Evangelism and the Male Homosexual

First of all, you need to see yourself as that homosexual sinner that you are trying to bring to the cross of Jesus Christ. You cannot hope to reach him if you see yourself as superior to him in any way. You may have a lovely Christian home. You may have a wonderful Christian spouse. You may have children who love you dearly. None of this, however, carries any wait with the homosexual sinner you are looking to lead to the power of the cross of Jesus. Unless you identify with the homosexual or gay person, your efforts will fall short of the mark.

Only God can help you see yourself as God sees that person in need of the cross of Jesus Christ. God sees you both in the same light. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. AND all have been freely justified [considered fully forgiven and saved] by the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Book of Romans. The only difference between you and the homosexual or gay person is no difference at all. You may say that you don't do the things he does. You don't go to the places he goes. What difference does that make in the final analysis? Both of you can only depend on the grace [loving kindness] of Jesus Christ. Were it not for that marvelous grace both of you would be eternally lost. So what is there, really, to boast about?

There are some matters to consider, however, when endeavoring to bring homosexuals or gays to Christ. First of all you have to realize that most, if not all of them, will never lose their attraction for their own sex in the same way that you will never lose your attraction for the opposite sex. The only difference is that you are either married or have the potential to get married someday. Few, if any, homosexuals or gays that come to Christ can have that guarantee. What then can a life in Christ offer them that would convince them that a sexless life with Christ is better than a sex-filled life without him?

You may speak of eternal glory, a home with the saints and other worn expressions that Christian evangelists have been using for decades. This will rarely appeal to the man (or woman) who may actually have a rather enjoyable and well-balanced life that includes a partner and a group of supporting friends. Why would such a person want to leave that all behind in order to come to Christ? Why would they want to suffer being ostracized in a congregation of mostly married church people with their children by their side? Why would they want to exchange feelings of self-confidence with feelings of self-doubt and of inferiority when they seek to compare their sexless and now-solitary life with the one that you enjoy with your spouse and children?

Some might say that there are no honest answers to these questions. Others might say that it is a matter of faith. If the newly repentant homosexual or gay person "looks to Jesus as the Son of God and believes in him ..." John 6, he will feel that nothing else matters because of the excellent reality that is that life of one who is hid in Christ.

Unfortunately, this is not always the panacea that many seem to think it is. What then can the Christian life offer the homosexual or gay person that he or she doesn't already have?

For one, it offers them freedom from potentially damaging multiple sexual relationships. In this regard the unconverted heterosexual and his/her homosexual counterpart are in the same situation. Both can suffer from the psychological wear and tear of going to bed night after night with different people in the belief that this will somehow relieve the burning desire to experience sex to its highest degree and to perhaps bask in the intimate afterglow that sometimes follows the heat of passion. Like anything carried to an excess, this constant nightly sex is as addictive as any drug or habit.

When Christ comes into the sinner's heart, be he homosexual or heterosexual, the non-stop need for sex and more sex and more post-coital intimacy when it does arrive briefly, then gradually ceases to assert itself in the person's life.

Some may point out that there are committed homosexual and heterosexual couples that do not live a life of "quiet desperation", Thoreau, and to these folks it is hard to present this argument. The problem presents itself differently in those cases. While it may be true that you can love only one other person and not be married to them, be they gay or heterosexual, since there are no matrimonial constraints, there is always the possibility that someone else may appeal more to the momentarily dissatisfied person and unless conscious of the slippery walk they have undertaken, they could very easily fall into the revolving door of nightly trysts in search of a replacement of the loved one that they were unfaithful to.

Needless to say, a legitimate marriage does not prevent either spouse from being unfaithful to each other, either. Sex and its temptations, whether in or outside of traditional marriages, is the great equalizer. For those who do not have the marriage contract, however, it is easier to dissolve the bonds that held them together. All cases, whether homosexual or heterosexual, have the potential to hurt those they love by the tragedy of sexual infidelity.

What then can the heterosexual Church member offer the justified homosexual or gay person that they did not have before, outside of the sheep fold of Christ? They need to be both friend and family member (or the next best thing to that ideal) to the now solitary and hurting person who gave up a caring partner and/or community of gay friends, in order to come to the fellowship of Christ. If the heterosexual Church--into which a newly converted homosexual or gay person has come seeking the saving balm of Christian fellowship--cannot offer the support, love and encouragement that he or she had in his or her previous life, then the evangelistic goals of that church are a sham and do not deserve to use the name of Christ when seeking to benefit those who are outside the church community.

The Second Coming of Christ: Reinterpreting the Prophecies

The first coming of Christ was nothing like what the Hebrew nation expected. It did not set them free from Roman rule. It did not usher in the peaceful and successful world that they had read about in the book of Isaiah.

If this misunderstanding happened with the all-important First Coming of Christ, what would prevent a similar misunderstanding from happening to the as-important, Second Coming of Christ.

When it is said that "every eye shall see him" one has to keep in mind that when those words were written down "every eye" referred to those in the then-known world, ostensibly a flat world with the Mediterranean, or great sea, as it's focal point. The Second Coming would have to be very large in scale, millions and millions of angels to fill a large enough area of the Mediterranean Sea, and the barbarian areas of Europe, Asia minor, etc., to be able to be seen all over the then-known world. It would follow then, that when the Second Coming occurs it will be seen by every eye in that part of the world. As the Earth rotates other areas will also be able to see the wondrous sight of golden beings and their Saviour-King hovering over planet Earth in a chariot of clouds.

Greater study and prayer are needed to unlock the prophecies about the Second Coming of Christ and strip them of interpretations that 2,000 years have built into them.

Some faiths believe in a Secret Rapture. Ours does not. However, when it speaks of "one will be taken and the other left" I sometimes wonder if out of respect for Free Will, those that are not taken will be allowed to live out their lives, as well as that of their descendants, until Free Will eventually renders this planet unlivable. In this way, God would not be the destroyer of those he created, they would destroy themselves. How long would this planet continue to exist without God's protecting grace preventing total anarchy and evil?

Some might think that to allow this world to continue with the uninterrupted intensity of evil that would exist without God's grace cushioning the effect of sin, would be more unkind than to destroy all those who reject God's last call to repentance. The same might well be said for our present state of affairs where an ever-increasing level of evil and suffering continues day after day.

The Second Coming by Sheer Will

Christians everywhere are focusing more and more on the reality of the Second Coming, not as a far-away dream, but as something that will happen within a few years.

The power of the will is astounding. If we all focused on these simple words, "Jesus Christ is coming back in my lifetime," whatever we're not doing now that would hasten Christ's Second Coming, we would start doing.

Now it's important to realize that nothing we can do through our own efforts will be successful without being filled by the Spirit of Christ. I've heard from more than one person that sometimes evangelistic campaigns are mounted in large cities and famous evangelists are invited to speak, but in some cases, not one person makes a decision for Christ. Those in attendance are the ones that already believe, not those who are at the decision point.

I've often thought that if large groups of Christians would visualize the Second Coming as an event already experienced, it would have to take place sooner, not later.

Hasten the Second Coming in your life. Think of it constantly.

The Short Life of Christ: Visions of Christ

I've forgotten what I was reading or thinking about that started me thinking about Christ and his short life-span. If he had somehow kept out of his enemies' way, could he have lived another decade or two or three? Did he really have to die at 33 or could he have died later?

The haunting question is what if Christ had lived out his life and died of old age but then would have been resurrected? He could still have felt the awful separation that sin causes between him, our substitute, and God. Is there something about a 33 year old younger man that an 85 or 90 year old Christ could not have contributed to our salvation?

One problem would be his post-resurrection body. It would presumably be a younger Christ that rises from the grave. Or it could very well be a very healthy and glorified octogenarian Christ, so his disciples could visibly recognize that it was the same Christ that was raised from the dead.

I meditate on this alternate history of Christ because of a suggestion by John Wood (Atlantic Union College) that Christ did not necessarily have to die on the cross. He could very well have been sacrificed by the high priest on the altar as Isaac almost was sacrificed by Abraham.

Thinking about the aging of Christ started me thinking about what it must have been like for Christ to get a cold, or a fractured leg, or other human ailments that come to human beings from time to time. Christ did, in fact, age, since he didn't stay forever 21 or whatever age is the standard before visible signs of aging begin. Some say we start aging when we are born.

How odd to think of the God-man, Christ, aging and perhaps acquiring one or two wrinkles around the eyes before he reached the ripe old age of 33. Christ, I love you, wrinkles and all.

Imagine if you will though, a 21 year old Christ dying for humanity. Even better yet, imagine the horror if, by some stroke of madness, the teachers in the temple had offered up a living, 12 year old Christ as the sacrifice that would also have saved all of humanity.

Delayed Second Coming

Rich Hannon: "I am presuming God will eventually explain why this train-wreck of a world should go on so long. "

I think God is a loving being. I didn't always feel that way. I'm glad I'm beginning to feel so more and more. However, I've always suspected that there is so much more that has happened and is happening behind the scenes that would explain why all of this imperfection and pain has been with planet Earth for either 6,000 years (conservative estimate) or millions of years (progressive estimate.)

