Power of Words

You may remember the old childhood idiom, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." Well, it wasn't true then and it is not true now. Words are a powerful force in our private lives and in the world community. Most organizations, especially those that are political have "Spin Doctors" who each day crank out voluminous amounts of verbiage to reinforce their agenda. One of the things that they have found is that if you push your point long enough and hard enough it will be believed, whether it is true or not.

Words are powerful tools and knowledge it power. Down through the ages, God's Word has been a powerful tool, and still is. People like Wycliffe and Tyndale believed so strongly in the truth of God's Word that they payed the ultimate price to see that God's Word was placed into the hands of everyone, and not just those who were in power. Tyndale, speaking to someone in power once said, "If God spares my life, I will see to it that the boy who drives the plowshare knows more of the scripture than you, Sir."

I recently read two phrases, contrasting words, and they have stuck with me. I don't know the source of either but they are powerful words of truth.

"You might not be what you think you are, But what you think - you are."

"Know God, Know Peace - No God, No Peace."

In a world that is struggling between Chaos and Peace, and seems to be heading more toward Chaos than Peace, there is a great need for "The Word" that can bring a Peace that is beyond our understanding.

Dealing With The Symptoms

The events of yesterday in Boston illustrate a point on the gun control issue that is not being discussed. In the U.S., we are treating the symptoms and not the problem. Israel security has  said this for sometime. When a crazed gunman kills a group of people we propose gun control. When the shoe bomber tried to blow up a plane, airport security started making us take off our shoes. When liquid explosives were found, we started limiting size of containers. On and on we go, treating the symptoms and not dealing with the problem. We are not profiling because it is politically incorrect, not dealing with mental health issues, not dealing with violence on TV, movies, and video games, not securing our borders, and not ensuring surety of punishment for crimes. We don't have a shoe problem, a liquid explosive problem, a bomb problem a gun problem, or pressure cooker problem, we have a VIOLENCE problem. We need to take a look at the problem, not the symptoms. You can take away everything a man has that might be used for a weapon and if there is violence in a man's heart he will use his bare hands to do violence. It reminds me of one of Murphy's Laws. It is hard to make anything fool proof because fools are such ingenious people. They will find someway to do violence. Pray for our nation, pray that God will reach the hearts of mankind

Christianty Under Attack

In recent days there have been several comments in the media about groups who are challenging traditional Christian values and ethics. Challenging the values on sex, marriage, and life that have shaped our the rules and guidelines our culture has used since it's inception.

Recently a pastor visited a church in Cuba and told the pastor of the church that "I am praying that the Lord will take  away the persecution of the church." To which the pastor replied, "Don't do that, it is through the persecution that the church has grown and prospered. I am praying that the Lord will bring persecution to the church in the United States."  It brought to mind a quote from Billy Graham, "Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity." The church throughout history has made it's greatest strides during difficult days. 

A positive look at the situation is that, in a day when difficulties seem to be coming to the church, persecution can be a good thing- the awakening of the church.