Archive for May, 2009
Quite a few years ago there was a television advertisement for a particular brand of motor oil (I can’t remember which one, which just goes to show that whilst an ad might be memorable it doesn’t always mean that people will remember the product being advertised – but that’s another story.) Anyway, in this ad the small time gangster, Louie, was changing the car oil for the Big Boss. Asked whether he had used the brand being advertised, he replied that he had used a cheaper brand because “oils is oils.” The Big Boss’s response was that “oils ain’t oils” – in other words, there was one “real thing”and the rest were pretenders.
I thought of Louie recently, following a discussion with an acquaintance (who thinks of herself as a Christian) about the legitimacy of other religions. This lady has been caught up in the idea that there is only one God (true!) and that everyone worships the same god, just under different names (most definitely not true!)
Now I don’t want to offend anyone here, but unless God suffers from multiple personality disorder, there is simply no way that this can be so. Think about it for a moment. Some religions worship hundreds – or even thousands – of gods, some worship only one. Which is true? God cannot be both. Either He is one, or they are many.
Islam teaches that God is an absolute mathematical unity, and that He has no Son. Christianity teaches that the one God consists of three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (which is something quite different from the concept of multiple gods), and that God the Son became man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Both cannot be true. Either God has a Son, or He doesn’t.
Now if you were to come up to me and say, “I know you. You’re that lady who doesn’t have any children,” I would quickly tell you, “I’m sorry, I don’t know who it is you know, but it isn’t me. I have two children and five grandchildren.” Do you think maybe God might have a similar response when people suggest that He doesn’t have a Son?
You cannot strip Christ out of Christianity. The God of the Bible is the God Who manifested Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Any god that did not do that is not the God of the Bible, no matter what claims people may make.
So what about the idea that Christianity should be, as my friend insisted, an “inclusive religion”? We don’t have to read very far in the Bible to see that God had very different ideas. The first of the Ten Commandments states categorically, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Now, just in case anyone thinks that means that it’s ok to have other gods as long as we don’t put them ahead of YHWH (the God of the Bible), let me make something clear. The word “before” doesn’t mean “ahead of” but “in my presence” – much the same as we use the word “beside” today. Since God’s presence fills the universe, that boils down to very simply “no other gods!” Hmm … doesn’t seem very inclusive to me.
The Old Testament is filled with warnings about not worshiping other gods. YHWH would not tolerate the worship of the Baals, and much of the prophecy recorded in the Old Testament was directed at God’s people as a rebuke for their breaking of those prohibitions. Eventually, Israel was dispersed by the Assyrians and Judah was taken into captivity by the Babylonians, primarily because of their refusal to repent of the worship of false gods. Doesn’t sound very tolerant!
In the New Testament, Paul used the “altar to an unknown God” (Acts 17) to point people to the truth in Christ; but he did not for one moment suggest that the worship of that unknown god – or of any other god – was equal to the worship of YHWH. In fact, he ended his message with a call to repent and turn away from these false things. Earlier, Peter and John had declared boldly before the Sanhedrin that salvation was available only in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12Acts 4:12
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12 There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”
WP-Bible plugin), echoing Jesus’ own words that “No-one comes to the Father but by Me.” (John 14:6John 14:6
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6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
WP-Bible plugin) All of that sounds pretty exclusive, not inclusive.
The truth is, the whole “tolerance and inclusion” philosophy is a trick of the devil, designed to make people think that they don’t need to come to Christ. After all, if there are “many paths up the mountain”, then it would make sense to choose the one that is either least demanding or best suited to one’s personal tastes. If all gods are the same, then it really doesn’t matter.
On the other hand, if the Bible is true, and the God of the Bible is the true God Who will not tolerate the worship of any other god, then it is a matter of (eternal) life and death.
No, Louie. Oils ain’t oils. And gods ain’t gods.
Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
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This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.
There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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The devil is probably one of the most mocked characters in the modern western world. From cartoons of a little red fellow with horns and a pitchfork, to Halloween costumes, to representations in films, he is treated as a joke. Many people – even people who believe in God – simply don’t believe that there is such a thing as a real, personal devil. He is, they say, just a mythical personification of the evil in the world.
In reality, that concept is one of the two most dangerous lies spread around by the devil himself (the other is the one that says he is all powerful – so big and powerful that you’d just better do what he says and not argue.) The Bible makes it clear that there is a real, personal being, known as the devil or satan (I refuse to give him a capital letter), who is the ultimate source of evil.
