Here’s your sign!


I once spoke in a small church in Alabama and after my address I was approached by a man (whom I would learn later was the least spiritual church member I had met in years) and he declared I was “sound”. I am still not sure what he had in mind when he made that pronouncement but I have an idea. I didn’t know if I should consider it a compliment or not. I have since learned that most of the time the word “sound” applied to a preacher, teacher, or writer in church of Christ circles is simply code for saying “this fellow adheres to the tenants of the traditions and doctrines of the church of Christ”. I hardly fit the pattern, (no pun intended)

 

Many of those of us “with like precious faith” speak in code and for the uninformed it can be tricky. The term “like precious faith” is also a reference to compliance with church of Christ traditions first, and perhaps sometimes secondarily means what Peter intended when he penned those words in 2 Peter 1:1. The first time a gentleman used that term while speaking to me it was clear that he did not have in mind the righteousness that comes from God through Jesus Christ but rather another church of Christ. Trust me; they are not necessarily the same.

 

Following this same train of thought, what do you suppose is usually means when someone references “the Lord’s church”? My limited experience indicates that it always means only the churches of Christ. “The Lord’s church” is the church universal or “catholic” to be precise, which consists of ALL of those who have been saved. In that church there are no labels, but only that whose whole trust was, or is, in Jesus for eternal life and forgiveness of sins. I have a shocking news bulletin for you! There will be folks in heaven who were not members of a church of Christ on earth or any Restoration Movement church for that matter.

 

One of my favorite code phrases is “change agent”. I proudly wear that one myself. I was given that distinction by a fellow whose whole life it seems is given to defending a cappella singing in worship with a few less weighty matters thrown in for good measure. I dared to send an email disagreeing with him and that made me a “change agent”. I am in good company with two of the most famous being Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly. A “change agent” is not one who is leading folks into apostasy and unbelief but rather one who is preaching salvation through Christ alone sans any good works. How dare they! Recently a fellow spotted a book or CD by Lucado in a church and quickly informed the shocked brother that Lacado had “left the church”, again using church of Christ traditions interchangeably with the body of Christ universal.

 

Isn’t it odd that the labels sometimes appear to be backwards? For instance, Max Lucado preaches salvation by grace though faith in Christ alone and is labeled a “change agent” or “liberal”. While on the opposite end of the spectrum someone who teaches another gospel, which is not another, and teaches a mixture of trusting Christ and good works for salvation is called a “conservative”. That is strange to me. Is it conservative to abandon the historic, biblical, gospel of Jesus Christ just as those men Paul dressed down in his letter to the churches of Galatia? I think not. Back in the 1930’s it was “liberals” who were denying the deity of Jesus, teaching a works based salvation, and even denying the resurrection of Jesus. Now those same sorts of folks are labeled “conservative”. Odd at best in my view.

 

Time and space is limited so I will not attempt to mention all the labels people if our faith community have given each other over the last several decades. There are many of them. What are some of your favorites? Or, perhaps I am wrong, where?

 

Thanks for reading,

Royce

Lost church members, President Bush evil?, Ann Coulter said..


It is pretty clear that readers of this blog have no stomach for the fact that some church members are likely not really Christians. I know the hot button topics that garner lots of comments, like for instance weighty subjects like music in church. So I have decided to alienate the other two readers of Grace Digest by publishing a column by Ann Coulter. I am aware that it is not chic to be a conservative but then whose keeping score?

BUSH’S AMERICA: 100% AL-QAIDA FREE SINCE 2001

In a conversation recently, I mentioned as an aside what a great president George Bush has been and my friend was surprised. I was surprised that he was surprised.

I generally don’t write columns about the manifestly obvious, but, yes, the man responsible for keeping Americans safe from another terrorist attack on American soil for nearly seven years now will go down in history as one of America’s greatest presidents.

Produce one person who believed, on Sept. 12, 2001, that there would not be another attack for seven years, and I’ll consider downgrading Bush from “Great” to “Really Good.”

Merely taking out Saddam Hussein and his winsome sons Uday and Qusay (Hussein family slogan: “We’re the Rape Room People!”) constitutes a greater humanitarian accomplishment than anything Bill Clinton ever did — and I’m including remembering Monica’s name on the sixth sexual encounter.

But unlike liberals, who are so anxious to send American troops to Rwanda or Darfur, Republicans oppose deploying U.S. troops for purely humanitarian purposes. We invaded Iraq to protect America.

It is unquestionable that Bush has made this country safe by keeping Islamic lunatics pinned down fighting our troops in Iraq. In the past few years, our brave troops have killed more than 20,000 al-Qaida and other Islamic militants in Iraq alone. That’s 20,000 terrorists who will never board a plane headed for JFK — or a landmark building, for that matter.

We are, in fact, fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them at, say, the corner of 72nd and Columbus in Manhattan — the mere mention of which never fails to enrage liberals, which is why you should say it as often as possible.

The Iraq war has been a stunning success. The Iraqi army is “standing up” (as they say), fat Muqtada al-Sadr –the Dr. Phil of Islamofascist radicalism — has waddled off in retreat to Iran, and Sadr City and Basra are no longer war zones. Our servicemen must be baffled by the constant nay-saying coming from their own country.

