I’ve been thinking recently about two mutually contradictory truths – first, that I’m a whole lot better than I was and, second, I’m a whole lot worse than I was. I know you’re thinking about now that I’m crazy. I’m not – well, maybe a little bit – but not about this. In fact, if you’ll let me explain, you might identify with what I’m feeling. The first truth – that I’m a lot better than I was – is a truth about which I must be very careful. I have this tendency to get religious and to pretend that I’m better than I am. But with all of the humility that I can muster, I really am better. I’m not nearly as angry as I once was, and I think less lustful, prideful and bitter thoughts than I once did. Quite frankly, I pray better, live better and serve more faithfully and joyfully than I ever did before. And that’s the truth. Not only that, my goodness isn’t because I’m old and tired nor is it because I’m cramming for finals. I’m really better…a lot better. Honest! Now, the flip side of what I just told you was haunting me even as I wrote what I wrote above. There is stuff in me, in my soul, that is scary bad. I don’t know if I’m more sensitive, or if I’m really worse than I was. It’s probably a bit of both. But, frankly (and, no, I’m not going to get very specific here – I may sin, but I’m not stupid), I blush when I think of the things that I’ve thought, the selfishness that defines me and the ego that drives me. I will go to any ends to protect me. I will even pretend humility, vulnerability and honesty so you will say, “Lou is so honest, vulnerable and humble..” Paul certainly said it a lot better than I could ever say it: “I don’t understand my own actions. For I don’t do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate [the downside]…for I have the desire to do what is right [the upside]…” (Romans 7:15,18). What’s the point? Listen and I’m going to tell you: The point is that it doesn’t matter. Well, that’s a bit strong. Of course it matters but not in the way you think. My goodness or lack thereof is irrelevant, and my concern with it (sometimes bordering on obsessiveness) is not only fanatic, it is another kind of pride. I like to say that I measure myself only by my trust in my union with Jesus, but you and I both know that’s a lie. I measure myself by how I’m doing compared to you or someone else. Self-righteousness and self-condemnation are the flip sides of the same coin. Both are an undue concern with me, my reputation and my godliness. Jesus always says, “Look at Me! Quit looking at others and at yourself. That’s your problem and it will only make you sicker. I love you…whether you’re good or bad, and that’s the most important thing you need to know.” Enough yet. I guess what I’m saying is that I give up…and, in the giving up, my goodness and my sin are both irrelevant to His love. And I suppose the mix of genuine good (that He has created in my spirit) and genuine bad (I can do that in my soul by myself, thank you) will still stir up in my soul…and drive my soul closer to Him. Then I find myself free of my obsessiveness and my self-righteousness and my self-condemnation. They are the twin demons that can’t climb over the walls of Christ’s unconditional love. Now I think I’ll quit spouting off about me and pray for more awareness of who I am IN HIM.
Has anyone every said to you (or have you yourself said), “When I was young, I thought that if I ever did something wrong, my parents, my teachers, my friends, wouldn’t like me. I thought I had to be perfect in order to be loved.”? Does that sound like something that might have been said in a moment of ruthless honesty? “I thought I had to be perfect.” A lot of us have that notion etched deeply into our brains. There are a variety of ways we come by this standard of perfection. Some of it comes from our parents, who wanted us to be good girls and boys, who did everything they could so we would grow up to be mature, responsible, productive adults. They set standards of behavior for us – keep your room neat, study hard and get good grades, don’t lie, stay away from kids who get into trouble. In setting those standards for us, our parents were doing what good parents do. They taught us the difference between right and wrong. But along the way, they may have been sending out a message they never wanted to send. Or maybe they weren’t sending it at all; maybe we just seemed to hear it. But whether they intended to send it or whether they didn’t, whether we really heard it or just thought we heard it, the message was this: If you do well, if you are good, if you measure up – then you deserve to be loved. If you do not do well, if you are bad, if you do not measure up – then you DON’T deserve to be loved. I was blessed with a wonderful father and mother. The older I get, the more I appreciate what they gave me. Like all kids, I sometimes fell short of their expectations for me. I can still remember times when I was punished for some of those shortcomings, I remember their faces at those times, faces flushed with anger at my wrongdoing. I remember some of the details of the discipline I received, now even after seventy plus years. I remember my dad once saying, just before he administered a rare spanking, “Son, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.” (Of course, I didn’t believe a word of it at the time!) “I thought I had to be perfect.” Maybe that message got implanted into your consciousness by teachers who took for granted everything you did right and concentrated on your mistakes, who highlighted your spelling errors in red ink but seldom offered words of praise or encouragement. I vividly remember one of my teachers, quivering with rage, announcing to our class, “I’ve been teaching for twenty years, and you are the worst group I have ever had.” “I thought I had to be perfect.” Does that message come to women from movies and fashion ads, featuring actresses and models with faces and figures unattainable by all but a few? Does the message of perfection come to men who are pushed to do more, earn more, who hear the constant emphasis on winning as a judgment on themselves as losers? Maybe religion has played a part in our need to be perfect. Maybe the message that keeps coming through is that God demands moral perfection, that no matter how hard we try to be good, it is impossible to make ourselves pleasing to God. Maybe we’ve come to think of God mostly as a divine policeman, constantly on the lookout for wrongdoing. This God is a rigorous record-keeper, who’s making a list and checking it, not just twice, but constantly, to find out all the ways we have messed up. Perhaps God has become the setter of an impossible standard for our behavior so that the predominant religious awareness we have is the awareness of our sinfulness. This tendency to be so hard on ourselves seems to be a special problem for “good” people. And by “good” I mean the kind of people who are decent, fair and honest. They attend church regularly, give generously to their favorite charities. They often sacrifice their own desires and comforts for the good of their family, their community, their country. They are dependable, trustworthy and compassionate. They are usually much more accepting of faults and frailties in others than in themselves. And that is the great irony – that they have a much harder time loving themselves than they do loving their family members, neighbors or friends. Despite assurances that they are loved by God, they frequently have a hard time accepting that. If you ask them to tell some good things about themselves, they stop after mentioning only a few admirable qualities. Scripture gives us a clue to the answer to this deadly trap of perfectionism. In the Bible there are frequent recitals of people’s sins. Here’s a sample from the book of Hosea: “Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: ‘There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed’” (Hosea 4:1-2). With such wickedness in evidence, you would think that God would finally say: “I give up on you. You can no longer be my people.” But instead, we come to the 11th chapter of Hosea and find God saying: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from Me…It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms…How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?...My heart is changed within Me; all My compassion is aroused: (Hosea 11:1-3,8). These words demonstrate that God is like a compassionate father, like a loving mother, to the people of Israel, even though they have broken the commandments again and again. This same kind of love radiated from Jesus. Time after time His disciples disappointed Him. They quarreled with each other about who was the most important; they misunderstood His mission; at the moment of crisis, they deserted Him. Yet He never stopped loving them. Luke’s gospel tells us that when Jesus approached Jerusalem on the last time He would come to that city, He wept over it. Why? Because He loved the city and the people who lived there, and He could foresee the disaster that would come to them under the Roman destruction of 70AD. God knows we are not perfect. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, but He wishes we could feel His love and trust it. But what about that verse in Matthew where Jesus says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mat. 5:48)? This verse is a summary statement, a review of what Jesus has been talking about in what has been called “the Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus has just told His listeners about some moral virtues. The word usually translated “perfect” is the Greek word teleios, a word meaning mature, fully developed. It doesn’t refer to moral perfection, but to the kind of love that is like God’s love – mature, complete, open-hearted to all, full of blessing. In Luke’s version of this teaching, Jesus says, “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). So the words in Matthew: “You must be perfect,” mean we are to love as God loves. Eugene Peterson’s translation of this verse (in The Message) gives us the essential meaning. Jesus says, “Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” God knows that the best gift we can receive is the deep-down awareness that we are loved unconditionally. Even though we mess up, even though we hurt others and hurt ourselves, even though we disappoint others and think we disappoint God, THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO TO MAKE GOD STOP LOVING US. Yes, that’s right! And if that isn’t good news, I don’t know what is! It’s news that is so good, we can put an end to whatever harshness we have toward ourselves. When you have accepted Christ and become a child of God, you can let go of the lie that you’ve been telling yourself – the lie that you have to be perfect to be loved. You can accept the gift of righteousness in Christ – a free gift, no strings attached. You can accept it just as you are – not perfect as a friend or as a spouse or as a parent or as a child. It’s okay not to be perfect. Not perfect in faith, not perfect in behavior, not perfect in countless ways. But loved…loved immeasurably, loved unconditionally by the One who IS perfect, by the One who gives you life – abundant, joyous, eternal life.
Are the Ten Commandments God's "Way, Truth and Life"?
There is still an ongoing battle to get the Ten Commandments displayed in public places in our country. Once upon a time, there was a young man (to whom I’m very close) who kept a plaque of the Ten Commandments on his wall. It was my own personal monument – a constant reminder of how I wanted to live my life. I was sincere. I really wanted to keep those commandments, but somehow not only did I fail, but I failed repeatedly, and I failed grossly, and I failed miserably. We’re big on monuments in the U.S. of A. Take a trip to Washington D.C., and you’ll see monuments to our great leaders and our great government that are impressive reminders of our rich and varied heritage. You might not have to go that far. You may be able to ride down to the local courthouse and see a representation of the greatest laws ever written – the ones written by the very hand of God – the Ten Commandments. I once saw a billboard that said something to this effect: “The Ten Commandments Will Save America.” With all due respect, that’s about as likely as “when pigs fly.” In other words, it ain’t gonna happen!
Law & Grace: A Tale of Two Covenants
What I didn’t know was that trying to live the Christian life by focusing on the Ten Commandments is a little like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. Paul said in Romans 7:9: “Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.” What if you were to begin each day with repeating “Keep off the grass” ten times? This would tempt you to walk on grass that you had hardly noticed before. Hammering away with oughts and ought nots is not God’s plan for stimulating Christians to do good works today. But it WAS God’s plan back then under the Old Covenant when He gave the Ten Commandments PLUS over 600 other requirements of the law. His purpose, as we look back in hindsight, was to show humanity that focusing on keeping law in our own human strength was IMPOSSIBLE! So, what exactly is the purpose of the law if it is not to be the focus of the Christian life today? The law can be harsh, demanding and intimidating for us flawed human beings. It’s no wonder – it represents the fullness of God’s demands for righteousness! This is why some of the sayings of Jesus of Nazareth are so very, very hard. Jesus’ preaching was meant to bring the people of His time to the end of themselves – to leave them desperately looking for another way to be saved other than by keeping the law. And then, at just the right time, the gospel of the New Covenant was preached, and people began to be saved by it. Jesus did all the work, and Peter and Paul and John got all the credit. Jesus’ preaching took place under the Old Covenant – under the law. The New Covenant was instituted by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and not a minute before. Jesus said, “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). He fulfilled the law in two ways – in His preaching and in His life. In His preaching He raised the bar so high that there could be no mistaking that God’s salvation would be by grace alone. As defined by Jesus’ preaching, there would be no chance of attaining eternal life by works. He would make it as impossible as a camel going through the eye of a needle. He also fulfilled the law in His life. He lived a perfectly righteous, self-controlled life. He spoke nothing and did no actions of His own – He always followed the will of His Father dwelling within Him. He was the unblemished, precious lamb of God. If you’ve ever wondered why some of Jesus’ sayings seem so harsh and Paul’s, on the other side of the cross, seem so full of grace, this is the answer.
Exit Law, Enter Grace
The Old Covenant law, including the Ten Commandments, was fulfilled and ended at the cross (Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 8:13). (Although there continued to be a mixture of law and grace for about 40 years from the cross to the destruction of the Jerusalem and the Jewish temple in 70AD.) So if the Ten Commandments are not supposed to be the focus of the Christian life, what then? In a word, it’s JESUS. Jesus is the only one who ever kept the law perfectly. He put His Spirit into you when you were saved so that you can keep HIS commandments. This requires a fundamental shift in your thinking, which by the way, is the nature of repentance. In the book of Galatians, Paul delivers a blistering rebuke to the churches in Galatia, but mostly, his harsh words are directed toward the legalistic teachers who were leading Paul’s precious flock astray. These new Christians had abandoned living by grace and had made the focus of their Christian life the law. Paul was livid. And, by the way, those words in Galatians aren’t just Paul’s words; they are the words of God. The Christian life is to be lived by walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). It is a moment-by-moment dependence on Christ within to live the Christian life through us. It is not an easy thing to get your arms around sometimes. I’ll admit a system of dos and don’ts is at least a little easier for me to understand (infinitely harder for me to live under, though). My attempt to lead the Christian life by keeping the Ten Commandments was a monumental failure. How’s your progress? Ready to try a different approach? There is one true test of the system that I just described to you. Does it work? Will it bring victory over sin in my life? Will it help me to face each day of my life with a sense of peace and joy? My answer to these questions is a resounding, whole-hearted “Yes!” Needless to say, I don’t have a plaque of the Ten Commandments on my wall anymore. My new understanding of the New Covenant was a godsend to this recovering legalist. If you have a warped view of God and Jesus from religion and legalism, it will be to you too. You see folks, the Ten Commandments are indeed the greatest laws ever written. They represent moral virtues that are excellent and praiseworthy. But they were for a time when God wanted to expose humanity’s weakness for sin. Bit that is all they are, they are not a SAVIOR! We are now in the age of grace, in the age of the New Covenant where we have the strength of God in Christ right within us in a living union. Jesus is the only Savior, for America, for the world……forever. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life – not the Old Covenant including the Ten Commandments.
A commentary article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch March 24, 2005 by Charles E. Bouchard, a Catholic Dominican friar.
For Christians, the Easter season is an ironic mix. The stark solemnity of Good Friday and its bare wooden cross contrast with the light, music and full-throated “Alleluia” of Easter Sunday. Like no other season of the year, it reminds us of both the pain of human existence and its glorious possibility. Easter may be a Christian feast, but it is also a reflection of the human condition. It expresses the human longing for a full view of the spiritual fulfillment we usually only glimpse. Generations of Catholics who studied the Baltimore Catechism recall question No. 6: “Why did God make me?” The answer, as every grade-school child knew: “To know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.” This makes two important points:
To know, love and serve in this world
The first point is that physical life is the means by which we know and love God (and our neighbor). This life is lived out in relationship with those we love. In other words, our ability to relate with others is central to the purpose of life.
And be happy in the next
The second point is that, as important as this physical life is, it’s not the ultimate reason for which we were created. Christians believe that in the last analysis, we were created to be with God. Our physical lives are a prelude, a confused and clumsy dress rehearsal, a reception that prepares us for the ultimate banquet. This means that death is not to be feared as the end, but rather embraced as the final step in a process of life. For most of us, the transition from this life to the next will be relatively peaceful and quick. We used to call this “a happy death,” a moment of equanimity when we knew we had completed our earthly tasks and were now about to see them brought to perfection. For others, that passage is painful, traumatic and prolonged. This is especially true when we – or those around us – refuse to acknowledge the real purpose of life and instead cling desperately to physical life as though there were nothing else. In his book “The Troubled Dream of Life: In Search of Peaceful Death,” ethicist Daniel Callahan says there is an alternative view: “it is our capacity to learn how to accept what life puts before us, to be open to that which we cannot control, and to embrace the virtues of courage and endurance in the face of evil.” The problem with a life dedicated to control and fear, he says, “is that no degree of vigilance can ever be sufficient to assure its success.” Is it possible that removal of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube is euthanasia? Yes, but it is more likely that it is the legitimate withdrawal of a medical intervention that no longer serves her spiritual or medical good. Is it possible that Congress acted in her best interests when it permitted yet another legal review - this time, in the federal courts – of the case? Yes, but it is more likely that they are really fighting another battle or, worse, just trying to get re-elected. Is it possible that Schiavo would want to be maintained in this medical and spiritual limbo for more than 15 years? Yes, but it is more likely that as a Christian she would forgo the very limited benefits of tube feeding and embrace God’s promise of eternal life with hope. For Christians, Easter is an invitation to walk through death, to embrace it, to meditate upon it and then, finally, to emerge on the other side, triumphant. Christian or not, all of us must take the same journey, over and over again. We must feel the real pain of human existence, indulge the hope of consolation and dare to believe there is something more. My hope is that Terri Schiavo, her family and her friends will make that journey, too.
The One Prayer God Always Answers - Your Way, and Right On Time
Prayers to God sometimes don't seem to get answers. For a variety of reasons that we do not know, God's ways in any given situation can be very different from our human understanding. God has the big picture and we don't. God knows what is good for a particular person and we often don't. God may not respond because of our wrong motives. God may respond to our request positively but in a way that we would not expect. God may use our seemingly negative situation as a positive influence in the life of someone around us. But there is one prayer which God always answers YOUR way – it is the prayer of SALVATION. Every human being born into the world is being dealt with in their mind by the Holy Spirit of God. Many seem to reject this influence completely. Others take many years of trials before they come to the understanding of their need for Jesus Christ. Some may accept Christ early-on in their youth and continue to grow in their Christian life. Whatever the unique circumstances of each person are, God is drawing each human being to salvation in Jesus Christ. How can you be used by God as an influence toward salvation on a person who is genuinely looking for answers and hope – a "seeker"? They need to near the "good news", the gospel of salvation, in some understandable form. I believe that the following scene is an effective exposition of salvation. You observe that Jack has been downcast over something and he finally expresses to you that he is up against the wall about some situation or situations in his life. He feels insecure and inferior and without any confidence in his ability to overcome the problem. He feels that there is something wrong with him. You might say to him, "Do you know, Jack, that there has never been anything wrong with you?" Jack may reply, "But how can that be true? Why right now, I am a mess!" "You see, Jack, when God created us in His likeness and image, He did a perfect work, with one exception. That exception was, the human being He created was not complete. What He created was good, but it was not intended to function by itself. In fact, God so created the human being that He Himself would have to be the life of the human if it were to function properly. "Our forefather, Adam, didn't know all this, but what he did know was there was something missing in him. That's the reason why he ate the forbidden fruit, hoping to fill the need he had. He could have obeyed God and, in time, he would have eaten of the tree of life and become a completed person. But when he believed what Satan said, he filled that void God had left for Himself with Satan's nature. "Now Adam had a sin nature in him that was contrary to his God creation and he could never function properly. What God wanted and needed was for Adam to love Him so much he would obey Him. As a result of Adam's disobedience he took on an erroneous nature and as Adam's seed proceeded down the line into every human being, each and every one took on this wrong nature. "So you, and everyone of us, came into the world with a nature in us that was contrary to the way God created us. Our trouble has been a Satan nature trying to operate through our God creation and we have never reached the level of life that God planned for us. But, Jack, maybe I am way over your head with this kind of talk." Jack replied, "No, I've heard some of this before, but the way you put it fascinates me. Go on." "You see from the beginning, Jack, all God ever wanted was someone to love Him, love Him more than themselves. Well, there was never any real hope for humans until God sent His Son to this earth. The first message His Son gave when He came was very strange. In fact, the greatest religious folk of that day didn't understand the message. The message Jesus brought from the Father was, 'You must be born again.' This, of course, was really confusing. God knew that most humans wouldn't understand it, so God sent the Holy Spirit to explain it directly to as many as wanted to know the truth. "What was necessary for humans to become what God created them to be was to have a new birth, with a new Father and all. While most people didn't understand this, there were some that were so disgusted with their lives they trusted God to take out the old Satan nature that Adam had erroneously chosen, and trust God for a new nature. "The Bible says that new nature IS Christ and God has fixed it so that Christ in the human completes the human creation. This event is what Jesus called being born-again." "What you are saying," Jack says, "is that I need to get religion?" "No, Jack, it is not religion you need but a relationship of union with Christ dwelling within you. I am saying that when you accept Christ as your Savior and life, everything becomes new and you're able to be the person you were created to be." "All this is new to me. It sounds great but how will it help my problem?" "When you are born again, everything becomes new. Let's look at one of the problems you mentioned. You said that you felt insecure and inferior. Now when you give your life to Jesus with the prayer of salvation and you are born again, everything in your past is over, a new life is begun. You are a new creature, just like a newborn babe, you have a whole new life in front of you. You can forget the past, and forget that you've always felt that you are inferior. You become a whole new creature in Christ." Very quietly Jack asked, "But what do I have to do to have all this happen? I've lived all my life one way. I don't know if I can live another way." "Jack, that's a good question and the answer is in whether you love God enough to take the first step. The important thing is whether you feel your need of a Savior. To do this you simply tell God you're in trouble and can't save yourself, you need a savior." "But how is all of this going to help me? I've been weak so often in my life when I should have been strong. The obstacles in my life have made me see myself as incapable. What can Christ do about all of this?" "When you accept Christ as your Savior, He wants to become your life from within. That means He takes charge of your creation, the way God originally created you, and causes you to become the true person you really are. You will function as you were created because Christ in you fits your creation. It will still be you, but it will be Christ as you by your trust in Him. This means you will be operating with His knowledge available to you, you will have His strength and you will be in His care. You can go on as the real you because you're free of the old you." "Oh," Jack replies, "if that could happen I'd be the happiest person in the world. What must I do to have Christ as my life?" As you see that the time is ripe and the Jack is ready to accept Christ as Savior and Lord of his life, you might take his hand and pray this prayer of salvation with him.
Heavenly Father, I need help. I know that I cannot save myself, so I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. I call on Your forgiveness with my desire to make Jesus the Lord of my life. I thank You and I love You."
When you finish, Jack might say, "What a feeling. I've never felt like this before. Do you really believe God heard us? Do you really think anything happened?" "Of course! THIS IS THE ONE PRAYER GOD ALWAYS ANSWERS – YOUR WAY AND RIGHT ON TIME! In this instant you are born again, you are a new creature and all things will become new to you." "But what do I do now? I know nothing about God or my new life. How can I make it all work? " "You are not the one who makes it work. If you try, you will fail. It is Christ in you who will spontaneously come out of you. This spontaneity will grow as you learn of Christ and read His words. Get a Bible and start reading in John's gospel and in Paul's and John's epistles in the New Testament. It is here that you will find out about the new life that is in you. As you read of your new life, as you learn to dialogue with Christ within, as you grow to trust and accept His strength in your weakness, His life will flow out of you without effort on your part. The key to the new life is that it is Christ that lives, not you. "You can be assured that salvation, in the person of Christ, has come to you. There is truly another person, Jesus Christ, living in you and this joy is yours throughout eternity. You probably realize you may not have the same emotions or feelings always, as you do now. But the reason you feel this way now is because Christ is in you and that will never change. He will never leave you, regardless of your thoughts, feelings and actions. "Your human life from this point on will be a learning process by which God draws you into greater and greater awareness of the life of Christ in you. You will falter and fall many times, but Christ will stay with you and pick you back up. You will learn the characteristics of a child in God's Family."
