Ecclesiastical Senile Dementia.

So what is Ecclesiastical Senile Dementia?

That is what I call it when a church forgets that its primary mission is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.

When any church forgets to proclaim the Gospel it begins to atrophy and eventually dies of old age.

It is so sad to me that this happens over and over again and it is not necessary.

A Christian Nation ????

Lately I have received hundreds of emails from well meaning friends telling me [not asking but telling] to write President Obama and congress telling them that this is a “Christian Nation.” They also want me to pass the message on to all my friends. It would seem that there is a campaign afoot.

 

I do not think that they understand the term “Christian Nation” or they would not send those emails. While we are a country whose citizens are predominately members of the Christian faith, we are not now nor have we ever been a “Christian Nation” and as a Christian Pastor I do not want us to be so.

 

The term “Christian Nation” denotes a country that has established an official relationship with a Christian church. England is a “Christian Nation” because it has established an official Church/State relationship with the Church of England. Queen Elizabeth is officially the head of the Church of England. Spain is a “Christian Nation” because it has established an official Church/State relationship with the Roman Catholic church.

 

Our founding fathers established this country as one that provides us with total freedom of religion with a clear separation of church and state. As a Christian Pastor I believe that has been a major blessing for the Christian faith in America. With great wisdom they placed in our constitution the first amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

 

We have always had other faiths than Christian in our country and their rights to freedom of religion have been respected here. There are over three hundred denominations of Christian church in the USA and their rights of freedom of expression in the practice of their faith are respected here. That would not be true in a country where a religion has been established as a state religion. Think about it folks we do not want the government telling us what church to belong to, not even my church.

Will We Loose Our Legs?

I think we will be endanger of loosing the use of our legs by atrophy.

See the latest in Personal Transportation HERE.

God help us all when these things start rolling down the street and in the retirement centers.

Practice What You Preach

This item has made the email rounds for a few years but still good for a chuckle.


The  light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing,  stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red  light by accelerating through the intersection.
The  tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in  frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection,  dropping her cell phone and makeup.
As she was still in  mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of  a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car  with her hands up.
He took her to the police station where she  was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding  cell.
After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell  and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where  the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He  said, ''I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind  your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in  front of you and cussing a blue streak at him.


I noticed the 'What  Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate  holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the  chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally....

I  assumed you had stolen the  car.''

Prejudice In the Church?

The first century Christian church had to deal with the problem of prejudice within the Body of Christ. It started with the difference between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. Later there were the differences between rich and poor and slave and free with always one group feeling that they were better than the other. Some men were thinking they were better than women.

 

Paul would write to the Galatians in chapter three, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

 

Today we still face human prejudice in the church and the problems are the same. We try to bring our society into the Body of Christ where no spirit is better or less than any other spirit in the sight of God. All of us are sinners who have been forgiven and restored. I pray daily for spiritual help to combat prejudice and to promote the unity and bond of love for Christ in all people.

Have You Ever???

Have you ever given thought as to what God might want to do in your life?

 

Most people have never given that idea a second thought nor even a first thought. Yet we each have a unique soul and a spirit that hungers for a connection with God. That spiritual relationship can be positive, wonderful and filled with love.

 

What hinders us from the experience of God in our lives? God never forces us into a relationship because for love to be real it must be freely given and freely received. We are in the driver’s seat when it comes to loving or not loving God. To feel the love we must be open to loving from deep with in. When you open yourself to God’s Holy Spirit get ready for some awesome wonders. I speak from experience.

Girl Friends Lunch Reunions

GIRLFRIENDS AT LUNCH

  A group of 40 year old girlfriends discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the waiters there had tight pants and nice buns.

10 years later at 50 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the food there was very good and the wine selection was good also.

 10 years later at 60 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they could eat there in peace and quiet and the restaurant had a beautiful view of the ocean.

 10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the restaurant was wheelchair accessible and they even had an elevator.

 10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group once again discussed Where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they had never been there before.