Why Did You Get Married?

The Bible tells us in Genesis that after God had created, he Adam then went on to give a name to everything that God had created. However, after he had named everything, he couldn’t find anything out of all that God had created that was like him. He couldn’t find anything that he could establish relationship with. God saw this and said that it was not good for man to be alone. God realised that he needed something or someone like him for him to have relationship with. Even God realised that apart from himself, man need someone else to establish a connection with. He therefore proceeded to cause man to fall into a deep sleep and from the rib he removed from the man, he formed the woman.

I recently came across an opinion piece on CNN where someone opined that there was something wrong with monogamy and that a man did not have it in his nature to be monogamous. It was funny that he didn’t say men and women but just men. It seems he hasn’t learnt anything about political correctness. I must confess that I did not read the reasons he gave for his opinion because I did not consider them worth my time.

There are those who think that there is something wrong with the institution of marriage just as there are those who think that there is something wrong with faith, believing in God. In fact, there are those who think that there is something wrong with everything and everybody else but that there is nothing wrong with them. In their eyes, there are perfect. Or as close to perfect as human beings can come.

I have meditated on these things for a while and I honestly and totally believe that there is nothing wrong with marriage regardless of the empirical, scientific or statistical data that might suggest otherwise. I believe that a man was created to enjoy communion, not only with God, but also with a woman and not many women. I have come to the conclusion that the problem is not with these institutions. The problem is with us. And our nasty, terrible desires. And egos. And the feeling of being trapped. Marriage is all about expecting the best from imperfect and selfish men and women. The problem is not with the institution, the problem is with those who use it. Nothing God instituted is wrong or has a problem.

Like Myles Munroe said, the only way to know the purpose of a thing is to either ask the manufacturer or read the manual that came along with it. A lot of people think marriage is all about free sex. Other think marriage is all about having children. Others think that marriage is about making themselves happy. Others think marriage is a necessary evil, bondage, something to be endured. That’s because nowadays we have lost the essence of marriage. One of the most truthful things about marriage I have heard is that marriage is always about service. Marriage is not something you go into looking to be served. You go into marriage to serve your partner. To see that their needs are met because you love them. If you meet their needs, they will respond in love. And you'll find joy and happiness. It’s as simple as that.

Why I Think George Zimmerman Is Guilty

Trayvon Martin is dead. The man who shot and killed him, George Zimmerman is a free man, acquitted of all charges by a jury comprised of six wise women who are his peers. They say they acquitted him after considering all the facts in light of the stand your ground law in Florida. The people of Sandford and the state of Florida have in effect told us that George Zimmerman lawfully and legally killed Trayvon Martin because Zimmerman was afraid for his life. They have told us that Goerge Zimmerman did the right thing in shooting to death an unarmed seventeen year old boy. What this means is that Trayvon Martin was at fault for his own death. As I write, Trayvon Martin’s parents are still searching for justice for their slain son. Whether they will ever find it is extremely unlikely.

Zimmerman’s lawyers took pains to stress that there was no racial profiling involved in their client’s decision to accost Martin. According to them, Martin was wearing a hoodie and therefore looked suspicious. The hoodie apparently was the favourite attire of gang members in the area so Zimmerman honestly felt that Martin was out to commit a crime. This is beyond belief. A top with a hoodie is an article of clothing and nothing more. A lot of colleges and high schools in America issue tops with hoodies with the college logo to their students. Some of my favourite bands like Kutless sell tops with hoodies as band merchandise. Are we then saying that because a top with a hoodie is the favourite attire of gang members then anyone who wears one must be a gang member? In my personal opinion, I do not believe it was the hoodie alone that lead to Zimmerman deeming that Martin looked suspicious. It is my personal opinion and belief that it was Martin’s colour in conjunction with the hoodie that led to him being accosted.

Whether or not Zimmerman racially profiled Martin is something we’ll probably never know. While racism is a terrible thing, President Obama has recently spoken of his own experiences of racism as an African American so it’s nothing new. For me, the issue of race though important, is not the most essential aspect of the case. In life, we are given different instructions and we are expected to obey them. A child is instructed by the parents not to speak to or accept a gift from strangers. We are told to look left, right and left again when crossing the street. A soldier in Afghanistan or a policeman in New York knows that obeying an instruction could be the difference between him living or dying or putting his colleagues at risk. Forget about the gung-ho policeman in Lethal Weapon who won’t wait for back up because he doesn’t want the bad guys to escape or he wants the glory. That’s a film. In real life, not waiting for back up could be fatal. In life, an instruction is not meant for your safety alone. It’s also meant for the safety of the other people involved. I'm sure no pedestrian wants to be the reason why a motorist swerves into building or wraps his car around a lamp post.

