Monday Morning Music Ministry

11-17-25

Lately, here, I have found myself referring to martyrs – those who have died for their faith or beliefs. This has not been an intentional obsession, nor aspect of morbidity; nor yet a celebration of courage, sacrifice, and integrity.

I think my themes have been prompted, rather, by calendar-dates like Reformation Day and All Saints Day, and events like the threats Martin Luther endured, and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

And, avoiding deathly aspects, martyrdom does not require ravenous lions, the rack, the pyre, the firing squad, or what Alice E Duffy called history’s “antidotes or heterodoxy.” Martyrdom ain’t what it used to be; that is to say, today there are milder forms of punishment, and subtler means of imposing conformity, throughout the world.

But there are myriad punishments, and uncountable methods of crushing individual will, that contribute to 21-century martyrdom.

For individuals are being crushed; personal prerogatives are seduced; and big lies run the culture. Examples range from Woke “education” (i.e., secular propaganda) to, at the other extreme, mass execution of Christians in Nigeria. Socrates drank hemlock to poison himself rather than teach lies. “E pur si muove” was supposedly muttered by Galileo when the Catholic Church demanded he renounce his belief that the earth rotated around the sun – “Yet still it moves!” His life was spared.

Galileo nonetheless was grievously inconvenienced, so we are reminded that martyrdom does not require death. Would you deny the truth when you know that such a denial would change nothing? You might live to pursue other truths, and perhaps live to see your views vindicated.

Obviously every case is different. Justice is measured on a scale, not stamped by a template.

If the culture’s incessant standards and versions of truth are persuasive, it makes history’s martyrs seem more distant to us: many of them stood alone, threatened with torture and death, or as innocent victims of terror (as the Nigerian Christian girls when they know fior certain that their murderers lurk in the forest).

Which category is braver is not my question. I am wondering how many of us realize that we are martyrs, most of us, every day of our “normal” lives. You lose friends because of your political views. Worse, you change your opinions due to peer pressure. You refrain from condemning sins because you are afraid of “offending” someone. If your cancelled counseling could have saved their lives, you make martyrs of them, as well as of your own integrity. You believe that abortion is murder and drugs are destructive, but you keep quiet. You conform to the “world” in order to advance in school, your job, clubs, or councils; surely that is sacrificing your self-esteem at the very least.

In these examples you do not escape being burned at the stake, but – a curse of contemporary life – your standards are chipped away bit by bit by bit. Society wants us to believe that minor compromises are better than one huge offense… but that is like being just a little bit pregnant. Life doesn’t work that way, and neither do our consciences no matter how we deaden them, or let society lull them to sleep.

I invite you to remember that our “little” conflicts of conscience are not separate but descended from martyrs’ battles in earlier times. Without martyrs who stood their ground or put to death when challenged over their beliefs, we are the inheritors of freedom. And responsibility. And inspiration. We gloss over minor inconveniences when we compromise, but they sacrificed all for principles. We stand on their bloody shoulders.

The Declaration of Independence pledged “our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor” (interesting, that order) when to be silent was an easy alternative when authority was challenged.

Hebrews Chapter 11 talks of a “great cloud of witnesses” who watch us and record our choices. Feel-good appearances before this contemporary version of civilization will gain us nothing… except the loss of our souls.

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• Stand up, Stand Up For Jesus

10-20-25

Only last week most of the world was celebrating peace in the Middle East. The “Deal” had 20 points – which is impressive, considering that God Almighty had only 10. It remains to be seen (a phrase that always accompanies every war and every peace) whether the nit-picking about bodies’ DNAs or soldiers’ weapons will be like pebbles in sandals or major stumbling-blocks.

I am not carping. The current (at best) cease-fire is, in the context of the region’s continual animosities, a monumental achievement. There is an aspect that aided President Trump’s negotiations, one that was out of his hands: It happens in history that nations occasionally grow weary of hating each other. Peace sometimes presents itself as less costly, more attractive to politicians, and even a shinier legacy than the fruits of war. Israel brutalized all of its neighbors except for an unorganized band of murderers that attacked it, and peace has broken out.

I suspect that the Ukrainian war soon will end in similar fashion. Horrendous deaths now lead to exchanges of mere miles of land, as was the case for much of World War I. Ukraine had been part of Mother Russia for centuries; a significant portion of its land is Russian-speaking; spiritually, half the country is Russian Orthodox; etc. The leaders of the two countries display the quality of thugs, but they likely will seek Trump, or someone like him, to help them save face. Borders will be redrawn, history will be rewritten, and peace will come. Maybe even for a generation.

“Even for a generation” is not sarcasm nor cynicism. It is hardly a prediction. It is an observation, “past being prologue” and all that.

We can be certain of one thing, however. Donald Trump, that unlikely angel of peace, has been far off the mark in his post-negotiation comments. He suggested that the Gaza deal would bring peace forever to that land. He increasingly has promoted and identified himself with evangelical Christianity, yet even atheists are aware that the Bible in many places forecasts the End Times, the final war between good and evil, the forces of the anti-Christ versus Christian believers, the Battle of Armageddon, in those very patches of sand, the Holy Land. Trump should know that.

Even more troubling was his banter with reporters when asked about his role as peacemaker. Will it gain his entry to Heaven? Half-joking and half-humble, and not for the first time, Trump addressed his standing with Eternal Life: “I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in heaven.” He has said, “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole.” Last year, Trump explained that going to heaven is “very important” to him.

Half-joking or half-humble, spending Eternity in any place other than with Jesus is a matter of, well, life and death far more significant than any accomplishments on earth. Hell is no laughing matter, but it is not out of our hands, as the president suggests. God is the Judge, but He has already promised a place in Heaven for those who accept Jesus. Trump would have to be a Catholic, a superstitious heathen, or a theologically ignorant Protestant to think that good works – even negotiating the end of wars – is enough to “go to Heaven.” But the Old Testament features many people who are still on a faith-pathway to be His instruments nevertheless.

Since we are discussing spiritual matters, including prophecies about the Holy Land, we can dig a little deeper, spiritually. Let us address the nature of miracles.

I will switch from specifics like the Middle East conflict and the president, because both represent larger points. It might seem to most worldly people – and in fact might be so – that the end of a generational conflict is a miracle. Certainly it is a blessing! But the conversion of one single person, let us say a victim in such a war or, at the other extreme, leaders who are warmakers and peacemakers, would be a miracle too. I can classify it as such, because my own rotten, sinful self was cleansed and saved. I know where I was; I know where I am; and I know what was involved.

Just as a sin is a sin is a sin in God’s eyes, so are miracles.

People tend to think that miracles must be of a certain magnitude to be regarded as such… or to merit our respect for God. I think humankind would understand God better, and draw closer to Him, if we didn’t take a pass on every act of His that is short of a Hollywood spectacle.

Settling a war, or settling your kids’ argument… perhaps are the same in God’s eyes.

Funding a homeless shelter, or sharing a simple meal… your heart is equally moved.

Performing a life-saving operation, or fervently praying with someone for her healing if that’s all you can do… surely moves God’s heart equally.

As followers of Jesus we should never presume things of our own thoughts. But neither should we neglect things because of ignorance of the Gospel.

And “humility” as a Believer? Let us never say, “OK, God; I’ll take it from here.” If our faith sometimes is weak… that is when He wants us to lean on Him more.

That’s how miracles happen.

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Click: Help Me Turn the Wine Back Into Water

10-13-25

Only last week in this space we addressed Peace – the concept and definition; the dream and reality; its frequent transitory nature and its elusive permanent state; the world’s quest and our personal desire. On cue, in a sense, Peace was in the headlines: an apparent “peace deal” in the Middle East, brokered by President Trump. Focused on Gaza, a treaty has been signed whose peaceful ripples can circle out to the wider region, and from this week into the future.

Yes, this is possible. History’s wars inevitably have ended not from sudden awareness of justice nor hunger after righteousness nor dawning revelations of amity. Rather, solutions routinely have resulted from crushing military defeats, or bankruptcy (of arms and money, often sustained by both sides), or abject weariness. And the Gaza Peace accord might last for a generation, or be one more well intentioned memory before this is posted.

I desire to take nothing away from President Trump and his team. Their efforts to mediate numerous conflicts have been bold and clever and, it surely seems, successful at the moment. An element of timing has been a blessing to the peacemakers’ work. Israel, after pummeling its enemies and toppling regimes, was at a stalemate with, ironically, anonymous thugs. When Russia and the Ukraine have bled each other dry, they will eventually seek to save face, partition the country as has happened frequently across Europe, and call it Peace.

Regarding the Middle East, the “Holy Land,” we must thank God for the interruption in bloodletting – the chance to dry so many mothers’ tears – but remember to peek ahead to the end of the Book, where the final battles at the End of the Age will take place, once more staining the sands with blood.

I am not being cynical, and certainly not pessimistic: we observe human nature on one hand… but we also should recognize God’s nature. Can good come from bad?

Wars end in peace. If it proves flawed or short-lived, nevertheless we seek it and savor it. Most legends and novels deal with conflict, and most of them end in sweet resolutions. So with life. When lovers quarrel, there is no sweeter affection than that of making up. In spiritual terms, once sin entered the world and corrupted our natures, God Almighty moved Heaven and earth, if I may characterize it so, to create a means to effect reconciliation with Him.

You’ll find that plan in John 3:16; but, really, in every page of Scripture. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is God’s love letter to us. Its theme is peace – that quality that we claim to need and need to claim – specifically the Peace of God, which passes all understanding. It comes through Salvation, which is the only quality more desirable than peace.

We are broken people, all of us individually and as groups and nations, but Jesus can and does make us whole. This “formula” should not surprise us, because the Bible’s stories feature myriad heroes who were broken and then transformed into great examples for us. In a larger context, such examples surround us:

Majestic cathedrals are built of broken stones.

Ornate stained-glass windows are comprised of small, broken pieces.

Think of it: beautiful works of music are collections of notes that by themselves are random or cacophonous until arranged.

These analogies remind us that so many things in life – plans, projects, intentions, acts, relationships – get broken. They might start in broken states, or end that way… or be that way in between the dream and the realization…but broken, in need of fixing, making whole, redeeming, restoring. Even as we make peace with others, souls are to be reconciled to God. Ultimately, peace to be made with ourselves too.

We meet God in new ways when we understand these contexts. Remembering the analogies with the building of cathedrals, arranging stained-glass windows, and composing music, we see the Lord as Architect, Artist, Composer. To the extent we are all broken in various ways – and see this in our brothers and sisters – we note that faith requires trust. And patience. God is at work. The more we ignore or resist the work God does in us through His Holy Spirit, the longer we might delay the amazing work He desires to do.

We can view “brokenness” as an ugly brand, a permanent disqualifier. But God sent Jesus to be a carpenter able to mend broken bodies. In His repair work, nails are sometimes required. Jesus knows about nails, too. But take joy in the restoration God will do in your life.

We are not born “whole” but we can be made whole. We remember that even the angels cannot sing “Amazing Grace” as we can: they do not know the miracle of Salvation.

Go thou in peace!

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Click: This Is How Emptiness Sings

8-11-25

May I share random observations, revelations, and (I pray) inspired thoughts I recently have had, and jotted down? What percentage of each is of the Holy Spirit or “me, myself, and I,” is for others to debate or decide. But these thoughts have got me to thinking – perhaps a major accomplishment right there – and maybe they’ll start spiritual balls rolling in your daily walk too…

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Satan tempts.
God tests.

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Pride might be the chief sin, the worst offense of all.
Every other sin is committed because we think we know better than God, or He will give us a “pass.”

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Life without Jesus can yield partial success…
But it ultimately guarantees total failure.

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Not original with me, but it is in the Bible –
And a deadly warning if you ignore it:
Be not deceived; God is not mocked.

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The Bible has been 100 per cent correct about prophecies fulfilled. The world scurries about, managing at best to predict the past.

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No offense meant to charitable impulses,
But in God’s view there is a big difference between giving and forgiving.

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The James Webb Space Telescope reveals the incredible immensity of God’s universe. We see that Earth is, relatively, one tiny dot.
Secular people say that means we are insignificant.
God says that means we are special!

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Stop trying to be Politically Correct.
What matters is that we be Spiritually Correct!

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We are told that no one knows the time of Jesus’s return to earth.
I do!
… It will be the time we least expect it.

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You can’t lose a friend you never had.
What a Friend we have in Jesus!

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Jesus is never rude, but He can be annoying.
That knocking you hear at the door – when will you open it?

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An appropriate testimony and prayer by the autistic blind boy Christopher Duffley.
Written by my friend Paul Baloche.

Click: Open the Eyes of My Heart

7-21-25

A “dialogue with God”? Is it presumptuous to imagine a conversation with the Almighty, to anticipate what He would say, or answer, to us?

In my case, and maybe yours, it is kind of presumptuous to imagine what I might say, minute to minute. I can be kind of random. But for the sake of understanding Scripture, attempting to better know the Lord, seeking His will… we can carefully imagine a dialogue from His point of view.

After all, the Bible is the inspired Word of God (“in-spired,” God-breathed), through which He talks to us. The commands, words, and sayings of the Lord are all first-halfs of conversations. Myriad heroes of the faith, in Scripture and out, testified to having a dialogue with God – some saints (as all believers can be classified) even contending, pleading, sometimes disagreeing with the Lord. Only good can come from increased and sincere communication.

By the way, all of us have dialogues with God every day already. Perhaps continuously if not continually. That is the “channel” of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. Sometimes the Holy Spirit masquerades (ha) as our “consciences,” but there is conversation. If it occasionally seems like a one-way conversation, so be it. Our silence – or God’s seeming silence, sometimes – can speak volumes. The Creator of your soul is not going to let you drift away.

So here is a dialogue I imagined recently, between one of our fellow mortals and God Almighty:

Lord, I am sorry to have been out of touch, but I’m really hurting right now.

You know that I want you to share your burdens with Me.

Things are not going great in my life. I pray, dear God, that you can change my rotten circumstances.

Is that everything that troubles you?

Lord, there is so much more. My finances, my job situation, are really on the edge…

And you ask Me to…

Lord, I plead with You to change my circumstances! I’m drowning!

Your family and friends, are they by your side?

God, that’s part of the circumstances. I’ve let my marriage fall apart. I have let my friends become strangers. You can do all things! Can you fix these awful circumstances?

I know all these things, My child. I have been waiting to hear from you…

Father, forgive me; I know what I have done. I have not sought You out lately. I’ve been out of touch. That’s a circumstance, too, that I need healed. I am hurting and desperate. Can you change my circumstances?I need You!

My beloved child, I don’t need to change your circumstances. I need to change YOU.

I have offered the way. You need to change you. Draw closer to Me… Love My Son…

… and, My child…

Let’s have some more dialogues, OK?

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I Speak Jesus

7-14-25

We heard this week of the nightmarish floods in central Texas, and we saw, too, the landscape of devastation that brutally swept away a wide swath of land, houses, and recreational sites. We also learned of Camp Mystic, a Christian kids’ site, where dozens of young girls disappeared in a rising and rushing wall of water. Many people are missing, perhaps never to be found.

Early on July 4, 2025, the Guadalupe River at Kerrville was flowing at three cubic feet per second, according to USA Today. At that rate, it would fill an Olympic-size pool in eight hours. But soon after sunrise that day it was gushing at 134,000 cubic feet per second, a rate that would fill the same pool in less than a second. The river height surged from fewer than 12 inches to more than 34 feet.

Among the heartbreak we all shared with victims and families, there were stories of bravery, sacrifice, and faith. Young female Christian campers sang hymns and Gospel songs while the horrors still swirled. Boys up and down the Guadalupe River saved lives. Parents of drowned children told the world they knew their kids were in a better place, in the arms of God.

“The rain falls on the just and the unjust”… and so, obviously, does rainwater-turned-floodwater. The full verse from Matthew Chapter 5 is He maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. In other words, our rewards and punishments are in the afterlife; and in the meantime in this world that is beautiful but also corrupted by humankind’s sin, we experience both conditions apart from our innocence or merit.

There are ignorant cynics whose knee-jerk reactions to events like the Hill Country floods are “How can a loving God allow…” and “What sins did those little girls commit…?” Christians occasionally ask the same questions. Naturally. But we live among disasters, tragedies, and horrors every day of our lives. They touch all our lives. Questions are scarcely ever asked, however; and answers are seldom discussed, despite the fact that they are right before us. Not easy answers, but solvable.

I will ask a few; and answer them all.

We bemoan the drug problem in America. Tons of drugs illicitly arrive at, and through, our borders. Millions of Americans are addicted; hundreds of thousands are dying. Criminal cartels manage this toxic invasion.

How to stop this condition, end this nightmare? – Monitor the border? Stop the Chinese from manufacturing, and Mexico smuggling? Lock up dealers? NO. Let us eliminate the demand. If this were a thoroughly Christian nation, there would be few customers for drugs. End of that problem.

We note the scabrous reality of human trafficking in America. Millions of people have pierced the borders, and the government has no idea of their numbers or locations… or activities now that they have blended into the population. Many children are sexually exploited; women are abused; millions are working as virtual slaves in fields, factories, and homes.

How to stop this condition, end this nightmare? – Arrest every human trafficker? Deport every child and abused woman? Stop the smuggling at the sources, lock up gang leaders? NO. Let us eliminate the demand. If this were a thoroughly Christian nation, there would be few customers for prostitutes, child pornographers, vulnerable people. End of that problem.

The shocking numbers of fatherless homes and illegitimate children? If this were a thoroughly Christian nation, the family unit would return and be respected; sex would cease being a vile sport. The sin, and emotional scarring, of abortion? If this were a thoroughly Christian nation, people would be responsible, and be repulsed by the idea of killing babies. Abuse, violence, crime? If this were a thoroughly Christian nation, people would respect others… and themselves, again.

The stark truth is that most of our societal, cultural, and moral crises in America would virtually disappear if there were no market for them.

If and when that millennium comes – if average people came to their senses and returned to decent standards and Christian values – we would still have the challenge of those who profit from these awful acts. I do not mean only the dealers, traffickers, and gangs. I mean Hollywood, the TV producers, popular singers, publishers who promote the deadly problems we face – the hidden enemies who glamorize illicit sex; glorify violence; ridicule the nuclear family; normalize a drug culture; and denigrate religion.

Their operations might dry up, if the hungry audience disappears and ceases to provide the demand. None of these people will go away easily. But life is not a game; our nation and our children, and the very Kingdom of God, are at stake. Remember that Jesus said that He had come not only to bring peace to the earth, but also a sword, the weapon that divides and severs.

My word to America 2025 is from II Chronicles 7. It has become a familiar verse lately, cited by people who pray for revival – but I believe wrongly cited. Many people plead to God that He will bring revival, but that is not how He works. We must bring revival… kindle the souls of the people… mend our ways, ourselves.

People should practice all the admonitions in this chapter, which includes:

The Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to Myself for a house of sacrifice.

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people; if My people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land…

But if ye turn away, and forsake My statutes and My commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them, Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for My name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.

And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that He shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house?

And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath He brought all this evil upon them.

Have we forsaken the God of our fathers? The supply of sin is abundant, but can we end our insatiable demand for it? As a nation, we are demonstrating that we love sin more than we love our Father God.

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Brian Delaney performs Gram Parson’s jeremiad Sin City in Room 8 of the Joshua Tree Inn, where Gram died, too young.

Sin City

4-28-25

Mary was an old lady in our church. Maybe “the”old lady in our church. Nobody knew much about her. Widow or “old maid”? She always kept to herself. In fact, some of the other women thought her name was Marie. She was elderly, not ancient, and sometimes it was hard to understand her.

Poor old Mary had a skin condition. It seemed stretched over parts of her body, and it pulled her mouth tight. Everybody thought it must have been painful, but it was uncomfortable for others to look at. Poor old Mary. Nobody really wanted to shun her, but it sort of worked out that way.

We can say she kept to herself, but partly she arranged such a thing. When the invitations came to pray at the altar… she always was the first to limp up front. When prayer requests were sought, she was the first to bring her burdens to the Lord… and usually continued in prayer long after others stopped, and even sometimes till the church was nearly empty.

After a while her prayers, as they could be understood by the rest of us, were praises. Praises for having been healed. She didn’t look like there was any healing, however. In fact, over the months and years, she looked worse off – her skin looked progressively worse. Tighter… almost shiny across her face… ugly marks on her skin… her body was twisting worse… It seemed harder for her to walk… and harder for us to understand when she talked.

Poor old Mary.

We prayed for her, of course. Not always with her. I have to say that we all thought the prayers were futile – clearly she was not getting better – and it certainly was hard to form words of thanks when she clearly was getting worse. We could understand her words, barely; and sort of looked the other way when she limped around the sanctuary’s perimeter in one of her plain house dresses. And we sort of understood when she petitioned and thanked the Lord, ever more loudly.

But she continued to attend church, responded to the requests for members’ health and healing, and, louder and louder each Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, called out praises for being healed. In her mind. Frankly, our discomfort turned to embarrassment. After all these years…

This could not go on, many of us buzzed. And it did not.

One Wednesday evening she entered from the rear as usual. At least we thought it was Poor old Mary. This lady wore one of those dresses, and her hair was sort-of made up like Mary’s. But she was not bent over. She did not limp. It was her voice, familiar to us from the repeated requests and praises… but now we could understand her. Her lips were not stretched tight, and her skin was clear of those splotches and stretches.

And Mary did not limp down the aisle to take her usual place at the end of the pew up front. She ran around the perimeter of the sanctuary where so often she limped, mumbling her prayers. She ran. Now her arms were totally upraised. Her smiling face was hers, not a stretched disfigurement. “Thank you Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!” were now heard clearly.

When she reached her usual seat, many of us gathered around her. She couldn’t sit – not because of the pain, but because she was irrepressibly happy – and we scarcely could ask her a question between her torrent of praise and tears of joy. But it was Poor Old Mary. “Poor” no more, after all this time!

“Mary, Mary!” we succeeded in getting through. “When were you healed???”

She looked up at us, one by one. It was, again, a little hard to understand her – but this time it was because she was laughing and crying tears of joy and was exhausted from running around the church. But she said:

“When was I healed? Two thousand years ago!”

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Click: The Healer