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"The world understands protests, tactics, arguments, labels, and strategic maneuvering. But the world doesn’t understand the divine love that is characterized by grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Praise God, Mike. You've captured in a blog what I feel in my heart and the jumble of thoughts that pass through my mind each and every time I see a blog on anti-abortion or anti-whatever. ".. the song I sing is not one of protest."

It "isn’t what defines me. People don’t look at me and conclude that I am a “social activist.” Hopefully they look at me and conclude that I am Christian, that is, very much Christlike and therefore different from the world." Praise His Name.

Thank you Mike for sharing what is on your heart, and as it happens, what is on mine. God is good and God is love.

Dear sister (Penny), the Spirit of God confirmed that I should post this publicly through your profile comment to me. So it is no surprise that we are also of one heart/mind on this topic. It has been weighing somewhat heavily on me lately too.

And by the way, I love Lucy, But I LOVE DESI!!!! YES YES YES, I do

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Well written, my friend.  Too much focus these days has been put on "people and things, and opinions" rather than the love of our Savior Jesus Christ.

He died out of LOVE for all of us, and what you said is so right.  I was praying this morning about some of this, and you wrote the blog.  Thanks be to God!

Your sister in Christ, and partner in fun,
Joey

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Exactly!  :-)  He who sits in the heavens laughs!  Those things that bring us to where we don't see His King installed on Mount Zion, and we don't hear the joyous laughter of God because of it...are a distraction.  We set our minds on the unseen and eternal and receive life or we set our minds on the temporal and receive death.  We each know because the branch whithers when it's not abiding in the Vine.

Thanks Mike!  A great confirmation and encouragement!
Craig

Good point Malleus [small bone in the inner ear?] Ta Deum.  Anyone know where the verse is that says we are to hate our own sin?

The only one I see that comes close is this one:

Jude 1:17-25 ( ESV )
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Other than that I can't really find any scripture--in the New Testament--that speaks to hating either the sins of others or of our own sin.  Why would we hate what God has already delt with in Christ, having crucified us in Him and having immersed us into his death.  Our sin [e.g in Greek it is the sin in Romans 5 and 6] was delt with when we were put to death in Christ.  Our flesh has been crucified.  So what's to hate?  The New Creation we are in Christ?

[Sorry Mike!  Don't want to change the subject in your blog!  All questions are retorical!]

Blessings!
Craig

\o/ Bless You Lord for Your unction which speaks with clarity through our brother and reveals what manner of Spirit he is of... thank You for bringing the following Scripture and song to mind as well:

"Majesty, worship His Majesty;
Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise.
Majesty, Kingdom Authority,
Flow from His Throne unto His Own, His anthem raise.
So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus.
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus, the King.
Majesty, worship His Majesty,
Jesus Who died, now glorified, King of all kings."

It matters not what others have done before Jesus came to make a new Covenant of grace fulfilling the mandates of the Old Testament... it matters what Jesus did/does and tells us to do through the witness and unction of His Holy Spirit alive within...ever reminding us of HIS power to save and reconcile us to Our Father with a change of heart which renews the Spirit of our mind and causes us to be who HE created us to be as new creations in Christ... we cannot expect one of the unredeemed mind to understand that which is spiritually discerned.... we can pray that HE give them the power to see and become HIS OWN.

Thanks Mike... who you are in Christ, Who HE is in and through you is a blessing and a true witness of HIS Spirit alive today to many....may it ever be so...

The SN means "Hammer of God". The tiny bone (also known as an ossicle) in the inner ear, owing to its shape was named the hammer (malleus) for the same reason.
You are right, the passage "Love the sinner, but hate the sinner" as well as my rendition (which would probably be closer to what Jesus taught vis a vis his "Plank in the Eye" maxim) are not in the Bible.

