And again, and again, and again. . .Periodically in the life hid with Christ in God we have to make recommitments because we stumble over issues in our life that are too hard to deal with. Many fall away for years. But there are no true addictions in life with God experience. Many spend years in support groups working steps to overcome and are never truly set free because addictions are merely stronghold in the spiritual life. Also many christians fall away because they experience guilt & shame and condemn themselves all over again even though God has forgiven them. We’ve all experienced this at some point or another. It’s one of Satan’s weapons against the church. The difference between an infant in Christ and a believer who has received the fulness of the Spirit is the latter has embraced their identity in Christ and came to a point in their life when they let go of all that hinders their walk. This is nothing to glory in because it’s nothing inside of themselves that led them to it but a divine work of the Spirit. Although our part, or human responsibility, is to seek God and trust Him by doing what He tells us to do. None of the people in the Hall of Faith chapter (Hebrews 11) were credited as righteous for “easy believism” that’s so prevalent in the Western church today. When we let go and seek God with our whole heart we make our calling and election sure. When we hunger & thirst after His righteousness and quit seeking our own glory He fills us and overflows into each other and we have more of an impact. You can be an infant in Christ and still believe you have to “do something” to be saved if you haven’t been discipled (or indoctrinated) but if you have to keep a mental checklist of your rights and wrongs you probably don’t have much peace with God because if you are led by the Spirit you will be aware of your sinful condition; Apart from Him anyway. However you have to seek God in His Word for yourself and don’t rely on the authority of the church because men tend to insert their own dogma into what they preach. I’m sure I do the same and I welcome the criticism. God is the source of Truth and if you don’t seek Him first you will likely be brainwashed by the world around you. That’s all He asks is that we respond to His Grace and seek Him; He in turn empowers us to do everything else.
Monthly Archives: November 2011
Our Universal High Calling
Jesus said He was sent here by His Father to build His Church. Many denominations and religious sects claim to be the establishment of the one true church. Because many of them take a verse here and there out of context they usually refer to each other as cults. I learned from a Catholic priest online that to understand God’s salvation you have to be intuitive and see the big picture. That is, you have to study the Bible as a whole or you won’t understand God’s plan for redemption. Consequently you will take verses out of context and create division which is what hinders the work of the Church. The One True Church will be established when Jesus comes back and is being built up now thru vaious worship styles that make up the Church. The main job of the church is to make disciples and baptize. Our job is to make disciples, meaning students of Jesus Christ, by teaching them His Truth. If they receive it by the grace and mercy of God then God is the one who baptizes them with His Holy Spirit. From that point they have to persevere in faith by living it out daily thru repentance, getting into a good bible-teaching church, getting water baptized as a public profession of faith, and seeking the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit by letting go of whatever strongholds are in the believer’s life. Evangelism should flow naturally so there shouldn’t be any need for “evangelism training”. This is typically just a way to get the church to do it their way and it winds up being not led by the Spirit. If one is spirit-filled it will flow naturally. The church only meets to worship corporately and to edify each other and lift up each other’s burdens and praises. In doing so they can win the respect of outsiders and draw more people into the Kingdom. The job of the Great Commission is in the hands of the Church and when the majority of the world is reached may signify the 2nd coming of Jesus. To counter the christians that are just sitting around “waiting for the Lord”, I say get out and get busy because He’s waiting on you.
