July-August 2018 Newsletter

Posted on September 5, 2018 by admin

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”July-August 2018 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”687″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

A Valuable Independence Day thought…

“In a modern civilization, all three – religion, democracy and international good faith – complement and support each other.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

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President Franklin Roosevelt’s memorable “State of the Union” speech in 1939 showed great foresight on the looming danger to religion, democracy and international good faith.

Storms from abroad directly challenge three institutions indispensable to Americans, now as always. The first is religion. It is the source of the other two-democracy and international good faith.

Religion, by teaching man his relationship to God, gives the individual a sense of his own dignity and teaches him to respect himself by respecting his neighbors.

Democracy, the practice of self-government, is a covenant among free men to respect the rights and liberties of their fellows.

International good faith, a sister of democracy, springs from the will of civilized nations of men to respect the rights and liberties of other nations of men.

In a modern civilization, all three — religion, democracy and international good faith — complement and support each other.

Where freedom of religion has been attacked, the attack has come from sources opposed to democracy. Where democracy has been overthrown, the spirit of free worship has disappeared. And where religion and democracy have vanished, good faith and reason in international affairs have given way to strident ambition and brute force.

An ordering of society which relegates religion, democracy and good faith among nations to the background can find no place within it for the ideals of the Prince of Peace. The United States rejects such an ordering, and retains its ancient faith.

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Bible Insight – “Filled with the Holy Spirit” (Part 2) What the Bible DOES Say!

“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” – Ephesians 5:18-21 (NIV)

In the first part of “Filled with the Holy Spirit” (June Newsletter) we considered what we quite surprisingly DO NOT FIND at all in the Bible.

1. Nowhere in the New Testament does anyone SEEK to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

2. Nowhere in the New Testament does anyone PRAY to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

3. Nowhere in the New Testament does anyone FOLLOW STEPS to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

4. Nowhere in the New Testament does anyone TESTIFY to being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Let’s lay these aside and look positively now at what the Bible DOES say. First we note that God’s Holy Spirit is a personal being, not a liquid. So, being “filled” is a metaphor for being greatly influenced or controlled by the Spirit.

1. In the Old Testament, the Spirit’s filling was SELECTIVE as to person and purpose.

Not every believer in God was filled with God’s Spirit. The filling of the Spirit provided the empowerment and ability to certain people God chose to do the tasks God wanted done.

At the time Israel made a Tabernacle for worship (Exodus 35-40), a worker named Bazalel was “filled…with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts.” Here we learn “natural talents” can be invigorated by God’s Spirit and invested into God’s service.

God’s Spirit came upon seventy rulers of Israel who assisted Moses (Numbers 11:25). The Spirit came on Israel’s judges and prophets and military leaders and kings (not on all, of course, but on many).

Sometimes the person God empowered to do the needed task was quite unsavory, to say the least. Samson, Israel’s “Incredible Hulk”, is hardly our model of a man to follow (Judges 13-17). King Saul was a sore failure. And God’s Spirit came on a crooked prophet named Balaam (Numbers 24:2).

2. The prophetic hope was for a UNIVERSAL OUTPOURING of God’s Spirit. This hope was realized on the Day of Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection and return to his Father in heaven.

Unlike the occasional, selective empowerment of the Spirit found in the Old Testament, the OT itself prophesied a universal outpouring of the Spirit (Joel 2:28-29). Gentiles as well as Jews, women and men, young and old, servants and free men—all share in this outpouring on Pentecost and after. Empowered by the Spirit, we ALL (not just prophets, missionaries and pastors) are called to be ministers. The Holy Spirit is the Great Equalizer!

3. The “Filling of the Holy Spirit” seems, in my opinion, to have TWO DIMENSIONS.

The TASK dimension. In the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts there is a very common infilling of the Holy Spirit that empowers certain people to do the task God wants done (Luke 1:15, 41, 67; 2:25-27; Acts 2:4; 4:8; 9:17; 13:9, 52) and to be strong in the face of adversity (Acts 4:31; 7:55). Many of these accounts are similar to the Old Testament’s accounts of empowerment.

The CHARACTER dimension. There are a few cases where the filling of the Holy Spirit actually marked the character of a person—“There goes a Spirit-filled man!” In Luke-Acts certain people are identified as “full of the Spirit” as an abiding mark of character—Jesus himself, Stephen (and the other “deacons”), and Barnabas (Luke 4:1, Acts 6:3-6; 11:24).

This emphasis on personal character is more in line with the Apostle Paul’s teaching on the results of being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-21).

4. One cannot CONFESS JESUS AS LORD (the “saving confession” of Romans 10:9-10) without the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Thus, I am of the opinion that every Christian is filled with the Spirit at the time of conversion, when Jesus is confessed as Lord. In the New Testament, the gift of the Spirit is linked with faith/repentance/confession and water baptism (the context of confession). See Acts 2:42; 9:17-19; 10:44-47; 22:16.

This saving confession will lead us to the Spirit’s GIFTS (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12:3-7) and GRACES (what we call the “fruit of the Spirit”—Galatians 5:22-26). In nurturing and manifesting these gifts and graces, our mode is one of active obedience, service and surrender (Romans 12:1-2), never passivity.

5. Why, then, would the Apostle Paul command BELIEVERS to be filled with the Spirit? Because the Spirit’s indwelling, empowering presence is not a static thing but a DYNAMIC REALITY.

Being “once filled” is no guarantee that the Spirit’s empowering presence will automatically be our ongoing reality. Both Pentecostals and non-Pentecostals need to see this.

We are like a car that needs refueling. The purpose of the gas is to power the car, not sit in the tank. The purpose of the Holy Spirit’s presence is to flow through us in service, not simply be an inner resident who blesses us.

Hence, Ephesians 5:18 gives the commandment to CHRISTIANS (who already have the Holy Spirit), “Be filled with the Spirit.” The present imperative verb points to something continual. It demands an ongoing appropriation. But how do we do this? Paul gives no answer—no instructions at all.

It is important to see that the filling of the Spirit in this context is a “corporate” reality more than an individual reality. “Be filled” is a plural verb. Even more, note the evidences (speaking in songs to one another, submitting to one another). As the Spirit fills the congregation, the members are caught up into the realm of the Spirit. Right thinking about the Holy Spirit should be a corrective to the individualism that so pervades the Evangelical community.

6. Colossians 3:16, a parallel scripture, says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” The results/evidences are exactly the same as the results/evidences of being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18-21.

7. Thus, being “filled with the Spirit” and being indwelt richly by “the word of Christ” are very much the same thing, if not the same thing.

What is “the word of Christ”? It’s not the same as “the words of Christ” (Jesus’ teaching) though it includes Jesus’ teaching. “The word of Christ” is the entire message about Jesus—his life, ministries, teaching, death on the cross, resurrection, ascension, second coming. This “word” is life-transforming, and indwells us through the ministry of the Spirit and our effort to know Jesus.

This 2-part summary on the filling of the Holy Spirit is incredibly brief for so rich a topic. But I hope you find it useful and a catalyst to learn more.

The Battle of the Bibles

Remember “Two Corinthians”—candidate Donald Trump’s gaffe? Worse than how he located a verse (3:17) when speaking at Liberty University (the school founded by Jerry Falwell) was how he used it. “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Mr. Trump added, “That’s the whole ball game!” What?

Attorney General Jeff Sessions referenced Romans 13:1-7. He rightly said, God ordains government and commands obedience “for the purpose of order.” But this doesn’t validate or demand obedience to every magisterial command. The Apostle Paul, author of Romans 13, refused the order of a magistrate, which would have swept his unjust detention under the rug (Acts 16:35-39).

Former candidate Hillary Clinton quoted Matthew 19:14 (from the King James Version), “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” She played on the obsolete word “suffer.” “[Jesus] did not say let the children suffer.” I still search for how this instructs us on border issues.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Religious Liberty Vigilance – The Peril of Ignorance, the Greater Peril of Opposition

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – The First Amendment

Ignorance of our national values and founding documents is a great peril to preservation of our precious liberties.

A survey conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center finds that most Americans are ignorant of many very basic facts about the Constitution.

* More than one in three people (37%) could not name a single right protected by the First Amendment.

* Only one in four (26%) can name all three branches of the government.

* One in three (33%) can’t name even one branch of government. Not one.

A closer look at the First Amendment question reveals that 48% recalled that the Amendment protects the right to freedom of speech. The other rights protected by the Amendment (freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to petition the government, and freedom of assembly) are far less well known. For example, only 15% remembered the right to freedom of religion.
Source: Ilya Somin, “Public Ignorance about the Constitution” The Volokh Conspiracy, Sept. 15, 2017
Worse than ignorance is that many Americans don’t agree with the freedoms articulated in the First Amendment. Scary! Our celebration of our freedom on July 4 needs to include a commitment to teach and embrace our freedoms.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Broken Borders, Broken Families, Broken Hearts

By Donald Shoemaker

The situation at our nation’s border where families have been separated remains very fluid. The President signed an executive order. By the time this newsletter is sent, things could change and change again.

I don’t need to say much about the particulars—you know them. I understand that the number of children separated from parents is about 12,000. Of them, 10,000 were sent to the USA alone and over 2,000 were brought by a parent.

Laws passed by legislatures often provide for a range of applications that are decided by those who write regulations or issue directives. So it is in this case. At their best, politicians are fulfilling their calling by striving to balance rights and values and the rule of law. At their worst, they are grandstanding and posturing for political advantage.

Let’s be deeply in prayer for our country and our leaders as they wrestle for a resolution to the current dilemma. Let’s pray and work for civility in how our leaders and citizens talk to and treat one another. I’ve heard words on this issue by Christians that I could not reproduce here. And the actions against political opponents in places that should be respites from politics (like restaurants) are known to all.

On the issues of immigration, might we all practice the admonition of the Prophet Micah, who calls us to “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God”?

On the next page is a resolution of my denomination that I had a role in preparing. It has been approved since 2012 in various versions and will be presented again in July.

I also recommend you read the resolution ON IMMIGRATION just passed by the Southern Baptist Convention:
www.sbcannualmeeting.net/sbc18/resolutions

Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches Resolution on Immigration

Recognizing that:

a. All people are made in the Image of God,
b. Respect for the rule of law is essential in a civil society,
c. Secure borders are the right and need of every nation,
d. Israel was frequently reminded by God that she should show mercy to the immigrant because she, too, was once an oppressed and exploited people,
e. The prophets in Scripture demanded special compassion to the exploited and vulnerable, including the “alien in the land”,
f. Our nation is populated by people from a multitude of cultures and lands,
g. The presence of undocumented people in this country and in our churches is a fact and a complex issue not easily resolved,

(1) We therefore call on our churches to give prayer, thought, discussion and action toward addressing the problem of the undocumented immigrant in a God-honoring way.
(2) We recognize the divisive and controversial nature of this debate and we encourage dialogue in the churches that is respectful, open-minded and solution-focused.
(3) We further call on our churches to be the “reconciling presence of Christ” in the midst of a broken system that creates rancor, resentment, racism, selfishness, fear, exploitation, and disregard for law.
(4) We call on our society and elected leaders to rise above political posturing and rancor to work toward a solution on immigration that:
a. Respects the God-given dignity of every person,
b. Rejects the nativism that ignores the love of God for all and our country’s
history of immigration and openness to the foreigner, as captured in the
words enshrined on the Statue of Liberty,
c. Protects the unity of the immediate family and seeks the best interests of
native-born children of undocumented immigrants,
d. Respects the rule of law,
e. Holds employers accountable for ensuring the legal status of workers
f. Creates secure national borders,
g. Ensures fairness to taxpayers,
h. Develops a generous and fair “guest worker” program,
i. Protects all immigrants from exploitation and violence,
j. Establishes a pathway toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who
qualify and who wish to become permanent residents or citizens—a
pathway that both achieves justice and loves mercy.

We recognize that meaningful solutions to this problem are not easily reached. We also recognize the solutions must come through a determined will to reach them and cannot be ignored time after time, year after year.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Patriotism in Worship Services—Another’s View

“Whenever Christians pay tribute to earthly blessings like American freedoms… words and songs should have no triumphalist or assertive tone, especially not for any military expression, but, rather, should have a feel of humility and lowliness and dependence and thankfulness along with a suitable call to repentance and need for ongoing mercy.”
– Pastor John Piper
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Don’s Upcoming Ministries

July 23-26
• Attend ACCESS 2018, the annual gathering of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches (Charis Fellowship)
• Interact with military chaplains in my role as Associate Military Endorsing Agent
• Present proposed resolutions on contemporary issues to delegates at the annual business session in my role as Chairman of the Social Concerns Committee

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

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September 2018 Newsletter

Posted on September 3, 2018 by admin

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”September 2018 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

“Ethics schmethics—
it’s all manmade!”
– Dr. Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian (1928-2011)

Dr. Kevorkian demonstrates his suicide device

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Was the infamous doctor correct?

Or can ethics rest on something or someone transcendent?

In this Newsletter and next:

A Two-part look at ETHICS

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The Meaning and Sources of Ethical Values—Part 1
By Donald Shoemaker

What is Ethics?

“Ethics” is the study of basic concepts and fundamental principles of human conduct. Simply put, it looks at right and wrong. The study of ethics can be examined from either values-neutral or values-driven perspectives.

Ethics can be studied as a social science endeavor. As a science, this approach cannot tell us what is right or wrong—only what people perceive to be right or wrong and why. It can explore issues such as what the social consequences might be to the extent an ethical position is exercised throughout a culture.

Ethics can also be studied as a quest to find out what actually is right and wrong. Reasoning is applied to issues and moral judgments drawn. Whether this can be done without some sort of higher reference point, an ultimate reality, is hotly debated. In my opinion, in the absence of a Creator God who gives us standards to live by, it’s “your word against mine.”

“Without God all things are permitted.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“If there is no Creator, there is no design, and no purpose. All is random and ultimately meaningless, including right and wrong.” – Dennis Prager

Often in human experience right or wrong is decided by whoever has power. When this is done it is an example of an appeal to something transcendent—in this case the state or the dictator. “So far as right and wrong are concerned, there is no difference between the two. The strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept” (quote from History of the Peloponesian War in Prager, Exodus: God, Slavery & Freedom).

