Freedom Is a Choice

I've been hearing from God for some months that He is preparing to set many people free.

That was, of course, God's promise in the passage of Isaiah that Jesus chose for His first public teaching (Luke 4).  And after He read that scripture, Jesus told the people gathered in Nazareth's synagogue that it was about Him: that He had come to

 "...proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed..."
 

My theology is that God doesn't change: and that what He promises, He will do.  He sent Jesus to set free all who will receive Him.  Jesus still does what The Father sent Him to do.  Jesus still sets people free.  And nothing is more certain than that Jesus will continue setting free all who will receive Him.

That is the hope and the very "Good News" for increasingly dark and evil times like these.  Hearing Him so certainly speaking "Freedom !", I praise God more than ever.

But the fact is that some people don't want to be free.

Union soldiers marching through the South in the last days of the Civil War, destroying the homes and infrastructure of Confederates, delighted in announcing to slaves that they were now free.  But their journals and letters often record their amazement at the slaves' response.

Some slaves didn't really understand what it meant that they were "free."  Union soldiers told them it meant that they didn't have to work for their masters anymore, that master didn't own them anymore: that they could do what they wanted and go where they wanted.  Union soldiers were often amazed that, when they understood...many slaves didn't want to be free.

 It's not really hard to understand.  We all have a strong operative impetus toward the familiar.  We like to be with the people we know, doing what we're used to, in places we're familiar with.  Criminal investigators and profilers use this very human tendency to solve crimes, looking at criminals' patterns of behavior, Modus Operandi, and "zone of comfort."

Even Jesus' disciples acted in those human ways.  After Jesus' resurrection and their return to Galilee (which Mark and Matthew say He commanded them), seven of them went back to fishing !  (John 21:1ff)
 


But we consider slavery an unnatural state for human beings.  At least, so the Declaration of Independence argues: and that argument (unlike many others in the Declaration) probably has some scriptural basis.  Man is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), for example; so oppressing any man is an offense against God.  Creating a lesser class, to force them to do the will of other men (the definition slavery) is contrary to God's Own just impartiality toward all men (Romans 2:11, and Ephesians 6:9).

How then are men persuaded to accept their slavery, contrary God's will ?  We naturally think of the tortures and murder by which American slavery was enforced on its victims.  But Frederick Douglass, who had been raised a slave, and been beaten by one of his masters to "break" him, was more perceptive.  A man is only effectually enslaved when he is "contented" in his slavery, said Douglass.  And

"...to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one.  It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason."

Slavery is a mindset.  Slaves will only willingly and cheerfully do the will of another when their understanding of what is right, and what is true, is effectually "darkened."  Men will only remain slaves when they choose to surrender what cannot by any means be taken from them...their God-given power of reason.

There are many slaves in the American Church today.  Many Christians who have "bought" the enslaving ways-of-thinking their political masters have taught them: most destructive among these, their unBiblical self-image as "conservatives." 

Many in the American Church today, and for the last 40 years, have willingly and cheerfully done the will of their political masters.  Even when their masters ordered them in recent years to serve the deeply anti-Christian spirit of Mormonism, or the forces of pride and unrighteousness...they did so.  Willing slaves, content in their slavery...they did as they were told.

 God has promised freedom to the captives and the oppressed.  His word is sure, and the increasing frequency and insistence of that word convinces me that His chosen time of liberation is at hand.  He is preparing to set FREE all who will hear Him, and receive Him, and receive from Him what He is gracious to give.

Some will not.

In Frederick Douglass' insight, those thoughtless of righteousness, and the unreasoning content in their slavery, will not want to be free.  Freedom is a choice: and that means people can also choose against it.

But God bless all who welcome Jesus as their Master, and accept freedom from Him: they will be free INDEED.  God covets the sincere praise and worship of the truly free, His Own freedmen, above all others'.

The Word of the Day Is Repentance

It seems many people are beginning to realize they made a mistake in entrusting Donald Trump with America's future.

That includes many Christians.  And those who know in Jesus, or should know, what righteousness IS, have more cause than anyone else to be ashamed at having followed a man of so little.

But Christians probably only need to be reminded of the basics Christ has given us for times like these.

The most important is to be honest. Christ is not deceived, and He offers forgiveness only to those who ask for it honestly.

Confess honestly.  Winking at, or worse, promoting unrighteousness is not inadvertent.  It is always a conscious choice.  Approving unrighteousness by vote is a deliberate act, not "a mistake."  Call it what it honestly is, sin.

Confess from the heart.  Admit the sin is your own: that you have done it from your own thoughts and will, by your own choice.

Repent honestly.  Meditate on and acknowledge, to God and yourself, the wrong and the harm your sin has caused, and will cause.  Don't go easy on yourself.

If God directs you to do an outward act of repentance: to publicly confess your sin, for example, or make restitution to those your sin has harmed: do it.

Let repentance do its inward work of instruction.  Ask God to sharpen your discernment of righteousness and unrighteousness, and keep you from ever again being confused between the two.  Meditate on how you were deceived, and by whom.  Ask God to keep you from the deceptive assumptions, attitudes, and people that persuaded you to sin.

Ask God to forgive you.

Accept God's forgiveness.  Then put your sin from your mind: it is no longer your sin.

Christians are also commanded to pray for those God has placed in authority; even when Nero was the early Christians' ruler.  In our current situation, there is probably a special responsibility to pray for Donald Trump, since Christians took him to their hearts.  But we know God can bring good even from disaster.

We can pray that God send on Donald Trump a spirit of wisdom, and of repentance.  "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God" in praying for those in authority, because God "...desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Timothy 2:3,4; my emphasis).

We can also pray that America's Christians "...may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity" (ibid, v. 2).  Whether our ruler obeys God or not, this is God's will for His people of humble and honestly-repentant heart.  It is especially important in these dark days that we pray His will be done.

Amen, Lord !  You Alone are our Great King !

You Alone are worthy of our praise and our love !!

Allelujah, Abba !  Maranatha !!

Clarification

I am increasingly certain that this time in which we live is a time God has appointed for clarification.

The sudden appearance of the word, and the concept, "post-truth" is doubtless part of that clarification.  In Christ, no distinction could be greater, and so more clarifying, than the one between "The Truth" He IS, and all that is not of Him.

God also seems to be clarifying to us righteousness, and its opposite.  Again, He's made that distinction clearer by letting unrighteousness grow increasingly manifest.  Particularly, increasingly manifest in our politics.

The brightness of greater light seems to have blinded some, who write off lies and unrighteousness as "just politics."  So in this time of backward and upside-down moral thinking, particularly in the Church, it's probably necessary to re-affirm the obvious: "politics" is man's device, and Truth and righteousness, God's.  The lesser is measured by the greater: man's ways by God's.

Our ways are measured by God's, and the clarity He is giving us at this time must be understood in that context.  He is giving us more light so our walk will more surely and closely follow The One Who IS "The Way."

So be it, Father !

What Has Christ To Do With Self-Deception ?

Christ is Who He IS.  That's what "I AM THAT I AM" means.

Our identity derives from His.  Acting in His Spirit, a Christian "puts on Christ," becoming one who is Who Christ IS.  Modifying the reality of our identity makes of a Christian one who Christ is not. 

This is a major problem for American Christians, many of whom choose to identify as "conservative Christians."

The problem is, first of all, that "conservative" is a political denominator.  Christians were led to so think themselves by politicians, and the politicians' followers in Christian "leadership:" not by scripture's affirmation.  Modifying their identity in this unscriptural ways, American Christians have foolishly chosen to take their identity from a deeply unChristian political faction, and its unrighteousness...rather than from Christ.

But the greater problem is that "conservative Christianity" modifies Christianity (and Christians) by a lie...contrary Christ's "Spirit of Truth."

"Conservative" Christians use that modifier to pridefully distinguish themselves from those they call "liberal" Christians.  By "liberal Christians," they mean those who don't believe the Bible is fully God-breathed, or Jesus' mother was not technically a "virgin," or Christ is not literally returning at God's appointed end-time, etc.

I leave it to any Christian who reads here: are such unbelievers in any sense "Christians" !?!?  Is it not a lie to denominate them so, in order to distinguish yourself from them ?  Isn't "Christian," unmodified, the express and complete distinction from "unbeliever" ?

What is the reality of "conservative" Christianity, except that it deceives Christians about who they really are ?

Apologia pro Vita Sua

Some readers don't like my blog-posts.  Usually that's because they disagree with my views on politics, and I write frequently about politics.

But as our brother-in-Christ Tim so wisely says, it's not really about politics.

And I figure people's perception it is says a great deal more about the mindset they are coming from, than mine.

