Whom Will You Serve? : Division Designed By God

"If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."  Joshua 24:15 NIV

It would seem an understatement to say that we are living in divisive times. Probably the only thing that the majority of us could agree on is how divided we are. For years politicians have promised they had the answer. Recently our current administration has divided us more than ever before. The race problem that had seemingly been brought under control has been exploited and exploded to a point that is worse than I remember in my life time. The progressive liberal, anti-God movement has made greater advances than at any other time in our history. Satan has done what he specializes in to the point that even in the Christian community we are divided on very serious issues. Have you ever noticed how Satan cloaks sinful behavior in the disguise of freedom of choice, and alternate lifestyles? It’s like the billboard advertising beer. On a hot day the picture of the ice rolling off of the top, and the foam oozing off the top make it look so refreshing. They never show you the picture of the drunk in the gutter, or the broken homes that have been created by it. So now we can fully understand the warning Isaiah issued in chapter 50:20. We live in a society that calls good, evil and evil, good. Toward the end of His life Joshua issued a final address, and challenged the elders and leaders of Israel to choose, whom they would serve. He understood that God does not allow for neutrality. With the divisiveness of our day and age, there is a feeling that something huge is about to happen. Some have suggested that our nation is headed for another civil war others interpret circumstances as leading rapidly to the coming of the Lord. Some have even suggested that Barak Obama is the anti-Christ. I don’t think he is because He couldn’t get that much of the world to follow Him, but I do think He is a forerunner to the anti-Christ. He along with His cohorts is certainly setting the stage where the public at large would follow and even worship the person who could fix our problems. Regardless of where this all ends up there are some things that we need to understand.

Division is by divine design. The very fact that man is by nature a sinful creature makes unity a more dangerous thing than division. God himself confused the people’s languages, and scattered them over all the earth. He himself recognized that while they remained unified in their effort that, “nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” (Gen 11:6) Jesus himself said, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” (Matt. 10:34) Jesus was not advocating violence, nor did He automatically intend for us to turn away from our families, but he did understand that His message is divisive, and that faith is not compatible with unbelief. The fact that we are divided is not the problem. The problem comes when we become unified in the acceptance and promotion of evil behavior. In the Christian community we even respectfully maintain a certain level of separation. I love my charismatic friends and have preached and sang in their churches, however there are serious reasons of faith that prevent me from being one. In II Corinthians when Paul forbids the intermarrying of believers to non-believers, He asks the question of what we have in common with them. And then speaking of the unbelieving and idolaters he commands us to come out from them and be separate. (II Cor. 6:17) The time for separation has come. Christians and the Church have been partakers of the world’s delights for long enough that we have become dull in our senses. We have allowed Hollywood, Politicians, and a Godless education system to distort our world view. We have exercised a politically correct, live and let live mentality, and we have become partakers of their sin. Romans 1:32 suggests that by simple approval of another’s sinful lifestyle, we ourselves deserve the same punishment. Silence is consent. It is time for Christians everywhere band together in community, and stand up against Satan, and proclaim the truth of the Gospel. If the love of Christ is in us we must proclaim the truth of Scripture. Love is not silent in the face of imminent danger.

Unspoken Prayer Requests

Most of us at some point have shared an “unspoken prayer request” with a Christian friend or in our church. In almost any church prayer time in virtually every church, someone will have that prayer request that they do not want to share publicly. These become the “Unspoken Requests”. I have often referred to them as those things which lay on the back of our hearts that are so ultimately personal that we dare not even mention them. My pastor and great friend recently challenged me on whether the concept is actually Biblical. I had to admit that I really hadn’t thought much about it. Of all the study I’ve done of the Scripture and on various topics this one wasn’t even on my radar. It was simply one of those traditions we’ve just always done without questioning. Well my brother sparked that “need to know” inside me, so I found myself digging in.

