I have it so easy....

This is the last time this blog will be fed to Facebook; they decided to stop importing blogs automatically starting in Nov 22 2011; so as a way to say good bye to FB I decided to write some more about myself, heck, I am the center of the universe, remember? And so are you. So we like to think.

I am sure some people are going to be happy about this though; they are the ones that say things like "your blog is too long", and "some people spiritualize everything"; and "I'm sure if you look at the sky long enough, you'll see something", and one more "that sounds like Calvinism"; and I forgot about this one: "you are impatient and judgmental". Well, rejoice because you will not be bothered anymore by my theological exactness, or my spiritualizing-Gideon-like existence. This voice will be crying in another wilderness.

But guess what, I'm still writing, and I will not be stopping any time soon; at least the three or four people (OK, maybe just one) who enjoy reading the blog will rejoice about that, I hope; but it really doesn't matter if they don't because I might not be here tomorrow anyway; I don't have life guaranteed for one more day in this planet. No one does...besides they only read it once.

So, what's my point? Besides the sarcasm? My point is that life goes on, even without Facebook; I seldom check my account anyway; and by the way, my list of friends is decreasing in number, I wonder why.

Seriously now; my point is that God is in control of all things in my life, I really believe that. That is why I write about it; I like to boast about God being in control of all things in my life, it is awesome to know that.

In my opinion it is the only way to live; if I didn't believe it, I would live in constant fear. Fear of the future, fear of sickness, fear of old age, fear of lack of retirement funds, fear of getting to be 65, fear of being alone, fear of not being accepted, fear of terrorism, fear of Iran and their capability of building weapons of mass destruction, fear of the dark, and the boogie man, and rats, and flies, and earthquakes, and death, and etc, etc.

God says that everything works together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28); and what a wonderful purpose it is! That's the word of God; the same word that created the universe; the universe God measures with the span of His hand; the word that lives and abides forever; the word that sustains me and gives me comfort.

God's word is the only stable thing I know that I can handle with my hands, see with my eyes, think with my brain, and live with my life. It has changed me more that I expected or dreamt about and it is the only way for me to know Him and His glorious grace; I just can't get enough of it, even when my heart rebels against it and my flesh does not want to comply with it.

This, of course, has nothing to do with what I want to do; God reigns and He will get His way in me whether I like it or not, but I do like it, He gets glorified and that is His purpose and design for me; and for you if you are a believer. I have it too easy compared to some of my brothers and sisters around the world; some of them don't even know what Facebook is.

I get this magazine called "the Voice of the Martyrs"; it is all about the persecuted church all around the world, the stories are amazing. On their last one there is a picture of a pastor in Asia standing with his open bible next to a 50 gallon drum filled with water, and inside the drum is a brother with his arms crossed coming out of it; he just got baptized, with his clothes on.

A rusty 50 gallon drum was the means to get this brother baptized, "hey, there is some water in that drum let's get baptized"; I was weeping thinking about it, what an amazing thing faith is.

The cover of the magazine has the picture above; the caption says "we are not angry, we are proud; our son died for Christ"; and the mother is holding a picture of her martyred son; the father is not looking at the camera, his thumb is bandaged with some tape, he looks devastated; the mother's eyes are red, their only son remaining sits on his father's knee; their hearts, and mine, is broken; I wept again. God reigns in North Africa too.

I have it so easy. Remember to pray for our brothers and sister around this earth.

Have a nice Thanksgiving.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The death of death.....

God is extremely good to me. In His goodness and mercy and glorious grace He has blessed me with the privilege of being able to read books written by people who have been dead for hundreds of years.

God has also blessed me with OCD, did I say that before? I think it is OCD because I can't stop reading all these books written by all these dead people. The new one on the list is "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ"; by John Owen. Published in 1648.

About two years ago, maybe even three, and by recommendation of Pastor Barry, I read "The Mortification Of Sin" and "Overcoming Sin and Temptation", also by John Owen, and let me tell you, those two were the kind of books that I had to read a paragraph about three or four times just to understand what he was saying but they were worth every minute of the labor.

Reading "The Death...." was really prompted by my reading of "A Quest For Godliness", by J.I. Packard. Packard dedicates a whole chapter on that book--chapter 8-- to talk about Owen's book; specifically about the erroneous doctrine of universal redemption. Here is a portion of his introduction to Owen's work:

The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (Owen Works, X:139:148) is a polemical piece, designed to show among other things, that the doctrine of universal redemption is unscriptural and destructive of the gospel. There are many, therefore, to whom it is not likely to be of interest. Those who see no need for doctrinal exactness and have no time for theological debates which show up divisions between so-called evangelicals may well regret its reappearance.

Some may find the very sound of Owen's thesis so shocking that they will refuse to read his book at all, so passionate a thing is prejudice, and so proud are we of our theological shibboleths. But it is hoped that this classic may find itself readers of a different spirit. There are signs today of a new upsurge of interest in the theology of the Bible: a new readiness to test traditions, to search the Scriptures and to think through the faith. It is to those who share this readiness that Owen's treatise is now offered, in the belief that it will help us in one of the most urgent tasks facing evangelical Christendom today - the recovery of the gospel.

This last remark may cause some raising of eyebrows, but it seems to be warranted by the facts.

There is no doubt that evangelicalism today is in a state of perplexity and unsettlement. In such matters as the practice of evangelism, the teaching of holiness, the building up of local church life, the pastor's dealing with souls and the exercise of discipline, there is evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with things as they are and or equally widespread uncertainty as to the road ahead.......

We would suggest that the reason lies in its own character and content. It fails to make men God-centered in their thoughts and God-fearing in their hearts because this is not primarily what it is trying to do. One way of stating the difference between it and the old gospel is to say that it is too exclusively concerned to be 'helpful' to man - to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction - and too little concerned to glorify God.

The old gospel was 'helpful', too - more so, indeed, than is the new - but (so to speak) incidentally, for its first concern was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and in grace. Its center of reference was unambiguously God. But in the new gospel the center of reference is man.

This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach people to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and his ways with men; the subject of the new is man and the help God gives him. There is a world of difference. The whole perspective and emphasis of gospel preaching has changed.

From this change of interest has sprung a change of content, for the new gospel has in effect reformulated the biblical message in the supposed interests of 'helpfulness'. Accordingly, the themes of man's natural inability to believe, of God's free election being the ultimate cause of salvation, and of Christ dying specifically for his sheep are not preached. These doctrines, it would be said, are not 'helpful'; they would drive sinners to despair, by suggesting to them that it is not in their own power to be saved through Christ. (The possibility that such despair might be salutary is not considered: it is taken for granted that it cannot be, because it is so shattering to our self-esteem.) However this may be (and we shall say more about it later), the result of these omissions is that part of the biblical gospel is now preached as if it were the whole of that gospel; and a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.

Thus, we appeal to men as if they all had the ability to receive Christ at any time; we speak of his redeeming work as if he had make it possible for us to save ourselves by believing; we speak of God's love as if it were no more than a general willingness to receive any who will turn and trust; and we depict the Father and the Son, not as sovereignly active in drawing sinners to themselves, but as waiting in quiet impotence 'at the door of our hearts' for us to let them in.