Likewise, relativistic ethics labors under an impossible burden. How can we speak values to the rest of the world when we don’t believe there are any absolutes valid the world over? How can we know it’s wrong for other cultures to subjugate and mutilate women in horrible ways?

Fortunately, many who strive for good in the world don’t follow through with the logical implications of their limited value systems.

What Makes Ethics “Christian”?

To be “Christian,” ethics must start with the confession, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.” It must also affirm the ultimate authority of Holy Scripture.

Christian Ethics can benefit from the social sciences and moral theorists but its ultimate source and standard are much different and much higher:
A Creator God who, by being God alone (monotheism) and God of all the earth and all creation, guides by means of several revelations.

1. “Creation Ordinances” (discussed below).
2. The Torah—The Five Books of Moses (both its lawful principles and its “case law,” which gives proper application of lawful principles to specific circumstances).
3. The Ten Commandments. These were given by God to his covenant people Israel and must be applied accordingly. Still, the Second Table of the Law (commandments 5-10) helps establish a just and healthy society anywhere.
4. The Noahic Commandments stated or implied from Genesis 9:1-17. Because God gave this instruction before he called out a people to be his covenant nation many see these laws as binding on all humanity: (1) the sacredness of human life; prohibition of murder and execution of the murderer, (2) implied: establishing a system of governance and justice, (3) be fruitful and multiply in number, (4) implied: sacredness of the marriage covenant and therefore prohibition of adultery, (5) permission to eat meat as well as plants, but not flesh torn from a living animal.
5. The Old Testament. This canon is “inspired of God and profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16). It must neither be laid aside nor adopted wholesale as a moral guide. It must be viewed through the “Jesus lens,” which is his life, teachings and atonement (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
6. The Life and Teachings of Jesus. See how Jesus’ suffering is exemplary for believers in 1 Peter 2:21-23. Ponder the Sermon on the Mount and much more. But do not claim that Jesus’ teachings alone are sufficient! Recently I heard of some who call for “red letter” ethics—seek what Jesus said and live by that. This reductionism wrongly limits our ethical guidance and ignores what Jesus himself taught about the authority of Scripture and apostolic teaching. In practice, it may not even expound fully what Jesus taught, such as on marriage.
7. The Moral Influence of the Bible. Various Biblical statements and stories have shaped cultures for the good (e.g., The “Golden Rule” and the story of “The Good Samaritan”).
8. The Narratives of both Testaments (Joseph, Moses, Ruth, Esther, David, Daniel, Nehemiah, Simon Peter, as examples).
9. The Transformational Power of the Bible. The Bible molds “the kind of person” God desires (loving, passionate for justice, merciful, kind, forgiving, etc.) as we grow into being responsible moral agents.
“Creation Ordinances” is a special source of ethical principles. Grounded in the creative acts of God, especially his creation of human beings, it is appropriately applied to all humanity, not just to God’s covenant people (Israel and the Church).

What moral teachings should we draw from the Creation accounts (found in the first two chapters of Genesis)?

• The Sabbath Principle (the weekly “rhythm”)
• God’s highest creation: humankind made in the Image of God
• Gender distinctions of “male” and “female”
• The covenant bond of marriage
• Propagation of the human race through marriage and family
• Stewardship (not ownership) of Creation

Next month: Part 2 – Natural Law; Distinction between Personal Ethics and Social Ethics;
Distinction between Biblical Ethics and Christian Ethics; Abortion: Applied Ethics[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Religious Liberty Vigilance –
Church and State—Keep Them Separate!

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
– Thomas Jefferson (1802) Letter to Danbury Baptists

During the last presidential campaign a large group of pastors gathered around candidate Donald Trump and pronounced this prayer:
“President-to-be Donald Trump, we decree and declare from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet that the favor of the Lord will surround you like a shield, in Jesus’ name.”

Outrageous! But we expected this from Christian Fundamentalists, didn’t we? After all, they’re always trying to break down the “Wall of Separation” between Church and State. No wonder secular leftists are outraged!

But wait a minute! My error! This prayer wasn’t prayed over Donald Trump. These pastors prayed over candidate Hillary Clinton! Where was the outrage?

Seems like a different standard exists when left-wing politicians cozy up to religion. Which takes my thoughts to the tight race in Ohio’s 12th Congressional district. That district includes my hometown of Mansfield.

On Sunday, August 5, Democratic congressional candidate Danny O’Connor attended Oasis Church in Mansfield and mixed it up with members. Sometimes Democratic candidates are even lauded by ministers during worship services and can be found sitting on the platform or even sermonizing to the congregation.

The issues of what the “wall of separation” really means and how it can be violated need to be reasonably debated. Perhaps this “prayer of anointing” by the pastors and perhaps the candidate backslapping worshippers in Mansfield are not serious breaches in the wall after all.

But when a pastor lauds and supports a candidate from the pulpit—there the wall has been breached.

This point is most important: both “religion clauses” in the First Amendment (no establishment of religion; no prohibition of the free exercise of religion) were limitations placed on government, not on citizens or on religious bodies.

We need more bricks on the Wall to keep government out of the affairs of churches, religious organizations and believers as they practice their faith. That interference concerns me more than a prayer over a candidate or his visit to church. The latter may be unwise; the former is a serious threat.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Captain David Rosa
—A Senseless Death

Long Beach CA firefighters responded to an alarm shortly before 4:00 a.m. on June 25. While he was ascending stairs in the high-rise apartment complex, Captain Dave Rosa, 45, was shot and killed by a 77-year old resident (who ironically died later in a hospital jail ward). Captain Rosa, a 17-year veteran of the Long Beach CA fire department, left a wife and two sons.

I attended the memorial service with other members of the Seal Beach Police Department. The Long Beach Area held thousands, including the entire Long Beach Fire Department. It was an emotional time full of warm tributes and meaningful words from the Rosa’s pastor. Captain Rosa was an outstanding Christian and citizen and firefighter who had mentored many.

I am filled with sorrow and anger at this crime, and for the great loss this senseless killing brought to family, colleagues, community and so many others.

Civility in Government and in Professional and Personal Life
—A Resolution

Genuine civility moves past simple politeness or pragmatic concerns and sees those with whom we disagree as full equals before God. It enables us to hold the respectful dialogues without which democratic decision-making is impossible. Civil people approach their government institutions with awe and gratitude. Civility is both the duty not to do harm and the duty to do good.

Civility cares for one’s own identity, needs and beliefs without degrading others in the process. It is about disagreeing without disrespect, seeking common ground as a starting point for dialogue about differences, listening past one’s preconceptions, and asking others to do the same. Civility is the hard work of stopping to listen even with those with whom we have deep-rooted and fierce disagreements.

God’s “Common Grace” (the gifts and abilities he bestows to all mankind) enables all people to practice civility. God’s “Regenerative Grace” enhances the ability of Jesus’ followers to treat others rightly.

Meaningful civility begins at the top—communication by the White House and Executive Branch, by members of Congress, and other government officials, whether federal, state or local. The tone set by leaders, and (when appropriate) rejected by leaders, will affect political and personal discourse throughout the country.

We look with alarm at the deterioration of communication, especially good face-to-face communication, in today’s political climate. Therefore, we call on political leaders to be honest and respectful in their political rhetoric, and to duly honor other political leaders in spite of political differences and flaws. We urge communication that truthfully focuses on issues and avoids harmful ad hominem characterizations of people.

Meaningful civility must also exist in the news media and in personal communications, especially in the use of social media. Commentators and reporters must separate facts from rumor and opinion and strive for helpful and wholesome communication at all times. Social media must be used with honesty and care. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). “Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger” (James 1:19). Our churches need to teach and model this continually. Communicators should strive for “Golden Rule Communication.”

We condemn all acts of incivility, including outright violence and destruction, and denying others their constitutional right to free speech and freedom of association and assembly.

(This Resolution was adopted by my denomination, Charis Fellowship, also known as the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, on July 26, 2018).

Bible Insight—Fairness to All

(Not just to “me and thee” but not to “he”!)

“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” – Leviticus 19:15

“Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent.”
– Deuteronomy 16:19

The Roman statue known as “Lady Justice” is a metaphor for a justice system that is fair and impartial. Its widespread presence at many a courthouse is evidence that the values of fairness and impartiality reflected in the Law of Moses are widespread. When God commanded these virtues he clearly did not intend that they be limited to the theocratic people of Israel.

So, how are we doing? Rather well overall, it seems. But much more vigilance and work is needed to ensure full compliance.

A mantra of the religious left has been, “God has a special bias for the poor.” Certainly, God stands for those who have no one willing or able to stand for them. But “bias”? I don’t think so. The phrase, “Do not show partiality to the poor” has been criticized, which underscores the importance of teaching it.

But what about the rich and well-connected? Where is impartiality?

Our church went through major exterior renovation in 2017. It took two years for the approval process to make it through government scrutiny. But do you notice how massive projects benefitting the wealthy get subsidized, “fast-tracked” and exempted from environmental and other concerns?

What about “corporate welfare” for Hollywood ($1.8 billion in tax breaks benefitting producers and stars) and Disneyland (a new hotel)? What about new stadiums getting taxpayer dollars and environmental exemptions?
“Many curry favor with a ruler, and everyone is the friend of one who gives gifts.” – Proverbs 19:6. Stay vigilant! Demand impartial justice and fair government. For to do so is to share God’s passions![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Final Words from Senator McCain

“Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them…

“To be connected to America’s causes – liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people – brings happiness more sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves…

“We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history…

“Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.”

I noticed Arizona’s Seal under Senator McCain’s casket as he lay in state in the State Capitol.

“DITAT DEUS” means “God Inspires.” This has been part of the seal since Arizona became a state in 1912.

“VAYA CON DIOS” – “Go with God” – Friend Tommy Espinosa’s Tribute. I give thanks to God for this strong and good leader.

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

June 2018 Newsletter

Posted on June 4, 2018 by admin

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”June 2018 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

A Tribute to
Gov. George Deukmejian

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“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes,

but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”
– Martin Luther

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A Quiet, Competent, Reasonable Governor-Gentleman

California Governor George Deukmejian died on May 8 at 89. He was governor from 1983-1991, having followed the ultra-unusual Jerry Brown (who is now governor again until 2019). Before his governorship he was a state assemblyman, state senator (representing the district we moved into in 1970) and state attorney general. He practiced law in Long Beach before and after his long political career (1963-1991).

Mr. Deukmejian’s reserved persona would not ignite anything. He ran against LA Mayor Tom Bradley for governor twice, and the two seemed to compete on who would have the sleepier campaign each time. But competence to govern doesn’t require an extrovert.

I chaired a convention on the Queen Mary in 1978 and Senator Deukmejian came to the banquet for a brief address and to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. The Queen Mary was marked by managerial incompetence in those days and there was no American flag at the banquet, as had been ordered. “Deuk” quietly invited all to pledge to the flag in their hearts!

“Deuk” governed with a steady hand, and considering the mess state government finances have been in for most of this century, we could use his quiet competence again. But today’s political climate, influenced by the right or by the all-pervasive left, is not conducive to such leadership.

“Deuk” should also be remembered for his devout Christian faith and his passion for the Armenian community. His parents immigrated to the U.S. to escape the Armenian Genocide.

Postscript: I have jury duty in June at the “Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse” in Long Beach. It was built in 2013 at astronomical cost ($490 million). It’s indeed a tribute to Mr. Deukmejian but seems contrary to his mild leadership and measured spending while in office.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Bible Insight – “Filled with the Holy Spirit” Some things the Bible does NOT say!

What serious-minded Christian doesn’t want a deeper spiritual experience? Or all that God has available to him or her? None I know.

We Western-minded Christians like to reduce things to sequential steps, and our quest to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit is no exception! “First do this…then this…finally this, and voila! The experience is yours.” How many steps depends on the pamphlet you’re reading, but four is quite common. *

John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit before birth (Luke 1:15; 2:39-43). I wonder what steps he followed or what pamphlet he read in the dark!

I want to write a 2-part message on “Filled with the Holy Spirit.” In this first part we’ll consider what we DO NOT FIND in the Bible, not at all. Since my journey through scripture on this subject led to some real surprises (once I endeavored to let the Bible speak louder than my presuppositions), I’ll call my findings “surprises”.

Surprise #1 – Nowhere in the New Testament does anyone SEEK to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The need for such seeking is widely taught today. And I don’t fault anyone’s quest to “seek the Lord,” though we often need to analyze why and what we’re actually seeking. But that’s a different issue.

But seeking specifically to be “filled with the Spirit”? It just isn’t there.

Surprise #2 – Nowhere in the New Testament does anyone PRAY to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now, I often pray for a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit upon his church today. May God revive us and fill us afresh! But here I’m simply pointing out that the Bible never commands or records that the Spirit’s filling be prayed for. **

Once, when the disciples experienced their first real persecution after Pentecost, they went earnestly before God in prayer and asked that they might “speak your word with great boldness” in the face of these threats. God answered that prayer with a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit and the disciples indeed did speak the word of God boldly. But (my point is) they didn’t pray for the Spirit’s filling (see Acts 4:23-31).

And they certainly didn’t engage in any prayer techniques (as some teach today) to induce the Spirit to come and fill them, as if the church has the Spirit in a bottle ready to emerge if the right spiritual formula is spoken.

Surprise #3 – Nowhere in the New Testament does anyone FOLLOW STEPS to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The steps you read in tracts and booklets are just that—steps in tracts and booklets. They are not found in the New Testament.

No steps? I find this not only surprising but also frustrating! You would think that the command of Ephesians 5:18 (“Be filled with the Spirit”) would carry with it instructions on how to obey it, but it doesn’t. What it really does is to speak of the effects, the “evidences” if you please, of being Spirit-filled: singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs from the heart, giving thanks, submitting to one another (some who claim the loudest to being Spirit-filled don’t seem all that submissive!).

