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I'm not sure I mentioned this yet, but I really LIKE everyone here. I like the LDS. The women. The Men. The elders. The youngers. And, I gotta tell you, I really LIKE being LIKED. Just sayin'

I'm not sure I mentioned this yet, but I really LIKE everyone here. I like the LDS. The women. The Men. The elders. The youngers. And, I gotta tell you, I really LIKE being LIKED. Just sayin'

JAIL HOUSE RELIGION Some say that God must live inside the walls of prisons since so many seem to find him there. Is it really surprising that the Creator reveals himself in dark places? Both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible contain great stories of jailhouse religion. Joseph’s prison experience demonstrates that the God of the Old Testament is the same loving and faith-inspiring one found in the New Testament. Joseph was the head slave in Potiphar’s household. The master’s wife tried to seduce him, but he fled the scene. The woman claimed that Joseph tried to rape her, and her husband believed the tale. As a result, he spent approximately 10-12 years in jail—labeled as a sex-offender. Despite the injustice of it, Joseph was a model prisoner. Both his fellow inmates and the prison’s staff respected him. God gifted Joseph with the ability to interpret dreams. Despite the justified anger he might have felt towards Egypt, and its rulers, he used his gift to help Pharoah’s staff, and then the king himself. The apostle Paul, and his partner, Silas, went to prison frequently. They dared proclaim what they had seen and heard—that Jesus is risen from the dead! Their boldness led to tremendous church growth, and it angered Rome’s leaders. So, they were beaten and jailed. Like Joseph, they were model inmates. They sang praises to God late at night. Then an earthquake shook the prison, resulting in open doors. Nevertheless, Paul and Silas stayed in their places, as did all the prisoners. The head jailer was so amazed that he and his whole family converted to faith in Jesus. Why did Paul and Silas stay put? Why did Joseph use his supernatural gifts to help Egypt? These prisoners had faith. God showed himself inside those walls, so they could believe that all would end well. The results vindicated their faith. Joseph correctly predicted that a severe famine would hit Egypt, and then administered stock piling and rationing. Ultimately, he saved his own family, and his “host country” from starvation. Similarly, Paul and Silas received apologies from the magistrates, and were publicly escorted out of the jail, completely exonerated. Christians believe in life turn-arounds. We welcome those releasing back into our churches. Some have even turned from lives of crime to full-time service in gospel ministry. Why not? Adam and Eve committed the original sin, yet taught their children to sacrifice offerings to God. Moses killed a man, yet led Israel out of Egypt. King David committed adultery, lied about it, then had the woman’s husband killed. Nevertheless, God declared him a man after his own heart. In much the same way, Paul was the Christian church’s most zealous opponent, yet he becomes author of over half of the New Testament. “Jailhouse religion” is a phrase oft-spoken with cynicism. This prison chaplain enthusiastically endorses the kind of faith found during incarceration. After all, were we not all captives of our own sins and follies? Listen to the audio presentation of this message at: http://www.anglelake.org/resources/online-sermons/?sermon_id=382

I inadvertently played a game of word-association with a psychologist yesterday. It went like this: Psychologist: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Chaplain: Bible teaching improves my thinking and behaving Psychologist: Mindfulness-DBT Chaplain: meditation (learning to think God's thoughts) Psychologist: Helping clients get right with themselves Chaplain: ... get right with God Psychologist: Discovering purpose Chaplain: ... God's will for me Psychologist: Participating in communities of purpose Chaplain: ... CHURCH! My takeaway: We're created in God's image, so we'll find His reflections in diverse places. I must build bridges from those common grounds to the straight, narrow way of Jesus (John 14:6)

I inadvertently played a game of word-association with a psychologist yesterday. It went like this: Psychologist: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Chaplain: Bible teaching improves my thinking and behaving Psychologist: Mindfulness-DBT Chaplain: meditation (learning to think God's thoughts) Psychologist: Helping clients get right with themselves Chaplain: ... get right with God Psychologist: Discovering purpose Chaplain: ... God's will for me Psychologist: Participating in communities of purpose Chaplain: ... CHURCH! My takeaway: We're created in God's image, so we'll find His reflections in diverse places. I must build bridges from those common grounds to the straight, narrow way of Jesus (John 14:6)

I inadvertently played a game of word-association with a psychologist yesterday. It went like this: Psychologist: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Chaplain: Bible teaching improves my thinking and behaving Psychologist: Mindfulness-DBT Chaplain: meditation (learning to think God's thoughts) Psychologist: Helping clients get right with themselves Chaplain: ... get right with God Psychologist: Discovering purpose Chaplain: ... God's will for me Psychologist: Participating in communities of purpose Chaplain: ... CHURCH! My takeaway: We're created in God's image, so we'll find His reflections in diverse places. I must build bridges from those common grounds to the straight, narrow way of Jesus (John 14:6)

Some here followed the case of Chaplain Wes Modder, who was accused of being insensitive and intolerant in his spiritual counsel to LBGT service people. His commanding officer had requested he be "discharged with cause." The Navy disapproved the request. http://penews.org/Article/Assemblies-of-God-Pleased-with-Navy-s-Ruling-on-Chaplain

I've been thinking dark thoughts of late. Since California's public university system is de-recognizing student clubs that discriminate on the basis of religion (i.e. they stipulate that leaders of the club actually affirm specific religious doctrines) http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/09/11/California-State-University-Derecognizes-Campus-Christian-Organization, and since Gordon College was recently asked by its regional accrediting agency to officially explain its policy of requiring staff and students to adhere to sexual abstinence outside of heterosexual marriage (ahem, this appears discriminatory on the face of it...), http://www.christianpost.com/news/gordon-college-dont-sell-your-soul-for-secular-accreditation-127520/ me wonders where these trends are leading? 1. Will chaplains become extinct? It's easy to imagine a plaintiff suing a government agency for paying--with their tax dollars--to employ clergy who teach that their lifestyle (gender identity) is sin. 2. Will religious schools who have moral/spiritual codes of conduct lose their accreditation, since they have institutionalized their discriminatory beliefs? I hope everyone realizes that I oppose and abhor these ideas. Yet, they seem to be the logical conclusion to the trends we're seeing.

Hi I'm new here. I'm living in the Michiana area now near the boarder of Indiana and Michigan. In 1999 I sold everything I owned so I could move to Orem where I went to Orem Insitute of Religion all day long every day for a year. I received my ecclisiastical endorsement from the LDS church to enter the Army as a Chaplain. The concept of an LDS chaplain is not well known in the LDS church but they do exist. A chaplains job is to minister to all persons in the unit, military, hospital, jail, police station or where every they may be. So regardless of the peoples faith we must minister to them where they are at. I was slated to go into the Army as a chaplain and had the endoresment form the church but I ended up getting a divorce and full custody of my children. So with the responsiblity of raising my children alone I moved near family back in the Michiana area. I wrote a book about the experience called Confessions of a Mormon Minister: Professionally Qualified as Clergy and Endorsed for the Military Chaplaincy by the LDS Church It is now on Amazon at Amazon.com: Confessions of a Mormon Minister: Professionally Qualified as Clergy and Endorsed for the Military Chaplaincy by the LDS Church (9781448627684): George Blake: Books I miss being in the Orem Institute of Religion all day every day. It was the most spiritual place I have ever been (other than the temple). My personal web page is George Blake | Niles, Michigan | Author, Writer, Director, Consultant Thanks George