Talkin' Lowdown Amarillo, Texas Street Preacher Blues

There's a fella here in Amarillo, Texas whose days are filled with street preaching via megaphone, spewing the basic "everyone but me is going to hell" doctrine of those like Westboro Baptist Church and others cut from their blasphemous cloth. The man's basic message is that, even if you think you're a Christian, and think you're saved, you're actually not a Christian and are going to hell if you've sinned after accepting Christ.
People with this false doctrine build their argument, like any false doctrine, on Scripture misunderstood, twisted, or taken out of context; passages like 1 John 3:6-9, which says, "Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God." What the man with the megaphone doesn't realize is that this sin refers to the unrepentant, habitual sin of those with an empty proclamation of Jesus, who attempt to trample on grace, rather than live under it. This doesn't refer to true Christians - and what is a true Christian? A true Christian is not someone who suddenly becomes perfect, but someone who acknowledges that their sin is great, but abides in the truth that the love and grace of Jesus Christ is greater.
Also, Amarillo's megaphone preacher forgets the Holy Spirit's words through John just one chapter earlier: "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).

Paul writes to us in the epistle to the Romans that sinning because you're saved, shrugging it off and saying "God will forgive me" is not right: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:1-2)
So, what is the truth of the matter? Are we literally unable to stumble once saved, our DNA changed as well as our hearts? Does God put us in a moral straight-jacket that makes it impossible to err? Or, has the precious blood of our Savior Jesus also covered the sins and mistakes we make as Christians? To suggest that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is good for some of a believer's sins, but somehow becomes ineffective, powerless against those after his or her conversion, is to suggest something as powerful as the blood of our Lord is fickle and limited by a believer's time and circumstance.

In arguing against the belief that true Christians do not sin, I would point to two incidents in the life and ministry of Paul. In the second chapter of Galatians, we read of a dispute between Paul and fellow apostle Peter. Paul describes confronting Peter, and even Barnabas, on a matter of "hypocrisy." This event obviously took place after the resurrection of Jesus, and during the apostles' ministry. So, then, did Peter's stumbling render him unsaved? Not a true Christian? And if so, why would God, sovereign over His word to us, allow two of his epistles to be part of this book we came to call the Bible?

The other example from Paul comes from the second epistle to the Corinthians, where we read of Paul's instructions to the church at Corinth - a church that was often plagued with sin and erroneous ideas about Jesus - concerning a brother who had done wrong and strayed (2 Corinthians 2:5-11). Paul instructs the church there not to shun or ostracize the brother, but to comfort, love, and forgive him. This is just what the Holy Spirit does to each of us when we, like the straying brother at Corinth, wander from God's direction.

Like many people who shout things on the street, I suppose it might be ineffective to confront megaphone man with these truths; for his mind seems made up, and a wall built over his heart. And with such people, the Proverbs give us sound advice: "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge," and "Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him."
If you argue with a brick wall, who looks foolish? You, or the brick wall? The Proverbs also tell us, "He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you."

But - Jesus tells us "the things which are impossible with men are possible with God." And it is Jesus who took upon Himself the shame and hate of sin - and sinners - on the cross. Before we knew Him, we scoffed at Him, hated Him, scorned Him to shame. But His mercy and grace are unfathomable, as they should be, for they belong to a God who is often so impossible to comprehend, to grasp, to understand. This is why He came to us in the form of that lowly Servant, our ladder to heaven like the one dreamed by Jacob at Bethel.

I won't say this megaphone man gives preachers a bad name - that's impossible, for a true preacher of the word is under the name of Christ. We must pray he receives love from even those at whom he spews the venom of ignorance, and gentle rebuke, done only out love and a desire for him to see how mighty the works of Christ truly are.

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 8-16-15: "You're a Wonderful Piece of Work, You Smelly Moron!"

