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To deal with the subject of UFOs I have taught people for over thirty years to ask three very important questions. Almost everyone Christian or not has asked questions regarding UFOs. What I noticed years ago was that unbelievers only asked two of the three questions. Believers are compelled by the scripture itself to ask all three questions. It is the answer to the third question that raises a warning flag on the whole matter.

1. Are they real? Millions of people around the world have seen UFOs; some of them are rather notable. President Jimmy Carter, Bob Larson, and Astronaut Gordon Cooper are a few of the initiated. It would seem unadvisable to fly in the face of all these witnesses or to call them unreliable. Are UFOs real, yes in the sense of having appeared to so many people around the world.

2. What are they? The most common answer to this question is that they are ETIs or extra terrestrial intelligences. Because of the conclusions outlined in the Air Forces Blue Book investigation and a host of other studies, I make an entirely different conclusion. The Blue Book said because they had the ability to change direction at speeds far above supersonic that they appeared to be “metaphysical” in nature and not physical. Science doesn’t dare use terms like “spiritual”, it is not an empirical term so they use its cousin, metaphysical, which means exactly the same thing. The bible has spoken of angels of the Lord and angels and minions of the god of this world (Satan) as being among us for as long as we have inhabited this planet. This being the case it would be safer to say they are ECIs or “extra celestial intelligences.” A world bent on human knowledge to explain everything and a penchant for believing that we are not alone in the universe is not likely to accept this idea. In this case I’ll go with the bible and not man.

3. What message do they convey or leave for us. Bible believing people are not at liberty to dismiss this question. In fact there is no phenomenon, new revelation, prophetic utterance or any other worldwide advent that can go without being scrutinized by this question. The Apostle Paul outlines the question for us in a very clear and emphatic statement about messages or revelations received from any source at all.

Paul said…But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:8 Do the reports from abductees or any other message left behind by UFOs concur with the bible message of the gospel? The answer is unequivocally no. In some cases the reports conflict. Some people said they were told the ETIs would intervene at a propitious moment in our history to show us how to harness nuclear power. Other reports said they would intervene to show us how to completely eradicate any use of nuclear power whatsoever. But in no case have any abductees said that they were willing to admit that Christ was the Messiah of the world. They would not say he had died for the sins of the world, been resurrected and was yet to return to judge the living and the dead. Some of them even denied knowing about Christ at all. Since almost every one in this world knows about Christ, believer or not, what does that say about the “intelligence” of the ETIs?

In these days just before Armageddon just about every phantasm known to man is being laid upon us to facilitate the dislodging of our faith. Under question number three it behooves us to give up the most commonly accepted answer to question number three, and hold fast to the gospel.

Rev Bresciani has written many articles over the past thirty years in such periodicals as Guideposts and Catholic Digest. He is the author of two books available on Amazon.com, Alibris, Barnes and Noble and many other places. Rev Bresciani wrote “Hook Line and Sinker or what has Your Church Been Teaching You,” publisher, PublishAmerica of Baltimore MD. He also wrote a book published by Xulon Press entitled “An American Prophet and His Message, Questions and Answers on the Second Coming of Christ.” His book is now being heralded as the clearest book on the subject of the second coming of Christ since Hal Lindsey’s “Late Great Planet Earth” Rev Bresciani’s website is,

http://americanprophet.org

In 2002, while taking a break at work, I found myself in the middle of a discussion about abortion. There were about five women joining in the discussion.

A few of the ladies were pro-choice; the others (including myself) were pro-life. One of the women in particular (I won’t use her real name, but I’ll call her Nicole) was extremely pro-choice.

Nicole voiced her opinion about pro-choice with fervency in attempts to convince everyone- abortion is a woman’s right. She explained to everyone how women must have the right to choose what they do with their own bodies. I was about six months pregnant with my third daughter at the time, so of course, I disagreed with Nicole. I told her I thought abortion was wrong. Still, Nicole made the arguments about women who are raped or women who couldn’t afford to take care of a child. I considered Nicole one of my closest friends, so I finally gave up and stopped arguing with her. I was surprised to hear her views on abortion though.

Three months later, when it was time for my baby to be born, there was a tragic accident. My baby was entangled in the umbilical cord and delivered as a stillborn.

A few days later, we had her funeral at my church. Several people attended the funeral including a police chaplain, three pastors, teachers from my other daughters’ school, many old friends, relatives, and several people from work. I think Nicole had to work that day, because she wasn’t there.

Returning to work about a month later, (I took off work about a month to recover from the loss) I saw Nicole again. At break time, Nicole and I went outside (even though it was cold and rainy) to “talk”. I relived the events of my baby’s death for her by explaining the details. When Nicole heard the story of my heartbreak, she opened up with tears, and confessed she once had an abortion when she was seventeen years old. When I asked why, she said, “When my mother found out I was pregnant, she said -Nicole, You Are Not Going To Keep That Baby”. Because Nicole was living with her mother at the time, she submitted to her mother and went to a clinic to have the abortion.

Nicole then told me doctors had advised her since her abortion, she would never be able to have another child. The abortion had permanently damaged her body.

Nicole was now twenty-seven years old and wanted a child, but knew in her heart it was impossible. I tried to encourage her, prayed for her and advised her to seek God.

About three months later, upon arrival to work, I noticed Nicole wasn’t there. I asked some of the women if they knew where she was. To my astonishment, the women (who were noticeably excited) informed me Nicole had called into work. They said she had just found out she was pregnant. They also said she was rejoicing and giving praises to God, but at the same time experiencing some morning sickness.

Overjoyed, I remembered Nicole pouring her heart out to me that cold day during her confession. I believe God heard her confession that day, gave her forgiveness and healed her body all at the same time. When the due date arrived, Nicole gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Nicole’s story reminds me of the scripture from 1 John 1:8-9 that says, “If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

As senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New York, Fosdick preached a sermon one Sunday in 1922 that aroused the righteous indignation of fundamentalists and he suddenly found himself at the center of a heated theological controversy. In order to understand the tension that existed between fundamentalism and modernism, it is necessary that I briefly delineate the fundamentalist position at that time.

Fundamentalism is a rather broad movement within Protestanism which claims the absolute inerrancy of the words of the Holy Bible. It attempts to preserve what is considered to be the fundamental ideas of Christianity against criticism by liberal theologians. Bishop Pike noted that the fundamentalist regarded any particular assertion or narrative in the Scriptures that is challenged, qualified, or treated as myth; any attempt to rethink and restate the verities to which the Bible witnesses, fundamentalists suspects of infidelity and unbelief (A Time for Christian Candor).

Between 1909 and 1915, anonymous authors published twelve small volumes entitles, The Fundamentals. Millions of copies were distributed to various religious organizations and institutions. I believe it was about 85 or 90 articles that were written for the series with at least 30 devoted to the issue of biblical authority. The spirit of the work coincided with the spirit of early fundamentalism - calm, determined, intending merely the reaffirmation of what was perceived as fundamental truths. It was from the title of the publication that the movement got its name.

The primary doctrines that the fundamentalist thought should be accepted without challenge were:

1) The inspiration and infallibility of the Bible.

2) The doctrine of the Trinity.

3) The Virgin birth and deity of Christ.

4) The substitutionary theory of the atonement, and

5) The bodily resurrection, ascension, and the second coming of Christ.

To a large extent, fundamentalism was a reactionary movement. It reacted against the prevailing intellectualism which was increasingly attracting the modern world’s attention. Liberal scholars challenged biblical authority; utilized historical research to question previously accepted Christian doctrines and their influence was beginning to be felt very strongly in schools, seminaries and churches. And if that wasn’t enough, in addition to the growing strength of liberalism, Darwin and Spencer’s evolutionary theories began to be used to discredit orthodoxy’s theory of the origin of man. Consequently, firmly convinced that the Bible was being destroyed by liberalism and that the fundamentals of the Christian faith were not properly being taught in seminaries, fundamentalism rose to reassert the basics of Christian doctrines.

