Ephesians 6:12 ASV

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

I have a bit to say today to those that would use the name of Jesus to promote their worldly plans. I speak to those that are left and right, democrat or republican. I have this to say to you.

Jesus was neither a democrat or a republican.

Jesus is not interested in legally shutting down businesses or entertainment.

Jesus is not interested in Cash for Clunkers or your health care schemes.

Jesus had one mission, to open our hearts to God and by dying for our sins, saving us all. Period.

Many leaders, politicians, and so called spiritual leaders today try to say that Jesus would support this or that plan, program, or party. This is total bunk, and actually perverting the message of Jesus for worldly power and gains. This, my valuable readers and fellow pirates, is serious.

People that make arguments like this need to seriously look into their relationship with Christ. Others that have no real relationship, but claim to have one, then make these arguments are actually the folks that Jesus himself warned us to be vigilant and on guard against.

Jesus was man, but Jesus was also God. He came to us with one singular purpose. To give us our get out of hell free card. He did this by giving us the ultimate gift, grace. He did this by taking all of our burdens on to himself and died a horrifying death, for us!

Jesus did not get caught up in the politics of the day. He cared not one bit what the leaders of the world were doing. He had a message that we all need to rise above this world and look for our treasures in God.

Jesus did heal the sick and feed the poor. He did that through compassion and love. There is no compassion or love when it comes to government. Compassion can’t be taken at the point of a gun and then redistributed. Compassion can only come from real people showing real love for others.

When Jesus fed the hungry, he did not call upon the leaders of the day to distribute and coordinate. When he healed, he did not do so by building an overbearing bureaucracy and health care program. As I recall, he did not ask for, or endorse, any state assistance in the endeavor.

These things are of the world, and we deal with them as such. Until we pass away from this world we are required to have a foot in the workings of the world. As Christians, we must do this with our eye on the real prize, that being the love of Christ and our duty to share that love with others.

Our duty is not to distort and destroy the message of the Lord to get our way, or to promote our political agenda. This world is transitory, politics is even more so. Only grace, and our relationship with the Lord, is forever.

We tend to get caught up in the day to day. We tend to get caught up in the immediate pleasures and temptations of the world. We tend to get caught up in trying to build systems and processes to change this world.

Jesus cares about none of these things. He does have an edge on us, being God and all. He knows heaven, he knows what awaits us, he created it. We have to go with faith. We have to deal with the day to day and the temptations. What is the old joke? All Christians want to go to heaven, but they don’t necessarily want to die to get there. It is easy to get caught up in the temptations, machinations, and politics of this world as it is all we know. This makes it doubly important to keep our hearts and souls above it all. Live in this world while we have to, but know we are on a path to greater things.

The trick is to do this day to day living without dragging our savior into our tiny, worldly lives. He is here to claim our souls, not to get us subsidized lattes, big screen TV’s, or state provided anything. Remember, we are talking about the guy that spent 40 days in the desert, fasting, and then kicked Satan’s tempting butt as an afterthought. Maybe a bit of a showoff, yes, but you have to love his style.

Let’s look at some of Jesus’ interactions with the powers and people of his day.

Matthew 2:18-20 NIV

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come follow me,” Jesus said, ” and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Just for good measure Jesus pulled the stunt again right after that in Matthew 21-22 with James and John, with the same conclusion. Now, these were fishermen, family businessmen if you will. The fish they caught would have not only fed their family, but others as well, along with boosting the economy and the local markets and generate some tax revenues. Jesus however had bigger and better plans for them. He cared not about the local markets or chamber of commerce, he cared about saving souls, and these men were to be put to better use in that service. Jesus was a single minded chap, for that we can all be thankful.

So how about Pilate?

Matthew 27: 11-14 NIV

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

See, Jesus had bigger things on his mind. It was over by that point. Jesus was on a single purpose path to take our sins off of our shoulders and lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven. The justice of the world, the day’s politics, answering those that accused him, none of that mattered a bit. It is a bit hard to lower yourself to the matters of the world when you are dealing with the matter of eternal life for your followers.

Want more? Check out Matthew 22: 15-22 when you get a chance. That pretty much sums up taxes for you.

Remember, no matter how big we think something is here on earth, it is not really that big. Not if you truly trust in Jesus. This life we have now is just our holding pattern. We will get a runway to land eventually, but until then we have to make do. How sad would it be to not get that runway because we were so busy abusing our relation with the Lord while in the holding pattern?

It would be good to keep this in mind. It is only your soul that is at stake.

Pic: Evangelical Lutherin Cemetary by ndemi

I am putting a link to this post as it brings up interesting questions. I can’t help but agree with some points, and I am on the fence about others.

I am not putting this link here to take a side, I am putting it here for you to read and decide for yourself.

Simple enough.

Enjoy,

Eban

The coming evangelical collapse by Michael Spencer

Hola!

I am having a bit of a problem producing my media, which includes posting here on this blog. Two problems actually. Problem one is my lack of time due to my gig as E-commerce Director at Certified Golf. Problem two is a bit more insidious. I want to stop producing media more skewed to the secular world, while not making preachy and non inclusive, non entertaining content.

My role models in this are Theodore Beale, C.S. Lewis, and J, R. Tolkien. Beale’s books, both as Vox Day and his given name, are fearless, fun, and can be entertaining to those of faith or those not of the Faith. I first read his work while away from the Faith myself.

Lewis and Tolkien produced allegorical works that are also enjoyed by the Faithful and Faithless alike.

The thing that does not happen in the work of the above artists is the abandonment of their Christian principles while delivering their art. This has happened in my work, regrettably. It has something to do with the fact that I started RfL while estranged from the Faith. Now, how do I reorder things without losing those that enjoy my content? How do I reach them without going into over-preachy mode?

I am struggling with this right now. I have tried to alter my productions to fit more closely into my Christian beliefs, but I seem to be unable, so far, to do this while making universally enjoyable fare.

You know what I am taking about. I am trying to fit my Beliefs into my work in ways that the message seeps into the viewer, reader, or listener. I do not want to produce anything preachy. Not because I am ashamed of being a Christian. But because I do not want to create media that only preaches to the already converted.

Hell, I don’t want to preach at all. I am in no place to preach. I am just a voyager that wants to share. The key, is to share without turning those that can use the message completely off. I want to produce something that can be enjoyed by atheists, agnostics, pagan, Christian, Jewish, and whatever, alike. (I make no claim to wanting to entertain Scientologists, but if they like it, what the hell, eh? )

I hope I can find that balance. I am really behind in my productions and need to get going. I am praying about this, I know the guidance I need is coming.

I will not produce things that are not in line with my beliefs from now on, but I still need to straddle worlds. There are ominous signs on the horizon. I know each generation sees the ominous signs, but the signs today are a lot more ominous than in the past. This is not the time to turn our backs on those that can still find their way to the Lord.

We have to be in the trenches, we have to understand their plight, we have to show them the way in ways they understand. We have to be the tools for the holy spirit to enter their lives.
And that, in a nutshell, is my challenge right now.

RfL will be a tool for the Lord, the way it, or I , accomplishes this, is just not yet known.

Argh!
Captain Eban

Looking back on the mini-controversy posed here about arguing the Faith, which brought up the existence of proof, I give you a link to Vox’s latest post on evidence. I hope you enjoy reading this take. If you do, why not subscribe to Vox’s blog. You will get his usually on target insight into politics, Faith, economics, and even football.

It is always a good read.

Cheers,

Eban

For more:

To find some of Vox’s books, look under his real name, Theodore Beale. Vox was also part of the 90’s musical Duo known as Psykosonic.

Well, now I have got things running, which means I have time for myself and my projects again. I will be adding new things to the site here shortly.

If you would like to see the Certified Golf web portal, just head over to Ameritech Golf.

It is nice to be back!

Cheers,

Eban

Things have been very busy here at the Raleigh Podquarters, thus, the lack of updates recently. But hey, the busy has been of the good variety, so I am not complaining. I have been blessed with the way things have been working out lately.

On to business.

I just found a book review that will be of interest to readers of Jesus Pirates. The review is at the site, “Challies.com,” and is about a book titled, “Christless Christianity.”

I myself am going to order this book as it documents a trend I have been following recently. The trend to lessen, or remove, Christ from the central position in the Christian Church.

That is disturbing, eh?

Since I have not yet read the book, I will let the review stand without too much comment. Three is one line of the review that I want to point out.

Amazingly, it is not theological liberalism that has drawn the church away from her creed, away from her biblical foundation. Instead, it is a kind of unbearable lightness–a faith that eschews biblical theology in favor of whatever happens to be the flavor of the day. Says Horton, “My argument in this book is not that evangelicalism is becoming theologically liberal but that it is becoming theologically vacuous. … We come to church, it seems, less to be transformed by the Good News than to celebrate our own transformation and to receive fresh marching orders for transforming ourselves and our world

The above sums things up pretty well. Go ahead and check out the review and then pick up your own copy.

Answering a Comment

Jesus Pirates received a comment recently from Violet on the post, “Don’t Argue the Faith, Just Believe.” Violet takes me to task over the post.

