The Tipping Point

For months now, all the warning lights have
been lit up on my inner dashboard. Not in the
sense that something was personally ready to
crash and burn within me, but in the Christian
church at large. Something has seemed "rotten
in the state of Denmark." Although it is not
Denmark that appears to be the problem, there
seems to be an interesting corollary in
Shakespeare's Hamlet. In the story, the ghost
of Hamlet's father comes back and appears to
him to try and warn him of the evil lurking
in the person of the new King.

I am thinking that the Holy Ghost sent by our
Heavenly Father has been zealous to warn the
hearts of many. I realize that the world has
always been crazy, and the Christian church
has always had issues, and even factoring in
that I am somewhat re-entering the public
arena after a long semi-eremetic season,
does not account for the sense of
foreboding that I feel.

If I am called as a sentry, then I am
sounding the bell. Biblically sound,
Spirit-led Christianity, that properly honors
the holiness of God and the atoning work of
Christ seems to be at the top of the endangered
list. The assault is coming from so many angles
and in such over-the-top ways that I keep
thinking I must be dreaming. While it is not my
calling to point fingers and list sordid details,
I will briefly review some of the issues of concern
that are causing a boiling pot of controversy on
the landscape of American Christianity. I realize
some who read this may not be aware of them, and
for this rude cold basin of water in your face,
I apologize.

Only a few weeks back the controversy with Ted
Haggard surfaced and while we can hope it is a
somewhat isolated experience we have to know in
our hearts that it is not. Things just don't get
to where they get to by accident. Our way of
isolating leaders while at the same time putting
them on pedestals in a society that makes it
increasingly easy to have a public persona far
different from your private life will be sure to
reap devastation. There is meant to be
accountability in the church, I am meant to watch
over you, and you are meant to watch over me.

I used to work for a major Christian ministry
who put young Christians in the public eye because
they were well-known for some secular gifting.
I would always cringe when I would see these young
Christians expected to know God and minister Him
simply because they were good at something
completely unrelated in life, like singing or
acting or politicking. A recipe for disaster.

I can guarantee we have not seen the end of
high-ranking Christians falling off their
pedestals. We set them up for it. We cannot
safely assume that just because folks finds
themselves in a leadership position that they
are prepared or even called to lead. Even
if are called, they should not lead outside the
protective umbrella of a faith community which
functions in a scripurally-prescribed manner.

Then there is the whole Rick Warren
controversy that threatens to set off, if it
has not already ignited, fireworks of global
proportions in the growing war over what makes
us Christians and how we interface with people
of other religious and political persuasions.
It is painfully hard not to believe that
his notoriety will not lead to the downfall
of his eternal soul. It's not the
hula ministry, its the, dare I say it,
dangerous if not unholy alliances, he is
crafting, and the social gospel kingdom
he is building. If the real gospel is in
there somewhere, I am sorry to say I have
missed it. You can be sure that Stephen
would not have preached a Warren-style
speech to the Sanhedrin, and that John the
Baptist would not have forgotten to warn
those in need of repentance.

Consider too
George Whitfield,
in an eerily similar situation,
addressing his free-thinking
friend, Benjamin Franklin, "as you
have made a pretty considerable
progress in the mysteries
of electricity, I would now humbly
recommend to your diligent unprejudiced
pursuit and study the mystery of the
new-birth. . . . One at whose bar we
are shortly to appear, hath solemnly
declared, that without it, 'we cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven.' You will
excuse this freedom. I must have "aliquid Christi"
[something of Christ] in all my letters."
Mmm. Something of Christ in everything.
Oh, if only it were so.

As a younger Christian I could never see how
the Antichrist could get large groups of
Christians to follow him. I totally get it now.
But you know, that whole Antichrist idea is just
one of the many silly notions of "bible-bashers."
What is amazing to me is that I might now be
called one of these bible-bashers by people I
had fellowship with just a few short years ago.
Make no mistake about it, an ugly line is being
drawn.

On another front the very tenets of the gospel
are being reworked by substantial factions such
as the Emergent Church. Yes, lets take a burgeoning
movement, full of young people eager to serve and
find meaning in the gospel, and yes, let's
encourage them to do it, but let's
rework the idea of why Jesus died.
They will never know or mind the difference. It's
all post-modernly relative anyway, isn't it?

Well, isn't it? Dear ones, please go to the Lord
and ask Him to lead you to the Truth. Let God take
a look at your heart. A very wise man, a man who
had leaned on Jesus breast and felt the beating of
His heart, a man who had touched the very Life of
God said, "Beloved, believe not every
spirit,but try the spirits whether they are
of God: because many false prophets are
gone out into the world. Hereby know you
the Spirit of God: every spirit that
confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is of God: but every spirit that does not
acknowledge Jesus is not from God and this
is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you
have heard that it should come; and even now
already is in the world," (I John 4:1-3.)

These matters will not be won by mental debates and
doctrinal tribunals. These matters are deep matters
of the heart and will be rightly divided by God alone.

Our enemy is not of flesh and blood, but the
evil one who sows deception and lies. Let us buy from
Jesus salve for our eyes that we might see, so that
in that Day we will stand, not with the goats, but
with the Lamb of God. He shepherds His little lambs
in peace and truth, and lets them lie down in
safety. Who would want to stray from Him?

We have probably tipped past a point of no-return.
The journey shall be arduous from here on in.
The house is burning. Sound the alarm.

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Waiting for God

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes

...and is completely dependent on the fact

that the door of freedom has to be opened

from the outside, is not a bad picture of

Advent. -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in letter, 1943

Advent
Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
hope,
waiting for God

This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man

boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of

his strength or the rich man boast of his riches,

but let him who boasts boast about this: that he

understands and knows me, that I am the LORD,

who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness

on earth, for in these I delight," declares the

LORD. --Jeremiah 9:23,24

The Holiness of God

"The holiness of God makes the angels cover their faces, and crumbles Christians,when they behold it, into dust and ashes." --John Bunyan

It's Never Too Late To Change

(Corky at the airport)

Yesterday, Corky started his new life in Oregon.
He's as old as the hills and has been one of the
crabbiest dogs I have ever known. He is also
amazing. I first met Corky about 8 or so years
ago. He was dropped off at a kennel where some
friends and I who did "dog rescue" would keep
our rescue dogs while we found homes for them.
Corky had been dropped off by his owners and
"not retrieved." One can guess was the reason
was that he was too crabby. Only a guess.

He was not what you would call an "adoptable"
dog. None of the local rescues seemed to want
him. Not that I actually ever saw him bite
anyone. It was just the growling of that
little gremlin-like face that put you off.

So Corky was kind of "adopted" by the old man
who ran the kennel. The old man was nearly
blind and quite a character. Corky did not
get along with the man's other dog, so he
was gated in the kitchen. I used to visit
ever day to make sure the other dog got his
eye med's and Corky would always be there,
being Corky, which usually meant being
crabby. Once someone came all the way from
New Jersey, I think,to adopt Corky and
Corky just growled at them and went to
stand by Walter. He did not get adopted.
Corky is what you would call a "curmudgeon."

