Home

          Wherever I travel people ask, “Where are you from?” I tell them that’s difficult to answer because I don’t know what they are asking. Do they want to know where I was born; where I just came from; or where I live? I tell them that those are three different places. Somewhat frustrated they will then ask, “Well, where’s home?” I tell them, “Oklahoma,” and they are satisfied. However, that answer is only partially true. I’m not trying to be deceptive; I just think of home as more than a place.

          Home is the people I love. Home is my wife and children living in my memory or sitting by my side. When I am home my children and their children are young again and so am I. I laugh, cry and feel again how precious life is because they have shared it with me. When I am home sharing the sofa with my wife fills the room with forty years of love and companionship that no thrill ride can match.

When I am home, the world that follows me through the door is a guest. It may stay only as long as I let it. The rude, the ignorant, and the just plain ungodly that haunt my world fade like ghosts. At home even the little hairy creature is a comfort to me. Home is contentment.

I’d rather be inside the walls of the house on Ada Street, but it’s only home in a brick and mortar sense. Home is sometimes hitched to the back of my truck because home is where I can spend time with those I love—if only in my mind.  

  

My First Bible

In May of 1972, I dropped out of school. I was seventeen years old. My father and I were not big talkers by nature. The fact that we were polar opposites on most issues didn’t help stimulate conversation. It would take another year to realize how much we loved one another. One conversation we did have concerned the prospects for my future. Dad saw three choices. I could live with him and go to college. I could get a job around town and share expenses with him or I could join the military. I’d had enough of school and there were no jobs with a future. I enlisted in the Air Force. It was a preemptive strike of sorts. Uncle Sam was rounding up young men for a little thing he still had going in Viet Nam. I didn’t mind serving, but hoped to have a little say about how and where.

In September my Dad saw me off at the Greyhound station in Sacramento. I was eighteen by then and on my way to see the world. Of course, I found out later it was the Navy that saw the world; by then it was too late. I was deposited in beautiful at the bus station downtown Oakland. At that moment, Viet Nam wasn’t looking too bad. I walked the few blocks to the hotel across from the induction center.

The next day I stood in line after line to get to rooms where I was poked, prodded and questioned. Somewhere in the process the crowd was separated into groups belonging to each branch. My group of soon-to-be airmen raised our right hands and swore the oath. The military types overseeing the process got real snippy after that. It must have been something we said. We were lined up and marched out of the building.  

There was a slight pause in the march at the door. There a man from the Gideons thrust a New Testament my hands. I don’t know that I ever held a Bible before that day. I certainly had not read one. Suddenly, I owned one. I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I mean, I knew I could read it. The problem was; I wasn’t sure there was a God. I was too afraid to throw it away. There may not be a God, but if there was, this was no time to make Him mad by throwing His word in the trash. I figured our escort might not take kindly to it either. I put the Bible in my pocket and hit the trail for San Antonio. 

Somewhere along the way we got sidetracked. The man in the Smokey bear hat who greeted the bus told us we’d just arrived in hell. It was after dark so it was hard to tell, but the temperature felt right. I had the good fortune to arrive on Friday night, so the next two days didn’t count towards my sentence. On Sunday we all got together and marched to church. I’d been in church twice before and was sure I could fake my way through it. I did alright until they asked us to split up into denominations. By that time there weren’t any atheists in the group and the agnostics were keeping quiet.

My best friends back home went to the Nazarene Church went they couldn’t get out of it. I decided I must be a Nazarene. Wouldn’t you know it that wasn’t one of the choices? I got herded in with a bunch of Pentecostals. I had no idea what that meant, nor did I understand anything they were talking about. Being saved, testimony, Holy Ghost…huh? It took a couple of year for me to find out and to discover I wasn’t just stumbling around that day.