The closest we come to any biblical “steps” is in Acts 2:38, and I’d wager (if I wagered) that you’ve never heard anyone say to follow these steps to receive the Spirit. “Repent and be baptized….in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Surprise #4 – Nowhere in the New Testament does anyone TESTIFY to being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Yet many believers announce in church and elsewhere that they are Spirit-filled. Some may say they’ve been Spirit-filled for five years, ten years, or more. I’ll confess my spiritual gauge has pointed toward empty many times over ten years.

May I suggest that such testimonials easily lead to (or indicate) spiritual pride and spiritual elitism—not marks that the church should want to have.

Truly Spirit-filled people don’t need to announce it, and it would be better for them and the church if they didn’t. Their lives evidence it, as the Apostle Paul taught us, in songs, thanksgiving, and submission.

In a later Newsletter I’ll talk about what the Bible DOES say on this important and always-timely topic.

* Four steps to fullness—some examples:
• Hunger after righteousness; confess known sin; present every area of your life to God; by faith let the Spirit fill and control your life (Campus Crusade)
• Know that the Spirit is a gift; position yourself to receive; bypass your intellect; let the Spirit flow like a river (Oral Roberts, who claimed these points were taught by Peter in his Pentecost sermon, though they didn’t make it into the Book of Acts!)
• Confess known sin; desire and seek the fullness; yield to God, then believe you are filled (Rene Pache)
• First be saved; obey and surrender; ask; believe (Ralph Riggs—Assemblies of God)
• Be sure it is God’s will for you; desire to be filled; obey God; receive the Spirit by faith (A. W. Tozer)
One big problem I have is that some of the steps (conditions) to be empowered by the Spirit can’t be done without the power of the Spirit. And that puts us in a real predicament!

** True, Luke 11:13 does speak of asking for the Holy Spirit (“…how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”). The context (11:1-13) is prayer, and Jesus is assuring his followers that God is interested in answering the appropriate prayers of his children. Of all God’s gifts in answer to prayer, none could be greater than the gift of the Holy Spirit. The key is the timing of this gift. Before his ascension Jesus said (Luke 24:48), “ I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” The prayer request for the Spirit, then, is answered at Pentecost and beyond, and all who repent and are baptized participate in the fulfillment of the prayer (Acts 2:38-39; see “Step #3” above).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Religious Liberty Vigilance – California’s AB-2943: Could It Hinder Religious Liberty by Restricting Church Teaching on Behavior Modification?

“I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises.”
– Thomas Jefferson (1808)

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]California’s Assembly Bill 2943 is now before the state’s Senate. Its title is “AB-2943 Unlawful business practices: sexual orientation change efforts.”

Much of the wording in this bill reflects secular understandings of sexual orientation and secular therapies regarding the same. In the words of the Legislative Analyst: “This bill would include, as an unlawful practice prohibited under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual.”

Delving into the above debate is not within my expertise, my interest, or my efforts. As my friends with whom I have had discussions and disagreements know, I am interested in religious liberty and in the right of Christian and other religious communities to teach, practice, and perpetuate their own doctrines and moral teachings free of meddlesomeness from the state.

Thus, my concern over AB-2943 is its breadth, whether intentional or not.

The bill would amend California’s Civil Code to read: “’Sexual orientation change efforts’ means any practices that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.” [emphasis mine]

Read that again! “…efforts to change behaviors…” Behavioral issues are religious issues. Secular too, perhaps, but religious foremost.

So a likely widespread scenario could be this: a church teaches that sexual relations are to be expressed in the bond of marriage between a man and a woman and behavior should be ordered accordingly and modified as needed to fit this conviction. A minister or church counselor is approached by a sincere, devout Christian who wants to change his or her “behavior, gender expression or romantic attraction, or feelings toward individuals of the same sex” in accord with the church’s teaching.

Under AB-2943, would the church be breaking the law by teaching or counseling this person according to its convictions? As I read the law, the answer seems to be “Perhaps” if not “Yes.”

Some have claimed that sale of the Bible will be banned under this law. That seems extreme and unlikely. But what about a book written on this topic? What about a church advertisement for a sermon or a seminar on this topic? Questions about all these possibilities should be addressed before this bill becomes law.

Respected religious rights attorney Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute gives this caution: “The anti-counseling Bill’s broad language reaches far beyond the offices of therapists and into the church, affecting a ministry’s ability to sell books or provide conferences that encourage sexual orientation change efforts [SOCE].” Remember, SOCE includes efforts to change “behavior.”

The best that could happen, if this bill is to become law, would be for the California Senate to add a clear religious exemption to the bill.

If AB-2943 is as benign as advocates say it is, it’s time to make that clear. Religious liberty is too precious a freedom to be left to chance, or its defense left to legislators, judges, attorneys, litigants and bureaucrats who show little regard for it.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Another Voice…

“A Call for More Civility”

A Commentary by Michael Josephson

When George Washington was 16, he discovered a booklet of 110 maxims describing how a well-mannered person should behave. He was so convinced that these maxims would help him become a better person that he set out to incorporate them into his daily living. Among Washington’s many virtues, his commitment to civility marked him as a gentleman and helped him become a universally respected and enormously effective leader.
By today’s standards, Washington’s notions of civility seem quaint and old-fashioned, but the purpose of manners and etiquette is to soften relationships with respect and to treat others graciously.
Instead of updating our concept of manners to accord with modern lifestyles, we seem tobe abandoning the notion of civility entirely. We’re exposed to heavy doses of tactless, nasty, and cruel remarks on daytime talk shows, dating games, and courtroom and reality programs.
As a result, we’ve produced a generation that’s comfortable being brutish and malicious and a society that’s increasingly coarse and unpleasant.
In a tense world full of conflicts, frustrations, and competition, civility is an important social lubricant that helps us live together constructively. If we care about the world we’re making for our children, we need to be less tolerant of mean-spirited, discourteous, and impolite remarks and do a better job of teaching and modeling civility.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
© 2018 Josephson Institute. Reprinted from “What Will Matter Newsletter” – Vol. 68; April 30-May 6, 2018 with permission. www.charactercounts.org

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

May 2018 Newsletter

Posted on April 30, 2018 by admin

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”May 2018 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Are Ministers Really
“Different” and
Should They Be
Treated Differently?

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Politics Dilutes the Gospel

“Being involved in strictly political issues or partisan politics inevitably dilutes the evangelist’s impact and compromises his message. It is a lesson I wish I had learned earlier…”
– Billy Graham’s memoir (2011)

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Message of the Month –

Are Ministers Really “Different” and
Should They Be Treated Differently?

By Donald P. Shoemaker

I come from a Protestant tradition that emphasizes very strongly there should be no difference between clergy and lay people. As it turns out, as I’ve seen from 49 years of pastoral experience, this can be more theory than practice.

Recently I saw several postings for pastoral job positions in churches. Some were quite demanding in their expectations. But one feature stood out in all of them, prominent because of its absence.

Not one word was said about salary, benefits or work-related expenses.

Not one word about:
• Salary – What salary will this church offer the pastor? Does it prefer a candidate with a master’s degree or more? What about years of experience? What does the church expect on these points, and will it compensate accordingly? Does the church plan to pay a pastor on a par with comparable professions represented in the congregation? Or is it going to pay at the level of an entry-level worker?

• Benefits – What kind of health, dental and vision insurance will the church offer? What kind of retirement plan? Vacation time and sick time? Disability insurance and term life insurance? Will the church offset at least half of Self-Employment Tax (the IRS considers clergy “self employed” when it comes to Social Security, so clergy pay 16.3%)?

• Work-related expenses * – Will the pastor receive a mileage reimbursement and coverage for church-related travel? What about the cost of books, software and other items necessary to doing the work of ministry? Will the church encourage continuing education and fund it? Will the church provide a sabbatical every seventh year? (Many churches don’t have to bother with this last question, because they’ve never had a pastor stay that long!)
In contrast, I see job postings all the time from secular sources. These features are prominent, without compromising the job expectations.

There are other issues. Is there a job description and, if so, is it biblical and realistic? Are expectations, perimeters, and authority clear? If a pastor has no job description, the “unwritten” ones will come to haunt him again and again.

To whom is the pastor accountable, and will the church guard this line of authority against critics and self-appointed bosses (“After all, don’t forget you work for me!”)? What are the church’s employee policies? Does the church have an established vision or is it expecting the new pastor to create it? What will the new pastor know a year from now that he ought to know right now?

Christianity has often dealt with what’s called “Gnostic Christology”. That’s when Jesus is thought of as a divine being whose humanity is somewhat a compromised thing. Is Jesus really, really one of us?

Let’s face up to one Gnostic tendency in church life. The pastor is made to be a human being of an elevated sort. His level of spirituality lets him float above material needs and emotions, struggles and burdens that concern the rest of us. He may even encourage this elevated view of himself, which shows how his proximity to God makes him immune to what afflicts average mortals.

Pastors supposedly live by faith, looking to God to supply what the church won’t supply, and what members of the church would want their own employers to supply. ** One church—among many I’m sure—told its pastor to “trust the Lord” about health care! An article in my denomination’s magazine years ago said if a pastoral candidate were truly a man of faith, he wouldn’t inquire about salary before accepting the new position. The article was written by a non-pastor—an educator who worked under a contract!

Here are two scriptures for Pastors to ponder:

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.” (Romans 12:3 NIV)

“If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
(1 Timothy 5:8)

And here are two scriptures for Congregations to ponder:

“Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?” (1 Corinthians 9:7 in context)

“The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For Scripture says,
‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and ‘The worker deserves his wages.’” (1 Timothy 5:17-18)

NOTES:

* With the new tax law eliminating Employee Business Expenses (which was not a very good deduction in the first place), it is all the more imperative that churches have an ACCOUNTABLE reimbursement procedure in place to cover the pastor’s business expenses—something progressive churches would have been doing all along anyway. This is NOT an expense allowance, which is taxable. Likewise, there should be a mileage reimbursement procedure for use of a vehicle, NOT an auto allowance (also taxable). Furthermore, it would be UNJUST to adjust the pastor’s salary downward to offset the cost of covering these expenses.

** “Hyper-Calvinism” might be the right term for this version of “faith.” In Hyper-Calvinism, the end (for example, that God will provide for us) is separated from the means (what responsibilities we or others have to secure this care). If this kind of “living by faith” describes how a pastor ought to live, then other “more ordinary” Christians (who negotiate in their employment, sign contracts, have job descriptions and employment policies, join unions, etc.) must be “living by works.” If the former evidences trusting God then the latter must evidence lack of trust in God.
But this whole way of thinking is wrong![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

May 13 (Mother’s Day) – Speak in morning worship services (8:00, 9:30, 11:00) at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach on the Book of Ruth, chapter 2.

May 15 & 18 – Teach on The Epistle to Philemon at Women Bible Study, Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (6:30 pm on Tuesday, May 15 and 9:30 am on Friday, May 18).

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Bible Insight – SIGNS of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13)

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. – Acts 2:1-4 New International Version

What was the Day of Pentecost? *

—The day to observe the “feast of weeks” when the grain harvest was celebrated in anticipation of greater harvest to come (Leviticus 23:15-22).
—The day God’s Spirit was poured out on the waiting disciples—disciples who had seen the Lord Jesus depart from them ten days earlier.
—The day that launched a Movement that would change the world within a few generations.

There were three Signs of the first Christian Pentecost:

Sound of wind – Sign of the Spirit’s Power

STongues of fire – Sign of the Spirit’s Presence

Speaking in “tongues” – Sign of the Spirit’s Plan

* Pentecost is observed this year on Sunday, May 20.

“Speaking in tongues”, to say the least, remains quite controversial. To some, it was a passing phenomenon with a purpose for that occasion and without lasting significance. Some who hold this are called “cessationists”—they believe that the “sign gifts” (as they call them) ceased after the apostles’ day and when the New Testament was completed. They base this on an interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 which I simply do not find compelling. For instance, I doubt very much the Apostle Paul ever envisioned a day when there would be a completed canon of Scripture we call “The New Testament.”

At the other extreme are those who see “speaking in tongues” as the sine qua non of spiritual attainment—one is not “filled with the Holy Spirit” or “living in the Spirit” unless he or she evidences these realities by speaking in tongues. In my opinion, this position depends on cherry-picking a few isolated scriptures that are then interpreted and applied very questionably.

What can we say about this phenomenon? Two points:

First of all, let’s demystify “speaking in tongues” with a literal translation: “They began to speak in other languages” (heterais glossais) as prompted by the Spirit. And we are told what these languages were (verses 8-11).

Second, in context, the “languages” were the sign that the good news about Jesus would be spread to the nations—across linguistic boundaries and much more. What better way to signify the universality of the Christian Gospel than to declare God’s deeds in the native languages of the region? If you want to keep a message “in house” you use secret language, unintelligible to others. But if you want to spread a great message you use all the languages around.

The Aramaic tongue of Jesus and his disciples would have been known by all who were gathered in Jerusalem. The miracle of Pentecost was that other languages, not Aramaic, pointed to the spread of the Gospel to every nation and people. The significance of “speaking in tongues” was this then:
The crowd attracted by the miracle could hear the disciples speak “the wonders of God” in the native languages they understood. What made “tongues” a powerful sign of the Spirit was that what was said was understood!

Jesus’ prayer in Aramaic (“The Lord’s Prayer”) overturned the notion of a sacred “language of God.” Pentecost took this a step further—the Gospel door was swung open to all languages and cultures.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Speaking in Tongues (Acts 2:4)

By the Spirit’s prompting
the disciples spoke in other languages—
languages unknown to them but known to those who heard.

They spoke words that were understood—
Words about God’s mighty deeds.

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An Open Message to my Pentecostal Friends and Colleagues…

As a teen I felt spiritual inadequacy in my church and in my own life. I was drawn to Pentecostalism to see if it had “more of God” for me. After five years I left the movement, but not without much appreciation for what it offers (at the top: worship and teaching on the Spirit). And in it I met my wife-to-be!

