PastorBlastor

Ramblings from Retirement – Jesus and Freedom of Speech By Pastor (retired) Lee Hemen April 14, 2022 My father would remind us that “Words mean things”, usually when my brother and I were in the midst of calling one another morons or some other teenage moniker. Words are important. Many in today’s America have forgotten a fundamental right that is guaranteed by our Constitution: Freedom of speech. This is a core right that should be protected at all costs. You may not like or agree with what someone else says, writes, or films but you can turn it off, not read it, or respond to it. It is your freedom to do so. Lease we forget this is why Jesus was persecuted as he was. He openly proclaimed the truth of God which stood in stark contrast to the false narrative of the religious leaders of his day. Over and over, we hear Jesus telling his detractors, “You say” and then telling them the truth. Using his free speech eventually cost him his life. In Matthew’s gospel we find a perfect example ...

Ramblings from Retirement – Coffee and Lilies By Pastor (retired) Lee Hemen April 8, 2022 I’m sitting here with my cup of coffee looking out my dining room window. I need to go out and put more birdseed in the birdfeeders. However, I enjoy this time away from the news and concerns of the world. It is the simple things in life that should cause us to pause and enjoy the moment. I have always enjoyed a simple cup of coffee, black, nothing else, ever since I was a child. Yep, I learned the joy of coffee when I was about five or six years old from my mother. Now her coffee could grow hair on a bald dog. She learned how to boil it in a skillet and make it about the consistency of thick black mud. A peculator pot was a new-fangled invention that she began to begrudgingly use and later we convinced her to use a drip coffee maker - a necessity electrical appliance that was constantly on from sunup until bedtime in her house. Interestingly, she drank her cup-o-Joe with lots of cream and two to ...

Ramblings from Retirement – The Church, Jesus’ body in the World By Pastor (retired) Lee Hemen April 5, 2022 It is amazing to me that so many convoluted ideas have taken root in today’s Christianity. It makes me wonder if anyone, who calls them self a “Christian” truly takes the time to know what this means or if they ever read and study the Bible. Far too many churches have abandoned Bible Study, Sunday School, or whatever you want to call in favor of video symposiums or sermons in a second. And do not get me started on what people think and teach about the coming of Jesus. Most of it is founded on heretical teaching that has taken root like aggressive weeds in your lawn and has no basis in orthodox Christianity, the history of the church, or what the Bible actually says concerning the subject, anyway, this for another Rambling on another day. Jesus established the church for a reason, and we see this when he asked his followers, “Who do the people say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “Yo...

Ramblings from Retirement - Are You No Earthly Good? By Pastor (retired) Lee Hemen  April 3, 2022 There's an old saying that a Christian can be "so heavenly-minded you're no earthly good". It means that believers can be so focused on being holy, that they've lost sight of the world around them. Now this can be a good thing when it refers to one's looking to Jesus as they live, but it can be bad if they're so focused on the things of heaven that they forget about those around them that need Jesus. It can be bad in the life of a church or preacher that becomes so focused on knowledge or themselves that they become blinded to the needs of a hurting and sinful world around them. Jesus berated the spiritual teachers of his day because this was exactly what they were guilty of doing. Jesus really got into it with them, and he bluntly told them, ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin....

Ramblings from Retirement – Get Out There and Share Jesus! By Pastor (retired) Hemen April 2, 2022 It is a beautiful day today and I am sitting here thinking about going for a bicycle ride. I like to get exercise by riding my bike and I’ve learned that I cannot simply think about it, I have to get up and go ride my bike. You know it is the same thing as far as witnessing to others about your faith. You can’t simply think about it, you have to get up and go out and do it. However, much of what we have been taught over the decades about witnessing is completely not found in Scripture. Let’s find out what I mean by this shall we? Every gospel from Matthew to John talks about Jesus’ followers going into the world and telling others about Jesus and who he is. In fact, even the Book of Acts speaks to this issue as well. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have c...

Ramblings from Retirement – Meditating On God’s Word By Pastor (Retired) Lee Hemen April 1, 2022 I was thinking about a notion that I have heard my entire Christian life, namely that we are better believers if we hide God’s Work in our hearts by memorizing it perfectly. Mainly this teaching comes from the words of the Psalmist who wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you (Psalms 119:11 NIV84).” Except this is total balderdash. Now do not get me wrong because if you want to memorize the Bible verse by verse, go ahead and do so. It might be good for you to do so but this isn’t what the Psalmist meant. In fact, nowhere in the pages of our Bibles did the original authors want you to be able to quote a specific passage at any given time in order to be a better Believer in God. Certainly they encourage us to know the words of the Lord but what did they really mean? First and foremost we often forget in our haste to impose certain spiritual concepts that we...

Ramblings from Retirement – Words Do Mean Things By Pastor (Retired) Lee Hemen March 29, 2022 The other day I was outside working in my yard getting things ready for spring, and the growing season, I began to think about how people today think that by using the right words or phrases will solve our problems. Now I know that many of them do not truly believe this, and they are simply endorsing their own politically correct propaganda in order to bring about a change in the world that fits their own paradigm. However, I suddenly realized that these social misfits do not realize it but they are endorsing what Jesus taught. And, I am sure that many of them would be horrified to realize this truth. One afternoon while Jesus was berating the hypocrites in the crowds that constantly followed him, he bluntly told them, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil ...

