

## An Inconvenient Life

### God's Logic vs. Worldly Logic

Copyright © 2018, James D. Jones Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the express, written consent of the author for any purpose, other than the inclusion of brief quotations in review.

Unless otherwise noted all scriptural references are

from the New King James Version of the bible.

Smashwords Edition

License Notes:

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold in any form or transferred, even if no compensation is given. If you would like to share this e-book, please purchase additional copies for other recipients. If you are reading this e-book and it was not purchased by you or for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the rights and hard work of the author.

Originally published in 2004, this work was designed as a teaching instrument for mid-week studies. In the beginning there were only eight chapters with lots of little rabbit trails marking many other avenues of exploration for discovering our true selves. Since 2004 the author has converted those rabbit trails into chapters of their own. May this new work bless you and bring you hours of reflection and self growth. It is this authors fervent hope that you find a greater awareness of God and His Son on every page.

### January 11, 2018

### A Note from the Author

### Understanding the Logic of My Life

Many people would call my lifestyle inconvenient for their own purposes. Some would acknowledge that it takes a special call to live the life I have chosen. Others would dismiss me as a fanatic or a nut. The truth is, my life is inconvenient to the things my flesh wants to do. It does take a special calling or vision of life to live like I do. And I believe I am a sold out fanatic to the things of God. The difference is that I believe God has called all of us to live according to His precious Word and most people have convinced themselves, or let someone else convince them, that it is a special calling, reserved for the few, and not a universal one.

Many Christians talk about living out their faith. They do this very well while at church or in the company of other Christians. This book is dedicated to addressing our lives outside of Christian venues. Who are we and what do the lives we lead say about us when we are not at church or trying to impress those other Christians we associate with? Who is the person that God really sees? And, are we happy with that person? Are we truly satisfied with the person we have become or our walk with God? Both are very dynamic dimensions of who others see us as. Are you ready to evaluate your life? Are you up for the challenge?

Each of us lives out our life according to a system of logic. We adopt and agree to live within the limits of that logic. The logic system we choose will be the one we decide is best for us. We use that logic system to make decisions. We also use it to see the events of our life through.

The logic style we adopt defines the lifestyle we live to a great extent. Of, course, within each logic system there are individual variations. For the most part, generally speaking, there are two major logic systems, the world's logic and the logic of God. Each is based upon a preferential estimation of the values held by that system. The same situation can have different results depending upon which system of logic is used and by which individual.

Choosing which logic system a person will apply in their life (and to what extent) is a life and death situation. That is the reason for this book. I believe many people, having accepted wrong ideas and flawed truths, choose the system of logic they are going to follow for their life out of convenience. My intent is to show how the convenient decision is not the best one. When convenience becomes a factor in our decisions we forget the real truths of life, even the ones we have learned the hard way.

I am a pastor of a small church and I admit my opinions are biased concerning the logic of God. However, I was not born as a baby pastor who one day matured into an adult one. I was not even born in a church and raised up in one. I had some church education as a child but quickly turned my back on all the church teaching as the logic of the world called out to me. Later, as an adult quickly learning that there are many false claims in the world's logic, I returned to the church. First I turned to the church for comfort and safety. Then I found great truth in the logic of God. A truth that goes beyond my personal comfort and makes me a valuable part of the entire world population. God's logic not only changed my life but gave me new hope for all those around me. A hope founded on truth and not just idle dreams of fancy.

I had an anger burning inside of me back then. For years the logic of the world had lied to me. It substituted theories of half-truths and "personal experience" for real truth. There was no person I could blame. I had chosen my own path as do so many millions each day. All who follow the world's logic have been lied to just as I was. It was a strange anger that boiled my blood. It was not the kind of anger that lashes out to hurt and kill. It was the kind of anger that urges (no, demands) action to stop the useless advance of the world's faulty logic. It was an anger aimed at century long abuses by the world, and by some church people themselves, of God's true logic. I felt cheated, and in some ways still do, by the world's logic.

The logic of the world had taught me to substitute things and situations for real happiness. Power, money, and big boy's toys became the measurements of my life. Each time I achieved a measure of success I still needed more. The happiness was eluding me each time I gained greater success. One day I sat down and evaluated why happiness was not part of my success. I had a great family, a great job, a great life with all the benefits. So, why was I not happy?

Something was missing. The fact that something was missing could not be denied. I know if I make a cake and put all the ingredients in the mix, that it will taste a certain way. If the taste is different then something has to be missing. My life, for all its worldly success was missing something. I went looking for it. I wasn't sure what it was but I knew it was the one thing I had been looking for all my life.

My youngest memories as a child include wanting to know what truly made people happy. I had seen happy people living in cities and living in the country. I had seen happy people who had money and those who were so poor they needed help just to make it through the week. I had seen educated people who seemed happy and uneducated people who seemed happy. There was, I concluded, no physical stimulus for being happy. Physical stimuli may cause an expression of happiness, like opening Christmas presents, but happiness was something inside a person, not regulated by the natural environment.

I left the Catholic church I had attended most of my young life at the age of fifteen and went searching for some answers. I looked in many of the world's religions avoiding Christianity and found no happiness. They all offered a measure of success. Most just offered suffering with some glimmer of a hope on the far horizon. They asked for me to put my faith in things that did not give repeatable results and serve a purpose that was dubious at best.. I could not be happy unless I felt I had contributed something. I felt I was designed for some purpose and any hope of happiness would have to allow me to find that purpose.

As I searched all around me I tried the normal things of life, money, politics, power and some of the not so normal things, eastern religions, witchcraft, karate. But nothing satisfied all the criteria for happiness. Successes came and went. Failures were many and varied. But true happiness eluded me.

I was invited to go to a Pentecostal church by a distant relative. I relented and dragged my family into the church. My kids loved it. My wife enjoyed it. I was still searching for happiness so I was mostly indifferent. But I did feel like there was something there that needed further investigation. I saw happiness in some of those people like I had never seen anywhere. They described their happiness as love. I thought I knew about love but I understood immediately that this love they knew was different from mine.

I knew love as a thing we expressed to one another. It was strong and permanent in my mind. But I had never known about a love that entered into a persona and transformed them into a totally different person. The love these people knew bathed the individual in a sweet presence of love, not just a thing they did. They loved without any reservations. They loved unconditionally. They taught me that the source of their love was God. They assured me the only real happiness in life was found in the presence of God.

I thought I had inspected Christianity and given it all the attention it needed when I was a young boy. Now I was sure I had missed something or maybe the church where I was going had missed something. When I gave myself over to the search for God, I felt His love. I bathed in it. I understood true happiness and I also understood I needed to make some changes in my life. The world's logic system of "serve yourself" had failed me and now I was going to discover the truth about God's logic system of serving the true and mighty God who created the universe.

God found me in my angry state and offered me His love. Not some mystical, untouchable love, but a reality that goes far beyond anything I've ever known in my life. It is an unexplainable love, by human terms, which He gives without respect to anything I've done. He loves me because of what He has invested in me, not any action I've taken. God loved me enough to send His only begotten Son to die for my wrong doing, for my sin.

Like many people I have discovered the logic of the world is based upon material greed and power. While I have nothing against material wealth I no longer want it to be my main goal in life. The world's logic of greed and God's logic of love gave me two distinct choices. I realized life was composed of good and bad, evil and holy for every person on this earth in some form or fashion. I could not ignore the rationale of so many millions who had gone before me and discovered answers for their life.

When I was in the world I followed the money, sought out the power and discovered the success it could bring. But I was not satisfied. It was not my answer to life. God's Word and the logic of that Word are based upon His love. When I realized there must be a God (who else could inspire love like I felt at that church?) I went looking for Him. I followed the signs of His love and found Him waiting for me. It is that love that leads me to write this book. A love for God and a love for the people who have been lied to by a faulty logic the world represents as the real truth. God is real. That is the real truth. If God is real then the world's logic, which denies God, is founded upon lies.

What I've learned may not be startling or even earth shattering. But they are heartfelt lessons of life and founded upon the true and lasting logic of a God who has rescued me from my own false concepts. I write this book out of gratitude for a God who never quit on me no matter how often I failed Him. No matter how far away I got from Him He never let go of me. I owe everything to My God, who created all I can see and not see, to the plan of rescue carried out by His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and to the daily, guiding hand of the most Holy Spirit.

Herein is an attempt to reason out the vagaries of our very human, religious lives. Without trying to beat the reader into a sense of shame or guilt, which we can all claim a share of, I desire to discuss and reveal the logic of God's plan for His creation, mankind. The only goal of this book is to show the friendly face of God and uncover the logic of His Word against the backdrop of a world that despises the inconvenience of God. We have been told by many sources throughout the ages that God is dead, God is irrelevant, and God is not legitimate.

Painful and saddening as these accusations are to one who knows better, the church world has done a dismal job in answering these accusations. We spend too much time creating additional irrelevant, illegitimate programs and steps leading to a dead religion when we should simply share pointed discussions revealing the majesty and magnificence of a truly worthy Lord. Let this book serve as a pointed discussion and honest evaluation.

At one time I was one of those who laughed at religion. Truth is, I still laugh at "religion." It is dead. It is irrelevant. And it certainly is illegitimate. But religion is not God. God did not send us a religion. He sent us "the way" or His logic. God did not create denominations, man did. God did not use doctrine to separate His people, man did. Today's religions attempt to win people over to their side. But the logic of Jesus Christ (the logic of God) was simpler than that.

Religion has a shaky foundation whose source – a man or woman – is unstable. But Jesus called for relationship, not religion. He called us all to come to the Father through His sacrifice and by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Religion seeks to supplant even God's design to make us come to God through the religion.

That, I believe, is part of the problem. It is easy to see the failings and shortcomings of religion. So, why do we continue to push religion? I believe it has become convenient for the church member to push their particular brand of Christianity. Religion has become a convenience to the church community but it is still an inconvenience to the world community. Until both communities become more interested in truth rather than convenience they will continue to be at odds.

Today's biggest problem and the greatest excuse for not worshiping the one true God is convenience. Plain. Simple. Straight forward. It requires no big, twelve step plan to over come. It takes no more brain power than a child possesses to understand. (Jesus said so) It asks no deeper question than, "Who do you serve." Convenience is an idea indoctrinated into the youngest of our children when mom says, "Go play in the other room while I'm talking on the phone." It is further rooted in the child psyche when a father teaches his child about relationships by saying, "Not now, I'm too tired."

The goal of convenience is really self-satisfaction. Whatever would make me happy right now, becomes what is most convenient. Worshiping God has never been convenient. It never will be convenient. And the more our lifestyles depend upon – no, demand – convenience, the more our society will drift away from worshiping God in a true form. Convenience will be the death of the USA if the church loses her voice of warning.

So, let this book be about doing away with our unmanageable ideas of acquiring convenience. Instead, let our lives be about doing what is right, convenient or not. Let us revel in the love and closeness of God through His way and not struggle in the day to day world living out our way. Convenience is nice. But the goal must be what is right, not what is convenient. Inherent in God's logic is the happiness I have always searched for.

### Chapter One

### A Growing Discontent in My Soul

Do you want to really know the truth about God? Are you no longer content to take the world's opinion for what it thinks it knows? Have you never been told to get both sides of the story before making a decision? In my heart of hearts I desire to completely lay bare the logic of God, without religious format, without fanatical raving, without typical, easy answers. There are no easy steps to this process of uncovering the truth of God's logic in our lives. There is no easy way to lay it out for the reader to grasp. It is a complete evaluation of every area of our lives, every day. The simple truth is that God has a way of doing things. His way. And it will cost you something to learn of them. Are you willing to invest in yourself?

One day, thoroughly discontent with the direction of my life I despaired of all things and called out to God to show me a better way. Now, I did not receive some ghostly visit or tune into some ethereal voice to receive my answer. In short, what happened was very natural. Some people (who happened to be relatives) showed up at my door and asked me to come to church. At first I refused and begged off with one excuse after another. Then the thought occurred to me, what did I have to lose? So we started attending church.

That decision began a long journey which I am still on today. The first thing I discovered at the church was a love I had no definition for. It drew me in like a fish following a minnow. I could not control this love. I could not define it. I could not even describe it. But I had to have it. I could see how it affected others and I wanted to see that effect in myself.

From the beginning I found a safe place for my family and a calm atmosphere that was helpful in today's stressful world. My eyes were opened to a different lifestyle, one that offered hope instead of strife and a continual scrambling for success. All my problems did not go away, to be sure, but I received a hope that they were not only manageable but beatable. I felt like a winner again or at least one who was on a winning team.

As a family we eventually accepted Christ into our lives and acknowledged Him as Savior and Master over our lives. For those who do not understand making God Master and Savior over their lives, it means a total commitment to the way of God. Some may ask, "Why do we need to make someone Master over us?" Some may ask, "Why do we need a Savior, because we feel just fine?" The truth is similar to good health. We never miss it until we no longer have it. A relationship with God is like good health and living a lifestyle that keeps us away from disease. As an apple a day is to good health, so a relationship with God is to a good life.

There is an afterlife and God is in charge. As good health allows us to live and enjoy natural life, a good system of logic, or truth, will help us live an eternal life with the Creator of all things. To debate an afterlife is reckless in a world that has so many explanations for the paranormal. These many explanations seek to explain away the inconvenience of acknowledging God.

Commitment as a family to Christ and to God's way of doing things gave us a new focus. Unlike previous encounters with religion, I discovered a relationship with God was all about helping me get my life in order according to a plan that was bigger than me rather than just telling me what to do. God revealed to me, through His Word (the bible) as I read it, and through the preaching I heard weekly, that His logic was designed to build my life according to a plan that was larger than I could dream. I watched as my life and the life of my family progressed and grew into what by all relative estimates was a happy life.

Several years went by as we continued to mature in God's way. My days were filled with normal enough events, work, hobbies, even some ministry. But they were still not bringing me the kind of total satisfaction my heart craved. As good as the turn around in my life had been there was still something missing. I could feel it.

The peace Christ that had settled upon my heart several years earlier was growing restless again. Not the same restlessness I knew before accepting Christ as my Savior but a frustrating restlessness all the same. The calm was erupting into mental discord. I was always on my toes waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was to the best of my ability to explain it, "just downright unhappy with the boredom and sameness, day after day, of my life." I needed something more. There had to be something more.

God never sets any limits of how far we can go with Him. The Apostle Paul tells us, "With Christ, all things are possible." (I was about to discover God's greatest characteristic, in my humble opinion. He will let us grow as far as our "desires" will travel with Him.)

I had a great wife who supported every boneheaded plan I concocted. I had three great children who were the envy of my neighbors for their politeness and respect. (Really, I'm not making this up.) I had a good job that promised a bright future. So why did I give up that great job one day and move my great children many miles away from their home and subject my great wife to what otherwise seemed another boneheaded move on my part? Because, something still wasn't right. Or, to be more correct, something wasn't finished. There had to be more to it than just what we had. I wasn't sure what it was. I just knew that whatever I was understanding at the time could not be all there was. A lifetime journey can not end and become stagnant, or else it is not a journey any more.

Maybe today, you are like me then. Maybe you are searching for something more. Maybe you have found God to be a peace in your life. Maybe you have not yet accepted Him as Lord and Savior. Maybe your life is just a massive collection of maybes. Whatever your condition or social position, if the desire to explore God's logic for His creation draws on you like the moon draws on the tide then this book is for you. Maybe you just don't know. Maybe you're skeptical of my motives. That's okay too. I am a former skeptic who has found my answers. May you also find your answers in the pages of God's holy Word. Even more, may you meet the Lord Himself. He is real and it is totally possible. Remember, with God all things are possible.

Logic Convenience Comfort Zone

Commitment Respect Honesty

Integrity the Media Weakness

If any of these subjects are sacred to you, you will not enjoy this book. Put it down and run, just like you always do. Go and hide your head in the sand and hope that reality is not going to bite you, you know where. Otherwise, sit back and expect a revelation of a truly better way of life, unlike anything man has ever devised on his own. Yes, I am being intentionally challenging. We need more challenges in our lives. Or, better yet, we need the mental constitutions to face more challenges in our lives.

I want to challenge the popular logic of the world today with the eternities old logic of God. I want to erase people's dependence upon convenience as a goal instead of merely a nicety. I desire to move everyone from their current comfort zone to experience the fullness of life that lay just outside their door. With regards to personal commitment, respect, and honesty I intend to reveal the false commitment of the world's logic and replace the circumstantial respect of society with a truly honest look at God's way and the logic behind it. As for the media, I wish only to point out that it serves a motive of worldly logic that does not serve the greater good of mankind but, instead, its weaknesses. The only weakness we should fear is the weakness that causes us to avoid facing our weaknesses.

Now, you can choose to return to your self-satisfying, worldly logic and dismiss my argument out of convenience and crawl back into your comfort zone if you desire. Or you can summon up your courage and integrity and hear me out to the end. In that case I will depend upon your commitment, respect and honesty to do the right thing. Or maybe you'll just put this book down and go buy a video with some smash 'em up, blow 'em up action in it. The truth is, the choice is yours.

Face your weaknesses or continue to deny them while you watch Sylvester Stallone do all the righteous things you wish you could do. Maybe I should add vicarious living to my list. If you prefer to live your life through what others are doing while doing nothing yourself, then this book is probably not for you. Neither is the logic of God. God is a personal being who desires a personal relationship with His entire creation, not just the pastors or the Sunday school teachers.

What will it cost you to continue? Just some of your precious time. What will it cost you to live a life patterned after Godly logic? Well, that will cost you everything. I do not mean to scare anyone, but instead to intrigue them. What could be so precious and dear as to be worth anyone investing everything into it? Read on!

### Chapter Two

### A Clear-Cut Answer

A non-church person once told me, "The belief in a God, who created and now rules over the universe is just not logical." To which my immediate response was, "Is it logic which bothers you or the inconvenience of the whole thing?" I was not trying to be irreverent. Nor was I attempting sarcasm, although I admit that both were in my mind. Instead I was voicing a clear cut answer that the world seems to avoid at all cost, even at the cost of their soul. In today's culture, especially in that of the United States of America, that which has not become convenient is labeled no longer logical, as though logic has become the big, "new" god we all serve. This logic serves our best interests based on whatever is easiest and most comfortable for us.

Having a personality that tends toward the sarcastic, if not the irreverent, forgive me ahead of time for what I am about to say if this offends you. Most people go through life seeking their own convenient conclusions. Most people are not loners. The main reason people like to work things out alone is because they wish to look for the easiest answer in private without any repercussions of society's influence. We desire the easy answer as proof that we have somehow evolved or are greater than those who have to revert to the old, hard way of doing things.

It occurs to me that not every convenience is necessarily better. (Surely, this thought has occurred to you, too.) Microwave food is faster but the food is not better. It is just simpler to take that prepackaged food out and zap it. It is not so much about logic or even what's necessary. It is about convenience.

As human beings we like to think of ourselves in control of our planet – yet we continue to lose many species to extinction every year. We determine our own source of what is logical and we decide what is necessary based on our comfort zone. Controlling the environment, the thought processes, and our own comfort gives us a feeling of authority and lordship over life. However, these are subjective factors in our lives with no solid foundation.

The human logic can be changed by any new discovery that the human mind chooses to embrace. For years the world accepted the story of Noah's ark as truth because the story is not only contained in the bible but in historical writings and even in Muslim traditional stories. There are no less than 270 separate cultures with a story of a great flood with one family surviving. Then the scientific community grew up and learned to test and probe different things until it determined that the story was not really possible due to the parameters and scope of their equipment, geological models and theories. Then science and its abilities grew to a point where it could prove that maybe the story of the ark was more than just possible but entirely likely and even by many scientists today considered a reality. The logic of man's science keeps evolving and it keeps changing the results. That is not a good sign. It does not make me want to trust them.

There is another factor of the world's logic that bothers me too. Why then, if man's scientific instruments and historical stories now show that the ark story is likely, is the logic of the God who delivered such an event considered a fake? The answer is that human logic only wants to go so far. It is not a design of perfect answers but of limited ability based upon the desire to control power and wield authority. The convenient conclusion of the world is to accept what man's science can prove, (The same science that was proved wrong once already) while still denying what it can not prove no matter that the additional evidence is enough by our system of law to get a conviction. If 270 witnesses came forward to tell about a murder do you think for a minute that the murderer would go free? Well, 270 cultures claim the flood was real, but somehow the logic of the world denies the witnesses any validity.

Man's science has yet to evolve to the level of intuitive thought in anything except its own theories. They will intuitively believe that man jumped from ape to mankind (without a missing link) because it fits their theory of evolution. But they will not believe intuitively in a God who created a flood that covered the world even though there is overwhelming evidence. I believe the word that best describes the scientific community in the USA and elsewhere is "uncomfortable." The scientific community is uncomfortable because it has the ability to prove the existence of God and that would change the authority structure of the world. So science must go as far as is good for careers but not so far as to upset the status quo. That's convenience.

Thankfully, there are now many creation scientists who are revealing the truth of their scientific research. It is interesting to note that many of them were not believers in God when they began their research many years ago. But as they uncovered truth after truth they were honest enough to admit what they found. There is much evidence for the support of the bible and God found in history, geology and archaeology.

I believe there are two reasons scientists of every field are frustrated people. First they can not find the evidence they desire to disprove God. And second, they lose all credibility with the logic of the world if they prove God. Scientists are caught in a perfect field of study but are given imperfect rules by which to play. Whatever joys or successes they receive are not the true answers to life's true mysteries, just second best. True scientists search for truth, not just convenient facts.

Maybe you don't believe the logic of the world, a system of decision making etiquette, has that kind of power over the events of the world. I would dare submit that even now you are judging and evaluating the tone of my words with respect towards your own comfort zone, whatever that might be.

Our comfort zones are designed by the opinions and logic of the world's system or by God's system, and thus controlled by one or the other. Because I have chosen to follow the logic of God I am incensed when I hear someone mention evolution like it has been proven, which it has not. Conversely for the world's logic, one eye is on my words and where they are leading, the other is on a very personal life and the logic used to operate by. Each of us views information based upon the logic we choose to accept.

Sometimes it is easier to ignore an argument than to enter into it. Convenience is an issue even in how we choose what we will believe. If it is easier to just go along then we will be controlled by whatever group we associate with. It becomes convenient to be like everyone else. Therefore, if someone declares that they are the majority they can win acceptance from those who do not wish to argue the facts. It happens constantly in American politics.

There is one inescapable barrier to rising up above our dependence upon conveniences. That which tears away at our conveniences also reveals our weaknesses. We desire comfort and status. We are scared because we don't even tell ourselves all our weaknesses. (we justify them) If you are not afraid to unveil your conveniences and weaknesses then read on. You are exactly the person God is looking for as He goes through the earth looking for whom He may bless.

### Chapter Three

### Worldly Logic

The dependability of the world's logic is suspect because it stems from multiple sources which are on shaky foundations at best. Worldly logic uses the theory of natural selection to describe evolution and then we condemn the big guy who beats up the little guy. If natural selection is real and relevant should we not let nature take its course? As a matter of fact, can a force as big as nature even be subverted to fulfill our own desires? (Wow! Talk about a power kick.) Are we not standing in the way of the big guy's chance to evolve still further or to be all that nature has made him to be? The worldly logic creates rules and then breaks those rules within the same breath. I can not trust the duality of the world's logic. It is too flaky for me. I require more substance.

Worldly logic says there is no god and then it turns around and creates multiple mini gods overnight to sell, promote, and tempt the population. If there is no god who deserves respect and worship then why do we respect certain people above others? Why do we pay homage to certain individuals if we do not need to worship? Worldly logic demands that everyone obey the principles, ethics, morals and laws that it generates but then changes them as public opinion changes. If opinion is the driving force behind principles, ethics, morals and laws then why does one person's opinion count more than someone else? Who's to say that serial killers are not carrying out their own opinion of how life should go? (Please, don't quote this out of context to make your disbelief easier to prove.)

Can we not see? The logic of the world is built on quicksand. It never has and never will stand on its own. It needs a personality, a power and authority to hold it up. Do we not deserve better than that? Should not the law of truth hold us up? Should not the logic we embrace enhance our lives rather than just regulate it? How can something we have to hold up help us at all? The truth is it can not. God told His people to not serve the gods of the foreigners. They are wooden gods built by fleshly hands. They neither see nor hear and they most certainly can not help when needed. The logic of this world is just another foreign god built by human invention. It can not see what is necessary. It only responds to what people tell it to.

Jesus warned us about building on shifting sands, meaning foundations that change with the times. Governments send out reports intended to solve problems and just create greater bureaucracy with all of its inherent problems. People create laws of convenience to regulate an aspect of life only to repeal the same law later as an inconvenience of that "evolved" life. It used to be against the law to sell alcohol on Sundays in many places, which honored church life and ultimately God at least one day a week. But because public discontent with the law was raised the lawmakers served convenience by erasing the law and allowing society to do whatever it wanted. The world's logic can create a law one day and repeal it the next. God's logic is fixed for all time, unmovable. (There is a clear choice to be made.)

Jesus taught that only bible logic – that which is gained from the Word of God – is true and unshakable. That which stems from man can never achieve perfection because man has never achieved perfection. Perfect logic must be derived from that which is perfect.

Some might argue that God is not perfect. Others would argue that man can never achieve perfection because he is always evolving therefore his logic should always be evolving too.

First, if God is not perfect, upon what information does the accuser of God base this claim. In the book of Job the main character seeks to accuse God and can find no one able to stand up and level the charges in line with man's perceived inconveniences. No one was there when God created the earth. No one was there when God hung the stars and the planets in space. No one can search out the depths of the seas except God. No one knows the intricacies of life except God. Job's conclusion was that, because there was no one equal to God, therefore no one had the right to question Him. That fact holds true today.

Man can be questioned because he is still seeking perfection. Questions are a way to search out and draw near to perfection. God is already perfect. He does not need nor is He required to answer man's imperfection to justify His perfection.

The logic of the world says that it is inconvenient to not be able to question everything and everyone. Not being able to question means that we must admit that something or someone is out of our reach. God says it best when He tells us, "My ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts." The logic of God demands that everyone submit to Him.

The logic of the world refuses to accept that anything does not submit to it. Wow! For Christians that is a description of the devil. Satan fell from heaven – was kicked out really – because he tried to exalt his throne higher than God's throne. Satan was a created angel of God, beautiful and talented beyond all the other angels. But his glorified status among the angels caused him to desire to be higher than the highest, God. The world's logic follows the same pattern. The people who are in charge, who have the authority and influence in this world, seek to exalt their glory above that of God by denying the logic of God. It is the rare leader, outside of the church community, who acknowledges that God is the supreme authority in everything.

If God's people could grasp the importance of holding God in a perfect light then they could begin to grasp the immense impact His logic could have on life. It is not necessary we understand everything God tells us. After all, imperfect people may never be able to understand the perfection of God. What is necessary is that we understand He is perfect and has our perfect life built into His plan for the whole world. Worldly logic will never grasp that because it demands to be the leader and not the follower.

A new phrase for the American people has come along with our newfound desire for convenient things. It is "comfort zone." We not only have a desire for comfort but we have a target for that desire, a threshold, a window even. When a situation gets outside that target then it is uncomfortable and soon fault will be aimed to identify the cause of our unhappiness. Like the comfort zone itself, our identification of the problem is not the source of the problem but merely a surface symptom relating to our changeable desires. What we identify is usually something that hinders our convenience. Then the goal becomes a need to reinstate the convenience, not deal with the actual problem surrounding a need.

What a glorious relief it is to know that my life is made better by only releasing all the things that I worry about into God's gentle hands. God's logic tells us not to worry about the things of life because God is the provider of all things. That doesn't make sense to the world's system of logic because the world's logic says, "No one will look out for your interests better than you." Those who are blinded by their dependence upon conveniences and are mired in their comfort zones of inaction will never see God's pure design which benefits each of us individually even while benefiting all of mankind together

A man who drinks or does drugs knows the damage such activity can have in his life. Yet, he risks the damage because he believes the effects on him will be minimal. While at the same time he rationalizes the reward to be far more comfortable so as to substantially outweigh the risks. Whether it is the comfort of peer pressures, the feeling of release, the drowning of sorrows or whatever, the comfort becomes the goal. The risks are weighed against the comforts and lose every time. Why? The comforts become a goal or measurement of success. Personal growth or development is not considered because they are not counted as goals. The decision, made by worldly logic, is based upon a convenience rather than a truth.

The real problem, though, is not the comforts. It is the root problem which surfaces as a desire for comfort. Giving in to peer pressure is a desire to have real friends that help us to grow and even grow with us as we all mature in life. We share each others lives and each of us acts as is beneficial to the others. God's logic explains that true friends add to our overall lives and does not detract from them. A friend who is only your friend when you are willing to risk damaging yourself is not a true friend. I should not have to prove my worthiness as a friend by risking my health.

A worthy friend is one who is there when things go wrong and helps lift us back up. That is all that is required of a friend to prove they are really a friend. Anyone can be a friend as long as you are up. It's easy to be a friend during the party. A real friend is there to help with the clean up afterward.

The world's logic mandates that the one who is different is the wrong one. If you don't go along then you are the misfit, the outcast, the strange one. If you don't go along with the majority then you are, by your position against it, denying their authority and ability to set the rules. You become the problem by your refusal to submit. You become an enemy to their chosen course. The world's logic system has always seen the real people of God as their enemy.

The release we feel from drugs or alcohol is temporary and false. When we straighten up and come to ourselves again the underlying problem is still there. The world's answer, drugs or alcohol, can never adequately answer our real needs.

God's release is in the truth of dealing with the problem. The truth will definitely make you free. Being afraid to face the truth is what causes most people to hide. The truth is that life is hard. Relationships don't always work out. Situations don't always work out as we would like them to. There are no quick solutions to intricate balances of life. We must become accustomed to seeing everything through eyes of truth and not eyes of convenience. Believe it or not, true happiness is in seeing the problems for what they really are, barriers to our fulfillment of God's plan, not in always making them work out our own way.

The idea of drowning our sorrows is actually a perverted biblical method of dealing with problems. The world's logic says use alcohol (just one pleasure) to forget for a little while. Use alcohol to get away from the pressures for a time. The world's logic says seek an excess of pleasures (by whatever means) to drown your problems. God's logic says be washed in the cleansing waters of life and be free from the results of the problem forever.

Freedom in the sense of the world's logic means never dealing with it. Hoping it will go away. Isn't that convenient? Freedom, according to God, means dealing with the problem, growing stronger through the experience, overcoming the problem with God's victory, not hiding from it. The world's logic requires nothing but a commitment to the easy way out. (Rest assured, it does require a commitment to the easy way out.) The logic of God's way requires integrity, fortitude and personal resolve to finish it, not just hide from it. It is not convenient nor is it easy to follow God's logic. But the world's logic does not overcome the problem. God's logic does.

Comfort zones do more to keep us from experiencing life than they ever will do to help us enjoy life. Comfort zone is just another word for rut to my way of thinking. Maybe it is a big rut, but it is still a rut. If I stay within my comfort zone I don't have to experience any uncomfortable stretching of life as I perceive it. Comfort zones define my space and keep those things or people which "might" hurt me out of my way, or at least define their limits to interact with me. Comfort zones also allow me to enjoy my collected conveniences.

This bothers me. How can I enjoy the full experience of life if that life is determined by the boundaries of my comfort zone? Here are my thoughts on this. If the world's logic promotes my acceptance of these comfort zones then the world's logic is responsible for creating barriers in my life, howbeit ones I choose for myself, but barriers all the same. God says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." God does not create any barriers in my life. I have to choose to live within barriers. This is a revealing aspect of the differences between the logic of the World and the logic of God.

People will never explore the full scope of life if they never leave the comfort of their own neighborhood. I once worked with a man who had never been out of the town we lived in. I found this out while I was describing a shopping experience my wife and I had in the next town over from us. While I was talking he asked where I had found this place, so I answered him. His face got funny looking as I told him where the store was. "Oh," he replied. "I've never been out of town before. Never needed to." I thought about what he said a minute and then told him. "You still don't really need to unless you want to save money, receive greater service, experience more variety and have a better time all around." He smiled and said that maybe he would venture out to this place someday.

To my knowledge he never went. I think with sadness that many people, not just Christians live the same kind of life. Maybe they travel to further and further distances in physical space, but they are retreating into deeper and deeper ruts of spiritual comfort zones. Denominations which once espoused the full relationship and experience of the gospel life are now limiting the experiences of their people with rules that tighten up decade by decade to hinder full expressions that once were deemed essential to their relationship with God.

The sad truth is that if I tell my friends that from now on they can only talk with me under certain circumstances and then when only certain persons are around or certain music is playing I will eventually lose those friends. How can we not see that we are doing the same thing to God? The more we restrict His access to us because of our comfort zones the further we push His precious presence away. But, in order to achieve and maintain our comfort zones of convenience that is exactly what we are doing.

Most of us define the limits of our comfort zone by the conveniences we collect. The kinds of food we will eat will determine where we will shop and how hard we have to work for the money to purchase it. The kind of entertainment we embrace determines the company we keep. I'm not likely to have many Christian friends if my favorite entertainment is found at strip clubs or in watching pornographic or filthy movies. (I could think of no more extreme an example.) We balance the results of our wrong choices by saying that the friends we collect are people who understand us "the way we are." The convenience of that statement is a trap in itself. Convenience is entrapping the soul of America. I do not want people around me who like the way I am but rather those who are examples of what I want to become. I am interested in growing, not just maintaining.

The whole basis for the usability of the world's logic is contingent upon what people will believe or understand. Change the belief or the understanding and then the system of logic used is naturally changed too. Make the change fit into the desires of the majority and the perceived value of the change increases.

When a former rule or law becomes inconvenient it only requires a change in the thought processes of the people who control the right to make a change in the law. (In the USA that is the majority) Thus the word perfection in the world's logic is constantly changing in dynamic definition to keep up with the new level of perfection "discovered" by the latest majority.

Theoretically, any socially acceptable behavior today can seemingly be unacceptable tomorrow or vice versa. A rapist today may be just a misunderstood individual tomorrow if we allow sexual appetites to rule our decisions. Who's to say that rape is any worse than an aggressive, leveraged buyout by a corporation? Someone wins and someone loses. Is it not the animal kingdom way, survival of the fittest? Is it not the American way, extreme competition makes for a better life? Well if women have the right to say no shouldn't they be able to back it up? Well, too bad when they can not back it up?

