Jason's Blog

Movin’ On

IT IS SAID; 'If one is going to write about anything, then one should write about what one knows something about'. Now I don't know if that's the exact quote or even the right quote or who said it, but it seems to be true enough. Well... we know about moving.
Sharon and I have been married for over thirty-seven years and we have officially,  moved thirty-eight times. This does not count the many months spent living in and out of  vans, cars, old buses and broken down motor homes, staying in countless motels, hotels, camps, churches and other peoples homes. At one time we lived a seven year stretch in a motor home, completely without brick & mortar home or apartment, staying in Wal Mart and restaurant parking lots, rest areas, turn outs and wide spots, truck stops and a few camp grounds. (Most camp grounds cost money, so we only used as last resort.) During our time in the motor home we lived all across North America; Alaska to Florida, New York to California and slept across much of Canada. We have traversed hundreds of thousands of miles, in the Lord's service, hardly spending more than a few days in any one place.
Moving is something we know something about.

RECENTLY WE MOVED... AGAIN. You would think that with as much moving as we have done, moving would get easier. Wrong. Moving has gotten harder and we have come to dread it as one dreads contracting a cold. But in our life and ministry moving is as inevitable as the yearly virus and something, similarly, to be endured looking forward to its conclusion. Although all the boxes are not as yet unpacked and the paperwork, demanded by various insurance companies and Government agencies still incomplete, we have moved and now reside in an apartment we hope to live in for a while.

THE GOOD THING ABOUT MOVING, this time for us, is being close to some of our children and GRANDCHILDREN. Did I say GRANDCHILDREN? Due to ministry demands, we have not been been able to live near our family for some years. Three of our GRANDCHILDREN and their parents have congregated in the Salem area of Oregon and another son in the Portland area. That's three sons, two wonderful daughter-in-laws and three GRANDCHILDREN all in one area. Pretty cool and worth moving for. So we moved again.

MOVING, THOUGH AT TIMES DIFFICULT, HAS BEEN USED BY GOD IN OUR LIVES.
This latest move has put us near our family, and we are truly blessed. Through the years of moving we have been allowed to declare the Word of God in thousands of churches and to hundreds of thousands of His people. We have friends all over the world, for which we are truly grateful. We have seen and experienced the working of God in many and astounding ways. God has certainly blessed us in giving us such experience in the act of moving.

CONSIDER HOW GOD HAS USED MOVING IN THE PAST: When God was preparing to move Israel out of Egypt, He demonstrated His glory through the plagues of Moses. Then He demonstrated His glory again by moving Israel though the Red Sea as on dry land. Then He demonstrated His discipline by moving Israel to take laps around     Mt.Sinai for forty years. Then it was His glory again as He moved Israel across the Jordan and into the Promised Land, conquering the mighty fortress city of Jericho, fighting on behalf of His people, even causing the sun to stop in the sky. All this while moving.

OF COURSE ALL THIS moving was pointing toward the GREAT MOVING DAY when Jesus moved out of Heaven and to His mother's womb. He moved from there and into the light of the world, as humans do, and after a life of moving around the land of Israel, teaching uncomfortable truth and doing really good, He was finally rejected and killed and moved into a tomb. We thought He would remain there in decay and out of our faces, but He wouldn't stay in that tomb and MOVED OUT on the third day. Then He moved back to heaven to make a place for His friends to live.
THOSE WHO WITNESSED ALL THIS MOVING, the ones Jesus chose to tell the world 
about His move out of the tomb sat in Jerusalem. They had been told to wait a while for their baptism in the Spirit. They received their baptism and Him Who came to dwell in them. Many who were there, the Day the Spirit moved to Earth returned to their homes believing, but the witnesses of the Resurrection Move would not go out. They had been commanded to go out to all the Earth and to every creature with the Good News, but they stayed in Jerusalem.The Keys to the Kingdom where turned and Gentiles believed too, but still they would not move. Jerusalem was religiously comfortable.
SO GOD RAISED UP SOME WHO WOULD GO, and so they started moving out. Not without argument and grumbling and fear and foreboding. It is hard to move. One then another... finally they were going out.Then God made Jerusalem so uncomfortable, nigh uninhabitable, that they all moved out. They went out to all the world to tell the world about the move of Jesus Christ out of that old tomb and out of this world to Heaven. About the forgiveness of our sins and justification before God by His Grace alone through Faith alone. THIS IS REALLY REALLY GOOD NEWS!
They told all who would listen about how God so loved the world that He moved His Only Begotten Son from Heaven to Earth, that whoever would believe on him would be moved from the power of darkness into the kingdom of the son of His love, Jesus Christ.
And they told of the one final move; when Jesus will come back to earth to move us into the place He has prepared, in The Father's House, there to live with Him forever.

