THE TAB

God is looking for a few good men. In the Bible, God promised to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if he could find ten righteous men. Unfortunately for that nation there were not even ten men who could stand in the gap for the people. God is looking for men of standards and men of integrity. He is looking for men who are not afraid to stand in the gap for the helpless, hurting and hopeless in our society. Are you the man?

God is looking for a few good men! Men of virtue. Men of courage. Virtue has to do with the moral character that a person has. The moral values that they hold, the rules or the standards that they live by. The dictionary defines virtue as, moral excellence and righteousness; goodness. Virtue speaks about the way in which one behaves oneself in dealing with their fellow man. A virtuous person is one that lives by a standard that is characterized by moral excellence, right living and goodness. In a world that consistently redefines moral values quicker than you can bat an eye, it is no small task finding a few good men; men of virtue, men who live lives of moral excellence and righteousness. Not because they have to but because they want to. Are you the man?

In Psalms 37:23 the Bible says “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he (the good man) delighteth in his (the Lord’s) way.” God is looking for men who will be obedient to the standards that He has set. He is looking for men who will allow God to order their steps. When God directs your steps He changes the way you live. He makes you a man of integrity! The good man here is a virtuous man a man of standards, a man of integrity who recognizes that He needs God’s guidance in how to live. But who can find such a “Virtuous Man”? Are you the man?

God is calling for men of standards, to be examples in their homes. He is searching for men of integrity, to model righteousness in the lives of their loved ones. He is looking for men of virtue , and men of moral excellence, to take their rightful place as spiritual leaders in the Church, Family and Community. God is looking for men of standards, men of integrity who will be faithful to His word: faithful to His command. He is calling for men who are willing to put God first; men who are willing to do God’s will no matter what! Are you the man?

It is past time for we men to get back into the place that God has designed for us. We are witnessing the destruction of our families and the erosion of our culture and standard of living right before our eyes. This erosion is so complete and so pervasive that each new horror now only dulls the senses, and numbs the mind. Mountain bicycles have become the hit man’s getaway car. One outrageous event follows another. Our playgrounds and schools have become like battlegrounds. Many of our communities resemble bombed out wastelands. These blights in our society are symptoms of a sick and afflicted people. We have become a people who have forgotten our God. We are a people who have lost our way!

It was God who delivered us from slavery and oppression. It was God who changed the hearts of people in America. It was God who broke the chains of bitterness, hate and rage that shackled this nation for hundreds of years. Thru the bitter years of overt racism, discrimination and murder that were our lot as black men in America, we by faith in God were able to survive and thrive. It was God, only God…..who did that!

But somehow, somewhere along the way, we stopped believing in God, we stopped putting Him first. And as a result, what the lynch mobs and the firebombs could not do, the love of pleasure, and the greed for things has done.

My brothers, men of standards, men of integrity, it is time to repent and return to the ways of God! These are our children being murdered. These are our children committing murder. The way to stop the killing is to show them Christ and to show them life as it was meant to be. God is looking for a few good men; men who teach their sons and daughters to obey The Lord. God is looking for men of standards, men who teach their sons and daughters, to respect others, and to respect themselves. God is looking for a few good men, men of integrity who teach their children by their life and actions the meaning of right and wrong. Are you the man?

It is precisely for this reason that God has called us ‘for a time such as this’. God wants to raise up some Joshua’s among us who will boldly declare, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” God wants to use many of us like he did Gideon. He was a man scared, doubtful, and unsure but with a heart that was strengthened by the promises of God. There are Josephs, Davids and Solomons amongst us. Joseph was a man of great integrity! Are you the man? David was a man after God’s own heart who fought boldly and bravely for the what was right? What about you are you the man? Solomon was a man of great wisdom who taught eternal truths for living. What about you? Are you the man?

I beseech every man who reades these words to repent and seek God’s forgiveness. For by mercy and truth iniquities are purged, and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. Are you the man? I exhort each and every one of you to allow the Holy Spirit to search your hearts and to kindle a fire in you that cannot be put out! The God who made you wants to remake you after His good will and pleasure? Are you the man? Jesus is seeking those who will honor Him with their lives. Are you the man? Men of standards, men of integrity! Are you the man?

Proverbs puts it well, most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? Are you the man? With God’s help, declare with me today! Lord, I am the man!

The Stimulus Monkey’: Is This ‘NY Post’ Cartoon Racist?

The Rev. Al Sharpton has denounced it. Some cartoonists and commentators have lambasted it as racist. Other commenters have declared that it’s just a “bad” cartoon, but one lacking in ugly intent. And its editor has defended it.

This headlined an article in the Washington Post. Approximately 2000+ people showed up at the Washington Post to protest the ‘racist’ cartoon. It is said that the cartoon depicted the president as a dead monkey. Is this true? Was that what the cartoon was saying?

Here is the cartoon in question:

This cartoon is lambasting the writers of the stimulus package, not the president! Why are some people trying to make something more out of this than that! The president didn’t write the bill.

The Attorney General of the US recently called us cowards? I am not a coward; let’s talk about race in America. But let’s tell the whole ugly truth about it while we are at it!

There are racists of every skin color and political persuasion in this country. We have come a long way and we still have a long way to go. But we haven’t been ducking or dodging this issue because it is impossible to do so!

Where was the outrage when former Sec of State Rice was depicted as a parrot sitting on the president’s finger? Where was the protest when Sec of State Rice was depicted as a monkey on the leash of the President as the organ grinder?

I didn’t see or hear one protest about any of that from those who claim they want to champion the cause for those who are discriminated against!

No comments from the “Reverends” or anyone else who shows up to defend the black race whenever any slight (real or imagined) takes place. Where were they on the behalf of Dr. Rice?

(Insert cricket chirping here)

“I believe that thou doeth protest too much…”

The cartoon was in poor taste, most political cartoons are. Racist it was not! Is this the new transparency and tolerance we were promise we would see? Where is it? I am still looking for it!

One other thing…

Want to protest real racist cartoons?

How about the Ted Rall 2004 cartoon which depicted Dr. Rice as Bush’s ‘house nigga’. The word ‘nigga’ was actually used in the cartoon!!!

Or Jeff Danziger’s cartoon depicting Dr. Rice as a ‘mammy’.

No protests, no outrage by ANY of the usual CHAMPIONS of injustice! Even when these so-called champions were ASKED to get involved, they did nothing!

Who are the cowards here?

They are the cowards!

Psalms 127:3
“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”

Since children are an heritage of the Lord. The question before us is what are we doing with the Lord’s heritage?

Children have always been regarded as extremely important to the success of the family and rightly so! The bearing of children is seen in most cultures as one of the signs of prosperity and blessing. It follows therefore that to not be able to bring forth children is sometimes viewed a sign of dearth and a curse. I am not saying it is a dearth or a curse, but I am simply acknowledging that some times it is viewed that way.

For example In 1 Samuel 1: 1 – 7 – we are introduced to Elkanah, the son of Jeroham and his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. It was not uncommon for the men in Elkanah’s time to have more than one wife particularly if one of them could not have children. We learn from the text that Hannah is barren but Peninnah is extremely fruitful. For the record, God never told men to have more than one wife. This was one of those things that men did on their own. In fact you will find that in most cases where a man had more than one wife in the Bible that the end result was a tremendous amount of dysfunction in the family.

Having been married for over 39 years now myself, I find it difficult to see how one person can be married to two different people at the same time. It is a challenging job to be a good husband and father to one wife and children never mind two, three and four wives and sets of children!! The end result is usually you are not a good husband and father to any wife or child.

It is also interesting to note that of all the polygamist marriages in the Bible you never read of a woman having two husbands at the same time. I think that women know instinctively something about these matters that most men never seem to grasp. My wife loves me dearly but would she really want two of me? That might be a bit much!! For more on evils of polygamy go here.

