GOOD AND EVIL

(Mat 27:41-42 NIV) "In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. {42} "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him."

A man who had lost his son in Iraq said: "Where was God when my son was dying?" His pastor gently asked: "Where was God when his own son was dying?" We need to understand that God can do anything, but not without consequences.

Millions believe that if we pray with faith, God must answer our prayers. They quote 41 verses from the gosple like: (Mat 17:20 NIV) "He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

The word Faith is mentioned 245 Times in the New Testament in similar verses like this one. Wonderful! Now we can pray and God will work miracles for us as we do anything we please.

The "gospel of Faith" is used by thousands of Preachers to generate millions for their support. They promise "miracles and blessing" if the suffering saints will send them very large offerings. All of the gimics, silly cheap tricks they use to keep their banks accounts overflowing and their corporate jets flying will one day be judged by God.

Desperate people who know very little about Jesus and his ministry are willing to gamble anything in the hopes of being healed, blessed or lifted out of poverty. It's a "very sad religious lottery" as they send in money they can't afford to loose.

HERE'S A TEST! Take anything you want from God and pray this prayer. "Lord, this is what I want and I don't care what you think about it. I want what I want even if it is contrary to your will."

If you feel a little uncomfortable with that it may be because you read the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke 22:44 describes his agony by saying "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Jesus is praying about his coming crucifixion. "(Mat 26:39 NIV) "Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Jesus used the phrase 41 times... "He that sent me..." Often Jesus talked about the "Father who sent me". Nothing was more important to Jesus than to do the will of his heavenly Father. Here's just one of them.

(John 5:30 NIV) "By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me." (John 6:38 NIV) "For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me."

Our Heavenly father can see the consequences of everything we ask of him. He can see the future and know exactly what will bless us or bring pain and sorrow into our lives. Prayer is not weak. The real prayer of faith is powerful. So God decides which prayers to answer and which to delay or reject.

It's interesting that as the agony of the Cross was about to end Jesus quoted this passage from the Psalms. (Mat 27:46 NIV) "About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

No, it wasn't the 23rd Psalms. Most people quote that when they are in trouble. It was (Psa 22:1 NIV) "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" If we read this entire Psalm we see that it describes exactly what Jesus was enduring on the cross for us.

For many years I've prayed like this: "Father, this is what I want. But you can see the future and I can't. So I want your will to be done in my life". God listens to our prayers and we need to keep praying.

There much more to this subject. I'm going to continue it on my Bible Study Blog. I'm going to explain the Bible concept of good and evil. (Go up to the link on the left side of this page and click on (Ken's Bible Study)

Keep praying with a sincere heart. God does answer prayer.

A BALONEY SANDWICH

After the resurrection of Jesus, Peter talked the other disciples into going fishing with him. You can read about it in John 21:3. Well, they didn’t catch anything but early the next morning they saw someone on the beach with bread and fish on the fire.

Incredibly it was Jesus, our resurrected Lord, who had fixed breakfast for them. Jesus told them how to make a record breaking catch. When they all got to the shore he told them in John 21:10 to bring some of their fish they had just caught and put it with his.

Bob Benson, was the son of John Benson who created the largest Music Publishing house in the world in Nashville. He was our friend and his son Bob was in the ministry. In a wonderful book called “See you at the house” Bob tells a story that is perfect for this Bible story. He recalled an old fashion Sunday school picnic.

He said as a young boy, he came home at the last minute and rushed into the kitchen to get his stuff ready. All he could find in the refrigerator was one dried up piece of baloney and just enough mustard in the bottom of the jar so he got it all over his knuckles trying to get to it. He pasted that brick together and tore out for the picnic.

When it came time to eat he sat at a table and spread out his sandwich. The lady next to him was a wonderful cook and she had fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad and homemade rolls, sliced tomatoes, pickles and celery. Then in the middle of that she had two big chocolate cakes with icing so thick you could have build a house with it.

She leaned over to him and said: “You know Bob, we just love baloney sandwiches. Why don't we just put it all together?” He made a feeble protest and said he couldn’t—all the time eyeing the fried chicken and chocolate cake.

After a little urging he gave in and sat there eating like a king when he came like a pauper. Bob said it finally dawned on him that God was saying that same thing to him. “Let’s take what you’ve got and what I have and put it together.” Bob said, that’s a bargain of a lifetime.

You know, there are lots of people who are running through life clutching their dumb bag with that stale baloney sandwich. They are half-starved and yet hanging on for dear life to “their” baloney sandwich. They are saying: “God’s not going to get my sandwich! No sir...this is mine.”

Well, when you can’t stand your tasteless and tough baloney sandwich any longer just remember - it doesn’t have to be that way. God doesn’t need your sandwich, but you need his feast. It’s such a great blessing and joy to share with God and all the folks around us. Remember, you’ve been invited to something better.

John Benson built the biggest religious music company in the world in Nashville Tennessee. (Benson Publishing Company) He was a multimillionaire and at the top of the music business.

He invited us to come to his house one morning when someone had stolen Maggie’s song. He fixed that problem and was very kind to us. His son, Bob Benson, felt called to the ministry. He wrote this story in a book he published called “See you at the House.” He died in his early thirties.

FEELING INADEQUATE?

I love the old comic strip depicting Lucy, Charlie Brown and Linus lying in a field, looking up at the bright white clouds in an azure blue sky. Lucy asks Linus, “what do you see?”

Linus replies, “That cloud looks like a profile of Beethoven. Those clouds look like an outline of the blue Azores. And those clouds remind me of Saul of Tarsus holding the cloak of Stephen as he was being stoned.”

Then Lucy turns to Charlie Brown and asks, “And Charlie Brown, what do you see?”
And Charlie Brown says, “I was going to say I saw a ducky and a doggy . . . but I've changed my mind."

THE FEAR OF FAILURE HAUNTS US ALL.

Most Christian church members know the story of Moses pretty well. Pharaoh’s daughter rescued baby Moses from the river. She happened to be a banker and went down to the river and drew out a little prophet. (Yes, I know it’s bad…)

You can start with Exodus 2:10 and read the whole story about Moses. He was the most important person in the long history of Israel. In the New Testament Jesus took Peter, James and John up to a mountaintop where he was transfigured before them. Two people came down from heaven to talk with Jesus about his coming suffering and crucifixion. Moses and Elijah. From excuses to astonishing competence – that was the life of Moses. Moses is quoted Eighty times in the New Testament.

Yet when God called him to lead he gave more excuses than a dog has fleas. Talk about the lack of self-confidence…. Moses was pathetic. He started with not being young enough (he was 80 years old) and worked down from there.

God said: “Moses, your physical capabilities and your handicaps are my doing. Your limitations are my problem I’ll take care of them. Don’t plead inadequacy as an excuse for disobedience.”

This has been proven over and over again in history. People, in spite of handicaps and in spite of adversity, have accomplished far more than humanly speaking we thought they could.

Take Beethoven, for example. He was totally deaf during the last 8 years of his life but it was during that tragic period that he wrote his Ninth Symphony, often acclaimed as his greatest musical work. Yet, he never heard it.

A horribly deformed dwarf-like cripple named Charles Steinbeck became one of the outstanding electrical geniuses of all time. He held patents on over 100 inventions, and he did this during his tenure as a consulting engineer with the General Electric Company. This pitiful little man did most of his work half standing and half leaning on a stool. An indomitable will guided him to accomplishments seldom matched by others in perfect health.

Or consider John Milton, one of England’s greatest poets. He wrote his magnificent epic, Paradise Lost, after some 10 or 12 years of total blindness. Through a spirit of determination seldom equaled in the annals of literature, he was able to turn tragedy into triumph. His well-known sonnet on his blindness illustrates his feeling of responsibility toward God who made him, and endowed him with such magnificent genius:

We couldn’t and shouldn’t try to do things we were not called to do. However, if we know that God is calling us to do more than we ever dreamed possible then we must allow him to make it happen.

How human it is to make excuses. Excuses are evidence of unbelief. For if we truly believed God has called us to greater things then we need to step forward and salute our Command-in-Chief, and say, Yes Sir! What’s next?

WHAT'S IN YOUR HAND MOSES? (Exo 4:2-7 NIV)

“Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. {3} The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. {4} Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

{5} “This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” {6} Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow. {7} “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.”

Are you a housewife and a mother? You’ve got pots and pans and children created in the image of God. If you are a nurse you’ve got a thermometer, or a syringe, or a Bedpan. If you are a secretary, you’ve got a pencil, a steno pad, and a computer keyboard. Are you a physician? You’ve got a stethoscope, or an X-ray, or a Scalpel.
Are you a teacher? You’ve got a textbook, and some chalk, and a wall full of charts, and a head full of knowledge, and a room full of children waiting to blossom like flowers. Are you a businessman? You’ve got management skills, and financial acumen, and commercial opportunity.

However if God calls you to be more than you ever dreamed you could be then you must obey. God is not looking for experts. God is not looking for supermen and super-women. God is not looking for uncommonly strong and resourceful people. God is looking for people who will take what they have in their hands and put it at his disposal.

How about using what you have to do more than you ever dreamed you could do?

RECEIVING THE GIFT

The giving of gifts whether we like it or not are an integral part of the Christmas Holidays. I think children know more about this than adults. We need to think back and try to remember Christmas when we were young enough to enjoy it.

It's curious that in almost 60 years of being a minister I can't remember anyone but children coming to me and saying "I want to give a special Christmas gift to Jesus." For all too many people Jesus is not on their gift list.

Yet his gift to us was the greatest gift the world could have possibly received. For most people the day after Christmas is a crowded mess - taking back all the unwanted things we received. The mad scramble by retailers to sell us everything imaginable has now been replaced with trying to take back the unwanted stuff.

The first bible verse most children learn describes God's greatest gift to us. It's (John 3:16 NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John explains this magnificent gift in John 1:9: "The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will but born of God. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

We desperately needed this great gift of God's son. When Christ came to earth as God's greatest gift it was a sad unhappy world much like today. There was grinding poverty for most people and only the patricians, kings and nobility had money for luxuries. No one had the answer for the horrible problems that plagued mankind".

Men were ruled by force; there were no inherent rights of man; the bill of rights had not been created yet and men lived or died by the up or down position of an emperor's thumb. There were no court of appeals or justice.

There was little concern about justice, people were chattel, bought and sold; hospitals were for the rich, and there were no old folks homes. To make matters totally repulsive - all too often church was a haven for oppressive, self-righteous, religious rogues.

A GIFT MUST BE RECEIVED FROM THE GIVER

In Matthew 2:11 the Magi brought gifts to Jesus. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Consider the three stages in this story - Vision, Submission, and Expensive Consecration.

To accept the gift you must accept the giver. Clearly we must make a commitment to heed the teaching of Jesus. Millions will tell us that decision changed their lives.

Obviously during the birth, earthly ministry and death of Jesus Christ there were many people who fell into three categories.

There were those who heard the evidence, saw it with their own eyes and believed. Their belief was in the form of a definite commitment to become his follower, and knowing the opposition by the religious leaders, they were accepting the risk of persecution and death. They accepted the hard commands of his teachings.

There were others who decided to stand aside, to take no position at all. They were the onlookers and the bystanders who were interested, thought his unorthodox teaching and preaching was interesting, even perhaps true, but decided to do nothing.

The innkeeper was one of these. His life was full and busy..and so he missed the gift because he didn't know God was knocking on his door. All he saw was a pregnant mother and a man with a donkey. "Oh, Lord," he probably thought. "Another problem. Go away, I don't have any room for you."

Then there were those who because of what he taught rejected him. It was in direct conflict with what they wanted to do, or were doing, so they decided to become his enemy. They were the active unbelievers who put him to death.

They cloaked their monstrous sin with the respectability of the letter of the law while all the time tearing the spirit of the law to bits. They didn't crucify him, the others did. They only sat by and watched him die. But they were glad in their heart that he was gone. He had made them feel uncomfortable and disturbed their pleasant life.

So they missed the greatest gift on earth and didn't receive it.

Years ago as the moving truck was ready to leave Marion Indiana and bring our furniture to Atlanta, a wonderful friend walked up and returned a book to me. He had been a friend for four years and has remained a great friend for over 45 years.

He said: "I'm returning the book you loaned to me and frankly I didn't get much out of it. However, you may get something out of page 58." When he left I put the book in a box and we drove to Atlanta.

A few weeks later I was sweating over money, wondering how in the world we would buy groceries, where I could find some work and I thought about Harold.

I remembered his parting words to me. Out of curiosity I looked for the books and finally found it. I turned to page 58 and found a check for $500.00. To say that I was overjoyed is to put it mildly. It was the answer to my prayers. I was blessed because I finally received the gift.

To accept the gift of God you must accept the giver, and you must make a commitment to heed the teaching of the Savior. Wouldn't it be a great time to do that when we celebrate his birth?

THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS

A minister was struggling to prepare a Christmas sermon and was interrupted by a crisis at the church home for emotionally disturbed children. Most of the children had gone home for an overnight visit and the few left reacted poorly to the empty beds and changed routines.

Tommy was upstairs under a bed and refused to come out. First the minister tried talking to the cowboys on the bedspread. No response. Then fretting at the time this was costing, he dropped to his knees and lifted the bedspread. Tommy's big 8-year-old eyes looked sadly moist.

It would have been easy to pull him out from under the bed, but what Tommy needed was a reason that made sense to his lonely 8 year old heart. So the minister got down on the floor and wiggled in beside Tommy, talked for a few minutes and then laid his head on the floor in silence.

As he waited a small cold hand reached over and took his hand. After a bit the minister said: "Tommy, let's you and me go out where we can stand up..." And so they did, but slowly and in no hurry...because the preacher had his Christmas sermon.

God called us from far above...with stars, mountains, creation and his spirit. He drew closer through the prophets and lawgivers...but finally nothing would do but direct contact with us in our desperate need.

Jesus came to live among us to share our sorrow and lead us to a direct contact with God that would give us eternal life. That means that we will live forever in the Magnificent place Jesus went to prepare for us.

Now it's your turn. You must decide whether to accept the gift and the giver or reject both of them. Choose carefully. The clock is ticking and the offer is limited to this life only.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC

You might know this as "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire," which is the song's first line, not its title. And you might already know that it isn't as old as some other popular Christmas songs. It was written in 1944 by two men in show business.

Mel Torme was a famous singer, songwriter, and performer. His friend, Robert Wells, wrote songs' lyrics, or words. One summer day in California, the two men got together because they'd been hired to produce songs for two new movies.

But the day was sweltering hot, and when Torme arrived at Wells's house, he found Wells trying to cool off by thinking of winter scenes. Torme saw that his friend had written down some of these icy thoughts: "Chestnuts roasting...," "Jack Frost nipping...," "Yuletide carols...," and "Folks dressed up like Eskimos...." Torme was inspired.

Instead of working on their assignment, the two men put their heads together and made Wells's words into a song.

Forty minutes later, the music and lyrics were finished! The title of the song was simply..."The Christmas Song." They hurried to see another friend, the famous singer Nat King Cole.

When they showed him their song, Cole wanted to record it. He did, and when it was released in 1946, "The Christmas Song" climbed to the top of the music charts. The song reached the Top 10 four more times during the next eight years. And it was eventually recorded by more than 100 other singers, including Mel Torme himself.

'Jingle Bells' From the time he was little, James Pierpont had been a talented musician. He lived in Medford, Mass., and his father was pastor at the Unitarian Church there. One day in 1840, Pierpont's dad asked him to write some special music for the church's Thanksgiving Day service.

While Pierpont thought about it, he was distracted by young people outside. They were having sled races in the snow. So he stepped out to watch. And the experience made him remember when he used to sleigh with friends.

Soon he had a tune in his head. He walked to a neighbor's house and told her about his melody. She had the only piano in town, so she let Pierpont get to work. When he finished his little jingle, he strolled home to put words to his music.

You probably know how the song turned out. With outdoor winter fun on his mind, he wrote about dashing through the snow in a sleigh drawn by horses.

After the choir performed Pierpont's song on Thanksgiving, churchgoers begged for more. So the choir sang it again at Christmas. The tune was so catchy that visitors to the church took it home with them and passed it to friends and family.

Eventually Pierpont moved to Savannah, Ga. It was there in 1857, that he finally published his song officially. Soon, it caught on around the country. But Pierpont probably never guessed people would still be singing it more than 160 years later!

'Joy to the World' This carol wasn't the work of just one person. One man wrote the words, and another composed the popular tune – nearly 100 years apart! In 1674, Isaac Watts was born in Southampton, England. When he grew up, he complained to his father about how boring he thought church music was. He wished it were more lively and inspiring. So Watts's dad asked him why he didn't write something better. And that's just what Watts did. Eventually, he composed more than 600 hymns and hundreds of other poems.

One of these works was "Joy to the World," based on words from Psalm 98 in the Bible. During Watts's time, though, the poem was sung to the tune of another well-known hymn. Here's where the next character in the story comes in. Lowell Mason was born in 1792 in Medfield, Mass. (not far from Medford, Mass., where James Pierpont would later be born). Many people thought he had musical talent. But he moved to Savannah, Ga. (just as Pierpont would) and worked as a banker.

Still, he spent time on his music and sent a book of songs he composed to several publishers in the Northeast. But the publishers rejected it. Finally, several years later, a musical society in Boston agreed to print his songs.

Later, Mason moved to Boston, where he became musical director for some local churches. Like Watts, he wrote hundreds of new hymns. In 1836, Mason wrote a tune inspired by parts of a famous musical piece, "Messiah," by George Frideric Handel. Three years later, he paired his new tune with Isaac Watts's poem, "Joy to the World," and a popular new hymn was born.

It was a long journey from George Frederic Handel's massive, scripture filled Grand Opera called "the messiah" with it's "hallellujah Chorus" to Isaac Watt's simple "Joy to the world". Inspiration has a way of moving from one person to another.

I suppose it's a good thing that we all don't see alike, or think in the same way about spiritual things. We will go on liking what we like, and painfully allow others to do the same thing. I wonder how God will sort is all out in Heaven?

MONEY THE ROOT OF ALL....

Well, there's several ways to finish this quote.... The Bible tells us that money is the root of all evil...? No, it really tells us that: "(1 Tim 6:10 KJV) "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

Most people will quickly say that they don't love money. They want plenty of it so they can buy what really makes them happy. (Often the happiness is short lived...)

Christmas is a time when most people would like to have a lot of money. Then we could buy a lot of happiness for those we love, and also have what we want. This time of year Charles Dickens Christmas Carol is played a lot on TV. It shows the evil of loving money and the joy of giving it away.

Charles Dickens wrote: "I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.

Their faithful Friend and Servant,C. D. December, 1843.

(He was 31 years old at the time.)

If “the love of money can be the root of all evil,” it’s also true that money given by those who love God and put him first, can be the seed of every kind of good. It’s true value according to Jesus is infinite because it keeps on multiplying itself.

Looking back over our ministry we have been blessed to be the leaders of some very large projects. We’ve preached and sang to thousands at a time. On other occasions we ministered to small groups of just a few dozen. We've put together a medical team and treated the poor in the Amazon Jungle until we ran out of medicine. ($40,000.00 worth) Yet, all through our ministry we have taken the time to lead a single individual to Jesus.

