Tag: god

Deep Breath: No, the Church Isn’t Falling Apart

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(First published July 22, 2021)

In Matthew 16, Jesus takes his disciples somewhere you would not expect a Bible teacher, especially God Himself, to take His students: the “gates of hell.”

Caesarea Philippi, a city in northern Israel not far from the Sea of Galilee, was known to be given over to the worship of Greek gods. Jesus led His group to a cave north of the city reputed to be the birthplace of the Greek god, Pan (the city, in fact, had been called Panias until renamed by the Roman leader Herod Philip); it was believed that this cave was where fertility gods spent the winter before reemerging through the waters of the underground spring. Maybe those thin-skinned gods couldn’t handle the harsh Israeli winters, or perhaps they had to rest up for all the hijinks you can read about in any Greek mythology book. At any rate, the entrance to this cave was called “the gates of hell,” and this is where Jesus asked the question every person on earth must answer for him/herself:

“Who do you say that I am?”

Peter, as usual the first to speak (the tendency got him into trouble a few times), nailed it: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus praised Peter’s confession of faith and took it a step further: that on this rock (play on Peter’s name, which meant Rock) He would build His church and—here’s the text for this post—”the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Many scholars think Jesus was referring to Peter’s confession of faith in Him as the Messiah as the foundation of the modern church.

Let’s see how Jesus’ declaration has held up since He said it.

Jewish persecution: Stephen, arguably the first martyr, was stoned as Saul, a chief harasser of Jesus’ followers (later to become Paul, author of 2/3 of the New Testament), looked on. After this, a fire of Jewish persecution began that scattered disciples throughout Judea and Samaria. Imprisonment and beatings were common for followers of “The Way.” What happened? The church preached the gospel everywhere they went, and grew.

Roman persecution: Nero. Marcus Aurelius. Decius. Trebonianus Gallus. Valerian. We’re talking about Christians thrown to lions for public entertainment, covered in tar and set on fire as torches, sewn up in the skins of wild animals and released to dogs. What happened? The church met in the catacombs, and grew.

Through the years, opposition and persecution has come to the church in every part of the world where it has found a foothold: the Middle East, Europe, China, Japan, Russia, North Korea, India, Africa. The result? The church keeps growing.

In fact, the church has survived 2000 years of imprisonment, torture, executions, denial of basic human rights, threats, intimidation, losses of jobs and housing. Family members have been torn from each other’s arms and then beaten or killed in front of each other. Unspeakable torments have been inflicted on those who refuse to retract their faith in Jesus as the Messiah, Son of the living God.

2021. Because the internet, we now have current information on the plight of persecuted Christians all over the world; if you’re interested in the shocking facts, here is a “World Watch 2021” page with all the information. We know that 2.4 billion people on the planet identify themselves as Christians. Think of it: from that group of less than 20 ordinary men gathered at the “gates of hell” that day, 2.4 billion people now confess Jesus as Messiah, Son of the living God. According to Open Doors, 3.4 million of these Christians experience persecution for their faith, and last year more than 4700 were martyred.

However many times the gates of hell have attempted to prevail, they’ve never been able to avail.

This has all been a background perspective for the point I want to make in this blog. If you spend much time on social media these days (I actually try to spend progressively less as time goes on), you may think the church is teetering on the edge of extinction and battle stations have been called before all systems fail. I want to reassure you that it is not.

Last year when churches were shuttered during COVID lockdowns, it appeared, from the plethora of frantic posts, that American Christianity was collapsing. Not a whole lot of people countered these posts with the facts that restaurants, ballparks, nail salons, post offices, and yogurt shops were closed as well. Churches were shuttered because they were indoor gatherings of sometimes hundreds of people, sitting for lengthy periods, all breathing the same air during a pandemic of an airborne virus, but from these posts it appeared that floodgates of imminent demise were about to eradicate His people. Yet we had options to live stream services, meet outside, Zoom home fellowships, etc. so we could encourage each other, worship, and hear the Bible taught by our pastors (need I say, all these freedoms many of those on Open Doors’ World Watch page do not enjoy). Further, your church has been open again, probably for months now, as has mine. As are restaurants, ballparks, nail salons, post offices, and yogurt shops. The church survived, and I would not be surprised to find that it has grown since March 2020, much because so many online options were suddenly available.

Posts decrying the harassment and mistreatment of American Christians continue to fill social media feeds. The issues are many, but the sentiment is the same: we need to fight so the church doesn’t fall. This fighting seems to include re-posting sometimes untrue articles, writing elaborate and emotional diatribes against politicians/political parties, and shaming fellow believers who don’t rally to the cause.

Let me stop here and take a clarifying stand. I do not disagree with the truth that Christians are increasingly restricted, legislated against, untolerated, and verbally attacked these days. It is shocking to me to hear how viciously the word “Christian” (which means “little Christ”) can come out of a person’s mouth. It grieves me on behalf of the Lord who hung on the cross for those who spit His name. I do not deny that faith-based systems are under attack and that we are not being afforded the freedom of speech and exercise of our biblical beliefs that should be matter-of-fact under the Constitution of the United States. I know things are darkening as never before in this nation, and I agree that we cannot just roll over and let them happen without a squeak of complaint.

This also needs clarifying: these are not exactly Nero’s persecutions. At this point, persecution of the American church looks like Facebook jail, not torture chambers. No one is being publicly flogged or being forced to watch their children’s eyes gouged out. We know from the book of Revelation that for believers here during the Tribulation, these kinds of things will happen…and we can see how current restrictions and intolerances could lay the groundwork for that, but as of today in America, you are free to be a Christian walking down the street with your Bible in your hand, humming to the worship playlist in your AirPods.

So yes, we need to wisely mark the times in which we live and where they land on the Kingdom calendar. We need to pray, hard and long and consistently. We need to vote. We need to respect authority, but not agree to edicts that violate Scripture. We must be willing to share the gospel in conversational moments given to us by God in our friendships and family gatherings. We must use our social media to shine the light of Jesus and the hope of redemption.

Paul had good counsel for his disciple Timothy, who didn’t have Facebook or Twitter but ministered in a pretty challenging social climate just like us: “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:24-26. Paul told Timothy the ultimate goal was the repentance and redemption of those who opposed him.

Folks: “..on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Jesus doesn’t need our help to keep His church going. He’s not stressed, angry, or tearing His hair out. He’s not calling an emergency council of the Trinity: “Father, Holy Spirit, we’ve got a serious problem going on in the American church! Got any ideas?” He’s not appearing to us in dreams and visions urging us to repost rants and rally an army of stirred-up saints. He’s got this. In fact, He told us things would get crazy near the end (Matthew 24), so if things are getting crazy, guess what? Whether in a day, week, month, decade, or century, He’s about to call this thing done, because it’s been firmly under His control since Day 1. He will wrap it all up, and I’m thinking we will then realize we didn’t have to worry about our government or “the other side” of the political aisle destroying the church. Surprise! The gates of hell didn’t prevail. I’m thinking we will find ourselves wishing we’d used the time, instead, to gently do life with the people in our immediate face-to-face circles who needed to know Jesus loves and saves and would come again for those who wanted Him.

Let’s let Jesus keep His church going. He’s got a perfect track record since the day He committed to do so back at Caesarea Philippi. Let’s go and make disciples instead.

Hurricanes Night

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(First published February 19, 2024).

April 2022 was my last post here. Go ahead and read that first, then come back here. Ok so: sunset on homeschooling, “parenting”, being an at-home mom. As I read that post this afternoon, I am struck by the twilight melancholy notes of it. There was sadness, and there was trust for the next season’s “sunrise.”

I wish it had been that easy.

In June 2022, son #3 graduated community college, three AAs under his belt. The next day, son #4, my baby, crossed the stage at a local church, accepted his diploma–the end of my 16 year homeschool mom journey–and the storms immediately, as if pent up from all the years held back by grace, crashed in fury. For now nearly two years, we’ve barely caught our breath from one hurricane before another hit.

Less than 24 hours after son #4’s graduation, son #3 tested positive for COVID, infecting two brothers and a sister in law. Ten days after that, my husband, at high risk for many reasons and after more than 2 years of COVID safety, contracted it from a coworker. When I read his positive result, a word not usually uttered by “good Christian women” came impulsively out of my mouth. He got through it pretty well, with the help of Paxlovid, and we thought we were done with the monster.

July 2022. Hurricane: breakage in a way I’ve never experienced it before. (Fyi, just in case you’re speculating as to details? In all kindness, I’m confident your speculation is wrong, so maybe just keep on reading).

August. Son #3 moved away to begin the final two years of college. The night before he left town, he and I sat in the open back hatch of his car overlooking the ocean and I cried and cried over the brokenness that felt unfixable. Life was surreal and awful.

September. Hurricane: my husband, uncharacteristically sweating and rapidly fatigued most of the time, was diagnosed with long COVID. A few weeks later, he was in the hospital. Congestive heart failure, caused by the COVID virus. The cardiologist said if he hadn’t been admitted, he would soon have been dead. For three months he wore a portable defibrillator vest and we cringed for an alarm that would indicate cardiac arrest.

The holidays were hard.

January. Good reports from cardiac tests and doctor visits. My husband could return to work at the end of February.

June. Hurricane: my husband gets a call from HR that changes everything. We reel.

November. Hurricane: the next few weeks are foggy.

This chronology does not include the death of two beloved dogs I cared for constantly in their last months: one in January 2023, the other in December. Bookend deaths to the most tumultuous, difficult year I’ve ever lived. For some reason, I keep dreaming about them. In my dreams they are healthy, happy, running. Sometimes I wake crying, missing them so. They were lifetime dogs for our family, so there is real grief, but their deaths are also symbolic of larger losses. We’ve had a lot.

Lest you think all is loss, let me add in what’s missing. With each hurricane-lifequake came a settling when the ground stopped shaking. No one imploded, and no one was swallowed alive like Korah and his fam. There are some new horizons now that weren’t visible till the earth moved and the storm cleared.

My marriage grew, and my husband has a new love for Jesus: we read the Bible and pray together, he hasn’t missed a Tuesday men’s Bible study in forever, and he has a small army of believing brothers now who talk more on their group chat than my sisters and I do on ours. When the cardiologist said his heart had hardened from the CHF, we looked at each other and laughed because we know that actually the opposite has happened. God had purpose in the storms. We’re navigating and finding direction, making new memories with our most beloved ones. Learning new ways of being in relationship. It’s not easy, the letting go and the finding new footholds, but it’s worth it. Love is a disarming weapon. God had purpose.

There are next steps ahead for my husband’s career situation. God has been faithful. He’s had purpose.

I started school last March, during a lull in the hurricanes. I’m pursuing certification in biblical counseling. Pretty sure the hurricanes are preparing me for pretty much many situations that will be unraveled in my counseling office. Comforting others with the comfort I myself have received, indeed (2 Corinthians 1). God had purpose.

I love my job and my job loves me. It’s an opportunity to serve marginalized people again, to encourage frazzled and grumpy and lonely people, and to befriend coworkers I never would have met otherwise. We laugh and talk a lot (the circ desk is the loudest place you’ll find in our library. We don’t shush like we should). And…I’m surrounded by books. God had purpose.

I also know Jesus so, so, so much better. His presence has been real. His voice has been real. His Word has been alive. His faithfulness has been once again, and over and over again, proven. His provision of wise counsel and hold-you-up-when-you-can’t-stand prayers and sit-with-you-while-you-ugly-cry afternoons and hugs-that-wrap-you-in-love from my church sisters (and my biological sister) has been His here-on-earth lifeline.

When I wrote “Hurtin’ Hoopties”, more than one of the friends who shared their hurricane stories remarked that sanctification is not easy, but it is so worth it. Yeah, I’ve lived that now. And I understand that Jesus often makes a mess before He makes a miracle, cause I’ve seen it a bunch since that sunset season nearly two years ago.

God has purpose in all, all, all of this. It’s been a long, rough, stormy night since that sunset, and I don’t know when dawn will break, but as a friend told me long ago, paraphrasing Psalm 30, “I don’t know when your morning will come, butit will come. And there will be joy when it does.” I know Jesus has authority over wind and waves, and when to calm them.

This is the section of Scripture God gave me on one of the worst days ever in summer 2022, Scripture that is now forever imprinted on my soul and which served as the lighthouse for me in all of the storms. It’s on a framed print in my office now. It’s mine. I’ve lived it. I own it.

“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

Isaiah 43:1-3 NKJV

Worth-ship

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(Originally posted May 26, 2013)

Recently I read a blog which asked readers to write a couple sentences about a sermon that dramatically sticks out in their head and why. Over years of attending church, I can think pretty quickly of hundreds of good messages I remember sitting in, and a handful that I will always remember. But I think because of the fact it was NOT at my home church, I remember one in particular; it really stands out for me. This morning I woke up with it again in my head and decided it was time.

Here’s the passage: 

And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”

But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” Matthew 26:6-13

So the church I was visiting for this particularly memorable message was Edgewater Christian Fellowship in Grants Pass, Oregon. It’s the church we went to when we were visiting my brother and mom, an offshoot of Jon Courson’s Applegate Christian Fellowship. Homey, friendly, biblically sound, neat worship. At any rate, it was April 2012. The pastor (the worship pastor, actually, was teaching that day) pointed out something in the story I’d never seen before. 

Here are the 12 apostles, those closest to Jesus, who spend every day with Him, who by now know He is Messiah, the Son of God, who have seen innumerable miracles at His hand–the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead raise to life–who look on Mary’s lavish expression of worship and snarl, “Why this WASTE?” 

A waste. They were saying–these inner apostles–that Jesus wasn’t WORTH THAT.

Yet who knows what Mary had been delivered from? We don’t know much about her life before she met Jesus. We see her at His feet while Martha serves…and then in this passage we see her pouring out what represented her dowry, her hopes of finding a husband, in worship over His head. Her worship acknowledged the depth of her salvation and her recognition of His lordship over her life.

The pastor went on to talk about how many inside the church sometimes look on those who worship, or serve, or pray, or evangelize, or teach, or whatever, with lavish expression and say–“Ok, now that’s over the top. Tone it down a little. You’re a little too passionate about this. Why this WASTE of your (time, money, family, etc)?”

What they really are saying is, “He’s not WORTH THAT.” 

And sadly, I realize I am sometimes guilty of this. Truth is, we all are.

Yet worship? is really WORTH-ship. Whatever your expression of it–whatever ministry you serve Him through, whether it’s a recognized church ministry or it’s praying for and reaching out to your coworkers or praying for and raising up your kids–however you express your gratitude to Jesus for saving you, that is showing Him how WORTH He is to you. 

Even in actual corporate worship at church, we judge how others express their love for Him. Sure, there are times when my mind wanders a thousand places and I miss genuine connection. And then there are times, particularly during youth worship when the room is dark and I can sit somewhere by myself, curled up in my chair, tears running down my face, that I really WORTH-ship. But how often, for example, do we look at those who (pick something that bugs you) raise their hands, shout, pump their fists in the air, stand while the rest of us sit, whatever, and think–“Ok, now that’s over the top. They’re embarrassing themselves.” Can you hear the whisper beneath that? “He’s not WORTH THAT.” Maybe someone thinks that of me. Oh well. I know what I’ve been delivered from. 

Interesting ending here–let’s go back to the 12 apostles. What did Judas do? Betray Him, with a kiss. What did they do when Jesus was arrested? Flee. What did Peter do? Deny Him, three times. Yes, Peter was restored and went on to lead the church. And together with Paul, these 11 turned the world upside down with the gospel. Their relationships with Jesus were genuine and full. But only John was there at the cross. 

Oh, and Mary. She was there. Because He was worth it. And because of her relentless, lavish worth-ship her story has been told for 2000 years as a memorial. 

What’s He worth to you? 

Warned

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(First published August 4, 2020)

Have you ever seen a movie in which, perhaps early on, one character warns another about the future? Perhaps it is regarding a choice he/she will face, or a relationship, or an event, but it usually seems unlikely. We can’t see how that could ever occur given what we know so far about the people in the movie. By the time the choice/relationship/event faces our character, the plot will have filled in all the pieces we could never have foreseen and we can see why that warning was so necessary. We’ve seen movies that roll out many variations on these plots, and we can never totally be sure how the warned character will opt when all comes to pass. But the warn-er, it’s clear, believes the warn-ee is capable of recognizing the situation when it appears and making the right choice. And one thing above all: the warn-er wants the warn-ee to win, to get it right, to avoid whatever bad would result from the wrong choice.

Friends, I would suggest we are living in a real-life rollout of the above. And yep, this is where I talk Scripture. Please don’t scroll and skip. Please. I really want us all to win from taking heed to the warnings before us.

