Pastortimteague's Blog

How do we eliminate the Travon Martin / George Zimmerman mess?  

Call it what you want to.  Both sides of the Travon tragedy have taken roots and dug in to defend their views of the incident.  To be honest, only a handful of people and God really know what happened.  And in the opinion of all those who think they know – everyone else is a liar.   We have seen these incidents before and, sad to say, we will likely see them again.

Regardless of how whatever really happened that fateful night – the loss of a young man’s life is nothing to be excited about.  I can’t imagine having someone knock on my door and tell me my son has just been killed – regardless of how it took place.  To know that my son was the victim of a shooting would make it even harder.  Rather he was shot in compliance with the law or not – the news would be tragic and paralyzing for me.

I am confident that Travon’s mother will carry this incident the rest of her life.  She will need prayer and support from multiple venues.

I think this incident is birthed out of one that occurred nearly 6000 years ago – in another land and another time.  The very first parents to ever set foot on the earth had a son who was murdered.  It’s the ancient Cain and Able story.  Jealousy, anger, frustration – all fed the thought one brother against the other.  The end is tragic.  No police to investigate.  No media blitz.  No questions from CNN or FOX news. No Hannity.  No O’Reilly Factor.  No “Reverend” so and so to grab some media hype.  Nothing.  After Cain killed Abel – the sun set without a lot of public hype and media interruptions.  But a mother and father sat heart broken.  They had never seen death before.  This was up close and deeply personal.  Death?  They remembered the term from an earlier confrontation with God the Father – Yaweh!  Oh yeah!  After the shock wore off – it all started to settle in.  Death was the result of disobedience.  Death was the result of sin.  Death was the result of man’s choice over God’s.   Adam and Eve would bear some sense of frustration with their son’s choice to kill his brother for the rest of their life.  Cain represents in history the absolute rejection of the need for atonement for sin.  Therein lies the seed of Travon’s case – sin crouching at the door (See Genesis 3 and 4).  

Who is to blame for Travon’s murder?  Was he “murdered”?  Was it in self defense?  Who “threw the first punch?”  As Adam and Eve wrestled with similar questions – thousands of parents have asked the similar questions for nearly 6000 years.  It seems to me that we have made this a race issue when in fact it may not be.  I wasn’t there and neither were you.  Again, only a hand full of people really know what happened.  I can imagine if I, a white male, were to walk through an all black neighborhood – covered from head to toe in stereotype attire – I would be found suspicious.  If I were to walk through an all middle eastern territory – dressed in attire that stereotyped me as an enemy – I would be found suspicious.  Mind you – I am not advocating innocence or guilt.  I am saying that the entire event was wrapped in the attire of suspicion.  Like it or not – that’s the stupid world we live in.  My goodness, if I were to walk the halls of any banking institution wearing “questionable attire” and fumbling with Skittles and a can of tea – I would be found suspicious.   Some would look at me and not really know what I was fumbling with.  Wrong place at the wrong time.  Simple.  Where our suspicions go wrong is when we attach racist or ethnic associations with them.  In some places of the world, I would be found suspicious because I’m white.  In some areas of the world I would be suspicious because I am a Christian.   If I chose to enter a known territory because I have the right to do so – and I choose to dress in a fashion that breeds suspicion – I need to understand that as much as it is my “right” to dress a certain way – it is the right of those territorial guardians to be suspicious of me.  Suspicion has saved the lives of many more people than it has ever taken.  Suspicion has saved countless numbers of soldiers who have suspicions of a alleged enemy.  Police officers have kept countless crimes from being committed only because they had a suspicion to engage an alleged law breaker.

Beyond suspicion is the fact of sin.  The denial or the need of a Savior.  I don’t know where Travon was at or his alleged killer is at in a redeeming relationship with Jesus Christ.  What I do know is that each one engaged what they assumed was their right.  Travon had the “right” to wear attire that would identify him – like it or not – with those of questionable behavior.  His alleged killer, the shooter, George Zimmerman, engaged what he assumed was his right – to bear arms and defend himself.  Tragically, both obviously made a mistake that fateful night.  Assumption is the cousin to sin.  Sin assumes we don’t need a Savior.  Sin assumes we have rights – when we were created to serve a loving God – not determine our own fates.  Sin wraps itself in multicolored and multiethnic and racially patterned robes of “rights” and tragically we are seeing the result of it all.  

Fear is a factor to consider also. Fear is the absence of faith.  Fear led George to pull the trigger.  What led to his “fear” of the kids in hoodies in the first place?  We can’t ask him now but I wonder if Travon feared the reprisal of negative peer pressure if he didn’t conform to the “norm” of a specific culture.  No one will ever know…will they?

What we now see playing out in the media are high profile vultures.  So called “social justice Reverends” and community leaders.  The kind that soar high above tragedy and then swoop in for the self serving “kill.”  In so doing both families suffer the tragedy a second and third and fourth time…and countless stabs at being a victim…all over again.  Media idiots have played their troubling part – a terribly troubling part.  We have made this uncalled for loss of a young man out with his friends and the unnecessary attempt to defend what is rightfully the property of someone – an event that has stirred thousands to “social justice” action.  We have certainly made this into a race issue when in fact I’m not sure it was.  It if was then we have missed thousands of other opportunities to address race issues – white on black crime, black on white crimes, ethnic on ethnic, religion on religion.  We found one we get carry further then it needed to be – and some have the audacity to take pride in that fact.  

If Travon hadn’t been “dressed” in a stereotype fashion and if George had not been faced with ongoing issues of fearing his neighbors – we wouldn’t have this to deal with.  If George had not felt like he needed to carry a weapon to defend himself – this may not have happened.  

Sin is crouching at the door.  Too bad that door is opened as often as it is.  The door handle is on the inside and until we change how we face our suspicion and fears – we will keep opening the door at tragic and paralyzing moments.  Until we see sin for what it is – more Travon’s will die.  Until we see sin for what it is – more George Zimmerman’s will pull the trigger.  We have to find a way to eliminate the power of sin.  Oh but wait a minute – Jesus already did that.  Our task then is to convince men they need a Savior from the sin in their life.  

