Proposed legislation

The following was sent to me by a friend by way of an e-mail. I have not changed much of the original message. I left out a small amount of material and changed the font. It is my understanding that it originated with Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman of American Family Association. According to my information, the website for the same is at http://www.afa.net/. The e-mail message:

“February 20, 2007
Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire list of family and friends.
Contact Your Representative In Opposition to HR 254 Today!
The U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote on HR 254, which establishes ‘hate crime’ legislation. HR 254 will create new special rights for homosexuals under the guise of enhancing law enforcement. It would make ‘sexual orientation’ a protected class alongside race, religion and gender. (Has your local paper covered this? Mine has not, as far as I know!—my addition)
The only way this bill can be defeated is with a real grassroots uprising by those who care about the future of their children, families and marriages!
The intent of this law is to force acceptance and approval of homosexuality on every American, regardless of their religious views. Here is a short summary of HR 254 (The reader needs to go the website to do this. I could not copy and paste the text as I wanted it to appear—my addition.)
For a more in-depth review of where we are headed, click here (Again, go to the website to do this—my addition.)
Here is a partial list of what homosexual activists are trying to force on every American. While HR 254 will not, in and of itself, accomplish these goals, it will open the door to such regulations. Once the elephant gets its trunk under the tent, the way is open for the elephant to move inside and do whatever he wants.
1) Preaching that homosexuality is a sin from the pulpit will result in the preacher being charged with ‘hate speech.’
2) Churches will have their tax-exempt status revoked if they oppose homosexuality.
3) Homosexual marriage will be legalized and recognized in all states.
4) Polygamy will be legalized.
5) Landlords will be forced to rent to homosexuals.
6) Scouts, and all non-profit organizations, will be required to hire homosexuals as leaders. (That will also include churches even if they believe homosexuality is a sin. Imagine, a homosexual preacher preaching to the congregation on the evils of homosexuality—my addition.)
7) Biblical language used to define homosexuality will be considered ‘hate speech.’ City officials have already had a billboard removed in Long Island, NY, because it was classified as ‘hate speech.’ The billboard read: ‘If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination.’ (Leviticus 20:13)
8) Employees will not be allowed to say anything negative about homosexuality in their workplaces.
9) Classes promoting homosexual lifestyle will be included in school curricula beginning with the lower grades.
10) Employers will be forced to hire homosexuals.
11) Adoption by homosexuals will be legalized in every state. (It is my understanding that most of these eleven points have already been enacted in Canada and, of course, some of them have already been enacted in portions of the United States—my addition.)
To read HR 254, click here. (Again, you need to go to the website—my addition)
Let me say again: HR 254 will not, in and of itself, accomplish everything the homosexual activists’ desire. But it is the first step to position their cause where they can achieve all their goals. (Examining the activities of homosexual activists over the last forty plus years, they have been successful in slowly but surely implementing their goals by doing it incrementally. They first argued that government should stay out of their bedroom. They then argued that government and businesses should pay for their bedroom (through insurance and other programs that recognize homosexuality as a legitimate behavior) and now, of course, they are pushing that government legally recognize their immoral behavior. Now, many new, nighttime television shows include at least one homosexual in the program and we had a homosexual promoting movie win an academy award for best picture. This is not surprising given the almost total lack of morality exhibited by Hollywood in film and television—my addition)
If they are successful with HR 254, rest assured they will pursue their next goal and will not stop until they achieve all their goals. (And why would they. America has become so immoral that many Americans can’t tell the difference between moral and immoral. They argue that it is moral and a Constitutional right to murder their own unborn child. So called “advice experts” parrot the politically moronic line that there is nothing wrong with homosexual behavior and some pseudo churches proclaim the same lies—my addition.)

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association (http://www.afa.net/ [my addition])

P.S. Please forward this e-mail message to your family and friends!
Have a question about this or past Action Alerts? Click here” (Again, go to the website.)

Will more immoral garbage be televised?