It was no shock to find out that Scripture is silent on the issue. Let me suggest a few things at the outset. There are no Biblical examples of anyone who ever requested prayer without divulging what that need actually was. While there are no Scriptures which show the practice there are also none that forbid its practice. In a moment we will look at some Scriptural reasons why using “unspoken requests” may not be such a good idea. So, is it a Biblically acceptable practice? The answer is both yes and no. The Good news is that is not wrong or sinful to ask for prayer while withholding the sordid details. The Bad news is that this type of praying is not likely to achieve results, and I think you’ll have to agree later.

It would seem that since the Bible is silent on the issue, the next logical question would be, why even do it? Why speak up in a church or other public setting and say to them, “I have an unspoken request.”  Obviously there are a lot of issues which take place in the lives of the believers that do not need to be hashed out in public. I really don’t want to know about dear sweet Julie’s bladder infection. There are sins which if made public would do more damage to the body of Christ than any good that telling it might achieve. What is ironical to say the least is that in using the concept of an unspoken prayer request we often defeat our own purpose. We attempt to reach out to our brothers and sisters about our needs, all the while, not giving the gossips anything concrete to talk about. In reality all we are doing is giving them something to wonder about. I wonder what’s wrong with her. What did He do? Let’s put it in terms of sinful behavior. If I ask for unspoken prayer, the implication is there. I may just as well have said, “Guys I’m kind of stupid and I need your prayer, but I don’t want you to know how stupid I really am.” At the same time I say these things I also understand that it is so often the unspoken requests that we need prayer and support in the most. They most often represent things in our lives that we do not feel comfortable sharing with any one. They are the hurts, trials, struggles and even the sins that harm us the most, and there is no one with whom we can share. They remain burdens that we carry alone, so we ask for general unspecific prayer, knowing that God already knows our need. In fact it could be said that if we pray for one another as we are told to do, then we pray for unspoken requests almost daily. Ephesians 6:18 and I Timothy 2:1 are a couple examples of the command to pray for everyone, but I do not know what those people need. I pray for my pastor and church leaders and while I understand from experience more about their needs than the average church member, I really don’t know what they each need in their lives.

I would be remiss if I failed to point out a few problems you get into with invoking the unspoken request. Galatians 6:2 commands us to bear one another’s burdens. This is impossible if we do not know what the burden is that we are carrying. If you ask me to carry your baggage I would like to have some idea of what is in it first. We cannot be vessels to meet needs that we do not know exist. Jesus said that if at least two of us agree on anything we would receive it. Matt 18:19 Can we agree on things we know nothing about? It is certain that when we come to the church for healing prayer we cannot hold anything back. There can be no secrets. James even goes so far as to say that we should confess our sins to one another. James 5:16 I remember one night while serving as the on-site-director of a local homeless shelter, a man showed up in my office. I knew him well. He had floated in and out for a while, and admittedly I liked this guy. This particular night He was beaten and bloody. I had never seen him like this. I wanted to take him to the emergency room, but he refused. There had apparently been drinking and possibly some drugs that led to a fight that night, and He was afraid the doctors would call the police. He refused healing help that night because He feared possible consequences. We miss out on so many blessings, and many times forfeit our healing, because we withhold our true selves from the people who are supposed to care the most.  

Is it Biblical? It is not in the sense that we are given command, or example of it. Is it wrong to do? It is not in the sense that Scripture forbids it. We do a lot of good things which Scripture is silent on. Scripture does not tell us how often to have church services, but I tend to gravitate to the ones who still hold three a week. Scripture does not speak of a series of meetings called a revival, but it is still one of the best evangelistic tools we have. Continue to use the unspoken request when it is appropriate, but let it become rare. Never let it be a wall behind which we hide our true selves. When we do, we deny ourselves the support we need so much, and we are denying Godly people the opportunity to come along with us to bear those burdens. 