Isaiah 14:12-20Isaiah 14:12-20
English: World English Bible - WEB
12 How you have fallen from Heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!”
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms;
17 who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”
18 All the kings of the nations, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.
19 But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot.
20 You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The seed of evil-doers will not be named forever.
WP-Bible plugin and Ezekiel 28:11-19Ezekiel 28:11-19
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11 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and tell him, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onx, jasper, sapphire or, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. In the day that you were created they were prepared.
14 You were the anointed cherub who covers: and I set you, so that you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.
16 By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may see you.
18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your traffic, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you.
19 All those who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you: you are become a terror, and you shall nevermore have any being.
WP-Bible plugin are two passages that seem, on the surface, to be addressed to earthly kings. However, we don’t have to go far beneath the surface to realize that the things said in these passages could never be applied to a human being. The Ezekiel passage speaks about one who was created perfect, full of beauty ans wisdom, and was appointed as the “guardian cherub”. Satan, as he was originally created by God, was not an evil being, but the head angel.
However, both Isaiah and Ezekiel show that he became proud, and then tried to rise up and make himself even greater than God. Because of this he was thrown out of heaven and cast to earth, where he took the form of a serpent. In that form he tempted our first parents to do the same as he had done, promising them that if they disobeyed God they would themselves become “as gods”. Sadly, they fell for it. God had given them dominion over the world, but by obeying the devil rather than God they handed that rule over to satan.
Satan could not return to rule from heaven, the place of God’s throne, so instead he set up his throne in the physical heavens, becoming known as the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2Ephesians 2:2
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2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;
WP-Bible plugin). From there he was able to influence everything that happened on the earth.
When Jesus came, the devil tried to destroy Him almost as soon as he was born, by influencing Herod to have all the male children killed. When it came time for Jesus to enter into His ministry, the devil tried to stop Him with the wilderness temptations (Matthew 4). Notice that Jesus was not battling against some kind of evil force, or a principle, but against a real, personal being who spoke to Him and took Him to various places in the effort to tempt Him away from His goal.
Jesus’ death on the Cross was a defeat for satan. By His perfect obedience to the Father, Jesus reversed the disobedience of our first parents and claimed back the earth as part of God’s Kingdom. The devil’s fate was sealed. However, for the present time he continues to “hold his fort” in the physical heavens – much as, in the Second World War, some Japanese soldiers continued to hold their positions long after the war was over. He still influences, and even controls, those people on earth who make themselves available to his influence.
The day is coming, however, when his time will be up. The victory that Jesus won at Calvary will be fully enforced, and the devil’s influence will be removed from the world. Till that time, we have to choose whether we will follow the devil and share his eternal destiny in hell, or follow Christ and share His eternal reign in heaven.
Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com
Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com/armorofgod
This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.
There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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I think it was Snoopy, in the Peanuts comic strip, who said, “We have seen the enemy, and they is us.” (If it wasn’t Snoopy, I apologize – but whoever did say it, got it right.) Often, we spend a great deal of time and energy looking for an enemy “out there” somewhere: our family, friends or workmates; our boss or pastor or the government; the weather, global warming or the financial crisis. And when all else fails we can always blame the devil and his demons.
Now I am not for a moment suggesting that people never do anything to harm us; or that political systems, the environment and economics don’t, on occasion, cause us problems. And most certainly the devil and his cohorts are always seeking for an opportunity to attack us.
What I am saying is that all too often we give these things far more credit than they are due. Sure, they may play some role in the problems we face, but often the root of the problem lies not in front of our eyes, but immediately behind them. It all starts with our thinking.
I was reminded again this week of a saying I first heard very early in my Christian life:
Sow a thought – reap a feeling;
Sow a feeling – reap an attitude;
Sow an attitude – reap an action;
Sow an action – reap a habit.
Let’s look at it a little more closely. Many people believe that emotions are simply things that come upon us, that we have no control over them and can do nothing to either cause or prevent them. This is absolutely not true.
Feelings are the result of thoughts. They are brought on by the things we tell ourselves about our circumstances or what is happening in our lives at the moment. Take an example: You are walking down the street and your friend, Mary, walks by without even acknowledging you. If you think to yourself, “What a snob! Just who does she think she is to just ignore me like that!” then you will start feeling angry. If you think, “Mary mustn’t like me any more,” then you will begin to feel sad or abandoned. If you think, “Mary must have some kind of serious worry that she didn’t notice me,” feelings of compassion will begin to come over you. If you think, “TeHe, Mary’s off in her own little world again. I’m going to give her heaps when I see her next!” then you will stir up feelings of affection toward your friend.
Did any of those feelings “just happen”? No, they were all directly prompted by your thoughts. A feeling is the consequence of a thought. We can change the feelings by changing the thoughts. What we cannot do is separate the thought and its consequence, the feeling.
Feelings, in turn, produce attitudes. Attitudes are the spectacles through which we view life. If we regularly allow ourselves to indulge thoughts of being rejected, producing feelings of rejection, these will eventually build into an attitude of rejection. Instead of just seeing rejection in one person or situation, we will begin to see rejection everywhere, and from everybody.
Once attitudes are entrenched in our lives, we begin to act out from those attitudes. If we see ourselves as being rejected, we begin to act like a rejected person. We put up walls. We take things personally. We respond as if we had been rejected, even if the person speaking was not directing his words to us in any way. The really sad thing is, when we act like this we actually bring rejection upon ourselves. It’s as if we had stuck a big sign on our backs saying “Reject Me!” The same applies to every attitude we act out.
Finally, those actions become a habit. Psychologists tell us that it only takes three weeks to establish a habit – and most people have been acting out their attitudes much longer than that! These things become our normal way of doing things, and the further we go the harder the pattern becomes to break.
Then, somewhere down the track, we realize that we have a problem going on in our lives. To stick with our illustration of rejection, we realize that we are being rejected right, left and center. That’s when we start throwing out the blame. It’s the fault of the people around us, who reject us. It’s our parents’ fault, because they rejected us. Maybe there is a demon of rejection operating in our lives? We seek deliverance, and get no results.
The uncomfortable truth is, even if there is a demonic force involved, it is there because we gave it a comfortable place to lodge. We are the problem: not our parents, not our friends, not our boss, not demons. What we have to do is go back to the beginning and change the equation. This whole downward spiral started with our thoughts. By changing our thoughts, we can reverse the spiral.
Now, it will not be easy, nor will it be instant. In the beginning we will have to consciously grab our thoughts and tell ourselves, “No. That isn’t the truth. This is.” To do that, we need the Word of God, so that we can replace the lies we have been telling ourselves with the truth of Scripture; and we need the Spirit of God, Who will help and empower us in our new way of thinking.
Yes, we can be our own greatest enemy. But we can also be our own best friend. It all depends on how we think.
Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com
Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com/armorofgod
This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.
There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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“and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”
(Ephesians 6:15Ephesians 6:15
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15 and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace;
WP-Bible plugin, NIV)
Often when people read this verse, they think it is talking about the preaching of the Gospel. Preaching and witnessing are important, and are most certainly a part of our spiritual warfare. However, these are offensive measures – tactics which we use to take territory from the enemy. The armor, however, is defensive – it is our protection against the enemy’s attacks. Paul is not talking about our taking the Gospel to others, but rather about the effect that the Gospel has on us personally.
As with the whole of this passage about the armor of God, he is using the picture of the armor worn by a Roman soldier. On his feet the soldier wore heavy leather sandals, which were studded underneath with metal, so that no matter what kind of terrain the soldier had to cover, he would never slip or lose his grip. Paul is saying that is what the Gospel does for us.
How does the Gospel achieve this? It is the Gospel of Peace – and that means, firstly, that it is the Gospel that brought us peace with God. Before we heard the Gospel, we were God’s enemies. We may have been consciously and deliberately opposed to God, perhaps denying His existence or at least living as though He did not exist. Or we might have been “good” people, perhaps even churchgoers, but had never truly surrendered our lives to Christ. Either way, we were God’s enemies. There are only two possibilities in life – either we are in the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. Those in the kingdom of darkness are God’s enemies, and if they remain in that kingdom they will suffer the same judgment as the prince of that kingdom.
Being at war with God creates all kinds of problems in our lives, and leaves us open to the attack of the enemy on every side. However, when we heard and responded to the Gospel we changed sides – we switched our allegiance from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God. Now we are no longer His enemies, but His friends and bound to Him in a covenant that guarantees He will fight on our behalf.
Since we are now God’s friends, we also have another benefit – the peace of God. This means that, because of our relationship with Him, we can walk through any situations that life might throw at us in perfect peace, knowing that He will work them all together for our good and His glory. That does not mean that we will never have problems, but that we can rest in the knowledge that God is bigger than all our problems.
Most important of all, we now know the God who is Peace. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is my peace, was one of the names of God in the Old Testament. When we know Jehovah Shalom, we not only have the peace of God in our hearts in any situation, but we carry His peace with us wherever we go, and are able to release that peace into the situation. That’s why, in the middle of a storm that had the disciples – all of whom were experienced fishermen – absolutely terrified, Jesus was able to stand up and simply say, “Peace. Be still.” and the storm stopped.
The Gospel of peace does indeed allow us to walk through all of life’s troubled roads and never lose our footing.
Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com
Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com/armorofgod
This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.
There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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