Our God is not a god of Hate!

"Freedom of speech can be ugly. Minnesotans saw that firsthand in February 2006, when Andrew Kemple was laid to rest in Anoka after he was killed in Irag. "Parishioners" from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka picketed the funeral, saying homosexuality is a sin that God punishes by killing Americans, especially American soldiers. Rev. Fred Phelps contends when a soldier is killed, it's God's retaliation for America's views on homosexuality."


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I came across this article online, which was the continuation of an earlier article about an incident which took place back in 2006. The new article was about the law suit filed by the soldier's father in response to the harassment of the family at his son's funeral and how Fox News' Bill O'Reilly had sided with the family in their suit against the protesters by paying some of the court costs for the soldier's family. The original article told about how parishioners from the Westboro Baptist Church had picketed the funeral carrying signs saying things like "Thank God for 9/11", "God Hates the USA" and "God Hates Fags". After reading this article, I couldn't help but wonder what god they were referring to? Not the God of the bible, not the Creator of the Universe, not the Great I Am, not the Alpha and Omega, not Our God and certainly not the Father of Christ! Because God, the Father in Heaven, is a loving God and does not hate his creations, even though they are wicked and vile enough to picket a grieving family as they lay their son to rest! Apparently the view held by this church's pastor is that the death of American soldiers is a form of God's punishment for the views held by some Americans. But not all of us Americans believe that homosexual behavior is acceptable, so why would he want to punish the rest of us?
 

Yes, according to the Old Testament in the Bible, God does consider homosexuality a sin, but it's not the only one. God considers many things to be sinful, such as prostitution, pornography, adultery, stealing, murder, etc., is the sin of homosexuality any greater than, say, the sin of prostitution? How do they know it's this sin and not some other? If what they say is true, why wouldn't God hate prostitutes just as much as "gays"? In Romans 3:22-24 it tells us "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe. There is no difference, 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 Jesus Christ." So, since we are all sinners, why would God just kill a few G.I.s here and there, instead of taking out whole towns, states or even countries, because the USA is not the only nation that practices homosexuality?

In the book of Genesis from the Old Testament, God destroyed the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah because their sin was so great (one of their worst sins was that of homosexuality!). God is wholly and righteous therefore He hates all sin, but not those who sin. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) If God were a god of retaliation, we would have become extinct long ago! He wiped out mankind once before with a great flood, couldn't He do it again?

Our God is the god of love, second chances, forgiveness and abundant mercy, not hate! This passage comes to mind, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." (Psalm 103:8) and because of His great love for us, he has promised never to flood the earth again. The bible tells us "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) "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10) and lastly "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) In these verses, the whole reason God sent Jesus, His son, into the world, was that he should be the final sacrifice and His blood would cover all the sins for all the people of the world.

I believe that the Rev. Fred Phelps at the Westboro Baptist Church missed an important memo from God the Father, the one delivered by His Son, Jesus, with the following message "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31) Instead of opening their hearts in love and compassion, being a light to the fallen world, they have chosen to close their minds and repay evil with evil, this is not the way of our generous, forgiving and loving God! It's things like this, that add to the bad rap Christians are given. How do we get off on these tangents and miss the mark so drastically? Jesus' original message was really quite simple, first love God, then love others as yourself and that he was sent to teach us how. On that note, I don't think I'll be attending this church anytime soon; if they have not learned to love their neighbors, what can they offer the lost, weary and broken hearted?

The Fine Art of Loving

The Art of Loving has been around since the beginning of time, its author is none other than God himself. After creating the world, the animals of the sea, land, air and lastly man, God set in motion his plan for love. Although the art of love has been around from the beginning, it’s still a very new concept to us humans and it’s taken us a very long time to even grasp a small notion of what it entails.

Man was created by God in his image and was designed from the beginning to be the object of His love, a divine love.  Someone He could shower with affection and provide for in every way, but God does not force His love on his beloved, He has given us the choice to accept it or not, as stated in 2 Peter 3:9 ^“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Paul gives us this definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "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.” He then continues on in verse 8 “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away." So God’s love is eternal, forever, no matter what, the only thing that can separate us from God is our decision not to accept His gift of love and salvation through Jesus Christ.

