The Sermon at the Mall, a Black Friday Allegory - Free Download

 by Barbara Latta

Happy Thanksgiving week!

Now that Black Friday shopping is upon us, I wanted to share a short story I wrote about this after Thanksgiving event. This year Black Friday will be different as social distancing rules are in place. Most shopping will be online while some stores will remain open with stricter regulations. 

I love shopping so the only intention of this story is to remind us to keep our perspective. With number limitations and distance between customers enacted, patience will still need to reign.

I hope you enjoy your week and if you were not able to visit with family and friends physically, I hope you were communicating through technology. 

May your shopping, celebrating, and sharing be filled with blessings!

You can download The Sermon at the Mall, A Black Friday Allegory here

Feel free to share your thoughts about your Thanksgiving memories.

The Sermon at the Mall, A Black Friday Allegory free download (click to tweet)

3 Reasons We Shouldn't Fear the Future

 by Barbara Latta

To look at the world’s ills, one could cower in fear of what’s next on the tragedy agenda. Not only have we navigated a worldwide pandemic, we have also endured weather disasters, political stress and civil unrest.

But you know what?

This is nothing new. Since the beginning of time mankind has fought among himself, people have dealt with volcanoes, earthquakes and floods. Nation has warred against nation and strife has not ceased.

Fear is the opposite of faith in God. When we fear, our eyes are on the turmoil around us and not on the Father Who saves us.God’s instructions to His people to fear not appear in the Bible hundreds of times. He knew we would be influenced by the world and events around us and our natural senses would default to looking at tragic or impossible situations. His repetition of this phrase is because we need to hear it so much.

When I was struggling with fear of the future God reminded me of these 3 things.

We shouldn’t live in fear because:

Why have Thousands of Christians Fallen Away from a Biblical Worldview?

by Barbara Latta

Where do our belief systems come from? Why are some people easily influenced by others and willingly follow them into chaos?

Why have thousands of Christians fallen away from a biblical worldview?

Many who call themselves believers have turned away from the purity of the truth of God’s Word and mixed their belief systems with the secular world and other religions.

Barna research conducted a poll among Americans who say they go to church regularly. The result of this survey reveals only 17% of adults who claim they are Christian and attend church regularly have a biblical worldview.

What is a biblical worldview? As defined by Barna it is, “believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.”

For decades, each generation has fallen further away from God’s teaching and has been influenced by the world system. Their eyes are blinded to the truth because they deny the power of God to fill the emptiness of soul.

The research also identified the following statistics among Christians:

61% agree with ideas among new spirituality

54% agree with postmodernism

36% accept Marxism

29% accept secularism

38% are sympathetic to Muslim teaching

These numbers reveal how worldly thinking has infiltrated the church body in such a way as to change attitudes and belief systems—which in turn affects decisions. We are responsible for what we believe. If we fall for the lies of false religion and the secular world system, we cannot blame anyone else. God’s Word clearly admonishes us to remain untainted by the world by renewing our minds to what He says.

We want to be kind to all people, but that doesn’t mean Christians should absorb the doctrines of other religions. We live in the same world as people of other beliefs, but we cannot “coexist” spiritually, as the bumper sticker says. Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. Period.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2 NKJV).

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ (Colossians 2:8).

How do we navigate this curve of thinking that goes against God’s Word? We put more importance on what God says than on anything else. His is the only answer that is true.

When a soul is empty, people seek relief in whatever makes them feel good. False religion and satisfying the flesh can be the result.

Standing true to the Word of God will bring persecution in this world filled with the spirit of anti-Christ, but the rewards we receive for standing firm far outweigh the negative aspects thrown at us.

As we shine our lights in the darkness, the way is illuminated so that others may see the way to Christ. Only then can worldviews be changed.

In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (1 John 16:33).

 Join the conversation and share your thoughts.

Why have thousands of Christians fallen away from a biblical worldview? (click to tweet)

How to Cure Brokenness in the Soul

by Barbara Latta 

Why do we struggle with regret, condemnation, envy, depression, rejection, inferiority and a host of other negative emotions?

Because of the root of brokenness in the soul.

Our lives began with the blank slate of brokenness. Until a person is born again the spirit is dead and separated from God. The soul (mind, will and emotions) has no hope. God gives us a new nature when we become born into His family through the blood of Jesus. But we can still live as Christians and accept these mental games as truth when we believe the lie about ourselves. 

