LOST, BUT FOUND (EXCERPT)

Anna was looking around the sitting room. The place was lovely. It was a beautiful blend of antiques and modern furniture. She wondered if the place had been done by Jessica or by an interior decorator. She would bet that it was the latter. The whole place spoke of wealth. Again seeing evidence of the wealth that Jessica lived in made her start feeling sorry for herself all over again. Her apartment was nothing compared to this. In fact it looked downright shabby.

Stop it, a voice in her head said. She might not have all that Jessica had but at least she had Ben and their son and she was happy. And nothing could take that from her. Jessica might have all this but who knew if she was happy? And besides, she didn’t have the most important thing of all, even with all her wealth.

“I’m surprised that you’re here.”

Anna was startled out of her reverie by the words. She turned her wheel chair to see Jessica coming into the room behind her. As usual, she seemed to be dressed in the latest and definitely expensive looking clothes.

“I would have thought I was last person you would want to see,” Jessica continued as she sat on a settee that was opposite to Anna. Her words came out stilted and forced.

“I know,” Anna replied. “But I felt led to come and speak to you.”

Jessica stiffened. So Anna felt led. Jessica had grown up hearing her father say such things. It was supposedly Christianese for saying that some greater power was at work. It was a Christian’s way of saying that he was being made to do something he would normally not have done. Or something like that.

“Really,” Jessica said. She looked at her watch wondering how long she would let her speak before she threw her out.

Anna saw her looking at her watch and suddenly felt nervous. All that she had wanted to say and the order she had wanted to say them in became a jumble. She had to find a way to get her point across.

“Remember what you said when you were over at my place?” Anna asked. “What you said about me becoming a Christian just because I thought God would heal me?”

Jessica stiffened. “I believe I apologised for that. I’m sorry if I caused any offence.....”

“You were right,” Anna said cutting into Jessica’s rambling.

“Excuse me?” Jessica said, confused. She thought that was why she had brought it up, to get an apology from her.

“I said you were right,” Anna said speaking out. “For a long time, the reason I was calling myself a Christian was because I wanted something from God. I wasn't serving God because I should. I was serving him because I wanted something from him.”

Jessica was silent. She didn't know what to say. She thought both of them were the same thing.

“When the accident happened, I blamed myself every day. I used to tell myself that if I only I hadn't gone out drinking, I would still be walking. Or that if only I hadn't gone into the car not caring that the driver was drunk, I would still be walking. On the other hand, I thought about how life was so unfair and that God must be so wicked that he allowed it to happen. You can imagine that I wasn't a very happy person in those days. I could say that I was depressed.”

Anna stared into space as her mind went back to the days following her accident. “In the end, I slipped into denial. I began to tell myself that the doctor must be wrong and that I was still going to walk. Every day when I woke up, I expected that I was going to be able to move my legs. That I would suddenly get up from my wheel chair and begin to walk to every one’s astonishment.”

“I couldn't really find any peace from the worries on my mind so I began to go to the church in the evenings to pray. Then just because I felt there was nothing else to do, I started going to church. I would come late and sit at the back and then leave before the service was over.”

“Then one day, I got to church and the pastor was preaching about how there was nothing God could not do. How there was nothing impossible for God. He said that there was no disease, no sickness that God did not have a cure for. That all we needed to do was believe and have faith and trust in him like a child.”

Anna’s face lightened up with a smile as she remembered. “There and then I decided that if God could make me walk again even if the doctors had failed, I was going to try him. So when there was an altar call that day, I came out. I converted to Christianity because of my selfish desires. All the talk of being a sinner, needing Jesus, being repentant, everything went over my head. I didn't think I was a sinner at all. My whole aim was to get God to heal me.”

“I fasted and prayed for months that God would just make me walk again. It was as if that was all God existed for. To ensure he did all within his power to make sure I walked again. I went back to college and I started attending fellowship. I did everything I could do to deserve that healing. I practically worked or it. I didn’t mind all the people who made fun of me as I knew what I was going to get from God.”

“It was in college that I met Ben. From the first day that we met, I knew that there was something special about him. We hit it off immediately. But I was scared. I wondered what someone like him would want with someone like me who was in a wheel chair. But I would like to think he looked past the shriveled body and saw something that even I didn't know was there.”

“He was the one that made me understand that God is not some waiter waiting at our beck and call just to grant our demands. That God doesn't really need us but we are the ones who need him. Salvation and becoming a Christian isn't about God taking all our pain away, it’s about helping us bear the pain and trouble we go through so that we can share God’s love with other people.”

“I honestly believe that God does have the power to heal. I honestly believe that God can heal me. But I believe even more that God has a purpose for each of our lives. I believe that he uses the circumstances we go through to minister to us and to the people that we meet. Like he told Paul, his grace is sufficient for us. His intention is that even in the midst of our pain and trouble we will come to know and understand the purpose that he has for our lives.”

“I used to think that life was all about me. But I have come to understand that life is not about me but it’s about the people I meet every day. It’s about the people who come into my life and those who I meet. God wants us to be able to reflect him properly to them and show them his love.”

Jessica shifted uncomfortably in her seat.  She wasn't comfortable with all this talk. She wanted to ask Anna to leave but she didn't say anything.

“I believe that there is something on the inside of every man that makes you search for God. That makes you want to worship him. It’s when people don’t find him that they worship other things like wood, snakes, trees, iron, and goats. It’s when people don’t know where to look for him that they end worshiping the wrong things or they end up in a cult.”

“There are people who have come to God because they heard someone preach about him. Then there are those who find him in times of great pain and trouble or personal grief. But regardless of how they found him, they realised that they needed him and they held on to him. I believe that regardless of who we are or what we are or are not going through, we all need God.”

Anna held up something she had been holding in her lap. It was a small book and she held it out to Jessica. “That’s why I brought this. It’s a Bible. I’m not so foolish as to ask you to make a decision right now. But I want you to have this. I want you to read it and I’ll be hoping and praying for you that you find him too.”

Jessica stared at the Bible as if she had been offered a snake. She folded her arms across her chest and said, “Thank you but I think I’ll keep my problems to myself.” She made no move to accept the Bible.

Anna wasn't surprised. To be honest, she was a little hurt but she wasn't surprised. She wheeled herself over to a table and dropped the Bible on it. She turned to Jessica and smiled. “Thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate it. I’ll be on my way.”

Jessica followed her to the door. Just before they got to the door, it burst open with some force and Catherine stormed into the house. She slammed the door after her and began storming into the room. She stopped in her tracks when she saw her mother and another woman in a wheel chair.

“What’s wrong Catherine?” Jessica asked.

“I am so not going to be friends with Carrie again,” Catherine said fuming, “She is so mean.” She however refused to elaborate on how Casey had been mean. She was also busy staring at Anna as if she was from Mars.

Anna held out a hand to the girl and smiled. “Hello. My name is Anna. Anna Palmer.”

Catherine’s eyes widened as she shook hands with her. “I’m Catherine. Are you the one who fought with my mom over a boy in high school?”

“Catherine!”Jessica shouted, embarrassed.

Anna didn't know who was more embarrassed, her or Jessica. However, she was more surprised than embarrassed. She was looking at Catherine in surprise and there was a question in her eye. She would never have thought that Jessica had a daughter this old. The girl looked like thirteen or fourteen.

“It’s nice to meet you Catherine. I was just leaving. Maybe I’ll see you some other time,” Anna said as she wheeled herself through the door that Jessica held open. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Jessica closed the door behind her and walked back into the sitting room behind her daughter.

“You didn't tell me what happened between you and Carrie.”

“I don’t want to talk about it mom. At least not now,” Catherine said. She looked down and saw the book on the table. “What’s this?” she asked as she picked it up the Bible from the table. She opened the leather bound cover to look at first page. “Oh, it’s a Bible.” She looked at her mother in surprise. “Are you the one reading the Bible mom? Is it yours?”

Jessica removed the book from her daughter’s hands. “It must be Anna’s. She must have forgotten it. I’ll keep it for her.”

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/.

LOST, BUT FOUND (EXCERPT)

The entire congregation watched Greg as he made his way to the pulpit. By now, everyone in church knew that he was taking over from Bill Wilkinson in a couple of month’s time. Bill had already preached that morning so people wondered what it was he wanted to come and say. People whispered to each other trying to guess the reason for his speech or whatever it was.

Greg walked to the pulpit feeling the stares of the people on him. He had never felt this nervous before in all his years in the ministry. His knees felt like buckling under the weight of all the attention directed at him and he felt like running away. But he sent up a prayer for strength and continued walking toward the pulpit. It had never seemed so far away.

Ruth watched her husband walk up the steps to the stage as he made for the pulpit with a lump in her throat and a deep feeling of sadness in her heart. She had tried to dissuade him from his decision but he had refused to be moved. In a way she understood his decision but she felt it wasn’t necessary.

Jessie watched her father walk up to the pulpit and accept the microphone from Bill Wilkinson. Her parents had supported her decision to keep the baby. They had even said that if she wanted to marry Peter and go to New York with him as he had asked her to, they would give their permission. They had made it clear that all they were concerned about were her happiness and her welfare. Even though they had been extremely supportive, a distance had somehow developed between Jessie and her parents and she didn’t know how to bridge it. There was no laughter between them anymore and Jessie wished things could go back to the way they had been before. She wished that things had turned out differently for everyone. She was surprised when her mother took hold of her hand. She looked up at her mother who smiled at her wanly and turned back to look at Greg.

