Dear TV and Movie Producers and Advertisers of same,
            I grew up watching television.  But now I find myself completely disgusted by what you are giving me as entertainment.  May I please offer a few suggestions?
            I am not a prurient adolescent, so please dispense with the sexual innuendo and bathroom humor.  I am far more mature and sophisticated than that.  Most of the people I know are.  I am relatively well-educated, so please come up with words with more than four letters.  They have already worn out their shock value, and what other use are they?  All they do is turn me off, which means I turn the knob off.
            Please give me role models I can identify with, admire, or aspire to.  Give me a father figure who is not an idiotic doofus, one who can make rational decisions and does not need his wife, and certainly not his children, to pull him out of the messes he makes of their lives week after week.  Give me a mother figure who does not treat her husband like a child or demean him to her friends, but respects him; who is not a preacher for the ultra-liberal left, who understands that selflessness and sacrifice for her family is not a fault to be overcome, and can communicate with her family without a martyr complex.  Give me children who respect their parents and obey them without eye-rolling, sass, and deeply heaved sighs of frustration. 
            Tell my children the truth not the fairy tale of “happily ever after.”  Show my children that one talk about condoms does not make teen pregnancy a breeze.  Show them that drugs are not that easy to overcome once they are hooked.  Tell them that there is no such thing as “safe sex” outside of heterosexual monogamy, that AIDS is not the only, or even the most common, sexually transmitted disease out there, and that they could easily end up living the rest of their lives in relentless pain, unable to marry and have children till the day they die.  Tell them that the same self-control we expect of them in regard to stealing and murder is just as viable when it comes to sexual self-control.
            Teach them something called integrity and character instead of looking out for number one and doing what you can get away with.  Teach them that whatever they do affects someone else.  Do you know how many times my probation officer husband has sat across the table from inmates who were shocked to hear that their shoplifting raised the prices that their dear old grandmothers had to pay?  No one taught them simple economics.  No one told them that what they did was a reflection on the women who raised them.  “I don’t know your mother,” he often says to them, “except what I see in you.”  You would be surprised how many hardened criminals sit there with tears running down their cheeks at those words.  Too bad you didn’t say any of those things a long time before he did. 
            And tell me this—would you ever pepper dialogue with the phrase “Oh my Allah!” or “Oh my Buddha!” or “Oh my Vishnu!”?  Or would you never dare in this age of political correctness to cause offense to someone’s religious beliefs?  So why must I listen to you disrespect my God?  Or is it, as seems to be the case over and over, that discrimination against Christians doesn’t count?
            Speaking of Christians, show me practicing Christians who are neither fire-breathing, insane radicals nor hypocrites.  Show me people who live what they believe—quietly and selflessly serving others and living moral lives.  I can show you hundreds of families in just my limited circle who do.  Why can’t you find any?
            I am not the only one out there who would like these things.  A good many of us are tired of seeing sex used to advertise hamburgers and shavers, and suave urbanity to advertise liquor and beer.  Let me tell you—the most interesting man in my world is not an arrogant, beer-swilling womanizer and no man should expect me to come running just because he gave me the eye across a boxing ring.  My standards are much higher than those.  My friends feel the same way.  We’re tired of having to battle an entire culture in order to teach our children how to be decent people.  Not a few have turned their TVs off.  They have made the decision to boycott businesses who promote themselves in such irresponsible ways, businesses whose only interest is the bottom line. 
            And to those who are saying amen, I am calling on more of you to do something tangible to show your displeasure--not violent, not illegal, but something that will make an impact that businesses care about—their profits.  Write a letter, using calm words, good words, not indecent ones.  Don’t become what you are opposing.  Then follow up.  Turn off that television, stop watching those movies, don’t buy those products or patronize those establishments.  You know who and what they are as well as I do, you’ve just been ignoring this issue because it would put a crimp in your style.  Maybe it’s time you sacrificed something.  You know who it’s for.  Aren’t they worth it?  Isn’t HE worth it?
 
 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead reprove them.  Eph 5: 11.
 