I've sometimes thought that perhaps revelation is imperfect and we've assumed too much from what sacred writings he has bequeathed to humankind. Could it be that God lets this often tragic world continue because it's up to those he created in his own image to finally get it right by themselves? Did he not give us the basic tools to accomplish this, e.g., our minds? If you believe that it's taken millions of years for humanity to arrive at this point in history, might it not take a million more to make it to God's realm instead of us waiting for him to return to our realm. But wasn't this what the builders of the tower of Babel were set on doing, "making it to God's realm" They failed, the bible tells us. Perhaps all attempts at reaching God physically are meant to fail. The best we can do is try to reach him in spiritual ways.

When Jesus said "I come quickly" or that he's coming soon, he must have meant just that. Even the disciples believed such. Something must have happened that we don't know about to delay Jesus' return so much.

If Jesus doesn't come in the next thousand years, then we really should go out in search of him. I mean this in the most serious way. It is not an expression of doubt, just of mild bewilderment.

10 Days of Praying for the Latter Rain

5:00 a.m. prayer cycle at Fort Lauderdale Spanish Adventist Church begins Thursday, May 6

Raw impressions:

Day one Thursday: dark 4:30 a.m. rising, but full of mystical prayer. Pastor announces, without spelling it out, that we'd be praying for our (gay) neighbors that surround the church and who wish we were not in their upscale neighborhood. If only to pray that God will bless them and that they know that we mean them well and not harm, it will be worth praying for ten days, the pastor announces. At work I fight sleepiness by downing a rare two cups of coffee to not fall asleep at the manager's meeting and when dealing with clients. I'm more talkative and engaging than my usual reserve. I feel mild guilt that I have to resort to stimulants to compensate for the unfamiliar 4:30 a.m. rising. At night I witness to Peter, a non-believer, about my 5:00 a.m. prayer meeting and he seems glad for me in spite of his lack of faith.


Day two: too groggy to get up. I don't want to pray now and have to drink coffee later to ward off sleepiness at work. My day goes better than the day before as I get seven hours of sleep.


Day three Sabbath: Ancient sanctuary service as model for our approach to God in prayer. Incense as symbol of rising prayers. Mild emotion as sign of the Holy Spirit. Unconfessed sins an obstacle to revival. Alone in front of church at 5:00 a.m. No one called me to tell me they were meeting at 7:00 am, instead.


Day four Sunday: more familiar songs and requests for healing and blessing


Day five Monday: meditation announced. Breakfast with brethren each day after prayer service. Oatmeal, bread and fruit. Reminds me of early Christians meeting to break bread and pray.


Day six Tuesday: Hilda's emotional imagining of the Passion. Similar in style to some Pentecostal services I had attended as a young boy. Pastor had warned the day before that some would be upset by style of her vivid verbal re-experiencing of the Passion. I was spooked when I heard shuffling feet as everyone prayed and listened to the vivid account of the passion. I almost thought something supernatural might be happening, that Christ himself had appeared among us and was walking unseen as we prayed. I was too concerned to look behind me to see who might be shuffling across the floor as we all prayed and listened so intensely. At night I witness to my support group of mostly secular folk and am courteously received except for one man who seems upset that I chose to speak of telling my problems to God instead of a real-live person.

Day seven Wednesday: concerned about my health due to lack of sleep so I sleep in (evening prayer meeting about reform and revival supplements missed 5:00 a.m. prayer meeting). Elderly sister asked me if I thought we'd receive the latter rain soon. I respond that I believe Christ will return in my lifetime. Young mother hands me $50 dollar bill saying God impressed her to give it to me to help out my nephew in need of $350.

Day eight Thursday: Abraham and Isaac as models of true faith. Sister in front of me turns to me after opening song and tells me that I have a lovely singing voice. I thank her for her kind words. I feel yet again that I should perhaps try to sing special music some Sabbath morning or join the church choir as others have often told me to do. One cup of coffee just in case lack of sleep overcomes me again. Don't feel major guilt from the use of coffee.

Day nine Friday: Anointing & healing and prayer & bible readings by others. Testimonies were heard. I shared how my prayer request had been answered the day before regarding my uncooperative employees who were now on my side because we had a common enemy: anti-technology administrators. Several people went to the anointing corner next to the church piano were two female elders and the pastor prayed and anointed with oil those in need of prayer or healing. As I waited my turn, the reading of Psalms by the congregation seemed like chanting. My prayer was that God would prepare me for what for me would be my first anointing. All three prayed for me and then it was my chance to pray. My voice cracked as I uttered my last sentence: Oh that God would use me to win many souls for him.

