I admit it: I have a weakness for this song.

Matthew 10:22 – And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 – I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Sometimes we Christians, especially in the west, get caught up into the modern worldly mindset. We have to rush, rush, rush. There are tasks at hand, problems to be solved, lands to be conquered and it needs to be done NOW. And yes, it needs results that are measurable to the human eye, and in a big way. The idea of planting a seed and letting it grow and produce one tree that will bear fruit (a process that takes 20 years) whose seeds will produce 100 more trees (a process that takes 20 more years) is lost on people. Yet, that is often the way that God chooses to work.

Case in point: a young missionary couple assigned to evangelize the Maasai people of Kenya in the 1920s. The cultural barriers were huge and the progress was very slow. Just when it appeared that this couple was on the verge of making a breakthrough, two things happened. First, the missionary couple made the mistake of opposing a local practice that is abhorrent to westerners but is not forbidden in the Bible and was very important to the local rulers who held almost total influence over the tribe, which gave the rulers the excuse that they needed to reject the missionaries and continue in their prior religion. Even worse, the colonial government forcibly relocated the Maasai off their land, and the Maasai considered the missionaries – and their new religion – to be part of the same evil forces that was bringing misfortune on them. So, after decades of hard work with this tribe, the missionaries wound up with few converts. Other missionaries had warned this couple that the Maasai were a lost cause, that others had come before them and had similarly poor results and not to even try, and it appeared that their warnings were true. Right? Wrong.

It so happened that even as the vast majority of the Maasai rejected the missionaries, a young boy who was allowed to learn English from the missionaries’ wife (the Maasai greatly valued the importance of education) believed the gospel of Jesus Christ and ultimately left to receive a university education. He returned to the tribe and was given the responsibility of advocating that the tribe’s children receive the educational opportunities that the tribal leaders so valued, and thereby earned the trust and favor of the tribal leaders that for decades had worked against the evangelization of their tribe. This fellow’s trust and favor with the tribal leaders increased still more when A. he became a lower tribal leader himself and B. his successful response and handling of a famine saved many of his people from starving to death (an incident that somewhat reminds one of Joseph in Egypt).

These events allowed the very same young boy, John Mpaayei,  who believed the gospel of Jesus Christ that was preached to him by the wife of a missionary couple whose efforts were regarded to be failures to lead a very successful evangelism effort among his tribe which resulted in Christian churches and schools being founded in many tribal villages and the conversion of many of the very influential village elders, and this Mpaayei himself becoming a prominent pastor. So clearly the efforts of the missionaries John and Florence Stauffacher did not fail, even if they did not themselves live to see most of the growth in Christianity among the Maasai (as John died in 1944 and his wife in 1959).

Examples like these are many. Yet we so often reject them and along with it everything the Bible says about perseverance, patience, long-suffering, wisdom, knowledge,  self-control and the faith that ties it all together (and please note that several of those are fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit of Christ) in order to justify our own senses of urgency and our own needs to see our labors verified with big, impressive looking and easily verifiable results. And yes, we contrive or use doctrines and methods to justify this un-Biblical thinking. Consider, for instance, the premillennial dispensational rapture associated doctrines that world evangelism must be done NOW because the return of Jesus Christ was IMMINENT and thus the rapture could happen at any time. Or the original goal of William Seymour, founder of the Azusa Street revival that created the modern Pentecostal movement, which was to use tongues to unify the church NOW to fulfill the Great Commission NOW so that the return of Jesus Christ would happen DURING WILLIAM SEYMOUR’S LIFETIME.

It also explains the continual “crisis mode” urgency of so many Christians, on the religious right and left. Roe v.  Wade must be overturned NOW and the homosexual agenda must be defeated NOW or God will smite our nation with diseases, floods, hurricanes, wars and economic collapse! The fact that it took 300 years for Christianity to defeat the Roman Empire? And what of the over 1000 years for various Protestant movements to overcome the darkness of Catholicism? While Catholics would certainly desire to have you believe that the whole thing started with Luther nailing his theses on the door, which makes the Reformation much easier to discredit, the truth is that Luther was only a part of a long line of Bible-believing dissenters, a fact which Luther himself freely and gladly stated. Yet plenty of others had attempted the same only to have their efforts frustrated, hindered and even crushed by the Catholic church-states. So where were their “measurable results” that every church-growth expert insists must occur in order for a ministry to justify and demonstrate that it is Godly and led by God-appointed leaders that are “doing things right?”