If we should choose to accept His gift of love and salvation through Christ then we are called to share it with others by setting an example as shown in the following verses Ephesians 4:2 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Mark 12:31 "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Luke 6:31 "Do to others as you would have them do to you." 1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." Luke 6:35 "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." 1 John 4:7 "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Romans 12:9 "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Romans 13:10 "Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." And then finally we read in Colossians 3:14 "And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

So in order to perfect the Art of Loving, we must first learn to accepted what Christ has done for us in love so we can know God’s love for us. By immersing ourselves in his Word through spending time reading and studying the bible, along with talking to Him through prayer, we can get to know Christ in a real way. But the Art of Loving is not perfected just by having a personal relationship with Jesus, Jesus wants us to practice what we have learned by loving others. The way to really perfect it is to love the “unlovable”, those people who you don’t think deserve your love or any love for that matter. The ones who step on you and grind you under their foot like an insect! Not an easy thing to do, but then Christ never said it would be easy to follow Him, He only said He would be alongside guiding us as we learn to perfect the Art of Loving!

What better example of the Art of Loving than that of Christ who came to earth to live a life pure and innocent, teach us to love and die to prove His love by becoming a sacrifice for all! "Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13. In divine love there is always an exchange, His life for mine, my life for others, those who have been forgiven, forgive; those who receive grace, give grace. The best way to learn the Art of Loving is from the Master, Himself!

A Firefighter's Prayer

A Firefighter's Prayer

             

                         When I am called to duty, O God

                         Wherever flames may rage,

                          Give me strength to save some life

                         Whatever be its age.

                          Help me embrace a little child

                          Before it is too late,

                          Or save an older person from

                          The horror of that fate.

                          Enable me to be alert

                          And hear the weakest shout,

                          And quickly and efficiently

                           To put the fire out.

                           I want to fill my calling

                          And give the best in me,

                           To guard my every neighbor

                          And protect their property.

                          And if according to your will

                           I should lose my life,

                           Please bless with your protecting hand

                           My children, my husband or my wife. 

Author unknown,  revised edition:  C.S. Bosse 11/28/11

Return of The Zombies!

On a whim, I decided to go with my number two daughter (I have 4 in all and a son) to a local county fair kind of thing in a park nearby.  I don’t usually go to this type of thing, but what drew me in was that it was a Music Festival too! So anything with the word music in it usually gets my attention! Actually, there is another thing that will get my attention as well, it’s the word FREE! Now, you put the two together and BAM, I’m sold! 

I’d heard some advertisements on the radio and saw a few on facebook, but hadn’t given it much thought until I realized it was really close by, the word free was attached and I found out that Nils Lofgren and Robert Randolph were going to play. So now I was interested and when my daughter brought up the subject, it began to sound good! Of course, she had no interest in seeing Nils Lofgren, but she had at least heard of Robert Randolph, no, it was The Bravery and OK GO that she had in mind and just needed some company. 

The MusicFest started mid week and featured some other big names, like Suzanne Vega, Soul Asylum, Train, Spoon, along with tons of local bands. There were four stages, three that were showcasing music and one for children’s acts. But the act that caught my eye was The Zombies, who were to play after Nils Lofgren and Suzanne Vega and before Robert Randolph on the last day. So we made a deal, she’d go with me to see Nils and the Zombies if we went to see The Bravery and Ok Go the day before, so we did and both acts were pretty amazing! Ok Go was my favorite, they are just so crazy! They did a song using just hand bells! (Unfortunately, there were no treadmills!)

Nils Lofgren was fairly well known when I was a teen; he formed the band Grin, which later included his brother Tom, giving us “White Lies” and “Moon Tears”, he then went solo for many years, giving us “Cry Tough”, “No Mercy”, “I Came to Dance” and last but not least, “Keith Don’t Go”, before ending up in the E Street Band with Bruce Springsteen. He also played with Neil Young and Crazy Horse as a teen. 

The Zombies were very big when I was in junior high, who could forget “Tell Her No”, “She’s Not There” and “Time of the Season”, there was just something magical about the blending of voices between Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone!  Way back in the early “60s” and into the “70s”, The Zombies were a staple on the radio, when they split up, Rod went on to form the group Argent giving us such hits as “Hold Your Head Up” and what would later become a rock anthem covered by the band Kiss, “God Gave Rock and Roll to You”.

I’ve seen Nils Lofgren a couple of times over the years, once as a solo act and once as back up for Bruce Springsteen in the E Street band, so I was kind of looking forward to seeing what he’d look and sound like after all these years. He was scheduled to play as an acoustic duo on the last day of the MusicFest which was a Sunday. Unfortunately it began raining in the morning, even though he wasn’t supposed to perform until 1 in the afternoon, I was starting to get cold feet. I don’t relish the idea of hanging around in the rain and mud very much, but the rain seemed to be letting up and even though I’d missed Lofgren, I thought it might be fun to try to catch The Zombies, so we took a chance.

Somehow by the time we arrived, paid the parking fee of ten dollars, (it’s never really free), parked the car, the rain had stopped and the sun was peeking out from under the clouds. We only had about 20 minutes or so to kill before the Zombies were scheduled to go on, so we checked out the local band that was playing, we then found our spot near the stage for the Zombies. I’d never seen them live and had no idea what to expect, but they hit the stage and the crowd was growing by the minute! At 65, they had changed a lot and Colin looked a bit frail, but the second they sang, it was like being transported back in time! Both Argent and Blunstone’s voices were still in awesome condition! After the first song, the audience was trans fixed, looking around, I noticed a stark contrast between the old and young, all were enthralled by what they saw and heard, the old reminiscing and the young picking up on something new to them!

I can’t really remember every song they did, I hadn’t heard them all before, but what I remember went something like this “Care of Cell 44”, “A Rose for Emily”, “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted”, “Tell Her No”, “Time of the Season” a new song I think called “Believe”, “Hold Your Head Up”, “God Gave Rock & Roll to You” and I pretty sure they finished with “She’s Not There”. They also played songs like “Liar”, which was written by Argent and Blunstone, but became a big hit for Three Dog Night. Performing along with Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone was a backup band consisting of Jim Rodford (Rod’s cousin) on bass, his son Steve Rodford on drums and new comer guitarist Tom Toomey. Jim Rodford had played with the Kinks for years until they finally disband. Rod did most of the talking, explaining the chronological origins of each song in the set. They played for over an hour and the crowd was singing along and going wild after each song!

I gained some new respect for The Zombies, Rod along with Colin, held their own, proving as the band Jethro Tull once stated in their lyrics “you’re never too old to rock & roll, if you’re too young to die” and a new generation has been added  to their followers!

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Are we on the road to ruin?

On July 4, 2011, we’ll celebrate Independence Day marking our 235^th year of freedom, a day set aside to remind us of our independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and the birth of a new nation, the United States of America, one nation under God. As we proudly proclaim “God Bless America”, our history and current events tell a much different story. Our founding forefathers and the authors of the Declaration of Independence had envisioned a nation with God as its sovereign ruler. When we remember and reflect on the significance of the declaration, let us not forget the sovereignty of God in the affairs of human history.

Our early government put its faith and trust in God; it’s written in our national anthems and on our money, why then is it not written in our hearts and minds? It would seem that we are turning our backs to God more and more often, trying to distance ourselves from Him. If we take a stroll back through history in the Bible, we find that every time the nation of Israel or God’s chosen people, took their eyes off Him, they fell to ruin. They spent much of their time in captivity and under serious oppression.  Time after time, God would set his people up in the best lands, with the best provisions, the land of milk and honey; then again in time they would fall into evil practices and be on the road to ruin. Only when they were captives and under oppression, would they return to God in their agony and loss to be once again restored. Is it so different for us as a nation today? If we continue in our cultural demise will it not lead to the demise of our nation as well? Will God turn his back on us too?

In a quick look at the Bible, some things seem to pop out, that give us some fair warning as to what we are up against. In Deuteronomy 28:1-2, Moses says “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.” He then goes on to list all the wonderful blessing God has in store for his people, but then in verses 13 &14, he gives this warning to the people, “The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.” At this point Moses goes on to tell them all the dreadful things that will happen to them if they choose to ignore God, but the scariest part comes in verse 49, where he states “The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young.” (Which sounds just a bit like 9/11?) And eerily later on in verses 62 & 63, “You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God.  Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you.”

The nation of Israel (the Jews) never got to where God wanted them to be, over and over He tried to retrieve them from their evil ways, even going so far as to send them a savior, Jesus Christ, whom they reject even to this day. So God opened the option to the rest of us, the Gentiles and by His grace we are saved. In view of all this, how can we live in such ignorance as to think that this cannot happen to our nation as well? 

So this 4^th of July let us remember those who fought and gave their lives, along with those still fighting and dying for our continued freedom by returning to the faith of our founding fathers and pray that God will have mercy and save us from ourselves!

What do Pitt bulls and Christians have in common?

I came out of a local convenience store the other day and saw a beautiful Pitt bull dog chained to the drain pipe, having one of my own (an American Staffordshire Terrier to be precise, just one of the many bull terrier breeds) I wasn't alarmed but rather intrigued. It was half black and half white, just sitting there so sweetly and oh so patiently, waiting for its owner to come out and continue their walk. As I drove away it occurred to me that this breed of dog and Christians had some things in common, at least three that I could think of. First, both are so terribly misunderstood, it's all in the upbringing of the individual. Second, that both are just looking to share a little love and third, that it only takes one badly behaved individual to ruin it for the rest!

Is it a tragic accident or just plain murder?

I have been venting some feelings I have concerning the tragic events in the life of a friend and her family.  Her eighteen year old son had suffered a brain injury after being choked by a man whose car he and his friend had broken into early one morning.  The lack of oxygen had left him in a vegetative state and his health had been slowly deteriorating after he contracted an infection.  It is with a sad and heavy heart that I must report his passing; he has gone home to be with the Lord.  Amid the grief and sadness, there is still some joy, although things will never be the same for his parents and the brothers he leaves behind, there is great joy in the end of his suffering and his new life with his Father in Heaven!

So what happens now?  Now that the boy is dead, is a new chapter in this nightmare about to unfold?  Should the man responsible now be charged with murder or because he started out as the victim in this scenario is he to receive absolution?  We can all agree that had the boys not ventured off the straight and narrow path, none of this would have happened, but does that make him any less guilty in the boy’s death? 

I can understand how things might be justified, if say, the boys had broken into this man’s home instead of his car and then under the law he would have the right to defend his home by any means. If one has the right to defend oneself by any means, should that include hunting someone down and punishing them by your own hand?  What really took place we will never fully know; only one side of the story will ever be heard now that the boy is dead. How can we be sure that the boy was not just trying to defend himself?  This man changed in an instant from victim to aggressor when he chased after the boys, knocking one out and then proceeding to choke the other until he was unconscious and near death, I think that is a bit extreme! That doesn’t sound like defense to me; it seems more like aggressive revenge! 

If he had called the police first and was just simply trying to detain them, why continue choking the one boy?  Wouldn’t it have been enough to keep an eye on the boy knocked down while waiting for the police and let them sort it out, knowing they had at least one suspect apprehended and he would lead them to the other?  Even if the man was trying to defend himself against the boy’s attack, he should have stopped choking him once the boy stopped struggling; this whole scene seems like overkill! 

The question now is, is this man guilty of murder or was this just a horrible accident? Should charges of some kind be brought against him, perhaps something like negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter? I personally believe that he should be held accountable and take responsibility for his actions. I think he should be charged with something and that he should stand trial, a jury or at the very least a judge should decide if he was within his legal rights and not just some out of control psycho!