If that example seems a bit rude and extraordinary (and I hope it does) we only have to look at all the other moral standards we have pushed into decay in our country in the last few years. How did it happen? A majority of those who cast votes got together and declared the thing acceptable denying centuries of moral standards and God's own perfect logic.

Abortion, though socially unacceptable, was voted in by a minority faction who showed up at the voting booth in majority numbers because those who opposed the law stayed home thinking that they needed to do nothing. All that had to be done to create a new morality was to justify the action by today's "more innovative and modern society" and to dismiss God entirely.

Those who did not vote did not realize that their inaction dismissed everything that God placed in their hands. By not caring enough to get involved in the voting process they told God He did matter in their lives. The wrong law was approved by society because no opposition was forthcoming. Someone said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. That is God's logic, too. God never called us to sit and do nothing, secure in our comfort zone surrounded by all our conveniences. Instead, Jesus said, "Take up your cross and follow me."

The Christian is asked everyday to give up their beliefs as part of the world's logic of progress. But it is politically incorrect and socially unacceptable to question the beliefs of any other class or category of people. I have never seen a TV report lamenting the decline of Christian morals. Sure morals are lamented, but only after separating them from the God who created them. No one has ever stood up in congress and asked what about the Christian's rights. (at least not with any authority or results of stronger legislation enforcing God's logic) To declare the Christian God legitimate would invite a source of correction and logic that eats away at the world's desired conveniences.

I do not fear competition with God's enemies and detractors. God, placed side by side with all comers, will always win out. But in today's society it is near impossible to get a true competitive encounter. The Christian God is not allowed in schools yet schools regularly have satanic and Wicca festivals of Halloween and Winter Solstice because someone gave them a new, acceptable name. Well how about we call prayer "private time" and we ask everyone to please bow their heads and repeat after me. Horror of horrors the world jumps to it feet. "That's still prayer," they yell. Of course it is. I agree one hundred percent. And so is a Halloween or Winter Solstice program where students portray the gods of this world in celebratory fashion as directed to do by their teachers still a religious observance. See it is not God's logic which has anything to lose by competition but the world's logic.

Who are the god's of the Winter Solstice or the Halloween celebration? They are not the God whose logic I proclaim here. They are the gods of the world's logic which I denounce here. It is not religion which the public fears as they claim, but God's logic, which demands action that inconveniences them.

Whenever I bring up the Halloween example someone undoubtedly tells me that they do not observe the evil side of Halloween, just the fun side. They say the celebration has changed. They claim that in the changes, which they embrace, I should feel no threat or danger. They wave away my complaints as the ranting of a fanatic. They dismiss me because my value system, God's logic, inconveniences them.

Let me ask a question. How about I start a new celebration tradition? From now on let's display the German swastika and celebrate with parties and spirited drink and loud, joyous music. Let's each take turns going in and out of make believe death camps as we go from death camp decorated house to death camp decorated house. Let's do this on some special anniversary like the day Auschwitz was ceremonial opened. Let's take "innocent" travelers unaware and invite them to join us as we celebrate the fun party we are throwing.

Does any one believe that the world would not be in an uproar at such a celebration? Jewish people would recoil as would most of the rest of the world, and rightly so. Even those who are not particularly fond of Jewish tradition or Israel's political stand would be uncomfortable for their conscience sake. Why then is it acceptable to make fun of that which is pointedly against the values of Christian life? Simple, it is more convenient to tell the Christians to get over it than to give accreditation to their concerns. After all, it is very important to the world's logic that the Christian value system and ethics are not given any credence anyway. The convenience of the world's logic must protect their comfort zone.

When it is convenient every fact of history is forgotten and mankind stumbles into the same mistakes once again. I believe, if history goes on long enough, eventually the Nazi death camps will someday become a thing of the past and not carry the stigma of society's hatred upon them. Someone said that the society that does not learn the lessons of history is destined to repeat them again and again. Conveniences work that way. In order to do the easiest thing we will repeat many mistakes by not learning from previous experiences.

As each society struggles to maintain its hold on history it also tries to declare its own way. That way is designed by the conveniences each society uncovers and embraces. Each society leaves its mark on the world by what is perceived to have been added to the world, most notably the conveniences.

Can anyone argue that the country which develops the most conveniences will earn the most respect and money for its discoveries? Surely the USA has proved this fact over and over as we lead the world into one convenience after another. Still many are confused at how a convenience, something which enhances our lives, can hurt us.

### Chapter Four

### Conveniences

In the USA we have convenience stores seemingly on every street corner. We put stores in certain places that are just convenient to our location. How many times have we paid more money for the same item we could have purchased elsewhere for less money just because we did not want to or "did not have time" to drive to the other store? We have convenience food when we feel lazy or just plain rushed. We wrap our lives around this desire for conveniences.

There are times in most of our lives when we depend on this convenience to get us through. We have appliances that have become necessities which were previously considered conveniences. The only thing that changed was man's viewpoint of what he needed, not the need. Marriage has become an institution of convenience instead of an expression of lifelong commitment. Politics is no longer about doing what is right. Now we do what is convenient for the majority, and even the minority, when voting becomes too inconvenient for the majority.

Words have lost their meaning just because of our lives of convenience. The word "commitment" now bows down to an authority given greater position than integrity and honesty, "convenience." Commitment is only viable so long as the personal desire to be committed is there. Of course, those desires are now subject to the rule and reign of convenience.

The word commitment in marriage no longer means lifetime commitment (what other commitment is there, I ask?) when it has become more convenient to divorce. Personal needs based upon perceived conveniences of life now dominate the thought process for considering marriage and ending it. No one wants to risk true commitment because our perceived needs may change and we want the ability to change with our desires in the future.

Having children and how we raise them has now become a matter of convenience in the world's culture. Each parent follows whatever advice fits their lifestyle for raising their kids. Many times two parents in the same house are using two different philosophies for raising the children. (And we wonder why some kids are confused about right and wrong.) There are no absolute values inherent in the process of bringing up children according to the world's logic so none are imparted to the children.

Parents who raise their children according to biblical principles are thought to be archaic or out of touch with the realities of today. Worldly trained children (like public schooled or MTV watching, or advertising exposed kids) try to use the reasoning of the world's logic to sway even parents who use God's logic when decisions are imminent. If the bible, or God's logic, was given any credence or relevance by the world, then people would have to admit children are a gift from God and abortion and abuse would not only be illegal but unworthy of people's acceptance.

Society is no longer about the beauty of the relationships of the people living in it. From the beginning God describes it that way. Society is all about the lifestyles propagandized by the advertising community, which are largely lifestyles of convenience and self-commitment. Society is like a huge disease which has as its main goal a need to protect itself. A by-product of this need is to grow and absorb other entities before it is absorbed. It feeds on that which is healthy leaving behind that which is dead.

Spiritually, society's actions, drawn from the world's logic, are like this disease. Everything and anything will be done to protect it including twisting the truth so as to serve its purposes. The goal is protecting the authority of the society not the betterment of the people in it. Society absorbs the people and steals their dreams and abilities for its own amusements. Money may be paid but lifelong satisfaction is hardly ever achieved. No society on earth which forsook God's logic has ever lasted for very long. The people die. The dreams die. The society dies. Yet, still mankind chooses to not learn from their experiences and continues to look for other answers more convenient to their desires.

The bible describes the beginning of life in the Garden of Eden as beautiful and perfect. Adam and his wife Eve had everything and happiness too. When the serpent, or Satan, entered in to tempt the people with discontent, man had a decision to make. It is the same decision we make every day and yet many fault the original couple for causing all of mankind's problems. Will we choose to believe God and follow His ways without needing to understand everything, or will we serve our own interests and only believe that which we can discover for ourselves?

God's logic does not seek to protect God. He is God. No one can hurt Him. God allowed the hatred of the world to come against His only begotten Son and brutally murder Him upon a cross. God did not seek to protect His Son from what a man could do but instead used the event as the launching pad for the greatest journey of man. Upon that singular event of brutality God drew the necessary requirements for reconciliation of mankind to Himself.

Rather than seek protection in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus sought to follow God's logic to the letter. The world needed a sacrifice in blood to cleanse them of the sin of denying the God of heaven. It had to be a perfect sacrifice, free of any blemish or sin. Jesus, God incarnate, accepted the role He would play in this drama and went willingly to the cross. It was not convenient or pleasant. It was not designed to protect God but to reveal Him and His love for His creation in complete fullness to the entire world. As Christ's flesh was laid bare upon that cross, God Himself was revealed to all who would look. God came not to take anything from man but to give His life as ransom for man. God died so that man could live, live eternally with Him in glory. God's is the opposite of the world's logic. God's kingdom is the opposite of the world's societies.

The word "respect" no longer holds much water either. As a young man I had a man, a university professor, try to argue against that point when I mentioned that respect in the USA was gone. After he railed against my expressed viewpoint I asked him a simple question, "Why do you not respect my right to hold a different view than yours?" He was livid with his anger that I would challenge him, because he believed he was the only one who was right. (He was an instructor, after all.)

Of course I understand my different view could be based upon convenience, too. It could be considered convenient for me, in my discouragement with society's ways, to hold with viewpoints that attack society. His anger was a convenience of his view. I merely wish to inspect those conveniences and discover if they pervert real truth or uphold it. He was not interested in my desires while expressing his own.

Maybe he saw my view as merely a convenience for me. He will never know because he was not willing to hear my logic behind the statement. He did not want to share his logic either because I was, as he put it, "an idiot." The respect he gave to others in the class was earned as a result of agreement with him. If I did not agree with him I could not earn respect. I suggested that he go home and look up respect in the dictionary. I wanted to suggest he go home and grow up, but I held my tongue. I did not pass that class because he graded my view point, not my grammar or understanding of the English he was teaching. I was not convenient to his way of thinking. Like the world's logic which defies its own intent in order to squash whatever disagrees with it, he was willing to change the rules as we went along to make sure I was unsuccessful in whatever I did. As a note of encouragement I later repeated the same class with a different instructor and received an "A".

It was my first encounter in the real world with those who felt attacked by any viewpoint other than their own. I had always held strong views of my own, but I had never believed that anything I developed was perfect and unblemished by personal opinion and experience, which was not that much. I was not at that time a believer in God's logic, just a curious observer of this fatalistic side of human behavior. It was a lesson I will never forget.

Honesty is another victim of our society's passion for convenience. Anyone who doubts this has not tried to take out a loan at any banking institution lately. Banks no longer work for the greater good of the community. Instead they now work for the greater good of the stockholders and other investors. (That means investors are counted as more important than those who have entrusted their money – even their meager life savings – to the banking institution.) They do not work for their depositors any more. The bottom line, profit, is their only concern. Even in a local bank, with which I have dealt for years, I am now required to show proof of who I am. Not because the young lady or the older tellers do not know me, but because their "new" policy dictates that they trust no one. My father once told me that an honest person trusts everyone because he sees them just like himself. (The world's logic calls that being naive.) A crook trusts no one for the same reason. This sheds an unflattering light upon those we deal with today.

It is more convenient in business practices, relationships and almost every area of life to trust no one. Make people prove their worth before we involve ourselves with them. Still, we will never give them control over that which could harm us, our personal life, our personal dreams. Convenience demands that we always have our real life in a reserve pocket somewhere. Honesty is unnecessary if I never trust anyone anyway. I do not care if they are honest or not because I will determine their usefulness for my life. I give no one else that authority by the world's logic.

Honesty requires trust and trust is inconvenient. To expect honesty makes us vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous people. Honesty is nice but too much work. Suspicion is easier. To suspect everyone takes less time, less energy, less commitment, less risk. Suspicion is convenient to the times we live in reasons the world's logic. After all, most people are dishonest anyway, the self-proclaimed honest few tell themselves. Does this not appear to be grossly maladjusted behavior?

God's logic takes a person at his word. A person only need say I believe and then live according to that belief. The word of God states that we will know a person by the fruit they bear. Jesus said that it is what is on the inside of a person that comes out of them. Clearly, God's way establishes a contrary view of honesty to the world's view. God believes in honesty and gives trust at a man's word. The true rewards of life come from what we do anyway, more than what we say. The world's logic creates systems to prove we are worthy. God's logic makes us worthy by belief in His Son and His death, burial and resurrection.

Even when a believer makes a mistake or purposefully sins, God says all that is necessary is to ask forgiveness. The world will never embrace this element of logic. It is too inconvenient and could conceivably cost them much. To God the cost is in souls, not money. His logic is based on gathering lost souls unto His rest and eternal life. The world's logic is profit based. That which steals from their true goal, profit, will be dealt with by punishment. Forgiveness in the world's eyes can only be achieved through repayment and or death, sometimes preferably both.

Also, if the world were to embrace an ideology of trust it would sound too much like Christianity, which it opposes. To trust in the living God of heaven is Christianity's claim to reason. It is that trust in our God which holds us up and keeps us moving at times. If the world can destroy a person's ability or desire to trust, then they have effectively indoctrinated them against Christianity's influence.

I could go on and on. The point is made. Convenience has marred every aspect of our society, including our relationship with God. If the church follows the bible logic too closely then we get uncomfortable with the requirements of our walk with God and we go in search of a new church. And we search until we either find one to our liking or we create a new one by our casting the physical vote. The physical vote is the one we make by attending or not attending.

Many pastors today water down the message of the bible's logic so that they won't offend anyone. I understand that this is intended to fill up the pews. But conscience dictates I must ask this question, "What are we filling the pews up with?" (I did mean purposely to use "what" and not "who", by the way.)

I understand the bible mandate to not offend people. However, I also do not want to offend God. (Are we filling our pews up with people who don't care if they offend God?) God is my first and only line of truth to decide the worthiness of the logic I teach and live by. If something is offensive to God His logic explains that He is not in it and it is of no use to His people.

If something does not offend God then why should it offend His people? Well, we're back to the convenience issue again. Many people change churches, live their everyday lives, grow old and die struggling to maintain the conveniences in their lives, all the while never suspecting there is a more perfect way. I am thankful for a God who wants to show me a best way of life specifically designed for me. As a pastor I am equally thankful when I meet others who are intent upon finding God's fullness for their lives. We are kindred souls in life's journey.

When the truth of God's logic offends someone, the offense will always be in an area of their personal convenience. (I challenge anyone to find a reason for leaving a church and joining another that is not based upon personal convenience unless that church is teaching against God's truth.) God's truth is perfect so it can not offend those trying to live according to that perfection. The only way offense can come is when the logic of the person (teacher or student) is at odds with the logic of God.

Similarly, those who live by the logic of God are offended by the actions of those following the logic of the world. The world's logic conveniently understands when a Jehovah's witness is offended by a Christmas celebration on public property but they can not seem to grasp why a Christian is offended by a Halloween celebration on that same property. It is simple. Denying God's logic seems progressive to them. Enforcing God's logic seems pointless to the logic of the world. No matter the rhetoric used, the object is to promote personal logic for personal gain and to refute the logic of the Great God of heaven which is inconvenient.

Christians do not need to refute the world's logic, just hold it up to the light of results. Long term results always tell the story. God's logic has stood the test of time because it does not require conveniences to fuel it. It is fueled by truth that brings true freedom. The world's logic must change with every whim and fancy of society. It is unstable because of the conveniences which man creates to fuel it and shape it. Those who prescribe to the world's logic are just as unstable as the platform upon which they stand.

In countries where there are few conveniences, like running water and good sewage disposal, it is hard to find a person who has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and then claims to be offended by it. (Unless they promote another religion) In the USA, a land where conveniences are treated as necessities of life, many Christians claim to have been offended by some part of church. Many try to play it off as a personality issue but I believe it goes deeper than that. It is not the pastor's personality they despise so much as the truth of God that he or she insists upon everyone following. Mature people are ready to be truthful and will fight to have their beliefs understood in the light of their logic system. Immature people are ready to run away and hide from the truth blaming others for their running away.

During a 10-day trip to Ecuador I noticed a hunger for the truth of God in the people at every stop we made. In the USA I notice an apathy that saddens me both for God and for God's people here. We are so wrapped up in our conveniences we can not even see the goodness of the God we keep denying by choosing convenience over truth.

God has the only perfect way. It required that His only begotten Son would take human form and give up the riches of heaven in order to become the perfect sacrifice for all of the sin of mankind. I am quite sure that it was not a matter of convenience which brought Christ to earth. In fact the bible says it was the most perfect form of commitment, love, which brought Him from the throne of glory to a lonely, degrading death on a cross. With a very great respect for all mankind Jesus traveled the country side teaching about the kingdom of heaven, which He represented on earth. In all honesty He gave us the truth about how to reconcile our lives of sin to the sinless God of heaven, no matter who hated Him for it. Jesus came exampling true commitment, deep respect for God's creation, and an honest plan for their future.

If Jesus had been concerned for conveniences He would have waited to be born in the last part of the twentieth century when conveniences were more prominent. Of course, those human conveniences probably pale in comparison to the conveniences of heaven and the throne which He stepped down from. Suffice it to say, Jesus gave up His conveniences to do the will of His Father on earth. Should man's lot be any less?

### Chapter Five

### Integrity

It is only normal that the enemy of God should target those same characteristics of commitment, respect and honesty in order to turn the creation against the Creator. The logic of the world targets commitment by making it relative to the situation. That makes it convenient for people. We can commit without risking anything, so to speak. Without even so much as a cursory evaluation, commitment without risk doesn't make sense to our minds. The very essence of commitment acknowledges that we let go of something we hold in order to grab onto something else identified as more valuable. That in between period is the risk.

A man lets go of his independence to attach himself forever to the woman that makes him complete. That adjustment period between his own way and their new way, together, is the risk he takes. The same holds true for the woman. Both have expectations and needs that they bring into the relationship. The commitment is to meet each others needs and enhance all expectations. Along the way they work out the details, struggle through the problems and create opportunities that can never exist without mutual commitment.

God created commitment when He took Eve from Adam's rib. She was his help meet. Not a slave or servant, but a continuation of who he was, a part of him. His commitment was in her DNA, which was his DNA. Her commitment was in being who she was created to be, an extension of all he was, and who they now were as a couple. (Just like the Bride of Christ) It is the most beautiful of all relationships. The husband and wife relationship is the most committed, not because of the permanency involved in the marriage certificate, but because of the commitment necessary to make two people become as one. Without personal commitment from each person the relationship can not work.

If the devil can erase, refute, or damage man's perception of the marriage commitment he can forever change the relationship between man and God. God describes His relationship with the church as the groom coming back for His bride. If the church is to be the bride, the extension of her husband, then the church can recognize the power they hold in their relationship. If the relationship is damaged then the link to the power needed to live out God's logic is damaged, too. All that is necessary to give the enemy of God's logic, Satan, an upper hand is for people to believe it is not necessary to be committed, that personal choices are okay without God's truth.

The world's logic is always attacking the marriage commitment of the people of God. Free sexuality, women's sexual rights, gay and lesbian relationships. From every perceivable angle the world's logic chips away at the foundation of commitment so they can redefine it for their own conveniences. It's called old fashioned, out of date, puritan, names that relegate the true commitment of marriage to a back seat in public opinion at best. If commitment is not so important, as the world's logic would lead us to believe, why is so much time given to trying to downplay it? Why does this unimportant characteristic of God stand against so many convenient attitudes of the people of this world? Unimportant things have shown a proclivity in history of just fading away. Why does the world's logic just not assume that this unimportant "commitment" will fade away, too? Could it be that they know what God began can not be ended? Could it be they are afraid that it represents a truth they can not defeat?

The world says you must earn respect, which of course, they dish out based on how you perform according to their logic. (How you agree with where they want to go) Lack of respect is the reason why Christians are seldom taken seriously in a real discussion. The world does not respect God's logic even though it is older than the world's logic, more successful than the world's logic, and based upon a truth that can never be defeated.

Respect is the quality of one person to recognize another person with positive regard to their continuing relationship. Respect comes through sacrifice. Each party in a relationship must sacrifice some aspect of their personal life in order to prove the respect is real. If the sacrifice is one-sided then the respect is one-sided. The world asks people to sacrifice truth in order to be a part of what they want to do. The world sacrifices nothing to be part of the people's lives, just asks for submission. God sent His only Son to sacrifice His life. He asks us to sacrifice our lives now to join in His kingdom plan and live a full life with Him. The world's logic is one-sided. God's logic is a two party relationship.

The world's logic respects submission to its ideas and theories without giving a real reward. The world has nothing to offer except that which any person can go out and get on their' own, money, fame, fortune, relationships. The world's logic offers no plan for the future, except striving for more material gain. The world's logic asks us to give up aspects of our happiness in order to achieve what we can achieve without them.

Some people will begin understanding why there are so many people with so many different plans of success now. It is not that success is so elusive, but that many people have discovered they do not have to do it the world's way. They can achieve it on their own with hard work and a little opportunity. But in the end what do they have? They can only achieve what a natural man can achieve, natural things. What about eternity? See, the enemy of our souls, Satan, wins the imprisonment of a soul by letting them achieve whatever they want as long as getting close to God is not part of it. Many false dreams of success, one victory from the enemy, who only wants to destroy God's creation and he doesn't care how it is accomplished.

God's logic calls Jesus the sacrifice. The sacrificial debt has been paid by the Lord Himself. None other was worthy and none other is necessary. Everyday the world asks for another sacrifice of self. In order to stay in the good graces of the world one must continually bow and submit to the logic without demanding truth. God's logic does not demand a daily sacrifice. The sacrifice has already been given by Jesus. God does demand submission, though. His submission requirement is to the truth, though, not despite it.

The world would have us believe that there is no real truth. That means there are no real answers. Well every school aged child can tell you that is wrong. Tests have right and wrong answers. We respect those students who get the answers right. We even honor them, except when they grow up and want the truth about God. No wonder so many adults act confused. All through school they are conditioned to give the right answer and then they graduate into a world that prides itself on changing the truth at every turn.

Respect gives honor to truth. What we respect becomes our truth. Respect of relationships gives honor to those relationships. Respect of values gives honor to those values. Respect of morals gives honor to those values.

Things we honor we promote. When we honor a person we promote that person as the ideal in whatever category we honor them in. The relationships, values and morals we honor will be the very ones we promote to the coming generations. Respect is the beginning of the uplifting of our society or the downfall depending upon where we place that respect.

One thing people should understand, we can never respect any part of one logic system without honoring that system and promoting it to the people who see us daily. That means the people who want to respect the world's logic system dare not give any respect to the logic of God. That would confuse and compromise their logic. God's logic, on the other hand, is based on truth and truth is what we respect. Therefore, truth spoken by anyone is still truth.

There's the sticky part. While a Christian agrees with something society does because it is based upon truth, society uses that agreement to make it seem as though everyone should agree with them on all things because they got one thing right. God's word says just the opposite. Can bitter and sweet water come out of the same fountain? Of course not. A little yeast will cause the whole bread to rise. Or, as a friend of mine puts it, If I make ten pounds of mashed potatoes with butter and salt but only add a pinch of horse manure, can it not be salvaged and eaten?

It should be clear why the world's logic system wants to devalue respect. Without respect of something, people lose their beginning motivation and never honor anything. They have no real valuable things to promote, just their personal conveniences. And promoting personal conveniences is not a driving motivation because they are not respected either. Consequently, when the people of a community lose their respect for life, they lose their motivation to grow. They turn instead to activities of self gratification and self amusement.

Lastly, the world's logic rewards dishonesty as long as no one gets hurt except those who can afford to take a loss. That sounds gruesome and criminal. But it is the truth. The greatest dishonesty in the world is the lie we tell millions of welfare recipients every month. We tell them they can never take care of themselves and must forever submit to the degradation and embarrassment of the public nature of public assistance. We also make it necessary for them to lie consistently in order to receive these benefits or suffer the humiliation of not even being good enough for handouts.

My heart aches for those who must endure this life-sapping system the world has devised to tear away the fabric of families and cause deep emotional scarring for the sacrifice the world's logic demands. I have personally endured three years of making well below the poverty line in salary as a pastor of a struggling, small church. Except for accepting some medical help for my three children, (which was minimal) I can say that we have not only survived but flourished in a community where the cost of living is not the highest but certainly not the lowest of any place we have ever lived. We did not seek out public assistance because I refuse to believe that the world's assumptions about my need for their conveniences are true.

How did we do it? My wife is a great budgeter. She can stretch a dollar farther than any woman I know. We scrimped on the non-necessities and enjoyed the little splurges we could afford from time to time. We did not spend money needlessly, a fact that I have recently understood that most people do not understand. Going to the movies or even renting them weekly is not a necessity. That is a convenience. How did we do it? We cut out the conveniences. That's all. No great secret, just right living and right choices. Conveniences are not necessities.

Now some would say that my standard of living was too low for them and that they will not come down to that level. My answer is always the same. Too bad. We will never know what we are missing because we have surrounded ourselves with so many artificial signs of success.

As a family we have discovered that God's logic works. We did not die without the things the world's logic calls a necessity and the logic of God calls a convenience. It proved to us that God was right. We did not have to go live in the back woods of some Canadian wilderness to live either. We lived, worked and played daily in a city of 30,000 in the convenience crazed USA. And we grew.

Just a note for anyone who might find this hard to believe. Let me make it even harder. During this time my daughter graduated from a major college with a four year degree and we spent no money of our own practically. My son graduated from high school and is right now searching out a college to attend. Our youngest daughter is looking forward to her junior year in high school and has her sights set on medical school when she graduates. When we began this sold out commitment to God's logic many people told us the lifestyle we were entering into would destroy our kids. Well, I'll put my kids up against anyone's. God is able to keep those who will believe in Him and follow His logic system. That includes my family, too. It also includes yours.

Let me assure you, there were some very tight times financially. Nothing about following God's logic was convenient. It was hard on my mind, my ego, and my heart, which wanted the best for my family like any other good father. Many times I had to tell myself that no matter what, God's way was what was best for them. I had to give up my more expensive van for a lesser expensive one. There were times when our vehicles did not work properly and sometimes not at all. We struggled at times to continue following and keeping faith in God's logic. But our commitment was final. It was real. We took some hits financially and in many other areas of conveniences (personal comforts) but we would never trade the experience of God's presence and protection for anything else, even those experiences. We honestly believed God's logic was best and we were determined to follow Him to the end.

True honesty is not a part of the world's logic any more. The world's honesty is measured in results not truth. The end justifies the means many times. I order to continue their convenient lives people will deny the truth and lie. It is a response as old as childhood itself, justification. Ask a child holding a broken vase if they broke it and they will deny it without thinking because the alternative is uncomfortable, inconvenient. The immaturity of the world's logic which makes dishonesty okay as long as comfort is maintained is obvious if not irritating.

Just like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar the world's logic demands that we believe what they say no matter what the evidence proves. The world denies God, denies Jesus, denies the very truths of the bible yet the proof for it is undeniable. Still the world wants people to understand that they honestly want the best for everyone when they lie and subvert the truth for their more noble means, personal conveniences of which everyone takes part.

By the world's logic honesty is not necessary when you are degrading a point of view different from your own. The world's logic does not seek truth so honesty is not a factor. The world's logic seeks comfort so convenience is the greatest truth they have to offer. It is the very essence of courtroom drama. Lawyers do not serve right or wrong. They serve the interests of their clients. Is it any wonder when supreme court justices attempt to influence society with their decisions, that they base their decisions on conveniences of comfort held by society rather than using obscure reference to the truth of right and wrong?

Crime is no longer the issue, but whether or not the criminal can show cause for why they committed the act. If it can be justified then maybe the truth of the issue needs to be amended. If enough people support a particular position of regulation then maybe it needs to be given its due. Whether the defendant can show a viable logic – no matter what it is based upon – that their point of view is just as convenient as the other guys becomes the question. And because it is new, it might be considered more modern and therefore more usable.

True honesty requires that a full review of the facts be made and then, without drawing personal conclusions based on saving or rescuing any particular thought or notion, enforcing the truth of a situation based upon a set criteria of morals, values and ethics. True honesty requires that a person set aside any previously held notions and follow that which is proved by the truth. True honesty looks for the revealed truth in the resulting proof.

False honesty searches for proof of a previously expected or desired result. It will change criteria to meet goals of personal convenience, the proof. False honesty, or dishonesty, rules by personal choice and not physical or spiritual law.

Darwinism can never stand up to true scientific honesty. The missing link theory, a foundational principle of Darwinism, is the evidence that the faulty logic must be rescued. There is absolutely no evidence in existence anywhere for the ancestral jump from ape to mankind. Without a belief in the missing link theory, which is a thought proposed from absolutely no evidence, Darwinism is a dishonest perversion of the real facts. True honesty would be a scientist admitting there is no proof for the idea that man descended from apes.

Instead, because the alternative would be to announce that many proofs exist that the world was created in an instant – the Big Bang theory of God's logic – the world creates its own version of the truth. A dishonest version. Honesty would also require the scientific community to admit that the evidence they have matches the bible's depiction of the creation of the earth and gives absolute credence to God's claim as Creator.

Honesty must be defeated or at least nullified in the world's logic or someone would hold them to it and prove their lies in a world forum. God's logic is not afraid of honesty. It is the world's logic which seeks to tear down true honesty and replace it with a false honesty of convenience for all.

Integrity is a lost word in the world of today. Integrity demands too much of people and displaces so many conveniences, like forgetting about God. Integrity is a lot of work too. The world says, "Sit back and we will tell you all what you need to know." God's logic says, "Study to show yourself capable because you have been tested." Tested means evaluated honestly. We are to be, according to God's way, workmen – not lazy men – that are not ashamed of the truth (or afraid of it) because we know about truth from personal experience with it.

If integrity is lost in the world's logic it is paramount to the Logic of God. God calls us to be as He is. He is a God of integrity and He desires us to be men and women of integrity. The world's logic makes noise about desiring integrity but they must first have some before requiring it of anyone else. (Otherwise their measurement fails)

Integrity requires self evaluation on terms that take us outside ourselves. How can the world's logic evaluate itself outside itself when it declares that it is all that exists? Only God's logic gives us the opportunity to evaluate ourselves outside ourselves against a perfection we have never claimed for ourselves, God.

When the people of the world start using absolute truth in all honesty, respecting all points of view and evaluating everything for the absolute truth contained in it, then, and only then, will integrity be returned to the world's logic. Until then the world's integrity is marred and flawed. Can anything good come from something that begins with a faulty foundation?

God's logic is not afraid of the world's logic and does not seek to destroy it, only deny its claim to want the best for people. The world's logic is destroying itself each time it needs to be adjusted, changed or amended. Can anything that does not mind destroying itself mind destroying the people it represents? God's logic has never changed. The bible is many centuries old and still going strong. It has survived countless societies with countless world views of logic. The integrity of the logic of God is not in question. It has not changed. What is questioned frequently by the world's logic is the validity and value of such an archaic piece of truth as it relates to the conveniences of the newest society which undertakes measures to once again try and refute it.

The world's logic pits itself against God and all He stands for. God's logic incorporates all of mankind under one system of authority with all the inclusive limits. The world's logic can never hold God's logic within it. The logic of God is as big as the universe. For the world's man-made logic to try and swallow up God's eternal, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-present logic is like a fly trying to eat an elephant. Even if the fly can start eating, he will surely die before he finishes the meal.

### Chapter Six

### The Media

We could not discuss commitment, respect, or honesty without mentioning how the world spreads its views in contrast to the church. The church spreads the Word of God from house to house with community congregations living out the Word right there for all to see. We offer living proof, so to speak. The world media on the other hand report to a much larger and far more remote congregation, the TV viewer. Their job it seems is not to enhance life for the one watching, except as a means whereby self-gratification can be claimed, but to warn against all things it finds troublesome.

When the logic of the media (the world's logic) is founded upon convenience then obviously the thing that the media will take exception too will be that which is inconvenient, the church. The church stands against the world's view of convenience and dares to ask its people, God's people, to do even that which may not be convenient. Of course, when the news media reports the news they never report about what good things the church has done, but let one minister fall or make a bad decision and the whole world needs to hear it.

The argument could be made that the media treats everyone that way. Well, maybe they do. What kind of argument is that? The media's job is to report on life, not slant it. Whether by news media, entertainment, or otherwise, the media prefers to always look for the worst in everything and everybody. (Think about it. The TV movie of the week is usually based on disasters, whether natural or human.) Why? Because the worst is what it knows best. It is easy to focus on. It also is convenient.

If the Media community was to focus on the best of things, then too much attention would be focused on churches and all that churches are doing in their communities. The light of the churches, using God's logic, would outshine the enterprises of the world which use the world's logic. That would simply be inconvenient. (Again, the world does not want honest competition but victory by ignorance.)

There must be an attack on the negative things of life at all times. It must be an attack that shows up the weaknesses of everything man is involved in. That way every person would understand the need for a system of logic that helps them achieve their respective goals in life. Then the world is right there with their personalized system of logic to be used and adjusted at will for every society. The truth of media that serves the world's purpose is that there must be an attack foundation from which to generate the need for the flexible world logic. No one has ever accused the media of being biased against the world's opinions, only against the church, or God.

Commitment, respect, honesty. They are all part of the overall package of integrity. Today's world is selling a package of reduced integrity and claiming it to be superior to the one the Christian community observes. Not only does the world package their own version but they belittle the church's version of true integrity every chance they get. It's like a fast food restaurant claiming to be able to make fillet mignon better than some expensive, high quality restaurant. First of all, they don't have real fillet mignon, they just call it that. Second, it is processed to make it easier to cook for convenience sake. And third, anyone who ever puts the two dishes side by side will undoubtedly be able to tell the difference. So, why do people buy into the world's false value system of integrity? The same reason we go through a fast food drive-through. Convenience.

### Chapter Seven

### Learning of Divine Logic

Maybe you know this. Maybe you don't. Just over two thousand years ago the Lord, Jesus, gave His life that you and I might be reconciled to the glorious and wonderful God who created us. A sacrifice was required for the sins of mankind against the Creator. A spotless sacrifice, having no sin, could not be found among men and the Son of God came to make that sacrifice. It was necessary that One would die for all that all should be given the opportunity to live. Every living person on the earth now has the opportunity to choose to serve the God who cared enough to die for them. Upon that opportunity is all real life predicated. Without that opportunity not only is life not worth living it is not life, but mere existence on human terms. Our God, for those who serve Him and even for those who do not, has done everything He can do to bring His creation to their senses. The choice is ours.

