Creationism vs. Evolution: The Spiritual Argument

Posted on 12/20/2014 by Paul Pavao

We’re new creations, not old ones. Who cares how Adam came along? We’re leaving him behind. I want to begin a new thought experiment. Does the New Creation evolve?

As I write, I am hooked to four bags of IV fluid. One is just saline solution. The other three are Doxorubicin, Etarabine, and Vincristin. They have been slowly dripping into my Vena Cava, right above my heart, for the last 13 hours. They will continue for 83 more.

I have lymphoma. Boy, does that create a firestorm when you and a lot of your friends are radical Christians. There are three major parties.

  1. Natural/Alternative Medicine – I don’t want to deal with that today. I did write about such treatments on <my Leukemia blog, twice: nice version; rant.)
  2. God Heals Everyone – These are usually charismatics or Pentecostals. For today these are the young earth creationists of the New Creation. (I explain below!)
  3. God Can Heal, But Sometimes Sickness Is Good – For today, these are the theistic evolutionists. They believe in God, but they also lean on science.

Explanation of these bullet points:

God Always Heals and Creationism

Creationism, in regard to the old creation, says that God did everything by divine fiat (decree). Suffering, death, and the changes produced by them came along later, and they are bad.

Thus, the “God Always Heals” (GAH) crowd are like the creationists. We get better by divine fiat. The new creation is perfect at the beginning. It may grow, but not by pain, suffering, and death. If pain, suffering, or death come along, it’s a product of sin.

The second similarity between GAH and creationism is their rejection of what they see around them. It’s not about experience, it’s about what God says in the Bible. If experience doesn’t match up to that, then there’s a problem with out faith.

God Sometimes Heals and Theistic Evolution

Theistic evolutionists don’t deny that God created everything. They believe God created everything using evolution as the process.

The major similarity between theistic evolutionists and the “God Sometimes Heals” (GSH) crowd is they both pay attention to the world around them and assign authority to their experience in it. For theistic evolutionists, nature—because it is God’s creation—is a second Bible, just as trustworthy as the Bible, assuming both are interpreted correctly.

Beginning the Thought Experiment

First, I have very dear friends I respect on both sides of this issue. My GAH friends pray for me. They do not hassle me. They do not tell me I have sinned. They do not tell me to repent or that I am faithless. They support me and love me because they have the Holy Spirit shedding love in their hearts.

Let me add, my GAH friends are not “Go in peace, be warmed, be filled” friends. They pray for money for ministries, and they reach in their wallets and give to ministries. They pray for healing, and they visit the friends they pray for. One couple I know prays for healing and adopts special needs children. They not only pray for them, but they care for them with their time and hands.

Another friend of mine wrote a book teaching that God always heals. I’m about to disagree publicly with him. He and several other friends are slightly ahead of me in age, somewhat ahead of me spiritually, and way ahead of me in making a mark in this world …

But not in the area of seeing healing in everyone they pray for. That doesn’t happen for them either.

Experience and Circumstances

I don’t reject experience. While Peter appealed to Scripture at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), he appealed to experience, and experience only, in convincing the Jews that baptizing Cornelius was the will of God (Acts 11:1-18).

Experience says that healing everyone was reserved only for special dispensations of God. Elijah and Elisha worked incredible miracles, most other prophets worked few. Jesus healed everyone. Peter may have healed everyone. Paul definitely did not heal everyone (2 Tim. 4:20; Php. 2:25-27), and he was an apostle. Acts 4:33 tells us that the church had great grace, but it was the apostles alone who had “great power” as they testified of the resurrection.

1 Cor. 12:30 tell us, by rhetorical question, that not all have gifts of healing.

More importantly, history tells us that God just does not heal everyone, and only for the rarest of his servants does he heal many.

More importantly …

Why I Call This a Creationism-Evolution Controversy

Is suffering good? Or is suffering bad?

Is suffering the result of our sins or mistakes? Or is suffering the plan of God for our growth?

In Philippians 1:29 we are told that suffering is a gift from God. Romans 5:3-4 and James 1:2-4 tell us that suffering is the route to hope, patience, and perfection.

