Christians – By the Book

Well, it’s about time that somebody got the message right, at least commercially. Its time for the church to get this message right too. God calls us to have our roles by His design. In Genesis, God made us male and female, let’s return to acting like it.

So here is an easier read for you:


Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well. Women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone. Men took charge because that's what they did. But somewhere aling the way, the world decided it no longer needed men. Disco by Disco, Latte by foamy non-fat Latte, men werer stripped of their khakis and left stranded on the road between boyhoog and androgyny. But today, there are questions our genderless society has no answers for. The world sits idly by as cities crumble, children misbehave and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street. For the first time since Bad Guys, WE NEED HEROES. WE NEED GROWN-UPs. We need men to put down the palstic fork, step aaway from the salad bar and untie the world from the tracks of complacency. It's time to get your hands dirty. Its time to answer the call of MANHOOD. IT'S TIME TO WERE THE PANTS.


I for one will be buying Dockers and supporting this “Man-Ifesto”. I invite you to be a man and wear the pants too.

I hope they will be coming out with the complementary Woman’s line of skirts, blouses and dresses.  Modest and fashionable should never go out of style.

I just finished emailing them my thanks (Contact Levi’s)

"Wear the Pants", the Dockers Man-Ifesto.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

As a 50+ year old husband and father of three, I praise you for pointing out how our culture has degraded and that its high time for men to start acting like men again. Gentlemen, not just males.

While I believe you (Levi's) have been part of the problem, I'm very glad to see you recognizing some of the problem(s).

I will now start buying Dockers with joy, limiting my distrust. I have blogged you on my website (www.chbtb.com) and I will be sending the knowledge of your stand to my friends and contacts.

Now I ask you to return some more of the traditional clothing that I grew up with to the racks. I further challenge you to complete the other half of the coin, by coming out with a "Wear the Skirt" or "Dress like a Lady" promo that highlights modest and fashionable dresses, skirts and blouses.


Now how about you do the same and let them know that you appreciate their promotional ad and what it stands for.

Sometimes you will hear someone at a church giving announcements say something like this, “here is a secular announcement”.  Dictionary.com defines secular as:

of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests.

If everything I do is supposed to be to God’s honor and glory, is there a part of me or my time that I set that aside from this task?

1 Cor 10:31Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

If not,  I have to take every thought  captive for Christ and nothing is “secular” to me any more.

II Cor 10: 3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

That means the way I golf, work, fish, farm, pray, talk and think … all of it is to be done to God’s honor.  If we actually did this, I think that would change the way we are as Christians, and the way that Christians are thought of.

Divorce … its a tough, heart and gut wrenching topic to discuss.

A friend and I were discussing divorce and she made a point that I had not considered much, “Why do people who divorced, because their spouse had willfully committed adultery, get labeled divorced, when they have chosen the Godly path and ended the marriage.”

Mat 5:31-32 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Mar 10:2-12 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. 3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? 4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. 11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

The more we talked about these and other verses concerning divorce, the more I could see that the one rightfully putting a spouse away was being marked in with a label, much like the adulterous spouse.  That’s wrong.  The injured spouse, the one not committing adultery, should not be labeled if they choose to divorce.

The cheating spouse must be labeled “divorced”, so faithful Christians will know they cannot remarry.  This serves three purposes:

1. This gives faithful, unmarried Christians notice not to entangle their hearts with the “Divorced”.
2. It reminds the church about the sacred value of marriage and divorce.  People need to think twice about both, as well as breaking their word to God and man.
3. It should let the “injured party” of the marriage return to the marriageable pool of people in the church. Stop labeling these brothers and sisters.

The scriptures give enough guidance to those willing to follow it.

Later we will discuss more about divorce  and the issues surrounding it.

In this down economy, it is easy to get tense, mad or upset and stop looking to God for your direction.  Kind like Peter when he was on the water walking to Jesus.

Mat 14:24-33 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. 33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

He started paying attention to the water, the waves and the wind.  We do the same thing, the job, the bills, the economy … Take note of the key points from this scripture in the book of Matthew:

• God allowed Peter to do something extra ordinary … walk on water.
• God was right there with Peter, how much safer could Peter be?
• God reacted quickly to Peter’s cry for help, see verse 31 … “immediately” Jesus moved to help Peter.

We can rest assured that He will do the same for us, even when we don’t see it, Jesus is working to help us.  He is good, like the Father and the Spirit are good.

Mat 19:16-17 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Phi 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Last year I saw Today show host “Meridith” admit that she lies, “Little White Lies”, like to her friends asking if an outfit makes them look fat, etc.  As a result, I don’t trust her reporting as much anymore.  How about you … Do you lie?

