Author: Adam

Hey this is my personal info. My blog, at least right now, is intended for people who already know me, and they know that I am from Northeast Indiana, but for the summer of 2006 I'm chillin out in Tulsa, Oklahoma for an internship. So since everybody on this page probably already knows me I'm not going to waste extra time to say that I'm 22 and I just graduated with my music degree and I play the piano, and have felt called to ministry since I was in 3rd grade. Yea, I'm not going to say all that extra stuff.
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Everyone On a Soul Search – Go to McDonald’s

I met a Buddhist (yes, right here in DeKalb County) a few days ago who agreed that all religions were equal as long as the person was sincere in what they were believing. I pushed his idea to the limit and said, “So if I believed that a chicken egg was God and I worshiped the egg, I would find [heaven]?” He said, “yes.” Now as I wrote here, the only way to heaven is through faith in Jesus. I was concerned about this man’s eternal destiny, but he (as a Buddhist) wasn’t the least bit concerned about mine. I was sincere in my Christianity — and to him that was enough. If I was sincere in “Big-Diehl-ism” it would have been fine, as well.

I recently saw an add on my own website which read, “Which Religion is right for YOU? Click here to take the test.”

I threw up a little bit in my mouth.

When I go to McDonald’s I can order a Big Mac, a Salad, or Chicken McNuggets. It really doesn’t matter which I choose – it’s a choice from a menu. What if religions were just a choice on a menu?

“Hi, I ‘d like some Islam (with no jihad), with a side of Buddhism, some Christianity to drink, and one of those cherry Wiccas for desert.”

If that was the case we could all just go around picking and choosing whatever we felt was correct at that moment. Deciding right from wrong cannot be based on our feelings, attitudes, or pleasures. I didn’t choose Christianity because it “fits” me the best or it looked the most tasty on the Religion menu – I chose and continue to choose Christianity because its the only religion in the world that can connect me to God by creating a bridge over my spiritual separation from Him (sinful nature). No other religion in the world addresses the issue of our sinful nature like Christianity.

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Top Ten Favorite Musicians/Songwriters

I’m not really sure what brought this on, but I felt compelled to make a top ten list of my favorite musicians, music groups, or songwriters. When I critique music, I usually consider the style or public interest (in many ways, that’s the only thing that matters). But this list transcends all that and is based solely on WHAT I LIKE.

Israel Houghton and New Breed. His music is ultra creative. The rhythm is the tightest I’ve ever heard. The sound is sweet every time. I love this group. My ears became 10x more sensitive to details after I started listening to this group. Great stuff.

John Tesh. What I like most about John’s music is the sound that he creates in the groove.

Eric Whitacre. Eric is a young modern music composer. He walks a FINE LINE between harmony and dissonance. It’s incredible. I cried the first three times I listened to the CD.

Leeland. Leeland Mooring’s voice is incredible. Oh my word.

Elton John.

Audio Adrenaline. 

Bobby McFerrin. Best vocalist in the world.

Ross Parsley and New Life Church.

DC Talk. DC Talk successfully evolved through several eras of popular music with the aim of spreading Christ. Unlike Carman, they did an incredible job changing styles.

Phil Collins. I love Phil’s voice. Beats are pretty tight, too.

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“Just”

Whoever started the trend of putting the word “just” in front of the phrase “a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” is an idiot.

“JUST” a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. JUST?! What?! Do you have any idea how tasty a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich is? Oh my gosh. They’re wonderful. Especially with milk. “Just” implies that its not that big of a deal. Those sandwiches are actually really good!

Instead of saying “I want JUST a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” I’m going to start saying, “I want a GLORIOUS AND MAGNIFICENT peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

‘Cuz they’re good. . . . . Think about it.

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Profoundness in “Humil___”

Have you ever noticed that “humble” and “humiliate” start the same and have similar meanings – but there is still a distinct difference.

Humility is a characteristic of your soul.

Humiliation is a characteristic of your “flesh.”

Now the really cool thing is that those who are truly HUMBLE have the deeper thing, and they can never be truly HUMILIATED. Now switch that around: That means those who are easily humiliated probably have an issue with pride in that area. Why else would they be humiliated?

I don’t know about you, but I find that really deep.

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The Spiritual Microscope.

The apostle Paul called himself the “worst of sinners.” I always wondered about that. I mean, this is the Apostle Paul! This is the guy that historically had the largest effect on Christianity, next to Jesus of course. If anyone has ever been CLOSE to God, its the Apostle Paul — yet he calls himself the WORST of sinners. Why?

I think back to 9th grade Biology class. One of my favorite things was working with a microscope in the labs. Maybe I’m a geek – but I still remember the time I looked at a celery cell. The microscope had three different lenses that increased in power. With the first lens, we could see a large group of the individual cells. When we turned up the power to the second lens, we could see three or four cells, and some of the stuff on the inside. When we turned up the power to the highest level, we could see the details of one individual cell. We could see the mitochondria, the lysosome, cell wall, everything (I didn’t even google that stuff, I still remember it!).

When we get close to God, its like we turn up the power on the spiritual microscope and we can see what we couldn’t see before. I think the closer we get to God, the more we see our own sin. This happens to me, but it also explains why the Apostle Paul called himself the WORST of sinners. It wasn’t that he sinned more than anyone else, it was that he could see better. It also indicates his humility.

Do you struggle with your sin? (That’s rhetorical!). My bet is that you say “yes, of course I struggle.” But please press further before simply passing this off as an irrelevant blog post:

Do you truly STRUGGLE with your sin or do you just feel bad about it?

That’s a really introspective question. Go ahead and think about it. No really – think about it. I’m going to wait.

.

.

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I think most of the Christians in America, especially the Midwest region, just feel bad about their sin – they aren’t struggling – they are not OVERCOMERS. I think most Christians couldn’t make a list of the sins they are struggling with because they’re not struggling at all – they think they have everything under control but they don’t realize they have nothing. It’s not until they are close to God when they will see clearly through a higher powered lens in the spiritual microscope.

That is the description of the Church in Laodecia that is talked about in Revelation 3. The very nature of this sin is that you don’t realize there is even a problem… it’s a “slow and subtle fade” away from your relationship with Christ. It’s self-deception. I encourage you to ask God to show you if you fit into this “lukewarm Christianity” described in Revelation 3. I wrote more about it here.

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Preach It, Nathan!

I wrote this about two months ago, about how stupid it is when Christians publicly talk bad about a church.

Now now my brother wrote this and its awesome. As I read it, I found myself saying, “PREACH IT, NATHAN!” Go read it – but remember that I’m the better looking one.

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Christianity is a Crutch.

I’ve heard the quote by Jessie Ventura (I think) that is supposed to be a slam on Christianity, “Religion is nothing but a crutch for the weak minded.”

Although I don’t agree with the “weak minded” bit, I think Jessie is right. That’s exactly what Christianity is. I can’t get to heaven on my own. I can’t live life successfully on my own. I can’t find God on my own. I need help – I need Jesus. I need a crutch.

Allen Hood took this to a more spiritual level when he said, “I want to know what its like to access power when I have no more.” That’s so good it could be a blog all its own:

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO ACCESS POWER WHEN I HAVE NO MORE.

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Spiritual Fervor – What Spiritual Fervor?

Never be lacking in zeal, but always keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. This is Romans 12:11.

I used to think that I had spiritual fervor, but in reality I had none. It’s not that I was attempting to fool anyone about my spiritual fervor: the only person I was fooling was MYSELF. I genuinely thought I had spiritual fervor.

The deal was that I wasn’t passionate for “the world” nor was I passionate for God. God would rather that I have no relationship with Him at all than for me to just be wishy washy like I was. Wishy washy makes God want to vomit, and it certainly won’t get me to heaven. I had the attitude that because I served God so much and since I’ve personally led hundreds through a sinner’s prayer, (and so on and so on), then I don’t need anything else — but I didn’t realize that I was wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I needed to CONTINUOUSLY RENEW my relationship with God — because when I’m truly plugged into The Power Source, I become rich, clothed, and my eyes become open. (Revelation 3:15-18, Adam Diehl Version).

Most of the people reading this right now probably fit into this category. You can’t talk about maintaining spiritual fervor because there is none to maintain . . . you think there is, but there’s not. Most of the people reading this right now just thought to themselves, “Oh, well that’s not me that’s someone else.” And that’s exactly what I’m talking about.

I plead with you – read Revelation 3:14-22. Then read it again, asking God to show you how and if you fit into the description of this Church.