This is supposed to be a short story so let’s just say those Gideon fellows knew what they were doing. That little New Testament with its section that said: Where to turn when you’re feeling_____ was tailor made for basic training. I consulted it frequently. Sunday mornings we had the option to go to church or clean the barracks. I became a regular churchgoer.

I’d like to say I became a Christian; but I didn’t. I graduated from basic and shipped off to Illinois to become an aircraft mechanic. While engrossed in my studies, and the Airman’s Club, I forgot about that New Testament and church. Nevertheless, it stayed in my possession for years. One day I gave it away to another young airman. He’d had the audacity to throw his away, but eventually discovered he’d made a mistake. By then, I had a Bible big enough to choke a horse. Not long afterwards I “chanced” upon another Gideon with a New Testament to spare. There’s one of those Testaments in by work bag to this day.

The Real Zombie Apocalypse

        

  The recent proliferation of films set amid a zombie apocalypse has succeeded in lulling to sleep the living. It’s time to wake up and smell the rotten flesh. The zombie apocalypse is here—and it’s real. The important thing for the living to do is to stay calm. There is still a chance to avoid becoming a mindless undead thing. However, we must take action now.

          Zombies are dead persons who are able to move because of magic and resemble the so-called walking dead. The film versions are mindless destroyers and eaters of living flesh, especially the brain. In Voodoo practice, zombies are under the control of an evil practitioner and kept as slaves. Movie zombies tend to be more the cannibalistic result of science or disease run amok. As such they are even less believable than the Voodoo variety. Nevertheless, appearing nonexistent, nonsensical, or fictional are favorite disguises of the devil.

          Zombies are all around us. Dead, mindless, automatons are not as easy to spot as you might think. The real trick is learning zombie recognition. The first clue is that zombies are dead. Paul told the people of Ephesus that before their conversion to Christianity they “were dead in trespasses and sin. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air…” Did you get that? Those not in Christ are---dead; yet they walk powered by the devil.

Zombies!

Paul goes on to say that God gave those who refused Him over to a “reprobate mind…without understanding.” It makes you wonder about people who let television and print tell them how to look; what to eat; when to exercise, who to support; and why more taxes will give everyone whiter teeth.. Sounds like mindlessness to me.

Zombies!

They dead, walki8ng, mindless creatures, having conquered America, are trying to dominate the world. They try to force the world into democracy; gays into Sochi, civilized behavior onto Muslims; and vegans into wearing leather shoes. Anyone or anything that doesn’t fit or fold gets attacked.

Zombies, I tell you.

If those without Christ are dead and going about as zombies, then Christians must be the living. It makes sense; the living are zombie food. They bite and devour Christians who disagree with zombie-speak. Zombies attack our faith because they want to make us into zombies too. The living are fleeing the cities as zombies spread the blue death across the map.

It’s not too late. “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.”

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

Prepare for the zombie apocalypse. Rally at your local house of worship. There’s still time to make a stand.   

Sins Cure

          Sin is a birth defect that manifests itself in mental and behavioral aberrations. As a genetic problem, sin can’t be cured with medication; eliminated by behavioral modification; or eradicated by vaccination. There is no twelve step program for being human. If sin is the natural state of mankind and can’t be cured, what’s all the fuss about? Why do we even care? There are two reasons why sin matters and both hinge on the existence of God.

            If God does not exist sin is irrelevant. Sin is no more than a convention of society’s collective consciousness. Human legal systems are not about sin and righteousness or right and wrong; they are about legal and illegal. That which the law allows is legal. It is not necessarily right or wrong. Without God we can have no more than human law provides; an arbitrary agreement imposed on citizens by their government. The law may bring order to society, but it not an adequate definition of human morality.

           “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Sin is the precursor of death. Where sin is found disease and death are not far behind. Death entered the world in the wake of sin and will continue as long as sin lasts. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” If sin were eradicated, so too would be death. Therefore, sin is matters.