Wow; what can I say, that is just part of the introduction to the book; and I assume that it will not only raise some eyebrows but also shock some people. I am not shocked because besides the fact that I have OCD, I also agree; I agree with Owen, and I agree with Packard; and most of all I agree with what the bible teaches, and with what Jesus taught and Paul taught.

You have a nice day; just remember: Soli Deo Gloria.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Who are you voting for?

So tell me; who are you voting for this coming election? "Time for change" huh?

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As far as the east is from the west....

Here I am, it is 9:30 in the morning and I have already sinned about 192 times, and that is since I woke up at 8:45; I think I will break the record today. How pathetic.

I remember once a long time ago, I heard a guy at church say "I'm so excited, I didn't sin yesterday! My goal is to stop sinning" Man, I thought, he must be really spiritual; wow, not to sin for just one day, I wish I could do that, I wonder how he did it, I don't have any will power. It destroyed the rest of my joyful Sunday. That was about 20 years ago.

Boasting about not sinning is a sin; thinking that one could stop sinning for 24 hours is an illusion; thinking that way shows that I don't understand human nature, and it shows that I really don't understand grace. How prideful and arrogant is the heart in imagining that it has the power to stop functioning in sin; yeah, pride and arrogance are the fuel of the fires of religion.

Jesus called those who thought this way "white washed tombs full of dead men's bones", and "brood of vipers"; ouch.

God has never expected me, and He will never expect me to stop sinning while I live in this body of flesh; thinking that He does is demonstrating my ignorance of His character. That is how deceitful the heart really is, the worst thing is that some people don't see it; others don't want to hear it, they need to keep on trying, they really think they can do it and so they never enter into His rest.

It sounds like I am not making any sense so I'm going to have to elaborate. I am not saying that I should not try to stop sinning, or that I should not think about doing what is right, or that is useless to pursue holiness; I have to clarify because when I talked about grace before people have accused me of being licentious; even of being a Calvinist, as if being a Calvinist meant that sin doesn't matter. The level of ignorance of some people really amazes me; in their minds grace equals Calvin and that's a very bad thing.

If I am to accuse someone else of being licentious and tie it with being a Calvinist, I either don't understand what licentiousness really is, or I have never read any of Calvin's writings and I am just being a parrot, brainlessly repeating what I heard someone at church say about the reformer; but this is a matter that has nothing to do with what I am talking about, so I will leave it at that.

If I could stop sinning it would render Jesus' blood useless; I wouldn't need Him to have died for my sin; but even if it was true and I could actually stop doing what is wrong in actions, I would still be left with my thoughts, and that is exactly where the problem is.

Jesus said it; is not what what goes into a man's mouth what defiles a man, but what comes out of it, because it proceeds from the heart, the source of adultery, greed, idolatry and murder, and many other self-centered behaviors (like getting drunk with your buddies watching the Charger game), is an evil heart; and we all have one of those; that is precisely why Jesus died on that cross.

Mat 15:19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.... The context of this verse is the outward appearance of "cleanliness", or the lack thereof, of which the disciples were being accused by the Pharisees; in fact He had just railed them Pharisees by saying "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

I think Jesus was a Calvinist since He was so full of grace; indeed grace and truth came through Jesus Christ said John; and Calvinism did not come from Calvin, said I.

So why am I talking about this? Just one reason, I need to be reminded. I need to remember that there is not a single thing that is good in my flesh, and contrary to popular opinion, we are totally depraved; if you are thinking that you are not completely depraved, you just proved that you are.

In all the thousands of years of human history there has not been a single person who made it without sinning; not one, except of course Jesus of Nazareth. No sir, not even one; and the proof of that is that everyone dies, and everyone will eventually die, at least once. Death is part of the curse of sin, we die because of sin, gee, even animals die because of the curse of sin.

God is amazingly gracious to His children; He knows we can't perform what is good so He works in us to will and to perform of His good pleasure, and so we work it out with fear and trembling knowing that He whom He loves He chastises, and He scourges every son whom He receives. He is the One who leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name sake, and that is a very good thing.

I will probably sin some more, I can't really help it, the flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh so that I can't do the things that I would really want to do; and no, it is not an excuse, but I know who has delivered me from the body of this death; and I know without the smallest shadow of a doubt that goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I'm going to stop counting now; I just remembered what King David said:

Psa 103:8-14 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Bloodlines...

There is a new book by John Piper called Bloodlines; part of the promo for this book is this video from Crossway. It is actually very cool, check it out:

Bloodlines Documentary with John Piper from Crossway on Vimeo.

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Simple enough....

How often I forget the simplicity that is in Christ. I have a natural tendency to complicate things, just by thinking, by trying to reason things out, by over-analyzing matters.

I have been accused of spiritualizing everything, you know; as if looking at life from the heavenly places was a bad thing to do. Looking at life from the earthly perspective always drives me to despair, so I can't help it, I need comfort for my soul, and I can't find it anywhere else but in heaven, where Christ is.

The reality is that God is the One person who made me a Christian, no one else has that kind of power, and the reality is that I was an enemy of God when He did it, I was a child of wrath as Paul says in Ephesians:

Eph 2:1-6 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus......

My point is that I was dead and now I'm alive; at one point I was following the desires of my mind which always lead to death, and now I have different desires; one of them is to think about life from the heavenly perspective. If I am seated with Christ in the heavenly paces, then it follows that I should be thinking about everything as one who lives there.

The amazing thing about this kind of reasoning is that I find it impossible to do it; if by nature I indulged the desires of the mind and the flesh; a new nature implies following the desires of the new mind and the new being, but this is something that I cannot force to happen; it should happen naturally, just as a branch bearing fruit; and that, along being born again, is the work of God, not mine.

This is where I start complicating things by over analyzing them; and because of the way we are made, we look for something we can do, and so it happens that our natural human heart is always looking for something to perform.

We have been raised in a culture that exalts a system of penalties and rewards for our behavior, and so we look to be rewarded because not only there is pleasure in the reward but also approval from our peers; we all want to be accepted and admired; at least I do. That is my natural way of thinking.

At the same time I hate the thought of being chastised, I don't like pain and embarrassment, and I don't like to be humbled either; but I need it often. I have to admit that most of the time I refrain from doing what is wrong and pleasurable because of this fear, instead of fearing that I will grieve God and dishonor Him; this is a very self centered way of looking at sin, this is where my heart shows it deceitfulness.

But what am I saying....... I should get back to my initial point; which is that God sees me already there with Him. I don't have to perform for Him, I don't have to be religious for Him, I don't have to try to gain His approval, I don't have to make myself a list of things that I should do because they will get me brownie points with Him. All of the above has nothing to do with God liking me, or loving me more or less; all of the above is just me thinking from an earthly perspective; over analyzing leads me to religiosity, every single time....and God doesn't like religion.

That is the heavenly perspective, isn't it? If I look at myself from God's point of view I see myself wrapped in the righteousness of Jesus, all my sins, past, present and future have been washed away by His blood; they have been cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more; I see the end of my life, the point where I finally die and suddenly appear at the feet of Jesus, completely transformed and without blame, or blemishes or any such thing. Ahhh, what a view!! I like it a lot.

The day is coming in which I will, without a shadow of a doubt, look into those eyes of fire; and my ears will hear those famous words: "well done, my good and faithful servant". On that day God will parade me as His trophy; as His work of art, "this is my work" He will say, "it is finished".

Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

That should be simple enough.

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It's my heart again....

The human heart is so deceitful, it is appalling. Jeremiah 17:9 is probably my predilect (is that a word in English?) verse in the bible; even when I believe that I have a new heart I still see my fleshly nature creeping up all the time; and there is nothing I can do about it, it's completely out of my control.

One moment I can be raptured in praise to my God, and then the next moment these ideas that are completely opposed to Him just jump into my field of thought; they just appear, I swear, by themselves. It amazes me with exceeding amazement.

That is the time when it hits me hard: I am doomed. If God doesn't save me, no one can. It is a struggle; just as Paul describes it in Romans; the things I want to do I don't, and the things I don't want to do I do, oh wretched man that I am, who could deliver me from the body of this death? Thank God for Jesus; and I do thank God for Jesus, and I thank Jesus for Him. I thank God for His grace, this amazing grace that covers me.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us to be called His children, and so we are, said John; and so I am, and there is nothing I can do about it. This is the evidence, this is the proof, the struggle with this heart that never gives up wanting, that never gives up desiring and deceiving.

This is the truth; there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit; when I realize that my heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, I am walking in the Spirit. When there is a struggle to yield or to resist, I am walking in the Spirit; this fight is the evidence of things not seen.

And this fight is the joy; the joy is not in the struggle, it is in the knowing that I am fighting, and resisting and struggling, in knowing that if I was not a child of God I would not struggle at all; that is the way it was before I was brought to life, before God brought me back from the dead; back then there was no struggle because I did whatever my mind dictated; there was no fight, just a lot of regrets and boasting in the flesh, and sometimes the weight of a dirty conscience.

I thank God that it is not up to me to finish what He started; if it was I would never finish, I would have already thrown in the towel and ran to my corner to hide my head in the spit bucket; but I'm still in the ring, I'm still standing, and all the jabs are being deflected by my advocate, my champion of the world, the King of the universe.

Yeah, even though my heart is deceitful, I have this covering of grace; this amazing and sweet grace that washes my sins away with the Blood of the Lamb; we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

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To enjoy God.....

Reading "Jonathan Edwards, A God Entranced Vision of all things" I came across this quote from one of his books; then I realized that my pursuit of happiness has often been based on the beams and the streams, and the shadows. At the same time I realize that it is not up to me to have the right perspective; it is up to God to give it to me.

How do I get it? I can't, but God can; and that is what I pray for.

"The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can

be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than

the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands,

wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but

shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but

God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean. Therefore

it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven, as it

becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good,

the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other

concerns of life. Why should we labour for, or set our hearts on, any

thing else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?4

4 Jonathan Edwards, "The Christian Pilgrim," in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, ed. Edward

Hickman, 2 vols. (1834; reprint, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1974), 2:244.

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The heavenly mother......

Post number 300. Sunday afternoon. Time flies.

Knock knock, ding dong, someone is at the door:

"Hi sir, we are here from the church of God in Christ introducing our church to your neighborhood".

Oh man, here we go again, my blood started boiling; my heart rate increased, flashes of their past visits came through my mind like lightning bolts; so I hear my favorite voice: "tell them you don't want to hear what they have to say"; really? Should I say that? "Yes, tell them you are not interested".

"Sir do you go to church?"

Yeah, I do sometimes.

"Does your church do bible studies?"

Of course.

"Has anyone done a bible study about the Heavenly Mother?"

What?

"The Heavenly Mother, and how to attain salvation through her in the last days"

I almost lost it.

I'm not interested, thank you.

"You are not interested?"

No, I am not, good bye....

And I closed the door.

Then of course I started thinking "I should have talked to them", "I should have asked them about Galatians, and about what Paul says about those who try to give me another gospel, about them being accursed"; "I should have asked them about the thief on the cross"; "I should have...."

Nonsense.

I can analyze and think about this event in two ways. The first one is that these people came to my house by design; God knows everything in the universe, He knows all events of all "free agents" before they apply their "free will" and work the events out; and that being said, there is a purpose behind their visit, and perhaps an opportunity to correct an error.

The second way to look at this is that these people came to my house by design; God knows everything in the universe, He knows all events of "free agents" before they apply their "free will" and work the events out, and so there is a purpose behind their visit, and perhaps an opportunity to drag me into their error.

"Oh but God wouldn't do that" Maybe He would....

Here is what came into my mind right after:

Proverbs 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.

Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Shutting the door accomplished both proverbs.

I think I know what the truth is, I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that I know what the truth is; and so from my point of view, these people are wrong, they have a problem, they belong to a cult, they are out there, they are on a trip, a dangerous trip.

That is exactly the way some people in the church look at me, and they look at you the same way if you believe the same things as I do. What are these things or doctrines I believe in? You know them, or at least heard of them; the doctrines of grace.

The doctrines that say that God is sovereign over all things; the doctrines that say that we are the elect children of God, chosen before the foundation of the world to be made part of His family by adoption through Jesus Christ; the doctrines that Paul taught his disciples, the doctrines that Jesus taught His disciples; the same doctrines that John taught the "Lady Elect"; and she is not the "heavenly mother".

I beat this horse to death several times before; just read the blog, it is in there, somewhere in all those 300 posts; "but your blog is too long...."; yeah I forgot. The bible is longer than my blog for sure, and some people don't read that either, is not attractive to the flesh, or to the intellect; some think it's better to read a book that talks about the bible than the bible itself; so be it.

It is a malignant problem to not know who you are; if you have an identity crisis and lose sight of who it is that you are in Christ (maybe no one has ever taught you who you really are); you run the risk of walking around this world in all kinds of confusion and depression, in a complete absence of peace and light, in darkness; in a cesspool of self-pity and condemnation. You are never good enough and blah blah blah; and it is true, we are not good enough, in fact there is no one good, no, not even one; but Christ has made us good enough by His blood; more than good enough, He already sees us seated with Him in the heavenlies.

No, there is no "heavenly mother"; and no, it is not Mary either; but there is a "Queen of Heaven" who brought judgment upon those who dared worship her. Just read Jeremiah 44 and you will see.

So who is this "heavenly mother" these people were talking about? This mother comes from the Church Of God in Christ; which is basically another cult, just as the Mormons, and the Seventh Day Adventists.

The Church of God sustains that we need to believe in this heavenly mother to be saved; that fact alone makes their gospel another gospel, which is not the one who was delivered once and for all to the saints; I did the research, even though I didn't need to research it because I already know what the true gospel is; and their belief is a false belief.

I am thankful that God has shown me the truth, I really am; but I have no patience for these people; they are not only irritating but also offensive. During their past visits they refused to reason with me from the scriptures, so I am not wasting my time entertaining their desire to proselyte me into their doom.

The main reason why the reformation happened 500 years ago was because of this kind of thing; the Catholic church denied that salvation is by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone; the trend continues up to this very present day.

