Friday, November 23, 2012

The battle is the Lords!


For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  (2 Cor. 10:4-5)

Yesterday I saw spiritual blindness.  A young man apparently bound in the chains of Satan.  This 14 year old was easily distracted.  He had fanciful tales of ghosts.  Claiming to see spirits of the netherworld regularly.  Claiming to feel negative or positive energy from people or from rooms.  Oh! He was VERY spiritually minded, but just not at all Biblically minded. 

At the first I let other Christian brothers and a sister speak with him...but as I listened in I heard more and more concerning things from this young man.  We were showing him how spiritual battles are fought, from Ephesians 6:10-18.  We also showed him that some of the very things he claimed to be doing in reference to the spirits he saw were outright condemned verbatim in the law of Moses. He was clearly surprised and very confused at this.  He had thought he was doing well in these matters... 

The point of my relating this story is to share a great concern I had for this young man and for many people today.  I heard him say certain things that were to me, huge red flags.  "So when I see these unholy spirits” he said, “ I ask God for power to overcome them?"  My response was to tell him that is exactly the wrong thing to do.  No! We do not treat God like our genie in the bottle, or a good luck charm that we hold up to ward off the devil.  He is not to be conjured up, to be used by someone claiming against Him with magic words.

Another time, because we were extremely focused on the words of Scripture he began to say, "So I pray the words of God against them and..." I cried out , "NO!  You call on God's Word, not 'words of God' as though these were the words of power or magic.  We do not in our own strength stand.  It is only as we clothe ourselves in Christ that we are protected.  Don't call on His words, call on Christ!  ‘It is not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit’ says the Lord.’”  (Zech. 4:6)

At least one other time it was clear that this young man was not thinking rightly about spiritual matters.  I am convinced that he needs Christ.  Two different times he used deflection techniques on one of us speaking to him.  Trying to convince us that he felt the presence of evil in our children or in their room.  But I was not dissuaded.  Praise God that I trust Him.  My family may be in the throes of evil - but we trust Christ, and in that we stand.

Interesting thoughts have been stirred up in me.  The chief of which is how sorcery is being subtly taught to our young people.  Games like "Magic" (the card game), or Dungeons and Dragons, and many, many, video games do this.  They do this not by teaching certain spells or procedure to the kids... but rather by teaching them that power can be had by this or that procedure.  Witchcraft is the worldview of power through manipulation.  It is taught everywhere, even sad to say in the Christian marketplace...

I know that I have written this before - but it is apt as an example here.  For us to use our power in numbers to boycott this or that group is patently wrong!  (See my post here: http://mysoapbox2.blogspot.com/2012/06/boycott-battles.html)  And I am becoming convinced that it is satanic, in that it teaches such an unholy worldview.

I finished my counsel with this young man by taking him to a very familiar story, but a not so familiar passage - I Samuel 17:45-47.  It is the passage concerning David & Goliath.  The particular verses here show us in just what power and strength David killed Goliath.  Here we have a spiritual battle not simply cloaked in the language of battle, but on the very physical battlefield itself.  And though David used a small stone and slung it with the strength of the physical arm God gave to him, it is plainly shown where David's strength was to be found:

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

Oh Lord! – May you give us discernment in this age of evil.

 Amen

Friday, November 16, 2012

You hypocrite!

I wonder if this is just going to devolve into a rant...

I just saw another Facebook post from a family member that was in less than good taste.  I have been bugged by this for some time and wonder how I should approach the topic.

On the outset, some of you may wonder... Facebook?!  I thought you quit Facebook?  I did - and then I relented.  Some time ago, in April of 2010, my brother Scott passed away, and no one knew his passwords, so his page on FB became sort of a memorial page, where family & friends periodically post memories, and I was not sure I wanted to lose access to that.  Although the loss of PerSEC (Personal Security, Thanks to RB for that terminology) Facebook still fulfills a role in relationships, so... I relented.

Back to the subject at hand.  I have found myself more than a few times offended by the language used in posts on Facebook.  I've struggled with myself on the issue, saying to myself - why be offended?  Why am I offended?  It's not as though the posts were directed at me.  Yet offended I am.  This led me to ask myself what kind of language offends more and why.  Thus I discovered there are 3 kinds of offensive language, Profanity, Obscenity, and Vulgarity.  Aren't these terms just used interchangeably you ask... By some,  perhaps.  But by dictionary definition they are 3 different kinds.  And my very different reactions to the 3 types are indicative to these definitions.

