It’s that time of year again.  The Lottie Moon Christmas offering is in full swing. In churches across America, children and adults, alike, are hearing stories of Moon’s heroic mission exploits and sacrificial service, as they reach deep into their hearts, and pockets, to support the Southern Baptists’ foreign mission effort.   For more than a hundred years now, the larger-than-life legend of 4 foot 3 inch Lottie Moon has captivated the imagination of millions, raising more than 5 billion dollars for the sake of foreign missions.  Last year (2022) saw a record 203 million dollars raised.  

Moon’s sincere love for both the people of China and the gospel of Christ remains unquestionable, but there’s compelling evidence that the story of Lottie Moon has been white-washed, or ‘recharacterized’ for the sake of fundraising.  It’s no secret that the Foreign Mission Board, during Moon’s day, was financially strapped, and there’s no shortage of historical data confirming that Lottie Moon was very much in the mold of first wave feminism. 

When you go down the rabbit hole of history, the carefully curated myth of “Sweet Little Lottie,” gives way to a more complicated picture of a defiant woman who was often a giant headache to the foreign mission board—one which they tolerated, nonetheless, because she was (and is) their golden goose.  In other words, Lottie Moon’s real story may actually be the story of how a desperate pragmatism enshrined an opportunistic feminism in the SBC—a legacy that plagues them to this day.

Lottie Moon, The Feminist

You don’t need to dig deep to discover that egalitarians have staked their flag on Moon, claiming her as their own, seeking to rebrand her as a feminist icon.  They take exception with the Southern Baptist mythologizing of ‘Sweet Little Lottie,’ insisting that the saintly depiction of southern gentility is a paint job, if not a snow job, to make Lottie match the complementarian-styled aesthetic of the SBC.   

A quick online search shows multitudes of articles singing Lottie’s feminist praise, and not without warrant.  In Lottie’s own words: “What women have a right to demand is perfect equality.”  This is patently feminist rhetoric used, time and again, to obscure, or obliterate gender distinctions grounded in God’s Word. 

An article in the China Christian Daily attempts to explain Moon’s meteoric rise in fame, stating,

“The main reason is probably because she was the "pioneer of feminism" in the eyes of Americans and a model of international cultural exchange.”

In her biography on Moon, Historian Regina Sullivan chronicles Moon’s missionary career (albeit, from a feminist angle), highlighting Moon’s pattern of defiance to the polity and male leadership of the Foreign Mission Board.  Sullivan writes,

“An actually remembered Moon would be a female activist who preached, argued for female equality and helped bring the WMU into existence.”

The facts seem to bear that out.  As a new missionary, Moon quickly thumbed her nose at the very polity which had paved the way for her to enter the mission field; disregarding the rules set forth in the “Women’s Work for Women” initiative which governed women missionaries appointed to teach women and children on the mission field.  Such work was evidently beneath Lottie Moon, who wrote:

“Can we wonder at the mortal weariness and disgust, the sense of wasted powers and the conviction that her life is a failure, that comes over a woman when, instead of the ever-broadening activities she had planned, she finds herself tied down to the petty work of teaching a few girls?”

When Moon began preaching directly to men, over and against mission polity, she initially cited the lack of male missionaries as her reason for entering the masculine domain, but as time would tell, Moon actually preferred to work without men.  This can be seen later on in her career, as she broke away entirely from the mission board’s authority and began operating independently from any man. 

As a result, the board refused further funding, so Moon made an appeal to the burgeoning women’s movement within the SBC.  The women of the SBC rose up, organized to fundraise, and applied immense pressure on the mission board to continue supporting the defiant missionary.  Moon rode the first wave of feminism right over the heads of the mission board and came out on top. 

As a result, Moon was permitted to essentially write her own polity, which she did, naming it, ironically, after the very polity she had flouted—“Women’s Work for Women.”  Why she adopted the same name is not entirely certain; perhaps as a victory lap, or maybe to maintain the illusion of submission?  According to Sullivan, Moon wrote to the mission board that, ‘she not only wished to open new fields [mission stations], but she also wanted to see each of these new stations staffed with two unmarried women.  She called her plan ‘women’s work for women,” cleverly adapting the policy that had sent her to China and that she had abandoned….Tellingly, she does not mention men or families in her plan...Moon based this formulation on her own experience in Pingtu, where she had had success without male presence or oversight.”

Lottie Moon was an incrementalist.  Inch by inch, she took the whole mile.  Over the course of 40 years, Lottie expanded the boundaries of “women’s work” until she and other women were doing everything men were permitted to do.  Lottie took the gospel deep into the heart of China, and she took feminism deep into the heart of the Southern Baptist Convention, where it’s been festering ever since.  By the end of Lottie’s mission career, she was effectively doing the work of an evangelist, preacher, church planter, and pastor; and there was nothing the foreign mission board could do to stop her—not if they wanted to keep on the good side of their new breadwinner; the WMU. 

Though the mission board occasionally howled at Moon, she ultimately had them over a barrel. What Lottie didn’t like, Lottie didn’t do.  When she didn’t get her way, she’d threaten to resign, or go around the board.  She was the tail that wagged the dog.

Desperate Pragmatism

In the aftermath of a bloody civil war, men and money were scarce in the South, and the foreign mission board was strapped for both.  Meanwhile, first-wave feminism was picking up steam.  Within the Southern Baptist world, Lottie Moon and the Women’s Mission Union caught that wave and rode it for all it was worth.  The Mission Board was left with a difficult decision; either stick to their guns, on gender, or get with the times.  They chose to ride Lottie to the moon.

As Sullivan recounts,

“For the board, Moon’s popularity translated directly into money.  They were deeply in debt and could not afford to see their funding diminished even slightly.  They feared any controversy that might compromise fund-raising.  Moon’s resignation would certainly have caused an outcry from Baptist women that the Foreign Mission Board literally could not afford.”

When Lottie Moon passed, at age 72, the mission board needed their golden goose to continue laying eggs, and thus, the “starvation” story was born.  This myth originated from a memorial written, days after her death, which appeared in the Virgina Baptist newspaper portraying Moon’s death as, “heroic exertion and unexampled self-sacrifice….refusing food that the hungry might be fed.”  The memorial concluded with a brazen plea for mission funding:

“Is there not some shame mingled with our sorrow?  Shall we not, as a fitting tribute to her memory, lift at once the debt from the Foreign Mission board, the debt that weighed so heavily on the mind of this faithful worker? Is this not the memorial she herself would choose?”

The historical account surrounding moon’s death contradicts the climactic “starvation” myth, and points, rather, to delusions and dementia brought on by an infection, which was caused by a large abscess on the back of Moon’s neck.  According to Sullivan’s research, Lottie’s attending physician, “Dr. James Gaston, who treated her, concluded that the infection had caused her condition.”

Nonetheless, the myth persisted, and became widely circulated in Una Lawrence’s 1927 biography, “Lottie Moon.” And according to Sullivan, “By the 1970’s, Moon’s sacrificial death had become a key component of the ‘Lottie Moon Story.’  This narrative of martyrdom has proven an amazingly successful fund-raising tool,…” 

In 1988, on the centennial of the WMU’s founding, the headline for the Lottie Moon Christmas Campaign read—“Lottie Moon Is Starving Again.” 

The campaign goes on to say:

“Just 76 years ago, foreign missionary Lottie Moon literally starved to death.  She refused to see the Chinese people she loved go spiritually or physically hungry.  So she gave all she had to give—from her food to her last ounce of strength…The 1988 goal is $84 million.  If each Southern Baptist gives $10, we will not only reach, but surpass the goal.  But if we don’t, what happened to Lottie Moon could happen to foreign missions.  How much will you give to keep foreign missions alive?”

Even as late as 2007, Ed Stetzer implored Southern Baptists to adopt Lottie Moon as our model of giving, stating that she “starved to death,” and suggested that Lifeway produce WWLD bracelets—“What Would Lottie Do?”  

As Sullivan put it,

“Moon’s remarkable life ended in 1912, but her memory has lived on, taking shape in a new narrative—one with such power and flexibility that it has changed Moon from a historical figure into a legendary symbol for Southern Baptists.” 

Many moons later, the SBC continues to safeguard Lottie’s legend against the tarnish of truth.  In 2020, when the woke apocalpyse visited the SBC, President J.D. Greear called on the convention to retire the Broadus gavel, so named for slaveholding Baptist preacher John Broadus.  Greear, along with other convention leaders, were more than willing to dig up the bones of old, dead white guys and feed them to the dogs, so as to signal their virtue and appease the woke mob. 

The fact that this was a pragmatic performance, and not a principled stand can be seen, readily enough, in the fact that nobody said a word about Lottie Moon’s family being the largest slaveholder in the area, or the fact that Moon was converted under the preaching of John Broadus.  There were no calls to retire the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.  Why not?  The answer is because Lottie Moon is still laying golden eggs, and the pragmatic leaders of the SBC didn’t want their goose cooked.  Come Christmas, they need Moon to shine!

Feminist Defiance—Lottie’s Legacy Lives On

Moon’s defiant attitude towards male authority still plagues the SBC, living on in the Women’s Mission Union, and in hundreds, if not thousands, of churches still actively campaigning for women’s ordination in the SBC.  In fact, Lottie’s girlhood church, established the year she was born (1840), was recently led by a woman pastor. 

For thousands of egalitarian women inside the SBC, Lottie is a hero for defying the patriarchy; an example to follow—and they seem plenty determined to carry on her legacy.

Having spent most of my life in the SBC, I’ve witnessed, firsthand, this pervasive attitude of defiance—including wives publicly disrespecting their husbands, and women actively undermining their pastors.  As a pastor myself, I know what it is to be on the other end of warring women as they organize against your leadership. I was once maligned so extensively during a WMU meeting, that a full paragraph of lies and complaints, guised as ‘concerns’ (about me), made the official meeting minutes.

There’s a long history here, and it traces back to the earliest influence of feminism, which the SBC unwittingly enshrined when they permitted Lottie and the WMU to walk all over them for 40 years.  These weak, pragmatic men set a precedent that has persisted, for more than a century, right up to our present day.  By now, it’s practically baked into the cake.  As Sullivan states in her book, “Since 1889, the Women’s Missionary Union has existed as an independent female organization with its own officers and budget, free from the control of the male leadership.”

In the 1990’s, Dr. Adrian Rogers addressed the detrimental influence of an autonomous WMU, when they, once again, thumbed their nose at the leadership of the SBC by supporting the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; an egalitarian network that broke away from the SBC. 

Dr. Rogers proposed that the WMU be entirely restructured, with a board elected by the denomination’s governing body.  Dr. Rogers also called for an end to the “feminization of missions.”  This was a wise, and principled response to a problem that has persisted for far too long.  We need more men like Rogers leading the SBC, instead of unprincipled pragmatists led around by the nose.

As someone once said, “You become what you tolerate, and what you celebrate.”   Unfortunately, this includes Lottie’s legacy of feminist defiance.

Closing Thought

For 150 years now, The Southern Baptist Convention has tried to have their Moon cake and eat it, too.  They’ve tried to harness Moon’s fame to fuel foreign missions, all the while, trying to keep Moon’s feminism from devouring the SBC.  To hear them tell it—Sweet Little Lottie hung the moon!

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Introduction

No Quarter November 2023 (What???) is still smoldering in my mind as a number of notable articles hit the nail on the head in naming “respectability” as the besetting sin of evangelicalism. I think they’re onto something big!

(Read here: Wilson, Rigney, Sumpter, Longshore, Protestia)

A week or so before this conversation heated up, Colin Smothers primed the pump, tweeting:

I’ve come to believe that winsomeness might not be quite at the center of the bullseye for what besets so much of evangelicalism. I do believe it may be related to what’s at the center,…So what do I think is to be at the center? Respectability™. Or, what the Bible refers to as fear of man.”

