Clash of Cultures

I Kings 18:27 "And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till blood gushed out upon them." KJV

I have always been wary of any type of culture projected by the world and its systems. What surprises me is the fact that most Christians are not. In fact, Christians are the most enthusiastic adopters of new things the world brings in, forgetting that they are not of this world. The Bible says we are not to love the world or the things in the world but a lot of Christians don't seem to understand that.

I have always wondered what people see in tattoos. Before people think that I'm an elderly person who doesn't understand young people's fads, let me say that I am an adult male in my thirties. My wariness and lack of understanding has to with the fact that in the process of obtaining a tattoo, blood is spilt. The Bible says that the life of a person is in the blood. Hence any procedure that means my blood is going to be spilt or dealt with any way is something I don't want to go through. Especially when the procedure is not one that is necessary or life saving. A point I have made before which I will continue to make is that I have looked at my Bible and I see nothing about conservative or liberal there. The only definition I see from the Bible is that of Christian. And that is what I am. A Christian who believes wholly in the Bible as the infallible word of God.

The story is told in I Kings 18 about the prophet Elijah's contest with the prophets of the Canaanite god of fertility, rain and harvest, Baal. Elijah had previously prayed to God and no rain had fallen for the past three and a half years. He had disappeared out of sight and God has used raven and a widow to feed him while the whole land was experiencing a famine. At the three and a half years, Elijah showed up in Israel and challenged the prophets of Baal to contest to see whose god would answer the cries of his prophet. When the prophets of Baal prayed and he did not answer, Elijah taunted them by asking them to pray harder as perhaps Baal was sleeping or had gone on a journey. Now agitated, the Bible says "And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till blood gushed out upon them."

For me, the whole tattoo thing looks too much like what the prophets of Baal did, cutting themselves deliberately. It even seems worse to me when I think of what it’s supposed to be all about. A tattoo is supposed to be cool, hip and all about aesthetics. In short, it’s all about vanity. Which makes it even worse. People are cutting themselves to a new god, the god of cool. The god of vanity.

The Bible says we should test all spirits whether they are of God. Spirits not only exist in people, they exist as the force behind movements and waves and cultural phenomenon. Most of what is taken as culturally normal today does not align with the Bible. Yet we adopt them unthinkingly. As a result, Christian culture is being subsumed in secular culture and its getting hard to know who is a Christian and who is not because we are all so alike. And that is sad.


JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press (www.westbowpress.com), a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers.

DECEPTIO (Excerpt)

“Maxwell, what are we doing here? Why are we stopping?” he asked, his tone rising. “I thought I said that I wanted to go home?”

“Let’s just say that you’re not going home yet. At least not until you answer some questions. And then, maybe not ever.”

“Who are you? You’re not Maxwell,” Rankin shouted.

“You’re very perceptive aren’t you? Somebody give the man a prize.”

“If what you’re after is money, I don’t have any on me so you’ve made a mistake.” Rankin said even as he tried to open the door. The door refused to open.

“Don’t bother trying. It’s locked from here. And that’s a very wrong this to tell someone who wants money. He might think you have no value for your life.”

The mention of his life stopped Rankin cold. “Are you here to kill me? I can assure you that if you kill me, the FBI will track you down and you’ll burn for murder. You can’t kill a United States senator and expect to get away with it.”

“Well someone killed Robert Partridge and he’s still at large. The FBI haven’t caught him and I don’t think they will.”

The mention of Robert Partridge’s name made Rankin break out in a cold sweat. Either the guy knew something or he was fishing. “Who are you? What do you know about Robert Partridge?”  

Morton turned and pointed a gun at Rankin making the other man cringe. “George sends his greetings. He would have loved to be here but he couldn’t make it.”

“You killed him didn’t you?”

“Let’s just say it was a case of him or me. And like I said, I need some questions answered or you just might join him.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Why do you people want to kill Susan Partridge?”

Rankin was taken aback. “Wherever did you get that idea from?”

“It’s quite obvious that someone or a group of people are behind her sudden rise. It seems to me like some people are building her up so that they can make a statement with her death. Why do you want to kill her?”

“I don’t know where you got that idea from but nothing could be further from the truth,” Rankin said. It was quite obvious that the man knew nothing and he was only fishing.

“What do you have to gain by killing her? What are you people after?”

“Really,” Rankin said smiling, “I don’t know where you got all your ideas from. We have nothing whatsoever to gain from Susan Partridge’s death. I don’t know what you intend to gain by all this but don’t you think that you should let me go before the police catch you?”

“What about if I tortured you? I’m sure I have enough time to break a few of your fingers or your jaw. That should get you talking.”

Rankin blanched. “You wouldn’t.”

“So if you’re not trying to kill her and there’s no plot to kill her, why don’t you tell me what connection there is between you and George.”

“Because of my work, I know a lot of people, some of whom I can’t remember where I met them,” Rankin said smiling. “I really can’t remember where I met George or put a face with the name.”

“Isn’t it quite interesting that the same person whom you can’t remember had your number as the only number on his phone? And it shows that he called you when he arrived in Washington.”

Rankin shrugged. “He called me but I didn’t remember him. He wanted us to meet up so that we could catch up on old times but we never met. Because you killed him.”

Morton had a strong desire to do something to wipe the smirk off Rankin’s face. He released the safety catch of the gun and leaned forward to press the gun into his temple. “Since you know that I killed George, then you should be aware that I won’t have any compunction about putting a bullet through your skull.”

“But the question is “Will you”? Let me give you a piece of advice. You’re way in over your head here whoever you are. The best thing would be for you to stop pushing your nose into areas where you have no business. That kind of thing is what gets people killed.”

It was Morton’s turn to smile. “So now you’re threatening me?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Rankin said. “Like I said, it’s advice. You either take it or leave it.”

