I won’t be able to transfer everything he says word for word.  That sounds a little illegal.  I will, however, quote from his introduction, many of the 20 facts that will affect you and I hope enrage you.  Everything after that will be excerpts, quotes, summaries, and if I’m so bold, my own opinions following each entry.

Here are some of the 20 facts, quoted and credited to the authors Dick Morris and Eileen McGann.  If these don’t frighten you to your knees, all I can say is Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.

“FACT: The mainstream media in America is distorting the news to deliberately downplay terrorism.  The Society of Professional Journalists has actually recommended that reporters “avoid using word combinations such as ‘Islamic terrorist’ or ‘Muslim extremist’”!

“FACT: Even when terrorists are caught targeting high-profile facilities in New York City like the Brooklyn Bridge and JFK Airport, The New York Times–along with the rest of the national media works overtime to convince us that the threat was artificial and overblown.

“FACT: If liberals win the White House and Congress in 2008, they plan to kill conservative talk radio by requiring stations to balance their content by broadcasting extreme liberal opinions and forcing stations to install liberals in top management positions.

“FACT: Barack Obama says he will double the capital gains tax rate.  This could trigger a sell-off in both the stock market and real estate market between election day and the first of the year.

F”ACT: Barack Obama claims to be fiscally responsible.  But he has publicly proposed tax increases that will amount to more than $1 trillion over the next ten years.  If the Democrats win the White House, Americans making $100,000 or more could be paying almost 60 percent of their income in taxes.

“FACT: The Do-Nothing Congress is still doing nothing.  The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives held roll-call votes on less than a third of the workdays between January 1 and March 31, 2008.

“FACT: Under our very noses, foreign companies like Shell, Repsol, Siemens, Hyundai, BNP Paribus, and others are helping Iran’s repressive regime stay in power, even though it is developing nuclear weapons.  And it’s our state pension funds that invest in these companies, enabling them to come to the ayatollah’s aid.

“FACT: Hedge fund billionaires–like George Soros–make astronomical incomes each year and pay only the lower capital gains tax rate on their income.  Hedge fund employees pay less in federal taxes than other Americans: on average, they pay only 15 percent of their income in taxes, while other Americans pay up to 35 percent.  And it’s the Democrats–yes, the Democrats!–who are protecting them.

“FACT: Bill Clinton is a partner in a global investment fund with the emir of Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) states.  His recently released tax returns suggest that his income from involvement with the fund could be as much as $15 million.”

On the back:

“Getting gouged on your credit card fees? Feeling queasy about your subprime mortgage? Can’t believe your pension fund is helping Iran? Wondering why U.S. lobbyists are fighting for Hugo Chavez? Outraged that congress can’t put in a five-day week? Astonished that French companies are getting U.S. defense contracts? Suspicious of the Democratic party’s (not so) secret liberal agenda?

YOU’RE BEING FLEECED!

I can’t help but picture a stern and frowning preacher in a Quaker Oats suit with one thumb in his lapel and the other hand wagging a finger at a crowd of scared Puritans.  At the sound of the first “ye” today’s audiences dreamily wrap themselves in the poetic style and don’t take the meaning home to heart.  (Mommy, what’s a mote? Shhh) I don’t disparage the poetic style of the verse but many times for the sake of clarity, I use the Message translation’s inescapable smack-ya-in-the-eye terminology.

“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults–unless, of course, you want the same treatment.  That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging.  It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own.”

The NIV uses “sawdust” and “plank.”  The Amplified uses “particle” and ”timber.”  Whatever the symantics, the point is clear — your method of discernment is the same method by which people will judge you in a karma style system.  What goes around comes around.

“Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.”  — Message

“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will se clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”  — NIV

I found it interesting that the Message used a facial expression instead of beam or timber.  That’s because Jesus is referring to a state of mind and a motive in the deliverance of the criticism.  What He’s speaks of is not loving correction.  It’s nasty put-downs.  One appears taller when one makes the other guy appear shorter by cutting him down.  The sneer is apparently as big an issue as the plank.

I’ve been in the midst of a genuine, definitive sand storm.  It was 1967, just outside El Paso.  We could see it coming, huge, wall to wall, no where to run or hide.  We had little choice but to pull to the shoulder, roll up the windows, cover the food as best we could, and watch the finest of the wind driven, stinging sand particles filter into the interior through vents and around the windows too.  The only thing visible was the sand itself and the dirt mixed in with it.  If there was larger chunks of debris as is found in tornados and hurricanes, we were spared.  If anyone is without shelter, that person has more than one speck in both eyes. In the scripture analogy, the same is true.  By our sinful nature, there is no way to avoid specks, dust, and particles. It’s just life.

Past specks and dust, with a huge object in an eye, the vision, if there is any discernable vision at all, is distorted.  Once the beam/timber/plank/telephone pole is removed, you can not only see the speck but you should pay attention to the fact that the speck is significantly without significance compared to your own recent chunk’o'wood.  The next thing you should be able to see besides your own capability of far worse law-breaking and sin-making, is that, though you’ve cleaned up your act, you are still a sin-based being.  Approach is key. 

The root word for judge in verse one is krino, which basically means “to make a distinction.” That can be prudent and wise.  1 Corinthians 2:15 instructs us to “make judgements about all things,” what can also be called discernment.  What Jesus is talking about here is judging people and unfairly criticizing them as if we can read their hearts.  By attempting to do so we are playing God.  We’re meddling.  Try walking into your boss’s office and tell him how to do his job.  Does he care?

There are specific guidelines on how to approach someone who is off track and causing harm to the Body, all of which admonish the use of gentleness and pure motives.  If your purpose is to “put that person in his place” you are definitely off track.

Now that you’ve seen the light, what do you do when someone with beams in his eye approaches you, all smiles, loving you with arms open wide and hellbent on straightening you out?  (This one hurts so badly, I’m giving the page reference and quoting word for word.)

Chapter 5, page 112, under How to behave if someone criticizes us.  What if someone meddles in your life?  How do you respond?  Most of us find it hard to respond in a way that pleases God.  First, He calls us to maintain a sweet spirit.  Never forget, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word sitrs up anger.” Prov. 15:1.  Second, we are to agree with them.  Usually there is a little bit of truth in what a critic will say to us or about us.  Even if you can’t find a way to agree, you can always say,”I see what you mean.”  Third, we should thank them.  this will not only defuse their irritation, but it will also enable them to save face should they be up to no good.  In addition, we will avoid making an enemy unnecessarily in the process.

What we must never do when being confronted is to defend ourselves or try to impress them with how good or right we are.  We must never seek to punish or get even or make them look bad.  Ask them to pray for you! But do it in a non-combative manner, never sarcastically.  confess sincerely, “I need all the help I can get.”  The principles of total forgiveness should  enable us to make friends, not lose them.

That’s about all I can stand for one week.  Tune in next time for another adventure into Tell Me Again How Much Work I Need.

I listened to the same tapes at work this last week that launched my breakthrough back in 1998.  Wouldn’t it be great if forgiveness was once and for all victory?

Sorry.

I needed to hear that I needed to not only forgive, but to release from payback the men and woman who set me up and executed my dismissal from my best job ever, the HR Manager position in the company where Honey still works.  Bitter.  Bitter.

The executioner did not specify why.  He just wanted me out and Tennessee says he can throw me out for my eye color and doesn’t have say why.  I just have to swallow it, ask God to bless and prosper them.  I cannot expect them to acknowledge they caused me pain.  I cannot wish or pray for anything but good things for them.  God will do what God needs to do.  I have to release all responsibility I might think they should shoulder so that God can work in their lives.

I have, in this class study, referenced my email conversation with a columnist who was ripping the Catholic priests who abused the young boys years ago.  It ended with my comment that if those priests were forgiven and ultimately in Heaven standing next to the columnist in their own white robes, would she accept or reject them as brothers, forgiven through the sacrifice on the cross?  Or would she slip away so she didn’t have to deal with them? 

Now I have to ask myself that same question.  Even on this earth, how will I react as a born again, saved, sanctified, purified, forgiving Christian if I run into my executioner at the mall?

Yet, consider that this is not a prayer everyone should pray, particularly the unsaved.  Nice to memorize, and doesn’t it make you feel holy to speak the words that Jesus allegedly spoke, words He gave to us.  But the “us” He gave it to were His followers, not those who reject Him or even those who haven’t “quite” accepted Him yet.

The focus is on the line that Kendall’s book, Total Forgiveness, is dealing with, forgiveness.  Whether your memorization used the word “tresspass” or “debt”, the meaning is the same.  We are forgiven by the Father when we forgive those who offended us.  If we haven’t forgiven and have no intention of forgiving, we are PRAYING a LIE.

 The other point I want to cover from this long and detailed chapter, every paragraph of which stings in some way, is the proposal that The Lord’s Prayer is not a prayer of salvation.

“it would be as if, once we had forgiven everyone, God would say, ‘Ok, now I will save you.’”  This salvation would then be based on works instead of grace.

As saved through grace, this is our focus: There is no forgiveness (as a Christian) for the one who does not forgive, but it is not a prayer for justification.  Neither is it a pray for keeping yourself saved.  It is a prayer for continued fellowship — in this life, and the next.

I’ll let you chew on these little bites.  I hope they get stuck in your teeth and you can’t find the floss.

Yet every time I hear this story, I see something new. It was more than the adage, “time heals all wounds.” Joseph was God’s example to us of how He forgives. It took God 22 years to prep Joseph for this very lesson which we are still talking about approximately 3000 years later, so the details had to be thoroughly planned and executed.

First Joe had an attitude. It must have been tough being the youngest and the favorite and not develop a lousy pride problem. He did have prophetic dreams in which the brothers bowed to him, but it wasn’t too smart telling them about it. Twice. Next thing he knew, he was on his way with the Ishmaelites to who knew where and would he live to see tomorrow.

At Potiphar’s house he was developing into quite the good looking young buck, so much so that the Missus wanted a sample, ordered a sample, tried to trap him into giving her one, and when he refused, she yelled rape. Hubby believed her over the stray Hebrew kid, and off to jail he went.

When we read the unembellished report in the bible, we don’t see Joseph’s attitude in the pits. We saw his polished results when he was face to face with his brothers, but we aren’t told how he behaved on his way to that point. We just assume he sat against the rock wall with this holy glow on his face ministering to the prisoners. I disagree. I can see him pounding those walls until and past when his knuckles were bloody from it. I see him responding badly to the others, maybe even a few fist fights. I imagine him rolling into a ball in gutrenching sobs begging God for answers when everyone else was asleep. I assume he fantasized delicious revenge on more than one occasion just to get to sleep.

I think it took all those years to break him much like horse trainers break a stallion. Once God had his attention, then He could work with him. Until, alas, Joseph tried to take God’s plan in his own hands by telling the cup bearer, whose dream he interpreted according to God’s gift to him, to put in a good word. Well, hey, what’s so bad about that? One teeny little help-God-along request, and whammo, he’s stuck in jail for another two whole years. That’s because God wants to be God and did not give Joseph that option to help Him along. The pride reared its ugly head again, and in this particular case where God was working so carefully to set up this example for us, it was not tolerated. (But, God …. TWO YEARS??) I’m sure He knew how long it would take to drive the point home to this young man with the pride problem. Joseph needed to be delivered from that plus bitterness and self-pity.

Finally, in God’s timing, the cupbearer remembered Joseph when the Pharoah had a dream that needed an answer that his ministers and sorcerers could not provide. Joseph was summoned, interpreted the dream, and won the position of Prime Minister in charge of all of Egypt, second in command only to Pharoah himself.

When the seven years of plenty used for storage gave way to the seven years of famine, who should come to Egypt from Canaan but the very men who sold him into his 22 years of training. When Joseph heard of these men from his attendants, he knew who they were and what he was going to do. If Joseph planned revenge for the first many years in Egypt, he also planned the scene that did transpire if he had the chance to see it.

In his Egyptian costume and headress, he wasn’t recognizable as the grown Hebrew boy. He knew them, but they saw a Prime Minister in a pagan land from whom they were begging for food. They were bowing to Joseph as Joseph had seen in his dream as a boy. But Joseph had overcome his need for revenge, his bitterness, his self pity and pride. Instead of reveling in the moment, Joseph was having one hard time keeping his emotions in check. So he commanded his men to leave the room.

He fell to the floor and wept loudly, so loudly his attendants were gathered outside the door listening and very puzzled. If they’d had a glass with them, it would be pressed to the wall. Joseph was sincerely thrilled to see his brothers and revealed his identity at which point the men were totally panicked and hit the deck thinking Joseph, especially in this position of power, would summon the executioners any second.

Instead he embraced them. He told them to go to their father and tell him that he was alive and wanted to see him and his younger brother Benjamin as soon as possible, to bring their families and to settle in the land of Goshen where their every need would be met.

What I saw here that I hadn’t seen before was the fact that Joseph was not interested in their confessions to their father. Simply, tell him he was alive. Also, he didn’t let them remain in their fear of him. That would indicate the need for personal satisfaction. Neither was he interested in their continued guilt. He truly let them off the hook when he said it was all God’s intention for God’s glory and that he felt no ill will toward them.

Here are the summary inserts from the book, said better than I can summarize:

• It is as though our sins don’t exist anymore–they are gone, gone, gone, gone!
• It is comforting to know that God freely and totally forgives all of our sins and will never tell what He knows
• Once He has forgiven us, God does not want us to be afraid of Him.
• Forgiveness is worthless to us emotionally if we can’t forgive ourselves.
• Saving face. It is what God lets us do.
• When we truly see ourselves as we are, we will recognize that we are just as capable of committing any sin as anyone else.
• Sin that is under the blood of our sovereign Redeemer does not need to be confessed to anyone but God.
• To hold another person in perpetual fear by threatening, “I’ll tell on you,” will quickly bring down the wrath of God.
• Total forgiveness involves an additional element: praying for God’s blessings to rain on the lives of your offenders.

Tune in next week for chapter 3, The Lord’s Prayer and Forgiveness.

(How about you spring for your own copy and read ahead)

First on the list is the continued nutshelling of Total Forgiveness by R.T. Kendall currently studied in our adult Sunday School class room. After that, I hit my shelves which include another book by Mr. Kendall concerning personality quirks and how God uses them for His purposes called Thorn in the Flesh.

Books I have but haven’t read yet are John Hagee‘s Daniel to Doomsday and Jerusalem Countdown. More politically oriented choices include Unrestricted Warfare, China’s master plan to destroy America and America Alone, The End of the World as We Know It, discussing how our 40 year zero population grown mentality coupled with our increasingly manic desire for the accumulation of stuff at the expense of the future generation through abortion has secured takeover by third world cultures.

Quite the spectrum, huh? They’re all related and cry out for study and discernment. Our days are numbered, our country is at risk especially after our government has declared 20 million lawbreakers to be legal citizens. I see that as another nail in the coffin of American, Home of the Brave culture.

Let us dig ‘n’ discern.