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Ramblings from Retirement: The only thing we have to fear is… By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) October 24, 2020 There is a famous line from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR who said in one of his speeches, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”; sounds pithy doesn’t it? It helped a lot of folks during the crisis of the Depression and looming World War II that they could face their fear and move on as a Nation. Yet in our day and age we have politicians who focus on our fears and try to scare us into voting for them or otherwise we will face doom, gloom, and even death! It is a basement mentality and I fear has a lot of folks fooled in our day into thinking that we’re all gonna die from something. Well guess what? We are. The writer of the Book of Hebrews in the Bible wrote that “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” meaning we will all die at some point and face that same judgment. However he doesn’t stop there but c...

Ramblings from Retirement: How should a Christian vote? By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) October 21, 2020 I have always found it kind of humorous when people get all excited about voting as a Christian simply because your definition of what makes a “Christian” might be quite different form another’s definition. If we can’t agree on who to vote for what makes you think we will agree on what the definition of Christian is? So like any good editor, writer, or researcher we must define what being a “Christian” is and there is no better place to begin than the Scriptures. (Bible for those of you who think that any mystical writing is “Scripture” and it is not.) The very first place where we find the word “Christian” being used is in Acts 11:25-26 where Paul is describing a man named Barnabas who was a godly man that helped Paul with new churches: “Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the ...

Ramblings from Retirement: Finding Rest in a Fearful World By Lee Hemen October 8, 2020 The dictionary defines alienation as “the state or experience of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one should belong or in which one should be involved.” If furthers goes on to state that there can be a loss of sympathy and an estrangement that occurs. This is evidenced by those who stay away from worship for any length of time and why the writer of Hebrews would state: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-25 NIV)” When we stay away from those that we are told to fellowship with we become alienated from them. When we stay away from the One we are supposed to daily talk with we also become ali...