Have a nice year....

(I started writing this on the last day of 2010; but everything got..how should I say it...screwed up, is screwed up a kosher enough expression? Maybe not, maybe I should say 'complicated'; or better yet, challenging, yeah, that's the word; so forget about the screwed up part; so here I am, days later and still trying to finish what I started; I guess I should have made it a goal of mine, huh? Oh, I forgot that later on I will say that I forgot that I didn't have any goals, but never mind the bad memory.)

Today is the last day of 2010; wow, what an exciting thing that is, ain't it? Tomorrow is 01/01/11 a good excuse to begin this coming year with a list of goals...what did I just say? Sorry; I got carried away by Pelagius; he is everywhere, the jerk.

So anyway, if I die tonight I will not be disappointed; I didn't accomplish any goals because I didn't have any, that's why. God still did whatever He was going to do in 2010; and He didn't even have to try, He didn't wait for me either; how about that? ..... Huh?

"See this is how it is: God lives outside of time and ......" What? Not again, please; get out of my brain; it's already been washed, thank you very much. Oh no! I'm already tripping and I haven't taken my meds yet; maybe it's senility taking over, who knows, who cares really... but...who am I, and what am I doing here?

But seriously now; this year was very interesting to me; not only did God sustain my life and provided everything I needed, but He also revealed Himself to me everyday. Not to boast about it, (okay maybe to boast a little, and I boast in Him a lot), I read my bible everyday this year. Isn't it cool how you can boast about anything just by adding the words "I'm not boasting but..."? Same way you can get away with saying anything just by adding the phrase "I'm just saying".

I didn't read the whole book though, because I got sidetracked and I got stuck, besides it was not in my list of goals to read the whole bible in a year; oh sorry, I forgot I didn't have goals; so anyway, I read the book of Revelation at least four times, I read the gospel of John at least three times; and the book of Romans at least five times; it must be the OCD; plus I read various chapters of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and about half of Isaiah and random chapters of Daniel, Jeremiah and Jude; no, hold on, that's not true, I read the whole letter of Jude, all 25 verses, wow, what a feat, I'm just saying.

(Just a side note: the conjugation of the verb to read in the past spells "read", but it doesn't sound like "reed" as in "to read" {yeah believe it or not, both sound the same to me}, it sounds like "red" the color; for my Spanish trained brain it is a short circuit, my mouth wants to pronounce words with a Spanish interpretation and it sounds funny; it sounds as funny as your English trained brain trying to speak Spanish, and that is hilarious. The same thing happens with "Jews" and "juice". What is funny, no, pathetic, is hearing someone making fun of somebody else who speaks English with an accent when they can barely write their own language; as is the case with "their" and "there"; or when they say they never heard the word "congruent" before. I'm just saying. End of side note).

So what's my point? Besides the boasting? My point is that by nature I really don't want to read the bible; my mind is completely opposed to it. There is nothing my flesh hates as much as reading the word of God, I'm not even going to talk about studying it. My point is that it is God who is at work in me to will and to perform of His good pleasure, not me.

The bottom line is that, if you have read your bible at all this year; it was a miracle; it was a supernatural event. You probably think it was you trying hard, but it wasn't; it was the Spirit of Jesus living in you who drew you to Him; He used your "free will" to accomplish that; you big free-willer that you are, and all that; I'm just saying.

One more year has gone by and I am still saved; I still believe in the whole thing, I believe the whole gospel and there is nothing I can do about it, in fact I don't want to do anything about it; I don't have any desire to stop believing any time soon; I wonder why that is; well, not really, I don't wonder why, I just wonder; isn't that wonderful?

I'm not sure if they do it anymore; but at the end of the year all the magazines and news casters usually make a list of the most important events of the year; they are all tragedies by the norm; and of those we had many this year; from petroleum spills in the gulf of Mexico to volcanoes that smoked for months making air travel impossible; earthquakes all over the place, floods, the dollar losing value in the international markets; and a few cases of supernatural events, like the miners that were rescued in south America, and the plane that crashed and only one person died, she died from a heart attack on her way to the hospital, by the way.

One thing that the news and magazines never mention is the fact that millions of people died in their sins; that should be tragedy number one on (or "in") their lists but it's never included. It is a fact; millions died without Christ, old men and women, young guys and girls, even babies; people from all countries and all religions, rich and poor; they all died and no one in Fox or CNN remembers them. I guess they didn't make a commitment. Not the news, the dead.

Of course many schools of thought have many different views about this; but the thoughts that matter are the thoughts of God; and where are they found? In the bible; in His mighty word; and His mighty word says that He is in control of all things, therefore all the events of this past year have been under the control of the Sovereign King of the universe; and therefore all those people who have died without Christ are also included in that scope.

