Sometimes It's Good to Admit We Were Wrong!

OK, that's too broad a statement, I admit it!! Narrowed down, we in Christendom have tended to place a separation between God himself and our eternal life, between the Holy Spirit and our power. What do we tend to believe? We tend to limit our belief in salvation to a gift FROM God instead of the gift of GOD HIMSELF. Of course, salvation is also FROM God, but that could never trump the GIFT HIMSELF! 

Likewise, we read of the power we've received from the Spirit's filling and relegate it only to a super power inside each of us. But the power is not separated from the Holy Spirit, rather that power IS the Holy Spirit! There's a big difference isn't there? Too often, well meaning Christians live out their lives with this subtle, yet most significant misconception. It is a very serious oversight, and one of which we must ask help from the Spirit. Oswald Chambers wrote:  

Eternal life was the life which Jesus Christ exhibited on the human plane, and it is the same life, not a copy of it, which is manifested in our mortal flesh when we are born of God. Eternal life is not a gift from God, eternal life is the gift of God. . . .

“Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost”—not power as a gift from the Holy Ghost; the power is the Holy Ghost, not something which He imparts. . . .

Jesus came to give us endless supplies of life: “that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Eternal Life has nothing to do with Time, it is the life which Jesus lived when He was down here. The only source of Life is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The weakest saint can experience the power of the Deity of the Son of God if once he is willing to ‘let go.’ Any strand of our own energy in ourselves will blur the life of Jesus. We have to keep letting go, and slowly and surely the great full life of God will invade us in every part, and men will take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus.

Chambers, O. My utmost for his highest: Selections for the year.

Let us resolve to shed this, perhaps inherited, yet most false view. To miss this causes us to miss out to a serious degree on God's very presence! 

Afraid to Die or Afraid to Live?

It depends. 

Most are afraid to die for obvious reasons. They live solely for this life and so have no good stake in the life that is to come. Others are afraid because they are not convinced that there IS a life to come, so their motto is carpe diem ("live for today"). 

But for the Christian, the true believer in Jesus Christ, the conviction increases throughout his life that his time on earth is but a precursor to that which is greatly improved, the lesser giving way to the vastly greater life in Christ. So it was for Robert Chapman (1803-1902) of England. Born into a wealthy home in Denmark, taught the classics in literature, fluent in 7 languages as well as biblical Hebrew and Greek, Chapman, though raised in a religious home, came to know Christ savingly at age 20. Though a successful lawyer, he always had a philosophical bent, so he tended to consider things deeply. This is true about the Christian life and, of course, death which we all must face. Here is what he said on the subject: 

I remember the time when I was afraid to die.… But on coming to Christ and being saved by Him, I passed from that state to another, that of being afraid to live, for I feared that if I lived I might do something that would dishonor the Lord, and I would rather die a hundred times than do such a thing. But thanks be to God, I did not remain long in this state, for I saw clearly that it was possible to live in the world without dishonoring God.

Peterson, R. L. (1995). Robert Chapman: Apostle of Love (27). Littleton, CO: Lewis and Roth Publishers.

We see the difference don't we? Fear of dying or fear of living depends on what we hold dear. If we love this world, the world of the seen, then we fear leaving it. But if we fear God, then we fear offending Jesus Christ. This will make little sense to those whose lives have been perpetually indoctrinated with self-determination. But for those who know (and love) Christ, it makes all the sense in the world.

Jesus rose from the dead that those who die with him may also be raised into a new life, a life which grounds all success and failure on its willing adherence to loving law of Christ. "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above . . ." (Col. 3:1). 

Indeed! 

The Mega Millions Lottery Is a Suicidal Craze - John Piper

At the risk of RE-posting two days in a row, I feel the need to do it. Oddly, I've heard of at least two Christians who've purchased this ticket (since yesterday), one quite reluctantly who has since repented. (I think many figure that it is wrong on some level, but go ahead anyway . . . "just this once!") So, is it right for Christians to purchase lottery tickets? John Piper is no stranger to much of the Christian world. He is known for his biblical stance on many subjects. I appreciate his candor and careful exegesis. So, allow me to quote his post for my readers. It's application certainly goes far beyond just money. It applies to every area of life. 

 

by John Piper | March 30, 2012

Tonight a ticket will be chosen worth over half a billion dollars. Lottery agents in New York were selling 1.3 million Mega Millions tickets per hour Thursday.

Officials were expecting to sell about 1.2 billion tickets total before the drawing.
“Americans spend about $60 billion on the lottery every year,” says Stephen Dubner, co-author of “Freakonomics.” “More than $500 per American household goes to playing the lottery.” (CBS This Morning)

There are at least seven reasons you should not gamble with your money in this way — and should tell your congressmen not to support it.

1. It is spiritually suicidal. “Those who desire to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. . . They have pierced themselves with many a pang” (1 Timothy 6:7–10).

