Mission Faithwalk

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4) Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord ; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord .” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. (Genesis 10:8-10) The women sang as they played, and said, “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.” (I Samuel 18:7)           Not so long ago, a friend posted something on social media about how “we” (she and those who filled social media with comments about Amaud Arbery, had gotten justice. More recently, someone posted a long list of all of the things the protests and riots over the murder of George Floyd had...

          If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. The one who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, life for life. If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. (Leviticus 24:17-20)           The Trojan war was fought, we are told, because a king from one city ran off with the wife of the king of another city. The result of his lust, her adultery, and the first husband’s bruised ego were the deaths of possibly as many as 70,000 people. This wasn’t and isn’t unusual. In ancient times, a slap on the face might lead to the slaughter of a family or a city.           So how do you measure individual pain? If we both experience the same injury – say, a sprained ankle. Does that mean we both feel exa...

Jesus said, “ Father , forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. (Luke 23:34) “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.”   For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:12-15)     Be angry, and yet do not sin ; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. (Ephesians 4:26-27)   In 2006, Charles Carl Roberts IV took ten Amish girls in a one-room schoolhouse in West Nickel Mines, PA hostage, and ultimately shot eight of them before committing suicide. In response, the emphasis of the Amish community was on forgiveness and reconciliation, caring for the wife and family Mr. Roberts left behind.  ...

Even in laughter the heart may ache, and rejoicing may end in grief. (Proverbs 14:32)           Two classic lines are spoken when someone commits suicide, especially if that person was a celebrity. 1) They seemed so happy, and 2) They had so much going for them. Sometimes a third is added: They seemed so strong. There’s another way to tell that same tale in one sentence. They were privileged. No matter what their earlier life may have been like, at the time of their death, they were privileged, and yet, they took their own lives. We just don’t understand how that can be. Even their closest friends don’t’ understand it. Even in their laughter, their hearts ached, and their apparent joy ended in tragedy. I’m not dropping any unsubtle hint about myself. I’m just thinking about this disconnection between what we perceive and what might be a desperate reality.            If you dare to say, “all lives matter,...

Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. (Amos 5:15) He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8) Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. (Leviticus 19:15)           In an article about words used in advertising, the list of the 13 words most often  used included: now, easy, free, new, saving, safe (secure), proven, love, disover(y), guarantee, healthy, results, and you. [1] Surprisingly, “improved,” “better,” and “best,” aren’t in the list. Nearly half of the words are adjectives used to describe the product, and to differentiate it from all other products of the same name or type.             If a product is “new,”...

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:   You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.   The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.   Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.   You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.   The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. (Deuteronomy 28:1-7)                 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called acc...

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (I Thessalonians 5:11)           It’s been a little while since I visited this theme, I think, and it seems to me that we probably all need it in some form or another. We’re supposed to encourage one another, and to build up each other. Let’s get practical. How do we do this? This is one of the places I think we err. Right now, our nation is divided between (supposedly) the haves and the have nots, the privileged and the oppressed, the White and the non-white, the Progressive and the Conservative, and  lives over jobbers and those I describe as the Living Dead (those whose lives have been stolen from them “for their own protection and the good of society.”) I could easily add more divisions, but these seem to be the most noticeable at the moment.           Now, according to Gary Chapman, within each of those groups, there are people who...