What do you think?

The Agony of Absence

Is there agony of absence?  When a family member passes away who was dearly loved – there is the agony of absence.  When a son, daughter or spouse boards a military plane to jet off to Afghanistan – there is the agony of absence.  When family members visit and then load up their car to head home – there is the agony of absence.

We all know what it feels like.  We feel the pain of absence.  We struggle with the distance of absence.  We lay awake at night and toss and turn – fighting off sleep thieves because of the agony of absence.  It is a real battle that countless numbers of people face every day.

With Abba Father – there is the agony of absence.   We know this from the gospels and Jesus struggling with His own destiny.  He is at war with His inner spirit.  He is aware that in a matter of time He will carry the weight of the world’s sin on His shoulder.  He is alone.  He is struggling with the agony of absence.  He just wants a few of His hand-picked buddies to spend a few minutes with Him in prayer.  That’s all.  Just a few minutes.  He deals with it by exclaiming “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!” (Mark 16.36-42)  Regardless of how He dealt with it – He faced the agony of absence.

It is no different today. God still faces the agony of absence.  He knows we have time.  He sees us spend our days on everything from entertainment to family responsibilities.  He sees us discipline ourselves to the gym, the YMCA, the diet program.  He sees us discipline ourselves to our favorite programs – even with DVR we can record them and watch them at “our” choice of time.  Yep!  He sees us push Him to the curb and put Him through the agony of absence.  He only hopes we will spend some time with Him.  When we miss a loved one, when we wrestle with our sleep thieves, when we deal with the absence of loved ones and friends in our life – He understands it.  He deals with it daily.  The sad part about it is that He has paid a super high price for our time.  He gave us His Son.  He cleared the way for us to spend time with Jesus without the struggle of the Law.  He paved the way to eliminate the absence of agony by sending the Holy Spirit to assist us with praying when we don’t know how to pray. He has gone the extra mile (Romans 8.26).  He has done everything He knows to do.  He faces the agony of absence.  We are not there.  We escape a few moments of spiritual discipline to spend time with Him.  He is grieved.  He is not angry – we know that because we know the patterns of his anger with humanity.  He calmed His anger by sending His Son to redeem us.  He patiently deals with the grief of the agony of absence.

We are not implying that one should spend hours a day seeking the face of God.  I am not advocating a person denying family and friends a place in our life.  Jesus himself found time to have dinner with friends and spend time with family.  He also knew the value of “his” time.  He knew how to maintain an awesome relationship with His Father.  Somehow he managed.  I think that’s all He wants from us.  Find the time.  Maybe it will be a few minutes with a favorite devotional book that focuses your day an encouraging passage of scripture.  Maybe it will be a few minutes with a friend discussing the power and presence of God in your life.  Maybe it will be dedicated and disciplined time alone with Him.  He just wants a healthy balance of our time.  Simple.  Not complicated at all.  God knows the appointments you have on your Blackberry or iPhone.  He is distinctly aware of your “schedule” today.  He knows the dance classes you have to get your daughter to.  He understands the games you have to be at.  He knows the gym is important to your health and physic.  He knows.  He really does.  But He also knows how you push Him aside far too often.  He knows He somehow winds up on the bottom of your lists of things to do today.  He thinks that’s unfair.  He is grieved.  He is dealing with the agony of absence.

What about you?  Are you adding to His grief or are you easing His grief?  He just wants our time.  That’s all.   A little time each day.  Prayer, meditation, reading His Word.  That’s all.  Just a little time with Him.  Can you really see His face when we ignore that desire of His?  Can you see the look in His eyes?  Come on!  You know that look!  You’ve been there.  You’ve been the victim of the agony of absence.  When we absent ourselves from spending time with Him – we push Him into the agony of absence.   How about helping me change that!  How about turning the agony of absence into the absence of agony? What do you think?

A Phone Call, Missing Brother, Casket and Heart Warming Sister

January 18 began with an awakening phone call from my oldest brother, Richard, in Michigan.  Dad was declining in health and the family was being called in.  Within the hour Kim and I were on our way to Michigan to be with dad.  It would be an exhausting and emotional week to say the least.

The phone call was expected to some degree.  Richard had called earlier in the week to say that Dad was weak due to a flu virus.  At 87 years of age, weakness can be a dangerous thing as well proven over the next several days.   I will spare you the gory details of Dad’s last few days.  He weakened with time and gang-green had taken over both of his legs.  It wasn’t a pretty sight.   Richard and I stayed all night with Dad on Wednesday night.  We were back with him on Thursday.  He rallied somewhat on Thursday.  He opened his eyes and acted as though he wanted to say something.  I sat on the edge of the bed and said, “Hey Pop, where have you been?  Where are you going?”  He replied, “I’m going to see Momma!”  Those were some of the last words he spoke. He always called our mom – momma.  Saturday morning around 4 a.m. Dad slipped away and went to be with mom.  They are on an endless date with Jesus!  

 Through all of this I realized the importance of family.  Our family is like any other family on the face of the earth. We have had our share of struggles.  Perfection is a word that cannot define “family.”  There is no such thing.  But over those last few days with Dad – I realized once again that family is something to be cherished.  Forgiveness is something that opens many doors to successful family relationships.   I have one handicapped sister who is in a group home.  She could not be with us nor did we think she could handle the passing of Dad.  I have another brother who chose not to be with us.  He ignored our calls and text messages.  His daughter relayed our messages and they too went unheeded.  “Family” was losing ground.  For a host of reasons I choose not to make public – my brother ignored the passing of his father.  He ignored family requests for his company at a family dinner on Sunday afternoon.  He ignored the funeral for Dad.  His daughter attended graciously.  She sat with us.  She had dinner with us.  She wept with us.  She laughed with us.  But my brother was absent.  He was a no show.  

 For the life of me I can’t figure out why he wouldn’t show.  We were willing to express publicly what we had already confessed privately – forgiveness.  Could it be that the opposite consideration of forgiveness was impossible?  Since my mom passed – the care of my dad and sister was challenged and questioned by a small company who felt they knew more than “family” did in relationship to their care.  It was a mess.  It was embarrassing.  It was hard to take.  But all in all – when the smoke finally cleared – forgiveness was the key to survival.  Forgiveness is the door knob to every door of family survival.

