Thursday, July 2, 2015

Legalized Homosexuality is Good

           Now before you trash me as an evangelical gone off the deep end please let me explain. First of all I don't believe the practice of homosexuality is pleasing in God’s sight. As well, there is nothing good or redeeming that can be accomplished in the physical world by legalizing homosexuality. The legalization of a clearly defined sin of the bible is however not as bad as I first thought. I've been reading a ton of bloggers, commentators and ministry leaders who hold the same values I do. They feel the crushing blow on American history with this recent Scotus ruling as I do.

              The ruling was a rather telling and defining wakeup call on reality for our culture. For decades leaders, writers and futurist have been warning the church it needed to wake up as it was asleep in the light. In large measure the church in America has ignored the call to go into the world and make disciples of the Nations. There is no question in other nations where God's Word is not honored or recognized the church does tend to flourish much better then we want to admit. China is a great example of growth under suppression.
                    

What did this recent ruling say to me? It says several things. It says the past American Christian Nation is truly over. It's a unfortunate thing, but history is truly history and it is not still present with us. The ruling that was decided by 9 Judges with a 5 to 4 vote also reflects the present mindset of America. That mindset is 60% are biblically illiterate or liberal or both along with their truth is relative value system. Now we can clearly see that our moral value system as a nation has shifted in just under a decade exponentially. As a whole our nation or its elected and appointed leaders do not see the danger of sin when it is legalized. Are we the First Nation to do this? Certainly not and we will likely now influence many other nations who follow our lead down this dangerous slope of sin faster than ever before.
           

So why is legalizing marriage good you might ask? It's good because it aligns the law with the largest percentage of the population’s true values. It's good because it’s a kick in the pants to the church that has not once since Roe Verses wade. For a sleeping church that needed to wake up and get back to the true place of prayer and evangelism it is good. It's good because it will escalate sin and its damages on unbelievers quicker so that it hastens the need for truly good news to fill the void with meaningful hope in Jesus Christ the church has to offer. It's good because it could result in the church being persecuted to the point of spreading and growing as it historically has always done under cultural pressure. It's good because when people decide to become a Christian it won't just be a decision anymore but a conversion by the Holy Spirit to a lifestyle that will cost one something. It's good because it separate a religious church from the truly biblical church.
         

Am I glad homosexuality has been legalized? Absolutely not! Matter of fact it grieves me to think that I was one of those Christians and leaders of a time when I should have done more, prayed more and influenced the culture more. This bad decision I believe is being used of God to wake me and other settled believers up. This legalization of “homosexual marriage” is hoax from hell and has become a rebuke on me and is still teaching me how to live and walk better with the truth of the gospel. I know I can't condone it condemn it is to late, but I can preach a grace of truth toward those who need and desire deliverance from it along with other sins of destruction. When I see the broken lives fall into hopelessness I desire now more then ever to be there to love and help restore by grace a broken person to Jesus Christ. Legalized homosexual marriage is good news for the hope of the Gospel to redeem those struggling for a true solution of meaningful love.

Monday, June 29, 2015

Why homosexual marriage cannot be recognized by God.

 My intent with this writing is to illustrate, bring to light, and make known to all who have ears to hear,  that the original intent of marriage was, and  is, only and ever to be between two opposite genders for the purpose of creating one new flesh, a child, to guarantee the continuation of mankind and his destiny.


The governments of men can create all kinds of rules and laws but that does not make those laws right or reflective of eternal truth. During the time of the Roman Empire the Caesars worshipped false gods and some of them required the people to worship them as a god as well. Slavery at times and in certain nations has been legal as well. Some slaves have had great masters while others have had abusive masters. We find slavery throughout the biblical narrative and even though it was never God's plan yet we see God still working through and around many of these issues to bring back mankind to His plan and his grace.  When two people of the same gender commit their lives together, adopt children together, share assets together and build a life together, they can technically share some of the attributes of a marriage but it can never actually be a marriage because there is never a biblical shedding of blood.