So, it is clear that the flames between the fundamentalist and modernists had existed for some time, but Fosdick, perhaps unwittingly; perhaps not, added fuel to the fire when he preached his controversial sermon, “Shall the Fundamentalist Win?” According to Fosdick, the sermon was intended as a plea for church tolerance that would allow for a diversity of theological view points. But the Fundamentalists took it as a personal assault and they subsequently, counter-attacked. They made it their business to become more publicly visible. They began publishing newspapers and magazines that leaned toward their religious philosophy, established missions, and erected their own schools and seminaries. In other words, Fundamentalists courageously rose to firmly reassert orthodoxy over and against the claims of liberalism.

In regards to the outcome for Fosdick, by 1923 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (to a great extent influenced by William Jennings Bryan), adopted a resolution asking the Presbytery of New York to insist that Fosdick accept full membership into the Presbyterian fold and to conform to the Presbyterian system of doctrines. Fosdick rejected those terms and even though the Presbyterians tried to work out an agreeable compromise, the controversy became so heated and intense and for Fosdick personally insulting, that he resigned and preached his last sermon at First Presbyterian Church some time during the early months of 1925.

It appears that during early twentieth century, liberal influence began to wane. Following the depression of 1929, a mood of disillusionment settled over the land and man at best felt lost. What could optimistic liberalism say to the modern man of twentieth century to rebuild his faith? Philosophies such as positivism and naturalism became fashionable but were unfriendly towards liberalism. As Hordern stated, “the Bible became a problem for liberals. For one thing, if the truth of the Bible is only that which we can experience in more modern categories, and which we can know by reason, why bother with the Bible at all?” Unfortunately, liberals did not have satisfying answers. Even Fosdick himself later admitted that modernism, in and of itself was not enough. He came to believe that liberal theology had to do more than accommodate itself to the times or it would become shallow and transient.;

1) A preoccupation with intellectualism

2) It was dangerously sentimental

3) It tended to water down the concept of God and adjust itself to a man-centered culture and

4) It lost its ethical standing ground and its ability to launch a moral attack.

These criticisms along with many, many others helped to decrease liberalism’s influence and impact upon the modern world.

Liberalism however, is by no means dead. Its concern for relevance has continued to grow and many liberal theologians are currently absorbed in the serious study of hermeneutical difficulties. Liberalism has undergone many changes and made substantial modifications of its former theological stance. We appear to be presently living in an age of Neo-liberalism. But the basic affirmations underlying liberal thought continues to be their stress on the importance of the inductive method of inquiry which was proving to be so successful for progress in other areas of human endeavor; their reliance upon experience, not the Bible, s the primary authority, their stress on continuity between God and humanity, reason and revelation, and their emphasis on human potential to overcome personal inadequacies and the shortcomings of the social order.

Last Word

We have surveyed the historical context out of which liberal theology emerged and the dominant characters and ideas disclosed in its development. Liberalism gradually grew out of Protestant orthodoxy. Great philosophers such as Spinoza, Hume and Kant played important roles and laid the building blocks which later scholars built upon, but the process was slow and not a radical departure from traditional Christianity. Though I tried to specify certain time periods in which one phase of liberal was dominant, it should be understood that there is no definite point in the history of liberalism at which a decisive break with the past can be clearly discerned.

Liberalism’s religious position has always been in the process of evolving yet continuous with what has always been central and valuable in their Christian heritage.

Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, veteran social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach which can be reviewed on her site. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, is expected to be available in July.

You are welcome to visit AMEN Ministries: Your Soul’s Service Station for spiritual refreshing, soul edification or to browse our newly expanded mini shopping mall.

Blessings to all!

Here is a prayer that the Lord gave me once for some couples that were facing possible divorce. My hope and prayer is that it will be a blessing to you and others that you know. I truly believe that prayer has the power to change things. God’s Word says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”. (James 5:16) I encourage you, my brother and sister in Christ, to be bold and let your voice and prayers be lifted up as a fragrant incense into the very throne room of God.

Thank you, Father that you have instituted the covenant of marriage. Father, as Your Word says in Genesis, Matthew, Mark, and Ephesians that in the beginning of creation You made male and female, and for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. And again in Malachi it is written, “Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his”. And it is also written in 1 Corinthians that each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. And again in Malachi it says to guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. You said, Lord, that you hate divorce. Therefore, Lord, we come against divorce.

Your word says that whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatever we loose on earth is loosed in heaven. Therefore we bind up the lies of the enemy that are coming against the minds and spirits of the men and women of Your church, Lord. We bind up doubt and we loose truth, we bind up confusion and we loose a sound mind, we bind up rebellion and we loose obedience and submissiveness to You, Lord, and Your Word. We bind up any roots of bitterness and we loose forgiveness, we bind up rejection and we loose the spirit of adoption, we bind up the spirit of lust and we loose faithfulness and purity. .

Father, We stand against divorce in every way. Help us to hate it as much as you do. Father, We acknowledge that satan is a defeated foe. He is void of any power. For Jesus conquered him and made an open show of him, humiliating him in front of all our enemies. And we as believers, have been given all power and authority over the enemy and his lies. For your Word says that all authority had been given to you and that you gave it to us. Your word says that we are co-heirs with Jesus, and that we are seated together with Him in the heavenly realms. Far above all power, principalities, authorities and the rulers of darkness in this present world and in the one to come. The enemy is under our feet. Therefore we are putting satan and all the demons of hell on notice right now that we are standing in the full authority of the Name of Jesus that was given to us and that they are loosed from their assignment against the marriage of ___________________________________ (fill in the blank with the name of the family you are praying for).

We cover this marriage with the precious blood of Jesus and we confess that this is a pure and godly marriage. That _______________________(names of the couple you are praying for) are actually one flesh, for this is written in God’s Word. We call them back to their covenant relationship with the spouse that God has placed them with. We call them back to their homes and say that they will not break covenant with the wife/husband of their youth. We break the hold that the enemy has on their mind and we bring all their thoughts captive to the lordship and obedience of Jesus Christ. We loose them to think on things which are just, lovely, pure, honest, holy and of good report. If there is any virtue, if there is any praise, these are the things they will think on.

The lies of the enemy we expose. They shall know the truth and the truth shall set them free. For it is for freedom that Christ has died, therefore they stand firm and do not allow themselves to be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Arise and shine O sleeper, for the glory of the Lord shines among you .We call _______________________ (names of the people you are praying for), to take their rightful, God-ordained place in the family. Father, we pray that their will, will line up with Your will. We pray that their spirits will be stirred up within them to be pleasing in Your eyes, Lord. Give them a burning desire to grow closer to You in every way, and teach them obedience, Lord. Save them from themselves and from their enemies. Give them eyes to see and ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is speaking to them. May their spouses and their families be always in their mind and thoughts, always before their eyes. May they think on them every waking moment and when they go to sleep. May their thoughts towards them be good, and just and may they long for them, Lord. Oh, may their hearts break at the thought of being separated from them even one more day.

Lord, the King’s heart is in your hands, direct it like a watercourse back to their spouse and their family. May they put on themselves love that binds them together in perfect unity. Father, place in them the agapao love for each other. A love that enables the men to love their wives as Christ loves the church, a love that enables a wife to be submissive towards her husband and that her eyes and heart and desire will always be for her husband. A pure love, a lasting love. Father, in the beginning, You said, and it was so. Your word tells us to have the faith of God and to be imitators of God. Your word also says that Your word will not return void but will accomplish that which it was sent forth to do. Therefore, the things we have spoken tonight are so. They have been spoken into existence. Your word says that you say “Yes” to all your promises And if two or more agree on anything that it shall be done for us. Therefore we confess these things as done.

Now Lord, because Your word says that we are trapped by what we say, that we are ensnared by the words of our mouths we ask you to, set a guard over our mouths keep watch over the doors of our lips. Let not one word of doubt come out of our mouths. Help us to speak words of life, faith and truth according to Your word. We thank You, Lord, and we pray all things in Jesus name and say,” Amen” to the glory of God.

April 4 2003

Twilight in America

This morning I was reading ‘a treasury of sublime instructions’ from a high Tibetan lama. America contains the symbol ‘Ah’, which sounds the unborn nature of truth. It’s also the symbol at the throat chakra. Sometimes when I sit and visualize the colors according to my Buddhist practice, I think of the American flag and how uncanny it is that they are the same. I sit and pray for liberation from physical, verbal and mental afflictions. And yet the country I was born into is rocking itself into the hell realm. Blood soaked terrain propels more blood soaking and the cycle continues; there seems to be no choice. Propelled by afflictions.

In contemplating the sufferings of cyclic life in general, they can be broken down into six sufferings. Life is uncertain. We can never find a sense of satisfaction. We have to shed our bodies over and over again. We are born over and over again. What goes up must come down. And we do this alone. We may think we have companions but we die alone. Period.

There are more than 5 billion humans on the planet now and few study the dharma. It’s a precious jewel more hidden than seen. As the Hummer cruises down the freeway, with wheels that afford a very high panorama, I pass another SUV smashed in on the side, and debris everywhere. Do people see, do they know? They just drive around in their Hummers, with bullet proof shadowy glass protecting bodies that are bound to disintegrate some day. They are bouncing above it all in what some referred to as the ‘god’ realm here…Los Angeles. Sunny days, wealth, oceans of offerings to yourself. And only yourself. Accumulate, borrow, accumulate more.

I cried at lunch yesterday as a friend told me about a CEO of a well-known movie studio and how much he makes a day; how much he spent to redecorate his office that he doesn’t use. How he also had a quadruple by pass. And my mind flashes abruptly to begging bowls penetrating the stone fences of Bodhgaya. $10,000 a day to sit in a soft malleable chair and bark at your employees could feed the whole of Bodhgaya for half a year! “It’s out of whack”, she said. And so do astrologers, psychics, New Age yogis. Yet there’s no visible awareness of samsara and how it all goes round and round. It isn’t just about living a comfortable happy existence this lifetime, people. It’s your own future life at stake. Call it Catholic sin appreciation time. It works for them. You reap what you sow. And so…and so, if you had a clue about the fact that your warmongering would take you straight to the lowest hell in Dante’s inferno, and you really knew this - it wasn’t just an antiquated Italian classic - you might really think or realize you are thinking?

I came back from India with an upper respiratory infection. When I finally saw my doctor weeks later, she told me I probably had had walking pneumonia; this was before media people coined SARS. I had been in the poorest state of India, Bihar, and the air there is notorious, a disease den. People walk the streets with surgical face masks. You pick your nose and the goop is dark. TB floats through the air freely. And people die. Lots of them. It’s not on the news. It happens every year. It’s foggy, it’s cold, the air is damp and so get the lungs. I laid in my guest house bed every day wondering if I would get worse or better. I took my Cipro. I didn’t even feel strong enough to go the doctor’s. My dharma friends said if I died there in Bodhgaya, it would be a real blessing. In the midst of high lamas and especially His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Yes, illness is looked at differently. It’s seen as a purification of past deeds, negative karma popping off. All stored in the body. And yet, I come back here and this new mysterious illness is a news breaker. Some Western people have caught the disease and are dying. It’s news and it’s plummetting airline ticket sales. That’s news. But that TB kills thousands a year from all over Asia. Is that news?

