God vs "god"

I have long held that the God I know, is not the God I see worshiped, nor referenced on the internet, and strangely not in print anymore.  I recently have read several authors whom claim Christianity has gone through a metamorphosis across the past 30 years.  What “worked” in the 1980’s no longer does and we as Christian leaders must be a part of the change to catch up with this culture or we will lose them and become irrelevant.

Irrelevant?  Just the fact that this statement was made by the top grossing Christian writer ever, I think shows just how irrelevant we have become as Christians.  It is not that we are in a post-Christian culture, or age, so much as we now find ourselves the victims of two or three generations of complacent Christians whom have handed over to us a broken religion.  Note I did not say Christianity.

For decades I have blamed this on Hollywood, TV, a culture gone mad with decadence (sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, and almost limitless money!).  I then switched to the idea that it must be the fault of the American theological system – the rot had to have started in the schools and mind you, there is plenty of evidence that there has been poison pushed into the Christian ministry from decades of un-Godly teachers in our seminaries.  But, still there has to be more.  Could it be the difference between a Reformation viewpoint and one based upon the Renaissance Movement had a difference we are just beginning to see?  The Renaissance, for all its incredible feats – produced religion based solely upon man’s reaching out to God.  Conversely, the Reformation believed that God reached out to man.  Many believe there is no difference, what do you think?

Well, I believe there is a huge difference.  If man can initiate any form of Godly activity, then salvation becomes something you are responsible for, not God.  The Holy Spirit is not something given when God decides, it is something you demand.  Etc.  The effect on your faith and your witness can be devastating spiritually.

Now what if you were to create the ultimate perfect spiritual storm?  A Renaissance faith, led by men not schooled in the true faith, a multi-media driven culture, intent upon self-service and caring little about what happens outside their closed doors?  Ultimately, we are discussing paganism, by those believing themselves to be Christian.

Hmmmmm.

So, what does this contrast look like?

(The following is not approved by anyone, is not a reflection upon this Church or its staff or leadership.  It is not intended to have you draw value based judgments in any manner.  It is to show the sharp contrasts which exist within our Church culture, which still claims to be Christian.  Don’t you just love weasel words?)

	God of Western Culture			God of the Bible
	Asceticism		Epicureanism	Asceticism	Epicureanism
Nature of God		God is limited by man’s rules	God works by our desire/command	Bound by His “rules”	Limitless
Primal Sin		A choice	Everybody does it	Born into it	What separates you from God
Salvation		Grown into	Many ways	New life, grow/learning	New life, new person
Faith		Belief in something	An expression of belief	Personal basis for belief	A walk
Works		Proves salvation	None required, a choice	Limited by willingness	Evidence of salvation
Worship		Form, no freedom	Freedom, no form	God’s form	God’s freedom
Holy Spirit		Does not exist in this age	No constraints	Within constraints	Used as God desires
Sacraments		Done on a schedule	As convenient	As commanded	Part of worship, love
Witness		“the church”	Paid professionals	Scheduled, practiced, managed	Your life
Tithing		Percentage required	Blessing by % given	Limited by willingness	Expects all you have
Missions		Church uses left over funds	High visibility projects	% based on budget	Give as needs are identified
Post-Sin		Self-denial	Caused by lack of faith	Blocks God’s blessings	Covered by sanctification

 

Asceticism or Epicureanism?

From the Greeks, via the Romans whom loved Greek philosophy, and a series of 19^th century philosophers - came our understanding of these two contrasting thoughts: Asceticism and Epicureanism.

Asceticism is a philosophical understanding that there is virtue in abstaining from all physical pleasures including sex, alcohol, luxurious foods, etc.  Ascetics tended to think of the body as evil, or at least out of control, and as something to be brought into the firm control of the will through punishment.  For them, abstinence became an on-going way of life.  In the religious version of this philosophy, the suffering caused by abstaining was offered as a sacrifice to God.  A little self-serving since they believe they do not deserve pleasures or anything nice or pleasurable in the first place.

This photo on the left is the classic example of an ascetic, perched high aloft a column, no food, no water, no where to sleep, they would often stay in such situations until they either fell to their death, starved or dehydrated.  It was their way of showing their piety to their god and all others.

