Tag Archives: Bible Doctrine

Fruit Ripening

He is the Vine. I am the branch. A branch doesn’t do anything. It just sits there, attached to the vine, a conduit for nutrients and moisture, a support for the leaves and the fruit.

The fruit of the spiritual life is not the fruit of the branch but of the Vine, of the Spirit. Not of me. Considering our lemon tree and how the lemons grow is instructive. Water and nutrients come up the trunk along the branch and at certain points, cell by cell a stem begins to develop. At some point, known only to the stem, the cells begin to change and now it’s no longer a stem but a fruit. First no more than a swelling, then a small green nubbin, then larger and, ever so slowly, larger still. Gradually it takes on its distinctive lemon shape though it is still as green as the leaves around it and hard to spot when you just glance at the tree. As the months pass, it grows larger still, and during all that time if you were to pick it, it would be no good. It would be hard and dry and more bitter than sour, I think.

Finally, though, again with no visible sign or trigger, the ripening process occurs. The fruit goes from green to yellow and suddenly you have the lemon. Compared to the rest of it, the time of ripening is short. And after the fruit has ripened, it is only a month before it begins to fall from the tree and by then if the weather is right, the new blossoms have already come, starting the next batch of fruit.

That’s how it is with writing and I think that’s how it is with the spiritual life, as well. There is a long time of growth when the fruit is barely visible or isn’t ripe yet, isn’t useful. It just sits there on the tree, growing. The brnch just sits there, attached the trunk, delivering the nutrients, keeping the fruit off the ground. Most of all, fruit-bearing isn’t something the branch controls. Nor do we. Our job is to stay connected to the Vine and receiving the nutrients it provides (Filled with the Spirit and taking in doctrine). Those things plus the innate nature of the branch produces the fruit.

The Schizo Christian Life

Yesterday (Wednesday) I spent some time sulking in the morning as I was trying to get to work on Sky. I did a nonstop, whining to God that the reason I didn’t want to work was because with my writing career “sliding into the toilet” what’s the use? Enclave doesn’t seem to be doing very well from my perspective, The Shadow Within and Return of the Guardian King have gone out of print so what’s the point?  Once again I was feeling sorry for myself, feeling like I’d gotten the short end of the stick from God. “All those years of work,” I moaned to Him in the nonstop, “and what was the use? I feel betrayed. I poured out my life for You for decades, and where did it get me?”

Ahem. A still small voice asked me if I was really “pouring my life out” for all those decades writing without publication just for Him, or was it more my desire for approbation (recognition, notice, approval, success) that had driven me?

God always does that. Always knocks the legs of my argument right out from under me.

Yes, He was absolutely right. I was willing to wait and work and wait and work mostly because of the shining goal at the end of the road that would have been glorious success. I was trusting Him to come through, but only as He fulfilled my plan, not His. And my plan was more about having self exalted than Him.

Gross.

But hey, I’ve got a sick head and a deceitful heart and it ain’t goin’ away until I’m dead. Or raptured. Yesterday I liked the analogy of swimming in the cesspool of my sin nature and its human viewpoint. It seemed especially apt for the grossness of my complaints and the greater grossness of the desires of my flesh that sometimes get the best of me. Pastor would probably say “welcome to the human race.” We all want to elevate ourselves in some way when it comes to the flesh. The best looking, the best writer, the best runner, the best mom, the best home schooler, the best children, the best church, the best, the best, the best. Our society is drunk on best-ness. Numbers. Top Ten. Top Five. Number One. Number two is never good enough. There always has to be improvement…. Rah rah. They make that thinking sound like a good thing.

But it’s Satanic all the way. And full of lies. For one thing, I have had success. The Lord did some wonderful things with Arena, and with the  Guardian King books. He gave me four Christy Awards. And was there any doubt that He was the one who had promoted them ALL to publication in the first place? No. But then weirdly, once He’d clearly done it, I took hold of things and began to think I had to do something to maintain it all, even while realizing on some level that I couldn’t. And with that, the fear machine in my flesh chugged and rumbled to life.