We’re all runaways
Found an awesome christian rock site called classicchristian247.com. Heard a great song called “why” by a group called Ark as far back as 1979. I remember it like it was yesterday. Little two year old hippie. The song went like this: “why do we always run from the One that matters?” Yes, even christians run from God. I did for nine years. This could be why many of us struggle with mental illness these days. We walk away from God and He allows us to be afflicted with illnesses of the mind so He won’t have to hold us accountable for our backslidden state. Medications can help in the short term but to take them for life is a form of idolatry. It’s easier to focus on meds for stability than the source of true stability because trusting God involves letting go of ourselves and giving ourselves completely to Him. This is the essence of discipleship-forsaking all to follow God. Until you come to a point where you let go of all that hinders you won’t receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. My counselor pointed out a verse in Acts that said many believers were not baptized with the Holy Spirit. So why do we always run from the One that matters? Because we don’t know God. We may have entered into a personal relationship with Him thru repentance and faith in the blood of Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior but we dont’ progress into Sanctification with a persevering faith. Thus, we are afflicted with many hardships & trials and even illnesses. Some may even go as far as to renounce their faith if a true believer with a changed heart can go that far. In psalms it says the way of the transgressor is hard. When you receive Christ and don’t persevere or abide in Him you backslide, or transgress. True worshippers will eventually recommit because Jesus promises to lose no one the Father gives Him but one may go thru hell before that point and even be taken home early. Also backsliders decrease the power of the church and make the church look impotent. One saint’s sin affects the Body either directly or indirectly. But take heart; You are not backslidden just because you sin on a daily basis. I’ve heard many believers say they backslide daily. Backsliding is a lifestyle choice of constant sin that God will chastise you for till you quit riding the fence or renounce your faith in Him. In closing, go in peace and return to God with your whole heart and seek to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and impact the world for your King.
Are you really hated?
The Bible teaches that true followers of God will be hated by the world. But what does it mean to be hated? Was Jesus really hated? From what I see in the gospels the crowds loved Him, they flocked to Him. Although many deserted Him because they thought He was too demanding (John 6:66-by the way that chapter and verse is not just a coincidence). If you see God as a rigid taskmaster who just wants to control you you will have a hard time loving, serving, and trusting Him. Did you see your earthly father that way? Maybe some did. A lot of fathers who truly love their children just want what’s best for their kids but they like it when their children come to them for advice because it acknowledges their presence and shows trust in them. (I think I just spoke to myself). Anyway, the only wants who “hated” Jesus were the people who didn’t understand what He was asking from them. All He wanted was their heart, He didn’t care about their rituals and good deeds. Those things will leave you empty and you can’t take them with you when you died. Besides, anybody can do those with a strong self-will. Because they didn’t understand them they couldn’t love Him so they relied on themselves and were enslaved to Satan; Thus they deemed Him a threat and sought to kill Him. In looking up hated in my Strong’s, I learned it means to love less. That explains what Jesus meant when He said you should hate your family or something like that. He meant you should love them less than God. If you speak truth in love from the Word of God and people don’t have spiritual discernment that comes from the Holy Spirit, they won’t understand you and will withdraw from you and go on in their sins. Some will respect you for your beliefs and most will mock you because they don’t understand why you do what you do. Or how you can love a God you can’t see because to them it’s just a duty to live for God and serve Him and not much of a relationship. Even your own brothers & sisters in Christ may abandon you if you pass them up spiritually. Don’t get oo haughty now! There’s always a lot of godly people who are more spiritually mature than you and you will probably withdraw from them like less mature withdraw from you and the even less mature withdraw from them. I heard a pastor say you either love God or you hate Him, but when you think about it you can’t hate someone you don’t know. One aspect of the sin nature is lost knowledge of God. To find something that’s lost you have to search for it. God’s not lost, He’s been around since the foundation of the world but because of our God-given independent nature we are lost and have to seek God. In return He imparts His righteousness through the blood of His Son and takes your burdens, gives you divine wisdom, and takes on your giants. He can handle 7 billionm burdens at once and be a Father and counselor to that many children. However because of the effects of sin, many may never come to know the Love and forgiveness that’s in Christ. Many christians may be held back by sins they struggle with or stuff that’s been done to them and not grow much beyond salvation. But God still is good enough to work around all that. Only a quarter to a third of the world may know and love God but God can keep some under the age of accountability thru mental illness & retardation and others may never hear the gospel but worship God according to the light they h ave received. Don’t assume just cause 80 million people die every day means they’re going to hell. That’s judging & condemning. Still try to reach them so they know what they have in Christ and can be rewarded for serving and trusting in Him. Also if you truly want to know God and reject the grace & truth that’s in Jesus you donm’t know the one true God which means according to your lost knowledge of God you are still worshipping a god to suit your lifestyle. But He loves you and is still drawing you thru Christ even if you are so hardened by sin that you can’t hear Him anymore. In closing, go find your Father and give yourself to Him. He’s calling you home spiritually speaking.
