Tag: California

It Only Takes A Crack

It Only Takes A Crack

by preacherpollard ♥ 1 Comment

Friday Column: Brent’s Bent

brent-portrait

Brent Pollard

“Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless” (2 Peter 3.14 NASB1995). 

Mike Schmit of Markesan, Wisconsin, grew the largest pumpkin in the United States in 2021. The pumpkin weighed in at 2,520 pounds. Yet, Schmit is not winning the $22,680 prize he could otherwise have received from California’s Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. (They pay $9 per pound for the winning pumpkin.) Schmit is not the winner because the pumpkin he grew developed a fingernail-sized crack from internal forces within the pumpkin. That tiny flaw was sufficient to disqualify his pumpkin from the competition.*  

In like manner, spiritually, there will be those surprised by the Judgment of God since they esteem themselves worthy of His eternal prize. They will discover too late that they had a crack in their discipleship. No, it is not a matter of lacking sinless perfection. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3.23). But there will be those who disqualify themselves by failing to be obedient to God’s Will (Matthew 7.21-23). They may do good things, even in the name of Christ. Yet, men ignore God’s Word regarding what he must do to receive eternal life.  

By what name do men call their religious bodies? What do men teach is necessary to receive salvation? How do they teach that we worship? How is the church they attend organized? Opinions and methodology vary among practitioners within generic Christendom because no one checks to see what the Bible teaches. They ignore God’s guidance about neither adding to nor taking from God’s Word (Deuteronomy 4,2; 1212.32; Proverbs 30.6; Revelation 22.18). “God didn’t say that I could not do thus-and-such.” “Surely, God is OK with this.” As Jesus said of the religious leaders of His day: “This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Matthew 15.8-9 NASB1995). 

We began by sharing Peter’s admonition to be diligent in our efforts to remain spotless and blameless. The only way that is possible is through obedience. Through obedience, we walk with God enabling His Son’s blood to provide continuous cleansing from our sin (1 John 1.7). Essentially, God’s grace covers the cracks that form because of human nature. That grace makes it seem as if no cracks began. However, for the disobedient or those whose obedience is incomplete, the flaws remain. As Mike Schmit can tell you, a tiny crack is sufficient to disqualify one’s efforts. As costly as a crack is to the pumpkin grower, it is even more so to the lost soul. Therefore, we owe it to God to ensure that while we live, we do so according to His Will.   

 

*Hooper, Ben. “Tiny Crack Disqualifies Pumpkin Thought to Be Largest in U.S.” UPI, UPI, 18 Oct. 2021, www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/10/18/heaviest-pumpkin-disqualified-Markesan-Wisconsin/8621634581685. 

  

The Good, The Bad, & The Lucky

The Good, The Bad, & The Lucky

by preacherpollard ♥ 3 Comments

Tuesday’s Column: Dale Mail

Dale Pollard

In 1951, two to three miles off the coast of Point Reyes, California, a military plane went down after battling faulty electrical issues and then eventually running out of fuel. The plane made a crash landing in the ocean and to make matters a little more terrifying, it was a Great White shark haven. There was one Army service man who managed to escape the aircraft, but once in the water he had no idea where to go. It was in the early morning and the fog was too thick to see through. Knowing he had to do something, he simply chose a direction and began to swim. After a couple of miles of swimming he finally, to his relief, reached land. Later on in life he’d go on to become the star of several Hollywood movies, direct his own movies, and even star in movies that he himself directed! His name was Clint Eastwood. 

He got lucky. Occasionally, that happens in life. We flip a coin, spin a bottle, or make a random turn and it all ends up working out in the end. Accidental fortune might happen in some areas of life, but not when it comes to our spiritual lives. There won’t be anyone in heaven who says, “I have no idea how I got here. I just randomly went through life and made the right choices, I guess!”

 If we’re looking for a deeper faith, a closer walk with God, or directions along the narrow way, we’ll have to be intentional about that. 

Psalm 25:5 reminds us that not only does God guide us into all truth, but that this is a path that must be taught. 

THE DIFFERENCE OF MORE THAN A YEAR

THE DIFFERENCE OF MORE THAN A YEAR

by preacherpollard ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Neal Pollard

Have you ever researched famous people born on your birthday? I have. I share a birthday with Babe Ruth, Bob Marley, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Queen Anne, Isidor Strauss, J.E.B. Stuart, Tom Brokaw, and, of course, a great many others. Two of the more fascinating, by contrast, were born a year apart. The one born in 1911 was a man. The one born in 1912 was a woman. He was an American patriot and two-term president. She was the companion of a Nazi dictator. He was shot, but survived. Her end was presumably self-inflicted. He lived into his 90s. She died in her 30s. He was Ronald Reagan. She was Eva Braun.

Both were born in two-parent households of modest means. Both had Catholic backgrounds. Both were second-born children. Both were athletes in their youth. Both possessed a talent for the arts. Both were fiercely loyal.

There is much more that could be said by way of comparison and contrast, but consider this. They were born and raised into the world at almost the same time. They were both born with the freedom to choose. Both found themselves in a place of great influence. Why was their ultimate influence so different from one another? It is surely more complex than can be measured from so great a distance of time and geography. Yet, it is a question played out an infinite number of times every day.

The day you were born, you were given a set of resources: time, talent, inclinations, opportunities, and influencers. For all of us, some of those resources present challenges and some present advantages. In other words, all of us have problems to overcome and privileges to leverage. In every case, we get to decide what we do with what we are given.