So many of us have conformed our ways of thinking to that of government leaders who must show speedy results or be toppled, or corporations who must do the same or go bankrupt. And it goes faster and faster. In times past, a king or emperor would likely be given a lifetime, or perhaps three lifetimes through his successors, before the people would become agitated enough to overthrow his ruling dynasty. But now, thanks to democracy, a president or prime minister only gets 4 years before he is thrown out of office! And in the time before full bore modern technology-driven capitalism, a company could take years, even decades, before its products or strategies came to fruition, i.e. before a new line of merchandise or a new group of retail stores were expected to become profitable. Now, two or three bad quarterly earnings reports sends stock prices tumbling and causes people to get fired and new projects that could preserve and create jobs and wealth in the future to be canceled. So, not only are so many Christians abandoning a Biblical model that demands patience and faith for an earthly model that is temporal, but even the earthly model is becoming more  time-driven, results-oriented, and instant gratification-centered.

The truth is that this model is not only earthly, but it is also SATANIC. Revelation 12:12 – Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. So obviously the devil is in a hurry to put his plans into place and see them take effect because he is a defeated foe and knows it. He knows that he only has a short time, so he is under pressure to pack as much evil works into that short time as he can.

Christians, meanwhile, are not under any pressure at all. We have not been defeated. We are also not locked into some precarious pitched battle of good versus evil where at every step the outcome is at stake, and time is of the essence if God is to prevail. While virtually all Christians give mental assent to the former fact, that we have not been defeated, we still carry on as if the latter fact – that the outcome is still in doubt and our own crafty speedy efforts are needed to save the day – is the situation. We act this way because – especially in the west – we perceive that this is the way that the world works. However, the world does not work the same way as does God’s kingdom, which is eternal. Also, even the way that we perceive the world to work is wrong, because God is the ruler of the earth. God controls history, and things happen according to His divine providence and plan. So even in our human affairs, we are not to take the worldly view, which is Satanic and a deception, but take the Godly view, which is the eternal one.

So Christians are not defeated, but victorious in Jesus Christ. Our time is not short, but instead time – indeed eternity – is on our side. So what is the hurry? What is the stress? Why the impatience? Why the expectations based on human standards? Why the need to evaluate ourselves and produce results based on human standards? If the victory is already won, why do we not act as victors confident in that fact, instead of sailors in the midst of a war scurrying and scrambling to patch the holes in the flagship that came as the result of enemy cannon and torpedo fire, knowing that if the flagship continues to take on water and sink that all is lost?

Why do we act as if we are defeated, or as if the fate is unknown and has not yet been secured, which means that defeat is still a possible outcome? Why do we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ if we are going to have Satan’s mindset and use Satan’s methods? Even if we use artful systematic theological systems to “Christianize” it and come up with elegant, right-sounding doctrines, the mindset and methods are still SATANIC. So instead of doing things the worldly way to achieve results that appear right in our own eyes, why not take the time, be patient and do things God’s way?

For instance, say that you have been called to be a a pastor or bishop. If that is your calling, then it is your calling. It is immutable, unchanging and will not fail. So if it takes you until the age of 70 to actually meet the requirements of a pastor, to actually become above reproach, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, a good teacher, gentle, nonviolent, not a lover of money or wine, non-argumentative, holy, disciplined, not a recent convert, and thought of well by the church and outsiders and from that point are able to give “only” 15 years of pastoral service before God calls you home at the age of 85, what’s the problem? If you are on God’s time and not man’s time, is not 15 years of Godly, effectual service far better than 50 years of chaotic, inconsistent, flesh-driven service that is marked by scandal? And even if you received your call at the age of 15, what better do you have to spend your time doing for the next 45 years of your life than waiting until you can actually attain 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 until you step into a pulpit? After all, a common term for pastor in the New Testament is “elder”, or in a more common vernacular “male of old or advanced age that is respected for wisdom and character”, so it can be presumed that most men are going to need decades to qualify for the office of pastor. Yet we are taking 21 year old Bible college and seminary graduates and putting them out into the field, something that is not even accepted even in certain secular professions like medicine, architecture or university professor.

It is only in the eyes of man that waiting 45 years in order to be God’s best for 15 years is inferior and despised in favor of stepping forward now and being your best for 45 years only to retire at age 70. The former is an Abel offering of faith. The latter is a Cain offering of the flesh.  We know from the Bible that the world loves the Cain offering and hates and persecutes the Abel offering, but God only has respect for the Abel offering and rejects the Cain offering.

