But I used to be an addict. I played it for fun with buddies, I played it in elementary, high school, and college. I frittered away hours and days as a kid playing baseball video games I had saved up for months to buy. The part of my allowance that I didn’t spend on baseball video games, I spent on baseball cards—the kind with the stick of gum (an aptly named stick of gum, mind you). Still have about 14 shoeboxes full of my card collection that I’ve already promised my son–once I die.

I grew up a Minnesota Twins fan, and therefore can rattle off the names and meaningful statistics of any of our starting lineups from 1987-2009. This is data that is consuming valuable (and sparse) storage space in my cranium. But it can’t be overwritten.

Then I moved to St. Louis, and I’ve fully embraced the Cardinals as “my team,” (though I’m predicting a Twins v.s. Cards World Series). At work, we had a “Cardinals Food Day” on the day of the Cards’ home opener. Everyone on my floor brought a baseball-themed food item to share, and the energy of the day was accentuated by our company declaring it a “business casual day,” so we all wore our comfy polos and khakis to the office.

It all seemed innocent, until I heard somebody call Albert Pujols “The Christ,” referred to Busch Stadium as “church,” and baseball their “cleansing religion.” I suppose even that didn’t faze me until I noticed my son’s bedroom adorned with massive Pujols and Joe Mauer posters (which I had bought for him)…the posters take up nearly an entire wall, while a small cross no larger than a wallet hangs over his lightswitch. Even the bookmark in my Bible is a Cardinals ticket.

What if we were as passionate about our faith, Christ’s love, and the miracle of everything around us as we were about our sports? Consider this:

• On autumnal Sunday mornings, about 150 million men across the country sit in their pew and nervously glance at their watch, hoping they can get home in time for kickoff.
• I’d feel more comfortable wearing a Cubs jersey to a Cards game than a shirt declaring Christ the only way to eternal life.
• I can quote the rosters and statistics for multiple teams in multiple sports verbatim, but would struggle to quote more than 10 Bible verses.
• I could spend (and have) an hour a day conjuring up possible trade proposals and lineup changes for my fantasy football team, but “just don’t have the time” to read God’s Word.

I’m not anti-sports by any means…but seeing Cardinal jerseys, hats, jewelry, bumper stickers, and tattoos everywhere in this town made me beg the question: Am I as passionate a fan of my Creator, as I am of all that He’s created? And if God is my personal version of Tony LaRussa, will my performance on “the field” warrant one of those emotional manager/player hugs at the end of the game?

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I asked my wife tonight, just out of sheer curiosity, “What is the most romantic thing I’ve ever done for you?” And she sweetly listed off several items–some sweeter than others–that I’ve done. But as she spoke–to no fault of her own–I couldn’t help but say to myself, “Really? That’s IT?” In front of me was the woman I loved most, treasured most, desired most, and hearing her recount some of the ways that I’ve demonstrated my love was a highly unsatisfactory moment for me. In fact, many of the items she listed were from early on in our marriage, as in several years ago. It was a look-in-the-mirror moment where I realized that I expect more from myself in my display of my love for my wife.

While I’m fully aware of how incredibly faulted I am, my buddy’s words kept ringing: “If I show God how much I love him as much and as often as I show my wife how much I love her…God should divorce me.”

So let’s tap the brakes a bit here. Marriage is the union of two flawed and sinful people–perfection is not the expectation, right? Well, if the WORD OF GOD is any indication, we are commanded “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ has loved the church.” Christ’s love of the church? That of perfect servanthood, pure sacrifice, love without limits, and eternal grace? Ohhhhhhhh.

So how do I “romance” God? How do I demonstrate my undying commitment to Him? Is it with the same passion and love that I did when we first “met”? Is it by skipping my daily Bible readings because I’m “too busy”? Is it driving past Him when He’s clearly in need of a ride as he walks on the side of the road during the rainstorm? Is it with a loose tongue? A dishonorable retort to a question my wife asks? How about denying my faith enough times in 3 minutes to make even Peter blush?

Never before has the phrase “Only by the grace of God” been so appropriate. And it was only by the grace of God that He gave me my wife. I love you, baby.

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I’ll never forget the day my sister—bless her heart—ratted me out to my mom for my saying that I was “pissed off.” We were cruising down the wintry northern Minnesota highway, Ma at the wheel, sis and I in the backseat (back-bench actually) of the old, crimson red Ford pickup. Hoooooooboy, if you wanted to get Ma crankin’, just say something on the moderate side of unholy.

