Racism Progresses in Wrong Direction

Racism is ugly and unnecessary. It is a waste of time and energy. All people are equal in their humanity, value, importance and because we are all made in the spiritual image of God. And, all people are broken spiritually needing to be transformed by the God Who loves the world so much that He sent Jesus to rescue us and offer us a reconciled relationship with Him through Jesus paying the price for sin.

Racism has reached a new level of ugliness that I have not seen as an adult. It is spewing out in hate and angry acts that are causing greater damage. Peaceful demonstrations are welcome. This other stuff: looting, violence, arson; this does the opposite—it increases racism. Not all police officers are racists. Not all dark-skinned people are criminals in the making. Not all white people are racist or in charge of conspiracies to keep other races down.

Ever since the Garden of Eden with Adam blaming the woman and then blaming God for his own poor choices, people have been working on creative excuse making to pass along their own problems and wrong decisions to others. A friend of mine who dealt with an addicted son said that part of the therapy defined an excuse as a reason packed with a lie. There are a lot of lies being thrown around in the media. Let's stop making excuses for why we behave badly when offended by others.

Instead of solving the issues at hand we often spend extraneous time cursing others. Just look at modern politics. I am still waiting for something to be accomplished. It seems like all we hear about is how it is somebody else’s fault. It is divisive and vilifying. Not all who disagree with you are your enemy. I wish these ‘public servants’ would quit whining like toddlers and Adam in the garden and start working with people. You cannot accomplish anything productive while pointing fingers, accusing and slandering. Treat people as your friend. Make that your starting point instead of concentrating on where you disagree.

Just do good. Get things done! Do good for all people, not just a select group that are the current hot button. It is easy to criticize and attack from a distance when you are not involved in the incident and don't know all the facts. I’m doing a version of that now.

All this blaming has accomplished is dividing people over politics and color. We are less united as a nation than I can recall. Let’s quit whining and attacking. You cannot use manipulation and fear to bring about change or hope.

• How do we offer reasonable solutions and unite people rather than blaming others?
• What do you need to do or say to be a uniting force?
• How do we speak life and peace without arguing over politics or whose fault something is?
• What good is being accomplished by the riots?

Have we forgotten the truths of these amazing quotes?

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”  “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Your race, skin/hair/eye color, body type, geographical location, anatomy, social status etc. do not determine whether you are racist, righteous, good or evil. That comes from the condition of your heart. Most of us know that is true. We can be tricked by group-think or a persuasive voice. Pay attention to your unbiased sources of news. Where is the truth? Find out what is true, not just what sparks your emotions.

Pray that people think before speaking or acting out negatively. We cannot get along with people that we despise. We can get along with people we disagree with. Look for something to unite about; like the fact that both sides are humans.

We waste a lot of time, money, emotion and energy being divisive and vilifying. This weekend 90+ people were ejected from an NFL game and 31 others were arrested: Raiders vs. Niners; shocking, I know. That’s just a game, people! What are we doing in real life about important things like loving our neighbors?

• Are we focused on important things?
• Are we making the world a better and safer place?
• Is our passion aimed at meaningful and productive things?
• What can you do to eliminate; or at least. reduce racism and hatred?
• How can you improve as a person of love and peace?

Let’s make some real progress.  

People Judge, God Loves

 
Recently I read some online conversations about people who were on the verge of being 'done' with the church. Some of the items leading to church people's frustrations were: leaders with a strict vision that people needed to fall in line with, limited serving options, limited styles of worship and services, narrowly defined limits of obedience. So a lot of it had to do with high power leaders wanting people to submit, be quiet and serve as told by them. Maybe these leaders believe they alone can hear from God. I am convinced a lot of this has to do with confusion over serving versus leading rather than the business corporation CEO mentality disguised with the 'servant leadership' euphemism. Some of this will be addressed in a future blog related to the founding of the USA and its conflicting values of freedom of religion and the rebellious attitude of many who wound up conquering the land and casting out the natives.

Here I want to discuss a specific problem in the church: stern church discipline and leadership which has wounded many people causing a large exodus from the modern USA church. I know of many wounded Christians who have abandoned the church. Another bizarre part of this is that many of these people are former pastors and elders like me.

Here is a teaser into what I think people in the church are doing wrong: "Jesus called Peter a 'rock' long before Peter was stable and mature. God leads us by calling out what He sees not calling out all our failures." (IHOP FB post 12/2/14)

A problem we have as humans is that people see only your past and judge your present based off their experiences with you. They don't usually see your future being any different. Perception is often a person's subjective reality. Perceptions are often inaccurate, false or even clouded by our own rebellion.

Unlike people, God sees your past through the cross while offering you reconciliation so that you can become the future He holds for you through the empty tomb. Transformation and reconciliation are available to any who turn to Him. This love by God for you can change your life path and cause you to repent from all your struggles and unrighteousness. It can do much more to change your soul and outlook on life than the pressure from high power human leaders demanding your moral behavior modification and acquiescence to prove your worthiness to serve under their divine authority.

So, what is the problem?

There is an unseen enemy that most people ignore and only think of as a frightening movie character. Satan will speak to you in thoughts, friends, acquaintances; even, lovers, spouses, just to remind you of your past, flaws and failures. Satan wants you to know how bad you are because of your past. He tells you that you are stuck in your past; that you can't and won't change. He is a liar. All he does is lie.

He is wrong about you and everyone else on earth. He accuses and condemns.

Many in USA churches have been spoken to in the same way Satan does by their church leaders who thought they had good intentions which they often falsely say are done in love. They may even say they are doing this with their enlightened vision from God for the discipleship of Christians and necessary church discipline. Anyone listing your wrongs and sins to remind or convict you of them is doing the work of the accuser in order to condemn you into submission. Very seldom is there a time where we are to confront someone of their sin. Very seldom! Most people are well aware of their flaws and failures while already feeling condemned. They need someone to love them out of the mess.

Because we do so well at remembering the past and other people's sins, we are not very good at restoring people and reconciling them with those they have wounded. Like the criminal justice system we lack trust for the truly repentant instead preferring to hold the cloud of their felony over them as long as they live. "Yeah, you seem OK now, but remember what you did back then? You have lost the right to serve that way. You are disqualified. B-Bye."

Leaders like this have forgotten Moses, Jacob, David, Paul and themselves and miss the power of redeeming grace which is ongoing in a believer's life. What if you are truly changed and have repented: turned away from the nasty sin that led to a struggle or downfall? What if you still stumble once in a while? Does that mean you are to be tossed out because your actions are not perfect?

If you have been wounded by church people like this who don't truly understand the immense grace and love of God; I am sorry. I apologize for them as a former one of them. I remember when my great intellect, exegetical skill and brilliant theology confirmed that I should treat people like that: one strike and you are out.

If you are a transformed follower of Jesus yet feel as if the USA church has cast you out because of your colorful past or a stumble along the way, then I declare that God has cast you into the Kingdom; His Kingdom, which includes everyone of His churches; even if, they are wrong about church discipline and still wounding the truly repentant.

People often judge our present based on our past. They may be blind to our life transformation due to only being able to judge us in comparison to our old ways. They are stuck seeing our poor broken old souls which did not know yet the fruit of true repentance based on God's transforming love. When oppressed by the weight of this human judgement and condemnation, we were held captive to the past and chained into not being able to change. It is like God is pouring a stream of pure, clean, living water into us as a lake receiving His love and power, but spiritual leaders damn up the pouring out of this pure life-giving water into others so that we become damned up, stagnant, dying ponds; which then this moldy mess becomes our fault due to our lack of holy performance based on their performance based perspective.

Until we 'earned' the right to serve in new ways based on external good behaviors, we were stuck. Our behavior modification had to be visible and excellent enough in the eyes of 'spiritual leaders' to prove we were worthy of serving The King according to their plan and vision.

Or, maybe you have been told that more was expected of you because of who you are, your spiritual knowledge or relationship with some leaders. Maybe you were told it was tough love. Maybe you were told by a leader that they were tougher on you because they have known you and expected more from you. This type of performance driven expectation leads to the same angst that keeps many pastor's kids from God. It becomes rules rather than relationship, again. Instead of tough love we should be the most loving, gracious, patient and gentle with those we love the most. The world will take care of being tough and causing pain to them.

People see only the past and the present because we cannot see the future. But God sees us from the future and calls us into a great something that we have no idea about yet. By the cross and resurrection, God is not stuck looking at us in the past as people are. If we can hear His voice over the other voices of accusation and condemnation, we will learn about our glorious future. God is calling us forward out of and away from our past and; even, our present. God declares how He sees us and tells us what we will grow into as we follow Him. He destroys and unleashes the chains of the past and negative behavior and thinking. He shines His light of love on our new, redeemed person. He does not work on, repair or fix the old man. He killed that messed up creature at the cross. God is not into behavior modification. Now, He is training us in Spiritual fruit through the Holy Spirit. We LIVE on this side of the empty tomb. We come alive in resurrection power.

That is how we need to treat each other. We need churches and leaders who understand that and honor us with growth opportunities not squelching us with the past but calling us into the future. God of All is shining His light into the darkness. He is turning His children into people of the light. He desires His church to be the light in a dark world stained and damaged by sin. He is loving His children into transformed lives that run from the stench of darkness, judgment and condemnation. He is loving His people into a grace-filled, holy future as children of a loving Father. He rules through love and relationship, not through rules and forced behavioral modification obedience. Then, He sends us back into the dark world to reconcile others into the light through His love and kindness.

God reigns in love. He loves you. He is a Savior. He sent His Son to save, not condemn the world. He offers reconciliation. We should do likewise.

“Are You Firewood?” [A Dry Season/Life]

“You cannot train a man for freedom while he is in captivity,” Paul Manwaring.

“PIT – stands for prophet in training or people in transformation. Unless your character is transformed, it will ruin the growth or ministry that came through your gifting. But the pit you are in, God’s going to make it into a well as you cooperate with Him so He can grow you,” ‘Brokenness,’ by Graham Cooke.

For years I kept struggling with wondering if I was in a dry place. After years of this it got to the point where I didn’t know what a wet place was. I have been a Christian for nearly 29 years. My heart and sometimes my actions would convince people otherwise. Why was I not feeling like or acting like a follower of Jesus? Where was the fruit? Where was the freedom? I could never keep peace for more than a moment. The fruit in me and from my ministry labors would not last and often decayed. What was wrong with me? Was I even a Christian, if these were the results? I kept working so hard to be a godly follower. I despised my sin and temptations. Then all of the stuff I learned in January 2014 set me free. (See prior 3 blogs.)Stop trying to stop sinning. 
Keep the old man buried. Ask God to teach you the fruit of the Spirit and bear it through you. Let God make progress through you as He leads and pours His Spirit into you to grow you into who He desires you to become.

While at the elder’s retreat in early February I shared some of this transformation. Then one of our elders talked about the vine and the branches from John 15. Remaining in the vine yields life and fruit. John 15: ⁶ ”If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”  About an hour later an illustration hit me as we were hanging around the fire place. The fire was roaring pretty good. But every once in a while we would have to add more fuel. The fuel was dry, dead wood that had been cut from trees and split so it could catch on fire more easily. It came from a life-less tree that was good for no life or fruit. So it just needed to be burned.

It is thrown into the fire and destroyed. Lots of other analogies can come from this but let’s just focus on a branch being dead and not bearing fruit; even though, this was obviously not a vine or a fruit tree in the photos.

The mental picture I want you to get is that the branch was dead and separate from the vine. It could do nothing on its own. It was worthless for bringing about the fruit necessary for life. This is how I had been living most of my life as a Christian. I was not hell-bound. I was a believer. But my fruit was crappy because the old man was still in charge. He had not been put to death. Christ had not been living through me [Gal 2:20]. The branch [me] was not bearing good fruit because abiding in the vine and dying to sin and self was not understood and; therefore, had not yet happened.

So, let’s die to self. Realize the old man was crucified at the cross and is of no value to the Christian life. Quit attempting to resurrect the firewood. Burn it! You cannot fix or clean up the old life. It is dead. God killed it at the cross. You have been raised to a new life and grafted into the vine so God can bear fruit through you. You are a new person. The old has gone. 