I’ve followed this movement closely ever since, including its “Charismatic” variety (Protestant and Catholic). I have these two concerns:

First, while there has been progress in seeing the work of the Holy Spirit as broader throughout Christian communities, an exclusivism remains strong in many Pentecostal circles, as if this movement still has the Spirit in its corner. Rather, Pentecostalism is within the domain of the Spirit, not congruent with it.

Second, the Pentecostalism I knew did not have various kinds of techniques on how to get people to speak in tongues. This feature is strong in some circles.
“Open up your mouth, move your tongue and give voice to what the Holy Spirit will pray through you. He will not force you, but as you activate faith He will flow through you with this utterance gift.” (“Speaking in Tongues—Your Powerful Plus” by Becky Dvorak, CharismaNews, March 18, 2018).

This is totally absent from the New Testament and it would have destroyed the evidential witness of this phenomenon in Acts 2:1-39; 10:44-48; 11:15-18.
This attempt to appropriate the Spirit by means of works is legalistic. It would be like teaching people how to produce the good works that evidence salvation so that the salvation itself might be received. In reality, inducing good works will not bring salvation; inducing speaking in tongues will not bring the Spirit.

What would you brothers and sisters in Christ wish to say to me?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Religious Liberty Vigilance –

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion…. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
– President John Adams (1798)

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“Between Iraq and a Hard Place”
– Biblical Amnesia and Secular Substitutes

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, columnist Christine Emba examined a recent case of religious amnesia (March 30, 2018).

“On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal was compelled to issue an amusing, if embarrassing, correction after misquoting Israel’s prime minister the day before. ‘An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Benjamin Netanyahu said Moses brought water from Iraq,’ the Journal confessed. ‘He [Netanyahu] said the water was brought from a rock.’

“…the original line had to have been seen and approved by at least three Journal staffers before being published—such religious illiteracy is far more widespread than that.”

The writer reports that more than half of Americans have read little or none of the Bible. Only half of self-identified Christians can name the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

“As a reference point, the Bible is a skeleton key that unlocks hundreds of years of culture… Many of the book’s moral lessons have become more, not less, relevant with time. Without knowing them, how can one parse the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’?”

“Although broader familiarity with the Bible might not restore the United States to its former glories, it probably wouldn’t hurt. In the meantime, this week’s correction stands as a sign of the times.”

As I view religious illiteracy today, my concern is this:

If the role of religion diminishes in our society, the importance of religious freedom will diminish with it. Other ideologies such as leftist secularism will move in and fill the vacuum. It is highly possible, then, that leftist secularism will succeed in capturing the hearts of enough politicians and centers of power so as to become a de facto “established religion.” One result will be suppression of traditional religion.

We are seeing signs of that today. Seems like every year, especially in a state as radically secular as California, churches and religious organizations must monitor all new regulations and new bills introduced into the legislature that might bring new controls upon religion and religious institutions.

Watch out for:
• Reintroduction of last year’s attempt in California’s legislature to limit the right of religious organizations to employ people according to the dictates of their own belief systems.
• Shaming and punishing religious people who believe God would have them live out their religious convictions in the workplace—people whose First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion should be protected, not assaulted.
• Controls on home schooling, due to the abuses by the Riverside parents of 13 children or by the lesbian couple who died with their children when their car was driven over an ocean cliff. Both are extremely exceptional situations and home schooling is not at fault. Extreme cases lead to bad laws.
• Nominees for state and federal positions to be grilled on their religious views (including who they think goes to heaven!) even thought the U.S. Constitution forbids any kind of religion test for public office (Article 6, Section 3).
• California’s Assembly Bill #2943 (I am now studying it and have not finalized an opinion). Critics I trust warn that this bill will prevent dissemination of religious viewpoints on disputed sexual matters such as gender identity. The bill is now before the senate. Religious freedom concerns have been shoved aside.

We don’t need secular monopolies on public discourse and action. We don’t need an “established” religion either—religious or secular. We need vigorous exercise of First Amendment freedoms. With this, religion thrives.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Peddlin’ for a Cause

My good friend Roy Halberg recently retired after many years of ministry. What’s next? How about peddling across the United States for a good cause?

On May 13 he will pull the rear wheel of his bicycle from the Atlantic Ocean near Yorktown, VA and head West.

His plan is to cycle 4228 miles across the country and, in about three months, dip his front wheel into the Pacific Ocean in Oregon.

It gets better. The trip is for a good cause. His goal is to raise $5/mile ($21,140) for “Water for Good.”
This program works with local people in the Central African Republic to provide sustainable, clean water. I know the director of this program and I highly recommend the program.

To learn more about “Water for Good”: www.waterforgood.org

To support Roy’s fundraising goal:
https://donate.waterforgood.org/campaign/roy-rides-for-clean-water/c167978

Mountain Scenery—the snow-capped mountain over Roy’s head is Mount San Antonio, also known as Mount Baldy. At 10,064’ it is the tallest in the San Gabriel mountain chain northeast of Los Angeles and the highest point in Los Angeles County (the county line runs right over the peak). I’ve climbed it many times.

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

April 2018 Newsletter

Posted on March 29, 2018 by admin

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”April 2018 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Bible Insight for
Good Friday & Easter—
“How is God
‘The Savior of all’?”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.
(1929 – April 4, 1968)

Billy Graham
(1918 – February 21, 2018)

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Bible Insight – How is God “The Savior of all”?

Easter Season is a good time to ponder an interesting scripture.

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” – 1 Timothy 4:9-10 ESV

The Christian tradition I know puts great emphasis on how God saves all who believe in Jesus. It’s as clear as the best-known verse of the Bible (John 3:16):
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This salvation is procured through Jesus’ death on the cross (the Good Friday message) and proclaimed and validated through his resurrection (the Easter message).

But the Apostle Paul writes that there is more to God’s saving work than that, as important as it is. In some sense, God is savior of all.

Let’s call this sense “The Savior—Basic Version.” John 3:16, then, gives us “The Savior—Enhanced Version.”

In what sense does God save everyone? At the start, we reject universal salvation from sin (eternal life for all) as being as thoroughly unbiblical as it is appealing to our emotions. It just isn’t “there” as numerous Bible verses indicate (Daniel 12:2-3; John 5:28-29; Romans 6:23 among many others).

My New Testament professor in seminary, Dr. Homer A. Kent, Jr., gave an explanation to 1 Timothy 4:9-10 in his book The Pastoral Epistles that still sounds reasonable to me.

“As applied to unbelievers [God’s salvation] includes preservation and deliverance from various evils and the bestowal of many blessings during this life. To believers, however, this salvation does not end with earthly life but goes on for all eternity.”

Similarly, the reformer John Calvin said this “salvation for all” refers to God’s kindness and goodness to everyone. We call this the working of “common grace” whereby God cares for all people with numerous blessings from creation and providence, and from the social institutions God establishes. *

In my article on “common grace” I identify several blessings from God to all:
• Creation—its abundance, variation and beauty
• The value and dignity of human life by virtue of its special creation
• A basic sense of right and wrong instilled in all of us
• Human intelligence, creativity, artistry, achievements, enjoyments
• The family
• Human government (be it ever so open to frailty and wrong) that promotes justice, punishes evil, encourages good, and secures peace
• Restraint of evil, lest the world become even more intolerable and ungovernable than it already seems.

With these thoughts in mind, I encourage every church to teach and every Christian to practice both evangelism (sharing the message of forgiveness through Jesus) and social activism (supporting all in secular life that is for the common good). Through us, then, God mediates the ministry of salvation to all people, and especially to those who believe.

* John Calvin’s Commentary on 1 Timothy. See my article on “Common Grace” in my November 2015 Newsletter: http://donaldshoemakerministries.com/blog/614/

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. and Billy Graham

It’s hard for me to imagine evangelical Christianity without Billy Graham. And April 4 marks 50 years since Martin Luther King was assassinated. If we remember this event, we remember where we were when we heard it (like the death of John F. Kennedy or “9/11”).

Billy Graham’s ministry blossomed from a prayer meeting held in the Rainbow Room of the Westminster Hotel in Winona Lake, Indiana on July 13, 1949. While a student in seminary, I was a hotel clerk working next to the Rainbow Room when I learned of the King assassination.

Both men affected the country and world for the better in their unique ways. King was the activist preacher who took to the streets and elsewhere, breaking unjust laws when necessary to further the just cause. Graham was the preacher calling for a change of heart, but he put his faith to work by insisting on (even enforcing) desegregation of his early evangelistic meetings.
I think both roles are necessary. I also think God calls some to work within the “system” (such as how the Bible’s Nehemiah and Daniel served in secular government) and minister within it as they can. And God calls others to stand outside the “system” and prophesy against it when necessary (as Elijah, John the Baptist and Jesus did).

One of Martin Luther King’s contributions was to articulate when civil disobedience may be justified. It is permissible to resist an “unjust” law—a law that does not accord with the moral law of God.

Billy Graham was a pastor to presidents among his many roles. Early on, he ministered to politicians while staying aloof from politics. Quite a feat, and he confessed some failures along the way.

For example, a young Billy Graham, naïve about politics and protocol, once met with President Truman at the White House. Then he went outside and “spilled the beans” about the meeting to reporters. Worse, he took their bait and knelt on the White House lawn to pray for the president. (Hard to imagine, isn’t it? The news media baiting people so they can get a story!)

Billy Graham deeply regretted this incident, as he recalled it in his autobiography Just As I Am. Unfortunately it hurt his witness to Truman, who regarded him as a counterfeit and persona non grata at the White House. Many years later the two were able to laugh together about it.

I saw Billy Graham four times in my life (1961 at a Youth For Christ gathering in Chicago, 1969 at a Youth for Christ national gathering in Winona Lake, and at the Crystal Cathedral and Anaheim Crusade in 1985). I saw Martin Luther King once at a Baptist church in my hometown of Mansfield, Ohio.

I cherish the memory and work of both—the world is much better off because of them.

Recommended: Just as I Am by Billy Graham; The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King; Christianity Today “Billy Graham Issue” – read this issue at: www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/billy-graham[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

“Our Thoughts and Prayers are with you.” So?

This expression has been harshly criticized as utterly inadequate in light of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. What should we say about it?

It can be phony and insincere—a platitude we use to move past a situation and then forget about it.

It can be well intentioned but then we fail to follow through on our promise. We fail to pray for those in need as we promised we would. Let’s confess how often we’ve promised to pray for someone and then failed to do so.

It can be a limitation we wrongly impose on our response to evil and tragedy. We think once we have “thought and prayed” we’ve done our job. While some critics of this phrase do so because they don’t believe in prayer or doubt the sincerity of those who say this, we must recognized that some victims don’t believe we really intend to do anything other than “think and pray.” In this, they make a strong point.

One of my favorite Bible verses: hearing the threats against his people as the walls of Jerusalem were being rebuilt, Nehemiah, governor of the region at the appointment of the Persian king, told what actions he was taking.

“We prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat” (Nehemiah 4:9 in context). The people prayed; the people took action.

Prayer, if genuine, will always include commitment to do what one can and should do to lift a burden or prevent more harm or injustice. *

Faith without works is dead. “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ [‘I’ll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.’] but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16).

So let’s weigh our intentions and follow through with our promises. Let’s supplement prayer with action as needed. And let’s temper our criticism of others when they speak this phrase with sincerity.

* The neighbor of the church in Sutherland, Texas put “thoughts and prayers” to action when he took his AR-15 rifle and engaged the shooter/murderer outside the church.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

Civility, please. Please!

My wife and I were on a plane from L.A. to Washington, D.C. last November.
I couldn’t see the computer screen belonging to the passenger right in front of me. But my wife could see it and so could most passengers around us.

The screen said boldly, “F * * * T R U M P”, no letters left to the imagination!

This is one manifestation of a growing trend toward incivility in our country. Little consideration of those around you. Little proper regard for those in authority, whether you agree with them or not, or for adversaries.

Civility is our ability to look past differences and listen to the viewpoints of others. Civil people can disagree without disrespect. Without this, the dialogue needed for successful democratic government is impossible.

I believe civility is the natural outcome of belief that we are made in the likeness of God. We must not bless God and then curse people, for they bear his likeness (James 3:9-10). OK, we are all broken humans and sometimes we have to squint a bit to see dignity in others. And we may not see it well in the mirror either. But that dignity remains, regardless our shortcomings.

Government is a gift from God and rulers are to be honored in spite of their imperfections. We are to pray for them, so their rule will be just and peace inducing (1 Peter 2:13-17; 1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Government leaders should make this respect easier to offer and not harder. From the President on down, there should be no place for ad hominem comments that diminish others, including degrading tweets.

Without knowing of the foul message on this passenger’s computer screen,
I helped her get her bag down when we reached D.C. Knowing what I know now, what should I have done? Well, the same thing. “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you… Do to others as you would have them do to you” – Jesus (Luke 6:27-31).

See my full statement on Civility at: http://donaldshoemakerministries.com/blog/essential-civility/[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

A Scripture on the Power and Practicality of Jesus’ Resurrection

We were buried therefore with [Jesus] by baptism into death,
in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his,
we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him
in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing,
so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we will also live with him.
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead,
will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
For the death he died he died to sin, once for all,
but the life he lives he lives to God.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin
and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body,
to make you obey its passions.
Do not present your members to sin
as instruments for unrighteousness,
but present yourselves to God
as those who have been brought from death to life,
and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

– Romans 6:4-13 (New International Version)

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Don’s Upcoming Ministries

May 13 (Mother’s Day) – Speak in morning worship services (8:00, 9:30, 11:00) at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach on the Book of Ruth, chapter 2.

May 15 & 18 – Teach on The Epistle to Philemon at Women Bible Study, Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (6:30 pm on Tuesday, May 15 and 9:30 am on Friday, May 18).

“We do not want a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.”

– G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
English writer, philosopher, orator,
lay theologian and more

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net</>

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February-March 2018 Newsletter

Posted on January 31, 2018 by admin

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”January 2018 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Roe v. Wade January 22, 1973

45 Years later the Abortion Debate Still Rages

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“Deliver us from evil”

Should the Words of “The Lord’s Prayer” Be Changed?

