The last post and a new site

My new website is www.bigrevcoop.com. This will be my last post on this website. Thanks for reading.

Some Changes To Come

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, and there is a reason for that: I have been studying. I have decided to part ways with blogspot. They have served me well for a couple of years now. I am going to have my own site. It may take me a month, but I will get it up and ready soon.

I have a bit of a problem. I really am not all that computer savvy. Thus, I am not capable of doing what I want to do. I will be speaking with a few friends, and getting some trusted advice. My hope is that my new website will be a little more fun.

This is what I want to do. I will still have commentary. I also want to have a blog for those who read the site. This blog will be invitation only. You will contact me, and I will let you in. This way, I can guard the content. I also want to do a little verbal communication with my new site. I will have sermons on the site. I will also have some other things to listen to. I would like to do some interviewing, and have some discussion group stuff.

I hope you will check back here often. When I am ready, I will post the new .com address on this site. I hope you will join and get involved. It should be a lot of fun.


Thanks,

bigrevcoop

Things I Remind Myself

Each and every day, I face trials and temptations just like everyone else. I have come to the conclusion that the children's song is right; "We are weak, but He is strong". Paul constantly repeated the theme of having the right frame of mind. He wrote things like, 'Renew your minds", and "Put on the Helmet of Salvation". He wrote these words, because he knew how weak humans are. He knew that if we do not constantly keep godly things in our heads we will fall to temptations.

Over the years, I have created a few phrases that are truly mine. My congregation and my family hear these phrases over and over again. I repeat them, because they speak to me. I presume that if they speak to me, then they will speak to others. I remind myself constantly these few truths. I do it, because it keeps me headed in the right direction.

In this week's blog, I am going to give you five truths that shape me. I believe each one of them to be true. I have to remind myself of these things daily, or I will struggle with my walk with God. I hope they will help you out as much as they help me.

1. God isn't concerned with your feelings; He is concerned with your obedience.

We are a people consumed with feelings. I don't feel this way. This doesn't fell right to me. I have come to the conclusion that we cannot trust our feelings. We must trust what we know. We know a great deal of things. God has revealed a great deal of things to us. Let us put our trust in the things God has revealed.

As a Pastor, I do a lot of counseling. Every now and then I am told by a someone (usually a woman), who is struggling with their marriage, this statement: "I don't feel the same that I used to". My response to that is,"I don't feel the same today as I did yesterday." If we base our actions on our feelings, then we will do all sorts of stupid things.

God does not care if you like his rules. He only cares that you are obedient to them. Of course we don't like all the stuff Christians are supposed to do. We are born in a state of sinfulness. Our human nature is to do things that our wrong. It is only through Christ that we have the strength to fight through our temptations.

So let us remember, your feelings are not all that important. Your obedience really matters.

2. The most unchristian thing anyone can do is not forgive.

A person who says they cannot forgive is a person who is lost. I want to repeat that, because it is so true. A person who says they cannot forgive is a person who is lost.

Forgiveness is the key to Christianity. We are to forgive people for what they do. Now here is the hard part, they don't even have to ask for it. Boy, this is hard stuff. Nevertheless, God put it upon the offended to forgive the offender. How often?, each and every time. Christians are to forgive. We have absolutely no excuse not to. If you don't feel like it, review number 1.

3. You have had nothing evil done to you that compares to the evil that you have done against God.

This kind of goes hand and hand with point number 2. People who say they cannot forgiven do not realize what they have been forgiven of. God has forgiven you of much greater things than you need to forgive others of. You are responsible to forgive. It is easy to forgive when you truly understand what you have been forgiven of. However, if you are unable to forgive, then you do not understand your own forgiveness. And as I said early, if you cannot forgive, then you are not saved.

4. God owes you nothing.

We live in a society that believes they have earned something from God. The old song has it right, "He saved a wretch like me". Many people believe they deserve to be blessed. the Bible teaches us that we deserve to be punished. The truth is that the whole lot of us deserve to go to Hell. The moment that we believe that God owes us something is the moment we think we done something for God.

5. We must have a high view of God, and a low view of man.

This statement reminds me that God's word is much more trustworthy than anything man has come up with. Human beings are terribly flawed. God is perfect. Human beings are depraved. God is Holy. Human beings cannot earn their salvation. God saves His own.

So there you have it, the five truths that keep me straight. I truly believe that if Christians would remember these things they will be much happier in the long run. I hope they help you as much as they help me.

