The bee sting....

I have been reading all the things I have written, and one thing I noticed is how I repeat myself over and over; it's probably the OCD. It is good OCD though, I think the same things over and over, and that is a good thing because these things are related to the King of Glory, my OCD has been determined for His glory, and that is good OCD. Or did I get like that after I became a Christian? See what I mean?

Last night, I got stung by a bee while I was in my garage; she landed on my pinky and would not let go, so I tried to wipe it away and she stung me. This is the second time I have been stung in all my life, the first was when I was about four years old, I was at school and I rested my arm on the window seal and I got it; of course I cried and my mom performed a rescue operation and made it all nice nice.

This time, my mom is two thousand miles away and she doesn't even know about it, how about that? I didn't cry this time though. Anyway; this morning the pain on my pinky woke me up; when I looked at it, it looked like a sausage; it was huge, my poor pinky. Wow, even now it is throbbing and it is turning kind of black; more like deep purple, nasty bee.

Last night I took the stinger out with some tweezers I have, and the thing is so small; how can such a small thing cause such huge amount of pain? I saved it on a piece of paper so I can look at it through a magnifying lens and obsess about it; now I'm freaked out about bees, traumatized by the insects.

When it rains it rains hard, or it pours, as they say; so one thing after the other the problems are constant in this world of fallibleness; and since I have OCD I am going to repeat myself one more time: God is sovereign over all the events that come to pass in my life. And in yours too.

OCD is logical for me, logical OCD; the obsessive part mostly. When you have obsessive compulsive disorder you don't know you have it; until reason kicks in and then you discover it; it is there in everything you do, in everything you say, in everything you think; God made me, and He made me with unique identifiers built into my being; just by the way He wired my brain while I was in my mother's womb, by the way He designed my genetic code, I can tell He made me unique; and the purpose of this is, as I always say, for His glory.

Here I am three days later trying to finish this post, and my pinky is still swollen; it doesn't hurt anymore, it now itches; it is very interesting to me, it actually makes me marvel, the way that God designed my body, I'm watching this wound heal, it is taking a long time but it is healing, my body is doing what it is supposed to do, it is amazing. Then I think, why did this happen? It all looks so random; I was attacked by God's creation, at the moment I least thought, and there seems to be no apparent reason for this event, it just happened; bam, there you go, have a little more pain, on top of pain, this time from an insect.

Life is a trip; what can happen to a man standing in his garage? I was just there, standing, talking to the neighbor, everything was, or seemed to be okay, and in an instant, boom, pain excruciating, I came back into reality very quickly. How about fixing breakfast for your kids and on your way to the table you fall unconscious; you wake up only to find yourself in the hospital facing the news; you have brain cancer and you are going to die, soon. Which one is worse, a bee sting or brain cancer? It all depends from what perspective I look at it.

Life is just like that, mostly if you are a believer; pain and distress, trials and tribulations will always bring you back into the reality of God' sovereign control over all things. To live this life without an anchor like the sovereignty of God would be a constant shipwreck; without God's promises about my life and about what He is going to do, about what He is doing right now, everything that comes to pass would place me in the middle of quicksand. I am grateful that I'm on a rock; a massive rock.

The word of God is just like that; it is a massive rock that I can stand on; nothing can move it, it does not shake at all, not even a millimeter, no sir. This is a massive mountain of a rock, and I am standing right on top of it, God Himself put me there, I didn't climb, I didn't struggle, I didn't even asked to be put there, He did it; for His pleasure, for His glory.

I don't want to climb off the rock, but even if I did, even if I tried; God would not let me; yeah I can surely try to climb down, I can put on my harness, secure the ropes, take the step, hang on the side; He would just reel me back to Him; I'm not going anywhere. That is how secure I am, He keeps me there, secure from all harm, secure from myself. I am completely convinced, assured and reassured, I believe it; He will not leave me nor forsake me, nothing can separate me from His love in Christ.

I am getting old, life is running its course and it will end one day; one day soon I will face God, I will see Jesus face to face; it sounds morbid sometimes but it's true, I will die; and I consider that the morbidity of that thought is more evident to those who have no comfort; I think about this almost everyday, it's probably the OCD; I think Paul had it too; he thought about it too, he spoke about it:

1Co 15:51-58 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

That's a cool mystery, isn't? This is also part of the mystery that Paul mentions at the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians, and then he mentions it again in the third chapter of that book; namely the mystery of Christ; to me this is of the greatest significance for my life, I don't know if it is for you, but for me this is grandiosity. The gospel is uttermost grand.

This is the mystery; Eph 1:9-12 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. (NASB)

Now tell me, ok don't tell me; do you know anything in the whole universe that is as grand as that? I don't. Eph 3:4-7 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. (NASB)

Do you see what I'm talking about? This is what gives birth to my OCD; how can I not think about this all the time? How can I live this trial of a life without anchoring my whole existence on this truth? I can't. Can you? Maybe you do....

Once we understand what all this means, we come to that place of peace that Jesus was talking about; John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful"; this is what I'm talking about, the peace of God. "Not as the world gives", not as the peace that money and houses and cars, and a job, and retirement funds, and insurance, and all the things that give temporal peace, not like that; but like the peace which surpasses all understanding, that peace that you can't understand with your brain, with your thinking, with your reason.

Of course; you have to be in Christ to experience this peace, but that is not enough, it is through the meditation of God's word that the peace comes to you; there is no other way to experience it. It is just as Isaiah says: Isa 26:3 "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You. (NASB); here is the KJV: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. This is my divine OCD; your mind is stayed on Him, steady, unshakable, firm, solid as a granite Everest, it is not a disorder really, but an order; full neg-entropy; from the world's perspective it is chaos because the world thinks "you need to take action"; but God's word says, "be steady, put your mind on Him and trust", "OCD style", that is more than taking action; this is an upside down kingdom.

God is to be glorified whether I want it or not; He will get His way in me regardless of the pain; in fact He is the one who orders this to happen; from broken bones to bee stings, from red balance accounts to noisy brakes, from apparent chaos and disorder to perfect peace; it is all His doing; so relax, all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, and what a great purpose that is.

