Lately it seems that every Christian writer or publication that I read is writing about homosexuality and how same sex marriage is going to rip the church apart.First of all if we allow this issue to rip the church apart it is our own fault. Let me state unequivocally that I believe that homosexual sex is a sin and that same sex marriage goes against Gods plan for humanity. As someone who believes the bible literally I don't see how there can be any other option.
That aside, I believe battle lines are being drawn that are not necessary. I would guess that sexual sin makes up a large percentage of all committed sin and many of us need to be on our knees seeking forgiveness and repentance before the Lord.The problem as I see it is that the opposing sides on this argument are galvanizing to a point where both sides are in need of repentance.I believe that God desires all men to be saved and to enter into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I also know that once you submit to the Lordship of Christ the Holy Spirit will move in you life to form a new creation. And what is too hard for God. Lately I have been reading articles that there is no "gay gene" and that homosexuality is a learned behavior.I recently took a very Christian based introduction to Biology through Liberty University and if there is one thing I took away from it , it is that we are only beginning to understand this marvelous gift called life.I often joke when the bills are piling up "Why wasn't I born a Kennedy?", but then I look around and realize that compared to many I am very blessed. Others argue that God would never create someone with homosexual inclinations but I have two thoughts about that.1) You are most likely suppressing some tendencies of your own and 2) Who are you to say what God is and is not allowed to do. God created many people in ways that I don;t understand, yet I realize these persons were born that way through no actions of their own
So where am I going with this. Should we allow gay clergy and allow our churches to perform same sex marriage ceremonies? Absolutely not! But on the other hand neither should we be out there beating homosexuals over their head with our Bibles I think we should be loving them, helping to lead them to a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and then disciplining them as we allow the Holy Spirit to convict their hearts and actions. Because I do believe in the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit and if a miracle is what is needed to lead a homosexual out of this lifestyle that it is a miracle I am believing for in their life. I have always said that if God was able to take me from where I was and bring me to where I am than He can surely forgive, accept and change anyoneAlso I don't believe that any practicing homosexual is going to suddenly change their orientation because of one written article that spends half its time beating them up. But I do believe that if we enter the conversation exhibiting the Love of Christ and letting them no what changes the Lord has brought into our lives than we might just ,first, get them saved and second, allow the Holu Spirit to enter their lives and convict them of their sin and deliver them from any bondage that is getting between them and their relationship with the Lord
As the saying goes. I am not going to judge someone just because they sin differently than I do. What I will do is pray for them and try to lead them to the one who will ultimately judge them and hope that I can disciple them with the convicting help of the Holu Spirit to deliver them from bondage
Col. 3:17
Hugh
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Sunday, April 21, 2013
TIME MAY BE RUNNING OUT
Once again it has been awhile since my last post but my heart has been burdened and I feel I have to write about it. The news has been filled this year with one tragedy after another and the past two weeks have been brutal, The abortion doctors murder trial, the Boston bombings and the fertilizer factory explosion in Texas are just the tips of the iceberg. As a Christian I know the last chapter of the book and I know that in the end Satan loses but lately he seems to be winning a lot of the battles. Evil seems to be accelerating and I can't help but wonder if the end times may be approaching a little faster than most of us would like to think.
Although there are many days when I am more than ready for the rapture to occur I am not someone who sees the end times around every corner but the events I am seeing has burdened my heart. Those of you who know me, know my hearts desire is to go into full-time ministry and I am burning the candle at both ends trying to expand my credentials while also trying to support my family, yet at times I feel as if I spend so much time studying to be an effective Minister that I have so little time left for actual ministry. Twice in the past month I was able to be used by the Lord to be a part of someone accepting the Lord Jesus as their savior and that is truly what life is all about.