I have replied in part in the comments there, but I am going to post a larger rebuttal later today or tomorrow.

I do not in any way disagree with Violet’s comment. I know that may seem a bit odd as she disagreed with my points in the post, but I think it is just a case of using the right tactics with the right people.

My two main goals are creating a community of believers and fostering a site that can help to bring others to the faith. It is the second goal, bringing others to the faith that I was writing about in the post.

When I write about sharing faith with others not yet convinced or ready to accept Christ, I am writing about my own experiences and hardships on the path to accepting Christ. A lot of good meaning and devout believing Christians did more harm than good in trying to get me to come to Christ. It is my goal to point out some of the less effective, and sometimes downright outmoded or dangerous techniques used to share the faith. (a bit about my personal journey is in this post)

If I am in a situation where I am around other believers, or in a discussion with someone open to Christian ideas,  I will respond as Violet lays out in her comment. In these circumstances, it would be hard to categorize these conversations as arguments, though.

When dealing with atheists, non-believers, or the curious and not too sure types, I stick by what I wrote. In these exchanges, it is my main goal to show the love and power of a relationship with Christ. To show them, not tell them. It is my mission to be a conduit of Christs grace to help touch these individuals.

Arguing is the worst form of telling, and telling is so much more trivial than showing. Arguing with these types will only shore up their views and push them further from a possible relationship with Christ. I do not want to ever be the reason someone moves further from the LORD.

Not everyone will come to Christ, I know that. I want to remove as many hurdles as possible, not build new hurdles.

So, I stick to what I wrote. We are here to spread the word and to be swashbucklers for the LORD. Being right is not necessarily a part of doing that. I would rather be humble and help welcome another soul to Christ.

Be on the lookout for an audio post where I go into more detail on this and my own journey, troubles and all.

I do hope we hear from Violet again as she makes a great pirate for Christ! I have an open invitation to her to share and even pen a post. I also extend that invitation to all who are Jesus Pirate crew. Don’t be shy!

Argh,
Eban

Christ, arguing, book review, Christless Christianity, Challies, souls, Faith

Still, I can’t wait to get back home as I miss faith. I am flying back Friday.

I will be back to regular posting next week. I am too slammed right now with all the orientation stuff out here.

So, until next week, say safe and enjoy life!

Argh,

Eban

I ran across a great post at The Higher Calling today. The subject of the post is isolation.

The author, Matt Dickerson, spins a tale that will probably resonate, at least a bit, with many. I know I can relate to parts of his story. The post, “Defeating Isolation,” chronicles Matt’s thoughts after his pastor pointed out that some in his church did not like him and found him standoffish.

The best part of the story though, is how Matt overcame and stayed true to his calling in the LORD. It is a pretty good tale.

Check it out, and have a great evening.

Argh!

Eban

There are some crazy news stories out there, not just about faith matters, but on all topics. It is easy to think, as screamed by Mugatu in the Zoolander film, that we are taking crazy pills.

But, as crazy as the secular stories can get, there is a special place for Christian craziness. From idiotic ramblings, to outright hatred of anything to do with faith, it can get pretty overwhelming.

It does make it easier to see why showing people our faith can get tricky. Think about it. Someone new to their Christian journey, just getting curious, or even those weak in faith, may very well run screaming from the secular attacks.

When dealing with the agnostic, atheist, secular, or pagan types, remember one thing and you will get a lot further. We are all backwoods yokels in their eyes. We are completely averse to any enlightenment. That is their view of us that hold our Christian beliefs dear.

So, I was looking at some news stories today and felt like sharing. I find it best to view these with a sense of humor as a guide.

Atheists Sue President Over National Prayer Day

Okay, really, this is just stupid. We have national days for everything. On my indie music and variety show, Reaching for Lucidity, I had the pleasure of announcing National Hotdog day, seriously. There is a national day for just about everything. Creating national days is how congress justifies their paychecks. It keeps them busy when they should be doing something constructive, like staying out of our lives.

Now, National Hotdog day. You don’t see obese people suing over the celebration of hotdogs, do you?

Atheists are a whacky bunch. They believe so strongly that they need protection from us ruthless Christians that it borders on funny. If their belief in non belief was as strong as they say, this would be a non issue. Really, these guys are seriously threatened by just a bit of opposing thought.

The funny thing is, it is National Prayer Day, not National Agree with a Christian day. But, Christians, and Jews, are the normally targeted groups. This would probably be a non issue if this were National Muslim Prayer Day. Not because atheists love Islam, but because they are afraid of CAIR.