“Good morning church. As you know, Bill Wilkinson is retiring in a couple of months time,” Greg began, leaning one hand on the pulpit, “and I was chosen by the church’s board of trustees. Out of all the people who applied for the position, they felt that I was the best person to do the job. That for me was so humbling. I would like to thank Bob Carlisle and the entire members of the trustees’ board for their faith in my ability to do the work. I however want say that I will no longer be taking up the post of pastor here at New Earth Evangelical Church.”

The noise from a lot of people speaking together almost put him off but he continued, ignoring them all. “I have recently come into possession of certain information that would make it impossible for me to discharge my duties here at the church to the best of my ability. I wouldn’t want a situation where the word of God was treated with levity or there was a pointing of fingers due to certain circumstances. I do not seek to justify what has happened, but it has made it impossible for me to discharge the duties imposed on me as a pastor with all good conscience.”

“I have this morning informed the trustees of my decision to leave and once again I thank them for the opportunity given to me to lead this great people. I’m very grateful. I apologise for leaving everyone in the lurch like this and I take full responsibility. God bless you all.”

Greg handed the microphone back to a surprised Bill Wilkinson and walked off the stage. The entire congregation had by now lapsed into silence. One or two people clapped but when they saw that hardly anyone else was joining in, they stopped. As Greg got off the stage, Ruth stood up with her arms around Jessie and together they all walked out of the church.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

The Gates of Hell Cannot Prevail

I believe that there is something in man that wants to worship God as his Creator, his God and sustainer. When we refuse to give in to that desire or refuse to recognize it, we end up worshipping other things. We end up worshipping cars, houses, sex, and status. All these things only give momentary pleasure or happiness but can never satisfy. I also believe that there is something in all of us that tends toward depravity and we can go either way. In God’s word we not only find hope for our souls as the Word points to God, we also find strength to fight off the demons that seek to lead us to the dark side.

Apart from having an on-going relationship with God, I believe one of the greatest things ever to happen to us is the Bible. In the thousands of years since the Old and New Testament were written, the sacred words in them have given hope, strength, peace and joy to those who adhere to the words written there. Not just the letter of the words but the spirit. The words were not written for our comfort but they are a template for us to live our lives by. The words are light which show us the state of our heart and lives in relation to God and how they should be. Thanks to the fall in the Garden of Eden, man has developed a great aversion to light. The natural tendency of man is to hide from the light and pretend that all is well.

The words written in the Bible were those men like Paul the Apostle, John Knox, Charles Spurgeon, Smith Wigglesworth, Charles Finney, John Wesley and Watchman Nee all lived by and they found God and lived great and fruitful lives. These men did great wonders and saw great revelations of God’s power as a result of these wonder. It is therefore no wonder that I marvel at the arrogance of the men of this age who say they are “Christian” but hide from the light of these words. These people say the sacred words are outdated and we should jettison them and look for other words that agree with our predilections and proclivities. We should look for words that agree with our depravities and which do not show us the wrong that we do. Because they are condemned in their hearts by the sacred words, they want to away with the words. In this they have as allies those who hate God. Those that say they as Christian do not see any wrong in the alliances they have formed because they are moved by their senses.

Ever since the birth of Christianity, several people have risen up with the stated aim of killing it. In the intervening period, they are the ones who have died and the Church has gone on. I am convinced above all that the Church can never die. Jesus declared that the gates of hell would never prevail against the church. I believe this with all my heart. Therefore when I see hell rising up against the Church, while it worries me because I remember the persecution the Church will suffer before Christ returns, I am consoled and strengthened in knowing the Church has prevailed.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal. 

DECEPTIO (EXCERPT)

Ever since Jeremiah Walker had been transferred to the Chicago office of the FBI from New Orleans, he had made no secret of the fact that he liked her. So he only liked her, a voice in her head scoffed. Liked? Liked was a lukewarm word, the voice in her head mocked. Well, extremely attracted to her, she revised mentally. And he felt she was attracted to him too, which Camilla didn't deny. He had therefore seen nothing wrong with taking the mutual attraction to the next logical level by having an affair. But while Camilla was willing to admit that she liked him as a friend, she wasn't about to get into a relationship with him. Because they were different.

Camilla had been raised in a strict Mexican Catholic home where good girls did what they were told and said their rosaries or else they would end up in hell. There were also consequences to be faced here on earth. Her parents had died when she was just two; the victims of a gang war on holiday in Mexico to visit relatives and she had been raised by her maternal grandmother. Her grandmother was a no nonsense disciplinarian who didn't take kindly to all the shenanigans that boys and girls got up to when they were unsupervised by adults.

However, while in college, she had truly discovered what it meant to be a Christian and apart from a slight blip, (to be honest, a major blip) along the way, she had held on to her faith in God. And in this crazy, changing world, that meant more to her than anything.