 I went from a phone call, to a missing brother to finally witnessing Dad’s casket being lowered into the ground.  It was a tough week.  We still had one more task at hand.  We had to tell my mentally handicapped sister that Dad had passed.  My sister is the oldest out of the “clan.”  She turned 61 last week.  She is a 61 year old with the mental capacity of about a 12 year old.  My mom spoiled her something terrible.  Mom would never agree to that statement – but she did.  My sister has learned some independence that has been awesome for her.  I am proud of her.  She didn’t understand it at first because she couldn’t.  How do you convince a 12 year old of the kind of life changes she faced were for her good?  Not easy.  

 I sat on the edge of the bed with my oldest sister and brother (Richard) with me.  I took her by the hand and said, “I have some bad news for you.”  She turned and looked at me and said, “Daddy is dead isn’t he?”   I was speechless.  I was paralyzed.  How did she know?  I got my answer rather quickly.  She said, “Jesus woke me up this morning and told me he was taking Daddy to be with mom.  I am ok because Dad is happy now.”

Unbelievable!  She kept telling us over and over, “I’m ok!”   

 You see in the midst of losing my Dad, unable to connect with a brother by his choice and informing a handicapped sister of my Dad’s death – God was a work.  He had it all under control.  

Isn’t that what family is all about?  Surrender to God?  Leaning not towards our understanding of family dynamics but rather His understanding of a family?  God knows us because He created us.  My Dad’s passing didn’t take God by surprise.  My brothers hard heart didn’t take Him by surprise.  My sisters “heavy heart” as she called it – didn’t take God by surprise.  God was there all the time.  

 Psalm 46.10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”  Sometimes we have to stop what we’re doing long enough for God to be God.  He was God in my Dad’s life.  He is God in my brother’s life rather he knows it or not.  He is God in my sisters life.  He is God all around and inside of us.  We just have to let Him be God.

 I love my family dearly.  Through the trial of it all – family is family.  Take care of your family.  Tell them often how much you love them and tell them often.  Never be ashamed to express your love for family.  When it’s all said and done – family is all you have.  I no longer have parents – but I have brothers and sisters.  I will work to cherish my family.  Don’t take family for granted.  Laugh together, cry together and love together and above all – forgive one another.  Be still…and know that God is God and He is God of the family.  Even yours!

Christmas Coming to A Close

I’m sitting in a Sheraton Hotel in Michigan. It’s Christmas evening. In a few short hours Christmas 2011 will come to a close. We will say goodbye to the festivities of months of preparation for one twenty-four hour period. Right now I’m anticipating a Starbucks morning before I go visit my dad and my sister to celebrate Christmas past – by just one day.

My dad won’t remember my being there ten minutes after I’m gone. He has Alzheimer’s and is also blind. I love him dearly and hate he is the victim of this cruel disease. I hate it with a passion. I hate visiting my dad and being the only one visiting. It’s not that he wouldn’t want to visit – he can’t. Recently a nurse walked into the room while I was with my dad. She said, “You understand he doesn’t know you don’t you or realize you’re here don’t you?” I replied, “Yes. But what’s important is that I know him and I know I’m here.”

Time has a way of restoring memories even when your visitation partner is not really with you. My love for my dad is not contingent on his awareness of me being with him but rather my awareness of being with him. I hope you understand that. I will also visit my sister. She was raised with my mother being her primary caretaker for all but the last several years since my mom’s passing. She is now in a group home for the mentally disadvantaged. Her mentality is that of approximately a nine or ten year old. She was placed there against her will and she has all but been forgotten by far too many in her life. I wrestle with this whole issue. She can’t help she is who she is or she was raised the way she was. She can’t help she was catered to by my mother most of her life. She is like the lion caged for many years then released. All the lion knows to do is walk in a perceived cage that is 10’ X 6’. My sister was raised in a limited environment and I don’t understand why so many want to hold her responsible for that. As D.L. Moody once said of a drunkard walking down the street, “But for the grace of God there go I.” Any one of us could have been born into the place of my sister. God be thanked we were not.

Why write about all of this? I really don’t know. It’s Christmas. I missed my mom today for some reason. I missed my dad today. I missed being with them on this fleeting day we call Christmas. A day when Christians around the world trade gifts, laugh, eat dinners together and remember times past. I love my family time. I love my two son’s with a passion and a commitment I would die for. I love their wives and my granddaughter with an unbelievable passion. I love my grandson who is on his way. My daughter in law exclaimed he was “playing soccer” the other night at a time she wished he would’ve been napping. I love them dearly.

I think of Baby Jesus. I think of his half brother James who probably didn’t accept Him as the Messiah till after the resurrection. Can you imagine dinner time at their house? I think I am misunderstood at times. I think I am sometimes not only controversial but confrontational. I can only hope that those around me can contain their lack of understanding me and simply accept me for who I am as I am who I am in Christ and He is constanlty working on who I am.  Does that make anys sense at all?  I have little patience with ignorance and none with stupidity. Kim reminds me that the problem with my theory is that ignorance and stupidity are both subjective to my definition. Oh well. It is what it is.

Back to my Christmas point. Christmas is about a moment in history when a baby would change the world. What about us? Did that baby really change us? Did the baby just give us some sense of having a free ticket to the pearly gates or did the baby really change us?   Did the baby change us inwardly? Did the baby change how we treat each other when we don’t understand one another completely? Did the baby change our patience with each other?  Did the baby help us to comprehend the deepest love we could possibly have for one another? Did the baby change our ability to change our inability to be tolerant of others we really don’t get along with?  Did the baby change our ability to not exclude those in our life that we wish we could exclude?  Did the baby really change how we look at those who don’t quite fit our litmus test of acceptance – whatever we think that is?  This is a blog of rambling but its my blog so it is what it is. I think Christmas is more than a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. I think Christmas is about extending ourselves to a world that will eventually oppose us. Loving people that make themselves hard to love. Being tolerant of those who differ from us. Being less critical of the critical who criticize all but themselves. Forgiving those who have sinned against us even when the sin against us seems unforgivable. Visiting those who have loved us but aren’t aware that those who love them are in the same room as they are. Sharing with those who most have forgotten and hold responsible for a life they could in no way be responsible for. Christmas is a powerful expression of a baby who not only changed the world but is still changing the world. At least mine. How about you?