Ramblings from Retirement - No Starfleet Future Awaits Humanity By Pastor (Retired) Lee Hemen March 28, 2022 I’ve been watching the latest installments of “Picard” on Paramount+ and have just gotten a huge dose of Hollyweird’s notion of what it thinks of the world at large and mankind in general. Picard and his crewmates have to go back in time to the year 2024 to fix the timeline. While there Picard meets up with the character Guinan, an alien being that lives a long time and is affected by time. Anyway, she is saddened by what she is witnessing here on earth and is getting ready to bug out when Picard enlists her help. She sees humanity’s hatred, pettiness, and greed but nowhere is the real reason given: Mainly mankind’s sinful nature. The Apostle Paul related that the only fix for mankind’s problem of sin was the righteousness found in Jesus Christ. He writes, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have si...

The Joy of a Father’s Heart By Pastor Lee Hemen December 12, 2021 I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart; I will enter His courts with praise! I will say this is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice for He has made me glad! The JOY of the Lord is my strength; it has to be especially now. This is both the happiest day and the saddest day of my life! But as you can see, I think I will focus on the happier part! Oh Lord, my Yahweh thank You for being the Lord You are. Thank You for my daughter, Miriam and of course Yoseph! A father knows this day will come but he never realizes just how fast it does come. Your daughter is one day playing with your beard, learning to walk, learning the Psalms and singing them sweetly around the house, and the next… she has growing into a fine young woman! Can it be that she is fourteen now? They grow up so fast! This last year she has learned to cook, sew, keep a household, and to manage affairs well like a good Jewish woman should. Just...

Ramblings from Retirement – You’re gonna die By Retried Pastor Lee Hemen August 24, 2021 There are several quotes, memes, and statements floating around online and on TV that I have come to utterly hate and therefore disregard because they have become meaningless. They are: “We’re all in this together” and “If we can save even one life…” Both have become “pithyisms” – a new term that defines a statement that is made that means nothing but sounds pity. Politicians use them all the time to sound intelligent and to skirt the truth. First of all we are not all in this together because we do not know one another, we do not mingle in the same groups with one another, and most of you have absolutely no vested interest in who I am or what I do, except you are kind enough to read or listen to my ramblings. I know it is supposed to make us feel like we are part of a community, a family, or all in the same leaky boat but frankly we are not all in this together. Can we be supportive of a concerted...

Ramblings from Retirement - Do Not Fear By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen August 13, 2021 Are you fearful? Are you afraid? Some people like being scared or the feeling of fear. They will even do things in life to make themselves feel fear. Like bungee jumping from high places, climbing cliffs without any pinions or tie downs, or skydiving. Some will go to horror movies but then there are also those who keep themselves in a constant state of fear simply because they do not trust themselves, others, or Jesus to keep them. This is truly sad. Today is Friday the 13th and some folks are fearful of the date; kind of silly, if you ask me, but they are. Perhaps it is because they would rather live in a state of fear rather than peace. The news brings in to our lives a constant barrage of tragedy, horrors, and dismal happenings. My advice is to turn the news off and go read your Bible or listen to some good music. The world is full of fear and will not change until we go to our eternal rest or Jesus ...

Ramblings from Retirement – How we handle hurt says a lot By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen August 5, 2021 I liked a TV series from PBS and the BBC that was called Downton Abby. In it one of the characters, Tom, tells another character Lady Mary that “being hurt is part of being alive.” He is correct and herein is a simple truth that many in our day and age have forgotten that life consists of a series of being hurt yet how we handle the hurt tells a lot about who we are as a person. Many try to escape being hurt at all and this is simply impossible. People get hurt. People die. People get sick. We are not guaranteed a perfect life, no one is and no one in all of history has enjoyed a perfect life except perhaps Jesus and he also suffered hurt in his life. The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote that “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to te...

Do you share the Good News? – Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20 By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen August 1, 2021 As a family drove home from worship the mother exclaimed, “What a wonderful service we had this morning!” The oldest daughter from the backseat asked, “So, what do we do about Christ’s resurrection?” “What do you mean, honey?” “I mean Christ’s resurrection supposedly changed everything. We say it changed our life. It seems to me we should be doing more to indicate Christ has made a difference in us and he wants to make a difference in others.” It made the mother realize that she needed to share the good news with others joyfully and more consistently. Let me ask you, “How does your worship influence your daily service for Christ?” As Sunday morning dawned, two lowly women walked to the tomb of Jesus. An earthquake occurs, and an angel of God rolls back the stone at the entrance of the tomb and sits on it. He tells the women not to be afraid because Jesus had risen from the dead. What occurs ...