Having been a part of a very close and somewhat large Christian community for almost 20 years, I can testify that what I see is that many of the faults of Christians cannot be corrected except by pain. I don’t mean pain administered by people. I mean pain administered by God through circumstances we cannot avoid.

So often we want to be delivered from some sin or to go deeper into some aspect of righteous character, and we cry out to God for it, not knowing that our own deceptive heart will never repent until God makes the fault so painful that we are frightened by it or detest it.

It’s like the kid who keeps trying to touch the stove, no matter what his parents say … until the day he is burned by it. That child is in all of us.

God rarely just delivers us from some fault. It happens. I’ve had it happen. I’ve also had it happen that a fault that disappeared instantly upon becoming a new creature in Jesus came back years later when I was old enough to deal with it. When that happens, I believe God is saying, “When you were young, you needed deliverance. I took this temptation away. Now, however, you have grown. You can overcome it, and you must. You must wrestle it until this righteousess becomes a part of your godly character, not just mine.”

This is not as well-organized as I planned. It is not as Scriptural as I planned. It is, however, from the heart and based on very rich, very joyful Christian experience.

The Challenge

So where are you? Does God decree health, decree instantaneous righteousness, and decree other transformations, or do we need to labor, suffer, and even die internally in order to obtain some, most, or even all of the deep things of God?

Do you espouse divine fiat in the New Creation? Or do you espouse the evolution of the new creature into the image of God?

Posted in Evolution, Holiness, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

The Promise

Posted on 12/19/2014 by Paul Pavao
I have been remiss in not giving you a better glimpse of the power of Megan Rebekah Cupit’s retelling of the Nativity story. I’ll let her writing speak for itself. The following is the first two pages of The Promise:

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them
…
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or
of peace.
—Isaiah 9:2,6-7 (NASB)

I have never forgotten this promise. Someday, somehow—
a child would change the world. He would snuff out the
darkness in our world and bring us light … the promise of
hope.

As I sat with my mother and sister at the synagogue and
listened to the rabbi, I felt these words seep into my heart. I
had no idea how much they would change my life.

What would that be like? To live in a kingdom ruled by the
Prince of Peace? Our small village of Nazareth was full of
unrest, trapped under the black cloud of Rome’s power.
There was nothing peaceful about the way we were forced
to live.

But this promise, the promise of peace and light, was
spoken long ago by the prophet Isaiah, speaking for the Lord.
If God said we would have peace, why is the world so dark?
Why can’t He come to us now?

"Mary." My mother’s whisper broke into my thoughts. "It is
time to leave."

As I stepped out of the synagogue with my mother, my
sister Leah, and the other women, I caught the sound of a
man’s voice. "He is coming! Our Messiah is coming!" The
man didn’t appear to be talking to anyone in particular, but
his voice was loud, and I could see a crowd forming around
him on the street corner. "There will be a new King in the
land of Israel. He will reign as King, act wisely, and bring
justice and righteousness in the land."

There it was again: the promise of hope.

I walked closer to the man. "In His days Judah will be
saved, and Israel will be secure." The man had long,
unkempt hair, and wore a dirty, tattered garment. But there
was a light in his eyes that made something obvious: this
man knew the true King … the One who would bring the
promise to life.

"And our new King—He will be called by this name: ‘The
Lord our righteousness,’ and—"

Suddenly his words were drowned out. A group of Roman
soldiers rounded the corner and grabbed the man’s arms.
Even as they dragged him down the street, he didn’t stop
talking to the people. I couldn’t hear his words because the
soldiers were shouting over him, but I saw his lips moving.
Then he was gone; probably on his way to prison or, more
likely, execution.

I heard the doors of the synagogue open again, and then my
brother Benjamin bumped my elbow. He watched as the
crowd of listeners slipped away from the corner, watching
over their shoulders to make sure no more soldiers were
coming. "What happened?"

I sighed. "There was a man over there. He was telling the
prophecy about the new King who would save us."