Fear of loss meant the approbation I did receive was never enough. There had to be enough sales so the books would not go out of print. But I also know that even if I’d gotten a level of sales that would have prevented the OP problem, it still wouldn’t have been enough. For my flesh anyway. I know that because the Bible says so, and also because I’ve now experienced it. I used to think if only I could get published that would be enough. I wouldn’t even care how many books sold. But it wasn’t long after I had been placed in the status of published author that, as I said, I did begin to care. I checked Amazon rankings daily. I monitored my fan letters. I agonized if there weren’t enough of them on any given day (though how I arrived at an acceptable number is a mystery) and on and on.

It wasn’t happiness. It wasn’t contentment.

Nassim Taleb, in The Black Swan noted that lack of contentment is one of the pitfalls of working in a field governed by extremistan. Where your payoff comes in large, unexpected chunks. He said that our hormonal system does better with a steady stream of small successes. So a stock trader who receives a little bit every day, feels better and more successful than one who receives a huge hunk ever five years, even if the latter gets ten times as much as the former. “It’s better to not to have won anything,” he said, “than to win ten million and lose nine.”

We are such weird creatures. Because I know that statement is true. Left to ourselves we focus on the lost nine instead of the fact that a million is certainly better than nothing.

Another thing Taleb said is that as bad as we are at predicting stock prices, economic futures, and political/national events (and forget predicting the weather!), we are even worse at predicting how much happiness the acquisition of some goal is going to bring us. We lust for a new car, get it and within six months or less, it’s just a car. How long before the new furniture is just furniture? The new job is not as wonderful as you thought it would be? The undying love in a marriage sours? How long before that old phone is no longer anything and now you need the new Apple I-tablet!

Our culture and economy is based on the fact that we’re never satisfied. We’ll always want more, or better or different or newer… Never content with what we have.

True contentment is independent of circumstances. It springs from one’s values and thoughts. It’s something that, according to the Bible (Phil 4:11), has to be learned, and the word for learned there is manthano, which means “to learn by instruction, to be taught” (there’s submitting oneself to one’s pastor teacher to learn bible doctrine), “to learn from experience, often with the implication of reflection – ‘to learn, to come to realize’” (there’s the attempts at application) “and to come to understand as the result of a process of learning” (the final result after many iterations of the cycle).

In other words, contentment is a result of the tranformation of the mind through daily exposure to the teaching of the Word of God. The Word does the transforming and as one’s values and norms and standards change, one’s desires change. Fleshly values and thoughts can only experience the pseudo-contentment of being in good circumstances and even then it won’t satisfy for long as boredom sets in. And should those good circumstances turn bad, the fleshly, pseudo-contentment flies right out the window.

True contentment is something that can’t be shaken. Something that God does, not that we do. I don’t believe we can make ourselves content. All we do is keep exposing ourselves to His thinking and gradually, tiny step by tiny step, His thinking becomes ours and we are changed. I’m not there yet, but way better than I used to be. There was a time I couldn’t even consider the possibility of not being published. Then when I got to the point of truly not caring, God opened those doors. Now, for the most part, I really don’t care what the career does. It’s only when I fall into that cesspool that I start caring again. Get my eyes off the right things and onto the wrong things and I’m miserable. And I do it all to myself.

Fortunately there’s rebound. And daily Bible class, which reinforces the entire process and gets my eyes trained back on the right things.

Two Days Later

Well, here I am, two days after the conference, finally able to post. Sunday was communion and a fabulous message on how when we truly believe we are reconciled to God and there is absolutely nothing more we have to do, when we are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are holy, blameless, righteous and the work has all been done, only then are we truly able to have a right relationship with others. Being wholly at peace with everything that happens in my life, knowing it comes from the hand of a God who loves me, who is for me, who will never leave me, no matter what I do, or don’t do, knowing there is nothing for me to do really but relax and take advantage of what He’s provided, then I can turn to others with a heart of restoration…

Once you get rid of the unrealistic expectations and the guilt and the demands you put upon yourself and just revel in His love and provision, once you stop judging yourself for never measuring up, then you can stop judging others. Then you will stop, because there is no need. If you have no expectations, for yourself or for others (and why would you, seeing as we all, in the flesh, have sick heads and deceitful hearts. We’re idiots really, especially when we think we’re wise and with it. We’re doofuses, pretty much completely at the mercy of forces outside ourselves which can descend at any moment and we can do nothing about it. Yet, we deceive ourselves into thinking we have control. That we can protect ourselves, do the right thing, avoid the problem, the disaster, the pain.