• Profanity - For me, this is the most offensive of the 3.  by definition this would be words that offend the religious sensibilities of people.  For me as a Christian the use of God's holy name as a curse word leaps out to the front.  Utterly offensive..  But even the more benign use of God's name such as Oh my ___ or the abbreviation OMG.  And Profanity is not limited to offending one religeous group over another.  Muslims can claim profanity against one who uses the name of Allah without due reverence.  (I am not an apologist for Islam, just demonstrating the uses of Profanity.)
•   Obscenity - This would be that which offends the sensibilities of the average person due to the reference to sexual conduct or other bodily acts which usually are kept private.
•   Vulgarity - One might arguably be considered the same or nearly the same as Obscenity.  It would be words that are coarser than is necessary, and from which one usually may substitute a gentler word to get the point across.
  

OK - Now that the definitions are out of the way, let’s get to the main issue - the lowering of our standards.  It is not as though these words are just now being coined.  Instead the generations of the past had more shame to use them publically.  People today are just not ashamed of anything.  It's as though they feel like it's better to be ugly but true instead of pretty but a lie.  Let me say it another way... No one likes a hypocrite.  At least not in the sense of its hiding what we really are.  But the problem is that people somehow think that they're being genuine, being real, or true to self and actually not artificial.  They think, comparing themselves with one another, I'm better than they are, and I'm also not a hypocrite... but in saying that very thing, they prove that THEY ARE the hypocrite they claim themselves not to be!

One of the buzz words of the day is to be authentic.  People want others to feel they are the real deal.  But who among us hides nothing?  Isn't it the case that we all have skeletons in our closet?  (I have spoken to those who claim no skeletons... but I would say that even if this were true in their case, then their authenticity is in danger of losing its attractiveness due to their pride)  There ARE some things that should stay in the closet.  That's what closets are for!  Some things ought never to be spoken of.  Of course saying this will get me in trouble with all sorts of psychologist types, but it's the truth.  The reality is that we are really so much worse than we care to admit and we DO hide things, if not from others, from ourselves.  And while it IS the case that we ought to deal with these hidden matters, it is usually best to deal with them in the council of the LORD, and not publically. 

So what about my offense... Should I be offended?  Can't I just look the other way?  Shouldn't I just chalk it up to immaturity and get over it?  Why is anyone offended in the first place?  Isn't it that to be offended means I have to examine a matter (in this case, language) and find it is lacking in standard.  And that means, of course, that I will judge the words, spoken, written or posted of someone else.  And that goes against everything in our culture.  I do not have the right to judge anything?  Who am I to judge?  BUT PEOPLE - WE DO IT ALL THE TIME!  Who among us doesn't examine the vegetables carefully to get one that isn't overripe or already going bad?  And what is wrong with discrimination between this or that food?  Nothing you say.  Then why is it wrong for someone to judge another’s' actions? 

When we judge the actions of another person, since we are people, we cannot do so, for to do so is to force your values upon a person.  The whole matter became polemic when the term "discrimination" was applied to race wrongly.  Racial discrimination can be wrong.  Make no doubt about it.  But it isn't always wrong.  Let's consider the oft put forward phrase, "racial profiling".  As typically applied, it refers to the police action of checking, verifying, examining a person, strictly because of his race.  Now - in many cases this is patently wrong, because the race of the offender is not known, and due to the hateful actions of a particular policeman toward a group of people.  I remember a fellow alumnus (David Anderson) of MBI relating how he was pulled over 3 times in 15 minutes in Elgin, Illinois by 3 different policemen, because he was black, and was driving an older, somewhat rusty car.  No crime was committed in the area and the police had NO REASON to be stopping him.  However, if it be shown that the there was a crime in a given area, for which the race of the perp was known, they should discriminate among possible suspects.  Why should they stop granny when it was a 21 year old they should be looking for? (Here the TSA wins ribbons!) 

Folks - We should be offended when offense occurs.  It's OK!  And we should hold a standard up.  We need to tell people privately, but gently when we are offended. Not to say that we are better and pump ourselves up, but because God created us good.  Yes - we have fallen.  Yes we are a wicked lot - every one of us.  But we play into the adversary's hands when we live such vulgar lives.  Let's strive to live above ourselves - for the sake of Christ.  And perhaps our children will not get the message of hypocrisy that we send out, when we pretend we are wholly authentic.  This means we might have to say we are sorry once in a while, and admit ourselves to be wrong.  But that is so much better than the pride of pretending we are something we are not.  Humility ought to be our coat.