As I write this blog for the sake of my daughters; it is a necessity for me to proclaim to the four winds, or the four ears, that there is only one gospel, and once you know the gospel and you believe it, you stop being in darkness; you get to be born of the Spirit, you will then will live forever in the presence of God. I didn't make that up, God did. Soli Deo Gloria.

Humans fell from grace in Adam; that is why we all die; even little children die. Physical death is a consequence of sin, spiritual death is a consequence of sin; even work is a consequence of sin, entropy is the result of Adam and Eve's sinful disobedience to God's commandments; that is the way the Bible puts it; we are born in iniquity, we are conceived in sin.

This is a fallen world, even nature is subjected to the consequences of sin; even animals die, they eat each other because of sin, human sin, it is pathetic; but God is good and He has always been good, infinitely good; in His goodness and mercy He designed a way to save us, by placing the penalty of our sin on His Son, He made a covenant with Himself, a one sided covenant, and in this contract He obliges Himself to be gracious and merciful and to save those who are chosen by Him.

Some people don't like that word "chosen"; even some Christians don't like it when the bible says we are chosen; "God is not like that" they say, well, Paul answered that kind of objection by saying "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

So you see, people have been not liking this for a couple thousand years already; and they will continue with their opposition to God being sovereign, able to do whatever He wants with His creation; they don't like the fact that God can choose someone to save, and then He can ignore some others as He wills. The bible is clear, He saves whomever He wills to save; and the real wonder of it all is not that He saves some, but that He saves any at all.

My dear children; don't let anybody sway you with persuasive words, the gospel is indeed very simple, you are a sinner destined to die but God saved you by placing your sin on His Son, and then He raised Him up after three days to prove that Jesus' sacrifice was acceptable and sufficient to pay for your sin; God gave you the faith that you needed to believe this and so by His grace you are saved; you didn't do anything to deserve it; you believe it by an act of God, a supernatural event; because He chose you to be the recipient of His grace (Ephesians 1:4).

The gospel frees you from having to perform for God; it releases you from the law, from regulations and lists of goals, and all to do lists. Paul says that you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, read Ephesians, he says that you are a new creation, read 2 Corinthians, that all things have become new and the old have passed away, he says that nothing is able to separate you from the love of God, read Romans, he says, and he says and God says.

So what is the problem? Pride and arrogance is the problem. The human heart is the problem; so deceitful above all things, and so desperately wicked; always coming up with ways for self-justification, always devising ways to feel deserving and accepted; always trying to come up with ways to feel unique and special and to boost its self-esteem.

Human pride can never accept the simplicity that is in Christ, the simplicity that He became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him; the simplicity of entering into the rest of God, saved by God, saved by His grace, it is all His doing; it is not of him that runs or he that wills, but of God who shows mercy; again, read Romans 9.

Rom 9:15-24 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?"

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory-even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

Have a nice week.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Test yourself....

John Piper from 1995:

Test yourself. What is your mindset? Do you begin with God and his rights and goals? Or do you begin with yourself and your rights and wishes?

And when you look at the death of Christ, what happens? Does your joy really come from translating this awesome divine work into a boost for self-esteem? Or are you drawn up out of yourself and filled with wonder and reverence and worship that here in the death of Jesus is the deepest, clearest declaration of the infinite esteem of God for his glory and for his Son?

Here is a great objective foundation for the full assurance of hope: the forgiveness of sins is grounded, finally, not in my finite worth or work, but in the infinite worth of the righteousness of God — God's unswerving allegiance to uphold and vindicate the glory of his name.

I appeal to you with all my heart, take your stand on this. Base your life on this. Ground your hope in this. You will be free from the futile mindset of the world. And you will never fall. When God's exaltation of God in Christ is your joy, it can never fail.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

It took so long to learn this...

"UNTIL God ordains otherwise, a man ought to bear patiently whatever he cannot correct in himself and in others. Consider it better thus—perhaps to try your patience and to test you, for without such patience and trial your merits are of little account. Nevertheless, under such difficulties you should pray that God will consent to help you bear them calmly.

If, after being admonished once or twice, a person does not amend, do not argue with him but commit the whole matter to God that His will and honor may be furthered in all His servants, for God knows well how to turn evil to good. Try to bear patiently with the defects and infirmities of others, whatever they may be, because you also have many a fault which others must endure.

If you cannot make yourself what you would wish to be, how can you bend others to your will? We want them to be perfect, yet we do not correct our own faults. We wish them to be severely corrected, yet we will not correct ourselves.

Their great liberty displeases us, yet we would not be denied what we ask. We would have them bound by laws, yet we will allow ourselves to be restrained in nothing. Hence, it is clear how seldom we think of others as we do of ourselves.

If all were perfect, what should we have to suffer from others for God’s sake? But God has so ordained, that we may learn to bear with one another’s burdens, for there is no man without fault, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself nor wise enough.

Hence we must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise, for the measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity—adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is".

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Satisfacere...

What does it mean to be completely satisfied in God? What is satisfaction? Satisfacere, that is the Latin word; satis is enough; facere means to make do, therefore I can basically say that satisfaction is enough to appease a need or a desire. Satisfaction means to be content essentially.

When I found that Greek word "makarios" my little world turned upside down; for years I heard the preachers and teachers say that "blessed" means "happy"; and that word is everywhere in the New Testament, blessed are the poor, blessed are the thirsty, blessed are the peace makers, blessed this and blessed that; blessed, happy, are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.....and so forth and so on; but I never heard any one say that blessed meant to be completely satisfied in God; and I like that definition better than being happy; I liked it so much that I started this blog two and a half years ago just to talk about it.

Blessed stopped meaning to be happy for me; it happened when I learned what it actually means; I found its definition by searching in my Greek-Hebrew Study bible and blessed, makarios, is something I like to pursue better than this fleeting happiness everybody talks about.

Happy is not enough because I am never really happy; I am not satisfied in Him yet; every day is a new opportunity to find this blessed satisfaction; every day I try. Maybe I should try a little bit harder. What?? Never mind, that was an inside joke, a Galatian joke.

So I go back to my question, what does it mean, what does satisfaction mean? I think I've got it; it means to be God centered, I think that to be satisfied can only be possible when this satisfaction is found in God and nothing else; for this to happen, God has to become the purpose behind everything I do and think; He has to become my treasure, as Jesus said.

I think that I think too much, I condemn myself too much, I focus on myself too much, I dwell in the past too much, I worry about the future too much, I I too much; that is my problem, the I, the me and the myself; that is so unsatisfying, it doesn't satisfy me too much I say, I again.

But it is true; I find no satisfaction in myself at all. There was a time when I thought I was quite happy with myself, that was the time I was young and stupid and naive; I thought I knew what life was about; until I met Jesus. I am not so young anymore, and stupid and naive are going away at a very slow pace, I hope not, I again...

I started writing this post early in the morning; then I went to brunch with my friend Karen, and when I got home I took a nap (remember it is all about me?) well, when I got back to this machine to continue writing about being completely satisfied, I thought I would check my email and I got this from Desiring God dot org:

Pastor John from 2008:

The essential, vital, indispensable, defining heart of worship is the experience of being satisfied with God. This satisfaction in God magnifies God in the heart. This explains why the apostle Paul makes so little distinction between worship as a congregational service and worship as a pattern of daily life. They have the same root – a passion for treasuring God as infinitely valuable. The impulse for singing a hymn and the impulse for visiting a prisoner is the same: a thirst for God – a desire to experience as much satisfaction in God as we can.

