My life has pretty much, totally changed since January 24, 2011. That was the day my employment ended at the Central Coast Rescue Mission. It was also a very freeing day. I had not even realized how much of a box I had been relegated to. Of course change is rarely comfortable and without boundaries as to days and hours at work, not to mention a paycheck hitting my bank account twice a month, that was a dramatic change. At this point we are making our way through a host of changes including a new teaching venue, new roommates, new schedule, and looking for a new church. Just for good measure, there is also the new health insurance, health savings account, and the new doctor. I may be getting too old for this much change all at once. Then again, my father is almost 83 years old and his doctor thinks he could live to be nearly 100 so, should Jesus tarry, I probably have a lot more years to tread this sod.
Almost invariably when we meet someone new, one of the first questions they ask is, "What do you do?" I was asked that question recently while visiting a church for the first time. The problem is, I do not really know what I do. My top-0f-the-head response was, "I am in the process of reinventing myself." I then went on to explain that I am a substance abuse counselor, I am starting a therapeutic community, and I am still trying to figure out how to make money consistently in the stock market, all the while, writing this blog to see if perchance we might defeat the religious spirit over the Santa Maria valley sooner rather than later. If you know anything about me you know I do not give up--on challenges, or on challenging people. Although it might be prudent to throw in the towel at times. That is just not me. God willing, I will be here.
Now I have no job and I am kind of enjoying it. If we can manage to establish some sort of routine and generate enough income, I think the no job thing will work very well for me. Not having a job or a regular stream of income can work on a man's psyche, and especially so if he watches his wife go off to work everyday. I am also in the process of understanding that whole situation and finding peace in it. Have you ever noticed that although God always provides everything we need, we sometimes do not like the way He chooses to do it? Been there done that too. It is probably best just to let Him be God and decide how best to deal with those things. To be sure there has been some stress and anxiety as things are coming into focus, but are not quite there yet. I am looking forward to telling you the end of this story. Of course if you keep reading the posts you will see the lessons as they develop.
It seems that by the age of sixty, I should have a better idea of what I want to be when I grow up. I have always said I am a late bloomer, but now it is getting to edge of being ridiculous. In all actuality, however, I am doing exactly what I want to do and, more importantly what I believe the Lord has called me and prepared me to do. Many people make the mistake of thinking that a multitude of witnesses will tip the spiritual scales toward the truth much like what an attorney expects to have happen in a court of law. Courts of law are courts of law. They have nothing to do with spiritual realities. In the spirit, one man can be a majority. (Do not go getting your exercise by jumping to a conclusion and running off with something I did not just say.) In the Old Testament, the prophets were usually one-man majorities in telling the people what God was saying. Of course, there are also evidences of ample confirmations as in the account of Elisha being told by other prophets that God was about to take Elijah away. (2 Kings 2) The Kings of Israel and Judah were always, each individually a majority. They were the undisputed rulers of their respective kingdoms and their word was law. There were even times when a priest spoke as a majority as in the account of the high priest Caiaphas saying that Jesus should die rather than the whole nation perish. (John 11:50) When it comes to our own, individual lives, we are the only majority that matters. We determine our own course of action, to our benefit or our detriment. A wise person will seek as much counsel as possible before heading in a new direction, but it is still his own decision the ultimately prevails.
A few years ago in a business class, we first heard the concept of a story loop. A story loop is every good reason we can think of to continue to do the wrong things we have been doing. Too many of us have been stuck in story loops for far too long. We cannot do this or that, or what we know God is calling us to do because (fill in the blank).
I used to want to make a lot of money. Although that would be nice, I now have different goals and ambitions. I would still like to have a six figure income some year, and that is almost in sight, just over the horizon. That is not terribly important at this point, but I believe it will happen. For the time being, I am working on providing a place where people who need help with the struggles of life can come and find rest for their souls. If we have not already, we are in the process of shrugging off the religious spirit, at least for our little group. By the way, I have already been criticized for working on all those things, by guess who? That is right, people who do not even know they are affected by a religious spirit. I would be content with being a one-man majority because I know what the Holy Spirit is saying to me. Thankfully, God has a better idea. He has been gathering a few people around me so I do not have to be my own majority. Together we are learning how to lead productive lives, following Jesus, and helping others do the same. We are by no means an exclusive club. Inquire within for details.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Imagine How I Feel
In previous posts, we have discussed the TrueBeliever's Facebook group. They are the ones who believe Jesus will take the true believers away in the rapture on May 21, 2011. They have even set the time as 6:00 PM on that day, but we have not seen any information as to what time zone that would be. Interestingly, the people discussing that possibility seem to be mostly in the good old USofA. We gather they arrived at that time as the same time of day Elijah was calling down fire from heaven during his challenge to the prophets of Baal and Asherah. (1 Kings 18:20-40) We would have to suppose from that the time would really be 6:00 PM (if that is even the right time) in Israel. That would make it 8:00 AM here on the west coast. As of this writing there are about 450 people in the group, including me. I was put into the group by a longtime friend for whatever reason.
Do not count me as one of the TrueBelievers. I am truly skeptical of that date and time for various reasons, but I am much more troubled by some of the other doctrine of the group. I read some of the posts and have chatted on Facebook with a few members of the group. There would not seem to be much point in detailing their bad doctrine except to point out in regard to our personal responsibility to accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, they would be considered hyper-Calvinists. They believe we have no responsibility whatsoever for our own, individual salvation. They believe God has chosen a group of people from before the foundation of the world to be born-again and dwell eternally with Him. Through a complex series of mathematical calculations (bear in mind all mathematical calculations are complex to this writer) they have been able to unlock the mysteries of the Bible as to the timing of events and numbers of those who will be born-again. If you are not in, you are not in. This has caused some pause and even some fear amongst people who belong to the group. They truly do not know if they are among the chosen. It has also given yours truly many opportunities to minister to some of those people. That is what this is post is really about.
I was kind of walking around the house praying the other morning and some frustration, aggravation, and maybe a little anger rose up in me as I thought about the people who have fallen victim to some of the false doctrine. I was complaining to the Lord about the situation, telling Him it was making me angry. I had no sooner gotten the words out of my mouth than I heard in my spirit, "Imagine how I feel."
Preachers occasionally like to remind congregations of a scene in heaven. One never quite knows for sure about such things, but the scene is most likely fictional. The angels in heaven have witnessed the Passion of Jesus and ask the Father what the plan is now that Jesus will be returning to heaven. God responds that the gospel will now be entrusted to born-again men who will preach His salvation to the world. The angels, who have observed mankind for some millennia by that time question God as to His back-up plan should man fail. He tells them there is no back-up plan. That is probably overly-simplistic, but the fact remains that we are the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:27) For now we are sons and daughters of God locked in flesh and blood, but we know that when Jesus appears we will be like Him. (1 John 3:2)
I cannot tell you exactly how God feels about people who do the wrong thing with every good intention because they have been seduced and deceived. I have to think they are not blameless because they did have a part in their deception. We enter into the deception of sin when we are tempted to do the wrong thing and do it because of our own desires. (James 1:14) One has to wonder if the TrueBelievers (on anyone else for that matter) would be quite so sure about their interpretation, analysis, and mathematical computations of the scriptures if they really understood they will be held accountable before God for whatever harm they cause to people who listen to them. (see Mark 9:42) On more than one occasion, I have reminded the TrueBelievers that,"...God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) God did not keep salvation a secret from anyone, let alone those whom He called. He calls all who He knows will respond. We would have to think by this point in history we would be talking about billions of people. They have the number down to only several million. Again, their math, and I do not understand it, so I remain skeptical. I am already working on a post for May 22nd, you know, just in case. If Jesus really does come that day, I will not be here to finish it. I sincerely hope none of you reading this post will be either.
One of my former pastors gave an invitation to receive Jesus at nearly every service he preached. He was fond of saying, "You know if you have been born-again as surely as you know if you have a driver's license." If you are not sure about either of those check your wallet first. If you do not have a license do not drive. Then check your spirit because the Bible certainly says, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." (Romans 8:16) If there is no witness, you can take care of that immediately by asking Jesus to be Lord of your life. Imagine how God would feel to have you as part of His forever family.
Do not count me as one of the TrueBelievers. I am truly skeptical of that date and time for various reasons, but I am much more troubled by some of the other doctrine of the group. I read some of the posts and have chatted on Facebook with a few members of the group. There would not seem to be much point in detailing their bad doctrine except to point out in regard to our personal responsibility to accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, they would be considered hyper-Calvinists. They believe we have no responsibility whatsoever for our own, individual salvation. They believe God has chosen a group of people from before the foundation of the world to be born-again and dwell eternally with Him. Through a complex series of mathematical calculations (bear in mind all mathematical calculations are complex to this writer) they have been able to unlock the mysteries of the Bible as to the timing of events and numbers of those who will be born-again. If you are not in, you are not in. This has caused some pause and even some fear amongst people who belong to the group. They truly do not know if they are among the chosen. It has also given yours truly many opportunities to minister to some of those people. That is what this is post is really about.
I was kind of walking around the house praying the other morning and some frustration, aggravation, and maybe a little anger rose up in me as I thought about the people who have fallen victim to some of the false doctrine. I was complaining to the Lord about the situation, telling Him it was making me angry. I had no sooner gotten the words out of my mouth than I heard in my spirit, "Imagine how I feel."
Preachers occasionally like to remind congregations of a scene in heaven. One never quite knows for sure about such things, but the scene is most likely fictional. The angels in heaven have witnessed the Passion of Jesus and ask the Father what the plan is now that Jesus will be returning to heaven. God responds that the gospel will now be entrusted to born-again men who will preach His salvation to the world. The angels, who have observed mankind for some millennia by that time question God as to His back-up plan should man fail. He tells them there is no back-up plan. That is probably overly-simplistic, but the fact remains that we are the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:27) For now we are sons and daughters of God locked in flesh and blood, but we know that when Jesus appears we will be like Him. (1 John 3:2)
I cannot tell you exactly how God feels about people who do the wrong thing with every good intention because they have been seduced and deceived. I have to think they are not blameless because they did have a part in their deception. We enter into the deception of sin when we are tempted to do the wrong thing and do it because of our own desires. (James 1:14) One has to wonder if the TrueBelievers (on anyone else for that matter) would be quite so sure about their interpretation, analysis, and mathematical computations of the scriptures if they really understood they will be held accountable before God for whatever harm they cause to people who listen to them. (see Mark 9:42) On more than one occasion, I have reminded the TrueBelievers that,
One of my former pastors gave an invitation to receive Jesus at nearly every service he preached. He was fond of saying, "You know if you have been born-again as surely as you know if you have a driver's license." If you are not sure about either of those check your wallet first. If you do not have a license do not drive. Then check your spirit because the Bible certainly says, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." (Romans 8:16) If there is no witness, you can take care of that immediately by asking Jesus to be Lord of your life. Imagine how God would feel to have you as part of His forever family.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
A Lesson Not Quite Learned--Or Was It
Early in 1980, we relocated our family to Davis, California following the call of God to do so. We thought we were going there to start a church and help a lot of people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. As we were leaving there seven years later to come back to southern California, the Holy Spirit made it clear we had been there to further our education in the things of God. We did establish a church which we left to another, young couple who were just getting started in ministry.
We spent seven years scratching at some pretty hard ground as we sought to establish something of lasting value for the Kingdom of God in middle of the state. To be sure there were some victories. We saw people born-again and saw them and others come to an understanding of some of the things God had planned for them. Some of those people remain fast friends to this day. Of course it was not all victorious and glorious and everyone did not choose to participate in what God was doing.
In the previous post, we mentioned the hypocrisy of the church when it opens its doors to everyone and later decides who should be there. We faced a situation in that little church that we would not wish on any pastor or leader anywhere. Since no one knows the lady anyway, I will go ahead and use her real name. The way God works, this post might fall into her hands at some point and God can use it for His glory.
Victoria came to the church after having spent a year overseas with the Christian, youth, missionary group, Youth With a Mission. We were excited to have her there because most of the church were still college-age, young people who were not yet grounded and established in their faith. We hoped Victoria would be a good example of how a person in that stage of life dealt with the accompanying challenges. All our hopes were not quite met. She did have some ideas that were helpful in the church meetings, but when given just a little responsibility, she ran with it, not considering the larger picture. Then, after a couple months of being in our weekly services she realized, much to every one's surprise, she had never been born-again.
Receiving Jesus as her Lord did not tone Victoria down much, if at all. It seemed I could not do anything right as pastor of the church. She organized a meeting to see if I could be convinced I was not the right man for the job of pastor. She started a college-age Bible study in her home. She seemed to be very uncomfortable when I showed up one night.
Discernment being what it is, or sometimes is not, it took me several months to realize how badly the church was suffering because of Victoria's influence. Let me hasten to add, I believe she sincerely thought she was doing the right things. She was simply, sincerely wrong. To her credit, my wife repeatedly saw the problem before I did and encouraged me to encourage Victoria to simply leave the church. One of my problems is that I do not give up on people. Sometimes that is less of a problem than at other times. (When I did not encourage Victoria to leave, my wife began to pray her out.)I hold the firm belief that everyone is better off having some kind of Godly influence in their lives and who knows, but that I might be the only one showing them Jesus.
By and by, Victoria left the church of her own accord. She was gone just a few weeks when winter turned into spring in that little church. Without any additional action on our part to encourage people to attend our services, the church attendance doubled in the space of about two months. One of the people who came at that time became our worship leader and our worship times became dramatically more spiritual, energizing, and exciting. At least I thought so, and I had been the primary worship leader up until that time.
If I had it to do all over again, Victoria might not have lasted as long as she did in that church. My discernment is better these days. We almost certainly would have discussed her situation earlier. She was an intelligent and talented young lady and I believe she sincerely wanted to see things improve at the church. Make no mistake, she was going about it all the wrong way. It really was all about her, and what she thought best. Give her some credit. She took action to change things she thought needed changing. There are not all that many people in any church who will do that. When she finally realized things were not going to be her way, she left. I hope she found the right place. My opinion has not really changed on that over the years. I still believe everyone should determine for himself or herself where God wants them to be.
We spent seven years scratching at some pretty hard ground as we sought to establish something of lasting value for the Kingdom of God in middle of the state. To be sure there were some victories. We saw people born-again and saw them and others come to an understanding of some of the things God had planned for them. Some of those people remain fast friends to this day. Of course it was not all victorious and glorious and everyone did not choose to participate in what God was doing.
In the previous post, we mentioned the hypocrisy of the church when it opens its doors to everyone and later decides who should be there. We faced a situation in that little church that we would not wish on any pastor or leader anywhere. Since no one knows the lady anyway, I will go ahead and use her real name. The way God works, this post might fall into her hands at some point and God can use it for His glory.
Victoria came to the church after having spent a year overseas with the Christian, youth, missionary group, Youth With a Mission. We were excited to have her there because most of the church were still college-age, young people who were not yet grounded and established in their faith. We hoped Victoria would be a good example of how a person in that stage of life dealt with the accompanying challenges. All our hopes were not quite met. She did have some ideas that were helpful in the church meetings, but when given just a little responsibility, she ran with it, not considering the larger picture. Then, after a couple months of being in our weekly services she realized, much to every one's surprise, she had never been born-again.
Receiving Jesus as her Lord did not tone Victoria down much, if at all. It seemed I could not do anything right as pastor of the church. She organized a meeting to see if I could be convinced I was not the right man for the job of pastor. She started a college-age Bible study in her home. She seemed to be very uncomfortable when I showed up one night.
Discernment being what it is, or sometimes is not, it took me several months to realize how badly the church was suffering because of Victoria's influence. Let me hasten to add, I believe she sincerely thought she was doing the right things. She was simply, sincerely wrong. To her credit, my wife repeatedly saw the problem before I did and encouraged me to encourage Victoria to simply leave the church. One of my problems is that I do not give up on people. Sometimes that is less of a problem than at other times. (When I did not encourage Victoria to leave, my wife began to pray her out.)I hold the firm belief that everyone is better off having some kind of Godly influence in their lives and who knows, but that I might be the only one showing them Jesus.
By and by, Victoria left the church of her own accord. She was gone just a few weeks when winter turned into spring in that little church. Without any additional action on our part to encourage people to attend our services, the church attendance doubled in the space of about two months. One of the people who came at that time became our worship leader and our worship times became dramatically more spiritual, energizing, and exciting. At least I thought so, and I had been the primary worship leader up until that time.
If I had it to do all over again, Victoria might not have lasted as long as she did in that church. My discernment is better these days. We almost certainly would have discussed her situation earlier. She was an intelligent and talented young lady and I believe she sincerely wanted to see things improve at the church. Make no mistake, she was going about it all the wrong way. It really was all about her, and what she thought best. Give her some credit. She took action to change things she thought needed changing. There are not all that many people in any church who will do that. When she finally realized things were not going to be her way, she left. I hope she found the right place. My opinion has not really changed on that over the years. I still believe everyone should determine for himself or herself where God wants them to be.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
One More Step--A Warning
In the last post we mentioned the Facebook group TrueBelievers who sincerely believe Jesus is coming back for The Church on May 21, 2011. Color me skeptical. I have no problem whatsoever being wrong on this one. If that turns out to be the actual date I will not be here on May 22nd either. (I say "either" giving that group the benefit of the doubt.)
When I posted my comments to that group, I witnessed their vitriol toward anyone who would disagree with any point of their questionable doctrine. I did receive a couple comments from people who seemed to sincerely want to help me understand the errors of my ways and my theology. There was even one young man (much younger than I anyway) who started trying to gently persuade me that Jesus is the thief of John 10:10 only in a reverse sort of way. His position is that Jesus is the thief because He comes to steal back what Satan has stolen from Him and to kill and destroy His enemies. I trust you can see how close that position is to the truth, with the one, minor exception that everything belongs to Jesus, and always has so it is His to take back and to do with as He pleases. He will not be stealing anything. I mention that to say, the chain of messages ended with him accusing me of following a gospel that required my good works to obtain salvation. When pressed as to how he received his salvation, he said he had done "nothing to obtain salvation" and sent me a link where I could find out how I can be sure I am born-again. Well, I did also tell him that if he did not know how he had received salvation, he might not have it. I do not need a link to assure me I have been born-again.
Tommy Walker, wrote and sings one of my all-time, favorite songs, "We Will Remember." The last verse says, "I still remember the day you saved me, the day I heard you call out my name." I still remember the day Jesus did that for me. As I said, I do not need a link or anyone else's confirmation. Having now completed the introduction let us get to the main point.
As wrong-headed, and possibly wrong-spirited as their doctrine might be, the members of TrueBelievers are sincere and passionate about what they believe. I think they are probably wrong, and based on what I heard from that one young man, I might even have cause to question who their god actually is. The problem with that is, my God, the God of the Bible, of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob does not take kindly to me trying to make those determinations. Other people's business is not my business. In fact my God sent His only Son, Jesus, to literally demonstrate love and not judgement. (John 3:17)
Jesus had a very clear concept of what He was on earth to do. Besides His statement in John 3:17, He said variously that He came to, testify to the truth (John 18:37), to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10), and to be the light of the world (John 9:5) among others.
Is it not interesting that when someone comes along who knows what they are doing, our human tendency is to begin to question them? First the Hebrews, then Pharaoh, questioned Moses. The religious leaders questioned Jesus. The church questioned Martin Luther. If I go any further along that line, I will begin to offend people. We could certainly make a list of historical figures up to the current day who have been or are misunderstood, questioned, or rejected by The Church for their beliefs. History has proven some of those same people to be right.
The Church loses any time we decide who stays and who goes, who is received and who is rejected, based on concepts or standards of acceptability to the established norms of conduct, behavior, appearance or for whatever other reason. The gospel is the good news of inclusivity. Everyone is included. Whosoever will is accepted by God and should be accepted by The Church. Where is the understanding? Where is the discernment? On what basis do we exclude anyone?
I guess today is my day for music. The contemporary Christian musical group, Casting Crowns has an album, perhaps their first, that is titled simply "Casting Crowns." I was given a copy years ago. (I very rarely buy music for myself.) I popped it into the car stereo a short time ago and I must be allergic to something they sang. My eyes started watering and my nose started running as I listened to words like, "what if His people prayed" and "the voice of truth tells me a different story" and "if we are The Church, why aren't His arms reaching" and "Jesus paid much to high a price for us to pick and choose who should come." It was a good thing the freeway was not particularly busy that day.
The Holy Spirit gave me the title for this post a month or so ago, well before I knew there were TrueBelievers on Facebook. In re-reading, I wonder if I have made the point He wanted to make. We are on the edge, as The Church, staring into the precipice of self-righteousness, denying by our actions, what Jesus came to do whenever we reject anyone for any reason. Brethren, these things ought not be so. The next step in that direction could lead to a very great fall. Back away from the edge.
When I posted my comments to that group, I witnessed their vitriol toward anyone who would disagree with any point of their questionable doctrine. I did receive a couple comments from people who seemed to sincerely want to help me understand the errors of my ways and my theology. There was even one young man (much younger than I anyway) who started trying to gently persuade me that Jesus is the thief of John 10:10 only in a reverse sort of way. His position is that Jesus is the thief because He comes to steal back what Satan has stolen from Him and to kill and destroy His enemies. I trust you can see how close that position is to the truth, with the one, minor exception that everything belongs to Jesus, and always has so it is His to take back and to do with as He pleases. He will not be stealing anything. I mention that to say, the chain of messages ended with him accusing me of following a gospel that required my good works to obtain salvation. When pressed as to how he received his salvation, he said he had done "nothing to obtain salvation" and sent me a link where I could find out how I can be sure I am born-again. Well, I did also tell him that if he did not know how he had received salvation, he might not have it. I do not need a link to assure me I have been born-again.
Tommy Walker, wrote and sings one of my all-time, favorite songs, "We Will Remember." The last verse says, "I still remember the day you saved me, the day I heard you call out my name." I still remember the day Jesus did that for me. As I said, I do not need a link or anyone else's confirmation. Having now completed the introduction let us get to the main point.
As wrong-headed, and possibly wrong-spirited as their doctrine might be, the members of TrueBelievers are sincere and passionate about what they believe. I think they are probably wrong, and based on what I heard from that one young man, I might even have cause to question who their god actually is. The problem with that is, my God, the God of the Bible, of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob does not take kindly to me trying to make those determinations. Other people's business is not my business. In fact my God sent His only Son, Jesus, to literally demonstrate love and not judgement. (John 3:17)
Jesus had a very clear concept of what He was on earth to do. Besides His statement in John 3:17, He said variously that He came to, testify to the truth (John 18:37), to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10), and to be the light of the world (John 9:5) among others.
Is it not interesting that when someone comes along who knows what they are doing, our human tendency is to begin to question them? First the Hebrews, then Pharaoh, questioned Moses. The religious leaders questioned Jesus. The church questioned Martin Luther. If I go any further along that line, I will begin to offend people. We could certainly make a list of historical figures up to the current day who have been or are misunderstood, questioned, or rejected by The Church for their beliefs. History has proven some of those same people to be right.
The Church loses any time we decide who stays and who goes, who is received and who is rejected, based on concepts or standards of acceptability to the established norms of conduct, behavior, appearance or for whatever other reason. The gospel is the good news of inclusivity. Everyone is included. Whosoever will is accepted by God and should be accepted by The Church. Where is the understanding? Where is the discernment? On what basis do we exclude anyone?
I guess today is my day for music. The contemporary Christian musical group, Casting Crowns has an album, perhaps their first, that is titled simply "Casting Crowns." I was given a copy years ago. (I very rarely buy music for myself.) I popped it into the car stereo a short time ago and I must be allergic to something they sang. My eyes started watering and my nose started running as I listened to words like, "what if His people prayed" and "the voice of truth tells me a different story" and "if we are The Church, why aren't His arms reaching" and "Jesus paid much to high a price for us to pick and choose who should come." It was a good thing the freeway was not particularly busy that day.
The Holy Spirit gave me the title for this post a month or so ago, well before I knew there were TrueBelievers on Facebook. In re-reading, I wonder if I have made the point He wanted to make. We are on the edge, as The Church, staring into the precipice of self-righteousness, denying by our actions, what Jesus came to do whenever we reject anyone for any reason. Brethren, these things ought not be so. The next step in that direction could lead to a very great fall. Back away from the edge.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Denial, Deception, and Hyprocrisy
I had lunch with an old friend earlier this week. He is both chronologically older than I am and we have known each other for over 35 years although we have not seen each other for much of that time. The meeting was encouraged by a mutual friend who thought we might benefit from talking to each other.
We were catching up on each other's lives and trying to discern why we might be having lunch at all. We discovered that we are both engaged in substance-abuse recovery ministries although we had gotten there by different doors. This blog and the religious spirit in the Santa Maria valley came up during the course of the conversation. I briefly explained my concept that a religious spirit is the same spirit that challenged Jesus through the religious leaders of His day. After asking a few questions for clarification, my friend seemed puzzled that anyone would not believe there is a religious spirit here. (Of course that is what I have been saying all along, as you know.) His assertion was that the entire church is affected by religious spirits. I certainly have no quarrel with that viewpoint. I only know that my focus is to be the one here.
Christian author Os Hillman writes, "The religious spirit can best be defined as an agent of Satan designed to prevent change and maintain the status quo by using religious devices. The religious spirit seeks to distort a genuine move of God through deception, control, and manipulation. This spirit operates out of old religious structures and attempts to maintain the status quo, favoring tradition over a genuine, intimate relationship with God. It influences believers to live the Christian life based on works instead of grace. Similar to the Greek way of thinking, the religious spirit depends on human effort to acquire spiritual knowledge and favor from God." Assuming Os is right, we can see the fallacy a religious spirit perpetrates, especially in the last sentence. Spiritual knowledge is not acquired or learned by an act of our will. It comes directly from the Holy Spirit into our spirits, bypassing our minds all together. As our minds are renewed (Romans 12:1) we learn how to incorporate those spiritual deposits into our daily lives.
It has taken me so long to finish this post that in the interim, I have been invited into a closed, Facebook group called TrueBelievers. The basis of the group is that they believe the rapture is going to happen on May 21, 2011. Aside from the obvious question there, after reading some of the posts in the group I could not resist questioning one of their teachings, just one mind you. Last time I looked, there were over sixty comments to my post. As you might guess they were overwhelming negative toward me. I was criticised, accused, and bashed for being Pentecostal, for believing we learn things from each other and from books, and for actually inviting Jesus to be Lord of my life rather than letting Him do all the work. Yes, I do know how ridiculous that sounds. I have never considered a theological education to be a liability, but I have found that some people do not agree with me on that. For whatever reason, some folks consider all theological education to be a bad thing. My experience is that sitting under the concentrated teaching of a group of people more knowledgeable and spiritual than I am has paid great benefits over the past decades. It has given me a framework upon which to hang the things the Holy Spirit is teaching me without going cuckoo as some people from my past have. In case you are unfamiliar with the term cuckoo, it comes from the Greek meaning way off base. (Yes, that is a joke.)
This is beginning to sound like a ramble and I have not even mentioned the glorious visit with my chiropractor today. All I was going to say about that is that I am glad he went to school to learn his profession. I went into his office in some pain and left feeling much better. (In case you need your hand held on that one, it refers back to the first statement in the previous paragraph.
Whenever we deny spiritual realities, we open ourselves to be deceived. By definition, one does not know when one is walking in an area of deception. The deeper into deception one moves, the less one believes oneself to be deceived until the deception becomes the truth for them. A person following a lie as though it were the truth becomes the only truth that exists for them. When that person gains any kind of following, it looks as though he or she has been right all along. In fact, sometimes the truth is 180 degrees from their reality. Of course I am over-simplifying. Virtually no one is 180 degrees off in more than an area or possibly two, and many are not off nearly that much in any area. The point is that we do not know unless we have people keeping us sharp as iron sharpens iron. (Proverbs 27:17)
The bow on this post is that when we are wrong, thinking we are right, our whole life becomes a lie. Though we do not recognize it as such, hypocrisy has worked it's way though the whole lump of our life. Our yes becomes negative and we have unwittingly made it impossible for truly Spirit-led believers to say the Amen to our words. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
We were catching up on each other's lives and trying to discern why we might be having lunch at all. We discovered that we are both engaged in substance-abuse recovery ministries although we had gotten there by different doors. This blog and the religious spirit in the Santa Maria valley came up during the course of the conversation. I briefly explained my concept that a religious spirit is the same spirit that challenged Jesus through the religious leaders of His day. After asking a few questions for clarification, my friend seemed puzzled that anyone would not believe there is a religious spirit here. (Of course that is what I have been saying all along, as you know.) His assertion was that the entire church is affected by religious spirits. I certainly have no quarrel with that viewpoint. I only know that my focus is to be the one here.
Christian author Os Hillman writes, "The religious spirit can best be defined as an agent of Satan designed to prevent change and maintain the status quo by using religious devices. The religious spirit seeks to distort a genuine move of God through deception, control, and manipulation. This spirit operates out of old religious structures and attempts to maintain the status quo, favoring tradition over a genuine, intimate relationship with God. It influences believers to live the Christian life based on works instead of grace. Similar to the Greek way of thinking, the religious spirit depends on human effort to acquire spiritual knowledge and favor from God." Assuming Os is right, we can see the fallacy a religious spirit perpetrates, especially in the last sentence. Spiritual knowledge is not acquired or learned by an act of our will. It comes directly from the Holy Spirit into our spirits, bypassing our minds all together. As our minds are renewed (Romans 12:1) we learn how to incorporate those spiritual deposits into our daily lives.
It has taken me so long to finish this post that in the interim, I have been invited into a closed, Facebook group called TrueBelievers. The basis of the group is that they believe the rapture is going to happen on May 21, 2011. Aside from the obvious question there, after reading some of the posts in the group I could not resist questioning one of their teachings, just one mind you. Last time I looked, there were over sixty comments to my post. As you might guess they were overwhelming negative toward me. I was criticised, accused, and bashed for being Pentecostal, for believing we learn things from each other and from books, and for actually inviting Jesus to be Lord of my life rather than letting Him do all the work. Yes, I do know how ridiculous that sounds. I have never considered a theological education to be a liability, but I have found that some people do not agree with me on that. For whatever reason, some folks consider all theological education to be a bad thing. My experience is that sitting under the concentrated teaching of a group of people more knowledgeable and spiritual than I am has paid great benefits over the past decades. It has given me a framework upon which to hang the things the Holy Spirit is teaching me without going cuckoo as some people from my past have. In case you are unfamiliar with the term cuckoo, it comes from the Greek meaning way off base. (Yes, that is a joke.)
This is beginning to sound like a ramble and I have not even mentioned the glorious visit with my chiropractor today. All I was going to say about that is that I am glad he went to school to learn his profession. I went into his office in some pain and left feeling much better. (In case you need your hand held on that one, it refers back to the first statement in the previous paragraph.
Whenever we deny spiritual realities, we open ourselves to be deceived. By definition, one does not know when one is walking in an area of deception. The deeper into deception one moves, the less one believes oneself to be deceived until the deception becomes the truth for them. A person following a lie as though it were the truth becomes the only truth that exists for them. When that person gains any kind of following, it looks as though he or she has been right all along. In fact, sometimes the truth is 180 degrees from their reality. Of course I am over-simplifying. Virtually no one is 180 degrees off in more than an area or possibly two, and many are not off nearly that much in any area. The point is that we do not know unless we have people keeping us sharp as iron sharpens iron. (Proverbs 27:17)
The bow on this post is that when we are wrong, thinking we are right, our whole life becomes a lie. Though we do not recognize it as such, hypocrisy has worked it's way though the whole lump of our life. Our yes becomes negative and we have unwittingly made it impossible for truly Spirit-led believers to say the Amen to our words. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
Monday, March 14, 2011
A Newly Radical Old Challenge and Ecclesiasticisms
Those of you who have been reading this blog for two months and/or have at least read back a few posts may recognize the combination of two previous posts as the title of this one. Occasionally I do work on more than one post at a time, but they have always stood individually in my mind, unless they were part of a series, of course. That was the case with those two posts when they were written. While they were written only four days apart, I did not make the connection between them until just a couple days ago. There are probably a few of you reading this who wonder how that could be since you made the connection right away. Okay, so I am just a little slow sometimes. For those of you who still have not made the connection, please allow me to assist you. The remainder of this post will make more sense if you read back to those two posts.
I had not realized the concept that the tithe belongs to the local church is an ecclesiasticism. Even those who teach and believe that concept know, and will freely confess, the tithe belongs to God and not to any individual or group of individuals, including the local church. Traditionally, tithes have been brought into the local church for the support of the ministries there. Most churches then send a portion of what they receive to other ministries they deem worthy. Any other giving done to The Church, e.g., rescue missions, missionaries, evangelistic ministries, etc., is expected to be above and beyond the tithe. (This makes less and less sense as I write it.) That practice stems from the artificial division of The Church into churches and para-Church ministries.
Perhaps I should clarify what I actually said and meant the first time I waded into this subject in "A Newly Radical Old Challenge." That post was intended to be nothing more nor less than the opening of a dialogue about one area in which we, The Church, have had a traditionally-held belief and practice that we could not back up with scripture. It was supposed to be a starting point for us all to examine those things we believe, either based on tradition or without solid, scriptural backing. Unfortunately, some people ran off with what was written and assumed I was saying tithes need not be brought to the local church, and further that I was somehow setting myself up to receive tithes from someone to support something. Yes, that was actually said to me in almost so many words. (We are going to address that sort of thing in the next post. I only have the title and the main concept so far.)
A friend pointed out to me the verse I used from Nehemiah 13:13 to make my point about the storehouse being the place people came for the provision of their physical needs was really only for the Priests and Levites. He said they were the "brethren" referred to there. Let me give him that point because it does not change mine at all. My point was, and is, the storehouse was the place the tithes were brought for the support of the people who did the work of the ministry. (see Ephesians 4:12) There were not any volunteers teaching Sunday School or cleaning the building or serving in other capacities in the Old Testament economy. Those ministries were reserved for the Priests and Levites who were clearly expected to be able to obtain their support from the storehouse.
Anyone who has had a basic class in hermeneutics (defined in Theology as the science of Bible interpretation) knows there are certain rules that must be followed to ascertain the correct interpretations and understandings of the scripture. I am not aware of any numbering system for the rules of hermeneutics so let me just say one of the rules is that we cannot make doctrine out of Old Testament principles unless they have been validated in the New Testament. The reason for this is simple and should be obvious. Some things change at the cross. Everything is not the same after the death and resurrection of Jesus as it was before. The physical rules of the Old Testament become the spiritual realities of the New Testament. The Old Testament Law gives way to the New Testament love.
Jesus said we should tithe. (Matthew 23:23) The author of Hebrews also validates the principle of the tithe in Hebrews 7:5-9, but nowhere is there a storehouse in the New Testament. In order to make the local church the New Testament storehouse, one has to jump from the Old Testament, through the New Testament to sometime after local churches were established. Bye, bye solid hermeneutics.
As most of you understand, what we call the local church is something of a modern phenomenon. Prior to the official establishment of the Catholic church in the fourth century A.D., The Church existed as a combination of all the house churches in a city or geographical region. The Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) ushered in the model of the local church, replacing the Catholic church as the one and only church. Again, there is no mention of a storehouse to which the tithes were brought in scripture or in history, as nearly as we can tell.
In order to avoid any confusion as to what this writer believes, let me conclude by stating plainly that every Christian should tithe. Incidentally, the word tithe means one-tenth. Tithing is the doorway to God's financial blessings. He promises that when we tithe, the windows of heaven will be open above us (Malachi 3:10) and He will rebuke the devourer so we can keep what He pours through those windows. (Malachi 3:11) As to where one should tithe, that is above my pay-grade, as it were. The tithe belongs to God. He will tell you where it should go. Were The Church fully-functional as the storehouse, were all the ministries God has called forth to be equally and adequately funded from the storehouse, then a case could possibly be made that the local church is the New Testament storehouse. The problem is, there is no storehouse in the New Testament. The principle Jesus taught is that God will provide our daily needs from His abundance, not from something we have stored, but space does not allow us to go into any elaboration on that subject. God bless you as you tithe.
I had not realized the concept that the tithe belongs to the local church is an ecclesiasticism. Even those who teach and believe that concept know, and will freely confess, the tithe belongs to God and not to any individual or group of individuals, including the local church. Traditionally, tithes have been brought into the local church for the support of the ministries there. Most churches then send a portion of what they receive to other ministries they deem worthy. Any other giving done to The Church, e.g., rescue missions, missionaries, evangelistic ministries, etc., is expected to be above and beyond the tithe. (This makes less and less sense as I write it.) That practice stems from the artificial division of The Church into churches and para-Church ministries.
Perhaps I should clarify what I actually said and meant the first time I waded into this subject in "A Newly Radical Old Challenge." That post was intended to be nothing more nor less than the opening of a dialogue about one area in which we, The Church, have had a traditionally-held belief and practice that we could not back up with scripture. It was supposed to be a starting point for us all to examine those things we believe, either based on tradition or without solid, scriptural backing. Unfortunately, some people ran off with what was written and assumed I was saying tithes need not be brought to the local church, and further that I was somehow setting myself up to receive tithes from someone to support something. Yes, that was actually said to me in almost so many words. (We are going to address that sort of thing in the next post. I only have the title and the main concept so far.)
A friend pointed out to me the verse I used from Nehemiah 13:13 to make my point about the storehouse being the place people came for the provision of their physical needs was really only for the Priests and Levites. He said they were the "brethren" referred to there. Let me give him that point because it does not change mine at all. My point was, and is, the storehouse was the place the tithes were brought for the support of the people who did the work of the ministry. (see Ephesians 4:12) There were not any volunteers teaching Sunday School or cleaning the building or serving in other capacities in the Old Testament economy. Those ministries were reserved for the Priests and Levites who were clearly expected to be able to obtain their support from the storehouse.
Anyone who has had a basic class in hermeneutics (defined in Theology as the science of Bible interpretation) knows there are certain rules that must be followed to ascertain the correct interpretations and understandings of the scripture. I am not aware of any numbering system for the rules of hermeneutics so let me just say one of the rules is that we cannot make doctrine out of Old Testament principles unless they have been validated in the New Testament. The reason for this is simple and should be obvious. Some things change at the cross. Everything is not the same after the death and resurrection of Jesus as it was before. The physical rules of the Old Testament become the spiritual realities of the New Testament. The Old Testament Law gives way to the New Testament love.
Jesus said we should tithe. (Matthew 23:23) The author of Hebrews also validates the principle of the tithe in Hebrews 7:5-9, but nowhere is there a storehouse in the New Testament. In order to make the local church the New Testament storehouse, one has to jump from the Old Testament, through the New Testament to sometime after local churches were established. Bye, bye solid hermeneutics.
As most of you understand, what we call the local church is something of a modern phenomenon. Prior to the official establishment of the Catholic church in the fourth century A.D., The Church existed as a combination of all the house churches in a city or geographical region. The Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) ushered in the model of the local church, replacing the Catholic church as the one and only church. Again, there is no mention of a storehouse to which the tithes were brought in scripture or in history, as nearly as we can tell.
In order to avoid any confusion as to what this writer believes, let me conclude by stating plainly that every Christian should tithe. Incidentally, the word tithe means one-tenth. Tithing is the doorway to God's financial blessings. He promises that when we tithe, the windows of heaven will be open above us (Malachi 3:10) and He will rebuke the devourer so we can keep what He pours through those windows. (Malachi 3:11) As to where one should tithe, that is above my pay-grade, as it were. The tithe belongs to God. He will tell you where it should go. Were The Church fully-functional as the storehouse, were all the ministries God has called forth to be equally and adequately funded from the storehouse, then a case could possibly be made that the local church is the New Testament storehouse. The problem is, there is no storehouse in the New Testament. The principle Jesus taught is that God will provide our daily needs from His abundance, not from something we have stored, but space does not allow us to go into any elaboration on that subject. God bless you as you tithe.
The Parable of the Pine Tree
Several, if not many, of you who read this blog have much better insight into the spiritual realm than I do. I would appreciate any comments you might have on the content of this post. I understand part of it, but surely not all of it. Having said that, I do not question that it is from the Holy Spirit. I saw the picture described here twice in the same night. It often takes a couple repetitions to get things through to me. It was shown to me to encourage me and others who know we are fighting a religious spirit in the Santa Maria valley. Let me explain what I saw and as much as I know of what it means.
I was playing around by myself, throwing small balls at a huge pine tree. The tree easily stood sixty feet high and the branches probably spread out the same distance from tip to tip. I did notice the tree was out of proportion as the top of the tree was almost the same size as the bottom. The balls I was throwing were the size of golf balls. Most of the time the balls would get caught in the branches of the huge tree and not fall to the ground. This went on for some period of time. I do not know how long.
At one point I walked under the lowest branches of the tree to retrieve a ball that had fallen through the branches to the ground. I backed away from the tree to throw the ball up higher into the branches and noticed a very large limb near the top of the tree that had been severed and was hanging over sideways. It was resting on the branches below it. I began to look more closely and saw that the main trunk of the tree was in the same condition maybe ten or twelve feet from the top. A portion of the trunk was hanging in the opposite direction from the first limb I had seen, but this one did not appear to have any support. The really odd thing about the scene was that each of those limbs appeared to be about three feet in diameter and had obviously been cut as with a chainsaw.
My first thought upon seeing the main trunk hanging over was that it could fall and someone could get hurt. It looked almost as though the bark was the only thing holding it up. I felt as though it was my responsibility to make sure no one got hurt when it fell. I knew I could not climb the tree and take care of the situation so I began to count the cost of hiring someone else to do it. No sooner had that thought occurred to me than I felt peace that it was not my responsibility to make sure the fall of that piece of the trunk did not hurt anyone. All I am responsible for is to warn people. The only ones who will be hurt by the fall of the religious spirit are those who are in league with it. Deception, denial, or ignorance will not be valid excuses. I did feel some assurance in my spirit the top of the trunk was not going to fall immediately. Of course there are elements of good and not so good in the trunk not falling at this time. It means there is more time for confession and repentance, but also more work to be done.
My understanding of what I saw is that those who understand the spiritual battle in this valley have been sending prayers up to God against the religious spirit. The spirit has been around for a long time, so long in fact that most of the people in the valley, including most of The Church, believes the way things are is normal. In fact it has become the normal condition in this valley to not expect God to do too much. Some people, however, understand the battle we are engaged in against this spirit. They have been praying for years and not seeing a lot of results. I do not think I told you about the woman I met at the bank a few weeks ago. I am not sure how it came up, but I mentioned the blog and the religious spirit. I commented that many people do not even believe there is a religious spirit over this valley. She surprised me by responding, with a very serious look on her face, that there is unquestionably a religious spirit here. She did promise to read some of the blog. There are more people than we know reading this blog and praying for the removal of the religious spirit.
I am writing this to tell you that your prayers are working, or to warn you the prayers of others are working. As those prayers have gone up, God has sent angels with chainsaws to cut away at the top of that tree. The limbs will begin to fall. It is only a matter of time, and more prayer. God is doing the work. It may seem as though those golf ball sized prayers are having no affect, but be assured they are. Keep praying, keep contending and keep believing.
I was playing around by myself, throwing small balls at a huge pine tree. The tree easily stood sixty feet high and the branches probably spread out the same distance from tip to tip. I did notice the tree was out of proportion as the top of the tree was almost the same size as the bottom. The balls I was throwing were the size of golf balls. Most of the time the balls would get caught in the branches of the huge tree and not fall to the ground. This went on for some period of time. I do not know how long.
At one point I walked under the lowest branches of the tree to retrieve a ball that had fallen through the branches to the ground. I backed away from the tree to throw the ball up higher into the branches and noticed a very large limb near the top of the tree that had been severed and was hanging over sideways. It was resting on the branches below it. I began to look more closely and saw that the main trunk of the tree was in the same condition maybe ten or twelve feet from the top. A portion of the trunk was hanging in the opposite direction from the first limb I had seen, but this one did not appear to have any support. The really odd thing about the scene was that each of those limbs appeared to be about three feet in diameter and had obviously been cut as with a chainsaw.
My first thought upon seeing the main trunk hanging over was that it could fall and someone could get hurt. It looked almost as though the bark was the only thing holding it up. I felt as though it was my responsibility to make sure no one got hurt when it fell. I knew I could not climb the tree and take care of the situation so I began to count the cost of hiring someone else to do it. No sooner had that thought occurred to me than I felt peace that it was not my responsibility to make sure the fall of that piece of the trunk did not hurt anyone. All I am responsible for is to warn people. The only ones who will be hurt by the fall of the religious spirit are those who are in league with it. Deception, denial, or ignorance will not be valid excuses. I did feel some assurance in my spirit the top of the trunk was not going to fall immediately. Of course there are elements of good and not so good in the trunk not falling at this time. It means there is more time for confession and repentance, but also more work to be done.
My understanding of what I saw is that those who understand the spiritual battle in this valley have been sending prayers up to God against the religious spirit. The spirit has been around for a long time, so long in fact that most of the people in the valley, including most of The Church, believes the way things are is normal. In fact it has become the normal condition in this valley to not expect God to do too much. Some people, however, understand the battle we are engaged in against this spirit. They have been praying for years and not seeing a lot of results. I do not think I told you about the woman I met at the bank a few weeks ago. I am not sure how it came up, but I mentioned the blog and the religious spirit. I commented that many people do not even believe there is a religious spirit over this valley. She surprised me by responding, with a very serious look on her face, that there is unquestionably a religious spirit here. She did promise to read some of the blog. There are more people than we know reading this blog and praying for the removal of the religious spirit.
I am writing this to tell you that your prayers are working, or to warn you the prayers of others are working. As those prayers have gone up, God has sent angels with chainsaws to cut away at the top of that tree. The limbs will begin to fall. It is only a matter of time, and more prayer. God is doing the work. It may seem as though those golf ball sized prayers are having no affect, but be assured they are. Keep praying, keep contending and keep believing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)