Category Archives: Christianity Today

The most controversial chapter in the Bible

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The most controversial chapter in the Bible is I Corinthians 7. Or at least it’s around the top of the list. For those who’ve really studied the Word, they’ll know what I mean. Basically Paul is tackling the subject of marriage, sex, abstinence and the whole gambit of human male/female relationships. And on top of that he was addressing the Corinthian body of believers, the group that’s become known as the most immature, broadly unspiritual group that Paul encountered.

I won’t even quote here what Paul confronted just two chapters before. You can read I Corinthians 5:1-5 to get an idea of how bad things were for the Christians in Corinth. As they post on some videos, pretty much the same can be said for those verses there: “Viewer discretion is advised”. Some would definitely give it an “R”.

But Peter Brown, considered the foremost writer on the Late Antiquities said that I Corinthians 7 did more to shape and form Christian viewpoints on marriage, sex and male/female relationships than any other passage in the Bible. Repeatedly this was the chapter quoted, claimed and exalted by ones like Augustine of Hippo and Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, the Vulgate Bible.

Quoting from I Corinthians 7, the early church fathers, especially by 250 AD and onwards, felt that it was clear from I Corinthians 7 that marriage was not really God’s highest and best. After all, hadn’t Paul said that it was better to remain as he was? (I Corinthians 7:7) And everyone assumes he was single, as far as we know.

But then I’ve read some Christians writers, such as F. B. Meyer, who were convinced that at one time Paul must have been married, otherwise he never could have been part of the Sanhedrin. In I Corinthians 7, Paul wrote, “Are you loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife.” (I Corinthians 7:27) Are Paul’s writings here to be taking in the same league as the Ten Commandments of Sinai? Certainly and without question that’s how it became as the Early Church morphed over into the early Catholic Church.

By the 400’s AD it was taken for granted that Christians knew that celibacy was God’s highest will. If you just had to get married, well you still might be able to go to heaven. But you just better not have a nice time with your wife or husband! All that stuff is just only in order to have children! That’s all! Shame! Shame on you if you even think about anything pleasurable! That’s sin!

Well, I jest. But of course it wasn’t really funny. The Jewish idea of a husband and wife (“rejoice with the wife of thy youth” -Proverbs 5:18) was utterly replaced by what became the supposed Christian viewpoint of marriage: that is was this horrible, filthy thing that God will just barely tolerate and won’t necessarily send you to hell for. But you sure better be in complete fear and trembling and be as holy as you possibly can be since all that stuff is absolutely of Satan!

Or so it was taught by around 400 AD. And it was still taught that way when I was a child and teen growing up in the 1960’s. And, very sadly, most of that those people way back then and up to now got it from how they read I Corinthians 7.

Of course Paul repeatedly in that chapter gave rejoinders and caveats to make it clear he was not pronouncing “laws from Sinai” on the subject. He said in I Corinthians 7:12, “This say I, not the Lord.” What does that mean? Did he say that kind of thing in other place in his epistles? Really not much.

He says, “I have received no commandment from the Lord but I speak as one who has obtained mercy…”. (I Corinthians 7:25) That’s how you say that he was giving his personal opinion and experience on the subject, a second place in I Corinthians 7 where he puts a sense of personalization and hesitancy into the passage. And there are other place where he seems to really make it clear that this is his personal opinion as a brother in Christ, one who has obtained grace and is sharing his thoughts and experiences.

Sadly, I Corinthians 7 has passed into history as the most fundamental, dogmatically taught passage on human relationships in the New Testament. Some question if Paul wrote the book of Hebrews but it says there, “Marriage is honorable in all things and the bed undefiled…” (Hebrews 13:4) But it was too late for those who believed that an abstinent, ascetic lifestyle was a fundamental tenet of Christianity.

You may not believe this but much modern scholarship tries to say that Paul didn’t write all the epistles that are attributed to him. If you don’t believe me, Google it. One of the things put forward is that Ephesians 5 and his views on human relationships, marriage and sex in that chapter seem to some to be so opposed to I Corinthians 7. So modern Christian erudition says Paul wrote I Corinthians 7 but not Ephesians. Pitiful. Sad. Infuriating.

Folks, what can I say? If you’ve been taught that I Corinthians 7 is one of the highpoints of the New Testament and that verses cherry picked out of there by ones like Jerome, Augustine and many others prove that the wonderful creation of man and woman and the joy of married love is just something that God will barely tolerate and actually goes against His chosen plan and will, then you’re being fed something that is not the fundamental truth of the New Testament.

Go back and read that chapter again. Notice Paul’s repeated hesitancy to get overly dogmatic. Read Ephesians 5, as well as many passages in the Old Testament which are still completely relevant and show that God has “given us richly all things to enjoy” (I Timothy 6:17). That includes the joy of married love in all its forms, a reflection of our relationship with God.

OK, I’m glad I got that off my chest. I virtually swore (although I didn’t actually) that I’d never write about this subject or about a certain modern country in the Middle East which also is so very controversial. But I suppose these things do need to be addressed and the light of Scripture brought upon them. God bless you, I hope this was some help and that no one was offended or shocked by my expressing my thoughts on this (what is for some) sinister subject.

Christians doing their homework

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A lot of Christians haven’t done their homework. And, sadly, that often results in their being made fools of in public discussions. If anyone should have and treasure the truth, it should be Christians. And facts and truth run hand in hand. If you think you are going to make it by just your emotions, how much you love Jesus and therefore are so vehemently right, I’m afraid you may often end up being made a fool of. And that shouldn’t happen.

