My Dahli Lament

War, war never changes. To quote a modern proverb. With the recent attacks on Paris the world once again is reminded we have an enemy that will not relent, will not stop until we all convert or are killed. Shame on us for forgetting. These wolves will not go away.

The Dahli Lama is a great man who has suffered more than the most of us, but I will critique his theology on prayer. He spoke about the recent tragedies with terrorism. He challenged more people to love and spread the love, and quite frankly it is not a bad message. However in this instance thinking that more love will do anything in the face of this enemy is utterly misinformed. He continues on about the need for love and said that if we emphasize harmony and non-violence then we usher in a new era. Now I appreciate the sentiment but it really doesn't solve much in this instance. Failing to understand that we are dealing with demonically fueled hate from a false god will never help the situation. It would have been similar to John Connor trying to convince the Terminator not to murder him. Kyle Reece explained to Sara Connor what the Terminators do.

Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. Terminator (1984).

This is not something we can win out with love and good intentions. This is not the case of religious differences but the kingdom of man wrestling with the kingdom of darkness. Powers, Principalities, Rulers, Authorities have raised themselves an army of darkness and now march on the earth to wipe out mankind. This is literally what Paul was warning about with the armor of God in Ephesians 6. But these demons do have foot soldiers. If we don't understand the enemy or their mission then any attempts at solutions will only fail or worse yet enable the spiral to continue, insert American foreign policy. Trying to reason against a growing army with an evil conviction committed to death and destruction is a failure to respond.

But this is not a political blog, the bigger issue I had with his statement apart from a misunderstanding of extreme Islam, was the obvious one that the media have latched onto, him urging the people to stop praying for Paris. Part of his thought was fine because I think that he was trying to say that more than simply prayers were needed. Now this is true, our governments should step up. But his other reasoning was that God's answer would be "No, solve the problem yourself, because you caused it." Well perhaps Buddha may respond saying something like that because he is quite incapable of doing anything, but God is.

The problem with this is that this is not God's nature. He is loving and compassionate. He encourages us to humble ourselves and pray and to repent. God encourages interaction with himself. If God cannot and will not help then get a new god. This is why Paul speaks about the armor of God. This absolutely has a spiritual element to it and we need God's help.

2 Chronicles 4:14 teaches this principle.
14if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

I think the problem is we have gone on long enough without the help of God. 

The other issue is God is not a pacifist. He raises up kingdoms and brings others to the ground. God gives the power of the sword to the governments for the very purpose of curbing evil. The governments of the world are supposed to rise up and topple this evil, that is their very purpose. They in a sense hold the peace until true justice returns. 

"But Gabe, Jesus was a pacifist!" You are right, he was for his purpose in his first coming and he requires it of his followers as well. That is why he has governments in place to handle the wet work. They are not expected to handle this task with protest and peace vigils. God raises up governments and kings for this purpose. They maintain order and they and bring the sword when it is necessary. As Ecclesiastes teaches there is a time for hate and a time for war, also read Revelation.

When these neo Nephilim reek havoc on the world then God's avengers must stand up. I already wrote about God's avengers though. If God expects his avengers to do something then do we expect him to turn a deaf ear at our prayers? In fact sending in governments from around the world to combat this evil may very well be one of his ways of intervening and answering prayer. God raised up armies to do that very thing in the Bible all the time. God judged his own people with Assyria and Babylon. God used his own people to judge the Philistines, Canaanites, the Ammorites etc.  

So go read a Psalm about calling on God to intervene on the world stage. He does it all the time.

Psalm 94 is a psalm calling on God to act on the enemies.
Psalm 10 is calling God stop the wicked.
and this from Psalm 58   

O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away;
    when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
    like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
    whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

10The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
    he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
    surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

God cares about justice. This is not to say do not pray for your enemies though. Jesus does tell us to do this. So while I pray for them to turn from their wicked ways and come to the Lord I hope in the meantime their violence will be stopped whether by a solider doing his job or a missionary doing his. 

