Poem: All-In

With the Divine Dealer
My bet is all-in
All my eggs in His basket
Nowhere else to begin

My gifts with fail me
And no more tricks up my sleeve
Trusting in You
There is no plan B

In one stock alone
All my faith to invest
The payout left to God
This is my test

So to the highest diving board
With faith I climb
The view from the top
Brings shivers down my spine

“But why jump from the highest-dive?”
Someone might say
“When lower diving boards
Give a much safer way?”

Because God wants everything
And everything He must own
For our hearts to be His
And to worship Him alone

True freedom is found
When we give God our all
Make way here I come
“Cannonball!”

Poem: Heart Surgery

'Ouch, God, Please don’t poke me there That hole in my heart hurts Please take care!' “Healing I can give you I am more than able Just give me permission To place you on the operating table” “The surgery is long So let me begin But this painful procedure Will benefit you in the end” On the table I lie With chest spread wide open The surgeon begins To heal what was broken 'Where is my heart? I don’t see it anymore!' “It’s in my hands” I’m making it whole” ‘Ouch!’ once again My heart is hurting The Doctor smiles again “I’m making it sturdy”

“Broken bones mend very soon Quickly to be cured But compared to a heart This process must be endured” 'Ouch' times three! When will this pain be undone? Can I really trust in Him This Hidden Surgeon? Months pass and The operation is complete My chest is sore And my body weak A small scar on my chest But a joy I can’t I hide My heart is not just fixed But a new one inside! “I am proud of you, my son You have great things in store Your heart has been healed To love even more”

7 Reasons Why Your Faith is Wrong

Exercising faith is pleasing to God. It shows that we believe in Him and what He’s capable of doing, even when we do not see it yet. Faith trusts in the future God-Kingdom and even calls that future into the present. But it’s easy to confuse faith with wishful thinking, especially when we really desire a certain outcome. Faith is grounded in the character and nature of God while wishful thinking is caught up in outcomes and what we want. Along these lines, I will discuss seven reasons why your faith-thinking could be wrong:

Wishful Thinking: I name it; I claim it!
Faith: God names it; I claim it.

Wishful thinking gets half of this equation right in the “I claim it part,” but 50% accuracy is still a solid “F” on the grading scale. We need to focus on what God wants us to claim, not on the temporal rewards that the “prosperity gospel” tells us to claim. The Bible emphasizes that we should claim joy in suffering (James 1:2), peace in tribulation (John 16:33), and faith in a better world to come (Hebrews 11:16). He also wants us to claim God’s character in our lives through the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22) and not to store up treasures where “moths and rust destroy” (Matthew 6:19).

Wishful Thinking: I trust in my “faith” and my desired outcome.
Faith: I trust in a Person (our great God), regardless of the outcome.

Most of us don’t have the special gift of healing, or we’re still developing it. Since faith is about knowing God and trusting Him, I think it’s more correct to pray “Lord, I pray for this person’s healing” and leave the outcome to God. This mindset is preferable to “Lord, I know you want to heal this person right here, right now.” We should definitely pray bold prayers in faith. However, a sure sign that such prayers have turned into wishful thinking is when someone’s relationship with God gets crushed because God doesn’t produce a desired outcome. Meanwhile, if you have the certainty of an Apostle Paul and can jump on people and raise them back to life without even asking God, then go for it (Acts 20:10).

Wishful Thinking: Sees life as a playground
Faith: Sees life as a battleground

Wishful thinking focuses on being happy and being comfortable in this life. If our goal is happiness, we should heed the words of Dallas Willard, who said that such people are already on the road to addiction. I agree with Mr. Willard. The Bible never promises happiness, but it does promise joy in trials and ensures us that God will be with us through them all. The Christian life is not for the timid. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray for God’s kingdom to come. The more we accept life as a battleground, the more it shows our need for Christ to change it and give us the faith we need to endure it. In the cartoon show, Futurama, there is a robot named Hedonsim-Bot who is always eating grapes off of his belly and whose only goal is pleasure and decadence. Don’t be like Hedonsim-Bot.

