The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry Newsletter
&
Bible Study
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UPDATED 12/20/2019
Fellow officers,
sheepdogs
(
servant-
warriors
), spouses and supporters:
In advance of my annual
CHRISTmas
newsletter and Bible study (next week), in this week's study I'm pressed to share another
Travis Yates
gem with Biblical backup of my own. Men and women of courage: it's time to
Man Up
("man" here denotes "mankind"-- both men and women -- scroll down)!
Miss last week's newsletter and Bible study? Here again is
When Evil Comes
(answering the proverbial
"Why?!"
questions). As always, these studies are re-posted for you on our
social media
feeds (
Twitter
,
Facebook
) and (eventually) on our
website
as well.
Again, please take the time to review the
resources
,
prayer requests
and upcoming
events
I've shared for you below. If you have questions or need prayer, counsel or support, please
reach out.
Brothers and sisters, be sure you're "all in" (born again, wholly surrendered in faith) with the inventor of CHRISTmas -- He came to give you that chance!
MC
_____________________
RESOURCES
PRAYER REQUESTS
(1)
Phil Wenrich
is an officer in PA suffering from a plethora of medical issues, including replaced lungs. As of this writing Phil is again in the hospital in a very bad way. Please pray for Phil, his wife Lisa and family.
(2) Continue to be in prayer for those surviving spouses and family members (blood and blue) who lost their officer (and loved ones in general) this year (Christmas is a very difficult for them).
(3) Pray for a wounded officer lost in sin and deception (repentance, salvation, restoration).
(4) Arizona Sgt.
Doug Beeks
is asking us to pray for his firefighter son who is dealing with difficult and painful medical condition (with a praise report that it is not cancerous). Then Doug added this praise report:
A few weeks ago, we sent out a prayer request for Linda who was going to undergo treatment for pancreatic cancer in the coming days. However, when doctors went to treat the disease, they found it was no longer present! Further testing has found no additional cancer in her body.
MIRACLE -- praise God indeed!
(5) Dep. Brian Stewart (Simple Message Ministries in GA) is asking for prayer for his dad. Brian writes,
The number of people who've been praying and asking for updates on my dad means more to us than I can express. I wish I had better news to share but he's developed pneumonia and had to be put back on the ventilator today. He's 76 and as of Monday he's had 4 surgeries in 6 weeks. He's as tough as they come and he's fighting hard but this fight will be determined on our knees. We're hopeful for his recovery and there are encouraging signs but either way we believe God is good and in control. Thank you for your prayers and concern!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Our first FCPO-Denver (Chapter 217) of the new year is set for Tuesday evening,
January 7th
in Highlands Ranch starting at 6:30 PM. We'll be staring a brand new study and of course there will be a time of prayer and fellowship. If you're a police officer (former, future, past), join us in the southern Denver metro area in 2020. As always, spouses are encouraged to attend with their LEO!
Email me
for the details (address, etc.).
*Have a prayer request, event or announcement you would like included here? Need help/prayer?
Email me
!
I also post prayer requests on
my personal Facebook page
("friend" and message me).
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Time to "Man Up!"
Time again for this stern but wholly biblical and much-needed "kick in the pants" message!
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
1 Cor. 16:13
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God has used recent events to once again press me to share this timeless, wholly biblical message from friend and colleague, Maj.
Travis Yates
. A difficult message? Yes, but it is so needed.
Let's be real here for a moment. Part of my calling to minister to our own in law enforcement is because we're a mission field: the majority of police officers do not have a genuine, life-saving/life-CHANGING personal relationship with God in Christ (a "Christian" as only God gets to define it). Moreover, many who are Christians (?) are more
lukewarm
(
Rev. 3:16
) "make believer" than believer (I was once one of those).
Not only am I attending funerals for officers who, by all apparent
evidence
were not Christians (God calls us to "
examine
" ourselves --
2 Cor. 13:5
-- to see if we are really
of the faith
. See
What Kind of Christian Are You?
), but I'm also ministering to our sick and injured who can't grasp why God is not answering their prayers while they are in the midst of ongoing, unrepentant sin, including but by no means limited to adultery, divorce due to infidelity, abortion, sex and living together outside of marriage, same sex relationships (yes, it's sin and NO, God is not "OK" with it), drug and alcohol abuse and more.
Despite this, I continue to hear, "Well I'm a good person" (or "good cop"). "All cops get to go to heaven." "God gives us a pass." "The Bible us just a book of suggestions."
"God has to change with the times!"
Really? God's answer to all of these is an emphatic "NO!"
Others will continue to say (wrongly) "Rest in Peace" or "RIP" without understanding who that actually applies to (see
RIP?).
At the same time, I remain wholly encouraged by the love, patience and yes, discipline of our loving Father whose desire is that ALL will repent and enter into a life-saving/life-changing personal relationship with Him (
Mark 1:15, John 3:16-21 and 14:6
...keep reading). Does that describe you? Are you sure?
With that, I can't encourage you enough to take the time to pray and then open both your Bible AND your heart to what God pressed on Travis and I to share with you here (his message is outwardly secular but is in fact wholly biblical as I share in the follow-up below). And no, it's
not too late
.
With that, Travis writes:
MAN UP!
I just returned from another conversation where I found out a 20-year police veteran is doing the proverbial “mid-life crisis.” In cop terms that means he is cheating on his wife, absent from his kids and pretty much checked out from his family. All the while he works on a police department and seen as a “good” cop.
He’s not.
He’s a coward and he is weak and he doesn’t deserve to wear the badge. You heard me right. This “right of passage” that I have seen for far too long is wrecking marriages, families and it does nothing for our police departments.
I worked for a coward once that had the ole reputation of sleeping around on his wife. He (and a few others) thought he was pretty cool. He claimed that it had nothing to do with his job and that he could be a great cop despite his actions against his family. He looked at himself as some leader among men.
He was completely wrong.
We must change this. Morality should mean something to those behind the badge and if you are going to abuse the one you promised your life to, what will you do to a co-worker or the community if you had a chance?
I call it the way I see it and it’s gotten a few folks sideways with me more than I can remember and I have held my tongue long enough on this issue. If you cheat on your family, you are no different than the liars, crooks and criminals that you throw in jail. In fact, you could be worse.
There is good news though.
If I’m talking about you, you still have time. You may have caused irreparable damage to you reputation and family or they may still be in the dark. If you are the former, apologize to your family and repent. Forgiveness is the fabric to our society that everyone needs, including me. Change your life and if you get a second chance don’t make the same mistake.
If you are the latter, stop what you are doing. You made the decision to be a weak man and you can now make the decision to man up. Live for the future and don’t look back. Become known for the man you are about to be and not what you have been.
I’ve never claimed perfection but I know this from over two decades in police supervision and management. Nothing and I mean nothing good ever comes from a police officer that steps out on their wife.
Be a good police officer and a greater man
(MC -- or woman)
. Lord knows we need more of both.
Amen! Folks, before I repented and came to faith, I was the seemingly "good cop" on duty but not a very good man off duty. In fact, much of what Travis writes about could describe me in my "BC" (Before Christ) days! Here's Travis' original article from
Law Officer
:
It Is Time to "Man Up".
What part applies to you?
So where's God and the Bible in all this? And how can we get it right? Here's the deal folks: without Christ and transforming power of the Holy Spirit that indwells every true born again believer, we can NEVER "man up" enough to get it right.
First, understand that while ours is a God-ordained profession (
Romans 13:1-4, Psalm 82:3-4
and more), it -- like the rest of the world -- is "infected" by sin (
Isaiah 64:6
--
We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind
).
Praise God, out of love (
John 3:16
), God the Father sent His only Son into the world to pay our sin penalty (ultimately, a just eternal sentence in a very real place called Hell) and provide THE way (
John 14:6
) to both save us and change us. On this, the Bible tell us that
“
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God"
(
1 Corinthians 5:21
).
Jesus Christ -- God with "skin on" -- became that sin offering. He came into the world (what we call
Christmas
) to defeat Satan and overcome the righteous punishment for OUR sin through His sacrificial death on the cross (the "
greater love
..." passage --
John 15:13
-- personified) and glorious resurrection from the dead (what we celebrate on Resurrection Sunday -- aka, Easter)!
Secondly, we need to understand that we can never be "good enough" to "earn" or "badge" our way out of Hell and into Heaven. Nor can we effectively "man up" (again, "man" here is "mankind" -- men and women) unless we are first living and serving under the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And that power is available ONLY to those who have been "
born again
" (
John 3:1-21
) in Christ and thus a "Christian" as God alone gets to define it.
So two things in closing
:
(1) If you're someone for whom Travis' message does
not
apply, be a COURAGEOUS LEADER and steer those who are not "manning up" in right direction.
Mentor, disciple
, admonish and encourage!
(2) If Travis' message describes you, then make the courageous and honorable decision to "
man up
" (keep reading)!
For both these points,
1 Corinthians 16:13
is right on target:
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
It is noteworthy to mention that this quote comes from a Philistine out of the book of
1st Samuel
who is challenging his comrades to step up and act like men so they don’t become enslaved to others. Then in this passage above, the Apostle Paul quotes this same truth but the meaning of the words change in the Greek. To “
quit ye like men
” (KJV) implies the gathering of moral conviction with the exercise of manly valor. My brothers, it is PAST time for us to join the King of kings and Lord of lords in this Great Battle that requires our complete devotion. It is time to
MAN UP
and
act like men
!
So it is with this understanding that I again bring "backup" of the eternal kind by sharing with you God's "rescue plan" (the
Plan of Salvation
). If you've never repented of your sin and cried out to God for your salvation, then I invite ("beg" is more like it) for you to "man up" and do so today. Likewise, if you do know Christ as Lord and Savior but are walking in rebellion or otherwise failing to "man up", then I'm encouraging you to
repent and get right with Him
today. Scroll down to the
Know God?
section below for the "How?" (and, with my usual "Code 3" sense of urgency, we exhort you to "
man up
" up and "
DO IT NOW!
").
MC
____________________
KNOW GOD?
(1) Do you hold to an utterly false hope that you can "earn" or otherwise "badge" your way into heaven and escape hell because you consider yourself to be a "
good
" cop or "good" person? That you can be "good" enough without God? That you "deserve" heaven because of your so-called "good" service? Take the
Good Person Test
and see how you do!
(2) Jesus' first recorded words in His earthly ministry were and remain, "
Repent and believe in the Good News
" (
Mark 1:15
). To
repent
is a "180" -- a complete,
radical
change of mind and heart as it relates to our sin (as God defines it). To "believe" (
pisteuo
in the original Greek) as Jesus intends it here is to wholeheartedly trust and
surrender
your life to Him in faith in the same way we have "faith" that our body armor will do its job against the rounds it is intended to stop; that a well-maintained weapon will function properly when used in defense against criminals intent on destroying us or others; or that our parachute will open when it is supposed to (we stake our very lives on it)! For more, see
What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
(3) This same concept of "
believe
" (the saving kind) is further revealed in
John 3:1-21
where Jesus says, "
... you must be born again
." Again, note our Lord's emphasis on the word "
must
" (not "may" or "should" or even "someday"): this is ultimately the life-saving AND life-changing personal relationship (and NOT "religion") with Jesus Christ that I stress here every week (see
What does it mean to be a born again Christian
? [hint -- there is no other kind]).
(5) Need more? Then check out this powerful, short video message that also comes to us from
Travis Yates
:
Cops and Salvation
(6) Have you now said "yes" to Jesus as Lord and Savior but are wondering what to do next? The "now what" is also an important part in dealing with the issues that can lead to suicide and sin in general. Click on,
Now what?
MC
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ABOUT US
The
Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
is
a national, FCPO-affiliated, non-denominational,
evangelical
Christian outreach to our own in law enforcement. These newsletters and profession-focused Bible studies are part of this effort and past editions can be found on our website and our social media feeds. Our desire is (1) to be used of God to
WIN
the lost in our profession to a saving faith in Christ; (2) to
DISCIPLE
the Christian officer; (3)
SEND
out discipled (trained) officers to "repeat" 1 and 2; (4) to
SUPPORT
police marriages; (5) to transform our God-ordained profession by infusing it with all-in Christian officers; and (6) to
IMPACT
(reduce) police suicides and PTS with the
Cure
found in Christ Jesus alone. In keeping with these 6 points, please feel free to adapt these messages for your own individual or group use and
share
them with others.
The
Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers
(FCPO-USA)
exists to provide biblical support ("backup"), accountability and
iron sharpens iron
fellowship for Christian officers first in the U.S. and throughout the world as well. Our Denver-area FCPO chapter (
FCPO Chapter #217
) is a
Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
affiliate. Locally, we meet approximately twice a month in the south Denver-Metro suburb of Highlands Ranch for profession-focused, sound (uncompromising) Bible study, prayer and servant-warrior fellowship (and spouses are both welcome and encouraged to attend with their LEO).
Contact me
for complete details.
The
Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
and FCPO-Metro Denver (
Chapter 217
) are led by veteran Police Officer, Chaplain and Evangelist Michael "MC" Williams
.
MC is an active (32-years and counting) sworn police officer/investigator and sought-after instructor and speaker at churches (including the popular
Centurion Church Security Seminar
), retreats and both police and civilian training conferences and seminars around the country. Contact MC via
email
for details on how to book him for your event.
Finally, we covet your prayer and financial support for this vital ministry outreach. Reference the latter, you can give in two ways:
(1) Send a check to the address posted below.
or
(2) Go the the
FCPO giving page
and designate "
FCPO #217
" or the "Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry."
* All donations are tax-deductible.
The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
, P.O. Box 630854, Littleton, CO 80163 |
Email Address
| (720) 371-1022 |
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