I sat by the window the other morning watching the birds flit and fly as they visited my various feeders, sometimes sharing perches, other times chasing other birds away.  Eight to ten cardinals, over thirty-five sparrows, half a dozen titmice, a couple of wrens, eight goldfinches, a yellowthroat, and a red-bellied woodpecker flew in and out and around the feeders, somehow missing each other without the aid of the FAA and their air traffic controllers.  Even on the ground, the traffic grew thick as seven doves waddled in from the vine bed, weaving in and out of the birds who had given up on a seat at the feeders and sat below, feasting on the fallen birdseed.
            It was the middle of the coldest week of winter we have had here in North Florida in years, night time temperatures in the mid-teens, highs in the low forties.  The water in their water pans on top of the feeder posts froze solid.  Occasionally a cardinal landed, gazing at what used to be drinkable with a bereft look.  Eventually Keith, the big softie, took a boiling tea kettle outside and poured it on top of the frozen water.  At first, it just sluiced right off the ice, but finally began to melt it enough to give the birds something to drink, "on the rocks."  Times were hard for the bird population, and they needed our offer of birdseed, suet, and water, so they came freely and eagerly.
            Guess what happens in the summer?  The bird numbers dwindle significantly.  I only load the feeders once a week instead of every day.  I replace suet in the cages every month instead of every week.  When times are good, the seed eaters can find their own easily.  The carnivores don't need my block of suet so much.  And with the summer rains, puddles lie everywhere, and creeks run full.  Only three or four cardinals fly in with any regularity, and them just once a day.  Only the stodgy old doves come out of habit in the evenings.  I might see a titmouse or two at odd times, or maybe the new baby wrens who have been taught where to find an easy meal, but who will just as likely forsake us as soon as their wings are strong enough to take them further away. 
             And we, like the birds, fall prey to the good and easy times.  When we prosper, it's because of us, not because of God.  It's for us to use for ourselves, not for us to share with those less fortunate.  It's all about getting bigger and better, more and more, and God takes last place in any decision we make.  And sacrifice is for everyone else, all those fanatics who actually talk about God and make sacrifices proving their faith and devotion to Him.
             But when times are hard, boy, do we come running!  Now we pray, now we attend services so we can praise God and ask for help, for sustenance, for solutions to all our problems, in exactly the way we want them.  Not because we have suddenly become devoted servants of God, but because we need Him now.  When the good times return, we will be gone again, just like my birds.
          But here is one problem with that.  God does eventually run out of patience.  When we only want Him when times are rough, when we or someone we love has a grave illness, when the economy threatens the lifestyle we have grown accustomed to, someday, He will not give us the answer we want.  Instead He will say, as He did about the faithless Jews, As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear, says the LORD of hosts (Zech 7:13).
           I would love for my birds to throng my feeders all year long.  And I am sure that God would love for his children to do the same.  Perhaps we would do better to eat the seed of poverty than the seed of prosperity.  At least it looks that way out my window.
 
Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God… (Deut 8:11-14).
 
Dene Ward
 

I remember when we were jumping through insurance hoops trying to make sure my grandchildren did not inherit more than my neonatal dairy allergy. I looked into those big blue eyes that sparkled so, trying to convince myself that they looked more like theirs grandfather’s than mine.  Even if they looked exactly like mine, odds are they did not inherit the condition.  They might have been 100 times more likely to have it than any other baby, but that still makes it a one in a million chance.  It happened that way with their uncle.  The minute they put him in my arms and I saw his eyes my heart froze, but seven months later we knew he had only inherited the look, not the problem.  Still, I would have felt horrible if I had passed this on to poor little Silas and Judah, and it appears that I did not.
            There are worse things to pass on to one’s children and grandchildren.  And [Jehoram] walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah... [Ahaziah] also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly… And Joram said, Make ready. And they made ready his chariot. And Joram king of Israel…went out to meet Jehu…And…he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of your mother Jezebel…are so many? 2 Chron 21:6; 22:3; 2 Kgs 9:21.
            Are you familiar with this narrative in the Bible?  Start in 1 Kings 16 and read through chapter 11 of 2 Kings some night when you want a really good story.  It is a little of everything:  a family saga; an action-adventure story; a political thriller.  It has a villainess of unspeakable cruelty, an underground movement, a mole in the hierarchy, and a hero who saves the day.  All of this was brought about by the evil influence Ahab and Jezebel had on their children and grandchildren. 
            Perhaps the worst of the bunch was Athaliah, their daughter, who reached the point that she could order the murder of “all the seed royal,” among them her own grandchildren.  I have always thought this woman’s crimes especially heinous but now, having held a grandchild in my arms, I know she must have reached a level of moral depravity nearly unheard of, at least among God’s people.  That is what her parents passed on to her, for the next generation always sees our inconsistencies, the line we will not cross because of the inhibiting baggage we have brought to the table.  They see that inconsistency and erase the line, taking what we have taught them to its logical end.
            I cannot control whether Silas will inherit my physical condition; but I can control my influence on his spiritual condition.  I can set an example of faith that will reinforce his in moments of trial.  I can set an example of endurance to bolster his ability to overcome.  I can show him how a mature Christian behaves, even when people are less than accommodating.  Those things I can do, if I will.
            Having children is great motivation to be and do better.  Because the end may be in sight and priorities have become clearer, having grandchildren should be the best motivation yet.
 
I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience, how unceasing is my remembrance of you in my supplications, night and day longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy; having been reminded of the unfeigned faith that is in you; which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice; and, I am persuaded, in you also, 2 Tim 1:3-5.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.
 
            The book of Deuteronomy is a collection of the last few times Moses spoke to the Children of Israel before he died and they entered the Promised Land.  It ends with two songs and a farewell address, but the majority of the book is a series of sermons encouraging the people and re-giving the Law.  When I started seriously studying it to teach it in Bible class, I was amazed at just how much these sermons resemble sermons we might preach today.
            For example, the first sermon (chapters 1-4) begins with a quick recap of how their fathers had rebelled against God and refused to take the Promised Land.  They had been too afraid to go into the land.  Deut. 1:28 "Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’ Looking back on this, we shake our heads at their lack of faith but in reality, their fears were reasonable.  1)  The people in the land out-numbered them and were generally bigger.  2) The cities were huge and strongly fortified.  3)  In addition to the populous generally being bigger, there were actual Giants living in the land. (In Josh. 11:22 it states that the few Anakim who survived the conquest settled in Gath.  Now, who was the most famous resident of Gath?)  These fears were completely reasonable except for the fact that God was on their side.
            Moses then uses the history of his listeners to show just how ridiculous this fear was.  In chapter 2 he recounts the march to their current camp just east of the Jordan River.  On the way, God told them not to bother the Edomites because He had given them the land they occupied.  There had been other people there before, but when God decided to give the Edomites the land, they had no trouble occupying it (vs 5,12).  Then they were told not to bother the Moabites, because God had given them their land.  There used to be Giants there, too, called Emim, but the Moabites had no trouble driving them out when God gave them that land (vs 9-11).  This was repeated with the Ammonites (vs 19-22), who drove out another Giant race (the Zamzummim) to take their land.  The Israelites would have remembered God's instructions through Moses concerning these nations, and Moses uses that knowledge to refute two of the fears.  When God decided to bless these pagan peoples who had no relationship with Him, it didn't matter that there were people already living there nor did it matter how strong they were, God gave them that land.  So, what would He do for His people?
            Moses then uses the victories of Israel over the Amorite kings Sihon and Og to dispel with the third fear (2:32-3:6).  In defeating these kings, the Israelites captured all their cities, many of which were strongly fortified.  Moses graphically displays that if God is on their side, nothing could stand in their way:  "And I commanded Joshua at that time, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. So will the LORD do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing.  You shall not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you.’" (Deut. 3:21-22)
            Is it ever scary to be a Christian?  Be honest; sometimes it is terrifying.  To be different from everyone around you all the time, to be accused of self-righteousness or mean-spiritedness because of taking a stand for the truth can be pretty frightening.  To miss out on promotions because you won't work Sundays or because people think of you as judgmental can be scary.  To be attacked on social media and needing to erase your accounts because you declared that some things are right and some things are wrong can be unnerving.  Nowadays, some people are losing their businesses which they worked their lives through to establish because they won't' accommodate sin or are even being thrown in jail for refusal to follow immoral government mandates.  That can be terrifying.  These are all reasonable fears, from a worldly perspective.  But as Moses used the example of pagan kingdoms God wished to bless to encourage the Israelites, we can use the example of God's blessings on His earthly kingdom to find strength to carry on (Col. 2:17, Heb. 8:5; 10:1).  Joshua was told not to fear because God was fighting for them.  How much less reason do we have to fear as part of the Kingdom God established by the sacrifice of His Son?  Won't God fight even harder for us? 
            Fear is natural when Satan's forces are arrayed against us, but remember who fights on our side and keep marching forward to the Promised Land.
 