Either God was impotent to save them, which is not only an impossibility but also a contradiction; or God knew that they would die in their sins and He didn't do anything to prevent that from happening. Have you ever thought about that? I have, many times. Some people say that they died in their sins because they rejected the gospel; and I agree; but what about those who never heard the gospel? I can see this one-versation is going in a different direction than what I originally intended; but so be it, I'm only talking to myself anyway, so there.

No one can deny that even as we speak, or better yet, even as I speak; there are parts of this world that have never seen a white man; some tribes in some jungles, somewhere in the Pacific or in the Amazon, even south of the border in the country right next to us, they still worship the sun and the moon, and the stars, and the earth; instead of the true God; these people have never heard who Jesus is, is not that an accurate assumption? I don't think that is an assumption, I think that is a fact.

Are those people unseen by God? No. God is not unseen to them; the evidence of His existence is in the very objects they worship; and yet, they don't know Him. Why is that? Even as I pound on this keyboard, some of them are dying; dying without never having heard the gospel; why is that? Is God unaware of them? Did He forget to send someone to tell them? Are Christians lazy and they didn't make a commitment to go and tell them? ("lazy sheep, they just want to get fat") What's going on? All my questions get answered with a series of questions by Paul:

Rom 9:20-24 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Are those questions enough of an answer? Is that a reasonable reasoning? According to God, it is; and it has been enough for thousands of years, even since the foundation of the world. Even if it is not reasonable to us, human reason has nothing to do with the sovereignty of God. God has all the power to save anyone He wishes to save; and if He doesn't save me, no one can, I'm powerless; and that is the beauty of the doctrines of grace, it gives all the glory to whom it is due; to YHWH the Almighty King of heaven and earth.

The question is not "how can a God of love..?" but, "how can't a God of justice..?" But the flesh will never be satisfied, such is the petulance and pride of the human heart; it will never stop trying to bring God into its pitiful, worm-like and infinitesimal understanding; as if He was some kind of object that could be analyzed and dissected like a lab rat, or an insect.

Such is that pride and deceitfulness, and so heretically pervasive indeed, that it even dares to contradict God and His Holy word when He says: John 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand, and through Paul: Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How many times and in how many different ways does He, God Almighty, need to say the same thing for some to just believe what He says? It is shocking and dumbfounding when even the son of a pastor, and perhaps even some pastors out there, doubt that God can accomplish what He says. Since when are the gifts and the calling of God revocable? God says they are not (Rom. 11:29), arrogance says they are.

"What is this guy talking about?" I'm talking about the fact that, besides the blasphemous belief that God will not judge the wicked; there is another belief circulating that says "you can lose your salvation"; that's what I'm talking about. It is being preached from pulpits across the nation right now. What makes this so irritating is that some of my brothers actually believe this; I think they need to go to a different church; even better, they need to read the word of God and pay attention to what they read.

But who am I? I'm just a voice crying in the wilderness; an impatient and judgmental voice, sarcastic too. Now you tell me; where did you get this false notion that you are more powerful than God? Oh I see, what happens is that you probably think that you saved yourself, or that you had something to do with becoming a Christian; that is, I think, where the problem comes from.

If you think and believe that you actually made a decision to become a Christian, then you are right, you have to continue to make a decision to stay a Christian; and in that sense, yeah, you can lose your salvation because you can, at any moment, change your mind and decide that going back to the world is a better alternative.

That way of thinking and believing gives a lot of credit to you, not to God. So I ask: Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith? The bible says Jesus is the Author and Finisher of it (Heb 12:2); not us. God says that faith is a gift from Him (Eph.2:8-10); faith, at least the kind of faith the bible speaks about, is not innate in man, we are saved by grace through faith, it is not of ourselves, Paul says, so that we cannot boast about it. The problem is that we think we have faith because we made a choice to believe, human nature and the heart's pride like to think so; but that is impossible according to the word of God.

Even further; the bible says that faith is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22), it cannot be produced by man in his corruption and depravity; logically (an if-then kind of a thing) man is a faithless creature and that can only change by divine intervention. Maybe I should make this a syllogism but I run the risk of being perceived as arrogant; well, I don't care, I'm inpatient and judgmental anyway. Now tell me, you who make fun of the way I say 'Jews', what is a syllogism? See? Now I'm being arrogant. The devil made me do it. I'm just saying. Never mind.

The basis for this doctrine of grace, is that with man this kind of thing is impossible, but with God all things are possible, according to Jesus. Salvation is not an act of the human will: John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

It is clear; we have been born again no from anything related to man; this is how Peter explains it:

1Peter 1:18-25 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

See? We were not redeemed with corruptible things; he says, from our vain life style that we received by the traditions of our fathers; but with the blood of Christ. What is he talking about? The traditions of men; the vain basic philosophies of this world; the lists of goals, and the "think outside the box"; and the "try a little harder", and the "make a commitment"; and the "do more good things than bad things", and "the universe is your genie", and the "name it and claim it", and "God is your friend and He will fix all your problems", and "Jesus is your co-pilot", and "you don't have enough faith", and so forth and so on.

