Posts

Showing posts from January, 2024

What is a Christian?

Image
Some people can get hung up on semantics especially religious folk. One of my Facebook friends recently posted this on his page: “I want it to be VERY known. I’m NOT a Christian. I repented of that in 2009. I became a disciple. There is a difference.”  I posted this comment in response: “I’m not ashamed to call myself a Christian. What’s your definition of one?”  My friend replied, "An Antioch baby. An infant unwilling to grow up. Happy to be in diapers being bottle fed, and catered to.” This man went on to write a diatribe about so-called Christians enslaving his ancestors.  Webster’s 1828 dictionary gives several definitions of the word Christian. One of them is: “A real disciple of Christ; one who believes in the truth of the christian religion, and studies to follow the example, and obey the precepts, of Christ; a believer in Christ who is characterized by real piety.” Of course, not every professing Christian is officially one. While evangelizing, I occasionally meet pe

Too Much Information

Image
It’s often been said the gospel is so simple it takes the mind of man to complicate it. While evangelizing with other Christians, I’ve seen some give too much information. One night, I hit the streets with a woman who preached a sermon to everyone she approached. That wasn’t necessary since some of these people were already saved. Another time before an outreach I led, the pastor’s wife (who didn’t even go out with us) suddenly showed up and insisted we hand out large flyers promoting the church plus “Our Daily Bread” devotionals. Although two people got saved during this outreach, we could have seen more if our focus hadn’t been diverted to handing out all the extra literature. We already had gospel tracts, mini-Bibles, and business cards from the church. I usually give out gospels of John or Bibles only to people who don’t have one.  Then there was the time a man who I had dinner with showed me booklets he hands out when witnessing. In response, I showed him the “ Good News ” trac

The Fall of Minneapolis: A Must See Documentary

Image
In 1985, I moved to Minneapolis to pursue a secular music career. I was excited to finally live in  Prince ’s hometown. For the next fifteen years, I resided in various parts of the Twin Cities area. During that time, I became a Christian and eventually answered the call to full-time ministry. For over two decades now, I’ve traveled around the United States as a missionary. In recent years, I’ve gone back to Minnesota for extended visits (usually when the weather is warmer). However, a recent film has decreased my interest in ever settling there again. Many of us remember what happened in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. A black man named George Floyd was arrested for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. He subsequently died while in police custody. It set off riots there and in other cities. I happened to fly out of Minneapolis two days before Floyd’s death to meet a friend in Denver and then went on a road trip to Virginia. I returned to Minnesota on June 13th with another missionary. We vis

Let No One Deceive You

Image
Criminals continue to come up with new schemes to steal money from people. One way is through hacking social media accounts. Before leaving the house this past Wednesday to get my morning coffee, I briefly went on Facebook with my iPhone. I saw this question from a fellow missionary’s page: “My cousin is looking for an old-fashioned name for her baby girl! What is a classic grandma’s name for a shot at $2,500?”  Although most online giveaways I’ve seen are phishing scams, I decided to participate in case this was legitimate. I typed “Ethel” in the comments section. Moments later, “Sandy” replied, “Inbox me right now for your payment.” My suspicions increased because another woman had posted a claim this wasn’t a scam and included a screenshot of receiving over $2,200. I examined Denise’s Facebook page and noticed questionable posts, including her own giveaway. I waited a few minutes to see what else might happen.  “Sandy” soon inboxed me asking for my CashApp info. I waited another