CONFESSIONS OF A RELUCTANT SHEPHERD

Hearing What Jesus Says

Vs.

Changing God's Word For Our Purposes

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

~ Jesus of Nazareth

Do you remember the last time you heard a sermon about the preservative nature of salt, and that part of the Church's work is preservative?  I've heard several over the years.  The problem is when Jesus speaks about salt he is very specific about the quality of salt he's talking about.  "You are the salt of the earth;" (Matthew 5:13 NKJV).  Now if this was all Jesus said, about salt, we could argue he meant salt as preservative.   But Jesus continued explaining the specific quality of salt he was focusing on, "but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?"  Jesus tells us very specifically "...if the salt loses flavor, how shall it be seasoned?"  Clearly Jesus is speaking of believers as having a distinctive flavor.  He is not speaking of salt as a preservative.  The response I sometimes get from fellow believers is, "Yeah, but salt was used extensively to preserve meats, since there was no refrigeration."  Saying salt is a preservative, and what Jesus says about salt are very different, subtle, but still very different.

 

There is an issue few people see when reading this passage of Scripture.  Salt cannot lose its saltiness; not ever.  If you take the time to study the culture Jesus spoke to, you get what Jesus is talking about.  At the time of Jesus sojourn in Israel, salt was harvested from the shore around the Dead Sea.  The salt is so concentrated in the Dead Sea it leaves huge salt deposits along the shoreline.  People would go and take the salt off the shoreline and bag it.  It was a "buyer beware" situation when buying a bag of salt.  One might get a bag full of mostly salt and a little sand, or one might get mostly sand and a little salt.  When Jesus talks about salt losing its flavor he is saying, "If believers are mostly sand (full of the world), and very little salt then they don't have the unique flavor of the Holy Spirit, and do not serve the kingdom of God, i.e. "It is good for nothing..."  

If Jesus had been speaking of salt curing he would not speak of salt losing its flavor.  Meat is cured in a water and salt mixture.  Salt is absorbed into the water, thus separating the salt from the sand.  The salt will soak into the meat, but the sand will be left behind as a residue.  You could use several bags of mostly sand with a little salt, and the meat would still cure.  It might take many bags of salt to get the desired salt level, but the sand can't stop the meat from drawing the salt and water mixture.  Were Jesus speaking about salt for curing the amount of sand is irrelevant.  The sand poses no problem, other than the fact you need more of the salt/sand mixture to get enough salt for curing.

   

The greatest problem with the "salt as preservative" angle is that salt doesn't save meat for life.  Salt curing is done to save the meat, by keeping life out.  The bacteria which cause spoilage can't live in the heavy concentration of salt in the meat, so spoilage is greatly reduced.  Jesus says, ^"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  In Jesus there is no death.  We are not hunks of meat kept by salt, until Jesus Christ returns.  We are preserved alive by the Spirit of Life dwelling in us.  Salt curing keeps bacterial life away from what is dead, for a time, but the salt levels are so high in the cured meat it is inedible by everyone, and everything not just bacteria.  Before eating much of the salt has to be removed.  If some of the salt isn't removed eating the meat would be akin to drinking sea water.  Drinking heavy salt water has the same effect salt curing does on meat.  If you drink sea water the salt will actually draw whatever water your body has out of you, dehydrating you, or salt curing you as you die!  So what picture does Jesus draw for us showing how too much of a good thing, like salt, is death dealing?

 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourself." 

Matthew 23:15

Every time I read this verse I am reminded of salt as preservative.  This is why Jesus called them "whitewashed tombs".  They looked good on the outside (preserved with religious salt),  but inside they were really just an old dead piece of meat... too much religious salt. The religious person settles for a salty old piece of dead meat.  Jesus came to us that we might have eternal life.  The way he preserves us is with, "rivers of living water gushing into us, and out of us to the world." God doesn't preserve by keeping life from us, as salt does.  God preserves our life for eternity by placing his own eternally living Spirit into us.  The world doesn't need preservatives which keep life out.  A dead world needs to be preserved for eternal life, by being made born again and filled with the Spirit of Life. 

