How much time does the average Christian spend revering our Creator, the Lord God almighty? I know that we do it when we go to church on Sundays but how often do we do it in our homes or at our jobs or even in the car driving to what ever destination we seek? When we do take the opportunity, how long do we spend in reverence to our Lord? Is it just a couple of minutes at the start of prayer so we will not seem greedy by jumping straight away to the petitions? Do we really think that we are fooling God?

I try to revere the Lord at the start of every prayer. Sometimes my prayers contain nothing but honoring and worshipping God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It seems that I have so much to be thankful for that I just can not bring myself to ask him for anything for myself other than forgiveness of my sins. God is wholly good and deserves all the recognition and love we can offer him. He forgives us for our sins though we are unworthy of that forgiveness. He blesses our lives ignoring the fact that we are sinful by nature and as long as we live on this world we will harbor sin at our core. He knows this and embraces us with His love anyways. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8.

Can you imagine sending one of your loved ones to die for someone who constantly defies you and holds you in contempt and may even refuse to recognize your existence? God did just that for us because He loves us and He wants to restore the relationship that He had with man in the Garden of Eden. He seeks to give us that which we could not obtain on our own, the righteousness that comes from faith in the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior. What an amazing and generous thing that our Creator has done for us. He holds out His hand grasping our salvation and even though some slap it away, others reach out to humbly accept what the Lord is offering. Praise be to Jesus the Savior of the world.

I find it most saddening that some will never know the goodness and love that God offers to us. Some just can not accept that love because by doing so they would have to face the fact that there are things bigger and more important than they are and that they do not control their own existence. What a blow to the prideful to face the truth that someone else is running the show that they call their lives. What can not be accepted, however, will be denied regardless of the facts that lay before them. It seems the illusion of self autonomy is preferable to the freedom offered by recognizing who you live for and who you serve. It is an illusion for the prideful to believe that they are not the slave of another. They are slaves to their vices or their ego or to material things. We are all slaves to something but only those who realize this and break the yoke of sin and accept the yoke of Jesus can truly know freedom. And though the prideful may be slaves to their sinful nature all things, in the end, serve the Lord.

So, recognizing that the Lord has freed me from my sinful state, I take upon myself servitude to the Lord Jesus Christ and I give Him thanks and praise for all that he has done for the world, believers and me. Sometimes my prayers can be summed up as nothing more than “I love you God” because I do love the Lord with all my heart and soul. How often do we just tell God that we love Him? Lately I find myself saying it all through the day. I have yet to find a place that is so hectic and distracting that I could not bow my head or look up to the sky and say “I love you Lord.” When time allows I say much more.

In my quiet moments I speak to God words of praise and delight. The Father has no need for such words but it does please Him to hear them and they are a joy for me to say. How much thanks and praise can I give the one who freed me from my sins and forgave me for all my discordant behavior and have it be enough? I could praise and honor Him for all eternity and it still will not come close to making good on the debt for which He has put behind Him. I recall the words Jesus when told Simon the Pharisee about loving much for being forgiven much (Luke 7:36-50) and I realize just how much the Lord God has forgiven me and I know just how much I love Him for His sacrifice upon the cross.

When things get busy and there seems little time for prayer and honoring our Lord, just envision Christ upon the cross at Golgotha and mediate upon the reasons that He is dying there. The daily grind of the world will seem a little less important. When one truly understands the depths that he or she has been forgiven, reverence of the Father becomes an easier thing to do. Just look around and see the beauty of his creation. Just look at this world and see his handy work. Get some pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and gaze at the Master Artist’s cosmic master piece. Michelangelo’s canvas was the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel but God’s canvas is the heavens above us and the earth below our feet.

Look on these glorious signs of a creative and loving God and remember that God’s Word brought them in to being. And while he was busy creating all these majestic wonders in the heavens and earth he took the time to create such little things as you and me. Though we are little things in the eyes of God and other men, He thinks so much of us that he has offered us eternity as a gift and time out of time to be in His blissful presence. As an act of gratitude, the least we should do is to return to him one of the gifts He has given us… eternal love.

Sometimes I just do not know how to say things in a way that does not come across as offensive to some. Since this is one of those times I guess I should just come right out and say it. There is a decidedly anti-intellectual mind set in much of the Christian Church and I believe that it is responsible for a lot of the angst that the Church is experiencing today. It is almost like being personally familiar with the Bible and the writings of Church theologians are bad things. I am not sure why this is, but it seems to have a greater effect on how the world views Christians than one might expect. I was surprised to find out just how many people that I know who are good Christians but have not bothered to pick up and read a Bible in years. I was shocked to find out how many Christians have not read the Bible at all. They may have picked it up and turned to a passage that they heard in Church or they may have earnestly started to read the Bible and gave up after the first few chapters in Genesis. Some will even tell you that the Old Testament does not matter; it is what Jesus said in the New Testament that counts. Even then many of these people have not bothered to read the New Testament either.

