Astro-turf

                                 Blessed Assurance

        Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! 

        O what a foretaste of glory divine! 

        Heir of salvation, purchase of God, 

        born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. 

                                    - Fanny J. Crosby

            I still remember the days when my wonderful mother was canning or freezing corn. I would take those luscious, fresh corn shucks out to our pasture, where our beautiful cows were anxiously awaiting their treat.

            You can't fool animals about food. They recognize God's food-- not some synthetic. God talked to us about sheep.

                        My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  And I give              unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man                                  pluck them out of my hand.

                                    John 10:27-28

           

            These sheep, which are really rather dumb animals and have a great need for a shepherd, know fresh, luscious grass. You cannot fool them with astro-turf. They are not going to eat fake, synthetic grass. They would probably be amazed if their shepherd ate a fast-food, synthetic product. They would be amazed if a shepherd, one who had graduated from field chores to the race track, would feed a prized horse fake, synthetic food, such as is served in many restaurants and found in many grocery stores.

            We are saved by grace, through faith, and that is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. He knows our needs, even our wants, and He is anxious to care for us. The tragedy is that most who pretend to believe on Him, fail to trust Him. They refuse to claim their adoption-- heirs of the creator of the universe.

            When I was much younger, in my college days, I would watch a young couple-- at that time boys danced with girls, if there was any of this foolishness of same-sex attraction, it was kept in a closet. Back then I had eyesight. Often it seemed that one of the two was hearing the music, moving to the music, enjoying the music, while the other was just going through the motions, being dragged along. So it is in our spiritual, physical, and political activity. It is not difficult to recognize a patriot, a real Christian, one who has a physical hold on life and living.

            I was in a large public relations office in Brooklyn, NY. There was a sign that read, "Perception is reality." This is not true. You can always pick out the pretenders.

            Two men were fishing in the snowcapped mountains of Alaska. One day they spotted a Grizzly bear, and the bear spotted them. Again, a couple. One man took off his boots and put on his sneakers. The other said, "What are you doing? We cannot outrun that bear."

            The other said, "I just have to outrun you."

            When will we awaken our belief system, even our perception, to what is happening in our world? You can tell how great a problem is by what it takes to solve it. God knew, from the very beginning, what it would take to solve the problems of the world-- even giving as a sacrifice, His only son, not for just my rotten sins, but for the sin of the world, every one of them, those of commission, those of omission, and even those we know nothing about, that only a holy God can identify.

            You cannot tell lost people anything that they have not already heard, no need to flog them with more Gospel Truth. If God wants them, He will draw them to Himself.

                        No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I                             will raise him up on the last day.

                                    John 6:44

            The best news anyone can give about me, your writer, to perhaps someone who has not seen or heard from me in a long time, is, "He has been beaten up on every side-- the aggravations of making a living, thieving employees, unconcerned family members and associates, living in a world of blindness-- but he is still faithful." Your greatest obligations in life are not at the church-house, the schoolhouse, your workhouse, even staying out of the jailhouse. Your greatest obligation in life is to have a thick skin, and live your faith during the weekdays, as well as on Sunday-- letting others see Jesus in you anytime, anywhere. A great preacher said, "A real Christian is the same everyday and any day. He is the same at midnight in a city where no one knows him, as he is in his hometown at midday, where everyone knows him." He knows the thrill of a hymn, the sound of scripture, and can move to the tune. He knows that Satan always pays in counterfeit, fakery, falsity. The real Christian does not seek the mountain peak, but a lofty plateau from where he can reach down and help others.

            I hear talk of full-time Christian ministry. Every Christian, who knows the saving grace of Jesus Christ, is a full-time minister. Likewise, every patriot recognizes the decadence of false government. I have found that most liberals are conservatives who have had great trouble with crooked government. I have found that most hypocrites are former church members, who could not tolerate the malingering pretentions in pulpits and pews. Life is a battlefield, not to be fought from air-conditioned foxholes.

            In a time before telephones, paved roads, and automobiles, there were preaching Sundays, a time when a preacher would come for a visit to a church. At other times the men of the church fulfill the pastoral duties-- visiting the sick, burying the dead, the teaching and prayer service ministry. My father would say that the preacher had it good, just to deliver God's precious word. On a Sunday, at about the time he got his Sunday shoes on, some pig would always root under a fence, or a cow would jump another fence.  Let us never forget the precious activities of the chose men and women of God "of whom the earth is not worthy." (Hebrews 11:38)