I plan on sending the following letter which I’m posting tonight to TV station UPN 59 in Peoria tomorrow. As background for this particular letter, UPN televises the State of Illinois basketball tournament games for both Class A and AA girls’ and boys’ basketball. Last year, I was watching a girls’ Class A game when the station ran what I thought was an inappropriate commercial. I wrote a letter to the station manager and sent a copy of the letter to the Peoria Journal Star, our local paper, as a letter to the editor. The edited version of the letter was published in the Journal Star. The station manager did not respond to my letter.
I also posted the original letter on this blog. Two days later, I posted additional comments on the blog. To clarify the present letter, I’m going to repost the first two posts and then post the letter being sent tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006 Immoral garbage

I mailed the following letter to the UPN station in Peoria on March 1, 2006. As of yet, no one has responded. I don’t expect a reply. However, if I receive one, I will post it.
Your TV station will not be invited into my home again. Even when you promise wholesome entertainment, you bring along your immoral garbage.
We were watching the IHSA girls’ basketball tournament. Your immoral garbage was not invited but it came along anyway. A quote from a commercial aired during the game, “Once I got dumped during sex.”
Your TV station got dumped during a commercial. I should not have to police a wholesome program to prevent an immoral commercial from invading my home! Unfortunately, you don’t seem to have anyone with an ounce of intelligence working for your station!
I did what the libertines always say we should do. “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.” The TV was turned off. It will not be turned back on to any UPN program. I will not unintentionally invite garbage into my home and no program seems to be immune from the garbage invasion—not even a high school basketball game.
How many pre-teenagers were watching a basketball game and were exposed to a commercial glorifying premarital sex? Would you run beer commercials during this time slot? Would you run condom commercials? Then again, maybe you did and I turned off the TV before they were aired. It would not surprise me.
I’ll miss watching high school basketball. I will not miss the immoral garbage you tried to force upon us.

Friday, March 10, 2006 Immoral garbage (part 2)

Last Wednesday night the 8th of March, I wrote a blog about a letter I had written to the Peoria UPN TV station concerning the content of a commercial aired during the IHSA Class A Girls’ State Basketball Tournament. The blog was entitled “Immoral garbage.” I stated that I would not watch UPN any longer because that “garbage” commercial was aired during the basketball game.
Guess what. Tonight I watched the last half of the second night game of the IHSA Class A Boys’ Basketball Tournament. I decided to watch it because I had heard that UPN was going to air two night games of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament. The ISHA Class A games would be aired on Channel 17 instead of UPN by Insight Cable which operates in Morton. Channel 17 is usually reserved for items pertaining to a Peoria area junior college.
Guess what. I watched the entire second half and not one “garbage” commercial was shown. Every commercial was age appropriate for the audience that would be watching a high school basketball game. In other words, there was not one commercial promoting any program to be aired by the UPN station. UPN was not broadcasting the game and UPN was not inserting the “immoral garbage” promotions for their “immoral garbage” programs. It is possible to watch a high school basketball game without a “Janet Jackson Moment” as long as it is not being broadcast by UPN.
The IHSA ought to take note! Do you think they will?
(Please note: UPN has changed their name. However, the telephone book still lists it as UPN 59. Consequently, I am using that name to send the following letter.)

UPN 59
% Station Manager
2907 Springfield Road
East Peoria, Illinois 61611

Dear Sir:

Last year I sent a letter in reference to an inappropriate commercial aired by station UPN 59 during the Class A State of Illinois High School Girls’ Basketball Tournament. I also sent the letter to the Peoria Journal Star as a letter to the editor. I did not receive a response from your station but the letter was printed in the paper. I also posted the original letter and further comments on my blog: www.christiangunslinger.blogspot.com
I have enclosed copies of those two blogs for your convenience. As I said I would in the original letter, I have not watched your station since I saw the inappropriate commercial.
Since your station will once again be airing the State tournament games this year, I thought it is appropriate to advise you that I plan on monitoring the commercials aired during the tournament games. It is my sincere hope that your station will alter the policy from last year and not air commercials that are not suited for the young viewers who will surely be watching portions of the games.
Over the last year, television stations have been advertising that parents can control the programs their children watch. However, as far as I know, parents can not control the commercials that are aired on those programs. It, therefore, becomes the responsibility of the individual station to air age appropriate commercials.
I have already posted this letter and the two enclosed posts on my blog. If you have any response to this letter, I will also post that response. Further, I plan on sending a letter to the editor after the games are aired commenting on the civic responsibility or lack thereof demonstrated by your station. As I said, I hope that only age appropriate commercials are shown during those broadcasts. If that occurs, I will commend the station. If it does not occur, I will take additional steps to prevent the continued airing of immoral commercials to an age group that does not need to be exposed to such garbage.
Thank you for your time in considering this letter. I pray that your station will air appropriate commercials this year and in years to come.

Victory?

The following political commentary was in the Morton TimesNews on February 15, 2007, page A4. (It was “Distributed by DBR Media, Inc.” and gave the following website: www.jamesmojonnier.com.) It has four panels. The caricature in each panel appears to be that of Senator Edward Kennedy. If that was the intent, it seems appropriate.
The first panel has the individual declaring “Troop surge?! We need to leave Iraq immediately!” The second panel has a reporter asking “… And that will bring about an American victory?” The third panel has the individual not responding. The sentence bubble used in such drawings has only this—“ … ”. The fourth panel has the individual asking “ … Victory?”
What insight. The problem, of course, is that the mass media would not ask and has not asked “And that will bring about an American victory?” because the mass media does not seem to want an American victory. Unfortunately, neither do the libertine Democrats who are demanding an immediate withdrawal.
Many in the public as presented by the mass media (Who knows how many are actually involved—the mass media distorts the truth continually.), the mass media in general, and libertine Democrats do not have the will to fight against terrorists even though terrorists have continually attacked the United States and her interests including the 9/11 massacre of innocent men and women.
They don’t even seem to understand that we are at war. A war not of our choosing. However, that does not mean that we are not at war. No one can end a war by simply declaring that they are not going to participate because they don’t like the war. That simply emboldens the enemy. Yes, we have an enemy. It would be beneficial if we realized that simple fact.
They also don’t seem to recognize this fact. By keeping the enemy occupied in Iraq, miles from the U.S., the enemy has not been able to launch another attack on American soil. Do they actually believe that the enemy is finished attacking us and our interests? Do they actually believe that by declaring an end to the Iraq Conflict they can also declare an end to the war? Can they give just one historical example of one side declaring they will not fight and the other side also agreeing to the same when they have not yet been defeated? Do they have their heads buried in the sand like an ostrich? Are they an ostrich?
They are pathetic. They support the continual murder of unborn babies but are not willing to fight terrorists who have declared war on us and attacked our very shores. It is fortunate that they were not influencing policy during World War II. We would all be speaking German today (or Japanese).
Thank GOD for the courage and steadfastness of President Bush! War should not be waged by public opinion poll. If it were, we would have the United States of America and The Confederate States of America today. George Bush is more of a modern day Lincoln that any libertine Democrat from Illinois, contrary to what the mass media would have us believe!!!