When in all likelihood the problem, disaster or pain is precisely the portion God has for us today.

Anyway, after the final message we went across town to the after conference party where I talked my throat sore. Great conversations. When my mother asked me today if we had a dinner at the conference, I suddenly realized how different these are from what she must think. From the normal conference someone might go to. These are more like family reunions. With great teaching. And conversations all revolving around that teaching, and the things that are going on in our lives which are always amazingly similar.  Activities develop as the Lord orchestrates. And orchestrate He does. Right down to the specific chair He wants someone to sit in at times.

Mary Hugill and I were looking forward to getting together for a long, face to face visit, but it seemed that every day we were pulled away and brought elsewhere. Finally on that last Sunday, we went into the dining room at the house where the party was held and sat down at the table. Before we could even begin the conversation, people began to join us. Somehow chairs were inserted between us, and soon both of us were engaged in conversation, just not with each other. That’s okay. We knew we were having the conversations God wanted us to have. And then, after all that, after numerous other conversations, I suddenly got hot and had to go outside. As I came around the corner I wanted right into Mary and the next thing you know, we were going outside for a walk. Down to the small lake we went to sit on a stone bench and watch the canvasbacks glide about the water where we talked until the sun went down and we got cold enough we had to go back in.

….Contented sigh….

It was a VERY good conference. But already I can’t wait for the next one, which will be in New England this summer.

Opening Day

A friend emailed me a response to my last post on the 2010 AZ conference:

“…not that I would ever want to put pressure on anyone….but I would love an everyday posting from your perspective of the conference…would help with the blues I get when I miss one…but no pressure. ha lol”

Okay, Rita, did you read Pastor’s notes or something? Haha. Working phrases from the first lesson… “Relax!” “No more saying, ‘I’m sorry'” and “Stop putting pressure on yourselves to live up to unrealistic expectations…”

The first message was awesome. As I was driving over, I was talking to the Lord, asking Him questions about things I was not understanding and in less than an hour, Pastor just answered them. Not only those, but his words re-emphasized some of the things that the Lord has been talking to me about lately.

For example, as I was falling into the hurry phase yesterday before going to pick up my mother to take her to get her “leucine shot” and lamenting how I always get flustered and tense and tight when I do, the Holy Spirit said, “Jesus was never in a hurry.”

That stopped the racing “gotta do this, gotta do that” thoughts tumbling through my head. I still had an objection, though: “Yeah, but He didn’t have people expecting Him to be there at a certain time.”

And the answer: “Jesus was late for the wedding.”

The wedding at Cana. Yes. He was. Hmmm. So what exactly does that mean? Well, for one, I think that it’s more important to stay in fellowship and not get all tense and flustered than it is to “be on time.” And boy but that provokes an interesting responding thought… Because my first inclination is to say, “No, it’s right to be on time. It’s honorable. It’s considerate.” Perhaps, but what good is being considerate if you’re out of fellowship?

Think on that for a few moments. It kind of turns all one’s thoughts (or at least mine) about what’s right and how we’re to be on their heads.

Anyway that was yesterday. Today I got up, my DH and I went to breakfast and I got to the conference about 15 minutes before time to start. Ran into people from Oregon right off. Don’t know them well, but hopefully I’ll remember their names after this time.. Larry, Barbara, Gail.

