Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620

“Let’s recap this wonderful country of ours! They say this election made history (in fact, they’re right).
Yet let’s do some inventory into history ourselves—back to as early as the ones who made our nation even possible. Thank God! Imagine what it was like for them… Talk history! If it were not for them, there would be no us.”

Missing the Pulse of the Buckeye State
By Donald Shoemaker

“I think there needs to be a profound change in the way the Democratic Party does business. It is not good enough to have a liberal elite. I came from the white working class and I am deeply humiliated that the Democratic Party cannot talk to the people from where I came.”
– Bernie Sanders on CBS Good Morning America (November 14, 2016)

I keep a buckeye on my desk to remind me of my roots, prior to having a good professional career in California for almost 50 years *.

I grew up in a home along a gravel road in a somewhat-poor neighborhood just outside Mansfield, Ohio—a “rust belt” city. Our home at least had running water and a phone (neighbors would occasionally come over to make a call). We knew our neighbors; we didn’t lock our doors; most of us owned guns—I did.

When I reached the 4th grade the post-war baby boom hit the public schools. An old school building on the other side of town was reopened. Kids from my neighborhood and from “Little Kentucky” by the steel mill were bussed to it every school day for three years. For sure the kids from more well-to-do neighborhoods weren’t bussed. We didn’t care—we loved the old building.

Ohio soil germinates a lot of hard-working, blue-collar people with good values, like my father. Most were union members. Over the years, it seemed to me the party that many had once voted for became less and less interested in what I call “lunch bucket issues”.

The factory where my father worked is gone **. The union hall where my father played pinochle and I ate donuts is no more.
I think the recent election supports what I’ve observed over the years. The great celebrity event in Cleveland just before the election was irrelevant to most Buckeyes. Cleveland is the Indians and the Browns, not super-wealthy (and some f-word) singers who knew little and cared less about Ohio.

A traveller was amazed by the yard signs as he drove from Philadelphia to his home in Canton, Ohio. “Once you got to the middle of Pennsylvania, it was Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…
It was the same in Ohio. When we got home, I told my wife that this election is a complete lock.” (New York Times, Nov. 13)

The despair and the disparity were much greater in next-door West Virginia. News reports have depicted the shack-like living conditions and joblessness of many decent people proud of their past and feeling ignored by the political establishment (Ted Koppel, CBS News, Nov. 13; Jesse Watters, Fox News, Nov. 6).

I’m convinced Bernie Sanders is indeed correct.

* I still remember as a high school teen waking up late at night to hear my parents downstairs discuss how they would pay (sacrifice) for me to go to college. In college, I believed I owed them the best grades I could possibly earn. To the best of my knowledge, I’m still the only college grad on my father’s side of the family. My career in California has been as a pastor (38 years) and as a university professor (8 years).

** The movie “The Shawshank Redemption” was filmed in the Mansfield area. The shuttered factory (now demolished) where my father worked contained the cellblock scenes. The former state prison near my family home was the film’s prison. My mother’s office was near where the movie’s prison warden shot himself, and I used to wait in the large area where the prisoners’ meals were eaten in the movie for a guard to take me to the prison barbershop. I played the organ for Sunday chapel in a building often seen in the movie.
The movie’s “Brooks” fed birds in Central Park and crossed the street in front of the building where I would pick up wholesale fruit for the store where I worked. The large tree near where “Red” found Andy’s note and money, alas, fell during a storm this year.

I’m thankful…

For my family—my wife of 50 years, my children, my grandchildren, and for the memory of my parents and relatives who have passed.

For the privilege of living in the United States of America—land of freedom (including religious liberty) and opportunity.
Long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light.
Protect us by thy might, Great God our King.

For my career—a mission to serve God and others and to be enjoyed immensely.

For my church for the past 40 years, Grace Community of Seal Beach.

For the good health of my family—never guaranteed but gratefully experienced—and for how God has provided for our needs.

For the Seal Beach Police Department and the privilege I have serving as Senior Chaplain.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

December 24 – Sing “O Holy Night” at Christmas Eve Services, Grace Community Church of Seal Beach.
(4:00, 5:30, 7:00)

January 17, 2017 – Present “Religious Freedom Day Proclamation” to the Long Beach (CA) City Council

Listen to my Recent Sermons

http://bellflowerbrethren.org/Sermons/Entries/2016/11/6_Constructive_Christian_CitizenshipThemes_from_1_Peter.html
“Constructive Christian Citizenship” (Pre-election sermon drawn from the First Epistle of Peter and delivered at Bellflower [CA] Brethren Church)
http://www.gracesealbeach.org/sunday/sermons
(click above and go to the date indicated):
“Giving Thanks-A Missing Jewel?” (August 7, 2016)
Nehemiah 13 – “Time for a Great Reformation” (October 23, 2016)

A Very Merry Christmas to All!

Bible Insight—Songs from the Bible on the Birth of Jesus

Christmas Season is a wonderful time for song. The Advent portion of Handel’s “The Messiah” is a top value. As traditional carols go, you can’t do better than “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” (Charles Wesley).

But do you know the Bible itself gives us four Christmas songs? They are often known by the words that open each song in the Latin Bible.

1. Mary’s Song – The “Magnificat” [“Magnificat anima mea Dominum”]
“My soul magnifies the Lord” (Luke 1:46 English Standard Version)

This has been rightly called the “first canticle of the New Testament.” It is a song of ecstasy—praise to God for his grace and mercy and his fulfillment of his promises to his people.

Its message must be viewed in light of the earthly ministry of Jesus (else it can be twisted to serve secular movements and manifestos). In it we learn that God honors the humble and shows mercy to those reverent in heart. We see God’s love for the lowly. And we are warned about pride and the quest for power and the love of possessions.

2. Zechariah’s Song – The “Benedictus” [“Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel”]
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people.” (Luke 1:68)

Filled with God’s Spirit, Zechariah (father of John the Baptist) prophesied that his son will point to a deliverer who will save us from the enemies that afflict us (physical and spiritual) and enable us to delight in doing God’s will.

3. The Angels’ Song – The “Gloria” [“Gloria in altissimis Deo”]
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14)

This is the best-known “Song of Christmas” from the Bible—impressed into our collective consciousness by works such as Handel’s “Glory to God” in “The Messiah” (a chorus that tortures tenors!) and the popular hymn “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

The song is by a majestic angelic chorus. They announced praise in heaven and peace on earth. Certainly the story of the birth of Jesus has a peaceful effect in the world. The peace may not be deep and it may not last long when the story is heard, but I’m thankful for it. More important, the story of Jesus brings peace into the lives and hearts of those who truly embrace it.

4. Simeon’s Song – The “Nunc dimmittis” [“Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine secundum verbum tuum in pace.”]

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation.” (Luke 2:29-30)

Simeon was an elderly servant of God to whom God gave the promise that he would not die until he had seen “the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). When Mary and Joseph presented the Baby Jesus in the Temple according to the Law of Moses, Simeon took Jesus into his arms and, in the words of the “Benedictus”, gave praise to God. It was as if he had said, “Lord, I’m ready to go now—I’ve seen the Savior!”

The secular world offers its many “consolations.” Some of them have led to terrible carnage and bloodshed, as we witnessed through much of the 20th Century and still see today. Jesus brings true consolation.

Hope of all the earth Thou art.
Dear desire of every nation.
Joy of every longing heart.

Religious Liberty Vigilance – Anti-Muslim Hatred

The Virginia Legislature that approved “The Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom” (1786)
“meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.”
– Thomas Jefferson

Sadly, several Islamic Centers in California, including one in Long Beach where I live, have received anonymous hate mail in recent days.

Written by a person or persons who claim to be “Americans for a Better Way,” the letter is addressed to Muslims as “the children of Satan.” It calls them “vile and filthy people” whose mothers are whores and fathers are dogs. It asserts a horrible, twisted patriotism that all Americans of good will must reject.

Those who write such hatred care nothing for the Bible or American ideals.

My Website’s Home Page speaks of “How We See God’s Kingdom Today” and has this great quotation:

“The Kingdom of God is no longer identified with any geopolitical kingdom on earth. It is no longer the era of driving the nations out of God’s holy land but of living side by side with unbelievers in charity.
It is the hour of grace, not judgment.”
– Michael Horton, The Christian Faith (2012)

We must live by these words and let the Christmas message point us to the reconciling work of Jesus. He will sort out everything justly on The Last Day. Meanwhile we commit ourselves to living at peace with one another as best we can, not taking revenge, loving our enemies, and overcoming evil with good (Romans 12:17-21).

Message & Prayer
Veterans Day
Ceremony
Seal Beach

A few feet to the west of us is a significant memorial remembering eight innocent people who were murdered in Seal Beach on October 12, 2011. On October 12, a month ago, I joined family members and people of the community there on the 5th anniversary to reflect on that terrible day and console one another.

That was one act of terror against one community—our community. We owe our gratitude to the many first responders, fire and police, and to all who cared for survivors and the grieving.

There have been many domestic acts of terror against our nation—in the past year 16 died in San Bernardino and 49 died in Orlando due to Islamist terror. Again, we owe our gratitude to the first responders and all who provided care.

In today’s observance we have honored our veterans and I especially honor those in the military who risk their lives to protect us from terrorism at home and abroad so we may be safe and free.

Among the rights they protect is the right of protest. We may disagree with protestors, but we protect their right to peaceful, lawful protest. Many of us may strongly disagree with those who bow the knee instead of standing during the National Anthem, but service men and women have died to give them that right. I ask you—how many countries against whom we have fought would permit this kind of protest? How many cold war opponents would have permitted this protest?

My concern is when the protest creates a false expectation—as if others on a team have a moral obligation to show solidarity and join in. What do you do then, when another team member has a parent who serves in law enforcement or in the military, or has a family member injured or killed defending our rights?

Or what if another team member comes from an immigrant family that is grateful to this country that has given them so much? These want to stand tall during the National Anthem. Who will show solidarity with them?

On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy stood at the Berlin Wall and told the huge crowd, “Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.” We need to ponder his words anew.