My early years of being a Christian were often spent on the street, personally witnessing to people in places like Hollywood Boulevard in California or later Trafalgar Square in London and Dam Square in Amsterdam. And I can tell you, it took more than just loving the Lord to be able to do that. I had to do my homework. I had to know what the facts were or I’d be made a fool of by people who would ask me tricky questions that I didn’t know how to answer. Or sometimes sincere questions by “lost sheep” and I didn’t know what the answer was. It was similar to combat or working in an emergency room and I had to learn what to say and what to do or I’d really be failing the Lord, others and even endanger my faith.

But it seems nowadays that if we Christians just have a snappy rejoinder or popular comeback, we think that’s all we need. It’s not. And the enemy of God can again and again make us look like ignoramuses when that really isn’t necessary. I personally don’t feel like I need to retreat into my warm, fuzzy Christian shell and let the atheists take the day and the high ground. But if we don’t do our homework and even be willing to break out of some of our pet doctrines that some Christian leaders expect us to hold, then I think we can really see a continuing defeat for Christian truth in the realm of public discourse. Because so many think that babbling zingers back at people is what God wants us to do, rather than really speaking the truth in Christ.

We’re supposed to “be always ready to give an answer to them that ask of us” (I Peter 3:15). Sometimes those answers can be simple since often God’s truth is simple. But also there are times to “know your stuff” and not be browbeaten and made to look like fools so that we default to simplistic, cream-puff answers. It’s like the Lord said for us to be, “Wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) Jesus Himself and also the early Christians in the book of Acts were relevant and had the high ground in the battles of dialogue they had in their day. They said of Jesus, “no man ever spoke like this man” (John 7:46). And later it was said of Stephen, “They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.” (Acts 6:10)

Today someone sent me from Scandinavia a very timely and troubling news article about more and more people having a biometric chip implanted under their skin on their hand. Of course for most Christians, this immediately brings to mind the verses in Revelation 13, having to do with the final days before the return of Jesus, how that “no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark or the number of the beast in his hand or forehead.” (Revelation 13:16)

I found it very interesting that this procedure in Scandinavia is continuing to gain ground where it’s been going on a few years. It’s another sign that things are getting closer and closer to the final days spoken of in the Bible. But then also I felt a sense of sadness. Because I just almost expect that a lot of Christians will immediate pipe up and say that what those folks in Scandinavia and other places in Europe are doing is the literal fulfillment of Revelation 13 and that those individuals who have done this already are now doomed by the Word of God itself to the Lake of Fire.

It’s like watching a chess match or a sport event and you see someone making a move and you just know they are going to suffer for it and be made fools of. Because, as far as I know,

what those people are doing in having that chip implanted in their hand at this time is not specifically, utterly and completely a fulfillment of what is spoken of in Revelation 13.

Is it a major step along the way? Certainly. Is that technology most likely to be what is used for the final Mark of the Beast in the final world government of the endtime? Almost certainly. But the Lord is not going to send people to hell because of some economic step they’ve taken to link them to the commercial system. The Mark of the Beast is certainly going to be that but also much more. Exactly what, we don’t know at this time.

But if Christians now go crazy and start getting irrational about these chip implants that are going on, this is playing exactly into the hand of the enemies of God. They can effortlessly make us look like religious kooks and extremist and the undecided people will be wondering about it since it looks rather innocuous at this time to them.

So, folks, do your homework. This reminds me of another article I wrote a few years back called “Don’t shoot till you see the whites of their eyes”. Or the video I did called “Famous Failures of Prophetic Interpretation.” Don’t go off half cocked. Try a little of that “wise as serpents” thing the Lord spoke of. He also said “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light”. (Luke 16:8)

Maybe we ought to remember that in the endtime, “the people who do know thier God shall be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many”. (Daniel 11:32 & 33) But we will be made fools of, as has happened many times, when we just run our mouths in emotions without really getting the mind of the Lord and the wisdom of the Lord so as to know what we really ought to be saying in these situations. “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5) “Wisdom is the principle thing”. (Proverbs 4:7

Daily habits

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Daily habits at times can seem to be a pointless routine, a of rut of drudgery that we fall into. But this morning I was struck by how thankful I am that I have some daily spiritual habits that have become a part of my life and that they have been for my good.

Some of us just like spontaneity. We’re skeptical of almost any established thing and we just want to kick over the traditions and have a really good cleansing revolution! But then many find that it’s a whole lot easier to be opposed to something and to find fault than it is to really find something truly better. And then, next, to steadfastly go that better way, building up a better life, a better structure and better system than the one we so vehemently originally opposed.

And often it can start with person daily habits. When we were kids, if we had good parents, they taught us such simple things as brushing our teeth, taking a bath, looking both ways before crossing the street, tiny little seemingly insignificant things. But often it’s those habits that make up our lives for the most part and the importance of little things done daily is so often a theme in the Bible.

For me, having daily devotions is a fundamental part of my life. Spending decades on the mission field, working closely with other Christian disciples, you just find that it’s essential to start the day off with prayer, devotion and some time in God’s Word. And now, although I’m not working as closely as I did with others years ago, I still just don’t have a day go by without a time of morning devotions.

I have music that I listen to, songs of faith, that help me start the day. Then, after breakfast, I have several devotional books that have readings for each day of the year that I go through. I have two of the books from “Streams in the Desert” by Mrs. Cowman which have been such a blessing. I read daily from A. B. Simpson’s “Days of Heaven on Earth”. I listen to Spurgen’s “Morning and Evening” thoughts. And a highpoint for me has been to listen to readings of J. C. Ryle’s thoughts on the gospel of Luke.

After this devotion time is finished, I go out to the extended back yard we have on this property on the countryside and take some time in prayer and getting quiet and pouring out my heart before the Lord. Several of the blog articles I’ve written came from thoughts that came to me during this time out in the back. “Green Leaves Hanging On” and “Cardinals in the Winter” are two like that.

And actually, when you read the Bible, you find that this experience of daily habits that the Lord wants us to have has been a constant for thousands of years. Daniel was accustomed to praying 3 times a day and this is what his adversaries used to accuse him to the king of Persia that he was worshiping contrary to the King’s decrees. Of course the whole Law of Moses was full of edicts and guidelines on how the Jews should worship God, in the temple as well as in almost every aspect of their lives.

Can it all turn into tradition and meaningless formalism? It certainly can and sadly often does. The Bible and history is full of that happening. But what’s probably even worse is that, repulsed by empty traditions, many people commit an even greater sin. They “throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

They root out the wheat with the tares, to use the analogy that Jesus shared. Yes, of course: empty, meaningless tradition and formalism is nothing but husks in our teeth. But often there originally were sustaining, invigorating eternal truths that were the basis of the traditions and habits that once had such significance.

So we’ve to come full circle to the beginning again. For me, I have a daily routine that has been good for me. I have daily devotions. I have time in God’s Word. I even review around 40 Bible verses every day of the large number of ones I memorized in my first few years as a Christian. I sing songs of dedication and love for the Lord. I go out in nature and take time with the Lord, probably not very differently from what Isaac did nearly 4000 years ago when he “went out into the field to meditate at eventide.” (Genesis 24:63)

And I hope you have some healthy, sustaining daily habits. We have to not just take care of ourselves physically but we have to cultivate healthy, Godly daily habits as the Lord has been leading His people to do since the beginning. God help us all to not through the baby out with the bathwater. May He help us to maintain Godly “traditions” and routines which keep us on the straight and narrow path of life and His will.

Christmas and prophecy

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No other event from 2000 years ago holds the attention of the world like Christmas and the birth of Jesus does. On the other hand, some might say of Christmas, “Not again!”. Or their words might be, “Some unwed teenager has a baby in some shed and we all go crazy!”

But I can tell you one element that’s almost always left out about the story of Christmas which originally was virtually paramount to those who first heard it in the time of ancient Israel. “What’s that?” you ask? Here’s what: Christmas. Was. Prophesied! It’s that important and now virtually unknown. I’ll attempt to explain.

As much as some castigate Christmas, it’s helped make it so that the events of Jesus’ birth are known far and wide and are celebrated yearly, as they have been for 2000 years. People all over the world, Christian or otherwise, often know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. You may be a kid in Baluchistan or in a yeshiva in Brooklyn. But if you ask your teacher, “What’s this thing about Christmas?”, they’ll probably be able to tell you what Christmas is.

But almost no one knows why it matters that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, much less the circumstances of His mother, Mary. And that’s because fulfilled Biblical prophecy has become one of the unknown phenomenon of our enlightened times. Has there been a conspiracy or intentional cover-up to remove Bible prophecy from our knowledge? I don’t think it’s actually that. Nevertheless the plain fulfillment of prophecy is one of the greatest proofs of a supernatural God who has a plan for mankind and is steering events toward an ultimate showdown between Light and Darkness.

“Great, Mark; so what was prophesied about Christmas?”

First, Bethlehem itself was predicted specifically by God through the mouth of the prophet Micah to be the birthplace of the coming King of the Jews, over 700 years before Jesus’ birth. It says in Micah 5:2, (God speaking to the town of Bethlehem), “But you Bethlehem, though you be small among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth the one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose going forth is from old, from everlasting.”

The Jews of Jesus’ time knew exactly what this meant and even used it to try to prove Jesus was not the Messiah. Jesus was born in Bethlehem but grew up in Nazareth. So the unbelieving Jews knew Jesus was from Nazareth and said, “Has not Scripture said that Christ shall come from the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” (John 7:42) But Christ did come from the town of Bethlehem; He was born there although he grew up in Nazareth. I guess those folks who were trying to use this against Him hadn’t done their research.

What does that mean about “the seed of David and the town of Bethlehem, where David was”? Again, it was majorly significant to people 2000 years ago, but virtually not at all to us now. The Messiah to come for the Jews  was to be a direct descendant of King David, Israel’s greatest king. And, like we’ve read, the Messiah was to be from Bethlehem. Now, 2000 years later, folks still know Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But the significance of this has been erased from the story.

It was prophesied, foretold and every Israeli at that time knew it! They also knew the Messiah was to be a descendant of King David. Was Jesus a physical descendant of David? Absolutely. The opening 16 verses of the book of Matthew traces the linage of “the Virgin Mary” directly back to King David. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1)

And what about that “Virgin Mary” thing? Please, humor me here but… It. Was. Prophesied! It was prophesied of the Messiah to come that He would be born of a virgin. Isaiah 7:14 says, “The Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.” And Emmanuel means “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

The Messiah that every Jew back then looked for would be born in Bethlehem, born of the linage of David and born of a virgin. That’s why Christmas is so important, because Jesus was not some ordinary little baby born to an unmarried teen. He was and is the Messiah promised to Israel.

There’s more. The Roman world of that day knew already that a King was about to be born to the Jews because the knowledge of the prophecies of Daniel was known to some degree throughout the world of that day. In ancient Roman writings can be found places where they knew that Rome was “the fourth kingdom” (Daniel 2:40 & 7:23) and that at that time God would “set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed”. (Daniel 2:44)

If your Christmas has been whittled down to some quick meal like at a fast food joint, if the ingredient of fulfilled prophecy has been eliminated from your spiritual meal, then you surely aren’t getting what was originally there. I just get incensed at how spiritually weak, depleted and malnourished the people of this world have become because they’ve lost the knowledge of God’s mighty power and willingness to foretell the key events of our existence and future here in this world. Christmas was not only a historical event; it was one of the most prophesied events in the history of mankind. But that’s been virtually lost to us.