Wishful Thinking: God as a negotiator
Faith: God as a giver

Wishful thinking encourages people to barter with God on the basis of merit and entitlement while faith sees every blessing as a gift. Wishful thinkers see themselves as deserving of marriage, finances, opportunities, good health, etc., because of their own “upstanding and stellar” spiritual life. On the other hand, faith-thinkers abound in thanksgiving because their sonship (or “daughtership”) is already secure in Christ, and God gives to them on His accord. People of faith always remember the horrible depravity from which Christ has already saved them and still trust Him even if they don’t receive all of their desired wishes this side of heaven.

Wishful Thinking: God as a genie, ready to do my will
Faith: God as a father; I’m ready to do His will.

I often play a game with God where I ask for an amazing parking spot. I pray this wholeheartedly, not because I believe God’s divine will in the universe is to give me a spot right in front of the store, but because I think God has a huge sense of humor, likes to play with his children, and answers ridiculous prayers. But if this attitude it taken too far, it turns into wishful thinking, and we then view God as some sort of cosmic genie. If we have this view, we see God as being ready and willing to do our will at any moment, instead of our being ready and willing to do His will at any moment.

Wishful Thinking: Ananias and Sapphira
Faith: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

Ananias and Sapphira hoped they could worship God and lie to the Holy Spirit at the same time. They were wrong, and they dropped dead instead. They became the epitome of wishful thinkers. They worried about “keeping some for themselves” and didn’t have the faith to be honest. Wishful thinkers often want to compromise—to have the best of both worlds—and frequently use words like “balance,” “moderation,” and “middle ground.” In reality, faith says, “Regardless of the cost, I will not worship any idols.” Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we should say, “But even if he [God] does not [save us]…we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:18).

Wishful Thinking: Salvation is a noun.
Faith: Salvation is a noun, then a verb.

We are not just saved from something; we are saved to something. There is no doubt we are saved by God’s grace through no work of our own, but wishful thinking says that our religion stops at receiving a “get-out-of-jail-free-card.” However, James includes “looking after orphans and widows” as true religion (1:27), and like Timothy, we are commanded to “train…to be godly” (1 Timothy 4:8). Both of these activities require effort. This is not surprising since the Greek word used for “training” is “gymnaze,” from which we get the word “gym.” Do you want a “six-pack” of salvation? If you do, then sign-up for a God-sized gym membership and train to be like Christ and love others as He would.

A Virtue of Virtues

by Eric Demeter

In one of my favorite movies, The Last Samurai, the character Nathen Aldren is a retired American soldier from the 1800’s, who gets hired to train an army to fight rebel samurai warriors in Japan. He travels to Tokyo, gets captured by the enemy and eventually does an about-face to join the samurai’s cause himself. In the last battle scene, he and Katsumoto, the samurai leader, travel to meet their enemy head-on, and are massively outnumbered by the Imperial Japanese Army. In their final effort to save their beloved village from destruction, they charge their enemy, and every soldier loses their life except Captain Aldren (hence, the movie’s title).

Aldren, Katsumoto, and the samurai army displayed courage to fight their more powerful enemy instead of retreating. They chose to face their oppressors, even though they knew it would be for almost certain death. They decided that it was better to die for what was right, instead of acquiescing to a cause they knew was wrong. 

How did they do it? Courage. Courage can be defined as the virtue to act in congruence with what is ultimately right and just, no matter the cost. Courage denies fear, but recognizes it, and courage is often contrary to the path of least resistance, even if the other path is ethically or morally viable. Courage acts in a way that is most loving for others, even when we might have to suffer pain ourselves. Also, as it’s often said, courage does not act in the absent of fear, but in spite of it.

Hearing stories of courageous people in the most dire of circumstances inspire us, because they remind us that persecution and death are not ultimately the things of which we should be afraid. Of course, in our in our daily lives, no matter our circumstances, we have the opportunity to display courage. This is because it takes courage to stop smoking, to end a relationship, to start a relationship, to love, to raise kids, to change your career, to keep your word, to work on a character flaw, to say no, to say yes, to stay true to yourself when fleeting desires constantly pull at our souls.

I am thankful that courage is not a limited resource—it is renewable, and it can grow like a monetary investment. We can do this by “encouraging” each other. To encourage simply means to give courage. Encouragement is a beautifully wrapped gift of an “I’m here for you” or “let me help you” or “let me listen” that we offer to each other in hard times, and even in easy times—there’s no wrong time to encourage! As each of us has different, gifts of courage will vary based on the individual’s needs at any point in time, so it is up to the receiver to decide what is, in fact, encouraging

Also, we needn’t wait for others to encourage us, because God is the ultimate Courage-Giver. He states in his Word:

• He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3) 
• Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deut. 31:6) 
• Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven (Matthew 5:11-12
• Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. (Eph 3:20)

C.S. Lewis stated that “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” In other words, courage is the metric, or plumb-line, that virtues like patience, temperance, charity, etc., get measured against—I agree. Another way to understand courage is that it’s the virtue that drives the others: We need courage to have patience, courage to have temperance, courage to do what is right, and courage to live in a way that honors God

So much of this life is based on courage. Do we have the courage to do what is right even when we might be embarrassed, ridiculed, or persecuted? Do we have the courage to that which God has called, even when other, more titillating opportunities arise? Do we have the courage to be vulnerable and look at ourselves and change? Do we have the courage to have the faith that we can trust God, even when circumstances look bleak?

Faith and courage are bound together like marriage partners. Some have said that faith is the “currency of heaven”, but I also believe that faith needs to be in an intimate, reciprocal relationship with courage. Faith is a position of knowing and trusting, and God certainly responds to it, but we can’t exercise faith unless we have courage: Faith needs courage to believe, and courage takes faith to act.

I hope you are encouraged that courage can be given, grown, and gifted. Let’s make a habit of not holding back love, but of “Encouraging each other daily” (Hebrews 13.3).

The New Christian 4-Letter Swear Word

If you love me, obey my commandments. -Jesus

We are disobedient people—a lot like Ancient Israel actually. Their theological history forms the basis for ours, but unfortunately, their disobedience does as well. From the Beginning, Humankind was bent on disobeying God. The Creator tells Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they do it anyway. God tells Moses to speak to the rock, and Moses strikes it; God warns David not to take a census, and voilà, now he has to choose a catastrophe for his country. Unfortunately, this pattern of disobedience threads its way through the rest of the Bible, into Acts, and into our lives as well.

This topic fascinates me because the word “obey” often elicits that latent part in us that instantly rebels. As such, this tiny four-letter-word is used so infrequently in our culture, outside of children and pets, because we have such an aversion to it. But why has it become almost unmentionable in sermons, and even a swear word? I think it’s simple: We hate being told what to do.

From a Christian point of view, it all boils down to an idol of autonomy. As children, we looked for independence and disobeyed our parents. When we entered the professional world, our bosses became hard to obey. Finally, when the late-comers, like myself, became Apprentices of Christ, the Teacher became difficult to obey.

Now, as we understand more of God and His amazing plan for our lives, why is it still hard to obey Him? Dallas Willard asks, “How can we trust God for our eternal salvation but not for the next sandwich?” Do we trust Him enough to obey Him in our daily lives as well?

The answers as to why we disobey are several fold, and they begin with our sinful nature. But I think the main reason is because a lot of us are “secret atheists”, in the words of Graham Cooke. Think about it, do we actually believe that God has the best in mind for our lives if we obey Him? Can we really trust Him? Does He really love enough that we don’t have to manipulate, manage, and coerce people and circumstances to get our own way?

Like a self-willed toddler, we love to find out for ourselves what lies on the other side of God’s Will, as our sinful wonder tests to see if the the proverbial stove is, in fact, hot. So our sinful nature certainly likes testing things: stoves, boundaries, even God—to see if the consequences are true. Some of you are smarter, and actually learn from God and others that stove-touching is harmful, while people like me, have burn scars and many long withstanding band-aids instead.