Yet so much of contemporary Christianity asserts the Cain offering as to be the right one. Like the Pharisees condemned by Jesus Christ in John 8:15, they are content to evaluate and manage things according to the flesh, or by human standards. Not because they are wicked, evil or have wrong intentions, but rather because it is simply more natural to do so. It is, for lack of a better word, easier. It is precisely because of our zeal to be righteous and to perform good works that the natural path seems to be the best, because the natural path seems less risky, more sure, more proven. Doing God’s work is so important to us that we really want to succeed, get it right, avoid mistakes, avoid failure, avoid results that challenge the faith of ourselves and those who follow us as we follow Christ that taking the action that appears to be the best way TO US seems to be the right thing, so we convince ourselves that it is the right thing.

But it is not about us. It is about God. When we lose sight of that, we become as Moses who in his frustration sought results by striking the rock – his way – rather than speaking to it – God’s way. (And this was after Moses had earlier killed an Egyptian, thinking that he could lead the Israelites by his own power.) And Moses was a righteous man! Or we become as David, who out of his concern for defending Israel, ordered a census to evaluate his military might in order to compare it to Israel’s enemies. It was a logical, sensible human action. But it was not God’s way. And David was a righteous man! Or we become as Peter, who in an attempt to preserve his standing among the Jewish Christians withdrew from table fellowship with Gentile Christians. Now Peter was the generally acknowledged leader of the Jewish arm of the Christian church, and his actions may have been the logical, sensible one of a man trying to avoid dissension, resist challenges to his authority, keep the fragile Jewish church from splintering into factions, and do what was necessary to continue to be able to evangelize other Jews. (Keep in mind: these were not minor issues, as Paul circumcised Timothy, took a Nazirite vow, and raised an offering for the Jewish Christians from the Gentile Christians, and went to the temple for precisely these considerations!) So, Peter was engaging in good church politics according to good HUMAN sense. And Peter was a righteous man!

In life’s circumstances, we cannot rely on our understanding. We must rely on God, and that means submitting to the fact that God is sovereign who controls history. Things are not going to happen the way that we want them to at the time that we believe that they should for our own comprehension, but rather according to God’s design at God’s time and to God’s glory. So if the key to obedience and true faithful maturity is patience, then patient we must be. God equips us with the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit required to endure until the end and to serve God His way and at His time, so why don’t we use them? Why do we listen to doctrines or follow practices that tell us otherwise?

Of course, there are times when the Bible tells us to move with haste, especially in areas that deal with heeding the gospel of Jesus Christ and repenting of sin. But the general principle remains that we are to do things on God’s time and not try to push things according to our own, because we move not by sight but rather by faith, which according to Hebrews 11:1 is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Therefore, by 2 Corinthians 4:13-18

We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So be steadfast, patient and faithful until our Lord Jesus Christ comes!

Homosexual activists and others who would promote and proliferate various forms of disorder and perversion throughout the world have tried to target and discredit Uganda ever since they proved on a national scale that it was possible to successfully fight the spread of AIDS, and it was done through a Christian woman in the Ugandan public health department who advocated abstinence. Now it seems that such people have their opening: Uganda’s considering a law that would criminalize homosexuality.

Now make no mistake, in general I oppose efforts to legislate morality. The purpose of human institutions i.e. cultures and governments are to restrain evil, and because humans are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26) and are recipients of His common grace and used to achieve His purposes (Romans 13:1-8). However, because human institutions also reflect man’s fallen nature, they are incapable of achieving or imposing God’s righteousness and are not participants in or beneficiaries of special – that is saving – grace. Human institutions cannot and will not ever redeem cultures or nations. Instead, God will redeem His holy and elect nation, His church. Whenever a government passes the boundary of restraining evil, it becomes evil itself.

Now of course, the definition of government action which restrains evil varies with times and places because of the  state of the culture. What restrains evil in some cultural contexts creates confusion and chaos in others. (This is a principle that was quickly discovered by Christian evangelists on the mission field who at times caused real problems by attempting to change offensive local practices before the minds and hearts were ready for such changes.) That is one reason why we need wise, honest and prudent rulers, governors and administrators.