I hope you have a merry Christmas. But I also hope you “grow in grace and knowledge” (II Peter 3:18)  and are “strengthened in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16) by the power of the truth and Word of God, so much of which is so distant and foreign to the vast majority of those of us in these times. God help us all! Merry Christmas.

Intimacy in Cyberspace ?

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Intimacy. Let’s admit it: we all want that. Physically, yes; but even as much or more that union of heart with heart with another kindred soul. Jesus prayed to His Father, “That they all may be one, as You, Father are in me and I in you.” (John 17:21) Some have it in their families, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, the special feeling you have with your grandparents.

Intimacy is one of the most desired, sought and even most needed things we have in our lives. And now in our times we have the internet and cyberspace which has made it possible to be in contact basically with nearly anyone anywhere in the world. It’s certainly been a huge thing in my life to where much of my time is based around the material I post on line and communications I have all over the world with people I work with or with ones who’ve viewed or read my material

But am I enjoying intimacy in these settings? Is cyberspace satisfying the deepest desires of my soul and heart? In one sense I can definitely say no. On the other hand, equally I also have to say that some of my interactions with this vast assembly of friends and acquaintances have definitely been very satisfying and encouraging.

Maybe it comes down to what it takes to really satisfy each individual. Some know what real intimacy is like. It can be pinnacle experiences you’ve had in your relationship with God and Christ. It can be those incredible moments of bonding and unity with your mate, where you know you are truly loving that person and are being loved. Even times with your best friend, sharing your heart, being listened to and understood, even that can be a form of intimacy. And of course the interactions we have with our families, when things are going really well, is also a degree of intimacy that can sometimes be sustained over many years.

So how does cyberspace work as being an avenue of intimacy? While it’s been truly fantastic for me personally in being able to reach out across continents to where I’m getting to know folks in places like Rwanda, Dagestan, Nagaland and even remote towns where there are no roads to those places, it still doesn’t beat the real thing.

Real time. Face time. Human to human, right-in-front-of-you where you can see their face, hold their hand, hear their voice. That still is the benchmark of intimacy. We’re not cyborgs. We’re flesh and blood human beings who know the true and full reality when we see it. Cyberspace has been an incredible blessing. But for me it’s not been able to replace the need for traditional reality that humanity has known for millennia.

So, like for probably millions of people, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” In the Lord I certainly have. “You are complete in Him.” (Colossians 2:10) But it’s also true that, “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) Even when Adam had God with him in the Garden in a closeness most of us can’t even imagine, God still knew that Adam needed someone like himself beside him. And it’s still the same today.

While I’m thankful for the mass of friends and acquaintances I’ve come to have through the internet, I have to be honest and say that this other aspect of my life, real-time, face-time traditional reality intimacy with others is still pretty lacking in some respects and I feel it a lot.

I can imagine that very many people have turned to cyberspace to try to satisfy the aching void so many feel of the need for real closeness, even true intimacy. I don’t know if you could compare it to those who turn to alcohol or drugs to relieve their heartache but maybe there’s a comparison. But on the internet, you’re mostly interacting with someone real, an actual individual at the other end of a Facebook chat or your email message. So it’s not like alcohol really in that sense. But it can only go so far.

Does intimacy imply ecstasy? No. Solomon said, “Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so does the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty council.” (Proverbs 27:9) It’s like what I wrote about in “Jonathan, son of Saul”. Evidently King David and Saul’s son Jonathan had a very deep and strong friendship. But there never was any hint of anything physical about it.

Every person needs real, deep intimacy. That’s what we have with God through Jesus. “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (I Timothy 2:5) We are restored, we are reconciled to God in Christ. And those things can bring joys and emotions that words sometimes can’t really reach.

And yet…, and yet we who are still here in this world most of the time still need others. We also need human love. Unity, contact, oneness. It says in the Bible, “Now we know in part, but then shall we know, even as we are known.” (I Corinthians 13:12)

It sounds like, in heaven, intimacy will be the coinage of the realm, intimacy with Christ and God but also with an incredible oneness with each other. But here…? Well, thank God for the internet and the good that has come of it. Still, for me at least I yet yearn and long for intimacy in this world and I know that is not really going to come through cyberspace.

It’s going to have to happen in real time, traditional reality. “The greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13) God help us to continue in Him and His love. And, if it be His will, love with another human being, even real time intimacy.

Follow God and miracles will follow you

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There are so many promises in the Bible for those who follow God, who not only believe in but also actually obey the Lord, that He will manifest Himself unto them. Jesus said in John 14:21, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he is it that loves me. And he that loves me will be loved of my father, and I will love him and will manifest myself unto him.”

[This is the text to a talk I gave last week at a Christian retreat in India  to about 85 people.]

That was the kind of Christianity that was presented to me by some young “Jesus people” when I was 21 years old. A few months before this I’d had a series of miraculous experiences, including a very traumatic one where I nearly died and was about to leave my body, unfortunately heading in the wrong direction from what most of us hope will be our final destiny. But this was what it took to wake me up and shake me up enough to fathom that there is a spiritual world and that it is more real and important than the physical world we’re so often enmeshed in.

But I didn’t know who Jesus was. I’d come to know that God was real, I now knew the spiritual world was real and I’d even come to know that the devil was real. But I didn’t know who Jesus was or is. And those teenage, Bible-sharing “Jesus people” showed me through the Bible who Jesus was. So I received Him in prayer as they led me to do.