The more good news is that freedom awaits us on the other of the door of obedience. What are we free of, you ask? We are free to let our circumstantial cards fall where they may. We are free to be joyful because it no longer depends on us. We are free, because after we obey God, whatever else happens, its now not up to us.

Someone once said that when we obey God we should do it immediately, with joy, and completely. I agree, and try to remember that as Christians, we get to, we never have to.

Want to know a spiritual secret? The truth you might have been waiting for to propel you into a deeper relationship with God? Then come close…come really really close so God can whisper it in your ear: The fastest way to growing closer to Him is by obeying Him in everything, even in the small things.

What We Do Know

Mark Twain is supposed to have said, "It’s not what I don’t know about the Bible that scares me, it’s what I do know ¹." I agree with him. When we ponder stories from the Old Testament of God's wrath on Israel's enemies, to Israel's requirements for holiness, to their consequences for violating the Mosaic and Levitical Law, we can see that this would have certainly struck fear into the hearts of even the most casual Jewish person in that time.

In the New Testament, Jesus expands his moral code exponentially, as Matthew records on the famous Sermon on the Mount (or the Sermon the Plain in Luke). As we now live in this New Covenant, violations occur not just in the physical act of adultery, but Jesus states that just looking at a woman with lust is akin to adultery. Another example is that if you condemn your neighbor with an insult, it is tantamount to murdering them. Even being "wishy-washy" without a clear "yes" or "no" comes from Satan himself. Clearly revolutionary teachings like the Old Testament's lex talionis are child's play compared to God's new standards.

Jesus' and New Testament teachings can be difficult to follow, but I think they are clear: God values the human heart, not just outward actions. But even though the Bible lays out a pathway to God and his moral requirements for us, how do we interpret Scripture when the passage is obscure, or even downright scary? We don't know which passages Twain was referring to that scared him, but one that scares me is in 2 Kings Chapter 2.

In verse 26, we read that Elisha was walking one day and was hassled by a band of forty-two boys. They laid a litany of verbal assaults on him, calling him "baldy", and the prophet felt threatened. But he didn’t run away like a most of us would if a gang of forty-two people intimidated us. Instead, like a scene in an Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, he stood his moral ground, and defended himself, and, in a Gandalf-like way, conjured-up two bears from obscurity to attack his hecklers.

Now, these weren’t cuddly bears like Baloo or “Kung Fu Panda”, this divine pair actually mauled the entire motley crew. Just in case you didn't get that: Elisha was threatened by a gang, prayed, and bears leaped out of the woods and ate his attackers. Was this a bit an overkill (pun intended) by God? Couldn't God just have teleported Elisha away like he did to Philip after he shared the Gospel with the Ethiopian (Acts 8:39)? Don't get me wrong, you can make a strong exegetical case that these "boys" were actually a group juvenile delinquents endangering the prophet's life, but it still begs the question of whether God could have used another method to protect Elisha.

The Bible is full of other questionable passages that can leave us wondering about God's character and how to interpret the words he left us. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with burning sulfur, blessed King David who committed adultery, and commanded the Prophet Hosea to marry and stay committed to a prostitute! In the New Testament, Jesus talks candidly about wars, rumors of wars, famines, and natural disasters in the Last Days, and that only "those who stand firm to the end will be saved" (Matt 24).

Dwelling only on passages like this can leave us confused, and even wondering about the true nature of God. We certainly shouldn't shy away from diligently studying them (as they are in the Canon for a reason), but to truly understand God, we must take the Bible in its entirety. When we do that, and look at God's overall character and plan for humankind, we can see that he is good, and his ways are perfect, and he loves his people. Many verses attest to this fact:

Psalm 136 emphasizes over and over that "His love endures forever."

John 3:16 says that "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Paul writes in Ephesians, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..." (3:20).

The Book of 1 John states that "God is love" and "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us" (3:16, 4:8).