"What? Did they arrest him?"

I nodded. Benjamin’s jaw tightened. I saw his dark eyes
spark.

"Those no-good Roman—"

"Benjamin!" My mother appeared behind us. "Keep your
voice down." Her voice was a harsh whisper. "Do you want
to end up like Asher?"

Asher. My older brother. A zealot who believed that Rome
was nothing but evil. He had been crucified by the Romans
just the year before, after getting into a fight with a soldier.
Benjamin looked at the ground. Asher had been his hero. I
watched him as he walked off. He was so young, only
fourteen—two years younger than me. Unless something
changed, Benjamin’s life could end just as Asher’s had.

This is not the way life is supposed to be.

Order today on Amazon Prime, and you can still have the book for Christmas and for Christmas presents. The Kindle version, of course, is always delivered instantly.

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The Bible Fact Checker #2: “Word of God”

Posted on 12/19/2014 by Paul Pavao

Tradition can be good (2 Thess. 2:15), but it can also oppose the Word of God (Mk. 7:13). Tradition can also change the meaning of the Scriptures because words change their meaning over time as humans use them. I submit that we need fact checkers to make sure that we are using the words of Scripture in a scriptural way.

I’d like to apply for one of those fact checker jobs. I’ll be able to do it better if y’all help me. Feel free to question, confront, or add in the comments.

“Word of God”

There is not one example anywhere in the Bible of someone using “Word of God” as a phrase meaning “the Bible.”

There are a number of passages where someone quotes a verse, and then immediately that one verse is referred to as the Word of God (e.g., Mk. 7:7-13). That happens because the Scriptures are indeed the Word of God, or at least one portion of it.

But they are not the entirety of God’s Word. In fact, I would argue that they are only the tip of the iceberg.

Surely you don’t think that 1200 pages of material is all that God has had to say over the last three or four thousand years!

Therefore the Bible itself never uses “Word of God” the way we do. We say, “I’ve got the Word of God tucked under my arm.” Or, we might go to a brother’s house and say, “Hey, do you have a copy of the Word here somewhere?” Worse, we might ask, “Do you have the Word with you?”

The Bible has no such usage of “the Word.”

“The Word,” when used in the Bible, is always in reference to one of the following:

  1. Jesus
  2. The Word inside of disciples, transforming them, growing inside them, and being passed on to others (e.g., Acts 6:7)
  3. The Word of God in general, in all its many forms.

The Problem

The problems with our usage of “The Word” are manifold. Can you imagine the problems that could be caused by ignoring much or most of what the Bible calls the Word?

Fortunately, the situation is not quite that bad. Though we wrongly use “The Word” in our daily speech, most of us know that there are a lot of other forms of the Word besides the Bible. Almost all Christians have at least an intellectual idea that Jesus is the Word of God from John 1:1-3 and John 1:14.

The biggest problem is that we don’t trust the Word of God that has been planted inside of us. Because we have limited the Word of God in our speech, we don’t know about, trust, or exercise the Word Jesus actually put in us.

These words Jesus spoke, lifting his eyes to heaven and said, “Father … I have given [the apostles] the words you have given me, and they have received them … Sanctify them through your Truth; your Word is Truth … Nor do I pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their Word.” (John 17:8,17,20, emphasis mine)

The Word has been implanted in us like a seed (Jam. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23). If it’s like a seed, then it’s growing. Therefore, we read 3 times in Acts the bizarre (to us) statement that the Word of God is growing and increasing (6:7; 12:24; 19:20). It was growing and increasing, both as the Word grew inside the disciples, and as the number of the disciples grew.

Because we don’t know about, nor understand, this Word that is living and growing inside of us, we do not make use of its power. Instead, we take evangelism courses which give us lead-ins and outlines so that we can talk to people.

Jesus used something better than prepared outlines. Here are my two favorite examples. (After reading these, don’t forget to see “Caveat” at bottom of page.)

Peter

To Peter, he said, “Launch out into the deep, and let your nets down for a catch” (Luke 5:4).

If you don’t mind, I’ll finish the story my way …

Hold your breath. The Word of God has been released. What will Peter do with it?

First he questioned. He was the fisherman there, not Jesus. Finally he said, “Nevertheless, at your Word I will let down the net.”

The Word of God has now been received. It has been swallowed by Peter through the act of obeying. What will happen?

First, he fell on his knees and cried out that he is a sinner. Then, he headed to shore, abandoned his catch, “forsook everything,” and followed Jesus (Luke 5:14).

How’s that for a Gospel presentation that was incredibly successful?

Zaccheus

Jesus is walking into town. He sees Zaccheus, and he issues a command. “Zaccheus, [1]hurry, [2]come down, for [3]today I must stay at your house” (Luke 19:5).

The Word of God has spoken, and the Word has been released. What will Zaccheus do?

“And he [1]hurried, [2]came down, and [3]received him joyfully” (v. 8).

By his obedience, Zaccheus received the Word of God that had come from the incarnate Word, Jesus. What will happen?

Zaccheus, apparently without any prompting from the Lord, promised to give half his goods to the poor and reimburse, four times over, anyone he had cheated. Jesus then announced, “Today salvation has come to this house.”

Another successful Gospel presentation … without an outline nor prepared formula.

(As mentioned, don’t forget to see caveat at bottom of page.)

Misinterpreting the Bible

Matthew 4:4

Jesus said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that is proceeding from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

The word “proceeding” is in the present tense in Matthew 4:4. In Greek, the present tense indicates continuous action. We live by every Word that is “proceeding”—has been coming, is coming, and will continue to be coming—from the mouth of God.

We do not live only by the Word of God that proceeded from the mouth of God 1,900 to 3,500 years ago and was written down on paper. If that’s all the Word of God you get, it is not enough (2 Cor. 3:6,cf. Heb. 3:13).

2 Timothy 2:15 & Hebrews 5:12-14

The King James Version makes an atrocious mistake at the beginning of 2 Timothy 2:15, capriciously translating spoudazo, meaning “be diligent,” as “read.”

There is no similarity between those two words, and “read” is not an alternate translation of spoudazo. Instead, it is an insertion by translators who made the same assumption that all of us do, that “the Word” in 2 Timothy 2:15 means “the Scriptures.”

If that were true, the KJV mistranslation wouldn’t be too bad an issue.

The assumption is false, however. When we remove our inaccurate “the Word=the Bible” thinking, the true interpretation of that verse is obvious. Paul is telling us the same thing that we are told in Hebrews. We ought to “practice” [hexis] and “exercise” [gymnazo] ourselves in “the Word of righteousness” so that we can both teach others and discern good and evil (Heb. 5:12-14).

In our misinterpretation of these two verses we are left missing the fact that we are not only to study the Bible, but also to exercise, train, and be diligent in all the Word of God, especially in the Word that is a growing seed inside of you.

Hebrews 4:12

This is the most surprising misinterpretation of all. How could we possibly have missed that the writer of Hebrews, who already told us that God is speaking only through the Son these days (1:2), is talking about that same Son in Hebrews 4:12-13? The Word of God, in 4:12-13, discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart and sees us as though we were naked. How could that possibly be talking about a book rather than a person?

This is your episode of Bible Fact Checker for today. Thank you for listening.

Caveat

In mentioning above our reliance on outlines and how Jesus converted Peter and Zaccheus, I am not saying that having a prepared message is bad. The Gospel is one specific thing: Jesus is Lord. The proof for this claim is that he rose from the dead.

This is the only message that the Scripture calls “Gospel.” (See this previous post and stay tuned for Matthew Bryan’s upcoming book, Forgotten Gospel.)

I would never suggest forsaking that message. Jesus had more freedom than us because he is the Lord. To obey him is to acknowledge that he is Lord.

Nonetheless the story of Peter’s conversion and Zaccheus’ are examples of what we, too, should be able to do because of the Word that is inside us. As Isaiah put it:

The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned so that I may know how to speak a word in season. He wakes me morning by morning; he wakes my ear to hear like a disciple. (Isa. 50:4)

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How to Establish a Culture that is Consistent with Your Vision

Posted on 12/18/2014 by Paul Pavao

I had set this post aside for later reading. Round 2 of lymphoma chemotherapy turned out to be just that opportunity. This inspired me and convicted me:

1. About my lack of organization
2. About my unwillingness to repeat, repeat, repeat. I know from experience how well this works.

Thank you Trevor Nashleanas, head pastor of Living Hope Church in Maryville, MO.

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The Bible Fact Checker #1: Preachers

Posted on 12/17/2014 by Paul Pavao

Today, one more time, I read a brilliant, educated professor/pastor/national speaker use important biblical terms wrongly.

“Wrong” means “not the way the Bible uses them.”

I don’t blame them. It’s not part of our tradition to correct our speech and teaching just because the Bible disagrees with us. We—Christianity in general—have no fact checker to make sure that the words we use line up with the way they are used in Scripture.

Long tradition is sufficient for us.

I’d like to offer myself for that “fact checker” job. I’ll be able to do it better if y’all help me. Feel free to question, confront, or add in the comments.

Preaching and Preachers

The article I read was about training preachers. Well, it was about training preachers if you’re satisfied with traditional usage over Biblical usage. If you prefer Biblical, then he was training teachers to fill the modern role of “pastor,” which does bear a slight resemblance to the apostolic role of pastor.

“Preach,” “preached,” “preaching,” and “preacher” are in the King James Version New Testament 138 times. Every time*, it is a translation of the Greek words kerusso or euangelidzo (or some form of the two). Only Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul use either word at all except for one occurrence of euangelidzo in Rev. 14:6.

*There are rare exceptions, 9 or 10 of them. Those are either mistranslations (“was” in Luke 9:60), “speak” (laleo) translated as preach, and 5 or 6 uses of kissing cousins of kerusso or euangelidzo.

Each and every time that “preach” is used, whichever of those two Greek words are used, the audience needs to hear the Gospel. In other words, in the Bible, preachers preach to non-Christians.

If Christians are listening, then the speaker is teaching, not preaching.

As an example, one of the exceptions I missed above is Acts 20:9. There Paul is said to be preaching, and his audience is Christians. That’s not a correct use of “preach,” so I looked up the Greek word. Sure enough, the Greek word is dialegomai, from which we get the English word “dialogue.”

In Acts 20, with believers, Paul was not preaching. In fact, he was not standing up, giving a long sermon. He was holding a discussion. When more than one person is involved, diolegomai means “converse, discourse, argue, discuss.”

Preach. If we are going to be Biblical, it means to proclaim the Gospel to unbelievers, and that is all it means. If you’re speaking to Christians, you are teaching.

The Problem

Because we don’t understand the distinction between preaching and teaching, we don’t understand spiritual gifts properly, nor the administrations produced by those spiritual gifts.

For example, every time someone is described as both preaching and teaching, he is an apostle (e.g., Acts 5:42; 15:35; 28:31; Col. 1:28; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11). Apostles have to win the lost, then build them into a church. Once that is done, the roles are split. The pastors (always plural, and properly called elders) then take up teaching and sheperding the church (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:1-4), while “evangelists” are gifted to proclaim the Gospel to the lost (Eph. 4:11).

We call the two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus “pastoral epistles.” That’s not a bad name, since there is a lot of advice in them that applies to pastors.

Neither Timothy nor Titus were pastors, however. Both were apostles.

Paul refers to Timothy and Silas as apostles in 1 Thessalonians 1:1 and 2:6. (I’m pretty sure he called everyone who traveled with him an apostle.) Timothy is told both to evangelize and to teach (cf. 1 Tim 4:11; 2 Tim. 4:5), a role only apostles fill.

Either way, both Timothy and Titus were apostles, not pastors. Paul began the work in Ephesus and Crete, then left Timothy and Titus behind in his place as he moved on. Both of them were temporary, left with instructions to appoint pastors (elders/bishops), then catch up with him. Timothy was given a specific time frame to leave (2 Tim. 4:21).