SO NOW WE WAIT. We who have grown weary of moving from house to house and place to place. Even we long for that GREAT MOVING DAY and the BLESSED HOPE, THE GLORIOUS APPEARING OF OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. THE ONE FINAL MOVE WHEN HE COMES BACK TO GET US AND MOVES US TO HEAVEN, FOREVER.
"And everyone who has this hope before him, purifies himself as Christ is pure."
1 John 3:3



                       PEOPLE GET READY
                       FOR THE DAY OF MOVING
                       YOU DON'T NEED NO U HAUL
                       YOU'LL TAKE NOTHING BUT YOUR LIFE
                       AND DEEDS DONE IN THE SPIRIT
                       TESTED BY THE FIRE
                       YOU'LL NEED NOTHING THERE
                       SAVE WORDS OF PRAISE
                       THEY'LL BURST FROM YOUR NEW LIPS
                       ASCRIBING GLORY TO THE ONE WHO MOVED YOU HOME
                       THE NEW CHORUS OF THANKSGIVING
                       SPAWNED NOW NOT BY FAITH
                       BY SIGHT OF THE GLORIOUS ONE

                                                                                   j.jason

We would like to thank each of you for your prayerful and financial support throughout 2011. As we are into the new year, we need to provide you with an updated address for any and all communication for Wordsower. We are now located in Salem, Oregon and our mailing address is as follows:

   IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME... EPIPHANY
......After Adam took all humankind with him in the great fall, passing the gift of death to all who came after... God spoke a Word of hope and salvation and this Word spawned a wave.. deep and small in appearance it was, at its beginning, and the shore of its breaking very far distant... a wave of history in the great rushing sea of time... and the wave began to grow... [In the mind of the Creator, for whom all things are eternally present, the wave was born, formed, broke and was no more before time began. History completed before history was created. Time fulfilled before time began... but for us He has decreed that history is to have a beginning and that Time is a sea for the events of history to move through, over and within... we perceive its passing (He put eternity in our hearts after all, and we have been given a sense of the passing days and hours.) but cannot see its end. For to us there is a future but its conclusion hidden from our view.] But the wave of God's purpose and grace slowly grew... spoken to again and again by God's Prophets, each Word adding to its mighty height and fearful power.  Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea and Zechariah. Micah was even shone the shore upon which the wave of grace would break, but he did not understand. As they spoke, moved by the Holy Spirit, these prophets pondered and explored its meaning and greatly desired to see into this mysterious wave. They did not know when or how the wave would break, but they knew it was coming and growing and its breaking would be nothing less than deliverance from death. But its breaking was not for their time... even so the progress of the wave was so wild and wonderful and gigantic that even the Angels longed to look into and understand it but were not allowed... and the wave grew and sped toward its unsuspecting shore... in the lands of fallen humankind, men and women went on walking away from the God of their creation and worshiping everything but God. Exchanging the glory of the incorruptible One for images made in the forms of birds and beasts and crawling creatures, ignoring all the manifold demonstrations of His existence and love and justice and promise. Seeing and not perceiving, hearing but not understanding, progressing from bad to worse, deceiving themselves and their children. God overlooking their ignorance and enduring patiently their foolishness knowing the wave was surely coming... growing... looming... casting a shadow of hope upon all creation.
But the sea of time was not ready, it was still in preparation... incomplete. Early in the growth of the Wave, when it was still small and hard to see, God had chosen a people to speak through. To tell all the rest of us of His coming wave of grace... He led them with fire and cloud. He delivered them from bondage. He divided waters before them. His angels camped round about them. He put a wall of Law about them that they might live holy before Him. He separated them from all the other nations. He loved them and wooed them, fought for them and sought them, and sent His prophets to them with words of endearment and warning and discipline... of blessing and cursing. The prophets who had spoken to the wave were of this people and salvation for all the nations was through them. Some who had spoken of the wave had even ruled them and this people of all people had been given a hope and a future, but although many held onto the hope, this people would not serve God or keep His covenant of love. The prophets had told them to hope in the wave and many still did, thinking that the wave was only for them, no matter what they had done, and believing that all the rest of humankind was outside this covenant of hope. Though this chosen people were looking for the wave's coming they could not see it. It was hidden from their blinded eyes and hard hearts. All the other nations were without hope and without God, they too could not see its coming, they had no inkling of its existence... but God had not abandoned them. The wave was for all but those who knew of it could not see it and those who knew not were oblivious. They all lived in the same darkness. And the Wave grew and Time came to its fullness.
