Posted in Daily Living

Finding A Place

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“This is the way we do things here. If you aren’t being ministered to, there are other places where you can be” said Jeff. In other words, If you don’t like it, leave. Buzz off. Take a hike. I heard this with sadness a couple decades ago because I knew it meant that the Scriptural truth I was seeing in the Word and had tried to convey was being refused. This is a mantra at Calvary Chapels, but it really is a mantra for the whole Church. So why would he say this, and why would every other Church say it?

Well, the root of it, in my studied opinion, is fear. The Church (in general), and most churches, are houses built of cards, mostly representing the philosophies of men. They don’t want the wind of the Spirit of Truth blowing through and knocking down what they’ve built.

What was I proposing that was so bad? Was I a heretic, trying to change or ignore Scripture on the virgin birth or deity of Jesus? What could have elicited such a cold and dismissive statement? In a word, discipleship. Calvary Chapel, and many other churches, have a nice way of attracting visitors but offer very little to keep them growing in grace and truth. They have heart-thumping concerts, speak nifty things from the pulpit, and even read Scripture now and then. They lay out a nice banquet of platitude Twinkies and selected Ding Dong verses providing a sugar rush and making one feel good for the moment, but is sadly lacking in the meat of the Word. If you don’t expect much of a church except as a safe-space social club that doesn’t dish up too many of the uncomfortable parts of the Bible, has a nice music team and some special programs on holidays, then you won’t be told to hit the road. A person can survive for a while on Twinkies and Ding Dongs, right up until the nutritional needs of the body demand something more substantial. Then our starving spirits have to go somewhere that offers solid teaching and examples of living the entirety of the Word.

The problems is, does any place like that exist? After making more than 15 churches in 10 different denominations our home before I was 40, I have to say, no. Every single church is a house of teaching cards built on the sand of personalities and men’s opinions. If a person dares to ask questions after comparing the card teachings to Scripture and discovering gaping holes, that’s when all of them will tell you in one fashion or another to find another ministering place. They can’t change because they’d have to admit they were wrong and pride won’t let them do that.

My family, and now my kid’s families, haven’t been to church in a long time, except the kids for some youth group activities once in a while. And yet it is amazing how much we’ve grown in Scripture understanding and practice. We have God’s holidays, His Sabbath and the whole and balanced Word that ties us together in a true ekklesia with our Messiah Yeshua as the head, nourishing us with His body and blood. Now that we have some distance, we see The Church, and most churches, as the dry wells and fruitless fig trees that they insist on staying. They did us a favor by forcing a trip to another place. We went into The Land, figuratively, while they’re still wandering around the same mountain, unwilling to drop their pride and salve their eyes with all the truth of the Word so they can see the way themselves.

Posted in Daily Living

Food Offered to Idols

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Twice in the seven letters to Asian congregations dictated by Yeshua in Revelation “eating food sacrificed to idols and (the) practice of sexual immorality” is mentioned as a bad thing. Yet Paul, we are told by the Church, tells us we can eat anything. They use Scripture, they think, to prove that anything goes.

1 Timothy 4:4–5 ESV. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Romans 14:20 ESV. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

1 Corinthians 10:25 ESV. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

Sometimes they’ll even use Scripture such as Genesis 9:3.

Genesis 9:3 ESV. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

Romans 14 is a heavy favorite, where Paul is supposed to have said that everything is opinion. But while cherry-picking and yanking Scripture out of context might be made to support your bacon preference, it doesn’t properly convey what God requires if we look at the balance of the Word.

If we read 1 Corinthians 10 carefully, for instance, Paul is not saying eating food sacrificed to idols is okay. In fact, he specifically links food, idols and sexual immorality together. It seems that pagans routinely combined all of them together in wild bacchanalia or orgies. Paul is telling us here not to engage is such practices. When he speaks of eating food that might have been part of ceremonies such as those, he is limiting the food to what is sold in the market. Once the meat hit the marketplace, you couldn’t tell whence it came. So don’t sweat the source, unless you are told by someone that it had been part of pagan practices.

