Francis Chan | 2015 IS YOUR YEAR | JANUARY 01,2015

America's Trojan Horse

America Is Being Conquered One Person At a Time

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

Based on a good bit of observation conducted for a long period of time, it has come to my attention that the US is in large part an utterly clueless nation. The Bible says, “The people perish for a lack of knowledge”, and it's interesting that many seem to be doing just that during what is purported to be the information age. An alarming number of people appear to be dying of terminal igorance, and the root cause can be traced to the American shadow government that operates from behind Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court. When a country's “leaders” spend 50+ years dumbing down America's schools, this is the result we get. Everybody has their eyes glued to video screens both small and large, or they're walking around with earphones in their ears listening to music that tunes out everything and everybody else. As a result, a fairly large majority of people are consciously disconnected from the world around them. It's as if everyone is saying – but not verbally – “I don't want to know how bad it's getting. Just let me go to work and collect my check every week while leaving all else alone, and I'll be fine.” Or, to put it another way, “I've got mine. How are you doing? Oh, gee, that's too bad.” Jesus said, “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand”. Although those words were uttered 2,000 years ago, they are very descriptive of the US today.

America has two seperate but directly related problems that are ongoing as I write this. They both have to do with an unofficial invasion, one from without and one from within. On one hand, there is a relatively tiny but rapidly growing minority of Americans, mainly young people, who are being recruited over the Internet to join Islamic fighters in the Middle East. After being radicalized and trained, they are brainwashed into becoming suicide bombers, some for the army of ISIS, others for militant groups like Hamas or Hezbollah, and some who come back to the US while awaiting their marching orders. The same thing has been happening in Europe and Great Britain but for a longer period of time. After European recruits return home following their training, they become sleeper cells waiting for their monent to strike. At least two such attacks have already been carried out as I wite this. So goes Europe, so goes America. The American teens sneaking out of the country now will be returning, many within weeks or months, to serve as Islamic sleeper cells right here in the USA. Terrorist attacks that could make 9-11 look like child's play will soon follow, and undoubtedly at a time when we least expect it.

The second problem America has with organized infiltration has to do with China. As you problably know, if a foreign national such as a Mexican woman travels to the US and gives birth, the baby born in the US is automatically an American citizen by law. A 'baby tourist' industry has sprung up because of this law, but up until about 10 years ago most babies born here to foreign mothers were from Mexico or Central America. But for the last 5-10 years or more, the first-place crown for countries with the most foreign-born babies isn't Mexico any more, it's China. Why would Chinese women want to have a baby in a country so far away from their homeland? It's not so much because of the women as it is their government, and its root cause is money – or more accurately, debt. The US has a national debt of over $17 trillion dollars, which is 17 with 12 zero's after it, and that's plus interest that continues to add up even as I write this. The one country who holds the majority of this debt is China. Needless to say, the US government, or more accurately the Federal Reserve, can not physically print the money fast enough to pay the debt off no matter how hard they run their printing presses. So, America is insolvent, the government in Washington knows it, and China knows it too. But, trying to foreclose on part or all of America's debt could be tricky, with serious military as well as economic implications. So, China appears to be taking a pragmatic kind of approach – they're going to invade America one person at a time. All they have to do is keep right on doing what they have been for the last ten years or more – sponsor the births of whole armies of American-born Chinese children and bring them back home to raise them. Once they're of age, they can simply emigrate to America legally and flood the country with Chinese expatriates. Why invade America when China can simply emigrate its invasion force and have them legally buy up everything in sight for pennies on the dollar? And yet the majority of Americans either refuse to see this because they can't or won't deal with it, or they are so wrapped up in their digital coccoons that they don't care. By the time they realize what's been happening, it will already be too late for them. To me, the worst thing of all is that the churches aren't addressing the issue from the pulpit, this one excepted. Why aren't more US churches warning their congregations? Because the church leaders are resting on their laurels instead of sounding the alarm! All pastors who did not practice their due diligence while leading their flocks will be left behind at the rapture of the church. That's not my opinion, that's a prophecy!

