Tony Funderburk's Christian articles loaded with rhyme and reason

Posted on June 24, 2018 by TonyAugust 3, 2024

Is Christian Cool…cool?

I’ve been thinking over some “real” stuff lately. As cool as I think the digital world is (or can be), it doesn’t hold a candle to the real world. And by that I mean people. And by people, I especially mean Christian people. But not the ones who focus on being Christian cool.

There’s a place in the Bible where it actually tells Christians not to be “conformed to this world“. The dictionary says to conform to something means to behave according to socially acceptable standards. And, I don’t know if you’ve noticed how low the “acceptable standards” haven’t gotten on social media platforms, but it’s snake belly low. That’s not where we need to be if we want to represent the Body of Christ.

Making church a “cool” place to go is not the purpose of church. It’s not supposed to look or feel like other places. Your church should be a place where believers go to be (or get) equipped to spread the message of the saving Grace of Jesus. It’s not a place where unbelievers should feel comfortable.

Unbelievers should want to go to your church to seek God. Not watch a concert.

I know that sounds completely opposite of what you’re probably hearing from most churches these days. But guess what? Most churches are doing more harm to the Body of Christ than good. They’re preaching feel-good messages that don’t challenge atheists, agnostics, pagans, and the typical garden-variety unbelievers. Most churches are so busy being Christian cool, they’re clueless about “rightly dividing the word of Truth.”

I’d like you to think about this as you check your Facebook updates, Twitter posts, Google pluses, and YouTube videos today. We’re not gravatars. Not profiles. We’re not usernames and passwords. We are humans. And we really need to focus on being real again. Don’t get me wrong…the social media tools are excellent means of communication.

But c’mon people! They should never be a replacement for real-live-face-to-face communication. Otherwise the pasteurization, homogenization, and sterilization of society leads even the Christian remnant to believe in self…in a skewed Christian cool. And that ain’t never gonna do anybody any good.

Stay tuned,

For more messages like this, be sure to tune into the weekly Rhyme and Reason Podcaston many popular channels.

Here are the lyrics to the song included in this episode of the podcast:

Worldliness

Where is your vision?
Where do you lay your treasure?
Have you been wanton?
And living in earthly pleasure?
Ask and receive not
And trust in your worldly friendship;
Then stand afflicted because of your lustful kinship.

Worldliness; don’t let your joy turn into heaviness!
Worldliness; don’t let it rob you of your righteousness!
Humble yourselves and God will lift you up!
Worldliness won’t put sweet water in your cup!

Have you been tempted?
Have you made greed your mistress?
Your gold is rusted; it’s your accusing witness!
Who is your master?
You can’t serve two forever!
Resist the devil; the Word is your only lever!

Worldliness; don’t let your joy turn into heaviness!
Worldliness; don’t let it rob you of your righteousness!
Draw near to God and He’ll draw near to you!
Worldliness will never do what He can do!

So be patient; be wary; sing songs, and be merry.
Then focus your attention on more than this world’s dimension!

Chorus…inst…chorus to end

Posted on June 16, 2018 by TonyAugust 3, 2024

The mind of God – probably not what you think

It’s all part of God’s plan. How many times have I heard that…from Christians? And it makes me cringe. Every. Single. Time. They’ve fallen for the Platonic view of God rather than what God actually says about Himself in the Bible. He reveals His nature over and over, throughout the Bible, and it’s nothing like Plato described. The mind of God contains everything any of us will ever need for life, love, and happiness. But talking about what God does or doesn’t do…or what God knows or doesn’t know…divides Christians faster than lightning divides the night sky. (If you prefer to listen rather than read, here’s the Rhyme & Reason Podcast episode 229)

Before I go any further I’d like to ask you a question. You know Plato wasn’t a Christian…right? Quite the opposite in fact. He was a pagan Greek philosopher. Yet, he influenced one of the biggest Christian influencers, Augustine. And that influence was so strong that Augustine interpreted the Bible based on what Plato said about God…instead of what God said about Himself. That’s a YUGE problem.

