On a recent forum I was surfing a young person posted this very poignant and relevant-to-the-times statement.
I find myself here in the middle of the night, searching for a place to look for guidance. I came across this place.
I'm 19 years old, I grew up in the Catholic church. I never took my faith seriously, but I always respected it for what it was. These days, I find myself losing touch with it, I find myself having serious doubts about what this world is and if there is anything behind it. I got on my knees and asked God to give me a sign last week. I don't know, maybe I'm looking too hard, or maybe I'm not looking hard enough. I find myself losing sleep at night thinking about all the questions in this world.
I don't know what anyone could say back to this, but I'm looking for any kind of help or advice, I just don't know what to do anymore.
Dab06
Since I believe that this statement represents the dilemma of many people today, I took it to my prayer time to seek my Father's thoughts about this situation. The following was my response to this posting, based on what I believed He was showing me:
Hi and welcome to our forum...and CONGRATULATIONS on responding to the conviction God is putting on your heart (which probably started in earnest with your plea to Him on your knees last week) by posting your dilemma on this site and requesting advice and assistance; I assure you, you are in the process of making the most important decision of your life! Jesus once said "Seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be open to you, ask and you shall receive, that your joy be made complete." You are seeking peace, love, hope and a purpose for your life, and Jesus Christ is the manifestation of those desires.
The fact of the matter is, Dab, you have a very important decision to make in your life concerning God and His plan for this world. Fortunately, your status as a Catholic (or any other denomination) or as a person (how good or bad, smart or dumb, rich or poor you are) is not the issue at this point. The question is, what have you done with Jesus? What I mean is this: You probably remember from your catechism or from the weekly readings of the Gospel in church that in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John Jesus told us “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”(verse 6) Also, do you remember from religion classes what Jesus told Martha just before He brought her brother, Lazarus, back from the dead? He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”(John 11:25-26) You see, Dab, Jesus was either telling the truth or telling or lie, or He was some kind of kook. What you have to decide is which one is it. If you believe He was telling a lie or was just a crazy prophet, then we can’t help you much here because we believe that the only help God has to offer us in this world is through His Son and our relationship to Him, through His Holy Spirit, and through his Word (the Bible). On the other hand, if you believe that Jesus is telling the truth, then you need to become born again, as He explained to Nicodemus in the 3rd Chapter of John, by inviting Him to come live in your life.
You see, the REAL you is a spirit being who has a soul (made up of your mind, will and emotions) which lives in a body: Picture an astronaut making a space walk in his space suit. The problem is that when we are born into this world, our spirit is separated from God because of the actions of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (if you were brought up Catholic, then I’m sure you know the story); essentially, our spirit is “dead” to God. From the moment Adam caused that death (separation from God’s Spirit), God so loved Mankind that He put into effect a plan which would eliminate the barrier between Him and Man and would reunite His and their spirits, thus restoring eternal life to those who would receive Him. That plan was to provide His Son, Jesus, as a human and spiritual sacrifice to eliminate the barrier of unpunished sin that stood between us and Him and then to resurrect Him from the dead so that His Spirit could walk the earth today through the new spirit which is created in us when we receive what He has done for us and invite Him into our heart. Someone described it this way: Jesus gave His Life for us, so that He could give His Life to us, so that He could live His Life through us.
Here’s a metaphor to help you to understand the situation a little better: Suppose you had a friend or acquaintance who contracted cancer and died. Suppose further that you had the ability to restore life to that person and bring him/her back to life. What are the two issues you would have to resolve in order to bring that person back to life? If you brought him back to life without curing the cancer, he would just very quickly die again. On the other hand, if you just cured the cancer without giving him life, you would just have a healed corpse on your hands. You see what I mean? You would have to remove the cancer and then restore that person’s spirit to make the resurrection stick. In the illustration, the dead person represents all of mankind and the cancer represents sin, beginning with Adam and Eves’ unbelief (the Bible says that everything that does not come from faith in God is sin), and the punishment God required for sin before Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross over 2,000 years ago, He satisfied the punishment due for all the sins of all mankind for all time (past, present and future), and when He rose from the dead, He restored the opportunity for every person in this world to have a personal relationship with God (in other words, Life) through His spiritual presence in those who believe in Him. That’s what the Scripture you see on the posters at sporting events on TV (John 3:16) says: “That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that he who would believe on Him would have eternal life.”
Why is all this relevant to you? Because you want and need God’s help, and it sounds like you could also use a good dose of peace and hope. But God can’t help you if you haven’t accepted what He’s done for you through his Son, Jesus Christ, because you are spiritually separated from Him (in other words, dead to Him). In the Bible, Jesus said that we are either of our Father God or our father the devil. The Word says that when we allow the Spirit of Christ Jesus to come into our life, He makes our spirit alive with His, thereby making us children of God and heirs to His Kingdom. (This is also known as being saved or being born again.) Then we have access, through faith, to all the resources and promises (found in the New Testament of the Bible) of God to assist us with life in this world! And when God starts moving on your behalf, and believe me, He will, you’ll be awed at the difference it makes!
Here is what the Romans 10:9-11 says: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Why don’t you get alone with God and make that confession, assuring eternal life with Him...and then ask Him for help and direction in developing that relationship with Him. Ask Him to lead you to a church or Bible study of true Believers who can help teach you and guide you in His ways. If I’m wrong, you’ve lost nothing; but if I’m right, and I know I am, you’ve gained everything.
You can download a free copy of a book called The Prayer Directed Life at www.theprayerdirectedlife.com to help get you started with your new Life if you like. May God bless you and direct you in your quest.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Are you one of those who believe that the following Scripture passage establishes a doctrine for water baptism by immersion? Perhaps you ought to reconsider.
Acts 8:36-39 (New American Standard Bible)
New American Standard Bible (NASB):
36As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! (A)What prevents me from being baptized?"
37[[a]And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]
38And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39When they came up out of the water, (B)the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.
I will say to you what I wrote in another forum recently: This response is a great illustration of the problem I have with those who try to formulate or prove doctrine from the Book of Acts. “Acts” is a story of transition for the early Church (Body of Christ) and it’s new members from the Old Covenant (Testament, Will) to the New Covenant (Testament, Will), from the old relationship to God to a new relationship with God, from the old way of doing things (eg, the Law, customs, rituals, and ceremonies) to a new way of doing things (eg, grace, mercy, the movement of the Holy Spirit). Additionally, it is also a narrative about some of the early leaders of the new Church (specifically, Peter, Paul and the original apostles and disciples) and their efforts to understand this new gift that the world had been given, so that they could shape and formulate the doctrine and direction of this new movement (first called The Way, later termed “Christianity”). Think about it: Consider the confusion and turmoil which would exist in the Church today if there had been no Epistles to follow the Gospels and the Book of Acts.
It is also an example of interpreting the Message according to a Scripture, instead of interpreting a Scripture according to the message - like expecting a couple of pieces of jigsaw puzzle to represent the end picture on the front of the box.
I am absolutely amazed at how apparently learned Christians like yourself will take Acts 8:36-39 and suggest that it “clearly” represents anything about the eunuch’s baptismal process. For instance, was the water the eunuch referred to a brook, a stream, a river, a pond, or maybe a lake? Because if the water was a brook or stream or the like (which was much more likely in that part of the world), then it would have been impossible to immerse completely a grown man or woman. But lets say it [i]was[/i] a large enough body of water for complete immersion; using your attempt to make this passage a doctrine for water baptism, then we should only be using outdoor bodies of water in outdoor settings for the ceremony, because nowhere else in the NT Scriptures does it suggest that using indoor “baptistries” or pools in church settings is authorized for water baptisms. (In fact, indoor baptistries started out as fonts, and didn’t really begin to take root until around Augustine’s tenure as Church leader in the 5th century.)
Now, let’s look at the idea of Philip and the eunuch going “down into the water” (notice how you changed the word “[b]into[/b]” to “[b]in[/b]” to justify your interpretation?): If you and I were standing on the bank of any body of water, whether it be a brook, a river, a lake, or whatever, and we wanted to go stand in that water, don’t you see that we would have to walk DOWN that bank to get INTO the water? And by the same token, wouldn’t we have to come UP OUT OF the water (even if it was only ankle deep) to get UP on the bank again? Do you really not see what a tremendous stretch it is to make this simple act into a doctrine for water baptism by immersion, especially with no scriptures in the Epistles to support it? Come on, Brother, give me a break! I think that your failure to be able to provide definitive Scriptures to “clearly” support your position on water baptism by immersion brings up a very important question: Don’t you think that if water baptism was a necessary part of our salvation there would be a lot more guidance concerning the methods and procedures on conducting that ceremony so that there would be no divisive questions like this to deal with?
The Ethiopian eunuch’s actual salvation and spiritual baptism actually came with his words in verse 37 where he said that he believed with all of his heart “that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”(See John 3:16-18) Every reference in the Gospels to the baptism that Jesus Christ would perform on Believers was with the Holy Spirit, not water. “Salvation,” “eternal life” and becoming “born again” are all SPIRITUAL concepts that affect our SPIRITUAL being through the SPIRITUAL presence of Jesus Christ in our SPIRITUAL heart as a result of the SPIRITUAL immersion (baptism) of our SPIRITUAL being in the indwelling SPIRITUAL presence of the Holy SPIRIT. Every reference to salvation in the New Testament Scriptures either says or indicates that it (salvation) occurs through a combination of two components - God’s immeasurable grace and our belief in Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of God. All other requirements are man’s attempt to control the salvation process and limit who can be saved to those who will “perform” according to his (man’s) standards. The attempt to impose rules, laws and ceremonies on the salvation process is Old Testament thinking, which Christ “clearly” said, as He died on the Cross, “is finished.”
I believe that what the Holy Spirit has shown me is that baptism with water is “clearly” a physical symbol of what happens SPIRITUALLY when we become born again, just as putting on a wedding ring is a physical symbol of the spiritual bond that occurs when we get married. When we can understand [i]that[/i] concept, then the question of whether we’ve been immersed, sprinkled or sprayed will no longer be an issue, anymore than whether we wear a silver band or a gold band is for the marriage ceremony.
Acts 8:36-39 (New American Standard Bible)
New American Standard Bible (NASB):
36As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! (A)What prevents me from being baptized?"
37[[a]And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]
38And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39When they came up out of the water, (B)the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.
I will say to you what I wrote in another forum recently: This response is a great illustration of the problem I have with those who try to formulate or prove doctrine from the Book of Acts. “Acts” is a story of transition for the early Church (Body of Christ) and it’s new members from the Old Covenant (Testament, Will) to the New Covenant (Testament, Will), from the old relationship to God to a new relationship with God, from the old way of doing things (eg, the Law, customs, rituals, and ceremonies) to a new way of doing things (eg, grace, mercy, the movement of the Holy Spirit). Additionally, it is also a narrative about some of the early leaders of the new Church (specifically, Peter, Paul and the original apostles and disciples) and their efforts to understand this new gift that the world had been given, so that they could shape and formulate the doctrine and direction of this new movement (first called The Way, later termed “Christianity”). Think about it: Consider the confusion and turmoil which would exist in the Church today if there had been no Epistles to follow the Gospels and the Book of Acts.
It is also an example of interpreting the Message according to a Scripture, instead of interpreting a Scripture according to the message - like expecting a couple of pieces of jigsaw puzzle to represent the end picture on the front of the box.
I am absolutely amazed at how apparently learned Christians like yourself will take Acts 8:36-39 and suggest that it “clearly” represents anything about the eunuch’s baptismal process. For instance, was the water the eunuch referred to a brook, a stream, a river, a pond, or maybe a lake? Because if the water was a brook or stream or the like (which was much more likely in that part of the world), then it would have been impossible to immerse completely a grown man or woman. But lets say it [i]was[/i] a large enough body of water for complete immersion; using your attempt to make this passage a doctrine for water baptism, then we should only be using outdoor bodies of water in outdoor settings for the ceremony, because nowhere else in the NT Scriptures does it suggest that using indoor “baptistries” or pools in church settings is authorized for water baptisms. (In fact, indoor baptistries started out as fonts, and didn’t really begin to take root until around Augustine’s tenure as Church leader in the 5th century.)
Now, let’s look at the idea of Philip and the eunuch going “down into the water” (notice how you changed the word “[b]into[/b]” to “[b]in[/b]” to justify your interpretation?): If you and I were standing on the bank of any body of water, whether it be a brook, a river, a lake, or whatever, and we wanted to go stand in that water, don’t you see that we would have to walk DOWN that bank to get INTO the water? And by the same token, wouldn’t we have to come UP OUT OF the water (even if it was only ankle deep) to get UP on the bank again? Do you really not see what a tremendous stretch it is to make this simple act into a doctrine for water baptism by immersion, especially with no scriptures in the Epistles to support it? Come on, Brother, give me a break! I think that your failure to be able to provide definitive Scriptures to “clearly” support your position on water baptism by immersion brings up a very important question: Don’t you think that if water baptism was a necessary part of our salvation there would be a lot more guidance concerning the methods and procedures on conducting that ceremony so that there would be no divisive questions like this to deal with?
The Ethiopian eunuch’s actual salvation and spiritual baptism actually came with his words in verse 37 where he said that he believed with all of his heart “that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”(See John 3:16-18) Every reference in the Gospels to the baptism that Jesus Christ would perform on Believers was with the Holy Spirit, not water. “Salvation,” “eternal life” and becoming “born again” are all SPIRITUAL concepts that affect our SPIRITUAL being through the SPIRITUAL presence of Jesus Christ in our SPIRITUAL heart as a result of the SPIRITUAL immersion (baptism) of our SPIRITUAL being in the indwelling SPIRITUAL presence of the Holy SPIRIT. Every reference to salvation in the New Testament Scriptures either says or indicates that it (salvation) occurs through a combination of two components - God’s immeasurable grace and our belief in Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of God. All other requirements are man’s attempt to control the salvation process and limit who can be saved to those who will “perform” according to his (man’s) standards. The attempt to impose rules, laws and ceremonies on the salvation process is Old Testament thinking, which Christ “clearly” said, as He died on the Cross, “is finished.”
I believe that what the Holy Spirit has shown me is that baptism with water is “clearly” a physical symbol of what happens SPIRITUALLY when we become born again, just as putting on a wedding ring is a physical symbol of the spiritual bond that occurs when we get married. When we can understand [i]that[/i] concept, then the question of whether we’ve been immersed, sprinkled or sprayed will no longer be an issue, anymore than whether we wear a silver band or a gold band is for the marriage ceremony.
For those of you who like to use the following Scripture as a doctrine, I have a few comments:
John 3:5
"I tell you the truth Jesus answered him. If any one isn’t born of water and Spirit, he can't get into Gods Kingdom."[/quote]
May I suggest that your interpretation of the above Scripture creates a huge problem for you and others like you who insist on interpreting the Message of Salvation by Scripture instead of the other way around (that is, interpreting the Scriptures according to the Message) - it negates, ignores and/or conflicts with a number of Scriptures in the Gospels and New Testament, to include the ones I alluded to in my original question. It's the same problem that occurs when Christians and churches insist on using this and other one line verses (such as 1 John 1:9 and Heb 10:25) to establish doctrine. My friend, it’s like trying to define the final picture of a jigsaw puzzle using two or three of the puzzle pieces.
Please allow me to show you what I mean. Using the above verse to justify or infer that water baptism is a requirement for Salvation, or to justify entering the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven (yes - they are two different things), creates at least the following two major problems:
1) When Jesus proposed the concept of being “born again” to Nicodemus, He was trying to explain to him that this was a “Spiritual” event which had to take place in order for Man to enter into the Kingdom of God by receiving salvation and eternal life. (Please note, nowhere in this entire passage in John chapter 3:1-21 was the word “baptism” used.) In fact, Jesus chided Nicodemus for being “flesh” or “earthly” minded in his assessment of what Jesus was saying. When you use this verse to infer that Jesus was talking about “earthly” water, then must also infer that John the Baptist was talking about “earthly” fire when he suggested in Matt 3:11 and Luke 3:16 when he announced that Jesus would baptize us with “the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Please note, the word “baptize” IS actually used in BOTH of these Scriptures.) Do you see that if I interpret these Scriptures the way you interpret what Jesus said in John 3:5, that would mean we would all have to be immersed in actual, “earthly” fire in order to be baptized? Ouch! I don’t believe that would go over too well; do you?
2) Your inference that Jesus is talking about a requirement to be baptized with water in this or any other passage negates Scripture passages like Rom 3:20-22 and Eph 2:4-9 which teach that it is only through God’s grace and mercy that we are saved and given eternal life in the Kingdom of God, not by our works or involvement in observing ceremonies or obeying “church” law. In fact, it negates another verse from the very same chapter of John you used - that is, John 3:16, which, as you probably know, says, “ For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever BELIEVES IN HIM shall not perish but have eternal life.”
When we understand what Jesus was trying to tell Nicodemus, that being born again is a SPIRITUAL event and that only our SPIRIT becomes born again - not our body (flesh) or soul (mind, will and emotions) - then it becomes easier to understand the truth of what He was saying. The Apostle Paul provides a wonderful explanation and interpretation of what Jesus was saying here in Titus 3:5-6...You should read it.
John 3:5
"I tell you the truth Jesus answered him. If any one isn’t born of water and Spirit, he can't get into Gods Kingdom."[/quote]
May I suggest that your interpretation of the above Scripture creates a huge problem for you and others like you who insist on interpreting the Message of Salvation by Scripture instead of the other way around (that is, interpreting the Scriptures according to the Message) - it negates, ignores and/or conflicts with a number of Scriptures in the Gospels and New Testament, to include the ones I alluded to in my original question. It's the same problem that occurs when Christians and churches insist on using this and other one line verses (such as 1 John 1:9 and Heb 10:25) to establish doctrine. My friend, it’s like trying to define the final picture of a jigsaw puzzle using two or three of the puzzle pieces.
Please allow me to show you what I mean. Using the above verse to justify or infer that water baptism is a requirement for Salvation, or to justify entering the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven (yes - they are two different things), creates at least the following two major problems:
1) When Jesus proposed the concept of being “born again” to Nicodemus, He was trying to explain to him that this was a “Spiritual” event which had to take place in order for Man to enter into the Kingdom of God by receiving salvation and eternal life. (Please note, nowhere in this entire passage in John chapter 3:1-21 was the word “baptism” used.) In fact, Jesus chided Nicodemus for being “flesh” or “earthly” minded in his assessment of what Jesus was saying. When you use this verse to infer that Jesus was talking about “earthly” water, then must also infer that John the Baptist was talking about “earthly” fire when he suggested in Matt 3:11 and Luke 3:16 when he announced that Jesus would baptize us with “the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Please note, the word “baptize” IS actually used in BOTH of these Scriptures.) Do you see that if I interpret these Scriptures the way you interpret what Jesus said in John 3:5, that would mean we would all have to be immersed in actual, “earthly” fire in order to be baptized? Ouch! I don’t believe that would go over too well; do you?
2) Your inference that Jesus is talking about a requirement to be baptized with water in this or any other passage negates Scripture passages like Rom 3:20-22 and Eph 2:4-9 which teach that it is only through God’s grace and mercy that we are saved and given eternal life in the Kingdom of God, not by our works or involvement in observing ceremonies or obeying “church” law. In fact, it negates another verse from the very same chapter of John you used - that is, John 3:16, which, as you probably know, says, “ For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever BELIEVES IN HIM shall not perish but have eternal life.”
When we understand what Jesus was trying to tell Nicodemus, that being born again is a SPIRITUAL event and that only our SPIRIT becomes born again - not our body (flesh) or soul (mind, will and emotions) - then it becomes easier to understand the truth of what He was saying. The Apostle Paul provides a wonderful explanation and interpretation of what Jesus was saying here in Titus 3:5-6...You should read it.
On Baptism and Baptizing
Recent statement on a Forum I participate in, with my response:
According to Acts 2:38-39 our sins are forgiven by God when we are baptized (the baptism itself is not what forgives our sins since only God can do that) and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when we are baptized (the Spirit does not come because of the water, but because that's the time that God has chosen to impart His Spirit to His children). [/quote]
This response is a great illustration of the problem I have with those who try to formulate or prove doctrine from the Book of Acts. “Acts” is a story of transition for the early Church (Body of Christ) and it’s new members from the Old Covenant (Testament, Will) to the New Covenant (Testament, Will), from the old relationship to God to a new relationship with God, from the old way of doing things (eg, the Law, customs, rituals, and ceremonies) to a new way of doing things (eg, grace, mercy, the movement of the Holy Spirit). Additionally, it is also a narrative about some of the early leaders of the new Church (specifically, Peter, Paul and the original apostles and disciples) and their efforts to understand this new gift that the world had been given, so that they could shape and formulate the doctrine and direction of this new movement (first called The Way, later termed “Christianity”). In the process, there were several errors and, shall we say, “misspeaks” made which the Holy Spirit eventually corrected in later chapters of Acts and in the many Epistles which followed. Think about it: Consider the confusion and turmoil which would exist in the Church today if there had been no Epistles to follow the Gospels and the Book of Acts.
The first thing I would challenge you about in your use of Acts 2:38-39 as a doctrine (or shall we say, Law) for water baptism and the forgiveness of sins is wasn’t this the same Peter who was also initially limiting salvation to those who were Jewish and requiring new converts to observe Jewish rituals such as those concerning circumcision, forbidden foods and ceremonial washings? Weren’t these practices quickly challenged and corrected by God through the use of visions, the Holy Spirit and the teachings (and challenges) of Paul? And, oh yes, how about that commune thing that God had to break up by allowing persecution to descend on Jerusalem early on? For instance, take a look at what happened in Acts 10:44-48: A large group of people were listening to Peter preach about Jesus and salvation, and when they believed in Him they were baptized by the Holy Spirit. THEN (after the baptism of the Holy Spirit) Peter said, “Can anyone keep these people (they were all Gentiles - like you (I assume) and me) from being baptized with water? THEY HAVE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT (before being baptized with water) JUST AS WE HAVE.” Do you see that this contradicts your suggestion that we become born again at the exact moment we are baptized with water? Don’t you see that these people became born again the moment that they believed in Jesus and were baptized by His Holy Spirit, and that if a suicide bomber had walked in and blown them up before they could be baptized with water, they would have all entered the Kingdom of [b]Heaven[/b] (they had already entered the Kingdom of [b]God[/b], when they became born again through the Holy Spirit)?
Peter even contradicts his own statement in Acts 2:38 with his words concerning baptism and the forgiveness of sins in 1 Peter 3:18-21, which is more in line with the teachings of the other Epistles concerning these two different subjects. In Acts 2:38, Peter suggests that the forgiveness of sins is based on repentance and baptism (he never says whether this is with water or the Holy Spirit, although he had just experienced the latter); however, in 1 Peter 3:18 he teaches that the forgiveness of all sins of all mankind occurred the moment that Christ was put to death in the body (“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God”). This Scripture (1 Pet 3:18) agrees with other Scriptures in the New Testament, such as Romans chapter 6 and chapters 9 and 10 in Hebrews, which testify that regardless of whether or not we receive it, Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross paid the penalty for and provided forgiveness for all the sins of all mankind - once for all. Hebrews 10:17-18 seals it all with this pronouncement from the Holy Spirit: “’Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’ And where these (sins) HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins.”
You see, after Jesus’ death on the cross, the issue of salvation is no longer about the forgiveness of sins and receiving new life; it’s solely about receiving new life, made possible by the power of the Resurrection (see 1 Peter 3:21b-22) and the Gift of the Holy Spirit. No one goes to hell for committing sins after the cross, because the exact minute Jesus died on the cross He paid the penalty for ALL of the sins of all mankind (“He died ONCE for ALL...”). After that moment, the only thing that can send a person to hell is being dead in Adam, instead of being alive in Christ - in other words, spiritual death. After Christ’s death on the cross, the one and only sin that can send a person to hell is the sin of unbelief in what He has done for us, because that is the only action that can keep a person from asking Jesus into his/her heart and receiving Life (thus, “unbelief which occurs BEFORE being born again” is the only unpardonable sin).
Finally, concerning baptism by water, Peter himself teaches in 1 Peter 3:21 that the water that saved Noah and his family and that removes dirt from the body - earthly, physical water - is a [b][i]symbol[/b][/i] of the spiritual baptism which occurs when we pledge ourselves to God (verse 21, “and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you”)...Which is what I’ve been saying all along, that water baptism is a symbol of the baptism which Christ provides when we become born again.
According to Acts 2:38-39 our sins are forgiven by God when we are baptized (the baptism itself is not what forgives our sins since only God can do that) and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when we are baptized (the Spirit does not come because of the water, but because that's the time that God has chosen to impart His Spirit to His children). [/quote]
This response is a great illustration of the problem I have with those who try to formulate or prove doctrine from the Book of Acts. “Acts” is a story of transition for the early Church (Body of Christ) and it’s new members from the Old Covenant (Testament, Will) to the New Covenant (Testament, Will), from the old relationship to God to a new relationship with God, from the old way of doing things (eg, the Law, customs, rituals, and ceremonies) to a new way of doing things (eg, grace, mercy, the movement of the Holy Spirit). Additionally, it is also a narrative about some of the early leaders of the new Church (specifically, Peter, Paul and the original apostles and disciples) and their efforts to understand this new gift that the world had been given, so that they could shape and formulate the doctrine and direction of this new movement (first called The Way, later termed “Christianity”). In the process, there were several errors and, shall we say, “misspeaks” made which the Holy Spirit eventually corrected in later chapters of Acts and in the many Epistles which followed. Think about it: Consider the confusion and turmoil which would exist in the Church today if there had been no Epistles to follow the Gospels and the Book of Acts.
The first thing I would challenge you about in your use of Acts 2:38-39 as a doctrine (or shall we say, Law) for water baptism and the forgiveness of sins is wasn’t this the same Peter who was also initially limiting salvation to those who were Jewish and requiring new converts to observe Jewish rituals such as those concerning circumcision, forbidden foods and ceremonial washings? Weren’t these practices quickly challenged and corrected by God through the use of visions, the Holy Spirit and the teachings (and challenges) of Paul? And, oh yes, how about that commune thing that God had to break up by allowing persecution to descend on Jerusalem early on? For instance, take a look at what happened in Acts 10:44-48: A large group of people were listening to Peter preach about Jesus and salvation, and when they believed in Him they were baptized by the Holy Spirit. THEN (after the baptism of the Holy Spirit) Peter said, “Can anyone keep these people (they were all Gentiles - like you (I assume) and me) from being baptized with water? THEY HAVE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT (before being baptized with water) JUST AS WE HAVE.” Do you see that this contradicts your suggestion that we become born again at the exact moment we are baptized with water? Don’t you see that these people became born again the moment that they believed in Jesus and were baptized by His Holy Spirit, and that if a suicide bomber had walked in and blown them up before they could be baptized with water, they would have all entered the Kingdom of [b]Heaven[/b] (they had already entered the Kingdom of [b]God[/b], when they became born again through the Holy Spirit)?
Peter even contradicts his own statement in Acts 2:38 with his words concerning baptism and the forgiveness of sins in 1 Peter 3:18-21, which is more in line with the teachings of the other Epistles concerning these two different subjects. In Acts 2:38, Peter suggests that the forgiveness of sins is based on repentance and baptism (he never says whether this is with water or the Holy Spirit, although he had just experienced the latter); however, in 1 Peter 3:18 he teaches that the forgiveness of all sins of all mankind occurred the moment that Christ was put to death in the body (“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God”). This Scripture (1 Pet 3:18) agrees with other Scriptures in the New Testament, such as Romans chapter 6 and chapters 9 and 10 in Hebrews, which testify that regardless of whether or not we receive it, Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross paid the penalty for and provided forgiveness for all the sins of all mankind - once for all. Hebrews 10:17-18 seals it all with this pronouncement from the Holy Spirit: “’Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’ And where these (sins) HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins.”
You see, after Jesus’ death on the cross, the issue of salvation is no longer about the forgiveness of sins and receiving new life; it’s solely about receiving new life, made possible by the power of the Resurrection (see 1 Peter 3:21b-22) and the Gift of the Holy Spirit. No one goes to hell for committing sins after the cross, because the exact minute Jesus died on the cross He paid the penalty for ALL of the sins of all mankind (“He died ONCE for ALL...”). After that moment, the only thing that can send a person to hell is being dead in Adam, instead of being alive in Christ - in other words, spiritual death. After Christ’s death on the cross, the one and only sin that can send a person to hell is the sin of unbelief in what He has done for us, because that is the only action that can keep a person from asking Jesus into his/her heart and receiving Life (thus, “unbelief which occurs BEFORE being born again” is the only unpardonable sin).
Finally, concerning baptism by water, Peter himself teaches in 1 Peter 3:21 that the water that saved Noah and his family and that removes dirt from the body - earthly, physical water - is a [b][i]symbol[/b][/i] of the spiritual baptism which occurs when we pledge ourselves to God (verse 21, “and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you”)...Which is what I’ve been saying all along, that water baptism is a symbol of the baptism which Christ provides when we become born again.
Friday, May 25, 2007
On Security and Fogiveness
Here is an interesting request for help that the Holy Spirit had me respond to recently:
I don't know how to explain this without going into a little detail. so here it goes.
I'm 28 and i have two older brothers one is 33 and the other is 31. Well the 31 year old is well i guess very wordly, to say the least. He has abused his wife. physically and emotionally, used his family lied manipulated and stolen, basically anything bad you can name he has done. My mom is the kind of person who will not admit that he has part in how bad his life has become. I am having a really hard time just being arounf him. And God really tested me this weekend when he showed up at our church. Ordinarily I would have sat with my mom but opted to stay in the nursery that day. I know this all sounds really awful, but that isn't all of it so please don't think that I am just being an awful christian. When I was about 4 or 5 he also molested me. I didn't even remember until about 5 years ago, and it only happened once. My mom doesn't know, she thinks I am just having a hard time forgiving all his other indiscreations. But I can't even be around hime, he makes my skin crawl. And I know God wants me to forgive , but I don't think I can. And my mom doesn't really understand why. Now he might show up church again this sunday, and I know how wrong it is for me to say this, but I don't want him there. I feel like my whole sense of security is gone. I don't know what to do can someone please help me?
Here is the reply I felt led to share with her:
First of all, let me commend you for reaching out for help with this difficult situation. Bitterness and anger are to our spirit and soul as sulphuric acid is to the body: They will eat you alive if not quickly neutralized.
May I suggest that until you deal with with the problem of your sense of security, you will have a difficult - if not impossible - time dealing with forgiveness issues. If you are basing your sense of security on your attending church, on your brothers actions, on past experiences or on anything else other than your relationship to God (specifically, who you are in Christ Jesus), then you are building your house of security on a foundation of shifting sand, and it is bound to collapse and fail you.
You see, here’s what I mean: When you become a born again Believer and make Jesus Christ Lord of your life, you become a child of God through the indwelling presence of Christ (Rom 8:9-16). When God becomes your Father, and you humble yourself under His mighty hand, you allow Him to be the Source of all your needs, including the need for security (which happens to be one of a woman’s most important needs). Paul addresses this idea no less than three times in chapter 4 of his epistle to the Philippians. First, in verses 5-7 he says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in EVERYTHING, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests (read - “needs”) to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and you minds in Christ Jesus.” Next, in verse 13 he says, “I can do EVERYTHING (even deal with your brother and mom) through Him who gives me strength.” Finally, in verse 19 he declares, “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Jesus tells us in Matt 6:25-34 that when we seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of our other needs will be met.
Your problems concerning not being able to put your past behind you and not being able to forgive are closely related to a common issue: Not understanding, or not believing, what God has done for YOU, as well as for all mankind; so let’s take a look at that for a few moments. When Jesus came into the world 2000 years ago in order to restore mankind’s ability to have a personal relationship with God, there were two obstacles which had to be resolved: 1) The punishment due for the sins of all men, which is physical death (“...the wages of sin is death” - Rom 6), had to be paid; and 2) The dead spirit (ie, separation from God) all men inherit from Adam because of his disobedience to God’s command had to be restored to life. Think of it this way: If someone you knew died of a disease, and you had the power to bring that person back to life, you would need to do two things. First, you would have to cure the disease (or they would just die again) and then you would need to give them life (or they would just be a healed corpse). Jesus overcame these two obstacles in this way: He gave His life for us (death on the cross), so that He could give His life (resurrected from death) to us, so that He could live His life through us. Hebrews 10:8-18 (please take a few moments to read this) describes how Jesus’ death on the cross resolved the first issue. There are two things you need to get a hold of here: 1) Jesus paid the price for all men for all time (verse 12), and 2) The Holy Spirit of God testifies that as a result of Christ’s sacrifice “Their (Mankind’s) sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.”(vrs 17-18).
Then, 2 Cor 5:14-21 (again, please read this before going on) describes how Jesus, through His resurrection (victory over death) resolved the second obstacle by providing new life to those who will receive it and making US ministers of God’s reconciliation, which is the heart of the Good News of the Gospel. Take particular note of verses 16-19: “So from now on (after we receive Christ into our life) we regard NO ONE (including your brother and mom) from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled (past tense) us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: That God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, NOT COUNTING MEN’S SINS AGAINST THEM.”
You see, Angelray, if you have not made Jesus Christ Lord of your life, you will have to take some of the worldly advice you’ve received here and try and solve your dilemma(s) from a human perspective, which seldom gives you total relief or a lasting peace. But if you are a born again Believer, in view of the Scriptures we’ve looked at above, let me ask you a couple of questions: 1) Are you more important than Christ? Because when you say that you can’t forgive someone, after He already has, isn’t that what you are indicating? 2) Do you know better how to handle your past than God? Because when you say you can’t forget what you’ve done in the past, or others have done to you, isn’t that what you’re suggesting? I mean, if God says that He has already forgotten men’s sins and lawless acts, who do you think is reminding you of those things? (Here’s a great saying: When the devil starts reminding you of your past, start reminding him of his future. Remember, the One who is in you is greater than he that is in the world - 1 John 4:4)
Now please don’t misunderstand me here...I’m not saying that Believers should condone or ignore the evils that people do in this world, because surely that would only encourage them to do more evil. Instead, we need to get alone with the Father and ask for His help, guidance and strength in handling these situations as ministers of His love and His message of reconciliation; because until these people get Life and a new heart, they will seldom change their ways. Let those around you see God working in your life and, believe me, they will be convicted of a need for Him in theirs. Let’s face it...If you are avoiding being around your brother, or acting like he “makes your skin crawl” when you are, he’s probably not going to experience that through you. His coming to church may be the start of his new life in Christ - only God knows what is in His heart. But remember the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32? Surely you don’t want to identify with the jealous sibling.
Finally, consider the words of Paul in Eph 4:31-32: “Get rid of ALL bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with EVERY form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, FORGIVING EACH OTHER, JUST AS IN CHRIST GOD FORGAVE YOU.” Remember, if there is no peace and joy in what you are doing, then God is probably not in it. There’s a saying about this that rings true: No God, no peace...Know God, know peace.
I have petitioned God to help you deal with this situation, and I look forward to hearing your praise report on the results.
I don't know how to explain this without going into a little detail. so here it goes.
I'm 28 and i have two older brothers one is 33 and the other is 31. Well the 31 year old is well i guess very wordly, to say the least. He has abused his wife. physically and emotionally, used his family lied manipulated and stolen, basically anything bad you can name he has done. My mom is the kind of person who will not admit that he has part in how bad his life has become. I am having a really hard time just being arounf him. And God really tested me this weekend when he showed up at our church. Ordinarily I would have sat with my mom but opted to stay in the nursery that day. I know this all sounds really awful, but that isn't all of it so please don't think that I am just being an awful christian. When I was about 4 or 5 he also molested me. I didn't even remember until about 5 years ago, and it only happened once. My mom doesn't know, she thinks I am just having a hard time forgiving all his other indiscreations. But I can't even be around hime, he makes my skin crawl. And I know God wants me to forgive , but I don't think I can. And my mom doesn't really understand why. Now he might show up church again this sunday, and I know how wrong it is for me to say this, but I don't want him there. I feel like my whole sense of security is gone. I don't know what to do can someone please help me?
Here is the reply I felt led to share with her:
First of all, let me commend you for reaching out for help with this difficult situation. Bitterness and anger are to our spirit and soul as sulphuric acid is to the body: They will eat you alive if not quickly neutralized.
May I suggest that until you deal with with the problem of your sense of security, you will have a difficult - if not impossible - time dealing with forgiveness issues. If you are basing your sense of security on your attending church, on your brothers actions, on past experiences or on anything else other than your relationship to God (specifically, who you are in Christ Jesus), then you are building your house of security on a foundation of shifting sand, and it is bound to collapse and fail you.
You see, here’s what I mean: When you become a born again Believer and make Jesus Christ Lord of your life, you become a child of God through the indwelling presence of Christ (Rom 8:9-16). When God becomes your Father, and you humble yourself under His mighty hand, you allow Him to be the Source of all your needs, including the need for security (which happens to be one of a woman’s most important needs). Paul addresses this idea no less than three times in chapter 4 of his epistle to the Philippians. First, in verses 5-7 he says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in EVERYTHING, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests (read - “needs”) to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and you minds in Christ Jesus.” Next, in verse 13 he says, “I can do EVERYTHING (even deal with your brother and mom) through Him who gives me strength.” Finally, in verse 19 he declares, “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Jesus tells us in Matt 6:25-34 that when we seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of our other needs will be met.
Your problems concerning not being able to put your past behind you and not being able to forgive are closely related to a common issue: Not understanding, or not believing, what God has done for YOU, as well as for all mankind; so let’s take a look at that for a few moments. When Jesus came into the world 2000 years ago in order to restore mankind’s ability to have a personal relationship with God, there were two obstacles which had to be resolved: 1) The punishment due for the sins of all men, which is physical death (“...the wages of sin is death” - Rom 6), had to be paid; and 2) The dead spirit (ie, separation from God) all men inherit from Adam because of his disobedience to God’s command had to be restored to life. Think of it this way: If someone you knew died of a disease, and you had the power to bring that person back to life, you would need to do two things. First, you would have to cure the disease (or they would just die again) and then you would need to give them life (or they would just be a healed corpse). Jesus overcame these two obstacles in this way: He gave His life for us (death on the cross), so that He could give His life (resurrected from death) to us, so that He could live His life through us. Hebrews 10:8-18 (please take a few moments to read this) describes how Jesus’ death on the cross resolved the first issue. There are two things you need to get a hold of here: 1) Jesus paid the price for all men for all time (verse 12), and 2) The Holy Spirit of God testifies that as a result of Christ’s sacrifice “Their (Mankind’s) sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.”(vrs 17-18).
Then, 2 Cor 5:14-21 (again, please read this before going on) describes how Jesus, through His resurrection (victory over death) resolved the second obstacle by providing new life to those who will receive it and making US ministers of God’s reconciliation, which is the heart of the Good News of the Gospel. Take particular note of verses 16-19: “So from now on (after we receive Christ into our life) we regard NO ONE (including your brother and mom) from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled (past tense) us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: That God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, NOT COUNTING MEN’S SINS AGAINST THEM.”
You see, Angelray, if you have not made Jesus Christ Lord of your life, you will have to take some of the worldly advice you’ve received here and try and solve your dilemma(s) from a human perspective, which seldom gives you total relief or a lasting peace. But if you are a born again Believer, in view of the Scriptures we’ve looked at above, let me ask you a couple of questions: 1) Are you more important than Christ? Because when you say that you can’t forgive someone, after He already has, isn’t that what you are indicating? 2) Do you know better how to handle your past than God? Because when you say you can’t forget what you’ve done in the past, or others have done to you, isn’t that what you’re suggesting? I mean, if God says that He has already forgotten men’s sins and lawless acts, who do you think is reminding you of those things? (Here’s a great saying: When the devil starts reminding you of your past, start reminding him of his future. Remember, the One who is in you is greater than he that is in the world - 1 John 4:4)
Now please don’t misunderstand me here...I’m not saying that Believers should condone or ignore the evils that people do in this world, because surely that would only encourage them to do more evil. Instead, we need to get alone with the Father and ask for His help, guidance and strength in handling these situations as ministers of His love and His message of reconciliation; because until these people get Life and a new heart, they will seldom change their ways. Let those around you see God working in your life and, believe me, they will be convicted of a need for Him in theirs. Let’s face it...If you are avoiding being around your brother, or acting like he “makes your skin crawl” when you are, he’s probably not going to experience that through you. His coming to church may be the start of his new life in Christ - only God knows what is in His heart. But remember the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32? Surely you don’t want to identify with the jealous sibling.
Finally, consider the words of Paul in Eph 4:31-32: “Get rid of ALL bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with EVERY form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, FORGIVING EACH OTHER, JUST AS IN CHRIST GOD FORGAVE YOU.” Remember, if there is no peace and joy in what you are doing, then God is probably not in it. There’s a saying about this that rings true: No God, no peace...Know God, know peace.
I have petitioned God to help you deal with this situation, and I look forward to hearing your praise report on the results.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
On Weak and Lost Connections
I recently saw this request from a young person (I think the age was around 16) on a Christian forum I frequent:
Do any of you experience a loss of connection between you and God? Do you feel that society today chips away at your faith all the day? My connection with God is turning on and off and its been off for a long time.
I am experiencing these problems and have been advised to read my bible and pray, but thats not enough, unless it works over time.
Can anyone help me?
The following is what I believe the Holy Spirit was showing me about this problem:
I have been praying about how to address your dilemma, because I think the "lost connection" syndrome afflicts way too many of us Christians these days (Isn't it ironic - in the age of instant, space-age communication systems in this world, one of our biggest problems is communicating with God!), and the Holy Spirit gave me a really neat illustration to describe the problem, and how to resolve it! I hope that I can "do justice" on relaying this to you, because I think that it is really good stuff!
Let me ask you something: Do you have a cellphone? Most likely, since they have become a cultural phenomenon around the world, you do, or you have used your parents' or friends' phones and you are familiar with how they operate; so let me ask you this: What would you say are the top three complaints about the operation of cellphones? I would say they are, in order from biggest to smallest: 1) Dropped calls and lost connections; 2) Weak or no signal; and, 3) Discharged or dead battery. Now, there are various solutions to each one of these problems, but did you know that there is one "surefire" answer to all three? I'll give you three guesses as to what that solution is, and the first two don't count. That's right! It's the good old, everyday, cheap, plug-in-the-wall, basic hardwired telephone; and I'm not talking about those portable "jobs", either! I'll have you know that I have caught myself wondering what to do about a weak signal or dropped call when there was a "land line" telephone not 5 steps away from where I was standing...Pathetic, isn't it? Just think, less than 20 years ago, no one ever lost a connection during a phone call, unless you had one of those new-fangled portable phones in your home, or the phone lines were knocked out during a storm.
Now, here is the application to your situation: The cellphone represents our trying to communicate and stay connected with God while trying to conduct our busy lives in this world on the move; The old fashioned telephone represents a place we go to be alone with God (think of a phone booth); the telephone wire represents the Bible, our primary means of connecting with Him; and the phone call and resulting conversation represent our prayer time. That old time telephone call which we make using the “land line” system (which, by the way, is still available in our everyday life) represents our best and most reliable way of staying connected with God. True, we often have to drop what we are doing to use it, but you know what...I don’t think God is much impressed with our “multitasking” prowess anyway.
In fact, I think that one of the main questions we need to ask ourselves when we are having trouble maintaining a connection with God is this: Exactly where does He fit into our prolific use of video games, CD and DVD players, HD TVs, high powered computers and, of course, cellphones? If we think that Almighty God, Maker of the universe and all that is in it, the “Ultimate Multi-tasker”, is going to compete for our time with these manmade gadgets, we are being sadly misled. I believe that He provided the knowledge to create all those “tools” so that He could direct us Believers on how to use them to be more productive in spreading the Good News of the Gospel; but like we often do with the things He provides, we have turned them into a means for our own personal pleasure, perversion and profit - and yes, I’m including “yours truly.”
You can download a book called The Prayer Directed Life for free at www.theprayerdirectedlife.com to help resolve your connection problem, but until you go to your “phone booth” and make that “telephone call,” early and often, you’ll continue to be plagued by weak connections.
Do any of you experience a loss of connection between you and God? Do you feel that society today chips away at your faith all the day? My connection with God is turning on and off and its been off for a long time.
I am experiencing these problems and have been advised to read my bible and pray, but thats not enough, unless it works over time.
Can anyone help me?
The following is what I believe the Holy Spirit was showing me about this problem:
I have been praying about how to address your dilemma, because I think the "lost connection" syndrome afflicts way too many of us Christians these days (Isn't it ironic - in the age of instant, space-age communication systems in this world, one of our biggest problems is communicating with God!), and the Holy Spirit gave me a really neat illustration to describe the problem, and how to resolve it! I hope that I can "do justice" on relaying this to you, because I think that it is really good stuff!
Let me ask you something: Do you have a cellphone? Most likely, since they have become a cultural phenomenon around the world, you do, or you have used your parents' or friends' phones and you are familiar with how they operate; so let me ask you this: What would you say are the top three complaints about the operation of cellphones? I would say they are, in order from biggest to smallest: 1) Dropped calls and lost connections; 2) Weak or no signal; and, 3) Discharged or dead battery. Now, there are various solutions to each one of these problems, but did you know that there is one "surefire" answer to all three? I'll give you three guesses as to what that solution is, and the first two don't count. That's right! It's the good old, everyday, cheap, plug-in-the-wall, basic hardwired telephone; and I'm not talking about those portable "jobs", either! I'll have you know that I have caught myself wondering what to do about a weak signal or dropped call when there was a "land line" telephone not 5 steps away from where I was standing...Pathetic, isn't it? Just think, less than 20 years ago, no one ever lost a connection during a phone call, unless you had one of those new-fangled portable phones in your home, or the phone lines were knocked out during a storm.
Now, here is the application to your situation: The cellphone represents our trying to communicate and stay connected with God while trying to conduct our busy lives in this world on the move; The old fashioned telephone represents a place we go to be alone with God (think of a phone booth); the telephone wire represents the Bible, our primary means of connecting with Him; and the phone call and resulting conversation represent our prayer time. That old time telephone call which we make using the “land line” system (which, by the way, is still available in our everyday life) represents our best and most reliable way of staying connected with God. True, we often have to drop what we are doing to use it, but you know what...I don’t think God is much impressed with our “multitasking” prowess anyway.
In fact, I think that one of the main questions we need to ask ourselves when we are having trouble maintaining a connection with God is this: Exactly where does He fit into our prolific use of video games, CD and DVD players, HD TVs, high powered computers and, of course, cellphones? If we think that Almighty God, Maker of the universe and all that is in it, the “Ultimate Multi-tasker”, is going to compete for our time with these manmade gadgets, we are being sadly misled. I believe that He provided the knowledge to create all those “tools” so that He could direct us Believers on how to use them to be more productive in spreading the Good News of the Gospel; but like we often do with the things He provides, we have turned them into a means for our own personal pleasure, perversion and profit - and yes, I’m including “yours truly.”
You can download a book called The Prayer Directed Life for free at www.theprayerdirectedlife.com to help resolve your connection problem, but until you go to your “phone booth” and make that “telephone call,” early and often, you’ll continue to be plagued by weak connections.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Sin Consciousness vs Relationship
I recently came across this post in a forum at Christianity.com:
O.k....I am new here and have been reading over the different things posted here, and I agree with most of the advice given on here. So I am turning to you folks for some advice. I have a problem, and I really need some advice on how to get past this. I have a very long story, one that I may share soon on a diffent post but my question today is this...
I have been a Christian for a while now...and by that I mean I followed after Christ, and have lived a Godly life, I use the Bible as my text book for living, but lately I have fallen away from God due to some circumstances that have happened in my life, which will take forever to begin to explain(I will write in another post), but I have for some reason without knowing it built a wall between God and myself. I want to get back to where I was a while ago...where I knew His voice, and I felt His presence, but I just can't seem to do it.
I guess I feel inadiquite and not worthy of forgiveness, or worthy of His love anymore....Can someone please offer some advice to me that will help me tear down the walls that I have built. I have tried to pray, but maybe I have hardened my heart. Please help.
I posted the following in response to this request:
Wow, my Sister, you are carrying a heavy load! You remind me of the woman who was hiking down a country road carrying a heavy backpack. A farmer and his wife in an old pickup truck came down the road and slowed down next to her and asked if she would like a ride into town. The woman says "Sure!" so the farmer stops the truck and tells the woman to climb into the back. A few minutes later, as they are riding down the road, the farmer looks around to see that the woman is standing up in the bed and holding on to the cab with her backpack still on, so he says to her, "Pardon me, M'amm, but why don't you take that pack off and set it on the bed, than sit down behind the cab and take the wind off your face?" Please allow me to see if I can help you to take that "backpack" off.
It seems to me that there are three primary reasons why people think they have fallen away from God or that there is a wall between Him and them: 1) They don’t understand their status and relationship to God after inviting Jesus Christ into their lives, so when the road gets rocky, they drift away; 2) They think that God is angry with them for something they’ve done or failed to do; or 3) They are mad at God for something they think He’s done, or allowed to happen. (Combinations are possible - and probable.)
First of all, if you don’t already have it with you now, please go and get your Bible. Now, since Hebrews is your favorite book of the Bible (it also happens to be one of mine), lets go there and take a look at a couple of things which I believe will help you with your dilemma.
Let’s start with Heb 2:1: It says, “We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard (the Gospel message), so that we do not drift away.” Today, I think we are experiencing the same problem that existed in the Church at the time this verse was written; that is, we are getting a whole bunch of INFORMATION from various worldly sources concerning Christianity and how to live the Christian life, but we are getting very little REVELATION from the Spiritual Source concerning the veracity and validity of the INFORMATION we are receiving. The result is that we are allowing worldly sources to control how we live our spiritual lives, and that is just like trying to mix oil and water...it just doesn’t work. Jesus use to say to His disciples, especially on really important issues, “Let he who has ears to hear, hear!” The writer of Hebrews is saying the same thing: If we do not take the INFORMATION we hear about the Good News of the Gospel and allow the Holy Spirit to get it into our spirit through REVELATION, so that it is embedded in the heart of our being, then we will “drift away,” because we will still be searching for the answers to the what I call the Big Three questions in our life - Who am I, What am I here for, and Where am I going when I leave here. (Jesus illustrated this in His parable of the farmer sowing seed.)
Now, let’s take a look at what I think is one of the most important Scripture passages in the Bible in terms of helping us to understand the complete “salvation” message: Heb 10:8-18. Before we go on, please take a moment to read that section and re-familiarize yourself with it. Please note that no less than 3 times the writer explains and emphasizes God’s position on the issue of sin with the establishment of the New Will (read, Testament,) which became established with the death of Jesus (ref-Heb 9:16-17).
In verses 8 thru 10, the writer explains that the old will (testament) of God, involving sacrifices and offerings for the punishment due for sins committed by Mankind, were neither desirable nor satisfactory to God, because as long as there was no punishment to the perpetrators themselves, that is, physical death (Mankind was already dead spiritually due to Adam and Eve’s sin; remember, the penalty for sin is death![Rom 6:23]), then the debt was getting bigger, and God’s patience was getting shorter. It was like using your credit card to buy more while still making minimum payments -the debt never gets paid. Then, Jesus came along and established a new will (testament); through the sacrifice of His body, He justified (made holy) ALL of Mankind to God (“...ONCE FOR ALL) by eliminating the punishment due for ALL sin - past, present and future!
Can you see in verses 11-12 that those OT sacrifices offered by OT priests could never take away (forgive) sins, although the Law required them as a temporary appeasement to God? As result, the priests could never rest (sit down) in their duties. But when Jesus provided the sacrifice which was able to take away sin for ALL time, He was able to rest in His duty, so He SAT DOWN at the right hand of God.
Now here’s the really good part...Verse 14. It says, “because by one sacrifice (Jesus’ death on the cross) He (Jesus) HAS MADE PERFECT (no blemish or fault) forever (for eternity, everlasting) those who are being made holy (you and I - born again receivers and Believers of the new covenant). Verse 15 thru 17 says that this is what the Holy Spirit testifies to us about in the prophesy in Jer 31:33-34 (also reproduced in Heb 8:8-12). Verse 17 reads, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
Finally, here’s the cherry on top of this sundae of “good news” about sin: Verse 18 says, “And where these HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN (at Calvary), there is no longer any sacrifice (punishment, penalty for sin.” Welcome to the new will (testament)! In 2 Cor 5 Paul puts it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us a ministry of reconciliation: THAT GOD WAS RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF IN CHRIST, NOT COUNTING MEN’S SINS AGAINST THEM.”(verses 17-19)
All of this section says one thing: Whether people like it or not, accept it or not, or believe it or not, the fact of the matter is, there is no more punishment or penalty for sins required by God from mankind, either physical or spiritual. If there were, than Jesus’ suffering and death was not enough to get the job done as claimed in this section of Scripture. Some people say that teaching this fact is just a license for people to go and do anything they want; my observation is, people don’t need a license to sin - they do it anyway! Look, you may suffer the consequences of your actions in THIS world (for instance, if you break a man-made law by stealing, you may go to jail or have to make restitution by some other retribution), but if you are born again, the only ones left to judge you, condemn you and punish you for sinning are Satan, other people and yourself. If you still don’t believe me, check out the last 2 verses of Romans 8; maybe you ought to make THOSE your new favorite verses!
Do you know what I do when I behave sinfully? I don’t hurt the Father or Jesus - they already experienced all the hurt they were going to experience 2000 years ago; our FELLOWSHIP may suffer, but our RELATIONSHIP remains solid...It’s unbreakable! I do grieve the Holy Spirit (“...with whom you WERE SEALED for the day of redemption” Eph 4:30), because He is with me and in me all the time. But the biggest problem with bad behavior is that it hurts my ability to witness to others about the love, grace and mercy which lives in and through me as a result of the re-creation of my spirit with the Spirit of Jesus Christ and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. It’s difficult for God to attract unbelievers (those who are spiritually dead because they have not been made alive with Christ - Col 2:13) through me when I am acting or talking like the devil.
At the end of the day, though, I can’t be good enough to make it into heaven (although it may affect my accommodations when I get there!) or bad enough to make it into hell (ditto!). The ONLY thing that matters is am I spiritually alive (born again, recreated with the Spirit of Christ) or am I spiritually dead (without the Spirit of Christ). And just as after I was born into this world there is no way to separate my parents’ genetic contribution to my physical body, even if I wanted to, so also there is no way to separate Christ’s Spirit from my spiritual body after I become born again: That’s what it is saying in Heb 10:14 and that is what it is saying in Rom 8:38-39.
Living a life based on what YOU are DOING is mostly about “sin consciousness,” that is to say, is what I have done, am doing or will do a sin? And if so, how does that make me “feel” about myself and how does it effect my “fellowship” with God? In other words, my whole status in life is based on whether I am living in sin or out of sin.
On the other hand, living a life based on “relationship” is about having WHO YOU ARE determine what you do in life. According to the teachings of the New Testament of the Bible, there are only two choices of relationship which matter in life: Either you are a child of your Father God, or you are a child of your father Satan. You cannot be both - you are either alive to One and dead to the other, or visa versa. In other words, the Christian life is not about whether or not you are in or out of sin; it is about whether or not you are a child of the living God! It is NOT your “works” or your performance that determines your fate in the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven ...It IS your RELATIONSHIP! If you are a born again Believer, God cannot make you any more worthy of Him and His love than you already are: You are a Princess in His Kingdom, an adopted child of the Father (Rom 8:16-17) and a sister of the Prince of Peace.
As for being angry at God for something He did, something He failed to do or something He “allowed to happen” in your life, please consider this: God is not in the business of hurting you or allowing you to be hurt...Satan IS! Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief (Satan) comes ONLY to kill, steal and destroy: I come that you may have life, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL.” My Sister, may I suggest that if the problem is that you are mad at God, you should redirect your anger to the real culprit of your problems - the devil. What is it that John says in chapter 4 of his first epistle...”the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”(1 John 4:4) In his exhortation for us to put on the “full armor of God” in order to stand against the devil’s schemes, Paul tells us “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.(Eph 6:11-12). Finally, Jesus Himself gave us a “Big Stick” to use against the Devil. He said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” We just need to learn how to use it, along with all the authority He gave us over the evil one.
Frankly, (and I say this for information, not condemnation) when we think there is a wall between us and God, it is Satan and Mankind (including ourselves) who are providing the bricks and the mortar to build it. The good news is that Jesus doesn’t care much for walls; last I read, he demonstrated to His disciples that He just walks through them (John 21:26)!
O.k....I am new here and have been reading over the different things posted here, and I agree with most of the advice given on here. So I am turning to you folks for some advice. I have a problem, and I really need some advice on how to get past this. I have a very long story, one that I may share soon on a diffent post but my question today is this...
I have been a Christian for a while now...and by that I mean I followed after Christ, and have lived a Godly life, I use the Bible as my text book for living, but lately I have fallen away from God due to some circumstances that have happened in my life, which will take forever to begin to explain(I will write in another post), but I have for some reason without knowing it built a wall between God and myself. I want to get back to where I was a while ago...where I knew His voice, and I felt His presence, but I just can't seem to do it.
I guess I feel inadiquite and not worthy of forgiveness, or worthy of His love anymore....Can someone please offer some advice to me that will help me tear down the walls that I have built. I have tried to pray, but maybe I have hardened my heart. Please help.
I posted the following in response to this request:
Wow, my Sister, you are carrying a heavy load! You remind me of the woman who was hiking down a country road carrying a heavy backpack. A farmer and his wife in an old pickup truck came down the road and slowed down next to her and asked if she would like a ride into town. The woman says "Sure!" so the farmer stops the truck and tells the woman to climb into the back. A few minutes later, as they are riding down the road, the farmer looks around to see that the woman is standing up in the bed and holding on to the cab with her backpack still on, so he says to her, "Pardon me, M'amm, but why don't you take that pack off and set it on the bed, than sit down behind the cab and take the wind off your face?" Please allow me to see if I can help you to take that "backpack" off.
It seems to me that there are three primary reasons why people think they have fallen away from God or that there is a wall between Him and them: 1) They don’t understand their status and relationship to God after inviting Jesus Christ into their lives, so when the road gets rocky, they drift away; 2) They think that God is angry with them for something they’ve done or failed to do; or 3) They are mad at God for something they think He’s done, or allowed to happen. (Combinations are possible - and probable.)
First of all, if you don’t already have it with you now, please go and get your Bible. Now, since Hebrews is your favorite book of the Bible (it also happens to be one of mine), lets go there and take a look at a couple of things which I believe will help you with your dilemma.
Let’s start with Heb 2:1: It says, “We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard (the Gospel message), so that we do not drift away.” Today, I think we are experiencing the same problem that existed in the Church at the time this verse was written; that is, we are getting a whole bunch of INFORMATION from various worldly sources concerning Christianity and how to live the Christian life, but we are getting very little REVELATION from the Spiritual Source concerning the veracity and validity of the INFORMATION we are receiving. The result is that we are allowing worldly sources to control how we live our spiritual lives, and that is just like trying to mix oil and water...it just doesn’t work. Jesus use to say to His disciples, especially on really important issues, “Let he who has ears to hear, hear!” The writer of Hebrews is saying the same thing: If we do not take the INFORMATION we hear about the Good News of the Gospel and allow the Holy Spirit to get it into our spirit through REVELATION, so that it is embedded in the heart of our being, then we will “drift away,” because we will still be searching for the answers to the what I call the Big Three questions in our life - Who am I, What am I here for, and Where am I going when I leave here. (Jesus illustrated this in His parable of the farmer sowing seed.)
Now, let’s take a look at what I think is one of the most important Scripture passages in the Bible in terms of helping us to understand the complete “salvation” message: Heb 10:8-18. Before we go on, please take a moment to read that section and re-familiarize yourself with it. Please note that no less than 3 times the writer explains and emphasizes God’s position on the issue of sin with the establishment of the New Will (read, Testament,) which became established with the death of Jesus (ref-Heb 9:16-17).
In verses 8 thru 10, the writer explains that the old will (testament) of God, involving sacrifices and offerings for the punishment due for sins committed by Mankind, were neither desirable nor satisfactory to God, because as long as there was no punishment to the perpetrators themselves, that is, physical death (Mankind was already dead spiritually due to Adam and Eve’s sin; remember, the penalty for sin is death![Rom 6:23]), then the debt was getting bigger, and God’s patience was getting shorter. It was like using your credit card to buy more while still making minimum payments -the debt never gets paid. Then, Jesus came along and established a new will (testament); through the sacrifice of His body, He justified (made holy) ALL of Mankind to God (“...ONCE FOR ALL) by eliminating the punishment due for ALL sin - past, present and future!
Can you see in verses 11-12 that those OT sacrifices offered by OT priests could never take away (forgive) sins, although the Law required them as a temporary appeasement to God? As result, the priests could never rest (sit down) in their duties. But when Jesus provided the sacrifice which was able to take away sin for ALL time, He was able to rest in His duty, so He SAT DOWN at the right hand of God.
Now here’s the really good part...Verse 14. It says, “because by one sacrifice (Jesus’ death on the cross) He (Jesus) HAS MADE PERFECT (no blemish or fault) forever (for eternity, everlasting) those who are being made holy (you and I - born again receivers and Believers of the new covenant). Verse 15 thru 17 says that this is what the Holy Spirit testifies to us about in the prophesy in Jer 31:33-34 (also reproduced in Heb 8:8-12). Verse 17 reads, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
Finally, here’s the cherry on top of this sundae of “good news” about sin: Verse 18 says, “And where these HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN (at Calvary), there is no longer any sacrifice (punishment, penalty for sin.” Welcome to the new will (testament)! In 2 Cor 5 Paul puts it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us a ministry of reconciliation: THAT GOD WAS RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF IN CHRIST, NOT COUNTING MEN’S SINS AGAINST THEM.”(verses 17-19)
All of this section says one thing: Whether people like it or not, accept it or not, or believe it or not, the fact of the matter is, there is no more punishment or penalty for sins required by God from mankind, either physical or spiritual. If there were, than Jesus’ suffering and death was not enough to get the job done as claimed in this section of Scripture. Some people say that teaching this fact is just a license for people to go and do anything they want; my observation is, people don’t need a license to sin - they do it anyway! Look, you may suffer the consequences of your actions in THIS world (for instance, if you break a man-made law by stealing, you may go to jail or have to make restitution by some other retribution), but if you are born again, the only ones left to judge you, condemn you and punish you for sinning are Satan, other people and yourself. If you still don’t believe me, check out the last 2 verses of Romans 8; maybe you ought to make THOSE your new favorite verses!
Do you know what I do when I behave sinfully? I don’t hurt the Father or Jesus - they already experienced all the hurt they were going to experience 2000 years ago; our FELLOWSHIP may suffer, but our RELATIONSHIP remains solid...It’s unbreakable! I do grieve the Holy Spirit (“...with whom you WERE SEALED for the day of redemption” Eph 4:30), because He is with me and in me all the time. But the biggest problem with bad behavior is that it hurts my ability to witness to others about the love, grace and mercy which lives in and through me as a result of the re-creation of my spirit with the Spirit of Jesus Christ and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. It’s difficult for God to attract unbelievers (those who are spiritually dead because they have not been made alive with Christ - Col 2:13) through me when I am acting or talking like the devil.
At the end of the day, though, I can’t be good enough to make it into heaven (although it may affect my accommodations when I get there!) or bad enough to make it into hell (ditto!). The ONLY thing that matters is am I spiritually alive (born again, recreated with the Spirit of Christ) or am I spiritually dead (without the Spirit of Christ). And just as after I was born into this world there is no way to separate my parents’ genetic contribution to my physical body, even if I wanted to, so also there is no way to separate Christ’s Spirit from my spiritual body after I become born again: That’s what it is saying in Heb 10:14 and that is what it is saying in Rom 8:38-39.
Living a life based on what YOU are DOING is mostly about “sin consciousness,” that is to say, is what I have done, am doing or will do a sin? And if so, how does that make me “feel” about myself and how does it effect my “fellowship” with God? In other words, my whole status in life is based on whether I am living in sin or out of sin.
On the other hand, living a life based on “relationship” is about having WHO YOU ARE determine what you do in life. According to the teachings of the New Testament of the Bible, there are only two choices of relationship which matter in life: Either you are a child of your Father God, or you are a child of your father Satan. You cannot be both - you are either alive to One and dead to the other, or visa versa. In other words, the Christian life is not about whether or not you are in or out of sin; it is about whether or not you are a child of the living God! It is NOT your “works” or your performance that determines your fate in the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven ...It IS your RELATIONSHIP! If you are a born again Believer, God cannot make you any more worthy of Him and His love than you already are: You are a Princess in His Kingdom, an adopted child of the Father (Rom 8:16-17) and a sister of the Prince of Peace.
As for being angry at God for something He did, something He failed to do or something He “allowed to happen” in your life, please consider this: God is not in the business of hurting you or allowing you to be hurt...Satan IS! Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief (Satan) comes ONLY to kill, steal and destroy: I come that you may have life, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL.” My Sister, may I suggest that if the problem is that you are mad at God, you should redirect your anger to the real culprit of your problems - the devil. What is it that John says in chapter 4 of his first epistle...”the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”(1 John 4:4) In his exhortation for us to put on the “full armor of God” in order to stand against the devil’s schemes, Paul tells us “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.(Eph 6:11-12). Finally, Jesus Himself gave us a “Big Stick” to use against the Devil. He said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” We just need to learn how to use it, along with all the authority He gave us over the evil one.
Frankly, (and I say this for information, not condemnation) when we think there is a wall between us and God, it is Satan and Mankind (including ourselves) who are providing the bricks and the mortar to build it. The good news is that Jesus doesn’t care much for walls; last I read, he demonstrated to His disciples that He just walks through them (John 21:26)!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
On Hugging
Here's an interesting post from the Christianity.com forum, along with what I believe God was showing me about the situation. May I ask, what are your thoughts?
My reason for writing this is just to remind Christians that not everyone wants to be hugged. Our family belonged to a church for 7 years. This church was very "huggy." A "hello" was always accompanied with a hug at church, and during the "greeting each other" part of the service, loud, upbeat music was played and everyone got out of their seats and went around hugging each other. Everytime we walked into church, everytime we saw a church member at the mall, doctor's office, the theater,etc., we automatically hugged each other. Well, we don't go to that church anymore -- in fact, our exit from that church was very painful. Our family was thrashed and its taken us years to recover. However, now, whenever I see anyone from that church, they automatically come over and hug me. I do not want to hug them. I'd like to reserve my hugs for those whom I feel like hugging! I feel like I need to wear a sign that says "no hugging" or "No Hug Zone" or something. I'm not a cold fish, and its not that I hate these people, but I surely do not feel close to them, but they always move in quickly and assume I want to be hugged. I don't want to be hugged. In fact, I find it offensive. If you are a "hugger," please try to be sensitive to the person you are about to hug.
May I ask you a question? What did the Father tell you to do about this situation when you went to Him about it in your prayer time...Or perhaps the question should be, have you done that yet? After all, if anyone should have a problem with embracing or kissing it would be His Son, Jesus, after His despicable betrayal at the hands of Judas by these acts of affection; yet He went on to die for Judas' sins and the sins of all Mankind on the cross, and through His resurrection made it possible for our spirit to embrace His Spirit in an unbreakable union which will last for all eternity.
Let me ask you another question: Do you think that God would have you be anxious or live in angst as a result of your walk with Him, whether it be wanting to be hugged or not wanting to be hugged? Remember what Paul wrote in his epistle to the Philippians? He said, "Do not be anxious about ANYTHING, but in EVERYTHING, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart in Christ Jesus."(Php 4:6-7) Listen, the same Father, Son and Holy Spirit that lives in you and knows your every desire and need, lives in every other born again Believer with whom you associate with (or don't associate with, for that matter), so don't you think He can get across to those other Believers that you don't want to be hugged? As for unbelievers hugging you, doesn't the Bible say "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world?"; so can't He help you with that situation, too? On the other hand, if God tells us to hug somebody we don't want to hug, or asks you to allow them to hug you, don't we have to believe that our obedience to His request will in some way further advance His Kingdom, and that He'll compensate for our discomfort?
Please allow me to share a similar situation that the Father helped me with. Before I became born again, I used to "curse like a sailor" (no offense to any sailors out there). After I became a Believer, I asked the Lord to help me clean up my language; in addition, I did not want to have to listen to profanity and dirty jokes, so I asked Him to convict others not to do that in my presence. To this day, I seldom experience someone cursing or telling jokes in my presence, even from those I know to do those things as a regular part of their conversation. The important result of this favor from God is that I don't have to avoid or alienate those who He may need to reach through me with His "Good News."
Just remember, "Cast ALL your anxiety on Him, because He cares for YOU." (1 Pet 5:7)
And, please, if God does tell you to hug someone, or allow them to hug you, are you really going to exclude people who do not have on deodorant, have clean breath or are sick? Seems to me that narrows down the field of people who may need to be touched by God considerably.
_____________________________
My reason for writing this is just to remind Christians that not everyone wants to be hugged. Our family belonged to a church for 7 years. This church was very "huggy." A "hello" was always accompanied with a hug at church, and during the "greeting each other" part of the service, loud, upbeat music was played and everyone got out of their seats and went around hugging each other. Everytime we walked into church, everytime we saw a church member at the mall, doctor's office, the theater,etc., we automatically hugged each other. Well, we don't go to that church anymore -- in fact, our exit from that church was very painful. Our family was thrashed and its taken us years to recover. However, now, whenever I see anyone from that church, they automatically come over and hug me. I do not want to hug them. I'd like to reserve my hugs for those whom I feel like hugging! I feel like I need to wear a sign that says "no hugging" or "No Hug Zone" or something. I'm not a cold fish, and its not that I hate these people, but I surely do not feel close to them, but they always move in quickly and assume I want to be hugged. I don't want to be hugged. In fact, I find it offensive. If you are a "hugger," please try to be sensitive to the person you are about to hug.
May I ask you a question? What did the Father tell you to do about this situation when you went to Him about it in your prayer time...Or perhaps the question should be, have you done that yet? After all, if anyone should have a problem with embracing or kissing it would be His Son, Jesus, after His despicable betrayal at the hands of Judas by these acts of affection; yet He went on to die for Judas' sins and the sins of all Mankind on the cross, and through His resurrection made it possible for our spirit to embrace His Spirit in an unbreakable union which will last for all eternity.
Let me ask you another question: Do you think that God would have you be anxious or live in angst as a result of your walk with Him, whether it be wanting to be hugged or not wanting to be hugged? Remember what Paul wrote in his epistle to the Philippians? He said, "Do not be anxious about ANYTHING, but in EVERYTHING, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart in Christ Jesus."(Php 4:6-7) Listen, the same Father, Son and Holy Spirit that lives in you and knows your every desire and need, lives in every other born again Believer with whom you associate with (or don't associate with, for that matter), so don't you think He can get across to those other Believers that you don't want to be hugged? As for unbelievers hugging you, doesn't the Bible say "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world?"; so can't He help you with that situation, too? On the other hand, if God tells us to hug somebody we don't want to hug, or asks you to allow them to hug you, don't we have to believe that our obedience to His request will in some way further advance His Kingdom, and that He'll compensate for our discomfort?
Please allow me to share a similar situation that the Father helped me with. Before I became born again, I used to "curse like a sailor" (no offense to any sailors out there). After I became a Believer, I asked the Lord to help me clean up my language; in addition, I did not want to have to listen to profanity and dirty jokes, so I asked Him to convict others not to do that in my presence. To this day, I seldom experience someone cursing or telling jokes in my presence, even from those I know to do those things as a regular part of their conversation. The important result of this favor from God is that I don't have to avoid or alienate those who He may need to reach through me with His "Good News."
Just remember, "Cast ALL your anxiety on Him, because He cares for YOU." (1 Pet 5:7)
And, please, if God does tell you to hug someone, or allow them to hug you, are you really going to exclude people who do not have on deodorant, have clean breath or are sick? Seems to me that narrows down the field of people who may need to be touched by God considerably.
_____________________________
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Hearing From God
Here is a question that was posed recently in a forum I am involved with, along with my answer:
“Does anyone ever really get answers from God? I mean, honestly. I pray to God constantly. I read the word, and honestly, I find peace and faith in it. But I don't hear God.
I talk to people often that say, "God told me this..." or "God put it on my heart to do that..." and I feel a sense of envy. I pray, I write, I converse with God. But I don't hear.
I'm not talking about things of the world, like "God, give me a new car." Rather, I'm talking about the essence of the Christian experience. Whenever I have asked this in the past, I've been told I'm not listening hard enough or I'm not praying hard enough, as if through more hard work, it will be mine.
Still, I just can't hear. So, I ask... Do you hear God answer you? And if so, How?”
My friend, you have asked a great question here; and I believe, and KNOW, that God wants you and others who really want to hear from Him to know the answer. How do I know this? Because that is the way Jesus operated when He walked this earth physically: He said in the Gospels that He did nothing and said nothing but what the Father told Him to do and say. When we become born again, our spirit is recreated with the Spirit of Christ (2 Cor 5); Col 2 says that God makes us alive through Christ! Romans 8 says that when receive the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God comes to live in us, and that those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Concerning believers, Jesus told the Father, in John 17:22 (the real "Lord's Prayer"), "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me." The way the Spirit of God leads us is by communicating with our spirit through the Spirit of Christ, which is one with us (1 Cor 2); in fact , Paul says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."(1 Cor 2:16). That is how Christ walks the earth today, just as He did 2000 years ago, as He lives His life through us. And that is how I KNOW that God wants us to be able to "hear" from Him and be able to communicate with Him.
So the question is, since we know that God wants us to be able to hear from Him and that He speaks to us through our spirits, how does a believer go about hearing Him? Please allow me to suggest a few things that worked for me to get you started.
- A couple of the previous posters on this thread wrote that the key to hearing from God is LISTENING, and I believe that is correct. The question is, what am I listening for, how do I truly listen, when do I listen and how long do I listen? I can tell you, my experience has been that it is almost impossible to hear the "gentle whisper"(1 Kings 19:12) of the Father through the cacophony of this world in our everyday living; the Lord of the universe is not about to try and compete with the barriers of noise - TVs, radios, computers, cellphones, DVDs, CDs, etc - that mankind has created to compete with His "voice." (Think about it: What's one of the first things most people do when they get up in the morning? > Turn on the TV or radio. What's one of the first things you do when you get in your car? > Turn on the radio or the DVD. And what is one of the first things people do when they come home from the day's activities? > Turn on the TV again.) You see, God normally communicates with us through the quiet realm of thoughts, our "spiritual ears": We "hear" the thoughts of His Spirit through our mind, which is the portal between our flesh and our spirit (read 1 Cor 2:10-14). With that in mind, do you really expect to hear from God when you can't hear yourself think, or you are distracted by a flow of images?
- Prayer time would be a great time to hear from the Father, but we have so distorted the concept of prayer and praying that we seldom do. Prayer should be about listening, but we have made it about talking, and that mostly ours. (I once heard someone say that the fact that we have 2 ears and 1 mouth should be a clue that we should listen twice as much as we talk; makes sense to me - check out James 1:19!) Before I learned to listen, my typical prayer session was to go in and praise and worship God for a few minutes, thank Him for my recent blessings (if any), maybe read a Bible passage or two, MAKE A WHOLE BUNCH OF PETITIONS AND REQUESTS, listen for a couple of minutes to see if He had anything to say, thank Him in advance for answering my new "prayers" and get up and leave, all within the space of 30-45 minutes, max - IF I wasn't running behind for some reason. Sometimes that was all done while I was in my car driving to work, displaying my wonderful ability to multi-task. Many days I didn’t “pray” at all, especially if things were going well and I didn’t need any help. The idea of sitting down with my Bible and a notebook for a couple of hours and waiting for Father God to “say” something to me was completely foreign to me.
- May I suggest that one of the first things you must do if you expect to hear from God is find out what His "voice" sounds like. May I also suggest that until you know what He sounds like in complete and utter silence, you’ll never hear His whisper in all the noise of everyday life, especially if there is an emergency situation. The best way to accomplish this is to ask the Father to help you with arrangements (time, finances, place) to go on a solo retreat, away from everyone and everything in your normal, everyday life. Wherever you go, even if it’s a room where you can isolate yourself in your own home, it MUST be quiet and free from distractions (earplugs and/or sound deadening headsets are helpful here)! Allow at least a couple of three days for this retreat; believe me when I say this will be a life changing event for you (at least it has been for me and everyone I’ve suggested it to), so you don’t want to be rushing the Spirit of God - the more time you can allow, the better will be your encounter with Him. Finally, don’t take any thing with you but a Bible, a notebook, a couple of pens, a change of clothes, something to drink and maybe a couple of snacks in case you should happen to get hungry (you probably won’t!). DON’T TAKE praise tapes, instruction CD’s, DVD’s, or other books in with you...They are distractions, and believe me when I say that you won’t need them. Remember, the more you hear His “voice”, the more you’ll know what it “sounds” like; just go to LISTEN, and write down what you “hear” so that you can go back and study what He gives you and verify that it lines up with His Word. As for the question of how do I know it’s the Spirit of God talking to me, the answer is the same as for the age old question of how do you know when you’re in love: The answer is that you know because you know that you know that you know...
- How does the amount of time you spend alone listening to and communicating with the Spirit of God each day compare with the amount of time you spend watching episodes of “Lost” or “24” or “Scrubs” or the news or some sports event on TV, or surfing the internet on the computer, or perhaps reading a magazine or novel? If you consider your time to be a valuable asset, as I know most of us do, are you giving God the “first fruits” of your time, or is He getting the “left overs”? Do you give Him the first part of the day, when you’re fresh and alert, or do you give Him the dregs, when you’re tired and worn out? Do you recall what Jesus said in Luke 6:38 about giving (note that it never says what to give), especially the part about “For with the measure you use, it will be measured unto you”?
- If you have been hearing from the Father, but have run into a “dry spell,” consider this: What was the last thing that He told you to do that you haven’t done yet? For example, have you ever had someone ask you for advice on how to handle some problem, only to have them go off and ignore your advice and do their own thing, then have them come back to ask you for help when get in trouble? Or perhaps He’s given you a mission to accomplish, but you just haven’t gotten around to it yet. You see, I believe obedience is very high on God’s priority list, even if often it’s not on ours.
My friend, believe this: God created you for a specific purpose in the Body of Christ (talking about The Church, not the church); the only way you can know what that purpose is, and how to accomplish it, is by communicating with the Spirit of God in you, and that mostly by LISTENING (that is the part of praying that we can do continuously) for His direction, just like Jesus did. When you became a born again Believer, you became a child of the Father, a brother/sister of the Lord Jesus, a possessor of the Holy Spirit, and a prince/princess of the King. So set aside your sin consciousness and low self worth and KNOW that God wants you to hear from Him, early and often!
If you’re interested, the Lord gave me a book to write during my “listening time” over a three year period called The Prayer Directed Life, which goes into a lot more detail on how to successfully communicate with God. You can download it for free (it’s a PDF file) at my website, www.thepdl.org or www.theprayerdirectedlife.com .
Remember what Jesus said: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and and His righteousness, and all the rest will be given to you as well."
“Does anyone ever really get answers from God? I mean, honestly. I pray to God constantly. I read the word, and honestly, I find peace and faith in it. But I don't hear God.
I talk to people often that say, "God told me this..." or "God put it on my heart to do that..." and I feel a sense of envy. I pray, I write, I converse with God. But I don't hear.
I'm not talking about things of the world, like "God, give me a new car." Rather, I'm talking about the essence of the Christian experience. Whenever I have asked this in the past, I've been told I'm not listening hard enough or I'm not praying hard enough, as if through more hard work, it will be mine.
Still, I just can't hear. So, I ask... Do you hear God answer you? And if so, How?”
My friend, you have asked a great question here; and I believe, and KNOW, that God wants you and others who really want to hear from Him to know the answer. How do I know this? Because that is the way Jesus operated when He walked this earth physically: He said in the Gospels that He did nothing and said nothing but what the Father told Him to do and say. When we become born again, our spirit is recreated with the Spirit of Christ (2 Cor 5); Col 2 says that God makes us alive through Christ! Romans 8 says that when receive the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God comes to live in us, and that those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Concerning believers, Jesus told the Father, in John 17:22 (the real "Lord's Prayer"), "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me." The way the Spirit of God leads us is by communicating with our spirit through the Spirit of Christ, which is one with us (1 Cor 2); in fact , Paul says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."(1 Cor 2:16). That is how Christ walks the earth today, just as He did 2000 years ago, as He lives His life through us. And that is how I KNOW that God wants us to be able to "hear" from Him and be able to communicate with Him.
So the question is, since we know that God wants us to be able to hear from Him and that He speaks to us through our spirits, how does a believer go about hearing Him? Please allow me to suggest a few things that worked for me to get you started.
- A couple of the previous posters on this thread wrote that the key to hearing from God is LISTENING, and I believe that is correct. The question is, what am I listening for, how do I truly listen, when do I listen and how long do I listen? I can tell you, my experience has been that it is almost impossible to hear the "gentle whisper"(1 Kings 19:12) of the Father through the cacophony of this world in our everyday living; the Lord of the universe is not about to try and compete with the barriers of noise - TVs, radios, computers, cellphones, DVDs, CDs, etc - that mankind has created to compete with His "voice." (Think about it: What's one of the first things most people do when they get up in the morning? > Turn on the TV or radio. What's one of the first things you do when you get in your car? > Turn on the radio or the DVD. And what is one of the first things people do when they come home from the day's activities? > Turn on the TV again.) You see, God normally communicates with us through the quiet realm of thoughts, our "spiritual ears": We "hear" the thoughts of His Spirit through our mind, which is the portal between our flesh and our spirit (read 1 Cor 2:10-14). With that in mind, do you really expect to hear from God when you can't hear yourself think, or you are distracted by a flow of images?
- Prayer time would be a great time to hear from the Father, but we have so distorted the concept of prayer and praying that we seldom do. Prayer should be about listening, but we have made it about talking, and that mostly ours. (I once heard someone say that the fact that we have 2 ears and 1 mouth should be a clue that we should listen twice as much as we talk; makes sense to me - check out James 1:19!) Before I learned to listen, my typical prayer session was to go in and praise and worship God for a few minutes, thank Him for my recent blessings (if any), maybe read a Bible passage or two, MAKE A WHOLE BUNCH OF PETITIONS AND REQUESTS, listen for a couple of minutes to see if He had anything to say, thank Him in advance for answering my new "prayers" and get up and leave, all within the space of 30-45 minutes, max - IF I wasn't running behind for some reason. Sometimes that was all done while I was in my car driving to work, displaying my wonderful ability to multi-task. Many days I didn’t “pray” at all, especially if things were going well and I didn’t need any help. The idea of sitting down with my Bible and a notebook for a couple of hours and waiting for Father God to “say” something to me was completely foreign to me.
- May I suggest that one of the first things you must do if you expect to hear from God is find out what His "voice" sounds like. May I also suggest that until you know what He sounds like in complete and utter silence, you’ll never hear His whisper in all the noise of everyday life, especially if there is an emergency situation. The best way to accomplish this is to ask the Father to help you with arrangements (time, finances, place) to go on a solo retreat, away from everyone and everything in your normal, everyday life. Wherever you go, even if it’s a room where you can isolate yourself in your own home, it MUST be quiet and free from distractions (earplugs and/or sound deadening headsets are helpful here)! Allow at least a couple of three days for this retreat; believe me when I say this will be a life changing event for you (at least it has been for me and everyone I’ve suggested it to), so you don’t want to be rushing the Spirit of God - the more time you can allow, the better will be your encounter with Him. Finally, don’t take any thing with you but a Bible, a notebook, a couple of pens, a change of clothes, something to drink and maybe a couple of snacks in case you should happen to get hungry (you probably won’t!). DON’T TAKE praise tapes, instruction CD’s, DVD’s, or other books in with you...They are distractions, and believe me when I say that you won’t need them. Remember, the more you hear His “voice”, the more you’ll know what it “sounds” like; just go to LISTEN, and write down what you “hear” so that you can go back and study what He gives you and verify that it lines up with His Word. As for the question of how do I know it’s the Spirit of God talking to me, the answer is the same as for the age old question of how do you know when you’re in love: The answer is that you know because you know that you know that you know...
- How does the amount of time you spend alone listening to and communicating with the Spirit of God each day compare with the amount of time you spend watching episodes of “Lost” or “24” or “Scrubs” or the news or some sports event on TV, or surfing the internet on the computer, or perhaps reading a magazine or novel? If you consider your time to be a valuable asset, as I know most of us do, are you giving God the “first fruits” of your time, or is He getting the “left overs”? Do you give Him the first part of the day, when you’re fresh and alert, or do you give Him the dregs, when you’re tired and worn out? Do you recall what Jesus said in Luke 6:38 about giving (note that it never says what to give), especially the part about “For with the measure you use, it will be measured unto you”?
