PERILOUS TIMES

It’s easy to get caught up in a couple of ideas that are not true. The first is that our situation of lawlessness & turmoil hasn't happened before. But such conditions are nothing new. Human history is filled with seasons like we’re facing.

The other idea is that God has nothing to do with the solutions to the problems we’re facing.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) is known as a powerful Christian reformer. But did you know that he also lived during a time of deep societal & political upheaval? As a pastor & spiritual leader whose influence had spread over a considerable geographical region, he recognized his responsibility to guide & counsel the people he led to reconciliation & peace.

Luther was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. He also acknowledged many of his mistakes. But with all his flaws, he got one thing exactly right. It was expressed in this hymn.

We are in a similar time of upheaval. There are political forces from all over the spectrum vying for power & influence. People are resorting to violence, lawlessness, intimidation, & disinformation. Hate abounds.

This is also a time of spiritual upheaval. Whatever you believe about spiritual warfare, all serious Christians should be able to agree on one thing – we are in the midst of it. We can also agree that unless we call on the Lord as this hymn, we are headed for disaster.

Please take time over the next week to pray. Ask God to pour His undeserved mercy & to heal our land. Pray for the Church to repent of our sins, including apathy. Pray for those involved in the lawlessness & expressions of hatred, & for those affected by them.

Our God IS our mighty fortress. Let’s take refuge in Him & bring many others under His protection!

POLITICAL SIGNS

I’ve been thinking about the difference between the political slogans appearing on some the yard signs in our neighborhood. Many say “Make America Great Again” & others say “Take Back America.” I believe that each of these phrases unveils diametrically opposed ways of thinking about the election & the final result.

To “make” something is to create or construct something, or to exercise an ability to innovate & make improvements on something already constituted. We all know that Trump is a builder & innovator. We also know that he can be caustic & vulgar. But he is a man who lives to build, innovate, improve, sharpen, & empower people to fulfill their dreams. This is a large part of the traditional, historical greatness of America. Much of that heritage has been lost over the last 50-100 years.

Biden is what in the Philippines is called a TRAPO – traditional politician. To “take back” something means you feel that your place has been usurped or taken from you. Coming from a TRAPO, this is an important factor. It reflects several things we see happening.

One is the savage counterattacks of the DC “swamp dwellers.” If there is one person who embodies this, it is Biden, who has been in DC for nearly 5 decades.

Another factor is the militant, aggressive, no-hold-barred “resistance” movement that has morphed into a revolutionary street violence network. These are the “revolutionaries” who are the foot soldiers whose aim is to “take back” something. And that something is the thing that is “my precious” to people like Biden & Harris – raw political power.

Remember – This revolutionary movement seeks not to reform the existing institutions, but to destroy them. It’s part of what in their minds is “taking back” America.

COMPARTMENTALIZATION

One huge reason for the condition of our country is that Christians have been conditioned to not bring their faith into the marketplace of ideas. Religion needs to be kept within the four walls of the church, separation of church & state, blah, blah, blah.

“Secular” government doesn't by default mean that policy, legislation, etc. are to be neutral. That's actually impossible. Legislation by its very nature reflects some kind of moral standard.

This idea of keeping the various areas of life neatly separated is called compartmentalization. It reflects the idea that the mind is separate from the body, the emotions are separate from the mind, personal ethics & honesty from job performance, & so on.

Education is now seen by many as imparting knowledge & skills to people, & nothing more. Very few people believe that it is concerned with character development or moral outcomes.

Of course, this has to a certain extent been twisted by some “PC” aspects of education. The progressive “education” that we’re seeing in much of primary, secondary, & higher education is better described as re-education aimed at forming specific attitudes, characteristics & behaviors. That’s what we see being played out in the streets & neighborhoods of some of our cities right now. But that’s another topic.

Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God as having a transformative influence on culture. “He spoke another parable to them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened’” (Matthew 13:33). It’s impossible to influence a culture without being intimately involved in it.

So, Christian, pray. But don’t just pray. Get involved. Speak up. Join an organization. Meet your neighbors. Run for political office. God has a place for you here & now.

PRAYING GIRL, PRAYING GRANDMA

The best I can figure, it was 48 years ago today, September 17, 1972, in Omena, Michigan, when Jesus Christ became so real to me that I surrendered my life to Him. I’ve never been the same since.

