YES OR NO

Hello all of you positive/negative speakers. Yes...No...Maybe...I Don't Know?!?

President Ronald Reagan's wife (who in reality was his second wife)...but the First Lady...Ms Nancy Reagan...initiated the JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS campaign. It was met with less than enthusiastic reaction from those who thought that it was a simplistic approach to a complex problem. Someone who is addicted...psychologically, physically, psychologically and socially to drugs...needed something more that a catch phrase. Of course...it was really designed to those up and coming druggies...who had not tried drugs YET. Maybe if you could stop it before it started...you could dry up the sources for the pushers of said drugs.

The word NO is such a negative sounding word. The 1960's frat band from Youngstown Ohio...THE HUMAN BEINZ...had a hit song called NObody But Me. According to Dave Marsh...writer for Rolling Stone Magazine...the word NO appears 100 times in the song. The group was making sure that NObody But Me...could do the Shingaling, The Skate, The Boogaloo, and the Philly like ME. Amy Winehouse...the lovely tattooed, singer of the song REHAB...declared...
"They tried to make me go to rehab...I said NO NO NO. The song skyrocketed to the top of the charts...as she was admitted to rehab. Ringo...who surprised everyone after the Beatles broke up...by having hit song after hit song while the other lads languished in the charts...had a hit song called The NO NO Song. He declared that he "NO NO NO..I don't (fill in the blank with various addictions)... I'm tired of waking up on the floor." In the song...HELLO-GOODBYE...the Beatles started off by saying..."you say YES...I say NO...".

What makes us yield what we know to be wrong...and say YES...when what we should be saying is NO? Is the concept of JUST SAY NO to whatever we are facing with too simplistic in our complicated world? Yes...No...Mayber...I Don't Know?!?

It all started back in the GARDEN. Crosby Stills Nash and Young...sang a Joni Mitchell song called WOODSTOCK...and ode to the WOODSTOCK NATION. This was where half a million people gathered for 3 days of Peace, Love, and Rock and Roll on Max Yasgur's farm. They songs lamented that we got to GET BACK TO THE GARDEN...and I think they are CORRECT in their thought process.

It was back in the GARDEN...where JUST SAY NO...would have changed the course of history. Adam and Eve (to some an allegorical reference to choices...and to some reality)...had it all. They had provision, authority, companionship...and most of all an intimate relationship with the creator of the universe. God laid down some boundaries...of what they COULD EAT...and what they COULD NOT EAT. The point of temptation (not designed to pull them into something...but designed to pull them away from who they really were)... was a simple YES or NO. The answer NO to the tempter...would be saying..."I believe that what God said was true...and I CHOOSE to believe Him. The answer YES...would be saying..."I know what God said...but I choose to believe a liar and twister of the truth...and do what I WANT...versus what God wants." That choice set into motion...cause and effect...DEATH passed down to all mankind." "Wherefore as one man sin (Adam and Eve) entered into the world...and death by sin (cause and effect of saying yes to the serpent and NO to God)...and so death passed to ALL MEN (the cause and effect ripple effect)...for ALL sinned." (Romans 5:12) Hey...THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!
No...it's not fair...but it is JUST. If you want to GET BACK TO THE GARDEN...you got to get back to your YES AND NO answers.

When the pressure is on...by either your peer groups...the devil...circumstances and situations...what do you say? You've heard me... talk about how we try to teach our son Phillip...the concept of CAUSE AND EFFECT. One thing I have read to him...is found in the book of PROVERBS (also know as PRO-VERBS...POSITIVE-ACTION). "My son...if sinners ENTICE you...DO NOT CONSENT". (Pro-Verbs 1:10)
"My son...DO NOT walk in the way with them...KEEP your feet from their path." (Proverbs 1:15) Distill it down to it's simplest form...
JUST SAY NO to the enticers...and YES to God.


When we go through THE PROMISES OF GOD we see..."For as many as may be THE PROMISES OF GOD...in Him...they are YES; wherefore also by Him is our AMEN to the glory of God." (II Corinthians 1:20)

We are called to let our conversation or statements yes or no..."But let your statement be...YES, YES...or NO, NO...and anything beyond these is of evil." (Matthew 5:37)

The most important YES is found in the answer of two blind men...who were begging for MERCY...which was to be healed of their blindness. "And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, and saying, Have mercy on us, Son of David! And after He had come into, and Jesus said to them, DO YOU BELIEVE THAT I AM ABLE TO DO THIS?...They said to HIm...YES LORD. Then He TOUCHED their eyes, saying BE IT DONE TO YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH." (Matthew 9:27-29)

If the blind guys responded NO...we don't believe that you are able to do this...Jesus would respond...be it done to you according to your UNBELIEF. Their yes or no would determine their fate...just as much as Adam and Eve's determined our fate.

Keith Green recorded an album called NO COMPROMISE. (see the last two pictures in the collage). The cover art is wonderful as it depicts someone saying NO to the kings command to bow before the golden image at the sound of the trumpet. If you look at the picture you can see the look of anger from the king...and the look of fear on those surrounding the disobedient.

Shadrach...Meshach...and Abed-nego...risked death by their CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE which was really GODLY OBEDIENCE. NOTE: I heard a black preacher...declare this was the story of Shadrach...Meshach...and ONE-BAD-NEGRO. If you get a chance...get the CD Walk on the Wild Side by Scott Blackwell...and you can hear Dr. Lockridge...preach the message MY KING (I Wonder Do You Know Him).

The cause and effect of saying YES to God...and NO to the king...was a death sentence in a fiery furnace. NOTE: Sometimes we have to face death...to come face to face with deliverance. They were thrown into the fiery furnace...but did not die...did not get singed by the fires...but were joined by a FOURTH MAN. Some say an angel...some say pre-incarnation of Christ...but whoever it was that joined them...it was the CAUSE AND EFFECT of obedience.

As I have been RUMINATING on this thing called YES OR NO...I have written down...JUST SAY NO TO...(fill in the blank with what you are faced). Looking back...if I JUST SAID NO...to sniffing gasoline, paint thinners, various chemicals...I would have bypassed lots of self inflicted suffering. If I had JUST SAID NO...to drinking, drugs...I would have thrown up less in the toilet as people moved my head out of the toilet to urinate...splattering on my face. If I had JUST SAID NO...to anger and held my tongue...there would be much less strive in my household.

Simplistic? Yes...No...Maybe..wait...I DO KNOW. We can CHOOSE...we can ACT...we can RISE ABOVE the flesh with help of the HOLY SPIRIT...The WORD OF GOD...The FATHER...the SON...our BROTHERS AND SISTERS...PRAYER.

Love and YES OR NO Kisses
Rodney "Glad I Said Yes To The D.B.R." Boyd

CHOOSE OR LOSE

Hello fellow Choosers. What have you chosen lately? One of the beautiful things about being a human being...we were created with the capacity to CHOOSE. We are beyond ROBOTS...that are programmed to carry out every command that the creator of the robot desires...we are CREATED by the CREATOR of the universe...with VOLITION. Volition is what is known as FREE WILL...the power of CHOICE.

On a Friday night...when me and Sweet Brenda are hungry...we decide/choose to go out to eat. The conversation goes a little like this:

BRENDA: Where do you want to go eat?
RODNEY: I don't know...where to you want to go eat?
BRENDA: Let's decide before we start driving.
RODNEY: We can decide as we drive.
BRENDA: OK...let's see what we have down the road.

NOTE: At this point we start driving and begin to name the eateries.

BRENDA: Well...we have O'Charley...Corky's...Red Lobster...Outback...Hardees...Ryans...

NOTE: We will make a tour of Murfreesboro...and still have not made a CHOICE.

If we go to a Chinese Restaurant...if you don't get the buffet (with Crab Legs)...you have more choices to make...Column one...Column two...Column three...Column four...and then have to choose what kind of soup...Won Ton, Hot and Sour, Egg Flower. I can choose and have whatever I want...I JUST HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE. Usually at every establishment we choose to eat...the waitress will come up for the order and ask..."Would you like me to give you a few more minutes?"

In real life...the choices that we make...have consequences. That is one principle that we have tried to impress upon our son Phillip...your choices have consequences. There is a thing called CAUSE AND EFFECT. What you cause effects not only yourself...but others also. Throw a stone into a lake...and there will be a splash at the epicenter where the stone lands...but the ripple effect shoots out in every direction. The bigger the CAUSE (stone)...the bigger the EFFECT (ripples).

"Therefore...just as through one man (Adam) entered into the world (disobedience)...and death by sin (cause and effect)...and so death spread to all men...because all sinned (ripple effect)" (Romans 5:12)

That does not sound very fair!!! Life is not fair. The devil does not play by the rules. "CAUSE AND EFFECT...rains on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:44-45 Ruminator paraphrase). The EFFECT (fall or stand) of the CAUSE(rain and wind) is different for different people based on the foundation (sand or rock). (Matthew 7:24-27) The choice is this passage is either Jesus is Lord or Jesus is NOT Lord....and LIP SERVICE is not an option. (Matthew 7:21-23)

One of my favorite Debby Boone albums is CHOOSE LIFE. You may remember Debbie as the oldest daughter of one of my favorite singers...PAT BOONE.

NOTE: Pat Boone financed Randy Stonehill and Larry Norman's first independent Jesus rock albums. Randy's album was called BORN TWICE and Larry's album was called BORN TWICE . Pat also formed a label dedicated to the new wave of Christian artists called LAMB and LION RECORDS with such artists as Dogwood.

Debbie had a huge hit called YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE. It was a sugar sweet A.M. hit. Later she released an album called CHOOSE LIFE. It was a collection of songs by another of my favorite artists...MICHAEL AND STORMIE OMARTIAN (pronounced Oh Mar Tee un). Michael is a producer of some of the biggest secular hits over 3 decades including the T.V. theme to SWAT.

The album title is based on a passage in Deuteronomy 30:19:

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have SET BEFORE YOU...life and death, the blessing and the curse. So...CHOOSE LIFE in order that you may life, you and your descendants..." (Deuteronomy 30:19)

NOTE: You may be asking yourself...who in their right mind would choose death and curse? Well...look in a mirror and ask yourself why you choose the things that you do that are not good for you. I may wrong choices based on what I want versus what is good for me. Before I was Christian...my CHOICE PATTERN was even worse...because my choices did not have the compass of the Word of God. There were NO ABSOLUTES in my life...so everything was relative to my selfish desires.


Larry Norman...hit the streets in L.A...gave up fame and fortune (he had a million seller hit and album with his group PEOPLE...with their hit song I Love You)...and took his music and message to the common man. As the Jesus Movement grew around the world, Larry become one of the spokesman for the group. One symbol...attributed to Larry was the ONE WAY SIGN. That is where you took you index finger and pointed up to the sky. This represented heaven...and the ONLY WAY to heaven...JESUS CHRIST.

When Jesus was talking to his followers about going to heaven to prepare a place for them...he made a startling statement to Thomas who asked..."Lord, we do not know where You are going...how do we KNOW THE WAY?" Jesus responded matter of factly..."I AM...THE way...THE truth...THE life...NO ONE comes to the Father...BUT THROUGH ME." Well....all roads may lead to Rome... but ALL ROADS...do not lead to the Father in heaven. In the words of George Harrison..."Isn't it a pity." In John 101-10...Jesus talks about doors of thieves and sheep. "Truly, truly, I say to you...he who DOES NOT ENTER by the DOOR into the fold of the sheep...BUT climbs up SOME OTHER WAY..he is a thief and robber. But he who enters by THE DOOR is a shepherd of the sheep. " (read the rest of the verses but skip to verse 6 as Jesus explain his figure of speech of doors) "This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them...but they DID NOT UNDERSTAND what those things were which He had been saying to them. Jesus THEREFORE (in reference to verses 1-5) said to them AGAIN...Truly, truly...I say to you...I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP. All who came before me were thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them. I AM THE DOOR...IF ANYONE ENTERS THROUGH ME...HE SHALL BE SAVED...and shall go in and out and FIND PASTURE."
The THIEF comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy...I CAME THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE LIFE...AND MIGHT HAVE IT ABUNDANTLY." Many people choose to try to climb over the wall versus going through the door/gate.


Robert Frost and Larry Norman speak of CHOICES...choices of ROADS. In the movie Back To The Future...Doc Brown comes back to pick up Marty to go to the future. The DeLorean time machine use to need to reach a certain speed on the road to trigger the jump to the future. Marty asks the Doc if they didn't need more ROAD. The Doc responds with a smirk..."Where we're going....we don't need roads." Then the machine begins to fly.

Well...the ROAD that we need to get into the presence of the Father....is JESUS. Larry and Mr. Frost said it correctly:

ONE WAY...ONE WAY to Heaven...hold up high your hand
Follow...free and forgiven...Children of the Lamb
Two roads DIVERGED in the middle of my life...I heard a wise man say
I TOOK the one LESS TRAVELLED on...and that's made a difference...every night and every day
So I say...ONE WAY...one way to heaven...hold up high your head
ONE WAY...free and forgiven...children of the sky.

It all comes down to CHOICES. Choose death...choose life...choose blessing...choose curse...choose the road to heaven...or as AC/DC recommends...choose the highway to hell.

Lord...help me to make better choices.

Love and Kisses from Column A
Rodney "Taking The Less Travelled Road" Boyd