All posts by L.L. Shelton

About L.L. Shelton

Bonnie is a Jesus Lover, and in light of the fact, loves His wonderful church. She is interested in many things and enjoys sharing her view of some of them on this blog. She is a poet and a singer of songs. She resides in Memphis, Tennessee, where she is a dedicated wife and the mother of seven children- five of whom she educates at home, as the eldest two have graduated homeschool and are pursuing their own interests. In her spare moments she may be found in her home office with a client, as she is a practicing Biblical Counselor and a Life Coach. She welcomes you to print and share her articles and poetry, and to quote freely from them with the understanding that she is to be acknowledged as the author. Mrs. Shelton does NOT OWN the copyright to the majority of the photos and other types of illustration used on this site!

Gay Marriage Has Another Day in Court

Politics

CA Proposition Eight is in court. This is as good a day as any to reconsider our position on this subject, as the church. For Love is a many-splendored thing, and an often misunderstood thing.

Where do we, as a church, get our definition of Love? It must come from The Great Lover, Himself. Where may He be found? In His Holy Word, in His Holy Spirit which is indwelling the true church, and in His Father- He is found.

By His definition, it appears that to love does not mean to tolerate my sin or the sin of another, nor does it mean to persecute my self or another, because of the sin inherent in self. But, rather Love calls for a new way. He calls for us to willingly and in the Spirit of grace, acknowledge our sin and that of others and to call one another to repentance, a turning away from sin, that we may truly LIVE.

Is it loving, to realize that one is walking directly into the path of a speeding train, and to simply pat that one on the back, as you watch him move steadily toward his physical death, and tell him how amazing he is for having triumphed in finding his own way? Is it loving to watch a child play in the middle of a busy intersection and congratulate yourself for being liberal enough to tolerate his independence?

The mandate from His Holy Word is plain: We, as the true church, are to indiscriminately love all of humanity. But it is obviously past time for us to reconsider what it means to genuinely LOVE.

Related post: Prop 8

In Thanksgiving for the Gift

Poetry, , , ,

Plymouth RockTo The Christian Patriot:

Brothers! Raise your eyes and see
The plain great cost of your liberty!
Price t’was not paid in blood alone,
But laid in each foundation stone

That marks where pilgrim feet have trod
As onward toward the goal did plod
Eyes on the prize, His Word to prod,
To save, to keep thoughts up on God;

That marks where colonists did spend
The lives of sons and fellowmen
To stand opposed kinship with those
Who looked to king to end all woes,

Plymouth Rock

For kings of earth, in death’s repose
Must lay humanity exposed.
As sorrows deeply interposed
O’re ages spent and now disclosed,

Had taught that freedom’s sincere bent
Is anchored in the hearts He sent,
United in ideals perceived,
First rooted, in True Liberty;

Whose Author, though man may not know,
Stirs yearnings deep within the soul!
The Patron, though by most unseen,
Ignites in us eternal dream.

He makes of us who stand to sing,
Our anthem of the bold to bring,
His Song: Let Truth and Freedom Ring!
Decree no wrong- no abject thing!

He volunteered, did pledge to die
To lead the forward battle cry;
To end oppression, crush the head
Of him who’d leave mankind as dead!

America! For truly free,
A haven may you ever be!
Allow all those who disembark
To stand with us on this our Ark,

Behold Beloved Patriarch
Who keeps our foot from stifling dark!
Refuse we evermore to stand
With tyranny, offer our hand.

Instead its forces we disband!
Allow it never rule our land!
Oppression be our only foe;
Against such ever strike the blow!

©2010, L.L. Shelton

The Christian Critic

Living the Word, ,

Some who read this title  may immediately feel that these terms are contradictory:  Christian and critic.  I would answer- may it never be!

We Christians are called to examine first of all ourselves, not to the point of morbid introspection, but to the point of getting at the Truth.  Secondly, we are instructed to adopt the view that Christ in God takes of the world, and this includes all things in and of it.  Now, this would necessitate the application of our critical thinking skills at whatever level that we are able to employ them.

I am certainly not suggesting that we behave in a manner that is unbecoming of Christians; harping on the negative, maintaining a harshness of spirit, cultivating a divisive attitude.  I am suggesting that we carefully consider our own character, and that of the church, to determine moment by moment whether or not it is in keeping with the character of God in Christ.

