No Church on Christmas Sunday: A Poem

T'was the Sunday of Christmas, when all through God's house

Not a preacher was stirring, not even his spouse;

The choir robes were hung in the closet with care,

Little hope that the singers soon would be there;

The saints were all home in their casual threads,

Presents from Santa filling their heads;

The deacons, relieved, free now to nap,

Hoping no one comes to worship just by hap,

When out in the lot there arose such a clatter,

No church member there to see what was the matter.

A two wheeler pulled in as quick as a Flash,

Since no cars were there, he avoided a crash.

The tattoo on his neck, he tried not to show

Gives the impression of a man whose destiny is woe,

When, what to his bloodshot eyes should appear,

A small sign that reads, “Christmas is not here”

Motorcyclist was he, so rough yet so quick,

He knew in a moment, this wasn't a trick.

More rapid than a Harley, his transgressions they came,

He shouted, and cried, and he called them by name;

"Now, Heroin! Now, Booze! Now, Lust and some Hash!

Oh snorting! Oh fighting! And stealing hard cash!

To the top of the steeple! To the fellowship hall!

He cried, ' Go away! Go away! Go away all!'"

A life so destroyed, fearing he may die,

His sins, with no obstacle, mount to the sky,

And so to God's house for a remedy he flew,

The advice of his aunt, the only family he knew.

And then, in a twist, he heard in his head

The familiar voice of the prince of the dead.

“What are you thinking? There's no turning around,

For someone like you who's sins do abound.

Your dressed in a suit from your head to your foot,

Where are your chains, your leather, your boots?

The skull and crossbones you wore like a plaque,

That's who you are... you can always come back.

Look at yourself! You look like a fool!

Everyone knows Christmas on Sunday's not cool!”

The man scratched his head, as this seemed so odd,

Wasn't Christmas explained in the Word of God;

He hung his head low as he stood in defeat?

“I came here expecting the Savior to meet?

In a change of his mind, with this voice in his head,

Now believing his sins were nothing to dread.

“They speak of a Word that, when spoken, will work,

But close down their doors, their duties they shirk,

He sprang to his bike in judgmental dismissal,

And away he departed, as quick as a missile.

A sarcastic refrain as he rode out of sight,

"A church closed on Christmas Sunday? This just can't be right!"

Reverend David Wilkerson 1931-2011

A very rare post here. Reverened David Wilkerson tragically passed away yesterday and since I have mentioned his ministry many times on this blog I thought I would share a few thoughts. Here are a few.

Teen Challenge. Our church just a few weeks ago had the local Teen Challenge choir come and sing. What a tremendous blessing they brought to our church, as they always do. It's amazing to think how one man's vision launched a ministry that has helped so many people.

Reverence for ministry. As a pillar in the faith Dave demonstrated to us what pulpit ministry should resemble. As a herald of God he behaved like one. Dressed like one. Spoke like one. In a time when the church has become a showcase for relevance, irreverence and pragmatic phoniness David's example will sorely be missed.

Godly courage. David wasn't afraid to be unpopular. He confronted the gangs of New York City with the truth. He also confronted the Religious leaders with the truth. He confronted Christian rock music in his book Set the Trumpet to thy Mouth and challenged many others. I am sure this didn't make him popular with many. He wasn't popular with me when my Dad gave me the book while I was consuming countless hours of Christian rock. Now the church is paying the price for ignoring his message. We've gone from singing Highway to Heaven to Highway to Hell.

Of course these are only my thoughts. If your reading this and have some thoughts of your own feel free to leave a comment.

Marching Orders for a Backslidden Church (Phil Johnson | Shepherd's Conf...

It is Finished

We watched this on Good Friday. Worth the ten minutes, trust me.

The Temple Veil

In my humble opinion the greatest miracle in the Bible is the tearing of the Temple Veil. Perhaps it seems natural that the earth would shake,the rocks split and the graves open when Jesus gave up the ghost. But what happened to the veil really has no natural explanation.

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom—Matthew 27:50-51

The veil wasn't just your typical bed sheet. It was massive. Let me try to put it in perspective. I recently needed to clean out my Wife's parents house. After house sales and multiple garbage pickups there was still almost 1ton of stuff that needed to be moved. A large U-haul full. It took me a 1/2 day to load, over an hour to dump. The best was 10 80 pound bags of concrete. By comparison the veil weighed over 300 tons. It was huge, 60 ft high, 30 feet wide, 4 inches thick. 300 priests were needed to carry it. Legend has it that horses pulling on each end couldn't tear it. Only a miracle, a deliberate act of God could have done to the veil what happened to it over 2000 years ago in Jerusalem.

So what does this mean for me and you? Let's not forget the duties of the high priest. He previously was only able to pass through the curtain, with much fear, once a year to offer atonement for the sins of the people. The very instant Jesus dies, not only is the sacrifice accepted but the curtain is destroyed. Not a slight tear, or a corner removed, but God tears it apart. An impossible repair. God wants to make it perfectly clear that we can approach Him. Not looking from afar, not approaching shaking and trembling with fear, not irreverently, but with boldness. For sinful people like you and me, to approach a Holy God, and live to talk about it, is truly a miracle. There is no natural explanation.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which be hath consecrated for us, through the, veil, that is to say, his flesh—Hebrews 10:19-20.

The Sword of the Spirit

This story caught my attention. An angry and drunk mother charges through a elementary school brandishing a sword looking for a fight. Now this is taking school conflicts to a 'whole nother level'. My only question for this lady would be where did she get the sword? I mean, a sword isn't exactly the weapon of choice these days. Think about it, unless you're a ninja or a Civil War reenactor what possible reason would there be to carry a sword? Not only that, is it even possible to be trained how to use one today? It has to be a dying art. Look in the Yellow Pages under sword handling and you get nothing. I know nothing about sword handling but I'm pretty sure you just don't wave it through the air all willy-nilly like this mother did. Someone innocent is bound to get hurt, including the sword handler. Training is essential.

Ephesians 6:17 ....... and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.

In Ephesians chapter 6 we get a description of the armor of God. The belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. Perhaps you never realized this but only one part of God's armor requires any skill to use. The sword of the Spirit. All the other armor you just put on. You put on the helmet. You put on the belt. You put on the shoes. You put on the breastplate. You put on the shield. But the sword, to be used effectively you can't just put on. For the sword to be an effective part of the armor of God it must be used skillfully with training. If it's not used skillfully it becomes a weapon that can do something it wasn't intended to do. But when used correctly the sword becomes a weapon that completes and becomes a mighty force of the armor of God.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

If I may let me offer a some tips and expose a few common mistakes that I have noticed when it comes to handling the word of God

• The word of God wasn't intended to be a constant weapon against ourselves. True, it judges the intentions of the heart, and we should start with our own heart, but too many times we pound away at ourselves. If the word exposes poor intentions make the correction. If we keep coming to the Word and find ourselves, time after time, leaving condemned, we are using the Word incorrectly. Do not use the Word as a constant weapon on yourself!!
• Be patient with the Word. This is a common movie scene. Tensions are high with opponents packing heat. Rules of engagement were given before the meeting, not to shoot until a certain time. A nervous agent, usually the one everyone hates, jumps the gun, shoots before the right time and before you know there is room full of dead people. And then we find out later that, lo and behold, the bloodbath could have been avoided because everyone was ready to cooperate. So please don't start shouting scripture verses at every Jehovah's Witness and Mormon you meet. Don't answer every problem you hear with, "God works all things for the good". Be patient, keep your sword in it's scabbard until the right time. Keep your sword sharp. Using it frequently, when not necessary, will dull it.
• Study, study, study. The more I study the Word the more I find how little I know. I can't emphasize this enough. Each bible verse has a context, written at a specific time, addressed to a specific group of people, addressing a particular problem. When we gather all those facts we are then ready to try to understand what is being said then we can engage in battle.
• Remember who our enemy is. Let's not forget Satan is the enemy we are fighting. Jesus used the Word a number of times against Satan in the desert. Satan knows the Word too. If there is a situation that requires us to use the Word and we use it correctly Satan knows he is no match, he'll run. Even in our conflicts with our brothers and sisters ultimately Satan is a player in the situation. If we hold grudges and maintain bitterness in our hearts the battle become personal. Remember it's a spiritual battle.

There are a few tips, there are many others. Let's always use our swords with skill or someone is likely to get hurt.

An example of hologram technology

Here's what I'm talking about.