So, a law against homosexual behavior in America would be utterly ridiculous in a nation whose culture has been defined by 40 years of the sexual revolution – and also humanistic Enlightenment ideas for centuries before that – and now has large numbers of homosexuals in positions of authority in government, academia, media, culture (and increasingly clergy!) and where large portions of the population of major cities have given themselves over to this abomination, either by participating in it or having pleasure in those who do (Romans 1:32). But, a law against homosexuality in a culture where the homosexual population, culture and influence is small and more importantly the prevailing cultural mindset does not embrace the idea that living to please oneself is the goal and duty of man’s existence (and yes, American culture has long exalted the individualistic ideal of pleasing oneself) may be practical and effective in restraining evil in that culture.

This is important because in order to restrain evil, a law must be practical and effective. If a law is impractical or ineffective, it increases evil by making a mockery of the law itself and the rulers and servants who administer it. That is precisely an issue in America, which is plunging into disorder in no small part because of a labyrinth of laws that can never be enforced, causing the populace to view our government and leaders as weak and ineffective. A law against homosexual behavior would only cause more people to despise and defy the government, making the ability of the government to restrain evil in other ways (i.e. enforce laws against murder and theft) that much more difficult.

But would such a law be practical, effective and necessary (another vital component, as laws must also be needed and not capricious vanities) in restraining evil in Uganda? To this only Ugandans know the answer. But if a law against homosexually is necessary, practical and effective in Uganda and thereby restrains evil, what basis does a Christian  have for speaking against it? In Biblical terms, we have no reason.

Instead, the ability of such a law to restrain evil and the need for such a law is a matter for the Ugandan rulers to decide. Claiming otherwise is bad policy in the secular arena and bad theology in the Christian one. Yet many western Christian pastors and religious leaders are falling over themselves to criticize and denounce Uganda and in the process humiliate, undermine and make appear less effective government, rulers and administrators in an area that badly needs it (and yes, the failure of so many civil governments in Africa and the disastrous consequences of these failures is a major argument for one world government!) without stopping to consider that by acting against a government that appears to be effective at restraining evil that they are violating Romans 13:1-8. Why? In order not to offend mainstream sensibilities. In order to curry and maintain favor with those in power. In short, to be relevant.

Further, it is hypocritical for American pastors. What is the difference between a law against homosexuality and a law against polygamy? Please realize that where the Bible calls homosexuality a sin in both the Old and New Testament, it nowhere does so for polygamy. What about our laws regulating or criminalizing the use of some drugs (particularly allowing the ones that cause the most damage – alcohol and tobacco – to be legal while forbidding others)? What about our laws against gambling? Claims that either are based on the Bible is absurd. There are lots of things that are declared illegal by our laws but aren’t explicitly declared to be sins in the Bible.

And what of things that are illegal in America ONLY because they are declared to be sinful in the Bible? Best example: prostitution. Make a case that prostitution should be illegal without resorting to what the Bible says about fornication and adultery. You can’t. Plus the fact that pornography is legal makes laws against prostitution ridiculous. There are other areas also. Why, for instance, do statutory rape laws – a matter completely different from child molestation mind you – exist? And what about age-consent laws for marriage?

So, now we have the bizarre state of affairs where evangelical pastors in the west are speaking out against anti-homosexuality measures in Uganda while remaining silent concerning THOROUGHLY INEFFECTIVE measures against gambling, marijuana and polygamy (the state can only prosecute a person for legally marrying multiple spouses but can’t do a thing to prevent it socially or culturally, and yes religious groups can and do perform marriages to polygamists) in their own countries, and moreover lack the theological consistency to recognize that an anti-homosexuality law is no different from a law against prostitution or statutory rape in their own countries.

So, their stand is not based on the Bible, for if it were such pastors would – in order to be consistent – oppose our own laws against prostitution as well. But as the evangelical pastor who favors decriminalizing prostitution would soon find himself without a congregation – and the influence that comes from being a pastor of one – on this issue they remain silent. That exposes the danger of playing politics and attempting to mix being a religious leader and a secular one. It is, quite simply, impossible to be effective in both religious and secular leadership spheres because in the former you are leading (mostly) born again people and in the latter you are influencing (mostly) unsaved ones, and you are bound by the duties of your leadership to respond to the needs and desires of both. It is inevitable for the leadership spheres to be in conflict, and you must wind up choosing one over the other. As Jesus Christ said, you cannot serve both God and mammon, for you will either love one or hate the other.