We cannot expect from the world anything other than a life lived in sympathy with sin.  Those who do not live within the Faith, will live outside of it.  They will live according to the standard dictated by their own nature to sin.  They will make decisions based upon their own rule of truth, which is the dictate of the sin nature.  When they do good, it will be based in their own idea of good- in other words, their motives will be some other than the glorification and enjoyment of God (i.e.,  in obeying a law of traffic, I may do so because I do not wish to die or to injure another, but only due to reasons pertaining to my own convenience to self).

However, from ourselves and from our brothers and sisters, we can and should expect a great deal more.  We are The Bride of Christ! We are never to live in sympathy with our sin nature.  Instead, we are to live in triumph over it! Now this will not be the case in every moment; as we are being sanctified, as we are struggling in our physical constraints, we will stumble on occasion, and it is then that we must in the spirit of Christian criticism call one another to account.

And we should welcome that calling to account, as it is our path home! It is our way out of our flesh and back into His Spirit! Now, this is not to say that His spirit is ever separated from us, once saved.  We are able though, to quell His Spirit within us by our nature to sin- still present, but dominated most often by His Spirit.  Truly, one great and compelling evidence of our own salvation is the immediate desire to return home, once we are confronted and are made to acknowledge the error of our ways.

The one who is lost- is really lost.  He has not merely stumbled and slipped off the right path for a momentary excursion into pleasuring self, and is then able to be shaken out of his stupor to be set right again, rather he is completely misguided and may even believe himself to be on the most direct route to where ever it is he considers himself to be going.  Thus, an awful struggle will many times ensue as an attempt is made to convince this one that he is quickly traveling the road to his own demise.

Yes! I believe we should all be Christian critics, and yet in the Spirit, thus in the prevailing attitude of loving consideration for God Our Father, for brother, and for sister.  Most importantly, we should begin with ourselves, with our own motives, and we should be delighted if other members of the body love us enough to question our lives.

How I Did It All

Family Life,

For Stacey, with love…

When she is a wife, the mother of several children, each of whom she home schools- and everything is accomplished on a shoestring budget… the question is bound to come up… How do you do it all?

And so I’ve been asked this question many times. There were those early days when I wasn’t sure how to answer. Then came those days when I’d learned to parrot the obvious reply with beaming smile- God and God alone. This was absolutely true, albeit a less practical answer than most may have anticipated. Eventually, I began to offer this brief and lighthearted summary: I enjoy it! I never could stand boring!

I am compelled to admit that all along the journey, I have wondered at how presumptuous people are to assume that because I am roaming the wholesale club with a long trail of children behind me and two over-loaded carts, during regular school hours- I am fair game for their unremitting interference.

I have often been cornered by complete strangers who are curious as to my educational level concerning birth control. Many have taken it upon themselves to remind me that we have a perfectly good public school system that will allow me a huge break from these tremendously draining responsibilities.

Of course, this line of reasoning inevitably leads to the well-intentioned warnings that my children will never be normal socially if I persist in this probably illegal lifestyle.

One of my outstanding memories of the days when I would often venture out of the house with the entire young family in tow, is of a visit to our local movie rental store. I planned our little excursion because I had absolutely had it with my probably illegal lifestyle of personally instructing, entertaining, and conversing with my little charges day in and day out. And they had absolutely had it with me. Furthermore, I was pretty sure that if we continued in our chosen lifestyle with no reprieve, I would be socially abnormal.

We arrived at the store and I released the children to each find a family-friendly movie that we might all enjoy. This meant five movies, as the baby was too young to participate. I was contemplating some serious down time. The children scurried around the store exclaiming over first one title and then another, while I (in a moment of stricken conscience) searched for something educational. The children were not loud, but they were as usual extremely busy.

I heard the shelf fall- but really it was no biggie as I was able to restore all to right in a matter of moments. Nonetheless, as I paid the young -maybe twenty year old- store clerk, I was stunned by his question. “Lady,” he boldly asserted, “why do you keep doing this to yourself?” (Oh, yes, I was conspicuously expecting a new blessing any day.  Still, one would have thought I had appeared with twenty-two piercings and ninety percent of my body tattooed!)

Of course there have been other moments of a wholly positive nature along the way… Once, while we were having the rare meal at a sit-down restaurant, following a Sunday service, a well dressed woman and her equally dapper husband stopped by our table to compliment us on our beautiful group, to remark that they had been observing us throughout the meal, that it appeared obvious that we were a “godly” family, and to wish us continued success.

The encounter inspired a truly lovely feeling in me for some time. In fact, in review, I began to wonder if maybe they had been angels sent to encourage me, as two ordinary mortals surely could not observe our family throughout an entire meal and come to such a consensus. On further reflection, I hoped they were angels, as the thought of being so closely examined by mere human beings was really kind of creepy…

But, guess what… We who love Jesus are called to be witnesses. We are to welcome close inspection. Sobering, isn’t it?

Of course, I’m rambling now, but you can forgive a bit of digression in light of my circumstance as a mother of multiple children… Back to the question at hand: How do I do it all?

Well, honestly, I have only ‘done it all’ on one day. It remains an exceptional day in my memory. It was such an extraordinary experience that I called my dear friend, Jill, on the following day to share with her that I had discovered the secret to success.

Excitedly, I told her of how I had, with great affection sent my husband on his way for the day, prepared a hot breakfast for my large family, taught the children Bible, Math, History, and the Language Arts. I regaled her with tales of my homemade cookies at snack time, the piano lesson across town that I drove my daughter to- managing to arrive early! The amazing dinner prepared from scratch with loving hands for my family to enjoy…

She was impressed and anxiously awaited my revelation of the formula. I almost hated to tell her… I sat down at the end of the perfect day- list in hand, every item thrillingly checked off… in the bathrobe and slippers that I had put on the night before and had failed to remove over the course of the entire day. My hair had not been combed, my face had not been washed, nor my teeth brushed… I think I answered the phone and told someone I’d never heard of myself.

Suffice it to say, I don’t do it all. I do my best to accomplish what I believe my God would have me to do each day. Sometimes those things are things that I would like to do, or that I am purposing to do. Other times they are of a nature entirely His own, and have never entered my mind prior to His announcement. However, any day is a great day if I can lay my head upon my pillow at its close, and know that I have kept my mind on Christ and have, to the best of my ability as a flawed clay pot, carried out His orders.

©2010, L.L. Shelton

Yoga or Human Cloning? How Do I Choose?

Church Culture, Living the Word, Politics, , ,

Yesterday, a couple of things were intriguing enough to inspire me to type. First, a good friend sent me a link to a story on yoga and Christianity, which calls to account a man for whom I have the greatest respect, Dr. Albert Mohler. And so I was off in the direction of spiritual and physical connection- will, intellect, emotion, body- distinct and yet one…

Oops! Suddenly called away from this train of thought as when on my lunch break I am made aware (thanks to a tweet) of Mississippi’s Initiative No. 26 and the highly interesting language used therein: “…from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.” Awesome! Maybe Dr. Seuss is right- A person is a person no matter how small!

Now what was it that I was thinking over… that I was going to blog over? Oh, yeah! Dr. Mohler’s aggravated assault on yoga… Never mind that, now! What about human cloning?!

Wait just a minute here… Are these two things truly so unrelated? Is anything truly unrelated? Think. Think. Think.

We humans are definitely a combination of will, intellect, emotion, and according to faith- spirit, all housed within and inextricably intertwined with a physical body- until that moment in which the physical body dies… And even should teleportation become possible we would still be simply a collection of physical particles soon to be reassembled (hopefully), in the proper order (again, hopefully). This means that we would still maintain physical property.

And isn’t an embryo, or a newly made fully developed human body, according to Holy Scripture, the physical house of will, intellect, emotion and spirit for someone? Where is the evidence, Scriptural or otherwise to support the theory that the house has to be developed to a certain point before it contains these other elements common to a human? Or that the house must go through a certain order of development to become the house of the man? And we thought abortion was an ethically tough issue to wade through! For our children and our grandchildren: I hope we’ve been thinking on this cloning stuff…

And Dr. Mohler, surely we must admit that yoga does not present a real threat for a True Christian, as he is, according to much Scriptural evidence, currently and for eternity possessed by the Holy Spirit of God and therefore is undergoing a transformation that will not fail- a transformation that will result in His own likeness.