The term (although it can be attributed in its modern form to Ghandi) has a much older an Christian root. In his Letter on Safeguarding Chastity, and Fraternal Correction, St. Augustine wrote the following: Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum. Which roughly translates as "With of love for mankind and a hatred of sin."
Given Augustine's enormous impact on Christianity, its little wonder that the sentiment worked its way into the minds and hearts of Christians.
Sorry for the divergence into historical theology Mike :-)

Pax Christi,
MD

Forgot to give you a star... would love to could give many to this post!!!

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Hey Brother Mike.

This is a great post. Yes as you said rightly, Jesus always talk about thoughts.  He says what I think in my heart that I should be careful about. Which means if  I am  worried about myself and my thoughts individually, it would make a sea of change. Manytimes I notice that I am always concerned about what are other's thoughts.

The exterior must reflect the interior. Many a times my human nature forces me to be a human being. But the Grace of Jesus remind me to follow Him.  It is a real challenge which I face on an hourly basis.

You really have em going, long ears!

Leigh, lovely song. Thanks for your comment!

Stevie, I so value your input! You are a deep thinker!  (Well, many of us are, but you do manage to share unique thoughts quite often.) Regarding justice, I agree! After all, human government is God's invention, not ours, partially for the purpose of providing justice. However since it is implemented by corrupted humans, it will never be perfect. We ALL have our own ideas of justice!! But in the eternal, only God's counts. He has made it clear that injustice will be tolerated on earth for a time, before he wipes it all out and starts over.

We all agree, slavery is a great injustice. However I always find it interesting that Jesus never once decried slavery. Why? He had a far more important agenda! Paul even told slaves to obey their masters as unto the Lord. HE TOO had a much more important agenda! This isn't to say we should simply IGNORE injustices. But we do have to be careful. We mustn't just charge in and seek to right everything we see as wrong, including abortion. In our own human-ness, we can do more harm than good!!! And I think we see that, as hearts are hardened rather than softened by the approach many evangelicals take these days to the abortion issue. Heck, reading a few of the comments by ppl on this site (tho' NOT this blog!), I feel my own heart begin to harden. 

So I say, if we focus on being pro-Jesus and all the positive aspects entailed, rather than being anti-abortion, or anti-any-other-sin, things ought to fall into place, eventually. At least, we won't be open to the accusation that we are in fact OBSTACLES to God's will. (Here ends my comment, to use a little Stevie-lingo, lol.)

Hine, thank you for sharing that. Ain't forgiveness sweet? God's forgiveness is TOTAL, unlike ours. And no one controls WHO he forgives, except him! (Well, I s'pose we do have to ask!) I'm thankful for your freedom, sister!

Preston, WISE WORDS about love, mi amigo!  True love is not sugar n spice, it's not superficial but much deeper. Real love.....well, I don't need to tell you about love, you are the "love expert" around here! Thanks for your comment!

Thanks for your comment Malleus. I've really never felt closer to you than I do now. :)

Thanks Crystal, you're right, taking matters into our hands plays into SATAN'S hands!

And thanks Kathy, it really is about changing HEARTS, NOT behavior!! :)

Will need to come back later to respond to others....THANK YOU for reading/commenting!!!

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    Well said about John the Baptist as an example.  Even Paul had later rebaptized those who had once followed him, now in Jesus' name for the remission of sin.  I agree with you, that it helps us understand that for us it is to point all people towards Jesus to see and live differently.  Even the local cheating taxman, Zacheus, had lunch with Jesus and became a changed man through a changed heart. Jesus didn't point him out up in a tree with a crowd there and list his sins, the mob would have killed him (like recently); he went to have a talk. 
    I tend to believe that Jesus didn't have to say much about his shady counting practices, but focused on the condition of his soul and salvation via the Word.
Good wisdom Pastor Mike

Thank you for reading, PastorDATM and Bethany! I appreciate that you took time to let me know, too!

Joey, no. That ain't me, it's.....that other guy. :)

David and Pam, wonderful insights, thank you so much!  Ran into some folks recently who thought we should strive to follow J the B's example in calling out sin...I thought, heck no! Sure he has some great qualities ministering truth, but his calling was very specific, and not particularly compatible with our calling as Christians. Don't get me wrong, I would never advocate completely ignoring the issue of sin or even worse, justifying sins! We just need to be careful about our focus. Again thanks for your comment!

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I havet found this as I have been running a few days with no personal time here to look and I did not read all the comments yet, can't as dinner is in the oven and I have to finish mopping the other floors....are you still with me, lol.

I have stood in Washington DC last year for the whole day fasting with a call for America to come back to God and to stop abortion. I spent weeks with women who aborted in a program called Rainbows in the Night to understand and help other women who have aborted come back to God and find forgiveness although I never had aborted myself. 

I have many sisters in the Lord who have. I have dealt lovingly with many men both related and not with homosexuality. I know many alcoholics and drug addicts who suffer setbacks.

I have a cousin in jail who is a pediphile. I love him anyway. 

Now, going back to what you are talking about.....For the very first time I am not sure you and I totally agree and here is why. lol, first you know I totally love you and respect so many here that did write but want to just say this. 

I am not motivated by hellfire and damnation preaching but am hugely motivated by grace preachers. So, that would put me on the same page as your message I think...however...some are only motivated when they hear the hellire and damnation message. 

Not so long ago, Preston and I discussed getting into politics or not as believers and I was talking about how I believe we should be active in politics. Not everyone is called to be in politics but voting etc and awareness messages. 

Whatever the messages are however should be shown in love. 

Whatever the message, it can be delivered in love. John 4 woman at the well, Jesus essentially called her an adulterer by saying she was living with a man that was not her husband. She didn't take offense because...bet he said it in love and truth. 

Can we do that always, in Christ yes.

I have done it, ugly message, telling someone their anger was out of control, soft voice and loved them saying it so I know it came across that way. 

I have to finish my chores and come back and read the comments. Oh Mike how I love you...I know we have like hearts for Christ so probably not so off but I won't say that God can't change my heart on this. I don't get too involved except for abortion, I can't be silent and I wish I could adopt them all. I just need another hour in my day. lol

This reminds me of something I once heard, which is attributed to Luis Palau, in reference to how Christians ought to act in response to the direction in which our world "leaders" are going (away from God). Unless we believers actively engage our communities with the Gospel message, we will NEVER see a real change in our elected officials and their policies.

I really took that message to heart, and I agree with it.  We can rant and grumble about the crumbling world around us, but until we transform our lives, our homes, and our communities with the message of salvation, redemption, and freedom, we will only see more of the same, if not worse.

Blessings.

I couldn't sleep for the longest time, wrestling with my comment, not yours. I KNOW your gentleness, you and Preston and a pastor I know have very gentle ways that stand apart. I am non-confrontational to the hilt and anger even at issues rarely pops up. I had a neighbor who aborted at age 15 because her mom promised her a new pair of  40 dollar boots if she would. Her older sister had five kids and never married. I suppose her mom wanted more for Shari, but I was talking to her with all I had in me not to do it. She was five months along. I had so much anger in me at her mom and saw Shari as just being sort of empty headed to go along with it. I remember telling her that those boots would fall apart and on and on. She did it. So here is it 32 years later. I know she doesn't have the boots. I will ask God to introduce me to that soul in heaven. I wasn't mean to Shari, served her refreshment in my home after. I prayed for them often.

When at the prayer in Washington DC I wore tape that said Life on my mouth for a silent 10 minute prayer for this issue. It was amazing to see thousands gathered at the capital and it was silent.

My son was upset at my radical protest. All was lovingly done but he viewed it as a protest and he said he would never listen to such protests. So maybe in that respect the world saw us that way. There were many teens, mostly teens which is how THE CALL and LOU ENGLE got this started who vowed never to abort but to be PRO LIFE. 