Smothers makes a key distinction between the Biblical admonition to be respect worthy and the vain pursuit of worldly respectability:

“Respectability is wholly dependent on society’s determination of one’s respectfulness, not with the virtue of respectful integrity. This means your measure of success regarding respectability depends entirely on socio-cultural standards — which are always changing and frequently contrary to righteousness — and not God’s standards. Too many at ETS, and evangelicalism at large, are beset by Respectability™.”

This November, it was Kevin DeYoung who proved the point when he penned a lengthy article essentially tone-policing Doug Wilson and the ‘Moscow Mood.’  DeYoung began his article, well enough, by acknowledging all the undeniable good springing up in Moscow.  Expectedly, DeYoung’s glowing praise quickly gave way to a downpour of criticism as he rained on the Moscow parade for a perceived overuse of satire and the serrated edge, which he tried to frame as a combative mood “incompatible with Christian virtue.” 

But, as Pastor Toby Sumpter so aptly rebutted,

“I can barely think of a more blinkered concern in our day. Sure, we must not be jerks; and the fruit of the Spirit must be vibrant in all that we do and say. But I’m sorry: too pugnacious when the forces of globalistic sexual fascism are surrounding us and gunning for our children? No, if anything, we are not pugnacious enough. We are not fierce enough. And too irreverent? If only we could topple more idols. If only we had more sarcasm for the Goliaths that taunt the armies of the living God.” 

Joe Rigney responded to DeYoung’s criticism of the rowdy “Moscow Mood,” by spotlighting Big Eva’s unhealthy craving for worldly acceptance, which he dubbed “Respectable Mood.”  Rigney gave a summary of the underhanded ways in which ‘Respectable’ Christianity conducts itself behind the scenes, including threats to blacklist those who dare to associate with Moscow.   Pastor Doug Wilson nodded in agreement, noting that “The temptation to ache for worldly respectability is, however, rampant throughout the evangelical world.” 

It’s quite telling, that DeYoung went out of his way to critique another Christian camp, when he has yet to critique his own camp. The Gospel Coalition has drifted undeniably leftward, producing tons of obscenely bad fruit in recent years—enough to make TGC risible on a regular basis.  You really can’t ignore all of that, and expect to be believed when you proceed to forecast bad fruit in Moscow, especially after you’ve already conceded the fruit in Moscow, for 30 years now, has been remarkably good. As Rigney, Sumpter, and others amply demonstrated, DeYoung’s criticisms ultimately fall flat, and rather serve to highlight a much more pervasive problem in the church today—namely, a grasping for respectability. 

That’s where I want to pick up today—for anyone with eyes to see, the rampant idol of respectability has rendered modern evangelicalism impotent against the moral insanity running roughshod over America.  This selling out for social acceptance is the besetting sin beneath all the woke, feminist, LGBQT+ virtue-signaling that’s pouring in and from the church today, and it’s the muzzle that has silenced a generation of pastors, turning them into “mute dogs, that cannot bark.”  (Isaiah 56:10)

Kevin DeYoung is, in many respects, a respect worthy pastor, which means he ought to be thanking Doug Wilson for his willingness to constantly draw the worst fire from the frontlines of a white-hot culture war, appreciating that for the blessing that it is—ample cover for faithful pastors to speak more boldly against all the assailants coming against the church, while still appearing moderate, by comparison.  What more could you ask for?  Yet, instead of being appreciated, men like Doug Wilson (and Charles Spurgeon, for that matter) are blamed, criticized, and ultimately banished by groups like G3 and The Gospel Coalition—such men are the gnats that must be strained from the ointment of “Respectable Christianity” as it continues choking on the camel of worldly approval.

Note: We’re still holding out hope for our brothers at G3.

‘Respectable Christianity’ & The White Flag of Surrender

We live in a nation fractured by no-fault divorce, hen-pecked to death by feminism, decimated by abortion, molested by grotesque sexual perversion, apostatized through secular ‘education,’ brainwashed by wokeness, addicted to the dopamine drip of the internet, and tyrannized by a blood-sucking, parasitic regime that we’re too weak, in every way, to resist. 

In short, over the decades, ‘Respectable Christianity’ has gotten the pants beat off of it and has long since waved the white flag of surrender to today’s godless culture, with half the team adopting the adage, “If you can’t beat’em, join’em,” and the other half hunkering down with, “If you can’t beat’em, beat it!”

The first bunch is now flying rainbow & BLM flags, flashing pronouns, sporting skin-tight yoga pants & smashing the patriarchy.  To one degree or another, they’re bending over backwards to assimilate with the new religious order of “Anything But Christian” Nationalism. 

The second bunch is huddled in a corner on the rooftop, with their eyes closed ‘real tight’ while they pray for the Rapture.  Occasionally, they’ll open one eye long enough to criticize the fighting remnant, but otherwise, to borrow from Doug Wilson, they’re just hoping to be helicoptered out of Saigon before the whole thing goes up in flames. 

And so, we find ourselves in the bottom of the nineth, as it were, in dire need of a rally, but instead we’re met with a chorus of defeatism ringing forth from the belltowers of American Christianity.  Truth be told, most modern evangelicals are defeated in both directions; they incessantly bemoan the moral collapse around them while continuing to baptize their children in the putrid springs that feed that collapse; namely, immersion into a godless secular education built on the foundation of atheistic evolutionary theory, with some TikTok and Taylor Swift sprinkled on for good measure. 

Older Christians wonder why their children and grandchildren are apostate and lesbian, and the answer comes: for the same reason that Boomers are pragmatic and pluralistic, ‘progressive’ and egalitarian—because our so called “Christian Nation,” for far too long, has been far more influenced by the liberal consensus than by the Word of God.

‘Respectable Christianity’—A Field Day For The Devil

Satan and the secular left routinely exploit the church’s desire for respectability in order to derail effective gospel ministry.

In his book, Rules For Radicals, Saul Alinsky praised Lucifer as “the first radical known to man,” and then proceeded to teach the radical left how to fight like the devil.  Alinsky’s rule # 11 reads, “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don't try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual.”

Whenever a particular pastor is being effective in preaching the gospel and confronting the idols of the day, a favorite strategy of the world is to single out the ‘troublemaker,’ smear him with mud, and cause his name to become a stench in the community.  This strategy presses respectable people to distance themselves from the ‘troublemaker’ so as to preserve their reputation within the community.  The Pharisees ran this play on Paul (and Jesus, as well).  They had Paul arrested, imprisoned, and branded as a rebel-rouser.   It was effective, as Paul wrote to the Philippians, “…not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only…”  The ‘Respectable’ Christians left Paul to rot in prison. 

 This is the play being run against Pastor Doug Wilson, and it’s the play being run against faithful pastors everywhere, who effectively challenge the golden calves of the culture.  I, myself, have faced this treatment.

Two years ago, I accepted a call to pastor a small town church in the Florida Panhandle. Three months into my new ministry, a group of the most prominent (and ‘progressive’) people in our town launched a concerted effort to smear me and run me out of town. 

My crime?—daring to articulate a biblical, sexual ethic from the pulpit, and online.  For that, they did everything in their power to bury my reputation beneath a pile of lies and slander.  (Read about it here, here, and here). This devilish attack emptied our church and killed my ministry almost as soon as it started.  I was blacklisted all over town, as was the church I pastored.

You have to ask yourself—How in the world can a small gaggle of grumpy feminists have so much influence over an entire town? The only reason such smear tactics are effective at all is because evangelicals are sorely afflicted by a ‘Respectable Christianity,’ that’s embarrassingly easy to manipulate by social pressure—it’s called the fear of man.

The immense cultural pressure to disassociate with faithful gospel ministers is really a pressure to be ashamed of the gospel itself.  As Paul wrote to Timothy, “So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. (2 Timothy 1:8)

Not one local pastor in the whole town stood with me as I was slandered non-stop for two plus years, yet these same pastors can be seen, annually, at the town’s National Day of Prayer, standing proudly on stage next to their openly homosexual mayor as he makes the opening remarks at an event they claim is marked out for repentance.  In so doing, these men make a mockery of prayer, and subject the gospel to open disgrace by portraying it as a license for sexual immorality.

There’s a reason none of these pastors have gotten the same vile treatment as I have.  The reason is because ‘Respectable Christianity’ poses no threat to the powers of darkness presently devouring our nation. 

John the Baptist was willing to lose his head for calling out Herod’s sexual sin. These pastors aren’t even willing to lose their reputations…or building permits. Rather than stand for truth in the moment of truth, they’ve chosen, again and again, to play Robert the Bruce and go home with their tales between their legs in order to keep in the mayor’s good graces.

This same scenario is playing out in cities across America, as ‘Respectable Christianity’ grovels for approval scraps from the world. 

Time For A Pitching Change

American Evangelicalism needs a pitching change.  Hall of Fame pitcher, Sandy Koufax said, “Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser.” Such a stinging sentiment strikes at the heart of the problem with ‘Respectable Christianity’—far too many of today’s preachers are pathetically unwilling to pitch inside; unwilling to bring the high and holy heat of the flaming hot gospel anywhere near to striking a nerve of conviction, or to brushing back the idols of our day.  Far too many pastors and preachers have abdicated their job; failing to sound the alarm and safeguard the flock against the cultural onslaught.

America’s pulpit ought to be a beacon of truth, and a bulwark against evil.  Instead, it’s become a stage for prancing ponies and strutting peacocks to parade about in pristine uniforms that have never seen a spec of dirt from the field of battle.  These eggheaded preachers tout their credentials while virtue signaling their compliance with “the current thing.”  These major league losers, churned out, en masse, by today’s big-league seminaries, are nothing more than ‘powder puff’ posers; establishment “yes” men trained to lob ‘winsome’ slow-pitch softballs of affirmation to a world in full-blown rebellion against God. 

In a time when we desperately need a return of the Black Robed Regiment leading the church into battle, we instead have the Nancy Boys Brigade lulling the church into surrender.

A.W. Tozer, in the mid-20^th century, told us the kind of preacher(s) we need:

“If Christianity is to receive a rejuvenation, it must be by other means than any now being used. If the Church in the second half of this century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of preacher…Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type,.. When he comes (and I pray God there will be not one but many), he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom. Such a man is likely to be lean, rugged, blunt- spoken and a little bit angry with the world. He will love Christ and the souls of men to the point of willingness to die for the glory of the One and the salvation of the other. But he will fear nothing that breathes with mortal breath.”

Tozer wrote that 80 years ago, back before no-fault divorce, abortion, gay mirage, and genital mutilation were legalized and celebrated by the mainstream.  How much more dire must things get before the average person in the pew grows desperate enough to leave behind the pretentious foppery of modern-day preachers in pursuit of the ‘old prophet’ types who boldly proclaim a true and compelling vision of God and His Kingdom, even as they beckon the Lord’s bride to come out from among them and be separate unto the Lord.

When John the Baptist burst onto the scene with his thundering message of repentance and scathing rebuke of religious leaders, ecstatic throngs poured out of the city, flooding past the pharisaical gatekeepers, in a beeline for the wilderness wonder. 

The preachers we need in this hour won’t be found in the posh palace halls of the respectable establishment; not at the cool-kids table of Acts 29, or in the ‘good ol’ boy’s club of the SBC.  The leaders we need have been pushed to the margins, exiled from the pastorates and the public square. Why? Because such men aren’t ‘safe.’  They don’t self-censor to fit the confines of effeminate, politically-correct discourse presently choking the life out of Christianity, today.  These dangerous men make the deacon’s wives, the WMU, and the rest of the ‘church-ladies’ (of both sexes) quite unsettled, and so, naturally, they must be expelled. 

It remains to be seen whether this generation will ever look to the principled outliers who refuse to bow the knee, or if they’ll continue to outright lie to themselves about how deep goes the rot of ‘respectability.’

One thing is for sure, guys like me aren’t sitting on the bench anymore, politely waiting around for ‘Respectable Christianity’ to bite the dust.  We’re here to preach its funeral, and we’re starting on time. 