Excerpted from Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning, Part 1.

Of course this is not a coincidence; I think it is just one way for God to tell me that I am on the right track when I think about being blessed. I find it fascinating and amazing that God can do that; He leads my thoughts through His word, and then reinforces what He wants me to learn through the thoughts of other people; and during this whole thing He reveals Himself to me more and more and shows me at the same time how dark my heart really is.

Oh God; thank you for your amazing grace. Cause me to be thirsty and hungry for you, and then satisfy my thirst and hunger with you.

Thank you Jesus.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I feel even smaller now...

Source: Hubblesite.org
If you could grab our complete solar system and stick it in the middle of that expanded frame; you could not tell it was there; I thought I was small but I feel even smaller now. How about you? Do you still think you are that great?

Without faith is impossible to please God.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

For His glory....

There are a few people who have had a handle on the understanding of the Glory of God; I am certainly not one of them, not yet; but in God's mercy and for the purpose of shining His glory on me, and you, He saw it fit to create men who understood what His glory is about, and then expose His glory by their thoughts.

So great is His love for me, and you; and so unrelenting His commitment to uphold the value of His glory and of His grace; that He has preserved these men's thoughts so I can delight in them, and in the process, to delight in the expansion of this understanding, and in understanding, expanding His glory again. There is only one purpose behind everything God does; His glory. His glory is bliss eternal.

This is one desire that I certainly know to be not of myself; the desire to know what the glory of God is; and as much as I fail in my experience and my very limited understanding, I still want to obey that command from Paul: 1Cor 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Sometimes I don't know how to do that, how to conform my life to the text.

Writing about Jonathan Edwards in "A God entranced vision of all things"; John Piper writes:

"Our duty and privilege, therefore, is to conform to this divine purpose

in creation and history and redemption—namely, to reflect the

value of God's glory—to think and feel and do whatever we must to

make much of God. Our reason for being, our calling, our joy is to render

visible the glory of God"

Then he quotes Edwards:

"It is most evident by the Works of God, that his understanding and

power are infinite.... Being thus infinite in understanding and power,

he must also be perfectly holy; for unholiness always argues some

defect, some blindness. Where there is no darkness or delusion, there

can be no unholiness. . . . God being infinite in power and knowledge,

he must be self-sufficient and all-sufficient; therefore it is impossible

that he should be under any temptation to do any thing amiss; for he

can have no end in doing it. . . . So God is essentially holy, and nothing

is more impossible than that God should do amiss....."

"All that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as an ultimate end of God's

works is included in that one phrase, the glory of God. . . . The refulgence

shines upon and into the creature, and is reflected back to the

luminary. The beams of glory come from God, and are something of

God and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole

is of God, and in God, and to God, and God is the beginning, middle

and end in this affair".

Jonathan Edwards, "The Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World," in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 8, Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989), 526, 531.

Have a nice day thinking.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

My iniquity is taken away....

I absolutely hate communicating through text messaging or emails; it is a wonderful technology and it is indeed good to enjoy technology but saying important stuff through emails, or even letters, is a totally impersonal way of saying anything with any emotion.

I could be crying on my side writing an email, or this blog, my soul could be melting; but the sentiment will never be reproduced on the other side of the line; even words that are not meant to be hurtful become little goads that could prick the recipient's heart; words that were meant to make someone smile, or even rejoice, could become little tiny flaming darts landing on one's ego; I hate it.

What happened to the old days of the rotary dial telephone? How about a cup of coffee and talking face to face? We have visual voice mail nowadays so that should make it okay, I guess. At least we have Skype.

I learned my lesson, once again, I guess I didn't learn it all the way so it had to happen again so I could get it into my brain: do not say anything important when it's personal through texting or emails; at least wait for the phone to answer, no matter if it rings several times per week, and no matter how great the urge is, think before you speak, or write. I got it.

The deceitfulness of the heart is really unknowable, I am the most fickle person I know in this planet, I thought I knew myself better but God is right, as always, His thoughts are not my thoughts; I am in fact the center of my universe, everything turns around me, myself and I; it is really disgusting, the more when my apologies become excuses for self justification.

My righteousness is as a filthy rag before Him; I don't need the accuser's help, I have my own brain to condemn me. I suddenly found myself replacing Joshua before the Angel of the Lord, Satan standing at my right hand to accuse me, I could not open up my mouth, my eyes set on my mud filled garments; even my tears were dirty, they seemed to me as big drops of tar.

Thank you Jesus. You always remind me that the story never ends with me; it has never been about me; there in the midst of my inadequacy and my iniquity; you put clean clothes on me, and set a clean turban on my head, and I hear your voice Dear Lord: "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments."

Those are words that I could ever misinterpret.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

From Desiring God dot Org

"My Eyes Shed Streams of Tears"—Thoughts on the New Calamity

Jun 30, 2011 01:30 am | by John Piper

Jesus died so that heterosexual and homosexual sinners might be saved. Jesus created sexuality, and has a clear will for how it is to be experienced in holiness and joy.

His will is that a man might leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and that the two become one flesh (Mark 10:6-9). In this union, sexuality finds its God-appointed meaning, whether in personal-physical unification, symbolic representation, sensual jubilation, or fruitful procreation.

For those who have forsaken God’s path of sexual fulfillment, and walked into homosexual intercourse or heterosexual extramarital fornication or adultery, Jesus offers astonishing mercy.

Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).

But last weekend this salvation from sinful sexual acts was not embraced. Instead there was massive celebration of sin.

One estimate said that 400,000 people celebrated gay pride in Minneapolis. That’s more than the population of the city. The number is probably inflated, but for the first time in history, it did include the governor of the state, Mark Dayton.

The Bible is not silent about such parades. Alongside its clearest explanation of the sin of homosexual intercourse (Romans 1:24-27) stands the indictment of the celebration of it. Though people know intuitively that homosexual acts (along with gossip, slander, insolence, haughtiness, boasting, faithlessness, heartlessness, ruthlessness) are sin, “they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:29-32). “I tell you even with tears, that many glory in their shame” (Philippians 3:18–19).

This is what our governor was doing on Sunday along with millions of others across the country—knowing these deeds are wrong, “yet approving those who practice them.”

Not only that, we are moving from celebration to institutionalization. On June 24 the New York legislature approved a Marriage Equality Act. This makes New York the sixth state where so-called homosexual marriages will be institutionalized: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, (and the District of Columbia).

My sense is that we do not realize what a calamity is happening around us. The new thing—new for America, and new for history—is not homosexuality. That brokenness has been here since we were all broken in the fall of man. (And there is a great distinction between the orientation and the act—just like there is a great difference between my orientation to pride and the act of boasting.)

What’s new is not even the celebration of homosexual sin. Homosexual behavior has been exploited, and reveled in, and celebrated in art, for millennia. What’s new is normalization and institutionalization. This is the new calamity.