I went on and there was Mary with a present for me! Ooh. “Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!” she said. But before I could put my stuff down to open it, I spied Larry and Pat and had to give them a hug and their daughter, Debbie, and… their son who was at our conference for the first time! I think I made him terribly uncomfortable when I hugged him, but too bad. I remember when I used to feel that way too. Anyway, turns out he’s been a new name on paltalk, kctwister, so that was cool to have the face with the name and more important in this case the relationship with the name. I am soo jazzed that he was there.

Then I saw Marc from Florida and said hi to him, and Debbie and her hubbie from Wyoming. I love Debbie but had never met her husband before… And suddenly Pony is swiping me away from them to meet the new people she’d brought, who just happened to have connections with Mary and Patrick Hugill… and a little boy about the same age as Hugill’s… Then finally, just before service I managed to open my package and it was just right — a really pretty journal (Mary knows me well: I can never have too many journals) and a CD of favorite music she made. And while I did that Lorraine and Theresa were there from Northern Arizona and they are so cool. I loved talking to them, too…

And then after all that and more I skipped… it was time for class. And class was amazing.

Opening line: “In this conference we’re going to be noting the importance of learning to live in the rest and peace that comes from understanding you’ve been reconciled to God.”

Snippets and thoughts: We need to relax, to take away the expectations and rules we’ve made for ourselves. Stop caring what others think. Stop thinking about how you have to improve this and that about yourselves. The thing I tend to do in the morning — cycling through all I have to do, adding task by task as I go — STOP it! God’s done all the work and provided everything we need for both the natural and the spiritual life. So I don’t have to worry about any of it. Don’t have to worry about the book or the chores. If I’m filled with the Spirit, God will see that what He wants done is done…

Afterward people swirled around making plans. I was invited to spend the day with one group at the Desert Museum, but that didn’t seem what I was to do. They left and I ended up going out to the hotel patio to sit with various “royal family” and share a burger with Kelli until I got too hot and sun blind and decided it would be nice to come home and reflect on what had been taught.

Can’t wait for the next installment tonight, and if I can remember to bring the camera this time, maybe I’ll even take some pictures.

2010 Tucson Arizona Bible Conference

Well, it’s conference time again, and for this one I don’t even have to leave town. The 2010 Arizona Bible Conference officially begins tomorrow, but I’ve already been down to the Doubletree Hotel to welcome arrivals… Hah! That sounds so civilized. Actually I’m jazzed to reconnect with everyone.

Familiar faces from GBC in Massachusetts, from Florida, Colorado, Wyoming, California. Met some new people from Pennsylvania and it happened again — though they were strangers, something clicked and it felt like I’d known them forever.

Went off to dinner with Mary Hugill and her family from Utah and it was wonderful to sit about in the Taco Bell talking about everything, stuff I can’t talk about with very many people. The likemindedness is such an energizer! And a reminder of what true unity is all about.

Tomorrow the teaching begins with class at 10am and 7:30 pm. Who knows what the afternoon will bring, but I expect it’ll be cool. I may or may not be able to post tomorrow, though I’m going to try. I don’t think I’ve ever done  day by day postings in the midst of a conference before, so we’ll see. Right now I have to publish this and go to bed so I won’t fall asleep in class tomorrow (ha, fat chance of that!)

Long Day

Well, I was 5 hours at the cancer center today while my mother got her chemo treatment. I was ready for a long haul and even got a pair of pants mended while we waited. But I came home TIRED. Too tired to marshall enough words for a blog post so how about a few verses the Lord has recently brought to my attention that lately?

The Old Testament scriptures were written for our instruction says, , the Jews representing the soul of the church age believer. All their battles which were external and physical are analogous to the challenges and invisible struggles we face as Church age believers.

From Isaiah chapter 2, where the house of Jacob has been abandoned by the Lord …

…because they are filled with influences from the east…their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made…

The Lord of the Armies will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud and lofty, and against everyone who is lifted up …

And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. But the idols will completely vanish. And men will go into caves of rocks, and into holes of the ground before the terror of the Lord, and before the splendor of His majesty, when He arises to make the earth tremble…

Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?”

