Judgement – Traditores

He Knows When You Are Sleeping

Late Night Thoughts

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night…have an inspiration…go back to sleep…

And when you wake up, only really recall you had an inspiration…and no matter how much you torture yourself to remember…you cannot clear your foggy memory?

Well, this sermon is based on one of those situations…where I didn”t loose it entirely, but it is all the more aggravating because I actually could remember it in the morning…but didn’t write it down…and then later forgot the punch-line!

But I did remember the theme. 🙂

Santa Claus

When I started composing this sermon there were between 93 and 94 days to guess what?

Being that Michelle and I have a year-round Internet Christmas radio station, it probably doesn’t surprise you I’m speaking of Christmas…

And I assume everyone here is familiar with the holiday tune, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”? Do your remember how the part that starts with, “He knows when you are sleeping,” goes?

He knows when you are sleeping

He knows when you are awake

He knows if you’ve been bad or good

So be good for goodness sake

If someone thought too much about those verses, it might be a little frightening. 🙂 Santa Claus is “Big Brother,” watching you all the time?!

However, when I survey the state of the modern world, I suspect much of the evil we see is based on not having a healthy fear of being “found out.”

Continue reading He Knows When You Are Sleeping

Two or Three Witnesses

Eight

Eight.

That is the number of women who have accused senate candidate Roy Moore of wrongdoing. It was actually hard selecting the right word for the accusations since they vary from true crimes to a creepy affinity for dating younger girls.

This sermon is not to tell you what to believe about the allegations, the accusers, or Roy Moore.

Instead, as headlines are filled with accusations of sexual improprieties…I want to see if we can establish some guidelines on how we should deal with them. Since Moore is a professing Christian, his case seems an especially apropos starting point for the conversation.

However…one quick sidetrack…

Coming to Light

One of my favorite people on Twitter is Karen Prior, an author and professor at Liberty University. Back on October 12 she tweeted:

From flags to sex, to politics, to entertainment & power, America’s idols are being revealed–a moment of grace, if only we will receive it.¹

Continue reading Two or Three Witnesses

Who Is Your Father?

The Internet provides many blessing, but it also comes with destructive curses. One of its banes is the ease by which it allows damning accusations to proliferate. Most common today are charges of “isms” and their equivalents, e.g. racism, sexism, and nativism. I’d like to propose some understandings when it comes to accusations in general, but especially on social media. They are an attempt to combine logical and biblical principles.

The burden of proof is on the accuser

Whether you are the first one making an accusation or just passing it along (with or without commentary), the burden of proof is on you. “Innocent until proven guilty” is important because, otherwise, our government could arrest anyone they wanted, charge them with a crime, and then say, “Prove you didn’t do it.”

We would consider that tyrannical and backward if our government did it. It is equally tyrannical and backward for you to do it. Continue reading Who Is Your Father?

An Exclamation Point Society (and Church)

As I was driving Augie to our monthly-ish haircut and our weekly Saturday morning breakfast together and reflecting on a Twitter friend saying a popular pastor committed blasphemy…

It hit me that, at least on social media (and it seems elsewhere), we are an “exclamation point society.”

Nobody just misspeaks, they LIE!!!

Nobody just interprets the Bible differently, they BLASPHEME!!!

Nobody just errs, they COMMIT HORRENDOUS, UNFORGIVABLE SINS!!!

Now, don’t get me wrong, people do lie…blaspheme…and commit horrendous sins (although the Bible makes it clear that pretty much anything can be forgiven). However, we seem to have lost any ability to wait until we have all the data to judge, to assume the best, and to give an iota of grace to our “opponents.”

To slow and temper our accusatory tongue.

Considering our Example…Jesus Christ…why do we rush to (emphatically) condemn? Also, when it becomes clear that our initial judgment might have been a bit overboard (or perhaps completely wrong), why can’t we just admit it versus arguing until the cows come home that the nuance doesn’t matter…or change the subject to some other wrong the bad guy has unarguably committed?

It pains my soul.

Especially since it has infected the church as much as larger society…

To wrap up, some scriptures to consider… Continue reading An Exclamation Point Society (and Church)

Don’t You Dare Tell Sinners that Their Sin…!

Dr. Dobson steps into it…

I don't always agree with Fox New contributor Brit Hume, but I respect his work and levelheaded-ness. I also appreciate Christian psychologist Dr. James Dobson, although I'll admit that his shows are generally too foofy for my tastes. So, when Hume tweeted:

Christians seeking meaning in the horror of Newtown who may be drawn to the words of James Dobson should read this:

http://t.co/pDXK0J6F

Well, I went and read most of it. Basically, it was a hatchet-job on something Dobson recently said written by Peter Wehner and posted by Timothy Dalrymple. Dalrymple describes Wehner as "one of the leading evangelicals in Washington for a long time now"¹…and, based on Wehner's piece, I suspect Washington has had a greater effect on him than he has had on our nation's capital.

The statement that Wehner felt deserved taking Dobson out back to the shed for a whipping? It was from Dobson's radio show this last Monday, "A Nation Shaken by the Sandy Hook Tragedy." Wehner quotes Dobson as saying:

Continue reading Don’t You Dare Tell Sinners that Their Sin…!