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Second Sunday of Kingdomtide-Sept 14

13 Sep

A firm foundation- Catechism. When I began my ministry, it was common for churches to have a concentrated time of study for those coming of age, generally considered about age twelve, to give them a basic foundation of understanding of the church and its beliefs. Few churches today, particularly evangelical churches, have any organized classes for twelve year olds to teach them the basic tenets of the faith. Even children who have been in Sunday School their whole lives need a concentrated time to pull together everything they have been taught. As a result, many children today do not have even a basic foundation of knowledge and cannot build their faith as they grow older. There is also no concentrated study for those coming into the church who did not grow up in church. The result is that few adult church members today have even a basic understanding of the faith. I have developed a basic catechism course of study for new members for that purpose (Understanding the Path We Walk-see “books” on website and Basic Christian Beliefs on UdemyURL- https://www.udemy.com/course/basic-christian-beliefs/?referralCode=45EA0BA6DAD6F47E7541)

 

violence and social strife-3-H

13 Sep

It is interesting to hear the rhetoric of the media and liberal politicians in response to the response of President Trump to the killing of Charlie Kirk. They say he is inciting people to violence. Lets look at the facts. Liberals call on their followers to attack anyone who supports Trump and they should kill him. Those people have not done anything wrong, they just stand in the way of liberals getting what they want. That certainly leads people who have low self control and very few scruples against killing to attack and even kill Trump supporters. The liberal politicians and media  say their followers should riot in the streets to show their opposition to what Trump does. They feel that is all protected by freedom of speech and doesn’t lead people to violence. They say we should take away guns from innocent people so they can’t defend themselves against criminals who hide their guns so they won’t be taken away. They also say we should defund the police so they won’t be able to protect innocent citizens from those same criminals. They also say we shouldn’t punish criminals for minor crimes. We should allow them to go back out on the street where they can commit major crimes. On the other hand, we have Trump who calls on the police to seek out and arrest these people who go around attacking and killing other people, so they can be tried in court and if convicted, should be punished by putting them in jail, where they cannot commit more crimes. Liberals feel that is hate speech and should be banned because it leads people to violence.  The only ones incited to riot by calls for justice are liberals who hate police and the court system. However calling on liberals to attack conservatives does incite liberals to violence. Since it enrages those conservatives who do not like being attacked, it may also occasionally lead conservatives to attack liberals. They bring up examples where someone attacked an abortionist or an abortion clinic while ignoring almost daily attacks against pro-life pregnancy centers and Catholic churches that call for an end to abortion. It is hypocrisy to think that an isolated attack on a liberal is a threat to democracy while almost daily attacks on conservates do not pose a threat.

 

 

Violence-gun control 4-S

11 Sep

While the media often boldly calls for gun control after major shootings, they are strangely silent when the target is a conservative politician or political activist, a church, or a Christian school. When several Republican Congressmen were shot at a ball field, there was silence. When a gunman attacks a church or Christian school, there is silence. Apparently they feel it is alright to shoot their opponents. The recent shooting of the leader of Turning point USA did not bring out the media frenzy that you usually hear. Charlie Kirk started Turning Point to spread conservative information to public school and college students to help bring sanity to our schools but apparently liberals felt he was too great a threat to their agenda.

 

 

First Sunday of Kingdomtide-Sept 7

05 Sep

Growing in faith-Learning By Doing-A Children learn by doing and new Christians learn the same way. Unfortunately, few churches today have training programs where new Christians can work alongside more mature Christians. By involving new Christians in hands-on ministry in the congregation and in Christian ministries under the tutorage of more mature Christians, new Christians learn how to serve Christ and the Church. They learn how to minister as they watch others minister and get to minister to others themselves. As new Christians minister to others, they not only learn to identify those who have needs and how to minister to them, they also develop a love and concern for them. However, few churches today involve many of their members in ministry. They wait until an opening occurs and try to pressure someone to take the position, even though that person may have no prior experience and may not have the gifts for it or the concern for it. As a result, many Churches today are very ineffective in training new Christians in ministry or reaching people for Christ. Involving more members in ministry will allow the church to train more people for ministry and reach more people for Christ. It also enables the church to train them for when the present leadership can no longer serve.     

