THE GOSPEL MESSAGE AIN'T COMPLICATED

I am so tired of reading, watching and listening to the complicating of the Gospel Message that I think my head is going to explode! Sometimes I just want to open up my window and holler to the world, "IT AIN'T THAT COMPLICATED, PEOPLE, SO QUIT TRYING TO MAKE IT SO!" The more complicated we try to make the Gospel Message, the more complicated we make life in general...And the more screwed up the world becomes!

People, here's the thing: The Gospel Message has to be so simple that a person on their death bed or a child just obtaining the "age of reason" can comprehend it quickly and completely, in order to make his or her decision of whether to accept it or reject it in a reasonably short period of time. Jesus Himself emphasized this "simplicity" factor several times in the Gospels:

• "And he said: 'Truly I tell you, unless you become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven"(Mat 18:40)
• Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such at these."(Mat 19:14)
• "Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."(Mk 10:15)(Lk 18:17)

Yet, isn't it amazing how we continue to do what Jesus does not want us to do...Complicate the Gospel! We create ceremonies, invoke prayers, establish procedures, teach restrictions, write books, teach drawn-out sermon series and establish codes of conduct, all with the idea of helping a person to become a born again believer in the Kingdom of God. Everyone of these things depend on some kind of action or work, and a way to judge whether this action or work is performed acceptably; yet Jesus said the only action required of us is to believe in Him and what He has done for us by accepting His life into ours; the rest is pure grace.

Jesus made two separate but related important claims on which all of the Gospel Message is based: 1) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."(John 3:16); 2)"I am the way, the truth and the life. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER (and by default, Heaven) EXCEPT THROUGH ME'!"(John 14:6)

Here, then, is the Gospel Message, or as it is called in 2 Cor 5, the Message of Reconciliation, in it's most basic and simplest form:

Each person God creates is a spirit, who has a soul (generally defined as our mind, will and emotions) and who lives in a flesh body. Even Adam and Eve, who were created without conception as the parents of all mankind, were made this way.  Basically, the real YOU is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body. One might say you are like an astronaut in his spacesuit; your body is your earth suit for the real spirit you with your soul inside. That explains why a dead body always seems to have little resemblance to the person when he or she was alive.

Each person is born with the Spirit of God as part of their being, but because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, the moment we become reasonably aware of the difference between right and wrong, good and evil (sometimes called "the age of reason", and make the decision to do (or even think of doing) the wrong or evil thing, we become separated from the Spirit of God.  Essentially, we become "dead" to Him, because we lose a righteousness that was based on His Being and establish one that is based on ours.  In effect, we become our own god, and the inbred pride, selfishness and wickedness of our spiritual heart begins its relentless corruption.  Unfortunately, only children who have not reached the age of reason and the mentally challenged are spared this process.

Fortunately, God, out of the goodness of His Being and His love for the Mankind He created, has provided a way for all people who have become separated from Him to be restored to that original relationship we had with Him...But it involves making a choice! That choice involves the pivotal question of the Gospel Message:  WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH WHAT JESUS SAID HAS CLAIMED?!  Remember, He claims in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John that not only is He "the way, the truth and the life", but that He is also the only way to be reunited with the Father.  So, having made that claim, each of us has to decide if Jesus was A) Telling the truth, therefore requiring us to decide whether we will believe in Him or not; B) Telling a lie, therefore not to be believed or followed; or C) A crazy man, who was not in touch with reality, and therefore, certainly not to be trusted or believed.  If you believe in either B) or C), then you have rejected the Gospel Message and need read no further, because essentially, you have rejected the Christian's God and His plan for you and you are basically on your own.

On the other hand, if your belief is in A) - That Jesus is who He says is and that He is the only way to the Father and eternal life - Then Jesus says in John 3:16 that whoever shall believe in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  That is the basic Gospel Message...nothing more, nothing less.  When we place our belief in Jesus Christ we accept what He has done for ourself and all mankind, and our spirit becomes one with His Spirit as we become filled with the Holy Spirit; essentially we become "born again," a new creation in the Kingdom of God.  The Bible says in Romans chapter 8 that we become children of the Father, heirs to His Kingdom, and coheirs with our brother, Christ Jesus.  A Bible teacher I used to listen to named Bob George used to simply put it this way:  Jesus gave His life for us, so He could give His life to us, so He could live His life through us!

Consider this simple, but powerful, illustration of the redemption process:  Let's say that you have a relative who dies of cancer.  Let's also assume that you have the power and ability not only to heal people, but to also raise them up from the dead.  What are the two problems that you would have to deal with to restore your kin to life and good health? Here is the dilemma:  If you attempt to bring your relative back from the dead without healing the cancer, he would just quickly die again. On the other hand, if you heal the cancer but don't restore life to his body, all you have is a cleaned up, healed corpse with no life.  For your efforts to be successful, you would need to first heal the cancer and then restore life to the body (After all, isn't that what Jesus did when He raised up Lazarus?).  In the illustration, the cancer represents sin, the dead relative's corpse represents all of lost mankind and you represent Father God.  The Father sent His Son Jesus to Earth to die on the cross as punishment for the sins of all mankind (regardless of whether they believe it or accept it...check Hebrews 10), thus curing the "cancer"; then He raised Him from the dead so that He might provide life to our spirit when we believe in Him and become "born again" through accepting His Spirit into ours, thus restoring our original relationship with Almighty God.

So you become born again...Then what? Once again, I believe that just as we have so complicated the basic Gospel Message with religions, teachings, Bible studies, sermons, and etc. that we have also complicated and distorted the purpose for becoming born again, which really explains why Christ left His Divinity behind and came to live among us on earth as a mere man. We need to understand that we must become born again in order to understand and partake in the things of God, not the other way around; we will never understand the things of God on our own before we become born again because their is a veil over the hearts of nonbelievers.(2Cor 3:14-16)  You see, becoming born again not only restores our original, eternal, personal relationship with Almighty God in this world, and the World to come, but it also allows the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to live through us to bring the message of reconciliation to all mankind before this world comes to an end. Jesus demonstrated for us how that works when He lived here on earth as a man. First, He told us in the Gospels that He said nothing but what the Father told Him to say and He did nothing but what the Father to told Him to do; then He passed the baton to His disciples by telling them, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."(Jn 14:9-12)

How did Jesus know what the Father wanted Him to say and do?  He LISTENED, early and often! That is what the prayer directed life is all about!

Now please don't misunderstand me or place words in my mouth here: I am NOT saying that once we become born again everything becomes easy-peasy and that we will instantly understand all the things of God and how to live and walk in the Christian lifestyle; believe me, the fact that the Bible, assembled over thousands of years, is a pretty thick "owner's manual", instructional book and historical document is not lost on me.  In fact, becoming born again, and thereby receiving  the Holy Spirit in our life, is just the beginning of a life-long process of training and instruction in living the Christian lifestyle and understanding God's specific purpose for life on this earth.  After all, it took Jesus 30 years before He "returned to Galilee (from the dessert) filled with the Spirit..."(Luke 4) to begin His life's ministry.  But the fact is, the ability to receive revelation knowledge and understand the things of God is impossible without becoming a child of God by having a born again relationship with Jesus Christ; we do that by simply having faith and believing what He has said about Himself. The old adage that says, "Every journey begins with a single step," certainly applies here.  That act is a simple "yes" or "no"... And THAT's the uncomplicated truth!

Thoughts On "God Is Love"

Back in July of this year, I was looking through our local newspaper (the Courier-Journal) while sitting in my dentist's office when the political cartoon on the editorial page (see panel below) caught my eye. Now before I go on, you should know that I do not subscribe to or read the newspaper on a regular (or even occasional) basis; I swore off of the newspaper, especially our city's, a long time ago, so unless I'm waiting around somewhere and one happens to be available among the reading materials, I just don't ever read them. But this panel caught my attention...and piqued my spirit! As the day went on, I couldn't get it out of my mind, because I knew in my spirit that something was very wrong with this message, and that it was going out to hundreds of thousands of people with no challenge to the veracity of its content. The next morning, during my prayer time, I felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me that the reason I just "happened" to come across this particular cartoon was because He wanted me to respond to it with a letter to the editor, the content of which He would provide. I wrote and emailed the letter to the newspaper; a copy of the letter can be found under the panel below.  Amazingly, it was published, in its entirety, in the Sunday(largest circulation day), Aug 2nd edition; the following is a link to the original article:  Letter | Lesson on ‘God is Love’

Letter | Lesson on ‘God is Love’
Agape love is relationship between God and human, not human to human, writer says

View on www.courier-journal.com

Letter | Lesson on ‘God is Love’
10:03 a.m. EDT July 29, 2015
Given the generally overwhelming bias of your paper, this response will probably never see the light of day, butI hope you will please relay it to your editorial cartoonist, if he is at all interested in presenting the truth aroundthe statement "God is Love."