Dene Ward

With the end Jesus had in view he could not depend upon mere learning, mental gifts, and force of argument.  For the essential trouble is not with men's intellects, but their hearts.  It is not that opinions are so wrong; it is that dispositions are so alienated from God.  Man needs not a new opinion, but a new love.  The task of Jesus was a far harder one than the correction of errors; it was the winning of hearts.  Love, is free; men may be convinced against their will, but love consents. 

Man of Galilee by Atticus G. Haygood

For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.  (Matt 13:15-16).

I don’t get it.  Something is very wrong when we make heroes out of monsters.  First it was vampires, and now zombies.  But did you know this?  We have spiritual vampires and zombies out there too, and some of us make heroes out of them.
            Televangelists and faith healers come to mind.  Has there ever been a more despicable sort of bloodsucker?  They use the desperate, the ill, the old, the ones afraid of dying without God, and steal their money and their minds, basking in the adoration of distressed souls who want just one last vestige of health and a moment of relieved peace before their deaths.  Yes, a lot of it is their own fault.  If they knew and loved the Word of God as they should they would not have been deluded so as to “believe a lie” (2 Thes 2:9-11).  Yet Satan’s ministers are good-looking, amiable, charismatic people, and even the good-hearted can be deceived if they aren’t careful (2 Cor 11:13-15).
            But the worst are surely the walking dead. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will, John 5:21.  Notice, Jesus said this well before he ever raised anyone from the dead.  Most commentators believe he was talking here about raising the spiritually dead, and the full context proves them correct. 
            How are we dead?  Most of us can easily quote passages saying we were once “dead in sin,” but Jesus was talking to the Jews of the day, God’s people. 
            Verse 16 tells us these people were seeking to kill Jesus because he healed on the Sabbath.  They understood when it suited them that healing on the Sabbath was not a sin; they did the same for their animals.  But their traditions outweighed the clear dictum of the Law to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”  In another healing, Jesus quite purposefully called the woman who was bowed together a “daughter of Abraham” in order to shame the ruler who did not want her healed (Luke 13:15,16).  Follow the man born blind in John 9 and see the ridiculous lengths they went to in order to condemn a man who could heal as no one ever had before.  Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes, John 9:30.  Even Jesus was amazed at their determination not to see his obvious origins, and therefore his authority to heal whenever he pleased. 
            That determination is shown earlier in John 5.  They clearly understood that Jesus claimed a relationship with God that was above and beyond their own, yet despite the works he did, and thus the witness shown by God through those works, they denied that witness, one that shone clearly to any who dared to actually see. 
            Those people who thought they were the one true people of God, following the one true Law, couldn’t even tell when God was among them.  What did Jesus have to say about that?  Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him, John 5:24.  Don’t count on your pedigree in the faith.  Don’t count on following the rules.  These people had the first (Abraham is our father, John 8:39), and did the second, but Jesus says to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life, John 5:24.  He was calling them dead, yet they were still on this earth walking around, still in charge of God’s people, a people they disdained, John 7:48,49.
            How are we doing as a people of God?  Do we truly listen, or have we become nothing more than a self-righteous, unloving group that prides itself on having been baptized and following a set of rules, including a bunch we devised ourselves and then judge others for not keeping.  As sad as it is, we have the walking dead still among us, and some people think they are heroes. 
 
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.  Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you, Rev 3:1-4. 
 
Dene Ward

We have had probably fifteen generations of cardinals grow up on our property since we put up our bird feeders, maybe more if they nest more than once a year as many birds do here in our warmer climate.  The first time the parents brought their adolescent children to our bird feeder, I was shocked. 

Everyone knows what beauties cardinals are.  The males range from bright fire engine to deep cherry red, a rounded breast of the same color, with a black Zorro mask, orange-red bill, and a full, high crest.  Even the more muted females are a smooth olive green to buff brown with fringes of red on their wings and tails, full crests, plus the same orangy bill and a bit of a black mask.  But the adolescents?  Can a bird be called "gawky?"  The colors range from scruffy gray to a spotty brown, with remnants of dirty-white baby feathers stuck here and there, and an ugly, gray bill.  They are usually skinny and their crests either as short as crewcuts or as stringy as a human head of oily hair, and sparse to boot. 