From Isaiah Ch 30

“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord, “Who execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit… Who proceed down to Egypt (a type of the world), without consulting Me, to take refuge in the safety of Pharoah and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt…”

They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys and their treasures on camels’ humps, to a people who cannot profit them; Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty…for this is a rebellious people (the Jews), false sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the Lord. Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions, (OT communication of doctrine);” And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right (ie, what the Lord is actually saying), (but) speak to us in pleasant words, prophesy illusions.  Get out of the way, turn aside from the path. Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Since you have rejected this word, and have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them, therefore this iniquity will be to you like a breach about to fall, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant. And whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar; so ruthlessly shattered that a sherd will not be found among its pieces to take fire from a hearth or to scoop water from a cistern.”

For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said, “In repentance (change your thinking; return) and rest you shall be delivered, in quietness and trust is your strength.”

But you were not willing. And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses.” (We have our own plans and schemes by which we’ll solve the problem!)

Therefore you shall flee!

“And we will ride on swift horses,”

Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.  One thousand (of you) shall flee at the threat of one man… until you are left as a flagpole on a mountain top, and as a signal (of your stupidity) on a hill (for all to see).

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you (if only you’d change your mind and pay attention to His word)

For the Lord is a God of justice; how happy are all those who long for Him.

Happy 2010!

Hmm.  I wonder how we’re to say that? Is it going to be “Two Thousand Ten” or “Twenty-Ten?”  I vote for “Twenty-Ten.” First time we can actually say Twenty-something and make sense, plus it’s one less syllable.

Well, I’m finally back and ready to do a blog post. Or at least determined to do one, whether I’m ready or not. Truthfully, I have sat around for an hour or so, gone for a walk, sat around some more, read Drudge and Powerline and Victor Davis Hansen, waiting for the Lord to give me something profound and meaningful to say, but instead it seemed He said just go write.

So I am, doing so as I come off one of the most difficult and challenging holiday seasons I’ve ever experienced. There was no one major element that made it difficult, but rather a rash of small hits, insults, losses, obstacles, disappointments, inconveniences and just plain weird sequences of events, the timing of which, the interweaving of which, the seemingly tailored nature of which produced an unrelenting parade of Things That Must be Dealt With. Without sinning.

Well, I dealt, but not without sinning, alas. In the end I was reminded of the fact that it doesn’t matter if I fail. My failure is built into the plan. When I realize I’ve sinned, I have only to rebound (I John 1:9 If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.) And after that, keep taking in the word under the teaching of my Pastor, because that’s how God is going to change me. Not by me trying to do better, but by Him changing my thinking. All I do is expose myself regularly — daily — to the teaching of the word.

Yes, I do mean daily. First because real change occurs slowly, incrementally, over time  — way too much, in my opinion, but nevertheless, that’s how it happens. We focus on the Word, and it changes us. Then we can take no credit.

Secondly, we do it daily because we’re in a war and the other side is constantly assaulting us with an opposing viewpoint. God’s ways aren’t our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts.  The devil rules the world for now, and his thoughts abound — in the air, through the radio, TV, other people (most of them, actually) music, news, dramas, billboards… it’s a deluge. And with the sin nature happily sucking up all that worldly viewpoint (since it HATES God’s viewpoint) the only hope we have of holding fast to truth is to get it every day.

Many people think they already have truth. That it doesn’t take that much to find and hold onto it. But God’s word says otherwise. As a matter of fact, learning how to discern the truth, the right way from the wrong way, the difference between good and evil… was exactly the temptation the woman faced in the Garden. She had no clue she was even being tempted, being totally deceived. But what the serpent offered and what she desired was to be like God, knowing good from evil, being able to discern on her own, apart from His word, what was right and what was wrong. She thought, when she ate the fruit that she was doing the right thing. The good thing. The better thing. But she was wrong. Deceived.

Determining what is right and what is wrong, what God wants and what He doesn’t is not nearly as simple as the world would like us to believe. And even after we determine it, living in it is another matter altogether… The battle is all about thought. What thought system will we function under? And God’s is in the minority….

Gee, that was not at all the post I was expecting to write when I sat down here. But I think I’ll keep it, anyway.