‘Jesus was a Palestinian,’ claims U.S. history text

Check this one out for yourself, it is absolutely insane. I would like to take this moment to say to you, if you are a Christian parent that is trying to raise your kids to love God, then please look into homeschooling or Christian schools. The system has become too stacked against Christians, and peer pressure is horrible. It is so easy to lose your kids to what has become of our education system.

Sidewalk Faith

Talk about the Gospel at your college and what do you get? Possible expulsion? Say it isn’t so.

Unfortunately, it is very much so.

This video from Stoplight is a must see. If this doesn’t get your blood pressure up, the you just might be an atheist.

Well, there are some of the news goodies I ran into today. The challenges to our faith come fast and furious, and we have to be vigilant.

But, not all is bad. I just ordered the new book by Chuck Norris, titled “Black Belt Patriotism,” and it looks to be a great read. I would urge anyone reading this to pick up a copy.

Chuck has a great take on America, and what is going wrong. It is from his faith based view of the world, and Chuck is a believer.

Joseph Farrah has a great review over at World Net Daily. Check it out if you get a chance. Also, you can order a copy from Amazon.com below.

See you next time, and, Argh!

Eban

Hello to all the swashbucklers out there.

I just wanted to drop a line to wish you all a great weekend. Faith and I  are having a BBQ here at Reaching for Lucidity Podquarters today. The temp should be around 79 for a high and a bit of a breeze. In other words, great BBQ weather.

I have been a bit quiet this week, but I am working on some great things for the site to be released soon. This past week I have been job searching. Yes, that is a stressful time, but I had all the faith that the right opportunity would come my way. I was right as it looks like I may have found the perfect position. I will not say more until all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, but it looks good.

I totally left this search in the hands of the LORD, and things have gone oh so well.

As for the stuff coming up, I have several post ideas and I am now researching and working them up, so it is all  good.

I want to send out the call for anyone out there that may have personal stories, or even post ideas, to please share with us. This is going to be a community, at least if it is in God’s plan. So let’s start building.

So, stop reading this now and go have a blessed weekend. Or, if you are new here, read the previous posts,  comment, and be sure to join our newsletter. The signup form is right there in the sidebar. Be a Pirate along with us!

So, signing off for now as that BBQ is not going to cook itself.

Cheers,

Eban

I have found today a bit of a challenge. Nothing necessarily bad, just a challenge. We all have those days where old thoughts or patterns from our previous life creep in. The way to deal with these moments is to turn to scripture, as there all answers are waiting for discovery.

Remember, our walk with the LORD is a joyous experience, but it is not always easy. Learn to turn to the word when those challenging times arrive. After a while, it will become second nature. A habit worth cultivating.

So, what is my challenge today? Well, that is personal, just as your challenges are. They are between me and My savior, Jesus. But I will share a passage that has helped me today, and everyday. It is one of my favorites.

Luke 11:33-36 NIV
33″No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.”

What is a passage that you turn to often? Do you have certain passages that help you through the tough times?

I do hope that you do.

Now, I am off to get back to my day, which is improving by the minute.

Argh,
Eban

Sometimes it seems like people go out of their way to argue, even in the church. I recently saw a disagreement over Bible translations. It is so good that we have all these things to argue about. I mean, it’s not like we have to build our relationships with Christ, show others the power of faith, and take care of our worldly responsibilities as well, right?

Okay, that may have been a bit dramatic.

The truth is, there are some Bible translations that are better than others. Most people choose their personal bible because of the church they attend. I don’t mean to say that some thought, serious thought at that, should not be given to choosing your Bible.

I instead mean that all versions have strengths and weaknesses. Also, looking at our society today, some of the weaker translations may have a place.

Just check out the video to see what I am getting at.

download show below
Video Episode One

I was just browsing the article site, Helium, looking for new marketplace calls for writers. Well, I got sidetracked by one of their debates. Which one? The one titled, “Should One’s Faith Influence a citizen’s Vote?”

Well, first off, let me say the voting at the time I visited was 60% to 40% in favor of voting by faith. That is a bit close for my taste, but still a majority.

It is important to understand that the question does not mean govern by faith, but whether voters should cast votes by faith. I also believe that a leader should govern by his beliefs as well, but that was not the debate offered here.

As a Christian, always let your decisions be led by your faith. Every move you make should be guided by your relationship with God. Yes, we all fall short as we are imperfect sinners, but we should keep striving to make better choices with the word of God as our guide.

Some of the adversarial articles just baffled me. If your belief system is animal rights, do you not vote for animal rights politicians and laws? If athiest, do you not vote for candidates that fit your world view? If you are a card carrying feminist or “Greenie”, do you not vote for feminist or environmentally friendly ideas?

Well, a lot of the writers against voting by faith, all 121 of them, seem to think that voting your beliefs is a bad thing as it may mean using God’s wisdom.