Day ten Sabbath's end: The prayer cycle would not end. It would continue every Sabbath morning at 7:00 am. The Latter Rain is falling. We never imagined it would be like this.


I'll amplify as memories come back to be about elements of each day.

Second Life Stream-of-Consciousness

Recount the delight and unusual feelings in meeting someone friendly inside Second Life. It was easier interacting with this cyberfriend than with people in the real world.



Develop an a.i. program to mimic yourself realistically inside Second Life. Once you move on to the next existence, this virtual entity will continue as long as Second Life does. It might even be taken over by Second Life's successors. Load the a.i. program with as much as one's writings, voice clips, video tapings, personality so hardly anyone, except perhaps family members know its not the genuine article.



Develop a cottage industry of virtual replicas of people inside of Second Life who feel their ideas or other contribution would benefit the world posthumously.



Await for the a.i. program or self inside Second Life to one day develop consciousness and then create a replica of itself in order to preserve itself in case someday it moves on to the next existence.



Meet Christ inside of Second Life.

Time traveling for the Lord

Years ago I was strangely thrilled when I read Poul Anderson's novel, There will be Time, about how time travelers from different centuries, or millennia, chose the crucifixion of Christ as the probable "center of time" where any and all past and future time travelers could convene to find each other en masse.

From time to time, as I read the gospels I imagine myself being in the multitude as Jesus is teaching or healing or simply walking by a Galilean town. I don't just wish I could have been there, I see myself actually in that time period. I imagine that somehow I brushed up on my Koine Greek that I studied for two years in the 70s, as well as Aramaic and Hebrew. The actual method of time travel is not important but what is important is the question I ask myself every time I find myself back in the days of Christ.

As I come to him to be healed, or blessed, would he realize that I am not of his time, that I am a time traveler from the 21st century? Would that knowledge be imparted to him or would it be kept from him, especially since I know that he will rise from the grave. What proof would I have to show him that we still think of him and pray to him across 2,000 years? Perhaps I could show him my bible in Koine Greek that spells out the future of the early Christian Church. Would he believe me?

Would I be prevented from interacting with him? Would I merely be allowed to observe, but not participate, with him or with anyone I meet?

Since nothing is impossible for God, I would like to travel back in time once this Earthly dispensation finally ends and the eternal dispensation begins. With an eternity to fill up with projects and revelations of God's love, I would love some day to become a time traveler for the Lord and experience Christ's life on Earth first hand .

God's Smiling Face

I never thought God smiled at me until yesterday. Let me explain. Even though I've related to God since childhood, I always thought of him as being either too serious to smile, or upset with me for what I did or did not do in my day to day life.

Yesterday, after the Sabbath ended and I continued my post-Sabbath devotions by thanking him for his being my creator, and savior, I added "friend" for the first time in my life and really felt that I meant it. When I thought of God being my friend, I smiled and felt that for the first time, perhaps, in my life I sensed God's smiling face.

I was almost choked with emotion when I realized that I had been thanking him sabbath after sabbath for being my creator and savior, but never my friend.

It isn't easy relating to a triune God. At times I've felt it necessary to address all three when praying to indicate that I had all three persons of the Godhead in my affections. I must confess that when I think of the Godhead I have warmer feelings, or more fully-realized feelings towards Jesus Christ. For three years now, I have also been having a love relationship with the Holy Spirit, who I once thought so holy that it was safer to not think of him too much, or at all, lest I accidentally offend whom I considered the most holy person of the Godhead. This was due in part to Christ's statement about the sin against the Holy Spirit being the only sin that had no pardon. How wrong I had been all my life long to stay away from the person of the Holy Spirit out of fear of somehow offending him.

Now regarding God, I come to the most complicated relationship I've had with all three persons of the Godhead. Even though all three divine Persons are God, normally when the bible speaks of God, with no other descriptive terms, it is referring to God the Father. At times in my life I've felt warm toward God, but seldom completely at ease. The reasons are many.

My own relationship with my father has been difficult in my life. Even though I have a good relationship with him now, that wasn't always the case. Whenever I used the expression "God the Father," my human father, with all his eccentricities and imperfections came to mind and influenced my conception of God.

During my late adolescence and early adulthood I had come up with the term Father Jesus and that had helped me soften the shock of using the term father to describe God.

