Light

 Light

October 26, 2024

1 John 1:5-10 (ESV) 

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowshipwith him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Light is a fascinating topic. As a physicist, I studied way too much about photons, energy levels, frequencies, particle/ wave duality and other aspects of wave theory and quantum mechanics. It’s another whole area of study about nuclear physics and the fusion reactor we call the sun that provides all of our sunlight and moonlight. Then there is biology where we study how this sunlight is converted to living tissue through photosynthesis.  Truly, we could not live without light. Indeed, Genesis tells us that our whole universe was created in a flash of light, “And God said, let there be light…”. Also, we understand that physically, darkness has no substance. Light is the presence of photons, but darkness is simply the lack of light. There is no darkness particle.

Philosophically, we understand light to be understanding. To be enlightened… Let us shed some light on the subject… And the darkness, the absence of light, is used to describe ignorance  or lack of understanding. He’s so dim witted…. Darkness is also used to speak of evil. It was a dark movie…  Light and darkness are the Yang and yang used to discuss good and evil. This derives from the biblical understanding of God as an agent of light and Satan as an agent of darkness.

That leads us to 1 John where we learn that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” The lesson here is that we are to walk in the light, which is to walk in God, that is, to walk in the ways of God. Walking in the light also leads to fellowship with one another. It is darkness, hidden things, that poison a relationship and break fellowship. We were dealing with such things in the Cleansing Stream retreat last week. People get hurt and are traumatized by various injuries in personal relationships. The devil’s answer is to hide it in the darkness. Let sleeping dogs lie, and all that. God’s answer is to bring these traumas into the light where they can be healed. Verse 9 instructs us that this process starts with confession of sins which leads to forgiveness . Without forgiveness, there can be no healing.  As long as a personal hurt is buried in the darkness, it is just going to fester and the hurt will grow. If the problem is ignored long enough it results in a root of bitterness which can cause all sorts of problems. (Hb 15:12)

Just as sunlight is source of all physical life, spiritual light is the source of all life in the kingdom of God. In previous discussions, we were talking about pride, and it is pride that tries to keep or sins buried in the darkness. As we strive to walk in the light, the Lord will help us to confess our sins and forgive us. Then as we forgive one another, we can restore relationships with other people. Done properly, this leads to a life of faith, hope and love. Walking in the light. So let us thrive to allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten our understanding and resist our pride to allow the cleansing light of God into our lives. Healing and true fellowship will result. 

Lord, shine your light into our souls so that we may be healed and can live as the light to the world.

What the World Needs Now

 What the World Needs Now

October 25, 2024

Yesterday, we were talking about what is wrong with the world. But what can be done to fix it? Back when I was in high school, there was a popular song, “What the World Need Now”. It was a song with lyrics written by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach. It was first recorded and made popular by Jackie DeShannon in 1965.  The chorus went like this:

What the world needs now 

Is love, sweet love 

It's the only thing that there's just too little of 

What the world needs now 

Is love, sweet love 

No, not just for some, but for everyone 

Then a couple of years later, in 1967, the Beatles released a song called “All You Need is Love”. It was the era of peace and love with flower children marching in the streets against the war in Vietnam. I remember it well (Then again, maybe not so well. We had a saying, “If you remember the 60’s, you weren’t really there!). But is the kind of love that we were singing about the kind that would save the world? The kind of love that most of us had in mind was characterized more by The Rolling Stones song, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”!

No, the kind of love that will save the world is illustrated more by the story in the gospel of John in chapter 13.

John 13:5-17

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

5Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

…

15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

True love is humbling yourself and serving one another. It is not always easy and it never comes at a convenient time, but it shows true love for your brother. There is a lot of strife and animosity in the world caused by selfishness and pride, but the antidote is unselfish love. Such love really is beyond the capability of most of us outside of the love of God and the  power of the Holy Spirit. So really, what the wold needs now… is Jesus! 

So then, let us be an example to the world, living according the the example set by Jesus when he washed the disciples feet. Let us humble ourselves and love our fellow man by serving them. We can bring a little bit of true peace and love to our corner of the world and who knows how far that can spread. 

What’s Wrong with the World

 What’s Wrong with the World?

October 22, 2024

1 John 2:15-17

Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Some days you look around and it seems the the whole wold has gone mad. So what’s wrong with the world? Are things really worse than they have ever been or are we just seeing the faults in the world system more clearly?

Some 2000 years ago, the Apostle John wrote his analysis of the world’s problems. He boiled it down to three things that cause all of the worlds problems.

1. Lust of the flesh
2. Lust of the eyes
3. Boastful pride of life

If you think hard about it, it’s difficult to some up with any current problem that can not be put into one of these categories. Crooked politicians and war: boastful pride. Drug addiction and Diddy parties: lust of the flesh. Corrupt entertainment industry: lust of the eyes. I could go on, but you get the point. The world system hasn’t really changed since the age of the apostles, it’s just that the problems manifest if slightly different ways.

John’s solution was equally simple: Do the will of the Father. Having money problems? Do the will of the Father, work hard and tithe. Depressed and addicted to drugs or alcohol? Do the will of the Father and seek godly council. There are believers that can help you. Worried about the elections? Do the will of the Father. Pray for our leaders and go vote. The list is endless.

Now you may say that this is over simplified, and in some sense it is. But in solving problems, it is always good to remember Ocam’s razor: The simplest solution is almost always the correct answer. You can always complicate a matter, but starting with from the premise that you are going to obey the will of the Father will always lead you to His correct solution. Is this easy to do? Absolutely not! It was not easy for Jesus to go to the cross or for John to go into exile on the Isle of Patmos, but they did it because it was the Father’s will. Not all victories are realized in this world. We need to be aware that the Kingdom of God is not only on this world in this time, but is in heaven and is eternal. Doing the will of the Father in this world is guaranteed to produce blessings in the eternal kingdom, even if it looks like suffering and hardship in this world.  So take heart, as Jesus said, “I have overcome the world”. (John 16:33)

Pride and Humility

 Pride and Humility

October 23, 2024

Another topic that came up in the retreat was pride.This is a difficult subject to talk about, especially in America where we encourage all types of prideful behavior in our children: Self-actualization, Self-esteem, self-respect, self-identification. Now this is not all bad, but there are additional selfish and prideful attitudes that underly the addictive behaviors that plague our country: Self-gratification (sex, over eating), self-medication (drugs, alcohol), self-promotion (athletics, politics, entertainment ), selfish desire to get rich (gambling ). Then of course America has the whole month of June dedicated to Pride in breaking as many of God’s commandments as possible in one month!

It’s also hard to talk about because talking about it brings up the realization that there is pride in our (my) soul, and we don’t want to acknowledge that, because we have pride in our soul… Oh my! It’s also hard to talk about humility, because they say that you can’t claim to be humble, because as soon as you do, then you are prideful, and not humble!

So then, what is pride and why is it so harmful? From the list of prideful attitudes above, you will notice that they all start with “self”. Pride is basically putting yourself first before God or any other person. That was Lucifers problem. “I will exalt myself above the most high…” By seeking to raise himself up, he was cast down and cast our of God’s presence. Therefore, we can say that pride separates us from God, and this produces a rottenness in our soul. John 15 talks about the vine and illustrates how the branch dies and rots if it is cut off from the vine. This is exactly what happens when we are proud and exalt ourselves above the Father.

So if pride is an overly exalted opinion of ourself, what then is humility? Is putting yourself down, being a door mat and kowtowing to evil authorities humility? No. True humility is having the opinion of yourself that God the Father has of you. When you see yourself as loved, honored and cared for by the Father, then you are truly humble. Humility is akin to meekness. That is commonly misinterpreted as weakness, but in truth, meekness is the strength of a horse that has been broken and trained. Once a strong horse has been broken to ride and trained to obey the riders wishes, it is a powerful tool that can herd cattle or run a race. Such meekness is strength under control. Humility is like that in that it is a sense of self worth that is true, and not exaggerated or minimized. 

