Letting Go... Allowing Grace

When there is no grace the consequences of your action can be utter destruction .

We live in the time of grace.

But...

Shame is a powerful thing. And pride is what keeps you shackled by your shame. Hiding it behind closed doors even from God. It’s ironic really that we try to hide our shame from a all seeing, all knowing God.

How much do we miss out on because of our pride? How much do we suffer alone? It brings me to the woman at the well. When Jesus told her all she had done she could have, in her pride, denied it. But she didn’t, she owned it and instead of condemnation she received living water, eternal life.

How many of us have been told the truth about ourselves and vehemently denied it? How much have we missed out on because of it? How many opportunities have passed us by because our pride has caused us to hide our shame? God can’t fix, God can’t use, God can’t turn around that which you don’t give to him.

When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well it was because he knew who she and what she needed. His mission was not to make her feel bad but to offer her the opportunity to let go of the shame in order to find the love, the joy, the peace she was seeking that was eluding her. Then through her she told others of the Messiah.

“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did."

I struggle with shame very much. In my personal walk it is the hardest thing for me to surrender to God because I care very much about how people perceive me. I work hard to seem perfect to those around me because admitting my faults has always equated failure to me. I was told from a young age that my name was all I had and that I should do nothing to dishonor it. And I have always believed that failure was dishonor and that was the end. The truth is that failure is not the end. Messing up doesn’t mean you are a waste. No matter what you do, you matter to God and God can use you if you can confess it and surrender it to Him. But if you can’t admit it and give it to Him there is nothing He can do.

People shame us. The law shames us. The law saws lock them up and throw away the key. But we live in the time of God's grace. And I am not living for people I am living for God. For "in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace" Ephesians 1:7. And if He has redeemed me others opinions mean nothing.

God redeems us. And this message is for you as much as it is for me. EVERYTHING is redeemable. There is no expiration date. If confess with your mouth and believe in your heart you SHALL be saved. Its already done but you have to accept it, you have to invite Him in. Give it to God. He sees it anyway so why hold it alone when you can be bathed in His love?

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

Who Do You Say That I AM?

Many people have many different ideas of Jesus but do you believe that he is the great I AM? The Messiah, the Savior? The ultimate sacrifice? He is all those things. What matter is, Do you believe that? 

Confess. Believe. Be Saved.

Be blessed!

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

Was he a poet turned Radical politician Trying to start a revolution

A preacher on a mission Talkin bout fishing In a new kind of kingdom Or a small town wannabe tired Of carpentry Carving out a little fame John or Elijah, teacher, Messiah Or just someone trying to Make a name Could the one we know as Mary's son Be the long awaited Holy One

So you're a cynic Oh, well I get it It's hard to trust what you Can't see You've been broken How can you hope in Or believe in a mystery Oh, you oughta know, gotta Know where you stand Who do you say that I am

Who do you say that I am

Two thousand years counting, The question's still mounting The answer's still A mustard seed Science can't prove it, Critics accuse it Of being a crutch for the weak And the leper's still leaping, The blind man seeing Is just a nice fairy tale Fact or fiction, are we all Just wishin' On pennies down in a well While you're weary wrestling With the truth

Could the truth be reaching Out to you

So you're a cynic Oh, well I get it It's hard to trust what you Can't see You've been broken How can you hope in Or believe in a mystery Oh, you oughta know, gotta

Know where you stand Who do you say that I am Who do you say that I am

Though they question if I'm Just a man Still the answer is who you say That I am

So you're a cynic Oh, well I get it It's hard to trust what you Can't see You've been broken How can you hope in Or believe in a mystery All of your questions Just keep you guessing When all you want is to be free Oh you oughta know, gotta Know where you stand Who do you say that i am Oh you oughta know, gotta Know where you stand Who do you say that i am Who do you say that i am Who do you say that i am 

 Music video by David Phelps performing Who Do You Say That I Am. 

