Christian Photographers Community

Hi, friends,

It's so good to see new friends, old friends, and regular contributers here today. I love you all.

I'll be home in 2 more days! Ah, blessed relief to know I'll be able to sleep in my own bed.

Ruth Ann

QuoteJames 4:8-10 says...
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

I think we need, as always, to consider the context.  James 4:1-5 says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you?  Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?  You lust and do not have.  You murder and covet and and cannot obtain.  You fight and war.  Yet you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.  Adulterers and adlutresses!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit Who dwells in us yearns jealously?'"

This gives us a view of the kinds of people James is addressing.  They're just general people, both of the world and of the Church, Christians and non-Christians alike.  He tells us about the problems we find all around us.  Then he suggests the cure.  He says, "Therefore submit to God.  Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Lament and mourn and weep!  Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourslevs in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."

He's not talking only to Christians here. He's talking to the whole of humanity.  He's just suggesting a cure for the problems he's mentioned, no mattter where they're found.  If you have those problems, then you need this cure.

If you're truly a Christian, and if you've submitted yourself to God, then you're on the right track.  Go on from there - "Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you."  And keep on going on - "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you."  But, if you're still completely in the world, haven't submmitted to God, then you need to get very, very serious.  You need to listen when he says, "Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Lament and mourn and weep!"  You won't solve the problems he's presented until you start here.  If all you're doing (as an unconverted sinner) is laughing, having fun, making fun of Christians, then you better get off your high horse and turn that laughing into mourning and that joy into gloom.  You need to "humble yourselves in  the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."  In other words, if you'll truly, seriously, deeply repent, then He'll make you very, very aware of His love.

I think that's the general sense of the passage.  It's not a passage that we should try to divide up into one part for the Christians and one part for the unbelievers.  It's just a passage that answers the problems he's presented - the problems found everywhere in the rebellious world.

Al, that's about how I see that passage.  The instructions to lament, mourn and weep are for those of "unclean hands" and "impure hearts", and the "double-minded", not for those who have found the joy and peace of the Lord.  We have already done our lamenting, mourning and weeping, we have repented and received forgiveness, and we are filled with the Holy Spirit and His "joy unspeakable".

Gene just called "10 minutes" - that's how long until our regular Wednesday night show starts.  Guess I'll be shutting down soon. 

I'm just stopping by to bid you all a good night.  Hope each of you enjoys the blessed sleep of the just!  See you in the morning.

Well, I've truly been fed this evening reading all the posts answering Soni's question!  Thanks so much, Soni, for asking it.  And thanks everyone for offering your thoughts on the passage. 


I've been opening and shutting windows as there's so much thunder around and I just got a weather alert that says there's another big storm headed this way.


Chris sent me an email that is truly awful.  I'm going to put it in here.


Kicked out of the YMCA
...for witnessing??!


Larry and his wife Ashley are featured as recommended speakers on our Events page.
We wanted to bring to your attention a recent incident that took place with one of our ministry partners, Larry Lee, who lives in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. As you read his account, we are confident that you will see the unacceptable and unfair manner in which he has been treated by the YMCA. More importantly we are confident that you will agree with us in concluding that Larry's civil and religious rights have been violated. This concerns us because it serves as a threat to our freedom of speech in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. When souls hang in the balance we take these matters seriously.

We want to ask you to stand with us and contact both the local YMCA where this incident took place as well as the YMCA International Headquarters. Please feel free to mail letters, call, e-mail or send faxes. However, we do ask that you remain courteous, kind, and loving in your correspondence. It might also be good to give a brief description of what it is you are contacting them about. Please let them know your thoughts regarding this matter. All the necessary contact information is provided at the end of this e-mail. Here is Larry's summary of what happened:

Last Friday afternoon, I went to work out at the local YMCA that my family belongs to. As I approached the building, I noticed two young men hanging out on the front sidewalk just outside the main entrance, apparently having just finished a game of basketball inside. As is my custom in my ministry, I walked up to these guys to see if I could talk with them about Christianity. I almost always start out by asking some fun trivia questions and give dollar bills for correct answers - questions like, "What's the capital of France?" and "Who is the Prime Minister of England?" These guys, who were seniors at a local high school, were bright - they got almost all the trivia right. I told them that I run a local ministry and that I like to turn the tables a bit by giving money away rather than asking for it. They thought that was cool.

I then did what I always do, which is to transition to "the good person test," in which we use the Ten Commandments to see if we are "good" enough in God's eyes to enter heaven. Of course everyone fails the test, but it proves a wonderful point - we need God's grace in order to enter heaven - we need Jesus Christ. These guys were really into the conversation. I told them that even though they didn't pass the good person test, I was going to give them the grand prize anyway - $20 - as an illustration of God's grace.

Even though they didn't deserve the $20, I was giving it to them as a gift, just like none of us deserves to go to heaven, but God offers us everlasting life through Jesus Christ as a gift. These guys were so excited - I told them they could use the $20 to have dinner on me - they couldn't stop thanking me. One kid stood up and said, "Man, I really appreciate this, thanks man." The other guy said, "Yeah, thanks, this is cool." I gave them some tracts that reviewed the gospel and told them I'd see them around. They thanked me again, and I left to go work out inside.

Much to my surprise, the next morning (Saturday), I received a call at my house from the director of the YMCA. She asked, "Were you at the YMCA yesterday talking to two young men about religion and giving them money?" I said, "Yes." She proceeded to tell me that my YMCA family membership was immediately terminated. I asked her what I had done wrong. She said my behavior was totally inappropriate, that I was interrupting those boys from exercising and that they didn't come to the Y to talk about religion. I asked if it was wrong to talk about Christianity on the campus of a Christian organization. She avoided the question and told me I was no longer welcome at the Y. I repeated my question, to which she replied, "I'm not going to argue with you." I again asked the question, and she hung up on me. I was shocked.

A few days later, I received another call from the YMCA director. She didn't hang up on me this time, although she did threaten to do so when I asked her to please show me the written rule in the YMCA literature that says what I did was wrong. She said I was soliciting, which is against the rules, but I told her that the dictionary says that to solicit is to ask for - and I didn't ask for anything, in fact I was giving things away. She said that my behavior was, and I quote, "bizarre," "uncalled for," and "totally inappropriate." Then she said that what I did could very easily be taken as a sexual advance, implying that I appear to be some sort of homosexual predator offering money for sex. You can imagine my shock. I asked, "What exactly is sexual about telling two guys how they can have everlasting life?" She changed the subject. Ironically, this same director three months earlier would not change the channel on one of the YMCA television sets that was showing a soap opera in which a man handcuffed a screaming woman to a bed, ripped off her clothes and jumped on her to rape her. When I requested that they change the channel, the director's response was, "You can watch a different TV set."

Friends, this whole scenario is unconscionable, unthinkable, and brimming with intolerance. For an organization that claims to stand for tolerance and diversity, this YMCA is neither tolerant of people who preach the gospel nor interested in having a gospel preacher as part of their diverse membership. I hold no personal grudges against these folks; I simply see this as an affront to all Christians and an effort to shut down our right to share the gospel. The sad thing about this incident is that I was never even given the opportunity to explain what happened before my membership was revoked. It was quite arbitrary - I was given no warning.

Even after I explained myself, there was no room for reasoning. The director's mind was already made up and I hadn't even violated any rules. What did I do wrong by talking to two gentlemen about Christianity at a Christian organization and giving them money to illustrate a point?

Is this the way that a "Christian" organization should treat one of its Christian members who was peacefully discussing Christianity with two young men who are seniors in high school, probably old enough to vote this November? Is this behavior fitting for an organization that states the following about its own history on its website?:

Through the influence of nationally known lay evangelists Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) and John Mott (1865-1955), who dominated the movement in the last half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries respectively, the American YMCAs sent workers by the thousands overseas, both as missionary-like YMCA secretaries and as war workers.

The first foreign work secretaries, as they were called, reflected the huge missionary outreach by Christian churches near the turn of the century. But instead of churches, they organized YMCAs that eventually were placed under local control. Both Moody and Mott served for lengthy periods as paid professional staff members of the YMCA movement. Both maintained lifelong connections with it.[/list]

This is the YMCA's current mission statement: "To put Christian principals into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all."

What do you think? Please let the YMCA know and be sure to mention Larry Lee's name. Also, please feel free to forward this on to all your friends.

Here is the contact information:

East Cobb YMCA
(Where the incident took place)
1055 E. Piedmont Rd.
Marietta, GA 30062
Phone: (770) 977-5991
Fax: (770) 578-2793
Email: maureenn@ymcacobb.org
Website: www.ymcacobb.org

   We also encourage you to contact the YMCA National Headquarters:
YMCA of the USA
Association Advancement
101 North Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606
Phone: 312-977-0031
Website: www.ymca.net 


Please pass this newsletter on to your friends.


http://www.wayofthemaster.com

Shame on the YMCA - but they have hired the woman who used to be the head of NOW - I think Patricia Ireland and I thought that was the worst thing I had heard.  Tell me if I am wrong in thinking she is heading up YMCA or maybe it is YWCA - whatever. 

Now I have forgotten what I was going to write.

Janet:  I will pray for you and some good answers for the care of Beth as she needs proper and loving care in her future.  Carol

  Hi every one  I did make a very big post very late and I did get a bonk. (I think perhaps I am too slow at times) but I did save it 

Ms Soni I am SO happy you did ask about the sad. It was my wonder too but my post it was too long to ask more.     Here is my post from late and my question too.

Hi ms Ruthie 

Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue.
~Adam Clarke~

Ms Pat I SO love this from Mr Clarke. It is to me at times as a smile from God.


Proverbs 8:17 says...
I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

Ms Pat I have a question for this.  I do not undarstand why only those that seek early shall find?

If some did pray for every day with all they have in the heart, but they do not know of Jesus. will Jesus hear the prayers. Are these a prayers of early? Ms Pat if a prayer is said even to that which is only of stone. If it is a prayer of love, Will Jesus hear it.

If God is love, will HE hear a prayer from the heart of some who did not get to know him at all. Does God hear some prayers and not others?

It is very late and I wish to say a hi to every one. I did not get to come here for some weeks. 

It is my hope to read some in the morning. Tonight I will have this prayer in my heart and perhaps one day I will find my answer and know it is a answer from God.  I know with all my heart that God is good all the time to all who know Him and to all who love Him.  I have such pain so many days for some who have SO much love and only know a God of man.    where ever can all this prayers of love go. I wish to one day find this place of many prayers that did not find a way to God and bring them all to Jesus.  I have such a puzzle at times of the Heaven with no pain and no tears.

If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me...Deuteronomy 4:29
You may not know me, but I know everything about you...Psalm 139:1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up...Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways...Psalm 139:3
Even the very hairs on your head are numbered...Matthew 10:29-31
When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you...Psalm 34:18
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart...Isaiah 40:11
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes...Revelation 21:3-4
And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth...Revelation 21:3-4

And with this words in my heart tonight. I wish you all a most wonderful day.
It is my hope that God will hear every prayer.

I love you all and I love you God.

Hi Miekait is so good to hear from you.  Maybe I can try to answer your questions.   In the NIV version it doesn't say early .  It just says "And those who seek me find me."  In otherwords, if a person really wants to find God and will seek after Him, that person will find God.  God is not so distant that he cannot be found.  He wants a person to seek after Him and then He makes Himself present to that person.  Usually that happens through praying to Him and reading the Bible.  That is how God reveals Himself to us.  It is so wonderful because God says we need to come to Him like little children and He will be our Father.

You asked about the prayers of someone who does not know Jesus.  I believe God hears all prayers, but what He wants is for a person to pray the sinner's prayer and accept His Son Jesus to be their Lord and Saviour.  Before a person does have a relationship with God, there is really no communication with God because all our sin is in the way and we have no communication with God up until the time when we surrender our lives to God and start living for Him.   If a non believer has his prayers answered, it should only lead that person closer to accepting Him into his heart.

You have put some wonderful scripture in your post.  The ones in Revelation are for the Christian and they are about when we get to heaven.  There will be no crying or pain in heaven.  Praise God! The other scriptures are to let everyone know how much God loves us.  When a non-believer reads those scriptures he should be drawn to the mighty God who is promising them and want Him to dwell inside of them.

Mieka, I hope this answers your questions and if you know of someone who does not have a relationship with Christ, just keep on praying for that person.  Your prayers will be answered!

Love Ruthie

Mieka, what a great question!

Thanks Ruthie for replying to Mieka! 

I'm sure that we can even continue this in tomorrow's topic if anyone would like to do that.

In the meantime, I'm locking the door on this one and the new New Every Morning is HERE[/b]

And now I'm retiring for the night as I have to deal with the car probs tomorrow.

Night Night!