Muse & News Archives - Frank Ball

Fences

Frank Ball — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 05:00:41 +0000

We will jump the fence whenever we see the grass as greener on the other side.

Some Christians believe they are under the constant attack of the devil. I doubt that. I think their own desires are the enemy. By saying it’s the devil, it’s not our fault, and we have no responsibility to change their desires.

When we fight an enemy that isn’t there, we engage in a battle we can’t win—not until we can accept reality.

Imagination can take us in a variety of unrealistic directions. We can label ourselves as sinners and deprive God of the credit in changing us from who we once were. We can declare ourselves as healed, when we really aren’t, and deprive ourselves of the process through which we might find healing. We can expect calamity when a black cat crosses our path or we walk under a ladder. We can walk where angels would never go. We can imagine God protecting us when he’s not, or we can imagine he’s not when he actually is. We can imagine God is going to do something when he doesn’t, or we can imagine that he won’t, but he does.

Many Christians live in an imaginary world because they think it’s better than the real world. I don’t share that conviction, because I can’t improve my world if I deny its existence.

When Adam was told not to eat a certain fruit, God didn’t build a fence around the tree, and he didn’t build a fence around Adam. When Adam told Eve what God said, Adam didn’t build a fence around the tree, and he wasn’t constantly with Eve, preventing her from eating the fruit. We know that has to be true, because Scripture says Eve was deceived, not Adam. Therefore, Adam could not have been present to prevent her bad choice.

God is present everywhere, so we know God could have stopped Eve. Instead, he either caused or allowed Satan to tempt her. I think God sent Satan, because without the temptation, Eve had no reason to go against the commandment. Eve had to believe that eating the fruit was good for her, or she would never have taken a bite.

God had a fence built around Job, and God was the one who took away the fence and gave Satan certain liberties. Therefore, Job was right, from that limited perspective. “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away,” even though Satan did the dirty work. What we must understand from this is that we face challenges to our faith from all directions, from the devil, evil spirits, deceiving people, a wicked society, and catastrophic weather that we call “acts of God.”

We need to understand the purpose of fences, why they are there or why they aren’t there. Whatever we imagine cannot be correct unless we know that God builds and tears down fences for our good, not to harm us.

Perhaps I should write a book about this. I am trying, but I’m not smart enough. I need God’s help. On my own, I can’t figure it out.

If you don’t know the truth or how to apply it, then ask God, because he’s eager to help and won’t make you feel stupid. — James 1:5 The Discussion Bible

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Eyes on the Road

Frank Ball — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 05:00:41 +0000

I’ve learned that I can be so focused on the road that I don’t see the traffic. Slow down at the intersection and look both ways. The life you save may be your own. No matter how careful I am, I could miss seeing the danger and be t-boned.

I need the Lord’s guidance.

Caution is good, but I can’t see everything. God sees everything, but what does that do for me? Will he save me from the dangers he sees but I don’t? One day as I approached an intersection, I slammed on my breaks. I was feeling really stupid, because I didn’t know why I did that. I had a green light on the local street with a 30 mph speed limit. No danger there. Then I looked up to see a truck racing across, just in front of me, running the red light at 60 mph.

My life is in good hands.

If I’m doing what God wants, whether I live or die doesn’t matter. For as long as he has work on Earth for me to do, I’m loving the times he has preserved my life. I wonder how often he has kept me alive, but I never saw his hand at work.

I’m working on two new books.

I don’t have to wait until the book is finished. All I need to do is set publish the first chapter for online reading at Kindle Vella, a new program Amazon began in July 2021. The title? Birth to Transformation: Salvation Is More than We Think.

Preface

At the end of the church service, the pastor concluded with a “sinner’s prayer” that went something like this: Lord, I’ve made a lot of mistakes. Okay, I’ve sinned. That’s bad. I admit it. I’m going to Hell unless you save me. Forgive me, Lord. Come Into my heart. I accept you as my Lord and Savior. “If you’ve said those words,” the preacher says, “you’re saved. Heaven is now your destiny, no matter what.”

Such messages are wonderful, what everybody wants to hear.

Many people don’t believe Hell exists, but just in case, this is a great insurance policy. If only we could collect on that policy. We can’t, because Jesus said, “He who endures to the end will be saved.”

Christians use the term “born again” to mark the beginning of a new life in Christ, but they soon learn that their sinful nature persists. What’s wrong? We need answers.

Beginning a race is not the same as finishing.

We need to understand the process—why it is necessary and what is required—or we might become weary, give up, and never finish. Where’s the transformation promised in Scripture, moving people from glory to glory?

In easily understood stories and terminology, Birth to Transformation shows the process that requires wholehearted participation to see the results we wanted from the start.

Read the first chapter:
“The Problem with Love.”

If you’re interested in knowing more about publishing your book now, with only the first chapter completed, click below.

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Surprise

Frank Ball — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 05:00:41 +0000

Some surprises are happy ones. Others are tragic. Many are unexpected. Some are scheduled, like Christmas and birthdays. No matter what the situation, we take what we have and move on.

I was left with nothing.

Several months ago, I received an email message saying my Facebook account “didn’t meet community standards.” Really? I knew community standards weren’t what they used to be, but I didn’t think Facebook regarded Christian principles as hate crimes. What happened? I couldn’t contact anyone to find out. They never answered my emails.

In a single day, I lost almost 5,000 friends and I don’t know how many thousands of followers. Except for a few hundred people I really know, most of them found me and liked what I had to say. The idea of building another Facebook account, at the risk of losing everything again, didn’t appeal to me. I had other things to do. Nevertheless, a couple of weeks ago, I created a new Facebook account. I’ve made no posts to it at all. I’ve added no friends. Now, Facebook says this account doesn’t meet community standards. Looks like I may never be allowed access to any Facebook account.

What am I doing?

For thirty years, I’ve been working on a biblical paraphrase and many thousands of discussion question. One milestone was Eyewitness: The Life of Christ Told in One Story, published in 2008. Next came The Discussion Bible — New Testament, published ten years later. By 2023, I expect to have the entire Bible with a flood of discussion questions as print books, an ebook, and an online application open for Q/A. With that, maybe the Lord can acquire a few million friends. We shall see.

If you’ve been as busy as I have been, you haven’t had time to notice the absence of FrankBall.org blogs. Of course, the video blogs on Facebook still have to be rebuilt on YouTube. That’s a learning curve I don’t have much time for, right now. To help some of my writer friends, I did post “Seriously Funny” at this link: https://youtu.be/SfuTKO2MhMU.

I’m all about helping people with their stories.

Last week, I spoke about “The Write Point of View” to a gathering of writers in Dallas. All but one of my copies of my book Storytelling at Its Best were sold. On Labor Day weekend, I’ll be in Oklahoma to speak at WriterCon 2022, a fabulous conference where I taught last year. I’m sure this year will be even more spectacular.

Get ready.

On September 1, I’ll resume regular posts of FrankBall.org stories, muse, and news. And I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about my progress with The Discussion Bible.

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Comic Book Dreams

Frank Ball — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 06:00:41 +0000

Will tying a towel around my neck like Superman give me power to leap tall buildings? If only I could find a vitamin that would give me super strength. During my childhood, I knew a little guy who feverishly fought on the school playground. Without a doubt, he was strong in spirit, but that was never enough to win. In fact, other boys loved to fight him because they could always win while appearing to take on a worthy opponent. What’s the point? Being strong of spirit isn’t enough. We must be strong in the Holy Spirit to do what would otherwise be impossible. I think Simon Peter was small in stature and had never won a fight. I base that on what seems to be his talkative, impulsive, and defensive nature that would cover his feeling inferior. When he met Jesus for the first time, hearing that God would make him a “rock” would have seemed like the impossible dream. Children’s books often portray David as a child, which is absurd. As a child, he was anointed to become king someday. He was no child when he faced Goliath. King Saul was head and shoulders taller than other men. Since Saul wanted David to wear his armor and was willing to put Israel’s future at risk, we know David had to be of full stature, at least as tall as the average man. Like an eighteen-year-old athlete who had never played college ball, David took his limited skill with a sling to be tested on the battlefield for the first time. His experience with the lion and the bear gave him confidence that the Lord would guide his aim. Picture books and movies portray Samson as one who worked out daily at the gym, with super strength that could overcome an army. That picture can’t be true. He might have been a 100-lb skinny weakling who had to run back-and-forth in the shower to get wet. We know his appearance was nothing above average, because the Philistines desperately sought the secret to his strength. As with David and Solomon, God’s super strength is my only hope for fulfilling my comic book dreams. I have lived in poverty and prosperity. I have gone hungry and at other times have feasted. I know what it’s like, both to abound and to suffer desperate needs. In all situations, no matter how little or how much I have, I must depend on Christ for my strength and guidance. — Philippians 4:12–13, The Discussion Bible

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Success Formula

Frank Ball — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 05:00:41 +0000

I’d like to have a one-size-fits-all, quick and easy path to success. In Googling “success formula,” I got 1.6 million results, and not one was what I was searching for. I’ve read many Books for Dummies. I’ve watched how-to podcasts and paid for seminars that said, “I did it, so you can too.” Why haven’t those formulas worked for me? Einstein and Edison were nobodies when they were born. Jesus was born with a promise, but few people knew he would save the world. He began as a nobody. The work still had to be done. Scripture says, after his work was finished, he was given a name above every name (Philippians 2:7–9). Like Einstein, Edison, and Jesus, I was born a nobody. I have potential, but my life will be wasted if I can’t finish the work I was given to do. When I needed to replace my car’s electronically adjustable heated side-mirror, an online purchase of the replacement part was easy enough. But then I had a problem. Without breaking something, how could I remove the faded mirror and install the new one? Simple. I searched YouTube and found a video that gave me the steps to success. I wish my formula for life could be solved as easily as Googling how to change a mirror. After so many years of searching, I still don’t know all I am to do. Can I get a success formula with written steps from 1 to 9,999? No, it doesn’t exist. Everybody is in a different place, going a different direction to fulfill a different purpose. I’m told the Bible is a superb instruction book, but a lifetime of assembly is required. I’m doing well if I can identify a few steps in the right direction. Learning what others have done won’t reveal God’s plan for me. Yet God’s success formula is simple: just keep taking the next right step. If I can keep doing that, my achievements will lead to God saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter the presence of the Lord.” People want to map their entire journey, but God shows them only the next step. — Proverbs 16:9, The Discussion Bible. All things might be okay, but I am looking for what most pleases the Lord, because that is most beneficial. I cannot allow myself to be enslaved by social pressures or selfish desires. — 1 Corinthians 6:12, The Discussion Bible.

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Playing with Fire

Frank Ball — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:00:41 +0000

With the light from a candle, you can walk in the dark, but let that tiny flicker touch your curtains, and your house could be up in flames before the firetruck arrives. Grownups tell kids not to play with matches, because they know the danger, so I wonder why people sometimes play with something that’s sure to burn up their house. Anger is a fire that will destroy our lives from the inside out. Somehow we miss seeing the danger. Or we don’t know how to do anything about it. We don’t like seeing anger in others, but we justify it in ourselves. I couldn’t do that. Why? My anger was so bad, I had no doubt I would destroy my life and those I loved with me. I had to put out the fires. It wasn’t the action that concerned me as much as the feeling inside. People’s faces turn red with anger, a sign of rage burning within, so intense that they want to kill. That’s a breath away from the temporary insanity that I feared—a complete loss of control. I’ve talked to psychiatrists who say anger is okay. It’s normal and unavoidable. Everybody has it. We just need to keep it under control. Christians justify their emotion by saying Jesus was angry when he threw the moneychangers out of the Temple. But there was a difference. Jesus acted upon the direction of the Holy Spirit, never in retaliation because someone had slapped him on the cheek. People quote Paul’s advice to the Ephesians as “be angry, and sin not.” That’s a bad interpretation. Actually, he is saying that when we get angry, we should get rid of that feeling of vengeance as soon as possible. The fire of the Holy Spirit brings warming comfort and peace, because we can love our enemies, not retaliate. I couldn’t just “not be angry.” Too late for that. I already was. I had to eliminate the cause. What could I do? I looked at every spark that ignited my anger. In each case, damage was done. No exception. I prayed a lot, but that wasn’t a magic way to lose the anger. One at a time, I recognized each cause, admitted my lack of love, and extinguished the flame before it could grow. After three years, hardly any flames were left. Then there were none. For the last thirty years, I’ve not had a feeling of anger or resentment. I can be hurt, but God’s gift of love working within won’t allow even the possibility of being angry. You don’t have to play with the matches of anger. You can snuff them out. Constraining your anger makes you stronger than a bodybuilder, and controlling how you feel is a greater victory than conquering a city. — Proverbs 16:32, The Discussion Bible

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Born Blind

Frank Ball — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 05:00:41 +0000

Born Blind: Voice of a Visionary

Captivating novel episodes about a blind man who was healed.

Available only online with Amazon Kindle Vella

From Scripture, we know the blind man had a mind sharp enough to embarrass the council, but no one in his day would consider teaching a blind child. Where did he get an education?

The man’s parents were still alive when he was healed. They could have heard about an angel appearing to shepherds, announcing the Messiah’s birth. With such a stir in Jerusalem, they couldn’t have missed knowing when the wise men arrived from the east. They certainly would have known about the slaughter of babies in Bethlehem. How did they react to such news? Why were they more concerned about their acceptance in the synagogue than for their son?

How might the blind man have avoided becoming a beggar—a most hated occupation?

In this novel, you will read many plausible explanations that may surprise you, but they’ll make perfect sense as you read the story.

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Say Please

Frank Ball — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 05:00:41 +0000

When I was growing up, I learned the importance of saying please and thank you. In recent years, why don’t I hear those words as frequently? As naturally as a baby who cries when its needs aren’t met, I asked for what I wanted. “Can I go play with Johnny next door? Can I have a cookie? Can I have a bicycle?” My teacher mother said I should say “may I,” not “can I,” so I quickly changed my begging to “may I.” Otherwise, I didn’t have much chance of getting what I wanted. “May I have a cookie?” I said. My question wasn’t good enough. “Say please,” Mom said. Now I knew the magic word. If I didn’t say please, I wasn’t going to get what I wanted. I also needed to say thank you. Always. It was more than a courtesy. If I didn’t express my gratitude, next time the answer might be no. I knew how to beg, saying please and how to express my gratitude with thank you so I could beg for more. Of course, in my bedtime prayers, I followed the same practice with God, always saying please when I wanted something and saying thank you for his gifts. Otherwise, I would be ignored. I wouldn’t get what I wanted. In ancient times, saying the one word “please” was the lazy way to express respect to those in authority. Instead of saying to the king, “If it pleases you,” when making a request, people just said, “Please.” Over many years, the meaning gradually changed from expecting our superiors to do what they deemed best to begging for what we thought was best. I wonder why we seldom hear “please” in people’s prayers today. Perhaps we’ve moved on from respecting God’s will above ours, and we no longer see the need to beg. Now we want to claim our rights, so we’ve turned to demanding our entitlements “in Jesus’ name.” Since I think God is smarter than I am and wants the best for me, I think I’ll go back to using “please,” meaning, “If it pleases you, my Lord.” Then I can have whatever he wants, and I’m fine with that. Queen Esther said, “If you love me, O king, and if it pleases you, let my life and the lives of my people be spared.” — Esther 7:3, The Discussion Bible

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Changes

Frank Ball — Sat, 01 May 2021 05:00:41 +0000

Solomon is known for saying there is nothing new under the sun. Does that say that everything happening today is like it has always been? I remember the 1940s and 1950s well enough to know that life is nothing like it was back then, when we didn’t have to worry about locking anything. Now, thefts at church and work are almost always inside jobs. Some may say people haven’t changed, but I have no doubt that, generally speaking, people have distanced themselves from God. And that says they have changed for the worse, not better. Has God’s Word changed? That depends on how you define “God’s Word.” The King James Translation hasn’t changed, but we now have the New King James and countless other versions of the Bible. Besides that, our interpretations have changed with the times. We pick the parts we like and either ignore the others or interpret them in a different way. Sometimes in defense of their beliefs, I hear people say, “I just believe the Bible.” Actually, they believe their interpretation and are saying they aren’t interested in changing their beliefs by hearing a different perspective. We might say God’s voice hasn’t changed, but I’m not sure that’s entirely true. John Wooden, famous coach of the UCLA basketball teams, was once accused of treating his players differently. He fired back a rebuttal, saying he absolutely did treat his players differently. Why? Because every player was different, having different needs. If the people of this decade are different from the people of the 1940s, God would not change, but his voice would. God’s voice toward obedient people is necessarily different from what he must say to the disobedient. The promises of God are conditional, and many people, including preachers, miss the conditions, wanting to claim a benefit for which they have no eligibility. For example, “All things work for good.” No, they don’t. No matter how good things might seem to be, those things will be very bad if people don’t love God and aren’t working to fulfill his purpose. Will God give us the desires of our heart? People claim that promise because they aren’t seeing it happen. Could it be that what they want isn’t what God wants? Of one thing I am sure: God hasn’t changed. He’s the same— yesterday, today, and forever. And if we want to experience his glory, we need to change. Without that change, we won’t see Heaven. Beloved, we may be God’s children, but we don’t yet know what we will become. But the more of him we see, the more we’ll want to be like him, for we shall see how great he really is. — 1 John 3:2, The Discussion Bible

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Glorious Day

Frank Ball — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 06:00:41 +0000

Because of the Internet, both sin and righteousness have never been more accessible. Which do you think is being enjoyed more than ever before?

Human nature hasn’t changed.

Before the Great Flood, only Noah was found righteous. When Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, only Lot and his two daughters were saved. Are we moving in that direction? Because God is longsuffering, perhaps we’ll be given a little more time before that Glorious Day.

Sin is nothing new.

Seventy-five years ago, sin was hidden from public view. Now, it’s widely accepted if not encouraged. Over many thousands of years, we can show similar conditions of depravity when mighty kingdoms fell. At one time, Israelites sacrificed to Baal in the Temple. But righteousness rebounded as people recognized their need for the Lord. At one time, I thought we might see a widespread turn toward truth and righteousness, but now I have to wonder.

Conditions are different now.

In 1966, Charles Whitman stabbed his mother and wife to death, then killed 14 people and wounded 31 the next day, shooting from the tower at the University of Texas at Austin. The nation was in shock, because people couldn’t imagine such a thing ever happening. Now, rioting and looting can continue for months without much consequence. Some politicians might say such behavior is understandable. They might even encourage it.

We’ve come a long way from the days when I was in school.

Every day began with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord’s Prayer. In 1963, prayer was banned, and I knew we were headed for trouble. We’ve left the old days when we didn’t have to worry about locking houses and cars. Today, locks and safety barriers may be no help. Our homes and businesses can be trashed, looted, and burned. If the criminals are arrested, they might be released without bail, free to commit more crimes.

The end isn’t yet.

Jesus said there would be wars and rumors of wars. There would be earthquakes in various places. But those things have been happening since the beginning. They are not signs of the last day.

That glorious day will come.

When did Jesus promise to return? As soon as the gospel had been preached to everyone. With the Internet, we’re getting very close to that being true. Even remote areas without electricity or running water have access to the Internet. With no electricity in their towns, people will walk for miles to a charging station for their cell phones so they will have worldwide access to either life or lust.

We could be very close to the day when God says, “That’s enough.” For those who are ready, that will be a glorious day.

The good news of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the world for a testimony to all people. After that, the end will come. — Matthew 24:14, The Discussion Bible

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