Do Americans believe Jesus? (Conclusion)

I "went to church" my whole childhood and NEVER ONCE heard the gospel. 
I was never told the good news, or what I needed to do to experience it.

I heard sermons I did not understand and sang songs I didn't like.
But no one proclaimed to me what the Lord Jesus proclaimed in His day.

But one day, as I sat in a Bible Study, at the age of 17, for the first time, I heard these words:

"Did you know that by believing in Jesus, you have a guarantee of heaven?"

I experienced what people mean then they say "a light bulb lit in their heads."
This was literally a revelation to me!  A real epiphany!

I asked my mother and another pastor if it was true.  I read the Bible to see if it was true. It was really good news to me!  And I wanted to literally tell everybody!  I wanted to open the phone book and tell everybody how easy it was to go to heaven!  I didn't even know I had this desire for a guarantee of heaven.  But I knew that nothing could be better than this guarantee.

Yet I still struggled with sinning, with a particular sin that I could not overcome.  One night I gave in to this sin, and it devastated me to the point of wanting to commit suicide. 

(I wanted to remain a virgin.  I did, but barely.  And this fear of losing my virginity led me to want death.  For me, virginity meant never repeating my families history of broken marriages.  For me, marriage was the only hope of never being lonely. When I thought I would lose my virginity inevitably, it devastated me.  This was the sin I struggled with, the particular sin I thought I could not overcome.) 

For no reason I can think of, on this night when I felt like dying, out of the blue, I said these words, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died for my sins."

I felt peace cover me like a blanket.
I no longer wanted to die.

But I still hadn't heard the good news that Jesus proclaimed, the good news about the kingdom of God. 

I had not been told to repent.
I had been told to believe.

Though peace covered me like a blanket, and though I felt a new life, eternal life, I did not know I needed to repent, to turn from my self centered assumptions.  Even my desire to remain a virgin was self-centered.  I didn't seek this for God's honor, nor the honor of my future wife.  I wanted the intensity of marital intimacy, expressed and experienced in sexuality.  I was alone and lonely.  I wanted my wife to be to me what I didn't believe God could be:  A constant companion, giving constant affection, in constant connection.

Now that I am happily married, I know that marriage was and is the answer to my desire for lifelong companionship on earth.  But my wife is not the Holy Spirit, who is in me constantly.  Nor is the good news of God's kingdom my marriage to her.

This is the good news:
I am free from the tyranny of living selfishly!
I am free from ME!
Free to live for God and not me!

I have a purpose that negates self-centeredness, the TRUE AND REAL SOURCE OF UNHAPPINESS!

But I did, finally, have to repent. 

One day, when my first marriage ended, when my first wife forsook me and divorced me, which was THE worst thing that could have happened to me, I came to the end of myself.  I was nothing and had nothing, because everything I was and had was summed up in my desire to be married.

So I yielded control of my life to God's Spirit.
I repented. 
I changed my outlook on life. 
I no longer lived for myself, but for God, and decided I would literally follow the Spirit wherever He led. 
My life was never the same.

I repented.  I changed my mind, assumptions, and actions. 
I believed the good news:  That the Kingdom of God had come, because the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ has come.

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Matthew 12:28

Do Americans believe Jesus? (Part 3)

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” 

Mark 1:14-15

For an American to become a Christian, a true follower of Christ, we must repent and believe the good news. 

We must change our minds, assumptions, and actions.  We must change our lives, and how we define life. 

We focus on, assume, and strive for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  OUR HAPPINESS.

In fact, OUR HAPPINESS is viewed as a God given right!  As though God OWES us happiness.

This is no different from the Jewish assumption in Jesus’ day.

Our government, “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” assumes the sovereignty of the people.  We are self ruled.  The people are the emperor.  We are our own gods.  We no longer want to be one nation, under God.  (Perhaps we never have really wanted this.)  We are no different from the Romans.

We do not believe the good news.

We believe in democracy.

We believe in capitalism.

We believe in ourselves.

We must repent.

Jesus is Lord.

Do Americans believe Jesus? (Part 2)

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” 

Mark 1:14-15

What does it mean to repent?

What does it mean to believe?

The Jews and Romans held certain assumptions. 

The Jews, the descendents of Abraham, waited for the Messiah, the anointed, or divinely appointed, King of God’s people.  This was promised to them in their scriptures, and according to a prophet named Daniel, the time had indeed come.  But they expected a conqueror of Rome who would subdue Rome, and the world, under the rule of God’s people—the Jews.

They needed to change their minds, their basic assumptions and expectations. 

They needed to repent.  

They needed to deny their self centered self exalting desires, desires they assumed the Messiah would be born to fulfill, as though He existed for them, and not them for Him. 

They needed to repent.  To change their minds, assumptions, and actions.

The Romans worshipped their Caesar, their emperor, as though he was a god. 

They needed to repent:  To stop worshipping a false god and worship the true and living God.

The Jews and Romans needed to place their trust and confidence in Jesus and what He proclaimed:

The time has come.  The kingdom of God has come near.

Both knew this was true by the power Jesus displayed in words and miraculous actions.  That this man was not merely a man.  They had reason, good reason, to trust in Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  To accept His kingdom as the true Kingdom.

But what about us as Americans?

How do we repent?

What do we believe?

Is Freedom of Speech simply the right to be WRONG?

People who are in fact wrong tend to express their wrong views loudly, confidently, and boldly.  But make no mistake:  they are, indeed, WRONG.  And they often strongly defend their right....to be WRONG!

Now when people who are in fact right express their RIGHT views just as loudly, confidently, and boldly, the people who are in fact wrong feel "offended," accusing the people who are in boldly right of being arrogant or intolerant.  Please don't forget that those who are in fact wrong are also intolerant and offensive to those who are right, AND EVEN SOMETIMES TO THOSE WHO ARE ALSO WRONG. 

Question:   How is it prideful to be right and know that you are right, but humble to be wrong and not know that you are wrong?  Or worse still, is it humble to be wrong and to care nothing about right and wrong at all?  One of the most successful deceptions of Satan is this:  To make us believe that those who are wrong MUST be heard, while those who are right MUST be silenced.

What do you think?  Am I wrong?
Or do you "respectfully disagree?"
Or do you simply not care AT ALL, one way or another?
Or better still, do you think I am "entitled" to my "opinion" or "perspective?"

Well what if I said, "The Lord Jesus Christ is the standard by which we measure all reality and beauty, by which we measure right and wrong, by which we measure good and bad; if one accepts and obeys the Lord Jesus, this one is indeed right, and if one rejects and deliberately disobeys the Lord Jesus, this one is indeed and in fact, wrong.  This is not my opinion or perspective, but truest and most real reality, whether I believed it or not?"  What if I said that?  In America, surely I have the "right" to believe AND BOLDLY EXPRESS this, do I not?  Even if you think I'm wrong--in America don't I have the right to be boldly wrong?

Many commonly say things like, "Well, as long as your views/opinions/perspectives/actions based upon your opinions don't cause me harm or infringe upon my freedoms." 

Says who?  Who says that one's views/opinions/perspectives shouldn't impose upon the freedoms of others?  How or why is freedom an ABSOLUTE STANDARD?

Because that's what we believe ABSOLUTELY as Americans:  

That everybody is free...except God.

Is the LORD in America? (Part 2)

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
2 Corinthians 3:17

Christians should be abolitionists.
Freedom fighters.
Liberators.
Filled, led, and empowered by The Liberator:  The Spirit of the Lord.

Liberty is from Christ.
Slavery is Antichrist.

But we speak flippantly of our liberties, so a definition is necessary.

By "liberty," I mean that we are free to be what God made us to be and do what God made us to do. That we follow One alone, and are subject to One alone:  Our Creator, Maker, Master, Owner.  

We have one identity and Identifier.  We are only what He says we are.  God defined.
Free.

Free from the system of Satan's deceptions of self-centered self gratifications--
Self consciousness.
Self focus.
Selfishness instead of Divine Purpose.

Not free to simply say what we want and do what we want and go where we want and believe what we want.  This is slavery.  Slavery to impulses and people and politics.  How often can you have a conversation without a demand of categorization or denomination?

"Are you Democrat or Republican?"
"Are you Baptist or Anglican?"
"Are you Liberal or Conservative?"
"Of whom are you supportive?"

Slaves
Robots
Clones
Drones

Christ came to set captives free.
All who sin are slaves of sin.
He came to set us free from living self consciously.

This is liberty, the end of all slavery:  God's glory.
 
Be free, and set others free.
In America, show true liberty.

 
 

Is the LORD in America? (Part 1)

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
2 Corinthians 3:17

The Declaration of Independence 

The Land of the Free

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

What defines America?
Freedom.
Liberty.
These are America's glories.
Or so we say, or think, or desire.

We would love to be the light of the world, a bastion of liberation to the world's oppressions.

But there is one Liberator:  The Spirit of the Lord.

How do you know when He is present?  
Liberty.

My ancestry is one of slavery.  I am a descendent of the oppressed and enslaved.
My ancestors were redefined by those who did not create them, and had no right to command them.

There was no liberty in this country for my ancestry.
Nor for those who were here originally.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
So where was He in the founding of this country?

 

Are YOU on God's side? (Part 1)

"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters."
The Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 12:30  NIV

As Americans, or even American Christians, we too easily assume that we, the so called "Christian Nation founded on Judeo-Christian Principles" are on God's side.  Or even worse that God Himself is on OUR side!

But how can we REALLY know if we are on God's side or not?  

We can know by how we REALLY view The Lord Jesus.

Pay special note to the words "The Lord."

THE

Not "A" or one among many.

LORD

Not "president" or "governor" or "mayor."

As the Lord Jesus said before He ascended into heaven, "All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth."

ALL

Not some or most or the majority

IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH

That means that there is no realm on earth or beyond the earth that is not under the supreme and absolute dominion of the Lord Jesus.

So to be on God's side is to be on God's side ALONE!!  SUPREMELY!! ONLY!!

It means you measure all "sides" by God's side.

If the Republicans say things that agree with God's side, then we may agree WITH THOSE STATEMENTS.

If the Democrats say things that agree with the Lord, then we may agree WITH THOSE THINGS.

But our allegiance is to the Kingdom of God alone, supremely, and only.
Those who obey God ALONE are our family, as it is written,

While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”

He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:46-50 NIV

And as it is also written,

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple."  Luke 14:26

To be on God's side is to be on His side alone.

Are YOU on God's side?

WHY AMERICAN CHRISTIANS HATE MIRACLES (AND MAY VERY WELL BE IN DANGER OF HELL!)

american christians (as previously defined)  hate miracles because they OPPOSE our independence.  


we value our "liberties," our "way of life," our "freedoms," our "values."  
but what are these, really?

i believe they are all variations on the theme of independence, on self-reliance, on self-centered self gratification.

our "liberties" don't have anything to do with Christ or His kingdom, nor does our "way of life," "freedoms," or "values."  now make no mistake, when i say "our," i mean we who call ourselves american christians.  we loathe the self-sacrifice that makes for true disciples of Christ.  we despise the neediness of a branch in connection to a Vine. 

and therefore, we hate miracles. 

we detest that which points to God alone, that which He can do alone, that which no human thought or insight can add to nor subtract from.  we love the idea that miracles are rare, if not completely abolished in this day and age.  woe be unto us if they still regularly and normally occurred!  this would mean God is real!  worse still, HIS WILL IS REAL!  WORST OF ALL, HIS KINGDOM IS NOT A KINGDOM "OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, OR FOR THE PEOPLE!!!"

where would our precious democracy be?

"in a sin stained world, democracy is the only sanity for governing authority," some may protest.  truth.  undisputed. 

but that is my point.  let's just stop talking about our "christian origins," and moaning and groaning about "taking our country back for Christ" and all that...wondering what happened to the "good ole days" when we had "prayer in the schools...." the segregated schools mind you...the schools where we learned about the red faced savages that are living on reservations and are mascots for our baseball teams....those good ole days!!! 

is might making right a miracle of manifest destiny!!??  was this to God's glory, and truly done for God's glory!

what miracles attest to this?  what signs and wonders and salvations bear witness to this?

Christ read from the prophet Isaiah, saying, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon me..."

He made known to those who listen that God's chosen one had come to God's chosen nation...a divinely established nation attested to by signs and wonders and faith.  

follow me closely:

abraham, a man of 100 years in age, with his barren wife sara, who was 90 years old, gave birth to a son of promise, the firstborn of the nation blessed by God to be a blessing to the world.  

this, 

the nation of israel, 

was a nation founded by God Himself, 

cared for by God Himself.  

signs and wonders and prophets bear witness to this.  and most importantly, this nation, when in rebellion, was disciplined by God, to show that He didn't back every single thing they did.  when this nation worshiped idols or wanted to be like all other nations in the world, God disciplined them, making it clear that He chose them for a purpose that they refused to serve.

the final rejection of God, as a nation, was the rejection of their long awaited Messiah, the Lord Jesus.  not all descendants of abraham rejected him.  but the nation, as a whole, with the world, as a whole, denied Him.  

what does all of this have to do with america?  EVERYTHING!!  AND NOTHING!!

america's origins were far from miraculous and divinely originated.  it was not by miracles that we came to be, and it is not by dependence upon miracles that we continue to be.  

yes...i said DEPENDENCE UPON MIRACLES!!!

the first and foremost miracle that we refuse to depend upon IS THE VERY INCARNATION OF CHRIST!!!  THE FOUNDATIONAL MIRACLE OF ALL MIRACLES!! 

GOD ESTABLISHED ISRAEL BY MIRACLES, NOT "JUDEO PRINCIPLES."

CHRIST ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH ON A MIRACLE, 

NOT ON "CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES."

CHRIST BROUGHT ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH A MIRACLE, 

NOT "JUDEO CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES."

WHEN AMERICAN CHRISTIANS HATE MIRACLES, THEY BY DEFINITION HATE THE MIRACLE.
THEY ARE INDEED IN DANGER OF HELL!!

"wait a minute!!  isn't that a little extreme!!??" 

not at all!  remember, the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Christ are all miracles, not principles!! indeed, Christ fulfilled the law, but did not come to bring new laws or principles.  our faith is in the miracle of salvation, and AGAIN, if we hate miracles, then we hate THE miracle, and thus cannot be saved because of our disbelief!!

yet again, how many times as american christians do we speak of "judeo christian principles/values?" how often did Christ or His apostles focus on "values" and "principles?"  How often did they perform miracles as they preached the gospel and made disciples?

are miracles that important?  what is a normal practical miracle?

PRAYER!

we all believe in prayer, right?  

but what are we praying for if not a miracle, if not something supernatural?  when we pray for something as simple as "traveling mercies," are we not praying that God will supernaturally protect our traveling loved ones?

this country was neither founded upon nor sustained by miracles, and we don't want it to be, because this would be THEOCRACY!!!  but if we say "in God we trust," then in what and for what are we trusting Him?  to trust God is to believe He can do what we cannot...miracles...the supernatural...indeed, WE can come up with "principles," and establish our country upon these so called principles...and argue over them, and make laws that contradict them, and question whether they ever were Christian in the first place...but could Israel question the origin of the 10 commandments, written by the very finger of God...delivered to them by the hands of angels....?

american christians hate miracles...and indeed may be in danger of hell...for our faith is founded upon the greatest miracle...but we focus instead on principles, and not on the only miracle that can save us....may God help us, 

may God, indeed AND TRULY, bless america!

 

WHY AMERICAN CHRISTIANS ARE LIARS! (PART 2)

On July 4, 2012, I called a certain category of American Christians liars!  I accused those who love the origins of this country unconditionally--those who claim that this country's unquestioned origin is "Christian."

I anticipated a counter accusation, that I failed to be "patriotic" on the hallowed day in which the "founding fathers" declared independence from the oppression of England.  Of course, I found it hypocritical for one to accuse me of this, because I see no difference in the oppression of England and the oppressors who were the first Americans. 

Consider these points:
1.  Why would my accusers "take themselves so 'seriously?'"  Why not "lighten up?"  After all, if we as American Christians can "tolerate"  the debaucheries and sorceries of Halloween, Christmas, and Easter, surely we can allow freedom of expression about oppression!

2.  I'm confident that the founding fathers didn't barbecue chicken and shoot fireworks after signing their declaration to the king of England.  And I'm sure when the king read said declaration, he didn't say, "Alrighty then.  Take care of my boats and Bibles, and keep those savages in line!"  NO!  I quote the wise Bugs Bunny in imagining the king's thoughts in reading the declaration:  "Of course you know, THIS MEANS WAR!"

In other words, I feel that my words on July 4th expressed the truest patriotism, the realest love of America!  As did the "founding fathers," I wrote words that exposed the truest oppression:  A DECEPTION IN THE NAME OF BEING CHRISTIAN!

Shouldn't the land of the free and the home of the brave promote true freedom and real bravery? 
Shouldn't we oppose the truest slavery:  the slavery of men and women to sin!

As it is written,
"If you abide in my words, you are my disciples indeed.  You will know the truth and the truth will make you free."

In the words above, the Lord spoke of freedom from sin, the devil's oppression.  The sin of Christian Americans causes the darkness this country is in!  Yes!  It is our fault.!  We who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus forsake our Lord and His word and worship ourselves in the name of democracy!  We honor the constitution more than we honor the word of the living God.  And in this way, WE ARE LIARS!

May God's Spirit convict us!!