Well, Walter, the kennel owner, died this
year. We tried to find out what happened
to his dogs. Months later we found them
in a truly horrible condition. Corky was
just a matted, stinking mess. But what
could we do? He ended up coming to stay
with us for the last two months. Growling
and snarling all the way. But family is
family. We got him cleaned up and cared
for and he started to show signs of a
different kind of Corky, a mellower side
which actually might want you to come near.
I watched in amazement as he let my elderly
mom pick him up. He would follow her all
over the yard.

The day before yesterday we drove him to
meet some kind folks who had volunteered
to take him the rest of the way to meet
his new "mother." He crawled out of the
crate and slept on my friend's lap the
whole way. Hmmm. This was something new.

When we reached the place we had agreed
to meet these folks the man jumped out
of his car and so quickly came to look
at Corky that I had no time to say "But
wait, be careful, he may biteeeeeeeeee!"
but by then the man had already scooped
Corky up and cradled him in his arms.
Corky LET HIM. He leaned back against
the man's chest. No growling, no
snarling. Nothing. He wagged his tail.
HE WAGGED HIS TAIL! He looked alert and
happy. He looked at me directly, for
the first time. "Goodbye" I said.
"Goodbye!" I think he understood.

Yesterday these kind folks delivered him
to the airport where he was introduced
to his new mom and had a long, long flight,
in the cabin, to Oregon. We waited with
bated breath for the news of how it had
gone. His new mom called him "a trooper",
who basically slept the whole way. Today
he is settling into his new home, with a
kind, big-hearted woman and her other
canine companions.

I've learned two things from this: One,
its never too late to change, even if
you have been crabby your whole life.
Two, that God, in His infinite mercy,
loves even the smallest and most cast
aside of things, and using human hands,
can make a way for them.

Corky has dodged a lot of bullets in his
life. The last few he dodged were the
most amazing. The amount of things that
had to fall into place for this little
scrap of a dog to experience a real home
and warmth in his latter years is simply
amazing.

It is never to late. We are never beyond
hope. God can still reach us. And yes,
we can change. Love does it every time.

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The Decisive Moment

The process by which God molds us into
His image is truly an amazing one.
This morning I think I was having a
pre-Christmas vision, Dickens style,
a sort of reflection on my life and who
I am, and the nuances of the many things
I could have become and who I might yet
become. I'm not talking occupational
things. I'm talking about how God uses
the process of life to bring us to the
destiny of our identity in Him.

I am quite sure that God had a plan, a
finished idea of what He created each
of us to be when we were just "twinkles"
in God's eyes. That God! He has such
a confidence in His ability to bring to
perfection those He has chosen. In the
human realm any artist, any creator of
any sort, knows that variables are part
of the process of creation. A hundred
different things can go any which way
when we get down to the process of
painting or photography or throwing
pottery, or glass-blowing.

I love the French photographer, Henri
Cartier-Bresson. He is known for his
"decisive moment" kind of photography:
the ability to press the shutter at the
precise climactic moment of life's
most awesome moments. You need a kind
of intuition born of long hours of
watching to get that kind of sight.
You need to know about ebb and flow,
about shadow and sun, about longing
and fulfillment. About waiting. And
grace. Sheesh. I'm getting a rush just
thinking about it.

God wants to sculpt my life and yours
into something beautiful that both looks
like Christ and is our own unique
reflection of Him. He has so many
decisive moments both on His end and
on ours. He sets up all the
circumstances of our lives, uses each
high and low, ordains some things,
allows others, all for our benefit.
He knows that, like any great Artist,
that one mistimed move can wreck the
whole work.

So this morning I suddenly saw myself,
the thousand different selves, the
different "me's" that would have
developed BUT for the grace of God. And
even the good but not perfect "me's" that
are still tempting me to accept them.
I basically tell you this from my knees
weeping.

My very first recollection of
why I came to God was as a very young
teenager catching this same sort of
vision of myself: the kind of person
that I would become if God did not
intervene. That sight horrified me
and drove me to my conversion even
before I intellectually, or even
dictionarily, knew what conversion
was. How, you may ask,can a young
person of 13, have a sense of their
own destroyed destiny? I think we
know far more than we care to admit,
and far earlier then we imagine,
if we dare to be honest.

But the process of conversion, is just
that, a process. Yes, yes, I know, we
are "saved" at a specific moment in time,
but the process of being renewed, being
made into the image of His dear Son,
is a lifelong one. In some eternal moment
of now I can see my life as a motion
picture, with all the decisive moments,
the choosings of the "road less traveled,"
the near fatal steps, the near misses,
the clouds, the deaths, the deserts,
the mountains, the still, small Voice
of God, the grace-laden interventions.
My heart is beating pretty fast now.
All, all, all is the grace of God.

In this moment I can see all the
ugly things I could have easily become:
destroyed by bitterness, pride, pessimism,
self-seeking, ambition. Shall I continue
to name my own personal bullets? But God
is trying and I trust, only because of
who He is, succeeding, in turning me into
something that will delight Him and bring
Him glory. Rabbi Aaron Kaidanover
once said, "if you knew how
many demons thirst for your blood
you would abandon yourself
entirely...to the Almighty."

Life, in one sense, is Precariousness
on Wheels. There is no way that I can make
it through it in my own power, using my
own wisdom, fighting with my own strength.
In another sense, life is God's Grace on
Wheels, always speeding to my ever present
need of aid.

Played out in this is the idea that some
make it and some do not. Jesus did not hint
that it is or ever will be otherwise. Has God
predestined some? I need not go there.

Where I will go is to the idea that there
are many, many, many, many, many decisive
moments in our lives. If we knew the
importance of them, (and how can we know but
in retrospect, looking back from "ages and ages
hence"?), we would indeed throw ourselves
on the mercy of God, and tell Him to take,
without reserve, every bit of us.

We live in troubled times. We always have,
and until He comes, we always will. Yet
these times seem a bit more troubled,
or perhaps I have just put on my glasses.
This moment, like all others, is a
decisive one. Will you let it tick by,
unnoticed, and ignored? Or will you turn
your heart to God and allow Him to do all
that He needs to do in you? The choice is
yours. Your destiny is being determined.
What are you deciding? Let His grace
intervene. Here is your decisive moment.


The Decisive Moment
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faith
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In God's Treehouse

When I grow tired of living,
When I am hurt from loving,
Lord Jesus, I will climb up the stairs
and sit with You, sit at Your feet,
where the air is cool and where
I can feel the strength and stability
of Your royal leg as I lean
my back up against it.
Your strength will penetrate and uphold,
cracking away the defense,
melting the offence.
Then, when I have been replenished,
You will invite me to your Divine
Tree House, where we will play
like kids on a summer's afternoon
and laugh until our bellies hurt.
I'm feeling better already.

Yellow, mellow, ripened days, Sheltered in a golden
coating; O'er the dreamy, listless haze, White and
dainty cloudlets floating; Winking at the blushing
trees, And the sombre, furrowed fallow; Smiling at the
airy ease, Of the southward flying swallow Sweet and
smiling are thy ways, Beauteous, golden Autumn days.
--Will Carleton

We have had the most glorious fall in New England, each
sparkling day has nearly overcome me with thankfulness
and wonder to God for His handiwork.

Thanksgiving

And let these altars, wreathed with flowers and piled with fruits, awake again thanksgivings for the golden hours, the early and the latter rain!
--John Greenleaf Whittier

It is raining here in Massachusetts on this Thanksgiving Day. Amidst the rain there is much to be thankful for--even for the promise of the "latter rain." Rain on our thirsty hearts, O God!