Learning Obedience Through Prayer

Having tried to figure out some dreams lately has caused me to lean heavily on prayer partners. This brought me to a place of realizing that all of us, regardless of our spiritual strength – need prayer partners. All of us! One of the lies the enemy of prayer uses is that since we are going through some difficult or trying times – we cannot pray for others – either in the altar, intercessory or our personal prayer closets. He uses this lie so often that some of you have relinquished your place in praying for others. When you do that you allow the enemy to defeat you and interfere with your anointing to bring others to victory in spite of your own spiritual battles or difficult seasons.

I am reminded of Paul the apostle when under tremendous pressure still found a place of ministry to others. He never allowed his “season” to interfere with the responsibility of working his anointing. Neither should we.

Read the following scriptures: 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 (8) For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; (9) indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; (10) who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, (11) you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

What amazes me about this passage is that Paul did not have email, Twitter or FaceBook. He didn’t have internet. You have to realize that what happened on his missionary tours was communicated by word of mouth or by letter courier. Someone on a horse or riding a camel would bring the news. Days would pass before someone received notice that Paul was “in trouble.”  When you realize that and then read what Paul wrote: “you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many” – you realize the importance of prayer for the saints. You also realize the tremendous pressure both he and the saints he ministered to were under. You can’t even imagine the difficult times he and the church faced – and they survived by praying for one another.

Paul indicates that the favor of the Lord was on him due to the prayer of “many” of the saints. We don’t have to know the mechanics of how this works – all we have to know is that it does. Regardless of the load you or I am under – it cannot interfere with our responsibility to pray for others. I urge to you rediscover your place in altar working, intercessory prayer and your personal prayer closet. Do not allow the enemy to bring the lie into your spirit you are not strong enough to pray, you are too burdened to pray or you are not spiritually where you should be due to your own spiritual barometer. He is good at it – no doubt. We just can’t buy into his lies.

One of the greatest passages of scripture we can lean on when it comes to praying while under pressure ourselves is that which points to Christ as our example: Hebrews 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

Bible scholars point to this passage as being one of the most transparent passages in all Holy Writ concerning Jesus as the Son of Man. The intent of this passage is that Jesus was praying for his personal need and for protection. Yes, you read it right. The language here indicates a man who is under pressure, facing death and is asking for help. Jesus, the Son of God, prayed for help. Look at this verse closely:

• Jesus prayed – made a request before God
• Offered supplications – asked for favor; a Greek symbolism of entering the temple with an olive branch in search of favor or blessing
• Prayed with loud crying – intense wailing
• Prayed with tears – deep emotional release

When you take this verse alone and break it down you see that “human” side of Jesus who is struggling with dying for the sin of the world. He bore on his shoulders the weight of the world. It was heavy. It was agonizing. He did what any other person should do in a crisis – he prayed.

We also discover that His prayer was heard. In John 11.42  Jesus exclaimed “I know you always hear me.” What I find amazing here was the sheer faith of the Lord. He “knew” his prayer was heard – and He still faced pain, suffering, agony and eventually death. His “knowing” he was heard was the open door to perseverance unto death. That, my friend, is pure faith in the One who hears our prayers. When we can “know” our prayers have been heard and still face calamity and crisis – we are people of great faith. There were no immediate false teachers to declare that since Jesus died there must have been something wrong with his faith. God forbid!

Let me address this for a moment. A prayer heard is not necessarily the quaint little phrase of “answered prayer by our will or standard.” His prayer was heard due to his piety – His tremendous reverence for the Father and pure submission to the perfect will of the Father. Without a doubt there is lesson here for all of us. A prayer heard is a prayer answered – according to the will of the Father. Jesus had to trust the One who heard His prayer and know that whatever suffering He was enduring was the absolute will of God.

I love the verse that follows: 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

Do you see what I see there? Jesus suffered. He wrestled with his own season of difficulty. He labored in prayer by asking for help and protection. He learned from his season of suffering. He did and so can we. Suffering should never move away from our calling to pray. Never. Ever.

Prayer is not easy. If it were we wouldn’t wrestle with the discipline of it. Accepting the full will of God is not easy. For many of us there is a huge gap, a colossal gorge between knowing God has heard us and how He chooses to answer our prayers.  I look to Hebrews here for another remark: Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

The word rewarder means “one who pays wages.” A simple word here from a guy who is rather simple. Wages are normally determined by the employer not the employee. God pays us for our faith at the determination of His will – not ours. Jesus learned obedience – following the will of another – through His moment of prayer.

I close with the following scriptures. Read them and then know that nothing should effect our responsibility to pray for others. Don’t let Satan lie to you and unjustly disqualify you from prayer.

Romans 15:30 Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.

2 Corinthians 1:11 You also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

Philippians 1:19   For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men.

Philemon 1:22 At the same time also prepare me a lodging, for I hope that through your prayers I will be given to you.

So much to learn about prayer and trusting the ultimate will of the Father – our spiritual employer. How about you? Are you learning obedience through your season of crisis or are you complaining, whining and pouting? Just a thought.  Just a simple thought!

The Struggle of Experience

Mark chapter nine holds some unique isights for us. So often we have been trained to look at scripture from the hyper faith side of life. We tend to look at what Jesus did and the miraculous power He worked with. We sometimes over look the more cerebral side of what happened in scripture. Mark nine can present us with this dilemma.

Mark nine within itself is an awesome chapter. Who wouldn’t want to live on the side of hyper faith with this event. A dad has come to the end of his rope with a demon possessed child (not up for debate – the child was possessed). The disciples tried and failed to cast the demon out. What an indictment against the church then and even now if the same were to hold true. Jesus over hears the arguing and sees the crowd gathering and inquires about it. The dad speaks up. He explains the issue to the Jesus. Jesus goes into action!

