Ode To Charlie Kirk (poem)

 A grain of wheat has fallen
Which once grew tall in truth
From a stalk of divine calling
A call to revive our nation's youth.

The assassin's bullet scythed min down
His blood then soaked into the ground
But from this ground of hearts will grow
A bountiful harvest the world will know.

Hoping to silence his voice of truth
With hate filled hearts they stopped the ears
But soon they'll hear a choir of America's youth
Singing Charlie's Song for many years:

Jesus saves! He purifies!
The peace He gives- it satisfies!
He gives us purpose. He gives us light.
Now rise up Christian! Join the fight!

Fight for freedom! Fight for truth!
Fight for our country! Fight for youth!
Trust in Jesus. Do not wait.
Fight with love instead of hate!

-Dee Dee Hall

Thoughts Regarding The Assassination Of Charlie Kirk

 

 I am not typically a "current events" guy...

I am not a "headlines preacher"...

Never been my thing...

That said, this week's events hit a bit different due to the fact that I have personally had threats on my life and safety, threats of lawsuits, threats of "destroying my church", and the list goes on, in 15 years of ministry...  

The bullet tore the air in half. A folding chair rattled. A Bible dropped. A young man slumped sideways beneath a white event tent, eyes wide with the weight of eternity.

It was supposed to be a conversation. A “prove me wrong” segment. But this time, rebuttal came not with words, but with a rifle.

Charlie Kirk didn’t get to finish his sentence.

WHY?

All because of words, ideas, beliefs, that were shared that someone else despised...

What was their solution to the problem? Kill the messenger.

The human tendency for violence isn't new - it's been around since Abel's blood cried from the ground after his brother, Cain, took him out, due to his envy & self righteousness and his hatred for what Abel stood for - that's been thousands of years.   

And guess what? THAT IS IN EVERY HUMAN BEING to this day... the only thing that can change a man or woman's hateful and bitter heart, is the LOVE OF GOD... the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which our brother in Christ, Charlie Kirk, often preached and mentioned.

Charlie isn't the only one they are trying to quiet. If you've taken any sort of stand that goes against what they believe, their "tolerance" becomes non-existent. They show their true colors- hate.

An attempt to shut me or my ministry down because their insecure minds were threatened with words from a Book that they claim are archaic, too hard to understand, and full of "fairy tales"... strange, indeed!

I have never seen someone get this upset over words shared from "the Brothers Grimm" or "Aesop's Fables", but for some reason, this Book and principles from it are a "threat to society", while also being full of "fairy tales". Not sure both of those can coexist simultaneously.

Do you know why people want others dead? This world IS THEIR KINGDOM - it's as close to heaven as they will come, and they see the need to fight with violence to maintain what they want, even if it means killing innocent people because of ideas they disagree with...

I got the news just before the prayer meeting. I contemplated this death as I prepared to lead the saints in prayer. But I didn’t feel like praying. Not tonight. My hands were still. My mouth was ready. But my soul was pacing. Angry. Grieving. Tempted.

Tempted to grow quiet.
Tempted to sit this one out.
Tempted to wonder if any of this, faith, boldness, public gospel witness, is still worth it.
Because hatred in this world isn’t simmering anymore. It is boiling.

Europe is trembling. Israel is burning. Rockets lit the sky over Gaza again. Drones rained fire down on Ukraine, again. And now, here on American soil, the blood of a Christian apologist paints the pavement of a university quad.

What do you do with that? What do you say when courage gets gunned down in daylight?

Charlie Kirk was no perfect man. None of us are. But he had a backbone where most Christians don’t anymore. He was a believer. Unashamed. Unafraid. He understood that real conversations only happen when truth is welcome at the table. And the truth he carried most was Christ.

He brought the gospel into public space on purpose. Because the gospel isn’t supposed to stay in church basements and private Bible studies. It is meant to confront. It is supposed to offend. It was not made for safety.

Christ didn't die to make your dreams come true. He died to save your soul from hell. How will people hear that good news if someone isn't out there telling them?

When someone speaks words I disagree with, I generally ignore it (social media has conditioned us that we have to speak on everything), or if I do feel compelled to respond for the betterment of someone else, I will, with different WORDS, IDEAS, and BELIEFS, but not with violence...

But that seems to be the dying world's only recourse.

The Word became flesh and they nailed Him to a tree.

So of course they came for Charlie. Of course they reached for a gun. This is what evil does when it runs out of arguments. It doesn’t reason; It kills.

That’s the part that catches in my throat. Not just the sadness, but the strategy of hell behind it.

The Enemy wants us afraid. He wants us to see what happened to Charlie and backpedal. He wants the rest of us to whisper, to soften the message, to believe the lie that faith should stay private.

But Christ never whispered. He preached in temples, on hillsides, in courtrooms, at dinner tables. And when they told Him to be quiet, He picked up His cross. Not a symbolic one.
A real one. Heavy. Bloody. Splintered.

When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” He didn’t hand out maps. He handed out crosses.

I have continued to see "WE ARE NOT THE SAME"... truth is, we aren't, but not for the reason many think.

I am not the same but it is because over 30 years ago, I asked the Creator of the Universe to be my Savior. I am not the same, not because I am better than my fellow man and am more "righteous" in and of myself, but because the Lord Jesus Christ made me a "new creature"...

For the believer, as beautiful as fallen creation can be, this world is as close to hell, as I will ever come... this world is NOT MY HOME... mine is waiting for me.   That’s what I remembered tonight.

2,000 years ago my Savior made a promise!

John 14:2-3
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

I have HOPE, I have LIGHT, I have PEACE, regardless of your politics... and every sinner is called to have this hope if they will receive it. Put your politics aside, and know you have an eternal soul that God cares deeply for - so much so, He sent His Son to die FOR YOU!

The world doesn't need more violence...it needs more JESUS!

NOT more religion...

NOT more political movements...

MORE JESUS!

When He was attacked and ridiculed, mocked, beaten, and unjustly killed by sinners, He said, "FATHER, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO"... He said to a sinner who cried for mercy in his last moments "TODAY THOU SHALT BE WITH ME IN PARADISE"...

That is NOT how we typically respond to threats... we typically respond with more hatred...  

I sat in our prayer space, surrounded by saints who had brought prayer lists and worn Bibles. And I realized I didn’t want to lead them in mourning. I wanted to lead them into battle. Not with banners or fists, but with open Bibles and tear-stained prayers.

The kind of war that kneels in gravel beside the wounded, hands them living water, and refuses to leave. The kind that speaks both mercy and judgment without flinching. The kind Charlie died for.

They have NO HOPE, NO GOD, NO FAITH...

This world is not a friend to grace. But grace isn’t fragile.

JESUS is the solution...

Just know, we believers will not stop preaching Him, we will not stop preaching His truths, we will not stop going to college campuses, the streets, we will not stop preaching Him at work, around the dinner table, to friends, family, enemies, and in "ALL THE WORLD"...

His message - His death for sinners, His burial and His resurrection, has been saving souls and changing lives for 2000 years, and when the world seeks to silence Him & His people more, don't be surprised if more sinners are drawn to this HOPE and LIGHT, in the midst of the darkness!

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

Paul didn’t leave that question unanswered.

“Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” —Romans 8:35

He piles up every fear you and I carry and then sets them on fire. “Nay. In all these things we are more than conquerors.”

That means bullets don’t win. Slander doesn’t win. Prison bars don’t win. Death doesn’t win.

You can lose everything in this world and still walk into glory with your head lifted high. Because the love of God in Christ Jesus isn’t suspended by headlines or gunfire.

Don't forget, the greatest "INFLUENCER" outside of Jesus Himself was a man named Paul who used to kill & incarcerate Christians... We all know how that turned out!

There are two worlds unfolding right now: The one you see. And the one you don’t.

One is filled with chaos. The other is filled with crowns.

I believe that when Charlie Kirk’s body slumped to the concrete, his soul stood upright in heaven. Not limping. Not silenced. Not stunned. But crowned.

He didn’t fall. He crossed, and the great cloud of witnesses gained another voice.

And I wonder if Stephen met him there.The first martyr. The man who got stoned for preaching what the crowd didn’t want to hear. The man who, in his final breath, saw the heavens open.
The only time in all of Scripture we see Jesus standing at the right hand of God, rising to receive one of His own.

I like to believe He stood again.

Are you afraid? Do you feel the tremble in your spirit? Do you wonder if it’s still worth it to speak boldly, to carry your Bible, to preach the gospel in a world that doesn’t just disagree but wants you gone?

You’re not alone. You’re not weak for feeling that.

But you are called to something stronger than silence. 

The cost is high. But the reward is Christ. And He’s not a concept. He’s a King. 

Heaven is not empty. It is filled with scarred saints who refused to bow to fear. Men who were stoned. Women who were burned. Children who sang while the flames climbed. And every last one of them arrived in heaven.

There is no difficulty that can cancel the promise of God. There is no persecution that can derail your destination. There is no sniper’s bullet that can separate a soul from Christ. Your life is not measured by how long you live on earth, but by how much of it was spent pointing to heaven.

Paul said, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.” Then he looked toward the reward. Not a monument. Not a mention in history books. But a crown, handed to him by the One with nail marks still in His hands.

So let me say this clearly. We do not mourn like the world mourns. We do not write eulogies dripping with sentiment. We carry the banner of a Kingdom that does not tremble.

Charlie Kirk did not die for nothing. He died carrying the same message you and I must now carry forward.

The cross stands tall.
The tomb is still empty.
And the gospel has not lost one ounce of power.

So, Christian, pick up your cross. Wipe your eyes. And keep going.

WHY?

Because, the crown is worth it. The King is coming. And there’s still time to speak.

Even if they shoot. Let's keep shining, let's keep giving hope, let's keep telling the OLD STORY of redemption through Christ and restoration to a Holy & Loving God!

Lord, give us courage, Ffr we carry not just the message, but the marks. And You are worth every bruise.

This is a compilation of thoughts from Pastor Rich Bitterman and Pastor Adrian Dominguez 

Never a Time (song)

The Cross (poem)

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agonies and blood;
He fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.

Sure never till my latest breath,
Shall I forget that look!
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.

A second look He gave, which said,
"I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayest live."

Thus while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too!

-John Newton

Indian Madras Lentils recipe

 2 TBS unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBS grated fresh ginger
1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp ground coriander seed
½ tsp cayenne pepper
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth,
1 cup dry black or brown lentils
1 (15-oz) can red beans or pinto beans, drained
1 (​13.66-oz) can coconut ​cream

Heat butter in a large pot or skillet over medium/high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and ginger. Cook until onions are soft and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes.
Stir in tomato paste, smoked paprika, cumin, salt, coriander seed, and cayenne pepper. Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
Add vegetable broth and lentils. Cover and let gently simmer until lentils are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in canned beans and coconut ​cream. Mix well.

Serve as is, or eat over rice.

Where is the Lord God of Elijah? (video sermon)

The First Adam & The Last Adam

 When God created Adam in the garden, he was a unique creation. Never before had there been a human. Never before had there been a creation that was told to maintain other parts of God's creation. And, never before had there ever been a creature that had his mate created from part of his body. 

He was the first being ever created with a living soul.

Genesis 2:7- And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Adam is the reason humanity is the way it is. He was the only creature that brought damnation to the entire creation. Of course, Satan had already rebelled, but his pride only affected himself. Adam's sin, however, plunged the whole of the universe into a sinful, fallen state.

Romans 5:12- Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Romans 8:22- For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Adam chose to sin in the garden of Eden, and because we are born from his fallen being, we, too, are sinful creatures. Just as Adam and Eve had to have an innocent lamb die to cover their sins, so we, too, had to have an innocent Lamb die for our sins.

I Corinthians 15:54- And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

After about four thousand years, God sent another very unique creation into the world. Jesus was different from any creation that had been before. He was God Almighty in a human body. He was sent for one purpose- to redeem the human race. And, through him a multitude of new creations come forth.

II Corinthians 5:17- Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Jesus faced the same temptations that Adam faced. But, where Adam failed, Jesus prevailed.

I John 2:16- For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Eve was the first to eat the fruit. Eve saw that the fruit was good for food- the lust of the flesh. Eve saw that it was pleasant to look at- the lust of the eyes. And, Eve saw that it could make her wise- the pride of life.

Adam faced these same three tests, though for him they were a bit different. Adam  deeply loved his wife and didn't want to live without her- the lust of the flesh. Adam understood if he didn't eat the fruit that he could potentially lose his life with Eve forever- the lust of the eyes. And, Adam deemed the punishment of the fruit worth more than obedience to God- the pride of life.

Hebrews 4:15- For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus faced these same three temptations when the devil stood before Him on the mountain after He had fasted for those 40 days and 40 nights. Satan told Him to turn the stones into bread- the lust of the flesh. Satan showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and offered them to Him- the lust of the eyes. Satan taunted Him to throw Himself off the temple and allow the angels to keep Him from harm thus proving to mankind that He was the Messiah- the pride of life.

Romans 5:18-19- Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Because of Adam's disobedience we have been cursed. However, because of Jesus Christ's obedience to God by His death on the cross, we have an opportunity to be made righteous.

Just like Adam, you have a choice- disobedience unto death or obedience unto righteousness.

You see, you had no choice to be born a sinner. That was passed from Adam and Eve down to you. It is a part of your creation, genetically bound inside you.

Romans 3:23- For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

The punishment that was placed on Adam was death. And that punishment followed his mutated DNA down to you. You will die one day. Your body will go into the ground. But, you are given the choice as to where your soul will go.

Romans 6:23- For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The gift of God is the pardon for your sin. It is the adoption into His family. It is eternity for the soul in heaven.

Romans 10:9-10,13- That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

When you acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. And you believe that Jesus is the Son of God who came to earth to die for your sins, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day proving that He is God who triumphs over sin and death. Then all you must do is confess to Him that you believe and ask Him to forgive you of your sin and apply the blood He shed on Calvary as payment for your sin debt.

John 3:17- For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

God didn't force Adam to obey. He won't force you to accept His offer. It is a choice that you must make. Will you follow the first Adam into death? Or, will you follow Jesus Christ into everlasting life?

John 3:16- For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Deuteronomy 30:19- I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

What choice do you make?