              In Genesis 2:24-25 God declared the reason and purpose of marriage: It was the coming together of two opposite genders of mankind to become one flesh. The results of this one new flesh would produce the fruit of the womb (children). Within God's framework of marriage there are several aspects that the uniting of two of the same gender can never experience. Let's take a look at them:                                                                                                                                   

God is a God of Covenant and over and over again Covenant is declared from the beginning of Genesis with the shedding of BLOOD. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God covered their sin, guilt and shame after He declared their penalty, refrained from killing them and rescued them with a covering of Bloody animal skins (Genesis 3:21) .  Its obvious those skins became available by way of the sacrifice of an innocent animal and by way of the blood shed to give up its skin. 
We also see when God made covenant (promise / permanent allegiance) with Abram that there was the shedding of BLOOD with the cutting of flesh. ( Genesis 15:17-18)  This revealed God’s desire that the two become one in Covenant as God walked between the animal halves IN THE BLOOD as a sign of God instigating and creating a promise of eternal partnership and Covenant between Himself and Abram.
At that juncture in time God made a covenant to multiply Abraham’s seed (procreation).  When we come to the New Testament we discover Jesus Christ the son of God who shed his BLOOD in Covenant and made a promise that He would bring many sons (male and female) into spiritual life for eternity.
                 When a man and a women who have never joined their flesh with another (virginity) come together with the act of intercourse there is for the first time a shedding of BLOOD by the female.   This shedding creates a BLOOD Covenant and seals the coming together of two opposite genders to create one flesh. The results become the fruit of the womb in offspring for the glory of God. This blood covenant between male and female becomes the proof or evidence of a New Covenant of intimacy and promise of one flesh /a new family to live life together as one. When those who accept the sacrifice of Christ and "believe Him" and repent of our sins, we (leave our former single life) and cleave to our spiritual mate who provides and protects us as we walk in life with God in Covenant faith. When we do such, we produce disciples (fruit of Covenant) and we can look back to the BLOOD shed as a reminder of a promise made by God.
             
                Now anything short of this description between a male and female virgin coming together in blood covenant is not a truly biblical marriage as God intended! One might ask questions about divorce, death and remarriage etc.  God has answers for all things, but the ideal and intent of marriage is a physical BLOOD Covenant between male and female for life to become one flesh to produce fruit and offspring for God's glory.  Leviticus chapter 18 makes quite clear all the violations between mankind in any and every direction against the will of God and their respective consequences.

Now back to BIBLICAL homosexual marriage possibilities. Based on God's created order, intent and design it's impossible for two adults of the same gender to be married in covenant with each other and recongized by God. Neither of them can cut the blood covenant to produce fruit of the womb without a male and female involved to produce a child. 
                The reason why so many are opposed to the recent Supreme Court's decision is not against homosexuals and lesbians having the right to share their lives with whomever they want to, but rather, the opposition is in the trampling under foot a God  created institution called “Marriage,” the uniting of one man and one women who enter into a Holy Union called a “Marriage Covenant”.
              If two men or two women or 3 men and 3 women or however many want to live together is not my business. But if multiple men or women want to experience and do whatever together against God’s will it is their sinful business, their decision, but please do not try to corrupt and redefine the purpose and meaning of “MARRIAGE”  as God established it.  According to God’s Word, it’s not within the realm of man to change God and His ways. His priorities are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.



Wednesday, June 24, 2015

BEST DAYS, LAST DAYS OR WARNING DAYS?

             Dear Friends in the Faith,

                       I'm sharing this video below to get your attention. Let's be honest about our condition, we are not in good shape as Americans. I challenge you to be honest about your own personal journey with Jesus Christ as it relates to your engaging faith in culture.  PLEASE ADJUST YOUR SCHEDULE AND JOIN ME IN PRAYER THIS SUNDAY JUNE 28TH @ 5 P.M. AS WE FALL ON OUR KNEES AND SEEK THE MERCY OF GOD FOR OUR NATION.