In the past year I've sometimes felt that the term God is too generic, as historically there have been other gods, and to capitalize the term was not as endearing as speaking of Jesus Christ, or even Holy Spirit, which sounded very specific in my mind.

A few months ago I started reading Norman Vincent Peale's Power of Positive Thinking book, and the phrases, "God is on my side; God is blessing me; God is helping me; God is guiding me; God is my friend;" greatly helped me to think of God in warmer terms.

Even when I make mistakes I don't like to dwell on them. I don't linger on God's frowning face in the same way that a loving parent doesn't let a frown, or momentary relaxation of a smile, linger on their face due to their child letting them down. What good can it possibly do me to think of God as frowning on me when I fall short of his perfect ideal? I confess my shortcomings and claim his promise of forgiveness and cleansing, and continue thinking warm and positive thoughts of the God with the smiling face. That's what my God is like. His smile never fades for very long, if at all.

Thank you, God, for showing your smiling face to me no matter what else I experience or do in my life. Someday I hope to gaze on your smiling face as one gazes into the face of a good friend or loved one.

Foreknowledge of God

The Open View of God might partially explain the mystery of sin and Satan. God is an optimist by nature, otherwise why create something to begin with if he didn't think it would turn out perfect and stay perfect. A perfect being, by definition, is only capable of optimism.

Can you imagine a being who knows everything that will ever occur? There are no surprises. He knows everything he will ever do and create and what will happen to his creation. God created the universe with the best of optimistic intentions. God had no idea when he created Lucifer that a ghastly creature like Satan would eventually emerge from Lucifer's free will and cause so much anti-perfection for millions (or thousands) of years. Otherwise why be partially responsible for such horror and evil?

If father or mother Hitler had received convincing proof from a time traveler that their little Adolf would murder so many innocent people, would they go ahead and play a role in allowing him to be born? They went ahead because they had no idea, of course. They hoped for the best and waited to see what would become of their little boy.

God, likewise, created Lucifer and his confederates, as well as humanity, with the best of intentions, hoping against hope that we'd all turn out as perfect as he would have liked for us all to have turned out.

Perhaps that's why he sent himself in the form of Christ, because in being partially responsible for allowing us to get into this mess as he was, he got himself into this mess as well, as one of us, to bare the brunt for having created us in the first place and to help us get out of it and return us to that hoped-for perfection he wished we all had chosen for ourselves all along. Think of the pain he's in to see how we all have suffered and continue to suffer. God wants this all to end as much as we do, otherwise he'd already have ended it for all concerned.

That, my friends, sounds like a responsible and sacrificing God and parent.

Christian Progress and the Beautiful Christ

"Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better." -- Emile Coue

About his little son: "Every day in every way it's getting better and better. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy." -- John Lennon in Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

Christian synthesis: Every day, in every way, Christ is making me better and better. Thank you, beautiful Christ.

The Self-Creating God

Can one say that God creates Himself? His very being would then be a causal loop personified. Perhaps that's what He meant when He said that He is the beginning and the end.

In sending Jesus Christ to our world with the possibility of failure, could God have endangered his own being in the process?

Since God is all-powerful, could He also, if he chose to, cease to be? Since the universe has self-actualizing laws that He set in motion, does He have to continue existing for the laws He set in motion to continue functioning?

Once He ceased to be, could He recreate Himself again, and again? Out of nothing? Might eternity itself be an endless cycle of creation and recreation out of nothing? Might it be just that instead of it being one long, ceaseless reality without any beginning or any end?

If you accept this premise, then, conceivably, when Jesus Christ died and rose after three days as He said he would, in a sense, God ceased to be and recreated Himself by His own ability. Jesus said, "I have the power to lay down my life and to take it up again."

If He was able to live again by his own power, did he cease to be in the traditional sense of ceasing to be. Is death, or cessation of life, for an all-powerful being, drastically different from mortal and limited beings such as ourselves who were created?

Is heaven outside of the time-space continuum? If that were the case then normal entropy would cease to operate, as well as the carbon cycle. There would be no problem for beings to be eternal if time and cause and effect were suspended in a timeless reality.

Jesus Christ is Coming Back in My Lifetime

He may come back in yours, as well. However, he may not come back if you don't expect him to do so in your lifetime. Let me explain.


30 years ago a high school buddy visited me during my senior year in college. He told me with such intensity that he believed that Jesus was coming back soon and in his lifetime. I told him that I believed that Jesus was coming back but that it would be in the distant future. The look of disappointment because of my words affects me to this day.


Now this is the peculiar thing. As much as I've tried to locate this friend, it's as if he never existed although he's in my high school yearbook and there are people who remember him. He believed that Jesus was coming back soon and, I believe Jesus did come back soon.