We understood many years ago that this is the exact method and kind of ministry our Lord had. He was just as much at home with the 5,000 as he was with a single woman of poor character at Jacobs well. Everything is important to God.

Soon Maggie and I will have been married and working for the Lord together for 58 years. We decided in the beginning of our ministry that we would never ask for money, but just take what God provided for us. It's been a wonderful way to live. We have given away several hundred thousand dollars, and still give away what God places in our hands. The bank of heaven has never been robbed and so our future is secure.

In everything we’ve done there have been many thousands of unsung, and unknown hero’s of the faith who have provided the money for us to do what God called us to do. God is keeping a record, and he will never forget their faithful contributions. On the last and final day, when God rewards those who were obedient we will all stand together, we will hear his— “well done, you good and faithful servants enter into the joys of the Lord.”

My daughter Debbie Jansen and our Son-in-law Ron has followed in our footsteps and are kind and generous people. They have passed that wonderful quality to our grandchildren. Amie, Jamie and Kenny are kind and generous people. We are of course good to one another and that's a blessing.

The kindness shows up outside our family. For years they have had a family tradition of going to areas where the Salvation Army volunteers are ringing their bells and collecting money for the poor. The whole family buys hamburgers, hot coffee and takes it to the grateful volunteers. This is just one of the many caring projects they enjoy doing.

Wow! That's what I would call random acts of kindness. Everyone gets to feel good.

GOD AND THE ASTRONOUTS

I was pastoring a church in Marion Indiana in May 25, 1961 when John F. Kennedy announced the United States should put a man on the Moon in 10 years. Many of my friends, family and church members believed God wouldn't allow such a thing to happen. I told them God was much more concerned with the morals of America than he was with man walking around on a lifeless, dead rock like the moon. I still believe that is our major concern.

Early one morning several years ago I got a phone call from a Pastor friend. He wanted us to come to his church, play the piano and help with the music. We got there just as the service was starting. After the music, Pastor Will Fisher introduced the speaker for the morning service.

He was Air Force Brigadier General Robert Stewart. While at NASA, he flew two space shuttle flights. On STS-41B along with Bruce McCandless he conducted the first orbital flight tests of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), the first untethered extra-vehicular activity from a spacecraft in flight. He said: "It's an incredible experience being all alone, 1,000,000 feet above the earth, traveling at nearly 17,500 mph".

Traveling all over the world, being a Missionary Pilot, doing Medical projects in the Amazon Jungle, and preaching in some of the largest churches on earth I've met many famous and wealthy people. I soon learned that they were just ordinary people who did incredible things. When I talked to General Bob Stewart after the service he asked me to come to his parents home and talk with him.

I was impressed by all the life-sized photos of him, Presidential citations, and many other awards that covered the walls of his parents home. His distinguished accomplishments and academic education and experience as a test pilot was obvious and amazing.

Of course I wanted to know all about his incredible space travel. We talked a little about that but what he really wanted to talk about for well over two hours was his "spiritual experiences" and what God wanted him to do with the rest of his life."

Many of Astronauts have had deep, personal, spiritual experiences after walking on the moon or flying in outer space. Some of the most intelligent and best educated people in the world know they need more than "success." They recognize the amazing intelligence and creative genius of God who created the heavens and the earth.

I was asked one day by a multimillionaire if he could have an encounter with God without all of the ceremonies and rituals of a church service. I assured him that it was something between him and the Lord. "You can pray and talk to God anywhere, just like you are talking to me, I told him. Just make sure it's sincere". He didn't make any reply and I felt I shouldn't say anymore. (That's extraordinary for a preacher...) I knew I had said enough. I'm sure he found the Lord.

This is not a put down for having "church." I've also seen many people have a wonderful spiritual transformation in church during revival meetings, or just in an ordinary church service. You don't have to be an astronaut to get God's attention.

Any time or anywhere we pray sincerely, God listens!