The Plotline

The book is fairly well written as a story, but I would certainly raise issue, however, with the inability to clearly interpret some important parts of the dialog pertaining to faith. The book is a captivating story about the forgiveness of a father toward the murderer of his 6 year old daughter. The book begins with Mack, the main character, receiving a note that could be from God. It simply reads, “It’s been a while. I’ve missed you. I’ll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. – Papa.” (Papa is a name for God that the main character’s wife uses, though Mack is uncomfortable with it because of his own bad relationship with his father.) The shack in this letter refers to the painful place were the search for his daughter is brought to a tragic close. A few years earlier, during a family camping trip, Mack’s six year old daughter, Missy, is abducted by a known serial killer whom targets young girls. A lead sends the police, including Mack, to an old shack in the middle of the woods where Missy’s blood-soaked dress is discovered. Now three years later after this mysterious note appears in his mailbox, our character decides to go the shack to see if this is some kind of prank, or else, if God will show up. ‘God’ shows up, and Mack spends a weekend at the shack interacting with the different members of the trinity and learning to forgive God and Missy’s killer.

The Truth be Told

Although I found more than enough problems with this book to place it prominently on my “heresy shelf”, there are some theological points that are made quite well, with accuracy, and fresh analogy. The overall thesis of the book is that forgiveness is certainly desirable, and Mack is confronted by ‘God’ to let go or risk being let go of. Indeed, Matthew 6:15 is quite clear about the requirement of forgiveness. The author takes the time to address forgiveness as required to grow beyond the pain of a deep hurt, such as the murder of his daughter. But even beyond this, on page 227 we see that forgiveness is not the same as forgetting, and that is refreshing because of the number of Christian messages (particularly for kids) that try to simplify ‘forgiveness’ to mean ‘forgetting’. Thus, the author is very clear about what forgiveness is and its purpose in our life.

A great deal of time in the book is focused on moving from people making choices in independence of God toward dependence on Him. The book never clearly mentions the fall or salvation, but the concept is certainly present concerning the state of the human race as being self-centered and independent. In that independence, we are trying to solve all of our problems on our own, but that is not the model that God would have us follow. In fact, many times it is asserted that our best efforts only lead us into more pain, and the solution to this is to focus ourselves on God and to become dependent on Him.

An interesting twist for a book containing so much emergent theology is that the author asserts through the personification of the Holy Spirit that objective truth does indeed exist. During the dialog about what happened in the Garden of Eden, the conversation shifts to what is true and what is not. The view in mind is that humans are all trying to find their own way from their own opinion of what is good or bad, right or wrong. When Mack asks if there is a way to fix the problem, the response is astounding:

You must give up your right to decide what is good and evil on your own terms. That is a hard pill to swallow; choosing to only live in me. To do that, you must know me enough to trust me and learn to rest in my inherent goodness (page 136).

But before you praise such a remark, understand that the book does present many seeming sound principles only to denounce them later.

A final praise is an interesting discussion that developed on page 147 where Mack and Jesus are talking about how the fall has impacted men and women. He describes the fall as turning the men from God to work and himself, and women from God to human relationships. He uses the word ‘re-turning’ to describe moving from the natural state back to the state of centering everything on Christ. This is certainly a biblical concept and a good, easy to follow dialogue about the fall of man (though neither sin nor salvation is directly mentioned).

The Lies be Told

With those statements of praise, I would like to dive into the problems with this book. Of course, since we are talking about a human author writing a fictional book with a dynamic character who is supposed to be learning more about God, I will certainly give grace where it is needed. Even still, this book, and I do not exaggerate, contains rank heresy oozing from page after page. Of course, if I cook a nice delicate meal of greens and meats, and other hearty foods and place just a little poison on the top, you would not be so inclined to eat it. Why should our theology be any different? As I move through these points, some of the issues will be small errors, but some will be large. I will tell you in honest truth, I almost did not make it through this book because of the grief this author has done to the Holy Spirit, and that will be made very clear by the end of this review.

The Attack on the Bible

The first quarter of the book was quite interesting and read quite well. By the end of chapter four, we have met the main character, Mack, and learned of the root to The Great Sadness, which is the term applied to the sad memories of his daughter’s death. But it is at the very end of the fourth chapter that the attack on God and the deconstruction of the church begins. Starting on page 65, Mack is wrestling with the idea that this message may have come from God. He reflects:

In seminary, he had been taught that God had completely stopped any overt communication with moderns, preferring to have them only listen to and follow sacred scripture, properly interpreted, of course. God’s voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellects. It seemed that direct communication with God was something exclusively for the ancients and uncivilized, while educated westerners’ access to God was mediated and controlled by intelligentsia. Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges, or was the guilt edges?

So we see here that the character has a low view of scripture. But let me grant that the main character of a ‘Christian’ novel about finding God will indeed be hostile to the scriptures at the beginning of his journey. A sound book would set him strait by the end, but sadly we do not see that here. There is absolutely no place where the Bible is referred to as a guiding path, and to the contrary, it is seen more as a hindrance to getting to know God (i.e., it is irrelevant). Here are a few examples:

Snuggling like a small child deep inside the heavy down comforter, he had only made it through a couple verses before the Bible somehow left his hand, the light somehow turned off, someone kissed him on the cheek, and he was lifting gently off the ground in a flying dream (page 115).

During a conversation with the personification of the Holy Spirit, Mack addresses the matter of God’s expectations of people to avoid sin, read the Bible, and other Christian duties, she says, “I see. And how’s that working for you?” (page 197) She continues on, “The Bible doesn’t teach you to follow rules. It is a picture of Jesus. While words may tell you what God is like and even what he may want from you, you cannot do any of it on your own.” Of course, the Bible is primarily about Christ, and the Christian life is Grace-orientated, but the fact that the scriptures are useful for all manner of living, teaching, rebuke, and instruction tells us that it is certainly more than a vague picture of a person (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The Attack on the Trinity

The attack on the Trinity begins with the introduction of the entire Godhead. You may have noticed by now some female references to God in the above section. That is because God the “father” (frequently referred to as Papa) is a jolly black African-American female. Of course, in emergent style, there is one paragraph on page 93 that states the slipperiness of the error in affirming that God is neither male nor female, but that (s)he appears to Mack in this form to challenge his presuppositions about who God is. My main concern here is the gender blurring so frequent in our youth culture today in calling this African-American woman “Papa” with the rest of the textual references being female could certainly confuse one of the young readers such as the 12 year old child referenced on the author’s website (www.theshack.com). So, is God a male or female? Or does it even matter?