Luke 12:32  “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
Heb. 13:6  "So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'” 
 
Lucas Ward
 

The Lord has made everything for his own purpose, yes, even the wicked for the day of trouble, Prov 16:4.
            Think about that for awhile.  If I do not allow the Lord to use me for good, he will use me for evil instead.  I cannot refuse to be used; it’s one or the other.
            A long time ago I studied as many women in the Bible as I could find and tried to discover how they fit into the scheme of redemption.  I managed to find a use for every one of them.  Then I came to Jezebel and found myself stymied.  The only thing I could think was God used her to test his prophet Elijah, and to eventually send him back to his work in Israel with a renewed spirit. 
            I would hate to think that the only use God could find for me was as a thorn in the flesh of his righteous people, testing their faith.  So how do I avoid that?
            As in the case of Elijah, discouragement can hamper the work of God.  After what seemed like an amazing victory on Mt Carmel, Elijah awoke the next morning to find that Jezebel was still in charge and his life was still in danger.  Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.  Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also if I make not your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.  And when Elijah saw this, he fled, 1 Kings 19:1-3.  What a let-down that must have been.  If that great victory had not changed things, what could?
            So Elijah ran away to the wilderness where he rested, where an angel fed him, and where God proved to him that Jezebel was not the one in charge, and there were still righteous people to stand with him.
            Am I just another Jezebel, discouraging God’s people in their mission?  Do I have a chip on my shoulder that makes me easily offended?  Do I sit like a spectator on the bleachers, watching and waiting for the least little thing, quick to complain, unashamed to make a scene, ready to pass judgment on every word and action, and worse, spread that slander to others?  Do I march up to the elders, the preacher, the class teachers as if they had to answer to me for anything I find disagreeable, which can be anything and everything, depending upon my mood at the moment?  (Yes, I have known people exactly like this.)
            What purpose do I think that serves other than to try the patience, faith, and endurance of those who must put up with my spitefulness?  Why do I think that kind of behavior will help anyone?  Would I accept it from anyone toward me? 
            Every church I have ever been a part of has one of these thorns hidden among them.  Don’t let it be you.  Remember today that God is using you.  Make sure that everything you do and say will in some way help His plan to save the world.  Your brothers and sisters need your encouragement.  Your neighbors need your example of love and service.  That is what God expects of you—to choose to be a rose instead of a thorn.
 
A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.  There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing, Prov 12:16,18. 
 
