The Mystery of Trump, Barabbas, & Covid ...

Personal freedom entitles you to be wrong.  Personal freedom entitles you to make bad decisions and do stupid things.  That is your right.  It is guaranteed to you; not by the Constitution of the United States, but by the free will that God created our species with.  You could say then it is not something the law should attempt to interfere with.  But the catch is in the word there - “personal”.  When your freedoms intersect with mine, or when mine step on yours, laws are created to temper us both.  If you chose to let’s say smoke a pack of cigarettes every day, that should be your choice.  It is a stupid decision given all the medical evidence available to show you how cigarettes will kill you.  But free will guarantees you the right to make that stupid decision.  “Where” you smoke is another matter.  Pulling out your pack of smokes in the surgical ward of a hospital is a big no-no.  Whipping them out in church is probably another no-no.  The hospital tries to make people healthier, so in the interest of that, they collectively ask you not to make your bad decisions in that place.  As for church, anything that hurts the body is generally another no-no, because they too are trying to help people get better, a healthy body is a good first step.  So when “personal” is really not so “personal”, what we do as Christians, should be about the well being of others, even if we are less concerned about our own lives.

But what happens when our “personal” choices are more subtle than cigarettes?  Not everything in life is guaranteed to kill you, or harm you outright, some things are far more insidious than that.  Take a quick look at the Taliban on that score.  The Taliban seems bent on becoming like Hezbollah at the moment.  They want to appear more “centrist”, more rational, the better of a series of bad choices.  They would like nothing more than to be recognized on the world stage as a party who is legitimately in charge, and can be negotiated with.  They want to build, become stronger, and then what?  To seed control to them in Afghanistan is no great choice.  But if the American regime folds in a day without an American military to back it up, what other choice is there; Al-Qaeda, or Isis, or traditional warlords, mostly members of one of the other more organized groups?  If the Taliban claims they will do better; what if they do better.  We may not see the damage of these choices for years to come, but when we see that damage who knows what form it will come in.  What we do now, we may regret deeply later.  But it leads us back to the idea of what other choices are there, to stay forever and make Afghanistan a defacto US province forever?  An eternal war, and over what, desert?  None of the choices are good, and we just don’t know what will come of all this, it just sets off all the spidy-senses of alarm.

So for those US citizens that blame Biden for the disaster that is, next election they will look for an alternative.  Enter Trump?  He is decidedly an alternative to every Democratic nominee, and most republicans too.  His character and misdeeds, or treatment of women, should set off all the spidy-senses of every conservative Christian in the party but somehow they don’t.  His crimes are overlooked, rationalized, and set aside – i.e. forgiven (without that ask, I would add).  How does that mystery work?  It is a personal freedom who you vote for.  You are allowed to vote for who you want.  But what motivates folks to vote for Biden or for Trump.  Biden seems rational.  He may not be, but he seems that way.  Trump is a known quantity, a whole lot like Barabbas was.  The people back in the days of Jesus knew what they were getting in Barabbas, just like we know what we get in Trump.  I am sure Barabbas was not “all bad” either.  When Barabbas murdered Romans for example, most Jews thought he was doing the right thing.  Imagine the contrast with Jesus who murdered no one, and instead said we should love everyone (including enemies like the Romans).

Barabbas stood for something.  So does Trump.  Naked self interest maybe, under the disguise of patriotism maybe?  How was Barabbas any different back in his day.  And the contrast back then was one of ideas and ideals, just like it is today.  Barabbas stood for doing it yourself, for taking control, for taking charge – Trump echoes a number of those themes.  Barabbas stood for lifting the poor man up, by putting a knife in his hand, and asking him to join the merry gang of thieves.  Trump gives us examples of same exact behavior.  Take charge, take control, be loyal to yourself, expect help from no one.  But Jesus offers a completely different model.  Jesus teaches there is no control, only God has that.  Jesus teaches absolute dependence on God for everything, we earn nothing, but are given everything.  Jesus teaches us to love each other so much, we would live serving each other, and if came down to it, to offer even our lives for each other because we love that much.  Hold nothing back.  Give everything.  Keep nothing.  That contrast of ideas and ideals is stunning, and lives on even today in our world, in our personal choices.

And the people chose back then.  Luke recounts the case study for us in his gospel letter to his friend about what we believe and why.  In chapter 23 it picks up in verse 13 saying … “And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, [verse 14] Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: [verse 15] No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. [verse 16] I will therefore chastise him, and release him. [verse 17] (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)”  Pilate knows Jesus is innocent.  Herod knows it.  Neither of them wanted to kill Jesus.  So tradition allows for a single pardon during the annual feast and Pilate offers to beat Jesus (nearly to death), and then release Him back to the crowd.  The crowd knows what a beating looks like, and what it feels like, so they should have been satisfied with this.  But in the war of ideas and ideals, this is not enough.  Reason is not enough.  Logic is not enough.  Personal freedom demands its due.

Luke continues in verse 18 saying … “And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: [verse 19] (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)”  Barabbas was a known quantity.  He was a murderer, as bad as bad gets.  But at least he killed “the right people” some of the time.  He was in prison for just cause, and the people were better with him in exile.  But the people wanted him back.  Not far off from what I see regarding Trump these days.  All sins of the past forgiven (without the repentance), and all crimes committed which may have impacted us rationalized until they are not crimes at all.  This was the attitude towards Barabbas.  The difference between Barabbas and Trump, is that Trump expects this warm welcome back, Barabbas would be immeasurably stunned by it.  For it makes no sense.  Why welcome back the thing that might actually kill you?  It is like putting the Taliban in charge and hoping they will do better this time.  It is like turning the medicine designed to save us from the pestilence of Covid into some sort of warped religious test, or political test, and refusing to live to make a statement about our personal freedoms.  But none of these choices are truly personal are they?  What we choose across all of these choices will impact more than just me, or you, they impact everyone.  And the people want their own ideas, not necessarily the ones for the common good.