Jesus is Jewish which is certainly accurate, but apparently black which does not fit the cultural profile of a Jewish man. The Holy Spirit is portrayed as an Asian woman who is very mystical in activity. Mack can not focus on her as she moved about (phased in and out of vision) and she engulfed Mack in a lifting sensation (page 85), she appears at multiple places at once (page 128), and apparently levitates as a few other places particularly when she is passionate about conversation being discussed. She is also the only one who performed an apparent ‘miracle’ in the book (page 207).

Within this trinity, contrasts appear between the Bible and how they are portrayed. It started when Mack was curious if there is a chain of command in this trio, but they respond that they are all equally submissive to one another. Furthermore, authority structures are a direct result of sin. The problems with this view are numerous

1. It is clear from scripture that God the Father is over God the Son and God Spirit (Mark 9:37, Matthew 10:40, Galatians 4:4, John 14:26, John 15:26, and John 16:7).
   

2. There is certainly a hierarchical structure concerning angels (1 Thessalonians 4:16, Jude 9, Revelation 12:7-10)
   

3. Hierarchical structures exist inside of human relationships in houses, churches, and governments (1 Peter 2:13-25, Ephesians 5:22-23, Colossians 3:18-25)
   

So you can see here that this book makes light of the trinity, and denies the structures set within it that give the modern day church the governing direction and the model by which we are to follow.

So Great a Salvation

This book has very confusing dialog about sin and salvation leading the reader to be confused about the intent. First, to be sure, the book does use a mystical sense of sin and the primary place to discuss sin is in the Garden, so that is where we find Mack in the ninth chapter. The main problem in the book is that we never see the pure man apart from evil, the serpent (in any form) is totally absent, and we never see why people are in such a deplorable state. To be sure, however, they are in a deplorable state as is depicted by the dialog on page 135 which culminates in saying that it was a sorrowful day when they ate the fruit. The ‘gospel’ is then given when Jesus is said to have given up all of his rights so that Mack may live free (page 137).

The next more puzzling issue to me is a sense that I believe the author is denying Hell, but it is written in a way that can not be determined for sure. There are two main sections of dialog which seem to support this, the first is in the chapter entitled “Here come da judge.” Mack enters a cave where he is confronted by his thoughts to judge God and the human race. The dialog in this section is used to humble Mack, and it finally breaks him when he is commanded by Sophia, the judge, to pick three of his five children to have an eternity in Hell. He finally begs that he go himself in their place, and then he gets what Sophia is praying at: Jesus has come to be the substitute for all people. If this were all the dialog, I might give a hearty AMEN, but it is not. Sadly, it goes on to become perilously close to universalism (a system where the whole world is saved and goes to heaven). When the dialog about him taking God’s place, Sophia responds with “I am only asking you to do something that you believe God does…You believe he will condemn most to an eternity of torment, away from his presence and apart from his love. Is that not true?” Mack stutters a reply, “I suppose I do. I never really thought about it like this. I just assumed that somehow God could do that. Talking about hell was always sort of an abstract conversation.” The problem ensues after Mack offers himself instead of them and Sophia replies, “You have judged them worthy of love, even if it cost you everything. And now you know Papa’s heart who loves all his children perfectly. When this scene lasting several pages is completed, I am not sure if the author is implying that no one ever goes to hell because of Jesus (universalism) or not. It is so open ended, but it seems to lead to that conclusion. The chapter concludes with this statement, “[Mack], judgment is not about destruction, it is about setting things right (page 169).” The final kicker here is that Sophia is not God, but rather, the personification of God’s wisdom.

As I mentioned, there is another part of the book where ‘God’ seems to deny the wrath in the Bible and in the future prophecies in Revelation and other New Testament books. This is the disturbing dialog on page 119 which begins with a conversation about how God loves all of his (her) children equally:

Mack: What about your wrath? It seems to be to that if you are going to pretend to be God Almighty, you need to be a lot angrier.

God: Do I now?

Mack: That’s what I’d think. Weren’t you always running around killing people in the Bible? You just don’t seem to fit the bill.

God: I understand how disorientating this all must be for you, Mack. But the only one pretending here is you. I am what I am. I’m not trying to fit anyone’s bill.

Mack: But you’re asking me to believe that you’re God, and I just don’t see….

God: I’m not asking you to believe anything, but I will tell you that you’re going to find this day a lot easier if you simply accept what is, instead of trying to fit it into your preconceived notions.

Mack: But if you’re God, aren’t you the one spilling out great bowls of wrath and throwing people into a burning lake of fire? Honestly, don’t you enjoy punishing those who disappoint you?

God: I am not who you think I am, [Mack]. I don’t need to punish people for their sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.

What just ensued? Well, a multilevel theological deception. Let me explain it this way. The first deception is that there is no hell or torment, wrath or lake of fire. I am not sure what Bible (if any) this author has read, but a very cursory read through much of it will confirm what the author is trying to deny. The next level, however, is much graver. He sets up people for a straw-man argument. Recalling that this is an argument where a false perception is set up and then attacked. The false perception is this: God is pleased to punish sinners. He is the blue-suited, baton carrying bad cop who is waiting for his creatures to misbehave so that he can whack them. That is the false perception, but the Bible paints a totally different picture of God. The God of the Bible does not take pleasure in condemnation, but he is perfectly just, so His justice demands it! But His grace is extended through Jesus Christ to all those who believe and God judges Christ in the their place allowing Him to receive their judgment, and the saved to receive eternal life in Heaven. So you see here that many false perceptions of God and what He does are set up, and the author is free to lead the reader to a view that is contrary to the Bible.

To be fair to the claims that I am making about this book, there is a part on page 192 that seems to deny universalism, but again, with a lot of confusion. Mack asks what Jesus really accomplished on the cross and the answer is: “Through his death and resurrection, I am now fully reconciled to the world.” Mack tries to clarify this by asking if (s)he means only the ones who believe in Jesus. “The whole world, Mack. All that I am telling you is that reconciliation is a two way street, and I have done my part, totally, completely, finally. It is not the nature of love to force a relationship, but to open a way.” What exactly does this mean? I am not sure, but it sure matches the rest of the book with open-ended theology that can be interpreted many ways.

Tragically, the most devastating material on salvation and the nail in the coffin for any discerning Christian comes from the heresy on page 182:

Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists of Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions…I have no desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into my beloved…What it does mean is that I use any road to find you.

Once again, the major problem here is the open ended interpretation. If he is suggesting that Christ finds people in any system and pulls them out, I would agree, but since there is no separation, and no restoration anywhere in the book, it is best assumed that any system you choose to be a part of, or no system at all, you will be met by Jesus and brought into relationship with him without any change to your course.

Christian Traditions Destroyed

It is interesting to see how ‘God’ replies to the traditions of prayer, Bible study, and devotions in this book. I have already mentioned what happens when Mack tries to read his Bible, and how the book was somehow removed from his hands (page 115). But it continues what we see the response to prayer. Of course, prayer is only at a dinner table before a meal:

The only awkward part was at the very beginning when Mack, out of habit, bowed his head before he remembered where he was. He looked up to find all three of them all grinning at him. So as nonchalantly as he could, he asked, ‘Um, thank you, all…could I have a bit of that rice over there?’(page 105)

He has apparently learned his lesson by breakfast the next morning when he did not bow his head and just said thank you while ‘God’, mockingly said, “You aren’t even going to bow your head or close your eyes? Tsk, tsk, tsk. What is this world coming to? (page 120)” There are no other references to prayer to God from this trio of ‘Gods’. Devotions, I believe, are mentioned just to debunk them. Another scarecrow gets destroyed as we hear a long dialog of the uselessness and boredom of devotions from Mack. Here is the devotion that Mack experiences with ‘God’:

Jesus reached across the table and took Papa’s hands in his, scars now clearly visible on his wrists. Mack sat transfixed as he watched Jesus kiss his father’s hands and then look deep into his father’s eyes and finally say, ‘Papa, I loved watching you today, as you made yourself fully available to take Mack’s pain into yourself, and then give him space to choose his own timing. You honored him, and you honored me. To listen to you whisper love and calm into his heart was truly incredible. What a joy to watch! I love being your son!’

Whatever this exchange was, ‘devotionals’ does not come to my mind!

The Emergent Grab-bag

As I have already mentioned, this book has a lot of emergent theology expressed in it. Although the author claims on his website to not be a part of any specific group because “nobody would want me,” he has a lot of emergent ideas. This is section aptly titled because of the number of little emergent concepts that are small but ever present. The first of these that shows up quite clearly is the push for world peace. The best I can tell from the scriptures, peace is certainly desirable, but it is not always practical. Many people would argue that wars don’t solve any problems, but most people would certainly fight if the battle raged on their front yard! I have already mentioned about this books ‘God’s’ view of wrath (page 119), but there are a few other, more striking images that come up. Mack himself was an old war veteran, but he has changed his ways and wants nothing to do with a gun that his friend, Willie, gives him because of the perceived danger in hiking out to this shack. The problem comes when he enters the shack and ‘God’ is taking his coat and other things. When the gun comes off, “which she took from him with two fingers as if it was contaminated (page 84).” All throughout this book is the peace movement expressed in its various ways.

The next item in the Emergent Grab-bag is the deconstruction of the church. Many of the quotes from above easily fit under this category, so I will not take the time to mention them again. Clearly, the whole book is about rethinking the Christian faith, which is the ever-beating drum of the emergent movement. In this book, we are to assume the life the average Mack, a man with theological training, from a home with a father who is an elder in the church and an abusive alcoholic, we have our own preconceived notions, all of which are wrong and so we must cast them off to embrace this author’s twisted views. Is this movement better summed up in other words? Even the few Bible verses in this book are reinterpreted in ways that totally exclude the context. These are quotes that start on page 65 where Mack is struggling with how God communicates to us today, It continues on near the end of chapter 5 when ‘God’ (the father) is depicted as a large African-American woman, ‘God’ (the Holy Spirit) is a mystical Asian woman, and Jesus is apparently not ‘white’. Page 90 suggests that God is not holy as she (God) is listening to vulgar funk music. On page 96, the book challenges what actually happened on the cross. The claim is that God the father never left Jesus when he calls out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me! (Mark 15:34)” is challenged when she says, “You misunderstand the mystery there. Regardless of how he felt at the moment, I never left him.” The problem here is that for the work of Christ to be done, God had to abandon Christ if only for that second to make His sacrifice the fulfillment of our sin (remember that the wages of sin is death, which is separation from God). The next striking re-thinking (or old thinking, rather) that the author suggests certainly parallels the Gnostics when he suggests that Jesus is not our example, but what we all can become if we trust in God enough and achieve a super level of faith (page 99). And the final re-thinking that is attacked is the sacrament of communion which is shared on page 236, “without any ritual, without ceremony, they savored the warm bread and shared the wine and shared the stranger moments of the weekend.” Clearly, this is no communion, but just a gathering to eat and drink in such a manner as to make light of a clear sacrament in the church today. Added to these are the re-thinking of devotions, prayers, wrath, judgment, and all of the other things mentioned above.

The next grab-bag item is the redefinition of words, a very common trend in the emergent church. The only major word that I saw repeatedly redefined in this book is ‘holy’. In reality, holiness means ’set apart’, and has a reference to how we are set apart from the world for Him. In this book, holiness is redefined to mean more of a ‘relational closeness’, and is always used in a feel-good situation suggesting that holiness means to make the other person feel good in a way that ‘warms the soul’. Consider these passages, “Something simple, warm, intimate, genuine; this was holy. Holiness had always been a cold and sterile concept to Mack, but this was neither (page 107).” The statement was said in the ‘devotion’ when Jesus was expressing feel-good words to ‘God’. Holiness arises again on page 110 when Mack and Jesus are out watching the stars and admiring their beauty. The text reads:

Mack was not sure how to describe what he felt, but as they continued to lie in silence, gazing into the celestial display, watching and listening, he knew in his heart that this, too, was holy.

What does this situation have to do with ‘holy’, set apart, different? It does not, rather, Mack is just feeling good feelings.

The next little oddity that popped out at me is the constant capitalization of the word ‘creation’. Interesting, though, references to ‘God’ are not capitalized. The word ‘creation’ appears many times throughout the book and it is always capitalized and the only thing that I can think of is that the creation is worshiped. To be fair, the book does not seem to suggest worshiping nature, but this is the emergent grab-bag where nature is often times placed on a pedestal above the God who created it. You see this in the drive for environmentalism in these churches.

Another interesting grab-bag item is how much this book ties into the popular movie, “The Matrix”. Of course there have been people trying to use this movie to share the Gospel, a matter that I find disturbing. To be clear, I do believe that knowing the basic plot information of the movie can certainly help if a discussion about it comes up, but I strongly caution against using any movie as the kickoff point for the Gospel. Isn’t Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John enough? As I was reading this book, I was struck at the very real similarities of the ‘God’ personification to the oracle in The Matrix. The large African-American woman, always in the kitchen, always talking in interesting mind-teasing concepts to make the character think; she is certainly reminiscent of the oracle. I wrote down the possibility of this relation in the margin of my book but was even more surprised by some of the later dialog on page 124 between Mack and ‘God’ about how people see a twisted view of reality. Papa continues, “It is the matrix; a diabolical scheme in which you are hopelessly trapped even while completely unaware of its existence.” It could not be any clearer, but what does this have to do with the emergent movement? The emergent movement seeks to introduce culture at every point, even over doctrine, and who cares what the nature of the media choices are? The matrix, a rated R movie, is sadly seen as a high-mark of cultural conformity even in church youth groups. Why is it a required explanation of ‘God’?

