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(2015)
Week 53
Item 1: World suffers increased violence during past year
Consider:
1. Our government’s passivity to evil has once again been shown not to be the solution to violence – no more than attempting to “play nice” with an aggressive, angry snake, lion, bear, or dog.
2. Jesus’ instruction to “love your enemies” is not to governments. (It is the role of government to defeat, and sometimes destroy, nations and groups that are committed to its destruction.)
3. Jesus’ instruction to “love your enemies”
- is to members of the Body of Christ,
- begins with
- making redemptive choices for our own lives that support us for
- caring about, discovering, and investing in the unmet redemptive needs of broken, adverse people, and
- trusting God and government to deal with those who reject our investment,
- does not mean to make ourselves vulnerable to murderers, thieves, and rapists, and
- may include bearing arms to protect ourselves and family.
Item 2: Support grows to include Sharia (Islamic Religious) Law
Consider:
- As
- As members of the Body of Christ, we are governed by The Scripture.
- Providentially, our U.S. Constitution is based upon God’s Law of Love.
- Members of the Body of Christ are committed to obey government laws unless they impose upon us choices that disregard our redemptive values (break our health or the health of others, for example).
Item 3: GracePoint begins 15th calendar year (2002-2016)
Consider:
GracePoint can recommend professionals who specialize to help with fitness support, financial guidance, and other counseling needs. But, sadly, we know of no other ministry to recommend that
- supports
- understanding the doctrine of salvation (justification and sanctification) from the grace perspective,
- learning how to hear and experience Christ to a fuller measure each day during quiet-time worship,
- serves without accepting payment or expecting donations from counselees, and
- has moral authority for ministry – that is, its leaders have a living commitment to the concepts they teach demonstrated by health and happiness - personally, financially, and in the home, church, and community.
Week 52
Item 1: Men’s group wants complaining wives to “get over it”
Consider:
- Children, wives, church members, and employees who have been failed by the resources (in the home, church, and workplace) to which they are
connected are victims of dysfunctional leadership. - Dysfunctional leaders, typically, do not take ownership of their failure, but expect those God calls them to serve to stop complaining and to just “get over” their brokenness and unmet need (for a support vine which God ordained in his Redemptive Plan for them to have).
- Victims, as well as their dysfunctional leaders, are invited by Christ to find recovery in him (Matthew 11:28-30) – through the new birth and also daily quiet-time worship.
- It is this relationship to Christ that GracePoint counseling helps support.
Related: University president rebukes 'self-absorbed, narcissistic' students
Consider:
God’s Support Plan is for
- school leadership to
- meet the support needs of those they serve,
- confess their failure,
- seek personal renewal,
- begin investing to meet the unmet needs of broken students, and
- not tolerate, but discipline, misbehavior/disrespect; and
- students to
- confess brokenness and unmet support needs,
- seek renewal, and
- connect to renewed leadership for support
Item 2: French Rivera hotel cannot be bought: Billionaire’s blank check refused (PBS documentary)
Consider:
- Eternal Life cannot be bought but is free to all who receive/trust Christ.
- Heaven on Earth (health and happiness) cannot be bought, but is offered freely to all who open the door of their hearts to receive God’s Provisions of Grace which flow to us through Christ.
Item 3: Politicians misuse Bible verses to support opening door to immigrants
Consider:
- God opens the door of his Resources (supporting health and happiness and eternal life) to all mankind and calls everyone to enter, but their entering in is through a narrow gate – that is, it is not unconditional but conditional, based upon relationship to/fellowship with Christ.
- Following the above as a model for government, a nation invites immigrants to enter through a narrow door of commitment to its Constitution.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15L26
Week 51
Item 1: Schools in three states mandate students to read and write Islam conversion statement as more government schools censor Christian themes
Consider:
- Attempts to eliminate Christ from government schools will matter only when the Body of Christ is anemic so that Christ is not experienced in the Church and home.
- The public’s rejection of Christian faith is rooted in their negative reaction (turn off) to the wildfire, charismatic, performance-based, name it-claim it, Christian tv representation of Christianity.
Item 2: Church promotes Christmas as the season to “give back”
Consider:
Christmas is our opportunity to celebrate God’s Provision of Christ. We do this by giving
- forward (God gave/gives to us; we do not give to him – although some have given/sacrificed even their lives to organized religions or false gods),
- out of (enabled by) the strength his Provisions give us (God gives according to/out of his glorious riches in Heaven [Philippians 4:19]; and so do we [2 Corinthians 9:8]),
- redemptive gifts - that meet healing/recovery needs instead of carnal/addiction needs (God gave to save us from judgment and brokenness),
- to those he has called us to serve, beginning with our families.
It is not giving back
- to God (he doesn’t need anything) or
- to our resources (God is always faithful to support his appointed resources: We do not support the well; it supports us).
Related: Church message to parents: “Tell children gifts are from Jesus”
Consider:
- Jesus came into the world/lived and died to meet redemptive (health) needs, not feel-good needs.
- Fun, educational toys can be redemptive (support health).
- Typical “Santa Claus” gifts that feed greed and addiction needs are not redemptive, so are not from Jesus.
Item 3: Relocating to Mars: Wealthy group plans to escape danger on Earth.
Consider:
- Several decades ago urbanites began fleeing to suburbia to escape darkness. But darkness followed because it was in their hearts.
- Evil loves darkness; retreats from the Light to live in darkness.
- Christian missionaries advance into the darkness to shine/reflect God’s Light (the meaning of the expression “to glorify God”).
- Darkness (evil) cannot prevail against, diminish, or destroy the Light of Christ, but can only add its darkness to existing darkness.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15L19
Week 50
Item 1: Hillary: “Love and kindness will root out evil and violence”
Consider:
- The world’s “love and kindness” is compromise, and not the same as God’s Love (Agape)
- God’s Love
- does not accommodate/tolerate evil,
- is expressed through his Provisions of Grace against which no evil can prevail – the same as darkness cannot prevail against light.
- invests in the redemptive (health) needs of broken people so that it
- wins adherence, and
- defeats opposing views at the ballot box.
- (Contrasted with evil which
- demands loyalty and service,
- whips non-compliance, and
- destroys the opposition with bloodshed).
Item 2: Trump’s Support Grows Despite Straight Talk
Consider:
- The Pendulum Effect: Part of the explanation for voters’ gravitation to Donald Trump’s straight talk is their reaction to the tiresome, polite speech of professional politicians and others – a reaction which is cyclical: itself, a reaction (beginning at least 20 years ago) to mean speech.
- Polite talk will return in time if straight talk becomes crude and is spoken to hurt or to be a hit rather than Truth spoken to help (promote healing).
Item 3: Police Chief Encourages Citizens to Bear Arms
Consider:
A Course of Action from a Grace Perspective for Christian Conservatives During Dangerous Times
- Make wise choices daily which establish us in personal health, beginning with Quiet Time to experience Christ. (Weighted value: 4)
- Manifest the Light of his Life into the world to help dispel the darkness (evil). (Weighted value: 3)
- Trust God to accomplish his Redemptive Plan through vessels he has chosen, prepared, and uses, and also protects – so that we are not afraid of dying or death. (Weighted value: 2)
- Arm to defend ourselves and family. (Weighted value: 1)
Item 4: Recent Poll: Liberals in media outnumber conservatives 4 to 1
Consider:
- The ratio of liberals versus conservatives today has changed from 30 years ago when 99% of reporters were liberals and the rest were communists (old joke).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15L12
Week 49
Item1: The Nation’s thoughts and prayers are with San Bernardino
Consider:
- Our thoughts and tears are for the
- we do not
- pray for the dead (that opportunity is over) or
- ask God to intervene miraculously to comfort the hurting or reverse the injuries they suffer (although we would delight for him to do that); rather,
- we take time to give ourselves more fully to Christ during our quiet-time worship in order to
- manifest more brilliantly his Light into the world against which terrorism cannot prevail and
- be competent as a vessel should God choose to use us to provide personal ministry to those who are suffering (per James 5:14).
Item 2: A Bewildered Nation Asks: “What would possess a person to do this?”
Consider:
- Broken behavior is rooted in darkness (broken minds, emotions, and bodies).
- Evil (Satan) works in the world through the brokenness. (“Darkness entered the world through one man [Adam] and death entered through darkness and came upon all men because all men are in darkness.” – Romans 5:12 GIP)
Item 3: A Bewildered Nation Asks: “What needs to be fixed?”
Consider:
- The solution to terrorism is not
- more laws to restrict gun ownership (so that only criminals have guns) and create more gun-free zones,
- religious prayer for God to protect us, or even
- Christians “getting right with God” - confessing “sins” to God/being sorry for “sins” (the religious understanding of “repentance”).
- “What needs to be fixed”
- begins with the Body of Christ (the Church) to be renewed in its experience of the Light/Life of Christ through extended quiet time worship,
- followed by our government returning to the conservative values set forth in our U.S. Constitution.
Item 4: Choir Response to San Bernardino
Consider:
- Peace is the not the absence of tension, but the presence of harmony (with ourselves, others, and God);
- The song lyrics stop short of saying it, but Christ is God’s Provision for peace in our hearts and on earth.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15L05
Week 48
Item 1: Indianapolis Pastor Forgives Pregnant Wife’s Murderer
Consider:
- The word “forgiveness” means removal: It is
- the removal by offended individuals (enabled by Christ) of retaliation against offenders for the offenses against them; also,
- the removal by offended individuals (through Christ-enabled ministry) of the offender’s brokenness at the root of the offense.
- God calls and enables individuals to forgive offenders.
- God calls governments (but not individuals, including the pastor) to execute punishment / judgment against offenders.
Item 2: Christian tv network calls the Body of Christ to “Pray for America
CBN is calling Christians to join together in a mass effort to persuade God to revive America .
Consider:
- Every member of the Body of Christ can pray (in the sense of pleading) non-stop until the end of the Age for God’s intervention to reverse the downward moral direction of America, but it will not result in God doing anything he is not and has not already been doing since immediately after the Fall of Adam and Eve.
- BUT every member of the Body of Christ CAN begin taking time each day to open the door of their hearts (worship) to RECEIVE the Light of God’s Life which flows into our lives through our experience of Christ for us to manifest into a dark world and against which darkness cannot prevail.
Related: The weight of one prayer is multiplied on holy days according to one world religion
Consider:
- Prayer understood in this way is silliness – the same as the Pray for
Item 3: College Campuses create “safe space” for minority students
Consider:
- The role of resources (leadership) is to provide for the safety of those they serve;
- Safety is more than just the removal of adversity but investing for strength.
Item 4: Thanksgiving/Black Friday Sales: U.S.
The first two days of the holiday sales period have netted $4.45 billion in U.S. online purchases according to Adobe which has been tracking some 4,500 sites, including 80% of the top 100 retailers.
Consider:
- Gift given at Christmas celebrates God’s gift of Christ when the gifts are redemptive – that is, they support health.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15K28
Week 47
Item 1: Bibles removed from public schools
Consider:
- The first schools in
- It is the role of the home and Church to teach the Bible;
- It is not the role of government to teach religion; and
- Support for trusting and experiencing Christ went missing from the home and Church before the Bible was removed from government schools.
Item 2: Senator Marco Rubio: “There's a lack of urgency and people are angry.”
Consider:
- Bigger and more aggressive government is not the solution to meeting the needs of angry/hurting people;
- Urgency is a disposition of religious performance; and
- God’s Plan for meeting the needs of hurting people is for the Body of Christ to take time each day to experience Christ in order to manifest his Light into a dark world.
Item 3: Humility, civility: Jeb’s campaign strategy
Consider:
- The Holy Spirit infuses Truth with innate power to transform minds so that it does not need to be spoken loud or softly in order to be effectual but can be spoken naturally and kindly with compassion (Ephesians 4:15).
- Man’s natural and religious mind is easily deceived by misinformation.
Related: Pound on Liberal Opponents: A Popular Conservative Debate Strategy
Consider:
- On a Gunsmoke rerun, a band of outlaws wearing stolen army uniforms planned to take over a small town by riding hard into town and talking loud. That seems to be a leading strategy for debating political opinions – to assume a position of superiority and dominance over the opponent, to talk over, disrespect, and beat down (intimidate) the opposition, rather than to be considerate and kind. In whatever ways that strategy may be appropriate or successful, it should not be without appreciation for the unique work which the Holy Spirit is willing and able to do through a born again, Christ-filled Christian. While aggression toward a hard-core, closed-minded liberal may eventually be necessary (God does that, you know), we don’t lead with that strategy. God’s love always precedes his judgment.
