Lies We Have Been Told

From Sunday school to Bible college to seminary I have been told that sanctification is a process. The reasoning was that justification was complete at the moment of regeneration; glorification will be complete at the moment of translation; sanctification is the process through which believers must labor between the other two. No one ever challenged this reasoning until a couple weeks ago when Ray Leight (Bethel Church, Redding, California) blasted us with the truth: sanctification is completed when justification takes place.

This biblical truth is so plain and simple that it is a wonder that we have believed the lie. Simply understanding what sanctification means clearly puts it in the category of things completed at the moment of regeneration. To be “sanctified” means to be made holy. The Greek language does not have two different words as does English: “holy” and “sanctified” are from exactly the same Greek word (hagios). There is another lie buried here that says I am not already holy in God’s sight – I absolutely am. The Bible tells me so. The righteousness of Christ was imputed to me when I came to Him. Period.

This misunderstanding of sanctification or holiness has given rise to another pervasive lie among believers. Many Bible-believing, born again, blood bought Christians think their works have something to do with their salvation. Years ago, I canvassed our church neighborhood with a survey intended to identify people who might be interested in attending our services. The survey ended with the Evangelism Explosion question: “If you were to face God tonight, and He asked why He should let you into Heaven, what would you say?” Scores of people who had identified themselves as church-going, Bible-believing Christians said, “I have lived a good life.” This implies they believed their good works earned them a place in Heaven. Ugh!

When challenged on this position, most immediately said that they knew works couldn’t earn them anything, but the lie was already out of the bag: their gut-level response was to resort to their “goodness” as if they were doing something worthy of Heaven. This is deadly. While James does insist that true faith produces works, both he and Paul are crystal clear that works save no one. There are whole denominations of Christians and many quasi-Christian groups that preach works as the means of salvation. They are dead wrong. Paul clearly says that anyone who relies on his works is still dead in his sin. Period.

Perhaps the most debilitating aspect of the lie that sanctification (or salvation in total) needs our works is what it does to one’s true identity. This was the core of what Ray Leight exposed in his teaching. The minute we believe we are not good enough to merit God’s grace, we have fallen prey to the lie. If you re-read the last sentence it becomes obvious: “merit God’s grace” is a non-sequitor. One can never “merit” grace. By its very definition, grace is a gift. God graciously imputes Christ’s righteousness upon believers so that when He looks at one of His, He sees Christ. No work is needed. The work was done on the Cross and applied when the dead one became alive in Christ. Period.

This does not mean that our behavior doesn’t matter. Paul shoots down that thought in Romans 6 by reminding us that believers have crucified the old man bound by sin and now live as slaves to righteousness. To continue in sin, as the writer of Hebrews says, is to crucify Christ afresh. Jesus’ death on the Cross delivered everyone who accepts His gift from every sin everyone ever committed. All sin for all time is paid for by Jesus’ blood once for all. Period.

This means that as a believer I am holy, righteous, sanctified completely, and I am seated at the right hand of God with my Savior, Jesus, right now. That is what God sees. Remember that God is not bound by time as we are, so He already sees the completed work all the way to glorification. I am certain to mess up repeatedly after my justification and sanctification are completed. That is moot. God already accepted Jesus’ payment for my messes – all of them. I am complete IN CHRIST. Therefore, my true identity is also IN CHRIST. I am who Jesus is. That’s what God sees.

Bottom line: we need to stop believing the lie that we are anything but totally and completely sanctified at the moment we accept Christ’s sacrifice as our payment for our sin. We need to get out of our heads, as the saying goes, and start getting in the spirit. Our spirits are made new at the moment of new birth. Our heads (souls) still need to be aligned with God’s order. That’s where the work comes. Renew the mind, Paul says in Romans 12. Stop thinking of yourself as a “sinner saved by grace.” You are a saint (root word: holy or sanctified) living by grace. The same grace that saved you now enables you to live the life of Christ if you will remember to live by the spirit instead of by the flesh.

The Uncorrupted Life

Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. – Lord Acton

“Corrupt” doesn’t necessarily mean to make evil. A corrupted file on the computer is not evil, it just quits working as it was intended. This same effect can be seen in men and women who come into great power. Notice that the correct quote is that power “tends to corrupt.” This implies that not all people will fall prey to the negative influence of power.

This thought occurred to me this morning as I was praying for President Trump. (Remember that we are commanded to pray for our leaders.) He seems to be one of a few Presidents (and congress-persons) who have not tended to be corrupted by the power of the office. He was lewd, crude and bossy before he was elected. He didn’t change much, although of late, I think he has grown into some of the restraint the office requires. And conservatives must applaud all he has done for religious freedom and economic revival.