Freedom of speech American style

In the sports section of the Peoria Journal Star today (2/15/07) on page D5 was a very short news article. Quoting it in its entirety: “Retired guard Tim Hardaway, known for his candor, said on a Miami radio show Wednesday he would not want a gay (homosexual—my addition) player on his team, would ask for him to be traded, and went so far as to say: ‘You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.’”
Of course, the politically correct crowd immediately jumped on this and according to radio and TV reports also aired today Mr. Hardaway has since apologized. I’m not particularly concerned with what he said—some of which in my mind was uncalled for including that he hated homosexual people. You can hate the sin without hating the sinner.
However, notice the immediate reaction. Mr. Hardaway must apologize. So, what happened to freedom of speech? What happened to being able to express your views no matter how outrageous they may be? The fact seems to be that the politically correct crowd only accepts the concept of freedom of speech when that speech agrees with their point of view.
Now, image if Mr. Hardaway had said something entirely different. What if he had declared on the same radio show that he hated rich, white owners who lorded over black athletes? Would there have been the same uproar and the same demand that he apologize for his comments? What if he had declared that he hated President George Bush for sending black soldiers to die in Iraq? Would there have been the same demand that he apologize for his comments? What if he had declared that he hated Christians because they were the cause of slavery? Would there have been the same demand that he apologize for his comments?
What do you think? Is freedom of speech just appropriate for speech that is considered politically correct or does it include all speech no matter how offensive it might be to some segments of society? Ask the politically correct crowd. Do you think they will tell the truth?

Jesus’ bold church (part 13)

Yesterday, for the first time since January 25th I was able to post a blog through the new account. Hopefully, everything is now worked out and I’ll be able to post regularly. Hopefully.
I’m been asked why I have done twelve posts on Jesus’ bold church when my blog has to do with “political discussion.” The answer, of course, has to do with the second portion of the blog: “Christian values.” I believe that Christians, me included, have been negligent in boldly presenting GOD’S WORD to a lost and sinful world and a humanist and sinful United States. Politically, culturally, religiously; we have allowed the humanistic libertines to make and enforce decisions that are contrary to GOD’S WILL for mankind. James, Chapter 4: 17 declares “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (NIV)
I think, what we as Christians need to do, in many cases, is to pray, repent, and to once again begin to boldly proclaim GOD’S TRUTH as the early Christians did. We need to stop being concerned about fitting into a sinful and corrupt world and start once again to boldly and enthusiastically proclaim the TRUTH as given in the WORD of GOD. If we do, we, not by our own power and ability but by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT, will again “move mountains.”
The problem seems to be, in many cases, that we have become too comfortable in the world. As Revelation identifies it in relation to the Laodicea church—lukewarm. As identified in the last post—casual Christians. Are we too rich in physical, material things that we are not willing to risk losing any of it by declaring the TRUTH? Are we too comfortable with our present lives to proclaim GOD’S TRUTH and WILL? Are we afraid of the persecution that will almost certainly result if we disturb the status quo that seems to have developed?
And make no mistake about it, if Christians are boldly proclaiming GOD’S WILL and HIS WORD, the devil will attempt to persecute us! That is his nature. He is an enemy of THE CROSS! He is an enemy of mankind! He is an enemy of GOD!
Where is the bold church of the early Christians?
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 4: 17 (NIV)
Where is the bold church of the early Christians? Where is the bold church of today? Where are the bold Christians of the bold church?

Jesus’ bold church (part 12)