How Crazy is that?

Very crazy. On a secular level, how can you trust someone that will vote against their core beliefs? Would any of the above voter examples vote against their causes and candidates? Not very likely. If they did, would you not question their intentions?

But that is what they expect of Christians.

Here are a few examples from the articles:

When did this country stop being of, by and for the people? Separation of church and state is one of the founding principles of this country. Yet living up to this idea has been one of the most difficult things to accomplish because the waters are continuously muddied by those who use religion to control the minds and behaviors of the masses. Religious faith has devolved to nothing more than blatant mind control because religious leaders have allowed God to be put on the shelf for their own personal gain. Christians have been at the helm of this nation since its beginning. Jesus taught love, peace and forgiveness, yet very little of these attributes are evident in the politics of religion.-Vernelle Nelson

The idea of faith, unfounded, unreliable and superstitious, influencing global geopolitics is such an awful thought it turns my stomach.

Those who decide who to vote for based on notions on faith and/or religion are surely allowing personal reflections on life to stand in the way of important issues; quite often, religious believers demonstrate to the world just how blind and narrow-minded their belief systems can lead them to be.-Harry Lacey

Faith should definitely not be the reasoning behind a vote, no matter on what issue. The reasoning behind this is pretty simple. Not everyone has the same religion, and if everyone began to vote based on their religions, a split would most definitely be created in public life between the different groups.-Danny Mendel

Notice that some are not even arguing the point in question

A lot of the articles are arguing the separation of church and state issue, which does not even exist in the Constitution. The argument of separation of church and state comes from letters by Thomas Jefferson, not governing documents. But that is another issue all together.

The last example above shows the fear, and dare I say, vitriol aimed at those of the Christian faith. This, in my humble opinion, comes from fear. People that believe in nothing, or worse yet, believe everything is relative, and thus there is no concrete right or wrong, are set trembling when faced with people of true belief. I know I was when my faith was at it’s weakest.

You have an obligation, to God

Being a Christian is a hard walk at times. When it is at it’s hardest is when our faith is tested. But that is when we should totally surrender to our Lord for guidance and strength.

As good Christians, our every thought and action should be to celebrate the Lord, and to strengthen our relationship. To walk into a voting booth, which is a very important action, and to not vote in guidance by your Faith is a sin. Plain and simple.

In politics, the silliest thing is when a candidate proclaims faith and love of the Lord, but then goes against Christian principals in their political choices. Turning their back on the Lord and their faith to be re-elected or to gain more power.

Let me tell you this, that power is finite. The power of God is forever.

We, as voters, are a lot more shielded than politicians. We do not have to tell people how we vote. But let me say this, to vote in line with your Christian Principles, but tell others another story to ease your worldly relationships, is being in sin as well. It is a denial of faith.

In Matthew 26: 31-35, Jesus tells Peter that he will deny him three times the evening of his arrest. Then, in Matthew 26: 69-75, this comes to pass. Peter did not want to deny the Lord, but being of the flesh, he had a moment of weakness. We all do this, we can’t help it, we are of the flesh as well. As such, we are imperfect sinners. The goal is to trust in the Lord, and learn to grow in spirit and strength through him. The goal is to get better and stronger everyday.

Take it to heart that we trouble non-believers

Yes, pride is a sin as well, but I can’t imagine that the Lord would deny us just a little bit to be proud that our faith shakes up those without. It scares them that we can find the strength to refuse temptation while they drown in it. I baffles them that they go from feel good fix to fix, but are empty when the fix wears off, while we shun such temporary pleasures and never come off our high of spirit.

Pray to the Lord for strength and guidance when you feel weak. Definately pray before voting, then vote with your belief, not against it. Never deny the Lord. Our reward will be his eternal love and grace.

Hey, that is a pretty big win, is it not?

Argh,

Eban

Later, this would lead to some incredibly dark, and successful movies. Movies steeped in violence and sex. Movies such as Basic Instinct, Showgirls, and Jagged Edge.

During this time, this man was caught in the perpetual party scene. Drinking and smoking until he fell with cancer.

At 56, after having 80 percent of his Larynx removed, the urges did not stop and he was thrown closer to bottoming out. Facing the overwhelming urge for a drink or a smoke, the words, “Please God, Help Me,” came from his lips.

Then followed the peace. The Lord reached out and claimed yet another soul, a true conversion. That is a beautiful thing.

At 56, Joe Eszterhas was called back into the Lord’s grace.

This full story is available in his latest book, Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith, which you can find at the amazon link at the bottom of the page.