We all know that Zimmerman was told by the police not to get out of his car or accost Martin. He did both. I personally have not heard anything about the number of robberies, murders, burglaries or muggings that Zimmerman personally stopped by reporting suspicious individuals or accosting them. So why did Zimmerman leave his car to accost Martin? Did he have some super hero complex? It’s likely he did. Did he think he could over power Martin if things got rough? Maybe he thought so. But I don’t think those were the main reason. In my personal opinion, the main reason Zimmerman stepped out of his car that fateful night was because he was packing. He had a gun and he knew how to use it. The question then is, did Zimmerman leave the safety of his with the express intention of killing Martin? No, I personally do not think so. However, by his own admission, he thought Martin looked suspicious. Zimmerman stepped out of his car that night and took his gun with him. In my personal opinion, he took the gun with him because somewhere at the back of his mind, he had every intention of using the gun if the need arose.

A juror in the matter has told us about how the jury felt Zimmerman feared for his life. I must state here that I find Juror-B37’s references to Martin and Jentzel repugnant in the extreme. I also find it strange that she seems to have a very friendly outlook toward Zimmerman evidenced by the way she kept referring to him by his first name. In my opinion, Zimmerman set off the chain of events which culminated in Martin’s death when he disobeyed the instruction of the police and stepped out of his car. He would not have had to be afraid for his life if he had just stayed in the car. For me, at that point, he became guilty of the death of Martin.

If Zimmerman was a policeman or a member of any of the armed forces, he would probably face some internal administrative panel to answer for his disobedience. Unlike what happened in court, I doubt if he would have got off so lightly. But he’s not. So he walks away a free man without any care in the world or having to answer to anybody for his actions. The state of New York via its Supreme Court told us child pornography is not a crime. Now the state of Florida in conjunction with Sandford have told us loud and clear that it doesn’t matter if you kill an unarmed seventeen year old boy, even if you were the one that initiated the confrontation that led to the boy’s death as long you were afraid for your life.

Dr. Mike Murdoch is one of the greatest teachers with regard to understanding and applying wisdom to everyday living. According to him, the instructions you obey determine your future. By disobeying an instruction, Zimmerman cut short Martin’s life. However, he has created a future for himself. He will forever be known as the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in cold blood. I hope that’s something he can live with.

God Is Not Ashamed Of Oprah (He's Also Not Ashamed of You, So Why Are You ashamed of Him?)

I vividly remember watching an episode of the now defunct Oprah talk show where Oprah Winfrey talked about why she couldn’t worship God as revealed in the Holy Bible. She had opened her Bible one day and had come across one of the various places in the Bible where God was referred to as a “jealous” God. According to her, she based her rejection of God on the fact that there must be something wrong with a God who is creator of the heavens and the earth and yet is plagued by such petty human emotions like jealousy. I have also heard of other people, mainly celebrities like Oprah, who have rejected the God as portrayed in the Old Testament. In these days of political correctness they say they are appalled by the violence portrayed there. They would have liked to write their own Bible but since they can’t, they have rejected God and the Bible and created their own god and have their own rules (which owe nothing to the Bible). Then there are those who are controlled by their desires who see the Bible as nothing but a rule book which consists of do’s and don’ts and are turned off by that. (Is that really what we’ve made them believe?). They have also gone on to make up their own rules as they go. At times, they choose and pick the parts of the Bible they like. The especially like the parts which talk about God loving people as a justification of some of the base desires they have and they reject the other parts. Especially the parts they don’t understand because they don’t want to understand it. The funny thing however is that even though they’ve rejected God and the Bible and are ashamed of both, some of these people like to refer to themselves as “Christian”.

