The Lone Ranger rides again! There is a new Lone Ranger series on the Warner-Brothers TV network. The Lone Ranger was very popular when I was young. The Ranger and his faithful sidekick Tonto provided a lot of western action. The new Lone Ranger has long hair and looks kind of young (O well, when you get to my age, a lot of people look pretty young!), but the first episode establishing the Lone Ranger history seemed well done.
One part of the drama caught my interest. I am always looking for Christian application when I read stories or see them on TV. As Tonto saved the young man and nursed him back to health in the Apache tribe, it was decided that Tonto would teach the young man in the ways of an Apache warrior so that, as the Lone Ranger, the man could avenge the ambush killing of the group of Texas Rangers that he had joined.
Tonto says to the Lone Ranger in training, "You must come to realize that you are made up of body, mind and spirit." I thought to myself, "Wow! If only more people realized that they are composed of body, soul (mind) and spirit! This is a good spiritual truth presented here in this story!"
The Bible says that man is composed of spirit, soul (mind) and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). I like to say that I AM a spirit, I HAVE a soul, and I LIVE IN a body. The spirit is that part of us from God's realm of the spirit world. The soul is the intellect, emotions and will of the person located in the mind. And we all know about the material body.
The ancient Greek thinkers spoke of man as a "body and soul" giving the soul spiritual qualities. This has carried over into much Christian thinking and church teaching. But nowhere in the Bible do we find the words: "immortal soul". In fact, we find many references to "souls" dying. In the first chapter of Genesis, the Hebrew word translated "soul" is used four times for lower life forms before it is ever used in connection with man.
Continuing on in the story, Tonto says to the Lone Ranger, "Your spirit is there to control your mind and body and to guide you into proper actions in your life." I thought, "Boy, those Apaches sure seem to have it right!"
But then all the right ideas break down as that great white horse "Silver" comes on the scene. Silver seems to have superhuman senses and Tonto suggests that Silver is the Lone Ranger's spirit guide! Wrong! We hear much about the wrong kind of "spirit guides" in the New Age movement. Animals and birds do NOT have spirits as the Apache doctrine tries to put forth. Animals and birds have souls (minds) and bodies but not spirits.
God DID give us our spirit to function as the control center to guide our soul and body. Soul and body are the means by which we express ourselves and live our fully active lives. But as long as we are confused between what we are in our inner spirit centers, with the ways by which we express ourselves through outer soul and body, we are in trouble.
MANY HAVE SPIRIT AND SOUL SO MIXED UP THAT IT TAKES A REVELATION FOR US TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE!
In simple terms, in our spirits we love. By our mind and body actions we express our love. In spirit, we are knowers. Through soul-mind we express our knowledge by our reasoning faculty. So, as Christians with Christ indwelling our spirits, soul and body are the only precious means by which God can express Himself through us.
We get in trouble when we mistake the variable emotions of the soul for our unchanging spirit center. The emotions of the soul – pleasure, pain, fears, confidences, feelings of happiness or sadness, can either help us or hurt us in accepting guidance from the Spirit of Christ joined to our human spirit.
The same with our soul in its thinking and reasoning activities. All kinds of disturbing or evil thoughts can be left over in our minds from our preconversion days, or can even pour into us daily as Christians. These are the influences of the outer material appearances of things on our mental attitudes, with all of the doubts and questionings they may bring.
Hebrews 4:12 states: The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
This verse compares soul and spirit to "the thoughts and intents of the heart." Intents are our spirit – the fixed purposes of our core being. Thoughts are our soul – varied opinions about the raw material presented.
It is easy to be drawn strongly by some outward desire of the soul and to seem helpless against it. But in my spirit center, where Christ is, I know my real desire is His will and He keeps His firm hold on me.
So we see ourselves in our spirit center, where we and Christ are ONE in spirit, and all things are ours in Him. Soul and body are our wonderful means of endless spirit expression.
And having grasped, by the revelation of the Word, the dividing asunder between soul and spirit, I do not fear my soul and body or, even more foolishly, wish I was without their disturbing reactions. NO. I thankfully see myself as a whole person, God's whole person, God's child in His Family. And I see that He has equipped me with these fascinating means of living out my full life as a whole self – spirit, soul and body – in ALL of my human activities.
Equally, I totally enjoy the fact that He has me safely in hand in my spirit. I have made the choice for Jesus Christ as my Savior and, in return, God has made the eternal choice to recreate me as His eternal child. I receive correction for the temporary surges of soul and body diversions. My deep, still spirit calms the surges as I am "kept by the power of God."
May all Christians get it very clear that emotions of all kinds are soulish, whether high or low. Thoughts of all kinds are reasonings of the soul. These intellectual and emotional factors of the soul are MEANT to be guided and used by the human spirit joined to Christ. We must daily CHOOSE to have this Christ control.
All false religion is built on elements of truth. The Apaches and the New Agers may have figured out the tripartite composition of man, but then they have gone off path with this spirit guide from animals or from special "channelers".
Remember WHO you are at the center of your being – a living union with Jesus Christ. Those who have not accepted Christ have another "spirit guide" – "You are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do" (John 8:44).
When we come to understand and really recognize the old spirit guide and the new Spirit Guide, then and only then have we begun the spiritual growth in the lifestyle of the children of God.
The Lone Ranger better find out the true source of spiritual guidance. Silver is no SPIRIT GUIDE! Psalm 20:7 says: "Some trust in chariots, and some trust in HORSES, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God."
Let's imagine you are at a St. Louis Rams football game waiting for the game to begin. You look over the crowd around you. In front of you sit three men watching the festivities. There is nothing unusual about the physical appearance of these three men.
But if we could look at them with spiritual eyes, we would see remarkable differences. All three have a spirit, soul and body. But that is where the similarity ends.
The first man is trying to face life by using only two basic parts – a body and soul. He either doesn't know that his spirit exists or, if he does know, he is ignoring it as a factor in his life. If we have really sharp spiritual eyes, we can see that this man's soul is sadly ravaged. It is filled primarily with self-concern. A large part of his soul also is occupied by fear and envy and dread and purposelessness and other dispirited qualities. He is trying to live life by whatever power he can muster up in his soul and body. Unknown to him, there is a powerful spiritual nature of self-centeredness dwelling within his spirit and driving him in his independent ways. The man's pathetic inner state may even be reflected in his body: worry lines, vacant stare, stooped shoulders.
Now let's look at the second man. What an enormous difference! Let's look at his inner man first. What we see is magnificent and complex! He is operating out of far more than a soul and a body here. At the center of this man's being, his human spirit radiates with a luminescent quality obviously from another realm. At the center of this radiance resides the very Life of God by a living union of Jesus Christ with his human spirit.
This second man watching the game takes the essence of his life from that other Life within him. Over the years and decades of this man's life, he has yielded to and cooperated with this Life until it now radiates into every area of his being. This man's soul is not preoccupied with self-concern because it is focused on Christ's Life and purpose within him. Joy and peace radiate from his spirit into his soul and can even be detected in the firmness of his steps and the settled expression of his eyes.
Have you ever met a perfect Christian like this? Neither have I. Nevertheless, the possibility exists! While we are weak in the flesh, the divine Life that abides in us knows no boundaries. Neither does a Christian who is in union with Christ and walking is the Spirit. Jesus died and rose again to provide us the resources for this quest. It can be achieved.
But of most concern to us here is the third man. If anything, his condition is more mournful than the first man. His condition is also very puzzling. This man is equipped for life with the same three parts as the second man – a body and soul along with a spirit which contains the divine Life of Jesus Christ. In other words, he is a Christian.
But what is confusing is that, outwardly, this third man has more of a resemblance to the first man who was living a soul life. Even though this third man had within him all he needed to possess the abundant life that could have been his, in actuality he is still basically the same person he was when he became a Christian many years ago.
What is the reason for this sad dilemma? Why is it that some Christians, even though they are so magnificently equipped, grow hardly any from the moment they commit their life to Christ until the day they die?
Surely these Christians are aware of the scriptures plainly stating that a process of transformation is to occur over the course of their lives. Surely they know that after becoming a child of God, they are meant to undergo a series of spiritual changes which, over the years, will cause them to take on more and more of a family resemblance to Christ Himself.
Is it possible that many Christians, even though they do know they are supposed to grow up into a full expression of Christ, DON'T KNOW HOW this is done? Is it possible they have tried and failed? Perhaps repeatedly?
"But we all – with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord – are changed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
This is a cause/result verse. The result is being changed into the Lord's glory, and the cause is BEHOLDING HIM. Change by such means is a radical idea, even among Christians.
The concept of change is important all over the world. And in human affairs, it is hoped that this change will be in positive directions. This is, presumably, what we call progress. This change can be brought about by technology, by politics, by education, and by other factors.
The concept of change is also important in religion. The adherents of most religions are somehow expected to change. Christianity is no exception. Once a person becomes a Christian, a lifetime process of transformation begins. It is expected that this believer will change from what he is to what God wants him to be.
How does this change come about?
In most religions, the change is effected by obedience, discipline, and will power. Most religions have a behavior code, a set of ideals toward which its adherents are progressing. Speaking generally, it is the responsibility of each believer to attain to the ideals of his set of standards. Most such progress comes through willpower, grit, obedience, and determination.
Is there a behavior code in the New Testament? Of course there is. Does the New Testament set forth an ultimate goal toward which Christians are striving? Absolutely.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus talked much about Christian behavior. Most of the epistles set forth behavior standards. These standards seemed especially important to the apostle James.
There is an obvious Christian ideal and goal in the above quoted 2 Cor. 3:18: Christians are expected to change into the image of the glory of their Lord, Jesus Christ. No other religion holds before its adherents the extraordinary possibility of partaking of the life of its founder and gradually taking on His very image.
But HOW is a Christian changed into this image? According to this verse, Christians take on the image of Christ by BEHOLDING HIM!
What a strange idea – to become like a person by beholding him. How absurd to think that I can take on another person's image that I admire just by continuously watching him.
Of course, Jesus Christ is no mere man. And secondly, beholding is a great deal more than just watching.
This Biblical kind of beholding is something that we Christians need to learn more about because doing it changes us into the glorious image of Christ.
Don't forget that Jesus Himself prayed to His Father that WE would do this, that WE would "…BEHOLD My [Christ's] glory which You [the Father] have given Me" (John 17:24).
And don't forget that this beholding is what the Godhead has been doing from all eternity. Before the Godhead ever created anything, they fellowshipped together in all of eternity past.
Probably the main reason for creation was to expand fellowship. The Father wanted to multiply the life of His Son and plant it inside humans on earth.
The most unique thing about Christianity, setting it apart from every other religion, is that its founder, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, literally comes and lives inside every Christian.
And most spectacular of all, EACH AND EVERY CHRISTIAN CAN, AT ANY TIME, GO INSIDE HIS SPIRIT WHERE CHRIST IS AND FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM! This is the main purpose of His being there.
This simple exercise is probably the most basic of all Christian experiences. It can revolutionize the life of any Christian who pursues this practice.
It may be argued by some that this practice toward an "inward life" breeds a self-centered Christian always seeking to add to himself and to feast continually on Christ's presence. It may be said that a Christian is meant to be outward, not inward.
Fellowship with the Lord does NOT decrease spiritual output. It increases output! Time spent with Christ in your spirit does not take away desire for spiritual service. It adds to that desire. And knowing God's infinite supply for our needs, time spent with Christ is probably added on with extra for good measure to the time needs of our life
Beholding Him in His glory is the best motivation for any kind of Christian work. Encounter encourages outreach.
There is another thing that fellowship with Christ encourages: fellowship with other believers.
When an individual Christian fellowships with Christ, it is an other-realm happening, a supernatural experience. He is learning to draw life from His Lord.
When a group of Christians who have learned how to fellowship inwardly with Christ gather together, they draw His Life from one another. Christ is in each individually and the group collectively. The total fellowship IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS.
Our God is not a status quo deity. He is interested in change and growth and results in His followers – not an attempt at change by trying harder in the individual's own human strength and ability, but rather a change in awareness of Christ within by constant, intimate fellowship with Him – BY BEHOLDING HIM!
.There are two basic species of mankind – Christians and non-Christians.
There are also two basic kinds of Christians – those who BEHOLD and fellowship with Christ within and those who don't understand or who ignore the Life of Christ dwelling in union with their human spirit.
When you see people in public, consider them – many different looks, shapes, sizes, personalities, talents, etc. But what is most important to God is the spiritual condition and spiritual awareness of each one. All are represented by the three football fans mentioned at the beginning.
Here I am on Christmas morning writing my thoughts into words. I am led to write about prayer. In the last week especially, I have heard Christian friends stateing that they know they should pray - but they don't really know if it does much good! Jesus said that Christians should "Ask and you will receive". You notice that He doesn't say, "Ask for a specific material thing and you will receive that specific material thing." I believe that what Jesus meant was: PRAY AND YOU WILL RECEIVE AN ANSWER! And I believe that that answer will come in one of three and only three forms:
1. "YES - that's a good idea; let's do it now!
2. "NO - you might not realize it, but that's not really a good idea!
3. "LATER - I like the idea, but now is not the best time!
And I believe that the Holy Spirit working within you will make known to you one of these three answers. We cannot understand with our human minds God's reasoning about our request, but we can know that His answer is for our ultimate good OR for the ultimate good of those in contact with us (Romans 8:28).
I am an unabashed dog lover! Dogs are to me such interesting creatures of God. Much can be learned about the Creator from the actions of the creature.
I personally have always lived with a dog from my earliest childhood years. At seventy-two years old, as best I can remember, I have had twelve dogs in my home – as many as three at one time.
My present dog is a Pomeranian named “Nicky”. He is thirteen years old (equivalent to ninety-one years of human maturity at the usually recognized 7 to 1 ratio).
As Nicky interacts with me, I see some parallels with how I interact with God.
Nicky has grown to recognize me and love me as his master. I wasn’t always his master. In his early years, Nicky had a very independent spirit. He recognized my desires but when they conflicted with his own, he did his own thing. This is how God and I interacted in my early life. I knew how God wanted me to live but my independent spirit led me toward selfish things.
But just as God patiently put up with my independent actions, I tolerated Nicky’s independence as just a puppy and adolescent stage. I figured as he got to know me and see that my desires were for his good, he would accept me as master and friend. This is much like God saw my independence, I suspect.
One day, when Nicky was about five, he slipped out the door between our legs and disappeared into the extensive woods around our house. He was gone from early morning to evening time while we called for him and searched. As it was getting dark and we were losing hope of seeing him again, out of the woods and down the street came Nicky. He looked worn out and bedraggled much like the prodigal son in Luke’s parable. He had “sown his wild oats” and come to recognize where his best life was.
I also “sowed some wild oats” in my relationship with God but came to see that independence from my Creator and Master was not the best way to go.
Now that Nicky is old and more settled in his ways, he has grown to recognize how much I love him and desire to care for him. And in return, he has become probably the most loving dog of all my previous pets.
I must say that Nicky is still not perfectly loving. When he wants to sleep and I want him to go outside, he gives me a little growl as I get him to his feet. If I call him and he is busy with his own activity, he acts like he didn’t hear me.
Sounds a lot like my relationship with God. Even though I love and respect Him, I still growl at God or act like I didn’t hear Him because there is something of my own that I want to do.
Every life has a law of life. Part of the law of dog-life is barking and growling. The law of cat-life includes mouse-chasing and purring. It is not necessary to teach a dog to bark or a cat to chase mice; they do these things because of their law of life. Law, simply stated, is just the way something works; and it doesn’t work in any other way.
Most of us, at some time in our lives, have had a dog as a pet. We become attached to them and derive great pleasure and satisfaction from our relationship with them. Dogs can be so lovable and seem to return love and affection to their human masters.
But a dog is not a man. You could never teach a dog to be a man. You could put clothes on him, and tell him all about man’s law of life, but he will never be anything but a dog. The only way a dog could live man’s law of life is by a miracle! If you could miraculously inject man’s life into him, or if a man could miraculously somehow get into the dog, then he would talk, act and live like a man.
God also has a law of life. The law of God-life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
It is even more impossible for an unconverted man having no miracle involvement to act like God than for a dog to act like a man. Yet, religion teaches that salvation involves acting like God. You must love your enemy, turn the other cheek, be good and run from sin. This is all well and good but unconverted man’s law of life is selfish. The law of his life is to cheat, lie, steal, and even to be good when it’s in his own best interest. You do not need to teach a child to lie and cheat; it is his law of life.
You can try to teach a man to act like God, but it just doesn’t work. About all you can teach a man is to hide his selfishness under a veneer of good manners. If God’s life would miraculously enter a man, however, it would become the man’s law of life to live the life of God.
Well, this is exactly what God has in mind for man. To be born again simply means to miraculously receive another life. We receive the law of God-life into our beings that He might live His life through us. This is our purpose, and the only way to total peace and happiness, both on earth and forever after death.
It is a sad truth that man seems to get closer to his Creator (just as Nicky gets closer to me) in times of stress and problems than in times of prosperity and ease. Whenever a man gets to feeling self-sufficient, it seems a problem comes which shows how weak we are.
Seeing Nicky grow to develop a personal relationship with me reminds me of how I have grown to develop a personal relationship with Christ. (Certainly I recognize that Nicky is a lower animal with Pavlovian responses to hunger and pain and an unknown “love factor”. But I still believe that the analogy of dog to man and of man to God still holds up.)
As we grow in Christ, we develop a closeness of thought, our mind with the mind of Christ. We learn to hear, recognize and listen to His voice. Before this time it is not safe to listen to the small voice within us for guidance because it may not be God. Just as the sheep learn to recognize the voice of the shepherd and Nicky learned to recognize my voice as his master, there comes a point when we can safely follow the direction of the small voice we hear daily as we recognize the Voice from our relationship with Christ. God has promised us and we know in faith that this is His will for us.
If I could work a miracle and place my law of man-life into Nicky, I would do it in an instant – because I love him.
Well my heavenly Father wanted to and did place His law of God-life within me and every other born again Christian – because He loves us. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, actually comes to live right within the Christian in a Spirit to human spirit union. This is a miracle of the first order.
A person must become the “John Smith-form of Christ” or the “Mary Brown-form of Christ”. This is what life is all about.
IF A PERSON DOESN’T CHOOSE TO LIVE GOD-LIFE, HIS NATURAL MAN-LIFE WILL HAVE HIM “WORKING LIKE A DOG” TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!
Whether you have seen it or not, you probably know that the beautifully animated movie The Polar Express (based on the award-winning children's book) came to theaters a few weeks ago. And, if you've gone anywhere near a retailer this holiday season, no doubt you've seen cards and gifts emblazoned with its theme: "Believe!" This message bothers me. Does it bother anyone else? I want to shout, "Believe what?" There is the idea, the not-so-subtle assertion, that the act of believing is laudable in itself, apart from the object of belief. During this holiday season, let's remind ourselves and all the children in our lives that believing is a good thing IF (and only if) it's attached to truth. There's a huge difference between the cute North Pole fantasy in the movie and the true story of Christmas. In contrast to what the film says, when we decide to get on a train, it DOES matter where that train is going. I'm hoping the movie will spark a good conversation with someone in your life, a conversation about the crucial difference between blind believing and biblical faith based on proven observations of both a material and an immaterial nature - material designs in creation and immaterial aspects of relationships with other human beings.
One of my favorite columnists is Michelle Malkin found at this website: Link Here is her Dec. 22, 2004 column.
Yes, it's maddening when politically correct bureaucrats ban nativity scenes and Christmas carols in the name of "diversity" and "tolerance." We are under attack by Secularist Grinches Gone Wild. But the war on Christmas in America is a mere skirmish.
Around the world, a bloody, repressive war on Christians rages on.
In Iraq, Islamist rebel troops have declared open season on Christian churches, priests and missionaries. In February, four American pastors were traveling in a taxi near the capital when terrorists ambushed them. Rev. John Kelley, pastor of Curtis Corner Baptist Church in rural Rhode Island and a former Marine, was killed in the attack. The missionaries were starting up a new church south of Baghdad.
A friend of Rev. Kelley's noted upon word of his murder that "he wanted to be a witness for Christ in a part of the world where there aren't a lot of witnesses for Christ."
On March 15, Southern Baptist missionaries Larry and Jean Elliott of Cary, N.C., Karen Denise Watson of Bakersfield, Calif., and David McDonnall of Rowlett, Texas, were killed in a drive-by shooting in northern Iraq. McDonnall's wife, Carrie, survived the attack. The group, one of several Christian aid groups helping with reconstruction efforts, was scouting out locations for a water purification project.
The McDonnalls were young students at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Watson served on the Baptist International Mission Board, as did the Elliotts. At the Elliotts' funeral, their oldest son, Scott, touched his chest and looked upward in tribute to his parents: "Thank you for living for the Lord. I am a life that was changed." Stephen Rummage, interim senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Cary, N.C., said the couple "loved the gospel and the souls of lost men and women more than themselves."
In Saudi Arabia, an Indian Christian man was abducted and held captive by the kingdom's religious police (the "Muttawa") for seven months earlier this year. Brian Savio O'Connor was singled out by the Wahhabist thug cops for "possession of Bibles and preaching Christianity." In addition, the Muttawa falsely charged that O'Connor had illegally sold alcohol. While in custody, O'Connor was allegedly beaten and "pressed to convert to Islam," according to the AsiaNews Web site. The Saudi government succumbed to international pressure and freed O'Connor last month.
But persecution by the Saudi government against Christian Saudis continues. A Saudi Christian convert, Emad Alaabadi, was taken into custody by the Muttawa in November. The father of four became a Christian two years ago. Family and friends at the human rights group International Christian Concern fear he has been tortured for his beliefs.
On Dec. 1, Christian pastor Zhang Rongliang disappeared from his village apartment in Zhengzhou, China. According to The Voice of the Martyrs, a non-profit charity that tracks religious persecution, state police confiscated all of Pastor Zhang's Christian DVDs, materials and photos. Three other Christian churches were reportedly raided after Pastor Zhang's arrest -- part of a nationwide crackdown on the Chinese "house church" movement. More than 100 other Christian pastors were arrested in Kaifeng city in September. Many have been beaten, sentenced to "re-education through labor," and accused of being "leaders of an evil cult."
In Vietnam and North Korea, followers of Christ have been arrested, beaten, tortured and forced to renounce their faith. In Nigeria, an Islamist terrorist group named after the Taliban conducted religious pogroms in the northern part of the country this fall -- kidnapping, raping and killing Christian villagers as part of a radicalization program that government officials suspect is being funded by Saudi Wahhabists. In Sudan, Muslim radicals have perpetrated mass slaughter and enslavement of Christian men, women and children, some of whom have been literally crucified.
If America's mainstream media would give the global War on Christianity just a fraction of the attention it pays to the War on Christmas, lives might be saved. And light would be shed on the true heroes of the original religion of peace.
Doing so, however, would require the nation's secularized pundits and pontificators to take religious persecution seriously. In that, alas, I have no faith.
[Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist]
A photographer for a major worldwide news service had seen everything. He had traveled the globe to many crisis situations of war, civil uprisings, plane crashes, natural disasters, every form of human suffering. He had developed a very callous nature toward the many upsetting events which he was assigned to photograph. Throughout much of his early life, this man had no desire to even consider there being a God, much less any wish to know about Jesus Christ, a reported Son of God. If there was a God, how could He allow all the things this man had witnessed? The world was in such a mess, it was inconceivable that a “good” God has created it. But still - as he grew older, deep within his being, he felt a drawing, a calling, toward an understanding of God. He could not shake the feeling that there was a higher purpose for man than what he had seen. He hesitantly began to look in the Bible. He studied what was written about the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all mankind. He began to consider that what he was reading might be true. But how could he know? This business of “faith” seemed beyond him. He believed in what he could see, hear, taste, feel and touch. He was an educated, scientific minded man who had a problem with “spiritual” concepts. How could he really know the existence of God? He needed some proof of the Jesus Christ saga of the Bible. As he wrestled in his mind about God, he decided on a solution. He wanted a SIGN! After all, if God really existed and wanted to show Himself, then God should give some physical sign. He reasoned that something obviously of God that he could contact with the senses would convince him. About that time, world events began to demand more of his time and he traveled extensively in his picture-taking assignments. God ideas kind of got put on the back-burner in the heat of his work. Then a very severe earthquake took place in Alaska. There was much damage and loss of life, and he was assigned to cover the story in pictures. On the last leg of his flight into Anchorage, Alaska, he was looking out the plane window at the frozen terrain below. There were patches of snow and areas of exposed dark ground. Nothing spectacular, he was thinking.Suddenly, a message flashed into his mind “Take a picture! Take a picture!” He heard the words so clearly that it was as if someone right beside him had said it. He looked down again, but the scenery had not changed. All he saw was just light and dark patches - no people, no buildings, nothing exciting - just snow and earth. “Why take a picture?” he thought. “Nothing here.” But the message had been so clear and insistent, that he got out his camera and snapped what he could see out the window. He flew into Anchorage and took many pictures of the destruction. Again, God was far from his mind. After he returned to his home office, all of the rolls of film were developed and returned to him. He had so many pictures to sort through that he had forgotten about that single picture from the plane. And then it happened! He came to that picture, and stopped in his tracks. What he saw in the picture immediately reminded him of his request that God show him a sign. There, in the black and white of the landscape, was the FACE OF CHRIST! It was unmistakable to him. As he fell on his knees, he heard and recognized that same voice which had said to take a picture speaking again: “You have certainly been a hard nut to crack. I have been dealing with you all of your life, but you have been anchored to the world tighter than most. For some people, subtle hints of Me do the trick. For others, it takes a steady revelation by Me to gain their understanding. But for the stubborn like you, sometimes the only thing that works is a SIGN! I am not really into physical signs, but I love you so much that I‘ll do ‘whatever turns you on!’ Accept My Son, Jesus Christ, that you see in the snow. Know Him as your Savior and pledge to make Him the Lord of your life. And with this, I will give you a new birth as a child in My Family. Jesus said, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, AND YET HAVE BELIEVED.’ (John 20:29)
I had no Christmas spirit when I breathed a weary sigh And looked across the table where the bills were piled too high. The laundry wasn't finished and the car I had to fix. My stocks were down another point, the Rams had lost by six.
And so with only minutes till my son got home from school, I gave up on the drudgery and grabbed a wooden stool. The burdens that I carried were about all I could take, And so I flipped the TV on to catch a little break.
I came upon a desert scene in shades of tan and rust. No snowflakes hung upon the wind, just clouds of swirling dust. And where the reindeer should have stood before a laden sleigh, Eight Hummers ran a column right behind an M1A.
A group of boys walked past the tank, not one was past his teens. Their eyes were hard as polished flint, their faces drawn and lean. They walked the street in armor with their rifles shouldered tight, Their dearest wish for Christmas, just to have a silent night.
Other soldiers gathered, hunkered down against the wind, To share a scrap of mail and dreams of going home again. There wasn't much at all to put their lonely hearts at ease. They had no Christmas turkey, just a pack of MREs.
They didn't have a garland or a stocking I could see, They didn't need an ornament -- they lacked a Christmas Tree. They didn't have a present even though it was tradition. The only boxes I could see were labeled "ammunition."
I felt a little tug and found my son now by my side. He asked me what it was I feared, and why it was I cried. I swept him up into my arms and held him oh so near And kissed him on the forehead as I whispered in his ear,
“There's nothing wrong my little son, for safe we sleep tonight. Our heroes stand on foreign land to give us all the right, To worry on the things in life that mean nothing at all, Instead of wondering if we will be the next one to fall.”
He looked at me as children do and said, “It’s always right To thank the ones who help us, and maybe we should write.” And so we pushed aside the bills and sat to draft a note, To thank the many far from home, and this is what we wrote:
“God bless you all and keep you safe, and speed your way back home. Remember that we love you so, and that you're not alone. The gift you give you share with all, a present every day, You give the gift of liberty and that we can't repay.”
Probably every coach at one time or another has told his athletes during a game or contest, "Stop trying; you're trying too hard!" The coach knows that during competition it is too late to change anything. At that point, the athlete can only allow the trained skill and natural abilities within him to flow out of him. We often see that the most successful athletes are the ones who relax and flow with their trained ability.
Man's compulsive "trying" and self-effort seem to automatically carry over into his religious and "spiritual" experiences. Our tendency is to be imitators. When we see that our experience falls short of our position in Christ, we purpose to somehow try harder to act as we assume Jesus acted. Initially, our false sense of inadequacy causes us to look for new approaches, new methods, new principles to enable us to act more "Christ-like". Only our awareness that our life IS His life will release us to freely accept ourselves and others in our human limitations as established by God for His ultimate purposes.
For years, my service for God was basically a duty. In fact, its demands sometimes were a tiresome chore. The need was stressed both directly and indirectly to discipline myself and serve Jesus more faithfully. None of these challenges will confuse us as long as we have an adequate awareness that He is our life. But for many, the admonitions result in nothing more than guilt over the past and self-effort for the future. Yes, there is a yoke and a load; but regrets and self-effort are not necessary, "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light" (Matt. 11:30).
There will be an agony of soul on occasion, but this must be distinguished from struggle in our inner being. It is in this sense that Paul says, "for when I am weak [in my soul], then I am strong [in my spirit]" (2 Cor. 12:9). And again in 2 Corinthians 6:10 – "as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things." When we transfer problem solving to the spiritual, life on this plane is exciting, not fear; serenity, not struggle.
The admonition to "be still and know that I am God" contains a hidden truth in the words, "know that I am God." Through the years when I heard that injunction, I always visualized a deep, resonant voice from a distant galaxy saying, in effect, "Be quiet; I am God, not you! If you listen carefully, maybe I'll help you." But I have come to see that perhaps He is really saying, "STOP YOUR EFFORTS LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE A UNIQUE EXPRESSION OF THE ONE GOD."
But be clear that the physical or mental exertion is not the real problem – it is the independent self engaging in illusory self-effort. In fact, as we come to see our living union with Jesus Christ, self-giving effort and involvement will be more apparent than ever. This type of problem solving is acceptable and natural, because it is based on His inner power. We can only achieve as much problem solving as the power of Christ within can do for us. We certainly have unique individual human gifts, but these can only be used in the context of the awareness of dependence on the power and leadership of Christ within.
I TRIED to be good and not to be bad;
I TRIED to be happy and not to be sad;
I TRIED to be loving and not to withhold;
I TRIED to be willing His will to unfold.
I TRIED to do this and tried to do that;
I TRIED and I TRIED, til I finally sat;
Spoke my loving Lord,
with a smile so mild,
"Why not stop being such a TRYING child?"
Anonymous
But since human self cannot be improved, what place is there in the Christian's life for personal responsibility? We are told not to try on one hand, but we are also told that when we finally find out who we are in Christ, victorious living and problem solving will be our experience. Do we as beings of choice have personal responsibility or don't we?
The Scriptures seem to teach both inadequacy AND adequacy – incompetence AND competence. First we read, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me" (Rom. 7:18); and then we read, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). The answer to this paradox, and to the question of personal responsibility, lies in the "I, yet not I" truth of Galatians 2:20, as well as in the teaching of many other verses, for example, 2 Cor. 3:6-7: "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant…" NOTICE THAT THE ABOVE VERSES CLEARLY TAKE US FROM OUR INADEQUACY, TO HIS ADEQUACY, TO OUR ADEQUACY.
Notice the distinct parallel to the sequence in Galatians 2:20:
[Because I am inadequate and need help] I have been crucified with Christ.
[But now Christ's adequacy is within me] And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
[And the union of Christ and I makes me totally adequate] And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.
From the above sequences we can see that the attitude we have and the language we use radically changes depending on how we see ourselves. As long as we see ourselves as separate from Christ, we are painfully aware of our inadequacy. When we begin to see our inner union with Christ, we focus on His adequacy. But at this level, we still say, "I can't, but He can." Full freedom and willingness to assume personal responsibility finally comes when we are taken by a fixed inner awareness of who we really are – ONE with Him who is Total Adequacy and Total Competence personified.
We must move from saying –
"I can't do it."
to
"I can do it with God's help"
to
"I can't do it, but Christ in me can"
to
"I CAN do it!"
Do you see your Christian life as a series of problems to be solved? Is your Christianity a road of obstacles to be overcome? This is a SEPARATED outlook! And you are NOT a separated being – you are in a DIVINE UNION.
Get the right perspective on problem solving – God's perspective – God's solution: CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY (Colossians 1:27)
"To be or not to be – that is the question!" stated Shakespeare's Hamlet. THAT IS THE QUESTION – for every human being. That is the choice of living for everyone. When Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, I doubt that he realized the full ramification of Hamlet's statement.
If Satan was writing Hamlet, it probably would have said, "To have or not to have - that is the question!" The paramount philosophy of the god of this world is "I want to have!" The newspapers, TV, and the junk mail incessantly hammer us with a message to buy, buy, buy. I am told that the latest fashion, food, drink, appliance, vacation, or whatever is being sold, will enhance my lifestyle, make me (even more) attractive and bring happiness. The lack of any of these will irretrievably diminish me as a person.
I already know from experience that this is not actually true, but when I lean toward the world's influence, I can be a sucker for the next "fix" like any drug addict.
All the corporate greed that we have seen in the Enron and Worldcom messes point out that no matter how much some people have, they want to HAVE MORE. And they rationalize that any shady deal to acquire more is OK no matter how many people are hurt by it. Where does it all end?
If my possessions or my family, my knowledge, my doctrine or even my church are held as an extension of myself, and if the loss of these, sad as it might be, actually reduces me as a person, something is wrong. Jesus said, "A person's real life in no way depends upon the extent of his possessions." When I am what I HAVE, my perceptions are out of line. All the temptations of Jesus were based on the premise that He could HAVE something more – food, miracle, power – which would enhance His ministry, while at the same time, casting doubt on who He WAS, which was the essence of His mission.
GOD'S NAME IS NOT "I HAVE" BUT "I AM", WHICH IS A REVELATION OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. He is the Eternal Now; and what He HAS, which is everything, is totally eclipsed by who He IS – the always existing One out of whom all life and all creation spring. As we join in a living union with Him through Jesus Christ dwelling in us, so we find HAVING overshadowed by the wonder and thrill of BEING. HAVING holds no live relationship, whereas BEING is all vibrant contact and fellowship.
We tend to place these things in the wrong order of importance. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't possess anything. But it does mean that we are not chained and bound by what we own.
The HAVING mode intrusively extends into other areas besides material possessions. When we say that we HAVE knowledge, that usually means that we possess a store of information which may or may not be useful and which is often a source of competition with others. By contrast, KNOWING is a present, flexible function which is the dynamic of creative ideas and activity.
In the area of leadership, there is a difference between HAVING authority based on earned or unearned status, and BEING an authority which has to do with competence and ability in a particular area. The first is acquired in such a way that it has no necessary relation to capability. The second comes from within a person and is a functioning quality of life which may exercise leadership when necessary.
Perhaps most important for us are the areas of faith, hope and love. Faith in the HAVING style usually provides a set formula (doctrine) which in company with my group or church provides a crutch of certainty which makes unnecessary the need to search out the answers to life for myself. Jesus, when asked to give His disciples more faith, revealed that it was not a "thing" to be hoarded, like food in a pantry, but a functional activity, like a muscle to be exercised.
The "I AM Faith" lifestyle reiterates within my BEING that God IS, that Christ IS living in me, and that He is in charge of my life whatever happens – even to the destruction of my crutches. Any certainty I have is, therefore, based on my experience of BEING in Him, my fellowship with Him, my union with HIS faith – "...I live by the faith OF the Son of God..." Galatians 2:20 King James version. This is real faith rather than an illusion of security based on HAVING external authority.
HAVING hope is better than not having hope. But, again, is your hope based on having a set formula for the future? Or shouldn't you say, "I AM hope!" because all of your future is based on Who you are, a Christ-person. You ARE Eternal Life in Christ! You are seated in the heavenlies now in Christ! Everything concerning your future IS Christ – and you have your BEING in a living union with Him, as mysterious but as real as the Trinity of God. This is real hope.
Love also, in a very real sense, is something which I cannot HAVE. Like faith and hope, it cannot be quantified. Again, it is not something to be possessed, but an activity of life to be expressed. When I try to HAVE love, I usually end up suffocating the object of my love with phonyness. In reality, love can only be a function of the inner life of God through union with Christ which affirms, supports and enjoys another, thus standing them on their own feet to live their own lives. The love from BEING demonstrates that I am on their side yet does not constrain them to inhibit their creativity and fulfillment.
If "God IS love" as 1 John 4:8,16 states, then love is not a quality that God can give to us to use. God does not have love to give, but He does even better – He give Himself, His BEING. Conversion and the new birth make us a new person, God's child instead of Satan's child. We receive the spiritual DNA of God. And that DNA, that building block of God's nature, makes us the LOVE OF GOD!
So let us place far into the background the perception of what we HAVE. And let us grow in AWARENESS of who we ARE:
GOD THE FATHER IN OUR NATURE!
JESUS CHRIST IN OUR SPIRIT!
AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR
SOUL-MIND TEACHING US TO
LIVE BY WHO WE ARE!
"To be or not to be, that is the question."
And, as the U.S. Army says,
"BE all that you can BE!"