This is not an argument against Christians being in government service or even against pastors’ having secular jobs. Instead, it is a statement that Christian pastors, when acting and speaking from the role of pastor with the authority of pastor, should rule wisely with wisdom, caution, prudence and consistency. Speaking out against Uganda’s anti-homosexuality laws because retaining your place of popularity and leadership in mainstream society requires that you do so falls short of this principle, especially if by doing so you ignore similar problems with our own government and laws. Pastors, concentrate on effectively serving your own churches first, and let God take care of the rest.

Teach your children the truth, not the lie!After reading this Christian parents, you have absolutely no excuse for lying to your children about the lie, which is an evil combination of pagan mythology and American capitalism (i.e. Coca-Cola and department stores) plus the obvious fact that this world much prefers to talk about Santa Claus and other works-based pagan “the spirit of giving” nonsense than about Jesus Christ. Well, the REAL Nicholas was a man who began preaching about Jesus Christ at a young age and suffered mightily for the gospel. Now even this recounting is not totally free of pagan Catholic myth (though not some of the worst pagan nonsense that was developed around this preacher is in here) but the truth of a man who lived and suffered for the gospel of Jesus Christ is still here. Folks, “Santa Claus” is the main reason why Christmas is much more significant in the west than is Easter, a holiday which is much harder to separate from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lots of people think St. Nicholas is just another name for Santa Claus.

After all, Santa also is called “Father Christmas” and “Kris Kringle” and other names. Actually, “Santa Claus” is itself a mispronunciation of the Dutch name “SinterKlass,” which was their way of saying St. Nicholas.

But behind all the names is a boy who actually lived in what was then Lycia in the fourth century A.D., about 1,700 years ago. His name was Nicholas. There are many legends about this boy and the man he became, and behind those legends is the story of St. Nicholas.

When Nicholas was a little boy, a plague struck Patara, the town where he lived. Both his parents got sick and died, so Nicholas went to live with his uncle who was a monk in a monastery. His uncle, the abbot, taught him all about God and Jesus from the Bible. Nicholas wanted to become a monk when he grew up.

Nicholas’ parents were wealthy when they died and monks are supposed to be poor. So Nicholas resolved to give away all his money to help those who were needy, especially other children in trouble. He determined to be sneaky, so they would not know from where the money came. For example, a man was selling rugs to pay his debts. His wife and children had no food. Nicholas bought some Turkish rugs from the man, paying him much more than they were worth. Then, making an excuse, he gave the rugs back to the man’s wife.

The most famous story about his generosity involves three girls who could not get married because their father had lost all of his money and could not pay their dowry. The only option for these girls was slavery or, worse, prostitution. Nicholas heard about that and came up with a plan.

When the first daughter was ready to marry, he tossed a stocking full of gold coins through her bedroom window late at night. Using that as her dowry, she was able to marry. Soon after that, Nicholas tossed a sock full of money through the second daughter’s window. She, too, married.

But when Nicholas crept up to the house with a third sock full of money for the youngest daughter, he found all of the windows shut. So he climbed up on the roof of the house and dropped it down the chimney.

It landed in a stocking that had been hung on the fireplace to dry, giving us the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings.

After helping many people, Nicholas started having a strange dream. Not just once but several times — and always the same. In his dream, Jesus gave him a book of Gospels covered with jewels, and the robes of a priest.

When Nicholas told his uncle about the dream, his uncle told him that Jesus must want him to become a priest. Soon he did just that, even though he was still in his teens. As a priest, Nicholas was zealous to tell people about Jesus, and always looking for ways to help people in need or children in trouble. People talked about the kind “boy priest.”

Nicholas lived in a time when the Roman Emperor forcefully ruled much of the world. Nicholas went on a trip to see the Holy Lands. He sailed on a ship to Egypt, famous for its monumental temples and the library and lighthouse at Alexandria. But Egypt was in ruins; the Romans had persecuted and killed many people. Many others were left hungry and poor.

Nicholas also traveled to Palestine to see the places where Jesus had walked — but Jerusalem was also in ruins, the temple torn down and burned. That, too, had been done by the Romans. Nicholas visited with Christians and churches along the way, and encouraged them to help the poor and needy. While there, he had a dream that Jesus was placing a bishop’s crown on his head.

On his way home, the ship he was on got caught in a terrible storm. The ship was tossed and the rigging torn. Some of the sailors were lost at sea, others abandoned the ship and the three left were terribly afraid the ship might crash on the rocks, praying to God for mercy.