Jesus tells believers in Pergamum and Thyatira that they need to repent of false teachings coming from followers of Jezebel and Balaam, specifically eating food offered to idols and sexual immorality, so it seems there were ceremonies or parties involved. It seems there were leaders promoting activities that would make a Roman senator hide his face in shame. And as Paul really said:

1 Corinthians 10:6–10 ESV. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

So “eating anything” is not okay with God. All food is not clean just because we might have an “opinion” that “not food” is acceptable table fare. Idolatry is following our own ideas of right and wrong instead of God’s. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:29–30 ESV. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

Shalom

Posted in Daily Living

Slow Motion Boycotts

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I have an active boycott life, meaning I’m always looking to avoid giving my money to people who hate me. I don’t drink beer very often, but I applauded those who stopped buying Bud Light. I’ve refused to buy Nike tennis shoes for several years now. I have many happy memories of Disneyland and Walt’s movies, but now they are ruining the “happiest place on earth” for my grandkids. Tickets to the parks are ridiculously expensive, way overpriced, not to mention gas and hotels, and Mr. Disney has got to be spinning like a top in his grave.

Some boycotts are not felt by the target companies, or at least they don’t admit it and blame lack of sales on other factors. The boycott of Bud Light was immense and could not be denied, so the corporate execs couldn’t hide that one, but some boycotts are more like a slow motion scene in a movie. I know because I am in the process of several myself.

It can take a while to “divest” interest in a product that one likes and has been buying for a long time. I have a drawer full of Levi’s Button Fly 501 shrink-to-fit jeans purchased over several decades for instance, and I really like the fit and the wear. Right up until they started going woke. I was determined to find another brand, so I tried some Wrangler’s. I found that I like their version of denim apparel better, and I like a zipper rather than the buttons. It took me a while to make the switch because I had to initially buy a pair of the Wrangler’s, which meant figuring out different styles and sizes. But I was determined to get away from the woke haters and kept plugging till I got comfortable with the new (to me) product.

The cardinal rule of business used to be that it takes a long time to win a customer’s loyalty, and once you lose that loyalty it is almost impossible to get it back. This axiom is still true, but it is obvious that modern business managers have forgotten. Or maybe they just presume on our loyalty, thinking that we are just stupid and unwilling to put in the work to find substitutes for their products.

So we see some quick effects from some boycotts, but just because the effects are not as dramatic and easier to hide doesn’t mean a slow-motion boycott is not working. It can take a while for the sales changes to be felt. JC Penny’s started a slide in sales when they decided that bathroom gender didn’t matter. Target is struggling with mounting losses. But Light will never recover, especially since there are many, many beers out there that are better. The woke will blame the loss of income on the economy or the weather or some other likely (to them) cause, but they won’t admit their error even when the corporate bigwigs are on the street and out of a job.

I may be taking a long time, but trust me when I say that come hell or high water I am determined to divest no matter how long it takes. I’m sure there are many who feel the same way and are pursuing similar goals. I think this is why stock prices are falling, sales figures are dropping like rocks, and businesses and banks are going the way of the dodo bird. The woke people are losing the loyalty of their customers, and they won’t get it back. Ever. Ta ta and tootle doo, you morons. I, and many others like me, are not going to look back.

The real reason for the woke stuff is the brain behind it. I’m not talking about the CEO’s and CFO’s. It’s evident that what ties all of the perversion and hate together is the Chief Hater, otherwise known as the Deceiver and Satan. He is real and he is the one directing the destruction of culture. The corporations and executives are just willing dupes. The Hater really, really hates God, and wants to usurp His authority and destroy His kingdom so he can take over. This is the reason to fight the woke culture and all that attaches to it. It’s a spiritual battle, and believers need to use every tool we have to sidetrack the “progress” and stay on track with our patient, loving God. We need to live His kingdom in every way, even if it means getting away from our favorite jeans or beer. It may not seem like a battle, but make no mistake it is a fierce conflict being waged not just with swords and shields but also with dollars and economic might.

Ezekiel 9:4–6 ESV. And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.

Shalom

Bruce