The Greatest Prayer I Can Pray

Within the greatest sermon ever proclaimed is the greatest prayer ever given.

It is so easy to skim over this part of the Sermon on the Mount because we have echoed these words for years... ironically, the teaching Jesus gives us is to NOT pray with meaningless repetition! Yet, sadly, I have mindlessly done it hundreds of times!

(Matthew 6:5-15 ESV) “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The greatest prayer you can pray is an honest prayer intentionally directed at the Living God... the One Jesus calls, Father.

The greatest prayer you can pray is not a public prayer (though this is not a prohibition of public prayer), it is a secret prayer with the faith that you know it is being heard and answered by God “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

The effective power of prayer is in GOD HIMSELF. It is not the time, the number of prayers, the place, it is not even the amount of faith.... but we are encouraged and admonished to pray!

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

The first part of this prayer is directed UPWARD. How often my prayers begin with me. Jesus directs prayer to the Father first.... the greatest prayers are more interested in God's agenda than personal agendas.

THY WILL BE DONE

Hillary Scott (of Lady Antebellum) has written and performed an amazing song around the idea of "Thy Will Be Done". She wrote it while wrestling with the aftermath of a miscarriage. The song will be a part of an entire album "Love Remains" that features Hillary and her family singing about matters of faith.

I'm so confusedI know I heard you loud and clear
So, I followed through
Somehow I ended up here
I don't wanna think
I may never understand
That my broken heart is a part of your plan
When I try to pray
All I've got is hurt and these four words
Thy will be done
Thy will be done
Thy will be done
I know you're good
But this don't feel good right now
And I know you think
Of things I could never think about
It's hard to count it all joy
Distracted by the noise
Just trying to make sense
Of all your promises
Sometimes I gotta stop
Remember that you're God
And I am not
I know you see me
I know you hear me, Lord
Your plans are for me
Goodness you have in store
Songwriters
BERNIE HERMS, HILLARY SCOTT, EMILY LYNN WEISBAND

When we pray "Thy Will Be Done" ... it isn't giving God permission to do His will...He will do it (as in heaven).. it is more of an embracing of God's will. When we allow our will to be molded into God's will, we are better, stronger, and more at peace.

THE HORIZONTAL PART OF THE PRAYER

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

As I pray this part of the prayer, I am encouraged! God does care about me and it is OK to ask for things... including forgiveness.

But forgiveness is claimed in the environment of a heart conditioned by God.

True forgiveness from God is confirmed in the fruit of our response... our willingness to forgive and our desire to live in humility and holiness.

That is why Jesus stresses it again... with emphasis: For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

How is your heart right now? Are you lonely? Hurting? Weighed down by sin? Do you feel distant from God? Are you angry? Bitter?

Maybe you're just great right now.....

Quietly pray this familiar prayer... maybe use your own language:

My gracious Father!

You rule the heavens and the earth... the Sovereign King of all creation.

I want your name to be proclaimed over all the earth!

I so wish all people would come to know You and Your amazing ways and experience the power, peace, and freedom of your kingdom!

Lord, please help me submit to You in a deeper and fuller way everyday!

YOUR WILL BE DONE!

Lord, I need help. Without You I have nothing.

I need Your provision and Your protection!

And most of all, I need Your forgiveness..I AM A SINNER!

And Father, may I not live in a caustic attitude of judgement and condemnation of others. I plea for all men to experience Your mercy. You have forgiven me and I need to forgive others!

And Father, I fall so easily to temptation...teach me to live a life worthy of Your gospel. It is a better way to live!

Let it be so in my life! (AMEN) This is how good He is..... He hears and rains down love overflowing.... Open your heart and let the healing begin!

Ageless War

I appreciate the poem Invictus, especially when you think of how it helped sustain Nelson Mandela for 27 years while he was in prison. I understand the power and application of Invictus..... and I never want to ever squash the God-given desire to live, to create, to conquer, to win, to compete, to own.

When you read various survival stories... the one who survives has a deep 'will to win' that surpasses the limits of nature and imagination.

But 'INVICTUS' carried to its ultimate end is eternally dangerous. What is true about Invictus is always borrowed from THE TRUTH. A personal resolve to persevere is one thing... but to acknowledge the only, true, and living God in the midst of struggles is a much better thing!

We need to constantly ask ourselves.. what mode of salvation are we 'trusting in'?