Those who belong to Christ have the unique flavor of salt, but they are preserved by the Holy Spirit living in them.  Giving the world a salt bath in religion only insures NO life will get in, including the Holy Spirit.  Allow God to make you flavorful, but the work of preserving belongs exclusively to the Holy Spirit. 

     

  

THEORETICAL CHRISTIANITY ISN'T CHRISTIAN:

The Moses Principles:

C) Obedience Gives Us Eyes To See God

And Fills Us With A Greater Hunger For Him

¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

~ Exodus 3:12

 .

I love that verse of Scripture!  Exodus 3:12 is one of my "Bible throwing", verses.  The first time I read it in the Bible I threw my Bible at the wall.  I threw my Bible at the wall, because I knew in my heart, this is the way God works.  Don't ask me how I knew at that moment, but upon reading Exodus 3:12 I knew God works the same way with his Church.  What God is saying to Moses is, "When you have completed all the work I've sent you to Egypt to accomplish, and you are back here, on the mountain, then you will know I sent you."   That is crazy!   Who needs signs when the journey is over?!?!  What if I asked you to come visit me at my house and said to you, "Hey when you get here I'll give you all the directions you'll need"???   You would never bother making the trip.  You would think I didn't really want you to find me, wouldn't you??  But look more carefully at what God says, "I will be with you."  God doesn't offer outward signs and confirmation.  Moses is going to have to walk by faith.  Remember what God says about faith, "We live by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7)  Hebrews tells us a great deal more on the matter:

“But my righteous one will live by faith.  And I take no pleasure
   in the one who shrinks back.”

~ Hebrews 10:38

It is God with us enabling us to live and do.  God doesn't post road signs like the huge green ones, with huge pointing arrows, we find on Interstates.  Faith in God isn't by sight, hearing, tasting, touching, or smelling.  And faith doesn't come from human wisdom.  People who say, "I'll believe it when I see it," will never see God.  So, once all was said and done Moses would, finally, completely understand all that God had done; as we like to say it today, "Moses had 20/20 hindsight."  Can you see why I threw my Bible at the wall?  (Even if you don't agree with my actions).  I NEED big, bold, easy to read, signs!!  I need a turn by turn and inch by inch GPS!!  Why doesn't God understand my needs?!?!?!  MY BLANKEY???  WHERE DID I PUT MY BLANKEY???  Er...uh...um...that old thing I just needed to find it so I could throw it away!!!  Look! See? In the trash can it goes!

But what happens when Moses obeys God?  What happens with Moses when he and the freed Israelites  get back to the place of the burning bush?

 ¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

 ¹⁹ And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

~ Exodus 33:18-19

There should be two things which stick out from these verses in Exodus 33.  First, Moses has been obedient, and God is pleased with him.  Secondly, God says "I know your name."  What does God mean "I know your name?"  God is saying, "I know you because you have obeyed me."   Obeying God is love for God (1 John 5).  When we love God, or obey God, we are intimate with him.  When God says he "knows our name," he is saying we've obeyed him, are intimate with him, and we please him.  And what is Moses' response to God??   "...Now show me your glory."   WOW!!  WOW!! WOW!!  Moses wants more of God!  Moses is filled with burning desire to see, and know, and have more of God.

The Apostle Paul says it best of all:

 ⁷ "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them shit, that I may gain Christ

~ Philippians 3:7-8

Paul has obeyed God!  We know Paul has obeyed God, because he says, "I have Jesus Christ, and next to him everything else is a steaming, stinking pile of shit."  Yes, the Apostle Paul, under the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, says, "Everything NOT Jesus Christ is shit."   The more we obey God, the more clearly we see and know God.  We may not understand God better, but we know him through the intimacy of obedience.   And the more we obey, the more we hunger, thirst, CRAVE God, and he alone will satisfy!!