The look Ma gave me that day—and the volume of the words she said—are hard to forget. My mom was—still is, in fact—one of the most disciplined and devout Christians I’ve ever met. I suppose I’d be guilty of resenting that fact more than once during my teen years, though I’m beyond grateful to her today for doing e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g in her power to instill that same faith in me. I remember one of my childhood Sunday School teachers actually saying, “Whenever you feel yourself getting ready to say a swear word, just say the word ‘marshmallow’ instead!” Shhhh-ure. I’ll plead guilty to having a less-than-holy mouth going through high school, and even into college. I could blame it on the influences of my buddies (talking like them to fit in), on athletics and the coarseness of the language that seems to be built into that hyper-competitive arena of life (some weird display of verbal aggression to show strength?), or a multitude of other excuses.

Thankfully, I outgrew that, and now only speak in pure English, weaving sentences together with such artistic form that I can make the Poet Laureate blush. And so what if I still drop the occasional p-bomb, s-bomb, a-bomb, d-bomb, or (earmuffs!) f-bomb? I know the 10 Commandments, and it clearly says to “not use the Lord’s name in vain.” I never say that word, so I’m in the clear!

What Does the Bible say about cursing?

Ephesians 4:29 tells us, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” First Peter 3:10 declares, “For, whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.” James 3:9-12 summarizes the issue: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

All Eyes (and Ears!) on the Christian!

I went along as a chaperon today on my son’s field trip to the St. Louis Zoo. Had a fantastic time. He’s in first grade now, and seeing as I used to be a 6th grade teacher (the equivalent, I’m told, of being slowly pecked to death by a chicken), I figured it’d be great fun. Have you even heard the vocabulary spouting from these mouths? I know it’s so trite to take the “KIDS these days…” path, but I was blown away. All of you have your opinions, I’m sure, as to why our children are talking this way. Here’s mine: you. As in most things, I believe our kids learn to “train their tongue” is by the example we set for them. Now, as a parent, I don’t think this is groundbreaking research I’ve just conducted.

Let’s turn the tables a bit here, and let me share with you an interesting thing that happened to me at work. I just started this job over a year ago, and as will happen in new jobs, it takes time to learn your surroundings, and more importantly, learn the people you work with. There’s a guy I work with—we’ll call him Jim—that I got along fantastically with right from the start. And as will happen in these instances, I started to form the opinion that Jim was a Christian. Values. Morals. Saying all the right things. He was a natural leader, so I was excited to have a colleague like him! I even went so far as to invite he and his wife to our home for dinner.

And then the bomb dropped. One day at work, Jim came to vent to me about something, and he said…wait for it…”I’M SO PISSED OFF RIGHT NOW!” My jaw about hit the floor. This couldn’t be happening. I was shocked. Disappointed. Saddened. I had such high hopes for him. I’m not kidding, I was bummed out about my “God-dar” being broken. Tough stuff to be so let down. Not many days later, still in a daze (I exaggerate from time to time), Jim and I were eating lunch together and we had a fantastic time sharing our testimonies for how we came to Christ. Picture me slapping my forehead really hard and saying, “I FORGOT that Christians can &#!$^ up too!”

God’s Gentle Reminder(s) to Me

Let me first confess that I still will “forget,” and I will still say the occasional p/s/a/d/whatever-bomb that would make my Ma’s neck veins bulge. It’s never intentional, but I’m fully aware of them the moment I say them. I’d never really realized how powerful a loose-tongue could be until the lesson my “inaccurate impression” of Jim taught me. Certainly, people can think I’m the greatest Christian guy they’ve ever met, but the moment I get into the “unholy” territory with my language, that may well go out the door.
–
Now, I’m sure some of you reading this are sitting there thinking: “PISS is a bad word?” Here’s my new rule–a word is a “bad” word if:

• I wouldn’t want my awesome 7-year-old son to say “the word”
• my impression that someone is a Christian could be swayed by hearing them say “the word”
• my Ma would break out the wooden spoon to teach my marshmallow a lesson

Do you have a bad cussing habit, or have you been watching “Sopranos” reruns lately? Find a “Jim” that can hold you accountable to not letting any unwholesome talk come from your mouth, and don’t forget to pray for self-control, so that your words are pleasing to Him.

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May 21, 2008

I cringe to even attempt to play out in my head what the scene must have been like at the Chapman house that May day when Steven’s 5-year-old daughter Maria was accidentally struck and killed in the driveway of their home by a vehicle driven by one of her older brothers. What followed were months of intense grief, sorrow, questioning, anger, and torment—and the Chapman family was under the public microscope during it all. Steven was rumored (and later publicly admitted) to be considering hanging up his songwriting and performing shoes for good, his heart so crushed by the loss of Maria, his faith so challenged by the loss of his little girl.