There are fundamentally only two doctrines of salvation : that salvation is from God, and that salvation is from ourselves. The former is the doctrine of common Christianity; the latter is the doctrine of universal heathenism. "The principle of heathenism," remarks Dr. Herman Bavinck, "is, negatively, the denial of the true God, and of the gift of his grace; and, positively, the notion that salvation can be secured by man's own power and wisdom. 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name.' Gen. 11 : 4.

Whether the works through which heathenism seeks the way of salvation bear a more ritual or a more ethical character, whether they are of a more positive or of a more negative nature, in any case man remains his own saviour; all religions except the Christian are autosoteric (self salvation).

BB Warfield 'The Plan of Salvation'

Self-salvation that carries no thought of God at all slowly and inevitably takes a toll.

My oldest daughter has spent the last year as an ER nurse at a hospital. Her stories have been eye-opening to say the least!

One case had her securing the head of a gunshot victim because the family had driven the victim right to their door.

The saddest commentary she relates is how death is so common where she works that there seems to be a loss of the sanctity of life. Sometimes the surviving family members don't even cry, it is like it is just the common lot of human beings trapped in a cycle of crime, dependency, isolation, and decay.

The cheapening of life has dramatic social consequences. As life loses its value homicidal and suicidal actions can be just a whimsical choice colored by the flavor of the day.

Can the loss of the beauty of life be connected to the erosion of the knowledge of God?

I often wonder about this.

If we thought more of God, would there be a greater concern for the afterlife?

And if we thought more of eternity...would it make us pause in reverence and fear regarding our choices?

When was the last time you heard a good, thoughtful Bible based exposition on the reality of hell?

How about a few famous quotes from C.S. Lewis?

The safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. –C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’–C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

“There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this (hell), if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason” –C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

 “I have met no people who fully disbelieved in hell and also had a living and life-giving belief in Heaven” –C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: “What are you asking God to do?” To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But he has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what he does. 

 “The damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; the doors of hell are locked on the inside. . . . They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved.”

“the demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs should be the final power; that hell should be able to veto heaven.” –C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Who spoke more of hell than anyone?

" I have read the speculations of Schleirmacher, Bultman, Tillich, Brunner, Barth, and Moltmann, to say nothing of Plato, Kant, Hume, Feurbach, Lenin, and Bertrand Russell. All offer logical explanations used to discredit the notion of eternal punishment.....While I am deeply impressed by the arguments of brilliant thinkers like Schleirmacher, Tillich, and others, I prefer our Lord's words to theirs.

Those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord cannot escape the clear, unambiguous language with which He warns of the awful truth of eternal punishment." Kenneth Kantzer (quoted by Robert A. Peterson) 

In the Bible, Jesus spoke more about hell than anyone else did. He referred to hell as a real place (Matthew 10:28; 13:40–42; Mark 9:43–48). He described it in graphic terms: a fire that burns but doesn’t consume, an undying worm that eats away at the damned, and a lonely, foreboding darkness. These are likely only symbols of something worse that we can imagine.

Robert A. Peterson outlines just in the Gospel of Matthew four distinct truths that Jesus teaches regarding hell.

Listen to these warnings from Jesus Himself!

Hell is real 

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. (Matthew 5:22 ESV)

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30 ESV)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (Matthew 23:15 ESV)

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? (Matthew 23:33 ESV)

Hell is ruled by God

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28 ESV)

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41 ESV)

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46 ESV)

Hell involves rejection

And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:23 ESV)

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:11-12 ESV)

Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 22:13 ESV)

And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 25:30 ESV)

Hell involves pain

Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:30 ESV)

Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 13:40-43 ESV)

So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:49-50 ESV)

...but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. (Matthew 18:6-9 ESV)

the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:50-51 ESV)

John Piper agrees that Jesus is very clear:

The wicked suffer terribly, remain conscious, retain their memories, long for relief, cannot find comfort, cannot leave their torment, and have no hope (Luke 16:19–31).

Are you tired of the battle? Could it be that you are fighting One with eternal power?

Carefully consider this truth...

An 'absolute' is basically an unchanging point of reference by which all other changes are measured. For the Christian, the starting point is always God. He is the eternally existent one, the absolute, from whom we draw all definitions for life's purpose and destiny.God does not expect us to come to Him in a vacuum. He has so framed this world and our minds that the laws of reason and logic that we use lead us to the certainty of His being, and assure us that we may know Him who is the source of all truth.

It's OK to lose when the result of losing is winning.

It is OK to humbly bow to a more powerful foe when that foe really wants to be your Father.

You don't have to know all the 'whys' ... just be embraced by the WHO.

It is never too late.. your sin is never too great.....