I saw a spider in the bathroom last night, so I went to a hotel. From the dresser drawer of my hotel room, I picked up the Gideons' Bible, open at page one, and noticed it reads, "He rested from all His work which God had created and made." I know what other Christians mean when they say "I'm a work in progress." They're saying, "I still struggle, I still stumble, but Christ's grace overwhelms my sin and gives me strength." (In other words, they describe a Christian.) And while I understand what they mean when they say "I'm a work in progress," I would suggest that we are actually completed works.

The author of Hebrews touches deeper on God resting from "all His work" on the seventh day, which He sanctified, alluding that this not only refers to Creation, but to all of God's work - including a plan for salvation: the sacrifice of His own Son on the cross to atone for all of our sins, including all of our self-righteous works which we mistake for true righteousness, His resurrection from the dead, to resurrect all of us dead in sin to life in Christ, and dare I say He rested from every work He has done for you and me as individuals. The work of helping me overcome my habit of dealing three-card monte at retirement homes, and the work of giving me wonderful things to say to proclaim His name. It's the same for you and every one of the works our Lord has done for you, both great and small.
You're a completed work - you're not there yet, but God is. And He's has already seen you completed. Remember the apostle Paul's words: "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess

The Levite's Concubine: Superstitious Barbarians of the 21st Century

Being that every "trending" news story on my Facebook feed deals with someone killing someone else, I was moved to write this a couple of weeks ago.

One of the most disturbing villains in the Bible is often overlooked, despite the heinous nature of his deed. He doesn't have the notorious reputation of Jezebel or Herod - his name isn't even recorded - but he obviously possessed a mind as sadistic. To summarize a long story, in the nineteenth chapter of the stark and often troubling book of Judges, we're told of an unnamed Levite who, while traveling with his concubine, stayed in the village of Gibeah. There, certain men echoing the depravity of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, surrounded the house where the Levite and his concubine were staying, and demanded to have sex with him. The Levite refused, and forced his concubine outside with the men, who "ravished her so that she died."

The woman later stumbled back to the house and collapsed dead at the doorstep. When the Levite found her, his words of anguish and lament (sarcasm) were, "Get up, let's go." So, seeing that she was dead, he placed her body on his donkey, and when he returned home, he cut her corpse into twelve pieces, and sent a piece of her to each territory of Israel. In the next chapter, he gave his reason for his hideous actions, claiming he did it to make the nation of Israel aware of the rape the men in Gibeah had committed (though it was he who had given her up to them).
All of this wickedness eventually led to a war in Israel.
The final words of the startling book of Judges perfectly sum up why so many atrocities happened in Israel during this period: "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25).

Today, cozy with Snuggies and Netflix, we look back on such things and want to throw up in disgust, and rightfully so. "Barbaric," we say with disdain. But we, as if we were anthropologists of morality, separate ourselves and our own time from wickedness such as this; we attribute it to a lack of common sense and an abundance of ancient religious superstition. We muse in our minds that today's society, safe in the embrace of the legacies of Steve Jobs and Stephen Hawking, is above such depravity.

But, a look at a few of this year's (2014) news headlines suggests otherwise:
"Body of missing 4-year-old autistic boy found in South Carolina pond."
"8 children stabbed to death in the Cairns suburb of Manoora."
"Boko Haram insurgents kidnap at least 185 women and children in Nigeria."
"Edmonton mass murder: bodies of 7 adults, 2 children found in 3 places."
"Pakistan: Taliban school attack kills 141, including 132 children."
"Dover, NH: Man shoots wife, self in hospital; sister says he did it 'out of love.'"

We gloss over the fact that it wasn't even one hundred years ago that many in the nation of Germany followed a madman named Adolf Hitler and gleefully supported the Nazis' quest to annihilate the Jews from the face of the planet. And we forget there is no shortage of groups today that mold their ideals and charters after these monsters. And we forge that just fifty years ago, these groups in our own country were lynching men for the color of their skin, as racist mayors were unleashing vicious dogs.

Yet we have the nerve to assert that faith in God is out of place in this modern, "civilized" age of reason and carbon dating.

