A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

A little about my background. I was an atheist for the first 45 years of my life. In 2000 many different, seemingly unrelated chains of events came together in my life, and my eyes were opened. . . I saw what a fool I had been for my disbelief. I clearly remember how negatively I used to view Christianity and Christians. I saw nothing positive at all, no redeeming value in Christianity. 15 years after coming to Christ, obviously today my view is completely different. I was so wrong on every aspect of my distaste for Christianity. 1. It looked so boring to me to be a Christian. So many of my ‘fun’ things to do, were centered around sin. I greatly enjoyed smoking, drinking, and gambling, and I could not imagine having fun without these as integral components of my fun. Drinking especially was important to me. A night out playing pool or playing cards or a cookout, a camping trip, a gathering of friends or going out to eat all involved drinking for enjoyment. . . . Yes,

Matthew 23:25-27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. (26) Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. (27) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Both from personal experience, and in my ministry I have experienced first, and second hand the frustration, and fruitlessness of attempting to apply goodness, and righteousness from the outside and expecting it to ever migrate all the way through. I chuckle at the similarity. . . this morning I am preparing to make pulled pork on the smoker. Last night I created a strong brine solution of a cup of salt per gallon of water, and I soaked the pork loins in this for about 12 h

Years ago Jackie and I were camping down at the Salamonie State River Forest campground with Connie Smith my mother-in-law and Jack Smith my father-in-law. Across the road from our campsite was a rough woodsy area, traversed by a tiny rill. This small bit of water bubbled up from alongside the road and with a twisted course of tiny flows, dribbling falls, and shallow pools, ran a crooked course a hundred yards or so from hillside spring to where it joined the Salamonie River. My father-in-law is a man of many varied romantic talents. . . underwater demolition, and construction expert. Among other fascinating adventures, he had traveled the country cutting up and salvaging underwater train wrecks. . . he dove for mother of pearl shells in the Mississippi River, performed construction and welding various metal works in the waterfront of Lake Michigan. . . and had for a time panned for gold out west. That had always intrigued me and on that hot summer day, I asked him to show me

What is a Christian? The ‘ian’ suffix attached to a word means that it is related to, or like, or belonging to. So a Christian would denote being related to, or like, or belonging to Christ. In my meditations considering this, there seem to me to be three dimensions of being a Christian. The first dimension: 1.Do you call yourself a Christian? The first level of being a Christian is whether you believe yourself to be one. It is hard to imagine the circumstance of being a Christian without first considering yourself one. A recent ABCNEWS beliefnet poll conducted in the summer of 2015 reported that: Eighty-three percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Most of the rest, 13 percent, have no religion. That leaves just 4 percent as adherents of all non-Christian religions combined — Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and a smattering of individual mentions. For the past 14 years, I have ministered in a local jail and I speak with easily hundreds of people each y

I believe everyone has at one time or another, been driving in the wee hours of the morning, and have been totally alone on the road. It’s as if the whole world is asleep, and you are the only one awake. . . and you happen to come to a stop light, which is red in your direction. As far as the eye can see ahead of you, and behind you. . . to your left, and to your right there are no car lights even in the far distance to be seen. How long do you wait? How long before the little voice in your head says to you, “Just go on through. . . It is senseless to stop for no one. . .no one will see. . . no one will know. . . it will make no difference” Have you given in to this urge? I know that I have. . . knowing that I am breaking the law, but deciding that for that place and time, the law is senseless, and is not important to keep. It takes a very disciplined person, never to have run a red light when there is no possibility of anyone else seeing it. It’s about as much of a victi

The past few weeks Jackie and I have been watching the series ‘Breaking Bad’ on Netflix. The scenario is of a high school chemistry teacher, who is diagnosed with lung cancer, and to help pay for his treatment, he turns to manufacturing meth as a way to make money. I find a peek into this world, fascinating for the fact that I am in regular contact with the after effects of meth addiction in my personal life. . . my best friend Matthew Yeater was blinded by an explosion that occurred while cooking meth himself, and in my ministry. . . many many of the people we minister to in the jail a there via their use or manufacture of meth. I don’t know how realistic the show is, in its portrayal of meth addiction, and the cooking of it, etc., but one thing I do find realistic, from my outside looking in perspective, is how this man thought somehow that he could just stick his toe into this world of meth, and so very quickly he was immersed up to his neck. This jives pretty closely with

Years ago Jackie and I were driving in the mountains of West Virginia looking for a camp site. We finally found one at the top of a mountain in the Bear Heaven recreation area. The road to the mountain, was just a one lane trail, more than a proper road. There was no way that two cars could pass on this very narrow twisting dirt path around the mountain. As a flatlander, I distinctly remember white-knuckling the steering wheel, as we navigated the switchbacks up the side of this mountain. I told Jackie, that if we met someone coming the other way, that I was going to get out of the car and throw my keys over the side of the mountain, so that I could not be forced to back my way down the mountain. It was a new experience. It was very scary. . . very uncomfortable to me. I imagine that the locals, people who navigated roads like that regularly, found no big discomfort in that situation at all, but to me it raised my heart rate, and blood pressure, about the same as if I wa

Our world is a changing. . . This morning I renewed my license plates online. A very painless process. It took less than 2 minutes, and I’d never done it before. I had to create an account and password, security question, etc., and even with that, in less than 2 minutes my new license plates were on their way to me. . . Compare that to the frustration of years ago, heading to the license branch on the last day of the month with everyone else whose name began with ‘S’, and as you finally found a parking space, glimpsed with trepidation your first view of a line threading out the door and around the building. . . knowing you had to endure at least an hour or maybe even two of waiting for the pleasure of paying for your license plates. . . now less than 2 minutes online and the plates are delivered to your door. Remembering payday years ago, and heading to the bank with your check in hand, again to stand in line to cash your check, or possibly hoping against hope that the cashi

Continuing to think on how coming to God has changed me, in maybe not so expected or visible ways. . . God has had a greatly moderating effect upon my life. My anger, my depression. . . in so many ways I am a calmer and steadier person since coming to God. One not so noticed way that I have become more temperant is in respect to my self pride. Like many. . . maybe most young people I came out of childhood and adolescence with a wounded and maybe somewhat fragile ego. I had a significant lack of self confidence, and feeling of low value. My military experience was a large help in giving me confidence, a feeling of competence and value. Going through Army basic training, and having success in my advanced training helped me greatly in my feeling of confidence and self worth. That shaky foundation may be covered over by subsequent experience and somewhat repaired, but is not easily healed. It continued to manifest itself, by my always being on the lookout for slights, and disres

Thoughts this morning. . . Thinking on how have I changed since coming to God? This is probably a question best answered by others, but these are my thoughts as to how I have been changed in the last 15 years. I hate sin.  Before coming to God, I knew that lying was not right. . . I knew that stealing was wrong. . . but I found ways to justify sin in spite of knowing right from wrong.  Now God hates sin, and I love God.  When I sin, I sin against Him.  I disrespect Him.  I hurt Him.  It drives a wedge between between God and I.  I hate sin because of the effect it has on my relationship with God.  This relationship is the most important.  This relationship is more important than the rules of right and wrong.  The relationship precedes the rules of right and wrong. . . I am not trying to apply the rules of right and wrong on the outside, but my hunger to be holy, and righteous comes from my heart. . . I loved my grandpa.  I imagine my grandpa’s face as God’s face, and

Jackie​, and I just love our dogs so much. You can tell the season is changing. All summer long our dogs were on the floor for most of the nights in front of a fan, seeking coolness. . . now with the recent change of cooler evenings, they are snuggled as close as possible to us. . . both gaining and providing warmth. . . Thinking of it, there are great advantages to being a member of a pack. . . to having friends, and family around us for mutual warmth. . . support and companionship. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. (10) For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. (11) Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? (12) And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. I have known several in my live who by choice lived very alon

The past few days, my heart has been burdened, and I have been waking up and praying in the wee hours of the night, and throughout the day. . . It is not always that I devote myself to such passionate prayer with purpose. I do speak with God, much of the day, every day, but more in the manner of conversationally speaking to my beloved best friend, rather than in focused and fevered intercessory prayer. I find fault in myself for not devoting more time to intercession. The needs are huge. There is an overflowing need in our world for God to act. . . heal, restore, reveal Himself. . . No shortage of topics for us to pray for. . . It dawns upon me, that it is not lack of discipline and strength of will within me, but lack of hunger. . . lack of heart. For now I have found a purpose, I find no lack of intercessory energy and dedication. The dramatic on camera murder today well illustrates this. A day never goes by when there are not many murders, but the drama of this one,

Thoughts this morning. . . Thinking on how have I changed since coming to God? This is probably a question best answered by others, but these are my thoughts as to how I have been changed in the last 15 years. 1. I hate sin. Before coming to God, I knew that lying was not right. . . I knew that stealing was wrong. . . but I found ways to justify sin in spite of knowing right from wrong. Now God hates sin, and I love God. When I sin, I sin against Him. I disrespect Him. I hurt Him. It drives a wedge between between God and I. I hate sin because of the effect it has on my relationship with God. This relationship is the most important. This relationship is more important than the rules of right and wrong. The relationship precedes the rules of right and wrong. . . I am not trying to apply the rules of right and wrong on the outside, but my hunger to be holy, and righteous comes from my heart. . . I loved my grandpa. I imagine my grandpa’s face as God’s face, and when