Thankfully, last fall Steven released his first album post-tragedy, and titled it “Beauty Will Rise.”

Recording “Beauty Will Rise”

On his official website, SCC gave us a glimpse into how the music was burned onto the CD:

“We went in and did the recording and put it together just as honestly as we could,” Steven says. “A good half of it–if not more than half–was recorded in dressing rooms on the United Tour with Michael W. or in hotel rooms or wherever we might be. We would set up a little make shift recording studio and record. I just kept thinking “I don”t know what this is going to sound like and how is this going to measure up to what I think are some sonic masterpieces that [producers] Brown Banister and Phil Naish have helped me to create over the years. This is just raw.”

It’s that rawness that sets this apart from any album he’s ever put together–and it’s an album he naturally wishes he never would have had to create. For those of you who have endured an unspeakable tragedy, questioned the God of this whole universe for “allowing” it to happen, and yet clung helplessly to your faith throughout the healing process, you’ll appreciate the candor of the 12 songs in this album.

Songs That Define “Beauty Will Rise”

The first song, “Heaven is the Face,” describes his longing for the heavenly reunion with Maria–and brought to mind similarities with Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven,” save Chapman removing Clapton’s “IF” word from the sentence “if I saw you in heaven” and replacing it with “WHEN.”

The title song, “Beauty Will Rise,” makes the confession “I screamed ’til my voice was gone … Slowly panic turns to pain as we awake to what remains,” before passionately asserting that one day, beauty will rise from the ashes. Those ashes are where we, the listeners, can insert our own torment and anguish. A tragic death of a loved on, a marriage on the rocks, a child making poor decisions, a sin committed…and having faith that God can use all these things for good, hope that the end result of all things in Christ is beauty.

The most powerful song on the album, in my opinion, is one titled “Questions” (aptly placed between appropriately titled songs “Faithful” and “Our God is in Control”) where Chapman asks, “Who are you God, For You are turning out to be so much different than I imagined. And where are you God, ’cause I’m finding life to be so much harder than I had planned.”  He goes on questioning, “Like how could you God, how could you be so good and strong and make a world that can be so painful. And where were you God, I know you had to be right there, I know you never turn your head.” As true and hard as those questions are to ask, Chapman concludes the song with reaffirmation:

So who am I God
That you would raise me from the dust
To breathe your life and your love in me
You know that I believe

The album has an instrumental dual theme to it, with joyful string arrangements and energetic guitar riffs complementing the soulful piano and cello sounds…along with Chapman’s usual melodic voice. The removal of the production layer adds to the intimacy of the album itself, and while it’s lyrics will wrench the gut of most of us, it’s an album each of us should own.

Steven Curtis Chapman, Psalmist

His faith bruised, but not broken, Chapman shares the pain, horror, and healing of the past two years of his family’s life, and his family’s faith in this album. SCC makes it clear throughout the album that his faith is winning the battle against unbelief. In an interview with Christianity Today, Steven responded to a question about this album being like King David writing his own personal psalms:

Yeah, I was hiding out in the valley of the shadow of death, just crying out to God. Man, I’ve never been so thankful for the Psalms. I’m not sure I really even got the Psalms until I walked through this. Obviously the Psalms were a great comfort before walking through the valley, but all of a sudden, I’m just so thankful for God’s honesty to us, to allow us to look into the heart of a schizophrenic worshiper like David, because that’s what I’ve found myself to be. To go in the same breath, How long, O Lord. Where are you, God? Are you doing anything about this? Do you even hear me? to But I’ll trust you. Your love is better than life. I worship you. I praise you. How can you do that? But I have, and my family has.

I almost get this image of David beating on his chest when he’s saying, “Why are you so downcast within me?” He’s thinking, Heart, come on. Get with it. You know what’s true. Hope in God. It’s like that for me, where my heart and mind are going into this dark abyss. But then I say, Wait a minute. Come back. Come back to your senses. For me, that’s where these songs came from.

Read more about Steven Curtis Chapman at his official website, and about their adoption aid agency, Show Hope, here. Read more about Maria here.

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Married ladies reading this, I need you to stop and think about this next sentence: Your husband doesn’t “get” you, and he could be rolling his eyes behind your back right now (quick, LOOK!).

Unmarried ladies and gentlemen reading this, consider this a bit of advice that you could almost treat as the answers to the “great test” that is marriage:

You Need to Learn HOW to Love Your Spouse

This isn’t earth-shattering news to you, and not the result of the latest and greatest MIT study. Now, I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right…you DO love your spouse! But HOW you love them is the key to a marriage, and by that I mean, how do THEY want you to love them? Confused yet? I’ll explain, because I think it’s of utmost importance for you to learn so you don’t become a number in a divorce statistic. “Can’t happen to me!” you say?

Be careful. You’ve seen marriages unravel in your family that were 10-20-30 years old, you’ve got friends who you thought married Mr./Mrs. Perfect, but you provided the shoulder of comfort when that wasn’t the case. I’m guilty of the same, and it’s only by grace that My Beloved Wifey has stuck by my side (love you BTB, baby!).

The Depressing Statistics on Divorce

In the early 1980s, the United States witnessed the highest number of divorces ever granted: over one million. This led to an almost predictable domino effect with some of the children of divorce. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the United States experienced the highest rates of teen sexual activity, teen pregnancy, births to teenage mothers, and out of wedlock births in our nation’s history. Today’s new generation is still experiencing the trickle-down effect by being part of the nation’s highest-ever numbers of children born out of wedlock, and numbers of children raised by single fathers and mothers, unmarried parents and grandparents. Meanwhile, the marriage rate in the United States flirts with an all-time low, and the divorce rate pushes 60%.

What does the divorce rate of the 1980-2010 have to do with you? Divorce will NEVER happen to you! Right?

The demographics of blog readers like you indicate that it is likely that a few of the below are true:

• Your parents divorced when you were a child.
• You lived with your mother.
• Either you’re divorced yourself, or refuse to marry due to your not believing in a “committed” relationship.

The point here is that it’s a powerful learning experience to, as a son or daughter, witness your mother and father being committed to each other in marriage living each and every day together, and striving each day to meet the needs of each other. Sadly, due to the above mentioned statistics, this learning experience never occurs for many, and many of you grew up without a father who loved your mother the way God intended him to. And there’s few suitable places to turn to replace that lost education. Other than your Father in Heaven.

Fortunately, we serve a God who fills all of our needs, and hears our cries for help in learning how to be a better husband and wife. So if you’re unhappy in your marriage, CRY OUT to Him! Love, the way God created it to be, is worth fighting for, humbling yourself for, and sacrificing your desires for. There is no greater love than this–it’s not at all unlike the love Christ showed us through His death on the cross:

“Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” Song of Songs 8:7 (NIV)

Love as spoken about in Song of Songs…

Song of Songs is that Book in the Bible that will make you blush if you read it carefully. It’s powerful writing, because it talks about the joys, struggles, and complexities of the male/female relationship. Like much of the Bible, Song of Songs was originally written in Hebrew, and it has at least three different words for the English word “love.”

“RAYA”

Raya would be translated as ‘friend,’ or ‘companion’—somebody you hang out with.

“AHAVA”

Ahava is the love of the will. Now, this is way more profound than fleeting romantic feelings (that’d be lust). Ahava is making a decision to bind your life to the life of another person. It’s an emotion that leads to commitment.

“DOD”

Translated, this one means literally “carouse,” to “rock,” or to “fondle.” This is the sexual element to a relationship.

No doubt you’ve been in relationships that were built with only raya. Or ahava. Or dod. But can you see the beauty and power of a marriage built with all three together? Or the danger of a marriage where one of these is shared with someone other than the spouse? Think of each word as a flame—by themselves, they’re simple candles that can be blown out by a whisper of a breeze. Put them together, and you’ve got a raging inferno that will burn and shine for all to see.

My Commitment to Grow into the Man my Wife Needs Me to Be

I’ve mentioned my grandfather before in this blog. He’s a stubborn Finnish man, who touts a coffee cup with a saying engraved in my memory: “It’s not easy being perfect.” Sadly, as my wife will attest, that trait did not pass on genetically. I’m a flawed, selfish, and sinful man. But I’m aware of it, and I pray daily that God will continue to mold me into the man she needs me to be…in every way. Not just for her benefit, but for the little eyeballs of our children to observe.

I’ve recently come across some neat Christian forums here in Internetland, one of them is at Crosswalk.com. There was a topic in there that I nosed around in out of my own curiosity this morning (and thus, inspired this post) titled, “What has your husband done lately that just made you melt?”

Now, I fancy myself as a romantic guy. And I patted myself on the back a bit as I read some of the replies that wives were sharing about their husbands—some simple little deeds, some very elaborate—but when I sat to think about how many of those romantic things I have done in the past week, I struck out. Surely, the past couple weeks were better? Nope. Month? Maybe a few little things.

Now, I tell my wife every morning, lunchtime, and night that I love her. I kiss her goodbye, hello, and just because we’re close. We cuddle nightly on the couch, we sleep contentedly next to each other every night…but what have I done lately to make her feel like the Woman Created Specially For Me By The Most High?And am I telling her using raya, ahava, and dod? Or am I just picking one and running with it?

I don’t even have to ask her. I’m guessing you don’t either. It’s time to change.

May you honor the way that God created you. May you have a profound sense of respect for the fact that you are a deeply spiritual and mysterious being, and that love is ultimately a profoundly spiritual thing. May you realize that the three flames of love are meant to burn together, and may you commit to discovering the big flame.

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Alas, he’s a newly converted Buddhist, but something he said really hit me in the bullseye (the full transcript is here if you’re interested):

“You know, when I — when I had — when I went through that period when my father was sick and my father passed away, it put things in perspective real quick. And when my kids were born, again, it put it in perspective. And then what I’ve done here, it puts it in perspective. It’s that it’s not about the championships. It’s about how you live your life. And I hadn’t done that the right way for a while, and I needed to change that. And going forward, I need to be a better man going forward than I was before.”

Perspective is an interesting thing, isn’t it?

If you’re like me, you catch yourself whining about your life an awful lot. Some things, admittedly, are fairly trivial: “Clothes aren’t new enough. TV not HD enough. Car shamefully less-than-a-Lexus.”  Some are a bit more deep: “Paycheck not fat enough. Job title not important enough. Marriage not romantic enough. House not roomy enough.” Add yours here.

Blind Leading the Blind?

Oddly, we Christians say these things (or things like these things), even after having read these verses in the Bible:

• 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
• Ephesians 5:20 “Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So let’s say you have a dream that you go to work tomorrow. There’s a pink slip with your name on it. You bring it home to share with your wife. She sobbingly tells you she learned today at her annual doctor checkup that she has cancer. And a month to live. Then the phone rings—it’s the neighbors. They tell you to turn on your TV, because there’s been a school shooting. At your child’s school.

Mr. Perspective would bet a lot of money that you’ve had these kinds of dreams where you’re relieved when you wake up and learn that the dream wasn’t real—you’re kind of like Scrooge on Christmas morning…a changed person, a different outlook and attitude…until your feet hit the floor and you start your day with the usual routine. Perspective is a funny thing—you don’t usually realize you had the incorrect perspective until you look back…to your old wise friend; Mr. Retrospect.

Perspective–and Retrospect–Can Be Cruel Teachers

Lately, Beloved Wifey and I have been feeling a bit like we’re in the meat grinder…some days, nothing goes right. Felt that way? How important is it, then, to have that partner in your life who gently reminds you of all things that are right in your life, all things you should be THANKING God for on a daily basis? We have two healthy children. By the grace of God alone, our marriage and love for each other grows on a daily basis. We have a roof over our head, a warm and dry place to sleep, and more than enough food in our bellies. In a time when the unemployment rate in this country is 9.7% and the economy isn’t particularly Utopian, we both have good jobs at a good company and make a good income that provides all we need. God is GOOD!

The Perspective of Christ on the Cross

Folks, I have done and said many awful, disgusting, and shameful things in my life—and hurt those closest to me in ways I never thought I was capable of. But as yesterday, Easter Sunday, teaches us—all of those mistakes were undone on that Sabbath morning when Mary and Martha came to the grave and saw the stone rolled away. This Easter season, don’t forget what G.R.A.C.E. is…God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Tiger Woods will someday realize what true grace is, and how Easter made grace possible. So pray for Tiger. Pray for yourself, your spouse, your children, your friends, everyone…you…know.

Now, who in your life holds you accountable to keeping a Godly perspective? Are they doing their job? If not, when will your conversation with them—asking them to hold you accountable—take place?

There’s an old investing adage that says that if you don’t frequently rebalance your portfolio, the stock market will do it for you.

The same is true of your perspective; if you don’t frequently self-assess to be sure it’s holy, then God has a funny way of “putting things” back into perspective for you.

And Tiger will tell you, I will tell you, and YOU will tell you, it’d sure save a lot of pain to not lose perspective in the first place.

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Lyrics to “This Blood” by Carman

Violently they grabbed his arms,
As they tightly strapped each wrist,
With a hellish look stood a strong armed soldier,
Whip clenched in his fist,
Laced with chips of bone they beat him hard,
From his shoulders to his feet,
And it sliced right through his olive skin,
Just like razors through a sheet,

Countless times the blood splattered,
As each in-human lash was given,
Several times his knees gave way,
As his flesh just hung like rivets

And surprisingly he turned his head,
Though the words he used were few,
The soldiers face turned pale,
When he said “This blood is for you”,

Uncaringly they tossed a garment,
Across his weakened form,
And his blood pressure fell deathly low,
As the crowds began to swarm,

They forced him to carry his cross up-hill,
As his face they punched and smacked
All the splinters from the criss crossed beam dug deep into his back,

Through lack of sleep and dehydration,
His tongue began to swell,
And weakened by his loss of blood,
This prophet-teacher fell,

When he did some blood splattered
On a man named Simon’s shoe,
As he bent to wipe it off,
The prophet looked and said
“Simon this blood is for you”,

This blood can save the soul,
Heal the sick, mend the heart,
This blood can give you access,
To the very throne of God,
And it still can go the distance,
From the pain to where you are,
This blood is for you,
The blood of the lamb,

Then they pounded a spike
Through the bones in his wrists,
Bursting arteries, and veins
And as they dropped the cross in the hole they dug
His body convulsed with pain.

Through the agony and torment
That never a soul shall find
He tilts his face towards heaven
With full control of his mind.

With more love than any human heard
Before that time or since,
He made a statement that to this day
Makes the strongest skeptic wince.

He cried “Father, God forgive them for they not what they do.”
And as he gave his life for those lost in sin
He was saying
“This blood is for you!”

This blood can save the soul,
Heal the sick, mend the heart,
This blood can give you access,
To the very throne of God.

And it still can go the distance,
From the pain to where you are,
This blood is for you,
(If you’re lost and alone, and your mind is confused)
This blood is for you,
(If you feel like you have been hurt and abused)
This blood is for you,
The Atoning cleansing blood of the Lamb.

This blood can save the soul,
Heal the sick, mend the heart,
This blood can give you access,
To the very throne of God.

And it still can go the distance,
From the pain to where you are,
This blood is for you,
The blood of the lamb.

This Blood is for you,
The Blood of the Lamb!

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Looking in any direction across the landscape of human interaction produces undeniable evidence. This is a planet of people whose sanity is under assault by an unseen force. It is the same sin-sickness that infected the first recorded rebel, Lucifer the fallen one, who is so delusional that he thinks he can still defeat the God of heaven. Thus, I give the malady the designation the “Devil’s dementia.” Indeed, it has gone viral upon planet earth.

The supernaturally inflicted dementia has brought much of humanity to the point that mankind’s thinking has become reprobate. The word reprobate is defined as: morally depraved; unprincipled; bad. Reprobate thinking is rejected by God and beyond hope of salvation (apart from redemption found only in Jesus Christ). It is the kind of thinking with which Satan, the devil, now incessantly assaults God’s creation called man. Mankind is thus fatally infected, his mind only on evil continually, just as prophesied.

Jesus said it would be like in the days of Noah at the time of His Second Coming (Luke 17:26-27). When we check those days, we find the following: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

Let us consider the spreading dementia that afflicts our nation and the world at this late hour in history. Analyzing the arenas of human endeavor and the upside-down thinking that pervades will quite possibly further give us a sense of where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline.

Religious Dementia

Religion, rather than acting as a comforting abode for the spirit as it is purported to do, more often inflames passions and ignites wars than soothes the savage beast within man. The most volatile religion of our time has at its very heart the demand that genocide be perpetrated upon God’s chosen people. Jihad is the term for “holy war” that inspires much of Islam. It is sheer insanity that demands that parents strap bombs to their sons and daughters to blow up others–this in the name of bringing into being peace on earth!

In the name of Christ, Catholicism harbors a seemingly endless number of priests who are pedophiles, who prey on the innocent children who are supposed to be under their watch care. This is reprobate thinking and an assault on God–perversion of the worst sort.

The devil’s dementia is working within the Church today, through the wolves in sheep’s clothing, as condemned by Scripture:

“Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Tim 3:8).

“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16).

Socio-economic Dementia

All one has to do to understand what is going on in bringing down the United States is to cogitate on the thoughts recently uttered by one of America’s avowed enemies. “Fidel Castro, Cuba’s former president, wrote in an essay that passage of the American healthcare overhaul is ‘a miracle’ and a major victory for Barack Obama’s presidency, but called it ‘really incredible’ that the U.S. took more than two centuries from its founding to approve health benefits for all” (“In the News,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/26/10, p. 1).

The American government and the present administration demonstrate beyond any doubt the dementia that affects U.S. leadership. These “leaders” demand that Americans learn to live within their means, yet the politicians run up tabs of trillions of dollars in the drive to convert the nation to European-style socialism at best–to a Marxist state at worst. The big tax-and-spenders have strapped and continue to strap future generations with debt that can never be repaid. Only God’s staying hand has prevented the complete implosion of the U.S. and world economies to this point.

It is madness, but if viewed through spiritually attuned senses, it’s madness that can be understood as defiantly following the reprobate thinking that opposes the God of heaven. With a considerable majority of U.S. citizenry opposing the massive spending spree, the majority party ignores the people’s wishes. Instead they tie to their insane fiscal scheme taxpayer-funded abortions and other anti-God legislation, which enables atrocities such as public schools outlawing Bibles in classrooms while distributing condoms and birth control pills to students.

The madness spreads and metastasizes. FOX News reported Thursday, March 25, 2010, that a mother was devastated that her fifteen-year-old daughter was transported to an abortion facility by a public school in Seattle, Washington, for an abortion. This was done because the mother had signed a consent form she thought was for the child’s medical safety, in case there was a medical emergency while she was at school. The school powers-that-be interpreted the consent form as meaning they had the right to abort the child’s baby. That the girl was pregnant is troubling enough, but the government-funded school taking such godless action demonstrates a reprobate mindset that would have in earlier generations been unfathomable.

FOX News reported the same day that a phenomenon known as the “flash mob” has come into being, whereby young people assemble on an Internet gathering site, organize, then physically take to the streets to vandalize and destroy merchandise within stores and damage other places. The report disclosed that an activity known as “catch and wretch” is the recreational activity of a growing number of children as young as nine years old. They pick out a victim (sometimes the elderly), as would a pack of wolves, then they beat them and do other dastardly things. Lawlessness is the result of the devil’s dementia, of which Antichrist will one day be the chief proponent.

Geopolitical Dementia

Nowhere is the upside-down thinking that is the devil’s dementia more evident, from the biblically prophetic perspective, than in the arena of geopolitics. Again, on FOX–”FOX and Friends,” Friday, March 26, 2010–I heard contributor Geraldo Rivera accuse Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being the cause of Middle East tensions. He implied that they were the roadblock to peace in the region because they consistently perpetrated acts against the impoverished Palestinian people.

Rivera had just returned from the region, and, in my view, painted Netanyahu as a tyrant, whose Likkud party wanted only to stir the boiling pot that is the Middle East, and was an obstacle to peace. He praised the Obama administration as the sane influence, and said the Israeli government should be pressured to give in to the two-state solution and the division of Jerusalem.

The devil’s dementia–the reprobate, woolly-mindedness–couldn’t be more exposed than through Rivera’s diatribe. Despite the fact that Israel’s enemies, since its reestablishment as a nation in 1948, have been blood-vowed to wipe the Jewish state from off the earth, Rivera and his ilk still spew with a straight face that Israel is the troublemaker.

The history is plain for anyone with a sound mind to understand. Gamel Abdul Nasser, the Egyptian tyrant, attacked Israel with a huge coalition of Arab states in 1956, and again in 1967. Anwar Sadat, Egypt’s leader, accompanied by another huge contingent of Arab states, assaulted Israel on Yom Kippur in 1973. The objective in all the wars initiated by the anti-Israel forces was to wipe the nation off the map. The Arab enemies of Israel still hold to the eradication of Israel as their focus of hatred. Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has at every opportunity declared that he wants to scour the Jewish State from the earth; he even wants to bring on Armageddon so the 12th Imam can emerge from the ashes to institute Allah’s glorious reign upon earth.

And the world’s diplomats and media call Israel the culprit! The devil’s dementia has gone viral, and Jesus Christ is the only cure.

This article was authored by Terry James, and reprinted through permission from www.raptureready.com.

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When I entered the college years, I bought my own PlayStation, which was later updated to the PS2. My roomies and I split the cable and internet bill. Despite my affinity for “screens,” the good Lord still found me worthy of the amazingly patient woman I now call My Beloved Wifey. She loved me so much that she allowed me to buy a PS3, a fancy iMac computer, and a 56″ Samsung DLP TV. I made it my “best practice” to not play games until she went to bed at night. TV was a joint venture for the two of us, though my Sundays (and Monday nights) were largely dedicated to watching NFL football. And the internet–well, if we spent Saturday mornings watching cartoons with the kids, chances were fantastic that I was sitting next to the family working on the laptop. In the fall of 2009, when I was deeply convicted to re-evaluate how I spend my free time…and “noticing” how I very literally waste time doing things that are a waste of precious minutes of life God has given me. I had–and still have, though I’m getting better–a very obsessive personality.
Turns out, I’m not alone.

Life Sucker #1: Video Games

The parental plea to “Go out and play!” apparently is a thing of the ages, according to a recent Nielsen Company study published in May 2009. The study reveals that the average household spends upwards of 17 hours per week gaming. Think of it. That’s 884 hours per year, almost 37 days! VIDEO GAMES!