America, the giant of the 20^th century, will go out with barely a whimper in the 21^st century unless drastic change happens fast. It's all foretold in Revelation chapter 18, where it is written, “Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning, famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn for her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry 'Woe! Woe! Woe, oh great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!'” (Rev. 18, verses 8-10 NIV) The “great city” is most likely New York, or possibly Washington, DC, there's no way to tell with certainty. But the reason the US political and monetary systems are broken are because of all the dirty corporate money in politics, and you can be sure that God is incensed with all ther corruption in our nation's capital. Do our nation's leaders think they can hide their activities from God? So, change cannot come from within because the same groups of people are being re-elected because the election system itself is broken, and in some cases outright rigged. To borrow a phrase, change will have to come from the bottom up instead of from the top down. Change from the top down can't work when the system is rigged in favor of the top 1% of America's economic pecking order. So it will have to take place as a large-scale grassroots movement of the American people from all over this land. The only question remaining is whether the coming revolt will be peaceful or otherwise.

KING RON The Poet - Change The World

This week's Bible study will be the first half of 1st Corinthians chapter 12

Spiritual Gifts Part One

[1^st Corinthians chapter 12, verses 1-13]

Continuing onward today in our first-to-last-chapter study of St. Paul's 1^st letter to the Corinthian church, let's move on to chapter 12. I'll be going over the first half of chapter 12 today, and we'll get into detail on the second half next week due to the very important and highly significant subject matter contained in chapter 12. Let's begin with verse 1:

“Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed', and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord', except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.” (1Cor. 12, verses 1 through 6, NIV)

Paul starts off by reminding the Corinthians how far they had come from a spiritual standpoint. They had gone from being pagans, worshiping gods of wood and stone, to born-again Christians, saved by the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. What a quantum leap these Corinthians had made in the Spirit! In this there is good news for all of us; that is, anyone who can say without hesitation, “Jesus is Lord”, or, “I worship Jesus as the Son of God”, knows immediately that they have the Holy Spirit living within them, otherwise they could not utter these words and really mean it. And if they didn't mean it, others will know it. Paul goes on to make the comparison that as surely as there are manifestations of the Holy Spirit within widely varied types of individuals, in the same way there are widely varied signs of the fruit of that same Spirit exhibited within each and every one of us. Paul then goes on to name the different fruits of the Spirit.

“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.” (1 Cor. 12, verses 7-11, NIV)

You will notice that Paul names nine different gifts of the Holy Spirit. These different gifts are diverse enough that anyone who is a true follower of Christ Jesus can pick one and begin to pray directly to Jesus for that particular gift, whatever it may be. No special talent or innate ability is required. That's exactly why all can participate. That's the first nugget of truth that we can extract from Paul's writing. In the family of God, nobody gets left out. Everyone participates and benefits equally and without exception. So pick a gift, any gift that you think suits you best, and begin to exercise it. If you seem to get off to a slow start at first, don't let that deter you. Keep practicing, because you know that practice makes perfect. Remember that you won't be going it alone, for the Spirit of the Lord will be with you, and He will stay with you because He is dwelling within you. God is very willing to give you supernatural ability in the Spirit that will cause you to excel in an area where you may not have been able to previously. I know this to be true because it has worked for me in the past, and if I can do it then so can you. Let's go through these nine gifts one at a time.

The first is the “message of wisdom”. Do not mistake formal education, or human intelligence, or any person's IQ, for what the apostle Paul calls 'wisdom'. The 3 things I just mentioned are all carnal in nature, being of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. “Wisdom”, from Paul's viewpoint then, is spiritual wisdom, a wisdom gained from a lifetime of experience and of devotion to Christ. The “message of wisdom”, then, is a gift generally reserved for the clergy, or for those in academia, but also for older people like myself who have been around the block a time or two and who have gained wisdom from many years of experience, sometimes even by trial and error. This type of deep and lengthy experience should never be underestimated. When one learns their life lessons the hard way, one tends to learn them quite well, and I'm speaking here from experience.