Opposing Spiritual Codependency

The other night I had a dream that I have been
pondering. I dreamt that I saw a man and a
woman and I was filled with foreboding about
them. I knew that they were up to no good. I
felt I must follow them and keep an eye on
what they were doing. I had sat down on a step
to think about what to do and as soon as I had
decided to keep an eye on them a rather rotund
young lady came and sat squarely on my lap,
sort of pinning me down.

I saw the lady and the man turn to me. The
lady said, "I am a white witch and I use
my magic for good, there is nothing to
worry about. She pointed to the man,
and said, "He is an atheist, and doesn't even
believe in God, he is harmless. " I looked at
the man and knew that he was not just an
"innocent" non-believer but could tell that
he was, in fact, demon-possessed, and that
and had a sinister plan.

They headed off across the street toward a
very high grove of mushrooms. I was thinking
about how to get this young lady who was
pinning me down to stand up so I could keep
these people from fulfilling their bad
intentions. I had to make a concerted effort
to push her off my lap.

Here is what I felt the dream means. The
lady who was sitting on me was someone
that I used to babysit for when she
was a baby.That was an appropriate
time for her to be sitting on my lap
and to be receiving "babysitting"
kind of care. Now she had grown into
a woman but still expected to be
cared for and treated like a child.

How many of these relationships do we
have in our lives? How many babies are
sitting on us, keeping us from a
necessary spiritual watchfulness and
engagement? What unbalanced relationships
have we continued to foster,
relationships that started out healthy
but have turned into entrapping ones?
People can often get used to our help
but unless we as spiritual mothers and
fathers are helping people develop
a strong relationship with God that
is not primarily dependent on man,
then we are failing them.

In the meantime evil, often somewhat
disguised as something good or innocent,
can creep in. Mushrooms are symbols of
decay. They grown in darkness and are
parasitic in nature. Our attention can
be taken up with those who are refusing
to grow and mature while our real job
as spiritual sentries is
compromised.

There is a season for "everything under
heaven." Let us look to the Lord and
ask Him to show us things, including
relationships and people, that we are
meant to let go of lest they become an
entrapment to us. Things can appear to
be innocent but can draw us away from
the Lord into spiritual darkness and
decay.

It is not our place to "babysit" others
but to make disciples who will follow
the Lamb wherever He goes. Let us not
be unaware of Satan's schemes to slip
past our watchfulness and trap us until
we are not able to move.

Christian Dream Interpretation
spiritual deception
codependency
spiritual death
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There is Nothing Like the Sweetness of God

For love comes from meeting Him. Knowledge united to

God fulfils every desire. And for the heart that receives

it, it is altogether sweetness overflowing into the

earth. For there is nothing like the sweetness of God.

--Isaac of Nineveh

In Praise of Dappled Things

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;

And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise Him.

--Gerald Manley Hopkins

(I absolutely love this poem, and yes, the photo is an
actual scene, in Suffield, Connecticut, slightly
enhanced :) --RM

The Great Mosaic of God

If you feel that you don't fit in,
that no place seems to be "your place";
It is because earth is too small for the
grand, eternal design of God to be displayed
in all its splendor.
Someday, in a new heaven and earth,
the pieces that have been flung to the four winds,
to rough terrain, and dry, hidden corners,
to the bottom of the sea and to the top of
rarely-climbed mountains,
Will be gathered up into a great mosaic
of God's own making.
A mosaic made, in praise of Christ, and
as a present to the Victor
for having ransomed every sort of man
and woman from the tribes and nations
of the old earth.
In that day, you will fit perfectly,
for you have been chosen
and designed for that.
It will be a great work of art.
It will be a great day.
You will fit.
Perfectly.
God can see it in His mind,
even now.
He is smiling.

One characteristic that marks the average church today
is lack of anticipation. Christians when they meet do not
expect anything unusual to happen; consequently only
the usual happens, and that usual is as predictable as the
setting of the sun...We need today a fresh spirit of
anticipation that springs out of the promises of God. We
must declare war on the mood of nonexpectation, and
come together with childlike faith. Only then can we
know again the beauty and wonder of the Lord's presence
among us." --A.W.Tozer, God Tells The Man Who Cares

The Process of Dying Daily

Much in our life experience is actually an experience

of death. Death surrounds us in many forms. Jesus

speaks much of death, but he speaks of it in widely

divergent ways. There is a death that produces

death, and there is a death that produces life.

How do I know that my experience of death will

result in the new life of resurrection or whether

I am simply dead in my sins--dead the worse

possible way? For in either case, a genuine death

occurs but of two completely varieties.

I love it when Jesus tells people that certain dead

people are "just sleeping." You really have to laugh.

We are human. We know dead. Lazarus is stone

cold dead. Dead 3 days in the hot sun dead.

Abutting the decomposition mode dead. Jesus,

however, tells his disciples that dear old Lazarus

is just "sleeping" John 11:11. Because they are

nowhere near smelling range of Lazarus, they

think he really is just "sleeping." "Ok," they say,

"that's a good sign, he'll rest and feel better." But

Lazarus is utterly dead. Sleeping won't help him

if Jesus doesn't do something.

Then there is the little girl who has died. Jesus

tells the family that she is "just sleeping"

(Mark 5:39.) His assessment of the situation is

not met with a lot of respect. The girl is dead.

I'm telling you, we are human. We know dead.

Jesus, stop being so mean to the family! But

Jesus is by no means "mean." Christ's

assessment of what dead is and my assessment

of what dead is, are two different things. In His

assessment, people can look to be completely

alive but really be "whitewashed sepulchres"

(Mat. 23:27) and completely without life. He

tells people to come and follow Him and "let

the dead bury their own dead (Mat 8:22) ."

Yes. Hmmm.

I notice that the early church picks up Jesus'

term of calling physically dead believers simply,

those who have "fallen asleep." Stephen "fell

asleep" (Acts 7:60) as he is stoned to death,

Paul preaches that David accomplishes his

earthly journey and "falls asleep" (Acts 13:36).

Many of the Lord's followers have "fallen

asleep," (I Cor 15:6, 18, 20); and that at the

Lord's table, many are sick or "have fallen

asleep" (I Cor 11:30). Those who die in the

Lord, fall under Jesus definition of "falling

asleep." Death has lost its cold, hard sting.

For I must say to you that we who are the

Lord's experience a real death process long

before we get to the grave. It begins, in

great measure, with our baptism. It by

no means ends there.

T.S. Eliot, reportedly reflecting on

his own baptism, in the poignant

poem: The Journey of the Magi
says,

"All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen

birth and death,
But had thought they were different;

this Birth was Hard and bitter agony

for us, like Death, our death,
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old

dispensation, With an alien people

clutching their gods. I should be glad

of another death. "

Eliot reflects that the Magi coming to Jesus

know that everything will now change in

their lives. A certain death of the "old

dispensation" has come and will leave their

future uncertain. For make no mistake about

it, our baptism ushers us into a genuine death.

For what is death but a process of being put

out of the control of one's self? Our future as

believers is anything but uncertain, but before

we can enter into the glory of this heartfelt

knowing, a real death must come. A death that

sweeps us away from all that we have known

before. It is a complete death, and it is without

escape. It is not a physical death but the

experience of a spiritual one.