Now, notice what he says, "who by Him do believe in God"; what? Yeah, by Jesus we believe in God, not by our own efforts or by our commitments, nor by our thinking nor our distinctions, or capacities; it is by Him that we believe.

Do you know of anyone who first gives you a gift and then says "give it back"? Or just takes it from you? Even though there might be some people who act like that, that kind of behavior is childish, selfish, and ego-centric, isn't it? Do you believe that God is like that? He is not, and He will never be like that, it's not in His character to do that.

But that is what some people imply when they say you can lose your salvation, it is not only ridiculous but also insulting to the grace of God to even entertain that kind of thought.

Hear what Paul says: 1Corinthians 1:26-31 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

There, Paul says the same thing Peter says, "of Him you are in Christ"; it means the same thing, but in this case Paul is talking about God, which is the same thing Peter said; did I say the same thing twice? But let me go on; everybody seems to overlook the phrase "God hath chosen"; and that is the big redundant problem with not understanding salvation, and grace.

What about the phrase "that no flesh should glory in His presence"? And "he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" Does that mean anything to you who think that you are the decisive factor in working out your salvation? It probably doesn't. I'm done.

Ok, I was just saying. It took me seventeen days to get to this point and now is time to make some goals, maybe a list of commitments; one of them shall be to make this blog shorter; okay, I'm already failing, so maybe I should make an effort to try a little harder to commit to stay focused.

Okay, maybe not. Have a nice year.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I'm impatient and judgmental.....

Ahh; the joy of Christmas! I think it is a beautiful time, a beautiful tradition and a beautiful celebration; it is all about God becoming a man and being born in poverty so I can be rich, about having my mind being boggled and blown away by a little baby in a manger surrounded with goats and cows and chickens, in the midst of the smell of manure.

That is why I celebrate Christmas now. Many years ago it all was about getting presents and getting loaded; about being emotional because we were gifted with life and a beautiful family, it was also about being grateful for each other, so kisses and hugs were abundant, and I liked that.

I remember the smell of pine tree inside the house, the fireplace burning, mom cooking in the kitchen with all the women, and all the family laughing and eating and drinking and having a good time; it was a time for family, a time for being close to each other; I don't remember ever having a bad Christmas; but I remember never thinking about Jesus either; God was some strange creature with white hair and a white beard who lived above the clouds and who was angry with me all the time, so I never thought about pleasing Him; Christmas wasn't about God or about the baby in the manger, it was about Johnny Walker and his friends Ginger Ale and Ice Cube.

Jesus was not born on December 24th, or any day in December for that matter; we really don't know what month it was, at least I don't; some teachers say that because the shepherds were out in the night it had to be after winter, maybe March; but who knows, it really doesn't matter; what matters is that He became a man; the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; He pitched His tent in the midst of depravity, to seek and save those who were lost in it; that's what the bible says.

The time had come for the eternal decree to be fulfilled; God had planned it before the foundation of the world; God had promised His chosen people that He would do this, that He would send His Servant, the Branch, Immanuel, The Messiah; to redeem, to rescue people from darkness, from captivity, from sin and death. He did it, He fulfilled His promise, Jesus came and became a man and took my place and died and rose, and He set me free from the law of sin and death. Redundantly expressed.

That is what Christmas is really all about for me; Jesus saving me from the tyranny of sin and the flesh and the mind; and He is the only One who could do that; according to His own words He is the only way for anyone to pass from death to life, from darkness into light, from sin unto righteousness: John 14:6-7 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

Just as every other pagan and heathen individual, my opinion was that if I did enough good deeds during my life, they would compensate for the bad deeds, and as long as the balance was tilted toward the "good deeds" side, then God would allow me to go through the gates of heaven; it was all up to me to gird the loins of my 'free will' and my intellect, and exercise my freedom of choice to perform good deeds; that was the pressure I was under; so obviously I had a list of goals and New Year resolutions by the end of the year.

Christmas meant also that the year was about to end and that I had another challenge for the next 365 days; of course the New Year did not really begin until January on the day in which the wise men came to visit baby Jesus to give Him his Christmas presents; so I basically had another week or so to get ready to face the challenge of reforming myself. This cycle was repeated every Christmas season; in my mind the next chapter had to be better than the last, I had to resolve to resolve my resolutions with resolute resolve, but I failed every year, what a miserable misery.

Even being indwelt by the Holy Spirit my mind refused to digest what grace is about; it took a divine intervention for the eyes of my understanding to be opened, at least a little crack, to accept the fact that I am completely depraved, and that no amount of free will would ever get me to change anything in my self. God affirms that the heart is deceitful above all things, all things include all things that can be deceitful; and that it is desperately wicked and no one but Himself knows the extent of that wickedness.