              On the brighter side of the reality of our times, I truly believe the best days could be ahead of America if we truly repent, change and go into our culture and win and infleunce people for God's kingdom purposes. God's mission for us is not to give up and let sin conquer any land, but rather for God's people to arise with His anointing and go forth and see a culture and nation transformed. I still believe it , do you? I believe our actions in prayer and our attention to the local church involvement tells that story better then anything that comes off our lips. I believe it's not too late, but before you make up your mind please watch the video below. All I could say was WOW!


Blessings

Peter Migner

Hope to see you all this Sunday !


Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Get Off Your Donkey

Recently I preached a message titled "Get off your Donkey".  Needless to say I got a lot of laughs from the message as I spoke of donkeys in the bible with who rode on them as illustration. Illustrating that ministry  happens when you get off your donkey. The comparison being the donkey to our agenda. More often then not we don't make room to do God's will because we don't leave much margin in our lives to navigate off  "our plans".  Like Peter and John who were going up to pray in acts left room for God to navigate them off course through a beggar. Boy that sure turned all of their days into a different direction. 

          My final dismissal comment Sunday to the congregation that morning was,  turn to your neighbor and say, " I'm getting off my donkey". Needless to say the congregation busted out in laughs as we headed out the door.  The next day I found myself riding my donkey ( agenda) as we all do. I had my plans, schedule and a preconceived view of how the day was to go as I started to live it out. It was a full day with reports and deadlines to try to meet with people and places to go , etc.  Halfway through my day several people crossed my path I did not have plans to cross paths with. One of those people was Jannie. She needed gas and was looking for help from churches , but not until she found me outside the church building had not even found a pastor on a Monday.  She proceeded to tell me way more information then I needed to know before telling me why she was telling all that info. I've been around the block a few times with people asking for help,  so I asked her what she wanted. So without a dollar figure she said "I need gas to get home".  

          To God's credit I recalled my own message , so I decided to get off my donkey agenda and be interrupted. So Jannie followed me to the gas station. At the gas station she asked if I could buy her something to eat. I decided to do so, when God said to me, "have lunch with her as well".  So while I was buying us lunch at the gas station she asked if I could get her some oil for her car.  I said lets go eat first back at the church and then check the oil.  So when we got back to our church we sat outside at a picnic table.  As we ate together she really opened up her heart. She told me so many parts of her journey and mostly they were hard pressed situations. She did tell me about her grandkids and some good things to, but mostly about the challenges.  

          It was during our lunch that I began to ask questions about her spiritual journey and how she viewed God. As  she cracked open the window, but I perceived she used church as a source to get through verses Christ as a personal Savior who could walk with her through daily life challenges . So in our conversation I asked her if she had ever been born again as the scriptures revealed we must be to see and enter His Kingdom. Her confession was honest and interesting. She said she had never been baptized and admitted she'd heard about being born again. When I pressed a little more she admitting to hearing about being born again and then openly admitted she was not saved from her sins. 

   At this point I was eager to help her enter the Kingdom through repentance. I asked if wanted to be saved and know the Lord. She easily said yes and willingly was ready to pray. Knowing a lot of her life story now, I realized she had changes in store if she was serious about prayer and repentance. So I began to go over the apostles creed with her line by line to affirm that she was really believing rightly about the Savior what she needed to believe. She affirmed she believed, she was a sinner and was willing to change.  She had no local church she belonged to and lives probably to far away from ours to attend. I also thought lots of people have probably planted the seed of faith with her over time as well as watered the seed of faith. However in God's providence I got to reap the rip harvest on this particular day in a context that Jannie would be receptive to.

   Jannie and I prayed as the tears trickled from our eyes. After we prayed , I took a picture of us together while checking her oil. It was low and off to the parts store we went on one more errand before she headed home. Years ago I would have felt satisfied that I led someone to Christ as that is easy for me as one called to evangelize. However,  over the years I have learned that discipleship is equally important. I hope and pray that Jannie is the seed that fell on the good soil and not the other 3 types of soil.  We plan to stay in touch and I hope to have the honor to baptize her soon somewhere. 