- “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: therefore, be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” – Matthew 10:16
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15K21
Week 46
Item 1: Paris shaken by deadly terrorist attack
Consider:
- Abuse in the home, riots/violence/shootings/killings on school campuses and in the community, and terrorism in the world are all rooted in the same darkness.
- Christ came into the world to dispel the darkness (John 1:4-5), beginning with the darkness in man’s heart –
- “that they may have Life” (John 10:10), but
- “they received him not” (John 1:11)/“will not come” (5:40).
- In the last days of the Church Age (before the Rapture of the Church), “perilous (dangerous) times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1).
- Born again people, filled with/walking in God’s Light are the safest people on earth (Psalms 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 46, 56, 57, 58, 59, 91, 124, 125, 129).
Item 2: Local church schedules day to give up personal guns
Consider:
- Friday, November 13, 2015: Terrorists murder concert goers in a
- Saturday, November 14, 2015:
Item 3: University Administrations Yielding to the Demands of Angry Youth
Consider:
- The anger of young people is rooted in the pain of their unmet support need for information, affection, and decision making, and especially to experience Christ.
- Attempts to superficially appease the demands (ease the pain) and soothe the hurt feelings of angry people will only increase their anger and disrespect.
- Christ-enabled ministry to meet the unmet redemption (healing) needs of hurting people will bring solution to their anger and to the brokenness at its root.
Item 4: Ted Cruz gets Heritage Foundation “endorsement”
In its first ever presidential policy scorecard, Heritage Action (political arm of the Heritage Foundation and the most respected think tank in the conservative movement) writes “Senator Cruz has a firm commitment to the principles of limited government. He stands out for his willingness to fight for those principles, even when the battle is uphill. He is a true patriot.”
Consider:
- Overreaching federal government polices and programs do not protect but erode our personal, God-given, Constitution-protected freedoms – making us its bond servants.
Item 5: Church Leaders Say the Weight of More Christians Praying Will Move God to “Bless our Nation”
Consider:
- God is right now faithfully, freely, and fully providing through
- Creation,
- grace leadership in the home and Church, and
- especially Christ (his Blood and Resurrected Life)
for every need of every person, organization, and nation.
- One person or every person on earth asking God (in the sense of making a formal request) to heal or save a nation will not move him to do anything he is not already doing.
- The Bible word “prayer” means “a place of exchange” where we give up our performance-based efforts to please God and open our hearts to receive his Provisions of Grace, especially Christ, to enable us for making wise choices which establish us and our nation in health.
Just to be clear: God’s Redemptive Plan for a Christian nation to deal with evil is for
1. its leaders to understand the source of evil and the brokenness at the root of evil behavior (darkness),
2. the Body of Christ (the Church) to experience and manifest God’s Light into a dark world,
3. (but when entrances for the Light are closed/the Light rejected so that it cannot enter, for) government to remove the evil (relentlessly bomb the hell out of evil wherever it exists), and
3. (but when entrances for the Light are closed/the Light rejected so that it cannot enter, for) government to remove the evil (relentlessly bomb the hell out of evil wherever it exists), and
4. the Body of Christ (the Church) to continue to manifest God’s Light into a dark world.
Attempts to appease, get along with, get to know, or soothe the hurt feelings/anger of people filled with hatred and evil intent will succeed only to increase their anger and disrespect.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15K14
Week 45
Item 1: Presidential hopeful Ben Carson writes he turned his life around
Consider:
- Man can choose to turn his life around the same as he can choose to walk in a different direction.
- Changes we make to our own lives can have limited depth or endurance.
- Changes Christ makes in us through regeneration and sanctification are powerful and lasting.
Item 2:
Consider:
- For voters who are addicted to government welfare, a candidate’s honesty and trustworthiness may not matter.
Item 3: High School Athlete Points to Air after TD, Suspended
Consider:
- God is in Heaven, but births/imparts his Life into man’s spirit (the inmost chamber of our trichotomous being) when we trust Christ’s death on the cross for us.
- Normally, God does not intervene to enable scoring in athletic events, but enables us to make wise choices - both in the preparation for and performance of a sports event.
- More appropriately an athlete could point to his chest area or head to indicate the presence and power of Christ within him. (But that might be misinterpreted as praising self.)
- In this present Age, Satan is the “the ruler of the kingdom in the air” surrounding the earth (Ephesians 2:2).
- Satan has power to produce the paranormal outcomes we want. Pointing in the air might accurately note that.
Item 4: Cops say man killed for grabbing last piece of chicken (USA Today)
According to police, two men were eating and drinking in an apartment when one of the men took the last piece of chicken making the other man angry. Eventually both men went outside to have a fist fight. During the fight, police say the offended man took out a knife and fatally stabbed the offender.
Consider:
- “The acts of the sinful nature are hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition… and the like” (Galatians 5:19-21).
- The heart of Christ renewed in us during quiet-time worship produces “longsuffering, gentleness, and goodness” in us toward others (5:22-23) and dispels the evil in our hearts.
Item 5: Recent Study Reports Your Cat May Want to Kill You (
Researchers say domestic house cats have a similar personality to African lions with high inclinations toward dominance, impulsiveness, and neuroticism – that some, if they could, would kill their owners, but do not only because they are too small.
Consider:
- Animal nature is broken the same as human nature. Since animals cannot be born again and filled with the fruits of the Spirit, a lot can go wrong in a broken world that can make them dangerous.
- Pets do not love their owners as they sometimes seem, but show affection mostly
- because of fear, and
- in order to keep the treats coming (Performance-driven Christians do this towards God, you know!).
Item 6: Questions Raised Why the Tv/Movie Industry Supports Liberal Politics
Consider:
- The entertainment (tv/movie) industry tends to support the politics of those who buy their products.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15K07
Week 44
Item 1: Presidential hopeful Trump takes on opponents, calls
Consider:
- Whatever benefit tough talking by candidates may accomplish with voters, the Holy Spirit does not enable it for ministry.
- Jesus said much and said it effectually, but he had no need to out talk or talk over anyone, win a verbal exchange, or be cute or funny (as we broken humans may tend to do sometimes). He was strong but quiet and mild, like a tender plant (Isaiah 53:2).
- Strength doesn’t assert itself.
Item 2: Conservatives call out CNBC moderators for attacks on candidates
Consider:
- Attacks can
- expose to voters the political bias of the attackers or
- be an opportunity for quality candidates to give good answers.
- Either way, attacks can be a win for conservatives.
Item 3:
Consider:
- Unsupported children are hurting and angry.
- Hurting, angry law enforcement officers add to the problem.
- Threats, intimidation, and physical force may intensify anger, resentment, and resistance.
- Clearing the classroom and taking time out to provide one-on-one support to a hurting child is a better solution.
- The heart of Christ in us enables us to respond to the pain of unmet needs rather than to react to misbehavior.
Item 4: International Day of Prayer Held for Persecuted Christians
Consider:
- Prayer in the sense of asking (making a request for) God to protect/deliver persecuted Christians worldwide is a religious performance and will accomplish no good.
- The great need in the world is for the Body of Christ to learn how to experience and manifest the Life/Light of Christ to a fuller measure each day in order to dispel the darkness in which persecution thrives.
Item 5: Walmart, Walgreens, Target, and GNC accused of selling supplements filled with cheap fillers
Consider:
- Companies need to make a profit in order to provide products and services, stay in business, and hire workers.
- When profits drive business more than a commitment to meet the needs of the community, products and services are at risk to be compromised.
- Testing by a single source with a bias against nutritional supplements is not always to be trusted.
- A merchant who experiences Christ daily for renewal during quiet-time worship will provide better quality products and services than the most honest merchant who has no experience of Christ (and certainly better than a dishonest merchant).
- A secular or pseudo-ministry nonprofit that provides products and services without charge will provide the worst products and services.
- A nonprofit led by leaders who experience Christ daily for renewal will provide the best quality products and services.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15J31
Week 43
Item 1: Liberal Media give pass to Benghazi Hearings, Justice Department IRS Ruling
Consider:
- Without a spiritual renewal (experience of Christ) in the Church, the liberal media and movie/tv industry and voters’ emotional, sensual, and addiction needs will continue to support socialist policies at the ballot box.
Item 2: Aggression against Israel escalates (Fox News)
Consider:
1. Wars are either
- driven by the religious/political ideologies of nations and groups who hate
o liberty (with which they cannot coexist),
o nations who embrace religious and political freedom, and
o the God of the Bible who sets men free, or
- the military response of nations forced to protect themselves against the hate-filled aggression of enemies who seek to control or destroy them.
3. Satan is the father of hatred. When he is removed from the earth at the Second Coming of Christ, righteousness and peace will cover the earth, beginning with the Millennial (thousand years) Reign of Christ and extending into eternity in Heaven.
Item 3: Detroit pastor shoots, kills hammer-wielding church intruder (FoxNews.com)
Police say a pistol-packing pastor shot and killed a man who attacked him and threatened several members of the church with a brick and hammer, FOX2 reported. Assistant Detroit Police Chief Steve Dolunt said the man “walked into the service and went after the pastor with a brick. The pastor pulled out his Glock and fired several shots. I think he hit him four or five times, and the man died. We’re not sure at this point whether the man had mental problems or what. It’s still under investigation.”
Consider:
- God protects the vessels he prepares and uses to communicate the message of grace “in all its Truth.”
- Performance preaching pastors may be at risk, so do well to pack a pistol.
- A brick and a hammer is not a gun. A baseball bat might have been a more appropriate defense.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15J24
Week 42
Item 1: NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton promotes new book
Consider:
1. Tarkenton’s “The Power of Failure” makes valid points, especially to
o embrace and learn from failure/losing,
o admit what we can’t do, and
o stay within ourselves (our strengths).
2. The book, however, contradicts the grace message in Scripture when it states
o balancing work and life is a myth,
o we should cultivate an attitude of urgency and desperation, and
o we should be willing to fail fast and often.
3. God has made Provisions of Grace, especially of Christ, to support us for making wise choices which establish us in health and happiness.
4. God accomplishes his redemptive purpose on earth in his own timing through vessels he prepares and enables.
5. Failure often is, but does not need to be the door to success. The Scriptural path to success is for us to take time each day to include God’s Provisions of Grace into our lives.
6. Success is supported by functional homes and churches.
Item 2: Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson says he would have led a charge against the Oregon college shooter (NYPost)
Consider:
1. Whatever measures we should take to confront danger is valid only if our lives and/or the lives of those we are responsible for are at risk.
2. Putting our lives at risk and robbing our wives and children of the husband and father they need in an attempt to protect strangers from danger and in order to feel good as a hero is foolish.
Related: Drive-by stranger rushes into burning house to save dog
Consider:
- Putting our lives at risk and robbing our wives and children of the husband and father they need in an attempt to save a stranger’s dog from danger, for the love of animals, and in order to feel good as a hero is values deficient.
Item 3: Parents and church members charged in beating death of teen (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS )
New Hartford (NY) police investigating the brutal assault of two teenage boys that left one dead and the other seriously injured say the boys were held down and beaten “in the name of God” with a cord during a 14 hour church counseling session.
Consider:
- Holy Spirit-enabled parenting does not pound on broken behavior but ministers to the unmet needs and brokenness at the root of the behavior.
- Demons enter the minds and emotions of parents who hit, slap, or beat their children.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15J17
Week 41
Item 1: Wyoming high school cancels “America Day” citing need to be inclusive and safe
Consider:
- The evil in man’s sinful nature is not appeased by kindness.
- Attempting to accommodate the non-redemptive desires of broken people in order to appease the evil in their sinful nature will have a disappointing outcome. Rather than increase their love and respect for our efforts, it will result in their disdain, making us less safe, not more safe.
- Grace invests to support the redemptive (healing/health) needs of every person, the same as Light serves to support life, but dispels (does not make room for) darkness (addictions, superficial pain relief needs).
Item 2: Well known tv minister schedules national rally “to glorify God”
Consider:
- If the minister’s understanding of “to glorify God” is to tell him how great he is with the hope of gaining his blessings on America, he misses understanding that God does not need for us to tell him how great he is; nor is it a condition for being “blessed” (in the sense of rewarded) by him.
- To glorify God means to manifest/reflect into a dark world the Light and Likeness of Christ which is produced in us during our quiet-time worship.
- God’s blessings are
- the good outcomes we experience,
- according to the law of sowing and reaping,
- the result of receiving his provisions of Grace,
- flowing into our lives through our connection to his resources in Creation, Community, and especially Christ.