The mind of God isn’t revealed in Greek philosophy.

It’s important to know that your one, true, living, loving Creator (aka God) designed you to be an awesome reflection of Him and His nature. But (and this is a big BUT) He didn’t decide, before the foundation of the world, every thought you’d think, every word you’d say, or every action you’d take.

God took a gigantic risk and let you have your own will.

Some would say that didn’t turn out so well. Of course, I’d disagree. Because having your own will means you get to make your own choices. And making your own choices means TRUE love is a distinct possibility. Sadly, it also means true hate is a distinct possibility. But that’s a necessary and possible consequence of free will.

The Greek philosophers, like Plato, said if God is perfect, then He can’t change in any way. According to them, that would take away from His perfection. Their silly claims say God is:

Impassible (He has no passion)
Immutable (He never changes)
Impeccable (He’s unable to sin)

But the mind of God IS revealed in His Word and it’s not like those claims.

If God, Himself, told you He loves, or that He changes, or that He resisted all sin, would you believe Him? Or would you prefer to believe what pagans say about His character? I hope you choose God’s word on the subject instead of Plato’s. When you do, you’ll discover love beyond comprehension. Mercy and care beyond understanding. You’ll discover the Creator who CAN be moved and affected by your cries for help and your prayers of thanksgiving.

The horrible things that happen in this world are absolutely NOT part of God’s plan. He’s not working evil things together toward some “greater good”. In fact, He says don’t do evil that good may come of it. And He’s a good Father. So, He wouldn’t tell us to do as He says and not as He does. Some of the most despicable and vile things we humans have done never even entered God’s mind. That means He certainly didn’t plan them.

The good news is…because God DOES change and love and feel emotions, you can have an awesome relationship with Him. A real relationship. Not make-believe. One that can last forever. He wants that for you. But He won’t force it on you, if you don’t want it. My hope for anyone who doesn’t already trust Jesus to be The Way, The Truth, and The Life is that they’ll change their minds while they’re still breathing here on planet Earth.

If that’s you, I promise you’ll love discovering how you’re here because you came from the mind of God.

Here are the lyrics to the song included in the Rhyme and Reason Podcast229

Consequential Servitude

God looked down on me…
He knew I was wrong
Usurped my position
I held for so long
Yeah, He just took over…
Where my brain left off
He knew it was risky…
He knew they’d all scoff
Sometimes I’m so stupid,
And so often blind…
Trade reason for feelings;
Mistakes underlined

And so again; I behold the outer man
Through God’s condescending attitude,
And I defer to the perfect Architect
And this consequential servitude

He spirals His thoughts…
Through my barricade
He knows I am feeble…
Yet hands me His blade
He tells me to rise up…
From my Phoenix blight
He builds me a fortress
Of conquering Light
When my clay is brittle…
And crumbles to sand
I long to be putty…
In my Master’s hand…

And then I can behold the inner man
Through God’s condescending attitude
Because He chose me as His dwelling place
I choose this consequential servitude

There were no incantations, no hallelujah chorus
He succumbed to His detractors; withstood an inquisition…
And then commended His spirit, relinquished His position,
And then He died a death that was for us!

Repeat 1st verse and 2nd chorus…end

Stay tuned,

Posted on February 23, 2018 by TonyMarch 2, 2025

You’ll never be bored in the house of the Lord

You and I are mortal. And physical. So, we understand physical and material structure. We can wrap our minds around the image of a house. That’s why, in the Bible, King David wrote about the house of the Lord when he said he was looking for his heart’s desire. David knew talking about where God lives would be too difficult to describe in spiritual terms. So, he said he wanted to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. He understood how perfect and beautiful that would be.

I’ve heard people say they couldn’t stand living in a perfect place forever because it would be boring. How ridiculous. By definition, perfect means there’d be absolutely nothing wrong with it. You won’t be bored in the house of the Lord because you’ll always have challenging, interesting, and wonderful things to do, learn, and enjoy.

Of course, the people who say they’d be bored living in Heaven are just using that as another reason to rebel against God. They find any excuse they can why He’s not the answer to all their pain and misery. Why dwell in the house of the Lord when you can build your own mansion right here and now. Right? Just one problem with that. Your mansion on earth could still be here when you die. And what then?

Live in a perfect house, rent-free, forever.

Sounds like a real estate ad, doesn’t it? But I’m talking about a REAL ESTATE. No mortgage payments. Or rent payments. No payments, period. Because it’s paid up and paid off…by the builder. How cool is that?! And just imagine…living in a place that never needs new paint. The plumbing doesn’t leak. No utility bills. You’ll never have to worry about those things again. Ever!

What would that be worth to you? Would you be willing to give up being your own god and savior? Or do you believe you can make your own place that lasts forever? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to admit I’m not God. I don’t want that responsibility. And I certainly have no idea how to make life last forever. That’s why I trust in the mountains of evidence pointing to the One, True, Living, Loving Creator of Heaven and Earth. When it comes to picking the perfect place to live, I choose the House of the Lord. Will you be coming for a visit? Or will you be coming to live?

(Be sure to listen to the Rhyme and Reason Podcastto hear the song)

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Posted on December 22, 2017 by TonyMarch 2, 2025

Perish the thought. I’m tellin’ you what.

If you think you can choose the dark side of life and good things will happen, perish the thought. It ain’t true. And it will never be true. Even if you get away with living on the dark side your whole life, what do you suppose happens then? If you’re not sure, is it worth a possible eternal life to bet your whole life here on earth? And I’ll let you in on a little secret. When I said “possible eternal life”…I meant definite eternal life. It’s a sure thing for those who shun the dark side in favor of the one true, living, loving Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Think about what you might be giving up.

If you’re not 100 percent sure what happens when you die, then here’s something to chew on for a bit. I might be right. You might actually have a shot at living forever. Of course, when I used the word “might” in those last two, short sentences, I meant “AM” and “WILL”. Yeah, I’m 100 percent sure there’s a God in Heaven who created all of the universe and every living thing in it. And I’m absolutely sure He made a way for every human being to live forever. He wrote a how-to book on the subject, and the evidence for its authenticity is almost beyond comprehension.

In that how-to book you’ll discover who amazingly simple it is to live forever. You could call it a one step program. That one step is…believe. Believe in Jesus, who was and is God, came to Earth as a sacrifice to God for all the bad things you and I will ever do. And when you do, His Spirit will live in you, and you’ll live forever. You’ll live through time without end in paradise. Why would you ever wanna risk losing that?

If you believe you can make your own Heaven, perish the thought.

You can’t trust everybody you meet. Even your own family members will betray you. This world is not a nice place. If you think it is, it’s time to take off the rose-colored glasses, have a strong cup of coffee, and wake up to reality. And NO, you don’t get to use the tired, old, worn-out phrase “your world is what you make of it”. First off, you’re not the only one in the world. Secondly, you’re not the ruler of this world. And finally, billions of other people would rather see you dead. Ouch! I know that’s harsh. But it’s true.

Ironically, we all end up taking the same long nap in the ground. The difference is…most go there believing it’s the last place they’ll be. But it’s not. You see, it’s like this…God created us. And He creates eternal souls because He’s eternal. So, your soul will either live forever or merely exist forever. And your choice, now, will determine whether that will be terrific or terrible.

Think it over today and choose wisely.

If you believe your life is awesome and couldn’t possibly get better, please reconsider today. Or if you think your life is horrible and couldn’t possibly get any worse, I urge you to look into God’s how-to book.

You can’t walk with the wicked and win.
Or stand with the sinners in sin.
You don’t have to lose, but you have to choose.
Today is the day to begin. ~ Tony Funderburk

If you believe life makes sense, and you want the world to know why, then share my rhymes and reasons with your friends and family, and let’s get The Word out. Like this…

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Posted on June 14, 2017 by TonyAugust 3, 2024

Shut your mouth. Your opinion isn't welcome here, Christians.

Shut your mouth and tolerate

If you wanna make sure more bad things happen in the world, shut your mouth. And put down your pen and keep your hands off the keyboard. Just keep your narrow-minded, hard-hearted, and “religious” opinions to yourself. Otherwise, how in the world are you ever gonna learn to tolerate more and more anti God rhetoric and behavior? Huh?

There’s a huge amount of evidence that if you are a Christian…and if you have a tendency to stand up for what the Bible actually says…you’re gonna be censored. Not tolerated by those who shout “tolerance” and “diversity” in the public square. Your Christian opinions aren’t (and won’t be) welcome in the world of so-called “multi-culturism”. You’ll simply be ostracized with labels like bigot, racist, misogynist, homophobe, and the list goes on. So what are you to do? Simple…

Shut your mouth.

Yeah, it’s that simple. Just shut your mouth, put down your persnickety pen, and keep your hands off the computer keyboards. In other words, keep your thoughts about Jesus, God, and grace to yourself, and you’ll be an acceptable member of society. Ha!

Don’t believe that for one minute. Let me use my own timeframe here on planet earth as an example of why I say that. I’ve lived long enough to see a gigantic shift in American ideology. When I was a little boy growing up in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, I remember hearing and seeing Christian influence even in public schools. Yes. Public schools! Then, in 1962, the so-called “supreme court” ruled on a case that effectively banned prayer from public schools. My own school, in Texas, still allowed prayer at assemblies, during the morning announcements, and at all sports activities. I challenge you to find that happening at 99.999% of schools today.

When you read the article in the link I just provided to that court decision, you’ll notice that “not a single Christian organization filed a brief in support of school prayer“. So, that proves that keeping your mouth shut leads to keeping the peace. Right? Wrong. All you have to do is dig a little bit into the news and you’ll discover how far down the ragged rabbit hole this has taken us. And all we had to was…

Tolerate.

Interestingly enough, you won’t find the word “tolerate”, or any form of it, in the Bible. That doesn’t mean for one minute we should never tolerate others who don’t think or believe like us. That’s impossible to do anyway. Every day you’ll have to tolerate the growing hatred towards Jesus and His followers. But that doesn’t mean you should shut your mouth and never speak up for your Creator. Quite the contrary.

Now, more than ever, it’s important for Christians to come to the aid of their country…their world. God’s enduring promises, mercy, and love need to be common knowledge in every nook and cranny. And you have awesome tools at your disposal. Share your thoughts and God’s word in every way you can, and you can literally broadcast it to the world via the internet. But I suggest you do it now…before God haters make sure Christians are banned from the internet.

Do you believe that could never happen?

You wanna live the way you wanna live.
And you wanna be your own king.
You think you’re wise enough to rule your world
And handle everything.
But how much happiness is in your life?
How many friends do you know
Who would give up their lives to give you yours?
Do you think any would show?

(excerpt from “You Just Don’t Get It”…listen for it on the The Power of God’s Love Podcast)

Stay tuned,

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Posted on April 16, 2017 by TonyAugust 3, 2024

Happy Resurrection Day 2017

For those of you who don’t follow the Christian faith and don’t understand the meaning of Resurrection Day 2017, let me say Happy Easter. If you do understand, I hope your day is blessed with loved ones, celebration, and a time to remember why we’re celebrating.

To outsiders, it sometimes looks like we’re celebrating a bloody murder. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. Easter isn’t about death at all. Quite the opposite. Christians all around the world celebrate the fact (yes, I said “fact”) that about 2000 years ago God became man and suffered a horrible death in order to offer us eternal life. The man, Jesus, was mocked, ridiculed, persecuted, prosecuted, and executed by the very people He came to save.

It’s unimaginable the torment He suffered just so you and I could avoid eternal suffering. You can say it’s a fairy tale. But that doesn’t erase the Truth. You can say the story of Jesus was simply written by men with an agenda. But that only shows me you haven’t actually read the book. You can even say eternity doesn’t exist for anyone. But that reveals your personal agenda.

Resurrection Day is all about what happened after Jesus was killed.

He rose from the dead, and the Bible says He was the “firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” Simply put…that means He’s tip-top and no other name or person can be or ever shall be higher. And that means He can (and does) offer His eternal life to anyone who will follow Him.

Every day I more clearly understand why Jesus said to follow Him you must hate your “father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters” and even your own life. People will always let you down, but Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. That “hate” isn’t the kind you’re seeing tossed around the internet and media. Jesus was saying your love for Him needs to be so full that anything else is hate in comparison. When you understand He is the only way you’re ever gonna receive eternal life…

I believe your love for Him will increase all the time.

So, don’t let the big, bad world…or even the people to your left or your right rob you of your joy and your celebration of Resurrection Day 2017. Or, for that matter, any other day of life your Creator has given you. Would you do me a favor and send me a story of how you celebrated the day? I’ll share it here and maybe on my The Power of God’s Love Podcast if you’ll let me. And until then, here’s an Easter rhyme for you…

Happy Easter Day

There’s a story you might know
Of a man who was killed some time ago.
He did nothing that was wrong,
But some people made Him suffer for so long.

Still there’s good news you can learn
‘Cause He died to give you what you’ll never earn.
He was nailed up on a cross,
But the people didn’t understand the loss.

Then they took Him to a tomb,
And they laid His lifeless body in that room,
But the story didn’t end there.
There would only be three days He would spend there.

Happy Easter day…He arose!

Stay tuned,

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Posted on January 25, 2017 by TonyAugust 3, 2024

God will call you through His grace.
Will you take the call?

Just about everybody I know has a smartphone. Or two or three. We have a couple of them in our house. And they’re awesome tools. You can use them to check your email, keep up with friends and family on social media, take some snapshots, watch videos, listen to podcasts, and even make or take phone calls. But as great as they are, smartphones can’t hold a candle to God’s communication methods. He makes trillions of calls, through His grace, to anyone who will answer, and just in case you don’t answer…He leaves messages.

I answered a call from God when I was only 13. And 13 was a very “lucky” number for me. Because when I answered that call…

God gave me eternal life through His grace.

It’s not some magical or mystical parlor trick. God is eternal, and He created you and me to be eternal. Trouble is…most people would rather figure out eternity for themselves. They’d rather skip that whole “Jesus thing”. After all, who wants some guy from 2000 years ago telling you what to do…right?

But here’s the thing…that guy from 2000 years ago is the only reason (and the only way) grace is available to you and me. Because He is eternal. He is, and was, God in the flesh. And He came to earth as a man to take the punishment for all the bad things you and I have ever done or ever will do. He was the only one who could because He was the only one who ever lived a sinless life. Can you imagine never doing anything to hurt anyone else or even yourself?

Grace is the most expensive free gift.

When you come to realize how much it cost Jesus to provide you with grace, you’ll understand it’s not about anything you can do or say. It’s not about some set of old-fashioned rules. All the “rules” were fulfilled by Jesus. You and I could never keep them all anyway. In fact, we’d die trying. And we’d exist in a universe of one forever. I hope you realize how brutal and bleak that would be.

If you’ve never considered eternity from that perspective, I hope you’ll consider it today. Since you’re able to read this, it’s not too late. You can still make the decision where you’ll be forever. Through His grace, God is calling you to eternal life. In fact, He’s already left you a message…the Bible. What are you waiting for? Will you take the call?

Stay tuned,

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