"LET'S MAKE A DEAL"

“...remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive” (from Acts 20:35)

I’m writing this before 10 a.m. on Christmas Day so there’s still a long way to go today. (I know the posting time indicates much earlier but THAT’S on Pacific time!) We just opened our immediate family gifts. To use the famous line, so far “I made out like a bandit” with some nice clothes, CDs, DVDs, books, etc.

I just HAD to tell you about my 23-year-old daugher Rachel’s creative gift. She handed me a large Christmassy bag filled with decorative paper and newsprint. (t was wrapped in white ribbon. A sign was taped to the ribbon which said, “To Dad: Let’s Make A Deal”. Once I dug my way through the paper there was a converted shoebox. It was all decorated in wrapping paper. The top had 3 “doors” colored in gold that she had created. They were labeled “Door 1” “Door 2” and “Door 3”. I had to choose the Door and that was my gift. I chose “Door 2” which WAS the best one to choose. It contained $30 in one dollar bills!

I then opened the other 2 doors. Door number 1 was a box of “Cheese Its” snack crackers. Door number 3 was a roll of Scotch transparent tape!

Wasn’t that clever?! I think I had more fun with that than anything else this morning.

Sometimes when I’m preaching evangelistically, I explain that when I was growing up in the Catholic Church back in the 1960s, I was told that my works in this life would determine where I would spend eternity. I was also told that I would not find out if I would end up in Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory until I DIED. (In traditional Catholicism, Purgatory is “like Hell” ---no swearing intended, there--- but it is TEMPORARY.) I always thought that was kind of a lousy DEAL. I thought I’d be really miffed if I died and found out I was going to Hell....and even Purgatory sounded pretty lousy. I knew really good people like Mother Teresa went to Heaven, but I knew I wasn’t “really good”.

The reason I JUMPED ON the Billy Graham/Evangelical Protestant message of “receive Jesus Christ as your Personal Savior and be guaranteed a place in Heaven when you die” is that it sounded a LOT better than the Catholic version of eternity. This coming Summer will mark 40 years since I made my “decision for Christ” and let me tell you, it IS a great deal!

Merry Christmas!

SHORT, SWEET, SACRED, AND SPECIAL CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE!

I just want everybody who is from the Framingham and MetroWest areas to know that
you are invited to a special and sacred (and relatively short)

Christmas Eve Service, Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 6:30 P.M.

This service is expected to conclude by 7:30 P.M.

Please remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

We'd LOVE to have you in attendance with us on Christmas Eve!

Please feel free to let friends and family know about this service!

Our church, FIRST ASSEMBLY OF GOD OF FRAMINGHAM is located at 32 South Street (off Route 135)
in Downtown Framingham


church website: www.agframingham.org

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A NO BRAINER

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:28)

Some weeks ago now Framingham Selectman Dennis Giombetti was in front of me at the checkout line in Framingham’s Staples store. I greeted him and told him I sometimes watch the Framingham Selectmen’s meetings on local cable. He looked at me incredulous and replied, “You watch THAT! You need to get a life!” Well, about the only thing geekier than watching a Framingham’s Selectmen’s meeting is watching a Framingham Planning Board meeting, and I’m known to do that, too! In fact, I watched quite a bit of Thursday night’s Planning Board meeting.

I stuck with it because I was interested that several representatives of the McDonald’s Corporation were before the Planning Board to discuss a planned extensive rebuilding and upgrading of the McDonald’s located at Route 30 and Caldor Road in Framingham. I believe that was the first McDonald’s in Framingham. It’s corporately owned and not a franchised location (like Route 126 in Ashland, for instance). If my friend D.C.M. is reading this he’s laughing his head off because 25 years ago or more I used to buy a lot of my lunches at McDonald’s. Today, I’m most likely to buy a breakfast a McDonald’s. (The Green Mountain coffee they sell exclusively in New England is better than D.D.!)
The drive thru and parking configuration at the Route 30 McDonald’s is a mess. One reason for that is around 20 years ago, the state reconstructed Route 30 in that part of Town and made it a divided highway. At that time, McDonald’s had to reconfigure its drive thru and parking into a very convoluted pattern it still uses today.