Sin matters for another reason. Death in Christian thought is more than the end of physical life. Paul said: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Christians believe when physical life ends, the soul goes to be with God and the fullness of spiritual life begins. The real death that sin brings is separation from God and from the divine fellowship for which we were created. Sin separates us from God. “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Reconciliation with God depends on the elimination of sin.

So, how is sin to be defeated?

Adam was alive. When he sinned; he died and death passed upon all men. Men now exist in the dead state of inherited sin. That is, we are separated from God by our sinful nature. The solution, according to Jesus, is to reverse the process. A representative, sinless, man must die for sin and pass on life to his children. As there are no sinless men, God became a man--called Jesus. One night Jesus met with a man by the name of Nicodemus who had a difficult time figuring out how this worked.

“Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?”

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

Nothing short of a rebirth could possibly cure sin. The natural man must die and be reborn. Repentance is the act of killing the old man by repudiating is deeds and his rebellion against the word of God. In repentance, surrender is made to the will of God. Christ is accepted as Savior and King. God’s word is accepted as the supreme rule of life and self will dies. Then, we are resurrected. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Adam had no faith in God’s word; disregarded it in favor of his own interpretation and was cursed. Jesus destroyed the curse on the cross. His children, forsaking Adam’s rebellion, by faith, accept God’s promise of new life. God is worshipped as Lord, King, Savior and Judge.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Here is the cure.

“The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”        

Hypocrisy and Blasphemy

Hypocrisy and Blasphemy

          Hypocrisy is pretending to be something that you’re not or to believe something you don’t really believe. Hypocrisy is a sin, but not every sin is hypocrisy. Any Christian worth his salt will tell you that he is a sinner saved by the grace of God. He has not earned his new standing with God. It was given to him by God as a gift. He is not worthy of it, nor does he pretend to be worthy. He has found a treasure and sets out to tell other sinners what he has found. The carnal minds he encounters don’t see it that way. They see his effort to share as boasting.  

Sooner or later that Christians will stumble at sin. When he does sin, he may be rightly called many things, but hypocrite is not one of them. He wants to be holy in word and deed; he’s trying to be holy; however he is not pretending to be holy. He is weak trying to become strong and sometimes failing at it. When a Christian sins; no one feels worse about it than he does. He repents; he takes his case to God in hopes of forgiveness.

Hypocrites do not repent. They blow off their sins or shift the blame to something or someone else while pretending they have done no wrong. To hear hypocrites tell it, they are incapable of doing wrong. They are certainly incapable of admitting it. You don’t have to go to church to be a hypocrite and you cannot avoid hypocrites by avoiding church. Hypocrisy is the sin of this present age where image is king.

Hypocrisy is a sin, but it can be forgiven. There is a sin without forgiveness. “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” There is forgiveness if you insult the Father or the Son, but do not insult the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God as a defenseless dove inhabits the children of God. Defame a Christian if you will, but do not slander the Spirit within him. Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is not something one can do by accident. He stays in the back ground; moving through men; inhabiting their praise for God. He attacks no one and offers no defense of His own person. It is for this reason that insult of the Spirit carries such a harsh penalty.

Sinners List

          Man’s imperfection has convinced him that morality exists in multiple shades of gray. God does not share this view. He does not weigh good and evil against one another on a balance because He is not looking for balance. As far as God is concerned good and evil are mutually exclusive all the way down to the thoughts and intents of the heart. There are no “little white lies” with God. A good deed done for an evil end is still sin. “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.” With God there “is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” For all the scenic splendor and color of His creation, God’s moral universe is black and white. Therefore, sin is more than a collection of behaviors.

          Nevertheless, because we are a stiff necked people, God has made a few lists available. You will find these lists contain as many attitudes as actions. These lists are not exhaustive, but should give you the general idea of what constitutes sin. All these lists are from the New Testament.

          “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

          “Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

          “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

          “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

          “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” It is compassion, not hatred that warns men away from sin. There is no degree of sin; sin is sin and the end of sin is death. Likewise, the love and grace of God that brings forgiveness has no degrees. God gave all to save all and the gift of God is eternal life.        

Cursed

Far as the Curse is Found

          The Bible tells us all we need to know for a right relationship with God. It does not tell us all there is to know or even all we’d like to know. For instance, I’d like to know how long Adam lived in the Garden before getting the boot. How long did it take him to go from fellowship with God to rebellion against God? The Bible doesn’t say. It only tells us it happened and that as a result death was unleashed on the entire world. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men…”

          I often hear people say, “If God exists, why is there war, murder, disease?” The list goes on ad nauseum. On this subject the Bible is clear; death, war, famine and pestilence are in the world only because sin is here. Though death takes many forms, but it has only one cause---sin. Besides Adam’s spiritual demise, the immediate effect of the curse was a physical death inflicted to cover Man’s nakedness. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” Now, I’ll admit God could have made skin coats out of nothing and it’s possible that He did so. It’s possible, but not likely; “without shedding of blood is no remission.” Sin leads to bloodshed and death. Atoning, if only symbolically, for Adam’s sin cost an animal his life. We’ve been paying ever since.

          James outlines the progression of yielding to temptation. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” This is exactly what happened in the Garden. We will come to a list of sins soon and when we do it will sound like a list of the world’s woes. Man has always been his own worst enemy. Man was made for fellowship with God and sin separates us from Him. That’s why separation from God is the true death. God doesn’t send people to hell, they choose to go there to be away from God; it’s a choice they have made all through their life.

          Here’s the thing many people either forget or do not understand. Christians are forgiven their sinful nature by the death of a substitute. They are reborn into eternal life free from Adam’s death. They have God’s fellowship through this physical existence. They are not free from the effects of the curse. They are tempted and enticed; they battle lusts; they get sin; they succeed and they fail at the trials of life. Bad things happen to good people. The opposite is also true; good things happen to bad people. This is the result of the general existence of sin in the world and not necessarily the effect of personal behavior.

          Job is a case in point. God, as He will sometimes do, prospered Job for being a good man. The disasters that befell him, while prompted by the devil, were things that happened in everyday life of that time. Thieves, rustlers, tornados, and painful disease can, and do, happen to faithful Christians just because sin is in the world. Sometimes rather than shield us from trouble, God chooses to walk through trouble with us. Job’s comforters were right to attribute calamity to sin; they were wrong to assign that sin to Job.

          Of course, this is not always the case. There are times when Christians are guilty of sin. This does not make them less Christian any more than a sinner’s good works make him a Christian. However and here some will argue with me, the Christian who sins must seek forgiveness for this sin.

          This would be a good place to talk about a doctrine known as eternal security. This doctrine says that once a person is saved from sin by Christ; he can never lose his salvation. The Christian is “eternally secure” in Christ. It is fair to say that not all Christians accept this idea. The other extreme are those who look at Christianity more as a type of parole. Sin is a violation of parole and an automatic return to condemnation. There are strong arguments on both sides. Then, there are those live in the real world.

          When a Christian sins, the Holy Ghost confronts him with his sin. This happens in a multitude of ways from the still, small voice of conscious to a prophetic announcement from the housetop or a shouted sermon. This is a certainty. The ball is then in the believer’s court. He ideal solution is that, confronted with his faults, the believer repents and seeks God’s forgiveness. If he does, he is forgiven, restored, and rescheduled to face that temptation again. This is God’s version of taking us to the woodshed.

          Should the believer resist or ignore the Holy Ghost’s repeated warnings, a type of callus or hardening of the believer’s heart takes place. The sin will then return like plague on that person’s life until God gets the believer’s attention. God does not give up; however, He does not take captives either. If a believer wishes to be free of God, his further rejection of God and returning to sin will win his release. God will let the prodigal go his own way and wallow with the pigs. He will also forever await his return. 

          Sin is woven through the entire fabric of our cursed existence. Without divine intervention the end of sin never varies—it means death; separation from God for eternity.

         

Translation

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”

            Generally when Christians think of human translation, two famous cases come to mind: Enoch and Elijah. The Scripture says Enoch walked with God “and was not found, because God had translated him.” Elijah met God at a spot near the Jordan River where God had arranged for a chariot of fire to pick him up.

            But there is a very personal side to translation for every believer. So sure is our new birth that we are spiritually transported into the Kingdom of God. Literally, we are in the world but not of the world. At first that seems a curious thing to do. Why not include a physical translation like Enoch and Elijah?

            I honestly don’t think we are as ready for that as we’d like to believe. That’s why we are given this try-it-before-you-buy-it offer we call life. Mark Twain raised an interesting point about this very thing. He wondered how Christians, who have trouble with an hour of praising and worshipping God on Sunday, are going to do with an eternity of it.

            I suppose when God knows we’re really ready for that eternity, we are welcomed in. My guess is that Enoch and Elijah didn’t need a whole lifetime to get ready. 

Alchemy of Marriage

The Alchemy of Marriage

          For centuries men have tried all sorts of ways to turn base metals, like lead, into gold or other precious metals. The price of gold these days is evidence of how miserably we have failed. We have been slightly more successful at the magical formula that turns two people into one. This doesn’t always work. Those critics of marriage that say it takes more than a license from the state are correct. It is only a piece of paper. It certainly takes more than words spoken over us while we are holding hands in church. It takes more than desire and more than love. So, what does it take to turn two people into one? I’m glad you asked. 

          First, marriage is a process. I’m enough of a romantic to believe in love at first sight, but we’re not talking about love, at least not in the romantic sense, we’re talking about marriage. Two become one in much the same way a blacksmith joins two pieces of metal. The two of you are thrown into the fire where you take a lot of hammer blows that reshape you. Afterwards, you’re plunged into cold reality and tested to see if the joining process took. If you’re still together, well, you’re off to a good start.

          For the bond to hold, each person must surrender a part of themselves. The pieces you surrender will determine the fate of the union. Beware, evil has little substance; it rushes into a vacuum. You do not have to turn on darkness; only turn out the light. If you give away a part of yourself, you must replace it with something of value. Do not give away that which cannot be replaced.

If you love fishing and cannot imagine giving it up or replacing it with something you love---don’t. On the surface that sounds selfish, but failure to fill that void with an equal love leads to resentment; not contentment. It would be ideal to marry a woman who loves to fish---ideal, but not necessary. Rather marry someone who, as part of their gift, will give you time for your pursuits which they do not share. My wife has surrendered many hours to the Three Stooges. However, they are hours that come back during Dancing with the Stars or Good Morning America.

Freely give the best, most treasured part of yourself without reservation. Misers are lonely, frustrated people. Those who resent giving become cold, venomous and bitter. Give that which you would gladly receive and it will come back to you in time. God and wives love a cheerful giver. This is a two-edged sword. Each must give to the other the freedom to be complete. You cannot whittle away at the person you love in an effort to remake them. Each of the two must be complete in themself to make one whole. You will experience good and bad. It will not be perfect, but it can be very good and that’s the best you can do when dealing with people.

Freedom granted to be oneself is not a license to be selfish. The true measure of love and strength is the degree to which you forsake your freedom in order to bless another person. Nowhere is this truer than in marriage. A good marriage takes a lot of work, but I’ve heard it said that a man, who loves what he does, never works a day in his life. 

Content to Sit

          Elijah ran off into the wilderness and plopped down under the juniper tree to “wallow in the mullygrubs.” Well, that’s how I heard it. I think the modern version goes something like: Elijah allowed a negative mind set to keep him from realizing he was a child of God and proclaiming the victory he was entitled to receive. Modernists are busy folks. They are always in a hurry to rush on to the next blessing. They view being discouraged or down-hearted as wasted time. However, you heard it; Elijah usually doesn’t come across as a champion of faith.