The final item in the Emergent Grab-bag is the doctrine of relationship over all else. In innumerable places in this book, it is clear that relationships are all important. In reality, that does not rest with scripture in many places where we are told about the consequences of following Christ. Consider Luke 12:51-53:

Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

He says that we will be persecuted should we seek to have good relationships with those people or preach the Gospel? Should Peter and John have sought the relationship with the priests, or preached the Gospel (Acts 4:18-22)? Should Stephen had been quite so as to not offend the crowd, or preach the Gospel that cost him his earthly life (Acts 7)? Should Luther have stepped up and given in to church to maintain the relationships or do what God commanded was right? The list can go on. Relationships are indeed important, but even in the scriptures, we are commanded not even to eat with an unrepentant sinner who claims to be a Christian (1 Corinthians 5:11). The scripture is very clear about the importance of relationship, but it is also very clear about avoiding dangerous error and wretched situations. One must give way to the other and the emergent churches, along with this book, go out of their way to say that all conflict must give way to support relationship. Must I remind you that even Paul and Barnabas parted ways over disagreement (Acts 15:36-41)?

Conclusions

This book, in my opinion, is a dangerous poison. It is not even worth reading in my opinion because the story is certainly not good enough to endure the down-right heretical theology. Several times in the reading of this book, I was bothered and wanted to put it down, but I persevered to bring this report to you. What you have read here is a deep analysis of this book. I am sure that I left out both good parts and bad parts of the book, but I believe this work to be accurate as a whole. In final summary, I believe that Mack may have met someone in the shack that weekend, but he should have tested the spirits. The beings that he met denied many clear aspects of the scripture, are involved in feel-good relations above all things. They attach to social agenda over the God of the Bible. They deny authority and attribute it to sin. They promote pure license to total freedom, constantly joke around with no sense of seriousness, and deny wrath, judgment, and possibly hell. In short, Mack met up with a few demons in the shack and his life-changing story is a ploy to turn others away from the one true God toward a feel-good gospel of personal joy and satisfaction.

Sadly, and like most holidays, Saint Patrick’s Day has been turned into a ‘Helliday’, an occasion to gorge ourselves in Sin. Christmas: Materialism; Thanksgiving: Gluttony; Valentines Day: ‘Couples Night’; Saint Patrick’s Day: Alcoholism. Any occasion now found to commercialize any day is rapidly exploited in our age, but we, as Christians, should be standing for the truth, not participating in sin. So, what is the truth? Do you know? I wanted to find out, so I have researched the life of this man through many different books and also by reading Patrick’s own writings, Confessio and Epistola. I wish to present you a brief summary into why we celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. If you happen to bump into me today I will not be wearing green simply so that I can get as many people as possible to ask me why I am not wearing that color. Then, I will be able to give them a summary and challenge them with the Gospel of our Great Lord, Jesus Christ.

My resources will be from the well credited turn of the century church historian Philip Schaff (History of the Christian Church, Volume 4: Mediaeval Christianity 590-1073 AD), and the modern scholar on Saint Patrick, Thomas O’Loughlin (Saint Patrick: The Man and His Works).

Patrick was the son of a deacon in the church and the grandson of a priest in a small village presumably in the country region of present day England. Although being raised in the church, he was a very disobedient young man and was not a professing believer. He was captured during a raid in his youth that carried him away into Ireland as a slave. During his hard years of lonely slavery as a shepherd, the teachings of his childhood came to his mind and he converted to Christianity. He recalls in his confessions that he prayed over a hundred times in one day and often as much at night. He then received a heavenly vision of a ship and set out from his master’s house, walked several hundred miles, and boarded the ship that led him to his village.

After returning home, Patrick, received three more visions: one of a messenger carrying many letters with the same inscription “O holy boy, we beg you to come again and walk among us.” He then received another call, “He who gave His life for you, He who it is that speaks to you.” And the rest of that message was not clear. He then received another internal call including a vision of God the Spirit praying for him, which finally compelled him to return to Ireland.

Patrick returned to Ireland, presumably after receiving some kind of education, though it is uncertain if or where he was educated. However, Patrick was a knowledgeable and persuasive Christian. He returned to Ireland around 432-435 and finally passed away at either 465 or 493 (Both dates occur in Irish History), but the date of his death is agreed on as March 17^th and he died in Ireland at the place his ministry began.

During the short period of time that Patrick ministered the Gospel in Ireland, the religious shift in the island was dramatic. He is known as “The Apostle to Ireland” for a very good reason. Patrick baptized thousands of men, was described as the most zealous and efficient evangelist, and performed many miracles across the countryside. He conquered the Druids of the island, and even battled the slave trade in one of his two surviving documents. He is the human instrument by which God converted the entire island of Ireland from Celtic druidism, barbarism, and idol worship to Christianity. For those of you that like numbers, in his short lifetime, he founded between 365-700 churches and consecrated 3000 priests. We already mentioned the unnumbered thousands of people that were baptized. He changed the laws of the kingdom, healed the blind, raised nine people from the dead, and was rumored to expel all the snakes and frogs from the Island (just don’t ask!). That is what I call an effective Christian.

With these accomplishments in mind, this is the man that we celebrate with public drunkenness, green beer, and commercialism in the form of green leprechaun hats, shamrock necklaces, shakes, clothing, lights, and other paraphernalia. What a miraculous life lived, and the best we can do is put on a green shirt because of some ‘leprechaun’ somewhere that gives our culture an excuse to spend more money that we do not have on things that we do not need! I would like to ask you to quietly reflect on why you celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day and lift up a prayer of thanks to God for such a powerful man.

I will conclude with a portion of a prayer that is allegedly written by Patrick before he confronted the chief ruler of Ireland which is now known as the Breastplate of Saint Patrick:

I bind myself today, -
To the power of God to guide me,
The might of God to uphold me,
The wisdom of God to teach me,
The eye of God to watch over me,
The ear of God to bear me,
The Word of God to speak for me,
The hand of God to protect me,
The way of God to lie before me,
The shield of God to shelter me,
The host of God to defend me

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me,
Christ in the eye of every man that sees me,
Christ in the ear of every man who hears me -

Salvation is the Lord’s,
Salvation is the Lord’s,
Salvation is Christ’s,
Let thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

These clubs can be during school hours (outside of the school at a church or a house nearby), or they can be in the school after school hours are over. And what is the impact of this? We have found that children flock to these in some locations, and curiously, in other locations in the same school district, they do not. Regardless, we work with those children that come, give them a Gospel message, disciple those that know Christ, and encourage memory verses.

Although I am usually busy with work, I was able to get away for a few days to visit several clubs in our area where I gave my testimony and shared the Gospel. Many children just yesterday came to us for more counseling on the Gospel during these meetings. Now, I am not one to count those that are ’saved’ because I don’t believe we can know if these children were actually saved yesterday, but we got the Gospel out, discipled more children, and increased an interest to learn more about Jesus Christ. Anyway you slice the pie, we accomplished God’s will by getting Gospel out. Those most glorious thing about this, is that we are able to do this work during school hours for children of public schools.

If you would like to get involved, you can contact the national CEF office, or if you are in central PA, you can check out the local chapter website for more information.

-In Christ,

Tom

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

This short verse is about endurance. The trials are coming, you are under pressure; do you snap or do you have faith in God?

Perseverance through trials makes us strong as I stated previously, but in the case of this verse, He is looking for your commitment to follow Christ to the bitter end. Here in America in 2007, we generally have taken the soft, comfortable ride choosing to follow our pleasant desires instead of God; a sort of modern day mysticism. Preachers of the word have told us that God is seeking to fulfill our very needs.  But I have news for you: it is not about you, it is about God and the advancement of His kingdom! Will He grant you comforts? Perhaps…I don’t know what is in store for you, but history paints a picture of a lot of people giving their all, lives included, for Christ. I recommend that every person have a read through Foxes Book of the Martyrs for detail about what kind of endurance He is asking for.  Once you have been tested, you will most likely be tested again, and again, and again. To those who preserver in the faith, holding fast to Christ and Christ alone, those people will be given eternal life.

Now, I am not teaching a works based system. The Faith to hold fast to Christ only arises from the free gift of Grace. When you have that Grace, you will love Christ with so much passion that you will naturally follow through with steadfast faith.

Some people are told that you are a Christian if you prayed a little prayer. In fact, they get you disturbed emotionally by telling you how painfully it will be if you do not “accept Jesus”. The message delivered is often times misbalanced in that it provides all the “goodies” of being a Christian, but never talks about what a Christian really is, or any of the “downfalls”. It is clear that when we give the Gospel message to people, we balance it. Jesus said in Luke 14:25-33:

²⁵Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, ³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

³¹“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

It is clear that we need to examine what a Christian is, and how you become one.

The Book of 1 John – What was Happening at the Time?

Imagine this scene: You are in the church at Ephesus. Paul has already written letters, but Paul has been martyred, that is, killed for his faith in Jesus. In fact, all of the apostles have been martyred except for one: John. John by this time is elderly, and most likely the only person left in the world who actually knew Jesus as a human friend. Imagine that people are starting to teach things in the church that are not true. People are teaching you things like ‘Jesus is not really a man’, or that you need a special type of knowledge to get to heaven’. This is exactly what was happening in the time that this book was written. John wanted to clear up these false teachings by telling us what a Christian really is.

John tells us that there are three aspects to the life of a Christian:

· Joy or happiness (1:4): We write this to make our joy complete.

· Holiness or freedom from sin (2:1): My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

· Security or eternal salvation (that means you can not ever lose your salvation) (5:13): I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

John will also teach us that these three aspects of our life only come about when we follow three more principles in our life:

· Sound Faith

· Obedience to His commands

· Love for God and others

The Principles

These three principles are woven together like yarn in blanket. It is hard to take them apart from each other.

1 John 1:1-4 – Jesus was a real man, he taught the way to life. He died on the cross so that we could have freedom from death that results from our sins.

1 John 1:5-2:2 – If we are living a life of habitual sin, we are not a follower of Jesus Christ. We will still sin in all this, and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ covers this. If you think that you do not sin, you make God a liar.

1 John 2:3-6 – If we claim that we are a Christian, our life should look like Jesus Christ. Jesus ministered to people, he loved all people. He also gave us many commandments and explained that the Christian life is not about rules, the having the heart to love those rules.

1 John 2:7-11 – True love of God is someone who obeys the commands of God and lovers all other people if they are friends, people you do not know, and even enemies.

1 John 2:15-17 – John tells us not to love the things of the world because those things are sinful. He is talking about loving things like drugs, late night parties where people like to sin (called orgies in the Bible), gossip (that is talking badly about people you do not like), lying to get things you want, stealing to get things, and other things like that.

1 John 2:18-25 – John tells us that there will be an Antichrist, but there already were some (and there are even today!) You can tell them because their faith does not look like true faith that John is talking about here. They either reject Jesus Christ, or they make Him into something He is not.

1 John 2:26-27 – The antichrists will try to deceive you, but if you are well studied in the Bible and know what God commands of us, you will not be taken in by their lies. WARNING: These people are all over in America. They are on TV, selling books, even making promises for people that are false.

1 John 2:28-3:3 – Once again, we are called to obey His word! Everyone that is in Christ will try to make himself as pure as he can by trying to avoid all sin.

1 John 3:4-10 – A Christian will be free from the desire to habitually sin, but a non-Christian (no matter what he thinks he is) will habitually sin and try to convince himself and others that what he does is not a sin.

1 John 3:11-24 – The world will not often like us because we have the types of things that they are looking for in their sin (Joy). They will see our deeds because they are real, true, and often. Our love for others will be in deed and truth, that is, we give people money if we have money, we give time if we have time, we give our skills, we give our ear if they need to talk.

1 John 4:1-3 – Test the spirits. That means that we need to closely examine new teachings to see how they line up with the word of God. As we already said, there will be false teachers, we need to be able to recognize them.

1 John 4:4-6 – We will overcome the teachers if we listen to the Holy Spirit who is inside of every true Christian. The truth of the Bible will be known by both study (knowledge of the Bible) and testimony of the Spirit.

1 John 4:7-11 – Real love comes from knowing God and knowing that while we hated Him, abused Him, and wanted nothing to do with Him, He came and died for us anyway. If He has this kind of love for us, we need to have this kind of love for other people.

1 John 4:12-21 – True love of God is demonstrated in loving other people, too. If we love, we will gently guide people down a path of righteousness. We will love them enough to correct them if they are in error, and we do so for them, not to show how good we are.

1 John 5:1-5 – When we love God and keep His commands we are children of God and heirs of the promise of eternal life! It is by faith in God for that promise that overcomes the world (that is, the sinful desires of the world).

1 John 5:6-12 – God is the witness that Jesus Christ is the son of God. To fail to believe the signs and wonders Jesus did, to fail to believe the sacrifice, to fail to believe the resurrection, is to call God a liar.

1 John 5:13 – The promise of eternal life is to follow the above message from John.

1 John 5:14-15 – The promise of prayers answered if asked inside the name and will of God.

1 John 5:16-17 – Prayer for those people in sin.

1 John 5:18-21 – The final victory for the Christian and the final admonishment not to put your trust in anything other than God.

In these words of John, we can see how the theme of sound faith, obedience to God’s Word, and love are intertwined together and that these three things create the aspects of the life of a Christian: Joy, holiness, and security.

If you are not a Christian already, let us detail the Gospel and include the price tag:

Now, examine a little bit about what Jesus Promised. Here are some of the good:

• Freedom from sin
• Universal love for others
• Answered prayer (asked in His will, not your own)
• Joy
• All needs met
• Holiness
• Eternal security

Here are the bad:

• The world will not like you if you stand for Jesus
• Trials of faith
• Commanded to obey His commands

There are many more in all these, but Jesus does command us to count the cost. The best thing to do is to read the Gospels. Start with either Mark or John. Ask questions of your parents, Sunday school teachers, or pastor.

The four points of salvation:

1. Know you are a sinner
2. Know you are unable to save yourself
3. Know that Christ has already accomplished the necessary salvation
4. Call on the name of Jesus Christ

But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;
¹⁰and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.
¹¹For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

The One in Poverty

Verse 9 deals with a person living in poverty. You don’t need material things to be happy; you don’t need them to be loved, either. This verse tells that the people who are living in poverty who are Christians have something to rejoice in: they are chosen in the power of Jesus Christ. They are regenerated, and such a person has a higher position than all the people with a comfortable life who do not know Jesus Christ. They can witness faith in our Lord, lead people to Him, love unconditionally, and they will always be taken care of. Remember a promise from God himself is that He will take care of the needs of those who have faith in Him (Matthew 6:25-34).

The One in Wealth

Verse 10 tells us that the wealthy have glory of Christ when acting in a humble heart. There are many people in the world with money that flaunt that money, hold it over other people, act powerful, etc. These people are living in sin. There are also people who live very humble lives even though they have money. Such people do not show their wealth, they are humble in giving, in grace, and in love. When you are poor, have glory in your faith, when you are rich, have glory in humility.

Trials

In life, trials will always come. God allows you struggles to make you strong as you live out your faith which is why this explanation ends with the analogy of the passing fields. Life is a fleeting moment; to short to flaunt what you have or hide for what you don’t. If you know Jesus Christ, share His truth with others. If you do not know Jesus Christ, I invite you to read the Gospel (On the tab at the top of the page) and learn who He is and what He can do for you. Feel free to contact me if you want more information.

We had just finished our small group discussing spiritual gifts which included our usual (though slightly abbreviated) prayer session. We prayed for all sorts of matters, one of them being the children. As we closed the study, I headed out to the kitchen where five of the kids were huddled around a small TV in the kitchen. The rest were at the TV in the back room. As I approached, the kids were transfixed on the screen as I watched a poorly drawn skeleton wielding a sickle. The animation schemes demonstrated a program that I had seen at my previous Little Brothers house (from Big Brothers, Big Sisters). I knew they were watching ‘The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy”, or “Billy and Mandy” for short. I asked what show it was to be sure, and they told me, so I asked that they turn it off. The one boys switched the channel to that familiar, though nauseating, yellow block called “Sponge Bob”. I suggested that is even worse. Finally, they settled for just turning the TV totally off.

A few weeks ago, I taught the 3rd-5th grade Sunday school which is a larger crowd than I usually have. So that I was not teaching the 5th graders at the 3rd grade level, I wrote a lesson for this day called ‘Are You a Christian?’ which a few other people really liked and took a copy to read. Near the end of this lesson, we started to talk about what our life and entertainment looks like. Let me be honest, if we are believers, we are called to be Holy, set apart for God. How can we do that if we are watching and enjoying the same Godless material as the world around us? Some might call it legalistic…I call it Holy! I have made a decision that I will not watch material that glorifies things that God is against. I do not think that we are free to watch whatever we want! We are to cast off the filthiness of the world. As a reaction to be talking about these things, the kids started to ask me if the cartoons they were watching were good to watch. I knew what some of them were watching and they some cartoons are absolutely ungodly. I did not know enough to get all the answers, so I asked them to give me a list of the programs they are watching so that I could look into them. To detail the importance of this, I will give a brief synopsis of the introductory sermon on the series “Parenting in Perilous Times” by Chip Ingram. This sermon is called “Evidence of Our Perilous Times” and all I can think to say about this talk is Amen, Amen, and Amen. Chip hits the nail right on the head with this one.

To start, let us examine the origin of this series. This was delivered in April 1999. If you recognize that date at the date of the Columbine Murders, it is not a coincidence. As a response to this event, Chip stopped in the middle of a series he was recording and put together a five part series (a sixth lesson was added at the end, but it was more of an interview than a sermon). In this sermon, Chip details what lead to that event.

Chip begins the lesson with asking if the common denominators of violent music, violent video games, violent films, Internet access into ‘bazaar’ areas, troubled children, and unaware parents are unique to these few students. His conclusion is that it is more popular than we believe! He says:

The mental diet of our youth and the mental…diet of our culture has gone from Ozzy and Harriot to Ozzy Osborne in one generation. It has gone from Donna Reed and Leave it to Beaver to Marilyn Manson in one generation…When Elvis Presley first came out, he was banned from many cities. Why? Because he moved his hips, and now Marilyn Manson gives concerts all over America and when kids get there, they get a pin that says “Kill Your Parents”.

There is a key relationship between what a person watches and how they behave, despite what some people tell you. He quotes a research article that addresses that since we know about this trend, why isn’t anything being done?

The money that’s made, number one, and number two, America so loves it’s TV and it’s violence. To face the implications of this study means such radical change they just don’t want to see it.

Chip quotes Proverbs 23:7 as common as it may be, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Indeed, the most important decision we will make is what to put into our minds as our entertainment.

In Christianity Today August 1998, David Grossman reported on the subject he calls killology, the study of how to kill. As a military psychologist, he knows how the military trains people to overcome the barriers that humans have for killing their own kind. This article is written about another school shooting where two boys, 11 and 13 stole a relative’s van and guns and hid in the woods by the school. The younger boy went in the school and pulled the fire alarm before running back and taking position. As the crowd gathered outside for the fire alarm, the two boys opened fire on the crowd killing five people as well as wounding many. Grossman tells us that “What they do in the military to help people overcome the natural inclination of a species to kill their own kind, we are systematically doing in our culture.” Grossman cites three ways the military uses to train people to kill:

1. Desensitization and Brutalization – We get people very angry and expose them to violence so that it doesn’t seem wrong, and it doesn’t seem bad.
2. Classical Conditioning – Use graphic violent scenes, or even real life torture of people and then couple this with pleasure such as drugs, tobacco, good food, or sexual experience. Chip comments, “Just like your kids playing video games with a pop, watching lethal weapon 1, 2, 3, or 4…of course you got to have some popcorn and do it with a candy bar.”
3. Operative Conditioning – Fast response of shooting to figures to people, much like many of the videogames people enjoy today.

Grossman concludes:
We are training our children to through these methods as the military does to be murderers, and obviously, we’re successful.

Now, a natural response is to blame Hollywood. Obviously, they have a roll in all this, but frankly, not very much. I have not watched TV for about 10 years now. I can not say that Hollywood has much effect on me. I ca recall, however, when I worked in a bakery in college. One day, about half of the restaurant staff walked around the day screaming “Timmy!” in a weird voice. I pondered what planet they all visited together until I found out what was responsible. The new “Southpark” season started and the writers introduced a paraplegic character that could only say his name: Timmy. Literally over night, over half of the staff (about 25 people) had a new attitude by which to make one another laugh. Is Hollywood to blame? I don’t think so. We are. My friend says that if every person who confesses Christ with their mouth just lived that faith they confessed and refused to watch materials that glorify things against God, we would single handedly bring Hollywood to its knees. You see, if they make money on it, they will keep doing what makes them the money. Remember above that we so love our violence, and I might add, sex, crude humor, wretched behavior, inappropriate jokes, etc, etc, etc. If we stopped watching those movies, they would stop making them. Chip agrees that we don’t need to clean up Hollywood yet, we need to clean up our own life first.

Why is all this happening? First, the church is not salt, the church is not light. There is no restraint on the culture. Second, God has given commands that we are not obeying! (Psalm 101:2-3)(Romans 12:2)(Romans 8:6)(Colossians 3:2)(Ephesians 4:22-23)(1 Peter 1:13-16). Third, the promise in Galatians 6:7-8. We have sowed wild oats, are we surprised when that is what we get? There is a good verse to sum things up at this point: James 4:4: You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. People, we need to fix ourselves, and then fix your families, only then can be fix America.

If you have found that you have this kind of material in your home, get rid of it. Burn it, sell it, destroy it, but just don’t leave it lying around. I remember when I did this. I took a hammer to my video cassettes, threw CDs in the dumpster, deleted files off my computer. It was a radical cleaning. Have I missed some of my favorite movies? Yes, but I don’t for one minute regret what I did. A word about what to get rid of. I agree that there are movies that kids are a little young to see, and these can be fine, but there are movies that not even adults should see. Here is my basic strategy. It is bad if it:

• Glorifies anything that God rejects (Now, if a movie has a character like this and he is clearly the bad guy, or the lesson learner, or is plagued by consequences, I consider that OK).
• Portrays any sexual union between non-married people (see exception above)
• Has unneeded violence
• Blurs the boundary between the good and the bad forces.

Next, decide where the line should be as to what you will watch. If it is for entertainment, I would recommend that you not watch these common wretched shows, if you are reviewing the materials to let others know the dangers, perhaps you will be watching materials that are not suited. If you find yourself enjoying those, I would recommend letting other people do the reviews. It is not worth contaminating yourself to clean up the world.

Next, know what your children are watching, set clear boundaries for what is appropriate, and be firm. Your objective as a parent is not that they love you and never get mad at you now, but will they love you for protecting their mind in 10 or more years? When they are mad because they want to watch something you have forbidden, they know the boundaries and they feel safe with them. They know there is a limit to what they can do and they will love you for that, I promise. Please do this in love!

I know this has been long, but please allow me to leave a few parting points. The first is that I grew up in a home where anything went as long as public authorities did not get involved. I was allowed to watch any kind of material I wanted. I remember a 5th grade assignment was a creative writing assignment asking for 10 reasons our parents did not sign our homework. On my list were: “Freddy Kruger killed my mom”, “Jason Voorhees chopped her up with an axe”, “She fell off a cliff and died”, “She was parachuting and the parachute did not open”. It is more prevalent now than it used to be. In addition to working with church kids, I get quite a lot of chance to work with non-church kids, too. It is not any different. One child, at age 9, did not want to do anything by play Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or watch Jason verses Freddy. The parents were fine with either! This kid displays violent tendencies already.

In conclusion, it is of critical importance what we watch, and what we let our children watch. If we prepare a nice, healthy meal and sprinkle on a little bit of arsenic, we are not doing well for our body, and watching the kinds of things that we watch as an American culture today, we are doing just that. We will become what we watch; our children will watch what we watch. Please have the courage to do what is right. If your kids want to watch a movie that other church kids are watching and you know it is wrong, say no. If they respond with so and so goes to church, and he is watching it, your answer is “His parents are WRONG.” Use the scripture as your standard, not other people. You may think this lesson is legalistic, I think it is Holy.

James 1:5-8:
⁵But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
⁶But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
⁷For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
⁸being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The wisdom James is speaking of here is not a wisdom rooted in vast amounts of knowledge, it is rather, wisdom for how to manage daily living concerns. God is able to give to anyone such wisdom, but as Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10 teach us, fear of God is the beginning of such wisdom. The verse says to ask God, but can we ask if we do not view Him as able to fulfill our request? This is the essence of this verse.

First, fear God. He is all knowing, all powerful, and all just. What is not to fear? Such is the catalyst that sends us into His arms broken over ourselves. God will give it to us under such conditions.

Once you fear God, you must have faith that He will fulfill His promises. Remember that His promises are two-fold: Damnation for those not keeping in faith of Jesus Christ, and Salvation for those in obedience to Him. All will have a resurrection, but only the chosen ones of His will have it unto life, the rest unto death. Matthew 25:31-46 is clear about this. Have faith that He will see you through any struggle.

To doubt means that you waver between believing God will see you through and wanting to do something about the situation on your own. It is like you draw a line on a floor and if that problem stays on the other side of that line, all is good and you ‘trust in God’, but if that problem crosses that line, it is time to do something about it because you don’t trust God will help you.  God will fulfill your request for wisdom if you erase that line and trust in Him alone.  Any other way and you move to and fro with the surging stressful wind of our day.  Such a person who draws that line is a hypocrite. He wants the world’s pleasures in one hand as he reaches up to God for help with the other. He is like a man walking a tightrope with a net below him to catch himself if he falls. God asks you to take away the net, because its presence is the evidence that you do not have faith in Him who promised to fulfill your request.

Fear the Lord, keep His commandments, and don’t let the stress of life toss you to and fro over the landscape of sin.

James 1:1-4

First, a little history: This is one of the books that was examined closely during the reformation. Martin Luther initially did not consider it canon because of the emphasis on works. Some people, however, fail to realize that after careful study, it was indeed scripture. John Calvin always considered it inspired, as do we today. What all those works-laden passages mean will be examined when we get to those.

James 1:1
James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

Verse 1 is a salutation explaining that the book is to the Jewish people that are scattered around the known world. Not much else to be had (except that a few cults think that the Jewish nation is ‘lost’, that is not the case).

James 1:2-4
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Problems will occur in this life. Living through these problems produce endurance and a faith in God like no other. Like our physical bodies gain strength when we exercise and our minds get sharper as we study, our faith gets stronger as we endure challenges around us. Once we struggle through a specific problem, it gets easier to tackle others. Just as living the life of sin gets easier with each sin, living in a life of enduring faith gets easier as well.

What kind of problems will challenge our faith? Many kinds. Here are just a few:

Natural Disasters

My first real experience with this type of problem came when I was rather young. On May 31, 1985, a series of severe storms blew across the state of Pennsylvania. We had just moved a few months earlier from Reno, NV, and I asked my aunt if there are tornadoes around here. She said “No”, just to comfort the ears of a little child, but those words were eaten when one of the largest tornado storms hit the state!

I remember leaving the house the next day and seeing all the debris that clearly came from houses. I was not yet old enough to comprehend it, but I was in the midst of tragedy.

We don’t have to look too hard to see other natural disasters about us, especially since the southern part of our country was just
hit hard by Katrina. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, droughts, volcanoes. They all hit, but it is how the Christian preserves in all this that makes the
difference.

When such a disaster strikes, the Christian seeks solace in the arms of God, knowing that He is still in control. With that support, he can reach out to other people who do not know this love. This leads to the opportunity to share the love and Gospel of Jesus Christ. All this is easier said than done, but surviving such a tragedy gives you a powerful strength when coupled to the grace of our Lord.

Sins of Past Generations

Coming from a dysfunctional home, I can write volumes on this one topic alone. If you are not there, you will not understand as well as one who is there. This is one of the hardest things to overcome. The question lingers on the hearts and minds of millions of people who are in this situation: How can a loving God place me in a such a wreck as this home? Before I give you the answer, let me give you a brief picture of my family struggles. My childhood was not as bad as it could have been, but it certainly was not good. We fled Reno from my step-father who was a ‘less than perfect’ example at that time. We lived at a relative’s house for a few months before we rented our own house. My mother worked a lot to pay the bills, so we were alone a lot. I picked up the habit of stealing, eventually getting caught and serving some community service. My mother called me a (profanity) thief, the people at the fire house where I put in my hours treated me like a second rate human being, if even that. After that, I decided to dump those friends I was in with and get some new ones, who were into drugs. I never did the drugs, but I was peer pressured by more people than you could imagine. I thought that they were stupid to take, but I found out when I was 14, that my mother was doing some minor drugs, too. I went totally inside myself. My mother married again which caused numerous problems. My life was threatened a few times, but my mother always said “He is only talking, he won’t do anything”. He attacked me when I was 18 and I fled for a few weeks, I almost killed myself, but reasoned that it wasn’t worth it. I would finish my degree in college and disappear into the sunset. How did this happen? There are at least6 generations of alcoholics on one side of the family and at least 3 on the other side. My mother had a lot of problems which were passed on to myself and my brother, but they were not entirely (I repeat ENTIRELY) her fault, she was simply doing what she had learned. I broke the cycle, recognized the problems, and corrected them. That is a tiny fraction of my story, I hope you get the idea.

The answer that I promised above is this: God places people in such situations to make you strong. That is what He did to me. I came to know Jesus Christ and had to sort out all the things of my past. It was very hard, but it was necessary for God to do His work in me. Because I preserved through that trial, I have been made strong in Christ.

More Struggles

• Accidents
• Disease
• Persecution for your faith
• Even more.

In conclusion, when you find yourself in the middle of a problem, pray to God. Ask for endurance, patience, perseverance, knowing that it will make you a stronger Christian in the end.

Here is a curious little application I have seen to demonstrate a nice passage of scripture. First, a picture:

What is this? It is Noah’s Ark! In 1974, Pastor Greene as God’s Ark of Safety church received a vision in a dream repeatedly. It was an ark. He was convinced (as am I) that our days now are approaching the days of Noah (Matthew 24:38-39). Of course, what we are seeing here is what happens when a some Charasmatic pastors have a dream (not a vision dream, but a night time dream!).

Our verse for today is Luke 14:25-30:
²⁵Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,
²⁶If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
²⁷“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
²⁸“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
²⁹“Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
³⁰saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Have you counted the cost of being a Christian? Are you living like a Christian?

I was in Frostburg, MD this weekend where I was staying at a hotel about a mile from this curious ark. I had first seen it a few years back when we laughed at it as we were walking by. Now, for clarification, I don’t know this pastor, so I can not say one thing or another about his ministry, but I can comment on this ark. Look at our verse and replace “tower” with “ark”. Do you see my point? This pastor claims it was God that gave him this vision for the ark. I think that if God did, He would have also provided the means to build it so that this man is not laughed at for being a direct fulfillment of this very verse!

Now, are you a Christian? On what do you base that? Are you working in the body of Christ? Do you live a life trying your hardest to avoid all sin? We are commanded to be holy, separate, devoted for God, not to live as the world does, not to participate in the sin, nor even the promotion of sin. What kind of movies do you watch? What about your music and close friends? I bring all these up not on a legalistic way, but a Holy way! If Jesus Christ would not approve of material for Himself, we don’t have the right to watch it for our own entertainment because we are purchased by His precious blood, we are his blond-slaves. Let us count the cost and live like it.

Jesus told us the cost: We will be persecuted, we will be hated, we will be ridiculed, we will desire to live like the old way at times, we will have more challenges, and it will not be easy! But for those who persevere, the Crown of Glory awaites us. How glorious that day will be.