You are not firewood. You are a fruit-bearing valuable member of the vine, the church, the Kingdom of God. You are His child. Rest in the vine. Receive His love.

When my daughter was starting to get all this stuff she was still struggling with identity issues, self-worth and insecurities [old man thinking]; one night God spoke to her, “How can you think you are nothing when I thought of you before I made the stars?”

Wow!

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

― Steve Jobs

How Much God Loves You

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown," Linus.

If you have ever struggled with God’s love for you, this should help. Does He care about my stuff? Has He taken away all my sin? Is God involved in my concerns, struggles, stresses, finances and well-being? Is God doing anything about all the evil in the world? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

5:24am, Friday April 11, 2014, I woke up from a dream with a different answer to a theological question than I previously had (see Psalm 16:7). Seven of us from Outlook Christian Church in Reno were in Redding, CA for Bethel Church's Sozo training. [Side note: It is amazing how many evangelical church people throw out or negatively classify as a cult any church that hears from God in a different way than they do. I also used to do this back when I had perfect theology but never heard anything from God. Ouch!]

It didn't strike me until two days later that this was one week before we celebrated crucifixion day [Good Friday]. It’s interesting how in dreams and visions that God simplifies complex things, ideas and uses simple imagery and metaphor so I can understand what He means. I am only three months into hearing and seeing things from God, so please be patient with me. Don’t get hung up on omnipresence and omniscience at the expense of the main point of the dream and discussion.

I used to teach that Jesus could not be killed and could not die because, as the second Adam, He was the incarnation, God in the flesh, made by God as an embryo and implanted in Mary. Jesus was not conceived by human effort and had no sin; therefore, neither the sperm nor the egg was from a human. Both Joseph and Mary were born in the line of the first Adam, so neither one could contribute any physical or spiritual part to the incarnation without corrupting it with sin. Roman Catholics try to get around this by declaring Mary free from sin, but that only moves the difficulty back one generation: then how is she without sin when her parents were not? We don’t know anything about her parents. Jesus was not conceived in sin. He knew no sin. He had no sin. He never sinned. So I would teach that when He died on the cross it was because He chose to die at the moment when He gave up His Spirit and surrendered His earthly body to death. He loved us so much that out of perfect love, He chose the exact moment for when to die: when it was all finished.

That's pretty good stuff. But I woke up from my dream with some unique answers and thoughts about the above; then God spoke to me for two hours sharing with me a different version of things:

What was it like in heaven when the incarnation took place? (Philippians 2:5-11). The heavenly host are gathered around the massive throne of God. The Massive, Holy Father is seated on a throne with another massive throne at His right hand where The Son sits. They are glorious, majestic, wonderful, powerful, fabulous, extravagant, etc. The Holy Spirit flies around the room. All three-in-one are glorious, perfect, shining, exalted. God is holy, holy, holy. Angels worship. There is shouting, singing, praising, declaring, dancing, flying, bowing. There is awe and wonder. Everything is amazing! God shines so bright with wonderful colors not even understandable or explainable to the human eye or mind. Our perspective of the scene changes often so we can see everything and experience this amazing event from every angle. The angels mostly look in God's direction. I have no idea what anyone looks like and cannot describe these heavenly beings. I just know I am seeing God and angels. God's throne has a view of all creation. The entire universe, all of time and every created thing is in front of Them for Their viewing pleasure. The stars glisten in celebration of God. They praise Him!

Suddenly something changes. The Holy Spirit leaves the throne room for a moment, then returns and stops. That’s weird. He’s always moving. He stands before the throne. He stands tall with His hands held out wide in front of Him. He holds something tiny in each hand between thumb and fore-finger. His hands are lifted up near shoulder height. There is something about His demeanor that quiets the whole room. The angels become still and quiet with anticipation. That is rare. Why is He standing still? What is He holding? Why does His face look so serious, almost somber; very deep in thought with pondering? Something different is about to happen in heaven. The angels look around and ask many questions of each other. What is going on? This just doesn't happen. Then something more incredible happens.

There is movement on the throne. Jesus stands. That usually means He is going to do something amazing with creation or intercession. An excited hush happens in heaven. Two members of the Trinity are standing and looking at each other! Spectacular! Wonder grips all. The mood of God is quiet. Angels are confused. This is astounding. What in heaven's name is going on?

Then Jesus moves in a way He never has before. Heads tilt in confusion at this new thing. What is He doing? Is He taking off His robe? It's like He is taking off His blazing, dazzling glory. Is He taking off His omnipresence? What is this? He is folding it all up very carefully like a precious garment. The awe and wonder stuns the room. When He is finished folding it up carefully and neatly with gentle and tender precision creasing the lines of the fold, He turns. Slowly, with awe inspiring movement and gracious deliberate love, He moves to The Father and hands the folded robe of some aspects of His glory to The Father. It's as if He is going on a journey and He is handing over things for safe-keeping. What does it mean? Nothing like this ever happened before.

The look on the face of The Father and The Son as they pause during the transfer is powerful. Nothing is spoken. There are no words needed. They look deeply at each other with love, compassion, grace, mercy and respect. God is tender within and to Himself. This all powerful, terrifyingly wonderful, extravagantly loving, relentlessly patient and gracious God is having a gentle moment that is understood as a good-bye on earth, but this has never happened in heaven. Some are reminded of the only other separation in heaven, but that was long ago and not good. This one is good.

Jesus leaves the robe with The Father and turns to face Holy Spirit. Jesus looks so different now; smaller. It's still the same Jesus, but He is different in ways the heavenly host do not understand. Jesus and The Holy Spirit look at each other intensely. There is concern, compassion, concentration. Somehow, even for God and above heaven’s normal level; this is a most sacred moment! They pause and continue looking deeply into each other and communing without words.

