“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath,

but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord”

(Eph. 6:4)

I live in a place that contains a prominent church that is closely affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Over the last years, this house of under scrutinized false teaching has grown in popularity and reach. The city government flocks to it but a majority of the citizens do not. Indeed, most of the flocking to this place seems to come from those who live outside of the city, and people, mostly misguided youth, come from far and wide to attend this house of fleshly indulgences.

Over the past two years, something extraordinary has happened.  Families, many with multiple young children, have been moving from great distances to become a part of this unholy movement.  In my own neighborhood alone, I have seen more than one family alone move in and begin following the false teaching of the these NAR disciples.  My children play with their children and I would be remiss if I failed to mention that these new neighbors are wonderfully kind and loving people.  It is painful to see their souls jeopardized by ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Sadder still is the sacrifice that these families are having to make.  The town in which I live has a failing economy.  Jobs are scarce but gas and grocery prices are high.  In order to make ends meet, the fathers of these families are having to travel great distances in order to have gainful employment.  One father in particular travels at least 80 miles one way to go to and from work each day.  To make matters worse, many of these fathers are forced to work second and third shifts after making the one to two-hour trek to work each day.  As a cost of this, once home, the father must sleep during the day.  All of this adds up to a missing father.  Sure, he is there, but he is not really there.

The family and the role of father is sacrificed.  For what?  For a worthless piece of paper that says you completed a school that teaches you the philosophies and doctrines of men?  So that you can direct traffic and help park cars that you cannot afford at the “church” you moved to be a part of?  So that you can be constantly berated into believing that you are not giving enough of your income to the leaders of the movement you have devoted and sacrificed so much for already?  So that you can be taught and led my teachers who have young children who do not even reside in their own homes?  Of course people who have already made the sacrifice of their fatherly role would have no problem asking another to do the same.  You are sacrificing your family, your wife, your children for that?

This is sad to me.  So often the conversation among evangelicals is one that revolves around the subversion of the role of the father by the world.  This is a new phenomenon though.  This is the role of the father being subverted by those living under the guise of Biblical Christianity.  Oh how discernment is needed.  The youth that was once targeted by the NAR 10 years ago are now young fathers and mothers.  They have given their lives and energies to false prophecy and teaching.  Now they sacrifice their children, their God-given roles of father and mother.  Baal himself could not have planned things better.

Last week, the area where I live was filled with pollen.  I don’t know if it is a seasonal thing or a result of the very dry conditions the area has suffered lately.  Whatever the cause, I have been unable to breathe without it feeling like a swamp in my head for a little over a week.  It would be important to note also that I am very allergic to antihistamine medications so other than upping my Vitamin C intake through natural juices and fruits, I have few options for relief.

Two days into my seasonal problem, my oldest son, a tremendous basketball player, asked that I take him and his brother to the local gym to play basketball.  I agreed and knew ahead of time that I would just be sitting and watching on this day.  Once there, the gym was pretty much empty except for a few kids and about three other adults.  My sons and I went to the empty end of the court to shoot before a group of five and six-year-old children rushed our end of the court.  I told my eleven year old son that if he wanted to play an actual game, he would probably need to go and start shooting with the older gentlemen on the other end of the court.  I knew he could hold his own with them.

After shooting for a few minutes, I noticed from the sidelines that one of the gentlemen there looked very familiar to me. I soon placed his face and knew that I knew him as a song-leader from the local Charismatic youth center The Ramp.   I immediately wondered how his CD sales were going.  He seemed to be there with a friend and despite my knowledge of his beliefs, I allowed my sons to begin playing a game of basketball with them when they were asked to team up.

As the games went on I could not have asked for a group of guys to be kinder to my sons.  My sons are able to hold their own on the court, but it was refreshing to see them allowed to play with older people without swear words and bad attitudes flooding their minds.  I really appreciated that.

After about an hour, the two guys from the local worship center decided to call it a day.  Before they left, they gathered everyone together, myself included, and asked if they could pray “for us.”  I thought “with us,” but figured why not.  The song leader began to pray while his partner with him began to mumble something aloud while the song leader prayed.  I immediately silently prayed that God guard my heart and the hearts of my sons.  Because of the mentioned mumbling, I found it very hard to focus on what the song leader was praying.  I was able to make out what sounded like demands being made to God and, of course it wouldn’t be a Charismatic prayer session without demands for “financial breakthrough” being made.  I also noticed a huge hole as Christ, nor His holy name never made an appearance in this prayer.