With all due respect to your editorial cartoonist's religious beliefs, the panel he drew for your newspaper's July 23, 2015, edition indicates that he is less than knowledgeable of the source and meaning of the phrase "God is Love." Perhaps he will allow me to enlighten him with some truth about that phrase.
The New Testament of the English translations of the Bible comes from the Greek language. In the Greek, there are four words/uses for the word "love":
1) Storgē - empathy bond, as between family group members;
2) Phillia - friend bond, as between very close friends;
3) Erôs - erotic bond, as in the sense of "being in love" or "loving someone", and the sexual passion involved therein (as between the two men depicted in his cartoon panel);
4) Agápē -unconditional love God has for His children, those who believe in and receive Him. Agape love is the relationship between God and a human or humans, not human to human. Agape is the ONLY type of love involving the Spirit of God, and is where the term "God is Love" originates. It is also the type of reciprocal love demonstrated when a person asks God to direct their life and actions, as in the actions of the clerk the cartoon attempts to vilify.

Perhaps it would be more helpful to the rights of the gay community if he would devote a panel to comment on the incredibly barbaric practices by Islamist countries of stoning gay couples and throwing them off buildings without parachutes if they apply for a marriage license; seems "Allah Akbar" sure doesn't translate to "God is Love" under that religion. But then, that might take more courage than he might care to muster.
Thank you for your time and consideration.

Mark McLeroy
The Prayer Directed Life Ministries

Now, since I knew brevity and succinctness were key to having a letter to the editor be considered for publication, please allow me a few moments here to expand upon the teaching I believe the Holy Spirit gave me to write, especially in regards to "Agápē" love and the often misused and/or misunderstood term "God is love". Let's begin by taking a look at where and how the term "God is love" is used in the Bible.

There are only two references to the phrase "God is love" in the Bible; both of them are in the same chapter of the same epistle of the New Testament, 1 John, often referred to as the Love Epistle, because the word "love", in its various forms, is used 43 times in this epistle (32 times in the section 4:7 to 5:3), with most of those translated from the Greek term Agápē.

The first reference is 1 John 4:8, which says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."  Now there are several things we need to know about what is and isn't being said in this scripture:

1. The two uses of the word "love" here refer to the agápē type of spiritual love of God's nature, not to the storgē, phillia and erôs types of human love found in Man's nature;
2. The use of the word "know" here is defined as being of the "nature of God" or having a relationship with Him, not in the sense of knowing about God in an intellectual sense. The only way we can "know God" in this sense is through Jesus Christ living in us through the Holy Spirit (this is what Jesus describes in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, and John describes in the rest of chapter 4 and chapter 5 of this epistle, among other places);
3. The Scripture does not infer that whoever loves others with the human types of love (storgē, phillia and erôs) "knows" God, or that God is even in those types of love. It certainly does not infer that if there is any type of "love" taking place then God is in it;
4. Where it says "God is love" it is not inferring that love is the sum total of His Being; elsewhere in this very epistle it also says that "God is light" and "God is spirit". In other scriptures it says that God is: holy, powerful, faithful, true and just.  Love (agápē) is part of God's nature, not His sole existence.  You see, nowhere in the Bible does it say "Love is God"!

The second reference is 1 John 4:16, which says, "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."  Once again, all the references to the word "love" in this verse translate from the Greek word "agápē", according to my Concordance and the study Bible I use.  Here is what I believe we need to know about this scripture

1. The only way we can "know (experience relationship with) and rely on (rest in) the love (agápē) God has for us" is through the born again relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus clearly tells us, in no uncertain terms, that He is the way, the truth and the light, and that NO ONE comes to the Father except through Him.(Jn 14:6) 
2. Just one verse before this scripture (4:15), John says "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God." What this whole chapter is clarifying and confirming is that when it says "Whoever lives in love lives in God..." it means whoever lives in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, who expressed the ultimate, unconditional agápē love by being the atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, lives in God, and God in him/her. Only then are we capable of loving our fellow human beings with the agápē love God has for us, and only when they have THAT love living in them can they reciprocate to us, to others and to God Himself.

Now here is the kicker about all this "love" talk that we need to understand:  If God is love, and we know He is (among many other things), then that kind of love must be a) Spiritual and b) Eternal (that is, no beginning and no end) like God Himself, and therefore, be completely different than the type of love we know here on earth as humans (and between humans). In other words, the human types of love described in the Greek words "storgē", "phillia" and "erôs" all have a beginning and an end, and are all connected with our human bodies and emotions, which, of course, are temporal. But only "agápē" love is the eternal, unlimited, unconditional love that is of and from the Spirit of God, and only through knowing Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, are we able to experience and share THAT kind of love.