The second spiritual gift is the “message of knowledge”. Like the 'message of wisdom' above, the 'message of knowledge' is about spiritual matters rather than knowledge of this world. The message of knowledge can be interpreted here as having extensive knowledge of the Word of God, and this can only be accomplished through years of study. Pastors and those who teach Bible studies have this gift, and it is an honorable thing to use this, or any of these gifts, to one's utmost for the love of Jesus.

The third spiritual gift is faith. Faith is a gift most often bestowed unto prayer warriors and prayer partners, and to those with gifts of healing (more on that one shortly). Faith is also a very good starting point for new believers as they build their new-found faith in Christ. It is something very good and valuable to hold onto while deciding which one of the 9 spiritual gifts is best for the individual believer. This is how we exercise our faith as we explore the gifts of the Spirit so that we may discover which gift suits each of us the best according to the talents and abilities of the believer.

I will comment only briefly on the next two, 'gifts of healing' and 'miraculous powers'. While these gifts have existed since the time of Christ and His apostles, there are those “healers” today who claim to have these powers, but in reality they are fierce predators. They continue to “heal” people on TV while essentially charging them for the privilege while broadcasting the results of their “work”. But Jesus warned us about this when He walked the earth, as it is written: “Jesus answered, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name proclaiming, 'I am the Christ', and will deceive many.” (Matt. 24, verses 4-5 NIV) Further down in this same chapter Jesus adds, “So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert', do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man”. (Matt. 24, verses 26-27 NIV) I'm not saying miraculous healing doesn't exist. As a matter of fact I think it does. All I am saying is that, based on what I have seen on the Christian television stations, one should approach what is being taught and what you are seeing with a critical mind, using the Bible as a reference manual for what you are seeing and hearing. That is the one sure way to keep oneself from being deceived. Discern for yourselves what is genuine or what is phony. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit has already given you the power! Use it judiciously.

The next gift Paul mentions is that of prophecy. Prophecy means to literally proclaim the Word of God while applying it to events from the past, present and future. Evangelists, for example, most often have the gift of prophecy as their spiritual gift, but anyone can have this gift. I once met a Texas housewife who had this gift while having never studied in a seminary, so God can bestow it upon anyone He chooses.

The seventh gift Paul mentions is the gift of 'distinguishing between spirits', and he is not talking about a medium at a seance. Distinguishing between spirits also has nothing to do with judging people, so be sure and not fall into that trap because once you do, it's hard to get out of it. As you have probably guessed, 'distinguishing between spirits' is done in the Spirit of Christ, not in the flesh or through intellectual capability. It is a spiritual distinction one can make through a supernatural gift of identifying different types of spirits, mainly being able to separate bad from good, but also as a way to distinguish hidden motives and concealed agendas within otherwise “nice” people.

The last 2 spiritual gifts are speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Speaking in tongues simply means to be able to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in any foreign language in a supernatural way without having any specific knowledge of that language. Those who interpret those tongues are the ones who are translating the unknown tongue being spoken back into the native language of the hearer for the edification of that church. This spiritual gift exists so that the gospel can be preached in every language on the face of the earth. It is common for missionaries to have the gift of speaking in tongues, or that of interpretation of tongues. A word of caution here: there are churches that teach that speaking in tongues is the best evidence that a believer has been baptized in the Holy Spirit, as if this particular gift is the one that matters most (or worse yet, that it is the only one that matters). If you find yourself in a church that teaches that speaking in tongues is the only, or the primary, evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, get out of there immediately. I won't name names, but they are a single-minded denomination bordering on a cult, and as such they are not teaching the whole truth, so it would be wise to not associate with them. Remember that even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. Paul finishes his train of thought by comparing the human body to the church.

