PreachingHelp.org

In recent years, newspaper headlines are full of examples of “church abuse” or “spiritual abuse.”  It’s disheartening and even sickening to hear about some of the ways in which religious leaders have used their position, power, authority, and  influence to manipulate people to their own advantage and for their own purposes.

However, as terrible as that is, I want to write about the other side of the coin.  There’s two sides to “religious abuse.”  There is the side wherein religious leaders abuse people (This is the side we always hear about.  This is the side that makes all the headlines).  But there is another side to “religious abuse.”  There’s the side wherein people use, abuse, and manipulate religion to serve their own selfish purposes.  This form of “religious abuse” is also wrong and needs to be exposed to the light.  Neither form of abuse should be swept under the carpet.

May I give you examples of the kind of abuse I’m writing about?  How about king Nebuchadnezzar?  Nebuchadnezzar built for himself an image that he wanted people to worship.  This was his personal project (Daniel 3:1,2,3,5,7,).  However, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego would not bow to the image, he threatened to burn them alive.  But notice how he tries to disguise his wounded ego in this whole matter.  He said, “Is it true…that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up?”

Did you catch that?  He brings his “gods” into the discussion.  Don’t be fooled by this.  Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t  respect his gods, for in chapter 2, he proclaims that Daniel’s God is the “God of gods” (Daniel 2:47).  But if you’re going to burn some people alive, it sounds a whole lot better to say that they offended your gods rather than your ego.  Nebuchadnezzar tried to use his religion to justify his own selfish and sinful behavior.

Several years ago, I had a woman come to my office.  She was unscripturally divorced, and was currently committing fornication with her live in boyfriend.  However, she didn’t come to discuss her sinful situation.  She came to ask me to to “preach” to her boyfriend’s parents about how Christians shouldn’t judge other people.  She had several verses she shared with me that day that she wanted me to read to this young man’s parents.  (None of which said a word about what the Bible says about fornication).  This woman wasn’t interested in truth or God. However, she attempted to use God to serve her own sinful purposes.  This is another example of how a person was engaging in “religious abuse.”

Friends, religious abuse cuts both ways.  I grow weary of hearing about abuses by those who are spiritual leaders.  But I also grow weary of people who use their religion as a crutch; only to bolster their own selfish and sinful agendas.  Both are despicable.  I don’t resent all the advocates lined up to protect those who have been abused by religion.  I support such advocacy.  I just want more people to become advocates for God and his church for the religious abuse that they endure as well.

I have to come clean and confess that I believe in the Big Bang.  NOW WAIT!  Don’t stop reading here.  Let me explain.  The Bible, itself, teaches a “Big Bang.”  Read it for yourself…

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).

There you have it…”The Big Bang.”  Only, according to the Bible, the “Big Bang” occurs at the end of time, not the beginning as the evolutionists teach.

The evolutionists are partly right.  There is a “Big Bang.”  However it didn’t occur in the beginning, but will occur at the end; and it didn’t bring things into existence, but it will take things out of existence.

So now, do you believe in the “Big Bang?”

In January of 2008, I decided to start a blog.  For years, I had used the church’s website to host my material, but I decided that having my own site would allow more flexibility.  So I purchased a domain name (PreachingHelp.org), and I began uploading biblical material.

As of today, I am happy to announce that Preachinghelp.org has reached the mark of 500,000 visits to the site!  Oh, I know that some sites may have that many visitors every day, but for this site, a half-a-million visitors is pretty significant.  From 2,400 visits a month to 18,000 visits a month is amazing to me.

I say all that to say this…Isn’t technology amazing?!  How else could I have possibly had the opportunity to reach so many people?  I want to encourage you to use or continue to use this medium for good.

Thanks to all of you who have visited the site.  Your visits have helped to keep this site up and running.  It would be hard to continue to do the work necessary to maintain a site, knowing that no one was reading it.  So thank you for visiting.  If I can ask one thing of you, I’d simply ask you to help spread the word about the resources found here.

There’s good reason why many Christians know very little about the observance of the “Lenten Season.”  Simply stated, the Bible nowhere speaks of a “Lenten Season,” making this observance entirely an ordinance of man.

But now here’s a question, “What’s so wrong with observing a man-made religious memorial if it is rooted in such biblical principles as prayer, fasting, and alms-giving?”  Before answering that question, allow me to briefly explain what Lent is.

Lent is a period of 40 days of penance (which typically includes prayer, fasting, and alms-giving)  in preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this 40-day-long Lenten period.  On this day, participants in Lent have ashes placed on their foreheads in an effort to replicate the Old Testament practice of putting ashes on one’s head, which was an expression of repentance.  During these 40 days of Lent, Ash Wednesday, and every Friday are to be a day of fasting.