Let the Savior in and embrace Him... He is ready and loving beyond comprehension!

God's Proximate Motivation in Salvation?

Can I indulge you a little in some theology? In times past, good men with impressive Biblical knowledge gathered in local taverns and contemplated the thoughts and ways of God.

I challenge you to push through this one and be encouraged by the very heart of God.

Is doctrine dangerous? In some sense, all deep underpinnings of people can be. But human thinking detached from the Bible is darker and more deviant than any person who is stretching at the boundaries of the Bible.

B.B. Warfield gave five lectures at Princeton in June of 1914. It was later published as a book, "The Plan of Salvation" and printed by the Presbyterian Board of Publication in Philadelphia.

I decided to write a blog post that captures the heart of his message.

 Is there a plan or process that ends in the salvation of a human being revealed in the Bible?

But the deeper question.. one that has pushed me harder than any comes down to salvation as a monergistic or synergistic act. Is it God alone? What is man's part? Did God choose or does man respond?

And the hardest one of all... if God chooses some but not all... does it discount Him as a God worthy of worship?

So here I am, today.. being helped by a saint who departed this earth a long time ago. But he was used mightily as the Holy Spirit poured out on me as I read this work.

Warfield does not take time to debate whether God acts upon a plan. Warfield says that once we establish the reality of a personal God the case is closed.

"If we believe in a personal God, then, and much more if, being Theists, we believe in the immediate control by this personal God of the world He has made, we must believe in a plan underlying all that God does, and therefore also in a plan of salvation."

In his preface, Warfield takes time to offer a survey of 'varying views' to this subject:

The first division is between 'naturalistic' and 'supernaturalistic' views. His explanation of this division is a difference of opinion whether 'God has planned simply to leave men. with more or less completeness, to save themselves, or whether he has planned Himself to intervene to save them." in other words...'Does man save himself or does God save him?'

The most consistent naturalistic view is the doctrine of Pelagianism.

According to Warfield, "Pelagianismin its purity, affirms that all the power exerted in saving man is native to man himself."

However, 'pure Pelagiansim' rarely exists...but varieties of this scheme is found in a wide spread fashion throughout church history and indeed in the present age.

There are 'intermediate views' of Pelagianism that do allow God some part in the process, but are still 'naturalistic' since they all come down to man taking the ultimate step of salvation by a man's native power.

Supernaturalism declares 'with emphasis that it is God the Lord and not man himself who saves the soul'.

The supernaturalist rests in one statement.

The supernaturalist is not content to say 'some of the power' or 'most of the power' or even 'almost all the power'... He asserts that ALL the power that is exerted in saving the soul is from God.

Now, this creates division- and Warfield continues to explain these 'differences which are not small or unimportant'.

The most 'deeply cutting' difference is between Sacerdotalists and Evangelicals.

The basis from which this difference is revealed is the question whether God (the only source of saving power) saves men by dealing with them individually  or by 'establishing supernaturally endowed instrumentalities' in the world by which people are saved.

The typical form of Sacerdotalists is found primarily among Roman Catholics in teaching that the church is held to be the institution of salvation. "Outside the church and its ordinances salvation is not supposed to be found; grace is communicated by and through the minstrations of the church".

Against this view, according to Warfield, is evangelicalism. Evangelicalism 'sweeps away every intermediary between the soul and its God'. This leaves the soul totally dependent on God alone... it is directly upon God and not the means of grace...  the Holy Spirit may act where and when and how He will.

Now it is true that evangelicalism is indeed Protestant... but within Protestant views there are both naturalistic and supernaturalistic views.

Warfield drills down to a division in evangelical supernaturalism by labeling them 'universalistic' and 'particularistic'. This division is found in answering the question 'whether God is conceived to have planned actually Himself to save men by His almighty and certainly efficacious grace, or only so to pour out His grace upon men as to enable them to be saved, without actually securing, however, in any particular cases that they shall be saved'.

A 'problem' with a generalized universalism is that it naturally leads to universal salvation, a point from which many evangelicals have pulled back from because of Scriptural evidence that seems to indicate that not all men are saved.

Over and against this, theologians have adopted 'particularism' in the saving process - 'they plead that God deals throughout the whole process of salvation not with men in the mass but with individual men'...'one by one, upon each of whom he lays hold with His grace, and each of whom he by His grace brings to salvation.'

Thus all men owe their salvation..not to the general opportunities of God but by His specific actions. 'And, therefore, to Him and Him alone belongs in each instance all the glory, which none can share with Him.'

