Where’s the Justice?

It seems that the law schools of our nation have failed to prepare people to serve in our justice system. The justice system exists to serve people who suffer because of unjust, unlawful treatment. It does not exist to merely provide jobs for law school graduates. When the lawyers and judges fail to provide justice for the violated, they have failed their mission.

One of these colossal failures happened this week in McAlester, OK. A 64 year old man who was charged with 1st degree rape and forcible sodomy of a five year old girl, was given a ONE YEAR sentence by the judge. Because this little girl was afraid to testify in the courtroom with the creep who violated her present, the judge and prosecutor apparently did not feel they could get a conviction. And in America today, they might not! So, they accepted a plea deal offered by the defendant’s lawyer. The pervert would plead guilty to the charges if only required to serve one year of time.

I wonder how many combined years of law school the prosecutor, defense lawyer and judge have. Surely it would be enough education in law and justice to realize that the ONE who was served in this deal was the perpetrator. I think all three of them should be immediately unemployed. I’d like to see them all on a street corner with cardboard signs that say “Will work for food.” They obviously don’t work for justice. They didn’t work for that little girl. She deserved better from a system that would claim the modifier “justice”.

This is admittedly especially offensive to me. In my ministry work, I have seen many victims of childhood sexual abuse. It’s a horrible thing for a child’s innocence to be stolen. I have heard many stories of little girls who went to mom or dad to reveal what was happening to them, only to be told something that made them feel like the abuse wasn’t really all that bad (ie, “Just stay away from Uncle Bill when he comes around.). The little girl in McAlester has been told this, not by a weak parent, but by the court. “Honey, we’re sorry about what happened to you, but it wasn’t really all that bad; we’re just going to send the man to prison for a year.” Damn this!

I Am Not a Tiller Killer

Last Sunday in Wichita, Kansas, Scott Roeder killed Dr. George Tiller in the foyer of Tiller’s Reformation Lutheran Church with a single gunshot. Tiller was one of a very few doctors in the US whose practice specialized in late-term abortions.

This was not the first time that radical anti-abortionists had attacked Tiller. In 1986, Tiller’s clinic was bombed without human injuries. In 1993, he was shot by an abortion activist who remains in prison for the attack. His clinic has been an ongoing scene of protests. Tiller was radically committed to the practice of abortions. He was among those who had no conscience against the despicable practice of “partial-birth abortion.” In my view, he was a mass murderer, a high-tech hit man. For $5000 he would kill any baby in any woman’s womb. It would probably shock us to see the number of not-yet-born people he put to death.

Last Sunday, Dr. Tiller met someone who was as radical as he, another killer. The difference is that Kansas law approved Dr. Tiller’s acts of murder; it did not approve Mr. Roeder’s. I have no complaint regarding Kansas law regarding Mr. Roeder. In my opinion, he should be tried, convicted, and punished for his act of murder. My problem with Kansas law is that it approved Dr. Tiller’s acts of murder.

Obviously, I am absolutely opposed to Dr. Tiller’s work. I have no respect for the man. I have no respect for his kind of Christianity. I wonder what it was like for him to meet his Maker. Did Heaven view him as a hero coming home?

Thankfully, we do live in a land of law and order. Thus, Mr. Roeder had no right to take the law into his own hands. I would never advocate or support this. I do believe, however, that the state of the law in America regarding abortion is a very real factor in the death of Dr. Tiller.

Law only defines what is legal versus what is illegal in a society. It does not necessarily define right and wrong. Unfortunately, many people do not realize this; they assume that anything that is legal is also right to do. When there is substantial difference between that which is legal in a society and that which is truly right, conflict can be intense. In such situations, radicals are naturally attracted into the fray. If the law were on the right side of this issue, Dr. Tiller would probably not have been performing abortions. He could have employed his skills in a constructive manner, to serve life rather than destroy it. And, if Dr. Tiller insisted on performing abortions anyway, he could then be put in prison.

Already underway is an attempt to connect Mr. Roeder with people like me. Mr. Roeder and I evidently shared a common view of abortion, but we didn’t share a common view of life. Trust me, if even one percent of us who are pro-life activists reasoned like Mr. Roeder, we would be hearing of abortion clinic attacks, and assaults on abortionists weekly. And the fact that Mr. Tiller was killed in his own church, shows that there would be no safe place for abortionists from determined killers like Mr. Roeder.

I honestly believe that part of the blame for Tiller’s death can be placed on the many Americans who have right opinions about abortion, but lack real convictions about it. The pro-choice, actually pro-abortion, crowd has convictions. They have pushed for the laws that exist. If you are pro-life, don’t do what Mr. Roeder did; but by all means, do something for the unborn. Get informed. Peacefully protest. Contact your government representatives. Vote.

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Death Sucks

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”, according to Psalm 116:15. That is a view of death from heaven’s perspective. Now for a view from down here on planet earth: death sucks!