 

First Sunday of Kingdomtide-Sept 7

05 Sep

 Growing in faith by watching Kingdomtide is a time when the church should be active in helping new converts grow deeper.  While few new converts are coming into the church this is vitally important today when so few churches teach members how to live a life pleasing to Christ. Many members who transfer in from other churches where they were members for many years come with very little spiritual depth. As a result, I was asked to develop the lecture series.  Surrendering to Christ does not automatically bestow maturity in Christ. When we are born again, we are like babies in the faith and must grow to maturity. Children learn by observing adults and copying the way they do things. In the same way, new Christians need to observe more mature Christians in the faith and interacting with them. It is very hard to explain in a sermon or Sunday School class how to love others or to humble ourselves. It must be learned by watching others who are more spiritually mature, and interacting with them, as they live out their faith day by day, however few churches today have the close relationships needed to help new Christians grow in Christ. With very little spiritual training, new Christians have few mature Christians to learn from. There is also no close interaction of members with spiritual leaders to enable them to grow spiritually as they see them in action. There needs to be active mentoring of new members by those who are spiritually mature,  however  many church leaders today are chosen for their financial management skills and popularity rather than their Christian maturity and do not provide good spiritual role models to follow.

 

The Meaning of Kingdomtide

04 Sep

 

Violence-2-AF

04 Sep

I find it interesting that the mayor of Washington D.C. is protesting the presence of national guard to restore order. President Trump called up the national guard to patrol the streets of Washington D.C. and threatens to do so elsewhere. The mayor of Chicago has also vigorously protested. Washington D.C. and Chicago are among those cities with the highest crime rate in the nation. In a recent weekend in Chicago, 28 people were killed. That doesn’t include robberies, car thefts or other crimes. Residents of Washington D.C. are breathing easier for the first time in a long time. They can finally walk the streets without fear of being attacked since there has been almost no crime in the city. Crooks are probably laying low since they know that the National guard will arrest them and not turn a blind eye. They also know that they will not be let off with a mere slap on the wrist. Laws are meaningless unless they are enforced. Criminals who know that they do not stand much chance of being arrested and if arrested will be let off with just a slap on the wrist will not hesitate to commit crimes. President Trump is showing that crime can be reduced with proper enforcement.

 

Violence-2-AE

04 Sep

Many increasingly feel that our democratic processes aren’t working, and we are being told that only a strong government can solve the problem. The American people must not allow themselves to think strong government will solve the problems it has created. The increasing actions of liberal judges and politicians to ignore the will of the people, the Constitution, the laws of the land, and the Supreme Court create a mounting frustration of the American people. That boiled over during the Obama administration and led to the election of Donald Trump. However, the liberal media was silent about his success in restoring the economy and the power to the American people. Their repeated attacks on President Trump and lies about him have given the American people the false impression that President Trump failed, further fueling their frustration. The January 6 demonstration in Washington is an indication of how widespread that frustration is. However, their innocent intentions pointed out the greater danger. That is that liberals will use the frustration to seize control of the government. They continue to claim that the danger posed by conservative demonstrations requires that the rights of the American people be suspended, however the real problem is that it was the suspension of the rights of the American people that fueled the demonstrations and further suspending those rights will not solve it. It was the heavy-handed actions of the king that led to the Boston Tea Party and it was the heavy-handed response to it that led to the Revolutionary War. Maybe we should pay attention to history.

 

 

Violence-2-AD

04 Sep

I find it interesting how difficult it is for some people to connect the dots. Liberals are repealing laws designed to protect homeowners who are protecting their family and their homes, they want to take away your guns so you can’t protect yourself, and they want to defund the police so there will be less police to defend you. This hurts minorities the most since the cities pull police out of minority areas to avoid conflict. Liberal politicians tell the police not to interfere with rioters and mobilize the media against police pressuring the courts to convict police to avoid further rioting whether the officers are guilty or not. As a result, police are afraid to enter situations that may be used against them and avoid potentially dangerous situations. That encourages rioters to attack police since they know the police either aren’t allowed to fight back, or are afraid to. In addition, liberal courts let criminals off with very little punishment, so it becomes easier to commit crimes without fear of being caught or being punished. That makes you an easy target for crime and assault. In fact, crime and murders have skyrocketed in areas controlled by liberals because criminals know that they are less likely to be caught or prosecuted. Yet the voters continue to vote these people back into office. Is it really that hard to see what direction things are headed? As another round of elections comes up, maybe it is time for a change.

 

 

study course Church in the 21st Century-promo

29 Aug