Why the Rainbow Is the Perfect Symbol For the Gay Community! (says this christian...)

I'm not sure if everyone is familiar with the Bible story of Noah and the ark, but I assume most people are.  It's a pretty common story for children to grow up hearing, at least it used to be.  God sent a worldwide flood to destroy the earth and every living creature except Noah and his family and the animals he brought with him by God's instruction (and presumably the all the fish survived the flood as well).   Anyway, when the flood was finally over and the water receded enough for Noah to leave the ark, God gave us a sign of his promise never to judge the whole earth by flood ever again-- rainbows.  You can read the Biblical account beginning in Genesis 6. 

Nowadays we still have rainbows in the sky after it rains, and many groups and organizations have adopted rainbows as a symbol, including the gay community.  You might see a rainbow bumper sticker or flag or t-shirt, probably even tattoos I"m guessing.  You can find all sorts of info online regarding the history of the use of the rainbow to represent gay pride, I found a couple including this short blurb.  I think perhaps some religious people might feel that the gay community has essentially hijacked God's special sign to us and are offended or upset, concerned about the precious promise  the rainbow represents is being denigrated somehow.  But I think God is very pleased to have his sign of the gospel being paraded all over the earth by the very people who seem to bear the brunt of so much judgement and condemnation!

Sign of the gospel?  How did I come to that conclusion?  Well, actually the whole story of the ark is a picture of Jesus and how he carried us safely through God's wrath and judgement for sin.  When we are in Christ, we are never judged by God, can never be judged or punished for our sin, in fact our sin is all swept away in the mighty flood of God's wrath poured out on Jesus at the Cross.  The rainbow comes after the storm of his wrath as a sign to all generations that his judgement is OVER, as in FINISHED!  Think I'm stretching this too far, reading too much into it? There is a small reference in 1 Peter to baptism being like the ark...but one of  the best passages ever is this one:


"To me this is like the days of Noah,



when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.


So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,


never to rebuke you again.




Though the mountains be shaken

and the hills be removed,

yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken

nor my covenant of peace be removed,"

says the LORD, who has compassion on you. " (Isaiah 54:9-10)

Is this not the main clause of the New Covenant???  He promises never to be angry with us or rebuke us, it's his promise of peace, NO JUDGEMENT!!!!  I can't think of  many  more groups of people in the world that need to hear this message more than the gay community, and especially from  true Christians who love and don't condemn.  God is not counting men's sins against them!  It's rainbow time!

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

I'm Not A Serious Christian.

It's funny how in today's online world  how we can be aware of people and places we would have long forgotten otherwise.   I have links to much of my past, casual links, but almost daily reminders of where I've been.  There are people I've known almost my whole life, leaders I admired as a child or teen, the truly serious Christians.  They are passionate, radical, and outspoken.  They are generally well-liked in their circles.  I like them too.  But sometimes I think "how tired they must be!".  I can't imagine being a serious Christian for 20, 30, or more years, I know I couldn't do it and besides that, I have absolutely no desire to.  I only tried my hand at it for 20 years or so, of course I started very young, but even for a young person it was tiring. 

Today I'm a Christian still, but more because I can't stop being one (if your definition of  a Christian is someone who believes in Jesus, that he is God, that he came in the flesh, lived and died to give us eternal life for free).  I can't stop believing in Jesus, it comes natural to me these days, pretty easy, simple and uncomplicated.  Some people hate this kind of faith, they don't think it's good enough or something.  They want to condemn me, mock me, or just dismiss me altogether.  That's ok.   I've traded in my serious Christianity for something much more joyful and restful.   I feel free.  This flesh is not perfect and never will be but my spirit is alive with Jesus, completely righteous, completely FREE.  I wish everyone would be free!

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law (Tithing)

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law



What makes our faith great is not how strong our faith is, but what we believe. What we believe is very important, for the power that drives our lives derives from what we believe. What we believe is a direct result of what we hear. I believe that correct doctrine is of utmost importance in having a stable relationship with God. Stability in our emotions can only be attained from stability in what we hear. Let’s have a look at a scripture that explains this truth.

Pro 4:20 My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my word.

Pro 4:21 Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart.

Pro 4:22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Pro 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the power of life.

Pro 4:24 Put away from thee a forward (twisted) mouth, and perverse (deviating) lips put far from thee.