Even as we sing, “America, America, God mend thine every flaw,” let’s stand tall in gratitude to God for all that is good and great about America and in gratitude to those who defend our precious rights, including all our veterans.

With me, I hope you will say,

I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land. God bless the U.S.A.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.
And may God bless this wonderful country, America!

Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

“I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials.”

Sept. 12, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy gave a major speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

That Was Then – “Will Religion Try to Control the State?”

John F. Kennedy was nervous as he was about to address the Greater Houston Ministerial Association during his 1960 campaign for president. It was one of the best speeches he would ever give.

Conservative and fundamentalist Protestant ministers were deeply worried he would, if elected, inject his Catholic beliefs into the office of president.
He would take orders from Rome, we feared (one pamphlet was titled: “The Pope for President”). A pastor in my Ohio city gave a message, “Why I will not vote for a Roman Catholic for President.” My own pastor said we might have a president who bows his knee to someone other than God.

Fundamentalists were deeply suspicious of Catholicism. “Anything out of Rome is wrong! Now, what is your question about the Catholic Church?”

This Is Now—“Will the State Try to Control Religion?”

The country has changed. Churches have changed. The attitude of Protestant conservatives (and many fundamentalists, but certainly not all) toward the Catholic Church has changed. *** At least when it comes to “church and society” issues, we share much in common and we work together.

The “separation of church and state” is dynamically different too, due in part to the deep impact of secularism on our values and way of thinking. Secularism has its own values and it tries, through government power, to impose those values more than any religious movement has tried in the U.S. Secularists are minimalists when they speak of “freedom of worship.”

Today the worry of conservative and fundamentalist churches and of devout Catholics is how much is the state going to try to control religion. In less than a decade we’ve moved from Mitt Romney’s word that politicians have no business telling churches what to do to today’s politicians who say, for example, the Catholic Church needs to change some of its beliefs (or else?).

*** See my editorial “One Evangelical’s Gratitude for John Paul II”, written in April 2005 shortly after his death. Read it at my Website under “writings”: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Qualities We Should Look for in a Political Leader

• Integrity – being people of truthfulness and fairness and good character in light of reasoned principles acknowledged by almost everybody.
• Sagacity (“mental discernment, sound judgment”) – realizing that the state’s power to compel behavior is a great and potentially dangerous power and therefore exercising great reserve and wisdom in its use in our free society.
• Accessibility – demonstrating openness to the people they are selected to serve, whether these people are supporters, detractors or indifferent.
• Frugality – viewing public funds as a limited resource to be prudently handled with great care and not as a constant spring where there is always more to be tapped. It must always be remembered that every tax dollar, regardless of its source and our political good intentions, takes money from people and not from impersonal things.
• Accountability – recognizing that managing public funds and exercising power are solemn trusts. Those who do these things must see themselves as stewards answerable to the people. Most of us believe accountability is due “in the sight of both God and man.” But even if a politician doesn’t think God exists, he or she knows the citizen does. Accountability also measures actions by their impact on the future long after a term of office has ended.
• Collegiality – being an effective office-holder through knowing how to work with others, especially those of opposing viewpoints. The collegiate leader earns respect “across the aisle” and knows how to work the political process for reasonable advantage without yielding core values. The “collegiate” politician knows “half a loaf is better than none.”
• Efficiency – getting the most “bang for the buck” by avoiding wasted time, squandered resources, incompetence and bloated bureaucracy. Thomas Jefferson’s call for “suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless establishments and expenses” needs to be heeded as never before.
• Productivity – ensuring that resources of funding, time and talent are used for intended and effective purposes and not, as examples, for self-aggrandizement or for programs likely or proven to fail. A good leader regards no program as sacrosanct and regularly evaluates them for both effectiveness and efficiency.

Let’s Make This Political Stipulation and then move on)

I’ve done enough jury duty to hear attorneys ask that something be stipulated. Something is stated, and then accepted by the other side as a fact. Once “stipulated,” it doesn’t need to be argued and the court can move on to matters needing argument and deliberation. Let’s stipulate, for example, “There is no difference between six of something and half a dozen of something.” (I think of that example because a McDonald’s clerk recently didn’t know the two were the same!)

In politics let’s stipulate this:

Those on the far right are likely to support the more conservative candidates; those on the far left are likely to support the more liberal candidates.

Therefore, let’s drop the ad hominem argument that conservative candidates are blemished because they get the votes of, say, a nativist or racist or members of an extreme fundamentalist group.

And let’s drop the ad hominem argument that liberal candidates are blemished because they get the votes of, say, a socialist or environmental extremist or anarchist leftists.

If we accept this stipulation, we can move on to substantive issues instead of trying to score points by smearing opponents with fallacious “guilt by association” labels.

Is this reasonable? Or am I missing something? Is this too much to ask?

Religious Liberty Vigilance – CA Senate Bill 1146

“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 to Samuel Miller, 1808

California’s Senate Bill 1146 is now state law. The final version primarily puts an obligation on religious schools to disclose and report their basis for claiming religious exemption from federal and state non-discrimination laws.

Gone are the more obnoxious features that would greatly burden religious liberty— dictating housing rules and requiring religious schools to report expulsions and suspensions to the state, as examples. Still, the bill marks a new level of state intrusion into the affairs of private religious schools. And all wonder what shoes will drop in future California legislatures.

In words published by newspapers of the Los Angeles News Group, I said this:

“The proper meaning of the word tolerance as ‘a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one’s own’ is turned on its head by SB-1146. It does not take much stretch of the imagination to see future legislation expand the control of the state over religious institutions including, ultimately, churches.

“In deciding SB-1146, the legislature and governor will help shape what kind of society we want—one encouraging true religious pluralism or one requiring conformity to secular standards that will supplant religious liberty.”

Note on the Jefferson quote above: Jefferson believed the Constitution banned the federal government from meddling in the affairs of religious institutions. It is now a well-established point of constitutional law that the protections of the Constitution (like the First Amendment) are binding on the states as much as on the federal government.
See the U.S. Supreme Court decision Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940).

Bible Insight: Good Anger, Bad Anger

On July 7, 2016, Micah Johnson ambushed police officers in Dallas, Texas, killing five officers and injuring nine others.

My anger was great that evening. As Senior Chaplain of the Seal Beach (CA) Police Department, I went to the station for three hours to be of support (as I put it) “to any of you who are feeling what I’m feeling.”

Scripture approves anger at times. God has anger (Jeremiah 25:6). Jesus got angry. Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.” (Mark 3:4-5)

So anger isn’t always wrong, but it is often and easily wrong. How can scripture guide us toward good anger and away from the bad?

1. I must control anger; it must not control me.

The classic biblical example of uncontrolled anger is Cain, son of Adam.

Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:3-7)

But Cain let anger control him, and so he killed his brother Abel.

2. To be right, anger must be due to a just cause.

Governor Nehemiah listened to the people who were wronged (Nehemiah 5:1-5). When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry (v. 6).

Romans 12:19 – Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.” The magistrate’s anger may be God’s instrument of wrath and justice (13:4-5).

3. Anger can motivate us, but good reasoning must direct us.

“I pondered them [the charges] in my mind.” (Nehemiah 5:7)

4. We must not allow even proper anger to seethe within us.

In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27)

Anger must be turned off and not allowed to fester within us. Go ahead and write that angry reply—your letter or email or tweet. Then save it until morning (“sleep on it”) and, with morning’s clarity and more reflection, review and edit it before hitting that irretrievable “send.”

5. Jesus classified wrongful anger under murder.

Why? Because anger can burst forth into abusive words, rage, violence, harm and killing. He warned of the personal fallout from wrongful anger.

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother [some texts: “without cause”] will be subject to judgment. (Matthew 5:21-26)

6. Anger as a vice must be confessed and put away.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. (Ephesians 4:31)

Such anger disqualifies one as a church leader, for not being “quick tempered” is a biblical standard for leaders (Titus 1:7).

Read the verses from Proverbs below to learn the dangers of anger.

7. We must not entice others to wrongful anger.

One of the worst examples of this is failed fatherhood that fills one’s offspring with anger. We see the fruit of this everyday in our culture. Fathers, do not exasperate (provoke to anger) your children. (Ephesians 6:4).

Think of anger as fire.
It takes skill to handle it rightly.
Controlled, it brings comfort and light and progress.
Uncontrolled it is a destructive wildfire.
Don’t pour gas on your anger—ever.

Proverbs 14:29

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

Proverbs 15:18

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.

Proverbs 16:32

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 19:11

Good sense makes one slow to anger,
and it is his glory to overlook an offense.

Proverbs 22:24-25

Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
nor go with a wrathful man,
lest you learn his ways
and entangle yourself in a snare.

Proverbs 29:22

A man of wrath stirs up strife,
and one given to anger causes much transgression.

Proverbs 30:33

Pressing milk produces curds,
pressing the nose produces blood,
and pressing anger produces strife.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

November 1 (6:30 p.m.) and 4 (9:30 a.m.)
Speak at Women’s Bible Studies at Grace Community Church. Topic: “The Lord’s Prayer”

November 11 (11:00 a.m.) – Veteran’s Day
Speak and offer prayers at the Veteran’s Day Observance, Eisenhower Park (at the Seal Beach pier)

Listen to my Recent Sermons (click below and go to the date indicated):
http://www.gracesealbeach.org/sunday/sermons
“Giving Thanks-A Missing Jewel?” (August 7, 2016)
Nehemiah 13 – “Time for a Great Reformation” (October 23, 2016)

And Finally, A Vin-ediction

This Irish blessing was given by Vin Scully after the Dodgers-Giants game on October 2, the game that closed his 67-year broadcasting career:

May God give you for every storm a rainbow,
For every tear a smile,
For every care a promise,
And a blessing in each trial,
For every problem life seems a faithful friend to share,
For every sign a sweet song and an answer for each prayer

Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Thanks to all merchants who don’t start “Black Friday” sales on Thanksgiving!

“Goodnight, everybody!”

Dodger Baseball’s legendary announcer Vin Scully, 88, will sign off for the last time in a few days, after 67 seasons as “The Voice of the Dodgers.”

When Vinny turned 80 in 2007, sportswriter Paul Oberjuerge wrote of him. I was fascinated by how his characterizations of Scully could compare with ministers—my career. How do we preachers measure up to Vinny?

• Vinny has “relentless goodwill” and contagious love for the game. He makes every game seem important and convinces you of the same. How many times haven’t I heard him say late in the game, “Good ball game!” You actually don’t mind hearing him speak for three hours (no call here for three-hour sermons, but do we convey each sermon is important?).

• He is personable and free of pretense and ego. He is pleasant and reassuring. He is smart, but never comes across as a “know it all.”

• He makes his message personal. It’s as if you, the listener, are the important one and he has invited you to “pull up a chair” so he can tell you about the game. Do people feel such intimacy with our sermons?

• He doesn’t follow fads and never uses jargon. That’s a challenge to us preachers, in whose trade there’s always a new fad to talk about or new lingo to use to show others we know something they don’t.

• He can be critical without being irritating—like it really hurts him to report hooliganism at the park or a player’s excessive aggression.

• When you meet him you feel he likes you as much as you like him.

• He conveys a sincere feeling of gratitude to God while knowing that baseball’s good times won’t last forever. “If you want to make God smile, tell him your plans.”

And I especially like this tribute: “He makes Los Angeles a better place to live.”

Religious Liberty Vigilance –

“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.”
– 1st Amendment

1. Massachusetts Restricts Freedom of Speech and Religious Free Exercise by its Policy on “Public Meetings” at Churches

Now, most reasonable people would recognize that church events are always for a “spiritual” or “religious” purpose. But what if the state can classify certain church events as “secular” or “public”?

Eugene Volokh reports this: “From the official Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination’s Gender Identity Guidance, just released last week: ‘Even a church could be seen as a place of public accommodation if it holds a secular event, such as a spaghetti supper, that is open to the general public.’”
(The Volokh Conspiracy, August 8, 2016)

Result: the church then becomes subject to the state’s public accommodation laws. So if we do as Jesus said, and invite the poor and needy to gather with us for a meal, and we bless the meal with prayer and hope to meet both physical and spiritual needs, our gathering might nonetheless be a “public gathering”! At such a gathering it would be punishable discrimination to use a pronoun to address a person if it differed from their gender identity.

The antidote for this extremism is to recognize that religion, not the state, identifies what is truly “religious” in words and deeds. And if a church or other religious body deems a practice or gathering or personnel position to be a “spiritual” one, the actions of the state must stop there. To go further would be unconstitutional “entanglement” with religion (Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971). Government is simply unqualified to determine this matter.

2. Good for the ACLU, which said Christians must have the same rights Muslims have!

(Taken from “The Volockh Conspiracy”, August 31, 2016; italics mine)

Plaintiff [in Allen v. English] Yvonne Allen is a devout Christian woman who covers her hair with a headscarf as part of her religious practice.

In December 2015, Ms. Allen sought to renew her driver license at the Lee County driver license office, where officials demanded that she remove her head covering to be photographed. When Ms. Allen explained her religious beliefs, the County officials responded with a remarkable claim: They admitted that there was a religious accommodation available for head coverings, but contended that it applied only to Muslims.

The American Civil Liberties Union argued that Ms. Allen’s religious freedom rights, guaranteed under the U.S. and Alabama constitutions, were violated.

“The county’s interpretation of state rules blatantly violates the First Amendment,” said Susan Watson, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. “The government cannot discriminate between faiths in granting religious accommodations.”

Now, I won’t argue in favor of the plaintiff based on any “headscarf theology”, for I don’t know of any. And I also believe the State of Alabama might have a case if it argued it has a compelling government purpose in having headgear removed for a driver’s license picture. But to grant an exemption to one religious group and not to another is certainly wrong, and the ACLU is certainly right.

3. A Win for Freedom of Speech at the University of Chicago
(When Freedom of Speech loses, Freedom of Religion easily loses too.)

“The University of Chicago recently sent a letter to incoming students explaining why they do not restrict potentially offensive speech, or give ‘trigger warnings’ when potentially sensitive issues are going to be covered in class. As Dean of Students John Ellison puts it, ‘[o]ur commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so called “trigger warnings,” we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual “safe spaces” where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.”

“Chicago’s policy is commendable. Not only do trigger warnings inhibit free discussion of difficult issues, social science research suggests that they cause more pain and anxiety than they alleviate.”
– Ilya Somin, The Volokh Conspiracy, August 26, 2016

Years ago Chuck Colson gave this warning in a “Breakpoint” broadcast:

The greatest danger to a free society is suppression of the free expression of ideas.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

October 1 (8:30 a.m.) – Speak on “Anger” to the Men’s Fellowship of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach.

October 23 – Speak in morning worship services (8:00, 9:30, 11:00) at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach.
Message: “Time for a Great Reformation” (Nehemiah 13).

Listen to my Recent Sermon (click below and go to the date indicated): http://www.gracesealbeach.org/sunday/sermons “Giving Thanks-A Missing Jewel?” (August 7, 2016)

Message of the Month

Are We Seeing the Death of
Congregational Singing
in “Contemporary” Worship?

I could have lost control of my vehicle as I listened to the ad on Christian radio. The ad for a concert was narrated by someone who introduced herself as a “Worship Artist.”

The job title is another sad sign of the professionalization of worship. In many venues worship has moved from congregation to performers on the platform. And in this transition we are seeing the death of congregational singing.

Often the congregation can’t hear itself sing because of the sound level of the professional singers and instrumentalists. So people don’t sing.

Then there is the worship setting. Mike Harland cautions: “In many churches, we’ve created an atmosphere that everything about the room says you’re here to watch, not worship. If you set up your facility to feel like a theater, don’t be surprised when your church members act like a theater audience.” *

Then there’s style. My wife and I attended “worship” led by a singer-guitarist with a beautiful voice. Her singing style made it impossible for anyone to sing along, so they just watched. So did we, as we enjoyed her short concert.

Concerts may be wonderful, but shouldn’t be confused with worship services. One non-negotiable, essential sign of a Holy Spirit-filled worship service is robust congregational singing. “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.” (Ephesians 5:18-19 ESV)

“Special Music” (solos, duets, choir, etc.) is optional in biblical worship—congregational singing is not. “Special Music” is what a lot of contemporary worship really is—a group singing and playing in front of others.

Can we yet bring worship back from the shadow of death? Yes we can!

First, make this commitment:
“We will restore congregational singing to our church!”

Then ask, “What steps must we take to achieve this essential goal?”

For starters:

• All worship leaders must commit themselves to being just that—truly engaging others in worship rather than doing it for them. “If they ain’t singin’, you ain’t leadin’!”
• Make sure most of the worshippers know most of the songs.
• Turn up the lighting enough so worshippers can see each other and to remove the feeling that people are attending a show.
• Keep the “difficulty meter” to the “low” end so songs are more singable. For example, Chris Tomlin’s “God of This City” is a meaningful, important song I love to hear. But for most it simply is not singable because of its range.
• Keep the volume of the platform music at a level where it actually enhances the singing congregation rather than drowning it out (this includes both platform singers and instrumentalists—even the organ if you still use one).

“We’re rehearsing for the Celestial Choir” is a great mindset to have while worshipping (Revelation 5). Think that way and you are on track.
Let’s make sure “contemporary worship” is not an oxymoron!
Notes: * Mike Harland in a podcast of Rainer on Leadership, April 12, 2016.

I’m working on a list of “10 Commandments for Worship Leaders” which I look forward to completing and sharing sometime in the future.

Bible Insight: Nehemiah’s Economic Reforms

Pastors at my church have been speaking on the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. He was Governor of Judea after the people returned from exile. Nehemiah served under the authority of the King of Persia (c. 445 BC).

It’s a great book to read all the way through. We think of Nehemiah as primarily a “wall builder” but he was much more. One task he did was to bring economic reforms. These reforms are in chapter 5.

What were the problems?
• Hunger – leading to mortgaging of homes and grain fields
• High Taxes – leading to borrowing at usurious rates in order to pay
• Slavery – as families had to take extreme measures to survive

And rulers who lived “high on the hog” at the expense of the little guy! *

Nehemiah had the political power to live at that level, but he refused. “Neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor” (verse 14). His reasons for doing so were his brotherhood with the people and his reverence for God. He saw his role as one of service to others, not self-serving lordship.

He also generously invited many “common folk” and officials to eat at his table. Not that the menu was skimpy—“Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds” (verse 18). Yet none of it on the taxpayers’ dime!

What would happen in our country if something like Nehemiah’s economic reforms were enacted and his servant attitude toward rule was modeled? What if every officeholder saw his or her position as a sacred position exercised before God and in the service of people?

[* The Associated Press reported on September 21 that California’s legislators were receiving a per diem of $196 from taxpayers, when they were not really fulfilling their legislative duties on many of the days they were paid. California legislators “over time crafted loosely worded rules for themselves that allowed them to collect those payments regardless of whether they ever showed up for work.” Nehemiah would say something about this!]

My Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Important Addendum for Pastors and Church Leaders

Churches and Political Action—What Pastors and Churches Should and Should Not Do

With October looming as a very big month in American politics, what’s a pastor or church to do? Or not do? I offer these thoughts to assist you.

Donald Shoemaker
Chair, Social Concerns Committee
Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches

1. From a LEGAL STANDPOINT, here are the “Do’s and Don’ts”:

• Churches MAY NOT endorse or oppose a candidate.
• Pastors MAY as individuals support or oppose candidates, but MAY NOT convey that they speak for their churches. And they should not proclaim their “personal decision” in any church medium (like the pulpit or church newsletter). No preaching, “I’m not telling you who to vote for and I’m not speaking for the church, but here’s where I’m putting my support…”)
• Churches MAY NOT use their resources (like facilities, property or equipment) in contexts that endorse or oppose a candidate.
• Churches MAY invite candidates to speak if done even-handedly and not selectively. Their presence in a service or in the pulpit must not convey the church’s support of any candidate.
• Churches MAY distribute voter guides, but I don’t recommend it because almost all have a “slant” to promote. I also would not allow members or outside groups to bring literature to the church or blitz cars in the church’s parking lot with flyers. If outsiders show up or blitz the parking lot, it may be wise for the pastor to disavow the activity.
• Churches MAY schedule a forum where the candidates for an office are invited to speak and answer questions. If only one shows up that’s not a legal problem, but it may not look the best and the church would need to be careful not to have the occasion appear to be an endorsement of the candidate who appeared.
• Churches MAY spend money and lobby and encourage members in support of or in opposition to a ballot measure or a piece of legislation (like many did in California recently on Senate Bill 1146). The limitation is that the resources expended not be “substantial”. This may be interpreted as “not more than 5% of resources”, which would almost never be exceeded in churches as reticent as many evangelical churches traditionally are. The limit applies not just to money spent but also to other factors such as pastoral time.