I’m not sure what Elijah’s detractors wanted him do. As we seen, he didn’t have directions from God. In such a case, sitting a spell should not be frowned upon. Elijah’s mistake was not in running and hiding. That strategy worked before and there was no reason to doubt it would work again. Elijah’s mistake was in his failure to be content in hiding. God had everything under control. Elijah was safe; Ahab and Jezebel weren’t going anywhere; he could afford to wait for a word from God. Instead, Elijah chose to complain that this whole episode with Ahab did not turn out as he expected. In all fairness to Elijah, being a prophet is hard work and he wasn’t the only one ever to voice complaint at relaying God’s message. I’ve felt Elijah’s pain; you may have as well. The lesson we all need to learn is to let the peace of God replace our complaints while we wait for God to turn things around.

Contentment is the outward sign of a heart filled with the faith-born peace of God. Paul told the church at Philippi, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Contentment is a delicate balance. It holds equal measures of prayer and thanksgiving; joy and sadness; weakness and strength, in such a way that we are not lost in either.

Elijah’s lifeline is not rock steady. It is filled with ups and downs; just like real life. We can be up and down and still be content. God is leading us over mountains and through valleys. Contentment means being happy that He is leading and unconcerned with the gradient of the road. Elijah saw himself as being run out of town. He might have just as easily seen himself, like the Marines at Chosin, not as retreating, but advancing in another direction. Contentment focuses on what God is doing rather than our feelings about what’s happening.

When we are focused on God, our goal is to please Him. Pleasing God is the only course that ends with contentment. Elijah clearly did not please himself. He didn’t please the masses and, forget about the king and queen; he just made them mad. If your sole purpose is to please someone other than God, you are going to be unhappy. God doesn’t please His people all the time. You will not be more successful at it than Him. The good news is that God is easier to please than people.

Elijah’s complain was akin to saying, “I did everything you asked and look how it turned out. I hope you’re satisfied.” It may help to know pleasing God is not the same as satisfying God. I’m not playing with semantics. To satisfy God is the live up to the measure: “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” It’s a tall order. Paul said he had not attained it. God will not be satisfied with you until you are as holy as He is in every way. On the other hand, God is pleased with every act of obedience no matter how small. We have no indication that God was anything but pleased with Elijah’s performance on Mt. Carmel. Was He satisfied that Elijah was completely holy—no, not by a long way.

 Knowing he had pleased God might have made Elijah a happier man. He might have enjoyed sitting under a tree and basking in God’s favor.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he gave God the chance to tell him. To look at me now, you wouldn’t know I swam competitively in school. The 200m freestyle was one of my races. I swan it at every meet and did well. However, I was never satisfied with a single race. There was always something I felt I could have done better. I could have got off the block sooner; I could have gone out faster; I could have made tighter turns; there was always something to improve. Despite the needed improvements, I am pleased with my swimming career. The same can be said for my Christian experience. I’m not satisfied; I can do better. I’m content with that knowing God is pleased when I try my best.

Supernatural

Supernatural

          A woman approached me while I was signing copies of my book Hatchlings. She scanned the cover and saw it contained fourteen tales of the supernatural.

          “I don’t believe in witches.” She said and walked away.

          What stuck with me is the popular assumption that the supernatural is evil; the exclusive realm of witches, warlocks, ghosts and demons. I admit those characters do creep into my stories on a regular basis. People are all too eager to accept that evil spirits and various monsters possess the ability to break through to our world from the supernatural. We’re not as ready to accept the idea of supernatural good or its ability to cross the same boundary. It’s like the notion that a person who talks to God is a saint while a person who claims God talks back is a whack job. Have you ever wondered why a person who believes in and feels the presence of ghosts and spirits is a sensitive and open minded while a person who believes in and feels the Holy Ghost is a religious nut? If so, you’re not alone.