When Christ followers stand before Christ, with the "goats" to his left and the "sheep" of his flock, on his right, there will be many sad surprises.   What is the keys to being in right standing with Christ, and therefore in the flock on his right? 

1. When God calls, tell God, "Lord God I cannot possibly fulfill, perform, or achieve your call."
2. When God calls, tell God, "Here I am Lord, your unworthy servant!  I will go, as you command."
3. When God has finally brought you through, you will say, without any doubt, you will proclaim, "O LORD GOD! HOW GREAT YOU ARE!  ALL I WANT IS YOU!"

It's all right there in the Bible.  It's been there for thousands of years!  There are no excuses allowed.  There is either, "Yes, Lord I will obey," or "No, Lord find someone else."  

Any questions?

Lonnie

THEORETICAL CHRISTIANITY ISN'T CHRISTIAN! Part 2 B

The Moses Principles:

B) Why God Condemns Ignorance

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it is the way of death."

~ Proverbs 14:12

So far Moses has come up with three reasons why he is the wrong man to lead God's people to freedom from slavery in Egypt. 

1. What if Pharaoh won't listen to me?
2. What if the people reject me?
3. I can't talk.

Far from being angry with Moses, God has been very carefully explaining to Moses what to do when dealing with Pharaoh and the Israelite slaves.  God also handles Moses' inability to speak.  Do you ever wonder why Moses has these three particular objections to obeying God's call?

 

We get a vastly different view of Moses from another section of Scripture.  Moses, standing before the burning bush, is a very old version of Moses.  In Acts 7 we're drawn a completely different view of Moses; a view of Moses as a man of 40.

 ²⁰ “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.  For three months he was cared for in his father’s house. ²¹ When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. ²² Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

 ²³ “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. ²⁴ He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. ²⁵ Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. ²⁶ The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

 ²⁷ “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.

{All bold text and underlining are my additions}

I've underlined and made bold all of the parts which have to do with Moses' three objections.  Simply put, Moses' objections are based in what life experience has taught him.  If you look in verse 22 you'll see that young Moses, "was powerful in speech and action."  "Powerful in speech and action," is vastly different from old Moses in Exodus 4:10

 ¹⁰ Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

How should we explain the discrepancy between younger Moses, "...powerful in speech and action," and old Moses, "I am slow of speech and tongue?"  We're told, "Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians..."  Ever here the old saying, "What you don't use you lose?"  After 40 years in the wilderness, tending sheep, Moses has lost the use of, "...all the wisdom of the Egyptians."   How fascinating that Moses, at the peak of his powers and abilities isn't useful to God.  It is only when Moses is old and out of practice that Moses is, finally called by God.  

I want you to notice something else, and this is incredibly important.  Take a look at a couple pieces of Scripture, from both Exodus, and Acts.

 ²³ “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites...

²⁵ Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.

~ Acts 7:23 & 25

¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

~ Exodus 3:10

What is different about the two sections of Scripture?   The difference is the key to everything.  When Moses is 40 what does he do?  "...he decided to visit his fellow Israelites."  Why does Moses decide to visit Israel?   Moses thought his own people would realize God was using him to rescue them.  The people didn't recognize Moses as anything but a murderer.  Why doesn't Moses succeed even though Moses clearly understands God has called him to save the Hebrew slaves???   Who does Moses go to???  The Hebrew slaves, right?!  40 years later who does God send Moses to visit?!   God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh!   Moses goes to the slaves, but when God sends Moses he sends him to Pharaoh.