2. I DO RECOMMEND these points of guidance:

• Always maintain a distinction between the ultimate issues of the Kingdom of God and the penultimate possibilities of the political process. The latter are genuine but not perfect. They are secondary but not primary. They need the church’s voice and attention but must not get top billing.
• Preach on morally laden issues and proposals like good or bad legislation or initiatives. But be sure that the biblical “connectedness” is made clear. Of course we preach sensitive to the congregation and visitors in such matters, but avoiding the topics should not be considered an option.
• Have the church’s official body (Elders, board, or congregation) take positions on issues subject to the above qualifications and when the issue is important (as Grace Community Church of Seal Beach did on SB-1146).
• Do voter registration at the church before and after services. This is a non-partisan activity.
• Have a forum to educate church members on ballot initiatives.
• Have your facility used for voting, subject to acceptable rules (for examples, I wouldn’t accept a demand to cover the cross but removing a literature table may be acceptable). This is a natural way of showing interest in the wellbeing of your community.
• DO NOT politicize your message. By “politicize” I mean stridently or subtly speaking for or against a particular party or political stratum.
• Remember, the spiritual upbuilding of the saints is always the goal in a worship service. This influences sermon style and content immensely.
• Politically activist Christians must remember that the unity of the church must transcend all political and secular unities.
• Remember the admonition (I’ve made it often and sometimes it’s been heard with much irritation, but at least the point wasn’t missed):

“The church is the one place where a very liberal Democrat and a very conservative Republican should be able to join hands and sing, ‘We Are One in the Bond of Love’.”

3. Topics to Proclaim:

Churches have a powerful communication instrument known as “The Pulpit” (even if “pulpit” is now a metaphor). Here are some topics, which could be sermons, sermon points, or discussion points:

• Immigration from a biblical perspective
• The Sovereignty of God over the Governments of Man (“The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.” – Daniel 4:25)
• Religious Freedom and how it is eroding
• How healing can come to fractured race relations
• The duties of good Christian Citizenship (we now live in a participatory republic rather than in the Roman society that disadvantaged and even persecuted believers and where few had citizenship rights)
• The need for fiscal wisdom and accountability in government
• Godly men of the Bible who served the secular state and society of their times (Joseph, Daniel, Nehemiah)
• How God works peace and justice through governments he establishes, be they ever so fragile and faulty
• What God expects of secular rulers and those who “bear the sword”
• The Issue that Won’t Go Away—Protecting Unborn Human Life

– end –

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Congratulations to Olympic Gold Medalist Rachel Fattal!

Rachel and her U.S. Water Polo team clenched the Gold Medal when it defeated the Italian team in Rio on August 19.

Rachel’s family has many years of faithfulness in Grace Community Church of Seal Beach and she grew up in the church family.

Hearty congratulations to a champion! Pictured: Coach Adam Krikorian with Rachel)

Scriptures that Shaped our Culture

The Bible is the most published book of all time. Its influence has been powerful in Western culture up to our present day, even if other patterns of thought compete with it as never before.

Here are Ten Statements from the Bible that have had great impact on our culture. I’ve added explanations. Note: I’ve used the language of the King James Version because its influence has been greater than any other version in the English language.

1. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” – Genesis 1:27

“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” – Genesis 9:6

Humans are not merely animals, which is about all science can say. We are unique among all God’s creation. We bear likeness to God. We derive our worth, our dignity, our moral capacity and responsibility from God. This “likeness to God” not only befits the great but also includes the least among us. It embraces both genders, which are clearly demarcated in Genesis 1:27.

Capital punishment for murder is taught in all five of the Books of Moses (the only commandment so widely taught). Instead of the modern notion that human dignity requires opposition to capital punishment, this text makes it the reason for this penalty. However, accepting the legitimacy of capital punishment in principle does not necessarily endorse either the act or the judicial processes that lead to it as we may often find them, past and present.

2. “And the Lord said unto Cain, ‘Where is Abel thy brother?’ And he said, ‘I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?’” – Genesis 4:9

Cain, first son to Adam and Eve, refused to subdue his violent anger and consequently killed his brother. His answer to God’s question has become the classic answer through the ages when people seek to live independently of service and duty toward our fellow human beings, especially those in our own family (1 Timothy 5:8). In short, the answer to Cain’s protesting question is always “Yes!”

3. “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let my people go!’”
– Exodus 5:1

God’s call to Pharaoh of Egypt through Moses his spokesman was, in context, a call for the Israelites to have a “worship retreat.” The phrase has become a call for the emancipation of exploited people everywhere. For this I am glad.

4. “The Ten Commandments” – Exodus 20:1-17

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

[Note: some Jewish/Christian traditions number the Ten Commandments differently, with no change in meaning.]

1st Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2nd Commandment: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image…

3rd Commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain…

4th Commandment: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5th Commandment: Honour thy father and thy mother…

6th Commandment: Thou shalt not kill.

7th Commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8Th Commandment: Thou shalt not steal.

9th Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

10th Commandment: Thou shalt not covet…

The Ten Commandments, given by Moses, have formed our understanding of basic morality—how should we respond to God and how should we treat others? Many, religious or non-religious, accept “The Second Table of the Law” (commandments 5-10) as an important moral code for everyone to follow.

Standing at Mount Sinai in the year 2000, Pope John Paul II said the truth inscribed on the second table of the law, that one must not take innocent human life, is first inscribed on the human heart as a moral truth that could be known by reason (George Weigel, The End and the Beginning, Pope John Paul II – The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy, p. 355).

The above three pictures depict these Commandments. They are all features of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

5. “Thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
– Exodus 21:23-25

Many look on these phrases as barbaric, when really they prevent barbaric treatment of others and promote just judgments. Here’s how:

First, these penalties were to be ordered by judges, not executed by vengeful people (Exodus 21:22 – “…as the judges determine.”).

Second, the phrases represent lex talionis—the principle of retributive justice or proportionate judgment, or as we say it, “The penalty should equal the crime.” Consider how much we see disproportionate revenge around the world today. A man is killed for looking at someone the wrong way. A family is killed because of one man’s perceived wrong.

Third, as the context shows, settling a wrong can be done by settling for the value of something. Knocking out another’s tooth might just be vengeance—instead we may ask the judges to determine what the tooth was worth and order payment. Knocking out a slave’s tooth or putting out the eye of a slave led to freedom for the slave (Exodus 21:26-27), not to the loss of the slave-owner’s own tooth or eye.

These points understood, lex talionis still has value as a principle of justice today.

6. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
– Leviticus 19:18; 33-34

Jesus said this is “The Second Great Commandment” that follows the command, “Love the Lord your God…” (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus taught that all God’s commands emanate from these two, and without them commandments become burdensome legalisms.

7. “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
– Leviticus 19:33-34

Israel was to be kind to the “alien living in the land” because she, too, was once an alien nation and her oppression as aliens must be in her memory forever. She was never to become like those who abused her.

“Strangers” bear the likeness of God, just as a country’s citizens do.

How should these verses influence our treatment of the “stranger”?

8. “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” – Leviticus 25:10

Israel’s “Year of Jubilee” (every 50 years) was proclaimed this way—a year of emancipation and freedom and restoration. These words were inscribed on the Liberty Bell long before it was the Liberty Bell. They became words of colonial independence. Later they became anti-slavery words, for liberty must be proclaimed unto all the inhabitants of the land.

9. “The Golden Rule”

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
– Matthew 7:12

The “Golden Rule” didn’t originate with Jesus. It is found far and wide. Jesus taught it too, and his teaching is recorded in the Bible. The Bible is the main source from which the “Golden Rule” spread through Western culture.

10. “The Good Samaritan”

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

“And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

“And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.”
– Luke 10:30-35

The moral lesson in the famous story of “The Good Samaritan” is for us to be people of mercy. It is a call to selfless, generous service toward “our neighbor” –the needy who cross our pathway. We often hear someone was a “Good Samaritan.” We even have “Good Samaritan” laws to protect people from liability who in good faith offer urgent assistance to strangers in crisis.

These are my first ten picks. Can you think of other scriptures I should include on this list?

And if the Bible has not been on your reading list, consider adding it. Start with Genesis, the Book of Proverbs and the Gospel of Matthew.

© 2016 Donald P. Shoemaker

Religious Liberty Vigilance –

“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.”
– 1st Amendment

California’s Senate Bill 1146 has been softened but still ought to be defeated

“Title IX”, part of an education law passed in 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Longstanding federal and state laws and policies exempt religious educational organizations from “Title IX” prohibitions if these prohibitions violate the religious tenets of the organization.

SB-1146 would compromise the religious exemption. The bill in its current form has been diluted of its most obnoxious features. Now it primarily creates meddlesome reporting and disclosure requirements for schools that receive this exemption. It has the potential of creating a state-sponsored “shame list” of these schools. Some religious colleges, once deeply opposed, are willing to support the bill in its current form. But they are wary, and fear what will happen in next year’s legislative session and beyond.

I encourage all readers to review SB-1146. Readers outside California should beware of similar legislation elsewhere. The bill will be voted on in late August in both chambers. If it passes it will go to the governor.
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1146

In deciding SB-1146, the legislature and governor will help shape what kind of society we want—one encouraging true religious pluralism or one requiring conformity to secular standards that will supplant religious liberty.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

October 23 – Speak in morning worship services (8:00, 9:30, 11:00) at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach.