The opposite is Epicureanism, which takes the opposite tack in all situations. The epicureans are devoted to pleasure, and believed that peace, freedom, absence from pain and the simple pleasures of good food and wine are the greatest good in life.  But the epicureans would sometimes fast too, because they felt that there was a greater pleasure in returning to food when you’re really hungry for it than forcing it down when you’ve been over-eating.  This “magnification” was to the point of sickness and the tales of their orgies are well known in ancient literature.

So, we find the competing poles of the behavior observed by all mankind.  Probably 90% or better are of one persuasion or another in this world.  Moderation is not a human condition recognized nor practiced very much these days.

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Ascetic                                                                                                         Epicurean

A.   Where would you put your life on this scale?

B.     Where would you put your friends on this scale?

C.    Where would you put this church on this scale?

D.   Where would you put America on this scale?

E.     Where would you put Mexico on this scale?

F.     Where would you put Uganda on this scale?

What is right or wrong with Asceticism?

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What is right or wrong with Epicureanism?

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Is balance between the two possible?

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If so, what would it take or look like?

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What do you think it would take for you to become more Ascetic?

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What do you think it would take for you to become more Epicurean?

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What would it take for you to aim for the middle of the scale?

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As humans we often will move back and forth across this scale, how you feel about yourself is number one on the list for moving either way!  Some will either purposefully or subconsciously deny themselves even the basic needs for life, even to the point of death, or conversely, over indulge to the extent of again jeopardizing their life.  And, as you more than likely know, there are lots of other reasons for overdoing it both directions.  Point is for you to find something in the middle which reflects a balanced healthy you.

Spirit of "---"

Last week I mentioned that one of my friends is involved in an activity which is common to the distraction of the Christian by evil and almost always ends with the Christian being mislead and ultimately defeated by that same evil.  The activity is Spiritual Warfare and how Christians get mislead is by seeing demons behind every yowling cat or flickering leaf.  Seeing evil becomes their focus - not the Sovereignty of God nor the Deity of Jesus - which we are told to concentrate on.

My dear sister Becka went to a Christian missions training camp back in the early 1980's, she was going to serve in the underground church in Albania.  She called me up so excited one night because she was learning about Spiritual Warfare and shared all.  Now, I had never heard of such a thing, but I knew what she shared was in direct opposition to what the Bible tells us: flee from evil!  This group was trying to hunt down Satan and make his efforts harder by turning people to God.  My Bible tells me that Satan is an Angel and as such much more powerful than man.  It would presume upon God to think He would back us up in attacking Satan, when we are told to flee from him in the first place!  Hmmmmmmm ...

As for Becka, well she was ultimately defeated seeing demons behind the steering wheel of every car which got in her way on the freeway!  She had taken her eyes off of God and literally was overcome by evil to such an extent that I was forced with her sister to institutionalize her and she is not "normal" to this day!  So, I am leery of anyone whom tells me of their success in Spiritual Warfare, I have seen the Christian casualties and those whom are truly successful have nothing to brag about because they know the cost at which it came.

Unfortunately, for a few years, against my will, I was dragged into Spiritual Warfare.  I do not care for it, I made all attempts to remain in-line Scripturally and I have to admit that there were some mighty odd encounters during that time frame which laid a very vivid foundation in me that evil is real, Satan is real and you had darn well better be drenched in Jesus blood if you expect to come out with your body, mind and soul intact!

I bang my drum against Western Theology and what America has done to destroy the Christian faith from the inside - corrupt Biblical teachers in its seminaries, publication of books for whom trees should have never died, all creating a shrinking Church because of the irrelevance of the Church today in the lives of the unbeliever (which includes most in a church service these days!).  And if the Church is irrelevant, so are your testimony and witness - because the Church has nothing to offer a lost world other than promises of materialism any longer or open acceptance of your sin.  Yeah, let us openly celebrate sin in the Church!

This is called the Spirit of Adultery.

The Church has left God and is following another doctrine, another god, another lover.  The vast majority of what is Christendom today will not fare well before God come judgment day I fear.

Anyone out there think they can turn an adulterous Church around?  Me either, but I can and do pray for God to raise up a revival - i just do not see it happening though and I worry as to why.  Is there no one gift of evangelism any longer?  Is the Holy Spirit no longer moving amongst us?

There are lots of "spirits" out there.  But the Bible covers what I just talked about - a corrupt people overcome by adultery to a false god (and boy do we have false gods by the handfuls these days!).  In fact it would seem that most of the Ten Commandments seem to have at their heart spirits or what we can call demons.

