Spread these around, would ya.

Don't be afraid of the dark

I got another one of those emails this morning that claim that Obama is not just a Muslim, but also the Antichrist. This time I think my response is a little less vitriolic, tying to "speak the truth in love," and as usual, hit "reply all." This time someone send me back another email saying "I don't need to be preached to." Ever hearing and never listening, whatchyagonna do? But God says that His Word will not return to Him empty. People will believe what they want to believe. God help us.


"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..."
~1 John 4:18

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me." ~Jesus (John 14:1)

You want to vote against someone because of their stance on taxes, abortion, or the war, by all means, it is you duty to vote your conscience, but please, don't let your vote be decided by desperate last minute rumors and lies driven by fear or anger.

An anti-Christ is anyone who takes attention away from the true Christ.

Check out 1 John 4:1-3 (the same John who wrote Revelation)

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."

Obama publicly acknowledges Jesus as his Lord and savior.

Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit." ~1 Cor 12:3

Please, prayerfully consider what emails you send, and what you believe and who (and in what spirit) they sent it to you. Or at least please take me off of your list of people you forward these things to.

I for one am praying that God will heal our country from the huge rifts being caused by how polarizing this year's election has become.

"But I tell you:Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" ~Matthew 5:44

Seems to me that whether your perceived enemy are Liberals, Democrats, Obama, or Muslims or Muslim extremists, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces and the way to take captive hearts and thoughts is not by traditional dirty politics or letters to the editor or angry emails, but by prayer and by turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, giving them the cloack off our back (Matt 5:38-48)

In Jesus' hands and with His love and peace (Philippians 4:7)
Your brother in Christ and fellow American who respectfully disagrees with you.

Feeling ostracized?

"It's difficult to be odd in a culture of sameness. Society is not kind to the odd, the strange, the different, the broken, and the outcast. But Jesus is. Sophisticated culture doesn't like aliens and rejects. But Jesus likes us. Most people would not choose odd people, but Jesus chooses us.

"I wonder how many of us have turned away from Jesus, given up any hope of the spiritual life because we don't fit, because we aren't like everyone else, and because our Christianity seems so different and strange from the rest of the church's. I wonder if we realize how anxious Jesus is to reach out and walk with us arm in arm."

~Mike Yaconelli

Fear and Loathing

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..."
~1 John 4:18

"Fear always springs from ignorance." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater." -George Washington Carver

“Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.” Albert Camus

What are we afraid of? Muslims? Gays? Mexicans? Iran? A black President? Losing our "way of life?"

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me." ~Jesus (John 14:1)

When it is genuine, when it is born of the need to speak, no one can stop the human voice. When denied a mouth, it speaks with the hands or the eyes, or the pores, or anything at all. Because every single one of us has something to say to the others, something that deserves to be celebrated or forgiven by others.

- Eduardo Galeano,
The Book of Embraces

Strange Fruit and Sour Grapes

When I take a look at Galatians 5:19-26, God convicts me.

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

I may not be immoral or impure (although at least one person has all but accused me of debauchery by implying that I must be teaching school children “liberal” values, when in fact all I teach them about lines and shapes and colors). I may not be a drunk or attend orgies, but I suppose that what I draw and write contributes to discord, factions, and dissent. I don't engage in witchcraft (I don’t even read the horoscopes), but I do get in such a rage about what I perceive as other people’s idolatry, that it may just be becoming a form of idolatry for me. And I suppose that to dream about someday becoming a professional political cartoonist or writer is a vain, selfish-ambition.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Lately I've been dealing with irritation, depression, frustration, sarcasm, crabbiness, loneliness, and apparently a vitriol writing style. So I know that I'm not bearing good fruit. So maybe when I look at 1 John, this whole election is an antichrist for me. I've always dreamed of becoming a political cartoonist and/or columnist, I swore that's what God made me to be. But it seems like it's worse than being an alcoholic or a philanderer.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

So, I guess, while being a Christian may or may not preclude voting for democrats- at least for me, maybe God doesn’t want me to be a political columnist or cartoonist. Heaven forbid I should offend anyone!

I never meant to hurt anyone, just make them think. I hope you know that I don’t just “spread lies” or make smears. I actually research my columns and genuinely feel that what I write is as honest and helpful as I can make it. I realize that sometimes I may be wrong and there will always be people who disagree with me with good reason.

If you’re worried about what you consider inexperience, or if you’re so uncomfortable with Obama’s positions on given issues, so be it. I completely respect you decision not to vote for him. And I hope that we can agree to disagree and continue to be friends and respect each other and seek the myriad of things on which we agree.