They remind me of human teenagers actually—that gangly stage where their legs and arms are too long for their bodies and the most recent growth spurt has left them looking like Elastic Man stretched to his limit.  But what happens?  You see them five years later and suddenly you have a beautiful young woman standing in front of you, or a handsome young man.  That's what happens.  And you know what?  All those gawky cardinals eventually become just as beautiful as their parents, too.  It's perfectly normal.

The same can be true of spiritual growth.   Sometimes a new Christian can be an ugly creature.  Especially if he has come straight out of the world, rather than growing up among us, he may still be slipping back into bad habits fairly often.  His language may slip.  His temper may flare in a less than godly way.  His choices may be every bit as unwise as they were before his baptism.  That's perfectly normal too.  Should it stay that way?  Absolutely not.  "Please be patient with me," should be an early request that grows less and less necessary, rather than something he clings to like ivy on a brick wall. 

I have watched the ugliest, gawkiest cardinal grow to be one of the most beautiful birds God made, so perfectly red that as he sits in my dark green jasmine vine he looks like a Christmas card—all that's missing is a little snow. 

I have seen new Christians do the same thing, but not until they have gone through that awkward growing up stage, tripping over their own feet and falling flat on their faces more than once.   Expect it.  Bear with him.  Be tolerant of his errors rather than deciding he will never make it.  You were once that awkward adolescent Christian yourself.

However, if you are indeed that babe in Christ.  Don't use it justify a failure to grow up.  Surely you do want to be that beautiful red cardinal someday, and as soon as possible.  That won't happen if you are still making excuses five, ten, twenty years down the road.  Or even if you make them tomorrow.
 
…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children…(Eph 4:13-14).
 
Dene Ward

We swapped computers in 2015.  The new one was supposed to be so much better for someone like me, someone whose vision is becoming more and more limited.  Why, it has no wires!  You could pick it up and carry it around with you and no, it was not a laptop.  It was one of those new “all-in-ones.”  Part laptop, part tablet, but with a screen the size of a large desktop.  You didn’t even need a mouse and keyboard.  Rrrrright.  In my viewpoint it will take them a few more years to make this no-mouse-no-keyboard thing work smoothly enough that you don’t find yourself wanting to throw the whole thing through the window at least once a day.
            But it would have been a much easier transition if it hadn’t been a Lenovo.  Does that ring a few bells with the techie crowd?  In 2014, Lenovo began building a third party adware program called "Superfish" into its consumer PCs.  If you have read anything about it, you already know where this is going.  There was so much adware embedded in this thing we couldn’t even read a line of text without pop-ups flooding the screen.  If the cursor ran across a magic word, another would instantly appear.  And the thing kept track of every website you visited, producing even more ads.  Sometimes they popped up so quickly that when you were trying to click on something on the legitimate page, you wound up clicking on an ad instead.  We couldn’t even load our desired programs for all the pop-ups.  But this wasn't the worst of the problem.  This adware made it much easier for hackers to break through HTTPS entirely, and such an attack occurred shortly after the program became public.
            As far as I know, we were never hacked, but this stuff was so deeply embedded that it took at least three trips to Geek Squad to get it out.  And after every scrub, we had to spend time loading the programs we wanted yet again.  The first four months we were actually able to use the computer about 4 weeks.  Finally on September 5, 2017, Lenovo settled the lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission agreeing to procure affirmative consent for any future adware programs and to have audited security checks for the next 20 years.  They also agreed to pay $3.5 million as part of a state level settlement.
            Satan embeds his adware into our culture the same way.  When you can’t even watch a hamburger commercial without “soft” porn invading your living room, when the teasers for the shows you avoid include language your mama would have washed your mouth out with soap for using, and when we are constantly told that we aren’t hip, cool, smart, happy, or the most interesting people in the world without beer, hard liquor, cigarettes, or dancing the night away in skimpy clothes on a rooftop somewhere exciting where whatever you do stays, then you need to watch out for your souls more than ever before.
            The world will laugh at you if you mention Satan.  He isn’t real, we are told.  Only the ignorant believe in a mythological character like that.  If you are a Christian, you must believe in Satan.  If you don’t accept that part of the Bible, why would you accept any other part?
           Growing up I thought the only New Testament verses that mentioned Satan were the ones around Jesus’ temptation and the good old roaring lion in Peter.  Imagine my surprise when I looked it up.  I counted 19 outside the gospels, less one for the Peter passage we all know, for a total of 18 others.  Then there were the ones who called him something else like “the god of this age,” and “the Devil.”  And many of them talk about his “adware.”  Check a few of these out.
            2 Cor 2:11 mentions the “devices” of the devil.  Eph 6:11 speaks of his “schemes.”  2 Cor 4:4 tells us he “blinds the minds.”  2 Cor 11:14 tells us he “disguises” himself.  All I have to do is look around and see those devices and schemes every day, not just on television but in the speech and behavior of people who have already been taken in.  Have you ever seen the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers?”  Some days I feel exactly like Kevin McCarthy, looking over my shoulder to see where the pods are, and wondering which of my neighbors have been replaced.
            One of Satan’s devices are his ministers.  The New Testament warns again and again of false teachers, false messiahs, false prophets, and false apostles.   They fashion themselves as “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor 11:15).  Not only do they appear to be doing good, they even look good.  False teachers on the whole are good-looking and charismatic.  A lot of what they say sounds good and is, in fact, good.  But 90% of rat poison is good too.  It only takes the 10% to kill the rats.  When you keep finding the good in a man you know is teaching error, maybe Satan’s adware has taken hold of your heart already.
            Our culture has become embedded with evil masquerading as good.  We had to have our computer “scrubbed to the bones” to get rid of the adware.  Maybe it’s time we all used a spiritual scrub brush on ourselves before we are taken in too.
 
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.  2 Pet 2:1-3.
 
Dene Ward
 

I had the same rosemary plant for about 15 years.  When I began an herb garden, I had no idea what I was doing or how to do it, so the fact that this piney smelling, woody herb was a perennial rather than an annual was a big surprise.  Every spring it came back from frosts and light freezes of the type we have here in Florida, and grew bigger and fuller.  Until one year it began to die limb by limb and, eventually, didn't make it through the cold.
                So I bought another one this year.  I did exactly what I had done the first time:  I went to the garden section of the big box home improvement store and picked out the nicest looking rosemary plant they had.  For two months it sat there and did nothing.  It did not grow one inch.  The first day I needed some, I cut way back on the amount the recipe called for because I was afraid I would kill the thing if I actually snipped off two four inch stems.  And they weren't even four inch stems—it had never gotten that large.
                Finally, I had had enough.  We were at the same store and I picked up another plant.  This one showed new growth on the limbs within a week and I have used it several times without harming the plant at all.  It sits there with its little arms spread out as if it is reaching for the sun, with new, bright green showing up every day.  Pardon my anthropomorphism, but this little guy wants to grow and flourish while the other plant, now four months from its original installation, still just sits there.  It hasn't wilted and died yet, though I have expected it for a good while.  No, it just doesn't give a hoot.  Sooner or later I will yank it up to make room for something useful.
                Funny how I have seen the same thing happen among Christians.  You can't hide it, folks, and as a Bible class teacher I really can see it.  One student comes in excited and takes notes like a whirling dervish, answering and asking questions, eager to not only share what she has discovered but also to find out where she may have erred.  (Imagine that!)  Another comes and spends the entire time looking at her phone, looking up to me occasionally, but only if someone has laughed because she wants to see what she has missed. 
           Sitting on a pew is not what Christianity is about.  Don't get me wrong—I certainly have nothing against assembling together (see yesterday's post).  God seems to think we need it, judging by the number of things we are supposed to do "when you are come together," and I would never second-guess God.  But if sitting on a pew is all there is to your Christianity, you are useless to Him and sooner or later you will die.  We are supposed to grow so we can give of ourselves to Him, each other, and the community we live in, and then grow some more so we can give some more.  Over and over again.
                I expect to have this new plant for the rest of my time here.  As long as it keeps its present "attitude," I will.  What can God expect of you?
 
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  (John 15:5-6).

Dene Ward

I have been exercising regularly for over thirty years now, both aerobic and light weight exercise.  At my age I understand that when I decide to sit down, I may very well never get up again.  But exercising in Florida in the summer brings special challenges.  I do have an elliptical machine inside in the air conditioning, but, to be blunt, it's boring.  I usually turn on some innocuous rerun of an old television show just to make myself get through it.  But I still sweat and not only that, the temptation to just quit is strong, especially when all you have to do is stop and step off.
            Walking outside, though, is far more interesting.  I have found huge limbs fallen off old live oaks that I would never have seen otherwise because they are so far from the house.  I have discovered that my impatiens were completely devoured by the deer.  I have found gopher tortoises lumbering across the field.  I even had a bobcat sprint across the drive in front of me.  I also have a furry companion who keeps me company and who is just as slow as I am these days.  But in the summer, the heat is far more oppressive and the sun beats you like a woman pounding a dirty rug with a broom.  The biggest advantage is that when I have walked a good two hundred yards from the house I can't just quit—I still have to turn around and go back.
            The other morning Chloe and I were both near the end of our heat tolerance.  She was panting behind me with every step and my own were less than steady.  Then we turned a corner.  I had not noticed the breeze because it was behind me, following along just like Chloe, but suddenly it was in my face.  It may have been a ninety+ degree breeze, but it felt like heaven on a soaking wet and weary body.  Suddenly walking was much easier.  Is this why they say that simple things are "a breeze" to accomplish?
            I felt the same way when our congregation began assembling again in the late summer.  We had been away from one another for over four months, not even hearing from one another.  We could not take advantage of the online "assemblies" because Keith is deaf, something most people cannot seem to comprehend.  We had our own services, and while we had some of the best Bible studies I have ever sat in, and enjoyed sharing it with one of the single ladies in our group who also had no family nearby, it was not the same.
            Less than a fourth of us met that first time because many of the rest felt it was too dangerous.  We are "at risk" ourselves, but followed all the protocols and safety guidelines.  The audience was sparse and scattered, the singing was muted, the sermon was short, the Lord's Supper was a bit awkward as we all served ourselves, especially the poor folks having to deal with those pre-filled cups and tasteless paper-like wafers rather than something homemade, but it was like a breath of fresh air to see those faces and hear those voices again, to see the smiles in those eyes above the masks, and hear the genuine joy of meeting as God's people once again.  Do you think we complained about one single thing that day?  Not on your life.  We now understand like never before why God wants His people to meet and worship Him together.  It was like a cool breeze on a hot day.  Things may still be unsettled in our lives and more difficult to handle, but that day made the next week the easiest we have had in four months now.  That day made it possible to get through the next and the next and the next, and those weekly meetings will do the same until finally this crisis is over, or until our lives are over, whichever comes first.  Now we can turn around and make it home, one way or the other.
 
And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.  (Heb 10:21-25).
 
Dene Ward

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, Matt 6:10.
            All my life I have thought of this in a passive sense.  I pray for something, just as the Lord did in Matt 26:39, 42, and then add, “But thy will be done,” as if God is the only one who is expected to do His will.  Then suddenly one day I thought, “Doing God’s will is the simple definition for obedience.”  If I am praying for His will to be done, I have an obligation to do that will myself.
            I cannot pray, “Thy will be done” if I look at one of his commands and say, “But God wouldn’t mind if…”  I can’t expect an answer to my prayers if my answer to His will is, “I do well at everything else and this is such a small thing.”  If I do not obey in even one instance I am not doing His will.
            So I did a quick little study.  I may have thought that “God’s will” had more to do with what He does, but I was wrong.  Notice the following.
            “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, Matt 7:21.  A lot of people out there go around doing “good deeds,” but if doing God’s will doesn’t come first, it isn’t worth a thing.
            For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother, Matt 12:50.  You are not in the Lord’s family if you are finding excuses for your disobedience.
            Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work, John 4:34    If you want to follow in his footsteps, doing the Father’s will must become an essential of life, every bit as much as food.
            If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority, John 7:17.  You can’t go around claiming to know and teach about Jesus if you are not obeying the Father.
            Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect, Rom 12:2.  The only way to know God’s will is to change your life.
            For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, 1Thess 4:3.  You are not doing the Father’s will if you are engaging in sexual sins of any kind.
            Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, 1Thess 5:18. You are not doing God’s will if you are whining and complaining about your station in life, about your trials, about the suffering you must deal with, especially those due to your faith.
            For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised, Heb 10:36.  It isn’t always easy to do the Father’s will and the task is never completed.  One good deed doesn’t mean your work is finished.
            [God will] equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen, Heb 13:21.  No matter how hard it seems, he will see that you have whatever you need to do His will.  If you didn’t manage to do it, it was your fault, not His.
            The next time you end a prayer, “Thy will be done,” remember that you are as much responsible for that as He is.  If you aren’t willing to do His will in every aspect of your life, why should He believe you mean it when you pray?  And why should He do what YOU want, when you won’t do what HE wants?
 
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God, 1Pet 4:1-2.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.
 
More than once I have been rebuked for the way I spoke to someone about the condition of his soul.  I then asked whether the situation was as I had judged it to be and those who rebuked agreed that it was.  I pointed out that the thing that I said was the same as Jesus, an apostle, or a prophet had said under similar circumstances and they agreed that is so.  I asked, well then, do you think that I spoke with love for him and his soul?  And, again, they agreed that I had.  Well, then, what is wrong?  Well, he (and his family/friends) are upset.  Jesus upset more people than he converted.   God will not allow me or you not to speak--"If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand."  (Ezek 3:18).   How can any spiritual person stop the voice of salvation to the lost brother?  I just don't understand.
 
Many members avoid every opportunity to learn the Bible.  They seek simple Bible classes about things they already know; they attend only part of the services.  In contrast are those who despite their own shortcomings or ability, and the same problems of time, seek out every opportunity to learn.  They study, fill in blanks, analyze, erase and try again.  They do this for the same reason a bride studies her husband.  Meanwhile, many times their number sing with gusto, "Oh how I love Jesus," but spend more time on their Gameboys than in their Bibles.   How can they believe they fool anyone, much less God, that they love him with all their hearts?  With all their souls?  With all their minds?   I just don't understand.
 
I cannot understand those who think the Lord's Supper is some kind of magic potion that will fix everything they have made little to no effort to change since the last time they bowed their heads so sincerely and prayed so hard.  And, if the past years of their lives are any clue to their future, they never will make much effort to change except to pray harder and think harder about Jesus on the cross.  It certainly looks like Calvinist mental faith-only to me.  After speaking of those who keep walking in the same old ways, Paul said, "But that is not the way you learned Christ!"  (Eph 4:20).  Then he goes on to instruct concerning the changes they need to make in their walk.  The Lord's Supper is no shortcut to heaven that excuses one from the work of changing himself.
 
I cannot understand those who proclaim all the proper pious phrases but never seem to apply any of them to their own lives.  "I know I am not perfect," translates to, "I really do not know of or admit any faults."  "Any man who shows me I am wrong will be my friend," translates to, "It can't be done no matter how many incidents and scriptures you list."  "I am doing the best I can and that is all God asks" translates to, "I am not studying much and have no intention of changing who I am."  They often quote pet scriptures and are somewhat knowledgeable, but they never see their own flaws when they look into James' mirror. 
 
I cannot understand those who come to church but are not of the church.  They participate when they feel like it.  They pay attention when it interests them, can often be seen playing on their devices.  They are perennially late and usually the first out the door.  Christians in name only, they have less hope than the man down the street who has yet to hear the gospel.
 
I cannot understand those things because I want to go to heaven no matter what it takes.  I know that I cannot know God or love him unless I know his word.  It takes a lot of study to get a little insight into God's character and how intensely he loves us.  The Lord's Supper is on every page of the Bible because Jesus is.  It will be in our hearts "till he come" and is my hope that "I'll Fly Away."  Each thing learned leads to something I need to change for who I am is not good enough.  I can never be really "good enough," but if I do my best by Jesus' standards (Parable of talents) rather than by my desire to get along on minimum effort, his grace will make me whole.  This I can readily understand.
 
"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.  For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." (Rom 10:1-3).
 
"My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." (Jas 5:19-20).