Finishing the work our Jewish Boss gave us to do
Jesus finished the work of redemptiom but this by no means makes us unaccountable to the Law of God. If sin is the transgression of the Law, we are called to live according to it-but with a changed heart out love and devotion to our Creator for all He’s done for us. The secret to happiness is to give up and let go but give it to the One true God who is the Great I Am not the one you want Him to be to suit your sins whether you know Him or not. Many christians live in bondage because they focus on their limitations. Your limitations keep you dependent on God but in Christ you have no limitations. Are you just sitting around “waiting for the Lord?” Well, quit and get out there and get busy! But don’t be pushy or condemning which we all have a tendency to do. Seek first the kingdom of God and all else will be added. God will provide your needs (and the only thing you need is Him-He doesn’t promise anything else) and possibly most of your wants depending on how close you are to Him (that’s for Him to gauge-it’s arrogant and condemning to go around bragging how close you are to God). No true servant will be this haughty. Even Jesus didn’t claim His equality with God something to be used to His advantage (Phillipians 2:5-11 NIV). And if He didn’t why are we so arrogant and haughty in our “walk”. If you strive to be known as “godly” or a man of God you are elevating yourself and still in bondage. Focus on the vertical relationship, known as resting in Him, and He can use you to pour thru others subconsciously without even trying. Teach the Word and you automatically make disciples to all who receive it. Evangelism training programs just teach you the church way of reaching lost sinners. Focus on your own walk and it will naturally flow and you will fulfill the Law of God by your love for Him and others. But don’t neglect to honor your own temple by taking care of it. This could lead to codependency issues which is more bondage. Jesus died to free us so why do we still live in bondage? If every true believer/worshipper receives the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit the church will be unified and reach more sinners, especially if they pray for the Israelites, or Jews, to receive their Messiah. The world would have a better impact, Satan may get bound up and overthrown, Jesus would take over the world system known as the Antichrist, judge those that don’t trust Him (His enemies) and reward His followers. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years so the millenial reign may refer to judgement day. The next day-the New Heaven New Earth where Jesus hands the kingdom over to His Father.
How good/bad are we?
In looking up the word “corruptible” in my concordance, I come up with two words. aphthartos which means immortal. This goes with God’s promise to Adam that because of his sin he had to die when he was created to live forever. Likewise we were created to live forever but the wages of sin is death and unless you come to trust in the one true and living God you will live eternally apart from Him. Phtartos means perishable, which means fragile or easily influenced under Satan’s control, since he controls the world anyway till Judgement Day when Jesus condemns him. If you doubt this look at the world around you. It gets worse because Satan knows his time is short. God doesn’t tempt people but He allows Satan to tempt people and the deeper you get in your sins the more your heart hardens against God. So it’s not your actions that determine your eternal destiny, it’s your hearts attitude towards God that determines your actions. The further away from God you get the greater the capacity for evil you have. But the Word of God doesn’t condemn anybody as “bad”. It says nothing God makes is bad. We make ourselves “bad” when we resist God and give in to Satan. Jesus teaches us in Matt. 5:16 to let our light shine before all men that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father who art in heaven. What are our “good deeds”? It is our faith in God which results in Holy & Righteous living. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. But if you believe in your head only and it doesn’t take root in your heart then you are still spiritually unregenerate, spiritually impoverished, depraved which means helpless and worthless apart from God. Jesus said apart from Him we can do nothing. Because we are made in the image of God we are capable of many good works; As seen by many nonbelievers/pagans. Many people who don’t know God have greatly influenced the world but Romans 14:23 says if it’s not done in faith it’s still sin. Jesus was the most influential person that ever lived and many still insist He was just a prophet, wise teacher, nonexistent, or created being. The only thing that proves Judeo-Christianity is the one true religion that drew me back to the faith a few months ago is whether or not Jesus has been dead for the last 2000 when they never found the body. And when you receive Him, the Word comes alive in your heart so you can’t deny it. It’s a work of the Holy Spirit, or Ruach HaKodesh in Messianic Terms. As one pastor says, Jesus is the Living Word, the Bread of Life represented during communion on Sundays, and the living water that overflows in true believers to everlasting life. Eternal life starts in this life and is a personal relationship with the one true and living God thru repentance and faitn in the blood of the promised Messiah. Jesus also taught the Greatest commandment was to love God and love our neighbors which fulfills the laws of God. I looked up the 613 laws of orthodox Judaism. If you try to keep all of them you will be in bondage but a large majority of them had to do with putting God first and others second with no ulterior motives such as eternal rewards. We are selfish by nature because of our God-given independent nature so this is only possible with God. Jesus said all things are possible with God. But you can’t love God or love others till you love and accept yourself for you who are. You have to accept yourself for who you are in Christ and not who you are in the world. This is why many true believers/worshippers are in bondage to their sins and still remain spiritually blind to the good things of God and don’t grow in their faith and suffer from many addictions and afflictions. You aren’t set free just cause you had a OSAS experience, got baptized, asked Jesus into your heart. You are set free by walking in the light as He is in the light and working out your salvation in fear & trembling; Not working for it by the way. It’s a surrender of your will to accept God’s will for your life. Depending on how close you are to God you may or may not have to give up a whole lot in life but your faith will cost you something to prove your love for God.
Proverbs 3:5,6
James 2:24-26
Seeing the Great Physician and taking your Spiritual Medicine
Matt. 4:4 says “Man shall not live on bread alone but every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” All we need to get thru life is the Bread of Life and His living water that wells up to everlasting life. That is our basic need and all God promised us. Psalm 84:11 teaches us that God will not withhold anything good from those that walk uprightly, and Jesus said no one is good but God. So God will not withhold Himself from those that diligently seek Him; That is all He requires of us and that in and of itself is a divine work of the Holy Spirit-our part is to respond in faith and trust in Him and He in turn impart His righteouseness and cleanses us of our sins by the power of the Blood of His Son. Psalm 37:4, my favorite verse, says if you delight yourself in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart, and Ecclesiastes 3:11 says He has put eternity in the hearts of men; So our true desires are for divine intimacy, however because of our sin nature we seek the god we want rather than the God who is and end up making up a god in our mind to justify our sins. The end result is we get a seared conscious and become spiritually blind to our sins. Popular teaching in America is the charismatic prosperity gospel that you have a right to God’s favor and to be healed. Even though it’s God’s will for healing, He does allow afflictions to teach us more about Him. Many godly people have been dealt with huge blows and illnesses and even died young as a result of them, so what? Were they lacking faith? Robert Murray McCheyenne, Steve Hill in Irving. I don’t think so. Some illnesses are the result of sin you did or were done to you and you may have to take medicine for it but if you give it to God He will empower you to deal with it and you won’t even feel burdened. Many of Jesus’s teachings were hard and that is the reason why many deserted Him (John 6:66 is you happen to catch those numbers; I doubt that’s a coincidence). The christian life is impossible to live but take hold-all things are possible with God at the center of your life if you are born of His Spirit by receiving His Divine Son. If you cast your cares upon Him life won’t be a burden regardless of what kind of trial you are going through. A friend of mine once told me that life gets harder as you get older, but this isn’t necessarily true. It’s not hard for God because He can handle anything, and the more faith you have in Him the easier it gets to deal with. You already have all the faith you need when you come into Christ and trust in your Heavenly Father but you have to work it out daily (Phil. 2:12). In one sense you are whole and complete but in the other you become more whole & complete every day. Some believers/worshippers get so focused on their faith in God they see themselves as whole & complete and end up becoming a form of self-righteousness because they don’t see their need to persevere in faith and spiritual growth. Just cause you are saved doesn’t mean you are not still enslaved to your sins, but you have the resources available to be more than conquerors. You have limitations in this life that keep you dependent on God, called your thorn in the flesh, but in Christ you have no limitations; I believe the Supertones have a song about that. Despite the popular charismatic teaching that makes God sound like a Divine sears catalogue, God doesn’t owe you anything, not even the salvation of your soul. You can’t properly fear & worship Him if you have bad theology that teaches otherwise. With that in mind you can better appreciate what you have in life recognizing it as a gift even if you don’t have anything but God you are still rich beyond your wildest dreams. America has gone too far with their freedoms that we have become the church of Laodecia (see Revelations 3). Repent and realize who you are in Christ like I did a few months ago and don’t try to find your identity in the world controlled by Satan. God doesn’t owe you anything but may give you your hearts desire if you are fully surrendered to Him and His will becomes yours. He still loves you and wants what’s best for you. If you doubt that, look to the Cross of Jesus.
Go rise above your circumstances,
E
The Nature of Chemical Dependency
Chemical depemdency goes a lot deeper than just drugs and alcohol. Although if you have a drinking or drug problem you’re guaranteed a free place to stay while you work the program. There are other forms of chemical dependency other than drugs and alcohol; Just not as many damaging effects. Caffeine is the most widely abused drug in the world. The best part of waking up? What’s the first thing people do in the morning? Well, after THAT! Nicotine is closely following caffeine and alcohol. Most cases of cancer are caused by various forms of chemical dependency. A shocking new chemical dependency would be the use of modern medicine, particularly in the use of psychotropic drugs. Even christian psychiatrists will admit that it’s easier to take a pill than do talk therapy. I take medications myself but have learned that if you are well informed you are less likely to be taken advantage of. Knowledge is power! For me it’s easier to do talk therapy but some people have issues they don’t to deal with so they would rather take pills. If your therapist tells you just keep taking your medicine you need a new therapist because medication alone will not “cure” an imbalance. There’s diet & exercise, spirituality (a little out of order), and counseling. Dr. Paul Meier revealed in his book, “Blue Genes” and also teaches thru his day program at Meier Clinics in Dallas, that you can balance out your brain chemicals thru spiritual principals. However you will probably need medications in the process if not lifetime to some degree. I’m learning to let go of the my charismatic theology that it’s a sin to take medicine. However it is a sin to become dependent on medicine for healing in and of itself. That would be worshipping the creation and not the Creator. If you think you are in danger of this you could try fasting and praying for a day or two without meds, however if you start to relapse you may not be ready for this. I wouldn’t want anybody to wind up in the hospital for this. You may want a church member to keep you accountable and pray over that. As it says it Corinthians, if you have the faith to do this then step out, if not we shouldnt cause a person with less faith to stumble.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Many think they are baptized in the Holy Spirit because they are “saved”. But there’s a verse in Acts that talks about how many believers were not baptized in the Holy Spirit-though as believers we are all sealed with it. This would explain 1 Corinthians 3:15 where it talks about having your works burned up though still being saved. A lot of preachers who don’t understand the Baptism of the Holy Spirit teach that this is “carnal christians”-or christians still living in sin. 1 John teaches that you can’t live in sin or practice unrighteousness and be an authentic child of God, though you can and will struggle with sin the rest of your life. But God promises to fight your battles for you (the story of David & Goliath) if you totally and unreservedly give yourself to Him. In the Strong’s Concordance, the word carnal means “unregenerate”. Does that sound like a true child of God? The Baptism of the Holy Spirit comes when you reach a point in your life when you let go of all that hinders your walk and you have to ask for it. You are still not perfect yet so you will still struggle but you won’t realize you’re struggling as much and when you fall you will instantly get up and seek His forgiveness thru confession and repentance. The things that hold us back are known as addictions, or idols. We can be dependent on anything other than God from money, careers, relationships, even love if you’re focused on serving others to the point that you neglect taking care of yourself (commonly called codependency). There are many 12-step groups for these but they will help you get by and will not set you free like the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In America, medications can be an idol because it’s easier to take a pill than to get help for yourself and better yourself. That’s why it’s good to fast every so often if you think you have anything in your that you are more dependent on than God. If you can’t fast from it for a few days, then you are dependent on it more than God. I’ve heard preachers say there are no addictions in the christian life-only strongholds. If you are addicted then it’s because you haven’t truly let go of it. The truth hasn’t set you free yet. You can still be a born again child of God as long as you love and are deeply repentant over your sins but you are missing out on life’s greatest gift and will not have anything to show for your walk with God (1 Cor. 3:15). To receive this gift you have to want a closer walk with God. Many christians are happy with just being saved and do not hunger & thirst after the living God. You also must want an outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said we will do greater works than He did. How’s that? By working together, operating in the gifts of the Spirit and fulfilling the Great Commission, and having Him at the center of our lives. Be careful not to worship the gifts of the Spirit. Many deliverance ministries do just this and only seek to promote themselves. God’s goal is not our benefit but to glorify Himself in all the earth and draw lost sinners to His Son. Even though these ministries are a false prosperity gospel, there is some basic truth to it. You have to claim God’s promises over your life to be set free and believe in them. Doubt will make you unstable and can be a leading cause of major mental illnesses among christians. I should know, this was my struggle for the last nine years. Again, Name It and Claim It Theology has to point to God to be biblical and not your own self-promotion. He will not share His glory with another. If all Catholics & Protestants received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Jews put their faith in their Messiah, just think of the impact it would have on the world!