There were many people involved in the process that brought me to that day, & ultimately to this day. But I want to talk about just 2 of them.

"Gram" Higgins & our son Allen

My grandmother, Rachel Juanita Higgins, had been a believer as a child. But she made some wrong choices & her life took a different direction because of them. Over most of her adult life she was a working mother, raising 4 sometimes challenging daughters. But late in life she returned to the Lord & prayed faithfully for her children & grandchildren. She saw me come to the Lord & went to heaven just a few months before I graduated from Bible college in 1980.

Deborah's senior picture

My wife Deborah came to know Christ at the age of 12 & has never wavered from the path of discipleship. She is the most generous & sincere person I have had the privilege of knowing. Shortly after her conversion, she was encouraged to begin to pray for her future husband. Part of her prayer was for someone tall, with blond hair & blue eyes. She obviously didn’t get that. But she also prayed for someone who loved the Lord & was called into ministry. She got that. But it took 6 years before she saw the answer.

In my rebellious, self-absorbed teenage years, I would never have listened to what either of these 2 women might have to say about God. But I am eternally grateful that God listened to their prayers for me.

You may be a parent or grandparent, burdened for your children or grandchildren who are not where they need to be in the relationship with Jesus. I’m living proof that you can still pray & expect God to hear & answer.

You may be a child or teenager who just wants to make the right decisions & be what God wants you to be. But you’re not sure it can happen, because you’ve seen too many relatives or friends go off the rails. I’m living proof that God will listen to your prayers & guide your relationships if you’ll just ask Him.

He wants to hear the heartfelt prayers of girls & grandmas. I know, because I’m one result of their prayers.

THANKFUL FOR ANOTHER YEAR

 I’m thankful to God for another year He has given me.

My mother in 1987

There have been a number of things that have hindered me from writing this blog (caring for my wife, a couple of long & important writing projects, & videos on prayer). But I just wanted to take a few minutes to share with you some thoughts about why I’m thankful for another year the Lord has granted me.

One truth that has become very precious to me is that God is in control of the circumstances of each person’s birth. That doesn’t mean that He has given me all the answers to the “Why” questions, but it does reflect His sovereignty & desire to bless each person & to advance His cause in the world thru that person.

I was in my mother’s womb for 10 months & just a little over 6# in weight at birth. A few weeks before the due date for my birth my parents had suffered the loss of my oldest brother Eddy (age 4 or 5 years) from a lingering childhood disease. For whatever reason, God allowed this & a result was the delay by several weeks of my introduction to the world. Even though I never met my brother Eddy, I know that I will see him in heaven.

A highlight every year because of the wonders of digital technology is receiving birthday greetings from the scores of friends the Lord has given me over the seasons of this life. Something especially neat is that this aspect of my birthday covers 2 days, because of our many friends on both sides of the International Date Line.

So today I’m celebrating with the family how the Lord has given me another year to love & serve Him in this world.

PRAYER FOR OUR NATION: IMPRECATORY PRAYER

What I want to share with you today is kinda the other side of the coin from what I shared yesterday.

I’ve been doing short videos, encouraging you to pray thru Psalm 140 daily to stand for righteousness & against the lawlessness that is spreading like a cancer. One part of Psalm 140 are examples of what is called an “imprecatory prayer.” Here is it:

As for the head of those who surround me, may the mischief of their lips cover them. May burning coals fall upon them; may they be cast into the fire, into deep pits from which they cannot rise. May a slanderer not be established in the earth; may evil hunt the violent man speedily” (verses 9-11).

What is imprecatory prayer? One definition of imprecation is the “The act of... invoking evil; a malediction; a prayer or expressed wish that a curse or calamity may befall someone” (Wordnik).

It goes without saying that Christians have had a real problem with this concept of prayer for a lot of reasons. But I want to bring this subject up in the context of what is happening in our nation right now.

Please take a minute to watch this video. You may want to turn your volume down, as it has some extremely disgusting language in it. (If you listen to the first 5 seconds, there isn’t really any need to listen to the audio of the rest. It’s all pretty much the same.)https://twitter.com/i/status/1282070412466282496

What were your emotional response & thoughts about what you saw (& heard, if you kept the volume up)? To be honest, I felt & thought a lot of things. But the one thing I want to share with you is that I was angry. Not just on behalf of the officer that was disrespected, attacked, & injured. 