To me, a really important and interesting thing about all this is that the Holy Spirit chose to have the New Testament Scriptures written in the Greek, which, unlike most other languages of the time, actually had different words for the different types of love so that when it came time to translate those words, one could tell the intended use of the word by the term it was translated from, rather than creating confusion by lumping all types of love into one word (as is done in the Anglican English) and letting everyone try to figure out what the intended meaning of the word was as it appears in various scriptures. In other words, we don't have to try and guess what John or any of the other Scripture writers were intending to say through there various uses of the word "love" in their writings...We can simply verify it through a good Concordance or study Bible!  "Well then," you may say to me, "how can anyone who doesn't know the Greek language understand the New Testament Scriptures; or for that matter, how can anyone understand the Old Testament and the Gospels without also knowing the the Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin languages? In fact, how can anyone understand the Bible without being some kind of linguist?" The answer is simply this: Almighty God is not trying to hide the meaning of His Word and Scriptures from you; after all, it's sort of your owner's manual when you become born again. In fact, remember what Jesus told Satan in the dessert: "It is written, 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God!'" The Bible tells us in 2 Cor 13 that there is a veil over the eyes, minds and hearts of those who are not part of the New Covenant. It says in 2 Cor 13:14 that "It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away." 2 Cor 13:16 puts it this way: "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." In other words, when we become born again, the Holy Spirit will begin revealing the things of God to us, including His Word, the Bible, as we seek Him and the truth. In fact, you might say that this piece the Holy Spirit has given me to write for you and myself is a good example of how that works!

Finally, please know that I am not dissing or dismissing the importance of those other three human types of love; I believe that all human love certainly have their basis in Agápē love since God created our souls (our minds, wills and emotions) and our bodies with the capacity and ability to engage in actions, words and thoughts to express love and endearment for each other in its various human forms.  But the human love that we share among and have for each other is only a shadow of the complete, eternal, incomprehensible and unconditional Agápē love that Almighty God has for us, and that can only be experienced through His indwelling presence in us along with His Son, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, in our typically prideful and human fashion, we have taken this wonderful gift of God and redefined it according to what we want it to be, rather than what God intended it to be...What began as an absolute, we have made relative.  And when we humans start defining love according to what we think it should be, rather than what God says it is, He will not bless it or be a part of it, for I assure you, God is not about to change His definition to coincide with ours.

In a nutshell, I believe Agápē love is this:  God loves us not for who we are, but in spite of who we are...And He will love us all the way to the grave!  But life after the grave, eternal life, only comes when we personally acknowledge that love by believing in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, who paid the sin debt of all mankind and overcame death, that we might live forever in God's Agápē Love!

Offered in Jesus Name

Is The Bible The Word of God

Recently, my wife and I had an interesting discussion with our adult son, who is a born again Christian (as are we), about the validity of calling the Bible (or the Scriptures) the "Word of God." Since I often find my own arguments and explanations to be less than adequate in reasoning with someone about the things of God, I asked the Holy Spirit in my prayer time to help me to write a note to my son to address this issue on both an intellectual and spiritual level. Here is the resulting letter:

"Mom and I very much enjoyed our discussion with you concerning whether or not the Bible is the 'Word of God'.  Mom is always saying 'Iron sharpens iron', and your questions and points concerning this subject causes we as Believers to have to reevaluate our beliefs and position on this important foundational matter.

Since your intellect is pretty much on a different level than ours, and my apologetic skills are pretty much still in the infancy stage, I wondered if you would consider watching a couple of short videos of Ravi Zacharias answering questions concerning the integrity, validity and accuracy of the Bible in general? They don't directly answer your challenge, but they do provide important points to use when discussing issues concerning the Bible, especially with non-Believers. Here are the links; one is 8 minutes and one is 9 minutes:

                               Why the Bible? Ravi Zacharias at the University of Illinois  

				Why the Bible? Ravi Zacharias at the University of Illin...
				View on youtu.be	Preview by Yahoo

Ravi Zacharias Q & A How Do We Know the Bible is True

				Ravi Zacharias Q & A How Do We Know the Bible is True
				View on youtu.be	Preview by Yahoo

But in my opinion, the crux of this matter comes down to three important points:

1) In terms of its spiritual value and content, the Bible will never be comprehended by non-Believers...essentially, the non-spiritual, or those whose spirit is dead to the Spirit of God; to them, it will always be seen as a literary endeavor comprised of prophesies, teachings, illustrations, stories, etc. But the fact of the matter is that the Message and meaning of the Bible must be revealed to the born again Believer by the Holy Spirit; recall that in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, Jesus said that He would send the Holy Spirit to His disciples and followers (Believers) to "teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you" (essentially, revelation knowledge). Then, it becomes like the illustration of sitting in a chair:  If I present you with a chair to sit in, you may believe that chair will hold you if you go sit on it, but you don't actually express your faith in that belief until you go sit in it, without reservations about its structural integrity, partly because you observe its design...and partly because you trust me not to provide a defective chair for you to sit in.