Go in peace and seek your Creator & Master,
Bro. E
Don’t Let the News Get You Down
Amazing how negative the news is. They always zero in on the worst figures. For instance, I heard the unemployment rate was 8%-which means the employment rate is 92%. You’d think anyway. The 8% just factors in people who are registered at workforce centers not the ones who have given up and are living on the streets. It also may not factor in those that bust their keysters doing odd jobs or are running their own businesses of some sort which makes up for the ones who have given up. So it balances out that more than half, up to 3/4 of the population are employed in some form, or they receive a pension check form Social Security, Corporate America, or the military. The same article said that almost 7% of America is living in poverty-again, 93% isn’t, and some of that 7% may be living in poverty by choice because they aren’t interested in “playing the game” or being caught up in the rat race so they choose to live simple. Also after visiting a homeless shelter for a day I heard that at the first of the month, when the Social Security checks come in, the shelters clear out. My guess would be most people get their retirement checks, poop it off by staying in a motel and live life till their money runs out, then towards the end of the month when the money runs out they check back into a shelter. Conclusion: Homeless Shelters may be full but only a small percentage are actually fallen on hard times-the rest just don’t want to better themselves so they live off social services. Christians aren’t any better-talking about they’re only “ambitious for the Lord”. This is just an excuse to not work very hard or have any ambition towards anything in life. Speaking of chrisitans, many churches talk about how only 20% of the world is actually right with God, or true worshippers. Now how would they know this? Can you see inside someone’s heart? Did you become God all of a sudden? Although many try to be! Unless someone outright denies God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, only God knows if they are truly worshipping Him or not. Plus you have to take into account all those that are below the age of accountability either by being very young or mentally handicapped (retarded). Also just because someone hasn’t heard the Gospel doesn’t necessarily consign them to hell because it’s according to their reception of however much light they have received from God. To sum it up, at least half the world could be properly worshipping God to the best of their ability. Just because they are “living in sin” doesn’t mean they aren’t right. The difference is whether they are delighting in it or struggling with it which shows whether they have God’s presence in their hearts or not. The main religions of the world are Catholics & Christians; Which are only off by a few points, usually the dividing line between faith & works which are interrelated anyway. Judaism, which is God’s chosen race. Only God knows who the true Jews are. When God reveals Himself to the Jews in the End Times and a large majority of professing Catholics & Christians get right with the Lord by trusting in Him and receive His precious Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we may see a revival we’ve never seen before. Over 75% of the world coming to know God, Satan being bound up in the process, and our Lord Jesus Christ the Promised Messiah ushering in His Kingdom and restoring Israel and the promise of the New Heaven New Earth in Rev. 21. Christians talk about “waiting for the Lord” but don’t realize He may very well be waiting for us to do His work and that’s why it’ taking so long for Him to come back. Of course a day with the Lord is as 1000 years so His crucifixion was just a couple days ago. I remember it like it was yesterday.
