Category Archives: teaching

The Invisible Bridge

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I have found something interesting, something I have known, but not fully understood.  The elders talk about it.  The Deacons point toward it.  The world denies it with frothing lips.  It remains, however, before every child of God to encounter.

The majority of our walk before Christ Jesus is spent in discovery.  We cannot use excuse, before the Holy One, for our disobedience.  Yet there are reasons why we falter as we do.  Discovering these reasons comes hand in hand with growth toward maturity.

We learn not to blame anyone for our fault.  Yet we recognize that the whole of humanity has caused every sin.  And in this way, the Lord Jesus teaches us to sacrifice blame for personal responsibility.

But what shall a man do when he understands this as fully as his mind is able?  What shall we do when a man finds himself repeating offenses yet finds no one but himself to blame?

Here a man comes face to face with the fullness of the gospel.  No longer perceiving as a child.  Now he perceives as a man.  The fullness of blame rests on the one who has sinned, rests heavily.

From here one can receive the forgiveness of Christ with renewed interest.  From here the glory of God takes a prominence in all his thoughts.  The man no longer tosses about the subject of blame or innocence.  Condemnation becomes exceedingly personal.  Here the glory of God rages even brighter to consume his enemies.  Here the glory of God’s mercy blazes even brighter within the flame.

I have come to discover: the Glory of Christ Jesus is stronger than our sins.  Not only in his teaching, but more so in our learning.

If you continue in the way you will discover this also.  It is the crossing of an invisible bridge.  And I speak of it so that when you yourself encounter this, there will be memory within you.

It is a difficult place to encounter.  For here a man is starkly naked before the Holy One.  But having reached the other side of the bridge I can testify, “Even in this he is able to save”.

It may well be you do not understand what I’m saying.  But the time for every man will appear.  I will try it with one example to express this in understandable terms.

As a man goes to a school of learning, he learns enough to do his trade.  But he has yet to enter the workforce and apply it.  Often the world will scoff at the little bookworm who seems to know all. 

But one day he goes to work and understands why they laughed.  He presupposed his importance.  And difficulties have proved his knowledge insufficient.

Now he grapples with humility.  Now he is faced to join them in their derision of the novice.  Yet even while he makes fun of pretense, he is forced to remember that he once also walked in that way.

What comes from this place I do not know.  It is not as though these things happen among men.  But this has come to me before the Holy One in all its brilliance.  Stark and true, it shines a light within my soul to illuminate every possible miscarriage of righteousness.

May understanding come in due time.  I enter into this place in full view of those who have gone before me.  And I speak of this with the humility that knows others have understood this long before I arrived.  And I have to confess the question, “Do I yet understand as I should?

By His Grace

She Never Told Me

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I don’t like to write long posts.  With the flavor of society today, very few will read if they see a lot of words.  But it can’t be helped.  What I’m about to write is worth a volume as thick as “War and Peace”.

My mother was born to a wealthy family in New England.  She met a young cavalry man when she was 11 or 12.  One night the ladder went up, and she was gone.  They had eloped without a word. 

She never told me what happened afterward.  Surely there was a phone call or a letter.  But she never spoke of it.

I remember hearing once that her father disowned her.  His heart was broken.  His dreams of family crushed.  No grand babies to laugh with and hold.  No more smiles regarding his beautiful daughter.  But she never spoke of this.

The couple moved from state to state, rarely staying in one place for more than 6 months or a year.  By the time I was 7 years old we had moved from Rochester New York to Salem Oregon, living in almost every state between.

The majority of those seven years was spent in the backseat of a car.  But she never told me why.  She never apologize for the childhood that did not come.  And I don’t know why.

Her gallant young cavalry man turned out to be a vicious incestual Lord.  Drunk as often as he could be, he squandered his life in brutality.   The three daughters he had, knew him as far more than daddy.

The oldest one moved away and became a prostitute.  (She is long dead now, so I don’t mind telling you.)  The other two daughters married Canadians and moved away from the house as quickly as possible.

Her oldest son disowned her, because she was not a Jehovah’s Witness.  The other two daughters followed suit.  As soon as I could, I joined the airforce at 17, just to get away from the stench of our life.  Only my youngest brother remained.