2) One of the big mistakes we make in studying the Bible is that the Gospel Message is interpreted from the Scriptures, which implies that we can use reasoning to decipher that Message. The truth is, the Scriptures must be interpreted according to the Gospel Message, which is written on our heart the moment we accept Jesus Christ into our life as our Lord and Savior and receive the ministry and message of reconciliation (2Cor 5). When we become born again, a veil drops from our eyes (2Cor 3:14-18) and we begin to better understand the things of God, including His Word. This also helps to explain why to unbelievers the Bible seems to contain a lot of contradictions and conflicting statements.

3) I think that before we can discuss the question of whether or not the Bible is the Word of God with anyone they need to answer the question, "What have you done with Jesus?" What do I mean by that? Jesus flat out declares this statement: "I am the way and the truth and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me."(John 14:6)  If we chose to deny that statement, then Spiritually we are dead as a hammer, and what is said or not said in the Bible doesn't really matter in the long run anyway. If we do believe that statement and accept the salvation and rebirth provided by Him, then we begin to see how often He relied upon and referenced to the written Scriptures of His time in His earthly ministries of teaching, healing and deliverance, thus confirming the validity and authority of not only the written words of God, but also the divine inspiration process to produce them.

So you see, although my Bible may not physically contain the statement "This book you are holding is the Word of God", the Spirit of the words it contains shout loudly and gleefully to my Spirit  that it is!  Hopefully, it will to yours as well!

Again, my Wonderfully intelligent son, thanks for the discussion and the push-back; it helps me to comply with Peter's challenge in 1Pet 3:15, which is a very important part of our earthly ministry. Let's do it again some time!

Love, DaD

Mark McLeroy
The Prayer Directed Life Ministries
www.theprayerdirectedlife.com "

Words For The Present, From The Past

Archibald Leish was an American Poet, a Librarian of Congress and a multiple Pulitzer Prize winner.  Here is a somber piece he wrote in The Saturday Review on October 14, 1967 (My first year in College), that I thought you might be interested in reading:

"There is, in truth, a terror in the world and the Arts have heard as they always do. Under the hum of the miraculous machines, and the ceaseless publications of the brilliant physicists, a silence waits and listens and is heard. It is the silence of apprehension. We do not trust our time, and the reason we do not trust our time is because it is we who have made the time, and we do not trust ourselves. We have played the heroes part, mastered the monsters, accomplished the labors, and have become gods, and we do not trust ourselves as gods because deep inside we know what we really are. In the old days when the gods were someone else the knowledge of what we were did not frighten us. There were Furies to pursue the Hitlers and Athenas to restore the Truth. But now that we are gods ourselves, we bare the knowledge for ourselves. Like that old Greek hero who learned when all the labors had been accomplished, that it was he himself who had killed his sons."
— Archibald MacLeish

Sobering...seems like the chickens have come home to roost.

Medieval Weapons For Modern Warfare?

You know, every day I try to take part of my prayer time to just listen for God to communicate His words or thoughts to me...After all, listening to Him is the essence of prayer itself.  Sometimes I hear from Him during that time, but often, I don't.  However, later in the day, I may be involved in some totally different secular activity when all of a sudden I hear His "still, small voice" in my spirit from out of the blue.

Case in point: I was driving down the interstate highway today when I passed a small Army military convoy heading in the same direction as I.  I used to be in the Army back in the early 70's, so when I see one of these convoys I like to take notice of the vehicles to see how they have changed, improved and adapted over the years; often, I see totally new vehicles that have evolved as a result of the different types of challenges that evolving warfare has presented in different theaters of conflict around the world.  Today I noticed, in particular, the armored cars (squad vehicles) in the convoy and how they have evolved from the old armored halftracks and unprotected jeeps of my days in the Army, largely due to the insidious IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and roadside bombs that have wreaked so much havoc and death against our troops in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan.  I was considering things like the thickness of the glass windows and armor plates, the bulk of the specialized tires and the low, squat profile of the vehicles themselves.  Even the color of the camouflaged schemes were different, as olive and dark green patterns had given way to sandy tan and light brown hues to deal with reducing the profile of these vehicles as they operated in the near east Arab countries with their desolate terrains and sandy topographies.  I was considering the genesis and evolution of our machines and weapons of war in the effort to try and stay ahead of the ever-changing   attempts of our enemies to neutralize the effectiveness of our forces when all of a sudden, I heard His voice speaking to my spirit!  He began telling me that His weapons and armor for warfare, unlike our Armed forces' and those of our enemies, have not changed or lost their effectiveness since He gave them to us over 2,000 years ago when He gave us the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, even while the Enemy has done his best to modernize his forces and weapons of destruction over the centuries, even up to today. His "medieval" belt, breastplate, shoes, helmet, shield and sword are still every bit effective and superior against the weapons and armor of both our ancient and our modern day mortal and spiritual enemies, including satan himself!  Wow...what a word of reassurance!

