Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!!

A few weeks ago, because of a conversation I had with a dear friend from church, I decided to take a break from Facebook until I could find some sort of balance. Basically the conversation went something like this: Me: (in a joking tone) "I should probably think about some of my post on Facebook before I post them". Friend: "yeah, you really should". I was pretty shocked at her response. I thought I was just being funny. I mean, it's me, the guy who tells people that sarcasm is my spiritual gift. My friend then proceeded to tell me, in the most gracious way I've ever been rebuked in my life (if you are reading this, thank you again for your loving words) that my words can come across as harsh or unloving. Now she wasn't talking about what I say about Christ or the church. She was talking about all the other stuff I comment about. Alabama sports, Auburn sports, politics, etc. You know, everything else. After they left, I sat down and began to repenting to God for my words. I had sinned against Him with my words. I had caused other to think less of me thus, think less of God. I wanted this to change, I begged God to change me. I knew what I had to do. I have to turn off Facebook until God changed my attitude. Now, I don't want to come across as some fundamental who thinks the devil is in the computer. I don't think Satan is in Facebook. I'm not that guy. Facebook can be a tool that God uses to bring glory to Himself. I want that for my Facebook. After examining my life, I realized my comments on there were just a symptom to the real problem I had. I was on here WAY TO MUCH!!!! If you didn't figure out by now, my title to this blog post is from "The Truman Show", a movie with Jim Carrey in it. The show is about a man is watched 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, only he doesn't know it. Truman, played by Carrey, lives his life under constant view from cameras set all over the town. His mirror has a camera, every room in his house has a camera, his car, the streets he drives, office he works, the school he went to, all have cameras. Everyone in the town are actors, his friends, the people he works with, his wife, all actors. This tv show is on 24-7-365, because it has it's own channel. From time to time you will see people watching the show from crazy places. It is the ultimate reality show. One person in particular came to my mind as I was thinking about Facebook. You remember that guy who watched "The Truman Show" in his bathroom while taking a bath? That guy couldn't get away from the show. He had to watch it. You know he had to watch cause he was taking a bath. Come on!! Here's where I am going with this. Facebook was my "Truman Show" and the dude in the tub was me. I couldn't miss seeing what 'you' say on here, and I couldn't wait to see how 'you' responded to what I said. It's sad I know, but that was how I rolled. I have a beautiful, loving wife and 2 precious children... here..... in the house..... with me. I'm on Facebook, with you (no offense) and they are here. Facebook is not real life, though I treated it that way. I'm not going to say I won't offend you again on Facebook, cause I might. Please know that I don't mean to. Maybe I need to check into Charlie Sheen's rehab "WINNING"!! I ask you to pray that God wins the battle between Facebook and Himself in my life every time, because I can't do it myself. May God receive the Glory on Facebook and in our lives. Thanks.

A Unique Perspectve on Westboro Baptist Church

So, I just got finished reading my wife's blog and saw that it had been 11 MONTHS sense my last post. So much for having an update, huh? As some of you probably know there will be the burial of an American Hero tomorrow in Jacksonville, AL. Captain Kyle Comfort was killed last week in Afghanistan by a road side bomb, leaving behind a wife and a 6 month old little girl, along with many many other family and friends. Some of you may or may not know that Westboro Baptist Church from Kansas plans on coming down to protest. I don't understand what would make someone want to come and spew hatred at the family of a United States veteran who was killed serving this great nation. Here's the kicker, they think they are doing what God wants them to do! I was thinking about how crazy that is today at church and then I thought of the conversion of the Apostle Paul. In Acts 9:1-2 Luke tells us "But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem." What do we find Paul doing? He is going to the high priest and getting arrest warrants to pick up Christian and bring them back to Jerusalem so they can stand trial and face the punishment for being a follower of Christ. Now why is Saul (the Apostle Paul) doing this? He is doing this because he thinks God wants him to do it. He is going around and getting these followers of Jesus and getting rid of them for God. You remember from Chapter 7 of Acts that Saul was there holding the garments of those who stoned Stephen the first martyr of the early church. Place yourself back in the early church. You are meeting with other believers in homes out of fear of what will happen to you. Saul isn't who you want to see come to the door, because he wants you dead.
Hopefully, you see the picture I am trying to paint here. Westboro Baptist thinks just like Saul thought, they are doing what God wants them to do. They think by these protest they are proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Just like Saul was wrong, Westboro Baptist is wrong. Here is where we come in. Paul in verse 3 was knocked off his horse by God and confronted then converted. The same God who saved Paul can knock this group off their high horse and save them. Paul had a Damascus Road Experience, let's pray that Westboro Baptist Church has a "Pelham Road Experience". Pray that they will hear God ask them just like he asked Saul "Why are you persecuting me?" We can out number the protesters with supporters all day, we can drown out there hateful speak till they leave, but we won't change them. God is their only hope. He is the only one who can change their wicked hearts. Pray He will. 2nd Chronicles 14 says "if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." We can't sit by and do nothing, we must call on our only Hope. Pray that God will change the hearts of Westboro Baptist Church for His glory. And don't stop praying for Captain Comfort's family. Please go tomorrow and show support for not only Captain Comfort and his family, but also all those who have sacrificed for this country. May God heal our land, He is our only hope.

Recycled blog post

It's been about a week or so sense my last post, and I've gotten writer's block. So I decided to go to an old post I had on an old blog I had (this was hard to find btw). I hope you enjoy.

My question is for anyone who can answer (with a Biblical response) where the sinners prayer is found in the Bible? By no response, I am to assume you have no answer. In the Gospel of Mark the 10th chapter verses 17 -22, we see Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler. This rich man comes to Jesus asking a question that many in the church have asked at one time in their life, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus does something Biblical, shocking, I know. Jesus takes the man through the commandments. When Jesus was finished the man said "I've kept all these from my youth". Jesus then says "One thing you lack, go and sell all you have and give it to the poor". Then the Bible says this man went away sad, because he had great possessions. Let's fast forward 2000 or so years into the future and put this same scenario into most modern day churches. What would happen if you have this same man come to the front during the invitation? The conversation would go something like this:Pastor- "Sir do you believe Jesus is who He says He is?
Man- "Yes."
Pastor- "Do you believe He died on the cross?"
Man- "Yes I do.
"Pastor- "Do you want to invite Jesus to be the Lord of your life?"
Man- "Yes."
Pastor- "Well say this prayer and mean it with all your heart....".Who is wrong here? I can assure you of one thing, it's not Jesus. How come Jesus did things completely different than it is done today, yet today we call what is done in most modern evangelical churches His work? When God is nowhere near the place because of the hypocrisy that is involved in church today.The Bible does speak of this "modern day evangelism" method. In 2 Timothy 4:3-4. "For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." Do you know what is so scary about this passage? These "fables" sound like truth, because they will be said by a preacher in "Jesus' name". In closing I pray that if you go to church and you hear the 'say this prayer' gospel, you would question where that comes from? I believe that true Christians want to follow God's way and not mans. Seek the truth out.By the way, you can't use Romans 10:9-10 ( 'that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation' ) as your scripture to support the sinners prayer. Paul is talking to the church in Rome, a group of believers who were being persecuted for their belief in Christ, not lost people. It goes like this: back in AD 60 when the book of Romans was written, the custom of that day was for the Roman citizens to sprinkle incense on an altar and say 'Caesar is Lord'. If you didn't say that Caesar was Lord than you were killed. A Christian couldn't do that because only Jesus is Lord, saying otherwise would have been (and still is today) a sin. Paul was saying "Jesus is Lord, even if it cost you your life". Also Revelation 3:20 ( 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.' ) isn't talking to lost people either. John is speaking about the church at Laodicaia, the "Lukewarm Church". Jesus is wanting the church to Let Him come in. Jesus isn't knocking on a lost person's heart asking if He can be Lord. HE ALREADY IS LORD, HE DOESN'T NEED YOUR PERMISSION!!!! Jesus wouldn't knock on the door, He would knock the door down. Don't make Jesus out to be a beggar, He is King of King and Lord of Lords.

One thing I want to say here so I don't cause the same confusion I caused the last time this was posted. I am not saying that if you said the sinners prayer you are lost. Let me repeat that, I am not saying that if you said the sinners prayer you are lost. I am saying your not saved by that prayer, you are saved by Christ's atoning work on the cross. To those who use the sinners prayer and are stone cold proponents, God does not save people because of your inaccurate sharing of the Gospel, God saved people in spite of your inaccurate sharing of the Gospel. I was once there. I used it because I thought it worked. But it doesn't. Pragmatism works in a lot of places, but God's church isn't one of them. Use what is Biblical. Follow Christ's model of sharing truth.

Dumb it down, so it can be understood. Part 1

This is the attitude of a large number of evangelicals out there. No they won't say it out loud, but their actions say it for them. This isn't a new problem, no it's been brewing for over a hundred years. In the final years of Spurgeon's life, he dealt with what he called the "down-grade" of the gospel. A move away from a Biblical view to a more liberal worldly way to look at Christ. From the "Gap Theory" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gap_Creationism and "swoon theory" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swoon_hypothesis, all the way to today with the idea of God not being mad about your sin. Out of fear from the outside world, the church has moved from it's 1st century roots of dying for the truth to perverting truth so not to offend; nobody knows what the truth is anymore. To borrow a line from one of my favorite movies, church "you've lost that lovin' feeling".
The first truth I want to get out to all you readers is this. The church is not for lost people. The church is for believers. Now, am I against the lost coming to church? No of course not, but I am against it being the only away evangelism is carried out. Today we invite so the pastor can share. The great commission is for all believers to carry out, and it says for us to "go out" not bring in the lost. Church use to be where followers of Christ would come together and praise God corporately, thanking Him for how He takes care of His children. Then they would go out and evangelise the lost. Today we have "seeker friendly" and "seeker sensitive" churches that ask the question, why don't you come to church and get rid of anything that person says so they can feel more comfortable. Man does not need to be comforted, man needs the Gospel. And sooner the church figures this out, the better everyone will be, including the lost. The whole idea of being "seeker friendly" is un-Biblical. The lost are not seeking Him. They are his enemy, they are God haters, they are lovers of self. Romans 3:11 says "no one understands; no one seeks after God". There is only One seeker and He isn't your neighbor or they guy who you work with; the only seeker is God.

getting my feet wet

OK, the last time I had a blog, it was not very well received by some in the Christian circle of influence around me. So I deleted that account. Well I'm back, baby. Ha Ha, all kidding aside, I wanted to start a new blog to share things I am passionate about, ideas and thoughts that pop into my head (buckle up readers), and anything else that tickles my fancy. Some things I say might make you laugh, some might make you mad. I will probably confuse some of you out there with my rabbit chasing and sarcasm. I want to above all else bring honor, and glory to the only one who is worthy of all glory and that is Christ. So call me on anything I say that grieves His spirit. I will begin by posting a video of one of my Favorite Pastors who speaks truth from scripture.