How do you get rid of pride? I don’t think there is any easy answer there. It is a process of submitting to the Lord Jesus and listening to the Father’s voice though the Holy Spirit. When you walk in submission over time, pride diminishes and humility increases. Like all the fruit of the Spirit, it takes time to grow. You don’t plan an apple seed and expect to harvest apples the next day.  It takes a season, and sometimes two or three, for the tree to grow and begin to bear fruit. So my admonition, is start from wherever you are. Renounce pride and begin to follow the Lord with all you heart, and let Him work on your character until you look more like Jesus and less like the world.

Questions

 Questions

October 22, 2024

In the last blog, we talked about education and unbelief, but today, I’ve got questions. Does asking questions indicate unbelief? Are we allowed to ask questions? When did it become prohibited to ask questions? When I was in school (way back in the 60’s) asking questions was the preferred method of teaching. At least in Physics class, we were not to believe anything without scientific proof and verified experimental results. When baby boomers were students, we didn’t trust anyone over 30 and questioned everything. Now that my peers are the senior professors and deans, if seems that asking questions on campus is strictly prohibited. What happened in the meantime? (I don’t have any answer to this, but if you have any idea, feel free to discuss it with me.)

The God of the Bible is not afraid of questions. A quick look at the Psalms shows you all the times that King David questioned the Lord. “Why do the nations rage?” Ps 2, “How many are my foes?” Ps 3, “How long shall my honor be turned into shame?” Ps 4… and that is just n the first 4 Psalms. But if you read the Psalms to the end, the psalmist always found an answer and consolation and reason to hope.

Jesus likewise welcomed questions. “Where are you going?”, “What dies this mean?”, “Who sinned, this man of his parents?”, etc.  A master and his disciples asking questions was the time honored method of teaching. We call it the Socratic method after Socrates, the Ancient Greek philosopher. When did we change to a method of simply telling pupils what to believe and expecting unquestioned obedience?

Asking questions of the Lord is not necessarily unbelief. If you sincerely want to know the answer, asking questions can lead to deeper belief. Of course, a syndical question that does not expect an answer is a different matter. The difference is a humble attitude that asks questions in the expectation that there is a good answer, and then believing.

Some questions are more dangerous than others. Asking the Lord “Why did this happen?”, rarely gets a good answer. And “How long, O Lord?”, doesn’t always get an answer that you like! Mary asks “How can this be?”, and it was a perfectly acceptable question that the angel answered. And the disciples that asked “Is it you, Lord?”, got an answer every time. In most cases, asking a sincere question and listening for a true answer is an excellent way to learn.

One day, in the eternal kingdom, all of our questions will be answered, but in the meantime, let us just keep asking questions, listening for the voice of our master. This is the way to build faith and belief, by finding answers that you can believe in and walking in that truth. So be blessed, and keep asking questions.

Faith and Unbelief

 Faith and Unbelief

October 21, 2024

This weekend was our Cleansing Stream retreat. As always, it was a great time of healing and deliverance. I also learned some new things about faith and unbelief.

In the church, we study faith and learn how to strengthen our faith in God. But what was brought out in the teaching this week, is that the world actively teaches unbelief. Our educational system, especially the universities, teaches philosophies that are ant ethical to faith. One of these philosophies stems from the teachings of Thomas Malthus (1766-1834). His theory of population growth, in simple terms, was that food production increases linearly and population increases exponentially, so at some point, the population will exceed the food supply and there will be mass starvation. Malthus was primarily concerned about the welfare of the “population”, but succeeding philosophers emphasized the “control” part of “population control”. Others, such as Charles Darwin (1809-1882) strove to invent a theory of biology that eliminated the need for a creator god. And of course, Karl Marx (1818-1883) brought these theories into the economic realm, popularizing theories of socialism and communism that postulated a means of organizing the economy of a population, without needing religion or god. Marx called religion the “opiate of the people”.

In the 20th century these ideas were brought into the educational system by many, including  John Dewey (1859–1952) who was a leading proponent of progressive education. Progressive ideas of population control were popularized in the 70’s by Paul Erlich’s book, “The Population Bomb”, 1968. These progressive ideas were extended into the environmental area by Rachel Carson in her book “Silent Spring”, 1962. And of course, we must not leave out Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) who founded Planned Parenthood and inspired such noble population control advocates as Adolph HItler, who’s Final Solution killed millions of people, and the Chinese Communist Parties One Child Policy that decimated Chinese society for several decades.