McDonald’s plans to gut that building and reconstruct it, adding a play area, and making it look more like their most modern restaurants. They also plan to greatly improve the parking and drive thru. I want to word what I’m about to say about the Planning Board carefully. I often disagree with the Planning Board, but I DO want to stress that they’re all very intelligent and hard working people. That goes especially for the current Planning Board Chair, Ms. Carol Spack, who has got to be the most intelligent and classy person currently working in Framingham government. I guess the problem with the Planning Board, and some of the Selectmen, for that matter, is they get caught up in nit picky government bureaucracy and idealism and can be very unfriendly and frustrating to local businesses. (Remember, for example, the piece I wrote about the Framingham Sign By-Law a few weeks ago?!) Amazingly, the Framingham Planning Board (mostly) DIDN’T like McDonald’s plans! They wanted a parking lot and drive thru which would NOT pose ANY danger or ANY inconvenience to ANY pedestrian! The McDonald’s folks tried to tell them that’s totally unrealistic but they didn’t care. The Planning Board also would like McDonald’s to move their building to the back far corner of their property, as far from the streets as possible. The McDonald’s folks stressed the importance of VISIBILITY for impulse buyers. I’m not sure if the Planning Board “bought” that one. I frankly don’t think the Planning Board (with the exception of legal advisor Jay Grande) is even particularly crazy about them HAVING a drive thru! (I think it was also the Planning Board that made Dunkin Donuts on Route 9 East near the Southboro line spell drive thru as “DRIVE THROUGH” on their sign!)

In my humble opinion, one of the McDonald’s representatives made a BIG mistake. She talked about the millions of dollars McDonald’s wants to spend to improve this site and that to make it financially worthwhile, they intend to do everything they can to increase the sales volume at that restaurant by 30-40%. When she made that statement, I almost thought a couple of Planning Board members were going to faint!

“30 or 40 PERCENT!” One exclaimed, “Has a TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDY been done on that area to show the impact of that?!”

Oh boy, I thought. At best, McDonald’s just delayed their project by a year. At worst, they killed their project. The expansion and improvement of McDonald’s at Route 30 and Caldor Road Framingham is a win-win for McDonald’s and for Framingham. The approval SHOULD be a no brainer. Now, what will really happen. Should I send out for a Big Mac while we wait?

QUINCY

“Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” (Matthew 26:52)

What’s being called an extreme case of road rage took place just before 1 a.m. last Sunday on Commander Shea Boulevard in Quincy. As 30-year-old Milton firefighter Joseph Fasano and his girlfriend drove along, a man driving a gray Porsche kept cutting in front of Fasano’s vehicle and jamming on the brakes, forcing Fasano to jam on his brakes. At one point, Fasano got out of his vehicle intending to confront the sports car driver and was shot by him. Fasano has been hospitalized since then, initially in very serious condition. A couple of days later, Robert O’Connell, 40, of Quincy turned himself in to Quincy Police (with his attorney present). He is being charged with armed assault with intent to murder.

My last posting was entitled “The Kid in Taunton” and I almost called this one, “The Guy in Quincy”, but then I settled for “Quincy”. When you get into your car and proceed to go ANYWHERE you need to be “prayed up”. No kidding. This road rage incident proves anything can happen anywhere. I can understand Fasano’s anger and frustration, but he probably made a big mistake getting out of his vehicle. There are “nuts” everywhere. You never know when someone is going to pull a gun and shoot you, or pull a knife and stab you, or what!

It does seem like road rage incidents have gotten worse in the past few years, but they’re nothing new. I remember one time when I was a VERY little kid, our family was on the way home from a Cape Cod vacation. We were on Route 28 somewhere around the Middleboro area. One car was attempting to pass the car in front of him, and every time the car attempted to pass, the car that was about to BE passed moved over into the left to block the passing car! It was a very dangerous maneuver. I’d guess my father probably took the license plate number on the car and followed up with it later. He could do a lot of things as a Registry of Motor Vehicles officer that a lot of us WISH we could have done!

In the middle 1970s when my father was on his way to work as a Supervisor at the old RMV 100 Nashua Street, Boston headquarters, a group of young “wise guys” cut him off, laughing, swearing at him and “giving him the finger”. In those days, my father drove an orange 1974 VW Super Beetle. He was a “suit” at the time, so no longer in uniform, but he DID carry a badge and a violation book. Dad also had a large plastic shield with the Registry of Motor Vehicles name and logo on it. He pulled up beside the wise guys and began blowing his horn. They were “laughing him to scorn” to lift a Bible verse slightly out of context. Suddenly, the driver noticed the RMV shield.