This time of year, you hear some say that Christmas is "pagan" and it is wrong to celebrate Christmas with Christmas trees, as Saturnalia was when pagans lit up trees with candles to encourage the sun to return? Would putting up lights and other decorations also qualify as pagan practices? They are probably thinking of Deuteronomy 12:28-32. Someone probably once told them that this verse applied to Christmas (for had they simply read the Bible I doubt whether they would have made such an application). The passage in Deuteronomy says nothing about Jesus, nothing about the birth of God in the flesh. What it does condemn, if read in its context, is burning children in the fire as sacrifices to gods. If one were to extend this principle to Christianity, then Christians would do very little, if anything, in terms of worship. All days of the week bear the names of pagan gods, so meeting on any day might be construed as worshipping the one true God on the "wrong" -- i.e. pagan -- day. Perhaps it would help to know that God himself, in giving worship ceremonies and practices to the Jews, made use of already existing festivals/ceremonies/symbols. The vast majority of the existing worship patterns and symbols before God brought Israel out of Egypt were pagan (that is polytheist -- based upon those who recognized and obeyed many gods, rather than one God). So, for example, if one examines the high holy days of Israel of the old covenant, and then studies history and anthropology, one will find many similarities. So many similarities that atheists and agnostics use this fact in an attempt to to devalue the unique claims of the Bible. But God never said anywhere in the Bible, old or new covenant, that all symbols, seasons, days and ceremonies had to be somehow completely unique. The meaning and significance is of course unique, but not the elements. We know that from the old covenant festivals and worship practices, which had precursors in paganism. So obviously God is not condemning, here in Deuteronomy, something He Himself had done. Some use Jeremiah chapter 10 as a condemnation of Christmas trees. But the practice of using a Christmas tree to honor the birth of Jesus did not exist for up to 1,500 years after the time of Jeremiah. The purpose of Christmas is to worship and celebrate Jesus. As Christians we are free to celebrate the birth of Jesus anytime we want. In my experience no one who says that we should not celebrate His birth on December 25 (or in early January as Orthodox Christians do) actually suggests an alternate time. I can only conclude that some do not wish to celebrate the birth of my Lord at all! What a strange idea — being a Christian and not celebrating Jesus' birth!? But again, if someone wishes to do so in July, then fine, do so. And if families choose not to have a tree, or not to have decorations to welcome the newborn King, or not to exchange presents for some reason, or not to sing any or some Christmas carols, etc. etc. -- all of this is optional. It's not the reason for the season. Jesus is.
Does Scott Peterson deserve the death penalty for killing his wife and unborn child? His jury is deliberating as I write this.
There is much discussion in the country over the death penalty. Should there be a place for execution of criminals? Is the finality of execution right in light of new forensic evidence such as DNA comparisons?
Whether the death penalty is proper in our courts today or not, the fact is that under our present law judges DO use the death penalty in cases allowed by law.
The judge might have something like this to say at a sentencing of a criminal after his conviction by a jury of his peers:
"Mr. ____, you have been found guilty of murder in the first degree. According to the laws of this State, this crime is worthy of the death sentence. You may have been a popular figure in the public eye. You may have done some acts of generosity toward others. You may even have contributed a lot of your time to charities. In fact, it may be that much of your life you have tried to do the right thing. But due to the heinous nature of THIS crime, it is my solemn duty to uphold the law. I must sentence you to DEATH!"
This is the way it works in human courtrooms. Justice must prevail. There can be appeals. But, in the end, the law must be upheld.
Unlike the verdict of this earthly court, there is no doubt over the verdict of God as Heavenly Judge if He should happen to judge us on the basis of our own works. We are all guilty as charged; the evidence is clear. Our own consciences even testify against us: we have all sinned and fallen short of God's law standard of absolute moral perfection (Romans 3:23). After all, God's nature is the standard – who could hope to live up to that? ALL have failed to manifest God's holy nature of love in their lives, seeking their own independence and self-gratification at the expense of others. If God should judge and sentence us according to what we have done, there is no option for us but death. "The wages of sin is death…" (Romans 6:23). The crime is so heinous that God really has no choice. There must be a death!
But somehow God has made a way for humanity to be acquitted of its crimes against Him without being unjust.
But how can this be? I have already stated that God, because of His holy justice, must punish sin. He cannot remove the just consequence of sin, the penalty of death, without compromising His character. How can God be both gracious and merciful in unconditionally accepting us on the one hand, and holy and just on the other? How is this apparent contradiction to be resolved? The answer is in Romans 3:24-26: God has presented Jesus Christ to take our place in the death penalty – so that we might be restored to a right relationship with God.
What does it mean to have a right relationship with God? First of all, a relationship with God does not refer to a feeling. It does not refer to feelings of emotional closeness and intimacy with God that one might associate with friendship, family, and romance. That is "relationship" in the soulish or fleshly sense of the term, which has nothing to do with the realm of spirit. A right relationship with God is established in the human spirit first.
When Jesus steps forward in the courtroom to take my place, I approve and accept His action. I would be a fool if I didn't!
But THEN I get even more of God's grace and mercy than I bargained for. By a bewildering miracle Christ comes to dwell within me, within my human spirit – in a living union.
When it is time for the death penalty to be carried out on the Cross, Christ surprises me with the statement that now that He is in a union with me, I am going to die right up there on the Cross with Him! "What? I didn't approve and accept that! I didn't mean for us BOTH to die!"
But Jesus calms me with the fact that I won't suffer – only He will. I won't feel the pain of the nails – only He will. I won't be mocked and scorned – only He will. He and I will die together in a union on that Cross, but only He will suffer the penalties.
And then the really good news! WE WON'T STAY DEAD! We will come back to life again together – a new life – a new species of life upon the earth. CHRIST AND I! TOGETHER, TWO LIVING AS ONE!
Jesus was my substitute, taking upon Himself the penalty that I should have endured, so that I might be restored to a right relationship with God. And the only right relationship with God is to have God living right within me – Jesus Christ in a living union with my human spirit.
"I am crucified with Christ – nevertheless I live – yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
Who can calculate the cost of Jesus' intercession for me on the Cross? God treated Him as the sinner in my place, enduring the rejection that I should have received. Who can say the infinite depth of loving fellowship with the Father that Jesus gave up for my sake, even if only temporarily? For Jesus was Himself God, the second member of the Trinity, so that the Cross reached into the very heart of God.
This is a profound mystery, that God would pour out His own judgment upon Himself before allowing me to endure it. This is the depth to which God loves and cares for me.
But think how deeply serious my sin, my attitude of independence from God, must be that such an awesome sacrifice was required! For God would not have done something so drastic unless it were absolutely necessary. Nothing less than the Cross could atone for my crimes, so that I ought to be utterly ashamed at the depth and seriousness of my sin.
Fortunately God does not leave me in this total humiliation, but graciously accepts me in my new birth and union with Christ. And now in my total acceptance I can hold my head high. I AM NOT A CRIMINAL! (Didn't Richard Nixon say that?) In fact, God says that whole courtroom trial and sentencing time has been wiped away. God has cleared that out of His memory banks. He has separated it away from Him as far as the east is from the west.
Now I must get on living life as this new person in union with Christ. Life is now comparatively simple. The Holy Spirit is dealing with my soul (intellect, emotions and will) to bring my soul into constant TRUST of Christ's guidance from my spirit. That's what a Christian's life is all about. Christ said, "My yoke is easy! My burden is light!" Now I can have that "intellectual" relationship with God, that "emotional" relationship with God, that "willful" relationship with God, because my SPIRIT is right with God.
GOD IS THE JUDGE OF JUSTICE! GOD IS THE JUDGE OF MERCY! GOD IS LOVE !
You can sit in on as many courtroom trials as you want to for a lifetime, and you will never see a human judge offer his son to take the criminal's place in the death penalty. Our system of justice and mercy is humanly flawed. And it is the best system that we can come up with.
But God's courtroom deals in unconditional LOVE –
and JUSTICE AND MERCY JUST NATURALLY FOLLOW!
"Christmas with the Kranks" is not only the name of a holiday movie this year, it is also a national trend. Once again, Christmas is under siege by the growing forces of secularism in America. Put these facts in your stocking:
Federated Department Stores, which includes Macy's, has suggested that managers avoid displaying "Merry Christmas" banners and have ordered employees not to talk about it.
In Denver, a church was banned from the "Festival of Lights" parade because it wanted a religious theme to its float.
The Maplewood, New Jersey school board has banned all religious music from "holiday" concerts. (Would somebody please tell me exactly what holiday this is?)
And New York City Mayor Bloomberg insists that the lighted tree outside City Hall is not a Christmas tree, it's a "holiday tree." (What holiday, Mr. Mayor?) Surveys show that more than 90% of Americans celebrate the Federal holiday of Christmas, signed into law by President Grant in 1870. Despite that overwhelming number, the tradition of Christmas in America continues to get hammered.