A death, our death, is what births us into our

new life: the life of God. Of course we are

already spiritually dead to begin with. Then

we come to a place of accepting God's

forgiveness and receiving His life. We are

baptized with Him into His death (Romans 6:3)

and all of our old identity dies with Him.

And then Jesus promises us the another

baptism, this time one of fire! First I will

be drowned, and then I shall be burned!

Dear Lord, shall there be anything left of

me? Well, if you put it in those terms it

seems to move away from the strictly

theological understanding to one

connected to our everyday lives.

Paul says, "I die daily"(I Cor. 15:31). Dying

to ourself is both a one-time event and a

continual process. If we were expecting clear

sailing every day, we would be very naive

sailors indeed. What we are not prepared

for is the intensity of the death that we will

experience. Not just a little scary ride through

the "fun house" but a force so overpowering,

that, well, it could only be Death.

Ah, but dear reader, our faith is about Life

and resurrection. Yes, but first we must speak

of death. And back to our question, how do I

know that I am dying unto Life, or dead into

eternal death? It is only by my simple, childlike

faith in Christ.

We must follow the Lord where He leads us. If
that be through death before it is through life,
and most assuredly it will be, then follow Him
we must. It is our faith in Him alone, faith
stripped naked and bare, that gives

us the assurance that we are kept by Him. Do

know that He himself has made this journey

before. Alone. He came forth the Victor. He did

it for us. He experienced the height and breadth

and depth of Death. For me. For you.

There will be days when we will be sure that death

has won over us. It is for those who are in those

days that I may be writing. To those I have but

one word of advice: Do not focus on the process of

death, but on the One in whom you have believed.

Death is meant to overwhelm us, and to conquer

our natural strength. It will finish us off unless we

reach our hearts ever so slightly to the One who

conquered death even from the midst of death.

We have all seen those movies where someone

has become so paralyzed that they

can only move the smallest part of their

finger to signal for help. It is no different with us.

Call unto Him, even if the call is seemingly

imperceptible, and He will not forsake you.

Death is real. Life is more REAL. Life is our

glorious Christ, risen from the dead. In Him

we most certainly die, but in fact, we have

fallen asleep in His arms.

spiritual death
death
The Journey of the Magi
T.S.Eliot
baptism
following Christ

Ad augusta per angusta:

To high places by narrow roads

God Meets Us In The Wreckage

It suddenly occurred to me this morning that while we are trying to meet God in the one halfway decent (in our estimation) inch of ourselves that we deem presentable, that God always seems to choose to meet us in the place that is hopelessly disfigured, dark and demon-filled. As we read through the Scriptures it is always God coming to us at the point of our need, loss, and failure, holding out restoration and salvation to us in His outstretched, humble yet decisively all powerful Hand.

Peter's darkest hour was denying Christ. Yet, at the very
time of the denial, Christ is on His way preparing what

is needed not only for Peter's restoration but for the
restoration of the whole world. Hallelujah! Peter, in a
fearful fog of self-preservation, is bitterly startled back
into reality by the crowing of the rooster.

Morning was about to dawn in Peter's life. The
Morningstar was rising and coming to get Him. When
Jesus re-appears on earth after His death, He makes
a bee-line for Peter to set him firmly on the right path.
Peter would be restored and go on to be all that God
meant him to be.

You see, the gospel is really all about our total surrender
into the wild liberty of enslaving love to Christ. Yet we
become slaves to Him with no strings attached and only
the power of Everlasting Love keeping us close. It is a
liberty and wholeness we have never known and can
not imagine with our natural mind.

We think that we must get ourselves in shape before

God can use us. We believe we must try harder. If

there is something really wrecked inside, we must

hide it. God says, "When you have reached the end

of yourself, I will be there to talk about My kind

of kingdom."

The problem, from our side, is that reaching the end of
ourselves usually involves crashing and burning in some
major spiritual, social, psychological or emotional way.
We don't stop ourselves until something stops us. God
meets us at the point of our blindness and error. He
meets us at a place where we cannot help ourselves.

Why? He really, really loves us. He doesn't want to just
help us live our life, wants to BE our life. He wants to
be our everything. He does not want us to rely on
ourselves. He wants relationship with us. "Who
is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning
upon her beloved? Song of Songs 8:5). It is always out
of the wilderness that we learn to so lean and do it
with gladness.

God will come after each of us at our greatest point of
need. Straight to the disaster He heads! And if we
manage to hide the disaster, He will still come. We
do not understand the ferocity of God's love for us,
and what He is willing to allow or us to come to know
Him in liberty.

Ted Haggard did not know the lengths and depths of
this ferocious Love. But before you cast a stone, neither
do you. Neither do I. Not completely, maybe not at
all. He allows the circumstances of life to bring us from
a place of absolute weakness, to a place of absolute
surrender.

This surrender is not a slavish violation of liberty, but
a magnificent entrance into the liberty that is
apportioned to God's sons and daughters. Too bad
it takes such drastic measures to get us there. But once
we are there we could easily spend eternity worshipping
God and giving Him thanks for it. Too bad we initially
view it as a hostile invasion. It wastes so much time.

God is not looking for forced submission. He is looking

for eager pursuers of Himself. He is waiting to be

known for who He is. May that journey start afresh

and anew for each us, and may our prayers be with

our fallen brother who has the chance to come to an

utter and happy leaning on God and restoration that

he has not yet known.

Ted Haggard
Current Events
The love of God
The denial of Peter

Is the Gospel in America Poisoned?

I've been hearing the wake-up sirens blowing for quite awhile now and in the wake of the recent controversy regarding Ted Haggard one can only wonder, is this the first of a new batch of public symptoms of a totally compromised gospel in American Christianity? Are we beginning to reap what has been sown? Is our spiritual well water poisoned?

You know, I must tell you, that for quite awhile I have been heartsick. I listen alot. I read alot. I hear a lot of preaching. I see alot. I am left feeling like, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, ...we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way" --Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

America has so much: really, a land of opportunity and blessing. A land of abundance and beauty. But what has happened to the gospel here? American ingenuity and pragmatism have helped us create some of the world's greatest inventions and technology. We are a "can do" kind of people. But have we concocted a gospel soft drink, goes down smooth, but full of emptiness? Is it made from a polluted spring?

Much has been said about the American gospel, and a lot of what has been said is true. The fingers however always seem to be pointing at the "other" church, with their heretical beliefs, and not at our own hearts. Maybe we all need to take one giant step back and see if how we each form and hold our beliefs is American and not, in fact, biblical.

I love reading the old American revivalists: Edwards, Brainerd, Whitfield as he preached in America, etc. And yet, when I actually read their words and hear their mindset, I wonder if they were to preach today if the churches they preached in would have many people attending them. Might not all the folks be across the street at "seeker" friendly churches, the one with comfy seats, and pastors wearing cool flip flops, where you are nudged toward a calm, friendly kind of spirituality, where Jesus never really makes any demands on you, much less causes you to fall on your face in repentance? Or, if you like things a little radical, maybe join a church with lots of purpose. Only the purpose is really about a lot of American kind of ingenuity painted in spiritual hues but lacking the power to change the hearts of men and women. Just because something seems to work, doesn't mean its true. Apparently much of what is preached isn't even working.