Why would God make a statement like that? Now please don't tell me that He was only talking to the Jews, that is not going to fly with me, or with Him either. The answer to my question lies a few verses before where He says:

Jeremiah 17:5-9 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

That's why, because the heart of man thinks that flesh can be his help; because man thinks that he can self-improve; that he can make a commitment and try hard and it will happen; the natural man thinks that Christmas is about spending money and eating ham, and roasting chestnuts on the fireplace; and about making New Year resolutions even knowing that he will fail by the end of January; he thinks that he can tilt the balance, he deceives himself, "I think I can, I think I can", and no change ever happens.

This is so critical in the mind of God that He actually became a man so He could die in my place; that is the only possible way for God to experience death, and also the only possible remedy for my sin and deceitfulness and wickedness; to take my rightfully deserved judgment upon Himself so that I could be declared righteous. This has nothing to do with my ability to make the right choices, or making commitments to try to be better.

Solomon was the wisest man that has ever lived, apart from Jesus, and in His God-given wisdom he declares: Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. Moses' rightful observation from the beginning is: Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Beasts, evil continually?

So here I run into the ageless problem of the deceitfulness of the heart; and the constant human attempt to justify himself before a God who is completely and infinitely holy and righteous; the regular man still attempts to create God in his image and attributes unto Him only what his puny, depraved, and corrupted mind can think; "well I don't see how a God of love can judge people when they never heard about Jesus, it's not fair"; without thinking that what is not really fair is the sin and contempt he exercises everyday since he was born in his pitiful and fallen condition.

That is exactly what even some of my brothers forget when they talk about universal grace; they don't take into consideration what God says about Himself and about man, or what God says period; it really makes me wonder what kind of bible they're reading, if they are reading at all. Their minds are probably swayed by the smell of pine tree inside the house and all the little blinking lights, and the mistletoe; and all the cute nativity scenes all over the place, and the tiny cutesy manger with the tiny little cutesy baby wrapped with a little towel around his tiny cutesy waist. I think it's pathetic, they might as well be friends with Johnny Walker.

Oh, but what am I saying?!! I thought I was going to rejoice over Christmas not rant about how my brethren get deceived by the basic philosophies and principles of this world; maybe I should get right back into the topic........ or maybe not..

"What is it going to take for us to love one another?", someone asked, and I think he was serious; well, how about a slapping around to begin with? So tell me, how do you love someone who is committing adultery? By being gracious and patient? Okay. That is not what the bible says; the bible says you confront that individual and rebuke him to repent, and if he doesn't repent, you rebuke him again with another brother present, and if he doesn't repent, then you bring him to the church and rebuke him again and make him an example for all, and if he still does not repent, then you kick him out; that is how Jesus would do things, just in case you ask yourself "what would Jesus do?"

Here it is, just in case you have never read it: Matthew 18:15-17 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Notice the words "neglect" and "heathen and a publican"; was Jesus being judgmental? Maybe gracious and patient?

Maybe I should get back to the Christmas thing now. Okay, maybe not.

It turns out that the guy, "the elder in charge of the situation" who was supposed to rebuke the adulterer was afraid to err and afraid to be judgmental, and so he chose to be gracious; so much so that, after the betrayed wife showed up at church crying Sunday after Sunday for weeks, he had the bright idea to have the "weekly" home fellowship at the betrayer's home; thinking that would show him more grace; and it did show him grace, cheap grace.

The guy ended up leaving his wife and showed up at another church where he could be "accepted". Some brother was even rejoicing that the betrayer, the beast doing evil continually, was still walking with God and he still had hope. What? Where am I???

Of course the story doesn't end there; no sir. By the way, I didn't make this up, this is a true story, for illustration purposes, you know, Christmas and all....

What happened next? People who were actually serving there wanted to leave the church when the saw the lack of doctrinal and pastoral spine of the "leadership"; no one was doing anything about it, they were just being "gracious and patient".

Another righteous servant, who actually had some odd semi-round objects attached to his body, heard what was happening, saw it fit to go and talk to the pastor and the "elder" at a "leadership" meeting; when in righteous indignation this servant brought up the issue, their reply was: "let he who is free of sin cast the first stone", and "there is a thousand adulterers in every church"; this righteous individual ended up defending himself from being accused of intolerance for the next 45 minutes.

To begin with, that little church had about 8 families in attendance; their best day maybe 30 people showed up, including me; where do you get a thousand adulterers from that kind of congregation? I'm just saying, okay, I might have been a little judgmental there.

What is really amazing, or maybe it's not that amazing; is that the same guy who dropped the ball in that adultery case, is the same guy who stopped me flat on my tracks when I was talking to the men, all 9 of them, about the grace of God; "I don't agree, that sounds like Calvinism!"; he basically stopped the meeting with that argument; when I tried to show him Ephesians chapter one, and Romans chapter eight and nine, and even the words of Jesus Himself, his reply was "those are just verses". For a moment I thought I had been kidnapped by aliens and dropped out on demon planet. I didn't even know what Calvinism was, or is.