This is how it happened. Quantum mechanics, as well as String/M Theory, postulate that there are an infinite amount of realities coexisting side by side. For those who believe that Jesus will come back some day in the distant future, they will continue living in a reality that is in agreement with their belief. For those who believe, as my friend did, that Jesus was coming soon, in that reality, Jesus did come soon. I am not talking about my friend dying.


Now this is the real conundrum. Even though my friend has experienced Christ's second coming in his reality, in my reality, I'm still waiting for Jesus' Second Coming. Additionally, my friend my well exist somewhere in this same reality I live in, but completely oblivious of my existence or I of his. Yes, in each of these infinite variations--or parallel universes--each of us has an identical twin, with slight variations depending on the choices we made in those distinct realities.


This can account for the seemingly mysterious disappearances of people that should continue to exist in my reality, but that have apparently disappeared.


Now more than ever, believing that Jesus is coming soon is crucial. Only those that really believe and internalize that belief will diverge from this reality in which Jesus delays into another reality where he, in fact, will come soon.


Since the word of God is one, all the different realities or parallel universes share the same Sacred text. This is as good an explanation, as any, as to why the New Testament states over and over again that Jesus is coming soon. He comes soon to those who want him to. To those who don't want him to come soon, he simply does not.


I am not talking about a secret rapture. Christ comes back only once within each separate reality.


Envision Christ returning soon and in your lifetime. Hope and wait for it with something greater than faith. Hope for it with absolute certainty not just a half-hearted wish. Pray without ceasing that Christ returns in your lifetime. He will return soon if you want it badly enough.

Christian Affirmations - The Law of Attraction

I'm happy and I'm grateful that--

I'm in the process of being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

I'm in the process of overcoming the world through Christ who strengthens me.

I'm in the process of receiving eternal life through Christ who saves me.

I'm in the process of attracting health and joy so I can share them with others.

I'm in the process of attracting abundance and love so I can share them with others.

I'm in the process of attracting my ideal mate so we can share each other's lives.

I'm in the process of becoming my ideal self so I can enjoy who I am more and more.

I'm in the process of enjoying my life more and more and being a blessing to others.

These are daily rituals that I've been practicing for a few months. They are based in part on bible texts that I've been attracted to through the years. I also have to give credit to the following books as they have provided the framework into which I've been able to integrate a lifetime of bible texts and hopes.

Bibliography:

Byrne, Rhonda. The Secret
Losier, Michael. Law of Attraction
Peale, Norman Vincent. The Power of Positive Thinking

Virile Jesus

Jesus had no sex drive as sinful men have a sex drive. If he did, his life couldn't have been devoted to all of the good things he did while on Earth. He may well have had a potential for sex, but that was never manifested or necessary in his 33 years on Earth.

Most of the heroes of the Bible had regular sexual relations, e.g., Jacob, David, Moses, Joseph. Others did not, e.g., Daniel, Paul, Jeremiah. The New Testament is strangely silent on the sexual lives of its protagonists.

Every human male needs some sexual outlet. He is designed for sex. For the fortunate Christian or monogamous male, a wife provides the necessary outlet--within reason--for that natural sex drive.

True, some monastic types have, with some success, lived a sexless life, by choice or circumstances. Most men, however, suffer psychological damage from depriving themselves from a normal sexual outlet.

Not too long ago I had different views regarding the sexuality of our savior. To read those views, as well as other bloggers' reactions to the views earlier expressed, please click on God the Son: Truly Human by Trudy Morgan Cole as well as The Spectrum Blog: Bloggin' the 28 which contains one really angry blogger's reaction to my views.

Virtual Heaven

Version I

I wish I lived in heaven. I live on Earth. It is heaven. 1978

We have heaven. -- Jon Anderson, 1973

Guiding your vision to heaven and heaven is in your mind. -- Winwood/Capaldi/Wood, 1969

This life is as close as we're going to get to heaven, my friend. -- Hindu man I encountered as a student missionary, 1974

Florida is heaven. -- Adventist African-American pastor, c. 1996

Version II

My fondest wish and dream is to be like Him and to know Him. Spending time with Him is also very heavenly to me. In this respect I can enter heaven whenever I think of Him, when I read about Him, or when I read His very words or experiences in the Bible. Would I like to live with Him in a perfect place? Oh yes, of course. But in the meantime, He can make this as close to heaven as it can possibly be.

And this is eternal life that they might know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent [and the Holy Spirit whom Christ has sent.]