The world's logic has done everything it can to deny God. The very existence of God is a threat to the world's logic. A lot of people claim to believe in a higher power. Many of those claim that higher power is God and some try to create gods of their own choosing. There is one major difference in the many variations of the logic systems of the world. All alternate systems (those against God) claim to deny the true God but God's logic never denies the existence of the others. God's logic warns us against them and explains their harmful ways. I believe the world's logic systems deny God because He is the only absolute perfection in logic they wish they could be.

The closest the world comes to warning people about God's logic is to make false claims of its validity. Christianity can be documented and historically revealed. The roots of Christianity, the life, death, and resurrection of Christ are not in question historically, only by modern systems of logic. The claims of the world's logic system revolve around verbal attacks designed to muddy the waters and the facts. The world claims that Christians are crazy and believe in fairy tales. These are not logical statements but attacks of emotion by people who have no facts to back up their own histories and therefore need to destroy the credibility of the opposing logic.

God does not attack the believers of a wrong logic. He says we should love them and seek to educate them to proper logic. God warns us not to attack them and thus turn them away from the right path. God's logic warns all people against following these patterns of wrong logic because they end in disaster, life without God. God's focus is always to make eternity with Him a goal of the believers. The world's logic always focuses on immediate satisfaction and reward. God warns us against seeking immediate satisfaction all the time. The world warns us about not getting enough fast enough. God's logic speaks of a noble life of service to the good of all and the world's logic speaks of a desperate life of worry and ignoble desires to satisfy a list of personal wants.

Logical thinking would mandate that, if I am going to give my life toward some purpose, I should give it to the purpose that manifestly serves my best interest. What better purpose than to serve the plan of the One who created me and died for me? (If you have a problem with creation or with the purpose of Christ's death, don't quit on me yet. Give me a chance to reveal to you the ultimate logic of a relationship with Christ.)

I like to think of myself as a logical kind of guy. And I approach things with a logic I believe was given to me from the Creator. Not only did He build an innate sense of logic into me, He then gave me a copy of His word written down (the bible) that I might exercise and practice the logic I was designed for, daily. To say the least, whatever logic system we choose to apply to our life, it will make or break that life.

It is in the very essence of logic that man struggles with the discussions of religion and relationship with God. Great authors through history have struggled to capture that logic on paper. Shakespeare explores the very logic of life itself in every relationship of his plays. To Shakespeare the struggle is always in the relationship. If we are honest with ourselves we would all admit that our greatest struggles are based upon relationships or at least because of them. A husband has struggles with his wife or vice versa. A child struggles in their relationship with a parent. That same parent struggles to relate to the child. There are relationships of authority, relationships of mutual respect, even relationships of convenience. All are responsible for a struggle we must deal with. All result from a relationship problem that must be solved.

It is the logic we apply to our struggles which bring about results. Anyone who believes problems just solve themselves needs a good dose of true logic, so keep reading. (I really wanted to write, "they need their head examined," but my conscience tells me to be nice, so, here it is.) The husband and wife kiss and make up after an argument because they love one another. A boss and an employee work out their differences because each needs the other to accomplish their work tasks. Logic is the tool by which we govern our choices. What we think, what we say, what we do, are all determined by the logic that prevails in our life.

For instance, one train of worldly logic (logic that opposes or otherwise denies the truth of the bible) can not or will not accept the fantastic claims of a human named Jesus who claims to be the earth's Messiah. Trying to ascertain every possible way with which a man could hold God in His being and finding it impossible the world discards even the fact that God exists. That's essentially the same conclusion a man would make while trying to describe what the wind looked like. I can not see it or harness it for my own purposes so I decide it must not exist despite the evidence of its movements. Just because man's brain can not comprehend all the things of God, a being so great as to have created the universe, there is no reason to deny the Creator. We should never base our beliefs on the fact that we can not understand something.

The logic of the idea that God does not exist is false because it assumes that the knowledge of man at some given time is perfect and complete. (History reveals man's intellect, or body of knowledge, to be constantly changing and growing, so perfection has not yet been achieved.) Just because man can not make something happen himself does not make anything impossible. For years it was thought to be impossible for a man to run a four-minute mile, until it was done. Many thought it was impossible to go to the moon until man did it. At one time it was thought that a ship sailing too far into the ocean would fall off the edge of the earth, until it was proved to be a wrong theory. Man's knowledge is always expanding. Making his knowledge or understanding the foundation of anything is treacherous territory.

I can not help but to interject a little reasoning here. It was inconvenient for man to push himself to run a four-minute mile. It was far more convenient for man to keep his feet on the earth and not reach for the moon. In Columbus' day it was far more convenient to travel over hard terrain on arduous journeys of commerce than to invent new routes using new ways. Medical science claimed that a man would die trying to run a four-minute mile. Doctors claimed all sorts of strange things would happen to men if they went into space. Columbus was told he would never return from his voyage to the edge of the world. Convenience kept people safe. Inconvenience brought new discovery of life beyond the accepted limits.

So how do we use logic to approach God? Better yet, what kind of logic even points us toward God? It must have a solid foundation and truth that can never be disputed to back it up. It must be a logic which can and has survived the elements of time, changes in the flexible knowledge base of mankind and other variable factors of life, and still come out perfectly intact. It must be logic that can only be described as perfect and untouchable by all other standards of logic. Does such a logic exist? Yes. It not only exists but every person walking this earth has some access to it and the inner ability to apply it even though they may never fully understand all of it.

God's logic is the only system of the world that claims to be perfect. It begins with a claim of God's perfection and then asks people to live up to their potential in a perfect God with the help of that perfect God. Never does the logic of God claim to be less than the best at anything.

The world's logic is founded upon the fact that people are not perfect. The world's logic asks us to put up with imperfection because the people we live around are never going to be perfect. But we should believe everything they say even though they do not have all the perfect answers to everything. A faulty foundation of imperfection stands little chance of driving the world onward toward a state of perfection.

A people can never grow higher than their leaders. If the leaders are imperfect then followers will always be imperfect too. God is the only perfect leader who constantly calls us to come up higher and be more than we ever dreamed we could be. He empowers us from a platform beginning with His perfection not a platform that begins with our imperfection.

Choose you this day whom you will serve, the imperfect masters of this new way, which is not new but just adjusted over the centuries, or the perfect God. One offers the logic of serving self, the other the logic of serving the good of all mankind. The world's logic is even imperfect in its focus.

### Chapter Eight

### The Greater Good

I have always been aware that I do nothing in my life that I do not perceive as making my life better. It is a fundamental principle of life that we seek out the greatest good. I would never embark knowingly upon a course of action that would harm me or my family. Sure, parents make sacrifices for their children that set them back, financially and otherwise, and even may seem to harm themselves at times. (Lack of money or things does not kill, though.) The greater good of the child is the goal which parents strive for. Such is the psychological make up of the creature called man. We love to a fault. We will fight to the death, not to continue our species, as some who would call man just another animal claim, but to advance some greater good.

That's where my journey in life begins each morning, at the logic of a greater good. Without purpose, a greater good, there is no reason for my life. I would be just another animal competing with the other animals of the world. To those in society who believe it is just that simple I take exception. If competition is the goal then why do we outlaw the killing off of each other? Does that not run counter to the goal of winning? What kind of sick animal creates conditions in its life that make it life harder? Truthfully, man is not just another animal. Man is the only creature of God's creation who has a "greater good" purpose built into him. Never do we feel more alive and successful than when we have done good for others.

A wolf pack may take care of its own and fight for each other and raise the cubs together but they are still animals in competition. They mate after competition. They eat after competition. Their daily activities are based upon competition. One wolf pack doesn't care about another one, though. They mark out their territories and defend them. Why? Competition. When a fire in another territory drives scared animals unto the territory of a wolf pack, do the wolves help the running animals or eat them? Man is not like ordinary animals. We help each other in times of disaster.

The idea of a greater good is more than just a theory or a nice idea. It is impossible to continue life without it. Without the existence of a greater good there is only the existence of the individual good. That becomes dangerous to maintain. If animals are left to themselves without natural or human regulation the predators will kill off the prey and then starve themselves.

The greatest good for an individual is to have all his or her needs met. If every individual only sets out to meet their own needs there is no need to come together in any way. They are individuals after all. To perfect our individualism we should strive to get further and further away from others. Families should be unnecessary. Friends should hold no use for us. Government help should never be sought out.

To acknowledge that I need even one other person for anything requires that I must do something to meet the needs of the other in order to get my own needs met. This relationship is the greater good. Whatever is the best situation or solution to problems or limits to our lives for our relationship becomes the greater good for us.

I am intrigued by the attitude of the people who live in government housing. Having worked with many races and ethnic backgrounds I can safely say that the attitude is one of rebellion, not individualism. While they spout off about their individualism and rights and privacy and all the other jargon of the world's convenience logic, they depend on each other, the government, and just about every church within ten miles of them. They are not acting like individuals but more like dependents of society. Like a child who says their life is their own once they graduate high school or college, yet they still live with mom and dad, and eat the food off their table. The people are deceived by the conveniences they have.

I love the people who struggle daily with the conditions of public housing. I understand the needs of wayward fathers and the plight of abandoned mothers. I see daily the results of these afflictions upon the children of those households. I would never put them down because they fight a fight many of us Americans can only imagine.

Just recently the comedian Bill Cosby was denounced for his seemingly spiteful comments against the black population. I believe his explanation to the black people and the press would do all people of every nationality and background well to hear. In my life time it is one of the most poignant reminders we have of the way that convenience lifestyles are killing America.

Commenting about America's black population Mr. Cosby said, "They think they're hip. They can't read; they can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere," as reported by Debra Dickerson in a July 13, 2004 article entitled Bill Cosby, America's Grandad Gets Ornery. Mr. Cosby made his remarks in Chicago at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund's annual conference on July 1, 2004. I include it here, not as an attack on the black population of our country, but as a memorial to an important statement I believe will prove to be the best summary of the entirety of the degraded condition of our combined societies of the USA at this moment in history.

The comments, though biting and severe, are right on the money from a man who acknowledges that his career is all about furthering the cause of building up the black community. What if we apply his rhetoric to all of mankind? Can not the same thing be said about all people who refuse to carry themselves in a way that best serves mankind?

The logic of the world dictates that individualism be maintained at all costs, even if the individual is totally dependent upon someone else. That's plain stupidity. Who, in their right mind, supplies our needs and then does not ask anything in return from us? Anyone want to take that job? Of course not. Then why do we think we can live a life that only takes out of this world and never puts anything back? The truth is we can not. The world's logic says the one who can take and not put back wins. But real understanding knows better. As Mr. Cosby said, we need to stop acting like we're in charge when we are not. We are responsible to each other. And that means we are responsible to the ones who are in charge.

Every day we are asked to prove ourselves. The problem is not in proving ourselves but the goals of that proof. I am not impressed by people acting "cool" and like they are something special when I know where they live is something to be embarrassed about. I am further unimpressed with people driving a fancy car while their children go hungry at home. I spend many hours trying to figure out the logic of a family purchasing two, twenty thousand dollar cars and making payments on them while they live in a rented trailer on the outskirts of town. It seems to me that Mr. Cosby's remarks would include all of America today.

People, when left to their own interests and designs, tend to become individuals at the expense of the community they depend upon. It would seem they become a hindrance to the host, like a leech. The world's individualism drives people, at their most convenient stage, into an unhealthy relationship where the individuals become parasites to the very community they need to exist.

God's logic calls for each of us to search our hearts daily for what we can do to be part of the best for all philosophy. In God's plan we help each other to become the best people we know how to be. Our relationships become stronger. The whole community benefits as the entire body grows together toward God's perfection.

What draws men into communities? What draws men and women together to create families? Whatever it is must be a factor of the greater good because it has to be something that effects everyone in order for them to come together. If I do not need another person then I do not need to come together with them. If I need to come together with them then I must need something from them. If they agree to come together with me then they must also view some need as being fulfilled by our coming together. The need that draws men and women into all relationships is the fulfillment of the greater good.

The greater good must encompass the entire population of people it is intended to serve. Perfect relationships – relationships founded on true logic, not trouble-free relationships – are founded upon the perfect greater good of the entire community. Perverted relationships – relationships founded on selfish or faulty logic, not just sexually deviant relationships – are founded on selfish desires that pervert the greater good of the community for personal gain. Relationships which do not serve the entire population and its best interests are not for the greater good. They may represent a majority but if even one person's needs go unmet, then the logic of the greater good for that community is faulty.

Someone is bound to ask how war fits into the greater good of a people who connect the entire planet together. The answer is more basic than one might think. War is the result of two logic systems clashing. Instead of people coming together to meet each others needs, people come together in war to protest the fact that needs are not being met. War is the result of at least one faulty logic system meeting another. The misunderstandings created in the relationship must be solved. War is a vicious and final way to solve it. But it is a way.

The winner is not necessarily the one with the best system, either. Many times wrong thinking societies have triumphed for a time over right thinking ones. Genghis Kahn was an example of wrong logic run amok. Hitler would be a good example. In modern times terrorism takes a predominant place in the minds of many when they think of wrong logic waging war. War is not the answer but an extreme method devised to bring about the solution.

War can be used for the greater good though. When the USA entered World War II the Germans and Japanese were winning the war. Both of those societies were oppressive and have never been accused of serving the greater good of anyone except themselves. As a matter of fact they were not even compatible and would have had to fight each other had they won the war to decide whose system of logic for ruling the world was going to be used.

Their goal was to take over the entire world and enforce their own rules and designs upon the entire world population. When the USA stepped in that changed things. The logic of the USA was to approach everything with a greater good attitude. We do what we do for the best outcome for all involved. Our goal was to advance human relations the world over and to put down any threat to that goal.

It required much from the USA to win the war but we gave all we had even though not a single battle was fought on our soil after the initial attack at Pearl Harbor. We did it for the greater good of the world population. It was not just an admirable notion but a part of our country's logic.

The USA was known as a Christian nation back then, a country that followed the precepts and limits of the bible of God. We were recognized as a nation that acknowledged God in our government documents and the way we ruled our people. Today we debate the necessity of fighting for the greater good. We can not imagine anyone doing anything they do not personally gain from. That thought is almost alien to our new country logic. We complain about any mention of God in public and have removed His name and influence from most places where God once had prominence. By the way, less than fifty percent of our nation's population claims to be regular, church-attending Christians today.

The belief system of any population determines the logic used by that population. Anyone who tries to separate the two is chasing the wind. The logic of any given population must be derived and limited by the values held by that population. Consequently, a nation that once called upon the logic of God for its guidance would necessarily have to change their belief in that God – be it watered down and compromised or just plain denial – in order to adjust their logic. In fact, because of the totality of the logic of God, God Himself must be ignored or denied in order to allow that society to change the limits of its logic. Therefore, the logic system of any population will define the limits of that population based upon its scope of the greater good.

I believe the idea of greater good is inherent in God's plan. Everything he does is for the good of His creation of which we are all a part. Every move He makes is determined by a preset plan which brings the greatest good to God's creation and all the glory to God Himself. There is no good in man's glory because it can never equal God's glory. Without the greater glory of God there would be no ultimate achievement. Everything would be leveled or watered down by the situation and not the greater good. But because of God there is a greater glory and thus a greater good. Man's goodness is like filthy rags when compared with God's goodness. Why? Because God creates and accomplishes for the greater good always. Man reacts and struggles for personal achievement using that which God has created.

We claim that great men lead great societies but we never talk about the societies. We always talk about the individual man or woman and the thing they did. Man's focus is not on the greater good but on their place in history. God's desire is for the greater good. He already has His place as Creator. He does not need anything more. He already has all He can get. It all belongs to Him. There is no greater gain to come for God.

Ideally, we each make decisions based upon getting the best for ourselves without upsetting the greater good. Families encourage and build each other up for the greater good of the family. Communities carry out planned activities that advance the greater good of the community. Governments always tell their citizens that the things they do are for the greater good of the country. The greater good must be recognized, categorized and understood before we can choose our logic. To choose our logic based upon personal desires will leave us with a logic of faulty limits that do not serve the greater good but the special few. So the logic chosen must be perfect in its goal to establish, nurture and maintain the greater good for the entire world.

To some extent every society has espoused the idea of the greater good. With the exception of a couple of hundred years, randomly spaced in the early years of the Israelite people of the bible, no society has ever been able to achieve it. The USA has come close and some would even argue that we actually had our moments of greater good also. But I still am reminded of the slavery years, the Indian wars, and countless government scandals that plague our nation. They are not insurmountable problems by any means, but definitely not aimed at the greater good of all involved, either.

### Chapter Nine

### Choices

From the beginning the USA had an option to fully embrace the relationship with God and turn our logic totally over to His way and His Word. I am sure some would argue that we actually did it. But the truth is we chose to give God some help. We created a three party government with an executive branch to lead the people, a legislative branch to govern the people, and a judicial branch to rightly adjudicate for the people. While the division of tasks of the government was not divisive in itself it does lend itself to argument and the ability to reason out the logic of the national policies.

A three branch division of government may not seem like a bad thing on the surface. Almost God-like, one might say, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Well meaning people devised a self-governing process to best utilize their well meaning resources. But what happens when the resources of that people grow beyond the ability of the government to control it? what happens when the well meaning people are replaced by people with personal motives of success and profit? The logical answer is that one branch regulates the other. A nice theory, but what happens when all three branches, or even just two of them begin to serve their own personal interests instead of the greater good? Who will set the limits then, when the people who set the limits for the country's logic are being controlled by their own desires? To what truth does the greatest country on earth look when there is no one left to oppose it?

Someone said, "Ultimate power corrupts ultimately." Their observation was well spoken. As the prosperity of the United States grew over the years so did the desires of the politicians, judges, and even the Presidents. As their power grew with the power of the nation they consolidated individual areas of profit for all of them. They adjusted the logic of the nation as their consciences allowed them by creating new laws espousing new levels of ethical operation and moral values until the desires of the people today look nothing like the desires of the people when the nation was birthed.

Some would call it maturity. I just call it plain, simple greed. Driven by personal desires individuals could affect the logic of the USA because the logic was not founded upon God's immutable word but in their personal conveniences. I submit that if this was a nation founded upon God and His logic for our lives we would have made God's Word the final word in every area of authority. Presidents would have to be answerable to the Word of God. Judges would have to make decisions based upon God's logic not man's desires. Legislators would have to make sure every law supported God's Word and did nothing to detract from it. Instead, we paid lip service to God and created a nation where men could live out their dreams no matter what limits those dreams might take us to.

Our government, while the people of that government followed the guidance of the Word of God, saw great strides in every area of our progress. No one can deny that the early history of America was cradled in a foundation of Christian values and ethics. Every other country in the world still identifies us as a Christian nation because of those early years.

No nation on earth has achieved what the USA has achieved over the years, and that mostly by peaceful means, although backed up by the ability to bring power to bear either economically or militarily. But as the people disassociated themselves from God's logic, or God's way, then the faulty logic of men driven by personal desire crept into the values of our society. The very government officials who were elected to uphold the greater good of the world now subvert the greater good even of the nation because of their desire to profit from their office. Are they all crooks? No, they are just purveyors of faulty logic which is costing the nation its status and ultimately its prosperity and good name. The results of that faulty logic can be seen in rebellious teenagers, absentee fathers, unwed mothers, an AIDS epidemic of world wide proportions, sexual; promiscuity, various and still multiplying sexually transmitted diseases, general unrest of an unfocused population, and a decline in the academic scores across our nation. Where once we were known as the greatest nation of promise world wide, we are now labeled as the most arrogant and decadent society since the Roman Empire. We are so blinded by our own national logic that we can not understand why so many people from so many nations hate us. Still, like immature children, we just stay our course and believe the problem must be with everyone else because we are just fine.

Logic must serve the greater good. People serve the greater good. Logic is a tool of the people. Therefore, logic must serve the greater good. And, if there is a greater good of an individual it must serve the greater good of the family, then it must serve the greater good of the community, which in turn must serve the greater good of the local government, which must, in its design, serve the greater good of the country which must serve the greater good of the world. It is a long way of saying that we are all connected by the logic of the greater good.

So, who gets to decide the goals of the greater good? Who gets to enforce it? Who mediates any disputes? Who's in charge? Right there my logic alarm goes off. Logic tells me that whoever runs the show can, and knowing man's selfish ways, (evidenced in the history of American politics) probably will bend the idea of greater good towards themselves somehow.

The communists create an island country of political fervor that denies God and separates its citizens from the logic of the rest of the world. Muslim society extremes deny access of the rest of the world to impose any outward logic upon its citizens. Military governments establish iron fisted control of its citizens so that they can feed them only the logic they want them to have. Man's control over the logic invested and used within its boundaries serve the one who controls the logic. Therefore it is in the best interest of greed and power to be the one who controls the logic.

From that simple principle I can trace every single argument against God or the church. Any argument that is open to all the logic available routinely leads to the source of all logic, the One who created the universe. It stands to reason, also, that arguments of this nature can never be won unless both parties agree to the use of the same logic. It becomes then, not an argument of principle, facts or even history, but of personal desire. If I desire to be in charge of my own life then the claims of Christ to be the Son of God become inconvenient to my logic. I must discard the claims of Christ in order to establish my logic. If I agree with anyone fort even an instant that Christ is legitimate then I must discard my logic for His and thereby lose some of my conveniences which satisfy my desires.

There is the beauty of the logic of God. God's logic, as revealed in His written Word, so scrupulously transcribed for so many generations, is the only logic of the world which can stand in the face of all other logic arguments. The logic of the world is predicated upon the fact of "what if" there is no God. What if God does not exist? What if I go it alone? God's logic, on the other hand, is predicated upon "I am." Where did everything come from if not from God? How does everything operate if not by God? God is the unexplainable in our lives. God's Word explains the who, what, when, where, how and why of life. Man's best attempt has to have missing link theories and changeable observations that ebb with the flow of public opinion. Only God's logic can stand alone and has for centuries.

We do not need new theories and models of life to understand life. We need the logic of the God who created it all. God is not a theory or a man-made invention. Because of that He is above all our best notions and theories. To those who promote the world's logic God is not convenient for personal needs. His logic can never be bent to enhance personal positions. God's logic is rigid and unyielding. It can not be joined to. It must be replaced. It must be denied any chance of existence because it is the only thing the world's logic can not explain to satisfy the need it has to protect it logic.

### Chapter Ten

### The Source

All models of logic must have a source from which we are taught that logic. Life is a logical progression of events culminating in the results of the relationships of that life and their far reaching effects on others and even the world around us. I say logical because the result for any action must be considered logical by the physical, emotional, or spiritual laws which govern it whether we think it logical or not. A child may not think it logical that pulling on the handle of a pan of boiling water on the stove is dangerous but an adult, whose logic process has matured, knows it is logical to expect. There may be two different logics but only one real result.

The sources of the logic of the child are their personal experience and the teaching of the parent. Now the child will, most likely decide to believe its experience, especially if a burn were to result and pain was inflicted. But maybe the teaching of the parent, because it is not experienced, is not believed yet. The child chooses its source of logic.

I can recall, as a child, being warned that electrical outlets were dangerous. My parents taught me with their logic and asked me to obey their word based upon their authority over me and their love for me. At that age my personal logic needed experience to discover just what they meant. When I poked my fingers around the outlet and felt that jolt of electrical current run through my body I understood immediately. My logic had now joined theirs in its understanding and more of what they told me took root because I now had a basis for my belief in their word.

That is how our personal logic systems develop. Combining experience and belief we assemble the parts of our personal logic system into the logic that directs the life we lead. It is a simple combination that has repercussions throughout our years on this earth, and into the future eternity.

The reason so many people in life claim their own logic as best is that so many claim their own sources for where their logic developed. Some rely exclusively on personal experience, many rely on words or testimonials they heard from someone else. Some logic comes from well researched and believable sources. Other logic comes from dubious sources. Anywhere that an opinion is expressed there is the chance of a logic developing from it. That is how so many intelligent people can have so many widely diverse ways of approaching life.

One needs only to log onto the internet and search through the many groups of people found there to see how many people arrange their lives around the simplest of things in the most complex manner. Whether it be a community of race car fans, horse lovers, dog fanciers, kite fliers, model builders, or any of a million other options, the desire of people to find other people who think like themselves is obviously very important. Why? Because they each want to share their source of logic for what makes their life special and bearable.

One thing I noticed about the logic of all the internet communities, they were all based upon some desire of their own logic system. Whether the desire was to find others who enjoyed drinking beer or to find others who enjoyed going to church the motive was the same, sharing their logic. The difference was their source of logic. The experiences and accepted teachings of a person's life guide the choices of their relationships which ultimately direct their actions leading to the resulting life they lead.

I have always heard that opposites attract. The explanation is not in the likes and dislikes of people, but the logic they possess. Two people can both have the same logic system (the way they govern their choices) but have different likes and dislikes in life. One persona can like ketchup and the other not like it. their liking or disliking ketchup plays no part in the logic they use to make their choices, such as, how they spend their money.

Ministers, when they counsel a couple before marriage are not focusing on how much they are alike as much as they are focusing on whether the two have similar logic systems in place. When two different logic systems collide, fireworks erupt. (Compare worldly logic and God's logic.) Two different seeming people can live together as man and wife for decades as long as the two of them agree on what is important and what is unimportant in their lives. That is all a minister can possibly hope to help a young couple to understand.

People must share common ground in their logic system or suffer the consequences of never being satisfied. Even worse, they will be miserable. I counseled a woman once who complained she always picked the wrong kind of guy. After listening to her stories about the way her two previous marriages and one live-in situation dissolved, I suggested she might want to try working through her childhood issues before she entered into any more relationships. Her childhood, one of abuse, taught her to trust no one. No matter what the men in her life did, she always assumed they were untrustworthy. The logic system of the men she had relationships with included trust. When the constant nagging and suspicions of her logic system met with the expected trust of their logic systems, incompatibility arose. I used to think divorce was just a convenience for people who wanted to sleep around and got tired of one partner after awhile. Now I understand that people with two different logic systems can never abide together.

From the beginning of time all logic was developed around the Word of God. It was passed on through His prophets and leaders. It was denied and fought against by those who opposed God's people. There is no history within which the worship of God is not expressed. God's logic is as old as any recorded record and part of every unearthed era of time. Somewhere, at some time, during every age of mankind, there have been people serving the logic of God.

"New" logic comes along from time to time and claims a new authority based upon some new source and therefore a new promise to achieve a new goal. (Fads come and go, like diets or diet pills. Some fads that achieve results of some kind, stick around, like exercise programs.) The writer of Ecclesiastes, in the bible declares there is nothing new under the sun. After having tried everything his money could buy, King Solomon, arguably one of the richest men in history, discovered that God's logic covered everything. Every endeavor by man was merely an attempt to push God out of the picture and glorify men. His conclusion is haunting. Everything is vanity, he claims. Everything he tried to do outside of God's logic was like trying to hold air in his hands. King Solomon's search of the world he lived in answers many question men still ask today concerning the logic they use.

Logic serves the greater good of any entity. God's logic is founded upon the principle of the greater good for all of mankind, His creation. The Logic of the United States, for all its greatness, is still only founded upon the self-protecting ideas of its philosophies and precepts, even the biblical ones. A Muslim country's logic is based upon its foundational truths inherent in its own documentation. A communist country can do no less than prescribe to its own logic as dictated by the greater good served by its own goals.

Communist logic we have seen over the years fails to achieve for the greater good of its people because of the greed and misconduct of its overseers. For all their inspiration and fanaticism they can never find a true focus in serving an idea outside of something bigger than themselves. The failing of communism is that it sees the world as too small. Soon the government becomes the thing they all serve. Perhaps every government can admit to this failing in one way or another. It is the human factor of our logic. We can not focus on what is bigger than ourselves because we dare not admit that anything is bigger than us.

The Muslim form of government initiates a higher calling in the form of the source Allah. But still the logic fails because it is based upon the frail frame of the writings of a human named Mohamed who, alas, was not perfect and quite wrong about the greater good of the people. Just the perception of women in Muslim society should convince the world that this logic is false. The failing of the Muslim logic is its perception that all things were created for the good of Allah, (a misrepresentation of the God of the Jews and the Christians) and Allah does not love the creation. Therefore the logic of Allah operates without a care or concern for a lack of love. This lack of love translates into an ability to indiscriminately persecute those who do not agree with Allah's logic. The Christian God loves His creation so much He refuses to destroy it even when it turns against Him. Instead He sends His Son to die on a cross for their sins. Logic sources must be considered.

Even the USA, which was founded upon the logic of the One true God of heaven, Jehovah, can no longer claim God as a true source for its logic. (Consider the hatred shown to the USA by many countries in the world. Some because we do follow Christian logic, some because at times we do not follow Christian logic.) Today, when the true source, the bible, is consulted the USA falls woefully short of the logic of God. But, in God's defense, the USA does not always consult God's logic. Too often greed and lust for power rule the day. Instead of being a shining light as it once was to millions around the world, today the USA is a joke of "not-so-funny proportions" and an object of severe disdain for our not-so-godly policies.

The only true logic, pure and actually focused on the greater good of all is the logic of God. The only true representation of God's logic must be found in the churches. There individuals use the bible's logic and make Godly decisions. Families live out the code of Godly logic. Communities are impacted regularly by the church presence within it. Ideally states recognize the importance of the church and all it does according to its Godly logic. We need a country which praises the efforts of the church to hold the country in check through revelation of God's logic.

Many of us can see the individual, family and community impacts of God's logic when used. Few of us can see the states or the country responding to or with God's logic. More often than not, the world's logic of fleshly satisfaction and personal ego get in the way. God's logic is, too often, tossed aside as silly, archaic, or just plain dumb.

### Chapter Eleven

### Church versus Non-Church

I believe it is logical to see children shooting at children in the streets of our cities. It is illogical to believe that the only cause must be something wrong with the child that carries out such a plan. The logic of the world is win at all costs. Mother leave their children at home to add to the family finances. Win at all costs. Everything in our society is about winning. Teachers teach our children and make $35,00.00 while athletes entertain us and make $35,000,000.00. Win at all costs. Our news media constantly champions the causes of the winners in every situation. (Who remembers who ran against Nixon, or Regan, or even Clinton?) Win at all costs. Movies fill our imaginations with acts of revenge and coming out on top no matter what. Win at all costs. A child exacting revenge or finding a permanent way to win once and for all is just the logic of the world in the extreme. Win at all costs.

I do not for a second believe that TV makes people do things. I watch Arnold Schwartzenegger blow things up and I do not have an urge to blow anything up for myself. It is not part of my logic system. To me it remains entertainment.

I do not believe abuse drives a child to grow up and become abusive. My father beat me within an inch of my life every time I did wrong as a child. It was his way of correcting, punishing and making a memory all at the same time. By today's standards he would have been called an abusive parent. Yet I chose to go a different way (after I found God's logic system) in the raising of my children. Before I followed God's logic I was much the same in my approach to child rearing as my father had been. Now I view it as unnecessary to the logic I have chosen and the choices it dictates.

I do not believe that a working mother makes a child feel unloved and therefore needs to strike out against society. My wife worked most of the time our children were in school. But she made sure they always knew that their lives were important to us. We made time for their things. Now there were times when we could not and chose not to do certain things or attend certain things or just plain missed certain thing s because of other engagements or appointments. However, my children do not harbor a hatred towards anything because of what they missed. Their logic system explains that not everyone can do everything and part of life is dealing with it. We talk, we exchange ideas. We deal with life not demand that it serves us at every step.

It is the competitive logic of the world that states we must always get our way in order to be loved. Some people, when they first come to God from this worldly logic have that idea in place and are discouraged that God does not just change everything in their lives immediately. It takes maturity to rebuild the faulty logic. That takes time. We did not learn our bad logic overnight. We will not learn God's logic or forget the other overnight either.

While all these things are a factor in a child's developed logic system they are not the determinant factors in their actions. The factors do not make the child do anything. They merely direct the child to understand right and wrong. If win at all costs is the message of right and wrong given, then win at all costs is the result of the logic system they employ. We should not fault the child who goes to the greatest extreme of all to win at all costs. Death, murder, suicide are the greatest costs of all. Given our society's obsession with winning at all costs and our hand-me-down traditions of competition for our children, a parent should be able to be proud of what their children accomplish when they go to the extreme to win. If a parent is not proud then they need to look back at what the children were really taught.

Were they taught unconditional love? Killers seldom hear that message growing up. Were they given an atmosphere that allowed for failure and mistakes to be corrected and understood as part of life? In short, were they given some logic of life other than win, win, win?

The logic of a child who kills must be learned and experienced. The ideas must come from somewhere. The results of their life will be a response of their choices. Their choices will come from their logic and how it is applied. That is why we always hear the stories of neglect, overindulgence, and abandonment in such cases. They are part of the story but not the whole. A child who grows up in a ghetto does not have to stay there if the parents instill a logic that leads to better in the child's life. The word is hope. God's logic is full of hope.

I believe it is logical that rape, murder and child abuse crimes are on the rise. For far too long the world has attacked the logic of the church by claiming that the church's high standard of morals and ethics is outdated. Well, the world has updated itself. The result is lower morals and ethics, naturally. The suffering is done mostly by those who do not have the ability to direct the logic of this world, just answer for it, the children. The world's logic claims to have the desirable answers. So, where are the desirable results? Someone said that in order to ascertain the focus of a people one need only look at the children. I would go so far as to say, to understand the logic of the USA today just look at the children of her streets.

Crimes are committed mostly by non-church people. This is not a directly measured statistic but an observation based on what I see and hear. The news media always tells us when a person is a Christian. They never tell us when the person is a lodge member, a race car fan, or a practicing crochet hobbyist. That is not important to them. To listen to or read the news, most crimes are committed by people who have little or no connection with churches. When they do the media does not miss a chance to play it up. (I am not paranoid or feeling persecuted. I just call it as I see it.)

Though a person goes to church we must also understand that not all church people follow God's logic. I had one church member, after a sermon on the evils of abortion during pro-life week, approach me with fire in their eyes. I soon discovered they were members of a certain political party and their candidate was pro-abortion. They did not care about God's logic when it opposed their candidate's choice of platform and they told me so. They also informed me I should stick to religious issues from the pulpit and stay out of politics. The logic of their need to win politically, overrode their ability to hear the Word of God even as I preached. They could not understand the tragedy of abortion as a government law, although they thought it wrong themselves, because of their personal logic system which was at odds with God's logic. What was worse, they were the members who the others looked to for leadership.

The difference in the number of church people committing crimes and the number of non-church people who commit them is what the world would call statistically significant. That means we should look and see why it happens so much less in church people. The answer is God's logic operates in most church people. Why then does the world not look to see why God's logic works so much better? In truth, because that would be inconvenient. Acknowledging God in anything would require acknowledging God in everything.

Let me make sure there are no misunderstandings to the subject of wrong doing by church people. First not all people who call themselves Christian really are. Just as not all people who call themselves basketball players are necessarily good at it. There is always a contingency of hangers on who just want to be around for the game. Some hang around just so they can report what happens, too. (gossips)

Secondly, church people are just as liable to make mistakes as are the many non-church people of the world. Church people are not perfect, only their God is. People who operate with God's logic do not generally cover up their mistakes. They take responsibility for them and ask forgiveness, too. I was, as most of the world was, ashamed at the scope of the cover up in the Catholic Church over the misdeeds of a few priests. Truly, their plan was not drawn out of God's logic. An offending priest, or anyone else, in God's Word, is dealt with up front and the problem solved.

Thirdly, some church people get tired of the inconvenience of serving the logic of God and turn away from it. I am amazed at how the world routinely tries to identify someone who "used" to go to church as a Christian. Someone who went to church with their mother until they were eight and then grew up into a murderer at thirty-five is still, according to the world's logic, a Christian who went bad. The truth is that they left the logic of God when they left the church.

Fourthly, and a big category I can not even begin to cover, there are those misguided souls who try to pass off their own personal logic as God's logic and create their own church. They give their church names that are designed to set them apart for any number of perceived reasons. I know of one church that handles snakes as part of their worship service. That is not in God's logic. God's logic has His love at its core, not tempting danger. But in order for a person to make themselves feel superior they choose, according to the world's logic, to make themselves the object of the worship service instead of God.

There are no denominations in God's logic. Sure there are differences because from church to church there are different people. But the differences are the people, not the logic or the original plan of God. Any church claiming to have something no one else has, has left the logic of God. How can anyone have a revelation of God separate from the presence of God? And if God is present why would He break His own character trait by respecting one denomination or church over another. God is no respecter of persons and therefore His logic dictates that He is the same to all who call upon His name. The differences are found in the egos of the men and women serving God.

The logic of God brings them together in many ways. But the logic of the world, which has compromised the church of today in many ways, keeps the denominations apart. One says their God is this and another says their God is that. There is only one God. Like the blind men feeling an elephant for the first time. One may have the tail. One may have the trunk. But it is probably safe to say that no man has understood all of who God is. Therefore God's logic is to come together, not fight and split apart.

Church people are a large category comprised of many different parts when all the variables are assembled to look at. But those who truly serve the logic of God in their life still make mistakes. Again, church people are not perfect. They are not just forgiven either, as one bumper sticker promotes. They are accountable. First, to God. Then to each other and the greater good of the world.

### Chapter Twelve

### Proof

I believe the foundation of Christianity is the only foundation that stands up to a full, logical review of its beginnings. There are more ancient manuscripts and historical documentation in existence for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ than any other event on the face of the earth. Thousands of bible manuscripts and pieces of manuscripts have been discovered. The contemporary historians of Christ's time wrote and transcribed the events without any apparent indication they believed the event of Christ's life to be anything except what it was reported to be just as the bible explains it. Of course they leave out the Son of God claim except for a mention of the man, Jesus, claiming to be the Son of God.

We accept as documented proof many other events of history based on just one scrap of a manuscript found in some forgotten place. Many of those accepted facts of history are recorded by men who are suspect as to their moral reasoning for preserving such facts. The events and stories of the bible come from both supporters and apparent non-supporters of Christ. No other historical document has as many historical and archaeological evidential proofs as the bible and especially the events surrounding the life of Christ.

Somehow, though, through the annals of time and the logic of mankind, the type of proof which ascertains the truth of one item mysteriously is not allowed to bear conclusive evidence for another. This requires a logic system which can deny truth at certain times to fuel its own needs. The logic of the world, which denies the bible and Jesus despite the multitude of historical evidence and proof, is the same logic which accepts documentation as to ancient civilizations and other historical events with a minimum of minuscule evidence.

If I sound incredulous at the blatant goal of the world's logic to keep Jesus from being perceived as real it is because I am. I am not incredulous, however, that they would do it. After all, one logic system will always be at war with another opposing logic system. Those that serve one logic system will necessarily be opponents of those that serve another logic system. That is normal enough. What I find truly amazing is how many supposedly educated people are duped by the obvious and blatant lies the world's logic system has to tell in order to substantiate their position. Those lies would never stand up in a court room unless the jury was stacked against the defendant.

So, why are the events surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ shrouded in so much controversy? Why is the single most important event in Christianity ignored and attacked over and over by the various communities of the world? Simple. No one else claimed to be God and demanded our allegiance to Himself. Yet no one in history had more contemporaries who wrote about His life than Jesus did.

Why is there no surviving documentation disputing the event of His resurrection? Again it is simple. The people of Jesus' time accepted what happened because it really happened. Otherwise there would be a great many who would step forward to show the claims against. The very fact that no such viable claims exist is because no one of that day disputed what is commonly disputed today. It was not convenient to dispute Jesus life when He was alive. It was not convenient to dispute His resurrection while His disciples were still alive and could give eye witness accounts. As a matter of fact, no one has ever uncovered documentation disputing the claims of the disciples that Jesus was who He said He was and that He was raised from the dead.

Even in the years following the death of the disciples the events of Jesus life, death and resurrection were so well preserved in local stories and verbal accounts that even the historians of the time dared not dispute them. They were accepted as the truth.

So, why does the world now dispute what the learned people of Jesus' day did not? Are today's people so much more intelligent? I doubt it. Is it because we have better communications? That is probably not the case either. If history has shown us Americans anything it is that what we have most of we take for granted and spend the least time preserving it. Understanding how logic works any denial of true events in any logic system can have only one purpose. Something about that which is denied must be inconvenient to the people of that logic system. I do not doubt that some who read this and refuse to believe that Jesus is the Christ will find me inconvenient and they must silence my voice unless others might believe too. That's the way it was in Jesus' day. The Pharisees wanted to silence Him because so many were believing the truths He spoke to the crowds. It was a numbers motivation that moved the Pharisees. Jesus still provokes the same worries in the supporters of the world's logic today.

That's right. Jesus is an inconvenient character out of history. No one doubts that He exists. The Muslims claim Him to be a great prophet of God. What they conveniently leave out is that He claimed to be the Christ. A great prophet would not claim to be God. Only a liar would, or of course, God Himself. It is also valuable to note that Islamic culture begins many centuries later than the events of Christ's life. Not one Islamic leader or author of the Koran was there to witness the life of Christ. Their comments, so many years later, were based upon their new convenient logic which they were transcribing into a new book of their own law, their own logic. What they wrote was not history handed down but law being invented. Also it would be interesting to note that from the beginning of their culture Islam has claimed to be equivalent with Judaism and Christianity.

I have nothing against Islamic culture or those of the Muslim faith. I love all people and I desire the best for all people. It is my only goal in life. I am against the Islamic Logic, which denies the evidences and history of Christ as though their new logic takes precedence just because they are willing to kill and perform other drastic acts to claim authority.

For those who would claim that Islam is a peaceful religion, I submit that they have never read the Koran. It not only explains the acts of vengeance, disorder and terrorism, but it calls for those things to be part of the true Muslim life for ever, with punishment for all who oppose it. True, there are acts of war and brutality in the bible but they are mediated by God and not expressed as a way of thinking. The Muslim life is expected to be war-like and brutal against all opposition which it also expects.

In the Old Testament of the Christian bible God stated that persons who deny His laws must die by the human hands of the people that were affected by the sin of the offender. Stoning was the preferred method. Islamic culture does not seek to save the offended ones so much as it claims offense for everyone. The goal would seem to be punishment for all who oppose them. In the biblical Old Testament way of life, a harsh life by the standards of the time, people understood that bad things got a person killed. As God taught them the meanings of sin He also let them understand that death was a part of sin. The things which are sinful eventually end in death.

Today that death is spiritual (although there are physical connections) because of Christ's mediation before the Father on the throne for all people, whosoever will come to believe in Christ. Islamic logic thinks in terms of hating those who oppose them. God's logic thinks in terms of loving those who oppose them. Hatred will never serve the greater good, no matter how much the people who use it want to. Eventually they will have to serve the greater good of the logic which states that all who reject Islam must die. Where is the greater good there? Oppose me and you must die? The logic of Islam has an impossible task to support its claim for the greater good of the world.

The Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, claim that Jesus was the Christ but that He came to bring us a plan that goes far beyond the anointed, historical, written Word of God that the church fathers have past down through the generations. They claim a part of Christ that Christ never claimed for Himself. It seems to me that anyone who would claim to be the Son of God, the bread of life or the living water, would also be able to spell out His own plan for life pretty well. To the Muslims, Christ's deity is inconvenient. To the Mormons, Christ's narrow plan of life is inconvenient. They each must change the story Christ told Himself in order to promote their own logic.

I find it fascinating that God's logic does not deny any other religion's existence. God calls them false gods in relation to His true headship. But never does God deny them. He mocks them by asking how gods made of wood can move. He even knocked the god of the Philistines over and broke up the statue which represented him an totally unnerved the Philistines. But God has never told His people other gods do not exist. As a matter of fact He tells His people where they come from. They are fallen angels, under the command of Satan trying to claim that which belongs only to God. But they are powerless against God so they attack mankind, who they hate anyway.

Every other religion in the world denies that Christ is God. None acknowledge that He is who history recorded Him as. All denounce Him in competition. Their logic does not allow for a discussion of His proofs. The book of John talks about His miracles as being so numerous that the volumes it would take to record them all would fill the earth. By any account that is a lot of miracles. But most religions claim that Jesus had no power or authority from God. Again, though, the people of Christ's day did not dispute His miracles. The Pharisees were worried about them. The Sadducees were enraged by them.

None offers a single good or even plausible explanation of who this historical Jesus was. On the life of Christ, except for denial, the religions of the world are strangely silent. It is an immature child who refuses to answer. It is an immature logic that does not answer.

Strangely enough, what God does say about other religions and what He does say about their attacks on His people is not logical by the world's terms. God says Christians should feel sad for those who have been deceived by the enemy of their souls. We are commanded to pray for our enemies. God says bless them. In one place God says that if we only like those who like us we are no different than those who hate us. God's logic is for the world to feel His love even if His Son has to die to prove it, which He did.

God says do not attack others who believe differently than His people. His plan is not to batter them into compliance but to win them with the truth of His logic. He loves all of His creation, even that part which has gone astray. Contrary to gods of other religions appearing mad and irritated with mankind, The God of Christianity has the image of His Son as He stood overlooking Jerusalem one day. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem. How I would have gathered you as a hen does gather her chicks under her wing." That would be a more precise picture of God than some worrying entity wringing His hands over events or trying to silence those who are against Him.

Christianity, God's logic, is the only logic in the world which does not fear comparison. The others fear comparison like a fast food meal fears comparison to a gourmet meal. The truth always wins in the end. That too is God's claim. The logic we live our lives by will determine the eternity we will inherit as ours. It is not through what we, as imperfect creatures can accomplish but through what Christ has already accomplished. All other religions do not have a Savior. Everything must be accomplished by the imperfect people who are deceived into thinking they are made perfect by the logic of their God's. If they are not made perfect, how will they accomplish god-like transformations? If they are made perfect, how did their flesh get that way? God's logic, that we are not made perfect in life but in eternity as God transforms us into His own likeness of which we were originally designed, is the only logic that stands up to truth and is backed up by Christ's proofs and historical reality.

What about the millions of people all over the world who deny that He is the Christ? They are, I believe, the easiest to classify. Denial is the highest form of acknowledgment. If I deny something I do not have to abide by it.

Why then does so much of the world still hold to the morals, relationship principles, and ethics of the bible which Christ brought to life? If Jesus was such a liar why has his life impacted the world more than any other individual life in history? The world denies the man who was also God because He demanded something more of them than they desired. They embrace the things He taught because they make good logical sense. No one else taught these things first. God taught them first. There is much in the news these days about artists being ripped off by those who unscrupulously duplicate their work and profit from the sales of it. I think maybe its time we acknowledge that God was the first to bring His rules of logic and order to our lives. Why then do we feel its okay to steal from Him without acknowledging the Creator? Is the world's logic not guilty of a double standard?

### Chapter Thirteen

### Forgiveness and Compassion

So often we hear the dismissive statement that, "I am a product of the world around me." While that is true to some extent, we are, more correctly, a product of the choices we make. Very few individuals can claim an abusive and oppressive background severe enough to have stolen every freedom of choice from them to the point where they were designed to be who they have become based on some control of another individual or situation of life.

Living in squalid, dirty housing, with little to no money causes some to become thieves and hoodlums while others pick themselves up and find a way to make something legitimate of their lives. We don't have to be rich or even well off to be honest, decent folk. Growing up in a wealthy household does not assure that the person will respond to all the good things of life by duplicating those good things in their choices. Some enter into criminal enterprise, howbeit at a higher level, while some do choose to become benefactors of the communities within which they live.

The atmosphere, the surroundings, the conditions are not a predictable factor of end results in a person's life. Therefore the argument that "My child-life caused me to be this way," or "The abuse I withstood at some point in my life has made me this way," does not hold water past the predictable result of causing an individual to make a choice. The world's logic demands physical satisfaction while God's logic commands forgiveness as the true path. Our choices in life will follow revenge patterns or forgiveness patterns.

Convenience does not like choices. The world's convenient logic system does not like choices. Choices take time and represent a free thought process. Such a thought process can become unpredictable. So the world's logic tries to give everyone clear answers with no choices. Blame is always a good choice especially when we do not want to take the blame upon our own shoulders.

Another method of destroying choice is to choose what is best. If the world can decide for its people what is best then, no matter what is offered in way of choice is not really a choice because the world has already chosen for us. To choose a spouse based on love and character is not the world's choice. A spouse should be chosen based upon looks, the world says. The world would take away any choice a person seems to have in the matter.

It takes a man of great character to choose a wife who is not the picture of worldly beauty we are told everyday to seek. It takes a woman of great character to not be sucked into the trap of trying to be something she is not. God says beauty is on the inside. The world claims beauty is on the outside. But if the world can choose for these two people of great character they no longer choose correctly for their futures, based on their character. What could have been their choice for happiness now becomes a choice only for perceived success.

Instead of thinking for themselves they could fall into the trap of allowing the world to choose for them. Whether it is beauty, wealth, success, happiness or right from wrong, the world's choices make it seem wrong to choose against them. The ones who drive worldly logic would decide the choices for everyone else. What a system. It's easy to be a mindless drone just following the preset choices automatically and on cue.

God gives us a clear choice. And it is ours to make. He gives guidelines that pertain to our happiness and future success. But, He never attacks us for our bad choices. Instead He responds with compassion and offers forgiveness and gives us a chance to make it right. In today's world, with all its information technologies, just try to make a new start. Everyone knows all about the problems and we monitor each others history in order to predict their future. That is not God's way, a way of suspicion.

I have met many Christian people whose abused and repressive backgrounds make them perfect candidates for built up anger, frustration and depression. However, they lead perfectly normal lives today, free of the attacks that were put upon them in their early years. Every one of them explains it the same way. Although their situations were different and the factors of those situations varied greatly the answer was always the same. Compassion. God's compassion which allowed for forgiveness of them allowed them to forgive others and that forgiveness set them free of the bondage of another person's actions. Without compassion they are bound to the unhappiness for ever.

A woman I know who was abused as a child refuses to grant her abusers forgiveness. She can not think of them in terms of compassion. She can only think about them in her own anger. She hangs on to the memories which are painful and upsetting. Even though her attackers have long since died, even though her forty plus years of replaying the situation over and over in her mind has yielded no satisfying results, she still clings to her insistence that she can not change her mind. Consequently she is plagued with migraine headaches and the years of frustration and repressed anger have taken its toll on her overall health. (I am not a physician and I make no clinical diagnosis here. I am simply an observer of life who recognizes the disparity between God's logic and the world's logic.)

Her refusal to let compassion guide her and grant the offenders forgiveness has not changed their life, but it has harmed her own. They lived and died in their lives they way they decided best. She, likewise, has been imprisoned by her own desire for revenge or retribution. She is bound and tied up spiritually, mentally, emotionally and eventually physically by her decision, not theirs, to hold on to the desire for revenge. The only help she can ever hope to receive must first come through an act of forgiveness that forever turns the matter over to God and releases her desire to control the situation. Without understanding compassion and applying it to the offenders she will never know real freedom.

When I talk with her I can hear the pain. I can feel the hurt that is still there that nothing was ever done to those people to avenge her. I can still sense the rage of her mind as it contemplates her own loss at not getting even with them somehow. But mostly I can hear God calling for her to let go and let Him have it. His promise to protect His people is only good as long as we let go of the offense. If we are going to consider it ourselves, then we are saying we don't need God. We'll handle it ourselves. God is waiting for her to give it to Him. Then He will give her grace to move beyond it.

Compassion is necessary according to God's logic. It creates a pathway for forgiveness. Without it the bondage of the hurts of life will overcome the victim while the attacker goes on without a problem. No amount of revenge is going to make the offender as remorseful as the victim would like them to be. Therefore, revenge is not the answer. If the answer is not in the action of the offender, it must be in the actions of the victim. Short of taking a life, which is illegal, a victim can do nothing more satisfying than to forgive the offender and move on with their life, no matter what the situation. The goal does not need to be revenge, like the world says, but getting on with the abundance of life, as God's logic says.

I am aware that every aspect of worldly logic demands retribution. People want "satisfaction." People want their pound of flesh. But for what purpose do they want it? Anger and hurt can never be quenched. Once the moment has dried up the pain will still be there. It is an inside pain not an outside pain. No amount of outside intervention will solve it then. It requires an inside intervention. Compassion is the inside intervention. It tells the offender that nothing they can do will turn us from our appointed life. It tells the world, that no matter what you do to me, I will continue. It says, "I am stronger than anything you can do to me."

God demands retribution. Unlike people, however, whose retribution will push the offender further away, God's ultimate "retribution" is to accept the offender into the family of God because of His merciful compassion by a complete turning over of their lives to the kingdom of God. Which is better for the greater good of the world, to create outcasts or to reconcile all individuals to the family and welcome them back into productive relationship? It requires compassion that goes beyond our wants and feelings.

This may seem idealized a little for some, but it is the plan of God's logic which makes it greater than even the biggest dreams of man. It takes compassion for people, all people, not just the ones we like, to really affect the greater good of the entire world. The world's logic teaches conditional compassion based on having earned it for some perceived relationship connection. God's compassion is the compassion of the Creator for His creation. He can not stand to see His people in pain. He sees the pain of the attacker and the victim both. The world only sees the victim's pain. God's logic erases the attacker's pain and the victim's pain. God loves them both equally based on the fact that they belong to Him not on what they did or had done to them.

The world sees this logic as completely foreign. While teaching love with their lips the world practices hatred with their acts of revenge. True love is not conditional. Like a mother for their child, they never stop loving. When we go to God and pray that He teach someone a lesson or that He destroy someone for what they have done to us we cause Him double the pain and grief.

First, God is grieved for our loss and pain. His heart is torn with a desire to hold us and comfort us through this hour of disaster in our lives. Everything about Him and His character cries out for us and wraps us in His arms of protection. But as we scream out obscenities against the people who offended us, and cry out for revenge God has to back off. Those things are not part of His logic. He can not be part of anything that is foreign to His nature. While he backs off from us he is grieved further because He knows our pain and wants to come close to comfort us. It is our dismissal of His logic which holds God at bay and consequently our true healing too.

Second, God wants to reach the offender and comfort them. Whatever it was that drove them to offend, He wants to forgive them of it and hold them close to Himself, despite what they have done. He wants to share with them things that can advance their life instead of the things that are tearing it down. He wants to let them know the reality of love over the short season of fleshly pleasures. But as the offender digs in his heels and defends his position he draws farther away from the logic of God to justify himself. He may even deny God so that he can fully divest himself of the morals and ethics which he knows he has violated. Sometimes he may even claim that God told him to do the vicious thing. All these things cause God to move away and stay away. He can not be part of that which is against His nature.

God's logic demands a perfect compassion. Anything less is substandard and slanted toward a personal desire. Imperfect compassion serves our conveniences. Perfect compassion denies our conveniences. It is not convenient for a family of a murdered man to forgive the murderer. But it is logical according to God's plan for His people to be like Him. He forgave the people who killed His Son on a cruel tree. He forgave them and offered them a place of honor in His family. Today He still calls to everyone who will listen with the same compassion. It is mandatory that Christians example this compassionate nature of God's logic.

### Chapter Fourteen

### Sin

God's logic desires to set us free from the sin of life. What exactly are we free from, some may ask? That's a legitimate question that unfortunately, far too many Christians do not have an answer to any more. Without the answer there is little purpose to trying to understand why Jesus had to die. There is little emphasis for the need of Christian values.

When we are set free from sin we are, in effect, set free from consequence. Every action in life has a consequence. Touch something hot, get burned. Fall on something hard, get hurt. Do something nice for someone, see them smile. Consequence is the valuation point of life. We know whether our direction of life is proper for us or not by the consequences we are provoking. Good consequences mean we are going in a good direction. Or so the worldly logic would have us believe.

Worldly logic says live for the moment. It does not take into account the consequences upon eternity. The world would have us forget that eternity even exists. The world says this life is all there is to our existence. Live it to the fullest.

Jesus made it plain that there is another reality far greater than just this life we live in the flesh. His claim of another world, a spiritual world, is inconvenient to those who want to force us to live for today. Just as they desire to erase Jesus from history they would like to hide any thought of another world to come. The spiritual is not convenient to the world's logic. If there is another life after this one, an afterlife, and there is a man called Jesus who told His followers all about it, then people will naturally want to know the truth of the matter.

Now the world's does not mind the thoughts of an afterlife. But they can not control the thoughts of the afterlife Jesus taught. They have their own, New Age religions and Old World, Eastern religions which are acceptable, because they do not emphasize the consequences of sin.

Jesus taught forgiveness for sin, which reconciled us to God and gave us a place with Him in the afterlife. Jesus taught that the things we do in life have an effect on our eternity. He even taught that we die in our sins, meaning we are separated from the love and presence of God. Worldly logic can not abide the love and the presence of God because the source of all worldly logic is the jealousy and hatred of Satan against God and God's creation.

The world's logic desires to bind us to the sins of life. Can this be proved? Sure. Worldly logic dictates that we bend to the rule of the majority while never impugning or demeaning the minority. The only source for the logic we follow is the convenience of society. It has become more convenient to give the gay and lesbian community respectability than to denounce it because denouncing them makes them mad and they protest and that is simply not convenient.

In the interest of convenience the world's logic seeks to legitimize gay and lesbian unions which God's logic calls sin. The world's logic binds us to the sin which God's logic separates us from. The world's logic causes us to accept abortion as a right (convenience) of self-indulgent people who now want to terminate the result of their self indulgences. Let's not fool ourselves any longer. The number of pregnancies terminated due to real medical emergencies is minuscule. The bulk of abortions are the results of convenience for the mother, the father, or both. The world's fascination with its own power to give and take life has caused us to adopt a logic that kills babies in the womb in a most gruesome and violent manner. God's logic calls that sin. The world's logic demands that they have that convenience.

God's logic is clear and identifiable. Abortion is sin because no human being has the right to take another human being's life during a peace time situation. Certainly, it should never happen as a result of convenience. Gay and lesbian unions are sin because men and women were not created for that purpose. The facts show the increased danger of disease, family corruption and confusion among the children of our communities, among many other factors. But neither situation is wrong or right because we say it is wrong or right. To decide if something is wrong or right then we must acknowledge an absolute. To determine an absolute value we must identify an absolute source. Man is not an absolute source. God is. The ultimate test is in what God says. God says it is sin. There ends the discussion. No manner of argument can change what is just because it is not convenient for the world at this time.

There are three situations in this world that I find very confusing to the average mind. They are prostitution, abortion and gay and lesbian relationships. Some may say I am biased or even phobic. I think not. My reasoning is based on study and evaluation. I discovered God really knew what He was doing when He labeled something as sin. Sin was not just a rule against what God wanted. It was actually good for us to not sin.

I used to think prostitution was okay as long as they kept it to themselves and did not interrupt my life with it. It was something "other" people did. Then I met a few prostitutes and former prostitutes and in the course of working with them I saw the harm such a life has, not only on the women but also on the communities they work in. I used to think men who sought out a prostitute were just hapless, weak men. I have since learned they are more like children who are allowed tom play with a loaded gun. The fascination draws them. The sin actually kills them. And all the while the world's logic says its okay. God's logic says it is sin. It is wrong.

I used to think maybe abortion was okay for some but I would never consider it in my life. Then I saw the real information about how it is carried out. I determined that if there is a point at which a doctor must kill the fetus there must also have been a point at which it was alive. That's murder in my mind. Studies continue to prove that the women who went through the process of killing their child suffer the mental anguish of having killed their child for years to come. The world's logic fights to continue the barbaric trade of convenience for human life. God calls it sin. God's logic says it is wrong.

Growing up in an urban area and spending time in cities I met several gay and lesbian individuals, some I counted as friends. To me their lifestyle was just different, not wrong. It wasn't right for me but who was I to tell them it was wrong for them. They always treated me with respect and I always tried to return that respect by never chastising their choices. Then I studied some of the medical and psychological reports emanating from their own community doctors. Gay people acknowledge a greater instance of disease among their population, greater instance of alcoholism and drug abuse. Another report reminds us that no society in history, after announcing the acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships as rightful and acceptable, has ever survived longer than twenty more years because of the breakdown in the fabric that held that society together. People just stop caring about anything, like the fall of the Roman Empire attests to. Given the physical and emotional effect the lifestyle has on the people themselves and the tendency to cause destruction of societal values I concluded that the danger of the gay and lesbian lifestyle offered more danger than solution or comfort.

Think about this. Some states have made prostitution legal but I have never met a parent who stated a desire that their little girl would grow up and become a whore. Abortion has been made legal by a Federal Court order yet those people who practice it are products of their parent's decision to not be convenient about their lives. I've never met a parent that really wanted to see their child dead. There is a move abroad in this country to legalize gay and lesbian unions as legitimate families, but I can not find anyone who says they hope their son or daughter will join this movement nor can I find anyone who can explain to me how gay and lesbian societies will reproduce themselves except by indoctrinating and stealing people from the true society of which they desire to be a competitor. Whoredom, Abortion, Sodomy, all are called sin by God's logic. All are called legitimate by the world's logic despite their obvious flaws and dangers to the world's societies. The choices are clear. People must choose to serve God's logic of choosing life or the world's convenience of choosing death.

The world's logic is clear and identifiable, too. Convenience mandates that these sins be legitimized so that human flesh may partake of it without the inconvenience of being reminded that they are wrong. This is done in the name of the greater good of the world. Sin, at its core, could be classified as a desire to serve the greater good of a few despite the effect on the whole. And when the world decides to be the one who decides the greater good of the whole by appeasing a few it has sinned in its subversion of God's plan.

Only God knows what is best for the whole world. Only God can direct the best for one and the best for all in the same motion. Human frailties and limits make it impossible for mankind to direct itself. Even the most magnanimous and honest person among us has to admit to having those moments in life when they choose the greater good of self at a moment when they understand a greater good for the whole. We are not designed to be God. We must stop playing God and allow God to be God.

Sin is a wrong life choice. Acknowledging anything less is merely bowing to our conveniences. Justifying or creating any greater intellectual argument is trying to play God. For years churches have tried to mandate behavior among its members instead of teaching them to choose God's logic over the world's logic. Wearing their hair a certain way. Not wearing jewelry. Dressing only a certain way. All are evidences of our excesses and attempts at playing God. Just like the world the church was trying to serve of its logic, God's logic in this case, as it mandated rules to make walking with God easier. The idea was right but the method usurped God's authority.

Think about it. Why do churches mandate certain "rules" of dress, styling, and behavior. Is it because God does not spell it our well enough in the bible? Is it because we have so little respect for the intelligence of our membership? Probably not. It is done to make church life more convenient. That's right. Churches seek out convenience, too. They desire a written set of rules to make everything clear cut for the purpose of judging and administering corrective action.

This desire for making it more convenient led the Pharisees of Jesus day to have hundreds of laws which they had to observe. Consequently, no man, or woman either, could follow the "convenient" laws. One might say, "Well, why didn't they just repeal some of the laws that no longer applied?" Wow, what a mouthful there. How could something that applied as a Godly logic no longer apply as a Godly logic? Who was going to stand up and say that the previous law was never part of God's design? That would make all the laws suspect, would it not?

Ah, the intricacies of convenience. What is designed by man to make things easier usually complicates matters. And once the complications are in place man must create ever more complicated rules to balance the perceived inadequacies of the previous conveniences.

God has the only perfect plan. It is neither complicated nor convenient. But then again, it is not subject to man's approval either. The women's rights movement may be closer to right than they know when they declare, "It takes a man to really mess up the world." What they seem to "conveniently" remember is that men and women make up mankind. Does that not make their movement, which is a movement of women, also a movement of man, in the collective? How are they immune from man's frailties and failings then?

### Chapter Fifteen

### Forgiveness

There can never be too much emphasis on forgiveness. Forgiveness is the foundation of our relationship with God. Without forgiveness we are still operating according to our own initiatives. Every individual needs forgiveness to stay in any relationship. No relationship continues for very long without forgiveness as a key element of its structure. Without forgiveness there are no best friends, no love my life, no reasons for understanding.

If I am not considering forgiveness I do not need to consider understanding anyone else. Either they do it my way or else. But, if I consider forgiveness I must also consider my understanding of others. None of us are perfect. While we are designed by a perfect creation we are designed, from an engineering standpoint, with a fault. That fault is our logic. Because we are allowed to choose the logic we will accept we are also allowed to choose imperfection.

So, when I consider my imperfection and the imperfection of others I am confronted with another need. How do I get along with my need for relationship with people who do not always do what I think they should? It requires that I must forget some of the things they do and ask them to forget some of the things I do. It is forgiveness.

As a young man of fifteen or so, I walked away from the church of my youth and vowed to never return to it. It was weak with failings of men. It promised nothing except hardship and sacrifice from me. No one could show me the power of God. No one could convince me of the nobleness of serving a distant God. And I took a walk.

Now, some would say that it was awful that I would walk away from God. And others would assert that I was justified. Let me tell you what I think. I was hurting. I was confused. I was angry. I heard about God and I read about Him. He was a great figure in my life. He dominated the skyline of our hometown because it was the major church there.

Walking away from church that morning in the spring I still remember telling that priest how I didn't believe in God and I was going in search of something to believe in. I remember his words to me, too. I hope you find whatever you are looking for.

I spent the remainder of my high school years cultivating a personal philosophy of life. It was a hard philosophy with few chances built into it. Fail one time and you were considered wrong for life. Forgiveness was not a part of life because forgiveness set us up for more hurt later. Whenever I failed at one thing I tried something else. I kept moving driven by my own desire to succeed at something. I never gave anything much of a chance because the slightest failure meant it was not the right thing for me and I moved on. In one year I held six different jobs. They just didn't fit me. I was going to live true to my own philosophy.

I was hard on people too. Friends were held at a distance because none could measure up. I am sure many thought I was crazy. Some probably thought me committed. Others described me as intense. I think that was a nice way of saying, dangerous. My views were harsh and final. My opinions, loud and forceful. My ability to love was affected to. I got married later and began to raise a family. Still I held to my hard ways. I held morals and ethics to such a level that Christians would have to step up a notch to get on my level. I did it on purpose, too. I wanted to prove to myself, and anyone smart enough to observe it, that my way was truly best.

What I succeeded in doing was separating myself from all joy. I spent so much time protecting myself and fighting for what I believed in that I could only gather my friends together around a safe subject like drinking, or working. Only then could I relax my standards for them and allow them in. I couldn't see it at the time, but it was probably the only time they could stand to let me and my high opinions into their life, too. I have said it many times when talking to church congregations, "I don't know how my wife put up with me." She tells it best when she answers, "I just kept forgiving you."

Forgiveness pays off. After many years of turmoil and hardship I came to know the Lord in a personal and manifest way. It changed my life when I understood His forgiveness for all my failings. The very thing I tried to reconcile over and over in my personal philosophy was a thing called love. I could never grasp it. I know why now, because I had never allowed it to flow from me. Many people receive love and gestures of love every day. But love is never complete until we both receive it and then share it. Love can never be fulfilled until it is passed on.

When I came to Christ I understood that day about His love. It was greater than any other event in my life in comparison. The love of Christ was absolute. I could understand that. My whole life was a search for absolute truth. Everywhere I looked I found dark corners where absolutes faded into opinions and peer pressures. Only in the love of Christ could I find a true absolute. He loves without a fault. He asks nothing for it. He just does it. The book of John in the bible says, "God is love."

I learned about absolute love and realized it was missing in my life. I also realized that it overshadowed every area of life. Nothing happens outside of absolute love. Every factor and relationship depends upon absolute love. Without it we are nothing more than automatons reacting to prearranged signals. Love is the great equalizer. A six foot three inch, two hundred and thirty pound football player can be made to cry if his five foot three inch, one hundred and twenty pound wife tells him she doesn't love him any more. Love touches us in a way that nothing else on earth or in heaven can do. Love is God. God is the touch. When shared it is the touch of God.

Without forgiveness love can not exist. Imperfect humans need forgiveness for their multitude of mistakes. Without the forgiveness love remains with the giver. When forgiveness is given then love can flow again. Forgiveness removes the things which block love. To kill love we only need to block forgiveness. To say there are things I will never forgive someone for is to say there are ways to block my love for them. That is not absolute love. That is conditional love.

The world's logic says to give our love conditionally. I parallel that thought with this. I give you a million dollars for the purpose of helping others and say the only boundaries are that you can help anyone you desire. You choose which people to help and you go at it. After you spend about eight hundred thousand dollars you decide that maybe you should keep some in the bank in case you meet a need in the future. But you stop looking and expect the need will come to you and then you'll be able to help. That's kind of the way we do God's love. He gives it to us conditionally and we give it out with conditions. I can only love those who love me. We don't say that but we act it out when we refuse to go out of our way to help those who have hurt us. We reserve the love we have been shown from God in absolute beauty for a man-made beauty we decide the boundaries of.

Jesus bought our forgiveness when He died upon that cross on Calvary. His abused, disfigured body, wracked with pain and all the suffering that man can lay upon one of his own help us to understand that there is no easy way to forgiveness. Christ did not seek an easy road when He knelt in the garden of Gethsemane and prayed, "Father, let this cup pass from Me. But nonetheless, not My will but Your will be done." Jesus understood that the path to forgiveness was not one of convenience. He had started the journey with a sacrifice when He stepped down from the throne of God and said, "I will go, Father." He gave up the joys of life with His Father in heaven for the rigors of life on earth, not as a king but as a carpenter.

He walked this earth lamenting for the lost sheep of Israel to turn once again to the God of their fathers. He mentioned the fact that He had neither place to lay His head or shelter even though many recognized Him as the Christ. He walked among the commoners as well as the rich, yet He had security of neither. He never once did anything that anyone could accuse Him of a crime punishable by death and still He suffered a terrible death on the cross while crowds jeered and mocked His desire to save them from their own conveniences. Jesus gave up His conveniences but He can never give up ours. That is our job. And as I see it, it is job one on planet earth.

Let's get something straight right from the start, here. In order to begin the move back to the pure logic of God does not require that we turn away from every advancement of the human mind. I expect many who were holding their breath and afraid I was going to say something like, "get rid of all conveniences," are now sighing with great relief. That alone should convince us of our developed dependence upon conveniences. We can not picture ourselves without them. We dread life without them. No, the reality is we need to put the conveniences back into perspective and erase our fear of doing some things in a way perceived as the hard way.

Where should we start? I believe we start where Jesus started, forgiveness. While hanging from that dreadful cross Jesus made a statement that still echoes across the eternities, "Forgive them, Father. They know not what they do." There it is. Now what are we going to do with it.

That driver who cut you off in traffic and took your place ahead of you. That rude salesgirl at the convenience store who stifled your dream of convenience with her bad attitude. The co-worker who let you down when they dropped the ball on their part of the assignment and made you both look foolish in front of the company vice-president. The son or daughter who got into some legal trouble because of their bad decision and now expect you to bail them out of it. How are you going to handle it, now? Convenience of forgiveness?

Will you rail like a road-raged maniac and drive up on the bumper of the car that just cut you off? What if it was a woman who can not see through her own tears as she is driving home to tell her two little children their father had just passed away? Would that make a difference to you? Sure it would because the circumstance changes everything. But remember, Jesus didn't ask the circumstance and we all know we are guilty and deserve the punishment of death for our sins. So why should we ask the circumstance? Why should we demand to know the why of a situation? Why should we assume the worst either, that the other person is just being irresponsible and not caring about us?

Clearly, forgiveness given upon condition is not real forgiveness. Task number one in the job to eradicate our dependence upon convenience is to forgive unconditionally. Some will say there is no way they can do that. We must remember that Jesus said if we do not then neither will our Father in heaven forgive us. It is a fundamental part of the logic of God.

What is forgiveness? A fair enough question. Forgiveness is the quality of character that allows us to forget the misdeeds of others in order to return them to a full relationship with ourselves. Now maybe we can not forget the actual memory of the misdeed, but like Christ, we must seek to make sure that misdeed is never held against the person because that would affect the relationship negatively. Imagine yourself, after being cut off in traffic, saying a prayer that God would bless the life of that person and bless them abundantly.

In our society, someone arrested for a felony crime goes to jail and does their time. When they are released, having paid their debt to society, they enter back into the mainstream workforce only to discover that no one wants to hire them because of their background. Still yet they are not allowed to own a firearm either. Two of the most basic of American rights are denied the individual even after we say they have paid their debt.

Some will maintain that they chose wrong and they must pay for their wrong choices. Is that not what the prison term was for? Apparently not. Now all of society wants to exact a measure of revenge for the misdeed. And the term for exacting this revenge is forever.

Some will claim it is unavoidable because the risk of employing or arming such an individual is too great. I submit that that is worldly logic, not Godly logic. When God forgives us He restores to us all the rights and privileges of a full son or daughter of God. Like the prodigal son's father, God welcomes us back home with open arms and a clean change of clothes. He puts a ring of authority on our finger and kills the fatted calf so we can celebrate the return of one who was lost.

I often wonder how life would be different if, after a man or woman has served their time in prison, they would be met at the front door of the prison with a celebration as the community welcomes them back into full fellowship with all the rights and privileges thereof. Instead, most are released into the bare surroundings of a now unfamiliar world with instructions to report to a parole officer who is, quite frankly, tired of dealing with the scum of the earth. Maybe the criminal would continue their criminal ways. Maybe they would not. But would not the real effect be upon the community knowing they have done all they could?

Convenience again. For convenience sake we do nothing. It is the easiest thing to do. Changing the way we view someone's life is too much for us. Warning signals should be going off in every believer's head right now. If we can not even change our mind, how are we going to change the world? Do we even want to any more? Or is it too inconvenient? Sobering questions for the churches of today.

### Chapter Sixteen

### Restoration

With all our programs, with all our new music choices, with all our mega churches dotting across the landscape like so many cathedrals to man's enterprise, where is the compassion that forgives even the most heinous of crimes? Where is the desire to restore the individual back to society? We talk about compassion and forgiveness but without restoration we can see none of it.

Forgiveness might turn out to be the hardest thing any of us ever do. Forgiveness is the beginning of investing in each other. Forgiveness allows us to view the worth of even those who have wronged us. Forgiveness lifts us up above the world's logic which demands repayment or revenge as method of satisfaction. It's God's logic which champions forgiveness. It's God's logic which changes people for the greater good of all. And it's God's compassion that makes forgiveness worth having. But is there any forgiveness without restoration? Is a price not still being paid even though we say we have forgiven them?

Prisons are necessary. Wars are necessary. No one denies that a person such as Osama bin Laden and his followers deserve to pay for the atrocities they have committed against the USA and other countries. There is a cost for the evil men do and I do not say ignore punishment when it is necessary and proper. But it is futile to dole out punishment according to man's logic. Man's logic does not seek reconciliation or an attempt to return that person to society as any part of that which is held in value. Only the logic of God seeks to totally return the person who has done the offending to a right and perfect relationship.

Would God seek to return bin Laden to a perfect relationship? Yes, He would. But the cost of that relationship would be paying the price dictated by society, and living the rest of his life according to the grace, mercy and love of God. If society decided to enact the death penalty for his crimes, bin Laden would die at the hands of his accusers and be ushered into the presence of God. A perfect relationship with God says we should pay for our actions. A perfect relationship with God requires that other believers accept what God has done and return the person to the best position of his service in society. If that service is a life term in prison, then bin Laden would be required to serve God from a prison cell.

There is a natural and a supernatural aspect to the perfect relationship. The world can never approach the perfection of God because it does not include the supernatural effect with the natural effect of life. The world's logic does not balance the natural and the spiritual. It treats them as two different things with two different sources. Only God's logic balances the two because they are one in God.

The compassion of God bridges the gap from the natural and draws it into the eternity of the supernatural. The things I do in my natural life affect my eternity. But I can erase the effect of my natural life with a single act of repentance where I ask for forgiveness from God. I am drawn into eternity by reaching out for it from my base of the natural. Like gravity holds us on earth my flesh holds me in the natural. To fly man must break the rule of natural gravity and enter into the rules of lift and thrust. To enter into the eternal the natural must break the rules of the natural and enter into the rules of the eternal.

Does it make sense to desire such a transition for our natural life? Which is better, living a few short years in the natural bodies we now have or living eternally in glorified bodies? God seeks the greater good of people by seeking first their inclusion in the eternal. It only stands to reason that God's logic would advocate that His people would seek the greater good of others in that we would prefer to know that someone had accepted Christ as their Lord than anything else we could know about a person.

The world's logic seeks the goals and conveniences of the natural. The supernatural or spiritual is an afterthought or addition for the good natural life, according to many of today's worldly philosophies and religions. The world's logic seeks only to know that you agree with them. Nothing else matters to them. Then world does not care for the afterlife so they do not care about your afterlife. The people who serve such a logic then can only develop a sense that all they need from others is an attitude of agreement.

Whether they achieve agreement by force, persuasion or guile makes no difference to the world. The goal is agreement, not eternity. Agreement is convenient. Eternity is not convenient. It steals from the here and now of the natural. God's compassion brings eternity within reach of every person's life, an eternity with Himself. The world's logic uses calculation, not compassion. And like buying a house, some people can not afford eternity by the world's calculations. That's why Jesus Christ is so important. He paid the price for us. He made the perfect sacrifice in our place. He purchased our right to eternity with His blood. All we have to do is reach out and accept it.

God's logic protects the greater good of the people while securing the peace of the individuals, too. But, and this is a very big point, how many of those people who have been imprisoned, having been subsequently released, can we count among the forgiven members of society today? How many are still living in a poor existence waiting for a break and maybe a word of forgiveness that will never come from a revenge-logic society? How many will seek to fight their way out of despairing conditions by returning to old habits or picking up new, even worse ones as a measure of their own kind of revenge against the society which oppresses them?

The too easy answer is that they should have never brought this upon themselves in the first place. How quickly we understand choice as punishment when we are berating another's bad choice. Yet, how many of us can say we have never stolen a pen from the place we worked at? How many of us have never harbored thoughts of adultery because of a seductive relationship? How many of us would admit that there are hidden things in our past that we should have been caught and sentenced for? None are so righteous as the one who has tasted mercy and forgotten how pleasant it was to the tongue.

The goal of restoration seeks the greater good of the individual by acknowledging that the individual's addition to society is the greater good of the entire community. Compassion seeks separation only as a last resort after all other avenues have been exhausted. Compassion does not believe in giving up. God desires that all would come and enter into His rest. Jesus died so that all who would believe might have access to the mercy and compassion of God. God's logic demands that His people operate out of compassion and not fear. If forgiveness is necessary to restore a love relationship then compassion is necessary to create a desire for that relationship.

Many people do not even know their neighbors today. We live isolated lives with no idea of what is going on right next door. We seek to stay uninvolved because getting involved is inconvenient and requires effort on our part. Compassion makes us want to be involved. Not nosy, just interested. A goal of restoration would drive us to discover where we might be able to add something to the relationship and draw something from it. Compassion with a goal of restoration causes us to reach out and risk our personal comfort in order to comfort others. God's logic operates on compassion and love. The world's logic operates on calculation and percentages. The choice is clear and a choice must be made. We can not serve one kind of logic while trying to live in another.

Without restoration God's logic has no purpose. God's plan includes restoring the relationship between His creation and Himself. It is in the very essence of this desire to restore the relationship that the love of God is strongest. No matter what we have done against God He desires to renew that relationship, even when the cost of that restoration was the death of His Son.

Compassion ignites us. Forgiveness frees us. Restoration gives us direction. All our goals in life should be based upon this model which God has designed into the operation of the universe. Every worthwhile goal needs a little fire to get it off the ground and moving. It needs to be free of all walls and obstacles that would hinder it. It needs to create something that puts our relationships in perfect order to be worthy of our attention.

I use the Space program of the USA in the 1960's. The President, John F. Kennedy, provided the fire by announcing the goal to conquer space and put a man on the moon. Our leader felt we could do it. Obstacles of government, trade, science, engineering were cleared and smoothed out in order to bring all necessary ideas and solutions to the proper position. The result was a redefining of American culture and a drawing together of American attitudes and social consciousness. We became one country again with a definitive goal to reach.

Without a goal of restoration, in the case of the space program, the knitting together of America's strengths once again, there is no purpose for any compassion and all passions become wasted or solitary, meaning they benefit very few. If there is no goal that restores us to greatness then there is no benefit to working together. Without a need for togetherness we do not need forgiveness.

Our compassion should be visible in our passions. Otherwise passion is just a desire that has grown out of control. How do we control the passions of life? We must seek goals of restoration. Any passion that does not restore relationships is not a worthy target.

Relationships can be man to man, man to nature, or man to God. Any goal which seeks to restore the relationships and put them back in God's order according to God's logic is a worthy goal. Compassion wants such goals. Passion fires up the desires for such goals. Forgiveness makes the way clear for such goals. Restoration is the goal.

### Chapter Seventeen

### The Real Risk

Jesus didn't accept the easy answer when He came to earth to die for the sin of the world. He did that which was right, necessary for the good of all. He risked His life in the hands of the Father who wants only the best for us. Some would say that was not a real risk because He knew all along how His Father would care for Him. Exactly, so what's our problem brother and sister church member?

God cares for us. He protects us from everything except ourselves. We have the ability to choose our own destruction. Still, we do not accept His full protection because if we did every church would be reaching out beyond their doors into the worlds of the AIDS community, the prostitutes, the drunkards and drug addicts. It would not be based upon the church's ministries but upon the compassion of the people. The real risk would be in doing nothing because our hearts would yearn for the chance to reach out and touch others. (Oh, that such a burden would afflict the people of God!)

I wonder if a church full of AIDS victims, prostitutes, drunkards and drug addicts would worry Christians today. I suspect it would. There is no way to control the tears and agony of the AIDS patient. There is no way to reach into the depths of the despair and emotional pain of the prostitute. There is no way to understand the thirst of the drunkard or drug addict. There is no way unless, of course, to admit we've been there. Maybe we've not been there physically but certainly in the figurative sense. Some of us can even say we've been there physically. Where were we when Jesus reached out His hand to us and called us to enter into His rest? We were in need. Just as those we see everyday are in need. Maybe the need is different. But the answer is the same. God's logic is the answer. God is the answer.

A favorite song of mine by a group called "Soul'd Out" asks the question, "How will they know unless you tell them?" It's a haunting line that drives me to think of new ways to reach those who resist what God's logic would desire to teach them. I realize there are church ministries out there which reach out to the hurting people of our communities. That's good and that's proper. But forgiveness and compassion are not ministries, they are the character of God. Forgiveness and compassion have a goal, the love of God. Forgiveness is not complete until it reaches a point of contact with the love of God. Compassion is not felt until the love of God flows through it.

When forgiveness and compassion are left up to ministry alone then the result is either a growing ministry or not. When forgiveness and compassion are character traits of the love flowing in God's people then the results are a great desire to share the compassion and forgiveness of God with everyone we meet. Ministry alone becomes measurable by the numbers. Forgiveness and compassion with the love of God measures success by the outreach efforts to people. Jesus said go and tell, not go and make them respond.

Each and everyone of us are supposed to exemplify the character of God. We are supposed to develop the mind of Christ. In short, the people of the church are supposed to reach out with a forgiveness in their heart that drives them to help the hurting, a compassion which feels every hurt they see around them, a love that is strong enough to change the world, at least for one person at a time.

Too many Christians are just pew warmers, waiting for someone else to go. Sure they give a little now and then, when it is convenient to do so. But they do not invest in the lives of others because they are not investing in their own life. Instead they are investing in their comfort. Their justification is, "If I give a little money I can send someone else and then I won't have to go." They separate themselves from the pain and inconvenience of the lives of others. They separate themselves from what God is doing and who God is. They separate themselves from God's love through the acts of forgiveness and compassion.

God is love. His compassion is legendary. His ability to help is endless. What state would Christianity be in if God just sent us an offering in the perfection of Christ, but never got involved? How would we know what to do? Who would lead us? If Jesus had not prayed to the Father to send us another comforter in the Holy Spirit when He went back to the throne we would be stirring around like so many sheep without a shepherd.

I realize that not everyone can go to another country and live. I also know that it is not God's logic for everyone to go to another country. But it is God's logic that we all go somewhere, even if it is just to work. And wherever we go we are called upon to show forth the forgiveness and compassion that made Jesus the Savior of all mankind.

### Chapter Eighteen

### Sheep of the Master's Pasture

Jesus described Himself as the Great Shepherd. It was a title He wore with pride because it denoted His closeness and affinity for the sheep of the Creator's pasture. From the Old Testament through the New Testament God's logic represents the relationship between God and His people as a shepherd would relate to the sheep. Scripture after scripture tells of the relationship where God describes Himself as pleased with His creation. This is in direct contrast to the times when God is disappointed in His people and He names them as whores and prostitutes. But when all is well in the people to God relationship God Himself calls His people His sheep.

A review of the life of sheep under the hand of the shepherd brings us to understand that what God expects from us is similar in nature. At first glance some might be inclined to think that acting like a sheep is beneath them. Maybe they don't believe that the image of a sheep fits them very well. Maybe it is not the image they would have chosen for themselves.

Sheep are docile creatures. They do whatever they are told. They never ask for anything except food and water. They are completely dependent upon the shepherd to supply them with whatever need they have and to protect them from enemies. They do nothing on their own except get lost. They are easily confused and scared by little things. In short, there is not much in the way of self-promotion in a sheep.

God's view of His people as sheep goes expressly against the adopted view of the world's logic that we are the top predator in the animal kingdom. Again the choice for people to make is simple. Animal kingdom, or God's kingdom? Sheep or predator? The major differences in the two kingdoms, aside from the obvious places of position on the food chain are as startling as the reasoning behind the choices people make.

Being a sheep of God, with its definite limitations and sacrifices that go against the desires of our flesh, is infinitely harder than living a life filled with the personal conveniences of the world, which tend to satisfy and even urge the flesh onward into greater goals of personal fulfillment. Some would suggest that the life of a sheep is less exciting, too. This is a false view though, and not the real picture. I'm not sure where the world logic gets that picture, except as a basis of denying God, when they have never experienced the fullness of the life of a sheep. You can't judge a book by its cover, and all that.

The logic of God propels us to become the sheep of His pasture for the benefits He desires to lay upon His sheep. Passage after passage describes God's blessings for His people. But obedience is the key to receiving the fullness of God's relationship and thereby the blessings. Sheep are obedient. That's what is so hard for the people using the World's logic. Obedience is just not convenient to the rebellious nature of the world's logic.

Sheep are inconvenient characterizations that uncover the true nature of rebellion. At its deepest roots rebellion is anything that denies the real authority. If God wants sheep, the world's logic wants predators. It doesn't matter that people do not like predators. Cattlemen kill the wolves and coyotes and mountain lions around their cattle. The world over, if a big predator capable of killing a man is spotted he is either killed or removed to a location away from people. Why? Because people do not like or respect the lives of predators.

Then why do we accept the world's logic which claims man is the best of all predators? Simple, the alternative is to accept that we are really sheep. That would mean accepting the truth that there is a true Shepherd and that would mean Jesus Christ is in charge and God's logic is real. That's too hard, too inconvenient, so people accept the next best thing, the world's logic. Otherwise we would all have to be obedient to God's logic and God Himself.

### Chapter Nineteen

### Obedience

Obedience is too often an inconvenience. The inconvenience may be caused because of other things the person would like to be doing. It is always more convenient to do whatever we want than to fulfill the wishes of someone else. God's logic calls this desire for personal authority over true authority rebellion.

Rebellion is any act that strictly denies the request for obedience from another who has the authority to request such obedience. There is nothing circumstantial about obedience. If someone says duck and we do not duck we are expressing our rebellious state against their authority to give us direction. When we are hit by a ball traveling in our direction then the circumstance becomes clear and we wish we had ducked as requested. It is our rebellious flesh which refuses to be obedient if we believe we do not need to be.

We might try to say that if we had only known we would have complied. But that statement does not win any points in God's logic. Nor does it answer all questions in the world's logic. No one person has all the knowledge of the world. Therefore, no one person has the right to believe they have all the answers. If we do not possess all the knowledge or all the answers, then we do not have all the authority such a resource of intelligence would assign to us. It is purely a rebellious attitude of self-control that caused us to ignore the request to duck. By refusing to acknowledge that anyone else had a right to give us direction we set ourselves up for the curse of rebellion. Consequently, those who hold such rebellious thoughts get hit by the ball. In a spiritual sense this is far more deadly than the physical danger of a ball traveling toward us.

Obedience is that virtue that allows us to place our trust in another to determine direction for us. Without trust in that other person we would fear the outcome of each direction given. Obedience without trust is not only foolish but impossible to maintain. During a battle, men follow their leader as long as they believe he has their best interest of the battle (victory) in mind. When a group of men discover or come to believe a leader does not have the best interest (victory, success) in mind, or that the leader intends to cause them harm by his lack of skill or intelligence, desertion or mutiny occurs. When the leader is trusted obedience is given for the greater good of all the leader has authority over. People acknowledge a greater good when they give obedience to their leaders.

I am constantly amazed by parents who explain to me a problem they are having making their child obey them. Teaching a child obedience is not convenient at all. It takes a lot of work and constant evaluation to maintain. Whenever I suggest that they work harder at one area or another and suggest certain procedures which worked well for me (My own children's good behavior is what drew them to me in the first place) they rebel against the idea because there is something in their life which can never be moved to make room for that new thing no matter how much they desire the results. For many parents it is just too inconvenient to always be ready to teach their child obedience. For some it is too harsh to demand obedience. For others obedience seems just a waste of time because they know the child will do whatever they want as soon as they are out of their sight.

God's logic says raise up a child in the way they should go and when they grow up they will continue in it. The world's logic says don't bother teaching them because when they get old enough they will decide on their own what they will and won't be obedient to. But how will they decide to be obedient if they have never been taught to be obedient. Rebellion is the art of doing whatever is convenient for the individual. Obedience is the work of coming together for the greater good of all.

Too many parents I meet teach their children rebellion, self-will, and then demand obedience. When a parent sends a child to school and tells them to obey the teacher but spends all the next evening arguing about why they should ignore the authorities in their own life the message is clear to the child. Obedience is only necessary while the authority is watching. Whatever we do when no one is looking is our own business. Therefore, eventually the parental authority is soon sidestepped. (At the request of the parent, it would seem)

Obedience is taught. Rebellion is taught. One requires work and due diligence to bring the child up respectfully. The other requires no effort and actually leaves the child to fend for themselves. The world demands obedience but then denies God's authority no matter how much proof exists. It is no wonder that the people of the world's logic are a rebellious people believing they all have a right to do things their own way. It is the single most important lesson the world's logic has to teach. While obedience is the single most important lesson of God's logic.

I have met obedient children from rich households and poor households. Money has nothing to do with obedience. Always the contributing factor to the child's obedience is the leadership in the home. Whether the home was a one parent mother struggling with two jobs or a well-to-do white collar family the leadership of the parents was the sole determining factor in the behavior of the children. Positive role models draw positive responses. Right logic teaches right living.

Just the opposite, I have met rebellious youngsters from all types of backgrounds also. It is not enough to love the children to cause them to want to be good people. There must be a simple, easy to follow, never changing system of right and wrong in place. We can not tell our children to never steal and then brag about cheating the IRS out of a few dollars. There must be an authority larger than the family for the children to relate to. The children will relate to this authority in whatever way their parents teach them to.

I used to tell the parents of my Children's Church group that I could always tell how the parents were by watching the children. One parent called me on it one day and asked me to describe them if my child observation intuition was correct. I described their TV habits, the yelling to get attention, the anger when things went wrong and the parent stopped me. They could see what I could see. Our children become what we are, not just what we want them to be. A parent that aspires to great things for their children, teach them to be all that the parents are and to strive for even more as they grow.

Children must know there are limits to their lives and learn to live within their limits. The limits do not hold them down but just the opposite. Knowing the limits gives them a launching point from a good foundation. A rocket must have a solid launching pad from which to thrust against to gain that first jump of altitude raising propulsion. If there were no limits to the building of the launching pad, the rocket would not have a proper launching foundation.

Similarly, the limits given by God's logic create the launching pad for our lives in everything we do. Like the launching pad, God's limits do not hold us down but give us a firm foundation from which to explore the galaxy, even the universe. God's limits are rules of existence not regulations of convenience. God's logic is designed to let us live a full happy life, not make us miserable as some opponents would suggest. Who is more miserable, the Christian who does not drink, or the alcoholic who wishes he had his family back. The rules are not oppressive but enlightening. The restrictions of God point us toward true values and worth.

Like a rocket launching pad there is a right way and a wrong way to build it. Built the right way the pad provides a perfect foundation from which top launch into space. Built the wrong way it is a bad source to launch from and may cause damage because of a faulty launch position. The same with our logic. A faulty logic provides a faulty launch position for all other decisions in life. A correct logic provides a correct foundation from which all things begin.

Long before the breakfast food industry was saying breakfast was an important part of the day, my mother was telling me that breakfast was where a good day started. It takes a good beginning to make a great day, she would say. She knew the importance of getting off to a good start. It was the place to begin looking for the best. What we partake of to begin our decisions will affect the decisions themselves. Good logic, good decisions. Bad logic, bad decisions.

Obedience is a foundation from which good can be achieved. Rebellion against that which is designed for the greater good is like starting a trip across country going the wrong way. Sure, things can be turned around, but why not start out in the right direction in the first place. Like a child who's afraid his father will see him doing things the way the father suggested, we do it just the opposite, in private, so later we can say we had the right idea. Are we all really afraid someone might see us being obedient? Or are we just scared to death something might limit us from being whatever we want to be.

God has not given us the spirit of fear. Fear is the tool of an enemy who is afraid of losing control themselves. The world's logic sees God's logic as limiting them. God says His logic gives us every happiness and joy of life. One of those logics is lying. They can not both be right. The world sets limits to provide for its own comfort. God sets limits to provide for the comfort of the greater good. The only one who feels limited by God's logic is the one who still thinks they deserve more than someone else.

### Chapter Twenty

### Limits

Ah, there is the defining difference between the world's logic and God's logic. God sets limits. Although the lives of God's people are unlimited in many ways because of His limitless blessings, there are limits of behavior which all have to recognize and live by. God spells out sin, lists the dangers of it and requires absolute adherence to His law. No matter who the person is or their position, He exacts judgment for the consequence of sin.

The world, in opposite fashion, thrives on setting no limits unless they absolutely have to. The limits of the world's logic are not stepping stones to a better life for all but instead, walls of convenience to some of the more complicated enjoyments of the flesh. Begrudgingly the world limits some behavior, such as sex with a non consenting adult (rape), as not progressive but lays the burden of proving non-consent squarely on the victim, as though not wanting to take responsibility for the offending limitation.

The world's limits are not really limits because on any given day those limits could be extended or even abolished. That makes them guidelines or suggestions. If something needs to be limited to enhance life today then it needs to be limited forever to enhance life forever. Otherwise it is not a limit but just an arbitrary rule of convenience. There are no absolute ideas in the world's logic so there can be no absolute limits.

God's sheep understand the need for structure around them to keep them safe, direct them and nurture them. The world's people do not understand structure as anything except someone trying to exert influence over them. (That's why we rebel.) Even when discipline is taught and accepted, it is focused on the individual rather than the greater good of the whole.

One of the most impossible situations I can imagine is the school bus driver. An Individual who receives hardly any respect from parents, teachers or school administrators drives a big piece of machinery around neighborhoods crawling with children who are always in the street for some unexplainable reason and is dealt the responsibility of enforcing obedience. The very fact that such a job exists today in our society tells a lot about our priorities. We give obedience such a low priority that we expect that a bus driver, with many things he or she must keep track of, ought to be able to get obedience out of children who exhibit none of the characteristics of obedience any where else.

Sometimes I believe we expect that obedience will just be a factor of growing up. While obedience is a characteristic of maturity, getting older is no assurance that maturity will set in. I meet far too many adults who still have not learned that obedience is necessary and even good for them. Many still act like rebellious children finally free from the reign of tyranny their parents oppressed them with. And these parents are raising the next generation of disobedient children.

So we give the bus driver rules. Well those are limits, sure enough. But limits without the ability of enforcement are no limits. The world likes quick fixes. So, they create a new rule to fix the complaint, maybe punish the one who caused them the inconvenience of dealing with the issue, and send the group back out on its merry way. But still there is no one to enforce the rule. The bus driver can never get the route finished if he or she addresses every infraction of the rules during the bus ride. Consequently the children learn this and seek to discover what they can get away with. They learn what rules are not to be ignored and which ones are bendable? With that information in hand the children now dictate their own bus ride. The bus driver just drives and compromise has been reached.

We parents blame the bus driver for his solution which does not get obedience from the children, just compromise. This same scenario is played out at every level of the child's life. And we wonder why compromise plays such a big part of our society today. It is the logic solution for people who do not want any limits.

This is not the way of God's sheep. The limits set by God are not negotiable. What God sets down as wrong can not be made right no matter how hard we negotiate. The limits are for the greater good of the sheep not the desire to avoid conflict.

God makes it plain that all must comply with His limits or be excluded from His blessing. Because God's limits are not oppressive or unreasonable (except to our screaming flesh) and because they are designed for the greater good of all God's people, the sheep accept His limits and build a life within them. A life of exploration and adventure.

Christopher Columbus was a Christian as were most of the explorers we teach our children about today. Then why do we not teach them about his foundation? Could it be we don't want the children of the world getting the idea that adventurers exist in Christianity? That simply wouldn't look right against the worldly logic that all Christians are sorry, sad, unfulfilled people.

Could we not reveal that the great adventurers of the U.S. Space Program, our heroes of the sixties, and seventies, were Christian men and women? Christopher Columbus Kraft, a key leader in the building of the space program taught Sunday school whenever his duties allowed him to. The truth is, most people with a spirit to go beyond the limits set by men, got their inspiration somewhere. If they did not get it from a personal relationship with God then they got it from some model of their life they sought to emulate.

The worldly logic sets no limits on anything except that which makes God's logic look inviting. It is a pattern of deception used by all brain wash techniques. Let them think there is only one option and, after time, they will choose the only option open to them, whether it matches their convictions or not.

The worldly logic explains that limits are to be tested, expanded and eventually erased as the creature becomes more evolved. God's logic sets the limits and explains the blessing of living within them and the curse of living outside of them. Clearly there is a choice here that must be made. To desire the limitless worldly logic is normal. It is far more convenient to live that way. It is also more dangerous. The inconveniences of God's limits and living within them are obvious. The rewards are sometimes hidden such as eternal life. But my father always told me that you get nothing for free in this world. You must work for everything.

If the world believes we must work for everything then why must success be any difference. Worldly logic teaches ease and comforts. God's logic teaches hard work and sacrifice. If we were sending our child out into the world to make a career which advice would suit their priorities better, ease and comfort, or hard work and sacrifice? Then why is our choice of logic systems so hard to make? Again, convenience.

Part of God's blessings upon those who live within the limits of His logic is the blessing of eternal life with Him. Part of the curse of living according to worldly logic is choosing to believe that there is no eternity. If there is a God, and historical data shows that to be true, then it stands to reason that whatever He says would be true, too. I have no proof for eternity other than the proof of a God who is eternal. I would never risk missing eternity with the One who created all life. I most assuredly would not risk ending up in hell, the transgressors eternal home of misery and pain.

Limits are inconvenient. They do not allow us free reign over our own lives. But most importantly, to the phobia of God expressed by the world's logic, limits point to One who is greater than we are. Without God there really are no limits. Animals need no further limitation than their own abilities and dreams. It is survival of the fittest after all, by the world's logic standard.

Society has only limited ability to express or enforce its limits. Face it, we do not even have the ability to enforce speed limits on our streets. How can we ever expect that life's limits can ever be enforced perfectly by an imperfect people? The limits are faulty because they are from a faulty foundation. The enforcement of those limits are faulty because faulty human beings administer them. The world's logic system is designed, implemented and enforced as a deception to itself.

God is the One who sets all permanent limits. He gave us the Ten Commandments upon which almost all our laws of society are based. To deny the Creator of life is to deny the Creator of limits. If there is no Creator of limits capable of enforcing His limits, then there are only convenient limits which can and will be replaced at the whim of faulty public opinion.

God can not be replaced. His limits can not be removed. All men are living according to the limits of the God of the bible. Some are living within them and some are not. Some will know the blessing of His eternal life. Some will taste the misery of eternal damnation. But His limits have and will continue to stand the test of time. Societies have come and gone. Only God remains constant.

### Chapter Twenty One

### The Shepherd

The need for guidance is assured by the existence of limits. Because of the limits, not in spite of them, we need guidance. When a child has no limitations he requires no guidance. A mother who puts her child outside to play in the front yard, next to the street where traffic passes by keeps a close eye on the child. Whereas, a mother who puts her child into a fenced in back yard keeps less of a vigil over the child, because of the lessened risk. So it is with the Great Shepherd. Because God has declared limits by defining sin, which destroys His creation, there is a need for guidance from One who can watch even the things we can not.

Ever since bible days people have placed little prestige in the job of the shepherd. After all, the shepherd just sits on the hillside and watches the sheep most of the time. That's what most people see, anyway. The truth is that a good shepherd is far more busy than that.

There is water to be sought out and approved of for the safety and health of the sheep. The entrance can not be too steep nor can the water be too deep nor can the current be too swift. Too steep means too much of a risk to enter into it. Too deep and the sheep may drown in it. If the current is too swift then the sheep may be carried away by it. All are things the good shepherd considers. But they are characteristics that separate the good shepherd from the world's logic.

The world says you get nothing except by risk. Pleasure can not be achieved without great and harmful risk for so many worldly obsessions. Bungee jumping, rock climbing, motor sports racing. Most sports in general offer some degree of exposure to permanent injury and even death. And what about having an extramarital affair? It offers the risk of getting caught and can destroy a marriage and the lives of all people involved. No place in the bible does God ask us or direct us to take a risk that might injure us or hurt us in any other way. Only the logic of the world says, "You're not living until you've risked something. The greater the risk the greater the adventure." The good shepherd seeks only our benefit. The world seems to delight in pushing us to take greater and greater risk. Now we don't just have sports. We have extreme sports, where greater risk is involved. God has never increased the risk of following His logic.

There is pasture to be managed as the shepherd moves the sheep around daily. The food for the sheep must be not only acceptable but also excellent because it affects the growth of the sheep. The good shepherd wants to add to the growth process so He looks for the best food for His sheep. Contrariwise, the world's obsession with food is creating cheaper and less nutritious fast food for human consumption.

