The Most Important Things

The events of this past week in Haiti have been horrific and unbelievable. The numbers are staggering as to the assumed death toll (100,000 to 500,000) and to the amount effected (3 million people). Just about everyone on Earth is joining in to help out. Roughly $10 million has been texted to Red Cross in support. And hundreds of millions more pledged from countries all over. ($100 million from US alone, not sure I totally agree with that specific number considering we owe China BILLIONS, but there is great need nonetheless.)

In the midst of it all there have been some great misunderstandings. Specifically, this one: Pat Robertson’s now famous quote. However, if you listen to it, you will hear one thing that he didn’t say. He did NOT say, that this earthquake was a judgement from God. He did say that historically, Haiti made a pact with the devil. Which, if they did, would definitely lead to bad things. The problem I have with all of this is, that 1) the news media jumped all over it and misrepresented what he said, and 2) Christians jumped all over it and began to disown the man as if HE made a pact with the devil.

As far as the news media is concerned, who cares. When have they ever reported anything without bias? And, as long as Jesus hasn’t returned they never will. It’s an uncontrollable situation, so I am over it. As far as Christians disowning Pat Robertson… that annoys me to no end. I wonder how many people watched the video, before re-tweeting what somebody who watched CNN or The Daily Show said, and took what they said as the truth. I read numerous tweets from people I respect and admire who either directly or indirectly JUDGED Pat Robertson for “judging” Haiti. (I remember Paul saying something about that in Romans 2.)

What bothers me about this situation is that many Christians were trying to distance themselves from Pat Robertson and trying to look presentable to the world. Even the democratic party, in the midst of racial slurs within their party, did not do so much washing of their hands! (Here for more info) My question is when will we bother to get down to the truth and either choose to make no comment or make an educated comment. Regardless of whether Haiti made a pact or not is beside the fact. The real issue is whether or not we have made a pact to be a family, a church and a Kingdom. If this is how we treat family… well you get the point.

I think this whole situation can be summed up best by this quote: “They (Haiti) need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God and out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now we are helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable.” Pat Robertson. By the way, Operation Blessing, Pat Robertson’s “social justice” arm, has been in Haiti for the last year. More info about that here.

Bottom line, we all need more of Jesus!

Poor St. Francis, so many people have blasted him for a comment he never made. Perhaps, you have heard the phrase: “preach the gospel, if necessary, use words”. A lot of people think St. Francis coined that phrase. (He didn’t, his real quote: In Chapter XVII of his Rule of 1221, Francis told the friars not to preach unless they had received the proper permission to do so. Then he added, “Let all the brothers, however, preach by their deeds.”) Regardless, that “deeds” theology has pervaded in Christianity. It’s wrong. It’s off-balance. In James’ epistle he covers faith and works, so I don’t need to here. But I do need to cover the truth that the gospel must be preached, not “worked”.

All throughout the bible, OT and NT, there are ample scriptures regarding the necessity of declaring truth with your mouth. It’s inescapable. But we have settled into a social justice/ works gospel, while in and of itself it’s not entirely wrong, it’s just not right. If all we had to do on Earth was build wells for clean water, feed the homeless and build shelters to get people saved; we’d be experts. However, God demands that we use our words to preach. Isaiah ponders the question of salvation, he writes: how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never HEARD about Him? And how can they HEAR about Him unless someone tells them?

In order to hear something, someone must say something. Take a look at Acts 8:26-39. Philip meets an Ethiopian Eunuch. He says to the eunuch, “do you understand what you are reading?” The Eunuch responds, “how can I unless someone instructs me?” Then it says, “Philip TOLD him the Good News about Jesus.” Notice it doesn’t say Philip dug him a well and the man got saved. Or that Philip gave him food for a year. (And all of those are necessities) It says, Philip told him the Good News. That is the REAL NECESSITY.

So why would we rather use words if necessary when it comes to preaching the gospel? Bottom line, social justice is easier. It’s not offensive or confrontational. We can perform social justice and the world will love us. It’s so hot right now, too. It’s also devoid of the power of God. For He says, “the Kingdom of God is not just in WORD, but in POWER.” God has built a throne of righteousness and justice. This world needs both. Not justice at the expense of righteousness. For with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

Preach the Gospel, with your mouth.

It’s hard to truly fathom heaven and eternity. In fact, in hebrew, the definition of eternity is time outside of the mind. So, having said that how can finite beings truly comprehend the infinite? Only through the mind of the Spirit (the mind of Christ).

It’s very easy to get caught up in earthly thinking. You have bills to pay, circumstances to overcome, trials to walk through and offenses to forgive. Those are things that happen everyday, there’s no avoiding them. Yet, in the midst of this God has called us to not think like that. He has called us to “set our minds on things above and not on this earth” (col.3:2). He has told us that we should constantly be allowing the mind of Christ to invade our natural mind. Paul says in Phil. 3:19, “…their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they THINK ONLY ABOUT THIS LIFE HERE ON EARTH”(NLT).