After a time, The Father nods then everything changes in a flash. Jesus blinks slowly and thoughtfully. Everything is in slow motion yet also at the hyper speed that only God can move. Holy Spirit starts moving His hands toward one another and the tiny things in each hand come into view. He is holding between His thumb and fore-finger a human sperm in one hand and a human egg in the other. As His hands move closer to unite the egg and sperm, Jesus transforms into something that looks like a vapor and flies toward the hands at a million times the speed of light. The egg, sperm and Jesus all meet perfectly in unison. Somehow The Incarnation has just taken place! Many stars explode at the magnitude of the event.

The angels freak! What happened? What is going on? What does this mean? Why did God do this? Does anybody know what is going on? Hey, elders; hey, seraphim, what the heaven!?! Angels grab each other to keep from falling as they all stumble and trip. We have never seen this! What does it mean?

After this new creation, Holy Spirit gently places the miracle in the palm of His hand and raises it above His head in celebration. The Father stands. The Father stands! Did you read that? The Father stands! All heaven bows! The angels hold their collective breath in wonder and awe. The Father walks! He walks over to The Holy Spirit. They stare at The Incarnation smiling. Awe. Wonder. Love. Grace. Peace. Purity. Power. Holiness. They look up at each other. Their eyes meet. They share a moment where only They know the meaning. Once again The Father nods. The Holy Spirit turns toward creation and flies toward and into it. He flies past galaxies and into the earth's atmosphere, into Israel and into the home of Mary while she is sleeping. He stops, pausing for a moment. Then He gently takes The Incarnation from His palm grasping Him with a thumb and forefinger. With precious care His hand moves through Mary's abdomen and He gently places Jesus into the uterine wall of this young teen virgin. She gasps lightly as her body pulses and reacts to becoming pregnant by being overcome by The Holy Spirit. She breathes sweetly and returns to a deep sleep. The Holy Spirit takes a moment to look upon this new mother. He loves her. He loves her Son. (Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38). God has become human. Immanuel ["God with us"] has arrived. (Isaiah 9:2-7).

Fast forward to a different event viewed from heaven:

All of heaven is looking into creation at a hill outside Jerusalem where The Incarnate Son is nailed to a cross. Jesus, Whose name means “The Lord [YWHW] Saves,” is carrying out the work of His name.  The Father has been standing throughout this event of the capture, binding, trial, mocking, blaspheming, torture and crucifixion of The Incarnation. Mary weeps uncontrollably. Young John weeps with her. The other disciples and followers are off mourning somewhere else. The angels weep. What!? Many are prostrate honoring Him. They are shocked. Heaven wails! The Holy One of God is allowing Himself to be treated this way!? Why won't He call for us angels to rescue Him, to defend Him, to destroy and punish His murderers and accusers? Many angels again grasp onto each other so as not to fall over in shock. The rocks and ground cry out in agony as their Creator suffers. Why? Why is this happening? Why would The Father only watch? Why does Jesus stay there? He could stop all this instantly but does nothing. Why?

Time seems to stand still in heaven as this horror unfolds. Demons celebrate with mockery and hatred all over Golgotha, Jerusalem, Israel and the earth. They are not allowed anywhere near The Throne-room during this. How can this be? How can Holy Spirit and Father merely watch? This is insane. It's not logical. Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 scream in agony. This is travesty beyond all belief. How is this fair? How can this be good?

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

The Father walks from the throne toward creation. The angels clear a path. He is highly exalted in worship; even now, during this. He stretches out His hands spread wide in front of Him. He reaches into creation. All of heaven is wide-eyed with wonder watching intently. What is He doing? All of time inside creation is revealed before Him. His hands turn with His gigantic palms pointed toward each end of creation and each end of time and space all at once. His hands flex and begin to vacuum all of mankind's wickedness toward Himself. He pulls all sin from beginning to the end of time into a huge sphere. It is horrible. It stinks. It is disgusting and repulsive. Vile! There is some distance between the sphere of sin and His outstretched hands. With one hand He moves the sphere across galaxies toward the cross. This is all so filthy and vile. Stars die instantly and black holes form as sin passes these once beautiful stars. He continues stretching out His hand moving the sphere closer and closer to Jerusalem and the cross where His pierced Son hangs. The sphere shrinks in size but magnifies in density and awfulness. Finally The Dear Father, Abba, places the sphere onto and into His Son. The agony everywhere is loud with pain and atrocity. Jesus screams. His body shakes under the terrible weight. His skin tears further. Jesus screams in agony as He becomes sin. As He dies for our sin, He cries out the first line of Psalm 22, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). Jesus feels isolated from all. He feels completely alone; even in, His Own creation!

The Father pulls His hands back outside of creation. He stands lonely inside the crowded throne room. Heaven is confused and weeping. Where is The Holy Spirit during all this, they wonder? He is comforting those mourning on earth. The Father turns away from The Son. His face is marked with personal pain. For the first time in heaven; the only moment in heaven—in all of eternity, The Father feels the anguish and separation of sin. Oh, the wrath! Oh, the guilt, shame, sin, suffering, sorrow! This is wrong! This is not fair! The Father walks away from The Son. He stands facing the throne. His head is down. He places one hand on His throne and one on His Son's. The Father is also in agony and pain. Is that a tear on His face? It is torture for each member of the triune God. The penalty of death and separation for sin has been poured out on His Son Who has now BECOME sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

All the followers of God throughout time look at Jesus on the cross and are thankful for their salvation and forgiveness. They are amazed at the price paid for them. But many struggle with forgiving others. “Jesus, it’s great that you died for me. But you cannot die for _______, remember how they wounded me!? They robbed, raped, killed, burned, physically and verbally abused. They lied, stole, cheated, disrespected, dishonored, perverted, abandoned. They are not worthy of forgiveness—ever! It’s not right or fair that you would take their punishment. They need to suffer for themselves.” God is silent.

Light disappears from Israel. It is complete darkness. On earth only a week before, the rocks would have cried out in praise if the people had not. Today, they cry in pain and the earth quakes in agony for its Maker. Jesus became sin. My sin, our sin, all sin came upon and in The Son. Jesus screams the last word of Psalm 22, "It is finished," and dies as He yields up His Spirit to death in human form. The Holy Spirit rips from top to bottom, from heaven to earth the veil into the Holy of Holies. The horror placed on The Son opens the door for the people of earth to enter The Kingdom. Rocks are split. Tombs are opened. Dead holy people resurrect and enter the holy city appearing to many! The Son of God is DEAD. (Matthew 27:45-54).

He did not choose His moment to die and merely allow His human body to experience death as I used to think and teach. It was much worse than that.  When The Father placed sin on Him and Jesus became sin, He was no longer holy.  All the punishment that sin deserved was placed on Him. He received the penalty for ALL sin.  He paid the price for ALL sin. He had no choice but to die. He was no longer in control. He couldn't breathe. The agony was indescribable.  The punishment for sin took over as He suffered for all humanity. He gasped under the weight of it all. He felt weak, frail, forsaken, lonely, abandoned, forlorn, hopeless and terrified. He became scared of death.  He felt ashamed, betrayed and condemned.  Everything horrible ever thought, said and sinful action done was placed on Him. And He experienced ALL of it--in human form! Utter isolation and loneliness. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  Was this worse than hell?  Jesus wept feeling alone.

Does God love you?

How much? The above illustrates how loved by each member of the Trinity we are. God powerfully demonstrated His love for us (Romans 5:6-11). The Father Himself loves us (John 16:27).

From love and generosity The Father allowed sin to kill Jesus, His only and unique Son.

After Jesus died for our sin, He rose from the grave, returned to heaven and sat back down on His Throne fully clothed in all His glory wearing all His divinity and majesty, but He is changed and has scars. He knows everything we go through and can sympathize with us perfectly (Hebrews 4:14-16). Can you imagine the celebration when He returned?!  I can.  Can you feel the excitement in heaven when He returned to The Father as the perfected risen Savior and Lord of ALL?  Can you imagine the embrace and love shared by our triune God?  Sometimes now He will rise from His throne in order to intercede for us (Romans 8:34)!

Fast forward to today.  We live long after the resurrection.  We do not live bound by the sin we had before the cross.  We get the peace and wonder of living in resurrection life with the indwelling and empowering of The Holy Spirit.  We are made new because of His love and how Jesus was killed.  We have a new ministry as reconcilers of ALL humanity to God. It is available.  We are changed (Romans 6, 2 Corinthians 5:14-6:3).  Let these truths melt away and destroy your temptations, struggles, concerns, fears, worries, doubts and difficulties.  Receive the fruit of your salvation.  Rejoice.  Reconcile.  Receive and give love freely and abundantly.

Do you realize that you ARE the joy set before Him as Jesus endured the cross (Hebrews 12:1-3)?  Grace and peace are yours abundantly!  Worship HIM!!!  Holy!  Holy!  Holy!

Happy Easter forever!

How God Sees Me

Note: Please read my previous post “A Picture of This New Found Freedom in God” to get the background for this post. I really do Love ya’.

“Now I want to talk to you, Scott.”…Then He waited for me to listen. I can now recognize His voice because it is not mine. The tone, inflection and sound are different. And as the prior post explained, I can now recognize my voice and that of the accuser which leads me to better hear His voice by not listening to the other two.

As I still lay in bed attempting to sleep around midnight the beginning of Friday, January 24^th God began a conversation in my mind with me to solve some monstrously huge identity problems I had my entire earthly and Christian life. After giving me the picture for others He addressed me directly. The entire conversation with the picture described in the prior post and what follows took 3 hours. It was not a dream and did not seem like a vision. I guess I don’t really know what a vision is supposed to be, look or feel like.  Most of the time God did not speak. His words were few, powerful and wrapped up with all kinds of meaning. It was usually me wrestling with the concepts attempting to get my small mind around them. With that introduction here we go into the transformation of a wounded soul:

God brought to mind an illustration from two years ago where I attempted to describe

justification and sanctification by using a glass filled with dirty water. “Remember that water glass illustration you used to teach My truth with?” That was all He said but it meant much more. Tons of unspoken truth comes to mind and is revealed each time He made a simple statement. The dirt represented the fleshly life of a Christian who was in the process of being made holy. The dirt was sin. The water was the pure water of life from God. The dirt and water combination represented the duality of the Christian life wrestling with saying “no” to the flesh and sin while being purified by God pouring in His holy water to wash out the sin and cleanse the Christian. The teaching was that justification means: in spite of the fact that a person is sinful and guilty, through the redeeming blood of Jesus and the work done on the cross, God declares the believer not guilty. God acquits the believer because the wrath and punishment was poured out on Jesus.

Suddenly the glass is on a stand in front of me for display. So now pure water is

poured into the believer to make them holy. This sanctification process stirs up the dirt and filth and could be a painful process as God washes out the yucky mucky water. Over the life of a Christ-follower, the water of life continues to flow into them washing out the sin as they grow in holiness. The process is slow. Purification takes all of the time this person remains on earth. When this person leaves for heaven the remaining filth is washed out. Once they enter heaven they are then made completely clean, whole and pure. Even though God has declared the believer not guilty, this purifying process must take place to fulfill what Paul describes in Romans 1-7.

We had used this illustration at our home group and a marriage retreat. Part of the climactic points of the teaching was to say that we must minister, live and love from the pure water that is being poured into us and to love without agenda or expectation. I thought this was all pretty good and Scriptural. Then God spoke in my head, “How’s that working out for you?” Huh? The illustration and the times I taught it started bouncing around in my head. It made perfect sense to me! I thought it was an accurate assessment of how the Christian life works itself out practically. After wrestling with this for a few minutes I started remembering the fruit from the home group and the marriage retreat. The home group shrank and fizzled. Some couples at the retreat had left the church. A couple others are still having all kinds of issues and regular fights. A couple of others have divorced. So the success rate of the illustration was pretty much sucky yucky mucky.