The underlying thought in all of these progressive movements was to teach that there is no benevolent god to provide for your. Resources are limited and scarce, and so you need to sacrifice control to an all-wise elite leadership to provide for you. Also, any optimism or hope should be abandoned lest we destroy the earth with our greed and selfishness. The result is that unbelief was actively taught. And are we surprised that we are seeing such widespread drug use, suicide, homosexuality and transgenderism!

First, prayer and Bible reading were removed from the schools, and then the progressives began to teach these theories of population control, environmentalism and socialism. Faith in a god who could provide abundantly for you was mocked and was taught to be unrealistic. To them, the reality was a world of overcrowding, lack and despondency. But of course the all-wise progressive leaders would be there to provide for you instead. As Marx put it, “From each according to his ability. To each according to his need.” This results in an equality of suffering.

Our task, as the modern church, is to combat this active unbelief and give people hope in a loving God who cares for and provides abundantly for them, and teach them to have faith and belief. But first, we need to come against the spirit of unbelief that in instilled into our young people from an early age. Some of these ideas have even crept into the church and these unbiblical, progressive ideas need to be cast out. How can we hope to do this? Only by having faith in God ourselves and praying for His wisdom and strength to combat the forces of evil in the world. It’s not a new battle, but the fighting is intensifying in this current age.

The battle plan is laid out in Ephesians 6 where we are taught that our battle is not against flesh and blood , but against spiritual forces of wickedness. We are to put on the full armor of God and enter the battle.

Ephesians 6:10-20 (NASB)

The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Dark Night of the Soul

 Dark Night of the Soul

Romans 5:1-5

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Recently I was with a group of men discussing how to handle emotions in a biblical manner. The question on the floor was, “What was an experience in your life that caused the most intense emotions? How did you feel? How did it affect you?” 

This reminded me of a phrase I learned from my charismatic catholic friends when I was first saved; “The Dark Night of the Soul”. My friends were into some catholic mysticism such as the writings of St. John of the Cross and Padre Peo. I haven’t followed this thinking in recent years, but this phrase struck me a appropriate to this discussion. It is in periods when we are going through a dark night of the soul that we find out not only what we are made of, but more importantly, we find out what God is made of!

In my case, this period in my life was in the early 1970’s. I had just gotten saved and filled with the Spirit. I had married my childhood sweetheart and was pursuing my dream of being a physics professor. Everything seem to be right on track, when suddenly, everything changed. Within a couple of years, my wife had a nervous breakdown and left me. I failed an oral PhD qualifying exam and then my father passed away. It was indeed a dark night of the soul.

My emotions at that time ran the gamut. I was sad, depressed, angry, anxious and generally an emotional mess. In my early 20’s, I was totally incapable of coping with this, but fortunately, I had made friends with some Christian brothers who were able to support me and encourage me. They got me involved in a band that played Christian music and through them I met a pastor who was able to help me. He got me involved in worship music again and got me started in serious Bible study. In fact, it was through the bass player in our band and this church that I met my current wife.  God basically tore my life down to the foundations and rebuilt it according to His biblical pattern for a Christian man.

Romans 5 teaches us that tribulation results in perseverance, proven character and hope. This was certainly true in my life. By having to totally depend on the Lord in my time of greatest need, I learned to trust Him totally and had a new hope for the future. Paul says that this is a hope that does not disappoint and shows us the reality of how the Holy Spirit works in our life and teaches us to know the love of God.

So how does all this relate to emotions? I have no idea! I am still not an expert on handling and interpreting emotions, but this one thing I have learned. Negative emotions can signal that something is wrong and you need to change something to avoid danger. The best thing to do in this case is to call upon the Lord who is able to save and deliver in any situation. So a dark night of the soul can be of great benefit if you use it to draw near to God and learn to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Like Elijah in the cave, we need to tune out the sound and fury of the storm going on around us and learn to listen to the still small voice that will lead us to walk in the way everlasting