The most strident of atheists looks at the roots of religion - any religion - as a blithering group of bumpkins and jumpy, guilty simpletons attributing good and bad to an object, some stone monolith perhaps, and bowing down to it with caveman-like grunts and Pentecostal-like hooting. But I see the exact same thing happening in the unbelieving world today, in reverse: those who curse the notion of faith in disgust bowing down to the accelerator mass spectrometer, with proud announcements that carbon dating and the humor of Seth MacFarlane have come to save us from religion, and if we only believe in the words of Christopher Hitchens, we can be saved from ghastly superstitions of old, and everything will be alright - and explained.

Before and after the Flood, God describes, as a whole and without exception, the natural hearts of man as continually evil. We need a Savior. We need a Power not of our own making. We are wretched by nature, and would never tell ourselves so. We exalt ourselves like the Pharisees who plotted to kill Jesus, that we are above the barbaric nature of men of old. But an hour spent watching the news proves otherwise.

We need Jesus Christ, the Son of God who was given as an atonement for our sins, so that our hearts may be open to true love, to the knowledge of the mercy and grace of God, the zealous desire He has to cleanse us of sin and give us everlasting life.
We today are no better than the marauders and rapists of ancient days. The ability to Skype has not made the hearts of man any less prone to fanaticism, racism, or barbarianism.

"Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children'; But these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries, for the great abundance of your enchantments. For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, 'No one sees me'; your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; and you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me.' Therefore evil shall come upon you; you shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; you will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know" (Isaiah 47:8-11).

Hashtags and ribbons for awareness don't make us better than killers, thieves, and rapists of eras gone by. Only the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ can deliver us from our evil selves. Dismissing this God we call a superstition, an ignorant crutch, has not made our hands less bloody, our minds less warped, our wisdom less hollow. In denying the need to be more like the repentant thief on the cross, we remain the brute, barbaric Levite. And what's more, we are Pharisees of time: we exalt ourselves as better than the dregs of days past because we can read On the Origin of Species and watch Religulous on our tablets, with a handful of Starbucks, and a mouthful of gluten-free pretzel puffs.

"There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
-Luke 13:1-9

Adam Raised a Cain (A Discourse on Sin & the Garden of Eden)

"In the Bible, Cain slew Abel 
 and east of Eden he was cast
 You're born into this life paying for the sins
 of somebody else's past."
 -Bruce Springsteen, "Adam Raised a Cain"

A female friend was trying to text me the other day, when she complained about her phone. "It's taking forever to send messages."
"Taking forever, eh?" I remarked, "your phone must be a woman."
AMIRITE fellas?!
We men and women have fun berating each other. It reminds me of the playful boys-vs-girls debate among believers, and even non-believers, about whose fault it truly was that mankind fell into sin in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve, the first two human beings on Earth, disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit. And while the man in me wants to put the blame at 60/40, judging by Scripture I can only surmise that the Fall in the Garden was equally the fault of man and woman.

We read in Genesis 2:15 "Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it." Concerning Eve's creation, she was described in relation to Adam as "a helper comparable to him." Further, Genesis 2:24 tells us, concerning the spousal relationship, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
In the third chapter of Genesis, we're sent headlong into the Fall of Man. "The serpent," it says, "was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made." 
Note here the distinction - maybe I'm just reading too much into semantics, but the serpent (who we of course know was Satan) is identified with "the field," not with the Garden. If one accepts any significance about the use of the word "field" rather than "garden" in describing the serpent, we can logically assume he had no business in the Garden of Eden. He was an intruder. And, as we read previously, God had given Adam the specific duty of tending and keeping the Garden. So, Adam had overlooked one responsibility already in preventing the serpent from entering his home - just as we today must keep evil influences and destructive behaviors from our own doors.

What happens next is infamous - it should be, because it led to the world sucking. The serpent persuaded Eve, through lies and twisting of speech, that there would be no disastrous consequence to eating of the fruit of "the tree of life." So she did, her and "her husband with her" (emphasis added, Genesis 3:6).
Long story short, mortality and sin entered the world, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and every ugly, hurtful deed that's ever been done can be traced back to this fateful day.