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Roe v. Wade at 45 – Abortion Debate Still Rages

By Donald P. Shoemaker

Reprinted from the Long Beach, CA Press-Telegram, January 22, 1998.

A personal note in 2018:
I believe that the observations I made in 1998 are as relevant today as when they were written. The writing below has slight edits and bold italics are added. Since this op-ed was written 20 years ago, my aunt and uncle have both passed away.

My aunt and uncle live in a fine Southern California retirement community. During a recent visit I was taken by my uncle on a tour of the community’s nearly completed state-of-the-art facility for Alzheimer’s patients.

We looked inside one room that would soon house a patient. There was no mirror in the bathroom for there is no need for a mirror. The patient who would eventually stay there is not aware of who he or she is.

Relatives of the patients will be able to visit with them in a comfortable sitting area. But there will be no depth of communication, for the Alzheimer’s patient no longer has a capacity for an “I-Thou” relationship.

As this disease takes its toll, connection with the past and present is lost. All sense of futurity is gone.

When my uncle and I tried to leave we had a problem. There was no way to open the facility’s door from the inside without knowing a special code. This is needed because Alzheimer’s patients no longer have a sense of “here” or “there” and must be protected in their movements lest they wander aimlessly and into danger. We located a worker who could let us out.

The best of care will be provided for these dependent patients. And so it should be, for the spark of human dignity remains in them. As Christian teaching would affirm, they yet retain, in spite of their physical brokenness, the Image of God.

Since my visit to that care facility I have often thought of the issue of “personhood” and how a debate on human personhood and abortion has raged for three decades since permissive abortion laws were first put on the books in the 1960’s. Originally designed for “those truly tough cases,” the laws triggered an abortion avalanche and were themselves swept away by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision 25 years ago today [January 22, 1973].

“Right to Life” advocates have argued for a genetic understanding of personhood. Human life, it is said, begins at conception and ought to be respected and protected from violent assault from then until natural death. Personhood is tied to the biological fact of being human, one of “us” rather than an “it” or one of “them.” Right to Life advocates have argued for the full person of unborn humans or at least that enough claim to personhood exists for the life of the unborn to be worthy of protection.

Others have seen personhood as a developing value throughout the prenatal state. In this case, our unborn have a greater and greater claim to life and protection and any termination of their existence requires increasing grounds for justification the longer they exist in utero. As a result, these people join with the “Right to Life” advocates in wanting to ban late-term abortions, especially the gruesome and barbaric “partial birth” (dilation and extraction) procedure.

Defenders of permissive abortion laws, of course, do not see matters that way. Personhood is connected to socializing capabilities, or perhaps to intellectual capacities.

Philosopher Mary Ann Warren has argued that there are five traits central to the concept of personhood which we can summarize as (1) consciousness, (2) reasoning, (3) self-motivated activity, (4) the capacity to communicate and (5) the presence of self-concepts and self-awareness. Not all of these need be present for a “person” to exist, but a measure of them must exist and a being that lacks all of them is certainly not a “person” in a moral sense.

The late medical ethicist Joseph Fletcher had a long list of personhood criteria, including self- awareness, time consciousness, a sense of futurity, a sense of the past, the capability of relating to others, communication and control of existence.

Criteria like these clearly exclude the unborn from the realm of “persons.” Abortion can be endorsed as an acceptable moral practice secured, as the Court saw it, by a “right to privacy” implicit in the U.S. Constitution.

What may surprise others but which certainly does not escape the notice of thinkers like these is that infants aren’t “persons” by this standard either. Nor are the comatose and others who lack self- awareness and self-control. Infants lack a moral claim to personhood and therefore are disposable, although we may value them for their potential and charm or for other utilitarian reasons. *

Which brings me full circle to the excellent care facility for Alzheimer’s patients. By the thinking that has prevailed to give us abortion, these patients are not persons. Unlike the unborn, their futurity and their social and intellectual potential are gone. As their disease has progressed, they have gradually but surely lost all claim to the care and love and protection personhood would afford.

In Roe v. Wade, the court threw up its hands and professed agnosticism on the issue of when personhood begins. Incredibly, it then proceeded to adopt a particular view of personhood (you have value at birth) and imposed a model of prenatal “trimesters” and a latitude which, in effect, have given us abortion on demand. ** The court never allowed the open public debate and legislative deliberation on this issue that is appropriate in a free and democratic society.

When the Supreme Court ruled on doctor-assisted suicide last summer ***, this practice did not receive the constitutional “green light” its advocates had hoped for. One might have expected the court to declare a right to assisted suicide on the same “right to privacy” grounds that gave us abortion on demand. But the court saw the need to guarantee “an earnest and profound debate about the morality, legality and practicality of physician-assisted suicide [that should take place] in a democratic society.”

That statement may be the closest thing we will hear from the court that sounds like an apology for Roe v. Wade. Rather than resolving the great debate, Roe v. Wade fueled the most acrimonious polarization of our time which shows no signs of abating.

* One medical ethicist would designate infants (up to age two) “proximate persons.”
** However, Roe v. Wade did explicitly reject a right to “abortion on demand.”
*** Washington v. Glucksberg (1997) and Vacco v. Quill (1997)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Bible Insight – “Lead Us Not into Temptation”

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”
– Matthew 6:13 (King James Version)

Pope Francis created quite a stir when he recently said that the words [in Italian] “non ci indurre in tentazione” (“Lead us not into temptation”) in the English version are not correct, because, he said, God does not actively lead us into temptation. (Andrea Gagliarducci, National Catholic Register, 12/12/17)

Now, this is not to be regarded as infallible papal teaching anymore than Donald Trump’s tweets should be added to the Constitution. On a scale of
1-10, #1 being “shooting from the hip” and #10 being “speaking ex cathedra [from the Chair of Saint Peter]”, this may have been a 3 or a 4. I don’t know.

At any rate, this development gives us a chance to look at this marvelous prayer request, given by Jesus for his followers to recite frequently.

1. The translation “lead us not into temptation” ain’t broke and don’t need fixin’!

This prayer request comes from Matthew 6:13 (Luke 11:4 is identical)–
καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν (kai mē eisenenkes hēmas eis peirasmon). Literally: “and do not lead us into temptation (testing).”

Any “translation” that does not reflect this basic thought is not a translation. It is commentary, opinion. If the change is called a “translation”, it is wrong.

2. That God would actively tempt a follower of his into moral failure is abhorrent and unbiblical.

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” (James 1:13-14 New International Version).

We simply may not “pass the buck to God”, making him at fault for our failures rather than ourselves. Remember Adam’s words to God? “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” – Genesis 3:12 (italics mine, but they might as well have been Adam’s).

“The Pope’s intent seems to be to emphasize that God does not directly ‘tempt’ us, but instead, the permissive will of God allows people to be tempted because of their sinfulness” (Gagliarducci, NCR). I would agree.

3. Nonetheless, God’s agency in temptation cannot be reduced to mere passive permissiveness.

If you “permit” your toddler to run into the street when you know the danger and could prevent it, I would find it hard to absolve you or let you hide behind a distinction between active and passive voices.

Matthew 4:1 is rather strong in describing the Holy Spirit’s agency when Jesus faced temptation. “Then Jesus was led [anēchthē, passive verb with the Spirit as the active agent] by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Mark 1:12 is even stronger: “the Spirit sent him out [ekballei—“cast him out, drove him”] into the wilderness.” The same Spirit that descended on Jesus at baptism now drives him forth to encounter temptation.

So we have (1) God’s Spirit (2) strongly pushing Jesus into the wilderness
(3) for the purpose of being tempted by the Devil. But the Devil, not the Spirit of God, is the “tempter.”

While temptations we face are of the same kind Jesus faced, the strength of the tempting pressure against him was unimaginable—more, I think, than we would ever face. This is significant, because some Christians talk of the temptation of Jesus as if the Devil were throwing darts that bounced harmlessly off Jesus as if he were Superman. *

Also very significant: Jesus resisted temptation by using the same resource available to you and me when we are tempted—the properly-applied Word of Scripture (see Matthew 4:1-11). Hence, we are told to take “the shield of faith” and “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” when we face struggles against evil (Ephesians 6:16-17 in context).

4. God’s purpose in permitting temptation is to strengthen, refine, and season us, not to debilitate, corrupt and defeat us.

I once bought some bolts and quickly found out why they were so cheap. The bolt twisted and broke under the power of my wrench. That’s why we must buy hardened tools and bolts. They will not fail when they need to be strong. So it is with the purpose and outcome of our “testings.”

Jesus permitted Peter to fall victim to his own spiritual hyper-self-confidence. He, like the other disciples, was sure he would not abandon his Lord when the going got tough.

But he did fail and fall. He abandoned Jesus. Even worse, he denied he knew Jesus in the Hour of Challenge (or Hour of Confession).

Jesus warned him of this but also reassured him with one of his greatest teaching moments: ““Simon [Peter], Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31). Here is a warning, a prayer, a promise and a reassurance on how God would use this failure in a positive way.

God knows our breaking point, and he will faithfully keep us from reaching that breaking point, if we will simply follow his directives and provisions
(1 Corinthians 10:13).

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
– “How Firm a Foundation” (anonymous, Rippon’s Selection of Hymns, 1787)

* One of my seminary professors once compared the temptation of Jesus to putting a tiny pea out on a bridge. It “tested” the bridge in an infinitesimal way—but it was still a test! This is baloney and gives us a Superman Jesus who is not really “tested in all points like we are” and not really able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).

Without denying the divinity of Jesus, Christians must equally confess his full, multi-dimensional humanity. Jesus and Satan weren’t just sitting there role-playing.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

February 19: The Presidents Day Un-Celebration — Honoring Not Just the Great, But All U.S. Presidents

By Michael Josephson

If you’re not going to school or work today [February 19], it’s because it’s a national holiday. The country used to celebrate the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln separately, but in 1971 Richard Nixon and Congress, in order to create a perpetual three-day weekend, merged the two holidays into a brand new one called Presidents Day, to honor all U.S. presidents.

The end result is that we equate the lives and leadership of two of the greatest men in our history with those of a diverse parade of men ranging from extraordinary to mediocre, and noble to dishonorable. What’s more, we reduce this and other days set aside to honor crucial people and historical events to no more than a day off. I doubt whether you’ll be reading many articles or seeing TV specials reminding you of the magnificent character and contributions of Washington or Lincoln.

I fear that the failure of our government, our schools and our media to emphatically remind us about our roots in a way that nurtures both pride and gratitude fosters an unhealthy, self-absorbed entitlement mentality. Sure, we’ll gladly take the day off for Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and shoot off fireworks on July 4th. But we’re too busy or blasé to pause to reconnect with our heritage and experience real appreciation for our heroes and their sacrifices.

Despite the initial surge of patriotism following September 11, I fear Americans are an increasingly ungrateful people, unwilling to appreciate what we have and why we have it. And we wonder why our kids don’t appreciate what they have and what we do for them.

If we keep treating our most important values as meaningless relics, that’s exactly what they’ll become.

Used by permission: The Josephson Institute of Ethics. Bold italics added.
I highly recommend the work of the Institute. www.josephsoninstitute.org[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

Religious Liberty Vigilance –

“To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical.”
– Thomas Jefferson (Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom—adopted January 16, 1786)

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The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786)

For over 20 years, U.S. presidents have designated January 16 as “Religious Freedom Day” to recognize the adoption of this historic document (see addendum). It was the foundation for the idea of religious freedom found in the First Amendment to the Constitution. It begins…

“Whereas, Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being Lord, both of body and mind yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time…”

The opening of this wordy, yet most valuable, one-sentence document gives us points to ponder:
• Is not a religious foundation (namely, the reality of an Almighty God) acknowledged in this document?
• Is there not a divine purpose for humanity found in the creative action of God, who, as Lord of body and mind, could have coerced the bodies and minds of people but chose not to? Does this not support liberal democracies and denounce tyrannies?
• Is it not possible for impious civil legislators to impose fallible secular ideologies upon people today, even as fallible religious ideologies have been imposed in the past and even today?
• Does not secular ideology continue to impose unacceptable burdens on people of faith, just as dominant religions have done in the past?

Food for thought. The entire document can be found at:
https://www.au.org/files/pdf_documents/virginia-statute-for.pdf[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Don’s Recent Sermons

Listen to Don’s sermons delivered at Grace Community Church. Go to: http://gracesealbeach.org/resources/sermons
Then go to the appropriate date.

NEW! January 21, 2018 – “Prayer in the Hour of Crisis” (Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Matthew 26:36-46)

October 29, 2017 – “Reformation Reminder—The Freedom of the Christian”

July 30, 2017 – “Leaders Training Leaders” (The ministry of Priscilla and Aquila with Apollos, Acts 18:24-28)

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net</>

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Addendum

Presidential Proclamation
Religious Freedom Day
January 16, 2018

Faith is embedded in the history, spirit, and soul of our Nation. On Religious Freedom Day, we celebrate the many faiths that make up our country, and we commemorate the 232nd anniversary of the passing of a State law that has shaped and secured our cherished legacy of religious liberty.

Our forefathers, seeking refuge from religious persecution, believed in the eternal truth that freedom is not a gift from the government, but a sacred right from Almighty God. On the coattails of the American Revolution, on January 16, 1786, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. This seminal bill, penned by Thomas Jefferson, states that, “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.” Five years later, these principles served as the inspiration for the First Amendment, which affirms our right to choose and exercise faith without government coercion or reprisal.

Today, Americans from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds remain steadfast in a commitment to the inherent values of faith, honesty, integrity, and patriotism. Our Constitution and laws guarantee Americans the right not just to believe as they see fit, but to freely exercise their religion. Unfortunately, not all have recognized the importance of religious freedom, whether by threatening tax consequences for particular forms of religious speech, or forcing people to comply with laws that violate their core religious beliefs without sufficient justification. These incursions, little by little, can destroy the fundamental freedom underlying our democracy. Therefore, soon after taking office, I addressed these issues in an Executive Order that helps ensure Americans are able to follow their consciences without undue Government interference and the Department of Justice has issued guidance to Federal agencies regarding their compliance with laws that protect religious freedom. No American – whether a nun, nurse, baker, or business owner – should be forced to choose between the tenets of faith or adherence to the law.