I know that when I practice yoga… okay… I don’t really practice yoga, but I know that if I practiced yoga… I would be terrible at it… but that’s not the point. The point is this: I would not connect in a spiritual sense. It could not possibly be anything but a physical exercise for me, as I belong to One who governs my spirit with His own, and should my will decide to participate in yoga, or whatever- my spirit remains yoked with the Spirit of God. This is the primary reason that I hate my own sin.

Those who participate in yoga without His indwelling presence, those who do not know Him, are risking a spiritual connection, but not to The One True God. They may get connected to something … I mean- have you seen Poltergeist? Wandering around spiritually without Jesus is definitely risky!

But, back to this cloning thing and MS Initiative 26… what is the functional equivalent thereof anyway?

As the church, we need to be ready with some hard Scriptural evidence to support the ethical stance we will take as the church on the primary issue of human cloning and on all of the secondary issues which will flow from it. God has given us everything that we need in His Holy Word and we should be a step or two ahead of the world- not a mile behind it.

From Playing Church to Loving God

Church Culture, Living the Word, , , , , , ,

Part One

I grew up Southern Baptist and remained a member of the denomination until a few years ago.  In fact, Trafalgar Village Southern Baptist, in the suburbs of Memphis, was the first place I ever walked the aisle. I was nine years of age. I remember being emotionally disturbed by the time of the invitation, as I felt certain that my behavior wasn’t altogether good, and that there did exist a God, a heaven, and a hell- and I was as sure as rain just after you water the garden that I wanted to miss the latter.

My grandfather, my mother’s daddy, was a Southern Baptist minister from Texarkana, Arkansas. He preached in his own pulpit, and occasionally in the pulpits in the rural area surrounding Texarkana. We were a close-knit extended family, and this meant that I spent a great deal of time, especially in the summers, running in and out of pews with my brother and usually a cousin or three, in an empty sanctuary. Every now and again, we’d stop some other trivial sport to play church. Some of us would gather on the pews and listen to my brother preach, while another would lead the singin’. Once in a while, there was even a solo- and some of us could boast a truly pleasant voice, which meant it wasn’t a painful experience every time.

Sometimes, when we were feeling especially bold, we would hold a baptismal service. These moments were of course more extraordinary than those when we had no new converts, and often times there would be quite a lot of discussion surrounding whose turn it was to dunk the neophyte … though we never dared to fill up the baptistry… so a healthy imagination was required to participate.

It was a different story when we got together for our family camp. This event, held each year on a crystal clear lake in Arkansas, when the weather was about as hot as weather could get, was ruled and presided over by my four foot ten and a half inch, Irish-American, Granny. She cooked three meals every day in the camp kitchen for she and her husband, their four daughters and their husbands, fourteen grandkids, and eventually a whole slew of greats. She served the goodies up buffet style in the dining hall, just following the blessing; which was most regularly delivered by my Uncle George, a Southern Baptist minister himself, who had a voluminous bass voice which reverberated such, that most of us were pretty sure the fish were prayin’ for ears just so they could plug ’em up.

As soon as the amen was sounded there went up myriad cheers and grateful comments, as each one dove into the piles of steaming hot biscuits, eggs, and pork bacon if it was breakfast; or fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and slaw, or some other mouth-watering combination if it was supper. Much of the bounty upon which we feasted was collected from my grandparent’s large garden- seeming to enhance the flavor ever further.  Nothing seemed to please my Granny more than watching her large family enjoy the work of her hands.

Each morning, we took off for the lake as soon as we swallowed the last mouthful of Granny’s (and God’s) wonderful provision, and we swam like turtles in the cool, shimmering water until hunger claimed us for a second time. Now, these swimming sessions were when our mock church services would get easier for those who were less able to employ a flight of fancy when we played. In the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost, we dunked one another until we were either silly with lake water, or fussin’ to beat the band. We were enjoying being young and alive in those days and we didn’t give much thought to anything else.

Eventually adolescence arrived, as it has a habit of doing, even in those of us who put up the greatest struggle. I was a member of the youth group at Berclair in those days, and my most interesting memory- next to the time we experienced the earth tremors from the New Madrid fault which runs just underneath west Tennessee, and pretty much felt like it ran directly below the church fellowship hall- is one in which our brand spanking new youth minister, fresh out of seminary, elected to teach us to practice meditation and centering. We didn’t talk too much about The Bible, more about social injustices and getting in touch with ourselves.

