The Secret Wireless

"Free Exercise of Religion: Putting Beliefs into Practice" is an open letter from the leadership of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod along with signers from various other denominations and religions. The letter can be found at this link http://www.lcms.org/president?erid=1442401&trid=24ac60ff-1c71-411e-9203-ed8bacd8064c Also on this page is a video from President Matthew Harrison explaining the need for such a statement at this time.

I always find it interesting that Saint Paul does not say in I Corinthians 13 that love is "accommodating" or "un-opinionated" or "wishy-washy".  He does not say, "love tells you what you want to hear" or "love tries to make you feel better about yourself". Paul does say, however, that "love...rejoices in the truth".  Love and truth are two sides of the same coin.  Jesus is the love of God for us.  Jesus is the Truth.  This is why the Church must always be loving, and it must always speak the truth.  So here are some ideas that sound loving, but are really lies.  And following are some hard truths which are really loving. 1.  Nice lie: It does not matter what anyone believes as long as they are a good person.      Hard truth: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised      Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) 2.  Nice lie: A man can do as ...

As Christian we want to bring the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to bear upon every moment of our lives. As Christian parents we want to model this for our children. We want them to trust that the death of Christ has atoned for their sins and that His resurrection has brought them everlasting life. We want to keep Jesus in the forefront of our lives and the lives of our children. There is a great temptation, however, to make Jesus the solution to make-believe problems. With the best of intentions Christian parents counter their children's irrational fears (monsters under the bed, the boogie man, etc.) with, "Remember, Jesus is with you. He will protect you." Eventually the child grows up. They outgrow the boogie man and the monsters under their beds. And, if those are the things that they need Jesus to protect them from, there is a good chance that they will outgrow Jesus too. Jesus does not save us from make believe danger. He saves us from real dang...

Verses like I John 3:6 scare the heck out of me! "No one who abides in [Jesus] keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." So why then does my life constantly feel like a living version of whack-a-mole? Do you know that game? You stand in from of this machine with mole-holes cut into the top of it holding a large mallet. When a mole sticks its head out of a hole, you whack it. But then two more pop up, and you whack those. Then two or three more. Then pretty soon you are so busy thumping moles over the head with your mallet that the rest of the world seems irrelevant. Finally the game is over and the moles go back to rest. I push down one sin, and another quickly takes its place. I think I have rid myself of greed only to have anger and pride creep up. How long can this go on? Can I really be a Christian when sin keeps popping up in my life faster than I can whack it down? That is when I must also take comfort in passages like...

"Wherever such witness [to the light and truth of Christ] is borne, there certainly will be some fruit. The witness never fails to effect. Some surely will be reached; some will accept and believe it. Since it is the witness of the Holy Spirit, and the apostle [John] says here, the Spirit beareth witness, he will be effective, producing in us that to which John refers when he says we are children of God, and have the victory and eternal life. So the Word--or the Gospel message accompanied by the witness of the Spirit--and faith are vitally related. In the last analysis they are inseparable." (Martin Luther, Sermon for the Sunday after Easter, I John 5:4-12) Grant us such faith dear Father in Heaven. Grant us such faithfulness.

"[The Biblical scholar] may compare Scripture with Scripture until he has discovered the true meaning of the text. But right there his authority ends. He must never sit in judgment upon what is written . He dare not bring the meaning of the Word before the bar of his reason. He dare not commend or condemn the Word as reasonable or unreasonable, scientific or unscientific. After the meaning is discovered, that meaning judges him; never does he judge it." (A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy . emphasis his) I could not agree more. (There are a few diamonds in the ruff within this book.) But I would also quickly respond, "Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat; this is my body.' And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgivene...