You're listening to KFI A M six forty on demand. Skyler, Welcome to
the Jesus Christ Show. Hi Jesus, thanks for going my show. I
have a special thing that wait, Skyler, Skyler, honey one second,
how old are you? Eleven? Eleven? And Skyler, do your parents
know that you're calling? Yes? Okay, goohed go ahead. I have
a spiritual thing that I'm being bullied in school by a girl and I don't
really like it. M And how is she bullying you? Like, she's
like making fun of me, She's like following me around. And what does
she make fun of? Things you say? Things you do, or she
just generally is making fun of she's like doing the things you said, you
know, the things that people can make fun of. Like my producer Neil,
he went bald when he was like like twenty three years old, so
he shaves his head so he's got no hair, and sometimes people will joke
about that, but it also it's also what makes him distinctive. It's also
what makes him memorable. And sometimes people point out those things about you because
they're memorable and they don't know how to express it, so they do it
in a negative way. But ultimately other people see that as one of the
things that make you a wonderful human being is that you have these unique the
way you say things, or the funny things you say, or the way
you walk or the way you talk. And if they're pointing those things out
and they're making fun of them, usually that is what makes you different and
makes you wonderful and makes you Skylar and not someone else. But as far
as what scripture says, scripture says, and you can read this with your
folks later on in the Book of Romans, and this is chapter twelve,
verse twenty. It says, but if your enemy is hungry, feed him,
and if he is thirsty, give him drink, for in so doing
you will keep burning coals upon his head. And it goes which doesn't sound
very pleasant, but listen, it goes on to say, do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. So the scripture asks you
to be nice to those people that are mean to you, as long as
they aren't physically trying to hurt you. If they get to the point where
they're hitting you, or they're throwing things at you, or they are going
to try and harm you that way, then I want you to let someone
know because that's not okay. And if they're using words to say mean things,
you want to tell people, but I don't want you to say mean
things back to them, okay, because that makes you that lowers you to
their level, and I don't want you to do that. So I want
you, honey, to read through that scripture with your folks later on.
And I also want you to ask them about this show and let them explain
to you what we do here and all that, because that'll be part of
the fun as well. But just know that when people point things out about
you and what you look like, those are the special parts about you.
Okay, Okay, all right, my dear, you go and you have
a great day. You rock to you down well, you rock to Skuyler
bub bye, honey, My goodness. It's very easy to look at life
and to look at what you are and who you are and the things that
your physical attributes are, what have you or the way you say things.
A bully is someone who just wants to point those things out. But they
want to point those things out in how it's not constructive criticism. They're pointing
these things out and hopefully in hopes of hurting you. My goodness, we
get email like that all the time, and so please no, I'm not
above it, but you can't let that slow you down. If you watch
these shows like they have those wedding series, you know, where they show
everything that went wrong at the wedding, I guarantee that's what made the wedding
memorable. It's those things that stand out, that are different, that make
you memorable. When something doesn't go right, that makes that time memorable.
If it's just a day, an average day where everything goes okay, you
forget it. It's the days where something exceptional happens, either good or bad,
that you know buries that into your brain. And just like Skyler that
there's going to be attributes of Skyler that somebody may think is funny or they
want to make fun of the name and change it a little bit. That's
what kids do. And there's some bullying that is is not fun, but
it's kind of the healthy part of growing up. And then there's this new
breed of bullying that gets very ugly and super mean spirited and and should be
defended against, and there is a time for that as well. Never let
anybody put a hand on you. Let never let anybody harm you in any
way, shape or form, ever, and that you defend yourself against that,
and you go to the proper authorities if you're at school or at work
or whatever, to let them know if you're being bullied there as well,
because it happens at work sometimes as well. But when people start to point
out characteristics, the way you talk, or things like that, take pride
in that if you were to go and have a cartoon drawn of you at
the fair or you know, Disneyland or disney World or something, and you
have a drawing done of you, you'll see that they will accentuate certain parts
of you, and you may be offended by that, Oh wow, my
body really, that small as my head, that big as my nose,
that big army here. No, it's an exaggeration of those things that make
you you. And that's what bullying is. Sometimes. It's people trying to
exaggerate the wonderful characteristics that make you you and make them a negative. And
you want to make them a positive by not succumbing to that, not giving
in to those taunts and making you someone ugly like they're being, and you
continue to love them through it now. I read verse twenty in addition to
twenty one because my producer Neil quite frankly gets a kick out of it every
time he reads that being a nice to your enemy leaps you know, heaps
coals upon their head. Obviously that is referencing Proverbs twenty five as well there,
but that that imagery of that kindness leaping put or keeping coals upon their
head is really to show you that that your goodness is what bothers somebody who's
being bad, and by being kind to them it really is twofold. It
allows you from breaking down and becoming them. And then two it is like
you know, across to a vampire. Kindness burns and will hopefully help them
see the stupidity of their ways. But always be, you know, take
the high road. Stillwell, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Yes,
Jesus, I'm calling because my father and I came to the state of Texas
from Florida to establish a church following my dad's calling to do that. My
dad has had a long success of doing that and anyways became to Texas left
everything to help him open up the church. The church has been going on
for about four years. It's going well, but he had to move back
to Florida for a couple of reasons. But anyways, we have a new
pastor, and obviously it's it's hard for me to just I've never had another
pastor other than my dad. But at this time, you know, I'm
here and I'm a leader here, I'm the music director, and I have
you know, it's my My problem is that I have a hard time identifying
with a new pastor, and I feel like I'm just fulfilling my responsibilities,
and then myself and my family are not being spiritually fed. And what is
it that's so what is it that's so different in regards to your current pastor?
You know, his his A lot of it has to do with his
preaching style. A lot of it has to be with all the changes that
happened so quickly. It just seemed as though the teachings that my father used
to bring were more I don't know, they just kind of it's more people
than just myself. But do you have a problem with the pastor himself?
Do you get along with him? Oh? I get along with him great.
I think he's a he has good intentions and I feel that the church
is going to succeed. I just I don't know if I know. It's
not your taste with me, it's not your cup of tea. I don't
feel like I'm I'm learning, and I don't feel like I'm being spiritually fed.
And I just don't know if you know I have responsibilities there. So
I don't know if it's it's okay to do that. Do you have a
desire to pastor the church yourself? No, I don't not at all.
Okay, So you can pick up and you can move to another church,
no problem. Yeah, I feel like I could do that, and I
feel like it's what my heart wants. And I went to another church the
other day and I felt it was amazing the experience I had, and I
felt that that's where I belonged. But I have responsibilities here, So I
understand. My question is other responsibility is more important than you know, my
family's spiritual lives and being fed. No, your responsibilities. Your responsibilities are
to your family first and then to that that body second, I mean the
church body. It's wonderful for you to be a participant, and people should
be a participant in their churches. And you have a commitment. I mean,
if you've signed something or you've said I will be here till this time,
then you should fulfill that. But if it's if it's not you know,
a contract that you've made with the church, or if you just really
if you think that the church is doing anything damaging, if it's just not
your cup of tea, then you should you know, you finish and you
fulfill. But if if you're if you're saying that you're not being fed and
it's not your flavor and all of these things, then you know you're obligated
to pick up and move. You give them proper amount of time to find
a replacement, explain your your concerns. Say this is you know where I'm
at. I feel really led. I went to this other church, and
I feel very motivated by this church, and that you'd like to take your
family there, and you feel like you're being led there. But you don't
want to leave them in the lurch either by not having someone to replace you
or any of those things. So treat it like a job in that sense
and give them a proper amount of time to get somebody else. But there's
nothing wrong with switching churches as long as it doesn't become you know, musical
churches and you just don't you know, didn't, didn't, and you just
keep hopping from one to one and really search yourself. I mean, have
you gone to churches that were pastored by your father for a long time?
Yeah, my whole life. Yeah, So it might be that might be
a hard change for you to begin with, to sit under someone else or
to hear someone else's teaching and you're you, you've been fed a particular type
of food, a particular type of way for a long time, and it
may just be discomfort. So just make sure that you search your heart thoroughly
and prayerfully on this and make sure that it's not an emotional decision based on
normal discomfort. But there's there's nothing wrong with leaving a church, even if
you're in leadership, as long as you give them proper amount of time and
voice your your concerns or thoughts or wishes or what you feel you're being led
to and all those so that the pastor doesn't get, you know, sideswiped
and then feels like they're doing something wrong. It just may not be what
you're looking for currently. All right, excellent, very good. I hope
so and that you move forward prayerfully. I mean, imagine this if and
this happens a lot in churches, that if if strangely enough, you went
to a restaurant you didn't like something, you would assume, well, that's
just not to my taste. I mean, some people might go, oh,
that's a horrible restaurant. You know, the the sauce was too watery
or whatever it might be. But really it might just be your taste.
And if your taste is not into that, well then you go to another
restaurant that suits your palate. Spiritually, a lot of people will jump on
the bandwagon of a new church, and then if the pastor is stern on
something or says something they don't like, now all of a sudden that it's
not being led by God. And I think that's silly. I think churches,
for the most part, are the pastors are listening to God and the
movement of the church and the Holy Spirit to see where God is going and
are being attentive that way. And the rest is going to be flavoring and
things that you like or that you don't like based on your own particular palate.
But don't put that on. Don't put that on them. That's not
fair to just cram it down their throat. It's not fair. Jane,
Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Hi did Hi Jane? How can I
help you, my dear? I had a frog in my throat? That's
okay, get him out. I did, cocked him up, excellent.
It could It could be worse. It could be a series of frogs or
locusts or frog's not so bad about hoss? Yes, well, how can
I help you, my dear. I have a lit cross that hangs on
a gutter on the back side of my house. It was kind of a
afterthought with our lit up Christmas decorations, and when we took the Christmas things
down, we decided to leave the cross up and I turn it on every
night for about an hour. And a neighbor told my husband yesterday two doors
away that he could see it in the reflection of the window of the house
across the street, and he found it extremely offensive. Offensive, Yes,
to have a cross shining in the neighbor's window across the street. And I
walked over last night to see if that was it's true, and he had
to really crane his neck to be able to see it. But that's beside
the point. At Christmas, he had a great, big peace symbol lit
up in his window, and I didn't go tell him. That offended me,
but that's not the point. My first reaction was not a good one,
and I thought I'd go up and give him a piece of my mind.
But I don't have a lot to spare because I'm getting older, so
I decided not to do that. You may not get it back, Yeah,
that's true. And I decided, Well, I looked at some scripture
and realized that I needed to take the cross down. If I love because
I'm a follower of yours, the loving thing to do would be to take
the cross down. My question for you is should I write him a note
and tell him in a very nice way why I'm taking it down. I'm
not taking it down because I'm afraid of him, or the only reason I'm
taking it down is because I don't want to offend him. I'm more concerned
about loving him, and the loving thing and the peaceful thing to do in
the neighborhood would be to take it down. So should I let him know
or should I just take it down? Well, look, there's a couple
of things going on here. And first, is this someone that you have
problems with or if you've never encountered other problems. I actually know him.
He came to our home. We had a Christmas tea and he came and
everything was very pleasant. Has he voiced that he has a differing belief than
you? Well, I don't know. We didn't talk about our beliefs.
I assume he probably does. With the peace symbol in his window when everybody
else had Christmas decorations, but nothing, you know, we didn't bring it
up, we didn't tell We were all very pleasant. That wasn't a problem.
So during during the Christmas time holiday, he put up just the the
crow's foot, the little chicken foot peace symbol, great big eight foot one
in his window. But that was his business. He has a freedom to
do that. Of course. Have we put up a big lit Nativity scene
in our front yard with the cross in the background? I see, So
this is in the front yard of the backyard that you have. This cross
is hanging on a gutter on the back side of the house, but you
can see it from the front of the house. And that's why it's there.
I should have left it up because of this business with the cross out
in the desert that people really have to go out of the way to see,
and somebody wants it taken down. The memorials to the veterans, and
I thought, Okay, this is private property, not a lot of people
going to see it. But if everybody that believes put a cross up,
people wouldn't have to go to the desert to see one. Well, I
understand where you're coming from, and I do completely here that it's frustrating when
it's your own property and the like. But if the purpose is to bring
peace and understanding to one another via the symbol, that really, I mean
is just a symbol. There's you know, there are two guys died next
to me on crosses as well. It's more about the direction that brings that
piece of hope. And in this particular case, if it's offensive, uh
to somebody like that, and it's it doesn't change your house, it's not
you're not superstitious. It means nothing to you as far as superstition. And
then I think that it is a beautiful sentiment for you to to take the
higher road and to love in quote your enemy or your neighbor through through this,
and there's nothing wrong with you writing a note and saying it has come
to my attention that that the cross bothers you. It it brings me great
peace and joy to see it lit up for that hour each night. But
I would never want my piece or joy to infringe on your own. And
so I'm taking it down. I hope that this is you know, not
to be nasty or anything that. Uh, you know, my my goal
is to for us all to live in this neighborhood of being friendly and helping
one another, and you know, please always let us know, and if
it's something we can do, we will do. Thank you, you know,
and just have that kind of attitude, not mean or nin or niner
or yeah, I took this down because of you, you big jerk,
and or anything like that, because that doesn't really it's a hard that then
it becomes a pride issue. And and do it that way, I think
is the more loving and peaceful way to bring it about. And not hey,
you put up a peace symbol and I put up this or what And
don't look for things that he's doing that you can shoot back at or anything
like that. Just leave it at that and say, well, I was
happy to have it for the time that I did, and it infringed on
other people, and I will respect that, knowing that you live in a
community that communes with one another, and leave it at that. But I
think you have that the healthy and the proper attitude. Jane, thank you,
You're very welcome. Thank you. I know it's frustrating, and I
know that there's going to be some of you that may disagree with that and
say no, you stand strong and hold it up. But here's the thing.
It's it's this attitude where you're just trying to protect that symbol, and
really what you want to protect is what the symbol stands for, right,
which is Christianity, which is the following of Christ, which is the tenets
of Scripture and the importance of the beauty and the justice of scripture, and
your freedom to express that in the United States. That's what you're trying to
protect. And if that's what you're trying to protect, then it's not about
the symbol. It's never about the symbol. I know that that in that
context, any more than your marriage is about the wedding ring, that those
things are symbols outward symbols, so the world knows, but the world should
know that you're a Christian in many different ways that have nothing to do with
jewelry or affectations, you know, accoutrement or things around the house. Your
faith should be worn on the very expression of who you are and what you
do in life, the way you act. This very act of taking down
that cross in this context, the very act of showing that restraint and loving
a neighbor and saying goodness gracious, that was never my intent to offend.
So take please, take this action of me removing the cross from my lighted
cross as a sign of peace and understanding. That becomes a very powerful note
because I guarantee if somebody went to someone with that attitude and says, take
your peace, simple down off your window, they go, no, forget
you, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, and you really
it really shows the nature of a person, not what they say or how
they act, but how they react to a situation. That really shows the
character of the individual. And I think Jane obviously has an immense amount of
character and faith. Her faith isn't wrapped up into a piece of plastic or
a piece of metal or a piece of wood. Her faith is wrapped up
in her heart and no one can ask you to take that down. Throughout
the existence of the United States, you've seen that this goes back and forth.
Jane even cited one herself that there's this kind of war on the symbols
of Christianity. Now, you know, you can look at things like other
pagan belief systems and it's aokay. The Jack o' lantern, the black cat,
which these types of things, even if they're fanciful recreations or representations of
them, that they can you can put those up in a school and there's
no problem. But you have to call a Chris Mystery holiday tree or you
can't put any of these symbols up because they represent Christianity. And yes,
there's a double standard, get used to it. There are also others that
fight for in God, we trust on money, and one nation under God
in the Pledge of Allegiance, when that wasn't even originally in the Pledge of
Allegiance. And you're not going to tell me that the country was less God
focused when it wasn't in the Pledge of Allegiance. So be careful what you
fight for it's not that those things aren't worth fighting for at times, and
there are opportunities because it really starts to infringe on your freedoms as well as
a standpoint of being an American, that you should have that ground. But
more importantly than any of the symbols or any of those statements, you know,
what would mean more to me than saying in God we trust on your
money. What would mean more to me is if you trusted God truly,
honestly and in the depths of your heart. That has more value and means
more to me than just saying it or throwing it on a dollar bill.
So I think when you look at the actions and your actions, speaking loudly
and showing the character of who you are, I think that's more powerful.
And now this guy has to go to bed each night not feeling like he
had a victory in any way, shape or form, because it's not What
does that even mean? If you have it on for an hour or two,
it's no big deal. But why fight that and have him further dig
his heels into the ground against Christianity and those the practice Christianity and another reason
to fuel the fires of his frustration, anger or whatever it might be that
make him feel that way, because to be offended by a cross is a
bizarre thing. You can drive up and down streets all over the place and
see that people have symbols of their Jewish faith on their doorposts. I,
for one, find that beautiful. I smile every time I see one at
that symbol of an outward faith that is deep within an individual. And if
somebody doesn't feel the same way, then so be it. But people searching
and the different beliefs out there and all of that is a thing of beauty.
The purpose, the hope is that they obtain truth. And it's not
just for culture, it's not just out of habit or those things, but
it's truly truth seeking. And some people that will be a turn off to,
and there's others that will appreciate it and understand it for what it is.
But my concern foremost, always above everything is going to be what's in
your heart, not what's hanging on a wall. Mike, Welcome to the
Jesus Christia, Thank you Jesus, thank you for taking my call, my
pleasure. How can I help you? Well, I've known many friends over
the years from different religions that all believe in Jesus, and they also believe
in God and pray to one God, and they have good families and everything.
And they'll tell me that because I believe Jesus is God, that I
can't go to helpna. Oh, well, they sound like fine friends but
bad theologians. That that's really part of Christianity and essential. And if you
remember when I was talking with the disciples, often I would ask them and
who do you say that I am? That was a huge importance to their
belief because if they had some sort of false notion as to who I was,
then they were no longer important to the cause of growing Christianity. So
will you find in scripture a place where I say the words I am God?
No? Never, But you do find throughout scripture statements that are the
equivalent went, especially two thousand years ago, for instance John ten thirty I
say I and the Father are one. That's a major claim. So John
ten thirty three. Also, if you remember, they tried to stone me
for that very reason, and it's you know, which good work do you
stone me? Well, they're not stoning me because they want to. They're
stoning me because I'm making a proclamation of deity, and I love to go
to John because that is the duty of Christ. I find in John John
eight, yes, and including John you know one one which is you know,
in the beginning was the Word, and the word is with God,
and the word was God. But then one of these religions they have a
Bible that says God was a god, a god small g and then it's
like my Bible's wrong or something. Okay, well here's the thing. There's
there's a bunch more. John eight fifty eight is a great example. I
tell you the truth. Before Abraham was born, I am that that word
I am is a Hebraic reference that is incredibly power powerful at the time,
and so much so that again based on Leviticus levitical law, they wanted to
stone me. So the John one one verse gets difficult. And although it's
a great verse, in the beginning was the word, the word was with
God, and the word was God in the word became flesh later on in
fourteen. But the problem with that is that in the Greek there's there,
it's a little convoluted. So technically the verse that they're saying, hey,
it can be translated this way. They're right, Oh, no, no,
they it can be. However, it's not proper translation in the Greek.
So I'm not going to get into all the complications because there are many
as to why why it can be translated that way. But context, context,
and we're running out of time, so I want to get a few
things out. Context does not allow it. So yes, is it grammatically
a possibility, yes? Is it a possibility in context of the verse?
Absolutely not. So can I go to heaven? Though Jesus is my main
question? Can they go to heaven if they pray to God for intercession?
And I do believe in Jesus, not the belief I do, no anymore
than if you won't find the same place. If you dial a phone number
and you get the last two digits wrong, but everything else was done with
good intent, and you really believe in the area code was right and all
that, you're not going to get the same person. I would also ask
you to go to Acts twenty twenty eight, and a very good one is
John twenty twenty eight that talks about Thomas. If you remember, he says
ikusmutheyasmu in the Greek, he says the Lord of me, the God of
me, and that would be and I don't correct him. I don't correct
him at all. And if that was, if he was wrong, it
would be blasphemy. And I would have corrected him because he was calling me
God. He wasn't saying, oh my God, which is what that particular
group that comes knocking on your door will tell you. But that would have
been using God's name in vain, and he would have been reprimanded. I
didn't reprimand him. Remember, more importantly than all this nuttiness, these words,
I am with you always. KFI AM six forty on demand