Item 3: Confiscating all guns, increasing gun-free zones offered by liberal politicians as solution to shootings.
Consider:
- Removing all guns would be impossible.
- Criminals would possess the guns available.
- Gun free zones do not deter criminals but invite them.
- Evil will not disarm because good people agree to disarm.
Item 4: Presidential candidate, Ohio ’s Governor John Kasich: Feeding the poor consequential for entering Heaven, doing God’s work on earth
“When you die … St. Peter is going to ask you what you did for the poor. Better have a good answer” (partial quote).
Consider:
- The basis for anyone going to Heaven is trust in the Blood of Christ as the only payment God will accept to satisfy his judgment against us because of Adam’s disobedience (Romans 5:6-19), not by any good works we perform.
- God’s work on earth is to meet the redemptive (healing/health) needs of every person, including training and support for finding employment in order to feed themselves and their families – which is not the same as meeting their addiction/laziness needs (the result of unwise choices).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15J10
Week 40
Item 1: America seeks answers to shooting in Oregon
Consider:
- Anger, hate, and murder are rooted in
- the pain of unmet needs,
- cultural, ideological, and religious influences,
- evil (demonic) activity occupying the darkness (in the world and in man’s hearts), filling the void (absence of Light), motivating hateful, murderous behavior.
- The Solution (in descending order):
- The Light (Glory) of God manifesting in and through the Body of Christ (the Church) into the world
- calling the unsaved to Christ and
- dispelling the darkness in the world’s culture;
- remove gun carrying restrictions in public places so that good people without guns are not easy targets for bad people with guns, (WITH THIS WARNING: Freedom for citizens to bear arms will not work in a dark, godless, Christless culture – not even in a religious culture); and
- stop publicizing the pictures and names of murderers.
- The Non-Solutions:
- more gun control laws;
- gun-free zones;
- the activist church (focus on political solutions to problems in the community);
- the entertainment church (focus on fun, food, and fellowship in order to increase attendance, volunteerism, and funding);
- the performance church (focus on helping the hungry and homeless).
Related: President: “Shootings will not stop until politicians change.”
Consider:
- Shootings will not stop until members of the Body of Christ (the Church) are changed by the experience/flow of Christ’s Light/Life into their hearts daily in increasing measure. Evil in the world and in man’s hearts thrives in the darkness.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15J03
Week 39
Item 1: Millions seek blessings from Pope
Consider:
- God’s Blessings (“grace provisions to recover us from brokenness”) flow faithfully, freely, and fully to each one of us through our connection to his Resources in Creation, Community (the home and Church), and especially Christ (his Blood/death and Resurrected Life).
- No person, preacher, or pope has power to pronounce “blessings” on anyone.
- The “god of this age” (Satan, the ruler of the darkness - Ephesians 6:12) has power to perform miracles through instruments he uses for his purposes.
Item 2: Baseball great Yogi Berra dies at 90.
It was Yogi who said
- “It’s not over until it’s over!”
- "You can observe a lot by just watching."
- “You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.”
- “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
- “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”
- “No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.”
- “I never said most of the things I said.”
- “A lot of guys go, ‘Hey, Yog, say a Yogi-ism.’ I tell ’em, ‘I don’t know any.’ They want me to make one up. I don’t make ’em up. I don’t even know when I say it. They’re the truth. And it is the truth. I don’t know.”
Consider:
- Yogi was my kind of thinker. In his honor, I made up a yogi-ism: “Yogi lived just long enough to die.”
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15I26
Week 38
Item 1: GracePoint Church in Tennessee (no connection or association with our ministry) welcomes gays and lesbians into the membership of their church.
The pastor states his heart is right and hopes his head is.
Consider:
- The public worship and teaching services of every evangelical church should welcome gays and lesbians.
- God’s Redemptive Plan for the home, Church, and community should be faithfully taught in every service and program of the church.
- Grace is God’s Provisions flowing
- from the spirit within born again believers (the Bride of Christ),
- upward through the Vine (parents, husband, and pastor), who is in a foundation position beneath us (1 Corinthians 3:11), to support our healing.
- The woman is the glory (reflects the support) of her husband (1 Corinthians 11:7).
- Membership in the church should be open to every born again, baptized person who embraces the doctrines/teachings of the church.
- Positions of leadership in the church are to be chosen from its membership.
Consider also:
- The heart of man is his soul - the mind, emotions, and will.
- Man’s heart can only be right when his mind (knowledge and understanding) is right.
- Man’s mind can be right only when his theology is right.
Item 2: President: “Anti-immigrant sentiment is contrary to who America is.”
Consider:
- Neglecting personal health needs and the needs of family members to serve others is contrary to the Scripture.
- It is not the role of our government to feed the world but to protect our Constitutional freedoms.
Item 3: Church planters rethink the “come as you are” trend of mega churches
Consider:
- Relaxing dress requirements in public schools has not been without consequences.
- “Come as you are” (dressing down) disrespects teachers, physicians, courtroom officers, parents/grandparents, leaders of the Body of Christ, and self.
- A bride and groom make a statement about their understanding of God’s purpose for the home by their attire at the wedding/marriage covenant ceremony.
- A pastor in suit and tie represents the eloquence of Heaven and honors his calling and position.
Item 4: Trump critiques Fiorina’s face
- Name calling can be harmless, even endearing banter among friends for fun or entertainment, or it can be bullying and unacceptable and rooted in personal insecurity.
- Health doesn’t overlook brokenness in others but always first recognizes and appreciates the good.
- Personal attacks are always painful (even to those who insist “it doesn’t bother” them), but we have the heart of Christ to support us so that we are not set back or destroyed.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15I19
Week 37
Item 1: University of Texas
Consider:
- Symbols which represent the evil of slavery are offensive and should be removed.
- The Civil War was primarily about state rights (essential to political freedom).
- The greatest need of anyone who is angry because they have been wronged (in the home, church, or community) is the healing of their hearts.
- The healing of broken hearts (redemption) is the primary work God does through the Church/the Body of Christ.
- Attempts to accommodate the superficial pain relief needs of wronged and angry people will not help long-term. The seed of brokenness remains, and the weed of resentment and anger will grow back. The result will not be the gratitude hoped for, but ever increasing disrespect.
Item 2: Conservative voters have an excellent slate of candidates to choose from in next year’s primary elections - including Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Carly Fiorina, Donald Trump, and others.
Consider:
- A conservative government will
- reflect the leadership of Christ during the coming Millennial Reign,
- extend our God-given and Constitutional rights and freedoms.
- Heroic efforts of the Church to superficially relieve pain in a dark world will not help long-term. That’s because superficially feeling better in the darkness does not diminish the darkness,
- Darkness is (and can only exist in) the absence of Light,
- Godliness in government can only exist in the Light.
Item 3: Cost of college education increases
Consider:
- The expense of a college degree often puts young people in financial bondage/slavery – especially to government programs and their political agendas.
- Parents do well to support children to work and learn a trade that meets redemptive needs. See Matthew 6:33.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15I12
Week 36
Item 1: Nebraska school district urges teachers to be more inclusive, stop referring to “boys and girls”
Consider:
- Gender is not a choice. God created Adam and Eve “male and female” (Genesis 1:27).
Item 2: Alaska ’s Mount McKinley , tallest mountain in America , renamed Denali by order of the President
Consider:
Item 3: Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, jailed for refusal to issue same sex marriage license
Consider:
- The U.S. Constitution is based in Scripture.
- Christians should obey the laws of the land when obedience does not conflict with the teaching of Scripture/law of God (Acts 5:29).
- Government employees are hired and paid to execute the will of the government; when they cannot comply in good conscience, they should resign to find something else to do or be prepared to be fired or jailed.
Item 4: Christians excited Tim Tebow likely to make Eagles’ roster, see a good man being “rewarded” for his faith
Consider:
- Tebow’s work ethics and integrity is good for sports, but his performance-based understanding of Scripture undermines the message of grace;
- God does not “reward” faith (when defined as positive thinking);
- Redemptive outcomes are not the result of “prayer” or positive thinking, but the result of making right choices enabled by the mind of Christ (Wisdom) appropriated into our hearts through faith (conviction of Truth) leading to worship and supporting us to experience Christ.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15I05
Week 35
Item 1: Angry gunman kills reporter and cameraman, wounds civic leader on live tv.
Consider:
- Anger is rooted in the brokenness of unmet inborn support needs - for
- information (for learning how the world works, but including also how to deal with personal brokenness and pain), affection, and decision-making (psychological), and
- knowing/experiencing God (as Creator and Heavenly Father) (spiritual).
- Hatred, racism, and violence can only exist in spiritual darkness.
- God calls the Church to manifest the Light of Christ into the world (the Scriptural meaning of “to glorify God”) in order to dissipate the darkness.
- Satan enters into human minds in the darkness/through brokenness to produce hate and influence violence.
- God calls the Church (the Body of Christ) to forgive (withhold punishment and minister to the brokenness) (Ephesians 4:32),
- It is the role of law enforcement and the courts to bring criminals to justice (Romans 13).
Item 2: Kansas public school removes image of Jesus after group complains (FoxNews.com)
A Kansas public school has removed the print of Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ” that had hung in a hallway for decades following a complaint from the national Freedom From Religion Foundation.
“Oh man, it’s getting bad,” said a former student. “That’s what’s wrong with this world. Not enough people have Christ in their lives.”
Consider:
- Public schools are
- It is not the Constitutional role of government schools to promote Christianity but to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, perhaps also history and geography, consistent with the values of the homes and churches in the community.
- Christ commissioned the Church, not the government, to evangelize the world (make/teach disciples).
- Church or home schooling is an option to parents.
- “That’s what's wrong with this world. Not enough people have Christ in their lives” (per former student’s quote above) is exactly right. The problem is not a secular government but broken homes and secular churches that “have a form of godliness but not an abiding experience of Christ” - 2 Timothy 3:5).
Item 3: Producers of Facing the Giants, Fireproof, and Courageous set to release War Room.
Consider:
- The message of War Room and other movies produced by the Kendrick Brothers is performance-based and grievously undermines the message of grace. Viewers who embrace their message will not be supported for healing (of their hearts and homes) but can expect to continue struggling with bondage, brokenness, and tension.
- God has made provisions to meet every redemptive need of every person. They flow into our lives, not through pleading/wrestling with him or fighting with Satan in a prayer closet ("war room"), but by us taking time each day to connect to his resources in creation (soil and atmosphere), community (the home and church), and especially Christ (during quiet-time worship).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15H29
Week 34
Item 1: Hacked website outs millions of subscribers looking for adulterous relationships
Famous people are being outed by hackers of a website which offers spouses the opportunity to secretly commit adultery.
Consider:
- The act of adultery is rooted in a lustful heart (Matthew 5:28).
- The seed of lust and adultery is, by default of man’s sinful nature, in every person’s heart, including the most respected church and civic leaders.
- Christians can
- attempt to suppress the lust in their hearts or
- give in to it (openly or secretly) or
- find healing (sanctification/cleansing) of the mind and emotions through quiet-time worship to experience Christ to a fuller measure each day.
- This means, if your husband (even wife) does not have daily quiet time to read the Scripture in order to hear and experience Christ, you can expect that he struggles with adultery in his heart (whether he is in confession of it or not).
Related Item: Outed reality tv star and family values advocate Josh Duggar (19 Kids and Counting) confesses he is a porn user and subscriber to adultery website; parents shocked, wife says she is partly to blame
Consider:
- Duggar is the product of a failed family system, beginning with Adam and Eve, but including his parents. Sexual addiction is the result of the inappropriate sexual choices hurting people make (usually beginning during their youth) to deal with their unmet support needs (beginning with affection from mom to son and dad to daughter).
- Marriage (having a spouse) and church-going will not help long-term.
Item 2: Famous lesbian mom says runaway daughter suffers from mental illness
Consider:
- Famous lesbian’s runaway daughter suffers from her unmet need for a loving dad in her life – the same as fatherless daughters of straight moms.
Item 3: The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association launches “Jesus is the only hope for America !” campaign
Comment: The promo reads, “Click here if you believe Jesus is the only hope for America !” - seemingly asking for a “show of hands” for the purpose of polling. Instead, the link asks for a financial commitment to the work of the Billy Graham Association.
Consider:
- The BGEA effort is worthwhile. Those who have the ability should support it.