One of the applications of the parable of the talents (Mat. 25:14-30) is stewardship. Each man was given resources. Each was held accountable for what he did with them. Each made choices regarding them. Each reaped what he sowed.

I do not know how my final epitaph will read. It will certainly not be American president or German dictator’s companion. For that matter, it will not be Hall of Fame baseball player, British royalty, actor, composer, or broadcast journalist. 

I know how I want it to read–Faithful Christian, faithful husband, faithful father, faithful preacher, and faithful friend. Am I using my resources to work toward that goal? The only way I get to choose my legacy is by building it day-by-day, decision-by-decision. The same is true of us all. That means we must all use time wisely (Eph. 5:16) to forge it. By doing so wisely, we can be numbered among those to whom the Lord, at the end of it all, says, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Mat. 25:21). 

berlin-3835504_960_720
Braun and Reagan shared a legacy that includes Berlin, Germany.

METH-FLAVORED MILKSHAKE

METH-FLAVORED MILKSHAKE

by preacherpollard ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Neal Pollard

It allegedly happened in 2014, but now Fred Maldonado is taking In-N-Out Burger to court for what he said he found at the bottom of his cup.  While their is some “fishiness” to his story and the restaurant “will vigorously defend [against] these baseless claims,” Maldonado “found a napkin and two capsules in the bottom of his milkshake cup” and “later testing revealed that the capsules contained methamphetamine” (from “Businesstech” article).

Search the internet a little and you will find more stories than you can probably stomach about what people have found in their prepared or packaged food and drinks.  As a consumer, the thought of such is enough to make you grow everything you eat and never eat out again.  In the supposed “meth” incident, add danger to disgust!  There is a certain amount of faith and trust one has that those responsible for getting his or her food (or drink) will give them what and only what they paid for.

Tragically, every Sunday in churches across the globe, people sit down to receive what they sincerely believe to be the “bread of life” (cf. John 6:35) and the “water of life” (John 4:10). They trust that the one who is delivering it to them, maybe one they consider a friend and a spiritual brother, is giving them exactly what is claimed—the Word of God. Yet, Scripture warns that there are those who taint the message with something far more appalling and dangerous than anything else could be.  Instead of truth, they get myths (2 Tim. 4:4). Instead of the sure word of Scripture, they get destructive heresies (2 Pet. 1:19-2:1). Instead of light, they get darkness (John 12:46). Instead of Christ, they get philosophy, empty deception, tradition of men, and elementary principles of the world (Col. 2:8).

Paul wrote that divine judgment awaits any who “did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness” (2 Thess. 2:12).  The hearer has a responsibility to check what the teacher says, to make sure it is right and true (Acts 17:11).  God will hold everyone responsible for what they did with His Word. Even though teachers face a stricter judgment (cf. Jas. 3:1), He holds you and me responsible for avoiding dangerous, disgusting doctrine.  It takes practice to have our “senses trained to discern good and evil” (Heb. 5:14).  Take charge of your own spiritual nourishment, from what you hear on Sunday to what you read every day!

Copperopolis, California

Copperopolis, California

by preacherpollard ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Neal Pollard

It boomed when “copper was king” and owed its thriving existence to shell casings made for the Union Army in the far-away Civil War.  Fittingly, her downtown streets were Union, Grant, Lincoln, and Sherman. There were 90 businesses in “Copper City” from 1865-1867. The extraction and production of copper ore found in such strikes as at Gopher Ridge, Quail Hill, and Hog Hill made Copperopolis a boom town for a short time.  A huge fire in the center of town, in 1867, coupled with the enormous drop in demand for copper following the end of the Civil War, left the community a virtual ghost town. So, despite a few modest copper mining rebounds periodically through World War II, Copperopolis, which yielded $12 million in copper from 1861 to 1946, is a shell of its former self. It is a resort and recreation area today, a modest little town who  once entertained the likes of Mark Twain, Nikola Tesla, and “Black Bart” (Charles Boles)(mymotherlode.com,  calaverashistory.org/copperopolis).

History is fascinating, with its “rags to riches,” “riches to rags,” and even “rags to riches to rags” stories.  Family histories play out the same way.  So can the rise and fall of nations.  The history of the church, wherever she has existed, may follow the same trajectory.  The Jerusalem church of Christ, where it all began, once boasted thousands of members.  In time, due to persecution and the introduction of false doctrines, the church there faded from view.  Today, it has only a modest presence. The same could be said of other congregations we read about in the New Testament.  Our congregation is somewhere on its course from the past to the future.  Where will it be in 10 years? 50 years?

Then, I look at my own life.  I have been a Christian for over 30 years.  I have preached for over 25 years. There have been Bible studies with non-Christians and new Christians. There have been efforts to try and influence others with the gospel.  My three sons are all nearly grown and on their own.  My wife and I have labored together to serve Christ.  But, each day, I must look and sincerely investigate what my spiritual trajectory is.  Am I growing nearer to Christ, acting more like Christ? Am I bearing more or less fruit? Are my best days in His kingdom behind me or in front of me? The good news is that, to a great degree, that lies within the scope of my free will and deliberate choices. With God’s help and to His glory, I can make today, tomorrow, and beyond the brightest days of service to Him.

Look at your life.  What legacy are you building? You will help determine that by what you do today.  Paul says, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15-16).

Photograph taken of ruins in Copperopolis, California.