We’re taking a play out of George Whitefield’s playbook.  When Whitefield & the Wesley brothers were shut out by the Church of England, they took to preaching in the open field.  The class of preachers I belong to have been shut out by Boomer Establishment Christianity (read SBC) and blacklisted by their decadent offspring (read hipster Christianity) so we’re starting new churches, networks, podcasts, printing presses, and preaching ministries.  While the SBC continues to pat itself on the back for their foreign mission effort, our mission focus will be reaching all their apostate children and grandchildren.

We aim to honor the legacy of Charles Spurgeon—the country bumpkin who took Victorian London by storm.  Blacklisted by the fashionable Christians of his day, Spurgeon pleaded with future pastors to, “Give us all the vulgarities of the wildest back-woods’ itinerant rather than the perfumed prettinesses of effeminate gentility.”

When God used Ezekiel’s preaching to bring the ‘dry bones’ of apostate Israel roaring back to life, this included divinely inspired vulgarity denouncing Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness as “whoredom;” a ‘lusting after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emissions was like that of horses.”  (Ezekiel 23:20)

If you think Doug Wilson is too vulgar, wait till you see what else God is sending your way.  That humming sound you hear is the sons of Ezekiel warming up our fastball.  It’s time to bring the heat.

Make’em Sweat

There’s a cost that comes from leaving behind ‘Respectable Christianity’ and choosing to live, instead, with Biblical courage and conviction.  You’ll lose friends, family, status, opportunities, upward mobility, maybe more.  You’ll be maligned, castigated, ostracized, and falsely accused of being arrogant and unloving.  As Spurgeon once said, “…bold-hearted men are always called mean-spirited by cowards.”  When you choose Christ, you gain enemies from both sides—from pagan Rome, and from apostate Israel; from the world, and from a worldly church.  But Jesus promised, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

Abraham Kuyper wrote,

“When the principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then the battle is your calling, and peace has become sin. You must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy with all the fire of your faith.” 

We need more courageous men to count the cost.  Pagan barbarism is steam rolling this generation, and only a handful of brave pastors are standing in the gap.  For the sake of appearance, the evangelical establishment would rather shoot these men in the back than join them on the front.  If such turncoat cowardice isn’t worthy of the staunchest reproof and most scornful derision, I don’t know what is. 

‘Respectable Christianity’ is damning many people to hell, and rendering masses more impotent in today’s spiritual battle, as it breeds a fear of man over a fear of the Lord; a tendency to trend with the world, rather than remain true to God’s Word.  Jesus warned, “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed…”  

It’s far better for ‘Respectable Christianity’ to be rebuked now, than condemned later.  As Joe Rigney explained, satire and the serrated edge, like other forms of rebuke, are “deployed to correct and reprove someone when they’re heading down a sinful or foolish path,” and these Biblical functions “operate on a dimmer switch.”  Godly preachers have range—they instruct, exhort, gentle correct, and also rebuke, when called for. Jesus reserved his most blistering rebukes for the fancy religious establishment that was far more concerned with appearance than faithfulness. 

Today’s fancy religious establishment has been laid flat on its back by the sexual revolution; struck down by the fear of man and the fevered chill that comes from whoring after the world.  They hate us for spotlighting all the festering decay inside their white-washed tombs of winsome compromise, but there’s only one cure for this pandemic of ‘respectability’—it’s time to turn up the heat and make’em sweat!

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Yesterday, Joe Biden was installed as President.  As the inaugural proceedings got under way in our nation’s capital, I, myself, was thousands of miles away, driving the rural back roads of East Texas, when suddenly, I happened upon a bald eagle perched on the side of the road!  Eagle sightings are quite rare around here.  I can remember 1 or 2 sightings in all my years, and never have I seen a bald eagle this close, in the wild!  As I cruised by our nation’s noble bird, it flew away, clutching a dead carcass!

Now, I do not believe in omens.  I am not superstitious.  I’m not even a little “stitious.”  (Couldn’t resist.)  But I do believe in a good metaphor, and think this one’s an eagle on a par 4.  Hopefully, I can keep it in the fairway.

Four years ago, a strange bird, named Trump, took office, with promises of “draining the swamp.”  This sounded really good to conservatives, including us non-woke Christians.  We rallied, with high hopes, around insolent Trump, willing him to do something the “nice guys” seemed incapable of doing—run the smooth-talking swamp monsters smooth out of town.  In a word; we hoped the eagle would carry away the dead carcass!  If we’re honest, many of us were clutching this fantasy down to the wire, hoping Trump had some ace up his feathers, to catch the wicked in their own trap.  I get it.  I was taught to “play till the buzzer sounds,” too.  And Trump is a fighter.  For many, it almost seemed unpatriotic to not stand with him until the last. 

Trump did a lot of good for our nation.  He grew our economy (twice, counting post-shutdown).  He kept us out of foreign conflict.  He was extraordinarily “pro-life” and “pro-religious freedom.”  He served blacks and minorities well; signed prison reform, increased funding to black colleges, and brought black and minority unemployment down to historic lows.  Not bad for a “racist.” Trump crushed the “PC” culture, helped expose Mainstream Media & Big Tech tyrants as propagandists, and smoked out all the woke whiney weenies of evangelicalism.  We ought to praise God, and be grateful for all the good accomplished by President Trump and his administration, in the face of relentless attacks and deception by the deep state and their propaganda arms.  It was a good run. 

And I won’t deny, it would have been glorious, yesterday (at the Inauguration), if President-elect Biden & Commie Harris, along with the Clintons, Obama, the House, the Senate, the FBI, Twitter, Facebook, Google, George Soros, et al, had been rounded up on national T.V. and herded into the “paddy wagon” by 25,000 troops, (to be tried for treason) as Trump took the stage and Garth Brooks sang, “Amazing Grace.”  Harris could have broken the glass ceiling as the first woman VP-elect to go to prison.  And everyone who’s been banned on social media said, “Amen.” 

But it didn’t happen.  As it turns out, the left has too many friends in high places.  Trump has been trumped.  And while we’ll likely never know the extent of the cheating that took place, including with Dominion Voting, one thing is clear; the Socialist, Marxist Left has taken dominion; and to prove they’re in charge, they’re censuring anyone who doesn’t use a “library voice” to challenge their legitimacy. 

In short, yesterday, we watched as the dead, rotting carcass of a godless regime sunk its claws into our feathers, to drag our nation further into the gutter than ever before.  Everything good Trump did via executive order will now be undone with a stroke of Biden’s pen.  The legal ground gained, to protect the unborn, will be torn from us.  The LGB-Cutie-+ sexual revolt will molest like never before.  The economy is about to be mugged in a back alley by a thug named Socialism. And freedom of speech will be largely relegated to speakeasies like Gab and a faithful remnant of churches that aren’t drunk on CRT like it’s love potion # 9.

And that brings me to the point of this metaphor; while it’s part of our Christian duty to concern ourselves with politics and those who rule over us, such can never be our ultimate hope!  The cross (gospel), and not the eagle (politics), is our ultimate hope for carrying away the rotting carcass (national sins) festering with the putrid smell of death in our land.  Four more years of Trump would not have been enough to drain the swamp.  And that’s because, buried beneath the trash heap of our political landscape lies the real problem—America itself is a rotting corpse of unbelief and moral decay.  As the saying goes; politics are downstream from culture, and culture is downstream from worship. In short, the heart of the problem is the problem of America’s heart!

There’s no masking the ugly truth—Americans have rejected the God in whose image we are made, and have consequently been saddled with tyrants of our own making.  Francis Schaeffer warned that humanism, “having no god, must put something at the center, and it is inevitably society, government, or the state." Our idolatrous generation has adopted many false religions; most notably “statism” & “scientism.” (the deification of state & science.)

In the name of “protecting our public witness,” the American church has gone along to get along for far too long!  The average pastor, steeped in the unprincipled pragmatism of their seminary training, lacks the spine to drop the hammer on CRT, LGBQT, feminism, statism, “good-ole-boy-ism” and all the other damnable beliefs which set themselves up against the knowledge of God; nor do these well-credentialed pastors have the courage & conviction to call parents NOT to send their kids to godless government schools to be catechized—in the name of science, tolerance, and diversity—to hate God.  And the reason most pastors don’t tell the truth on these matters, in most churches, is because they’d lose their jobs faster than Trump lost his lead on election night.  I lost mine.

So here we are.  The Trump Train got derailed, and the Biden Bus is headed off a cliff. There will be more pressure than ever to “get on board.” David Chilton writes, in Paradise Restored, “Our primary response to persecution and oppression must not be political. That is to put our trust in the State. The Church’s primary response to persecution must be liturgical (worship). We must pray about it, personally, in families, and in the organized, corporate worship of the Church, whose officers are divinely empowered to bring judgments.” To quote Randy Travis, now is the time to “cling to the father and his holy name, and don’t go riding on that long black train.” 

Jesus, and not Cesar, is Lord.  His Kingdom is here, and now, and he won’t stop till all of his enemies are put under his feet.  The message of Christ is, “repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”  Don’t get caught on the wrong side of eternity.  Only Christ has a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and a will that cannot be thwarted.  Christ said he would build his church, and the gates of hell would not prevail.  Chilton, again, writes, “We must stop acting as if we are forever destined to be a sub-culture. We are destined for dominion; we should straighten up and start acting like it. Our life and worship should reflect our expectation of dominion and our increasing capacity for responsibility. we should not see ourselves as lonely outposts surrounded by an increasingly hostile world; that is to bear false witness against God. The truth is just the opposite of that. It is the devil who is on the run, it is paganism which is doomed to extinction. Christianity is ultimately the dominant culture, predestined to be the final and universal religion. The Church will fill the earth.”

2021 can be a historic year, to the glory of God, where the church goes on offense, and rocks hell on its heels.  It starts with getting on your knees.  Men, take the lead. Repent.  Dust off your Bibles.  Find a gutsy, non-woke, Bible-believing church that will discipline you for sin, and feed your family when you get fired or arrested for defying tyrants.  Plug in.  Move if you must.  Pull your kids out of public school before they lose their soul.  Raise them in the fear, admonition, and joy of the Lord.  Sing loudly.  Fight the good fight. And, by all means, ruffle some feathers. 

Recently, while eating pancakes at IHOP, I noticed, at an adjacent table, a young man frowning intently at me.  I was not offended, as I quickly realized he had a mental disability.  In fact, he reminded me a lot of my cousin (Jason), whom I love dearly.

Imagine my delightful surprise, when, after finishing his breakfast, this young man sauntered over to my table and extended his hand to shake mine!  His poor mother rushed over, apologetically, to intercept him.  But she was too late! I eagerly put my fork down and grabbed his hand, thrilled that he’d take a moment to spread some unabashed kindness my way!  And then something revealing happened.  His mother gently placed her hand on top of ours, and she patiently instructed him, “Ok, let’s count to three…one…two…three…and…LET GO!” 

Amazing! I was not expecting, there inside ordinary IHOP, to encounter such a rare & glorious creature, so entirely uninhibited by social norms, self-absorption, or pretense that he actually had to be retrained, and taught by his mother, to “rein it in” with his friendliness! 

I later pondered, how often do professing Christians have the exact opposite problem?  Too often, we can’t be bothered for 3 seconds to look up and smile, shake a hand, give a hug, or offer an encouraging word.  As sinners, (which we all are) we are tragically impaired in our capacity to show kindness, and most often our impairment lies not in our head, but in our heart. 

The dictionary defines “kindness” as “the act of being caring or warm in spirit.” Kindness begins in the heart as a generous attitude towards others, and inevitably spills through our hands in benevolent acts.    