 

When Moses calls himself, to the role of savior, he goes to the slaves.  But when God calls Moses he sends him to the slave master, Pharaoh.  When men call themselves they deal with the result of a problem.  When God calls a person to service it is to deal with the root, or cause of the problem.  Moses with all of the wisdom of Egypt can't achieve the salvation God desires.  God doesn't merely break the chains of bondage, he wants to destroy the very source of bondage.  Egypt is a model, held up for the Jews, as an explanation of human bondage to sin.  Pharaoh, is the model for Satan as slave master.  God demolishes Pharaoh and Egypt.  If Moses had lead the slaves in rebellion he might have succeeded, but what one man took from Pharaoh and Egypt could be retaken by a new Pharaoh.  What humans do for themselves can be undone by other humans.  If God does the work then the work stays done!  Of course humans are so used to bondage we tend not to stray far from it.  This is why God tells us,

 ¹ "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

~ Galatians 5:1

When God destroys something he kills it at the root.  Humans have no choice but to compromise, with sin, for we can never truly free ourselves.  God does the work completely, or he doesn't do it at all.  God had to come down, and perform his call in and through Moses.  Moses could never have even comprehended all that God could and would do.  The only person who can accomplish God's work is God.  God has always worked through human beings to achieve his ends, but there is no doubt, whatsoever, that it is God who is doing the work, from beginning to end.

 

God doesn't become angry with Moses, because Moses is telling the truth.  Moses is absolutely incapable of doing what God has called him to do.  But when Moses speaks a fourth time God becomes angry.  Ignorance doesn't make God angry.  Disobedience makes God angry.

 

¹³ But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”  ¹⁴ Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses..."

Exodus 4:13-14a

"I don't want to do it," is what makes God angry with Moses.  God has no need for Moses to know what to do.  All God needs from Moses is obedience.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT...

God is, "the same yesterday, today, and forever..."  If God became angry at Moses for being disobedient will he be any less angry with us when we are disobedient?   Do you think God is at all impressed with Christians who don't obey?   Will God excuse those who claim ignorance, saying, "I don't know what to do?"   Moses wasn't filled with the Holy Spirit, but since Christ, every believer is filled with the Spirit of God.  Those who claim belief in Christ have less excuse than Moses!

Lonnie

NEXT POST:

THEORETICAL CHRISTIANITY ISN'T CHRISTIAN!  Part 2 C

The Moses Principles:

C) Obedience Gives Us Eyes To See God, 

And Fills Us With An Indefatigable 

Desire For More Of God

  

THEORETICAL CHRISTIANITY ISN'T CHRISTIAN! Part 2 A

The Moses Principles:

A) God Has And Is All The Answers

B) Why God Condemns Ignorance

C) Obedience Gives Us Eyes To See God, 

And Fills Us With An Indefatigable 

Desire For More Of God

 

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

~ 2 Corinthians 4:7

A) God Has And Is All The Answers

For most of 20 years I've asked Christian why the Church doesn't reach out to those who struggle with sexual brokenness in our midst.  The answer I always get is, "We don't know what to do."   I've stopped asking because all it does is bring God's judgment upon their heads.  I admit that used to give me a smile of satisfaction, but now my past behavior appalls me.  As I said in the last post, "An Obedient One can never become the accuser of the brethren for that is satanic.  Still whenever Christians claim ignorance as an excuse for not following Christ's commands know that it brings the judgment of
God.  How can God judge any Christian for ignorance?  If God judges us for what we do not know isn't his judgment unfair??

God's judgment isn't unfair, and a Christian who proclaims ignorance deserves God's judgment.  Don't believe me, well sorry, the Bible has the story:

In Exodus 3 we find the story of Moses and the burning bush.  God calls to Moses and commissions him to go to Pharaoh and demand the release of the Hebrew slaves.  The call of Moses begins in Exodus chapter 3 and ends at chapter 4:17.   What is important to remember is there are two accounts of Moses' story.  The other account is found in Acts 7:17-36, as part of what is commonly called, "Stephan's Defense". 

  

First look at God's call of Moses:

 ⁷ The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians..." "⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

~ Exodus 3:7-10

{I have edited out the end of verse 8, and all bold script is my addition}

If you look at the two verses I've made bold it appears that God is making contradictory statements.  First God says, "I have come down to rescue them (the Hebrew slaves) from the hand of the Egyptians."  Then God says in verse 10 "So now, go.  I am sending you to Pharaoh..."   Hold the phone...God first says, "I have come down to rescue, and then he says to Moses, "...now go..."  What up with that???  Is God a little kornfused?; a little schizophrenic perhaps??   Is God going or is Moses going?

  

When God calls us to go, it is for us to go with him.  We become the conduit for God's work to those he chooses.  So God has come down to rescue, and Moses is God's chosen vessel for the work.  

  "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

~ 2 Corinthians 4:7

¹⁰ "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

~ Ephesians 2:10

"...and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice."

~ John 10:3-4

God always leads the way.  The only time a shepherd would drive the sheep was if he was leading them to slaughter.  God has come down himself, is going out ahead of Moses, and when he tells Moses to go he knows he'll arrive first.  So when God calls us to obey him, he's already got all the prep work done, and when we go it is to meet God there.  The work of the believer is to simply go.

  

Three times Moses raises objections about God calling him to the work of salvation.  First Moses doubts Pharaoh will listen to him.  Second Moses doubts the people will believe him.  Third Moses tells God he doesn't talk well enough for the job.  Each time God painstakingly explains to Moses how Moses is to respond.  Finally with the Moses third objection concerning his inability to speak well, God seems to say, "HELLO! You're talking to God!  Remember I created humankind!?  I've got it covered Moses; cool your jets dude!!" 

God doesn't become angry with Moses, no matter how many times Moses says, "Sorry God, I can't do this."   Why doesn't God get mad when Moses says, continually, "I can't do this!"  God has no reason for anger.  Everything Moses says is absolutely true.  God can only work in and through people who know, "I can't do this!"  When God calls the right answer, all the time, every time is, "God, I can't do this...", but with that response had also better come, "Here I am Lord, send me."  It isn't about us, we're cracked pots.  The treasure in us is God's, the call is God's, the completion of the call is God's. 

Our role is to receive God's gracious salvation when he enables us to choose it.  Keep (obey) the teachings of Jesus (and by extension, the teachings of Jesus Apostles), which makes us his true disciples, and as we become more and more obedient disciples we know him better and better.  When God has developed in us enough godly character then he can begin to fulfill the call which will fulfill your life, open your eyes to see God more clearly, and will fill you with an unquenchable hunger for more of God!! 

BOTTOM LINE:  Don't ever worry that you can't do what God calls us to do...YOU CAN'T, you'll never be able to, and if you could you would be God.  If God has all the answers then we don't need to, we simply need to obey.  If we do not obey, its not because we don't know what to do.  If we don't obey God it is because we have more faith in ourselves than we do in God. This leads us to Moses Principle "B"

NEXT POST:  THEORETICAL CHRISTIANITY ISN'T CHRISTIAN!  Part 2 B

The Moses Principles:

B) Why God Condemns Ignorance

THEORETICAL CHRISTIANITY ISN'T CHRISTIAN! Part 1

Be Doers Of The Word

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"All you Bible "believing" Christians, who deplore the actions of the Presbyterian Church USA's decision, opening the way for ordination of LGBT persons, do you think you will escape the judgment and wrath God pours out on those who reject the Bible's doctrines?"...

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For nearly 20 years I've pleaded with God for understanding of my fellow Christians.  "WHY!?" I would cry out, "WHY! Doesn't the Church understand how to lead people toward your hope, life, light, peace, freedom and love?!?!?!"  Always, and I mean always, John 8:31-32 would pop into my head:

 ³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If I look back at all of the posts I wrote, on Xanga blogs, more than 80% of them have these  two verses of Scripture in them.  Do you know why so much of what I write had these two verses from John in them?  Because I've asked God so many times, "God why doesn't the church know how?"   I thought John 8:31-32 was something God wanted me to tell my fellow Christians, but it was much simpler than that.  God wasn't telling me something for anyone else...God was merely answering my question: "Why don't Christians understand?"  The Church doesn't understand God's freedom, because the Church won't obey Christ's teachings.

