To be Christian

To be Christian
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” 
                                                                                                                                     Psalm 1:1,2.
I write today directly at Christians particularly those in North America and the west in general. I write with the hope they will look at their life and actions. That they will assess what they are doing and if necessary make a change.
Billy Graham once said,
“Make sure of your commitment to Jesus Christ, and seek to follow Him every day. Don't be swayed by the false values and goals of this world, but put Christ and His will first in everything you do.”
 Billy Graham
Jesus set the standard high for Christians. When asked,
 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment.  
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 
                                                                                       Matthew 22:36-40.
Jesus did not stop there however He said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,...”  
                                                                                                 Matthew 5:43,44.
He said,
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” 
              Matthew 7:12.
Question: Would you die for an ungodly person, for a sinner? Jesus did. The apostle Paul writes,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 
Romans 5:8.
This is how far we could be called to go. Think about it.
There are Christians around the world being persecuted and put to death for their faith. One figure I read was a Christian dies every seven minutes somewhere in the world for their faith.  They are dying because they are presenting the word of God to the people around them. Christians are going to prison for witnessing for Christ.
Christians in many parts of the world do not have the right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Yet many that would call themselves Christians especially here in North America would squander that right and bring God’s name into disrepute.
I think of something I heard about in the United States where a person who had a business did not want to serve as they put it “homosexuals” as it was against their belief. I ask the question would they discriminate against, adulterers, or convicted thieves?
Jesus didn’t. Jesus died beside a thief. Jesus sat and ate with tax collectors and spoke with a Samaritan woman all considered sinners of his day and spoken against by the religious leaders of his day.
As Christians we must as the Psalmist say’s
“...delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” 
                                                                                                                                Psalm 1:2.
But while we must delight in the law of the Lord we cannot use it to discriminate against anyone we interact with in this world.
The apostle Paul wrote,
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” 
                                                                Romans 3:23,24.
That “all have sinned” meant “ALL” you, me, and everyone who has ever lived. As a Christian we know we are save by the grace of God. However how can we reach the world if we discriminate who we associate with. Who works in our businesses, or buys from us.
Remember,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 
Romans 5:8.
Billy Graham said,
“Racial prejudice, anti-Semitism, or hatred of anyone with different beliefs has no place in the human mind or heart.”
                     Billy Graham.
Jesus speaking of himself said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16,17.
Jesus showed that love of God by associating with everyone whether they were considered a sinner or not. Jesus did not pick and choose who he associated with because of his religious beliefs. Him sitting with the Samaritan woman and the tax collectors proved that. Jesus showed unconditional love to all.
As Christians we need to practice true Christian Love. Paul defined this when writing to the Corinthians. He wrote,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 
Love never fails....
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  
                                                                                                           1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13.
Are people seeing this kind of Love in you?
Please think about it. 

Time to Shine, the Christian and the Refugee Crisis

Time to Shine the Christian and the Refugee Crisis
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  
If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.  
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 
You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” 
                                                                                                        James 2:14-20.
As I write this in the United States presidential candidate Donald Trump has made another outrageous statement against Muslims. Saying they should be banned from entering the United States. I wonder if he would also extend it to the Muslims he’s partnering with in his businesses in the middle east?
Trump is showing himself to be a hypocrite and a bigot. The sad thing is people agree with him.
In all of this I’ve noticed an absence of the Christian Church. Christians are told by Jesus to Love God, your neighbour, and even your enemy. Yet from what I see from my vantage point here in Canada is silence from Christians in the United States.
Where are the leaders of the major denominations, the evangelical leaders, the leaders of the so called super churches. They should be acting. They should be speaking against Trump and others like him.
They should be reaching out to the Syrian refugees and others offering them a safe place to live in the name of Jesus.
In contrast to the seeming paranoia in the United States the Canadian government is bringing in at least 25,000 refugees. Over the next few months. It’s making them permanent residence which offers them all the opportunities Canada has to offer.
Christians and other faith groups here in Canada are reaching out to those coming with open arms.
The world refugee crisis is an opportunity for Christians to show love in a tangible way. At the very least this crisis is bringing those in need of the love of Christ to our doorsteps.
Tony Campolo said,
“These issues are biblical issues: to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, to stand up for the oppressed. I contend that if the evangelical community became more biblical, everything would change.”
       Tony Campolo.
This may very well be one of those important times in history. A time when we as Christians can shine. When we can show the world we care.
Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
                                                    Matthew 11:28-30.
Certainly those who are displaced by the current problems in the middle east are in need of the Love and rest for their souls.
 Something that we as Christians can offer them in Christ Jesus.
Please think about it.

Something to think about

Something to think about

Every now and then I say or write something controversial within the Christian community. I do it in the hopes it will make Christians really look inside of themselves. While at the same time asking God to show them what is right. This is one of those times.
The story is simply called Margaret Elizabeth.