The anti-Christmas forces say it's all about diversity, protecting the sensitivities of those Americans who get offended by the mere mention of the birth of Jesus. Somehow, I haven't been able to locate any of these people--folks who find a baby in a manger so off-putting, it ruins their day.
So the diversity excuse is a bunch of bull. What's really going on here is a well-organized movement to wipe out any display of organized religion from the public arena.
The secular-progressive movement understands very well that it is organized religion, most specifically Christianity and Judaism, that stands in the way of gay marriage, partial birth abortion, legalized narcotics, euthanasia, and many other secular causes. If religion can be de-emphasized in the USA, a brave new progressive society can be achieved.
It has happened in Canada. Once a traditional religious country, Canada has become like Holland in its embrace of the secular movement. Some facts: In 1980, 79% of Canadians said that religion was important to the country. That number has now fallen to 61%, according to an Environics Focus Canada poll.
In 1971, less than one percent of the Canadian population reported having no religion whatsoever; now that number has risen to 16%.
The fall of religion in Canada has corresponded to a change in public policy. Unlike Americans, Canadians have legalized gay marriage and any kind of abortion. Also, the age of consent for sex up north is just 14 years old. Can you imagine American adults being allowed to fool around with children that age? I can't.
Even drug legalization is close to being a reality, as the city of Vancouver is developing a heroin give-away policy, and pot has been largely decriminalized across the country.
The Canadian model is what progressive Americans are shooting for, and so religion must be dealt with. Since Christmas is the most demonstrative display of organized religion, the strategy of minimizing the birth of Jesus makes perfect sense.
I know this sounds kind of conspiratorial, but it really isn't. Most of those marginalizing Christmas have no idea about the big picture I've just presented. They simply think they're looking out for the minority of Americans who don't celebrate the birth of Christ.
But committed secularists in the media, in the courts, and in the education system know exactly what's going on. And now so do you. Merry Christmas!
In 1973, my wife and I were able to go on a sailing vacation. We flew to Nassau in the Bahamas and went aboard one of the most beautiful tall sailing vessels in the world. The ship was named the “Fantome”. It was a 263 ft. long four-masted schooner. We sailed for one week going ashore on a number of small islands the largest of which was Bimini on which was the home of the writer Ernest Hemingway.
The ship held one-hundred passengers and thirty-one crew. The Fantome was built in 1925 as the personal yacht of Aristotle Onassis. It was later acquired by the Windjammer Cruises Co. in Miami, Florida for commercial passenger sailings.
This cruise was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Why am I telling you about this vacation of 30 years ago? Because there was a tragedy with the Fantome. It was not widely published in the media at the time but it nevertheless profoundly recalled my memory of the Fantome.
In November 1998, the Fantome left Grand Cayman Island with a full contingent of passengers and crew for a week’s sailing to Cozumel, Mexico and the British Honduras coastline islands. At the same time hurricane “Mitch” began to brew in the southern Caribbean with movement also toward Honduras. Mitch developed rapidly into one of the largest and strongest hurricanes ever. The Fantome, though, was ahead of the storm and was able to complete its week’s cruise arriving in Belize, Honduras on a Sunday morning. The one-hundred passengers disembarked from the ship at Belize and made connections for their flights home.
But with the approaching hurricane, a decision had to be made about what to do to have a safe anchorage for the Fantome. The harbor at Belize is not well protected from wind and waves, so the captain of the Fantome made the decision to sail further up the coast some distance to a small very well protected harbor which he knew of.
The Fantome left Belize on Sunday AND WAS NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN! Hurricane Mitch hit the coast on Monday packing 150 mile per hour winds. We all have heard of the destruction by the rain, wind and mud-slides which ravaged Honduras wiping out whole towns.
After the winds subsided, with no radio contact having been made with the Fantome, search planes were sent out to try to find the Fantome. Nothing! Nothing sighted for eleven days of the search.
Then on day twelve of the search, a small piece of wreckage was spotted ten miles offshore. It turned out to be the main wooden hand-carved staircase of the Fantome which went between the upper and lower decks. This twelve-foot long, beautifully carved staircase is all that was ever found of the Fantome. The ship must have sunk rapidly after being split apart by the monstrous winds. The location that the staircase was found was exactly where the eye of the hurricane passed over — the most fierce area of the storm.
Thirty crewmen and the captain were never heard from again - no bodies were ever found. They may all have been trapped in the sinking hull of the ship.
This tragedy can be a reminder to us that we all must search for a safe harbor from the storms which strike around us spiritually. This Christian life in the world brings us up against strong spiritual winds and even, at times, a spiritual hurricane like “Mitch”.
There is only ONE safe harbor - Jesus Christ! And this harbor of safety and peace is with us at all times during our “sail” through life. Christ said, “I will be with you ALWAYS! I will never leave you or forsake you!” Our safe harbor is dwelling right within us so, in times of distress (and also in good times), we need but turn inward to our Lord.
The One who created the elements of wind and rain is able to control their action to His purposes. See the gospel story in Mark 4:36-41: Late that day He said to them, “Let‘s go across to the other side.” They took Him in the boat as He was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused Him saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we‘re going down?” Awake now, He told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?“
They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at His beck and call!” (Message translation).
Yes, not only the wind and sea but trusting Christians are at His beck and call. He lives His life out through us, out through the storms, to those around us. Would He let a little thing like a hurricane stop His purposes??
JESUS! Born in a barn! The Son of God came to this material world within an animal home. His first bed was an animal manger. Jesus could hardly have picked a more lowly place to dwell. OR COULD HE?? Animals may be dirty on the outside but they are clean within. Humans without Christ may be clean on the outside but they are dirty within. Upon accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, Jesus sweeps out your uncleanness and comes to dwell within you in a living UNION. We make a big thing out of the celebration of Jesus' human birth. AND WE SHOULD! But, even more, let us celebrate His Spirit birth IN US!
God’s gift of life to us came in a special wrapping. When Jesus walked on earth, His flesh was a wrapping around that gift.
Jesus’ death on the cross not only atoned for our sins, but did away with His flesh in order to reveal His Spirit, the eternal Lord. On the cross the wrapping paper came off. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of Jesus came to be in us, “the promise of the Father”. The Spirit of God came to be inside of every human being who receives Him.
The letter of the Old Covenant was a wrapping covering Jesus Christ. That letter was done away when He was revealed. Behind the letter was the reality. When we see our presents under the tree, we first see the wrapping and the gift card out in front. But when we take the wrapping away, we begin to see the gift itself. The card just says, “It’s coming! You’re going to see it! Wait!”
But we can keep Jesus wrapped up just as someone might keep a gift wrapped up because the paper and ribbon are nice. If we are too conscious of the letter and do not look behind it, we may miss the real Person and be worshippers of the wrapper.
The Word made flesh is not the end. Even in Jesus Christ, walking the earth, something was still wrapped. His flesh was a wrapping. Actually, the gift package was double-wrapped.
First, Jesus said, “The Law said this…but I say…; because I am the Maker of the Law and greater than the letter.” Saying this, He removed one wrapper.
Then He said, “It is expedient for you that I go away.” Another wrapper was going to be taken away.
What will you do? Will you worship the wrapping paper? The real thing was still inside — the promise of the Father, “I will give you after those days a new heart. I will put My Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in My statutes.” (Ezek. 36:26,27). That is the real thing.
God’s people waited a long time for their Messiah. When Jesus came, the disciples thought that now everything was accomplished. “Here we have the King. Here we have the One of whom the Scriptures spoke. We have our gift.” But they were only seeing the wrapping.
The disciples ask, “Is this the time of the kingdom?” “Not yet. I have to go away. This body must disappear that you may have the real thing that was promised, that is the Spirit within you.”
Those thirty-three years of Jesus’ life are precious and wonderful. Nevertheless, we have to proceed in the revelation of God’s purposes. There are a number of books and Bible studies on the subject, “The Life of Christ”. They cover only from the manger to the ascension. That’s not the life of Christ! That’s just thirty-three years, and in one way it is the poorest picture of Jesus. It is the picture of the Jesus who was made of no reputation, the picture of Him as He took the form of a servant, the picture of the Jesus that came in the image of man.
And I have to confess that all my life I was told almost exclusively about the Jesus in the flesh. When I was a boy, we started with the manger and we studied the twelve year old boy, the baptism, the temptations, the miracles and parables, the death on the cross and the resurrection; then back to the manger!
Paul said, “Henceforth we know no man after the flesh. And even though we knew Jesus after the flesh, we don’t know Him anymore that way” (II Cor. 5:16). Too much consciousness of Jesus after the flesh is a hindrance in knowing Jesus, the eternal Lord, who was behind the flesh, under the wrapping.
The same thing can be said of the letter, the Law. Too much consciousness of the letter gives the letter the wrong place, so that the letter becomes an end in itself rather than a pointing finger to the real thing.
The letter points to Jesus. Jesus in the flesh was part of the promise, but the final fulfillment was that the Holy Spirit of the living God, the Spirit of Jesus, would dwell in each one of us and cause us to walk in God’s ways.
Paul writes to the Corinthians, “From now on we recognize no man according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.”
What does he mean? In a way he is saying that he is glad he did not see Jesus after the flesh. He had something less to unlearn. He had one problem less. Problem? Not that knowing Jesus in the flesh is a problem. Don’t misunderstand me. BUT TO BE MORE CONSCIOUS OF HIS EARTHLY LIFE THAN OF THE ETERNAL LORD HIMSELF WITHIN YOU IS DANGEROUS. We tend to be static, you know, not dynamic and growing in the knowledge of Christ. To know only the historic Christ is a retrospective and static knowledge. To know Him as He is now is a dynamic and growing knowledge.
So Paul says he has one problem less. If he had known Christ in the flesh, he would try to erase that image from his mind and heart. Why? In order to give place to the unwrapped Lord within, the promise of the
Father. That flesh of Jesus has to fade away.
They said Paul didn’t know Jesus?? He knew the unwrapped Jesus, the inward living, the eternal Lord with the glory He had from the beginning before the ages.
Well which Jesus do you know? The body of Jesus was the wrapping of the Spirit. This is something like the tabernacle, with its outer court, the holy place and the holiest. When you get to the outer court, you think you have everything. Praise the Lord! You enter with joy, but then you find out there is the holy place. When you get in there, again you think you have everything. But yet there is the holiest place.
Now we are in the dispensation of no veils — no more outer wrappings. THE UNWRAPPED SPIRIT OF GOD IS RIGHT WITHIN US.
Of course, this has many implications. Paul speaks of “God, whom I serve in my spirit” (Rom. 1:9). Jesus said that true worship is the worship in the spirit (John 4:24). There is physical soul/body worship and there is a soul/spirit union worship.
There is physical worship where only the presence of the body in the pew is taken as important. We are there in body because we feel, somehow, that we should be. Oh, sure, we do it with feeling. We put our mind and thought into it. There is a good meeting. Nevertheless, if we go no farther than that, it could be another hindrance.
When we learn to worship in the Spirit, that is in a soul/spirit union, we are no longer controlled by our circumstances. We don’t need any music or candles or instruction - nothing. You could even sit in a tavern and have the closest fellowship with God even with all that carousing going on around you.
Of course, when you learn to worship God in Spirit, it actually becomes a spirit/soul/body activity with everything taking part.
Why all this teaching about taking off the wrappings? If we were Jewish people born under the letter, it might seem more justified. My concern is that we, who were born nearly two thousand years after Jesus tore off the wrapping of the veil are still living as though God’s Christmas gift is wrapped so well that we hate to open it.
We look at the pretty wrappings. We see the life of Jesus in the flesh and accept the death of His body as a judgment for the sins we have committed.
We might even carefully (so as not to disturb the ribbon and bows) remove some of the wrappings. We uncover a risen Christ, but only a Jesus who lives far away now but makes contact with us when we really need Him. But we do not get to the core of the gift.
When all the wrappings are removed, we come to recognize the beautiful love and depth of God’s gift to us in Christ - GOD ACTUALLY PLACES CHRIST RIGHT WITHIN US GIVING US A NEW SPIRIT NATURE. WE BECOME A NEW CREATION.
So when you open a present this Christmas or at anytime of the year, let it be a reminder of God’s gift in Christ. Enjoy the wrappings - the paper, the ribbon and bows, the card. But when you get to the core of the present inside of the wrappings, STOP, if only for an instant, and consider the precious Spirit of Christ within you, GOD’S GIFT OF GRACE.
Ashlee Simpson, alleged pop star vocalist, was recently exposed as a lip-syncher during a live performance on the NBC show Saturday Night Live. The practice is suspected to be rather commonplace though it is routinely denied. The duo Milli-Vanilli suffered a career-ending embarrassment when it was discovered that they routinely performed by lip-synching in order to mask their mediocre-at-best voices. It is widely-thought that singers prone to rather aerobic dance routines rely on lip-synching, as it would be seemingly impossible to maintain one’s steady breathing while performing the wide gyrations and acrobatic contortions that mark many of today’s acts. Ashlee was uncovered when the wrong accompaniment CD was played and in the confusion, her voice came on when her lips weren’t moving yet. After some awkward dance moves, she slunk off the stage and the accusations began flying. Now, you may be asking what could that have to do with thinking biblically? Here’s my point: Just because our lips are moving in the right way, it doesn’t mean we’re really singing. Today’s generation of believers seems to have those who know how to parrot or mimic or even lip-synch the right words. But the problem lies in the fact that the words aren’t really OURS. We know what to say, but we don’t believe what we say. We know how to act, but we don’t live like we say we believe. Our lips our moving, but the words don’t come from substance, they come from style. Why is it that so many people view their faith as something they “visit” rather than who they are? Good “church-going folk” can dress up in their Sunday best and show up at the church with regularity only to be found the rest of the week living like the world and showing their true selves to be phony. Young people attend Christian schools, participate in youth group, know how to respect their spiritual “elders”, but the minute they are freed from the expectations and constraints of their parents, they walk away from their spiritual life never to return. In many ways, they are spiritual lip-synchers. Mouthing the words and rituals, but in their hearts it is just emptiness. Before we start feeling too self-righteous and smug, how many of us lip-sync our prayers going through the same repetition of words with little thought to their meaning or to whom we are speaking? How many of us can quote Scripture with rhythm and style only to ignore it as soon as we need to in order to do our own thing? How many of us can play the part of a schooled and skilled man or woman of the Word, only to switch roles as soon as we get around those who have no interest in biblical thought and values? Scripture reminds us that while man tends to look on the outward, God is interested in the inward parts. We might be able to fool those who view us from a distance, but God knows that even though our lips are moving, we aren’t really true to His Word. The result is confusion for those who look to us in anticipation of seeing someone whose words, walk, worship and work all match up. Ashlee Simpson is just a simple pop star wannabee and in a few years, most people will say “Ashlee who?” Perhaps the most memorable moment of her entire career may have been her public humiliation and exposure. In reality, how you and I live could have a far more significant and lasting impact on others. Indeed, our lives are intended to point others to Christ. Thus when our words and our actions don’t match up, when we say what we don’t mean and we live in contradiction to what we say, we are setting people up for more than an “I told you so” or a disappointment. The consequences could be eternal. Let’s purpose to mean what we say and to say what is right and biblical. Enough of a shallow form of Christianity which allows us to perform rather than be authentic. Let’s let our words be true, let our walk be consistent and let our lips speak the truth -- not an illusion!
