Snapshots and Synapses

I have a pin that says “Jesus is the reason for the season!”, and I used to wear it proudly. But recently, I’ve seen some things that make me a little less likely to wear it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still want people to know I’m a Christian and I want to tell people about Jesus. I want others to remember that God so loved us that He gave us the Gift of His Son. I want people to know that God demonstrated His love and sympathy for even the poorest of humanity by having His Son born in the lowest of circumstances: unknown - a stranger in a strange city, homeless - refused the most meager of human housing and forced to lodge with animals at birth. I can imagine Bethlehem bustling with economic flurry as it’s filled to capacity with visitors drawn by the Roman census while a poor carpenter and his wife seek to find a better shelter for their newborn. I want people to know that shortly after the Magi found Jesus, bestowing Him with gifts worthy of a King, that the family fled for Egyp...

I have a new Christmas short story available for the Kindle. It's something I wrote a few years ago called "The Shepherd's Letter". It will be available for free download Saturday, December 15th. See my Author's Page on Amazon

Why are we thankful? When we have nothing (absolutely nothing) and we are suddenly presented with what we are not entitled and which we don’t deserve… aren’t we most thankful in that moment? I heard the average American consumes over 5000 calories at the Thanksgiving meal. We have so much… we have historically enjoyed so much… we’re so fat, dumb and happy in our affluence that we often enter this holiday season without thought to the original gratitude of the first Thanksgiving. So I think back to that original feast, a celebration by Christians humbled before the gifts of their God and neighbors. Physically, they found their needs being met. They weren’t entitled to it, and in the understanding of their great need, they found themselves in grateful abundance. I confess that spiritually, I tend to forget my great need. God has given me so much: pulled me from death into life, placing a crown upon my head in promise to the great inheritance I have as an adopted son of God. He ...

I’ve been thinking a lot recently… okay, I think a lot normally… but my mind has been troubled by the growing hatred in America. I’m not sure when it started, but somewhere in the past 30 years we’ve reached a point where we are a very polarized country where we just can’t seem to talk about issues. I see symptoms everywhere: generation gaps, workplace feuds, political firepots, divorce trends, suicidal bullying, and the list goes on and on.   Related to the upcoming presidential election, I typically see one of two actions on social media sites: attack or avoid. Anyone and everyone who sides with the views of the opposing camp is treated like an enemy, a subverter who cannot be trusted. Or maybe we like the person but just can discuss certain issues with them so we can keep everything at a “nice” level.   The problem with avoiding the issues is that they never get resolved, and going into fight or flight mode distances us from others. I imagine that prior to America...

America, America, how far have you fallen? Babylon the great has fallen indeed! You who have led the world in idolatrous pleasures and submitted yourselves as another’s treasure! And conquest? No one needed to conquer you! For you gave it away with all that you do… to forsake your inheritance for a bowlful of stew: the addict who desperately grasps for a fix, completely oblivious, the eyes so transfixed on that death-dealing high that will bring him down low! So lower and lower and lower you go! So sad. So true! Still you question “What’s truth?” “It doesn’t fit my agenda… I must bury it!” “But then I always preferred darkness to light.” Babylon the great has fallen indeed! copyright ©2012 Mitchell Malloy ( http://mitchellmalloyblogspot.com/ )

I’m convinced the world, our society, is starving for goodness. It’s not just a desire for goodness, or even a yearning for goodness. There is a legitimate need in each of us to know and be a part of what is good. It’s a hunger that is not being met, and therefore the world is starving.   So what does that have to do with the title “Becoming a Man”? Everything.   A few weeks ago, I walked up to a breakfast café for a cup of coffee. I was walking up to the door ahead of an older woman, an older woman who incidentally had delayed me in the parking lot as she took her own sweet time, gingerly adjusting her car in her chosen space. In frustration and hurry, I backed my car up and parked in a decidedly distant spot, yet here I was approaching the door before her. The thought entered my mind that I should hold the door open for her, but she had already delayed my morning coffee! I knew if I held the door open for this lady that I would then be compelled to hold it for the ...

Now, I’m not a baker, but I understand that one of the key ingredients is yeast. Just a little bit of yeast can work its way through a large amount of dough. Yeast transforms the dough into something that rises and expands. Jesus understood this and He used yeast to as teaching point to illustrate both healthy and unhealthy activities in our lives. So using stories and analogies, He took the concept of yeast to explain a couple points: 1) He explains that God’s reign in our lives and the resulting expansion of His kingdom through us is like a little yeast added to a lot of flour. (Matthew 13:33) Accepting the Kingdom’s authority in our lives transforms us, and it works through every area of our life, changing us from “glory to glory”. 2) However, He used the concept of yeast working through dough to also explain our need to stay away from bad teaching. When talking to His disciples, He warned them to be on guard against the teachings of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herod...

Continued from http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/07/scriptural-perspective-on-spiritual.html Part 3 – New Testament Summary So I entitled this series “The Scriptural Perspective on Spiritual Gifts”, but I feel like I’m barely scratching the surface of all that the Bible has to say about this important subject. I had intended to write about "Applied Love", but I thought it important to actually outline my conclusions. I could probably write a mini-chapter on most of these, so I offer them simply as a starting point for others to explore. It’s my desire and encouragement that anyone reading this go straight to the Bible. Don’t just take someone else’s understanding as the final authority on the subject. Rather, ask the Holy Spirit to instruct you further about this topic. (1 Corinthians 12:1) It’s important for believers to know about spiritual gifts. (Matthew 7:14-16, 21-23, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 1 John 4:1-3) The manifestation of spiritual gifts through a person is not...

I think it’s time to acknowledge the state of our campaign and admit defeat. We should admit our ineffectiveness and concede this age in church history for America as one in which the Kingdom has given ground to the Adversary. In short, we concede that our fear of being labeled has rendered the church silent and ineffective, virtually impotent in this present age. And a lack of confidence in the veracity and applicability of the Bible to our present culture has muted our voice and has minimized our influence. Our attempts to become culturally relevant have resulted in an unexpected timidity;  confrontation and controversy are avoided as something inherently wrong rather than used to gently and appropriately demonstrate genuine love and thereby effect a positive change. This timidity has been fueled in part from the much publicized accounts of hypocrisy and judgmental attitudes. We sadly accept that in many cases these claims have a basis in reality. Far too often, we have jud...

Continued from http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/07/scriptural-perspective-on-spiritual.html In 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote 3 consecutive chapters about spiritual gifts, emphasizing up front the importance for Christians to understand this subject. Now some people may read chapters 12 through 14 and think chapter 13 has nothing to do with spiritual gifts, and in some ways it seems like Paul goes down a rabbit trail before getting back to the original subject. But I understand Paul’s writing to be very planned and purposeful. I believe that by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul very intentionally placed “love” at the center of his teaching on Spiritual gifts. He doesn’t start off with “Before explaining this very important topic of ‘spiritual gifts’, I need to tell you something even more important.” And Paul didn’t place the subject of “love” at the end of the teaching, so he could build up to the one-big-most-important-thing. Paul placed “love” in the very center of this ...

After writing about “Signs in the End Times Church”, I started thinking (with the help of my wife and a couple friends) that I spent more time describing how the church “shouldn’t” view spiritual gifts rather than how it “should”. Having worshiped in different denominations, I’ve heard many different teachings on the gifts of the Spirit. I’ve seen the gifts downplayed, and I’ve seen them over-emphasized. Still, I’ve also been fortunate to hear a few balanced lessons as well. Many very intelligent and faithful Christians have put a lot of thought into the development of some very different beliefs. Well it might be a simplistic approach, but what if we just agreed to what Scripture has to say? The “Keep it simple” principle works for business, writing, or computer programming, why not apply it to spiritual understanding as well? And since some people believe the Old Testament and the New Testament treat spiritual gifts differently, in my attempt to keep it simple I’ll start with what...

Part 5 – Closing Thoughts Continued from Parts 1-4 http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/06/signs-in-end-times-church.html After publishing Part 1 on my blog and while in the process of editing subsequent parts, I was having a quiet time that resulted in dreams and visions the morning of 26 June, 2012. Some of it is quite personal, but it’s something I believe I’m supposed to share: In my prayer time, I fell asleep and dreamt of annoying, mischievous demons displayed on the pages of what looked like a children’s book, much like alphabet pictures. Then the page turned and I saw letters – bold, black, gothic, and ragged letters – covering both open pages of the book. Then I saw Satan coming out of the letters, and I awoke hearing the words: “Hell hath no fury like Satan scorned.” I started to write all this down in my journal when I stopped to ask Jesus what this means, and I had a vision, like the world had gone grey – like a black and white movie – and I saw a metal door b...

Part 4 – Marriage of the Administrative and Prophetic Continued from Parts 1, 2, and 3 http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/06/signs-in-end-times-church.html So looking back at the preceding sections, the church represented by Ephesus has a strong administrative gifting yet suffers with a love problem. Meanwhile the sister church in Thyatira tolerates misleading doctrine as a result of its desire for greater prophetic understanding. (Revelation 2) The prophetic and administrative gifts of the Spirit… passion and wisdom… find their union under Christ with difficulty. Yet somehow, these need to be woven together in love (see http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2011/01/extraordinary-gifts.html ). I’ve seen this play out as a struggle for dominance within church bodies, where some administrative authorities earnestly squash the practice of any extraordinary spiritual gift. At the other extreme, the prophetic rebels against the ordinary gifts (e.g. – leadership, wisdom and knowl...

Part 3 – Intimacy with Our First Love Continued from Parts 1 and 2  http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/06/signs-in-end-times-church.html Experiencing God should be the biggest ambition of the church… He has to remain our First Love! Why would anyone want to go to heaven if not to be with God and the whole family of believers? The book of Revelation warns the church in Ephesus to recall and hold onto its First Love or face serious consequences. At first glance the Ephesus church seems to be rock solid: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.   Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will c...

Part 2 – Christian Witchcraft Continued from http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/06/signs-in-end-times-church.html I feel like the last year or so has been a sort of rediscovery… to again understand what I previously knew but had in part unwittingly forgotten. I’ve realized that I’ve strayed slightly in my understanding. I’ve tolerated certain teachings and beliefs that quite frankly don’t line up with God’s Word. As my mind has cleared, I’ve adopted a phrase to describe a particularly nasty issue within the Church: “Christian Witchcraft”. This practice is not “Christian” in it’s orginal sense as a “follower of the Way”; rather, it has found its way into some church cultures. It’s a strong phrase and it should raise concerns, but I believe it’s scripturally sound. I’ll explain, starting first with my understanding of witchcraft. Typically, we associate the term with either devil worship or pagan rituals, but that’s not necessarily the case. There are certain characteristics ...

Part 1 – My Journey into Signs and Wonders I’d like to be writing about God’s love – how to rest in His love and how to walk in it. And to be honest, I want and need more of His love – second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour… forever! But I feel compelled to write first about signs and wonders in the end times church.  I believe we are either in or very near to the end times. Sure, Christians have believed this for ages, and I don’t doubt that some people will scoff at my beliefs (2 Peter 3:3), proposing other ideas (Jude 1:18). I’m not saying that we are definitely near the end times, but it’s my belief that we are… and it’s been my belief since a very young age that I would live through the end times. I don’t know the day or the hour, but I do know that the time is nearer than it has ever been and that the Church fathers warned us of its proximity (Rom 13:11, Rev 1:3, Rev 22:10). One thing is certain, we are nearer to the end times now than we have ever been befo...

I was having a bagel and coffee with a friend one day when he paid me a compliment: he said that I had an uncanny ability to take a look at something, turn it slightly and show a perspective that was completely new. He went on to say that sometimes that makes people feel uncomfortable, that they have a certain way that they want to look at things and then I come around, point out what I see and pull them out of their comfort zone.  Hmmm… at least I think it was a compliment.   So whether it’s a blessing or a curse, that’s just how I’m wired. As I was graduating from college and entering the Navy’s flight training program, I had to take a test that gave me two dimensional pictures and asked me to translate into 3 dimensions. It was an easy exercise for me and I blew the test away. It was supposed to be an indicator of how good I would be as a pilot, but the truth is it didn’t take into account other aspects of how I’m wired.    When it comes to perspective, ...

Seedlings sneak forth from the snow-dampened earth     Winter's sigh fades in the the wind Memories of seasons and years where once planted     a mother, a father, a mentor, a friend. Joyful anxiety! Cautious -- desirous --     the season has come; it is here! Petals shouting brightly! Blossoms sweetly singing --     the season has come!  It is hear! Time hallowed hopes of the summer arrive:     Exhultation! Rejoicing abounds! Songs understood from time-ripened growth     Climbing earnestly up towards the clouds Squirrels joust playfully, still slightly warefully     in warm well-known days with the sun. The landscape's familiar, horizon's peculiar     in warm well-known days with the sun. Now the statuesque trees of an earlier summer     begin a new season of change And stores from the harvest of meadows and forest  ...

“Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!” shouted the people of Jerusalem as the King of Glory rode into the city. Here was the Promised One they had long awaited! Yet a week later, they shouted a different cry: “Crucify Him!!” Victorious King or Hideous Scoundrel… the heart vacillates between beats. Are we any different from the people who laid down palms for Jesus? I’m not. My heart seems to work like a tide that ebbs and flows: one moment wholly devoted to Him and the next moment focused on my own selfish desires. The spiritual life is a constant battle, fighting through strategies and tactics toward victory, where any tactic that does not support the prime strategy is doomed to failure. No matter how noble a tactic may sound, it will be twisted to support the Adversary’s strategy if we lose sight of the primary objective that has been given to us: draw close to God. Like the rich young ruler who asked Jesus what he needed to “do”, we desire a set of tactics so we can heroically wi...

NOTE : since this is a long blog, conclusions are summarized at the end of this article    “What is church?” my friend Jim asked as he taught a class on Revelations. Jim had been studying the book for 12 years at the time, teaching it to others in both a unique and interesting way as his understanding grew. There are prophecies in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation to the seven churches, and like all prophecies there are many different interpretations. There are various speculations about what these churches could be. But Jim’s question at the time was more generic, and I took his question as a challenge: “Explain to me what church is meant to be.” Now answering that question is not easy, and while I think most people can come up with a couple quick opinions that reflect their personal experience, those subjective ideas may not line up with God’s plan. Understanding God’s intention for church can be difficult, especially in light of the diverse ways that we have...