The United States is also the paramount champion for religious freedom around the world, because we do not believe that conscience rights are only for Americans. We will continue to condemn and combat extremism, terrorism, and violence against people of faith, including genocide waged by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria against Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. We will be undeterred in our commitment to monitor religious persecution and implement policies that promote religious freedom. Through these efforts, we strive for the day when people of all faiths can follow their hearts and worship according to their consciences.

The free exercise of religion is a source of personal and national stability, and its preservation is essential to protecting human dignity. Religious diversity strengthens our communities and promotes tolerance, respect, understanding, and equality. Faith breathes life and hope into our world. We must diligently guard, preserve, and cherish this unalienable right.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 16, 2018, as Religious Freedom Day. I call on all Americans to commemorate this day with events and activities that remind us of our shared heritage of religious liberty and teach us to secure this blessing both at home and abroad.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-second.

DONALD J. TRUMP

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January 2018 Newsletter

Posted on December 29, 2017 by admin

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”January 2018 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

The Meaning of “Epiphany Sunday”

“Epiphany Sunday” is observed on January 7. It remembers the arrival of the “Magi” in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-12).

For many Christians it also recalls the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Bible Insight – “Epiphany Sunday”

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
– Matthew 3:13-17 New International Version

Sometimes we may say, “I had an epiphany!” We mean we had a moment when a great thought came to mind (like when Mike Lindell woke up with his “My Pillow” idea!). The greatest “Epiphany” of all is when God was revealed to the world in Jesus. This uniquely (but not exclusively) was at Jesus’ baptism.

What does the baptism of Jesus say to us? (With each point say, “I should too!”)

1. Jesus chose to identify himself with sinners.

He needed no “baptism unto repentance” that others there were receiving for he was the sinless one. Yet his life was characterized by identification with sinners rather than with self-styled righteous people.

Jesus so befriended sinners that he scandalized the “separated spiritual ones.” They were amazed he would eat in company with “sinners” (Mark 2:15-17). “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’” (Matthew 11:19).

2. Jesus came to live in obedience to the will of God.

This reason is problematic. The Law of Moses was the source for people to learn the will of God and “live righteously.” But there is no commandment for baptism in the Law of Moses. So what did Jesus mean when he said he was entering the waters of baptism “to fulfill all righteousness”?

The answer may be for us to see Jesus’ baptism as the launching of his Messianic ministry. In baptism, Jesus “stepped up to the plate” in obedience to his Father’s will and formally began his ministry. Our obedience comes from following Jesus from baptism into a life of service and sacrifice as God wills.

3. Jesus received the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.

This is seen in the descent upon Jesus of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.

Following his baptism Jesus faced one of his greatest spiritual crises—temptation by the Devil. Does this caution us, lest we think of baptism as more of an exhilarating experience rather than a doorway into all the challenges of following Jesus?

The Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness to undergo this temptation (Matthew 4:1-11). Among its many lessons: the Spirit of God will strengthen us through spiritual challenges, but he will not lead us to where our faith is broken. Our prayer is, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

Jesus’ victory over temptation is especially important for us. “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

4. Jesus received honor from his Heavenly Father.

The “voice from heaven” declared him to be his beloved, special son—his “only begotten” son in the sense of Jesus’ unique relationship to his Father, from whom he came into our world. The Father’s voice also expressed his pleasure in his son’s obedience.

Christian baptism is a joyous event. But we must never forget it is also our commitment to take up our crosses and follow Jesus through obedience and suffering—whatever his will for us will require.

Now is the hour of the cross. In God’s timing the hour of glory and vindication will surely come. Now is not the hour when we seek honor from mankind. It is our time to do what we must to secure honor from God in Heaven through walking in obedience following the example of his son.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Message for the New Year –

“Back to the Three ‘R’s’”

The New Year evokes three key words: Reformation, Renewal, Revival.

Reformation – Have we examined our belief system as to how biblical it really is? “Statements of Faith” need periodic revision—they are not inspired scripture. How well do we communicate our beliefs?

My denomination, now known as the “Charis [Grace] Fellowship” *,
adopted a new 4-level statement of “who we are” in 2017. At the “CORE” is the simple confession “Jesus is Lord!” Outstanding!

This is followed by points identifying us with the larger Evangelical community (lest we think too exclusively about ourselves). Then, it lists points that specifically mark the Charis Fellowship. Finally, statements that address our convictions about our nation’s social issues will be developed.

This is Reformation at work! Ecclesia semper reformanda—the church always reforming.

* Legal name of the Charis Fellowship is “The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches”

Renewal – Is “how we’re doing things” really the best and most effective? When is the last time we’ve reviewed our church’s documents and policies? Have we become ingrown? How renewed are our worship services?

My own church, Grace Community Church in Seal Beach, California, made FACILITY RENEWAL a key accomplishment in 2017.

Now we know (or should know) that church facilities are not the core and essence of a church. You don’t even need to own a facility to be a church. But if we have a church edifice (or just borrow a community hall on Sundays) how it looks speaks volumes to our community about who we are. One church in my denomination had a big letter missing from its church name that faced a busy street—“Hello? Is anyone awake inside there?”[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

Grace Community Church before Facility Renewal

two buildings from the 40’s and 70’s):

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Grace Community Church after Facility Renewal (2017):

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I have lost track of how many people from the community have spoken positively of our “new look”, which is a great asset to Seal Beach and speaks well of our church and its mission.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Revival – Are our hearts aflame for God and zealous for his will?

This one you can’t program! But we can pray for revival and align our lives accordingly (obedience and worship). Revival ultimately is both an effort of the people and a sovereign visitation of God. I’ve seen a couple of remarkable revivals in my lifetime. Do it again, Lord! With me or without me, but do it again![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Religious Liberty Vigilance – Jefferson’s Wall

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.” – Thomas Jefferson’s letter to
the Danbury Baptists (1802)

Two comments in recent news show why Jefferson’s words still need to shine. Rather than emulating the two gentlemen below, how about letting political figures stick with politics and letting ministers of the Word of God stick with the Word of God (not that there is no “intersect” between the two—the Word of God addresses the state, and the state must safeguard religious liberty).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

From “Moral Theologian” Gov. Jerry Brown –

“I don’t think President Trump has a fear of the Lord, the fear of the wrath of God, which leads one to more humility.”

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From “Religious Liberty Expert”
Steve Bannon –

“And by the way, Mitt [Romney], while we’re on the subject of Vietnam, and honor and integrity, you avoided service, brother, right? …you hid behind your religion. You went to France to be a missionary * while guys were dying in rice paddies in Vietnam. Do not talk to me about honor and integrity!” [ * Response: It was Romney’s religious right to do what he did! Italics mine.][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Recommended Reading
Well Worth Your Time

(Some productive reading I did in 2017)

The Life I Chose—The Streets Lied to Me

by Ameer Baraka (self-published, 2015)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Not for the faint of heart. Baraka grew up in the “projects” (as he often calls them) and in this book he withholds no language that he would have used there. Three thoughts from his “journey” stand out: (1) how important good fathers are (in other words, how bad it is to grow up in the “projects” without fathers);
(2) how important good education is (he got his education while in prison and learned to use words he had never used before—words like “moreover” and “therefore”, which require sequential thinking); (3) the difference it made when he turned his life over to God. I enjoyed communicating with him.

Martin Luther by Eric Metaxas (Viking, 2017)

Protestants—The Faith That Made the Modern World by Alec Ryrie
(Viking, 2017)

Excellent! Protestantism during the Reformation, in the modern age, and globally.

Bearing False Witness—Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History
by Rodney Stark (Templeton Press, 2016)

Strangers in a Strange Land—Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput (Holt, 2017)

Everything he says is applicable to Protestant Evangelical Christians.

Rediscovering the Holy Spirit by Michael Horton (Zondervan, 2017)

Sometimes tedious, always needed and profitable Reformed teaching.

The American Miracle—Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic
by Michael Medved (Crown Forum, 2016)

The End and the Beginning, Pope John Paul II—The Victory of Freedom,
the Last Years, the Legacy by George Weigel (Image Books, 2010)

Karol Wojtyla, who would become John Paul II, was appointed Archbishop of Krakow in 1963. The communist government could veto any nominee, and Zenon Kliszko of the Polish Communist Party vetoed every name until Wojtyla’s name came up. Kliszko thought Wojtyla was a man who could be manipulated!

These years under communism saw constant communist efforts to infiltrate the church and interrupt its influence any way it could. The Polish secret police kept careful files on clerics like Wojtyla. They bugged his apartment and spied on his friends.

One incident was when a Polish secret service member planted some false information in Wojtyla’s residence. Upon driving off, this person was stopped by Polish police for drunk driving. In his drunken state he spilled his recent deed to the police, who promptly tipped off Catholic leaders to the false information.

In 1978 Wojtyla was elected pope. “The election of John Paul II, the more astute communist leaders recognized, posed a mortal threat to the post-Yalta European order and perhaps even to the Soviet Union itself.”

Roman Catholic Theology & Practice—An Evangelical Assessment
by Gregg R. Allison (Crossway, 2014)

Allison knows well what he speaks about—a Baptist theologian who once served with Campus Crusade for Christ at the U. of Notre Dame.

7 Women and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas
(Thomas Nelson, 2015)

Among them: Joan of Arc, Corrie ten Boom, Rosa Parks and Mother Teresa.

Countdown to Pearl Harbor—The Twelve Days to the Attack
by Steve Twomey (Simon & Schuster, 2016)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Don’s Recent Sermons

Listen to Don’s sermons delivered at Grace Community Church. Go to: www.gracesealbeach.org/sunday/sermons
Then go to the appropriate date.

October 29 – “Reformation Reminder—The Freedom of the Christian”

July 30 – “Leaders Training Leaders” (The ministry of Priscilla and Aquila with Apollos, Acts 18:24-28)

June 4 – “The Day of Pentecost—Come Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1-42)

“Lessons from the Reformation” commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation (1517-2017):

#1 (June) – “What is God’s will when God doesn’t give us his will?”
#2 (July-August) – “The Freedom of the Christian” (Luther’s teaching)
#3 (October) – “Sola Scriptura” (the Bible alone is the final authority in all matters of faith and doctrine)
#4 (November)– “Martin Luther Posts the ’95 Theses’”
#5 (also November) – “Reformation Thanksgiving” (Martin Rinkart’s “Now Thank We All Our God”)
#6 (December) – “The Singing Reformation” (Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts brought congregational singing to life)

All can be read at: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com/blog/newsletters

One or two additional “Lessons” may appear soon.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net</>

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December 2017 Newsletter

Posted on December 1, 2017 by admin

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”December 2017 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”687″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”The Protestant Reformation at 500″ font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”1517 – 2017″ font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:20px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”Lessons from the Reformation #6″ font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:20px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1044″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

The Singing Reformation!

“Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.”

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”The Singing Reformation!” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30|text_align:left|color:%232629ef”][vc_column_text]Church historian Kenneth Scott Latourette said whenever there was a true revival among God’s people, inevitably there was also a new hymnody—the revived church praised the Lord with music expressing its own genre. In each revival, believers sang to God with the music they sang in their normal lives.

The 16th Century Reformation was a great example of this. MARTIN LUTHER himself was a big fan of robust congregational singing. Luther biographer Eric Metaxas exuberantly says Luther brought “a glorious revival of music and congregational singing in the life of the church, one that would peal and resound around the globe for centuries.” (Martin Luther, Viking, 2017) *

For five centuries, Luther’s magisterial hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” has been sung by Christian congregations. In fact, I once heard it sung in a Roman Catholic Church.

Many of our great Christmas Carols are products of the Reformation—not the initial Reformation of the 1500’s, but later. God be praised, radical reformers who wanted to ban worship experiences that can’t be found in the Bible didn’t win out (Andreas von Karlstadt said, “Relegate organs, trumpets, and flutes to the theater. The lascivious notes of the organ awaken thoughts of the world” –Metaxas, p. 270). The more moderate Reformers like Luther mostly won this debate. So we can heartily sing the great Carols each Christmas season—and be allowed to have a Christmas season in which to sing them!

CHARLES WESLEY (1707-1788) and his brother John (1703-1791) were instrumental in establishing the Methodist Reformation, if I may call it that. With a call to conversion, heart-felt faith and personal holiness, this movement spread throughout England and America in the 18th Century and after.

Charles was an incredibly gifted hymnwriter. Various numbers are given, but Charles’ songs certainly number over 6000. Many of these were evangelistic choruses that would fulfill their purpose and not enter into the Christian community’s reservoir of songs, but many others are sung still today.
Each Christmas Season I look forward to singing “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.” It was one of Wesley’s best, published in 1739, and in my opinion is the greatest Christmas Carol we have. Notice its wondrous confession of Jesus:

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King.
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise;
join the triumph of the skies;
Universal Nature say
“CHRIST the LORD is born to Day!”

Christ by highest heav’n adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold Him come,
offspring of the virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail the incarnate Deity,
pleased as man with men t’appear,
Jesus, our Immanuel here.

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
born that man no more may die, **
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth.

Hark, the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

[NOTE: I’ve given Wesley’s original lyrics, which sometimes are not the way we sing this carol today. But Wesley began with “HARK how all the Welkin rings”, which George Whitefield in 1758 wisely changed to the words we still sing. “Welkin” was an antiquated word for the Heavens.][/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]“Give us something better, young man!” said a church official to a young ISAAC WATTS (1664-1748). Psalm singing was the order of the day, and Watts was a poetic genius who became frustrated with the low qualities of many “Praise Choruses” of his day that were based on the Psalms. He broke with this legalistic drudgery and created some great English hymnody, earning the title “The Father of English Hymnody”.

His great Christmas Carol, “Joy to the World”, however, was within the Psalmody tradition. It took the theme of Psalm 98 (“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth; burst into jubilant song with music.”) and applied it to Jesus:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
and heav’n and nature sing,
and heav’n and nature sing,
and heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of His righteousness
and wonders of His love,
and wonders of His love,
and wonders, wonders of His love.