As Christians, we can’t excuse ourselves from being kind, for the Bible (Galatians 5:23) expressly says kindness is a fruit of God’s Spirit which inevitably blossoms in the life of every Spirit-led, obedient Christian, regardless of temperament.  When Christ’s church is infected with unkindness it unravels unity and drives people, who need God, yet further away from God!  In 2 Corinthians 6:12-13, the Apostle Paul addressed the Church of Corinth over such coldness: “We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange — I speak as to my children — open wide your hearts also.”  As a spiritual father, Paul gently placed his hand over the Corinthians’ lives and instructed them to “open wide” their hearts; to let love and kindness flow!

Imagine a church distinguished by the remarkable peculiarity of kindness!  Imagine the impact on our surrounding communities IF ordinary churches produced those rare & glorious creatures who saunter over to greet their neighbors with a smile, embrace others with eager arms, and never “let go” before counting to 3!

In a very real sense, Western Civilization owes its very existence to the kindness of Christianity!  As someone said, “We are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants.”  Apart from Paul, of mortal man, it is St. Augustine who stands head and shoulders above so many intellectual giants!  He gave the West our first autobiography (Confessions) along with a massive library of more than 5 million words!  Yet, up until age 32, Augustine was a wayward, restless soul, squandering his life!  Disgusted by religion, Augustine turned to mistress after mistress, dove headlong into philosophy, poured himself into the ambition of oratory, and eventually joined a cult. It was Christian kindness that first led him home to Christ! 

Everything changed for Augustine, and for us, when he showed up to hear the renowned preacher, Ambrose!  In Augustine’s own words, “My heart warmed to him, not at first, as a teacher of the truth,…, but simply as a man who showed me kindness.”  Amazing! It was the kindness of a Christian (Ambrose) that opened the door for Augustine to eventually embrace the kindness of God found in the gospel!  Because of that kindness, for the past 17 centuries, we have framed our worldview, filled our museums, and formed our civilization around Augustine’s prolific life & words!  As one pastor-theologian, Nick Needham, writes, “If Western Christians are to understand their own heritage, they cannot escape engaging with the titanic figure of Augustine.”  And might we add, if we are to continue in this heritage, we cannot escape engaging with the titanic power of kindness!

The remedy to our lack of kindness is to (re) experience the abundance of God’s.  As Romans 2:4 says, “God’s kindness leads us toward repentance.”  In the Gospel, God interrupts our breakfast!  We look up to find Him frowning intently at us, and with good reason—our sin offends him greatly!  As Romans 1:18 reads, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness…” And yet, in the most delightfully surprising act in all of human history, this very same God makes the decisive move to our table, extending his hand with the offer of salvation—“believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)   In the kindness of God, through the cross of Christ, a way has been made for sinful man to be forgiven and reconciled to our Maker!  As Augustine said, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”  

For some, it may be time to put down our fork, and receive, by faith, the warm embrace of God’s “Welcome Home!”  For the Church, as we take serious the task of representing God’s kindness to our community, perhaps we need the Heavenly Father to gently place his hand on top of ours, and remind us: “Ok, let’s count to three…one…two…three…and…let go!”

“Keep me from deceitful ways…I have chosen the way of truth…I hold fast to your rules, O Lord; do not let me be put to shame.”  Psalm 119:29-31

“Oh Lord help me hold fast to your rules!”  It’s a blast coaching 4th & 5th grade boys in our local (American School-Taipei) youth basketball program!  One of the major rules is that all players get equal playing time, regardless of skill level.  This is to help ensure that ALL players have opportunity to improve their game.  At this age, developing as a player is priority and winning is supposedly not yet “everything.”  But try telling that to a bunch of “grown” men as coaches!

“Oh Lord, keep me from deceitful ways!”  I’m a deceitful human being!  When winning becomes all consuming, I’m tempted to do what it takes to get what I want!  That’s why I absolutely need God’s transforming power in my life!  I’m counting on God to change me and keep me from deceitful ways.  And I’m thankful that God, like a good coach, gives me enough “playing time” to develop….my character!

“Oh Lord, help me chose the way of truth here!”  Our boys’ last ball game was a real “nail-biter!”  We were “neck and neck” in the last quarter, and I wanted to win badly!  The thought actually occurred to me, “how convenient it would be if one of our players on the court were to suffer a minor injury, allowing us to legally “sub in” one of our best players.”  (Did I mention I’m a sinner?)  Suddenly, it happened!—one of our guys was hit in the mouth and sustained minor bleeding.  He was forced to come out of the game, and we “subbed in” one of our best point guards.  I was feeling hopeful!  But with the game on the line, and the clock dwindling to two minutes, the bleeding had finally stopped, and I was faced with a major decision—if I kept our “sub” in the game, nobody would ever know, care, or complain and this seemed like our best chance at winning—but it was deceitful.  What was I going to do?  I’d never make it in the NBA as a coach if I couldn’t win at the “Pee Wee” level!  Praise God—in the heat of the moment, with winning on the line, and my heart being pulled in a dishonest direction, I quickly chose the way of truth, and our injured warrior checked back into the game!

“Oh Lord, do not let me be put to shame here!” He played like a champ!  And with 16 seconds on the clock, down by one point, our team stole the ball, and stormed towards the basket.  The first shot was no good!  Hustle.  Rebound.   Second shot.     Crowd gasping.     Close! Ohhh!   But no good!

And with hope ticking madly off the clock, our injured warrior scrapped for the loose ball, and released a shot just as the buzzer sounded!  Against all odds, the ball crept its way right into the basket—game winner!  Parents, players, & coaches all leaped with joy!

Thank you God!

Two little boys went home ecstatic that day after sharing one of the biggest moments of their lives!  And one of them was me.

Has fabled Eden faded

From memories made for more?

Has the bright sun set

Upon that which our hearts were rising for?

Have we who played beneath her shade,

As children, lost all trust?

And dreamed away a life beyond

The haze of mortal dust?

 Our virgin love now withered.

It died upon the tree.

God’s garden guests are banished.

Sin summons us to flee.

Have we hope?” cry naked souls,

Who in the leaves are hiding.

Who will come and lead us out

From fear to true abiding?

See sinless Savior suffering

Who died upon our tree.

Bright Son of God now risen cries,,

“Ye weary run to me!”

I wrote this poem in 2008, in the midst of some personal heartache.  It reflects the relational brokenness and distance I often feel with God, with loved ones, and with myself.  It expresses my deep longing for redemption; to get back to the garden, to the way things were before the fall of man.  In the end, I return, by faith, to my true hope; the Good News of the Cross & the Kingdom.

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  —Jesus, Matt. 11:28

In the movie, “Dan In Real Life,” there’s a scene (check it out here) where Dan, the dad, stares up at a light house with his youngest daughter, Lily, and begins to sermonize; “when you’re out there, and you’re being tossed back and forth by those big dark waves, and you think that you’ll never feel land again, and that you could just split into a million pieces, and just sink down all the way down into the deep,…it’s the light that keeps us on course. It’s the light.” 

At that point, Dan’s eleven year old daughter interrupts with, “Dad, are you OK?”  Poor ole Dan, teetering on the edge of a break down, pulls it together with a smile and says, “Of course I’m OK, honey.”

Like Dan, so many husbands, fathers, pastors, and men, in real life, face a tremendous pressure (often self-imposed) to have all the answers, and to always “have it together,” as if we were Christ himself.  What we really need is permission to simply be men; to acknowledge our pain, to confess our weakness, to deal honestly with our deep wounds.  Sometimes we need permission to not be “OK.”

I’ll be honest; there are times when I feel that I could “split into a million pieces, and just sink down all the way down into the deep.”  As I look behind me this year, I see one of the toughest seasons I’ve ever known.  As I look before me, I see the greatest challenge I’ve ever accepted in my life (planting a church).  Behind me lurk all my failures, before me lurks the possibility of failing yet again.

“Fits of depression come over the most of us,” said Charles Spurgeon, to a room full of young men at his Pastor’s School, in 1856.  “Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down. The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy.”

Brothers, as we attempt to deal with despondency as men in real life, I see two options before us; we can continue to “fake it till we make it,” (fooling ourselves) or we can “learn to lean:”

LEAN HEAVILY UPON THE FATHER: “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.  —Psalm 55:22

There’s no burden too heavy for the Lord.  In the back-room privacy of communion with Christ we are free to lose the phony smiles, to fall on our faces and cry out, to be utterly raw and undone in the presence of our God.

Christ himself, in the Garden of Gethsemane, collapsed under the weight of the world, our salvation stacked upon his shoulders.  With his face in the dirt, pleading in prayer, and bloody sweat perspiring from his porous humanity, Christ teaches us how to lean heavily upon the Father as he makes his way to our redemption.

LEAN WISELY UPON FRIENDS:  “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  —Galatians 6:2

No man, but Jesus, can be our ultimate Savior in these seasons of weariness, yet God gives us real “flesh and blood” friends as a means of his sustaining grace, and we must learn to lean wisely upon the people He places in our lives who are willing to walk beside us.  Even Christ was not able to carry his cross alone.  In his weakest moment, He leaned upon another man, Simon of Cyrene. (Luke 23:26)  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 reminds us that, “Two are better than one,…If one falls down, his friend can help him up.”

As we learn to lean on others, we must recognize that not everyone can be leaned upon in the same way, to the same degree.  If we don’t learn to learn carefully upon friends and family we may overwhelm them.  And if we lean in the wrong way, or to the wrong degree, upon a weaker brother, we may both collapse.  We need to cultivate relationships with other men in our lives who are strong enough to lean upon.  Who do you have in your life that you can lean upon?

A WORD TO PASTOR’S & WIVES:  Spiritual leaders, historically, including in the Scriptures, are, for various reasons, especially susceptible to reoccurring seasons of sadness and gloom.  One of the most helpful voices in my own life has been Spurgeon, again, in his 1856 Lecture “The Minister’s Fainting Fits.”  In a lot of ways, Spurgeon understands my heart as a pastor more than even I do.  It’s reassuring to hear, from this great spiritual mentor, on how to recover when “…the heralds of the daybreak find themselves at times in tenfold night.”  I commend this teaching to pastors & wives (and encourage discussion), believing it can be a helpful map for navigating the dark forest of despondency (especially on Mondays!)

So men, let me ask you, “Are you OK?”

In this new year, may we give ourselves permission to be men in real life, and may we “learn to lean” on our way to being truly OK.

Written By Brandon Durham

Her heart was young and beauty bright,
But in her soul, the darkest night.

He was a man of holy cloth,
With soothing voice and answers soft.

She went to him by faith and whim,
When times were tough and hope was slim.

He held her hand, her heart to earn.
With evil passion his did burn.

Will wool be pulled upon her eyes?
A wolf awaits her in disguise.

The door behind them both he closed.
In his embrace she shared her woes.

Now days and hours turn to weeks.
Her troubled soul more comfort seeks.

She returns to him, the man of god;
Satan in a sheep’s facade.

He says she’s special and that he needs her.
With skillful lips more lies he feeds her.

His promises dispelled her fears.
The months and weeks turned into years.

He pulled the strings of her young heart.
She danced along and played the part.

Let’s build a world, a secret life.
I’ll keep it hidden from my wife.

So now they pray, and then they kiss,
And then they laugh and reminisce.

Even evil seems so right.
An affair feels fair under certain light.

And so they skate upon thin ice
He takes her life and rolls the dice.

But just as quick the deep tide changes
He grows tired of her and then estranges.

She’ll keep it secret all the same
For fear that she will be the blame.

Someone’s sister, daughter, mother
Silent victim of her brother.

He tricked her heart and wrecked her soul,
Then tossed her to the depths below.

His twisted lies, like lead, do sink.
Her demise, it pulled her, to the brink.

Illicit lust leaves innocence lost.
Adam’s Eve pays the cost.

I wrote the above poem, years ago, after the young lady I was dating confided in me that she had been sexually abused by a well-known celebrity Christian Minister.

The prevalence of both clergy abuse and adultery is staggering.  We must all wise up!