So while he meant well, the Dahli Lama only caused me to lament at having missed this one. So I want to end by offering a prayer. Thank you God for being a God who hears, a God who acts, and a God who cares. We have indeed made a mess here of your beautiful creation. We are in need of help from the enemy of creation. Delivery us oh God from evil and if this be a judgement, keep us oh Lord during it and let all people return to you. God help us, oh Lord and continue to bestow your grace on France and anyone else suffering at the hands of this regime of evil.

thanks

Temptation to Ashes (brothers part 2)

 I read the story of another "christian" that turned away to atheism. It makes me sad. It should make us all sad. Why? Because this whole believers versus non-believers thing is not a popularity contest.  It is not even an "us" versus them, it is an "us", every single last one of us, versus eternity. It is about the very destination of our souls.  It is about whether or not they make it into God's presence in an active relationship or a passive one.  Rest assured they will meet God. I know the non-christian especially the atheist wants to parade these individuals as brave for leaving the oppressive system of religion. 

I have read the wiki guide for how to lead a Christian away from God. The steps are so simple! I have also read Richard Dawkins's God Delusion and Christopher Hitchens's God is not great.  These people so want to convince others that God is not there. They have so much animosity towards him and religion, why? I think Paul answers that question in Ephesians 6.

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

There is a battle going on. There is war going on. Just because we may stop paying attention does not mean that the assault stops. This is similar to the wars across the world that we do not know about; unless it is fresh on the news we may be tempted to think it was resolved or no longer happening.  C.S.Lewis reminds us about this idea in the Screwtape Letters. The experienced demon Srewtape informs Wormwood just let them think that we aren't there. I am not sure if Sun Tzu used this war tactic but it does seem easiest to fight a war if one side is completely unaware. I believe that this is our temptation, to simply just muse and wander why some people, certain people are so evil? Why do they want to destroy God and tear down people?  

We have probably all heard the cry in frustration "I hate people!" If we as Christians are not careful we can fall into this trap of thinking that people are the real problem when they are in fact the mission.  Paul points out that the people are not the problem but the demons. Why do they do this? All we can do is speculate ultimately, but perhaps since they have lost, the only thing they can do is take as many people down with them. The whole not going down without a fight thing, is not so virtuous after-all.

If we forget we are in a war then the call to be strong in the Lord loses urgency. If the call to be strong loses urgency then our shield of faith gets lowered.  As this passage continues on to mention. When the shield of faith is lowered we begin to rely on our own strategies or more realistically not make any. But this is guaranteed to make us fall as the passage mentions; we get hit from the arrows of the enemy.  This is what happens if we do not realize we are in a war. We start to think that perhaps their is no fight, perhaps no faith, and perhaps no God, and perhaps nothing to hold on to. And perhaps we should just walk away, and thus another article is written about a brave soul leaving religion.

When we make this mistake for whatever reason we become a casualty of the fight that we weren't paying attention to.  Sadly a common reasons tend to be "I wanted to stop fighting temptation"  This however has made the battle about something that Christ has already won.  Temptation is very real but we misunderstand when we seem to think that since Christ died for our sins, that holiness means we now have to strive to be perfect. Temptation will always be there, our goal is not to achieve a sinless life, that is part of the blessed hope. Our conduct is important because we are in love with Christ and we want to be like him but we have a different nature and a different advocate now.  The difference is now the Spirit aids us and Christ welcomes us when we fail. If we are doing it for any other reason than we are holding our sword backwards and swinging with the blunt end.

I really think the problem is as Christians we fail to understand balance. This passage is a good example.  It tells us that people are not the enemy but that spirits are, yet we are still to dress in the armor of God. Doesn't the battle belong to the Lord?  Isn't the outcome settled?  Yes and Yes, then why do I need to care about the battle?  Because the Lord calls us to join him in his kingdom. Being in God's kingdom means being a participant.  Yes God died for our sins and we are forgiven and we need to pay attention to our conduct. But if we let one overtake the other we get in trouble. If we only focus on the grace we can slide into license, but equally if we only focus on sin management then we become discouraged and wonder what the point is.  If we can't understand biblical theology in balance then we will always be at odds with some other passage. 

This has sadly left some in a place where they walk away from the faith.  They say I was tired of being somebody I wasn't. It's as if Christianity is about being perfect and they were tired of being a hypocrite. They are half right.  They are hypocrites if they think they should be perfect, because they will never attain it, but the answer is to fall into Christ's loving arms once again after we fail.  Not to walk away. They really just reveal that they did not understand the Gospel.   

But...

Because if we forget who the actual enemy is, we can tend to let the story end here and it is our temptation to quote only verse 10 from Proverbs 24 when this happens.

¹⁰ If you faint in the day of adversity,
    your strength is small.