I have always been intrigued by the science experiment where a cockroach and a Hostess Twinkie were placed in a glass container together. After several months the cockroach died because it refused to eat the Twinkie. The assumption on the part of the scientists was that the cockroach perceived all the preservatives in the Twinkie as poison and refused to be poisoned. Humans on the other hand, myself included, reach for the Twinkies and gobble them down like there's no tomorrow.

God wants us to not only consume a good natural diet but also a good spiritual diet. God's logic calls for reading His Word, the bible. He also calls for us to pray regularly that we might stay close to Him and know His every move in our life. This closeness is a spiritual feeding we can never get from the world.

The world's logic says eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you will die. A phrase God's Word says to watch out for. In the logic of the world I am my own master and if I want to kill myself with the "good" things I find around me, then I should be allowed to. Good things like alcohol, drugs, bleached sugars and flours, caffeine laced products are all things we know we should avoid. If the world is so concerned about our health, like the TV ads seem to indicate (and they are not really just interested in our money) why does the world keep creating better alcohol, drugs, sugary foods, new processed grain delights (deserts), and increasing choices of caffeine filled products? The answer is simple, once again. The world talks one way, for our health, but then offers us a hundred new choices to destroy that same health.

God's logic is different. He tells us what will harm us and then tells us to stay away from it. He does not create more of it to tempt us. God is no tempter of persons. God's logic calls for creating environments within which to live devoid of temptations so that we can more easily live proper lives.

Disease has to be watched for. Bacteria and viruses, although not understood back in bible days, were known to infect sheep from certain things they would do, like introducing new sheep to the flock before they were quarantined and made sure of. Certain watering places infected sheep, so the good shepherd learned to keep them away from there. Similarly, our Good Shepherd directs us away from things that can infect our minds, our bodies, and our spirits.

God's logic contains instructions to stay away from things that cause disease and physical discomforts. Not touching dead carcasses, not drinking from non-moving water sources, being careful when working in the sun. He also warns us about the dangers of letting our mind concentrate on the wrong things in life too much. He says stay away from things like loose women because they only seek to entrap us. God says be careful what we allow into our minds because they affect what we think about and how we think. And of course, The Word of God warns us to not be spiritually empty. God tells us to be spiritually full in order to have great joy. We are never complete, according to God's logic, unless we have full spiritual lives as well.

The world's logic recognizes disease but never seems to really eradicate it. The medicines found in most people's houses are designed to alleviate symptoms more than eradicating the illness. There's more money in treating illness symptoms than creating proper nutrient, rich foods and actual antidotes for medical problems. Medicine in the USA seems to hinge more on repeat business than on cure. Sure, we want the cure for cancer and AIDS but we can not even develop a cure for the common cold, or hay fever. The medical community does more to foster continuing care than to provide a one-time service.

Only recently the medical community has started realizing that spiritual care is part of overall well-being. Yet I have still not read a single article that acknowledges the God of heaven, because that would be inconvenient. Then the medical community would have to recognize the many things God says that are true. And there just isn't any money in that.

To be fair, there are many good Christian doctors out there who are treating the whole person, body, mind and spirit. They are also using plant nutrients and vitamins to balance the human body according to God's logic as recorded in His Word. But there are still many more doctors who prefer to ignore God and make the world their logic system, a system which has created the most medically needy country in the world, the USA.

Shearing of the sheep has to be done at proper times. Shearing plays and important role in the health of the flock. Too soon a shearing and the sheep get sick from the cold. Too late and they could lose valuable and healthy weight because of the heat. Also the wool is worth more at the proper time. The wool is the fruit of the sheep. Without producing wool the sheep would have no purpose. Every sheep has a purpose, to produce for the shepherd.

God's sheep produce for God. As He directs and leads they produce by spreading His Word and worshiping the Creator. The sheep also produce more sheep. It is the way of growth and true progress.

The world's logic system creates nothing. It utilizes resources given and arranges them in ways that we call creating. The world produces much in the way of goods and services but it is all for a common goal of making money. There is nothing wrong with making money. I am all for it. But the goal has to be greater than making money. The world's logic makes money the goal. The more the better. Yet, money has never yet brought anyone happiness. You can not buy happiness with money.

God's logic, while it produces and generates money too, never uses the tools as the goal. A farmer does not have a goal of getting his equipment together for the sake of just getting them together. He has a goal of producing crops. He plants, waters, nurtures and finally harvests that crop. The tools are to help him do it, not the goal of the project.

Money is a tool to help us produce for God, not a goal to store up as measurement of our success. The true measurement of success is pleasing God. Poor people can please God, as well as the rich. The pleasing is not in the money.

Jesus once told His followers to look at the woman who had just placed two pennies in the temple collection box. They saw the woman just as He pointed out but were obviously unimpressed with her meager offering. Then Jesus explained that she gave more than anyone else that day. This statement confused the worldly measurement minded followers even more. Jesus explained that the woman gave of all she had while others just gave of their excess. She gave up her entire savings and others were just giving what they felt they could afford.

Now Christ was not saying that we should all give up everything we have but that the less we have, and God knows how much we have, the more it is worth when we give it up to God. God is pleased not by amount as much as by what the offering means to us. If we can do without the offering we give to God, and have that kind of attitude. God can do without it. But if that offering means a lot to us and could have done many things in our life that are necessary, then it means a lot to God, also. The goal in our lives, according to God's logic is not the money, it is the things we can produce with it. We are supposed to produce more believers and more ability to worship the God we serve.

The protection of the sheep is always foremost in the shepherd's mind. Jesus said the Good Shepherd will even die for the sheep. Such is the commitment of the shepherd. Spiritually God has done all He can for mankind. He has sent His Son to take up an earthly body and to suffer for the sins of mankind to reconcile the creation to the Creator. By His death on a cross Jesus paid the price of our reconciliation with God. He has protected us from the greatest threat we faced, eternity in the fires of hell.

Hell is a real place. The world's logic tries to dismiss hell as a fable or myth to scare kids into being good. But, if the God who created all things says there is a hell we should believe Him. If God is real, hell is real. The fires that never die, that burn with an unquenchable flame, that torments the captives of hell forever, are real. God wants to protect us from this place of rebellion. It is the only punishment God has in life. There are many chastisements in life which are designed to turn us around and direct us toward God's logic. But there is only one punishment, hell's fire. Jesus came to save us from this torment. He came and died upon that rugged cross on that lonely hill for our sake. His love for the sheep caused Him to leave the pleasures of the throne to protect us from a destination we could not protect ourselves from. The real Shepherd gave His life for the sheep.

The world's logic, in contrast, says there is no such place as hell so we do not need any protection. Go ahead, eat drink and be merry. Just because a mother refuses to acknowledge that there is a highway running by the front of their house does not mean there is any less danger of the children being hit by a car. A good mother knows the danger and protects her children from it with rules, a watchful eye and chastisement (correction) when needed.

In today's society the role of the stay at home mom has been treated similarly to the shepherd of old. Today's stay at home mom is looked down upon with disdain as though her calling to her children is somehow a lesser calling in the world. I suppose it is, by Worldly logic. Worldly logic claims relevance based upon personal accomplishment. The disdain of the world for our children is evident because we see that anyone who deals with children is considered less than worthy of our attention. One needs only to talk to a stay at home mom or a teacher or a church leader to ascertain these facts. The world makes no big secret about hating our children. Abortion is just another way to deal with those who are in our way.

By God's logic, however, the mother is the guidance for those children which God calls a gift straight from Himself. The sacrifice a stay at home mom suffers through, for her children, parallels the plight of the shepherd. Friends look down upon her decision as though she is wasting her life. Her husband may treat her as though she is not as important as he is because she does not bring home a paycheck. Or maybe he wants her in the home so he can feel more like a man, which degrades her duty to the children in itself.

Studies show that children with a stay at home mom develop better socially when introduced to other communities of children. They learn better in school and generally become better citizens on the average. The role of the stay at home mom, although slighted by society over the years, has gained many proponents in the last ten years or so. Yet there is no great resurgent of moms going back into the home. Like cigarette smoking, even though we are given the information to make the best choice for ourselves, convenience still dictates our logic which decides our path for us.

The logic of the world has given praise to the woman who works and not to the woman who stays at home to raise her children. Two paycheck families have increased the standard of living and now our conveniences have become necessities. Thus, the woman who desires to be a stay at home mom must fight and suffer through society's disdain and the economic impact of losing a paycheck. It is a strong wife and a supportive husband who make such a decision in today's culture. May all the church praise such a woman. The world never will.

I am personally interested less in a woman who can juggle it all rather than a woman who chooses the best thing, God's logic, and does that well. While there is no godly logic which says a woman must not work, there is reference to the industrious woman who does work and raise a family simultaneously. But there is a difference between God's logic and the world's logic. The world's goal is to make money, period. The bottom line for the World's logic is to increase income at any cost. The world says a good mother minimizes the impact upon her children (the knowledge of the impact is justified by the increase in the income) but does nothing to rearrange society's systems to support her. She must fight through on her own.

God's logic is based upon a woman working from the home creating things that could be purchased and buying and selling land, also done from the home. Another task of the industrious stay at home mom in the bible was her garden, which was always bearing fruit because of her constant attention. God's logic describes the stay at home mom as a crafter, intelligent investor, and caregiver whether to fruit and vegetables or the children. These things are considered inconvenient in today's world.

I'm not suggesting that women do not need to work. Not at all. But we need to look at our goals and understand what God's logic says. Too many people, even Christians, are operating according to the world's logic and not God's. God's logic causes sacrifices for our children and sometimes a parent sacrifices what they could have done without the children in order to do the best for the children. It is not convenient and that is my first clue. The world's way is convenience, daycare, babysitters and leaving the children with relatives and strangers.

When we look at the shepherd from the plight of the stay at home mom we can better understand the treatment David received from his father when the prophet of God came to see Jesse's boys. The prophet Samuel was there to anoint a new king of Israel and Jesse called all his boys except David. When all the other boys were rejected by the prophet, at God's request through the prophet Samuel, Jesse was forced to send for David. David, the little shepherd boy who was looked at by his brothers and father as less than themselves was the one God chose that day. God was looking for someone who would follow Him and lead the people. The qualities needed for the position were found in the self-sacrificing lifestyle of the lowly shepherd boy. I believe the reason we see so much leadership in the church today being carried out by women is related to their ability to embrace the role of the shepherd lifestyle in their hearts. Maybe the loss of prestige in motherhood has caused them to seek out the prestige of church leadership while allowing them to play the role they were designed for. (I have no data to back this statement up. Just an observation of a man who sees too much hurt among God's people.)

And Jesus is the Great Shepherd. The one who comes into our lives so that He might guide us even by His own example. When He went back to the throne of His Father He prayed for the Father to send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, that the people would not be shepherdless. Moses prayed a similar prayer when he was getting ready to die. He asked God to raise up another shepherd so that the people would not be shepherdless.

Worldly logic says there are some limits but offers no shepherd to guide us through those limits. Instead the world's logic just provides for enforcement of laws and rules. The guidance of the church, the guidance of parents, the guidance of all that is considered good by God's logic, is mocked and laughed at by the world's logic. Anyone who disputes this needs only turn on a TV set and watch for a half hour. Priests and ministers are portrayed as buffoons, crooks, and perverts. Parental authority is something to be sidestepped for the enjoyment of the child. Intelligent fathers are impossible to find on TV. And the only relationships which are portrayed as healthy on TV are lesbian and gay ones.

While the world tears away at the fabric of God's logic and guidance designed to help us navigate the limits of real life, the message of the World's logic comes through loud and clear, there is no need for guidance in a culture of convenience. God's logic challenges that message. God's people and the church ought to present a clear choice to the world concerning our need for guidance. If we truly embrace the limits of God's logic, to live a life without sin, then we obviously need to have the guidance of One who has already lived His life without sin.

The number one complaint I hear in today's world is that our leaders seemingly do whatever they want while enforcing laws upon those who can not afford the legal help to get away with it, too. This is a unique Worldly logic. It deserves a good look in order for us to understand why a shepherd is needed.

How can we expect leadership from leaders who can not even lead themselves properly? The world's logic states that we don't really need guidance because we should be able to grow and govern ourselves in one breath and then it gives us leaders who demand huge salaries but don't follow the rules that they themselves are responsible for. God's logic gives us One perfect leader to guide us through the perfect lifestyle in God's perfect plan for our lives. If I am lost in the mountains with a group of people I am not going to listen to the richest or most impressive person in the group when I want details about getting home. I will not search out the counsel of the one with the most degrees on their wall. I will not pull out my cell phone and call my state representative. Those things mean nothing to my greatest need. I want to talk personally with the person who has traveled the mountain paths before. If it means I call, then I call. If it means I find the member of the group who's been there before, then I find them. I am not interested in the opinions of others when my life is on the line. It may seem narrow minded to not give due respect to the rich one or the politician or the doctor of this or that. But I can not help it. I need what I need and not just what they have to offer.

That's the way it is with the world today. People need help because their logic is wrong. People need help because the limits of their life have been ignored. People need help because conveniences and the obsession with them have taken control of their lives. But they can not find a shepherd. Oprah can't do it because she's not the shepherd of the right logic. Dr. Phil can't do it because he's not a shepherd of the right logic. For all their desire to do good, they are hampered with the logic of the world which feeds the problem instead of facing it. Only perfect logic can give perfect results. Only perfect limits will achieve perfect safety. Only perfect knowledge of right and wrong will point out the abuses of conveniences. And only a perfect shepherd can guide us through His plan for perfection.

We need the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, to guide us with the Logic of God. We need the Word of God, the bible, fully working in our lives as the character of Christ grows in us. We need the strength to stand up and call upon the only One who can save us from our own logic, Jesus, the Great Shepherd. It is a life and death situations. Even more, it is an Eternal Life and Eternal Damnation decision.

### Chapter Twenty Two

### Pastors

Pastors are the local shepherds of the flock. To be more correct they are the Under Shepherds of Christ placed in positions over local congregations for the benefit of that congregation. In God's logic there is a need for guidance at every level of our lives. The desire to rebel against all authority because it infringes on our convenience is good proof that the flesh must be overcome in order to allow the guidance of shepherds, our rightful authorities, into our lives.

The call of a pastor is from God and for God. Churches do not call pastors nor do they choose them. They may vote on desired characteristics of men or women paraded before them, but ultimately God says He gives us the desires of our heart. That includes our leaders, too. The ultimate decision, though, is with God. God raises up and God puts down. It is within the logic of God that He control everything or we may hurt ourselves by choosing something we shouldn't have.

Local congregations are microcosms or the communities they abide in. In these small representations of the community the best and the worst of the community can be viewed. Either the church is following God's logic and has reached out to the problems of the community or the church is itself in the throes of judgment over limits that were overstepped and guidance that was ignored. Either way, the pastors of the local flocks must shepherd for the good of all just as God's logic dictates.

Churches that spend too much time taking care of the complaints of a few members over and over are being hampered in their true service to the community. God's logic is clear, people grow and become mature. If, after a time period of teaching and guiding, people still refuse to mature or grow up, a pastor must take firmer measure. Sheep who refuse to eat are unheard of. So a pastor must wonder where his sheep are eating if not of the fields he is leading them into. There lies the greatest conflict of the church today. The sheep are volunteers and if their commitment logic is defined by the world's logic for commitment, then they are not really committed. The minute they feel one of their conveniences are being attacked they will back away and continue to feed in the fields of the world.

Every pastor knows this feeling. Having done everything they could it came down to a choice for the member, to follow or go their own way. And ultimately the love of convenience which they live in all day long, wins out over the urges and teachings of God's logic, which they absorb a little once a week for an hour. Frustration is the lot of the pastor of today. The shepherd of old would break the legs of the sheep who kept wandering off. This may seem cruel but it was necessary to save the life of the wayward sheep. As the sheep healed up it learned to stay with the flock. There is no way to break the legs of the wandering flock members today. That authority is not given to the pastor as the shepherd. Instead, he or she prays and sheds the tears of lost love. The lost sheep, the shepherds, and God's.

I believe many people have problems with their pastor because they don't understand that the pastor has been placed in that congregation specifically to meet the needs of that congregation. Or maybe it is because they understand that but they misunderstand what the needs of the congregation are or the role the pastor is supposed to play. Too often the role of the pastor is minimized as a job or a profession. It is neither and it is both.

The pastor, as the shepherd of the local flock, has a duty, first to God to hear and obey, and second to the flock, to lead and to example. The servant hood of the pastor is to wash the saints' feet. As the leader the pastor must continually seek to offer hope to those who come in to the fold. That hope must be based in the logic of the God we serve or it is false hope. That logic comes with limits and delivers inconveniences. For someone to go to church and blame the pastor for being to narrow minded or strict because they want their conveniences more than they want God's logic, is ludicrous. But it happens every single week in big churches and small ones all across this nation.

All a pastor can do is keep going. He or she can never change the logic of God to meet the demands of the people so the popularity of the pastor who teaches the Word of God, is never based on the easy things of life, but the hard ones. How a person relates to the hard things of life tells more about them than it does their pastor. Maturity in god's logic is something people reach by learning, not with age. Immature people will balk at the shepherds insistence upon the truth and righteousness of God's logic even though it is the only perfect thing in their lives. They will make excuses based upon imperfect things and justify themselves by blaming someone else. That is worldly logic. That is immature logic.

A child blames everyone and everything to escape taking responsibility. People who deny the logic of God deny their own responsibility to make good decisions. Shepherds are just in the line of fire when the immature person goes off.

I know some shepherds are not true shepherds but really just ravening wolves out to fleece the flock as Christ said. I know the good shepherd will give his life for the flock. I know that God is in control and if we keep close to Him His logic will lead us to right conclusions and profitable results. But I also know that the sheep know the shepherd's voice.

It may be that some who read this will undoubtedly conclude that I am a pastor and I am decidedly biased. That somehow I am, whether purposefully or not, trying to stack the deck in the favor of pastors everywhere. That's true! I am. There is no way the sheep can find proper leadership from God while denying the leadership authority of the pastor, whom God sent their way. When God's leadership receives respect and commitment then God has received respect and commitment. When the pastor is being debated then God's decision to place that pastor there is being debated.

It's like a child who pitches a fit when the parent will not purchase that certain something at the store. The child believes the parent is denying them their wants and perceived needs, their conveniences. The parent believes they know best and after a little time and the child does not come around to proper ways of thinking the parent gets disappointed at the child's immaturity. A good parent does not give in to the child's tantrum but instead takes away even more as punishment for the horrible behavior. It might even require a slap on the hinder parts to make the child understand they are not in charge, the parent is.

The same pattern of correction is to be expected from a loving and all-knowing God. When we, His sheep, deny His authority to make those "best for us" decisions we are acting just like a little child pitching a fit in the store. We want what we want and we will make everyone's life miserable until we get it. That is spiritual immaturity. That is something even worse that a God who has invested His Son's life in the creation He loves can not abide. It is a lack of faith.

There is a story in the New Testament of the bible of a soldier coming to Christ as He walked along. The soldier was not just anyone. He was the captain of a hundred, a centurion of the Roman army. He was a man of power and authority. Yet, as he spoke with Christ and made his plea for the life of one of his servants, he astounded the Lord. Think about that. Something a man can do that will amaze even God. That is something worth knowing.

As Jesus prepared to follow the soldier to his servant and heal him the soldier stopped Him. The words he spoke then turned the head of Jesus and caught the ear of His Father in heaven. Angels leaned over the thresholds of heaven and gathered to hear what even a man could speak that would astound God. Angels and other heavenly creatures who did not hear the words originally, asked others what had just been said. Since the Holy Spirit had not yet been officially assigned to man on earth He may have leaned over and whispered all the missed words to the now intently listening crowd. He whispered because everyone was listening to hear if any more was coming.

What was this thing that a man could speak that would amaze our Lord? Well, as the soldier held up his hand to stop the Lord from following him he spoke these words. "It is not necessary for you to come, Lord. I am a man who understands authority. I am both under authority and in authority over others. I say to one man come and he will come. I say to another man go and he will surely go. I am not worthy that You should depart from that which You are doing. Therefore I know that it is not necessary for You come with me. You only need to speak and my servant will be healed."

The bible says that God, in the form of man named Jesus, was amazed. But what amazed Him? In my desire to understand as much as possible about God's logic, that became a very important question. The answer to that question changed my life.

Jesus looked at the soldier and marveled. The words He spoke next are life changing to those who will hear. The Lord said, "Everyone! Listen to this. It is important to hear this! For I have not found such great faith as this anywhere in Israel as I walk around through it."

Now the very fact that Jesus identified the soldier's ability to understand authority as faith is extremely important for the Christian of today. But the Lord did not stop there. He was intent on driving home the point with the words He spoke next.

"Many will come from all directions of this world who were not originally invited to the kingdom of God because of this faith. They will come because they understand this kind of authority. However the children of the kingdom who are already here will be chased away and leave the kingdom of God because they do not have this kind of faith or understand this kind of authority." Then it says Jesus spoke to the soldier and said, "Go on your way because it is just as You have said." And the bible further records that the servant of that faithful soldier was healed that very same hour.

Wow! That needs to be absorbed, not just read. Jesus just handed us a key of keys. Nothing can work in this life unless it has authority to work. No matter how basic the need it can never be filled unless the authority to receive it is released.

A man needs air to breath. That's as basic a need as I can think of. But that same man can not breathe in the vacuum of space nor the depths of the ocean. Just because the man needs to breath does not mean he gets to breath. There needs to be an authority of atmosphere to accommodate his need. A vacuum can not fulfill the need for breathable oxygen. The ocean water can not be converted into breathable oxygen by the man's lungs either. The vacuum of space and the water of the ocean are authorities that rule over the oxygen need of the man in those environments. For a man to breath in space he needs a suit which allows him to receive the oxygen he needs. He needs a scuba tank or something similar to breath while under water. Both of the things the man needs are integral to his ability to breath and receive his needed oxygen in these otherwise hostile territories. If the man decides he doesn't need to follow the rules of the special suit he wears in space and abandons it he will die from his decision to abandon the authority of the suit. The same happens to a man who decides to do without the use of the scuba equipment under water.

In both situations the man must submit to the authority, operating instructions if you will, of the equipment he is dependent upon. The spaceman must forego many conveniences to go into space. To demand those conveniences may place his life at risk. For instance, almost every astronaut in the USA's NASA program complained about the temperature inside their space suits. If an astronaut were to decide he wants the convenience of temperature more than he wants to follow the directions of wearing the space suit he jeopardizes his own life for a convenience. How absurd would it be for an underwater diver to simply decide that the scuba mask they are wearing impairs their vision too much? So, because they want to look around more and feel more free they decide to take the mask and tanks off and leave them behind. They take a deep last breath and swim off to be free of the encumbrance of the mask and tanks. How far will they get before they realize that the mask and tanks held all their oxygen and they need more? Will they be able to get back?

Authority is like instructions that are necessary to operate a space suit or scuba equipment. It takes practice to become good at using them. And to ignore them detracts from the quality of life. In a spiritual sense, denying the instructions, or the authority, is death itself.

Jesus was amazed because the soldier spoke the words of life that the whole world needs to hear. Without properly recognizing our authority, God, we are dead. Like a man without his oxygen we stand looking at the necessary equipment right beside us. But because of our own dependence upon conveniences we refuse to put the equipment on because it will inconvenience us. So we gasp for air as the answer to our need is offered by the God who created us and knows our need.

A major need in the Christian church today is to understand that authority is not a way hold power over others. God's authority does not work that way. Jesus came to serve mankind not to oppress it. The church people need to learn to grasp authority for what God intended it to be. Authority does not increase conveniences. It puts them back into proper perspective. Righteousness must be served despite inconvenience. Authority is the way to God. Without understand God's all-encompassing authority we are destined to struggle against God's correction just like that child in the store pitching a tantrum or that scuba diver gasping for air. The child will receive far more from the parent when they respect the parent's authority to say no. The scuba diver will receive all the oxygen he needs when he respects the operating equipment's instructions. Both require that we experience a little inconvenience. Both require that we respect the authority and submit to it to receive that which is best for us.

### Chapter Twenty Three

### Hearing Sheep

The sheep know the shepherd's voice. They listen for it because it leads them. They need it because they depend upon it. Warning comes from the words of that voice. Provision issues forth from that voice. Direction comes through that voice. It is vital that they hear that voice every day. The voice comforts them and spreads peace among the sheep.

Jesus is the perfect example of the Great Shepherd. Pastors, priests and ministers are examples of under-shepherds who guide the flock as they listen to and receive vision from the Great Shepherd. God's logic is preserved and shared in this manner for all of the community.

The world's logic has no shepherd's. They desire leaders, but the leaders are gods in their own rights by worldly design. The leaders of the world spout great slogans but all have one thing in common, they desire success on their own terms. They listen to no greater voice than their own. They seek to accomplish their own visions of life. They are, at best, limited by their own imagination.

God's logic, on the other hand, says that He will give us exceedingly above anything we can ask or even think about. God's plans are higher than even the human mind can imagine. The sheep would do well to hear the real Master instead of the world's version of Master-Wannabes. The choices we make in life, convenience or the right ways, will let us hear the real Master's voice. Conveniences are not bad, but they do hold a certain risk for hearing God properly. Good Christians learn that they must give up some conveniences of life to hear God properly.

When people debate the shepherd they can no longer hear his voice. Whether they debate the Word of God and Christ Himself, or the pastor who preaches the Word to the congregation does not matter. Because of the presence of God contained in His Word, it is the same thing. When they ignore the shepherd they are no longer hearing his voice. When they never get close enough to hear the shepherd speak they can not hear his voice. This applies to time in prayer with God or time in church worshipping God. It raises a question debated in religious circles for many years. If the sheep need to hear the shepherd's voice and the choices the sheep make in life cause them not to hear the shepherd's voice, then are they any longer sheep?

Sheep who don't need a shepherd are not sheep. Sheep who only want to be sheep on their own terms do not understand the logic and limits of God or His authority. When the sheep undermine the Great Shepherd, the local shepherd's (the under-shepherd's, or the pastor's) voice in order to claim hearing a more convenient voice of their own, they stop being sheep and become goats. They may dress like sheep and talk like sheep but they smell and act like goats.

Goats are not tuned into the shepherd's voice. They don't want to hear it. They like associating with the flock because the flock goes to new pasture and takes them along. There is some provision in the flock. But they want to maintain their autonomy. No one can tell them what to do. Their decisions are entirely their own. They may hear the shepherd but (and that is the voice of a goat, "but") the goat makes its own decisions based on its own desires.

Sheep who hear the shepherd's voice have a desire to mature in the logic of God. They make a commitment to the things of God, which include His under-shepherds and His church. They respect God's methods and His ministers. They are honest about themselves because they compare themselves to Christ and not other people.

Contrast the world's comparisons. Each person, according to the world's logic, must be compared to those around them, those they aspire to be and those who have gone before them and passed into history. The world's comparisons are based upon human ability, skill and talent. To achieve one needs only to raise above the one who preceded them. Everyone has the chance to be the next, great thing in whatever field they choose.

While that may sound encouraging and uplifting we must put reality back into the picture. There are millions of people on this planet. How many of them can be the best, then at any given time? That's the real problem with the world's system. Greatness is arbitrary based on circumstance, conditions, popular opinion, and many other human factors that can change with the wind. It is very easy with the world's logic to begin to believe we are less than good and maybe not any good.

God's logic claims all men are created equal and of great value to God, the Creator. This claim gives everyone an equal footing. God's system of measuring greatness is determined by how well we follow His lead and not by how well we use our personal skills, talents and giftings.

That's where the world's logic seeks to deny the logic of God. If God is to be believed, the president of the USA is no more important than the janitor of the smallest school in the smallest town of the country. Well, if that is true, why do we pay the president so much more than we pay the janitor? Oh, the believers in the world's logic cringe at the thought that someone might understand God's plan clearly enough to see the imbalances created by the world's logic. The world is designed for competition and survival. God's logic is designed for balance and growth. The world seeks it own personal best while God seeks the best for all of His creation.

Sheep have integrity. Goats do not. Sheep discuss things for the purpose of discovering the truth of God's logic with no mind to the conveniences which might get in the way. They have made the choice ahead of time that serving God is not for convenience sake, but for maturity's sake.

Goats have a different agenda. With them convenience comes first and foremost. Truth is not absolute, so God is not absolutely in charge. Their only commitment is to themselves. They are the only ones they know worthy of respect so they only respect those who agree with them. Their honesty about themselves is based upon the skewed logic of their own minds. And they bend that logic to fit their conveniences. Christ never enters the picture of their life any deeper than a song or a bumper sticker.

I can recall many instances where, as a pastor, I was accused of being so rigid that I wanted everything my own way. I even had one of my superiors question my integrity and desire to always have everything my way. I laugh about it now but it was upsetting at the time. Blinded by their own desires for what they wanted, those people could not see that all I wanted was to do it God's way. The very accusation they made against me was the reason they could not see God's logic. When I insisted we not do it their way, because it violated a principle of God, their anger welled up like an overflowing fountain based upon what they wanted, not what God wanted. Goats, at any level of religious organization, are still goats with a desire to carry out some plan of their own for their own success. They are unable to see God's bigger picture.

Consequently, many people left our church as I struggled to keep God's plan in place. It was little comfort to my flesh as people noticed the declining numbers in our church, either. There was a time when I thought that I would go along with the crowd and let them have their way, but after long time in prayer, I set my jaw and determined that I would do it God's way or no way. I do not regret my decision, but I sometimes wonder what, if any, regrets those others have.

The logic of God says, "Do not compromise the Word." The logic of the world says, "If so many are against you, it must be you who are wrong." I found myself facing just such a battle. I held to God's Word and when the declining numbers of the church began to worry the administrators of our denomination, they contacted me to let me know they believed it must be my fault because so many people could not be wrong. I guess they never read about one man, Jesus, being right in the middle of a city full of Pharisees.

Their logic was wrong. It was the world's logic. The number of people do not decide what is right or wrong. It is the source which makes right or wrong. God was my source. Personal preference, convenience, and self-promotion was the source of those who opposed me. Never once did the administrators ask the circumstances. They just assumed the numbers spoke for themselves. That is worldly logic at its best.

The funny part is that I was branded a problem because I refused to back down from following God's logic by the very people who were supposed to help me uphold God's logic. It was the convenient thing to do. It was not convenient for them to decide that greater work had to be done to teach and build up the community where the church was. That would take time and they needed those numbers up right now. Convenience dictated a desire to show off their numbers now. Convenience caused them to support the opinions of the people who abandoned the church instead of the logic of God regulated by the pastor who stayed with the church working for almost no pay. They could not see God's plan because it was inconvenient to their own plan of success. This is a sad commentary but one that I feel is repeated often enough that many will recognize this trend within the church today.

Sheep who hear what God says also have God's ear. Right relationship with God brings the ability to hear and to talk with God. Prayer becomes a part of the lives of the mature sheep. It ensures that they can always hear the shepherd. Jesus told His followers that those who heard Him heard the Father. The Apostle Paul told his followers to follow him as he followed Christ. The pastors of today can do no less for their sheep either.

The world says follow the example of this person today and then tomorrow they want you to follow the example of someone else. Does anyone see the pattern as the world supports these people. Every new person supported has something new to sell. Each time the person is changed new stuff must be purchased. Sounds fishy to me. It is deplorable the rapidity with which people are asked to change direction based upon every new wind of success that blows in. God desires our support of His logic and His kingdom work in a continuous effort to bring the same God of yesteryear to the people of today. The people of today need the same thing the people two hundred years ago needed. Salvation from an eternity in hell.

Sheep are ready to spread God's Word. Goats are ready to spread the next greatest thing that blows into town. If the people of our churches spread God's Word like they share the latest movies we would see greater advances in the kingdom work. The obvious conclusion is that God's Word is a secondary focus at best. And that means there are a lot of goats inside the church. There are sheep in the flocks hearing from God, but there are goats, too.

Sheep need to learn how to hear Christ through their pastor and other examples of Godly men and women in their church. They need to practice hearing what God is saying every chance they get. It needs to become a skill they hone until they know the shepherd's voice and it matches the Great Shepherd's voice. It takes an entire community of people hearing from God in order to make a church. On person or even a couple people can never do all the work God requires of His people. Sheep need the flock.

More often than not people leave a congregation because they can not hear what God is saying. They hear man speaking but they do not know the Word of God so they can not reconcile the words of man with the Word of God. And because they do not trust anyone they blame man, or at least the pastor who represents a view of man, for every perceived failing in their relationship with God. Goats are nothing more than sheep who refuse to be sheep because it is uncomfortable. They refuse to hear. Hearing God's logic is not convenient.

### Chapter Twenty Four

### Disgust

Good, old-fashioned disgust. Whatever happened to being disgusted? People hardly ever get disgusted any more. At least they rarely say they are disgusted. Have we become so civilized that we need to be removed from disgust? Are we so evolved that we do not allow disgusting things into our lives any more? Maybe we just are so accepting of everything that hardly anything disgusts us any more.

The world's logic minimizes the societal stimuli necessary to cause a reaction of disgust. The world's logic seeks to include everyone on their own terms. If the goal is to find a way to include everyone, no matter what, then tolerance must be the message of the day. In order to tolerate someone I must first get over my disgust.

It takes a lot to disgust someone today. We have even stopped using the word disgust for the most part. To use the word means there is something that we are not tolerant of. There are fewer and fewer things which cause a disgust reaction in us as we tolerate more and more things in our lives. Things that would have disgusted us years ago are now tolerated. We may not like it but we are no longer disgusted by it.

Each community decides its own rules of order and operation. Based on affiliation, membership make up, and factors of personal opinion, every community has to choose the things it will and will not accept. In the world's logic there are no permanent standards of law, rules, or regulation. Therefore, anything can be tolerated and then eventually absorbed. The USA of today, in all its political correctness, has veered from the path of the USA of yesteryear in an attempt to be more tolerant. What disgusted our citizens thirty years ago is now acceptable behavior.

The smaller communities making up the towns, cities and counties and eventually the whole state, exert pressure on the national vision by expressing and promoting their acceptance policies. As these communities bargain for positions of power they broker acceptance of one another as a means of exerting pressure. Political correctness is nothing more than peer pressure on a national scale.

When the logic system in place in any community declares all things okay by majority vote, as the USA has done in order to tolerate as many as possible and upset as few as possible, the only thing necessary to remove a reaction of disgust from society is to allow society a time period to accept the thing which previously disgusted it.

Murder used to be an abhorrent action. Today, it is accepted as part of life when someone takes things too far. It doesn't disgusts us any more. We may be saddened. We may even be mad. We are not disgusted because the world's logic has described the citizens of the world as tolerant and bigger than the smallness of those who break the rules.

This "bigness" of the world's citizens today drive us to accept everything with no shock, just sadness, or even anger. But we do not condemn. That would be intolerant and we may want to change our opinion later. Many who were angered by the attack on our nation September 11th are now crying out for mercy upon the terrorist societies that perpetrate such acts. We are calling for toleration.

What is actually being tolerated? Why don't we ask the families of the victims? Some would say that is revenge. No, not revenge, not even repayment, but good sense. Why should we leave the enemy alone – in the disguise of peaceful wishes – when we know their doctrine mandates they attack us again? If I call you up and tell you I am coming over to your house to kill you and your family are you going to sit there and do nothing? Of course not. Well, an entire nation of people have declared war against the USA, Israel, and all we stand for. It is tolerance at its craziest to believe if I offer to accept them they will allow me to keep doing what I am doing.

Muslims do not accept the tolerance policies of the U.S. Listen to them. One needs only to listen to them preach to hear their real message. It is not peace as the tolerant ones desire. It is Muslim peace under Muslim control of all aspects of life. Call it rebellion if you want, but I am not tolerating anyone who wants to subjugate me to their personal warped logic of life. I will fight to my last breath for the freedom armies of our history have struggled to give to us.

Toleration creates a messed up logic. How can two peoples exist side by side when one of those people believe they are on a mission to subjugate the entire world under their personal system of logic? When someone can answer me that I will become tolerant. Until then count me out. Better yet, count me as an enemy of toleration. If my God calls it sin, I will call it sin. I prefer to be right rather than tolerant. I prefer war to tolerant – miserable – peace under the terms of the insane.

As an American I believe Muslim control and political, religious authority is disgusting. Yes, I said it just that plain. To subject citizens to logic and restraints of life that are abhorrent to God for the sake of exerting control over them is man's greatest and most lunatic effort. No wonder so many unfeeling, and out of touch leaders come out of those Muslim societies. They live in a world that disgusts me with their fight for power and control. I can not tolerate what I am disgusted by. Don't ask me to, either.

Someone is bound to say that the Muslim way of life is good. I challenge them to show me one successful Muslim community. Just one. There is none. The reason. No society can be counted as successful that treats their citizens as though they are cattle. Women have little to no rights. Men act like poor copies of rich playboys while providing little for their families. Children are not taught to advance society but to attack and pull down other societies. No where that a Muslim presence has taken over has anything but misery and death come to the people.

I do not expect everyone to believe me. I pray that they do not. But maybe someone will get curious enough to check things out. Communistic suppression didn't work and the Muslim agenda of suppressing the citizens won't work there either. Intolerance can not make a society strong. Neither does tolerance. The reason is clear. Intolerance and tolerance are not the issue. The issue is the logic that drives the need for intolerance and tolerance. What drives the logic is what builds the society not the tools of the people.

God drives the logic of His kingdom plan. God desires the best for all, not the consolidation of power. God already has all power. He does not ask His people to go out and bring Him more. There is no need. God's list of right and wrong tells us what He will tolerate and what He will not tolerate. There is no need for people to constantly be adjusting to tolerate new things with God. His logic never changes. It is a plan for all time, all ages, all people.

Whatever disgusts God should disgust His people. Sin disgusts God. There should be no toleration of sin in the life of the Christian. To tolerate what disgusts God is to tell God He no longer makes the rules. When man starts making his own rules and deciding what he will and will not tolerate, then man begins acting in God's place and developing his own logic. When the world teaches people to do away with disgust then they are helping to do away with God.

Prostitution was once a disgusting way of life. Now it is accepted, even legal in some places. What once caused men and women to whisper behind closed doors, sexual depravity, now is open fare for comedians, television programs, and the common language. Do away with disgust and then comes acceptance. Soon, it is no longer a sin. After all, if I am a good person I would not commit sin, would I. therefore, if I tolerate it, it must be okay. Does anyone see the insidious disease that creeps in with toleration. Toleration is nothing more than a power trip for people. They decide to tolerate something and give that something the power to be acceptable. They also take the power to call it unacceptable away from God.

At one time abortion was considered a disgusting thing to do to your body, not to mention your child. Only the bravest of souls talked about it in the open. Doctors practiced it behind secretive doors. Preachers cried out the pain of God for His children in services aimed at honoring God's logic. Now, even church members take part in the atrocity aimed at the destruction of our children and families.

When society becomes tolerant of everything there is no longer any foundation for regulation. Oppression becomes a misused word based on personal feeling rather than any true measurement of right and wrong. If I feel oppressed because someone doesn't like my views I need only lobby the public opinion long and hard enough until peer pressure swings my way. The fact that I win public opinion does not make me right, only accepted. The Laws of the USA are no longer seeking to do right for the citizens of this country as much as they are seeking to just balance public opinion.

Think about this for a minute. Let's use the world's logic. If there are no absolute terms by which people should act or be treated, maybe Saddam Hussein was doing relative "good" when he killed so many thousands of his own people. Without any absolute values who gets to decide? The public? Well, then why does the USA not fold up under world pressure that says we meddle too much and push our weight around too much and just stay in our own country like the rest of the world wants? These are thinking questions.

People want to do away with the death penalty in the USA because one or two people have been proven to have slipped through the system with faulty decisions. Well, Many soldiers have died on both sides of the battle in Iraq. Shouldn't we just put Saddam Hussein back in power and leave the world to him? (I know some people think that is crazy.)

We must understand that the logic of the world is indefensible. It persecutes some for perceived atrocities but lets others go. I say perceived because if there are no absolutes then each era of history can only claim their own personal perception of right and wrong and allow each successive generation to choose their own. Saddam Hussein is accused of killing many people with his orders to the military and the special police. But according to the "Right for Life" contingency of American citizens, the US government stands accused of killing millions of unborn babies with their laws allowing abortion. What's the difference? Public opinion and nothing else.

Even people who don't think the USA should be in the war in Iraq believe Saddam should be punished. Yet most people in the USA are fine with the fact that so many babies are put to death each year. Public opinion cries for revenge and justice in Iraq. Public opinion allows babies to be murdered in the U.S. We should be able to start seeing the problem many countries have with American policies.

Because of our toleration logic, we make arbitrary decisions that can only be seen as profiteering. We do whatever makes us feel good or profits us somehow. The policies are not based upon good logic, just popular logic, which we should understand by now is faulty.

What happened? Why do we tolerate abortion murders but not dictatorship murders? We were disgusted by visions and stories of the carnage of the reign of Saddam Hussein. He was seen publicly as a bad guy. Those people killing their children in the womb are seen as our next door neighbors, maybe even ourselves. They do not disgust us. Our opinions guide our hearts. We have learned to accept that which should disgust us.

The issue is not based upon death. Death is accepted in the USA. It is considered part of life. It is tolerated as part of doing what needs to be done. Our movie heroes kill when they have to. It is acceptable. It is not disgusting. The real issue is tolerance.

It is convenient to hate Saddam Hussein. His greatest miscalculation was not killing people. There are many other places in the world where governments are exterminating even more of their people than Saddam was. People and their comfort are not goals of USA logic. If it was we would be using our wealth to feed the world and not broker power around it. Hussein's problem was our perception he was not being tolerant of individuals who held a different view than he did. That is why so many Americans can rally around an action designed to remove him from power. We can not abide those who want to force any absolute value on us. Saddam represented an absolute value, his way or death. It is easy to rally against absolute values. They are easy to see and identify, unlike the values of the world's logic.

It is not, however, convenient to be disgusted by our neighbors, friends or relatives for killing their unborn child. It would prove our own intolerance, by the world's logic. So we choose to allow the murder of unborn children every day while shaking our heads in disgust over conditions caused by some minor dictator a world away.

If someone says we are not being tolerant to Saddam Hussein's needs then we say we believe he is the one who was not tolerant and had so many people killed to force his way. The rule of tolerance says we use force to institute the greater majority's tolerance and put down the minority's intolerance. . But if someone says we are not being tolerant of the feelings of those who "need" to get an abortion we are forced to decide between our feelings and their feelings. The tolerant thing to do is to accept their feelings and let them have their way. Besides we will never have to face the child. We will live forever facing the people who want us to tolerate them right now.

I would like to start a movement that would tolerate the unborn to be born. I think it is very intolerant of the few who want to murder them to not allow them to be born. Again, I understand the inconvenience this would cause. Like those calling for us to bring our soldiers home even if the real work is only half finished. We have lost our taste for tolerating the condition of war. It has now become inconvenient to have so many of our young men and women away from home. It is a sad report that lets us understand that the only way we can feel compassion for others is when it is convenient.

Just this discussion on worldly tolerance disgusts me. That's right I used that word. Tolerance based on whatever the majority wants is stupid. Yes, there it is. The greatest attack anyone can launch against tolerance. It is S-T-U-P-I-D to tolerate anything based on peer pressure.

If not, then every young girl should give in to the high school peer pressure which says she should have sex. Every young man should have sex, drink, and smoke whatever makes him feel good. Teachers should ask the students what they want to do before planning their day for them. Employers should let the employees decide what gets done each day. Parents with more than two children should understand that they are outvoted by the majority.

How can we accept the majority decision in one thing and deny the majority decision in another? We need to focus on what we are not accomplishing and revive the things that have worked in society for ages. Tolerance has gotten us into this mess we call civilization. The opposite, intolerance can get us out.

Some will cry that intolerance can never work. It is too rigid. Well, we have "no tolerance" drug rules at our work places, "no tolerance" violence rules in our schools. Why does it seem so hard for us to accept "no tolerance" moral codes in our society? Oh! I am back to the convenience issue again. It simply is not convenient to enforce absolute moral values because we want to tolerate everyone's opinion except God's. Intolerance can only work when someone bigger than us sets the rules for what will and will not be tolerated. God has already done that.

Come on!

Someone stop me or shoot me. (Violence is a viable option in today's movies but not the schools. Help me, the world is confusing me.)

### Chapter Twenty Five

### Waiting Upon the Lord

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Christians are fond of quoting the fortieth chapter of Isaiah when adversity comes against them. There is nothing wrong with that either. But, when the logic of the world intrudes upon the logic of God the Christian life becomes compromised.

We live in a "right now" world. Everything that is any good must happen right now. Waiting is what the underprivileged do. Those with authority, those who are somebody, never wait. Microwaves, pat at the pump, money machines, credit cards are all testimonies to the impatience of the average American.

God's logic calls for His people to get into His presence and tarry there. God asks us to sow and then wait for the harvest. God's logic commands us to pray, persevere and expect. Never does God promise an immediate response. Why? Because time is in God's control.

Why do people want everything right now? Demanding when something is finished is a way of controlling time. We take our car to have the oil changed and we like waiting for it to be done right now. Why? It gives us a feeling that the timing of life's events is responding to our needs.

God controls the timing of His people. God's logic commands that we trust God. That means we wait sometimes for what He will do before we do anything. We must put aside our own personal agenda and timeline for God's agenda and God's timeline. Time is a crucial criteria of authority.

How many of us would not drop everything if the President of the USA asked us to come see him at the White House? Even if we did not vote for him we would put aside our life in order to accept the honor of his presence. We would change our direction to include his. We would accept the inconvenience of rescheduling some things in order to accommodate a perceived improvement for our lives.

Most people act as though God is asking too much. He wants all our time. He wants all our soul, all our heart, all our bodies. We get to control nothing if we answer to God. I get the glory of being in the President's presence for a while and then I return to my own life and brag about where I've been. But with God it is different. God wants complete control, including our time.

Christians have learned to look at the results of a long term relationship with God. Peace, calm, safety, answers, love, friendship, fellowship, and many other benefits. All they have to give up is their own way of doing things for God's logic.

To the world this seems crazy. Why? The world does not want to wait for its results. They want what they can get today. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush the old saying goes. But I've always believed that philosophy had a major flaw. What if the bird in the hand is not enough to feed the family? What good is it at all? If what I really need is what I do not have yet then no matter what I have it is not what I need.

Just because I want everything fast and right now does not mean I should settle for less than what I need or even less than what I want. If something must change then it should be the thing that meets my need not the thing that gets there fastest. If I must give up that which is fastest in order to meet my need then I must. God's logic says some things take time. Some things can just not be rushed, no matter how much I want to.

The world claims that fast is better then pays one hundred and fifty dollars for a bottle of fine aged wine and fifty dollars for a plate of fine aged beef, and they want the waiter to bring it out right now. Waiting is not in our vocabulary. We want the aged things that we do not have to wait on but we want immediate satisfaction from anything we do. The world's logic is a hurry up and wait logic. It is schizophrenic in the way it promotes the high class of waiting and then promotes the need for faster and faster of everything in almost the same breath.

God's logic puts everything in God's time. It is not a person's time or even a group of people. Everything is in God's time. Why? Because He is in control. If people are really in control then let them order twenty year old wine that was bottled yesterday. They can not do it so they should acknowledge they are not really in control. Only God puts everything in His control.

God's timeline is accelerated or lengthened based on what God wants. We play the part God decides as He plans it out. It is silly for people to claim to control anything they can not create or change. No man can add hours to the day so he can get more done, can he? Well God did. He caused the sun to go back on itself for ten degrees of the sun dial in order to prove to the king of His people that He was healed. You can read about it in the book of second kings, chapter twenty.

God controls time because He made time. Man tries to control time so he can deny God. God's logic demands that God be given the primary place in all decisions. The world's logic demands that convenience be given the primary place in all decisions. Waiting is inconvenient. The inconvenience is like a festering sore to the world's logic. But for God's people waiting is a time of restoring, refreshing, and renewing.

To those who deny God's logic waiting is a waste of time. Waiting is what powerful people make weak people do. Waiting is a symbol of a person's inability to control a situation. People who go to a doctor's appointment experience this all the time. Because they do not control the doctor they are forced to wait for what he or she can provide them. They are under the authority of the doctor. They must waste their time to wait on the powerful doctor whose time is more important than theirs. I have never seen a rushed doctor. Never have a I seen a doctor rushing around to make sure people are not waiting on him. Why? Because he sees himself or herself as the one in demand so the others must wait. Time is a power tool.

God's people, following God's logic, see waiting as a precious time to be enjoyed and even sought after. Waiting is not a time of outer inactivity to a Christian. Waiting is a time of inner activity for all Christians. It is a time to think, evaluate and remember. It is in essence the time when dreams are born. As the Christian thinks about their life they turn more and more of it over to God's logic. By constantly evaluating their life against God's logic the Christian incorporates more of God's logic in their life. By remembering all that God's logic has done in their life the Christian is empowered and emboldened to seek more and more of God's ways for their own way.

Whatever a person does in their inner person during this time of waiting directly affects what they become. During their quiet times they think, evaluate and remember who they were, who they are now and who they desire to be. Day dreams allow each of us a time to picture our dreams of life. Even those times when we are forced to be quiet, like waiting at the doctor's office, give us time to inspect ourselves and relate our life to God's logic.

Jesus said, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he," meaning that what we do with our waiting time is important in the building of who we become. The world's logic provides no introspection for building so many people lose this time with worrying and wasteful thoughts. God's people are supposed to use waiting time to draw closer to the One who controls everything. We get the undesirable things out of our lives and we add the desirable things to it. The waiting time of the Christian is a time for rebuilding and adding on. The waiting time for the World's people is frustrating.

One factor most people seem to miss is that whatever we spend our time thinking about becomes our master. If we spend all our time dwelling on a relationship then we become dependent upon that relationship. If we spend all our waiting time thinking about making money or keeping money, then we become dependent upon getting money. The same with careers, Status, and even God. If we spend all our waiting time thinking about, evaluating, and remembering God then we become dependent upon God. And that's exactly what God wants from us.

Many people dream and never do anything. Why this happens should be of concern to every person who reads this. Who wants to live a life that does not accomplish anything?

Some people dream and dream big. They want to be a dancer, a movie star, a professional ball player. Their dreams are admirable, and even perfect for them. They think about them all the time. They talk about their dreams all the time. So, why do so few achieve their dreams?

Several factors rush in to steal away the dreams of people. First there is the factor of time. Some people can not wait on their dreams to transpire so they seek out some other, lesser calling in life. You might say they give up on the dreams. Maybe they give up on themselves. Maybe they are tricked by society. Society says a Five foot seven basketball player can never go anywhere. But I personally know of one who holds the scoring record for his college team and daily impacts the lives of younger players in our country with his expertise. I believe he achieved his dream despite what society said.

A second factor, and far more dangerous, is the way we spend our waiting time. A person waiting and dreaming is good if the dream is complete. Dreaming is more than just picturing yourself standing in a position of authority or fame. It takes work to achieve your dreams.

A man once told me he dreamed of owning his own construction company as he went to work for me. After several days I got a chance to sit down and talk with him about all the things of construction he obviously knew nothing about. His lack of knowledge for someone who claimed to have been doing construction for as long as he had was momentous. Yet he continuously told me that no one would give him a chance to prove himself and that was the reason he had never realized his dream.

Well, even those who don't know anything about construction realize there is more to it than just wanting to know about it. It takes work to learn all there is to know. It takes dedication tom the task of seeking this knowledge. It takes a desire and a passion to live the life that achieves this dream. That man only wanted to be called boss. He didn't want the work that it took to become the boss.

Many people, when they dream, dream only about the end result they desire. The person who achieves their dream dreams about all the things that it will take to make the dream a reality. They dream about the work.

The dream must include, thinking about the end result as well as all the steps up to the end result. The dream must include evaluating yourself along the way to adjust for proper direction and choices. The dream must include remembering where you came from and understanding the process that will get you where you are going. But mostly the dream must be anchored in reality because you are going to become what you dream about.

If you dream about easy money you will eventually seek out easy money. When desperation sets in, you may decide easy money is best achieved through illegal means. If you dream about being a ball player you will eventually seek out a chance to be a ball player. Make sure you really want to live a traveling life, a life of work with little pleasure other than the game itself. Overnight sensations worked many nights for a long time before anyone noticed them.

Dreams are powerful things. They are what makes us who we are. If I dream of God and all the things of God's logic, I do not become God, but I do start to look more and more like Him. That's not blasphemy. That's a compliment. A father likes it when his son tries to act like him.

Most importantly, dreams cause us to try something. What we dream about moves us eventually to try it out. That is the danger of the internet pornography industry. Many a marriage has been ruined by the pornography dream, which is totally unrealistic. But after awhile the person involved starts to take his dream world seriously and he wants to try it out. By the time he discovers that the reality is not as good as the dream it is too late. But the point we should learn from other's failings is that the temptation of the dream will prove too strong. So, be careful how we allow our dreams to take shape. We should make sure the dream is worthwhile and exactly what we want.

Sometimes, as we learn more in life our dreams need adjustment. It is a dynamic part of growing up. I always wanted to be a teacher as a child. As an adult I saw the lack of respect they received and the crummy pay they received, too. I changed my dream to include things that made money and it turned me away from teaching. Later, when I came back to God I rediscovered my desire to teach and began teaching God's word instead. I rediscovered my desire and a way to achieve my desire. Then I became a pastor and now I spend every day teaching somebody something. It is not only a passion but a love of my life. The point is we should seek ways to achieve the dream and not just look for the things the world tells us are important. Dreams might need adjusting but they are still good as long as they are worthwhile.

The world's dreams are all about the pursuit of self satisfaction. Once the dream has been achieved another dream is required and then another until...until what? God's dreams are focused ion Him. We will never achieve perfection in this life. We will always be moving closer and closer to Him. He will prosper our lives in direct relation to how close we come to living as He has designed our lives to be.

Even the dreams that are within us are not our own. God created me to love teaching. Others would be unhappy teaching but that is because they are created to be something else. It is during the waiting times of life that God speaks to our inner self and allows us to dream the dreams He has for us. No person is ever happier than when they discover and achieve what God has for them in life.

Success comes by way of God's plan and not our own plan. The definition of success becomes God's definition and not the world's definition. God becomes the focus for all success and not ourselves.

Often it is too inconvenient to achieve our dreams and we settle for something else. What a waste that is. When convenience keeps us from fighting to achieve, it is time to just sit down and wait to die. But, while you're waiting to die, first, die to self and ask God, "What would You have me to be, Lord?"

Righteous dreams never die. They become our life.

### Chapter Twenty Six

### Seeking Conveniences

I am amazed at how many people try to get me to understand that the bible is out of touch with the world today. First of all, the bible is the Word for the world today. It is the people of the world who choose to be out of touch with the bible because they choose to deny the logic of God. Still they claim the bible has no relevance at all to their lives. They are not living according to some ancient document, they have decided.

I can only smile when they approach me with all their arguments that they have set for so long to come up with. Everyone of their arguments boil down to the bible being against some convenience they desire for their life. They want lives of convenience and the logic of God as revealed in the bible is against that.

Everyone who believes the bible is not relevant to their life should understand that what they want they want out of their own personal convenience logic in life. So, I hear many people say, what's wrong with wanting things my own way? Good question.

In the second book of Timothy the Apostle Paul explains the world and how conveniences would overtake the population and draw them away from the things of God. If the man of God from two thousand years ago understood how convenience was dangerous to the lives of people then the people of today can take a lesson from what God taught us. From a voice two thousand years old we can hear the warning against making conveniences too important in our lives.

The Apostle Paul gave Timothy, a pastor who was sent to operate a church and teach the people of that early, first century church, an explanation of what happens when conveniences of life become more important to the people than God's logic.

First they would not endure sound logic. They would say it was too hard to follow all of God's logic. They would make excuses and just turn away from anyone who demanded they serve the living God.

Second, they would seek their own desires. Instead of seeking the face of God they would choose to search out their own pleasures for their own purposes. It is always easier to serve the flesh and self than to serve God's logic, which demands accountability.

Thirdly, they would have what Paul called itching ears. Those who serve themselves would rather hear people who told them what they wanted to hear – namely, that they were okay just the way they were. They would not accept a doctrine which called for them to change themselves. They seek a way to serve themselves more not less.

Fourthly, they would choose their own teachers. By choosing their own teachers they could control what they had to put up with. They could still play at having church without actually having to do any of the real work which God's logic calls all His people to perform. Choosing this way would allow things to be more convenient. They wouldn't have to worry about someone introducing God's logic to them in a way that made them uncomfortable.

Fifthly, they would not listen to the truth of the logic of God. Even when faced with a decision in life and having to choose between God's way and their own comfort level, they will choose self over God. God's way will be seen as too hurtful and confining. They will claim to need a bigger God than the one of the bible. What they mean is they want to be the god of their own lives.

Lastly, they will choose fables, or untrue stories, based upon their own logic instead of the logic of God. Their own stories and fables are more fun and give them greater freedom. God's stories and doctrine are too limited and require them to change their ways. The flesh can not have as much fun with so many restrictions on it.

In a sentence, God described the battle of conveniences two thousand years ago through His Apostle. People have a choice. Conveniences or God's logic. They can not have both. Conveniences exist in God's logic but they never become the focus. In the world Paul describes he warns against the ways of men because their conveniences of carrying out life are at odds with the logic of God.

Refusing to accept the sound doctrine of God is the world's way of refusing to believe and love the Word of God. Seeking their own desires is only a way of refusing to desire God Himself. Wanting to hear only what they desire to hear is an immature way of refusing to listen to what God says, like a child holding their hands over their ears. Deciding who will be allowed to teach is a rebellious choice refusing to accept the men and women God sends to lead the people. Refusing to listen to the truth is the result of refusing to seek the truth in the first place. Tolerating and accepting false teachings and fables is a way of refusing to denounce false doctrines.

The kingdom of God definitely suffers violence at the hands of those who choose conveniences over God's logic. The world says that Christians are narrow minded and wrong because they follow the logic of God. Christians should be able to bring the same charges against the world. The world is too narrow minded believing that ordinary people can have all the answers for life. They are wrong to believe they know the ways of life. The denial of God requires an attack against all who believe in Him. The denial of the world only requires that Christians be allowed to present their truth before an open minded population.

Paul also tells Timothy what to do about the reluctance of the world's people to choose god's logic over their own conveniences. Preach the Word of God, he said. Be ready at all times to tell them the truth. Seek to convince them not force them. Rebuke them in love because they are wrong not evil. Exhort them toward the good things of God. Have patience in all things because it takes time to learn new ways. Teach them whatever they need. Be watchful at all times for an opportunity to tell them about God's love. Endure the afflictions or attacks they bring because they need what God has more than you need your comfort. Evangelize and reach out to whoever you can. In all ways fulfill what God has created you to be, a minister of His gospel.

Wow! Maybe you need to read that again. I know I need to read it quite often. I must keep myself pure of the conveniences of life, or, to be more correct, the overindulgent need for conveniences. I like convenient things as much as the next one. But it is not convenient for me to miss what God wants me to get. There is a time when the conveniences of this world are not convenient for me.

I do not want to go through life with no word of God. He is my focus. I do not want to respond to life in a lazy way. God designed me for a purpose and I want to fulfill it. I do not desire to live in confusion. God gave me a passion for life not a confusion. I can not live without rules to guide me. God loves me enough to desire that I stay safe. I do not accept depression as anything that I need. God designed us to fellowship and to relate to each other not depression or any sort of mental anguish. I must not allow impatience to control my life as I try to control my time. God designed me to depend on Him, not myself. I will not live in ignorance. God gave me a brain and intelligence to understand the fullness of His revelation if I will just work at it. I will not be the quintessential fool, just twiddling away my life. God calls for me to be diligent in all things and to pay attention to things that matter. I will never step back from a fight because I just prefer to be peaceful. Peace is only achieved in a war when the victor has won the battle. I will not expect a harvest unless I have previously sown some seed.

That is how God expects us all to enjoy life, doing what we are designed to do. But the warning still holds true. People who are more concerned about their personal conveniences will choose differently than those who are concerned about what God says is right.

God warned us about conveniences over two thousand years ago. Still we are battling the convenience fight. Why? Because of the choices people make. People make those choices to serve their gods. The gods of convenience demand that people do as convenience dictates. The God of the bible demands that we do as the love of God, His logic dictates. The gods of convenience who drive the logic of the world demand that we focus on what we need to be comfortable. The God of the bible who wrote the logic of His kingdom, demands that we focus on what would be best for all according to His way.

The two choices contradict each other. Centuries have played out as the two systems collide again and again. Victories and successes have been claimed by both sides. God's logic has never changed. The world's logic changes with each convenience invented. If I was building my house I would be searching for stable ground. Things that change with society's whims are never going to be stable. Only God's logic is unchanging. Only God's logic offers an eternal happiness. God's logic is a logical choice if truth is what you are after.

### Chapter Twenty Seven

### Accountability and Maturity

God's logic demands rigid accountability to God and to His Word every minute of every day whether awake or asleep. To some that may seem harsh over even over demanding, like some wayward leader on an ego trip. Yet God's plan includes this kind of long term, privacy invading accountability for a purpose. Without submission to God on this level maturity will be hard to achieve. With God's plan maturity begins at accountability.

The world's logic says you are mature at age eighteen or in some places twenty one. That's all that the criteria calls for, age. At a certain age they believe that people ought to be allowed to make all their decisions for themselves. The problem with the world's model of maturity is that there is no basis for any growth measurement other than time. That is flawed logic from the start.

If time is all that is needed to achieve maturity then we should be able to take any baby, put them in a room by themselves and push trays of food in under the door for them day after day until they become eighteen. At the age of eighteen they should be released into the World outside their door and be able to do all that is necessary to be a functioning adult, correct?

Do we think they will be able to find a good job? Will they know how to socialize in public? Will they know how to create relationships with good people? Will they know right from wrong?

When we realize there is more to maturity than just aging, we must also understand the ingredients of proper maturity and seek it out for ourselves and for others who are under our authority. A person who learns true maturity is a benefit to any community they are part of. Attitudes of immaturity cause most of the relationship problems in our lives. And, as we have already seen, our lives are based upon our relationships. If the foundation of our relationships is marred by immaturity then our lives are going to show the results of that faulty logic.

A mature individual can deal with problems, commit to relationships, help others and generally add something to the community they are a part of. Immature people, on the other hand, tend to sap the resources of any relationship, situation, or community they are a part of. Maturity is more than just taking care of yourself. It involves a delicate balance between personal necessities and the needs of others. A mature individual accounts for these balances in all relationships and provides for them constantly.

The only true measurement of maturity is accountability. Without accountability maturity is non existent. And that is where the world's logic and God's logic differ vastly.

God's logic calls for accountability at all stages of life. The goal of maturity according to God's logic is a greater and greater accountability to the things of God and the people of God as we grow. Maturity is measured by how much we are held accountable not how old we are.

The world's logic hints that real maturity is making your own decisions to do your own thing. Real maturity, according to the principles of the world's logic, comes with the freedom to do whatever you desire to do. In fact the more you make your own decisions the more mature you are counted.

The problem with the world's logic is that the decisions this "mature" person makes do not necessarily have to be good ones. The act of making the decisions in the world's logic system makes a person mature, not the quality of the decisions.

A man is a man when he decides to have children. A decision. He is old enough. He is man enough. He must be mature enough. That is the world's logic.

We all know situation where couples have had children before either of them were mature enough to handle it. We have seen the bickering, the fighting, the yelling and screaming an immature relationship generates. We have watched children grow up without fathers because the father was too immature on the inside to handle the maturity the world handed him on the outside. We have sat in doctor's offices and Laundromats and watched as immature mothers allowed their children to express their childish immaturity without any accountability at all.

We have watched but have we really seen the problem? When immature people start making their own decisions they are making life choices on foundations with cracks in them, if they exist at all. For society to promote this kind of immaturity shows that society is immature itself. What mother allows her child to fend for itself without some kind of guidance? Yet the world's logic is clear. Once legal age has been reached every person should be allowed to make their own decisions.

Here's an unpopular thought. The age of maturity should be raised to thirty so that people will have the opportunity to experience life if they are not going to be accountable to those who already have. Why? Because it is unfair to ask people who, in many cases, have not had the benefit of a good, well-rounded, childhood to make good, well-rounded decisions about the direction their life should take. As more and more of our children are leaving home (and I use that term loosely) they are less and less prepared to take on the rigors of life because of the generational breakdown of accountability around them. Coming from broken homes, abusive childhoods, and neglected educations what kind of decisions do we expect these children to make?

Children with hurts and needs and pain still haunting them are thrust out into the mainstream of society every year with the instructions, "Live long and prosper." But this isn't any TV show. This is reality and it hits them hard. Soon they are making decisions that require maturity without the benefit of having reached maturity. Is it any wonder that many decisions turn out to be the wrong ones. And this pattern of bad decision making is passed down to their children and so on and so forth.

Why? For society's convenience. Because the world's logic does not work for the greater good, every person is expected to make it the best they can. A lack of maturity, a dog eat dog system of success and harsh penalties for failure will never take the place of a proper childhood allowing the child to reach maturity gradually.

The world's logic has one step maturity. If you are of legal age you are now considered mature. If that is true then why do you and I know so many people who are of the legal age that we wish we could just tell them, "Grow up."

God's logic requires much more of parents and the community for a child to reach maturity. The key is accountability. The child must learn to be accountable first to themselves, then to their family and finally to the community in which they live. This accountability is learned through experience and only through experience. It can not be learned in a book. (Even the bible) It must be absorbed into the life of the child. As the child accepts more and more accountability for their actions they grow and mature.

The process is simple to describe but hard to accomplish, especially in a society which places convenience above all other goals. It is hard to expect children to mature in an atmosphere that is designed to cater to immaturity. A child left to their self will learn to respond to the stimuli of immaturity because that is what they come into contact with. Teaching a child to mature requires intense effort from those in authority around them. That goes against the convenience goal of the world's logic.

I have told people for years that the worst thing that ever happened to the American public was the PBS show, Sesame Street. Right away I know many of you are aghast at such an attack on this American institution. Let me explain.

The show is great. It is not a problem in itself. But rather, it is the catalyst for a dark age in American child rearing. Because Sesame Street was viewed so positively, and because a child actually wanted to watch it, parents fell into an accountability nightmare.

When Sesame Street was on the parents just set their child in front of the TV and left them to watch. Peace was felt. Quiet was heard. Mothers could go do other things without little ones under foot. A new American industry was born and it was that industry which has fed the immaturity monster we now face in America.

Because of that one show parents created a new cry for broadcasters to hear, "We like using our TV as a babysitter. Give us more." And the accountability was gone.

Sure the children learned about being nice, manners, educational things like colors, numbers and all that. But who made sure they learned what they were supposed to? No one. The actors and puppets on Sesame Street never came to then house to ask the child how it was going. Parents learned some of it but most just used the time for themselves. The accountability to what was learned was never applied and never tested. Knowledge without application and evaluation is immaturity.

If a parent teaches a child something there is a process whereby that information is absorbed, understood, practiced and perfected. We now live in an information rich world but less information is being applied than is available. We know that spending money we don't have causes debt. Still we spend it. We know that pornography, drugs, and alcohol ruin lives but still we partake of it. We know that cigarette smoking kills and yet we keep doing it.

Why? Immaturity. If I tell a child not to touch a wall I just painted they have an urge to touch it just to see. As a matter of fact some of the adults I know have the same urge. Whenever we are told not to do something an immature urge in us wants to do it anyway. We tell ourselves it is just our personal choice to prove out everything or some other kind of justification. The fact is we hate being told "no." That's immaturity.

The word "NO" demands accountability. The very fact that someone has the authority to tell us no aggravates us. We don't want anyone to have that kind of power over us. So, we build a system of logic that allows us to shed that authority as soon as possible in life at our own whim. If there is no one who can tell us no then there is no one to whom we are accountable.

God's logic says, "How can we love God, who we can not see, if we can not love our brother, who we can see?" It is am incredible principle of accountability. However we relate to the people around us is how we will relate to our God. If no one controls us then God does not control us. That's the world's idea of freedom.

It is convenient for the world's logic to demand freedom from others. They want freedom from God ultimately. Teaching this rebellious, disastrous form of freedom at the earliest possible point in a child's life ensures that child will rebel against all authority and assuredly against God's authority.