God is concerned about Himself and His relationship to us. (idolatry)
God is concerned that we appropriately respect His image He has built into each of us.  (murder, adultery, theft)
God is concerned when our focus is wrong. (pride, jealousy, envy, greed, coveting)
God is concerned that we respect marriage. (adultery)
God is concerned that we respect our bodies in purity of mind, thought and deed. (adultery)
God is concerned that we respect what is our neighbors. (adultery, theft, false testimony, coveting)

So you seeing the trend here?  What are the biggies of sin before God, all can have compelling, driving spiritual forces behind them!  But, you are not just suddenly afflicted out of the blue!  No you actually have to ask them for their help in dragging you down, which they will do willingly - fortunately, rare is the person whom would do this willingly!

Take lying.  I have known world class liars, they had NO ability not to lie, they were compelled to lie and could not understand why they always lied.  It was not until I became involved in a war against evil that I suddenly understood a few things:

My father was not a liar because he lied.
My father lied because he was a liar.
The spirit which drove him was one of lies, he never recognized this because he could not understand.
He had invited that spirit to help him lie because he wanted to lie and was willing to play evil's game.
In the end he never could see because he was blinded by this spirit.
And not being a Christian, could never have free himself (or be freed) from it.

Substitute your sin of choice in here and see how it reads out:

I was not an idolator became I was proud.
I was proud in my spirit because I was an idolator.
In being proud or participating willing in sin, I set myself up for oppression by evil, in this case pride. (idolatry)

(I have to use past tense here because that was shattered in my life in January.  And the one person I wish whom could understand and see this ... well I fear is past tense was well.  In fact, there is so little left of old me any longer ... )

What is important to understand here is that spiritual oppression, or possession, is the direct result of willingly falling into sin.  My fall was when my church turned on me and fired me as a pastor because I believed in the Holy Spirit (I refused to say the Holy Spirit was no longer active in the believer's life), my bride left me for my best friend, my friends at church abandoned me because I was in sin to had been disfellowshipped and my father believing me to be in idiot ordered me home and told me I was marrying a girl from the House of Burgundy!  No, sorry no lurid tales of sin here, I was in flat out rebellion to God because He had stripped me of everything.  I hated God.

And I had lots of future problems thanks to that period of "Good Bye to God".

I had to learn that there are consequences for every act of rebellion.  Nothing in my life did not affect those I cared for or whom surrounded me.  Sin always comes at a cost and one of them was my opening myself up to spiritual oppression.

So what to do?  You are suffering in this life trapped by a spirit of "---".  And not only are you not unaware of it but you have been lied to by Western Theology that you are strong enough to stand up to the very spirit which is oppressing you.  You probably have no idea if you are opposed or even what it is unless you can see yourself objectively.  And when you can, well, you need some Christian friends to help overcome this.

Your friends help, you are "freed", now what?

You had better be darn sure that you are now in right standing with God.
You had better be darn sure you renounce any and every sin you have ever thought of  or committed, and confessed all!
You had better have someone in place to be held accountable by!

These are not trivial matters, nor to be taken lightly.

I could write so much more, this is just the basics of a world that is not well defined for us and so much garbage you can read comes from the superstitions within the Roman Catholic Church, the corrupt Western Church and Hollywood.

Stay away from sin, if you can.
If you fall back into sin, you set yourself up for failure right off the bat.
Run if you are opposed.
Stand strong if you have to face the demonic world.
Understand that you have No authority or power over the spiritual world, only Jesus does.
Remember, demonic fate was sealed long ago.

The Drawn Out End

Sunday, I sat through what may well have been the worse sermon every given, from any pulpit, ever, in the history of Christendom.  The guest speaker completely lost it and ended up telling us about how to do a brake job on a car.  My daughters both asked what on earth he was talking about, once it was over!  I felt sorry for him.  I am guessing he just had not prepared very well, and well, it showed.

It is Sunday of this week, I know in my heart that I have to have a talk with Gaelic Girl, a talk I really never expected to ever have.  But, as you saw yesterday, I never had to have that talk, GG did.  So pressure off me in one regard - my conscience is clear, sorrow in all others however.  From where I was on Sunday morning though, I was seeing I had to do something I am completely opposed to and unsure how I could do this without  God - and I had no idea how to ask Him to help me terminate an almost lifelong friendship.  This was so close to evil, but it had to be done.  And in my entire life, I have only terminated a friendship once!  It is that traumatic to me!

Hebrews 4:14 - 16

I was stuck in my mind, how do I approach God and ask the unspeakable?  I need God's intervention; I have no clue what to do or say.  I need before God to be blameless for whatever happens, but what I knew I had to do this, and I was left with great disappointment for myself.  And as the poor speaker rambled on over the differences between pads and shoes - I thought on this well timed passage.  If I could not approach God, certainly Jesus would on my behalf, He might have already done so.  I thought more on this.  I needed knowledge, I needed wisdom, I needed intervention.

And in the back of my mind, this over powering impression from December 2011, that April 1, 2014 marked something having to do with Gaelic Girl.  I even still have a copy of note I had sent to Lucinda where I told her that if is all was true, then by April 2014 would see the removal of GG from my life.  I always assumed this to mean her death, because I had seen she was gone.  I never could have believed back in 2011, that she would walk away / abandon / tell me to leave.  Because I trusted her completely back then.  Yeah, well all things change I guess.  Even on Friday, I was still sure she was going to be removed by death, because even as weird as she has become, her mental illness makes it only more reasonable she would do something stupid.  And stupid is not discouraged in America.  And death is easier to  handle than a confrontation.  Yeah, I know I am a mess.

In the context of Judaism, the High Priest was the one whom could once a year go into the Holy of Holies and present the sacrifice before God's presence.  I remember as a teenager, my Rabbi telling me about how they used to tie a rope around the High Priests leg so that if he died in the presence of God, due to sin, the rabbis could drag him back out by rope and find someone with fewer problems to approach God on behalf of the Jewish nation.

And Jesus was sin free, nothing keeps him from approaching God.  While the High Priests on Earth lived fairly secluded lives, Jesus lived amongst us - saw, felt, did as we all do, save for being innocent in the end (unlike us!).

Therefore the High Priest, whom with fear and trembling would approach God on hand and knee in the Holy of Holies - Jesus is completely approachable, just as God is to Him.

Hmmmm, our intermediary to God, someone whom understands me as a human, because He has been there.  Someone whom understands God, because He is a part of Him.  He can explain what I can not.  He can work this evil swirling around me, to good - albeit His good.

I turned GG and her problems over to God in 2010 because it is beyond my abilities to address, much less respond to.  I grew up in a home where mental illness was a way of life.  I understand it.  But, I no more have the ability to do anything about the dysfunction in my parents home, than I am to address it in this home.

As it turned out, it was painful for me to endure GG's attack but God did work it out, at least from the standpoint of my conscience.  

Slowly, all of the children will have to come to understand that the idea of GG and me being used in the same sentence, much less around one another, is no longer valid.  For me I have no problem for the children's sake of being around GG at family events, but I know GG will.  She will posture herself as the victim of my insanity.  She is big on justifying everything to herself and others.  Appearance as a victim has always been important to her.  Whatever.

So this morning, I feel like I am on the other side of this trauma.  Oh yeah, it will make most of this year to get past what must be done, but it is doable.  I have no doubt there will be many more displays of mental illness and character assassinations, but it is over now inside of me.

Of course, nothing is timed so well as when you actually are in desperate need - and  you suddenly find the absence of those whom you were counting on to help you get through this.  It is so pronounced that I could have called this post, The Vanishing ...

A New 2014 Goal

I was a mess on Monday.  I was utterly shattered on the inside.  Thursday through Sunday had been mighty hard, trying to deal with someone whom is apparently mentally ill, living in a location from which mental health care can not be forced on others, well - everyone is going to be damaged around that person.

Monday, I had nothing left.  I knew what I needed to do and prepare for, however God seemed to have other priorities.  I found I needed to gather together all of my financial records and it was impressed upon me was that they needed to be destroyed.  Okay, maybe I am going insane here, but they really have no value to me, so I burned them.  Yeah, I kept the stuff needed for tax reporting.  Then went back to working on Gaelic Girl's dead car.  And honestly, I was wondering if something was wrong with my mind ...

But, I needed to get a hose that is not available, so I ordered one from the local parts store.  In the mean time GG had returned and was beating her head with the bathroom room while screaming.  Yeah, as I said, mentally ill.  So, I moved on to making an easy dinner of tacos - her favorite.

