Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

I am back from blog vacation! I confess, after many years of blogging weekly, I didn't miss it. It gave me time to think more deeply about new topics, and rethink some old ones... my newest topic has been grace and I am actually teaching and online Bible study on Facebook entitled "The School of Grace", feel free to join me for 8 weeks. I really hate legalism, wooden literal-ism, liberalism and super-intellectuals when it comes to Bible. I am serious, I have listened to so much "educated" mumbo-jumbo in 35 years I don't know where to start! To top it off I have heard 102,834,727,237,283 people say "I think", followed by a comment that you could't come close to making up with even the most liberal interpretation of the scriptures Therefore; today, I am going to take a look at how Jesus, Peter and Paul interpreted the Torah. It is quite enlightening when you really look into it. Here is an example of Jesus interpreting the Scriptures : Ma...

Even though I’m completely responsible for this weeks Kingdom Blogger theme, this was one of my most difficult weeks. Not because I didn’t have anything to say…the problem was picking just a single movie/television show to focus on and dissect. Those who know me (or regularly read Tony C Today) are already rolling their eyes and waiting for the Lonesome Dove or The Godfather breakdown. Sorry, Not today. While I often spew quotes from either movie like idioms on commitment to family and friends, I want to go with another one of my favorite classics… The Shawshank Redemption Has it been done before? Probably. Is it a tad overt? Maybe. But, the scene in the picture here alone warrants a closer look at how a prison movie can depict Christian values/themes. The main character, Andy Dufresne, is as Job-like of a character as you will find in modern-day cinema. Convicted for a crime he didn’t commit, Andy is sent to his own person hell at Shawshank prison....

I am eventually going to be teaching at the The School of Grace . It is an awesome opportunity, and a good chance for me to dig into my own understanding of grace. This is one area where I have relied on the teaching of others, and now it is time to go deeper. Even if I don't actually teach on this, grace is part of the freedom I possess by faith. I don't like to get too Bible about all this, but this is the central truth of the message of grace, and about who we are in Christ. 1 Corinthians 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not countin...

Last Friday I wrote about grace and mercy . Today I want to write about grace from a little different perspective. I have a friend that said: :Mercy is not getting what we deserve, and grace is getting what we don't deserve; I'll take both." I like that, but it still makes grace a verb, when the work of Jesus Christ is really a know. How can that be? Well, John said that God is love, and I would submit to you that he is also grace. His person is pure grace, pure love, and pure peace. When we connect with the love of God by faith, we become capable of being his love to others. It is the same with grace and peace. We don't extend anyone unmerited favor, we allow the person of Christ to work through us. As we release the Spirit, the new man becomes Jesus to those in our lives; in fact we are meant to be overflowing with it! Here is how I got there. Jesus was 100% man, while he was 100% God; it is possible for God to be many things at one time...

The first time I heard about grace, it was one of those silly acronyms used in a teaching. It worked, I still remember it after 30+ years. GRACE = G od's R iches A t C hrist's E xpense. It was meant to remind me of the work that was done on the cross for David, and to remind me that salvation is a free gift that I received by faith in that work. At the time it was a sobering message for a selfish sinner. I guess some how I thought that I found Jesus, when the truth was he mugged me at  conference. Like many other things in the church, the message of grace has been abused in the church. It's been that way for a long time. Grace is the love of God poured out on those that do not deserve it: murderers, rapists, child molesters, gays and even Democrats and Wall Street Execs. See, I told you it was a sobering message! Some times it is confused with mercy, which is given to those whose hearts will receive it. In the Old Testament, grace is not mentioned ...

I am sitting here in my office, and not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse, or the noisy chihuahuas; not even the 7-year-old. In my spirit I am as excited as a kid on Christmas eve. I don't even know what God is doing quite yet (I usually get the memo about the time it is happening). So what is going on? Well, the Spirit of God is beginning to move in our region. Some of the things that I have brooded over, prayed about, and had vision for are on the precipice. How do I know? Well, my spirit is raging. Emotionally  life is just the same old, same old.I am working part time, exercising and recovering from a heart trauma. It it has taken a physical and financial toll, but the Kingdom of God is where I live. There is a saying: some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good, others are so earthly minded that they are no heavenly good. it is meant to point out the balance between living here, and living t...

For those that know me, I am pretty politically involved. God gave me a country, a vote, and a spirit that is co-mingled with His to help me be discerning, have love, wisdom and compassion for my fellow man. I ask you from the very beginning of this blog, how will the government ever be more godly unless Christians get involved? I have often thought about running for an office. I even received a donation once, as well as encouragement from others to in fact run. I am still thinking about it. We have so many important issues facing us here in the USA, that I would like to get in there and represent the people of my state in some capacity. Because I care about solutions, I have a hard time with party politics! Today, if I were running for the Congress, here are my top issues with some simple solutions. (Sure they can be complex, but a broad view often helps put an outline to the solution.) -1 Taxes, Social Security and Medicare: I think that every one n...

I have been writing Fire & Grace for many years; in fact this is my 600th post. in that time I have only had one guest blogger. (Well, I had some on my 500th Blog-a-versary). As I am recovering from all this heart stuff - actually I am feeling pretty good - I need some time to spend on other things. Therefore, I am inviting you to do a guest post. Yup, that's right. I'd like to feature them once a week, maybe twice of they are really good. They can be fun, testimonies, teaching in nature, or politics. Just leave a comment with a way to contact you. (Comments are moderated, so I don't have to post them!) The Bible is a good book, don't you think? Or, maybe you don't, and think Ex-Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards is a saint. It doesn't matter. The fact that this very blog might be about the Bible may already have you thinking "I'm bored," or "religion is not for me." If it was my kid listening to this, she might slip in one ea...

The End of the Block I am up at 5:45 every morning. I head on downstairs, switch on the PC in the office, make my way to the kitchen for my daily cup-o-joe, let the dogs out while it brews, and head back to the keyboard to check my email, Facebook, log my blood pressure, and get ready to run a few miles. It is the same all the time; my formula for getting the day started. It's pretty rigid, and very religious. It is sort of like church every day; predictable, ordered and well, routine. Having suffered a major heart trauma in April , I am not only grateful for the simple things, such as not being in the hospital, that I could not go back to work unless I had my life in better order. Although I was  exercising regularly , I wasn't as serious about it as I am now. I like to run outside as often as I can. We did get 88" of snow this past year, so the gym is a good option during the winter months and the treadmills are wide enough for snowshoes. As spring became summ...