And to keep consistent with the ever fracturing of men.... there is differences even within the 'Particularists'. He labels this a "Hypothetical Universalism". This separates those who struggle with the question does God's work open up the possibility for all men to be saved or does the redemptive work of Christ secure the salvation those who were chosen for it to be wrought?

So after this, we are left to explore the divisions:

Men must be either naturalists or supernaturalists.
Supernaturalists must be Sacerdotalists or Evangelicals.
Evangelicals must be Universalistic or Particularistic.
Particularists must particularistic with respect to only some or respect to all of God's saving operations.

Not to bore you, but there are four possible distinctions inside particularism that can be considered:
(Supralapsarianism, Sub(or Infra-) lapsarianism, Post-redemptionism (otherwise called Amyraldianism, or Hypothetical Universalism), and Pajonism (otherwise called Congruism).

These have a lot to do with the timing of choice  (whether it is pre-Creation...pre-fall... or pre-conversion) and the application of regeneration- (divine wooing or almighty re-creation).

By the way... there is NOTHING wrong with these discussions, debates, and thoughts... they drive us to Scripture and they elevate the wonder of the mysteries of God.

Then Warfield goes into some thoughts regarding God's intention... and this is where I love reading Warfield's heart.

The bottom line is this......  what is the discrimination on God's part between those whom He chooses and those He does not based upon? Is it variety?  a whim?

Consider his explanation:

The motive that moves God is an unwillingness that all mankind should perish in their sins; and, therefore in order to gratify the promptings of His compassion, He intervenes to rescue from their ruin and misery an innumerable multitude which no man can number- as many as under the pressure of His sense of right He can obtain the consent of His whole nature to relieve from the just penalties of their sins- by an expedient in which his justice and mercy meet and kiss each other.

I sat back from this statement and pondered it a long time. Here is the true 'weight of glory'...God is wrestling against Himself and all His truth in all His perfections in all His attributes.

How many can He save and still be faithful to all that justice requires?

The natural heart of man is to regard all authority with skepticism and doubt the good intentions of that authority- and when it comes to man, I sadly agree that the pessimism is justified.

But not so with God..... His heart is pressing because of the weight of His compassion, mercy, and love.

Who knows what we will finally see?

Creeping, Hiking, and Living- A Memorial Weekend Adventure

With one daughter living all summer in Johnson City, TN.....it made sense to try and squeeze out a family fun trip to the Tri-state area this past memorial Day Weekend (May 27-30, 2016).

SAT- VIRGINIA CREEPER TRAIL AND APPALACHIAN TRAIL

I have heard about the Virginia Creeping Trail near Abington and Damascus, VA... but I can say this, it was better than advertised.

Even though it was heavily attended for the weekend, we had no trouble securing bikes and the 17 mile shuttle to be dropped off at White Top to begin the downhill ride back to Damascus. We were blessed with perfect weather and just had a blast, riding some, stopping some to take some pictures, and then riding some more.

The entire 17 miles from White Top back to Damascus is DOWNHILL. I hardly had to pedal.

But we took our time... the trail has beautiful scenery, amazing bridge trestles and stocked trout areas.

Though we talked about an all day ride, the 1/2 day was plenty



Every part of the trail was cool!

After a picnic lunch... we then hiked about 3 hours on a part of the Appalachian Trail....

SUNDAY- BREAKS INTERSTATE PARK AND JUBILEE IN THE BREAKS

We saw a lot of rain to our southwest, so we began to look Northeast and decided to try Breaks Interstate Park near Elkhorn City, VA.

It is billed as 'The Grand Canyon of the South' and it too was better than advertised- wow, majestic!

We drove to the visitor center after gawking at The Towers Overlook.. where really nice park officials pointed out where hikers should go...

We then parked at the Stateline Overlook and hiked The Notches, The Ridge Trail, The Grassy Creek Trail, and the River Trail....

And the down to the river, back up the mountain was TOUGH!

We enjoyed a Gospel Music festival in the amphitheater after that... and then took the beautiful Hwy 23 back to Johnson City.

Just an amazing trip...

Virginia is a beautiful state!

With gratitude.......

God's beautiful creation
The blessings of health, weather, safety
Great people
Good food
Memories with the fam!

Lying and Dying- The Reality of the Epidemic

I took this picture to the left. It was an inside growing room right next to where my brother was found dead of an overdose in a trailer full of drugs on Sept. 7 this past year... a sad reality to the house of lies we are invited into everyday by those who want their weed and need their high.

It's happening in my town.... it is also happening in yours.

A bill filed by Rep. Patricia Todd, a democrat from Birmingham, would decriminalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Currently, possession of marijuana in that amount is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by jail time and fines. Todd’s bill, HB257, would make it simply a ticket offense.

“Possession charges for people clog up a lot of our court services,” Todd said. “This would help eliminate some of that bottleneck.”


The bill would specifically lower penalties for recreational users, not dealers who may be in possession of much higher quantities. Further, Todd believes the change would create much needed revenue for the state as offenders are forced to pay tickets.

“I believe it’s safer than alcohol,” Todd said. “If people could take their emotions out of it, I think most people would agree with me.”


I'm getting so tired of the messaging of lies..... how many more are going to die?

I already know the pushback... it is a mind-set and a group think...... the argument of ideas that sound good... but those in the morgue and the families who grieve in the wake of it don't buy the rhetoric.

Dr. Shannon Murphy is in Birmingham as well. Dr. Murphy is tirelessly doing everything she can to give good information to kids and parents- but she will tell you it is an uphill battle. At least she is trying to counter the message. And she has experienced the attack of the opposition..... just like anyone else who tries to point to the reality that is hidden is a cloud of smoke and haze.

She shared recently some important points with me.

I have been where you are, and I am familiar with the push back.

We just have to remember that the marijuana industry has the media working
for them essentially. As a result, the public does not hear the facts.
Often, even when they hear facts, they will try to refute or diminish
them.

Only an ounce of marijuana...come on, what's the harm?

1 ounce (@ 28 grams) of pot is a lot. An ounce of pot typically makes about 60 marijuana joints, but this will vary on potency of joint (so there is a range anywhere from 30-100).

Can you give me some medical facts as a doctor? Isn't pot safer than alcohol?

That statement right there is straight out of the pro marijuana playbook, 'Pot is safer than alcohol'..... here are some thoughts:

Every drug has its own unique set of risks. Saying pot is safer than
alcohol is like saying, 'I¹m going to jump out of a 3rd floor window,
instead of a 4th floor window.'

Marijuana is more potent today than in previous years. The average THC

level 20 years ago was 3%, we are now seeing plants with THC levels upward

of 17% (sometimes higher). Additionally, marijuana is no longer a plant.

There are new forms of marijuana (concentrates) that can be anywhere from

60-80% THC.

They come in the form of waxes and oils that can be inhaled, vaped, or eaten.


Science has shown marijuana impacts many body systems. The American Lung

Association has said that marijuana smoke has many of the same toxins that

are present in tobacco smoke leading to serious lung illness including

chronic cough, wheeze, and frequent infections. Marijuana has also been

shown to impact the heart system with links to strokes and arrhythmias.

Marijuana¹s hit on the brain is especially concerning. Use has been linked

to impaired memory and learning, as well as mental health issues such as

depression, anxiety, and psychosis.

(A news report came out 2 days ago: 

Smoking cannabis ALTERS your DNA 'causing mutations that can trigger serious illness, including cancer' )

In fact, since legalization in Colorado, hospitalizations and ER visits for marijuana have increased significantly (38% and 29%) respectively.

Portraying pot as a 'safe' drug is impacting our teens in a harmful way.

Perception of risk associated with using marijuana has dropped considerably. In fact, marijuana use now surpasses tobacco use for most young people. In Colorado, past month youth use rates are now 56% higher than the rest of the nation. 

We need to stop the "spin," and get the facts out for our children.

Know that the industry challenges data much like the tobacco industry did. They obscure and deny health harms.


My friends, are you willing to really read the facts for yourself?

Try this link to the Rocky Mountain HIDTA report on the Impact of legalization 2015.

The Colorado legalization experiment is a failure by any measurement you might want to try.

I still think about my brother...it comes like a sneak attack... it was 4:15 AM this morning....


LEE'S STORY

My brother was born when I was 10- and even though we grew up in the same home, it was NOT the same neighborhood.

At 24, I was finishing up college at the University of Alabama. My 14 year old brother was introduced to marijuana.

He never was a bad guy. Lee was a much sweeter person than I ever will be. He loved people and he was fun to be around. But four years of pot became a somewhat dull routine and he was looking for more. At 18, he was talked into shooting up a drug called dilaudid by a pretty girl at a party.

According to Lee, the high lasted for over a day and he would spend the rest of his life chasing that high... and would never find it again.

For 10 years, my brother hid his habit. He covered needle marks with tattoos and and he never showed signs of his growing addiction. But it didn't take long after that for everything to crumble.

In a very short span, Lee totaled 2 cars, stole from my parents, stole from my grandmother, shoplifted, prostituted himself....