(C) 2015 Spring House Music Group

We Live in the Time of Grace

Hebrews 9

BC - Before Grace
1-5 That first plan contained directions for worship, and a specially designed place of worship. A large outer tent was set up. The lampstand, the table, and “the bread of presence” were placed in it. This was called “the Holy Place.” Then a curtain was stretched, and behind it a smaller, inside tent set up. This was called “the Holy of Holies.” In it were placed the gold incense altar and the gold-covered ark of the covenant containing the gold urn of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, the covenant tablets, and the angel-wing-shadowed mercy seat. But we don’t have time to comment on these now.

6-10 After this was set up, the priests went about their duties in the large tent. Only the high priest entered the smaller, inside tent, and then only once a year, offering a blood sacrifice for his own sins and the people’s accumulated sins. This was the Holy Spirit’s way of showing with a visible parable that as long as the large tent stands, people can’t just walk in on God. Under this system, the gifts and sacrifices can’t really get to the heart of the matter, can’t assuage the conscience of the people, but are limited to matters of ritual and behavior. It’s essentially a temporary arrangement until a complete overhaul could be made.

Before Grace, before Jesus the only way to talk to God, to get through the barrier sin created the  Tabernacle is where the priest would go to God on our behalf. It was a temporary fix to an eternal problem. I love how The Message writes it.

Today, nobody that I know is going to the Tabernacle and bringing a sacrifice to the high priest so that he can make an atonement for sin. Most of the world doesn't even have access to said Tabernacle because we don't live in that part of the world. So we would either have to make the trip their to receive forgiveness or we would just be out of luck.

AD - The Time of Grace

But thank God we live in the time of grace, where that is no longer necessary.

11-15 But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.

16-17 Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus’ death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.

18-22 Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law—God’s “will”—he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries. And then he attested its validity with the words, “This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God.” He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, “This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you.” Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.

23-26 That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren’t needed anymore, having served their purpose. For Christ didn’t enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn’t do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.

27-28 Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.

When Jesus came the need for yearly sacrifices to atone for our sin was unnecessary because Jesus paid the price once and for all. He died so that we could live.

We get so hung up on the stories, laws, and rules of the Old Testament that we miss the fact that we live in the time of the New Testament and that if we were still governed by the Old Testament there would be no salvation and we would all be doomed with no way out.

We love to quote and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth from the Old Testament but forget that murder was an automatic death sentence whether it was by accident or on purpose and that the only place to receive grace was in a City of Refuge. 

So why is the Old Testament so important? I'll delve more into this in a later post but the simple answer is history. Its important to look back and learn from history. For us to see what life before Christ was like, to understand that without grace a mistake was literal death. To understand that for me personally, I wouldn't have lasted a day especially because I'm not God's chosen people.

I am glad we live in  the time of Grace and you should be too.

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

I Don't Care about theology, I care about the Gospel

Theology is the study of the nature of God and religious belief (Dictionary.com).

Theology is nice but theology does not equal the Gospel. In the Christian faith people can interpret what the Bible says in different ways because everyone brings their different perspective and worldview to anything they read.

However, there are foundational truths that exist in the Word of God REGARDLESS of ones theology.

What are the facts:

In the Bible it says...
-We were created (Genesis 1:26-27)
-We had a personal relationship with God (He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden Genesis 3:8)
-We sinned (Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree Genesis 3) and it destroyed that relationship causing sin to enter the world and us to all be born into sin
-Over the years people worked to get the relationship back but they were only temporary fixes (atonement by animal sacrifice; Hebrews 9:1-10)
-Jesus was born (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-20)
-Jesus died to be the permanent solution to our broken relationship with God (Salvation; 1 John 2:2)
-He rose, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the God the Father working on our behalf, becoming our direct access line to God (1 Corinthians 15:1-9)

-In order for you to restore your personal relationship with God you have to believe in your heart that Jesus was born, died, rose and ascended, say it with you mouth (Romans 10:9-10). That’s it.

Those are the absolute clearest things in the Bible and aren’t open to interpretation. This is the basis of faith in and relationship wit h God.