If you're one of those people who think the term "Christian" has too much baggage, and too much sin attached to it, then try, "Obedient Ones".  Obedient is what Jesus calls his true disciples.  All anyone has to do is look at John 8:31-32 to see that; its right there in black and white, and has been there for more than 2,000 years. 

John 8:31-32 is why I had to come back to Xanga.  I never had any plans to return here and blog.  I'd visit some of your blogs, but I had no intention of coming back.  Why did I have to come back?  Because of the "Such _were_you agenda".  And what exactly is that agenda?  To give my fellow Christians enough verbal "rope" with which to hang yourselves.  For years the majority have acknowledged what I was saying on my blog was truth, but you didn't want to do anything with what I was teaching.  You wanted me to be your source for dealing with all things LGBT.  What I know that you don't know is that every time I tell you the truth, but you don't apply it, you bring judgment upon your own heads.  If I am such a good teacher; so full of good spiritual insight, then why didn't you do what I taught?   I've told you all for years what and how I teach is exactly how God gave it to me.  If it all comes from God and works for me, it will work for anyone.  When we acknowledge the truth without practicing the truth we are according to God "foolish and deceived".  (See Matthew 7:26 and James 1:22).  I don't want to reach/teach the Church, none of them will listen to me.  If you people on Xanga, who appear to like me, won't listen then no other Christians ever will.  So the agenda was to set you all up: 

• Tell you the absolute truth of God
• You pat me on the back, "Atta boy, Lonnie!"
• You would acknowledge, but never practice the truth for yourselves
• I get to say, "See God, no one will listen.  Even those who acknowledge I'm teaching the truth won't do it themselves!"

This created two great sin problems for me.  1) My agenda cast me in the roll of "accuser of the brethren".  An Obedient One can NEVER be the accuser of the brethren, for that is satanic.  2) My cousin James pointed out that God expects one thing from those who claim to be his:  FAITHFULNESS.
 

Some of you might argue my increasing harshness was part of my sin problem as well, but that was also part of setting you up.  I'll explain later in the second or third part of this post why the harshness isn't really the issue you think it is.
 

God has called me to reach/teach the Church.  That is the overall call, every aspect of what God desires to do in and through me flows from that particular call.  I have no desire to reach or teach the Church.  I used to be gay!  I am the last person Jesus Christ should call.  No one in the Church will ever listen to me, and in fact that always proves to be the absolute truth.  Still there is this call hanging over my head like an axe blade.  Anyone and everyone would be better suited to God's call than I could ever be.  All my life I've believed everyone, and I mean just about everyone, is smarter, more capable, wiser, just better in every way.  That's the source of all my frustration and confusion with the Church.  I should be able to tell my fellow Christians; Obedient Ones, and they'd simply do it all so much better than I ever could.  The added benefit is, of course, that the Church would listen to someone who hadn't been gay.  Gay is such a terrible word to Christians.  Its so terrible no Christians will ever put themselves out to obey God to the point where they'll truly understand how God saves and frees.  How do I know the Church won't ever obey God?  Well...It has been 42 years since the Stone Wall Riots started the modern LGBT rights movement.  After 42 years churches either accept homosexual orientation as natural, or they, increasingly, see homosexuality as a sinful proclivity some Christians will struggle to endure in this life.  These two positions will bring Christians the eternal condemnation of God.   The Bible is absolutely clear on this point:

"I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33b

"...for everyone born of God overcomes the world."

1 John 5:4a

God doesn't close his eyes to and accept sin, and God doesn't merely struggle against sin.  God completely overcomes; destroys; burns up; vaporizes sin.  Nothing else but God's standard will be acceptable for God.  You and I don't overcome anything.  God does all the overcoming in and through us.  All we do is obey what Jesus tells us to do, and even that is completely enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  God saves us from top to bottom, but our part is to walk in it.