  So the magnificent Wave of God burst upon the shore called Bethlehem. A town that knew King David but no ocean or sea. The Wave was so big all creation that had eyes to see was held in its sway and marveled at its form. It was so powerful no created thing could stand against it. No army could stop it. Nothing could contain it. It fell upon Bethlehem while most in the city slept and no watchman gave warning. The city lay unprepared and completely vulnerable.
    In spite of its wonder and magnificence and power most never knew the wave had come. Thousands of years in preparation and anticipation It had crashed in silence upon a stable midst the sounds of animals and birth, and as it receded a wondrous being was left revealed. An Epiphany. A sudden glorious, life changing revelation. The God/man as a baby come to tabernacle among us. Totally dependent, like us, upon his parents, to grow as a man, to live and die and rise again. The anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ come to abolish death and bring life and immortality to light. To proclaim Good News of Peace with God to all who would believe on Him. Not just from among the Jews but from the whole world of humans. Epiphany: revealing.                                                                                                                            God chose His witnesses. First there were his parents and anyone who may have attended the birth, then He summoned shepherds through the use of angelic heralds. These shepherds were despised and looked down upon by polite society but they were sent to find a baby wrapped in burial clothes and lying in an animals feeding trough. Not exactly a rich man's child and society to worry about. A baby born to die. Then there were the local folk who would have been present at these traveler's child's circumcision, welcoming this little stranger into their community of faith, witnessing His naming; Jeshua or God Saves, and acknowledging that this child was completely a human male child. A month and a half later He was presented at the Temple fulfilling the command of the Law regarding first born sons and to be witnessed to by an old man and an old woman both of whom were probably considered touched or questionable because of their zealous devotion. And both of whom were utterly poor in worldly goods but rich in faith.
   Almost two years later the last witnesses arrived. Zoroastrian Wise Men from Persia. Worshipers of a pagan god of light who they believed to be locked in an eternal struggle with darkness. They had studied the Jewish Prophets these strange people to the west that they had learned of from Mordecai and Esther. A people waiting for a Messiah. And they studied the stars and suddenly witnessed the appearance of new star! It could only mean one thing... the birth of the King of Jews. Their Messiah had come. The promise of their God fulfilled. The wave had broken. Perhaps God had stepped into the world. Perhaps Light had come to triumph over darkness. Like Balaam, Aristotle, Plato, Epimenides, and others unknown, these wise men and their forbearers had been given a little bit of light to point them toward the coming True Light. They too were looking for the Grace of God to appear. And it did at Bethlehem. The Magi came, perhaps a mini army of two hundred, traveling almost two years through hostile territory and desert to witness to Him. And they worshiped Him when they saw Him, and gave Him gifts and returned home to wait. When the Gospel came to Persia a hundred years later there were many who received it with gladness. The Revelation of the Christ had come to the gentiles too. It wasn't just for one people but for all who will believe, from any nation, tribe, language and people.
  LIGHT DID COME into the world but men loved darkness instead of Light. Light came to His own but His own would not receive Him. In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son and His Son was revealed to the simple, the child like, the despised and rejected, the old and infirm, the poor and to every nation. Wondrously He has been revealed to you as well. To all who will receive Him He gave the right to become children of God.
   The early Church celebrated this revelation, the Grace of God appearing to all mankind, celebrating the coming of the Magi as the Revelation of the Christ to the nations and the baptism of Jesus as His revelation to the world in public ministry. This celebration on January 6th is called Epiphany and predates the celebration of December 25th as Christmas by almost four hundred years.
     Paul would say that this glorious appearing teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passion and to live upright, holy and Godly lives while we wait for the next wave. The glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:11-14)