Message: “Time for a Great Reformation” (Nehemiah 13).

Good News from Grace

www.gracesealbeach.org

Over 200 children from the church and surrounding community came to VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL at Grace Community Church in July.

One feature of the opening session was a special visit from Chief of Police Joe Stilinovich, who challenged the children to be very careful in their use of social media.

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

July 4, 2016 – Celebrating 240 Years of Liberty
The Bald Eagle—Emblem of the United States

My wife and I saw several of these majestic birds during our trip to Alaska in June. She snapped this picture in Juneau.

On the Great Seal of the United States of America, on many coins, and on many expressions of national authority, this bird represents American strength and freedom. The bald eagle was chosen as our national emblem in 1782, although Benjamin Franklin thought this a bad decision and preferred the turkey!

Religious Liberty Vigilance –

“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.”

– 1st Amendment

California’s Senate Bill 1146 interferes with Religious Liberty and ought to be defeated

“Title IX”, part of an education law passed in 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Longstanding federal and state laws and policies exempt religious educational organizations from “Title IX” prohibitions if these prohibitions violate the religious tenets of the organization.

CA Senate Bill 1146 would create intrusive, meddlesome reporting and disclosure requirements for schools that receive this exemption. It has the potential of creating a state-sponsored “shame list” of these schools. Have its author and its supporters not heard of the separation of church and state?

I encourage California readers to review SB 1146 and, if you agree with my observations, contact your Assembly member to ask him or her to oppose it.

Did Our Founding Fathers Intend to Favor Christianity?

Several years ago I was presenting a workshop on how Christians should be involved in our culture. I set forth a position that I still hold—religious liberty must apply to people of all faiths, not just to Christians. A man raised his hand and prefaced his comment with words surely intended to serve as a “trump card”. He said, “I’m a lawyer.”

Then he said the Constitution was intended to protect Christians. I answered (less coherently than here) that even though the country’s religion at the time of our founding was overwhelmingly Christianity in its several versions, we must allow for some dynamic in the Constitution so it could apply to future religious landscapes. (I should have added that the Constitution explicitly authorizes an army and a navy, but says nothing about an air force!)

It would be helpful to listen to Thomas Jefferson. In his autobiography, he speaks of his intentions when he authored “The Statute of Virginia for Religion Freedom,” a document that greatly influenced our new nation’s position on religious liberty. He says of the final version that passed the Virginia legislature: “…a singular proposition proved that its protection of opinion was meant to be universal”. Then he reports [bold lettering mine]:

Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word “Jesus Christ,” so that it should read “a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion.” The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.

Clearly, Jefferson and the adopted document both intended that religious liberty be extended to those outside the Christian faith, even to infidels (those who confess no religious faith at all). Quite relevant to today is his clear inclusion of Islam.

It’s always risky to speak of “the Founding Fathers” as if they spoke univocally on matters such as religious freedom. But we can say with assurance that Jefferson did not think the religious freedom recognized in our founding documents was intended only to protect Christians.

I am committed to this same understanding. Four years ago, upon my retirement as a senior pastor, I adopted a “purpose statement” for the future ministry I intended to have. This statement is at the front of every newsletter I write. I stand fully committed to “Defending Religious Liberty For All.”

Recommended reading: Founding Faith—How our Founding Fathers Forged a Radical New Approach to Religious Liberty by Steven Waldman (2008 by Steven Waldman; 2009 by Random House)

What Did Jefferson Omit from His Tombstone?

Does it amaze you that Jefferson fails to list “President of the United States” on his tombstone along with the three accomplishments engraved on it?

Author of the Declaration of American Independence

[Author] of The Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom

Father of the University of Virginia

Also curious at first is learning that the monument above is not the original one (which now belongs to the University of Missouri, for goodness sake). The original 6-foot obelisk and marble plaque specified by Jefferson became prey to those wanting souvenir chips from it.

The three accomplishments listed are those Jefferson wished as his legacy. His handwritten instructions: “…because by these, as testimonials that I have lived, I wish most to be remembered.”

He was explicit: “…and not a word more.”

Was he preempting any who might want to add, “President of the United States”? Did he regard that service as an era of personal stress and without great significance—certainly unequal to the three services mentioned?

What would libertarian Jefferson think and say if he saw the power of the presidency and the centralization of authority in Washington as it exists today?

Messages of the Month –

#1 — Civility in Today’s Toxic Political Climate

Bernie Sanders spoke last September to a convocation of students at Liberty University in Virginia—a school founded by the late Jerry Falwell, whose current president, Jerry Falwell, Jr., supports Donald Trump.

I doubt 10% of the Liberty U student body would vote for Bernie Sanders. Still, he was greeted warmly by the crowd, treated with respect, and his message got a listen. He made it clear at the outset of his speech that he and the audience members would have views “on a number of important issues that are very, very different.”

Actually, it was rather refreshing to see a politician speak to a religious group and not try to pretend to be one of them!

Mr. Sanders said of his appearance there, “I spoke at Liberty University because I believe that it is important for those with different views in our country to engage in civil discourse.” That’s wisdom, and very American.

Fast-forward to June 2 and behold the shameful protests against Donald Trump’s appearance at a rally in San Jose, California. Sometimes supporters of Mr. Trump responded in kind. San Jose’s irresponsible mayor failed his duty of office and blamed Donald Trump for the actions of the protestors—a version of “the devil made me do it” defense.

Police declared the protesters an “unlawful assembly”. The president of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association said, “I’m disgusted by the violent attacks yesterday that have no place in our society or our political process.” Well put. The mayor and protesters appear in this instance to care little for the freedoms of the First Amendment.

The late Chuck Colson once said, “… in a democracy, civility is not an option, it’s a precondition that makes our system possible . . . Without civility, political discourse becomes hostile and polarized. In the resulting chaos we become vulnerable to tyranny.”

We better heed his word and warning.

#2 — The Mass Killing in Orlando

On June 12, forty-nine people were killed and another fifty-three wounded at a nightclub frequented by the LBGT community in Orlando, Florida. This was the worst mass murder and act of terrorism in the United States since “9/11”.

As human beings made in the image and likeness of God, these victims did not deserve this violence. They deserved the dignity and honor and protection that flow from creation in God’s image (Genesis 1:27 and 9:6; James 3:9-10). Regardless of one’s religious beliefs or personal convictions about LGBT issues, we must support basic rights for all, including the right to life and safety.

Leaders of our government and of law enforcement should regard this incident as an act of terror committed in the name of the radical Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as both the perpetrator and ISIS so claimed, and move to protect Americans accordingly to the utmost of their ability. Many are choosing to ignore or minimize this reality. They put the blame for this attack on the Religious Right, on homophobia, on xenophobia, on immigration as it now exists in America, or on failure to legislate on gun control. When they do this, they are missing the most critical issue. If they are government leaders, they are failing to exercise their proper leadership role entrusted to them by God and by the American people.

Bible Insight – “Don’t Be a Modern Esau!”

(Squandering Your Future for the Cravings and Pleasures of the Moment)

Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew [crudely literal: “red stuff”], for I am exhausted!”

Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way.

Thus Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:29-34 English Standard Version)

Esau squandered his rights as the firstborn to satisfy his hunger. He badly overstates his cravings, eats, wipes his mouth on his sleeve, and moves on.

Esau is the careless young person who lives for the cravings of the moment and does not consider God or the future—certainly not the consequences of bad action. He is willing to risk long-term benefit for short-term satisfaction of his craving. Esau’s trickster brother Jacob knew how to take advantage of such weak willpower.

Brock Turner, student at Stanford University, is a modern Esau—sexually exploiting a drunken female till he was discovered and subdued by two other men. He received a surprisingly light sentence of six months in jail (three months with good behavior) but must register as a sex offender for life.

Nonetheless, his father told the court, “His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.” But the 20 minutes were hardly spent on a minor crime like, say, shoplifting. They were spent sexually violating a young woman incapable of resisting at the time.

Reminds us of Esau’s wrong. Maybe he spent 20 minutes surrendering his birthright and eating some soup. It meant his life would never be the same. Esau at least did not victimize someone else through his own foolishness.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

July 22-25 – Attend the annual Conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches in Toronto, Canada. Offer Resolutions on social issues for adoption by the delegates of the Conference.

August 7 – Speak in Sunday morning services at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (8:00, 9:30, 11:00).

Good News from Grace

www.gracesealbeach.org

An excellent VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL program is offered by Grace Community Church of Seal Beach—July 11-15 for age 4 through grade 5. Contact the church on-line or at 562-596-1605.

“He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
– Micah 6:8 ESV

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

The 50th Anniversary of Two Wonderful Events

Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana – In May I walked as a “Golden Grad” in the processional at commencement exercises. And we had outstanding “Class of ‘66” get-together. The campus and the college are amazing

But the greater event is our 50th Wedding Anniversary on June 11. Mary and I became engaged in Winona Lake, on a bench at approximately this spot.

I thank God for 50 wonderful years of marriage. To celebrate the same, we will visit Alaska’s interior and then cruise south to Vancouver, BC in June.

Religious Liberty Vigilance –

“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.”

– 1st Amendment

Must We “Cleanse” our History of Religion?

For many years the county seal of Los Angeles (left depicted a tiny cross, recognizing the role of Christianity in the history of the county. In 2004, out of fear of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, voting 3B2, approved a new seal (right .

The newer seal deleted the cross and moved the Hollywood Bowl to where the now -politically incorrect oil derricks once were. It put a depiction of the San Gabriel Mission (WITHOUT ITS CROSS in their place. A Native American woman (whose depiction some called “servile” replaced the goddess Pomona.