Luke continues in verse 20 saying … “Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. [verse 21] But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.”  When it comes down to it, people would rather crucify Jesus, than listen to Him.  They don’t want to hear the message of Jesus, they want a perverted view of the message in the Old Testament (not seeing that the real message there was not actually different than the message of Jesus).  People want vengeance masquerading as justice.  People want self-control, not submission to God.  We would rather have Barabbas than Christ, Trump than an alternative, the risk of Covid (until we get it) than a simple shot or two.  None of those choices are actually in our best interest.  But our personal freedom guarantees us the right to make them, to pick the stupid, to do the stupid, to remain stubborn in our feelings and our choices – until God is dead, and our chance at redemption killed by the very freedoms we hold so dear.  We cling to personal freedoms until all they are is our epitaph, buried in the sins we too refused to repent of.  How sad.

Pilate tries for the third and final time again to reason with this crowd as Luke picks back up in verse 22 saying … “And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. [verse 23] And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. [verse 24] And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. [verse 25] And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.”  Pilate sees what we all refuse to see.  Jesus is innocent.  His teachings would change the world for the better.  There is no evil in the teachings of Christ, even if they ask you to surrender your personal freedoms to find the salvation we should all be seeking.  This is what it means to give ourselves over to God.  It means we give away what we want, how we think, how we love.  And Jesus transforms us from the inside out, from the core of who we are.  We surrender our personal freedoms, our personal choices to Jesus because He knows better than we, what we really need, and what we should want, even if that is not something we want today.

But when we remain steadfast to our own ideas, they do on occasion win out – much to our shame, and regret.  In the war of ideas and ideals, Jesus was killed to stomp them out.  It did not work, but it does reveal how far our personal freedoms can take us, and frankly will take us, if we are unable to surrender them to the God we would otherwise try so hard to put to death within us.  The future victims of Barabbas were probably none too happy with having seen him be let go, or worse being a part of that.  The future dead from Covid who clung so hard to avoiding the vaccination will suffer from that decision and pay the ultimate price, save for those they leave behind.  We may come to regret leaving the Taliban in charge.  But if we ever put Trump in charge again, our regret will be swift, and well deserved.  But there will always be some of us who freely choose these outcomes.  In the immortal words of Pilate – “Why?”  There are alternatives, even if not easy, even if not perfect, there are alternatives.  Why pick the known outcome, when what is known is straight evil?  Why not pick the known outcome of Jesus instead?

We were created with personal freedoms, not to choose to use them to make ourselves feel better, but to choose to use them to make the lives of others better.  That is what loving others is all about.  But it cannot be love unless it is freely chosen.  Being forced to do the right thing does not make us love, it makes us robots.  And that is not what God wants.  But God also knows that since Adam and Eve chose badly, our propensity to choose evil is greater than our ability to choose rightly.  So to return to righteousness we must choose to surrender our natural propensities, our will, our freedoms back to God so that He can remake us to what He intended us to be – free from the chains of evil, and free to love as He loves. 

Being free to love others is to be truly free.  It does not come naturally anymore.  It comes only from our Savior who died to make sure we could experience it, if we chose to, through Him, and only through that mechanism.  On the other side of transformation, making bad choices that we used to want, will become even more of mystery to us than we can imagine.  When asked why, on the other side of transformation, we will have no good answer, because there is no good answer.  God forbid we find ourselves locked in our personal freedoms, and therefore locked in the sins we refuse to remit.  Time is short.  Why waste another second walking a road you don’t want to go down.  Make a gift of yourself to Jesus, and watch what Jesus does with the gift of your life in return.  That is a decision you will never regret.

 

Nobility and Humility (witness number seven) ...

There are many things that appeal to us about the idea of living a life with great wealth.  With wealth, comes a better education.  With wealth, comes the potential to eat better foods, and enjoy a diet with far greater variety.  With wealth, comes a certain presumption that our children will be provided for, and perhaps have an even better life than the one we live.  A nobleman in the time of Christ, would have known all these things, or rather should have known all these things.  But then as now, the pain of evil that our world has embraced, the sickness and decay of death that was introduced when Eve bit in to that forbidden fruit, knows no respecter of persons.  The poor may die more quickly, and perhaps suffer more along the way.  But the rich die too, sometimes just as harshly, sometimes for just as unexplainable reasons.  Death itself was never the intent of God.  Nor was His intent to see suffering and sickness in the world.  Sickness and death were never the will of God.  They are our reality, because once the opposite of life is embraced, the only other path is pain and death.  What Christ came into this world to demonstrate, was what a restoration to life could free us from – both pain and death.

And so in the gospel of John, in chapter four and verse 46 we find that after His encounter with the Samaritans, Jesus had come into Cana in Galilee near where He had made the water into wine at the wedding He recently attended.  By this point, the fame and news of Jesus and where He went was becoming the top story of the communities there.  It was not just what Jesus did, though He had already done some miraculous things, it was also what Jesus said.  His teachings were revolutionary.  His teachings were new, they were fresh; they caused His hearers to examine their motives and desires, even more than their actions.  With hearing this news, a certain Nobleman whose son was sick at home in Capernaum, decided to seek Jesus out and plead for the health of his son.

