I felt the need to reflect on the times I have shared with Juan James a.k.a. Enock who passed away on October 17, 2009. Faith, Love and hope family!
Oct
12
Hey WordPress family,
I normally don’t promote stuff like this but this is the real deal, Christmas is around the corner and you may be thinking of getting something great for someone. Email me at corderolockerz@gmail.com so I can send you an invite to become a member.
Here is how you get free things from ipods to xbox 360s.
1. Sign up ( only through invite)
earn points
2. Each day you log in you earn points
3. Each day there is one daily question, answer it, earn points
4. Invite friends and if they sign up, you earn lots of points.
The points you easily get can then be used to redeem a gift. No buying no giving out your credit card number, trust me, I would not be a member if the site required it so send me your invite requests at corderolockerz@gmail.com
Check out the video I did about it at
Sep
21
…the Christian Right, the Evangelical Left, etc, etc, then your problem is not politics, your problem is an internal one, its a heart issue, you need to turn off the TV, stop being sucked in my the sensationalism of You Tube and other mass media outlets, and pray, spend sometime in the teachings of Jesus Christ and learn a little bit more about basic Christianity. That is all.
Sep
21
YouTube and Mass Media Sensationalism….The same primitive emotional lynching mob spirit of the past still lurks in the dark and you can see it coming into the light by the feverishness created by the powerful use of youtube and all other video sharing websites. Just look at any youtube video concerning the divide over heath care, race, and now this ACORN situation, and all you see and read is fear, sensationalism, paroxysm, misplaced passion and anxiety. What’s worst is that God’s children are feeding into this mass media garbage. If Jesus was physically amongst us, what will he say or do? What would he tell his bride, the government, and the onlookers?
Sep
20
Moving on from the topic of race to a discussion on class and gender, allow me to introduce you Carolyn James who shares about the role of women in the Church and a little about the New Calvinist movement.
Oh, and peep my facebook where my latest status is about some of the things she says at my FacebookCarolyn
Sep
20
Sep
18
What can fill in the blank? Biblical, Systematic, Reformed? What about Black, White, or Latino? Some may put False or True. As a theologian, regardless of of my own theological reflections, I like to know much about the various ways we all do theology.
The following is an interview of a Black theologian, Dr. James Cone. As you see and listen to the interview, ask yourself if there is such a thing as a White Theology, and if so, how would that contrast to Black Theology.
Sep
14
This has been the year of celebrity deaths and adding to that list is Patrick Swayze who died today at the age of 57 after battling pancreatic cancer since January of 2008. Read about the news HERE.
For many the news maybe a relief in light of the suffering that one has to undergo battling pancreatic cancer. In this sense death is escapism! Death is one’s relief from the painful throes of this bitter sweet world.
What is it about death that evokes our emotions of fear or celebration? Both Micheal Jackson and Patrick Swayze have been out of sight and mind prior to the hearing of their deaths and their work have all been recorded for us to remember them by, yet, upon hearing about their deaths, the past is brought into the present and your emotions start to awake– sadness, shock, or relief. Is it because death means the end of the story of their lives? While still living the story of their lives continues to be written and as long as people have access to that story, we are comfortable with the long breaks between each page. But death interrupts that story and renders that story incomplete. Or, is death the completion of one’s life story? Or is death part of a bigger story that encompasses each of our individual life stories?
In the Bible, death is a common theme unfavorably looked upon. But at times death is what people even desired as a means of escapism as seen in Jonah’s story (Jonah 1-4). In the New Testament, specifically in the writings of Paul to the Churches, death is viewed as an exit from this world into the presence of God (Col. 2:5). More can be said about the nature of death and its effects on life. Undoubtedly death affects not only the dying but also the living but there is only one death that affects you in the here and now as well as the life to come, the death of Jesus Christ.
I pray that Micheal Jackson, Patrick Swayze, and anyone who has died this year, have come to grips with the death of all deaths, the death of Christ Jesus who also resurrected so that you may not only die to sin, but live in reconciliation with God.
Jun
04
An excerpt from a sermon that piper gave January 22, 1995,
” I believe in the wide range of non-violent efforts of the pro-life cause. And in the present atmosphere I do stress non-violent. This war will not be won by bullets. It will be won by brokenness and humility and sacrifice. It will be won when we identify with the children in our suffering rather than with the abortionist in his killing. And this too may be a call to a new kind of fasting.”
Amen brother Piper amen, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;(Romans 8:5-6).
The whole sermon can be read and heard at http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceL…e_Little_Ones/
Lord be with all your children right now for sin has crepted into many of their hearts whereby they are now thinking murderous rather than fighting abortion through the Spirit of peace!!
Mar
22
This question was recently raised by my friend Vic on a message forum.
Just some facts to consider when thinking about this question. Perhaps it can help you make a better informed decision.
Paul refused to accept financial support from the Corinthians.
Paul however accepted financial support from other Churches.
One reason that people offer for the differences is that in Corinth, Paul suspected that his opponents would accuse him of having ill motives–doing ministry just for the money.
However, it was a no win situation for Paul because his opponents then question his apostolic status for refusing money. They basically still question his motives since Peter took advantage of the money given to them for his work. They basically questioned whether he was truly an Apostle.
Paul’s defense is found in 1 Corinthians 9. He argues that as an apostle he does have the right to material gain through the idea of work, even through spiritual work (vs. 11).
AND, since Paul argues on the basis of natural law and the written law, the idea is not limited to the clergy but to anyone.
Paul then says,”In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”
Indeed Jesus did command something like this:
Seems however then that Paul simply took advantage of his liberty in not accepting financial earnings from his work in Corinth.
The important thing to note is that Paul has offered an argument for why he has refused financial earnings from the people at Corinth, notice that he is not condemning or saying that the rest of the Apostles should follow suit.
While I do see some merit in ministers, preachers, whoever, materially gaining off of their spiritual work, Paul’s liberty does reveal how at times we should be very mindful of who is watching us. Paul did not want in Corinth to have his right of accepting money to be a stumbling block to some. Likewise, as ministers, Christian rappers, pastors, preachers, etc, let us be careful what we do with the money we earn from ministry. I have seen people enjoy luxury off of their spiritual work. Material gain should not be interpreted as luxurious living. Furthermore, the idea should always be living to do ministry not doing ministry to live even though the latter is most certainly within our rights, otherwise, we will only do ministry so that we can get the latest gadget or most stylish clothing, etc, etc.