God's logic is just the opposite. Teach a child in the way he or she should go and when they are older they will continue in it. Teaching a child that they are accountable to people and to God early in life gives them a foundation of maturity from which to work. They will apply the things they learn. As they grow and achieve they will seek out others and accept accountability as a means of achievement.

I have learned that employers promote mature people, teachers spend more time with mature students, coaches love mature players, and every parent wants a mature child. So, why is society designed to promote immaturity? Convenience again. Most employers do not have any skills training for maturity. Teachers hardly ever take the time to teach maturity. Coaches don't drill maturity just skills. And too many parents believe age brings maturity. It just isn't convenient. Employers have businesses to run. Teachers have subject matter to teach. Coaches have games to win. And parents have lives to live.

God's logic makes it the parent's responsibility to train their child to be accountable. In fact the logic of God goes even further than that and demands that the father take the lead role in raising his children up to be accountable. A father nurtures their child by taking responsibility for what they are taught and holding them accountable. A mother nurtures them by loving them enough and holding them accountable in their relationships with others. Those are not strict rules but you get the idea. The love of the parents is seen in the accountability they place upon the child.

A rebellious child is one who decides they do not want to be held accountable. God's logic from the Old Testament of the bible says, such a child should be brought to the church and the matter fully reviewed before the congregation and the minister. That child is given a chance to repent and come under submission or the child is to be stoned.

It sounds gruesome to our minds way of thinking today. But it is the essence of love and the greater good of the community. God's logic knows that rebellion will lead to disaster for the people of the community. Rebellion against parents leads to rebellion against society and then rebellion against God. To protect society the parents must make a hard choice. To protect the child, who will eventually run away from God, the child is stoned, both as an example to the other children and as a precaution for society.

Sin in the bible is often looked at as we would look at cancer today. It needs to be cut out as soon as it is identified. We need to test often for it and watch for it because it will kill us. Sin is the same way.

Sin is the offense against God and His logic. As the Creator, God reserves all decisions for Himself. Who better to make them? Certainly not the creation. Any rebellion against God's decisions are sinful. Therefore, like a doctor who wants to catch cancer at its earliest stages, we are exhorted by the logic of God to be accountable. It is our accountability which keeps us going in the right direction. No one commits a crime while the police are watching them. No one sins while the pastor is visiting the house. We understand accountability and we respond to it with right decisions. If we do away with accountability then we can make any decision our desires lead us into.

That's how sin erupts in a person's life. Any area of our lives where we have no accountability is an area ripe for sin to bloom. Consequently, any area we turn over to a system of accountability will heal and become fruitful once again.

At one point in my life my spending was accountable to no one but my own desires. Soon I was in debt over my head. After meeting some good people at church and realizing my debt was a problem (Some Christians don't even know God calls debt a curse.) I decided to get out of debt. My wife and I chose to create a budget and to evaluate ourselves every week until we were out of debt. The budget, the written plan of our desire to be debt free, was our tool of accountability. Of course we kept each other accountable, too. Luckily, the two of us were not people felt like we needed all the conveniences of life, we just thought we should have them. Well, when we convinced ourselves that conveniences are not necessities, the debt started peeling away.

To make a long story short, we are now debt free and will stay that way. Why? Because I believe God wants us free from the things that demand that we do things according to the world's logic. The curse of debt is that we have to do certain work at certain times in certain places to receive the needed money to pay the debt. That's not freedom for all you rebellious spirits. Freedom is what I have now. I can go anywhere the Lord calls me to go and do whatever He calls me to do. Why? Because I have true freedom. How did I get it? Accountability.

Today we live in an America full of immature people making rules to demand more accountability of others. Sounds like the children are running the school house. The danger there is that when things get tough the children decide it is recess time or lunch time, or gym time, or any other pleasant task. They avoid the hard things to preserve their convenient lives. Why does our country have trillion dollar deficit spending? Because the children on Capitol Hill spending the money today know they do not have to pay for it. That debt will be handed to the next generation. That's immaturity at its worst. How can they get away with it? No one holds them accountable. Why does no one hold them accountable? Because we want them to keep giving us the conveniences the government can offer.

Some will say there is plenty of accountability in our government. Where do we think the phrase "one hand washes the other" comes from? It comes from a political plan to do away with accountability. Each politician gets what they want as long as they do not hinder anyone else from getting whatever they want. "One hand washing the other."

There are many good ideas for legislation that never make it into law because so many of the "good ol' boys" tack on so many useless and overindulging expenditures as the bill goes through the legislative process that even the "good ol' boys" can't stomach the end result and vote it down.

Accountability means we set a goal and every works toward it. Everyone. Anyone who does not work toward it must meet with some kind of resistance, whether it be punishment, counseling, or whatever. Accountability is not accountability unless there are means by which to punish, chastise and correct.

The world's logic creates wish list and urges everyone to work towards them. I have watched for twenty years as the politicians have made a promise to balance the budget. They all lied. And what's worse, most Americans today don't believe the budget is a problem because then they would have to admit that their own debt is a problem. There is no accountability. How about a balanced budget in the next year or else we throw out all the politicians and start over with new ones who will balance the budget? Just a thought on accountability.

It would be a horrendous amount of work to start all over again. It's a tremendous amount of work to balance the budget. But if I can do it anyone can. That means the politicians can but they have no desire to do that which they are not being held accountable for. No accountability means no maturity. It is immature to spend money you do not have with no idea how you are going to get it.

We are immature in our relationships, too. Specialists tell us money problem is the number one cause of stress which leads to many divorces. I understand their ability to zero in on the money problem because it is an issue. But I submit that the money problem is only a symptom of the underlying problem, immaturity. The lack of knowing and having proper experience handling and budgeting finances lead to many immature purchases and schemes of getting rich which in turn leads to debt and stress on the relationship. Proper maturity would alleviate the improper handling of the finances.

### Chapter Twenty Eight

### Correction or Chastisement

A well used scripture from the bible tells us, "Those whom God loves He chastises." Like a loving parent who only wants the best for His children, God watches over His people and corrects them (chastisement is the bible term) whenever they do wrong. Because He loves them He corrects them. God also says that a parent who does not correct their child hates them. God's logic on correction differs from the world's logic.

Today's people of the world want to believe that love only brings good things to them. When correction comes their way, they conclude the person bringing it does not love them. Like a scolded child they want to scream, "I hate you," every time they are corrected by someone. While it is a valid sign of immaturity the incorrect conclusion that correction means hatred works to perpetuate the conveniences of life. It is the mature individual who understands that growing and learning can only come through practice and correction.

Love hurts, cries a popular song from yesteryear. While the singer may have been intending to voice an opinion of the tragedy of love he also gave us a truth of love. Real love is an investment in others. There is great risk involved in loving others. No relationship of love exists without risk of hurt. Even good people sometimes do bad things that hurt others.

It's in this risk element of love that God's logic makes sense. God risked everything, even the life of His Son on the cross, to reconcile the broken relationship with His creation. A well used story asks the question, "How much did Christ love us?" The answer, as the story goes, is that He spread His arms wide as He could spread them and let them nail Him to the cross saying, "This much."

Also, we can see in the world's logic the absence of this element of risk. The world's logic says love should not include risk. If you hate your partner after a while get a divorce. Children who hate their parents should get a lawyer and become an emancipated minor. Or worse, use the abused child legal system for personal gain.

The world's logic explains that love should have no risks because those who really love you would never hurt you. Still the world's logic votes to okay the murder of unborn children. I guess they must hate children. (The world's logic can not have it both ways.)

God's love is laced with risk. He involves Himself in every area of our lives. He wants us involved in everything that He has designed life to be for us. He has empowered us with His Holy Spirit, which is the third person of the Godhead, who embodies the power of love on earth. God gives us His name and asks us to be His representatives. He wants us to be identified with Him. God places His reputation in our hands. There is no more greater risk in a relationship.

When we mess up and do wrong there needs to be some correction. If the stock boy at the grocery puts an item in the wrong place it makes it hard for the customers to find it. The store manager must correct the wrong action and take steps to ensure right action. Surely we see the need for order and discipline even in the act of stocking shelves.

God makes us aware of our wrong doing and asks us to repent, or say we are sorry for offending Him. This repentance is important because it restores the relationship to full capacity. As long as we still need correction for something we are failing at there is no sense in God teaching us something new. We must learn the truth in the action we did wrong so that we may do right in it and move on in our growth process.

Love asks us to grow and spread our wings like a young eagle getting ready to take flight. It may seem cruel to some when a mother eagle pushes her young eagle out of the nest to make him fly. It may seem silly to the world's logic to have to dive down under the falling eaglet and catch him before he crashes into the ground and then return him to the nest riding on his mother's shoulders. But it is the way eagles learn to take flight. Eventually the young eagle gets the idea and realizes he must spread those beautiful wings and use them for something other than looking at.

The world's logic says, "Why don't we just leave the young eagle alone until he is ready to try flying himself?" They believe real love doesn't take a chance on traumatizing the young eagle. What the world's logic does not understand is that the eagle was designed to soar. He was never designed to sit in a nest all day. The mother eagle understands the design of her young eagle and she challenges him to achieve his potential.

Real love understands God's design and challenges that design every day to achieve full potential. The fake, "real love" of the world seeks out convenience of relationship – no conflict – rather than full potential. It is always easier to sit and do nothing. But the only people who accomplish anything are those who are pushing their limits to the edge to achieve that which is new to them.

God is not afraid of harming our delicate psyches nor is He lazy about correcting us so that we may continue to achieve all that He has designed us for. God's Word is a beautiful example of His design for us. It speaks of purity, no sin, helping others, doing good, and many other virtuous characteristics, all of which, God wants His people to represent.

Parents are faced every day with this daunting task of balancing their love for their children with their desire to see them achieve the best they can in life. Unfortunately, that is a world logic view. The world's logic balances love with correction. God's logic includes correction with love. Love corrects because it desires the best not because it wants to harm the person.

A parent needs to be able to express their love through correction as well as through the nicer things of relationship. A child who learns that the correction they receive is because of the love of the parent is better balanced to achieve in this world. A child who believes all correction is meanness and just anger grows up hating authority and challenging the rules of society at every turn.

The greatest abuse of our children today is having not taught them that correction is good for them. Often parents are too busy to follow up on what they correct in the behavior of their child. The child perceives this as just another adult telling them what to do and expecting them to act like little puppets. That perception is neither healthy nor conducive to later learning from their mistakes.

The most loving parents I know are the ones who have strict guidelines for their children to follow. I know other parents love their children. I know in their heart of hearts they would die for their kids. (or at least they feel they would.) But the truth still remains. If we love our children we will correct them and correct them whenever needed and then follow up to make sure the behavior has been learned properly for future actions.

"Love is never having to say I'm sorry," says a notion of popular worldly logic. The truth is that love is always being ready to say I'm sorry. Why? Because I am human and I am going to mess up. When I do, I want my attitude already ready to ask forgiveness and move on in the relationship. Whether it is telling my wife I'm sorry for forgetting to call when I am going to be late or asking forgiveness of my Savior for some failing in my life while trying to live out His Word, I want to be big enough and man enough to do the inconvenient thing and say, "I'm sorry."

A popular TV series featured a rough, leather jacket clad rebel who had a hard time saying, "I'm sorry." Every time he tried it came out as "I-I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-o-o-o-o-," and then he would swallow hard and choke on the words. While it got a laugh on the show it is no laughing matter.

I have never met a perfect man or woman. They all have flaws. The silliest notion in the entire universe is for imperfect people to walk through life acting like they can do no wrong. It would be far more believable for those people to understand that because they make mistakes they need to be able to say, "I'm sorry."

The world's logic attempts to make us feel like we never make mistakes by justifying what we do based upon what other people do. If you hurt me then I am justified to hurt you. That is a lie. If it is wrong for one hurt it is wrong for all hurts. Our actions should never be based upon the actions of others. We should know what we want to do in life and then set out to do just that. Along the way we will encounter people who will help us achieve, those who get in the way, and those who just hang around to see what is happening. None of those people should change or alter our direction.

The world's logic is, to me, like a dog chasing his tail. It goes round and round but never gets any where. One of the goals of the world's logic is to just get along. If that means we must change our direction to get along than so be it. This is possible because the world's logic says each person decides their own goals. I am reminded that that certainly is not true. We will never see a basketball player from the National Basketball Association change jobs and become a professional horse jockey no matter how much he wants to.

Many aspects of life are out of our control. There is a designer who is greater than the design. There is a Creator who is greater than the creation. But the world does not want to hear that. I have marveled for many years at the art world. Once a painter or sculptor is dead then everyone strives to control his or her art. When the person was alive no one paid them much heed. That would have been inconvenient to give credit to the creator of the art. It is so much easier to just praise the art. Why? Because the creator can not be controlled. They need control themselves to create and do that which only they can do. It is more convenient to wait until they are out of the way and then control the creation.

God's logic stands strong. Because the Creator has decided the direction it is established and necessary to life itself. We can not change our direction because we did not set it. God decides the direction and He oversees it. For us to change it would mean dethroning God and placing ourselves upon His throne. For those who understand God's logic to set God's ways aside would be the same as telling the artist what they will and will not paint. Why would anyone stifle the creativity of an artist? Why would anyone stifle the creativity of the Creator? Again, the only answer I can come up with is that it is convenient to do so. Or, more correctly, it is very inconvenient to not do it.

### Chapter Twenty Nine

### Council of Logic

Where does our system of Logic for the world come from? I mean, other than a system designed to resist the logic of God, has anyone ever really sat down and tried to figure out where the ideas of our world's logic are derived from? Well, if the evidence is to be believed, the facts of the beginning of our world's logic should cause fear among all but the most elite minded individuals. (By elite I mean those who say they have figured life out all by themselves and they need nothing else except themselves. Well, why do they keep trying to convince others to follow them then? Shouldn't we all be left to our own devices?)

The world's logic has a simple beginning, in Lucifer, angel of heaven. One day He decided he was as good, if not better, than anyone else, including God. There began his troubles. His opinion and faulty logic demanded that he prove his point. After securing the backing of a third of the angels in heaven, a number we have no idea how large it is, Lucifer tried to exalt his throne above that of God's. God sent one angel, Michael to throw down the rebellion and it was thrown down. (Yes, God raised up one angel, anointed him with power to defeat a third of all the angels of heaven in one battle.) The result is that Lucifer is forever banished from participation in God's desired eternity for all. He immediately became an enemy of the logic of God because the logic of God excluded him.

All who try to exalt themselves above the knowledge of God are following an age-old pattern set down long before they were born. Their desire to be number one drives them on. Their opinion that they deserve something they can never claim the right to defines their path. The logic of God and the actions of His pesky family on earth constantly stand as a reminder that he or she is not who they desire to be, the focus of the universe.

The fear we should hold towards the logic of the world is not a mind numbing fear but the fear that souls are being lost to yet another lie in a system of lies. The creation can never match the Creator. Each person who tries to wrestle the ideology of creating a logic system away from God, who created all things, seeks to be the most important person in the universe. Who else but the wisest, most knowledgeable, and best informed can ever hope to create, adjust or adjudicate the world's logic?

It takes someone of an immense ego or a severe breakdown in mental perception to believe that even for an instant they are the answer to the world's problems. Yet, day after day that is exactly what people seek. They look for answers from others who are just people like themselves. We look for out of this world answers from those who are still in this world.

We give these people "special" position and exalt them because they have done the work to figure life out and left us to just live it. We are so concerned about conveniences that we will not even lift a finger to check things out for ourselves. The danger of conveniences are great. We allow the convenience of not checking out what is right and wrong and believing man's logic to steal our real lives away from us. Many people will never know what they could have become because they let the world decide for them rather than the Creator.

If a painter makes an orange stroke on the canvass with his brush we do not know yet what it will become. If I tell you that the orange stroke is supposed to be an orange, a juicy, round, sweet orange you can visualize the orange in your mind. That is the process the world uses. A young woman sings a song sweetly and the world's logic tells her to become a pop singer and then tells her what to sing. Quickly the talent of the Creator is stolen away.

What if the painter was to be allowed to finish His painting? Then the beautiful sunset would come into view. The sunset is much bigger than the orange. It has a bigger purpose. It is part of a bigger plan. The orange is not even the tree but just a part of the tree. The sunset is the view that can affect millions in moments.

Like the orange, the pop singer who was given a small plan by people misses the impact God wanted to have upon countless millions as He used her voice to explain His love to them. That's the real danger of the world's logic. It steals the real plan of God for all of us to be so much more than what the world says we can be. By allowing "Special" people to lead us we deny the real plan of God.

How are these "special" people going to get these answers if they do not believe in the Creator who is out of this world? The answer, of course, is that we vote or place these people in the positions we give them to be what we desire them to be. We create the "special" people and then we expect them to give us what we want, perfection. Perfect answers, perfect peace, perfect good. (When they fail to supply, we dump them.) God's logic states we should not serve gods we create. They can never help us or guide us.

It is true. God is not the only source outside the natural existence of man. The only wisdom that can come from a source other than ourselves, and not be God, is that which comes from the original enemy of God, who is still seeking to exert his authority and exalt his throne by any means possible. The best intentioned of all leaders of this world is still just a human being, with no greater insight or wisdom than any other person. Whatever they call their source of logic, it can only have three sources of existence, God, Lucifer, (or Satan) or self-satisfaction. God's logic seeks the greater good of all on the planet and the planet itself. Lucifer, or Satan as he is called today, seeks to only lift himself up over God and many must suffer for the few as he does this. And lastly, there is the leader who just does as he believes is best for himself. Every person chooses who they will listen to and follow. Their choice is the leader of their lives. In that choice they receive the logic of that leader's source.

In countries where they have a chance to vote, that choice is God's right to the people. Freedom of choice is God's rule, not man's rule. Every person has an obligation to vote for and be counted as an example of the logic they follow. Where you receive your logic principles from determines where you are headed. Seek the truth. Seek God's logic.

The logic system we choose to serve will be the place where we receive our council from. If our logic is wrong then the council it gives is wrong, too. The logic we serve should be chosen for its ability to give us good council.

### Chapter Thirty

### Leadership

The differences in paychecks in the USA are a perfect demonstration of the inequalities present in the worldly logic taught by our society. No man or woman is worth millions of dollars no matter what contribution they make to society. To pay out such amounts is proof of the disparity in our country of equality. Many people will despise this saying in an economy that runs on a "may the best man win" philosophy, like animals competing for survival. But the truth is that we reward people based on what we want not what is best for society. This is further proof that the logic of the world is based upon fleshly satisfaction rather than intellectual knowledge or true accomplishment in the world.

The leadership of this world bends to whatever fantasy of self satisfaction they are involved in at the time. Not to demean sports fans, but face it, most of us can't play at the level of our heroes on the field. It is a fantasy to involve ourselves in their lives. We play the sport vicariously through them. We like to see them get millions for their efforts because it validates our interests in them. Is that not fantasy at its best?

Let's look at the source of reward now. Is it not the people who pay their salaries? You and me, the fans. We pay out exorbitant amounts to see them in person. We buy their sports apparel, their cards, their bumper stickers. We watch them play on closed circuit pay-TV. Whatever it takes, we get it done to show them our support.

Billions of dollars were spent on sports last year in the USA. I don't need a statistic report to tell me that. I can just look around at all the people I pass on the street or in the church. They all are "sporting" some kind of name brand reminder of their heroes. What Americans place their money into is what they reward for adding to their life.

Here's where it gets sickening. While that foul-mouthed, bad attitude sports hero is stealing the heart of our children (and parents) we are telling our teachers to take pay cuts and stop whining about their facilities. It was good enough for me when I was a kid. While we spend a fortune on sports gear and paraphernalia we grudgingly give into the church offering, if at all. The world's logic is blatantly a matter of convenience and self-satisfaction. Still many rush to support it.

I am aghast at the number of parents who have no problem paying forty dollars for a jersey of their favorite sports figure and then complain about having to buy school supplies for their children. Where is the priority here? Obviously the world's logic places fun and self-satisfaction ahead of things like children and their futures.

We fall into this mode of logic because we want to enjoy life. But at what cost? A doctor receives thousands of dollars for what they do but those who support and make the doctor's job possible receive far less. The CEO of a major corporation in the USA receives far more compensation that the President of the country who makes their ability to function possible. We constantly allow people to claim more for themselves, thus mandating less for others, in order to balance our lives. Why? Perception. A false perception.

Doctors are not more important to society than anyone else. Without all the others doctors are unnecessary. If the garbage collectors do not pick up the garbage we will be far more inconvenienced than if a doctor closes his office down and goes on vacation. We can adjust around a doctor, but the garbage hauler is another matter entirely. So why are the pay scales so different? Many are going to say, "It's because of the preparation and the skill involved in their jobs." But the argument doesn't hold water. If it did then the sports figure just out of high school should never get a million dollar contract.

I can walk any street and find ten people in a short period of time who will tell me that they believe the politicians leading them are idiots and have no idea about the people they represent. Yet, those politicians make more money than the average person they supposedly represent. The answer then is not knowledge or skill. It must be something closer to home.

In the 2000 Presidential election many of my friends, good Christian people, voted for a candidate who supported abortion, despite knowing that God was against abortion. Why? Perception. They perceived their candidate as allowing more freedom, and thus growth, than the stricter, more cautious approach of the other candidate.

I believe man's personal choices always come down to our perception of growth. In us and in others. We support what seems to us to cause growth. When an adult stops going to school and the work place provides no real source of challenge any more, they look for challenges, growth in the things they support. Thus sports are an easy and safe (convenient) thing to support. Friendly strife is good and satisfies our need to fight against wrongs and injustices. (Except when an umpire makes a bad call.)

A sports figure that gets a multi-million dollar contract makes us feel successful. A doctor that receives recognition makes us feel successful, too. Even a politician who achieves national acclaim makes us feel successful. Convenience breeds a strange kind of vicarious living. It's a dangerous, lazy kind of vicarious living. We become too lazy to search out the truth of real value in each other.

By the world's logic teachers are considered mundane. Garbage collectors bring no special honors. Even the well-trained support staff around a doctor gets no attention because the real success is in the leader, the doctor. We have become a society in the USA that revolves around making our leaders look good so we can feel good. When the leaders mess up and fail we have to work harder to make ourselves feel good. We push from the bottom up to satisfy our longings and cravings. We create the leaders and when they no longer satisfy us we tear them down. We attempt to control life without becoming really involved in it.

We want the leaders to take all the risk for us but we want to have the last word in all things. That's selfishness. We want the glory without any risk or hard work. Like diets, we just want to take a pill to get results.

The models of success in our society are based upon what we want. (What we want should be based upon what we define success as.) We live in a society with a deceptive idea that the real success is in the people who push the leaders to the top. We complain about those that get to the top by stepping on others and then we exalt others by lifting themselves up on our shoulders and carrying them to the top.

While we claim our leaders make us a great nation we reserve the right to make the leaders. While we claim to hate paying the rising costs of life we continue to fuel the reasons for that rise, a hunger for success, defined by the amount we pay people. In a nation of intellectual giants we esteem intelligence far less than physical beauty, entertainment, or simple lust.

We claim to be a nation that seeks equality for all but then we foster racism by not ending it. Some claim it can not be ended as long as two people disagree about something. I agree. As long as we still consider some people more important than others, then who is to say what differences we should hold. As long as a ballplayer is more important than a father who works fifty hours a week at the local factory to feed his family, who is to say that the racial bigot's claim of superiority is any less as viable?

We promote class status by pay and then complain when it doesn't serve us. We want to know we can advance with promotions but when we don't get it we complain that the person who did get it does not do the job any better than we do. (But if we had gotten it we would have accepted the pay.) We want the divisions in life as long as they don't put us down. We don't mind putting others down, though. That's the world's way of logic, not God's way.

The only way to do away with this pattern of putting each other down is to do away with the divisions. The world's logic creates divisions based on dubious talents and skills and even worse goals for the good of all mankind. God's logic has no divisions, even the priests of His temple, although called to a higher task were still servants of the people. In God's system the higher you climb is based on how great a service you provide.

Viewing the world through God's logic in today's world, that would mean that teachers would be millionaires. Athletes would be scratching for a living. Politicians would be fewer and further between because of the emphasis placed on service rather than power. Doctors would receive reward based on sacrifice, not just an investment of knowledge. Stay at home moms would be put up on a pedestal and given first seating at the restaurants when they came in without a reservation. Father's that stayed with and supported their families would be looked up to as heroes rater than the ball players.

What a world it would be. The leadership model of God's logic would turn the world's logic upside down. Would anyone notice? Sure they would. Would anyone care? I believe everyone would. Wouldn't it be great to have fathers back in the home, honesty the rule of business, many races, many colors working side by side to make the world a better place to live for all? "Sure," everyone says. But it is the logic system that creates the turn around, not the dreamer.

### Chapter Thirty One

### There is a Hell

The world's logic denies there is any afterlife. They teach about evolution as though it was a firm, established fact (which it most certainly is not) which means there could be nothing after life when life is all there is. The world's logic denies that there is a God yet God's Word clearly describes the afterlife, an eternity spent in either the presence of God or a place called hell. If God is a myth then so is the afterlife goes the logic. Yet they tell ghost stories, stories about coming back from the grave and many other afterlife experiences.

The very denial affirms the fact that an afterlife exists. If it did not exist then there would be no purpose in denying it. But as long as God's logic tells of an afterlife then the world's logic must control that or risk being inconvenienced by the repercussions of what it means.

Since we have based all our arguments upon the truth of God's logic let's continue that way. Let's compare God's truth with that of the world's logic. God's truth is straight forward and easy to understand. Those who believe God is everything He claims to be will be rewarded for that belief. Those who deny God's logic by any means or with any reasoning will suffer the judgment for their belief. It is, therefore, very important to choose what we are going to believe.

God's logic, which so correctly directs and describes every aspect of the natural and spiritual lives we lead, tells us about an afterlife. The afterlife planned by God for His creation is one of bliss and reward in heaven. The believer will live for eternity in a glorified body that we do not know anything about. There will be no marriages or death or sicknesses in this eternity described by God. It will be heaven.

God's logic also describes the judgment that will befall those who deny God's right to be in authority over His creation. That judgment is an eternity in hell. It is a place of deep darkness and burning fire that never ceases. There is the smell of smoke and the noise of wailing from tortured, tormented souls. There is emptiness and the anguish of being alone. There is a separation from God for all eternity.

Hell is an unimaginable place for most Americans. We simply don't give it a thought. We are so concerned with satisfaction that not being satisfied never enters our thought process. Yet we know the process of going without satisfaction. Like all inconveniences we just ignore it. When a dog is separated from its owner it wails and cries to be reunited. When the creation of God, mankind, is separated from the Creator, God, there will be a similar reaction. The price for doing whatever we want to satisfy ourselves is an eternity with no personal satisfactions.

Every major religion on the planet tells of an afterlife, yet the logic of the world maintains that it can not be. Evolution teaches us that man developed from chemicals splashed together in some pool of ingredients that somehow formed life and then evolved into the higher life forms we know today. That means there was no Creator. There is no God and an afterlife is impossible. How can some splashed together chemicals ever evolve into a spiritual afterlife?

Of course, there is the explanation, that because of the higher evolving process of mankind he, mankind, has created an existence that goes beyond the body into the ethereal realm of non-existence. (Now, who believes a myth?) Does that not also mean that man has become a god in himself? Has man not only evolved physically but now spiritually? Well, the questions still remain. Where does this spiritual man go after death? Who created that place where he goes? If man created this place where he goes does this mean that everyone of us can create our own version of the afterlife because we are all evolved gods are we not? Who sets the rules for this place of the afterlife? Can we come back if we want to? If we designed it we should be able to set the rules and come and go as we pleased.

I see no evidence of man's creation of a spiritual afterlife. Man does not come and go as he pleases. Once dead, we are gone. And all of this supposition as to man's ability to create an afterlife is based upon man's ability to create life in the first place. And man believes he came from a rock.

Please, follow me a little further. Don't give up now. We are almost finished.

Man believes that he evolved from a pool of chemicals that somehow "accidentally" got together and life was formed. Those chemicals must be the result of rain running over rocks and through the soils (broken down rocks) of ancient earth. Therefore, man came from rocks.

So this rock evolves and is now capable of creating another existence beyond the life that was created accidentally. The convenience of that scenario is that no one is to blame if anything goes wrong. Also, everyone can claim their own independence and direction. If other people do not have any claim to causing my life, if there is no God who created me, then why does the logic of the world seek to control me with rules and laws? Are not the rules and laws of the world's logic a contrary force to any more "accidents" that may happen? (I'm really not just trying to be argumentative. If we are the result of the "accident" would it not be wrong to become a hindrance to any more "accidents"?)

The point is, unless man can prove he evolved from a pool of chemicals (and he can not) then the existence of God is the only viable reasoning that explains life and the ordered design of the universe we live in. Every other source of religious afterlife takes their foundation from the basis that man is alone in the universe and that all was created by "accident". Only those sources which claim God the Father as the Creator of all things have a foundation upon which truth can be discovered.

God is the foundation of truth and the Creator of the universe and all things in it. He gives order to all things and all things are explained by His existence. But that does not mean all who claim a "god" also claim the truth of the true God.

God's truth is revealed to us in His Word, the bible. He gave it to us for direction and exhortation. It is unerring because it came from God. Men wrote the words down. That is true. But what they wrote was inspired by God.

The documentation of the existence of God's Word is undeniable. Too much evidence exists to prove the reality of the God it reveals. It is inconceivable that anyone could produce a false piece of documentation that so correctly expresses the values of life throughout the ages by "accident". It is more ridiculous to not believe in God than it is to believe in Him.

Those who deny the reality of God's Word and choose to subvert its authority align themselves against God. They become the enemy of God. God's word says that to be friends with the world's logic is to be an enemy of God. God always knew there would be those who would oppose Him. Why? Because the systems of this world's logic are based upon the opposition of the one who opposed God from the beginning, Satan.

All people who claim to worship God are not true worshipers. A true worshiper does not deny God's authority in all areas of their life. A true worshiper uses God's logic to achieve in life. A true worshiper believes the Word from the bible as the truth of God. Nothing can cause the real worshipers of God to stop believing He has all the answers. It may seem a bit myopic or even hard headed, but if there is only one right way, God's way, a true worshiper will not settle for less.

Because God is real then hell is real, too. It is not imaginary. It is not a symbol of something. It is a real place where real people will be tormented for all eternity. The torment is not intended for mankind. Hell was created for the angels who rebelled against God when Lucifer tried to exalt his throne above God's throne. Hell became a necessity because of rebellion against the real ruler of the universe, God.

The reality of God's creation of hell touches every part of God's creation. Because hell is real there are consequences to wrong actions. Because of wrong actions there is a hell for punishment.

The world's logic is that if there is no hell then there are no lasting consequences for doing whatever we feel like doing now. That is so convenient. The perplexing part is that a logic that denies any consequences for wrong living also creates consequences for wrong living. Prisons are full of people paying for the consequences of their wrong living.

While the world's logic seemingly denies its own conclusion that there are no consequences for living any way we want, God states unequivocally that there is a price to pay. The wages of sin is death a popular verse tells us. This means that there is a payment for living a life separate from God. It also tells us that the payment of judgment and punishment in the fires of hell are considered death by God. God considers eternity with Him as life.

God's logic gives us a clear choice, life or death. The world's logic gives us a muddy reference to balancing what we do by some code of ethics that may change at any whim of society. (And people claim it is too hard to follow the bible.)

Hell is real. God is real. God's logic is not convenient for us. It never will be convenient to serve God because it denies the very authority of our own flesh to subject ourselves to God's authority. God's way is the only way proven by time and honored by millions of people who have held His traditions dear over the centuries and through countless changes in society.

The logic of the world is convenient but not good for us. It changes too often and for too many unfounded, irrational reasons. Every society seeks to change it and control it in their own way. The very basis for it is unstable and the decisions it renders are unstable as well.

Logically, we can make a good decision today. God's logic defeats the logic of the world in every area except convenience. The only thing that stands between a good decision and a bad decision today is the ability to shine the reality of real truth upon the situation. When we make our decisions based upon what really matters, the same values that God teaches us by His Word, then we can expect good results. As long as people choose to make easy, convenient decisions they will continue to pay the cost of not making the hard choice.

God's way is a hard choice. Don't let anyone tell you different. It never gets easy, ever. But when we understand what is at stake, heaven or hell, then the choice is an easy one. I choose the straight and narrow road of God's logic over the wide and crooked road of the world's logic. Why? Because I believe. I believe God because His logic has worked for centuries. His logic works today. His logic will always work. He is, after all, the Creator of everything, even the best logic system to use.

Every idea in man's head that is useful should be developed into an action that he takes. My idea that God's logic is supreme is no different. What is the action it requires? Simple. Get a bible and follow it. Go to church and serve God by doing whatever you can to be an active part of helping in the community within which you live. Teach your children to believe in God. That doesn't mean just send them to church and make them go to Sunday school, but take them with you as you go and let them see you learning all you can to be all that God wants you to be.

Doesn't that sound logical to you?

### Conclusion

### Make a Decision

All my life the leaders of this world have given speech after speech denouncing evil and espousing positive growth and progress for all mankind. One political party attacks another. Both claim to have all the answers. Well, here's my take on the situation. None of them have all the answers. Because the political parties are comprised of people with political ambition and dreams of economic and influential power, those people are driven by a completely foreign agenda when it comes to the best for the world.

I do not believe they start out as bad guys. I believe they fall into an ever increasing life of conveniences which mandate their actions as they become more and more dependent upon their own creations rather than the truth of life. Such a realization requires I make a decision about my own life. While being subject to this life and the people in it I am also subject to an even higher authority, the authority of God.

I have been lied to, cheated, misinformed and the only answer I can find is that people say, "It is part of life. Get over it." It may seem trivial to some, but I do not want to get over it. I want to go through it. I do not want satisfaction. I want complete annihilation of the evil of life. I refuse to accept the fact that I must be on guard to keep others from cheating me. How can we, as a people, say we desire the best of life for everyone and then promote a life of choices designed to prove just the opposite?

God's logic answers all my questions. I hope they have answered some of yours. I also hope that maybe I have raised a few more. Maybe now you are curious enough to get out a bible and find some other answers for yourself. I pray that God will direct your heart even as He has directed so many of us before you.