For about 10 days now I have been adjusting to the death of a friend, just five years older than me, who died suddenly of a heart attack. Ted had had heart trouble for about 15 years. In fact, just over two months ago he was talking with me about the fact that the doctors originally told him that he MIGHT live another 10 years with his serious heart condition. In March, it seemed he would live several more years. It has been hard to believe that he is gone for good.

Now, I believe that my friend is in a better place, an incredibly better place. But I am not. I am still in THIS place, and now with one less friend.

I’m glad to know that my friend, Ted Self, lived to honor Jesus with his life. I just wish he could have stayed here honoring Him with us much longer.

I’m really glad he didn’t have to suffer long in his parting. I just wish he could have parted without much suffering in 2014 or so.

We can try to see things from God’s perspective. We should try to see things from God’s perspective. It is the most healthy perspective. Still, it is not our only perspective, nor even our most impressive perspective. As I honestly attempt to view my friends passing as a “precious” occasion, I must honestly admit that his death on May 16th, 2009 sucked to me. I know that heaven gained; but we certainly lost. And I know that heaven’s gain is more important than our loss. But our loss is not, therefore, unimportant. I lost a real friend. And that sucks!

Someday, perhaps sooner than I hope and sooner than my friends and family expect, I will experience what God views as precious. I will come home – home to the Land of Friends. You see, I am a friend of God. So was Ted. I hope to see you there someday.

It's not About Your Paygrade!

Our President dodged questions about abortion craftily during his campaign. I don't get paid even as much as Senator Obama did at the time he made that statement. At a recent press conference, a reporter asked him if he had an opinion on the beginning of life in the womb now that his pay had increased. He craftily dodged that question, too. I have written an article on abortion that I think is worth reading for every American with the slightest concern over the practice of abortion in our land, and the fact that Obama's administration is determined to expand the practice.

Don't be deceived by the double-talk. "We want to reduce the need for abortions." If there is nothing wrong with abortion, why worry about how many are performed? Conversely, if there is something wrong with the practice, why do we sanction it? I hope you take time to read my article at http://searchwarp.com/swa481510-Its-No-Fairytale.htm

It's really not about your paygrade; it's about facing the truth.

Consider the Birds

We feed birds at our house. Have for years. Lately, I have been thinking about these birds as well as feeding them and watching them.

First, they are marvelous little creatures. What I have found somewhat perplexing is that these birds have no awareness of the fact that I am feeding them. I go to the feed store and buy the 50# bags of seed. I go to the garage and get one of the five gallon buckets I store the seed in, carry it to the feeders, and refill them when needed. The birds are apparently clueless that they have someone looking out for them - me.

I know that I can’t expect these birds to thank me. If I could make one request, however, it would be this: "After you have eaten the nice food I put out for you, please don’t go sit on the branches of that tree over my car and relieve yourself." Seems like the least they could do.

As long as I have been feeding the birds in our neighborhood, I do wish they would recognize me as a friend, not a threat. Every time I walk around the corner of the house where the feeders are, they fly off. Sometimes I talk to them as they fly away. I say, “Don’t you know that I am the one who put the feeder there, the one who puts those delicious seeds in it? You don’t need to fly away!” They, of course, never get it.

God has been speaking to me lately in these experiences. It goes something like this: “You don’t get it, either, son. I take care of you and the birds. Are you not as oblivious to my provision at times as they are of yours?”

The Spirit brought to my mind these words of Jesus recently, too: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (MT 6:25-27 emphasis mine).

In this day of economic uncertainty, I am choosing to “look at the birds”, remember that they are not sweating where their next meal is coming from or how they will make it through their remaining years. I am choosing to believe that I am “much more valuable” than those birds are to my heavenly Father. Want to join me?

From a PRINCE to a FROG

I was changed from a PRINCE to a FROG, and this by a kiss. It may sound like a fairytale run backwards, but it’s not. It describes a real-life transformation I experienced over 35 years ago through Jesus Christ.

At 26 years old I was a PRINCE, a Pompous, Rebellious, Ignoramus, Not Considering Eternity. That year, however, I met (and more than met) Jesus, the Son of God. I became a FROG, one who Fully Relies On God.

As a PRINCE, I was not an especially evil person. I had never committed any crime worthy of even the threat of prison. I had a reputation as a good worker, a pleasant neighbor, and generally a pretty nice guy. No one, including myself, knew how pride-filled I was.

Though I battled low self-esteem, I hid the battle with various masks. It’s a mistake to think that, because we think lowly of ourselves, we do not think too much of ourselves. Indeed, one can think too much of himself quantitatively as well as qualitatively. And I did. As an example, I typically treated others with kindness and deference, not because I viewed them especially worthy of honor, but rather that I hoped they would think well of me.

Though compliant by nature, I had become an accomplished rebel by age 26. I was like the son Jesus spoke of in a parable whose father asked him to go work in the field. This son said, “sure, Dad”, but he never went(MT 21:28). Social scientists call this “passive-aggressive behavior”. It is the behavior of choice for nice rebels.

For years I have been discovering what an ignoramus I was. At 26 I thought I knew plenty, but discovered that I was mistaken about so much and ignorant about much more. I had no clue that my personal struggles were as common as they are. I didn’t know who God was or even who I was. I knew hardly anything about world history, philosophy, theology, psychology and sociology. I had never read more than a few verses of the Bible. I had heard my country’s experience referred to as a “democratic experiment.” I didn’t know then that the Soviet Union, which most Americans feared in that day, was an even younger experiment, an experiment in atheistic communism. I couldn’t even imagine we would all see it collapse within two decades.

I still don’t know much, but I believe a few things with a deep and abiding conviction; and these faith-tenets have profoundly altered the course of my life over the past three decades and offer a remarkable hope for eternity.

Where at 26 I had lived NOT CONSIDERING ETERNITY, I have since lived with eternity on my mind. I discovered that “God has put eternity in our hearts” (Eccl 3:11), and have come to believe that the devil works diligently to keep it out of our minds. There in my mid-twenties, I adopted a radically new and thoroughly biblical orientation to life; I began to “submit to God and resist the devil” (Jas 4:7). I became a FROG – Fully Relying On God.

I choose to rely on God, not myself, not a job, not a nest-egg, neither church nor state, neither professor nor politician. I rely on God to save me, heal me, teach me, lead me, provide for me, and protect me.

Let me tell you about the kiss that wrought this transformation. Psalm 2:12 says, “Kiss the Son lest he be angry with you and you be destroyed in your way . . . blessed are all who take refuge in him” [emphasis mine]. One of the clear claims of Christ was that He was and is the Son of God. He was the Word of God that “became flesh and lived among us” (JN 1). He was the Son who said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father” (JN 14:9). This Son was the “radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” (HEB 1). He is the One in whom “[dwelt] all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9).

The kiss in the second Psalm is metaphorical rather than literal. It is a kiss of the heart, not of the lips. Thus, it is a kiss of devotion and affection. Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, kissed him, but his was a deceptive kiss. Judas kissed with his lips but not with his heart. The kiss which transforms is not deceptive. Though it may be done publicly it is not done essentially for others to see; it is a pure act of devotion between the one who kisses and the Kissed One.

I first kissed Jesus in public. I attended a revival meeting where my heart had been touched by the evangelist’s words and I responded to his plea. It was a very emotional time, for me and for many others. The next day, however, driving to work in a very non-emotional contemplation of my revival-night decision, I kissed the Son again. I told Him that I really wanted to be fully His – not half, not even mostly, but fully His.

My life in Christ has not been blissful, but it has been blessed. The truth is, some of my most painful life experiences have happened in the past three decades. Following Jesus has not been easy. I have endured trials that formed such dark oppressive clouds over my life that the Son’s Light was blocked from me, yet I have lived to see His Light overcome that darkness and shine on me again. I have been despised, rejected, and abandoned. I have been misunderstood, maligned, and marginalized. None of that, however, matters as much as this: I have been accepted, embraced, and found useful to the Master.

If you have not understood my point, let me make it clear. I am glad to be a Christian. And when I suffer as a Christian, I’m grateful to bear His name (1 Pet 4:16). Here in the 21st Century, Jesus is still calling people. His call is simple: “Come, follow Me.” I encourage you to get acquainted with the Son and kiss Him with your heart.

Calling on Jesus

On its landing approach to the airport in Buffalo on February 12th, Continental Connection Flight 3407 stalled and crashed into a residence. All 49 on the plane and one person on the ground died that day. The National Transportation Safety Board released the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder today. An Associated Press report on that transcript says that the pilot’s last words were “Jesus Christ!”.

As I read this, I could not help but wonder about the meaning of that utterance from a man who knew he was about to die. Understand this: I am making no judgment of the man or his faith. I do not know anything about him beyond what was reported.

I see two possible meanings to this utterance with a world of difference between them. The first meaning would be that of a believer crying out to his Lord in a moment of crisis. I have contemplated a crash of a plane upon which I was a passenger. I imagined that, if I had a few seconds before I would die, I would passionately cry out to my Lord Jesus. The second meaning is terribly unfortunate and terribly common. That “Jesus Christ” is an expletive. If that was the pilot’s meaning, he might as well have shouted, “holy sh_ _!”.

Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” For the name of the Lord to be a strong tower, a place of spiritual safety, that name must be properly used. It cannot be used in just any manner. If I don’t like what is on my TV, I can pick up the remote control and change the channel (well, I’m a man, so I probably don’t have to pick it up; I’m already holding it). I could also eliminate the objectionable content on the TV screen by throwing that remote through the screen. Just as how I use the remote can make great difference, how I use the name of the Lord makes an even greater difference.

Jesus Christ is not a curse word; He is Lord of all. The Bible tells of a day when “every knee shall bow” at that Wonderful Name (Phil 2:10). If you have not yet done so, I encourage you to get to know this Lord Jesus and call on His Name in the way that saves. By all means, don’t wait until your final few seconds to cry out to Him. Desperation is now! The Savior awaits the earnest cry of your heart.