The only deviation of this is that it seems like everyone has read the book of Revelations and generally more than once. Why is that? It is kind of like reading the last chapter of a fiction novel to find out what happens and then never bothering to read the rest of the story and discover what leads up to the conclusion. Every likes all the damnation and hell fire and the sinners really getting it in the end but no one is much interested in why Christ told us to pray for our enemies and forgive them when they trespass against us. I guess this is akin to slowing down to look at the crash on the side of the road. Reading Revelations gives us the Biblical version of gapping at an accident and thinking ‘That sure looks bad. Boy I’m glad that didn’t happen to me.’

Anyways, why do Christians shy away from reading the Bible and other good sources of information that may help them understand what God is saying to them? Most every Church member has heard of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, Saint Augustine and John Wesley but very few people have actually read any of their works to see what they had to say about Christianity and faith. That is really sad considering the fact that those are the very people who established the theology, liturgy and beliefs that are the basis of most every Christian Church in the world. In fact if it was not for the bravery and moral conviction of Martin Luther it would have taken the Bible a lot longer to get in to the hands of average people and there may have been no reformed theology to become the basis of the Protestant Reformation. There are theologians who gave their lives in order for the common man to be able to obtain, read and interpret them Bible for themselves.

Think of these martyrs and then consider what their legacy has become. Instead of people reading the book that these brave men and women died to put in our hands, some people opt to have their total exposure to the Bible via what their Priest, Minister, Pastor or Reverend reads to them every Sunday and possibly (for those really dedicated learners) on Wednesday night Bible study. The Bible was wrestled from the hands of a very dogmatic Roman Catholic Church and translated from its Latin and Greek forms in to the common vernacular of just about every country on Earth and now almost five hundred years later the average Joe Christian rarely bothers to read it. To say that the run of the mill congregant is ignorant of the beliefs that he or she professes to follow is being somewhat optimistic. In reality it is probably the vast majority of those sitting on a pew on Sunday mornings.

I am sure that every Christian household has at least one Bible in it. I am also sure that most non Christian households contain at least one Bible. Now with all these Bibles lying around one would think that Christians would do a lot of Bible reading but this does not seem to be the case. In fact some of the most astute Bible readers seem to be the atheists and agnostics who read the Bible in order to debate Christians on their beliefs. It is heartbreaking to watch someone who professes a strong faith lose an argument with an atheist mainly because the atheist had a better knowledge of Scripture than the believer.

This is why so many Christians can not defend their beliefs when confronted by even the simplest argument of an agnostic or atheist. Eventually things break down to heated words and name calling and this behavior does not cast Christianity in a good light to any bystanders who might be observing. All this does is play in to the hands of the antagonistic unbeliever. His arguments are predicated on getting the Christian to lose his temper and appear ignorant to anyone watching. This is easy to do if a Christian does not possess a rudimentary understanding of his beliefs and a basic knowledge of Christian history.

It seems that we have lost the meaning of what Paul was telling us in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” How can someone test and approve what God’s will is if they do not even know if the book of Romans is in the New or Old Testament? Paul is basically telling believers to wise up and learn what God’s will is so that they will not be fooled by false teachings or lead astray by false prophets. If believers don’t know what Christ’s teachings are then how can they defend the faith when it comes under attack? How can they know when they are being lied to or being lead down the wide path to destruction?

Unfortunately all this leads to the misconception of many unbelievers that Christians are just ignorant rubes, being lead by their noses through a fairy tale story that they can not and will not understand. One can attempt to make the argument that it does not matter what others think because believers know the truth. I do not think that is a very good or useful point of view. How can a Christian effectively witness to an unbeliever if the unbeliever feels that he or she is hearing from someone who is uneducated in their own faith? The unbeliever is immediately prejudiced against God and His saving grace and is not receptive to the Gospel message. Might I suggest that when we put on the armor of God that we also educate ourselves in its usage?

The Lord wants us to read His word and to study it. He needs us question it and put it to the test because when we discover that His word is true it glorifies Him and prepares us to be good and useful servants to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we witness we will know of what we speak and that too will glorify our Creator as well as assisting in turning the view of Christian ignorance in to a myth. In all we do we should seek glorify our Father in Heaven. We should know and understand His word and be ready to share it with anyone who crosses our path and seems to be in need of hearing the good news. If we plant a seed and water it with an accurate understanding of the faith then should God cause that seed to sprout it will be well nourished with a righteous understanding of God’s good and perfect will.

