Justification by Faith, but What is Faith?

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

I feel an incredible burden to write on this issue, so that's what I'm going to do. It's important we understand as Christians just where our salvation comes from. For many of you, you already know this. I didn't know when I was growing up. I thought if I just obeyed the 10 commandments good enough, I might be good enough to go to heaven. I thought that if I was a decent person, I'd go to heaven. Too bad the Bible doesn't say that.

I was raised in the northern woods of Wisconsin, on straight Catholicism, and midwest Lutheranism. That is the majority around these parts, with the third category being generally baptist or non-denominational.

Now don't get me wrong, many Catholics are Spirit filled and love Jesus. But, some Catholics seem to be big on works-faith, which is the idea that my good deeds get me right with God.

So let me set the record straight for the seekers out there. This isn't about desperately trying to perform morally, and always failing to live up to it, and finally giving up in the end because we can't measure up.

Our salvation is 100% about what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Jesus paid it all.

John 5:24 (ESV) Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

We have got to know this as Christians. We have nothing to stand on in front of God. Not a single work. Not a single good deed. We all fall far short.

We have Jesus Christ. And those of us who are trusting in him, having faith in him, our sins are gone. They are all gone.

Romans 5:1 (ESV) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's just that simple. And I've heard people sit back and say "I really admire your faith, I wish I had it." You can have it. It's not magic.

What is faith?

I mean really, we never shut up about the words "faith" and "believe" but what do they mean?

The dictionary says faith is "confidence or trust in something or a person."

The definition for believe is "to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so: Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully"

Great. When I trust someone is it an involuntary thing? Does it just happen? Hey, sometimes, if I'm just a really swell naive guy. But what happens when I've been hurt a lot? What happens when I've trusted and been kicked in the face and beaten into my shell, over and over again?

Am I no longer capable of faith? Am I doomed now? No. Faith is not an involuntary knee-jerk response that just sort of happens. The purpose of the apologies I post, the intellectual defenses and offenses into Christianity, is to help bring seekers to the point, where it's now reasonable to make a leap of faith.

But what is a leap of faith?

It's just like offering trust to someone, when we don't really know if they're deserving of it. But we can't have a good relationship with the person if we don't offer them trust. We just can't. We'll constantly be suspicious, checking up on them, wondering about them, driving ourselves nuts, and it'll self destruct.

So if I'm a mature person, and say I've met a girl and we're getting to know each other. I take stock of various things. Her family and friends speak well of her. Ok, great. Next? She regularly attends a good church. Excellent, great, next? She dresses modestly. Awesome. I spend time with her. I get to know her. I let my instincts perceive the situation. But as we get closer, I reach the point where I have to say:

Alright, I've seen enough evidence. I've put the pieces together. There is no way I can know that she is 100% trust-worthy. I just can't. She could be really good at hiding how nuts she is. Who knows, right? But I'm at that point, where I really like her, I want to be close to her, I want to know her and spend time with her and have a relationship with her.

So I make a leap of faith. I offer my trust up, which makes me nervous. I'm kind of afraid. But I know it's the right thing to do. So I do it.

It's just like that between you and Jesus Christ. Christianity is not religion, going to church every Sunday, playing church and acting holier than the joneses. Christianity is a relationship with God almighty, made possible by believing on Jesus Christ, and confession of sins in prayer. Or "repentance" which simply means, having a change of mind and action.

Are you at that point? You've read the apologies, the intellectual arguments, you've checked up on all of it, and it's starting to seem quite coherent and logical.. maybe it's time, that God is starting to reveal himself to you, and you're ready to make that leap. Just like the trust we offer in our human relationships.

Galatians 2:16 (ESV) Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 

So let me encourage you to make the leap. Jesus Christ is a wonderful savior. Father God is a wonderful Father. It's a risk, sure it is, but I think it's worth it. Living forever, helping people, knowing the truth. There are lots of benefits. There are risks and sacrifices too though. I've gotta give my life over to God. I've gotta work with the Holy Spirit as my selfishness is replaced with selflessness. I've got to endure ridicule for my testimony of the truth. But all in all, its the truth. And at the core, I've always wanted the truth. I hope you have too. Because Christianity isn't about God giving you everything you want, it's about you getting on board with God's plan for your life. And it is the best plan. Better than yours.

So what's the practical process of this relationship with the Creator of the universe?

I put my faith in Christ, I offer trust that a man named Jesus Christ did live, that he was God incarnate, and he did pay for my punishment on the cross. I offer up my belief that these things are real, and that the Bible is true. I start reading my Bible. I find a good church. Perhaps I find a good Bible study or small group. I get on my knees and pray twice a day. I tell my sins to Father God, and I ask him to help me turn away from them, to practice a new way of life. The Holy Spirit works in my life, works on my sins and changing me into a better person. And slowly over time God removes my sins and helps me walk in wonderful ways.

It's not about the 10 commandments. It's about the two commands of Jesus. Love God, love people. We are no longer under the Old Testament law.

Mark Driscoll said it very well, when he said, "I hate religion. At Mars Hill we hate religion. Because religion assumes that you don't wanna do certain things, and so we have to make you do them. Right? I need to yell at you, threaten you, talk a lot about hell, get real spooky, I need to put legalistic control mechanisms on you, somebody to walk around with a clip board and call balls and strikes in your life. Religion assumes that you wanna do evil and we're gonna make you do good. That's not what we believe as Christians. We believe that God gives us a new heart, so that we want to obey him. Our job as church leaders is not to make you do something you don't want to do, but to help you do something that you do want to do."

So our offering of faith, our offering of trust in Jesus Christ, what he did on the cross is what justifies us. We are imparted with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We live forever. We have quite a wonderful God. A God who became a savior, to humble himself, to sacrifice himself for my failing. Because I was rebellious, when I couldn't obey him. And I still struggle. But Jesus Christ paid it all! Praise God!

Philippians 2:1-11 (ESV) So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Daybreak: Examining the Problem of Pain / CS Lewis on Grief / The Tree of Life

Genesis 32:24-29 (ESV) And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵ When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^[b] for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.

C.S. Lewis spent much of his time and pen writing on the struggle to comprehend faith.  This is what I have been wrestling with lately.  I've been wrestling with the real massive questions of faith, the ones that can make or break the journey.  I wouldn't be honest or useful to anyone if I didn't admit my struggles and discuss them.  That is the entire purpose of this.  So I shall.

Wrestling with the problem of pain and suffering in the world is difficult.  There is awful evil at work in the world, and coming to grips with that is essential to my faith in the one true God.  I'm faced with several problems in the journey.  The first and most difficult and possibly and likely the very end of such a struggle is developing a keen grip on my limitations of comprehension as a person.  

C.S. Lewis put it so well in "A Grief Observed" which I just so happen to be reading right now, when he said, "Five senses, an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of pre-conceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than a minority of them-- never become even conscious of them all.  How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?"

It just so happens that Father God is giving me a great deal of input on this subject, as I often find myself praying to him about it.  Why then am I so surprised and amazed when he answers?  I guess that's part of the journey through these questions, which might lead me to the conclusion that it is good to ask such questions, but it's just as likely that it is not good to ask such questions, but God is willing to meet me halfway.  

Is there a conclusive answer that my rat trap haphazardly selective brain might be able to get on board with?  And if so, for how long?  How long until those memories fade off and I ask the question again later under different circumstances?  

It's become clear through the process of asking the questions, a very important step is being humble and/or being humbled by Him.   That's not a bad thing.  It's at those moments when I'm humbled that I realize that my primary points of contention were flawed, in which I was actually using flawed logic as a basis for my argument, which in it's barest form was emotionally biased.  And that emotion was pride, primarily, and anger, confusion, as well as resentment.  Then humbled, I discover that after all I had been asking the wrong question anyway.

It's just so hard, because it seems so heartless sometimes.  It's so heartless at times, the evil and cruelty in the world that it jumps even beyond my ability to consciously handle.  And I'm just overwhelmed with utter sadness, pity, followed by anger.  Just such a story came in front of me recently, reading of a 14 year old young girl who being pregnant hid the pregnancy from her parents, gave birth in the bathroom with nothing but a pair of scissors, then killed the new born child and hid the body in a shoebox in her closet.  The anger and sadness and pity I feel is unquenchable.  Looking upon pictures of starving children on the continent of Africa brings to my consciousness similarly awful feelings.  

And so many would ask, where is God in these situations?  How can God allow such evil?

But what is the real question here?  The question seems to me at it's core: "Is God really morally perfect and utterly just?"  

The answers from the church don't exactly help the situation.  I've been told that even one sin against a Holy God condemns me to eternal torment in hell-fire, unless I am in Jesus Christ.  Why?  Because God is perfect.  This is extremely difficult to fathom, because the logic doesn't line up.  The punishment ought to at least fit the crime, do the various sins committed in a human life to death; without Christ; then add up to match the punishment of eternal torment?  If yes, then God is just.  If not, then God is not just.  Correct?  

It's usually at this point that I get the speech about the sovereignty of God, and that God made me and he can do anything he wants with me.  Well, now you're violating the idea of a just God.  You're equivocating because you don't know the answer to my question.  

It reminds me of my dad actually.  Every morning before school and work we would all eat together and have cereal.  Everyone, me, my sister, my mom and him were only allowed 2 spoon fulls of sugar over our cereal.  But one morning I heard someone in the kitchen very early, and I snuck forward and saw my dad eating cereal, pouring loads of sugar onto his flakes.  I came to him and said, "Dad you can't do that you're only allowed 2!"  And he looked at me quickly and angrily replying, "I pay the bills around here, I'm in charge, so I'm allowed to have as much as I want."

C.S. Lewis said that when he was struggling with the death of his wife from cancer, it wasn't so much that he was struggling with "Does God exist or not?" but more that he was struggling with the fear that God was a mean spirited monster.

About midway through "A Grief Observed" C.S. Lewis wrestles with the goodness of God, toying with the idea in his trains of thought that God could just as well be the "Cosmic Sadist" or "Eternal Vivisector."  I love how C.S. Lewis worded it.  It's interesting how in early chapters he used that phrase to mock and minimize a God he was angry with, but later in the book he owns up to the fact that he had been mocking God because he found it satisfying to his own anger and resentment.  This tells that C.S. Lewis was of a towering intellect, in that he was willing to double-check his assumptions and analyze his snap reactions.  If only ardent atheists and humanists like Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Dawkins might analyze their mock-filled, mean spirited arguments they might see how shallow and empty they seem to a believer like myself.  They might then realize their mockery is a form of protection against walking down the path of faith, as well as a form of satisfaction at mocking a God whom they know exist internally but refuse to follow, at the same time mocking the followers of said God out of a combination of fear, anger, and most probably, suppressed jealousy.  A chip on the shoulder is visible from miles away, and the anger and resentment felt by these three men shines through in the many debates I've viewed.  Continuing on...

Is God bound by the 10 commandments?  If so, is he guilty of murder when he has the power to prevent a murder, like the 14 year old who murdered her newborn child, but allows it to happen?  Maybe we're wondering if God is criminally negligent?

As I said, God has been beside me the entire time as I ponder these questions.  I received an email from a Bible study I attended once up town, and it just so happened that the Bible study coming up on Friday was on the problem of pain.  "Just so happens" is not a proper way to account for such a line up of events, but thats a different topic entirely.

I went and the discussion was powerful.  I was so glad to see Highland Church in uptown Wausau getting into deeper topics and rational defense of the faith.  There were several guiding topics and quotations from a book by Tim Keller called "The Reason for God."  The topics sounded so much like C.S. Lewis I almost wanted to claim infringement by Keller, but I decided against it, instead focusing on the topic.  I found one very important point nestled in Keller's book, which was that when addressing the problem of pain, suffering, and evil most are working from a faulty premise.  It's a premise very much connected to American life and liberty.  Specifically I'm referring to the pursuit of happiness.  We as citizens of the USA feel we not only have the privilege but the inherent God given right to the pursuit of happiness.  This may be the source of the faulty premise which is that I deserve to be happy and if I'm not happy then something is wrong with the world and with God.  Keller suggests there is something wrong with that worldview.

