MONSTER!!!!

Monster
Someone at work showed me something this evening that made me laugh.  Let me be clear that I intend no disrespect toward this person. They were showing it to me out of a genuine concern for it's potential negative effects.  

All of us have been caught up in the conspiratorial hype of some subject matter, myself included.  In this case it was prompted by a viral You Tube video that garnered around 8 million hits over the weekend.  This video is of a woman doing a presentation that suggested that the MONSTER drink and consequently the company at large, must be representing anti-Christ, if not flat out Satanic, imagery and wording that is a significant affront to Christ and the cross.  Even suggesting that each of the three detached lines in the M for Monster are actually the number six in Hebrew repeated three times.

If you Google this, you will discover that this particular theory is not new and is not limited to MONSTER as it's target.  You will also find that this is refuted as an inaccurate understanding of how the Hebrew alphabet works and how six hundred and sixty six would actually be represented.

Illuminati
The larger culprit is the Illuminati (basic meaning is "enlightened").  If  you really delve into all of this conspiracy, satanist, business you will find that much of it is tied to a supposed organization known as the Illuminati.  An organization whose purpose is to control and influence as much as it can get it's hands on from entertainment, to sports, to business, to government.  Aside from Monster,  business icons such as Google Chrome, Walt Disney, even Mitsubishi Motors, and figures such as the President, Beyonce Knowles, and Michael Jackson have been associated with this "sinister" organization.



  


These are but a small sampling of the obscene number of images and photographs that are out there in relation to the Illuminati, Satanic worship, and public figures.

Even the Olympics has been featured for their promotion of pagan concepts in their ceremonies. Imagine that.  A ceremony surrounding a great sports event that was inspired by a pagan culture, daring to use pagan symbolism.  Amazing.  

I must simply say that we should not be shocked when the world acts in the only way that they know to act.

However, I am not writing this to convince you whether you should believe any of the hype or not.

Conspiracy Theories
I have no doubt that conspiracy theories have been around for thousands of years.  In fact, the one that I am absolutely certain of occurred about two thousand years ago.  In that conspiracy, the Pharisees and others tried to come up with conspiracies for why the body of Jesus was missing from the tomb.  Of course we all know that one was a false conspiracy ;-)  

Conspiracy theories have been around for the bulk of the 20th century.  They really gained popularity in the 1960's when certain books were written and they were given much credence with events such as the assassination of JFK and Watergate.  Conspiracy theories are not dangerous in and of themselves.  Even the ones that are proven true are done so after the fact.  Who cares at all, if they are not true.  You may think, "How can you say that?"

Well you see, the problem with conspiracy theories is that they almost always draw attention away from the true source of any problem.  Monster, Disney, Google, Beyonce, Michael, and multitudinous American Presidents, I have heard it said, could all be in cahoots with the Illuminati.   So what?  They are just pawns in a much bigger game that rely's on much smaller problems.

Genuine Concern
It was said to me this evening when this Monster video was brought to my attention that the reason this person is concerned is that they believe our young people especially, but many people in general need to be aware of the evil influences that are out there and how they are infiltrating our society. This is a very common sentiment among many.

My concern was this.  Satan is using the painfully obvious, via the ridiculousness of these public figures, to distract us from our subtle intoxication with everyday sin.  In the process, he makes many a well-intentioned believers, such as this woman on the viral video, to look like a fool.  Consequently, this feeds the many unfortunate negative thought processes that are out there against Christianity.  To say nothing of doing battle with the evil one, with the wrong weapons, while not fully understanding our enemy(Ephesians 6:10-20).

Give Them Sound Teaching
Scripture does not call us to win souls and make disciples by pointing out all the supposed ways in which the world does what sinners are supposed to do.  In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus tells us to this by teaching them all that He has commanded and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word of God is living and active and sharp enough to cut as deep as is needed to turn a heart toward Jesus.

Though convicted of sin for some time, it was a simple passage from Isaiah  45:22, preached by a simple member of the congregation in which the simple message was "look to Jesus, that led to Charles Spurgeon's conversion.  He went on to become known as "The Prince of Preachers" in his day.

If anything, we should point out false teaching that is coming from within the "body".  We should warn of wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15,2 Peter 2:1, 2 Peter 3:17, Titus 1:10-11, Hebrews 13:9).  These are much more subtle and deceitful than signs and symbols from pagan religious rituals.

Again, we should not be shocked when sinners act like sinners.   The shock should come when professing believers act like sinners, saying they love Jesus but still in hot pursuit of the world. Showing very little signs of any true repentance or the desire for it.

Give Them The Gospel
If we are genuinely concerned about those around us, young or otherwise, then we must give them the gospel.  We must ensure that they are aware of the sinfulness of their sin and then point them to the gift of grace for repentance and obedience that is found only in Christ Jesus(Philippians 2:12-13).