We live in a land of Costcos, of sterilized supermarkets with pasturized milk, genetically engineered beef, plastic containers, rubber gloves. The supermarkets here don’t smell. They freeze you. You should probably wear a ski suit to shop at Ralphs or Vons. We drive Hummers to prevent death. We pull the skin taught on our faces to avoid looking at the aging process. We think we can defy death. We think that our minds our so powerful. But the mind that is contaminated is only as powerful as its contaminates. It can’t see. It can only see through its own dirty lens.

I watch TV and see talking shriveled up American men in suits. I think of the invention of the suit and tie. Clothing symbols of achievement. Wow. We became stiff. A few years back I would take photos of these talking men and sew them into the crotch of my warn out underwear. It was part of my art work at the time. They were down there. They still are. But they feel old and gasping. I watched Rumsfeld deliver a speech on TV. He could hardly get a breath. They were short heaves and his chest seemed hard and I thought, “that man is suffering so much”. And has no idea. As a yoga teacher, I see the physical structural ailments much more now. The caved in chest, the sagging shoulders, the color of the skin. Not even a suit or a tummy tuck can hide what’s really going on.

People get so shocked about cancer. Or about this new mysterious disease. Or that old strain of virus coming back. They race against time, their own time. My aunt died a week and a half after I returned back from India. Of pancreatic cancer. Her husband, my uncle, was hating God and that cancer. “I just don’t get it”, he said, “it’s so unfair.” My mother cried, “I was dreaming about how much we could do together in the future, and now she’s gone. I’m all alone. God is bad.” It always surprises me when people get mad at death. According to the Buddhist scriptures, we’ve died so many times in so many different types of births, we’re bound to this way of existence. Why it’s so shocking is because we have forgetten. We’re bound to. And we want to. It’s not fun to die. It’s the most excruciating experience and many teachers remark that the very knowledge of this pain is what makes us want to forget. Your body disintegrates and your brain starts to fry and you are hallucinating. The mind is a continuum…doesn’t die but every mental, physical and verbal act is logged in and those past deeds surge forward. The lord of Death meets you. Whammo. There’s nothing new or Catholic about what I’m writing. It’s just that with Hummers and Costcos we’ve developed a battleground we think we can win on. We can drive over death. Eat him up and liposuction him out of our bodies. We can kill some people in a foreign land and not feel. Not feel. That’s it. I put my flag on my Hummer and I feel something else. Pride invasion.

I apologize to myself for this disturbing piece. I am disturbed by what I am living in now. But I am also seeing new strains of protest for peace. For a world without killing and violence. Because we all know how unpleasant it is. What we fail to see is how it all works; that if, for example, you kill, you will be killed at some other time, in some other way. If you get furious, your fury will vanquish your happiness. Your pain in the butt boss will keep yelling at you if you keep yelling back. You first, as the anger congeals in the veins, hardens those arteries. Then that tension unleashes itself on everyone around. And so it goes. That’s why there are 10 Commandments or Lifetime vows, to keep us in check. Not some guilt trip but rather a way to stay a course that leads to more pleasant circumstances. Karma is simple. You commit a good deed, you get a pleasant response. You commit a negative deed, something that is unpleasant, you get an unpleasant response. There is no judge. No one upstairs making a decision. It’s scientific. So when Richard Gere was asking the audience to have compassion for the guys who plunged planes into the World Trade Center (he proceeded to get booed), it was because their actions would plunge them into a state more disturbing than what you were witnessing on TV or in person. It’s awful. And can’t we feel how awful it is? Even just one bomb dropped by a pilot on Baghdad is awful and yes, as we have compassion for innocent civilians at the mercy of flying destruction, we also have to have compassion for the pilot. His pushing of the button, no matter the intention will have a result. How long do we want to keep living with what is awful? How can we just accept what is awful? Oh well it’s human nature, I hear.

It is often said that the birth of a human is more rare than a turtle that swims in the ocean and only surfaces every hundred years, putting its head through a golden hoop which has been tossed around on the waves and driven by wind. By contrast, the Buddha taught that the number of beings in hell equals the number of atomic particles in the galaxy.

Human birth is precious and rare. You have the capacity to reach nirvana (liberation from all mental afflictions), or Buddhahood (total enlightenment for the sake of all beings) from here. In other words, you have the capacity to transform the awful-ness in you and around you and reach for something beautiful, pain free, for the sake of all beings, hell, animal, hungry ghost, semi-god, god as well as human. But as one of my teachers lamented in retreat, the Buddha taught the 8 fold path, the way out, over 4,000 years ago and still people haven’t learned, still they are doing the same awful things.

Some say it’s enough to notice the breath. Accept the breath. But there’s more. Understand how you got to be breathing in the first place. Understand how we all breath. How interdependent our breath is. Your SARS breath out is my breath in. It may or may not kill me. It’s not about the SARS breath then, is it? Think about this. Use it as a koan, traverse the breath and those streets. See the swaying masses on the streets writhing, darting. See Bush breathing. And the guy with the quadruple by pass. The hot-headed Marine. And know as well that your last breath is your death at this juncture. Your last breath in this life is the last breath of countless beings, countless times. And the beginning of another cycle of life and breath. Then, how the red might be the blood you’re swimming in or the thin streak in the sky of a new beautiful dawn, the white might be the frozen ice of the coldest hell or the most intense stream of bliss, and how the blue might be the darkest pool of hot tar or the lapis lazuli sky of the Pure land.

Hosannah sounds a lot like Osama. Saddam sounds a lot like Bomb. Bush sounds a lot like Woosh. Whoosh Osama Bomb. Hosannah Saddam Bush. Oh say can you see? By the dawns’ early light…what so proudly we hail as the twilight’s last gleaming?

Have you ever stopped to consider what kind of church your congregation is alive or dead? Does your congregation put forth the sense of one that is alive in its service to and worship of God? Or does your congregation put forth the sense that it is just hanging on, waiting for the last nail to be driven into the “coffin?” I would like to suggest some characteristics of a church that is alive, on fire for God. And then contrast that with the characteristics of a church that is dying.

Live churches are constantly changing. They are not changing the message in the Bible, for that never changes. They do not switch from one new fad doctrine to another every time the “spiritual wind” changes. NO, that is not what I mean. However, our society is changing. Anyone who pays any attention at all to the world around us knows this is true. In the early part of this century the church was the focal point of the family and even of society in many areas. I fully agree that it should be thus today, but the fact remains that it is no longer true. For the Christian it should be true. But for many of them it is no longer true. People no longer flock to the church for that social interaction.

The church must reach out to the community and the lost. We must learn to leave the four corners of our sanctuary and seek out those whom Jesus commanded us to, and do what He said. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19) That may mean doing things just a little differently than we have in the past. It may mean that we take “the church” back into the home with small group Bible Study. I may mean that we develop “family circles” with several families that have some things in common so they can relate to each other. It may mean that we start “ministering” to those who have been divorced, are one-parent families, the homeless, and yes even the homosexuals and other undesirables. It may mean that we not only feed the hungry but also minister to them as well.

Changing may also mean that our worship service changes from one which is rigid, always the same Sunday after Sunday after Sunday; to one which is more joyous. It may change from one with “stone faces” to one with Christians smiling and singing and praising God. It may mean that our worship services are exciting and full of variety. It may mean that as the congregation leaves the worship service they have more joy in their hearts and a spring in their step because they know they have been in the presence of God!

Dead churches don’t have to change. All they have to do to remain a dead church, is NOTHING! Dead churches don’t have to improve for the future, they just worship their past.

Live churches have lots of noisy kids! After all, kids will be noisy. What do lots of kids indicate? It indicates that the church has lots of families that are in the child-bearing years - twenty to forty year-olds. Why is this important? If the church is to thrive, it must contain a significant proportion of these families. Older families no longer have young children. If the church is mostly older families, who will continue as the families begin to go on to be with the Lord? Dead churches don’t have lots of noisy kids, dead churches are fairly quiet!

Live church’s expenses will most likely exceed their income. But that is where faith comes in. A church that is alive will seek new ways to minister to the people, not regarding the cost in money. We must do our part in the kingdom. God will provide the finances to do that job!

There is a principle in strategic planning called, “Cost - Benefit Analysis.” In other words, when a plan of action is under consideration, the cost of that plan must be considered in relation to the benefits which will be received from that plan of action. In the business world and the world of education, I agree that this is a good practice. But in the church? How can we put a “Cost-Benefit Analysis” to the winning of one soul? How much does it cost to win a soul to Christ? Does it matter? Christ certainly did not put that principle in His Great Commission! How much does it cost to minister to one-parent families? Does that matter? How much does it cost to feed the poor? Does that matter? Now please don’t misunderstand me! I am not suggesting that the church go on a spending spree that would put Howard Hughes (if he were still alive) in the poor house. Let’s be good stewards of the money God provides, but let’s step out on faith to do His work.

Live churches move out on faith. Dead churches operate totally by human sight. Jesus put it this way, “Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” (Matthew 15:14) If we in the church try to do all that we do totally by human sight, we will be like the blind leading the blind. We must step out on faith. We must seek those who need ministered to, then step out on faith and find a way to do God’s will. And believe me, if we will do that, God will provide the means to get the job done!

Live churches focus on people and their lives. Dead ones focus on programs. What will God say to us when we enter Heaven and are giving an accounting for our work here on earth and we tell Him about all these “wonderful programs” we developed? Will He say, “But who did you win for my kingdom?” What will WE SAY when not one name comes to our lips? God’s work is about people, not programs! God’s work is healing broken lives and bringing them back to Christ. God’s work is feeding the poor both physically and spiritually. God’s work is helping the widow and the orphan. God’s work is helping the single mother raise her children and provide for them. God’s work is caring for the homeless. How did Jesus put it? “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” (Matthew 25:40) What are we, the church, doing to these - the least of the brethren of Jesus? Whatsoever we are doing to (or for) them, we are also doing likewise to the Savior.

Live churches are filled with tithers, dead ones are filled with tippers. Which are you? Just as we spoke of the church as a whole must step out on faith to do God’s work, the same is true with us as individual Christians. How can we, as a body, say we must have faith and step forward with the church’s finances when we are not willing to make sacrifices personally. It is plain in the Scriptures, we must put God first. That means with our money as well as our faith and talent. I have heard it said many times, “you can’t out-give God”, or “if you give sacrificially, God will bless you richly.” Now really, is that why we should give of our tithe? It is true that God will provide for us! But our motivation for giving must be to bless others, not be blessed ourselves. Paul tells the elders of the church at Ephesus, “I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35) Let’s not be giving of our tithes and offerings expecting to receive a blessing. Let’s give freely with the intent that our tithes and offerings will provide an abundance of blessing to those about whom we have been speaking.

Lofty ideas? Perhaps. But what do you think Jesus would have us do? Be like the dead church which relives nightmares? Or the live church which dreams great dreams of God and working FOR His kingdom? Are we to be like the dead church which has the word CAN’T as its most used word? Or like the live one which does not even have that word in its vocabulary? Are we to be like the dead church and respond to every new idea with, “We’ve never done it that way before.”? Or will we say, “Here is a group of people who need our love and help. Let’s find a way to minister to them.”?

The choice is really ours. We can be part of a dead or dying church, or we can be part of a living, growing church which is on fire for God seeking out those who need our help, and then helping them. We can be part of a church which has a worship service which brings glory, praise and honor to the Savior and our Heavenly Father. We can be part of a church which is a light in the community shinning forth for Jesus Christ. Have you ever heard the saying, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”? How about you? How do you characterize YOUR congregation? Is it alive - or dying? Are you trying to be a part of the solution, or are you part of the problem? You will give an account some day to God for your part in the kingdom. And when you stand there to give your account, you will stand ALONE!

Remember live churches evangelize, dead churches fossilize!

All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.