Our whole idea of the office of pastor and the purpose of a “church” is messed up because we don’t know that they are not preachers but teachers and shepherds. They are not evangelists, and they should be feeding and protecting the flock of God. They should notice every time even one of God’s sheep is missing (Matt. 18:12).

They should also be able to distinguish between the sheep and visitors. As protectors of the flock, they have to know that a visitor is not a wolf, dropping in to have lunch at the flock’s expense.

This is your episode of Bible Fact Checker for today. Thank you for listening.

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Hope and the Lord of the Rings

Posted on 12/15/2014 by Paul Pavao

I rarely reblog, but I just loved this post.

Here’s a couple quotes:

Sam: It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it’s only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it’ll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.

More to the point: Sam is convinced that his life is part of a larger story that will end well, no matter how his own story may end.

From J.R.R. Tolkien and the Discipline of Hope.

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No Suffering? Is It Even Good?

Posted on 12/08/2014 by Paul Pavao

At this moment, but soon to be corrected, I have read only one article by Father Stephen Freeman. This is a brilliant insight into, and antidote to, first-world society and Christianity.

That may not be a superb sales line for the article. It is worth reading, worth thinking about, and worth applying for your own life. If you don’t read it, I apologize to you for the poor marketing. I wish I could have sold it better.

The Human Project

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Fear, Faith, and Forgiveness

Posted on 12/06/2014 by Paul Pavao

This is a response to a reader/friend regarding whether a single fall from perfection could cost us eternal life.

I hope that what people saw in my post is that the issue with the cross is not a failure here or there, but saying “no” to the dealing of God. I hope the picture I painted is that sometimes that thing that God wants to crucify in you is so frightening, even though it is actually insignificant to everyone else around you, that it takes weeks or months to say yes to God.

Nonetheless, the cross must be dealt with. Shove it aside, and we all agree you will lose the opportunity to be all God wants you to be. I don’t think Jesus’ parables or commands teach that. I think he says that when you push it aside, and say no, thank you, to him, then … well, I already said all that in the post.

That does not mean that people who say yes, who let the cross rip apart their defenses, and who bow their knee to that one thing God makes them do to really break inside … those people who say yes to that do not suddenly become the perfect, non-sinning disciple. I don’t believe in that disciple. I believe that the growing disciple eventually bows his knee and says, “Oh, God. I am so marred inwardly that even my tears of repentance need to be washed in the blood of Jesus. Nothing I do, even in obedience to you, is free from some secret desire for self-glorification.”

I got part of that quote from George Whitefield, but I know for myself it is true. Sometimes I get revelation from God, and I know it is revelation from God. I am excited about it, and I know it is going to stir, revive, and strengthen the hearts of the saints who are going to hear it. When I get such revelation, I share it in joy and with all my heart, knowing that in doing so I am obeying God and blessing his people. In fact, if I share something like that with something less than great confidence in God, he always rebukes me for being “shy,” a word I don’t believe God likes. “Shy” is an excuse for not boldly saying what God has put in your mouth to say. It must be overcome.

But I also know that every time I share the revelation of God and see the benefit to the saints, I have to fight down my pride and ambition. I would love to be in front of hundreds of people, sharing some truth from ancient history that they have never heard and having them all think I’m just the best, most illuminating teacher they’ve ever heard come along.

There is absolutely nothing good about that desire. There is no desire there for the benefit of people or the glory of God, just desire for my own glory, my own love for attention. I have to fight it down all the time, and in doing so, I’m sure there are other terrible motivations in me that I miss.

I devote exactly no time whatsoever to worrying about the truth about my pitiful inward desire for grandeur. I focus on the glory of my God, the incredible gift of being called not just to be a follower of Jesus, but to be a servant, a worker, and a leader as well. I wrestle my attention to the benefit of those that I walk with so that, hopefully, I never have time to even think of my own sinful longing for glory. I thank my friends for their kind words to me, search them quickly for things I should put into practice for the service of God, then shove them aside as a temptation to my ego.

