Little Big Horn

Chances are, you have never heard of Thomas J. Stowers. In fact, if it were not for a small grave marker in Odd Fellow Cemetery in Baxter, Tennessee, his story might be lost forever. This marker preserves a piece of history that even the most astute history student might miss.

The gravestone reads as follows: Thomas J. Stowers, December 3, 1848-July 25, 1933 Enlisted September 3, 1864-Private Co. D 199 Regiment Served in the 7th Calvary after Civil War. Was sole survivor of General Custer’s massacre June 25, 1876.

History tells us that there were no survivors of that fateful battle, which occurred this week in 1876, except one horse named Comanche, who was found in a thicket with seven arrows stuck in him. However, Mr. Stowers’ marker tells us something quite different. His story that he told until his death is worth re-telling.

The story that has been passed down about him is that the reason he was able to survive was prior to the commencement of the battle, Stowers had been placed in a supply wagon because of an extreme case of intoxication. During the battle, the supply wagon was turned over, and he lay hidden beneath it.

Now, before historians and the like begin contacting me about the validity of Mr. Stowers’ story, allow me to acknowledge that there were as many as fifty people who “claimed” to have survived the battle. Most of them have been written off as “yarnspinners”. However, most of these didn’t take their tale so far as to be written on their grave marker. Whether the Stowers story is true or not, I think it illustrates a great point for us as Christians.

I have been preaching through a series entitled “The Battlefield”. We are discussing the spiritual warfare we are all engaged in, (Ephesians 6:12) and where those battlefields occur in our lives. We fight this battle at work, school, home, and even church. There are those who fight valiantly in this war, but there are many more who have been so “intoxicated” by the ways of the world, that they have no idea that a battle is even going on. They are sung to sleep by the hum of the world’s noise, and only awaken when the wagon they are riding on overturns.

Even then, many choose to stay out of the battle. They cower under some kind of cover to try to ride out the storm outside. They hear the sounds of war, but they choose to stay safely hidden. The problem, however, is that sooner or later, they are going to have to give an account to the general as to their role in the war. They will either be met with a medal of honor, and greeted with “well done my good and faithful servant”, or a verdict of treason and a sentence of “depart from Me”.

There is a story about a Scottish noble named Robert the Bruce, who led Scotland to independence in the 1300’s. He requested that at his death, his heart be preserved and taken on crusade by a worthy knight. James Douglas took on the responsibility.

In 1330, Douglas was engaged in a battle he realized he could not win. He was wearing the king’s heart around his neck. He took the heart, threw it into the enemy’s ranks, and cried out to his men, “Fight for the heart of your king!”

How long will you allow the battle to rage around you while you sleep? What will you do when your wagon is overturned and you find yourself in the middle of a war? Will you hide and try to ride it out, or will you fight well for the heart of your King?

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:12-16)

Cell Phone Tree

I was leaving North Augusta this week, headed for Augusta. As I turned left onto Highway 25, I noticed this funny looking tree behind the Publix shopping center. It was very tall, and rather scraggly. It towered over everything, and its limbs were spaced widely apart. I did not remember seeing it there before.

As I drove closer to it, I realized that it was not a tree at all. It was a cell phone tower. No, my eyes are not so bad that I don’t know the difference. The reason I could not identify it sooner was because it was a cell phone tower disguised as a tree.

In an effort to make the tower seem more like part of the landscape, the company had made the pole look like bark and the receivers look like limbs. The result looks like a very out of place, very tall, unhealthy pine tree.

I was only fooled for a few seconds. The fact of the matter is, even though it was disguised, it was still a cell phone tower. I’m quite sure that the residents of North Augusta have mixed emotions about the cell tree.

The problem is that either way, the tower is not exactly appealing. I suppose the decision is the lesser of the two evils. Either you have an unattractive cell tower looming over the city, or you have an equally unattractive, bad imitation of a tree.

Personally, I would go for the former. This portion of North Augusta isn’t what I would call rural. There are stores, restaurants, power lines, and lots of traffic. I never noticed there was a cell tower there until they tried to make it look like a tree.

When I was a banker and still running as hard as I could from God, I had an interesting experience. I was at lunch in downtown Greenville. There are many people who work downtown that were dressed like me. I was wearing the standard suit and tie of a banker, and was surrounded by other businesspeople that were also waiting for lunch. A man, who was dressed very casually, came up to me and asked if I was a preacher.

I, of course, replied that I was not. He said “Are you sure?” I told him again that I was not a preacher. He then said “I’m sorry, you just look like one.”