My main reason for writing is not to mount a political counter-assault. I don’t think that is the calling of the church as such. My reason for writing is to help the church feel the sorrow of these days. And the magnitude of the assault on God and his image in man.

Christians, more clearly than others can see the tidal wave of pain that is on the way. Sin carries in it its own misery: “Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Romans 1:27).

And on top of sin’s self-destructive power comes, eventually, the wrath of God: “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6).

Christians know what is coming, not only because we see it in the Bible, but because we have tasted the sorrowful fruit of our own sins. We do not escape the truth that we reap what we sow. Our marriages, our children, our churches, our institutions—they are all troubled because of our sins.

The difference is: We weep over our sins. We don’t celebrate them. We turn to Jesus for forgiveness and help. We cry to Jesus, “who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

And in our best moments, we weep for the world. In the days of Ezekiel God put a mark of hope “on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in Jerusalem” (Ezekiel 9:4).

This is what I am writing for. Not political action, but love for the name of God and compassion for the city of destruction.

“My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.” (Psalm 119:136)

Desiring God
2601 E Franklin Ave
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55406







http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Know this....

"If you don't follow Him as Lord, you might lock yourself into a job or an assignment and miss something God wants to do through you."

I just read the words quoted above in a very popular Christian book; man I got to tell you, they sound so spiritual, don't they? They do sound spiritual; mostly coming from a very well respected Christian author, who not only is an author but is also a pastor, so they must be rightly spiritual, right? Wrong.

Regardless of the sound of the words, I happen to hold a different opinion and I beg to differ; and to clarify from the start, the reason I don't agree with the statement is not only because I have a different opinion, but because so far as I can see, that is not what the bible teaches about God. It could be that I am wrong, as I usually am, I'm not a pastor, an author, or theologian, I'm just a regular dude out there in the world reading the bible and trying to walk with Jesus as best as He enables me.

I know that I might get into hot waters by saying what I'm saying; some people are not going to like it, and I really don't care; as always, I don't care what people think; I care about what God thinks, and about what He says about Himself in His book.

I would like to remind all that this is my blog, and the only reason I write it is because these words are the only thing I can leave behind for my daughters, my grand kids, and the people I love; if there is anyone out there reading ( I know that it is the case with some people in China and people in Europe and Mexico); I hope it serves them to get motivated to start reading and studying the Word of God, but if it doesn't I don't consider that to be my problem.

If I am correct in my view and belief; I have nothing to boast about, since if that is the case, I didn't come to be right on my own but by the grace of God. Now if I am wrong, then say something, I said this before and no one says anything, so I assume everybody agrees; but again, I don't care if no one does; even further, I really don't care if no one reads this.

There is one thing I do care about, and that is to show the greatness and the glory, and the amazing grace of God according to what I see in the bible; and to let those I love know that there is freedom in Christ; freedom from condemnation, from guilt trips and the like; and freedom from sin, and worry, and anxiety, and fear.

I have seen it with my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears; some people stand in front of the microphone and say things that sound so spiritual but they are not, they are in fact lies and misrepresentations of who God is; it happens all the time, but no one says anything (except Eutychus); and when someone says something (like Eutychus) then they are automatically labeled as "divisive" and "rebellious"; good grief.

The first thing I don't agree with is this: "if you don't follow Him as Lord..." What? Yeah that is what he says; but my friends that is an impossibility for the true child of God, assuming the book was written for the children of God, it is an impossibility because God Himself will not let you do that.

If you are a true born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you say or think that you don't follow Him as Lord; then you have been taught the wrong doctrine to start with, and your believing is useless. So many people have an identity crisis because of this; they don't know who God is, how He thinks, and what He does; nor do they know who they are and that they have no choice but to follow Jesus as Lord; His Lordship is not an option, He is Lord by default; and if you dare to think that He is not Lord, then you are not His slave and you believe in some other lord not in Him.

We are slaves of Jesus; He is the Master Ruler, and He will rule over you whether you like it or not; He owns you, you were bought with a price, redeemed with His blood: 1Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

If you are a real believer you have been redeemed, purchased out of the slave market with the blood of Christ; before God called you, you basically were a slave of the world and the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, Peter says; have you ever wonder what those are? What are these futile ways that you and I inherited? To start, I think they are the basic principles and philosophies of this world; the doctrines that teach that you have to perform, that you have to fight to be accepted; that it is up to you to enter the kingdom; that you have a choice and you must exercise it.

Another futile way is the false doctrine that teaches that you are basically more powerful than God; it says that "God is a gentleman, and He will not force Himself upon you"; have you ever heard that before? I have. This assumes that I am more powerful than God; it lays down the premise that God will not violate your "freedom", or your so called "free will"; that He just sits there in heaven watching and waiting for you to take the first step so He can take action and proceed with His plans to do His will; He is powerless until you do something. It pictures you as lord and not Him as Lord; He is subject to you and not you subject to Him.

I am sorry, but that is not the God of the bible; that is not the God who He says He is:

Psalm 103:19 The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Psalm 119:89 Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.

1Kings 8:58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.

Psalm 33:12-15 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.

Psalm 81:12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.

Psalm 105:25 He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.

Psalm 107:12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help.

Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

Amos 5:8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name...
(Bold Italics are mine).

I can keep on going with the texts; but I won't; just think about the bold letters for a minute; now let us hear from a heathen king who very well knew who this awesome God was and is:

Daniel 4:34-35 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?"

Yeah, you have read that right; it clearly says it; God rules and does whatever He pleases, period. He is not waiting for any of us to start doing something so that He can take the next step in His plan; that is a ridiculous idea, not only that, it is offensive to God's character; and I will say it again: it robs God of His glory and power and gives it to mere mortal sinful creatures, worms that we are. It is offensive.

So what does it mean when the bible says that God is the supreme sovereign King of the universe? It is simple, He reigns, and I don't, and you don't either. He is the King and we are His slaves and we do what He wants, is that simple.

Did you choose the family that you were born into? I didn't think so. Did you choose the physical features your body has? I didn't think so. Did you have anything to do with the kind of temperament you happen to possess? I didn't think so either. Did you have any input in being born at all? No you didn't. God made you and I, when He chose; He was pleased to make me and so He made me, period. In fact, we don't even have an input to give regarding the time or the manner in which we will die.

Our human hearts, the actual organs that pump blood non-stop everyday of our lives, are in the hand of God; it is Him who determines when they will stop beating and pumping all that blood through our bodies; and when it has been determined that your heart will stop, it will stop and no one can make it start beating again, except God Himself, regardless of how many times the doctors shock it with electricity; I have seen this happen with my own father. When it is His time for you to die, you will die without remedy.

So at what point in time did I become the ruler of my life? I have never been in control of my life; God has the control of my life and of everything that comes to pass in it. From my broken back bones and the titanium pins in my leg and the plate in my neck, to my ex-wife taking me to court, to the pain that wakes me up in the middle of the night, to the moment I wake up again in the morning; nothing happens without His all powerful providence; not even a sparrow falls to the ground without Him knowing in advance and making provisions for it to happen.

To say that I might lock myself into a job or an assignment and miss what God wants to do through me, takes God off the throne and puts myself on it; this is the same thing as saying that I have more power than He does, and that I can thwart His plans. It is the same teaching I mentioned above.