At the end of his 1st overdose, my brother was taking (according to him) 5 to 7 hits a day and the high lasted mere seconds. He needed the drug now to stay away from painful withdrawals including fever, chills, muscle spasms, and nausea.

He came to the family for help and we ALL tried. My wife and I gave him a Honda Accord and he wrecked it in less than a week. He tried Celebrate Recovery and I used to take him to the Friday night meetings. I took him to church and he actually bought pills AT CHURCH! I took him to the movies and, as I watched him carefully, he popped a small pill right under my nose.

The most eye opening experience was taking him to the methadone clinic... and I watched men and women of all colors and backgrounds pour in and out of that place. I was sad to see him dependent on Methadone and cigarettes just to make it through a day.

The government called him cured... but he had hepatitis C, no health insurance, no steady job...

He would have long seasons of sobriety.. got married..got a job... but none of it lasted.

And what was left in the wake of this- a broken hearted family. My mom died pre-maturely... she was so worried about Lee that she neglected her own health. My grandmother spent money she didn't have on him. My dad visited the hospital too many times wondering if Lee would live or die.

Last August/September, we knew he had relapsed.. and were planning an intervention. He showed up at the emergency room at Baptist Princeton and raised a ruckus, trying to get pain medication. Sadly, the junkies can get it too easily from the hospitals.

So, after a fun Labor Day with my family, I got the sad news from my aunt that next early morning ... Lee was gone.

No one was surprised.

I asked law enforcement officers to watch over me as I drove to Lassiter Mountain in Mt Olive, Alabama and my heart sank to see how low it had gotten with my brother.

The trailer was filthy. And I stared at the last spot of his life. As with most addicts who relapse- the amount his body used to be able to handle was now a needle of death. Later on, I discovered that the line of heroin that killed him was taking people down all over the place. The evil irony was that this batch was laced with phentermine, the same stuff that killed Michael Jackson.

The picture below is where his final attempt to capture bliss stopped his beating heart.








What you can't see is that his 'lover' had already cleaned out anything of value left in the trailer. His computer, stereo, cash was all taken. The very next morning, this man showed up and attempted to collect life insurance falsely claiming my brother was his husband.

I grabbed what I could of Lee's and found journals and notes written back and forth between this man and my brother. He called Lee his "Binky" and had Lee take him to the casinos to blow a settlement the insurance company had paid out on the last wreck.

Those in the drug culture use and abuse more than just the drugs.... they suck the life out of everything around them. I pray for all of them... but consequences are contained in the activities.

I had gotten permission to get all of Lee's possession (what was left of them) out of the trailer..so you can imagine the shock of looking in that room and seeing all of the pot plants and the giant grow room.

I wiped away some tears.... we think we know the danger of heroin.... but what we have NO CLUE about is the scourge of marijuana.

I work with teens on a daily basis for almost 30 years... and I have seen it robbing kids of their future too many times!

Once a kid starts that lifestyle... nothing else matters....

The week my brother died was the very first day we started universal and random drug testing at my school. The program is designed to give kids one more good reason to say no.

It will not stop all use.... nothing will... but even if one kid is prevented from ending up like my brother, then it is worth it.

And if decriminalizing it allows just one more kid to end up a junkie... it is too high a cost!

Mrs. Todd will tell me to take my emotions out of it. 

But let me ask you... when your brother is gone... what advice do you have to take the emotion out?

Those that support it... your opinion will not change... you are showing what it is like to have your brain on drugs.....

Any questions?

My Mental Illness is Better Than Yours

To all my blog readers.... it will take a special friend to get to the end of this one.



But take heart! The Lord has impressed pretty hard on me this morning... time to move on to another topic... apologetics has a way of turning off and tuning out......


I have a specific prayer regarding the purpose of my recent rants.....

Hank Williams Jr used to sing,

'Cause you see I'm a dinosaur
I should've died a long time before
Have pity on a dinosaur 

hand me my hat

Excuse me man 

but where's the door?

And that is how I feel a lot of the time... I'm into old things.... I'm into the old time religion... hymns, classical literature, and 18th century theologians......

Just that intro right there likely cost me many readers.........

But there is something I love about the old dead guys...... they were smart, they were confident, and they were full of optimism and hope.

Every time I read the Old Princetonians for example.... I love how they reason in an upward fashion ... you have to read them to discover what I mean. These men were full of love and joy, content in what they did, and satisfied with their slow but steady progress.