I left there puzzled. Why on earth did he think I was a preacher? I was dressed like all the other businesspeople and I was not holding a Bible or anything that might look like one. Why did he say that? I wanted so badly to find him and ask “What made you think I was a preacher?”

After being a pastor for almost three years now, I understand. You see, I can wear whatever I want, I can put on any mask that I like, and I can try to behave like the world in order to fool them into thinking I’m like them. The truth is, that because I belong to God, others can see the difference, no matter how I try to hide it. I can try to disguise myself, like that cell phone tower, but others only see me trying to be something I’m not.

When we Christians do this, we are fooling nobody but ourselves. God knows who we are inside, and the world knows when we are behaving inconsistently with who we really are as children of God. Stop wasting the effort it takes to put on the disguise, and live your life in the fullness of Christ’s love. Just like the cell phone tower, the world may not like you any more or less, but at least you won’t be a poor imitation of something you are not.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25)

The Truth

If you do not have an e-mail address, some will say you are not in touch with the times. However, on some days, I believe the “e” in e-mail stands for “evil.” Those of us who send and receive messages through this particular portal, know it can be very frustrating at times.

We get fake Amber Alert messages. We are told that if we forward a certain e-mail to at least 10 friends then Bill Gates will send us some money. We are regaled with heart wrenching or inspiring stories that are supposed to be true, but turn out to be a story that was fabricated years ago.

One such example that I received last week is the story of Jay Leno’s essay on the blessings we have in America. The following is an excerpt from the e-mail.

A recent Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence 2/3 of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, 'What are we so unhappy about?’ Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 Days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year? Maybe it is the ability to drive our cars and trucks from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?(Attributed to Jay Leno)

The essay goes on to list other things that we have to be thankful for. While this is a great essay, it was not penned by Jay Leno. It was authored by Craig R. Smith of the World Net Daily. I found the true author of this essay in a matter of seconds online.

This is a great example of how rumors get around. All it takes is one person to carelessly give out information, others to halfway hear and repeat it, and many more to pass it along as fact while never checking to see if it is true. How many times have you told the story about the man who was not hired by the CEO of a large company because he salted his food at lunch without tasting it? That one’s not true either.

While some don’t really think this is very damaging in the big scheme of things, I do. The danger in passing along undocumented information, that happened to a “friend of a friend”, is twofold. First of all we begin to doubt everything we hear or read. The second danger is that we begin to believe everything we hear and read. The first danger is that of cynicism and skepticism, and the second is gullibility.

After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, many people were displaced from their customs and ways of life. As a result, in the generations to follow, the ability to read and write was something a commoner did not need. Therefore, over time this ability was lost. In many cases, only the church retained the art of reading and writing.

Because the people could not read the scriptures for themselves, they became prey for corrupt priests who knew the commoners would believe anything they were told. The people were slaves, in a sense; to the church because they did not question the information they were given.

Today we have more information available to us than ever before. We have entire libraries at our fingertips, on the internet. Many people had the opportunity to watch the Mars landing live last week, and we can follow a storm with the radar on our own home computer.

What are we doing with this access to information? Are we really squandering our time and resources by spreading rumors and gossip even faster? What if we use this resource to study God’s word to learn the real Truth? What if instead of forwarding a joke that has been making the rounds since 1942, we make sure people hear about the love of Christ?

I challenge you to make sure the words from your lips, e-mails, texts and letters are true. If people can’t believe you in everyday subjects, why should they believe you when you talk to them about Jesus?

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker. (2 Timothy 2:15-17)

Debt

Debt is a term that many of us are painfully well acquainted with. Debt is that guest that enters into our lives hat soon can become a permanent yet unwanted part of our family. So many of us are so entangled with it that we fear we will never be released.

If we feel this way, we are not alone. Consider these facts:
· The average family in credit card debt carries a balance of $4000 on several cards from month to month
· In the year ended June 30, 2004 there were 1,599,986 personal bankruptcy filings.
· The average household has 10 credit cards and the average interest rate is 18.9 %
· Americans paid out approximately $65 billion in interest last year alone.

Debt has become a way of life for many people. When faced with a large purchase many of us do not ask the question “can I afford it?”, but ask “can I afford the payments?”

Sometimes debt takes us by surprise. Imagine the shock Yahaya Wahab of Malaysia felt when he opened his phone bill a while back.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Malaysian man said he nearly fainted when he received a $218 trillion phone bill and was ordered to pay up within 10 days or face prosecution, a newspaper reported Monday. Yahaya Wahab said he disconnected his late father's phone line in January after he died and settled the $23 bill, the New Straits Times reported. But Telekom Malaysia later sent him a $218 trillion bill for recent telephone calls along with orders to settle within 10 days or face legal proceedings, the newspaper reported. It wasn't clear whether the bill was a mistake, or if Yahaya's father's phone line was used illegally after his death."If the company wants to seek legal action as mentioned in the letter, I'm ready to face it," the paper quoted Yahaya as saying. "In fact, I can't wait to face it," he said.

I don’t know if any of you have $218 trillion lying around anywhere, but I would never be able to pay such a debt. Our sin is much like that phone bill. We were created as perfect people in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve sinned and separated us from God. When we tried throughout history to make atonement for our sin through sacrifice to God, it was like making a minimum interest only payment on a $218 trillion dollar debt. We were getting nowhere fast.

God decided that the only way to help us was to forgive our debt completely. Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice, the embodiment of forgiveness for our debt. As the old Hymn goes, Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

This week, my prayer is that you realize the magnitude of our debt that has been forgiven. Jesus paid the price for something he did not do, and that we could not possibly afford. When the sinful woman washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair, He told this story that embodies the significance of His sacrifice.

"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." (Luke 7:36-47 NIV)

Ticket Trouble

As I have said in the past, I haven’t always been a pastor. Just like many of you reading this, I have done my share of things I wish I hadn’t. Looking back now, I see how incredibly disobedient to God I was, and at the same time, realize how fortunate I was to have a Heavenly father watching out for me.

My inability to comply with traffic laws was one of those areas of disobedience. I am no stranger to being pulled over by the police. I have had speeding tickets, fender-bender tickets and parking tickets. However, I have to tell you that I have now learned better, and I now drive much slower. If you see me speeding, you know there is a very good reason.

At one time, however, it was a series of parking tickets that got me into trouble. I had some very good friends who attended Clemson University. In fact, I met my wonderful wife through these friends. Being able to park right outside of an apartment building in Clemson is nearly impossible. You almost have to park in a handicap space to even get close.

I did not go to Clemson, so I thought it would be just fine to park in the handicap space. The first time I got a ticket, I just ripped it up and threw it away. I thought “They are just campus police; they won’t find me since I am not a student.” Furthermore, I was driving demonstrator cars from my dad’s car dealership. I drove a different car very frequently, so I thought that would make it harder for them to catch me.

Ticket after ticket came to be placed on my windshield, and one after the other I threw them away. Finally, I started to leave one day, and could not find my car. It was not where it was earlier! I went to the campus police station to inquire about it. They told me that they did indeed have my car and they would gladly turn it over to me when I paid the $375.00 fine that had mounted from my unpaid parking tickets. Of course, I had to come up with the money, and pay it.

I thought I had outsmarted the police. I thought I had gotten away with my crime. The Clemson police finally made me pay for my insolence.

We tend to be like that with God. We think that because other people do not see our sinfulness, God cannot either. We may not confess to believing that way, but our actions tell a different story. What do you do when nobody is looking that God doesn’t approve of? Would you do it if others knew? I rest my case.

Some of us are also like the lady in Calumet, Michigan, who got a parking ticket back in September of 1976, and sent the money to pay for it just last week. The ticket, a $20 bill and a note arrived at police headquarters last month in a plain white envelope with no return address. The note read: "I always had good intentions of paying it. I put it aside and every once in a while I would come across it and say 'Someday I'm going to pay it.' Now I think it's time." We always think we have more time to atone for our wrongs.

Wouldn’t it be easier if we just admitted to wrongdoings; to others and to God, before we are caught? Why do we think we can continue forever in disobedience to God with no punishment?
The Israelites had that kind of mentality. They thought they could just go forever worshipping other gods and denying the one who created them. They paid no attention to the prophets who told them to repent or risk God’s wrath. They thought He wouldn’t, or thought He couldn’t, carry out the promised punishment. However, in 586 B.C., not only was Jerusalem conquered by the Babylonians, but it was leveled and God’s temple was destroyed.

Many of us today have the idea that God isn’t there anymore. We think maybe He will not punish us for our insolence. We think we have gotten away with it and there will be no punishment, no judgment, and no hell. But one day, we will find our car that we parked illegally, is no longer in the place where we left it, and we will need to pay the price for our sin. Doesn’t it seem like a better idea to stop being so arrogant, pray to God, ask for forgiveness, and stop doing the things that displease God now, rather than pay the terrible price for disobedience before His throne later? Just confess your sinfulness to Him, ask Him to show you what needs to be corrected, correct it, and He will be faithful to forgive and reward you with life forever with Him.

If my people, which 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. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

The Sheepdog

When I was in seminary I was labeled as somewhat of a rebel. This was mainly because I challenged some of the thinking that was taught there. Don’t get me wrong, I never questioned the authority of the Bible, or the existence of God. I simply questioned some of the teachings in some less Biblically based classes like Church Administration.

Prior to entering seminary I had some experience in automobile sales. I had been trained by the best car salesperson in the business; my dad. He wouldn’t even let me step foot on the sales lot until I had completed a two week one-on-one, personal training, at home, with him. My job during the day, while he was at work, was to watch training and motivational videos. Then when he got home, we ate supper and went to the upstairs bonus room to talk about what I had learned that day and role play.

I tell you this because it was during this, and in the ongoing training I received in the car business, that I learned basic business practices. I knew what the latest business growth models were, and how to apply them. When I got to seminary, I realized that the models for church growth were simply “renamed” business growth models. I spoke up and asked many times, “Whatever happened to just lifting Christ up for all to see? He said if we do that then He will draw all to Him.”

I believe we should always lift up Jesus Christ first. It’s not our job to grow the church. It’s His. We work for Him. He calls the shots. Not us.

One of the other things that I chose to fight in that class was the idea of being a shepherd. The instructor continued to refer to us as the shepherd of the flock. While I realize this is common terminology in reference to the pastor, I believe we are much less than shepherds. Jesus is the Great Shepherd. As pastors, we are just sheepdogs. The flock is His. We are not worthy to even be guarding them. We are just doing the hard, dirty work of a sheepdog.

We do what the Shepherd tells us. We try our best to corral the flock. If one goes astray, we try to rescue it. We live with the flock, eat with the flock, and spend our whole day and night with the flock. We are one of them, except for our calling.

Pastors, you are very important to the work of the Master. However, you are not in charge. We are only sheepdogs to God’s flock. Do your work obediently and faithfully.

I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it's like to be a leader, in on Christ's sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here's my concern: that you care for God's flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way. When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he'll see that you've done it right and commend you lavishly. (1Peter 5:1-5 The Message)

Are you a Knut?

Do you sometimes struggle to do what is right? Of course you do. We all do. Sometimes it seems easy to make the right choices. At other times, it is much easier to do what is sinful. We all know the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” However, how may of us truly do this day in and day out?

You are not alone in this. Every person who has ever lived, has wrestled with sinfulness. Even Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert. He passed the test, but He would not have been fully human had He not been at least tempted to take the Devil’s deal. We are certainly not better than Christ; therefore, we are also tempted by the lies of Satan.

Why do we do this? Our sinful nature inclines us to wander away from God. It all started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed for the first time. Since then, it is in our nature to shun God’s ways for our own self-satisfying desires. The only hope for reconciliation with God is the salvation offered to us by Christ.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “You can take the man out of Edgefield, but you can’t take Edgefield out of the man?” (Well, maybe you didn’t hear it quite that way, but you get the idea.) It is true that left to our own devices, we will always regress to our evil ways.

I read a story recently about a polar bear named Knut that is a resident of the Berlin Zoo. He was born in captivity, abandoned by his mother and raised by the zookeepers. He was a gentle bear, but eventually grew to weigh over 300 pounds. Several weeks ago, Knut made headlines again, because he decided that the carp in the moat that surrounded him would make a tasty snack. He ate ten of them in front of a group of zoo visitors. An article by Aaron Hotfelder read:

Knut, the once-cute celebrity polar bear turned vicious killer, is at the center of a controversy over his brutal slaughter of ten carp at the Berlin Zoo. The massive polar bear, who has lived at the zoo since birth, apparently fished the carp out of the moat surrounding him and ripped them to shreds in front of several disgusted zoo patrons.

What exactly did they expect? As at least one journalist put it so well, “Umm...HE'S A POLAR BEAR!" Just because they put him in a zoo, feed him and love him, does not change the fact that bears like fish! Put fish in a moat around a polar bear and his nature is to eat them unless you can change the nature of a bear.

Unless something can change our nature from sinful to righteous we are always going to flounder. (Pardon the pun.) Fortunately for us, there is a life changing power that can change us. The love of Jesus Christ has made a way for us to make that change by surrendering our lives to Him. Only God, who created us, can change our nature, and He did it by dying for us. Because He died and rose again to defeat death, we can have a new heart, a new life, and a new nature through Jesus Christ.

For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power. For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me(Romans 7:14-20 HCS)

Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19-20 NKJV)