People will try to argue there is another way but the Bible clearly says, there is no other way to God the Father but through Jesus.

If any of these foundational truths aren’t fact then all of Christianity falls apart. There are no levels to this. If Jesus wasn’t the perfect sacrifice we would still be fcuked, arsed out, going to the tabernacle to ask the priest to go into the holy of holies for me (Hebrew 9:1-10). We should all still be doing animal sacrifices to the chagrin of PETA.

Just like in math doing a proof. If one part is not true then none of it’s true. There is no Gospel, no Good News. A lie that has lasted thousands of years. Could you imagine?

Religion and theology is cool but without the Gospel it’s just a set of life rules that make “Christianity “ just like every other religion. Rules that you are going to most certainly break. It’s inevitable. That’s why the relationship is key.

When you are in relationship with God a mess up isn’t the end. A mistake is just a setback. You can wake up with nothing and still have joy. But you have to accept Christ. If you haven’t done this you are religious but not in relationship with God.

And bump what other people have told you. There aren’t a bunch of things you have to do to earn Salvation or to be eligible. Just come to God say you do bad stuff (aka are a sinner) believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and says it with your mouth. That’s it.

Then just like any relationship you have to cultivate it. You do this by reading the Word and praying at a minimum. Worshiping with like minded people, and worship music are great too.

As I say, there are no levels to this. The Gospel IS the Gospel, it’s the whole point. The rest are just guidelines.

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

In Trump's America Jesus Would Be Turned Away

I am utterly appalled at the things Christians are justifying these days.

When you think about it we, as people of God should be on the side of giving those who need asylum help and safety, of showing compassion to those who need it.

The fact that we aren't shows how far from God the American Church really is. The Fact is

American Christians Are Being Tested and Failing Miserably.

We condone people having their children ripped away from them while on Sunday praising the Savior who was an immigrant and needed asylum.

In Matthew 2 we see Matthew's account of Jesus birth and that Herod, the king at the time was threatened by his birth and sought to kill him. Because of this the angel of the Lord told Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt (v13).

...God’s angel showed up again in Joseph’s dream and commanded, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. Herod is on the hunt for this child, and wants to kill him.” 

Now what if this took place in 2018? What would have happened if Mary and Joseph had encountered border patrol in today's America? Jesus would have been ripped away from his father and nursing mother and put in a cage. That is what we are doing to all these families.

The argument that the government has rules is BS. Yes the government has rules and we are told by God to be good citizens and to give to Caesar (government) what is Caesar's (Matthew 22:19-22). But we are also to give God what is God's. And above all else we are to follow God's commandments (Matthew 22:37-40). They are 1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. 2. Love your neighbor as yourself. 

What is happening now is not within God's commandments and there is nothing that you can say as a Christian to justify this. The fact that many are trying to is disgraceful and you do God a disservice by representing Him abhorrently. 

We as Christians seem to think we are above rebuke and that we need to point out the needle in other people's eyes but let me tell you something, the Pharisees were and neither are we. If we don't get it right here God will get us all the way together when we stand before Him at judgment when He identifies the stake protruding from our own eyes. When He asks you, "How could you do that to the least of these in My Name?" What will your response be? Trust me nothing will get you off the hook.

I am beyond disgusted by our display. The heart of God is grieved!

We need to really examine ourselves and repent. I'm talking to believers here because if Jesus was here he would be upturning tables at our unrighteous, arrogant, and unloving ways. 

When I think of those children, scared and unsure I see the face of Jesus and his parents; running in the night trying to escape a king set on killing him, his mother praying that when they got to Egypt they would be safe and his father trying to assure her they would be. How cruel are we that people are running for their lives only to met with unnecessary evil and unkindness. I cannot believe that we as Christians who say we love God are able to justify this. 

This is not of God and we should be ashamed. And if you are not, I am ashamed for you.

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

God Gave Us the Gift of Choice

The ability to choose it under attack. But this is not the first time nor will it be the last.