As soon as I got to my destination, I pulled out my Bible and looked up Ephesians 6 to remind myself of the armor and the weapon that Paul advised us to don.  Here is that passage:

 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,  and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;  praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—  and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,  for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (NKJB Eph 6:10-20)

Hope the account of this little encounter lifts your spirit and strengthens your hope as much as it has mine. By the way, you don't have to take off the armor to sleep or take a shower; it's rust proof and very comfortable to wear all the time.

 Be blessed, and have a Gr8 Day!

Your Brother in Christ,

MarkMc
The Prayer Directed Life

Regarding Statistics Concerning the Gay Lifestyle for Males

A few weeks ago, I posted the following "tweet" based on some statistics I heard in a sermon about the issue of gay marriage:

The average life span of an American male is 75, while for gay males it's 43. Question: How is it compassionate to support gay lifestyles?

In response, I received the following comment from a friend named Phil:

I have found several places online clarifying myths produced by the "anti-gay" population trying to steer people towards a lifestyle that they think other people should live. The post you posted is one of the myths indicated. I find this narrow minded and take offense to your post. Have a good day.

He has made His wonders to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and compassionate. PSALM 111:4

I decided to temporarily take my tweet comment down while I researched the information and prayed about an appropriate response to Phil's comment, which he posted on Facebook.  The following was my response to his comment:


Phil,
Sorry I haven’t responded to your comments sooner, but I wanted to pray about my response and do some more research about this subject before answering you.

First of all, I am sincerely sorry that this posting offended you; it was certainly not meant to do that, I assure you. Let me ask you a couple of questions: In all the years we have known and interacted with each other, have you ever known me to purposely dishonor, disrespect, belittle or insult you or yours in any way? Have I or mine ever tried to steer you or anyone you are associated with to live a life-stye we think you should live? Can you think of even one time when I’ve discriminated against you or anyone you know? My posting (tweet) was prompted by my reaction to hearing the startling statistical information in a recent sermon I heard concerning honoring the temple of the Holy Spirit, our bodies (for those who are born again). My question was genuine; my immediate thought was of the scripture in Hosea 4:6 where God says “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge”, and frankly, it angered and saddened me to think that 1)I was not aware of this statistic and its implications, and 2)We have public service announcements (PSA’s) that vigorously warn the population of how smoking cigarettes and taking drugs and drinking alcohol shorten our life spans by 5 to 10 years, but then say nothing of a behavior whose average effect on shortening one’s life expectancy is almost more than double that.

After your chastisement, I asked the Holy Spirit to help me look into the information that  I heard and posted in order to get to the truth of the matter for myself, rather than depending on pro/con groups to spin whatever statistics and information was derived  according to their agenda; I’m reminded that Jesus once said “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(Jn8:32) I won’t attempt to share with you all that I learned in my research, because if you were really interested in what the truth is about this subject, you would have researched the studies and findings out there yourself and countered my statistics with information which supports your position. But since you declared the information I posted to be a “myth”, produced by the “anti-gay population” rather than challenging me with information, I WILL share with you a major piece of information I discovered which directly contradicts your declaration. One of the largest, most comprehensive and complete studies to provide support to the statistics I posted was a study done in a major population center in North America (Vancouver, BC) whose results were published in 1997 in the International Journal of Epidemiology (Vol. 26, 657-61: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/3/657). The study was titled “Modelling the impact of HIV disease on mortality in gay and bisexual men.”  Here is a summary of the findings of that well documented, crosschecked and footnoted study:

“CONCLUSION: In a major Canadian urban center, life expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 21 years less than for all men. If the same pattern of mortality were to continue, we estimate that nearly half of gay and bisexual men currently aged 20 years will not reach their 65th birthday. Under even the most liberal assumptions, gay and bisexual men in this urban centre are now experiencing a life expectancy similar to that experienced by all men in Canada in the year 1871.” (It should be noted here that the results and conclusions of similar, more recent studies I examined that were done in the US and Canada in recent years closely mirrored the results and conclusion of this comprehensive study.)