- If you have been hearing from the Father, but have run into a “dry spell,” consider this: What was the last thing that He told you to do that you haven’t done yet? For example, have you ever had someone ask you for advice on how to handle some problem, only to have them go off and ignore your advice and do their own thing, then have them come back to ask you for help when get in trouble? Or perhaps He’s given you a mission to accomplish, but you just haven’t gotten around to it yet. You see, I believe obedience is very high on God’s priority list, even if often it’s not on ours.
My friend, believe this: God created you for a specific purpose in the Body of Christ (talking about The Church, not the church); the only way you can know what that purpose is, and how to accomplish it, is by communicating with the Spirit of God in you, and that mostly by LISTENING (that is the part of praying that we can do continuously) for His direction, just like Jesus did. When you became a born again Believer, you became a child of the Father, a brother/sister of the Lord Jesus, a possessor of the Holy Spirit, and a prince/princess of the King. So set aside your sin consciousness and low self worth and KNOW that God wants you to hear from Him, early and often!
If you’re interested, the Lord gave me a book to write during my “listening time” over a three year period called The Prayer Directed Life, which goes into a lot more detail on how to successfully communicate with God. You can download it for free (it’s a PDF file) at my website, www.thepdl.org or www.theprayerdirectedlife.com .
Remember what Jesus said: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and and His righteousness, and all the rest will be given to you as well."
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Temple or Den?
For your consideration and comment:
Base Scripture: “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.'"(Mt 21:12-13. See also Mk 11:15-16, Lk 19:45-46, Jn 2:13-14)
Ever since I can first remember hearing stories about Jesus, the one about Jesus casting out the money changers and merchants from the Temple has always been used as an example of how it’s OK for us to be “righteously” angry towards things or people because, after all, Jesus did it. Yet, after I became born again and began studying the Word in depth, it always bothered me that the words “anger” or “angry” never appeared in any of the translations I’ve read; it was always just assumed. Whenever the story would come up in group Bible studies I was participating in, I would always point out this anomaly, but I would be “poo-pooed” for suggesting that this story wasn’t necessarily about Jesus getting mad or justification for our right to do the same. Even the few sermons I’ve heard on these Scriptures have varied little from this premiss.
Anyway, this story happened to come up in its usual context during an online Christian forum (www.Christianity.com) I was engaged in during my prayer time the other day, when the Spirit of the Lord sounded off as clear as a bell in my spirit and said, “That Scripture is NOT about Jesus getting angry!” He proceeded to tell me that He was going to show me what that story is about and for me to write about it. Needless to say, He got my attention! I’m excited, because what follows is some of the things He shared with me about this event - and I think that it’s some pretty good stuff.
First of all, have you noticed (I didn’t prior to this) that this is one of those few events which shows up in all four of the Gospels? I don’t know about you, but when I see that the Holy Spirit has inspired the reproduction of the same story or Scripture in all of the Gospels, especially when the wording is almost exactly the same in three of the occurrences, I tend to sit up and take notice. I believe that this is God’s way of putting special emphasis on that subject.
Here’s something else to consider: In three of the Gospels, the Temple cleansing event is one of the last things Jesus does before His crucifixion and death, and in fact may have been the “straw that broke the camels back” as far the Pharisees were concerned; it may have been the act that sparked the final solution to their problem. In the Gospel of John, however, the opposite is true: It was one of the first things Jesus did after the miracle at Cana, and from some of the differences between his description of the events and the quote that Jesus used from that of the other Gospel writers, many conclude that there may very have been two separate occurrences. To me, that seems to indicate that Jesus set the stage early on for one of the great principles of the New Testament, where God would leave the temple building and come live inside the bodies of believers after Jesus “cleans house,” and that the final event a week before He was to die served to emphasize the transformation that was about to happen.
Another important tidbit for you concerns the place in the Temple where these events occurred: The section of the Temple called the “Court of the Gentiles.” This area of the Temple was the only place where Gentiles were allowed to enter the Temple and participate in worship and sacrifice ceremonies. The fact that vendors were allowed to peddle their wares only in this area was an obvious slight by the Jewish leadership against Gentiles and the idea of God allowing non-Jews to participate in a relationship with Him. That Jesus would so publicly challenge the authorities through this act helped seal and, indeed, expedite His fate with them.
You see, I believe that the main thing that the Father revealed to me about this Scripture is that it is not about Jesus’ cleaning up the church or justifying righteous anger. It is an allegory for what Jesus does when He comes to live in us as part of the born again experience, and what He continues to do when we allow Him to be in control!
Do you recall that the Bible says that you and I are God’s temple; that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? (1 Cor 3:16 & 6:19, 2 Cor 6:16). Do you also remember that in the Gospel of John, Jesus said that “The thief (robber) comes only to to steal and kill and destroy...?”(Jn 10:10) Those scriptures fit hand-in-glove with the scriptures Jesus spoke to the buyers and sellers He cast out in the first three descriptions of this event. If you agree with theses scriptures about our being God’s temples, and you believe that Christ comes to live in us when we become born again, then Jesus is saying that our bodies are houses of prayer, and that we must not allow them to become dens for Satan and his demons. What’s more, He is standing there inside of us with a whip in his hand and fire in His eyes to help us achieve this ideal! Glory be to God, what an awesome picture that presents...Reminds me of Rich Mullin’s “Awesome God” song!
If you get a chance, please check this out yourself and let me know what you think. I would be very interested in hearing from you about this revelation.
Base Scripture: “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.'"(Mt 21:12-13. See also Mk 11:15-16, Lk 19:45-46, Jn 2:13-14)
Ever since I can first remember hearing stories about Jesus, the one about Jesus casting out the money changers and merchants from the Temple has always been used as an example of how it’s OK for us to be “righteously” angry towards things or people because, after all, Jesus did it. Yet, after I became born again and began studying the Word in depth, it always bothered me that the words “anger” or “angry” never appeared in any of the translations I’ve read; it was always just assumed. Whenever the story would come up in group Bible studies I was participating in, I would always point out this anomaly, but I would be “poo-pooed” for suggesting that this story wasn’t necessarily about Jesus getting mad or justification for our right to do the same. Even the few sermons I’ve heard on these Scriptures have varied little from this premiss.
Anyway, this story happened to come up in its usual context during an online Christian forum (www.Christianity.com) I was engaged in during my prayer time the other day, when the Spirit of the Lord sounded off as clear as a bell in my spirit and said, “That Scripture is NOT about Jesus getting angry!” He proceeded to tell me that He was going to show me what that story is about and for me to write about it. Needless to say, He got my attention! I’m excited, because what follows is some of the things He shared with me about this event - and I think that it’s some pretty good stuff.
First of all, have you noticed (I didn’t prior to this) that this is one of those few events which shows up in all four of the Gospels? I don’t know about you, but when I see that the Holy Spirit has inspired the reproduction of the same story or Scripture in all of the Gospels, especially when the wording is almost exactly the same in three of the occurrences, I tend to sit up and take notice. I believe that this is God’s way of putting special emphasis on that subject.
Here’s something else to consider: In three of the Gospels, the Temple cleansing event is one of the last things Jesus does before His crucifixion and death, and in fact may have been the “straw that broke the camels back” as far the Pharisees were concerned; it may have been the act that sparked the final solution to their problem. In the Gospel of John, however, the opposite is true: It was one of the first things Jesus did after the miracle at Cana, and from some of the differences between his description of the events and the quote that Jesus used from that of the other Gospel writers, many conclude that there may very have been two separate occurrences. To me, that seems to indicate that Jesus set the stage early on for one of the great principles of the New Testament, where God would leave the temple building and come live inside the bodies of believers after Jesus “cleans house,” and that the final event a week before He was to die served to emphasize the transformation that was about to happen.
Another important tidbit for you concerns the place in the Temple where these events occurred: The section of the Temple called the “Court of the Gentiles.” This area of the Temple was the only place where Gentiles were allowed to enter the Temple and participate in worship and sacrifice ceremonies. The fact that vendors were allowed to peddle their wares only in this area was an obvious slight by the Jewish leadership against Gentiles and the idea of God allowing non-Jews to participate in a relationship with Him. That Jesus would so publicly challenge the authorities through this act helped seal and, indeed, expedite His fate with them.
You see, I believe that the main thing that the Father revealed to me about this Scripture is that it is not about Jesus’ cleaning up the church or justifying righteous anger. It is an allegory for what Jesus does when He comes to live in us as part of the born again experience, and what He continues to do when we allow Him to be in control!
Do you recall that the Bible says that you and I are God’s temple; that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? (1 Cor 3:16 & 6:19, 2 Cor 6:16). Do you also remember that in the Gospel of John, Jesus said that “The thief (robber) comes only to to steal and kill and destroy...?”(Jn 10:10) Those scriptures fit hand-in-glove with the scriptures Jesus spoke to the buyers and sellers He cast out in the first three descriptions of this event. If you agree with theses scriptures about our being God’s temples, and you believe that Christ comes to live in us when we become born again, then Jesus is saying that our bodies are houses of prayer, and that we must not allow them to become dens for Satan and his demons. What’s more, He is standing there inside of us with a whip in his hand and fire in His eyes to help us achieve this ideal! Glory be to God, what an awesome picture that presents...Reminds me of Rich Mullin’s “Awesome God” song!
If you get a chance, please check this out yourself and let me know what you think. I would be very interested in hearing from you about this revelation.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Allah or Jesus
The following article is an interesting and important excerpt of a recent encounter between a Christian minister and a Muslim Imam. Although I didn't write it, I believe that the Father brought it to me as an example of the kind of questions we must be prepared to ask of Muslims and their clerics if we are to successfully expose and counter their agenda.
Last month I attended my annual training session that's required for
maintaining my state prison security clearance. During the training
session there was a presentation by three speakers representing the
Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained each of
their belief systems.
I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say. The
Imam gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam, complete with
a video. After the presentations, time was provided for questions and
answers.
When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked:
"Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams
and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the
infidels of the world. And that by killing an infidel, which is a command
to all Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case,
can you give me the definition of an infidel?"
There was no disagreement with my statements and without hesitation,
he replied, "Non-believers!"
I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of
Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith
so they can go to Heaven... is that correct?"
The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command
to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the
cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes."
I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope
John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr.
Stanley ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go to Heaven!"
The Imam was speechless.
I continued, "I also have problem with being your friend when you and
your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask
you a question: Would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill
me in order to go to Heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you
because I am going to Heaven and He wants you to be with me?"
You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame.
Needless to say, the organizers and/or promoters of the 'Diversification'
training seminar were not happy with Rick's way of dealing with the
Islamic, Imam and exposing the truth about the Muslim's beliefs.
Allah or Jesus?
by Rick Mathes
by Rick Mathes
Last month I attended my annual training session that's required for
maintaining my state prison security clearance. During the training
session there was a presentation by three speakers representing the
Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained each of
their belief systems.
I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say. The
Imam gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam, complete with
a video. After the presentations, time was provided for questions and
answers.
When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked:
"Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams
and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the
infidels of the world. And that by killing an infidel, which is a command
to all Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case,
can you give me the definition of an infidel?"
There was no disagreement with my statements and without hesitation,
he replied, "Non-believers!"
I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of
Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith
so they can go to Heaven... is that correct?"
The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command
to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the
cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes."
I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope
John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr.
Stanley ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go to Heaven!"
The Imam was speechless.
I continued, "I also have problem with being your friend when you and
your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask
you a question: Would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill
me in order to go to Heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you
because I am going to Heaven and He wants you to be with me?"
You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame.
Needless to say, the organizers and/or promoters of the 'Diversification'
training seminar were not happy with Rick's way of dealing with the
Islamic, Imam and exposing the truth about the Muslim's beliefs.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Concerning Going to Church
A lot of Christians struggle over the idea of missing church services. For instance, one Christian forum I visit had a question from a participate who asked, "Does missing church on Sunday make me a bad Christian?" I asked the Father during one of our prayer times together what He thought about this, and here is some of what I believe He put on my heart about that subject:
Concerning this topic, I hate to answer a question with a question, but I think the answer to the original question is "What is the Father telling you to do?" I recall in the Gospels that Jesus said that He did what the Father told Him to do and He said what the Father told Him to say. That same Father, and for that matter, that same Christ, lives in us as born again Believers. In the 14th chapter of John it says "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."(vs 25-26)
When I first started to ask the Father about this question of going to church a while back, here is some of what He showed me through listening to His thoughts and studying His Word:
- One of the best sayings I've heard about this subject is this: Sitting in a church doesn't make you any more of a Christian than sitting in a garage makes you a car. Taking the analogy a little bit farther, a car sitting in a garage is warm and dry and protected from the elements, but sitting in a garage is not what cars were designed to do. If left there too long, it will eventually rust and seize up and become unusable for its original purpose.
- I believe that our understanding of "Church - The Body of Believers with Christ as its Head" has gotten crossed up with "church - the local congregation and/or the place people go to worship and praise God as a group."
- Under the Old Covenant, people could not have the Spirit of God come live in them because they were spiritually dead in the eyes of God as a result of Adam and Eve's disobedience. (There were times that the Spirit of God came "on" some of them, but until Jesus came to reconcile things, He could not live in them.) Therefore, God set aside a sacred day, called the Sabbath, and a sacred place, called the Temple, so that His chosen people, the Jews, could assemble together as families and tribes to assuage their yearning to get back close to Him through acts of sacrifice, repentance and praise. From the laws and customs of the Old Testament was born the tradition of going to church on Sunday.
- Under the New Covenant (Testament), God comes to live in and through each one of us who asks Jesus Christ into our heart as Lord and Saviour; this is as Jesus prayed would happen in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John. With Christ living in us, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we become the temple (church) (1 Cor 3:16 and 6:19) instead of some building. Now, every day is a sacred day, not just Saturday, Sunday or whatever is considered to be the Sabbath, because every where we go, we carry the Spirit of God in us! Anytime we need or want to communicate or pray or fellowship with Him, He's right there - all the time! That's how Christ walks this Earth today, as we allow Him to live His life through us to share the Good News of the message of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19) and to minister to those who need and want Him in their lives. The church building is a great place for us as believers, the Body of Christ, to build and be built up in the knowledge of the "Son of God" (Eph 4:1-16); but it's the tool, not the project - the means, not the end.
- One of the things Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew really struck home to me, because I came from a religion that is steeped in tradition and ceremony, especially during its church services: He told the Pharisees and teachers of the law "You nullify the word of God with your traditions." I believe when church becomes a habit or a "have to do" thing, we set the nullifying process in motion.
- The really exciting thing is that when I'm doing what I think He's telling me to do, whether it be go to church or stay at home to fellowship with Him in the quiet of my prayer closet, He's always got something special for me: A word of knowledge or a special message, an opportunity to minister to someone or be ministered to in difficult times, the chance to sing a favorite praise song...the list goes on.
- Whatever I do, I am reminded of what Paul said in chapter 14 of His epistle to the Romans. The whole chapter speaks to this issue, but specifically in verse 5 he says, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."
- Finally, I believe that the Christian life is not about me and what I am doing: It's about Him and what He's doing! In the Kingdom of God, it's who I am that's important (Rom 8:14-17), not what I do.
MarkMc
www.thepdl.com
Concerning this topic, I hate to answer a question with a question, but I think the answer to the original question is "What is the Father telling you to do?" I recall in the Gospels that Jesus said that He did what the Father told Him to do and He said what the Father told Him to say. That same Father, and for that matter, that same Christ, lives in us as born again Believers. In the 14th chapter of John it says "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."(vs 25-26)
When I first started to ask the Father about this question of going to church a while back, here is some of what He showed me through listening to His thoughts and studying His Word:
- One of the best sayings I've heard about this subject is this: Sitting in a church doesn't make you any more of a Christian than sitting in a garage makes you a car. Taking the analogy a little bit farther, a car sitting in a garage is warm and dry and protected from the elements, but sitting in a garage is not what cars were designed to do. If left there too long, it will eventually rust and seize up and become unusable for its original purpose.
- I believe that our understanding of "Church - The Body of Believers with Christ as its Head" has gotten crossed up with "church - the local congregation and/or the place people go to worship and praise God as a group."
- Under the Old Covenant, people could not have the Spirit of God come live in them because they were spiritually dead in the eyes of God as a result of Adam and Eve's disobedience. (There were times that the Spirit of God came "on" some of them, but until Jesus came to reconcile things, He could not live in them.) Therefore, God set aside a sacred day, called the Sabbath, and a sacred place, called the Temple, so that His chosen people, the Jews, could assemble together as families and tribes to assuage their yearning to get back close to Him through acts of sacrifice, repentance and praise. From the laws and customs of the Old Testament was born the tradition of going to church on Sunday.
- Under the New Covenant (Testament), God comes to live in and through each one of us who asks Jesus Christ into our heart as Lord and Saviour; this is as Jesus prayed would happen in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John. With Christ living in us, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we become the temple (church) (1 Cor 3:16 and 6:19) instead of some building. Now, every day is a sacred day, not just Saturday, Sunday or whatever is considered to be the Sabbath, because every where we go, we carry the Spirit of God in us! Anytime we need or want to communicate or pray or fellowship with Him, He's right there - all the time! That's how Christ walks this Earth today, as we allow Him to live His life through us to share the Good News of the message of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19) and to minister to those who need and want Him in their lives. The church building is a great place for us as believers, the Body of Christ, to build and be built up in the knowledge of the "Son of God" (Eph 4:1-16); but it's the tool, not the project - the means, not the end.
- One of the things Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew really struck home to me, because I came from a religion that is steeped in tradition and ceremony, especially during its church services: He told the Pharisees and teachers of the law "You nullify the word of God with your traditions." I believe when church becomes a habit or a "have to do" thing, we set the nullifying process in motion.
- The really exciting thing is that when I'm doing what I think He's telling me to do, whether it be go to church or stay at home to fellowship with Him in the quiet of my prayer closet, He's always got something special for me: A word of knowledge or a special message, an opportunity to minister to someone or be ministered to in difficult times, the chance to sing a favorite praise song...the list goes on.
- Whatever I do, I am reminded of what Paul said in chapter 14 of His epistle to the Romans. The whole chapter speaks to this issue, but specifically in verse 5 he says, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."
- Finally, I believe that the Christian life is not about me and what I am doing: It's about Him and what He's doing! In the Kingdom of God, it's who I am that's important (Rom 8:14-17), not what I do.
MarkMc
www.thepdl.com
Saturday, January 27, 2007
On Hearing From God
Today I believe God wants me to share a chapter from the book He gave me to write called The Prayer Directed Life (www.thepdl.org). Chapter 8 is called 'God's Voice - What Does It Sound Like'. It fits in well with the theme of this blog, and I hope it ministers to you and your efforts to have a meaningful prayer relationship with your Father.
GOD’S VOICE – WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE?
If you really want to “torque” some people off – make them mad enough to bite a 10-penny nail in half – try announcing at your next Bible study or meeting with Christian friends that during your prayer time God spoke to you and He gave you something to tell them. (Don’t try this with your secular acquaintances: You will be forever labeled a “whacko, intolerant fanatic.”) After the initial shock wears off, there are basically two things they want to know about your encounter, and what the message was is not one of them. The two things they want to know are: 1) Why would God speak to you, especially since you’re not a preacher, elder, or deacon; and 2) What did He sound like?
I think that the second question is an important, valid question. After all, if I am going to be spending most of my prayer time listening for direction and revelation from God, shouldn’t I know what His voice sounds like? Will He speak to me verbally, like you and I having a conversation? How do I know that it’s not just me answering my own questions? Or worse yet, how do I know that what I’m hearing is not Satan trying to mislead me?
Jesus used a phrase similar to the following one at least three times in the Gospels: “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”(Mt 11:15, Mk 4:23, Lk14:35) Jesus wasn’t speaking to a group of deaf or deformed people in these instances; each of the people who were following Him around had a set of ears that they listened with. Ears are part of the human body, and hearing is one of the five human senses. So, what did He mean when He said that?
The problem with trying to describe what it “sounds” like to “hear” from God is that we wind up using “flesh” words to describe a “spirit” event. God is Spirit, and He communicates to our spirit, although He may – and often does – use “worldly” means to deliver His message. When Jesus made those statements, He was encouraging His followers to listen to and hear the message from the Father with the “heart” and “ears” of their spirits, in addition to the ears of their bodies. Only then would they truly comprehend His message.
Although it is certainly not outside the realm of possibility, as nothing is impossible with God, you are probably not going to hear a verbal manifestation of God’s voice. It would be nice if we could experience the Lord’s voice the way Charlton Heston’s Moses hears it in the movie The Ten Commandments, or the way Jim Carrey’s Bruce experiences it in Bruce Almighty. I have heard of instances where a person facing imminent danger or peril has clearly heard a human voice warning them, when there was absolutely no other person around; but that’s just not the norm.
If I may be so bold, it’s been my experience during my prayer time that God communicates His thoughts to me through something like ESP – “Extra Sensory Perception” – except that I would term it “Extra Spiritual Perception”; that is, He impresses His thoughts and words on my spirit and mind. This is Biblically supported in 1 Cor 2:10-14:
“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.”
On other occasions, this voice seems to be coming to me like a very quiet, gentle whisper. Do you remember that account of the Lord visiting Elijah at Horeb, the
“The Lord said (to Elijah), ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”
I’m just thankful that I haven’t had to experience everything Elijah endured to hear that “gentle whisper!” (Here’s an interesting side note for you: Did you know that the Bible says that Elijah traveled 40 days and 40 nights to have this meeting and hear from the Lord? Remind you of Someone else taking 40 days and 40 nights to hear from God?)
Still other times He impresses on my spirit a scripture He wants me to look up and read. This is always an awesome experience, because when you take your Bible and go to the reference He gives you, it’s always like He’s right there saying the words to you – like the words are alive, with a special meaning just for you! Unfortunately, I think that far to often people abuse this form of communication when they take verses from scripture and try to make them say what they want to hear.
But I think the best way for me to answer the question about how you know when you are hearing God’s voice is to ask you a question about your adolescence. Do you remember what you were told the first time you asked someone whom you trusted that all important question that burns in the heart of most every young person the moment their hormones start kicking in: “What is love,” or “How do you know when you are in love with someone?” Didn’t the “bottom line” answer, after the sugar coated explanations of some of the symptoms of love, go something like this: You know, because you know, because you know, because you know…? Well, I’ve got news for you; the same thing applies to hearing from God – “You know, because you know, because you know…!”
Now, I know; the first time you heard that phrase from someone, you probably thought that this answer was just a “cop-out” from a person who just didn’t know what being “in love” was like, or who had never experienced loving someone. That was, until you experienced the first pleasures and pangs of being in love yourself! That was when you discovered that the answer given to your question was correct: Being “in love” is not something you could ever adequately describe or put a “handle” on; it can only be described by experiencing it! But, once you do experience it, you’ll never forget what its like – and you will never have to ask someone to describe it again.
We receive Biblical support for this concept of “you know, because you know…” from Jesus Himself in the Gospel of John when He talks about being the good shepherd. In John 10:3-5 He says,
“The watchman opens the gate for him (the shepherd) and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
Please note that the last part of this scripture indicates that those who are His sheep also recognize the “stranger’s” voice, and know not to follow him. Also, to take the analogy one step further, consider that the sheep are all about listening for the shepherd, while he tends to their needs and safety.
While you are over there in the Gospel of John, let me remind you of a scripture that says if you’re born again, you have heard the Father at least once in your lifetime. In John 6:44-45(NKJV), Jesus tells his disciples and the Jews following Him this:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall be taught by God.’ Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”
This scripture also supports the fact that when we do hear from the Father, we had best be doing what He tells us to do, if we want to hear from Him again. I can assure you, if you have not come to Jesus, you’re not going to be hearing from the Father on other issues; it’s just not going to happen!
Finally, here’s the most important thing that you must believe and get into your Spirit: GOD WANTS TO TALK TO YOU AND HAVE YOU HEAR HIM; and He will do whatever it takes to have that happen, if you are earnestly listening to Him! How do I know that? Just look at the Bible, which, coincidentally, is called the Word of God; almost every book, has some example of God actively trying to communicate with His people!
Sometimes He spoke directly to people without an intermediary; other times He spoke through other people, such as the prophets. Once He spoke through a donkey, and still another time, through a burning bush. Other times He used angels and visions to communicate with those waiting to hear from Him. Do you see what I’m saying? All of these different ways that God has used to communicate with people are precedence for what He can, and will, use today to speak to you and me!
You can even see that in the Old Testament, He has to rely on “flesh” means to communicate, because no one had the Spirit of God living in them; whereas in the New Testament, His communication is in the “spirit”, with and through those who have the Holy Spirit living in them. As in any family, if you are a son or daughter in the Family of God, it is part of your heritage to hear from your Father, if you are listening to Him!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
On Colored Ribbons
COLORED RIBBONS
Base Scripture: Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
You know, I hate to take on “sacred cows” because the attacks of the “bull” that protects them can get you pretty bloody sometimes, but here goes anyway. Should Christians be involved in campaigns that involve wearing or displaying certain colored symbols (ie, ribbons, t-shirts, balloons, etc) that are representative of specific maladies in order to “raise awareness” of that sickness or disease?
Here’s the scenario that brought this on: I was out walking my Jack Russells the other morning (or should I say, they were walking me), contemplating God’s presence and handiwork, when I saw one of my neighbors walking down his driveway with his three-ish little daughter following him; he had a pink balloon in his hand which he was apparently taking out to attach to his mailbox. So after a greeting I said to him, “Oh, is someone in your house having a birthday today (meaning the little girl following him)?” To which he replied, “No, I’m putting out my balloon for the ‘Paint The Town Pink’ project going on in town this weekend for breast cancer awareness (as in, “didn’t you get the memo?”).” Then I remember reading somewhere that the local postmistress of the town I live in had organized this ‘Paint The Town Pink’ campaign for this weekend with the idea of everyone wearing pink ribbons and/or pink T-shirts and attaching pink balloons to their mailboxes to raise awareness of breast cancer. So anyway, now I’m forced to take the rest of our walk, as well as the walks I take for the next two days, being “made aware” of breast cancer every few hundred yards, instead of having one of the prettiest colors God made in this world remind me of the beautiful females in my family, or of the softly tinted moisture-laden clouds that occasionally muffle one of God’s glorious sunrises (or sunsets).
We have allowed a world of well-meaning people to purloin some of God’s most beautiful colors to represent or remind us of some of the most ravaging and debilitating diseases that Satan has inflicted on this earth; and we, as Christiansh and Believers have enabled this practice, and sometimes have participated in it, in the name of compassion and comradery. Please don’t misunderstand me here: I’m not denying that breast cancer, aids, heart disease (the number 1 killer of Americans), other cancers, Down’s syndrome and a plethora of other diseases and illnesses exist in the world (and the Church) today; nor am I advocating that we stick our head in the sand and ignore them. What I am saying is that they have no right to exist in the life of a Believer or in the
Here’s the problem with this practice: Do you see that it is impossible to live by the tenets of Php 4:8 if every time I see a specific color it causes me to think about a specific sickness or disease? The idea is diametrically opposed to the Word of God, regardless of our good intentions. Let me ask you this: Can you show me anywhere in the teachings of Jesus or the New Testament Scriptures where we are encouraged to create and display symbols of sickness and disease in order to remind ourselves and others that they exist in this decaying world and need to be “dealt with?” I’m here to tell you, my brothers and sisters, you ain’t gonna find anything like that because it’s simply not in God’s plans for the way Believers are supposed to deal with Satan and his tools of destruction.
Please believe me when I say that I am not trying to belittle the efforts of those in the world to seek funding for their causes or consolation for their (or their loved ones) conditions. That is all they know to do to fight against the maladies which are increasingly invading our lives. I will say, though, that the number one killer of both men and women in the United States is not breast cancer or aids; it’s heart disease, and I don’t recall any specially colored ribbon being set aside to wear to raise awareness of that fact!
Consider this:
- If we were to wear one colored ribbon to represent all the different colored support ribbons, wouldn’t the appropriate color for that ribbon be black, since black is the combination of all colors? In other words, aren’t all of those colored ribbons derivatives of the color black? When you’re trying to make a statement with color (as opposed to trying to dress fashionably), isn’t black usually associated with death and mourning, as well as morbidity and evil and darkness?
- On the other hand, white is the absence of all colors. Isn’t white usually associated with purity, life, hope and Godliness? As Christians and Believers, why don’t we start wearing white ribbons on statement-making occasions; then, when people ask us why we are wearing white, we can tell them that it represents Jesus Christ, who defeated all sickness, disease and death by His death and resurrection, and who lives in us now. It helps us to “raise awareness” that by His wounds, we are healed (Is 54:5, 1 Pet 2:24), and it promotes “research” into getting a hold of this fact and applying it to our lives.
MarkMc
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