Jesus lays out this statement that is so “hyper faith” according to today’s standards of faith. Jesus says, “All things are possible to him who believes!” Botta-boom botta-bing! There it is! So simple. So true. So hard to get a hold of.


This dad has been struggling with this issue for many years. Since his son was small. The boys behavior was overwhelming, embarrassing, humiliating, unbelievably strong and down right violent at times. Every day this dad would wake up and wonder what events the day would bring to him because of his son’s “condition”. Everyday was filled with depression, oppression and possession. Not a lot of answers. When he thought he found an answer he witnessed failure on the disciples part (ie: the church). The church failed him. Didn’t “they” represent Jesus? Weren’t they ambassadors for Him? Hadn’t He given them authority to do this level of ministry?

Mr. Mark Nine speaks up again and opens himself up in a powerful and real way. He says to Jesus, “Lord, I believe, but there is part of me that can’t grab hold of this ‘“all things”’ issue!” This dad is being what we know as “rubber meets the road” honest with his feelings about the church and about God answering his prayer. He is being brutally honest with Jesus. Been there done that was possibly what was crossing his mind. Yeah right! Just believe! Have you been there?

Have you depended on the church only to be let down? Have you put your trust and confidence in other believers only to find they can’t come through for you? Have you been told the same thing that Jesus told this dad – “All things are possible if you will just have faith!” The only problem is that your faith has been violently attacked by false doctrine, false hope and false shepherding in the past. You have prayed and have been disappointed. You have sought God and have been terribly let down. You can’t help but be honest and say what Mr. Mark Nine said, “Lord I believe but help my unbelief.” You want to believe – but there is a struggle to catch all of what Jesus has promised.

Jesus gives you an assuring Word. He speaks to the issue you have brought to Him. He says, “Come out, go away and don’t ever come back.” Oh my! So simple! Right now you would expect everything to go to pure sunshine, no clouds, no overcast skies, quite and calm and soft symphonic music playing somewhere in heaven and finding its way to your hearing. Not so.

When Jesus spoke by His authority – pardon my expression, but all hell broke loose with this boy. Something that Mr. Mark Nine had seen so many times in the past was happening again – right in front of Jesus. Really? Couldn’t there have been at least an image of immediate deliverance? Really Lord? Did you have to let this boy go through this again? You call this deliverance? You call this healing? You call this an answer to prayer? Are you kidding?

This poor dad is standing there witnessing his son fight for survival again. The dad can’t see the fight will be the last one his son ever has with his assigned demon. All he can see is what has always happened, what has been a manifest curse in his home and what has broken his heart far too many times! The boy screams with sounds that only a demon can produce. He is violently thrown into convulsions. He suddenly stops and lays lifeless in front of Mr. Mark Nine. You could have heard a pin drop on the ground. The silence was so loud no one moved! He laid like a corpse in front of the crowd. Whispering starts among the people and before long what everyone was thinking is spoken out loud by someone who had the guts to do so – “He is dead!”

All Mr. Mark Nine has to go on at this point is what he can see. He sees his son in the position of death. What he asked God to do once again comes across as a failed attempt at hyper faith – someone’s hyper faith but not his. Mr. Mark Nine has something to learn here. While those around us see our predicament as being dead, lifeless and violently destroyed in spite of faith in Jesus – Jesus Himself sees what we and others cannot. He sees through eyes of faith. He reaches out to this lifeless body that images a corpse and takes it by the hand. He presents Mr. Mark Nine Jr. to Mr. Mark Nine. What a day for this family to remember!

He then explains to his dumb-founded disciples who just can’t understand what happened that this kind of event can only be secured by prayer. End of story.

Mr. Mark Nine struggled with experience.
– dissatisfaction with the church
– a demon possessed boy who he wrestled with for years
– broken promises from religious people
– his son laid seemingly dead after Jesus dealt with him
– at least before he had some semblance of life – now he looked too much like a corpse
– dealing with an ongoing problem with evil that no one seems to understand

The disciples struggled with experience.
– the lack of it to bring deliverance to this boy
– the lack of understanding as to how to go about spiritual warfare
– the humiliation of facing Jesus when they were not successful in ministry
– the humiliation of facing this dad who had so much confidence in them to begin with

Jesus struggled with experience.
– His own disciples lack of prayer to perform deliverance
– the dad’s lack of healthy experience with the church (disciples)
– proving deliverance to this dad when everything seemed to go from bad to worse
– a crowd that lived by sight and not by faith

All of us have been there from time to time. We have prayed prayers and clothed them with all the faith we could find in our heart. We released our issue to the Lord. Then all hades breaks lose and it looks like things have gotten worse (the boy imaging a corpse). We struggle with life and experience. We wonder sometimes silently to ourselves and sometimes out loud to family and friends. We can’t see what Jesus sees. He sees an act of deliverance while we see an act of violent possession that kills.

It’s at these moments we step into those quite moments just before Jesus takes our problem by the hand and gives divine life to it. We have a choice. Listen to the crowd or wait on Jesus to manifest His Word.

Hebrews says that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Where was the evidence that Mr. Mark Nine’s son had been healed? He couldn’t see it. Therein would lie the answer to his prayer – in what He couldn’t see but in what Jesus would present. Maybe we haven’t given Jesus enough time to walk over to our defeated problem and hand it to us personally. Just a thought!

The Weapon of the Cross

I was an honor to have Rear Admiral Ray Alexander (Retired) with us yesterday.  He shared his military experiences with us and how his faith impacted his day-to-day faith disciplines.  I enjoyed his testimony immensely.  Thank you Ray for your thirty-three years of military dedication.  You represented the Navy, the nation and your faith extremely well yesterday.  I salute you, Sir, for a job well done.

Admiral Alexander made a statement in his testimony that challenged my thinking.  When he was sharing about his role in the military compared to firemen – he exclaimed that he at least has a weapon with him and firemen don’t.  He said, “I can shoot back at the enemy!”   That simple statement grabbed me for a moment.

