Just Going to Sit This Here & Walk Away

 Feeling so blessed to be with family and friends yesterday to celebrate Thanksgiving, I skipped reading any news. This morning, I made the mistake of catching up on the news. 

One of the first things I noticed were the holiday wishes coming from prominent figures and personalities. On the social media sites, I saw two very different messages from two very different men. 

This is from the outgoing President Biden. The one message was part of a video he posted. The other (which I only partially captured) is part of another message that included a Thanksgiving card image.

That's a pretty standard presidential type of message to citizens - from an outgoing president who was not popular in the last few years.

This is the message from the former (45th) and future (47th) president:

I watched a YouTuber speak about the two messages and mention how few people - in the news and among the MAGA-verse - had anything to say about the tone of this unhinged message. The YouTuber wondered what reactions would have been had the word "Left" been with "Right" (or MAGA, which has taken over the Right)? 

This is the comment I left on that video, and it's pretty much what I have been wondering for a few years now:

It's more discouraging for me that many people who call themselves Christian support this man, despite the behavior. I'm Christian and I believe character, behavior, intentions, and morals & common decency matter. Of course, there is much about the Left I disagree with, but we are beyond parties at this point. When people wonder how the Antichrist will get the support of so many "good" people, this is the blueprint. (For Christians who disagree with me - and there are many I personally know - I just ask that you look beyond party alliance and deep into your hearts and study on this.)

I'm going to probably wonder the same thing for the next four years.

Peace

--Free 

Popular Christian Nonsense?

 I have bookmarked several news sites but I mostly only check 3 or 4 of them every morning. One is The Christian Post. For some reason, I never paid much attention to the "Group of Brands" listed at the bottom of the site's homepage.

Interesting. How silly that I never scrolled that far down the page to notice this before.

The first site I checked was Good News Line. I not only checked it but I went ahead a created an account when prompted. Big mistake. When checking the "Bible" link from the dropdown menu, my eye skipped past "Churches" and went right to "Pastors". And that is where I realized my mistake because the first "Pastor" I saw was Rick Warren.

Of course, I will not visit the site again. I have some problems with some pastors/teachers but I have many with certain others, including Rick Warren.

As I scrolled through the other "pastors" on GNL, I kept seeing more and more evidence to avoid the site: Sarah Jakes Roberts, Bill Johnson,  Joel Osteen, Tony Evans... There were several pastors who do adhere to Bible doctrine and teaching - Voddie Baucham, John MacArthur, and Paul Washer. What concerns me is the fact that so many false teachers are included. 

If some new or less discerning Christians saw that list on a site associated with "The Christian Post, they might think that all the listed pastors are biblical. I am not a new Christian and had to do a double-take.

I saw all this to say that we have to be careful not to look at the cover of a thing but to pay attention to its contents - and intent. 

Peace

--Free

Speaking in Tongues (or Babbling in Nonsense?)

When I was young, our family attended a "Holiness" (or Church of God In Christ) Church. People called us "Holy Rollers". 

For most of her life, my mother attended this denomination. However, my mother never participated in much of what made "Holy Rollers" Holy Rollers. She did not "shout" (dance around "in the Spirit"); she did not speak in tongues; and she did not claim to "hear from God". (Like many Christians, she believed that the way to hear from God was to read the Bible.)

My mother prayed all the time and she was steadfast in her faith. I never heard her mock the people who did all that shouting and speaking in tongues.  I remember her always sitting quietly and just watching as this kind of thing went on.

I realized something about Mama after she was gone and I was growing stronger in my own faith. She didn't attend the COGIC church because she believed in everything they did. She attended because it was the church that was around when she was growing up. My mother believed in "fellowshipping" but she was discerning about people and beliefs.

As a more mature Christian myself, I don't hold with a lot of what many Pentecostal churches do. I don't believe in forced tithing (or tithing as a mindless habit).  I don't believe in babbling in tongues that no one is able to interpret. I don't believe in all the jumping and shouting. I believe in God.

One thing I noticed about people in the church I grew up in (specifically the 2 locations my mother was associated with) was that people were a lot more Christian inside the building than they were outside it.

But the speaking in tongues thing did baffle me for a while. I wondered if there might be something to it. I didn't want to believe that so many people were just babbling nonsense - which would be a sort of mockery. What convinced me was realizing that no one was ever interpreting what was said. Also, there would be several people "speaking" at the same time. No one had a clear message to share; people were just, I almost hate to keep saying it, babbling.

There are some prominent names in "ministry" who make a habit of this kind of nonsense. 

They give people a reason to laugh at sincere Christians... We know that we would be hated by the world but to be made a target by other so-called "Christians" is really sad.

Here is one video about speaking in tongues. 

Finally, I have realized that "charismatic" worship is not for me. My faith is not a faith of feelings or experiences.  Please read your Bible for yourself. Pray and ask God for discernment. Your pastor is not your "father" and you need to hold him to biblical standards.

I can know now that while my mother was faithful in her churchgoing (unlike me), she remained discerning and did not "follow every spirit". 

Peace

--Free