For men, particularly those in positions of power & authority (bosses, pastors, etc), may we each take to heart the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, a man in pastoral leadership: “Treat…younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.”  I Timothy 5:1-2

As Acts 20:28-29 reminds us, these are precious “blood-bought” souls, and pastors are entrusted with their well-being. We must set a new example of leadership that seeks to protect those under our care.  It begins with watching our own lives.  We must live in vital communion with God & His people; accountable to church family, confessing our own sin struggles, and practicing regular repentance, both for our own sake, and for the sake of those we lead.

We must consistently model and teach what it looks like to relate in good and appropriate ways, and build a church culture where even the most cunning perpetrators will be quickly recognized and exposed for their wolfish behavior.

Practically, I believe it is a display of wise and loving leadership when we set a precedent to not meet alone with women behind closed doors.  If King David succumbed to the temptation to take advantage of a woman under his care (Bathsheba), what makes us think we’re above faltering in this way? And if Joseph could be falsely accused (and prosecuted) by Potiphar’s wife, so could we!

Lastly, there is such a thing as a willing victim. In 2 Timothy 3:6-7 we read about a character (moral) deficiency which makes some women an easy mark for predators: “weak (gullible) women weighed down with sins, led on by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

The prevalence of such women, in our generation, can be attested to by how sweeping the "#metoo movement has become. Feminism, which is the spirit of our age, makes women easy marks as it weighs them down with various sins (pride, envy, sensuality, immodesty…), and leads many to give full-vent to their lusts. Such a sinful lifestyle invites sexual abuse. Any feminist rhetoric to the contrary is a “blame-shifting” lie that only further contributes to the wide-spread abuse of our day.

I say this in love—If you profess faith in Christ, then it’s time to repent and grow up; trade in your folly for wisdom, and learn to live in glad submission to the Bible. You must be so rooted in the Word of God that even if the “Man of God, Satan in a Sheep’s facade” should seek to entice you away, you can say, soberly, and resolutely, with Joseph (Gen. 39:9) “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God!”

At age 14 I entered into my final year of little league baseball.  I worked extremely hard, spending hours each week in the batting cage and fielding ground balls.  My hard work paid off.  I ended the season with a .533 batting average and made the All-Star Team with a group of guys that would eventually go on to win their High School (3A) State Championship.  I was excited.  I started All-Star practice off by hitting the ball very well, and the coach said if I kept it up I’d be in the starting line-up.

Then things went south, in a bad way.  I was an outsider, driving in from a smaller “country” town.  I hadn’t grown up with these city boys, didn’t attend school with them, and now I found myself competing with one of them for the starting first base position.  I was bullied, to say the least.  The ring leader was a kid named Adam.  For whatever reason, he despised me.  During practice he would throw baseballs at me when I wasn’t looking.  Sometimes I’d get drilled right in the back, and other times, near misses would whiz right over my head or just past my ear.  I began to dread practice and lived in constant anxiety of when the next ball might nail me in the head.  I also bought a used bat from one of the kids, which, unbeknownst to me, was “loaded” with tennis balls (Supposedly, to help you hit the ball further, but against regulation).  One day in practice, I discovered Adam and some others banging my bat against a fence post, trying to remove the cap, in order to expose me to the coach and have me banned from the team.  When that didn’t work, they tried other tactics.  When it was my turn to field throws at first base, I can still remember my teammates whispering among themselves, just loud enough so I could hear, “throw it in the dirt.”  And they did, time and time again.  Needless to say, my shins took quite a beating, trying to scoop low throw after low throw out of the dirt.  I spent that All-Star season sitting on the bench, rarely seeing the field, and I couldn’t wait to go home and never return to that “bully” pen again.  Nobody stood up for me & I didn’t stand up for myself.

At 33, I’ve come to realize that some bullies never grow up, they just get older and more sophisticated in their bullying.  A year after crashing and burning in international ministry, I entered a church-planting residency in Houston. It was hard not to feel like I was back in little league baseball. Once again, I was an outsider trying to find my place. Thankfully, I was “hitting the ball well.” Three months in, I was preaching regularly, overseeing “small group” leaders, and even asked to draft church documents.  Members affirmed my leadership, and asked me when I was preaching again. To my dismay, the pastor began to view me as his competition.  Things went south fast. This pastor employed one underhanded move after another to push me out.  He tried to cut my already meager salary by half!  He forced me to move out of church housing above his office (because he didn’t want to see me), and tried to make me cover an expensive lease on a new place. When I told him I couldn’t afford these changes, his response was, “Well then I guess you’ll just have to get out there and make more money!”  At the time, I was already working a second job, as a valet, (running sprints on concrete, with a torn meniscus), just so I could afford to stay in the program.  I couldn’t even afford health care to treat my knee. 

This time, I stood up for myself. I requested a meeting, where I informed this pastor that a salary cut would put him in breach of contract. He backed down, saying he had “misspoken.”   At that point, he proceeded to verbally berate me; provoking, shaming, and demeaning me with a number of cheap shots; referring to me as a “boy.”  Before the meeting ended, he told me that if I couldn’t ‘sync up” with what he was doing, then maybe I should leave.  In hindsight, that’s generally a good time to leave.  But I stayed on, and tried to work things out.  The next three months proved to be a farce.  This pastor, who was supposed to be training & eventually planting me, didn’t invest another second into our relationship.  He effectively sat me on the bench, and had one of the older men in the church keep tabs on me, like a spy. This man ingratiated himself to me, took me out to eat, and pretended to be someone who cared. At one point, he flat out told me, “I probably would have punched (the pastor) in his face if he treated me the way I’ve seen him treat you!” When I confided in him that I had a new job prospect, (nothing solid) he reported it immediately to the pastor, and at the next staff meeting, the pastor put me on the spot, announcing to all the staff, “Brandon, I understand you have some news to share with everyone.” So, I resigned. He wasted no time announcing, in church, that Sunday (my last) that my residency had been a success, (in what way?) and that they looked forward to supporting me in my future ministry endeavors.  The next day I borrowed gas money from a friend so I could move home, jobless, to my parents’ house.  I brought my complaint to the leaders in that church, but it fell on deaf ears.  Nobody stood up for me.

Later that year (2015), I tried to get back in the game by attended an Acts 29 church planting conference.  During a Q & A session, I raised my hand and asked one of the big-wigs, “How would you approach training an unmarried pastor differently than a married pastor?”  With a laugh, he retorted, “I’d tell him to go get married first!” Again, this past year (2016), I applied for another church-planting residency in Houston.  When I inquired as to why I was not selected, for the second year in a row, the response was, “…our team is looking more at married guys…” Having grown up in the home of a pastor, and worked in vocational ministry since age 19, the message is clear, single men are the “scrubs” of ministry. Yes, I must be back in little league baseball, and because I’m not from here, and because I don’t fit the mold, there is seemingly not a place on the team for me.

I meet people all the time who have been bullied or rejected, by both the church and the world.  They’re still hurting and grieving from it, as I am.  It might be tempting to pick up the bat and fight back, but this isn’t the way to find your place on the team.

Our solace needs to come from Christ.  The scriptures tell us in John 1:11 that “He came unto his own, but his own people did not receive him.”  Jesus was an outsider, too, and he didn’t fit the mold, either.  Consequently, he was rejected, bullied, and eventually crucified.  We learn from Christ that “turning the other cheek” is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of strength.  We realize that, because Christ defeated his enemies on the cross, we too can overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:17-20 says, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

If you’re being bullied, speak up.  Reach out.  But don’t return evil for evil.  When we trust that God “has our back” we are free to love our enemies, and we can face our bullies without fear, anger, or retaliation, because Jesus promises to stand up for us!  Have you been bullied?  Have you trusted in Christ to be your Savior?  He’s got a place on the team for you; a place where you’ll be safe, valued, and loved!  Find a local church family that (imperfectly) emulates him, and get back in the game!

If you’re a young man, called to pastoral ministry, give me a shout! I’d love to meet you!

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!”  Psalm 34:8

Taiwan, as a country, turns 101 years old today! (Oct 10, 2012)  I’ve known her personally for just 3 of those 101 years, but living here has brought real joy to my life!  Today as I reflected, I considered how my evolving relationship with Taiwan is similar to the way many people come to know Jesus.

THE EARLY DAYS—there was a time in my life when EVERYTHING I knew about Taiwan was silly & wrong!  My few childhood recollections of this little island are comprised almost entirely of jokes about how everything was “Made in Taiwan.” (Ironically, a few years ago, I bought a souvenir here, only to take it back to the states and discover it was “Made in the U.S.A.”)  I remember once my Memaw (grandmother) and I tried to find Taiwan in her old, outdated atlas (book of maps), but we couldn’t even find it—until we flipped to the “F” section for “forget about it!” and stumbled upon “Formosa.”  What little I knew of Taiwan, for most of my life, was based largely on ignorance.

Likewise, often when I talk with people about Jesus, I soon discover they have formed many perceptions based largely on misrepresentations of the Christian faith.  A large part of my sharing the “good news” of Jesus is simply opening up the Bible with friends and saying, “No actually…this is who Jesus is, and this is what he said, and this is how we live, and this is how we love…”

WE MET THROUGH A FRIEND—I was first introduced to the “True Taiwan” through my Taiwanese friend (and college roommate) Eric (aka “Chi”).  Eric became my very close brother, and I naturally wanted to know the place he came from, the world that had shaped him.  I could have read a lot of facts about Taiwan in a book, but coming to know Taiwan, through Eric, helped Taiwan come alive to me!  In college, we often talked of his life in Taiwan, and when family care packages came in the mail, he’d dare me to eat dried fish, squid, pork jerky, and seaweed.  I tried using chopsticks a few times, and we even had a life size poster of Yao Ming hanging in our bathroom! (Try peeing with him looking over your shoulder!)  As my friendship with Eric grew, my love for Taiwan grew, and he quickly corrected my silly misconceptions!  Of course, a few of us did conspire to make a shirt for Eric that said, “Made in Taiwan” and he was nice enough to wear it once or twice.

This is often how people come to know Jesus—they meet through a friend who is already living life “in Jesus.”  This friendship is often the safe context where questions can be asked, life can be shared, and perceptions can be challenged.  Some of my friends still call me “preacher boy” on occasion, but hopefully they are seeing (imperfectly) the “Real Jesus” in me.

SEE FOR MYSELF—I’ll never forget the day.  It was in August 2006.  I was sitting in my living room (in Texas), the phone rang, and Eric said, “Do you want to come to Taiwan for two weeks?”  An hour later I had booked a flight!  Finally, at age 25, I was on my way to explore Taiwan for myself—to taste and see the hidden riches of this ancient island reborn.  I would not be disappointed.  In fact, I told God later, that if he ever wanted me to, I’d live here!

God invites us to “taste and see” for ourselves that He is good.  The Bible says Christ is the eternal “Ancient of Days” and that in him are hidden the secret riches of “wisdom and knowledge” which can lead us to a faith that becomes our “rebirth.”

HOME SWEET HOME—you may call it chance, or fate, or coincidence—I simply trust it was the providence of God.  One day, in 2009, I typed into the internet search engine, “Church looking for pastor” and this little church (www.calvarytaipei.org ) in Taiwan showed up on the map, needing a pastor.  I sent in my resume, which I’m sure read loudly, “Desperate pastor looking for church,” and I’ve been here now, for over three years! 

Taiwan is my home sweet home—“my refuge”—the place I live, work, play, and share the good news. It’s the little piece of God’s green earth where I worship Him on a “moment-to-moment” basis.  I love driving my scooter through lush green mountains, gazing out into endless blue oceans, resting on tropical beaches, eating insanely delicious foods, and spending time with dearly loved friends and family.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” —Jesus, Acts 20:35

In my short life, I have experienced much; I’ve swum in oceans blue, traversed exotic terrain, and stood atop lush green mountains to behold beauty beyond words.  I’ve laid on beaches under the brilliant moon light, and sat in hot springs till the early morning hours.  I’ve drunk deeply from the vast riches of culture, the world over, and embraced friends from places that seem galaxies away, finding love and joy so sweet it surprised me.  I’ve tasted food exploding with such freshness & flavor that I erupted with laughter on the inside, and I’ve taken in sights, sounds, and aromas so foreign, so exhilarating, that I felt like a little child all over again.  Times without number, I’ve traversed the unknown, crested a new horizon, and set my startled gaze afresh on paradise.