“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1Cor. 12, verses 12-13, NIV)

We are all within the body of Christ, which is His church, but we all serve various functions within that Body. Our diverse gifts of the Spirit, which God gives to everyone, make up the different functions of the greater Church. Not everyone can be a pastor, or a teacher, and not everyone is called to be only one thing, all except for prayer. Prayer, my dear readers, is mandatory for all serious believers. We can't have a geniune relationship with Jesus Christ unless we pray to Him daily. How can we have a personal relationship with Jesus unless we talk to Him? There are also those who have multiple gifts, such as music and dance, and others who focus on a specific ministry, such as missionaries. But instead, in the kingdom of God, everyone does one thing and does it well (even if it's just being an usher), and all the various functions and ministries that are being performed coordinate together to form the living body that is Christ's church. As the old song goes, “we are one in the Spirit, we are one with the Lord”, and that sums up His church very well. And next week we'll finish chapter 12. Until then, be blessed in Jesus' holy name!

Eric Ludy - The Gospel

Christianity, the Drug War, and Legalization

I have had my first complaint this week about my new website. On the Welcome Page there are a number of photos that are descriptive of this ministry and what it's trying to accomplish. One of them was a picture of a marijuana plant, and the caption read, “legalize, regulate and tax marijuana”. Since I've been pro-legalization since the 1970's, and since God made that plant along with all the rest of them (see Genesis chapter 1 verse 11) it was only natural that I include it in my website. But someone – I won't say who – complained about my posting that photo on the Web, so as of today I have replaced it with another. If anyone else was offended by that photo, then I will apologize for that, but not for my reasons why I posted it there. Inspired by this experience, I broke out and updated this 2012 posting about the drug war, which has become even more relevant today than it was when I first wrote it. So, read on and enjoy!

Are America's Drug Laws in Line With God's Laws?

By Rev. Paul J. Bern

The Bible says in the Old Testament “Obey the laws of the land in which you are living, so that it may go well for you where you abide”. This is always good advice. Jail is no place for anyone to be, and it is that way by design to deter crime. But what if the laws we are duty-bound to obey run contrary to the Bible? Is it possible for a man-made law to be contrary to the Bible's teachings? And if so, should we still obey it? Is there an example of this anywhere in the Bible?

The answer to all of these is an emphatic yes. The most obvious example of this would be the crucifixion of Christ Jesus himself. If we take all the religious teaching in the Bible and set it aside for just a moment, we find that from a purely historical perspective Jesus was crucified as a criminal because He preached against organized government and organized religion. It is not well understood by many people that the teachings of Christ were revolutionary in their time, a fact that the modern church is not teaching (excluding mine), much to their discredit. When Jesus taught, he spent much more time with the common people than He did at the temple at Jerusalem, where His teachings were met with much consternation among the religious establishment of that time. He was viewed by the political and religious establishment as a threat, and so they put Him to death, not realizing that He would only be in the grave for three days. Another example would be in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. When Daniel refused to bow down to the god of king Nebuchadnezzar, the king had Daniel thrown into the lions den, only to emerge a few minutes later unharmed. When the king sentenced Shadrac, Meshac, and Abednigo to the firey furnace that was heated up to 7 times hotter than normal (see Daniel chapter, they too were unharmed. Instead, the king looked into the furnace and saw four men instead of three, “and the fourth man looked like the Son of Man”, which was Jesus Christ. Jesus stood with Shadrac, Meshac, and Abednigo in king Nebuchadnezzar's great furnace and protected them from harm. He did so despite the fact that they had been given a death sentence by the governmental authority of their day.