“Pull it right over,” Dad ordered. He got out and showed his badge and I.D. He then instructed the driver to, “follow me to 100 Nashua Street for a hearing on our license”. I don’t know what would happen TODAY but this was around 1975 and the driver did as he was instructed. My father got a Hearing Officer and a room, and they went right into a hearing. My father insisted the driver give the exact quote of what he had to say to him and what gestures were made. The driver complied. Upon checking the computer records, the driver had a clean driving record. It was decided to NOT suspend the guy’s license, but to give him a strong lecture and scare and that’s what Dad and the Hearing Officer did. The driver left essentially “with his tail between his legs”.

It’s too bad we all don’t have the power to do that, but we don’t! I have been known to report bad driving when the vehicle has one of those “How’s My Driving?” things with a phone number. Today with everyone having cell phones, it would make sense to call the cops and report a driver’s erratic behavior. That’s probably what Fasano SHOULD have done!

Yes, it’s Christmastime, and yes, we need Jesus as never before! Getting into your car can be like walking into a mine field!

THE KID IN TAUNTON

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (I Peter 3:15)

I believe I first heard the story of a Taunton, Massachusetts 2nd grade boy being suspended from school for drawing a picture of Jesus’ crucifixion on Monday. As it has been reported, the boy who is the son of Mr. Chester Johnson of Taunton, was assigned (along with the rest of his class) to draw a picture which reminded him of Christmas or some other religious holiday. After drawing the crucifixion picture, the boy was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.

The school disputes the story saying the assignment was never given and the picture was not drawn in school. I realize there are some publicity hungry parents who will claim or do ANYTHING for publicity, money, or both (e.g. the family of “balloon boy” of Colorado a few months ago). I do find it difficult to believe the father is making this story up. I must say, when I first heard the story, it DID surprise me that upon being asked to draw a picture which reminded him of Christmas, the boy drew Jesus’ crucifixion scene. Despite the fact that I’m an Assemblies of God minister who holds to a very theologically conservative position about who Jesus is and why He came, if I were asked to think about something to do with Christmas, I wouldn’t readily think of a crucifixion scene. The boy’s father DOES offer a plausible explanation for this, however. Just a few days before the boy drew the crucifixion scene, the family had visited the holiday lights display at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro. I haven’t been to “La Salette shrine” at Christmastime in at least 6 years, but I HAVE been to their holiday lighting display many times in years past. Without a doubt, there IS a huge emphasis on Jesus’ suffering and death as part of that display. If the kid had recently been there and had it in his mind, it is understandable why he’d have drawn the crucifixion scene.

It has been reported that the school has a “no violence policy” and that this is the reason they reacted the way they did. Well, on the one hand, you can’t get much more violent than an old fashioned scourging and crucifixion. But one would HOPE that in context there would be the understanding that the crucifixion is a deeply moving event for devout Christians and not meant as a display of gratuitous violence.

It wasn’t too many decades ago that schools decorated for Christmas and Hanukkah, sang Christmas and Hanukkah songs, etc. It seems to me that made a whole lot more sense. The modern politically correct “Winter holiday” stuff is nauseating. It seems a shame that America has become SO hypersensitive to the far left and so “politically correct:” as to essentially create a scenario where events like the Taunton story...whatever actually took place there... happen.

Too bad we can’t turn the clock back 30 or 40 years to a more sane time.

Incidentally, the MetroWest Daily News has a pretty good editorial about the Taunton school event at:

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinions/editorials/x1599181361/Editorial-If-storys-true-school-out-of-line

ORAL ROBERTS

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” (Psalm 116:15)

The Rev. Granville Oral Roberts, a renowned “faith healer”, evangelist, and founder of Oral Roberts University died yesterday (December 15, 2009). Oral Roberts was the same age as Billy Graham (91). Many of you know that I was raised Roman Catholic and became a “born-again Christian” as a teenager. The person and ministry that MOST affected and impacted my early life as a Christian was Billy Graham’s but in my earliest days, the 2nd greatest impact was from Oral Roberts. In those days in the Boston area, Oral Roberts’ weekly radio program was on Sundays at 12:30 just before Billy Graham’s 1:00 “Hour of Decision” program. I used to catch each program just about every Sunday.

Oral Roberts stressed the importance of being “born again” and “having a personal experience with Jesus Christ” but unlike Graham, Oral Roberts spoke of miracles, healings and the importance of “seed faith”. One can definitely see the roots of the present faith and positive confession and prosperity movements in the teachings of Oral Roberts which go back to the 1940s and 1950s. In fact, many years ago, Kenneth Copeland, now renowned in the faith and positive confession movement, was Oral Roberts' personal pilot. I imagine Roberts had quite an impact on Copeland.

