I Want to Burn a Bible!!

This will probably be one of my most shocking blogs ever, but I think I want to burn a Bible. Dead serious!!

This week there's a pastor down in Florida named Terry Jones. His whole thing is this September 11th his church is going to burn a Koran.

This has alot of people in an uproar, & with good cause. What this "pastor" & his church (The Dove World Outreach Center) is doing could cause problems for our troops overseas as well as possibly provoking a terrorist attack. Nobody wants that.

And it's not just our soldiers who's lives are at stake here. It's also our missionaries overseas, who many are based in Muslim countries. They are the ones who are going to bear the brunt of any backlash that may come out of this.

A Christian burning a Koran isn't really radical, which is what I believe this "pastor" is going for. He wants to send radical Islam a radical message, which is only going to cause radical Islam to become more radical.

If this "pastor" really wanted to do something radical then he should have had his church burn Bibles. Now THAT would be radical! A Christian burning a Bible!!

That's the reason I want to burn a Bible. It's radical & it would send a message to the Muslim world that's just as radical, if not more.

The Word of my God is so much more than just ink & paper in a book. It's in my heart. It burns within me. Like the prophet Jeremiah said, "But if I say I'll never mention the Lord or speak in His name, His word burns within my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can't do it!" (Jeremiah 20:9). So, setting a Bible on fire means nothing to me, because it's already burning deep down inside of me. As a matter of fact give me a Bible & a match so I can show you what goes on inside of my heart each & every day.



The Word of my God was proven once by fire before. You can read it in I Kings 18:1-40. Two alters were set up. Two bulls were slaughtered. The 450 prophet of Baal called upon Baal to send fire from the sky, which never happened. Then Elijah had a trench dug around his alter, had 4 barrels of water filled up, poured over his sacrifice, his alter. So much so that the trench was flooded. Said a prayer, then PRESTO!! Fire came down from Heaven, consumed Elijah's alter, his sacrifice, and all the water, but it also consumed the alter & sacrifice of the 450 prophets of Baal.

Since I know that my God's Word has been proven by fire before, I have nothing to fear by burning my Holy book. I can burn my Holy book & my God will forgive me. He won't consume me for it.Try burning your holy book & according to your teachings Allah will send you to hell, but not before your own people put your through it before you get there.

See, my God's Word is all about love. It's about sacrifice. It's about laying down one's life so that someone else can live. Jesus Christ embodied that. That's why John 1 says that He is the Word of God made flesh. He sacrificed His life for our sins so that we can live life eternally with Him. He died for us - that is sacrificial love, & that is what my God is all about.

And I am willing to prove that to you as a demonstration of my God's love by burning a Holy Bible. I risk being rejected & persecuted by my own people for it. My own family would probably disown me because of it. It doesn't matter. I know my God would not destroy me for it like yours would. My God loves me, & my God loves you. I would risk it all just to prove that to you.

And that's the radical message that I want to send to you by burning my Bible: that my God loves you & that He will forgive you. There's nothing that you can do that would ever seperate you from my God's love (Romans 8:39), including burning His Holy book.

I really don't think that you could say the same thing about Allah.

Behind the Music: Someone's Girl

Right now in my life it seems like more people know me for being a comedian than a serious song writer. It would probably surprise some people to know that in the last 10 years I've written over 40 songs.

Today at work I was thinking about new ways to minister. For some reason I started thinking about those VH1 shows, "Storytellers" & "Behind the Music." I started thinking about my music, & the stories behind each & everyone of the songs.

This songs on their own can minister to alot of people. But if I talk about them in greater detail then they could say a whole lot more.

So, here we go!! Here's the first song in my new Behind the Music series of blogs, called "Someone's Girl."

I wrote this song back in 2009, but emotionally it was birthed at a Christmas party back in 2008.

My wife, Crystal, & I were having a Christmas party for our youth group at church. Everyone was having an awesome time playing games, eating candy. In the middle of it all I had the group sit down. There was 17 kids there, between the ages of 13 to 18 years old, both boys & girls.

As they all sat down, I opened up my Bible & I started reading to them about Joseph. We read how Joseph found out Mary was pregnant, & how he wasn't the real dad of the baby that she was pregnant with. He was going to have her put to death privately, but an angel appeared to him in a dream & told him that the baby that Mary was carrying was the Son of God.

Joseph didn't have her put to death, but instead took her as his wife & raised the child as his own. That baby was Jesus.

As I was telling this story, my eyes kept going back & forth across the room, looking into the eyes of all 17 of these kids. As I looked into their eyes I realized that each & every one of these kids came from a broken home, where there biological dad wasn't in the picture. If he was then he was in & out. And none of these kids' biological dads were Godly men.

I couldn't hold back my tears. Realizing that every single one of these kids were really without a father, it broke my heart!! It was like their dads did not want them. Here I am, unable to have kids of my own!!