Also in the book you will find Joe’s views on the importance of the Eucharist, and how this keeps him in the Catholic Faith even as he has some mistrust of the Church. How his Mega-Church experience left him feeling less than full of Faith. And how he still gets offers to reenter the territory of dark movie scripts, but he stays clear.

Also, how his oncologist used the word “cured” about his throat cancer. That is truly a blessing.

This story also relates one of my strongest beliefs, a belief I based Jesus Pirates on. That belief is that there is nothing that can bring a person to Faith until that person is ready. And when that person is ready, there is nothing that will keep the grace of God from reaching in and taking that soul.

Remember this story the next time you are dealing with someone with darkness in their life. Don’t push them, and by default push them away. Be there for them, no matter what, and when they are ready, share all the grace that you can. Be a channel for God to reach them.

That is a beautiful thing.

Argh,

Eban

Now here is the link to the book

I am working on a post, but have not finished researching and polishing it, so I figured I would post a Psalm that has been on my mind a lot recently.

I hope you find some meaning in the  words as well.

Argh,

Eban

Psalm 70

(NIV)

HASTEN, O God, to save me;

O Lord, come quickly to help me.

May those who seek my life

be put to shame and confusion;

may all who desire my ruin

be turned back in disgrace.

May those who say to  me, “Aha! Aha!”

turn back because of their shame.

But may all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you;

may those who love your salvation always say,

“Let God be exalted!”

Yet I am poor and needy;

come quickly to me, O God.

You are my help and my deliverer;

O Lord, do not delay.

Sometimes it is challenging, that is for sure. But the Lord’s plan is perfect, and thus beyond reproach.

So, why am I finding this challenging right now? Well, I am not really, it is just that things are working out strange for me, and my family this year so far. Weather wise especially.

First was Gustav, which bee-lined me and Faith’s family in Louisiana. When I say direct hit, I mean direct. Luckily, even though most of our family had some damage, no homes were lost, and all are safe.

Then came Hanna, right at Faith and I here in Raleigh. This  was actually a blessing. It was not very powerful, although it did cause some flooding in a few area. The real consequence of this storm was to severely damage the hold this horrible drought here has on us. A blessing, indeed.

But now  we have Ike. Ike could be a monster, slamming Texas as a category 3, or maybe even a 4. That is huge and powerful. As luck would have, the rest of our family lives in the Houston area. Like, wow, eh? Our family are tropical targets this year.

As I said, we have to trust God’s plan. It is perfect. But please join me in praying for those about to be affected by this monster storm, and for those already affected in the Caribbean and Cuba.

Lord, we ask for your protection and grace for those already affected, and those that will soon be affected by Hurricane Ike.

We do trust in your plan, we trust in your love.

Please help your people to find the strength and courage to weather this storm, and all other storms, both literal and figurative, that come at them.

We are thankful for all the gifts, love, and grace you bring to our lives.

We pray this  in total love and service to your word.

Amen

If anyone has loved ones in the area about to be affected, know that our prayers are with them.

Eban

I saw a snippet of a sermon by Creflo Dollar this morning that got me thinking about faith, and my own path over the years. Now mind you, I only caught a snippet, and I don’t know the total context of Dollar’s sermon. This is not an essay against Creflo Dollar at all, a man of great faith and belief, but just a musing on the statement I heard this morning.

So, just what was this statement that I heard?

“Get away from those who are framing your thinking.”

I say to this, hogwash! Pirates never retreat, we never blame others for our problems, and we all aspire to be super pirates. Superheroes of the faith!

Opposition is our greatest ally. Without solid opposition, there usually is no growth. Let’s be serious here, we all need to grow in the spirit.

A Bit of Clarity

Let’s look at Micheal Phelps, an almost certified superhero of swimming. What would have happened if he was told to stay in the wading pool if he had problems in the deep end of the pool as a child? We would be one less great swimmer in the world.

It feels great to be around other Christians, people of the same belief. As a matter of fact, it is very powerful. But, in this world, to be the best we can be, we need some opposition to grow. Not just us, but the faith as a whole. How can we show the world the beauty of faith if we avoid those without belief?

Jesus was comfortable breaking bread with the non-believers. I would bet the conversations that took place were not all about faith. Jesus would have been kicked to the curb pretty quick otherwise. I am sure he tempered his “teaching” with great conversations and laughs, showing as well as teaching, thus winning them over.

When questioned by the faithful why he was spending time with the unsaved masses instead of the believers, he basically asked what was the point of saving the saved? You have to reach out.

What Does This Mean?

I have a great respect for those that were born into the church, and never left. But, at least in my own life, I find my faith was only strengthened by falling away from faith and having to scrap my way back to belief.