Any time I finish with B.B. Warfield, Archibald Alexander, John Witherspoon, or James McCosh- I am inspired to love God more and I have a deep awe of the Holy Scriptures which shine through them!

These men have been categorized under the term "Scottish Common Sense Realism"- but I see it more like 'Powerful Gospel Hope for Real Life".. it is the ecstatic declaration of the great truths of salvation poured out in oceans of grace.

These men were free...and in their freedom, they didn't seek leisure.... no, they became voracious workers and breathlessly exegeted every article of Scripture. And it never feels like labor to me. These men worked out of an abundance of love.

Today's intellectual arguments have more of a downward spiral- shouting, personal attacks... the enlightenment has a legacy of skepticism.......

My Princeton heroes have such hope and love..... try 'em...you may like 'em.

Now.... let's reason together for a little bit.......

How is it, that 2 men, can look at the same set of facts and stubbornly stand on two radically different opinions?

It happens everyday and almost in every way.

What is happening?

My premise is this- It isn't what is happening... it is more about what is NOT happening.

Let's add a few ingredients to this and see if I can find a half-baked conclusion.

THE PROBLEM OF PRIDE

Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:1-3 ESV)

I have to be careful here to not throw this whole verse out of context- 

I always fear for super-smart people...... in some ways, the verses of warnings regarding 'those with great wealth' could almost be doubled down with application to 'those with great knowledge'.

We have to be SO CAREFUL HERE... especially to those (like me) who love to hear (or write about) themselves and what they think......

Paul is not condemning knowledge in this verse.... He is making a universal truth application to a very controversial topic.... knowledge can inflate our egos in such a way that we lose our way in the end.....

Indeed...the entire foundational theme of I Corinthians is Paul spending a full 4 chapters deflating human ego built on prideful, pseudo-superior, and foolish human thinking.... 

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1 Corinthians 1:20 ESV)

And the result of this endless human debate and pride? CONFLICT- It is the motivation for the letter to the Corinthians....

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. (1 Corinthians 1:10-11 ESV)

Wait a minute! Go back a re-read what he is appealing for us to do?

BE UNITED IN THE SAME MIND AND JUDGEMENT? Are you kidding me?  We can't agree on anything!

Let me add another ingredient in this secret sauce......

THE PROBLEM OF HOMOGENOUS PEER APPROVAL

This is even trickier..... have to be super,super careful here.......

As we acquire knowledge, we want to share it.... and as we share it... we want to find like minded approval and support....

and if we aren't careful, we will sometimes judge whether something is TRUE based on the NUMBER of those who agree with us.

But this creates a very dangerous situation... I hope you see it..... as each side rallies it's supporters... the winners are in the numbers.... SO the VALIDATION of truth now becomes just the popular mindset of the moment... it is what we hold to inwardly, supported by numbers of those who think like we do.... and there is no real outside objectivity....

Isn't the old snarky parent reply.... 'Well, if everybody said it was good to jump off a bridge, would you join them?' so appropriate here? But so true? Popular wisdom may not be wise.....

One more dash... please hang with me.....

THE LOSS OF INTEGRITY

How important are the 10 commandments?! I'm telling you.... these are foundational truths that are REQUIREMENTS of sustainable life and civilization! 'You shall not bear false witness" is one of these! And I GRIEVE over how rampant lying is in my generation... in some professions..it is an expectation!

Dishonesty comes in many dangerous forms.... the man unwilling to keep his promise, the withholding of very important information for personal gain, passing along an unfounded rumor, fudging numbers, the 'so called' 'white-lie' (such a horrible term).... or just plain MAKING STUFF UP....

"The bearing of false witness' is a serious sin in our society. And rampant dishonesty brings all artifacts of evidence into doubt.

In today's world,  opinions and presuppositions shape facts..... and it should be the other way around. It has gotten SO BAD that facts are made up to prop up our immovable views on matters of eternal significance.

IS IT SOUP YET?

Personal pride, peer support, and problematic evidence can convince you to walk straight into a chasm of death with no fear or trepidation.

IS THERE A ROUTE OUT?

YES.... but it's complicated... it is trying to convince an insane person that everything he is seeing is a lie......

Remember the movie, A Beautiful Mind? The 2001 film by Ron Howard is based on the life of John Nash of Princeton. Though some details had to changed or left out for the sake of storytelling, the basic premise was correct.

Here was a BRILLIANT man..... a mathematician, a Nobel prize winner... understood and developed theories in economics, differential geometry, computing, artificial intelligence...and on and on... but he had a mental illness... later diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. "According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, a person suffering from the disorder is typically dominated by relatively stable, often paranoid, fixed beliefs that are either false, over-imaginative or unrealistic, and usually accompanied by experiences of seemingly real perception of something not actually present."