Dene Ward

I hardly ever make a post on my personal Facebook page.  I have it so I can keep up with my children and have a separate page for this blog more than anything else.  I might post ten times a year and that's it.  Recently, I remembered why.
            I had spent the morning picking up groceries, steadily growing more and more alarmed at the price increases.  Finally a jar of mayonnaise took my breath away.  $8.62!!!  So I came home and made a humorous little post about needing to carry around smelling salts to revive myself every other aisle, hoping it might give everyone a chuckle, something sorely needed these days.  I should have known better.  My attempt at consolation turned into an argument about where one should and should not shop.
            A few years ago I wrote a blogpost about an old hymn whose words had been changed from the lyricist's original ones due to an editor not knowing his Bible, evidently.  I carefully explained the original words (and where I found them), and what they should mean to us.  I got a dozen argumentative replies that eventually deteriorated into an ongoing argument between various commenters (none of whom I knew).  After three years, the argument was still going strong with people checking in to add more vitriol to a debate about a hymn!  Something that should have been helpful, not a cause of strife.  So I deleted it.  It was no longer fulfilling its purpose, if it ever did after that first ugly comment.
            I am not sure what I am getting at today.  Maybe it's watching people miss the real point over and over and over on Facebook, on blog comments, in Bible classes, and everyone else jumping on the bandwagon to take the discussion off the rails into a chasm of futility that creates division instead of bonding us together in the same fight.  And so many of these people claiming to be Christians! 
           But then, they did it to Jesus, too.  How many times did a compassionate healing become an argument about their Sabbath rules?  How many times did a lesson on love and grace turn into a hate-filled diatribe?  How many times did a point offered for consideration become a point to misconstrue and argue about, even to make an unwarranted accusation about?  Why are we so quick to jump in with criticism?  Why do we think it is our God-given role to say, "Yes, but," and pontificate on the other side when it isn't the one that is most needed?  Why do we always think that we are the ones who can say it the right way and make everyone understand and that we know better than anyone else how to say something?  Some of us are drawn to arguments like a magnet.  As Paul told Timothy, some of us have an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions (1Tim 6:4).
            Maybe today I am just giving in to a weariness about the mess the world's in not just on Facebook, but everywhere we look--except when we look at our Lord, whose simple message can fix anything—if we let it.  Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt 11:28-29).
 
Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers (2Tim 2:14).
 
Dene Ward

The statements of Jesus are some of the most twisted and misused statements you will ever find.  I am sure you have instantly thought of "Judge not that you be not judged…" Oh, if that were the only one!
            How about this one?  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith… (Matt 23:23).  Usually that is quoted when people think that the little things don't matter, that as long as we have good hearts (the "big thing"), we can do as we please otherwise.  But once again they are misusing the scripture.  In the first place, that is not the whole the verse.  Immediately after this, Jesus adds, but these you ought to have done and not left the other undone.  Jesus does not excuse us from following God's Word to the minutest detail—"these you ought to have done"—he simply stresses the larger matters.
            It is not that difficult to understand.  What would you say are the larger things a good husband should do?  Sexual faithfulness probably tops the list, especially since God makes that the one thing that can dissolve a marriage in His eyes (Matt 19:9).  But most women would probably add things like a responsible, mature provider, a good father, and certainly not an abuser.  All of those qualify as "the weightier matters", I think.
            But are there any little things you might like in a husband as well?  Remembering special days, especially anniversaries.  Maybe even remembering your favorite color or favorite flower.  You might find it especially endearing if he brings you a cup of coffee in bed every morning before he leaves for work, or brings home a hand-picked bouquet of wildflowers on an ordinary day, "out of the blue".  Certainly these are all small things, things most people would consider nice but unnecessary to a good marriage.  But what do those things say?  They say I love you, I care enough to remember things that are special to you, I will go out of my way to do something sweet for you—I have picked burrs off the slacks he wore when wading through those wildflower fields, but I didn't mind one bit!
            If that is how you feel about things that are small, what makes you think they mean any less to the God who created us and made us in His image?  Don't quote only half of Jesus' statements, twist them to mean something he did not, take them out of context, or any other of a half a dozen ways people do injustice to his words, for Jesus also says, the little things do matter.
 
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven… (Matt 5:19).

