Free Will or Predestination - a Brief Insight

In My Utmost for His Highest, June 7th devotional, Oswald Chambers remarks that, ‘The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and his apparent free choices are God’s foreordained decrees.’

This is, of course, Calvinist theology, which raises the question of freedom of choice or predestination. Does God predestine our very steps or do we actually have free will? My quick and dirty answer to that question is ‘yes’.

After reading the above devotional and while I was praying, I saw in my mind’s eye a complex maze with only one way from the outside to the centre. Then it seemed God was saying to me that that’s not how He works.

In God’s economy there are myriad ways to reach the centre. God is so huge that He is not limited to accomplishing a goal by a single method. He can provide us with numerous choices and still accomplish His plan for our lives and those affected by us.

The ultimate goal is ‘oneness’ with God – we will not be fully prepared for eternity otherwise. If that is not our goal it should be. But is that predestination? Not really,  many people die in their sins, which is all one needs as proof that we are not all predestined to a single outcome. God would prefer that none perish but many do every day. Also, many Christians are happy just to get one foot into Heaven and are not willing to suffer the self-destruction and self-denial necessary to be one with God.

What happens to such Christians? Watchman Nee suggested that they would be limited in what they can do in Eternity. John Wesley believed that one would suffer through illness or some other affliction before they die until they have completely surrendered every part of themselves to the Lord. C.S. Lewis wrote that he suspected such people would undergo some unimaginable process between death and Eternity.

Whatever happens, it will cost us something, perhaps something very significant, to be satisfied with mere salvation when oneness with God is the real prize.

Questions About John Paul Jackson's Fight with Cancer - Update 2/21/15

Update: 21 February 2015

This from JPJs website:

"Over this past weekend we've started to see signs that his weakened breathing is causing vital organs to become oxygen deprived," reads a post on his website.

Jackson has been battling cancer since May 2014 after doctors found a large, aggressive growth in his leg that needed immediate treatment. Through this experience, he wrote how cancer taught him much about how seriously God takes our fears and vowed to use prayer to fight it.

"I am pursuing the kingdom of God and equipping people to do the same as vigorously as I am able. I refuse to allow the enemy a stronghold in my thoughts. God is great and all-powerful," Jackson said in 2014. "I believe He will take me through this battle. In the process, God will gain a great victory and His name will be glorified."

John Paul Jackson passed into the presence of the Lord on February 18th, 2015. 

My questions at the bottom of this post are still valid, but perhaps his passing and his attitude before passing will help us to answer them. I will be back in a few days with more thoughts on this.


The following article appeared in a Christian news web-site. I reproduce it, in part, for 2 reasons: 1. To encourage you to pray for him
2. To ask some genuine questions about his approach to the disease.

In no way do I wish to impune or criticize Jackson, He is a man of God and a Christian in very good standing as far as I can tell. But God has me asking questions about how we pray and how we glorify Him and this is a great opportunity to verbalize those questions. I will save them until you have read the excerpt.

John Paul Jackson Vows to Fight Aggressive Cancer With Prayer

John Paul Jackson, perhaps best known for his prophetic dream interpretations, has been diagnosed with cancer. Doctors found a large, aggressive cancerous growth in his leg that needs immediate treatment.

John Paul Jackson

“I have said on many occasions that I do not always understand God’s ways, especially in the heat of a test, but I do always trust Him, in good times and in difficult times,” Jackson writes. He called the cancer his “greatest personal test.”

In the face of the cancer diagnoses, Jackson has canceled his upcoming speaking engagements to prepare for what he calls a “rigorous treatment protocol.”

“I have not ruled out any and all forms of treatment paths, but at the top of that list is prayer. I know that God can heal me in one instant or through the hands of doctors over time,” Jackson says. “We are focusing our faith for a miracle, while following doctor’s advice until my healing is complete.”

During his treatment, Jackson vows to do what God has called him to do as best he can. But he will not include travel in the mix.

“I am pursuing the kingdom of God and equipping people to do the same as vigorously as I am able. I refuse to allow the enemy a stronghold in my thoughts. God is great and all-powerful,” Jackson says. “I believe He will take me through this battle. In the process, God will gain a great victory and His name will be glorified.”

Jackson has asked believers everywhere to join in the battle with him by offering two minutes a day to ask God to heal him and destroy the works of the evil one.

So here are my questions:

Is sickness always the fault of the devil?
Does God make people sick?
Is being healed either miraculously or through doctors, the best way to glorify God?
If not, how can we best glorify God in our sickness?
Should we pray for God's will to be done when we pray for healing?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, and if you can back them up with scripture, that would be really great. God bless.

Gary

4 Costs of Becoming a Christian

Very much in keeping with Bonhoeffer's 'cheap grace', though it predates Bonhoeffer, this is a clear and concise summary of the cost of salvation. J.C. Ryle died in 1900 at the age of 84. He was a brilliant student at Eton and Oxford and became the first Anglican Bishop of Liverpool.

J.C. Ryle writes in his classic work Holiness that there are four things a person must be ready to give up if they wish to become a Christian.

J.C. Ryle

#1: Counting the Cost: Your Self-Righteousness

#2: Counting the Cost: Your Sins

#3: Counting the Cost: Your Love of Ease

#4: Counting the Cost: The Favor of the World

 Summary: Contemplating the Four Costs

[Before going through the four points] Let there be no mistake about my meaning. I am not examining what it costs to save a Christian’s soul. I know well that it costs nothing less that the blood of the Son of God to provide atonement, and to redeem man from hell. The price paid for our redemption was nothing less than the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary. The point I want to consider is another one altogether. It is what a man must be ready to give up if he wishes to be saved. It is the amount of sacrifice a man must submit to if he intends to serve Christ. It is in this sense that I raise the question, ‘What does it cost?’ And I believe firmly it is a most important one.”

What does it cost to be a true Christian?

1) It will cost him his self-righteousness. He must cast away all pride and high thoughts, and conceit of his own goodness. He must be content to go to heaven as a poor sinner saved only by free grace, and owing all to the merit and righteousness of another. He must be willing to give up all trust in his own morality, respectability, praying, Bible-reading, Church-going, and sacrament-receiving, and trust in nothing but Jesus Christ. Let us set down this item first and foremost in our account. To be a true Christian it will cost a man his self-righteousness.

2) It will cost a man his sins. He must be willing to give up every habit and practice which is wrong in God’s sight. He must set his face against it, quarrel with it, break off from it, fight with it, crucify it, and labor to keep it under, whatever the world around him may say or think. He must do this honestly and fairly. There must be no separate truce with any special sin which he loves. He must count all sins as his deadly enemies, and hate every false way. Whether little or great, whether open or secret, all his sins must be thoroughly renounced. Let us set down that item second in our account. To be a Christian it will cost a man his sins.

3) It will cost a man his love of ease. He must take pains and trouble, if he means to run a successful face towards heaven. He must daily watch and stand his guard, like a soldier on enemy’s ground. He must take heed to his behavior every hour of the day, in every company, and in every place, in public as well as in private, among strangers as well as at home. He must be careful over his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his imaginations, his motives, his conduct in every relation of life. He must be diligent about his prayers, his Bible-reading, and his use of Sundays, with all their means of grace. “This also sounds hard. There is nothing we naturally dislike so much as ‘trouble’ about our religion. We hate trouble. We secretly wish we could have a ‘vicarious’ Christianity, and could be good by proxy, and have everything done for us. Anything that requires exertion and labor is entirely against the grain of our hearts. But the soul can have ‘no gains without pains.’ Let us set down that item third in our account. To be a Christian it will cost a man his love of ease.

4) It will cost a man the favor of the world. He must be content to be thought ill of by man if he pleases God. He must count it no strange thing to be mocked, ridiculed, slandered, persecuted, and even hated. He must not be surprised to find his opinions and practices in religion despised and held up to scorn. He must submit to be thought by many a fool, an enthusiast, and a fanatic – to have his words perverted and his actions misrepresented. In fact, he must not marvel if some call him mad. “I dare say this also sounds hard. We naturally dislike unjust dealing and false charges, and think it very hard to be accused without cause. We should not be flesh and blood if we did not wish to have the good opinion of our neighbors. It is always unpleasant to be spoken against, and forsaken, and lied about, and to stand alone. But there is no help for it. The cup which our Master drank must be drunk by His disciples. They must be ‘despised and rejected of men’ (Isaiah 53:3). Let us set down that item last in our account. To be a Christian it will cost a man the favor of the world.

Bold indeed must that man be who would dare to say that we may keep our self-righteousness, our sins, our laziness, and our love of the world, and yet be saved? I grant it costs much to be a true Christian. But who in his sound senses can doubt that it is worth any cost to have the soul saved? When the ship is in danger of sinking, the crew think nothing of casting overboard the precious cargo. When a limb is mortified, a man will submit to any severe operation, and even to amputation, to save life. Surely a Christian should be willing to give up anything which stands between him and heaven. A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing! A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown.

Excerpt from Holiness by J. C. Ryle

I Love It When People Listen to God

This is a follow-up to: Listening to the heart of God

At a dinner just before Christmas, an amazing young Christian man told me that I was under 'tremendous' spiritual attack. I agreed with him without hesitation. It has to do with my other blog (see the link above), and maybe my soon-to-be-published book, and maybe, also, my wife's ministry with Pulmonary Hypertension sufferers. See: God answers prayer

At any rate, this past weekend it became obvious that the attack had expanded to include some of my children. Two of our children on consecutive days suffered significant trauma in their lives. It became obvious that we needed people praying for us.

However, we were too sick to go to church Sunday, and I was too sick to go to the intercessory prayer meeting that I usually attend on Monday evening. I was thinking that I would have to wait for Saturday night before finding people to pray for us.

Then the phone rang. It was a friend from the apartment building we just moved out of. She and another good friend had felt that they were supposed to call a prayer meeting for Thursday evening to pray for my wife and I and our ministries.

Wow! That's listening to God! 

I am quite looking forward to what He is going to do. God doesn't call a prayer meeting for fun; it's very likely that He plans to do something. I'll report back Friday or Saturday.

Meanwhile, if you could think of us occasionally in your prayers, it would be greatly appreciated.

What is Jesus to You? Questions and Answers from Ann Voskamp

This is an excerpt from Ann Voskamp's blog - A Holy Experience, posted yesterday. Even though she mainly ministers to women, she is closer to God than anyone I know today except for Jesus Himself.
Today's blog is just a powerful. See lower right column for connection.

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2014/01/the-most-important-skill-that-your-2014-really-needs/
And the wonder Christmas whispers it right into the pragmatism of my New Year:

Is Jesus merely useful to you — or is He ultimately beautiful to you?

When Jesus is useful to me, I’m looking for a genie in a bottle, to give me the life I want.

When Jesus is beautiful to me, I’m looking for His face in my life, to give Him the love I feel.

When Jesus is merely useful to me, I want Him to move my world.

When Jesus is ultimately beautiful to me, it’s my heart that is moved – and this begins to change the world.

When I see Jesus as useful, he’s a gadget to make my life better. When I see Jesus as beautiful, He’s a joy that makes my heart sing louder….

Am I a Jesus-user?
Or a Jesus-adorer?

In a new year, the only hope of a new me, is only Christ in me.

The most important life skill to have in 2014 is to live aware that Jesus is the only life I have.

Nothing will happen this year apart from Him. Nothing will be remade, nothing will be transformed, nothing will be satisfying apart from Him. Jesus is the only life I have. His shed blood is the only blood I have. His given heart is the only heart I have. His identity is the only real identity I have.

The most important skill to have in 2014 is paying attention to Jesus — nothing else is worth spending your one beautiful year on.

The only real self-help you can ever really muster is preaching Jesus to yourself.

I sweep needles out from under the Christmas tree, and it’s like finding the needle in the hay stack, finding what I need for a new year. It’s all getting simpler:

Just  be with Jesus. Listen to Jesus. Rest in Jesus. Wait for Jesus. Be Loved by Jesus. Wonder over Jesus. Live through Jesus.

When who Jesus is overwhelms you — nothing that happens can overcome you.

Steep your soul in Jesus and nothing is too steep to overcome.

Whatever you do, do it as Jesus.
Whatever you do, do it as to Jesus.

The New Year just got ultra-simplified:

Do everything as Jesus.
Do everything to Jesus.

Amazing Testimonies of Heaven and God's Miraculous Healing

Below is an exchange on Facebook where my wife, Patricia, has a lot of PH friends. My wife was instantly healed of PH when a group of friends and I prayed for her. The story is on the link just below. 

I post it to give glory to God Who still heals today, and to give hope to those who are dealing with chronic problems. Don't give up hope. Whether your healing comes in this world or the next, it will come if you believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.

Meanwhile, please pray phor a cure for PH. There are way too many people suffering and dying from this horrible disease.

Patricia McFarland-Myers -Yesterday as I stood in line at the Post Office I was overwhelmed by God's Grace. 2 yrs ago I could not stand in line. I was in a Wheelchair. 1 yr. ago I had the incurable disease PH (Pulmonary Hypertension).

We moved back to B.C. to be closer to more family...after Gary & friends prayed Drs. are saying they can't find it. See full story.

2 days ago either our son Bob or Hubby & I had no place to live after Christmas. (We are using his small cute apt.) I stood in line at the Post office to send a very modest rent to a young man in England. We will be house sitting his beautiful furnished high-rise apt. for possibly the next 6 yrs. Humbled by Gods Grace. I feel like Tye Pennington had just yelled "Move that Bus!"

For those of you who don't know, my PHriend who posted above Alice Jaehne has a great experience too. She was all but dead 3 months ago. She was on life support...She saw Heaven. 4/5days later she was back at home. God is listening. If you don't think so. .just ask Him.
about an hour ago via mobile · Edited · Like


Alice Marie Jaehne - Hello, I am the ph friend Patricia is referring to.

On Sept 30 my husband called 911 and my last memory was him running down the hall for the phone, next memory I was in a place so bright it was absolutely stunning! I knew I was in heaven, my brother died in 2012, he was with me, he had become a quadriplegic 10 yrs ago when he rolled his big rig to avoid what he thought was a card load of kids! His voice was barely a whisper with all the tubes, but in heaven when he talked to me it was his voice before the accident, I was just stunned, then I heard another voice telling me it was not my time!

Then I woke up and it was 4 days later, I was still on the life support and failed the first breathing test, 24 hours later I passed on day 5 and got off the breathing machine and went home on day 6. I had gone into renal failure and had full blown sepsis shock and the dr. told my husband if they could bring me back I would be on dialysis the remainder of my life. 

We know the Lord was working with those dr's because they were in shock that when I woke they tested my kidneys and today I do not have even 1 percent of kidney damage. PRAISE GOD! I looked up full blown sepsis shock and its not pretty but for me to have full working kidneys and come off life supports also is truly a miracle, not to mention getting to see a glimpse if heaven. 

So for any that are not sure if there is a God or heaven Patricia McFarland and I can tell you there is and the Lord was with us both, Patricia's miracle just touches my heart so deeply, it shows how powerful prayer is and that God listens to us all no matter how big or small! I know that people on here were praying for me, and my husband by my side praying, I want to thank you all because your prayers worked and I am very grateful!


Velma Jean Ettlin God is so great and I do love when we get yes but some times he says no with the same love.
I experienced a miracle healing of a blown disk in my lower back in 1975 and a no when the disk in my neck blew. Later God did heal me thru a dr and surgery. He taught me to praise with a yes and to praise louder with a no. We dont always get a yes but God is in control.
about a minute ago via mobile · Like

Velma Jean Ettlin I write this for those that have prayed and didn't get a yes. Just know God always hears and answers for your best.

God is so Cool!

Yesterday and the day before were travel days for my wife and I and Butch the undercover police dog. We brought our little trailer back down to Abbotsford, B.C. from Edmonton, AB, in case we decide to go south this winter (to southern California). Some questions need to be answered before we decide.

We spent the night before last at Mount Robson National Park. Robson is a very impressive mountain in the Canadian Rockies but was clouded in when we got there. I did get down to the river and took this stunning picture of the gorge near Mt Robson on the upper, Upper Fraser River.

Mount Robson gorge on Fraser River

We got home yesterday in time to drop the trailer and unload the several bins of stuff we brought back from Edmonton, just before dark. When I walked Butch, it was already dark. Unfortunately, upon our return to the apartment building, I realized that I had lost my key fob. To make matters worse, it's black! So here I am in the dark looking for a black key fob in the parking lot and in the grass.

Of course, we have 2 key fobs, but the second one is with my son, an hour away, for him to use while we were away in Edmonton. Now the problem becomes serious - we can get away without a fob for a couple days, if necessary, as long as one of us stayed home to buzz the other in. But at the end of a long and tiring day, I was starting to get frustrated.

Just then I remembered one of my own proverbs (see Gary's proverbs column). It's the one about glorifying God every moment of every day, in every circumstance. I would remember that one. I began talking to God, "OK, Lord, how do I glorify You in this circumstance?" I immediately thought - by not getting frustrated.

"OK, Lord, I can live with the inconvenience of this situation without getting upset or even annoyed." Immediately, I stepped on something in the grass that didn't belong there - it was my key fob! I wasn't even surprised. God does stuff like this so often it's almost funny. Blessed be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and blessed be His Son, Jesus Christ.

Tozer on Lordship Theology

From No Saviourhood without Lordship – The Root of the Righteous

Are you saved? Is Jesus Lord of your life? All of your life? Modern evangelism teaches that you can receive Jesus as Savior without accepting Him as Lord of your life. Get saved first, then work on surrendering your life to Christ later.

Never one to mince words, Tozer calls this teaching extremely simple and quite popular, ready-made for both the hearer and the teacher, requiring no thinking by either.

Tozer poses that you cannot divide Christ in either Savior or Lord, He is both or neither. One has to understand that Jesus doesn't give salvation – He is salvation. He is also Lord. He cannot be one or the other but is always both.

“It is altogether doubtful that a man can be saved who comes to Christ for His help but with no intention to obey Him.”

The word ‘intention’ here is quite critical. Of course, we cannot obey Christ perfectly as soon as we are saved. Indeed, it may not even be possible to obey Him completely in this life. But if we ‘intend’ to obey Him and refuse to settle for anything less, then we have accepted Jesus as Lord.

Consequently, if there is some area of our life that dishonors God, that is counter to His Word, and we are not striving diligently to overcome it, then it is doubtful that we can claim Jesus as Lord or Savior.

I believe that we Christians should be manifesting the character of Christ every moment of every day and in every situation. Failure to do that should help us to see what areas of our life still require surrendering to His Lordship.

Lovers of Self

2 Tim 3:1-5
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
For men will be lovers of self,…
Holding to a form of godliness,…
Avoid such men as these.

Loving yourself, as discussed in the post “Loving Yourself”, requires action. Love in the Bible is usually an action verb requiring you to do something. Loving your neighbor means giving him drink when he’s thirsty, food when he’s hungry, clothes when he is naked, etc., etc. In loving ourselves we automatically do all those things for ourselves. But pop psychology would have us do much more for ourselves so that we feel good about ourselves; is that what Christ wants from us?

Matt 16:24
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

If Jesus loved Himself would He have spent 40 days in the mountains fasting? Would He have voluntarily suffered the pain and humiliation of the scourging and the cross? No! He endured such things because He loves the Father, not Himself – “nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done!”

2 Tim 2:11b,12a
For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.

Dying, enduring, these are not words of love unless the dying and enduring is for someone else. Dying and enduring are sacrificial acts – acts of agape love. But agape love takes no thought of self, it is selfless and sacrificial. Is it possible to be selfless for your self? It’s an absurd contradiction!

Definition: Agape is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, it gives and expects nothing in return. It is the highest of the four types of love in the Bible.

The lowest type of love in the Bible is Eros. It might be better defined in English as lust rather than love. As Plato pointed out, Eros doesn’t have to be physical. We certainly lust for things that are not sexual – this is Eros. It has an element of selfishness in it and is the only one of the four biblical words for love that does.

In my opinion, loving yourself can only be accomplished as Eros, lust, the lowest form of love. It is the very thing that scripture teaches us to die to so we can live to agape.

I’m not saying you can’t love yourself and love others with a godly love. I’m saying that if you do, one has nothing to do with the other. The first is sin (according to A.W. Tozer); the second is God!

What Does God want from Me?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? Maybe you should. The Bible makes it very clear that we will all stand before God in judgment one day; wouldn’t it be good to know what He will be judging us on?

Actually, it is not God the Father that we stand before on that day, but God the Son – Jesus Christ.  “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.” John 5:22.  Not only does the Bible say that, be the Koran also says it and the Talmud too. The Talmud doesn’t recognize Jesus as the Christ, or Messiah, but that’s Who He is and that is Who we will stand before on that day. Matt 16:15-17: And He (Jesus) said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." 

What are the consequences of judgment?

Judgment is the whole point of life. The entire purpose of our existence on this planet is to prepare ourselves and others for Eternity. God put us here to decide whether we will accept His Son as Lord or not. It’s really that simple!

If we accept Jesus as Lord, we will be tested on the reality of our decision. If we pass the test, we will be accepted into the Kingdom of God for Eternity. 1 Cor 3:13 -  2 Cor 13:5 - Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? If we refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, or fail the test of truth, there is no place for us in His presence. We will be separated from Him for all Eternity.

What does that mean? That’s a murky subject. It could mean an eternity in Hell, something like Dante’s Inferno, or it could mean an existence apart from God. Literalists are emphatic that the former is true; CS Lewis, on the other hand, pours contempt on such people suggesting they shouldn’t bother trying to read grown-up’s books. Lewis proposes a futile existence apart from God in his book The Great Divorce. In it he describes an existence not unlike the Soviet Gulag, an existence with no God and very little hope or purpose.

The First Thing

So, in the process of becoming ready for judgment, Jesus, essentially, wants two things from us – the first, a relationship. Without a relationship with Jesus, we will stand in judgment on our own merits. But the Bible makes it clear that not one of us is deserving of salvation. Not one of us will be welcomed into the eternal Kingdom of God based on our goodness. The first qualification for eternal life is a relationship with Jesus Christ.

How do you know if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ?

Have you realized that you are a sinner and in no way deserving of spending Eternity with God? Have you recognized the suffering and death of Christ as payment-in full for your sins? Have you turned away from sin? Has the Holy Spirit changed you? Do you see some things differently – evil as evil and good as godly? Do you have a desire to read your Bible and pray – to know Christ better? Do you love Him? Do you love your neighbor? If you answer yes to all of these you are certainly in a relationship with Jesus. If you are missing some, you may have a relationship, but it needs work before you are ready to stand before Him.

The Second Thing

The second thing God wants from us is perfection. Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt 5:48. …that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. Col 4:12b. Not perfection in the sense of never having a sinful thought or ever doing something bad, but perfection in terms of maturity or completeness. Jesus, Himself, was made perfect through His suffering, but He was never imperfect in the sense of having sinned, He was incomplete in the sense of never having experienced the temptations and trials of fallen man. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. Heb 2:10. His incarnation and crucifixion took care of that; now He can identify with our sufferings on a deeply personal level.

CS Lewis, in “Mere Christianity”, I think, paraphrased Jesus in saying: “If you let Me, I will make you perfect – no matter what it costs you, no matter what it costs Me.” Personally, I believe, with Lewis, that it is extremely important to the Lord to bring His people to full maturity, otherwise, why the great suffering of Christians that is so obvious over the past 2000 years?

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. Heb 12:14.

There is a sanctification that comes from Christ when we establish a relationship with Him, but this verse is talking about a process of sanctification that we begin when we become Christians. That process is one of separation from worldly lusts and ambition. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Rom 12:2.

To sanctify means to set apart for holy use. Christ sets us apart from the rest of the world for His purpose. We then need to separate ourselves by the power of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, from the power of the cares, the riches and the pleasures of life. That doesn't mean that we cannot enjoy riches and pleasures; it means that the pursuit of such should not be our motivation.

What should our motivation be?

Glorifying God! For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Cor 6:20.

And how do I do that?

Many Christians think glorifying God is standing in the congregation singing ‘glory to God’, and to a point that does glorify Him. But what He really wants is for those of us who have His nature to display it. That is to reveal the character of God to others. We do that by forgiving our enemies, feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, visiting and caring for widows, the sick and elderly, and prisoners, and by interceding in prayer for our neighbors. Remember, in the 21^st century, everyone is your neighbor.

Again, motivation is important here. I can imitate Jesus by doing the things above but this will simply glorify me. If Jesus is in you, you will want to do such things because it is your new nature – then you will glorify Christ. It may not be easy; displaying God’s character will usually cost us something – time, money, pride. If it costs us nothing, then it is not likely glorifying God, for love is a profound part of God’s nature. God’s love is predominantly agape love – sacrificial love – love that gives expecting nothing in return.

Are we there yet?

What God Did

The message on our shirts is to pray for a cure for PH - Pulmonary hypertension. My wife, Patricia, was diagnosed with PH last fall. Read what God did when we prayed: God Answers Prayer (below), then come back and read this update from her Facebook page:

Patricia McFarland-Myers

There are no words to express how grateful I am to God for being tired. Just plain tired from doing so much. We say Pray Phor a Cure, I was blessed enough to get one. With PH ( Pulmonary Hypertension) I was exhausted to the core. Could do very little. Asked my hubby for help with laundry, shopping, dinner, tea, to drive me places, to go with me because I was afraid I would pass out if left alone. Today I am tired, because I did dishes, spent 2 hrs at McDonalds play place again yesterday with the grandkids. Shopped for a sprinkler in 90 degree heat, watched the kiddlets play in it and grilled dinner for the family. (1st time in years) I stop all day long and thank my Lord and ask Why Me? The only answer I get is that He is no respecter of persons and what he did for me he can do for others. We need a cure people, We need you to Join us and Pray for a Cure Please!

God Answers Prayer

This is a copy of a post on my other blog "Save A Child from Sexual Abuse." Thought everyone should read it.

Almost exactly one year ago, my wife, Patricia, had knee replacement surgery. After the surgery she developed pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in the lungs). Over the summer this turned into pulmonary hypertension – a significant increase in the blood pressure as it flows from the lungs to the heart. This causes damage to the left ventricle of the heart, and, if left untreated, will usually kill you in 2 to 3 years.

Pat was diagnosed in October, last year, and as fall turned into winter and winter ever-so-reluctantly into spring, the symptoms worsened. In late winter, I had to take her to emergency because of atrial fibrillation.

In early spring we were in Edmonton. We were invited to a senior’s function at the church we had attended a few years ago. Several days before the function, I felt God impress on me that we should attend and ask some of the seniors to pray for Pat.

On the day of the event Pat was having a very difficult time breathing. As we got ready to go, it was a question of whether we go to the event or to emergency. We decided to go to emergency. As we headed to the truck I was questioning God, "Didn't You want me to take her to the event so to have people pray for her? If you do, then You will have to make it happen, otherwise, we are going to emergency." Immediately, Pat announced that the fresh air seemed to help a lot. So, we went to the seniors function instead, promising to go to emerg if she has trouble breathing again.

Pat was fine through the event but as it was ending the breathing difficulty returned. I asked the remaining seniors to pray for my wife. A half dozen of us, all very good friends and very committed Christians laid hands on her and prayed fervent, heart-felt prayers. During the prayer, Pat felt something in her chest, as though she was doing an interior sit-up. Immediately, she could breathe much better.

What had God done? She suffered very little in the way of breathing problems since but still had considerable fatigue and some other symptoms. So, she went through another battery of tests with a new Respirologist here in Abbotsford. Yesterday, we got the results: Pulmonary Hypertension is completely gone! The symptoms she is still feeling are probably from the medication she is on. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.

God answers prayers, sometimes in spectacular ways. Prayer should be our first resort. Your prayers can make the world a better place. Please pray.

It's Not Fair

How many times have you heard a child yell those words. Fairness is deeply ingrained into us even as a small child, but where did it come from? It's not something that we have to teach our children, they seem to be born with it. But how could we be born with an innate sense of fairness into a world that is patently unfair?

An unfair world should produce children without any expectation or even any sense of fairness, but that is not what we find. So where did the sense of fairness come from? It came from God, of course. Though, at times, it may not seem like it, God is completely fair. We may not see it on earth or even in our lifetime, but come eternity all will be seen as ultimately fair.

Our innate sense of fairness could come from no other source than a righteous God!  

Judgmentalism

Judge not, lest you be judged. For by the judgement with which you judge, you shall be judged.

Matt 7:1,2

I've been a Christian for 30 years and have read these words of Jesus countless times, and agreed with them, intellectually. You see, I'm an intellectual person, it takes a long time for things to get from my head to my heart – but 30 years?!!!!

Apparently, I never considered myself to be judgemental. Others would quickly disagree, I'm sure. In fact, I'm so judgemental that I don't even have to say anything and people feel the condemnation. That comes from being a head person, not a heart person, a thinker rather than a feeler. We need both, of course, to be balanced, but balance was never my strength, thinking was.

Of course, judgmentalism requires a certain amount of pride and arrogance. You can't judge someone who is equal or higher than you, you can only judge your inferiors. Hence, I put myself above those whom I judge, looking down on them. I've known that for a long time, God showed me that in the early 1990's. But it still didn't stop me from judging people, not everyone, but some people.

Romans 2 tells us that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the same thing. You would think that would be a clue, but apparently not. Oswald Chambers in the June 22nd devotional in My Utmost for His Highest asks us if we believe that statement from the Bible. If we do, it must mean that the hypocrisy, fraud and unreality we see in others exists in us, if not outright, then, at least in possibility.

Ozzie also asks the question, “Who among us would dare to stand before God and say, 'My God, judge me as I have judged others'?” Not me, certainly. However, I am determined to change that. I'm repenting of my judgmentalism and asking the Lord's forgiveness for any damage I have done to His Name and His kingdom.

I'm also asking for the forgiveness of anyone out there whom I may have offended. I won't promise it will never happen again, but by the grace of God and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, in time, I expect to remove it completely from my life, whereby I can be judged by the atonement rather than the arbitrary standards that I set for others.

God's Direction

One way God literally directs our steps is through timing and circumstance. Last night I walked my dog (yes, only one dog now, we loaned the other to our grandchildren for a couple weeks and never got her back – we’re in a shared custody deal now) on our usual route past the back of a small building next door and into the park in front of the Abbotsford courthouse.

As we returned, I noticed a card and an I-phone holster lying in the ivy on the ground. I looked around for more stuff as I suspected a robbery of some sort had taken place, but found nothing. Today, I walked through that path again as I took the holster and the CAA card over to the police office which is just a five minute walk from here. I hardly thought it worthwhile, especially since I had handled them both so much that fingerprints were unlikely, (obviously I wasn’t in NCIS mode) but did it anyway.

At the police station there was a line-up, and it did not move one person in 15 minutes. I decided that it really wasn’t worth my whole afternoon and left. On the way back home I took a different path through the small field of ivy and noticed some papers lying on the ivy. I scooped them up and examined them and found the same name on the papers as was on the CAA card.

I decided that there had to be a purse around somewhere and within a few seconds a glint of metal caught my eye and I found a large wallet under the ivy. I opened it just long enough to see that the driver’s license was in there, and it belonged to the same woman as the papers and card. I immediately returned to the police station where the line-up moved very quickly and was able to give them the items and get out of there in a few minutes.

Some people would call that coincidence. I might even call it coincidence if these kinds of things didn’t happen so often as to be statistically absurd.

Almost Christian - the Post-modern Church

What follows is a very disturbing interview with the author of "Almost Christian". Using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, Kenda Creasy Dean describes what most 'Christian' teens in America believe. Furthermore, she does not blame their apathetic beliefs on poor listening skills or bad communication skills from the pulpit, but she states flat out that they believe what they believe because that is exactly what they are being taught. And if that is what they are being taught, then it must mean that we, the older generation, believe that same thing, in general.

Dean's book should be required reading for everyone in ministry.

Kenda Dean is an ordained United Methodist pastor in the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference and Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she works closely with the Institute for Youth Ministry. In this interview, Kenda discusses her book Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church.

The term "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" is used quite a bit in your book. What does that mean, and what are the implications of it?

MTD is the term coined by Christian Smith, the lead researcher in the National Study of Youth and Religion, describing what he saw as the "default" religious position of American teenagers. You could summarize it this way: Religion helps you to be nice (it's moralistic) and feel good (it's therapeutic), but otherwise God stays out of the way except in emergencies (it's Deist). That's what most teenagers think. The ways they described God in the study were revealing; God was either the cosmic butler (staying out of the way until called upon to meet my needs) or the divine therapist (God's main goal is to help me feel good about myself).

But the study went further. Since the NSYR also found that teenagers mirror their parents' religiosity to an astonishing degree, Smith and his colleagues believe that MTD is not just the default position of American teenagers; it's the default religion of American adults, too. They conclude that Moralistic Therapeutic Deism has "colonized" American churches and is now the "dominant religion" in the United States, having "supplanted Christianity." That's one heck of a claim. In other words, young people don't subscribe to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism because they've misunderstood what we've taught them in church. They subscribe to it because this is what we've taught them in church.

At the very least, MTD is a very self-serving spirituality. It is what Christianity looks like once you jettison Jesus and a conviction that love involves sacrifice and not just warm, fuzzy feelings. It's what you get when churches forget that God has not called us to exist for our own well-being. And it's a short step away from thinking that God's primary goal is to help me feel good "at the expense of everybody else." MTD comes close to a divinely sanctioned sense of entitlement. I think teenagers are absolutely right not to take this form of so-called "Christianity" very seriously. I don't think it represents the gospel well at all.

Your book title Almost Christian comes from a sermon John Wesley preached in the 1700s about people going through the motions of religion without a commitment to Christ. It seems there might have been the same findings had this (NSYR) research been conducted then. How do you think things differ today?

Great question—because of course, every generation of Christians struggles with acculturated Christianity. So on the one hand, the NSYR is this generation's reminder that Christianity is being co-opted by the reigning cultural ethos—and for us, that means absorbing the values of therapeutic individualism, consumer capitalism, and pluralistic relativism, so our primary goals include feeling good about ourselves and being nice to people so we don't step on toes.

Of course, Christians should get along with others—and then some. Jesus never actually mentions being nice, but he says a lot about compassion and justice (which are a lot harder than being nice). And Christ calls us to love people who are different from us, even our enemies—and we do this because we follow Jesus, not in spite of it.

But churches over the centuries adopted some very nasty habits, even to the point of doing violence "in Jesus' name" (which is heresy, flat out). So one thing that is distinct about 21st century Christianity is our need to follow Jesus in a way that does not simultaneously place Christians at the center of the universe. Our solution has been to throw the baby out with the bathwater: be religious, but not "too" religious. Be good, but don't be passionate. Be "almost" Christian, as John Wesley put it, but not "altogether" Christian. Don't love God with your whole heart and soul and mind; it's too dangerous.

This interpretation misunderstands the problem completely. I was visiting a Methodist-affiliated college recently with my daughter, where the admissions counselor spent much of his presentation emphasizing that students should not be put off by the university's Christian affiliation—that in spite of it, "we welcome everyone." I wanted to jump out of my chair! Who is training these admissions counselors on Christian theology? It's because of our Christian identity that we welcome everyone! People who follow Jesus practice radical welcoming, but this is not the way Christianity is generally viewed.

Jesus asks not for our membership in a club or our attendance on Sunday mornings, but for our very lives. Following Christ to the point that it shapes our identity is an "altogether" thing. The more intentionally we pattern our lives after Christ, the more we genuinely extend ourselves for people who are different from us. That is what the New Testament church was all about, which I take to be the prototype for churches even today.

You spend a significant portion of your book encouraging the church to reclaim its central identity as a missional community. Where do you think the church has gone wrong here?

I wish we didn't need the word "missional" to describe the church. It seems redundant to me. Mission is the business the church is in; if the church isn't missional, it isn't the church.

Of course, the fact that we need to make mission into an adjective tells us that we don't view churches this way. As Christendom began to crumble and churches began to feel threatened—you know, fewer people, fewer dollars, less social capital and power in society—churches did what all anxious people do. We circled the wagons and began protecting our own instead of looking for ways to follow Jesus into the world. That's actually a sign of a paradigm shift. When the tectonic plates of our reality start to change, we hold on more tightly to what we have. It's the perfect petri dish for cultivating self-serving spiritualities like Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Being Loved by God

On Feb26th, 2012, Pope Benedict tweeted: "If only everyone could experience the joy of being Christian, being loved by God who gave his Son for us!"

Yet even this simple, lovely prayer resulted in no-end of criticism, such as: " God loves everybody!"

Does God love everybody? Can that generality be applied to every single individual? God hated Esau and refused to forgive him though he sought it with tears.

But the big issue here is not whether God loves all of us, but whether we experience that love. If love is only a feeling then we can never know God's love. But with God's love - love is an action verb. He commands us to love our neighbours by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, visiting the shut-ins, and clothing the naked.

When we 'experience' the joy of being loved by God, it is like being looked after by a loving neighbour. He takes care of our needs. He blesses us and you can feel His blessings and, at times, His very presence.

When you 'know' the Son of God for Who He really is, then you can 'experience' the love of God. Until then it is just a concept.

Does God Go Before You?

One of the most profound pieces of scripture can be found in Joshua’s final address to his people shortly before his death. That’s where you will find the infamous line, “But me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” However, there is so much more in the passage.

Johsua had led the people into the Promised Land, and after several years of war had rid the land of its original inhabitants, but not completely. They had left some alive including the entire Gibeonite tribe which tricked Joshua and the elders in making a treaty with them. Joshua and the elders neglected to consult God regarding the matter and it would eventually cost them dearly in future generations.

We New Testament Christians enter the Promised Land when we surrender ourselves completely to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Until then we just wander through the wilderness where our ‘old man’ must die and all things become new. What the Hebrews did in the flesh corresponds well to modern Christians in the spiritual.

The Gibeonites and otherites who were left alive against God’s commands represent serving foreign gods to us Christians. They are the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. They are ambition, riches, pride, sensuality – any thing that pulls us away from single-minded obedience to God and causes us to set our own course.

For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no-one has been able to stand against you to this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you. Therefore, take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. Or else, if indeed you do go back and cling to the remnant of these nations – these that remain among you – and make marriages with them, and go into them, and they to you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they will be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. Joshua 24:9-13 NKJ.

This amazing passage reminds us that the Lord goes before us to lead us into the Promised Land. However, our lack of faith and our disobedience get in His way. Remember Jesus said, in John 14 and 15, that if we love Him we will keep his commandments, and if we don’t keep His commandments it is because we don’t love Him. So Joshua’s admonition that you love the Lord your God, calls us to obedience. Furthermore, God, by his permissive providence will test both our faith and our obedience, so failure in one will lead to failure in the other.

The Hebrews had to turn back into the desert – for 40 years – because of their lack of faith. Despite all the incredible miracles God had so recently performed in their midst, they didn’t trust Him to go before them and deliver the giants and walled cities into their hands. They returned to the desert until every last male over the age of 20, at the time of their rebellion, had died, but for Joshua and Caleb.

Heb 3:18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?

Heb 4:9-11 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

Rest, ie peace, is what the Hebrews received after they had rid the land of most of the foreign peoples. To do that they had to be willing to go to war and they had to go to war. They had to fight, but their victory was assured because God went before them, except when they disobeyed God as Achan did (see Joshua 7).

Similarly, we have to fight to rid ourselves of those lusts and temptations that pull us toward worldly desires and away from God. We do that by ‘knowing’ God. Love is often a function of communication; loving God requires our communicating with Him. We communicate with God by reading about Him, by meditating on Him (Be still and know that I am God), by worshipping Him, by praying and by just walking with Him and listening. As we get to know Him better and better, we love Him more and more and obedience becomes easier than we can imagine. Then we can enter God’s rest on earth.

It’s when our hearts and minds are so busy with the ‘cares of the world’ that we become like the disobedient Hebrews. The Lord no longer goes before us and we are soon plagued by snares, traps, scourges and thorns until there is no place found for us in God’s rest. God’s rest is not only here on earth, but in Heaven and probably also in the Millennial Reign. God’s rest ends when He returns to earth and sets up the New Jerusalem. Then, I believe, it’s back to work for us, but in a far, far better world.

Merry Christmas - Happy Holidays

It’s been at least a couple of decades since the media, followed quickly by big business (or was it the other way about?), began to use the term Happy Holidays rather than the traditional Merry Christmas. Last year, US President Barack Obama became the first president to use the term Holiday Tree. For this he was thoroughly rebuked in a letter from a devout Jew who told him to call it what it is. Though he didn’t believe Christ was the Messiah, he believed a Christmas tree was a Christmas tree. God bless him.

I frequently see my Christian friends complain about people using the term Holiday instead of Christmas, and I have probably done it myself many times. I won’t likely do it again though. It seems to me that we Christians are expecting non-Christians to respect what they don’t believe in. That’s a little absurd. Our frequent complaining must be like the Biblical nagging wife – a constant dripping, a clanging cymbal; it hardly glorifies Christ and certainly does nothing to draw non-believers to Him. That’s what we should be concerned about. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me.” Let’s lift up Jesus instead of beating down the unbelievers.

To all my readers, both of you, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

I Got Hit by a Car

 I should have known that dropping an open can of cornmeal on the laptop last night was just the beginning. But I woke up this morning, got dressed and took the pit-bulls (long-haired Chihuahua and three legged toy poodle – King Charles Cavalier spaniel cross) out for a walk. 

The very second we stepped out the door of my trailer it started to rain. Bailey (the tripod), being a refugee from Edmonton, understands weather and was done her business before leaving the yard.

Belle needs a longer walk. She finally stopped right behind a parked Camry. As I was preparing to pick up Queen Isabella's treasure, a car came along, rolled down his window and asked me to recite Bailey's life story while standing there in the rain.

After a brief tri-pedal biography, I turned and bent down to recover the Queen’s jewels and got wacked in the head. What was that? It was the Camry! I was hit by the Camry, and it was still coming at me. I yelled and hit the trunk with my fist and, fortunately, the car stopped. Fortunately, also, that it hit my head where there is very little likelihood of it doing any damage.

Neither the elderly woman driver nor the male passenger bothered to get out of the car. Amazing! And, of course, being a good Canadian I apologized for getting hit by her car.

Oswald Chambers: If we worship God in the trying circumstances, He will alter them in 2 seconds when He chooses. 

I decided I had better go to church.