Pray a short prayer for Jannie as you conclude reading this post and consider how you can be ready  with pyour agenda for God's agenda at any given moment. I admit , it's not easy to get off your donkey and head in another direction, but it is completely rewarding when it ends up like the events I had with Jannie the other day. 

Friday, March 20, 2015

SELFIE & SOCIAL MEDIA!


Back in 2001 I was at the front end of the social media wave.  I was so into technology I even took a course in social media to learn about it to make a living from it. I was among the first pioneers of all my circle of connections to Steam live, have a Facebook and twitter account and many other social media accounts.  This was long before Instagram or Snapchat.  Over a decade later I honestly have to say I do not think we are a better people or culture because of social media or technology. It was said then that it would save us time or create more time. But I believe it’s done the opposite! It steals our time and robs our real social life of sharing our life later in conversation and pictures with those we do in person life with.  Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate a lot about technology and still use it, and there are even life saving stories about technology and how it’s enhanced our lives.  But when I look at the BIG Picture it’s not as good.  Let me say this is a current struggling confessional post about social media without an absolute solution. Which means, I am still seeking solutions and balance.  So let me start on perspective of what I like about social media before I rip on it.



      I think it is great to get an inspirational idea, fresh fun happening or capture some news story or event and be able to share it for warning or inspiring others on the spot.  I mean really, social media has a lot it offers to make us laugh, learn, warn and help people on the spot.  But on the flip side I believe more people are harmed, isolated, addicted, distracted and even killed because of social media. We have something we never had before without thinking through the rules and limitations we should have set in motion first. But we did not know what we would do with what we never had before either. We never thought we might need  to protect ourselves from the bad side of it all.  Long before the internet came along we had TV.

The same case could be made for it. TV can be used for education, inspiration and positive entertainment. Good stuff right? But then came the bad entertainment mixed in with the good and on a gradual basis this happened until we did not know we were even consuming bad entertainment.  In general we never warned people about the bad because the bad crept in before we knew it was bad.  Now TV allows cursing, nudity, perversion and much more, but it started off pretty good at the front end.  I believe we are experiencing the slow evolution of a eventual revolution of the way we think, act and behave to our own demise. 

Let’s take the selfie concept for a moment. In my entire 53 years of life I would never have thought to take a picture of myself alone to share with people unless it was for perhaps a church directory or a resume or family heritage album or something well purposed.  Growing up people had to pay to have pictures developed, so people first.thought about what they would take pictures of. At Disney World you will find those Kodak moment spots that were made intentionally for people to stand in front of a pretty background scene so you could later share that “you and others” were at a certain place.  The picture was dual focused. It was either take a picture of a place or thing to remember and share it later  or pose in front of that scene so you could share that you were there with others.  Now that picture taking is unlimited and free we find  people take pictures from anything and everything to absolutely nothing.   I mean really, who wants to see a daily or weekly photo of what you eat every day?  We have either loss our sense of boundaries with picture taking or we never thought that we should make them or need them.  Let me admit now,  I stand guilty of my own observation to varying degrees.


Our youngest generation is the most jeopardized generation ever.  They have grown up on social media and hand held devices and nobody seemed to consider that  we should have given them with rules of when, where, how often and why.  I mean if a guy or girl takes a dozen pictures of themselves every day and post them every day what in the world are they going to grow up thinking about themselves?  I can see taking a selfie for a profile for your identity, but do we need to see a new selfie every day?  And if we do, are we empowering people to be vain and conceded and self consumed?  In large part I believe we have lost control of who we are and how to socially function properly and godly.  I cannot tell you how many places and times I have looked around me in public to only see people engaged with their devices instead of the people around them. ( I stand guilty as well) . Even while at events and life’s special moments people are often socially around the world instead of with those that are present.  Because we post and share everything when it happens we have nothing to share when we get together.  When we do get together we might start to tell someone where we were and what we did only to hear a reply such as, “Oh yeah I saw your pictures and post”. 