Let us see this as God speaking to us from a New Testament perspective. He states that we should incline our ears to HIS Word and stick to it without deviation. He also states that the power of life manifested in our lives is from the heart. I think it’s important to define the “heart of man” at this point. The heart of man is the belief system established in man, from where he functions. The belief system of man is powerfully influenced by what we hear and see. As believers we put a high regard on what is preached from the pulpit and what we read in the Bible. If what we hear from the pulpit is twisted and deviating from the basics of the Gospel (which I will explain) it will influence our hearts in a bad way and it will cause us to be driven by deadly and destructive emotions.

The basics of the Gospel: Jesus and what He has done on behalf of man, as the foundation of everything in our lives.

One of the most powerful deviations that I've seen in modern day churches, especially in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles, is robbing many people from the peace that Jesus came to give us, and is manifesting its deadly nature to the disadvantage of many..

We need to understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. He is the substance of every type and shadow that is in the Old Covenant.

1. Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days:

Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.



2. Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.



Let’s have a look at how Jesus was the tithe and brought a blessing to all of man by what He did. For many years we have tried to apply the tithe principle outside the fact that it is also merely a type and a shadow of the true substance - which is the manifestation of Jesus and what He has done for and on behalf of us all.

I have found revelation in the type and shadow of the tithe.

MSG Translation



Deu 14:23 Bring your tithe into the Presence of GOD, your God, at the place he designates for worship and there eat the tithe from your grain, wine, and oil and the firstborn from your herds and flocks. In this way you will learn to live in deep reverence before GOD, your God, as long as you live.

Deu 14:24 But if the place GOD, your God, designates for worship is too far away and you can't carry your tithe that far, GOD, your God, will still bless you:

Deu 14:25 exchange your tithe for money and take the money to the place GOD, your God, has chosen to be worshiped.

Deu 14:26 Use the money to buy anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, or beer--anything that looks good to you. You and your family can then feast in the Presence of GOD, your God, and have a good time.



KJV Translation



Deu 14:26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,



We can see that the tithe was taken to the place of worship and then eaten by the person that brought it. It was not consumed by the priests, the tithe was eaten, a significant point. Remember, the person who tithed could not do with the tithe as he wished – he had to EAT it. Should he not use the tithe as commanded, it would be a sin, for he would be messing up the truth it represented.

Mal 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

Mal 3:3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be MEAT in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.



Mal 3:10 Bring935 ye (853) all3605 the tithes4643 into413 the storehouse,1004, 214 that there may be1961 meat2964 in mine



The Word “ye”

את

'e^th

Brown-Driver-Briggs HebrewDefinition:

1) sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative



This wonderful word is a sign of the definite direct object, which in the case of Mal 3:10 is the tithe. So this word directly refers to the tithe which is the object in this sentence.

According to BDB it is not suppose to be translated into English for there is no English word for this. Even in the Hebrew and Greek there is no definition for this word. This word is a sign consisting of two Hebrew characters א (the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet) and ת (The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet). This is awesome when we see it in the Greek, for there it is translated as the alpha and the omega. We know that scripture clearly states that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.

If we translate Mal 3:10 into this truth it should read as follows “Bring Jesus Christ, (who is) the tithe, into the storehouse that there might be meat in my house...”.

When we read Mal. three from verse one to ten we see that he is speaking prophetically about the restoration of priesthood in order that the curse that they were under should be removed from them. What God was concerned about is that there will be meat in His house so that His people can eat and be delivered from the curse pronounced in verse nine. The only thing that manifests a curse is the LAW. It is clearly stated in Gal 3:10 and 13 that any person who is under the LAW is cursed.

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:



In verse thirteen we see how the curse is removed: by the death of Jesus. In Mal it states that it is removed by the tithe. By this we can conclude that Jesus is the tithe that brought meat into the house of God, and as people partake of it the curse is broken for His body is the meat we need to eat. When God was talking about the tithe that will come to the storehouse he wanted his people to eat it. Jesus is our lamb, He is our offering and He is our tithe, to be eaten before God.

HIS FLESH IS MEAT INDEED

Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Joh 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

Joh 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Joh 6:57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.



Jesus is the perfection of tithing. To think that we need to give ten percent of our money to a church so that God will bless us is just as ignorant as thinking that by circumcision we will become part of God’s people and be saved.



IN CONCLUSION

Let’s look at our tithe and eat His flesh and drink His blood for in doing so we are fulfilling the Law. The truth of the LAW is that it points to Jesus, and as we believe on Him we are partaking of Him i, without there being any accusation against us. Never again do we have to think that we come short in any area of life, especially when it comes to money. When we believe in Jesus, all is done concerning our redemption from the curse and we don’t have to add a thing.

I have seen that not even God brings any accusation against His people, but many are willing to condemn the priceless CHURCH OF GOD when it comes to giving.

WORD FROM GOD: “Be free from the condemnation that is destroying you, it does not come from Me”

Bertie Brits

Breaking Free From Fear, Control, Spiritual Abuse, Shame, and Guilt Manipulation

I just wanted to post some links to a few resources for those who have come out of, are coming out of, or want to come out of legalistic control situations. The first and greatest resource is the true Gospel, the pure good news that Jesus came to bring. He himself declared that he did not come to condemn but to find and save the lost. He also declared that anyone who was heavy laden and weary could come to him for peace and rest, that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. If you are not living in the glorious freedom of this as a believer, than you have been listening to lies. No matter where the lies are coming from, the answer is to hear truth!

Any of the resources I recommend will be based on the fact that they unashamedly preach the good news. Here are some, which I'm sure I've recommended many times before:

Joseph Prince (New Creation Church Singapore)

Bertie Brits (Dynamic Love Ministries)

Steve McVey (Grace Walk)


I'm sure there are many others preaching the glorious good news as well, seek them out and allow God to restore your hearts and minds back to the truth of his loving goodness.

God is not and never will be angry with you ever again, any preacher who even hints otherwise (if you believe in Jesus for your salvation) is a liar perpetuating the agenda of demons. I don't mind stating things so clearly when I have Scripture that states things so clearly! (Isaiah 54) You will not be judged for any sin that Jesus has been judged for in your place, so stop letting arrogant men bully you into jumping through their hoops of godliness. Righteousness is a gift from God, and any true preaching of the Gospel will highlight that fact, not your sin.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

Romans 1:16-17

Do you see it? In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, from faith for faith....not the sin of man is revealed, not from faith to works or obedience to the law. If anyone starts preaching another gospel then he is under a curse, and so are all who believe him. Basic Galatians here...

God wants to set you free from all curses and pour out his blessing on you, but you must believe that Jesus, Jesus alone, is enough for you and your sin, is enough for you and your righteousness. When we refuse to receive the righteousness of Jesus as a gift, we will be left to beating our flesh into submission and obedience. Our flesh will fail us every single time. If righteousness could be gained through obedience to the law, then Jesus died for nothing (Galatians again!).

So if you are not free, you are not sure of God's love for you, are not sure he's not ever angry with you, do not have an abundance of joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control etc... you can be sure the old serpent has unlawfully (1 Tim.) slithered back into your life to persuade you that you have not been born again into God's own image, that God has not given you every good thing in salvation, that you need to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Yeah, if you just have that knowledge what's right, what's wrong (thanks so much pastor for being willing to continually expound this for us) then we will be more like God, more godly. WAKE UP! THIS IS THE DEVIL'S OLDEST TRICK!!!

So people, come out into the glorious light of Jesus who loves you dearly! Hear the truth and believe it, it's not too good to be true, IT IS SO GOOD BECAUSE IT IS SO TRUE!!!! (thanks Rob! I think I really get it most days!)



( P.S. An easy place to start hearing the truth would be the grace stream channel posted right here on my blog...)

Remembering Old Friends...

I haven't written very much, or at least not plainly, about our years spent in Sovereign Grace Ministries, mostly at Covenant Fellowship. But I guess we spent 7 or 8 years of our lives there, pretty intensely committed years actually. As a result, even though we left SGM behind more than 2 years ago, I still often find myself thinking and praying for many of the people and pastors we know from that time ( I would start listing off names but that would take a long time...). Not often do we actually get to see or talk to any of them though! I think this is in large part due to the fact that we now live in another country! But even before that, there seemed to be a painful separation that happened when we left, and though it was not all unnatural or unexpected it was still painful, difficult, and lonely.

Well, all water under the bridge as they say! The pain has passed and Jesus has brought us into joyful freedom such as we never dared dream could exist this side of heaven. But I still often remember many people very fondly and miss the amazing people we were privileged to get to know and serve beside. And I still pray for them all... So if you happen to be one of those people and you get to read this, then I hope you had a very merry Christmas and that the year 2009 will be a year of great joy, peace, and freedom. And may the unfading glory of the New Covenant light up your world with fresh revelations of who Jesus is! I also wanted to dedicate this song to you all with much love (including my newer SGM friends like you Janelle) because every time I listen to it I think of you all, besides, I just love it myself! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys it, I think you will...

East to West....and Mixed Messages...

I love love love this song. I first heard it on a Christian radio station, I very rarely even listen to Christian radio because I hate to hear all the mixed messages. Gods loves you, so do better, try harder, worship more you ungrateful worm! Of course there are wonderful exceptions to this. And this song, I cry every time I hear it.

I think it just sings out what so many Christians feel like, tossed about in a confusing storm, feeling that their lives are a sham. Feeling that they aren't who they say they are, or else where is the peace and joy they know Jesus promised? They don't realize that though they know the truth about Jesus' sacrifice, his love, his finished work, and the free gift of righteousness, they've been fed so many contradicting lies through so many 'christian' sources that believing these truths seems like a never-ending uphill battle.

They think the problem is inside of themselves, something to be ashamed of and they feel guilty. I'm saying 'they', but I can so easily remember living like this. It was a terrible way to live. If only God's children could stop accepting mixed messages from the church world at large! If only we would become militant about rejecting books, music, teaching, preaching...anything that reeks of the lies our enemy has devised to keeps us bound up in sin, fear, guilt, condemnation, confusion, and powerlessness. It's time to demand the TRUTH!

Newsies Prophetic?

I was sitting down to the piano to pick out some Newsies songs from a Disney musical I've always loved. I recently came across my old piano book for the soundtrack while unpacking another box. Call me crazy, but I started to get emotional as my spirit resonated with the themes of warring for freedom, of never giving up, of uniting together to stand for justice. God has been preaching the good news to us by every means possible since the dawn of creation and before. Throughout history, the story of redemption is repeated over and over in the course of natural events, clearly pointing to the truths of the kingdom of heaven!

If you've never seen Newsies, try tracking it down. It's a classic the whole family will love.

I'm Blaming Jesus for My Sin

I was just reading a blog and my eye caught the title of another post entitled "Blaming Others for Our Sins" and immediately the thought went through my head 'that's it, I'm to blame my sins on Jesus'. I only glanced through the article a little, it was linking to another article which I thought was not so good, or at least it completely misses the point.

It's not that I think we should blame other people for our sin, the article (I think rightly) says that this is a way of trying to justify ourselves. But I don't think blaming ourselves will help, then we end up feeling condemned, guilty, and ashamed. We feel the need for atonement and justification if we start 'taking the blame' for our sin, which, if we are already believers, will only highlight the fact that we really don't have faith in the finished work of Jesus, why else would we be running back to the cross expecting to find a suffering Saviour still hanging there, newly nailed up by our most recent failure?

When we blame Jesus for our sin we realize we are free and clear. He's taken ALL our blame, he was made to be sin for us. The answer to our finger-pointing problem is to come out from under the law and receive mercy from our father in heaven, mercy triumphs over judgement. Believe that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, a righteousness from God apart from works of the law and you'll stop worrying why you sinned and start thanking him he's is not counting your sins against you. You have a righteousness that is by faith from first to last and cannot be tarnished by your mistakes, no matter how terrible they may be. When you realize Jesus has been blamed for all your sin and God is not pointing the finger at you, you begin to relax and stop pointing the finger at anyone else.

So I'm blaming somebody else for my sin, after all, that's what he wants! Next time you feel condemned for something you did wrong or didn't do right, point your finger to Jesus and say "He took it and he's already been punished for it... IT IS FINSHED!!!!!"


You are free.

Should We Be Cross Centered?

There's an interesting discussion going on over at Dan's blog (Life on Wings), where Peter Day has posted a great piece called "Overturning the Tables of Legalism" about how much we should focus on the cross as believers. The argument on the cross-centered side seems to be that Paul was cross-centered and seemed to use 'the cross' as short-hand for the gospel message as a whole. There's also a quote saying we shouldn't move on from the Cross, however my thoughts on that are that since there is no Scripture saying the same, it doesn't have much authority. On the other side, some are arguing that the throne or empty tomb would be a better symbol for Christianity.

I was sitting playing a mindless computer game when a thought popped into my head. Maybe from God? I think so but you can judge for yourself. What popped into my head was the story of the Israelites in the wilderness with Moses, the time they all got bitten and poisened by serpents and God instructed Moses to raise up a bronze snake on a pole so the people could come and look at it and be healed. (Numbers 21:4-9) What did they do with this bronze snake on a pole afterward? Turns out they decided to worship it, turning it into an idol instead of worshipping the God who saved them... (see 2 Kings 18:4) And there's connection between this pole and Jesus in John 3 v. 14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."

Now to be sure, Paul did sometimes refer to the cross as a kind of short-hand for the work of Christ, and so can we. But I think there can be a danger of turning 'the Cross' into some kind of entity, we can do exactly what the Israelites did with their snake pole--we can end up putting our focus on the means of salvation rather than the person who saved us. I talked about this in my previous post as well, " Not Clinging to the Cross". Yes, we should always remember the death of Jesus, as we do every time we break bread together, there's a right time and and right way to remember the work of Jesus on the cross. But we remember the cross in a way that is life-giving, partaking of the body and blood of Jesus, being renewed and healed by taking his eternal resurrection life into our bodies. The breaking of bread NEVER ministers shame, guilt, condemnation, death, fear, etc...but ALWAYS the life-giving power of God's loving grace.

Another argument is that we need to center our lives around the cross in order to remain humble, but this argument is rooted in the idea that the cross is a reminder of our sin. I'm very sorry to say this (and I've said it over and over) but IF THE CROSS REMINDS YOU OF YOUR SIN THEN YOU ARE DENYING THE VERY POWER OF THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS, THE WORK OF THE CROSS. Once again, take a look at Hebrews 10 (which I also wrote about a while back in my post called "Knowing God Under the New Covenant" The work of Jesus on the cross totally washes all our sin away forever and we are no longer even conscious of it! That's right, if God has forgotten it, so should we. To the extent we live aware of and focused on our sin, to that extent are we living in unbelief, not trusting that the sacrifice of Jesus was enough to put us in right standing before our Father.

And out of curiosity, I went to Bible Gateway and did a few searches (not including the Gospels) just to give a basic idea of what the New Testament church might be centered on. I only found 13 references to 'the cross'. I found 89 references for "gospel", 470 references for "Christ", 345 references for "Jesus" (there is probably some overlap for "Christ" and "Jesus"), and 66 references for "Spirit" (with a capital 's'). In a general way, I think this leads me to believe that we should live Jesus centered lives, not cross centered lives. I think that by over using the phrase 'the cross' without clarying and teaching what we mean by it (we do the same thing with many many other words such as 'gospel', 'grace', etc...), we are not helping people to understand these doctrines well but are deceiving them into thinking that knowing the right terminology means they have adequate understanding and are well-taught.


[ I think it would be good for me to say, not necessarily in relation to this topic in particular, that I also think women need to be looking into these things and are not only qualified as well as men to do this, but are encouraged by their Father in the Spirit to do it! I am publicly, for my sake and for the sake of any and all daughters of the Kingdom of Heaven, renouncing the doctrines of demons in the church today that are trying to suppress, control, manipulate, and destroy women(just as their leader did in the garden many many years ago) and I'm specifically referring to the idea that women are not able to discern and study Scripture and doctrine for themselves by the Spirit, without any man. And we are released from the curse of Genesis 3 sisters! So be free!!!]

WHY JESUS DID NOT GIVE IN TO THE GRACE HATING SPIRIT EVEN FOR A MOMENT!

The following is an excerpt from Rob Rufus' The Grace Hating Spirit (part 1) from August 22,2004.


But when we read the Scripture you are going to be tempted to feel sorry for the Pharisees and Sadducees and I encourage you don't be sorry for them. But it's going to sound like Jesus is being very harsh and very rude and very unfair to the Pharisees and Sadducees, but we need to understand that these Pharisees and Sadducees were the self-appointed religious orthodoxy of the day, they were religious bigots, and they were the number one hindrance stopping the multitudes coming into salvation and coming into grace. And Jesus discerned that he must not give into these grace hating people for even a second. (And so let me just read it to you:)

He realized that they were operating under a grace hating spirit: they were religious bigots. Jesus perceived and discerned that they were the number one hindrance to the vast multitudes of people entering into the freedom and joy that is in God's salvation through his wonderful grace. Jesus was not beguiled by the cunning politically correct exterior of these religious bigots. They could put on such a good show of appearing hospitable and nice but Jesus knew how controlling and manipulative they were. His heart went out to the multitudes that were sick and oppressed and struggling under the weight and burdens of religious condemnation that had been loaded on them by these religious leaders who Jesus called false gods. So not only did Jesus go around and preach good news and pray for the sick and see great miracles among the crowds and multitudes that followed him, but he also realized he had to expose these bigots for who they were because the grace hating spirit would want to enslave the people again. So he was not being rude to these religious leader , on the contrary they were being rude to him. They saw Jesus as a threat to their control over the people so they thought that through flattery and offering hospitality they could disguise their hostility and weave their manipulative charm over him. They arrogantly presumed that they could get Jesus safely into their camp and under their control and then they thought they could work on him and sterilize him and emasculate him of his spiritual testosterone. But they took on far more than they bargained for, for the the Son of God is not only the Lamb of God, he's also called the Lion of the tribe of Judah and lions were never meant or created to live in cages. The great roar from the lungs of Jesus is so full of supernatural power from heaven that it shook these religious leaders to the very core of their perverted hearts. Jesus understood that you cannot submit to the grace hating spirit for even a moment. Today so many Christians are naive and deceived by the grace hating spirit. Many Christians are beguiled by smiling faces and false humility that hides, camouflages, and masks an ugly and sinister face that hates freedom and stops the multitudes of desperate people entering into salvation.

Rob then reads Luke 11:-37-52

After verse 44 (Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.) Rob injects:

Now if you know anything about Hebrew culture that is the most insulting thing you could say to a Jewish person and I wish I had an hour to teach on that. But let me just sum it up: He's saying "you guys are so obsessed with exterior performance of religion and you don't deal with the supernatural dynamic of internal life on the inside, you're so full of death that when people come under your ministry and they touch you , you touch them with death and they don't even know that they're touching graves they're touching death. You kill their dreams, you kill their vision, you kill their hopes, you kill their aspiration, you bring death to everything that you're involved with. You're like unmarked graves that people are contacting without even knowing they're touching death." Isn't that pretty heavy going? Don't you think more preachers should be like Jesus? ...


Now folks these Pharisees and Sadducees didn't say 'Oh that's very nice Jesus. We thank you for being honest with us and we will now repent and really be your friends from now on." What happened was their cover was blown, the Son of God had seen right through that exterior political correctness and now the true nature of these religious bigots comes out. Notice the next verse:

"When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions waiting to catch him in something he might say" (verses 53,54)

Notice these words 'oppose him'. Who were they opposing? The one who was full of grace. They were opposing grace, there was a grace opposing, grace hating spirit behind these men. Notice it also says 'fiercely'. This grace hating spirit is not against grace in some half-hearted way, it is fiercely opposed to grace. It said they besieged him. That sounds like a fully committed assault on a castle and it says they asked him questions. Not to learn from him, but to trick him and to undermine him, and then to catch him. The grace hating spirit wants to catch you and enslave you.

An Old New Song and a Brand New Song

I haven't posted any songs for a while, partly because I haven't written many lately. But one of my favorite 'newer' songs I've never posted, and I just 'finished' another, so I thought I'd throw them up to see what kind of response (if any) I get to them. I'm always interested to see if any red flags go up for anyone as they read the lyrics. I'm pretty committed to not writing heretical songs...so as always, all input would be very welcome!

I LOVE YOUR GRACE

VERSE:

WHEN I'M WEAK YOU ARE STRONG IN MY WEAKNESS
WHEN I'M POOR THEN YOU LAVISH YOUR RICHES
WHEN I'M BROKENHEARTED YOU WRAP YOUR ARMS AROUND ME
AND POUR OUT HEALING KINDNESS ON ME

CHORUS:

I LOVE YOUR GRACE, I LOVE YOUR GRACE
ALL THAT I HAVE, ALL THAT I AM
IS BECAUSE OF YOU LOVING ME
I LOVE YOUR GRACE

VERSE:

WHEN I'M LOST LIKE A SHEPHERD YOU FIND ME
WHEN I'M BLIND THEN YOU MAKE MY EYES SEE
AND WHEN TEMPTATION COMES YOU'RE STANDING RIGHT BESIDE ME
GIVING ME THE POWER TO OVERCOME

REPEAT CHORUS



The second song is:



JESUS YOU CAME TO SET US FREE

VERSE:

YOU CAME TO DO THE FATHER'S WILL
PERFECTLY THE LAW FULFILLED
AND AS YOU BREATHED YOUR FINAL BREATH
YOU CONQUERED SIN, YOU CONQUERED SIN
YOU TRAMPLED EVERY ENEMY
BRINGING DARKNESS TO ITS KNEES
AS LIFE RUSHED INTO YOU AGAIN
YOU CONQUERED DEATH, YOU CONQUERED DEATH

CHORUS:

JESUS YOU CAME TO SET US FREE
YOU'VE BROKEN EVERY HEAVY YOKE TO BRING US PEACE
JESUS NOW HEAR YOUR PEOPLE SING JOYFULLY
IF THE SON HAS SET US FREE, THEN WE ARE FREE INDEED

VERSE:

IN YOU NOW WE ARE DEAD TO LAW
THE FATHER SEES US WITHOUT FLAW
YOU CHANGED OUR HEART OF STONE TO FLESH
WE'LL CONQUER SIN, WE'LL CONQUER SIN
THROUGH YOUR BODY AND YOUR BLOOD
WE EAT AND DRINK THE LIFE OF GOD
AND RISING UP IN ALL YOUR STRENGTH
WE'LL CONQUER DEATH, WE'LL CONQUER DEATH

REPEAT CHORUS

TAG:

NO MORE ANGER, NO MORE WRATH
NO MORE SICKNESS, NO MORE DEATH
NO MORE ANGER OR FEAR OF WRATH
NO MORE SICKNESS, NO MORE DEATH

REPEAT CHORUS

What About Gray Areas?