But let's not forget the counter that God gives in verse 11.
 
¹¹ Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
    hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

We are at war and so are the soldiers next to you, watch their backs. Are we going to leave our soldiers to burn or we will realize we are in a battle and Christians don't leave men behind.

When we hear stories like this we shouldn't shake our heads in judgement but we should return to our knees and fight the fight where the battle is.  Remember Paul's encouragement to the Galatians.

6:1Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5For each will have to bear his own load.
6Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

This is a big part of that laying down your life for a friend thing that thing that Jesus says there is no greater love than. If this doesn't make sense to you go and watch Saving Private Ryan. Let's not leave our brothers to ashes. 

Band of Brothers is also very good. 

thanks 

Greener Grass

As tempting as it is to write about how offensive Starbucks cups are, I don't really care. This marks one year of me writing this blog. One year of writing something on theology or some reflection on my walk with God. One blog a week.  It has been great, I really have been enjoying it. So what have I learned besides needing an editor? I look back over my entries and I notice that I have had challenges in many areas that I thought I had down. I thought I had already come this way before.

I have been thinking about hope lately. For awhile I realized that my faith was troubling me. Before that I realized that my love was failing others. But what about hope. Paul says that faith, hope, and love are the greatest things, for life as a Christian.

But you could say I have been down.

And yes I have been, maybe you have been too. I was thinking about hope and how with faith and love it seems to be an action. But with hope there isn't really an action associated with it, it is more of an attitude. There are decisions to be made with all of them for sure but Hope, really only hurts myself. It is similar to bitterness. Bitterness does not hurt the person we are angry with. It does not pay retribution. It does not even the score or bring relief. It only hurts us.

I believe it is the same with Hope. Without it we only cause ourselves stress and worry. It does not cause a solution to come about. It only robs me of my contentment. So because of the potential for so much destruction in my own life by a lack of it, I should probably make sure that I have it.

If all I can do is look at the greener pastures on the other side of the fence then I will never be content. A lack of contentment contributes to hopelessness. Hopelessness can lead to depression. This is a dark circle.

Jimmy Gnecco of Ours sings:

I did my best to stay up, that never felt good enough
but in the back of my mind, I still was learning to fight
I've been down, I've been down,
I've been down, I've been down,
but I am going to that place in the sky
I got another way to survive

I want hope to be enough to carry me into whatever God leads me.

Earlier this year I walked away from a position that was for lack of a better term spiritually oppressive. Not the job itself but how it was contributing to where I was going in my mind and in my spirit. It felt like a dead end. It was not where I wanted to be, it is not the field I want to be in. I went to Bible College and then to Seminary for what? To work with my hands instead? There is nothing wrong with working with your hands but for me, everyday was a reminder that I was not where I wanted to be. The discontentment grew. I was applying everywhere I could think. But nothing. It came to a fever pitch when I got into a small disagreement with a manger where I felt like I would be fired. When I realized this I rejoiced at the idea. It didn't happen and I felt even worse that I wasn't free.

Kimberly and I prayed and talked about it and we felt like God was inviting me to leave with nothing else figured out yet. It was a leap of faith for me. I would never do such a thing. I would never leave a job without having something else ready. I would never put that kind of strain and stress on Kimberly especially with Raphael now. But I left. I applied. I emailed. I interviewed. And nothing. It got to the point where I started applying to places not in my dreams because I just needed money. We have been praying for truth, and faith, and guidance, and jobs and well, nothing.

Four months passed and we were out of money. I get a call from my friend and she has a job for me. In the same field I left. The same one that drove me to drink, not literally. But having thought about it I realized it wasn't the job but my own sense of hopelessness. Sure the job is still unfullfilling but if I can't find my comfort or peace and joy in God alone, then no type of arrival will ever help. The grass will always be greener because I have not found true peace.

The obvious solution in my and our minds is for God to give us what we want and then everything will be better. That's how it works right? Well sometimes he doesn't. So here I am now months in on this new position in the same field I left getting ready to go and interview yet someplace else with only a slightly better understanding of my heart. He brought me some much needed perspective on the grass albeit a bit.

I was speaking with a friend not long ago about this and sometimes God does a work in our life and this point just clicks. Sometimes it is a long drawn out process. I can't choose which I get. I wish I knew how to go down the shorter path but really I can only return to sitting at his feet.