Some others appear to have remained unaffected by the power: Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush. These men were simple folk (more or less) when they entered the White House, and they stayed true to their principles. The media mocked each of them for their simple ways, but it didn’t change them. In fact, in the cases of Lincoln, Reagan and Bush, it served them well. The same cannot be said for Carter, but he was to his own self true, for whatever that is worth.

When I think of people like Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, or Jesse Jackson (Where is he?) I see what power can do to corrupt. These people live lives of incredible license and luxury, and they condescend to the rest of us as if they were one of us. Then they place demands on us from which they exempt themselves, sometimes openly, sometimes secretly. Their lives are corrupted in the manner Paul describes in his letters to the Romans and the Ephesians.

Politicians are not the only people who are subject to the corruption by power. Christians in this country are especially prone to the allure. I mean this in a different way than you might imagine. The power of wealth, that is the power to make our own way (like most Americans) corrupts our devotion to Jesus. I think many Christians have allowed their power/ability to make it on their own to corrupt their commitment to their Lord. Especially in America, we have it so easy that we forget we owe everything to Jesus.

The question becomes how one shows appreciation/love for what Jesus did. Jesus' command, “Do this in remembrance of me” regarding communion is only symbolic. What is the real remembrance? What is the real devotion? I want to suggest that true devotion involves living in remembrance, living as Jesus lived. That means a life of sacrificial giving and love for everyone, especially the ones who don’t know Jesus (yet).

It is wonderful when we gather as the church at Easter or when we share in the Lord’s Supper, perhaps shedding a tear when we think of all he suffered on our behalf. But we must go from that emotional gathering into our world with the good news announced by that suffering. . We cannot let our power – our ability to live comfortably – corrupt our devotion to the cause of spreading the gospel.  When I say, “spreading the gospel,” don’t think preaching; think living like Jesus. When Jesus shared the gospel, he met a physical need almost every time. We need to find our neighbors’ needs and meet them in Jesus’ name.

The Bible has much to say about corruption by the world (Philippians 2:15 for example). We usually think of this as being drawn into active sins – being corrupted by evil. But the Bible also says to know what is good and not do it is sin. Do not let the subtle power of comfort corrupt your faith. Be Jesus to a needy world everywhere you go every moment of every day. That’s the uncorrupted life.

Memories, Myths and Mysteries.

I often joke about how bad my memory is, and it is really bad, but I do have some recollection of things that have happened to me. Every healthy mind has the ability to retain ideas, images and impressions of where it has been. These ideas, images and impressions are what we use to navigate through the world around us and to judge validity of things we encounter in the present. Because I remember the pain of touching the glowing hot burner on a stove, I will not believe someone who tells me that touching a hot stove will not hurt. In millions or perhaps billions of tiny ways, my memory shapes who I am and dictates what I believe.

For many thousands of years, humans had no written records of their existence, past or present. They had no written language. We should not imagine that they had no memories. Simple necessity and human nature would have led them to share their memories, share the things they knew to be true. These shared memories became the knowledge base that allowed them to survive and prosper. Fire is hot; tigers eat people; acorns grow into oaks. People learned to trust in a shared knowledge base.

Human nature being what it is, it is natural to suppose that over time, people would embellish memories of their own deeds and those of their cherished ancestors. This is the syndrome we know as the “fish story.” Every time the fisherman tells the tale, the fish gets bigger. This propensity leads to my valiant deeds growing more and more exciting as the telling continues. By the time we are recounting great-great grandfather’s deeds, he has become larger than life. He has become a legend; legends woven into tales become myths. Myths retold over centuries form one of the foundations of culture.

It is probable that the characters in Greek mythology, for example, had once-living human beings as their antecedents. It is certain that the Cyclops and Medusa were drawn from pure fantasy, as were the supernatural powers of Zeus or Poseidon. However, one can easily imagine that there were living men in the shadows of pre-history who grew into the superheroes of mythology. Archeology has granted a glimpse into ancient civilizations about which little is known apart from the myths.

With the ascendance of science and reason over mythology some five hundred years ago, people gradually discounted the reality of myth, although they enjoyed telling the tales as entertainment. A quick scan of the movie guide today attests to the fact that we still enjoy mythology. The problem for Christians is that many moderns lump the Bible in with mythology. They admit that there may have been an Israelite named Moses at some point in history, but he didn’t literally part the Red Sea. Jesus may have walked the dusty roads of first century Palestine, but he couldn’t have literally walked on water.