Morton looked at him intently. “I’ll leave it. Could you pass a message to your people for me? Rankin continued staring at him without acknowledging that he heard or understood the question. “Tell them it’s not over. I’m watching.”

With that, he opened the door and stepped out of the car into the dark night.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO. The book is published by WestBow Press (www.westbowpress.com) , a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Only Jesus Saves (Really, It's True You Know)

The elections in America have come and gone and we have a winner. President Barack Obama has been elected for another four years. However, even though the elections are over, we understand that the nation itself is more divided than ever. The campaign in the run-up to the elections was said to be extremely divisive and negative and now that a winner has been announced, both of sides of the ideological divide are experiencing differing emotions. While the liberals on the left are basking in the euphoria of victory, the conservatives on the right are licking their wounds and smarting as they wallow in what is described as "the agony of defeat". From the differing emotions experienced by both sides and the violence of those emotions, one would think that the people thought the candidates they supported were some kind of saviour. It would seem that the people had invested their candidates with some kind of supernatural power to solve all their problems. You would be forgiven for thinking that the two candidates were some kind of supernatural human beings with the cure for all of the worlds problems, instead of human beings like you and I with their own problems, insecurities and the inherent ability to make mistakes. (Yes, you read that right. They make mistakes). And the fact that they think that their ideological leanings and their particular "vision" is the solution to all the problems in the world is the first mistake.

The Oxford Advanced Leaners Dictionary defines the word save as "to keep somebody/something safe from death, harm, loss, etc." In the end, only Jesus can save both spiritually and physically. There must however be a saving spiritually before there can be a saving physically. 3 John 1 v 2 makes us understand that a man's soul must first prosper before his life can prosper. And before a person can prosper spiritually, he must put his trust in God. The Bible makes it clear that putting our trust in man, instead of God is a futile thing. Especially in these times that money has failed, thinking that one man is going to solve all the problems afflicting us or the world is funny.

Now that the elections are over, I believe that the time has come for Americans to refocus. Regardless of whether you think you "won" or "lost", the time has come for everyone to let go of whatever bitterness, dissappointment or anger they feel and for the country to focus on what's important. I believe it is extremely important at this time that everyone comes together to support the man elected to lead the country. And by support, I mean praying for him because the task is enormous and the journey is long. If you not agree with his ideologies or policies then you need to pray for wisdom for him. He needs it. Like I earlier said, men make mistakes. To draw an analogy, America is like a bus and the president is like a driver. If the driver of the bus makes a mistake in his driving, everyone on board is in trouble. It is not in anyone's interest that the bus derails or that America fails.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. (www.westbowpress.com)

Abortion: Murder, the American Way (Part 2)

So, the question then is what is abortion?

I believe that in a society where government distrubutes contraceptives free of charge to girls as young as eleven or twelve and children as young as 15 or less can get abortions,  there is a fundamental problem. One of the fundamental problems with western society is the issue of identity. Thanks to the curriculum being taught in schools, children grow up being taught that they are nothing more than slightly more intelligent chimpanzees. As they grow older, Hollywood then passes across its own message that we are nothing more than dogs with urges. Urges that need to be acted upon. When you couple that with the overriding message of freedom, you have a distressing situation. Government is busy gleefully handing out contraceptives and can't be bothered to tell people that there is another way. Parents on the other hand don't have the moral authority ro tell their children what to do because when they were that age they did the same thing although they are now older and wiser. Which is why more teenage girls are getting pregnant at a younger age because no one tells them there is another way. The only message they are getting is that that they are free to do as they please.

Thanks to the pill, American women seem to no longer think that pregnancies are caused by sex. I really don't know whether they have gone back to the idea that storks bring babies, but thanks to the advance of science, American women now get shocked when nature asserts itself and they get pregant after sleeping with a man. They seem not to realise or want to accept that getting pregnant is a time tested consequence of sleeping with a man.

So back to the question. What then is abortion? If getting pregnant is a consequence of sleeping with someone, then abortion is a reaction to that reality. What liberals say is that abortion is a choice. That is disingenious and quite a blatant lie. When a woman meets a man, she has different choices. She can choose to wait before sleeping with him to find out if they are both ready for commitment so that she is not left holding the baby. Even if a woman were to decide to sleep with a man without knowing if either of them was ready for a commitment, either to themselves or a child, there is still a choice as to what contraceptive to use (of which abortion is not one as explained in my last post). However, from the moment a child is concieved, there can no longer be talk of "choice". Or at least not in the way it is used. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines choice "as an act of choosing between two or more possibilities". When a child has been concieved, there can no longer be talk of choice with regard to contraception because life has already been concieved. There is an inevitability about the situation. The choice that arises at that moment is whether to allow the child to live or to kill it. To dispose of the life created like so much unwated baggage. Just because the parents who unthinkingly decided to create life no longer want the life created because it would cramp their style.

In that case, abortion is no longer about choice. Abortion then is a result of the fact that one person or the two people involved in creating life did not think through their choices before hand before creating life and the consequences of such choices. We live in a society where people nowadays are always trying to evade the consequences of their actions. Abortion is one way women have been evading the consequences of the actions they take. However it is quite sad that the millions of unborn children aborted over the years are the ones who have to pay the price of the fact that their parents didn't think.

Abortion: Murder, the American Way

As the election in America approaches, I have been struck by the genuine hostility between the two major camps in the election, especially the seeming hostility between the two major players. I have also been struck by how much lies are being peddled by the liberal wing in American politics over the issue of abortion.

I have come to understand that the issue of abortion is arguably the single most divisive issue in this election and the liberals are using all kinds of scare tactics to get women voters on their side. Like George Bush’s “War on Terror”, anyone who speaks out against abortion is automatically labelled a misogynist and someone who is waging a “War on Women”. I understand that writing about the issue of abortion might not be too popular but I believe the truth needs to be told.

Abortion: What it is not.