The next Sunday, the pastor asked me "how did it go on Thursday"; well, I said, "the elder and I, we had some arguments but I was just talking about what the bible teaches", and as I turned to the table to grab my bible and show him Ephesians, he just walked away from me, not a single word.

The same guy, "the anti-Calvin elder who dropped the ball and dislikes grace but who is gracious and patient", (look it up in the dictionary, his picture is under "walking contradiction"); is the same guy who on the first Sunday of the New Year, communion Sunday by the way, stands up in front of the congregation, all 20 of them, and starts his "introduction" to the "message" by talking about goals; "studies have been made in which it has been proven that people who have a list of written goals are more likely to succeed, so you need to have a list of goals"; what?? What?? I ask again. What? From what kind of heathen seminary or self-help book did you pull that one out? It was not the bible, that's for sure. Okay, now I'm getting irritated, I need to be gracious and patient, and not so judgmental. Maybe I should go to Joel Osteen's church.

There is more, but I think I'm going to stop right there, I'm running the risk of dwelling in the past and being judgmen..... Oh no! There is that word again!!

The church ended up losing the place we were meeting at, the pastor had received notice that the place was under foreclosure months before, but he was patient, and he thought, "manana"; it should be okay; we'll do what we did last time, just take all 20 people to another church and still retain our little name, so he waited until the Sunday before the move to tell everybody we needed to move.

Just by "coincidence" the dear brother who brought the adultery issue up at the "leadership" meeting, was doing worship at another church, and guess what, yeah, you got it, the pastor and the "elder" and the five families left from the little church were there; after the service "the elder" comes up to the stage and says "this place has potential" nodding his head in approval; I wasn't there and I'm glad I wasn't.

Now think about this; you are the pastor of a tiny church that God loves; and God has been bringing these people to build it up, or so I thought, the worship leader had already left being fed up with the procrastination; and there appears to be a new music team forming, three committed imperfect sinners, people who are also fed up with the Galatianism and the "we'll jump from that cliff when we get there" attitude, so they also leave, but this time they don't say a thing, they just come and pack their stuff and leave; next Sunday, your worship team doesn't show up; don't you think there is something weird happening?

Would you not at least call them and ask them why they didn't show up to lead worship and help with the move? Would you not send an email, at least? Would you not, at least, ask your "elder" to call them and find out what's going on? No, you are a different pastor, you are patient, and non-confrontational, and non-judgmental; God will provide, you think, manana.

Now, is it not a coincidence that a brother, who 20 years ago proclaimed that Jesus is the only way to heaven, who goes to the church were this pastor and "elder" are now teaching; now thinks and believes that no, Jesus is not the only way to heaven; "I don't think that God is going to judge those people because they never heard who Jesus was"; where did that come from? And no, it is not a coincidence; he is just learning now to be more patient and gracious, and to not judge people; poor soul.

If you think there is any other way to get to heaven besides Jesus Christ, or that just because people didn't hear about Jesus they will not get judged, you make Jesus a liar.

Man this blog is too long, and it is boring also; no wonder why people don't want to read it; so I am ending it right here, right now; as I was saying, ahh, the joy of Christmas.

Have a merry one.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Tele sounds

I play guitar, or so I like to think, but I have never played a good electric guitar with a good all tube amp; I think this is due to the amazing grace of God; He probably knows that if I did, I would be obsessed with the sound, and He doesn't like idolatry.

Anyway, in one of my trips through the internet I found the video below; I often asked myself "what is the big deal with tube amps?", and the answer to that question is at about three minutes into this video (if you can't see it, then go to the blog, click on the link at the bottom) and it's coming from a Fender Telecaster; it's only about 50 seconds but that is enough. If you listen carefully, and after doing so you still wonder what am I talking about, then I think you lack the capacity for artistic appreciation.

All truth is God's truth; and all beauty is God's beauty; music is a glorious gift regardless of the instrument used, but The Lord really likes stringed instruments, so much so that He put chords in our throats.

Crank it up and have a nice day.





http://makariotes.blogspot.com

From Reformation21....

I receive emails from a lot of people, most of them businesses and some of them ministries; I've got this one from Reformation21 and I thought I would post it here in my blog just for the sake of remembering. It is fitting, and it is profitable; and beside being thankful for Jesus, I am thankful for mothers; specially the ones who are also my sisters.

I am also thankful that I belong to the scum of the earth and that my God finds pleasure in me and chose me regardless of my pitiful condition; to Him be the glory forever, amen.

Seasonal Reflections III

Posted: 17 Dec 2010 06:32 AM PST

[Editor's note] This is the second in a series of Christmas-related postings by Carl Trueman. Several will come in this series during the month of December. The second can be read here.

