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.”

Ups and Downs

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” I think we all know the feeling. Want and plenty ebb and flow through our times like the tides. That’s life. Like the old Sinatra song said, “You’re riding high in April, shot down in May.” We accept that as a part of life. Which is fine as far as it goes. However, Paul said accepting the ups and downs of life is just the beginning for Christians. We are not only to accept the ebb and flow of life, we are to find contentment by learning how to be full and how to have needs.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for 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.”

Struggling through hard times is admirable. Doing so without doubt, complaint or whimper is divine. Which calls on us to make a decision about our goals. Do you wish to be admired or like Christ? The same is true of riches, although there are passages in the Bible that lead me to believe that learning how to abound may be the more difficult of the two.

Everywhere and in all things---happens everyday. Are you learning as you go?

Blame Games

          There’s a great deal of blame being passed around the media, water coolers, and living room sofas. Democrats blame Republicans, Republicans blame Democrats, racists blame the President and everybody blames the Tea Party for the current financial fiasco in our country. Not to be left out, I’m going to add my two cents worth.

          You may ask what that has to do with musings on the gospel of Christ? I’m glad you asked.

The answer is: absolutely everything.

This blame game would not be happening if every one of us looked for the cause in the right place. We can find the real culprits for our country’s decline and debit by looking in the mirror. The person you see there is all for cutting spending—as long as it’s not his spending. He is all for spending more to help the poor---as long as it’s not more of his money being spent. He’s all for higher taxes as long as it is the “rich” being taxed. In biblical terms we are all about getting at our neighbor’s mote and ignoring our own beam.

“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”

Christians hear this all the time from the world—and rightfully so, it is the truth. What the worldly wise men who spout these words don’t realize, or don’t want to know, is that they apply equally to all men. He who calls another person a liar is not hateful if, in fact, the other person refuses to tell the truth. He may be simply overlooking his is own propensity for error.

Most Christians I know believe America has been blessed by God. Be that as it may, America cannot borrow its way to prosperity. If that were possible, we’d have all been rich years ago. Our country must to stop.

Period.

We all know that. We may not practice it as we should, but we know it just the same. Outlay cannot exceed income indefinitely. Someday, probably not today, but someday, it will end in ruin. The longer it goes, the harder the crash will be and the more people it will hurt. As a nation and as individuals, we must stop spending money we don’t have. As government workers will tell you, the problem is that for every dollar not spent, somebody feels the pinch. No one wants to be that somebody.

I get it. I work with people everyday who want to their problems fixed without pain. If you’re not mature enough to know it, I’ll tell you, it’s not always possible. Motes and beams seldom come out painlessly. A shot of antibiotics hurts, but does it hurt as bad as gangrene? You tell me. Until every individual American is willing to put aside his wants and do what has to be done—we are all to blame and we will all go to ruin together. Phil Gramm called us a nation of whiners—he was being generous.

“And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!”

 “But wisdom is justified of all her children.”

One Way Street

          “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

          Christians are narrow minded, stubborn, elitists. They really have no choice in the matter. Christianity is an all or nothing religion. Christians worship a man who said He was the Son of God; not a son of God---the, as in the one and only, Son of God. He repeatedly told practitioners of the world’s greatest monotheistic faith that they were doing it the wrong way. He went on to tell them He was also the way. Again, He insisted His way was not a way to God, but the one and only way to God.

Then, He commanded those who believe Him to go tell the world. The world’s willingness to hear was never an issue. The world was condemned and He was the only means of salvation. Jesus told believers ahead of time to expect the world to hate and kill them. He said to go tell them anyway because all others claiming to be a way to God were thieves and robbers. If Jesus Christ was this narrow minded, how can His followers be less so?

          Christians, quit trying to soothe feelings in an attempt to accommodate the world. The world is passing away. It is not hate speech to advocate that the condemned be saved. Thank God for the brave souls who warned me to flee from wrath.

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 sort of 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. Maybe you’ve wondered why a person who believes in and feels the presence of ghosts and spirits is 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 or 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 Emmanuel. 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 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 just didn’t believe evidence existed. 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 can be said for 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 or worse. 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 their eyes open to is the source of their salvation; never lose sight that salvation comes by grace. Though a Christian is saved for a hundred years, 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 claim to share of 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. 

Neighbors

          I'm a bit off subject today, but hey, it happens. Authors often get their ideas for a story by asking, “What if.” Want to try it with me? Okay, what if you woke up to the sound of hammering and found strangers who had pitched a tent in your back and were busy building a house?

          Being a reasonable sort, you maintain your cool and saunter on over. These people are poor. Not only do they have no money they have no way to make any money. They’ve traveled a long way to reach your yard and have no way to get back where they came from. The lack basic necessities, but are going to try and start over from their new backyard homestead. They chose you house because their children need an education and there’s an excellent school in your neighborhood. Besides, they say, you have all this unused land and the taxes are paid on it. Why not share?

          You’re in no mood; you run them off, but the next morning they are back and working more feverishly than ever. You ask them to leave and they refuse—it’s so nice in your yard. Fed up you call the police. The police have bigger fish to fry so they say, “Be a nice guy and let them stay. After all they only want to share your success.”

          Now, what if these people were from Detroit? Do you cave let them stay?

          If you answered no; I want to ask why it is any different if they come from Nogales, Juarez or Nuevo Laredo. Isn’t it trespassing no matter where you come from or what language you do it in?

          If you answered yes; there are millions of illegal immigrants who want your phone number. 

God's Eye View

          “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” Romans 4:17.

          Paul, writing here about the relationship between God and Abraham, has been explaining how Abraham, by faith, became the father of the faithful. But, he also has something to say about the personality of God. God quickens (brings to life) the dead and he speaks of things that don’t yet exist as if they already existed. For example, when there was no light God said, “Light be,” and there was light. When God says something---it happens.

          Often times when God speaks, things happen very quickly; as in the case of light. However, that is not always the case. God’s promise to make Abraham the father of many nations took generations to come about. Peter warned his readers, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” God is not subject to time in the way we are and His promises are not dependent on our schedule. God will do what He says He will do and it’s not for us to know the times and the seasons. While time may not be important here, the order of things is of absolute importance. First, God says it; then it happens. Sounds simple and it is.

          Now, let’s apply that simple principle. A person surrenders his life to Christ in sincere repentance. God says that person is born again. That is, he has been granted a new life; the slate of sin has been wiped clean. But the change is more fundamental than that. The new man is declared to be righteous, faithful, and the very image of Jesus Christ. This declaration doesn’t come from the church, a minister, or the man himself. It comes from God and the angels in heaven rejoice over the new born. Okay, got it—God said it. What comes next?

          As you may have guessed, it happens. Some new births are quite dramatic in effect; others not so much. However, it doesn’t take a self-proclaimed non-judgmental judge to see there may be a big difference between what God says about a Christian and the way that Christian sometimes behaves. Sin is sin and no one, no matter what church he goes to, gets a free pass. But before anyone decides to shout “hypocrite,” consider the promise of God. Like the old song says, “I’m just an old lump of coal, but I’m going to be a diamond someday.” I’m not trusting in my strength of will, my faith, or my good looks to make that happen. God will make it happen because He said He would. God “calleth those things which be not as though they were” and that includes Christians. Don’t judge the end product yet. If you really want to test a person’s Christianity, judge it by persistence. If they’ll only hang on to God by faith, that person will be a saint one day.