(What) Blessings to You?

Posted on 12/19/2011 by Paul Pavao

I got a very nice email today ending with " … many blessings to you." I nicely sent back, "Blessings to you, too."

What blessings?

Sadly, we no longer know how to bless.

We say things like, "Bless you." Bless me? Who bless me? Bless me with what?

Those are not questions that used to be left open.

You’ve probably heard the Irish blessing that begins with, "May the road rise to meet you and the wind be always at your back." The whole thing goes like this:

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
The rains fall soft upon your fields, and
Until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand

Much better! Now that’s a blessing!

The Scriptures teach us, "Bless, and do not curse." We incorrectly think that has something to do with cussing. It doesn’t. It has to do with literal cursing.

In fact, that’s where cussing comes from.

You probably think that "God damn you" is a bad thing to say because "damn" is a naughty word. Not originally. "Damn" used to be a curse word, not a cuss word. "God damn you" means "May God send you to hell after you die."

It’s the exact same curse as "Go to hell," except that "Go to hell" wishes you the punishment a little quicker, as in immediately.

The Scriptures consider blessing and cursing real things. You ought to read through some of the Scriptures on the subject, but here’s just one for you to consider:

Like a wandering bird or a flitting sparrow, so the curse without cause shall not alight. (Prov. 26:2)

It surely follows that if a curse without cause shall not alight, the writer of that Proverb believed that a curse with cause would alight. Proverbs further tells us that life and death are in the power of the tongue. That does not only refer to insults that bring depression or encouragement that can bring healing to a sick person. It also refers to the real power of blessing and cursing.

We are men and women of God. Our blessings matter. So do our curses, which is why we don’t curse.

Before we quit, let’s discuss one more common blessing: gesundheit.

Gesundheit is the German word for health. When someone sneezes, saying "gesundheit" is a blessing, wishing them health. After a sneeze is a pretty good time to bless someone with a health blessing.

I believe blessings carry power, especially for a man or woman of God, but for the most part only if we mean them. The next time you hear someone sneeze, don’t say, "Bless you." How vague is that? Go ahead and say, "Gesundheit," which you can say with meaning without embarrassing yourself. Better yet, go ahead and embarrass yourself, stretch out your hand and say, "Health to you" or something similar.

Well, I probably won’t do that, so it’s embarrassing even to suggest you do, but some of you are braver than me.

What I do, however, is bless people specifically and on purpose. Even a "grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" at the end of one of my emails is put in there on purpose. What better blessing than grace? And peace is the very guide of our hearts (Col. 3:15).

Before a job interview, you can say, "May you find favor in the eyes of all you see, and may God turn all your plans and steps for good."

And it is not just people who are to be blessed. The followers of God should bless God as well. "Bless you, Father" is no better when directed at God than it is when directed at men. Read the Psalms and learn how men of God ought to bless God. But you can begin with Jesus’ teaching on how to bless God:

Our Father, who is in heaven, may your name be considered holy. May your kingdom come, and may your will be done on earth just like it is done in heaven.

That’s a real blessing!

"May your name be praised in all the earth!" "May your goodness be acknowledged by the sons of men." "May your enemies be scattered and disoriented."

I hope that helps. Go, bless and do not curse, for life and death are in the power of the tongue.

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Sunday and the Resurrection of Jesus

Posted on 12/18/2011 by Paul Pavao

Today is Sunday. To the early Christians every Sunday was a celebration of the resurrection. On Sunday they would not kneel, and prayers were said with hands raised, which was the position of the cross to the early Christians. (Different way of looking at hand-raising, isn’t it?)

Jesus’ death was celebrated once a year, on Passover.

We’ve made a pretty big change in modern times. For many Christians, Sunday is a day on which we hear a sermon about Jesus’ death, while his resurrection is celebrated once a year on Easter.

Easter is a replacement for Passover. When the Council of Nicea ordered that Passover would only be celebrated on Sunday for Christians, it slowly became a celebration of the resurrection rather than a celebration of Jesus as the Passover Lamb.

Note that the Council of Nicea only changed the day for celebrating Passover, an annual occurrence. The weekly meeting for Christians had been primarily Sunday among Gentile Christians from the beginning.

