Faith - Works

 Note - You may notice that I have switched to a larger font. My macular degeneration has degenerated, and so I need a bigger font to see what I am writing.

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James, the Righteous, the brother of Jesus, the leader of the Jesus movement after Jesus left, yes that James, told us that faith is dead, if it does not lead us to do good works. He implied that faith is a verb and not a noun.

For as far back as I can remember, I have done my best to live that teaching. Yet I see and hear so many who claim to be followers of Jesus declare loudly, You just have to be saved!!! This generally means believe a list of things, thanks a lot Martin Luther.

Jesus did not teach - sit on your rear and just believe this or that. He taught to care for others, to actually forgive, even though it might be challenging, to be kind and generous. He taught about actions we should take, and those very actions lead us to enter the kingdom even while here on earth. Think sheep and goats (yes that again, I don't think most people get the significance of his story about the sheep and goats). Think what we call the "Lord's Prayer" - thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

How could we help.that happen if we just sit down and don't participate? We need to give our faith some exercise. Stand against the darkness. Stand for the light. Refuse to fall for false ideologies (communism, fascism, anarchy, terrorism, etc.) Use Jesus' litmas test - what is the fruit of ........? What has it historically brought? What is it likely to bring in the here and now?

We are at a critical juncture. Will we rise up to preserve our freedoms, our Christian beliefs that are based on what we know about the teachings of Jesus (rather than manmade theologies often at odds with the man from Galilee), our culture our art, our music, our very way of life?

Or will we watch as it crumbles, as so many have done in the past - from Rome's fall to Hitler, the signs were ignored until it was too late?