I was angry because if enough of this happens, the police will be de-motivated from protecting the people in this neighborhood. They need someone between them & the thugs the officers were trying to deal with. 

Where is the justice for the elderly, children, & disabled in the neighborhood who can’t stand up to the criminals? Who is going to protect the small business owners & their employees?

How do you feel when you see this happening? Everything is turned upside down & backward. Evil is considered good, & good evil. Here is an observation from another blog about imprecatory prayer:

While some would object that it is not patience at all to pray to God for the destruction of their enemies, that idea is simply wrong. If destruction is truly warranted and is the will of God, to pray for it is neither impatient nor wrong. Taking individual vengeance is both wrong and impatient. Rom. 12:19 "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord." Not taking one's own vengeance, but waiting on God to use His tools (natural means, governments, other evil men's predilection for evil, etc.) to bring His vengeance is exactly what patience is.
Also, anyone who would plead for God to relieve him from the evil of his enemies must truly make sure that his enemy can not rightly ask for the same relief because of the pleader's action. The righteous imprecatory prayer is a tool for the innocent only.

You can read the entire blog at: https://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-psalm-35.htm

There is nothing wrong with praying that God will deal with those who stand between justice & the hurting or afflicted. David did it. We can do it, & this is a season when we need to.

WHAT GOD WANTS

I've been looking at Exodus chapters 25 to 40 about the construction of the tabernacle for a couple of weeks now. Probably the most incredible thing that I've seen there is how God chose to provide it for His people at that time. 

He instructed Moses about the details. He had Moses commission 2 men to design and to create the structures. He directed Moses to have the Israelites donate the materials to be used to build the tabernacle, its furnishings, & the instruments to be used there. The same is true of the priestly garments that were to be provided for Aaron & his sons.

The reason this is so incredible to me is that God could have just spoken & the tabernacle would have appeared. That's kinda what Aaron claimed that happened with the golden calf when Moses was up on the mountain. "I just threw the earrings in & out popped the idol!" God could have snapped His fingers & made the tabernacle appeared out of nothing. 

But he chose to use people to provide materials for it & to do the actual work, following the blueprint that He had given Moses. 

Among many things, the tabernacle was intended to represent God's presence and to carry the the furnishings where God was understood by the Israelites to dwell among them.

God dwelling among people, being with them, working in & thru them, is profound.

His revelation in Christ reveals that Jesus fulfilled God's desire embodied & expressed thru the tabernacle. "The Word became flesh & dwelt/tabernacled among us."

As miraculous as the reality of our experience of God's presence is in our lives now, the hope that we have as believers in Christ goes even beyond that. In the end, Scripture tells us that the Lord will be the light in the New Jerusalem. He will dwell in a tangible way in the midst of mankind. There be no need for a sun or moon because the Lamb, Jesus Christ, will be the light. God will tabernacle with with mankind.

We know that God has placed in us a desire for Him. But do you realize that He also has a desire for us? He wants to be with us, living in us. He wants to work in us and transform us into the image of Christ. He wants to work thru us to bring that same transformation of others' lives.

Be encouraged that he wants to be with you. He's done everything necessary for that to happen.

SOMETHING IMPORTANT ABOUT CHINA

Earlier today I heard a sound byte of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talking about China. He used a term to describe China that is profound & extremely important. In referring to China, he referred to it as "the Communist Chinese government." In a 15-20 second soundbite he used this phrase twice.

Why is this important?

Mainland China is vast. It's also not a monolith. What I mean is that throughout China there are many different ethnicities, cultures, languages, & religions. The various people groups there are divided & distinguished by these differences. The thing that holds them together as a nation is not the willingness or even the desire of the people to be united. What holds them together is the martial power of the central government. This is a really important thing to understand & remember when discussing mainland China.

Sometimes people think that disparaging the Communist Chinese government is racist & disparaging to the Chinese people. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Unlike the ideal of the United States, where government is constituted of, for, & by the people, in a communist state like mainland China the government is the power. The government is constituted of, by, & for the government (aka Communist Party). This is the reality regardless of any phraseology in the name of the country.

So, the term that Secretary Pompeo repeated (the Communist Chinese government) was really important.

When we speak of the Chinese people, or of any of the various ethnic, religious, cultural, or linguistic groups, we are speaking of those particular people. 

When we speak of the Communist Chinese government we’re not speaking about the people. We are speaking about the absolute power that the Chinese Communist Party wields to force its will on & to control the Chinese people.