Yes, God answers prayer in many ways, and at unexpected times – But He never fails to respond instantly to the PRAYER OF SALVATION.
What is the "Word of Faith" or "Prosperity Gospel" all about? From what I've managed to gather so far, it teaches that people can achieve wealth, health and all their other needs simply through faith in God. If that's the case, why is it considered wrong and unscriptural? 3 John 2 (Amplified Version) states "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers." This scripture seems to support prosperity of those who are in Christ, don't you think? How about when Jesus said that we shouldn't worry about what to eat or drink but to seek first the kingdom of God? He then went on to say that our Heavenly Father knows that we need these things. Wasn't He talking about prosperity? How about Abraham, Job, Solomon and many other servants of God who were abundantly rich? We know that there are Christians who are poor, as in Jesus story of Lazarus and the rich man. It is also clear that prosperity can’t be used as a measure of faith or Christianity. But having said this, questions on prosperity still stand. The Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospel are slightly different, but exhibit similarities. Word of Faith is the general idea that a person can speak or pray something into existence, the idea that God responds to us when we say a magical prayer (as opposed to an unmagical prayer), when we use a mantra or pray a prayer of "positive confession." According to Word of Faith teaching, God is obligated, once we say and/or do the correct thing, to give us what we want. Word of Faith teachers cite biblical passages, but cite them out of context, and abuse them in an effort to prove their teaching, which is, at its foundation, superstition. Word of Faith suggests that our prayers are not answered because we don't have "enough" faith. That teaching leads to oppressive religious legalism when people are convinced that their prayers will be answered if they acquire more faith. The acquisition of faith, of course, involves endless rites, rituals, ceremonies and performance of religious deeds. The Prosperity Gospel teaches that God's will is for us to be healthy and wealthy. It amounts to selling religious lottery tickets to the weak, sick and poverty stricken, who are the ones who are most easily misled by this teaching. Health and wealth churches are extremely popular in inner city areas of the United States and in disadvantaged, economically challenged areas around the world. 3 John 2 is not a promise that all Christians will be healthy and wealthy, but rather it was a normal salutation to a letter at the time John wrote. We might say today, as we write a friend, "I hope you are doing well," or "I pray that all things are going well for you." That's the reason the passage should not be used as a promise of health and wealth - when those who quote it in such a way are hopefully unaware of how they are twisting Scripture. John 10:10: “. . . I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” is another Prosperity Gospel proof text favorite that falls apart on logical examination. First of all - none of us will be healthy forever. Sooner or later each of us will die of disease, accident or old age. Many devoted Christians are sick. They have horrible health, confined to their beds in hospitals and nursing homes. Have they done something wrong? The Prosperity Gospel says so. Have they not repented of some secret sin, and when they do will they be delivered from their illness? The health and gospel says so. But logic and experience (not to mention the Bible) tell us otherwise. What about poverty? Is there any biblical promise that Christians will all live lives of luxury on this earth? No - but there are statements about the riches of God's grace. There is a promise that we, by God's grace, become rich because we are the heirs of his kingdom - but all of these statements are about spiritual riches. Once again, the health and wealth gospel twists such statements, and tries to assure poor people that God wants them to be rich - and of course, coincidentally, one of the best ways for poor people to get rich quick is to give their money to health and wealth preachers. Health and wealth preachers often dress well, drive fancy cars, wear flashy watches and rings - because, among other things, if the preacher of health and wealth is himself not healthy and wealthy, then why should others follow him (or her)?
"Call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your father who is in heaven. Matthew 23:9 This verse always bothered me somewhat because, all of my life, I loved and respected my human father. I knew about my Father in heaven alright, but I certainly thought that I had a right to call my human father, "Dad!" He was a person that I looked up to and was thankful to have as a father. Couldn't I look to two fathers, a human one and a divine One? I just didn't get what Jesus was trying to say in the verse above. I also didn't understand why, in the light of Jesus' words, we called all the priests in the church "father". What was going on here? I grew up in my early years in a society that was very disapproving of a child born "out of wedlock". In this day and age, it is hard to imagine how severe the judgment was then by people on "bastard" children – those children born outside of marriage. It can be understood how people could look down on a mother who had an illegitimate child. But why such a stigma on the innocent child? The child was often branded as not much better than a side-show freak, looked down on with indifference, or worse. God's Word leads us to believe that we should hate the sin, but love the sinner, and certainly should love the child who is a product of a sinful act! I shall never forget back then when a young girl in my neighborhood returned from the east and brought with her a baby. Six months later they found her dead in her home -–the doctor could find no apparent cause for her death. She had been stoned to death – pelted with judgment, rejection, pity, and downright murderous thoughts which she didn't know how to escape. She apparently became sick to death of the hateful, judgmental society around her. It came out right after her death that she had been married secretly and the father had died in the war. It is reported that half a hundred wonderful people then came forward and offered to see that the little baby had a good home. But where were they when she needed them? Gossiping about a scandal such as illegitimacy was almost a full time job for many in those days. In World War II, there was a phrase promoted by the government: "Loose lips sink ships!" It doesn't seem possible, when you think of a huge battleship with all the men and engines, etc., that it could be sunk by a few careless words – to say nothing of the malicious words which are often issued intentionally. But it has happened. This was a directive toward people not to talk about military matters and troop movements. But it could just as well apply to any form of gossiping. In the case of the girl, she was "sunk" by loose lips! It is recorded that prostitutes, thieves, murderers, liars, etc., all go into the kingdom of heaven before the gossiper. I would guess that is because it is easier to justify any of those crimes than it is the crime of gossip and scandal. SO – what DOES it mean: "Call no man your father"? Let's go back to God's beginning purpose for mankind. It is desired by God that every person born into the world become a true child in the Family of God having the very divine nature of God through Christ dwelling within. BUT NO ONE IS BORN HUMANLY THAT WAY! Each one must choose by a process of conversion and new birth to, as Peter said, "partake of the divine nature." Now whether we are born legitimate or illegitimate according to a marriage contract, WE ARE ALL BORN ILLEGITIMATE SPIRITUALLY! The Bible says that all of us have an illegitimate father, Satan, until we suddenly claim the Father than Jesus had. "Call no man your father." Why? Because if you do, you have all the damning inheritance of the illegitimate child. Jesus was not putting down human fathers when He made that statement. He was just accentuating God's purpose for humanity – to actually be birthed sons and daughters in the divine Family of God. If you are one of these "Christians", you begin to see how everything that is not born of God is illegitimate and must come under the condemnation of the illegitimate. No wonder that so many things you try to do go wrong – you are stoned, too, in one way or another because of this illegitimacy. But the whole picture changes with the new birth, for in that case you have ceased the inheritance of the Adam affair and have begun to call upon God, to look up to Him, and to ask of Him. As surely as your material father would supply you with good gifts, God can much more supply you with the good things of the kingdom of heaven. "Call no man your father." We then begin to see and sense what it is to be born again into God's Family – it means we are experiencing in a degree the "immaculate conception"! We are beginning to "call no man our father," and to look – actually and practically – to God as the source of life and everything necessary for life through the indwelling Christ. Yes, legitimacy has to do with the kind of UNION that is involved. A union of man and woman outside of marriage produces a human illegitimate child. The spiritual union with Satan's nature that we are born with by inheritance from our first parents produces a spiritually illegitimate child. But a converted Christian has done something spiritually that you can't do humanly – he has changed fathers! Satan is out, God the Father is in. You are a son of the living God NOW because you have dropped off the nature of your old spiritual father, the evil one. You have been given the righteousness of the indwelling Jesus Christ. God has given you righteousness. GOD HAS MADE YOU – LEGITIMATE!