It’s interesting that in discussing his own walk with God and experiences with God, my friend the Rev. Dick Germaine recently said he was greatly impacted years ago by Oral Roberts’ statement about his experiences with God. That statement was, “I know that I know that I know that I know.” That may sound corny or weird, but as a teenager I was impacted by that same statement and I never forgot it.

The Oral Roberts radio programs COULD be kind of hokey. I remember Oral’s wife Evelyn reading the testimony letters of listeners. Her Oklahoma accent was SO strong that you could hardly understand her at times, and I’d guess some folks probably had a lot of fun doing impersonations of both of them! Oral Roberts WAS controversial. I know he was part Cherokee Indian. I know he came out of the Pentecostal Holiness Church and began holding tent crusades decades ago. My understanding is that around 35 years ago he joined the United Methodist denomination. He founded Oral Roberts University in Tulsa in 1963. The buildings of O.R.U. were designed and built in what was believed to be a “futuristic” style in the 1960s...kind of a world you’d expect the Jetsons to live in. O.R.U. is only a 3 hour drive from Springfield, Missouri. A lot of kids I went to school with at Central Bible College went down there to see it. I regret that I never did. At O.R.U. (as in many evangelical Christian schools) students were required to sign an honor code pledging not to drink, smoke, or engage in premarital sexual activities. Roberts also built a “City of Faith Medical Center” which closed in 1989. Probably his weirdest and most controversial action came in early 1987 when Oral Roberts announced to his television audience that unless he raised $8 million by that March, God would "call him home." This was mocked all over the press, although Roberts DID raise the money.

Oral Roberts had been “semiretired” for a number of years. His son, Richard Roberts, had been the President of O.R.U. for a number of years but was forced to step down in 2007 due to misappropriation of funds. I haven’t watched or listened to either in many years. Oral Roberts was a gifted speaker and an anointed man of God. He was also a flawed human being, like all of us, who made some serious errors. Even so, Oral Roberts’ ministry WAS helpful to me in my early days as a born-again believer and so in that sense I do mourn his passing.
I do respect his desire to (to use the evangelical Christian vernacular) see souls saved, people healed, and a mighty work for God accomplished.

CHRISTMAS MYTHS

“But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)

On Monday night I attended the Christmas Dinner for Assemblies of God ministers from the “Central Massachusetts Section” which was held at First Assembly of God in Worcester. The food was REALLY good and the desserts were FANTASTIC. I had lemon meringue pie for dessert which is one of my favorites.

We had nice music and fellowship and overall a very good time. Pastor Barry Risto of Winchendon was in charge on “games”. One of them was a exercise of 20 multiple choice questions about Christmas (based on what the Bible actually says). In the Assemblies of God, December is “credential renewal time” for ministers. Barry kidded that if we did badly on this quiz we could lose our credentials. Well, let’s put it this way...it’s a good thing it was just a game! We actually competed by tables. Each round table probably had around 6-8 people seated around it. Our table did “OK” but we didn’t win. One table got a perfect score, but not us! Some of the questions were pretty easy, such as one which asked which Books of the New Testament tell the story of Jesus’ birth. The answer is Matthew and Luke. Some were not as easy. One asked what an “angelic host” was. It’s actually an army of angels. Our table got that one right but some got it wrong. One question asked about angels singing at Jesus’ birth. In fact, the Bible never says the angels sang at Jesus’ birth...it only says they “SAID” this or that. Still another question asked how many angels spoke to the shepherds. Our table said “A multitude” and got it wrong. It was ONE angel. Well, Pastor Rob Woods of Marlboro insisted we were wrong about “a multitude” and Pastor Woods was proven correct! Another question asked what city Joseph came from. Our table answered “Nazareth” but the correct answer was Bethlehem. (I’m still not sure if I agree with that one.) There were also questions about the Magi. Our table knew that they were NOT kings; rather they were religious astrologers. Our table also knew that the exact number of Magi who came to see the child Jesus is not known. Tradition says it was 3 and tradition even gives them names, but that’s TRADITION and not the Bible.

If you haven’t read it lately, check out the story of Jesus’ birth in Matthew and Luke. You may be surprised at some of what it says (such as that the Magi went to the HOUSE where Jesus was; and that it nowhere says Jesus was “born in a manger”.)

Everybody answered correctly that Jesus was NOT born on December 25. I guess because we got that one right we can all remain credentialed Assemblies of God ministers!