* Martin Luther broke with the liturgical tradition where music was sung by a skilled few and watched by many. He saw the importance of a singing congregation. Much of today’s “contemporary worship” is not progressive. Instead, it represents a regression to pre-Reformation days for it once again has the congregation observing while music is performed by a skilled few. Much of “Contemporary worship” badly needs a Reformation Revival!

** When you sing Christmas Carols in church this season, pay close attention to the lyrics you are given and don’t just sing from memory. Many carols have “new and improved” gender-neutral lyrics (or have corrupted the text, depending on your bias). Sadly, the great Christmas Carol “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” does not make it intact into some newer hymnals at all![/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”Bible Insight –
At Christmas We Mourn
the Senseless Death of Children
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1st Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas

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When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”

– Matthew 2:16-18 (NIV)

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Matthew’s Gospel saw a special fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy in the murderous rampage of King Herod as he abused his God-bestowed authority.
It’s likely that up to two years had passed since the birth of Jesus (Mary and Joseph and Jesus by now are living in a home in Bethlehem). Taking no chances, Herod killed all the male children two and under. By the intervention of God (a dream to Joseph), Jesus was saved when the family fled to Egypt.

We are reminded from this Christmas story that the heart of God and the hearts of good people mourn the deaths of innocent children. Eight children and teens were among the 26 dead in the senseless slaughter at 1st Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 5. No, make that nine children—one unborn child was murdered.

The homes of innocent Bethlehemites with little children were “soft targets”. I thought of this when I thought of church gatherings now—also “soft targets”.
I read this recently about the early days of the Pilgrims in America:

“The Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered parents to arrange for arms training for all their children aged 10 or above, both boys and girls. Conscientious objectors were exempt. Arms carrying was often mandatory for travel outside of towns and for attendance at large public events, particularly church services. Then, as now, unarmed church services were favorite targets for attack, because there would be lots of people gathered in a small space. “

– David Kopel, “The American Indian foundation of American gun culture,”
The Volokh Conspiracy, November 21, 2017 [emphasis mine]

Thankfully, in the providence of God, a neighbor of the Texas church who was experienced with firearms went forth with his own AR-15 rifle and engaged the shooter, who was wounded and fled in his SUV. The neighbor, Stephen Willeford, got into a pickup truck driven by another Good Samaritan, and the two chased the killer for several miles before he took his own life.

We cannot answer most of the “Why’s?” I ask, “Why couldn’t Mr. Willeford have learned more quickly about the shooting and saved more lives?” I don’t know. I do know this man “loved his neighbor as himself” (Matthew 22:39).

What we can say is that God sets standards of justice and hears the cry of the victims (Psalm 10:14). And all will stand before him on Judgment Day.

But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was right when he wrote in “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”:

God is not dead nor doth he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, goodwill to men.

[NOTE: I do not want to diminish in any way the horrible, evil terrorist attack on the Sufi mosque in the Sinai on Nov. 24, which killed 305+, including 27 children. These people were all made in the Image of God. Their lives were all precious in his sight. They did not deserve to die.][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Observe the Advent Wreath this Christmas Season” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30|text_align:left|color:%23f73c27″][vc_column_text]The Advent Wreath points to the birth of Jesus. It has five candles—four red (or three purple and one pink) around a white candle in the center. One candle is lit each Advent Sunday before Christmas. Then Christmas Eve the fifth and center candle. Scripture reading, prayer and singing can fill the home each time.

Here are my suggestions to make the idea work:

On the first Sunday of Advent (December 3 this year), the first red or purple candle is lit. This candle is the “Prophecy Candle” or “HOPE candle,” in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah.

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 9:6-7

Christmas Carol: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

On the second Sunday of Advent (December 10), the second red or purple candle is lit. This candle is the LOVE candle, representing the tenderness of Mary and Joseph at the manger where Jesus was born:

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:1-7

Christmas Carol: “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

On the third Sunday of Advent (December 17) the third red or the pink candle is lit. This candle speaks of JOY and celebrates the joy of the shepherds.

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:8-12

Christmas Carol: “Joy to the World”

The last red or purple candle represents PEACE and is lit on the fourth Sunday of Advent (December 24).

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:13-18

Christmas Carol: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

Finally, on Christmas Eve the WHITE center candle is lit. Or perhaps you may wish to light it on Christmas Day this year, since Christmas Eve falls on the fourth Sunday of Advent. This candle is called the “Christ Candle” and represents the sinless, pure life of Christ that has come into the world.

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2:7-12
Christmas Carol: “O Come, Let Us Adore Him”

May this special observance of the birth of Jesus fill you with HOPE and LOVE and JOY and PEACE as you ponder the Christ Child, whom we worship.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”567″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”Don’s Recent Sermons” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%230316bc”][vc_column_text]Listen to Don’s sermons delivered at Grace Community Church. Go to: gracesealbeach.org/sunday/sermons
Then go to the appropriate date.

October 29 – “Reformation Reminder—The Freedom of the Christian”

July 30 – “Leaders Training Leaders” (The ministry of Priscilla and Aquila with Apollos, Acts 18:24-28)

June 4 – “The Day of Pentecost—Come Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1-42)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”A Joyous Christmas to All!
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My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net</>

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November 2017 Newsletter

Posted on October 31, 2017 by admin

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”November 2017 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”687″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”October 31, 2017 – 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1029″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]In full support of the Church, the Pope and Archbishop Albrecht, an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses” against the sale of Indulgences and other abuses on the door of the Wittenberg church on October 31, 1517.

Little did he realize how great a fire a little candle would ignite![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”The Protestant Reformation at 500″ font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30|text_align:center|color:%23111111″][vc_custom_heading text=”1517 – 2017″ font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:20|text_align:center|color:%23141414″][vc_custom_heading text=”Lessons from the Reformation #4″ font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:20|text_align:center|color:%23161616″][vc_custom_heading text=”Martin Luther Posts the “95 Theses”” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:20|text_align:center|color:%23161616″][vc_column_text]

Well, before you make this dramatic event second only to Moses descending the Mount with the tablets of God’s Law in hand, please know that some legends have grown in the tellin’ of the story!

The theses themselves may not have been posted on October 31, and not by Luther using a hammer. What was posted may have been placed there by the church custodian, using glue.

But the truth of the story shines through any traditions or legends.

Johannes Tetzel would rival any hairsprayed “Health and Wealth” televangelist of our day. His brazen sale of Indulgences, promising a soul’s remission from purgatory, are captured in the sales pitch, “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” It’s hard to imagine a religious huckster today coming up with anything more clever than that.

Martin Luther was appalled by Tetzel’s teaching and tactics. Luther’s theses, written in Latin, were a call to theologians for a discussion of Indulgences and other abuses rather than a message to the public. Luther wanted to generate serious theological debate, not ignite a religious revolt.

The Theses also went to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz, whose honor Luther sought to protect—Luther not knowing at the time that the archbishop was “on the take” for half of the money raised from the sales. The other half went to Rome for construction of the majestic St. Peter’s Basilica.

But soon Luther’s words spread. The Reformation might not have happened without that recent invention, the printing press. The Ninety-five Theses or Disputation on the Power of Indulgences were mass-produced, translated in to German, then into English. The genie was out of the bottle!

“Sola Scriptura” opens us up to God’s written communication. In it we find truth and life and hope and direction. In it we encounter Jesus.

Here are some of the key theses, in my opinion:

1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Matthew 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
5. The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.
6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in cases reserved to his judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were disregarded, the guilt would certainly remain unforgiven.
21. Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.
27. They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.
28. It is certain that when money clinks in the money chest, greed and avarice can be increased; but when the church intercedes, the result is in the hands of God alone.
32. Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.
37. Any true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters.
43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences.
45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a needy man and passes him by, yet gives his money for indulgences, does not buy papal indulgences but God’s wrath.
46. Christians are to be taught that, unless they have more than they need, they must reserve enough for their family needs and by no means squander it on indulgences.
50. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the indulgence preachers, he would rather that the basilica of St. Peter were burned to ashes than built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his sheep.
94. Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, death and hell.
95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many tribulations rather than through the false security of peace (Acts 14:22).

You may read the 95 Theses at: http://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html

Recommended reading: Martin Luther by Eric Metaxas (Viking, 2017)[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”The Protestant Reformation at 500″ font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30|text_align:center”][vc_custom_heading text=”1517 – 2017″ font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:20|text_align:center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Lessons from the Reformation #5″ font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:20|text_align:center”][vc_column_text]

Reformation Thanksgiving A Song During Suffering

“Now Thank We All Our God” – Martin Rinkart (1586-1649)

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Martin Rinkart was a Lutheran clergyman and hymn writer. He served in the city of Eilenburg during the terrible Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) and the plague of 1637. The Thirty Years’ war was destructive and deadly throughout Central Europe. It resulted in eight million casualties.

The war started as a conflict between Protestant and Catholic states in the Holy Roman Empire when the new emperor, Ferdinand II, attempted to impose religious uniformity (Roman Catholicism) throughout the empire, including in the Protestant states. The war morphed into a conflict having less to do with religion and more to do with rivalry over who would be the dominant power in Europe.

(It’s hard for Americans to grasp the church-state connectedness that would generate religious wars. When my wife and I were in Europe in 2014 we were amazed by the knight armor displayed in sanctuaries. Europe for centuries had this connectedness. Bear in mind that Ottoman armies conquered Constantinople in 1453 AD and were besieging the city of Vienna in 1529, while the Reformation was getting under way. These sieges were, in one real sense, conflicts between Muslims and Christians.)

Rinkart wrote his magisterial thanksgiving hymn “Now Thank We All Our God” around 1636 during the heat of war. He eventually was the only clergyman alive and remaining in Eilenburg to minister to people in their suffering and hunger, sometimes performing multiple funerals in a single day.
“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” asked the biblical patriarch Job in the midst of his many afflictions (Job 2:10). I think the faith of Job and of Martin Rinkart to be greater than my own when I read the latter’s encouraging call to Thanksgiving prayer:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

Words by Martin Rinkart (c.1636)
Melody by Johann Cruger (1647)
Harmony by Felix Mendelsohn (1840)
Translation into English by Catherine Winkworth (1856)

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A Psalm for Thanksgiving Season

(Psalm 106:1-5 English Standard Version)

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!

Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord,
or declare all his praise?

Blessed are they who observe justice,
who do righteousness at all times!

Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;
help me when you save them,

that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
that I may glory with your inheritance.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”Bible Insight – Is it ever OK to steal?” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:22|text_align:left|color:%233342e0″][vc_custom_heading text=”(Or, are there times when it’s right to put what belongs to
“the owner” into the service of “The Owner”?)” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left|color:%233342e0″][vc_column_text]

If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain. – Deuteronomy 23:24-25

During the terrible massacre in Las Vegas this heroic story emerged:

A U.S. Marine vet helped rescue more than a dozen people during the Las Vegas shooting attack Sunday with quick thinking he credited to his military training.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Taylor Winston, 29, stole a utility pickup truck [emphasis mine] he found on the concert grounds and transported several injured people to the hospital before ambulances could arrive on the scene. The vet said they ran for cover and hopped a fence to get to safety. Once he landed on the other side, he said he reportedly saw a bunch of white trucks.

“I tested my luck to see if any of them had keys in it, first one we tried opening had keys sitting right there,” he said. “I started looking for people to take to the hospital. There was just too many and it was overwhelming how much blood was everywhere.”

Winston and his friend reportedly made two trips to Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center, squeezing “probably 20 to 30” victims in the backseat and in the bed of the truck. The vet reportedly returned the truck, parking it a few blocks away from the venue.

And a local truck dealer gave this marine veteran a new Ford 150!

Good! This to me is a clear example of justly putting what belongs to “the owner” into the service of “The Owner.” Our right to enjoy what is ours and not have it stolen from us is clear in the Bible. Equally clear and more fundamental is the truth that God is the ultimate owner of all.

“All the earth is mine” God says (Exodus 19:5).
“For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”
– Psalm 50:10-12

The blessings of creation are “ours” in a secondary sense. What we “own” is by divine assignment. And what is “ours” must not to be unjustly taken.
“You shall not steal” (Exodus 19:15) is one of the Ten Commandments.

But what we possess is always subject to God’s moral will and providence. The produce of the orchards and fields belong to the owner, but not to the extent that the hungry cannot pick some fruit or the poor cannot glean the grain left behind by the threshers (Deuteronomy 23:24-25; Leviticus 23:22).

It is a good thing to put God’s resources to work in saving human lives or mitigating hunger. On ordinary days we save life and feed others by ordinary means. But in critical situations caring for people in great distress by any reasonable and available means is the just thing to do. Am I correct in this?

“Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” – Jesus (Matthew 12:11-12)

So I salute the marine veteran who did what he needed to do that terrible evening in Las Vegas. From an ethics standpoint, he did not steal. He returned the truck to where he found it, but took the keys and forgot his hat. The owner, Phelps Amelsberg, posted, “I am not mad. Would do the same thing… Like my keys back please. I don’t even care that the back seats [are] ruined. Will buy you dinner and give you your cowboy hat back.”

While I’m glad Mr. Winston received a free truck, I wish a generous auto dealer in Vegas had restored Mr. Amelsberg’s truck for free. The work of cleaning and repairing must have been extensive.

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rights Religious Liberty Vigilance

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1509469357289{background-color: #26efe2 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Victory for Religious Freedom
Governor Jerry Brown VETOES Assembly Bill 569
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This bill would have marked a great governmental intrusion into the free exercise of religion by preventing churches and religious organizations from requiring moral codes on their employees according to the dictates of their faith.

In his veto message to the State Assembly, Governor Brown said, “Assembly Bill 569 would add to the labor code a prohibition against any employer from taking action against an employee because of that employee’s reproductive decisions.