I was fourteen years old when I attended the Billy Graham Crusade in Memphis, and I had never felt more out of touch with myself. It was nineteen seventy-eight and a tumultuous time in the life of my family, as my parents were beginning to fight the final battle for their highly complicated marriage. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I walked the aisle in that stadium with hundreds of other people. I don’t remember what were my thoughts when I collected my packet of information, which included a phone number that I was told I could call for further counseling and prayer. I only know that I was overwhelmed with the sense of how big was the world, with all its joy and suffering, and how small was I.

As time moved forward, my family moved to rural Arkansas. I attended my last two years of high school in a tiny town of three hundred, while my parents proceeded to divorce. And as there are fine people everywhere, if a person cares to look, I made some truly good friends. Still, I remember those years as the most emotionally difficult of my life, and often joke that Bill Gates himself couldn’t offer me enough money to return to them.

By the time I was twenty-two I had piled up enough personal trouble to frustrate St. Peter, and soon was compelled to walk a third aisle-and this time the motivations of my heart, present and witnessed therein, were different indeed.  Though again in a Southern Baptist church, this third experience proved to be unique. I walked the aisle because I was exhausted with myself. I was begging The Lord God to save me from my sin, from my self. I had a new and proper understanding of His position, as well as of my own in relation to Him. I needed saving- not from hell (though that would certainly be a benefit) but from me. I needed a ruler to tell the fool what to do every minute. Certainly, I didn’t immediately understand all things or even some things… more like a little something new everyday. It has been and continues to be a process. But I did immediately begin to want to understand. I desired to please this new found Love.

Today, I am a dedicated wife, mother of seven wonderful children, daughter, sister- and friend to many; but He, Jesus, The Redeemer of My Soul, remains my First Love. I do not please Him perfectly, but He is faithful, forgiving, and loving, and restores me to right relationship with every slip. At this point, I have studied through The Holy Bible a few times, a bit each day, prayerfully pondering each word and wondering at my Savior. And I remember my childhood with particular fondness, as well as with great sadness, as I have realized over the years that in all of our sincerely church-focused moments, we were subscribing to a convoluted view of The Scriptures that was bound to unravel our faith- if we ever got to thinkin’ very hard.

Part Two

The view I am referring to is the view of a man by the name of Joseph Arminius (1560-1609), whose followers published his teachings in a paper titled The Five Articles of Remonstrance. A close inspection of The Scriptures reveals that it is in error, and has I fear been a culprit behind many turnings from Truth ipossibly including the apparent change in perspective surrounding Islam which we have witnessed in the Reverend Billy Graham. This explanation of The Holy Scriptures fails to consider the entire Word in context, and as a conceptual whole.

The Arminian view states that man is a creature created with and always in possession of a free will, and who if he chooses to believe in Christ, is therefore granted election into the kingdom as a result of that choice; and also teaches that man is unable to do any truly good thing with his free will. It supposes that the creation is therefore able to resist the grace (the supernatural call) of his Creator God and choose his own way, and so that some men will not choose God and will remain forever under His wrath, and yet also that every man’s sin is forgiven. It teaches that a man in the Faith may not continue in the Faith, but may fall away and not return, and yet sites the very verse which states that none of whom Christ has been given will be lost; and that God has forgiven every man’s sin. Obviously all of these things cannot at once be true. For instance, I am sure all would agree that God in Christ alone may forgive sin, and that if one is forgiven his sin, then he is released from the eternal or supernatural consequences of his sin. (However not always from the natural or earthly consequences of his sin.) Now, if one is released from the eternal consequences of one’s sin, it is necessarily implied that one’s sin is forgiven. If one is forgiven then God has forgiven him in Christ. This is salvation: To be rescued by God in Christ from sin, and therefore released from its eternal consequences. Thus, it can be clearly seen that these arminian ideas will continue to lend support to the rise of the heretical teachings of open theism and universalism in the church.

