As a young man I saw all these church people as weak, sniffling, and milk-toast kind of people that I didn’t want to be like. No way. Well, in some ways I have become just like them, but in other ways I have not. I remember the last few lines in the movie We Were Soldiers- (Mel Gibson). While the returning vets from Viet Nam were scorned by the public, it didn’t matter. Soldiers know what civilians don’t. The man with a rifle in his hand isn’t fighting for his country as much as he is fighting for the man on either side of him: the man behind him and the man in front. If they die, he’ll probably die. If only the CHURCH could hear, get that! You probably don’t want to hear this, but that means dying to save homosexuals, abortionists, and the arrogantly religious. Continue Reading »

You have to wonder, or at least I do, why John felt that he had to write God is love (I John 4:16). It’s probably because by the time the first epistle of John was written rumors were already going around at how mad God was about what we did to Jesus and He had created this place called HELL to send everyone that in on the crucifixion of Jesus. Didn’t Jesus make the point clear about the love of the Father? I guess not. Continue Reading »

Dr. Edward John Carnell has an interesting way of getting his students to see the benefits of being a good student. He puts it this way. “A university president welcomes the Freshman class with the exciting news that everyone is encouraged to have a good time as they will ALL pass. The students were simply FREE to do as they wished.” That all sounded good at first, but then there’s this question, “What’s the catch?”. No catch! You simply pay the price for doing nothing. Paul put it this way, “We reap what we sow“. But, does this apply to eternity as well- to spiritual matters? Continue Reading »

I’ve been around many Christians in my life whose central theme (their life’s goal) is to share the BAD NEWS of HELL. God is always rendering judgment on people and lands. God was so hacked at the low-life living of New Orleans that he sent a hurricane. You do remember that event don’t you? Because the people of Malaysia had not given their hearts to God, but were worshiping other gods, the Christian God sent a tsunami to wipe them and their neighbors out. God is always about the send forth His judgment on someone somewhere. And there are lots of people who just love to share the BAD NEWS. Not me! Continue Reading »

A common term for what we see in so many parts of the world is ethnic cleansing or genocide. What you’re seeing played out in Iraq these days is in part due to this concept. Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds can’t wait to kill each other and create a land just for their people. Ethnic cleansing refers to various policies or practices aimed at the displacement of an ethnic group from a particular territory in order to create a supposedly ethnically “pure” society. The term entered English and international usage in the early 1990s to describe certain events in the former Yugoslavia. It’s a similar thinking of many Christians. Continue Reading »

The biggest complaint about “divine judgment” versus HELL (and no one has a grasp on divine judgment, but visions of hell of course) is that to abandon the “ideas of hell” would be to lose control. Lose control? Lose control you say! Jesus is not about control. Jesus is about coming to freedom from the position of love. If love doesn’t win you over, nothing will! The God of the Bible (the real one) wins by His weakness. Think about it. Continue Reading »

Why would God create something for destruction? Tell me, what would be the purpose of that? My God wouldn’t. He’s the God of second chances, over, and over, and over again. How I love that kind of love. Randy Klassen puts it this way, “Always there will be a chance to turn and love and live. The nature of the soul demands it. The nature of God proclaims it. The compassion of Christ guarantees it.” Amen! YES! Continue Reading »

Unfortunately, the image people have of their earthly father is the one they adopt as the heavenly father. Sad! Worse yet is the overall VIEW that we have of this parson called God. Call Him Father, and even call Him “abba Father” but don’t get dumped into that anthropomorphic paradigm where you see Him as a male parent. That will totally disappoint you. Next thing you know you’ll be looking at the childhood “time out” as an “adult hell after death“. Continue Reading »

All my life I believed that “Jesus Saves“. The Star Of Hope Mission had a large neon sign that said that. I remember that because it was there to a rowdy bunch of drunks that I preached for the first time. I thought it was preaching! But last year I learned something very odd- Hell saves! You read that right. Here’s the logic my friend. Continue Reading »

As someone has said, the simplicity of the Bible is that you have two chapters about a FALL and then the other 99% is about God coming to the rescue and restoring His people. Well, it’s not quite that simple as I see it; however, I get the “spirit” of what the person meant. And isn’t that what we should be doing with God? I mean since He’s already told us that the LAW kills, why don’t we embrace the Spirit (of all things) that restores? God didn’t create 170 billion people over time (and how many more?) to see 160 billion (my made up number) burn eternally in hell. What a LOSER that sort of god (small g) would be. And the God (capital G) of the universe, the one and only God (of ALL) is an awesome God. In so thinking, I choose the following options from the plate of life. Continue Reading »