           AN OPEN LETTER

       Greetings in the wonderful Name of Jesus.
      You recently sent me a bad review of a performance that I did in Michigan. It’s not the first uncomplimentary review that I have ever received, but it had been a while. My tender ego took a little beating from it but I survived. Of course you were not critical of my material. That's pretty sound. I have, in the past, been taken to task for not using the KJV but this was not the case this time.
      The problem, it seems, was that you folks came to see a play and all I gave you was a recitation, and a not very good recitation at that. Apparently you wanted costume and props, maybe lights etc. We do not do that sort of thing. I have nothing against historical costume dramas, and the like, I am just not led to do that with the Scriptures.
       There are two things going on here. One is that I failed at my task and craft and the other is that someone did not get their expectations met and so left disappointed. I'm glad you told me. I wish I could make it up to you.
     As an oral interpreter/storyteller/actor, I did not communicate well. I missed the mark. I must not have communicated the character, the faith and the genuine concern that Paul would have communicated had he read the Book of Romans to his friends. (Of course he never 'wrote' Romans with his hands. He dictated it through Tertius who wrote it down. (Rom 16:22) ) If you'll remember, I asked the audience to imagine a scenario wherein Paul, as an old man, might have refreshed the memory of those with him in Rome many years after they have first received and  heard what we now call the Book of Romans.  I failed to involve and believably engage you and your  family so as to 'get out of the way' and allow you to drink in the wonderful Words of life. I offer my sincerest apology for that performance and for the many others over the years that I have not measured up to the standard of the material I present.
       Our one desire is that you listen and hear the Word of the Lord. We have no other purpose. God has called us to build you up and we have given our lives to this end.
      Wordsower Evangel Arts uses a combination of communication arts disciplines: acting, storytelling, oral interpretation and preaching when we present Scripture. We only use Scripture and seek with all our hearts to be as accurate as possible to valid translations. Some of us use the King James Version while others use a variety of  versions. We work under a theory of drama that does not use costumes, sets, props, make up, or lighting to establish an illusion on a stage for the audience to look into. What we do is called 'Chancel Theatre': theatre designed to be performed on the platform portion of a church, (the chancel),  without costume, sets, props, make up or special lighting, it is designed to involve the audience as participants challenged and moved by the words not voyeurs entertained by some illusion. It is however still theatre. There is a person acting a part,  live in front of a live audience but relying upon inward characterization and pacing and movement and vocal sets to portray our characters speaking the Word. The Word stands on its own and the Scriptureteller truly believes that what he or she is quoting is the very Word of God. We highly respect every word and every thought. We are best and most powerful when the Word is foremost and the audience is not distracted by the actor, and his props, but completely caught up in the hearing of the Word of God. Not watching a theatrical illusion but truly listening to what God would say to them. If we can apply proper and well practiced theatrical communication skills to this 'telling' of Scripture and to this 'hearing' by the audience, God's Word will powerfully work in the audience to His glory.
      The Theatre Art Form is a powerful tool and many, I'm sure you would agree, use it for the wrong purposes. The form has many manifestations and we are not saying ours is any better than anyone else's, but it is a bonafide theatrical expression and we must do as we are convicted and are led by the Spirit to do. We believe that speaking the Word in the character of the writer, in faith and without the props of illusion, is truly our calling. Many, over thirty seven years of our ministry, have agreed and have profited from our small service. I am sure there have been more than one who has not received what we do or has not had their expectations met or has found fault with our performance, but few have ever taken the time to tell us. My thanks to you my critic.
    I suppose if we could have communicated in advance, what it is we do and what you expected, it might have been better. I apparently did not do my job adequately. I will, with all my heart, seek to do better.