- However, agreeing that Jesus is the only hope for
“I do not concern myself with great matters or things too difficult for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother is my soul within me.” – Psalm 130:1-2
Edited from last week: Woman hit by dinner roll sues Missouri cafe
Customer Troy Tucker says she suffered injuries from a dinner roll tossed at her by a server at a restaurant known for lobbing dinner rolls to guests. (Fox 2 St. Louis )
Consider:
- Famous as the “Home of Throwed Rolls,” Lambert’s Café in the
Week 33
Item 1: Political Correctness activists add “Dixie ” as offensive word
Consider:
- Using words to hurt others is rooted in hatred.
- The pain of broken people (having unmet needs of the heart) has intensified in our society to an all-time high. Words which in times past were either celebrated or not given much thought are now offensive to their raw, hurting emotions.
Related Item: Woman hit by dinner roll sues Missouri cafe
Customer Troy Tucker says she suffered injuries from a dinner roll being tossed at her by a server at a restaurant known for lobbing dinner rolls to guests. (Fox 2 St. Louis )
Consider:
- Famous as the “Home of Throwed Rolls,” Lambert’s Café in the
Item 2: Polls: A large turnout of the conservative voters who stayed home in 2012 will be necessary for a conservative candidate to win the 2016 presidential election
Consider:
- According to some polls, the Democratic candidate for president will begin with 47% of the vote. This may reflect the percentage of voters whose moral code is based, not in information, integrity, or Scriptural principles, but feelings, financial gain, and lazy dependence on government welfare.
Item 3: Is gay marriages the new normal? (Fox News)
Consider:
- In time, as perversion becomes the new normal, Scripture-based behavior will increasing become the new abnormal. Jesus said, “At the end of this age, conviction of Truth will be hard to find” (the meaning of Luke 18:8).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15H15
Week 32
Item 1: GOP Presidential Debate Identifies Strong Conservatives
Consider:
Excitement about Donald Trump (Go Donald!) has left little media time and space for other GOP presidential candidates – until Thursday’s debate. What an amazing group of candidates, especially Ted Cruz - along with Scott Walker, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, and, of course, The Donald.
Item 2: Donald Trump insists "tone" does not matter during these dangerous times
Consider:
Trump is representing many who are tired of the politically correctness insanity that began years ago. But an extreme swing of the pendulum to unkindness and name calling won't help. The heart of Christ within us enables us to boldly, even passionately, speak the Truth in Love – without pride, anger, pettiness, or name calling.
Item 3: Death of Cecil sparks question “Will your pet go to Heaven?”
Consider:
One of the recent Popes said, "Paradise is open to all God's creatures." But if pets go to Heaven, how are they going to get there? Will they be resurrected along with the saints at the rapture? Also, are they members of the Body of Christ growing in grace? In Heaven will they receive glorified bodies so that they live forever? The notion that pets go to Heaven is silly.
Missed Item Week 31: Woman stopped for failure to signal lane change is arrested after conflict with Texas
Consider:
- When cops arrive on the scene, they are in control, but they serve best when they are skilled to defuse the fear and anger of hurting women.
Week 31
Item 1: World outraged over “murder” of Cecil the lion; Pro animal rights group calls for "murderer" to be charged and hanged
Consider:
- Licensed hunting and killing exotic animals for sport in
- The murder of unborn babies is infinitely more wicked: Humans are created in God’s image and are born again so that they have eternal life; animals are not.
Item 2: Obama: “If I ran again, I could win”
Consider:
More than “could,” President Obama “would likely” win reelection because
- of his socialistic programs which promote debilitating dependence on government welfare and also
- many Christian conservatives have lost confidence that opposing candidates would do differently, so do not vote -
even though he is pro abortion, supports gay marriages, and puts national security at risk.
Item 3: Woman stopped for failure to signal lane change is arrested after conflict with Texas cop; takes her life in jail cell
Consider:
- When cops arrive on the scene, they are in control, but they serve best when they are skilled to defuse the fear and anger of hurting women.
Item 4: Conservative Hillsdale College
The “Great Books” course introduces students to the writings of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Austen, and Twain with the following promo: “Reading
Consider:
- Reading even the “great” books for any amount of time that substitutes for or hinders taking time to read the Scripture, including the Psalms and Proverbs, but especially the words of Christ and the writings of Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John, is wasted in terms of eternal value.
Week 30
Item 1: Fox News: Do voters care about scandals?
Consider:
Polls reflecting negative opinions of politicians involved in scandals may not matter at election time. Broken people tend to vote for candidates who they believe will provide the most government relief for their addiction needs.
Item 2: Talk show millionaire reports he has not had less than a $100 bill in his possession in 20 years. Also, that he does not worry about his home utility bills. Critics say he is out of touch with average Americans.
Consider:
- Very wealthy people have more disposable money, so they can spend more and worry less about financial matters – and, hopefully, also give more. So, good for them.
- But the rest of us are penny-wise, live frugally (no cruises, expensive vacations, etc.) guided by a tight budget so that we can have funds to invest in our health needs and the redemptive needs of others.
Item 3: Recent mass shootings in South Carolina , Tennessee , Louisiana , and Oklahoma raise questions why God allows good people to suffer adversity.
Consider:
1. The promise God has given (Psalm 91; Romans 8:28; et al) to protect us against, or support us through, adverse/dangerous circumstances is specifically to those
- who are immersed into him by the Holy Spirit (in Christ/born again),
- in whom he has residence (in their spirits by the Holy Spirit) (Christ in us), and
- in whom he lives (in their hearts/souls) (filled with the Spirit, the Mind of Christ to guide and enable us to be where we need to be, when we need to be there, doing the redemptive work he has called us to do).
That promise does not extend to those (even “religious/good” people) who “follow the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient (disregard God’s provisions)” (Ephesians 2:2-3).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15G25
Week 29
Item 1: Report: Millennials have different values and perspectives than previous generations
Example cited in this report: Millennials are renters, tend to not want the responsibility (expense, maintenance) of home ownership.
Consider:
- More worrisome in each new generation than the above report is the decline in the conviction and understanding of Truth, and, especially, in the experience of Christ – that is, of his Life living operationally and organically in their hearts.
- Paul’s desire was for the Church to experience and manifest Christ “throughout all generations” (Ephesians 3:21).
- Jesus suggested that faith (conviction of Truth/experience of him) would not measurably exist at the end of the Church Age (Luke 18:8).
Item 2: City leaders call for prayer in wake of terrorist attack in Chattanooga .
Consider:
- The concept of prayer as calling on/pleading with God to intervene in our lives during times of adversity to help us in a way he has not already is a religious hoax.
Item 3: Congress to vote on president’s nuclear agreement with Iran
Consider:
- Satan is the master deceiver. Compromise with evil is never a win for good.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15G18
Week 28
Item 1:
Consider:
1. The removal of the Confederate flag will not result in increased happiness or reduced crime in South Carolina . That’s because, unhappiness and crime are not the result of the Confederate flag but of the brokenness in the hearts of people for which only God’s provisions of grace is the solution.
Item 2: Recent Gallup Poll: People have lost confidence in everything
Consider:
1. Liberal government programs make promises they have no power to keep because they miss providing solutions that heal man’s broken heart.
2. Merchants of products and services make promises of happiness and fulfillment which only inner healing can provide.
3. New friendships promise happiness, but broken people in a relationship can only use and hurt each other (codependence).
4. Only God (his provisions of grace, beginning with Christ) is certain and unfailing to heal our brokenness. No one who trusts in/remains connected to him will ever be disappointed.
Item 3: Church attendance continues to decline (Pew Research)
Consider:
1. People tend to attend church for the following reasons:
- The music
- To be with people
- To please God
- Expectation of family/others
- To learn what the Bible says
- Participation in service programs to help the hungry, homeless, etc.
- Feel-good ministry: To sing in the choir, teach a class, etc.
- Hear entertaining preaching/teaching
2. Each of these reasons, good as it may be, is secondary or superficial. In time, because of the tolerance/boredom factor, the excitement runs its course.
3. God’s primary purpose for the meeting of the Church is redemptive - to receive (and then give) support for experiencing him. Health never becomes boring.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15G11
Week 27
Item 1: Evangelicals have become largest Christian group (OneNewsNow.com)
A recent Pew Research study showed that 55 percent of all people who identify themselves as Christians in America identify themselves as evangelical Christians, making the evangelical community the largest segment of the Christian faith in America, surpassing Catholics and mainline Protestants as the most popular identification in American Christianity.
Consider:
- This might not be the good news we hope for. If the 55 percent are performance-based (going and giving in order to earn "blessings" from God) and not rooted in a conservative, grace theological perspective (coming and receiving God's provisions in order to be enabled for Christian life and service), they are not salt (Matthew 5:13) which purifies and preserves the culture but sugar which poisons and putrefies.
Item 2: Montana trio applies for wedding license (AP)
All 50 states currently outlaw holding multiple marriage licenses, but a Montana man said Wednesday he was inspired by last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage to apply for a marriage license so that he can legally wed his second wife and will sue if the application is denied. "You can't have marriage equality without polygamy," the man said.
Consider:
- The Scripture defines marriage as between one man and one woman. But if fallen, sinful man redefines marriage, where does it end: the door is open for
- same-sex marriages,
- multiple spouses/marriage licenses,
- parent-child marriages (google "father-daughter marriage")
- marriages to pets (google "woman marries pet")
Item 3: (Say it ain’t so!) Buckingham Palace
Consider:
1. All creation began to die (rot and rust) as a result of Adam’s transgression, so the need for renewal and repair became ongoing (Matthew 6:19-20; Romans 8:20-22).
2. However, God has provided Life (grace provisions) which does not diminish in power and cannot fail to support our recovery (redemption).
3. The Life of Christ which God imparts to our spirits (when we are born again) and to our hearts (during quiet-time worship) will never lose its power to heal and renew us in this life and throughout eternity.
4. The darkness of Hell in all the ways it can manifest cannot prevail against the work of grace God does in our hearts to renew us.
5. Nothing in Heaven will ever diminish but will be forever increasing in the likeness of God (which cannot be exhausted).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15G04
Week 26
Item 1: The Supreme Court rules health care/insurance and gay marriage are protected civil/human rights.
Consider:
1. The Supreme Court on these issues disregards the Scripture which was given by the Holy Spirit as a support to us for making the choices that result in health, including for nations.
2. Concerning matters of government, Christians, as the salt of the earth, can
- research to be informed,
- be active to provide or influence leadership, and especially
- take time each day to be renewed by Christ (his Life/Mind), and then,
- having been faithful to do so, trust that God will watch over, provide for, and support us through whatever circumstances we are subject to living in (but not of) a fallen world filled with broken people.
3. With respect to the health of a nation: More weighty (and sometimes grievous), by far, than decisions by the Supreme Court is the state of the Church, the Body of Christ, with its performance-based theology to win God’s favor, contemporary (wildfire) “praise and worship” concerts, feel-good “mission” programs to superficially relieve pain in the world, and social meetings/gatherings to meet codependent relationship needs.
4. God’s call/purpose for the Church is to win the lost to Christ and to support them for learning how to experience him for healing.
Related: Conservative denominations and leaders vow to obey God, oppose Supreme Court ruling to legalize gay marriages.
Consider:
1. Political action is not a substitute for renewal in the church.
2. Obedience to God begins with responding to his call to experience Christ (Ephesians 1:17; 3:16-19).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15F27
Week 25
Item 1: 9 killed in Charleston church shooting (WSOC-TV)
On Wednesday night, a white gunman opened fire during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston , S.C.
Consider:
Consider:
1. The massacre was an act of terror, targeting people for who/what they are.
2. Evil manifesting as racist hate is as alive in the world as Satan.
3. Marks of Evil are hate, murder and destruction, and cowardice (fleeing).
4. Evil cannot be appeased but must be rooted out and destroyed.
5. Wounded hearts are vulnerable to evil.
6. Broken people need investment of grace ministry for healing (not the same as social service to provide pain relief).
7. The Charleston gunman was failed by someone who was failed by someone who was failed by someone etc., who had the opportunity to invest for health.
8. Evil in the hearts of broken people is the immediate problem, not guns.
9. The availability of guns in a nation of hurting people and especially in a nation of people who have no faith (experience of Christ) is dangerous.
10. Gun-free zones make for easy targets.
11. The gunman reloaded several times. If one of the victims had a concealed carry gun or if armed security had been present (as in a growing number of churches), the gunman could have been stopped.
Item 2: Gunman's Uncle Would 'Push Button' Himself If Nephew Receives Death Penalty (Good Morning America )
Consider:
- Failing leadership in the home and church tend to condemn those they fail.