 A few weeks ago I learned there are Selfie sticks for cameras so you don’t have to depend on or ask someone else to take a picture of you anymore.  
We need boundaries and time limits on so many levels or we and our children will become obsessed and overwhelmed if we are not already.  Our youngest generation as well as many older folks needs help to get some boundaries in place who don’t see the problem as it is. Just to test your selfie consumption go look at one of your favorite social media sites and count how many selfies you took of you alone in the picture. How many 5, 10, 50, 100's. are you self consumed? If so , should you be concerned about this as it affects those around you in real life?

  Like I said earlier this is a current challenge in my life as it is in so many others as well.  I know I have personally missed far too many great moments in front me because I was self absorbed in another world so far away from me.   Unfortunately social media is probably doing far more damage to people’s relationships, lives and mental and emotional health then it is doing good to inspire and save and heal lives. I believe it does both, but because most people don’t set their own social etiquette rules we have become slaves to our own social creations of time savers.

Let’s look up & talk together, laugh out loud and put our devices away more often. We don’t need to take pictures of everything, everywhere all the time.  We don’t need to post what we are doing every hour about every random thought we have or heard. We need to save some of it for when we see each other. Imagine if you took pictures for a month without posting a single one.  Could you handle it? How many would you delete a month later without sharing it with anyone?  We almost have forgot to think about what we do and why we do it.

Maybe the overall good of social media is that it can cause to ask ourselves what is really important again. How much time could I have again if I played fewer games, posted less stuff and made fewer comments and read fewer posts? Do we even measure how much time we spend on our devices?  Like I said at the beginning of this post, it is not about answers as much as it’s about trying to discover a balance of good with healthy recommended rules for the next generation.


Do we need our phones with us 24/7? Do we need to be accessed 24/7? Are we still in control?  

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Old Fashioned Verses Fifty Shades of Gray



       The movie Old Fashioned is being released nationwide Feb 14th 2015. It opened a week early in 3 cities of which I was close enough to visit one on opening night. It is excellent movie.  It is rare to find a modern day movie produced with creative thought, plot, humor, cultural relevance, morally wholesome all wrapped up into one film.  I'd love to share more about the movie, but then I would be a spoiler to those who have yet to attend and see it. But why I saw it and stand behind it is another story I'm glad to share. Rik Swartzwelder who wrote, produced and acted in the film is a man who crossed my path many years ago when I was a youth pastor in Lakeland, Florida. Some 20 years later I got a package in the mail with two pre- released books from Rik. 

        Rik found me on Facebook and sent me a gift in advance of his film release. What a blessing, but also what a challenge. The challenge was I don't do romance novels.  Feeling a pleasure to honor the gift I pushed myself to read my first ever romance book. I must admit it took me awhile, but eventually I got into it. I actually finished it and my wife and daughter got a good laugh at my reaction to the book as we all looked forward to the film. 

       My daughter and her friend were getting ready to go on a missions trip for 8 weeks to Haiti and Dominican Republic. Just as they headed out the door I offered to send the book with them if they promise to bring it back.  The report back on the book was really interesting. It became the only book anyone brought with them outside of the bible. Many times over they read the book aloud to each other and quoted from it and read it many times among themselves individually.  But why?  Because the book and the movie are filled with virtue, honor and respect for women and men. From everything I read about Fifty Shades of Grey it appears that these films are approaching the same subject of love and sex from completely different directions. One film approaches fulfillment of relationships from lust and self gratification and the other from long lasting honor and respect for another person. 

       Old Fashioned is spiritual, but not overly religious. It's Judaeo Christian without shoving it down your throat. As I watched the movie with my wife of 25 years it made me think of our marriage, our commitment and our journey. Thoughts came to mind of "could I have lived better" and "how can I improve my current romance" to strength what has been a glorious journey with my mate.   

       If there was an age group I could recommend to watch Old Fashioned it would be those age 15 and older not married.  I believe married couples should see it as well, but I believe those not married would see something that creates in them a desire to raise the bar of excellence and integrity in all relationships.  As I observe our culture I would tend to agree with what was insinuated in the film that our culture is weak on honor and respect in romantic relationships.  This film was a restoration of greatness in films while still being extremely culturally relevant.  Two thumbs up!!!