In the fourth century, and since the second century for churches in the western Roman empire, Passover had been celebrated on the Sunday nearest Nisan 14, the day on which the Jews celebrate Passover. Over time, however, due to reasons not worth explaining here, it became the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21. In the east, among the Eastern Orthodox Churches, April 3 is used rather than March 21. Yes, they often celebrate Easter on a different date.

The result is that things are a bit backwards today. Because we have also replaced the Gospel—which to the apostles was a proclamation of the entire life of Christ—with an outline of the atonement, our Sunday sermons often focus on the death of Christ. Thus, the weekly meeting now primarily focuses on Christ’s death, while his resurrection is celebrated annually on Easter.

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No Condemnation to Whom?

Posted on 12/14/2011 by Paul Pavao

You may or may not have noticed, but modern translations differ significantly from the King James Version at Romans 8:1. Modern translations, like the NASB and the NIV, say that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The KJV, however, adds the clarifying sentence, "who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

I’ve heard some Christians complain that the new versions take responsibility away from us. Like the false teachers mentioned in Jude, they turn grace into a license for sin (Jude 4), by removing the requirement to walk in the Spirit.

I don’t agree.

Don’t get me wrong. Paul makes it very clear that there is condemnation for those who claim to be in Christ Jesus but who do not walk after the Spirit. "If we live according to the flesh," he says just eleven verses later, "we will die."

Whether you believe that death is only physical (as ridiculous as that interpretation is) or whether you believe it is spiritual, Romans 8:12 proclaims judgment on those who walk after the flesh rather than after the Spirit. Galatians 6:7-9 does the same, saying that those who sow to the flesh will reap corruption from the flesh.

In both cases, our walking after the flesh is not simply forgiven or covered in the blood of Christ. Those who walk after the flesh are not among those blessed ones "to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

But Paul does not need to point that out in Romans 8:1. He already points it out in Romans 8:2!

Sometimes it’s good to make sure we understand one verse because it clarifies a whole lot of others.

Romans 8:2 says, "The law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death."

Somehow, most of us (including me for many years) read that comment about the law of sin and death, and we have some general, hazy idea of "the law of sin and death" that we never really think through. We just sort of think, "Yeah, yeah; Jesus died for us." We never get around to really ruminating on the Word of God and becoming clean by doing so.

The law of sin and death is the law that Paul has just spent an entire chapter explaining. There were no chapter breaks in Paul’s original letter to the Romans. He’s still talking about what he described in Romans 7. Sin lives in us, compels us to disobedience, and then disobedience to the law of God slays us.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, Paul tells us, has delivered us from Romans 7.

Romans 8:1 doesn’t need the clarifying statement “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:2 is that clarifying statement.

Paul even ties Romans 8:2 to Romans 8:1 with the Greek word gar, which basically means "because." There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has delivered them from the law of sin and death.

What is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? Paul goes on to explain that. Romans 8:3 also begins with gar. It explains Romans 8:2. The Law of Moses couldn’t deliver us from our bondage to sin, Romans 8:3 tells us, but God could and did. He did that by sending his own Son in the likeness of our sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

Romans 8:4 then has the clarifying statement that is not needed in Romans 8:1. "The righteous requirement of the Law is fulfilled in those of us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

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Updates at Christian History for Everyman

Posted on 12/08/2011 by Paul Pavao

For those of you that don’t already know from my Early Church History Newsletter, I have been updating Christian History for Everyman.

What’s pertinent for this blog is the teaching and book pages.

I’ve made a page for my books, though only one book and one booklet have been completed. There are, however, five chapters of a book titled The Second Hundred Years that has a lot of information in it. There are also chapters from other books I’ve started and never finished.

I’ve also made a page for teachings (written ones) and podcasts.

If you subscribe to this blog, they’re the sort of pages you would want to know about.

I’m revamping the Christian History for Everyman in order to focus on the second and early third centuries (to give a picture of the beliefs and practices of the apostles’ churches) and on Nicea and the Reformation (to address the periods of major transformation in church history).

Those are the areas I know most about, and so I am going to focus on those rather than trying to cover all of church history, a task that is proving too large for a father of six, four of whom are still at home and home schooling, who was working full-time, but now is a part-time leukemia patient.

That’s not a complaint! The leukemia has let me meet and influence a lot of people. I got a letter from Namibia yesterday saying my leukemia blog "opened my eyes and heart." I don’t even know where Namibia is! (I’ll go look it up in a minute.) On top of that, the love and care of others for me has brought tears to my eyes more than once. I’ve also met some of the most incredible and inspiring people you can imagine. I get to help more with my children’s home schooling. I have no regrets.

On the other hand, there’s not much energy or desire to study new periods of church history when you’re going through chemotherapy. I’m going to stick to the periods I know and that I think are most important, anyway.

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A Little Different Look at Baptism

Posted on 12/04/2011 by Paul Pavao

Today my kids and I used YouTube as a worship leader for devotions. We looked up Amazing Grace, and then we went from one music video to the next, picking songs we knew and singing along.

One of the songs we listened to was "Who Am I" by Casting Crowns. I’m embedding it so you can listen to it while you read if you want. Great song.

For some reason, the middle verse made me think of baptism, and I want to pass on the picture I saw and what I explained to my children.

Who am I
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again?

What is baptism but a burial, dying to ourselves and our old life of sin, and rising again to a new life in Christ? (Col. 2:12).

This passage is a perfect picture of baptism. Baptism is tied to the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16), and when else does God look on us with love and watch us rise again except at our baptism, where we were buried with Christ, then raised to a new life? I don’t know whether Casting Crowns had baptism in mind when they wrote that line, but it’s a great picture.

The next set of lines is just as good …

Who am I
That the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me?

I told my children that the burial and resurrection that happens in baptism is a matter of faith. We don’t necessarily feel anything, but in baptism we act out our faith in Christ, giving up our old life and rising to live by the Spirit of Christ. That’s probably exciting, and we feel the excitement, but we can’t feel the burial and resurrection.

What we can feel, however, is the peace that comes when the voice that calmed the sea calls out to calm the storm in us.

Many of us are caught in the storm of our own past. It is a storm that pours darkness on our hearts and into our lives. When the voice of Christ comes, that darkness disappears, and we know that everything is under his control. Peace reigns, and the light of God shines into our hearts.

This song was such a great picture of baptism for us today that I had to share it.

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Traditions, Taboos, and Superstitions

Posted on 12/02/2011 by Paul Pavao

Today I watched a powerful video, When the Rabbi Says "Come," for the second time. It’s one section of a video called In the Dust of the Rabbi.

Ray Vander Laan’s excellent portrayal of life in Galilee and the background of the Gospels is so helpful that I purchased a copy for my family even though it’s a bit pricey. I also got the study guide, so I could go over it carefully with the children.

But this blog is not about Vander Laan’s convicting and important teaching. It’s about the fact that even a man like Vander Laan, whose study of the geography and culture of the Bible has led him to strongly emphasize a life-changing discipleship, is confined by semantic taboos every bit as much as those less well-informed.

His study guide says:

Jesus and his disciples had a very different view of discipleship. They made no distinction between "being saved" and living in obedience to God. To be saved was to be totally committed to a life of obedience—to walk as the Rabbi walked, to become like him.

That’s clear, and no one who’s read First John—and believes that it’s God’s Word—could deny that what Vander Laan says is true.

Mark Twain once said, "Laws are sand; customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment."

What Twain says concerns society is no less true of modern Christianity. You can often say things that flatly contradict the Bible yet maintain an audience in the churches. Say something, however, that contradicts well-established tradition, and you will be quickly called to task.

To call Christians to discipleship is no violation of modern tradition, but to tie it to salvation … that’s another story. For Vander Laan to say "They made no distinction between ‘being saved’ and living in obedience to God" is to walk on thin ice despite the fact that he’s practically quoting 1 John.

So Vander Laan adds a line in honor to modern tradition.

They did not do this in order to be saved, but rather because they were saved. (emphasis in original)

We hate to say that we obey to be saved. In fact, custom forbids it.

But does the Bible forbid it.

If so, the apostles didn’t know about it. They had no qualms about tying obedience to salvation, nor about saying that we obey to be saved.

For example:

  • "Therefore, brothers, be diligent to make your calling and election sure because if you do these things you will never stumble, for in this way an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:10-11)
  • "What benefit is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith and does not have works? Can faith save him? … You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only" (James 2:14,24)
  • God will repay everyone according to their deeds. To those who seek glory, honor, and immortality by patiently continuing to do good, [he will repay] eternal life. (Rom. 2:6-7)

Yes, yes, I know that modern Christians excel at rewording the apostles so that their words don’t violate modern tradition. James, for example, really didn’t mean "justified by works and not by faith only," they say. He meant "justified by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone."

