by A. A. Neale

The big to-do in the U.S. these days roils around Hillary Clinton's new book of old tales. For eight million dollars up front and bunches more to be doled out later, the former First Lady spills the beans.

But it's not about money, not completely, anyway. Most everybody recognizes what she's up to, clearing the way for a run for the White House. It's power, pure, unadulterated power. Her book is a softener, getting us public rags ready for the big wash.

Hillary represents everything the indecent, immoral liberal element in America loves. Nothing she can do will displease them, because they speak the same language, though not all of New York state thinks their Senator is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

You might think otherwise, but this article isn't about Hillary. It's about our public face, mine and yours. Two problems keep popping up to mar the image.

First, like Hillary, we think we need a spin job to catch the public eye and win support. Try these examples on for size, from yesterday's Agape Press:

"Some Ohio churches are jazzing up their services with movie clips, rock music, theatrical lights, and giant video screens. Pastor Bryce Davis says Eastside Christian Church in suburban Cincinnati has increased attendance ten-fold since adding high-tech equipment. Nearly 1,600 people came to Easter services this year. And Gail Rizzo, director of worship, technology, and drama at Mount Carmel Christian Church, says the church wanted to make sure it was using every available tool in its services. So the church has installed enormous screens that project guest speakers beamed into the sanctuary by satellite. An elaborate speaker system pipes rock music into the church to introduce the sermon topic, and theatrical lights spotlight actors performing Bible stories."

Whoops! They forgot the smoke or dry ice or whatever makes the ground boil to make the performers look like they're floating on clouds. And how about suits with lights? Or bring the preacher flying in on a hidden wire, like Peter Pan. That ought to get their attention. Or maybe a theatrical Matrix-Star-Wars-kung-fu battle to show how real the battle is between good and evil. If not, why not? You can take this just as far as you want to to take it, because once you get away from the simplicity of the gospel and the Biblical plan of worship, the imagination's the limit.

This isn't church, it's Hollywood in religious garb, and it just plain stinks as it rises to Heaven.

That's the first public face. The Lord's order was for edification not titillation. Go read 1 Corinthians 14.

Here's the second one. Like Hillary, lots of us religious folk show a hypocritical face. Lots of people are laughing at Senator Clinton's mock surprise at Bill's shenanigans. As if she's going to convince anybody she's the poor victim.

Well, the polls say people who claim to be a part of Protestant Christendom don't live any better than their non-religious neighbors. I think it was Barna who said the Baptists are breaking up their marriages quicker than most folk. There are reasons for that, a main one being, to my mind, the faith-only doctrine of salvation that says that even if you don't live it, it doesn't matter anyway because once you got it you can't lose it. Be that as it may, the big evangelical world is just as perverse as its pagan neighbors. The denominationals are drinking and doping, divorcing and dancing, double-timing and defaulting just like everybody else, and putting on a pious face on Sundays. When they go.

That trite phrase, "walk the talk," was invented among people who, as a rule, don't do it. Will the one body, the Lord's church? If it doesn't, it will cease to belong to the Holy One.

And if the real Christian tries Hillary's ploy, he'll be the laughingstock of the world. Just like her.

It's time we threw away the masks, and got real.

by A. A. Neale

People will eventually disappoint me, but not God. He may not do everything I want or expect him to do, but he never breaks his word nor acts against his character. I may not always understand his ways or purposes, and I may question where the path leads or the whys of my life, but God will be the constant to keep me going.

The pain of intimacy is seeing, in another and in myself, the inconsistencies, the expectations, the absurd demands that sour the joy of relationships. Yes, we may, and should, leave these aside and concentrate on the good, but there will always be an effort, a limp, a wince, in the best of human relations.

Not so with God. I may wince at my own expectations of him, but never at him. I may cringe at my own inconsistencies, but never at his. I may make absurd demands of my own spirituality, but never of him.

Abraham may have had reason to wonder, to question, to feel disappointment when the Lord told him to take his son of the promise and offer him as a sacrifice. But the holy text only says that the patriarch got up early in the morning and obeyed.

The psychologists and psychiatrists have gotten us so psyched out that we have to take our emotional pulse every 30 seconds. We have yet to approach the sufferings of Job, but we are more than ready to take up his mantle of wondering and questioning what God is doing. Unlike that wise old man, we sometimes permit the mental and emotional acrobatics to swing us into the cold regions of disbelief.

God will never disappoint, as long as I let God be God. He is true to himself, true to his word, true to his people. If I give him room to work, time to conclude, he will always come through.

That last paragraph borders on blasphemy. Who am I to "let" God be God? Who am I to "give" anything to God?

It is I who needs to be proven, not God. If I submit (ah! there's a better word!) to the Almighty, he will prove me. And never disappoint. And I'm thankful for that.

"To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed" (Psalm 22:5, NASB).

"For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed'" (Romans 10:11).

by A. A. Neale

Excuse the cliché, but gratitude and gladness are two peas in a pod. You can be a partygoer and whoop it up all night long, but only the thankful heart knows real joy.

To get a thankful heart, you have to know certain things:

1. The Lord presented to us in the Bible is the only true and living God. All the rest of them are just idols, man-made gods.
2. He is the creator of all that exists, including the whole human race. He also created the church, formed his people to do his bidding.
3. That means we are not the determiners of our own fate, no independence here. No do-it-yourselfers.
4. Everything about God is good. Even the kiddos learn this one early on. "God is great, God is good, ..." No tragedy, no trial ought to blind us to his mercies.
5. You can butt your head against God's truth and faitfulness all you want, but it isn't going away. Better to accept it, live by it, and put it out in the public square for everybody to consider.

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. Psalm 100, NKJV

by A. A. Neale

"Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here'" (John 18:36, NKJV).

Kings love pomp and power. They revel in riches. Good Queen Elizabeth is probably chafing that the author of Harry Potter has surpassed her in net worth.

Jesus was a different kind of King. He gave up luxury for poverty, refused power to embrace weakness, and surrendered the glory of heaven for human simplicity. He passed up every temptation to become a worldly monarch so he could remain firm in building his spiritual kingdom.

The scholars tell us we should understand the word "kingdom" in the New Testament as "rule," because the Kingdom of God (or Heaven, as Matthew prefers it) is centered in the King. I don't have a problem with that, as long as we don't diminish the place of God's church as the current expression of Christ's rule.

But the main point here is that the King has set the standard. Gobs of religions, many of which call themselves Christian, have more in common with Pilate than they do with Jesus. We'd better be sure who's side we're on and whose robes we're wearing, whether it's the gold-laced finery of royalty or the plain peasant cotton of the Lord of the Universe.

Because, when he comes again, he will recognize those who belong to him. And I'm thankful for that.

by A. A. Neale

Police won't say why they think Scott Peterson killed his wife and unborn child, but behind every good detective work is the exploration of why someone commits a crime.

Motives do matter (Jas. 4:3). The "why" word starts at an early age and takes in greater life questions as the decades roll by.

The legal courts consider that evidence can be gathered to establish the reason why a crime is committed. Based on evidence of a motive, a person can be convicted and punished severely.

Involuntary manslaughter, for example, carries a lesser punishment than murder, all because of the motive behind the taking of a person's life.

A Different Story, Spiritually

Perhaps that's fine and good for secular courts, but it's a dangerous thing for Christians to try, whether it's justifying my own motives or condemning my neighbor's. (Those seem to be the two tendencies.) The Bible says repeatedly that only God can read the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12). "All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the Lord weighs the motives" (Prov. 16.2, NASB).

I figure it this way. It's in the area of motives that separates (or fails to separate) the wheat from the tares (see Matt. 13:24-30). The Bible is clear that for sinful behavior the sinner must be excluded from the communion of the saints. But since we can't judge a person's heart, we have no business trying to remove those whom we think may be "doing church" (what a horrible phrase!) for a hypocritical or base reason. Now, eventually, such an inner evil will probably be found out by resulting in sinful behavior, and then it should be dealt with. But we might just imagine a person who is a saint with a capital "S" on the outside, but whose heart and soul are as rotten as Satan himself. God will take care of him.

People might even tell us what their motives are, but we still can't be 100% sure, since we don't know if they're telling the truth. And some folks might even think they're telling the truth about their motives, when they don't know themselves well enough to truthfully say what makes them tick.

Having said all of that, Jesus reminds us in his Mountain Sermon to judge a tree by its fruits. Most likely "fruits" here refer to teachings and behaviors, and we must pinpoint who's a "pig" before casting pearls of the gospel out into the world. Those things, doctrine and conduct, are objective enough to serve as indicators of faithfulness.

In the Meantime

So what do we do in the meantime, as we wait for God to reveal all our hearts' deepest secrets?

First, let's teach right motives, pointing out what the Lord finds acceptable and what he approves of.

Second, let's pray for better self-understanding and meditate on Scripture that we might identify where we need to shore up good motivations and change out bad ones.

Third, let's dwell upon the love and goodness of God, especially as we see them in Jesus Christ. Nothing will help good motives like the cross.

Fourth, let's be glad of right conduct, even if it springs from wrong motives. So says the magnaminous apostle Paul, "But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice" (Phil. 1:18).

Fifth, let's recognize that some sinful conduct shows bad motives. James said to mean-spirited Christians, "have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?" (Jas. 2:4). This doesn't diminish the admonition against judging of motives, but it does associate deliberate sinful behavior with evil motives.

Sixth, let's show ourselves as Christians of pure motives by our exemplary imitation of the Lord (2 Cor. 1:12; Thes. 2:3). People will be assured of our good motives by consistent, faithful, unselfish service.

I'll work on my motives, and leave yours to the Lord.

"Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God" (1 Cor. 4:5).