But here’s something important you need to know about that study: IT WAS CONDUCTED BY A TEAM OF PRO-GAY RESEARCHERS who were trying to bring attention to the impact of of HIV and AIDS infection on the gay and bisexual community, presumably to obtain more funding and care to deal with the problem.  AND HERE’S THE KICKER:  Several years later, after this pro-gay research group received a lot of grief from the gay community because pro-heterosexual and pro-family groups were using the results and conclusion of this study as confirmation for their warnings about the risks of the homosexual lifestyle, they issued a statement trying to minimize this unintended after-effect. Essentially, they tried to modify the findings and conclusions of their original study without conducting any new or followup or additional studies to support their position, stating that the life expectancy of gay and bisexual had greatly improved because deaths from HIV infection (they didn’t say anything about AIDS infection) had “declined dramatically” in their initial study group. Meanwhile, the actual data from more recent studies on this subject indicate that although the life span expectancy for both homosexual/bisexual and heterosexual males has increased, the relative difference in length between the two remains pretty much the same...about 8-20 years. So it would appear that your sources are are more the myth producers, not mine. I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but believe that those numbers are being sustained by the pro-gay groups who marginalize, demonize and cover up this proven information so that those who are considering engaging in the gay lifestyle are not aware of, and therefore not taking extra precautions against, the possible adverse (one might say, life threatening) effects of their decision...a sort of Catch 22.  In addition, research efforts to develop HIV/AIDS vaccines and treatments have been stymied because information and studies concerning the need for these products are being quashed by groups representing the very folks who need them; after all, what self-respecting pro-gay research group wants to subject themselves to gay community vitriol when the results of their studies don’t come out like they want?  I’m sorry, but I find this kind of hypocrisy to be intellectually dishonest, morally reprehensible and just plain irresponsible.

You see, I take offense at, and have no compassion for, the selfish efforts of self interest groups who foster ignorance, despite proven facts, in order to preserve their cause at all costs, because they are robbing someone I may know and care about of the right to make informed decisions about behaviors which may adversely impact his entire life.  Here’s an example of what I mean:  As pilots, you and I are considered a much higher risk for accidental death or disability than the general population; as a result, you, I and all pilots are excluded from the coverage of a standard life insurance policy during the performance of our duties as either pilot or crew of an aircraft, even though the safety record for the aviation industry has been vastly improved in recent years. As pilots we must be, and are, advised of this and other exclusions any time we purchase life insurance.  Therefore, if we wish to have life insurance coverage to protect and provide for our families if an accident occurs during the performance of our flight duties, either we or our companies must pay an additional premium to purchase a rider that specifically covers our aviation activity.  Essentially, we are advised of the risks and remedies of our aviation activities and are given the opportunity to decide which and how much risk to accept in the pursuit of our vocation.  As we have both seen among family and acquaintances, sometimes those decisions result in tragic consequences for both the pilot and his family, especially when the risks were either unknown or the safe-guards and precautions were ignored.

But, in spite of all of the above, let me just say this: As long as it’s legal and doesn’t interfere with my rights as an American citizen, I could care less what consenting adults do among each other, especially in the privacy of their relationships; unlike LGBT, Gay Pride and other gay rights activist groups, I have no desire to force my life style beliefs on anyone. As a Christian Believer, I believe that a person’s sex, like his/her race, is a sacred gift from God to each of us as individuals; therefore, we as individuals are responsible to Almighty God for how we choose to use this gift (I think the famous scholar and and apologist, Ravi Zacharias, says it best in this video: http://youtu.be/CIw6ngIqaD0). I do not judge you or any other individual for the legal behaviors you choose to engage in...the Lord knows I have my own proclivities and behaviors to control and deal with without trying to assume responsibility for yours - or anyone else’s. As an American citizen, I served in the Armed Forces of this Country, to protect and preserve the Constitution and  the Bill of Rights, which guarantees yours and my right to live our lives as we wish and to speak as we wish, according to the laws of this country.

As for your comment about being narrow minded, I guess I should take that as a compliment, because here’s what Jesus had to say about the word “narrow”:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”(NIV Mt 7:13-14)

Sounds to me like we all need to be thinking on the “narrow” side.  And I’m pretty sure many people consider Jesus to be narrow minded for saying things like “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”(Jn 14:6) and “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”(Jn 3:3) 

You see, my friend, the question is not “What are your lifestyle preferences?”; the question is, “What have you done with Jesus and what He said?”. Because until we answer that question, nothing else matters in the eternal scheme of things; but when we answer by becoming born again and making Him Lord of our life, then He will reveal the truth about God’s purpose and plan for our life in this world...and the next.