Supporters of a woman’s right to control the reproductive process and the right to determine when she gets pregnant or whether she even gets pregnant or not will tell you that abortion is a form of contraception. This is a lie.

Dictionary.com defines the word contraception as the “deliberate prevention of conception by any of various drugs, techniques or devices.” The etymology of the word contraception tells you that the word itself is made up of two words, “contra” and “conception”. The word contra in the sense in which it is used means “against” while conception in defined as the “act of conceiving”. So in the full sense of the word, contraception, or a contraceptive, is used to stop conception. It is against conception. I’m sure that even the most fanatical supporters of abortion will agree that abortion does not stop conception. The most prominent fact about abortion is the fact that it takes life after the life has been conceived. It is quite clear that abortion is not a method of contraception.

If abortion is then not a method of contraception, what is it?

That is a question we shall seek to answer in subsequent posts.

While we wait ...

"But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." - James 1: 4

"Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while you're waiting." - Joyce Meyer.

There are things in our lives that we are hoping on God for. When the Bible talks of waiting patiently for God, the idea most of us have is that of waiting at the bus stop of life twiddling our thumbs hoping that God does his "magic". That gives us an out and lets us off the hook with regard to taking responsibility for our lives. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Patience in the context of the Bible has nothing to do whatsoever with being idle. Even as we wait for God for certain things that our out of our hands which only he can provide, there are things we need to do. Reading and meditating on the word as revealed in the Bible is one of the things we need to do while waiting patiently. Through the word, we build up our faith and our trust in God. Through the word we gain insight and receive revelation on what to do. Through the word, we find inspiration for living one day at a time.

Prayer is one of the things we need to continue to do in the time of of waiting. Going to sleep will not bring what we are trusting God for any faster. Neither will worrying about it. Prayer will help to build our faith and hope that what we are hoping for will come. In prayer, we receive direction. Through prayer we might even find out the solution to that problem we are waiting on God to "supernaturally" solve.

Another thing we need to do while waiting is to act in faith. The Bible at James 2:20 reminds us "that faith without works is dead." When we are believing on God for something, there are corresponding actions we need to take to show God that we are ready for what we believe he is about to do. Using myself as an example, I believe that God has called me not only to be a lawyer and do justice, but he has also called me to write books. From following people like Michael Hyatt the Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers on Twitter, I have come to understand that getting published is not all cut and dried as I would like it to be. While I have written a novel, I don't know whether someone will think it's good enough to represent as a literary agent let alone publish. I have sent proposals out and I have already received two rejections. (It seems there is an opinion that unless you have been rejected many times, you're not really a writer yet). I have told myself that because of what I believe, I am not going to let a rejection stop me. I am going to keep sending proposals out because I believe that someone will have faith enough in my work to represent me. I have also told myself that I am going to keep writing novels, in the hope that I'll get better at it and I might just write something someone wants to represent. That is my act of faith by my works.

What else do you think one needs to do while waiting patiently?

"What Do You See?"

We all remember the story of the man in the Bible who was taken to see Jesus in Mark 8 vs. 22-26. When he met with Jesus, he was led out of the town by the Master. At the outskirts of the town, Jesus spat on his eyes and laid his eyes on the man. He then asked him if he could see anything. The man then gave the famous answer of "I see men as tress, walking." Jesus laid hands on the man again and his sight was fully restored.

There are quite a few things in that passage. The first was that for most people when Jesus met them they got healed immediately or delivered instantaneously. Yet here was a man who was walking with Jesus in the full glare of people and yet wasn't healed. Walking with Jesus doesn't guarantee that all will be fine and dandy. Anyone who says that is a liar. We will have our own share of troubles.


The second thing was that when Jesus asked the man if he could see, the man had a choice of trying to gloss things over or be pessimistic. He could have complained that he wasn't seeing well. We don't know how long he was blind or what caused it. However we do know he had an expectation of Jesus which was why he came to him. He could have expressed disappointment at the fact that he couldn't see well. "Is that all you can do?" might have been a valid question. But there are two things here. The man acknowledged that he could see but he also made it known all was not well yet. 


While we wait on God for something, the situation might not change at once. The change might be incremental. But we need to stop and thank God for the incremental changes even as we keep trusting and asking him for the total deliverance we are looking for.

 

Hope In God, Not Gold

"If I have made gold my hope, or have said to fine gold, Thou art my confidence; .....for I should have denied  the God that is above." Job 31:24-28

I have read a lot of John Grisham novels and one thread runs though most of them. There is this young struggling lawyer who wants to make partner at the law firm he works at. He therefore is ready to work 18 hours a day for 10 years or more just because he thinks that more money will solve their problems. Putting our trust in money, accomplishments and material possessions is tantamount to denying the existence of a powerful, loving God.

The global financial crisis has highlighted the fact that money can fail and will fail. There have been many who have put their trust in money and have found out that money cannot save. Money cannot save because it does not have the power to do that. Most people realise that money even makes you miserable. People are meant to have money to meet needs. When money has you, you end up being miserable.

The only one who we need to put our trust in is God. He alone cannot fail. Money was designed to fail. It has failed before and will continue to do so. But God has never failed. Put your trust in him. He wants to do great things in your life. Put your trust in him and he will come through.

What's Your Label?

"For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." 2 Cor 10:12


We have a tendency of looking at other people and asking ourselves and God why we aren't like so and so person. We all want someone else's life. We refuse to take into account the fact that the course of life we have been called to run and our purpose is different from the other person's own. We do not know what cross the person has been called to bear, we only see the "glory". To paraphrase the joke, "The grass is always greener on the other side, but you need to see the guy's water bill."

We also tend to compare ourselves with others based on the labels we put on ourselves or allow others to place on us. However, if the labels do not conform with the Bible, then they are not valid. I have looked at Bible from cover to cover and I am yet to find where it says that there is a "conservative" Christian and a "liberal" Christian. The fact is that you're either a Christian or not. As the famous quote goes: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.”

Comparing ourselves with others mostly causes us pain. We most often come out worse from comparing ourselves with others leaving us feeling depressed. We therefore need to stop comparing ourselves with others whether they are friends, colleagues or siblings. We should be concerned about our own race, not theirs. In the end, we will give account of our own life and not theirs.

We should also not allow others to do the comparing no matter how much we respect them. Life is too short to be worrying about what the other person has and we don't. We should live our lives grateful for the things we do have knowing that God will provide what we need. If the things we think we lack are the things we need, God will give them to us in the course of time.


   

Quit Whining!!!

"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."

A soldier whether in days gone by or in the times we live in, is one who is trained to endure tough conditions. A soldier is trained to be able to survive extremes in weather, a hostile environment or whatever condition he faces. A soldier is not a whiner. A soldier does whatever is necessary to survive. He carries whatever he needs with him and even if he loses it, he is trained to forage for whatever he needs to survive.

The Bible is full of reminders that as long as we call ourselves Christians, we have been enlisted into God's army and are therefore soldiers. We however seem to have forgotten that or we seem not to be too interested in being soldiers. When adverse situations come our way, all we seem to want to do is curl up and cry and moan. We also seem all to ready to look for someone to blame when things go wrong.

Paul was speaking to Timothy and he told him to endure hardness. Hardness there is synonymous with suffering, persecution, criticism, hate; you name it. Because we are not of this world people will not always agree with the things we believe. And because we live in a fallen world, bad things will happen. Our response should not be moaning and looking for who's to blame. Our response should be that of the resourceful soldier. Take the hit but get the wound cleaned, learn from the situation and then move on. Or else we will be stuck in one spot moaning about how hard and bad life is instead of moving on to fulfil the purpose God has for our lives. Life is too short to be fixated on perceived wrongs.    

Same Difference

“Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from strange wives.” Ezra 10: 11

Sometime ago, I read an article by Kay Warren where she was talking about her new book, “Choose Joy”. The article was in the form of an interview and she told the interviewer how she had suffered from depression and how she was different from her husband, Rick Warren in their outlook to life. She talked about how she hoped the book would help those that suffered from depression. The article was lovely and enlightening. However what disturbed me were the people commenting. One and all, they were all complaining about “the church”. Their grouse was with how the church did not understand what it was to suffer from depression and how the church looked down on those that suffered from depression. Their complaints were enough to make anyone feel depressed since I assumed they were Christians themselves to be reading an article from a Christian magazine. I might have been wrong. One of my thoughts was that if Christians were complaining about the church so much, why then would anyone want to become a Christian? Another thought was that the people who were complaining about the church so much had forgotten that they were part of the church.

I recently read another article via a link on Michael Hyatt’s Twitter feed that got me disturbed. The link was to an article by Joel Miller (I think). Mr. Miller was flabbergasted at the comments by Christians who saw nothing wrong with the pornographic content of the book, 50 Shades of Grey because according to some of them, “they got married in the end”. There were other comments by "Christians" along the lines of how the book could help married couples with their sexual lives.

These two things got me thinking about how there seems to be no difference between those who say they believe in Christ and those who don’t believe in anything. Christians now swear and use the F word because we think it cool, drink alcohol, dress provocatively in the name of fashion and looking good, we think the Bible is a story book filled with recommendations at best and totally old fashioned. We have as much divorce and extra marital affairs in the church as out of it. In fact, there is practically no difference now between those that say believe in God and those who curse God.

I believe the problem is that instead of letting the Word shine through us, we have allowed the world into our hearts. Because we do not know what the Words says and we are not living it, we have allowed the world to tell us how to live. Instead of being like Jesus and reflecting him, we have become like the world. Because we reflect the world and are like the world, the world sees no reason to change. Like the verse of scripture above and several other verses of Scripture in the Bible, God has always called us to be separate and not to be unequally yoked. We have not done this and therefore we are not expect from the upheaval that is in the world.

Over the next few weeks and months, I hope to share the ways in which the church has refused to give the world an alternative and had refused to reflect Jesus and has become like the world around it.

In your opinion, in what ways has the church become like the world around it?     

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
― G.K. Chesterton

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a novel published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers:

http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx

He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a story of love and redemption:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/

Let Christ Be Preached!

The Apostle Paul said that there were those that preach Christ out of strife while he did it out of love. But he said that either way, whether Christ is preached out of love or out of strife, the important thing to him was that Christ was being preached.

Thanks to people like Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin who have not been shy about their faith, a lot of commentators have said a lot of things about God and Jesus and Christianity, most of it bad. There have been rude and downright insulting things said about them and Christ. However if we are to apply Paul’s statement here, then the important thing is not what they are saying about Jesus, but the fact that they are even speaking about Jesus. These are people who on a normal day would not even deign to talk about faith or Christianity but because people like Tim Tebow are not afraid to speak about Jesus, they also talk about Jesus. These are people who a lot of people listen to and even though they speak about God and Jesus derisively, in the end some of the people listening will take the step of wanting to know more about Jesus. I pray they find out the truth.

Paul prayed that God would help him not do anything that would bring shame on the name of Christ. We will all have an opportunity either today or sometime in the future, to speak about Jesus either verbally or by our actions. I think that should be the foremost thing on our minds. Not to do or say anything to bring shame to the name of Christ or to misrepresent him. This is because in the end, people will look at us and what we say or do and want to “preach” Christ. The least we can do is to put forward the truth so that people can make up their minds.  