I know my hope must be build on nothing less, than Jesus and his righteousness.
I am supposed to not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean upon his name.
On Christ the solid rock I must stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand...

So I go to stand on Christ and trust in him. With hope I can continue or without it I can crumble.

I want a relationship with him to be enough for whatever he may bring me.
If I hold my dreams with closed tightened fists, then my fists will not un-clench when I come to worship. I never wanted to point fists at God, but that is where this kind of thinking leads.

If the grass is always greener then our hope is truly on sinking sand. If we allow the grass to just be grass then perhaps we can rest in him and our hope may move us.

I am done missing out on hope. I am done moving without joy.

I don't know what God exactly has for me. But I want to find rest in him. I need another way to survive. I want to run again and keep running till I reach that place in the sky.

thanks

I can't see your Faith Brother (brothers part 1)

Commenting on someone's faith, no I would rather not do it.  This becomes the inevitable conclusion of trying to minister in categories and ministering in categories is the inevitable conclusion focusing on sheep and goats. This is why election discussion are nor truly helpful from a pastoral perspective. We can only approach people as potential followers or potential followers. This is why my last blog about the learners is really more philosophical than practical. It is good to know for own sanity but it shouldn't set policy. We can understand that some fail to launch but apart from trying to help all we can do is give it to God. We can't really minister as such without creating different levels of believers.

This is too easy to do. It is easy to look at someone's life and declare they either look like me or they don't. This is hard because I know that we are instructed to look at the fruit. But what conclusions are we allowed to come to? Am I as a Christian allowed to look at a fellow believer and say that they are not on the path or that they are?

Whenever I hear this type of speak I am reminded about Romans 14:4

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Here is the current problem in the church, this "hey man don't judge me" mantra has infiltrated the church.  But the verse is for the judges not to judge, not for the judged to not repent. Those in need of repentance must repent and be made whole. But the speck finders also need an inspection. 

The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts of sin.  

 8And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Their ultimate problem is belief in him and the Holy Spirit will bring this conviction albeit perhaps in response to preaching the Gospel. They will be convicted of righteousness in that their own fails in comparison to Christ and he is vindicated as the standard because he was welcomed by the Father. Finally the ruler of this world that they are still under is judged so they have nothing to which to hold onto or stand on.  

 So God does the judging not I. This also makes me think of the prodigal's son parable.

¹¹ And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. ¹³ Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. ¹⁴ And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to^[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ ²⁰ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’^{[b] 22} But the father said to his servants,^[c] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³ And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. ²⁴ For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, ²⁹ but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ ³¹ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

I don't want to be the older brother in the parable, it is too easy to do. It is too easy for the church to be the older brother. When it comes to someone else's walk. There are two brothers with two sins here. The younger flaunts it and the older with pride hides it. But they both are in danger of destroying their relationship with the Father if they do not return. 

The problem is the younger recognizes his faults and the older does not. Only God can come along and clearly say where the person is at on their journey to, from, back or away from him. I think as a real brother would have chased after the younger as Jesus explains that a good shepherd does. He leaves the 99 in search of the one. What good does it do for some of the 99 still comfortable in the pin to comment about how much of a sinner number 100 is?  But in order for the shepherd or good brother to chases the wayward soul down, he must have words about the need to return. 

This is the hard part we need to encourage our brothers to return, not write them off as sinners without hope. Brothers come home, but does our home welcome and do our hearts welcome?

It is easy to point out sinners, but brothers should treat each other differently. It is our treatment of each other that speaks of being Christ's disciples. Christ disciples are each others keepers. When we are tempted to act like Cain remember: Cain was bad. 

He was jealous of his brother's offering being accepted by God just like the prodigal's brother was jealous and angry that his brother received forgiveness for his behavior. This brother is similar to Jonah who knows God's forgiving nature and decides that these people should not receive it. 

The Law's purpose is is to illumine our need.  Paul says its purpose was not to make righteous because only God can do that. It's purpose was for us to understand that we need help and that help is available. The question really is are we willing to admit that we are a damsel in distress or not?

We must never communicate the world's sin problem in a way that is more than a mirror to show them their need for a savior. It is never to discourage them away from a relationship with God. They are prisoners who can't see the bars. The message is always to return. So when your brother is in need say "Brother please, come let us return unto the Lord."

Brothers are there for each other even when they are different and on different paths. Just like Jake and Elwood Blues, we are on a mission from God, let's stay the course. 

thanks