Separating To

In the book Lone Survivor, which I’ve blogged about here and here, author Marcus Luttrell wrote about the very intense training he and his fellows went through to become SEALs.  It began with boot camp, then those who who’d signed up/been accepted for SEAL training were moved to Coronado Island for the initial two week training phase they call Indoctrination. “Indoc” prepares them for the seven month Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs (BUD/s) course to follow. Of the 164 men who’d been assigned to Marcus’s Class 226, more than fifty had dropped out during Indoc, about which Marcus reflected,

“I know a few never showed up at all, mostly through sheer intimidation. But the rest had somehow vanished into the void. I never saw any of them leave, not even my roommate.”

Having read through his Indoc experiences, I wasn’t surprised, since he’d been wholly occupied with getting through it himself. It made me think, too,  about another aspect of the Christian life I’ve been reflecting on lately — the command we’re given in God’s word to separate from friends, loved ones, situations, even geographical locations that are hindering our spiritual growth, pulling us down, pulling us back into the cosmic system.

 I Thess 3:14 tells us not to associate with those who do not obey Paul’s doctrines, including those who lead “undisciplined” lives. 2 Ti 3:5 instructs us to avoid those who have a form of godliness but have denied its power, and Ro 16:17,18 warns us away from those who bring in “dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching we’ve received.”  And then, of course there is the fool in Ps 14:1 who says in his heart (but not necessarily with his lips) that there is no god. Pro 13:20 adds, He who walks with wise men will be wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.

And if that’s not clear enough, Ps 101:6 says, My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. He who practices deceit shall not dwell in my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.

These are clear commands. Unfortunately the execution of them is not always so easy. Even leaving aside the consideration of how to know if someone is a fool or is leading an “undisciplined life,” the very process of making such a determination can lead one into the sin of judging.Given that judging is a sin that often feels very right and very justified, it can be difficult to know if one is sinning or exercising the discernment born of wisdom in attempting to apply the command to separate.

One of the most helpful concepts I’ve come across is the idea that  we don’t separate from , we separate to. Separating from can all too easily devolve into thoughts like: “Ah, that person believes something other than what I’ve been taught. They are doing things that the Bible doesn’t condone. They are not getting doctrine everyday. In fact they are not getting doctrinal teaching at all. They are a fool! I must separate!” (And it almost seems like I should add at this point, “Thank you, Lord for not making me a fool like them.” as per the self-righteous Pharisee in Luke 18)

That’s judging.

Separating to, however, is more like what Marcus described in his Indoc training: you are so focused on the word, so focused on God’s calling for your life, so focused on just working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, you don’t have time or mental energy to concern yourself with what others are doing. If they struggle along beside you — wonderful. You can help each other and develop a bond and a growing intimacy. If they stop coming alongside, you’ll barely notice, too occupied with your number one priority which is the Word of God, which God Himself has magnified above his very own name. Ps 138:2

NoCal Conference 2009

karen Golden Gate

Well, I got back Monday afternoon from the Northern California Bible Conference which was held in Burlingame, CA (just south of San Francisco on the Peninsula) and sponsored by Grace Bible Church but which my Pastor did not attend, and so, obviously, did not teach at. Instead it was taught by one of the pastors my pastor has ordained, a man who has started his own ministry out here in the west.

The subject was Authority — how it is the most important thing in the universe. The question asked was “Do you know who/what your authority is?”

The answer… it’s a threefold construct — a triangle of God, His Word and the Pastor Teacher God has assigned to you to communicate that Word.

We were reminded that God is not the author of confusion. (I Co 14:33)

That God does things in ones — One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph 4:5) — and that we each have one spiritual gift and one pastor teacher assigned at a time.