But I must confess I’ve been filled up the most, deepened the most, by walking those few short miles, in the tethered shoes of others, into dark valleys of unthinkable poverty, pain, and bleakness.  I’ve learned that “the best seat in the house” is often outside the house, in the street, next to a hungry man, sharing a plate of food.  And sometimes the best gift to myself is giving a tight lingering hug to a smelly teenager starving for attention.  And to hold a half-naked child in your arms, who lives in a make-shift village with no running water, and to see his face beaming with delight; that is to be the richest man in the world!

The longer I live, the more I realize that “heaven on earth,” for me, is nothing more, and nothing less, than bringing love and hope of a risen Savior into the “hell on earth” of precious others.  I am at a crossroad with what to do with my life, and rather than feast continually on the sweet grapes from lands of plenty, I have an ambition to help plant a new vineyard, perhaps in a soil where few might suspect it could grow.

More than anything, I yearn to see the Kingdom come, and I ache for a place to be spent.

Update (10/25/21): I’m married, going on four + years now, and I’ve found my place! My wife and I are eager to build our household to the glory of God. Lord, establish the work of our hands!

“People don’t like to think.  If one thinks, one must reach conclusions.  Conclusions are not always pleasant.”  —Helen Keller

It’s time to do the “Helen Keller” and think!

In his recent article for the Christian Post Dr. Michael Brown discusses one of his controversial “tweets” following the terror attacks in Paris, France: “We know that most Muslims today are not terrorists. We also know that most terrorists today are Muslims.”

As shown in his article, this sentiment is well-substantiated:  “According to Middle Eastern scholar Daniel Pipes, since 9/11, there have been ‘27,000 attacks globally connected to Islam,’ many of which have involved Muslims killing Muslims. This number certainly dwarfs all other terrorist attacks worldwide by non-Islamic groups, reinforcing the simple message of my tweet.”

Nonetheless, Dr. Brown received a “flood” of angry, negative responses.

In response, Dr. Brown writes:  “I’m fully aware that the majority of Muslims are repulsed by today’s terrorism and that a large number of Islamic theologians and leaders say that these terrorists are misrepresenting their religion in the ugliest possible way.

In light of this, I always attribute these terrorist acts to “radical Islam” rather than to “Islam” in general.

That’s why I also tweeted out on Friday night, ‘Let’s pray for the millions of Muslims who are repulsed by these acts of terror in the name of their religion. May God open their hearts!’”

Conversely, in his article, Dr. Brown asserts, “….it is undeniable that Islam has a violent history and that radical Muslims can point to authoritative texts and historic exemplars to justify their actions. And it is undeniable that there are multiplied millions of devout Muslims who are radical and who espouse violent Islam.

To deny this is to stick one’s head in the sand and perhaps, one day in the future, to lose one’s head.

In short, we can acknowledge that there are millions of peace loving Muslims while at the same time confronting radical Islam — and I mean confronting it ideologically and by name, in the radicalized mosques and communities as well as on the battlefield.”

This is where I want to challenge you to think.

Are most terrorists Muslim?  Are “radical” Muslims true Muslims?

The word “radical” means, “of the root.”  We tend to think of “radical” as meaning, “something new, or deviating from tradition,” when ironically, “radical” means a return to the truest, most essential (root) nature of something.

Accordingly, to speak of “radical” Islam is to speak of a return to the truest, most essential nature of Islam; the expression of Islam which is most consistent with the Quran, Sharia Law, and the example of Muhammad.  The Quran contains more than 100 verses calling Muslims to fight against “nonbelievers” for the sake of Islamic rule (Sharia Law):

Quran (9:5) – “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.”

Quran (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.”

Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”

When ISIS attacked Paris, France they were simply following the Quran in a radical “root” way.  As the Islamic State Spokesman Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani stated recently, “We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women. If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves at the slave market.”

A common rebuttal which tries to indict Christianity for having a similar violent history, must consider two counter arguments:

1.  PHILOSOPHICAL ABUSES ABOUND: Augustine said, “Never judge a philosophy by its abuses.”  The “Crusades,” slavery, the “KKK,” segregation, racism, Westboro’s hateful harassing, and other terrible outrages committed in the name of Christ are not consistent with Scripture, especially as Scripture is fulfilled in the teaching and example of Christ.  Therefore, these outrages are clearly “abuses” and cannot be substantiated as “radical” (root) or representative of Christianity.  For example, (to the contrary), in Matthew 5:43-45, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

2. THE CROSS CHANGES EVERYTHING—MERCY HAS COME! In the Scriptures the entire world stands condemned before God for our rebellion against Him.  In both the Old & New Testament, divine judgment is the ONLY appropriate response to our rebellion from a holy God.  The Bible declares God to be perfectly just in His unleashing of a furious, unrelenting judgment upon the world.  In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel is one of God’s primary instruments of judgment, as per Psalm 149:6-7 which reads, “May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples…”   In reading the Old Testament there are moments we’re left covering our eyes as we witness the crushing weight of God’s judgment bearing down upon humanity in the way of war, infanticide, and slavery of the nations.  However, in the midst of his judgment, God chooses to relent.    He relents first with a chosen people, Israel, sparing them from the very judgment which He then dispenses THROUGH them.  Later, “in the fullness of time”  (as promised from the beginning) a major historical shift happens; Israel, once God’s chosen instrument of judgment, now becomes God’s chosen instrument of mercy (and blessing) for “all nations.”  Through Israel a Savior is given to the entire world.  Matthew 1:21 tells us he would be called Jesus (Jesus means “God Saves”), “because he will save his people from their sins.”  As Isaiah (53:5) prophesied 700 years prior, “…he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”  The cross changes everything, as a sinless Savior substitutes himself in the place of a sinful world.  The reason God no longer needs a nation of jihad warriors to dispense his judgment upon the earth is because God poured out his judgment upon Jesus on the cross!  Justice has been kept, and mercy has come!  As Romans 3:26 declares, “(God) did (this) to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”   The cross is the only place in human history where both justice AND mercy are preserved in perfect balance.

You won’t find mercy from Allah, in Islam, because Islam has no cross, no sin-bearer.  Accordingly, there has never been a shift in Islam’s historical narrative from earning & executing “divine justice” to embracing & extending “divine mercy.”  While they may use the term “mercy,” the only way anyone gets “mercy” from Allah, in Islam, is by earning it, which by definition, cannot be mercy.  (Mercy can’t be earned.)  Consequently, when the god of Islam withholds mercy so will the people.  And that is why Jihad rages on.

While the world debates the true nature of Islam, the surge of “radicals” will continue to carry out Allah’s “divine judgment” upon the world.   I’m praying to see a resurgence of “Radical” Christianity.  Our God has lavished his love and mercy upon us, at great cost to himself, (on the cross), and we’re privileged to extend this same love and mercy to the world, at great cost to ourselves.

So go. Be Radical.  Let’s show the world the true nature of Christianity.  Love.  Mercy.

                          “’Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool…’” —John 5:7

The GOSPEL is like a cool, refreshing pool of water inviting us to jump in and find healing, hope, joy, love, rest, wisdom, eternal life.  Once we discover this hidden “God’s-pool” (Gospel) we’ll want to jump in regularly, and bring our friends with us.  We’ll long to swim there daily; to splash, frolic, and dive deep.  We’ll want to make our camp right on the banks, to live close by, so we can quickly and easily make our way into the water.  The really wonderful thing is that the refreshing water of the GOSPEL is so ACCESSIBLE to us, and to those we’d wish to share it with!  See, there are ENDLESS “jumping in” points.  The KEY is to find the “jumping in” point nearest to you, to your friends, and help each other jump in.

Several weeks ago a childhood friend called me out of the blue.  We hadn’t seen each other in five years.  My friend shared with me that during that time, for various reasons, he had turned away from God, and had considered himself to be an atheist.  Essentially, he had lived as if he was dead to God and God was dead to him.  To my great delight, he asked me to help him turn back to God; to help him “jump in” to the gospel.  I listened to his story, asked questions, and paid attention to what he was saying (and to what the Holy Spirit was saying), trying to discern the “jumping in point” closest to him.  Soon it hit me, “Of course, (Luke 15) ‘the Parable of the Prodigal Son!’”  And that became my dear brother’s jumping in point.  I shared that God was running to him with arms open wide.  “Just come home!” It was a sacred night as we made our way through the jungle to this “jumping in” point. We had tears in our eyes, as we bowed our heads together and prayed—jumping in with both feet.  Splash!

I grew up in a rough and rowdy, physically affectionate home where we hugged, kissed, wrestled, tickled, gave “piggy back” rides, and put our feet in each other’s face to show how much we cared.  Thanks to “nature/nurture” my primary love language is physical touch.  At age 18, and college bound, I said “good bye” to that wonderful world of “touchy” love, and for the past 15 years, as a single man, I have lived with a perpetual ache in my heart to be touched! A couple of months ago, a homeless man hugged me (when I gave him a dollar).  As I walked away, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t been hugged in over two weeks!  I’m learning to see that “ache” to be touched as a great “jumping in point” into the gospel.  I have been meditating on how Jesus touches those who desperately need to be touched (Mt 17:4, Mk 1:41, Mk 10:13); how he doesn’t stand at a cold distance from us, but He takes us in his hands, and handles us.  His skin touches our skin.  His touch gives healing, love, warmth.  I’m finding that, in the dark haven of my prayer closet, by faith, Christ is able to touch me profoundly with his presence.  Along with meditating on Scripture, and communing with Christ in prayer, there are other ways I feel God’s intimate touch; embracing friends, playing with children, holding babies, petting puppies, squeezing my parents tight when I visit, and walking barefoot on the beach.  These are all “jumping in” points for me, where I experience God’s touch, God’s love, in “God’s-pool.”

Where is your jumping in point?  Here’s a hint; the trailhead probably picks up where you are aching in your heart, fearful, hurting, restless, feeling deeply, or feeling nothing.  Start there; ask the Holy Spirit and a good friend to help you make your way through the jungle to the nearest “jumping in” point….and make a splash!

“Go,” (Jesus) told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam.”  So the (blind) man went and washed, and came home seeing.” —John 9:7

Written By Brandon Durham

Originally published SEPTEMBER 23, 2013 BY BRANDON DURHAM

“Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship…the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the Lord…” —Jonah 1:4-5, 13-14

“Love is a many splendid thing,” so we say.  One of the “splintery” splendors of love is its willingness to do the hard thing; to act counter-intuitively, to push and prod, and nudge another person, if necessary, even to the edge of despair, in order to rescue them.  After all, it doesn’t FEEL very loving to inflict pain, or to function as a conduit for unrest to flow into another person’s life.  For this reason, love must often act and speak at the great risk of misunderstanding, rejection, even hatred in response.

We can see the violent nature in which God is loving Jonah and a boat full of pagan sailors, as he (God) utterly dismantles their confidence in themselves and their false gods.  It’s astonishing how tightly these men cling to self-reliance and idol worship, initially calling out to their own gods, and then trying to save themselves by human wisdom (lightening the ship), and human effort (rowing back to land).  “But (recalls Jonah) they could not…then they cried to the Lord…”

I’m reminded of a very dear friend, Mr. Robert Tsai, who, for much of his life, saw no need for God.  He embraced the god of the west; himself.  He was a successful business man, a multi-millionaire, and impressively self-reliant, that is, until the day he was struck with terminal cancer.  As all the best of modern and ancient medicine failed him, he began to turn to the gods of his ancestors; visiting temples, offering up prayers and burning incense.  His family and our church kept praying for him, and kept sharing the gospel.  For the longest, he resisted.  But I’ll never forget the day Mr. Robert showed up at my office and said, “I’m ready to trust God.” It was a sacred moment to hear him cry out to God, in his own words, from his own honest sense of desperation, and find salvation in the One who splendidly causes and calms rough storms in our lives.  I had the privilege of baptizing my friend on Easter Sunday, and the last sermon I preached in Taiwan, was his funeral.  I’m looking forward to the day when I’ll, once again, be warmed by Mr. Robert’s enchanting smile!