 

We can study theology all we want to, but we'll never know God's freeing, life giving, salvation, for us or others, until we do what he says.  Don't believe me?  Its right there in John 8.  Jesus tells us, "Do what I teach, and you are my true disciple.  As you do what I teach you will know the truth (the truth is Jesus, not merely a set of spiritual standards), and the truth will set you free."  Don't keep Jesus teachings and you won't know the truth; both Jesus and the deep spiritual standards.  This is what James is talking about when he says in James 1:22,

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

Why doesn't anyone in the Church understand how God makes a sexually broken person, "...and such were some of you..."  The Church doesn't understand God's freedom for sexually brokenness because we haven't been obedient to keep Christ's teachings.  We've accepted that theoretical is acceptable to God.  "All you Bible "believing" Christians, who deplore the actions of the Presbyterian Church USA's decision, opening the way for ordination of LGBT persons, do you think you will escape the judgment and wrath God pours out on those who reject the Bible's doctrines?"...  You conservative believers still don't know what to do with sexually broken people.  It is not enough to claim you believe the Bible.  Jesus and those who belong to him overcome sexual brokenness.  If you do not understand that God always overcomes, then you do not yet know God.  Don't believe me?  It's right there in the Bible, and has been for over 2000 years.  Both left and right sides will be condemned, for you do not know Jesus overcomes Same-Sex Attraction, and every other manifestation of lust in human beings.  It isn't a work we do, it is all God's work to in and through us.  Our part is to obey!!!

Now of course obedience isn't merely about reaching the sexually broken with the overcoming truth and power of Jesus Christ.  I didn't set out to reach sexually broken people either.  I started working in a soup kitchen reaching out to everyone there.  But since I was obedient to Christ's call:

"And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’"

~ Matthew 25:40

God lead me to street walking hookers.  It is through my experiences with hookers that God was able to open my eyes to the root of my own sin, and the sin of the Church.  Had I not been obedient to serve everyone at that soup kitchen I still would not know the overcoming power of Jesus Christ.  Since the Church does not yet know the overcoming power of Jesus Christ for the sexually broken then the Church has not obeyed Christ.

I hope you will stick with me as I write this series.  I've just scratched the surface thus far.

Lonnie

47 YEAR OLD AND A BIKE

I Raced A Chipmunk...

And The Chipmunk Won!!!

I aired up my tires and hit the road this morning about 6:30.  The sun was just coming up, so it was cool and still.   I love riding in the morning.  Pollen counts are also down in the early morning.  I'm still suffering with my allergies, but I'm going to suffer anyway, so I'm going to ride.  I'm at the point now I get very disappointed if I miss my morning ride.  I crank up praise and worship music on my iPod, and ride like the wind!  Okay, maybe not like the wind.

Okay, maybe not even as fast as a slow puff of air from an old man with bad emphysema.  This morning not one, not two, but three chipmunks crossed the path of my speeding bicycle.  I was relieved when the first one made it by, but only by a hairs breadth.  When the second one crossed me, I was beginning to feel my age.  Still I was glad number two didn't get mangled in my spokes.  Number three, well number three was a little more interesting.  Number three didn't simply cross in front of my speeding bicycle he started across a little late.  Number three's trajectory was at an angle, but because he started running by the time my front wheel had already passed him, he had to run very hard to clear the front of my bike.  He did outrun my bike, but came the closest to death by a fat bald man on big silver bike.  I raced a chipmunk for a few feet, and the chipmunk won!  Denied the checkered flag by a rodent half the length of my own foot!!  I know how Charley Brown feels when he goes to kick the football and Lucy pulls it away!!!  OH THE AGONY OF DEFEAT!!!

There actually was a fourth chipmunk, but chipmunk number four started to cross in front of me, but jumped back into a sitting position until I passed.  Number four is the SMART chipmunk.  I tell you number four would have been road kill if he'd crossed me!  Three strikes and your out sucker!!  I intimidated and dominated number four!  Man and bike win the final engagement with little, furry, and so cute you wanna puke!!  That's right little dude, you don't want to mess with a man wearing shorts so tight he can sing a high C above C!!  It will not go well for you number four!!

OH THE AGONY!!

 

WHAT THE BOY WHO NAMES HIMSELF "ABLE" OUGHTA KNOW...

I was having coffee with my best friend this morning, and Al came up in conversation.  Al is a wonderful young man we both got to know when my best friend was youth pastor at the church we all attended.  Al like so many in the Church today struggles with his ability to be a Christian.  Al's newest idea is to rename himself "Able".   We're not talking about naming himself after the son of Adam and Eve who is murdered by his brother Cain.  

Al has taken the name Able, because, "its what he's always struggled with..."  So now Al is "Able".   This accursed thinking is perhaps the worst pile of poisonous teaching the Church has ever been fed.

   

We've been fed this nonsense that Christianity is God's plan for human self-improvement.   "If I just read the Bible, go to Church and Bible study enough then eventually I will change."  Its as if we get a box of "Holy Spirit Power Bars" or a "Holy Spirit Cleaning Kit" when God makes us born again, and we're expected to "fix" or "clean" ourselves up.   Sorry kids the Bible isn't a Holy Spirit inspired "self-help" program.  God doesn't want to fix up the broken you.  God wants to absolutely abolish you and me.  Why else would Jesus say,

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘Youmust be born again.’   The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 

~ John 3:5-8

Notice please the last sentence, "So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."  The word "Spirit" is capitalized.  Jesus says we must be born of the Holy Spirit.  So if Al is born of God then how does he somehow become able??  Again what does the Bible teach about "able"?

 

"Therefore he [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."

~ Hebrews 7:25

Gee it seems to me that Jesus believes he is "Able".  And he is able to save to the uttermost; completely; from start to finish.  If Jesus is able to do the work from beginning to end then ALL  the work of salvation is his to do.  If Jesus does 100% of the work of salvation, then what part of the work is left for us???  We are also told in 1 John 5:4,

..."for everyone born of God overcomes the world."

God thinks it is his "able" that makes us overcome the world, not our "able" with a Holy self-help or 12 step program.  This is what so many in the Church do.  Christians can't change themselves so instead they begin a program of sin management.   "Hi my name is Al and I'm an alcoholic; I'm a homosexual; I'm a wife beater," and etc., ad nausea.   God's plan is to make us born again, and then enable us to put off the old sin nature.  And how do we know this is God's real plan?...ha ha ha, cause he tells us, that's why.

 

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;"

~ Ephesians 4:22

Well, there we have it, "Take off the old self..."  We get a picture of our sin nature as a garment.  I don't know if you've ever seen one of those really old top coats men used to wear decades ago.     See how the old coat is filled with our sinful ways.  All too many Christians think they get a "Holy Spirit cleaning kit", and if they simply pour on enough Holy Spirit "Comet Cleaner", or Holy Spirit "Shout Stain Remover" the stains will eventually come out of the old self.  So there they stand working away at the sin stains in their old self "overcoat".  All the while, Jesus is dousing the old self with gasoline.  Jesus, after covering the old self "overcoat" with gasoline, stands waiting with a match.  Just as soon as we take it off he's ready to burn it up.   Jesus is "Able", we are "Un-Able".  If you want to please God then put off the old sin nature.  Stop trying to clean up what God wants destroyed.  Accept God's power to make you born again, and throw away the old self "overcoat".  Stop trying to save what God himself won't even try to save.   Better to simply give up than blasphemously calling yourself "Able".  Are you God?  Has Father hung you on a cross to pay for the sins of the world??  If you are not Jesus then don't dare usurp what can only belong to Jesus.  Only Jesus is "able" to save to the uttermost.  We have God's word on the matter.

Blessings,

Lonnie