In 2014, with a new supervisor in office, the board approved 3B2 a seal with a cross on the mission (look closely or you’ll miss it . But the ACLU struck again. And in April a U.S. district judge agreed. The cross…

carries with it an aura of prestige, authority, and approval. By singling out the cross for addition to the seal, the county necessarily lends its prestige and approval to a depiction of one faith’s sectarian imagery… The county also provides a platform for broadcasting that imagery on county buildings, vehicles, flags, and stationary [sic].… Permitting such a change and the associated expenditure of public funds places the county’s power, prestige, and purse behind a single religion, Christianity, without making any such benefit available on an equal basis to those with secular objectives or

alternative sectarian views. [Los Angeles Times, April 7, 2016]

O my! How could a tiny cross put right where it belongs be an endorsement of Christianity or an “establishment of religion”? How can the influence of Christianity on the historical development of the area be ignored? Did anyone object to having Pomona, goddess of fruit trees, on the original seal, whose presence was surely 100 times greater than the former cross?

Courts often use the 3Bpronged “Lemon Test” (1971 to determine if the First Amendment’s ban on establishment of religion has been violated.

• Is there a valid secular interest? Indeed, historical accuracy is one.
• Is religion promoted as a primary effect? A look at the seal would say no.
• Does the issue entangle government with religion? No again.

Does a Christmas Nativity Scene on public property necessarily violate the First Amendment’s “Establishment” clause? The U.S. Supreme Court said no in Lynch v. Donnelly (1984 . The court said separation of church and state must not lead to a “callous indifference” toward religion. Religion is to be accommodated, not just tolerated. The court noted many instances of how the government acknowledges our religious heritage and sponsors depictions of that heritage. “The very chamber in which oral arguments on this case were heard is decorated with a notable and permanent—not seasonal—symbol of religion: Moses with Ten Commandments.”

Seals, signs and symbols are not the essence of what they signify. But they are “not nothing” either. This matter could be regarded as a storm in a teapot. But it is symptomatic of a broader trend—erasing the religious influences of the past and their present influence as well. And the court’s decision further advances marginalization of religion—eradication instead of accommodation, intolerance in the name of tolerance.

Will the County of Los Angeles stand up against this decision of the court? True, we have finite resources, we must choose our battles carefully, we must decide which hills are worth the assault. But more is at stake here than a tiny cross.

My recommendations: (1 keep the cross on the mission where it belongs;
(2 appeal the district judge’s ruling and see where the issue goes from there;
(3 affirm the significance of the role of Christianity in the history of California.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

June – Prepare Resolutions on Social Issues for presentation at the Annual Conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, July 22B25 in Toronto, Canada

July 22B25 – Attend the annual Conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches in Toronto, Canada. Offer Resolutions on social issues for adoption by the delegates of the Conference.

August 7 – Speak in Sunday morning services at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (8:00, 9:30, 11:00 .

Good News from Grace

www.gracesealbeach.org

An excellent VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL program is offered July 11B 15 for age 4 through grade 5. Contact the church on-line or at 562B596B1605.

Bible Insight – When Good Comes out of Evil

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.”

Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them,“Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. [Genesis 50:15B21 ESV]

Sometimes it appears that absolutely nothing good or redemptive comes from evil. The Bible, however, alerts us that good may arise from evil even when the purveyors of evil have absolutely no good intentions.

So it was with Joseph—one of my Old Testament favorites.

His brothers, weary of Joseph’s dreams that they would serve him and jealous over their father’s favoritism toward Joseph, sold him into slavery. Then they concocted a dreadful lie that broke the heart of their father—Joseph had been devoured by animals.

Now in Egypt, Joseph became a highly regarded servant over Potiphar’s affairs until his wife failed to seduce him. She lied to her husband and Joseph went to prison. There he honorably excelled again and the jailor gave him a trustworthy role. There also he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker, both of whom quickly forgot about him upon release from prison.

The story continues. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and predicted seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh was so
impressed with Joseph that he made him “second in command” in the land. Joseph eventually governed during the terrible famine time that came.

The famine brought Joseph’s brothers to Egypt for food. Joseph recognized them but they of course didn’t recognize him. The story progresses until
Joseph brought them to see the error of their ways. Joseph and his brothers were reconciled and his father’s whole household came to Egypt to live.

When his father died, the brothers feared Joseph would now seek revenge. So they meekly approached him, which led Joseph to speak these words:

“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20 .

Good came to pass through the brothers’ evil hearts and deeds. In this case, physical deliverance from famine for the people of Joseph’s day. *

There would be no personal vengeance. Personal vengeance is not ours to render. God is the ultimate “just avenger” (Romans 12:18B21 .

There was no “unconditional forgiveness” either Joseph’s brothers were not reconciled with him until they acknowledged the error of their ways through the clever process Joseph engineered (Genesis, chapters 42B45 .

A final critical thought: the good that may come through evil never sugarcoats or justifies the evil. Evil is still evil and stands under the judgment of God. And never may we do evil so that good will come through it as a result (Romans 3:8; 6:1B2 .

Christians easily think of Romans 8:28 when they ponder this scene between Joseph and his brothers: “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good”. The wrongs done to us don’t become right things—they are still wrongs—but God is able to bring good through them all. The “good” in this case is that we may become like Jesus—“conformed to the likeness of his Son”.

! * I see Joseph here as a “type of Christ.” Jesus was the victim of much injustice—evil
! that ultimately led to his death of a cross, that he might bring salvation to his people.

Recent Readings Worth a Read

Zealot—The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan (Random House, 2013

I hold a higher view of the accuracy of the Bible than this writer, but I find his “nonB believer” examination of the times before, during, and after Jesus’ earthly sojourn to be full of valuable insights and thoughts to ponder.

The Guns of Last Light by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt, 2013

Volume 3 of his World War II “Liberation Trilogy”, this book covers the war in Western Europe from DBDay until the defeat of Germany. Always captivating and sobering.

7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas (Nelson, 2013

Author of a great biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Metaxas brings out what brought significance to the lives of George Washington, William Wilberforce, Eric Liddell, Bonhoeffer, Jackie Robinson, Pope John Paul II and Charles Colson.

Companion book for my future reading: 7 Women and the Secret of Their Greatness (Thomas Nelson, 2015 explores the significance of Joan of Arc, Susanna Wesley, Hanna More, Saint Maria of Paris, Corrie ten Boom, Rosa Parks and Mother Teresa.

The Printer and the Preacher by Randy Petersen (Nelson, 2014

From the subtitle: “Ben Franklin, George Whitefield, and the surprising friendship that invented America.”

Whitefield was a dedicated Christian, an Anglican minister who made several trips to America to win converts to Christ. “Franklin wasn’t buying. He had constructed his own faith” from Puritanism, deism and devotion to self-improvement. To him, Jesus was a good example of human behavior. “Despite their differences, these two men could understand each other as no one else could.” And their influence on the new country would be profound.

Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade (Sentinel, 2015

How President Jefferson brought the pressure of a new nation’s tiny navy to bear against the piracy and corrupt governance of the North Africa nation.

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Tom Hennessy (1936-2016)

Long-Time Columnist for the Long Beach Press-Telegram (27 years), who once published my essay “Beatitudes for Educators” in his space.

Outspoken Secular Liberal with a special penchant for witty writing against whatever he disliked about religion, which meant he often put Protestant Evangelicalism in his crosshairs.

Special Personal Friend, caring and perceptive, with whom I’d discuss and debate theology, politics, ethics, social issues, church-and-state, personal matters and more, who delivered a tribute at my church to recognize my 25 years of ministry there. I will deeply miss him.

Message of the Month – Care and Concern for the Dying

“In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah went to him and said, ‘This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.’” – Isaiah 38:1

As the story goes, he did not die at that time—we’ll leave the interface between what God decides and what we do for another time. To the point: if we had only this verse, we would see that preparation for death is a valid biblical issue.

Thirty years ago (May 15, 1986) my mother passed away from cancer in our home. My Mother’s Day sermon four days before her death was not easy! Dealing with her illness had a profound effect on my wife and me as well as on our children. I learned more about death and dying than I wanted to know.
It was an experience I would wish on nobody, but it made me a better pastor.

Personal and Pastoral Experience

Prior to the six-month experience of her illness and death I was, I’m afraid, rather dismissive of the likelihood of death when trying to minister to others. Frankly, I didn’t know what to say, so I sometimes said the wrong things (better: if you don’t know what to say, say nothing at all).

Since this experience I’ve helped many “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23), as a shepherd of souls following God, our Great Shepherd. I’ve helped people think of their own “advance directives” and on accepting or rejecting treatments, planned funerals with them, advised on hospice care and arranged church assistance. I’ve kept funeral instructions in my file for when the day comes. As a police chaplain, I have walked with many in the Seal Beach community who faced unexpected death.

Care for my mother came from (1) “The Father” – God’s comfort and guidance; (2) “The Family” – especially the selfless, generous, marvelous service of my wife; (3) “The Fellowship” – concern and help from churches, both ours and my mother’s (though her church failed its pastoral care duty); and (4) “Friends”.

As her disease worsened, the visits from church members and friends were fewer and fewer—we understood. But some with special expertise and ministry continued, including one wonderful nurse who came by until the end.

Biblical Guidance

Here are some helpful thoughts from Scripture:

• “Blessed is he who has regard for the weak” – Psalm 41:1.
• Life is a precious gift of God (Mt. 10:29-31) to be treated as such.
• The Bible is realistic on life expectations and our mortality (Psalm 90:10, 12). Treat each day as special.
• In life and in death, we belong to God and decisions we make are never separated from that relationship. “None of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” – Romans 14:7-8
• The 2nd Great Commandment is “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
• The Bible’s “definition of death” – The old King James Version phrase “gave up the ghost” simply meant “breathed his last” (no body/soul dichotomy). James 2:26 is best translated, “The body without breath is dead.” This is a common sense understanding and doesn’t fully address the issue of keeping the body alive through, for example, a respirator.
• God gives us the freedom and responsibility to act within our power and resources, so long as we keep his commandments. We are not “playing God” when we make end-of-life decisions nor are we failing to “leave things in God’s hands”—what I call “a punt to Providence”. Relevant scripture: Deuteronomy 29:29.
• Special care for special people (the voiceless, helpless, defenseless) is always our responsibility. A good society will manifest this (Isaiah 1:17; Isaiah 58:6-7; Ezekiel 16:49).
• The family of the needy person has great primary responsibility. 1 Timothy 5:4, 8 – “But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. …Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Definitely avoid religious jargon like, “There’s always a purpose in suffering” (please tell me, then, what it is!). Avoid words like: “Hezekiah should have just gone to heaven” (I heard that in a sermon!). Bad advice is a cruel taskmaster!