But I digress, in Psalms 127:3 – 4, the Bible says, “Behold children are a heritage from the Lord. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of ones youth.” The Bible says that children are a heritage from the Lord! Children are a heritage in two ways. One, we receive them from the Lord, so they are His heritage to us. And two, we leave them to the world when we are done here on this earth. They become our heritage to the world! Our children are God’s heritage to us! Parents have a sacred and God ordained duty to be good stewards of the Lord’s heritage! What are we doing with the Lord heritage?

Do we cherish God’s heritage like the precious gift it is or do we despise God’s heritage as if it was some terrible burden that we have been given? Someone once said that parenting isn’t for the cowardly it is for the courageous! Parents, God has entrusted you with His heritage! We, who are parents, need to be extremely careful what we do with the Lord’s heritage. God holds each of us personally responsible for what we do or don’t do with the heritage that He has given us! Therefore it behooves us to take seriously the proper care and guidance of our children. They are God’s legacy to us and they will be our legacy to the world! The world should be a better place as a result of our children being here not a worse place!

Found this on another blog…

Alexander Tyler, in his book, Cycle of Democracy, (written in 1770) wrote the following:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship.

The average of the world’s great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. Nations have progressed in this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage.”

The United States has outlasted the average by 32 years, but with over 100 federal and state programs that foster dependency and nearly half of adults getting a monthly “entitlement” check of some kind, we may now be on the road to bondage.

Americans are becoming increasingly addicted to government, and politicians are the dealers of the drug called dependency.

Let’s hope and pray we get a benevolent dictator.

I recently had a phone conversation with two Pastor friends regarding the election of President-elect Obama. My first conversation was with a Pastor from the mid-west who had come under a great deal of fire and angst from other Christian leaders for his open rejection of then President-elect Obama’s election to the higest office in the land. His objections (like mine) were based solely on Obama’s views on issues that contradict the clear teaching of scripture (gay marriage, abortion on demand, scope of government control, responsibilities to the poor, etc.)

Most if not all of the President-elect’s positions on these things run counter to what the Scripture teaches. Despite this it seems that the overwhelming majority of Christians in the Africian American community voted for President-elect Obama anyway. My colleague and I discussed how personal most people took this election. It seemed that to disagree with Obama on almost anything was akin to commiting the ultimate heresy. We both marveled at the names that other Africian Americans (Christians) hurled at anyone who dared to point out the heresy and hyprocisy of the President-elect positions.

Names like, “Uncle Tom”, “Hankerchief negro”, and worse were used to vilify anyone who even tried to suggest that Christians should not vote based on race but based on the values of our faith. It appears that in our day in time race trumps faith. The people who called this Pastor such names included other Christian Leaders.

My other conversation was with a Pastor from the Southeast part of our country. This Pastor’s view was that we needed to pray for for our (then) President elect because he has a big job on his hands cleaning up from the last eight years. I agree with the sentiment that we need to pray for our leaders. The Bible in fact tells us to do this very thing. I told my Pastor friend that I would be praying for our new president just as I have prayed for our old president. I sensed that this Pastor was not at all bothered by our (then) President elects social views. And not wanting to be thought of as a ‘house negro’, I found myself cutting the conversation short on this subject with this particular leader.

After hanging up the phone it occured to me that I had just shown weakness in the heat of battle. Rather than challenge the view of my Pastor friend I surrendered too quickly to the field of civility and courtesy. Though I failed an important test, I learned an equally important lesson. The Battle for the faith has to be fought on many fronts. One of those fronts is among the ranks of Christian leaders. It is extremely important that Christian leaders hold one another accountable for the decisions and positions we take as it relates to social values that should be based upon Biblical values. It is too easy to compromise, to go along to get along as it were! Needless to say I had to call my Pastor/friend back to revisit our conversation about the Biblical response to some of the current social challenges of our day. It actually isn’t about President Obama as much as it is about contending for the faith against the creeping pro-humanist, anti-god and anti-Christian world views that seem to have almost taken over our American society.

Check out our Gospel Section. I will post Gospel music that will encourage your soul. Sometimes a song can reach the heart when nothing else will do. I pray that you will be edified by this music.

God Bless!

Welcome to The TAB.   This is the blog for the Holy Tabernacle Church, Judah Ministries.

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May God Bless you!

 The Admin