For those who don’t blog on blogspot.com, the company is switching all blog accounts over to a Google account. I did that on the 24th of January and was able to post that night. Since then, I have not been able to post. When it is ever fixed, I will begin posting again. I have been able to get the program I wanted for posting part 12 of the series on Jesus’ bold church and that will prayerful be posted first.
I have been writing about JESUS’ bold church. The priority has been on the church either as the body of CHRIST in its entirety or as a local congregation of the body of CHRIST. Of course, the body of CHRIST—the church—is composed of individual followers of JESUS the CHRIST. Tonight’s post is taken from a TV program that airs locally on our cable system at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. Transcripts of those programs may be found at www.searchtv.org. To not lose the direction of the material I have done very little editing although not all of the material emphasizes what I want to emphasize. My emphasis is, of course, on the boldness of individuals who have chosen to be followers of JESUS the CHRIST—the Son of GOD. The program as presented on January 7, 2007:
“Greetings of the New Year, my friend. I hope 2007 is the very best year of your life so far. Someone has written the little poem that says, ‘The clock of life is wound but once’—and so it is. It is that way with every life, too. And already we are well into what we have been calling the ‘new year.’"
“I pray you will be blessed by having invited us into your home for Bible study ‘In Search of the Lord's Way.’ It is certainly a blessing to us. Let me remind you that we are here by the love and generosity of friends of yours and ours who are members of churches of Christ in the area of this (TV—my addition) station. And, because of them we won't be asking you to send us money, and we won't be trying to sell you some weight-loss pills or anything like that. We are here for Bible study. I read a little thing awhile back about the sinking of the Titanic. Now that event occurred before most of us, if not all of us, were even born; but it still has a fascination for us. One of the highest rated movies in the year 2001 was about it. But, a half-page piece written by Tom Harguess pointed out something that I had hardly thought about before—well anyway—not quite like he said it. He reminded his readers that the Titanic sank at about 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912 and the S.S. Carpathia arrived on the scene to rescue survivors at about 4 a.m. the next day. At the time of the collision with the iceberg there were 2,340 people aboard the ship. Only about 745 of that number were rescued.
The Titanic was supposed to have been an "unsinkable" luxury ship you remember. And it was supposed to have had every luxury known that people would want on such a voyage. But what is it to a man about to die, drown in some icy water—to know that the ship had three electric elevators, squash courts, Turkish baths, a hospital with an operating room, private promenade decks and all, Renaissance cabins, palm garden, darkroom for photography, the tapestry of an English castle, a dinner service of some 10,000 pieces of silver and gold, and even more? And the only thing needed that night was not provided. That one inadequacy was the lack of lifeboats! Well, that pretty well describes life for many of us. We have all of the luxuries that we want, the finest homes our money can buy, luxury automobiles, the very finest clothes that we want, and the finest food and all the toys that we want to amuse us. What we don't have is what we need most in the hour of death—the hope of heaven. Well, it reminds us of the Bible text for today's study. We will read it in a moment.
(If you would like a free printed copy or an audio cassette tape of it, you may address your request to “In Search of the Lord's Way”, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK. 73083. Or, our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Many people use our toll-free telephone number for this purpose, too. That number is 1-800-321-8633. [The website is www.searchtv.org–my addition.] )”
“We are reading today from Matthew chapter 16, and we are going to begin at verse 24. ‘Then Jesus said to His disciples, if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.’ And I read through verse 27.”
“Our text is set in the area of Caesarea Philippi in the northeastern extremity of the land of Palestine, in the latter part of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Jesus had asked His disciples who they believed Him to be. And Peter had very quickly and spontaneously and confidently replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Well, the Savior pronounced a blessing on him (perhaps on the others, too), and promised him that He would build His church on that truth. Oh! Those disciples must have been thrilled and excited with that announcement, and that enthusiasm was surely noticeable to Jesus because He commanded them ‘that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.’ Then He explained why. ‘He must [first] go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day,’ before that message would be preached. Just how much of what He was saying at that time, they understood, we are not sure, because, in John 2: 22 the Scripture says that it was only when He was risen from the dead that they remembered what He had said to them about the latter part of that.