If you have the Spirit of Christ, you have the very atmosphere of heaven.

Naked did my Lord save me

Mother named me Dismas. I was very close to mother--closer than any of my brothers. Mother loved beautiful things and whenever she sang her evening songs, I was by her side even when no one else cared to hear her sing. I always thought memories of her voice would be the last thing I'd ever hear before I died.

My wife and I were childless. The problem was more with me than with my wife. The local priest had done everything he could do to remedy my marital difficulties. When word got out, accidentally, about why I had been to the priest so often, my wife and I were the shame of the town.

After many false starts, my wife and I parted ways and she remarried an older man who could give her what I could not, a son. Before I knew where I was headed I was doing odd jobs to survive. Before long, I fell in with a bad crowd and when things were at their lowest, I was imprisoned and condemned to hang on the cross.

With me were crucified two others, one of my former associates and a quiet man whom I had once heard speak by a quiet lake when I was still with my wife. I never forgot his simple words: "Come to me and I will give you rest."

As the pain ebbed and flowed I tired of hearing my fellow partner-in-crime curse and berate the quiet teacher. I told him that we deserved our punishment, but not this quiet and gentle man in the center cross. I knew that at some point they would take me down from the cross and break my legs. Before the pain made me lose consciousness and, eventually, my life, I looked at the gentle teacher and asked him to remember me as no one had ever done before in my sad life.

He looked at me and said that I'd be with him in paradise. I believed him and watched him die and cry out his painful cry of abandonment. I had hours or minutes to live, and any greater pain I would soon endure would be excruciating for sure, but the sound of his words of a future life with him, gave me hope that this would not be the end of my story.

As death wrapped its merciful arms around me, instead of my mother's songs, I remembered his kind words telling me that I'd be in paradise with him some day.

Bare Essentials of Salvation

"Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. ... God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1 John 5:5,11,12 (NIV)

I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I have overcome the world through this belief. I have eternal life through this belief.

If for no other person other than myself, I wanted to set these words in the blogosphere. In case life gets complicated or in case I get discouraged, I want to be reminded of these words and their simplicity.

How difficult Christianity is often made out to be. There are steps to Christ that must be followed in order to come to him. There are conditions to answered prayer, pastors tell me. There are doctrines one has to be familiar with and to belief in. There are things to make sure you do otherwise yours is not a saving faith, a living faith, a faith that works, and all other such standard phrases that we've encountered throughout our Christian lives.

Thank God not only for the epistles of John, especially 1 John, but also for the gospel of John, as well as for the Revelation of John. However, nothing can compare to these nuggets of faith, of victory over the error and evil in the world, and of the conditions to eternal life. How marvelously plain that simply by "looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith" we have victory over the world and we have eternal life.

I've sometimes admired those who spend hours and hours of their life meditating on one word as the transcendentalists do, "Om", for example. I no longer need admire them. I have my own powerful mantra. "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I have overcome the world through this belief. I have eternal life through this belief." If that's too long to focus on all through the day, then the initial text is more than enough, "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God."

Yes, some will tell me have I not read in James' epistle where he states that even demons believe. While they may believe, they do so out of fear, not out of love or out of wanting to be united to the compassionate Son of God. Let the demons believe what they wish. It is no concerns of ours. Let us, rather, focus our attention on believing in Jesus and in his being the Son of God.

If you've sinned and have doubts about your abilities to reform your life, believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Are you discouraged that there's no one out there who understand you and loneliness is a real burden? Believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Are you afraid of death? Believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Spend your waking hours dwelling on these priceless, saving words. "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God." When you get up in the morning, state these saving, faith-enhancing words. Before you drop off to sleep, state these life-changing words. In so doing, all the other details of salvation in Christ will find you. Don't worry about you finding them. Of course, continue to pray and read the Bible as often as you feel the need. And I hope you feel the need often. But the important things is to look to Jesus the author and perfecter of your faith. Believe in Jesus, that he is the Son of God and that through belief in him, through focusing all your attention on him, you can overcome the world. Believe in Jesus as the one who is able to give you eternal life. "And this is eternal life, that they might know You (God), and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

Eradicating Legalism in the Adventist Church

"The righteous will live by his faith [alone.] Habakuk 2:4 (NIV)

Sitting in a pew near the front of the church, to not be distracted by the occasional conversations that my congregation produces frequently, I was saddened by a pre-offering appeal made by a church member. He started to rattle off a list of sacrifices, or offerings, that ancient Israelites offered when ceremonial law was still in place on planet Earth. Among those he mentioned was a special live offering for sins committed. He summed it up by saying, "so you see brethren, there are lots of sacrifices (offerings) in the bible that one should think about when thinking of what or how much to give today. I've been attending this particular church only two years and I had never heard legalism rear its ugly head as much as I did last Saturday.