The Admiral touched on the fact that there is a time for “shooting back”.  I thought about that statement.  I came to the conclusion that the cross of Christ was a weapon for God to effect evil.  There is a time that “law” will not suffice in keeping the “law breaker” away.  There is a time when law will not stop evil from attempting to triumph over good.  God pulled out the weapon of the cross and loaded it with His Son.  The finished product was to accept the work of the cross and the Savior – one can defeat the work of evil.

Zechariah 7:12

(12)  “They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.

Acts 13:38-39

(38)  “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

(39)  and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.

Romans 8:2-4

(2)  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

(3)  For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

(4)  so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

In dealing with evil you soon discover that every act of evil is only a repeat of the original act of sin.  Evil introduces nothing new.  For instance when 19 men armed with box cutters attacked our nation ten years ago they did so out of evil that is nearly 6000 years old.  They simply recycled hatred.  God introduced law to bring order to humanity.  In what law could not do God sent His only begotten Son to do.  The cross was the weapon of God against the evil of the world.  God introduced the “big gun” of the cross.  The load was Christ.  Evil has been defeated in the cross and the shed blood of the Savior.  God won.  He did so through grace and mercy.  He hit the target of evil.  He took center on the bulls eye!

God sent His Son to die on the cross.  The resurrection was the validation of the message.  Evil has been defeated.

To all of those who think that their methods of evil can take down righteousness – think again.  To all of those who preach radical Islam and the ideology of Allah – think again.  Your evil is masked under the guise of religion that presents a false hope to your adherents.  There is only one way to one God – that is to believe in the work of the cross, the death and resurrection of Christ. Period.  Love triumphs over your evil. Grace triumphs over your sin.  Mercy triumphs your worthy judgment.  In the end – the weapon of the cross will show itself a powerful weapon.  The blood of Christ that cleanses all men from their sin is the only way to eradicate acts of evil from the earth.

Colossians 2:14-15

(14)  having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

(15)  When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

The cross – the weapon and Christ – the significant “load” – has disarmed our enemy.   To our declared enemy of terrorism – you have not nor will you ever defeat righteousness.   You have been triumphed over!  You can never defeat radical love, forgiveness and atonement for sin through Christ.  Try as you will – you will NEVER win.  You can win by conversion to a faith in Christ for forgiveness of your sin.  Simple.  Your radical acts of evil in the name of Allah will never triumph a faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Your belief that Jesus was a “good teacher” will not suffice.  Evil will lead you into a place of eternal torment without a Savior.  Allah cannot save you – Jesus can.  The cross was the open display of evil and its submission the greater work of righteousness in Christ.  Give it up.  You cannot defeat those who have a steadfast faith in Christ.  We have armed ourselves with the weapon of the cross.   Step away from Islam.  Place your faith in the One and only True God – Jesus Christ.  In Him you will find fulfillment in life – not in a weapon slung around your shoulder, the forced take over of an airplane cockpit nor a load of dynamite strapped to your chest.  Fulfillment and peace of life is found only in Christ.  Join a movement that has and will continue to outlive any presentation of evil.  You’ll be glad you did.

Domestic Confrontation – Did We Miss Something With Martha and Mary?

I was teaching this past week on Esther and the fact that she overcame being an orphan to become a queen.  One of the bumps in the road she had to deal with was not having any family in her life but her Uncle Mordecai.  He was a rock solid counselor to her and was instrumental in her faith development as a child growing up.  I mentioned to the church that she avoided this “distraction” in her life and went on to surpass the absence of family structure to find her destiny in God.   Esther was unlike many believers today who allow domestic issues to roadblock their ability to pursue their destiny because of family distractions.

One such occasion that involves “distraction” and family is found in Luke 10.38-42.  If you are the least of all Bible scholars or have any recollection of Sunday School stories at all – you know what this is about.  Let me paint the picture for you.

• Martha (not Mary) invites Jesus into her home
• Martha finds her way to the kitchen to prepare a meal for Jesus
• Mary gets comfortable at the Lazy Boy ottoman and fixes her attention on Jesus to take advantage of a teaching moment
• Martha has all she can take of her sister not helping with the kitchen duties
• She abusively confronts Jesus and claims he doesn’t care about her
• Martha wants Jesus to release his student to the kitchen to help her prepare a meal
• Jesus chides Martha about being distracted with her duties
• He claims Mary has found the most important part about His visit and connected with it

It’s funny that we don’t really see how this ends – I guess Jesus took care of everything and Martha returned to finishing her meal.  I am under the opinion that this was more domestic than it was anything else.   After reading this passage again and again and then looking to the story of the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11 – where the two sisters act independent, Martha is chided by Jesus, Mary is instrumental in Jews coming to Christ and Martha simply disappears)- there is an issue with Martha and Mary we may have overlooked.  It is purely domestic.  I think there is tension between the two sisters and Jesus – as He does still today – got caught between the two.  Jesus instantly went from teacher to domestic conflict counselor.   Let me explain.

The issue here is not one of teaching.  The issue all surrounds Martha and an attitude with her sister.  Martha invites Jesus in and therefore has a responsibility as the host to prepare a meal for Jesus.  Mary, by virtue of being Martha’s sister, probably should have assisted with the preparations and there is indication she started out helping Martha.   Martha makes the accusation that Mary “left” her which is indicative of the fact Mary probably started with helping but soon disappeared to the feet of Jesus.  She simply sat down at the feet of Jesus and was doing something “spiritual” when she should have been doing something practical.  Martha was somewhat ticked over this.

I don’t think Martha got this upset over something so trivial so quick.  I think – from the story of Lazarus as well – that Martha was the “less spiritual” of the two sisters.  Mary is found more often than not in a positive spiritual dynamic then Martha.  Martha is ticked – Mary is at the feet of Jesus.  Martha is abrasive with Jesus – Mary is calm and quiet.  Martha is confrontational with Jesus over Lazarus and Mary is hiding at the house.  Martha is somewhat publicly checked by Christ over Lazarus when He says to her (John 11) “Did I not say to you….”.   To me there seems to be some difference between the two sisters.  I think this issue of fixin’ fried chicken for Jesus was about jealousy, envy and just plain ol’ sibling rivalry.

