Category Archives: Friday Word

Put Jesus First

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He said, because of immigrants, “we have some really bad genes in this country.”

God, help us!

He said, “Over 13 million immigrants have murdered people.”

God, help us!

Bad genes! Thirteen million murderers!

Eating cats and dogs!

God, help us!

Something is seriously wrong, isn’t it? And sadly, most people who believe the lies are Christians.

Or do they believe them?

Is it possible that a lot of Christians just do not care?

Lie, if it helps.

Lie, if you can get your way.

But make sure to display those Ten Commandments in classrooms, so the kids know the rules their parents are willing to break.

What does it mean that nearly half our population can’t tell right from wrong?

What does it mean that much of the conservative church seems to be a moral mess?

The source of the problem is simple: Too many Christians worship the Bible without paying attention to Jesus.

Christians are trained to accept moral chaos.

God is love, yes, but at the same time, God killed all the first-born sons of the Egyptians.

Love your neighbor, yes, but if your neighbors are the Amalekites, God says destroy all of them—men, women, children, and babes in arms.

For those who read the Bible as inerrant, God is only love sometimes.

Christians who worship the Bible deny Jesus of His authority over Scripture.

Put Jesus first in reading the Bible. His standards do not change with every dictator on the horizon.

NEW STUDY BEGINS SUNDAY

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Fewer people now take the printed paper, and that affects this long-running Friday’s Word. This is an expensive outreach, but over 90 percent of our members have come to us through this brief word.

Now—what of the future?

I need some kind of head count. If you are still with me, let me know.

Drop me an email to say you are “still reading.”

I need your response.

My new study starts Sunday—at 9:45.

(Breakfast after.)

It is more than a study of my to-be-published book, Discovering God. It will give us a chance to look at our own faith—see where we came from and where we are now. We will start with some discussion questions:

When did you first come to belief?

Were you ever taught things that were wrong?

How do we know what is true about God?

Can we know what is true about God?

Where do you get your information about God?

This discussion will lead us into the first ideas from the book:

We can know God.

We can get God right.

There are two sources of information that we can always depend on. You may guess them, but I will share them Sunday.

Expect this class to be an uplifting experience. Expect to grow in the assurance that God is real and working with us. Expect to be amazed from time to time at the ways God intervenes in our lives.

We will be studying the experience of God. The class runs through the end of the year.

Sunday, Oct. 6, 9:45 AM

New Study of Book

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Have you ever had an encounter with God?

A “religious experience” of any kind?

And if you have, were you afraid to tell anyone for fear they would think you are crazy?

You are about to have a place to share your experiences, if you choose to do so.

And if you have never had such an experience, it will be a place for you to hear the accounts of others.

For everyone, it will be a place to discover that God is real and that God is at work in our lives (whether we are aware of that reality or not).

My last study of my book, Discovering God, before publication will begin on Sunday, Oct. 6, at 9:45.

It will meet weekly at that hour for the rest of this year. (And breakfast will follow the class each Sunday.)

Be prepared for a life-changing study.

We have found, with our recent class on NDEs, that faith is deepened when we talk about the most profound experiences of life.

And our reading of scripture is enriched.

If you have never had a “religious experience,” you may come to see more clearly through this study that God has always been at work in your life.

Your participation in the class will be a big help to me. I will use this class to develop the study guide which will be published along with the book.

It may even add material. Members of the NDE class have shared accounts that will end up in Discovering God.

I’d like to have a skeptic or two show up—even an atheist.

I think no one can resist the evidence. God loves us and works in our lives.

Sunday, Oct. 6, 9:45.

The Lies Must Stop

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Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, live in fear now. They keep their kids home from school.

Some schools are closed, as are businesses, because of bomb threats.

These immigrants were invited here to fill factory jobs. One boss said they are hard-working and dependable.

Their lives have become a nightmare, and the town is in chaos.

We heard it first at the debate. It sounded funny, indeed, ridiculous: Haitian immigrants are stealing people’s cats and dogs and eating them.

It sounded crazy.

It was crazy.

But they keep repeating the lie. The leaders of the Orange Cult keep the lie going.

They know it’s a lie.

They know it is hurting people—innocent people, including children.

Ah! But these are Black people. Black children.

So, the leaders of the Orange Cult just do not care. Certainly, the Orange Man himself cares about no one but himself.

But what about his followers? What about the many Christians who have gone orange?

It is pure evil to deliberately hurt innocent people, to promote a lie that makes families hide in fear.

Do Christians who have fallen into the cult not care? Can they no longer tell the difference between good and evil?

I think much of the church has failed. It has harbored racism, debased women, and ostracized gay people.

Much of the church does not teach the inclusive love of Jesus Christ. This leaves people vulnerable.

“If we stand for nothing, we will fall for anything.”

The lies must stop.

People are being hurt.

No Wrath—Just Love

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One reader writes to remind me that God is “a God of eternal wrath.”

Sorry—no wrath, eternal or otherwise.

I know Paul talks about the wrath of God. I could try to twist the scripture here to save Paul’s words.

Instead, I’ll just tell the truth: God ain’t mad.

Never has been.

Never will be.

Jesus had a thing against anger. He says being mad at someone demeans that person’s value. It is a serious sin (Matthew 5:21-26).

It can get us into trouble.

But—it won’t make God mad at us.

In spite of our sins, God has only love for us.

Five hundred years ago, the great Julian of Norwich had an extensive near-death experience at the age of 30. She met the Lord face to face.

As a Catholic of the Middle Ages, she was very aware of human sin.

But she was surprised.

She expected some wrath against the sinner. But she found no anger in God.

Just love. Just kindness. Just grace.

And in the millions of experiences people have had of God through the ages, not one person has met a God of wrath.

Yes, some experienced hell, but that was never God’s doing. God is the one who breaks into that torment to pull them out.

Unconditional love is love that is never altered by any situation. It is pure, unmixed with anything.

God IS love.

This has become very clear to us in the St. Matthew class on NDEs.

We are not just loved; we are cherished.

As one NDEer put it, “Each one of us is God’s favorite person.”

Loved—as you are. Loved—forever.

Live with it.

(Sunday at 11:00.)