Blog Archives

10/13/2021

Our Evolving Evolution

Rest assured Ancestry.Com will not find any chimps, gorillas, or Orangutans in your family roots though you may have a second cousin or an uncle that you have wondered about. BUT.. I do believe life evolves, or at least changes.

Let me share 'my' scientific findings regarding Evolution from my exhaustive study here at the Back Pew Institute for Common Sense.

Don't roll your eyes at me.. this is SCIENCE!

Exhibit A (Valentines Day)
THEN: On February 14, 1984 I bought my wife an engagement ring, flowers and proposed marriage. Good news for me Mary said YES to me and the whole Til death do us part thingy.
NOW: On February 13th 2016 my wife informed me she was going to pick up some flowers for my 86 year old mom for Valentines Day. I replied "Great, and while you're at it, pick up something nice for yourself from me.. cuz I like ya."

Exhibit B (Romance)
THEN: Mary and I were married in August 1984. The newlywed excitement of starting our lives together, holding hands, the kiss, and all the other 'fringe benefits' of being married were truly wonderful.
NOW: Just a few years ago I remember trying to kiss my wife Mary as I headed out the door to work. BUT.. she turned her head offering me only her cheek. So I said "I noticed you turned away", and she replied.. "yes I did not want you to wreck my lips." Wreck her lips?
I was her husband wanting a simple kiss, not a ZOMBIE wanting to eat her lips.

Exhibit C (Sports)
THEN: March Madness Year 1 was a simple game where dunking was not possible as the hunched over Neanderthal players had little to no vertical jump compounded by using a ball which technically was a medium sized boulder.
NOW: The game now is fast, the players tall and athletic, the action is high flying, and the courts are free of dinosaur droppings.

Exhibit D (Me)

THEN: When I was a kid I would spend hours drawing cartoons.

NOW: Hmmm, never mind that is still what I do.

Exhibits E-Z (God)
THEN: In the beginning God created the Earth and it was good. Ge 1:1 and God's timeless truths are recorded in our Bibles for us to follow, not to update or redact.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.Isaiah 55:8-9

NOW: Our growingly secular semi-pagan society is Hell bent traveling 90mph down the Route 666 in their eco-friendly vehicle of self-enlightenment while smoking doobies.

This road is a wide, 'inclusive' while ever evolving and self-enlightened. Some even even believe in God but also that they are God's themselves. They believe in a 'truth' that is subjective not objective.

They judge Christians as judgmental, and are intolerant of us intolerant Christians. They say they like our Jesus, just not Christians. Hmmm, sometimes fair, but..
note: Jesus said, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." John 15:18 , Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. Lk 12:51 He also said lust=adultery Mt 5:27-28, hate=murder Mt 5:21-22, divorce should very very rarely happen Mt 5:31-32, the love of money will damn you Mk 10:17-27, being lazy will damn you Mt 25:14-30, it matters eternally the soil you are planted in Mt 13:1-30, if your life does not bear fruit you will be cut off and thrown in the fire Mt. 7:16-20, and there is only one way to Heaven Jo 14:6.

THIS IS THE NARROW ROAD Jesus paved. So how do they like Jesus now?

So while the Evolution/changes of Valentines Day, romance, sports, and Jeff.. may be real.. God does not change, and neither does His word/truth.

No one gets to choose their own TRUTH. Truth is ONLY found in our 'never-needing-to-EVOLVE God'. His perfect love and grace are our only hope, and His TRUTH is our rock solid foundation.

Please share this often with this ever changing/evolving tumultuous doubting world. Our God never changes. He is the creator of all things, and the ONLY savior of our souls. IT MATTERS ETERNALLY what we choose to believe, and who we choose to follow.

Blessings

Jeff (Evolved to being 20+ lbs overweight) Larson

1 Comment

10/9/2021

1 Comment

Rich Man, Poor Me

"He who dies with the most toys wins." This quote was attributed to flamboyant millionaire Malcom Forbes in the 1980s.