I was raised Catholic. The thing was, through all the catechism classes, and questioning my family, no one could ever tell me the why of belief. Nobody ever connected the love of Christ beyond, “because you have to,” or “because we say so.”

I have always been overly inquisitive. All I saw was the hypocrisy. My family never seemed to get joy out of church, or if they did, they never shared. I saw people go to church, then gossip and badmouth other members of the congregation. What I saw drove me away for the first time.

Over the years, especially my time in the military, I was searching for something, but  I never knew what. It was a horrible time mixed with minor blessings. I became somewhat of a monster, as I tend to when I have no direction. I know what it is like to have evil in me, and it is not good.

Then I was brought into Christianity again in Denver, CO. I was shown the Heritage Christian Center, led by then Pastor, now Bishop, Dennis Leonard. I was brought to the church by a fellow Airman in the Air Force. I so wish I had been ready at that time, but I was not. Just like an alcoholic, you can only accept change, even to faith, when you are ready.

Those months were a mix if great happiness, mixed with great horrors. I only wish now that I had been ready as Heritage Christian Center was a very blessed place. The problem was, that since I was not ready, I went for the wrong reasons, and the fall was much harder.

I went full force for New Age and Paganism. I will  talk about this more in a future post. Let me just say, now, in retrospect, I would not change a thing.

In falling away, twice, I needed a damn good reason to come back to the faith. When the calling came, I was stripped naked of all pretense. This time it was real. I was filled with the love if Christ. I feel like a stronger Christian now. Not stronger than other Christians, but stronger in my belief and convictions.

Huh? Ramble Much?

So, back to the original point. Opposition strengthens. If you have people in your life that challenge your faith, or create temptations, use this to your advantage. If you give into the temptation, turn to prayer to make you stronger next time. If your belief gives you the ammo to resist temptation, you are on your way to being a superhero in faith!

(look here at yesterday’s post about how to argue with non-believers and tempters)

Another thing then happens. Those that are trying to tempt you start to see your inner strength brought on by love of Christ. They see the peace that Jesus brings. They start to shift, and maybe will be more open to letting the lord into their lives as well.

How beautiful a thing is that?

If I have learned one thing on my path, it is that you can’t touch another person’s soul by promises and talk. You can only reach others through showing them the power, peace, and love of the Lord as it shines through us. We can only show this by interacting and dealing with the outside secular world and the evils and temptations contained there.

We are soldiers. Here,at this site, we are more specifically pirates. The booty we are out to collect is new souls for the Lord. So forget the easy and comfortable. Let’s get out there and plunder!

Argh!

Eban

There are many themes that will cross over from essay to essay here at Jesus Pirates, as you will soon find out. The reason is, certain points are very important, and do deserve repeating. I, although the captain of this pirate ship, am just a fellow believer. I am not a biblical scholar, or a preacher, and I am most definitely an imperfect sinner. So, by all means, join in the conversations and let your voice, as a believer, and a crew member of the Jesus Pirates, be heard.

Notice how I said conversations. I used that term as I want to point out the difference between conversations and arguing. Not amongst ourselves, but with the rest of the world, the secular, the atheists, and other faiths. I firmly believe we should not delve into arguments over matters of faith with those outside of our faith.

Why?

Because we do not have a leg to stand on, not one. That is why it is called faith, and we are believers. If we had solid fact to back up our beliefs, faith would then be fact. Also, if provable, the faith would then be useless and powerless.

When we argue, instead of conversing and sticking to our faith, we often bring our belief into disregard, and drive the curious away. Those that are curious, but do not yet believe are easily scared off when they see the venom that is often launched in the direction of believers.

Plus, arguing is a cowards way. Not about all things mind you. Political and social arguments can be not only good for discourse, but fun as well. We, as humans, inherently love a good challenge. Also, I am not talking about issues that affect the social discourse that are influenced by our faith, such as charity, abortion, and so on.

No, the thing I am saying we should never argue is the Faith itself. Let me give you an example.

The Atheist Brings Believers to Their Knees (figuratively)

Recently on Twitter, I witnessed one person make several Christians look very bad. This person is an atheist, and in general, not a bad guy at all. But he is firm in his non-belief. So firm in fact, he is actually a believer, just in not believing.

Well, some christian blog rubbed him the wrong way, so he arrogantly challenged Christians on Twitter to show him proof that Jesus existed. Any proof, such as a credible eye witness. Several Christians took the bait, and were completely trounced.

Why? We have nothing, nada, zip. We only have Faith, that is it. We can’t argue these points.