          The supernatural, by definition, includes all that is above and beyond the natural world. For good or evil, this includes the entire spirit world. To which Jesus said: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

           Christian worship is a meant to be a supernatural experience the object of which is to touch and be touched by God. To accomplish worship someone must reach across the boundary between the natural and the supernatural; the terrestrial and the celestial. In old time Pentecostal terms, for worship to happen there has to be a “move of the spirit.” Those who are born of God have the Spirit of God. Moreover, they have the living, spirit discerned, Word of God to guide them into a celestial kingdom. Christ’s soldiers need not be limited to being all they can be. Through Christ they can be more than the sum of natural abilities; they can be supernatural. All it takes is vision.

          Jesus is called Immanuel. He is God with us; not for thirty-some years, but forever “…lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Christ’s statement was no theoretical catch phase; it is spiritual reality. He is as alive and present with His disciples as He was when He spoke those words. It is a case of believing is seeing.

          “People who believe in ghosts see evidence of their existence everywhere,” said a researcher from a leading university.

He went on to say that no matter how much looking he did at the same evidence---he couldn’t see it. He didn’t believe any evidence existed because there was no such thing. It’s likely that if evidence of the supernatural slapped him in the face, he wouldn’t see it. He would insist there was a natural explanation.

The same attitude applies to belief in God. Believers see Him everywhere and doing all manner of things. Others don’t understand all the fuss; the Red Sea was ankle deep; Lazarus was catatonic or in a coma; when Jesus shared the loaves and fishes, so did all His hearers. Belief rules sight for Christian and non-Christian alike. The difference is that Christians suppress their beliefs and vision to get along with detractors while worldly wise men insist on their vision and criticize detractors as blind, bigoted and hateful. Christians need not convince the world of the reality of the supernatural. They only need to convince themselves of the literal truth in what they say.   

Every Christian must keep his eyes open to the source of his salvation. Salvation is the product of the grace of God. A Christian may serve God for a hundred years, but that he is saved by grace will never change. Christian works are necessary to a healthy life and will glorify God. Good works testify to the reality of faith, but they will never save a soul. Christians work because they are saved; they are not saved because they do works. This milepost is the single most important sight on the Christian’s journey.

Moses was a mighty man of God. Nevertheless, the Bible says he was a meek man. This meekness came from forty years on the backside of the desert learning that he didn’t deserve all God had given him. In one moment of extreme frustration Moses let slip a claim to ownership in his deeds. That moment cost him dearly; losing sight of God’s grace always does. Spiritual vision is necessary to spiritual life. Where there is no vision the people perish. A godly vision encompasses the point of origin. God sees the end from the beginning and so should His people. 

Experience Counts

            Christianity is more than a set of beliefs. It is more than the practice of rituals. Christianity is an experience. Without this experience, all the beliefs and practices are empty. Christians have a book, but the life and power of Christianity is not in the letter of its charter. It is in the experience which the letter describes.

            The scripture says: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9) This is true. However, I submit that no one believes in his heart or confesses with his mouth One whom he has not met. Salvation and rebirth come about by meeting Jesus, not in some ethereal, philosophical plateau, but by experiencing His presence and interacting with Him. Not everyone is struck blind by the light of God on the Damascus Road. Nevertheless, every Christian encounters the living Christ.

            Those who attempt to live a Christian life under their own steam by following the teachings of Jesus and adhering to biblical principles will live an unhappy, disappointing life. Christianity was never meant to be practiced in such fashion. Christianity is the experience of being filled with the Spirit of the Living God and allowing that Spirit to move, transform, and inspire you alone life’s journey.

            “(God)…hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”  (2Cor. 3:6).

            ”For in him we live, and move, and have our being…”  (Acts 17:28)   

            It is the life changing experience of meeting Christ that separates the sheep from the goats; divides heaven from Hell; and opens the void between Christians and everyone else in the world.

            “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”