Verses like these, and numerous others, reveal that we can trust God and his enduring love for his people, even amidst seemingly other ambiguous passages. God gives us enough information about him, and it's in this "enoughness" that our minds can rest, and we can entrust our lives to him. Then, the actual scary sections of the Bible become the ones that reveal what happens when we don't choose to follow him, and the consequences of living a life apart from him.

Take for example John 3:18: "Whoever believes in him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son." Also, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5). "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt 10:28).

When I remember how God has made himself totally available to the world, and how his love saturates the Bible, suddenly the thought of wild animals jumping out of the woods eating God's enemies seems less scary. Then, like Twain, the passages I know that speak of a life-after-death without God actually become the ones that cause me to tremble.

Book Review: Sacrilege, by Hugh Halter (5 Stars)

Book Review by Eric Demeter

Let me first confess that my bias toward this book review is in the fact I’ve met Hugh personally twice, in two different states. I’m not sure if he remembers me, because our interactions were brief amidst a crowd of people. The first time was after a conference on a plane in Orlando, and the second time was at a conference in Kansas City. My impression of him is that he is a straight-forward, smart, no-nonsense kind of guy who can be intimidating when you first meet him. In the past, I have written-off seemingly blunt Christians like Hugh, but there’s just one problem with that: he’s a very likeable guy. He loves the Lord and loves people, and it truly shines through.

Therefore, his newest work, Sacrilege: Finding Life in the Unorthodox Ways of Jesus, comes as no surprise to me. The title is obviously provocative, and it’s meant to be. I was ready for the topic, and it didn’t shock me because many of the new missional books released over the last several years have challenged the religious status quo, especially concerning the Church. But Hugh’s work was refreshing, because it focused on becoming an apprentice of Jesus, and how to live the same “sacrilegious” life Jesus did.

As Hugh defines it, “Sacrilege is about removing religion from our faith. It’s about securing the integrity of what is most important. It’s about chipping away at people’s false assumptions about who Jesus is and what following him is all about” (pg 32).

So the premise for the title lies in the contested teachings and actions of Jesus by the religious hierarchy of his day. Hugh points out that our Savior was accused several times in the Scriptures of violating Jewish law when he ate and drank with tax collectors and other “sinners”; when he healed on the Sabbath; and when he challenged the teaching of the Pharisees. Of course, the glaring irony of the title quickly becomes apparent because none of what Jesus taught or that Hugh is advocating for is truly sacrilegious—it’s only behaviors that have become sacrilege, by past and modern-day Pharisees.

In my opinion, many churches have, in fact, exchanged a relationship for Jesus for that of a ruled-based religion. We teach irresistible grace to our pre-Christian neighbor, but when we rescue them to the Christian fortress, i.e. “church”, this grace is then belittled by church authority, dogma, and behavior management preaching.

Thankfully, this book (and Jesus’ goal) was not a “how-to” guide for becoming a spiritual “butthead”, and to see how many congregations one could get thrown out of. It’s really about finding and following Jesus as a true apprentice. To what groups of people and situations your apprenticeship takes you is up to God, and if it happens to ruffle the feathers of your Sunday school class, they just may not save a doughnut for you if you arrive late.

In the author’s words, “Biblical apprenticeship is about three things: becoming just like Jesus, doing what Jesus did, and doing the above with the types of people Jesus liked spending time with (p. 50).

Big Billy

Besides liking the author personally, I knew I would enjoy this book for another reason: the story Hugh told of his gruff neighbor in Chapter 1. One time he was minding his own business, cutting the lawn when his tough, ex-mafia neighbor named “Big Billy” stood on his deck and gave him the “bird” (a.k.a. the “middle finger” for any neophytes out there). Back and forth as he went with the mower, his neighbor continued to signal him. Pouring over what to do next, and not wanting to show his neighbor he was afraid or offended, he decides the only appropriate response was a big “double bird” back. After seeing this, Billy invited him over for a tasty beverage, where their friendship began.

The threads of this story can be seen throughout the entire message of Sacrilege:  Our faith is about loving God and loving people first. I’m sure you’re not surprised when I tell you Someone very important first said this two thousand years ago. Billy-the-neighbor ended up becoming a good friend, and became part of the of their faith community (p. 31). Although it might have been “sacrilegious” to some church goers to throw-up a “double bird”, do you think Billy would have been “reached” by a plate of brownies and a Christian track?

Hitchhiking In New Zealand

This story reminds me of one of my sacrilege moments. I was hitchhiking around New Zealand with two female friends as part of a “Faith Week” program organized by our Christian organization. They challenged us to see what God would do if they literally dropped us off on the side of the road with only a small backpack, no tent, and only $20 each. We prayed which direction to go (north, south, east or west), and were commanded not to come back for seven days, unless someone was near death.

Our first “hitch” went well, as we were hosted by a friendly American couple taking in the sites with their rental car. They were very cordial, the rental car was new and tidy, and they were excited to give their first-ever hitchhikers a lift. Our second ride was very different. At a gas station, I met some fine young fellas who were driving a classic, beat-up Volvo station wagon packed with cargo. They were happy to pack us in and give us a ride to the town of Franz Joseph about thirty-minutes away. My two teammates, Kayla and Melissa were a bit more reticent, and might have even used the word “shady” to describe them.

Five minutes later we were hurling down the highway at 85 mph taking corners like we’re in the Indy 500. While we were hanging on for dear life, they happen to mention they were also drug dealers. Wonderful. I think at that time they were actually high on their own products. For some reason, my two teammates were not thrilled with my choice of rides. In jest, I whispered a Hail Mary to my teammate Melissa but, surprisingly, she did not find any humor in it.

But all joking aside, why we didn’t ask them to pull over and ride with someone else is certainly a valid question. Let’s just chalk it up to Divine Providence (God can use our stupidity too, right?). Once we arrived at our quaint glacier town, we settled in and I met my new entrepreneurial friends at a local pub, while the girls stayed behind. I promised them a drink once we arrived but hesitated and thought, “We only have 20 dollars each for a week. Am I really going to spend mine on a couple beers for drug dealers?” But I was convicted to do so and bought the libations. Then we chatted for a bit on the balcony overlooking the main street, along with several of their friends. They asked me why I was in New Zealand, and it eventually opened the door for me being able to share the Gospel with them and about six of their cronies.

Would I have ever been able to share the Gospel if alcohol wasn’t involved? Maybe, maybe not. But aren’t eight souls, precious to the Lord, worth buying a couple beers for and risk offending a few Christians? I thought so. My church back home probably wouldn’t have understood, and probably even some Christian peers, but it was clear to me that it was the right thing to do.

Conclusion

In summary, Sacrilege is first about hitting the reset button on our faith, and deciding that becoming an apprentice of Christ is better than only being “saved” by Christ. Secondly, it’s about having the courage to explore and experience the “sacrilegious” life God has called us to. Adopting a new paradigm is difficult and takes time. That is why, thirdly, we must take baby steps and engage the practical “To-Do’s” Hugh has given us at the end of every chapter. “Although following Jesus leaves you with some scars, I wouldn’t trade in this life for anything, and as wild a ride as it’s been, this life has been as meaningful as I could ever imagine”—agreed (p. 221).

My bottom line is that we live in a real world, with real people, and with real problems. Our lives and the Church are not supposed to be just a reflection of Christ, but the actual embodiment of God’s Kingdom (a.k.a. what God wants to do) wherever we are. Hurting people feel better and we figure out godly solutions to complicated problems when we remember this. Ministry happens not just on Sundays but through daily Incarnate living during mundane Mondays and spirited Saturdays.

Since I like to rename books, my new title for Sacrilege would be Did We Forget Christ in Our Christianity? And the subtitle would be We Weren’t Just Supposed to Tell People About Jesus, We Were Supposed to Be Like Him. Or, I’d rename it, Becoming an Apprentice of Jesus: Go Have a Beer with Your Neighbor.

If I was offended with any part of this book, it would have been with the author’s choice of counter-insults to his gruff neighbor. Although the “double-bird” response was quick thinking on his part, it was a bit uncreative. I would have reciprocated with the "full moon" instead.