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press (www.westbowpress.com), a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

The Big Picture

I remember buying the MercyMe album, Almost There with a sense of excitement. I had just discovered a love for Christian rock thanks to "Worlds Apart" by Jars of Clay. I loved the album (I still do) but I think the thing that touched me the most were the testimonies of people who were blessed by the songs on the album, especially by the song "I Can Only Imagine". Personally, I think that is one of the greatest songs ever written. I remember the story sent in by someone who said that her grandmother who was dying of cancer had the CD playing in her room with that particular song playing repeatedly. And she had a smile on her face. This was a 70-something year old woman who was supposed to be feeling sorry for herself because of what she was going through. Instead she was dying with a smile on her face. I will always remember that story. If only we could all face life the same way she faced death. With a smile.

It seems that we all get through life with an expectation of the worst happening. I remember reading Ted Dekker's The Slumber of Christianity and he was saying that we seem to be living joyless lives here on earth because we have lost sight of the joy that awaits us in Heaven. We seem to be living lives encumbered by the sheer hard work it is going through life here that we seem to have no time for joy. Everyday when we turn on the news, we are bombarded with stories about disasters. Disasters which though happen on a large scale, seem to mirror the chaos in our own lives. If only we could see the bigger picture like Jesus.

The Bible says that for the joy that was set before him, he despised the shame on the cross. I think the major problem we have is that we think that we are human beings with spirits who have a spiritual experience when we go to church or pray. However we need to understand that we are spiritual beings having an earthly experience. Life may be hard but we should rejoice that one day, we will go back home to our Father. The book of Proverbs says that we are pilgrims, travellers in this world and that one day we will all go back home. That is the bigger picture. That is our goal. The Bible says that God sees the end from the beginning. He sees the end and then He starts the process. We are more like him than we really know. We also need to see the bigger picture. Visualise the end from the beginning. And then run towards the end.


JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press (www.westbowpress.com), a division of Thomas Nelson publishers. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

DECEPTIO (Excerpt)

CHAPTER 5

Camilla was tired, her feet ached and she had a headache. She was emotionally and physically drained from the shooting of Senator Partridge and the events that had taken place subsequently as a result of that shooting. All she wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed, pull the covers over her head and not have to wake up for several days.

However, she couldn’t do that. There was an investigation to be conducted. The person or persons responsible for the murder of Senator Robert Partridge had to be caught and brought to justice. Which was the reason why she and Jeremiah had been going round the student hostels on campus, in conjunction with other FBI agents and police officers from the Chicago Police Department, asking questions and hoping that someone had some useful information they could use that would help them catch the killer. So far, they had come up with nothing useful.

She and Jeremiah had been assigned to the C Tower of the James Stukel Towers, the newest hall of residence on the UIC campus. It was a modern building comprising mainly of glass and steel and it had four towers, all of which gave you different, panoramic views of the Chicago skyline. It was capable of housing 740 students in 4, 5 and person suites. Every two floors were connected by a lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Each hall of residence had what it called a Special Interest Community made up students who were studying the same course. This enabled them to form friendships and share ideas with people from their own fields. There was also a member of faculty living on the premises who was there to help them with any problems they were having.

Presently, she and Jeremiah were on the 7^th floor which housed the Arts/Architecture and Graphic Design Community. They had been interviewing the students they could find in their rooms for some hours and by now, they knew the responses to expect. No one had seen anything suspicious while on the field or noticed anything out of place in the days or weeks leading up to the speech. No one that is except Carey Payton.

Carey was in her first year at UIC and she seemed to really want to help. At first, Camilla and Jeremiah had thought that she just might have seen something. Until it occurred to them that Carey saw everything. Even what other people hadn’t seen.

Based on what she had told them, over the past week she had noticed a short guy with a squint and a limp in his right leg who was disguised as an electrician. According to Carey, he had looked like the “special forces guys you see on television, you know; Green Beret and marines’ type”. She’d noticed that he had been dressed in overalls and carried a bag which then she had thought contained his tools. Now that she thought about it, it had probably contained a gun which he used to kill the senator. However, when it came to getting her to describe what he looked like, they had run into a brick wall. She had vacillated between whether the guy had brown or blonde hair and whether he had a scar or not. When she finally decided he had a scar, she couldn’t decide whether it was on the right or left side of his face or the length. It was obvious she had been watching too many movies.

Jeremiah and Camilla had concluded that there was nothing to be gained by prolonging the interview. Over the past few months they had been working together, they had developed a kind of telepathic communication. At times, all that was needed was a look to pass between them for one or both of them to understand what the other was saying. This time, such a look had passed and they had both stood up at the same time, bringing the interview to an end.

“Thank you very much Casey. I must say that you have been very helpful,” Jeremiah said as he closed his notebook and put it into the pocket of his FBI jacket. “With the description that you’ve given us, I wouldn’t be surprised if we caught the guy before the week was up.”

Casey’s green eyes glowed brightly. “Are you serious? If you catch him, will you let people know that I was the one who told you what he looked like?”

“Certainly,” Jeremiah said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t get to appear on television,” he continued, tongue in cheek, watching as her eyes grew wider. Then he seemed to remember something and he frowned. “However, it might not be safe to mention your name or let you appear on television.

“Why?” Casey wailed.

“Well,” Jeremiah said, as he thought about it, “he might not be working alone. In fact, most likely he was sent by some people who had a grouse against the senator. If we mention your name or let you appear on television, they’re going to come after you.”

“Why?” she squealed. “What did I do?”

“Well, they’re going to say that you ratted on their guy and you and I know that these criminal guys don’t like that,” Jeremiah said solemnly.

Camilla didn’t know whether or not to laugh as the joy and triumph on Casey’s face changed to disappointment, then fear.

“I understand. I don’t think I would want to appear on television though,” she said, shrugging. “I’m not a showy person and I’m sure people would have been stopping me on the road and all that I wouldn’t have a life.” Then she seemed to think of something and a worried frown marred her brow. “Are you sure you won’t mention my name?”    

“I promise,” Jeremiah said as he began to walk toward the door.

Outside, Camilla shook her hand. “Thank you very much.”

Casey gave a tremulous smile as she did battle with her fear. “Just doing my duty,” she said. “Well, it was nice talking to you,” she said as she closed the door.

Camilla punched Jeremiah’s arm.

“Ouch,” he said as he rubbed his arm. “What was that for?”

“For lying to the poor girl and then leading her on,” she answered.

“It’s not my fault,” he said, shrugging. “The poor girl wanted to feel useful and needed.”

“But you didn’t have to lie to her about catching anybody. You know the description she gave us was pretty useless. We both know she never saw anyone.”

Jeremiah shrugged again. “It was fun.”

Camilla knocked on the next door. “I would appreciate it if you could curb your comedic instincts until we finish what we came to do,” she said dryly.

“I’ll try,” he said sighing mournfully, “but it won’t be easy.”

Camilla waited a few minutes for someone to answer her knock. When no one came to open the door, she knocked again even as she wondered if there was anyone inside. She had raised her hand to knock a third time when the door suddenly opened.

“Yes? How may I help you?” the girl who stood behind the open door asked.

Camilla smiled even as she and Jeremiah flashed their badges as they had done numerous times that day. “FBI. My name is Camilla Rodriguez and this is my colleague, Jeremiah Walker. We wondered if we could come in and speak with you. We need to ask a few questions about what happened today.”

The girl looked from Camilla to Jeremiah. “You mean the senator’s murder don’t you?” she asked.

Camilla nodded. The girl opened the door wider and stepped back, indicating that Camilla and Jeremiah could come in. Camilla followed Jeremiah into a tastefully furnished living room. There was a television set and two different looking settees’ in the room. There were also different colored throw pillows scattered all over the room. There were also personal pictures of people Camilla guessed were some of the other occupants of the room on every available surface.   

“Are your other roommates around?” Camilla asked as she took in the contents of the room in a glance.

“No. They’ve all gone out,” the girl replied. “Please sit down. My name is Sheldon. Sheldon Gaines. Can I offer both of you anything? Tea or coffee? I’m sorry but I don’t have anything stronger than that.”

“Nothing, thank you very much. Whose room is that?” Camilla asked, pointing to a door that had the poster of the Christian rock band Kutless.

“It’s mine,” Sheldon replied. “Why?” she asked defensively.

Camilla smiled. She could almost feel Sheldon’s animosity and her readiness to defend her faith and what she believed in. “Nothing. I’m a fan too. But I think that I prefer Jars of Clay.”

“You’re a Christian,” Sheldon asked, her eyes growing wider. When Camilla nodded, she smiled. “Cool,” she said enthusiastically.

Camilla didn’t know how long they spent discussing their favorite Christian bands, musicians and songs. They were in the middle of discussing the latest album by one of the bands that they both liked when a voice broke into their conversation. “I really hate to break up this musical love in, but we really do need to get on with why we came here.”

Both Camilla and Sheldon turned to look at Jeremiah. Sheldon took one look at Jeremiah’s bored looking face and turned back to Camilla. “He’s not a Christian is he?” she asked even though she already knew the answer.

Camilla shook her head as she answered, “No, he isn’t.”

Sheldon sighed. “I guessed as much.” She sighed again and asked, “So, what do you want to know?”

“Thank you,” Jeremiah replied, his lips curving in a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. “First of all, were you at the venue of the senator’s speech this morning?”

Sheldon grimaced. “Yes, I was. He’s not, I mean he wasn’t exactly my most favorite person in the world; neither did I care much for his politics. But I had an idea that whatever he had to say might probably affect me sooner or later. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to go hear what he had to say. And I was right.”

Jeremiah refrained from asking what she had been right about. “Did you notice anything strange or out of place while you were there?” he asked. “Maybe there was something that happened that you felt was suspicious and made you wonder?”

Sheldon thought about it for a few minutes then shook her head. “To be honest, I didn’t notice anything suspicious. The only thing I really did wonder about was why there was so much security around the senator.”

Jeremiah sighed. “What about in the days leading up to the speech? Or even in the past few weeks? Did you notice anything or anyone that seemed to be out of place, that didn’t fit in? Or was there an event that got you thinking that maybe something was up?”

Again Sheldon seemed to think about it for a few seconds then she shook he head. “No, there’s nothing that I can think of. Everything has been just the same.”

Jeremiah nodded. “What about you? Did you kill the senator?”

Camilla gasped. Sheldon looked at Jeremiah for a few seconds, her face expressionless. Then she laughed softly. “Is it because I’m a Christian? Don’t tell me you’ve been asking everybody the same question?”

Jeremiah rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m sorry. Forget I said that. I must be more tired than I thought. Sorry for taking up your time. I’m grateful for your help.” He stood up.

Camilla and Sheldon both stood up. Sheldon looked at Camilla. “There’s going to be trouble soon, right?”

Camilla looked from Sheldon to Jeremiah to Sheldon confused. “What trouble?” she asked.

Sheldon looked at both agents. “People are going to blame Christians for the senator’s death aren’t they? They’re going to want to kill Christians because they’re going to think Christians killed the senator.”

DECEPTIO is JC Cruz first novel. It's published by WestBow Press (http://www.westbowpress.com/), a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.

What Does God Call You?

I have been thinking about the name that God calls us. We all have names that we were given by our parents at birth or we have names that we answer to that were given to us by other people. But there is a name that God calls us by because it has to do with our purpose.

God has called each one of us to do exploit for him. When we think of exploits, we think of something big and great. But I would like to think that exploits have to do with making the name of God known and great. If we think of people in the Bible whom God used to do exploits, there is a particular name which we associate with them. I believe that is the name God has called them. If we say Jesus, we think Saviour. If we say Moses, we think Deliverer. If we say Jeremiah, we think Prophet.

I believe that we all have a name that God has called us even before we were born. That is the name that fits us even more than the name we go by or are known by among our family and friends. We all need to find the purpose for which we are created. The purpose will determine the name that God knows us by. It's not enough to glide through life. To live a full life, we need to know why we are here and live the life passionately.

The Help

I just finished watching the film, The Help. What struck me was the different categories of people in the film. There were the truly nasty people like Hilly and the president of the Daughters of America. They were people who had some sort of power or hold over others. They knew they had this power and they used it to full effect to antagonise others, especially the African-Americans. The other category of people were the ones who were used by the people to inflict pain on others like Skeeters mother and Elizebeth. They didn't have the courage of their convictions (Skeeter's mother discovered her own in the end) even when they didn't agree with what was being done or said. At times, they were forced to do something they didn't want to do. They kept quiet because they wanted to belong to a group or clique and they ended up treating others like dirt.

Most Christians are like the latter. It's not as if we don't know the truth. It stares us right in the face everyday and speaks to us loudly at night. But we choose to ignore because we would rather take the path of least resistance. We see the trouble that other get because of standing for the truth and we feel that we cannot take the hassle so we keep quiet.

Regardless of whether or not we keep quiet in the face of truth, the fact remains that truth cannot be killed, thrown away or ignored. It will always be there. It would be a different matter altogether if we didn't know the truth,but we do. Instead of admitting the truth, we try to obfuscate it with our own ideas about what should be. The world has been gripped by the fever of "equality" and so we are afraid of going against the flow, so to speak. The world wants to give us a concept of God that is untrue but we are either ashamed of him or afraid of the backlash to speak our minds.

The world hates the truth. Paul told Timothy that in the last days, people would have itching ears and would only want to hear what they want to hear. That is also the case even about "Christians". We want to be at "peace" with the world even when the world wants nothing to do with us. We just so want to blend in that we are ready to do anything, including not saying anything in the hope that the world will look more kindly at us. We hope that this will make us happy but we end up miserable. In the end we will discover that the only thing that will endure is truth and every lie will fade. So me might as well just get with the program and be happy.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press (http://www.westbowpress.com/) , a division of Thomas Nelson Publishing. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

DECEPTIO (EXCERPT)

Calvin had broken into a run with his gun drawn from its holster before the senator’s body had hit the ground. He knelt down beside the body which was lying on the stage face down, where it lay after falling from his wife’s hands. He placed his fingers on the neck to feel for a pulse. There was none. The man was dead, he thought grimly. He looked around the field, trying to see if he could see who had shot his principal. Former principal a voice said. The whole place was in an uproar as everyone was trying to run away from the field or was running toward the body. He was soon joined on the stage by FBI agents and police officers some of whom were trying to keep curious onlookers and their phones, away from the body. One of them began feeling his body for a pulse like Calvin had done earlier.

“There’s no pulse. He’s dead,” he said to the FBI agent, trying to save him the trouble of looking for a pulse and then finding none.

“Who are you?” the agent asked with a frown on his face.

“I’m, well, I was one of the senator’s bodyguards,” he said.

“Can someone tell me what is going on here?” a loud, gruff voice asked.

Calvin looked up at the newcomer who had spoken from where he was beside the senator’s body.

"He’s dead sir,” the agent that had been checking his pulse said.

“I’m sure that if you had half of your head blown away, you’d be dead too,” the man said dryly. His eye fixed on Calvin as he asked, “And you are?”

Calvin stood. “My name is Calvin Cordell, part of the Senator’s security detail,” he answered, stretching his hand out for a handshake. When the other man stared at his hand but refused to shake it, Calvin shrugged, bringing his hand back to his side.

“Are you the one in charge?”

“No,” Calvin answered.

“Then who is?” the other man barked.

“I am.”

The FBI agent turned to look at who had spoken. “And you are?”

“Anthony Greaves,” the head of the senator’s security detail and Calvin’s boss answered. He had walked up to the crime scene to see what was happening.

“Marcus Granville, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office,” the other man said. The two men shook hands.

Anthony looked down at the senator’s lifeless body. “I take it he’s dead?” he asked.

“You take correctly,” Marcus answered. “I believe you were aware that he was being threatened?”

“Yes,” Anthony answered. “We tried to stop him from coming to give the speech today. There were too many things that could go wrong. And it seems something did go wrong. But he wouldn’t listen.”

Marcus grunted. He turned to Calvin and asked, “Where were you?”

“There,” Calvin said, turning and pointing toward the back of the stage.

“Did you see anything?”

Calvin shook his head. “Nothing.”

Marcus sighed. “It figures.”

Just then, the doctor pushed through the crowd and bent down beside the senator’s lifeless body. A pool of blood had collected under his head.

“I’ll spare you the trouble doc and let you know that the man is dead,” Marcus answered. “I’m sure you’d be more useful attending to the family he left behind,” he said, pointing with his head in the direction of the senator’s widow and children. “And please, can someone take them home?”

The doctor got up and went in Susan Partridge’s direction. Marcus turned to another agent and asked, “Where’s Rutger with the camera and other equipment? We need to process the body and find out all we can before any evidence is trampled upon. And I’d like it to be done while I’m still alive.”

Marcus motioned Calvin and Anthony away from the body. “Have you always been in charge of his security or did he hire you when he got the threats?” he asked.

“Our firm has always provided security for him and his family,” Anthony answered. “We even provided security for his father before him, but the thing is he beefed up his security when he got the threats.”

“And he still got killed,” Marcus said but his tone didn’t indicate he was attaching any blame to anyone. He wiped his face with his hand, a wearied look on his face. “Either they had some help or these religious kooks are very good. I can guess what’s going to happen now. The president is going to hear about this and he’s going to talk with the Director. Then the Director is going to call me and my ulcer is going to start acting up again.” He sighed and looked at Calvin. “Are you quite sure that you didn’t notice anything out of place? Maybe you need to think about it,” he said hopefully.