So now, back to the question, ” “What’s so wrong with observing a man-made religious memorial if it is rooted in such biblical principles as prayer, fasting, and alms-giving?”  Here’s my answer… This question assumes that the man-made religious ordinance of Lent is biblically rooted.

Consider the practice of placing ashes on the forehead which takes place on Ash Wednesday.  Yes, I know that during Old Testament times, people would fast and put ashes on their head expressing their repentance through this outward display (e.g. Daniel 9:3).  But does this practice follow the teaching of Jesus on this matter?  Does Jesus want us to make a display and publicize our fasting?  Allow him to speak to these questions:

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:16-18).

Jesus commanded the exact opposite of what is practiced by the man-made observance of “Ash Wednesday.”  According to the man-made memorial of Ash Wednesday, practitioners publicize their fasting and “dirty” their faces with ashes.  On the contrary, Jesus says to fast privately, and wash your face.

Furthermore, according to those who instituted this practice of Lent, the fasting on Ash Wednesday and every Friday during the 40 days is a matter of obligation (Code of Canon Law, 1252).  Grant it, authority to the conference of bishops to substitute another form of penance besides fasting (e.g. works of piety and charity) for the Friday abstinence rule is given, but there is still a requirement involved (Code of Canon Law, 1253).

Now consider the practice and teachings of Jesus.  Jesus constantly shook up the religious establishment of his day by disregarding their man made ordinances (Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 3:1-6), and even exposing how they had actually elevated some of their traditions above the word of God (Mark 7:1-13).  The gospel that Jesus taught was a gospel free from the heavy burdens of man-made ordinances (Matthew 23:4), and the legalism of man-made obligations (Colossians 2:20-22).  Rather than submitting ourselves to man-made ordinances, the Lord, through the apostle Paul commanded us to “Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

So am I saying one shouldn’t give themselves to a period of fasting, prayer, and alms-giving?  Of course not!  Should Christians fast?  Most certainly (Matthew 9:14-15).  But their fasting should be in harmony with the teachings of Jesus and not the ordinances of men (Matthew 6:1-18).  Should Christians pray? Definitely!  “Without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  Should Christians give alms to the poor?  Without question (Galatians 6:10; James 1:27).

Bottom line: Christians should fast, pray, and give alms to the poor, but not under the auspices and strictures of “Lent,” a man-made ordinance that actually violates the teachings of Jesus.  Instead, why not “give up Lent for Lent” and fast, pray, and give alms within the context and freedom of Christian liberty and the teachings of Jesus?

Those of you who know me, know that I love technology and its uses in ministry.  Well today’s post may be old news to some, but an amazing time saver for others.

Every church leader recognizes the need to maintain good communication with the congregation.  That’s why we invest thousands of dollars and man hours in publishing church bulletins.  But the problem with church bulletins is that they aren’t time sensitive.  Because of this, many churches have created Facebook pages to get news out even quicker.  But again, the problem with Facebook is that the congregation won’t see the news unless they log into their Facebook account.

Well, here’s a way to contact your congregation with news, updates, and prayer requests in “real time.”  Here’s how you do it.

Go to www.twitter.com and set up a free account for the church (e.g. ABCchurch).  Then inform your congregation that if they wish to receive instant text updates, all they have to do is send a text to “40404” and have the text simply say, “Follow ABCchurch” (without the quotation marks).

That’s it.  That’s all there is to it.  Your members don’t have to have a Twitter account, all they need is a phone with a texting plan.  This service has been around for about seven months, but I’m a bit slow.

Just brainstorming…You can set up Twitter accounts for your young people, the parents of your young people, senior members, the entire congregation, etc.  You get the point.  Whatever subgroup you have at your congregation, you can invite them to join a group and they can receive timely texts, relevant to them, from the congregation.

By the way, this feature is called, “Fast Follow” if you want to do a little more research on it.  Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Today, as I was exiting the High School parking lot after dropping off my son, I saw the sign to the left.  This sign was strategically located so that everyone leaving the High School parking lot would be looking directly at it.  It would be impossible to miss it.

Well, I just had to take a picture because I saw more in this sign than just a boy asking a girl out on a date.  This “billboard” took me back to the cross.

Was not the cross that was erected on a hill called Calvary an open and public declaration of God’s love for man?  How could anyone miss the message of the cross?  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16).

Just as Kyle’s billboard openly displays his love for Audrey,  the cross of Jesus was an open and public display of his deep love for mankind.

I don’t know who Kyle or Audrey are, but for his sake, I hope she says “yes.”  Likewise, I hope you too will respond favorably to God’s love and invitation.