ponderUpon...

With the Coronavirus hitting the United States, churches around the country are opting to their hold services online rather than in person lest the Coronavirus cause needless devastation. I believe this is a smart idea. As Christians we are called to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Church is called to protect the body of Christ. What about when the virus settles down or what about even before there was such a worry of contracting a virus our bodies have never contended with before?

Photo: cdc.gov “At that time, the sons of Israel walked away from that place, every man to his tribe and his family. And they went out from there, every man to his inheritance. In those days there was no king in Israel. A man did what was right according to his own vision.” –Judges 21:24-25 (NKJV) For me, one of the most memorable endings to an Old Testament book in the Bible is that of Judges.

America has two major parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. These parties have changed over the course of their inception but has their stance on Biblical values changed? The United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Prager University has a great video explaining the founder's views on their faith which I suggest you watch before proceeding with this post.

cops.usdoj.gov Hello my dear friends. This past weekend I was able to witness a convicting film titled  8 Days   which deals with the very real, present situation of human trafficking in the United States. For those of you who don't know, human trafficking is sexual slavery concerning both sexes. Everyone probably below the age of 24 is a target. No matter race, class, background, etc. anyone in that young age range is a target and this is not just an expanding but a booming business.

Lately I've been waking up, thinking, what if today I just exceed who I've been and be the person God wants me to be. Yes, I desire to live for God everyday, but there are areas where I am severely lacking. The areas where I fall short may be different than the areas where you fall short. But I'm afraid the trap we can fall into is becoming blind to these areas. We have a tendency to put ourselves first without realizing it. We may be great people, but we may only be great people in certain parts of our daily life. Think about it.

Carlito's Way is a 1993 crime-drama directed by Brian De Palma and stars Al Pacino as the titular character. It has been a number of years since I have seen the film, but from what I remember the plot is as follows: Carlito has recently been released from jail and swears not to fall back into his old criminal ways. He begins to run a night club with some old connections who promise the business will stay legit. Eventually, this proves to be detrimental for Carlito with his path to going clean. Ultimately, (without giving away any spoilers of course) Carlito is lured back into his old habits.

I am sure by now everyone who has taken the time to look into it has read what those with a prominent voice are saying about the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church shooting in South Carolina. The three main topics being pulled out of this situation are gun-control, racism, and domestic terrorism. These three topics are deferment for accepting responsibility. However the country is led those are the ways it will go. I have not heard this country being led in the ways of love, not by our prominent leaders anyway. The truth only resides in love and love only resides in the truth. Sadly, this country, I believe, has lost sight of the truth. "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life..." were the words Jesus gave to his disciples so they may go out through the world sharing this core belief. If we do not believe this then all is lost. If we cannot look at our situations with the eyes of Christ, we cannot understand where the truth lies and instead we will substitute...

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent. With this article I want to introduce to you a few concepts to keep in mind throughout this season of Lent. First, I want to say that we keep in mind that Lent is not a game. I am sorry if that is offensive; I do not mean to insult anyone's intelligence, but what has come to my mind this past week is the potential for people to get caught up in what they are giving up instead of why they are giving something up. It is important to remember that we, as followers of Christ, should be living in a constant state of Lent. This period of time is set aside for deeper denial and reflection we normally don't enact in our life. God calls each of us to different levels of denial so it is pointless to compare what people give up. This brings me to my second point of this paragraph. Lent is not about what we are giving up, so much as it is about why are we giving something up. When Christ journeyed into the desert he didn't say to hi...

This week I want to share with you a short verse along with a short piece of advice. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me". I believe this is one of the most powerful verses in the New Testament. It clearly defines our nature as Christians along with how we should live from being born again. Ultimately, the concept of Christianity comes down to love. Christ, the Son of God, literally gave his life so that we may live holy lives just as he did. So we should not consider our bodies, words, actions, etc. as our own, but we should be submissive in love to our Father who is embodied through Jesus Christ. This week I want you to ponder this scripture and see what God shows you. Lately we've been talking about temptation and how to understand it. Galatians 2...

Recently I've been writing on the necessity of temptation and how we should view it in our individual lives. Temptation is a daily, mind you, daily occurrence that every human being goes through. Before I get to the meat of this article I want to remind everyone that throughout your day temptation will surely come. At times our temptation will be great while other times our temptation may seem less significant, and finally we will have moments where we are not tempted (in the fashion we've been speaking of i.e. to draw away from God and do our own will). Nevertheless we must always through the power of Christ persevere. Does perseverance always pertain to temptation? I believe through the writing of this article I'm coming to the conclusion that yes perseverance always pertains to temptation. Let me explain why. Temptation is anything that causes your attention and desire to serve God to be diverted to your own will. It seems to me most people think of temptation in the ...

Last week I was listening to Father Thomas Hopko's podcast on Ancient Faith Radio. Midway through his podcast on the temptation of Christ he quoted Saint Anthony who said: "No one can be saved without temptation". Lately my posts have been about how we should view temptation in our lives. St. Anthony said it in just seven words. Temptation is imperative for salvation.  Let us think about what St. Anthony had to say. What St. Anthony said is a foreign thought, but I believe it is because we have at the least not been taught otherwise. Start with the first temptation, the tree containing the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. The tree that God created was not originally a temptation. Adam and Eve were only tempted once the enemy twisted God's command into the temptation of disobedience. Yes Adam and Eve went against God so they gave into temptation which was the enemy's demands instead of God's. Remember though, they had a choice. Their choice in ways s...