The Christians immediately started quoting bible texts. This was the downfall. Our greatest resource, the book we try to live by, is all a matter of Faith. Our whole belief is based on Faith, that is what is so beautiful about it. The Bible has zero meaning to someone outside of the Christian faith. As a matter of fact, if Christianity was verifiable, it would cease to be so powerful. It is our faith that makes it so.

But in the real world, the secular world that relies on proof, we have nothing in these types of arguments. Unfortunately, thousands of people witnessed this argument, some of whom may have been close to opening their hearts to Jesus, others who may have been having some doubts about the faith, these people may have run for cover and might have been scared off for good. The Christians that took the bait–and bait it was–were beaten badly in this game.

This particular atheist had an agenda, and he won. Arguments like this are seldom started by believers, but are almost always finished by the secular, with the Christians looking silly, and mighty backwoods in comparison.

So, How Do We Win?

Just how do we fight back in these situations?  That is a very good question, and the answer may not be what type-A Christians want to hear. We don’t. That is how we fight back, by not fighting. We instead show the power of our faith by not being drawn in. We show them, the non-believers, the power of the peace we have, the peace bestowed upon us by  the Lord.

1. Don’t take the bait in the first place. Just don’t, ever.

2. If drawn into a situation where someone not of the faith corners you into an argument of belief, say this:

I can’t prove the Bible is true or correct. As history books have written, I can’t even prove beyond doubt that Jesus really walked the earth. As for miracles, even as I believe, and maybe even witnessed one in my time, I can’t offer you one shred of evidence. You have me. But that is the power of my Faith, as I still believe in the word of God with all my heart and soul, and I have witnessed the power, peace, love, and community that comes with it. That is not to say that I don’t have free will, or that there are not disagreements within the faith over things like science and exact meanings of verse, but all of us in Faith share the belief that Jesus was our savior, and was sent by his father to die for our sins.  So you can have your win, enjoy it, for my belief is strong enough, and the joy that it brings is so great, I feel like a winner every day. So, can I buy you a soda or something?

There you have it, the offer of the soda, or other peace offering, optional, of course. That is what faith is about. We can’t argue belief, but we are not meant to either. We are meant to believe, and show our strength in that belief, and thus show others and lead them to belief as well.

Had some of the curious, or those with doubts in the faith, witnessed that kind of a show of strength in the word, we may today have some new brothers and sisters in faith with us today. Instead, we have some that were scared away, or worse yet, now joining the chorus against belief so they will not be labeled as out of touch as we are.

It matters not how loud, often, or hard you say something, it matters how strong you believe.

Our personal witness to the lord is something we can only share with other believers, or those ready to become believers. Don’t try to change the minds of those not ready, or openly hostile. Just show your strength, that shakes them to the bones!

Arghghg!

Eban

And for the souls left dealing with the aftermath of Gustav.

As I write this,  I am hearing the approaching thunder. We here in the Carolinas are lucky compared to the residents that dealt with Gustav last week, mine and Faith’s family actually. But, this is no small storm, it is only 5 mph from being a hurricane.

So let’s all pray for all those hit by Gustav, facing Hanna tonight, and Ike next week.

Lord, may your grace and mercy be on everyone struck by the recent and upcoming weather events.

We know you have a plan, unknown to us, and we trust in your guidance and wisdom.

May you look over those of your flock facing Hanna tonight, and Ike next week.

And may the souls affected fall under your grace.

Lord, thank you for all the gifts that you bring into our lives, the wisdom you give us in your words, and the love that surrounds us all.

Amen

Be safe tonight, everyone.

Eban

It is time to take back the Faith from those that soil the image of Christianity. To show those that have fled the Faith for cool things like New Age and Paganism, that Christianity is cool and fun as well.

It is time to show the world unconditional love, and understand that people have free will. To condemn others is to scare them away forever. To welcome and accept, no matter what, shows the true nature of Faith.

It is time to stop preaching and start showing. It is time to stop recruiting and start including.

Can you stop an alcoholic from drinking if he is not ready? Neither can you bring someone to Faith who is not ready. And if you do, will they stay if the reasons were not right?

It is time to realize not everyone will be saved, but it is our job to make the decision to be saved a pleasant prospect rather than hellfire and brimstone.

It is time to accept that a lot of people recently, even leaders, in Faith have brought shame on the name of Christianity. It is our job to both forgive these folks, and to bring honor back to the concept of Christianity.

It is time to admit we are flawed, that only God is perfect, but we are still sort of OK. We need to move beyond the guilt, and move towards our salvation.

Christianity is mystical, it is fun, it is love. Let’s show that to the world. Let’s break the molds and stereotypes!

It Begins Soon!

Cheers,

Eban

Ship photo in thumbnail by earcos