Peace and blessings on you, Captain Phil...and please, fly safe!

OPC

Recently, Time Magazine named their "Person of the Year" as "The protester." And you know how we've all seen the initials "OWS" emblazoned in recent newspaper articles and headlines, and heard them as TV newscasters race to cover the latest antics of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters and their affiliates around the country in recent months? Well, the Holy Spirit weighed in on this matter during my prayer time this week, so I thought might share with you some of the interesting points He shared with me about this situation.

The way He got my attention on this matter is kind of funny...in fact, at the time, it made me chuckle. I haven't really gotten anything new to blog about in my recent prayer time because I've been focused on trying to hear from God on how to accomplish the most recent project He has given me to work on, which is to try and establish a presence in social network media (such as Facebook) for the Prayer Directed Life Ministries, like something akin to The Jesus Daily fan page. Anyhow, I was closing up my computer at the end of my prayer time Friday when those initials, OWS, caught my eye momentarily in a Yahoo story; almost immediately, the initials OPC popped into my spirit and just kind of hung there for a few seconds as I tried to comprehend what the initials meant and why were they coming into my spirit now. As I mentioned earlier, I had a good chuckle when the Holy Spirit told me what the initials OPC stood for: Occupy Prayer Closet! But as I meditated on this concept and how it related to the OWS movement, He began to reveal some interesting and important truths that we - especially we Christians - need to get a hold of if we expect to see the world change for the better.

Have you ever noticed that this element of today's way of life is conspicuously absent from any description of the life, times or teachings of Jesus Christ and His disciples as presented in the Gospels and the Epistles of the Bible? Oh, believe me, there were some juicy social and moral issues to take on and protest at that time, but the only Occupy Israel activity going on at that time was the brutal and oppressive occupation by Caesar's Roman Empire. For instance, the killing of unborn babies was not so much an issue, because unwanted or inconvenient babies were just "aborted" after they were born...much easier that way; kinda like they do in India today. (Recall that King Harrod had all male children under the age of two in Bethlehem and the surrounding area "aborted" after he learned of the birth of the King of the Jews. [Matt 2:16-18] Yet no protesting or rioting took place, less the whole town be killed for "exercising their 'rights'.") Yet, Jesus led no anti-abortion rallies or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" protests against the ruling authorities to start the ball rolling on getting change. Then, there was the capital punishment issue: Both the Roman and Jewish authorities were very creative in establishing ways to slowly and painfully kill a "criminal"...or a "sinner." Yet Jesus never condemned those authorities or led his followers in anti-death penalty protests. And if you think there is a difference between the "haves" and the "have nots" today, the average American citizen can't begin to imagine the well documented conditions of intense, widespread poverty that existed then; and the "government" didn't care whether your basic human needs were provided for or not, in spite of the fact that everyone had to pay taxes or go to jail (or, in the case of the Temple tax - required annually of every male over age 20 - be excluded from Synagogue events) ...including the poor! Yet, once again, Jesus did not organize a group to "occupy" the town square or the Synagogue to protest the "one percent" who owned and controlled everything. In fact, He dined with both the rich and the poor, the upper class and rulers and the lower class and beggers; His words and actions in Matt 17:24-27 even suggests that Believers will be provided funds to pay their taxes, even when they are exempt from them, in order to "not offend the authorities." Interestingly enough, the one person who joined up with Jesus and His disciples because he thought Jesus was going to lead a "revolution" for societal "change" - that be Judas - helped have Him killed when he realized that He had no intention of leading or promoting that kind of change. Jesus wasn't a rebel...Everyone else was...and is!

Could He have amassed legions of followers to mount effective protests? You bet He could have; consider the huge gatherings at the "Sermon On The Mount"(Luke 6:17), the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 (Mt 14:15) or the miracle of the feeding of the 4000 (Mt 15:32). But Jesus knew that it is often futile and usually fruitless to try badger people into "changing" by assailing their ideologies, life styles and philosophies: such attacks always provoke negative responses...whether it be defense, flight, or counterattack.

Jesus was clear about His mission on Earth: He came to change hearts and to establish and build a spiritual Kingdom, not to change minds, destroy nations and build an earthly kingdom. You see, the only thing Jesus Christ wants to "occupy" and "change" is men's hearts, one heart at a time; because when a person's heart is changed to want to "love your neighbor as yourself" in all that he/she does, the heart of human nature is vanquished, and the fuel for protests and rebellion is neutralized. And the primary way for us to hear how Christ wants to accomplish this mission through our lives is to "OPC", Occupy our Prayer Closets, early and often!