The anti-intellectual attitude with in the Christian Church must be done away with in order to preserve the true gospel that Jesus Christ gave us. We most know and understand God’s word so that those who would invade the body are recognized for what they are and rejected for the over health of the Christian community. Look at the liberal changes that are happening with in most of the major protestant denominations today. Sin is being redefined and what is abhorrent to the Lord is being taught to new congregants as being something that is good and pleasing before God. Liberal leaders of the visible Church feel that lowering the bar of sin will attract new members, but what point is there to attract someone to the Church if the convictions of the Church will damn them to hell? Could the motivation be more money in the coffers?

If more worshipers where aware of what the Bible teaches us then these types of heresies would not be as easy to perpetrate on the modern Christian Church as they seem to be. Christ’s commandments have not changed in two thousand years and the God’s word is the same as it always has been, but because of the lack of Christian education, discernment of the truth is a lot harder than it use to be. All members of the body of Christ must pick up the Bible and educate themselves. It should become a daily habit to read a few chapters and then think upon them. Christians should be reading books explaining the history of their faith to them and why we do what we do for our Lord and Savior. Only then will we as Christians stand firm against the misconceptions of our beliefs by the outside world and against the heresies that arise from within. God be with us and bless us all!

Another Pilgrim

Reading through the Gospels and the book of Acts a person cannot help but be astonished at the nature and volume of miracles that were performed by Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Some of the miracles were utilitarian in nature such as the incident where Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11) or when the Apostles spoke at Pentecost and those attending could hear the words spoken in their own languages (Acts 2:1-12). Other miracles were merciful and kind as when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44) or when Christ healed the demon possessed man who lived in the tombs of Gerasenes (Mark 5:1-20). No matter what the nature of the miracle, however, each was done with one purpose in mind, to bring glory to God the Father. The blind were made to see, the deaf to hear, the lepers were made clean and the lame could walk. The items on the list of miracles that Christ and the Apostles performed seem almost countless. Many of the people who witnessed these miracles came to believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and the Son of God. The miracles were proof of the divine nature of the Lord. Since the Ascension of Christ and the passing and martyrdom of the Apostles miracles seem to be less common. Also science has come along to make miracles seem less miraculous. There is, however, a miracle that happens daily and no one seems to mention it.

Not only is this miracle not mentioned but many do not see it for the miracle that it truly is. Some of the unregenerate even call it a delusion and a sign of ignorance. This miracle that I am referring to is the miracle of belief. It happens daily as new members are accepted into the Body of Christ and hardly a soul realizes the true power of this miracle. Christ understood this when after proving to Thomas that He was indeed the risen Lord, Jesus said “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). No believer today was there at the crucifixion and watched Christ’s redemptive blood seep from his hands and feet. Not a soul alive heard Jesus saying “It is finished” (John 19:30) as he relinquished his life on the cross. There are not witnesses still alive who can say that they saw the Lord being removed from the cross and laid to rest in his tomb. I dare say that no one, man or woman, who walks the Earth can claim to have seen the risen Lord immediately after his resurrection and release from the tomb. Not a person alive can say that they have seen any or all of these events but all believers have no doubt that they took place.

What a miracle we have here and hardly anyone acknowledges it as being the miraculous occurrence that it is. Is not this an amazing thing that mere moments before we come to know the Lord Jesus we are doubters and scoffers (to say the least) and in the precious moment that God’s grace descended upon us we understood perfectly the truth of Christ on the cross and we felt completely assured as to what He did for the sake of our souls. God blesses us with the miracle of belief as part of bestowing grace upon us. With the gift of grace comes not only belief but faith, forgiveness and the desire for repentance. It is belief, however, that is the key to unlocking the door to our salvation. Without the miracle of belief then of what use is faith to us? We would have nothing in which to have faith in if we never came to believe in the forgiveness and salvation that Christ offers us with his sacrifice upon the cross.

I have heard people say that they could easily believe in Jesus had they heard Him teach and witnessed the miracles he performed. But that option is not available to us. What we have instead is a gift from God to believe the stories that are written about Him and to accept the salvation that He offers us. They should pray to God that He grants them the grace to believe in these things and if He does their doubts will seem frivolous and they will wonder why it took them so long to come to this understanding. From my vantage point as one who has been blessed with faith and salvation I can see the miracle of belief. I can still remember a time when I did not believe and today I ask myself, with everything that I know how I could have been so ignorant and blind to the glory and majesty of God. As a believer I see it everywhere, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3b). Nothing around me changed, God just blessed me with belief and then I changed. All these miracles are about glorifying God and we can glorify the Lord our God every time that we acknowledge the miracle of belief when it is given to a new believer.