The enlightened, reasonable mind is going to have trouble with the supernatural in the Bible. It resembles the “fish story” style of mythology. However, there are good reasons to believe what the Bible says is literally true. For one thing, whereas Homer intentionally fabricated much of the Greek “history” he wrote, Luke takes pains to recount in his Gospel only what he could verify from the memories of eye witnesses. The Apostle Paul, who wrote two thirds of the New Testament, lived the history he tells. The last book of the Bible was written when there were people still alive who had either been there, done that, or they were personally acquainted with those who had.

There is another strong defense of the Bible as truth: no sane person is going to die to protect a myth. Only a crazy person would die to preserve the story of Batman. Yet tens of thousands, perhaps millions have died because they believed the Bible was a true story. Of course, there are other reasons to trust the Bible. It has phenomenal internal consistency for a collection of writings gathered over hundreds of years. Archeology and secular historians have confirmed the facts as stated in the Bible in every instance in which they have been challenged. The scientifically verifiable fulfilled prophecies alone testify to the Bible’s veracity.

And then we can go back to shared memory. I have my own personal memories of all the times God has proven Himself and the reality of His Word. My father believed the Bible; his father believed; there were men and women in every preceding generation going all the way back to the writers of the book itself who will attest to its truthfulness. Textual criticism proves that the very words of the Bible, Old Testament and New, have not changed over the centuries. The Bible is not a collection of fish stories; the Bible is the record of a loving Creator redeeming His lost Creation.

Are there mysteries in the Bible? Certainly. Paul refers to one of the most significant ones in Ephesians 3, which was a mystery to everyone in Heaven and on Earth until after the Cross of Calvary: the mystery of human existence. Then there is the mystery of how God can be totally sovereign, yet humans can have complete free will. It is still a mystery what we will be like when we “shuffle off this mortal coil.” I agree with A.W. Tozer that we must make room for mystery. We are not God; we will never know everything God knows. But we can know this: the Bible is true, and it alone holds the key to the life of the ages. No mystery there. And I hope I never forget it.

The Disunited State of America (and the Church)

According to recent surveys, many young people are leaving the church because they say it has nothing to offer them. Although I have heard that reasoning used before, it struck me this morning that there is a fundamental flaw in its logic. The church is not meant to “offer” something; the church is supposed to be a place where believers offer something to God and to their fellow-believers. I think the church in 21^st century America is failing because even the leaders have turned its purpose upside down.

In my daily Psalm this morning I read Asaph’s inspired opinion that the Israelite generation who turned away from God in the Sinai wilderness did so because they were, “a generation that did not make ready its heart, whose spirit was not faithful to God.” (Psalm 78:8 LEB) I don’t want to parse this too intensely, but I think it is instructive that Asaph used two words to describe the inner selves of the faithless Israelites: heart and spirit. The “heart” can be used to mean the soul, the thinking part of a human being. The Israelites were not thinking straight. Because of this mental error, their “spirit” was not faithful. The spirit is that aspect of humans that relates to God. The Israelites mental error led them to a spiritual error.

The same situation is present in our generation: many are incorrectly thinking the church is a place that is supposed to meet their needs; they turn away because they are unfulfilled. The truth is the church is intended to meet others’ needs, other people’s and God’s; not that God actually needs the church (He needs nothing), but He has established it to accomplish His purposes on Earth. The irony is that as we selflessly give ourselves to God and others, we reach a level of fulfillment that no other activity can approach. That is another of the many paradoxes of Christianity akin to saying true freedom is found in complete surrender.

I wrote previously (What is the Church?) about the true purpose of the church, the ecclesia in Bible language. Briefly, the ecclesia is intended to infiltrate and indoctrinate a culture with Heaven’s priorities. It might help our understanding if we thought of church more like a political or military organization rather than a social club. In fact, when Jesus first mentioned church, ecclesia, He said that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18); that is military language. If you read His words throughout the Gospels carefully, you will find numerous military analogies.

The problem of wrong thinking leading to serious consequences is evident in many places in our generation. Wrong thinking about the purpose of the family has led to its devaluation and dissolution. Wrong thinking about marriage has led to a scandalous divorce rate, even among believers. Wrong thinking about the human need for community has led to an explosion of social media “friends,” and to a lack of any real friendship among many of the younger generation.

Please excuse my soapbox, but wrong thinking about politics has led many Christians to abandon the field or consider it a lost cause altogether. The thinking in this arena is similar to the mistaken idea about church: government exists to meet my needs. The entitlement mentality is suffocating the very institutions that were meant to help the less fortunate. Multiculturalism, so-called, is fueling one side of the immigration debate to the point of idiocy. Apathy has caused the demise of the one weapon of political power every citizen has: the vote.