You can't take it with you." In stark contrast Jesus taught in the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Mt 19:16-26.
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

While it was clear no big ol' hairy humped desert beast could pass through an eye of any needle, the 'eye of the needle' Jesus refered to was a small gate in Jerusalem where a camel could only pass through if it stooped and had its baggage removed. Not impossible but difficult, and the camel could take it (anything) with him.

Now I should be safe from being convicted by the teaching of the rich young ruler as I grew up in a lower middle class home and my 'wealth' since then is barely a blip on any money radar. BUT.. Wealth is a relative commodity, and I believe there is a lesson here for all of us.

ME ME ME ME FIRST!
I may not have wealth, but.. I am convicted there are things that keeps me from really following Jesus? How about you?

Maybe our toys, hobbies, sports, friends, family (yes family), or simply maintaining my comfort keeps me from being ALL IN FOR JESUS?

I desire to put God first.. but there is a lot of ME in me. I like, I want, I slip up, and am afraid of messing, and/or give up my time to serve Him..

SO I KNOW.. whether a 'Rich Man' or a 'Poor Man' it is clear to me we daily need to say to God I am yours. This pursuit of Him is through prayer, Bible (God's word), fellowship, and an intentional effort to serve Him in big or small, whether rich or poor, in sickness and in health (like a marriage vow).. all to the Glory of God.

My prayer is all of the RICH and POOR folk of God be faithful in the lives we live and the resources we are blessed with. May we all be about the business of sharing Jesus to a world that is lost as 'One body, many parts'.. God bless y'all!

Jeff (relatively poor and content) Larson

1 Comment

10/6/2021

0 Comments

Our LWC Fellowship

Lukewarm Coffee (The LWC) is that Twiligtht Zone coffee existence between hot and cold brews where a well intended piping hot cup is forgotten or ignored. And last I checked, Starbucks does not feature LWC anywhere on their menus. Nor is there a coffee target market serving drab people wearing old sweats, doning bed hair, with a 2 day beard eating plain white bread from the bag who is demanding luke warm coffee.

NO ONE wants lukewarm coffee, though I have .. it is GOOD when I have a headache and I spot a half a cup of LWC sitting around from the morning to wash down two Excedrin.

Also note this concern of LWC is a big enough that God speaks 'directly' to the topic in Revelations where the angel of the church of Laodicea exclaims..

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth (like a cup of room temp generic instant decaf coffee using a non-dairy creamer and a sweetener substitute). Revelations 3:15-16

note: the excerpt in parenthesis was not from 'The Message'.. I added it for my LWC emphasis.

But there is a very sobering message in this scripture. Being a LWC believer (even with sweetener added) is not a safe place to be. Will a lukewarm faith get me to Heaven? Well, the whole God spitting me out of His mouth seems to be a pretty clear NO.

God is not amused by a half-hearted devotion or playing church when our worship and love is deserved.

Next let's move to the LWC Fellowship Center (aka Church) where I observe being seeker friendly with attendance and the Worship 'Show' have become a misguided measure of spirituality. 'Giving the people what they want instead of what they need is lukewarm at best.'

This, while hearing sermons that nothing more than a 'be a better you' pep talk without starting with a repentant heart. Note: Getting my heart right with God trumps getting what I want.

Next, read John 6:25-59 where Jesus speaks clearly to His followers ..
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.
..
When many of his disciples heard it (Jesus teaching), they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (The Truth? They could not handle the Truth!) 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
..
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him (Jesus message was not very seeker friendly). 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him (with a Hot Coffee Faith), “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

So in this LWC world with LWC churches, I pray we follow God with a Hot Coffee Faith just like Peter. Truly , "Lord, to whom else shall we go, You have the words of eternal life."

I am, you are, and we the Church are called to be the the salt and light and THE HOT COFFEE for this world serving lukewarm flavorless substitutes for truth.. in the dark.

May God bless and use you in ways that are BEYOND YOUR DREAMS for HIM!

Jeff (aspiring to be a Grande Latte) Larson

0 Comments

Forward

Our Evolving Evolution

Rich Man, Poor Me

Our LWC Fellowship

Author

Archives

Categories