Starting from Adam and Eve God has given us choice. The choice to love Him, the choice to obey Him, the choice to walk with Him, the choice to worship Him. He's never tried to stifle it, He's never tried to force anything or take it back. He gives you the ability to freely choose how you want to live your life. God of course has a direction He wants you to go that will bring you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11) but you ultimately have the ability to make the choice you want to make.

So if no one has ever told you;

CHOICE IS OF GOD!

At every turn in this country people try to stifle choice in the name of God but that is not of God. I am a pro-choice person because I believe that you have the right to make decisions about your body, who you date/marry, etc and that having choices does bring life. Everyone is entitled to have the best information they can to make a well informed decision. Just because I don't like your decision doesn't mean you don't have the right to choose.

I hear many people say I was born this way. The truth is that we were born either male or female (Genesis 5:2), we were born into sin (Psalm 51:5), we were born fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), and we were born the nationality we are and with the genetic make-up our parents passed to us. After that, you learn from your parents and those around you and when you are old enough you start making your own choices.

When you are a baby it is things like touching the stove or listening when mom says no. When you are young its about what's you favorite color, who will be your friend, what outfit will you wear to school. As you get older its about what your job will be, who will you marry, will you have kids, where will you live. And we all struggle with will I do the right thing or the wrong thing. Everything we do is a series of choices that make up our lives. And we have the right to make those choices.

What we don't have the right to do is re-write the Word of God to fit our narrative. The Bible says what it says. Don't take from it or add to it. We often feel the need to do so because of the shame others put on us, not God himself. I was born this way or I was born into this comes out of that. You can't make a decision and then say it is of God because I was born this way when there is a direct contradiction to that logic in the Bible. For example, I can't be out here sleeping with everything that moves when the Bible says that fornication is wrong. Or I can't say that I stole for a noble cause and try to justify it by saying Jesus would want me to have it when the Bible says that stealing is wrong period.

We all say we want to choose life however that is not always reflected in our actions because we want to make choices that won't receive backlash or hardship. In this way, we often times choose bitterness over joy; Sorrow over happiness; Jail over freedom. We want to then blame others for why our life is so hard but in truth while yes others can make life difficult we still can chose how we move within that difficulty. If I am enslaved or imprisoned I can still rejoice (Acts 16:25-34). If I am poor I can still find the good and focus on those things. When others curse me I can make the choice to not respond because I know I am in good company with the likes of Jesus, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul.

In America's society today we want to be able to do what we want without consequence. We want all the good consequences and none of the bad. But, that is not how life works. Look, we all have the ability and the God given right to make choices in how we live our lives. But we then have to be ready for the result of those choices. For example, if you go to the petting zoo, you want to feed the animals and touch them but don't want to get licked or bit. However, those can be a consequence of feeding the animals at the petting zoo.

Even Jesus had a choice. When He was in the Garden and He spoke to God He asked if this burden of death could be taken from him. In that moment he had the choice to throw in the towel, pack it all up and go back home. Instead, he said Not my will but thy will be done (Matthew 26:36-46). When Satan came to him and tempted him after he hadn't eaten in days he made the choice to resist temptation (Matthew 4:1-11).

God in the Bible continually gives us choices (Deuteronomy 30:19-20, Joshua 24:15) and examples of choices (Jonah, Moses, David). He says you can do this or you can do that. And in each scenario we see the consequence- good or bad - of that choice; One choice brings blessing and one choice brings cursing.

The wonderful thing about God is that He loves us in spite of our choices. And each day we wake up we get another chance to get it right. Only one choice defines your eternity and it is the choice to accept the Gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ. The other choices I make determine how my life will shake out on this earth but the choice I made for Christ will live on forever.

Do you choose Christ today? You just have to confess with you mouth that you believe He died for your sins and accept Him into your heart. Moses, David, Abraham, Isaac all made terrible decisions in their lifetimes (many that would disqualify them in the eyes of the Church today) but they all sit in Heaven with the Lord. Why? Because they chose Him.

Choose Life. Choose Christ.