Slick.

But clearly James wasn’t guarding his words the way modern custom prescribes. Neither was Peter. Neither was Paul.

James didn’t follow his statement with, "Oops, sorry. I’m not saying that we do works to be justified. Obviously we do them because we are justified."

Peter didn’t follow his words with, "I didn’t mean that we diligently do these things to enter the kingdom of Jesus Christ. I meant that we diligently do these things because we already have an entrance."

I highly recommend learning to quote the apostles, despite the fact that you will quickly be labeled a heretic. You may find that there’s a reason that between 80 and 95% of people who make a profession of faith don’t even attend church five years later. As you learn to say what the apostles said, I believe you will find that their words will change what you believe as well, slowly delivering you from the vise-like grip of unyielding custom.

By the way, the statistic I quoted in the last paragraph came originally from Ray Comfort’s Hell’s Best Kept Secret. I recommend the book because it describes the problem so well, though I strongly disagree with his solution. We have a Gospel that doesn’t work for the large majority—at least 4 out of 5—of the people who hear it.

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Grace Revisited

Posted on 11/23/2011 by Paul Pavao

In modern Christianity, it is common for a "Christian" who has been rebuked to say something to the effect of, "Don’t judge; we’re under grace."

That kind of statement is based on a very wrong understanding of grace. The very reason that we can admonish one another is because we’re under grace. "Sin will not have power over you because you are not under law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14).

There are four main verses I like to use to define grace properly. You just saw one of them. Grace is the power from God that causes sin to lose its power over us. Here are the others:

Similar to Rom. 6:14, the following passage tells us that grace delivers us from sin:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, godly, and righteously in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us so that he might purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. (Tit. 2:11-14)

This one talks about the fact that grace helps us in time of need:

Let us come boldly to the throne of grace so that we may find mercy and grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:16)

And finally, Peter tells us that grace is the power behind our spiritual gifts and services:

As each one has received a gift, serve it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracle of God. If anyone serves, let it be from the ability which God provides, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. (1 Pet. 4:10-11)

In today’s world, we like to confuse grace with mercy. We call grace God’s unmerited favor, which may not be a bad definition if we understand favor correctly. Grace is power, and if you have grace, it will teach you to live godly, break sin’s power over you, and make you an able servant of the gifts God has given you. In fact, whatever the need, if you come boldly to the throne of God, you can find mercy from God, and you can also find grace, which will help with anything you might have need of.

It gives a little different picture of the fact that we are saved by grace. God has kindly given us access to grace through faith (Rom. 5:2), and we stand in that power by faith. That is why Paul tell us that …

By grace are you saved through faith … (Eph. 2:8)

Freely, apart from works, with all our past forgiven, we can enter into grace through faith. When we do, just as Titus 2:11-14 tells us above, we become "his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do" (Eph. 2:10).

We are in desperate need of the grace of God, but it is not because we need God to overlook sin which he has never promised to overlook. If we practice the works of the flesh, we will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21). If we live according to the flesh, we will die (Rom. 8:12), but we will never overcome the flesh on our own. We need the righteousness of God, those good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do, which we will only be able to do as we "by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body" (Rom. 8:13).

I believe that God is far more merciful than we give him credit for. Day after day, as we repent and are taught and empowered by grace, we will find his mercies new every morning. But God is not mocked. It is only as we walk in the light that we will find fellowship with one another and experience the ongoing cleansing of the blood of Jesus (1 Jn. 1:7).

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A Bit More on Sacrifices

Posted on 11/22/2011 by Paul Pavao

Yesterday I talked about reconstructing Christianity as the apostles delivered it. The emphasis yesterday was on the role of sacrifices and that only those with a pure heart can offer sacrifices to God.

Let’s touch on another example of that, one which contradicts another assumption of modern Christianity.

The first example of a rejected sacrifice in the Bible is Cain’s. In today’s Christianity it is usually taught that Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because it was from the field, while Abel’s was accepted because it was from the flock. Abel’s had blood; Cain’s didn’t.

That wasn’t the early Christian understanding, and they have some very clear Scripture on their side.

