Sacred Deliberations

I had a traumatic experience many Lenten seasons ago, during my time as a seminarian.   

I was selected to preach one of the Seven Last Words during a Good Friday service. At the conclusion of the seventh word each of the presenters received a nail, as a hammer passed from person to person, I looked at the nail in my hand and realized in that moment we were symbolically re-enacting the nailing of my Jesus to the cross. When I saw the zeal with which the others were pounding in their nails, I was outraged, distressed and angry inside, in equal amounts, horrified by what we were doing, disturbed by the knowledge someone thought it a good idea to reenact the assault and violence that killed our Lord Jesus. Despite my indignation, I failed to stand up to the moment. I went along to go along and gave the nail three soft taps with the hammer, so that it barely penetrated the wood. As I was returning to my seat, I heard the nail fall down, making me feel glad inside. On the outside, the look on my face dissuaded anyone else from touching it.

Going along to get along is not something I am known for doing, not then or now. At the time, I rationalized my behavior by saying to myself I did not want to make people feel uncomfortable, that it was the wisest decision under the circumstances, what others might call a reasonable decision, but the lesson learned from that experience was the danger of being of two minds. Of having two masters, both of whom are actively working to gain eternal possession of human souls for their kingdoms, using opposing and irreconcilable belief systems to recruit and operate.[1]

The doubleminded person constitutes a clear and present danger to themselves and to others, a security risk, capable of bringing the whole house down, because one never knows quite what to expect from them. Learning this lesson helped me to never go against myself—my oneness—in that way ever again, even if holding fast to my decision meant trouble for me. In due time I came to understand that, from GOD’s point of view, trouble is little more than a window of opportunity to demonstrate—once again—that I will be carried safely through and over to the other side. In like manner, trouble is an opportunity for me to demonstrate how deep and wide and high my love and trust in GOD is, and so long as I keep my eyes on my Jesus no real harm can come to me. Only if I look down do I run the risk of drowning in my troubles. To be clear, when trouble shows up, which it does in different forms and on a regular basis, I allow myself time to sit with my feelings—hurt, disgust, pain, sadness, whatever it is—for a designated period of time—ten minutes, an hour, a week, whatever it is—before exercising my right to choose to love and devote myself to one master and to hate and despise the other. The sooner I arrive at this point, the sooner I begin feeling relief from my troubles. Even more amazing is that before a word comes out of my mouth, GOD knows all about it.[2]  

This 2026 Lenten season I am horrified and sick inside for a much different reason, which I thought might be of interest to whom it may concern.

More precisely, I am in turn both horrified and fascinated by the zeal with which so many individuals have willingly given their allegiance and support to a lying, lawless beast of a man who openly defies and stands against GOD, among whom are children reared and brought up by GOD. That said, every single person has and had the right to make that choice, because each of us is born an autonomous, sovereign and free moral agent, endowed with the inalienable right to choose to love or ignore GOD, to obey or disobey, to say yes or no. This GOD given right is the bona fide trademark of true freedom, GOD’s gift to humanity.[3]

At the same time, given the casualness with which some who despise GOD speak of violence and war, those who love GOD should stay alert to the possibility we could very well wake up one morning to find that, overnight, our GOD given freedom has become a threat to the nation. To imagine how we might be treated requires paying attention to the words being spoken by despisers currently in power, as when one authority said America’s bombing of Iran was never intended to be a fair fight. “We are punching them while they are down, as it should be.” A different despiser described how they eat their own and one another. “If one side, Senate or House is being unreasonable, the White House may have to slap a couple of people to Pluto.”[4]

Those who love GOD should take some time to consider what it might mean to wake up one day and be told that anyone who refuses to kneel or pledge allegiance to someone or something other than GOD, or refuses to pledge allegiance to a LORD other than Jesus of Nazareth, has become a national security risk, to be dealt with accordingly. Go along to get along, crouch among the prisoners, or fall among the slain. These potential realities are why now is the appropriate time for those intending to endure to think about what else those in temporary power might be planning to demand of us, before the actual moment of decision arrives. Otherwise, desperation and hunger may do the deciding for us.[5]

Outside my door I understand full well that the Earth is shaking, nations are raging and kingdoms are falling. I know as well that I am an ordinary person with one vote and one voice, meaning there is only so much I can do about anything happening outside my door, but inside me is a peace and calm I could never have manufactured on my own, which I believe to be the peace my Jesus promised to leave behind, and I guard it fearlessly, because this peace is what sustains me through whatever life throws my way, so that I do not fall down. This peace, which originates from GOD, is what I depend on to keep the inside-and-outside me steady, balanced and steadfast.[6]

This peace, which occurs beyond my understanding, is why I wonder on a regular basis how people who have said ‘no thank you’ to GOD make it in this world. I find myself wondering whether their decision was made before, during or after some moment of crisis, or if it was a gradual thing, one disappointment at a time, simply because they did not know or understand or accept the conditions of GOD’s “If you…then I will…” Covenant. Worse still is the knowledge that some deniers became that way because they experienced something so traumatic it left them believing it was better not to hope in GOD.[7]

This Lenten deliberation was written because you are probably struggling in ways that I and others are not. My hope is that you will read something you had not considered before, something that moves you to reconsider previous decisions and softens your heart, to the point you are willing to consider giving GOD a second chance, because you heard something that leads you to believe there is much more to GOD than you have imagined or been told.

If faith had wings, I could send some of my peace to you that way. Since it does not, I am sending it using words, the means by which we humans have long used to communicate with one another. What I need you to keep in mind is that words are symbols of symbols, in that they represent something greater than our customary meanings and definitions. Words represent the unvarnished state and desire of our heart, for out of the heart the mouth speaks.[8]  

GOD hears and sees by looking into the heart, not by listening with ears of flesh as we do. When a person speaks or prays to GOD, the Holy Spirit—the Helper, the Holy barrier preventing a Holy GOD from actually holding hands with unholiness —translates that person’s words into a language GOD understands. When our moans and wails are too deep for words, as when we are sobbing our heart out because of some perceived great loss or unfairness, the Spirit intercedes on our behalf, choosing words for us that explain to GOD our feelings and concerns. In the same way, when someone intent on seeking truth reads the Bible, the Holy Spirit helps that person interpret and understand the words and what they represent. But even though GOD does not speak or hear words the way we understand speech, the Creator makes use of words by harnessing their power through the Holy Spirit to reach and communicate with those who cannot yet hear GOD in silence.[9] 

In every meaningful relationship I have ever had, trust mattered greatly, and I believe this to be true for everyone, believers and deniers alike. We each want and have the right to know not only that we can depend on the person who says they love us, but that we can depend on them to love us in the way we need and want to be loved, and we look for signs and evidence of that love. Sometimes we even test that love. Why, then, should it be any different for GOD, in whose likeness humanity was created? Obedience and faith are GOD’s love language, that is how GOD knows someone’s love is real. The trials and temptations allowed to come our way are windows of opportunities for GOD to test whether our love can be trusted. Or, is it just smoke and mirrors?

Abraham and Jesus were thoroughly tested, so why not everyone who says they trust and believe GOD?[10] 

Abraham had the ability to hear GOD in silence. When he heard his name being called, he responded “Hineini,” Hebrew for “Here I am.” The same response spoken by Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Samuel and Ananias when each heard their name being called, signifying their availability, readiness and willingness to obey. When GOD commands Abraham to take his only son to a certain place and offer him up as a burnt offering, Abraham takes Isaac and goes to the place where GOD told him to go, builds an altar made of wood, ties Isaac up and lays him on top of the altar. Holding a torch in one hand and a knife in the other, Abraham raises the weapon to plunge it into Isaac, but stops when he hears a voice call out from heaven telling him not to harm his son.[11]

Deniers indignant on Abraham’s behalf have used this story to paint GOD as cruel and self-centered, asking what kind of loving god would command someone to sacrifice their own child to prove their devotion and love. From a human perspective, the question makes absolute and perfect sense. From the divine viewpoint, for GOD to issue a heart-wrenching and traumatizing command to gauge the depth, width and height of Abraham’s love and devotion also makes absolute and perfect sense. This degree of testing happens to all individuals who are being prepared for GOD’s self toward the implementation of GOD’s Plan of Salvation and process of Atonement through the Resurrection, the reconciliation of GOD and humankind through Jesus of Nazareth. GOD needed to know with certainty that Abraham be depended on to answer when GOD called him, that he in deed as well as word really did love GOD with his whole heart and soul and would follow a command without defying GOD, the reason why Moses and Aaron were not permitted to enter into the Promised Land. In effect, the Creator was testing the state of Abraham’s heart.[12]

Those who imagine my Jesus on His knees praying serenely to GOD should be aware that He also had something to say about obedience and faith. He told His followers that our enemies would be found within our own households, and that if we loved family members more than we loved Him, or if we were not willing to bear our own cross and sweat blood ourselves, we did not deserve to be a part of Him, even questioning whether faith itself would be found on Earth the day He returned to collect the keepers of the faith.[13] 

When GOD saw that Abraham was willing to sacrifice that which was most dear to him in all the world, his only son, I believe GOD was moved to divine tears, and that Abraham was on GOD’s mind when it came time to offer up that which was most dear to GOD. But long before the cross was lifted up, beginning with the nation of Israel and Jerusalem in particular, the argument that GOD is not loving, merciful, forgiving and kind began to fall apart.^[14]

During a day of visitation to Israel, GOD took notice that Jerusalem was helpless and struggling to survive, like a newborn baby covered in blood still attached to its mother by the umbilical cord, and GOD commanded Jerusalem to “Live! Live!”^[15]

The next time GOD passed by, Jerusalem was alive and multiplying in the land, but its spiritual condition was that of nakedness. The people were spiritually poor and unprotected, living a shallow, surface-level religious existence separate and apart from GOD, more concerned about material possessions, social status and outward appearances than with being a trustworthy, honorable and faithful people.^[16]

GOD responds to Jerusalem’s condition not by judging or condemning but by lifting up one corner of a holy garment and gently draping it over them, covering their nakedness. As tree leaves covered the nakedness of the first disobedient humans and even larger leaves appeared out of nowhere to cover Jonah with shade, who was mightily exasperated and displeased with the goodness of GOD. Jonah felt GOD should just wipe the people of Ninevah off the face of the Earth because they were not worth the trouble anymore, but GOD’s nature is to do good to others. After covering Jerusalem’s nakedness, GOD made a vow and entered into a Covenant with them and snap—just like that—Israel became the people of GOD. To be clear, Israel became the people of GOD not because they deserved the honor or because they tried—as in tried to do right and do good and so on—but because when GOD saw the weakness of the nation it won favor in GOD’s sight, and grace, mercy and compassion were extended to them as the king extended his golden scepter to Esther.[17]

The relationship worked well until Israel made light of GOD’s vow and broke the Covenant. Adding insult to injury, the nation asked for a king other than GOD to rule over them and set out to make a name for itself, doing to other nations what had been done to them, which is not what GOD had in mind at all. Putting the Creator in the position of having to address the question of whether anyone can break a covenant and escape the consequences of that decision, to which the Righteousness of GOD was obliged to answer “No,” the consequence being that Israel would be dealt with as it had done. GOD then created a new Covenant, one that would include not only Israel but people from all the nations, Jew and Gentile alike.[18]  

In due time GOD called out again, and the WORD became flesh, and my Jesus was born. He, too, had the ability to hear GOD in silence, and when He heard GOD call His name He answered, “I am here, Father.”[19]

Other than causing His parents a few days of worry and once letting His righteous anger get the better of Him, the Bible says that Jesus was in every way obedient to GOD, and their closeness, their oneness, is quite audible throughout the New Testament Gospels, but Jesus’ life was brief. At the end of it, He found Himself kneeling in a garden with His arms stretched open wide, praying with all His heart, mind, soul and strength for GOD to spare Him from the suffering to come. Luke writes that as He prayed, Jesus was sweating blood, a rare condition called hematidrosis, caused by extremely high blood pressure, an indication of how intense His level of stress was. It also confirms that Jesus was truly flesh and blood, human like you and me, which some people have denied.^[20]

The Son of GOD experienced unimaginable suffering as He died on His cross. Severe blood loss, dislocated elbows and shoulders, nerve damage, organ failure and slow suffocation. It was a brutal death, and after He was dead, Jesus’ body was mutilated by a soldier’s spear. The Bible tells us Jesus spoke several final words, but nothing captures His pain as the thought that GOD had abandoned Him, a pain many people have felt. What I believe is that when Jesus was at His weakest, His mind delirious from pain, the Tempter chose that moment as the opportune moment to return, and that in one final, desperate attempt to separate Jesus from His Father, it whispered into Jesus’ ear, “Your Father has forsaken you.”[21] 

The Tempter’s lie was exposed three days later when GOD resurrected Jesus from the dead, as my Jesus said and believed would happen. For being faithful and obedient, GOD released into His hand the sealed scroll containing the end time details of GOD’s plan of salvation, information which could not be allowed to fall into the Enemy’s hands.^[22]

If I was bound and determined to point out the essential difference between those who love GOD and those who do not, I would say it has to do with a heart willing to live in obedience to GOD—or not. The good news is, being free means a person who does not love GOD right now still has time to change their mind. Dryness does not have to be a permanent condition.[23]

The cross, as a word, is a symbol of a symbol. It represents not only how far GOD was willing to go to save and reconcile with even just one person, it is a billboard of sorts broadcasting to the people of Earth that the Divine-human salvation story is not theoretical, and a visual reminder to those covered by the blood of Jesus that each of us has work to do, our own cross to carry.[24]

If a misinformed person has told you the Divine-human story is complete without you, that everything written in the Bible is all that will ever be, I would respectfully submit that some of the details of the story are still awaiting your response. I can also say with confidence that when GOD becomes the anchor of your soul, peace will find its way to you, and when my Jesus becomes your Friend, too, eternity will not seem so very far away anymore.[25]

GOD bless you.

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[1] Psalm 119:113: Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13.

[2] Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 3:7; Psalm 23:1, 46:1-11; Isaiah 41:10, 54:17; Jeremiah 29:11-13; Nahum 1:7; Haggai 1:12-13; Matthew 14:28-31; Romans 8:28.

[3] Genesis 1:26, 2:9,15-17; Deuteronomy 30:19; Joshua 24:14-15; Psalm 119:30, 173, 139:23-24; Isaiah 1:2; Matthew 7:13-14; John 1:12; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Revelation 3:20.

[4] https://theconversation.com/ive-studied-maga-rhetoric-for-a-decade-and-this-is-what-i-see-in-hegseths-boasts-action-movie-one-liners-and-gloating-over-dominance-277731; https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/03/12/congress/housing-affordability-bill-senate-vote-00824598; https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/16/trump-neal-dunn-terminal-illness/.

[5] Revelation 13:5-8, 11, 15-17.

[6] John 14:27-31; Philippians 4:4-7; Revelation 14:6-12.

[7] 1 Kings 6:11-13; Matthew 10:13, 33; John 8:31-32, 9:31, 15:7, 10, 14; Philippians 4:4-7; James 4:8-10.

[8] Matthew 12:34-37; Luke 6:45.

[9] John 7:39, 13:31, 14:15-31, 15:26, 16:7-11; Romans 8:26-27; Revelation 1:4, 4:5, 5:6, 22:17.

[10] Genesis 1:26-27; Exodus 19:5, 23:22; Deuteronomy 5:28-33, 11:26-28, 13:4, 28:1-2; Joshua 1:8, 5:6; Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46-49; John 14:15, 23-24; James 1:22-25; 1 John 3:19-24; 2 John 1:6.

[11] Genesis 22:1-14 31:11; Exodus, 3:4; 1 Samuel 3:4; Acts 9:10.

[12] Genesis 17:1-5; Exodus, 20:3; [Numbers 20:2, 7-12, 27:1-11, 36:1-3, 5-9—Moses’ disobedience]; Deuteronomy 8:11, 13:1-3, 32:48-51; 1 Samuel 16:6-7; 2 Chronicles 32:31; Psalm 26:1-3, 34:18 95:7-8; Matthew 22:34-37; Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 3:17-18.

[13] Matthew 10:37-38; Luke 18:8b (1-8); John 14:15, 15:9-10; Revelation 14: 1-16.

[14] Genesis 15:1-6, 17:1-8; John 12:32-33.

[15] Exodus 4:31; Ezekiel 16:1-6; Luke 19:44 (Jesus grieves for Jerusalem, that it did not recognize the time of its visitation).

[16] Ezekiel 16:8; Hebrews 4:11-13; Revelation 3:17.

[17] Esther 5:2-3; Ezekiel 16:8-9.

[18] Genesis 3:7; Exodus 33:19; Deuteronomy 7:6-11; Psalm 106:1; Isaiah 55:3; Ezekiel 16:59-63, 17:11-19; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Jonah 1:1, 3:1-5, 10-4:1, 5-6; Matthew 26:27-28; Luke 22:20; Romans 9:14-18; Hebrews 8:8-12; James 1:17; 1 John 4:7-10.

[19] Luke 2:49; John 1:1-5, 14, 10:27-30.

[20] Mark 11:15-18; Luke 2:41-52, 22:41-45; John 2:13-17; 2 John 1:7.

[21] Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13, 15:33-34; Luke 4:1-13 (“…until an opportune time.”); John 19:31-34; https://www.apu.edu/articles/the-science-of-the-crucifixion/.

[22] Isaiah 11:1; Hosea 6:2; Matthew 4:1-11, 16:21, 17:22-23, 20:17-18; Mark 8:31, 9:30-32, 10:33-34, 15:34; Luke 4:13, 9:21-22, 18:31-34, 22:44; John 8:43-44, 10:10, 12:27-32, 16:19-22; Revelation 5:6-10.

[23] Ezekiel 37:1-6.

[24] Matthew 18:10-14; Luke 15:3-7, 19:9-10.

[25] Ezekiel 37:1-4.