Where is the gospel that turned a bunch of fearful, bumbling disciples into people that willingly and fearlessly went to their deaths proclaiming a Christ out of whose mouth came a sword so sharp that it could divide completely between what was of God and what was of man? Where? I really want to know where it has went. And do we really think that all that the early church was about was presenting orthodox doctrine? If that was all it was about, where would they have gotten the power and boldness to shake society, including religious society, to its core? Wouldn't it have have been just another near-eastern religion, long forgotten? So where is that gospel? Where is the cross? Where is holiness and fear of the Lord?

Today it was a typical fall day in New England. This meant that there was a church bazaar on every corner. Great pies. Nice hand-knit gloves. Lots of preserves. No radical gospel that I could see. Lots of bread, but no Bread of Life. Have we, as Americans, just made the gospel serve us? Have we knocked off all the difficult parts so we can fit it in to our schedules? Have we preached mostly what brings good attendance and lots of money? Homey feelings and patriotic pride? Now don't get me started there.

Be forewarned: the real Jesus is a stumbling block. Many will stumble over Him. I have always gotten goosebumps when I read this:

Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures,'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?' Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whoever it will fall, it will grind him to powder (Matthew 21:42-44).

So, will the kingdom of God be taken away from us and given to a nation that will bear fruit? Is the Stone ready to fall on us? Frightening correlations. This all strikes me as Toll One on the bell of "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" ....well, maybe its not really Toll One. It might be a little late for that. You know what I mean. We need to ask ourselves this: Is the gospel we preach Christ's gospel? Is it the gospel of God? Does it honor the Cross of Christ? Does its message come down from heaven or is it a poisoned well of destruction and deceit?

Our leaders get to where we are going to first. They have served the poisoned water and now they must drink of it. That is a very scary thought. Are we going straight to heaven or direct the other way?

Ted Haggard
Current Events
The American Gospel

Praying for Those Who Fall

Jesus, on this day, we have heard of a man' s fall. Someone who set out to follow You and to lead others. You alone know his heart. You alone know what will heal it. Thank you that You have warned us that "everything that can be shaken, will be shaken" (Hebrews 12:27). Thank you that while many will scorn him, and many may question how this can be, that Your Nature, a nature of uncompromised Love, is unchanging, and Your kingdom is unshakable.

Thank you that because of Your graciousness to us, we need not judge another, as it is best left in Your most just and merciful Hands. May those that truly seek You not be dismayed. May those who use this as an excuse or an opportunity for their own purposes understand that You are watching them, also.

Cover the hearts of the innocent. Uncover all that is not of You so that healing can come to that which would be a hidden and destructive cancer. We who are built of dust dare not cast stones. Let those of us who know your love, cast love instead. May your peaceable, holy and righteous kingdom come in our hearts and to this exceedingly troubled earth.

Ted Haggard
Current Events
Prayer

If you are just what you are meant to be, you will
set the world on fire.--Catherine of Siena

Massachusetts
Fall Colors
Catherine of Siena

What you see can be done with love you must do; what can only be done with debate must be left alone.

--Frances de Sales

Whatever Happened to Relationship with Jesus?

I wonder what someone would look like, sound like, be like if they were just about "being with Jesus" and not about "everything else" in the culture of Christianity, or even Evangelical Christianity or especially even charismatic or postmodern or emergent Christianity. Hey, if I'm about to spread buckshot, I might as well spread it evenly! :)

In the blogosphere, as well as in Christianity at large, it seems important to have a niche and be properly labeled, like it used to be in high school. Only now we don't grow out of labeling, we develop it until it glows supremely in the dark. This makes some folks "in," some way "out," some "slithering reptiles," some "adorable rodents," some just regular folks and some, well, "wascally wabbits." Y'all are just too funny.

Where would the apostle Paul land in today's dog pile? At http://mars-hill.blogspot.com? Where would John? (I guess they never did get a decent ISP on Patmos, which left him lots of time to experience and record the Book of Revelation... I begin to rest my case!) More importantly, where would Jesus be found as He waits for His Bride without spot or wrinkle?

As I have tried to make my way into the exploding world of the Christian blog sphere I find it a not-so-miniature and completely ready for prime-time version of modern day Christianity in all its vast (dis)array. I find unlikely bedfellows everywhere: little bubbles of people here, large balloons of people there with cross alliances that put the cast of Survivor to shame. I see lots of politics and faith: Republicans and "of course" kind of faith; other-than-Republicans and "we're Christians, too," kind of faith. Sorry, I just "calls them as I sees 'em". But wouldn't it be a great testimony to have one long, long blogroll of people who "just follow Jesus wherever He goes", no further labels?

I see people who once were A's and then became Z's now becoming reformed M's or maybe Emergently Reformed AMZ's which is nothing like the AoG (Rich?) because of their more "modern" redemption theology which puts them all the way back to being nearly Catholic because of an alliance made with the ZMA schism which broke off of the Episcopal sector, American side, that is.

I'm suddenly humming, "What if God were one of us, .... just a stranger on a bus, trying to make His way"....well, around what everyone is claiming to be His kingdom or His blogdom. It is very easy to try and make God in our own image. But God is an Image Smasher and a good One at that. "And you thought I was just like you" (Psalm 50:21).

I still want to know what someone would look like if they just worked on developing mature, deep and intimate relationship with Jesus? You know, just loved God with all their heart, soul and mind? No politics except those of the Lord's Prayer, not able to discuss theology until it had been made flesh in them: simple, unadorned relational faith. You know, "hearts strangely warmed." A radical, seemingly quaint thought, and one that might produce poor blogshares ratings and no feed subscriptions at all. :( When Jesus returns, will He find faith in the blogosphere?

God deserves our wholehearted attention: every ounce of who we are. Maybe we all won't, and aren't meant to, look exactly the same cloned way once we give Him our "all and everything," but maybe we all would look a bit more like Him or what He is looking for in His Bride. I'm hopelessly old-fashioned, I know. But God never changes and that makes Him more eons more old-fashioned then me. He seems keep telling us, "Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God" (Micah 6:8). What do you think?

Jesus Christ
Christianity
relationship with Jesus
Christian blogging

Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei
"The heavens declare the glory of God"


Connecticut
Fall Colors

God Calling: The Race is Not To The Swift

The race is not to the swift. The battle is not to the brave, but the victory is for those who fear Me. Your eyes have not yet seen all that I plan for you. You will look back and say, "Who but the Lord could have done this?" And your face will be radiant. Yet it is deeper and wider, and yes, more hidden and invisible than you think. Like the pearl of great price I will hide you in a secret place, away from harm. Know that I do this in My wisdom and My great and exceedingly love for you. Dwell continually in Me. Make that your priority. For I am jealous over you with deep, deep love. Come to me continually. I watch for your coming and you bring me great joy. I tell you again, dwell continually in Me. Gaze upon Me. I will uphold and protect. I will accomplish all that I have purposed in My heart for you. Ah, dear one, it is a good plan, indeed! Let us go, I wish to take you further down the path.

God calling
prophetic words
prophetic word
Jesus Christ
the love of God

The inward stirring and touching of God makes us hungry and yearning; for the Spirit of God hunts our spirit, and the more it touches it, the greater our hunger and our craving. --Jan van Ruysbroeck, 1273-1381.