The most relevant question to ask at this point is whether there is an example of this in modern times, and how it applies to us. The unfortunate answer in this case is also an emphatic yes, and I am talking about the criminalization of marijuana (and its cousin, hemp, one of the most useful plants that exists with numerous applications) in this country. (Beg your pardon, pastor? Marijuana! Been smoking any?) Before anyone jumps to conclusions or judges me for my words, I have two Scriptural examples of what I am talking about. Just hold your thoughts for a moment for a quick check of God's Word. In the book of Acts in the New Testament, it says the following in chapter ten:

“About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up … to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him 'Get up Peter, kill and eat!'. 'Surely not Lord', Peter replied, 'I have never eaten anything impure and unclean'. The voice spoke to him a second time 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean'. This happened three times, and then the sheet was taken back to heaven.” (Acts 10, 9-16 NIV)

Now let's hold that thought while we go back to the book of Genesis, the first book in the Old Testament, to the very first chapter. It states in verses 11 through 13:

“Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds'. And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seeds according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with their seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning the third day.” (Genesis 1, verses 11-13, NIV)

And so, it really jumps out at us in Genesis that God made all the plant life and fauna on earth and then “saw that it was good”. And yet cannabis is outlawed as a dangerous schedule one narcotic, when in fact it is not. Never mind that nobody ever died or overdosed from smoking weed, while cigarettes kill 50,000 people per year and overdoses of legal prescription drugs kill 100,000 more, not counting suicides. On the other hand, medical uses for cannabis are well documented, such as being effective for glaucoma and chemotherapy patients as well as some (but not all) mental health patients, among other things. There are literally millions of others like me who are clamoring for legalization. Moreover, in a poll just released this week 52% of all Americans want cannabis (its proper name) and hemp (its cousin which has literally tons of commercial applications, including biofuel) to be legalized. If either or both were to be legalized, regulated and taxed, it would create an agricultural and industrial bonanza, creating several million new jobs, maybe even more.

The Bible admonishes us to “not call anything unclean that God has made clean”. Peter, who was the equivalent of an orthodox Jew in today's world, protested to God against breaking the religious laws of the time. He was forbidden from eating the meat from certain animals based on the Law of Moses, the Jewish religious doctrine of that time, which is known as the Old Testament today. But God told Peter in his vision that it was okay, that His laws superseded the legal system of the day. This is noticeably consistent with the teachings of Christ, who taught that His teachings were a new agreement between mankind and God that replaced the Old Testament. Today, being a Christian means being “born again” and receiving a new life in Christ, with all our sins against God, our mistakes and character flaws, our personality defects and moral shortcomings of our past being canceled out by the blood of Christ. And so we become fortunate enough through our newly found favor with God to not be charged with any penalty for the sins and errors of our past, provided we turn away from evil and focus ourselves on dong good so we may honor the holy name of the Lord.

Let me be absolutely clear that we are being lied to by our government about the “dangers” of marijuana use. Cannabis, as it is called in much of the rest of the world, is erroneously classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a schedule one narcotic. A narcotic is defined as a barbiturate (downers) or an amphetamine (uppers). It is a manufactured substance made up of certain chemicals which can be physically addictive when abused. Yet these two classes of drugs are legal in spite of their inherent dangers. The USDEA, on the other hand, has classified marijuana as a dangerous narcotic when in fact it is neither. Marijuana is nothing more than a plant. It is not manufactured and it contains no added harmful chemicals or physically addictive tendencies. God put the marijuana plant on this earth for mankind's use. It has medicinal properties that are well documented. I use (on a part-time basis for financial reasons) medical cannabis because it cures or alleviates the symptoms of my bipolar disorder, my post traumatic stress disorder, and my chronic back pain. It is beneficial and never dangerous provided that it is used responsibly. AIDS patients use it because it helps them regain their appetite. There is study after study published in various medical journals going back decades that prove that marijuana used for medical and recreational purposes is harmless when used in reasonable quantities. That's why we should, as in times of old, “not call anything impure that God has made clean”. Who do the abusive authoritarians think they are to criminalize God by outlawing that which He created? All this proves is their colossal arrogance and their extreme closed-mindedness.

