Strike Four Ministries

Label # 7: Desecrated. What would you do if you were to walk into the sanctuary at your church and someone had spray painted vulgar words on the pulpit?   Ripped pages out of the hymnals?   Thrown excrement on the altar?   You would be shocked.   Upset.   Angry.   I believe that a righteous indignation would form inside of you as you tried to find the perpetrator of such a heinous act of vandalism.   How dare someone come inside the Lord’s House and desecrate it! Who in the world could muster up the gall to destroy the house of the Lord?   “Don’t you realize,” Paul asks, “that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?   You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.   So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 NLT.)   You know where I am going with this illustration, don’t you?   How often have you viewed an ungodly movie in the tem...

Label # 6:   Profane.   The Power Thesaurus defines “profane” as something that is “not holy because” it is “unconsecrated or impure or defiled.”   Other definitions include “not concerned with or devoted to religion,” “grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred,” “to put to a wrong or unworthy use; to make a base employment of; to debase; to abuse; to defile,” and “to violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy or contempts; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures or the ordinance of God” (Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary.)   Do those definitions not seem to describe the present state of our great country?   We have taken what is sacred, such as marriage and the value of unborn babies, and desecrated it. If I am being brutally honest with myself, there was a point in my life—and not that long ago, sadly—that I could relate to this label.   The Bible says to “[r]un fr...

Labels, Reviews, and Adjectives Joshua Adams I have a close friend who, as a young adult, developed a severe allergic reaction to eggs.   Not just scrambled eggs or fried eggs... no, if a product has any trace of egg in the ingredients, my friend's throat will start to swell shut.   This has made life very difficult for her because the percentage of foods that contain egg is quite high!   Once, I made the mistake of offering my friend a granola bar without examining the labels on the box.   Within seconds of taking the first bite, she noticed a slight itching in her throat which we recognized as the beginning of an allergic reaction.   You had better believe that now before I share any food with my friend, I carefully examine the labels and usually ask her too as well.   I do not want to be responsible for her having a severe reaction!!   Labels are important.    Without a label listing the ingredients, my friend could potentially...