After dinner, GG then demanded all of the financial records from me and I thought how utterly bizarre!  What are the odds?  So she spent the night working on proving that I am stealing money from her - only to discover that I have been using 100% of my royalty payments to supplement her income to retain her house for a year now. She exploded!  It was not what she wanted to find!

And this then lead to a two hour lecture from her on all of my character flaws (oh I have flaws, but apparently she does not even know about them!) and told me I need to leave because from her standpoint, it is over.  I am not sure what "it" is here, everything died long ago.

I just sat there and thought to myself, if I had kept those receipts she would know that I do spent a little bit a month on me - about $50, sometimes $100 a month, which does not seem unreasonable in my mind.  But, God seems to have protected me and frustrated her evil desires to justify herself.  I was awed and still do wonder what the full implications are, God rarely seems to have me do something weird without a much larger purpose.

For me, over the weekend I had already reconciled myself to knowing I need to sell off virtually everything I own in order to end debt to the US IRS for taxes in 2012 and now what I owe for 2013, end my short term debt I have lived with from father's funeral in 2010, then I need a small van or truck.  I do not know if I can raise that kind of money but certainly I can get closer to $0 in debt and have a car to live in at least.  Then GG can refinance to a much lower mortgage and go into 2015 able to pay her own way without me.

So apparently I have a goal in 2014, get out of GG's life ...
Sigh ...

Getting Past Your Past

I had come to Seattle for spinal surgery in 1997, the world's inventor of the kind of neurosurgery I needed worked out of Swedish Hospital.  My doctors only gave me a 5% chance of surviving surgery and then as a paraplegic at that.  Hence why one would travel to the best of the best.  So, in early 1998 I was allowed to take those first faltering steps and I went to church that week at a place near where I was staying.  Everyone was friendly, everyone introduced themselves, but when this attractive redhead said her name was "Louise" - in my mind I instantly thought "Vonnie".  Do not ask me, I often think I am crazy until proven right even to myself later on.

Decades later, I was in Seattle and popped into that church for services and Sunday School.  During the course of the class there was something said sort of inappropriately and "Louise" jumped in with both feet, swords drawn and leaving a trail of gutted men in her path.  I was horrified by what she shared, no one should have suffered so.  No one should continue to define themselves as the broken person they had been as a child ...

A decade later and I am back for my final cancer screening and Sunday, at that church, back in sunday school, and there is "Louise" and she had brought her mother as a visitor.  Her mother was introduced and I just had to blurt out, "Louise, I know you!  But your name was not Louise, nor was your hair red!"  Everyone howled with laughter.  So she said, "How would you know?"

"Vonnie" was a childhood friend whom I lost touch of in 1964 when my family moved to France.  I liked her but lets face it a normal nine year old really does not care that much about females, especially if they are younger.  However, Vonnie's mother was a teacher's assistant in my classroom in second through fourth grade!  And I am sitting there seeing an ancient version of my TA!  Why bring this up?

Well, Vonnie aka Louise defined herself as that 11 year old girl whom had been raped by her father for several years.  She could not get past it, to her, it was all she was - a piece of meat incapable of ever trusting a man ever again, only being used.  Lunch that day lost its savor, not because of what happened to her forty years earlier (which angered me) but because of whom she had become because of it.

Paul claimed he was the greatest of all sinners.  Personally, I know he was a braggart, because I am the king of sinners.  However, neither he nor I define ourselves by that sin life.  If you are to be defined by your past, do not blame God - He came to put that past to death!  It is the past - not the present and certainly holds no power over your future!

1 Timothy 1:3 - 12

Look Up!
Our hope is in God for our salvation.
Our hope is in Heaven for our future.
Jesus changes people!
Just think of Saul on the road to Damascus.
God gets the glory, God does it all!

Confess!
Admit all of the junk in your life!
The past, then the present.
Every weakness, every failure, every blasphemy against God.
(see Acts 26:9 - 11)

Trade His Mercy for Your Mess!
We are not "owed" mercy because we are ignorant.
God gives mercy to cover our messes.
Though in reality we are ignorant of the true consequences for what we do!
We receive mercy, but not because we deserve it.

God's Grace Flows Around You!
Grace is undeserved blessings.
Your past is past.
Put it at Jesus feet, turn around and walk away ...