So do I think everybody should start smoking pot? Of course not! But this does not mean it's for everybody. For example, certain individuals may be allergic to weed, or they may dislike the smell of the smoke, or have other personal or legal reservations about its use. As Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Rome, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial”. What's good for one person may not be so for another. Many people drink and have no problem with it while others abstain by choice, and each is equally entitled to their opinion. Is this a contradiction in the Bible then? Not at all. You will recall that I stated that Christ replaced the Old Testament with the New when He died on the cross and then rose from the dead after three days. So if we obey the new law, the law of Christ, obeying the laws of the land should come naturally without effort. But the criminalization of marijuana that calls pot “dangerous” and “a narcotic” makes something “unclean” of a part of God's creation that He has “made clean” (by its very creation). That's why the marijuana laws in this country run contrary to God's laws.

What should we do? If medical marijuana ever comes up for a vote in your state, vote yes. In the meantime, try to be a law-abiding citizen, understanding that not all of the laws on the books are good ones. Some, like the drug laws, are there for the wrong reasons because they are protecting the wrong people. That's why the drug laws are bad ones. We live in a world that is basically evil, but there is still much good despite all that. The Bible can teach us to learn to differentiate between the two for our own benefit.

This week's Bible study will be First Corinthians chapter eleven

On Proper Behavior Before and During Worship

[1^st Corinthians chapter 11]

First, my apologies for my recent absence and many thanks to all my readers who have waited patiently while my website was being rebuilt. My former Internet hosting account with Yahoo was hacked beyond repair, which is to say that Yahoo's tech support was clueless about how to recover my website and my extensive list of professional contacts. That's right, it all got wiped out and I am now using a different company. Now, however, it's time to get back to focusing on the promotion of Jesus Christ and His agenda, which is to reach out across the Web and help save souls through this on-line church, and to get the message of salvation to those persons on the Internet who would normally not be found in traditional churches or denominations. We all have so little time left before His return, which is why the message I am passing along has such a sense of urgency. The world as we have known it is dying from rampant pollution, pointless wars that have no end, overpopulation, potentially catastrophic climate change, and the overuse and mis-allocation of natural resources. And so it is time for all of us to get our minds off all the negative forces that make up our dying world, and to begin to focus on and engage with the forces of good. In so doing, the best way to begin to do this is to focus our hearts and minds on Jesus, whose Spirit causes us to rise up and stand against the forces of evil. That brings me to the topic of 1^st Corinthians chapter 11, which delves into what is fitting and proper in the course of worshiping Christ, who is the world's only remaining hope.

I'm going to skim through the first 13 verses of chapter 11 without much comment due to some rather antiquated concepts about dress and personal grooming taught from a 1^st century perspective. The most important is verse 1, which simply says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ”, and this is timeless advice any way you look at it. We learn to follow the example of Christ by reading his Word and putting it into practice, and this should be an ongoing practice for everyone because faith in Jesus is serious business, especially in a world where we are surrounded by evil on all sides. Paul then writes in verse 3, “Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God”. Although these values were very relevant when St. Paul first wrote them 2,000 years ago, the part that says, “the head of every woman is man” is no longer true in today's world, where modern values dictate that men and women are equals and that there is parity between the two genders. Such thinking would have been considered heretical in Paul's time.

I grew up in a household where the father totally dominated everything and everybody else, both inside and outside the marriage and the family. The end result was a dysfunctional family that was ruled by fear and intimidation instead of by love and unity as it should have been. In short, the relationship between the father and the other family members was abusive. Abusiveness and domestic violence such as what I experienced when I was growing up simply have no place in any household, and that is doubly true for a Christian household regardless of church membership or denomination. And so I have seen this precept misused by “religious” people over and over again. Jesus does not rule over us by domination and control, He does so out of love, grace and mercy (“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”). The remainder of these first 13 verses is where Paul writes, mainly from his own viewpoint, about the type of dress right down to the length and style of the believer's hair. Very seldom will you see me disagree with anything in the Bible, but this is one of those rare exceptions. Paul even gets into whether or not people should cover their heads during prayers (as if that matters).

