Monday Morning Music Ministry

6-9-25

Think back to when you were a child. It’s Christmas morning. You know there are presents waiting for you. They were hinted at, and promised, and your loving parents have always come through. What anticipation!

You come downstairs, and – yes! – there are many waiting for you. All wrapped, different sizes and shapes, colorful paper, all with your name on the tags. Your parents set them before you and invite you to open them. You do! What joy!

But the big one in the corner you choose not to open. The long box with the colorful ribbon you tell your parents you’ll skip. “Till later?” “No, it just doesn’t interest me.” The square box in the colorful paper sounds intriguing when you shake it, but… you reject that too. And so on.

How often did that happen with you on Christmas or your birthday? Never? Probably never.

Presents from strangers are exciting enough, but gifts from your loving parents are bound to be special… chosen for you… pleasing to you… designed to meet your needs and desires and expectations. Why would you say No?

OK, you know this is an analogy. In the Christian world, where we are the children and our loving father is… our loving Father, we have been given lessons and tasks and rules and advice and love, lots of love, we have also been showered with gifts. Lots of gifts. Forgiveness, salvation, mercy, peace, wisdom… lots of gifts. Why would we turn any of them down?

Millions of Christians do.

When Jesus faced crucifixion – He knew what was coming – He told His disciples that One would come to them when He would ascend to Heaven. The Holy spirit, of course was active throughout the Old Testament, as God’s agent of sorts, just as Scripture tells us that through Jesus the Universe was created; and He was the Man in the fiery furnace when Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego were miraculously spared. When Jesus was incarnate – the Messiah; Emmanuel; “God-With-Us” – it was God dwelling among us. Totally God and Totally man? Well, the Lord is a miracle-working God at whose ways we marvel.

But when the disciples were troubled that Jesus announced His imminent departure from this earth, He reassured them and promised: “I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you (John 16:7).”

The Helper, the Advocate, the Comforter – the Holy Spirit has many names, as He has many roles. But. As Christ left this earth physically, the Spirit came to dwell in the hearts, minds, and spirits of Believers. Many Christians treat the Holy Ghost as some sort of cartoony-angel sitting on our shoulders, or a go-between to Heaven when we pray, or… not at all. Yet the Spirit of God is the Spirit of God. He is as much God as Jesus was when walking on earth. He is as much God as, well, God Himself. 

Jesus was sent to “be” God among us, to serve His mission and be sacrifice for our sins. The Spirit was sent to “be” God in every Christian’s heart. 

Yet many treat Him as an option, an afterthought, almost apart from the Father and the Son – as if the Godhead is a “diune,” not a Triune, God who has revealed Himself in three manifestations.

This is Pentecost Sunday, named for the Hebrew feast that coincided with 50 days after Passover / Easter. It was the day, described in Scripture, after Jesus bodily ascended into Heaven to rejoin the Father. It was the day when “a mighty rushing wind” blew through the assembled believers in an Upper Room. Strange things happened: All began speaking in unknown languages. They marveled, and observers wondered if they spontaneously were drunk. They appeared to have supernatural flames on their heads.

Those who had been cowering fear for days became bold. The confused became wise, for the rest of their lives. Followers became leaders. The impulsive Peter became head of the church, logical and firm. 

It was the Day of Pentecost, and the followers of Jesus, the nascent church, indeed the entire world, has never been the same. Because the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father to indwell believers.

I will return to the Christmas-Day analogy. The Holy Spirit also came with Gifts. As recorded in Scripture – examples cited in the Book of Acts; in numerous references in Paul’s Epistles – He shared spiritual gifts. There are nine specifically referred to but, as with Fruits of the Spirit, we may experience more. But:

The Word of wisdom; the Word of knowledge; Gifts of faith;

The Gift of healing; Working of miracles; the Gift of prophecy;

Discerning between spirits; the Gift of speaking in tongues; the Gift of interpreting tongues.

The First-century Church grew exponentially and despite persecution partly because new Believers were wise, brave, equipped, and blessed by these gifts. Eventually broad swaths of the Church disdained these Gifts as… weird, supernatural, often misapplied. Yes, they were; but they are still God’s gifts, God’s will. Pastors have sniffed to me, “So, have you experienced these manifestations?” That’s no challenge: Yes, I have. Have I witnessed miracles? Yes, I have. Do I believe the “Baptism in the Holy Ghost” is for today? Um, should I call God a liar?

It is strange, but the Gifts are widely disdained as “not for today,” meant for people 2000 years ago, just “odd” for modern folks. Yes; there are strange things happenin’ every day. Thank God.  

The Gifts of the Spirit are for today. These can be explained more, and I invite readers to write if I can share and explain. The Holy Ghost is on the move in this world – Pentecostals, for instance, outnumber Catholics today in the country of Brazil. We have adherents in every denomination, but also separate church bodies like the Assemblies of and the Church of God and Church of God in Christ. 

Faithful believers who seek the Baptism, and the Gifts, should be assured that God honors the desire… and grants the Gifts as He wills. Don’t get caught up in Tongues, for instance, when you might have been ministering to many through Wisdom and Faith and Discernment. 

But If people fear God and love His Son… why would they disregard the Spirit Who yearns to dwell within us all? And why would people ignore all those Gifts prepared for them?!?!

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Sweetest Name I Know

05/18/2025

Some readers know that among the hats I have worn in the past are writer, editor, and cartoonist. Last summer, the folks at Comic-Con International in San Diego remembered this juggling act, and presented me with a lifetime “Inkpot” Award, of which I am still proud and will always be. Those three disciplines came together when I was Editor at Marvel Comics.

When I worked there – back when I was different, and the comics business was a little different too – the editorial meetings and bullpen sessions often centered on the powers and superpowers of the characters. The spinoff movies of Marvel and DC are constructed in similar ways, little different than fanboys’ chatter: “What If…?” and “Why Not?” and “How about…?”

Characters defy gravity; shift shapes; exert mind-control. “If you can imagine it, it is plausible in the (ever-expanding) Marvel Universe.” Characters come to earth from the heavens and have super powers. The greatest heroes have even died… and come back to life.

Well, it’s all fiction, of course; and every fan knows that. Or most of them do.

Stan Lee, whom I knew before my Marvel tenure and worked with afterward, used the phrase about the appeal of comic-book stories: The Suspension of Disbelief. Clever and correct, but I have met many fans who live on the edge of that line between Reality and Possibility. Movies employing CGI (computer-generated imagery) and the visual miracles wrought by AI make that easy. Our imaginations foster reality, either virtual or actual. Life, having become cheap and virtually without standards anymore, has to be, at least, fun. Right?

Back on Memory Lane, it always was amazing to me that creators could discuss the plausibility of characters being able to see through walls, and transcend space and time, and traverse the universe – granting fictional characters physical feats – yet when Jesus was raised, hoots of “impossible!” and “how could that BE?” and “Who believes THAT?” were raised too.

Yet Jesus brought the dead back to life; He was, Himself, raised from the dead; He walked on water and through locked doors; He read peoples’ minds. 

Especially on the days we think about right now, post-Easter, Jesus went into hyper-mode, a comic caption might say. It is recorded in the Book of Acts, and the Gospels, and in secular, historical accounts by Jewish and Roman writers, that His appearances included, in order, His Resurrection after three days dead; Appearing to Mary Magdalene; Appearing to the other women; Walking with two believers on the Road to Emmaus. Jesus appeared to Peter; He appeared to the Apostles behind locked doors; He appeared to the Apostles including doubting Thomas; He again provided a miraculous catch of fish. He reconciled with Peter and counseled him; He commissioned His Disciples to teach and baptize all nations; He appeared to more than 500 people at the same time; He  appeared to His brother James. Jesus ascended bodily into Heaven before witnesses.

For all of Jesus’s great acts – confirming to the public that He was alive; instructing His Disciples how to spread the Gospel; preaching and revealing that the Holy Spirit would succeed Him on earth and in the hearts of believers – what else did He do all those long 40 days? 

I have shared my opinion (inspired speculation is all I can claim) that Jesus walked and talked and ate and preached, this we know. But I believe it possible too that Jesus roamed back roads during those days. Likely on dark, quiet nights. He could have visited shores of the lakes and seas. He would have encountered the lonely and lost. He would have befriended strangers. He would have comforted the sick and the hurting. No fanfares. No rallies. No crowds.

Well, Jesus still is doing that. He loves you and me. Of course He still is doing that.

Comic-book gods who do supernatural feats are cool. Yet a True God who did (and does) supernatural feats is… what? We are told by many that the Son of God is a myth, impossible, a collection of fables, ignorant superstitions… and that self-delusion somehow soothes a lot of minds. 

“Somehow” is easily explained. Fictional gods are mutable. They can change. They can be superseded. You can close the comic book, or go to the next movie. The real God, however, does not go away. He always has been, is now, and ever shall be. How supernatural! He knows your mind, supernaturally. He created the universe (the real universe) yet loves you to the last atom of your being. 

Supernatural acts? I know one: he loved me, a sinner; sacrificed His Son to atone for my sins; and counts me as one of His children. A miracle right there – supernatural. Does He meet you in the midst of a flash of lightning, like St Paul or Martin Luther? Sure. Can He meet you on a dark highway or bi-way? Or near the sea billows? Sure. He owns them all, and He meets you when you are ready. Or not. (Yes, Jesus plays “Ready Or Not, Here I Come!”) You can ignore Him or even reject Him… but He still seeks you Out.

He loved us while we were yet in rebellion. He forgives us of everything when we believe in Him. Such a Savior is, literally, super-natural.

It takes belief, not suspension of disbelief. POW! 

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Click: God Walks the Dark Hills 

4-21-25

As we awoke this morning my wife asked me about the “to-do” list I had scribbled out the night before. Oh yeah. Let me see what was important last night and what I somehow forgot to remember but needs attention. Sometimes that happens to all of us.

Actually I can check several to-do lists, because I seldom throw things away. Sometimes I find old scraps of paper and notes like that. Oh, here’s one:

Friday.

After breakfast, clean up yard, take kids to game.

Noon. Join friends to watch the Savior of Humanity be nailed to a cross at Golgotha. Mock Him. Watch Him die.
Evening. Have dinner with friends.

Of course I am not quite that old, but this could have been my to-do list for that first Good Friday. It probably describes how many people spent that day. Sometimes I come face-to-face with the likelihood that the previous week I would have recorded that my activities, planned or unfolding, would have included praising this gentle Jesus as He entered Jerusalem, laying down palms and garments; watching as He rebuked money-lenders outside the Temple and challenged the religious Establishment; become convinced that He was dangerous and needed to be… executed. Watching Him be whipped until nearly dead. I would have spat on Him as He dragged His own cross to Calvary.

Sometimes I realize that of course I would have done those things. Everyone else did that Week. Am I any different? Are you?

If I had kept a diary, some notes after the Crucifixion might have noted:

Watched Jesus be nailed through the wrists and feet.

Watched the soldiers slam the mocking crown of sharp thorns on His head.

Heard Him moan in agony. Heard Him ask God to… forgive the soldiers.

Heard Him ask God to forgive me… all of us.

Then,

Saw Jesus look down through His sweat and blood and tears… at me.

Sometimes I know that is how my diary would have read. Because He did look down at me. Not a 2000-year-old story-version of me… but me, today, now, here. God’s only Son looked down on all of us in those moments, supernaturally at us all, in that crowd, across Jerusalem, around the world, through time to today.

Jesus suffered and died for all of us. Yes, He made eye-contact. He knew us. He knows us. He loves us. To those who believe He was and is the Son of God, and that He would be raised from the dead to conquer sin and death – Oh, what a to-do list and diary entries for Easter Sunday would have been like! – He promises eternal life with Him.

Well. Back to the present. Despite the truth, not a story, the Salvation experience does compress time and space. The Bible tells us that the pre-incarnate Jesus was the Person by whom the universe was created; that God is the Great “I am,” not “I was” or “I will be sometimes”; that Jesus is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

The only thing that changes in these realistic stories is me. Oh… and you: the everyday folks who plan their days, go about their business, take the kids to games, and casually watch the Savior of their souls be mocked, tortured, and killed.

How would your diary entries read?

What would your to-do list be like?

Two thousand years ago, or now, you still can fill out your to-do list. You still have things to do. If they include meeting His loving, forgiving gaze, and responding to Him… do that item on that list. Think on these things this weekend. Sometimes it causes you to tremble. Or it should.

“Were you there” when they crucified our Lord?

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Click: Were You There?

4-7-25

There is a Bible verse about rain falling on the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:5). King Solomon said that time and chance happeneth to all. Jesus says that the sun rises on evil people and the righteous alike, and rain – or misfortune – pours down on everyone. These are reality-checks, not notes of resignation. We are to be aware that not everything in life is specific to individuals, rewards or punishments on this side of Eternity, but rather that we must rise above our circumstances (yes, even look beyond blessings). And, importantly, that hope and redemption always are available to all.

Ultimately, these factors are all components of faith. When we are among the people who love God, accept Christ, and endeavor to do good, yet suffer misfortune, we affirm our humanity when we wonder, even for brief moments, why bad things visit us. Why? Why?

The hard answer is that there is sin in the world, a condition that transcends our righteous efforts, no matter how sanctified some folks might be. It is a world that God created, but that human nature has corrupted. Our charge is to resist evil, to be overcomers. As we travel life’s paths, we realize that God does not tempt us… but He does test us. This is not to play with us or our emotions; but it is to enrich our spiritual maturity, to strengthen our faith.

Some applications of faith come supernaturally. It is Biblical to not only exercise faith but to pray for faith, for an “increase of faith,” and to realize that the Holy Spirit was sent partly and specifically to gird our faith. God requires much of us. He has issued commands throughout human history. Jesus shared many lessons and “marching orders.” But faith is the virtual foundation-stone of communication with the Almighty, and receiving blessings.

This week I endured some “rain falling” in my life. Moving my household goods and a massive collection of rare books, original artwork by famous illustrators and cartoonists, complete runs of many vintage magazines and newspapers to the house I will share with my new wife Mickey, the moving van took a rainy highway exit too fast, rolled over twice, and spilled its contents. Not a stick of my furniture survived, and my archives spilled over the road and wet ground. It was a valuable archive that took a lifetime to assemble (and I am old). Friends try to reassure me – “it’s only paper”; “insurance might cover the loss” – but, signed first editions and such aside, that was my life passing before my eyes.

Yet what was catastrophic for me pales in comparison, I quickly remember, to life-altering matters I once shared. My late wife Nancy sustained health “challenges” all her life long: diabetes; celiac disease; five heart attacks; several strokes; cancer; amputations; a heart transplant; a kidney transplant; ultimately Lewy Bodies syndrome, a form of creeping dementia. “That all must have been hard on you,” friends again said, reaching for sympathy. Are they kidding? Even a spouse cannot fully comprehend such curses. In our case, everything I experienced were mere inconveniences… especially as I beheld her life of acceptance, optimism, witnessing to others. Faith.

Where does one find the kind of faith that, like peace, passes understanding?

An underlying message of all God’s instructions – the bedrock requirement of those who would be children of God – is that we have faith. Faith in God’s Word; faith in God’s promises; faith in revealed supernatural things. Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11). If you have never found these characteristics difficult, you need a check-up from the neck-up. It is why we plead for the Holy Spirit’s help in times of emotional need. Can we be so faithful on our own?

Remember, we are told that to be saved it is as simple in God’s eyes as confessing that Jesus is the Son of God and believing that God raised Him from the dead. Faith.

I wrote a message some time ago that I had the “Big C,” and many readers thought I meant Cancer. OK, I rattled some cages, but what I meant by the Big C was… Christ. Faith in Christ does not make us immune from life’s vicissitudes; but it gets us through them, and even triumph over them.

This week, these truths – the only, only sane manner by which to endure and triumph over life’s storms – were brought home to me in ways I have not felt since the crises of my family’s “challenges,” even more poignant than my archives’ recent calamity. Pastor Loren Larson, of Family Worship Center, Baton Rouge LA, returned to the pulpit after months of coping with brain cancer, cancer throughout his body, attendant disorientation and, naturally, emotional distress.

His message is remarkable, and is Must-See TV for anyone dealing with cancer, suspicious of having cancer, a relative of a cancer victim… or anyone experiencing any challenges – shaky faith, lack of faith, or difficulty in exercising faith. Brother Larson admits, freely, to “human moments” when his fervent trust and beliefs were undermined; when those still, quiet moments bring terror instead of reassurance.

As he shared with prayer partners in the message, many of the tumors are shrinking, though some remain. He retains faith in the God who heals; and trusts that prayer can move the heart of God. Still, Brother Larson cannot shake the “human moments.” He praises God – not only for the evidences of healing, but reaffirming the truth that faith can heal the soul as well as the body. What can he, and we, do but trust and obey? Faith.

Faith in God is essential in our daily walk. Having, myself, chosen it (and often pushed into the mode by the Holy Spirit!) I cannot imagine going through certain situations without it… whether the situation is a little misplaced document or an impending life-altering calamity.

Faith in God is not merely the best way to navigate life’s journey, but the only way. It is God’s provision for us to keep dry from the “rain.”

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Click: I Believe, Help Thou My Unbelief