I am still wrestling with how I feel so I appreciate this to make me think about it more and even more. I love you Mike, and gotta get dressed for work and stop writing now because the boss will not appreciate me working in pjs!!! :):)

Mike,

I would say I agree with your overall premise. Political activism and making Christianity out to be a resistance movement against certain issues is not what Christ intends for his church to represent. Theological liberation movements are a classic example. One advertisement had a nun with a machine gun draped over the front of her. The caption above her read "A New Theology for a New World." This is not new. The anger of man does not bring about the righteousness of God.

However, on the flip side, it is important not to minimize the degree of evil that this act represents. I think that if we are pro Jesus this heinous procedure ought to break our hearts. It should motivate us to adopt children, get involved in the furtherance of enacting laws that will lead to a pro-life position, and most of all pray.

I believe that if we are proJesus, abortion should absolutely break our hearts. After all, it breaks the heart of God. This is the taking away of human life.

Oh sweet  man, I wrestled more and more, woke a few times in the night even. I don't know what God is trying to tell me but then I got up and listened to Greg Laurie on the radio instead of singing or calling Cella, and he preached something that sort of settled it in my mind what I was thinking of. He said anger is acceptable if it is NOT self serving. It has to be eternal issues. He talked of Jesus in the temple overthrowing the tables and likened the scene to a western when someone thinks they have been cheated at poker.

I have had so much unrest about abortions that I finally said to God, ok, I can only bear this because at least these babies are with you and maybe they would have grown up without you and not known you. 

I am NOT angry with those involved necessarily and HATED when Tiller was murdered. I doubt he was saved. I would lean more that he was a churchgoer perhaps out of tradition, as I would wonder how he could do what he did, and if he was not saved, now he is eternally damned. Only God knows but that was not an answer. Those thousands he aborted are with Jesus. I find comfort. I strayed from topic a bit as usual, but what I mean to say is I think awareness is important and we who know have a pulpit to make it known and make our voices heard in Washington. 

Having now blathered on and on. I had a friend question my modesty this week for wearing a spaghetti strap dress to a wedding. She didn't think I was honoring God. I actually wore the same dress to MY wedding and had not worn it since and Jim and I will be married 5 years this July 5th. I didn't think it was inappropriate and she is older but I told her I would pray about it. I have NO desire to be a stumbling block to anyone. 

However having said that, I know my choices in many things raised eyebrows and God blessed. (not clothes, lol) I spoke to men at the campground about the Lord instead and just this week one wrote and said he and his daughter and her mom have found a great church. This man was blatently flirting with me and I made my position clear but maintained friendship. He reads the blogs on here. 

I visited Josh in jail until he got out. He is doing ok, not great but he got saved. I had many people say I should not, as it was an ugly area of town. I took the risk. 

Loving the sometimes ornery or unlovely is what we are called to do often. If they are politically different or too liberal for our taste, we aren't to bash them, for kindness is what will bring them in. 

Anyone hear music in the background while you are reading this? (green acres throwback) 

love ya sir....God is teaching me many things these days and a friend just left a message that God told her to pray for me "bigtime". I led her to the Lord in 2001. She graduated with me and Jim in Michigan so going to call her and pray with her and see what God will bring from that. peace/out juanita mae

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Christ is closer today than He was yesterday, Not all have the same gifts, but i admonish you, whatever the work God has given you, stop talking about it and be about it, all of this Christ told us would happen, and all of this is to deliver us up to the tribulation, Mike if God called you to sing a new song then i need you to sing out loud because what He called me to is Spiritual Warfare and before every battle they sent in Judah with Praise and Worship so if i got you singing and we as the intersessors are praying in our most Holy Language and the Absolute Word of God is going forth and not this watered down stuff to make us feel good, and we understand that we go in with Victory fightng and already defeated foe, then i declare we are ready for the tribulation, it is just a matter of everyone doing what it is that God called/choswe us to do.

Christ changed hearts by speaking the true unadulterated Word of God into the heart of man, so basically The Spirit spoke to The Spirit and conquered flesh, if we are hiding The Word in our hearts, then why are we sinning against God?