Clever Free Methodist

  Since the birth of social media and 24-hour news organizations, we have quickly seen that information (true or false) travels quickly. It reminds me of words from the infamous church camp song “Pass It On” which states “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.” We have seen how quickly sparks of information can set our emotions into flame with the recent deaths of Charlie Kirk and Melissa Hortman. Their senseless deaths set off a blaze of responses due to their murders being categorized as assassinations. Sadly, this isn’t anything new. Just hearing the word “assassination,” we think of people such as John and Robert Kennedy, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. We can even go back in time to notable leaders as Abraham Lincoln and Julius Ceasar. Yes, it is true what Solomon remarked in Ecclesiastes 1:9 , “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Evil is doing what evil does. Therefore, since we (...

One of the strongest defenses of investigating any situation is making sure that we gather as many facts, witnesses, and information on the subject at hand. We don’t want to jump to any rash decisions or conclusions and find out, later, that we were wrong. The Bible has a very strong passage to support taking the time to gather facts to make a truth-filled decision. Proverbs 18:15 , “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” We cannot afford to jump to conclusions on unfounded rumors or quickly repeated gossip. I have witnessed one incident of such false information that has spread like a raging forest fire due to individuals not doing their homework on the subject matter. I am talking about some recent “observances” during the funeral of Pope Francis. During his funeral, several individuals noticed that there were “upside-down crosses” displayed in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Many took to social media in a wild frenzy to associa...

  Romans 5:8 “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It is truly amazing to know that God didn’t first put us on a 30-day trial period to see if we could “handle being a Christian” before he would save us. I am glad He didn’t say, “I’ll forgive most of your sins except for these few particular ones."   What is even just as amazing is knowing that God sent his Son, Jesus, to us with the risk knowing there was a good chance that he would be rejected and not one, single person would accept his offer of salvation. It was quite a sacrifice. It is what we focus on during the season of LENT.   LENT comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “Spring.” What happens in Spring? The Winter snows melt away, warmer temperatures, and the robins appear. But, most importantly, the earth comes back to life! Grass becomes green, trees bud and the leaves return, and flowers grow and bloom.   We, like Spring, want our spiritual lives to “come back to life” now and after we die. So...