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Ramblings from Retirement – Stand Firm By Lee Hemen, Retired Pastor March 26, 2021 I like watching the wild birds that come to our feeders in our yard. Their music is sweet to listen to as is their antics. Some are very protective of their feeding grounds and chase other birds away while other seem oblivious and just enjoy the fellowship of the other varieties of birds that show up to feed. Some seem extremely skittish and flit from here to there at any sound. In Peter’s letter he writes, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered ...

Ramblings from Retirement – Wisdom of the World By Pastor Lee Hemen March 24, 2021 Recently I learned that Canada is doing some truly horrendous and disastrous things with families and the law; all in the name of social justice. I learned from online news sources that: “The father and mother were not raising the child together, so it was only when his daughter was 13 that the father learned that the girl’s public school and his ex-wife had been working with the child to turn her into a boy. This included pushing the child to take hormones to mimic male sexual attributes such as facial hair and a deep voice. The father (who cannot be identified under Canadian law because doing so would also identify his daughter) went to court, saying that he needed to give parental consent before his child was permanently mutilated. Not only did a British Columbia court rule against him, saying the father’s consent wasn’t necessary, but the appellate judges also lectured him to understand gender dyspho...

Ramblings from Retirement – Freedom! By Pastor Lee Hemen (Retired) March 22, 2021 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:16-18 NIV) At what point do believers “submit themselves to the governing authorities”? Paul would write the Roman Christians, who were under severe persecution, that they were to honor God and that those “who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:2 NIV). However there does come a time when the Christian must follow the Lord and not man because man can do evil and ...

The Father and the Son! -- John 5:16-24 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 21 2014 Bill Crowder writes for the Radio Bible Class that “The Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland, are known for their beautiful sweaters. Patterns are woven into the fabric using sheep’s wool to craft the garments. Many of them relate to the culture and folklore of these small islands, but some are more personal. Each family on the islands has its own trademark pattern, which is so distinctive that if a fisherman were to drown it is said that he could be identified simply by examining his sweater for the family trademark.” We all have the distinctive marks of our own father imprinted in us and not just in our DNA but often in our mannerism and even sometimes in our spirituality. Fathers and their sons do not always have the greatest of relationships and in fact it has only gotten worse because so many fathers are absent in the lives of their children. Yet we discover in John’s Gospel that Jesus had an excel...

The Trials of a Disciple - Mark 13:11-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 09, 2011 AM Americans are often accused of living sheltered lives. From the cradle to the grave we are encouraged not to personally think about the long-term effect of our actions, to immediately blame our lives on society, or to be completely dependent upon others to bail us out. We live in fractured relationships thinking that by getting rid of old-fashioned social stigmas we will experience true love. We do not plan for the future believing that the government should take care of us and death is something to be avoided at all cost and not talked about. This is true to a certain extent where Christians are concerned as well. We have swallowed the lie that there should not be any consequences for our ungodly actions. That our faith practice is dependent upon how we feel, that as long as we think good thoughts about Jesus, God will love and honor our superficial compliance and one-day, by-and-by, welcome us...