Sign of the Times

Seasons greetings and happy holidays! Those of you who know me realize that I am no apocalypse now preacher. You also know that I don't claim to be anywhere relatively close to an eschatology expert. Actually, most of what I've been exposed to in the name of eschatology has been cleverly disguised drivel and wishful thinking.
That being said, the signs of the times have caught my attention as of late. Surely I don't need to cite for instances; but I will. Have you noticed the weather for instance? Earlier this week right here in Vinita the temperature went from 75 to 20 over the course of a day. Not exactly a normal situation, but yet more and more frequent. Didn't Jesus say that we are well able to discern the weather, but not the signs of the times?
Well the weather has certainly claimed my attention and I believe it is time to wake up as He could be back to collect His own shortly. I realize that I am in the company of every Christian philosopher that has ever walked Earth since Jesus first promised in this assertion...but really. Before you go with the, "Jesus is not coming back till His church is glorious, brother" argument, I'd like you to observe a globe and not merely a map of the USA. We (America) are the only place on the planet where the church is growing in reverse. Wasn't it Jesus who claimed that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to inherit the Kingdom of God? Stop it. You are rich. Again pull out your globe and look at the world. (Jesus isn't an American)
I say all of this to ask you to think about what I'm saying. At the risk of being redundant I'm saying, We must work while it is day...We must wake up to the fact that Jesus will be back and if He came back today, what would your, or my story look like? What words would we hear from Him with respect to our hearts condition and activity? Join me please in prayer that we as a people of faith would wake up, rise up, fall to our knees in repentance, get up and go about our Father's business till His return. Selah.
Again happy holidays. Keep the faith and wear the crown!

Peace is the presence of the goodness of God.
P. Jas.

Everyone Follow's Someone

Everyone won't follow me. No matter how compelling, intriguing, or otherwise engaging that I am. Everyone won't follow. This is also true of sheep. In a shepherds flock only a few sheep actually follow the shepherd. The rest follow another sheep; usually the sheep that are following the shepherd.
It's important that as we follow Jesus that we do just that... follow Him. That should be obvious. I understand that there will be times that we cannot see Him clearly enough to follow. In these cases and in these times we should follow someone else who is following Jesus that can see Him clearly from where they stand.
Needless to say if we can do this we like the rest of the flock will live in a place of relative safety and peace. Selah.
Keep the faith and wear the crown.

Peace is the presence of the goodness of God.
P. Jas.

Merry Christmas

I don't even know where to start. We have made it through the Thanksgiving holiday. We have survived yet another "black Friday"...and black it was. At least it was very, very, dark.
I was stunned to learn that in the midst of giving thanks, the words thank you Lord still echoing in the walls of our craniums, that a man lost his life on account of a thankless, thoughtless, and delusional mob. That's right, a healthy hard working 34 year old man was trampled to death at a Walmart! What in the world could you want at a Walmart bad enough to participate in trampling to death another human being?
Wow, I mean isn't Walmart a bargain store to begin with? Were they giving away the water you can drink of and thirst no more? Were they giving away the bread of life? Were they giving away common sense? No, they were giving away nothing! They were feeding the fever of greed and selfishness and capitalism. They were feeding the fever of a culture that is so focused on I that they couldn't see a man beneath thier feet as they rushed to "save" a buck.
I want to apologize to the family of the man whose life was lost on behalf of humanity. I want to tell them that this is not who we are, but I have no excuse why we acted as we did. I want them to know that God was not pleased with this display. I want them to know that this is not what the original "Christian" architects of the "holiday" we know as Christmas had in mind in remembering the birth of Christ.
Please join me in praying for this family...surely, they will struggle to have a Merry Christmas.
Wear the crown.

Peace is the presence of the goodness of God.
P. Jas.