Issues of Care for the Dying

“What should I do?” There are often no easy answers. I strongly believe in respecting the wishes of the person who is terminally ill. But these wishes need to be informed decisions and made known by clear communication, preferably prior to final days.

Upon coming to our home after a month in the hospital and three months before her death, my mother made it clear that this is where she wanted to be and there were to be no trips back to the hospital. It was a great emotional release for me to realize that more aggressive treatment would be done not for her sake but for my sake. I am staunchly “Right to Life”, but I also believe in the right of patients to make choices on what “heroics” they wish to have applied to them during the final stage of life.

When death is likely soon, we cease doing what was once appropriate and begin doing what is now appropriate. Hospice care is very appropriate now, offering expertise beyond a family’s ability to help. (“Hospice” is an interdisciplinary and multifaceted program to care for those likely to die in six months or less in a hospice care facility or, more likely, in the patient’s home.) In my experience, many wait too long to invite hospice care into the situation.

“What concerns might afflict a very ill or terminally ill patient?”

• Fear of, or reality of uncontrolled pain
• Fear of debilitation
• Feeling of abandonment
• Cost of care
• Not wanting to be a burden on family

These are addressable through “the Father, the family, the fellowship and friends” (above), and with good hospice care. But I never say it’s easy.

“What should I do to prepare?”

In California there is an appropriate, understandable document known as the “Advance Health Care Directive.” Don’t purchase one—you can find it free on-line. Whether it be this document or other arrangements that should be made, handle as much as you can before you or a loved one is in life’s terminal stage.

What about so-called “Death with Dignity” laws?

California voters defeated a “death with dignity” proposition in 1992. It was deeply flawed and was founded on the “sinking sand” argument that personal control of one’s destiny is a fundamental right.

Right now a new “End of Life Option Act” is taking effect in California. It is described by proponents this way:

The Act allows terminally ill, mentally capable adults who have a prognosis of six months or less to live, the option to request from their doctor a prescription for medication that they can self-administer, if they so choose, to die peacefully and painlessly in their sleep to relieve suffering and shorten a difficult dying process.

It’s amazing how easily this measure became law. Two reasons: (1) it came via legislation rather than through vote of the people, and (2) legislative speed and shenanigans were part of the process.

This measure, with many safety provisions and less odious than the 1992 proposition, removes the health care provider (the doctor) a step from the process. The instrumental cause of death is available on the bedstand, so to speak, rather than being administered by someone else.

There are dangers with such legislation.
• The slippery slope (from terminally ill to those who cannot make a competent request, to the chronically ill, to the disabled, to those deemed by society to be without value, ultimately to anyone desiring to end life).

On April 24, 2010, Tine Nye, 37, was euthanized in Belgium, following her decision to seek euthanasia after a breakup with her boyfriend. Her two sisters expressed dismay over the attitude of doctors toward Tine’s request when they determined it was reasonable. Little effort was made to persuade Tine to live.

• Inevitably, there will be health care providers who will experience infringement of their freedom of conscience and of their religious liberty.
• The right to die can become the obligation to die.

Moral Guidance

I’ve found four principles set forth by Richard Gula, Professor of Moral Theology at Franciscan School of Theology, to be especially helpful.

1. Life is not an absolute good that must be preserved at all costs, nor is death an absolute evil that must be avoided at all costs.
2. The patient’s free and informed choice determines whether or not life-sustaining therapy is used.
3. Treatments that cannot reverse the terminal illness are not morally required.
4. Decisions to withhold or withdraw treatment ought to intensify efforts to comfort the patient.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

Singing the National Anthem before the start of Seal Beach’s 5/10K charity run and walk on April 9. There were 4,600 participants.

May 17 (6:30 p.m.) & May 20 (9:30 a.m.) – Teach “Hilites of the Book of Genesis” at Women’s Bible Study at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach

June – Prepare Resolutions on Social Issues for presentation at the Annual Conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, July 22-25 in Toronto, Canada

May 15 – Pentecost Sunday Remember and Pray

Pentecost Sunday recalls the Day of Pentecost following the Resurrection of Jesus (if we observe Easter, we ought to observe Pentecost!). On Pentecost, the Spirit of God was bestowed to Jesus’ followers and the world changed! Different theologies and traditions on the ministry of the Holy Spirit should not keep Christians of whatever persuasion from praying for a fresh revival in the church today through the power of God’s Spirit.

The modern Pentecostal Movement marked 110 years of existence in April. Below is an article I published on the movement when it reached its 100-year mark in 2006.

April marks a great milestone in America’s religious heritage as the Pentecostal Movement reaches the 100th anniversary of the revival that launched it. This was the “Azusa Street Revival” in Los Angeles that began in 1906, continued for four years, and attracted inquirers who spread the revival across the country and around the world.

Pentecostalism was not the only revival of its time. The Welsh Revival fanned spiritual flames into some of the early participants at Azusa Street. The Pentecostal revival, however, had unique features of its own, the most obvious being that the spiritual renewal it called the “baptism” or “filling of the Holy Spirit” was accompanied and evidenced by the experience of “speaking in tongues.” This linkage became a key doctrinal and experiential feature of the many denominations, churches and ministries the revival later produced.
Today [2006] 25 percent of those who claim the Christian religion are Pentecostal. There are at least 20 million Pentecostals in the U.S.

I personally will always be thankful for this movement’s impact on my own spiritual journey. I prayed to receive Jesus while kneeling at the altar on the concrete floor of a Pentecostal church when I was nine years old. My spiritual life was renewed through contact with a Pentecostal family when I was a teen. I joined a Pentecostal denomination. I first saw my wife-to-be in one of its churches and we were married there! My earliest opportunities for musical ministry and preaching were in Pentecostal churches, including my first sermon when I was eighteen. Though I no longer hold the distinctive Pentecostal doctrines I still enjoy fellowship with its adherents and occasional ministry opportunities in its warm assemblies.

The movement has made many positive contributions to the broader Evangelical Protestant community to which it clearly belongs. Two of these are especially significant—renewed interest in the ministries of the Holy Spirit and renewal in church worship.

Pentecostals were about the only Christians focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit in the early Twentieth Century. By contrast, Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology, published in 1939 and still a classic, devoted a scant nine of its 700-plus pages to the work of the Holy Spirit and dealt with none of the issues of his day presented by Pentecostalism.

This sparse treatment would be unthinkable today. Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology (1994) devotes 100 of its 1100-plus pages to the ministries of the Holy Spirit and shows itself well versed in contemporary issues raised by Pentecostalism. Non-Pentecostal writers such as John R. W. Stott, James D. G. Dunn, Frederick Dale Bruner and James Packer have made significant contributions on the work of the Holy Spirit. Clearly, other Christians have now awakened to the topic of the Holy Spirit even if differences remain on particular issues like “speaking in tongues.”

Pentecostalism has transformed worship in many American churches. You must understand that the word “worship” is a verb in Pentecostalism! It is an action you enter into, not a meeting you attend and observe. Styles of worship once found almost distinctively in Pentecostalism are now widespread throughout Evangelicalism. Worship has become “holistic” as we have learned that the experience of approaching God is not altogether or primarily a cognitive thing (conservative Protestants rightly have biblical doctrines close to their hearts) but also an experience of the emotions and the body. Once seen by many as (horrors!) a “Pentecostal thing,” lifting up hands in worship is now commonplace.

Has the movement had its errors and excesses? Yes. It has created personality cults where “the anointed man of God” is accountable to no one. It has shared with other “Holy Spirit” revivals the risks of minimizing the intellect, creating spiritual pride and going beyond the Scriptures in its claims and experiences. It could nurture itself and the cause of Christian unity greatly by recognizing how much the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (“the Spirit’s wave,” as we call it in my Seal Beach church a block from the ocean) extends beyond its own perimeters.

That said, we need the Pentecostal Movement and all other movements of God’s Spirit to renew in us the confession “Jesus is Lord” (I Corinthians 12:3). Without the presence of God’s Spirit, the church loses its uniqueness. As the Roman Catholic scholar Luke Timothy Johnson reminds us, “Unless what it says about the Holy Spirit is true, then the church is simply another organization among others, rather than the sacrament of God’s presence in the world.”

(Published in the Long Beach CA Press-Telegram, March 25, 2006. © 2006 Donald P. Shoemaker)

“Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove”

By Isaac Watts, “The Father of English Hymnody” (1707)

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, with all Thy quick’ning powers.
Kindle a flame of sacred love
in these cold hearts of ours.

In vain we tune our formal songs, in vain we strive to rise.
Hosannas languish on our tongues, and our devotion dies.

Dear Lord! And shall we ever live
at this poor dying rate?
Our love so faint, so cold to Thee, and Thine to us so great!

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, with all Thy quick’ning powers.
Come, shed abroad the Savior’s love, and that shall kindle ours.

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

“I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
– The Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

In this Issue, the very timely question – “What Do Christianity and Islam Teach about Jesus?”

What Christianity and Islam Teach about Jesus

Jesus Christ and his life and death as highlighted by Good Friday and Easter are critical parts of the faith Christians confess.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into Hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead.
– The Apostles Creed (early Christian confession)

The question of what Christianity and Islam share in common versus what separates them came to a head at Wheaton College, a prominent Christian higher education institution in Illinois. Larycia Hawkins, an associate professor of political science at Wheaton, will be leaving the institution following months of controversy. She had donned a hijab to show solidarity with Muslims. But the main controversy was her statement that Christianity and Islam worship the same God.

In my talks on Christian social activism one key word of advice I give is:
“Get the facts, get the facts, get the facts!”

Without “the facts” you are flailing at the wind, missing the key issues, knocking down “straw men”, accepting fictions. Perhaps feeling good about it.

A commitment to accuracy is absolutely essential if there is to be honest communication between people of differing faiths. Not the only essential, but without it there is little to be said between us. I should be able to express the beliefs of another person with such accuracy that the other person will say, “Yes, that is what I believe.”

It is important for Muslims and Christians to understand each other because we must learn to inhabit this finite world together in shalom-salaam and because many of us live together in America. Christians must relate to Muslims as those who share the likeness of God through our common humanity (Genesis 1:27; Acts 17:28-29) and, if we share a common American citizenship, as those who possess with us the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and the free exercise of religion (without having an established religion).

Now, what can we say about Christianity and Islam?

These two common grounds are shared by the two faiths and also by Judaism:

• Monotheism – the belief there is only one true God.
• Abrahamic Roots – Judaism, Christianity and Islam trace their origin to the biblical Abraham.

But Christianity must be distinguished from Islam on several critical points, especially those that relate to what orthodox Christianity teaches about Jesus. I will limit my comments to this subject, with the caveat that what one teaches about Jesus influences what one teaches about God. When I use the word “Christianity” I am referring to the Christian faith as it embraces the teachings of the New Testament and the confessions of the ecumenical creeds, not to everything that might wear the title.

Both religions teach that Jesus was born to Mary who was yet a virgin. And Jesus performed many miracles, as the Christian Gospels state. Interestingly, the Qur’an (19:27-33) goes further by actually having Jesus speak from the cradle somewhat in defense of his mother (this may be seen as a prolepsis).

Both religions believe Jesus was a prophet. Islam sees Jesus as a prophet in a long tradition of prophetic voices culminating in Mohammed. Christianity sees Jesus himself as the culmination of the prophetic office—the Second Moses, God’s Final Word (see the quotation from Hebrews 1, below).

While Christianity sees Jesus as a prophet (and while the ethical teachings of Jesus can be a great starting point for discussions with non-Christians), Christians confess Jesus to be more than a prophet. He is, according to the Bible’s best-known verse (John 3:16), God’s “only begotten son.”

Islam cannot accept this. Its belief in God’s absolute uniqueness abhors any notion of him having a son. This is a core understanding of Islam.

Say, “He is Allah, the One;
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begets not, and neither is He begotten;
And there is nothing that can be compared to Him.” – Qur’an 112:1-4

Furthermore, according to Islam, Jesus is not “from the beginning” for he lived a finite, short life 2000 years ago. Nor should he be worshipped.

Christianity’s understanding is that Jesus, as the unique Son of God, specially revealed God to us as none other could do (John 1:1, 2, 14, 18 ESV):

In the beginning was the Word [Jesus Christ], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

No one has ever seen God; the only God*, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. [* Some Greek texts read “only begotten son”.]

Christianity teaches that Jesus died on the cross, and his death was “for our sins.” Christians debate exactly how this “works” – the doctrine of Jesus’ atoning death that removes our sins raises many points of discussion. But the fundamental confession “Christ died for our sins” is biblical, critical and non-negotiable—a sine qua non of The Faith.

Islam rejects the crucifixion of Jesus and, with it, any thought that his death was redemptive. I have read this Muslim explanation: while it appeared to many that Jesus died on the cross, in reality Jesus was miraculously protected by God and the crucifixion was the death of another.

This brief discussion scarcely does justice to the topic. And there are other important comparisons to make and issues to raise. Three examples: [1] the nature of Holy Scripture, [2] the divinely-appointed position of Isaac, son of Abraham and father of Israel as compared to Abraham’s other son, Ishmael (see Genesis 17), [3] the propriety and right of Arabic-speaking Christians to use the name “Allah” when referring to the Deity of Christian belief.

I conclude with an extended quotation from the New Testament’s “Epistle to the Hebrews” (1:1-12) and its classical, definitive statements about Jesus:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?

Or again,
“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”

But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed. 
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”

Bible Insight—
Learn from Jesus the Lessons of Palm Sunday

Our recent Palm Sunday gave me an opportunity to recall some lessons from Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-19; Luke 19:28-48).

Here are three “learn about Jesus” lessons we can take from this celebratory occasion:

1. Let’s See Jesus’ Humility (Matthew 21:4-7)

“They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks and he sat on them.

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet,
“Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey.”

“Triumphalism” is when Christians (or others seeking victory for their cause, for that matter) celebrate their conquest of another. It can come when Christians “claim the victory” over evil forces (oftentimes other people), or when Christians align their cause with political forces to gain worldly victory.

It’s not healthy. “Triumphalism” is not part of “The Triumphal Entry”! We learn that when we see our king on a donkey—a humble, lowly servant.

My Website opens with a quote. “God’s kingdom today is a time when we live side by side with unbelievers in charity. It is the hour of grace, not judgment.” Keep our lowly king in mind as you serve God’s kingdom today. It is a kingdom of “righteousness, joy and peace” (Romans 14:17).

2. Let’s Sing Jesus’ Praise (Matthew 21:8-9)

I love to sing good contemporary Christian songs and hymns from our rich Christian heritage. So I love Palm Sunday. I also like drama in worship, like when the crowds showed it by cutting branches and taking their cloaks and spreading these things on the road. So I love Palm Sunday.

The crowds shouted,

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Even the little children shouted praise, which troubled the religious leaders greatly (they remind me of Jesus’ disciples, who once tried to send the children away before Jesus corrected them and welcomed the children to himself—Matthew 19:13-14).

Jesus corrected these worship-stoppers by quoting scripture (Psalm 8:2):

“Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise.”

Recently we visited a church that forbade families from bringing their children into the worship service. May I say, “How un-Christlike”!! My early childhood included singing Lutheran liturgy each week in “the big church service” and I really think that experience helped launch my life and ministry on the trajectory it has had, for which I am ever thankful.

3. Let’s Share Jesus’ Zeal—Passion for “God’s House” (Matthew 21:12-13)

Jesus made a whip and drove the merchants and money changers from the Temple, crying, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers!”

The Gospel of John sees Jesus showing the zeal of his ancient father David: “Zeal for your house will consume me” (John 2:17; Psalm 69:9).

David’s zeal brought reproach and mockery against him. He said, “The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.” The more zealous he got for the House of God, the more he was belittled by others.

Here’s our modern application: “God’s House” today is the Holy Spirit-indwelt gathering of believers who passionately sing his praise, hear his Word, fellowship meaningfully together, and from there humbly carry his ministry and service into our needy world. We should strive for wise zeal toward “God’s House.”

The more passionate we are, the more we may be criticized—by those who reject belief in God, who abhor the influence of the church in society, or even by those who claim to follow him but who refuse to let the fire of passion burn within them.

Take the Palm Sunday message of humility and song and zeal with you through the rest of this year!

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

April 1 – Give Keynote Address at New Life Beginnings banquet, St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach (6:00 p.m.)

April 4+ – Jury Duty! (Yes, a ministry!)

April 9 – Sing the National Anthem prior to Seal Beach’s 5/10K race.

April 26 (6:30 p.m.) & April 29 (9:30 a.m.) – Teach lesson on Jacob’s blessing of his sons (Genesis 49) at Women’s Bible Study at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach

Religious Liberty Vigilance – Vetoed Bill in Georgia

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

As this newsletter nears completion, the governor of Georgia has just vetoed a bill that some strongly believe is necessary to protect religious freedom and others strongly believe would legalize discrimination.

The bill (HB 757) has wording [* see below] similar to the federal “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” introduced in 1993 by then-Congressman Chuck Schumer and Senator Ted Kennedy, passed overwhelmingly by Congress, and signed into law by President Clinton. Those were friendlier days for religious liberty. It likely would not pass today, and if it did the president would veto it.

Here are some points I wish to make, which are not intended to be a detailed analysis of the situation or the vetoed bill. Before stating them, here is my bias: I am strongly committed to a near-absolute view of religious liberty—expressed both in church life and out in society and culture. But I don’t think this is a radical position. I think it is a very American position and is well summarized in the provisions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. What’s “radical” and new is the secular leftist disregard for religious liberty in its pursuit of its own agenda. There!

1. The claim that everyone’s religious beliefs are already sufficiently protected by the First Amendment is a tired, false claim that’s 25 years out of date. Anyone making this claim is either unaware of developments or deliberately duplicitous. Either way, a disregard for truth exists.
2. Religious liberty is often construed in a minimalist way in America today. Even groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State (superficially supportive of religious liberty) take a minimalist view, opposing government support of religion but not all that concerned about, or even supportive of, government coercion that interferes with the free exercise of religion.
3. This minimalist view is seen in proposals that would protect clergy and “Houses of Worship” against any compulsion to offer same-sex weddings, but would disallow protection to other religious institutions or to individuals who believe they should not be forced to violate their religious convictions.
4. The day will come (and the Solicitor General of the United States admitted this in oral arguments in the case OBERGEFELL ET AL. v. HODGES before the U.S. Supreme Court last year) when the tax exemptions of religious organizations may (I say “will”) be challenged over their religious opposition to same-sex marriage.
5. I haven’t heard anyone argue that a business owner should have the right to refuse service to someone because of that person’s sexual orientation. The issue is, should a business owner (say a sole proprietor) be required to personally perform services that are forms of artistic expression (such as photography, music performance, or cake decorating) contrary to the person’s religious conviction? Since these tasks are forms of artistry, I see them protected by both the free speech and free exercise of religion points in the First Amendment.
6. I am distressed by meddlesome threats by Big Business when legislation like HR 575 is debated, no matter which side the businesses are on.
7. I am a person who seeks to find common ground on issues like this and to work for a “win/win” situation if at all possible, as we live together in this pluralistic society and labor to keep it such. However, it appears to me that many opponents of bills like HB 757 are in a “take no prisoners” mode and resort to ad hominem comments about their opponents (e.g., they are “filled with hate” and “fear-mongers”), which makes meaningful communication toward common ground very difficult indeed.

* Georgia’s HB 757 (excerpt reflecting the language of the federal RFRA)
(a) Government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the
burden results from a law, rule, regulation, ordinance, or resolution of general applicability, except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section.
(b) Government may substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion only if it
demonstrates that application of the burden to the person is:
(1) In furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and
(2) The least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.

NOTE: HB 757 has other statements that do not appear to me to be all that necessary.
NOTE: 21 states have laws with wording similar to the federal RFRA.

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com