Tag: Roman Catholic

WHAT IS GRACE?

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WHAT IS GRACE?

By Rick Mathes

The simple answer to this question is, “unmerited favor.” But what does grace do? That was my question all through Roman Catholic grade and high schools. I finally have come to this conclusion:

The effect is not the cause of the effect; the cause is.

Works is not the cause of works; grace is.

That is as succinct as I can word it. So I am going to consider that you understand that and move on to some of the effects (works) of His Grace.

I thank God every day that the police don’t know all the crime that I have committed. If they did, I would be in prison for a long, long time. I have a full pardon now and I will be eternally grateful to our Lord’s grace that enables me to devote my life to His works.

  • Bible Only
  • Jesus Only
  • Grace Only
  • Faith Only

It blesses my heart to wave through my rear-view mirror at police putting a “make” on my plate’s numbers. The car is legally mine, the insurance card is real, I didn’t buy my driver’s license in California, I didn’t have a gun in the glove-box, no cocaine in the trunk and no pregnant girlfriends! I am clean and free!

Every time I am confronted with a sin I rebuke it and like a whipped puppy it puts its tail between its legs and crawls off in a hurry. I prefer to take on the big sins first because I know that if I whip Goliath the Philistines (lesser sins) will run like scared rabbits. Grace strengthens me.

One of my favorite verses is, “Though I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Notice we walk “in the shadow of death” not in the darkness of death because we are walking in the Light. By grace we are saved, not by works lest we should brag or boast.

Hope is before you by grace as you have never known it if you will only take the first step, He will take the rest of them with you. He quickens the spark of life in you to into a bonfire of love and desire to exemplify Him. When people get to know you do they get to know Him?

You will be astonished at the changes in your as God begins, by grace, the process of restoring you to your first nature in His Image and Likeness walking with Him in the cool of the evening.

LESS THAN A MAN

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LESS THAN A MAN

By Rick Mathes

The penitentiary mess hall was tidy but colorless and institutional; that is, void of any warmth or contrasts. Barred windows and sulky workers. Inmates shuffling past counters of tasteless, stench-filled food that fell barely within government nutritional guidelines of minimum vitamins. I suffered through lunch in the Officer’s quarters and was astonished at how they managed to eat this unappetizing menu with such relish and enthusiasm. I had lost my appetite for this torture when I was informed that the green baby lima beans were really creamed corn! And a fish head was floating around and looking up at me from the sea-food soup! It was a blessing to escape from this noxious event and begin the lengthy walk to the Chapel. An unpretentious Asian guard or as they prefer to be addressed, Correctional Officer or C.O. for short, began escorting me out of the cafeteria into the dimly lit hallway, down some metal steps and then through a labyrinth of twisting and turning, often loud catwalks past bad-tempered prisoners on lock-down.

In one particular corridor, our gait has hasty but my eyes were drawn to the darkened prison cells in a blurred kaleidoscope of unshaven faces and slumped or sleeping bodies. All at once I stopped in my tracks and turned back to the cell I had just passed by. I had seen an attractive woman stretched out on the bunk in a very alluring pose!

Now wait a minute, wasn’t this an all male maximum security prison? What was a seductive woman doing here? I had turned so abruptly that the Officer did not think to respond before I looked again into this cell to ascertain that it wasn’t a female but rather a transvestite with long silky hair, a smooth shapely body and very obvious breasts. Horrified is an understatement!

Our eyes met in an uneasy brotherhood as I asked, “Would you like to receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour and be born again?” He leisurely got up and off his bunk, then glided in a seductive manner to the bars in front of which I was standing. As he drew nearer and I was able to scrutinize him more he said to me, “How can I change what I’ve done to myself.” His masculine voice startled me. I responded, “You must be born again. You need to change on the inside first and that begins with permitting Jesus to be your Lord. He is the God of miracles and you will become a walking trophy of His grace if only you will become willing and believe.” He looked me in the eyes and whispered, “I want to do that very dearly,” and began to sob uncontrollably.

We slipped to our knees right there on the cold concrete and tenderly held hands through the bars. A woman with man’s hands asking God for a spiritual healing. We prayed a heart-felt prayer and he sincerely asked that he would be delivered from homosexuality and become the man that God had created him to be. Just then the C.O. took my arm securely and said sharply, “We have to keep moving.”

I learned months later that he was severely beaten by his “husband” and repeatedly raped by homosexual “gang-bangers.” The prison administrators had learned of a contract on his life so they transferred him to a single cell in protective custody. The last word I received is that he is remaining steadfast in the Word of God and his family has raised the money for cosmetic surgery to physically reconstruct his manliness.