              In Christ with you
              For the Church....jason

A FIRST.....
   Sharon and I have been in ministry for over forty years, if you combine our Covenant Player time, youth ministry attempts and the ministry that became Wordsower. We have pastored,  associate pastored and interim pastored but mostly itinerated. That's a long time traversing this country and other countries. We have spoken in thousands of churches, camps, schools, stadiums, streets and open fields in most of the United States, four countries in Africa, two states of India, Haiti, Austria and Germany. We present Scripture regularly via audio and visual recordings. We have performed on radio and television. We have been privileged to teach, preach and perform for free, for fuel, for offerings and for honorarium. We have experienced the gratitude of God's people and their willingness to stand with us for the least in the world, receiving money, gold, silver, canned goods, frozen and fresh food, honey, prunes, peanut butter, cheese galore, gift cards, American clothes, African clothes, Indian clothes, wall hangings, jewelry, cars, vans, buses, motor homes, missionary closet donations, and countless meals in response to our labors. We have been greatly blessed.
   But recently I received something different. I was given a live chicken. My first. Having been given or bought and/or consumed the parts of many chickens over the years, this was a surprise and one difficult to respond to. What does one do with a live chicken?
   Let me explain.
   In July Sharon and I were enabled, by a dear friend of the ministry, to go to Germany and me to Africa. Sharon stayed with our son and his family (two grandchildren and wonderful daughter-in-law) in Germany while I got to go on to West Africa and visit our Refugee Camp ministry in Ghana for a week and then our many endeavors in Liberia for another week. (See Africa Report)
    One of our dear friends, Kim Smith, is laboring with his team of evangelists in Northeast Liberia basing in the city of Zwedru. They are evangelizing and planting churches in jungle villages along the Cote d'Ivore border. Using Bibles, Scripture based discipelship materials, hard & dangerous labor, much prayer, motorcycles and perseverance God has enabled them to plant over a hundred churches in two years. They regularly send out eight two man teams to evangelize in villages controlled by witch doctors (devil-men in the local parlance) among a populous completely steeped in and sold out to the traditional African religions with the attendant animal and even human sacrifice, secret societies, invocation of spirits and anamistic worship. Kim and his team regularly experience confrontations with these devil-men and regularly see God victorious. The demons cannot stand against the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
    Kim lives with some team members and their families in an African style house they built on two adjoining lots outside Zedru. They live like the locals but with a better outhouse. He has a generator but they only run it to operate their copiers, to renew their supplies of discipleship materials. They use the little Gideon, New Testament / Psalms and have given out over twenty-thousand. It is an amazing and fruitful work of God.
     We arrived around ten at night after a grueling hundred twenty mile seven hour drive. No one wanted to sleep. We wanted to talk of the things of God. They fed us, showed us our sleeping places and then we gathered around the cook fire out back. Someone sometime back had brought Kim some Starbucks coffee and he broke out the last of it with his 'most precious' possession, a coffee press. We sat out under the multitude of stars, drinking Starbucks from African 'plastique' cups, marveling at the vastness of the creation and the size of the cockroaches wandering around the table, receiving emails on my Blackberry, praising God for His goodness and His mercy. It was an unforgettable moment in my short life of ministry. We are so privileged to have associates like Kim Smith and the team at Zedru.
   The next morning, as we were preparing to leave for the fifteen hour bounce to Monrovia (we called the road the 'Autobahn of Pain') the leadership of the churches and team members gathered to honor us for encouraging Kim. As part of their honoring of me, a man approached,  removed from within a bag a large live chicken, and presented it to me! My first live chicken! After so many years of ministry.
   And now what? I couldn't possibly take it back to the States could I?... and I was scheduled to leave the next day. I could just imagine trying to take it on the plane; screams and feathers and flapping and heart rending rejection... no chickens on airplanes!!!... Everyone was looking at me and waiting for me to acknowledge their gift, their most high honor. What was one supposed to do?
     I thanked them for their gift. It was most wonderful. I would like nothing more than to receive that chicken and take it home. They had honored me too highly,.. But... that it would not be possible for me to take it back to the States and that I in turn would like to donate it to the household of the evangelists, for their edification and evening meal. Everyone nodded solemnly and with one accord agreed with my decision. Praise God.
    Kim and his team are doing a wonderful work. They do it with great zeal, perseverance, love, thoroughness, frugality and transparency. They need your prayers.  Liberia, and her many thousands locked in bondage to the demon spirits, needs your prayers. All of West Africa needs your prayers.
To view Kim's mission station and some team members,
Check out: wordsowerliberia.blogspot.com

                 In Christ...jason & sharon

      A CROSS

    "As God's dear children, be imitators of God; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us..." (Eph 5:1 & 2)
This statement perfectly exemplifies the 'cross of Christ'; the defining act of love toward humankind (1 John 3:16): Jesus loves us and gave Himself for us, in love, and gave us a model of what a 'cross' entails. A 'cross' is an act of love, chosen to be endured for the sake of the loved one to the glory of God.
    And we too, in our turn, are bound by the command of Jesus and by the love of Jesus, to pick up our cross and follow in His steps.
    (Luke 14:27 among many others; 2 Cor 5:14 & 15; 1 Peter 2:21-24; 1 John 3:16-24)
An honor, a stewardship, a condition of true discipleship, our true worship.

