless of your intentions, to pluck Scripture out of its context, then bend it back double to paint a picture or prove a point to “reach a hurting person”. The formal term for this is “Eisegesis“.
 
Just as I would never tell a grieving person who just lost a loved one that definitively their loved one was in “in a better place, despite having never professed to trusted in Christ. That would be an abuse. There are other paths to seek comfort than lying to them (don’t give them false hope, give them the Gospel – the ONLY source of living Hope!).
 
I don’t tell people that God won’t give them more than they can handle – despite generations somehow twisting 1 Corinthians 10:2 to mean such. Again – it’s a false narrative.
 
It would be an abuse for me to that God’s will is to always heal our loved ones of every form of sickness and disease – Because it is clear, Jesus often overlooked sick for more important purposes. (And no, Jesus didn’t bear our stripes and die on the Cross to heal my mom of Botulism, or my friend of cancer. He died to redeem the lost sheep. Yes, there is an eternal sense of perfect healing for those who die in Christ… but I can’t just reach out and “claim it”.
 
Likewise – when we are faced with the traumatic events of our day – whether a virus or injustice and rage… we cannot simply pluck verses of Scripture, bend them around, and force a modern-day narrative on that Sacred Writ – but there IS plenty of God’s record that DO deal with what we are facing today – that is just as true and applicable as it was IN IT’S CONTEXT when penned.
 
Want passages to deal with those who faced hate due to their ethnicity? What about Jesus’ meeting the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-26)? Or maybe the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)?
 
Want to help someone have a biblical, healing, and God-glorifying understanding of how to respond to the hate we see before us? Open up Romans 12: 18-21 (among many others).
I have been seeing an example of eisegesis spreading like a virus all over social media that uses Jesus’ parable of the shepherd leaving the 99 to find the one lost sheep. This parable isn’t in any way a race or ethnic statement. It is simply about God’s willingess (through Christ Jesus) to seek the lost of His flock and bring them home. Each and every sheep is of great value to the LORD. This is not some kind of statement about skin color. Quite the contrary, it is a clear picture of the value of ALL His sheep.
There is no justification for bending God’s Word, even “well-meaning” bending. God’s Word is not a toy to play with or to throw about like a rag doll. We must not trivialize it by throwing it around out of it’s context and actual meaning. Sadly, this is a product of several factors – but one of the biggest being too many years of “teachers” using the phrase “what does this verse mean to you?“.  What I want a verse to say, and what my defective fleshly heart would desire it to say is irrelevant.  Scripture says and means what it says and means – firmly established in its context. To ignore the context and meaning at the time of writing is to set the stage for every form of heresy. And ultimately, forced eisigesis is a form of blasphemy.
Please stop abusing Scripture! Jesus is the ONLY hope, not the twisting of Scripture.