Massachusetts
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Jan van Ruysbroeck

To Be Like God: Forgiveness & The Stoning of Stephen

Forgiveness: a living principle born in the depths of the very heart of God! The experience of forgiving is one of the pre-eminent experiences of God toward mankind. When God asks us to forgive He wants to engage us in something fundamental to Himself. That engagement is not a mental concept but a life force! In calling us to forgive, God is asking us to be like Himself in the most radical way possible. What an opportunity to honor Him and follow Him!

In the last few weeks I have been reading Acts 7 where it recounts the stoning of Stephen. I have been overwhelmed with what it is saying, and challenged so thoroughly that my socks seem to spontaneously fall off! :)

Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, delivers one of the most challenging sermons ever preached, stirring up such passion and hatred that a crowd decides to stone him to death. His response is reminiscent of His Lord's magnanimous response: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7: 60) (compare Luke 23:34). Stephen dies forgiving, he also dies beholding "the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55-56). It says he simply, "fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).

Perhaps he felt the pain of the stones, but death, as we generally regard it, is not an accurate word to describe his passing into eternity. He "fell asleep" basking in the glory of God. He entered into a full experience of forgiveness. He imitated His Lord in the most glorious fashion.

And do you know what? I have a deep sense that there is a direct link from this act of forgiveness to the conversion of a young onlooker of the stoning. That young man's name was Saul, who shortly thereafter, became the apostle Paul. Saul got something that day, or perhaps I should say, something got him. He didn't know he got it, but I sense that what he saw and experienced in Stephen's death was powerfully working in the deepest part of his heart. His mind was confused, but this supernatural act of forgiveness was deeper than that, and it was bringing him to Jesus, the One he had been persecuting, hidden, or perhaps not very hidden at all, in Stephen.

This is the kind of experience God wants to bring us into. We see forgiveness as something we "must" do, and no doubt about it, we must forgive. What we do not so clearly see is that we GET to forgive and that this kind of forgiveness is the cornerstone of the Kingdom of God. Somehow I think when someone harms me or crosses me that I should defend myself or somehow protect myself, either offensively or defensively. This is human thinking. God calls us past that to divine experience. He offers us an opportunity to be like Him.

If God alone can forgive sin, and God alone can, why does He want us to engage in acts of forgiveness? He wants us to enter into His nature, to see and understand things from His perspective and to actually feel in our human bodies what forgiveness is all about. Do we not feel unforgiveness in our bodies? Tightness, coldness, darkness--we know about that. God wants us to "feel" forgiveness, not for the sake of a novel emotional experience, but to experience the transformational power of what forgiveness brings. When God forgives us, we are changed--body, soul, and spirit. When we forgive, we reflect who God is, we become like Him by valuing what He values, by doing what He does, by making a way possible when there is no way.

When Jesus says, "go the extra mile," "turn the other cheek," "give them your cloak, too," He is calling us into the radical stream of the Kingdom of God. These words are not a game of psychology but an expression of who He is and how He lives toward us. They are the kingdom of God here and now. So often when something bad happens we tend to think, "I'll be glad when this old world ends and the kingdom comes." Guess what? The Kingdom has already begun to arrive and you and I, as we follow God into radical forgiveness, are it! Or at least its beginnings!

One day everything will be put under His feet! Thank God! But He is asking us not to identify with the old regime, which is the Law at best, and the kingdom of darkness at worst, but with His very forgiving and universe-transforming nature. We do not clearly see the value of so great a love! We do not see clearly how or even why, good triumphs over evil. The prince of darkness lures us into playing his way, a way of retribution and revenge. You have felt the death of it, perhaps now you can begin to see why. God chooses to invite us to look for the humble little path, which if followed, opens up to a wide place where we "see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." The Evil One promises instant retribution, he fails to say what comes with the package. It is not life.

We get opportunities to forgive all the time, but we don't value them as opportunities. We don't respond as sons and daughters of Forgiveness . I'm not sure why we as humans are such a grumpy lot. But I do know that I see more clearly what an opportunity God is holding out, so gently, yet so powerfully to me. And I want to be like Him, I want to side with Him, I want to expand His Kingdom with Him, I want to honor Him and show no allegiance to anything dark. So I close by saying that I want a life that is so wrapped with God that He will recognize Himself in me.

It says, "Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost,"...and that is what it will take to get it...being "full of the Holy Ghost". For this kind of life, and this kind of forgiveness originates in and is powered by God alone. We cannot do it, that is plainly evident. We merely have to surrender to Him. But that is a joyful, albeit challenging, thing. I'm not saying that He won't roll us down the hill pretty fast to shake the darkness loose from us. I'm not saying we won't have to be martyred to get there. I'm not saying anything but that is where I plan to be headed and that is where I want you to be headed, too. You can go as far down this path as you want to, the choice is yours. So don't say I didn't warn you. Dare say we will scarcely recognize each other when we get there, which is probably a very good thing.

Forgive. Be like your God.

forgiveness
Christianity
forgive
Book of Acts
The Apostle Paul
The Early Church
the stoning of Stephen
The Kingdom of God

Seeing Miracles

The miracles of the church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always. --Willa Cather (Death Comes for the Archbishop, 1927)

Connecticut
Fall Colors

Forgiving Like God Forgives

Forgive, forgive, forgive is the continuing word given.

As Christians we are commanded to forgive, but we can fall into the trap of glibly saying "I have forgiven" or feeling like we ought to, yet still have a heart full of misery and bitterness.

From Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, comes this unnerving quote: "I forgive you, Sir Knight, " said Rowena, 'as a Christian.' That means, "said Wamba, "that she does not forgive him at all." I would love for you to say that this "rings no bells" with you but, alas, it very well might. Brothers and sisters, we must do business with God. I am not saying that forgiveness is easy nor that it comes immediately or without cost. Nor am I saying that Christians are any worse at forgiving than non-Christians. I am saying we must set our hearts to forgive wholeheartedly, no matter what. Was it easy, or quick or without cost for Jesus to forgive?

God tells us that we MUST forgive but we should also WANT to. I don't think we totally, passionately value what Christ did to win our forgiveness. Even as He won our forgiveness He was in the act of forgiving (Luke 23:34). What if His forgiveness was given and then He took it back? What if when He was safely back with the Father He started to rethink, and said, "On second thought, They've treated me poorly, Let them reap what they've sown. I'm taking back the sacrifice. That will show them! " God forbid!

We do not want to imagine such a horror! So likewise, may we also find it unimaginable to not forgive. What are we trying to prove? What do we need to set straight? Who am I to judge "another man's servant"? We live or die unto God, He will be the judge. Allow Him to be. We see forgiveness as something we must give in order to benefit someone else. Forgiveness is to benefit US! Our forgiveness not only releases God's forgiveness to us, it is an unequalled opportunity to become like our Heavenly Father! How will Christ bring "many sons to glory" if not through this process of our entering into the good nature of God? Shall we act like God or like a child of darkness? Heaven is watching, and Hell, too.

We do not know the ways of God as we should. At best we know them in part. We often wonder why He allows waywardness to go on. Perhaps we wonder what He is waiting for. As much as you think He is waiting for others, He is waiting for you and I to follow Him into his mission of mercy and forgiveness. For whatever we may not know about God, we do know how He feels about forgiveness. Let us press on to forgive as God forgives.

