CONFESSION: I HAVE AIDS

Can't hear your kids/grands anymore? Do you pretend to hear them and nod your head. Time to hear your most precious loved ones. I've tried several hearing aids. Amplified cheaps. Miracle Ear. Military at 1/6 the cost (turned them in for a refund). NO! The best in the world are Costco's Kirkland Signature hearing aids for 1/3 the cost (yes, some cost, around $1800). They run off my smart phone. I change the volume, background noise, treble and bass on the phone. Calls coming in? Only I hear them in my aids. Stunningly rapturous music? I (only) hear them in flawless stereo. In my aids. YOU need them. You love your offspring. Start hearing them. Today. P.S. Batteries are cheapest at Costco.

"BUTTONS" - Carl Sandburg's best

I HAVE been watching the war map slammed up for advertising in front of the newspaper office. Buttons—red and yellow buttons—blue and black buttons—are shoved back and forth across the map.

A laughing young man, sunny with freckles, Climbs a ladder, yells a joke to somebody in the crowd, And then fixes a yellow button one inch west 5 And follows the yellow button with a black button one inch west.

(Ten thousand men and boys twist on their bodies in a red soak along a river edge, Gasping of wounds, calling for water, some rattling death in their throats.) Who by Christ would guess what it cost to move two buttons one inch on the war map here in front of the newspaper office where the freckle-faced young man is laughing to us?
YOUTUBE VERSION and my sentiments are further expressed by Isaac Watts:

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

Are 3 birds deciding the election?

Three birds keep yacking at me. One on each shoulder and one on my head. The scrawny bird on my right shoulder says, "Hey, go with the flow. If Trump gets in, wouldn't it be fun to watch him knock heads and break things?"

The one on the left shoulder says, "Trump is the next Hitler."

The bird on top of my head says, "Trump is a plant. He got together with Hillary a year ago and said, 'I'll announce for the presidency and appeal to everyone's fears, insulting Mexicans and Muslims. The Rednecks will love it, and I can wreck the Republican Party. The Bushes and Rubios will be done. The Hispanics and Muslims will be yours. If I win the nomination, the election is yours. If I don't get nominated, I'll run as a third-party candidate. Either way, you'll be the next president.'"

The three birds all talking at once is a noisy cacophony. Which one should I listen to, if any?

Your cherished beliefs - a passing fad?

"Paul needs to come back and rewrite the Bible to comply with today's culture."

A young college girl I know said this, horrified as she was taught that the Bible was horribly dated regarding such things as same-sex marriage.

Would you want a god who kept moving the goal post and the rule book?

A skeptical friend suggested that evangelical Christianity "is always changing" with the shifting cultural winds.

What about you?

Were you the teen I saw in church raising your hands in praise, only later to live as if God doesn't exist - because you wanted a boyfriend so urgently that you discarded your upbringing for more immediate gratification?

Did you sit under learned scholars who know so much better than C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Mother Teresa or Jesus Christ? Or for that matter, all the many Christians who founded most of the branches of science, such as Newton or Pascal? Or the one who articulated the Just War, Augustine? Is your professor more brilliant than all of those put together?

You need to answer the question of your own eternal destiny. It's the most important question you will ever face. Will you just try to do your best and take your chances?

Really?

The fact of eternity is far, far, far too important to me to leave to guess work.

And you?

Another of my skeptical friends said, "This life is all there is. There is no more."

In order to say this with convincing authority, wouldn't he need to have more knowledge than all the people who ever lived?

Let's say that you were the most learned person who ever lived. How much of the universe's historical body of knowledge would you know? Let's say 1 percent. Could what you don't know about God be part of the other 99 percent?

The God and His/my Christ I follow is unique above all religions or philosophies. All the others say you must do good works to earn some kind of higher state.

My Jesus saw that you and I fall short, and so He came to pay the penalty for what I deserve. No other religion or belief does that.

Only 2 beliefs in the history of the universe:
a. Worship of one God.
b. All other "religions" or philosophies: Self-worship

You may not need Jesus. All you have to do to succeed without Him...is to lead a perfect life.

Ever lie?

Ever steal a candy bar or a pen?

Then you need Jesus.

And no, He doesn't change. God doesn't change.

That's the beauty. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

I know a former drunk who resisted God, thinking of all the things he would have to give up.

Finally, feeling empty and purposeless, he gave in and gave up. He invited Jesus into his life.

"I was amazed, NOT by what I had to give up, but by the bountiful and endless blessings I gained."

Morality is not subject to polls, votes or judicial decisions.

Why do you put off giving your life fully to Christ? Why do you pass up "every good and perfect gift"? Please explain it to me. I just don't understand why you'd give up everything for fleeting pleasures.

You say, "But I'm not a drunk. I'm not a bad person. I live a pretty good life."

Fine. If you live a perfect life, you have nothing to worry about.

But if you fall short - as I have - you need a Savior.

A Savior unchanged by whim or fad or cultural mandates.

Someone found in God's Word only three reasons to put off or reject the Savior:

1. Ignorance

2. Pride

3. A moral problem

Which of these apply to you?

Talk to me. Or a Christ-follower you trust.

Settle your eternity today.

Nothing you have planned for the next century is more important.

