A disturbing reason for praise and thanksgiving 100213

John Owen wrote:
"And this is a remarkable feature of God's providence in the world:  He limits the flood of sin that would overflow the earth by restricting men's power to bring it to pass."

Couple this with the fact that in the last century over 800,000 million men, women and children have been killed in secular conflicts and I believe we should all be driven to our knees in thankfulness and humility.

Should God "blink" the evil we know would seem child's play - a mere discomfiture - compared to what sinful man is capable of.

Evil, as we know it within God's limits, must be a arrow pointing to a greater goodness we can only know in part.  As great as the evil we can know is the goodness of God is greater.  Every stick has two ends.  On one end we see the limited evil man is allowed and on the other we see (in a limited way) the great goodness of God.

There has to be two ends to the stick or there is no meaning, no purpose worth our efforts.

In my work in law enforcement as well as in my ministry I have seen the raw effects of sin.  I've smelled the bile and washed the blood from my hands.  As a young child I was witness to terrorist actions up close and personal where there was no regard for any human life.

Evil is and will be until He returns but we must keep in mind and be awed that it is a very very limited evil, restrained by an utterly unlimited God.  We need to not allow the commonness of evil in our world numb us.  Terror should terrify, injury should hurt, fear should birth fear - these are normal, human responses.  But none of these can be allowed to shock us into numbness.

Pray in gratitude for God's restraining hand.  Somehow the truth that regardless of how bad things are they, "could always be worse," should comfort us as it is our God who restrains, prohibits, denies the greater evil of which sinful man is capable.

For a good insight into the problem of evil I suggest Oz Guinness' book;  "Unspeakable' Facing up to the challenge of evil"

Finger Thinking 042713

I've been reading Isaiah and Jeremiah - wow!!

But what really hit me (blame the Puritans) is how everything God calls His people to account for (Judah and Israel that it) is just as applicable to the "church" today.  As a matter of fact the Puritans had the lovely habit of referring to Israel and Judah (those who had the faith of Abraham no the "religion" of Moses for faith trump form every time) - as the "church in the Old Testament.  So leaping from that, the whole of the prophetic writings apply to the "church of today" as well.

As Martin Luther is reputed to have once said, "A golden plated turd is still a turd."  It's the old "lipstick on a pig," thing.  We are rich and big and hollow.  We are sending men and women into the field for harvest while we let our neighbor do to hell.  We are more concerned about the unborn and guns than we are the hell bound men and women around us.  We are more committed to the Constitution than we are the Scripture.  We are more focused on establishing our own security than trusting Him with it all.

We invite the world and the devil into our homes on giant HD screens.  We watch trash sponsored by trash and see nothing wrong with it at all.  We laugh at sin, we are engaged by corruption and oh how we love the tough guy who just shoots everybody.

We will carry a copy of the Constitution in our back pocket while our Bibles gather dust.  We'll memorize the arguments for the Second Amendment but we know very little of God's Word by heart.  We'll home-school everything except our faith - that we pay others to do.  We have to get our kids into competitive sports so they can learn to "beat"/"defeat" others.

We will sing God's praises because there are 5,000 people in the building on Sunday morning but only a few are believers.  We will sing God's praises with lyrics the prophets would detest and we are happy.  We want excitement and engagement instead of solemnity and our engaging God.  We will read hundreds of books written by questionable teachers but we will not examine their teaching by the Word.

We are indeed the church and we are no different than the "church in the OT."  We are faithless in content, context and commitment.  We are ripe for refining.

We will engage the "culture' in battles over morality but whoa to the Pastor who does so on Sunday.  We hate the "big" sin while we collect the small.  Idolatry is a thing of the past?  Satan and the demonic are not more?  And God forbid you suffer some mental illness that makes folk uncomfortable - there's no place for you pal!

Yeah - I'm pretty fed up with the common "church" and the "common" Christian.  Not that I'm perfect - I could write volumes concerning my faithlessness and failure.  But at least I am aware and willing to take up the fight.  What about you?

Finger Thinking 041713 There ain't nothing friendly about Casper the ghost!

I have a dear friend and brother who has written a book titled Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes.  It's been out for a while and has done pretty well but it is interesting that so little attention has been paid to this work not to mention the insights and guidance the author can provide for believers as well as non-believers.

I find it distressing that so little attention - not to mention credibility is given to this critical subject.  The Gospel of Mark is replete with references to demons and possession and yet the church today keeps its head in the sand when it comes to the enemy and his little helpers.

Oh, I know - that was then - this is now - right?  Hooey!!  To deny the existence, operation, danger and influence of the demonic is to deny the scriptures - period!

Yeah - today we'd rather just call it mental illness and give it a pill.  Well folks, after 20+ years of working with psychiatrists, psychologists and their patients that assumption does what assume always does.  It leaves folks - even those who are afflicted with some mental illness out in the cold when it comes to the work of the Prince of the power of the air.  So, they are just "honey out of luck!"

There is nothing "fantastical," or "sensational" in this book.  It was not written to tickle your ears or feed your flesh.  It does provide the reader with a sound and clear BIBLICAL perspective on our latest cultural IED - ie: ghost hunting.

Mom's and Dads who would never consider allowing their kids to play with Ouija  Boards of Tarot Cards will actually sit and watch these hellish TV shows with them.  I find that utter irresponsible and terrifying!  Oh - these same parents will let thie kids watch the MTV and reality trash as well.  No wonder our kids are numb and dumb.

But - this is about a book, an important book and a ministry, an important mnistry and the fact that the church - the "common" church is just too given to cultural compromise to get off its duff, get its head out of the sand and look at a very very serious issue.

Yeah,  I guess I'm a little irritated!  Ok, I'm a lot irritated.  Self-denominated believers just can't seem to be bothered with the fact that Satan and his little helpers have their own TV shows and a teaching young and old alike lies straight out of the pit of hell.

Yes, the subject is outside our comfort zone - but "we" (believers) are supposed to be uncomfortable here anyway.  Unfortunately we have grown to find "fictional" sin on TV and in movies and demons being contacted and engaged as "ghosts" to be entertaining.

To be honest, if I had my choice I vote for the gladiatorial games and circuses of ancient Rome over the lies we see on TV.  Patti and used to watch a show called Castle until the two main characters started carrying on an affair right in the house where his college age daughter and his mother lived.  So much for that show!  So now we live on Duck Dynasty and old TV shows on Netflix.

But back to my point - BUY the book - know the truth - then USE it!!!!!!


James 4:17 NASB
Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Think - Pray - Do!