The goodness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). He waits, not counting this as weakness, but as mercy, as a second chance for us to turn our shriveled and broken lives around. Unforgiveness is like a rusted lock, it prevents the storehouse of mercy from being opened. It dwarfs our growth, shrivels our spirit, troubles our already troubled minds. May we ask the Lord to pour a balm on our hearts so that they might be soft toward Him and toward each other.

Do you have a good memory for grievance? Please, let it go. It frightens me to death when I hear people recalling, in great detail, grievances that happened in 1974 or 1947! You don't need that kind of memory! Ask God for a dose of godly forgetfulness, a divine case of amnesia, so that you will not remember alleged or even actual wrongs done to you. May it all slide off our backs like water off the well-oiled feathers of a duck. May the oil of the Holy Spirit drench us so that unforgiveness cannot stick and our feathers do not get so easily ruffled. What freedom not to be in the bondage of unforgiveness to any man or woman! What freedom to be the bondslaves of God alone: to have lost our rights to be right and to not need to exact our pound of recompense.


Brothers and sisters, God has freely forgiven us. He has given us so so many second chances that we ought to have worn out His grace by now. Yet He keeps beckoning, calling, leaving the door open. So may we also leave the door open for others. If doing that bothers you, throw yourself at God's feet and sit there a good long while. Sit there until nothing bothers you and until all you see is Jesus! Do not doubt that this can happen or that it will make you a Caspar Milktoast. A Lamb rules in heaven. The meek inherit the earth. These are glorious things.

The prodigal son returned to His Father's house because he knew the door was always open, even after he had "mucked up" royally. But, we say, how can we live in the house after the wayward son has returned home? It is the temptation of the "good" son to resent the return of the prodigal. Yet, the Father's heart makes room. The household of God, rightly administered, should keep slackers on their toes. We are not to condone sin, but to cover the sinner with such grace that there is a clear path for him to repent. And are we not all forgiven sinners in our Father's House?

Leaders, lead into forgiveness. Lead by forgiving. Lead with forgiveness. Lead as one forgiven. Lead with the courage to forgive and you will reap more authority to lead into greater depths of forgiveness. Leaders, lead down into the depths of forgiveness and of letting go, so that people might be set free to soar on the heights of mercy and grace. One day God will judge all men. Will we be judged a "way maker", a son or daughter of forgiveness, or will we judged as a stumbling block?

There are two other things to consider. Jesus said, "He who is forgiven much, loves much" (Luke 7:47). If we are unable to forgive, perhaps we have a bigger problem, perhaps we are unwilling to be changed by God's forgiveness to us! Perhaps we have spurned God's fiery love toward us and blocked it from invading our heart. Perhaps we are loveless. For when God says, "Go and sin no more," do we ignore His advice? Unforgiveness has fast growing roots. Its tentacles latch on and spread, like crabgrass, soon choking the life out of the healthy plant of love. The Lord wants to set us free like a bird from a cage. The cage is bitterness and the snare that leads us there is unforgiveness. Watch out!

Guess what? Unforgiveness itself is sin and a serious one, at that! It is the Lord's Prayer that implores God to "forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us" (Matthew 6:12). I forgive you, God forgives me. The need for forgiveness does not take God by surprise. He incorporated the "drill" for forgiveness into something that needs to be done daily or even more often! God leads us by forgiveness, with forgiveness, and to forgiveness. It is something that He practices not once in awhile, but continually and with a long history. For the need for forgiveness first arose quite a long time ago, no? He has been at it longer then we. He payed a bigger price with regard to it. Don't ever forget that. So go start forgiving as God forgives so that He can forgive us all of something we can't forgive ourselves: our sins! Let's have at it!

P.S. And if it doesn't seem like a big thing, forgive it anyway before it becomes one! Forgive as a God forgives. Let's honor the Lord and His Name in a way that He deserves, not in a way that the world can question.


forgiveness
Christianity
forgive
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Afire with God!

Earth's crammed with heaven,
and every bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
the rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

God Calling: Called to Trust God

Not many wise. Not many rich. Not many of good report. I have come to call sinners and not the righteous. Who can stand before Me as blameless? Who will come into My Presence without sin? I am the LORD. I search every heart. No thought goes unnoticed, no tendency of the heart goes unobserved. Come to Me. I ask you to come not because I AM the Lord of Hosts but because I want you to live. I come to you as a Servant. Please choose to listen to Me. My ways bring life. I choose good for you if you will but give up your own ways and come to Me. Let go of reasoning and earthly knowledge. Let go of needing to appear right. Let go of control, and it's illusions. Nothing is yours to hold onto, yet all is safe with Me. Trust Me. Trust is not hard--even a child, ESPECIALLY a child, is able to trust. Do you hear what I am saying to you? Then please listen and trust.

God calling
prophetic words
prophetic word
Jesus Christ
trust

God Calling: Pouring Out the Mercy of God

I pour out mercy on everyone. The meek receive it, knowing their need. It is often wasted on the children of this world, for they ignore it and cast it aside. I tell you, on them it is wasted.

So I waste, and they waste, but in very different ways. You must learn to waste as I waste.

Not as the world. Pour out mercy by the bucket. Let it spill over, more than is needed.
You are afraid of such waste, but I am not. There was one who "wasted" her oil and poured

it out all over Me. Only those without eyes to see thought it was wasted. Mary knew it was

not. The fragrance was far-reaching, life-changing. You never know who will receive the overflow you pour out. Pour out, pour out mercy as if it were your life's oil poured out on Me.

I have said, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice". Now I say unto you, "I want the sacrifice of mercy."

It is not about how much mercy you need: there is ample supply. It is about how much you are willing to receive and then, in turn, pour out on others. Some people receive mercy but then are not willing to show mercy. You know how I feel about that!

Let mercy flow from your inner well, like a fountain. You will never run dry if it comes from My spring within you. It is my mercy, and it is for me to pour out--even to waste. Let me, not you, judge if it is wasted. Do not try to stop the well or direct the flow. It is meant to flow freely. If you feel dry of mercy, come up and watch me pour out of my supply. Mercy is for me to waste so that all men have the chance to come to me, and so that all men will be without excuse in that Day.

Would I ask you to walk the second mile if I had not already done it? I have walked way past the second mile with the world. Make My heart glad by walking along the path of mercy with Me.
Let My mercy pour through you. Let it gush out so that it's fragrance will permeate wherever you go.

Mercy.

mercy
God Calling
prophetic words

O Most High,
How I love Thee!
How I long to dwell in Thy secret place,
Filled with the divine reflection of Thee.
Swallow me up with holy desire.
Reign in my heart as King.
Abide in me that I might abide eternally in Thee. Amen.
-----Smith Wigglesworth

More Forgiveness: Heaven & Hell Amongst the Amish

Ok, while I was composing the last blog entry on forgiveness, I decided to talk about something else that bothers me. First off, the families of those dear little Amish girls that were murdered have my complete and total sympathy. The young girls who stepped forward and said, "Kill me first" acted completely as Christians. I hope that would have been my reaction in the same situation. What a witness to the world. How warmly must they have been embraced in our Father's loving arms as they too quickly left this world to meet Him.

I guess what I want to talk about is how we glorify the Amish lifestyle wholeheartedly without really knowing that it has a darker side. People pour millions of dollars into Lancaster County to go and see what they think is a pure, simple lifestyle. The sad fact is that human nature is human nature and no matter how much you try to escape from the evil ways of man, you can't do it.

For at many of those the lovely Amish farms, apparently glowing with peace and godliness, are untold horrors in the barn. It is a well-documented but little known fact that the Amish run some of the most inhumane and hellish puppy mills in the United States. Just type "Amish puppy mills" into Google and see what you find. Click on these to get started:
Heart United for Animals
Humane Society,
New Jersey Consumers Against Pet Shop Abuse;
Puppy Mill Articles and TV Reports;

Read them and weep. These poor animals are kept in atrocious conditions, abused and living in nothing short of a hell for the sake of greed. Is this the picture of the Amish that you have? Perhaps we all need to look a little deeper. I am not saying that all Amish are like this. But the facts speak for themselves.

There is no excuse for what happened to those innocent girls. There is also no excuse for what is happening to thousand upon thousand of innocent animals in Amish communities. God sees all. Nothing escapes His notice. Nothing in anyone's religion, much less Christianity, would find this conscionable. We are meant to be caretakers of the earth, not pawnbrokers, torturers, and murderers! Pray for God's mercy and the end to such atrocities. I'm going back to my article on forgiveness and work on it doing it some more. May God have mercy on all creatures, great and small.

Amish
puppy mills
forgiveness
current events

God on Anger & Forgiveness

Forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness! Let go!


Anger and forgiveness are always issues on God's A-List. Recently I witnessed something awful that bothered me enough to make sure that I was walking in forgiveness. Here is, more or less, the conversation that took place between God and I. I do believe that we can talk with God and get a direct answer. I also believe we "see through a glass darkly" and so do not claim that every word is purely God's. I do try and judge and discern things to make sure they are scriptural in content. Please read this with that in mind. The bold, italicized text in yellow are what I feel to be God's questions and answers to my questions and answers.

What do you think your anger accomplishes?

It creates boundaries to get away from someone unpleasant. It shows my non-connection with them. It is my way of "snarling" at them. God, if you would do the snarling, I would let you, but do You snarl? What do you do?

A snarl is a threat of action. I don't snarl. I don't need to threaten. I act or I wait. If I wait, it is to allow grace to work.

What should I do while You are waiting and showing grace?

Know that the grace is not all softness, it is a serious test, so don't count it as softness or inaction on My part. What you should do is wait and watch--not them, but Me.

What if I don't really want them to repent?

Then you are watching them and not Me.

What if I am afraid I am going to be like Jonah and get mad at you for showing grace?

Are you without sin? What would you tell someone who wanted Me to withhold grace from you?

I would tell them it is none of their business, especially if they don't have the best interest of my soul at heart.
Okay, so, it's none of my business.

I told you your business is to look at Me. Consider the parable of the workmen. if you have an issue with Me, take it up with me. That is more important to resolve.

What if you don't answer my questions?

I always answer. For you to understand the answer, now there's the rub. Understanding the answer can take time, deeper perspective, wisdom made flesh.

How will I know I'm looking at You and not just avoiding my anger?

By disciplining yourself to sit with Me no matter what.

What is the nature of forgiveness?

An act of the will: not blocking My work in another by interfering physically or in the realm of the soul. Applying pressure to a recalcitrant heart does not cause it to soften. Exerting any sort of force from your soul does not work. Grace is an "anti-force." It cracks the hardness by drawing the soul in another direction, sometimes violently, this causes the hard shell to fall off, that is, if it is going to fall off. People still have their choice.

What if I think nothing will happen unless I stay mad?

That is both a lie and the truth. Nothing will happen between you and I and the situation if you stay mad. Your anger will keep the situation at a standstill in the spiritual realm and you will go no further with Me.

Do I hear you saying that you think I will not act without your anger to fuel it? THINK AGAIN.

Is forgiveness wishing them well and being at peace with what has been done, knowing You are in control? Is it not judging so You can judge?

Forgiveness is letting them go into My hands and being able to be at peace with Me, to receive My peace, because you see the larger picture. Jesus was on the cross and said, "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing." He saw the bigger picture and chose the redemptive part of it. He could have said, "I can't wait until you judge these people and send them all to hell." Yet He was in the middle of the redemptive act that made all forgiveness possible! Why would He work against that? He was still looking for the few last ones that could be salvaged, still holding the door open. It is time for you to leave the house of justice and live in the house of mercy. Trust Me, it is not a soft way.


Forgiveness
faith
anger
anger & forgiveness
discipleship
christian forgiveness
God and forgiveness

Talk to Me Only of Christ

Talk to me only of Christ.
I need it.
Enough of the nothing of everything else.
All of that nothing is too heavy to bear.
I want to hear of Him.
Only Him.
Of Him. Through Him. With Him. In Him.
Talk to me only of Jesus.
Tell me you have touched Him with your hands.
And heard Him with your ears.
Saw Him with your eyes.
And felt Him move in your heart.
Tell me. Over and over.
Tell me. All you know.
Talk to me only of Christ.

Loving God with Wild Abandon

Do we follow God and have relationship with Him in the same way we have relationship with spouses and friends? In human relationships nothing is perfect. We love our friends and we love our loves, yet mixed in with that are things that we do not love or like in them. Do we love God in that same way but won't admit it? Do we love Him but find things about Him that we are not "crazy about?" When we think of God do our hearts melt within us? Are our hearts "strangely warmed"? Or are there some slivers of disappointment, disagreement or even dislike there?

If He is not ALTOGETHER lovely to us, if some doubt or question lingers, we will not be able to love Him wildly and with total abandon. We must bring all our disappointments, questions, doubts and fears to Him. If we can admit that there is a "shadow of a doubt," or perhaps even great doubt, we are closer to honest relationship. If we can admit that there is something that He has done, or allegedly done, that bothers us, we are closer to wild abandon then if we hold our holdouts politely concealed. For they are not concealed to God! He knows how we feel toward Him! If human beings can write lamentable love songs like, "I should have known by the look in your eyes, there was something missing" then how much more does God know when our love toward Him is measured or cool?

Let us be man or woman enough to bring our uncertainties to Him. Until then we cannot say we are entirely His. Until then we cannot love Him with wild abandon--something He longs for, and so richly deserves. There is no fault in Him, He is altogether lovely. May we all discover that completely.

Jonathan Edwards on Holiness

Holiness, as I then wrote down some of my contemplations on it, appeared to me to be of a sweet, pleasant, charming, serene, calm nature; which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness, and ravishment to the soul. In other words, that it made the soul like a field or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant flowers; enjoying a sweet calm, and the gently life-giving beams of the sun.

The soul of a true Christian appeared like such a little white flower as we see in the spring of the year; low and humble on the ground, opening its bosom to receive the pleasant beams of the sun's glory; rejoicing, as it were, in a calm rapture; diffusing around a sweet fragrancy; standing peacefully and lovingly, in the midst of other flowers round about; all in like manner opening their bosoms to drink in the light of the sun.

There was no part of creature-holiness that I had so great a sense of its loveliness, as humility, brokenness of heart, and poverty of spirit; and there was nothing that I so earnestly longed for. My heart panted after this--to lie low before God, as in the dust; that I might be nothing, and that God might be all, that I might become as a little child. --Jonathan Edwards