At any rate, when He mentioned being killed, dear old Peter, impetuous, impulsive Peter that he was, interrupted Him. Some think he may have even taken Him by the hand and taken Him aside, and begun to rebuke Him. ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’ It seems as though Peter was saying he, and perhaps all the other disciples, too, would step in and prevent such a happening as that. He spoke as a friend. Peter loved Jesus. No one could ever doubt that. Perhaps he just couldn't bear the thought of Jesus' death, and as we said, he didn't understand this bit about His being raised from the dead the third day.
Anyway, Peter's censure drew a rebuke from Jesus: ‘Get thee behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’ Now the word ‘satan’ literally means ‘an adversary or one who opposes’ what we are trying to accomplish. It is true, it is used more often than not in the Scriptures with reference to the devil, as the adversary of man and the chief opposer to the purposes of God. But Jesus was probably using it here in its more general application. ‘Get behind Me, you are as one who is opposing Me, Peter, and the whole purpose of my coming in the flesh. If what you are saying were to be, it would stand in the way of My doing the very thing for which the Father sent me. You are looking at it all from, well as a mere man; you don't understand or you are not considering the plan and the purposes of God.’
Then He said to all of them, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’ To deny himself, doesn't mean a disciple must forego the comforts and luxuries, and some of the sports and pleasures of life. It means total surrender of a person's will to God and to His will with absolutely no reservation whatsoever. I mean that doesn't leave the door open for personal conveniences or comfort or pleasures or opinions or likes or dislikes or feelings or rights or well, any of that sort of thing. To deny one's self is to totally surrender to God and to doing His will. Oh say! That doesn't sound much like a casual relationship with Christ to me; does it you?
And, what did He mean ‘take up your cross, take up his cross and follow me.’ This has been troublesome to a lot of people. Some have thought it meant just becoming reconciled to the idea of some kind of a handicap or physical infirmity, or maybe a bad marriage or the loss of some investments, what is sometimes called ‘bad luck.’ I heard one preacher explain it in a sermon once in a way I have never thought of it myself. He said he had three crosses he had to bear—his wife and two children. Quite frankly, my friend, my wife and my children were never crosses to me. No, no, I'm sure that isn't what Jesus meant.
The cross was an instrument of death. It was also a symbol of disgrace because only the worst of criminals, and I mean those that were guilty of the most heinous crimes the mind of wicked men can conjure up, were crucified. Furthermore, a cross was a symbol of the curse of God. Jewish law in the Old Testament clearly defined that, ‘He who is hanged [on a tree (Galatians 3: 13)] is cursed of God’ (Deuteronomy 21: 23). Furthermore, the person who was to be crucified was required to carry his cross to the place of his own crucifixion. Remember? Jesus carried His cross on the road to Calvary until, because of exhaustion, He fainted, and another man was compelled to assist Him.
For a person to take up his cross and follow Jesus, meant he would willingly suffer any kind of shame or burden or disgrace the world would and could heap on him for the name of the Savior. In view of the teachings I'm hearing on TV and radio, I must repeat, that does not sound much like a casual relationship with Christ to me. Oh yes, Jesus is a friend alright, and what a friend He has proven to be. He said, ‘Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends’ (John 15: 13). But Jesus loved us even more than that essence of human love, because He loved us so much He laid down His life for us when we were living as His enemies in sin. In the next verse (John 15: 14) He said, ‘You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.’ So, while his friendship is not questionable; well, I question the casualness of it. The spirit of casual Christianity is being preached and practiced so much in modern churches it is simply killing the very spirit of what Jesus taught and required of His disciples.
If a person chooses and professes to follow Christ in life, he must number (1) deny himself, number (2) take up his cross, number (3) follow Jesus. What does it mean to follow Jesus? The apostle Peter helps us with that question. He had first-hand knowledge of it. He wrote two letters to the saints in Christ Jesus who were, like himself, sorely persecuted for the faith. In the first one he said, ‘This is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this end you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in His steps.’ (1 Peter 2: 19 through 21) Jesus not only taught the right way of God, His life was an example of it.