So what happens if I believe this, that I can miss something God wants to do through me? I will tell you what happens; it places me in a position of fear; it lays a burden on my back to always wonder if I'm doing the right thing, it is a path of confusion and restlessness and terror, and I refuse to walk on that path. It contradicts everything the bible says to me about grace.

Where is the freedom in that kind of thinking? There is no freedom in it; every time I believe that God is actually waiting for me to do something so that He can take the next step, my walk turns into religion, my life turns into a performance trip because I don't want to "miss anything"; I don't think He likes religious people at all, He doesn't like self-sufficient people; besides the fact that now I will always wonder if I made the right choice; I will die "an old man filled with regrets" as the movie Inception puts it.

I have not missed, and I will not miss anything that God wants to do through me; He will not allow me to miss anything; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake; He makes me lie down on green pastures, He restores my soul, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in His house forever.

That is where the freedom is; knowing that He reigns absolutely over all things and events, and contingencies; knowing that all things work together for good for those who love God with the love that He originated in their hearts before the foundation of the world; knowing that He will never leave me nor forsake me; knowing that nothing will be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus; knowing that I was given to Jesus by the Father, by YHWH Himself, and that nothing can snatch me out of His hand, knowing that He will never cast me out....

Know this, know grace, and experience God Himself working in you.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I'm small...

All things considered, my world is a very small world, it is tiny, like a spec of dust floating in the universe. I live inside this spec of dust; and I am still smaller than my world.

I see my tiny world just like a grain of sand in the beaches of Cancun; the sand in that area of the world is so fine that it almost feels like talc; so fine and small are those grains of sand that it's extremely hard to discern one grain from another.

One of those small grains is my tiny world; floating in this massive universe. That tiny spec of insignificance is my world, and my world looks huge to me; I am a tiny spec of dust inside the tiny grain of sand of my world.

That is a very small perspective of being small but I think that it is the right perspective. My heart rebels against this kind of retrospective thinking; my mind boggles; it is a devastating blow to my innate pride; like an earthquake, it shakes the very foundation of my importance, but for some reason it is also very appealing to me, I want to be shaken at the core.

The majority of people enjoy thinking like this; even if it is unconsciously. This is the reason why people like to climb mountains; or go to the Grand Canyon, or look at the night sky in the middle of the desert; we all welcome the thought of being small, and we are small indeed, very small.

Then on the other side of the coin, we all want greatness; we want to feel important and relevant, we crave recognition, we want to be accepted, and want to be in harmony with others; the majority of people want this; to be at peace, to be happy.

The misfortune about this is that we have been created to crave, and to desire, and to want and be wanted; we seek that naturally. No one wants to feel insignificant and unimportant, not even one; I don't care how sufficient you might think you are, you need to be relevant, even if it is in the life of your dog, or your cat.

There is a big problem with this, it's almost like a paradox; we cannot be great or attain significance, or importance if you will, until we are made to become insignificant and small. The word of God points in that direction: "If you want to be great in the kingdom, you have to become the servant of all"; "no one can enter the kingdom until he becomes as a little child"; "God gives grace to the humble, but opposes the proud", and so forth, and so on.

That is what my life is, a huge paradox. The moment that one becomes humble and recognizes that he, or she, is small and insignificant, it is the moment that he, or she, has become, or started to become great in the eyes of God; the problem is that we cannot be humble or even recognize that we are really small and insignificant, until the greatness and gloriousness of God is evidenced in our lives; and for this, we have absolutely no power.

I don't really want to think that I am small and insignificant; in fact, I cannot think that about me if God has not changed me and my way of thinking; my natural and human way of thinking is that I am important, and relevant; at least to myself I am. Self pity demonstrates what I'm saying; if I say things like "no one cares about me", or "nobody wants nor likes me"; the reality is that I am expressing how important I am; the same goes the other way, if I say "I am important" and "everybody likes me", expresses my feelings of inadequacy. It's a paradox, I say.

So, why does any of this matter? Well, to me it matters because the value or lack of value that I place on myself is a mismatch of the value that God places on me; I cannot know what kind of value that is until God Himself chooses to reveal that to me; the truth is that I am small and insignificant, and I am great and valuable, all at the same time.

What is what really makes me great and valuable? Jesus is. He is the only reason why I think what I think, He is the only reason why I have any value, He is the only reason why I am relevant in this insignificant world of mine.

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I miss my father....

Fathers are a treasure; they are the kind of treasure that is not really valued until it is gone. Father's day is the day to remember that treasure, at least for a few minutes.

I remember when I was in my early twenties how I used to think that my father was such an old fashioned individual. All his principles were like a ball and a chain attached to my leg; every time I wanted to do something that I considered to be fun, I would hear the voice of my father ringing in my ears: "a man who has integrity does what is right"; somehow I thought that I knew more than him. The pride of life is a horrible thing, but being blind and prideful is even worse.

Being a young adult is not something that I crave to be; yeah for sure I would like to have a strong back and to be able to run six miles a day and lift weights as I used to do back then; I would love to be able to sleep on the ground wrapped in a blanket, camping out in the mountains of La Marquesa; or roller blade all day without having pain on my chins; but having that prideful attitude and the unrestrained impulse to sin without thinking about the consequences is not something that appeals to me anymore.

To understand how a father thinks and feels without having kids of your own is almost impossible, I think, the same thing applies to those who have never experienced excruciating pain; people who have never suffered en vivo can never be fully sympathetic towards suffering souls; that is just my opinion.

I thank God that He is my Father. God the Father is a real father; He never condemns me, never rejects me, never leaves me. He knows all the secrets of my heart, He knows all my actions before I act them, all my words before I speak them, all my thoughts before I think them; I am an open book in His eyes, and the amazing thing to me is that He never gives up on me, no matter how bad I really am, He loves me unconditionally.

There are no conditions for God's love for me; oh how I wish I could love like that! Don't you? I really think I love my children like that, without conditions, but in my human heart and mind there is always the expectation that they somehow will behave in a way that reflects their love for me; when I think about it, it is a little foolish to expect that, mostly knowing that I seldom demonstrated that to my own father.

The human heart, in particular my own heart, is full of deceit; desperately wicked, I know that to be a fact. To expect someone to love you back is actually a pretty self centered kind of love; that same expectation becomes the anti-thesis of real love; unfortunately, that is exactly how the human heart works.

This is not a real problem though, at least for those who are in the light, and I say this because in view of who God is, it is exactly what God expects it to be; "we love Him, because He first loved us", I hope you see what I'm talking about.

So am I wrong in expecting to be loved back when I love someone? Not really, unconditional love is love without conditions, not without expectations, unconditional is not expectation-less. The reality of love is that in order to be consummated it has to be given without condition of reciprocity; the consummation hinges on the expansion of that love and the reception of it; in my view, love is always complete by nature; God is love, He cannot stop being loving and His love doesn't change, increase, or decrease, based on my reciprocity; my reciprocity only makes it evident; and it only increases in me, not in Him, His love is always complete, perfect, and infinite.

What I'm saying is that love, as well as joy, is always only completed when it is given; "it is more blessed to give than to receive"; and it is always based (from my human perspective) on what I have already received from God. I am grateful that He was the One who started it, what a blessing.