We reviewed the scriptures that document the fact that we are assigned a Pastor Teacher — Ephesians 4:12, 13 which tells us the gift of Pastor-Teacher is given for the training of the saints for the work of the ministry. I Pe 5:3 reveals that each pastor is assigned a specific congregation, and I Th 512 adds that each believer is assigned a pastor… and thus a specific congregation as well. The local congregation operates as a body in itself, and all the parts are needed by all the other parts. (I Co 12)

In times past the notion of staying loyal to an assigned pastor and local assembly was mostly unchallenged due to the difficulties of travel and the limitations of technology. If you wanted to hear someone you had to be there. Or perhaps, as in the first century, ou could rely on letters or books. Now with the explosion of printed material as well as internet technology which puts the works of thousands at our fingertips, and with transportation having advanced to the point you can travel thousands of miles in a day… this is more of a challenge. And that challenge was what the bulk of the teaching — and the conversation — at the Northern California Bible conference was about.

With the proliferation of prepared, doctrinal pastors in recent years, many of whom have their messages recorded and made available through the internet or other digitized means, it has become very easy to go “church hopping.” Don’t like what your pastor is teaching this week? With a couple of mouse clicks, you can see what Pastor B is teaching. Angry and offended because your pastor has dared to tell you the truth and thereby become your enemy (Gal 4:16), you can click out of his site and go to someone else who teaches more in line with what you want to hear. Do you just want to accumulate knowledge?  Feel good about your life and your self? Or are you simply curious as to what else is out there? Are you bored? Familiarity can be a subtle attack on your mental attitude with respect to doctrine which can cause you to become dissatisfied, restless or feel dry — though sometimes that dry feeling is just part of the Christian life, a test to see if you will proceed regardless or wander away in search of something new and more exciting.

The problem with this “spiritual adultery” (as the concept was taught this weekend) is that even prepared, experienced doctrinal pastors disagree in what they teach. Some say the rapture will occur at the end of the church age and other place it mid Tribulation. Some say we don’t need rebound (confession of sins to regain the Filling of the Holy Spirit) and others say rebound is central to the function of the Christian life. Some have taught that you can reach in this life a state of sinless perfection and others are aghast at such a suggestion.

All of them can support their positions scripturally because, as my pastor says, you can make the Bible say anything you want it to. So then, how does the congregant determine which is right? To think that you have the ability to discern through all the different teachers and pick out which one is correct here and which is correct there is really pretty arrogant. It assumes that you out of all of them are the one with the greatest knowledge and ability to see truth. It’s especially arrogant if you consider the fact that most of the men you are critiquing spend their days digging into God’s word, study the Greek and Hebrew and have spent years doing so, whereas the average congregant has devoted maybe only 20% of the same amount of time to their studies.

Actually, that mindset, the one of roaming about sampling from this and that source as you determine (or perhaps you think the Holy Spirit is guiding you… but not anyone else, apparently, or wouldn’t they be right?) is pretty close to today’s post-modernist thinking that says you don’t need an authority, someone to teach you, but that you can figure things out for yourself. It says that there is no absolute truth, either, that image is more important than words, that personal experience and emotion trumps reason.  A 2002 article in Christianity Todaypoints out that “when we speak of truth…our postmodern neighbors hear just one more opinion among many.”  I wonder if that might not also apply to some of our fellow Christians, their thinking influenced by the prevailing viewpoint of the times. 

But the Bible doesn’t hold that a man’s opinion or his experience is important. God’s ways are not man’s ways; His thoughts are not man’s thoughts. The fool is right in his own eyes. The ways of a man seem right to him… And pastors were given to train and instruct the saints for the work of service. Yes, the Holy Spirit is our ultimate teacher — we can’t understand a thing the pastor teaches apart from Him; nor can the pastor study and teach correctly apart from Him. But that doesn’t negate the fact that the gift of pastor teacher has been given for our edification and we need him. One pastor. One human authority at a time to respect, trust and submit to — not merely to the man himself, but ultimately to God, who provided the man and delegated the authority to him.

Lone Survivor — Revisited

Awhile back I wrote about the book Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson (Here) . At the time I’d just begun it. This morning I finished it. That I took as long as I did is no reflection on the book, only on the level of life distractions I’ve been faced with. And actually I think I’ve read it about three times altogether now, given my propensity for skipping ahead and then returning to read through more slowly. I don’t often recommend books, but this is one I do. Especially if you know anything about the angelic conflict, the purpose of suffering, the reason we’re here, how to glorify God… because this book presents a vivid, moving and compelling visual/experiential illustration of what the Christian life is about.

It is not a religious book, though Luttrell does believe in God and it’s very clear that God preserved his life in the mountains of Afghanistan. But the similarities between our lives in training as Christians and then executing that training as we begin to come under more and more pressure from the enemy and the training and deployment of Navy SEALS were amazingly apt. I have turned over the corners of over thirty pages of sections I wanted to quote or reflect upon.

For example…

It was just another example of how amazingly sharp you need to be in order to wear the SEAL Trident. Over and over during training, we were told never to be complacent, reminded constantly of the sheer cunning and unpredictability of our terrorist enemy, of the necessity for total vigilance at all times, of the endless need to watch out for our teammates….

He spends quite a bit of time relating his experiences as he went through the training to be a SEAL before going on to describe the events of Operation Redwing, from which only he survived. The training was absolutely fascinating and in that especially I could relate. Often they would be put uncomfortable, painful situations, like being in cold water up their necks for precisely the amount of time their instructors knew they could bear before expiring.

They were also deliberatedlytreated unjustly. After spending the afternoon cleaning his room, getting everything shining and spotless, a trainee would stand agog as the instructor come to inspect his work would proceed to drop sand on the gleaming floor, tear up the crisply made bed, pull out all the neatly packed-drawers and dump their contents on the floor, all the while yelling at the trainee for being a slob and a lazy bum (well, not those words precisely) and then commanding him to “get wet and sandy.” Which meant to go out fully clothed (in your dress uniform even) jump into the cold Pacific off Coronado island and then roll about in the sand.

I read that part about the time Pastor was talking about how as Christians we are going to receive unjust treatment. It’s a part of suffering for blessing. It’s something God doesn’t just “allow” but in a sense chooses and at times even orchestrates. (As He used Pharaoh). Reading that the Navy SEAL instructors were deliberately unjust was a shock. Here’s a quote:

I asked [Instructor] Reno about this weeks later, and he told me, “Marcus, the body can take damn near anything. It’s the mind that needs training. The question that guy was being asked involved mental strength. Can you handle such injustice? Can you cope with that kind of unfairness, that much of a setback? And still come back with your jaw set, still determined, swearing to God you will never quit? That’s what we’re looking for.”

And that’s what God’s looking for. Not perfection. But plugging. Never giving up on the plan. No matter what hits you, you just keep on going. Because Satan knows just as well as those SEAL instructors that injustice is really, really hard to swallow. It ignites all manner of sins from anger to resentment to vengeance, from sulking to self-pity to giving up. He knows that if he comes at God’s people with injustice a certain number of them are going to throw in the towel. Or, to keep with the SEAL theme, to ring the bell that signalled withdrawal.

To fight in God’s army you have to be able to handle injustice. And pain.

Here’s another quote:

I remember [the instructor] said flatly, “You’re going to hurt while you’re here. That’s our job, to induce pain; not permanent injury, of course, but we need to make you hurt. That’s a big part of becoming a SEAL. We need proof you can take the punishment. And the way out of that is mental… Don’t buckle under to the hurt, rev up your spirit and your motivation, attack the courses. Tell ourself precisely how much you want to be here.”

Of course in our case, it doesn’t depend on us. We can bear the pain and the injustice through the power that God has given us. The power of His word and of His Spirit. But it is primarily born through the mind. The attitude we bring to the suffering is what determines success or failure. Suffering is given to us so we can learn obedience, as Jesus did, and later so that we might glorify God while enduring it.  If we get subjective about it, we will fail. If we step back and recognize it as something God has allowed and then ask ourselves what He might be intending fur us to learn from it, we’ll go a long way toward maintaining that proper mental attitude.

And this was just from the first two weeks of the SEAL training. Before they even got to BUD/s and well before they had to face the dreaded Hell Week…

…to be continued.