Man has a free will and yet cannot exercise that will for good? Then that will is not free. Either the will is restrained or it is free- it cannot at once be both! Either one is capable of good (as defined by God-pure motive) apart from God, or he is incapable of it. Either man elects himself for salvation by his own good works as he sees fit to do, or God elects him by HIS own good works as God sees fit to do. Either repentance and the forgiveness of sins is necessary for one to inherit salvation, or it is not. Either one is transformed and made a new creation with salvation, or one is not. Either God is Supreme Ruler of All, subordinate to no one and to no thing, or He is not. Either God’s Word is true or it is not.

The Arminian view of Scripture is dangerous in that it diminishes God and magnifies man. This is the antithesis of what God’s Word is most intended to do, as its greatest purpose is to identify God and so to exalt God and to humble man, which will serve to bring man into right relationship with God.  If at any moment, I hold in my core the opinion that God is small and that I am large- then I am in a state of confounded spirituality due to pride; here I am utterly useless to the kingdom of God- be it for a moment, for an hour, or for a lifetime.

Of course, many men of the reformation era of history did take into account the entire Word in context, and did consider It as a conceptual whole. Their explanation of The Holy Scriptures is quite different, and is logical, as it permits for Scripture’s interpretation of Scripture- therefore allowing It to prove Itself.  The view of these men, including John Calvin (1509-1564) and his followers, states that man was created with a free will, but that he lost that gift in the garden when he chose evil with his free will and fell from grace. They taught that man then became a slave to his sin nature, thus was totally incapable of anything purely good, and so needed a Savior to restore to him through Salvation his free will, that he may be capable of what God considers good, and so may volunteer for it. Therefore, they taught that God chose whom He would have mercy upon and rested His grace upon those, and that they, unable to resist His supernatural call, responded and followed Him; and were therefore forgiven of their sin. (As is stated in The Scriptures, repeatedly, God in Christ grants to His followers both repentance and the forgiveness of sins.) It was also taught that they would never again be in that fallen state from which they had been redeemed, due to His ability to save and keep souls perfectly. Also, that whomever was not chosen for mercy would be under the wrath of God forever, and that this is according to the Sovereignty, to the supreme authority of God. These things can all at once be true.  Also,  these teachings do not lend to the errors of open theism or universalism.

However, many people are confused about what it means to be reformed, or to be a Calvinist, today. This is understandable, as it actually means different things to different people in this postmodern period. Personally, I would not profess to be a Calvinist, unless I had read his giant thesis put forth in his institutes and had agreed with it. It is enough to have read and studied every word in The Holy Scriptures and to have agreed with all put forth there, and to call oneself a Christian. However, I do occasionally refer to myself as reformed, because I agree with the five solas of the The Reformation, as well as with the five spine doctrines of Calvinism, sometimes referred to as The Doctrines of Grace .

There are, also, those who agree with Luther’s soteriological thought (teachings regarding salvation), which differs a bit from Calvin’s, who may also label themselves reformed, as well as reformed Presbyterians and those Presbyterians whom I’m sure Brother Knox would consider to be running amuck. Contemplating all of this, we may be tempted to ask ourselves- why does it matter?

I do believe it is a matter of great importance, because next to being assured of one’s own salvation by faith, nothing fires the passionate love of God in a man, or establishes a man more firmly and aids him in his stance more fully when the trials of this life are at their most difficult, as does knowing what he believes to be true about The God who has saved him, and why according to The Holy Scriptures, he believes it is true.

For those of us who exist in the western world today, extremely harsh treatment and physical persecution due to our faith are unheard of- thanks be to God! But our freedom from this particular brand of suffering is not guaranteed.  We must be ready should our time of grave persecution present itself..  Those who stay true to The Word in such circumstance are those in  whom passion for God burns the brightest.  Our right to freely assemble and to worship as is pleasing to us, has been hard-earned in the past and continues to be a state of being which we must work to preserve. I pray that we will never become comfortable to a fault.

These things being stated, most importantly in light of all that we know of God from His Holy Word is the sure mandate that as Christians we are to love and to be a blessing to all, within the church and outside of it; and we are to be discerning of  evil that we may either flee or resist it.

Today, I am a thankful member of a non-denominational evangelical church where The Word of God is faithfully and carefully preached Sunday by Sunday, and heresy does not mar the pulpit. However, I am forever tied- if only by mere sentiment- to the largest protestant denomination in the United States, the precious Southern Baptist, and I long for her continual reformation around pure and sound doctrine.