The Old Testament is full full full of prophecies about the near and far future of those who are embedded in its pages. These are WAY beyond the scope of this ordinary blog post, but suffice to say God made it clear in these 39 books that not only would His Son come as Messiah to pay for the sin of the world, giving us opportunity for eternal relationship with Him, but that there would be a final day of judgment. Consider us warned.

The New Testament continues this conversation (the Bible is completely cohesive!) as Jesus proceeds, in the four gospels, to tell us more about “that day” than anyone else. He talks frankly about heaven, hell, and final judgment—at which time those who’ve refused Him will have no last-minute opportunity to say, “Oops! Sorry! Wait! I change my mind!” He makes it clear that He, as Savior, is the only way to heaven, then dies to pay our way and rises again to prove it. He returns to heaven but assures us He will be back—this time as Judge. Warned.

Jesus also tells us what the days that precede His coming will be like. Although scholars debate terms like premillennial, postmillennial, and etc—it’s clear that before He returns there will be a time of (I’d say “unprecedented,” but that word has been overused to nauseous cliche this year) stunning upheaval on the earth and in the skies. Before that, though, we will see what He calls “the beginning of birth pains”—conflicts among nations, earthquakes, famines, plagues. Warned.

Further on in the NT, Paul, Timothy, Peter, John, and Jude give us more information on what to look for in this “almost-to-the-end” season of planet Earth. They give us glimpses of false teachers nearly indistinguishable from others in our church flocks, “terrible times” of greed, disobedience, violence, blasphemy of the name of Jesus, lawlessness, counterfeit signs/wonders done by false prophets and ultimately the person called the anti-Christ. They tell us it will be absolutely critical in those days to hang on to the doctrines of the Bible, testing all things against its plumb line. Urge us to endure even in the face of all these events. Soberingly admonish us that not all who start this walk with Jesus will make it safely to the end, because many will fall prey to the lies and drift away to eventual destruction on that day He returns as Judge. Warned.

So we can WIN.

Hmmmmm.

I am far, far away from setting any times or dates—that is one hundred percent impossible per the very words of Jesus. But 1 Thessalonians 5 tells us that, because we have spiritual understanding as born-again believers, we will be able to tell when these signs pop up and point us to Jesus’ second coming and the eventual end of this world. And people—sisters, brothers—those signs are here.

The reason the word “unprecedented” has become a nauseous cliche is because, well, so many events of recent years and especially recent months can be described no other way. If you can, right now, hop onto any news site, read headlines, then hop back into this blog and tell me you don’t see occurrences that fall into the lists above…well…you can’t.

So here’s the point: if we are indeed seeing the times we’ve been warned about…this is the time to take heed. He may be days, months, or decades from splitting the skies and calling this thing done, but there’s no time like today to prepare for it. And just as Jesus and the rest of the gang told us what we would see as His judgment drew close, they also told us the only two possible outcomes of that judgment:

  1. HEAVEN: for those who acknowledge Jesus as Savior (the only way into a relationship with God, because of His sinless life and atoning death on the cross), admit their sin, accept His forgiveness, and allow Him to be Lord of their entire lives. THIS IS THE WIN!
  2. HELL: for those who refuse the above. I have stood at the gravesides of those who have lived their lives in this defiance and shuddered at what they began enduring the instant their souls departed their bodies.

For the record, there is no purgatory (the concept is never once addressed in Scripture. Check out Luke 16: 19-31, note v. 26).

No greasy grace.

No “when-I-hear-the-trumpet-I’ll-confess-my-sin.”

No “I don’t think God would send me to hell just because I ___________.”

No “a God of love would never hate anything.”

And note: just because you may not believe in God, doesn’t make any of this change. You may not believe in electricity, but that doesn’t make it not real. (Try not believing in the law of gravity—did you spend the day floating? Nope.)

Jesus is coming back, and we will all end up one of two places for all eternity.

Folks, we’ve been warned. And if you never heard any of this before and truly have been blithely clueless until you read this post, well, you’re warned now. The signs we’ve been told to look for are easy to find—a click away in uncensored video format, pretty much instantaneously, from anywhere in the world. Let’s not get caught up in the circumstances of them and miss the big picture to which they’re pointing. Let’s not miss it when the choice we’ve been warned about is right in front of our faces.

Life may feel like a drama most of the time these days, but I assure you it is not a movie. Our warnings are much more serious, and our choices eternal. God, the prophets, the apostles, and I—we all want you to WIN.