While I tried to listen to the sermon as best I could, I occasionally was compelled to jot down some reflections that this offering call made on me.

I'm without a computer these days and I've got only 41 minutes left at the public library. So I apologize if these are mere reflections and nothing more. Thank you for your understanding.

There's a deadly quality to legalism. Two years ago I used to pray a strange prayer. I had forgotten it until this moment. I went something like this: "Lord, save me from legalism, which is worse than death." [I remembered the original phrase late last night. "Lord, save me from legalism, for in legalism there is only death."] I prayed that wholeheartedly. Perhaps I need to start praying that strange prayer again.

Legalism is so deadly to me that I wondered if because of it, Adventism was dying, in a limited sense? As secularism increases in society, we need less not more legalism in the Adventist church. As our youth are leaving and some never to return, legalism is, perhaps one of the causes. As Adventism splinters internally into different isms, i.e., ultra-conservatism, progressivism, cultural adventism, postmodern adventism, etc., is legalism party to blame?

Is the golden age of Adventism behind us? Was it during the 50s, 60s and 70s? Or is it still ahead of us? It is said that Adventism is fading in parts of North America, Europe and Australia. I'm told that only in the third world, parts of Africa, parts of South America, parts of Asia it is still thriving and alive. Is legalism causing that growth there and is it causing a slow death in the other declining areas? Or is righteousness by faith alive in well in the third world, but not in the places where Adventism is dying out slowly?

I'm tired of legalism. Aren't' you? What can we do about it?

It almost felt like the fear one used to get before knocking on some one's door before you gave them a smile and literature. I went to the speaker after church and I congratulated her for the good points in her sermon. I explained to her my concern with the legalism in the Adventist church and I asked her if in the future she could dwell more on Christ our righteousness. I told her I was especially concerned about the young people and how important it was for them to hear those worlds. Not appeals to give more offerings or tithes, or to come to prayer meeting more often so as not to miss out on a special blessing, or other similar mildly legalistic appeals. I told her that I never heard any sermons about righteousness by faith in Christ until I was almost 18 years of age. It was the best news I had ever heard. It made Adventism come alive for me.

Other suggestions to rid Adventism of legalism might be to email every Adventist publication or magazine and complain when you read something that smacks of legalism to you. Write Bill Knott at the Adventist Review. Write Cliff Goldstein at the Sabbath School Quarterly. Write the conference president. Tell him to keep legalism out of the publication in question and keep it out of Adventism. If you hear a church member saying anything that smacks too highly of legalism, take him aside courteously and speak to him or her of your concerns. If you lose friends in the name of ridding Adventism of legalism, those are the casualties of the war on legalism. Perhaps they were never very dear friends to begin with. Perhaps you need newer, less legalistic friends in and out of church.

Adventism needs to be simplified, cleansed, re energized. Legalism is the enemy. Righteousness by faith in Christ is our ally. These three thoughts came to me in church last Sabbath as I thought how to simplify Adventism. Look to Jesus Christ. Seek the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit. Read your bible and pray.

In closing, let me speak of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is beautiful. It, however, has to be kept naturally, effortlessly, spiritually. When you have to make an effort to keep the Sabbath you are not, in fact, keeping the Sabbath. Ask God to make you holy so you can keep his Sabbath holy. Ask God to fill you with his Spirit of righteousness so you can love Christ and keep his commands. Ask him to fill you with his Spirit of love so you can treat others as you would like to be treated.

Lord, save me from legalism, for in legalism there is only death.

God bless you all. God bless Adventism.

Mysteries of Perfect Fire

River of Fire, Lake of Fire, Sea of Glass Mingled with Fire

“… The ancient of Days took his seat. … His throne was flaming with fire. … A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.” – Daniel 7:9,10 (NIV)

After I read these texts my mind suddenly started visualizing this scene. I had not planned to do this. It almost started automatically. In a way, I was lost in a trance, though a somewhat conscious one. It’s intriguing when moments like this happen.

Lest I forget, let me mention that I had in mind concurrently the other bodies of fire that apocalyptic literature mentions, i.e., the Sea of glass mingled with fire, the Lake of fire in which death and Hades are destroyed. I’ve thought more and more that all of these fiery bodies of water or energy, whether river, sea or lake, are different manifestations of the same reality: God’s presence or his very essence and nature. The text comes to mind, “Ou