The problem is that as I watch the news and hear about all of the deaths all I can think about is, "How many of the folks were saved?", or even more burdensome"how many are now in hell?" All around me, even in my own family people are going to hell on a daily basis and my time is spent working six overnight shifts a week preparing gourmet salads for people who can afford prices I could never afford. I see the same three or four people every night and believe me they've heard the Gospel and at least one has responded but it is a very small mission field. Than I come home and spend two to four hours doing readings and assignments for Liberty which can occasionally be difficult being a Pentecostal attending a Baptist College. In between I try to get to the gym a few times a week and spend way to much time at doctors, dentists and the chiropractor.
Praise God for Facebook where I do manage a prayer and encouragement ministry between school assignments but I just feel like I should be doing more. I know that my wife Eileen , who I love dearly, my daughter Rosemarie, who I also love, but who is very troubled, and my two grandchildren Xavier and Tapanga who mean the world to me are all counting on my continuing to go to work every night but I just can;t get past the feeling that people are going to hell while I,m making bean salads
I've been told I,m a good preacher, I;ve been told I have a heart for evangelism, and when I used to be on the radio I was told that someone said they like listening to me because I spoke like I was talking right to them, which was my goal. I just have not yet discerned how God is going to work this all out for me and I still need a lot of work in the patience department.
I would like to ask two things of my Christian friends. First, remember, you mission field is wherever you are, God desires no one to go to hell, but He has given us the great commission and we all need to do our part. Second, Help me pray through my current burden and pray for the Lords clear guidance in my life. I know I,ve been called and I am trying to become the best I can for Him, but if I am ready, which I think I am I have to hear His plans for me clearly and If I am not I have to work on my patience Until He says I am ready.
Be Blessed
Hugh
Although there are many days when I am more than ready for the rapture to occur I am not someone who sees the end times around every corner but the events I am seeing has burdened my heart. Those of you who know me, know my hearts desire is to go into full-time ministry and I am burning the candle at both ends trying to expand my credentials while also trying to support my family, yet at times I feel as if I spend so much time studying to be an effective Minister that I have so little time left for actual ministry. Twice in the past month I was able to be used by the Lord to be a part of someone accepting the Lord Jesus as their savior and that is truly what life is all about.
The problem is that as I watch the news and hear about all of the deaths all I can think about is, "How many of the folks were saved?", or even more burdensome"how many are now in hell?" All around me, even in my own family people are going to hell on a daily basis and my time is spent working six overnight shifts a week preparing gourmet salads for people who can afford prices I could never afford. I see the same three or four people every night and believe me they've heard the Gospel and at least one has responded but it is a very small mission field. Than I come home and spend two to four hours doing readings and assignments for Liberty which can occasionally be difficult being a Pentecostal attending a Baptist College. In between I try to get to the gym a few times a week and spend way to much time at doctors, dentists and the chiropractor.
Praise God for Facebook where I do manage a prayer and encouragement ministry between school assignments but I just feel like I should be doing more. I know that my wife Eileen , who I love dearly, my daughter Rosemarie, who I also love, but who is very troubled, and my two grandchildren Xavier and Tapanga who mean the world to me are all counting on my continuing to go to work every night but I just can;t get past the feeling that people are going to hell while I,m making bean salads
I've been told I,m a good preacher, I;ve been told I have a heart for evangelism, and when I used to be on the radio I was told that someone said they like listening to me because I spoke like I was talking right to them, which was my goal. I just have not yet discerned how God is going to work this all out for me and I still need a lot of work in the patience department.
I would like to ask two things of my Christian friends. First, remember, you mission field is wherever you are, God desires no one to go to hell, but He has given us the great commission and we all need to do our part. Second, Help me pray through my current burden and pray for the Lords clear guidance in my life. I know I,ve been called and I am trying to become the best I can for Him, but if I am ready, which I think I am I have to hear His plans for me clearly and If I am not I have to work on my patience Until He says I am ready.
Be Blessed
Hugh
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Salvation Insurance
This post was inspired by a Facebook update written by my friend Jason Sardi. If you are needing any insurance in Charlotte I recommend talking to Jason. Even if you don't buy any insurance Jason is an interesting person to talk to.
Anyway I got to thinking about how much Americans worry about insurance. We talk about health insurance all the time. Most of of have car insurance. If you work you pay into disability insurance or you may even have a disability policy of your own.We have title insurance on our homes, homeowners insurance, dental insurance, long term care insurance, many forms of retirement insurance and one of the biggest; life insurance
We can buy repair or replacement insurance on our appliances and vehicle, we can insure or airline travel, we can get cancellation on our vacation,athletes and models even insure various body parts.
As it turns out a great deal of our time and money is spent insuring our possessions and our comfort level here on earth.
On the other hand; how many of us give any thought at all to the only insurance that really maters?,salvation insurance. Try as hard as we may the only given in life is that we are all going to pass from this world. No amount of insurance can prevent that. 100 out of 100% of people die.
Fortunately the premium for our salvation insurance has already been paid in full. Jesus Christ paid the price for us when He lay down His life for us at Calvary. Through His death and resurrection we can be assured of eternal life in heaven with our Lord and all we have to do is accept the insurance policy.
If you'd like to talk to me about salvation insurance I am easy to contact' I check my Facebook page about 100 times a day. And the premiums are a lot less than Jason will charge you.
Col.3:17
Hugh krone
Anyway I got to thinking about how much Americans worry about insurance. We talk about health insurance all the time. Most of of have car insurance. If you work you pay into disability insurance or you may even have a disability policy of your own.We have title insurance on our homes, homeowners insurance, dental insurance, long term care insurance, many forms of retirement insurance and one of the biggest; life insurance
We can buy repair or replacement insurance on our appliances and vehicle, we can insure or airline travel, we can get cancellation on our vacation,athletes and models even insure various body parts.
As it turns out a great deal of our time and money is spent insuring our possessions and our comfort level here on earth.
On the other hand; how many of us give any thought at all to the only insurance that really maters?,salvation insurance. Try as hard as we may the only given in life is that we are all going to pass from this world. No amount of insurance can prevent that. 100 out of 100% of people die.
Fortunately the premium for our salvation insurance has already been paid in full. Jesus Christ paid the price for us when He lay down His life for us at Calvary. Through His death and resurrection we can be assured of eternal life in heaven with our Lord and all we have to do is accept the insurance policy.
If you'd like to talk to me about salvation insurance I am easy to contact' I check my Facebook page about 100 times a day. And the premiums are a lot less than Jason will charge you.
Col.3:17
Hugh krone
Friday, May 11, 2012
THE TRUTH THE WHOLE TRUTH NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
To me the Bible is the inerrant infallible word of God. Many Christians will say they feel this way also, but when it comes right down to it, it seems to me what they really mean is that they believe the Bible is the inerrant infallible word of God except for when it's not convenient to them. Time and time again people try to fit God into their own little box. God is too big to fit in a box, it's up to us to adjust to him not for Him to adjust to us. I feel that God has called me into full-time ministry and I have worked towards this for the past few years now. I have an Associates degree from Bible college and I'm working towards a bachelors in religion from Liberty University online. I believe that my calling is to pastor a small church and that's what I'm working towards. I could also be very happy is traveling preacher but ultimately it's up to God.
One of the things that I do on a regular basis is to check websites that advertise pastor positions. I have applied for a few but for one reason or another it just hasn't been God's will for me yet. Most of the times I don't apply to the positions because I realize that I don't have the qualifications they are asking for. But I still spend time looking at the ads and following them back to the church websites when I can, and try to find out with this particular church is all about. Time and time again I will find that the church professes that they believe that the Bible is the inerrant infallible word of God. But then as I search through their vision statement and statement of faith I will more times than not find out that in my opinion they have adjusted the word of God to fit within their set of beliefs.
One of the things that I've managed to do so far is to not declare denomination. If someone really presses me I tell him that I'm Bapticostal because that's how I really feel. The Baptist in me loves preaching and witnessing to people. I love preaching and there's no better feeling than when the Lord uses you to lead someone back to him. The Pentecostal in me on the other hand believes that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still active and available to those who believe.Although I know that there are many who believe that the gifts ended with the apostolic age, the only way that I find that in Scripture is through interpretation. And interpretation is where we run into problems. I love studying Scripture researching the Greek and Hebrew, researching the context and I know that proof texting leads to many problems, but it is something that we all seem to do. In the end I don't want to hear someone tell me what Jesus meant, I want to read what Jesus said.
Just recently our president used his Christianity as a basis to come out in favor of gay marriage. And the scary thing is that I know a lot of people who feel the same way. To me this is an aberration, it is never right to use God in order to that advance your personal agenda. I also came across something else this week that nearly knocked me off my seat. Someone I know, who knows Scripture inside and out, can quote chapter and verse better than I probably ever will be able to. They question why I have to go to school or college when all I really need is the Bible and they doesn't attend church because they don't seem to believe that there is any church out there that actually sticks strictly to Scripture. Well this person recently posted a couple lines of Scripture up on Facebook.These were lines of Scripture that would normally be very appealing to Pentecostals but I know this person is surely not a Pentecostal. So I read through three paragraphs where they proceeded to explain what these verses really meant. I read it three times and still couldn't figure out how they possibly could have gotten to the explanation that they did. I wish I could say this was an exception to the rule but too often I find it to be more the norm.
I know there are things in the Bible that I may never understand in this lifetime. Yet to the best of my ability and the leading of the Holy Spirit I choose to believe that the entire Bible is true even the parts that I don't understand. There are points that great men and women have been debating for centuries that I know I may never figure out. But it doesn't matter to me even in situations where I may disagree with a particular theory I'm more interested in why I think I'm right as opposed to why I think they're wrong. To me it all comes down to two major points. The first is contained in the book of Matthew chapter 22 verses 37 -39. And he said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The second point to me is doing my part to fulfill the great commission. Whether that is by being light in a dark world, preaching, teaching, or witnessing. If the Holy Spirit gives me with the ability to witness through miracles signs and wonders praise God that's even better. The one thing I know for sure is that anytime I have a question about anything I see, or hear, I look it up in the Bible is that's where the truth is.
One of the things that I do on a regular basis is to check websites that advertise pastor positions. I have applied for a few but for one reason or another it just hasn't been God's will for me yet. Most of the times I don't apply to the positions because I realize that I don't have the qualifications they are asking for. But I still spend time looking at the ads and following them back to the church websites when I can, and try to find out with this particular church is all about. Time and time again I will find that the church professes that they believe that the Bible is the inerrant infallible word of God. But then as I search through their vision statement and statement of faith I will more times than not find out that in my opinion they have adjusted the word of God to fit within their set of beliefs.
One of the things that I've managed to do so far is to not declare denomination. If someone really presses me I tell him that I'm Bapticostal because that's how I really feel. The Baptist in me loves preaching and witnessing to people. I love preaching and there's no better feeling than when the Lord uses you to lead someone back to him. The Pentecostal in me on the other hand believes that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still active and available to those who believe.Although I know that there are many who believe that the gifts ended with the apostolic age, the only way that I find that in Scripture is through interpretation. And interpretation is where we run into problems. I love studying Scripture researching the Greek and Hebrew, researching the context and I know that proof texting leads to many problems, but it is something that we all seem to do. In the end I don't want to hear someone tell me what Jesus meant, I want to read what Jesus said.
Just recently our president used his Christianity as a basis to come out in favor of gay marriage. And the scary thing is that I know a lot of people who feel the same way. To me this is an aberration, it is never right to use God in order to that advance your personal agenda. I also came across something else this week that nearly knocked me off my seat. Someone I know, who knows Scripture inside and out, can quote chapter and verse better than I probably ever will be able to. They question why I have to go to school or college when all I really need is the Bible and they doesn't attend church because they don't seem to believe that there is any church out there that actually sticks strictly to Scripture. Well this person recently posted a couple lines of Scripture up on Facebook.These were lines of Scripture that would normally be very appealing to Pentecostals but I know this person is surely not a Pentecostal. So I read through three paragraphs where they proceeded to explain what these verses really meant. I read it three times and still couldn't figure out how they possibly could have gotten to the explanation that they did. I wish I could say this was an exception to the rule but too often I find it to be more the norm.
I know there are things in the Bible that I may never understand in this lifetime. Yet to the best of my ability and the leading of the Holy Spirit I choose to believe that the entire Bible is true even the parts that I don't understand. There are points that great men and women have been debating for centuries that I know I may never figure out. But it doesn't matter to me even in situations where I may disagree with a particular theory I'm more interested in why I think I'm right as opposed to why I think they're wrong. To me it all comes down to two major points. The first is contained in the book of Matthew chapter 22 verses 37 -39. And he said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The second point to me is doing my part to fulfill the great commission. Whether that is by being light in a dark world, preaching, teaching, or witnessing. If the Holy Spirit gives me with the ability to witness through miracles signs and wonders praise God that's even better. The one thing I know for sure is that anytime I have a question about anything I see, or hear, I look it up in the Bible is that's where the truth is.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Welcome Friends
Well I'm starting fresh with a new blog. When I decided to start blogging again I realized that my other blog "Hugh's Views" was registered under my old e-mail address and I became so frustrated trying to change it that I decided to start entirely new blog. Now have my new Dragon speak software I hope to start blogging on a regular basis. I chose the title Stealth Christianity because I feel far too many Christians are stealth Christian.I believe very strongly in the great commission and feel that we each have our own part to play in carrying out God's desire for us to spread the gospel.
St. Francis D'Assisi once said wherever you go preach the gospel when necessary use words. One of my favorite Bible verses is Colossians 3:17 "whatever you do in word or deed do it all the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the father through him". How many of our actions would be different if we tried to live by these standards? When a nonbeliever looks at our life today does they see someone share the love of Jesus or do they not see any difference? Are our lives glorifying God or ourselves? Sitting in church on Sunday doesn't make someone a Christian anymore than sitting in your garage makes you a car. God wants full custody of our lives not just weekend visits.
It's my opinion that the biggest problem facing Christianity today is Christians. The Bible calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves but too often we have trouble even showing love to each other. Too often it seems that Christians would rather fight about doctrine than bring the gospel to unbelievers. When Jesus gave his life for us He brought out from under the yoke of the law but just as it was hard for the Jews to understand this 2000 years ago we still battle with it today.
I hope to use this forum to start a discussion on the topics and the problems we face in living a Christian life in the 21st century. Quite often I will be writing to myself as I search for answers myself. I believe that the Lord has called me into a life of ministry and I hope that this blog might be a part of that.
Be Blessed
Hugh
St. Francis D'Assisi once said wherever you go preach the gospel when necessary use words. One of my favorite Bible verses is Colossians 3:17 "whatever you do in word or deed do it all the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the father through him". How many of our actions would be different if we tried to live by these standards? When a nonbeliever looks at our life today does they see someone share the love of Jesus or do they not see any difference? Are our lives glorifying God or ourselves? Sitting in church on Sunday doesn't make someone a Christian anymore than sitting in your garage makes you a car. God wants full custody of our lives not just weekend visits.
It's my opinion that the biggest problem facing Christianity today is Christians. The Bible calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves but too often we have trouble even showing love to each other. Too often it seems that Christians would rather fight about doctrine than bring the gospel to unbelievers. When Jesus gave his life for us He brought out from under the yoke of the law but just as it was hard for the Jews to understand this 2000 years ago we still battle with it today.
I hope to use this forum to start a discussion on the topics and the problems we face in living a Christian life in the 21st century. Quite often I will be writing to myself as I search for answers myself. I believe that the Lord has called me into a life of ministry and I hope that this blog might be a part of that.
Be Blessed
Hugh
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