“The California Fair Employment and Housing Act has long banned such adverse actions, except for religious institutions. I believe these types of claims should remain within the jurisdiction of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.” [emphasis mine]

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1509470417231{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space][vc_custom_heading text=”Federal Guidelines Protecting Religious Liberty” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:30|text_align:center|color:%23000000″][vc_column_text]On October 6, the federal Office of the Attorney General issued twenty guidelines interpreting religious liberty protections found in federal law. Critics blast them as outrageous and discriminatory. I think they are reasonable, necessary and (most important) constitutional.

Religious liberty is a foundational principle of enduring importance in America, enshrined in our Constitution and other sources of federal law. As James Madison explained in his Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, the free exercise of religion “is in its nature an unalienable right” because the duty owed to one’s Creator “is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society.”

Religious liberty is not merely a right to personal religious beliefs or even to worship in a sacred place. It also encompasses religious observance and practice. Except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law. Therefore, to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, religious observance and practice should be reasonably accommodated in all government activity, including employment, contracting, and programming.

The following twenty principles should guide administrative agencies and executive departments:

1. The freedom of religion is a fundamental right of paramount importance, expressly protected by federal law.
2. The free exercise of religion includes the right to act or abstain from action in accordance with one’s religious beliefs.
3. The freedom of religion extends to persons and organizations.
4. Americans do not give up their freedom of religion by participating in the marketplace, partaking of the public square, or interacting with government.
5. Government may not restrict acts or abstentions because of the beliefs they display.
6. Government may not target religious individuals or entities for special disabilities based on their religion.
7. Government may not target religious individuals or entities through discriminatory enforcement of neutral, generally applicable laws.
8. Government may not officially favor or disfavor particular religious groups.
9. Government may not interfere with the autonomy of a religious organization.
10. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening any aspect of religious observance or practice, unless imposition of that burden on a particular religious adherent satisfies strict scrutiny.
11. RFRA’s protection extends not just to individuals, but also to organizations, associations, and at least some for-profit corporations.
12. RFRA does not permit the federal government to second-guess the reasonableness of a religious belief.
13. A governmental action substantially burdens an exercise of religion under RFRA if it bans an aspect of an adherent’s religious observance or practice, compels an act inconsistent with that observance or practice, or substantially pressures the adherent to modify such observance or practice.
14. The strict scrutiny standard applicable to RFRA is exceptionally demanding.
15. RFRA applies even where a religious adherent seeks an exemption from a legal obligation requiring the adherent to confer benefits on third parties.
16. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, prohibits covered employers from discriminating against individuals on the basis of their religion.
17. Title VIl’s protection extends to discrimination on the basis of religious observance or practice as well as belief, unless the employer cannot reasonably accommodate such observance or practice without undue hardship on the business.
18. The Clinton Guidelines on Religious Exercise and Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace provide useful examples for private employers of reasonable accommodations for religious observance and practice in the workplace.
19. Religious employers are entitled to employ only persons whose beliefs and conduct are consistent with the employers’ religious precepts.
20. As a general matter, the federal government may not condition receipt of a federal grant or contract on the effective relinquishment of a religious organization’s hiring exemptions or attributes of its religious character.

Read the Document at: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1001891/download[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1509469694364{background-color: #ddb3b3 !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

“There must be some limit to the coercive power of government.”

– Part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s veto message on AB 725, which would have banned smoking in state parks and on state beaches, with a fine of $250.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”567″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”Don’s Upcoming Ministries” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:left|color:%230316bc”][vc_column_text]November 1-4 – attend meetings of the Chaplain Committee of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches in Washington DC and tour the Pentagon

November 11 (11:00 a.m.) – Participate in Seal Beach’s Veterans Day observance co-sponsored by Grace Community Church and the Lions Club. Meeting at Eisenhower Park by the pier.

November 14 & 17 – Teach on “Be Filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:15-21) at Women Bible Study, Grace Community Church of Seal Beach[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net</>

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October 2017 Newsletter

Posted on October 2, 2017 by admin

October 2017 Newsletter

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October 12, 2011 – Massacre in Seal Beach—the worst mass killing in the history of Orange County, CA

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September 22, 2017 – The mass murderer sentenced to life without parole
National Moral Renewal?
Be Careful! Trim Expectations.

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“Ambition for national moral renewal strikes a chord in many modern democracies, where it is easy to change politicians but much harder to change the political culture.

The problems are obvious. Hypocrisy is easily mistaken for piety; piety is a poor substitute for competence; and power corrupts.”

– Protestants by Alec Ryrie

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”The Protestant Reformation at 500″ font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:24|text_align:center|color:%23111111″][vc_custom_heading text=”1517 – 2017″ font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:20|text_align:center|color:%23141414″][vc_custom_heading text=”Lessons from the Reformation #3″ font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:20|text_align:center|color:%23161616″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]

“Sola Scriptura”

“Sola Scriptura” – The Bible alone is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and doctrine.

“Sola Scriptura” was and is a bedrock principle of the Protestant Reformation.*

Luther and Protestants after him reject (officially, that is) any authority parallel to the Bible, whether it be the teaching authority of the church, the voice of a religious leader, the tradition of the church, or something else.

I say “officially” because we’ve never been as good as we think we are in carrying out the implications of “Sola Scriptura” in practice. We Protestants have our creeds and statements of faith. We sometimes displace Scripture and make these statements the final authority. We have our “codes of conduct” by which we judge the spiritual adequacy of others—codes drawn not from Scripture but from our religious subcultures. We have our “little popes,” accountable to no one, who pontificate over their own religious fiefdoms. We have self-anointed prophets who say, “Thus saith the Lord.”

With these errors we operate unchecked by the rich historical theology that should give us lessons of the past. And we violate “Sola Scriptura.”

To the other extreme, “Sola Scriptura” doesn’t mean we use nothing but the Bible! Consider this word about regard for tradition in Lutheran theology:

Sola Scriptura in Lutheran form is not against tradition per se. While some brands of Christianity might insist that if it’s not in the Bible then it’s not Christian, Lutheran theology understands that a tradition is allowable when (a) it is not contradicted by scripture, (b) it serves a purpose that is scriptural, and (c) it is not enforced as a pre-condition for Christian unity. – Hans Wiersma, “A Brief Introduction to sola scriptura.”

Cultural and historical studies, the community of the saints, and yes, the tradition of the church are to be considered.

“Sola Scriptura” also points to how we interpret the Bible. We let the Bible interpret itself as best we can. One scripture sheds light on another. Scriptures dwelling on a theme are weighed more heavily than isolated references. The New Testament interprets the Old—the coming of Jesus gives us eyeglasses for understanding the Old Testament.

The “literal” meaning of the scriptural text is to be preferred over hidden, esoteric meanings. And by “literal” I mean the meaning that the author intended when he wrote, as best we can discern it. Not some form of “wooden literalism” we impose on the biblical text. “Literal meaning” is how it would be understood in its own time and setting, not how it strikes us today. “Literal” also looks to the literary genre of a text—the Book of Revelation is not to be read like the Book of Acts, nor poetry as we read narrative.

Finally, “Sola Scriptura” embraces the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who inspired the sacred text now opens it to our hearts. But this does not mean that the average person using common means cannot understand the Bible. The Bible isn’t hidden to average folk and its inner meaning then revealed to super saints. Its “literal” meaning is available to all.

What role, then, does the Spirit play? The Holy Spirit convinces us of the sacred truth of the Text, that the words we read are indeed the Word of God speaking to us. In similar fashion, people can know about Jesus through natural understanding. But they cannot genuinely confess him as Lord except by the illumination of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3).

“Sola Scriptura” opens us up to God’s written communication. In it we find truth and life and hope and direction. In it we encounter Jesus.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Holy words long preserved,
For our walk in this world.
They resound with God’s own heart Oh let the ancient words impart.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Ancient words ever true,
Changing me, and changing you. We have come with open hearts Oh let the ancient words impart.
– Ronnie Freeman, Jr. & Tony Wood
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]* “Sola Scriptura” is the “formal principle” that shaped the Reformation. “Justification” is the “material principle,” the concept at the heart of the Reformation.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

rights Religious Liberty Vigilance

“No provision in our constitution ought to be dearer to man, than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprizes of the civil authority.” – Thomas Jefferson

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_custom_heading text=”Now before the Governor: “The California Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act“ (Assembly Bill 569)” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:22|text_align:left|color:%23f74b38″][vc_column_text]AB-569 is a major intrusion into the right of churches and other religious organizations to govern their affairs by the dictates of their faith rather than by the secular aspirations of the state. It has passed both houses of the state legislature and now sits on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown, awaiting his signature or veto.

The governor has until mid-October to make a decision. Citizens can express their opinion to the governor in a number of ways:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Governor Jerry Brown
State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone: (916) 445-2841[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Fax: (916) 558-3160

Email via Contact page of
Governor’s Website:
www.govapps.gov.ca.gov[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]For my published commentary on AB-569, please access and read: www.presstelegram.com/opinion/20170819/california-lawmakers-are-meddling-in-religion-guest-commentary[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

“They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard night and day to meet this threat.” – Nehemiah 4:8-9 (New International Version)

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Closing a Chapter on a Mass Murder

“The gates of hell flew open and you emerged as the face of evil in this community.”
– Judge Thomas Goethals to Scott Dekraai

October 12, 2011 – Early in the afternoon Scott Dekraai entered a hair salon in Seal Beach, California and killed eight people including his ex-wife, with whom he was having a bitter custody dispute.

The case languished for almost six years, hindered by charges of prosecutorial misconduct. Be that as it may, Dekraai pled guilty in 2014 and was sentence on September 22 of this year to eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the worst mass murder in Orange County history.

This chapter of the families’ agony is over. But as I told a NBC reporter in 2012, the word “closure” will never be appropriate. There are milestones, but no closures.

The families and the community will never be the same. The police department, dispatchers, fire and police first responders will never be the same. As a police chaplain who has been involved in this matter for over five years, I will never be the same.

But the milestones are real and for them we give thanks. The one-year anniversary observance in Seal Beach, the reopening of the salon, the dedication of a memorial plaque in honor of the victims, the gathering of many family members at the memorial on October 12, 2016 marking five years, and now the end of the trial—all true milestones.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” said William Gladstone, 19th Century British Politician. Whatever the reasons, valid or regrettable, for the great delays in (flawed) justice, I grieve at the additional stress and sorrow the delays put on the families of the victims and many others.

God, heal us all![/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”Bible Insight When the Family Pet Dies” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:30|text_align:left|color:%232644ef”][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

We had to have our German shepherd Kyzer put to sleep today (September 27). It has not been a happy day. Encouragement came to Mary and me from the Book of Proverbs (12:10), if I may paraphrase: “Good people are concerned about the well-being of their animals.”

When I was a child and experienced the death of a pet, this tough experience helped prepare me, in ever so small a way, for the much more significant death of a loved one. Neither loss will ever be easy—life itself isn’t easy.

The Bible’s “Book of Ecclesiastes” is one of my favorites. In bold words it faces the realities of what inevitably happens as we live “under the sun,” that is, looking at realities through a naturalist perspective. It is brutal sometimes. But glimpses of hope and help emerge.

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? (Ecclesiastes 3:18-21)

So what does this fascinating work of literature say here? Our natural eyes and mind can’t discern any difference between the death of an animal and the death of a man. Ecclesiastes doesn’t fall for the Platonic dualism that has so influenced the thinking of Christians. Animals and people die (give up the breath of life) alike; they go to the grave alike. No difference.

Despairing? Yes, by itself. But Ecclesiastes continues by encouraging every man and woman to enjoy their work and the fruit of their labors nonetheless.

So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him? (3:22)

Far from leading us to hopeless despair, we are encouraged to see life as full of opportunities to embrace and blessings to enjoy—all from the hand of God. Read more…

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. (5:18-19)

And now my favorite! Pastors, how about using these verses for a benediction at the end of the church services some Sunday:

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol [the grave], to which you are going. (9:7-10)

Ecclesiastes isn’t the whole biblical story on what the future holds. The New Testament especially sheds light on themes like resurrection, Judgment Day, and future existence with or without the presence and blessing of God.

But even Ecclesiastes, with its generally naturalistic look at things, ends with a bold reminder of how to rightly order our lives:

The end of the matter; all has been heard.
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (12:13-14)

As my writing here was wrapping up, my son (who along with our daughter has been so encouraging to us throughout our loss) called to say that a good friend of our family had just become the father of a baby girl.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 2:21)

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”567″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”Don’s Upcoming Ministries” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:left|color:%230316bc”][vc_column_text]October 29 (Reformation Sunday) – Speak on “Reformation Reminder: The Freedom of the Christian” at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (8:00, 9:30, & 11:00 a.m.)

November 14 & 17 – Teach on “Be Filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:15-21) at Women Bible Study, Grace
Community Church of Seal Beach
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My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net</>

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Addendum: A Statement on Civility

As Public Civility Deteriorates Further, Ponder This and Promote It Again…

Genuine civility moves past simple politeness or pragmatic concerns and sees those with whom we disagree as full equals before God. It does not allow the end to justify the means.

Civility enables us to hold the respectful dialogues without which democratic decision-making is impossible. Civil people approach their government institutions with awe and gratitude.

Civility is the negative duty not to do harm and the affirmative duty to do good.

Civility is the hard work of stopping to listen even with those with whom we have deep-rooted and fierce disagreements.

A Call for Civility

First, we call on our political leaders at all levels, from the White House to Congress to elected and appointed officials at all federal, state and local levels, to commit themselves to the practice of civility in what they say to others and how they treat others. We look with alarm at the deterioration of communication, especially good face-to-face communication, in today’s political climate.

Second, we call on political leaders and citizens to be honest and respectful in their political rhetoric, and to duly honor others in spite of political differences and flaws. We urge communication that truthfully focuses on issues and avoids harmful ad hominem characterizations of people.

Third, we condemn all acts of incivility, including outright violence and destruction, and denying others their constitutional right to free speech and freedom of association and assembly.

Read before the Long Beach, California City Council on August 22, 2017 Read before the Seal Beach, California City Council on September 11, 2017

Sources for certain definitions of Civility: Civility by Stephen L. Carter (Harper Perennial, 1998), Institute for Civility in Government (instituteforcivility.org)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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