Curing Cancer ...

So many suffer from disease that at present seems incurable.  And as we succumb to our poor dietary and environmental practices, we pray meager prayers for comfort in our distress, but not for what we really need – healing.  God takes such a black-eye when we insinuate that it may be His will that we should contract a horrific disease and die in pain.  These things come from the evil in this world, not from a loving God.  As we discussed earlier sometimes it is our bad choices that lead to predictable results.  But sometimes it is not a fault of ours, or of those around us, sometimes disease strikes us for not readily apparent reasons.  How should we respond?

It’s time for followers of God to begin curing cancer, and stop just trying to treat its symptoms.  The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries in this country spend millions in research to find treatments for disease – there is great money in treatments – almost none in cure’s.  If there is ever progress finding a medical cure, it will likely come from a country who supports universal health-care, as they have the financial incentive to eliminate disease not just provide treatments.  Christians spend a great amount time praying to treat the effects of cancer rather than praying to cure it.  We ask for God to reduce our pain.  We ask for His comfort to be with the families of the afflicted.  And then we couch these weak prayers with our backdoor excuse to let God off the hook for NOT answering with “but let Thy will be done”. 

When prayed aloud these words smack of lack of trust in God, or perhaps a misguided belief that God would wish these pains upon us.  God is not trying to punish us with our diseases now, any more than He did in the time of Christ – when He was asked the question – “who sinned, this man or his parents?” for the infirmities the paralytic suffered.  While on this earth Christ walked through villages and healed every single person there of every single disease.  I’m sure not all these sick people even believed in Christ prior to being healed.  Therefore healing is not even a question of having enough faith (from the sick person at least).  It is about having faith (from the person asking for the healing).  What was the will of Christ when it came to healing – Heal everyone.  He did not walk through these villages and say comforting words to the families of the sick.  He did not pray aloud and offer His Father a way out of answering His prayers.  He boldly offered healing.  Only those who refused His help were left unchanged.

He asked some to take His hand and walk again.  Think of that for a minute.  We cannot heal ourselves; we must look to a higher power to be healed (whether from the condition of sin, or the condition of physical disease).  We reach out to a beckoning God and find healing, not just comfort, or a reduction in our pain, we find complete and utter healing.  This was true even for those who were born in a condition where they had never experienced walking.  The Disciples of Christ followed his example and also boldly extended offers of healing to the sick.  Peter did not stop outside of the temple to pray and ask if it was God’s will to heal the beggar asking for help.  He did not cause the beggar to wonder about the character of Jesus.  He simply offered the beggar healing in the name of Jesus, no questions asked.  We serve the same God, who wants the same things for His people now as He did in the days of the early Christian church.  Complete health.  Complete joy.

This idea of praying for God’s will to be done is most often found in the prayers of Christ in Gethsemane.  At this point in His life, the weight of the sins of the entire world were upon His shoulders.  He was in agony.  For the first time He realized and felt a separation from His Father (the definition of Hell as discussed earlier).  His human nature longed to find another way to redeem man, and He cried out “Let this cup pass from me”.  Had this been His last request, unmodified by what He spoke next, our hope for Salvation would have ended.  But the Divine nature in Him knew already the answer to His question; and so He further stated “But nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done”.  This was an oral submission to the will of God, not a question as to what God’s will was in this situation.  Christ had to die for us, in order for us to be saved.  Therefore His suffering was inevitable. 

We are not in Christ’s situation or place.  We are constantly seeking the will of God, and our prayers are always voiced with a willingness to accept God’s answers no matter what they are, even when they conflict with what we want.  But this does not imply that God wants us to suffer.  He may use our suffering and work out a greater good, but this is not because He prefers us to suffer.  His will is for our healing.  His will is for us to live well, not to live in pain.  This is the whole point of Salvation.  How can we claim Salvation and still believe that God wishes us to suffer needlessly.  These ideas are mutually exclusive.  Our death in this world may be inevitable, but this is due to our condition of evil, not due to divine intent.  It was God who placed the tree of life in the Garden of Eden.  He intended us to live in perfection forever and ever.  Our choice to break trust and embrace evil, forced a new plan on God and us.

Of course it is impossible for “us” to heal anyone because of anything we have in ourselves.  We possess no supernatural abilities of our own.  In short, if healing is to be offered, it is to be offered as an extension of the will of our God.  It is our God who heals, not us.  So when the healing comes for those who we have asked, we must be sure not to take the credit for it.  God must get ALL the glory.  It is not about how great we can pray, or how awesome our faith is, or how close to God we are – it is about the glory of God.  Remember that in the end of time there will exist on earth a group of people who are able to heal in God’s name – but have no clue what it means to follow God, by loving the less fortunate.  Christ was no respecter-of-persons, meaning He did not seek out the rich and perform miracles for them, to benefit Himself.  No, rather He performed miracles for poor and the destitute as well as the rich.  He healed Romans, and Samaritans, as well as Jews.  He came to save us ALL.  He did not restrict Himself to only those who claimed to follow Him.  But He reached out to everyone, even His enemies.  And He wept for those who refused Him.

Moses, Abraham, David, Daniel, Jonah, Samson – all the patriarchs of the Bible; Ruth, Ester, Mary, Miriam, Dorcus – all those great women of faith; where are the heroes of today?  Will there be one who reads this simple blog and gets up off his/her knees, travels down to the local hospital and proceeds to cure every sickness?  If this sounds far-fetched to you, it probably won’t be you who does it.  I seek the Moses of our time.  I seek the Daniel of our time, who is able to so firmly trust in God, that they KNOW beyond all doubt what God is able to do.  The key ingredient all these characters of distinction had was NOT the perfection of their character.  They ALL had flaws.  The Bible is honest about them, and does not try to paint them as perfect.  What they all did have however, was the willingness to be used by God.  The willingness to submit to the will of God.  And through this willingness were worked some of the greatest miracles the world has ever seen.

So why do I search for spiritual greatness in this time of horrific evil?  Because before He left, Christ stated that at the end-of-time we, His followers, would do even GREATER miracles than He did while on this earth.  What a promise!  Christ raised the dead, healed entire villages, cast out demons, cured incurable / infectious diseases, he fed the hungry in great numbers – and He did even more than that – He spoke peace to us.  He spoke hope to us.  He defined love for us.  He did not condemn us as we deserve, but He saved us as we do not deserve.  He gave us ALL life for the taking.  Since His words are ALL true.  Since His promises can be counted on, always.  In this world of evil we live in, there are some who are learning the lesson of humility.  The faith they have been given, is greater than that of a mustard-seed.  And perhaps now it is time for them to step forward and begin to accomplish in our prayer life, the real needs of our world.  Perhaps now is the time to step out of our spiritual lethargy and become a flame with the passion for a suffering world.  Let us approach the throne boldly, and begin asking for what we really need.  Let us demonstrate to an unbelieving world, that our God is real.  We do not follow after the superstitions of humans, but after the love of the divine.  We can KNOW He wants to help us.  We can KNOW He wants to give us more than comfort – He wants to heal us.  Who is bold enough to ask for it? …

Empty Rooms ...

It’s quiet.  No sounds of the clinking of his chain collar, no crunch of dog food from the other room, just stillness.  It began only yesterday, the sudden decay of his entire body.  He went from a normal dog of upper years, to a complete inability to even stand up.  His panting was labored and intense as was his pain.  And so this morning a trip to the vet ends his suffering and his longevity and leaves my home with … empty rooms.

It is a growing phenomenon in the United States that people seem to care more and spend more on their pets than they do on other people; a perception that the ueber-rich pamper their pets with day spas, grooming, and special diets.  With affluence comes advantages, even for the dogs I guess.  But the question remains, why do people seem to get so attached emotionally to their pets, leading them sometimes to make superhuman efforts to tend to that special “member of the family”?  Obviously it can’t be about intelligence.

Some argue about whether cats or dogs are smarter.  No matter who wins they don’t talk to you, at least not in our language.  Pets seem to learn how to communicate basic needs – hunger, bathroom time, play time, want attention.  Dogs seem to reflect the nature of their owners over time, and look as though their faces carry quite a bit of expression.  They seem to know when they are “bad” and get very excited for “rewards”.  They reflect love as much as they know how to.  I wonder why that is?

After all, it is not a Universal characteristic of all canine or cat species to reflect love to humans.  Ask a pride of hungry lions, or a pack of hungry wolves, in the wild next time you encounter them for some affection time.  And they will affectionately prepare you as meal for their family.  But dogs and cats appear to have an entirely different view of humanity than their larger counterparts.  Maybe it is because we “adopt” them into our families while they are young and more dependent on us.  Maybe it is because we provide for their needs on a daily basis.  Maybe because when you think about it, we reach out to them in affection before they reach out to us, at least at the beginning.

Could the devotion of a pet simply be a matter of conditioning?  I doubt repetitive behavior would cause an animal to risk his personal safety to spare its owner.  That level of sacrifice is more a distinction of love, than a matter of practicality (I must save the hand that feeds me).  If they die in the attempt to save us, the food stops anyway.  But undeterred, a pet will often risk life and limb to save its owner from peril – even when the peril may not actually be life threatening to the owner.  Why do they love to the extent they are capable of knowing how?

Our Creator designed this world both for beauty and as a reflection of who He is.  The love that defines the nature of God Himself, was reflected both in us, and in the living creatures that surround us.  While dogs and cats may have no voice to speak in human languages, or brains large enough to form cognitive complex thoughts, they were endowed with an ability to show love.  This is to teach us that love does not depend on the depth of ones intellect.  It is designed to teach us that love responds to love.  It is to remind us of the importance of love in even the little things.  It inspires in us mercy, charity, affection, and even forgiveness.  We may become angry with our misbehaving pets, particularly when they are destroying some prized possession of ours.  But we quickly forgive them as we realize they did not really understand the impact of their actions, and even in their “defiance” they were merely looking for more of our time and attention.

Perhaps with His infinite abilities and perspective, God can pity us the same way we pity our pets.  While far more intelligent, we make stupid mistakes, act out, become defiant, noisy, and even dangerous sometimes.  But He tenderly calms us down, removes our thorns, and shows us affection we did not ever merit.  God reaches out to us first in love.  It is His extension of love to us, that draws us to want to know Him.

The opposite is also true.  An abused animal reacts much like an abused child but with even less ability to communicate.  Hate can destroy any creation.  But what damage hate or impatience, or selfishness can inflict, love is more powerful to repair.  There are stories of even the most abused animals who have lived years, perhaps even the majority of their lifespans in agony, can be redeemed through the power of love.  Consistent loving treatment is the best medicine on Planet Earth, both for pets, and for us.

People, like their pets, tend to live longer, and live better, when they know they are loved.  As air is the life current of the body, so love is the life current of our souls, our emotion, our characters.  When we are rich in love, our need of other things is diminished.  And when we are poor in love, nothing else can seem enough to compensate for it.  Love is what makes life worth the living.  To give it, and to receive it, to strengthen it, and make it deeper – this is the honorable pursuit of a lifetime for man or animal.

Being a believer, invariably comes the question – will I see him again?  Seems impractical for Heaven to be crowded up with every dog, cat, bird, turtle or other pet that has passed away over the years.  Pets are not supposed to have a soul, and are incapable of deciphering religion, let alone making a choice for good or for evil.  So how could they be “saved” from sin?  A skeptic would have us believe that an animal passes into death and will never again see the light of day.  When gone, they are gone for good.  But is that merely a skeptical view of our God?

Everything we know of God is taught to us in lesson after lesson about His love.  He created our pets in the first place.  He created their ability to show and respond to affection and love.  He knows the bonds we form with them.  He knows the love and sometimes sacrifice they have shown to us.  He knows the pain we feel when we lose them to age, disease, or random traffic accidents.  Death was not ever His intent.  God did not create with death in mind.  Rather, death is the natural result of the introduction of evil into our world.  And one day, evil, like death, will be terminated forever in the universe – no more to die, or sleep again.

So given everything we know of God, why would we choose to believe that He would deny us our pets in His recreated perfection.  It seems inconsistent with His character.  Forget practicality for a minute, and view the matter from a child’s eyes.  Would you deny your young child his wish to simply love another creature?  I do not think God would either.  Love is a constant for God.  And extending love in His next kingdom of perfection, does not seem impractical to me.  So while my dog may not have ever had a soul, I believe he can be saved from the effects of sin – it’s chief effect being death.  I believe I will see my raised and transformed dog again in the kingdom that is to come.  He may sleep in the earth today, but I look forward to petting and running with him again, in a land that never ends.  I hope to fill my mansion and suffer no more from … empty rooms.

Ghosts, Goblins, and Little Green Men ...

There are times, situations, and events which defy scientific explanation that occur in our world.  When presented with true supernatural phenomenon, a pure scientist is completely disarmed.  These occurrences are rare, but not unheard of.  Due to an earlier debunked theory (the immortality of the soul), Christians too tend to believe in the interaction of dead former loved ones in their present lives.  And of course Hollywood movies, and classic mythology give us many ideas about supernatural beings who seem to dabble in our lives at their convenience.  Why are all these ideas entertained, given credence, and sometimes devoutly believed; they dilute man’s search for the true God, and offer a false hope of unconditional immortality.

No-one disputes the idea that intelligent life exists throughout the Universe.  However, given a proper understanding of the condition of our world (namely as we discussed before, ours is the only world who embraced evil), why would intelligent beings who are already aware of our condition choose to interact with us up close and personal?  Most ‘alien’ abduction stories involve advanced technology, three fingered ET looking creatures, and often enough anal probes (see Cartman at South Park).  As we have discussed already, the nature of evil is to hurt its victim, but also to hurt anyone / anything it comes in contact with.  Perfect intelligent ‘alien’ beings would know this, and therefore would stay as far away from it as possible.  So why the persistence of this concept throughout our literature, movies, and conspiracy theorists; ironically it is the same reason, people accept the concept of Ghosts.

Those who accept Satan’s first lie, that “you will not die” from disobeying God, tend to accept that our soul is immortal and continues to live no matter in what condition after our physical body death.  This concept is not supported by the Bible, nor is it consistent with our understanding of God, or logical with respect to the existence of evil and its ultimate schedule for extinction.  But people accept traditional beliefs without much personal investigation, and the myth of ghostly interaction with man has persisted for as long as there is written word to document it.  The real issue is not whether an apparition is possible.  Just like an ‘alien’ sighting, people can be confronted with times, situations, and events they are unable to logically explain.  The issue is the nature of these manifestations, and discovering their true intent.

Given that aliens would NOT visit us or get anywhere close to the evil of our world, and the fact that our dearly departed loved ones are completely decomposing physically in a state of dreamless sleep (unable to further communicate in any way) – where do these sightings come from?  There is one possibility, angels. 

The angels who serve our God are his primary work force here on earth.  They are eager to serve God (as service is a founding principle of the government of all of Heaven), and are happy and fulfilled when engaged in His work.  One role these angels play in our lives is to serve as our invisible guardians.  They protect us, and are on constant watch in order to insure we are not arbitrarily harmed by evil.  While God is not power hungry, or a tyrant, Satan is.  Satan would gladly kill any one of us on a whim.  Our guardian angels serve to prevent this from happening.  In addition to guarding us, they also chronicle our entire lives and record their findings in the books of record in Heaven.  There are times when the cloak of invisibility is removed and we wind up engaged with angels unawares.  But again these incidents tend to be rare, and primarily in order to protect us from harm (i.e. the direct influence of evil).

There are however another group of angels, or at least former angels, who now serve their Satanic master in a loose alliance to destroy the kingdom of God (as well as any and all people who choose to serve Him).  Their interaction in our lives is anything but noble.  They appear as harmless, sometimes disguising themselves as angels of light, but their words, intentions, and advice give them away as servants of evil.  They wish us harm.  And it is easy for them to take forms we would choose to accept – such as the form of dearly departed loved ones, ‘aliens’ (if that is what your into), Hollywood type creatures, essentially anything you choose to believe in within the supernatural realm.  Since most people are unaware the source of these phenomenon is limited to only 2 kinds of powers – one good, one horrifically evil, they do not even challenge the manifestations intentions. 

When presented with something of the supernatural variety there is a defense which Christians should employ.  It is a simple challenge to the ‘entity’ by saying – “In the name of Jesus Christ, the True Son of God, who are you?”  This question is extremely powerful, and the entity will NOT be allowed to lie about his origin.  God is not offended in any way to answer this question, but former angels (now demons) in the service of Satan are compelled to answer it truthfully.  And they will not be happy about it.  Confrontation with the supernatural is scary.  But what is worse, is the idea that alien encounters, and ghosts working in our lives are in any way benign.  They come from only one source.  God does not need to imitate the form of our dead to talk to us.  He does not need to pose as an alien to get our attention.  But Satan will and does, with as many as he can deceive.

So what would happen if you find yourself confronting a vampire, werewolf, alien creature, or ghost of some type, can you defeat them since you now know of their true origin?  No, not really.  We were created “a little lower than the angels” we are not their equal.  However, our loving God is their superior in every way.  Calling on God to battle your demons for you is the ONLY way to insure their defeat.

Hollywood is the worst of liars when it comes to presenting these situations.  Hollywood would have you believe there are both good and evil demons.  They want us to accept that some witches and warlocks are good and some are evil; that some dead ghosts are good to us, and some intend us harm.  All of these ideas are FALSE.  There are NO good demons (an oxymoron if I ever heard one).  They are ALL bad, at least all the real ones.  What’s more, Hollywood ALWAYS has man fighting these evil creatures based on his own strength, with his own weapons.  A wooden stake through the heart of a vampire, a silver bullet to a werewolf, bullets to an alien, the sign of a cross, etc.; all have one thing in common, none of them rely on God to defeat evil, that job is left up to us. 

What would a real situation look like presented in a Hollywood movie if it reflected the truth about the power of God?  Imagine the scene from Lord of the Rings 3 where hundreds of thousands of demonic looking creatures stand on a battle field, but opposite them is simply you.  You are alone there.  You are completely unarmed.  You have no weapons, no magic powers, no spells to cast, no ring of invisibility.  Just you.  As they begin to start running towards you to attack and shred you into bits, you simply pray a silent prayer – “in the name of Jesus Christ, save me”.  At this simple prayer, the God of Heaven beams down a single ray of light that engulfs you, swarms of angels of light surround you and are now visible to your eyes (each one carries a sword of fire).  And the entire swarm of evil is immediately decimated, nothing left, not one trace of them, all the way to their headquarter mountain, nothing.  This is the comparative power of a simple prayer of a follower of God arrayed against hundreds of thousands of demonic forces.  And it has already happened twice in the Old Testament alone (check out the story of Elijah and his servant facing the angry king and his entire army; also check out the story of the Assyrian King and his 100,000+ army that is completely defeated by a single angel sent from God to protect Israel.)  This is a picture of truth, not the crud Hollywood tries to sell us.

So why all this emphasis on supernatural influences in our lives?  They are meant to confuse people into accepting lies instead of truth.  To take the focus of following God and finding out what God is like, and place it on trying to explain supernatural phenomenon.  And it works very well.  Unaware of the evil source of these apparitions, and equally unaware of the evil intentions, people blindly accept these interactions without so much as a question.  The good news we have is that our God is all powerful.  He cannot be defeated.  We do not have to wage battles against these supernatural forces, we can call on Him to defeat them.  We are slaves no longer.  We are free.  We are protected.  And we will choose to stay as close as possible to our God…

Sometimes You Lose ...

Ever had one of those days?  You know the kind, where if there is anything that could go wrong, it does.  Or maybe you’ve experienced one of those life changing bad days.  You might not have had one of these yet.  The kind of day where something major happens, you lose a job, lose a loved one, lose everything you own, lose your health.  That kind of day seems to trump every other you can remember.  Sometimes it feels as though a day like that can dim your memories of even your best day up till now.  So what gives?  Doesn’t God promise us protection from these kind of life altering days?  Why do they still crop up?

Most of life feels like a competition.  You race to get enough education to secure a good job, but then quickly find that politics play more a role of keeping it, than ability.  So you learn.  You adapt.  You become a student of the fine art of politics and in the process realize how much people’s insecurity factors into their business decisions.  To succeed now requires a study of psychology as well.  Add psychic to the list as the ability predict market direction, buying patterns, and sales forecasts become critical to your continued overall success.  Those who do not feel the weight of this competition have probably been blessed with not moving too far down the line in it.  But the risks remain no matter where you find yourself in the pattern.

Taking Christian principles into the workplace presents its own set of challenges.  It is difficult to show trust to others who have not earned it.  It is difficult to return consistent positive responses to those who favor getting up in your face or to those who wait for your back to be turned before the knife comes out.  It is difficult to remain consistent in the face of the emotionally erratic.  And even if you do all of this, even if you manage to pull it off, even when you think you are doing everything right.  Sometimes you lose anyway.

Skeptics would argue that Christian principles have no place at work.  Cynics would take it further to state that you lost because of your Christianity.  The temptation of others to take advantage of your generosity is just too hard to resist.  But both the skeptic and cynic would prefer to have dealings with you personally, not just for the advantage they believe they can gain over you, but for the integrity they can count on which is really so rare.  In point of fact, a handshake deal with a man of honor is worth more than a 400 page iron clad contract with a man who has no honor.  Men of honor, men of integrity, tend to last much longer than men of expediency, and men of compromise.  But even men of honor lose.

Of course to really examine and understand this conundrum you need to take a close look at what it is you are really “losing”.  In the case of a job for instance, what you are “losing” is the environment you know, the people you deal with, the routine tasks you perform, and perceived security of regular income to plan around.  All notable.  All perishable.  The real question or measurement of loss is determined by what comes next isn’t it?  If you “lose” this job but find yourself in a better one, is it still a “loss”.  If you earn more, have more time off, find easier work, deal with more honorable people, is it still a loss?  Course if the lag time between one job and another lasts long enough, the lag time itself becomes the “loss”.  You could lose everything you own.  Not fun.  Been there, done that, have the postcard.

Losing a loved one is much harder emotionally.  Losing health is harder still both emotionally, and physically.  It can have a devastating financial impact as well (we call that one the tri-fecta).  But the loss of those we love here in this world will one day be returned to us in the next.  The loss of health, might be restored through healing in this world, but for certain will be fully restored in the next.  The loss of a job is a more unpredictable phenomenon.  You need a job in this world to survive, but may well have several of them before reaching retirement age.  Some you choose to move to based on the lure of more.  Some you are forced to find because you are left without a choice.  When the economy conspires against you with a new forced job search, odds seem stacked against you.  Is this the nature of a “loss” then?  Is it losing a job during hard economic times?  You must know the competition to find another one will be much greater, the number of openings far fewer.  This is a perfect storm combination that can easily spell out bankruptcy.

So what is the plan of God, when like me, you find yourself having one of these ugly days?  The company to which I have dedicated more than the last year of my life to building for success, has opted to separate from me, in order to lower their expenses.  I am sure the lack of meaningful sales over the last 8 months weighed heavily in that decision.  I am not angry about it.  More puzzled than anything really.  It seemed as though God had opened every door for me to be in the position I was in with my former employer.  And this forced transition never really seemed to be a part of what I would normally predict as His plan.

So where to go from here?  Sometimes you lose.  I did.  But I wonder if the loss will be real, or short lived.  I wonder if the effects will be long lasting or quickly forgotten.  I wonder what the future holds for me.  But I have no doubt in the creator God I serve.  While I am clueless on His next moves, I am curious to watch them play out.  I am not starving as yet, have no mounting bills as yet, am in no immediate danger as yet.  Even if these things all transpire there is little I can do to control the outcome, or prevent their occurrence.  So due to my set of beliefs, I can relax.  I can put my trust in the only living entity with enough power to influence the future I am to come across.  I can put the burden for my care and maintenance in the only Hands with enough real control to insure success.  And what is more, I can try to maintain the priority of resting in Him, knowing that what efforts I make to alter my outcome, will find purpose in success only when He makes it so.  This is the beauty of trust.

I look forward to the blog entry to thank my God for the new job and income He has provided.  I don’t know how long it will be before I write that one.  But I have every expectation of writing it.  Till then I will continue to discuss the myths that tend to hurt the name and reputation of our creator God …