In a participatory form of government like ours (representative, not democratic), we the people actually do retain ultimate power: the power to un-elect miscreants, de-fund wasteful programs, and debunk the misguided policies that are causing America as we knew it to implode. Recent surveys indicate that approximately 60% of Americans identify as conservative. A similar number, variously in the 70-80% range, call themselves Christians. If those numbers are correct, I have to ask myself why clearly liberal (or progressive) policies and programs are being heaped upon us. I know the answer to my question: wrong thinking.

As my blog name says, Heaven always matters most, so the problem with the church is paramount. However, Christians are called to pray for their leaders and to give honor where it is due. I believe we dishonor the blessing of participatory government when we relinquish our right to participate. Voting, paying taxes and staying involved at whatever level one is called are the evidences of the honor that is due. And remembering that the church, the ecclesia, is supposed to be a culture-changer brings the two into focus. We have the blessing of freedom in this country. Let’s use our freedom to “do church” in every arena; we have Jesus’ promise that we cannot be overcome.

Why a Casino is Bad for Muskegon

A casino is a bad idea for Muskegon or anywhere else. The most common claim in support of a casino, that a casino would boost the local economy, is only partly correct. According to an article in the Washington Post (hardly a conservative voice), while jobs are created, the increase in employment opportunities is measurable, but not earthshaking. While the data cited in the article are not fresh, one has no reason to suspect that the conditions surrounding a Muskegon casino would be any different.

There is a less obvious down-side to casino jobs. First, many of the jobs will be taken by workers at other jobs, destabilizing the workforce in general. Also, the type of jobs that are created are substantially non-productive. By that I mean that nothing is produced for the benefit of others except entertainment. A factory makes goods that people can use; a restaurant feeds people; an insurance company or bank provides useful financial services. A casino adds nothing to the economy; it merely shifts dollars from gamblers’ pockets to the tribes’ coffers.

Some argue that a casino would generate tax revenue. According to the Washington Post article, “[Indian] Casinos aren't even a particularly good source of tax revenue. [A University of Maryland report] notes that a number of studies have found that Indian casinos cannibalize business at nearby restaurants and bars, and in so doing actually reduce state tax revenue.” Even Uncle Sam gets left out of the take since Indian casinos don’t pay corporate income tax.

Indian casinos do participate in revenue sharing in lieu of paying taxes, but it is not clear that they fully compensate local governments. A report in MLive about the Little River Casino in Manistee found that, “The tribe's forked over $30,479,814 in revenue sharing to Manistee area governments since it opened a casino there in 1999.” This is about $1.8 million per year on average. Sounds like a lot until you consider this: “In Manistee, local revenue sharing board uses the funds to reimburse local units of governments for costs due to the casino -- i.e. law enforcement and emergency services -- and to provide a payment in lieu of property tax revenue. Any additional funds are divided by the local governments and have been used for a variety of projects”

A few people have said that casinos are a benefit to the many underprivileged Native Americans in the associated tribes. An article in a Native American media outlet questions this premise. “The idea that money just flows freely into Indian people’s hands is pure fantasy. Approximately 72 tribes give per capita payments from gaming revenue, ranging from hundreds of dollars annually to many thousands. Very few distribute large sums…. Actually, a 2008 report finds that tribal leaders don’t like to disburse cash, contending ‘large per capita payments lead to citizen dependence on tribal governments, undermine the work ethic, and discourage young citizens from finishing their educations.’”

Even if there are some benefits to a community from a casino, the biggest reason not to have one is social. The Washington Post article concludes, “Casinos also lead to a plethora of social ills, including increased substance abuse, mental illness and suicide, violent crime, auto theft and larceny, and bankruptcy. The latter three all increased by 10 percent in communities that allowed gambling.” Prostitution and sex-trafficking may also increase with the casino’s influence. Although there is little statistical arrest evidence, a survey conducted by UNLV found that, “Those classified as problem gamblers were, on average, … 260% more likely to hire a prostitute…. [and] 17% more likely than the average survey respondent to have paid for sex in the past year.”

As a Christian under a representative-type government, I recognize that I only have one vote when it comes to any policy decision. In the Muskegon casino decision, I don’t think I had any direct say whatsoever. However, as a Christian I do have the responsibility to be salt and light. I am taking this opportunity to say that I believe a casino in Muskegon will spread poison and darkness as opposed to salt and light. If there is anything more that can be done to stop a casino from being built here, I believe we should make every effort to do so. For Heaven’s sake.