You can bet the most prized possession of any Jewish nobleman would have been his son.  Having a male inheritor was an extremely important part of Jewish society and culture.  And being a man of wealth, I am certain when his son first became ill, he would have received the finest medical attention money could buy.  Every expert in the region would have been sought after to heal an ailing nobleman’s son.  But then as it is now, sometimes there is just nothing medical skills are able to do, against a determined illness.  Things were getting desperate.  This was serious.  It was approaching life and death.  Against this backdrop, the father chooses to leave the side of his son, even though his son is knocking on death’s door, and could well die without his father with him.  But the father is not ready to yield his son to death just yet.  The nobleman knows of Jesus, and has hope Jesus might be able to cure his son.  Yet as later texts reveal, the nobleman does not believe Jesus is the Messiah.  Only that he might be able to help his son.  He has heard stories, but he has not witnessed them himself.  Still, if there is any hope, to Jesus he will travel.

In verse 47 we find … “he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.”  The noble father knew the stakes; the noble father knew that were no other options left.  He knew that only a miracle could now save his son, and so he wanted to see one.  In verse 48 Jesus responds … “Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.”  Obviously this was not a statement about the belief the nobleman had in the ability of Jesus to heal his son.  He would not have left the side of his dying son if he did not think Christ could heal him, or if he had had any other option.  However, despite his desire for a miracle, he was not quite willing to accept the idea that Christ was the Messiah, the true Son of God.  It was this belief, that Christ was referring to.  Christ wanted to save more than the illness of the nobleman’s son, He wanted to save the souls of father and son.  In addition, His words were for a broader audience.

There are those in our world, who refuse to accept the idea that God exists.  They cite a lack of empirical evidence.  In short, they have not seen a miracle, therefore they refuse to accept that any sort of divinity could exist that could do one.  They choose rather to believe in themselves, and in what they know, and in what they have seen.  Of course, no one has ever personally witnessed the transformation from reptilian dinosaur into mammalian modern man either; but there is a theory based on limited changes we can witness that has been postulated (and given the lack of creation); it must have taken place that way.  So they are willing accept that idea having never witnessed it, rather than accepting the improbability that divinity could have simply willed it.  Without personally witnessing a divine miracle that they would have no other choice but accept; they will not believe.  This is more of a problem than you might at first imagine.

Evil entered our universe, because when confronted with the unknown, Lucifer chose to trust himself, and his own ideas about where pursuing the idea of pleasing self might take him, rather than where God told him it would lead.  In short, when confronting what we do not understand, choosing to trust in ourselves rather than in God, is how evil came into existence.  This is a mistake that cannot be repeated.  In order for evil to never rise again, the universe must come to a place where it trusts in God, more than it trusts in itself, and in our own wisdom.  Witnessing a miracle, would never be sufficient proof to turn someone determined not to believe, into a believer.  The “miracle” would simply be explained away, as some sort of trickery, random luck, or self-delusion.  When one is determined not to believe in something, one will always find a “legitimate” reason not to believe.  It is the determination itself that presents the problem. 

The nobleman had heard the stories, but not witnessed them.  The stories told more than simply of Jesus the miracle worker, they told of Jesus the Messiah and Son of God.  The fact that he was in front of Jesus to plead for the life of his son, reveals that he believed at least in that much.  But without personally seeing these miracles, he was unwilling to take it a step farther and believe in the soul saving work the Messiah had entered our world to complete.  But pride in our own ideas, is often humbled as we realize how little we control.  When circumstances take away our perceptions and put our wisdom to folly, sometimes then we are willing to let go our own ideas about how things “should” work and reach out for something more.  Illness had come to the door of the nobleman and had taken the most prized possession in his home, his son.  Medical skills had been unable to do anything about it.  Science had failed.  Reason had been strained.  Pride at this point, was all but dead.  Now, only the life of his son mattered.  Now, no matter what, he was willing to put aside his own ideas and reach out for something beyond himself.  And so he responds in verse 49 saying … “The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.”  This was last ditch effort of the nobleman saying please.  This was the nobleman admitting there were no other options.  It would be Christ, or death.

The conclusion the nobleman had reached about the life of his son, was the same conclusion each of us must reach about our own lives.  It would be Christ, or death.  If we are to continue to trust in our own wisdom, even as it relates to salvation and the interpretation of scripture, we are doomed to fail.  It is not our wisdom that saves us, only Christ.  It is not our ideas about truth that save us, only Christ.  There is nothing about us, that saves us, only Christ.  In short, it will be Christ, or death.  When we realize this, we can offer up our minds to Christ, as well as our hearts.  When we allow Him to teach us without bringing in to it, our own preconceptions, and misplaced interpretations, we can finally find what He has been trying to say to us all along.  It is our own ideas that blind us to His truth.  It is our own clinging to trust what we know, instead of what He knows, that keeps us poor, and blind, and naked.  It is our trust in self, that is at the core of how evil was introduced into the universe, and what must be altered in us if evil is ever to fully and finally be exterminated.  It will forever remain, that life will be found only in Christ and His wisdom, or in the alternative, death.  There is no other reality, no other choice.  In his desperation to save his son, the nobleman had reached this point.

Jesus responds in verse 50 … “Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth.”  At this point, the battle for the salvation of the nobleman, and his son, had already been won.  When pride had been killed, belief could be born.  It would take the death of pride in himself, to allow for the birth of belief in something greater than himself.  The nobleman had reached this point.  Have you?  Are we so disgusted with our repeated failures, and persistent embrace of sin and pain, that we are finally ready to cast aside the pride in our own ideas about salvation, and truly seek salvation from outside of ourselves, in Jesus Christ alone?  The nobleman was, and he would find it.  When our pride is killed, we will find it as well.