    RECENTLY, Sharon and I spent time ministering the Word in Hoopa, California. It was a time of renewing relationship with one of the local churches, its pastor and his wife (dear friends)  and many other friends who have stood with us in prayer and substance over fifteen years of ministry. We were invited to be there Sunday over Sunday, (a long time in one place for us) and I was encouraged to teach not just preach and recite. We were honored to be allowed to minister there, once again, and to enjoy the hospitality and genuine faith of the brethren. By the mercies of God, Spiritual and physical food were in abundance throughout the week. Our cup of blessing overflowed. We left with hearts filled and longing to return. Praise God!

     HOOPA is a lovely valley, a Native American community and a 'reservation'. It is the ancestral or 'aboriginal' land of the Hoopa tribe from which they have never been moved. People from other tribes were moved to Hoopa and European-Americans and Mexicans settled as well. At one time the land was taken in a military action, garrisoned and governed by troops, put under US Government control and exploited. The old growth timber was cut and eventually the river was damned and fished out. The forests were over hunted and the pastures over grazed. The native ways and language were suppressed. The children were taken from their parents and sent to government run boarding schools. The Hoopa culture was diluted and corrupted while European- American culture was imposed. Christianity in all its varied forms was introduced and sometimes forced upon the people. This was done by sincere men who had a genuine but misguided understanding and a concern for the souls of the Hoopa, but also by charlatans, false teachers, profiteers and rogues who cared only for themselves.
    Over the years Christianity, and the Christian culture, has been embraced by some, tolerated and/or rejected by others. There are a few churches and some dear, long suffering and faithful brethren who continue to hold forth the Word of life and give faithful witness to the saving power of Jesus. Most church buildings in the valley bear the scars of arson, neglect and/or poverty. With the Hoopa Tribe now controlling their own government, land, educational system, health care system and general  economy and with a resurgence of traditional tribal rituals, dancing, and the prevalence of watered down, compromised and synchrotised forms of Christianity, true Christianity is a minority voice in the 'Indian' community and is often passed off by many as the 'white man's religion'.

    ALTHOUGH the traditional Native American cultures had both good and bad aspects, (It is easy to look back and to think that all things Indian were wonderful, ecologically harmonious, beautiful and peace filled. They were not. The old tribal cultures had good and bad. We must not ever forget that Native Americans, like Europeans, Asians etc. are all fallen humans and sinners. We are all sons of Adam and bear the marks of his sin and answer to the curse.) but they mostly were monotheistic, spiritual, having a high esteem for honesty, hard work, community care, honor, bravery and family. God, in His mercy, overlooked their lack of knowledge and sought them. (Acts 17:17-31) Eventually bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, from the East, and made a way for them to hear and believe on the Name of Jesus unto salvation. We are grieved for the lies and violence perpetrated in the Name of Jesus. Not only in this land and among these peoples, but in all the history of the Church in every land and to every people. "Only in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and for this I rejoice, Yes, and I will rejoice," Philippians 1:18.
    MOST Native American communities had leaders who cared for the people and governed wisely. The survival of the community and the culture was their responsibility and the restraint and guidance they provided was absolutely vital. These were often the first to be killed or to have their authority undermined. With them went vast stores of knowledge and wisdom, the very structure of the cultures.
       As the Native Tribes of America became a conquered people and their cultural restraints, religious guidance and leaders were destroyed or suppressed; the scourges of alcohol abuse, violence, spousal and child abuse & abandonment, drug abuse, criminal enterprise, materialism and generational poverty have ravaged them, just like in the broader European-centric culture, but more so. So much more so. Hoopa is no different.
       The spiritual vacuum is great but the people try to fill the vacuum with every kind of spiritual and physical activity that seems historical or currently intriguing or 'religious'  but there are only a few who seek the One who can satisfy their need, and Who would be found by them if they would simply reach out to Him; Jesus Christ.
       The ravages of alcohol & methamphetamine  and the attendant violence and life wreckage are everywhere evident, but only a few seek the One Who can heal, restore and bring peace; Jesus Christ.
        Broken marriages are the rule but there are only a few who will seek to build their marriages on the One foundation that will not move, Jesus Christ.
        Many die, seemingly before their time, and  in mourning the faithful few gather to preach the funerals and to declare that there is hope beyond the grave in the Good News of the One Who has conquered the grave, Jesus Christ.
         So many live their lives for money and what it can buy, only to find that all that panders to the appetites and entices the eye will rust and degrade and burn and spoil. As in all of America only a few live for the One Who bought them with price of His own life and Who offers a gift that money cannot buy and that never can spoil or rust or be stolen... even eternal life with God through Jesus Christ.