I Asked God

I asked for relief from pain, and God said, “I allow the pain so that you will lean closer to me.”

I asked for protection from loss, and God said, “I allow loss so that you will understand how I feel when a lost soul slips into eternity.”

I asked for my desires, and God said, “I provide for your needs; I allow your desires to be unfulfilled so that you might pray more earnestly for the truly needy.”

I asked for prosperity, and God said, “Learn to be content with what you have, and you will come to know true prosperity in your soul.”

I asked how to love my enemies, and God said, “Love them as I do, and forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

I asked for peace on earth, and God said, “As much as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”

I asked why bad things happen, and God said, “Don’t concern yourself with “why” questions; ask “what” questions: what can I learn; what can I do to help; what have I done to stop this?

I asked to know the purpose of my life, and God said, “Live justly, love kindness, and walk humbly in my presence.”

I asked God to change the troublesome people around me, and God said, “You need to change how you see them and love them as I do.”

I asked God to come closer to me, and God said, “If I seem distant, it is not I who moved away.”

Beware of Bowlegged Politicians

And the horse they rode in on. I suspect most of my readers are tired of anything to do with politics at this moment, just having finished the mid-term election cycle with its endless campaign commercials on TV and billboards and yard signs everywhere. In spite of the fatigue, I am going to rant about the sorry state of political “debate” in this country. Again. (See What's Wrong With Politics in America) I saw an evaluation of an interview of a newly minted New York politician that was so shot full of erroneous statements that I nearly became livid.

If the title of this piece has you stumped, it is drawn from the root meaning of the word “prevarication” which literally means bowed legs. Why does the physical condition of bowed legs serve as a metaphor for lying? Dictionary.com lists synonyms: “divergence from the right course, transgression… duplicity, collusion or a stepping out of line.” They also say it meant “to walk crookedly.” I like to think it may come from the idea that a weak set of legs compares to a weak set of facts on which a false stands.

There is no shortage of those who “walk crookedly” in the realm of politics. Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and Donna Brasile are joined by the newly-minted Democrat representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York. What struck me this time was the utterly ridiculous nature of Ocasio-Cortez’s fabricated facts. The situation was all the more distressing given her college degrees in economics and international relations from Boston University. She is a poster child (age 29) for the working-class-kid-who-wants-to-make-a-difference crowd.

Ocasio-Cortez may also be proof that our higher education system is broken since she obviously has no clue how our economy works despite her degree in economics. If it’s not that, then she is one of the bowlegged politicians. Her story is so appealing, and she is so enthusiastic about her cause that I want her to be genuine. But the only way she can be excused for her stunning misstatements of the facts is to say she is ignorant. That, or she is a liar.

I must pause to say that I am not implying that only women lie or that only Democrats lie. There are plenty of male politicians from both parties who also walk crookedly. However, given the huge Democrat bias in our major news outlets, one supposes that any conservative liar would be treated to days if not weeks of media treatment. You don’t see much of that. True, they tried, “Bush lied; people died.” That charge was proven false when subsequent revelations of fact showed President Bush may have had erroneous intelligence reports, but that he acted truthfully with what he thought was true.

This brings me to the discussion of the essence of truth. Someone has said that perception is reality. This is correct only if one conceives of reality as a personal possession. The reality I possess under this scenario may not be the reality you possess. If one believes in absolute truth, one truth that is true for all, as Christians must, then perception is not reality. By definition, truth is that which comports with reality. That which is true for me must also be true for you. The facts must agree. Experience must prove it. (For more of my take on truth see  “True Lies,” “Liars Figure” and “The Truth about the Truth”)

People like Ocasio-Cortez are apparently disconnected from reality either by choice or by ignorance. The same distinction must have been apparent to Jesus when He reserved His harshest criticism for the hypocrites of His day. (Hypocrisy is a lie with legs; it walks crooked.) He told the Pharisees they were liars born of the father of lies. (John 8:44) Since Jesus was The Truth (John 1:14 and 14:6), lies are especially heinous to Him. Notice that He included liars among the vilest of sinners in one list. (Revelation 22:15)

I’d like to think that I hate lies mostly because I am being conformed into the image of the Truth. I’d also like to think that my fellow-Christians will keep their truth-detectors warmed up as we enter a season of shared power in the US Congress. There will be many more episodes like the shameful one that sparked this rant. As disciples of the One who is Truth, we must take a stand for truth. We must hold our representatives’ feet to the fire. Maybe the heat will un-bow their legs.