That distinction is really important.

MISSING GOD'S HOUSE

There are potentially some positive results could come from the coronavirus situation that we're facing.

Our time in overseas for 15 years gives a perspective for one of the things that I would like to see happen.

When we lived outside the US we were rarely able to attend a church where the services were in English. We really enjoyed the churches where we were involved and were blessed thru the great relationships with people in those churches. 

But when we did have occasion to attend an English language church it was an opportunity to to really soak in and appreciate the ability to communicate without needing to navigate another language & culture.

Since returning to ministry in the US, we have continued to appreciate our the local church for that & many other reasons.

One of the fallouts of the situation with the coronavirus is that in some states the government has either suggested or mandated as an emergency measure that there be no gatherings of people over 100, 250, 500, etc. 

So, depending on the state, there will be people this weekend who may not have the option to attend a church.

I would like to see disciples of Christ develop a new appreciation for the local church. Our tendency when we have something is to take it for granted. As believers, we are human & prone to taking our church for granted. Our involvement & experiences in the congregation are a huge part of our discipleship process. 

The possibility of having to miss a time together with God's people once, or even over several weeks, should awaken people who genuinely love the Lord suddenly realize the treasure that they have in their local congregation: fellow disciples & spiritual leaders who oversee the ministry. 

Whether this happens to you personally or not, I encourage you to not take your local church for granted. 

Appreciate it & love it. 

Pray for it and be a blessing and a strength to your pastor & fellow believers in that congregation.

Don't be like this:

SOUNDING SMART

I don’t have a lot of pet peeves. At least I don’t think I do. But please humor me by letting me vent about one of them.

It’s what people do to make others think that they are smart. In doing this, they either fall for the old “form over substance” error (or hope that others will). Or they apparently think that regardless of the merits of what they say, these tactics make up for any lack of truth or reliability.

Here are a few of them:

Being passionate – the emotion or “hot air” takes attention from the actual content that is being communicated. It says, “I’m smart – see how emotional I can get about this?”

Seeming cool & professorial (whatever that is) gives the impression of studied, dispassionate impartiality.  

Pushing the limits on polite speech (aka cussing, etc.) in order to sound sophisticated, clever, or cutting edge.

Using all kinds of supposedly authoritative information. Mounds of words & paragraphs prove nothing, especially if it’s too much for anyone who actually has a life has time to sift thru.

I’ve done my share of academic research & writing. Enough to know that a few letters behind someone’s name isn’t a guarantee that they are a reliable source of information.

Real experience in the real world, speaking with clarity & conciseness – that’s where smart comes from & where it is expressed.

The job of a teacher (in broad terms, a teacher is anyone who wants to communicate & bring information to others) is not to cloud things or complicate the subject. It is to “make the complicated simple.”

MOTIVATION

Our New Mexico legislature is apparently looking again at the legalization of recreational pot. I can’t speak as an expert on medicinal pot, but I will speak on what some legislators & special interest groups want to do in de-criminalizing & legalizing recreational.

What I say is based on 3 things: 1) the historical prohibition of producing, selling, possessing, & using pot after it became an issue in America; 2) common sense about it that is based on its effect on people (there is plenty of research out there if you care to google it); & 3) the negative effect pot has had on my & following generations.

Motivation is a huge part of why people do things.

Legislators & the special interest groups who advocate for legalization of recreational pot don’t do that in a vacuum. They also don’t do it from altruistic motivations. 

One of the primary arguments they use is that it will increase tax revenues coming into the state treasury. (Ironically, they claim that they will use part of those revenues to fund better mental health care.) They have a vested economic interest in the legalization & taxation of recreational pot. 

THIS CANCELS OUT ANY CONCERN THEY MIGHT HAVE FOR ITS NEGATIVE RESULTS.

On the other hand, people who oppose legalizing recreational pot have no economic interest in the results of the legislation. If it passes, we are not affected negatively or positively. (At least initially; public safety & other issues will ultimately raise vehicle insurance rates, etc. But that is another issue for another time.)

What I am saying is that those who oppose pot legalization are motivated for reasons that that are actually altruistic. We have nothing to gain or lose economically. But we do have specific concerns & reasons why we believe it should continue to be against the law.

Remember this when you start seeing propaganda intended to push this down our throats.