In all of this, I confidently expect that if I walk in the light, loving his will, his ways, and the way he exposes the rottenness of my flesh so that I have no confidence in myself, then the blood of Jesus, my King and my loving Savior, will both cleanse me from the influence of the flesh and forgive me of my sins, known or unknown (1 Jn. 1:7).

So I exhort you and everyone to do the same.

  1. Say yes to God about going all the way with him, and don’t think for a moment that you will get away with saying no. The punishment may be eternal.
  2. Acknowledge that everything you do, if it comes from you, is terrible, sinful, and stained. The mind set on the flesh CANNOT please God. So if you get your mind on the flesh, which you will, and you don’t please God, you can confidently know God is not surprised. It is what he expects. So don’t be surprised yourself. Get up, get your mind off yourself, even off the sin you’ve been walking in, confess that you know there is nothing good in you, and put on the Lord Jesus. Set your mind on him. Find something he’s told you to do and go do it just to please him.
  3. Grow. Get up every day knowing that his mercies are new every morning. If you are giving today to him, wholly and at any cost, nothing happened yesterday. It’s gone, left behind. God doesn’t pay any attention to the wickednesses of yesterday for those who will live in righteousness today (Ezek. 33:14-16).

One last thing. I don’t believe in falling away from God in one day, unless you are actually making a choice today to quit following him. God’s explanation of this is that he is not mocked (Gal. 6:7). It’s one thing to generally sow to the Spirit, but occasionally give in to the flesh. It’s another to forsake the battle and sow to the flesh all the time. If you plant fleshly deeds all the time, then you will grow the fruit of those fleshly deeds. You will reap corruption INSTEAD OF eternal life. Paul actually states this in different ways twice (Rom. 8:12-13; Gal. 6:7-9). Simple as that. This ought to frighten us (1 Pet. 1:17).

On the other hand, everything I wrote except that last sentence ought to put that fright in the right place!

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Eternal Security/Once Saved Always Saved

Posted on 12/04/2014 by Paul Pavao

I like to find a different way to say “Eternal security is not true” than saying “Eternal security is not true.” I only do that because over the years I have discussed this false, dangerous doctrine with so many evangelicals that it’s been easy to come up with other ways to say “eternal security is not true,” trying all the while to circle them around to the apostle John’s opinion that only “the one who practices righteousness” has righteousness imputed to him by God.

John actually says not to be deceived about that (1 Jn. 3:7), but a rather large percentage of evangelicals are deceived about it anyway.

I’m older now, and I’m on my second bout with blood cancer, being treated with chemotherapy for the second time. Talking with people who refuse to look at the Scriptures any way other than the way they already look at them is pretty tiring to me, and seems kind of useless.

I’ve been enjoying wandering through a friend’s blog today, though, in between naps, and he has taken the time to use his keyboard on a hardened forehead. So if you like eternal security discussions, here’s a guy—Roman Catholic, sorry—who has taken the time to deal with the issue.

Oh, in case you don’t know, I definitely think Roman Catholics, at least in doctrine if not in practice, have a much better teaching on faith and works than the Protestants, pretty much across the board.

Anyway, here’s the post. It’s one in a series.

http://restlesspilgrim.net/blog/2013/06/26/osas-three-cups-of-tea-part-1/

He apparently goes on a December silence from his blog, maybe for Advent or as a sabbatical, and I here I am on December 1 sharing posts of his. Sorry, RP.

Posted in Evangelicals, Roman Catholic & Orthodox | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Amazing Grace for Suffering

Posted on 12/02/2014 by Paul Pavao

I have learned from experience about a grace that many of you have wondered about. I know because I have talked with so many people over the years. Having touched it, I want to testify about it.

The grace I’m talking about is the grace of martyrdom.

I heard a story once about two women in the dungeons awaiting execution by fire the next day. One woman burned her finger on a candle that night, and she began to despair. “Just my finger burning is so painful,” she cried, “how will I endure the burning of my whole body tomorrow?”