“Amen.”  So be it, the prayer ended.  I returned to my chair feeling horrible due to illness and sad as I thought how wonderful it would have been if rather than standing up and demanding God listen to them, these young men would have taken the time to preach the gospel rather than make demands of their god.  I suppose you practice what you have been taught to do.  This story does not end here though.

As I returned to my chair, the song leader walked up to me.  ”Do you have lots of problems with your back sir?” The song leader asked.  I immediately felt like I was on that show not long ago where the guy would help people allegedly speak to their dead relatives.  You know the one.  The one where the “wizard” would just start by saying “I am thinking of someone whose name being with J.”  He would go from there doing guess-work until he said enough that someone related with something he was saying.  I felt like that show was happening in my face.

I thought about the boys question for a moment and did a quick inventory of my back.  No, my back does not hurt now.  No my back hasn’t really bothered me since an unfortunate jet ski accident about five years ago.  My back felt fine.

“No, my back is fine.”  As I gave that reply I saw the shock in the young man’s face.

He replied, “Oh, well, something was telling me your back was hurting.”  I wish I would have thought to ask what was telling him that.  It seems to me a pretty important question.

The song leaders side kick then joined the conversation and asked if I had any illness they could pray for.  I didn’t want to lie, so I told him, “Yeah, I have horrible allergies right now.  I saw on the Weather Channel where our area is under a very high pollen alert and it is killing me.”

After telling me about when he was 13 and suffering with allergies he prayed to God that his allergies be taken away and they were, the side kick asked, “Well, do you care if I pray for you.”  I hesitated for a moment and then thought to all the prayers I have offered to God asking him for confirmation of the discernment the Lord’s word gives me regarding the spirits involved with The Ramp and I realized that this could be the answer to that prayer.

I agreed to allow him to pray for me and he asked, “May I put my hand on your shoulder?”  Sure, go ahead and invade my personal space too I thought but all I said was “Yes.”

I immediately prayed in my heart, “Dear God, I have faith  that you can take away my allergies in your own time.  Father, if your time is now and through this young man, may your will be done and may I feel shame for my misunderstanding of your Holy Word.  Thank you for your Son.”

With my head bowed low and my eyes closed, the song leader’s side kick began to pray and I focused all of my attention on his prayer.  ”LORD, I REBUKE THESE ALLERGIES!!!,” the young man exclaimed.  ”I command these allergies to leave this man and that he have relief.”  That was about it.  He said a few other things that I have heard on his church’s internet broadcast before, but nothing new.

Inside, a part of me hoped this was right and that my allergies would go away.  I was expecting it to be like I see on their shows where I fall in the floor or I seize up, but nothing.

“Thanks,” I said.  I desired to speak to him about Christ since he wasted his opportunity to do so with me or my sons, but before I could really speak, the pair was walking away.  I sniffed, thinking that perhaps I would be able to breathe clearly, but alas, the allergies remained, refusing to be rebuked by a young man commanding God (I shudder to even type that) to do so.  In my mind I thought of the little green snot guys from the Mucinex commercials and imagined them quoting Acts 19:15: “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”

As I type this, I remain stuffy from allergies but God sent some relief in the form of His rain the past couple of days which has lessened the pollen in the air.  I don’t think my allergies have been rebuked.

I hope to meet this pair again in the near future and I plan to talk to them and show them their error through scripture.  If I could speak to them now, I would say that rather than doing guess-work about what physical ailments I might have, focus in on the one ailment that you know all men and women have.  Focus in on the fact that we are all sinners.  Rather than trying to ease birth pains of the human body, apply a real balm, the Balm of Gilead.  Share the gospel and help save souls, not relieve allergies.  These young men stepped down from a royal priesthood and put themselves on the level of someone who does acupuncture to relieve allergies.

1 John 4:1 says: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

God provided me with an opportunity to test the spirits in a very physical way last week.  I am thankful for such.

I have had questions answered by Faramerz Dabhoiwala that I would have never thought to ask if I had not read The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution.  Questions like, what role did the Catholic Church play in the sexual attitudes of Western Europe in the  17th century were answered.

I can’t imagine the amount of time and energy that Dabhoiwala spent researching for this book.  The result however is a word picture laid out for the reader that explains how Western Europe went form a place that once criminally charged fornicators to a land where homes were built to care for prostitutes who were the result of men’s failings.  The parallels to American history are obvious and vast.