"That morning, Margaret Elizabeth got up extra early, readying herself for the day.  She would get only one chance to make an impression.  To that end, she applied her makeup with extra care.  Chose the black ankle length wraparound skirt, white turtle neck top and black jacket, her children had given her as a gift, while in hospital.  She limited her jewelry to a simple pair of diamond studied earrings, that had been her grandmother’s and small bracelet given to her by her daughter-in-law.
Leaving that office, to walk to the pulpit was the hardest step, she ever had to make.  Her heart pounded and by the time, she stood behind the pulpit she was visibly shaking.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Margaret Elizabeth Williamson and just before Christmas, I underwent Sexual Reassignment Surgery.” she said relief surging through her body, as silence engulfed the assembly.  
I know that many of you, maybe uncomfortable with that.  That is why I have asked to speak to you, to give you my testimony and then allow you to ask questions.
I have felt like a woman trapped in a man’s body for my entire life.  I was married for over thirty years to a wonderful and accepting woman, who died several years prior to my coming to this assembly.  I have a wonderful family, all of whom support me and are here today.
Believe me, I did not choose this course of action lightly.  I did so after much personal anguish and a great deal of prayer.
For a little over two years prior to my complete transition, I have lived my life as a woman: I was doing so when I came to this church and I think I did it well enough that no one knew.  If so they did not commented.
I have no apologies to give for what I did, or who I am, because I do not believe I did anything wrong.
I accepted Jesus as my Saviour over thirty-five years ago, and asked Him to remove from me what at times, has been a difficult burden.  He has chosen not to and thus, I have accepted that I am what I am.  A child of God, who knew me according to the Psalms in my mother’s womb.
I have no intentions of preaching a sermon here today, only to ask you to accept me as I am.  In fact, the only reason I stand before you today, is because I was asked to come onto the staff of this church and wish to be completely honest with you.
Now, I will open the door to all questions and endeavor to answer them to the best of my ability.  Nothing is off limits. After the questions, I will ask for a vote and abide by your decision.”
There were many questions answered, then the pastor came to the front.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now time to take a vote.”  He said.  “If you wish Margaret Elizabeth to become a part of our pastoral staff, please rise to your feet.”
How would you vote?
Please think carefully and prayerfully about it.

An obligation

An Obligation

“Not until the creation and maintenance of decent conditions of life for all men are recognized and accepted as a common obligation of all men and all countries—not until then shall we, with a certain degree of justification, be able to speak of mankind as civilized.”
                                                                             Albert Einstein
As soon as I’ve posted this I will be going to the Jesus festival held annually in our city. It’s a time when the predominantly smaller churches get together to celebrate Jesus in a park in the centre of our small city.
We give away free food and other things without obligation to anyone who comes.
As I prepared things for it I was curious to find out what Canada’s poverty level was. I knew it was in the teens.
According to the Canada without poverty website an anti-poverty website,
“1 in 7 (or 4.8 million) people in Canada live in poverty.... Marginalized Groups: Members of society that are especially vulnerable to poverty including persons living with disabilities, single mothers, Aboriginals, elderly individuals, and racialized communities
21% of single mothers in Canada raise their children while living in poverty (7% of single fathers raise their children in poverty).
People living with disabilities (both mental and physical) are twice as likely to live below the poverty line.”
The United States is not much better, according to one source
“In 2013, 45.3 million people lived in Poverty USA. That means the poverty rate for 2013 was 14.5%.” (That’s more than the population of Canada)
The same report says,
“Poverty does not strike all demographics equally. For example, in 2013, 13.1% of men lived in Poverty USA, but 15.8% of women. Along the same lines, the poverty rate for married couples in 2013 was only 5.8%–but the poverty rate for single-parent families with no wife present was up to 15.9%, and for single-parent families with no husband present over 30%.”
These are appalling statistics for two developed countries.
Sheldon Danziger  the director of the National Poverty Centre at the University of Michigan said  he was especially impressed by a figure showing Canada and the U.S. have the same relative child poverty rate -- 25.1 The chart also showed that after government taxes, benefits and other social programs, Canada's child poverty rate drops to 13.1, while America's barely budges, hovering above 23.1 percent.
The thing is be it 13.1% or 23.1% this is an horrible statistic. That no civilized society should stand for.
I believe it was Saki Knafo writing in the Huffington post in 2012 quoted, Jane Waldfogel, a professor of social work at Columbia University, who wrote about how the labour government in the United Kingdom approached the poverty problem, she writes
“that the Labour Government's efforts to combat child poverty in the U.K. were "larger and more sustained than in the United States." Shortly after he became prime minister in 1997, Tony Blair found himself staring at a UNICEF report similar to this new one, except that England's child poverty ranking was much higher.
So Blair's government instituted programs modelled after former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. The U.K. developed Sure Start -- an early-care program for low-income children similar to the U.S. Head Start. British families could apply for the Working Tax Credit, similar to the U.S. Earned Income Tax Credit.
The Labour Party spent more on these programs, even as the U.S. spent less, and within five years the number of children living in "absolute poverty" in the U.K. had fallen by half. According to the UNICEF report, 12.1 percent of British children now live in relative poverty -- nearly half the percentage of American children.”
Twelve point one percent is still high but a step in the right direction and it shows if there is a government will poverty can be reduced if not eliminated.
We as individuals need to be speaking to our Government representatives and urging them to do more. After all what better way to spend tax money than directly on the poorest members of our society.
I as a Christian ask Christian to heed the words of James when he wrote in his Epistle,
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  
If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.  
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 
You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” 
                                                                                                          James 2:14-20.
The Talmud states,
“When a man appears before the Throne of Judgment, the first question he is asked is not, “Have you believed in God?”  Or “Have you prayed and observed the ritual?  “He is asked: “have you dealt honourably and faithfully in all your dealings with your fellow men?”
                                                                                                                      The Talmud
Whether we are a Christians, a Jews, someone of other faiths or for that matter atheist, is not showing compassion and helping the poor anyway we can only the humane thing to do?
Is not helping the poor of our society a way of dealing honourably with our fellow man?
Please think about it.