6-26-2018 – A Word to the Wise:  ARE THERE CONSEQUENCES FOR SIN? Jesus takes on our sin and continually suffers the consequences. Notice His hand and feet, his side. In much the same way we suffer the consequences and they affect us either physically, (sexually transmitted disease as one example), emotionally, (the bipolar effect), mentally, (long acting guilt).

Why are consequences not removed? Because they serve as a reminder of the cost of sin and serve as a warning not to return to them.

So what are the kind of consequences? Well they depend on the sin and its seriousness. Now the seriousness is according to the Lord’s standard not man.

We offer her three examples of sin and consequences. The implication is not that these are the only three sins which have consequence for all sin has consequences rather these are example that reveal the connection between the two.
A Sins against Parents
B Moral sins
C Sins of bitterness

It is noteworthy that the consequences may last, in some circumstances, a life time, while others only endure while the sin is being practiced.

Our first example is sins against the parent. A definition would include outright rebellion against the parent. Bringing shame on the parent by ill behavior dishonoring the parent in word or deed. Both Deuteronomy 5:16, and Ephesians 6:1-2 explain that obedience brings a long life and disobedience shortens the lifespan. So consequences may be either positive or negative.

The second category is moral failure. Failure in this areas brings consequences in seven main areas according to Proverbs 5-7. Those consequences are: financial, emotional (bi polar sequences), disease (STD’s), pregnancy, heritage, inability to reason, and dishonor. It is apparent these consequences last a lifetime in one form or another.

The third category is bitterness. Bitterness arises in the heart of on who perceives that they have been treated unjustly by another. Matthew 18 warns us that the person indulging in bitterness will be tormented by two things; anxiety and depression. These tormentors will not be lifted until one gives up the bitterness at which time the anxiety and depression subsides.

So one may ask what happens when one turns to the Lord. The sins are forgiven, but the consequences remain. Baptism washes away sin, not consequences.

One goes out and murders someone and they are caught, tried and imprisoned. Just because they turn to the Lord in prison does not mean they are going to be released no matter how good they become. The consequences remain.

If you get angry at your spouse, get in your vehicle drive crazy and hit a bridge abutment and lose a leg, you may well repent, and find forgiveness, but you’re not going to grow another leg.

One spends 5 years of their life on drugs, turns to the Lord, they will discover they still pay a heavy physical price for their drug use.

Forgiveness does not remove consequences. However, the impact of consequences may be lessened by a life filled with good deeds, joyful thoughts, repentance, faithful worship.

6-16-2018 – A Word to the Wise: FATHERS DAY –WHAT IS THAT?

For all practical purposes I did not have a father. Parents were divorced when I was 4 my father was partial to my sister and brother. I only saw my birth father on rare occasions. Reflecting back I must say he was a very kind man, just not to me.

He only taught me two things; to always listen to my mother, and how to make real French toast. He died when I was 12. Replaced by a step father who hated me, fiercely.

From time to time there were men my mother wanted me to look up to, a preacher, an Elder but no male influences for the most part.

I left home when I was 16, joined the military when I was 17. The only father I had ever really known was my Heavenly Father, I have no regrets but just did not know what a father was or should be. I am not sure the Lord taught me how to be a father, but he most certainly was a Father to me.

It is an oddity of scripture but one does not find any real good father figures in the Bible. A few good men, many bad ones but father traits are just not abounding.

Regardless absence of a good model, my son is an excellent father, and I am very proud of him. I do not comprehend how that came to be, but he is the model father. Respected in the home, in his congregation, and in the community. Happy father’s day, son.

6-6-2018 – A Word to the Wise: There is a lot of criticism of the officer who failed to enter the school and shoot the shooter. Before you  speak you might consider; have you ever face the situation where you were immediately confronted with  killing another person? Consider this please. Killing another human is not an easy topic for one to  comprehend as a peacemaker. There seems to be a little Quakerism in most of us. Modern research sheds some light into this arena.

During World War II Colonel S. L. A. Marshall in a landmark study revealed that only about 17% of men involved in face to face combat  actually fired their weapons at the enemy. Other investigators have provided additional insight into what is known as the resistance to killing.

At the conclusion of the battle at Gettysburg during the Civil War there were 27,574 muskets recovered from the battlefield. One would expect a high percentage to have been discharged in the fierce fighting on those battlefields yet 24,000 muskets recovered were loaded. Twelve thousand had multiple loads.

How is that possible? At the very least 12,000, and more likely 20,000 were noncombatants in the fiercest battle on American soil. Many soldiers did not want to kill! They would do everything but fire their weapon at another person. Many more discharged their weapons over the heads of the enemy, or into the ground. The only conclusion available is men have a great resistance to killing. The closer the combat the higher the resistance. God created a barrier in man that resist killing.

Considering the topic myself when I first became a police officer I concluded for my own self that I would kill only to save the life of another person, but not for self-protection. That self-established rule determine that in four situation where I was legally, and morally justified I did not pull the trigger.