Cain went away angry when his sacrifice was rejected, and God came to him asking him why he was angry:

If you do good, will you not be accepted? If you do not do good, sin lies at the door. (Gen. 4:7)

Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because he was already an evildoer, not because he sacrificed grain. The apostle John drives that home for us:

We should love one another, unlike Cain, who was of the wicked one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous. (1 Jn. 3:11b-12)

Cain was already an evildoer before he killed Abel, and it was for this reason that his sacrifice was rejected.

What we saw yesterday is true. Sacrifices are offered to God by those whose hearts are purified by repentance. All other sacrifices are rejected.

This applies to those of us who are New Testament believers. We must not think that we can live any way we please and hope to be purified by Jesus’ blood. Hebrews tells us that it is possible to count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing (10:29). It remains true that "without [holiness] no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14) and that "the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9).

It also remains true that the only ones who are righteous, as Christ is righteous, are those who practice righteousness, says the apostle John (1 Jn. 3:7).

The first and foremost message that God gives to man is that we must repent. If we repent, then we can call on the name of Jesus and find all the benefits of his blood, including both mercy and grace (which we will define tomorrow). If we do not repent, then we are fooling ourselves, insulting the Spirit of grace, and our attempts to use grace as a license to sin will only result in our spiritual death (Rom. 8:12-13).

A Little Help with the Confusion Tradition Brings

I’ve given you Scripture for everything I said today, but if you are new to reading my blog, then I understand that some of the things I say may be shocking. Yet, who can deny that it is true that the only ones who are righteous as Christ is righteous are those who practice righteousness? John tells us not to be deceived about that! (1 Jn. 3:7).

Still, "works" has become a forbidden word in modern Christianity, leading to a version of the Gospel that has dozens of difficult, barely understandable Scriptures. Some of the ways that modern Christians try to dance around James 2:24, where James says that we are justified by works, are simply embarrassing.

The early church never struggled with such issues. The Scriptures were one, uncomplicated, and easy to understand for them because they still had the apostles’ words echoing in their ears.

I have a longer teaching on the subject of faith and works written especially for modern Christians, to help them get over the hump of terrifying tradition. In fact, I have several:

"Not by Faith Alone" (Titled that way because it’s a quote from James 2:24)

Christian Salvation

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Rebuilding Christianity the Way the Apostles Delivered It

Posted on 11/20/2011 by Paul Pavao

I would love to completely deconstruct some of the myths that have made their way into evangelical tradition, then become unquestionable, but which have no Scriptural or historical support. Then afterwards, I would love to retell the story of Christianity the way the early churches said they received it from the apostles.

We would be so blessed; it would honor God, and the Scriptures would fall into place, all saying one thing, rather than our beating each other over the head with competing verses.

But those traditions are so ingrained, it’s hard to do.

As an example, all early Christians knew about Christ’s "new law" (Heb. 7:12), which was not a new law, but the fullness of the old Law of Moses that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5:17. That teaching answers all the fuss about the Sabbath, the ten commandments, why Paul says the Law came to an end (Rom. 10:4), yet appealed to the law (1 Cor. 9:8). Their teaching is clear, and it pulls the Old and New Testaments together in a way we can all understand.

Amazingly, despite the fact that at one time all Christians knew the teaching, no one does now. It’s astounding. You can read the teaching at Christian-history.org.

I have no idea how to do such a reconstruction. Who’s going to believe me?

So, let’s keep picking away at it.

Today, I want to talk one more time about the role of sacrifices.

Yesterday, I went to a National Bible Bee contest. It was a Scripture memory contest for kids with some large cash prizes. The kids were impressive. It seemed like they had the entire Bible memorized.

Anyway, one of the passages was Hosea 6:1-3. This is typing, not talking, so I’ll just quote part of the passage, though the rest is amazing and worth reading, too:

Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. … So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. (vv. 1,3, NASB)

I’ve been somewhat immersed in the writings of second-century Christianity for about twenty years now. When I read an Old Testament passage about returning to the Lord, I know what it’s going to talk about. It’s going to talk about repentance, and it’s going to emphasize that Israel will be wasting it’s time if they try to sacrifice their way back to fellowship with God.

This is not a concept most modern Christians have.

Sure enough, by v. 6, God says:

For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (NASB)

At the start of chapter 7, God tells them that they forget that he remembers all their wickedness (7:2). Towards the end of the chapter, God complains, not that they don’t offer sacrifices, but that "they do not cry out to Me from their heart" (7:14, NASB).

By chapter 8, he specifically mentions their sacrifices, saying:

As for My sacrificial gifts, they sacrifice the flesh and eat it, but the LORD has taken no delight in them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins. (8:13, NASB)

Notice, as I said, that he consistently calls for their behavior to change, their repentance, and he says sacrifices will be a waste of time until they do.

Hosea is an amazingly consistent book, staying on the same subject for chapters, outlining the sins of Israel and Judah before drawing to a conclusion in ch. 14, at the end of the book. By the time Hosea reaches that conclusion, it is surprising what he tells Israel to bring with them when they return to the Lord …

Take words with you and return to LORD. Say to him, "Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips." (14:2)

One more thing we have forgotten that the early Christians knew is that sacrifices don’t purify the heart. If the heart is wrong, the sacrifice is rejected, and that is consistent throughout Scripture, not just here in Hosea. It is the heart that purifies the sacrifice. That is why King David writes:

For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. (Ps. 51:16-17, NASB)

This is as true of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as it is of the sacrifice of animals. Paul tells us, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7, NASB). He then goes on to say that sowing to the flesh will produce corruption for us, while sowing to the Spirit will produce eternal life.

We are those who have nothing good in us, who rely on Jesus Christ to deliver us from this body of death (Rom. 7:24 w/ 8:3-4). We depend daily on the mercy of God, but we need to know that mercy is poured out on those who confess their sins and repent. Then we can enter boldly into the throne of grace, seeking mercy and grace to help in time of need. God will always forgive the repentant, but if we come boldly into the throne of grace, holding sin in our heart, without crying out for deliverance, we may find ourselves recipients of the mercy of God in a form far different than we expected.

It is possibly to trample the Son of God underfoot, to count the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing, and to insult the Spirit of Grace (Heb. 10:29). The writer of Hebrews tells us that if we do so, there is only a fearful expectation of judgment.

Even such judgment is the kindness of God, for we cannot be allowed to continue to believe that grace is a license to sin. If you care to enter the presence of Almighty God by the blood of Jesus, then take words with you and repent before the Lord. He is well able to cleanse you, but not if you have no care to walk in the Spirit and live pleasing to his will.

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The Master Storyteller

Posted on 11/17/2011 by Paul Pavao

Today I was reading a book to my children, and as I neared the end of the section we were reading I burst into tears. With many stops and starts, I managed to squeeze out the end of the chapter between the suppressed sobs.

I believe that God sometimes lets us feel his emotions. I was reading End of the Spear, the part about the five missionaries being martyred on a sandbar in a river in the Amazon jungle in 1956. I am convinced that to God, the spearing of those missionaries by the "Aucas" is one of the most significant events in history. I don’t believe God weeps about it; we’re all individuals, and we all express God’s Word in different ways when it comes. The weeping was my expression, but I believe the emotion is God’s. Not sadness, just the incredible awe of one of the most central events of modern history. Untold thousands, perhaps millions, of lives have been changed because those five men gave up their lives to reach the Waodani.

The author of End of the Spear is the son of one of those missionaries. His name is Steve Saint, and he was five years old when the Waodani speared his father. Since then, the families of the five missionaries have turned the Waodani to Christ, and Steve has lived with them and taken Mincaye, the man who speared his father, as a replacement father.

All that is introduction to Steve Saint’s spiritual and insightful assessment of what happened on January 8, 1956. Here’s his conclusions in his own words:

I have come to the conclusion that God did not look awy. He did not simply allow this to happen. I think He planned it. …

I have personally paid a high price for what happened on Palm Beach. But I have also had a front-row seat as the rest of the story has been unfolding for half a century. I have seen firsthand that much good has come from it. I believe only God could have fashioned such an incredible story from such a tragic event.

I could not begin to record the thousands of people who have told me that God used what happened on Palm Beach to change the course of their lives for good. … If I could go back now and rewrite the script, I would not change a single scene. I have come to understand that life is too complex and much too short to let amateurs direct the story. I would rather let the Master Storyteller do the writing. I don’t say that casually. What happened to Dad was extremely traumatic for me, but even so it has not been the most difficult event in my life.

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