And as I continued to hang around these new friends, they eventually challenged me to do as the early followers of Jesus had done. Jesus said to some, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) To others He said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same will save it.” (Luke 9:23)

Having already experienced so much of the froth, frivolity and poison of this world, I had an easy time in making that decision. I decided to take them up on their challenge and to commit my life to Christian service, following the Lord and His Word as best as I could.

“So how’s that working for you?” you might ask. My answer would be, “Really, really well.” And that’s what I want to talk to you about this morning. I know that, for most of you here, we’re on the same page when it comes to Christian discipleship. That’s why you’re here at this retreat. Yesterday we talked about Bible prophecy and that can in some ways be a rather long and sometimes steep learning curve. But Christian discipleship can and should be something you are born into when you receive the Lord, like what happened to me.

We could start off talking about salvation in the Lord, like we did yesterday. That’s where it all starts. I assume and believe that all of you here are saved. You’ve received the Lord as your personal savior, you understand the basics of Salvation and you have a personal relationship with the Lord.

And I assume that you’ve all received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I know that’s your shared belief and you understand the importance of the Holy Spirit. Not all churches and Christians do. Some churches teach that receiving Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit is the same thing. But in Acts 19:2 the disciples said to ones they met , “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” Those ones answered, “We haven’t even heard of the Holy Spirit.” So the Apostle Paul went on and led those folks in Ephesus to be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

These are all basics. It won’t help to talk about following God if you aren’t yet saved and then have received the power that Jesus promised us in the Holy Spirit. But if you have come that far, what’s next? Just go now to heaven? “We’re ok now, we’re saved and filled. What else is there but to go to be with the Lord, right?”

Well, as I’m sure you know, that’s not right. Jesus gave what’s called “the great commission” in Mark 16:15 when He said to the disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” And, as the phrase goes, this is often what separates the men from the boys. Or, much more accurately, this is what has come to differentiate between what has been called “churchianity” and the original Christianity of the book of Acts and the early church.

We’re called and commissioned to “preach the gospel”. Those words sound  slightly funny in our times because we can envision that we are suppose to ascend some pulpit somewhere and “preach”, which nowadays is a word almost only used in a religious sense. Even the word “witness” is pretty much only thought of in a religious sense. But if those words are maybe uncomfortable to you or sound out of style with the times we live in, you could think of it in the way of sharing. Most folks understand and even approve of sharing.

Here’s something in Isaiah that maybe puts the great commission in another framework that is perhaps easier to see yourself in. “If you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall rise in obscurity and your darkness shall be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought and you shall be like a watered garden and like springs of waters whose waters fail not.”  (Isaiah 58:10 & 11)

Or as Jesus taught when He was on earth, “Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. For with the same measure that you give, it shall be given unto you.” (Luke 6:38) That’s an integral ingredient of what our present life should be as disciples of Christ while we are still here on earth.

“But, Mark! I thought you were going to talk about miracles! When are you going to talk about miracles?”

The good answer to that is found just a few short verses after Jesus’ famous ringing words of Mark 16:15. He told them to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Then, five verses later, at the end of the book of Mark, it says, “And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming His word with signs following.” (Mark 16:20)

“Signs following”. As they began to obey and get out and do what the Lord told them to do, witness and win souls and share all they had, the Lord was right there with them (since He’s always way out in front anyway), and He “confirmed His word with signs following.” Miracles. The book of Acts is just almost one continual testimony of this, with the disciples, in fits and starts, obeying the Lord and following the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you want to read about miracles happening to disciples, you should read the book of Acts. That’s the blueprint and plan for Christianity yet so few churches really take it seriously for our times.

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Acts chapter 10. Talk about following God. Talk about “going” and pioneering. Peter was already “going”. He was up in Joppa, up the coast from the home church in Jerusalem. So he was already obeying and the Lord “gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him.” (Acts 5.32) And Peter was even taking things to the Lord in prayer, alone with God on a housetop.

And then the action starts, when the Lord seems to just go completely contrary to what Peter was expecting. God shows him a sheet full of unclean animals and the Lord says to him, “Arise Peter, kill and eat.” What does Peter respond? “Yes sir, Lord! Anything you say, Lord!”? Nope, that’s not what Peter said. In fact Peter directly disagrees with and says no to the Lord, as he had been prone to do from time to time in the past.

The gentle, loving son of God was patient and kind, telling Peter that there were three men downstairs, “unclean” and that Peter should immediately go with them, “doubting nothing”. As you know, sometimes just the “follow God” part of our contract with Him can get to be a little challenging, as it was for Peter here.

But Peter knew the Lord enough, loved the Lord enough and had gone through so many breakings and remakings that he somehow here obeyed, probably with some trepidation since good Jews were not supposed to hang out with Romans, which evidently those folks at the door were.

The result? Cornelius the Roman centurion, leader of 100 Roman troops, got gloriously saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, as did his family and friends who’d come to hear Peter.

“So what?”, you could say. But this was the monumental moment in the history of God’s relationship with man when His Spirit and you could even say His focus turned towards “the gentiles” rather than the Jewish nation within which the Lord had been almost exclusively working till then. (Here’s the link to a blog article I wrote on Acts chapter 10, as well as a recording of a live class on Acts 10 which the article was based on.)

But God had to find a man. God had to have someone yielded enough to obey Him, to physically get up and go, “doubting nothing”. The miracles didn’t precede the obedience. But in this case, it wasn’t just a showy miracle for those folks right there but it involved a major change of direction in the history of mankind, the beginnings of the early church as the Lord got Peter, the leader of the early church at that time to truly go even further into all the world than their Jewish heritage would allow them to go, except by the almost forceful leading of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to us in our times? The conditions of discipleship are pretty much still the same today. We still have to do the going. “As they went, they were healed.” (Luke 17:14) But we have to do the “wenting”. The Lord raised the dead. But they had to roll away the stone.

Many of you here understand the fundamental link between obedience and blessings. We are not our own, we are bought with a price. We may not understand but all we have to do is obey. If you can accept those conditions, like the Lord laid out for His first disciples, then there’s still that cup of discipleship to be drunk in our times. There’s a poor sin-sick world that needs his love and truth. The harvest is still plenteous but the true laborers are still few.

But the good news is, the Lord has already spoken in prophecy of these very times we live in. And somebody, maybe you, is going to fulfill those prophecies. It says of the very last days “the people who do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)  It says, “They that understand amoung the people shall instruct many.” (Daniel 11:33) It says in Revelation, talking about the ones who are here at the time of the worst of the Antichrist and his forces, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

It is written. It is ordained. It’s already happened in the eyes of God. There are going to be victors in these final days, a called-out, separated-from-the-world discipleship church of the endtime who will be shining brightly, “doing exploits” and “instructing many” in the last days before the return of Jesus. They’ll be truly following God and the Lord will be working mightily with them, performing miracles on their behalf. I believe that’s the calling and heritage that is there for every person in this room. May the mighty God of Abraham and His Son Jesus help us to be what He has called us to be.

Ignorance and Prejudice or Truth and Integrity

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Ignorance and prejudice or truth and integrity? These things know no boundaries or borders. Are “They” ignorant and prejudice while “We” are innocent of those things? Nope. No one group anywhere has a monopoly on any of these, regardless of what you hear almost everywhere nowadays.

I’ve had some fascinating experiences recently on Facebook. I “boost” (as Facebook calls it) my blog posts and videos via Facebook to many countries and I receive some pretty interesting responses. I’ve lived in Islamic countries off and on for years and I guess I have a special interest in people in that part of the world. So when I’ve been able to boost the videos to Islamic countries, in languages spoken in those places, I’ve been interested to know what the response will be.

Recently one situation in particular has been special for me. A local language video I’ve done was going out to an Islamic country and I was getting feedback through Facebook. Yes, some of it could be called negative but I could tell that most of those responding had just never heard of the prophet Daniel. Some commented that this was just a Jewish myth. Others were taking an accepted Islamic response that there were only 25 prophets recognized in Islam and that Daniel was not listed as one of them.

But then Facebook responses started coming from a man from that country, trying to edify and correct what he could see were uneducated and often prejudiced comments that were being made. He is Islamic, not a Christian. But he was reproving his countrymen to not so quickly dismiss things they knew very little about.

The prophet Daniel’s tomb in Tarsus, Turkey

He told them that the prophet Daniel is not mentioned in the Koran but that he’s definitely mentioned in Islamic writings as being an ancient, genuine prophet of the Jews. He went on to tell them that the tomb of Daniel is said to be in Tarsus, Turkey.  He also found and shared in the chat discussion an Islamic website that has extensive information on Daniel chapter 2 from the Bible, the subject of the video I’d posted on line in their language.

And I was like, “Wow, God bless that guy. He’s not Christian but he’s standing up to the ignorance and some prejudice he’s seeing and is trying to rectify it, going against the wind and the trend in order to try to help his countrymen have a more educated, nuanced view of these things, even if he doesn’t actually fully agree with what I’ve shared in the video.”

I don’t know about you but I’m pained and grieved every single day by the prejudice and ignorance I see… everywhere. It seems to be one of the greatest banes of our times and it increases by the day. They say, “It’s not who’s right but what’s right.” So it should be, doubtless. But is that working where you are? Or does it seem that society is in some kind of centrifugal spin, separating into tribes, factions, movements and divisions with nothing but yawning gaps of hatred, ignorance and prejudice between them?

As they say, “Truth is the first causality of any war.” And finding those who’ll stand up for truth, particularly if it goes against their clan or interest group, is very rare indeed, at least as far as I know. So it was fascinating to see this Islamic man going against the wind where he lives, setting straight the uninformed and even prejudiced majority of commentators on my video postings. And actually this has happened with posts of mine to other Islamic countries in other parts of the world and in other languages, where local Islamic ones there also spoke up to set the record straight and inform those commenting that Daniel was in fact recognized in Islamic writings.

How about that? As far as I’m concerned, anyone in these times who stands up for truth and integrity, against prejudice and ignorance, deserves recognition and acclaim. Jesus said, “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” (John 18:37) So you may be part of my clan, living in my state here in America, look like me, talk like me and seemingly we’re really on the same page and in the same category. But if you’re prejudiced and ignorant, if you’re pulsing with hate and spewing out animosity, falsehood and slander against those you oppose, then I’m obliged as a Christian to stand up to your ignorance and prejudice, even if we’re the same in so many other ways.

And if I find “foreigners”, folks of a different religion, race and background from me who are opposing falsehood, ignorance and prejudice, then I strangely will end up feeling affinity with those folks, whoever they may be, who are fighting the same fight I am, for truth, love and righteousness. Jesus said “I am… the truth.” (John 14:6) And some people, even though they may not have all the truth that others of us have, if they’re doing the best they can to live and stand up for the truth they do have, I feel they deserve acclamation and encouragement.

Actually of course, all Christians should abhor and resist ignorance and prejudice. All of us should stand and fight for integrity and the holiness of truth. But, as most of you know, that’s really not what’s going on in our times, or certainly not nearly as much as there should be.

God help us all to oppose ignorance, prejudge and hatred and to do what we can to bring truth and genuine veracity to our friends and neighbors, even as this dear Islamic man recently did in response to the comments he saw about the videos I’ve done.

Living by faith that God will supply all your needs

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For those in Christian missionary work, you sometimes hear them speak of “living by faith.” This usually has an economic meaning. The Scriptural principle behind it is that if you’re “seeking first the Kingdom of God” as Jesus said, then “all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) Another well known verse that’s claimed by those who live by faith is what Paul said, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

As you might figure, it can be a controversial doctrine. Some would say, “But what if everyone did that?!” Others will quote Paul who said, “Those that shall not work shall not eat.”  (II Thessalonians 3:10) And it should go without saying that “living by faith” and serving God, seeking first the Kingdom of God in no way implies any lack of work. It’s just that it’s work like you see in the four Gospels and the book of Acts. Folks who take this direction have verses that become much more alive to them than when they didn’t live by faith before.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) Those who are “living by faith” and serving the Lord full time feel they’ve come to a full-time service for the Lord which has delivered them from daily serving  Mammon and the systems of this world.

Is all this mandatory? Will a person go to hell if they’re not living by faith, fully serving the Lord daily? No. But a deeper look at the New Testament does pretty clearly show that this was the nature of the lives of the early apostles and disciples of Jesus. Let’s face it; so much of our lives is described in what Jesus said,

“Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat; neither for the body, what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment… If then God so clothes the grass, which is to day in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be you of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you have need of these things.”   (Luke 12:22-30)

Such famous, familiar words from the Lord but how much they’ve been glossed over and set aside by so many believers as having no real message, meaning or promise to us practically in the real world of this day.

But when you are “living by faith” on the mission field and all you have is the Lord (since you’ve forsaken all to go into all the world and win souls), you very much see the promises and provision of God utterly come through for you, even in some of the strangest and most trying times. I wrote about one experience I personally had like that when I first got married in “Foolhardy Faith”, when my former wife and I were in Sweden in our 20’s with our first child and trying to get to the mission field the Lord had laid on our hearts.

“Well, Mark, that’s great but it’s not for me. And not for most of us, as you know. I need to have a normal job and a normal life like the rest of society. I’m a Christian, I go to church. But all this fanatical missionary stuff is just too far out.”

What I’ve found is that God has ways of sifting His people. He’s not trying to be mean to us. It’s just that we have more safety, security and even provision as well as meaning and happiness in serving Him, even full time, than we do in serving Mammon six days a week and then going to church on Sunday. But, admittedly, this is the way virtually all Christians live in these times.

Another simple thing Jesus said about this which is so often overlooked is “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust do corrupt and thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth or rust corrupt or thieves break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-20) Heard all that before? Certainly. But how many understand it, take it to heart and try to put it into practice?

To end with, here’s some good news. In the final days before the Lord’s return, we’re not really going to be able to serve Mammon the way most Christians do now. The Bible says that “no man will be able to buy or sell” (Revelation 13:17) unless they have the mark of the Beast of the final Anti-Christ government. The sifting will be pretty strong then.

Christians, if they want to remain Christians, will have to trust God then and probably even be serving the Lord much more than they do now. And their economics? God’s got that covered then, just as He already does now. Revelation 12:14 speaks of the believers of those times, “The woman [the believing body of Christ on earth, the bride of Christ] fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there [for 3 ½ years] from the face of the serpent.” This is something I wrote more about when I was in the Bulgarian hinterland a few years ago in “Fleeing into the Wilderness… in Bulgaria“.

In the end, before the Lord’s return, there will be a sifted, separated, fruit-bearing body of believers throughout the earth, living by faith and trusting Him to supply all their needs.

 

 

“By Long Forbearing Is A Prince Persuaded”

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I don’t know of any single verse you can share with a loved one that will bring them to the Lord. Most likely many of these ones have already “heard it all” and some folks can quote Scripture as good or better than you can.  But still they don’t really believe it or take it to heart. So what can we do?

A friend at church asked me if I could give her a verse to share with her husband so he’ll come to the Lord. I said I’d try to write her about it. But when I was looking to the Lord about it, it was a little disheartening. Because personally, on several levels, I know how difficult it is to persuade loved ones to come to Him.

For one, I myself was about as big a “goat” and a “wolf” as there ever was, before I came to the Lord. I laughed and mocked at Christians for years and enjoyed getting in a rousing argument with them since I was convinced I’d always win. I wouldn’t listen to anyone and it took the totally undeserved mercy of God to save me. I was about to depart this life and go to hell before I saw that it was all real and put my will down on the side of the God of love and truth.

But today, when I further looked to the Lord about all this, I actually did get a verse and I think it was from the Lord, about this subject. It’s from Proverbs 25:15: “By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.” My oh my, there’s a challenge. How is she going to persuade her prince? How are any of us going to win our resistant loved ones over to the Lord’s side? Long forbearing. In other words, patience or restraint.

Wouldn’t it be easier if we could just get mad at them? Really tell them off? “How can they be such idiots, no”? It’s as clear as day to us; why in the world don’t they see it?! It’s funny how the Lord throws a lot of this back on us. And it was pretty much the way I was feeling already in response to what this friend asked me, just that this verse confirmed that direction I was thinking this would go.

The best we can to is to try as much as possible to be a living sample of the Word. I think it was Dwight L. Moody who said something like, “The only bible most people read is the one bound in shoe leather.” In other words, you and me, people walking around in leather shoes rather than the printed Scriptures, bound in leather. People will “read” us to see if what they see is true and real.

And the second part of that verse is also poignant, “…and a soft tongue breaketh the bones.” But many would say that this is easier said than done. Paul said, “Charity suffers long and is kind.” (I Corinthians 13:4) James, the Lord’s brother said, “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath. For the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19 & 20) And if that was ever true, it’s true when you’re trying to win souls and especially loved ones to the Lord.

But it can be difficult. It’s likely you are already “familiar” with them. I wrote about this in “Familiarity”. You know what a rascal they are and they probably think they know what a religious hypocrite we are. And likely both are right. So it ends up that the devil will do all he can to hinder you in your witness from as many angles as he can.

“Oh, Mark, it sounds so hopeless! Come on, isn’t there anything we can do?!”

Sure there is. For one, don’t fail to keep praying for them. Samuel said to the people of Israel, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.” (I Samuel 12:23) Keep praying fervently for your loved ones. But also, really resist the urge to think you are witnessing to them when you may come across as brow-beating, nagging and criticizing them.

The Lord does want you to witness to them, make no mistake about that. But it may be that He wants you to really upgrade your witness by including Him much more in it. If you’re also praying for the Lord’s leadings in how to witness to your loved ones, aim to be more sensitive to the leadings of the Lord, what to say as well as when to say it. The Lord can actually give you a nudge or impulse from Him of what to say and when to say it that will be far better than our sometimes vain wrangling.

Isaiah said, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” (Isaiah 50:4) Maybe that’s a real key in how to win our loved ones: to have “the tongue of the learned” so we can be led of Him to speak the right thing at the right time. We’re not trying to win an argument or get the best of them. We’re trying to lead them to Him. So, “He must increase” but often “we must decrease.” (John 3:30)

Everyone needs to see an example of a true, real Christian, a humble, loving, kind forgiving person who truly loves them with a love that isn’t found in this world. And this is all not to say that so many aren’t already really trying to do this with their loved ones, perhaps for years.

But that was the verse I got today on this subject, “By long forbearing is a prince persuaded and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.” Sometimes even the toughest nuts are finally won by loving patience and a sample of humility and Godly softness rather than our possibly calloused hearts which have been hurt by the rejection they’ve experienced in standing up for Him. God help us to love people and to stand up for the Lord but with wisdom and by His Spirit.

 

Living by faith that God will supply all your needs

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For those serving the Lord in mission work, you sometimes hear them speak of “living by faith.” This usually has an economic meaning. The Scriptural principle behind it is that if you’re “seeking first the Kingdom of God” as Jesus said, then “all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) Another well known verse that’s claimed by those who live by faith is what Paul said, “But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

As you might figure, it can be a controversial doctrine. Some would say, “But what if everyone did that?!” Others will quote Paul who said, “Those who shall not work shall not eat.” (II Thessalonians 3:10) And it should go without saying that “living by faith” and serving God, seeking first the Kingdom of God, in no way implies any lack of work. It’s just that it’s work like you see in the four Gospels and the book of Acts. Folks who take this direction have verses that become much more alive to them than when they didn’t live by faith before.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) Those living by faith and serving the Lord feel they’ve come to a full-time service for the Lord which has delivered them from daily serving mammon and the systems of this world.

Is all this mandatory? Will a person go to hell if they’re not living by faith, fully serving the Lord? No. But a deeper look at the New Testament does pretty clearly show that this was the nature of the lives of the early apostles and disciples of Jesus. Let’s face it; so much of our lives is described in what Jesus said,

“Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat; neither for the body, what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment…  …If then God so clothes the grass, which is to day in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be of a doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after and your Father knows that you have need of these things.” (Luke 12:22-30)

Such famous, familiar words from the Lord. But how much they’ve been glossed over and set aside by so many believers as having no real message, meaning or promise to us practically in the real world of this day.

But when you’re “living by faith” on the mission field and all you have is the Lord (since you’ve gone into all the world and win souls), you very much see the promises and provision of God utterly come through for you, even in some of the strangest and most trying times. I wrote about one experience like that which my former wife and I had in Sweden when we first got married . You can read about that in “Foolhardy Faith”, an amazing time of miraculous provision, here.

“Well, Mark, that’s great but it’s not for me. And not for most of us, as you surely know. I need to have a normal job and a normal life like the rest of society. I’m a Christian, I go to church. But all this fanatical missionary stuff is just too far out.”

What I’ve found is that God has ways of sifting His people. He’s not trying to be mean to us. It’s just that we have more safety, security and even provision as well as meaning and happiness in serving Him, even full time, than we do in having a worldly job six days a week and then going to church on Sunday. Admitted, this is the way virtually all Christians live in these times.

Another simple thing Jesus said about this which is so often overlooked is “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust do corrupt and thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth or rust corrupt or thieves break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-20) Heard all that before? Certainly. But how many understand it or take it to heart and try to put it into practice.

To end with, here’s some good news. In the final days before the Lord’s return, we’re not really going to be able to serve Mammon the way most Christians do now. The Bible says that “no man will be able to buy or sell” (Revelation 13:17) unless they have the mark of the Beast of the final Anti-Christ government. The sifting will be pretty strong then.

Christians, if they want to remain Christians, will have to trust God then and probably even be serving the Lord much more than they do now. And their economics? God’s got that covered then, just as He already does now. Revelation 12:6 & 14 speaks of the believers of those times, “The woman [the believing body of Christ on earth, the bride of Christ] fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there [3 ½ years] from the face of the serpent.” In the end, before the Lord’s return, there’ll be a sifted, separated, fruit-bearing body of believers throughout the earth, living by faith and trusting Him to supply all their needs.