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We have all at one time or the other heard this statement either about ourselves or aimed at someone else, “I love them, but I don’t like them”. A modification of this is “I love them, but I don’t like what they are doing.”

This statement is obviously coming from someone who professes to be a Christian for we as Christians understand that we are supposed to love EVERYONE! “So he answered and said, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”” (Luke 10:27 NKJV)

We are even instructed to “Love our ENEMIES” (Matthew 5:44)

On the surface the statement “I love him but I don’t like him” sounds like a very legitimate statement, but I have been giving it some great thought lately, especially in the light of what the Word of God has to say.

Can I truly “love” someone and yet not “like” them? I am not talking about their actions or their opinions… I am talking about that person as a person. Can I truly reach out to a person, if I am so repulsed by them that I cannot like them?

Another similar statement we make is “I support you but I don’t agree with you on everything…” Is that statement even necessary? It seems like it is more an opportunity to let the person know you have issues with them on some topics, rather than to show support, because we don’t agree with ANYBODY on EVERYTHING!!!

Back to my topic… Let’s apply this scripturally to God…

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, even though He didn’t like everybody in it, that He gave…” WOW… that doesn’t sound right! 2 Peter 3:9, “… Not willing that any should perish, even though He doesn’t really like all the perishing…” Romans 10:13, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, even those God loves but doesn’t like, shall be saved…”

Obviously we do not want to apply this love/like relationship to how God feels toward us, so why do we apply it to those around us that we are commanded to love?

I believe that the “I love you, but I don’t like you” is a loophole to get around really loving as God has commanded us. Now do I have a problem “loving” everyone as God has commanded? Yes, I do but that does not exempt me from the command. And the “I love you, but don’t like you” doesn’t help me either. It just allows me to continue treating you in a non-loving manner, with the understanding that I really do love you, but don’t like you.

So what about the really awful, totally unlovable people in the world? Well let’s apply that scripturally as well, “For God so love the world, except for the really awful people…” Still doesn’t sound right. Someone has got to love/like these awful murderers, serial killers, abusers and such like, or we have relegated all of them to an eternity in hell.

Jesus was criticized greatly for “liking” the wrong people… “He eats with sinners…” Did it change his loving or liking people even when he dealt harshly with them in discipline? No. I believe he loved/liked every person he drove out of the temple, but He was not going to allow misbehavior in the temple court. The same with us. Sometimes you have to deal with those you love in a disciplinary manner, but it should always be in a redemptive manner and never to destroy. You should always seek reconciliation before administering discipline.

Have I got this “Loving/Liking” principal perfected in my own life? Not by any means, but I am asking God to work on me in these areas and make me more like Him.

I was watching the countdown Monday, October 31 to the world reaching 7 billion in population. I can’t explain why I was so interested in that since I haven’t even noticed when our planet reached the previous four milestones…

In 1960 I was 4 years old when the world reached 3 billion in population. I was attending Southwestern Assemblies of God University (College at that time) in Waxahachie, TX. In 1975 when we reached the 4 billion mark only 15 years later. I must have slept through 1987 for 5 billion and 1999 for 6 billion, but I am now wide awake and fully aware that our world is filling up with people.

Now I don’t by any means think that we are running out of room. I have driven through West Texas and New Mexico and it seems like we could put the entire world population in both of those spots and have room for a tennis court on every block. I fully believe that our world was designed for a crowd and that we can adapt to the changing population.

Christianity is the leading religion in the world with a professed 2 billion followers. That sounds wonderful until you see that we just crossed the 7 billion population mark. What about the other 5 billion? Something must be done to escalate the process of reaching this world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is not the time to cut back in sending missionaries to the far reaches of the world… “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly [is] plenteous, but the labourers [are] few;” (Matthew 9:37 KJV) When Jesus spoke these words the world population was at about 200 million. The harvest has grown and is still “plenteous”… We must have more laborers… and the laborers must be awake and aware of the awesome task ahead of us. I cannot reach 7 billion people, but I can reach someone and do something, and I pledge to do my part. How about you?

It was early 1988. I received a small yellow book in the mail entitled  88 REASONS Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988 – The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh-Hash-Ana)… by a North Little Rock man, Edgar C. Whisenant. This little book was sent “free” to 300,000 ministers and sold over 4 million copies.

The book contained great calculations and predictions and some convincing rhetoric. All of this however means nothing if the predictions don’t come true. Whisenant continued to make predictions over the next decade about the Lord’s return and the Rapture of the Church.

Now Harold Camping, 89 year old radio entrepreneur has joined the ranks of other false prophets who have predicted the day of our Lord’s return, or Judgment Day, or “The end of the world”. I would say that he joined their ranks today, but he made this same prediction for 1994. What’s that old saying… “Fool me once, shame on you… fool me twice, shame on me.” I say “You are not going to fool me once or twice…”

Atheists are having a party and hell is rejoicing. There will be numerous jokes and Christians everywhere will be ridiculed regardless of their stand on this issue. Skeptics will become more skeptical, atheists will become more bold in their ungodly rampages against God and the Church and our young people will find more reason to question and rebel against Biblical teachings.

So what do we do? We continue to preach the truth regardless of the false prophets. These men were/are not idiots. They are intelligent men with great calculating minds (Edgar Whisenant was a former NASA engineer). Had they been idiots they would have been dismissed as harmless, but with a little money on their sides, they were able to mislead hundreds and thousands of people (Camping spend over $100 million on billboards and radio programming spreading his predictions).

(2 Peter 3:3-4 NKJV)  “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of creation.””

Now is not the time to stop telling the world that Jesus is coming. Everything that has happened (or not happened) today is another indication that we are in the last days. Look up… your redemption is drawing nigh… Jesus is coming – SOON!!!

HOT POTATO – noun: a controversial question or issue that involves unpleasant or dangerous consequences for anyone dealing with it…

I am a preacher. My responsibility is two-fold.

1) Introduce people to my Savior, Jesus Christ so that their eternity will be in a place of bliss, comfort and peace.
2) Disciple people who have accepted Jesus as their Savior so that their present life will honor Him as well.

To disciple someone is to instruct them in the Word of God so that they will know what God wants and also what He doesn’t want… what pleases God and what displeases Him.

Sounds simple doesn’t it?

The problem is that most people do not want to be instructed. They don’t want to hear that their lifestyle may not be pleasing to God, so you get this worn out response, “You are not supposed to judge!” So instructing a person in Biblical teaching is JUDGING if it goes against their lifestyle?

This is my blog, which means it is my thoughts. I do not and will not use my blog to hammer at someone with hate filled rhetoric. I do not hate the homosexual, the adulterer or the drunkard. Nor do I hate the gossiper, slanderer, backbiter or the excessively proud.

But do I have to “embrace” a certain lifestyle that I believe is an unscriptural lifestyle? Certainly not. Can I warn people that their lifestyle is not pleasing to God according to the Bible? I certainly can and will, but with all the love and grace I believe Jesus would offer.

So when I stated my disappointment in the decision of the US Presbyterian church to ordain openly gay people to ministry and other positions of leadership within their movement, it did not come from a gay bashing, homophobic. The decision on the part of the US Presbyterians was not a statement of “tolerance” and “acceptance” but rather a move toward “promoting” an unbiblical lifestyle.

Are homosexuals welcome in my church? ABSOLUTELY!!! Positions of leadership or ministry will not be offered as long as a person practices that lifestyle, but they will receive the same preaching of the Word of God, prayer and pastoral care as any one else who attends. By the way, the same holds true for any other person living any kind of sinful lifestyle.

Do I elevate homosexual lifestyles over any other sin? NO! If you have followed my ministry at all, you know that I do not. But neither am I going to avoid the issue just because it is a Hot Potato.

Paul wrote this… “9 ¶ Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NLT)

This is where most of us stop, but Paul went on to say… “Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11 NLT)

Paul is speaking to Christ followers here and says, “Some of you were once like that…” Is he saying some of them were once idol worshippers, adulterers and homosexuals? It looks that way to me. But we have been cleansed, made holy and made right with God… Anyone can change.. the prostitute, the abuser, the drug addict, the liar, the adulterer, the backslidden preacher and yes – the homosexual.

15 years ago my mother passed from this life to a much better place. She never survived a liver transplant. I was 40, she was 65. Her name was Norma Jean Bobo.

Mother was a strong woman of faith. It was certainly not a lack of faith that caused her death. Right up until the last moments of her life she encouraged the entire family to keep our trust in God no matter what happened to her.

Mom was not your typical mother. She would discipline but never said, “This is going to hurt me more than it is you.” Someone told Mom one time that you should never spank your child in anger. Mother replied, “If I wasn’t angry, I wouldn’t spank them.”

Mom was a tremendous artist. She was ever learning and painting. Her best paintings were water color landscapes. She had an eye for shade and color. I would watch her paint as a child and was amazed how she could bring the countryside to life on the canvas.

I used to tell about how I would wake up in the mornings to hearing Mother scraping toast she had let burn in the oven. I was introducing her as my special guest speaker on Mother’s Day in one of the churches I pastored years ago, and I told that story. She got up to speak and said, “That is not true. I didn’t cook toast every morning.”

Mother hardly ever told a joke, but she laughed at every joke I told. She didn’t sing much in public, but was constantly singing around the house. She didn’t particularly care for the music I liked and listened to, but never did forbid me to listen to it, just because it wasn’t her preference.

I never doubted that my mother prayed for me constantly. I probably would not be where I am today if it hadn’t been for her prayers. She loved her family deeply.

Thanks, Mom for instilling in me the principals of a strong Christian life. Thanks for living that life in front of me, without wavering. I love you and miss you and will be thinking of you on this Mother’s Day!

So Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the attack on New York on September 11, 2001 is dead. Or so is supposed. Facebook is brimming with remarks… everything from “celebrating” his death to shaming those who are celebrating his death.

I understand every one’s feelings and do not want to step on any one’s sensitivity. Perhaps I can address this in such a way as to bring a balance to both ends of the spectrum. Maybe I can also give some Biblical insight into this as well.

In the book of Exodus, the terrorist, slave driver, bad guy was Pharaoh. His reign of torment ended at the Red Sea when the Israelites crossed miraculously on dry ground to the other side. As Pharaoh and his army pursued after them, the water engulfed them and drowned them in the sea. When the Israelites witnessed this they SANG and DANCED… 

“Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea.” (Exodus 15:1 NLT)

 In fact Miriam, Moses’ sister led the women with a tambourine and dancing. Celebrating? 

Another place of celebrating a heathen’s death in the Bible would be the death of Goliath by the hand of David. David took his head and led a parade into Jerusalem.

That being said, I still sympathize with some of the sentiment concerning celebrating a person’s death. Here is how I prefer to observe and view this historic event…

1. I am celebrating the end of an era of terrorism sponsored greatly by Osama bin Laden. Note I am not saying terrorism has ended, but a powerful force in terrorism has ended.

2. I am celebrating that Osama bin Laden has been “STOPPED”. The fact that he was “killed” in the process of being “stopped” was probably his choice. I don’t celebrate his death. I celebrate his cessation of terrorist activity and promoting and training other terrorists by Osama bin Laden.

3. I am celebrating justice. Justice does not always come quickly or neatly, but when it does come, it is just.

4. I am celebrating the men and women who risk their lives and give their lives to make this world a safer place to live.

5. I celebrate the fact that perhaps many hundreds of peoples lives may be spared because of the thwarting of one man’s evil plans.

It was the summer of my 16th birthday. Andrae Crouch had come out with his second album (vinyl) entitled “Keep on Singin’”. I had never heard of him before but took a chance on a group called “Andrae Crouch & the Disciples”. I fell in love with the music, the songs and the whole Jesus Music Movement.

About a year later my dad took me to my first “Andrae Crouch and the Disciples concert” in West Monroe, Louisianna. I would go to at least 5 more concerts in the next decade. When I met my future wife, Kathy in 1976 I gave her an 8-track of the album, “Take Me Back” and she fell in love with the music as well.

This week Kathy and I flew to Los Angeles for Valentine’s Day and a short 3 day vacation. We decided to look up the church where Andrae and his sister Sandra pastor. We found the New Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ in the San Fernando Valley.

On Wednesday night we decided to attend the Bible Study at the church. It was a small gathering in a chapel building on the property conducted by one of the ministers on staff. At the close of the service, Andrae came in and spoke for about 40 minutes.

After the service Kathy and I walked up to the podium to meet Andrae. He was very gracious. As we started to walk away, he said “Wait. I want you to see the church. I don’t want you to think this (the chapel) is all there is.” He asked someone to open the church for us and turn on the lights. He then followed us into the sanctuary.

Andrae went up to the platform and turned on his electric piano. He motioned for Kathy and me to come up on the platform and stand right in front of the piano. He then said, “I want to sing a song for you… special.” (I recorded it on my Iphone) He has had some illnessess that have effected him over the past few years, but his passion for God and music are as strong as ever. Andrae then told us stories about his 7 Grammy Awards (that are in a duffle bag in his office) and his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Only three Gospel singers have ever received a star.

This is my thanks and my tribute to a man of God who so influenced my young Christian life. Thank you for songs like “The Blood Will Never Lose It’s Power”, “My Tribute”, “Jesus Is the Answer” and “Through It All”. But most of all for taking the time to share with us your stories and for singing a song of encouragement just for Kathy and me (which can be viewed from this blog).

May God bless you with many many more songs of praise, worship and encouragement for the Body of Christ, is my prayer.

Andrae\’s \”Special\” song