Keith Ward

I found an article from Slate, an online magazine, about the problems the deaf are facing with Covid 19.  The writer, a deaf woman, reminded her audience that the deaf need to lip read, and the mask requirement kept her from being able to do so.  Considering that the magazine is generally classified as liberal, I was shocked at the tenor of the comments the article engendered.  "So she doesn't care if she kills someone because she is left out of a conversation?!" was the tenor of one of the worst.  Suddenly the woman had become a would-be murderer because she even mentioned the problem.

For someone who, as a liberal, is supposed to be so much more enlightened and compassionate than the general population, the commenter showed herself to be remarkably stupid.  "Being left out of a conversation" was not the issue.  That was a synecdoche for being left out of life, in fact, being put in danger oneself.  You have no idea what it is like not to hear warnings like fire or smoke alarms or sirens.  Not being able to casually pick up in the background from television or another conversation a piece of news that might change your special plans or your established routine, information that might save endless delays or even a life.  Not knowing what in the world you doctor is telling you at your checkup.  All these things and so much more the hearing world takes for granted.  That comment was completely unsympathetic to the needs of the deaf. 

If you think it was uncommon, you have not been deaf or lived with a deaf person as I have.  This has been going on far longer than Covid 19.  A deaf friend told us about the time many years ago when she was in someone's way in an aisle at the grocery store without realizing it.  Evidently the other shopper had tried the usual, "Excuse me," several times because when she finally put her hand on our friend's arm, her aggravation was apparent.

"I'm so sorry," our friend said, "but I am deaf and did not hear you," and instantly moved out of the way.  The woman was embarrassed but rather than apologize herself, acted like it was our deaf friend's fault.  We have found that the general reaction to not having heard someone is that you must be either rude or stupid.  No one ever thinks you might be deaf. 

And the treatment we have received in doctor's offices the past few months has been no better.  Nurses have been rude and officious when I insist on going into the exam room with my husband so I can hear for him, no matter how calmly or politely I phrase it.  In fact, one acted like he had become deaf on purpose just so he could cause her trouble!

It isn't the lack of sympathy that we are seeing, though.  It is the lack of empathy.  Keith says that he can be sympathetic, but he is not sure he can be empathetic.  I beg to differ.  He may not know exactly how someone feels who is experiencing something he never has, but he always treats their feelings as valid.  Not many others do.

I noticed this when the "Me Too" movement started.  While I am just as worried as anyone else about unscrupulous women who might use this new ability to talk about these things openly to ruin a good man's reputation, that doesn't mean that what millions of women have gone through is not true.  I sat in a Bible class of 9 women and 4 of them—that's nearly half for the math-challenged—had a story to tell.  We were all "of a certain age," and the events had happened when it was not considered acceptable to report them, especially if you needed the job, or the grade, or any number of other things.  For a man to disregard these stories just because the women didn't turn the men in, shows yet more lack of empathy.  They had not been through it with the cultural baggage that was laid on women in those times, so "it just can't be."  Yes, it can.    When you dismiss the experiences in the context of the culture at the time and the effects on another person's attitudes or life, you are dismissing them.  You just. Don't. Get it.  Some of the statements and attitudes I have seen from even my own brethren, instantly vilifying people from other cultures or life experiences simply because they are different from theirs, horrifies me.  That is what Romans 14 is all about, and what they don't realize is that God expects us to "get it." 

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.  (1Cor 9:19-23).

You see, the ultimate purpose of our empathy is to gain lost souls.  If I do not recognize what other people have gone through, what they are bringing to the table as cultural baggage, or the kind of life they have led previously, or the way they were brought up, I will never be able to reach them.  If I am not regularly practicing the kind of empathy that, while it might not be able to feel the exact emotions of the affected person, at least treats them as real and valid, I won't be able to "turn it on" when it really matters—when a soul can be lost if I don't.  That patronizing little smile is insulting, not flattering.  That brush-off of an answer is infuriating, not comforting.  People know when you are truly trying to reach them where they stand and when you are simply too arrogant to consider their backgrounds and emotions real and worth the trouble.

The Lord thought we were worth the trouble.  He did what it took so he could "get it."  Are you a disciple who follows in the Master's footsteps or not?
 
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:15-16).

I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome (Rom 1:14-15).
 
Dene Ward