The Unfortunate Success of Training Lions to be Lambs

The Unfortunate Success of Training Lions to be Lambs

YOU GOTTA OPEN THIS LINK!

GELDING THE LION

Ride Em' Cowboy!

THE GELDING OF THE CHRISTIAN MAN
 by Kevin on May 4, 2011

     A popular website says “Gelding a male horse allows it to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday working animal.” Walk into a lot (not all) of traditional churches and this is exactly what they are doing to the men.
If you go talk to a man that doesn’t know Christ and ask him what he thinks a man that follows Christ acts like and looks like and you’ll probably get the definition of a sissy instead of a Christian. This is probably what he’d say:

I ain’t gonna be part of a group of men that all they do is sit around in their fancy shoes and sing Kum-Ba-Ya while holding hands. That church stuff teaches that if somebody punches you in the nose that you can’t do nothin’ but let ‘em hit you again–and love ‘em for hittin’ you.
I watch these “Christian Men” eating at the cafe after they get done with their sing alongs, and I’m tellin’ you they look gelded to me. There is no fire in their eyes. There’s a weakness about them in the way they carry themselves. All this hugging and loving stuff these churches are teaching ain’t doing nothing but gelding good men.

     How are we supposed to reach the lost when they think like this? How are we supposed to convince these outlaws and mavericks that Christ is the only way when it seems like the first thing the church does is take away their manhood.
     The first guys Jesus went and got were twelve MEN. We know for sure that five of them were fishermen and one of them was a mobster (they called ‘em tax collectors back then). Jesus picked these types of guys because he knew he needed strong, courageous, and honest men to learn from him and carry out his message.
     We forget sometimes that Peter would kick the crap out of you where the good Lord put a crack in you. He was constantly getting in trouble and cutting people’s ears off. Pete was quick tempered, opinionated, and absolutely loved by Jesus.
And let’s not forget James and John…the Sons of Thunder. Messengers were sent into a Samaritan village to announce that Jesus would be arriving there and the village didn’t welcome him. The Sons of Thunder wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn up every man, woman, and child in the village. Jesus didn’t let them, but I’m sure he loved their gusto in sticking up for him.
     You may think that I’m being sarcastic, but I have felt gelded ever since I became a preacher–but those days are over now.

• I still love you in every way, but if you are rude to me, I will try to walk away and forget. But if you continue to get in my face, I’m gonna love you enough not to let you do that.
• Your family isn’t perfect either. No longer will I sit here and let you tell me how bad my kids are or the fact that you don’t think what my wife is wearing is appropriate attire for a preacher’s wife.
• If you start causing problems and dissension in the church and you call yourself a Christian, I’m going to go to you in love and try to help you. If you continue, I’m going to throw you out on your head just like the Apostle Paul said to do.
• If you have the audacity to say it to me, then you’ll need the gumption to hear my response.

     God doesn’t want gelded men that are “calmer and better-behaved, making them quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday working animal.”
     He wants fierce warriors that are willing to follow him into battle against the gates of hell. He wants people that will be brave enough to make themselves a living sacrifice and ride through the rattlesnakes and coyotes to reach that lost sheep in the back corner of the pasture.
     Jesus is looking for people that want to call down fire from heaven for taking prayer out of school. He wants the attitude (not the deed) of Peter when people try to take him out of our society.
T     he Bible Studies are fantastic for strategic planning–but get off your butts and into the battle. Singing five hundred stanzas of a song is fantastic–but use that as a rally call for when you rush into the fight.
     We’ve got a bunch of good bible students and philosophers. What we need are more warriors. We need those cowboys and cowgirls that will ride with Jesus when he comes back and it not be their first battle.

11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16 NIV)

     When I get to heaven, I hope that I’m dirty, bloody, nasty, and beat to hell from the work I’ve been doing for God.
     The verse above says that God will clean me up with some clean clothes and I will ride back into battle one last time following the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Will you be riding with me?

http://campfirecowboyministries.com/2011/05/the-gelding-of-the-christian-man/

Touching Strangers: A Creepily Wonderful Concept

 

Touching Strangers: A Creepily

 

Wonderful Concept

 

TouchingStrangers 34-490x620 by Richard Renaldi
(Click for viewing the full set)

“Richard Renaldi  gets two or more strangers on the street and asks them to pose for a photograph while touching each other. It’s fascinating to see how some people are visibly uncomfortable, while others look completely at ease – like old friends, or lovers. Check out his photos…” by Brad Horn NPR

"Jesus Came And Touched Them..."