The other replied, “God didn’t ask you to burn your finger, so there’s no grace for it. Tomorrow, you will do the will of God and have his grace.”

I have not been tortured, and obviously I have not been put to death. I have, however, been called and commissioned by God to go through an intense treatment for a rare, dangerous, and super-aggressive type of leukemia with joy. I believe that to have been as much a commission from God as anything I’ve ever done.

I’m sure I will never be able to describe the grace. I could lay in a bed in pain and discomfort, and the pain was completely “other.” It was there, I could feel it, it hurt, but it didn’t seem real or part of me.

Depression came on me. Fits of worry. They swirled around, over my head, hiding the people around me from me. They made it hard to interact with those around me as their voices were filtered through the crowd of sadness and strange thoughts, but they didn’t seem to be my thoughts. I hunkered down, deep inside, and I rested in the presence of God. I mourned that I could not comfort those around me because of the cloud, but I rested at peace, comforted by God.

It is surprisingly easy to do what I know to be the will of God when his grace is present, no matter the pain, no matter the confusion, no matter the gloomy prognosis of my condition.

Two years after my transplant, God gave me the opposite gift. I got pneumonia … out of the blue, unexpected, no rhyme or reason for it. I had recently gotten a pneumonia vaccine. I had started an anti-pneumonia antibiotic regimen just a month earlier.

Nonetheless, wham! In one day I went from “Dear, I think I’d like to go to the emergency room; something’s wrong” to wrestling to roll over in bed in less than 12 hours.

Air was hard to come by, even with the oxygen they gave me. The discomfort was awful. I was in a constant haze of pain. My thoughts went from a comfortable acceptance that I might die to a longing for death to deliver me from the terrible discomfort.

There was no grace, and all I could pray for is that God would let me forget the horror as fast as possible.

I don’t doubt that pneumonia was the gift of God because in two weeks I was completely better. The doctors were astounded at my lung capacity just days after barely being able to breathe. A month later, I couldn’t remember the feelings that had prompted my prayers that I would forget the trauma.

I caught the lesson, though. It’s a lesson I’ve always wanted to know about, and I know many others have, too.

There is a grace from God for suffering that is beyond our comprehension. It is sufficient.

It’s still hard for me to believe that a martyr can watch his skin being peeled off, separated from the pain, thanking his tormentors for delivering him from the evils of the flesh. That was a real story I read.

It’s hard for me to believe, but it is no longer impossible for me to believe.

Preparing for Suffering

I rarely pass on the promises of God publicly without also passing on the call of God. I have lots of friends who are wholeheartedly given to the will of King Jesus. I know of many others, and I know that means there are even more others that I don’t know and have never heard of who want God’s will in everything.

Those people don’t need anything added to the message above.

I have other friends who think the will of Jesus is a nice thing. I have met hundreds of Christians with a favorable impression of the commands of King Jesus.

The promises of God are for those who do more than think favorably of the apostles’ message. They are for those who kiss the hand of our Master, mourn for their failings, and get up every day excited about every word that proceed from his mouth, grateful that yesterday’s failings are drowned in the sea of forgetfulness. What does he have for me today that I am not going to fail in? (Ruth, I’m hoping this helps answer your question from yesterday!)

One of the discussions I’ve had several times over the years is with people scared that if martyrdom ever came, they could not bear the suffering. Others would tell them, “When the time comes, God will give you grace.”

After the others walked away, I would tell the person, “You better practice now. If you’re not embracing suffering now and thanking God for the troubles he sends you way, then you’re not going to know the grace of God when real persecution comes.”

That’s not a thrilling message for those that want God to do everything for them. It is, however, a thrilling message for those that are going forward, climbing higher, and delving deeper into the knowledge of God. “Oh, he’s going to send things my way for me to bear, supplied by his grace! Hallelujah! Already! Today! Bring it on!”

Give God that, and he will give you everything you need when the time of suffering come, whether it’s worry, heartbreak, temptation, sickness, famine, persecution, etc. Nothing will be able to separate you from the love of God if you’ll get inside it every day.

Posted in Holiness, Miscellaneous | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments