From the Satirical Fathers - Excerpt 4

When the Son of Sam's Club shall come in his glory, and all the admen with him, then shall he sit at the head of the table, and before him shall be gathered all consumers: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 

Then shall the CEO say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my commerce, inherit the marketplace prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  For I was tired of bread, and ye gave me cake: I was bored with Coca-Cola, and ye gave me Evian. I was a shy person, and ye gave me self-esteem:  Naked, and ye gave me Gucci:  I was dissatisfied, and ye gave me meds: Imprisoned in boredom, and ye gave me XBox.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying: We're cool. When we saw we thee at  McDonald's we brought thee to an upscale restaurant; when we saw thee sucking on cruddy suds, we bought thee Eden's Healthy Holistic All Natural Nectar; when we saw thee unpopular we took thee in to Extreme Makeover. When we saw thee unfashionable, we clothed thee with Macy's. Or, when we saw thee bipolar, or in mental distress, we gave thee the best health insurance money can buy.

And the CEO shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto me, ye have done it unto yourself... and Merry Christmas.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting disadvantaged countries, prepared for the devil, the petroleum thief, and his non-consumers. For I was tired of the same old thing, and ye gave me no novelties: I was thirsty for more and more, and ye gave me nothing but common drink:  I was at your party, and ye did not make me the center of attention;  without the latest threads, and ye clothed me not in them: sick and tired and imprisoned in mediocrity, and ye entertained me not. 

Then shall they also answer him, saying: Dude, when saw we thee dissatisfied, bored, lacking constant attention, or not a fashion tree, or sometimes alone with your own thoughts?  and did not minister unto thee?  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to yourself, ye did it not to me.  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life American.  And... Merry Christmas.

Chris Simonson  12/30/2005

One thing before I close...

Ending a sermon can be a tricky thing. If the listeners lack a "feeling of grace" or they experience doubt concerning their salvation, they probably won't come back next week. On the other hand, if they don't feel somewhat exercised about moral issues or spiritual values of some sort, then they probably will stop coming eventually.

A handy technique for resolving both of these problems is having the body of the sermon sound like one thing, and then right at the very end, throw in a seemingly inarguable platitude that takes it all away.  Here's an actual example of a good ending, not only because it is short, but because it leaves everything the preacher has said without specific application: "One more thing before I close: When we think we are working for God, we have tunnel vision. The truth is, God is not about making good workers. He is about worshipers who work. God wants worshipers. Everything for God, not for self.?" Then he dismisses the congregation to do whatever they please.

The sermon could have been about preaching the gospel not by words alone, but letting one's light shine by some other indefinable but better method. We are led to believe that good works are a way of portraying grace in our lives, or something ambiguous in this direction. We are told that we cannot improve on God's works, however, and that God does not need us at all, in an attempt to keep people from being puffed up about their good works. 

The actual words used are much more buzz-phrased, in tune with Casual Chapel tradition. Now, you would think, what danger lies here? But in case you got the message that your way of life and your works were important to God regardless of what the preacher said, he can say as a warning at the end of the sermon that works play a far second fiddle to worship and that "God is not about making good workers". So what? This must mean we worship by dancing in the Spirit, or singing loudly, or playing in the rock band (worship team), or attending the preachers Sunday services, but doing good works is not worship? This is all confusing and is meant to be, so that people won't have that horrible feeling that they need to repent.

Wouldn't want someone to think we are legalistic around here. And by the way, make sure you come back next week because that is tradition and besides, without the church's Sunday services, you really have no bargaining cards with God. Without the trump card of church-going, God may demand you produce a real hand.

Chris Simonson  12/29/2005

Where the Money Goes

To whom should we give the money we have dedicated to God? Most religious authorities (those who paid money to get a credential and who make money off the credential) would answer: The church, and church programs. Naturally, they won't just come out and say it, but that's what they want. The scribes and the Pharisees had this problem also. Without going into all the altercations they had with Jesus, they were called "covetous" by Luke (16:14). So, why shouldn't their preaching tend towards making sure they got money?

I don't think we should give money to such. God doesn't condemn us if we do, however.  When Jesus saw the poor widow throw her mites into the temple treasury, he rather commended her for her selfless giving. I'm sure some of this money got into the hands of a scribe or a Pharisee.

Jesus talks about alms-giving. These alms appear to have been given to the poor and needy. He tells us to give alms of such things as we own, and all things will become clean to us. Luke 11:41. He is contrasting the Pharisees outward show of holiness with true holiness obtained through mercy and love as acts of faith. Jesus says to sell the things we own and give alms, thus putting treasure in heaven. Luke 12:33. This requires faith. The Pharisees then and their current counterparts mock this simple way of doing God's will. But God knows their hearts, that they are indeed covetous. That's why they insist the money be handled by them. Judas Iscariot, interestingly enough, handled the alms-bag. John 12:6. Jesus knows that where we put our treasure is where our hearts will go (not vice-versa). Luke 12:34.

This does not answer our original question: To whom should we give our alms? But, you say, "This is not the original question". I say, Does this not reveal where your heart is? If we give our money to some religious cause, or to some church building, or to some other thing that does not qualify as alms-giving, then why in the world are we wasting our time? By doing these things, we are laying up treasure on earth and that is where our heart is, right up until this moment. A pastor may try to convince you otherwise, but remember what's in it for him...

We should first of all think of what we are trying to do with our money. If we come to the realization that we are just as greedy and self-willed as the person who refuses to "tithe", then we are on the right track. We are just trying to justify ourselves by meeting a law. But if we repent of this attitude and begin to worry about the poor (I don't mean those on welfare), or others who are in need like our fellow believers tortured and imprisoned for the name of Christ, then we can begin to seek ways of getting our wealth into their hands. There are ways. 

The local church may try to take the money and do a $90,000,000 remodel, but no one is forcing you to go along with this con-artistry. Jesus said not to worry about what we will eat or what we will wear. Boy, if only he were alive in America today! He said, Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things the unbelievers covet will be added to us. If we obey Jesus' command to sell the things we have and give the money to the poor, I think we will do well.  Otherwise, the Law has it's claims on you, same as it did the scribes and the Pharisees.

Chris Simonson 12/28/2003

Romans 9 discusses this matter, as do many other places in the Bible. God wants his chosen ones to stop playing games with fate and quit challenging His methods. He wants them to settle on His grace, doing so by faith, grafted into the living vine. And, He is going to get HIS way, thanks be to Jesus our Lord and Savior, who is the only Way.

Chris Simonson  12/27/2005

The Two-Headed Snake of Christmas 

The first head of the above mentioned snake is what is common every Christmas: people buy to get. It is a strange, ungodly guilt that drives us to give gifts merely because it is Christmas; to not do so would bring strife and displeasure among family and friends. If such guilt was not bad enough, the commercial world takes full and utter advantage of this, spending billions of dollars to convince us to buy cheap goods rolled out by Chinese sweatshops.  

Under the name of Christmas, X-Mas, Holidays, Santa Claus, or even the Grinch, they flagrantly sell their products with no fear of God in their hearts. We, as Americans, flamboyantly buy the lie, so that we can justify ourselves with hedonistic venom disguised as “giving”.   

The second head is much like the first, but is deeply shrouded in a veil of religion; it spouts statements like “Jesus is the reason for the season”, and “Don’t say happy holidays to me, but Merry Christmas!” There is no attempt to know Christ as Lord, but instead strives to hide the venomous fangs with eye-pleasing religious garb. It, too, justifies men and women in their pleasures, trying to keep the Gospel of Christ hidden in a manger, while the lost are ten times more hell-bound. 

So, in this season, may we remember Christ in a country that has made profit off Him. As we see and meet our families and friends, may we present the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Word with no fear of reprisal nor fear of rejection… for, the world hates Christ, delights in covetousness and loves false religion.  

Steven Styles  12/23/2005 - 12/26/2005

The Christian organization I am part of, has a mandatory “Morning Refreshing”. Morning Refreshing is a sort of devotional time that we all have together. This can mean Bible reading, teaching, announcements, or listening to a narrow selection of someone’s favorite “praise” music via the monophonic speakers on our 36” television set in the mess hall. This is very dependant on who is orchestrating the event.

Well, today we were played your average Christian carols through the TV set and banners were hanging from the ceiling for a nice little sing-a-long. Songs like “our savior is lying in a manger” instead of “was lying in a manger and now at the right hand of the Father on high”; or “today a child is born” instead of “He was born, died, buried, resurrected.” You could call this contentious, others would call it the essentials of the Christian faith.

So there I am, trying to sing a song harmony in which I don’t even agree with half of the words/statements, and trying to change tempo with the new-and-improved hip-hop version; when, just before the last song, a girl steps forward (this was pre-planned) and tells everybody to get in a circle. Then she proceeds to instruct us so “David said he will be even more undignified than this when he is praising the Lord.” (See 2 Samuel 6) Also “So everybody give this next song everything you got”.

So the group is singing a little louder, perhaps, on this song, hips are swaying a little more, I can feel the person next to me bumping into me on rhythm, and then the song just goes into an endless mantra of “Jesus— Jesus— Jesus— Jesus —…” Ok, about then, the girl, obviously displeased with the lack of response, started running back and forth engaging in a do-ce-do type dance with unexpecting men.

I thought of the most lowly esteemed thing I could do, which was to strip to my undies and dance about, so to speak, actually vandalizing the mess hall. However, my dignity got a hold on me and I thought, perhaps the rest of the group wouldn’t appreciate that…

Judge for yourselves:

“For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, " YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." Galatians 5:14

“He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, It will be reckoned a curse to him.” Proverbs 27:14

“but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.” 1 Peter 3:4

Matt Simonson  12/22/2005

Chris Simonson  12/21/2005

I had a man of God talk with me today, after I had attended a church across the street. His name is Terry.

He told us of a recurring dream he  had the other night in the which, there were figures, dark figures clambering to escape a pit. The pit he said was blackness down below, a frightening blackness of eternal gloom.

As he related the dream to us, I couldn't help but imagine the ant lion's trap. A pit of sand set up for an unaware ant to fall into, and the more it tries to escape the  more the pit falls in, pulling the victim towards the mouth of the hole to be devoured by the ant lion.

Satan is much like a lion, roaming around for an unsuspecting soul, seeking to devour them. The dark, shadowing figures, represented, to me, souls; for although a person is not physically nor readily seen in a pit, their soul is. There was no help that came to these souls.

After awaking in the morning and contemplating this dream or vision, I realized that even as Terry had been telling it to me, that we, as the hands and feet of Christ, need to go to these dying souls with the Gospel and thus rescue them with a hand.

Matt Simonson  12/20/2005

I Have Sinned

It is no good to get to the point where we have remorse, even to the point of saying, "I have sinned", without repentance. A case in point: "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." Matthew 27:3-5.

That's not good. When Judas "repented himself," this is not true repentance, but many who have these same feelings join Judas in this false repentance. There are churches and religious functions based on this sort of betrayal of the true religion (witness the Roman Catholic Church, for instance).

There are other spots in the Bible that have the characters say, "I have sinned", and yet find no place of repentance. Pharoah says this to Moses (Exodus 9:27, 10:16). Balaam says this to the angel of the Lord (Numbers 22:34). Achan says this to Joshua (Joshua 7:20). Saul says this to Samuel (1 Samuel 15:24,30). Saul says this to David (1 Samuel 26:21).

However, we have David. When he said, "I have sinned", he said it from a true heart of repentance and found grace in the sight of God. I will leave it to the reader
to look up these stories in the Old Testament.

In this wicked generation of men who justify themselves before God and man, and yet have no justification at all except their own estimation of their goodness, we find no remorse and no statements of "I have sinned". If they ever come close to remorse, it is feeling sorry for themselves. But even Judas knew he had betrayed innocent blood. Where will these be found that have trampled under their feet the Son of God and counted the blood of the covenant by which they were cleansed an unholy thing?

Let us confess our sin before God and turn from it. Let us draw near to the Almighty, not with a righteousness of our own esteem, but the righteousness that comes by faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us, for surely, We have sinned.

Chris Simonson  12/19/2005

The Trap

God ensnares men in their own wisdom, their own words and their own inventions. We read about this in the Bible. We read plainly, "Because in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." 1 Corinthians 1:21. Stories and teachings abound in the Bible that show how fallen man tries to set his own traps, only to fall into the very plan of God he hopes to thwart. In America's Christian culture, the biggest snare for men becomes the Bible, for they twist the words to their own destruction. Here's what Luther said in expounding on Romans 11:9 (remember this is in Germany early 1500's):

...The "snare" is Scripture itself, specifically: in so far as it is understood and handed down in a deceitful manner; so that under a show of godly instruction, the souls of the deceived and unlearned are craftily ensnared...From one and the same table, or from one and the same Holy Scripture, one draws for himself death and the other life; the one honey and the other poison. This being so, nothing should be treated with so much reverence and altogether without arrogance as the Word of God. At the same time, it ensnares the proud and traps and offends them, though in a way they do not perceive: indeed, under a fascinatingly beautiful disguise. This is not the Word's fault, but that of pride, which arrogantly lifts its head against it. The 'stumbling block' consists in this: that those who are ensnared continually take offense. For, if they are ensnared it is through that which they understand wrongly. To that they cling and with it they are pleased. So, without realizing it, they permit themselves to be ensnared willingly. But they take offense when it is pointed out to them that it is the truth from which they turn away...

Chris Simonson  12/16/2005

From a Sermon Heard on September 29, 2002

The pastor went to Sedona, Arizona, for some reason. It is probably the reason everyone goes there: because it is a nice spot to vacation. It is also a mecca for witchcraft sold under the guise of spiritual oneness with the earth. But the pastor found he could enjoy his favorite things in Sedona as well as in California. Here's what he said:

"It doesn't matter what Calvary Chapel I go to: It's always the same. Every time I go to another Calvary Chapel, it is refreshing to hear the Word. The Word of God isn't taught in the church in America today. Calvarys don't have all the answers, but I'm sure glad they're out there. We go through verse by verse."

But he pretty much expresses the same sentiments of every other denomination, or they wouldn't be denominational, would they? And, when he says he goes through the Bible verse by verse, well, he teaches what he wants to teach whether or not he's in the middle of Romans 1 or 1 Corinthians 13. His doctrines are based on Calvary Chapel positions or he wouldn't feel so "at home" in Sedona, Arizona. Why didn't he go to another church just to see what's up with the churches in Sedona? Are they preaching against the false doctrines that are rampant among the new-agers? Or have they adapted their gospel to fit in with the society around them so they don't suffer any persecution?

I haven't heard of any persecution coming out of Sedona, Arizona. All I hear is that it is a spiritual spot for all sorts of natural religions, accompanied by feminists, homosexuals and UFO enthusiasts. I'm sure the church doesn't get involved with preaching against any of this, even though it is pretty much condemned in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians thirteen.

By the way, he was teaching from Galatians 3. He explained that the law is a cage, and that it causes us to look for the gate out of the cage, and Jesus is the gate out of that cage. Once we are out of the cage, we can explore righteousness. The bars of the cage are our own self-righteousness. With many more such words he mangled the explicit meaning and application of the passage. He used many allegories drawn from natural experience, but I refer you to Luther's comment on allegories I have posted in a past blog.

To his credit, the pastor did say "people going to church don't want to hear about sin. Tell us good things, they say. But talking about sin is a good thing." At this, to the audience's credit, I heard a few "Amens." I just wished he wouldn't take away the application of the message at the very end of his sermons.

Chris Simonson  11/15/2005

Confusion, Not Edification

Message 1. A pastor tells his congregation that they should not shun the brother or sister who is "struggling" with homosexuality. It is O.K. if he or she lapses into this sin occasionally, as long as it is being struggled against. We are to call this person a brother or a sister, and it is not different than our sins we commit (sins like frowning against homosexuals). So we NEED to accept such a person. We should be kind, tolerant, etc. This was said at a Calvary Chapel service on October 5, 1997.

Message 2. Around this same time, a psychologist (Minirth Meier Clinics) tells his listening audience that they are to set boundaries. He was specifically ministering to housewives and girlfriends who have pushy husbands/ boyfriends. We are to set boundaries and stick to them, he says. God doesn't want us to hurt. We are told to get people inside us, in our hearts.  Some gobbledygook about "needs-empathy-consequences". We are to set limits and state the consequences if someone oversteps those limits, and then follow through, girls.

This is the new way of life in Christ. I as the victim must begin to assert myself. When one person in the family (or relationship) changes (meaning she decides to start asserting herself) it forces the other person (husband/boyfriend) to change. "Cut off conversation, sex, whatever is important to him... This is the way of the cross".

Disregarding the heresy contained in these teachings, is it just me, or do I see a contradiction between the two messages? The church pastor tells us to accept the homosexual and the radio counselor tells us to reject our spouse (especially if he happens to be a husband).

The pastor would wholeheartedly agree with the psychologist that the men should respect the limits their wives have set, however, so there is no beef between the two teachings. That leaves the men, the males among them, rather at odds as how to proceed with their lives. Hopefully, they will respect the gospel and not listen to either one of these "experts." Hopefully, they will discharge their God-given duty to rule over their households, even though the pastor or the women's Bible study group tries to interfere.

When our church leaders or psychologists tell us we are to accept homosexuals without rebuke and let the professing Christian who does these things into our fellowship, we are not to obey them. James says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." We will be infected with their sin if we just smile and laugh it off. When our church leaders or psychologists tell us to set boundaries, especially when it involves the marriage, we had better know who is supposed to be in charge of the household. 

Sisters, when we are told that the way of the cross is setting limits, this is completely backward from what Jesus said when he said, "Resist not evil, but overcome evil with good." But the false church will always get two applications reversed, twisting the scriptures until they say the exact opposite of what they were intended to say.

Chris Simonson  12/14/2005

How to Back-Preach

One can back-pedal. Or fire up the back-burners on a jet. Both of these techniques are used to reverse thrust, whether on the Senate floor or on the runway. A similar method can be used in Sunday sermons. Let's call it back-preaching. 

We take a sermon and reverse it's direction right at the very end, thus rendering it completely useless. So the listeners think they have heard a downright hellfire and brimstone message warning somebody that they had better repent, and then right at the end, the preacher tells them that it isn't about them, but about those who don't worship God. This can be done in 30 seconds at the end of an hour-long sermon.

The overall effect of this sort of preaching is to get them to come back next week.  They want to feel as though they have been spiritually exercised. Maybe it is like absolution of their sins by listening to stirring and serious messages (littered with lots of levity for contrast). The messages have to have enough 'oomph' to get them a little concerned, like an amusement park ride, with the assurance that their leader will get them safely back to reality right at the very end of the sermon.

Chris Simonson  12/13/2005

I've heard it said by a man of God, and have ignorantly said similar statements myself, “The only difference between us and unbelievers is that we have received God’s forgiveness.” I believe this statement comes out of the mouth of a believer in an attempt to relate to the sinner.

“Aren’t we all sinners?” Someone may ask. Not according to the scriptures. Paul says that we have died to sin and we are now alive in Christ. John says that that which is born of God cannot sin. John also states that the children of the devil and the children of God can be seen by whether they work unrighteousness or righteousness.

We are also told in the scriptures to no longer be conformed to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed through the renewing of our minds. Are you a friend of the world? You are an enemy of God. If the only difference between you and the world is that you accept(ed) forgiveness from God, please re-examine your faith and see if what you believe and your lifestyle match what the scriptures say.

I would say, “There WAS no difference between us and the world, until we believed in Jesus Christ, receiving forgiveness of our sins, being transferred from the realm of darkness into the kingdom of light, walking in the light as he is in the light, we now have fellowship with one another through His Son.”

We are so different from each other (believers and non-believers) that we will be classified as different species —sheep and goats, wheat and tares. The goats and tares will be cast into outer darkness.

“Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.” Colossians 3:5-7

Only that which is born of God will enter His kingdom, if you wish to be born of God, you must receive His Son:

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” John 1:12-13

Matt Simonson  12/12/2005

When I had no thought for my soul,
when my mind was set on satisfying my flesh;
what matter of power was slicing my mind,
with misery and discomforts unrecognized?

T'was the blessed Spirit of God,
who manifests Himself in such painful conviction,
I cannot cease to rejoice.
And my spirit within me resolves to repent
and look and long to be obedient with all of my heart, to my God.

"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" Romans 2:4

Matt Simonson  12/08/2005

Nasty Little Secret

Unspoken among Christians and un-confessed to God is this dirty little fact: Most Christians are greedy for gain (see Ezekiel 16).  In America, we have our dreams fulfilled, much like the people who once populated Sodom. If they were alive today, their children would be 75% Christian, same as ours. 

They would tell them religious stories and teach them at least one time that greed isn't good, to effect a religious bearing, and then, they would do everything to get their children to go after the almighty buck, including making them go to the schools that give them the "tools" for this. 

They would attach the name of Christianity to much of this, cloaking their real intent, lust for money, under the guise of "he gives us abundant life". They would turn out as adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, thieves, dishonest, disobedient to parents, drunks, drug addicts, cowards, revilers, lovers of themselves...the list goes on from there...and yet maintain they are going to a place of purity and holiness called heaven.

The God in heaven looks down upon the children of men. His eyes are upon the sinful kingdom. His wrath is revealed from heaven in the word he has passed through his faithful servants. All sin is open and revealed to him and nothing is hidden from his sight.  Men, although they feel quite righteous about themselves, are found condemned under the just laws of God.

But God knows who are his. He draws them to himself as a loving Father. He gave his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for them, the Just One suffering for their sins in their place. He was condemned for them so that they might be made righteous before God. Their only entrance into God's mercy is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way. They must confess their sins and repent of this their covetousness. They are sealed. 

The seal is this: "God knows who are his, and, let everyone who names the Name of the Lord depart from iniquity."

Chris Simonson  12/07/2005

Why Fake It?

Why is it that many people fake a relationship with God?  Probably, it goes along with the rest of their fake actions. I believe that somewhere in the back of their minds the real God warns them of this type of righteousness. The Bible certainly does. In Jesus' time, the scribes and the Pharisees were the quintessential models of this type of behavior. While they appeared to be holy on the outside, Jesus knew they were full of iniquity on the inside, where it counts. This is what it means to be a hypocrite. 

Modern religion has come up with the term 'legalism' to brand those who warn of the coming wrath of God. This is like the Pharisees looking down their nose at Jesus' teaching. They somehow miss the point that their own hypocrisy is the culprit. So, they keep their traditions of going to church, paying the tithe, attending other church functions and doing other church deeds thinking this behavior makes them right with God (this is legalism), while condemning those who preach the everlasting gospel (you know, the ones who take them to task about their religion). Their own false judgment against the true preachers will judge them in that day when the God who planted his seed at the beginning of the world takes vengeance on the weeds that were planted by the enemy. 

These weeds are the fake ones, the ones who think that faking obedience to God is the same as obedience to God. If these are condemned to everlasting punishment where the hypocrites will weep and gnash their teeth in eternal darkness, I say: why fake it?

Chris Simonson  12/06/2005

How to End a Sermon

Sermons are supposed to have structure so that the person listening can get the overall message then apply it to his life.  Men and women spend years in college learning how to do this so they can make a living off the message when they get out. They are usually called "ministers" or "pastors" or even "reverend" but they know their homiletics, supposedly.

In contrast to this, the fisherman Peter had no formal education. His critics said he was unlearned and ignorant (Acts 4:13). That's probably why he wasn't able to correctly assemble a 45 minute sermon for three Sunday services. Today's Sunday sermons, on the other hand, flow like STP into the crankshafts of our minds, making the trip through the rest of the week smooth and silent. The application at the end of the sermon is phrased just so nicely, letting each person decide what was meant and how to apply it. This is called letting the Holy Spirit lead. The perfect ending just sort of lets everyone off the hook after having teased them a little with implied threats. One thing that is not left up to their own interpretation: Come back next week and bring money.

In contrast, a poorly-ended sermon can destroy the intent of the message. The Bible has an example of one such sermon, Acts chapter 7. It starts off beautifully. Stephen does a marvelous job of reiterating the story of Israel. His face even looked like an angel's. He does real good right up until the end, and then, his application kind of backfires on him. Instead of drawing his listeners to him, he drives them away from Christ. 