Item 3: “I FORGIVE YOU”: Church massacre victims' kin tell killer (FoxNews.com)
Consider:
- The heart of Christ within us calls/enables us to forgive (to withhold punishment from and to minister healing to) those who offend us or do us harm (Ephesians 4:32) (not the same as defending our lives and property).
- The role of government (law enforcement) is to punish evildoers (Romans 13:3-4).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15F20
Week 24
Item 1: Protests follow video of McKinney , Texas
Consider:
1. Deep at the root of the pool party incident is
A. Missed grace parenting/leadership in the home leaving children with
- unmet support needs,
- anger,
- disrespect for authority,
- and rebellion against rules.
B. On this day and occasion, Officer Eric Casebolt was ill prepared / overwhelmed to deal with the above.
2. Grace parenting/leadership provides lifetime support to meet the affection, information, and decision-making needs of children - giving increasing, age-specific priority/emphasis as follows:
Ages 0 - 12/18 months: affection
Ages 12/18 months - 24/36 months: decision-making
Ages 24/36 months - lifetime: information
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15F13
Week 23
In the News
Item 1: TLC cancels 19 Kids and Counting after report of son’s confession.
The reality show focused on the life of devout Independent Baptists, their values of faith, Scripture reading, purity, modest dress, homeschooling, limited access to entertainment, chaperoned dating “with a purpose,” and male hierarchy in the home and church. According to a police report posted online by In Touch Weekly, Josh Duggar, inappropriately touched four of his younger sisters and a babysitter back in 2002 and 2003 while they were asleep. In an interview with Fox News, the parents insisted they dealt with the matter appropriately, including getting the necessary professional support for Josh, then 14, and the family, and in the years since, have moved forward with their lives.
Consider:
- Christians should boldly live out their convictions but to do so in humility, taking care to confess (to God, themselves, their resource leaders, and those they are called to serve) that they
- are fallen, broken, and sinful by nature (which is not the same as either announcing it gratuitously or covering it up when found out), and
- have no hope of morality or purity except as they take time each day for Scripture reading, confession of need, and quiet-time worship (prayer) in order to be renewed by Christ.
- That’s because,
- the best of us are broken, our hearts are desperately wicked and
- the unsaved have no understanding or appreciation of the power of Christ to change lives, so are hostile to God, hateful to Christians, always ready it seems to discover, criticize, and celebrate our missteps and failures, and mock our confessions or testimony of healing - while at the same time applauding entertainment that has no redemptive value.
Item 2: Bruce Jenner says he has always been a woman, that transgendered Caitlyn is the new normal.
Related: All 8 Females Fail First Co-Ed Class at Army Ranger School
Consider:
- Bruce is a male – that is, unless a woman was the world’s greatest athlete at the 1976 Summer Olympics – which is not likely in light of the above Related Fox News report.
- TransJenner, according to Bible prophecy, will increasingly be the new normal for a fallen, broken world as we near the end of this age, but we who are in Christ (the Church/the Body of Christ) and in whom Christ lives have opportunity during our quiet-time worship to be renewed by the Life of Christ so that we can manifest/radiate his likeness/Light into a dark world (and also be the salt of the earth).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15F06
Week 22
In the News
Item 1: An Alabama student prays for God to fix a medical emergency during a high school graduation.
According to the Trussville Tribune, a medical emergency in the audience during a commencement service prompted one of the graduates to take to the podium and offer an extraordinary prayer: "We ask that whatever is going on that you will fix it. We know that you can make the way. . . You are a God who is a healer, the fixer Jesus."
Consider:
- God is indeed a fixer, and in emergencies he has power to intervene to accomplish his purpose. However, God provided for “fixes” immediately when Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden. This means, God’s plan for our well-being is for us to make wise choices that establish us in health. If we neglect/refuse to receive his provisions into our lives daily, we will suffer brokenness (Hebrews 2:3).
Item 2: According to research (reported by Fox News), the world spends the most money on food, shelter, medicine, clothing, and pets. The American Pet Product Association estimates that $60.59 billion will be spent on pets in the U.S. during 2015.
Consider:
- If this report is correct, the world spends more money on pets than education or evangelism.
Item 3: According to Gallup , Americans are fatter than ever before. Twenty-seven percent of the population is obese. That's an all-time high.
Related: The USDA wants Americans to remove chocolate and marshmallows from s’mores, suggesting we load up the graham crackers with strawberries and low-fat yogurt. Another government service says s'mores would be better if we replaced the chocolate with banana chunks and the graham crackers with angel food cake. (Fox News)
Consider:
- The government services are absolutely correct. But teaching about good health is the business of leadership in the home and church, not the government.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15E30
Week 21
In the News
Item 1: Bill O’Reilly (Fox News) states that the Holy Spirit inspired him to write “Killing Jesus.”
Consider:
While the book, and now movie, may be helpful to provide historical information about Jesus, our only certainty that the inspiration, information, and instructions we receive are from the Holy Spirit is what we receive from him through the Scripture during our quiet time.
Item 2: “OVER NOTHING”: Parking dispute may have touched off Texas
Authorities believe a fight over a parking space outside a Waco restaurant Sunday escalated into a shootout between motorcycle gangs that killed 9 people, injured 18, and resulted in 170 bikers being charged with organized crime.
Consider:
1. Anger, rooted in the pain of unmet support needs (inherent in every person - especially for information, affection, and decision-making), drives/fuels violence against self, peers, and authority.
2. Violent reaction to personal insults, conflicts, and disagreements, even a parking space issue, is often just a pretext for venting deep anger.
Item 3: The United Nations Calls for World’s Nations to Give Up Weapons (Headline)
Consider:
If evil did not exist in the world, if every person was like Christ (as it will be one day in eternity), then
- laws,
- the imposition of government into our lives, and
- armed forces/military,
would not be necessary.
That’s because
- Christ-like people are willing to
- sow righteousness and
- manifest light in the world, and
- live peacefully with others who have different views, but
- evil seeks to
- control people - information, thought, and behavior,
- destroy what it cannot control, and
- deceive, lie, and kill to accomplish world dominance.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15E23
Week 20
In the News
Item 1: Police officers throughout the nation say they fear a growing anti-cop sentiment driven by a handful of racially-charged incidents is making their jobs more dangerous, while the number of officers killed in the line of duty is rising sharply. (Fox News)
Consider:
1. Violence/hostility against cops is mostly driven by anger rooted in unmet human needs. Racial issues are often used as an excuse to vent anger.
Item 2: A Baltimore man, 61, was brutally attacked by approximately 50 students from a near-by school when he tried to break up a fight on top of his truck. (WBAL TV)
Related: A Baltimore business owner says the behavior of teens "has gotten out of hand. The kids walk on top of cars, kick dogs, let dogs out, throw trash, steal milk from school and throw it at houses, threaten neighbors with bodily harm." (WBAL TV)
Consider:
1. Anger, rooted in the pain of unmet support needs (inherent in every human especially for information, affection, and decision-making), drives/fuels violence against self, peers, and authority.
2. God’s Purpose/Plan calls for
- leadership in the Church and home to invest in the redemptive (healing) needs of hurting people and
- police and courts to enforce the law.
3. Private citizens have the Right to protect themselves, their families, and their property against immediate danger, but they put their lives at risk when they attempt (in anger or in order to be heroic) to break up fights, confront law breakers.
Item 3: The FBI investigates speed and actions of the 32-year-old engineer following a deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia .
Consider:
1. Speed kills. God’s plan to support our health begins with taking time to include his provisions in our lives.
2. Inexperienced leadership puts lives at risk. Youthful leadership can win military battles and ball games and build corporate empires, but health is supported by seasoned doctors, parents, and pastors (elders).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15E16
Week 19
In the News
Item 1: Brave Texas cop saves Free Speech group from terrorist attack.
Consider:
1. Americans lose if we are intimidated by terrorists to give up our Right to free speech.
2. Haters will look for reasons to attack and destroy; our fear and appeasement will not stop them but only incite them.
3. Nevertheless, God calls the Church to sow the message of the Gospel in all the world to every person and group. We are NOT called to mock or ridicule anyone, including people or groups who reject our message.
Item 2: Hillary Clinton tells a 2015 women’s summit that “Deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs, and structural biases have to be changed.”
Consider:
1. Proverbs 22:28 “Do not move the ancient landmarks which your fathers have set.”
The meaning of this instruction includes holding to the principles set by our fathers which have made our nation strong.
Item 3: President Obama calls for government to provide social solutions to national unrest.
Consider:
1. It is the role of government to
- protect our God-given/Constitutional rights and
- enforce laws.
2. It is the role of the church and home, not the government, to nurture/invest in our health needs.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15E09
Week 18
In the News
Item 1: Conservative talk show host, Glenn Beck, calls for pastors to attack “sin” (sinful behavior) in their preaching – and to do it without fear of offending.
Consider:
1. Judgment preaching (identifying and condemning wrong behavior) does not heal the brokenness in man’s heart (which is at the root of the wrong behavior).
2. The need from the church pulpit is support for learning how to
- read the Scripture in order to
- hear God in order to
- experience Christ in order to
- manifest his Light (likeness) in a dark world.
Item 2: Angry mob loots and destroys businesses to protest police action in Baltimore .
Consider:
1. “Be angry, but do not sin (disregard God’s law).”
2. Anger is a secondary emotion which can be expressed either lawfully (righteous anger) or lawlessly (sin):
- righteous anger is directed at failing circumstances - the result of brokenness (unmet support needs) and evil;
- sinful anger (sometimes manifesting in rioting and even terrorism) is directed at
- the presence of good,
- others who have, know, and do more (lawfully), and
- law enforcement, authority.
- The recent rioting and looting in
- Man’s sinful nature wants to live free from rules, including for health, and is angered by attempts to instruct or intervene.
- “The sinful nature is hostile to God’s law” (Romans 8:7).
Item 3: A mother pounds on her teenage son who is taking part in gang activity during the protest against police action in Baltimore .
Consider:
1. It is usually not a good idea for a parent to pound on a teenage child. Rules and rule enforcement without long-term parental care to invest in the health needs of children result in rebellion, sometimes turning deadly. In recent years, angry children have murdered their authoritarian parents who were enforcing rules. Last year in Bali, a Chicago mother ended up dead, stuffed in a suitcase.
2. In Baltimore , the difference may have been the mother had sufficiently won her son’s confidence that she loved him.
3. It is the primary role of the home (also the Church) to nurture; it is the role of government to enforce community laws and punish crime. In Baltimore , when law enforcement was instructed to “stand down,” they abandoned the mother’s need for government to perform their God ordained role in the community. So she took up the slack. Good for her. (One news headline read: “Forget the National Guard, Send In the Moms!)
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15E02
Week 17
In the News
Item 1: For the first time in US history, a judge has granted two chimpanzees, Hercules and Leo, a petition to defend their rights against unlawful imprisonment (at Stony Brook University on Long Island), arguably bestowing upon them the status of “legal persons.” Lawyers leading the effort argued to the court that chimpanzees are intelligent, emotionally complex, and self-aware enough to merit some basic human rights.
Consider:
1. “The righteous care for the needs of their animals” (Proverbs 12:10). But animals have not, at least in America , been afforded the rights of humans – because, for one reason, they do not bear legal responsibilities as humans do.
2. We can expect, as we near the end of this present age (the Age of Grace or Church Age preceding the Rapture) and as human life is increasingly devalued, that legal and cultural pressure demanding human rights for animals and pets will increase.
Item 2: On Monday, Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price exploded at the media for revealing information about one of his players. His five-minute rage included 77 occurrences of the F-word or its equivalent and 11 uses of the S-word.
Consider:
The meaning of the Bible word “conversation” (“Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ” – Philippians 1:27 KJV) is “way of life.” A person’s character is revealed by the words s/he speaks.
“Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?” – James 3:11
Item 3: On Friday, Bruce Jenner, Olympian decathlon gold medalists and one-time “World’s Greatest Athlete” turned tv celebrity, told ABC's Diane Sawyer, “For all intents and purposes I am a woman." He explained that he did not want to die never freely experiencing a way of life true to who he really was.
Consider:
- Performance driven by the desire to be great (for the purpose of fame and recognition) is often rooted in the insecurity of who/what we are.
- Genders will exist in Heaven. Males and females will remain in Heaven the same as they were born on earth. (Moses and Elijah were recognized by the Disciples on the Mount (of Transfiguration) – Matthew 17:3.)
- Christians, regardless of physical or psychological issues, have opportunity during quiet-time worship to experience Christ daily to fuller measure so that “who/what we are” will be increasingly who/what God transforms us to be.
- The new nature Christ imparts to believers (2 Corinthians 5:17) and renews in us during quiet-time worship (Ephesians 1:17; 3:18-19) is the basis for our health and happiness during our life on Earth and for eternity in Heaven.
- Judgment, condemnation, or the pressure of religious rules and expectations, will not support us for holiness/health and happiness.
“God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” – Ephesians 3:20
“And if Christ is living in your heart (mind, emotions, and will) (not the same as dwelling in your spirit per Romans 8:10), he will give life (health – including for gender identity) to your mortal bodies” (from Romans 8:11).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15D25
Week 16
In the News
Item 1: Phil Mickelson ties for second in this year’s Masters Tournament.
Some estimate that, during a week’s tournament play, Mickelson has sometimes handed out $10,000 and more in tips to club staff.
"Phil is one of the most generous men I've ever had the pleasure of knowing," says Doug Steffen, the director of golf at Baltusrol Golf Club. "The way he takes the time to meet all the staff and thank them for their work, I've never seen anything like it."
Consider:
God’s plan for giving is:
- All giving flows up from God’s resources to meet redemptive needs.
- We do not give to our resources, but receive from them out of the overflow of God’s supply to them.
- We sometimes give to resources, but only as they serve as a conduit for our investment in others – in the same way, for example, we would invest in a boat to transport missionaries to their field of service. This means, our giving is not for the purpose of supporting resources but to support their mission to meet the redemptive needs of others.
Item 2: Country music singer Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum says she is walking away with a deeper faith in God after escaping a bus fire which destroyed her bed and personal belongings - but not her Bible.
“The outside cover was burned and messed up but NOT ONE PAGE was missing,” Scott wrote on Instagram. “God’s Word will always stand. He is FOR YOU, WILL PROTECT YOU, AND HIS LOVE FOR YOU WILL NEVER FADE. My faith is forever deepened because of today.”
Consider:
- God’s Word (the Logos) is Christ. The Bible is The Scripture.
- God is tender to us and sensitive to our well-being, but his LOVE for us (which “will never fade”) is expressed most essentially by HIS GRACE PROVISIONS (beginning with Christ) to meet our redemptive needs.
Item 3: A CEO (Dan Price/ Gravity Payments) told his 120 employees this week that he was cutting his $1 million salary so they would each earn a base salary of $70,000, to be phased in over three years. The principle guiding the decision, according to Price, is that the company’s clients will be better served by employees who are supported (including financially so that they do not suffer/are not distracted by financial burdens).
Consider:
Generally, two business models exist:
- Business motivated by greed for profit;
- Business motivated by desire to meet community needs, solve problems.
The one uses, sometimes abuses, poorly supported employees; the other invests in staff to support/empower them.
Item 4: Reba McEntire’s records “Pray for Peace” on her newest album. “I just had this idea about pray for peace,” the singer says, “and I’d wake up in the middle of the night singing, ‘Pray for Peace.’”
Consider:
1. Peace, when defined as absence of conflict, is the message of evil calling Truth to compromise/be quiet.
2. Peace, when Scripturally defined, is the status of the heart of all who are made one with God and each other through our spiritual union with (immersion into) Christ.
3. Reba’s song makes no mention of Christ, without whom peace, Scripturally defined, cannot exist.
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility … His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.” - Ephesians 2:14-15
4. Jesus said he "did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34) - because evil manifesting through man’s sinful nature is hostile to Truth (Romans 8:7; John 15:18-15).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15D15
Week 15
In the News
Item 1: According to the 2014 General Social Survey, 7 1/2 million left organized religion during the past two years.
Consider:
All the feel-good, pain-relief reasons people have for attending church - including,
- contemporary (sensual) music,
- the codependent need to belong/bond,
- opportunity for performance to provide social services to the homeless and hungry, and
- support for learning how to follow Jesus (WWJD), please God (win his favor) -
will, in time, become boring and also a burden.
Item 2: Obama’s concern about “less-than-loving Christians” draws sharp criticism.
During a prayer breakfast earlier this week President Obama said, “I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less-than-loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned.”
Consider:
1. Legalistic Christians (who are born again but have not learned how to experience Christ to fuller measure each day for sanctification during quiet-time worship) can absolutely be less than loving – in fact, sometimes be more mean-spirited and hateful - than non Christians.
2. But refusing to participate in behavior that does not support health is not less than loving. That’s because, the love of Christ is always expressed by providing support for making choices that increase health – never by feeding addictions or providing support for superficial pain relief.
Item 3: A family-owned pizza shop in Indiana , after expressing its Christian values, closes its doors until further notice because of death and firebombing threats.
Consider:
Evil attempts to destroy those who do not embrace/celebrate its choices. But the heart of Christ, working in and through his Church (not the same as God-ordained governments which “bear the sword” – Romans 13:4), seeks to communicate Truth in love to evil. The one burns, the other blesses (invests for health).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15D11
Week 14
In the News
Item 1: Spring Break Partier Rejects Parents
“____ my parents!” is what a hard partying girl had to say when asked by a Fox News reporter if her parents would approve her behavior.
Consider:
The Scriptural instruction to children to “Honor your father and mother” and to the Church to “give double honor to the spiritual elders of the Church” means more than to speak politely or respectfully to them: It means to “give weight to their redemptive values.” God’s love for us is expressed by giving; our love for him is expressed by receiving.
Item 2: Daughter of lesbians writes in new book: “I needed a dad!”
Consider:
A daughter needs a dad in order to be conceived; she also needs a dad to support her redemptive development.
Item 3: Freedom of Religion Law enacted in Indiana and Kentucky
Consider:
Jesus would not have participated in a gay wedding, not because he does not value gays equally the same as everyone, but because he does not support choices which are not redemptive (do not restore/increase health).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15D04
In the News
This Week in the News
Item 1: Panama City law enforcement reports spring break behavior - drug use, binge drinking, nudity, public sex acts, rape, prostitution, human trafficking, riots – driven by the mentality that “the bigger the party, the more you got to do” and “it doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you do it” - is worse each year, too dangerous for cops to go on the beach, and no longer safe.
Consider:
At the root of broken behavior is
- deep brokenness (the result of unmet health needs for supportive parenting and especially to experience Christ (not the same as a need for rules and religion) and
- addiction (chemically and psychologically) to choices made to deal with the pain.
Item 2: Ted Cruz in his announcement to run for president states, “God is not finished with America .”
Ted Cruz, a Southern Baptist, is a great choice for President. But the issue is not whether God is finished with America . God has not, cannot, and will not ever in this Age of Grace be finished providing for the redemptive needs of humanity. The issue is whether America is finished with God – that is, finished receiving his provisions.
Item 3: Pundits debate if scandals hurt the electability of candidates running for government office.
Consider:
When voters become dependent on government welfare, the integrity or morality of the candidate who promises to provide it does not matter.
Item 4: Germanwings’ co-pilot flies plane into mountain killing 150.
Consider:
Whatever may be said about mental or emotional disorders, terrorism is the leading cause of murder – not the terrorism by religious extremists, but demonic/satanic terrorism. Satan, “a roaring lion roaming about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11-12), enters the minds of broken people to accomplish his purpose to kill and destroy. Evil thrives in darkness but cannot prevail in hearts filled with the Light of Christ.
Week 12
In the News
Item 1: Palestinian and Israeli Peace Talks Stall
Consider:
It is impossible for peace to exist outside of Christ (whether it's between nations or a husband and wife). Truces (Plan B) may support a temporary cease fire, but brokenness, tension, and conflict will continue until all parties are immersed into Christ and filled with his values.
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility ... His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” – Ephesians 2:14-16
Item 2: The White House Promotes the President's Love for America
Consider:
God’s love (agape: unconditional value) manifesting through leadership (parents, husbands, pastors, and civic leaders) is always expressed to those it serves as support for making wise choices that increase health – not as pain relief to circumvent the outcome of unwise choices.
Item 3: Racial Tension Continues High in America
Consider:
- God created only one race, beginning with Adam and Eve.
- All humans have the same basic skin color—a brown pigment called melanin. Lots of brown is called black, and a little brown is called white. Humans are not different colors but different shades of one basic color - brown.
- Genesis 11 provides the historical basis (God's redemptive purpose) for the separation of the human race to form people groups which adopted lifestyles resulting in distinguishing characteristics.
Week 11
In the News
Item 1: Fox News reports a Navy chaplain could be kicked out of the Navy after he was accused of failing in private counseling sessions “to show tolerance and respect” specifically in regards to homosexuality and pre-marital sex.
Consider:
Christian ministers/counselors can reduce some of the adverse reaction they experience by providing support to counselees from a grace theological perspective instead of from the “sin” factor – that is, to teach the message of God’s grace that
- every person is broken, subject to making choices that do not support long-term health and happiness,
- God has made provisions for our healing, and
- we are recovered to health when we connect to God’s resources (creation, community, and especially Christ) through which those provisions flow into our lives.
Identifying religious rules to counselees for them to live by in order to please God is deadly. Paul wrote, “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death” (Romans 7:10).
Item 2: Exhausted by the media firestorm and controversy for declining to bake a cake for a same-sex commitment ceremony, the Christian owners of a bakery in Indiana have decided to close up shop. The man and wife said they were motivated by their commitment to principles that were faith-based and Constitution-based and also by their desire to “be right with God.”
Consider:
The couple’s commitment to their faith and constitutional rights is commendable, but their desire to “be right with God” is performance-based.
That’s because, we are right with God (justified), not by merit of anything we do or don’t do, but wholly and alone by our immersion into spiritual union with Christ (by the Holy Spirit when we trust Christ's Blood/death on the cross for us as the only payment God will accept to satisfy his judgment against us because of Adam’s transgression).
Item 3: Famed physicist Stephen Hawkins has concluded there is no God.
Consider:
Hawkins is among many scientists who assert they do not believe in God but instead believe in science. I suspect, however, that the God they do not believe in is the “miracle working” God represented to them by the hocus-pocus, name it-claim it, wildfire (charismatic) folks on Christian tv. (If that was the only God I knew about, I would be an atheist also.)
Sadly, atheists may miss understanding that
- God has provided every need the universe has to support its existence consistent with the scientific laws of cause and effect (sowing and reaping), and
- humans have the opportunity to include those provisions into our lives, the outcome of which is always health and happiness.
Week 10
In the News
Item 1: Potential 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson apologized on Wednesday for saying homosexuality was a lifestyle choice. Earlier in the day he had said,
"A lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question."
In his apology he said,
“I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended."
Consider:
We may want to pull back from insisting on a single reason for how every homosexual comes to their sexual orientation – although from the Scriptural perspective, homosexual behavior is
- an unnatural, inappropriate choice,
- motivated, not by health, but by the pain and brokenness of unmet essential needs, leading to
- addictive behavior.
But we can assert with certainty that the values, orientation, and behavior of every person, without exception, who is
- born again (immersed into spiritual union with Christ so that Christ is in his spirit and
- daily experiencing (in quiet-time worship) the Life of Christ (“who Christ is”) living in his heart (the soul: mind, emotions, and will).
will be transformed to increasingly manifest the likeness of Christ.
Christlikeness is the guaranteed outcome of experiencing Christ - as certain as hydration is the result of drinking water.
“God has made Christ Jesus to become our righteousness, holiness, and redemption” is the meaning of 1 Corinthians 1:30.
Item 2: Record breaking snow accumulation in the northeast has increased tension between frustrated neighbors. One expert has offered this therapy to reduce tension: Relax, consider the consequences of angry words and behavior, think positive, remember better days, etc..
Consider:
Therapy to deal with anger can support health and save lives. So it is highly recommended. Still, it is an example of Plan B counseling solutions – that is, artificially-motivated, self-enabled performance to work on ourselves, not rooted in strength, but in brokenness.
God’s plan for our psychological health (Plan A, I call it) begins with our experience of his provision of Christ who transforms our hearts to manifest the likeness of “who he is” in a tense world.
1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:2; Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Peter 1:3-4
Item 3: The attorney for the parents of the young man shot and killed by law enforcement in Ferguson , Missouri
Consider:
Our hope is that the Ferguson police officer was not a thug. Broken people do sometimes (rarely, we trust) find their way into law enforcement, but that does not seem to be true in this case. If that could be proved, the officer should be held responsible.
Otherwise, the parents should consider
- the missed needs of their son, needs for which it was their role as his parents to provide and be an advocate for, and
- the choices made by their son to disregard the civil laws which protect us.
