Dawn Of A New Day?

In a few hours President Elect Barack H. Obama will take the oath of office and become the President of the United States of America. I can say without reservation that today is a proud day for America and minority Americans more specifically. If you don't understand our enthusiasm, you are likely not a minority and it would be utterly impossible for me to describe to you why we feel the way we feel.
Enthusiasm aside, I believe that our coming president is fit for the job. I am not alone in this assertion. I hear on the radio this morning that 58% of Senator McCain's supporters are confident in the coming Obama administration. Obama is without question an innovative and deliberate leader, who has an opportunity to do not be merely the first minority President of the USA, but a great American president.
We have been filled with promises and pledges of what it will be like. I would like to believe that if he can get half of what he says done, he will go down in history as a great man, not just a great black man.
That being said, I wish that you would join me in praying for our president. I hope that when the times get rough and it seems like there is no way, you'll pray for a way. I'm hopeful that the faith community and those who are without will answer the call to be of service to one another. This alone, could solve many of the problems we face. Barack knows this, I know this and God knows.
Pardon me for being a little giddy, but I will be smiling ear to ear, every time I hear the song, "Hail To The Chief" from now on. Have a great innauguration day! Keep the faith and wear the crown.

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

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.

The Day After

OK, honestly it is still very surreal to me that the USA has elected Barack Obama the 44th president of the union. Honestly, I did not think I would see it. I didn't believe that I'd see a man of color be elected to the highest office in the land and for that matter the most influential leadership position in the free world. It's surreal.
I cannot help but to be overjoyed at the realization of the dreams of so many Americans who died having not received what they were promised. As an African American man, I am taken aback by this historic day in our nations history.
I'm actually at a loss for words and can only say, God bless America. Keep the faith and wear the crown.

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

Thanks

November is here again. We have stepped over into the giving of thanks zone. Now through the end of the year we find people less focused on self than at any other time. We will celebrate Thanksgiving. Whatever that looks like to you and yours the focus is that you are thankful because of what someone else has done. We have many things to be thankful for if we would open our eyes. Even the most terrible story you could possibly have, lends itself to this statement..."It could be worse". If nothing else, thank God it's not worse!
I will endeavor to give heart felt thanks everyday for the rest of the year. I will give thanks the most when I least want to. I encourage you to do the same. The Bible encourages us to posses a heart that is filled with thanksgiving and praise. There are benefits to the same. Search them out, you'll be pleasantly surprised. For the next 58 or so days, go out of your way to be thank-filled. Keep the faith and wear the crown.

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

The Sinners Prayer / Prayer of Salvation

Hey everyone. I want to talk about something very important today. This topic has been on my heart for some time now and I cannot take it anymore. There is no Biblical precedent for what we see happen week after week and in many cases day by day in churches and among church folks. I'm talking about leading someone in the "Sinners Prayer". Thanks be to God for folks who wanted to make Jesus available and as easy as possible to receive. There just is no Biblical basis for the supposition that a person can "repeat" a prayer and have a saving faith in Christ.
The only thing that will bring you to that is a belief in Him as the Bible says. Before you get too carried away you should know that God does not buy into your confession of belief without actions that "prove" your belief.(See the book of James).
I won't reinvent the wheel here as I've come across an article on this very topic that says what I'd like to say very well. Here's the link. "What Is The Prayer of Salvation?"
"What is the sinners prayer?"
Don't be deceived. Go with God and walk in the dust of Jesus.
Keep the faith and wear the crown.

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