He should have told them to come back to the house of God next week and hear the next fifteen installments of the message. Instead, he says there is no house of God, and that his listeners are stiff-necked like their forefathers and murderers of the Just One of God. Not a clean ending at all. As a matter of fact, they stoned him to death.

One consolation though. Unlike his listeners, Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. What a way to die. What a way to end a sermon. But still, his homiletics!

Chris Simonson  12/05/2005

Judge Not

When we are told, "Do not judge", this does not mean, "Do not distinguish between good and evil." Some Greek scholar will grind away on words all day and still miss the command by misusing the spirit. But, the Spirit of God knows the difference between, "Do not judge (condemn)" and "Do not judge (discern, examine, decide)."

Jesus himself tells us to judge (John 7:24)  But most people can't tell the difference (judge) when to judge and when not to judge. We can look for Greek words, like kr'no, used in Matthew 7:1 (the famous "judge not"), but the same word is used in John 7:24 where we are told to use righteous judgment. So that doesn't get us very far.

We need to look at the context. For instance, in John, where Pilate is trying to get Jesus out of his hair, he tells the Jews to judge (kr'no) him according to their law. The same word is used in Acts 4:19, where Peter and John tell the 'Sanhedrin' to judge whether or not they should obey God or the Sanhedrin.

This is a tricky proposition. The so-called Sanhedrin are the rulers of the people and the elders of Israel according to the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:8). Why would Peter and John speak up against their decision, unless they had judged there is a difference between obeying the appearance of authority and God's authority? 

Look at John 7:24 again. We are told in Romans 13 to obey the authorities, for there is no authority but of God. Let's look at Acts 4:19 in KJV: "But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye."  In the NIV: "But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God."" 

The rulers and elders are told to judge, and that is their God-given position. The elders and rulers were always called judges in the Old Testament. But we know from Psalm 82 that they judged un-righteously. Jesus quotes from this passage in John 10:34. The Jews were having a real problem trying to judge whether Jesus had a demon, whether he was the Christ, etc. As gods, they judged Christ himself. As gods, they were going to kill the Son of God. This judgment is evil, and that is why men are going to hell, because they judge God and their fellow man and condemn themselves thereby (Romans 2).

This is why Jesus could say apparently confusing things like, "You judge after the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." John 8:15-16. "And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, hath one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John 12:47-48.

God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  Anyone believing in him is not judged, but anyone who does not believe is already judged, just because he has not believed in the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God.  The judgment is this: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the light because of their evil behavior. Those who do evil hate the light and will not come into the light for fear that their behavior will be exposed. That's why they do not want to be "judged" by anyone.

Chris Simonson  12/02/2005

Happy Aids Day! Today is a day to reflect on a few of Darwin's evolutionary theories. For instance: Aids/ HIV was discovered to have originated in chimps and passed to humans in central African rainforests; some reports indicate that this infection was may have been caused by humans having sexual relations with a sub-species of chimp, and also by eating the chimps.

If these reports are true, this is a classic example of men embracing the doctrine of Darwin through their animalistic behaviors and perversions. The fact is the majority of Aids spreading today is through sexual contact and other perverse behavior.

The UN, and the EU, for over 20 years have celebrated Aid's/HIV Day, which could be translated to "20-years-of-perversion-and-death Day"; the majority of the people whom are dying from AIDS/HIV are homosexuals, fornicators and adulterers.

The people of Swaziland, who's population has the highest concentration of Aid's victims in the world (Some 38% of Swazi adults are HIV positive, rising to 56% for women in their late twenties - source BBC News), have suffered from a lack of abstinence. However, there are a few whom reject the government issued condoms and are campaigning actively for Abstinence Programs.

AIDS is God's judgment upon wicked behavior; if you do not obey God's commandments from the Holy Bible, then there is nothing but judgment to look forward to. The simple and unsung fact is that Abstinence would have saved the majority of AIDS/HIV victims, and halted it's progression altogether. Some reading this may have AIDS/HIV as a result of sin, and your inevitable death is that much closer; however, it is not too late to repent of your sins before the Holy God and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord. No sin is greater than God's power, and where judgment abounds, God's grace abounds more for those whom repent.  

Steven   12/01/2005