Well, do you suppose anyone really got interested in following Jesus under those severe conditions? You would think if He had made discipleship, if He had just made it a little less confining or restrictive or burdensome, more appealing, more people might have come and listened to what He had to say. Oh, no, no, my friend, it was because it was such a "strait and narrow" way, that people were attracted to what He said. They followed Him by the thousands. There was one time that there were as many as 5,000 men besides the women and the youth, and they stayed and listened to Him so long that day that they grew hungry. And since they had brought no food, Jesus fed them with the five loaves and the two fish that a lad had brought along for his own lunch. Well, there was another time He fed 4,000 beside the women and children. That is Matthew 15: 38. The Scripture says that ‘They were astonished at his teaching for He taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes.’ (Matthew 7: 28). I don't get from Jesus' teaching that following Him is to be taken casually. Casual Christianity is not what Jesus, the Founder, the Author and Finisher of our faith taught. We must shake ourselves out of that kind of thinking to be authentic followers of Christ. It was its absolute distinctiveness that made His teaching priceless—worth giving one's self to so completely and so totally as He demands it. Elton Trueblood once said, ‘There can be no cutting edge that is not narrow.’ Yeah, that is true.
Then in verse 25 of our text Jesus says, ‘For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’ Jesus is talking here about two lives. Let me try to paraphrase: Whoever is anxious to save his temporal life, his comforts and happiness and security here shall lose eternal life—or heaven. But whoever will dedicate himself wholly to Me and to My cause, even to the point of dying for it if necessary will surely gain the next life—in heaven. Yes, that is what He is saying!
Now we have come to verse 26 which is the crux and the essence and the heart of this message: ‘For what is it if a man gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’ We can spend our time talking about the meaning of the word ‘soul’ in this verse, and not get what Jesus actually was talking about. And, doubtlessly there will be some who will write me this week to do that. That's ok if you will maintain a good spirit and sign your letter. You may be able to enhance my understanding if you will do that, and I'll welcome your hope and your help. But if you are ugly and you don't sign your name, you won't be able to help me, because I don't read unsigned letters.
Oh say! What a piercing question: ‘What will a man give in exchange for his soul?’ Back to Dan Harguess' analogy in the story of the Titanic. What did matter on that night is that there were not enough lifeboats, and nowhere, no time to get any.
But, it will matter; it will be important to you whenever you have lived all your life for self, or for Christ and His great cause. It was the will of God that Jesus Christ came into the world, to die on the cross to take away the sins of the world (John 1: 29), then to be buried and raised the third day. The writer of Hebrews said, ‘Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him’ (Hebrews 5, verses 8 and 9). Would you be willing to be baptized into His death, buried with Him in the act of baptism, and raised with Him in the new life? He died, was buried and rose again for you, and He asks you do that for Him in the act of baptism. Some people would like to follow Him, but they won't do that with Him. They didn’t think it is necessary. I pray you will today. Don't wait. Do it now. And if we may assist you in some way, please give us the opportunity. Call us.
Our program is presented here by your neighbors and friends who are members of churches of Christ in the area of this station. We would love to have you pay us a visit in one of the congregations near you here. If you need help in locating it or learning of the times of our Bible classes or worship assemblies, let us help. If you would like a free printed copy or an audio cassette tape of today's message titled, ‘What Will A Man Give?’, please mail your request to “In Search of the Lord's Way”, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK. 73083. By e-mail it is searchtv@searchtv.org. You may read it or hear it or view it again on our website at www.searchtv.org. Churches of Christ are trying as near as we possibly can to learn from the study of Christianity in the New Testament to duplicate that in the life of the congregations today. If New Testament Christianity in this generation is important to you, come see us. God bless and keep you now. We love you.”
I like to say that JESUS did not promise HIS followers a “rose garden” while on this earth. He did not promise wealth, health, and/or happiness. He did promise us persecution if we are obedient to HIS will. As this program pointed out, followers of CHRIST must deny self and must be obedient (or surrender) to JESUS’S HOLY WILL. He must take up HIS cross—be “willingly (to) suffer any kind of shame or burden or disgrace the world would and could heap on him for the name of the Savior.” He must follow JESUS in obedience regardless of the consequences—in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, in good times and bad times unto a man caused death if necessary.
In short, just as JESUS does not tolerate lukewarm churches; HE does not tolerate lukewarm Christians (what the program identifies as casual Christians) because there is no such thing ultimately as a lukewarm, fence sitting, casual Christian. You are either a Christian doing HIS WILL or you have rejected HIM as your SAVIOR. You can not serve both GOD and money. You can not serve both GOD and humanists. You can not serve both GOD and evil. You can not serve both GOD and the devil. It is impossible!!!