I completely agree, and this is where humility enters the equation.  Can I get on board with the idea that this world is broken, and it is not designed to contain a constant state of happiness?  The evidence is obvious on that one.  Do you know anyone that has been consistently happy their whole life?  I can't name any.  

Here's an even harder one to swallow given the individualistic nature of western society: Can I accept that the entire creation was perverted many thousands of years ago, and that the sin nature caused by the very first two humans is not only received by the two perpetrators but by every human being born into the world, all the way down the ages, to you and I today?  In western culture we believe a person is accountable for their actions, but we don't believe an entire group is responsible for the actions of a few members of the group.

So then the question becomes, is God just to allow the sin nature to pass on to every subsequent human being in the creation?  

And still there are other questions, such as the very common hypothetical situation, "if someone is born into a tribe somewhere in the jungle, and never encounters a Bible and never even knows about Jesus Christ, but dies without Jesus, how can it be just that the individual would then burn in hell?" 

Still more questions open up from these.  What is actual and true justice?

How far does a Christian worldview move me in the right direction?

How much trust/faith can I offer God that he knows and I don't necessarily have to know?

Can I accept that my take on morality is incomplete and inferior compared to an all-knowing being?

One of the most important questions to ask is: What approach does God take on his interaction with the creation?

But perhaps a very powerful question is how much responsibility does God have to a creation that has turned against him?  One might assume that God made us, so he is responsible for taking care of us and making us happy.  Almost like when we were kids and our parents took care of us.  We had one parent who was the authority, the Father, with a low booming voice and a larger physique.  He was the sovereignty, the justice giver, and the primary authority.  But we also had the mother.  She was the care-giver, the loving one, the one that made you feel so special and cared for.  Her eyes glowed with love and when we made mistakes she brimmed with forgiveness.  I think when we look at the father and mother roles of the family in relation to children, we get a glimpse into the nature of God.  Because in the old testament more often we see the God of justice, the God of punishing those who turn against him.  In the new testament we see more often the loving God, the God of mercy and forgiveness.  The conclusion must be, if the Bible be true; God is both completely loving and completely just.  

Back to the question of God's responsibility for his children... well our parents were considered responsible for us until about the age of 18, maybe 21, and then we are responsible entirely for our actions.  When the prodigal son left his father to drink, blow all his money, and sleep with hookers did the father chase him around in the world demanding he come back, or even drag him back?  Absolutely not.  If we think about it, such an effort would have been hopeless, the son would have simply left again, ran away, and continued what he was doing.  Instead the father simply stayed home, but when the prodigal son returned begging forgiveness, the father welcomed him back with loving arms, and forgave him, and also threw a banquet in his honor.  It seems in this story we can see how God interacts with his children.  And if God is to offer us utter and complete free will as grown up humans in the world, he is not at all responsible for protecting us from ourselves, only a foolish parent would do so, because it would only invite weakness and poor character.  

Does that mean that some will venture out in stupefied rebellion and never return home alive?  

Yes it does.  

Why?  

Because even though we live in a country and a culture where everyone wants to play the victim of something, we do have free will, choices, and we are in fact accountable for our actions.  And when we see injustice, we want justice.  

Why?  

Because there is a moral law, a conscience within us.  If there is a moral law in us, there is a moral law giver, God almighty.

It's important that we understand what exactly Adam and Eve did in the garden of Eden at the beginning of time, if we want to understand the fall of mankind and the Christian worldview.

Genesis 2:15 (ESV) The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[d] of it you shall surely die.”

God was not necessarily saying that they would spiritually die, which is what some baptists teach.  God is not saying that it was some sort of poisonous fruit that they would instantly physically die either.  He was saying death would enter the human race, which was at that time immortal.  Remember at that time man was free to eat of any tree in the garden aside from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:9 (ESV) And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So at that time man could eat from the tree of life.  Eternal life was ours.  It didn't last though.  Satan, originally known as Lucifer, which means "light-bearer" was an angel in the service of God, who took the form of a serpent and deceived the humans in the garden.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Why did Satan, in the form of a serpent, choose to turn against God?  If God is all knowing why did he allow for the temptation to occur at all?  These are important questions, but not necessary in understanding our current topic.  As a short answer one could say that Satan had free will like any other being, angel or human, and perhaps God simply allowed the situation to play out, to see if Adam and Eve would choose to remain loyal to him.
 
Contemplating the rich words of Genesis leaves me with many bumps on the head, as I find myself reaching the limits of what I can understand as the person I am.  One thing is clear, Adam and Eve wanted to be like God.  They wanted wisdom.  And by doing so they learned knowledge of good and evil, and God was not pleased.  I wonder at so many questions, like, what other trees were in the garden?  The tree of peace?  The tree of love?  The tree of joy?  Where exactly is the line between metaphor and actual physical history?  

It has always seemed like the Bible in it's stories function in teaching in multiple ways.  First there is the most literal way to interpret it, and then there are more figurative ways to see the text, both come out as clearly as day.  Could it be that God communicates not in one or the other, but in both forms simultaneously?  

In Genesis chapter 3 God confronts Adam and Eve, pronounces judgments on the serpent, adam, eve, and mankind itself.  But at the end of Genesis chapter 3 it says, "Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”  We are given a clue to the future here.  The judgments pronounced on man are done, man will die, but man can once again take of the tree of life, eat, and live forever.  In the New Testament this comes about.  Jesus Christ dies for the sins and evils of man kind, and from that moment to this very day, we can simply reach out and take it.  All we have to do is believe on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we live forever.  We admit our failings and receive forgiveness of our sins. 

The Bible continues from there, with the establishing of the church in the ancient Roman empire by Paul, and the early apostles.  Jesus Christ told them to bring the gospel to all nations, and today the Bible has been translated at least partially into over 2,000 languages.  Specifically, for your edification,
United Bible Societies reported that translations of at least part of the Bible have been made into more than 2,530 languages, including complete Old or New Testaments in 1,715 languages, including 55 sign languages, and the complete text of the Bible (Protestant canon) in 475 languages, as of December 2011.  It is estimated that about 6 billion complete Bibles have been printed to this day, the most of any book ever (source).  That process began with twelve men being told to "go" to all nations, the orders given by the son of God, Christ Jesus.  The account of the early church is given book by book, with letters written to the early church forming in the Roman empire.  The Bible ends with the book of Revelation, and in this book we find the completion of the journey of man kind:

 Revelation 22:1-2 (ESV) says, "Then the angel^[a] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life^[b] with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month."

That's just amazing and awe inspiring to me.  In the New Testament, Jesus Christ provides life giving water to his people.  And in Revelation 22, the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, we see the completion of Genesis, and the prediction in Genesis 3:22 of man eating from the tree of life again.  The life giving water is shown as a river in Revelation here, coming from the throne of God, where God himself sits, of the Lamb, who is Jesus Christ, through this incredible city called New Jerusalem, on the New Earth.  The living water given by God, through Jesus Christ, flows to the tree of life itself, our path as humans back to the eternal life our ancestors lost at the beginning of time.  Jesus Christ provides the way to the tree of life, the new city, where we will eat of the tree of life, and live with God forever.  

That's really something.  It all comes together perfectly.  

There is great wisdom and knowledge required just to comprehend at all, even some of this.  God's ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts.  We can't even properly conceive of God, and we end up sending our prayers out to broken idols, which the actual God is so loving and willing to intercept and receive as the actual God, not my idea of God, but the actual real God that is outside my understanding.  

According to C.S. Lewis, "My idea of God is not a divine idea.  It has to be shattered time after time.  He shatters it Himself.  He is the great iconoclast.  Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence?"

Given how overwhelming these ideas are, I might be tempted to cop out and call God "mysterious."  I will not say that and leave it there.  Because there is a certain amount of evidence for God.  There is a certain amount of evidence for creation.  Most of this evidence is minimized, while evolution is taught as fact and the Bible is mocked by some outspoken scientists.  There is incredible evidence for God in science, history, culture, and personal experience.  But so often, we end up in a situation where we show evidence for the existence of God, and any intellectual can squeak out of it with any number of arguments.  

How many of us, if God personally appeared to us and spoke to us, given time, and thought, would not eventually start to wonder, was that really God?  Maybe I had food poisoning.  Perhaps it was a short manic episode.  Oh you know dehydration and processed food can really do a number on the human body.  Sometimes people can experience very real feeling dreams.  Do you see what I mean?  Eventually I've talked myself out of it.  Maybe that's why God doesn't just appear, because we'd write it off eventually anyway.  

You tell an advocate for the big bang theory that such events happening randomly is not just mathematically impossible, but ridiculously so, they try to find ways to adjust the theory for that problem, like adding more time, billions of years, maybe a few more billion, instead of addressing the issue of the possibility of a designer.  So theres just no way to come up with enough evidence.  People will always try to find ways around even the clearest evidence.  By the requirements for establishing accepted history, for text books, for libraries, there is more than enough evidence to say that Jesus Christ was a real person who actually lived.  It's historically proven, yet atheists will even debate that point, claiming vast conspiracies.  There's just never enough evidence.

So let's set the issue of evidence aside for a bit.  Perhaps we can know what is true, enough to believe it.  Anything can be proved with evidence.  Any university can fly in a professor from somewhere to argue even the most ridiculous philosophical or intellectual positions.  But if we're fair about the evidence for God, for the historical Christ, for the Bible's ability to predict the future, for the empirical evidence, and for our personal experience-based evidence, we reach a point where we can have enough evidence, not to say 100% that God is real, the Bible is real, and it's all fact, but enough to say that faith is justified in this case.  

It can be worth the risk.  I can be willing to make that leap, given the implications.  Perhaps the possibility of such a personal relationship with God almighty, the possibility of such a journey to eternal life, from the river to the tree of life is worth taking, considering the possibility of hell, but more so considering the possibility of heaven.  Fear and hell is a factor, sure, but the primary motivator is as always, love.  It's connection to our origins and it's the realization of truth.

So then, if we can take some things on faith and accept the humility of not being able to understand certain things, we can grow in trust.  But also, if we apply the Christian worldview to our questions, can we see how many are answered by the Bible, the actual history of humanity, the empirical evidence of the evil of our world, and the life and resurrection of Christ?

The Bible says that I am part of a corrupted creation, which is the Earth, the universe itself.  It says that I'm a sinner, and that I've sinned against God.  It says that humanity is the cause of the evil of the world, and so is Satan, the serpent of Genesis, who garnered authority over humanity with his deception in the garden.  It says that I'm a sinner, and that I need a savior.  It says a savior was provided, Jesus Christ, and that if I believe in him I'll be born again and justified before God, and then I'll live forever.

Well, let's look at that.  The Earth does seem very corrupt.  It's corrupt in that even in nature there is little balance, there are seasons where everything dies, then grows again, then dies, autumn, winter, spring, summer, over and over.  The Earth is very corrupt in that 10% of the human population hoards all the resources and food while entire continents starve to death.  The governments of Earth are hopelessly corrupt, and constantly at war with one another.  Seems right so far.  Even if you look at the universe and what scientists know about it, scientists know it's expanding, flying apart as it were.  Perhaps that's a clue as well.  

The Bible says I'm a sinner.  If I'm going to be honest with myself, absolutely yes.  I've lied many times, I've stolen toys, taken money from my moms purse.  I've done drugs, I've used women, cheated people out of money and so on and so forth.  So I'm a sinner, fine. 

How about humanity itself?  Well, humanity does seem to cause a lot of evil on the planet, greedy corporations, corrupt governments, selfishness in people I see everyday.  But at the same time, it does seem like something downright insidious takes place on Earth, somethings even humans would be incapable of.. like world wars, and exterminating people in death camps, like there is some evil spirit misleading humanity into unimaginable horrors... Almost like an evil spirit.  Like Satan?  It seems reasonable to me.  And it does seem like Satan has authority over this world, as it says in the New Testament.  That well explains why God won't intervene when a 14 year old gives birth, murders the infant and hides the body.  Satan has authority here.  God allows his people free will to choose.  Maybe I should take some responsibility for my actions, for my lack of compassion, for my utter selfishness, and man up a bit. 

Maybe, I can even take a bit of responsibility for the evils of humanity itself, instead of blaming God every time something awful happens.  Because by the Christian worldview, I live in a dark evil broken universe that will be destroyed and remade.  It doesn't sound like a place where I deserve and have a right to be happy.  But I will be happy in eternal life.  

So I am a sinner, my species is full of them.  But why do I need a savior?  Well, it does seem like every time I try to clean up my life on my own, it doesn't work out.  I slip back into sin, or I end up in some new sin.  It seems the same for people around me. But when I called out to Jesus Christ, it changed everything.  That's called experiential evidence.  I was desperate enough.  I had enough evidence to call our to my savior, not knowing, but believing in sad desperation.  And now I see that work being done in me on a daily basis.  

The problem of pain, suffering, and evil is a difficult one to explain.  I could write a book on it, and still questions would remain.  But maybe God wants me to trust him in certain areas, and to seek answers in other areas.  Perhaps the problem of pain is a direct response to the original sin I'm born with on my spirit, that drives me to sin and do evil.  Maybe I'm so prideful as a human, wanting to show God I don't need him, that I can do it myself, that I can make a paradise without him, maybe those desires, all of which I held and fought for earlier in my life needed suffering and pain, in high doses... to be crushed.  And they were crushed, so my ego was gone, and I could see the truth: I had been arrogantly lying to myself for idiotic reasons.  So seeing the pile of rubble that my hypothetical godless paradise had become, I called out to Jesus Christ.  I admitted my sins, that I couldn't live without him, and now I journey the river of the water of life, to one day eat of the tree of life.  

C.S. Lewis said in "A Grief Observed" that "Sometimes it is hard not to say, 'God forgive God.'  Sometimes it is hard to say so much.  But if our faith is true, He didn't.  He crucified Him."  Lewis asks the primary question later, what reason do we have to believe God is actually good?  He asks, "What have we to set against it(the evidence to the contrary)?"  He continues, "We set Christ against it."  Just before that fateful moment, when darkness fell on the land, Christ had died, just before that moment, Jesus Christ called out to the Father saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  He received the justice of God, he received the condemnation owed to me, for my druggy binges and sarcastic mockeries against the Bible and God himself.  Indeed at those moments in the book, Chapter two, Lewis had been mocking God and the cross of Jesus Christ as a practical joke played by Father God against his unknowing son.  Later he repents of those words and wonders if reality is not some sort of extreme Calvinism where we are also so horribly depraved our idea moral good is actually akin to moral bad. Then at the end of Chapter two, C.S. Lewis makes a statement that I believe defines the entire book.  He turns his powerful lens of discernment from the work of God, to his own motives and intentions, and that is usually where we can find answers to many of our questions, by looking at our own motives for asking the question.  Lewis asks and concludes: "Aren't all these notes the senseless writhings of a man who won't accept the fact that there is nothing we can do with suffering except to suffer it?"

I'll leave you with that, my wonderful Christian brothers and sisters, as well as the beautiful seekers who often meander these corridors.  Consider these things I say, and pray for the answers you seek, that you may one day receive the justification and peaceful joy found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ the Messiah.  Our celebration of his birth is in two short days, so let me also wish you a very merry Christmas.  I am most certain I will see many of you one day in the city of God.  That is our great hope and expectation.  Together at the foot of the tree of life, we'll eat of the fruit and sit down under the tree in the light of His presence and sing praises to our Father of lights.  One day, we will be there together.  Until then, may the powerful love of Christ Jesus be with you.

Merry Christmas: Celebrating the Birth of Jesus with Family

Hello there.  I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday so far.  Can you believe it's only 10 days until Christmas?  I was scarcely aware that it was December until about a week ago.  Though I spent the beginning of the month with a rather intense strain of the flu.  I'm pretty much recovered now though.  I'd like to do some teaching on the book of Revelation soon hopefully, but not today.  It's an extremely complicated book and often misinterpreted.  I'd hate to add more misinterpretation to the mix by approaching it casually, so perhaps I'll have to wait until I have time to really dig into for months and months before teaching it. 

Everyone seems to be in a better mood as Christmas approaches.  It's been extremely cold here in Wisconsin, right now it's about -5 F.  Being outside hurts, so it's best to remain indoors.  It's hard being cooped up inside, but the temperature rose to around 20 F so I was able to take my dog Bella to the dog park and walk a few miles.  The fall semester at Liberty University ended on the 13th of December.  The Spring semester doesn't start until January 13th so I finally have some time for personal reading.  I enjoy the text books for the classes immensely, but I have a growing stack of books that I really have been looking forward to read.  Recently I was shopping with my sister at a consignment store and found a literal treasure trove of religious books, mostly Lutheran, and I could've stood there all day going through them.  I settled on buying about twenty books, and I got some awesome ones.  The first two I've been reading are "A Grief Observed" by C.S. Lewis, on his struggle after losing his wife and "The Passion of Jesus Christ" by John Piper, which is fifty reasons for the crucifixion of Christ put together by Piper. I also listened to an audiobook by Susan Cain called "Quiet - The Power of Introverts in a World that can't stop Talking."  That was a revolutionary read for me, it really gave me permission in a lot of key areas to be at peace with preferring to spend a lot of time alone, writing.

So, Christmas, wow.  What a controversy!  Thanksgiving is becoming "Turkey Day" because "thanksgiving" must sound too bible-ish.  And now people can't say "Merry Christmas" anymore, it's "Happy Holidays."  The atheist world strikes back.  It's a push and pull thing over the history of mankind.  And sometimes it's important to put out a call to the Christians across the nation to "take to mind" certain troubling trends, and kind of "call to arms" on certain issues.  But I'm not going to tell you that this is such a huge surprise that Christmas is under attack, or that it's such a disgrace that Christmas has become a consumer buying frenzy.  Because we know that, and we can expect more of the same in the future.  So this is not a "call to arms" or a "call to despair" as a sermon I once heard stated.  And it's not a call to defeat either.  "Oh it's hopeless, here it comes, its rolling over us."  No it's not that either.  I'm calling us to acceptance of those things we cannot change at this moment.

Nothing happens in God's world by mistake.  We must understand this fully.  Absolutely nothing happens by mistake on this planet.  All is under God's control.

1 Peter 4:12 (NIV) Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

I worry when Christians spend too much time dwelling on the problems.  Unfortunately we can become defeated as a result.  Put all that energy spent complaining toward being the solution to the problem.  Be the solution.  Be a shining light, telling people about Jesus Christ.  And ironically this is where we find the message for today.

On or around Christmas, December 25th this year most of us will be with family and extended family.  What a perfect time to tell them about Jesus Christ.  What a perfect time to share some good news!

Uh oh, that sounds tough though!  It could be rather unpleasant!

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”  - C.S. Lewis

Being a Christian is living outside the comfort zone generally.  It's pretty tough.  But as Francis Chan says, it's those moments when we take chances and get outside our comfort zone in evangelism that we see the power of the Holy Spirit working.  

Well that's all well and good, the desire to do it and wanting to do it and even trying to bring it up with the family, but what about the family and what about common objections?

Let's have a look at some of those issues.  So you start talking about the wonderful life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Instant controversy right?

  

That pothead cousin of yours, Andy the atheist hipster smirks and replies, "Man Christmas is just stupid.  Silly Christians, it's a pagan holiday.  Paganism got mixed into Christianity when it first started and now it's all corrupted.  The council of Nicea rewrote the Bible dude, Jesus is a fraud."

Here's how we can respond: "You know Andy that's a great point, some of the traditions of the Christmas holiday do have their roots in pagan holidays.  In 313 AD Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity for the first time in the empire, after some of the most brutal persecutions of Christians.  But most of the culture was pagan including the holidays.  Christians knew this, and also knew they had to engage the culture, become all things to all people.  So to help convert pagans, Christian activities were held on the same days as pagan ones.  Slowly but surely many were converted.  Thankfully, these rituals and holidays are entirely superficial.  Christians don't worship the holiday tree or praise the sun on Sundays.  We take what was originally used for evil, paganism, and turn it to serve and honor Jesus Christ.  As far as the council of Nicea, which took place in 325 AD, the council was not called to rewrite the Bible or throw out certain books, it was mainly called to deal with a controversy in the religious body of the time called Arianism.  The canon of Bible books had been generally agreed upon by then, and was simply officially recognized at the council of Nicea.  It's also important to note that the church leaders at the council had survived the persecutions as "professors" of the faith before courts and councils of the Roman empire.  Many of them wore the marks of their devotion to the true faith."

So now Andy has his answer.  But maybe that's not the end of it.  Next jaded Uncle Jerry the former Catholic has something to say.  "You know I think organized religion has lead to more death and destruction than anything else in the world today."

"You know uncle Jerry, I just don't know exactly what people are referring to when they talk about the horrors of organized religion, at least when applied to Christianity.  Islam is scary, absolutely.  But Christianity?  Maybe the crusades carried out in response to the call of Pope Urban II.  But it's important to note that the eastern Roman empire had been invaded and conquered by the Arab Muslims.  Urban II was responding as a leader to an invasion.  Obviously though it was a mistake as Christians are to love their enemies and turn the other cheek.  But I can think of things that have lead to much more death and destruction than organized religion.  How about World War II and the Nazis?  Here you have an army of atheists operating on the philosophies of the atheist writer Nietzsche.  Six million people were killed in the holocaust not by organized religion, but by organized atheism.  In the end, it's a fallacy of logic to condemn Christianity based on the actions of a few of it's followers.  Man is flawed, God is perfect."

 He'll love that.  Still there are other objections.  Aunt Edna the enthusiastic spiritualist can't get on board with the Bible.  She doesn't like the Bible because there is so much "judgment" and "condemnation" in it.  She thinks everyone should love one another and if humanity could just discover love and light and compassion and spiritual interconnectedness, everything would fall right into place.

"Auntie Edna, first thing to remember is that when we believe on Jesus Christ and are saved by his gift we no longer receive any condemnation or judgment.  Love and light is great!  But there are also hard truths to face in the world.  And the facts on the ground are clear on an empirical level: humanity when put together on a planet is not able to live in peace with love and light and compassion.  Those are wonderful principles and great morals.  Sadly, simply ignoring the problem of evil does not make it go away.  Humanity is wicked, and that's a very hard truth.  But when we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we start to learn how to love and have compassion.  I know it's a hard truth that there is judgment and condemnation, but hun.. if right and wrong are important, and to me they are, there has to be consequences for causing trouble and hurting others.  It's easy to hide our own mistakes, addictions and failings and talk about love and light and vague spirituality.  But in the end what is the truth?  Jesus Christ is the truth of this.  And I want to live by the truth."

Then give her a Bible and offer to sit down with her and study it.  Immediately after you say this however, opinionated Uncle Ollie has something to say: "The truth?  Come on man, are you serious with all this?  It's just some old book.  The opiate for the masses.  Who knows if Jesus even really ever existed?  What does it have to do with paying my bills and taking care of my family and working my job?  Seriously, you've gotta be kidding with this religious crap."

"Religion has been used in the past to quell people and keep them under control, but not Christianity.  Maybe it has been applied in that way in some cases, but the Bible tells a very different story.  And if it were just a fantasy to explain away death, invented by the early Christians, why wouldn't they invent something better?  Like everyone goes to heaven no matter what?  But instead we're all sinners, we need a savior, this world is controlled by the enemy of God, etc.  The fact is a man named Jesus Christ existed and there is more than sufficient historical evidence for that fact.  If you want to toss that out, you'll have to toss out the rest of human history too.  I understand you're a proof and seeing is believing kind of guy Ollie.  So I'd like to recommend you take a look at some books.  One is called "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel and the other is called "The Language of God" by Francis Collins.  There is a great documentary called Evolution vs. God I'd like you to see as well.  And Ollie I'd have to say the Bible and Jesus Christ are extremely relevant to your everyday life.  Paying bills? The Bible has plenty of financial advice.  Taking care of your family?  Raise them up in the church, and hopefully you'll see them make responsible decisions.  Working your job?  Well, as a Christian I work for what is ahead of me.  I work for eternity.  Ollie, we only have 80 or 90 years on this planet.  What about the rest of eternity?"

The rest of eternity is a long time.  I think so anyway.  I don't want to see my family members living defeated and confused about God.  I don't want to see them die unsaved and be forever separated from God.  That thought horrifies me.  I want them with me.  This connection with God through Jesus Christ is so wonderful I just have to give it away.  I want so desperately for everyone to have it.  That's why I dropped everything I was doing with my life (which wasn't much) and got into ministry when Jesus Christ saved me from my disaster and my sins.
 

16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me. -Psalm 18:16-19 (NIV)

 Christmas is a wonderful time of year.  The Lord God Almighty loves us, so he sent his son into the world to save us.  When we have faith in his son, God delights in us.  And we delight in him.  Immanuel, God with us, he came and lived with us.  God came.  He saw us in the midst of our disaster.  He was not willing for us to be lost, so he came.  We're celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  The birth of our savior, the birth by the Holy Spirit, Immanuel "God with us."  The primary purpose of the holiday is honoring our Savior, celebrating his birth.  I'm going to make my December 25th about Jesus Christ, and my happiness and gratitude at his life and ministry.  

I hope you will too.  And I hope you'll talk to your family about Jesus Christ.  You don't have to make a speech in front of the whole family, but gift a few Bibles.  Or a copy of the movie the Gospel of John.  Be creative.  Lead a prayer with the family before the meal.  Pray for them if you're just too nervous to say a word to anyone.  Anything.  Just fight for the salvation of your family.  Let it not be said we did nothing.  This is the front line of the spiritual conflict, and we can get outside ourselves, either by diving in the water or by slowly getting in.  Either way, let's get into this fight.  Let's share the gospel and see people saved as a result.

I'm sure we'll get to sit down and talk again before Christmas, but all the same, Merry Christmas and thank you so much for taking the time to stop by.  I'm honored, and humbled, may Jesus Christ be the center of your life today, forever, and always!

True Christianity vs. the Modern Culture

“The yearning to know what cannot be known, to comprehend the incomprehensible, to touch and taste the unapproachable, arises from the image of God in the nature of man. Deep calleth unto deep, and though polluted and landlocked by the mighty disaster theologians call the Fall, the soul senses its origin and longs to return to its source.”
― A.W. Tozer

Imagine, if you would, a believer with a day job armed to the teeth with biblical truth, Christ-like compassion, and an intense desire to fulfill the great commission.  Now imagine 1 million of them in the United States.  The population of the United States is 313.9 million people.  That would be about 1 power-house Christian to every 314 citizens.  I could learn to love that kind of dynamic because 1 true believer to every 314 average people is a huge amount.  Imagine how many people you personally see and know on a day to day basis?  I know over the span of just a week I directly interact with at least 100 different people for brief intervals.

A true believer like me, and I hope also like you... imagine that, 1 million directly and indirectly impacting the other 314 in their path with social media posts, a positive attitude, a nice tone in the voice, a bumper sticker as you drive?  A t-shirt with a powerful statement on it?  Someone who sees somebody having a tough day and offers them an ear?  And I don't mean being the nerdy and overly invasive weirdo Christian who always embarrasses his kids.  No, but I do mean engaging the culture actively. And there are so Christians who do engage the culture.  

Now let's stop and think about this.  The population of the United States is 313.9 million people.  According a Gallup poll done in 2012, 77% of Americans identify themselves as Christian.  I think cutting that number in half would be generous to consider those who actually are members of the body of Christ.  So let's say about 120-140 million Americans are actually part of the body of true believers.  There aren't 1 million in that bunch that are sharing the gospel with a loving heart?  If they are, I must just never meet them.  Because I'm not seeing it.

Honestly I can't really even offer a vague guess as to how viable those numbers are.  Some things only God knows.  The point is we're coming up short because despite so many claiming Christianity, it keeps getting progressively worse out there.

Christians are in retreat from the culture.  Science claims to have killed God and as long as evolution is taught as fact in the public schools kids are going to come out arguing with us over if God exists or not.  The more people my age I meet, the more afraid I am.  I'm sorry to put it this way, but I could see many cheering the idea of unity as Christians are sent to camps.  Just plain stupid.

And stupid is tough, but not as tough as intellectually arrogant.  Christian leaders back pedal when they're faced with scientific/intellectual/logical arguments, why?  In my experience and when seeing great men like William Lane Craig defending the faith, Christianity seems more than defensible.  It seems easily defensible.  There is just a lot of lie and garbage out there.

The culture is suffocating, utterly suffocating.  It's a cloud of stink and all manner of evil desires are fired at my viewing and hearing day by day.  I'm offered all measures of depravity.  The public quietly sleeps.  Christians look too much like the culture and not enough like a true counter-culture of love.  Given a life generally lived in the system, the television stations, the popular music, public school classes, modern media, mainstream news, what is the average individual brought up in that going to believe about half way through?

Let's see... Christians are dumb and backwards.  Christian leaders are child molesters.  Christians are intolerant.  Science has explained away God entirely.  Money, sex, power, drugs, alcohol, and stuff is going to make me happy.  I can act however I want because everything is relative.

It's not pretty!

By the numbers on the gallup polls, and by legitimate surveys done, there are a lot of people out there claiming to be Christian.  Our voice is a whisper right now against the American culture just outlined.  It's a whisper, an unarmed whisper and let's be frank most Christians make it look like no fun anyway.

I would have.. not a whisper from the American Christian body, but a shout, and it won't be as loud as the American culture but it will be a shout that can be heard by most, and is an offer that is in front of most for the taking.  I don't think that's too much to ask.

There are higher principles that Christians ought to be living by.  There are higher principles we're called to live by.  Instead, we having judgmental hypocrites playing holy and money-hungry mega churches making a whole big mess out of things. 

We can do better.  We can do much better.  We can engage the culture without becoming the culture.  We can offer an island and a sanctuary to people from the depravity.  But we've got to be louder about our faith, not bizarre, not pointing fingers, but louder about the solution, which is the spiritual transformation done in the heart of the believer by Christ.

Are you on fire for Christ?

If not, don't get upset, don't start trying to "figure it out" but instead, get on your knees and ask God to go about building you up in the kind of passion that Jesus Christ has.  This isn't about self righteousness, or works-faith.  But it's about concern.  It's about concern for what I see on my Facebook news feed.  It's concern about how brainwashed I see people my age are.  It's from concern when I realize that 90% of people my age have no cause, no mission, nothing they believe in, and the only identifying marks they carry are sports team memorabilia and their favorite flavor of beer.  Or on the intellectual side, their favorite deranged cartoons, half baked eastern philosophy, and indie rock bands. 

I can't stand it.  I really can't.  How can the culture, the media, the schools be that brainwashing?  Is it now possible to plan consumers from birth with a certain regimen of television, public school, advertisements, and alcohol consumption?  That's terrifying to me.  It's very scary.  And I get very upset about it.  I get on my knees and freak out at God about it.

How could you allow this Lord?!  Is it even their choice anymore to worship evil?  How can they be so blind?  And Father what can I possibly do against that? 

It's a daunting task.  But from the very beginning of Christianity, 100 AD, it was a daunting task.  A hostile Roman empire persecuted and killed the first Christians.  There were maybe a couple thousand, maybe 10,000.  I'm sure it seemed impossible to them.  Fast forward 1,913 years and there are 2 billion Christians on the Earth.  I guess it wasn't so impossible with God and the truth on their side?

Can we get passionate about this God thing?  Can we get excited about this incredible truth?

We can learn a lot from the way Jesus Christ lived.  We can learn a lot from how he died too.  We've received the gift of salvation from him.  Now we've gotta let the Holy Spirit change us.  Then we'll show what Christianity looks like in a dark world.

It's hard.  But we can work with the Holy Spirit in this process.  About two years ago I quit watching television all together.  I'm so very glad I did.  I don't need all that indoctrination and subliminal messaging.  I quit drugs and alcohol with God's help a bit over a year ago.  I prayed and prayed, and God answers those prayers.  With God's help I quit cigarettes not too long ago.  Are there things in your life you'd love to see gone?  Don't take those things on alone my friend.  Don't try to white-knuckle it.  Instead pray to God, ask him to help you leave those things behind, and work with him on the process. One by one, they'll be removed.

If we can become the right kind of people, with the right methods and the kind of love Christ had, then the culture will have to contend with a unified force of light.  I imagine they won't like that.  I mean how much is a true Christian going to buy, buy, buy, and engage in all manner of high priced depravity?  Not much really.  The United States commercial culture loves a consumer.  A thinker?  A Christian?  Well, they'll shun us then.  Fine, because we aren't what they say we are.  We aren't animals.  We aren't products of our dna mindlessly roaming from filth to filth...  We aren't worthless.  We don't need stuff to be happy. 

We're children of God.  We're a Holy Priesthood.  Somewhere along the line we forgot that.  It's time to remember.  It's time to take up pure snow white clothing given by Jesus Christ.  It's time to take up the armor of God and get on a mission for Christ in the world.  It's time to seek honor.  It's time to seek justice.  It's time to seek immortality.  

This adventure, this chivalrous mission is in need of righteous warriors of truth, righteous through their faith in Jesus Christ, ever-trusting in their heavenly Father, and consistently excited about this mission.  This is a war.  This is a spiritual war, an unseen war of truth against lies.  There are great battles to fight ahead of us.  What songs will be sung in heaven of the victories of God's people during the fall?  What honor will they speak of when your name comes up, and you are called to account?  Will the psalms of the Christians who stood for honor during the fall of man, sung by the angels in the next life include reference to your exploits?

You are not a filthy "bro" bar hopping for women to use!  You are not some modern consumer scrounging for whatever he can get.  You are not a cashier, a sports fan, a miller guy, a worker or an employee.  You are not a party girl drinking all the time looking for the perfect feeling!  You are not a shopper, a barbie, a bar girl, or a house wife.  You are not a modern ape living for pleasure.  You belong to a holy and loving God.  I'm telling you the truth.  I'm not lying.  And I can't imagine why I would.

Be more than the depravity and the momentary pleasure seeker.  Don't chase what will crumble in your hands!  Live for the eternity ahead.  I know inside you is the desire to be honorable.  To do good and stand against evil.  Take this journey.

It's a journey I'm taking, and I hope you'll take it with me.  You know how.  It starts with Jesus Christ, it continues with the Bible and prayer, and inside you, patiently and over time a spring will come forth from your soul, a spring that shoots up life giving water, sharing eternal life with others, bubbling up to that long awaited moment when you meet the Christ face to face.

May God bless you and keep you until that Glorious Day!

John 1:12 ESV But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

Galatians 3:26 ESV For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

1 Peter 2:10 ESV Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Romans 8:17-19 ESV And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

Romans 5:1-5 ESV Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

1 John 2:28-3:3 ESV And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 

Romans 5:8 ESV But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.