What an excellent verse! It points out the current state of many christians! We think only about life here on earth. What are going to eat, what are we going to wear, where are we going to live; these are all valid questions yet Jesus has specifically instructed us to seek His kingdom first. Those are all finite, earthly things. Jesus’ kingdom is infinite and heavenly. It will last forever. That’s where our mind should be. That’s where we should be looking.

So why don’t we? I believe it boils down to one truth that has not been spoken on enough in recent years. The second coming of Jesus. Yea. For real. Because we don’t hear this doctrine being preached at all (in reality) a mindset has settled in. It is, “Jesus won’t come back in my lifetime”. No one on Earth can even make that claim. The bible most definitely contradicts claims like that. (See Phil. 4:5, James 4:13-17 for some of my favs) Because of a lack of teaching on this doctrine there is an enormous amount apathy in churches across the globe. Why should I witness? Jesus isn’t coming back for a long time. I can witness later. WRONG. Nobody, except the Father, knows the time. Therefore we should be witnesses. (Acts 1:8)

Take this as a healthy reminder, Jesus is coming back. We do not know how many days are left. Therefore set your mind on eternal things – salvation, discipleship, righteousness, etc. Not on things on the earth, for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (earthly things) it is righteousness, peace and joy (eternal things, that can be experienced on earth) in the Holy Ghost! Let a sense of urgency flow into your spirit right now.

Good vs. evil. We see it in the movies, books, video games and even taking place in our own lives. Yet the world is making a huge attempt to blur the lines between good vs. evil. They are feeding the world the idea that man is generally good. Any mistakes man may make are the result of strange people who are extreme in their views. We see that even our current presidential administration has reduced terrorism to, “man-made disasters”. Not the result of evil people bent on world domination. You wouldn’t necessarily think that good vs. evil would have that big of an impact on your day-t0-day life or even your relationship with Jesus but it does.

There’s a fresh wave of “interfaith” movements being spread across the world right now. It says, “if we can sit down and discuss our differences between our “religions” then all will be well”. Also, “if we can understand each other, perhaps we can unite to take on the injustices in the world”. This is all very noble on the surface. Here’s a brilliant quote from Tozer regarding these types of meetings: “the purpose of these talks is not to confront truth, but to discover how the followers of other religions think and thus benefit from their views as we hope they will from ours”. If we come to the understanding that man is inherently evil and is incapable of anything good within himself… we come to the realization that all talk is idle. Specifically, talk that is not related to eternity. And so these discussions that never confront truth, never go anywhere. Everyone agrees to disagree and the world is satisfied with tolerance and compromise.

To understand that we are in a battle between good and evil is a relative “no-brainer”. To understand that the battle must be won everyday in our hearts and minds is an entirely different proposition. We are not fighting for popularity, we are not fighting to be looked upon favorably by the world. We are fighting (spiritually, of course) for good to triumph over evil. Jesus said, if they hate me, they will probably hate you. James writes, friendship with the world (system) is enmity with God. Those are not verses that encourage us to be friends of evil. But to overcome evil with good.

God’s throne is established in righteousness and justice. Holiness and help. Sacrifice and service. The battle lines are constantly trying to be redrawn. Who’s side will you be on?

A lot of people create doctrines. A lot of people don’t realize they create doctrines. Usually it masquerades as a “personal opinion” (as in, “that’s just my personal opinion”) or a tradition (as in, “I always do it that way). On the rare occasion it will manifest itself as a “personal preference” (as in, “I prefer to do it this way because…”). The problem with creating doctrines is that usually they are forged under adverse circumstances. Something you don’t agree with or dislike happens and you say, “I will never do it that way”. So, you create a doctrine that goes to the extreme opposite of your situation.

You may not ever think you have created a doctrine, but you have. You have initiated a process that will search out scriptures, quotes, etc; all to back up your opposite doctrine. For example, let’s say you don’t like plaid shirts, because someone you didn’t like very much always wore plaid shirts. You, then decide that in your new business venture none of your employees can wear plaid shirts. You cover it up with a sweeping generalization like, “nobody really looks good in plaid”. You have a created a doctrine, that is in turn a reaction to a circumstance.

This type of doctrine is dangerous. It’s how we get a lot of false doctrines within the body of Christ. It’s how prosperity teaching can get extreme and how poverty teaching can get extreme. Doctrines should never be formed in the midst of trial or circumstance. Doctrine must be created in the absence of tribulation and in the presence of God and His eternal truth.

Too many winds are blowing right now. We must stay rooted and grounded in love and in His Word. Balance is needed in the body of Christ. Otherwise the bride will stumble down the aisle on the way to the altar to meet her bridegroom. What doctrines have you created in response to a circumstance?

PS in the next post I will discuss how to tell if it’s good doctrine you have got a hold of!