But concerning whose "fault" it was that this happened, we see plainly that Adam and Eve were "one flesh," that Adam had a responsibility and duty in overseeing the Garden of Eden, that he faltered in negligence when he allowed the serpent near his wife, and that Eve too stumbled when she heeded the word of the enemy. The man and woman were one flesh.
In the New Testament, Paul at two points seems to distribute responsibility evenly. In his masterpiece of Romans, Paul writes in the fifth chapter, "through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned". (It would be an injustice to grace if I didn't include Paul's complete thought here - he writes that though sin entered the world through one man, "the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.") Later, in his first epistle to his protege and faithful companion Timothy, while referring to the authority of men in the church, Paul scolds Eve particularly for her part in the Fall, writing, "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression." (1 Timothy 2:14)

I used to read a lot about serial killers. One thing that linked almost all of them was an abusive and painful childhood. So many of these murderers' parents or guardians beat or neglected them, allowed them to be exposed to hideous things, or forced them to commit atrocious acts at tender ages. These killers' parents made them pay for their twisted actions, leading them to paths of darkness and destruction.
In God's grace, He often won't punish us for our sins - but we sure make each other pay for them.

It goes right back to the beginning of man on Earth - if Cain's parents had not sinned, he would not have been envious of his brother Abel, would never have killed his own flesh and blood. (Not to suggest our sins as individuals, much like Cain's sins, are merely results of environment or ancestry - rather, they are the result of our surrender to temptation, as it was from the beginning in the Garden).

But it should also be noted that the first Biblical prophecy of the Messiah, Jesus, is spoken directly by God, during His casting of Adam and Eve from the Garden - He says to Satan the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:15) In the bruising of His heel, God was speaking of the unthinkable pain His Son would endure on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice to atone for the sins of man; this would bring doom to Satan, a destiny for a lake of fire, therefore the bruising of his head. But compared to the abundant life, on Earth and after, which Jesus' death and resurrection gives to so many, the pain He would endure on account of sin would seem like a wound of the heel.

Some might ask "Why didn't God just atone for the sins of all mankind right then and there?"
Thousands of years passed between the casting of man from the Garden of Eden and the death of Jesus on the cross. In those thousands of years, not only were we given prophecy after prophecy of the coming Savior who would atone for us, but we see the Hebrews who lived under the rigorous Law of Moses - which was fulfilled by the final, ultimate sacrificial Lamb in Jesus Christ. So, we have thousands of years of prophets foretelling the suffering and victory of the Messiah, and years of "the law of sin and death" as Paul described it. These things were an ominous prelude to what was to come, a prologue if you will, so that we would have more reason to believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
Despite this, there are still many who don't believe - how much less would believe if Jesus had been sacrificed on the same day as the Fall of Man? We would have had no prophets, no anchor of history, to affirm to Jesus' Authority.

Speaking of prophecy and the rotten things we do to one another, individually or collectively, sometimes I let the assurances of Biblical prophecy turn into apathy. For example, I know there will never be world peace, at least until Christ's millennial reign, so I don't fret about it; I know we'll never eliminate poverty and starvation from the world because the Bible tells us that people will become more and more evil, always swindling, stealing, and wronging each other. I believe in global warming and climate change, but I believe it to be a prelude to the Great Tribulation which Jesus described. And all of this was entered into the world through the devil's deception in the Garden.
But I shouldn't think that the fact that the world will always be a rotten place excuses me from my responsibility as an individual - Christ has given us a responsibility to live peaceably as individuals even if many others don't, to give and bless those in need, even if there are many who don't, not to litter and to care for the environment, even if so many don't even acknowledge that the environment is changing, and not for the better.
Will it bring peace to the Middle East or Washington DC? No. Will it eliminate tyranny and poverty? No. But each good deed done in Christ's name, no matter how small in the world's eyes, sends a ripple of hope in a sea of very ugly, bloody water.

“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
-our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Matthew 13:24-30