Verse 50 continues … “And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.”  This is a powerful verse of scripture.  The nobleman had still “seen” nothing, yet he believed.  When his pride was killed, he no longer needed to “see” the miracles for himself, he was now willing to accept the words of Christ as facts.  He was not returning to his home in order to be with his son before he would die.  He was returning in anticipation of finding his son alive.  But more than that, his belief had transcended the idea of Jesus the miracle worker, to Jesus the Messiah and true Son of God.  And as he returns home, like in the parable of the prodigal son, his servants are already running out to meet him.  They cannot simply wait at home, for him to return, but must share the good news with the nobleman.  A transformed life cannot be silent, it must testify as to the good news it has witnessed.

Upon learning of the time when the healing had begun, the nobleman knew it was at the same time Jesus had told him to return home that his son would live.  And the greater goal of Jesus in the sharing of the nobleman’s experience would be achieved.  The scripture records in verse 53 … “and himself believed, and his whole house.”  Salvation in the life altering Son of God, was not just instilled in the nobleman and his son, but in his servants, and family, and everyone in the home.  The life giving transformational encounter with Christ had done more than cure illness; it had liberated the nobleman from the slavery of trusting in self, to the freedom that comes from trusting in Christ.  Desperation had given birth to belief that can and did save.  It was and is belief in Christ that saves us, and sees us find life eternal.  When we trust in God, more than in ourselves, we find evil vanquished unable to face Him.  This is how evil will finally and fully be extinguished in the universe.  For forevermore, we will always trust in God, more than we trust in ourselves, and that alone will keep evil dead forever.  Salvation and life begin, when we let go our pride, and look only to Christ.

Food, Health & Poison ...

Sensory organs; the ability to experience life in ways that defy explanation for those without a reference, it is how we live, it is what we are. Imagine trying to describe the brilliance of color, texture, and lighting to someone who has been blind from birth. Without any sort of reference to go by, the sensation of sight seems like an impossibility, yet most of us see. Imagine your world in total silence, no more the flowing ambient sounds of a park at sunset, or a chorus of Handel’s Messiah sung by a brilliant choir. To describe sound without a reference is again very difficult. To smell, to taste, and to touch – a life deprived of these sensations seems a poor life indeed. It is said new born babies will literally die if they are denied tactile contact with another person for too long after entering the world. Why would these abilities be such a tangible part of our existence, if we were merely the product of random chance or evolution? And why stop there? Why not evolve the ability to break laws of physics? It makes so much more sense that we were created with abilities that mirror the God of creation who invented them.

Yet for every gift of sensation we have been given from God, His enemy Satan has a way of us misusing them to our detriment. We focus our attention on the things that would harm us, and harm us they do. We choose to seek out images that feed our lust, until we are slave to lust. We listen to rhythms and beats and words that degrade, until we can repeat them from memory and recite them at will. We eat things and drink things that slowly deteriorate our bodies, adding excess weight, tearing down our foundation of health. We seek to touch what we should not, and we become immune to the pleas of a conscience instilled by God. The devil uses our gifts, and turns our focus on excessive usage of each of them, to the point of our doom and self-destruction. These tricks are called “sins of the flesh”. Is it any wonder, the first temptation in the Garden was based on seeing, touching, and eating what we should not? Seems after 6,000 years we wander right back up to the fast-food counter and repeat the process of self-destruction again and again despite our knowledge of the impending results.

Yet despite our misuse of His gifts, the end of our existence will be as the beginning was. For in the Garden of Eden, there was a tree of life. This tree yielded a different fruit every month, and its produce literally extended life in all who ate of it. Because the fruit was so effective, it had to be guarded after the fall of man, so that none would continue to eat of it, and extend the life of sin indefinitely. An angel was sent with a flaming sword, until the garden itself was transplanted to heaven immediately preceding the flood of Noah’s day. When we return to Heaven, John describes seeing the tree of life once again. John also sees a river of life that flows from the throne of God Himself. This fruit and water will once again be our eternally sustaining bond with God. Of course once we enter Heaven, we will never again wish to choose a path of sin, for knowing how bad sin is, we will want no part of it ever again. So we will be free once again to eat of the tree of life.

Thus the practice of eating meals and drinking for sustenance was established in perfection PRIOR to sin. And while sin may have used this vehicle to enter our world, it does not eradicate our created instinct to eat and drink to survive, even after hell itself has passed away. Of course, like Adam and Eve in the Garden, what they ate had no waste byproducts. It was turned completely into the energy their bodies required. Vitamins, Minerals, and energy were the result of digestion. No need for bathrooms, or waste disposal systems to filter poisons from our bodies. There were no poisons to dissipate, or dissolve. Our perfection included the ability to taste, food that God considered “good”, and a conversion process that had no waste at all.

We have lived under the curse of sin for more than 6000 years now, and still we think we imagine, and we try to create. We put new combinations of elements together in new ways, looking for better foods, or fuels, or materials from which to build. We aggregate our knowledge and attempt to expand it despite the limited usage of our brains. Imagine what perfect health and conditions would do to increase these abilities. Imagine just what the lack of pollutants could accomplish in improving our lives and surroundings. Imagine clear air, clean water, and sun filtered through the ozone the way it was intended. I submit the improvement in our conditions alone would enable us to achieve greater accomplishments than we can even imagine today.