The brutal man who gave us birth, developed an affection for a woman in the congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  When I was 12 my parents were divorced.

As a family, we lost it all.  And she never told me why.

I remember, in the days just after the divorce, a song came out regarding the dreams of an everyday housewife.  I remember her saying clearly, “I hate that song!”   But she never told me why.

She died in a nursing home, abandoned and alone.  The excitement of the ladder had turned to an entire life of horror.  And she never once told me why.

Had someone warned her of what was due to come she would not have believed them.  She would have laughed in their face with that little girl smile. 

Ripped from her family, by the lust of a girl, she encountered the beginnings of a horrible end.  But she never spoke of that moment.

By the time before she fell ill, she had married five other men.  I hated to call home, because I didn’t know who daddy might be.  And she never told me why.

Without knowing why, I mimicked her life.  Without planning, I followed her every step.  Women and drinking, drugs, willful abandon, and the life of poverty, belonged to me.  And she never told me why.

I do not write this to shame my mother.  All told, she was a good woman.  When I look back, and dismiss the difficult things,  what I find is an exemplary human being.  She did the very best she could with what she had.  But she never told me why we lacked so much.

I write this because I know there are so many out there who have done the same things.  Have you told your children why?

As I raised my family, sanity appeared.  One day I woke and vowed to break the chains.  I told my children of my own foolish ways.  I had found Christ Jesus, and truth began to flow.

What has happened as a result of my own foolish ways is yet to be told when I am dead.  I would tell you the result of my life of sin.  But I have caused enough suffering.  Why put it in writing and tear at the hearts more?

Have you told your children why? 

By His Grace

It is Enough

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You think:
..It is enough to pay your bills on time.
..It is enough to abstain from drunkenness.
..It is enough to abstain from lewd behavior in public.
..It is enough to give to charity as often as you can.
..It is enough to know what the Bible has to say.
..It is enough to raise your children in the same behaviors as these.
..These things, being enough, you pursue what pleasure you desire.
.. It is enough to apply what laws of God provide you the prosperity of your perception.
.. It is enough to come alongside a select few and teach them the things you know.

My friend, if these things describe your life, you have a religion that has no power.  While all these things are perfectly sufficient in the world of men, they are but as filthy rags before the righteousness of the Holy Most High God in Christ Jesus.

What I have described are what men refer to as “good behaviours”.  But they do not begin to touch the things of a man born of God.

Every one of those things relies on “self” to accomplish.  Let the slightest complication come upon you, and there is no strength for defense.  If this is so in the things of the world, how much more so on the Great Day of Judgement?

The power of prayer, to such people, is left as if an emergency switch.  “If I run into trouble I will pray to God.  Perhaps he will help me in my day of distress.”  My friend, your day of distress is upon you even now, and you do not perceive it.  It has been well said, “Life is not a dress rehearsal”.

If those things are the way you run your life, how are you any different then the Israelites who fell dead in the desert?  What hope do you have that is more than theirs?

It is written, “They will have a form of religion, but deny the power of it”.  For, those who fell in the desert did not combine their belief with a holy faith.  They willingly desired the good things of men, while they willingly ignored the good and Holy things of God

Test yourself to see if this is true of you.  How often do you pray?  Do you crave the Living Word of the Bible?  Do you yearn for the sermon you missed, because you were too busy to attend?  Does your soul have confidence that your words are heard by the Most High God when you pray?  Are you absolutely sure, that when you die, you will be with Jesus the Christ forever?

May the living God, in Christ Jesus, open your eyes to understand what I have written.

Lessons Begun

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Things I have begun to understand in the last three days:

Any school boy can understand words, even good words.  But there is a place where good words begin to come alive in a man.  It is the latter which provokes this post.

Lowered eyes that cannot be raised, may be a sign of humility.  (Keyword being “cannot“. Shame can have the same effect.) While eyes that will not lower, often are accompanied by the chin.

________

As a man desires, so he will become.  The man who desires the things of this world, has already attained them.  Even though they are not yet in his hand.  Likewise, with the man who desires the things of Christ Jesus.

________

As a man compares himself to others, godliness leaves him.  While the man who is able to be satisfied with what he has, is capable reaching toward godliness.  The former sins by his comparison.  While the other opens himself to the peace of God.

________

In the matter of godliness: The young man may think he has attained.  But he does not know the extent of what is required.  The old man has begun the journey.  But no man can live long enough to attain all there is to attain.  Continuance for both must be established.

______________________

In summary:  Our dependence on the Holy Righteousness of Christ Jesus does not diminish with our accomplishments.  It only grows stronger the higher we climb on the Mountain of holiness.  Toward the pinnacle, the fall increases.  While at its base, pride remains king.

Woe to those who do not consider these things, for what they lose, no man can count.  And the sadness of their loss will never cease.   For if it is difficult for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?

Yet who can tell where a man may begin?  Those who remain In the Way of Christ may well accomplish great things.  Perhaps the “greatest” has not yet been born; whether of flesh or spirit.

These things have come to me as I have entered 61 years of living.  Why should those of lesser years give up now?  And these things have come to me in a relatively short three years.  What great hope lays, therefore, before my seniors?

It is necessary to encourage one another as the days grow more wicked.  As these things become known, it is not right that we should bottle them up. 

And it is not a righteous thought to believe that others will recognize the truth as they as they see it displayed in us.  Where is the wise word of counsel from those who know?  Laziness and fear are not godly traits.

By His Grace

Man is Good at Heart?

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The words we use mean everything.  Isn’t that their intent?  No one asks someone to turn the light by saying “I think the price of gas is too high”.  I know that is ridiculous, but it’s proof that the words we use matter.

There are far more subtle variations of these ridiculous statements.  And in these subtleties, “ridiculous” is no longer a usable word.  For if I point that word at the things of subtle variation, the pride of man will flare up.  So in striving to right the wrong of our vocabulary, I am forced to capitulate for the sake of understanding.

With that said, let me proceed to the meat of this post.

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?.” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Can it be said, with absolute clarity, that man is really good at heart?  Doesn’t it matter, the words we use?   Doesn’t it matter what we believe?

I don’t need to define the word “deceitful”.  And I can’t do better than to say the phrase, “beyond cure”.  And I realize I have no ability to form words that express the true meaning of “Good”.  For if I could do that, I could describe the very essence of the Most High God.

So when people tell me that man is really good at heart, my soul recoils in aversion.

But I will let mercy reign in me.  I will understand the intent of their meaning.  they mean to be kind and compassionate.  They mean to have hope in a chaotic and desperately deadly world.  But saying “Kumbayah” does not stop the lion from devouring our body.

May God have mercy, that I may relate the things that are true.

If society prospers, men can live in a relative peace.  But let society suffer a great loss, and we begin to see the deceitfulness of men’s hearts.  Greed will take hold of the most refined among men.  Mothers have even eating their babies during times of extreme famine.  And unspeakable wicked things have been done, when society has not been embraced by peace.

So those who believe that people are good at heart, believe what they do because their society is at present and relative peace.

I myself would rather believe the Most High God.  Not only because he has spoken that man is wicked to the core.  But also because I have seen his word play out.  Not only in the lives of utterly wicked men, but also in my own heart as he began to reveal His Holy ways to me.

With saying people are actually good at heart, a great urgency is removed.  Those who hear such things think to themselves, “I do wrong, but I am innocent of trespass.  For under the right circumstances I would choose what is pure and good.”   Therefore they blame others, for surely they are not at fault.

God says this is a lie.  No one is good and pure but God alone.  And as it is written, “Let God be true and every man a liar.”   And if man is truly good, then why was Jesus sent to die as a sacrifice for our sinful nature?

I have spoken with my best.  But there are two limits placed on my testimony here.  One is vocabulary.  The other is the truth revealed from God to my soul. 

I have spoken the things of God, as one man to another.  Therefore I ask the mercy of God, that understanding may come to those who read.

From Dark Perversity to Blazing Light

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It may seem odd to many people, for they see what I write.  But I am not a righteous man.  I have never been a righteous man.  Nor is it possible for me to say I am now a righteous man.  And I will wake in the morning a wicked fool.

You may think this is some kind of trick.  “Perhaps he’s about to make some play on words.”  But I am telling you what is true.

Take away the Spirit of Christ within me, and I immediately fall to the man I always have been, and far worse.  Do you doubt me?  Then I propose to you that you do not know the gospel of Christ Jesus.