A “Jonah kind of love” can seem harsh and out of place in our day of pluralism and tolerance, as we intentionally work to ship-wreck another person’s faulty worldview; bringing them to the brink of despair, to the end of trusting in themselves and their respective gods, and to the beginning of calling upon the name of the Lord.

I watched this drama unfold in the life of my lil’ brother, Bradley.  He grew up in a non-Christian home that worshipped his ancestors.  It was painful for him and I, and others involved, over the course of many months, as we had those hard conversations (often around the dinner table) concerning ideas, beliefs, and world views.  His mom would call regularly, forbidding him to become a Christian.  He was in turmoil.  We were holding our breath, in prayer.

And then, one quiet day, Bradley posted on Facebook, “Today was my John 3:16 day.”  Now, he’s teaching his mom the gospel (good news), she’s asking questions, and the violent winds of redeeming love continue to blow.

Every single day, every single one of us, like Jonah, desperately need the winds of the gospel to gust anew in our lives.  We’re like busy little spiders, ever spinning our flimsy webs of self-reliance and idolatry.   God knows just how hard to howl to whisk away the webs in each of our lives, and to keep our trust firmly anchored in Him, who alone can save.

How are the winds of God’s love blowing in your life?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  —John 3:16

Recently, a story made its way around the internet from a man who admitted that he “sorta cheated” on his wife!  He was shopping at Target at the time.  In his own words: “As I went to pay I saw this woman in line that knocked me out. I thought, ‘Wow, some lucky guy is with her,’ and in a split second I realized it was my wife!”  The husband went on to say, “…I was taken aback by how amazingly beautiful she is, once again. I believe I see it often, but today, not knowing she was at the store, I saw her with new eyes and just couldn’t believe I get to be her fella. It made me blush – but no one could see it under my huge monster Movember beard.”

In this honest man’s confession, we can appreciate the shared human problem of “seeing, but not truly seeing.”  It is possible to assume a familiarity with someone and lose our sense of wonder over who they are, and who they invite us to be.  We need new eyes.

Perhaps no person in history has been more “seen, but not truly seen” than Jesus Christ.  His life and words have cast both shadow and light upon humanity, making him impossible to ignore, yet easy to take for granted.  William Lecky, Historian (and skeptic), writes: “The simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind, than all the disquisitions (speeches) of philosophers, and than all the exhortations of moralists.”  Two thousand years later we see Jesus, the small-town Jewish peasant, enshrined in music and the arts, espoused in religion and philosophy, polarized in politics, and dropped like a common expletive in nearly every movie.  We need new eyes!

One of the most startling statements Jesus ever made was that, “Anyone who has seen me has seen (God) the Father!” (John 14:9)  As Christmas Day approaches, we have an opportunity to be caught off guard by the God of Wonder and his invitation to be draw near in worship!  He comes to us wrapped, unexpectedly, in a manger!  Below are five highlights from the Christmas story, as told in Matthew 1:18-2:1.  I encourage you to read it this Christmas.

THIS CHRISTMAS, TO SEE JESUS IS TO SEE GOD!—TO BE FILLED WITH FRESH WONDER OVER:

1. GOD WITH US—“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel”—which means, “God with us.” (1:23)

We run, God pursues.  The Bible is the story of restless rebellion overtaken by relentless love. This is good news for all who find themselves lost in the far country. Stop running this Christmas, turn around, and surrender at the feet of love incarnate.  He is here, closer than you could ever imagine!

2. GOD LIKE US—“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. (1:18-19)

God entered into his world exactly the same way we do, by messy process!  His Dad nearly disowned him and his mom before he was even born.  He would grow up and experience every ounce of our humanity; all the same trials, temptations, and heart aches, even death.  No other god in any religion has ever condescended with such grace & humility.  Cast your burdens on Christ this Christmas.  Pour out your hearts. (Ps 62)  He is like us.  He understands!

3. GOD FOR US—“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (1:21)

To see Jesus with new eyes, we must also see ourselves with new eyes!  We are not basically “good people” in need of small improvements.  As fallen “image bearers” we are perfection personified, ruined by sin!  We are beautifully created “in the image of God” and grotesquely marred by a treacherous desire to be god.  We can’t save ourselves!  The name “Jesus” means, “God saves.”  Jesus was born for the cross!  Until we look into the mirror and see a person desperately in need of a Savior, we’ll never be able to look into the manger and truly see Jesus.  Through faith in Christ, there is forgiveness of sins, eternal life!  This Christmas, may our hearts swoon with grief over sin, and soar with hope as “the soul feels its worth.”  God is for us!

4. GOD ABOVE US—“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” (2:1-2)

These “magi” didn’t miss Jesus.  They were important men, with important lives.  Yet, they saw the prophetic star above them, so they traveled a great distance to a foreign land for the sake of worshiping Jesus.  To truly see Jesus, we must look up from our own important lives.  All around us are signs, evidences pointing to the majesty of Christ.  This Christmas, the ultimate invitation is to redirect our hearts and our lives to the undivided pursuit of worshiping the unrivaled King Jesus.  He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

May we have “new eyes” to see Emmanuel, “God with us.”

“Oh come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.”

(from the blog series: “Treasuring Christ At Christmas“) 

“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:  that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” –David, Psalm 27:4 

Scottish preacher-poet, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, encourages us, “For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.”   This invaluable insight sets us on the right path to treasuring Christ. 

Our EYES marvel at the majesty of Michelangelo’s “Statue of David.”  We travel great distances to gaze upon his beauty.  He stands, perhaps, as history’s most celebrated monument to human perfection. 

But the man, David, was not content to gaze at himself.  In the “Psalm of David” (27:4) we hear a man, who had EVERYTHING, declare that his singular want was for this ONE thing; “to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”  Beneath the layers of his own human splendor flamed a ferocious appetite to feast his eyes upon the one who is truly perfect.  This insatiable hunger lies within each of us! 

God has created us with an enormous capacity to treasure (worship, feast), intended for the unique purpose of mining the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” (Eph. 3:8)

This Christmas, may our EARS (also) marvel at the majesty of God’s “Psalm of David.” And may we travel the great distance in our hearts “to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” 

As Acts (17:27) says, “he is not far from each one of us….”

“The sting of death is sin,…But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  —I Corinthians 15:56-57

 Yesterday at a funeral service on Yang Ming Mountain in Taiwan, our Calvary Church Family bid farewell to one unforgettable man.  Mr. Dawson Kwauk was a kind of larger-than-life, Spiritual Grandfather to us all.  He was a marvel of timeless sophistication; entirely ancient, yet completely modern, all at once.  A tall and stately gentlemen, he served in the Chinese Army during the late 1930’s, fought against Japan in WWII, referred to Pearl Harbor as the day that saved his life, was educated in England, Captain of a British Shipping Company, rubbed shoulders with the first Taiwan President’s son, later employed another President (helping to launch his political career), and was a virtual encyclopedia on everything under the sun!  And he was wise; a careful sage who never wasted a single word, yet risked it regularly for the sake of sharing generous compliments and loving encouragements to his church family.  My friend Matt and I often referred to Mr. Dawson as truly, “The World’s Most Interesting Man.”

Above all, Mr. Dawson loved and revered Jesus deeply.  I hope I never forget the countless times I sat across the table from him, or gazed out at him from the pulpit, and witnessed his eyes burning with insight, his hand hiding his mouth agape, as he weighed the profoundness of some scriptural truth.  He showed me a secret window into his robust vitality, in his capacity, day in and day out, to be utterly wrecked anew by encountering God, in his Holy Word.  Mr. Dawson was 95, but we honestly, selfishly hoped to keep him here so much longer!  We will, and do, miss him terribly!

As my dear brother Johnny Tsai reminded me recently, “Death feels so wrong!”  This is true, no matter what age a person dies, but all the more when they’re stolen from us, as we sometimes say, “before their time.”  This is a sentiment that Johnny and I have discussed often in recent years; since the passing of his own Father, along with several other precious members of our Calvary church family.

This week my church family in Kennard, Tx is also grieving the untimely death of one of our own precious saints, Bro. John Pilkington.  The following is an excerpt from my funeral notes for Mr. Robert Tsai (of Taipei), which I’ve adapted to help us grieve, with hope, at the passing of Mr. Dawson.  I’d like to share this with our Calvary Church family, as well as with anyone else grieving the loss of a loved one:

“…we do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”  —1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

“Contrary to what we sometimes hear, DEATH is NOT natural.  We were never intended, by God, to experience death.  The Bible says that God has written eternity upon our hearts.  Death comes, not as part of God’s good design, but as the devastating consequence of our sin.  Because of this tragic reality, WE MUST MOURN, (grieve) as death steals away, if only for a moment, something, someone who is most precious to us.  We must allow ourselves permission to feel deeply, the searing loss of a dearly loved man; (Mr. Dawson), husband, father, son, friend, member of our Calvary family.  It is good, and it is right, for us to feel the intense ache of sorrow, and to mourn the irreplaceable loss of Mr. Dawson, indeed, to even feel anger at death for wounding so deeply. We must mourn.  But we do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope!  In the gospel, OUR GOD BEATS SIN & DEATH!  The Bible says in Romans 10:13 that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved from sin & death.  (Today), I want to give you three words of encouragement to help you know where to look in the days ahead:

 #1 LOOK BACK—Remember often, with thanksgiving, the precious memories you have of Mr. Dawson.  Cherish them. Talk about them.  Dive deep into them.  These memories are a gift.   Let them always be a cause for expressing heart-felt thanks and worship to God. 

# 2 LOOK UP—See that you are not alone—Romans 12:15 teaches us to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn.”  Today you are surrounded by a family.  And we are here to mourn together in the days ahead.  Jesus said, in the Gospel of John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  This harsh world quickly exposes our weaknesses, quickly brings us to our knees.  But take heart, when we are weak, He is strong.  In the days ahead, look up, and see the one who has overcome the world.  We rejoice together that Mr. Dawson is now home free from suffering.  In Christ, he too, at last, has overcome the world.  And so shall we. 

 #3 LOOK FORWARD—For those who refuse to HOPE in Christ—when death comes, it is final, it is crushing.  It falls upon unrepentant sinners, with all the horrors of hell, as the last heavy unchanging word.  BUT NOT SO WITH US—by faith, in the promise of God, in his Word, we look forward to yet again embracing our loved one, and this time, it will be for all eternity.  There are no final good byes In Christ! 

 So remember, as you grieve, in the days ahead, look back, look up, look forward, and see the crushing weight of death give way to the healing power of heaven’s hope.  May the Holy Spirit, our great comforter, come even now, and minister to our hearts.”

 With Love,

 Brandon Durham

“And he (Christ) gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…” —Ephesians 4:11-12

After fighting in 3 wars, and serving our country for 30 years, my papaw retired, a high-ranking officer, from the U.S. Navy and eventually settled into a quieter life, as a farmer, with a small herd of cows. 

One of my fondest child-hood memories was going, along with my cousins, to feed Papaw’s cows!  We’d cram into Papaw’s old pick-up (some in the cab, some in the back), and Papaw would sing old country tunes, in his deep booming voice, as we drove down to the pasture.  The cows were usually way in the back pasture, in the woods, and would come running as they heard the familiar sound of the old truck’s honking horn.  As they came closer, papaw would draw them in with his own unique “cow” call, which I can still hear, very fondly, in my memory.

I’d watch my Papaw as he walked among his herd, feeding them nutritious hay and cubes, carefully observing their health; checking for limps, infections, weight loss, pregnancy, and so forth.  He’d pat their sides, lift up their hooves, check their eyes, and occasionally even talk to them, asking how they were doing!  He would count to make sure none were missing, and if one was missing, we’d go looking for it.  Papaw was intimately acquainted with his small heard, and he cared diligently for their well-being.  Little did I know then, my Papaw was teaching me one of my most important lessons on being a shepherd, a pastor.

 “Papaw was intimately acquainted with his small heard, and he cared diligently for their well-being.  Little did I know then, my Papaw was teaching me one of my most important lessons on being a shepherd, a pastor.”

THE PASTOR(s)— Today, as we examine Ephesians 4:11-13, our goal is to better understand & appreciate the God-given gift of a godly pastor(s) to the church.  According to Ephesians 4:8 & 11 Jesus “gave gifts to men;” apportioning a measure of grace (and giftedness) to each believer, as he sovereignly sees fit, and He “gave some (a gift to the church)…to be pastors and teachers.”

Below are three foundational truths, which I pray help us better understand and appreciate our pastor & the leaders within our church:

WHAT IS A PASTOR?

Pastors are men called by God to shepherd His flock. The Greek word for “pastor” in Ephesians 4:11 is “poimen (poy-mane), which literally translates as “shepherd.”  It’s the same Greek word which I Peter 5:2 uses, in verb form, as Peter tells the elders to “Shepherd God’s flock that is under your care…”  Additionally, Hebrews 13:17 tells the flock “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.  They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.”  Pastors are accountable to God for the care of his precious sheep!

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A PASTOR?

The distinct purpose of a pastor, according to Ephesians 4:12 is “to equip the saints…”  The Greek word, here, for equip is “katartismos,” which essentially means to “completely furnish.” In Matthew 4:21 “katartismos” is used to describe the disciples “mending” their fishing nets.  The pastor’s purpose is to apply the healing, sanctifying gospel to broken, hurting, sinful people; to see them mended, matured, and made ready for living out their true, God-given purpose within the Body of Christ, for the glory of God!

The pastor’s purpose is to apply the healing, sanctifying gospel to broken, hurting, sinful people; to see them mended, matured, and made ready for living out their true, God-given purpose within the Body of Christ, for the glory of God! 

WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF A PASTOR?  

As Pastor John MacArthur points out, a pastor’s function is two-fold; to “lead & feed” the flock.  The way Ephesians 4:11 is structured in the Greek has led many (if not most) to link “pastors and teachers” together (ie: “pastor-teachers.”)   Or to put it more clearly, “pastors and teachers” in Ephesians 4:11 appears to describe one leadership office with two functions; overseeing & teaching.

Dr. Thomas Constable, of Dallas Theological Seminary articulates this idea very well:  “The effective pastor . . . must be ‘among’ his people so that he can get to know them, their needs and problems; and he needs to be ‘over’ his people so he can lead them and help them solve their problems. There must be no conflict between pastoring and preaching, because they are both ministries of a faithful Shepherd. The preacher needs to be a pastor so he can apply the Word to the needs of the people. The pastor needs to be a preacher so that he can have authority (Word of God) when he shares in their daily needs and problems. The pastor is not a religious lecturer who weekly passes along information about the Bible. He is a shepherd who knows his people and seeks to help them through the Word.”

In closing, I once heard a wise pastor counsel younger pastors to “keep the smell of the sheep on you,” meaning to remain close to your flock; present in their midst, intimately involved in their lives.  To this I’d add that a faithful pastor must also “keep the smell of God on you;” remaining steadfastly in prayer, in the study of God’s Word, and ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit.  A pastor’s job is to know the needs of the sheep & to faithfully apply the Word of God to those needs.

Praise God for His gift of godly pastors to His church!

Written By Brandon Durham

*Originally published July 23, 2016

I’ll be the first to admit that modesty is a complex & challenging issue for today’s woman. That said, I do believe that modesty is an issue which both men and women must speak too as we strive to live in community together.  Today I want to exhort my Christian sisters, especially, to embrace and champion modesty as love.

The mere mention of modesty is viewed as an infringement upon today’s hyper-feminist culture.  Do so, and you’ll immediately be painted as antagonistic and regressive, or even worse, dismissed as irrelevant, and this by the “professing Christian” crowd!  That’s because many professing Christians are actually more cultural than “Christian” in their worldview.  They’ve done the very thing the Bible warns against, and that’s “conform to the patterns of this world.” (Rom. 12:2)   This is particularly true of many professing Christian women today, who claim to faithfully espouse and embody biblical womanhood, when in actuality, they’re espousing, and operating from some various shade of feminism. Feminism has infiltrated the church, and hijacked the conversation about modesty, dressing it as a women’s rights issue; making it primarily about you, as a woman, feeling “comfortable in your own skin,” and having permission to freely “be yourself” and dress however you want to.

I want to lovingly challenge my “culturally conformed” sisters: when we follow Jesus we give up our right to dress how we want.  Romans 14:7-8 says plainly, “For none of us lives to our self alone and none of us dies to our self alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”   Modesty is a virtue which the ancient Scripture, and therefore, the eternal Lord, speaks over our lives, both directly and indirectly, and this virtue (in regards to clothing) is expressly, though not exclusively, for women:  1 Timothy 2:9-10 says, “I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety,…with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.”  Simply put, women, if you claim to be a Christian, or a worshiper of Jesus, but disregard the Bible’s call to modesty, then you are living in serious “disconnect” from your faith.  Furthermore, you are failing to love.  2 John 6 says, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands…” 

When viewed through the lens of Scripture, what readily emerges is that modesty is love for your fellow sisters, for your brothers, for the Lord Jesus, and today, let’s consider how:

“MODESTY IS LOVE” FOR YOURSELF—Several years ago, a woman named Jessica Rey presented a compelling case for modesty as she introduced findings from a (2009) Princeton study in which male students were shown images of women dressed in different degrees of modesty. As these men viewed images of women dressed in less (esp. the bikini) the region of their brains associated with using tools, such as hammers and screwdrivers, lit up!  But the part of the brain associated with showing empathy and appreciation for another person’s thoughts and feelings was virtually turned off!  As Miss Rey reiterated, “Researches found this shocking, because they almost never see this part of the brain shut down in this way!”  As it turns out, modern feminist notions on “freedom of self-expression” are actually regressive and exploitive of women, whereas the Biblical admonition towards modesty is actually empowering to women.  Miss Jessica brings this home when she states that dressing immodestly gives a woman “the power to shut down a man’s ability to see her as a person, but rather as an object.  This is surely not the kind of power that women are searching for; the power to be treated as an equal, to be seen as in control, and to be taken seriously.  It seems that the kind of power they are searching for is more attainable when they dress modestly.”  

Dear Sisters, the Bible declares that you are “fearfully and wonderfully” made, that you bear God’s image (Ps 139:14, Gen 1:27, 31), that after God created you, he stepped back to admire all of his creation, concluding that, “It is very good.”  By design, you are more, not less than your outer beauty.  The Bible says (II Cor 6:18, I Peter 3:7) when you trust in Christ as your Savior  you become daughters of the Lord Almighty and heirs of the gracious gift of eternal life!   According to I Peter 3:4 God has endowed you with an “inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” Modesty invites you to embrace and display this fuller picture of your person-hood, and then safeguards your self-worth in the midst of a broken world which constantly seeks to reduce you to less.  As Miss Rey so elegantly states, “Modesty isn’t about hiding ourselves. (shame) It’s about revealing our dignity.” 

Written By Brandon Durham

(From the blog series: “Treasuring Christ At Christmas“)

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” 

–Luke 2:19

Treasuring is a lost art.  Our capacity to savor the fullness of any given moment, extraordinary or not, seems to have withered in our day.  We’re left to chase after MORE experiences to compensate for our inability to chase after more IN our experiences.  As preacher Matt Chandler has said, “Our generation is the most entertained in the history of the world!  And yet we’re bored!”

Why is this?

It could have something to do with the death of a Princess:

 In 1997, following the death of Princess Diana, a freshly kindled disdain was born in our hearts for the tabloids and their paparazzi.  They had gone too far.  Something poetic and beautiful, even noble, had been exploited, exhausted, and at last, extinguished in the ambitious pursuit of one more picture, one more dollar, one more cheap thrill for the masses.   Our insatiable hunger for “more” helped turn a Princess, a fellow human, into a spectacle of amusement.  In the end, the constant bombardment of cameras flashing; of reporters lurking, trying to capture her every move, proved to be too much.  The paparazzi made it difficult for the Princess to enjoy the life she’d been given.  And then, just like that, it was over. 

What’s our connection?

You’d better buckle up for this…

Recently, on my Sabbath (day off) I awoke to what I like to call an HDD (High-Definition Day)!  The sky was remarkably clear, with tremendous visibility, and the sun was glistening like a champ.  It was the perfect day to take a drive along that ole familiar route across the lush green mountains of Northern Taiwan and then wind my way along the coast to my favorite beach. 

Unfortunately, I only made it a third of the way up “my” mountain before I got the bright idea to shoot an award-winning “short film” with my new camera.  My rationale was simple; the mountains were just too beautiful, and my experience was growing too rich…I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer!  I had to share it!  (Sound familiar anyone?) So, I queued up my CD player, hit record on my camera, and continued my winding (and swerving) ascent up the mountain; one hand on the wheel, one hand holding the camera; one eye on the road ahead, one eye on the camera, one eye on the rear view mirror (you do the math).   The first “take” wasn’t very good, because I recorded more sky than mountain (blair-witch-esqe)!  The second “take” was no good because my commentary was lame.  I tried yet a third “take,” and before I realized it, I had grown completely distracted by my “short-film” and was no longer enjoying the mountains!  By the time I came to my senses, it was too late!  As I crested the mountain and descended towards the coast a dense fog greeted me, (as it wafted in from the sea) and, to my dismay, turned the sky dark and dreary in a matter of minutes.  Sadly, in my effort to capture a pristine moment for others, I had missed it myself!

That’s when it hit me.  WE HAVE BECOME OUR OWN PAPARAZZI!!  We’ve fast become a culture both constrained and equipped to give a “play by play” account of virtually every move we make. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and our fancy iPhones nothing escapes us!  We report the extraordinary and mundane alike, which is why you can check your facebook and read updates like, “I just shook hands with Michael Jordan!” or “I just saw a duck!”  (And we get a picture of the duck!)  Some of my awesome friends (You know who you are) even have entire facebook albums dedicated to food…a hundred plus pictures of delicious dinner plates! (I do love those pictures.)  We report everything “on the minute”…from the movie we saw last night, to the lunch we had this afternoon, to the concert tickets we scored for next weekend; and you can bet we’ll be there with camera and iPhone in hand….we are paparazzi to our own exciting lives!

I hope you won’t misunderstand my point.  I’m all for sharing, for tweeting, for posting on walls.  There’s something good and right about inviting others to treasure the moments with us.  In a very real sense, sharing is a part of treasuring.  After all, we wouldn’t know all that Luke tells us about the birth and life of Christ our Savior if Mary hadn’t first treasured it up in her heart….and then shared that treasure with us! 

But let me ask us; would it hurt if we occasionally went to the beach without our camera; or if we turned off our iPhone at the dinner table; or, I don’t know…what if we took a picture of our dinner plate AFTER the last bite, instead of BEFORE the first?  I’m just asking…would it hurt? 

This Christmas I want to challenge each of us; in our zeal to share those fleeting moments with others, may we not miss those moments ourselves!  Let us re-learn the art of treasuring, and enlarge our own capacity to pause, ponder, and take pleasure in that which is truly praiseworthy. 

In my next post, I want to invite us to put our newly inspired “treasuring” skills to “best use” in the worthy endeavor  of “treasuring” the “unsearchable” riches of CHRIST.

Stay tuned for more of “Treasuring Christ At Christmas”…..THAT’s A WRAP!