2. It is a kind of embezzlement. Managers don’t gamble with their Master’s money. All you have belongs to God. All of it. Faithful trustees may not gamble with a trust fund. They have no right. The parable of the talents says Jesus will take account of how we handled his money. “They went and worked” (Matthew 25:16). That is how we seek to provide for ourselves (1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:11; Ephesians 4:28)

3. It’s a fool’s errand. The odds of winning are nearly 176 million-to-one. You take real money and buy with it a chance. That chance is so infinitesimally small that the dollar is virtually lost. 175,999,999 times. The smaller amounts paid out more often are like a fog to keep you from seeing what is happening.

4. The system is built on the necessity of most people losing. The Lottery is just another form of gambling (without any of the glamour and glitz of Las Vegas, of course). The “house” controls the action, the players will all eventually lose. (See International Business Times)

5. It preys on the poor.

It supports and encourages “yet another corrosive addiction that preys upon the greed and hopeless dreams of those trapped in poverty. . . The Consumerist suggested that poor people in the U.S. — those earning $13,000 or less — spend an astounding 9 percent of their income on lottery tickets. . . making this ‘harmless’ game a ‘deeply regressive tax.’” (International Business Times)

6. There is a better alternative. A survey by Opinion Research Corporation for the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association revealed that one-fifth (21 percent) of people surveyed thought the lottery was a practical way to accumulate wealth. We are teaching people to be fools.

If the $500 a year that on average all American households throw away on the lottery (see above) were invested in an index fund each year for 20 years, each family would have $24,000. Not maybe. Really. And the taxes on these earnings would not only support government services, but would be built on sound and sustainable habits of economic life.

7. For the sake of quick money, government is undermining the virtue without which it cannot survive.

A government that raises money by encouraging and exploiting the weaknesses of its citizens escapes that democratic mechanism of accountability. As important, state-sponsored gambling undercuts the civic virtue upon which democratic governance depends. (First Things, Sept., 1991, 12)

So, if you win, don’t tithe your lottery winnings to our church. Christ does not build his church on the backs of the poor. Pray that Christ’s people will be so satisfied in him that they will be freed from the greed that makes us crave to get rich.

Screwtape on Easter

Purchase the book HERE

The following is a clever way of coming at the truth. White "borrows" a style popularized by C. S. Lewis in his little book, The Screwtape Letters. For those who may not be aware, the book reveals a series of letters from a fictitious demon named Screwtape to his underling and nephew, Wormwood. Remember as you read that everything is turned around. The "Enemy" is God. The goal of the minions of hell is to neutralize and if possible, destroy the Church and Christians who live in on an earth they classify as "Enemy territory." I think this is not just clever, but all too true, and like the book itself, full of matter which we do well to digest.

Posted: Monday, April 2, 2012 from Church and Culture

It was from the imagination of C.S. Lewis that we were first exposed to a devil’s diabolical advice for the capturing of the human heart through the correspondence between a senior devil, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood.

Below is a fresh correspondence, just intercepted, from Screwtape to Wormwood.

James Emery White

***************

My dear Wormwood,

It is that dreadful time of year again when even those most firmly in our clutches find themselves maddeningly open to venturing into Enemy territory and attending a service celebrating that event-which-must-not-be-named.

Granted, we have been effective at neutralizing much of the threat this time of year poses to patients such as yours by ensuring the stupid humans go on vacation. Making the time surrounding that event-that-must-not-be- named prime time for vacations and school breaks was one of the more brilliant suggestions from our tactical division.

I am, however, concerned that this year you report your patient is staying home. This makes him vulnerable. If he goes at all, make sure it is to one of those sappy affairs that is all butterflies and sunrises, eggs and bunnies – all new beginnings and positive thoughts. Sappiness we can deal with.

But it is best if he doesn’t go at all. And certainly not to anything that would actually introduce him to that event-that-must-not-be named! That noxious moment when He refused to admit defeat at the hands of Our Father Below and resorted to trickery and deceit – and called it a victory! We were cheated!

(I must calm down…I feel myself turning into a newt!)

This means you must be on guard against the Enemy’s more annoyingly earnest followers who would invite him to one of their pathetic celebrations. Particularly the ones where someone might actually try and explain things from the Enemy’s point of view!

We can’t afford a repeat of what happened with your former patient. Need I remind you how you let her slip through your fingers?  Yes, I think I will. First, you let her begin that friendship with that most awful of creatures, an actual follower of the Enemy. Not one of the overbearing, obnoxious, self-righteous, legalistic types I actually recommend you bring into her orbit, but the most revolting kind of all; the likable, normal, authentic kind. Oh, how I hate them! 

It wasn’t long before they began hearing of grace (I can barely bring myself to write such a contemptible word!), the most powerful of the Enemy’s weapons and the one thing we try most to protect humans from believing. 

Indeed, if you recall, it was precisely at this time of the year that she accepted an invitation from the aforementioned type of nauseating creature to precisely the kind of service I am warning you about. And it was the worst possible kind – one where the event-that-must-not-be-named was not only celebrated, but the disgusting human who spoke even gave reasons to appeal to her mind! Her mind! The one area we pride ourselves on owning, and have convinced the world one must abandon to even consider the Enemy!

This must not happen again.

Don’t rely on any of our departments brewing bad weather this weekend – even we can’t bring rain everywhere at the same time. And the Enemy has a way of bypassing those effort s and luring them anyway (we aren’t really quite sure what happens when those idiots pray – it’s an area we have yet to be able to invade). 

And don’t settle for mischief with the service itself (bad microphones and the like). Have your fun with such things, but remember that you are not a junior tempter anymore! Be a true warrior of the Father Below and rise to the occasion of preventing the Enemy of gaining any ground by keeping him away from any of those sniveling Enemy-lovers who would take it upon themselves to invite him to one of their revolting services.

Every day we lure more of their pathetic lives into our own ravenous desire that, in the end, consumes their very soul. This is the satisfying route. Yet the Enemy would have them as sons and daughters! It makes me want to vomit.

So whatever you do, keep your patient safe. The event-which-must-not-be-named must be neutralized!

All to say, it is a dangerous time of year.   

Your affectionate uncle

Screwtape

***************

Sources

With debt to C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters.

Jesus-Not So Easily Dismissed!

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 AND that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Corinthians 15:3–8)

Please notice in the foregoing verses that I have emboldened the "and" in verse 5. Why? For those of us who have heard these all our lives, if you are like me, we would stop quoting at verse four. We would assume that we had then provided a thumbnail sketch of that which constitutes the gospel. And in a sense that would be correct. Indeed, salvation, redemption, or the new birth (all referring to the same event) are accomplished by the finished work of Christ on the cross and his subsequent entrance into glory. But, Paul does not end there. He includes (after our English comma) a listing of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances. Why point this out? Most who've studied God's Word already know this, right? Well, maybe. I accentuate verses 5-8 because God the Spirit did so. And since the Spirit so inspired the Word, we ought to see their inescapable importance. 

Many ostensibly wish to unseat Jesus Christ as the exclusive Savior of the world. Today, it is popular in the doctrine of "toleration" to give all religions equal validity--not freedom to express them, but equality of truth! There's a huge difference. We assert here in the United States that according to the Constitution everyone has the right to believe anything they wish. That is true, and we support that right. But as someone has added, not everyone has a right to their own truth. Truth lies outside the subjective reasoning of mankind. It is objective, unchanging. Jesus indeed claimed to be the very embodiment of truth (John 14:6). But for him to make such a claim successfully, he had to demonstrate that what he claimed was in fact true. And that is where verses 5-8 come in; they demonstrate that most critical of God-claims Jesus made, that is, that he would die, be buried and rise again from the dead. And once he did rise, he didn't hide the fact. He went public on several occasions and before various types and numbers of people. 

What sets Christianity apart from all other religions is precisely this, namely that the Jesus who made outlandish claims of deity fulfilled them and THAT in front of the masses. He kept nothing hidden. That being the case, a reasonable person must not simply dismiss the evidence, but react to it. One may reject it out of hand, but one cannot simply dismiss it. Such objective evidence demands (a la Josh McDowell) a verdict. Believe in Jesus Christ and be saved. Indeed, Jesus said, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).

I close with this quotation from Daniel Webster. Though alluding to different issues, his faith lands exactly where one's faith must land, on the evidence of One who did what he said he would do.

If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but, if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity. The Bible is the book of all others for lawyers as well as divines, and I pity the man who cannot find in it a rich supply of thought and rule of conduct. I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. The miracles which He wrought establish in my mind His personal authority and render it proper for me to believe what He asserts.” (Torrey, R. A., Feinberg, C. L., & Wiersbe, W. W. Vol. 3: The Fundamentals : The famous sourcebook of foundational biblical truths).

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Wolfhart Pannenberg on Schism - Desiring God

It's been a month since I've posted anything, and even then it was a re-post. I half apologize for doing this again. Alas, I only HALF apologize due to the serious nature of this post from John Piper and also due to my angst when it comes to a famine re: the authority of Christ, His Word, and in the Church. These are critical days in which we live. Too few in the broader Christian circles seem dedicated to the absolute authority of God's Word as well as the authority of the true Church. Here is a post from Piper outlining two cases in which a doctrinal line had to be drawn IF the church was to maintain it's unique place in the kingdom of God. We all do well to pay heed to our part in the fight of faith. May God raise up more men who will stand in the gap in defense of the faith, the only faith which sets captives free.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Wolfhart Pannenberg on Schism - Desiring God

Rob Bell and the nature of Arrogance