But it feels like again and again, that people don’t just disagree with me, but consider me morally inferior or spiritually anathema- somehow subhuman. I feel hurt, lonely and resentful that fellow Christians would think that I should be silenced because my political opinions don’t align with theirs. I’m feeling a lot of anguish over giving up writing and cartooning. And it boggles my mind that smart, well meaning people don’t see some of the same things that I see and aren’t just as outraged by them.

As a result, I am plagued with doubt, about our democratic system, about the body of Christ, and about my place in both of them. So here I am wresting with these issues in public, airing my dirty laundry on the web for all to see. If you have no pity for me at all, please at least pray for me. I’m lost, without purpose or value.

When will the truth finally set us free?

Recently someone forwarded an email to me warning that Barack Obama is the Antichrist because the book of Revelation says that his reign will be 42 months, the same as a U.S. Presidential term. Big mistake. I hit the "reply" button and preached that brother a sermon. Here's what I wrote:

It's not possible for the book of Revelation to claim the anti-christ is of Islamic decent, 1) Islam wasn't invented yet when it was written, 2) it's a religion not an ethnicity so you can't be of Islamic decent.

An anti-Christ is anyone who takes attention away from the true Christ.

I suggest you read the 1 John 4:1-3

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."

Obama publicly acknowledges Jesus as his Lord and savior.

While you're at it, you need to bone up on your both your theology and your eschatology a little bit. Many fundamentalist strains of Christianity believe in a false doctrine called dispensationalism that is not truly found in Scripture, but rather was developed in 19th century America.

You're trying to frighten Christian voters into being afraid of Barak Obama, a devout Christian himself- not a Muslim or the anti-christ. This is NOT a Christ-like behavior.

1 John 4:18 tells us that "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Besides, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

What you're doing is "the ends-justifies-the-means." You're so afraid of Obama yourself, that you're willing to spread lies and propaganda about him to insure that McCain/Palin win. That's not Jesus- that's Machiavelli.

Dispensationalists pretend to be friends of Israel because they think that Jerusalem will be some kind of celestial star-gate for Jesus' second coming, when in reality they are anti-semitic, hating Jews and blaming them for killing Jesus. They can't wait for them to be "Left-Behind" and sent to Hell. Whereas, granted, Jesus may be the only way, truth and life (John 14:6) BUT- God does not WANT ANYONE to perish (2 Peter 3:9).

It's so unfortunate that politics makes such strange bedfellows because Catholics that are so adamantly opposed to abortion find quick and fervent allies among fundamentalist and evangelicals in the religious-right movement, yet many of these allies suspect the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church itself of being the Antichrist and/or the Beast!

How do we know that Jerusalem won't be a cosmic star gate for his arrival to usher in some millennial reign? Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:22-24 that His true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth, not in physical, geographical or political locations.

As for predictions and prophecies and televangelists who think that the market crash is a sign of the end times or Sarah Palin's prediction that Christians will find refuge from the tribulation in Alaska- Jesus tells us that he will return like a thief in the night in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and in Matthew 24:36 He assures us that "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." We need to love and trust Him and not worry about signs or trying to help arrange things for Him politically. He doesn't need any help.
I know you mean well and I'm sure you truly love God and America, I'm sure you're a good person. But be careful not to be corrupted by politics and political messages, whether they're from the right OR the left. Don't be motivated by fear or anger. Be motivated by love and a desire to reconcile everyone to Jesus.

As God tells us in 2 Peter-
" 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."
Thank God, He's granted us liberty and privilege to elect our own leaders in the United States. If you want to vote solely on social issues that are important to you so be it. This is your right. But please, don't be frightened into any choice based on shoddy theological assertions of people who seek to use religion as a means to assert their political agendas.

Remember Galatians 3:28- "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Guess what- there is neither Republican nor Democrat, Independent nor Libertarian, Black nor White, Asian nor Hispanic, Urban nor Suburban, Metropolitan nor Rural, either. Believe it or not, there ARE Liberal Democrats who LOVE Jesus and America and want what's best for everyone. I'll even bet that when we get to Heaven, we might just find a few Socialists, Communists, and even Anarchists there!

When will we ever live up to our motto? "E Pluribus Unum"- From many, one.

Soon, I pray.