©2010, L.L. Shelton

Numbering Days and Counting Blessings

Living the Word

For Don Elliott, in Christ’s Love, as he is practicing being thankful in all things:

Today, I am thankful for the life that I was granted in Massachusetts and Ankara. I am glad that I was born in that place which is known for being the location where those who loved Him gave us the name Christian. I am delighted to have been born to a faithful soldier, that I might be transported back across the sea to the land that I love in the arms of my mother.

Today, I am glad that I was brought to the southern United States, to Texarkana, to experience the ups and downs of close-knit living among extended family- both my mother’s relatives and those of my father- all in one stew. I am a person of greater depth for having lived clannishly among those colorful members whose blood stirs in my own veins.

Today, I am thankful that we moved to Memphis when I was six, and strangely grateful for the move to Arkansas that I thought had surely ended my life, when I was three days shy of my sixteenth birthday. I am happy to have experienced the fragmented formal education that was my own as I bounced between county, city, protestant, and catholic schools during those years in Shelby County, Tennessee.

Today, I am glad to have been delivered into the hands of those in a tiny rural county school in Poyen, Arkansas for the final two years of my learning as a child, and to have been the President of our largest campus club- The Future Homemaker’s of America!

Today, I am thankful for the perilous years closely preceding and nearly following the final breakdown of our home, and for the emotionally chaotic years that ensued. I am grateful for each event that transpired during those turbulent and often sad times, as even those most regrettable are part of who I am now- a fierce God-lover.

Today, I am grateful to be married to one who loves me, and who is learning to be the person that God has created him to be, as I love him and am learning to be the person God has created me to be; and I’m happy- again oddly as the many moves involved many hardships- to have followed him around the country for more than twenty years- from Foley, Alabama to Little Rock, to Houston, to Liberty, Missouri. I learned, studied, and grew under each pastor to whom we were given during the course of the journey, and I was privileged to be able to home school our children- allowing me to place great focus and quantity of time on the study of The Word of God, and on many of the great minds of our faith.

Today, it appears that I have come nearly full-circle, as I am currently living in Memphis. I am delighted to be the mother of seven wonderful children, and to continue in home education of the younger ones. I am loving and learning here, as I have in each place I have traversed. I am glad to have pieces of my heart strown from here to yonder, planted- I hope- in the hearts of friends collected at every bend and turn in the road. I am enjoying my God, and I am confident that He is continuing to mold and to make me into the one that He intends for His heavenly purpose.

And I am most thankful because it is becoming increasingly obvious to me that He has used every incident in my life for this present moment, and for those to come in which I will see more of His likeness and less my own; and so I understand as Joseph did, that whether a fellow traveler meant it for evil or for good, or though my own hand was the evil, was of no matter to my Savior, for He has meant it all for good.

©2010, L.L. Shelton

The Separation of Church and State, Part 2

Politics, , ,

While listening to Ken Ham, of Answers in Genesis, give his lecture entitled “Why Won’t They Listen?”; I was reminded of Proverb 16:26- The laborer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on. In this case, Ken Ham is hungering and thirsting for righteousness, not only for his own personal righteousness, but for that of many. Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness in a corporate sense? Do we long to free the oppressed? Do we pine for justice for the people?

Since we know from Scripture that authority is a good thing, and we understand that it is the abuse of authority that is a bad thing; we Christ-lovers should seek to fill positions of leadership on this earth, and to propel one another into positions of authority in every arena of this life, with the idea of Christianity dominating this world- though we will not fully succeed until that day. Then, we must surround our fellows in leadership with every form of encouragement!

The system of government presently in place in America, courtesy of our nation’s founding fathers, allows for our involvement in and use of authority. Since we know that we are in possession of The Truth and Real Love, we must certainly and joyfully participate in the governing of both church and state, as well as in the leadership of the arts, the sciences, and all of education; seeking His dominion over all things and using these systems, to the best of our abilities, in the hope of accomplishing truth and justice for all.

We Christians must do our best to participate in the world while not participating in sin, dominate where ever possible, and use the system to accomplish the greater good. This is our privilege.

©2010, L.L. Shelton

The Separation of Church and State, Part 1

Politics, ,

Do we want our state to run our church? Do we want our church to govern our state? I submit to you that without the guaranteed separation of the two, either is possible.