The Importance of Genesis 1-11

I have come to believe that Genesis 1-11 is the most important section of all the Scripture. How one interprets this text will influence how one looks at every other aspect of life. Why do we believe in traditional marriage? Because creation teaches us this. Why do we have a 7 day work week? Because creation teaches us this. Why is there death? Genesis 1-11 tells us why. Simply put, how a person interprets Genesis 1-11 will have a large impact on how he sees the world.

The easiest place to see this is the secular world. Last week, the Democratic presidential candidates went on Logo TV to debate homosexual issues. Only two of the candidates stated they believed that homosexuals should be allowed to marry. The rest of the candidates said they do not believe the country is ready for this. Thus, they were saying that they all were personally in agreement with it, but out of fear of losing, they could not personally support it.

The truth is that the only reason not to support homosexual marriage is the issue of faith. If I was not a Christian, I would support gay marriage. However, I believe in the Bible, and because I believe in the Bible, I am forced to stand by the Biblical principals of marriage. I will guarantee that the denominations that support gay marriage and gay clergy do not hold to a literal view of Genesis 1-11. If they believed in Genesis 1-11, they couldn't support what they are supporting.

I believe this is why there is so much disdain for the Creation Museum. Ken Ham and "Answers in Genesis" have created a first class museum that teaches creation according to the Bible. As I follow this story, it seems that every secular group in America has come out to complain. They want to silence the creationists, because the belief in creation has a vast impact on how one sees the world we live in.

Secular Humanists have no greater enemy than Historical Christianity and the belief in the Bible. The liberals are very intelligent. They know if you chop away at the source of morality, then morality has nothing to stand on. The source of morality is the Bible. The foundation of the Bible is the book of Genesis. Thus, if the book of Genesis can be declared wrong, then Christian morality will soon fall. This is why Christians must educate themselves about creation.

I hope that all readers of this blog would take a fresh look at the two leading creation institutes. "Answers in Genesis' and The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) have done a wonderful job of answering the secularists. Christians must return to the Biblical understanding of creation. If we refuse, then our morals have no ground to stand.

Online America

Tuesday marked the 16th birthday of the world wide web. This is amazing to think about. The human experience with the Internet is only 16 years old. In such a short time, the WWW has become a Juggernaut of influence. It has shaped our world both politically and economically. Most people that I know spend time on the Internet every single day. Some people that I know spend more time on the Internet than they should. The World Wide Web has had an incredible effect on our culture.

In my opinion, the WWW is one of the greatest inventions ever, and one of the worst inventions ever. It is great because of what it does. The WWW is without a doubt the most successful information sharing library ever invented. There has never been a time in history that human beings can access so much so quickly. We now can read what are doctors read. We now can study anything at anytime.

The WWW has also opened up opportunities of freedom around the world. Most communist and Dictatorial nations struggle with the WWW. Information is a great liberator. The WWW opens doors that rogue regimes cannot control. The anti-freedom governments can filter and filter and filter, but information will seep through. I believe that the WWW will usher in freedom in places where there is none. It may take years, but it will happen.

As good as the world wide web is at sharing information; it is just as bad at creating community. I turned on my television the other day and watched Brad Paisley's new video "Online". In this song, he claims that he is so much cooler online. He grows a foot and loses some weight. I thought it was brilliant.

The reason that WWW is a terrible place to build community is because it is not a real place. There is a lot of lonely people in the world that are hooked on chat rooms. Why? because they receive all sorts of praise and support that they do not receive in real life. Online, you become who you want to be. The person chatting with you is only as honest as he or she wants to be.

Simply put, if you are online to find friends, you need to ask yourself a very important question. Why can't I find friends outside of my computer? An honest answer may change your life.

Happy Birthday WWW. Your creation (By the way, Not by Al Gore) is one of the greatest inventions the world has ever known. Like you or hate you, you are a force to be reckoned with. You are a wonderful information spreader, however, some of that information is poisonous to the mind. Through you, truth and God can be spread out to the masses. Through you, pornography and lies can be spread as well.

Those who read this blog. Let us all make a promise to use this tool wisely. If we you it wisely, it can bless us. If we use it incorrectly, it can destroy us.

The Plight of Young Women

Today, I woke up and turned on Fox News. I do this every morning. I like to know what is going on in the world. I was told that Brittney Spears had a meltdown during an interview for OK magazine. Fox news stated that Ms. Spears used thousand dollar dresses to pick up her dogs droppings and to wipe her face and hands during a fried dinner lunch. The magazine said that if they published the pictures they took, it would ruin her career.

Yesterday, I woke up and turned on Fox news. As I said before, I do this every morning. I like to know what is going on. I was told that Lindsey Lohan was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. She also had a felony amount of cocaine in her possession. she did this just a few weeks after being released from her second rehab stint.

During the late 1990's, a small group of young women exploded on the entertainment community. Disney produced several of these girls, but they were not the only creators. Paris Hilton was created by her parents. The Olsen twins were given to us by ABC television. Nicole Richey was a creation of the her father. All of these girls are young, beautiful, and sexy; and they influence young females to be the same.

When you look at the list of young female stars, and what has become of them, you are almost shocked. However, nothing is shocking anymore. It seems that our young female stars are all messed up. They either have eating disorders, or they are involved in drugs and alcohol. What may be the most shocking is that if you would have told me 5 years ago that Christian Aguilera would be the good one out of this group, I would have called you a liar.

Trend setting has become a major problem in our country. Young women and teenage girls are convinced that they need to act and behave like their favorite performers. I am so thankful that some trends change over time. Over the last few years, the trend in girl's clothing is to show less skin. Just a few years ago, the trend was the more skin the better. Young women felt pressured to show off their bodies. Many parents would all their teenage daughters to dress like street walkers. The fashioned industry told girls that they were not popular unless they wore short dresses, stomach exposing shirts, and low riding pants. American parents were more concerned with their girl's popularity than they were with their girl's morality. Thankfully, this trend is turning, but showing off the body is still very popular.

Christian parents must reject what our culture teaches our girls, and hold fast to the traditional understandings of womanhood. For years, girls were raised with the concept that it was their job to subdue their man. A young lady was to have high standards. Those high standards would cause a young man to pursue the same high standards. Simply put, women are the standard keepers of our culture. Men are going to rise up to what women expect of them. That being said, many of today's young women do not have high standards. Thus, men do not see the need to commit.

From a Pastoral perspective, it is difficult for me to teach young men to have high moral standards when their counterparts do not keep them. Young ladies cause young men to sin by showing off their bodies and tempting them mentally. Christian single women and teens need to keep in mind their duty to not tempt their suitors. They need to stand for high moral principles. They need to shun what is bad in our culture and embrace what is good. Our culture tells us that "Girls Gone Wild" is an acceptable activity for girls looking to have a good time. God tells us that our behavior and actions will be judged.

The plight of young women is a difficult thing in today's culture. They are told to act like young men. However, this behavior allows young men to sink deeper into their depravity. If a young girl wants to marry a man that is virtuous and strong. She then must decide that her personal integrity is more important than her popularity.

Where Is The Real Church?

I just love Pope Benedict XVI. I like him a whole lot more than I liked Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI is much more orthodox, and is much more concerned about the Church's historical stands. Recently the Pope made a definitive statement about Hell. He proclaimed that the Church believes in Hell. He has also held fast to other historical teachings.

The latest Papal statement declares that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church, and all other Churches cannot be called churches in the proper since. He declared that all churches outside of the Roman Catholic Church have terrible flaws. He believes that Jesus set forth one Church with one Apostolic authority. Any Church that does not recognize the Pope as the Apostolic head of the Church is flawed. You would have never heard this type of statement from John Paul II.

The Roman Church has lost a lot of its relevance since the Vatican II. The Second Vatican Council began in 1962. This council changed the Church dramatically. For centuries, the Church did all of its worship in Latin. Vatican II allowed worship to be done in any language. Vatican II also decided to call non-Catholics "Separated brethren". This was a huge departure from calling us heretics. Most conservative bishops struggled with the change. This change has continued to grow to the point where many Catholics see very little difference between their Church and other churches.

Pope Benedict has decided to draw a line in the sand. It is obvious that the slide away from Catholic primacy has got him agitated. He obviously believes it is his duty to draw the church back home.

I applaud Pope Benedict's stand. I am glad he has drawn this line, and I hope he continues to fight against Protestants and others alike. For his statement is one that is important for us to know. The truth is, either he is right or we are right. We both cannot be right. I am willing to take up the fight for the true Church. I think it is high time we have a good old fashioned debate on what is the Church. This would educate the masses, and allow for truth to get out.

Just to let you know, the Pope is right about one thing. The true Church has one Apostolic authority. The problem between the Pope and I is recognizing where that authority lies. He believes it lies within the confines of the Roman Church. He believes the Pope is the key to Apostolic authority. I believe that the Apostolic Authority is found in the Bible. It is our final authority. That by looking for true Biblical churches, we will find the true Church.

I look forward to seeing where this debate goes.