In rethinking those four situations over the years I realize having considered the problem before hand it was easier to deal with the situation when it occurred.
But to judge the situation that faced this school resource officer without considering what you would have done is cruel misjudgment. He faces now being called a coward and many other names, but remember 83 % of the population when faced with a similar situation would not have killed. Would you have?

6-5-2018 – A Word to the Wise:  There is nothing in all of creation more powerful for the human than obedience. Nothing affects man’s existence, regardless of his religiosity more than this quality. It governs intellect, emotions, and physical ability. Obedience to authority is important regardless of one’s religious beliefs–or lack of them.

The major reward for obedience to authority is longevity. Well over one hundred passages in the Old and New Testament emphasize this one concept. Life and obedience go hand in hand.

However, looking at obedience and what it promises and the promises associated with fearing God, one is immediately struck by a huge difference in benefits between the two.

While obedience promises longevity and to a lesser degree a measure of peace, fear of the Lord promises thirty or more specific benefits. Among them are wisdom, knowledge, insight, prolonged life, prosperity, abundance, the desire of one’s heart, food, confidence, healing and the list goes on

Acquisition of the fear of the Lord might be compared with putting on a heavy coat in mid-winter or an armored vest worn by a police officer. Fear of the Lord is a protective coat that protects us from evil and dangerous temptations.

The Scriptures tell us that understanding the fear of the Lord and how it is acquired is one of the most profitable endeavors that man can undertake.

5-3-2018 – A Word to the Wise: Consider please – When one thinks of all of the children who go astray as they grow older one may wonder if there might be a way to plants seeds deep in the heart of a child that might bloom later on in life?

Exodus 30 might give us a hint. Here the Lord is giving specific instructions for the making and use of incense. God gives specific instruction how it is to be made and when it is to be used. The incense in the mind of the people connects with ones relationship with the Lord.

So I was wondering what would happen if parents, almost from the day of the birth of a child picked a popular fragrance often used in everyday society and used that fragrance daily while reading the same passage out loud to the child?

The passage could come from the first two chapters of I John, or perhaps the Sermon of the Mount. Every day take a common substance perhaps like cinnamon having it in the child’s presence while reading the same passage.

Several early years of that and I suspect later in life every time the person catches a whiff of cinnamon that passage would come back to mind.
Anyone think it worthwhile to experiment?

4-24-2018 – A Word to the Wise: There is nothing in all of creation more powerful for the human than obedience. Nothing affects man’s existence more than this quality. It governs intellect, emotions, and physical ability. The ultimate obedience is rooted in the fear of the Lord. The least obedience is discovered in passive compliance with society’s customs

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to determine how powerful obedience is would be to observe the effects of disobedience.

Failure in this area is most evident in the “accident” rate of any society. Traffic accidents are a prime example. Notice how the majority of all accidents are due to the failure to obey a rule, law, and ordinance or known truth. The majority of all traffic accidents accounting for over forty-five thousand deaths per year are preventable. Simply obeying the rules results in an increased life span.

4-5-2018 – A Word to the Wise:  Has it ever occurred to you, or perhaps entered your conscious mind, this question. “Lord, my Savior, do you ever have to say on my account, Father forgive your child, they do not know, comprehend or understand the significance of what they have done, or said, or plan to do.”

3-29-2018 – A Word to the Wise:  I offer for your consideration two powerful passages which stimulate attention in the heart and mind of a person. The first are words one would never want to hear. They appear in 2 Chronicles 21 and are the perfect words for the tombstone of the evil.

Scripture has been addressing the works of King Jehoram, The Lord is very anger with this king because of his evil ways and smote his bowels with an incurable disease. The text says after two years King Jehoram dies in great agony. Scripture closes the final chapter in this man’s life with the words “he departed with no one’s regret.”

In sharp contrast we find some stirring words in the first chapter of Job, which for a godly person, is the ultimate word of praise.

The Lord is speaking to Satan about Job and says “have you considered my servant Job”? One may bring these words home in a visual manner by mediating on these words being spoken in heaven by the Lord to another in the following manner; “Have you considered my servant inserting your own name. Visualize that a few times see how it affects your walk with the Lord.

Thus how will you set your compass’ He died with no one’s regret’ or’ have you considered my servant.’

3-28-2018 – A Word to the wise:  Human possessiveness is a misplaced sense of ownership. No one in any relationship owns another person. The deepest yearning in every human being is for a “sense of longing” but it must be fulfilled in God. If it is displaced to a person it spawns much unhappiness.

The human being was meant to function in many relationships but if tied to only one then none of them will function properly. Possessiveness will cripple and eventually destroy all relationships. Man attempts to acquire ownership by glamorizing the idea of “belonging” in marriage. The Lord never intended for men and women to belong to each other. God meant for a man and woman to function together in harmony as one just as the parts of our body function in harmony.