If everything seems to be going well for you right now, enjoy it and get built up in the Word; the day will come, if you are the real thing, in which your tiny little world will be shaken; make sure that you are aware of where God has placed you and fear Him; but if everything is chaotic, and nothing makes sense right now, and you are the real thing; put your mind on Him, anchor your feet on the rock and you will be shaken but not shaken. You know what I mean.

We have needs; some of my sisters out there are looking for a husband, some brothers are looking for a wife; some are looking for more money, some for just some money, some for work, some for a place to live, some for a doctor, some for a burrito, some for a church, some for a friend, some for something; it is all out there in the ethereal, in the realm of the imagination; our minds turn and turn, and generate thoughts and and desires; we think that when we get what we 'need' we will be happy, we will have peace, but the peace is not there to be experienced until we are brought to that place of total dependence; total inability, powerlessness; that is when the grace of God becomes evident.

What we look for is not in a place, but in a person. Then all is futile, unless God draws you to Jesus you cannot find Him; in fact, you are not even looking for Him. God is the One who does this, He is the One who brings you there, all your efforts will be wasted until He acts, and the bottom line is that you cannot force God to do anything, He does what He does when He wants to; He is sovereign. It is either sovereign grace, or no grace at all, I don't see any other alternative.

The way I see things is that God created that bee with the purpose of stinging me on the pinky; she died in the process because not only her stinger came out of her body, but also because I stepped on it; I stomped her with my 10.5 size black shoe; of course I didn't need to do that, I just wanted vengeance.

God reigns over bees, and over everything that has breath. I know the mystery, and peace comes with it.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I'm not trying hard enough....

The ultimate goal of God in everything He does is the magnification of His glory. How does God magnify His glory? It is important for me to know that God does everything in the universe for the magnification of His glory. Why for His glory?

I think, which is dangerous, that even when it all appears to be vain, my life is significant; it means something, it is important in the greater scope of things; my tiny little world interacts with other people's worlds, and their tiny little worlds interact with other people's worlds, until it becomes a big interacting world of tiny little worlds.

It is like throwing a rock into a pond, and generating wave circles, if I then throw another rock into the pond and generate more wave circles that interact with the first ones, and if I continue to throw rocks into the pond until you can no longer discern but the last few circles; it appears to be a mess of circles, but you can no longer tell the definition of the waves; it gets complicated.

I'm not making any sense, am I? Life is like an earthquake sometimes; the epicenter is my heart, the ground moves like waves, shock after shock; everyday is an aftershock.

That is how I see the world, that is how I imagine my insignificant life; insignificant but significant, very complicated. I'm afraid, sometimes terrified, of the consequences of my actions; I have a very obscure past, I have done things that I haven't told anyone; not even my most trusted friends. There are horrible secrets that will go with me into the cremation chamber; but many times I wonder if I have already reaped the effects of those actions, if I haven't, when will they come?

I trust, even though sometimes I really don't see how it can be possible, that all my past actions will somehow bring glory to God; I trust it is true, I believe it; I will glorify God in my death.

As john Piper says, I want things to be simple, steady, uncomplicated and firm as a rock; and as Eutychus says sometimes, maybe I took a wrong turn somewhere in the past and now I'm paying the consequences of my lack of motivation; maybe God wanted me to do things differently and I messed it all up, maybe He has no choice but to allow me to continue in this rut of a life. My mind is a horrible desire factory; an idol manufacturing plant; chaos reigns, all SOPs are obsolete.

Really, today the only thing that makes sense is that God reigns absolute; that is the absolute reality, even if the ground shakes, He reigns over the Richter scale and over the length of the waves and the after shocks. In order for me to reduce life to simplicity, I need an immovable rock, a granite mountain-sized rock, a rock bigger than the Everest, a rock even bigger than the planet.

Have you ever thought that the glory of the Most High is centered in the most horrible, and the most terrible, awful, appalling, frightful; hideous, grim, ghastly, shocking, revolting, repulsive, horrid, horrendous, and apparently foolish event in the history of the universe? The most awe inspiring, and unattractive, and unfair event in history was the crucifixion of Jesus; and God's maximum expression of grace and mercy and love, the pinnacle of His glory is centered on the pinnacle of His suffering. It appears to be maximum foolishness, but it is maximum wisdom, maximum love, maximum grace; all these terms are inadequate, I'm running the risk of being blasphemous.

If the English language has more than a quarter of a million words; how many of those can you use to describe God's glory? That's a stupid question, isn't it? My mind is filled with stupid questions; and with stupid answers, except when I'm thinking God's word, then my mind becomes a treasure chest; then I am a rich man.

When I think God's word, He gets glorified in my thinking; there is nothing more sublime or more glorious in my life than to think God's word; really, think about it, and you will see what I see, there is nothing better in life. I have tried everything this world has to offer, I am serious, I have experienced everything, from riches to poorness, from health to sickness, from pain to sorrow, and from there to pleasure; but nothing can be compared to knowing that I belong to God and that there is a reason for suffering and pain.

My experience has been that I cannot identify with some other brothers; some of them, God bless them, have never done some of the things I have done; these things I'm not even going to name them, they are shameful; but then if I talk about suffering, then we have something in common; all Christians know, or will know about suffering, it is just a matter of time.

I'm thinking, again; that I am going to stop writing this blog; I don't think it makes a difference if I write or not; it is futile, it is all vain; no body cares what I say; or maybe I won't stop writing; maybe I will, or maybe not; I'm double minded. Booah....

Sometimes I get pitiful; I start getting an attitude with the world and with life, just like a child that could not get a lollipop, I throw a tantrum, 'nobody cares', booah, my ego hurts. It is as foolish as to think that because I get an attitude everything is going to change; booah, I don't want to play and I'm taking my ball with me......"ough, please, don't take your ball, I care, let's play".....yeah right.

That is how the flesh works, isn't it? At the end of the day it all comes down to grumbling and complaining; and God really doesn't like that, I really don't think He likes grumblers and complainers; He keeps that kind of people wandering in the desert for years; but that is what trials are for, at least for me, so that I learn how not to complain and be content with everything as everything is, but I can't do it, I need help.

God is not obligated to do anything for me, not at all; the universe will not function any better if my life is simpler, or if I don't suffer physical pain, or worry; on the contrary, everything in my universe will work out for the better if I do suffer; it will give more glory to God at the end, I will be more like Jesus. In this world I will have tribulation, but I need to be of good cheer; how do you do that? How do you get this cheer, this good cheer?

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

I see it. These things He has spoke unto me; what things? The things of chapter 15 and 16, those things, you can read them yourself, I guess. The reason I should be of good cheer is because He has overcome the world, what does that mean? Again, the explanation is in the current and previous chapters.

One thing is clear though, without Him I can do nothing, and it is necessary that I abide in Him and His words; I am not of this world, He says; the world hates me as it hates Him, and I will be persecuted just as He was, so it is not strange that I shall suffer.

I don't like suffering, in fact I hate it; I don't like pain, I can't enjoy it; I don't like to be broke, it seems that I'm broke all the time, no matter how hard I pray, I'm still broke and I'm still in pain; maybe that's good; we say it all the time, Eutychus and I, this is our lot in life; to always struggle with money; and we look at ourselves and we see, we are broken men. Which one is worse, to be in pain, or to be broke? How about both at the same time? How about broken?

God will not despise a broken and contrite heart; in this He delights, in brokenness. Isa 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

That is what we are, poor of spirit and contrite; and we really do tremble at His word; how did we become like that? We were not looking to be like that; at least I wasn't, our flesh still boasts: 'look at me, how broken I am'; 'I'm so humble, I'm proud of it'.

We know these things, I know these things, I know them and I desire to be like that somehow, in the supernatural; then I find myself being like that and I don't like it, it hurts too much; being broken is not for cowards but for mighty men of valor; yeah, that's what we are, mighty men of valor. We boast in our God; 'but to this man will I look.....' Make me like that, look to me.

We remain the center of our universe, even when we deny that we are, that is how deceitful our hearts are, we need satisfaction in the soul; we need the peace that surpasses all understanding, we need compassion, we need a healing hand on our backs; we want what only God can give, we want abundant life; and at the moment we stop looking at ourselves, we have it; and we want more; and He gives more. True life is in the Son of God.

We are so selfish, it's ridiculous; I should talk in the first person, I should say, I am so selfish it's ridiculous; that sounds better to you? Sure it does, you are not part of this example; until you're shown your depravity, it is right in the middle of the trial that God shows you that His glory is far from your thinking, I think my relief will give Him glory, so He keeps me there until I stop thinking like that; and even when I do stop, I'm still in the furnace, there is much dross to be scraped off; He will see His face reflecting back at Him, no matter how deep is the pain or how hot is the flame. The deeper the pain, the greater the reflection.

This is important; our suffering matters to God, He will not share His glory with another. He is never pleased with mediocrity, or lukewarmness; and so His grace abounds upon grace, and His mercy upon mercy; He will get glorified in my suffering, His glory rides in the suffering of His kids, it's strange and mysterious, and glorious.

What I'm saying, (and I have been heavily influenced by men as John Piper when I think these things); is that the center of God's grace is suffering; everything that comes to pass in the universe hinges on the suffering of Jesus for His people, His suffering for me; so in a sense I have to be selfish when I think about this because if I don't experience suffering, then I will not experience grace as designed, because it was designed to magnify God's glory, as Paul says: to the praise of the glory of God's grace. I know I might not be making sense, but who am I to make sense of God? What makes a lot of sense is that without suffering, grace becomes obscure, it doesn't shine as it should; the same way that God's mercy shines more in the backdrop of His justice, as Jonathan Edwards says; His justice makes His grace shine more. Pain does the same thing.

This is where Jesus overcoming the world makes me be of good cheer; if He overcame the sufferings of being a human being, redundantly; He has made me an over-comer; more than that, Paul says in Romans eight; we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Jesus overcoming the world was just one of the things that make me be of good cheer; if I dwell on this long enough I discover that His overcoming also applies to me because I am in Christ.

Meditating on Jesus' words is what really brings me comfort, I am not offended, as He said; but comforted, He promised: "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you", and "these things I have spoken unto you so that you might not be offended", and "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full"; and "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world".

These things I have spoken unto you....to me; He spoke these things to me. I'm special, that is what my ego says to me, I'm special but am I really? I think I am, and then I'm not at the same time. But grace says that I am special; I have been elected, chosen by God Himself, if that doesn't make me special, then I don't know what will.

If you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, then you are special; and these things that have been spoken by Jesus Christ are directed to you my friend, and to me. Some people think that some sections of the bible are not directed to believers, and I really think that all the book was written for our sake, and for the sake of the glory of God. In fact, the reason He created everything, is for His glory; and if He elected you, that makes you glorious because you are in Christ.

I cannot say that God doesn't think that I am special, I can support that thought with all kinds of scripture; but the reason that He thinks I am special is because He sees in me the righteousness of His Son; that is what really makes me special in His eyes.

We sing to God because He is glorious; we praise Him, and worship Him for the same reason, He is all deserving of all our worship and praise and devotion; and that is the reason why He created us, to be worshiped and adored, and exalted and exulted; and as Jesus said: if we don't worship Him, the rocks will.

I don't have to analyze and reason why God does everything for His glory, I just have to know; His person deserves to be glorified; and that is our instruction, to glorify Him in everything we do, the question is, do we? Maybe we are not trying hard enough....

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Dogs we are...

Rituals, ceremonies, lists of goals and procedures, life SOPs per se; outward standards of morality, self-righteousness, and the like; all these are characteristic of religion. Translated into more simplistic terms, religion is a human attempt to be pleasing to God by acting a certain way; translated into modern Christianity, more precisely evangelical Christianity, religion is a list of do's and don'ts.