On the other hand, Jeremiah didn't believe in God or “all that nonsense” as he referred to anything that had to do with the mention of salvation, redemption or the like. He had grown up with an abusive father who used to hit his children and their mother. Yet, he had been some kind of leader in his church. When his father had dropped dead from a heart attack, he had left behind everything that reminded him of God.

Camilla had experienced the problems that arose from being involved with someone who did not share her faith and she was not ready to walk down that road again. There was no way anything was going to happen between them. Jeremiah however didn't seem to see things the way she did. He felt she was being unnecessarily difficult and that hopefully she would come round to his way of thinking and that he would be patient till that happened. That meant he would be patient till hell froze over.

“Have you noticed anything suspicious or out of place?” he asked, eating the last piece of his hot dog and wiping his hands.

“No, nothing. And I don’t think that anything will happen. I think the whole threat thing is a hoax,” she replied.

“Are you saying that the senator imagined the threat?” he asked dryly. “Or maybe you think he wrote those letters to himself? He might not be my favorite person in the world but I fail to see what he would gain from that.”

Camilla shrugged. She also didn't see what he would gain but she wasn't going to say so. “I just think that he’s trying to give Christians a bad name so that the American public can have another excuse for hating us,” she fumed.

“Do you really think people need any excuse to hate Christians?” he asked, his voice mocking. “You persist in believing in a God that doesn't exist, you try ramming your archaic and funny opinions down other people’s throats and you wonder why people seem not to like you,” he said.

It was interesting that on one level he found her faith in God annoying and funny yet he wouldn't mind sleeping with her. Talk about schizophrenia. “It’s so funny that the same people who don’t believe in God can’t just relax in the knowledge that he doesn't exist. They always seem to be trying their best to “kill” a God that doesn't exist,” she said dryly. “A world with over 6 billion people, the majority of whom believe in God in one way or another, and yet the tiny minority who claim they don’t, feel threatened and would want all of us to say that God doesn't exist so that they can go on killing babies and doing all the other crazy things they like doing without their consciences troubling them.”

Jeremiah sighed. “When did this become a discussion about abortion?” he asked, shaking his head.

“It’s a discussion about everything we believe,” she replied heatedly. “You say that the things we believe in, to quote you, are “archaic and funny”, but I thought the constitution guaranteed my right to believe whatever I wanted to believe?”

“As long as you don’t try getting people believe a tissue of lies while trying to pass it off as the truth,” he said.

“And who told you that you had the monopoly on the truth?” she asked. “You wouldn't know what the truth was even if it hit you in the face.”

He sighed again raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I can see that we are not going to agree on anything. There’s work to be done. Why don’t we get back to work and leave the arguments till later.”

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.  

We Have Been Commanded To Love (And Show Grace)

A week or so ago, I read an article about the popular Christian hip-hop artiste Lecrae. In the article he spoke about the criticism he had received from fellow Christians concerning his interactions with secular artistes. They even accused him of selling out because he went on tour with Wu-Tang Clan. The criticism left him feeling frustrated and sad. Just this week, Bart Millard the lead singer of the Christian group Mercy Me also faced similar criticism for daring to complement Ellen DeGeneres on her performance while hosting the Oscars. He had earlier faced a similar firestorm when he complimented Bruno Mars on his half time performance at the Super Bowl earlier this year. I think we need to deal with this legalistic spirit.

First of all, there are very few jobs on the planet that are “godly” in nature. Every job we do is secular because we live in a secular work. However we are called to bring a Christian mind set to whatever we do. I’m sure most people would gladly tell me that as a lawyer I’m headed for the hottest part of hell. The usual reasons given for this assertion is that lawyers are liars, we bleed people dry, we are heartless, blah blah blah. That is just the opinion of some people based on certain experiences but certainly not an experience with me. Someone has to be a lawyer, someone has to be a musician, someone has to be an actor. As long as what you do is legal and ethical, what matters most are the values you bring to what you do.

Secondly, we should be able to make a distinction between what people do in their personal lives and the ethics and values they bring to their work. Values like hard work competence, vision, drive. A man might be an adulterer and a wife beater which makes him a terrible person but yet a great artiste who creates great work. I probably shouldn’t say this but I will. There were a lot of scandals that surrounded Michael Jackson while he was alive. While nothing was ever proved in a court of law, I’m sure that most people believe some or all of the allegations are true. While we might not approve of whatever we think he was, it does not detract from the fact that he was the foremost entertainer of his age who not only had vision but was hard working and dedicated.