I am so frail and fickle, I irritate myself knowing that, but I have no other choice but to pursue joy; we all want to be happy, this is, or has been, drawn into our make up; God made us to love and to desire to be happy, there is no way out of that one; but love will always flee me if I condition it, and joy will always escape me if I don't give it in the first place. How you ever noticed how people who constantly complain are not really loving? They are never happy, they lead a joyless life, sunk in self pity and false humility.

May God help me love as He does, and find my joy in Him in the midst of pain and sorrow, may He show me His sovereignty and the glory of His grace.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Is the Bible trash?

I received this video from a friend; if you are really interested in protecting our constitution; and most of all, the Word Of God, the Bible, a time will come when we will have to do something about it. Our current government considers the bible to be trash, but the koran a "delicate piece of art".

Watch this:


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A glorious day it shall be....

God is glorious; He is good, exceedingly good; and He is holy and righteous in all His ways. For those who have been called, everything works together for good, yeah all things do. From the waves of the ocean to the most remote star, to the smallest bacteria living in my guts, everything is there for my good; and everything is so well balanced, even in this fallen world, that my existence is necessary for the glory of God.

Many things would be different if I wasn't here; my children would not be here, my grand children would not be here, and that is not a good thing. God doesn't need me at all, He could do what He does without me; I believe that; but in His wisest counsel He determined that I would exist at the right time and in the right place. That single fact makes me a necessary being inside His plans for the universe. And still, I am not needed by Him, on the contrary, I need Him to live and survive.

God is self sufficient; infinitely perfect in Love and righteousness, infinitely holy and pure; He is infinitely just and infinitely merciful and gracious. God doesn't need anything but He found pleasure in creating me for His glory; and now I am needed by other human beings; even my dog needs me somehow; this makes me a necessary being.

One day the end will come for me; at that point in time I will have accomplished the purpose for which I was created, when the time comes, I will glorify God without reservations of any kind. The time line will come to an end for all things as I know them; everything will be redeemed and I will be consummated in the love of God. There will be no more war inside of me; all my motives will be pure, all my thoughts will be pleasing, all my actions will be holy, all my words will be whole, the necessity of my being will end in this plane of existence.

That is what I woke up thinking; it is surprising, at 4:41 in the morning I still believe in this God who justifies the ungodly; the words of Peter become truth for me this morning, every morning in fact, God is keeping me through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. It shall be a glorious day for sure.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Welcome back Harry....

God is always doing something. Sometimes I see what He is doing, sometimes I don't; this Sunday was one of those occasions when I saw Him in action. I saw His hand moving bringing back one of His kids back into the fold; and it amazed me.

Worship was good, it was very good; the message was good; Sunday night was good.

Friday night I had the chance to see how God can open doors for the preaching of His gospel; even in the darkest places, even downtown San Diego is getting the gospel on a Friday night; a night of the week when the rats come out to play in the dumpster. Friday night at Broadway and 4th. Friday at Horton Plaza; Friday night at vanity fair. I'm thinking, why am I here?

There in the midst of darkness, the light shone; it is still shining bright; just like a candle on a pedestal, giving light to the homeless, lightning up the addicts, lighting up the lust-er and the alcoholic; shining upon the refuse of this world. It dissipates the shadows, it neutralizes the stench of death, it becomes the fragrance of life.

After the service was over and everyone was gone, we were ready to leave, there is literally no one in the street by now, just the two of us, Eutychus and me; we had buckled up, cracked the windows, turned on the heat; the fog was coming, it was cold; then suddenly this black face shows up outside my window and this man motions me to roll the window down, "I need a meeting to save my life" he says. A"meeting"? I thought, mmm he didn't ask for money, he didn't ask for food or a blanket, he didn't ask for a ride, he asked for a meeting; an AA or recovery meeting, any meeting will do.

"Yeah, I just got out of detox two blocks away, and I need a meeting" I'm thinking: does he know Him? Does he know my King? I don't know, but I know King Jesus knows this man; He led him to us; God is moving; that is what I thought, God is moving, what should I do? Is this guy telling me the truth? Is he about to rob us? Is he playing us? He probably just wants to get loaded, I don't know; what should I do?

'Call one of your brothers'; that is what I heard, call. Okay, I will make the phone call. Hey man, we just got out of church and I have this guy who needs a place to crash for the night, can you help? "Sure, we will pick him up in about half an hour"; and I'm thinking: really? Just like that? There is that voice again: "Yes just like that; be still and watch".

Duck, the brother I called, says: "let me talk to him"; ok, I hand Harry (the man's name) the phone and then Eutychus says: "they don't have to pick him up, we'll drive him there"; so I think again: just like that hu? The voice says again: "Yes, just like that".

As he gets into the van he says: "isn't it something when you see the hand of God moving?" Yeah, it is something.....

Harry gave me his story a few minutes before the phone call; he is from Michigan, he is 50 years old, he was raised in the church, his father is a minister, he was in a federal prison, Donovan, Soledad, etc; has been doing drugs for half of his life, and he is an artist, he also plays piano and sings; and then he showed me a picture he made with a pencil, wow, very nice, I can see he is talented, in fact, very talented.

Harry says he has been running away from God all his life, and he is tired now, he can't run no more; it is time to surrender. Mmmm; surrender? Who is doing that? Is he surrendering, or is God causing him to surrender? Or both? Both.

So Harry spent the night at Duck's, which is called Casa de Dios; the house of God; yeah that's right He lives there too. I called to hear how was Harry doing, and Duck says: "he took a shower, filled his belly with warm food, and he has crashed, God is good". Yes He is. The voice says, Yes I Am.

Monday I get a call from Harry: "hey I just got a place to stay at the Salvation Army but it's not going to happen until Thursday, can you help me?" Sure, call Duck. I called Duck, yes he can spend the night. I'm thinking, what's up? Just like that? Is this guy Harry lying? Is he just freeloading? What is up with this guy Lord? This voice that follows me everywhere says: "I'm working, go and see Harry at Duck's house"; okay, so I get on my bike and go.

Harry wasn't there yet but he got there eventually; I expressed my concerns; I have seen hundreds of guys go through that house; I think I have seen everything; from thieves to deviants; from tunnel living-ditch-crawling homeless people to yuppie well off kids with crew cuts; and God has worked in every single one of them, for His glory.

After my discourse, Harry says he is sincere and God puts my mind at ease, and I'm still thinking "he talks the talk, let's see if he walks the walk".

We ended up doing a bible study for a few minutes; we talked about the divinity of the Son of God, He holds all things together, all things were made through Him and for Him; He is God in the flesh, God with a human body, forever. We talked about the trinity, we talked about Jesus, and I thought about His sheep.

John 5:17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working."

John 5:21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 5:22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 5:23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

John 5:26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 6:45 It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me--6:46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.

John 10:1-4 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
"But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
"To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
"When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

John 10:7 So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

John 10:11-13, 15-16, 26-27, 29-30 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
"He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
"He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
"I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
"But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

John 14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

John 14:20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 16:27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

Yes indeed; we have believed that He came from God; and I have believed that Harry has come back to the fold. Welcome back Harry.

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