Most informative of all is the context that Dabhoiwala provides by interspersing literature, letters, and other documents from that time period.  While not for the reading of many young readers, an adult can visually discern the changing in prevailing attitudes toward sexual subject matter.  Most interesting to this reader is the writings of church leaders of the time.

This book took me some time to read.  At almost 500 pages this book is full of detail that can sometimes weigh the eyes and mind of the reader down.  I however picked this one up by mistake, yet I am glad I did.  I would recommend this book to older readers interested in watching the evolution of a society.

Then why is one of the most common words I hear from humans today “tired?”  In my brief  ”how do you do” greetings with people, one of the answers I most often receive is “I’m tired.”  Just as much as I receive that answer, I give it as well.  It’s not that I am lying when I give that answer.  I am tired and I have no doubt that the people who provide me with the same information are tired as well.  But why are we so tired?

I wondered how often people in scripture complained of being tired.  I assumed it would be a great number.  Study proved to me though that only once in the King James translation of scripture could the word “tired”  be found (2 Kings 9:30).  Also, the word “tired” only appears once in the English Standard translation (Jeremiah 12:13).

This is astounding to me.  Why would people who had a life so much harder than mine complain so little about being tired?  Of course the probable answers to this question are many.  I am not surprised though that the Lord provides that answer to why one group of people were so tired.

Going back to the verse mentioned above, Jeremiah 12:13, we find Jeremiah saying: “They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.  They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

Perhaps I am tired because I have been working on the wrong things.  This passage in Jeremiah should serve as a reminder that seeking things that are not in accordance with God’s will for your life will wear you out.  Why are we so tired?  We are so tired because we constantly place great value and importance on the things in this life that God finds no favor in.  It is so easy to talk oneself into believing that what we want to be important is somehow in accordance with God’s will.  Is there scriptural evidence to support your desire though?

As I prepared a Bible study to work on with my children today, I was brought to the verse of Mark 12:28-30.  Christ reminds us that we should seek to love God with all of our hearts and souls.  He makes no exception of clause for those things that we want to or have been fooled to believe are important.  Could it be that it the things in life that distract from us loving God with our entire hearts and souls that make us / me so tired?  I’m tired of reaping thorns.

One paradox regarding Christianity is that the Christian life is one filled with suffering and trials and also happiness and joy.  How can the Christian life be both things?  While there are multiple verses discussing this refining process that mature Christians understand, one statement that Paul makes brings the understanding of this life to the gospel level. 

In 2 Corinthians 6 v. 4-10, Paul provides a list of attributes that make his ministry as valid and important as it was as well as the circumstances in which this ministry was approved.  In verse 10 however, Paul lays a paradox out when he says that he had been “sorrowful, yet rejoicing.”  How could one be sorrowful yet at the same time rejoice?  This short phrase, “sorrowful, yet rejoicing” sums up the understanding of the gospel for the Christian and the faith which we hold.

For the true Christian is sorrowful.  The true Christian finds great sorrow in the fact that it has been revealed to them that they are sinful and wretched creatures who have been created by the breath of an almighty and powerful God.  Christians are sorrowful that it is revealed to them that they have not only dishonored God, but that they continue to do so despite their best efforts.  Christians are sorrowful that there is nothing they can do to restore their selves to the perfection that God has required.  Christians are sorrowful that it took God sending his Son who He loved dearly to show humanity what perfection looked like.  Christians are sorrowful that their inability to meet that standard led to the Son of the only Living God to be beaten, cursed, spat upon, and nailed to a tree so that he could die as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  Christians are sorrowful that even after having knowledge of these things and crying out to this loving God to save us, that even then, even after knowing about the state we once stood prior to Christ’s redemptive work, that we continue to sin against our God and Maker. 

Yet, Christians rejoice for all of those things listed above.  Christians rejoice over knowing that we were lost yet now stand saved.  Christians rejoice that God sent His Son to live a pure and righteous life.  Christians rejoice over the fact that this spotless lamb was led to the slaughter.  Christians rejoice that His death meant we can live now and later with Him in an eternal heavenly home.  Christians rejoice that Christ arose from the dead and ascended to Heaven where he now sits, waiting his return in which He can bring His children home. 

There is a paradox to the Christian life.  We are truly sorrowful, yet rejoicing.

Here’s the link to the story.

Apostle Dutch Sheets Endorses Newt Gingrich, Will Join Campaign’s National Faith Leaders Coalition

This test really stems off the back of a frequently debated issue in Christianity regarding the afterlife.  ”Will individuals recognize one another in Heaven?”  Without delving too far into the issue, there are a multitude of Biblical passages that suggest that through thought and possibly sight, Christians will be able to recognize loved ones in the Heavenly realm.  More convincing though, is the fact that there are no passages to suggest that Christians will not have some sort of recognizing faculty equipped.  For certain, Paul in his letter to the Thessalonian church, believed that he would be able to recognize those members of that church who he loved dearly and had passed away, at least at the resurrection day (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

One of the arguments against this position is that there is to be no sadness in Heaven.  Our psyche and logic as humans tells us that if we can recognize those whom we love in the afterlife, then we would surely miss those who have not been saved by Christ’s redemptive power.  This is where the test comes in.

If you are a Christian, ask yourself who you would be the saddest over if you did not see them in Heaven.  Now take a piece of paper and number it 1 through 5 (CLICK HERE OR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST FOR PRINTABLE TEST DOCUMENT).  Write down the five people who you will be the saddest over if they are not in Heaven.

Done?

Now, review your list and as you do so, ask yourself one question:  How many of those people are my actual, physical neighbor?  Whether you live in a large apartment complex with many neighbors or in a rural setting with only a few neighbors within your proximity, how many of the five are your neighbor?

Before I wrote this I did this experiment myself and I failed.  None of my top five were my neighbor.  Yet, in my neighborhood I am surrounded by people who I know have souls in jeopardy.  Some are followers of occult like religions posing as Christianity.  Some of my neighbors are once faithful Christians who have fallen away and have actually sought my advise and assistance at times in regaining their footing in their Christian walk.  Some are simply non-believers.  They are all my actual physical neighbors though and possibly the people who I should be the saddest about should they not make it to a Heavenly home.

The Holy Spirit led Paul to write in 1 Corinthians 10:24:  ”Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.”  As a Christian saved by God’s grace, how could there be happiness knowing that I have not extended that same grace and the true gospel of Jesus Christ to those I am closest to on almost a daily basis?  How can you?

I hope that you took the test above and that you passed much better than I did.  If not, revise your list so that it is more in line with Biblical teaching.  Pray for one another that we will begin to seek the good of our neighbor’s souls.

CLICK HERE FOR FOR PRINTABLE TEST DOCUMENT – MSWORD

The instruction I recall was that one does not use bad language because it makes you look stupid.  The idea was that it showed a limited vocabulary and that people who can’t speak English well must use swear words to fill in the blanks.  Since my youth, I have linked swearing with stupidity.

It has worked.  I do find that many times people who curse a great deal a very stupid.  In fictional movies and books that I read or watch, many times the authors pose the less than intelligent characters to swear more than others.  Whereas many saw the fact that every other word out of Tony Soprano’s mouth was a curse word as a fact that he was a bad person, I saw it as a fact that he didn’t go to college.    To this day, I link cursing to ignorance.

Now as a Christian man, I still feel the same way, but I wonder about the motive behind this.  If I am not using bad language because I don’t want to seem stupid, is that actually bringing glory to God or to myself?  In other words, was the motivation for not swearing an act of Christianity or an act of vanity?  Would I rather not look stupid or do I want to be a Christian?

While there are several scriptures dealing with the words that Christians use, Ephesians 4:29 stands out to me.  Here Paul writes:

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

From this passage I find that not using bad language because of how it makes me look is not in line with Paul’s teaching.  Rather, Paul reminds us that the words we use should be meant for others, not ourselves.  In one way, our words are meant for our neighbor.  Paul wants us to build up our neighbor with our words and through his use of the word “corrupting” he is telling us that words of poor quality can not accomplish that goal.  That goal is the subject of the second individual that our words are meant for.

As Christians, our words are meant to bring glory to God.  More specifically, Paul is reminding us that our words are meant to bring grace to our neighbor and through building up and edifying our neighbor as situations arise, we are bringing glory to God.  As Christians, we should know that through grace and grace alone is God able to shed His holy influence upon people.  It is through the grace extended to us upon Calvary that we are brought right in the sight of God. Paul exerts us to remember this in our speech and to bring glory to Him through showing others the grace we have been shown.  While living and basking in that wondrous grace, what need does the Christian have for anything rotten or unwholesome to express their feeling?

As a Christian father my prayer is that I can teach my children to not use corrupt speech because of the grace they have been taught and hopefully shown by their mother and I.  Would it do harm to teach them an extensive vocabulary and show them that the most popular and common words are curse words used by mostly simpletons?  I think not.  However I pray that I can teach my children and that God will continue to help me to choose my words wisely so that together we may bring glory to Him.