There are two terms used by Jesus that bears a quick look.  First, Jesus says that Martha was distracted.  She was distracted by her duty to serve.  Martha went from serving with the right attitude to serving out of obligation.  This word distraction implies to drag something around.  Martha had gone from preparing a meal for Jesus out of excitement to literally dragging around her duty in the dirt of the kitchen.  It was about to explode! She took her frustrations out on Mary.  She yelled at Jesus but her focus was her sister.  This was a domestic issue that manifested in an argument – right in the presence of Jesus.  Martha was all about dragging her service to Jesus around in the dirt.  It wasn’t a pretty moment in the Martha household.

Second, Jesus said Martha was distracted with her “preparations”.  This word comes from the Greek word where we get the word “deacon” from.  It literally means service. Martha went into the family room dragging her service behind her in the dirt of their home.  She put herself in front of her service.  When we do that we usually get into trouble.  You know what happens when we lose touch with our calling, our service to the Lord?  We start dragging it around.  It doesn’t necessarily drag us down – we drag it down.  We let the flesh get in the way of our heart.  Our brain overloads our spirit man.  We become frustrated with the Lord and with others.  We become carnal.  We start asking why the Lord doesn’t “care” about us.  We simply lose focus.

I think Jesus stood up that day and got in the face of Martha and said, “Martha, Martha” – as if to say, “woman get ahold of yourself!”  Martha isn’t the spiritually strong one here – Mary is.  We engage in communication and service with Jesus – but we get frustrated when it doesn’t go our way.   Remember when Simon Peter declared his service to the Lord?  Didn’t quite work out the way Simon Peter planned did it?

Sometimes when we invite Jesus into our “household” we expect something along the lines of favorable treatment because its “our” house.  After all, we did the inviting.  Sometimes we engage in service out of obligation and when it doesn’t go right we “fly off the handle” – have words with Jesus and blame others for their lack of spirituality.  It is so easy to do.

Martha had issues with Mary.  I don’t think we can deny that fact at all.  I haven’t seen this before and maybe my deduction here is off base.  It’s not like we don’t see sibling rivalry anywhere else in scripture.  When we allow family or friends to interfere with our service to the Lord we deserve Him to grab us by the collar and repeat our name over and over until we get it.  He may shake us a little.  He is going to tell us there is one thing more important than any other in our life.  We can correctly assume that the implication here is hearing the Word of the Lord because after all faith comes by hearing and without faith it is impossible to please Him. Wow! That was a loaded line!  But is the real issue sitting and listening or is the issue serving Him out of a pure heart?  Rather we frying chicken for Him or being a student – our motive must be pure.  The issue is overlooked far too often.  Martha was distracted with her service to the Lord and conveniently tried to take it out on Jesus and her sister.  Mary and Jesus were victims of Martha’s frustration with life and duty to serve. How many such victims have we lashed out because we have lost focus with our calling?  Our pure service to the Master – even if we have to do it solo?  Some in the body of Christ have gone from pursuing their calling to dragging it around behind them…only to get it dirty with the cares of this life (Luke 8.14).  We need Jesus to get in our face.

I challenge you to check your call to service.  You aren’t distracted with it are you?  You aren’t upset with the Lord that it isn’t going the way you thought it would – are you?  You aren’t finger pointing to others and expecting Jesus to line them up according to your calling – are you?  You aren’t accusing Jesus of not caring for you because others don’t agree with you – are you?   You haven’t gone from pursuing your calling to dragging it around behind you – are you?  I sure hope not.  Oh my…your collar does look a  little ruffled!

We just wrapped up Vacation Bible School at VHC!  Let me rephrase that.  My awesome children’s pastor, Pastor Chris Varnell and her team of one hundred volunteers and our pastoral staff members, Dave Hutton and Aaron Begley – pulled off an amazing week.  Every night there was approximately 160 kids in attendance.  The place was rocking!  The reward for all the labor, preparation time by the prop crews (Merril and Kathy Sisco), Sandy O’Toole and her team of worship leaders, lead teachers, assistant volunteers, recreation teams, bus drivers,etc. – was the results in the altar.  It is absolutely an amazing sight to see children in the altar crying and praying.  This is the genesis of what will hopefully become a powerful experience with Christ in their lives that will last forever.

Kids are amazing!  At VHC we have engaged a vision the Holy Spirit gave to me last September (2010).  Out of this vision our church has aggressively pointed our future toward reaching, teaching and discipling succeeding generations for Christ.  This will be an expensive, testing, trying and pioneering effort for us.  I am convinced that there are young people out there who have a hunger for a real experience in Christ that exceeds an academic one.  They have heard all the stories, seen all the drama and they have grown up to seek out an experience that will get them through life.

I am reminded of Matthew 19.14 where Jesus says, “Let the children alone – don’t hinder them from coming to Me!”  This isn’t just one of those passages of scripture we ignore until we preach on a familial subject and merely reference it.  It should be a model passage for all of our churches.  Jesus pointedly says do not interfere with children coming to Him.  I can assure you of this – any church that doesn’t focus on children will be a dying church.  While reaching, teaching and discipling succeeding generations is expensive, demanding, and spiritually challenging – there is no alternative.  Anything short of focusing on reaching kids is simply interfering.

Jesus doesn’t tell us what are the results of hindering children coming to Him – He just tells us not too. Maybe there are some things better left unsaid.  I am confident I don’t want to find out so my goal is to focus on reaching our succeeding generations.  I watched our team this week as they worked together like a fine Swiss watch.  Every person accomplishing their assigned task.  Every person where they were supposed to be, doing what they were supposed to be doing, when they were supposed to do it.  It worked perfectly.  The kids were having an absolute riot.

Back to the command of Christ – “do not hinder children coming to Me”.  How do we hinder them?  Impeding a child coming to Christ can be seen in the slack concern of a so called parent who doesn’t have the energy to see their child either get on the van or bring them to church.  Impeding a child coming to Christ can be seen in living out hypocrisy at home while playing Joe and Sally Christian at church.  Impeding a child coming to Christ can be seen in not supporting the church with your financial contributions while whining about something not meeting your expectations of children’s ministry resources.  Impeding a child coming to Christ can be identified in your personal lack of involvement in any event the church sponsors for kids – even though you bring yours to church for the event.  I think impeding a child coming to Christ can manifest in a so many ways.  How do we not impede a child coming to Christ?

Simple.  There are two key elements to what was happening with Christ and children.  First of all, touch was involved.  Jesus wanted to lay hands on the children.  He was blessing them.  He was anointing them.  The disciples represent that part of the kingdom that impedes this process.  Children come into our churches dirty, from dysfunctional homes, whining, with dirt diapers and some show up deep emotional hurts. Jesus was working toward touching them.  Touch is intimate, personal and at times – critically dangerous to the religious people around us.  Jesus didn’t care.  He rebuked the “structured church” for not allowing children to come to Him.  Morons!  Stepping in the path of a child coming to Jesus!  No wonder He rebuked them!

Then there is the issue of “hindering” them.  The Greek word used for “hinder” here can also be translated as “taxing”.  In other words we can put more on a child through legalistic teaching than is necessary.  I like to think we’re beyond this in most cases but we are not.  Taxing children can be the legalism we robe our children with the points to all the “don’ts” in the kingdom.  Don’t do this and don’t do that.  Before long we have removed fun from the venue of worship and service to the Master.  Oh how I remember all the “do not’s” in the church. Few people sat me down and explained to me the “do’s”in the church.  Sanctification was not just purifying something from the world – it was purifying something unto Him.  I eventually grew out of the model of not being able to do anything and fell in love with spiritual liberty.

Our churches are full of adults who were hindered in coming to Christ as a young person or a child.  They are bound in their worship.  They are bound in their minds.  They are bound in their love.  They live for Christ out of obligation instead of intimate relation.  Remember, Jesus wanted to lay hands on the children.  He wanted them to experience Him.  He wanted them to go beyond the “roped off area” the disciples had established.  You can do this but you can’t do that.  You can go here but you can’t go there.  Here’s our legalistic rope.  Don’t go beyond it.  The problem with establishing ropes that keep young people away from Christ?  Eventually these kids move in reverse and go the opposite way.  They will chase genuine experience with something rather it is Jesus or not.

I say take the barriers down.  I say pull the ropes away.  Let’s create an atmosphere and a church campus where children and young people can experience Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Let’s get out of the way.

The Clash of TBN and Heretical Teaching!

WorldNetDaily.com reported that the long running series of Jack Van Impe Ministries (end time prophecy program) has pulled out of air time with TBN.  The rift was over Van Impe’s teaching on the liberals engaging the damaging Chrislam doctrine on TBN.  Here we go!  I recently did a series on Chrislam at my church.  Van Impe was naming names – as I did – and TBN didn’t like it.  Obviously money is more important than truth.  I am not surprised at the approach of TBN toward this doctrine.   I am not sure if TBN is more interested in what has been termed “common ground” money issues instead of “common ground” doctrine.  Here’s why I ponder the question.

Truth is the fixed Word of God.  Holy Writ contains the precepts, principles and doctrines that humanity needs for relationship with a Holy God.  When you entertain a break down of those standards you are entertaining false doctrine.  The opposite of truth is false.  No big revelation there!  But we have movements with high profile ministers in America who are influencing the church and leading many to drink the Kool-Aid of false doctrine.  If it’s not based on truth then its false.  Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!!!

I have strong opinions of the Muslim faith.  If we call it “Muslim faith” than it cannot be “Christian faith.”   The two are opposing doctrines.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know the difference.   Muslim faith practitioners believe in Allah.  While Allah is real in the sense that he represents a false god – he is not God Jehovah.  I rest my case.  A “non-god” cannot compete with the real God Jehovah.

Van Impe is right.  He should not stand down on his preaching truth.  There is already an ongoing rebellion driven by the spirit of the world.  The anti-christ movement is running at full speed ahead.  It will take Godly men with spiritual tenacity to stand against it.  While there is movement in the church toward this liberal moronic teaching of Chrislam – there is a grass-roots group praying and seeing a manifestation of true faith rising to the surface.   Any doctrine that has Muslim practices sprinkled all over is nothing more than a soft cupcake of doctrine that denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only Savior offered to the word. Allah cannot save you!  Jesus  can and will with confession and repentance.

I remind my readers of this.  I am preaching this Sunday a message titled: “Has the Church Become an Enemy of God?”  My base line scripture for this is James 4.4 which states clearly “whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”  Plain and simple.  It doesn’t get much more clearer than this folks.  The church on several platforms has allowed the world to influence it instead of us converting the world – even Muslims.  How do you convert a Muslim when you take away the Savior factor in order to gain “common ground” with them?  How do you reach the world to convert them when we have allowed the world to impact our pews to the point they…the sinner is asking, “What do I convert from?  I’m doing everything the church is already doing?”   God is a jealous God.  When you choose to disagree with Him – you have chosen to deny truth.  Simple isn’t it?  We make this so complicated due to our desires to live like the world and still go to a holy and pure heaven.

Whatever happened to the command – not a subjective suggestion – but a command given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit to reprove, correct and instruct in righteousness against false doctrine (2 Timothy 3.16)?   When we reach for so called “common ground” we ignore the standard doctrine of truth found in Holy Writ.  When we do this than all arguments for common ground seem reasonable.  But I remind you in closing that Titus (Titus 1.9-11, 13) declares that the church is to hold fast the faithful word and through sound doctrine convert the gainsayers.  Scripture refers to these liberal doctrine thumpers as “unruly, vain talkers and deceivers…who must be stopped” and we are to “rebuke them sharply.”

Here’s the problem.  TBN isn’t allowing Van Impe to rebuke those of false doctrine sharply so I guess Crouch and his team will have to get in line to board the ship of false doctrine.  Obviously TBN and other institutions are based on the fear of truth and not the love of it.  There is a love for liberal false doctrine but not truth as found in Holy Writ.  This false doctrine ship is loading fast.  It will make a lot of people comfortable.  But where it’s headed is the bay of Truth.  It’s headed for a Titanic mission.   It is what it is folks.