Resurrection: the proven smoking gun

I don't understand why people say they can't prove the existence of God/Jesus or the Resurrection. Alexander the Great, not to mention phony court outcomes, had flimsier proof of existence or truth.

When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul felt in his heart that he must prove to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. Acts 18

Jesus said, "I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

Thousands have tried to disprove the Bible or that God exists or that Jesus wasn't the unique Son of God. They failed, repeatedly over many centuries, and many of those who tried became believers.

It makes sense. Perfect sense, and I challenge you to find otherwise.

A skeptical friend recently asked me, "What proof have you that an angel spoke to a virgin named Mary? There were no witnesses."

My answer: The Resurrection of Jesus is a proven fact, and knowing that with absolute assurance, I can accept the rest of what the Bible says.

Dr. Gary Habermas has devoted his life to proving the Resurrection, and he can win debates with skeptics, using the skeptics' own accepted facts.

Once, after a debate, a large man, followed by several admirers, made his way to the lectern where Habermas was.

The man said, "I have a list here of nine other people who rose from the dead."

Habermas: "Where did you get that list?"

"From the Internet."

To which Habermas responded, "I can name every man on that list. Problem is, none of those ever existed."

Here are the 12 points Habermas uses to prove the Resurrection, and he says most critics had little choice, having observed the evidence, but to believe the 12 points

1. Jesus died by crucifixion.

2. He was buried.

3. His death caused the disciples to despair and lose hope.

4. The tomb was empty (the most contested [but arguments have long been discredited]).

5. The disciples had experiences which they believed were literal appearances of the risen Jesus (the most important proof).

6. The disciples were transformed from doubters to bold proclaimers.

7. The resurrection was the central message.

8. They preached the message of Jesus’ resurrection in Jerusalem.

9. The Church was born and grew.

10. Orthodox Jews who believed in Christ made Sunday their primary day of worship.

11. [Jesus' brother] James was converted to the faith when he saw the resurrected Jesus (James was a family skeptic).

12. Paul was converted to the faith (Paul was an outsider skeptic).

I heard Habermas in person and he added at least two other proofs:

13. The disciples all died tortuous deaths that they could have avoided by recanting their testimony. Habermas added that no one has ever willingly faced such a death by opponents for something they believed to be false.

14. The Resurrection was announced by a woman. In those days, women were considered to have such low credibility that they couldn't testify in court. So, if someone made up the story, would they choose a woman to verify it?

For more details on how Habermas develops his evidence for the Resurrection, CLICK HERE

To the 14 points above, add more than 300 prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus Christ (and could be fulfilled only by Him).
Try to prove otherwise. Throw every ounce of effort and research into it - it's that important. It is quite likely that you, too, will agree with the Centurion at he Cross: 

"This man truly was the Son of God!"

Betterment of humankind - symbolism or substance?

When something is too hard, should we put the best spin on it by promoting symbolism over substance?

Sometimes in the government, I discovered that meetings that had no useful outcome would end by the leader suggesting that someone write a brochure or produce a video. A videographer on staff would crank out videos by the dozen, and they would sit on shelves gathering dust, having no viewers.

Even more troubling: nuclear agreements or climate-change summits wherein negotiators and dignitaries enjoyed the opulence of five-star hotels and gourmet banquets. The outcome?

Symbolism over substance.

A photo-op complete with smiles and handshakes.

And an agreement devoid of teeth.

Adversaries who inspect themselves.

Grandiose language to save the earth absent any means of enforcement.

Symbolism over substance.

We can do better.

You can do better.

And so can I.

We need courageous, godly leaders with the insight and determination to make things happen, who can create a budget that has immediate results and not just tweaking 10 or 20 years hence, piling onto a staggering national debt.

I'll be dead in 10 or 20 years.

My concern is for my children and grandchildren.

Keep the symbolism.

Give me substance.

Rocks? Bricks? Bottles? A civil way to respond

Now we have our first test of civility following my summary of The Case for Civility by Os Guinness.

Kenneth Stokes, a Councilman in Mississippi, tired of police chases from other counties for petty crimes, advocates locals to throw rocks, bricks and bottles at outsider police officers.

Really? Does this solve the problem and promote peace and tranquility? How does one cordially confront such a suggestion in the spirit of civil debate?

Me? I would hope to model principles of civil debate:

PEACEFUL HISTORY: I would hearken back to Martin Luther King Jr.'s advocacy of non-violence.

HIS-SHOES-MY-SHOES FAIRNESS TEST: I would need to imagine myself walking in his shoes, and I would encourage him and those who support his suggestion to imagine walking in my shoes. If I (or anyone from another political party) were to advocate throwing rocks, bricks and bottles at anyone, would I get a pass? Would people react in the same way? Would the White House call a news conference to condemn me? What's good for the goose is good for the gander, to coin a phrase...or not.

CALMING LANGUAGE: I would be wrong in responding if I used emotionally charged words. I would need to stick to the facts and employ all my persuasive skills. I would want to look hard at all sides of the issue (often more than two), acknowledging and respecting other points of view. It's the only way to have any hope of defusing the situation.

Finally, RESPECT ONE'S RIGHT TO BE WRONG. It's the Constitutionally supported American Way.