A Pastor's Thoughts

Psalm 4 was written by David when he was falsely accused of something.  The circumstances are not revealed in the Psalm.  Some have speculated that it was when Absalom came against him, turning the people against him.  We don’t know. David starts, like he does with all his lament Psalms by appealing to God.  He realizes, as we need to know, whatever events are happening on earth, God is our ultimate help.  It has been said that one of the common experiences everyone has is being falsely accused.  Whether a misunderstanding or someone who believes the accusation, false accusation is part of the human experience.  It is normal to be defensive when accused of something.  If we are shocked by the outlandish false accusations that can come, it is normal to want to vindicate ourselves, prove our innocents and prove the accuser wrong, for good measure. David starts by going to God.  He cry out to God in desperation.  He recounts when God has given relief in the past.  David also realizes

Psalm 3 shows a classic progression of Christian thought.  Psalm 3 is a four stanza poem.  It was written as David fled from his son Absalom. In the first stanza, David describes the problem.  There are too many foes and people are saying that God cannot help. In the second stanza, David accurately describes God.  God is a shield that encompasses David.  God is David’s glory.  David has no glory for himself.  God will lift David’s head, back to the throne and back to a place where David can see the mighty works of God.  David then cries out loud to the listening God In the third stanza, David rests.  With the peace of God in the midst of trouble, David can sleep and wake knowing that God sustains him.  David declares that he will not fear the thousands that are coming against him. In the final stanza David makes his request of God to arise and strike his enemies.  David has moved from a place of overwhelming defeat to a place of absolute confidence in God to win. God still wi

Carl Truman in his article in First Things, entitled “preparing for Winter” builds a case that any church that gains benefit from the government must also support the views and teachings of that government.  His article focuses on the sexual immorality of same-sex-marriage and transgender issues.  His thought is that a time will be coming when churches who preach against sin as sin, no matter what that sin is, will loose tax exempt status, will have their 501(c).3 status cancelled and will stop receiving any subsidies for helping the homeless or running social programs.  In other words, churches that have a relationship with the government will eventually be required to be government churches.  This is already happening in Canada where churches are receiving operating money from the government. My church situation is that the county has removed our tax exempt status, so we have to pay a tax bill of close to $64,000.  Their claim is that our church is a commercial, for profit busines

Today I heard that the IRS, even under President Trump is targeting small, vulnerable churches with small congregations and deleting their 501(c).3 because the IRS is declaring them non-charities.  I am forming an open letter to Alameda county to use when I finally get the charges.  I will post the charges and my open letter of response on every social media platform I can find.  This nit-picking harassment on small churches needs to stop.  Part of my open letter follows: I became a pastor in March of 2005.  Another church was already renting and so I continued the practice.  This other church saw the change of pastors as a chance to take over and they were asked to leave June of 2005.  The county never got involved.  In 2007, A neighbor family said they wanted to have a quinceanera for their daughter,  We had never rented the hall before and so we charged them $145 for a few hours.  Between 2007 and April of 2010 we rented our hall to a few other families.  When the IRS showed up in

Today, President Donald J. Trump made January 16, every year, religious freedom day.  Many websites popped up instantly giving guidance and support for that this means. Apparently this declaration has been going on since 1786 when the state of Virginia lead the way with religious freedom week, leading up to January 16. One thing that baffles me is this:  The president has to declare one day for religious freedom?  I thought America was all about religious freedom.  The First Amendment to the constitution reads Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances The very first part is all about religious freedom.  There are two parts to the religious freedom claims.   Part one :  The government cannot choose a particular religion and make it the official religion

The first third of Psalm 2 tells of nations and people and rulers plotting and taking counsel to fight God.  When this sort of activity takes place, it can be believed that Satan himself is motivating these actions. Some time ago I was in a Bible study and someone said that Satan hates God.  Satan wants to hurt God but Satan cannot, so Satan hurts that which God loves.  In modern times, that would be the church.  The church is called the bride of Christ.  Christ died for the church,  Christ loves the churches and gave himself for it.  So for Satan to hurt the church would be a great gain, and would cause pain for God, Satan thinks. Ever since 2010 Cornerstone Fellowship, in San Lorenzo California has been in conflict with the Alameda country tax exempt department.  Under federal law, churches do not have to pay property tax on their buildings or leased equipment.  In California this is a benefit because many churches were built when their locations were just an orchard or a field.

It seems like most people today are anti-God and anti-Jesus.  They will claim they believe in a god, somewhere, but most people follow a god of their own invention.  Psalm 2 starts with the words, “Why do the nations rage?”  The psalm goes on to tell of rulers plotting against God.  Today I don’t think there are many people who shake their fist at the heavens and curse God.  Yet by their very behavior it is clear they are raging against God. Rulers in America have not given God a second thought, it seems, in decades.  With the Supreme Court making same-sex-marriage mandatory and with politicians and leaders shouting “we won,” it is clear there is a contest or a fight going on.  People today want to break the moral bondage of God’s standard.  They want to do whatever their selfish, sinful, pleasures and desires tell them without any consequences. The trouble is, verse 1 of Psalm 2 also asks the question, “why do they plot in vain.”  Anyone who thinks they can do whatever they want i

Psalm 1 gives a strong and some might say idealistic view of being righteous and being wicked.  For the righteous, everything they do prospers and for the wicked, they vanish like chaff.  Chaff is the leftover husk of wheat and in David’s time, it was gathered up and thrown into the fire.  Chaff is also so light, the wind can carry it away so that it is never seen again.  This is a very nice sentiment, however, I know very godly and righteous people who have had hard lives.  Then we look at the lives of greedy ambitious people, like some politicians, and they seem to go and go and go like the energizer bunny.  The wicked seem to have long, comfort filled lives. The answer to this problem is rather simple, if not satisfying.  The Psalms, especially Psalm 1 presents God’s standard, the way it is supposed to be, the way it is in a perfect world.  But this is not how the real world works.  The conflict between ideal and reality is echoed in the book of Habakkuk.  The prophet sees the evi

Words change their meaning over time, and one group thinks they own a word then an other group comes and takes that word away.  That is what has happened with the word meditation .  Meditation is mentioned 28 times in the Old Testament.  It was a widely known and practiced way to study, ponder and pray through a biblical passage.  Then the Buddhists came along and said that meditation meant emptying your mind.  Buddhist meditation actually means detaching your mind from reality. So what is biblical meditation and what is meant by Psalm 1 when it says “on his Law he meditates day and night?”  The Hebrew word for meditation means low growling, like a hungry lion.  So the idea of a perfectly silent mediation is not biblical.  The best way to describe biblical mediation today is to take a passage or a part of a passage and read it, out loud.  Pause on each word and fill your mind with the passage.  When the passage has been read, take a deep breath, focus on what was just read and read i

Psalm 1:2 says that people who do not do the things in verse 1 are delighted in the Law of the Lord .  For New Testament Christians we need to understand that we are not under the Law of Moses, or the Old Covenant given at Sinai.  Jesus fulfilled that Law for us and we have his active righteousness placed on us when we are saves.  So a modern, Christian way to view the first part of verse 2 would be, delighted in the Bible .  So what does it mean to be delighted in the Bible? First and foremost it means to read it.  When God gave the Law to Moses, the command was to read it to the people.  Every year the Law was to be read to the people.   Deuteronomy 17:18 commands each and every king of Israel to take the Law given at Sinai and make a copy for himself, in his own handwriting.  Then he is to keep that copy with him and read it all the days of his life. So going back to God’s first interaction with his people, his command was to read.  Now we have Bibles everywhere.  Bibles flow

Psalm 1:3 says that people who have the right kind of friends and who delight in the Bible will stand strong like a tree planted near the water.  Verse 3 ends by saying that “in all that he does, he prospers.”  Prosperity is one of those works that has changed through the centuries.  Back in the time of David, if you asked someone what it means to prosper, they would say something about their crops coming up in time and with a great enough quantity to feed their family.  They might say that it means healthy, hard working children and lots of them.  Today, if you ask someone what it means to prosper, 100% of them would say “money.” This is because we live in a time of bountiful resources.  A person can actually get whatever they want, if they have enough money.  Their standard of living, type of home and car they own and what food they eat is not dependent on anything but cash. Many corrupt preachers have taken this verse and the other parts of scripture that talk about prosperity

Psalm 1 is a wisdom Psalm which means it gives actions to perform to be godly and obedient.  As Psalm 1 opens, in verse 1 the Psalm states that the blessed man avoids three things.  This Psalm is not just for men, it is just the way they wrote.  This Psalm could start:  To be a successful Christian…. First, don’t listen to bad advice.  Bad advice is worldly advice or sinful advice.  Someone who tells you that reading the Bible is a waste of time is giving you bad advice.  Christians need to find godly sources for advice.  Church is a great place for that.  All advice must be weighed with Scripture. Second, don’t hang out with wicked people.  Wicked people might entice you to go fishing instead of church.  That is wicked and sinful.  Don’t choose friends who focus on selfish ambition and wicked pursuits.  Once again, church has good people who are willing to be your friend. Third, don’t sit with the scoffers.  Selfish and wicked people love to sit and cut people down.  Calling peo