Please forgive me if I've come off as angry or condescending in either of these emails. I happen to love Jesus and to love America and I have been wounded and persecuted and attacked and alienated and ostracized and doubted, slandered and shunned because I disagree with other Christians who watch Fox News more than they read their own Bibles and I feel like I have to either take a stand like Luther or gradually be pushed away from my Savior by His own "sheep."

Please forgive me, but please, please, don't fall prey to fear, lies, or political propaganda, let alone to false prophecies, false doctrines, and foolish heresies. Read the Bible, not political email forwards. Share God's love and His good news of forgiveness, not fear and racism.

Doom, Dispair, and Agony on Me...

Sex, Politics, Religion...and money!

Beyond privacy, however, I’ve always harbored a suspicion that American Christians don’t readily discuss money because we might betray the fact that capitalism is really an alternative God. And, that pretty much on a regular basis, we violate the first commandment, “Do not have any gods before me.”

Read the entire article here

Re: Fw: A trivia questioin in Sunday School....

PS- How do we know that Jerusalem won't be a cosmic star gate for his arrival to usher in some millennial reign? Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:22-24 that His true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth, not in physical, geographical or political locations. 

As for predictions and prophecies and televangelists who think that the market crash is a sign of the end times or Sarah Palin's prediction that Christians will find refuge from the tribulation in Alaska-  Jesus tells us that he will return like a thief in the night in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and in Matthew 24:36 He assures us that "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." We need to love and trust Him and not worry about signs or trying to help arrange things for Him politically. He doesn't need any help.

Thank God, He's granted us liberty and privilege to elect our own leaders in the United States. If you want to vote solely on social issues that are important to you so be it. This is your  right. But please, don't be frightened into  any choice based on shoddy theological  assertions of people who seek to use religion as a means to assert their political agendas.

Remember Galatians 3:28- "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Guess what- there is neither Republican nor Democrat, Independent nor Libertarian, Black nor White, Asian nor Hispanic, Urban nor Suburban, Metropolitan nor Rural, either. Believe it or not, there ARE Liberal Democrats who LOVE Jesus and America and want what's best for everyone. I'll even bet that when we get to Heaven, we might just find a few Socialists, Communists, and even Anarchists there!

When will we ever live up to our motto? "E Pluribus Unum"- From many, one.

Soon, I pray.

Please forgive me if I've come off as angry or condescending in either of these emails. I happen to love Jesus and to love America and I have been wounded and persecuted and attacked and alienated and ostracized and doubted, slandered and shunned because I disagree with other Christians who watch Fox News more than they read their own Bibles and I feel like I have to either take a stand like Luther or gradually be pushed away from my Savior by His own "sheep."

Please forgive me, but please, please, don't fall prey to fear, lies, or political propaganda, let alone to false prophecies, false doctrines, and foolish heresies. Read the Bible, not political email forwards. Share God's love and His good news of forgiveness, not fear and racism.
________________________________________________

On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 3:13 PM, Ted Mallory <ted.mallory@gmail.com> wrote:

Not possible for the book of Revelation to claim the anti-christ is of Islamic decent, 1) Islam wasn't invented yet when it was written, 2) it's a religion not an ethnicity so you can't be of Islamic decent.

An anti-Christ is anyone who takes attention away from the true Christ.

I suggest you read the 1 John 4:1-3

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."

Obama publicly acknowledges Jesus as his Lord and savior.

While you're at it, you need to bone up on your both your theology and your eschatology a little bit. Many fundamentalist strains of Christianity believe in a false doctrine called dispensationalism that is not truly found in Scripture, but rather was developed in 19th century America.

You're trying to frighten Christian voters into being afraid of Barak Obama, a devout Christian himself- not a Muslim or the anti-christ. This is NOT a Christ-like behavior.

1 John 4:18 tells us that "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Besides, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

What you're doing is "the ends-justifies-the-means." You're so afraid of Obama yourself, that you're willing to spread lies and propaganda about him to insure that McCain/Palin win. That's not Jesus- that's Machiavelli.

Dispensationalists pretend to be friends of Israel because they think that Jerusalem will be some kind of celestial star-gate for Jesus' second coming, when in reality they are anti-semitic, hating Jews and blaming them for killing Jesus. They can't wait for them to be "Left-Behind" and sent to Hell. Whereas, granted, Jesus may be the only way, truth and life (John 14:6) BUT- God does not WANT ANYONE to perish (2 Peter 3:9).

It's so unfortunate that politics makes such strange bedfellows because Catholics that are so adamantly opposed to abortion find quick and fervent allies among fundamentalist and evangelicals in the religious-right movement, yet many of these allies suspect the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church itself of being the Antichrist and/or the Beast!