God spoke. “I really appreciate all the time, energy and effort you spent in coming up with the illustration. That must have been exhausting: all that time, studying and brain power. You put a lot of work into that example. But it’s not how I see you.” What?! “Can I show you how I see you?” God waited. My thoughts were racing. I kept spinning the illustration around running through it over and over. Really, I was just wasting God’s and my time. I couldn't figure it out. What does He mean? I don’t understand. That’s obvious now. God kept waiting for me to stop and ask Him. Instead I just kept spinning it all around attempting to figure everything out myself. A bit later. “Can I show you something?” OK. I was finally ready to listen. Talking about the illustration and my theology God said, “This is not how I see you. It’s wrong.” Then His right hand grabbed the glass full of dirty water and tossed it on its side in a bucket next to me and He stomped on it smashing it. Then He threw a handful of dirt over it. I guess I had brought the 5-gallon bucket with me to carry the items for the illustration. Nothing else seemed to be around us. Just a white space like we were in a completely white room so there was nothing else around to distract me from our discussion. And the dirt? I didn’t see any dirt before and don’t know where it came from. I guess God brought his own dirt! He can make that stuff, you know.

All of a sudden God was next to me. He was near! He was relatable; just a little larger than me. I cannot describe any of His features, clothing, face or hair. I never saw His face. He was at my right side. Calm. Gentle. Peaceful. Relaxed. He pointed with his left hand at the now smashed glass that He had buried. “That’s not you anymore. That guy is dead. I killed Him at the cross. That’s not how I see you. He is buried in baptism with Jesus’ death. Do you want to know how I see you?” More mental gymnastics. Concepts were flying all around as I wrestled with how this fit with Scripture. Romans 6 & 7 began making sense. Without words His killing and burial of my fleshly-self made a ton of sense. All my unsuccessful fighting with sin could stop because the flesh was dead. The power of the fleshly beast was dead! I could quit attempting to stop sinning. All those battles with alcohol, lust, anger, impatience, discouragement, doubts could cease. All my efforts of focusing on stopping sinning were like putting make-up on a corpse! It didn’t solve anything. Sin didn’t cease by focusing on it. All that wrestling had gotten me nowhere. I was still living like the completely dirty glass. Holiness and purity seemed unobtainable. Peace started to come in as I realized that endless battle no longer needed to be waged. Things were becoming different.

So now maybe God sees me as pure. Oh! So I thought maybe I was the same glass filled with clean pure water. God said nothing. It seemed like it was the right concept but not the right glass. Again, I played the whole scenario over in my head with different options. Maybe the glass was a 12oz water glass instead of this 8oz one. I pictured a few others as I ran through things again. Still no word from God. I was so tired and needed sleep but the wrestling still left me restless. A while later God calmly and patiently spoke. “Can I show you how I see you?” He waited. “Let me know when you are ready and I will show you.” I continued spinning things over in my mind attempting to figure this out. This took quite a bit of time before I became weary with my own efforts. Finally I stopped and waited.

“Are you ready for me to show you how I see you?” He waited patiently, calmly, peacefully. He was not in a hurry. There was nothing negative about how He spoke. No negative tone. No condemnation. He knew I was tiring of my efforts. All the time throughout the night that I was wrestling, I was not looking at Him as I pondered.

Eventually I looked up at Him and He knew. “Are you ready?” Then He became excited and a huge smile came over Him. I could tell He was smiling and excited; even though, I never did see His face. He was exploding with joy. “Can I show you how I see you?” His smile got larger. His excitement was contagious. He was smiling at me and excited to share something with me! Wow! “Are you ready? Can I show you?” He was nearly giddy! “Are you ready?” OK. I’m ready. Then He turned to His right reaching behind Him. He picked up something that was heavy for Him. Smiling hugely and with all kinds of excitement, “Are you ready?” He’s picking up something heavy? I am thinking, ‘how can anything be heavy for God?’ That doesn’t make any theological sense. He looks at me and straight-faced says, “Relax. It’s a metaphor.” Then He laughs. I laugh. Still reaching behind His back to His right for something I cannot see, “Ready?!” Yes.

He turns to His left with the heavy object and places it on the same stand I was using to display the other glasses. He lovingly places it in front of Him. It is huge. It is ornate. It is a wild shape. It is fine crystal. It is carved and magnificent. It reflects His glorious light brilliantly. It is filled with the water of life. It is pure, clean. It is perfect. It is wonderful. God is so proud of it. He beams. He points with His right hand and filled with love and compassion slowly says, “That…That is how I see you. That is how I see you through the cross; through the work of Jesus.” I am flabbergasted and amazed. Somewhere during this grand reveal I am made aware that I am not supposed to describe this vision in detail of what the glass stein-thing looks like so no one will compare this picture with theirs. God loves all of us equally and has the same excitement for all His holy children whom He longs to bless with spiritual gifts and righteous fruit. “You are no longer that.”  He says while pointing down with His left hand to the smashed and buried glass. “That is dead and gone. No more shame. No more guilt. No more condemnation. You are made pure. You are my precious son.” He shifts away from the dead glass and again with His right hand points and smiles at the huge glass, stein thing that is His masterpiece since He is the master. “That is how I see you. Isn’t it wonderful?”

Like a loving Father He grabs me with his left hand pulling me close to Him and right in front of the crystal glass stein-like thing. He hugs me and pulls my head to His chest so he can rub my head with His right hand lovingly. I think I have more hair in this vision/metaphor. Suddenly I remember how my grandma used to pat and rub my head like a dog. Sadly, she was a very shame-based person who always spoke negatively of herself and whatever she did. Mysteriously her favorite section of Scripture was Philippians 4:8-9. That didn’t make sense since she never obtained that nor lived it out. I remember not wanting my head touched or patted ever again because of that. Quickly I am brought back to God’s grace-filled, wonderful loving embrace. I love how he holds me and rubs my head. Everything is changing. He lifts my head and points again to the glass stein thing; slowly and quietly He says, “See… See… I make all things new.” I ponder for a minute. Then with gigantic compassion He says while looking deep into my eyes, “Everything you have ever regretted, I have redeemed.” I am still lying in bed trying to sleep. Now I am crying like a child whose wounds are being healed. “Everything…everything you have ever regretted, I have redeemed.” This drives me to get out of bed and lie on the floor weeping into a T-shirt I grabbed hoping to not wake my lovely wife who sleeps at my right side.

“You know what else, Scott? I am not finished yet with showing you how much I love you. I will always keep pouring the water of life into you so it overflows grace to others.” Then the explanation gains more clarity. Even if the dirty glass is having the water of life poured into it, the overflowing water still contains a lot of dirt and filth. So, any ministry done out of that life is tainted with sin and flesh. It is not clean. It is not holy work. On the other hand the new glass filled only with the water of life; as more water is poured into it, the overflow is only and always the pure water of life not tainted by sin and flesh. God pours out His grace into a clean, holy vessel to overflow clean grace and love into the lives of others. This service and ministry is pure and holy. Oh! That makes sense. Now I get why that old illustration didn’t work. It too needed to die, be buried and have a clean start.

Still lying on the ground and wiping tears as joy starts to sink in I ask God a question, “Why? Why did it take me so long to understand this and get this concept?” Even after a seminary degree, pastoring and teaching the Bible as a Christian for 27^-1/2 years, I never before understood why I could not get my holy life together as a Christian. I failed miserably at being made holy. God had never answered any of my previous “Why?” questions throughout my life. This time He did. I didn’t wait long. “Because all that time that you feel was wasted, shame-filled struggling and painful will help you understand how much I have saved and set you free from. Everything you have ever regretted, I have redeemed.” I weep more as the pain is released. I don’t feel guilt, shame or condemnation. It is washed away. It is buried. It’s a relief that it is gone. The old man is dead. This is a new day; a fresh start. I get to start over in my life as a follower of Jesus. Freedom has come. Joy overwhelms. That is why I cried. I have finally been set free. Thank You, God! Thank You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I AM redeemed! I am new. God sees me as holy. No more wasting time cleaning up the dead guy. Keep him dead. Pursue righteousness as the new man.

Now I could rest. It was 2:30am. I slept well. But only for a little while since I had to share this with the 6:30am men’s Bible study group.

I shared this every chance I could. I was so excited for this new freedom, joy, release to walk in holiness without guilt or shame that I was bubbling over afresh. Looking back now it is amazing how little the old struggles even pop up. The old temptations have no lure. They mean nothing anymore. They were false comfort. They did not heal. They did not satisfy. I am a new man. I love God!

Then on Sunday morning January 26^th as I was getting the coffee and snack table ready for church, I was in the kitchen filling  the 100 cup coffee pot with water but not thinking about the pure, clean water filling it up. While I was waiting, I told God how thankful I was and told Him that was the best vision, ever. As if I had many or any before. He answered, “That’s because it’s yours.” The meaning instantly became clear: It is for me personally. It was directed to me. It was mine! Don’t compare it with other people’s either positively or negatively. God sees all His children similarly. They are clean when transformed by the Holy Spirit as the old person is killed at the cross and the new person is raised to live a holy life. I weep with joy. God really does love ME as one of His holy sons! I feel like Scrooge after he was set free to live a grand life. Relief! I had wasted many years of this earthly life under ascribing the worth God has placed on me. But not anymore. He created me. He values me. Wow!

A couple of days later my son Stephen told me that as he was lying in bed before falling asleep he asked God to show him what his glass looked like. All he heard was, “What makes you think it’s a glass?” Then he went to sleep smiling.

The Principles: Instead of attempting to clean up and improve the old fleshly life, God kills it. He starts with the new man whom He creates at the spiritual re-birth. God does not waste time putting make-up on a corpse to dress it up and make it look better. He kills and buries it, then starts over afresh. He sees followers of Jesus as pure beings, just like Jesus. There is no sin, no stain, no sorrow and no shame.

“Grace does not overlook sin.  It empowers righteousness.” Bill Johnson

"Repentance to be true must issue in holiness, or it is not New Testament repentance. Repentance means not only sorrow and distress for the wrong done, but the acceptance of the Atonement of Jesus which will make me what I have never been...Holy." - Oswald Chambers

I now feel empowered, peaceful and joy-filled. And I love you.

A Picture of This New Found Freedom in God

Note: Please read my previous post “Born Again Again” to get the background for this post. Love ya’.

...So, because I was starting to get it, starting to understand this new found freedom that was available all along; I asked God for a picture so I could share this with others. I wanted to know how to explain this to other followers of Christ who may be struggling with the same garbage that had kept me bound up for 27-1/2 years after surrendering to Jesus. I especially wanted to help set Christian men free from shame. I have received a lot of help in this area from my church and the messages of Paul Manwaring about son-ship and Graham Cooke about identity and living our true nature.

I asked: How do I describe that Jesus loves us? How do I portray the freedom from guilt, sin, shame and doubt that comes through dying to self, keeping the old nature in the grave and letting the Holy Spirit make the new man free so he can pursue the fruit of the Spirit and grow in righteousness? Romans 5-8, 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 5 describe the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and the new life in Christ available to followers of Jesus who have surrendered to Him. If we have died with Christ which is portrayed in our baptism and been raised to new life in Him through His resurrection, then what does that yield in a practical way for us?

Tuesday, January 21^st through Thursday, January 23^rd, God worked out a picture in my head and began to speak to me in ways I never heard or knew of before. I was finally able to begin discerning God’s voice because I no longer listened to the guilt, shame, condemnation, sarcasm or negative self-talk that bounced around in my head. I also chose not to sling this dung at others. To hear God I had to separate out the lies and accusations of the enemy that bounced around my skull. The enemy won’t say anything kind to you or about others so squelch his fiery darts. I also had to remove my own thoughts so I wasn’t making up the things I thought God might say. Because God is love, He is always doing and speaking good, is perfect, gentle, edifying, encouraging, truthful, rest-inducing, peaceful and relentlessly kind. Graham Cooke has some great stuff about recognizing God’s voice. Listen for God’s heart, character and the keys of the gospel. This will help us discern what God is saying. Even if God rebukes us, it will make us feel good about how He sees us and what He is doing in us. He is always positive about us and is making us into the glorious sons and daughters that He designed and destined.

So what picture did I get?

Picture a man who is weighted down with the tremendous burden of his own sin, shame, guilt and self-condemnation. Shoulders slumped. Head down. Moping. Discouraged. Despairing. His attitude is like a combination of Piglet and Eeyore. Tiny Piglet is always fearful and timid worrying about everything. He is cowardly and yet has a big heart at the same time. The sky is falling. Everything terrible that could happen, soon will. “Eeyore is hardly ever happy and when he is, he's still sardonic and a bit cynical. Ironically, he seems to enjoy being gloomy to some extent, but nevertheless, he seems genuinely appreciative of the efforts of his friends to cheer him up.” [http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Eeyore] Eeyore is extremely pessimistic and depressed and yet loyal at the same time. This typical Christian man has many good qualities which are often smashed by the weight of the negatives.

This beaten down man is walking through a barren grey wasteland. No life. Only some dead shrubs are visible on the hard ground where many rocks and boulders are scattered. Above the man are dark grey storm clouds covering the entire sky. They seem far away and very high. Everything is grey to dark grey to black. Once in a while a small flash of lightning appears high in the sky. These cause the man to flinch and cower as he thinks these are a sign of his impending doom when God’s wrath is poured out upon this broken, wounded, weary and guilt-ridden Christian man. This is the man’s inner world of his own mind. This is how he perceives his relationship with God.

But the truth becomes clear when we pan out and away from the man. His perception is completely wrong. If we imagine a large landscape oriented painting, this scene described above takes up less than 20% of the canvas. It is a semi-circle at the bottom, a little off-center to the right. Now that we are zoomed out enough to see the whole picture things become clear. The clouds are not miles above his head as he perceives them. They are right over his head within easy reach when he stands upright. He is in a small bubble. It’s like the daughter, Violet, in “The Incredibles,” where she can make a force field just larger than she is tall and it is impenetrable from the outside. The force field he has made is to protect him from his enemy: God.

The entire scene above the bubble is filled with bright, brilliant glorious light. Everything is lit up by God (Revelation 21:22-26). There are brightly colored jewels and gems reflecting the glory of God filling up the entire rest of the canvas. The radiance is amazing. The light and reflections are so bright that it is difficult to make out the shape of the jewels and gems. These represent the blessings and gifts that God has for the man. God is ready and willing to grace him with these gifts; if only, the man would let Him.

God, ever the gentleman, does not rudely break through the cloud, the force field or the despair. But He does tap on the bubble which lets a little bit of light shine through the clouds. This is what the man mistakenly thinks is the wrath of judgment fire preparing to be unleashed from heaven. But God is willing and ready to pour love and goodness all over the man to change his barren world. All the man has to do to receive these blessings is reach his arm up to open the cloud a bit and let the light shine through his force field of his own cloud of despair so the blessings can enter his sad world and bring transformation.

God is ready and willing to pour out showers of glorious blessings of spiritual life on all His children. Grace is ready to be given once we are ready to receive. God is waiting for us to pursue holiness, righteousness and the fruit of the Spirit so He can make it happen. We need to seek Him and let Him in. God is not judging us. The hammer of the Mosaic law is gone. He is gracing us with Himself by the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is bringing us into a relationship full or grace and truth. His mercy and loving kindness are new every morning. He patiently waits to replace all the garbage of pain and sin with Himself: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Allow Him to bless you. Allow Him to make you righteous and holy. Allow Him to replace the ashes with His beauty. Everything from God is good because He is good. He is the definition of good.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

"You cannot find security in what God is doing. He calls you into the outrageous, the impossible. There is only security in Who God is." Graham Cooke. "God is good. He is good. He is good. He is good."

I tell God, “Wow, God! That is such a cool picture. That will help many people understand how bound up they are in lies and how You want them set free. So many need Your forgiveness and freedom. What a great illustration. Thanks.”

God responds, “Yes it is.” Then a moment later, “Now I want to talk to you, Scott.”…

Born Again; Again?

What if my entire Christian life up to now has been done wrong?

That is what happened for me. I had remained bound to my old life, never letting it die on the cross with Jesus. This was my fault; not Jesus’ and not the Holy Spirit’s. Even though I had obtained a seminary degree in 1995 and been a follower of Christ since 1985, I did not understand Romans 6-7 and dying to self. I have always struggled with anger, lust, alcohol…, etc. I was just a mess of a Christian. Sometimes I wondered if I really was a Christian. Had I given my life to Christ? Had I repented? If I had, why was I still doing or struggling with all the stuff I hated? There was so much shame and guilt that I was nearly useless to the Kingdom. The negative accuser voice in my head blocked me from freedom, relief and holiness. I believed the lie that I was the problem. I felt frustrated and hopeless for change or progress. My understanding of God, grace, forgiveness and redemption were shallow and flawed. But, boy did I know about sin, wrath, judgment and condemnation! I knew how broken I was. The trap was inescapable.

Then things started to change as we were getting new teachings at Outlook Christian Church. We began studying the Revival Cultures of Heaven in mid-September 2013. Slowly I began to understand with new eyes the story of the prodigal son or as Paul Manwaring calls it, the story of the extravagant love of the Father. His messages are available online and are fantastic. My hope started to grow. I started to believe that joy really was attainable. I was actually, finally starting to trust God now that I knew He IS good and that He loves me and wants me to become His true son. I had been stuck in problem situations with areas of my life portraying both the younger and the older son from the Luke 15 parable.

Then around January 7^th as we were preparing for the next teaching on the Culture of Heaven, I discovered Graham Cooke and started listening to his messages. I devoured several a day. My faith was being rocked, shattered and re-formed. [Reformation pun intended.] I was starting to understand who Jesus died for, what my proper response was and how God now sees me. This right thinking was beginning to set me free from the garbage of the first paragraph above.

This is the message that changed my life: “Graham Cooke ~ 02 'Living Our True Nature' (08/2013).” You can find it on Youtube. This is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkROc-ceLOQ

Please listen to a few of Graham’s messages. Start with the one above, then go find “01 Understanding Our Spiritual Identity.” If anything written above resonates with your life, this is a great place to start. It’s time for believers to be set free. We need to live in the new life not focusing on fixing the flesh. We need to pursue righteousness as the new man, the new person who is set free from sin, death and wrath. Because we are free from the old nature since Jesus killed it at the cross, it is time to live in joy, grace and freedom of the new spiritually re-born nature that is our true identity as followers of Christ.

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOMMMMMM!!!

…much more to follow…