Nicholas came up on deck and joined them in their prayer. Just then, the storm stopped and the waters became calm. Very early the next morning, the little ship limped into the nearest port, a city called Myra-in Lycia, a long way from Nicholas’ home.

The three sailors told everyone how their ship had been saved when the young priest, Nicholas, had prayed with them.

“It was like a miracle!” they said.

Nicholas hurried off to a church for morning prayers, to give thanks.

The city of Myra had no bishop at that time. The previous one had died, and the remaining priests could not agree on who to elect as the new bishop. There were three priests at the church that morning, maybe more. They had been praying all night and each had had the same dream, that they were to make the first worshipper who came for morning prayers the new bishop.

Nicholas, a stranger in Myra, and still a youth (but a priest), was the first to arrive. How surprised he was when the priests told him he was to become the bishop. At first he hesitated, but they insisted, telling him of their dreams. Then he remembered his own dream.

So young Nicholas became the bishop of Myra.

Myra was an important city. As its bishop. St. Nicholas was known for his piety and zeal for Jesus and his holy church. When Nicholas taught the gospel, people said it was like receiving precious gems. He was equally concerned about the poor and needy, and helping children and others in trouble. He set a constant example, often helping people in secret ways. Many pagans were converted and baptized through his loving ministry.

But soon Nicholas was imprisoned.

The new Roman emperor, Diocletian, hated Christians and was determined to hunt them all down and kill them, or make them deny their faith. That was someone between 303 and 311 A.D. It was one of the greatest persecutions of the church; many Christians were cruelly tortured and murdered.

The three jailers guarding Nicholas tried and tried to convince him to deny his faith in Jesus. They tortured him. He was hungry and cold and wearing chains, but he taught them about Jesus and his church. He was kind to them, despite their insults. His hair and beard grew long and shaggy. In his suffering, he entrusted Jesus to protect him, and prayed for the other Christians to stand firm.

Eventually, things changed. A new emperor, Constantine, took the throne. He made Christianity the official religion of the empire. Nicholas and other imprisoned Christians were set free. Bishop Nicholas went back to his people in Myra, with his beard white and his face wrinkled.

His eyes sparkled when he talked about Jesus and the church, and he always had something for the poor and needy. He loved children and they loved him, too. Although he still was secretive about helping people, many knew about his kind deeds. But Nicholas could be firm, too — especially when false teachers would try to influence his churches.

In 325 A.D., 300 bishops gathered in the city of Nicaea to discuss the teachings of a man named Arius. He questioned Jesus’ divinity and his teaching had infected many — but not in Myra, thanks to Nicholas’ constant vigilance. Arius claimed that Jesus, as the son of God, was not eternal but created by the father as an instrument for the salvation of the world. Therefore, he was not God by nature, but a changeable creature.

Though Nicholas was not a major figure in the council, it is said that in the midst of the discussions, Nicholas actually slapped Arius for his false teaching. Because of that, some bishops wanted Nicholas removed as bishop — until Jesus and his mother appeared in their dreams and told them differently.

Nicholas died on Dec. 6, 345 or 352 A.D. Hundreds of churches have been named after him.

So this is the real St. Nicholas — an orphaned boy who became a priest and then a bishop. Who gave away all his wealth to the poor and especially to children in trouble. Who stood firm for his lord Jesus and his holy church in the midst of terrible persecution, and opposed false teachers as well.

A movie about the pastor of Myra has been made, but it has had trouble finding a distributor.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1058094/

http://www.christian.org.uk/news/boys-knifed-and-beaten-as-they-offer-christian-flyers

Back when I used to support the ministry of televangelist Bill Keller – before I stopped because of his being a Billy Grahamesque and apologist of Roman Catholics – an anecdote from a media account of his ministry caused me some concern. It appears that a fellow who was suffering from depression and other issues saw Keller’s TV show, called in to ask for prayer and counseling, and agreed to say the salvation prayer with one of Keller’s several volunteer phone counselors (which includes a number of Roman Catholic priests, just as Billy Graham had Roman Catholic clergy available at his revivals). This fellow reported that not long after securing his confession of faith, his conversation with Keller’s prayer counselor ended, and he never heard from them again. Although he reports that his life made a marked turn for the better after his phone counseling and saying the salvation prayer (his depression and feeling of hopelessness left, and he proposed to marry his live-in girlfriend, who accepted) he was not sure if he was saved, was unsure if he should be considered a Christian, and had no idea on how to proceed on any sort of faith journey or Christian walk, including reading his Bible.