          WE truly rejoice in the few who stand but we are greatly burdened for the Hoopa, the Yurok, the Navajo, the Apache, the Hopi, the Ute, the Oglalla Souix, the Cheyenne, the Mandan, the Zuni and for all the myriad Tribes of the Americas. We, being sent to the churches, are especially burdened for the little churches, pastors, missionaries and ministries that seek to bring Jesus to the Native Americans. Those who bring Christ in truth. Those, like our friends in Hoopa, who stand in faith, love, righteousness, and mercy out of a pure conscience and a genuine faith.

As a 'missionary' to the Church of Jesus Christ in America, I am very concerned about the state of the Church. Prayer for the churches, the church sponsored institutions, leaders and fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ is a major part of our life in Christ. Sharon and I have given all of our ministry lives to the edification, exhortation and equipping of the people of God and the churches which are in Christ in America. In the course of our ministry, we have had to be very aware of and on guard against false teaching and false teachers from the history of the church and over the forty years of our ministry. (We have seen many rise to prominence and many fall in just our short time of service.) The Apostle Peter prophetically warns of false teachers arising who will introduce destructive heresies and disown the very master who bought them. He warns that these false teachers will gain many adherents to their dissolute practices through whom the true way will be brought into disrepute. (2 Peter 2:1) How's that for a preview of the Church's history and of our day?

   Did you ever think about what would happen if you changed the name of your church? Many have. Its been going on for a number of years now and has become quite the trend. Or maybe you attend a church that changed its name some time ago or recently or was even started without a traditional name or even no name! There is a growing belief, among church leaders, that one's church's name must not turn off or offend any prospective visitor and that some people won't come into their buildings if the name of the church is not acceptable.
  Our sending church, for example, changed its name. They kept the 'lead' name which makes a theological statement about our understanding of God, dropped the denominational moniker, which maybe turned some people away, and changed the name 'church', which might be misunderstood, to the more family friendly, 'family fellowship'. So what was Trinity Baptist Church is now Trinity Family Fellowship. The only thing that changed about the church was its name, but there has been an increase in first time visitors and it seemed many were turned away previously, by the old name. I have no problem with the name change and understand that it was a measured response to a perceived problem.
  Over the last two decades or so there have been many attempts to make the Christian Church more palatable or non threatening to the unchurched seeker or possible church visitor. We have removed any and all offending imagery or symbols from the outside and then the insides of our buildings. (Some congregations were convicted about symbols and/or imagery and didn't have any in the first place.)We have so redesigned our services our preaching style and our music so as not to offend or turn away any visitors. Lastly, we have dropped the old denominational monikers that set our church apart from the one across the street and gave the prospective church attender some small idea of what the folks in said prospective church, believed.
   This has not been all bad and we probably needed to do something. The names don't mean what they used to mean. For example when one is presented with eight 'Baptist' churches in one city, it is not really informative to call a church 'baptist' unless you know what kind of baptist church that baptist church is. There are so many types and shade of baptist that the term baptist is no more informative than 'Grace Church' or 'the Pursuit' or 'Salem Assembly' or 'Woodbridge Fellowship' or... you get the idea. Baptist has come to mean many things (even the list of 'Baptist distinctives' has gotten pretty generic) as has the name Christian or Reformed or Evangelical or Community. What is the difference between a 'church'  a 'fellowship', a 'chapel' or a 'congregation' anyway? And the new names don't give much info about what one will find when one goes inside. I mean you won't find the Parthenon in 'Mars Hill' churches,  in Seattle or Grand Rapids, nor will you find a bridge, north or otherwise, inside Northbridge Church in Kallamazoo.
     I am not criticizing any of these named congregations. I don't know some and those I do know are walking faithfully according to their understanding. Its not for me to judge about their names. For what you will find, in most of these places, is a group of people trying to be a good representation of the Church of Jesus Christ, as they understand the term 'church'. Most places, and I know there are exceptions, will greet you and try to make you comfortable and most will hope you come back regularly. If you watch and listen you will probably discern, in short order, what this particular group believes and whether or not you could or should come back. In many you will be exposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of God and a  discipleship process.
   In most, and I know there are exceptions, you probably won't hear much about hell or the wages of sin or the coming wrath & judgment of God or God's call to live holy lives in this present life. You won't see a very different standard of modesty from your work place or school (these topics are not friendly topics) and in most, you will be taught how to serve both God and your 'financial-well-being' at the same time, without conflict or cost. You probably won't be challenged to change much as long as your behavior isn't too self destructive or objectionable by workplace standards.
   My problem and point, and something we need to consider in all this, is that in trying to make the gathering of God's people somehow 'acceptable' and 'non threatening' we, the Church of Jesus Christ, have become non threatening to the World, the Flesh and the Devil. For names don't really matter. Music styles and preaching styles don't really matter. Architectural styles and/or images and symbols don't really matter in our 'fight against sin' (Heb12:4) and 'the lust which has infected the world' (2 Pete1:4) and against the 'rulers,...the authorities..the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms' (Eph 6:12 NIV) I have it, on the authority of the Apostle Paul, that outward forms of Christianity don't matter. What matters is not what's on our churches but what's in them. What matters is 'faith expressing itself through love' (Gal 5:6).
     This faith I speak of is a living, saving faith in the Jesus Christ of the Bible. Not some Jesus concocted by questionable teachers to make us feel good, and who is nothing more than a good teacher with human weaknesses like our own, but the 'man of sorrows and acquainted with grief' of the Bible, Who is the Word become flesh (John 1) and Who lived a sinless life, Who committed no falsehood, Who did mighty miraculous works; healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, enabling the lame to walk and raising the dead to life. Who preached the Gospel to the poor. Who loved humanity so much that He died for all, a complete and perfect sacrifice for all our sins. This Jesus of the Bible was raised from the dead, taken to heaven and is coming back to judge the living and the dead. By His own words the One who will judge (John 5:22 & 23). Faith in Him matters. Faith in Him confronts the enemy of our souls. Faith in this Jesus does battle against all that would separate us from God. Faith in this Jesus works.
   But in so many churches the Jesus you get is some 'half-messiah'; super good but not perfect, super wise but limited in his understanding and teaching to his time and culture, great teacher but having relationships with his female followers and definitely not god. A great man but unable to save himself let alone all humankind. Why should Satan or the world fear a church with a savior like that. Why should our flesh be in subjection to this Jesus?
  Oh the contemporary church has a few attractions: We are 'family friendly', even 'focused on the family'. On Sundays we're clean and well pressed with pretty good manners. We provide a relatively safe place to socialize and make good business contacts and there is the 'hope of heaven', which we all like, and opportunities to do some good deeds. Many of our churches even offer 'short term' mission trips for those of us who are a little adventuresome. But where is the Church of the Living God, indwelled and governed by the Holy Spirit, consecrated to the imitation of Jesus Christ and expressing its faith in unbridled loving action? Where is the Church of Jesus Christ confronting and doing battle with the godless world order and contemporary culture? Where is the Church of Jesus Christ fighting for the poor, the alien, the widow and the abused?
  And, most importantly to me, where is the Church of the Jesus of the Bible expressing its faith with a love that knows no limits? A love, like Jesus' love, that denies itself for the sake of the loved one? A love that suffers for the loved one? A love that is God birthed, in the heart of a believer in Jesus, and that will do nothing less than imitate the love that Jesus lived and died (Eph 5:1&2). A love that follows in His steps (1 Pete 2:21 & 22). A love that won't allow us to persist in sin. A love that endures all things, hopes all things, believes all things. A love that will never end (1 Cor 13). A love that proclaims to the world that Jesus is the One sent from God into the world (John17:20-23), and that we are His disciples (John 13:35). A love that won't let us live for ourselves any more but insists, nay demands, that we live for Jesus! (2 Cor 5:14) A love that enables us to wage 'the Lamb's war of love' against the world, the flesh and the devil. A church empowered by this living faith working through this mighty love will change the world.
       What's in your church?