He touched them for many different reasons, but the gospels are clear that Jesus' example includes touching other people, and not just our fellow disciples. Then he commanded us "to do as I have done."  A command Peter again presents to Christians again in one of his epistles.

The American adverse response to touching, especially by men, is unprecedented in the rest of the world.  According to scripture it is disobedience to your saviour.  Remember American culture never trumps Christ.  Christ always trumps cultural.

Brad Horn In His Article About Renaldi and "Touching Strangers" States:

 For the complete article click here.

Holding the hand of a stranger is a creepy kind of wonderful. And asking strangers to touch each other might only seem creepy — but it has produced an awkwardly wonderful series by fine art photographer Richard Renaldi. "Touching Strangers," as he calls it, explores the physical buffer we use to feel comfortable around people we don't know — or in this case, the lack of a buffer.

"Generally when you ask two people to touch, they're going to do one of two things," the New York City-based artist explains. "They're either going to hold hands or put their arms around each other. But I think there can be much more interesting ways to touch each other."

So Renaldi traipses around New York or wherever he finds himself — Texas, Illinois, California, Florida — with his 8x10 view camera (a monster of an object — think Ansel Adams under a black cloth), looking for people who will put their hands on one another. How that happens, exactly, is different each time...

But this series isn't rooted in an art-school fascination with the obtuse — it's rooted in Renaldi's lamentation over one specific thing: our separation.

"Touching Strangers" drew inspiration from another project — a book called "Dear Friends, American Photographs Of Men Together From 1840-1918." He noticed not only how affectionate the men seemed, but also how they appeared completely relaxed about it.

"And when you look at those pictures you realize, 'Oh my goodness — This isn't what men do now,' " he says. "If you go to another country, you see men holding hands. I think they used to do that in America until something changed here..."

"Something I get a lot of, is people [wondering], 'What would I have done if I was asked? Would I have touched that person?' And I think that's really kind of cool."

Since his dedication to the project seems matched only by his wanderlust, you may want to come up with an answer to that question yourself. Indeed, Renaldi may soon be approaching a stranger near you. The result will be ... touching.

Wise Man or Fool

I'd Rather Be A Fool

For God

Than A Wise Man

Who Is Satan's Tool

In The Church

More Than Skin On Skin Sex

There's more to sex than mere skin on skin.

Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. . . . We must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never "become one." . . . In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for. . . ."becoming one" with another. Or didn't you realize that --

Your body is a sacred place...

A Lament For Those Strong Kansas Men

A LAMENT FOR THE LAND

A lament for those strong Kansas men who kill all emotion, leaving body, mind, and spirit with no soul in between.

And why not! When emotion makes your heart, your mind, break. Cuts life away from the spirit and soul so that unless the soul dies, the spirit will also break and die as even the physical heart begins to tighten in unendurable pain.

And then -- there are the men whose spirit has been broken by that enemy their fathers never prepared them shake, to master, - emotion. Men barely boys with no spirit, no soul, only a physical body - battered so that they at least feel alive - and a mind that can function only as long as no one disturbs the clockwork, a dull hum that at its core refuses to reflect, to live, to think, lest their mind die too.

And their sons - the generation whose fathers never taught them to master the mind, body, soul, or spirit. Mere boys in the bodies of men. Who have not even a will, for there is nothing left of manhood to give except an erected penis. And -oh - that organ is a master of diminishing returns whose will can not be fulfilled.

May God help the next sons - their sons! For what will be left when that which is animal dies.

We All Want And Need Friends.

Do You Have One? Are you man enough to be one!

Like the old porch light left burning on a harsh winter night, a true friend beckons us out of the cold to a place of safety and comfort.
We all want and need friends.

Friendships: Avoiding the Ones that Hurt, Finding the Ones that Heal by Jeff Wickwire [Chosen Books]