Brokenness doesn’t have to come to us in drastic measures for it to hurt us. A cut finger is broken just like a fractured bone. The cut in the skin may be small, but if left untreated infection can set in and result in blood poisoning. Both the leg and the finger skin are broken and need treatment for healing.

What may be considered small events in our lives can still hurt. The root cause of the pain still needs to be treated so that it doesn’t fester into a poisoned soul. Otherwise, another notch is cut into an already existing wound. 

How to Resist Temptation's Attacks

by Barbara Latta 

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7 NKJV).

We are commanded to resist the devil. God gives us this instruction to protect us from our enemy. If he gets a foothold in our mind, whatever we allow in is harder to uproot once we have entertained the temptation.

Joseph is an example of fleeing from evil. When Pharoah’s wife attempted to seduce him, Joseph ran. He didn’t stand around and debate his thoughts. If he had, the temptation would have overcome him. He was a young, handsome man and a beautiful woman desired him. He was alone and away from home. Who would know?

God would.

Joseph did the right thing and he was honored by God later on. He was elevated to the second in command of the nation of Egypt because he obeyed God in that temptation and in other situations.

Temptation can attack in many forms, not just the usual vices we think of as sin. Sin is anything that separates us from God. And the devil isn't prejudiced in who he attacks. He comes after us all. 

Temptation begins in our minds. Thoughts can turn into actions and words when we are not diligent to recognize the battle. 

When we rely on God's ammunition in His Word, we can resist temptation’s attacks through emotions and negative thoughts such as these:

What to do if You've been Hurt by the Church

 by Barbara Latta

It’s a sad fact, but church splits happen. Congregations with differing opinions go their separate ways
and form new churches.

And in other cases, offenses happen in the assembly and members are hurt by each other. 

But this is not the way God intended our worship to be.

He is the God of unity. The problem is our flesh gets in the way.

There are solutions and God’s Word is the remedy. Jesus formed the church to be His body on the earth. But He knew He was leaving the administration of worship in the hands of people who would fail from time to time.

What can you do if you’ve been hurt by the church?

Stuck by Paul's Thorn in the Flesh

 by Barbara Latta

During my Christian walk, I have heard different theories about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. We can get stuck (as in bogged down) in discussions and theories of what this irritation was in his life.

Some have said he had bad eyesight.

Others that he walked with a limp or had some serious disease.

These speculations originated from an interpretation of Galatians 4:12-15 where Paul is talking about his infirmities and stating the faithfulness of the church at Galatia that they would have “plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.”

Because of this verse, the theory began that Paul had bad eyesight. But to look further at what he was speaking about takes us back to Acts 14:19-20. Paul and Barnabas had preached and performed miracles in the town of Lystra which is in the province of Galatia. He was stoned and left for dead. In the letter to the church of Galatia Paul outlines in chapter four, the care that church gave to him. After being stoned and left for dead, a person’s eyes would be swollen and possibly shut and more than likely if he could walk at all he would walk with a limp for some period of time. But this was a temporary infirmity. And the church took care of him while he healed.

Paul talks about this thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10,  And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure (verse 7 NKVJ, emphasis mine).

As the verse clearly states, the thorn was a messenger of Satan to buffet him. Paul was tormented by a demon from hell to try to stop him from preaching the gospel of Christ. He was persecuted everywhere he went with stoning, beating, imprisonment, revilement, mobs, riots and shipwrecks. When he states he was given this thorn to keep him from being exalted, we can conclude from the nature of God that the Lord does not give demons to us (John 10:10). The thorn came from Satan who didn’t want Paul or his message exalted in front of people. So, the devil did everything he could to bring Paul down and stop the message.

Persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me (2 Timothy 3:11 NKJV).

We are redeemed from sin through faith in Christ when we believe and accept Him (2 Corinthians 5:17.) 

We are redeemed from sickness through the same faith in Christ when we believe and stand on His Word (1 Peter 2:24).

But we are not redeemed from persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). That’s why Paul says he asked the Lord three times to take away the tormenter and God replied, “My grace is sufficient”,(2 Corinthians 2:9). His grace is what keeps us standing in the face of persecution.

While these views may be contrary to some, this is the interpretation I received when reading and studying these scriptures. And when this revelation came to me, it made these passages clearer and answered questions that seemed to be confusing. That’s why it is so important for us to dig deeper when we have questions and not merely rely on religious traditions that have been handed down for generations.

I hope this helps you in your study. I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers about anything, but these scriptures helped me get “unstuck” about Paul’s thorn in the flesh.

Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Stuck by Paul’s thorn in the flesh (click to tweet)