One of the most beautiful vignettes in the gospel accounts of the Christmas story comes in Luke 1, where Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Both women are pregnant in rather surprising circumstances: Mary is still a virgin; and Elizabeth has been barren for many years. Now each expects a child of promise.

What makes the story so beautiful is what happens as Mary enters Elizabeth's house. Following the protocols of the time, she, as the younger and thus junior party, has made the laborious and probably somewhat dangerous journey to see her cousin. Then, as she comes into Elizabeth's presence, two amazing things happen. First, the embryonic John the Baptist leaps within his mother's womb, beginning the ministry that will dominate his life: pointing to the presence of the Christ. Even before birth, this remarkable man is already witnessing to the coming of the kingdom in Jesus of Nazareth.

But the second thing is perhaps even more remarkable than that. It is Elizabeth's reaction: as soon as she hears the sound of Mary's feet, she is filled with the Holy Spirit and declares `Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'

In Part I of this series, I wrote about the unexpected nature of the incarnation: that here, in the baby in the manger, the mighty God of Israel was manifest in the flesh. To borrow and intensify a phrase from Luther: this baby, this little baby, made heaven and earth. Yet the revelation of God in his incarnate hiddennness finds its corollary in the impact which such a God has: when God is present, hierarchies are inverted. This is why, against all social conventions and expectation, Elizabeth makes that incomprehensible statement, questioning why Mary has come to see her, when, quite frankly, it should have been the other way around.

This, of course, means that the incarnation is an affront to us not simply because it reveals God as who he is on his terms, not those we ourselves would set. It is also an affront because the very presence of Christ in human form dethrones all of our petty human pretentions and turns our world upside down.

The church in Corinth is a great case in point: a port city, rife with sexual sleaze and depravity, yet home to a small church which Paul dares to call the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we read the letters to the Corinthian church, we are often struck by the contrast between the fabulous gifts that seem to have been exercised in the congregation and the terrible sexual sins in which certain congregants were involved, and which seemed to have been tolerated by the church at large.

Are we surprised by this? If so, what did we expect? Paul makes it clear in at the start of his first letter that the congregation in Corinth is primarily made up of the scum of the earth; and it does not take much imagination to make an informed guess concerning the kinds of trade which many of the congregants presumably plied before they were converted. Is it any surprise, therefore, that sexual deviancy continues to corrupt the congregation? The amazing thing about the Corinthian church is not the contrast between amazing gifts and sexual depravity; rather, it is the fact that there was any church there at all; and Paul makes it clear that this is for God's greater glory, a demonstration that the church was not built by some kind of co-operative effort between God and the greatest, most powerful and influential members of society. No: the church in Corinth is purely an act of God's grace because the scum used to build it had nothing in and of themselves to bring to the table.

The church in Corinth is, of course, merely an echo of God's actions through history. The choice of Abraham, the choice of Isaac, the choice of Moses, the choice of David: in no case did God opt for the strongest or most powerful person in order to accomplish his purposes. He chooses the weak, the marginal, the exiled, the least in the social hierarchy, and thus the glory of their work is not theirs at all - it is his. Then, in the incarnation, we see the supreme example of the Lord using the most unpromising material to achieve his goal. A slip of a girl, a virgin, bears a child; he is born in a stable; he grows up in a minor town in a land of little importance, and that under foreign occupation; as an adult, he lives a life which, outwardly, has all the appearance of an itinerant of no fixed address; he eschews military force; and finally, betrayed by a close friend, he is beaten and crucified; and, even then, he depends upon the generosity of another for his tomb. Every step of the way, salvation is wrought by God, in contradiction of the expectations and standards of this world

Not only does God not regard our human hierarchies of power, wealth, health, and beauty; in the incarnation, he contradicts them. Luther summed this up in terms of the theology of the cross, but that is too restrictive. It is the theology of the virgin conception, the theology of the manger, the theology of the whole Incarnation.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The heart is sarcastic.

Life is a mystery to me; it is full of questions, and trouble, and infirmity and sin; it is all chaotic; but it is at the same time beautiful. There is actually a law in physics; the second law of thermodynamics, also known as entropy, that guarantees that everything will decay. Everything goes from order to disorder; from organization to disorganization, from stability to instability; I always think about it as a big clock winding down until one day it eventually stops, no hand will be there to wind it up anymore.

Entropy is only prevented, or counteracted by the input of information; life is like a hard drive that constantly needs to be defragmented; I see it everywhere. We need to eat, we need to breathe, we need to go to the bathroom, we need to take showers, we need to sleep; we need to clean the house; every day is a cycle that repeats itself; but entropy eventually wins and we die; our bodies return to the dust where they came from; our spirits being the only thing that survives.

The cause of entropy is sin; sin is the mother of all chaos; no sin no entropy, no sin no death, no sin no disorder; and so forth and so on....no sin equals eternal life.