It wasn't too long after this revelation that I began seeing more clearly how each of these kids suffered with issues such as rejection, abandonment, lonelyness, fear, anger, bitterness, depression, & fear. It was especially noticeable in the lives of the girls, who tend to wear their emotions on their sleeves a little bit more than the guys do.

There were 2 girls in the youth group who just seemed to torture themselves trying to get their biological dad's attention. He's the type who's constantly bouncing in & out of their lives. He's never taken a real interest in them. Pretty much he doesn't want anything to do with them.

What I wouldn't give to have 2 amazing daughters like that.

So, out of that this song was birthed.





When I play this song live I always dedicate it to dead-beat dads. Jesus said this in Mark 9:42

"And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea."

Dead-beat dads commit offenses to their children when they aren't there. They offend the children mentally, emotionally, & most of all spiritually.

A man is supposed to be the high priest of the home. He's supposed to be there to lead & instruct his children. He's supposed to be there to pray over his kids & to council with them. He's supposed to be a Godly example for the children to follow.

I have a father's heart, & I wish that I could have lots of children. I have a 15 year old stepson. His biological dad has never been in his life. I gladly stepped into that role, & I am very proud of the man of God that my son is becoming.

James 1:27 says this:

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

No, these kids aren't orphaned. But to many of them their biological dad might as well be dead. They need father figures. Most of them are already in some sort of distress & they need a father's wisdom, a father's correction, a father's discipline, a father's hug, and most of all a father's love.

A Question About God & Lucifer

There's been a few times in the past I've been asked this question:

"If God knew that Lucifer was going to fall, why didn't He stop him?"

That's really a good question!! It seems like if God would have stopped Lucifer there wouldn't be any sin in this world, nor death, destruction, hunger, disease. We would be perfect little people living in a perfect little world.

To many people it doesn't seem logical that God would allow Lucifer to fall or rebel knowing what kind of effect that it would have on all of Creation. You hear it asked all the time: "If God is all knowing & if God is so loving, then why would he allow this bad stuff to happen?"

See, God has a plan. You're apart of it. I'm apart of it. Even Lucifer, himself, is apart of it. There is a reason & a purpose for everything. God is not a God of accidents. He doesn't make mistakes. We all play a small part in a greater plan. Perhaps I'll cover why God allows bad things to happen in another blog.

God knew that this was going to happen long before it did happen. Isaiah 46:10 says that "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." (NIV)

God knew not only that Lucifer was going to rebel & fall, but He also knew what effect it would have on the rest of Creation. So, why didn't He stop him?

I John 3:4 says that "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." (KJV)

In order to sin you first have to transgress the law. Transgressing the law is sin. In other words God doesn't charge someone with conspiracy to sin. The law has to be broken before charges can be made.

Paul writes in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. In the 18th chapter of Ezekiel verse 20 we read that each soul that sins must die.

The price to pay for sin is always death. That's how serious God is when it comes to sin. He doesn't mess around.

So when it came to Lucifer's rebellion, God couldn't condemn Lucifer to death on a conspiracy charge. Lucifer had to commit an act of treason. He had to transgress the law.

In Exodus 20 we read where God gave Moses the 10 commandments. In verse 16 we read one of those commandments, which is "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." In other words, if you believe that your neighbor is stealing your tomatoes out of your garden then you better have proof!

In order to first bear false witness, there has to be a crime take place. Since Lucifer had not yet committed a crime, there was no way that God could act justly. God knowing full well what Lucifer was going to do could have accused Lucifer of conspiracy, rebellion, treason, etc. That would have been bearing false witness because Lucifer had yet to act. Remember, in order to bear false witness against someone there first has to be a violation of law committed!!

If God would have acted preemptively, He would be accusing Lucifer of a crime that he had not committed, which is bearing false witness. If you bear false witness then you transgress the law. Transgression of the law is sin. The wages of sin is death. God would have sinned, therefore, God would have to die according to His own law.

Likewise, if God was to condemn Lucifer to death for a crime that he did not commit, then that would be murder, which is also one of God's 10 commandments. God, once again, would have transgressed His own law, which is sin. The wages of sin is death. God would have to die.

Could you imagine a world without God in it? Thankful God let Lucifer go. He knew it was going to happen all along. He wasn't shocked or surprised when it happened. He was expecting it.

That's why He sent Jesus to earth to die for our sins. It was apart of His plan all along to reconcile man back to Himself after man's fall.

As far as Lucifer, his day is coming. He will get his. Revelation 20:10 says, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire & brimstone, where the beast & the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day & night forever & ever."

Here's some questions to think about: If God would have done that where do you think we'd be today? What would this world be like? Would we be under Lucifer's rule? Would this change who Jesus is?