Sounds familiar? Of course it does, and it does because that is what we hear from pulpits all across America today; that is what the preachers are saying, do this, don't do that; the list is extensive: go to church, read your bible, pray one hour a day, or two or more, tell your neighbors about Jesus, go to home fellowship if you really want to learn, evangelize the masses, give your money, give your time, etc. There is really nothing wrong with all these do's, in fact we all should do these things; I know someone out there is going to think I'm preaching antinomianism, but I'm not and I will make it evident later on, I hope. I'm not even going to mention the don'ts; that list is even more extensive, and frustrating. My point is that the emphasis of preaching, the focus of the message nowadays is not the gospel, but what we can do for the gospel, or for God.

If you ask anybody, or yourself for that matter, if they are, or if you are religious; you will get an agitated 'no' for an answer; they will sustain that they are not religious but that they have a personal relationship with Jesus, I agree. What kind of relationship is that? I ask; and I answer, a relationship, a personal one, based on personal works; that is the kind of relationship they have.

Modern Christianity is a personal relationship based on personal works between a religious person, and a personal God; the objective of this personal relationship based on personal works between a religious person and a personal God, is to be pleasing to God, who's focus of attention is the religious person who works pleasing personal works unto his personal God. In other words, or the same words if you will, it is a personal faith maintained by a religious person who has a personal relationship with his personal God in order to obtain God's personal blessings.

Did you get that? I didn't. If it doesn't make any sense to you, imagine how much sense that makes to the "unreached" and the "unchurched". Oh, but that's right, you're not unreached, or unchurched either. Me neither, we are just Christians who have a personal relationship with our personal God.

Is not that the way people describe Christianity? It's a personal relationship with a personal God, they say; I know this because I used to say that too. We are convinced that we really do have a personal relationship with a God who is personal, three persons in One to be accurate; but He is not personal that way to us, He is personal because He is our God, and He is focused on our happiness and on blessing us; the reason why He blesses us is because we do things for Him; we act righteous and He is pleased with our actions, and so He blesses us.

This relationship is pretty much that of a dog with its master; we get taken to dog-school every Sunday, and the head shepherd dog there trains us as puppies to go pee outside, he trains us to do tricks, we do tricks that are pleasing to the master, and then we get a treat; our minds are not really on the pleasing aspect of all our tricks, we really don't get any satisfaction in the doing of the tricks, our satisfaction resides in getting the treats; we want the treat, when we get a treat we want another one; ours is a self-gratifying treat behavior; very much like a dog.

But we go beyond dogs; we get to the point in this relationship, in which we continue to do the right tricks and the treats are not coming as often as before; so we get mad, or frustrated and grumbly, because we think we deserve the treat and we are getting tired of performing; God becomes a cruel master, He now wants to be amused and we don't consider the beat of our hearts or our breath, as treats anymore, in fact, we never did. Our canine nature has been programmed by the world of church to perform and to get treats; so we don't consider our existence a treat in the first place. Ingrate dogs that we are; we don't want to lick our master's hand anymore; dogs are not like that.

The truth of the matter is that God is not, and never has been, pleased with all our tricks and all our performing; He has never been pleased with all our rolling on the ground and our jumping through our hoops of religion; He has never expected performance from us, and He never will. He knows that no matter how many tricks we do and how many hoops we jump through, we will never stop being dogs, we have no power to become anything, except to remain dogs, powerless ungrateful dogs.

Even when people know that grace is to receive something we don't deserve, such as life, they still retain the performance mentality; the same applies to mercy; it all comes from the head trainers in the Sunday schools; 'you have to make a commitment', why is it that you are not committed? What's wrong with you? Don't you want to be pleasing to God? It gets worse.

Since nobody is going to say a word about what I'm saying, it really doesn't matter if I say it or not, but I will anyway. By the way, Ying, our brother in China made a comment recently, I wish he spoke English so I didn't have to use Google translate to read his comments, but it doesn't matter; I know he is ok after the last earthquake and that is what matters.

This is the regular performance oriented speech that comes out of the mouth of head trainers, er, pastors: "if you don't stop____(fill in the blank with your favorite lack of whatever, or with your favorite "sin", or behavior, or addiction) it will prevent the flood-gates of blessing from opening in your life"; those are actual words from a pastor I know, I didn't make them up, maybe that is why he is not a pastor anymore; or here is another one, as he was teaching through the book of Genesis: "we are all like Abraham, we all have an Isaac that we need to sacrifice, so what's your Isaac, hu?" Here's another one: "in view of this new year, (this was the first Sunday of the new year, communion Sunday to make things worse) I want to encourage you to make a list of goals, and live this new year in a goal oriented manner, it has been proven by studies that people who have goals have more success than those who don't, so make it your goal to do what is pleasing to God this year" Again, actual words from the pulpit; this time they came from one of the guys who was supposed to keep the pastor accountable to the word of God; but it all sounds so spiritual, doesn't it?

In dog language that translates to: "if you jump through this particular hoop, you will get blessed, you will get more treats", or "if you stop trying to run like a dog out of control, and if you stop barking at the mailman you will get blessed, and God will be pleased, and He will give you more treats". What is inevitable is that a dog always returns to its own vomit, because that is the way dogs are, they like warm vomit, just like a fool; or is it the other way around? They also like to roll on dead rats and things, but that is another discussion topic.....

What are all these "blessings", these "treats" the dog trainers are talking about? Simple; if you don't want to sound like you are in the flesh, you say "you will have more success in your marriage", or you will say something as "you will have more success in your job, or business", and if you really want to sound spiritual, you would say something like "you will have more success in bringing more people to Christ"; man, that's awesome......

What if I stopped writing right here; what would you think? I know what would come into your mind, "this guy is tweaked, he is not making any sense, is he part of some cult? He took a left turn somewhere and now he is on a trip" Or something like that, will you not think something like that if I just left this post here, with nothing more to say? Sure you would, why? Because all you have read up to this point is being interpreted by your brain as "he says I'm a dog and I want a treat by my good behavior, which is not to roll on dead things and return to my own vomit", the brain is a trippy thing; it is full of pride and arrogance, it gets offended easily if it gets compared to a dog. But that is what we are apart from Christ and His grace; dogs looking for a pat between the ears.

Does God really bless you because you do all these "good works"? You really think so? What about the heathen, the wicked prosper, David says, like a fat dog he increases in money and possessions, and success in the world; they have the pretty wives with the pretty teeth, and the nice cars, and the big houses; and what is worse, God is not in all his thoughts, in fact he hates God, so why is he so "blessed"? The wicked is not trying to please God at all, he is not rolling on dead rats because he thinks is not pleasing to God, he is not returning to his vomit because he thinks is not septic; it is in fact all the contrary; he loves dead rats and things, and vomit, and he could care less about what God thinks.

Just like Jonathan Edwards says; 'God is throwing the bones of this world, riches and possessions, to the dogs of this world to keep their minds occupied in themselves'; they are like the chaff which the wind drives away, see Psalm One.

Did Jesus take the thief on the cross to heaven because he did wonderful works of not rolling on dead things, and jumping through celestial hoops? I don't think so, he couldn't even get baptized. We have the wrong idea about who God is, and what He is like, and it is being reinforced from the pulpit.

The first thing we need to realize is that, as I said before in other posts, we are not the center of God's attention or of the universe, we are not spinning in His mind as if we were something to be made much of; we are not the reason why He created the universe, neither the reason why He is redeeming the whole of creation, no sir; Jesus Christ is the center of all things, and of everything God does, period, no one else can take that place; when are we going to get that straight? I don't know; but we continue to hear that God makes much of us because of His amazing love and mercy. We are mistaken.

In order to find out the other side of the disgusting equation I just planted before your eyes, read Ephesians one and you will see; but we are so self centered that we like to think that God does everything for our sakes, when the bible declares that the only sake God does things for, is for the sake of the glory of His own Name, the glory of His grace, etc; and we totally miss it because that is the way we are, self absorbed dogs working for a treat; it's pathetic.

This self absorption is everywhere; some brothers even think that the purpose of the church meeting on Sundays is to save sinners, that is how twisted their minds are; the epitome of tweaked thinking is when they actually tailor the worship for the wicked as if the heathen actually had the capacity or ability to worship God out of a pure heart; let me put it straight right here and right now; the church meets on Sundays to worship God and to give Him glory, that is number one, and number two, the church meets on Sundays so the head dog can explain the word of God to the sheep, so the sheep might be thoroughly equipped for the work of the ministry; the dogs, or the goats if you like it better, can stay outside; but if they come in, we are not to re-arrange the service to accommodate their sinfulness and lust, and make it all more attractive to them while they look at your wife or daughter in lust, all the while you have your eyes closed and your hands raised to your King; to the heathen a church meeting is a place where they can get a good wife, or check the latest gossip, or feel better about the way they ate their own vomit all week long; no more.

I'm not saying that God is not going to use the Sunday morning service to touch someone, I can't say that; but we have forgotten that no one is seeking for God, the "seeker friendly" movement, is just that, a bunch of seekers that don't know what they're seeking for; and if they know anything, it is the torture that their conscience scream at them before they try to sleep. I'm getting side-tracked, as my custom is....

I'm almost done with my diatribe; just be patient because I must give you some scriptures that support what I have been saying in regards to God blessing His children, not because of what we do; but because of who He is; which is the original point that I was trying to make before I got caught up in my ranting utterance.

There must be a balance, if I can use that term, between the execution of good works and the reasoning behind them; God looks at the heart and knows that the motives that cause a believer to act are either selfish and prideful, for self sake; or godly and divine, for God's sake. To start with, we must remember that it is His doing that we are in Christ; here is Paul saying that in a most eloquent manner:

1Co 1:26-31 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. (I wasn't and I am not any of those). But God chose what is foolish (that I am) in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak (I'm that too) in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

"And because of him you are in Christ Jesus"; that is the ESV, and the KJV says: "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus", which is more accurate in my opinion. What does that mean? It means what it says, that you are a Christian because He wanted it that way, He made you one, you did not become a believer because of your high intelligence, or aptitude, or life skills, or strength, read it again and know it.

This is crucial in our understanding of grace; and it is so because if you think that you had anything to do with it, or played a part in your conversion, then by logic, you must maintain your status by your actions and by your behavior, not only in the physical realm but also in the psychological and the spiritual one, and how would you maintain yourself spiritually if the word of God says that your natural mind is completely opposed to God and cannot be in subjection to Him and His law? To complicate matters worse, why would you need the word of God if it is all in your power to become a believer? Without His word it is impossible to know who He is and what He has done in Christ; without His word no one would ever come to Christ; if you consider this blog to be "too long", how long do you consider the bible is to read it?.

Paul expounds on this almost everywhere he writes; but where it is the most clear is in his letter to the Ephesians; Eph. 1:3-14 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

I am tempted to leave it at that and close this post with that amazing series of statements; but I still have stuff in my brain and I must get it out for the sake of my sanity; and yours maybe.

In the original language, the twelve verses above have no punctuation, actually it starts at verse one; there are no commas, or periods or anything to stop the flow of thought; in fact the whole bible is written like that, and you must make the logical brakes based on context; my point is that when Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesian church, the initial fourteen verses comprise a single statement. There is a reason for that, since this book was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, this bunch of words is designed to make an impact on the reader. In other words, it is designed to cause you to praise God for doing all these things for you and in you. It is designed for delight in praise of The Almighty.

These words are so significant and so powerful, and so beautiful, that this short letter is considered to be, by some, the Alps of the New Testament; such is the grandiose view from the top; why is it so grand? Because God is describing who you are in Christ, and because Christ is the most excellent being in existence, and because He is the One who made you to be like Him.

He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him; we did not choose Him, He chose us, He predestinated us to become His children, and notice Paul says that He did it to the praise of the glory of His grace; and that we should be to the praise of His glory; that is the main reason He adopted you, for the praise of His glory; in fact all things were made for the praise of His glory, he says it twice to drive the point home.

Is God then pleased with you? Absolutely; He is pleased and He will not change that or stop being pleased, even if He wanted to stop being pleased He could not do it, because He is pleased, well pleased, with His Son; and you my friend are in His Son; in chapter two Paul says that we are seated together with Christ in the heavenly places; and God is pleased with that since He made it happen.

Will your works now make Him to be pleased with you? Not at all, He is already pleased with you because you are in Christ, and that's all. There is no other reason for God to be pleased with you, even if you did tricks and jumped through hoops for eternity, they would not make a difference; you have already gotten the treat that really matters and you did not do any trick or jumped through hoops for it. No work can ever place you and I in that position, except Jesus' work. See Titus 3:3-8.

Now if your pastor, or your brother tells you that you need to make a commitment, you can confidently say that you are already committed; God made a commitment and He will keep it. God, The Father of Glory, made you for one single purpose, His glory; "oh, but I was told He made me to have fellowship with Him, to have a personal relationship with me"; I don't think so, was He lonely and needed someone to fellowship with? Not at all; He has perfect fellowship in the Godhead. We think we are so needed by God, but the truth is that He doesn't need anything or anybody; the only cause of fellowship between you and God is Jesus; whatever you are, you are because of Jesus, He lives in you and through you and He doesn't need to do anything to be pleasing to God the Father, even before He died on the cross, The Father had already proclaimed "this is My Beloved Son, in Whom I AM well pleased".

Since there is no other work except that of Jesus Christ, by which God is pleased; what makes anyone think that he can now do what is acceptable to God? Pride, and arrogance, and thinking like a dog. Should we now do works of righteousness? Absolutely we should, but not to gain His acceptance or His blessing, we already have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ; and we have been accepted in the Beloved, it's all there in Ephesians one.

The reason we now do works that are pleasing to Him, is because "He is at work in you, both to will and to perform of His good pleasure", and because faith without works is dead (Phil. 2:13; James 2:15-20).

The motivation behind all your good behavior, and behind your going to church, and reading the bible, and praying for an hour or more, and going to home fellowship, and preaching the gospel, and all those things that you do, even giving your money and your time; is all coming from God Himself; you have stopped thinking like a dog and started thinking like a son of the King of Heaven and Earth; you are no longer expecting to get a treat, you already have all the treats you will ever going to get, all of them, in Christ.

Why? Because it is His pleasure to give you the kingdom; because He leads you in the paths of righteousness for His name sake; because He is God and besides Him there is no other; and He will not share His glory with anyone else; because you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works that He has prepared from eternity that you should walk in them; because He started a good work in you and He will be faithful to complete it; because of the exceeding riches of His grace, because of the praise of the glory of His amazing grace; because He will make your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. He is the one who gets all the glory, no one else. That's why.

Please don't get me wrong and think that I am promoting licentiousness; we should strive for excellence and for alignment with the word of God in all that we do or think; but it has nothing to do with gaining God's acceptance and blessings. At the end, the only reason He is making you to become like His Son is for His glory, and to make you a trophy that He can parade throughout the universe in front of all creation, to magnify the exceeding riches of His grace.

Now go do some good works and make yourself a sandwich, or something.......

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Fear God...

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The first time I heard that portion of scripture read to me I almost flipped out; "the elements shall melt with fervent heat" still rings in my ears, I was terrified. God used that to open my eyes to the undeniable reality of His sovereignty over all things in heaven and on the earth; and over the hearts and the thoughts of men and women all over the world, that was 20 years ago in 1989.

Today, that reality is even more real, and intense, to me; and it keeps on keeping me completely humbled before Him; who is like our God? Who or what can compare to Him? Tell me, ok, don't tell me....I know you don't know the answer; or maybe you do. Nothing and no one compares to Him. I know, to compare God to any one or anything would be stupid.

The Lord YHWH reigns; that's the point. Every time there is an earthquake I remember His word: Psalm 99:1 The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved. The earth shakes and it screams that God reigns; the planet itself announces that He is coming back to judge the nations in righteousness, and to redeem His people and deliver them from His wrath.

I think about the wrath of God often; I do because that is what He has delivered me from, that is what God has saved me from, He did not appoint me to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ; what for? For the praise of the glory of His grace.

I went to pray with my friend Eutychus the other day; sometimes I wonder why is it that we don't pray as often as we need to; of course we pray all the time, but what I mean is to purposefully pray, make an appointment and sit together and pray to our God. Every time we do it I have a blast; and I am convinced that God does as well. One thing I noticed, during our time of fellowship, is that we are filled with the fear of God; we approach Him boldly but with fear, and there is nothing to boast about; we recognize that we are sinful worms in need of grace; and that our God is a consuming fire:

Pro 8:13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate. Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Pro 10:27 The fear of the LORD prolongs life, But the years of the wicked will be shortened. Pro 14:26 In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge. Pro 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death. Pro 15:16 Better is a little with the fear of the LORD Than great treasure and turmoil with it. Pro 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility. Pro 16:6 By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, And by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil. Pro 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil. Pro 22:4 The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches, honor and life. Pro 23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the LORD always.

Isn't that something? The fear of the lord is what keeps one safe, it gives you life, it causes you to sleep like a baby, it leads to abundance of life, it gives you humility, it gives you wisdom, it keeps you from evil, it provides contentment, etc, etc.

The question is then, how does one acquire this fear? Is this something that resides inside the human mind? Or the heart? How do you get this fear of the Lord? The answer is very simple: you can't get it. The fear of God is placed inside of you by Him.

The normal individual does not fear God the way His children do; people who belong to this world hate thinking about God, and it is only in their times of trouble that He comes into their minds but not out of reverence and awe of who He is, but out of desperation and desire for relief; the thought of God in times of trouble is, for the pagan, a solution to his problems; for him God is like a genie in a bottle that is waiting to be rubbed to appear and do his bidding.

The majesty and holiness of our God is far from the eyes of the wicked, He is not in all his thoughts, the bible says (Psalm 14:1) ; as I said before, when things are going well and if confronted with the divine Person, he thinks 'no God'; meaning, 'I hate God, I don't want Him or need Him, I'm doing quite well without Him'. The perverted mind of a man or a woman in this day, tries to push all thought of divine things out of their sphere of influence, in their tiny little worm-universes they are the ones who deserve all the attention, they are in fact self-absorbed; just like a black hole in the middle of a galaxy. Their ego and their flesh is so strong that not even light can escape their gravity.

Such is the darkness of the modern man, that even when he sees the stars at night, or the beautiful face of a baby, or a simple flower of the field, he suppresses the truth that his conscience screams at him, and gives glory to man instead of his creator; and just as Paul said, he exchanges the glory of God for the glory that his intellect provides; he relishes in knowing that his mind works fine and that he can use it to reason how all these things his eyes see have evolved through natural selection, and the survival of the fittest; it's all nonsense that makes sense to him.

Man's natural depravity goes beyond all imagination to the point of terror; such is the obstinacy of the heart that instead of taking steps toward the God who now confronts him, he flees in horror at the holiness of a Being too high and lofty for his eyes to behold, the very thought of holiness horrifies him, and he would rather live in a cave with his head stuck in a hole in the ground, a hole he calls 'his world', than to be exposed in all his sinfulness before God....or to become holy himself.

That is the way we are; the only reason that we desire to be like Jesus now, is because He has put that desire inside of our hearts and minds; the true child of God desires to be holy as He is holy, and that is indisputable; but the true child of God at the same time realizes that the kind of holiness he wants is unattainable, and so therefore he finds himself at the foot of the cross all the time, asking for grace and mercy in his time of need; which is the rest of his life.

This desire for holiness is something we were not born with; on the contrary, we were enemies of God by nature, and as Paul says, we were children of wrath, even as others; but God, who is rich in mercy and because of His great love with which He loved us, made us alive together, rose us together with Christ, and has seated us with Him in the heavenly places. That is how our dear Paul explains it in his letter to the Ephesians; and so now, positionally, we are as holy as Christ is in the eyes of the Father; He has imputed Jesus' righteousness and obedience unto us, and now we are perfect in His sight.

"Apart from Me, you can do nothing", Jesus said, and so it is, we cannot be holy without Him, we need Him, and what He has done for us on that bloody cross, the most amazing part of it, is that we did not ask for all this to be done; it was the initiative of God the Father to bless us in Christ; and to give us new life, and the fear, the holy fear of God.

The elements will melt with fervent heat, and that is the beginning of the burning for some; the reason that statement made such an impact on me, is because I saw my sinfulness, and I saw no other way out but to surrender to God, and at the same time I saw my impotence to be pleasing to God; I remain filthy apart from Christ and the end in sight was fire, and no fire escape.

Sometimes I wonder if what I say makes any difference at all; and then I think about my daughters and my grand children, it will make a difference for them one day; one day I will not be here anymore, and all I can leave behind is a life of faith, and hopefully, words of wisdom for them to read. These words I hope, will clarify grace for them, and they will know in fact, that the only words they really need are the words of God Himself.

Then on the other side, I think about people like Eutychus, and Ying in China, who are faithfully reading my nonsense; additionally I think about those who have told me: "your blog is too long brother, so I don't read it"; at least they are honest, but they make me wonder, if this blog is too long, how does it compare to the Word of God? That kind of comment proves that what I have been saying all along is true.

Anyway; if you are enjoying this place called earth, and all your possessions, don't get too attached, since everything is going to melt with fervent heat. At the end of our lives nothing will matter except the things we have done in faith, and for the kingdom:

Ecc 12:8-14 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "all is vanity!"
In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs.
The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.
The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.
But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

You have a nice day....


http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Breaking News...

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Wed, April 14, 2010 -- 2:12 AM ET
-----

Hundreds Dead in Earthquake in Northwest China

A powerful earthquake in northwest China killed at least 300
people, injured 8,000 and left many others buried under
debris on Wednesday, Chinese state media reported.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/world/asia/15quake.html?emc=na

I hate to say it, but I told you so. The time is getting shorter and shorter, and in the meantime we continue to live as if nothing is happening; but is nothing happening really?

Seems like it is all about earthquakes lately....Haiti, Chile, Baja, now China (again), and so forth and so on......in less than 4 months.....it is like birth pangs, Jesus said. I just hope and pray our friend Ying is alright. Hey, Ying, if you are reading this, post a comment and let me know if you are ok.

With pleasure and excitement I leave you tonight with the Amplified Version of 2Pe 3:8-12:

Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. [Psalm 90:4.]
The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people's conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish (pass away) with a thunderous crash, and the [material] elements [of the universe] will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.
Since all these things are thus in the process of being dissolved, what kind of person ought [each of] you to be [in the meanwhile] in consecrated and holy behavior and devout and godly qualities, while you wait and earnestly long for (expect and hasten) the coming of the day of God by reason of which the flaming heavens will be dissolved, and the [material] elements [of the universe] will flare and melt with fire? [Isa. 34:4.]

Have a good day....

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

A strong delusion...

Just a few days ago I was talking about an earthquake in Mexico City; and yesterday (April 05) we got struck by a 7.1 temblor here in San Diego. The epicenter was down in Baja California, about 150 miles from here, but we felt the earth move here, just like Carole King.

The subject of my previous post was the depravity of the human heart; I have to continue to talk about the depravity of the natural man; so deep, so immeasurable, so deceiving, so terribly shaky, and so addictive, hu?

There will be one day, some day, that there will be no force to restrain wickedness on this earth; 2Thessalonians 2:5-14: "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved".

"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ".

The Almighty God of Heaven and Earth is allowing evil to remain and to operate in order to fulfill His promises; "for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way" (ESV); He will take the obstacles out of the way, He will take away what prevents the Evil one from being revealed, that is, He will take away His restraining influence. What is His restraining influence that prevents evil from running wild on the earth? It is the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in His children, and convicting people of sin and unrighteousness (John 16:8) ; we must be taken out of the way.

He is coming as a 'thief in the night'; He is coming and we must get ready, we must. Do you believe this? Are you completely convinced that this will happen? Are you certain that He will bring this to pass? Or do you think it's corny and naive to believe these things? If you're doubting, check your heart; check your depraved heart and see if there is any wicked way in you, and surrender it all to Jesus.

"Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness". God Himself will send them a strong delusion so that they will believe a lie; did you read that? It is Him who causes people to believe the lie; their hearts will be darkened, their eyes dimmed, their ears shut; and they will reject Christ and His gospel; and if God Himself is the one who blinds people's hearts, what makes any one think that they can believe any time they want?

Such is the arrogance and pride, the depravity, of the human heart; our hearts rebel against the supremacy of Christ and they reason: "I believed, I made a choice; it was up to me to become born again and I did it"; that is the evidence of depraved thinking, even the godly are arrogant in this respect when they argue and contradict themselves, on one side they admit that God is sovereign, and on the other they sustain they had to make a choice.

Even now, people think that they can be pleasing to God by works of righteousness; the heart is very deceiving, as I said many times before, and as God has said many times in His word; the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? So how many times will I repeat the same thing? How many times will any one who reads this in disagreement will say in his, or her, heart: "this guy is getting on my nerves, all he talks about is the depravity of the heart; and I'm not depraved!? As many times as are necessary; as many as it takes for me to stop being deceived by the heart of darkness that dwells is me.

I'm the main problem; I am the problem in my life; I can blame my circumstances on any one else besides me, and that is what usually takes place. I point the finger and the heart is never satisfied, I fret and it only causes harm; it's every body else's fault; it's Shamu's fault; and the dolphins' too.

The truth is that if you gather for yourself the best deed, the best action of your life, and closely examine it; you will without a doubt find that it is tainted by sin and the flesh; even a life long obedience of actions is stained by unrighteousness, but we continue to deceive ourselves thinking that we are somehow righteous and pure; it's all a fantasy in the mind; in the depraved mind of a human.

Then there are those who take pleasure in unrighteousness; so great is the deception of the heart that these people will only believe what their flesh tells them to believe, and as Paul says, they will be given a strong delusion so that they believe the lie. This great lie is the lie of self; it is the lie that we don't need God to make us righteous, we can do it on our own. Badges? We don't need no stinking badges.

Just for the sake of having a man of God side with me, or I should say I will side with him, in this matter, I have the pleasure to quote one of my three (or four) favorite Johns:

"What can sinners, alienated from God, produce save that
which is abominable in his sight? Such, however, is the stupid
confidence entertained by all the wicked, and especially by
hypocrites, that however conscious that their whole heart teems with
impurity, they yet deem any spurious works which they may perform as
worthy of the approbation of God".

"Hence the pernicious consequence,
that though convicted of a wicked and impious mind they cannot be
induced to confess that they are devoid of righteousness. Even
acknowledging themselves to be unrighteous, because they cannot deny
it, they yet arrogate to themselves some degree of righteousness".

"This vanity the Lord admirably refutes by the prophet: "Ask now the
priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the
skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage,
or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests
answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a
dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests
answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and
said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the
Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer
there is unclean," (Haggai 2: 11-14.) I wish these sentiments could
obtain full credit with us, and be deeply fixed on our memories".

"For there is no man, however flagitous the whole tenor of his life may
be, who will allow himself to be convinced of what the Lord here so
clearly declares. As soon as any person, even the most wicked, has
performed some one duty of the law, he hesitates not to impute it to
himself for righteousness; but the Lord declares that no degree of
holiness is thereby acquired, unless the heart has previously been
made pure. And not contented with this, he declares that all the
works performed by sinners are contaminated by impurity of heart".

"Let us cease then to give the name of righteousness to works which
the mouth of the Lord condemns as polluted. How well is this shown
by that elegant similitude? It might be objected, that what the Lord
has commanded is inviolably holy. But he, on the contrary, replies,
that it is not strange that those things which are sanctified in the
law are contaminated by the impurity of the wicked, the unclean hand
profaning that which is sacred by handling it".  John Calvin, Institutes of
The Christian Religion.

That being said, and better than I could ever express by the way; I must consider the life that I as a Christian must lead; and doing that I discover that even my own righteous acts, thoughts and words are always stained by the sin that is ever present with me and within me. Assuming that I could, at least once, live for a day without sinning, and be perfectly obedient to the law of God and all of His desires; even then only one minute sin would be enough to obliterate all my good acting, rendering the whole of my life a catastrophe in condemnation (James 2:10).

If you and I think that we can do this by our own power, and that we can attain a smidge of righteousness in and of ourselves, then we are thinking depraved-ly. That is exactly what the problem is in today's churches; that is exactly what is being pushed on the saints: 'you've got to try harder', they say, and the sheep listen. The whole thing is like a ball and chain that the people of God drag to their graves, always learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. The reality is pathetic.

Then, there are those who think that all these things should be left for the teachers to be figured out; who are we but stupid sheep right? All this theology and doctrine just causes division and arguments between the people of God, and it is about time we learn how to love each other and be nice, and just maintain unity, and just get along with each other, life is too short; who cares how you understand grace, if at all understood, let's just be grateful that we belong to each other and believe in the same Jesus, right? Wrong!!

That to me sounds like an excuse to not read, and study, and do the research and seek to understand; I do believe in the sovereignty of God in the affairs of all people, but at the same time I believe in human responsibility; and in obedience to the word of God; and what He says is that we should strive to show ourselves approved, to be workers that are not ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth; to be better equipped for the work of the ministry; why? So that we can build each other up, and really love one another in truth, and so that we can worship God as He deserves to be worshiped, in spirit and in truth. Ultimately, we are to do all things for His glory.

Thinking that it belongs to someone else to study, is in my opinion, just pain laziness; I'm not talking about babes in Christ, I'm talking about those who have been walking for years and who by now should be chewing meat, steak, not sucking milk.

06Apr10
Today, another earthquake. Ok, let's see; Haiti, Chile, Baja California, Indonesia, what's next? Next is that the time is coming, and maybe the strong delusion is already in place.
I'll sleep like a baby tonight.

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