Read that again... a brilliant man....

DOMINATED..... by relatively stable (they hold together in analysis and experience)- often paranoid (hyper internal and personal) FIXED BELIEFS (almost impossible to shake) that are:
FALSE
OVER-IMAGINATIVE/UNREALISTIC

usually ACCOMPANIED by EXPERIENCES of SEEMINGLY REAL PERCEPTION of something that is not actually there!

So how would you ever convince this man that he is in error? It is almost an impossibility.

Reason with him? He knows he is smarter than you
Show him? How? His perceptions are twisted

In the movie, Nash finally begin to see inconsistencies in the hallucinations and found a way to ignore them.....

OK OK OK- stop telling me about the problem.... is there a solution?

YES- and it is all counter to what our natural tendencies are to do......

STEP ONE: HUMBLE YOURSELF.... As long as you are the most important person in the room...what no one else says has any value to you. Instead of walking around and wanting to dazzle people with your brilliance... why don't you elevate others around you and desperately drink in what they think, feel, and believe.

STEP TWO: BREAK OUT OF YOUR COMMON THINK TANK... Seek out those who see the world in quite a different way and find common ground... know them well enough to know where you are different and how the thinking goes in an opposite direction. By the way, if you find yourself disliking a person because they are different... you aren't doing as well as you think in STEP ONE.

STEP THREE: NEVER STOP LEARNING...but use learning to help others, not for your own personal dominance.

CONCLUSION- What if I am the crazy one?

You read me enough to know that I have planted my flag in the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I believe God exists, I believe, because of that, the Bible is true and the truth and testimony of Jesus validates it enough for me to cast my lot with Him.

But the teachings of Jesus should help me do what I am supposed to do...stay humble, live out the gospel, serve, be patient with those who oppose me, love all people, give answers to questions, stay reverent and gentle, and not be anxious or comfortable...this world is not my home... I am to just be obedient.

And if I am the crazy one.... it doesn't matter because the perspective I have gained allows me to successfully navigate a sad and dark place.

If you are the crazy one..... well... I trust in a good God to sort it all out....

In my worldview- it is comforting to leave the big stuff up to God.

Without my worldview- a man is left to be God himself... and that terrifies me...

Friedrich Nietzsche, (himself a brilliant crazy man,) understood this almost better than anyone. He personified it in his famous parable of The Madman.... but he also commented on it as he reflected on the philosophy of German, liberal theologian David Strauss....

Strauss has his full share of the temerity to which every successful hero assumes the right: all flowers grow only for him—the conqueror; and he praises the sun because it shines in at his window just at the right time. He does not even spare the venerable old universe in his eulogies—as though it were only now and henceforward sufficiently sanctified by praise to revolve around the central monad David Strauss. The universe, he is happy to inform us, is, it is true, a machine with jagged iron wheels, stamping and hammering ponderously, but: "We do not only find the revolution of pitiless wheels in our world-machine, but also the shedding of soothing oil"

My friend- (you have to be if you are still reading this with ANY interest)... I am an old dinosaur.... maybe too outdated for your fancy.... but you are going to have to choose... what is reality and what is hallucination?

We both have the same problems- we are prideful in our intelligence, we surround ourselves with people who think and talk just like us, and we have accumulated enough artifacts to support our strained grip on our truth....

I guess my last effort and plea to have you bend your knee to King Jesus is to take the temperature and measure the light.

Without God- this universe in now just a big enormous drive of an uncaring machine with our vain aspirations a mere speck of dust in a causeless cosmos... the wind is cold and the end is so dark that life becomes too cheap to save... including our own.

But the Bible is FULL of soothing oil- without it, the world will grow cold and dark and grind itself to oblivion..

But Jesus offers grace, hope, love of others, patience, understanding, humility...

In Jesus's kingdom, it is OK to laugh at our foolish human failures and get up and try again tomorrow.

Without HIS WAY (and all other religions are mere cogs of effort and product)- we are too important to be wrong. But as we gather our troops of truth, we must crush any opposition that stands as a symbol of our possibility of being wrong.

The way of Jesus gives us a chance to wait on God to rightfully judge......

The wisdom of man says it is too late to debate, now let the killing begin...

I have made my choice... I think it is pretty easy to make (though, impossible to live, thank God for grace)....

What about you?

Take your time.... but here's a start... just start reading the Bible again...it will be the most soothing experience you have had in years.