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

Suicide Does Not Mean You Are Going To Hell

People make me sick sometimes. When someone loses a loved one no matter how they lose a loved one it is incredibly difficult.

To tell them that their loved one is going to hell because they committed suicide is inhumane, unkind, unloving and untrue.

Nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus 

Romans 8:31-39

If you are saved you cannot lose your salvation. God doesn’t take His gifts back once He gives them. Once you accept His gift of salvation He doesn’t take it back. Peter literally said he didn’t know Jesus 3 times and he got into the kingdom.

What happened to compassion?

Jesus was always sensitive to the grief and suffering of others especially when a family member died. He himself cried when his dear friend Lazarus died (John 11).

I don’t know where this idea that you automatically go to Hell if you commit suicide came from but this is another one of those Sunday stories that were told to you so you wouldn’t do it.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say this.

What it does say is that there is nothing (if we accept Christ) that can separate us from the the love of Jesus. Not. Even. Death. (Romans 8:31-39)

As Christians we are supposed to be God’s representatives on earth. If we are being cold and heartless we represent Him not at all. Every opportunity Jesus had to condemn when the Pharisees and the world would condemn he did not (John 8:1-11 is a perfect example of this).

People, many Christians in particular, are so eager to tell people they are going to hell in a way very similar to the Pharisees of Jesus' day. What is that about? We need to check ourselves because the person if JESUS were alive today the person he would rebuke is not the grieving family but the Christian for being so insensitive especially when they themselves are not living right.

I have dealt with the struggle of suicide and it’s something that I will fight against for the rest of my life just like any alcoholic or drug addict. Once it enters your consciousness it will constantly try to convince you you're not good enough and the world would be better off without you. Those who commit this act seem fine or normal to everyone around them. For me I have learned and decided that my life is worth living for me and the people that love me and that God will give me the strength I need to face what I must face.

To those who has lost a loved one to this ugly thing called suicide I am so sorry and I grieve with you but find comfort in the fact that they no longer suffer, that they loved you and don’t want you to wonder why. Never wonder why but remember who they were and what you loved about them because that is what they would have wanted.

And if you are suffering talk to someone because you are smart, you are important, you are loved and NOTHING is more valuable than you just as you are.

We are in this together. Be blessed.

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

Note - Suicide also is not selfish. Many people think it is and will tell you so but that is their own selfishness speaking. Many times those who are struggling think they would be a burden and think that by leaving they will no longer be that burden; they believe themselves to be acting selflessly because they think everyone would be better off if they were gone.

Listen to the Pressure of Being Gifted

"You are born looking like your daddy but you will die looking like your decisions" - Pastor Keion Henderson

This is a great word that spoke to my heart. This journey I am on, Lord I don't know what you are doing but I will keep fighting to be who you want me to be.

I love Elevation Church.

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

Praise Break - Take Me Back

We are talking the Gift of Relationship and this has to be one on my favorite songs by Anointed.

It's saying Take Me Back because God has never left us, we walked away and the amazing things about God is that He is always willing and able to take us back.

♯♭I don't love you like I used to
When nothing came between my god and me
And somehow it seems I've lessened my dependence
And wonder why it's not the way it used to be

But I'm ready to learn how to faithfully love you
With my heart, my soul and my mind
Take me back, take me back
To the time I fell in love

I don't serve you like I used to
'Cause I'm too busy serving me
And I don't spend the time with you I need to

And wonder why my soul cannot find peace ♭

But I'm ready to learn how to faithfully serve you

With my hands, my life and my time

Take me back, take me back

To the time I fell in love

(Take me back, take me back, take me back there)

In love

(Take me back, take me back, take me back there)

I fell in love

(Take me back, take me back, take me back there)

In love

I don't love you like I used to

When nothing came between my God and me

But I'm ready to learn how to faithfully love you

With my heart, my soul and my mind

Read more: Anointed - Take Me Back Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

The Gift of Relationship

It wasn’t until I was much older that I truly understood that Salvation was more than a get out of hell free card.