 Tired of Homelessness Making My Community Third-World By Lee Hemen August 2, 2021 People are getting fed up with wear a mask, don’t wear a mask and rightly so. We begin to feel like ping-pong balls. What baffles me however is the fact that we have begun to allow so many things into our lives that we no longer are angered at them. The enslavement of mandates is one such occurrence but the other that frustrates me is homelessness. I moved into my home in 1977, it is now paid for and I am looking forward to my retirement. Through a lot of hard work, lean times, and good times we have succeeded. Yet disturbingly I now have to weekly chase wandering indigents out of my trash and recycle bins. Homeless camps have cropped up in my county like weeds on a springtime lawn. Everywhere you turn there are tents, cardboard shacks, or dilapidated RVs parked on every vacant lot. And now I learn that the Sherriff Department or local city police will do nothing about bums abusing my community becau...

Ramblings from Retirement – Get Out There and Disciple Someone By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen July 17, 2021 I’m a big fan of the verses I’m going to share with you today but not in the Billy Graham-guilt trip kind of way where you’re left wondering if your Christianity is real. You know what I mean, because you don’t corner every living soul you meet with a black Bible in hand and demand to know if they are going to heaven or hell. Not that Billy Graham did this but I use this in jest. Some of the last words Jesus spoke to his crew before he ascended back to his heavenly abode were these words recorded by Matthew: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)” As a preacher...

 Ramblings from Retirement – Real Dads By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen June 21, 2021 My father was one of those quiet dads that didn’t say much but when he did you usually listened. My older siblings had a hard time with this which I could never figure out. However we all knew that if Dad said, “don’t” it was don’t, if he said, “yes” it was yes, and the same with his “no”. No was no and we didn’t dare go ask Mom. My father had advice he would offer up to us once in a while that I kind of tucked away. He would tell us that “Nothing in life is free.” Meaning that there is always a “catch” and we needed to be aware of this fact. Another was similar when he would remind us that the “Government never gives you something for nothing.” He would also remind us that “Freedoms are easily lost but hard to regain.” This last one I did not understand until later in life. He would offer up humorous ones as well, like “Do not be so open minded that you let your brains fall out of your head” and that ...

 Ramblings from Retirement – Trust By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen June 2, 2021 Sometimes we can become so myopic in our daily lives that we forget the people around us or the Lord who made us. Jesus reminded his listeners that the two greatest commandments were to love God totally and others like you love yourself. Fussing or fretting about things you have no control over can lead to anxiety and frustration with your circumstances. Yet when we focus on loving God as we should and loving others as he commanded the things we have no control over seem to fade into the background where they belong. I used to fret about family members who did not know the Lord and I began to wonder if God was actually listening to me when I prayed about my concern for them. I was gently reminded by a brother in Christ that perhaps my prayers were not really for the benefit of those I was praying for but to satisfy my selfish needs. Of course at first I was offended that he would claim I was being selfish w...

Ramblings from Retirement – A Whole New OS By Pastor Lee Hemen June 1, 2021 I recently have been trying to load a new OS (operating system) to an old laptop I have. Doing things like this is enjoyable for me. I also just replaced a hard drive, reformatted it, and loaded the OS for an Xbox system. It is like when my father in law would find joy in his carpentry and a job well done. Doing computer or cell phone geek stuff and having it go right gives me enjoyment. However with trying to get this old laptop working with a different OS has proven a bit frustrating. I am sure the final outcome will be fine but the work and the constant failure for it to load properly is frustrating. Life can be that way for some of us when it seems like we are constantly rebooting ourselves and it seems as if nothing is working. Perhaps the answer is using a better OS for your life? I’ve learned that trying to do the same things the same way with the same results is foolish. Perhaps your life needs a reboot...

Ramblings from Retirement – The Bigger they Are By Pastor Lee Hemen May 30, 2021 Have you heard the old saying “The bigger they are the harder they fall.”? Did you know that it is a reference to what occurred with a young shepherd boy and a military giant? His name was David and his advisory was Goliath. Recently there has been a real attempt at rewriting the history of our Nation. I was dismayed to recently read a story about how WWII would have been won within several months without D-Day or the USA getting involved. This simply is not true. We were a nation in the throes of Democratic socialism that introduced some of the largest budgets ever seen, until Presidents Obama, Trump, and now Biden. In fact, only WWII would bring us out of the malaise of a flat economy and joblessness we were suffering. It was the USA’s ability to retool, manufacture, and rebuilding so quickly that brought about the destruction of both Japan and Germany. Russia could not have stood up to the Nazi onslaugh...

Ramblings from Retirement – Who Is Your Neighbor By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 29, 2021 Sitting here this morning I did what I always do, I prayed for my neighbors. I pray for them by name and street address. I use the Bless Every Home app. You can also go onto their website and do it that way. I like it because I can edit the names to keep them as up-to-date as possible. I also try to walk three to four times a week throughout my neighborhood with my grandkids or by myself, for exercise and to keep up with what is happening in my neighborhood. I’ve met more neighbors on my walks, waved to them, said “Hi.” or stopped to talk with them. I pick up concerns and blessings which I pray for when I pray for them and this brings me to one of my favorite passages of Scripture. In Luke’s gospel we find Jesus speaking to a very intelligent young man: “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘What is written in t...