Thirdly, once we have separated the personal from the professional life, we should realise that there is nothing wrong with appreciating a professional performance. Let me explain. Let’s say you got accused of a crime or a misdemeanour and you didn’t have the presence of mind to choose a Christian lawyer whose lifestyle you approved of. The lawyer is able to get you acquitted thanks to his expertise and drive and drive and competence, we all know that you’re going to pay his bill. But are you saying that you’re not going to be gracious enough to say a simple “Thank you” to him just because he smokes and you don’t approve of that? Are you going to just walk away with a frown on your face because he is not a “good” person? By complementing Ellen DeGeneres and Bruno Mars he was simply appreciating their professional competence that they brought to their work. It was not a blanket endorsement of their work, their lifestyle or the message of their jokes or lyrics. Really, it wasn’t.

In the article, Lecrae explained that he moved to Atlanta because fellow rappers Ludacris and Kendrick Lamar live there. He’s there not because he wants anything from them but because he wants to influence them for the kingdom. Jesus said we are to be a light and to be salt. Light and salt are only effective when they are in contact with what they seek to illuminate or preserve. How can we influence people for God if we kept away from them as sinners, unwashed and unlovable? We were once like that yet Jesus called out to us even in our sin. How can we influence them when we can’t even be nice to them because we think they hate us? Hate never changed hate. Only love can do that. We have received a commandment to love even those that hate us. How can we expect to receive grace when we do not offer it to others? Jesus said God’s rain falls on both the godly and the ungodly.

Oh, and one last thing. It is totally ungracious and un-Christ like to accuse a fellow Christian of haven fallen from grace. Jesus said only a servant’s master has the right to judge him. We are no one’s master. If we feel that someone has strayed from the path, it is our Christian duty to pray for them. Not accuse. How do expect people to love Jesus when we can’t love each other? Jesus said it is through love that people will know we are his disciples. However it seems we don’t want to love. Because love is hard work and we don’t want to do hard work. We’d rather point the finger. That’s easier to do and much more fun.    

  

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.  

We All Need Grace

It all started with a tweet by Bart Millard the lead singer of the Christian group MercyMe in which he described Bruno Mars half-time Super Bowl performance as "awesome". Immediately there was a backlash to his comments on Facebook. I must confess that I didn't bother to go check out the comments because I didn't want to get depressed reading the nasty comments by people who say they are Christian about another Christian. So I generally left well enough alone. However I did read his own comments after the whole thing where he talked about how we all needed grace and it should be something we as Christians extend to each other. From his comments I would assume people questioned how a Christian could think a secular musician who sings about sex and drugs is awesome. I also guess some questioned his faith in Christ and his ministry.

I'm not a musical person but I do love music. Unlike normal people like us who only listen to the lyrics of a song, musicians enjoy other things like arrangement, the tune, performance and so many other things about a song. Therefore to people listening to the same song, when a fellow musician irrespective of what genre of song he sings, describes another musician as "awesome", there is tendency on our part to not only think he is endorsing the musician and his song but also his message and his lifestyle as well. Which is when I remember a song like "It Wasn't Me", you're not going going to hear me describe Shaggy as "awesome". For those who never heard the song, it was about a man who cheated on his girlfriend and then when he was caught, he told he ....., you get it. It Wasn't Me.

Like I said, musicians see things differently from the way we see things. Also, I think we should give everyone the benefit of the doubt and at times be able to separate the good from the bad. Michael Jackson had a lot of legal problems but I would be lying if I said I didn't like his songs. Songs like Man In The Mirror will always be great songs. Is it wrong to like his songs? Personally I don't think all his songs are bad unless they were promoting sex or something awful. I think we should be able to separate the good messages from the bad. Also, while we might have a problem with a secular artistes music, I do not believe we have to take it out on somebody who expresses his appreciation of another musician. Do I like Miley Cyrus or her music presently? No. But there's a possibility that along the line she might have a message that I might like in one of her songs. Should I disregard it just because of her past record? I think not. Some might argue that we have no business listening to secular music and I will concede to that. But you will agree that we mostly live in a secular world and unless you live in a cave, you will come in contact with something secular sooner or later.

As Christians we have a nasty habit on getting on our legalistic high horses and from the high altitude attacking other Christians and we call it correction. Correction without love is simply an accusation followed by punishment. God has extended grace to us all and we should extend it to each other. Impeaching a person's faith and belief in Christ just because he expressed appreciation of another musician's performance is just wrong and the people that did it should be ashamed of themselves. Christ did not die just for us to accuse each other. He asked us to love one another. Even to the point of death. He said that's how people would know we are his. By love. Not hate and criticism.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

Piers Morgan Thinks Pope Francis Is A Religious Bigot (And Mohammed Too)

Thanks to the interview with GQ Magazine, we all know that Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame is true to his faith. In the firestorm that has followed his comments; we have discovered some other interesting things along the way. One of those things we have discovered is that Wilson Cruz believes that those of us that believe the Bible is the word of God and obey it are not good Christians while those that disregard it and support the homosexual lifestyle are the good Christians. We have also discovered that CNN anchor, Piers Morgan thinks that Pope Francis is a religious bigot. So probably does the leader of all liberals, President Barack Obama, CNN and all liberals.