The Iraqis have a democracy — a miracle on the order of flush toilets in that godforsaken region of the world. Despite its newness, Iraq’s democracy appears to be no more dysfunctional than one that would condemn a man who has kept the nation safe for seven years while deifying a man who has accomplished absolutely nothing in his entire life except to give speeches about “change.”

(Guess what Bill Clinton’s campaign theme was in 1992? You are wrong if you guessed: “bringing dignity back to the White House.” It was “change.” In January 1992, James Carville told Steve Daley of The Chicago Tribune that it had gotten to the point that the press was complaining about Clinton’s “constant talk of change.”)

Monthly casualties in Iraq now come in slightly lower than a weekend with Anna Nicole Smith. According to a CNN report last week, for the entire month of May, there were only 19 troop deaths in Iraq. (Last year, five people on average were shot every day in Chicago.) With Iraqi deaths at an all-time low, Iraq is safer than Detroit — although the Middle Eastern food is still better in Detroit.

Al-Qaida is virtually destroyed, surprising even the CIA. Two weeks ago, The Washington Post reported: “Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaida, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.”

It’s almost as if there’s been some sort of “surge” going on, as strange as that sounds.

Just this week, The New York Times reported that al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Southeast Asia have all but disappeared, starved of money and support. The U.S. and Australia have been working closely with the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, sending them counterterrorism equipment and personnel.

But no one notices when 9/11 doesn’t happen. Indeed, if we had somehow stopped the 9/11 attack, we’d all be watching Mohammed Atta being interviewed on MSNBC, explaining his lawsuit against the Bush administration. Maureen Dowd would be writing columns describing Khalid Sheik Mohammed as a “wannabe” terrorist being treated like Genghis Khan by an excitable Bush administration.

We begin to forget what it was like to turn on the TV, see a tornado, a car chase or another Pamela Anderson marriage and think: Good — another day without a terrorist attack.

But liberals have only blind hatred for Bush — and for those brute American interrogators who do not supply extra helpings of béarnaise sauce to the little darlings at Guantanamo with sufficient alacrity.

The sheer repetition of lies about Bush is wearing people down. There is not a liberal in this country worthy of kissing Bush’s rear end, but the weakest members of the herd run from Bush. Compared to the lickspittles denying and attacking him, Bush is a moral giant — if that’s not damning with faint praise. John McCain should be so lucky as to be running for Bush’s third term. Then he might have a chance.

COPYRIGHT 2008 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
4520 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111

Man, I feel cleansed in some odd way!
Royce

 

Truth


So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31, 32)

Knowing about a person is quite different than knowing a person. I know quite a lot about Sen. John McCain but I absolutley do not know him. So it is with truth. Many of us know about the truth but do we know the Truth? Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”  (John 14:6) Knowing dozens of facts about Jesus Christ, memorizing His words, bieng able to recite all of His recorded acts, does in no way mean that one actually knows Him. He went on to say in John 14:6 “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

No person will be rewarded with eternal life and become a child of the Father in heaven based on what they know but rather exclusively based upon Who they know. Many of us have taken great pride in our knowledge of the Bible, our ability to win a debate about it, and being adorned with the label “sound”. Sadly there will be people who will perish being “sound” in doctrine never knowing the Truth that sets the spirit free.

In the context of Jesus words above knowing Him (Truth) is a life and death matter. There are many imposters, many professors, wolves in sheep’s clothing, but few who know Jesus Christ. Do you know Him?

His peace,
Royce Ogle

 

 

 

When will you be here?


A full three hours before time for church Billy Spaulding’s phone rings and when he answers a teen’s voice asks expectantly “When will you be here to get me?”  This story is repeated each Sunday morning and night as children in Bayou La Batre anticipate going to the Hemley Road church of Christ where waiting for them is warm embraces, smiles, food, and unconditional love. Billy recently told me they could have 200 perhaps each time the doors are open if they had the means to round them all up and then to care for them when they arrived.

Recently when well over a dozen of the children who are regular attenders at HR were to graduate from the eighth grade, again the phones rang and rang, and Billy Spaulding and Daphne German assured each excited caller, “Yes, of course we will be there to see you graduate”. Unfortunately, most of the parents of these kids couldn’t, (or wouldn’t) make it to the school.

On Sunday morning the first two pews are packed with bright, eager faces of teens and pre-teens, anxious to sing loudly the praise songs they have been taught, and to praise the God they are getting to know. Just a few adults and one young summer intern are there to help these kids find their way in the world, and hopefully in God’s kingdom. With very, very limited resources, the folks at Hemley Road church in Bayou La Batre have accomplised the impossible again and again but are stretched to the limit. They need other adults to come along side them, they need money for food, (the kids are seriously hungry when they come), and they need  emotional/moral support. “When will you be there?”

In a communtiy where poverty is the norm, where adult illiteracy is very high, where substance abuse is also normitave, a small group of believers are loving the people, repairing homes, feeding the hungry, and making a quiet impact on their communtiy for time and eternity. Against impossible odds they have acheived so very much, but the work ahead is enormous. “When will you be there”?

If you personally, or your church or civic group, want to reach out in a meaningful way to the poor, the broken, the truely needy, please consider a generous gift, or even better perhaps, go there and see for yourself how you can make a difference.

“When will you be here?” What will you answer?

His peace,
Royce