I know you mean well and I'm sure you truly love God and America, I'm sure you're a good person. But be careful not to be corrupted by politics and political messages, whether they're from the right OR the left. Don't be motivated by fear or anger. Be motivated by love and a desire to reconcile everyone to Jesus.

As God tells us in 2 Peter-
" 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."

________________________________________________
Ted's Cartoons
http://tedstoons.blogspot.com

On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 2:37 PM, Dwight Masters <mastamdt@pionet.net> wrote:

 

 

We are still a christian nation but the anti christ looms over us , we need to be on our guard as we do not know who he is or when he
will come. 

---

 

 

All I can say is 'Lord, Have mercy on us!' This will make you re-think: A Trivia question in Sunday School: How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?   Revelations Chapter 13 tells us it is 42 months, and you Know  what that is. Almost  a four-year term of a Presidency.   All I can say is 'Lord, Have mercy on us!' According to the Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is: The anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, Who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, And have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says That people will flock to him and he will promise false hope And world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything.   Do we recognize this description?   I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to post this as many times As you can! Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or Media outlet do it!   I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came Out of nowhere.   From: Dr. John Tisdale    Dear Friends,   As I was listening to a news program last night, I watched In horror as Barack Obama made the statement with pride. . 'We are no longer a Christian nation; we are now a nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, . . .' As with so many Other statements I've heard him (and his wife) make, I never Thought I'd see the day that I'd hear something like that From a Presidential Candidate in this nation.  To think our Fore Fathers fought and died for the right for our nation to Be a Christian Nation--and to have this man say with pride That we are no longer that.  How far this nation has come From what our founding fathers intended it to be.   I hope that each of you will do what I'm doing now--send Your concerns, written simply and sincerely, to the Christians on your e-mail list.  With God's help, and He is Still in control of this nation and all else, we can show This man and the world in November that we are, indeed, Still a Christian nation! Please pray for our nation!

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Nicknames

Trying to "Be still."

I think I'm going to go on hiatus for a while.

I have some new stuff that are posted as drafts that will pop up on here in the next couple of days, but frankly I think I'm ready to just hang it up.

Maybe I'm too much of a blue-stater living in about as red a district as they get and I'm tired of being a mutant, weirdo, pariah. Maybe if I quit writing and cartooning I can just try to fit in.

There was a time I thought God wanted me to be a pastor, but that didn't come to pass. For a brief moment, I thought He wanted me to become a small newspaper publisher, but that didn't happen. I've yearned to be a political columnist and/or cartoonist, but I think He's asking me to sacrifice those dreams in submission to Him.

Only two high school kids ever come to the Bible study that I teach and now those two are helping the younger kids during Sunday School. I don't know if I'm that boring or if too many people in our community think I'm immoral or something because of my political leanings of if I'm just a scary wacko because I'm too opinionated about too many things or what. All I know is I can only cajole, coax, and exhort kids to come so much for so long.

St. Paul warned plenty of times against factions and divisions among believers. So maybe I shouldn't be rocking the boat so much. I love the Lord and His Word and hate when it's corrupted or abused for selfish reasons.

Just like Isaiah in chapter 6, I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

But the thing is, people are "ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving.'

Their hearts are hard and they only hear what they want to hear.

I ask God Psalm 13:2, "How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?"

People rant and rave against abortion as if it were the only sin and the greatest sin and as if there weren't more to being a Christian except opposing abortion, opposing homosexuality and opposing evolution. But I've heard the teenager who'd been molested by a relative talk about how they're not sure they can keep believing in God because these people who call themselves Christians don't care and can't see.

So I'm done. Lord, if I'm really so wrong and all these voices that are so loud and so strong are right. Then forgive me and change me, but I can't deal with this burning in my bones anymore. It makes me a werewolf, feared, hated, misunderstood and judged. Take it away from me. Make me silent and submissive like Winston Smith at the end of 1984 only without having to face the rats or betray Julia first. Take away my opinions, Lord. I'd rather conform and blend in. No one listens to me and no one agrees with me.

Jesus, if Machiavelli is our true messiah, if Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin are your true disciples, than I may as well surrender to you anyway. I'd rather be numb and oblivious. If ignorance is bliss, why can't I be ignorant?

Anyway, I give up. Perhaps if He does make me a new creation like He promises, this blog will someday become active again, in some different form. But for now, I need to go cold turkey. I hope I can.