I must confess, I really don’t think much of political correctness. I also haven’t really given much thought to the violence, blood and gore of the Old Testament. They have a problem with a God who takes sides to unleash war on others. For me, the events in the Bible are not things to justify or repudiate or second guess. They were things that happened. Mine is to learn a lesson from the stories about God’s dealings with the nation of Israel and to come to a knowledge and understanding of God from those stories. God’s part is to reveal himself, mine is to see the revelation and believe. I understand that there are those who like to question everything because it gives them a sense that they’re cerebral and rational human beings which in turn is linked to a sense of pride in their own abilities and competencies. They feel a sense of pride in the fact that they’re too smart to believe. That’s not my brief. The people who are turned off by the violence forget that it all happened in a day and time when war was the only way territory and a place to call your own were won. Till today, wars are still being fought. I really haven’t heard any one of those people complain that much about the wars America is fighting. No one can deny that America has always insisted that any war it gets into must be for its own strategic interest. We’ve had wars in Iraq (the first and second parts), Afghanistan, and Vietnam where America was the main aggressor. The usual claim is that these incursions are to help keep American’s safe. That means it’s okay if America fights wars to keep its citizens safe as long as they keep God out of it.

We understand from Genesis that God made man in his own image and after his likeness. It therefore means that the emotions we experience are from God himself. To give an analogy, if I were able to clone a woman and all I wanted was for her to love me and me alone, yet I gave her free will to choose whether or not to love me and she went chasing after other men or things instead of me, I would be angry too. But God’s main emotion when we go chasing after other things is sadness. The Oxford Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary defines the word jealous in relation to God as “(of God) demanding faithfulness and exclusive worship.” I believe that captures the essence of it. God is not jealous in a negative way with dark, nasty thoughts. But his jealousy is one motivated by love when a creator sees his creation going astray and not fulfilling the reason for which it was created.

John 3:16 tells the whole story of the Bible in a few words. God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to the earth to die for us. Hebrews 4:15 says that we do not have a high priest which “cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are; yet without sin.” I don’t know about you but I’m grateful that God came down to know what it’s like to be me. I also like the fact that God is relational with me. He feels the things I feel. He knows where I sit. I know God is not ashamed of me because the Bible tells me that he loves me. 1 John 4:19 says we are able to love him because he first loved us. Why should I should I be ashamed of someone who loved me enough to send his only son to die for me? God is not ashamed of me (neither is he ashamed of Oprah for that matter. He loves all of his creation). And I’m not ashamed of him either.

The Power Is Yours (Use It)

While meditating on the story of Moses, I realised there were certain similarities between his story and that of Gideon, Joshua and practically everyone that God has ever used whose story is recorded in the Bible. It starts with the called man who has just been intimated with God's will of how he intends him to use him to bring salvation to a certain people, usually the children of Israel. The man makes known his feeling of inadequacy and asks God how he is to accomplish the task God has set before him. God tells him "I will be with you." That usually settled the matter. The man would then go on to do amazing feats and exploits. But the fact is that he did them because God backed him up. That was in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, we understand that Jesus is the express image of God. In Matthew, as he was about to ascend back to God, Jesus promised the disciples he was going to send the Holy Spirit. He then gave a charge, a command to them. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matt 28:19-20). In the above verses, Jesus follows God's example and gives us a command, telling us to into all the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things he has taught in his word. He then promises, not be with us, but that he is always with us.

I read a post on Facebook from Reinhard Bonke. He talked about how Christians want to have a feeling of power before they move to do what God expects of them. He said that the Holy Spirit is like potential energy. You won't feel him till you actually get up to do something bigger than you that you require his power for. I recently read Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience. In it, she talked about an American woman, Katie Davies who has lived in Uganda for the past seven years. Katie was a student president and home coming queen in high school. But on leaving high school at 17, she travelled to Uganda to care for the less privileged and she has been there ever since. At 24, she is a mother to 13 Ugandan orphans and runs an organisation that raises money to help ensure that poor families do not have to give up their children. She documents her life and experiences in a blog called Kisses For Katie.

Most Christians seem to think that all God exists for is to meet their needs. There are things that God wants us to accomplish. While God and the Holy Spirit will always be with us as a sign that God is committed to us, I believe that God is even more committed to those who are actually doing what he has called them to do. I believe that God is less committed to making our dreams come true than he is to making his will and plan for our lives come to pass. He has given us a commandment through Jesus. We need to get off our butts and stop waiting to feel powerful. The Holy Spirit is waiting us to get moving and fulfil our own part of God's grand plan. If you're thinking that you're not good enough, then you're in good company. Just ask Moses. Or Gideon.

What is it that God has called you to do? What are you waiting for?



JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelso Publishers http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND published on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DPLLEUQ/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

G. K. Chesterton on Christianity

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“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.” – ILN, 7/16/10

“If there were no God, there would be no atheists.” – Where All Roads Lead, 1922

“There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions.” – ILN, 1/13/06

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” – Chapter 5, What’s Wrong With The World, 1910

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

J

The Myth of Equality (And The Tyranny of Progress)

The mantra on everyone's lips nowadays is that of equality. In everything there must be equality. Even where it is clear that equality has nothing to do with it, equality is used as a yardstick. The crazy notion of equality has also crept into the church. Last year, the Anglican Church in England held it's General Synod and voted against the ordination of women bishops. Comments that I read before and after the vote baffled me. In the end I had to come to the conclusion that the Anglican Church is seen as something of a club both by the media and even its members. I asked myself, whatever happened to having a calling? What happened to being led by God through the Holy Spirit? I am extremely baffled by the people who think that any change in culture automatically equals to some sort of progress.

Equality is a myth and when you chase a myth you end up creating confusion. What people should be looking at is what is just and fair. However in a world where everyone has the wrong idea of what should be and equality is the new fad, trouble is inevitable. I love sport, especially tennis. Thanks to people like Serena Williams and the world media, all the major tennis organisations now give equal prize money. The myth is that the men and the women do the same work. I disagree. If I were to randomly pick a hundred men and women, and ask them which match-up they would prefer to watch, a Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal contest or a Serena Williams/Caroline Wozniacki contest, I'm sure over 90 per cent of the people would want to watch the Federer/Nadal contest. The only people who might want to watch the female match-up would be Americans because of some strange sense of patriotism. That tells me that they are not equal. Especially when the men play five sets and the women three.

If you really want to push the idea of equality, you would find out that the women would be the losers. If all the tennis grand slams deecided that the women should also play five sets, or the army decided that women had to do the same number of push ups and run the same number of miles as the men, the women would find it extremely hard to cope. We only push for "equality" when it suits us. We all heard about how Navy SEAL Team 6 found Osama Bin Laden and assassinated him. How many women were part of the team?

The world has been gripped by the equality fever but the Church must stand firm. We are followers of Christ and we must not be ashamed to admit that we play by a different set of rules. It may offend people, even some who say they are Christians, but Christians but Christianity is not about equality. I have looked through my Bible and the God I love and who loves me is not a God of equality. He is a God of justice. Justice is different from equality. Equality is about what you want. Justice is about what you deserve. And not just because of you or what you've done. God's justice is based on who he is and his love for us.

 

Happy New Year (And Wait On God)

Happy New Year everyone. It is my earnest prayer that this year, we will come to know God, and his power, in a more intimate way. I pray that the Spirit and life behind the Word and the Spirit of prayer and intercession will move us greatly this year.

There might be the temptation for a lot of us to look back at the year that has just ended and conclude that there is nothing to be grateful for. There were probably quite a lot of things we were believing God for (or one important thing) and we didn’t get to see it and so some of us are probably disappointed. You’re not alone. I also thought last year was the year in which I would get a literary agent who would agree to represent me and would offer me a representation contract (is that what they are called?). I thought that after a little while, the major Christian publishing houses would be breaking down my door in order to get my signature on a publishing contract. Did any of that happen? No. I wrote a lot of book proposals and I got a lot of rejection letters. There were even more literary agents who didn’t even bother replying so all I got was silence. Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I giving up? No. Why? Because I know what I believe about what God has said to me. What the whole thing has taught me is patience.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 4 that “a living dog is better than a dead lion.” As long as there is breath in our lungs, we should live in hope. Especially if we believe that we know what God has said about the particular situation we are trusting him for. I have told myself that I am going to send a book proposal to every literary agent under the sun who represents Christian writers until I find one who will represent me. I believe that I have a good story (at least one of the agents has told me she likes certain aspects of it. I have been waiting for word from her superior) so I believe that there must be someone out there who will like it and will be ready to represent me. And I believe this is the year.

So if you are thinking of quitting, thinking of giving up, let it not be today my friends. We need to keep on going because tomorrow just might be the day. We should have it always in our thoughts that God has our best interests at heart. We might not always get the things we want but he will give us the things we need. And as the Kutless song says, Even If we don’t get the things we think we should have, we should still praise and worship Him because he is worthy. Let’s stick close to Him this year. I believe there are a lot things He wants to say to us. We should not let our circumstances or situations drown out his voice.

What are things we are believing for this year?