When I heard about Piers Morgan’s comments, it got me thinking. When I hear such incendiary comments, I like to think about what the comment means. It occurred to me that what Piers Morgan meant was that, I along with other Christians who shared Phil Robertson’s view that sex and marriage should be between a man and a woman were all religious bigots. When I thought about it some more, it further occurred to me that not only was he calling us all religious bigots, he was also calling Pope Francis, the head of Catholics, a religious bigot. Make no mistake, from Piers’s comments; we can deduce what CNN, TIME Magazine, GLAAD and all liberals really think of the Pope. While some people might say that Phil Robertson could have been subtler or less coarse with his comments or that the Pope would never say such things, the fact remains that the Pope and Phil Robertson literally believe the same thing. While Pope Francis has come out to say that Catholics should focus less on hot button social issues, he has never come out to disavow the Catholics church teachings on the subject, especially on same sex relationships.

At the last Democratic convention before the elections, there were reports that the party wanted to remove all references to God from their constitution. It reportedly took concerted efforts from President Obama to avert that. Not that he believes in God but he realised how that might look during an election year. The fact is that liberals really don’t believe in God. At best, they think that we are crazy to believe in the myth of God. At worst, they think we use the myth of God to spread hate and prejudice. They don’t believe in God but their gods are fame, money, position and power. The liberals say they want equality. That’s a lie. What they want is homogeneity where everyone looks and sounds the same. Which is not possible. Camille Paglia in her recent article in TIME Magazine, liberals are now even denying Biology and the very obvious differences in gender by saying gender is not something that comes naturally with birth but something forced on a child by society. Yet this is the same Biology they have always relied on in their support of the theory of evolution. Now it seems they have decided to pick and choose the parts of Biology they want.

Their denial of the existence of God means that they think that all of us, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus and members of all other faiths in the world are crazy, hateful, religious bigots. That means everyone the world over who doesn't adhere to their secularist view is a hateful, religious bigot. So if Muslims think it doesn't concern them, that’s not true. The last I heard, Prophet Mohammed’s teachings in the Koran prohibit same sex relationships. So in essence, this is bigger than Phil Robertson. To put it bluntly, what CNN, Wilson Cruz, Piers Morgan, Martin Sheen, President Obama and all liberals are saying is that Prophet Mohammed and every devout Muslim who adheres to his teachings are all religious bigots. How do I know President Obama thinks this way? He along with Prime Minister David Cameron has at several times threatened to withdraw aid from sovereign countries that do not do their bidding and decriminalise same sex relationships. Even deeply religious and conservative countries. So if we are to take their word for it, then the US and United Kingdom will cut aid to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other countries because the leaders of those countries are religious bigots. Now King Abdullah, Mr. Karzai and Muslim leaders, you now know what Piers Morgan, President Obama and CNN think of you.

I am an ardent Anglophile and that might be as a result of the fact that we were colonised by the British. I love their traditions and sense of history. But it pains me to see the depths the country that gave the world Smith Wigglesworth and C. S. Lewis hand sunk to. Martin Bashir, a compatriot of Piers Morgan gave us a glimpse of the general hatred liberals have of people who hold conservative views with his attack on Sarah Palin. Now Piers Morgan along with CNN has just told us what he thinks of the Pope and all of us who don’t agree with him. A few weeks ago, TIME Magazine honoured the Pope with the prestigious TIME Man of The Year Award. Now a sister company to TIME has told us what they really think of him. Make no mistake, an attack on Phil Robertson is an attack on all of us. Even the Pope.

Just because we don’t see eye to eye on issues, does that mean we have to resort to name calling and threatening people’s livelihood? GLAAD, CNN and Piers obviously think so. They talk about tolerance an acceptance and they talk about taking the high moral road. However when someone says something they don’t like, they attack like vipers. We say what we believe and they respond with insults and abuse. And they say their tolerant. They’re only tolerant with those who agree with them. But it’s not something that should surprise us. Jesus said a servant cannot be greater than his master, if the world hated him, it would definitely hate us. I respect the Pope as the head of the Catholic. And neither he nor Phil Robertson nor I or any other person deserves such abuse.  

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.  

  

It’s The Blood

There is a tendency in us humans to associate ourselves with success whether national, familial or individual. The opposite is true of disappointment as we try to move as far away from it, afraid that it might taint us.  We like to associate ourselves with successful people and we look for a way to establish something of a nexus between ourselves and the originator of the successful exploits. Trying to associate ourselves with a successful person is not really that hard. We can always find something that associates us with them no matter how nebulous. However, trying to disassociate ourselves from a disappointment or someone who has done something terrible can be extremely hard. Or practically impossible. In that regard, no matter how much they want to, the Germans can’t deny that Adolf Hitler was one of them or that the Germans started World War II.