I accepted Christ when I was a little girl. Partly because I had the fear of God in me but also because even as a child I understood the value of being loved no matter what you do.

I have leaned on that truth constantly throughout my life.

I often identified with Mary the mother of Jesus when it says she held these things in her heart Luke 2:19). I am very much like that. The words that people say to me or sow into me go straight to my heart, both good and bad. The good things can take me high but the bad things always take me real low and they linger.

Being told you are not good enough even when you did your best or being excluded or being disqualified for no reason or being tossed aside for making a mistake messes with you.

I often go to God in these moments God often comes to me and whispers to me but I love you, you are enough.

This relationship has been crucial in my life because I am able to lean on the fact that if no one else loves me, if no one else sees my purpose and value, God does.

His Word says

You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14)
I have a plan for you (Jeremiah 29:11)
You are so important to me that I know the number of the hairs on your head (Luke 12:7)
I will never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6)
I love you so much I sent my son to die for you and that is Priceless (John 3:16-17)
Nothing can separate you from my love (Romans 8:35-39)

Salvation not only saves you from the fire it gives you a friend, a comforter, a healer, a way maker, a life changer. You can leave and He will still be there. You can be on a sinning binge, messing all the way up and you come back to God and say Lord I messed up, please forgive me and you are forgiven, the sin forgotten (Micah 7:18-20) and His promises still true.

Sin can mess this relationship up. Not because God leaves us but because we leave God. God is perfect and oftentimes when we are doing our own thing and not following his example we move away from God cuz we want to do what we doing without rebuke. We don’t want to think twice about it or feel bad about it.

It can happen slowly but eventually you look up and realize that stuff is just a mess and you don’t feel the presence of God like you used to.

When we say that sin keeps us from God we get it wrong. It’s not that He leaves us, because He has promised to never leave, it’s that we walk way from Him and the distance between us is the number of our unrepented sin.

For me though distance from God is torturous and often I run back because life is sweeter, I’m stronger, I fight harder, I love deeper, my self-confidence and self-worth is higher because I know who I am in Christ. I am loved and supported and seen, not forgotten. Aren’t these all the things we want in life?

I invite you to have a deeper relationship with God. Not the one that people said you deserve or have to work to get. The relationship that God has always wanted with us. The one that HE had with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

݉♭And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own.

And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other, has ever known.♭♯

Accept Christ today. Just confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, Believe it in your heart and Accept the gift and you are saved. Don't miss out on the unconditional love of God. The Gift of Relationship.

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

Is the Bible Misogynistic?

I read in the Facebook comments of an article that God is misogynistic and it troubled my spirit. I am all about girl power. And I have always believed that women are just as important to God as men. We are all God's children. If the Bible and therefore God is misogynistic how could I believe in that?

The fact is, I have never believed that the Bible or God is misogynistic. Why? It’s simple really.

1. God says that there are two great commandments and one of them is love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:35-40). If I truly live this commandment I could not be misogynistic because I would treat others the way I want to be treated; with respect, kindness, love and without prejudice.
2. Using the logic from one if I’m not following that commandment I’m sinning and sin is not of God because He is sinless (2 Corinthians 5:21).
3. If God is not sinless than the Bible, His Word is not true and the whole basis of the Christian faith is moot and therefore none of it is true (2 Timothy 3:14-17).

Therefore, The Bible is not misogynistic.

People are misogynistic, God is not. 

I have met my fair share of misogynistic pastors and Christians. They look down on women and believe we are to serve them. Using the verse wives submit your husband (Ephesians 5:22). Eliminating the part where it tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. To love their wives like they love their own bodies, their ownselves (Ephesians 5:22-33). 

How many husbands do you see loving like Jesus did while he was on earth?


So let’s debunk this and see why I don’t believe God is misogynistic.