I once thought that a church directed society would be good, but what is church? Is church a building, or a series of edifices, where people worship Christ? Is church an organized gathering of people who profess to believe in the existence of Christ? Is church a group of human beings who believe that Christ Jesus is the Son of The One True God and knowingly submit to His Lordship- to The Living Word of God? Is church a place where, or a group of people who, have something to do with Christ?

The separation of church and state is actually meant to imply the separation of religion and state, and is meant to impede any religion (including those of Secular Humanism and Atheism) from taking over the state, as well as to aid in the prohibition of the state taking over any religion.

The separation of church and state is reportedly first mentioned in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to a group of Baptists concerned over their religious liberty. History assures us that at the time of Mr. Jefferson’s use of the phrase, Christianity was the only religion openly practiced in this country.

Interestingly, the religion of Christianity is unique in that it was never meant to be another religion separate from the core of a man, but rather ‘The Way of the Followers of Christ Jesus, The Lord of All’: It is meant to be a way of life actually lived. The directions for the way of the followers of Christ are of course contained in The Holy Bible.

I am especially concerned, today, that we, the True Church- The Followers of Christ Jesus, The Lord of All- will be made to submit to the governance of the state should we fail to recognize the importance of our binary state of being. Now, this is not a matter of urgency if the true Christians are permeating the institutions of man, as well as the institutions of God, but if we have failed to maintain our influence through leadership in these institutions, then we must take joy in the establishment of the first amendment to the great constitution of The United States of America, in that we know it protects our right to assemble together and to live out God’s Truth openly and without fear.

Oh, that we might be a country, in which the influence of the True Church is felt in every area- no, not simply felt, but acknowledged as the greater persuasion!

At this present moment, it appears that we have lost much of our influence in the institution of the state, and we must seek to regain it through active participation in our government – local, state, and federal levels. I am so grateful for those followers of The Way of Christ Jesus, The Lord of All, continuing to stay involved in the political arena, as I am for those working in the institution of our military- pledging to protect, to defend, and to honor this great and imperfect nation.

©2010, L.L. Shelton

Gay Marriage Ban Overturned

Politics, ,

Is the effort surrounding California’s Proposition Eight, banning gay marriage, and the fact that CA Proposition Eight has been recently overturned- as well as many other similar efforts concerning gay marriage- necessary? In 1989, Denmark was the first country to recognize civil unions. A civil union or similarly titled act, is one which recognizes the physical unions that the true church will not recognize; because of their failure to meet the standards clearly outlined by God, in The Word of God, which is The Holy Scriptures, the Truth which governs the true church.

Civil unions, and the like, permit these couples to exist in relative peace; being allowed the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness- or whatever are the rights protected by a particular society for its citizens- as  these unions define for them the same political legal rights as are extended to those couples who are recognized as married by the church. These unions also allow those couples, who recognize fully that they do not wish to include a God to which they show no allegiance in their own alliance with one another, to exist as a couple, with political legal rights equal to those afforded legitimately married couples.

At this point in time, the debate encircling California’s Proposition Eight, banning gay marriage, and other similar legislation is centered around the question:  Is marriage an institution which should encompass two consenting adults? Soon, the question may be:  Is marriage an institution which should encompass two human beings? Then:  Is marriage truly an institution that should encompass only two beings? The alarming trend is evident.

It appears that the institution of marriage originates with the Hebrew God, Yahweh, and that the definition of marriage is clearly stated by that God in His Word in the second chapter of Genesis.  The problem then is largely one of semantics.

Let those outside the church, our neighbors, be treated civilly, humanely.  May it be that we, as a church, treat them better than we treat ourselves- loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, as our King has ordered us to do in the twenty-second chapter of Matthew, verses 37-40.  Let us invite our neighbors into our homes and into our gathering places, and there let us love them.   However, let our neighbors not demand the rights of membership in the body, unless they have complied with the standard set forth in our Governing Body of Truth.  Let us not wittingly include (in church membership) those who do not agree with our constitution.

Lastly, if the world at large insists upon commandeering the term ‘marriage’ and its derivatives, maybe we must consider a new term to label and define the unions which we as a church are willing to recognize.