Calvin thought about it for some time but shook his head. “I’m quite sure I didn’t see anything.”

Marcus sighed again. “I’ll probably need to get a statement or something from you although I don’t see how it’s going to help. Drop your contact details with one of my people. I’m really beginning to wish I didn’t get out of bed this morning.”

Calvin and Anthony watched as he walked back toward the senator’s dead body and started barking orders.

“This is a right mess,” Anthony muttered, running his hand through his hair and looking around. “Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of this whole thing and that it’s going to get worse.”


JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, published by WestBow Press (http://www.westbow.com/) a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. You can follow him @Cruz_JCReal

Life is Unfair!?

A friend posted the statement above on his Facebook page but it wasn't a question. It was a categorical statement. I know there are a lot of people out there who think that life in unfair. But I don't think that life is unfair. Life I will admit can be hard, but it's not unfair.

If we were to say that life was unfair, it would be saying that we have a feeling of entitlement. You work hard 5 days a week and you feel that after a number of years you should be able to afford your own house, car and everything that you think should come with it. But then life throws us a curveball and all of our expectatations are thrown out of the nearest window.

I remember reading a few years ago the story of the German billionaire who killed himself because he lost money in the stock market crash that followed the start of the reccession. He was still a billionaire but he just couldn't take the loss of the money so he ended his own life. He didn't have money, money had him.

Life is hard but Jesus came not to take away the hardness but to give us peace in the middle of the storms we gon through. The storms that make other people tear out their hair in despair are the storms we are to drop anchor in, hold on to Jesus and find peace for our souls. Jesus didn't come to take us to heaven immediately we got born-again but he asked us to stay here and point the way for others to him. Life is hard but if we focus on the hardness, we will never get anything done. We are to keep our focus on Jesus because if we keep our focus on the problem, we will sink like Peter.

We need to be able to hold on to him and trust him. The Bible says "the just shall live by faith". Our faith is not tested when things are going according to plan or well. It is at the times when all hell is breaking loose, that is when we need to trust God and keep our eyes fixed on Him even as we keep in mind his promises. That he has only thoughts of good towards us for example. That there is no evil in Him, only goodness. I can promise that if we don't let go and hold on to the end, we will find salvation.

What's Love Got To Do With It (Part 2)

I have recently been learning about the grace of God. I have come to understand that love is the most powerful thing on the face of the earth. Not guns, not missiles. not atomic weapons. They can all cause massive destruction but in the end, they really cannot cause change like love has the potential to. Like I have said before, I'm not talking about Hollywood's portrayal of love, but the real thing.

I once read a quote by someone who said that all the major wars and troubles have been caused by religion. While I believe that is untrue, I do not dispute the fact that there have been some wars fought based on the premise that they were "Christian" wars. But a war that is unleashed in the name of someone who is called the Prince of Peace cannot be a true representation of him. I believe that there would be less wars if there was more love. But unfortunately, we don't know what love looks like so we can't recognise it when we see it. We can't even express it because we have never felt it ourselves.

Love is not about who is right or who is wrong. It's not about what we deserve or don't. It's not even about why, who or what. It just simply ...is.  When you desire the good of someone other than yourself, it shouldn't be because of something they've done or have don't it should be because you love them. The Bible tells us that we love God because he first loved us. We are only able to love Him because he showed love to us first. His love was and is unconditional and without any strings. We didn't do anything to earnn it. In fact, we were quite unloveable. But it spite of this, God still choose to love us.

The essence of the Word was that He came to show us what the father is like. He broke down a list of rules and do's and dont's into two and asked us to love God with all our heart, soul, might, strenght. He asked us to love others as we love ourselves. We cannot really achieve the second without understanding and living out the first. We need to understand that there is nothing we can do or say to make God love us more. It's time we accepted that fact and accept the free gift of God's love. until we do, we will never really know what it means to be loved. Or to love. Unconditionally.

What do we need to do to understand and accept God's love today?


JC Cruz is the author vof DECEPTIO out now from WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers (www.westbowpress.com). You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

What's Love Got To Do With It? Part 1

"Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained."--C.S. Lewis

If I were to answer the question from that old Tina Turner song, I would say: Quite a lot actually.

Most people vaccilate between two extremes. The one extreme is that growing up, we never understood what love was. We probably had parents, especially fathers, that we never got on with especially if they didn't know Christ. We never really understood then (and probably even know) that they were dealing with us (and we with them) based on the extent of knowledge they possessed. So when someone talks about the love of God and they mention that God loves us like a father, we remember our father who was suppossed to love us and we go, "Thanks but no thanks with that God thing."

Then when we get older, we see the other extreme of love. The false picture. The one that Hollywood and other people have painted. I have used this example in an earlier blog post and I'll use it again. We can all remember a film where the teenage boy (who has an itch to scratch) tells the girl he has been trying to get to sleep with him (but with whom he has been having no luch as she's holding out): "I love you. If you love me, you'll give yourself to me (or some other such words). The girl has been holding out since the beginning of the film but because a challenge has been thrown to her to prove her love, she puts her hand in his and says "Yes'. By the time she says yes, there is not a dry eye in the theater. But the fact is that he didn't love her. If he did, he wouldn't ask her to prove her love. The fact is that he just has an itch to scratch and any girl would do. It's just that she has been unlucky enough to be chosen.

The definition of love by C.S. Lewis is one of the best definitions of love there is. If I were to add anything, it would be that if you loved someone, you would give of youself if you really are seeking the good of the person you say you love. I have never seen a better expression of love than that in John 3:16. That is the model that has been laid down for us. That is the model we must follow.

What do you think?


(JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO out now from WestBow Press, a division of Thoma Nelson Publishers (http://www.westbowpress.com/). You can also follow him @Cruz_JCReal)