It is common to see me in church wearing casual clothes such as shorts in the summer (it gets plenty hot in the summer here in Atlanta where I live) or jeans in the winter. I find it most unfortunate that some churches use these verses as an excuse to dress up like they are going to a fashion show instead of to a house of worship. I have been in churches where men and women alike were wearing literally thousands of dollars in high-end clothing and jewelry, and these types of people invariably sneer at those who don't – or can't – afford to dress as they do. Remember what Jesus said when He was teaching in the temple at Jerusalem, and I paraphrase: it matters a lot more what is on the inside of a believer than what is on the outside. External appearances don't count for very much in the church of the last days before His return. God is far more interested in the state of our souls than in the state of our wardrobe.

The apostle Paul seems to at least attempt to clarify this when he wrote in verses 11 and 12, “In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” It is difficult to tell whether Paul is offering this as a continuation of his train of thought in the previous verses, or that it is a caveat for the same. At any rate, I will now continue with this study by returning to the verse-by-verse teaching that you all have become used to, beginning at verse 17.

“In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not! For I received of the Lord what I already passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me'. In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying,' This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me'. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.” (1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 17-26 NIV)

Let me stop at this point and give a little cultural and historical perspective on what Paul is writing about. First of all, we must understand that Jesus Christ walked the earth as a Jewish man, and consequently the vast majority of new converts in the early church were mostly Jewish as well. It was actually Paul that first brought the message of salvation through Christ to non-Jews, first in ancient Israel and soon after to Greece and what is now modern-day Turkey, and ultimately to Rome, capital of the infamous empire of its day that could arguably be called the world's first superpower like the USA is today. The Jews of that time had a time-honored tradition that dated all the way back to the time of Moses. They would gather together on the Sabbath and have a celebratory banquet similar to pot-luck dinners today. The Jewish term for this celebration is “Shabbot” , and this tradition is still celebrated today in synagogues the world over as well as no small number of Christian churches such as this who embrace the Spiritual connection between Christianity and Judaism.

In the time of the early church, there were a lot of poor and destitute persons, many of whom did not always have enough to eat. Besides coming to worship the Prince of Peace, there can be no doubt that they looked forward to attending Shabbot on the sabbath because this was one day out of the week when they knew they could get a pretty good meal. Based on what Paul wrote in this passage, the services in that day and time must have been pretty rowdy by today's standards, and some believers were apparently far more devout than others. People would show up before the service began, eat up all the food and drink up all the wine and then leave, when in fact the feast did not begin until after the service was over, as well it should. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, “When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?” It's pretty clear that Paul was upset with these people who showed callous disregard for the sacredness of the celebration. Paul then reminds them in no uncertain terms of why they gather together to commemorate the Last Supper, and he scolds them for having no appreciation for this solemn occasion, and for total contempt towards those in attendance who were less fortunate. He then finishes making his point beginning in verse 27 while giving the Corinthian church a very stern warning (as well he should have).

“Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it does not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.” (1 Corinthians 11, verses 27-34 NIV)

Going to church, whether it is to have a service, revival, or a pot-luck dinner, is a solemn and momentous occasion. Going to church is not so much a religious obligation as it is a celebration of the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Let us therefore examine ourselves to keep from coming under God's judgment so we will not be “condemned with the world”. When our physical lives on earth are over – and everybody has their time including me – we look forward to spending an eternity with our Lord and Savior in heaven, remembering that we would not be there if it weren't for Him. The time to begin preparing for this is now. Worshiping God is serious business. Church is not a social club, or just a nice place to network or to sneak a peek at the opposite sex, and it most definitely is not a fashion show like I mentioned at the beginning of this study. Worshiping Jesus Christ is a sacred and highly spiritual co-mingling with Him, and it isn't always done in church. I pray every day, sometimes at home, sometimes on the bus or the subway, or when I am walking down the street. I can take my church with me everywhere I go if I want to. After all, since Jesus – and the guardian angels that He surrounds me with – is always with me, it seems fitting and proper that I should want to reciprocate.

And so should the rest of us.