The Sanctuary Lamp

I remember once being stopped by a man acting very nervous and actually shaking. He proceeded to hand me a gospel tract and told me how he was backslidden and had begun to work his way back to the Lord. I was one of his first hits. The idea this man had, of returning to the Lord, was to show forth good works and thereby become acceptable to God. I think he believed that when he went back to the church building on Sunday and prayed, he would have enough good works behind him that the Lord would see he was sincere and thereby accept him back. He was working his way back to an EXTERNAL Christ.

To work our way back to an external Christ is a scenario that is carried out over and over again among born-again believers. The reason for this behavior is that very few ministries teach where Jesus is located. They don’t teach where Christ is because they honestly don’t understand. For the most part, Christians have Jesus sitting at the right hand of God and in their minds they must somehow get Him down from heaven to earth and into their church building or somehow next to them for help in their daily lives. Christians have Jesus everywhere except where He is - in you!

THERE IS A CRITICAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN EXTERNAL AND AN INTERNAL JESUS CHRIST.

Satan, the Accuser of the brethren, does not want you to know that Jesus is in you. He wants you to feel the pressure that you can lose Christ and you may not get Him back. He would have us walking a tightrope and we keep falling off. The idea of anyone being able to have Christ internally rather than externally is not a knowledge he wants you to have.

Here is something all new converts should be told the moment they are born again:
You must understand that you have the person of Christ (God’s incorruptible Seed of the God nature) in you. Furthermore, He is not in you in bits, pieces, and parts but in whole. He is in you fully matured and all knowing. Wherever you go, He will go with you and you cannot go anywhere without Him. Further yet, He will never ever leave you or forsake you for the rest of eternity - even when you slip up and sin.

This information should go a long way in helping new converts to understand that it is not an external Jesus that needs to constantly be called down to help us grow, but rather it is the new converts that need to grow up in Him - to grow in their minds in awareness of His indwelling presence within their human spirits, and the internal power available by trusting in Him.

Whenever you are temporarily drawn away or enticed by your own way of attempted independence, Christ is still there. However, it is true that the grace of God in your life can be hindered (Galatians 5:4) but Christ doesn’t go away. Nowhere does Scripture for the born-again say He will leave us. He says He will never leave us alone, no matter what happens (Heb. 13:5). New converts need to know this at the beginning of their walk in Christ.

Before the completion of the Cross, mankind could not get rid of the Satan nature. Even if the people went to the temple or synagogues for worship and prayer or made hundreds of animal sacrifices, the sin nature of Satan was locked into the human family. All the sacrifices could do was cover the guilt of the sin but could not remove the punishment called for - death. There appeared to be no real deliverance from this sin infection that affected all of mankind.

However, when Jesus died on the Cross, He broke this curse and made it possible for us to be free from the Satan nature by simply believing and accepting the provision of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. By making Him Lord and being born again, Satan’s nature is put out and the Seed of God is put in the believer in the Person of Christ.

Peter calls this being born again not of corruptible seed but of the incorruptible Seed (1 Peter 1:23). This Seed is placed in the believer permanently and it cannot be aborted. But when I say that the Seed cannot be aborted, I must use caution because whatever you sow in this world is the crop you will reap. There are consequences when we willfully sin. The Father will correct you as a son because you are now in His Family, and He is quite literally your Father. The Seed, the indwelling Christ, placed in you at the instant of your new birth makes it so. The outer Christ is gone. Jesus of Nazareth went home. He no longer dwells in buildings or walks the shore of Galilee - He is in you!

I grew up during my early years in a church that made a big issue of Christ being located in the sanctuary of the church building. Whenever Christ in the form of the Holy Eucharist was present in the tabernacle box or exposed on the altar, a sanctuary lamp was lit to announce the fact. Anyone who came into the church building could see the red flicker of the sanctuary lamp and know that Christ was near.
If it were practical, the truth is that every born again Christian could go around with a little sanctuary lamp lit up and hanging over their heads showing the presence of Christ within the tabernacle of their bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Anyone who came around us could see the red flicker of the lamp and know that Christ is in us.

More importantly, maybe that little lamp hanging out over our noses would be a constant reminder to us also of the eternal present indwelling and union of Christ and would keep us in awareness of our need to trust constantly in Him for His WAY, His TRUTH, His LIFE.

The inner Christ is the one you receive when you are born again. The Peacegiver, the Healer, and, if necessary, the Miracle Worker is in you. YOU are the temple of God. He dwells in temples not made with hands (2 Corinth. 6:16). When was the last time you heard a sermon on that scripture? Does it not point to the inner Christ? Christ goes with you and in you wherever you go - isn’t that good to know? So many know nothing but an external Jesus who they must try to bring down near to them 1) to soften their guilt and 2) to accept their “good works”.

If a Christian doesn’t learn the difference between INSIDE and OUTSIDE, he will have an upside-down Christianity.

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Confidence - Not Condemnation

“There is therefore now no CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus ...“
Romans 8:1

As I have progressed along my road of spiritual understanding, there have been many questions answered for me about my relationship with God.

Early in my life, I came to see that Christ died for my sins to wipe away my past guilt and to give me a possible future in heaven. This was a good start and I worked hard within a Catholic environment to try to do what would keep God happy with me. In other words, I tried to earn my salvation. Sometimes I did a pretty fair job of it, but most of the time I fell flat on my face. And I developed a FEAR of failure. I loved God as I understood Him, but I seemed unable on a consistent basis to do the things that would please Him or to avoid the things that would displease Him.

I wanted to go to heaven. But I lived in continuing doubt that I would ever make it there. As I understood the situation in the church, every time I committed a “mortal” sin, I lost heaven. And in order to regain my heavenly future, I had to repent, confess my sin, and do penance for it.

And the Catholic catechism listed many “mortal” sins which I found awfully easy to do. Not only that, but there were many “good” things which a Christian was expected to do that I was not inclined to do.

Sins of commission! Sins of omission! How could anyone ever be good enough for heaven? What I had was CONDEMNATION - GUILT! Heaven was possible but, knowing me, it didn’t seem very probable! Now, mind you, I was not an ax-murderer or a rapist or a drug addict or a robber. I just was often not very Christ-like as I saw His human example. I was always fearful that I would die between my sin and my repentance. And as often as I slipped up, this left an awesome amount of potentially ruinous time to die.

Heaven was out there, but it just didn’t seem like I was likely to make it. I had faith in God. I had faith in Jesus Christ. I had faith in the whole spirit realm. BUT I JUST DID NOT HAVE FAITH IN MYSELF! Oh, I had faith in my ability to make a life for myself in the material world. I was a good student, a good learner. I had much materially going for me. But I knew there was more to life than that, and I questioned whether I was Christ-like enough to reach heaven.

I guess that this question of where am I going to end up after this life is common to every person on the planet. Some without much of a spiritual leaning can put the question aside and not be bugged by it -whatever will be will be. But for a person like myself who believes in God and wants to please Him, this doubt, this condemnation, this guilt was hard to live with.

I lived close to fifty years of my life like this until it was revealed to me that all of this was driving me to a greater realization of my relationship with and my need for God.
Then a series of Bible verses began to come together for me into a new found realization of what salvation and “heaven” really consists of.

First, the opening verse quoted above - no condemnation when you are in Christ.
Then, II Corinth. 5:17 - if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Then, Galatians 2:20 - … Christ lives in me ...“
Then, Coloss. 1:27 - ... the mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Then, John 14:20 - you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you.”
Then, Hebrews 13:5 - I will never leave you or forsake you.”

By these and other verses, I came to see that “salvation” is a one-time thing that comes when you call out for a Savior and accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. You are instantly “saved”, made a new person, a new “species” containing the Trinity within you - having the divine nature of the Father - having a living union with Christ in your spirit - and having the Holy Spirit within your soul, your mind, to teach and to guide you in the things of the spirit.

And so I came to see that salvation is not a conditional situation given by God. Salvation is actually the FACT OF YOUR NEW BIRTH WITH CHRIST LIVING IN YOU. Salvation IS THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. When you are made a “new creation”, you are SAVED - and it is permanent - eternal -you have eternal life in union with Christ.

Christ died accepting the punishment, the condemnation, for your sins. That is why there is, therefore, now no condemnation for those in union with Christ, new creatures, “partakers of the divine nature”. You are joined with Christ. He will never leave you. You will live eternally with Christ. You are saved and will never be condemned.

The Bible speaks of having the “peace” of Christ. I believe that the greatest part of this peace is knowing that you are eternally saved and eternally a member of God’s Family; you are God’s child. There can be no greater peace than this and until you resolve this question of “Am I going to make it to heaven or not?”, there can be no real peace. Guilt or frustration over what you do or what you don’t do will always prevail.

Now I know what many will say. “You mean that it doesn’t matter how bad you act after conversion? You can commit any sin you want and you will still go to heaven? Why, that can’t be! That is a license to sin!”

Well it is true that by the new birth, you will ALWAYS be a child of God and will NEVER suffer eternal punishment. But, as a “child”, you will receive “correction”. We need to talk about the difference between punishment and correction.

The confusion of the two concepts of punishment and correction probably comes from our experiences with well-meaning but fallible human parents, who often disciplined us in love, but also sometimes punished us in frustration and anger. We then project those characteristics upon God, and assume that He acts the same way. However, nothing could be farther from the truth.
PUNISHMENT is a penalty imposed on an offender for a crime or wrongdoing. It has retribution in view (paying someone back what he deserves) rather than correction.

Punishment is looking backward to the offense, is impersonal and automatic, and its goal is the administration of justice. The simplest example of punishment in action is the policeman who pulls you over and gives you a ticket for speeding. You may not intend to speed. You may be just preoccupied and inattentive to the speed limit. You may always try to be a law-abiding citizen. You can explain all this to the police officer and he can be very sympathetic and understanding - as he writes out that ticket.

You see, the law officer isn’t interested in why you were speeding; he doesn’t care whether or not you did it on purpose; nor is he interested in hearing about all the other days that you did abide by the law. All he knows is that you broke the law, and here is your penalty. You will also notice that he did nothing to compliment the 50 other drivers he saw that were within the speed limit. He just sat there unresponsive, until there was a violation, then he got into action. That’s punishment.

CORRECTION or discipline, on the other hand, is totally different. CORRECTION is training that develops self-control, character and ability. It is looking forward to a beneficial result, is very personal, and individually applied. Punishment and correction sometimes “feel” the same to the one on the receiving end! But the sharp difference can be seen in both the attitude and the goal of the one doing it. After conversion and the new birth, God never deals with His children on the basis of punishment. All of the punishment of God for our sins was fully received by our Savior Jesus Christ on the cross. Now that we are children in the family of God, He deals with us only on the basis of correction.

The Bible states in no uncertain terms that Jesus Christ took on Himself all the punishment for the sins of all men when He died on the cross. In a very legal way, He stepped up after we were sentenced to die for our sins and agreed to die for us. All we had to do to go free was to accept the radical concept that someone could and would step forward to do this. We had to call on Christ for deliverance. This is what “conversion” is. This is what being “born again” is. This is what becoming a “new creature” IN CHRIST is!

But we do not lose our freedom of choice when Christ takes over our lives. Such freedom is basic to being a person. We will, at times, be externally influenced by Satan and the world to ignore the Christ life within us and try to go it by our own strength. We invariably fail, and sin. But Christ guides us back under His direction, we repent, and our sin is once again totally forgotton.
But one important fact about sin remains. And this fact alone should be enough to keep us from using our secure salvation as an excuse to sin. This fact is: SIN HAS PHYSICAL EFFECTS – SHORT-TERMED OR LASTING - BUILT IN TO THE SIN ITSELF! When we sin, bad things happen. They may not be immediately observable, or they may be instantly seen. BUT SIN HURTS! Examples:

Sexual union with a partner other than your spouse in this day of AIDS can be fatal or at least disease producing. You don’t lose Christ when you sin sexually but you may gain a lifetime of pain.

Stealing and cheating, not to mention murder, can bring conviction at law and prison sentences. Christ does not leave yo when you steal, but He may have to keep you company in jail.
One lie must usually be covered by another lie causing mental frustration and physical rejection by friends when discovered.

Coveting every good thing that you see others have can keep you broke. Credit card debt, nowadays, is often a physical penalty for sin.

In general, every sin has short term or long term mental stress attached to it. And mental stress HURTS! It might not show on the surface for many people, but hidden sleepless nights, bodily stress and even disease can come from emotional stress.

So even though we are saved and have a future eternity to live with God in heaven, WE ARE STILL HUMAN AND HAVE TO LIVE WITHIN HUMAN PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS! The physical effects of sin alone should be enough to make us avoid sin.

But there is even a more compelling reason why we not only should but CAN avoid sin as a child of God. The US Army says it so well: “BE all that you can BE!”

As I said, at the new birth we enter a union with the Trinity of God. God IS love. And that Love is within us, available to us. We are weak towards sin (acting independently from God), but by trusting in and depending on Jesus Christ to guide our every thought, word and deed, we are more than conquerors.

Sin loses its appeal when looked at through the spiritual eyes of Jesus.

So when you have made Jesus the Lord of your life, you are a new person, a Christ-person. Get rid of that sense of CONDEMNATION and develop a strong sense of CONFIDENCE in your salvation, in Who you are, in the PEACE of Christ.

THIS SENSE OF SECURE SALVATION CAN BE THE STEPPING STONE TO THAT “ABUNDANT LIFE” THAT JESUS SPOKE ABOUT!

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Humanity Was CREATED By God So That They Might Choose To Be PROCREATED By God

create — to bring into existence; to bring about by a course of action; to cause or make; to produce through imaginative skill.
procreate - to produce offspring by generation, i. e. a body of living beings constituting a single step in the line of descent from an ancestor.
Webster’s Dictionary

One of the first things I began to understand about God in the epistles of Paul was that God desires to be a Father - to be a PROCREATOR - to all who believe. Before the creation, the desire of God’s heart was to procreate true children with His divine nature. And from that desire came the purpose for which He created heaven, angels, the universe, the earth and people.

Out of His desire for divinely natured offspring came the purpose of the new birth of which Christ speaks in John chapter 3, and of which Paul speaks scores of times. The new birth was a mystery that had never been revealed to me at this point in my spiritual walk. Though I had been born again for many years, I had no understanding of the true meaning of the birthing. It is sad to be alive in union with the indwelling Christ and not know what it means.

“…the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all...” (Galatians 4:1). Maturity and immaturity are conditions of the mind. There is a period of time in the walk of each believer when he does not comprehend the procreative aspect of the new birth -and it may remain that way for many years. The believer may remain ignorant of who he is as a true procreated child of God for an indefinite period of time, as seen in the phrase “as long as”. This period is contingent on mental maturity, not on the number of years, months, days, etc. The child will remain a child “as long as”.

I believe the phrase “child of God” has been used much too loosely in the world and even in the Christian community. We hear: “All people are children of God” or “God is the Father of the human race.” Not technically correct!

