How You Can Help America!

America celebrated her 242^nd birthday as a nation Wednesday July 4, 2018. Our Presidents often utter a three-word prayer that is prayed by millions – "God Bless America." But comedian Jay Leno reminds us some would rather blast America than bless her. He said, "A new book lists all the countries that hate the United States. It's called the World Atlas." He overstated the case, but it is clear "America" does not mean the same thing to everyone. The comedian George Carlin once said, "I don't get all choked up about yellow ribbons and American flags. I see them as symbols, and I leave them to the symbol-minded." I don't want to be symbol-minded, and I don’t believe God is a flag-waving American, and I know the world is a complex place. But I don’t want to forget the history or sacrifices behind the American flag. There is enough wrong with America to trouble thoughtful people. Scripture testifies, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). That being true, there is cause for alarm. Public morality is now more accurately public immorality. Personal freedoms and choices have replaced principled behavior and personal responsiblity. Sexual sin has been scrubbed clean of its stigma as wrong. Millions now worship at the altar of uncritical tolerance, and the result is the abnormal has been declared to be the "new normal." As was said of Israel long ago, it seems to be the case today – "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6). Shame is out of the closet and into the homes and hearts of millions via media, music, movies, the Internet, etc. Attitudes about abortion, divorce, modesty, honesty, and respect for authority have seen seismic shifts in majority opinion in recent decades, and our laws now reflect those shifts. Besides moral and marriage matters, money, material things and pursuit of pleasure are popular American idols. Racial tension, domestic violence, drug abuse – truly sin is a reproach and disgrace to any people, including the American people.

So, is there any good news? Yes. In spite of all that is wrong with America, much is good and right. Millions of citizens get up daily and go to work to support their families. Millions do not rob, rape, rebel, lie or cheat or steal, abuse their kids, or commit adultery. These good citizens love their country, pay their taxes, vote, salute the flag, and seek to be good neighbors. They show courtesy to the elderly, respect the law, and pray for our leaders. They seek to obey the inspired directive in 1 Timothy 2:1-3: "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior." I urge you to remember those words. Daniel Webster said, " Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens." If you truly want to help America be a better place, start with yourself. Be honest. Work a job. Take care of your family. Avoid hatred and prejudice. Don’t abuse drugs. Spread the gospel. And pray. If you do these things, you will be helping America and will honor God in the process

By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Did You Like The Sermon?

   The question, "Did you like the sermon?" makes me think of a quote from the famous Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. Once when asked by a friend, "How did your play go tonight?" Wilde responded, "The play was a great success but the audience was a failure." Preachers have occasions when they want to say the same thing about the sermon! Maybe after a lot of tired, glazed eyes staring up and non-verbally saying to him, "Hurry up and get this sermon over with." Or maybe in spite of the preacher’s diligent preparation and sincere presentation, he goes home after the sermon having experienced what writer John R. W. Stott has called "communication frustration" (p 9, Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the 20^th Century). Be all that as it may, still we hear the apostle Paul’s directive to Timothy; "Preach the word!" (2 Timothy 4:2a). Paul left no room for Timothy to think people would always like his sermons – "Be instant in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching" (4:2b). And why do that? "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (4:3). I have preached long enough to know some love my preaching and others loathe it. I’m referring to style, not substance, for the aim of every faithful gospel preacher, as declared by Paul in Acts 20:26-27, is to be found "innocent of the blood of all men" having "not shunned (that is, avoided) to declare to you the whole counsel of God."

As the following story illustrates, every preacher (and elder, too) can mark it down that some people are hard to please when it comes to preaching. A young preacher, early in his ministry, preached in a large church. He thought he’d done quite well as he shook hands with people at the door. Remarks about his preaching and sermon were all complimentary. That is, until a little old man said bluntly, "You preached too long." But that single comment didn’t faze the young man in view of all the compliments. Then he was jolted by another negative comment - "You didn’t preach long enough" – and it was the same little guy. The preacher thought it strange the man would come around twice, but before he could gather his composure there he was again a third time! And he blurted out, "You used too many big words." The novice couldn’t stand it and asked a nearby deacon, "Who is that little old man over there?" The deacon said, "Oh, don’t pay any attention to anything he says. All he does is go around repeating everything he hears other people saying." I close with timeless words from 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 which provide a patter for preachers and preaching in every age: "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." God always likes sermons like that, even if some people don’t. What kind of sermon do you like?

         By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Do Men Still Matter?

    Paul Harvey once said about fathers: "A father is a thing that is forced to endure childhood without an anesthetic." Fathers are being forced to endure a lot of things these days. One of the most detrimental is an onslaught of "new-age" but really bad and stinking thinking about males in general and fathers in particular. Nearly 50 years ago radical feminists began suggesting (perhaps with tongue-in-cheek, perhaps not) that "a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." I would not deny some men are that sorry, but some women are too. I am generalizing, but in the decades since that statement was first uttered, views of women in our culture have improved while views of men have became worse. It is now acceptable to many to denigrate and demoralize men and the roles they play. Paul and Sandy Coughlin (in their book, Married But Not Engaged; p 28-29), summarize all the negative ink and ratings men receive in our culture with provocative words – "The root idea: Men are a serious problem that must be fixed, not a gender to be appreciated. Men are not okay as men. Masculinity, in and of itself, is not okay." They blame the epidemic of negative thinking about men on "extended therapy at the hands of social engineers, media presentations, and dedicated activists." They posit that while much of our thinking about (and treatment of) women was flawed before the social revolutions of the 1960's and '70's, many have not addressed the flaws but have rather sought to reverse or invert them. The real need was to see women as equal with men in human value and dignity and worth in our culture. But some have sought to elevate the view and place of women, not by embracing and enacting positive change in the ways women are viewed and treated, but by tearing down men. It's feminine revenge — "Men have had the upper hand and abused it; now it's women's turn to rule and degrade [the men]" No surprise, then, that Maureen Dowd can ask, with a straight face, in her book, Are Men Necessary?

Enough of that. There are at least two jobs where men still matter – being husbands and fathers! Modern thinking aside, a MAN and a WOMAN are necessary for a God-designed marriage that reproduces offspring (Genesis 1:26-28; Matthew 19:4-6). "Same-sex marriages" may be increasing, but they are not reproducing – offspring, that is. When it comes to reproduction, both sexes are necessary, even if one of them is a man! Additionally, ideally, children need a male / man / father in their lives. A man who will stay on the job he took on when he and a woman he loved and married brought one or more babies into their family through conception or adoption. Not just a male, not just a brute who swaggers and swears and intimidates and / or abuses his wife and children – but a real man who engages with his family to protect and provide and guide, physically and spiritually. The kind of men who matter are described in Ephesians 5:22-6:4 – a man who loves God, his wife, and his children more than he loves himself! Christ-like men who are tender but tough; compassionate and committed; firm, fair, forgiving; godly but gentle; strong enough to submit to God and carry a cross of self-denial. God-fearing men, flawed as they might be, still matter as husbands and fathers. They always have and always will.

       By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN