This is not extraordinary, but over the
years, I have on occasion had what I call “in-your-face” experiences with our
adversary the devil to shut M-G down, “Drop the ‘pen’ and walk away; make it
easier on yourself.” Earlier this year, I notified my subscribers that Google
had been threatening to shut their free email subscription service down which
is how subscribers through Google Feedburner get notified of any postings by M-G. In anticipation of that
coming to an end, I removed my subscription icon. Google, however, keeps
shifting the goalposts on terminating their free subscription service!
Now, I praise Yahweh for the delay! I hope they change their minds, but it is up in the air when they want to stop it. Beverly has observed that we get tested on just about
everything I write about at one time or another, not surprising, yes? I replied to
her, “We must be doing something right for God!”
For the critics of M-G, I thought I
would divulge how much revenue I have generated over the past 11 years? People have
facetiously commented, that I would be crazy to divulge this to my readers given
the state of our economy. Well, the truth is; I have made as of the third
quarter of this year in 2021 including all the way back to 2010: a whopping $0.00.
I have never asked or hinted for any support other than prayer. Only one person in all the years has sent an unsolicited donation which
was humbling, but all went to expenses incurred for M-G. I am not telling you
this because I am hinting; it’s just a fact. I intentionally avoid the
perception of moolah being the driver behind Camel Lips Ministry (cf. 2 Cor
2:17). The direction God wanted for me to go was plain: freely given freely
give (cf. Acts 3:6). Nobody can legitimately accuse M-G of a money-making venture; it costs me time and money to do it!
Every once in a while, Beverly will
quip, “Can’t you write about health and wealth for once?” I always give the
same reply, “You know; reverse psychology just doesn’t work on an all-knowing
God!” I will leave the health and wealth preaching to the prosperity preachers;
they have their reward.
Feel-good words can rob us of the good
words that no one wants to hear; you know. It is analogous to the stuff that
tastes good and is bad for you, and that which tastes bad is good for you! We
need words of truth based on the Scripture that brings real healing and sustaining
power in moving us forward for His glory against the troublesome torrents of
the flesh, the world-system, and the devil. The agenda is for His glory, not
what we can get out of people, to serve and not be served.
Nowadays, people want a quick spiritual energy
boost like they do for their bodies. I know of people getting into trouble
downing too many of those energy drinks with a cocktail of ingredients that may
prove to be bad for your health in the long run. Unquestionably, they are not a
sustainable concoction for the long haul for good mental, physical, and
spiritual health reasons.
What I have discovered in teaching the
Scriptures or writing a blog is that many believers are wanting answers to
the complexities of life with brief answers similar to Cliff Notes or “Short answers
to Life’s Complex Issues for Dummies!” The mentality runs something like this, “Just
give me one verse with a terse comment, and I am good for about 8 hours!” Today,
it seems as if church members are increasingly being fed feel-good spiritual
meals that are unhealthy when separated from the context of biblical truth rather than
expositional ones grounded in the Word.
The algorithm of their theology comes from a string of unrelated
formulas developed by a preacher springboarding from a text taken out of its
context rather than formulated by a contextual theological cohesiveness derived
from an expository preaching. The parishioners can only tolerate a tickling of the ears if
you please. There is little to no interest in going deep below the surface like
spiritual submariners. They are more comfortable staying on the surface and
snorkeling but never running deep.
They only want to pop open a small can
of spiritual energy drink on the run and go about their merry way without
skipping a beat, thinking they can go through life as some kind of spiritual
junky, and then there’s the inevitable spiritual crash of an OMG moment coming
out of nowhere! Bereft of spiritual wisdom, the index finger is pointed at God,
“If only You had been here!”
Should an M-G article exceed the x-number of
words or a series of multiple parts, people have a tendency to bypass those for time. What is
troubling is that we are opting out of spiritual food for other things that we deem more important! The
truth of God is getting crowded out by the notion of self-importance or the things
of the world. There is even a one-minute ministry for those on the go! Imagine
this; they want to spend eternity with Jesus, but make little to no time for Him while on
earth! We all are given 168 hours a week…
So many people are vegetating over
mindless stuff on the internet on their smartphones that compete with opening
up their Bible or a Bible app. Time for junk but not time for Jesus, yes? These
folk often throw the baby out with the bathwater when something challenges their narrative on life! Happiness today is considered
getting a quick burst of laughter over something meaningless or inane (contrast
Psa 1:1). I will tell you truthfully, when a crisis hits the fan, try going to
the meaningless or inane or things for comfort!