Week 9
In the News
Item 1: A first-grade teacher in Texas
Consider:
Consider:
- We must do good in the world when it is appropriate, but not at the cost of our own personal health, especially when it puts at risk the support needs of our own wives and children. The greater good is accomplished when we stay “in the boat” where God has placed us, getting out to “walk on water” only when we do not have family in the boat who needs us to be healthy so that we can support them in their growth.
- The wife and children of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle would have been served better had he stayed home to care for them. While much is to be admired and appreciated by his heroic service, as it turned out, his need to save the world has left behind a family without the leadership God intended for every wife and child to have.
Item 2: Phil Robertson (Duck Dynasty) calls government leaders to embrace the Bible, return to religious principles.
Consider:
Phil Robertson (Duck Dynasty) gave a strong message to CPAC on Thursday that compliance to Biblical principles in government will help shut the door to evil in the world. But the best of rules to guide a nation without Christ to enable compliance to the rules is like trying to travel in a car without fuel. Jesus said without him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Only his Life living in us (more than just rules), has power to dispel the darkness in the hearts of fallen man in a broken world. The Scripture is God’s rule book for our lives, but Christ, the Living Word/Seed, renewed in us daily by the Holy Spirit during our quiet-time worship, is the dynamic of God that enables us to manifest his Light (John 1:1-4; Romans 8:11; Philippians 1:20; 2 Peter 1:3).
Phil Robertson (Duck Dynasty) gave a strong message to CPAC on Thursday that compliance to Biblical principles in government will help shut the door to evil in the world. But the best of rules to guide a nation without Christ to enable compliance to the rules is like trying to travel in a car without fuel. Jesus said without him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Only his Life living in us (more than just rules), has power to dispel the darkness in the hearts of fallen man in a broken world. The Scripture is God’s rule book for our lives, but Christ, the Living Word/Seed, renewed in us daily by the Holy Spirit during our quiet-time worship, is the dynamic of God that enables us to manifest his Light (John 1:1-4; Romans 8:11; Philippians 1:20; 2 Peter 1:3).
Item 3. Schools were closed most days in many parts of the country this week which forced working mothers to find daycare for their children.
Consider:
Consider:
- Wife and I both celebrate the memory of staying home many years ago with our stay-at-home moms when school was cancelled. We had the opportunity to experience the wisdom of God’s Plan A for mothers to be in the home.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B28
Week 8
In the News
Item 1: Researchers again report that optimism is a leading strategy to combat disease. “The most optimistic people are the healthiest,” their studies show. The reason, they say, is that optimism reduces stress. The takeaway information is, “Be optimistic!”
Consider:
Consider:
A positive outlook indeed is powerful to reduce stress and tension which promote a toxic environment in the body for disease to thrive.
However, the question remains: How does optimism happen?
“America ’s Smiling Preacher” offers this help: “Don’t worry! Be happy! Think positive! Everything is going to be okay!” which is really not any help at all. That’s because it denies the law of sowing and reaping that, if we make poor decisions for our health (disregard God’s Provisions of Grace which support health, especially to experience Christ daily during quiet time worship), everything is not going to be okay.
The health which positive thinking supports is superficial and will soon be gone. So will the smile.
Item 2: Heard again this week: “There is a little bit of racism in all of us.”
Consider:
Consider:
- In every person’s human nature there is a measure of racism (the belief one race is superior to another – not to be confused with a preference to be with family or even social relationships based on comfort needs).
- We can trust more that a person is not racist who confesses to it than one who denies it.
- The heart of Christ, living in us, values unconditionally every person. To whatever measure we are filled with him, racism is purged from our hearts.
Item 3: State Department spokesperson, Marie Hart, said this week that the U.S. can’t win the war against terrorists “by killing them… We need... to go after the root causes that lead people to join these groups, whether it's lack of opportunity for jobs… help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people.”
Consider:
Consider:
- Looking for the root cause of evil behavior is always a right first step and should be ongoing with hopes of identifying unmet needs for the sake of future generations. But at some point, when those needs have been neglected for so long that evil has set in, removing the evil is the right next step. This is exactly the reason God sent the Flood (Genesis 6-7) and also why he cast out the nations from the land which he gave to the nation of Israel (Psalm 80:8, et al).
- If experiencing Christ is not recognized as man’s deepest and most essential need, then, despite how meeting lesser needs may help, evil will in time still be the outcome.
Item 4: A Las Vegas woman is shot dead chasing down the offender in a road rage incident.
Consider:
Consider:
We have the God-given, constitutional right to defend ourselves from harm when we cannot escape. But chasing down offenders is the role of government (law enforcement), not individuals. On the basis of the meaning of “forgive” (charizomai: to remove or cancel a debt or penalty; also to be gracious), God calls individuals who are offended to
- withhold (remove) the penalty,
- seek God’s enablement for ministering to (identifying and investing in) the unmet needs of the offender.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B21
Week 7
In the News
Item 1: Three people won shares of Wednesday’s North Carolina $564 million Powerball jackpot.
Consider:
Some of us have never bought a lottery ticket. That’s because
Some of us have never bought a lottery ticket. That’s because
- gambling is not God’s way for our needs to be met - so the money won, while it may buy pain relief, does not have promise of a happier life longterm. But mostly,
- we have already begun to enjoy our promised eternal inheritance (the health, happiness, and contentment we have by virtue of our experience of Christ and the Life he lives in us to fuller measure each day during our quiet time worship) and are just not excited about a mere half billion dollars, the same as we would not be excited about a can of potted meat after eating a fine steak.
Item 2: New studies were reported this week that cholesterol is not the problem to our health as some have thought.
Consider:
Actually, cholesterol, as nutritionists have long insisted, is essential to health in many ways. The problem is not cholesterol but
Actually, cholesterol, as nutritionists have long insisted, is essential to health in many ways. The problem is not cholesterol but
- the high-glycemic, processed, overcooked, carbohydrates included in meals (which shut down the metabolism of fats) and
- inactivity (an insufficient exercise program),
so that, instead of supporting health needs, it gets stored in our bodies in places we don’t need it.
Item 3: Some research continues to report that vitamin and mineral supplements "provide no benefit" to cure diseases.
Consider:
We don’t trust research that isolates a single vitamin or mineral for a study - that's because
- vitamins and minerals are found together in foods, so that they work synergistically to do what they do – which means, studies of one vitamin or mineral isolated from others (which serve as cofactors) misrepresent their value. Also,
- the benefit of some nutrients is to support the immune system for the prevention (not cure) of diseases.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B14
Week 6
In the News
Item 1: At the National Prayer Breakfast this week, the President suggested Christians should not get on their “high horse” about ISIS because Christianity had its own failure during the Crusades which he said were in the name of Jesus.
Consider:
- The Name of Jesus is “who he is” (Life and Virtue). Anything done in his Name means it is enabled by the power of “who he is” for the purpose of accomplishing God’s redemptive plan in the world (the recovery and healing of mankind and the protection of his people).
- Religious terrorists do the work of Satan to impose religious and political control (and to condemn/destroy all who resist). God’s work in the world is that of a Holy Father to nurture and discipline, and of a
- If the Crusades were purely a defensive response to the aggression of Islam, as some historians insist, then they were redemptive, not terrorism as the President indicates.
Item 2: Seattle Coach Pete Carroll said he cried during the night following his team’s loss in the Super Bowl, mainly because of his last play call – considered maybe the worst in football history.
Consider:
- Although losing a game, even the big one, is not the same as suffering the loss of health, employment, finances, opportunity, and especially a loved one, God created us with the capacity to grieve loss – all loss. Grieving is an essential part of our healing. We make a mistake attempting to get over a loss so that we can move on. The Psalmist wrote, “Out of the depths I cry” (Psalm 130).
- People of faith do not grieve the same as others (1 Thessalonians 4:13) because we have a broader perspective – a deep conviction of eternal and spiritual matters - of God's redemptive plan.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B07
God: Two Opposing Views, Both Hurtful
There are two opposing schools of thought about God in his relationship to us:
One: He created us but then removed himself from us so that outcomes in our lives are solely the result of our choices.
This view disregards God’s provisions of grace which flow fully, faithfully, and freely to the door of our hearts and lives, from his resources in creation, community, and especially Christ, to enable us for making wise lifestyle choices which establish us in health.
Two: He created us and also governs our lives by decree – that is, he decides who succeeds, gets sick or injured, etc. (and even who goes to Heaven) for reasons we don’t know. (Or, perhaps somewhat as a third view, God decrees outcomes as rewards for / judgment against our behavior or attitude towards him.) We must not question! He is God. We prosper or suffer for his glory (“to bring honor to him”).
This view discounts/minimizes the law of sowing and reaping and releases us from bearing the full “cause and effect” responsibility for making wise choices – which our fallen human nature does not want to do anyhow.
I personally have never known one person from either school of thought who was spiritually or theologically free – i.e., who did not suffer tension.
Consider:
The Message of Grace: “If by the disobedience of the one man (Adam) death reigned (over all creation) because of that one man, how much more certain and unfailing will those who (by the act of their free will – that is, not imposed upon them by decree or “irresistible grace”) receive God’s abundant provisions of grace reign in life (including here on Earth) through (because of) the one man, Jesus Christ.” – Romans 5:17
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B05
Week 5
In the News
Item 1: Police in Utah say the family of four found dead recently had overdosed on drugs, that the parents worried about evil in the world and wanted family to escape from "impending doom."
Consider:
From Scripture we know
From Scripture we know
1. Perilous times are indeed coming upon the world, not as punishment from God (as religionists tend to think), but as the cause and effect result of personal and societal choices that disregard God’s health laws, that
2. God has also made provisions, despite the storm, for the safety and protection of us who are in him and in whom he is living (in order to enable our compliance to his guidelines which establish us in health and happiness). Read Psalm 91.
Consider:
Item 2: The attack this week by a student on a teacher who confiscated his cell phone (as other students watched, choosing to be bystanders instead of supporting the teacher, who did not fight back for fear of “losing his job”) helps with understanding the motivation of lawbreakers who resist cops and others in positions of authority. Of course the teacher may have been an authoritarian and failed to invest sufficiently in the student to help motivate his compliance to rules, but we know also that sometimes brokenness (manifesting as anger) may be so deep that even the kindest, most appropriate leadership will not be tolerated.
Item 2: The attack this week by a student on a teacher who confiscated his cell phone (as other students watched, choosing to be bystanders instead of supporting the teacher, who did not fight back for fear of “losing his job”) helps with understanding the motivation of lawbreakers who resist cops and others in positions of authority. Of course the teacher may have been an authoritarian and failed to invest sufficiently in the student to help motivate his compliance to rules, but we know also that sometimes brokenness (manifesting as anger) may be so deep that even the kindest, most appropriate leadership will not be tolerated.
1. At the root of this brokenness is the pain of unmet needs, beginning most essentially with the need to be unconditionally valued – to have confidence that, "to someone in this world, I matter."
2. It is God’s Plan for this critical need to be met in us by parents in the home during childhood.
3. When it is not, teachers, school bus drivers, law enforcement officers, etc. bear the burden of trying to make up the difference.
Item 3: Thousands attended an all-day prayer rally last Saturday hosted by the American Family Association in the basketball arena at LSU. Holding his Bible, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, an evangelical Catholic, opened the event by saying "Today is about humbling ourselves before the Lord. Today we repent for our sins” and "We can't just elect a candidate to fix our country, we need a spiritual revival to fix our country."
Consider:
The courage of Gov. Jindal is commendable. But, whatever good is accomplished by the event, all the repenting of sin (when meaning to be sorry for and promising to give up bad behavior, etc.) and calling on God to save our nation that they may do (joined even by every Christian on earth) won’t result in any good. That’s because, everything God can do to heal our lives and our nation, he has essentially already done when he made provisions for our recovery through resources in creation (the soil and atmosphere), community (leadership in the home and church), and especially Christ (his Blood/death for us and his Resurrected Life in us) and brought them to the door of our hearts to receive or reject.
The courage of Gov. Jindal is commendable. But, whatever good is accomplished by the event, all the repenting of sin (when meaning to be sorry for and promising to give up bad behavior, etc.) and calling on God to save our nation that they may do (joined even by every Christian on earth) won’t result in any good. That’s because, everything God can do to heal our lives and our nation, he has essentially already done when he made provisions for our recovery through resources in creation (the soil and atmosphere), community (leadership in the home and church), and especially Christ (his Blood/death for us and his Resurrected Life in us) and brought them to the door of our hearts to receive or reject.
2 Chronicles 7:14 cannot be understood apart from Romans 5:17.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A31
Heaven: Where Our Best Dreams Come True
“Falling dreams” may have something to do with a suffering conscience, the result of a conflicting moral behavior. “Flying dreams” may have something to do with personal growth and increase - in employment, finances, or influence, but especially in Christlikeness (holiness: physically, mentally, emotionally, morally, and spiritually).
Dreams can seem so real! Several times in recent years I have woken in the morning certain I could fly and eager to go outside to lift myself off the ground, not to fly like a bird or superman, but to float upright just above the trees to my destination. As reality slowly set in, it was hard to accept the disappointment that I could not fly.
But it occurred to me recently that, in Heaven, while we will of course walk, I believe we will mostly lift ourselves into the air to quietly and softly float to our destinations – effortlessly whenever we desire at the command of our wills.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A29
Leadership By Investment
Leadership in the home and church can err in two extremes. Samson’s appeasement of Delilah (to satisfy her whims and desires) in order to be with her (codependence) illustrates the one extreme.
An authoritarian parent, husband, or pastor imposing hard rules illustrates the other extreme.
The outcome of both leadership extremes is brokenness.
The ministry of Christ represents grace enabled leadership - to:
- Identify God’s Redemptive Plan for the home and church,
- Increase in personal experience of God through daily quiet-time worship in order to be increased in personal holiness (competence and usefulness) to
- Invest in the redemptive (health) needs of those God’s calls us to serve.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A27
Week 4
A Broken Theology: Considering the Root of a Broken Life
1. Interest in God’s redemptive plan from a grace theological perspective will increase when the “shaking” comes – that future event or "cause and effect" outcome when nothing is left standing except what cannot be shaken – when the “bubble” bursts, when worldly kingdoms (versus the Kingdom of God) implodes, when the “high” is over, and when that which entertains, stimulates, excites, and feeds our addictions has been exhausted.
2. For years, I held to the hope that the message of grace would in time prevail in the Body of Christ against the performance-based message - in the way light prevails against darkness.
But that has not turned out to be true - mainly, I think, because
- the message of grace (as revealed to the Apostle Paul [2 Corinthians 12:1-7; Ephesians 3:3-6; Colossians 1:26-27] and summarized in Romans chapters 5-8) is not widely presented or heard (“All that is necessary for error to triumph is for Truth not to be heard.”), while at the same time,
- the performance-based message dominates
- Christian books sales,
- teaching/preaching in the evangelical/entertainment church, and
- “Christian/Charismatic” radio and tv (led by TBN, CBN, TCT, and Daystar Television), and
- the message of grace does not appeal to man’s carnal/addiction need to perform, to be in control, and to be entertained.
On the same subject:
The recent news report that public schools and colleges increasingly continue to halt Bible studies may not be a bad thing – for the following reasons:
1. Healing for broken lives and homes begins with recovery from bad doctrine. When the theology is wrong, health and happiness is absolutely impossible.
2. It is not true that any teaching of the Bible is always better than no teaching of the Bible. (Neither is “any counseling always better than no counseling.”)
3. At the core of broken physical or financial health, a broken home, marriage, or business is a broken philosophy. And at the core of a broken philosophy is a broken theology.
For example, misunderstanding about
- obedience - that it means performance to go and give,
- worship - that it means to express adoration to God,
- belief - that it means to think positive about a subject, and
- forgiveness - that it means to “get over” the hurt of an offense
is at the root of the tension that wreaks havoc in the hearts of broken people.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A24
Evaluating Our Resources
Traditionally-trained medical doctors may not have the same appreciation for your health regimen as you do and may even seem offended if you suggest diet, exercise, lifestyle choices, and supplementation are the reason for your good health.
(As someone has said, “We tend to be down on what we are not up on.” Or the issue may be the need of care/service providers to be significant or even to be in control.)
The information we need about any regimen or treatment is…
1. Does it work? Is the adherent healthy and happy?
2. Is the prescriber of the treatment healthy and happy (the same as we would expect pastors/ministers to have healthy homes and marriages, finances, and personal health)?
3. Is the support provided redemptive (an investment in our health – that is, for our gain, illustrated by a vine supporting a branch) or codependent (manipulating, using, abusing, controlling for the provider’s personal gain – including wealth).
Jesus is our example: He said (Matthew 11:28-30 paraphrased), “Come to me all you who are broken and worn out. Open you heart to receive my support and you will be recovered to health. I do not have a hidden agenda. Your healing is my only goal.”
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A22
Grace and Appeasement/Compromise: The Difference
1) Evil/Darkness
- entered into the world through our inherited brokenness – the result of Adam's transgression and our separation from God (Romans 5:12-18);
- cannot prevail against God’s Light/Provisions of Grace for our healing and recovery (John 1:4-5);
- loathes and aggressively seeks to destroy the gospel of Christ (grace);
- thrives
- in society/culture when appeased and accommodated (Psalm 12:8; Proverbs 27:18) and also
- in individuals through “sin” (choices that disregard God’s Provisions for health);
- must be rooted out and purged – by
- the entrance/experience of God’s Grace (his Provisions, Light/Truth)(Romans 5:17; Psalm 119:130),
- the judgment of God (when Grace is refused/rejected so that the heart becomes hardened - Romans 1:18-32).
2) For simple illustrations:
- A cancer can be starved (through cellular nutrition), but if nutrition is neglected so that the cancer progresses, it must be removed.
- A healthy stock of grass (not poisons) is the best prevention for weeds.
- Good bacteria (probiotics – not antibiotics) are the body’s best first defense against bad bacteria.
3) It is the Scriptural work/calling
- of the Church (the Body of Christ) to serve as a resource/conduit/vessel for the flow of God’s Provisions of Grace into the world (to sow Seed/the Gospel of Christ), but when Grace is refused so that evil prevails,
- of governments ordained by God (not individuals or terrorist groups) to militarily root out and purge evil from the world (Romans 13:1-4).
Week 3
The Character of Christ: Support for Choosing Resources
Religionists, authoritarians, tyrants, etc. and terrorists are cousins. (A religious terrorist is a religionist gone bad.) They share the following profile:
- Offer benevolence but with condition/expectation of blind loyalty, gratitude, and servitude,
- Impose ownership, control, and isolation, and
- Intolerant to rejection, non-compliance, confrontation, interrogation, exposure, or insult.
But about Christ, we observe the following:
- Unconditionally provides essential needs to all who receive for the purpose of supporting their freedom (health and happiness),
- Not offended by rejection, non-compliance, confrontation, interrogation, exposure, insult, or attack – even to death on the cross.
These characteristic guide us for choosing our resources (ministers, physicians, service providers) and support women for choosing a husband.
Matthew 11:28-30; Philippians 2:5-11
NEXT TIME: Grace and Appeasement/Compromise: The Difference
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A17
Free Speech: Constitutional Protection to Help, Not Humiliate
The right of free speech is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution - but it does not protect hate speech (condemnation, mockery, ridicule, slander), obscenity, sedition, public nuisance, or violation of classified information, copyright material, trade secrets, right to privacy, or public security.
The right of free speech protects our freedom (and calling) to provide/disseminate information that promotes health, including to identify behavior and attitudes we believe are harmful. But it does not protect speech to deride, demean, or humiliate people who reject it. For example, bashing homosexuals (or others whose lifestyles and beliefs are different from ours) is not protected free speech.
Condemnation helps no one (does not heal) but hurts. Plan B (performance-based) type counseling and condemnation preaching from the pulpit may guilt and fear motivate/intimidate temporary change in behavior, but will not heal the brokenness at the root of the behavior.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A15
God: The Surpassing Experience
God was good to create us with the ability to enjoy experiences of life – including,
- the smell and taste of food,
- the fragrance of an orange blossom,
- the sight of a sunset,
- the sound of music,
- the warmth of sunshine,
- the feel of a hug or kiss,
- romance and companionship,
- success to perform a duty or feat,
- recognition, approval, acceptance, and support,
- learning new information, and
- helping others.
But more powerful and enjoyable by far is
- hearing God communicate Truth to us (especially his unconditional Love/Value for us) by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture and
- experiencing Christ during our quiet-time worship.
Psalm 119:103; Ephesians 3:18-19
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A13
Week 2
Passion for God: A Sanctified Value
We may possess a combination of superficial (sensual), secondary (worldly), and sanctified (spiritual or eternal) values.
We may possess a combination of superficial (sensual), secondary (worldly), and sanctified (spiritual or eternal) values.
Superficial values include our need to/for
- look good,
- feel good,
- recognition, and
- approval.
Secondary values include our need for
- happiness,
- security, and
- safety.
Sanctified values include our desire/passion for
- God’s Provisions of Grace for our redemption (recovery/healing),
- wholistic health (especially holiness), and
- the wholistic health/holiness of others.
Superficial and Secondary values can be God-given, but may also be rooted in our carnal nature (fear, pride, arrogance, etc.).
Sanctified values are possible only by Christ living and manifesting his Life in and through us to fuller measure as we take time each day for quiet time worship in order to experience him.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A10
God’s Plan for Your Life: How It Is Accomplished
God absolutely has a Plan with regard to your life. It is
- to secure you for going to Heaven, but also to make possible your experience of Heaven while here on earth (your health and happiness) and
- to identify and make clear to you his Plan (by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture),but also to effectually accomplish it - not by mystical power (which has no cause and effect explanation) as a reward for your religious performance to please him/make him happy, but by his Provisions of Grace which flow into your life as you connect daily to his appointed resources in
- Creation (nutritious elements in the soil and atmosphere),
- Community (support leadership in the home and church), and especially,
- Christ (the Death/Blood of Christ for us and his Resurrected Life in us).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A08
Considering God’s Plan in the New Year
Electronic social and communication devices may have their place to serve some good purposes. Providers promise they will free and empower us, but the further they take us from God’s Plan, the more broken and in bondage we become.
For example, tv many years ago was supposed to enrich relationships, even bring families closer together. It did not. Neither have social media and texting, etc. - evidenced by the dad glued to his phone while walking in the park with his child (the same as he would with a pet) or family members glued to their phones while sitting at a meal.
Consider God’s Plan – that, just as he created us (wired our bodies and brains) to
- walk more than ride,
- breathe fresh air more than conditioned air,
- eat fresh food from the garden more than processed food from a can or box, and
- read print from a book we hold in our hands more than from words flashed on an electronic device,
he also created us to interact with people in their presence (with opportunity for touch and other senses) more than with their cold image or words on a screen.
“I will walk about in freedom, for I have followed your guiding principles.” – Psalm 119:45
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A06
Week 1
Creation, Community, and Christ: Provisions of Grace to Protect Us
In response to reports of a tragedy that took many lives, a grieving young man said on tv recently, “That’s life; you never know what to expect or what may happen.”
But that’s not true for us who “live under the shelter (trust/rest in the presence) of the Most High.” We can say with confidence, “no harm will befall us.”
However:
In the Bible sense, “trusting/resting in God’s presence” means to open the doors of our hearts to his appointed resources (in Creation, Community, and especially Christ) through which his Provisions of Grace flow into our lives to protect us.
The support God provides us empowers our minds, emotions, and wills to be in the place we need to be every hour of the day and to make wise choices that establish us in health.
Psalm 23:1-4; 91:1-16; Ephesians 1:18-23
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A01
Understanding “The Message of Grace in Truth”
Religious Christianity teaches about God that he
- is “in charge” (in the sense of a dictator),
- sends diseases and adverse weather events on the earth as judgment/punishment for our “sins” (misunderstood as behavior that displeases/offends him), and then,
- miraculously intervenes to withdraw the judgment when we humbly repent of our offensive behavior, promise to do better, and fast food to express our sincerity.
New Testament Christianity (“the message of grace in Truth”) teaches that God
- is all knowing and powerful and everywhere present, sovereign and immutable,
- values (loves) every person unconditionally (without weighing their worth), and
- makes provisions, consistent with the law of cause and effect (sowing and reaping), for the full and complete redemption of anyone who will connect to (trust in) his appointed resources in Creation (life-supporting elements in the soil and atmosphere) and Community (support relationships in the home and church), but especially and beginning with Christ (his Blood/death on the cross for us and Resurrected Life birthed and lived in us) through which those provisions flow into our lives.
Colossians 1:6; John 3:16; James 1:5; Romans 5:17; 6:17; 8:11; Galatians 6:7-8; et al
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14L29