Nielsen also reports that over half of all U.S. households (54%) claim to own a video game console or handheld system of some kind. If you’re thinking this is skewed due to archaic systems (how do I miss thee, Atari…) collecting dust in a box under a stairwell, you’d be wrong. The Nintendo Wii, Microsoft XBox, or Sony PS3 fill 41% of homes.

Life Sucker #2: Television

A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation (view the entire Kaiser study here) found that children between the ages of 8 and 18 watch 4 hours and 29 minutes of TV content daily. That over 31 hours a week. Or 68 days per year. If you’re curious, here’s the that 4 hours and 29 minutes is broken down:

1. Live TV 2:39
2. DVD’s 0:32
3. Time-shifted TV (TiVo/DVR) 0:22
4. Online 0:24
5. iPod 0:16
6. Cell phone 0:15

The average U.S. household has more TV’s than people—so we can all watch our favorite shows…alone. In fact, the same study cites that 7 out of 10 children in the same 8-18 age bracket have a TV in their bedroom.

Life Sucker #3: The Internet

According to the same Kaiser study, internet use among 8-18 year olds is up over 50% in the past five years to 1 hour and 29 minutes per day. In fact, 3 out of 10 kids have internet access in their bedrooms. Outside the 8-18 demographic, in June 2009 Facebook bragged about it’s 200 million active users averaging over 4 and a half hours a day of use…you got it, one billion hours. In October 2009, this article from CNET quotes Facebook executive Mike Schroepfer saying that eight billion minutes are spent on their site daily.

It’s an online world–many of you spend a good chunk of your workday online, your shopping time online, manage your finances online, your social life online…shoot, we’re just getting started with the convergence of television and the internet.

Satan is hard at work making humanity lazy…

So if you’re an average American, you spend upwards of 13 hours a day in front of a screen. The average person is awake 16 hours a day. Let that sink in. This blogger, you’ll remember, is one fascinated by the Book of Revelation–and the overarching theme of that Book focusing on Satan pulling out all the stops to make his final charge before he gets tossed into the bottomless pit upon Christ’s return. Wouldn’t you agree he’s pulling out all the stops in this day and age? Look around. There’s never been greater signs of apathy. Jesus told His disciples that apathy would also be the calling card of His return. In the Book of Mathew, the Lord repeated himself several times in the space of a few verses. He obviously was trying to make a point of how slothfulness will relate to the last days:

Matthew 24:44 “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Matthew 25:13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

Could there be any more distractions from keeping vigil for the Lord’s return than what we’re discussing here? Could be there be forces battling daily to distract us from the tasks that God called us to do in faithfully serving him each and every day, from loving one another by nurturing and deepening our relationships with each other, from ministering to each other and helping those around us to strengthen their walk with Jesus, from serving Him in the Church?

If you’ve seen the Pixar move “Wall-E,” you’ll remember the depiction of the last remnants of humanity as models of gluttony, laziness, indifference, and apathy. If you’re like me, you saw the irony in the familiarity of the eyes-glazed-over look the characters in the movie carried for much of the early part of the film. Here is a 4 minute snippit of “Wall-E” a YouTube user named “johnpasma” uploaded with this in mind. It’s an image meant to be comical, but in my opinion, not too far off base:

Being personally convicted about how you spend your “free time”…

So, to be clear, I’m not anti TV-watching/’Net-surfing/videogame-playing/screen-using. But I do believe that we need to carefully monitor our usage of “screens,” and pray that God convict us if there are other places our time and resources should be focused as a Christian (i.e., spending face-time with those we love [spouse, children, friends, etc.], studying God’s Word, participating/leading a small group at church, etc.). Take a personal “screen-time survey” and solicit candid feedback from a loved one about ways that you could better use your time. If you have children, do they fit the 8-18 Kaiser study results? Are you OK with that? The study (here’s the link one more time) also indicates that parental involvement is THEE key factor in reducing screen-time.

As I’ve shared before in this blog–and I’m a self-professed “recovering” screenaholic–I was convicted about the amount of time that, specifically, I spent playing video games (most nights from 9:30pm-12:30am, 7 days a week). While it takes spending time in front of a screen to create and build this blog, I feel led to do this–as a “diary” of sorts for my own spiritual growth.

The Kaiser Family Foundation Study…

If you’d like more on the Kaiser research, here’s the video they created to go along with the research (and the aforementioned PDF slideshow). It’s titled “Profiles of Generation M2,” it’s a 5 minute vid…check it out.

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