I know I just shouldn't do it, but sometimes I do anyway. I was reading a blog which referred to an article called Gray Matters: Five Principles of Discernment by Eric Simmons (I have no idea who this is)and I want to scream out "stop the legalism!!!!" It's nothing personal, I just can't handle it. But it's EVERYWHERE. You just can't get away from it and no one seems to notice. This article opens with:

"Gray matters. We all deal with them ... those places in our lives where the line between "right" and "wrong" gets fuzzy. Or even disappears.

Is it OK just to fast-forward the sex scene and watch the rest of the movie?
Should I smoke a cigar with my unbelieving father?
How tight is too tight?
Can a Christian play poker?
Can I have a beer with dinner?"

The whole point seems to be that while there are many laws and commands clearly laid out for us in Scripture, sometimes thing are 'fuzzy' and we need to use discernment to figure out what God meant the law to be for us in this area. We seem to miss the point: we are dead to the law! And I'm sure people who think and teach this way have the best of intentions, but there is no mention of Christian freedom in all of this. What about grace? Thankfully there are a couple of other articles on the site that are about grace.

I think there is a deep misunderstanding of God and his holiness and our standing before him. We say yes, we've been made holy, but we don't believe it. We think that God in his holiness is still angry about our sin. Not our sin from the past of course, but if and when we sin now as his children. He is holy and hates sin...so of course isn't happy with us when we sin. The problem with this is that is goes against Scripture (and the very nature of God as our father. We still don't get it!!! HE LOVES US HE'S OVERJOYED WITH US HE'S PLEASED WITH CHRIST AND WE ARE IN CHRIST 100% OF THE TIME. We are in a new covenant now. We should not read the Old Testament looking for judgement, but looking for mercy (because we trust in the finished work of Jesus). I've been reading through Isaiah and the redemptive purposes of God are revealed there in amazing clarity. He is a God of great compassion toward his people. He is not disappointed with us. Don't you think his heart breaks to see us unaware of his love? To see us rushing around trying to figure out what pleases him, living in constant anxiety plucking our proverbial daisy petals "he loves me , he loves me not" ?? I could list many many examples of this kind of legalism being published all over the Internet, and sermons, and books and conferences...I'm saddened by it. I'm very very concerned for the people who are buying into it and the leaders who are sincerely but blindly leading them. And it sobers me to think how easily I am drawn into the same thing. I'm not being self-righteous I just feel I must tell the truth. I can't pretend legalism isn't serious and fatal and I can be quiet about it!

Of course I'm not saying it's o.k to sin, I'm saying we have the freedom to do whatever we want whenever we want if we're living according to the Spirit. I like what Ryan Rufus says in his book "Do Christians Still Have a Sinful Nature?" :

"...if the way we preach grace does not provoke the question, 'Shall we just keep sinning if grace will keep increasing?' then we are not preaching true grace!"

I'm praying that the church will begin to embrace true discernment and will uncover and destroy legalism wherever it's found. I'm praying we stop acting like the Pharisees coming up with new laws to try to please God and start celebrating the reason why God left so many areas 'gray'--FREEDOM!!!

LEGALISM HURT OUR KIDS

This is probably the conclusion to my testimony about legalism in our family. I'm going to talk about how legalism affected ( and is still affecting) our relationship with our children. A large part of how legalism influenced our lives involves how we parented our children in a way that lacked grace, love, compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, and encouragement.

In our understanding of what 'good' or Biblical parenting, discipline was central. We were taught that proper Biblical discipline involves discipline every time a child does not obey promptly and joyfully. To not discipline (spank) every time immediately was considered sin. ( Let me say that the method of spanking was very specific and not wrong in and of itself. It emphasized discipline is out of love and never anger.) This understanding of how to discipline our children became law to us. We felt guilty any time we didn't strictly adhere to the teaching, even if we felt led by God to deal with our children in a way other than the prescribed method. I also want to say that certain people were helpful to us by challenging these ideas (even pastors) but in a sense it seemed they were undermining the main principles being taught on a large scale. A little confusing...

Our children developed a strong sense that we were never happy with them. And often we weren't happy with them. After all, they weren't upholding the law we laid out for them which made our job of upholding the law far more difficult. When they failed, we failed more. This was another heavy weight added to our legalistic load. We wanted our little children to bear the heavy yoke with us but they weren't strong enough. Our oldest, our daughter, suffered the most, both because she understood more and is more sensitive.

We were focused on our children's sin. This is only natural when you are focused on your own sin all the time. Our home was not a sanctuary where God's kingdom presence was manifest, but a place where the sin of law and death emanated it sickening odors. We were all suffocating for lack of God's grace. We were trying to dominate and control our children instead of showing them the liberating freedom that Christ has for them. If we continued down this path I can see only two possible outcomes for our children (apart from God's divine intervention): depressed crushed spirits or outright rebellion against God. I believe legalism is the most common cause of children growing up and falling away from the church completely. I can't say I blame them and my heart breaks to see them encounter the Living God who brings true freedom, not another yoke of slavery.

Under law, we have nothing to offer our children with true power to help them change. Our loudest message to them becomes "try harder!!!" and we all get more and more frustrated as they fail again and again. The 'gospel' is just a band aid that covers a perpetual wound. It offers forgiveness and nothing more. It leaves us suffering and sinning, the same old people we were before except now we are even more miserable because we want to be different. It leaves us in the end of Romans 7 and forgets Romans 8 altogether, leaving us crying " who will set me free from this body of death?" but never hearing the answer to our cry.

A couple of weeks ago I asked Eva (6) to clean up and she started complaining and whining. I lost my temper and she went running up the stairs crying and angry at me. I followed her and began a self-righteous lecture but strangely she didn't want anything to do with me. I had noticed a cold hard-hearted attitude from her for quite a while, she had been rejecting any attempts to hug her etc... Within 5 minutes I began to humble myself as the Holy Spirit entered into the situation to help us. She kept saying she just wanted to be left alone but I persisted in asking questions. Almost before I knew what I was saying I said "do you feel like we have a lot of rules and we're always angry at you for breaking the rules?" and the flood gates opened. She started sobbing saying "yes" and was immediately in my arms. It was a clarifying moment for us both. By this time my son Ben (5) was peeking his head in the door and I told him to come in. I began to talk about God who is never angry with his children. I was preaching to myself most of all and as I spoke the simple truths about God's love and the true gospel we all received revelation. Jesus followed every single rule perfectly and set us FREE from the law. Now we have the Holy Spirit who is our friend and helps us. Our Father is happy with us all the time, he loves us and is patient with us. He doesn't see us as failures but as his precious children. I confessed my sinful anger to them and explained that my poor understanding of God's grace had kept me bound up in sinful anger but now that God was showing me his love I was being changed by the Holy Spirit. I asked for their prayer and their patience, explaining that I knew God would change me and I wouldn't always be an angry mom. They graciously forgave me and showed that they had real faith to believe God would come through for us all.

As we journey more and more into God's amazing grace, we are becoming a more joyful family. The process is somewhat slow, but encouraging. We didn't name our youngest son for about a week, we couldn't agree on anything. He finally ended up with the name Isaac, and it seems now almost prophetic of what God was doing in our family from the time he was born. In Scripture Isaac is the son of the free woman and heir to Abraham's promise, and the name means laughter. Our Isaac is a free spirited wild child and a reminder to us that we are called by God to experience the glorious joy of his FREEDOM through his only Son's death and resurrection on our behalf.

Happy Thanksgiving!

And this year I'm thankful that this may be my last Thanksgiving in November. Bring on the October Thanksgivings!!! Also we're picking up our new van today. I just might get the kids out of the house once in a while and that's something to thank God for.

Of course, what I'm most thankful for is the grace of God that shines the light of
his truth into our lives and rescues us from our folly and blindness. While political freedom is great, spiritual freedom is far greater. May we all give thanks for our freedom from sin, punishment, eternal death, and striving to save ourselves by the letter of the law. And if you're not experiencing this freedom, may God reveal himself to you an incomparible Lord and Saviour full of mercy and grace.

Don't worry, the strongest drug I'm on is Ultra-Stress high potency B-complex with vit. C and Iron by Nature's Plus. I highly recommend it (and so does Aaron haha).

Can anyone figure out what the pictures have to do with Thanksgiving?