I considered this to be a simple oversight of one of Keller’s counselors – as Keller does promise to to have his counselors get the address of everyone who calls his prayer line and send them materials – but it still left me wondering about just how many people who made confessions of faith due to Keller’s ministry and were then left to their own devices. Even in the case of people who do receive materials from Keller’s ministry, Keller does not have or represent a church, and I have difficulty imagining that he would be in a position to personally recommend one to many of the geographically far-flung people that he evangelizes.

I have similar concerns about some of the popular gospel tract ministries. They are effective at winning confessions of faith, but what about discipleship afterwards, i.e. placing people under the authority of a pastor, a shepherd who can lead and model them to Christian maturity? How many people converted by these gospel tract ministries do not receive guidance concerning the importance of doing so, or which church to join? Of course, for those that God uses such evangelists to convert, we can and must have faith that He will guide and take care of His sheep. However, those of us who do support and participate in some of the popular tract ministries such as those by Jack Chick, American Tract Society and Way of the Master/Living Waters can add a simple step: including a handbill or addition to every tract that you distribute that contains the name, address, and phone number of your local church. That way, anyone who reads your tract and believes the gospel will be able to contact your pastor or attend your church.

I would imagine that many churches, even those who still emphasize door to door and street evangelism, do not have such things handy. However, there is a quick, easy and cheap way to make your own that I myself took advantage of. A person can go to a place that makes business cards, post cards, stationary or similar and create their own tract additions (or their own tracts period) that contain contact information for their local church. (I would suggest not giving out  your pastor’s personal contact information unless you have his permission). Businesses providing such services are easy to find and use, and it is relatively cheap. I myself used Vista Print, an online firm that allows you to create such items using their pre-configured templates. I created 150 postcards (chosen because of they are bigger than business cards but still small enough to go inside or with most tracts) that contained the general contact information for my church on the front and a few verses related to evangelism (John 3:14-17, Romans 10:9, Philippians 2:9-11) on the back. Took about an hour, most of which was spent deciding to choose postcards over business cards and stationery, and picking out a template (though VistaPrint does have templates for church and religious purposes, I chose a basic one that was blank on the front and back that allowed me to add text and upload a picture).

Please DO NOT consider this an endorsement of Vista Print, whom I only chose because I had used them in the past and already had an account with them, so it was faster. There are many capable of providing this service, both online and traditional, further it can be done yourself via desktop publishing (something that I know absolutely nothing about other than this free open source desktop publishing software Scribus, which I will use myself when I have the time to learn how to do so). Instead, this is just a suggestion to those Christians with gospel tract ministries that I hope will prove useful. My own first batch of “gospel tract postcards” will arrive in about a week, right in time for me to start handing them out to Christmas shoppers.

Desiring God’s Prison Ministry

http://gty.org

I would like to hear a scriptural response on this topic. It can also be expanded to include wives whose husbands are abusing their children. I wish for it to cover two areas.

1. Remaining with the abusive husband versus separation.

2. Permanent separation versus temporary conditional separation.

3. Separation versus seeking a legal divorce.

Of course, according to scripture a wife is free to divorce a husband who sexually abuses his children according to the specific explicit statement of Jesus Christ in Matthew 19:9 (“fornication” in the King James Version should instead be translated as “sexual immorality). I would also assert that a woman is free to divorce a husband who rapes her according to the same specific statement. However, I am unaware of a specific explicit statement on the matter of divorce in the case of physical violence. I would like for anyone who can make a sound Biblical case on the matter that divorce is acceptable for wives who are being physically abused to make it.

I also have the opinion that separation is a completely different matter from divorce, and that a husband or wife can separate if there is a compelling reason (i.e. not being done capriciously or as a manipulation tactic), and that abuse of any sort towards a spouse or child is obviously a compelling reason, as is (for example) addiction to drugs or alcohol.

This is a very difficult topic, so I would like to hear Biblical opinions on the issue. Thank you.

Consider this link and give a response please.

http://www.biblewheel.com/History/Daniel_70_Weeks.asp

What would your church do with $130,000,000.00?

Killing the Fuzzy Gospel – We’ve Got a Problem (Pt. 1)

Killing the Fuzzy Gospel – Moving Forward (Pt. 2)