Sin came into the universe through human beings; we are the cause of universal decay; that is a sad statement but true; the earth and the whole universe is deteriorating because man is completely depraved; that is the biblical view of my demise; sin eternally separates me from anything that is good. According to the bible, man is not good at all; human beings have a heart that is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; the epitome of entropy.

The only possible solution to the human heart problem is to rip it off and put a new one in its place; the heart cannot be transformed or cured, or corrected, or changed, the heart needs surgery, a transplant. The second law of thermodynamics prevents the heart from being changed; we have an entropic heart, and it is made of stone; harder than a diamond; and unless you are a scientist, what I'm saying is just a figure of speech.

I admit that I am depraved beyond measure; there is not even an ounce of good in me; I sin all the time, 24 hours a day; there is no possible human remedy to my situation, no matter how much counseling I get; and even knowing this, my heart tries to justify itself constantly, "I'm really not that bad; I never murdered anybody. I read my bible everyday, I pray, I help other people, I don't drink, I don't get loaded, I only curse when I'm on the freeway, I love my dog, blah, blah, blah". Deceit.

That is the main problem of the heart, it sustains its self-righteousness and rebellion; and it takes a divine work to bring it into submission; only God can do what is impossible with man. Even with a new heart, I still have desires that are completely opposed to God's will; I live in the midst of two natures, the flesh and the Spirit.

Paul knew this better than anybody else; Rom 7:14-25 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

So, shall we continue to sin that grace may abound? God forbid! What is Paul saying? Doesn't it sound as an excuse? Isn't placing the blame on the flesh a justifying statement? What do you mean "is not I who does it"? Come on man, you got to try, maybe Paul wasn't trying hard enough. Is not thinking that Paul is making excuses due to the deceitfulness of the heart? It is. He just said that if he is doing what he really doesn't want to do then it is not him who is doing it but sin that dwells within him; the same exact thing applies to me; and to you because our redemption has not been completed in the here and now, and no, it is not an excuse.

As long as I live in this body, there is no way out of that predicament; it is inevitable that I will continue to sin; but it is also inevitable that I will continue to serve God with my mind; that is why Paul brakes up into worship exclaiming "thanks be to God for Jesus!"; and right in the next verse: "therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"; the problem of sin has been dealt with, once and forever.

Ah, grace, how amazing. Oh, but I forgot, I have to try.....hey, I have to think outside the box man; knock on doors; maybe God will see my efforts and He will finally decide to have pity on me and open the door so I can just pay my bills this month; maybe if He sees that I'm really trying hard this time He will awake from his slumber; or maybe He will be good to me and overlook the depravity of my heart and focus on my running around like a squirrel and bless me; yeah, maybe it is within His time table and today is my day; but I'll never know until I try, I'll just make sure I try hard.

The heart says that if you worry and fret, and actually argue with God, maybe He will give up the fight; because that is exactly what your heart thinks, that you are in a power struggle with God, just like Jacob; and man, you have to prevail, even if you become a cripple; goshdarn it; you gotta have your way; so go knock on another door. Or even worse, maybe you think God forgot all about you or that His omniscience was not that omni after all; or that He did not predestine you, just destined you; yeah, the pre is up to you, you have to get His attention somehow.

The hateful thing about religion is that the heart enjoys it; the human heart delights in trying; and this also applies to the physical realm; our heart is deceitful above all things and it's desperately trying to please God even when it knows that there is nothing in it that is pleasing to Him; unfortunately (fortune has nothing to do with it) some of my brothers confuse obedience with works; everything turns around self. It's sad. Entropic-ally sad.

So what about Paul making excuses about his flesh doing what he doesn't want to do? He was trying; but he failed. Guess what, the story doesn't end there, it goes on in chapter 8 in Romans; an on he goes indeed, "you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of Jesus is in you"; oh no, you can't say that, you can't say that God has given unto us great and precious promises and everything that pertains to life and godliness; "that sounds like Calvinism", says Galatian, and Pelagian, and Arminian; oh those are not their names, sorry; no, their names are..........I won't say, if I do I will sound like I'm being judgmental, and I don't want to sound like that, I'd rather err on the side of grace and mercy, and adultery and leave everything important for tomorrow...sorry, I got carried away........just let those brothers teach the next bible study, I'm sure they have a lot of wonderful things to say that will tickle your ears, er, ehem, I mean, that will edify you; yeah you will feel wonderful after you hear them teach about goals and thinking outside the box; and fill your brain with the basic principles of this world and philosophy and empty deceit; sorry, I got carried away again.....just try, ok?

The heart is good at sarcasm, it is its delight; at least it is the case with mine.

Ok, I will try to sound spiritual now, I said I'll try.

No. God is not shocked; and no, He is not surprised, and yes He is still in control of all things; yes, He is in control of the second law of thermodynamics, and the law of gravity, and the law of sin that is in my members, and of all other millions of things that my brain can't comprehend; my heart is not pleased with that kind of statement; but guess what, God reigns whether I like it or not.

When is the last time that you heard "God is pleased with you; you are His child, He loves you before the foundation of the world" at church? Depending on what church you go to, you might not hear that kind of statement anytime soon; but I'll tell you what, just grab your bible and read the first chapter of Ephesians, heck, read chapter two also and let God Himself tell you; and hear it straight from His holy mouth: God loves you before the foundation of the world, yeah even when we were dead in trespasses and sins He raised us up together with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places; maybe after you read that and think and meditate on it and God through His Spirit turns the light on and the eyes of your understanding get opened you will relax, and then maybe not, maybe you will stop making excuses then and try a little harder.

I'm still trying to sound spiritual since I spiritualize everything anyway, yeah I guess if I look at the sky long enough I will see something eventually; next time I ask God to show me a shooting star to let me know that He is listening to my prayers, I will not believe it was Him who send it across the sky; I'll just think it was a coincidence, and if the same thing happens another six times, then heck, six more coincidences; it just so happened that I was praying for shooting stars as signs, and it just so happened that I was looking at the sky at those particular seven different times, that's what I get for staring at the night sky; then instead of being excited and sharing with my brothers that God is awesome, I'll just think I need counseling, yeah I need to know how to make my list of goals and stop spiritualizing everything in my life; I am sure I have an Isaac somewhere that needs to be sacrificed, I will take him to a bar and play my guitar as I try to drive the knife through his heart by singing about heroes, that will open the flood gates of blessing in my life, poor Isaac.

I'm not getting anything done; and if I keep on ranting I will not be able to go back to sleep, so back to the heart problem.

I have just read through the book of first John; and those words are still bouncing in my tiny head; 1Jn 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. That also "sounds like Calvinism"; to me that just sounds like grace; but "those are just verses, you can't just base your doctrine on a few verses of scripture".

"Dude, you have to let go of the past"; I agree, the problem is that the past just keeps on showing up as the present; and I keep on getting reminded of it. What a coincidence.

I'm getting side-tracked, again; but to answer my own questions; it is impossible to walk in the light unless the Lord Himself lights up the way for me, and not only that, He has to actually translate me from the darkness; and again, my heart says that it is OK if I try to use my own flashlight; but it is not OK, that is obvious; in fact that is what the bible says; we are altogether vain and brutish without the Spirit of Christ abiding in us; as Paul so elegantly explains: it is God who works in you to will and to perform of His good pleasure.

By now I can see that it is going to take more than this post to say all the things that are going through my brain; and that's OK because I'm writing this for the sake of just a couple of people and the blog is too long anyway. I have a cold and I've been up since 4 in the morning so I am going to take a nap and will finish my trip some other day; I will read some poetry first; or maybe not, the book of psalms is kind of boring; I know, I'll learn about making a commitment in Hebrews, a book that was written for non-believing and non-committing Jews.

Temporary End of sarcasm.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The most reprobate..the elect.

I have much people in this city.--Acts 18:10

This should be a great encouragement to try to do good, since God has
among the vilest of the vile, the most reprobate, the most debauched
and drunken, an elect people who must be saved. When you take the Word
to them, you do so because God has ordained you to be the messenger of
life to their souls, and they must receive it, for so the decree of
predestination runs.

They are as much redeemed by blood as the saints
before the eternal throne. They are Christ's property, and yet perhaps
they are lovers of the ale-house, and haters of holiness; but if Jesus
Christ purchased them He will have them. God is not unfaithful to
forget the price which His Son has paid.

He will not suffer His
substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing. Tens of
thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated
they must be; and this is our comfort when we go forth to them with the
quickening Word of God.

Nay, more, these ungodly ones are prayed for by Christ before the
throne. "Neither pray I for these alone," saith the great Intercessor,
"but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word." Poor,
ignorant souls, they know nothing about prayer for themselves, but
Jesus prays for them.

Their names are on His breastplate, and ere long
they must bow their stubborn knee, breathing the penitential sigh
before the throne of grace. "The time of figs is not yet." The
predestinated moment has not struck; but, when it comes, they shall
obey, for God will have His own; they must, for the Spirit is not to be
withstood when He cometh forth with fulness of power--they must become
the willing servants of the living God.

"My people shall be willing in
the day of my power." "He shall justify many." "He shall see of the
travail of His soul." "I will divide him a portion with the great, and
He shall divide the spoil with the strong."
Charles H. Spurgeon


http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The wonders of music.....

I hope you're in the mood for some good music; check these guys out; be patient with the audio, it gets better:

(if you can't see anything just go here: http://www.carvinchannel.com/play.php?vid=89 )



http://makariotes.blogspot.com