My grandfather was right about criticism;
“If you worry about people criticizing you, you won’t accomplish anything.” This
carries right over into our service for God. I am of the opinion that the best
place to be in all the earth is to be situated at the very center of His will, physically
and spiritually, rich or poor, in sickness or in health, in peace or in conflict
(Php 4:11; Heb 13:5). Be right there, and right there be. How else do you
explain Paul and Silas singing in prison after taking a physical beating? It
defies reason! Why would Paul embrace suffering if it were not so (cf Php 3:10)?
Someone quoted Aristotle as saying, “If
you want to avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” It is
uncanny how my uneducated grandfather, who was a farmer and rancher by trade, and Aristotle shared a similar outlook on criticism. I know of believers who
cannot even handle constructive criticism very well, no matter how you dress it
up!
Their ego is so fragile that truth is only easy to bear if it is applied to others. If it is applied to them, you would think that they would break into a thousand pieces at any moment! Granted, who wants to hear something negative about themselves even though
the spiritual tonic is good for their soul? You take it anyway to get better,
yes? That is why crowd-pleasing preachers avoid the topic of sin; there’s no
coin in it. Nonetheless, people like that are unwise and their spiritual growth
is hampered. They go through life never maturing in the faith nor growing into
the stature of the fullness of Christ.
As for me, I will tell you bluntly. M-G is not for the five-minute or less Christian! I call out the truth in love as I see it according to the Scriptures. Our culture is currently going bananas sliding on the peel to socialism which is nothing more than another secular ideology directly opposed to anything related to God; that would include, people, places, or things. Socialism has a history of being very unkind to genuine Christianity. It has never been good for any nation. I know of some who claim to be Christian embracing socialism! I am at wit’s end concerning them (cf. Gal 4:20).
Some “believers”
take other believers to a 1 Jn 2:19 reality check. The tree is known for its
fruit. If we claim to be an apple tree, and there are no apples, according to
the half-brother of James, our faith is non-existent or dead (cf. Jas 2:17, 20,
26). Only God knows for certain whether one is saved or not, but being perpetually
fruitless is not a positive sign. During WWII, a person could live in Nazi
Germany and still be a Christian, but they couldn’t be a Christian and be a Nazi,
a form of socialism.
Good, spiritually healthy criticism is
being perceived as judging, and it is only getting increasingly worse as
so-called Christians side with the world on the interpretation of the
Scriptures (cf. 1 Cor 2:14)! It’s called apostasy, by the way. It doesn’t
matter how you dress up the truth to make it more palatable; we are accused of
judging or offending apostates! I have said this before; no one has a right not
to be offended. Usually, those who think they have a right not to be offended often offend others! Jesus called out sin in His day which was pleasing to the
Father,
(Jn 8:28)
Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know
that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father
taught Me, I speak these things.
(Jn 8:29) And
He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do
those things that please Him.
Wow! That was quite a testimony of His
commitment and deity! Jesus did the Father’s will with exquisite perfection; He
was flawlessly holy and spoke the truth in love, and they crucified Him for it!
Pleasing to God the Father, Jesus was, and for the spiritual leadership of
Israel during His day who refused to acknowledge their sinfulness, He was considered
nothing but a troublemaker violating the Pax Romana (the peace of Rome
doctrine)!
The truth is; like Jesus, we are to
judge righteously (Jn 7:24), not hypocritically (Mt 7:1-5). Being holy and
calling out sin is part of being like Christ, not cowering in fear over
offending family or friends or others who may be in opposition to Christ!
I have taken the position that I would
rather for you to be angry with me for telling you the truth than misleading
you or telling you a blatant lie, yes? I am committed to the truth. I made a promise
to always shoot straight to help my readers to be more like Christ, to add
spiritual value to their lives rather than to cause them any hurt.
In my latter years, I still am engaged
in the analysis and interpretation of the Scriptures. M-G is all about
promoting the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ, nothing more, nothing
less. My joy is helping others, who love God, on how to live out the truth of
God’s Word where the rubber hits the road because that is what Yahweh desires
for me to do. I enjoy doing it, but it is work.
M-G is all about grace and truth in
motion which is the sworn enemy of legalism. What boxer, who steps into the
squared ring, has the delusional expectation that he is not going to get hit?
It comes with the territory, right? He who stands for nothing falls for
anything. Read what our 26th President of the United States said
about criticism,
“It is not the critic who counts; not
the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds
could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in
the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives
valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no
effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually try to do the
deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself
in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high
achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring
greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
know neither victory nor defeat.”1
My Dad once told me that you are not
down until you quit getting back up. Jesus is worth getting back up to push
back against the growing tide of evil. <><
Fight the good fight of
faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have
confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1
Tim 6:12).
_______
1. Theodore Roosevelt, speech
“Citizenship in a Republic,” delivered on Saturday in Paris, April 23, 1910 (from The
Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Charles R. Swindoll).