Dene Ward

Several years ago I received a pot of rust colored chrysanthemums as a gift.  I enjoyed them for many days before they began to fade.
            “Well that’s that,” I thought as I placed them on the outside workbench so Keith could salvage the dark green plastic pot for other uses.  By the time he got to them, they were brown and withered, as dead looking as any plant I had ever seen.
            Keith cannot stand to throw things away.  “It might come in handy,” he always says as he pulls things out of the trash.  That is why he stuck those dried out flowers in the ground beneath the dining room window.  Yet even he was amazed when a few days later green leaves sprouted on those black stems.  It was fall, a mum’s favorite season, and before long I had twice as many as I had started with.
            Fast forward to Thanksgiving, a year later.  I now had a bed full of rust colored mums about two feet square.  The next year the bed was four feet wide and my amaryllises were swamped.  Keith built a raised bed about eight feet square, half of it for the mums and the rest for a plumbago, a miniature rose, and a blue sage.  That has lasted exactly one year.  The plumbago, rose, and sage have been evicted by the mums and need a new home.
            What started as one six inch pot of mums, withered and brown, has become 64 square feet of blooms so thick they sprawl over the timbers of the raised bed into the field surrounding it.  Whenever I cut an armful for a vase inside, you cannot even tell where I cut them. 
            We often fall prey to the defeatist attitude, “What can one person do?” Much to the delight of our Adversary we sit alone in the nursery pot, wither, and die.  Yet the influence we have as Christians can spread through our families, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, and our communities.  The good deeds we do, the moral character we show, the words we do—and don’t—say make an impression on others.  Those are the seeds we plant, never giving in to the notion that one person cannot accomplish anything.  The attitudes we show when mistreated and the peace with which we face life’s trials will make others ask, “Why?  Can I have this too?  How?”
            Plant a seed every chance you get.  If a six inch pot of dried up mums can spread so quickly, just think what the living Word of God shown through your life can accomplish.
 
And he said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God?  Or in what parable shall we set it forth?  It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are upon the earth,  yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof, Mark 4:30-32.
 
Dene Ward

The expression "the fruit of the Spirit" comes from Paul's letter to the Galatians.  These are his words:  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control… (Gal 5:22-23).  The mere recital of these Christian graces should be enough to make the mouth water and the heart beat faster.  For this is a portrait of Jesus Christ.  No man or woman has ever exhibited these qualities in such balance or to such perfection as the man Christ Jesus.  Yet this is the kind of person that every Christian longs to be.
            This, then, is the portrait of Christ, and so—at least in the ideal—of the balanced, Christlike, Spirit-filled Christian.  We have no liberty to pick and choose among these qualities.  For it is together (as a bunch of fruit or a harvest) that they constitute Christlikeness; to cultivate some without the others is to be a lopsided Christian.  The Spirit gives different Christians different gifts…but he works to produce the same fruit in all.  He is not content if we display love for others, while we have no control of ourselves; or interior joy and peace without kindness to others; or a negative patience without a positive goodness; or gentleness and pliability without a firmness of Christian dependability.  The lopsided Christian is a carnal Christian, but there is a wholeness, a roundness, a fullness of Christian character which only the Spirit-filled Christian ever exhibits.

John Stott, Authentic Christianity
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If husbands and wives are supposed to be partners on this journey to Heaven, we sometimes have a funny way of showing it.
            One of the most amazing examples Sarah set is not one we often talk about, and when we do, we miss what to me is the most important part.  Peter tells us in 1 Pet 3:6 that she called her husband “lord.”  Today that might translate better “sir,” but notice the only example Peter had of this:  Gen 18:12, where she is in a tent, away from the three “men” and talking “within herself.”  When she realizes these men heard her when they normally should not have been able to, she realizes who they are and becomes afraid.  Do you get it?  When she called him “lord,” she was not speaking to Abraham, but about him to herself, behind his back, so to speak, where he could not have heard her if he had wanted to.
            Now here is the point ladies, how do we speak about our husbands when they are not around?  Can my neighbors list his faults by now as well as I can?  Can my children?  Can my co-workers relate every mistake he’s ever made because I make sure I talk about them?  Does anyone who has anything to do with me wonder why I married such a jerk in the first place because that is the impression I have given them about this man I claim to love?  I have seen women, as the Proverb writer warns, tear down their houses with their own hands, or in this case, their own mouths.
            Do we even stop to consider the pictures others must have of our marriages by the things they see and hear?  No one should ever have to endure the embarrassment of standing in my kitchen while I berate my husband in front of them.  Do I ridicule and complain about his efforts to support me as well as the gifts he gives me?  Do I constantly correct every little detail—even those that do not make a whit’s worth of difference—when he tries to tell a story?  Do my friends know that I secretly do things he disapproves of?  We are not the daughters of Sarah when we act this way.
            But Peter does not let the husbands off the hook either.  In the same chapter, he tells them to dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman… v 7.  There is nothing honorable about the label, “my old lady.”  And here is a clue for you:  women do not generally appreciate male humor.  It is one thing to be able to laugh at yourself, but another thing entirely to have someone constantly make a laughingstock of you.  If she asks you not to tell a certain story yet again, or call her by a certain nickname in front of people, then don’t—not if you honor her.
            I have seen too many a man use up the prime of a woman’s life, then somehow think he has “outgrown” her.  More likely, his head has outgrown him.  But one of the most common complaints I hear is, “She let herself go.”  That always translates to gaining some weight.  Do you know how she gained that weight?  Fixing you the meat and potatoes meals you insist on and carrying your children.  Excuse me if the brag that you can still wear the same size jeans as you did in high school does not impress me—the only reason you can do that is you are fastening them six inches lower!  No wonder Malachi called such treatment “treachery” Mal 2:15.
              What in the world do we think we are telling people about our marriages and about ourselves when we engage in such insults?  After all, we do not live in a culture of arranged marriages—we chose our partners.  In actuality, we are insulting ourselves.
            Peter tells husbands that their treatment of their wives will affect whether their prayers are heard.  I have no difficulty believing the same is true for a wife’s treatment of her husband.  I don’t know about you, but I need God to hear my prayers.  I ask for forgiveness regularly and it’s the only way I know I can get it.  How about you?
 
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  This mystery is great…nevertheless do each one of you love his own wife even as himself, and let the wife see that she reverence her husband.  Eph 5:31-33  
 
Dene Ward

This was a more interesting read than I ever expected it to be, primarily because it approaches the subject in a way I have never heard before. 
            First, the sub-title, discipline as a gift, came completely out of the blue for me.  A gift, really?  It had always seemed to be, mainly from the way I had seen it handled before, an odious chore that most completely ignored.  But the author makes you see it from a completely different perspective.  Discipline defines the church by setting boundaries, something every child psychologist should readily recognize.  Children who know the limits are happier children because they have a sense of security.  It also helps define who we really are.  As Mr. South says, "Any group, religious or otherwise, which claims unique status must have and maintain clearly-demarcated boundaries so all can recognize who is not in the group…No discipline, no church."
           He also shows discipline as a command that must be obeyed just like any other if we dare to call ourselves a New Testament Church.  "In spite of an abundance of New Testament teaching, churches today are largely negligent in the practice of corrective discipline, which is nothing less than disobedience."
Then we see that our negligence in this is not just disobedience, but a lack of trust in God who has told us to practice it.  Presumably, He thinks it works, and who are we to question Him?  It also shows a lack of love for those in sin, and a "tendency to accommodate ourselves to our pluralistic society."  Okay, now he has my attention.
           But in doing these things, he carefully sets forth his arguments with far more scripture about church discipline than I was ever aware of, and with a sense of sorrow for those who are lost and could be saved if we followed God's plan.  Covering each passage from every angle, he makes the point that the Bible writers discuss more than one type of discipline which are each dealt with in a different way.  "One size fits all" does not work in such a delicate, yet momentous, topic. 
           I have hardly done this book justice with this review.  It should probably be read by every Christian in the country, certainly every elder and preacher.  Don't waste any time getting to it!
            Church Discipline:  God's Gift for a Healthier, Holier Church is published by DeWard Publishing Company.
 
Dene Ward