The truth is: All people are CREATURES of God - by a creative process. God is the CREATOR of the whole human race.

The terms “children of God” and “God the Father” should only be applied to those who have chosen to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and thus have been born again. Only in that case is God the true “Father” – by PROCREATION.

Without a Holy Spirit revelation of Christ’s indwelling union in the believer, there is only one God that can be known - the God of the Old Testament depicted by law, bondage and fear. Without the understanding of Paul’s epistles, believers will never really comprehend the true nature of God. They will remain in condemnation and fear to the judgmental God of the Old and some of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament except in Paul’s and John’s writings. What, then, is the difference? His nature did not change from a judgmental God to that of Father. The difference between the God of the Old and New Testaments is the revelation of the true circumstances of the new birth in Christ. And this is known by the renewal of our minds. The new birth makes Him, not just our Creator, but our Procreator Father and it is here that the difference is found.

Recently I re-evaluated the use of Father in John’s gospel and found an amazing thing. The term father is used 139 times. Seventeen times it has no reference to God at all. Father is used 122 times referring to God as father. Jesus uses it 112 times referring to God as Jesus’ Father and 9 times when He is speaking directly to the Father. Though the term Father is used quite extensively in John’s gospel, it nonetheless leaves the believer without knowing that God is the believer’s very own father. In John’s gospel, God is called “the Father” referring to Him being the father of Jesus only. There is only one verse in John’s gospel that refers to God being the father of anyone other than Christ. “. . . I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). Granted that in Jesus private prayer to His Father, He asks to “. . . keep through Your own name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are one.” This indirectly intimates a procreative status for believers.

In the other three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke together, the term father is used 121 times. 59 times it has no reference to God at all. Jesus uses it 34 times referring to God as Jesus’ Father. Only in the “Sermon on the Mount” is the term “your Father” or “our Father” used 28 times.

The point I make is that the gospels give us a beautiful insight into the fact that God is a father, but almost exclusively a Father to Jesus Christ our Lord. We learn of the Father-Son relationship that exists exclusively between the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the first step in coming to understand that God desires to be your father!

NOT UNTIL WE GET INTO PAUL’S EPISTLES DO WE REALLY LEARN THAT GOD IS OUR FATHER THROUGH CHRIST IN US! If you desire to know God as your procreative Father and not just as Creator, you must turn to Paul’s epistles. There is no other option. Though Peter tells us that God has a divine nature which believers share, he gives no clue as to what kind of nature it is!

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus…“ (Romans 8:1). For many years, this verse surely sounded good but it was not a reality to me. There were short periods when there was no condemnation, but these were the few times when I obeyed the letter of the law and thought I was acceptable to Him because of it. The moment that I failed to comply with the letter of the law I felt condemnation rush in like a stormy wind. Periods of no condemnation were always short lived. Why did Romans 8:1 not work for me?

As long as I was without the understanding that God was my procreative Father by a new birth and not just my Creator, I reverted back to my understanding of God where He was the omnipotent, righteous, holy, unapproachable God of the Old Testament. I reasoned that the above verse meant, “Sure, I ‘m not condemned to hell as long as I don’t sin. But when I sin, it separates me from Christ and the Father and then I AM condemned to hell. I must constantly repent and confess my sin in order to get back into God’s good graces.”

Not until I came to an understanding by the epistles of Paul that God is my procreative Father by my new birth did the condemnation leave. Romans 8:1 is one of the greatest confirmations of this attribute of God as my Father by procreation. Condemnation does not come from Him who is our true Father by rebirth! There are many sources of condemnation but none from Him who procreated us into His Family!

At this point I am reminded of what the younger son said while he was still in the pigpen. “[I]…am no more worthy to be called your son. . .“ (Luke 15:19). These are the words of one who has a penitent heart; that is good, but it is not the answer. When the son arrived at his father’s house he repeats the statement that he is no longer worthy. His understanding of his relationship with his father was based on his understanding of worth. As long as he remained at home and followed his father’s rules he thought he was worthy to be his father’s son. He didn’t do anything wrong while there, and upon this he based his understanding of his worth. For many years this was the basis of my understanding of my relationship with God. What is wrong with this logic? This is the understanding of a believer who looks at himself through his own eyes and has never understood the difference between creation and procreation.

Our understanding of our worth must go beyond ourselves into the glory of the Christ indwelling us. It is true that when we were outside of Christ we found ourselves unable to come to the unapproachable God who was too holy and righteous for us to be allowed into His presence. But that unapproachable God now lives in us through Jesus Christ in us! Make Galatians 2:20 your spiritual battlecry: “I am crucified with Christ - nevertheless I live - yet not I, but Christ lives in me - and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

The believer needs to know how his procreative Father God sees him. Read Ephesians chapters 1,2 and 3 until this knowledge is indelibly written in your mind. Not only must it be written in your mind, but it must become life to you.

If you can look at Christ, point a finger at Him and condemn Him, then you can condemn me also. If you can find nothing to condemn Him for, then you will not be able to condemn me FOR HE LIVES IN ME AS MY LIFE. This is not my human concept of myself, but it is God our Father’s perception of me. If you look at me and can find reason to condemn me, then you are seeing me through your own eyes and not through the eyes of Him who is my procreative Father.

Since I have been born again procreatively by a new birth into God’s Family and am now His true child, the basis of who I am is found only in Christ and I am not separated from Him for a moment. I am persuaded that nothing can separate me from Christ who is in me (Rom. 8:39). I am in an eternal union with the indwelling Jesus Christ. He has promised to never leave me or forsake me (Heb. 13:5).

Does this mean that everything that I think and do after my new birth will be “Christ-like”? Certainly not. Learning to live completely by God’s standards for His child is a PROCESS. It is a process of trial and error. All of our human life is a schoolhouse to teach us the lifestyle of a procreative child of God.

I am impressed at how our heavenly Father constantly offers us courses of action from which to choose - good or evil, his way versus our way. God made a choice also. The most awesome choice God made was giving us the ability to choose.

If you look on the inside of an old piece of furniture, you will often see dovetail joints where two pieces of wood meet, particularly in drawers. It is a work of superb skill and efficiency. This is a fine illustration of how God’s sovereignty (I like to call it “God’s persuasive sovereignty”) and man’s will work in union, though just where and when they do is not clear. Their place of meeting is a mystery. I suspect that is the Father’s plan, for if we knew we would no doubt work up a formula to follow. Instead, by faith we choose to believe that just as dovetailing assures smooth, solid and stable furniture, so the fusion of our will and God’s, although more pliable than the analogous dovetailed joint, is the key to the life of the procreated child of God.

The moment by moment decisions of any given day are a combination of my choosing and His persuading. The Scriptures clearly indicate this. First in Romans 12:1-2, Paul exhorts the readers to: “...present your bodies a living sacrifice… and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that acceptable and perfect will of God.” All these active verbs dictate first our participation and then the unveiling of His will.

In yet another of Paul’s epistles we are assured, “For it is God who works in you (who sovereignly persuades you] both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). We need never be twisted in confusion wondering what we should do when we remember that the persuasive direction comes out of the union we have with the mind of Christ. Neither need we fumble toward fatalism when we understand that our will works in persuasive compliance with the Father’s will. No hint of being robotically engineered here.

The collision of situations and circumstances in the life of a child of God that brings us to a crisis of confidence in our human ability requires choices. Crises in and of themselves are no guarantee that we will quickly relinquish our self-reliance for dependence on God. Many people, INCLUDING PROCREATED CHRISTIAN CHILDREN, become bewildered, buffeted, and grow bitter under life’s pressures. Whatever choices though that we make, we are comforted in knowing that our Father will work all things together for good (Rom. 8:28).

However, that does not diminish our responsibility of making Christ-conscious choices for there are consequences to our actions, of that we can all testify. The same apostle of grace to whom the emancipated, exchanged life was revealed, also says that we will reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7-8). There are fewer scars, regrets, and repercussions when we are persuaded to follow the lifestyle of Christ rather than waiting for the sky to fall.

Choosing is the outworking of human and heavenly union - Christ’s life and mine in harmony. Our heavenly Father gives us options from which to choose. And although He will never violate either our choice or His decision that gave us free will in the first place, God our Father in all His perfection is the perfect persuader. Through the indwelling Spirit of Christ, He will use whatever powers of persuasion are needed to bring us our needed spiritual growth in His Family. Do you see the mystery of the dovetailing of God’s sovereign perfect persuasion and our God-given human free-will? What else can Paul’s exciting statement mean: “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28)?

It is a constant conflict within the mind of a Christian child of God whether to stay aware or to temporarily forget who we are in union with Christ. Our Father knew that this would happen. In fact, He planned that this would happen - he wired our minds to that this would happen! Why? So that faith and dependence on Him would necessarily grow in His child.

None of us know how many grade levels there are in this schoolhouse of life that we are in. None of us know how far along the growth in lifestyle of God that we will get.
Our length of human life is so uncertain.

But what we can know is that we are eternally secure as procreated children in the Family of God.

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Would You Trust Desert Pete?

Picture a prospector trudging along a desert trail, exhausted, hot, thirsty, his canteen empty.
Suddenly he comes to an old water well pump. Tied to the handle of the pump is an old baking powder can, in which he finds an old, yellowed letter. He takes the letter from the can and reads it carefully:

This pump is alright as of June, 1932. I put a new sucker washer on it and it ought to last fer five or more years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and corked up. There’s enuff water in it to prime the pump, but not if you go and drink some first.
Pour about one fourth and let her soak and wet the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast and pump like crazy. You’ll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it fer the next feller.
Desert Pete

PS Don’t go drinkin up the water first. Prime the pump with it and you’ll git all you can hold.

What the prospector does after he reads this letter will tell what sort of person he is - a person of faith or suspicion.

Isn’t this a first-class lesson in faith? Just see that exhausted, thirsty traveler looking at a cup of clean, clear water. And he must not drink it? Not a drop of it? Not if he wants more!

Here is faith applied. The traveler must have faith to use the water in his hands to pull more water from the depths of the well. Otherwise that cup is all he will get.

But how can he stop thinking: “Suppose I use this water in the bottle to prime the pump, then pump for all I’m worth, and no water comes? I’ve lost even the water I could have had! What guarantee do I have that Desert Pete is right? What proof do I have that there is any water in the well?”

What would you do if you were dying of thirst and came across that pump, Pete’s letter, and the bottle of water under the rock? What would I do? I don’t know. Certainly I would think it through. What if it were all a monumental hoax? What if the well had gone dry in the meantime?

Faith always involves an element of risk.

Still, we must take that step of faith. We must dump the water that is in our hands (our link with this present world), trusting all to Christ who has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If we give what we have at hand, He has assured us that we shall have more, abundantly more. His water will be in us “a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.”

But it takes faith. Everyone who has served God in every age has had to have faith. How much more we who are living in an age of atheism and agnosticism. We who are living at a time when moral decline is rampant are highly influenced by it.

It takes great faith, just like dumping that precious cup of water. Desert Pete was looking squarely at human nature when he added that postscript on his note: “Don’t go drinkin up the water first. Prime the pump with it and you’ll git all you can hold.” The thirsty traveler had to give up something before he could get something. In the same way, you and I must give up something - our pride, our self-will, our doubts, our love of this world - before we see any returns. But when the returns come, they will be astounding! Those who receive God’s new birth and eternal gifts will be “abundantly satisfied” as they drink from the river of [His] pleasures,” and those blessings will last for evermore” (Psalm 36:7,9; 16:11).

In John chapter 4, Jesus talks of thirst and water to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. He said to the woman, “Would you give me a drink of water?”. . . The woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking ME for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water. “. . . Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this natural water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst - not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life” (John 4:7,9,10,13,14 Message Bible).

Yes, there is water in His well - an abundance of it. Prime the pump, and discover it for yourself!
Here’s the issue: Immediate gratification versus future fulfillment. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, many say. But Jesus said, “Whosoever would save his life will lose it.”

Doesn’t Desert Pete’s instruction have an application for Christians? It is the lesson of risk taking which lies at the heart of faith. To use the words of Desert Pete, “You’ll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. Pour out the little you have - and pump like crazy.”

That is, briefly stated, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a beautiful composite of faith, hope and love. “Pour out the little you have” (give up what you have at hand, what you can see and hold) and “pump like crazy” (work enthusiastically at the way God directs, giving all you have and are - and God will reward you with your needs and satisfaction and joy that never runs out).

To pour out the little you have “and pump like crazy” is an act of faith because it is following the example of Abel, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and all the others who have gone before us. All these took risks, poured out what they could see in the hope of things they could not see. “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They didn‘t receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13 NIV).

Just as the traveler had to have faith in the process instructed by Desert Pete, we must have faith in the process that God is working out, faith in Christ to strengthen us in our weaknesses. It is great faith because it involves hope, especially that part of hope which is able to see the unseen because God has promised it. “If we hope for that which we don‘t see, then do we with patience wait for it” (Romans 8:25).

It seems very likely that that thirsty traveler could not have summoned the courage to pour out the little he had and “pump like crazy” if, in the imagination of his mind, he didn’t hear the gurgling or see the gush of the cool water drawn from the depths by the pump. Likewise, a clear vision of the future is essential if we would truly believe God, and act upon our belief. Faith encourages us to take risks and depend on what is yet to be.

But we must have more than faith, and more than hope. There must also be the commitment to give ourselves in obedience to God, which is the third word: love.

Yes, I believe I would trust Desert Pete’s instructions, because I would have to believe that no man, especially a grizzled old desert prospector who had known the pangs of hunger and thirst, would trick a man to death on those burning sands! There is some kind of a love of fellow-man there.

We who have put our faith in the indwelling Christ have a lot in common with the exhausted traveler who comes to the pump in the desert. We haven’t seen anyone before us drawing water from the well. Yet we know that God will not lie. What God has promised He will do.

As we mature and absorb the love of God into our souls, we receive the only force that can move us to give our best. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

Desert Pete left more than a note: He left the gift of life to any who might be following him through the desert and not be able to make it without water. His message was life. And isn’t that the real value of the message God has left us? But like the note from Desert Pete, it must be heeded before one can receive the benefits. We must give up to gain, surrender to inherit, “pour out the little we have.”

Christ’s Gospel is like the note from Desert Pete - it is LIFE to those who heed. Anyone who accepts Christ’s death on the cross as forgiveness and punishment for his sins, and determines to make Christ the Savior and Lord of his life, RECEIVES A NEW BIRTH - A NEW LIFE - A NEW CONTROLLING NATURE - THE DIVINE NATURE OF GOD!
In the words of the song, “That’s When He Steps In”:

When you have a work to do,
and the task ahead seems bigger than you,
that’s when He steps in.

When you know in your heart that God’s command
takes more than can be done by man,
that’s when He steps in.

He sees you at the point of your need –
He sees you at the point of crossing your Red Sea,
and the moment you call, when you’ve given your all, HE STEPS IN.

And He’ll say, “What’s that you have in your hand?
I can use it, if you’re willing to lose it.
I’ll take the little you have and make it grand!
I am El-Shaddai, and I‘ll more than supply your needs!

When all you have is oil in a jar
and that’s a reflection of where you are,
that’s when He steps in.

A little boy’s lunch of fish and bread
is all you have for the need ahead
that’s when He steps in.

Let Him take it and bless it and break it and give it.
He’ll multiply it in the moment you live it.
And in the moment you call, when you’ve given your all, HE STEPS IN!

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You Say You're Not Addicted - To Anything?

An addiction is an enslaving, destructive dependency. Addictions raise many questions. Are they moral weaknesses, diseases, habits, or sins? Are they physical dependencies, or complicated spiritual cycles? What’s needed for change? Is it medical treatment, family intervention, daily group accountability, or spiritual transformation? Can behaviors be changed quickly, or will recovery be the process of a lifetime? If our answer to these questions is yes, or at least maybe, we are being honest about the complexity of addiction.

Nancy is obsessed with food. For years she has overeaten and has become extremely overweight. Her compulsive eating routine seems to have a life of its own.

Dorothy is also obsessed with food. She constantly thinks that she is overweight but she isn’t. For years she has binged and purged, sometimes 10 times a day. She is a classic case of anorexia.

Peter has a love his wife knows nothing about. As a curious teen he discovered Playboy and Penthouse. Fifteen years later, he finds the 900 numbers on late-night TV irresistible. His computer modem gives him easy access to the pornography of cyberspace and the Internet.

Rose is dependent on alcohol. She isn’t down at the local bar slugging down beers. She is a closet drinker. No one in her family suspects her problem. She only drinks while her husband is at work and while the kids are at school. Nothing too serious, she thinks, until she became pregnant again and tried to stop for the sake of the baby.

As these examples suggest, addictions are not limited to illegal, mood-altering substances. Nancy and Dorothy are addicted to a food problem. Peter is a slave to his own sexuality. Rose is controlled by a substance freely sold from the shelves of her family supermarket.

Because a person can be congenitally predisposed to addiction by inheritance of genes, and because of the likelihood of medical complications, addictions are often viewed as a disease. It would be a mistake, however, to think only in terms of the physical dimensions. Most addictions are also rooted in moral choices and spiritual needs.

What is most important is not whether we are predisposed to an enslaving habit but whether we are willing to do whatever it takes to bring this desire, habit, or idol under the control of reason and faith.

Let me give a personal testimony and example of a form of addiction which at one time controlled me. This addiction of mine is one that would probably not pop up first in your mind. I was addicted to GOLF! You may laugh, but I am serious. My addiction was enslaving and it was destructive.

A year after my wife and I were married in 1954, I served a two-year hitch in the Air Force as a dentist. I was stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Miss. on the Gulf coast. The weather was perfect year round for golf.

I began work in the dental clinic at 6:30 in the morning and went off-duty at 3 PM. This gave the rest of the afternoon off and I discovered golf! I became intoxicated by all the fine points of the game and couldn’t get enough of it. I began to play every weekday and most weekends.

I neglected my wife, I neglected my newborn son - I just had to play golf. When I wasn’t playing, I was analyzing my previ­ous game to find corrections. And the more I played, the better I got. I shot near even par on most days. And, of course, there was the inevitable betting among my golf buddies (I must say I won more often than I lost.)

My wife needed me around her for love and support with the new baby, but I just had to play golf. I was young and foolish. And I had an addiction.

My wife was a loving person and treated my addiction tenderly - more tenderly than I ever deserved. In this day and age of easy divorce, my marriage might not have lasted. But with my wife’s love and understanding, I made a commitment to my family. (My wife died two years ago after 50 years of our marriage.)

I quit golf cold-turkey! I didn’t lift a golf club for 10 years. And when I did play again, there was no addiction - just normal enjoyment like any other person.

I was not a praying person in those days but I did recognize God in my life. How I had the ability to quit my addiction I do not know for sure, but God must have had His part.

Remember this about addictions: they cause us to either feel good or feel nothing. Those who work with people caught in addictions identify at least five telltale signs, which when found together indicate the presence of an enslaving, destructive dependency.

1. Absorbing Focus. All addictions consume time, thought, and energy. They are not mere pastimes. They are obsessions that demand more and more from us.

2. Increasing Tolerance. The pattern of diminishing returns is also common. We need increasing amounts to maintain the same effect.

3. Growing Denial. To protect the sacred moments of our pleasure, we deny that our “interest” is ruining us. Because there is so much to lose, we hide from others the ex­tent of our addiction. We convince ourselves that we can stop whenever we want. We learn to live in two worlds at the same time.

4. Damaging Consequences. There is no such thing as a harmless addiction. All addictions are destructive to ourselves and those we love. They damage our relationships with family, friendships and God.

5. Painful Withdrawal. Anything we habitually use to give us an artificial sense of well-being results in pain when it’s taken away. There are always “withdrawal symptoms” as we feel that we have lost something essential to our life.

Addictions are attractive because they appear to provide predictable doses of either pleasure or relief - now. What we find out too late is that in exchange for pleasure or relief, our addictions master us. Even though we tell ourselves we have everything under control, experience tells us otherwise. At some point, we are forced to choose between our addiction and those who love us. We know what we desperately want: we don’t want to lose those we love. But we want to keep our addiction so badly.

Addiction involves our spiritual inner being. We have needs that cannot be met by filling them with food, alcohol, drugs, work or golf. Physical obsessions cannot satisfy our deep longings for satisfaction, security, and significance. Because these needs are spiritual rather than physical, most addiction treatment centers now recognize the need for more than medical or social therapy.

Everyone is born with a God-shaped need within. But most need time and addictions to attempt to fill that God-shaped vacuum. God uses the disillusionment of addictions to draw people to Himself by trial and error.

But don’t Christians suffer from addictions? Yes. People can struggle with addictions before and after coming to Christ for forgiveness and eternal salvation. That’s one reason Paul had to write to Christians in Corinth (see 1 Cor. 6:9-11). Some were still living under the influence of alcohol and unmanaged sexual desires even after coming to Christ. People bought, paid for, and owned by God can still struggle with any of the addictions that afflict others.

But what about those who experience dramatic, lasting deliverance on the day of their salvation? Some do report a “miracle cure” when they first believe in Christ as Lord and Savior. But their story is not the norm. What their experience does is demonstrate to others that God can break the chains of bondage. Their dramatic cures remind all of us that God can empower His people to live under the influence and control of His Spirit.

But dramatic “cold-turkey” deliverances are only part of the picture. Even those who experience such freedom in the first days of faith must spend the rest of their lives facing the dangers of countless other possible addictions just like everyone else.

WHEN FEELING GOOD OR FEELING NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN DOING GOOD, LOVING OTHERS, OR KNOWING GOD, WE ARE RIPE FOR ADDICTION.

When we Christians finally invite Christ into our mess, we discover that He has not come to condemn us. Neither does He demand that we work harder to fix our addicted broken lives. All He asks of us is faith and trust in Him. And He will empower us in our weakness to overcome.
When we first came to the end of ourselves, hit bottom, and admitted that our lives were a series of minor or major addictions, our surrender to God was not complete. In some ways it was a forced surrender. We had been broken by the tyranny of our own choices. We finally admitted that we were beaten, and that if we didn’t surrender we would die. We surrendered TO SAVE OUR OWN LIVES.

What we didn’t realize at the time is that this attitude of brokenness COULD BECOME A WAY OF LIFE. The surrender we feared became a way of inviting the help and mercy of the One who had made us to find our pleasure, security, and fulfillment in Him.

All of us have the seeds of addiction within our souls. We all want to maximize our pleasure. We all want to minimize our pain. But we must understand the reality of addictions and how they can come between us and God.

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Are We Just Lucky - Or What?

The 20th century was witness to the most - and most far-reaching - scientific discoveries of any century in human history. We have gotten more information about our Earth and its location in the universe than in all the past centuries combined. And we have discovered that - just as in the real estate market - the three most important factors are location, location and location. In fact, that location is so special as to provide a powerful piece of evidence that our galaxy, our sun and our solar system must be supernaturally designed for the benefit of us Earthlings.

More than 400 years ago, a man named Nicolaus Copernicus took a first fateful step in science by demoting the Earth from its exalted status as the center of the universe and consigned it to a less “special” location. His astronomical observations, people were told, discredited parts of the Bible that supposedly claimed the Earth’s cosmic centrality.

Acceptance of the Copernican Principle was the first claimed victory of modern science over “religious superstition.” Since then additional science discoveries seem to have pushed us into ever more obscure regions of the universe.

Although we are not the “center” of the universe, science has shown that the Earth does reside at an extremely special position in the universe - one uniquely suited for the sustenance of LIFE.

Cosmic Position

Astronomy has ascertained that nearly all galaxies possibly capable of supporting life reside in cosmic neighborhoods too crowded with other galaxies to allow for life forces. In other words, nearly all galaxies of the right age (old, but not too old), size (large, but not too large) and type (currently spiral in structure) to contain a life-supporting planet find themselves within a packed cluster of galaxies or adjacent to a super-large galaxy.

If the Earth’s galaxy were in such a neighborhood, the huge gravitational tugs from such galaxy neighbors would inevitably pull our life-supporting planet outside its zone of habitability.
Fortunately for us, however, Earth’s galaxy is positioned in a sparsely populated part of the universe, with no giant galaxy neighbors. Nor does it have problematic dwarf galaxy neighbors. Small galaxies are gobbled up gradually by larger galaxies, but our Milky Way galaxy has been exceptionally inactive in gobbling up any nearby smaller galaxies. This relative inactivity has been a major factor in stabilizing our galaxy and the orbit of our sun about the galactic center.
ARE WE JUST LUCKY - OR WHAT?

Our Sun’s position in the galaxy

Our Sun is also especially situated for life within our galaxy - approximately halfway between the Milky Way’s center and its edge.

If our solar system were any closer to the galactic center, Earth would encounter harmful radiation. Also, nearer the galactic center, neighboring stars would be so densely packed together as to guarantee the inevitable pulling of Earth’s orbit out of its habitable zone.

If located farther from the galactic center, our solar system would, necessarily, contain fewer than sufficient heavy elements for the formation of a planet capable of supporting life.

And there’s still more to the rightness of our solar system’s positioning. It is important for life that our solar system is situated in between two of our galaxy’s spiral arms. Within each of the galaxy’s spiral arms, the star densities often are high enough to disrupt the orbits of planets like Earth. Moreover, supergiant stars often reside inside the spiral arms - supergiants that would expose earth-like planets to radiation intense enough to damage the planet’s ionospheric and atmospheric layers.

Also the spiral arms are loaded with gas and dust. If we were located within a spiral arm, such gas and dust would block our view of anything but the nearby stars and gas and dust clouds. But the Earth’s location between spiral arms permits us to see the other parts of our galaxy and any of the other several hundred billion galaxies in the universe.
ARE WE JUST LUCKY - OR WHAT?

The Sun’s Orbital Position

Another way our sun is special is that it deviates very little from its nearly circular orbit about the center of our galaxy. Nor does it deviate much at all from the plane of our galaxy’s disk. Meanwhile, virtually all the other stars in our galaxy exhibit rather large up-and-down, back-and-forth, and side-to-side random motions away from their normal orbital paths. These deviations keep occurring because most stars have acquired various wobbles from their many gravity-influenced close encounters with other stars and giant gas and dust clouds.

Still, our sun does deviate. However its tiny up-and-down deviations actually keep us from getting too exposed to deadly radiation, from the galaxy’s nucleus and from supernovae remnants. Plus we now understand that the sun’s tiny motions also play a crucial role in keeping our solar system from getting too close to the spiral arms of the galaxy.
ARE WE JUST LUCKY – OR WHAT?

Earth’s Orbital Position

A way that our Earth is special is its unique position within our solar system. About half-of-a-percent closer to the sun, it would experience a runaway greenhouse effect. More water vapor and carbon dioxide would collect in the atmosphere. This in turn would cause the surface temperature to rise even more releasing more water vapor, etc.

If the Earth were a half-of-a-percent more distant from the sun it would suffer a runaway freeze-up. More snow and ice than normal would form. This would reflect solar energy much more efficiently causing more cooling and more snow and ice, etc.
ARE WE JUST LUCKY – OR WHAT?

The Moon’s Orbital Position

Right now, the moon spirals away from the Earth by a few centimeters more every year. Yet it still remains at a distance from Earth that helps our planet maintain its life-supporting rotation axis at a firmly held tilt of 23.5 degrees.

In addition the moon at its current distance helps maintain Earth’s tidal patterns so as to yield the greatest possible life forces along all our continental shelves.

What if the moon were any smaller or larger, any closer or more distant? The simple answer is that we could not exist. The Earth would rotate at a very different rate. The Earth’s axis, like that of its neighboring planets, would slowly shift from being perpendicular to the solar system’s plane to being parallel with it. Astronomers discovered in the 1980’s that advanced life requires the characteristics of a small planet orbited closely by a large, single moon.
ARE WE JUST LUCKY – OR WHAT?

Big Brother Jupiter

Asteroid and comet watchers assure us that if the giant planet Jupiter were any farther from Earth, or any less massive than it is, our planet would be in serious trouble. The Earth would be so frequently blasted by asteroid and comet collisions that advance life forms would not survive long. Jupiter, with its powerful gravity, acts as a shield, absorbing or deflecting these objects. On the other hand, if Jupiter were any closer to Earth, or any more massive than it is, Jupiter’s gravity would pull Earth outside the “safe zone” of habitability and stability in which we now orbit. Most giant planets apparently drift in close to the stars they orbit, but our amazing Jupiter has remained in an ideal (for Earth life) orbit.
ARE WE JUST LUCKY – OR WHAT?

The Ozone Layers are Just Right

According to studies in 1997, it’s not just one ozone layer that is crucial to life on Earth – it’s three! In the mesosphere (the outer layer of our atmosphere), a just right amount of ozone is needed to regulate the life-essential chemical reactions and chemical circulation occurring there. In the stratosphere (the middle layer), too little ozone would allow too much ultraviolet radiation to get through to Earth’s surface. Many plant and animal species would be exterminated as a result. Too much ozone in the stratosphere, on the other hand, would so diminish the amount of UV radiation reaching Earth’s surface as to disturb nutrient production for plants and certain vitamin production for animals. Finally in the troposphere (the nearest-to-us layer), a minimum ozone level is needed to cleanse the atmosphere of natural pollutants. Yet too much ozone in the troposphere would disrupt animal respiration. Moreover, the circulation of ozone between the three different atmospheric layers must be fine-tuned in a systematic way.
ARE WE JUST LUCKY – OR WHAT?

Just the Poisons We Need

Believe it or not, a lack of arsenic will kill you! Yes, arsenic is just one of the 12-plus “poison” elements our environment needs (in proper amounts) to maintain the proteins essential for advanced life. Too much arsenic, of course, will kill. Scientists are more and more realizing this wonder: Earth’s abundance of numerous poisons is carefully fine-tuned so that life can continue. Too little of these, and life functions cease. Too much, and life functions cease. The Earth has been the recipient of just the right balance of all these vital poisons.
ARE WE JUST LUCKY – OR WHAT?

A Truly Privileged Generation

We cannot help but be awed by how wonderful it is for us citizens of the 21st century to be personal witnesses to so many new and powerful evidences for a Creator God. Copernicus thought he was refuting the God of the Bible by downgrading the centrality of the Earth. But it turns out that in understanding our SPECIAL location in the universe, we have even more evidence for a Designer God.

No other generation of humanity has seen so much proof. In this explosion of new evidences, we find yet another sign of God’s fingerprint and God’s glory.

It makes perfectly good sense for God to pile so much new evidence upon modern humanity. For one thing, more people are alive today than ever. For another, we have more power, thus more susceptibility to pride. The book of Ezekiel states that one of God’s tools for cracking through human pride is demonstrations of His power, glory, and truth. The greater the pride, then the greater the evidences for His existence and operation.

There is more than divine design evidence at stake here, however. The more fine-tuning astronomers uncover in the universe, the more we should realize how weak and foolish we are compared to the One who designed this vast and complex universe in which we live.

The fact that such an awesomely powerful, intelligent, and caring Creator so exquisitely engineered the universe for the benefit of us human beings should motivate us much more seriously and carefully to consider why we are here.

The choice is simple, and the intellectually honest can see the options clearly: if we are but a cosmic accident, then we really are just the kings of this temporary heap we call Earth, soon to be gone, and what we do is of no consequence.

On the other hand, if the “location, location, location” of the Earth was finely designed, finely tuned, finely protected for human life – as the astrophysical data now so emphatically declares – then we are subjects of the most high God. And what we think, say and do is of ultimate, eternal significance. What we ARE and what we are to BECOME is in the finely tuned purposes of God.
IT IS NOT JUST LUCK !!

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After Jesus' Easter Resurrection, What's In It For Us?

schizophrenia - a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with environment and by a disintegration or splitting of personality.
(Webster’s Dictionary)

Please don’t take offense when I say that you are schizophrenic. EVERY human being is schizophrenic! You are. I am. Every Christian is. Every non-Christian is.

We see on TV and read about stories of people with split personalities. The “Joan” part of a woman may be calm and reserved and do good things - but the “Jane” part of the same woman is wild and evil creating bad situations.

In the treatment of mental illness, the psychiatrist attempts to cure schizophrenia by trying to eliminate the bad false personality - who the person sometimes thinks that they are, and saving the one good true personality - who the person really is by nature.

In Christianity, God is the great “Psychiatrist” and His purpose for our existence is to cure His children of their schizophrenic split personalities. You may call this process “spiritual growth” or it may be called God’s “schizophrenia cure”.

After Jesus’ Easter resurrection, then what’s in it for us? Christ comes to indwell us when we accept Him as Savior and Lord. For a Christian, our true personality or nature is the Life of Christ dwelling within our human spirit. This true nature is submissive and dependent.

But within our human souls is a false personality which is a leftover remnant of our previous life without the indwelling Christ. The Bible says that unbelievers have the nature of Satan, the god of this world. This personality is one of independence and aggressive ego.

God’ s cure for His children’s split personalities is the gradual removal on a daily basis of the remnants of the false independent, worldly-attached personality and the bringing out to the forefront the understanding and function of the true personality of the Life of Christ.

The purpose of God has always been Life for His children. This may seem like a simple truth but it is nonetheless one that is often lost sight of. In His time on this earth our Lord was quite clear about this point: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Choosing the right life to live is fundamental God’s cure of our schizophrenia. We must choose between the “life” understandings of the false independent personality and the “Life” understandings of the true spirit personality Life. The first step in this process is to understand that these are not the same understandings.

The Greek uses three different words that are translated “life”. These are bios, psyche, and zoe. Bios refers to biological life. The Bible rarely uses this Greek word. New Testament scripture mentions biological life only five times of the nearly 180 times the world “life” appears. Psyche refers to the psychological, soul life. This reference to life is used only about 30 times and it is never a positive reference.

The most numerous life reference is zoe. This word indicates God’s Life or true real nature and personality of the Christian. This is the “life” of John 10:10 quoted above. In God’s word it is assumed that God’s Life is the only real life (1 Timothy 6:19).

If we take a false purely physical view of reality, we will misunderstand the issue of life. Unbelievers in the world think that because they are alive physically (bios) they have the only type of life there is. Even those unbelievers who consider the issue of life in a deeper way only come to see the soul life (psyche). Even many philosophers of the world can only get this far: “I think - therefore I am.”

While salvation brings a person under the cleansing of Christ‘s blood, this is not the central issue of salvation. Forgiveness is a benefit but the central point is the exchange of life.

At our natural birth, we have the wrong kind of life and the wrong nature in us. Everyone is born schizophrenic. Our true spirit personality is the independent self-centered personality of Satan which creates sin in our lives. Most of the time we live out through this true personality. But at times we attempt to live our false, caring for others, split personality where we may show a false, good and giving side in our life. This is the schizophrenia of the world. God uses this worldly schizophrenia for a purpose. This is why we require some crisis in our life to prompt us to turn to God. It is in crisis that our confidence in the sufficiency of our true independent choice of personality is challenged. This provides the force that causes us to seek an alternative.

In other words, we seek the Great Psychiatrist - our Creator God. We go to the “Doctor”. And what is the treatment for this worldly schizophrenia? It is something which no human psychiatrist is able to do. Before, we had a “bad” personality trying to overcome a false “good” split personality.

At salvation, GOD EXCHANGES OUR PERSONALITIES! God makes our true personality (nature) a “good” (righteous) one - BUT HE ALLOWS THE FALSE, INDEPENDENT SOUL PERSONALITY TO REMAIN. All of the remnant thoughts and memories of supposed independence remain in corners of our minds.

We remain schizophrenics - SCHIZOPHRENIC CHRISTIANS. Why, why, why does God use this form of therapy?? Why not just make us His children by the new birth and instantly remove all of our schizophrenia? The only answer can be that He wants to USE our schizophrenia for spiritual growth IN GOD’S LIFESTYLE!

Every time that we revert in some area to that false independent split personality, we have troubling consequences. These consequences force us closer and closer to an understanding of our true, dependent LIFE in Christ.

We have the Life of God in us now through Christ’s resurrection and the indwelling of the Son of God in our spirit. You can however display the characteristics of your former life through deception and misplaced focus. These lies are very powerful because they are consistent with the understandings we once had.

The growing of the influence of God’s Life in us is the process of learning to abide in the Spirit. In this we allow the Father to grow and strengthen our true, dependent personality (the nature and love of God). As this process of schizophrenic cure occurs, we are trained to subjugate the false independent personality and its views to Christ.

How many times is this split personality going to show up in a Christian’s course of God’s cure? DAILY! There are many individual remnants in different corners of our minds that must be proven false by God - there is a remnant corner of pride, a corner of lust, a corner of anger, a corner of envy, etc., etc. God is perfecting His children by a gradual removal of false independence.

We will never be completely free of the false, independent split personality while we have a physical body. We will be schizophrenics unto death! We can, however, with God’s Psychiatric resource, live most often in the true, dependent personality trusting in Christ within. As we submit to God’s cure, we can more and more show the Life of Christ and subjugate that other soul personality.

If I were to go to a “Schizophrenics Anonymous” meeting, I would say: “My name is Lou. I am a schizophrenic. When I chose to make Jesus Christ the Savior and Lord of my life, my true personality was miraculously converted to Lou/Christ. That is now my REAL name. And it will FOREVER BE my real name. But, in my Christian schizophrenia, I have this other false personality that flares up daily in different situations of life. I falsely think that I can humanly handle some area. I “do my own thing.” This false personality could be called Lou/Satan. Now understand that this is a false personality – there is no real Lou/Satan anymore. There is no true linkage there anymore with the devil, but his influence on my leftover remnants can be powerful at times. I AM being cured. Gradually. Daily. And the Great Psychiatrist has PROMISED me that He will never leave me or forsake the treatment of my schizophrenia. I am assured of my salvation in Christ. My spiritual psychiatric treatment doesn’t cost me $100 an hour, or $300, or $1,000 per hour. Or I would be bankrupt! All it costs me is my false independence!”

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Jesus Christ - A Stumblingblock?

Yesterday I was in a dark corner of my garage putting an item away. As I turned to leave, I stumbled over a garden brick which I had not noticed and almost fell down. As I caught myself from hitting the floor, a message flashed into my mind - “Now you know how people stumble over Jesus! Check it out in the Bible!”

And so I did. And so should you. It is interesting to see how Christ is called a stumblingblock in prophecies of the Old Testament and in the narratives of the New Testament.

In Romans 9:32-33, Paul is speaking of how Israel stumbled over Christ. “They didn’t seek righteousness by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone as it is written: Behold I lay in Zion a stumblingstone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on HIM shall not be ashamed.” Paul says that the “HIM” is Christ - the stumblingstone is Christ. The marginal reference of this verse refers back to Psalm 118:21-22: “I will praise the Lord for You have heard me and have become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused has become the cornerstone.”

Psalm 118:22 is quoted eight times in the New Testament - three times by Jesus Himself (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17), twice by Peter (Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7-8), and three times by Paul (Romans 9:32-33; Romans 11:9-11; 1 Corinthians 1:23). The prophet Isaiah foretells that the Lord will be a stumblingstone to people in Isaiah 8:13-15 and 57:14.

Let’s think for a moment about this business of “stumbling”. Consider that a stumblingstone is something external to us or outside of us that we trip over in our path. We can certainly stumble without a stumblingstone - we can trip over our own big feet! But this is not what the Bible is talking about. The stumblingstone is something external to us which gets in our way and we don’t see it or, if we see it, we try to jump over it and stumble and fall.

The Bible is saying that Jesus Christ gets in the way of people. They either don’t see Him in their path or, if they see Him, they try to step over Him but He trips them and they stumble.

There are some people who deny that there ever was such a person as Jesus Christ -they don’t SEE Him at all. Many maintain that all religions are about the same, anyway, so what difference does it make which one you like? Or is it necessary to recognize any religion? Others may recognize Him as a historical person but not truly as He said He was, the Son of God - they try to step over Him or around Him. To all of these people, Jesus Christ is a stumblingstone in their path and He is going to externally trip them up.

But born again Christians themselves who have accepted Jesus Christ as Son of God, Redeemer, Savior, and Lord of their lives, CAN STILL STUMBLE OVER CHRIST! What do I mean?

When you are born again, Jesus Christ actually comes to live within you in your human spirit - He lives internally within you with His divine nature to lead you and empower you to live the Christian life. The Bible leaves no doubt of this fact: Colossians 1:27; Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinth. 13:8. But all who may be truly born again do not understand the internal position and nature of Christ within them. They still see Him as external, as being able to externally help and assist them when they “need Him”. This indwelling of Christ must come as a revelation to them just as it came as a revelation to the apostle Paul. The Holy Spirit works in a Christian’s life to remove the concept of an “external” Christ and teach the reality of an “internal” Christ. As long as a true Christian sees Jesus as external to him, Jesus is a stumblingblock to him - he trips over trying to follow Jesus’ example, he trips over trying to live life by his own ability as much as possible and only calling on Christ in dire trouble.

As long as ANY person, believer or unbeliever alike, sees Jesus Christ as EXTERNAL to him, Christ will be a stumblingblock to him and loom too large in his path to get around.

The key understanding which God purposes to bring to everyone is that Jesus Christ was never meant to stay external to people. When we are born again into the Family of God at conversion and new birth, Christ actually becomes internalized - indwelling, inliving, inloving, inguiding, inpowering.

And when Christ is internal and we recognize Him as such, He can never be an external stumblingblock again in our lives. Satan would like to see all Christians viewing Christ as external to them. Then Satan could continually whisper: “Jesus’ goodness is too much for you. You can’t do it! Jesus is out there in front of you blocking all your fun. Just step around Him and follow my path. You won’t stumble!” WRONG!!

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Go To The Geese

Pay any attention at all to the sky in the Spring and Fall seasons and you will see flocks of geese flying in formation overhead. They fly in the familiar V pattern, and their honking can be heard for miles.

When King Solomon wrote, “Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise” (Prov. 6:6), he was telling us to let the animal kingdom teach us spiritual lessons.
What can we learn if we “go to the geese”?

1. It is said that geese fly in a V formation because each bird in the string creates an “uplift” for the bird following, making it possible for the bird to travel 70% further than it could if it flew alone.

We can apply this principle to our lives. Don’t we all need the “lifting power” of association with others? People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

It has been said that “giving” is the way of God and that “getting” is the way of man. But really, in union with Christ, giving and getting are one and the same. As we “fly” along through life, we “get” the benefit of the lifting power of those ahead of us and “give” our own thrust to those behind us. In Christ, that which is spontaneously done for others will always be personally fulfilling; and when we act in true self-interest, realizing our ultimate ambitions and potential, we will inevitably find ourselves serving others.

2. If a goose falls out of formation, it feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.

If we have as much sense as a goose we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others. We can often weaken and fall out of formation with the ways of God. This inevitably creates a “drag” on our journey as the consequences of our fall out pile up and show us our truly weak condition and the need to get back into formation (the Bible calls it “transformation”).

3. When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose takes the lead. No one bird is always in the lead.

We need to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. We don’t need to always be the front runner. Sharing the lead, sharing the responsibilities is better for all of us. None of us is “the boss”, but we all need to be willing at times to accept our share of the responsibility, to buck the headwinds of criticism and help those who are following.

4. The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Is our honking always encouraging to those who hear it? Where there is loving, Christ-like encouragement, there is peace and harmony, and production is greater. Everyone benefits. The power of encourage­ment (to stand by one‘s core values and encourage the heart and core of others) is the quality of honking we seek.

5. When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. The geese will stay with the disabled goose until it is able to fly or dies, then they will launch out to join another formation or catch up with the flock.

Are we as concerned with the problems of others as are the geese? Do we take time out to be with others in trouble and difficult times? We are called to be “our brother’s keepers”.

6. It is said that the most characteristic feature of the geese is their closely knit family life. Geese mate for life, and the little goslings are faithfully tended by both parents. The family migrates as a unit to and from the winter grounds, the young remaining with their parents until the beginning of the new breeding season.

If we go to the geese, as Solomon told us to “go to the ant”, we learn that marriage is for life and that we must work together, teaching our children in the ways of Christ and doing everything in our power to keep the family unit intact.

The next time you look up and see a flock of geese flying in the V formation and hear their familiar honk, thank your Heavenly Father that in His wisdom He is teaching you to take lessons from these lowly creatures. Our Lord has told us: "Behold the fowls of the air: for they don‘t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?” (Matt. 6:26).
Yes, go to the geese, consider their ways, AND BE WISE!

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