Santa Clause is Real --The True Story of St. Nicholas

Many Bible believing God loving parents struggle with the idea of allowing their children believe in Santa. After all He’s not real, right. Admittedly Christmas, Santa and giving have become way too commercialized. A once great tradition has become merely a gimmick for big business to increase their sales. While the giving spirit of the season has become drudgery, most of us are focused on receiving. Christians need not be offended or fearful of Santa, if you can grasp where he comes from, and the idea that He himself began in Christian tradition. He is real. At least He was a real man and the spirit of giving he gave us still remains centuries later.

His Proper name is Saint Nicholas of Myra. Nicholas was the child of wealthy parents. His tradition which has grown into Christmas as we know it began when he was a young boy growing up in of all places, the region which is now modern day Turkey. Nicholas's faith was shaped by his parents-committed Christians who showed their faith not just through their words but also through action. They gave to missionary work and helped feed the poor. They also took Nicholas to church services and enrolled him in theology and history classes. Young Christians were taught The Didache, an early guide to righteous living that asked believers to fully embrace the two greatest commandments: to love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22: 37-40). These lessons had a great impact on Nicholas. As a teen, he shared part of his allowance with the poor children who didn't have enough to eat. Yet the act which really set him apart began with a family friend's business failure.

A friend of Nicholas’s family had to move to the most poverty stricken area of their village when His business failed. In desperation he sought to sell one of his three daughters to the brothel owners to feed the rest of the family. When Nicholas heard about this even as a boy He was moved with compassion and grief. The night before the daughter was to be sold he went to their place and waited for the lights to go off, and then He threw a bag of gold through an open window and ran away undetected. The money lasted the family an entire year and when it ran out He returned and did the same thing. When He returned on His third yearly trip he was caught. The father was overcome with emotion when he saw that the person who had become his rescuer was just a boy. Wiping away tears, he hugged Nicholas and asked Why He had done this. The response was direct and simple" "Because you needed them" When asked why he had not made himself known His response was purely Scriptural and unselfish. “Because it's good to give when only God knows about it." Nicholas' answer would become the foundation for the unrewarded giving still celebrated each Christmas season. Nicholas was in his mid-teens when his mother and father died. The uncle he was named for, a priest, was placed in charge of the grieving boy. As the two prayed for understanding, Nicholas was a calling to live out the lessons taught in his own home. He felt the best way to memorialize his parents' ideals was to take his considerable inheritance, cash it into Roman coins, and give all he had to the poorest families in the region. Satisfied that his act honored his parents as well as his Lord, he then committed himself to study. He felt that if he learned more about God, he could live more like Christ. After being tutored by his uncle, he later attended school in a monastery. Nicholas probably entered the priesthood before reaching his twenties. The life of the once wealthy young man was now filled with trials. Under emperors Diocletian and Maximian, Christians were hunted and persecuted for ten long years. Those who would not abandon their faith were often tortured and executed. As a church leader, Nicholas was jailed. Receiving inspiration from the letters of Paul, Nicholas encouraged those outside the walls to pray, support the work, and look to the Lord for strength. After his release, Nicholas was elected bishop of Myra. He oversaw a period of rebuilding: feeding the poor, locating shelter for the homeless, and finding families for those orphaned during the decade long persecution. He spent a good portion of his day teaching and sharing food and clothing with the children from the poorest families. Because of the gentle way he expressed compassion and love and because he often was seen carrying a bag filled with candy and gifts...it's hardly surprising that whenever he ventured out in public, he always seemed to have scores of children clinging to his robes and following in his footsteps. Many religious leaders of the day used church funds to provide a lavish lifestyle for themselves, building great homes and purchasing the finest food and clothing; in contrast, Nicholas opted to give the money away. As he traveled through his district, he often dropped coins into the windows of the poorest people or in the shoes left on porches. Though his staff knew it was the bishop distributing these gifts, Nicholas did not allow the information to reach the public. Thus, when someone rushed up to him the news of finding a coin in their home, the bishop smiled and assured them that God had heard their prayers and answered their needs. Nicholas often inquired of local village officials where he could find those in greatest need. He traveled to the poorest areas, and without announcing his identity, gave away money, food, and clothing, then disappeared before the shocked recipients could identify him. Most had no idea he was a clergyman, and a legend grew that he was an angel dressed in red. Yet what ultimately made him a legend was his love of children. As he grew older, he used more and more of his funds to purchase gifts for children. Giving toys or candy to little ones, Nicholas told stories of Christ and the gift He had given through His death on the cross. Then, he would add, "Jesus loves little children, and He loves you." Through these gifts, many began to understand the full measure of their salvation. As a servant of God, Nicholas saw himself as shepherding a flock of needy and often lost sheep. He dedicated his life to being their voice in a world that seemed to care little for them. Nicholas became a legend of faith as he won battles for the poor, convincing the most powerful leaders of the day to show compassion and help meet their needs.

Nicholas's acts of service were so great that when he died, others picked up where he left off. Within just a few years, children all over Myra found gifts left in their shoes on his birthday. Over time, the legend of Nicholas of Myra grew: hundreds of churches were christened with his name. Yet this is pale in the light of what his compassionate life has come to mean to souls each Christmas.

Saint Nicholas didn't inspire the tradition of Santa Claus by chance; rather, it is a tribute to the spirit of this extraordinary man. Surely, as St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) looks down on us and his lessons of giving are still being taught, and that children everywhere are made to feel especially loved on the day celebrating Christ's birth. Nicholas spent his life giving, and that spirit of giving continues to this day. Ironically it was the Puritans, haters of anything catholic or anything secular, who brought the traditions of giving gifts on Christmas to America.


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America. what went wrong and how to fix it

Israel may be God’s chosen people of the Bible, but to a large amount of modern day Bible believers The United States of America was born out of God’s sovereignty and is the apple of God’s eye. For years we served as a base of operations for the missionary outreach of the church. America was indeed a Christian nation. Was, is the key word here. Sadly I agree with Barak Obama when He says that America is no longer a Christian nation. Almost every facet of our nation is failing. What went so tragically wrong, that we have found ourselves in such a mess? What has caused heaven to dry up and the blessings to stop?  If my understanding of history and of the Scripture is correct there are 4 primary problems that have brought us here and must be addressed if we are going to be a great nation once again.

1. We have forsaken our heritage.

Many in our modern world would deny it, but it remains a historical fact that this nation was founded on and for the principles of religious freedom. Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, nearly half (24) held seminary or Bible school degrees. President George Washington said, “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.” In The writings of Thomas Jefferson (page 385) He said, “I am a real Christian--that is to say a disciple of the doctrines of Christ.” Now, we do understand that not all who were involved in our founding were by definition, Christian. Benjamin Franklin who never embraced Christianity even had a healthy understanding of the need for religion in our society, and was especially kind to Christianity. He called the code of morals left us by Jesus Christ in His religion, “the finest in our society.” Today we have re-written the history books so that our children do not understand where we came from, or why we were the greatest nation on earth.

     2.) We have been too blessed for our own good.

I fully realize how silly that statement sounds on the surface. God is the author of all good things. It is He who blesses us; right? Follow the logic though and you’ll understand. Great blessings, requires great responsibility. “To whom much is given, much will be required.” (Luke 12:48)  Instead of a spirit of gratitude and grave duty to God, we have developed a sense of entitlement. We have lived in the land of plenty for too long. As far back as I can remember it was a man’s natural bragging rights to point to his accomplishments. “Why, I am a self-made man, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and earned everything I got” was common in most discussions. If you’re a self-made man then you’re not Christian, because Scripture is clear that He began a good work in you and He will complete it. (Phil. 4:6)  Scripture declares that every good and perfect gift comes from above. (James 1:17)  We’ve become fools in our own self-sufficiency. We have become like the man who tore down His barns to build bigger and better. (Luke 12:18) Instead of looking to God as the giver of blessings with gratitude and responsibility, we have become prideful, and no longer have need of Him.

      3.)We have become a nation of individuals instead of a society of people

“We the People…” has given way to a me, myself and I mentality. This nation has always operated on the principle of the sacrifice of some for the good of all. We are living in the most self-centered and self-absorbed society in all of human history. We would expect this from a pagan society but it has invaded the Christian community at an alarming rate. We have placed our own desires above everyone and everything else, even the health of our own nation. We will decry the entitlement society, and yet be first in line when there is a new government benefit for us. We as conservatives are disingenuous about real reforms and government cut backs. We are not willing to suffer the pain of good change. We might as well say out loud, cut the budget but don’t you touch mine. The Apostle Paul told us to not concern ourselves with our own well-being only, but also the well-being of others. (Phil. 2:4) Well, we don’t even have time to discuss what all the Scripture has to say about sacrificing for Christ and for His people. And yet sacrifice and self-denial have become dirty words in our selfie/society.

      4.The institutions of family and church have failed causing the collapse of the third, which is human government.

David asked the question “if the foundations be destroyed what then will the righteous do?” (Psalms 11:3) God has in fact given us three distinct institutions in which the human race operates. They are the family, human government, and then finally but probably the most important is the church. Make no mistake about it; Christians (at least Christians so called) bear most of the blame for the state of our nation and our world. Obama’s forced socialism is biting us, so now we are all in an uproar, but the fact is that socialism has been creeping in since the great depression. Socialism and even communal style living, (communism) when it is voluntary has its roots in Biblical principle. The early church in the book of acts “had all things in common.” (Acts 2:44-43) The Amish and Mennonite communities are thriving because they still operate largely this way. The beginning of our financial ruin was the “New Deal” Socialism to the Bible believing Christian is a wonderful thought, but seriously naïve. Hey, who wouldn’t like to see every American insured to receive medical care? Who wouldn’t like to know that everyone in America had three square meals a day? There is only one problem with that idea. The government doesn’t have that kind of money. Socialism when mandated by the government becomes tyranny. The problem is not in the idea, but in implementation. When the government began doing the church’s job and the church began doing nothing, we started to spin out of control. Now we have come from this wonderful thing called social security to a full blown entitlement society. Christians decry the lack of morals in our day. Where were you during rebellion of the sixties and seventies? I know where you were. You were the free love pothead, acid freak, and now you’re the grown up adults running our nation. We as Christian people really have no right to question what went wrong. If you are a Christian over forty years old, (myself included) you are the reason we are in a mess today. State governments, courts, and even the church are curiously wondering how to handle the new gay marriage movements. The sad truth is that neither the government nor the church has understood what a Christian marriage and family is since we started accepting and propagating no fault divorce in this country. I nearly busted out in laughter when I noticed a young lady on Facebook liking a status of focus on the family about the permanency of marriage. My unspoken question was. “Really, is that marriage one, two, three, or four…?” Sadly this lady would claim to be a Christian, so the unsaved people who know her are turned away from the Gospel. Another woman I know in my own community is trying to run a “Christian Ministry” all the while in a public affair with another woman’s husband. We all have sin in our lives, but most of us have given up trying to do better. We cry, I’m only human, and don’t judge me, and our own consciences have been dulled by our sinful behavior.

The end conclusion is that governments cannot prosper long without a moral and ethical people to prop it up. When the Church quit being the Church and the family traded the Ingalls and Walton’s models for Friends and Will and grace, we set a course for destruction. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.” (Gal 6:7) Christians have quit taking Scripture seriously and therefore the non-Christian community has been able to neutralize its influence. We are living out Romans 1:18-32. Read it carefully. “ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” I can almost hear the words if God were speaking this today. “Ok folks you don’t want me around, let’s see what happens when I am not involved.” God is allowing us to self-destruct. Every one of us is touched by this passage. Even those of us would believe in God, and claim to love Him are guilty, by our silence. They began teaching our children that we descended from monkeys, and we did nothing. They took prayer out of schools and we did nothing. The Supreme Court said it is ok to murder the unborn, and we did nothing. Silence is consent. We can say that by our silence we “approve of those who practice them.” What an indictment! I’d be remiss if after all this I did not offer the simple solution. No particular leader or any style of government can fix the problem. Oh, and the solution needs no commentary. It’s real easy to understand.

“If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” II Chron. 7:14

Actually Scripture Doesn't Teach That Part 4--I am a believer, so I am a Christian

The most misunderstood word in our language and the most often abused is the term Christian. We have adopted the idea that because we have accepted Christ as savior that we are automatically Christians. The term Christian means Christ-like. The term Christian is not one that we as a people of God picked out for ourselves. It was not even a badge of respect and honor like Christianity enjoyed in our recent history. The Scripture says, “And they were called Christians first in Antioch. Acts 11:26 It was a title of derision placed upon us by the religious establishment who had opposed Jesus. The term in its original intent would be paramount to using the “N” word in reference to a black person. The title that was placed on us for shame did in fact grow into a badge of honor. This has been the case to such a degree that we have lost its true meaning. Being a Christian has become fashionable. Everybody wants to be a Christian. In fact in the southern area of the U.S. almost everybody claims to be a Christian. I heard one pastor make the comment, “getting a person saved is easy, getting them lost is the hard part.” You theologians think on that for a bit. I will never forget as a young man, seeing an ad in the local paper for a political candidate. This man was running for Sherriff.  He had listed amongst his achievements, “member. First Baptist Church.” I remember thinking, how I had known this man all my life and He had not been to anybody’s church in all the years I knew him. It sure did look good in the campaign ad though. I shared with my Face Book friends recently about a young lady distressed because her boyfriend will not go to church with her, but they live together unmarried. This portrays a false idea of being Christian. A true Christian will be ashamed of their sin, not act as if it’s not a factor.

To be Christian is for sure to be like Him. We should be able to use the terms saved, redeemed, and Christian interchangeably. It should be the goal of all who claim the name of Christ to become more like Him daily. Sadly this is not the case. Now, I certainly understand that we all sin, but if we are attempting to be “like Christ” we will not ignore, make light of, or excuse our sin. Instead we will be burdened by it to the point that we either deal with it by confession, or by suppression, but we will certainly never flaunt it the way our society is. We can now claim to be Christian, do anything we want and use the phrase “don’t judge me” to ease our own conscience. I recently had a very humbling experience. For about a year I wore a Black cap that had the initials CIA. It was normally good for a lot of cool jokes and wise cracks. Occasionally though you would have someone look at me as if to say, are you really with the CIA. This particular incident took me much further. I sat next to a gentleman who commented on my cap. We talked enough that I was able to tell him that the cap was in fact real, but that it did not mean what he thought. The letters are the emblem of the national organization, Christians in Action. Almost immediately I was hit by a thought directly by the Holy Spirit, and I said “I probably shouldn’t even be wearing it. Why not? It’s because I haven’t been a Christian in “Action” in quite some time. Oh, I’ll preach, when opportunity arises, witness, write when I have something to say, help when I can, but this doesn’t rise to the level that it should. If you ask have I done all I can with all I have for the glory of God, then sadly the answer is, no. How do you answer this? To be a Christian goes beyond just being saved it is a commitment to know him more intimately, to follow Him more closely, and to become more “like Him” every day of our lives.

Actually, The Scripture Doesn't teach That #3 "Mansions in Heaven"

“I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop, in that bright land where we’ll never grow old….” Chances are you have sung this hymn before, or at least heard it. Preachers preach of a mansion Jesus is preparing for us in Heaven. It makes for exciting preaching, and hey, who wouldn’t want one, right? The problem is that Scripture doesn’t teach the concept of mansions in Heaven. The misconception is from Jesus’ famous leaving speech in John chapter 14. “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In my father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you…..” You probably remember the rest by heart. It is truly one of the most comforting beautiful passages in Scripture. I myself have used this very passage in too many funerals to count.

The King James rendering of this passage has led many to a wrong interpretation of the passage and a false concept of Heaven in general. We first must understand the language with which we are dealing. 1611 old English is very archaic and can be difficult to understand; it’s the language of Shakespeare. For those who are already jumping up in anger that I would be denying accuracy and inerrancy of scripture, let me say that, in 1611 an in 1611 English, the passage is completely accurate. We are tripped up though when we do not recognize changes in language word meanings. In 1611 the term mansion simply meant a dwelling place. It is where we derive our word manor. It is a far cry from what we now consider a mansion, like Trump, or one of the Hollywood stars, or a world leader would live in. It well could have been a one room apartment on the cheap side of town. This is why most all of the modern translations of Scripture have replaced “mansions” with rooms or abiding places. I certainly would ascribe to the idea that heaven will be beautiful, likened unto living in a mansion.

Allow me to further blow your mind when I tell you that Scripture never suggests that we will live eternally in the place above the clouds that we envision as heaven, hanging out with the angels. Micah in chapter 4 talks about our future home as a place where every man has his own vineyard, there is no more war, etc. but does leave the impression that we are here on earth. In Revelation 21:1 and following we are given the explicit description of the abode. Yes friend there certainly is a Heaven up there where our saved loved ones are. However, we all wait on our eternal home which are a new Heaven and a new earth, and we will go in and out of the new City Jerusalem which is the place Jesus is preparing.

So then, what is the message of John 14? It is never meant to be a description of heaven. It is the message of comfort, knowing this, there is plenty of room. To paraphrase, Jesus said I am going to prepare a place and there is plenty of room there. Would you like to know that when you die you can go to Heaven? There is plenty of room for you. Got a lost friend, family member, or loved one? Plead with them. Beg them, Witness to them. There is still plenty of room for them too.

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Actually the scripture doesn't teach that Part II---God's blessings validates His will in our lives

God’s blessing validates His will in our lives.

At some point in time all of us fall into this ideological trap. The idea that God blesses us when we are “good” and somehow curses us for “being bad” has been around since man began to struggle with sin in his life. For some, this idea has morphed into a large religious business, and the new method of church growth.  Motivational speakers disguised as Christian teachers would have you believe that God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. Pastors like Joel Osteen, have developed huge followings to their, name it and claim it theology.  Many times during stressful periods we find ourselves questioning our own faith, or the direction of our lives. We have been conditioned to believe that if we were in God’s will our lives would be better. We make generic statements like, “if God’s in it He will bless it.”

God has indeed given promises of blessing that are tied to our behavior. Psalm 1:3, James 1:25 and a host in between seem to give that idea. Notice that in almost every case it is tied to a strict adherence to the biblical precepts and teachings. This is something that on our best day we come up miserably short in. What level of “perfection” is needed to achieve these blessing is a mystery and therein lays the problem. None of us are deserving of God’s blessings. We could talk forever throwing up names of those who fell miserably short only to have all the apparent blessings of God on their lives. Abraham, not only lied about Sarah, putting her and the King in jeopardy of committing  adultery, but received gifts (material wealth and blessings) as the result of the lie. (Genesis 20) All of us could look to people who are publically living lives that are contrary to God’s word, and they seem to be doing fine, while finding those for whom the opposite is true.  Romans 9:18 gives a little better understanding. “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.” God always keeps the promises he has made, and when we find one we can rest assured in it. The flip side of the coin is that God is all sovereign. He can, because of His ownership of us, therefore do with us as he wishes. God has chosen a path for our lives. While it is true that God’s blessings seem to flow best when we follow that plan, we also know that God allows us to experience trials. Paul said, “I know how to experience need….” Phil 4:12 Our truest test of faith is not when we abound but when it seems as though all of heaven is shut to us and we still have faith. We have a hymn entitled “faith is the victory”. We would do well to remember those words. The author never said faith brings victory, but that faith in and of itself is victory.

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