Temptation in itself is not sin...at all. Here is why I say that: Free will is the power to choose and in order for free will to exist temptation exists. Temptation is not God's creation, it exists in the realm of free will though, which God did ordain.  Wait, what is free will though? Free will, as we think of it is the power to choose. There are only two choices in this world. God's choice and our choice.  Let's break that last bit down even farther. God's choice is always right. Our choice is always wrong. I say that because Galations 2:20 "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me". When "we" are making choices that are God's choices "we" are not really choosing those choices on our own. The Helper (The Holy Spirit) is living, breathing, enabling us to have the power to choose God's choices. Once we ask God to enable The Helper to live through us then free will becomes evident...we are free to choose whateve...

I must first apologize for not posting last week as I told you all I would. God has been preparing me for this post though. He's been imparting to me so much knowledge that I must share it with all who will listen. So here is what God has been telling me: Surrender. All to Him. No matter what your situation is, what you are struggling with, if you believe your problems to be big whereas they're actually small, it does not matter. God requires that you first follow Him. First seek His counsel before you speak and act. No I don't mean to say what is going on in your life does not matter. What I am saying is when what is in your life is put in foreground and He recedes into the background; when your thoughts turn not first to Christ, that is when they do not matter. They can't matter because you are not letting Him be a part of them. God is the central force in our life. When that stops being the case nothing else matters. Our lives go through seasons, and sometimes we f...

This week God has really been hammering home to me Luke 12:48 "When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required". School, work, & other things are keeping me busy, more busy than I've probably ever been. Often though, it is easier to look at this as a discouraging aspect. Why do we look at a busy life as a discouraging thing? This is a question I am asking you. Earlier in Luke (10:2) Jesus told us that "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest".  We need to remeber our calling. The Father bore us into this world to make disciples for Him! Jaco Booyens (I highly suggest you look him up and follow him on social media) said, "a good leader doesn't create followers, a good leader creates other leaders". But a leader cannot be a leader if he is not given much....

Some people gathered around him and said, “How long will you make us wonder about you? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I told you already, but you did not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name show who I am. But you don’t believe, because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never die, and no one can steal them out of my hand. My Father gave my sheep to me. He is greater than all, and no person can steal my sheep out of my Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” (John 10:24-30 NCV) "Because you are not my sheep" Jesus told them. This really struck me, and then it made me question, am I a part of Christ's sheep? If I am a part of Christ's sheep then Jesus said "no person can steal my sheep out of my Father's hand". How often though do we give our thoughts to the Enemy? So often it seems (speaking from experience) that it's not ev...

If someone gives you money and asks you to go buy something for them there are two options: either take the money and go buy what they asked or spend the money on yourself, buying what you want. To most all of us this is an easily made moral decision; I hope. Why is this decision not as easily made when living for God though? God gives you life. This life that has been given is not yours just as the money the person gave you is not yours. The reason the person gave you money is because of trust...God gave you life trusting you would spend it on Him, doing with it what He asks. Life holds much more purpose than spending it on ourselves because "the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:38). You are the one who has been entrusted with much...to go and make disciples. This task was only made possible when Jesus bought you with his blood "for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light" (Ephe...

You are standing on an open plain. To your left is a castle, a refuge, a safe place. Now you look to your right and you see something advancing. Whatever it is it doesn't look friendly. It's coming closer, your fear starts to build and you know you can run and take refuge in the castle but something holds you back. This is completely illogical, why aren't you running as fast as you can to where you know you will be safe, away from this advancing force of darkness. The choice is clear and obvious isn't it? This is the analogy of temptation. This is what I wish people would picture every time they're tempted. In the physical world we make smart choices (most of the time) when it comes to danger. We're not going to walk out in front of a passing bus or walk off a cliff. That would be completely illogical and idiotic. So why don't we think of temptation that way? Sometimes we do but what I'm say is why not think of it in this way all the time. If there was a...

I want to let all you in on a little secret. It's a secret I hope all of you know but it's something we all forget...almost everyday it seems sadly. God is stronger than whatever temptation we have. I recently watched a video where the author of "The Story of God, the Story of Us", Sean Gladding, talked about a man who just accepted Jesus as his savior. Well this man calls Sean up on the phone and says he's really struggling with a temptation...and the temptation is really strong! I thought to myself, "hey I've had that feeling before." Where (fill in the blank) temptation is so strong and you can't help but to give in. The other day this thought occurred to me. You feel like this temptation is really strong, it consumes your thoughts, and you know you'll give in...but...our God is bigger. Our God is stronger, our God is more consuming than any temptation that seizes us. How easy it is to overcome if we just turn the temptation over to Him, t...

There is a person suspended sideways holding onto two chains each having a handle. One chain goes downwards and is connected to a shadowed world. The other chain leads upwards extending into the light. It is a struggle holding onto both worlds but this person knows that if he drops the world extending below then it'll be easier to hold onto the world above. So the person drops the world below and it slowly slowly falls as if it is falling through space. The sad thing is, that world below is still within grasp and the temptation to grasp it back is too great. So it is grasped and the struggle remains. The person in the story is all of us. See, we all would like to completely let go of that world for good and never reach for it again but there's that humanity within us that won't let us. This isn't a story without hope though. The following are my thoughts from the other day which help explain the transition of letting the world below go: The wages of sin is death. So we ...

There is the earth. Now there is a single beam of light coming straight down onto the earth. This beam of light is all good and purity that God created. This and nothing more. There is something outside the beam of light. It is the abstract of all of God's good...the opposite. See there is nothing newly created from the beginning of the beam of light. Everything abstract from the beam of light was taken from the light then turned backwards. This abstractness is the perversion called sin. It is the opposite of the beam of light...a sick reversed copy if you will. Nothing can invade the beam of light or stand against it because it is an ever binding pure solid truth that cannot be challenged. So the abstract of light fills the left and right and the beam of light stays in the middle. There is one example that corresponds to this tale that comes to my mind, homosexuality, which has always been an issue in this world remember Ecclesiastes 1:9. God created marriage, it is a holy, pure, ...