Do you really think a man must be righteous in order to speak of the gospel with boldness?  Must a man be righteous, in himself, in order to speak against the wicked?  I tell you no on both counts.

The Spirit of Christ within me speaks these things.  I simply relay what I hear.  “Perspective” comes from him and I speak what I see.  And if I do what is right it is not because I desire to do all good things.  The Spirit of Christ tells me what I must do, and I do it.

I have come to lean on the Lord Jesus for everything.  And this is not to my credit.  He has taught me to listen to him in everything I do.  Even my desire to love him is not from me.  It is a gift from him for he has taught me to trust him.

“This is what is meant by, Unless the Lord builds the house the builder build in vain.”

You may think this is some silly attempt at humility.  If that’s what you think, you are deadly wrong.

Please let me ask you a question.  How can a man act in a heavenly way, when all he has ever known his wickedness and death?  that os to say: with what understanding can he lay aside all that he has been taught?  My mind retains the horrors of my own wicked sins.  But the love of God quiets me, as if a crying child.

It is as though a man wears a certain kind of glasses.  What he has known, discolors everything he sees.  Even as we read the Living Holy Scriptures, we are prone to interpret them according to our own knowledge.  And even while someone, with understanding, tells us what the Scriptures mean, we hear with our own wicked ears. 

What was born and thrived in wickedness cannot give birth to what is holy.  A wicked heart can only give birth to death.  It takes what is Holy to come and give birth to what is holy.  And a perverse parent cannot teach a child to be a righteous man. 

What is black cannot make itself white.  Pure whiteness has no darkness in it.  Things that are “not” will not find ability to become.  But God can raise the living dead to eternal life!

We need someone to listen to our very thoughts, and help us correct them as they appear.  This is what the Holy Spirit of Christ does in the believer.  And as a man sees how radically different truth is from his own perception, he begins to love the truth. 

This is how he desires to dress all men.  And I testify that he does this, if a man will only ask in humility. 

Men fear to come to him because they know they are wicked and they know he is true.  But they hate him for no reason.  He shows us what we are, and humility is born.

I have spoken what is true here.  It is eternally impossible for a man to be a Christian on his own.  This is why so many live such horribly pathetic Christian lives.  They have a “form of religion but deny the power of it”. 

To “deny” means more than to say that something is not true.  To deny the power of God, is to stubbornly raise your hand and stand in your place saying,  “No I will not obey!  I refuse to believe!  I refuse to receive what you offer”.

We are born in death.  But by his promised willingness, he transforms us into life.  Go to him consistently, and you will see that what I say is true. 

Present your ragged and useless soul to the living God in Christ Jesus His Holy Son, even in his Holy name.  In a short time you will begin to see what a vicious murderer of righteousness you are.

He has promised, and cannot lie, he will raise up all who come to him.  But do not be deceived by the liars of this world.  To be transformed from death to life is no pleasant task.

There are great tears to shed.  There is horror to endure as you see who you really are.  There is great fear to fall upon you.  And all this will come to you, far before the peace of God gives you strength.  But endure this Holy beating, and you will find he is compassionate and full of generous love.

Many have tried and failed.  They testify that the way of God is full of misery.  But they testify from the volume of their own wicked heart.  They did not come to love the living God in Christ Jesus. 

They remained in their own depravity and would not allow God to open their eyes.  They came before God that he might praise them for being good men. 

To their shock, they began to see what a lie they have been.  So they quickly turned away from him and screamed to all men, while pointing at God,  “He is wicked and his promises are not true!”  Thus they have proudly announced that God is dead.

So they testify to all men, the first and greatest lie:  “God demands too much of us and is not willing to lend a hand.  He demands holiness and gives us no tools with which to grasp.  His promises are not but a trick; an evil and unholy trick.”

They will receive the proper reward for their insolent and wicked perceptions.  And to add to the plight of these perverse men, is that they have taught others their perversity.  God will surely call them to a Blazing Fire of Holy accountability.

But if you desire life, understand what I have written.  If along the way you desire to return to death, you will know it and die.  But you are dead already; condemned before God for the wickedness that you are.  What then, can you possibly stand to lose? 

If you don’t go buy food, from those who sell it, you will not eat.  And man is not a garden of holiness in himself!