Applauding United Kingdom of Great Britain

Hat’s off to the citizens of United Kingdom of Great Britain for having the courage to say “Hasta La Vista!” to the EU.

Here’s to sovereignty!  Here’s to not tying your nation to folks in the European Union who are making very unwise decisions.  Here’s to being able to protect your citizens.  Here’s to retaining your independence and identity as a sovereign nation.

Prime Minister David Cameron made a respectable decision to step down and allow someone else to lead Great Britain in this new direction.  Not a lot of men would have had the courage to do that.  

The Lord Rebuke You

When there is silence from Muslims in the wake of terror committed by Islamic extremists I am angry and puzzled.  How can they see the horror that has been committed in the name of their religion and not speak up?

That’s why today, I need to speak up loud and clear against the so called “Christian pastors” who have said ugly, vile, disgusting things about the Orlando mass murderer and the victims. 

Sacramento pastor Roger Jimenez said, "Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?  No ... I think that's great.  I think that helps society.  I think Orlando, Florida's a little safer tonight."  That’s bad enough, but he went on to say, "The tragedy is that more of them didn't die."

I wish I could say that the Jimenez was alone in the vile things he said.  But unfortunately he wasn’t. 

Fort Worth pastor Donnie Romero from Steadfast Baptist Church said, “These 50 sodomites are all perverts and pedophiles, and they’re the scum of the earth, and the earth is a little bit better place now.”

The Lord rebuke you pastors Jimenez and Romero.  What you have said is beyond the pale.  It’s vile and disgusting.  It drives sinners away from Christ and repentance. 

Is practicing homosexuality a sin as declared in the Bible?  Yes, absolutely it is.  So is adultery, fornication (sex outside of marriage), pornography, gossip, slander, pride, stirring up dissension, haughty eyes, not honoring your father and mother, lying, stealing and coveting to name a few sins.

Why is your heart not broken over these people?  God had mercy on the people who survived and you wish they had died?  What’s wrong with you?  Do your words reflect a hardened heart? 

Why is your heart not burdened for these men and women created in God’s image?  Are you in prayer for the people who survived, that they will repent and come to faith in Christ?  Do you desire to go to them and share the Gospel message that salvation is found in Jesus Christ?  Is your heart breaking over that which breaks God’s heart? 

The angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents.  You however wish they had died and their fate was sealed in hell for eternity.

Please remember that some of Jesus harshest words were for the religious leaders.  What do you think Christ Jesus would say to you?  Before you go to help take a speck out of your brother’s eye remove the log that is in your own eye. 

My sin, though different from the people murdered in Orlando, is every bit as sinful and wrong and would have resulted in me spending eternity in hell apart from God’s grace and mercy towards me.  I’m not saved because of any good thing in me.  I’m saved solely by the perfect atoning work of Christ on the cross.  I’m saved because the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to help me see my sin and caused me to repent.  The only thing I did to participate in my salvation was to sin and make it necessary that Christ die on the cross bearing my sin. 

God calls us to love our enemies.  Who are you to know if perchance some of these survivors are people whom God has sealed from before the foundations of the earth to be saved.  To be forgiven of their sins.  To be part of the brethren of whom it will be said, “And such were some of you.”

When you said these hateful ugly words, every member of your congregation should have walked out. 

Do you think that there are families at your church that have family members or friends that struggle with homosexuality?  Do you think there may be a member or attender at your church that is struggling with this sin?  How do you think they felt when they heard your ugly hateful words?  Do you think that will encourage a person who is sinning to come to you and ask how they can repent?  How they can be saved? 

What you said is hateful, prideful, ugly and wrong.  You have besmirched the name Christ and Christianity.  You have driven sinners away from repentance.  You have given Christianity a black eye. 

I call upon to pastors Jimenez and Romero to examine your heart and see if you are in the faith.  Do you need to think about stepping down from pastorate? 

I hope and pray that I hear other Christians and Christian leaders speak out against you.  I hope that instead they will reach out with the soul saving Gospel message of Jesus Christ and not words of hatred and condemnation.   

Medical Judgment by Richard L. Mabry – Mixed Emotions

I’ve read several of Richard Mabry’s novels and looked forward to reading his newest book Medical Judgment.  I like suspense and books where Christian writers include faith as part of the character’s development.  Richard Mabry includes the element of medicine which is drawn from his years of experience as a medical doctor.  Unfortunately, I have some mixed feeling on this book. 

I liked and appreciated faith of not only the main character, Dr. Sarah Gordon, but also the several other characters including Detective Bill Larson who was investigating the threats against Sarah, her friend Kyle Andrews and Pastor Steve Farber.  I liked the character Connie, a nurse in the ER.  She seemed like solid Christian who truly cared about people.  She was honest and open with her faith. 

The narrative at the end the chapters, from the perspective of the stalker, was effective in creating a suspense.  I also appreciate that the author doesn’t resort to filthy language or sexually inappropriate scenes.  Also, I really liked the character towards the end of the book veterinarian, Dr. Brad Selleck, he seemed like the most well-adjusted and healthy of the bunch.

Now to some of the things that I didn’t care for. 

The main character Dr. Sarah Gordon got a little irritating after a while.  She seemed slow to admit she had a serious problem and that she needed to take steps to protect herself.  She whined about setting her security system just about every time she set it.  Enough already!  It was a little repetitive.  It surprised me that the security system did not include cameras.  At times Sarah seems scatterbrained which doesn’t really seem in sync with someone who is an emergency room physician.  It didn’t ring true to me that Sarah could have had a dog at home for less than a day and that she misses him so much when he’s being treated at the vet’s office. 

I struggled with the character Kyle Andrews who seemed very presumptuous, obsessive and bordered on creepy at times.  He talked about his faith, but not until the end did he seem to recognize that perhaps his actions were not done with the purest motives.  At times I wondered if Kyle was really a true Christian.  When he is obviously sinning he didn’t have the Holy Spirit reining him in.   

Theologically, there were a couple things that were off.  On page 181, Kyle is recalling what Pastor Steve told him about grief and when bad things happen.  Specifically, I take issue with this sentence, “He’d assured Kyle that God didn’t cause bad things to happen, but after they did, God would provide the help needed to get through them.”  This doesn’t quite square with the sovereignty of God.  Also, on page 184, Detective Bill Larson prayed for someone who was dead. 

I think this book could have been a little shorter and left off some of the repetitive actions and thinking of the characters.  The ending seemed to occur really quickly after a longtime getting there.  There were a lot of potential suspects and I couldn’t figure out who done it.  I would like to have seen the Pastor not included in the list of suspects, and instead just been a stable and good solid influence. 

Medical Judgment by Richard Mabry is not great and not horrible, it’s okay.  While this book wasn’t his best, I still look forward to reading future books by author Richard Mabry. 

I would like to thank Net Galley and Abingdon Press for the opportunity to read Medical Judgement by Richard Mabry in exchange for an honest review.