Author: Alan

Alan is an ordinary guy, living in a small, high plains Colorado town...and humbled to be a minister of God...
Pilgrims

I am thankful for…

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PilgrimsI am thankful…

  • For a forgiving Lord who has promised an eternity with Him for those who believe (which came at such great cost to the Godhead).
  • For an awesome family: my beautiful and undeserved wife Michelle, two tremendous girls April and Jennifer, and two incredible sons Michael and Augie.
  • For the body of Christ all over the globe, especially the ones back home at the Antrim Church of Christ (that I miss so greatly).
  • For friends who have been there in good times and bad, and who have stuck by me at times when I wasn’t the friend I should have been.
  • For a job with a company (Kaiser Permanente) that honestly and emphatically cares about its members and personnel (and for a position leading a department with great employees).
  • For a nation where we can still live and worship (mostly) freely.
  • For the myriad other blessings from the Most High, whether I realize them or not.

Oh…and…

For you…my blog reader…or sermon listener…or Facebook friend…or Twitter follower…or LinkedIn connection. Happy Thanksgiving: May the One we all should be thanking make this the best holiday ever for you and yours.

P.S. And, I suppose, being that I have specifically named the non-profit I work for, I should note that all thoughts that I post on this blog (and elsewhere on the Internet for that matter) are mine and mine alone.  Don’t blame Kaiser 🙂

God Gives Us What We Want

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I’ve heard this C.S. Lewis quote before…but was glad to run into it in page 72 of my The Great Divorce:

There are two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it.

It should be noted that these are the words of a fictional inhabitant of heaven, not theological apologetics by One of my favorite writers.

Did C.S. Lewis Really Say That?!

Posted on by Alan

My present “below 10,000 feet” book is The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. Without spoiling the story, it is a fictional way of discussing all the different excuses people have for rejecting the truth.

In one of the interesting dialogues, the saved friend is trying to convince a to-smart-for-his-own-britches former (before he died) intellectual minister.

“Listen!” said the White Spirit. “Once you were a child. Once you knew what inquiry was for. There was a time when you asked questions because you wanted answers, and were glad when you found them. Become that child again: even now.”

“Ah, but when I became a man I put away childish things.”

“You have gone far wrong. Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth. What you now call the free play of inquiry has neither more nor less to do with the ends for which intelligence was given you than masturbation has to do with marriage.”

Now, there is an analogy I never expected out of the mouth of C.S. Lewis. 🙂

But, so true…

Life and Death

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No communionDeathScanning through various sites, I ran into two polar articles. First, a church stands for life:

"No communion for Nancy Pelosi: Vatican court head"

Second, a country stands for death:

"Number of Dutch killed by euthanasia rises by 13 per cent"

I disagree with the Catholic Church in major doctrinal ways, but kudos to them for consistency (and recognizing nominal believers shouldn't be treated as believers):

The cardinal also said that Mrs. Pelosi is a perfect example of Catholics who separate their faith from day-to-day living.

"This is a prime example of what Blessed John Paul II referred to as the situation of Catholics who have divorced their faith from their public life and therefore are not serving their brothers and sisters in the way that they must — in safeguarding and promoting the life of the innocent and defenseless unborn, in safeguarding and promoting the integrity of marriage and the family," he said.

As for the Netherlands…they should hang your head in shame:

One explanation for the steep rise of Dutch cases is the introduction last year of mobile euthanasia units allowing patients to be killed by volunatry lethal injection when family doctors refused.

Mobile euthanasia units. 🙁

4,188 people who, for all intents and purposes, were encouraged by the government to kill themselves.

Boy with game controller

“If the Devil had to invent a game, it would be this one”

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Boy with game controllerIf you take the time to read (or listen) to my sermon from today, "Ya Got Trouble," then you'll agree that this article from August 31 (that I only saw today) is fitting:

"If the Devil had to invent a game, it would be this one"

It starts off like this:

If the Devil had his own bible, it would probably take the form of a computer game. It would be sly and witty, enjoyable and slick. It would start with small, almost funny misdeeds.

It would offer the player the joys of money, successful violence and easy, responsibility-free sex. There would be drugs which didn’t fry your brain or burn holes in your nose.

You would be made to feel brave, while not actually needing to be. None of your pleasures would be paid for in coin, pain or grief.

It's worth reading the whole thing…

One man showing another man a centerfold

Something that Probably Won’t Surprise Most Men (or Women)

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One man showing another man a centerfoldHere's something that probably won't surprise most men (or women)…

"Brain scans find porn addiction"

COMPULSIVE users of pornography show the same signs of addiction in their brain activity as alcoholics or drug addicts, a study has revealed.

In the first research of its kind, scans showed that a central portion of the brain which is stimulated in drug or alcohol addicts also "lit up" when compulsive pornography users watched explicit material. There was no such effect in the brains of people who were not habitual users of porn.

Of course, addiction or not…it's still a sin and you should not view it. Always avoid it like the plague!

To my fellow men, here's a tremendous talk about how pornography works into our minds or lives by Monte Cox from the 2008 Ganderbrook Men's retreat:

Trust me…listen to the whole thing…and you'll understand I suggested it.

