Month: February 2016

Some Things are Sacred

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This ran at the New York Cupid Times on 2/14/16 – Ü

This is a statement to our culture.

It is Valentine’s Day.

In the beginning… it is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him… God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth (excerpts of Genesis 1-3).

Courtship, love, romance, and marriage – all of it is created by God. And when it is done correctly, according to His will and purpose the great beauty of His grand design plays out in the theatre of our lives.

He even made the, “lesser lights” otherwise known as the moon and stars as a romantic backdrop.

Roses are the undisputed queen of Valentine’s day, but have you noticed the exquisite beauty of the rose’s much better looking sister, the tulip? Both are created by God to enchant you on days like today.

Everything God does is lavish which is why He designed us to enjoy strawberries and chocolate.

Much of America loves football because of the design of the game. But along with the design there has to be rules and then judges to enforce the rules. Without the rules and something to enforce the rules the game would quickly degenerate into chaos and we would turn the channel in disgust. When the design is executed within the rules and guidelines then we have the beauty of the game that so many enjoy.

And this is precisely what many in our culture miss when it comes to spiritual matters. God is the designer of all that we can see but along with the design there has to be rules and guidelines. Disease has always been connected to immorality. Some disease is God’s warning to people to stay within the design and the guidelines that he laid out.

We are made in God’s image so we are religious right down to our very core – whether we perceive it or not.

So, the truth will set you free. Enjoy the weekend but keep yourself safe, stay within God’s design and recognize that some things are sacred.

Ron Hunnicutt

Visalia, CA

 

 

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It is a Terrible Thing

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A Sunday afternoon rambling

Nobody wants to hear what God has to say. Nobody wants to hear what I have to say.

Joel Osteen had a service at ATT Park in San Francisco. The stadium was packed.

ATT is the Crown Jewel of major league baseball. The SF Giants sellout streak is approaching 400 games. It is a gorgeous baseball park in a gorgeous setting. The views are breath taking. Home runs to right field can splash in the bay if the hitter puts enough bat speed behind it. Tankers slowly make their way through the waves, the nonsense of Berkeley can be observed from a safe distance, and sailboats prance with joy flirting with the beauty of God’s creation – a delight to the senses if one has the right seats.  It is no wonder that all manner of humanity flock to San Francisco. The Golden Gate bridge is the most photographed specimen in the whole of man’s realm.

Did you take in the amazing spectacle and tactical battles of America’s cup? High tech “sailboats” 13 stories tall racing above the currents on foils in front of the spectacular San Francisco shore line. The AC-72’s raced up to 46 mph as Oracle Team USA overcame the Kiwis to claim the oldest trophy in international sports. America’s cup was the absolute pinnacle of the sport of man, the beauty of God’s creation, the wonder of technology, and the high drama stakes of the most epic comeback in the history of sports.

Back to Mr. Osteen. He is known for his positive and uplifting messages. But true Christians know that they serve a Holy God who cannot let inequity scourge the lives of people indefinitely… justice must eventually over rule the day.

Sitting in that buzzing crowd on a Saturday night was Nancy Pelosi who claims a faith via Catholicism. She claims Christianity but it is obvious to anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the First Commandment that her functional god is liberalism. She advocates for abortion, sodomy, deficit spending and she embraces the intoxicating power that liberalism affords her.

Joel Osteen, as a minister of the gospel, had an opportunity to tell Mrs. Pelosi to repent of her wickedness and therefore escape the wrath of God.

Mr. Osteen failed to preach the full gospel, impart the whole counsel of God, and therefore Nancy Pelosi continues to be at very high risk of suffering the terrible thing known as God’s justice in payment for Pelosi’s chronic wickedness.

What should have been a lightning strike in an effort to remedy her soul ended up being a cheer leading session for inequity to continue.

Repentance from dead works is germane to the Christian faith. America sinks like the Titanic while some of its preachers sing zippity-do-da all day long. It is high treason. Faithfulness to the gospel is health to the soul of America.

 

Obama – A Convoluted Mess

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This article ran at Intellectual Conservative on February 7th, 2016

“The unvarnished truth is that Obama is a convoluted mess because he claims Christianity, lives by liberalism for political power, but his heart is with Islam.”

Obama – A Convoluted Mess

This is a political essay.

I read an article about Obama’s, “Christianity” in the Washington Post recently.  The liberal media continually carries water for Obama, rationalizing his actions, spinning his dysfunction, and justifying his failures.  Churchill said this about truth: “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” In the American cultural wars the daily blast of white hot lies by the liberal media continually smoke-screens the truth.

Saul was a leader of ancient Israel.  The problem with Saul is that he tried to lead Israel in his own strength, by his own reasoning and by his own abilities.  God eventually rejected him as a leader.  This is a parallel for Obama’s type of leadership.

David in contrast led the Israelites by seeking God’s counsel with humility, much prayer as the Psalms attest, and he was described as a man after God’s own heart.  He was a type of Christ.

Read more here: http://intellectualconservative.com/obama-a-convoluted-mess/

 

 

Evangelicals Must Vote

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This ran at the Visalia Times Delta on January 27, 2016

Commentary

Evangelicals Must Vote

This is a political essay.

It is real easy for Christians to throw their hands up in total disgust and conclude that our country has finally staggered into a moral morass. The thought is that my clan and I will make it to heaven and that is the end of it. And Jesus said His Kingdom is not of this world.

But not so fast.

Jesus came to redeem individuals and cultures. Long ago God sent a man named Jonah to a wicked people in the ancient city of Nineveh. God wanted the people to repent and seek Him. We know from elsewhere in the Bible that wickedness brings a curse and destruction but repentance brings peace and prosperity.

Jesus came to redeem a people who despised him, which is why he was crucified. Nineveh was likewise.

Obama’s policies have left 95 million Americans out of the work force. That is not prosperity.

Obama’s open borders lead to drug runners, terrorists, criminals and sex traffickers coming across the border. This does not lead to peace. Obama’s open borders are for the purpose of importing a simple-minded dependant voting class to increase Democratic Party power. Good men know this is evil.

It is altogether diabolical for a leader to say “God bless Planned Parenthood.” Can you fathom the ocean of guilt that has settled upon 55 million mothers who have destroyed their babies in the womb? This is staggering carnage, and it is anything but peace.

If we add Obama’s lying about Benghazi, lying about doctors to get Obamacare  passed, trashing the 1st and 2nd amendments and a host of other issues, good men can easily conclude that Obama cannot be numbered among honorable statesmen. But the American people put him there – admittedly though by his own and the media’s subterfuge.

And we all know that institutional Republicans serve the donor class and not, “We the People.”

So, what are we to conclude? That God will hold every man accountable for his vote. That we must repent of wickedness. But that we are made in God’s image so we are religious right down to our very core. And that God loves us. He seeks our redemption, our peace and our prosperity and that if we do not cast our vote in a circumspect manner then we deserve the chaos and affliction that will eventually come upon us.

Ron Hunnicutt

 

A Simple Theology of Church

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I read an article about 15 years on getting along in church so not all of this is my own thinking. I have no idea who wrote that article or how to track it down so I cannot supply the proper credits.

We have to get along at church. Some people hop from church to church which means they never sink roots and grow like the tree in Psalm 1. Others get disgusted for one reason or another and conclude that Christianity is for them but the organized church is not. But the church is God’s design and the Body of Christ is where God does his best work. My opinion is that is it a dangerous path for a Christian to decide church is not for them.

So here is one solution. All of us are deeply fallen. The sin that we find in our own heart is the same sin that we find in those at church because the whole church is made up of deeply fallen people. The folly that you find in your own heart is the folly you find in those at church. And the weaknesses you find in your own heart you will find in abundance at church.

We are saved by grace. God forgives you for you sins, your follies and your weaknesses. So, we must extend to our fellow believers that very same grace, that very same  forgiveness and that very same longsuffering.

And sometimes that gets real difficult. But when you find yourself in a circumstance that has no remedy, then you must simply absorb the sin of the person that is offending you just like Christ absorbed your sin on the cross. You just take it like Christ took your sin. We are called to be Christ like… correct? So sometimes you be just that – exactly like Christ.

Now admittedly sometimes we have to confront, discipline, or jump right in and solve a problem.

Also I am not advocating that you sit under false teaching or participate in any wrong doing.

But the main point is that we have to get along in church. And if there is no body (us) then what use is the head (Christ)?

So, the next time you are slighted, offended, or outright torqued off, take a step back and decide, can I afford this person the same grace, forgiveness and acceptance that God affords me?