Is it OK for a Christian to lie? (No, I don’t think Meredith is a Christian.)

Here are a couple of scriptures for you to think about.  There are plenty more on this subject.

Lev 6:2-5 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;
Lev 6:3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
Lev 6:4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,
Lev 6:5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.

Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Is there a time when its ok to lie?  NO!!!!!!!!

John Justin, the preacher of the Puyallup church of Christ, died after 75+ years of life.  I only met John once, spending a wonderful Sunday with him and his wife Ruby.  Ruby passed from this life into the hands of your Lord one year before John.  According to her doctors, Ruby should have died many years ago, but the Lord had work to be done, so there she was at John’s side, a helpmate suitable for John’s needs.

I tried to understand the ending of John’s work here on earth and felt the deep impact that he made on me, in only one afternood.  He told me of his becoming a Christian, at the cost of becoming a target of the famed Orange Men, which he left to follow Christ.  Of his years of service as one that searched the rubble after an Ireland bombing, looking for the injured and the dead.  This strongly parallels John’s work in the Lord, having preached in many churches since coming to the “new world” as a “new man”.

Several years after meeting John, my wife and I were in the Maplewood church of Christ (Minn. MN) and visiting with one of the elders and his wife (Roger and Lois Cronquist).  I mention John’s name in the typical discussions of where we had been recently in our lives and he stopped me, frozen with excitement “Did you say John Justin … I know John Justin, he studied with me and Lois.  He baptized us at that congregation in Colorado”.   We shared more stories and a new relationship through John’s touching both our lives.

Death has the effect on people as to make them take a look at themselves.  It has again made me look at my life again, judging my works and ask several questions of myself.  I will share them here and I ask you to take a look at yourself and pond these same

• Do I leave the wake of new Christians in my path like John?
• Do I stake my life on the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
• Do I confront evil in the world in the name of Jesus Christ?
• Do I love everyone I meet, seeking there best and highest good (that they know Jesus Christ)?
• What can I do now to ensure that I hear the Lord say “well done, thou good and faith servant” to me?

Finally, we found to our surprise that we have a special connection with John.  As a young man, John came to America from Ireland through Toronto Canada.  John’s long time friend from those years is a man named Abby Langford.  The connection is my wife is from the Toronto Canada area and her father (Albert Broome) had a best friend from his boyhood, the man Abby Langford.

So a life like John’s tells us, like Paul’s, that we can persevere to the end, leaving a wake of thankful souls.  Thankful that we met them and thankful that we shared the good news of Jesus Christ with them!

Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Remember to pray for the church in Puyallup, Johns friends and family.  Most important, I pray to be a faithful man and an example, like John.

A couple of years ago my family and I were reunited with an old friend and his family for the sad purpose of burying their son.  His long fight with Muscular Dystrophy is now over.  The burden of knowing his life would be shorter than most finished.  The pain for his family and friends, deep.

Sometimes it doesn’t seem fair, but God was there through it all, for anyone that would look for Him … unfortunately, few did.  So few that God was barely mentioned in the eulogy, as the life of this young man was remembered.

To my shock and disappointment, apparently this young man had not become a Christian.  Neither mom or dad had done the necessary teaching of their own son in the spiritual realm to bring him into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  And they were professing “Christians” when we moved away 8 years prior.  Their own flesh and blood.

Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

One must ask, “Why not?”  I believe they were so busy with their lives, their divorce (more on that some other time), remarriage, and themselves that time was not given to their son.  Even knowing his life was going to be cut short did not raise the urgency to teach him the gospel.  Their self focus crowded him out.

So very sad for all of us.

The simple answer is the kind of Christian you find in the Bible.  Sinners that have come to realize that we are lost and that the only way back to a relationship with God is through the grace that Jesus purchased with His blood.  Understanding and beliving that, we ended up at the same question as the men Peter preached to in Acts chapter 2.

Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

The people that understood Peter were hurt, upset, and wanted to fix this situation. Peter clearly gives all of us the answer in the next verse.

Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I don’t know about you, but if our sins separate us from God and without sin He accepts us, than fixing it is what I want too!

So we have been baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:1-14) of our Lord and Saviour.  Now we seek to grow our understanding of God, the gift of grace He as given us, how to conform ourselves to the image of God (Gal 5:16-26/Eph 5:1-21) in Christ

I’m sure we will be discussing this more … hey, that’s what this site is all about.

Years ago, I started reading the Bible and I was amazed to see that a majority of “Christians” don’t do what the Bible says.  If that’s the case, why should the non-christian care, Christians don’t.

In looking at some of our America history, I am shocked to see that our founding fathers took their Christianity much more seriously than we do.  I decided I was going to change that for me and for those I came into contact with.

We will get started right hear and now.