Now imagine what using 100% of our brain functionality might enable us to do; perfect recall for instance. Where now, the ability to perfectly recall experiences is more of a curse than a blessing due to the prevalence of evil in our world, in a world where only joy exists, perfect recall will be wonderful. But imagine what an IQ of 2000 might do, where today the higher IQ’s are measure above 150. Where now we deduce based on the best recollection of facts at our disposal, there we could deduce from brain cells without decay, or degradation. It is hard for a junkie to imagine the life of Bill Gates. The junkie has a much different perspective, from living in horror for a long period of time. While Christ can turn around a life like this, He is seldom permitted to do so, and it is why addicts more often than not, die from their condition. Sure, Bill Gates could become an addict, but the salient question would be “why”. He does not need drugs to avoid his problems, and his life affords him better perspective on solving any problem that comes his way. So we too, may not be able to imagine just how good, good will be, but to the best of our imaginations, this is what Heaven will be like.

Adam and Eve knew only this life of perfection prior to sin. They lived in a beautiful world, custom crafted by God to be their home. They had the beauty of marriage, the rest of the Sabbath, the company of God taking walks together in the evenings. They had a bountiful plethora of fruits and foods to eat, animals who sought their affections, clean water and clear air. They had 100% of their new minds to absorb the truths they were taught. They had all of this. And we will have all of these gifts once again restored to us. After time has no more meaning, all these conditions will be restored to us. We will live again as they lived at first, returned to our state of perfection. We know what they did not. We inherited the curse of knowledge of good and of evil. It did not make us like God in any other way than we have come to see how bad, bad can be, played out in our own lives. God knew it would lead to this and tried His best to help us avoid this fate. But we chose not to. It is our choice to throw away perfection that must be examined.

Unanswered Questions ...

Ever had an itch you could not scratch?  Ever had a question you really needed an answer to, that you just could not seem to find?  One of the most perplexing questions that occupies the minds of men, is what is the will of God for their lives?  Having discovered the existence of the True God, having embraced His love, forgiveness, and witnessed the changes He brings in your character – inevitably the question is posed, what does God want from me?  What does He want me to do?  Where?  When?  How?  And the most perplexing issue associated with the posing of this question is the lack of an immediate, clear response.

Christians falsely assume that by embracing God, they will magically receive a master-plan from Heaven’s architecture room for them to follow for the remainder of their lives.  No path will ever be dark, no decision unclear.  The idea that you apply the principles found in the Bible and work out a real-time plan for the remainder of your life is not one based in practical reality.  You would think it would work out this way, but it seldom does.  There are those few who seem called to a particular role, but they appear to be the exception not the rule.  So what gives?  Why is it that the most fundamental question of how to serve God best can go unanswered for long periods of time?

Unfortunately, we are not always ready to hear the answers to the questions we ask.  Sometimes the answers might be unthinkable to us, we may be eager to serve, but unprepared for the service.  In these instances God needs more time with us, to help get us ready for what He may require of us later.  His tender mercy takes the time that we need, to get our minds, bodies, and hearts in order for our next level of service for Him.  The faith we are given, allows us to trust in God, and to know that our question will not always go unanswered – but must sometimes be delayed in response for our own good.

Another reason why our destinies do not seem to be laid out in front of us in full detail is the element of freedom of choice.  Quite simply it is possible to serve God in a number of ways.  Not everyone has to be a preacher, a teacher, a writer, or a prophet to serve the Lord.  Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian Chiefs can also serve the Lord in whatever profession we find ourselves in.  As stated before witnessing is more about helping other connect with the source of all good, than it is about convincing others to believe like you do.  In that sense, as others see the Lord working in you, they will be drawn to the source of the changes they see.  Frankly, the closer you get to God, the more others will want to know how you accomplished it – what is different in your life – these questions are the gateway to worship and witnessing.

Tradesmen, craftsmen, salesmen, and those who work in customer service have even more opportunity to reflect the character of God than most others.  People in these kinds of positions, who do an honest job, a thorough job, and maintain a humble loving attitude despite the arrogance, and often obnoxious customer response, plainly show the influence of God in their lives.  Customers are less likely to be rude to Doctors, Lawyers, and people in leadership positions, because they feel the need of these people more and usually only seek them out in times of trouble.  Those they commonly come across, they seem to have much less trouble sharing their displeasure with.  But those humble Christian workers who maintain their composure, and still perform to the best of their ability, are effectively ‘working’ for God without a formal commission.

While God may not choose to lay out a detailed plan for us to follow, He does not leave us completely ignorant as to His will.  The Bible outlines a fair number of principles we can follow to help us evaluate choices we come across to see if they fit within His will.  For instance, I could be a salesmen for soft drink company, or for a cigarette company.  The choice may be up to me.  At first glance the choice seems obvious.  Tobacco is addictive, and causes cancer.  To work as an agent in its sales seems like being directly responsible for spreading its pain.  But one could argue that soft drinks are equally responsible for the obesity disease infecting our youth.  The sugar contained in soft drinks may not have as immediate and devastating effect as the tobacco but over the long term could also be considered poison.  So what would Jesus do? 

Sometimes we confine ourselves to 2 obvious choices without looking beyond the immediate options and thinking outside the box.  Were we to limit ourselves to selling only things that were free of contaminants we would quickly find our career options completely blunted.  Even ‘organic’ foods may pose a health risk to smaller segment of the population.  Between the soda or the cigarettes, the soda seems less harmful.  But having demonstrated an interest in health issues and a passion on the topic, perhaps the soda company would consider using your skills to promote it’s bottled water line, or juice line, or athletic drinks?  Most companies have more than one product in their arsenal.  And isn’t it possible that even the cigarette company may also have a program to kick the habit, or equivalent educational materials they are required by law to produce on the dangers of smoking.  It may not be your first choice to work for a cigarette company, but there may also be positions they fund that actually do good works.  And sometimes cigarette companies have entirely other independent divisions that have nothing to do with tobacco.

The truth is, that no matter how ‘evil’ you feel a cigarette company may be, large corporations tend to have stock and holdings in one another to such a point that the lines become blurred between one entity and another.  Wealth in our society is centered at the tops of the pyramids, and abuse of workers at the bottom is a commonplace occurrence.  Trying to find a ‘good’ corporation is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  Some corporations may be more blatantly good than others, but none are completely clean.  This does not mean that God would have us perpetually unemployed.  We can use Biblical principles to guide our choices, but those principles include doing our best, even when our employer is not the best of Christians.  Judging others for their positions, or employers, is never too good an idea.  In fact, judging others should be avoided period.

I worked for many years at defense contractor when I graduated college.  I supported my family this way.  I thought my position to be somewhat patriotic in nature; in that I was helping keep a company going that was strengthening the defense of my country.  Then war broke out.  I heard inside stories about the level of devastation some of the weapons we had built had caused.  Proud that we were more ‘accurate’ and causing less collateral damage, I spoke to a group of soldiers in an airport while traveling.  They had used one of our weapons systems and were very familiar with it.  And they relayed to me that they believed our weapons system delivery mechanism had given several of the men testicular cancer.  I immediately informed my co-workers and management of this report and was promptly ignored.  I later found out that our ‘accuracy’ had been overstated.  Now I understand that the CIA has direct control over drone planes with mounted weapons that can ‘assassinate’ high value targets almost anywhere.  Was I a patriot or an accomplice to murder?  Is killing our enemies OK, or is killing itself wrong?  Is killing still OK when we are only marginally sure of who our adversary is?  And how many might we have killed or wounded on our own side by lack of quality controls or standards (i.e. testicular cancer)?  Maybe the soldiers were mistaken, maybe they were not.  Was my small supporting role in a large corporation in some way responsible for all this damage?

I determined to serve the Lord better by looking for work in another kind of company.  I immediately thought of working in our local Christian hospital.  I had friends there.  It seemed like a natural fit to apply IT skills in a different environment.  But no.  Never has a pathway been so sealed up shut.  I could not get in at any level.  15 years later, and this door is still closed to me.  Hard to understand that God would not want me working in an area that seems to directly support His ethics – heal the sick, take care of the wounded, cure disease.  But this was not to be for me.  Instead I would hone my leadership skills in other IT companies.  My career would take me places I could not have imagined.  I would stay true to my principles, and would be fortunate (i.e. blessed) to work for honest men, who sought wealth not at the expense of others, but by aiding others.  Every company I have worked for since, shared my ethics.  This has been nothing short of the favor of the Lord.

But it remains an open question for me, and for many I know.  How best to serve the Lord next?  What more can I do for Him, who has done so much for me?  I don’t feel I have an answer for that question yet.  So I wait and watch and hope for one.  In the mean time, I try to serve Him now, and realize how pathetic I am at doing just that.  Perhaps the reason I do not receive my own answer, is that my attempts to serve God are so wholly inadequate there is not much I can for Him now, without damaging His name further in the eyes of others.  If so Lord, then continue your work of change within me.  I would normally ask He speed it up, but I think I’ll defer that one, and trust He knows best J …

Uphill Road, Both Ways ...

All too often the concept of following God is accompanied with the idea that once you choose to get to know God, somehow your pathway will be smooth, without trial, without problems, just a cakewalk all the way home.  When a devout follower of God gets hit with disaster, sickness, or death the immediate response can be - how can this happen … to me?

I think the basic reason we ask why is that we know just how BIG our God really is.  Given how incredible He can be; and how much power He really has; we wonder why He would not just immediately over-rule the horror in our lives.  It seems at least reasonable that He would block the pain that can come, or greatly reduce it.  Recently, I went through a very trying 2 week period passing not one, but two kidney stones 3mm each (about the size of a peppercorn or BB-gun ammo).  Those of you who have had one of these know how excruciating the pain can be while this little trinket works its way through corridors in your body where no foreign substance was ever meant to travel.  Women have compared it with the pain of child birth.  I wish I could say this was my first encounter with a kidney stone, but I had one before about 3-4 years ago.

When the first wave of pain hit my left side, I knew immediately what the cause was.  My mind instantly recalled the ordeal I went through the first time getting one of these little devils out of my system.  My second thought was not now, not here, not like this.  Then I’m praying - Lord, you and I both know what this is, and we also both know You could kill it for me, could you please ? … But the next wave of pain came anyway.  After a night in the ER the first stone passed.  A few days later, the pain was back.  Was it just residual from the first one maybe, it couldn’t possibly be another one, could it?  Yup.  A third trip to the ER and a second Cat-Scan and there we go, yet another 3mm stone on its way out of Dodge.  So not only did God not fix my first one, or my second, here came number three.  Does this mean God does not exist?  Far from it, I KNOW He does.  That leaves the question, why does He not overrule nature, pollution, or my defective body and kill this thing for me?

Herein is where those with less faith begin to doubt the existence of God.  How could He be out there and permit all this pain.  If He can fix it, why would He not?  I mean in my case at least, He knows me.  I know Him.  So what’s up with all the pain?  It gets worse.  A few times the mixture of drugs and pain lead me to wonder if it may also be my heart giving out during one of these episodes.  If that happened I could die.  Getting up off the pot to find an entire bowl of butt blood gives you no small pause after this kind of ugliness.  Could it be cancer as well?  Could I be on my way out, and if so, am I on the superhighway, or taking the slow road.  Either way, it looks uphill.  And still God could heal me, no doubts.  The doubts come as to whether He will or not.

So what is the lesson for me in all this pain?  A good question I venture.  I might also ask why my friend Dennis who works tirelessly for our church just passed his 5^th or 6^th stone.  I might also ask why my pastor just passed his 4^th or 5^th stone.  I might wonder why our head elder battles prostate cancer.  Are we doing something wrong?  Are we somehow making bad choices in our diets, or lives that lead to these consequences, or is this all just bad dumb luck?  Looks like most of the other spiritual leaders in my inner circle suffer the same problems.  Is it our collective lack of faith that somehow prevents God from just curing us all outright?

But then I think to myself, this lesson is a lot like learning about the effects of sin.  God could immediately rescue me from all future sin and spare me from it.  But then, how would I truly know how much it hurts.  How would I know how much damage it does unless I am permitted to experience some of its effects.  Were I allowed to experience ALL of sin’s effects, I would die.  Much like my health issues of late, I could have died, but didn’t.  I got to feel the pain, and realize how much we REALLY need God, and how wonderful Heaven will be just to have the absence of pain.  In short, I know what it means to hurt.  There are others who have learned even more than me, there always will be.  But that does not deny my own lesson.  If I live or die from health issues or any other cause, is to a large extent not in my control.  But then, it was out of my control when I felt no pain at all.  Control is something I do NOT get to have.

So how do I live?  If doomed to walk an uphill path, is there any way out?  Do you think the poor guy who just became a quadriplegic has a choice?  Do you think the veteran who lost a limb is happy to live the rest of his life in that condition?  No one gets to choose, or everyone would only take the cakewalk.  Struggle is never the preferred way of living, it is foisted upon us, by an imperfect world.  God allows it.  It is beyond our comprehension why, because we can’t ever imagine choosing to live with pain of any kind.  We want the easy, the painless, the struggle-free existence – but sin completely prevents this from occurring right now.  God does not serve only as a fire-escape from our pain.  He is forced to work with us while we struggle.  He helps us see the effects of the choices we make, on ourselves, on our world, even what it cost Him.

There was however, one who chose to live suffering.  He chose a life uncertain of his outcome, not sure if the level of sacrifice on the cross would be enough to cover the sins of humanity.  What if the weight of sin was so profoundly offensive to a perfect father God that once having borne our iniquity Christ must remain forever separate from His Father?  The plan of our salvation bore a level of risk.  Along with a life of constant struggle, and self denial (never using his divine nature to escape personal pain, or avoid tribulation) – Christ must face death not knowing if the temporary separation from His Father that broke His heart on Calvary might wind up being a permanent condition.  Yet He persevered.  So great was Christ’s love for His creation, that he took this unprecedented risk, after a life that literally included torture and a most cruel death.  He chose to leave the cakewalk of Heaven and live life on earth, poor, and under constant attack from the evil one.  He chose this.  He had alternatives, but chose to live this way.

Who am I to complain about any meager pain I might endure?  Drugs dull my pain, there was nothing to dull His.  I may die, but because of Him, I have hope to live again in perfection.  My sleep of death will be brief.  My years of suffering here on earth pale in comparison to the permanent reward He offers.  The quadriplegic will walk again, and run, and feel, and do it for an eternity.  The struggles will not endure – but the peace will.  I hope to live long enough to be of service to God, and when my time comes to pass from this world – it is my service I hope to be remembered for.  Basically I am a wimp.  I would choose my whole life to avoid all pain, and live in relative comfort.  I may not get this choice, but I praise God, that He loves me in my suffering.  That He remains right by my side when I hurt.  That He aches to heal me, but must sometimes permit me to see the meaning of pain.  I praise God that He was far from the wimp I am.  I praise God that His choice to suffer this way and worse, buys my freedom and end to all pain.  I praise God …

Politics of Fear ...

Heaven is not a fire escape.  But from time and memorial, stark messages of fear have been used to gain the attention of audiences to effect a result.  In the case of religion, fear has been used to call you to repentance.  In the case of politics, fear has been used to assert control over you.  Both may prove temporarily effective, but both reveal that “fear” as a motivator cannot sustain itself, unless it is constantly fed and able to grow and grow in your mind until … I would suppose you reach the point of insanity.

When unable to reasonably threaten your physical security, politicians use fear as their preferred tactic on losing what little you have.  Take the current Health Care reform debates, the subtle messages of fear intended to stop reform include … “why should you pay higher taxes to support illegal immigrants, and other poor people to get coverage” or “you could lose ‘control’ over your own doctor” or “rationing due to high costs could wind up killing grandma”.  All of these assertions have a mild basis in truth (in that they are not beyond the laws of physics), but none of them even begin to reflect the intent of reform, the current bills under discussion, or answer the key questions that must be addressed for any kind of health care reform to be successful.

The real key question we should be asking on Health Care is … “why do costs continue to rise faster than inflation every year in Health Care for the past 10 years.”  The reason is simple but affects us all – it is because our entire Health Care system is driven on a for-profit basis.  Positive aspects of this include: Health Care careers are considered stable with high earnings potential; unlimited funding allows for advances in research in both pharmaceutical and medical practice industries; most people’s 401k retirement accounts include Medical stocks or Bio-Engineering firms in order to share in the financial gains made from this setup.

But the downside of for-profit medical care is everything Christians should stand against: we currently seek for “treatments” not “cures” as treatments are lifelong income streams whereas cures kill profits; those who cannot afford healthcare do not receive any outside of an ER room; and where money motivates everyone wants a piece.  The insurance companies are motivated to deny coverage for treatments a doctor requests in order to reduce pay-outs (i.e. costs).  Lawyers are motives to sue hospitals, doctors, and insurance companies for any perceived injustice or mistake (real or imagined).  Pharmaceuticals can set prices for life-prolonging drugs at whatever they want, and we are forced to pay them.  All of this leads to insurance rate increases, which leads back to increasing the cost of health care once again.  And while we are increasing prices why not build a little extra “profit” in there as well.

When Christ walked our earth, His idea of Health Care was complete cures for whatever was wrong with the “patients” he encountered.  He healed them completely.  He did not setup treatment programs that were dependent on them coming back to Him over and over to insure they maintained their new found cures.  He healed anyone in need, whether rich or poor, and in point of fact, He came across more poor people in need, than rich.  He healed people who did not know who He truly was, and people who did not even believe in Him prior to meeting Him.  It was unconditional life-lasting health care He provided at no cost to anyone.  Talk about reform.

After His ascension His disciples carried on this kind of Health Care work in His name.  Current Christians have lost all sight of this idea, and the power of healing has all but gone out of the world.  Now the idea of “faith healing” is done largely by charlatans and money-grubbers more interested in their own fame than the true work of healing the sick.  And so Christians in the US are content with allowing their Health Care to be provided to them on a for profit basis … until they personally get bitten in the process.

So why keep things the way they are?  Because there are millions of dollars to be made in a business you cannot refuse to take part in.  When you get sick, really sick, you have no choice but to seek Health Care even if it results in your bankruptcy or financial ruin.  That alternative is better than death.  The kind of money that is made from this business is self evident by the level of furor and advertising to convince you that nothing should be done.  Only the mildest reforms will be proposed and only after the number crunchers angle a new way to make even more money from the new regulations.

And how do you go about trying to convince people of something that defies common sense?  You strike fear into their hearts.  Fear that they may lose grandma.  Fear that they may lose what little money they have in new taxes to support “poor” people.  Fear that they may lose their doctor or ‘control’ over their health care to a government run bureaucracy.  Forget the fact that for-profit insurance companies would gladly kill grandma to cut costs, they do it to moms, dads, and kids today.  Forget the fact that not keeping poor people healthy costs more in tax dollars now than would covering them and preventing the spread of disease.  And forget the fact that government is supposed to have the protection of its people as its motto, whereas for-profit-industry cares only for the bottom line financials generally at the expense of the people.  But forgetting the facts, and even the debates, it is the fear that is the preferred tactic in this fight.

And Christians think this technique is only for politicians?  Think again.  The term “Hell Fire and Brimstone” preacher comes to mind, or how about “Evangelist”?  How many times have Christian leaders spoken from the pulpit about Hell to motivate people to seek God, or more accurately to “listen and agree with whatever the preacher says next”.  Fear has been a central tenant of the Christian religion.  Those that believe fear has merit often quote the text “Fear is the beginning of wisdom”.  The rational is that fear gets your attention, and then you learn about love.  This idea reminds me of the Southpark cartoon where gnomes developed a 3 step program to make money: Step 1.) steal underwear; Step 3.) make profit.  The gnomes had no idea what to do in Step 2.) but they believed strongly in the program.  How a new believer is able to get love out of a message of fear designed to control, is no different than the underwear gnomes dilemma.

And what about all the messages of death and destruction in the Bible like say the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of the entire Assyrian army, Nineveh, not to mention the setting up and taking down of worldwide kingdom after kingdom from Egypt, to Assyria, to Babylon, to Medo-Persia, to Greece to Rome?  Like doctor Phil is often quoted as saying … how did that work out for you?  None of these real events have changed the motives and hearts of man to become better and seek the true God.  That is because none of these events were designed to spread the gospel of love.  They were designed to stop, contain, or cut short the spread of evil.  God has throughout history shown by example that evil will eventually be extinguished for all time in the universe.  Not through an eternally burning fire of Hell, but through the eternally consistent choices of the saved and redeemed to never seek evil again.

The destruction of evil in the Bible is not designed to instill love or fear.  It is a cause and effect, matter of fact display of the results of evil within the universe.  It will only be tolerated for so long, and then extinguished.  When using fear to motivate along these lines the entire point of the gospel is lost.  The truth is that evil is itself the punishment.  Evil is the cancer, it is the pain that ripples through your life and the lives of others.  Evil is the condition from which God wishes to redeem us.  Love is the relief and removal of evil, not the prolonging of it. 

The devil does not mind when a leader or speaker uses fear to point people to God, as he knows as soon as the fear wears off, they will leave God again.  No immediacy, no fear, no reason to stay with God.  But when someone realizes what Love is, and how their lives can be so much better without the pain of evil – that person is lost to the devil forever in the palm of our God.  Understanding love is the definition of wisdom.  The wisdom that fear should bring should only be attributed to the consequences of embracing evil.  This fear-based-wisdom is merely a factual look at the results of evil, nothing more.  Love based wisdom is learned over an eternity and enriches your life everyday you experience it.

Christ came so that you would no longer be a slave to fear.  You need fear nothing for the God of the Universe loves you personally.  Do not fear the sharing of your wealth with others, or the sharing of your love with your enemies.  Do not let messages of fear inspire hatred within you, but rather let them inspire pity and patience and charity.  Most of all submit your will to Christ, and find the change that will make your life one worth living …