I know the mindset I am coming from, as surely as I would know being on fire.  God has given me an intense passion that the Church, the Body of Christ, Christians, act in the Spirit of Christ.

That's not a desire from my natural heart. Nor did I choose it for myself.  No one would.  It is a fierce desire guaranteed, always and inevitably, to break any man's heart.  It breaks God's Heart...that no one, Christians included, will ever from their natural heart act in the Spirit of Christ: and that everyone, Including Christians, tends to act first from their natural heart. 

Yet God's intense desire for each member of the Body of Christ is that we act contrary to our natural heart.   I'm surprised when people can't perceive "where I'm coming from:" but surprised most of all when Christians can't hear in it God's most burning desire for them.

I'm also surprised anyone believes that we can talk honestly about unrighteousness in the American Church without talking about politics.  The deceiver's thoughts and attitudes in the hearts of today's American Christians have virtually all been insinuated there from politics.  And the unrighteousness infecting American Christianity most notably manifests in Christians' political ideas and deeds.

When I write about what scripture says is righteousness or unrighteousness: scriptures about Truth or lies, about being merciful to the poor and refugees, about arrogance and rebellion, about loving good and doing justice: I often use politicians' words or political events as specific, widely-known examples...usually bad examples.

But those who find my comments "too political" tip their hand.  When I write about righteousness and (especially) unrighteousness without using those examples, their reaction shows they know their political "heroes" and attitudes are bad examples. 

That some people find my comments "too political" tells me the Spirit sharpens to their hearts His condemnation of the political unrighteousness they accept...or even endorse.  What I pray is that The Spirit will also sharpen to their hearts His call for repentance, and His passion that Christians act in the Spirit of Christ.


Amen !

More Truth

"The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love...God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."  (John 4:8, 16)

 I'm thinking again about what it means when Jesus says "I AM...The Truth..." (John 14:6)  That's been the core of my Christology for some years: as it SHOULD be for everyone's Christology (along with His Self-identification as "The Way" and "The Life").

I'm thinking even more about what it means that Jesus IS "The Truth," as the contrast between Himself and the "post-truth" world grows wider and more stark.

I am fully convinced (including experientially) that Jesus is God, powerful and able to do whatever He will: able even to BE an abstract noun.  But it seemed one of His "hard sayings" (John 6:60, KJV); such as when He identified Himself as the "Bread" from heaven, which we must eat to "abide" in Him.

"I AM...The Truth" seems a "difficult statement" (in the NASB's translation).  Most difficult of all, to understand how we can functionally identify with Him...the essence of faith.

It helped, as I studied, to see that in Greek there is a verb "to truth," used in Galatians 4:16 (translated, "tell the truth"), and Ephesians 4:15 (translated, "speak the truth").  In both cases, "truth" is an action we are exhorted to do.

 But the greater understanding came in testing Jesus' words.  If Jesus IS "Truth," every scriptural mention of "truth" should still make sense when His name was substituted for "truth."

It was a convincing test: and one that gave further light.  "You will know Jesus, and Jesus will make you free" (John 8:32) particularly stood out.  As it did that God's Spirit is repeatedly called "the Spirit of Jesus" (John 14:17, 15:26, 16:13).  The clincher was that He asked the Father to sanctify us in Truth/Jesus, because "Your word is Jesus" (John 17:17).

Jesus gave us a hard saying to understand, when He told us Who He IS.  But He also gave us operational understanding in which to act in identity with Who He IS.

That understanding is obvious, and simple.  Those who love Jesus love truth.  Those who follow Jesus, follow truth.

It's exactly analogous to what the opening scripture (above) tells us: God's identifies Himself as Love...and all who are His, love in identity with Who He IS.

By this we "test [ourselves], to see if [we] are in the faith" (II Corinthians 13:5).  We can know that we "...[have] both the Father and Son" (II John 1:9) when we are "truthing in love" (Ephesians 4:15).

And by that same measure with which we measure ourselves, we can unmistakably know the "many deceivers...and the antichrist" abroad in this world (II John 1:7).  They are those not merely devoid of truth and love: they actively embrace and walk in the spirit of their "father, the devil;" and Jesus said he is a murderer and a liar (John 8:44).

The deceived of today's "post-truth" world (including many "Christians") are unabashed in their desire to be ruled by unrighteousness, by love for violence and lies.  But in this world of darkness, God is making His light even brighter.