Man with shotgun

Ya Got Trouble

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Man with shotgun

Navy Yard

Quoting from USA Today’s “Moment by Moment: How the Navy Yard Shooting Unfolded”:

For more than 30 agonizing minutes, Aaron Alexis stalked his human prey with a 12-gauge shotgun, eluding several attempts by law enforcement officers to gun him down, police said Tuesday.

Details emerging about the chaotic morning of violence at the Washington Navy Yard paint a picture of man with a calculated plan bent on indiscriminately killing as many people as he could.

He slayed 12 before police ended his life in a gunbattle.1

I suspect everyone sitting here who pays attention to the news is aware of what the story I just quoted from is about. This past Monday, September 16, 2013…in a very determined way…an apparently mentally troubled man decided to kill as many people as he could at the Washington Navy Yard. In the end, 13 people, including the murderer himself, had their lives cut short.

And, as most everyone could have predicted, immediately the horrendous, inexcusable crime was used as an excuse to call for more gun control.

Don’t worry, I am not here to debate the merits, or lack thereof, of additional gun control. However, in one of her radio shows this week, Janet Mefferd said…and this is not an exact quote since I listen while in bed and not at my desk with pen and paper…

We don’t need more gun control laws. We need more pastors preaching, “Thou shalt not kill.”

Do I Really Need to…?

What do you think? Is that radio host right?

I mean, is there anyone here today who has any question that what Aaron Alexis did was wrong?

Continue reading “Ya Got Trouble”

Catholic Church

Please Return to the catholic Church

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Catholic Church

Happy Birthday President Taft!

According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, today is the birthday of our 27 President, William Howard Taft. If he were still alive, he’d be a spritely 157 years old.

Not only that, but it’s the birthday of:

  • Tommy Lee Jones (66)
  • Oliver Stone (66)
  • Dan Marino (51)
  • Prince Harry (28)
  • Agatha Christy (whose books I enjoy and who helped inspire my sermon, “And Then There Were None,” would have been 123)1

Of course, the history of a day isn’t limited to birthdays, and The Old Farmer’s Almanac also notes (in part) that on this day:

Continue reading “Please Return to the catholic Church”

Steppin’ Stone

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Stepping stones

Escaping

Is anyone here that also has felt that a perfect life would be a log cabin in the middle of nowhere—a million miles away from the hustle-and-bustle of modern times?

Totally unplugged and just communing with nature and God?

Go ahead and throw in space in your cabin for your loved ones…that is, if you want to. 🙂

Especially when it comes to spiritual growth, doesn’t it just seem that it would be so much easier if you didn’t have the stressors around you? No annoying neighbors? No bills arriving faster than income? No impossible deadlines at work? Nobody treating your Christianity as a disease on society?

Just you, your Bible, and God?

Continue reading “Steppin’ Stone”

The Mind of a Monster vs. The Mind of God

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"Officials: Ohio man who held 3 women captive for nearly a decade hangs himself in prison cell"

Versus…

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (Ezekiel 18:23, ESV)

Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel (Ezekiel 33:11, ESV)

And it's not just monsters who don't have the mind of God…

"Hashimoto: 'Good' is one word to describe Ariel Castro’s death"

I'm not sure what my initial reaction to Ariel Castro's death was…it might have been in a similar vein as Hashimoto's. However, I am a work in progress and a man who wants to have the mind of God…

Why Keep Thanking God When…?

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Doctor with X-RayThere is someone on Twitter who I have grown to greatly appreciate (Evan Welcher). I feel like he and I have quite a bit in common thought-process wise, even if he is on the other side of the pond.

He is suffering through something right now that is outside my experience. His "Resplendent Bride" is fighting a cancer that once appeared defeated (only to return). Her and his faith are inspirational, and he made a comment in a recent post on Caring Bridge that seemed to put many skeptic's thoughts into words:

Continue reading “Why Keep Thanking God When…?”

Sherlock Holmes

The Danger of Deductive Theological Reasoning

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Sherlock HolmesBefore I loved the Lord I loved math…and one of the most difficult high school math courses I had dealt with logic and proofs. As such, it is also fair to say before I loved the Lord I loved logic.

Which is good. Sound biblical interpretation and the formation of reliable doctrines require it. One popular logician’s tool is deductive reasoning. Here is a good definition from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosphy:

A deductive argument is an argument that is intended by the arguer to be (deductively) valid, that is, to provide a guarantee of the truth of the conclusion provided that the argument’s premises (assumptions) are true.

(Update: The article no longer appears to exist. However, Kevin from PsychologyWriting.com was not only kind enough identify that, but shared their article, “Deductive and Inductive Arguments: What’s the Difference,” as a replacement. Thanks Kevin!)

And here is an example of valid deductive reasoning: Continue reading “The Danger of Deductive Theological Reasoning”

Top 18 countries listening since January 1

Over 50 Countries Listening to Traditores Radio

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It’s hard to know exactly how to properly interpret the data, but here is the top eighteen countries (by listener minutes) for Traditores Radio since January. (If you click on the image you’ll get a slightly larger version of it.)

Top 18 countries listening since January 1

I’ll put the top 100 "below the fold." Once cumulative minutes for a country (since January) get below twenty, it becomes more likely that random quick listens added up. However, I figure at least 50 countries have tuned into Traditores Radio this year. May every one of those hearts be changed by our Lord…and may they all find eternal life from the only One who can provide it. Continue reading “Over 50 Countries Listening to Traditores Radio”