Halloween

Halloween seems to be not only an exciting night for kids but also a huge adult celebration. Kids go trick or treating, but many adults dress up, decorate their offices and homes, and party like there is no tomorrow. A house close to ours even has a casket on the front lawn. The nurses’ station at the cardiology clinic I visited yesterday resembled a haunted house. I expected to be charged a fee as well as the usual copay. I have noticed that many TV shows project a Halloween theme and newspaper advertising uses pumpkins, goblins, witches, and things that go bump in the night to increase sales.

 

Strange, isn’t it, that no one seems to feel offended by the copious displays of Halloween decorations? I don’t expect Christmas displays to receive such cordial treatment. Obviously, the culture welcomes symbols of death demons, and darkness but rejects symbols of light and life. John 3:19 states: “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Old" Faithful

“May those who come behind us find us faithful.”

 

Yesterday I preached to a congregation of faithful, older believers. They worship and serve faithfully at North Federal Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado. Two Saturdays ago, one of the members fell and broke his collarbone, but he attended church the next morning. He couldn’t shake my hand two Sundays ago or yesterday because his right arm is in a sling, but he smiled and told me hasn’t missed a morning service in three years and nine months. Not bad for a 96 year old!

 The pastor of North Federal Baptist Church has used me as a pulpit supply since 1998. This month, I ministered at his church for three Sundays as he and his wife vacationed in New England. The church members have aged since 1998, but then, so have I. Nevertheless, their faithfulness to the Lord hasn’t diminished, and they don’t complain about their infirmities.

 Senior believers like those at North Federal Baptist Church are setting an example younger believers can follow.

Music or Mania?

I can’t read music, but I enjoy listening to it. Accomplished musicians and singers can make the mind peaceful and the heart joyful. Such music offered to the Lord in worship must surely honor Him, bless the congregation, and help to prepare hearts to receive a biblical message. My taste for music likely differs greatly from that of a teenager, whether the “teenager” is 15 or 35. I haven’t been able to accept rock music as an appropriate worship style.  Frankly, I think someone needs to tell the rockers they don’t have to yell like hockey fans and beat their guitars and drums to death for God to hear them. I may be hard of hearing, but God hears even the faintest prayer and whispered praise.

 If I want to do aerobics, I can join an aerobics class at a gym. If I want to hear rock music, I can go to a rock concert. I just don’t want aerobics and rock to mix at church as so-called worship.

You can file these thoughts under “Personal Opinion,” but before doing so, please read John 4:24 and Colossians 3:16 again.

A Blazing Sunrise

Gloria took a picture of the sunrise yesterday. It was blazing orange, and our Bronco flag and Fat Albert (similar to a blue spruce) formed a perfect foreground.

Psalm 72:17 reminds us that God’s name will endure forever. “His name shall continue as long as the sun.” Governments may restrict the public display of God’s name and whatever is associated with it, but His name will far outlast every government. The second part of Psalm 72:17 fast-forwards to the millennial reign of the Son of God, and assures us that “all men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed.” That glorious future reign begins when “the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2).

Next time you catch a glimpse of a spectacular sunrise, with or without a camera, reflect on the name of the One who created the sun, and encourage yourself with the knowledge that someday the Sun of Righteousness will return to rule Planet Earth.

Where Have All the Bibles Gone?

Help me understand something. As I travel from church to church to supply-preach, I notice that very few attendees carry a Bible. Why is this? It used to be a mark of a Bible-believing church that its attendees brought Bibles to church and followed along in the Bible as the pastor preached. Because I preach expository sermons, I think churchgoers would get far more benefit from each message if they referred to the sermon text verse by verse as I preach.

So why don’t people carry Bibles to church? Has expository preaching gone the way of the dinosaurs, thereby eliminating the need to use a Bible in church? Has entertainment replaced Biblical edification? Has the believer’s confidence in the Bible diminished? Has illiteracy engulfed churchgoers? You tell me.