To all with Spiritual eyes to see, He is today giving increasing clarity of vision...to know Him more clearly, and more fully, as "The Truth."  To those who receive Him as "The Truth" He IS, He gives the power to become "sons of God"...as He IS (John 1:9).

Two Spirits Manifest

Dylann Roof goes on trial today in South Carolina.

He was the young man who shot and killed nine people at a church' Bible-study.

Roof is white, and his victims were black, gathered at their black church. As hard as it is to believe (especially in Charleston, the mother-city of the Confederacy), his victims welcomed Roof to join them. Shouldn't God's people welcome all who desire to join them ?

They doubtless offered prayer, with Roof among them, that God would illuminate His word to their hearts; and opened and read the Bible together. Shouldn't God's people welcome all who desire to pray with them, all who desire to hear God's word ?

As hard as it is to believe, Roof spent an hour in fellowship with his victims, hearing God's word. Then he began to shoot them and kill them, one by one, hunting down and murdering those who attempted to flee.

It is hard to understand how, and especially WHY, a human being would act as Roof did. He was reportedly much influenced by white-supremacist ideas. If so, he was deceived by ideas which are lies in themselves, and of deeply evil intent.

But I'd riff on Brother Tim's spiritual insight on politics: "Race relations aren't really about race relations."

Human events...ultimately all human events...are about spiritual warfare.

God's Spirit is continually present in this world, and working among us. The spirit of the enemy is also continually working among men, opposing God. We human beings live on the battlefield of that warfare, and we are participants in that warfare...whether we recognize it or not.

It's not always easy to tell which side people are on. Human beings (ourselves included) are always of such mixed motive and purpose that it's impossible for any but God to judge rightly what spirit a person is acting in. We are people ourselves, and not always certain which spirit we are acting in. Hence scripture's command to us, to "Examine yourselves !" and "Test yourselves." (II Corinthians 13:5).

We arrogate to ourselves God's moral wisdom when we call some particular person (as we frequently do) "good" or "evil." And Jesus Himself forbade us to do so, saying that "God alone is good" (Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19: my emphasis).

But in so saying, Jesus also gave us a foolproof way to identify God's Spirit...even when He manifests Himself in men's imperfect obedience. Those who do good are unmistakably acting in God's Spirit...for "God alone is good." And scripture's thumbnail theological I.D. for "good" is simply that "God is Love" (I John 4:8).

Jesus also absolutely identified the spirit of the enemy, who is a "murderer," and "the father of lies" (John 8:44).

The acts men do in the pervasive spiritual war of this world may be hard to read. Men themselves certainly are. But the warring spirits are unmistakable in their manifestations.

There could not be a more clear manifestation of that spiritual war than when a man with hate-filled heart enters a church to murder people gathered to study the Bible. They were gathered by and in God's Spirit. He came against them in the spirit of the enemy.

The point is that we too are human beings, like the murderer, and like his victims. The point is that we must examine our own divided hearts: because we can, as certainly as each of them, choose which side of this spiritual war we join.

Which spirit do we, and will we, act in ?

There could not be a more clear manifestation of the spiritual war in our divided nation and world than this: the violent rage of a man whose heart is filled with lies and hatred toward those who love God, love Jesus "The Truth," love His word, and love His children.

Our world...and especially today, our country...faces the same question in this spiritual warfare that every individual one of us faces.

In which spirit does our country...and, our special concern at this time...will our country act ?

The Market for Deception

The comments of Brother Tim in Australia are always insightful. His is one of only two Christian blogs I find worth reading every day. His comments today are particularly insightful. His (highlighted) comment on "post-truth" theological thinking is painfully spot-on. To Tim's words, I can only add "AMEN !!" (See his blog at https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/)

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There are a lot of warnings in scripture about false teachers, false prophets and false Christs that would all be totally redundant if there wasn’t a need to alert people to the possibility of being turned from the truth to accept something contrary to the truth.

But not only are there warnings about deceivers, there are warnings about people who follow them. In Jeremiah a commentary on false prophets also turns an accusing finger upon those who welcome their messages; “My people love to have it so:" and Paul writes about people who collect teachers to appeal to their itching ears.

Without a “market” for deception, no deceiver would survive.

It seems today there is little difference between attitudes to theological ideas and the consumption of news. Does it really matter if the source is reliable as long as its message supports a desired stance?

Often it takes only a very cursory (honest) look into a teaching or news source to assess its truthfulness, but unless there is a genuine desire FOR the truth, it is easy to dismiss clear evidence if it contradicts what we WANT to believe.

Likewise it’s easy to ignore serious flaws in a teaching or news source if it’s PROMOTING what we want to believe.

It’s sad fact that many (even professing Christians) really have no love of the truth, preferring to mould a more appealing (to them) version of “reality” to live by.

Testing Christians

The last eight years it seems God's particularly tested Christians' hearts on their obedience to His commands about human rulers and authorities.

We know His commands. His command in Romans 13:1-7, that we should "be in subjection to governing authorities," because they are "established by God". That those who "stand against" (Greek, usually translated "rebel" or "resist") the human authorities God gives us, oppose God's Own ordinance (literally, what is "thoroughly set in place" by God)...and will "receive condemnation on themselves."

That human government is "a minister of God to you for good," and "a minister of God" to punish evil-doers: so we need not fear if we "do what is good."

Titus 3:1,2 likewise teaches we should "...be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men."

I Peter 2:13-17 again commands us to "submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake [my emphasis] to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."

I Peter frames our obedience as following Christ: "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps" (v. 21). We have to think of the moment when Jesus faced His suffering. Pilate put to Him the question of human authority: "Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You ?” (John 19:10) Jesus, our Example, answered in submission that Pilate's authority was from God: “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above..." (v. 11)

The last eight years, many Christians have failed to walk in Jesus' example. Very many American Christians have joined in the world's violent hatred towards our ruler God "established." Joined too in the world's lies against government, by which the world justifies its rebellion against God.

More than we've ever seen before, that hatred and rebellion have been extremely personal, extending even to filthy attacks on the president's family-members. Christians joined in: and many Christians seem to have bought into the lie that who the ruler is, justifies disobedience to God's commands.

It does not. When God gave His commands in scripture, Nero was the ruler. His name is still emblematic of an evil ruler, these 2000 years later. But God commanded that Christians "submit" to, and "honor," and pray even for Nero (I Timothy 2:1,2). We don't submit to human authorities because of who they are: but because of Who God is

It's not about persons. And in the profound observation on American politics by our Australian brother Tim, "It's not really about politics." If we truly "analyze" the times, as Jesus commanded in Luke 12:54-57...or be, He said, "hypocrites"...it's always, and all, spiritual.

It's no surprise that "the world," under the dominion of satan, operates continually in his spirit of hatred, violence, lies and rebellion. The greater news from the spiritual battlefront in the last eight years is that very many Christians have been seduced, through politics, to operate in that spirit. They need to deeply repent, and turn back to God. The good news is that God is still merciful to those who will repent from the heart.

Now God's test is for Christians who stood apart from the rebellious politics of the last eight years, which seduced so many of our brothers.

We must guard ourselves against falling into the same disobedience they did, by the same false justification. It would be easy for us to personally despise and rail against our soon-to-be human ruler. We would not even have to lie, as the disobedient did, to make him appear unrighteous: arrogance and contempt for others (the two always go together), deceitfulness, and lack of moral principle are truly his spirit, on full display daily, to everyone in the world.

We could easily hate and rebel against a human ruler so profoundly unrighteousness and devoid of moral wisdom (as all Godly wisdom is). But our obedience is not about personalities. It's not really about politics. Thinking so was how our brethren were seduced to disobey God.

God's test for us is the same as for those who fell away. Will we obey God's commands, whoever HE has established as our current human ruler, by HIS authority ? Will we "submit" to, and "honor," and pray for him, as God commanded we do ?

We are entering a time when God will deeply test every heart which claims to love Him, by its obedience to Him.

Scripture's warning to us: "...let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (I Corinthians 10:12).

Amen !

Here Is Wisdom

"And He was also saying to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out. And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way. You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time? And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?" (Luke 12:54-57)

Here is wisdom: Jesus says to "analyze this present time" by "what is right."

Jesus tells His followers to "analyze" the times Spiritually.

Here's scripture's analysis of the spirit of "the last days:"

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these." (II Timothy 3:1-5)

It's a detailed description of "this present time."

It's a detailed description of the man Americans have chosen as their ruler in "this present time."

The man himself doesn't really matter: it's not at all about him (though he would violently disagree). Politicians themselves are transient players. The soon-to-be-ruler's real importance is that he so completely embodies the spirit of this time.

And his ultimate importance, that Christians choose to be led by that spirit.