MY FRIEND DOC RYAN

I lost a special friend a few weeks ago. The sad thing was that I didn’t realize he was gone until today. A January 1 Facebook message from another friend in the Philippines somehow got overlooked.

Many people knew my friend simply as “Doc Ryan.”

We met him in October 2008 in Mindoro. He was an instructor for a mini-medical course Deborah was taking. He was a Filipino who had studied medicine in the US & could have, if he wished, stayed here & done very well for himself.

Instead he chose to return to the Philippines & dedicate himself to serving God by using his training & skills there.

I know Doc Ryan knew & loved the Lord. He could be very straightforward in dealing with people, but that characteristic was just an overflow of his passion to give his best to them for God’s glory.

Doc Ryan was with us for nearly all the medical outreaches we hosted. He understood the sacrifices that medical professionals make in giving their time (usually almost 2 weeks including travel time to & from the Philippines), energy, & finances. 

He also had a gift for stepping into situations that others couldn’t handle. (You would have to participate in a medical mission to understand this.)

I’m not sure how old Doc Ryan was when cancer took him. Maybe early 50s. Honestly, as a doctor he made a much better care giver than patient. He probably erred on the side of working too hard & not taking good enough care of himself.

But a couple things are sure.

He loved the Lord & demonstrated that love thru his love for people.

He is now in the presence of the Lord he loved.

We’ll miss you, Doc. 

But we’ll see you in the morning.

UN-IDEAL MINISTRY

Ministry is messy. It's messy because we're making disciples of people whose lives are a mess. They may have done things that were foolish, & even sinful. People may have done terrible things done to them. So the process of making disciples, which is what God has called us to do, is by default a messy business.

No big surprise. Jesus set the pace. He served, trained, & ultimately gave His life for people whose lives were a mess.

A part of our ministry here in New Mexico is serving people who need help with English. Not surprisingly, some of those people may be here illegally. God gives us wisdom & resources so that we can help them while maintaining integrity with the law. 

But the bottom line is this - ministry and making disciples brings us into situations that are far from ideal. Situations of injustice, situations for which there doesn't seem to be any simple resolution. 

Through Bible times people like Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon,& the apostles under an oppressive Roman regime faced and dealt with this reality. 

All through church history & even now God's people have faced  evil, lawlessness, & injustice. But they have continued to advance the Kingdom of God and fulfill the Great Commission.

We're not revolutionaries in the sense of overthrowing an evil regime and replacing it with God's righteous millennial reign. 

But we are revolutionaries who proclaim forgiveness & cleansing from sin in Christ, deliverance from demonic domination, & spiritual transformation to individuals, families, & communities.

Ministry doesn't take place in the bubble of ideal situations. But it is what the Lord has given to every disciple to fulfill in the power of the Spirit. 

SELLING THE NEW BIRTH SHORT

As Christians we use a lot of terms from Scripture that are important & that describe God does in us when we come to Christ. We call it being born again, born from above, born of the Spirit, regenerated, receiving eternal life. We use a lot of terms like that to describe the desired result from what that we do to help people to to receive Christ.

Some of the things we might do are share with them the 4 Spiritual Laws, The ABCs of Salvation, or The Roman Road. We encourage them to put their faith in Christ, to repent of their sins to turn to the Lord, to trust in God's promises, or to respond to an invitation to say the Sinner's Prayer.

But, after we've done all of those things there is the one thing that only the Holy Spirit can do. 

We can have somebody pray the sinner's prayer, but if they didn't actually receive Christ, they just said words. Somebody can be sorry for the wrongs that they have done or say that they trust in Christ, but their life is not inwardly changed or regenerated. They haven't truly received eternal life.

This reality of Christian experience is scary and intimidating, because we can DO a lot of things but we can't make a person a new creation in Christ. Our hands are tied; we don't have the means to do that.

But this reality is also comforting & encouraging. No matter how many of those other things we've done or how well we've done them, they have no power of their own. In the end, only the Spirit of God can do the work that brings a person to Christ. 

And that's exciting, because once that happens their life is changed. They do become a new creation in Christ, & and nothing that we can do or that the devil can do can take that away or can change that moment in time. If you have experienced this, you know it to be true.

So let's do what we can do, but let's also be glad that it is the undomesticated Spirit of God who executes God's work in this world. 

Ultimately, He is the only one who can do the work in the lives of the people that we seek to lead to Christ.