Are you Satisfied??

Leadership requires integrity, and the character of an organization descends from the integrity of the leader. Some of us knew what we were voting into office. From the majority of voters the truth was hidden by a well greased political machine and a willing media.

Here is the question for the next 3 months. Are you satisfied with exponentially increasing national debts? Are you satisfied with ever decreasing personal liberty as we and our children are saddled with paying for this debt? Do you want the national federal govt. making decisions about who received medical care based on their perceived quality of life and the contribution they will make to the social order? Do you respect a man who apologizes for America at every international appearance, while defending a masque to be constructed a few hundred yards from Ground Zero?

I appreciate that we have elected a man of color to the most prestigious office in the nation. I am entirely against racial bigotry and racially charged politics. I am opposed to a man and his political agenda who seems intent on presiding over the decline of the American I love rather than enacting policies which will bolster, strengthen and promote America and the freedom which has made us great.

Again the question is: Are you satisfied? If not, election day is only less than 80 day’s away. What can you do to invigorate your neighbors, identify and oppose corruption and Vote for Real Change we can believe in on Nov 2, 2010.

If you are not convinced, check out this story as you decide where and how you can be involved.

http://www.resistnet.com/forum/topics/this-is-a-biggy-scathing

Tea Party Strategy, and Swimming Upstream.

The media is making hay with every story they can find or create regarding factions in the tea party movement. In order to transform ourselves from an emotional movement into a sustainable political force, we have to realize, accept, and develop strategies based on four point we may not want to admit.

1) The main stream media will portray us as imploding in order to create the reality in our minds and in the minds of the public that we are unstable / can’t be trusted.

2) We are principle based, our opposition is not. We believe in specifics which are founded on right and wrong, moral and immoral options. The other side believes in attaining power for powers sake, and the ends justify the means. Our attitude is typified a willingness to stand for our beliefs, even if we are standing against each other, even if we loose.

3) The left has been walking incrementally forward for over 40 years. They have built a political and legal foundation and a cultural expectation which accepts their paradigm. As a result, they have created momentum, have little resistance in the people’s mindset. They achieved these goals through education and legislation before moving to make sweeping changes across the entire country. Now they have leaders in key places ready to implement. We typically have a go-for-it-all-now approach which is neither wise, realistic, nor successful.

4) We need to develop a long term plan to unify and work toward common goals nationally while engaging state and individual issues locally. We have differences, but believe in the same principles. We have to give each other freedom to be different on the small stuff if the person is committed to working incrementally toward Tea Party Goals. Not everyone will support all points at all times. We will likely have to work 20 years, promoting political candidates and educating the public to build support, in order to be in a position to gain any sustainable momentum.

This is gut check time. Early victories and media attention is not the finish line. Victory is returning to a constitutionally based govt, tax and financial reform. It will likely take passing term limits on Congress as a constitutional amendment to wrest control from their unaccountable hands. The left has been working for more than 2 generations to amass power for themselves, for their own purposes. They will not just roll over and say “Ok, you caught us, we will get back in line” Need evidence of the coming battle – just look what the admin is willing to do in Arizona on the immigration law to continue their policies.

At some point we have to choose to hang in the fight together, or we will all hang separately.

Are we in this to win?? Whatever it takes??

Government and Fairness

Friend, you should have figured out by now that any time this admin, passes a measure which includes the word “fairness” in the title, the measure is meant for anything but fairness. The title is meant to lure and excite uninformed citizens to get emotionally excited: “Yea, I’ll get mine now, and be able to get back at that dirty ______________________.” (fill in the blank) But class warfare doesn’t help ANYONE. Pitting one class of the electorate against another, rich vs poor, white vs black, male vs female, worker vs business owner, whatever, is the most widely used, and most successful way an unjust govt. has stirred emotional angst within the voters as a way of justifying larger govt, expanded policies and taking away our liberty. We have got to look past the sound bites and emotional reactions to see the purpose of the legislation. Our country has been fundamentally altered forever by this current administration, and not for the better.

The country you and I grew up in, where opportunity was available for all who wanted to work hard and pursue their dreams, is GONE. The country as a protected home for liberty and freedom as our founding fathers envisioned is GONE. The Govt now owns 96% of the mortgage business, now controls the banking industry, the health industry, and will control the energy sector also if anything remotely resembling the current “Cap and Trade” legislation passes.

Don’t know about you, but I can’t find ANY county that has prospered under a large, centralized socialist govt. They are currently going broke all over the globe (England, Greece, Venezuela, France) Remember the Soviet Union, they failed under centralized communist govt. and their citizens are still suffering 3 decades later.

Which comes back to the issue of fairness. The world is not fair. We can’t make it fair. Men have different talents and we are able to work, produce and accomplish different things to differing levels of success.Some want to, and can earn a lot. some want to, and can’t create wealth. Then there are those that have talents and don’t want to use them. These are all internal issues, dealing with talent, motivation, and faithful stewardship. which essentially are moral and spiritual issues. The unequal outcomes are a function of internal gifts, personal motivation and faithfulness much more than any external govt regulation.

To tell the people that the govt will step in and equalize the outcome, passing the wealth from the producers to the non producers, is to fight against natures moral order. It is immoral to take from those that are faithful stewards and give to those who are unfaithful. It is simply theft. Now, I’m not talking about taking care of the poor, and righting injustice. The former is the responsibility of God fearing people, and the latter a just task of the govt.

The long and the short of this letter is to say that the Govt is using emotional fervor to justify taking power for itself. This approach to governing people was first described by Karl Marx, a devoted atheist, a man allowed 4 of his own children to die of starvation while he pursued “social enlightenment”, and who advocated violent bloody revolution as a just means of “taking what belongs to the people and returning it to the people.” These policies are the process of becoming enslaved to a bloated, socialist govt which is concerned about amassing and maintaining its own power, not it’s governing its people.

Racial Arson

There is a big difference between arsonists and firefighters, although both of them will come an watch a good blaze.

One benefits for his own twisted motivations while the other risks his life, reputation and resources to protect his community.

One is usually the first to call “Fire,” having been there first, while the other races in to protect lives and property of those he loves.

The question is, which is which. Wolves can dress in sheep clothing. Demons can appear as angels of light. Arsonist can put on a firefighters coat and hat to protect himself from the flames he set.

And then there are the victims that watch what is valuable go up on smoke. . . .

Tea Party . . .
NAACP . . .
Rev.’s Jackson and Sharpton
Michelle O.
Residents trapped in the inner city.

Who’s fighting the fires, who’s fanning them? I can’t tell from the color of their skin any more.

The Sestak Job Offer

I am personally appalled at the lack of response from major news outlets and the congressional office of ethics and accountability to the Sestak job offer issue.  Unfortunately, however I am not surprised.  Could the double standard be more apparent?  If Sestak were a Republican, every (D) congressmen and news outlet would be calling press conferences and demanding an investigation.

What meaningful value are news outlets, congressional self monitoring, and an administration that promised new levels of transparency if it only applies when there is political advantage to be made against the other party?

It is clear by the administration’s stonewalling and legalese in the response that ethical boundaries have been crossed, if not legal ones.  I want to encourage news outlets, or maybe even congress (lmao) to appoint a special investigators and get to the genuine bottom of this issue.   This is a career making opportunity, just ask Woodward and Bernstein.  This is also an opportunity for congressional leaders to regain some of the respect they have recently lost in the eyes of the people they are called to serve.  To refuse to do so is simply a continued lapse of a public officials’ and journalists’ duty to the country.

The people vote on the media’s job performance every day by who they choose to trust for information. How we feel is evident in the polls, and in recent viewership ratings of major news outlets.  As for congressional leaders, their silence is deafening, and if continued is a message we won’t forget in the 2010 midterm elections, just 6 short months away.

Sincerely
Timothy Burns

When the Truth is No Longer

Each generation within the life of a local congregation has a valuable contribution to make to the life of the Church.  Those in their golden years have wisdom to share, gained from a full lifespan.  Those in family rearing years bring strength, stability, growth and energy to the congregation. A young pastor can bring new life to a stagnant environment in the same way that an experienced leader can help a congregation reach new levels of influence in the community.

We all have our gifts to bring to the Church. According to Ephesians 4, the Body of Christ grows toward maturity when each of us finds, develops and contributes that which God can do through us, each of us individually.

The following essay is from a young man, possibly a future pastor, in ministry internship at the Teen Mania Honor Academy.  Is there a message here that can add to the life if your church?  I think there is.

Truth is No Longer Known as Truth,

But We Think Our Lies Are True

Truth is a precious gift that God gave to us, but over time we have misinterpreted and tried to change it to make us look better or even more inviting. Therefore, we need to provoke a revival in our action and silence our tongues, or just let the word of truth speak for us, because Truth is God, and God is the Word and the Word will change your life and the lives of others. Through truth the Gospel can be brought to many nations and change the world one life at a time. But if we were to keep following the traditions we started, we will tear the body of Christ apart. At the end of our days, Satan will not only have won the souls of many creations of our Lord, but there is a possibility he will win the souls of some of our pastors because he has corrupted their minds and converted them to believe more in the traditions they are following than the God who saved them.

In the book The Christian in Complete Amour, by William Gurnall, it says, “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made upon salvation,” (34) but talking with many pastors and youth pastors in the last couple of months I find that this is an aspect that we seem to have forgotten. I do not want to say that all pastors don’t confess the faith or truth with their mouth, but I think some of them have been blinded to the truth because they think too highly on one subject and not a different one. When a pastor does not agree with something in the Bible it is easy for him to make something up and preach it as truth. It is also so easy for a pastor to get prideful in what he is doing because “he is the leader” and he can never be wrong, for if he was wrong then who would follow him? They are under so many heavy burdens; it is easy to become overwhelmed sometimes. So they will change what they are saying, or just say something that sounds good to keep people in their seat of the church building. But yet, what is the church? Is it an organization, or a body of people? 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For we are all baptized by the Holy Spirit into one Body – whether Jews or Greeks- slaves or free- and we were all given the Spirit to drink”. This can be thought to say the people inside the building are the church. But in reality, it is everyone who is living every aspect of their lives to passionately pursue Christ. We are a mobile body that is working to change the world, for Jesus Christ is Lord. If we are to do this, we need to be a loving family and united among our brothers. But yet, when we go in to different churches you can just look at the congregation to see if there is a loving attitude in the church. Jesus, when he was in his ministry, would look for the broken, the sick, and the criminals. But some of our pastors today look for the ones that have it all together. They think unless you are a good, white American you cannot be a good follower of Jesus Christ. Wherever this thinking came from it needs to be forgotten right away, because that is the opposite of what Jesus did. We have the truth about everything we need to do, but yet we misinterpret it so it will fit our little world that we want. Instead of following what Jesus did and living our lives to follow him, it is like we are breaking one of the commandments: do not create an idol among the lord. We think of ourselves as great, but yet God is the great one.

Paul was also very clear about what we should be doing with each other while we are in the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul talks about how, as bodies of Christ, we should not be divided with worldly views. I was at a church in Sandusky, Michigan, and there was another small church on the other side of this small town. But the church where I was doing the concert and this other church did not have anything to do with each other. There was a fight that happened in the past that forced people to leave one of the churches, and the elders of that church felt that they were attacked when the other church on the other side of town was planted. They were divided by their denominational differences. One church felt pride in the number of people and thought that was more important than God, when they should have looked to the truth of what God was doing to draw the lost and rebuild the church (meaning the people, not the building). This is one of the many examples of a truth that is plain and simple in the Bible that people have lost sight of the purpose and thought of themselves instead of the Lord. We have so many other different denomination and church styles. You have a different type of church for every kind of man. But wait, I thought we were supposed to be changed when Jesus came into our lives. There are some pastors who I know who will say, “The American church is like a shopping mall; there is a different style for every type of American in our country”. The pastors of these churches will only talk about the parts of the Bible that will attract the people to keep coming to their building, to make the offering plate bigger so they can impact their city better. But yet, if you are following what God wants you to have your church do and learn, won’t the true followers of Jesus Christ be drawn to your building and join your church family? If we were to follow the Bible we would take to heart Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed any longer to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The body should be transforming the world and not the other way around. But the pastors of our churches are too afraid to lose the number of people; they will teach half truths or not talk about the deep and condemning parts of the Bible. We just make the Bible say what we want instead of saying what the Bible says and conforming to this world. People do not understand how big the gift of truth is, so they just do with it as they wish.

As future leaders who are being influenced by the leaders that are heading the wrong direction, we need to realize this is happening. We need to realize when a pastor is wrong and help him be turned back to the truth. But we need to not condemn them for what they are doing. When we confront like that, we as Christians get the reputation of being a condemning religion and not the loving one we are. We need to understand this life is all about sacrifice. We do not matter. If our bodies want to sin, we need to tell them no. If we are attracted to people of the same sex, we need to say NO. If we want riches, we need to give most of them away and look to God for more blessing. It is really all about having nothing because God has everything. So there really needs to be a revival of truth in the church. We need more leaders that will lead people to Christ and not a building. We need leaders that are not lost in the teaching because they need a quota in their offering plates, but ones who will understand that God has everything, so if you are doing His bidding He will keep us here. If it is God’s will for you to have a church there, then it is God’s bill to keep it up. Look to Him to provide and teach all aspects of the truth of what we are reading in God’s word.

I am not saying that I am all wise with what we need to change, or to say that I have all the answers to our problems. But I do think that people are so used to hearing the Song of Redemption that they need deeper truth. We need to start teaching the Truth of God’s wrath and how we need to live a life of excellence because mercy is not there to let us do what we want, but to make up for the few times we do wrong. If we had to live with just the law and judgment, well you have read the Old Testament so you know what they had to do. Why don’t we let truth speak for itself? As Paul stated in Corinthians 2:1-2; “For I did not come to you with eloquence of speech or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you testimony of God. For I resolved to know Christ and Him crucified.” Just let the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection speak for itself. As we bring people in to are buildings and get them “saved” a lot of the time we will never teach them to get past that part. We say the Christianity is a journey but do not teach past salvation in are churches. Service after service we are showing more people how to be saved over and over again but never bring them to the next level. Because we never show reasons people need to live with excellence and the real reason for grace, and reasons to read the Bible they never do. So, our preachers will falsely teach them and their souls will fall into the never ending fire in the depths of hell. They will not even know where they are going because they were thought wrong. Then when followers of Christ come to the end of their days, what will the Father say to us when He judges us. Do we want to be responsible for thousands of souls that were sent to Hell because we never brought unity to the Body of Christ and confronted the preachers? How is our high priest looking at His bride when He sees homosexual pastors or pastors that are holding anger inside? Are leaders sending their people to hell? It is something that breaks my heart. What are we doing about it? What are we going to change about the body of Christ to bring it back to the white and spotless lamb that Jesus is coming back for?

In conclusion, I do not want it to seem like I am another heretic that is blasting the church because of what is happening in the world today. I also do not want you who are reading this to think I know all the answers and I am trying to fix the church to what I think it should be. I just know what God has been showing me on how He wants His bride to be. If you were to ask me more, I would probably just look in the Bible to answer your questions and then ask you to check me on it. That is the main source for all knowledge, under the Holy Spirit and God himself. But the issues that I bring up are breaking my heart because it is turning people away from the truth of who God loves. Also the false teaching that “Christians” are saved and can do anything they want because they are under grace, as long as they go to church on Sunday. So, I write this in warning and love to the Body of Christ because I have heard unsaved people dying and we’re not going crazy about it. I really think we should. Jesus said in His last order to his people, “GO and make disciples of all nations”; not people that go to church. My heart goes out to the church leaders that have been looking at truth as a lie and trying to change it to make them or their building look better. I pray that they might look at their own ways and come back to be a true disciple, a follower of Jesus and His word.

Inspiring

Metaphor: “Satan patches the fox’s skin of seducers with the lion’s skin of persecutors.” (32)

Imagery “Christ opened his heart; you would soon see the foundations of the prison shaken, its doors thrown open and the chains falling off.” (44)

By Ben Burns, 2009

The Short List – Life's Prime Directive

For more than 20 years, Bill Butterworth has build his career speaking, writing and counseling others onto pathways of deeper faith and higher quality relationships. His training, experience and passion have combined to create this latest book, The Short List. Published by Tyndale (2009) The Short List addresses the question that most American’s struggle with throughout their lives. What is really important? What will outlast me?

What will I be remembered for that is of real value?

Bill answers these questions out of personal stories from his family. In the end, Bill’s conclusion is that the relationships he has with his family and his God complete the short list. “In a life full of choices, there are only four that matter” Bill says. The 8 chapters of the book unpack those 4 prime priorities.

Bill sets up each of the four items on his list with a story from his family. For example, his lesson of love is set up by a story from his son’s little league days. Love and little league? Yes, they blend like espresso, milk and a touch of cinnamon when looked at through a lens of positive relationships. What is really important in life? Being a genuinely loving person, and knowing how to apply unreserved and influential loving behavior to your most important relationships is item One on Bill’s short list.

I would tell you the other 3, but then you wouldn’t need to pick up the book, and this book really needs to be read in today’s digitally segmented, post-modern world. What really lasts isn’t found in the 24 hr news cycle or the latest Internet social networking craze. Often what is important plays at our feet when we are too engrossed in the former. I recommend Bill Butterworth’s The Short List. As a summer read, it will aid the reader in recovering what is really important, and provide a plan for obtaining, practicing and mastering life’s short list.

As I read Debbie Przybylski’s latest book, Intercessors Arise (Navpress, 2008) my first reaction was not what I expected. A few chapters in, I was asking “Where is the fire? I’m interested in this subject. As a believer, I want a more dynamic prayer life. But this book is, well, uninteresting.” I’ve heard the anecdotal stories before, and felt I should pray more than I do. However, I already know this stuff. The book was missing the proverbial trigger. Debbie didn’t pull the trigger on how to make the reality she described a part of my life.

Debbie is the founder of Intercessors Arise International, and has spent decades on the mission field with Operation Mobilization. She’s an acclaimed writer, and mentor, teaching on the subject of prayer and intercession across the globe. So her experiences suggests that she must know about prayer. Yet I spent half the book asking where is the fire? Where di I find the kind of life she is describing?

I would like to pat myself on the back and say “And then lights went off . . . ” No, my final analysis of Debbie’s book demands that I humble myself rather than disclose some grand revelation. Debbie’s book will tell me the 5 points to a better prayer life. Intercession isn’t a spectator sport that one can learn from the bleachers of Christian life. Indepth intercession like Debbie describes doesn’t follow a formula. It is learned on one’s knees, discovered through utter dependence on God.

Intercessors Arise is a manual to be poured over slowly. I recommend taking 2 or 3 months to digest and apply the lessons. This book can be a wonderful resource for a group of friends who seek to improve their prayer lives. Intercessors Arise is not and cannot be formulaic, as are many modern Christian titles. Intercession is not a formula where I insert currency and like a gum ball machine, God turns the crank and rewards me. From her deep experience Debbie describes that intercession require a person’s commitment to their God – a broken open, unfaltering, humble-and-willing-to-wait for an answer commitment which is too often absent in today’s modern church.

My confession is that I didn’t get much from her book the first time through because I was looking for a formula. My own attitude and shallow expectations were the roadblock. Intercessors Arise is not a book. Rather it is a tried and proven field manual that encourages Christ followers to pray big, dream big, and then depend on an equally Big God. In response, God often starts by creating brokenness and dependency, a humbling process that creates intercession from self focused prayers.

I recommend this book highly, and give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Tim Burns featured as a Guest Blogger

Check out Tim’s latest blog entry, as a guest on http://www.devodiva.com/

A Relevant Work, Timeless Issues, Biblical Models

Mothers of the Bible Speak to Mothers of Today

In her latest book, Mothers of the Bible Speak to Mothers of Today, award winning author Kathi Macias demonstrates her depth as author, speaker and bible teacher. Kathi selects 15 women from the Bible, from Old and New testaments, obscure and renowned, and makes their stories come alive through practical application. The reader will find that Kathi has the special talent that makes the lives and emotions of ancient moms relevant to post-modern American culture.

Each of the 15 women who are selected as role models are made real through in-depth, inductive Bible study as well as the author’s feminine insight. Like Kathi’s other books, this work is refreshingly personal. Still Kathi finds a way to press deeper by cross referencing scripture, explaining cultural influences, and spotlighting the text’s linguistic background. She fleshes out the personal side of God’s redemptive work as illustrated through her subjects.

For example, in the first chapter, Kathi examines the maternal side of Eve, whose name means: Life Giver. According to the author, Eve must have wrestled deeply with being the “first” at many things. Without role model or mentor, she was the first to have a husband, endure and fall in temptation, lose a son to violent crime and then lose a second to the consequences of his crime. Yet, through it all, God proved faithful to her name, and promise He had given her. Eve bore another son, Seth, through whom Jesus would eventually become the redemption of all mankind, the Eternal Life Giver.

Kathi brings her readers face to face with timeless issues which impose themselves upon today’s moms. Have you ever watched a mother play favorites with her children, and the ensuing chaos within a family. Have you experienced a mom’s deep struggle with isolation, competing with others due to personal insecurity, or laying down personal desires for your children as they forge their own way in the world? Each chapter concludes with review and application questions. Information without application aborts the disciple-building process, and Kathi makes room for both in this wonderful work.

I’ve interviewed Kathi a few times, and each time I’ve come to appreciate her deep commitment to God’s word, and desire to live biblical faith in a practical way. As Christ followers, we can mistakenly assume we can have one part of this equation, the practical faith, without a commitment to real discipleship built on a foundation of God’s Word. Kathi is an example that these two elements are conjoined twins. The only way to have one is to engage the other.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5, and recommend it highly. This latest work is insightful, balanced, scripturally grounded, well researched and highly relevant.