  We who believe the Bible, as the very Word of God, are confronted with certain realities that motivate. Or at least should motivate us to action. This is understatement of the highest order, for if we believe the Bible then we believe that Jesus Christ lived and died to pay the penalty for our sins, and was raised to life, and was taken to heaven, and is coming back soon to take those who love Him home to Heaven and to judge those who reject His Word! If we are among those who believe on Him then we will love Him and declare in word and deed that He is our Lord. If we love Him then we will obey His commandments. If our faith in Him is real and endures to the end then He is coming back for us. This is Good News (the Gospel) and pretty exciting and should be motivation enough for a lifetime.
    Although the non-believing world does not see these things as realities and truths, we who believe do. Faith has given substance to our hopes and makes us certain of realities we do not yet see. Because of the life and death of Jesus there is way for us to be made righteous before Almighty God; simple and complete faith in Jesus. He Who made us accepts those who truly believe in Him as clean, legally (God's law) justified before Him. In His mercy, for the great love He bears towards us, He made a way, One Way, for us to get to be with Him forever and there is no other way.
   We who believe the Bible face  two other motivating realities. (One of which I will speak to now and the other will await another blog.) The other realities are: 2) Not only do we have the privilege of believing in Jesus (a privilege afforded to us by God) but that we have the additional privilege of suffering with and for Him (Phil 1:29). Paul calls this the Fellowship of His Suffering (Phil 3:10). We will speak more of this fellowship and the reality of our privilege in our next blog installment.
   But for now: 3) The reality of an eternal hell. The Biblical author  Jude calls it the 'punishment of eternal fire'.(Jude 7). Jesus, the great teacher on the subject, says that hell is a place outside, a place of darkness and of wailing and gnashing of teeth.. (Matt 8:12) He also says that hell is not a place that you escape from once you're there, and that the fire of the place doesn't go out and the worm of corruption doesn't die or stop tormenting.(Mark 9:42-49) Jesus was quoting Isaiah, (66:24) when He shared this vision of hell, so the reality of a place of unending torment was not a new revelation when He walked and taught. Jesus was just bringing to full light a truth partially illuminated in the Old Testament.   Like today, the concept of hell as a place from which you don't escape, was not popular. Over the last two hundred years, writers, commentators, teachers and preachers have gone to almost any length and twist of logic to soft peddle hell and to get around it somehow. Yes hell is not popular.
   The reality of hell is scary.
   The idea that the Creator God requires obedience from His creation, and that He will one day call this creation to account, does not sit well with those who do not love Him. That the God of the Universe has made a way for all of His rebellious creation to be reconciled to Himself and that if one rejects this way then one will be judged does not sit well with the rebels. This reality of hell is so pressing and real that God sent His only begotten Son into the world to die so His creation could be reconciled to Himself. If hell wasn't real Jesus would not have had to die.
    The rebellious do not like to be called to account for their rebellion. Most cannot stand the idea that there is an Absolute Authority that they have to answer to. They fear their own more than they fear God. They fear much that is not God but Jesus said that the One to fear is the One Who can condemn to hell. Jesus walked and talked in the shadow of the reality of hell.
    Even many who do love Him cannot bring themselves to reconcile the concept of a loving and merciful God Who would, even Who could, send a sinner to an eternal punishment as heinous as that described by the Biblical writers. Some have gone so far as to deny the validity of Scripture in their efforts to erase the idea of eternal punishment for the sin of rejecting God. Some, conveniently just talk and reason away the whole idea of sin. Some even say God will just wipe out or annihilate those who don't meet their own esoteric standards.
   Hell is scary.
   If the Bible is true, and I believe the Bible, then hell is real. Its torments are real. Hell will never end and once you are there you cannot get out, forever. Indeed hell is so terrible a place that it would be far better to lose a hand or an eye or a foot than to go there(Mark 9:43-48). Jesus used this illustration to emphasis the reality of hell not to say that it’s your hands or eyes or feet that can put you in hell. Its your heart or your evil desires and your lust that cause you to sin (James1:13-15). The rejection of God and His Way and His commandments will put one in hell and once in that place always in that place.
   Everyone will die, (Unless you are alive at the return of Christ and get instantly translated to another life like Enoch (Heb 11:5) or Elijah (2Kings 2:11&12). This is described in 1 Cor 15:51 and 1 Thess 4:13-18). Everyone will be raised from the dead. Some to eternal life with God. Some to eternal death. It is given man once to die and then comes judgment. (Jesus describes that Day in the Gospel of John, chapter five, verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine). Those who have not believed on Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ of God and as their atoning sacrifice and Lord will rise to stand before Him as their judge without a covering for their sins. They will be judged by a righteous God, Who knows their very thoughts and they will have forsaken the one remedy for the defilement of their sins, the death of Jesus Christ and they will be found guilty. They shall be thrown into the Lake of Fire, hell. The book of Revelation calls this place the second death, eternal fire. No escape, ever.
     Hell is real and hell is scary.
    What should be our response to this reality? Should we be warning those who do not know God or His Way about the coming wrath and retribution of God? Should we not, with tears, be going from house to house to warn the rebellious, the backslidden and the arrogant? Should we not be seeking ways to win the lost to faith in Jesus Christ? How many do you know who are going uncaringly down the road to an eternal hell? How many die each day, even in our own cities, without the knowledge of God? Shamefully we would have to admit that there are many.
   We are the light of the world. Jesus said that in Matthew 5:14-16, and the world desperately needs our Holy Spirit generated light. The world of seven billion continues its course away from God and we are losing the race with time and eternity to bring this world to a knowledge of The Lord Jesus Christ and His Good News. Our own nation of three hundred million continues to throw off the yoke of a Christian-like culture and to reject the Christ in Whose Name and Law it was established and developed. We are the third largest (population wise) nation in the world. We are still and by far the richest. We have the most of everything that could be used to win others to Christ and to grow them into fruit bearing disciples of Jesus. We have the most Bibles, books, church buildings, Christian Schools, Bible Colleges and Seminaries and the most media dedicated to the Name of Jesus. We still are losing the battle for souls. More are leaving the faith than are joining it. There are many, at every hand, who have no knowledge of God and who are dying without hope. Dying to be in hell forever. I say this to our shame.
  Why don't we tell them? Why don't we do everything in our power and life situation to keep those we live among from the fires of hell? If we cannot tell them do we pray for them? Have we sown with tears and weeping? Psalm 126:5 & 6.
  Is it because we don't believe in the existence of hell or because we don't love our neighbors enough to warn them?

      Father wound us for the lost,
      For the rebellious, the
      backslidden, the arrogant,
      the lukewarm
      Move us to tell the Good News
      Fill us with the love of Jesus
      Your love for your creation
      Light the fire within us
      And let us burn

             In Christ....jason

It is our front—our face. The same basic shape underneath with unlimited variations. Just muscle on bone covered by skin. Some stationary openings and some movable. Noses and Lips of an amazing variety of shapes and colors and thicknesses and settings. The whole lit by eyes of many colors, shaded by brows and lashes, colored and shaped and affected by emotions controlled by hundreds of muscles. Extremely sensitive yet the most exposed portion of our bodies. Cut by creases vertical and horizontal and diagonal, some appearing only at certain times and with certain emotions and becoming more permanent with the years. Laugh lines and frown lines and sun squint lines and blemishes and moles and hair. Tanned, weathered, pale, ruddy and of many hues. All framed by ears and hair with one, two or more chins. Some we count beautiful, some pretty ugly, most somewhere in between. All of our considerations of beauty affected and molded by our culture, race, age, sex and a hundred other factors, most of which we cannot articulate. The wonders of the human face.