Megyn Kelly, a Fox News anchor recently made a statement on her programme the Kelly File on the Fox News Channel to the effect that Santa Claus and Jesus were both white. She later said the comment was made tongue-in-cheek. However this was not before there was a huge outcry on both the conventional and social media. I have no intention of talking about Santa Claus as delving into the history of mythical creatures or human is not really my thing. My concern is about the person whom billions of people both living and dead call the originator of their faith.

When I read about the comments from Ms. Kelly, I went online and I read several articles and comments made about the colour of undoubtedly the most famous person that ever walked the face of the earth. There were those that postulated he was black, white or some other colour. There were even comments referencing books written on the subject, especially one written by Jeremiah Wright, President Obama’s former pastor. Reading all those articles, the major emotion that coursed through me was not one of anger or humour. All I felt was a sense of overwhelming disappointment.  I felt disappointed that people could try to reduce the impact that Jesus and his teachings had made on the world to the colour of his skin.

I don’t know about the other people who identify themselves as Christian but I can say that I have never put much thought into what colour Jesus was. In fact, it’s never been something that has agitated my mind and I doubt if it was something that agitated the minds of Martin Luther or John Knox. I also do not think it is something that agitates the minds of most Christians.    For people to even try making it a topic of discussion is beyond my understanding. To even start a discussion about what colour Jesus was diminishes and obscures the real reason why he came and what he did. To talk about his skin colour to my mind somehow diminishes the impact of his sacrifice on the cross to redeem us from our sins. I do not follow Jesus or call myself a Christian because of his skin colour. I call myself a Christian and I follow him not because of his skin colour but because I realise I need help with my sins. I follow him because I realise he came as a gift from a loving God who sent him to me to help me find a way back to God. There are several reasons why I follow him and none has to do with his skin colour.

I wonder why people would be fixated about a person’s colour. Would his colour diminish or accentuate a person’s message? Would a person’s colour determine whether or not we would listen to his message or follow him? Would a person’s colour tell us what kind of person they were? Are we so inherently racist that we judge the content of what a person says based on the pigmentation of his skin? Does his skin colour lend greater credence to his message? If we cannot see past a person’s colour to the content of his message, might I suggest that we are definitely prime candidates for washing in his blood.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal. 

America Doesn't Like God Or Jesus (According To ESPN)

"Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions." - G. K. Chesterton

“There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions.”- G. K. Chesterton

Many people may have heard by now of ESPN's refusal to air a commercial by a St. Louis based children's charity because it contained the word's "God" and "Jesus". The commercial by the SSM Cardinal Glennon Children Medical Center and was in aid of the Center's Tree of Hope Campaign where people are expected to leave messages for the children being cared for at the Center. According to the reports, the network refused to air the advert in it's original state because according to the network, they didn't want to cause offence to anyone. Really?

Christians are told that we need to become more tolerant. What they actually mean by that is we should drop all our convictions and live by their own ways. Which we forsook in the first place by becoming Christians. They say that we shouldn't try and force people to live the way we want. But that is what they want to to do. To live the way they want us to live. To think the way they want us to think. They say our doctrines and beliefs are discriminatory and steeped in hate yet the first chance they get they're discriminating against us. Already there are soldiers in the United States being punished and discriminated against by their superiors because of their faith. Teachers are being told they face lawsuits if they show any sign of their faith in the classroom such that they can't even put a Christian themed screensaver on the computers. And they say we should be tolerant. Make no mistake, there is a battle on about how people should think and behave. 

I understand that ESPN is a private station and they have a choice about which commercial they will air. However when the reason given is that the advert mentions Jesus and God, I can't understand it. What does it matter if there is a mention of God or Jesus as long as some good is being done? How can people be offended by the mention of people they say they don't believe in, as long as good can be done and some children can have a happy Christmas? After all, Jesus is the reason why there is Christmas in the first place even though people would like to forget it. I don't get offended when people mention Mohammed, Allah, Krishna, Ram or whatever god other people worship. So what is it about the Christian God that offends people?   

I believe that tolerance is about understanding that we are all different, and that we all have a right to be different. I am ready to be tolerant as long as you do not ask me give up or not say what I believe to be true. However, a situation where people get offended by words such that they don't even want to hear the words in an advert for a good cause is not tolerance. It's hatred. And we should be cool with that. Jesus said the world hated him and a servant cannot be greater than his master. So maybe while we should be outraged and sad that people don't want to hear about God, it's something we should expect. 

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.  

Falling Away

Some months ago I read an article by Ed Stetzer. His article was in response to a report which said that the number of people who described themselves as Christian has fallen dramatically in the United States. More people than ever were now saying they had no religion. In his article, Mr. Stetzer pointed out the most important fact that most Christians do not talk about when wringing their hands at such statistics which they say point to a decline in Christianity in America and the West. The fact that going to church doesn’t really make you a Christian. What makes you a Christian is confessing Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour. Going to a church building, every week for 50 years does not confer honorary Christian status on you. You don’t become a fellow or an associate in Christianity by the number of years you attend church or the number of churches you attend. You must accept Jesus. That is the starting point. Then you have to live as he would have you live as revealed in his Word, not as your conscience dictates.

I must confess that I am mostly amused when a celebrity comes out and tells us how he or she is no longer a Christian and has found a new faith, either Islam or some new faddish new Eastern cult. Some talk about how they rejected Christianity and became atheists. And so they spend their lives fighting and trying to kill a God they say doesn’t exist in the first place. But when you look at their stories, you realise they were never Christians in the first place. They were just going to some church, marking time and thinking that made them Christians. When I was a young Christian, I used to ask myself, how could Jesus say there were only a few who would find and walk the path of salvation? How could he say that when they were billion of “Christians” the world over. As I have grown in the faith, I have realised the answer to that. Not everyone that goes to church knows who Jesus is. Our churches might be full but not everyone knows why they’re there.

Today I saw two Hare Krishna members. They passed me in a bus. I looked at them and it got me thinking. I didn’t know anything about them but there were some assumptions I made. I don’t think they were born into the religion, they were of a certain age which made me doubt their parents were of that religion. Which means that they converted. I made another assumption that they probably thought of themselves as “Christians” before they converted. As so I asked myself, why did they convert? What was promised to them, either about this life or the next? What were they looking for that they couldn’t or didn’t find in church? The book of James said we are drawn away from the faith by our lusts. Were they looking for “power” Or did someone promise them it was a way to escape poverty?

I didn’t speak to them but a thought came to my mind. Maybe they didn’t leave because they were looking for something. Maybe they thought they had found something. Maybe something called to them. They’re not celebrities who didn’t like the truth because it shone a too bright light on their deeds. Maybe they just found something that made them feel like they were something, part of a great plan. One could argue that maybe they if they had truly engaged with Jesus they wouldn’t have converted but I don’t somehow buy that. Unless of course they weren’t going to church.

I understand that for every leader and congregation, there will be a Judas. I also understand that the greater the congregation, the higher the number of Judases to be found. But the interesting thing is that the Judases stay in church and the ones who could be Peter get caught up in the lure presented by some other religion. But the question that I feel we need to ask is, are we doing enough to give people a sense of purpose? Is the church doing enough to help people feel connected to God? Why are people coming to church and not being touched? Are we presenting God accurately? The answers to that might help us show people a more perfect way.  

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

Mix and Match

In the first book of Joshua, God instructs Joshua to meditate on his words and tells him that if he wants to have good success he should continually think on God’s word. Every major religion or faith has its major precepts and one of the major precepts of the faith known as Christianity is the Word of God. Our faith tells us the Holy Bible is God’s word. The Apostle Paul tells us that the word of God is given to us for correction, direction, inspiration. The Bible continually tells us to meditate on God’s word. We understand that Christian meditation involves the internalisation of God’s word by the constant muttering and recitation of the word.

However Christianity is not the only religion that uses meditation. Most, if not all Eastern religions also use meditation. Personally, I believe that meditation no matter the religion in which it is practiced, is all about connecting with something outside of yourself or opening yourself up for something to inhabit you. In essence, I believe that meditation, no matter the way it is practiced is spiritual. You don’t have to be a recognised adherent of a religion or faith to practice it. Therefore I believe you don’t have to be a recognised practicing Buddhist to practice Buddhism. All you need to do is adhere to certain aspects or teachings of the religion. And one of the teachings of Buddhism and most Eastern religions is the use of meditation to find inner balance or peace. Therefore to my mind, when you say you’re a Christian and you’re also meditating the Buddhist way, it means you’re not really sure which religion you’re practising.

Many years ago I listened to a programme where the person with the record for the most days spent without eating was being interviewed. Incidentally, the person was a Buddhist. He had managed to go a hundred days without eating. He had managed to do it by a lot of meditating. Some people would argue that Jesus and a whole host of people in the Bible were able to fast for forty days. Exactly! Which is my point. Jesus and the others had the Holy Spirit. I personally do not believe that a person can voluntarily go that long without food unless he has something or someone aiding him.

David said in the Psalms that God keeps those whose minds are stayed on him in perfect peace. I therefore believe that God’s plan through his word, Spirit and presence is to help people achieve peace and balance in their lives. However he can only help us achieve this when we look to him and not to some New Age mixture of religions. The Bible says that God is peace. Therefore there is really no amount of peace we can search for that we will find outside of him. God is also only a payer away. We don’t need to run to some other god or gods to find him. He lives in us. That’s how close to us he is.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.