• Rahab is in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17) - if you don’t know Rahab, read her story here in Joshua 2. But to summarize she was a gentile (none Jewish) prostitute who provided shelter for Israelite spies. Most people would never include her in the lineage of the Savior of the world but God did. Because God looks at the heart.
• Deborah was a Judge of Israel (Judges 4 & 5). She was the final authority in matters of justice, she summoned the commander of the armies, they went to battle on her command from God and during battle the victory was delivered by a woman, Jael, not a man.
• Mary Magdalene - Jesus appeared to her first. (BibleGateway gives an great account of who she was. Read it here) Yeah the disciples were all men (which is prudent in my opinion so that not one could ever accuse Jesus of impropriety) but when Jesus rose from the dead He showed himself to her first. She was His most devoted follower and she immediately believed and told the others she saw Him. He didn't need to prove anything to her. Women's intuition.
• Anna - Jesus was heralded by Anna as the Messiah. She had been a faithful prophetess, serving the Lord Jesus in the temple since becoming a widow. 84 years! This was such a big announcement, such a big moment in history and God trusted her to made it.
• Esther saved the entire Israelite nation from extinction. Let me say that again for the folks in the back. THE ENTIRE NATION. Without her there would be no Israel. Period.

In the Bible God portrays women as strong, loyal, faithful, righteous, powerful and integral pieces of the story and His story. How is that misogynistic?

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

Sin=Death, but Grace...

Is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We get it all wrong when we tell people they are going to hell. So let me debunk some myths. Being gay doesn’t mean you are going to hell. Cursing doesn’t mean you are going to hell. Having sex before marriage doesn’t mean you are going to hell. Wearing skirts, having an abortion, voting for a female president, getting pregnant out of wedlock does not mean you are going to hell. _________ does not mean you are going to hell. In the blank please add that thing that was told to you in Sunday school so you wouldn’t do it.

So the question isn’t what makes you go to hell. According to the Bible, the moment we were born we had a one way ticket there.

There are no levels to this. There is no sin that is better than the next or is a little better or is a little worse than the others. The result of all of it is the same. No relationship with God and an eternity burning.

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"

Romans 6:23

So, The better question is how do I make sure that ticket is never punched? The answer is quite simple. Accept Christ.

The Church has made this more difficult than it actually is also. The blueprint is very simple though. First, confess, believe and receive. Romans 10:9-10

♭No you can't get to heaven without, S-A-L-V-A-T-I-O-N♭ 

Acts 16:31

Confess-with your mouth that you are a sinner, that Jesus came to earth, died for your sins, Rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the father making sure that you prayers get to Him. (Jesus is Lord)

Believe-now that you said it you gotta believe it. People fake the funk and say a lot of things but in order for it to be real to God, you gotta believe it and He knows if you believe it or not.

Accept-this is actually the hardest part of the whole experience because for many of us myself included we’ve been told our whole lives we are unqualified or unworthy of salvation and God’s Love. But throw that BS away. Just accept the gift. Your get out of hell free card.

The only difference between me and you is that I have accepted the gift. I still cuss, I get mad, I lust after people, I’ve fornicated, I lie to get myself out of trouble sometimes, there have been times when I’ve been out of pocket or disrespectful. I’m not saying this to endorse these things cuz they are wrong but I say it to say I’m not perfect. I’m just a person saved by Grace.

I will continue to sin for the rest of my life. It is in my nature. That’s what we humans do. But, when I do these things I repent because you don’t abuse a gift as great as this. (I’ll talk more about this in my next post The Gift of Relationship). When I mess up, when life is f-ed up, when ish hits the fan and I have no money, an eviction notice in my hand and no where to go I turn to Jesus and I know I will make it. I know that no matter what I have done God still loves me, God still got me and even in my best attempt to mess it ALL up God has a bright future for me.

As long as we have breath God has given us another day to get it right. I strive each day to make God proud because when no one else saw me, He looked down at me covered in sin and all the things people put on me and said, you are worth my gift. Will you accept it?

So I say to you: God is saying forget what people have said to you. You’ve done bad stuff? So has everyone else in heaven (except Jesus and God the Father). Will you accept His gift?

Will you just believe and receive S-A-L-V-A-T-I-O-N?

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW