On the May 9, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast we interviewed Walid Shoebat. Walid Shoebat is a former Islamic terrorist and a former member of the PLO. He was born in Israel, trained as a terrorist, and committed acts of violence and terrorism in Israel. After moving to the United States, he became a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1993, after reading the Jewish Bible, he left Islam, became a follower of Jesus Christ, and devoted his life to speaking out on behalf of Israel. Walid has appeared on CNN, FOX News, and every major television news network. He has written numerous books. Listen to our interview and check out Walid’s website: www.walidshoebat.com.

On the May 2, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast, we discussed Jesus’ call for His disciples to be salt and light. We asserted that the primary reason for the decay in our culture is that Christians are not being faithful as salt and light. In the first century, salt was used primarily as a preservative for foods. It slowed decay. Christians can and should have a positive influence on a culture. Christians are a preservative from God’s judgment because, while Christians are here, the Spirit is here and God is still at work. Even just 10 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah would have preserved the cities from destruction. The two sources of light – a city and a lamp – have something in common: both are seen, both give off light. Christians shine the light of the truth of Christ in a dark and erring world. Two common points emerge from these two images: 1) Ineffectiveness: Salt can lose its saltiness and light can be hidden. Let’s not be ineffective. 2) Benefit: Both salt and light benefit others – salt preserves, light reveals. Let’s be a benefit to our culture. We discussed two ways that we can be salt and light in our culture.

On the April 25, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast, we addressed the problem of evil. Why do bad things happen to innocent people? The Holocaust, 9/11, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. If God is God, why do these things happen? The answer to this problem is wrapped up in the mystery of the interplay between God’s sovereignty and human freedom. So we’ll never fully understand. The Scriptures do, however, reveal a few fundamentals. God originally created the world, the way it was supposed to be. But we sinned. Because of sin, things are not the way they’re supposed to be.

What kind of impact do you think you’re having on the people around you? Has your place of work been changed for the better by your influence there? Have your neighbors been positively impacted by their interactions with you? Have your family and friends deepened in their love for Christ as a result of their relationship with you? In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus calls His followers to be salt and light. In the first century, salt was used primarily as a preservative. Salt slowed decay. Even just 10 righteous people, a dash of salt, in Sodom and Gomorrah, would have preserved the cities. Christians are a preservative. We preserve people from God’s judgment as we share the love and truth of Christ. God the Spirit is at work through us delivering people. But Jesus warns us against losing our saltiness, against becoming ineffective, against ceasing to be of any benefit. How are we doing as “salt” in our country?

What did you think of last Sunday’s sermon? If you missed it, take a few minutes to listen to it here on the website (it’s at the bottom left of the home page). Then I’d like to know what you’re going to do to help build community here at Bloomfield.

We all have a tendency to treat church like a country club. All of us often just want to enjoy ourselves here at church. We think the music should be music that I enjoy. The sermon should be interesting to me. We come to meet friends. We come and go as we please. Even when we have legitimate complaints about church, it betrays that we have a kind of country club mentality. “Church is not the way I think it should be.” “I don’t like this or that.” As if it matters what you like! “Somebody should do something about this or that.” Why don’t you make a positive contribution?

The church is not a country club! (Or at least it shouldn’t be.)

On the April 18, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast, while Don was out, Steven and Rabbi Glenn Harris discussed religious diversity. In our culture and in our world, there are billions of people with, what seems like, just as many different ideas about God and faith. You probably know Muslims, Jews, atheists, maybe a Hindu or a Wiccan. And we all know of Tom Cruise and Scientology, Madonna and Kabbalah, and Mitt Romney and Mormonism. Just in Bloomfield we have huge Jewish, Muslim, and Christian populations. We first discussed what our culture thinks about the relationship between all these different people with very different religions.

1. Your way is right for you, my way is right for me.
2. All these religions are basically the same thing, just different ways to God. All religions worship the same God, He/she/it just has different names.
3. We shouldn’t worry about our differences, but instead focus on what we have in common. All religions teach us to love each other. That’s what’s important.
But there’s a problem with these ideas…

Everybody knows about the Beatitudes. People think that Jesus’ blessings are so nice. But have you ever lived the Beatitudes? You might as well have a heart transplant, at least spiritually speaking. They are that transformational. The Beatitudes serve as Jesus’ introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. Imagine the scene: a large crowd is gathered on the side of a grassy hill. Jesus stands above them on the hill. The Twelve are there, as well as many others who have believed and are now following Jesus. Also there, standing on the outside of the crowd are skeptics, doubters, and people just hanging around for the show. Then Jesus begins, “Blessed are…” We would expect Jesus to say, “…those that believe in me.” But instead He says, “…the poor in spirit.” Is Jesus saying that it is blessed to be poor? To mourn?

On the Easter weekend Battle Lines broadcast (4/11/09), we discussed the Resurrection. As author and researcher Josh McDowell has written, “…the resurrection of Jesus Christ is either one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon people, or it is the most important fact of history.” It is common knowledge that Jesus Christ truly walked this earth. And no serious historian would deny that the tomb is empty. “No shred of evidence has yet been discovered in literary sources or archeology that would disprove this statement” (Paul L. Maier). There has to be some explanation for the fact that the tomb is empty. We believe that the explanation is supernatural. But those who don’t believe in the resurrection must posit some natural explanation. There are four such theories often used to dismiss the Resurrection. We described each theory and demonstrated how each is easily dismantled.

On the April 4, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast we discussed the immensely popular book The Shack, a work of fiction by William P. Young. As of the week of April 6, The Shack was at number one on the New York Times Best Seller List (Fiction Paperbacks) for 45 straight weeks. According to the publisher’s website, The Shack has sold 5 million copies. It is a story of a man, Mack, and his encounter with God. After his youngest daughter is abducted and murdered, Mack receives a mysterious letter, supposedly from God, inviting him back to the scene of the tragedy. There Mack meets God. The book is the story of Mack’s conversations with and experiences with each member of Trinity. Many people have read and have been impacted by the book. Michael W. Smith claims that “The Shack will leave you craving for the presence of God.”And Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, says, “This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!” Both Don and Steven read The Shack and on our broadcast we shared our reactions.

If you’ve ever read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, you know that Jesus says some things that are pretty hard to swallow. Following Jesus is not easy. Sometimes we think, because salvation is by grace through faith alone, not by works, that following Christ is easy. But, it’s actually the other way around… Salvation is unachievable for us – no amount of human effort can save us. Following Christ is impossible. That is why salvation is a work of grace. And discipleship is a work of transformation. We cannot remake ourselves; the Spirit transforms us into Christ’s followers… and that process is not easy on us. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ instructions for His followers. This is what a follower of Christ will look like. And it’s not easy stuff.