We must never forget what a miracle belief really is. Just look around and see all the people who have heard the Word but have not believed. Generally they have heard the same message that believers have but they have rejected the possibility of Christ being God and of His dying upon the cross to pay the debt that humanity’s sins have incurred. They are no different than you or I for we were once unworthy sinners unable to believe in the mercy and forgiveness of God. For the most part we did not even realize that we where sinners and that we needed forgiveness. Then the miracle started and the Lord’s grace began working on us. First we were made aware of our sinful nature and given a desire to do something about it. Then we were shown the revelation of Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. Finally the key to freedom was miraculously handed to us and we believed. At last we were truly free…

Another Pilgrim

I read where Martin Luther was once asked if he loved God. He is reported to have said “Love God? Sometimes I hate God!” Although I do not believe that I have ever hated God, recently I was very angry with Him. In prayer I told Him that I was angry but I also asked him to forgive me because I am human and prone to fits of insanity. How insane must a person be to kneel before God and tell Him that you are angry with him? Who am I to criticize God? “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8)

To be honest, I do not feel like I was critiquing His abilities as God. I was just angry with the way a situation had worked out and I needed to vent that anger and frustration. I felt that I was being honest with Him. He already knew what I was feeling inside so letting go of those feelings and confessing them to my Creator seems like an appropriate course of action. I understand that all things are in the hands and control of God, but my mistake or rather my sin was anticipating the outcome of events that I now know to be contrary to the way God intended to work them out. My sin does not stem from being mad at God; my sin is derived from believing that the way I wanted things to turn out was the way it should turn out. In a nutshell I felt that I knew better than God. I exhibited the sin that is the root of all sins, pride.

C. S. Lewis wrote that pride is the worse of all sins. Pride gives birth to sin but it also will not tolerate competition with other sins. Pride rules the roost and all other sins but take a backseat and must be subservient to the authority of pride. Pride is biased. It has examined all other sins and found them lacking. Who can compete with pride? Pride fathers extreme ego and self-centeredness and also nurtures arrogance and vanity. Pride drives our lust for the opposite sex and material possessions. Pride sets delusions of grandeur before our self-esteem and causes us to act in ways contrary to the will of God but in concurrence with the desires of prince of this world.

Pride separates us from God in ways that no other sin can. Pride tells us that we are the most important thing in the universe and the all of creation revolves around us. If the prideful can even accept the existence of a god, then their god is an impersonal, distant entity who either cares little or not at all for the actions of man. In many cases pride breeds agnostics and atheists. How can a prideful person live out his days in peace knowing that he has to answer eventually to a God who will hold him accountable for his actions? It is easier to construct a god of his own understanding, who approves of his behavior or to discount the existence of God all together.

Pride and acceptance of a living personal God can not coexist and for this reason God expects all his people to be humble before Him and before other men. How can someone do the will of the Lord while his own will is begging for attention and release? Those filled with pride and arrogance can not do this. The self-absorbed hear the gospel and it abhors them. They wonder how someone can willingly subvert his will to the will of some invisible being that expects him to renounce all the fun things in life. The thought of being a slave and servant to our creator terrifies them. It is beyond their ability to understand why someone would willingly give up their freedom to serve God and the poor and down trodden for seemingly no personal gain.

What the prideful do not realize is that they are already slaves to the task masters that pride has given them. Some are slaves to their sexual desires; perverting and cheapening a God given desire to please our wife or husband. Some are slaves to money and live to acquire money and the material things money buys. When they have acquired enough money they desire to gain even more. Others are slaves to their ambition. They strive constantly to get a head in the business or sport of their choosing and any small failure gets magnified in their minds to the point of obsession.

Those who are enslaved to the task masters of pride can never have enough and never be enough. There is not amount of women, fun or money that will satisfy them. No personal position that they have obtained will every sate their desire for more. People like this are born wanting and no matter what they get out of life and how much they receive, it will never be enough. Pride makes them always want more and more, so that nothing they gain will ever make them happy for long. They have an awareness of something missing in their lives and they seek to find out what it is. They spend a life time searching from something that pride keeps them blind to and they die never knowing what it was they were seeking. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

What they are missing is the personal relationship with God that their pride bars them from. They long for something but have no idea what it is. They assume that what they are lacking in their lives is something associated with their personal desires, never realizing (because their pride will brook no rival and thus hides it from them) that what they need is peace and satisfaction of serving the Lord Jesus and making His will their will. We were all created with an innate desire for the eternity that exists beyond this life and our current temporal reality. They feel the longing for more but pride steps in to offer the false hopes of self-sufficiency and materialism. Once they way is chosen they will always remain separate from God unless He gifts them with his irresistible grace.

Only God can save someone from themselves and only through the belief in the Lord Jesus can someone know salvation and experience the justification that frees them from the slavery of sin. When the prideful escape the bounds of sin they come to see how they lived the illusion of freedom and in reality they were never really seeking what they truly desired. They find that instead they were chasing the phantoms that pride paraded in front of them. A fool infused with the wisdom of the Lord is a fool no more except in the eyes of those who are still suffering from the delusions of pride. Personally, I’d rather seem foolish with God’s wisdom than be thought wise with Satan’s illusions. “When pride comes then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2)

Another Pilgrim

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14

“Should I stay or should I go now. If I stay there will be trouble. An’ If I go it will be double” Should I Stay or Should I Go – The Clash.

“One thing, one thing leads to another” One Thing Leads to Another – The Fixx

With all the parishes and dioceses that are leaving and/or trying distance themselves from the heresies of the Episcopal Church, I thought I would look up 2 Corinthians 6:14 on the internet for possible enlightenment and commentary. It seems that this verse is applied mostly to potential marriages between Christians and unbelievers. It is used to discourage a Holy bond between two people whose spiritual views may be at odds with each other. This is good advice. Very few marriages seem to work when the couple’s worldviews are so far apart. But what is a believer to do when the person that they are married to has lost faith and fallen away from Christian belief and values? Both the Old and New Testaments tell us that the only reason for divorce of a married couple is adultery. So unless adultery has been committed then the implication is that the couple must stay together being unevenly yoked. That now begs a question concerning the Episcopal Church. Has it been unfaithful and adulterous or has it merely lost its faith?

I do not believe that there is any question that the Episcopal Church has lost its faith. It no longer recognizes the authority of Scripture. Church canons now seem to supersede the spoken word of Jesus Christ and the Apostles to whom Jesus gave authority. The canons themselves seem to be fluid and open to the interpretation of the Presiding Bishop. Prophecy is the new wisdom and the prophecy heard in the Episcopal Church is the false prophecy of an imagined voice of the Holy Spirit. To my knowledge the Holy Spirit has never led God’s people away from the will of God as He has made it known in Scripture. However, the Episcopal Church is telling its members that it is being directed by the Holy Spirit to have new priorities and new concepts of what is sinful and what is not.

The Great Commission that Christ assigned to all those who would follow Him has taken a back seat to the works that the Church can perform for other. Service seems to be the new priority, service to the Episcopal Church while Christ’s message is being neglected. Christ spoke harshly to the Pharisees and teachers when he said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former” (Matthew 23:23). Are not the elders of the National Episcopal Church putting the works of their hands over the sharing of the Gospel? Are not they neglecting the more important work of bringing Christ’s message to those who have not heard it? Are they not now practicing one at the expense of the other? Has the leaders of the National Episcopal Church lost there faith and in turned voted faith out of the body. I say absolutely.

In the case of the second question, has the Episcopal Church been unfaithful? To this I say most assuredly it has. The Church been unfaithful to its members as well as it has been unfaithful to Christ and the traditional teachings of the New Testament. The moment that the Episcopal Church accepted unrepentant practicing homosexuals to be teachers, leaders and shepherds to the laity then the church became a mistress to the Adversary. The second that the leaders of the Episcopal Church decided to “weary the Lord by saying that all who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord and He is pleased with them” (Malachi 2:17) they slipped off the wedding band ran into the night to meet their lover. The church gave up the love Christ Jesus and exchanged it for the lies of the father of lies and teacher of harlots. Seduced by promises of money and power and the freedom to call any sin a virtue the Episcopal Church betrayed both Jesus our Savior and the members that made up the church body.

The Episcopal Church now wishes to preach a new gospel that is different than the one it received. Considering what Paul stated, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8), what hope is there for the Episcopal Church in America? To walk away from those who would teach us the lies that they are being taught by their new master is the path that some have chosen to follow. I also understand that there are those parishioners that have not bought in to the false teachings and heresies who want to stay. Like an estranged husband of a wayward wife, they wait in anticipation of the return of the woman they love even though she may be long gone in mind as well as body. They hope against hope that the person the fell in love with will come back and things will be as they once were. Is it a fool’s hope? Only the Lord our God knows for sure. Are those who wish to leave too quick to pull the trigger and turn their backs on what they once loved instead of waiting in thoughtful prayer for their beloved to realize what she is throwing away? Again, only the Lord knows. One must go where ever the Spirit of God may lead them.