We should help them understand that they must be born again(John 3).  We should help them understand that, no act of their own makes them righteous before God; rather it is the righteousness of Christ's perfect life of obedience, placed upon them when they believe that justifies them before a Holy God.(Isaiah 61:10, Zechariah 3:3-4)

They must understand that they are dead in their transgression and sins and in desperate need of a Savior who will give them new life.  And, that this new life, this new birth of conversion and belief will inevitably be followed by righteous works that God had planned for them from the beginning(Ephesians 2:1-10).

Spoil Satan's Plan
Satan's plan has always been one of deception.  Almost always subtly.  People who are wrapped up in all this other nonsense have been set up from the beginning.  Not only are they born with a sin nature, as we all are, but they have been numbed slowly with little sin upon little sin.  Desensitized until they have no sense of what is evil and what is not.

We all experienced this to some decree until, those of who are in Christ, had our eyes opened to the truth, by the Spirit, through the Word.  So let us not think of these others as enemies.  Let us remember the one true enemy and battle his attack, not only on the people we love, but on these that we are aware of, whom are so greatly deceived.

Let pray for God's grace to be poured out to change hearts and save souls in whatever dark reality so many are living in.  Sin is a reality for us all and we are all in need of His enabling grace in order to live lives that are worthy of the gospel.

Let us pray for the salvation of all who will believe.  Let us work hard to accomplish the purpose for which Christ came.  For as Jesus stated it in Matthew 24:14, "And the Good News will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations(people groups).  Then the end will come."

May we be used mightily, that it may be so in Jesus name!

In Christ,

Josh

20 YRS AND COUNTING

By the time people receive this post by email it will be November 8th, a historic day...at least for my little clan.  November 8th will be the 20 year anniversary of the night that my wife and I began dating.  I was 18 and she was 21.  I was a freshman in college and she was a junior.  This is gonna be just as candid as most of my stuff, but probably a little sillier and sappier than usual.  So here goes. 

We got to know one another a little bit at a time over the first couple of months at school as we sang together in every choir that Greensboro College had to offer.  I was a music major, she was a psychology major.  But she loved music.  My wife is talented in ways most people don't know about. She's a singer, an actress, and is very gifted in visual creativity.  She is also, most believe, gifted with children in ways that she does not even understand.

But, one more thing most people would not know about her is this....

  

Tonight, November 7th I am looking at pictures of my children wearing pieces of the drum major uniform that my niece wore.  Tonight was her last senior year football game as the drum major for her super talented marching band.  Twenty plus years ago, Angie was doing the same thing.  She was the drum major for her HS marching band.  Who knows.  Maybe the legacy will continue one day in our boys.

  

Anywho, back to us.  We always had chemistry.  Don't worry I'm not gonna get grosse on ya.  Long story short, I kissed my wife-to-be in the Greensboro College chapel after a choir rehearsal.  The rest is history. We were together on almost every choir trip until she graduated. Then we spent the next four years figuring out who we were, up to that point at least, and what we wanted out of life, or so we thought.  Isn't it amazing how life changes who we are and what we want?

We survived six and a half years of the bumps and bruises of dating and May 26th 2001, we got married in the same chapel where we first kissed.  Pretty neat to be able to say that, I think.  Thirteen years of marriage and 20 years being all up in each others grill and we are still at it.  Because, of all the things that have changed over the years, this one thing has not.

We are both doggedly hardheaded about our commitment to our marriage and our family.  I mean, besides the obvious biblical commands regarding commitment to marriage and family...... who wouldn't want to fight for this family!!!???  We dreamed of this family.  We have been blessed with this family.  And we are not letting it go!

We are determined to do life together for this family.  For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, til death do us part.  

What I love most is that we had this commitment long before we ever got married.  Even though we were not legally or spiritually bound together, because we were not as yet married, we always treated our commitment to the relationship's survival as if there was no other option.  Oh there were plenty of heartache's and there still are from time to time, but we are all go, no quit when it comes to our relationship.  

For twenty years, we have loved and hated each other in a way that would say, "no matter what, I'm not leavin and neither are you!"  I am so thankful for that.  I am so thankful for this woman.

       I Love This Woman!!!                             Umm...                  Ok, How About This Woman?

u                                                  

Ah shucks, let's be honest, I love both of  those woman.  She's every woman, it's all in her!  Wait.  Did I go to far?  I can never tell.  I don't know, but it's fun, so I'm keepin it ;-0

Anyway, she is my best friend, my life partner, and the mother of my children.  I am so grateful that she has chosen to stick with me all of these years.  Come what may, she has gotten twenty years of my life and, as long as the Lord is willing to keep me on this earth, I am committed to giving her the rest of it.

Thanks for giving me a relationship that has always been worth fighting for baby girl.  As long as God gives me breath,  I will proclaim my love for you and my commitment to this marriage.  

By God's grace, I will obey scriptures commands to love you as Christ loved the church, selflessly and eternally, that God may get the glory and you may feel both His love and mine through my example.

Always and Forever Yours,

Josh

 

A Simple Way To Pray / Ligonier

My last blog post spoke regarding thoughts and tools as applied to scripture memory.  As I stated in that post the other discipline that many struggle with, myself included, is a disciplined prayer life. We wrestle with what to pray, how to pray, when to pray, in what posture to pray, etc.

As with scripture reading and memory, I am also involuntarily bombarded in everything that I read and listen to with the fact that a strong Christian walk is tied directly to a healthy prayer life.  There are many people in our day whom have strong Christian walks and/or strong ministries because of their strong prayer habits.

Many throughout church history have been known to have strong prayer lives from Augustine and Calvin to Edwards and Spurgeon, with many other well known names in between, prayer has been the anchor that has carried them through every success and storm.  Here is a link to twenty quotes regarding prayer from Charles Spurgeon.

A Simple Way To Pray

Among these men was Martin Luther, the great Father of the Protestant Reformation.  He was well known for his strong, lengthy, devoted prayer life.  In the spring of 1535, at the request of his barber, a letter was written by Luther explaining his advice on how to have a most effective prayer life.  He entitled it "A Simple Way To Pray".

In this letter Luther explains that the way he prays in earnest, at length, and with great effectiveness is to use three sources as the basis for his prayers:  The Lord's Prayer,  The Ten Commandments, and The Apostles Creed.

He fleshes out that if you utilize the different points of these sources to formulate your pattern of prayer, you can have endless prayers without one sounding the same.  He says this because from these you will go on a different journey of reflection with each.

My general understanding of this so far is that, through the Lord's Prayer, you will reflect on the majesty of God and His purposes on a grand scale and an individual scale.  Through the Ten Commandments, you will easily remember your own sinful ways as your realize your failure to keep these Commandments, and have no trouble finding reflection for confession.  The Lord's prayer will lead you to the needed request for forgiveness for these failures as well.  This should also lead to requests for the grace to pursue repentance effectively. Through the Apostle's Creed you will reflect on the nature of God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as well as reflecting on your relationship with the church.

With this little fleshing out of my meager understanding of this letter, I could not begin to do justice to Luther.  So I would suggest that you hear from Luther himself by reading the letter here as if it were written to you.  This is a PDF of the letter.  It has been put in to book form and is sold on Amazon by a few different publishers.  You can find it as a kindle e-book for $1.99.

Another Resource
I only recently gained knowledge of this letter and learned of it's value to so many, even today.  I learned of it via a ministry known as Ligonier.

Ligonier

Ligonier is the teaching ministry of Dr. R.C. Sproul by which he and a number of other accomplished pastors, teachers, and theologians have been providing sound theological teaching for the ordinary (i.e. non-vocational ministry oriented) Christian for the last 40 years.  R.C. is an expert on Luther among others which is, I am sure, why this resource was introduced to me via his ministry.

Through their radio ministry known as Renewing Your Mind, you can gain great insight into church history, biblical doctrine, systematic theology, and more; all taught in a way that anyone can understand.  R.C. has several children's books that are available for purchase as hardcover books as well as in an audio format being narrated by R.C. himself.  I heard him do it for free on Renewing Your Mind.  These children's story's are well written, always with the intent of teaching a biblical truth or Christian practice through the story.  Such as exposing us to Luther's letter to his barber via The Barber Who Wanted To Pray.

They also have an app for Android and Apple iphone or ipod touch.  On it you can listen to Renewing Your Mind as well as hear teaching and panel discussions from numerous conferences that they put on every year.  You will also find sermon series from the pulpit ministry of R.C. Sproul as well as devotionals, many of which have come from their monthly magazine Tabletalk.

This ministry has fed me and helped me grow in ways that I could never have imagined.  My understanding of scripture, theology, and church history has expanded exponentially because of this ministry.  Thousands across the world are blessed by this ministry each and every day.

I pray by exposing you to it here, perhaps for the first time today, you will be blessed by it as well.

One More Resource

One last brief resource that I have not read, but have heard great things about is a new book by a well known pastor named Tim Keller.  It is called "Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy With God". Here is a link to an article from The Gospel Coalition listing 20 favorite quotes from the book as well as providing a link to it on Amazon.

May your prayer life and your knowledge and understanding of all things Christian grow because of the resources provided here.

In Jesus name,

Amen