Spiritual – violence necessary in Christianity, Part III....NOTE: Blogs back Tuesday, 7/5/2229/6/2022 Consider the second truth applicable from Matthew 11:12 and Luke 16:16: spiritual forcefulness characterizes citizens of God’s kingdom. True, if you ask the secular person what kind of people want God, he likely says they:
When she lay dying, and heard someone at her bedside say God would help her, actress Joan Crawford gathered strength to snap, “Don’t you dare ask God to help me.” Last Words, online. In reality, those who come to Jesus, have grit unknown to those who refuse to accept the self-denial Jesus demands as basis of discipleship. They:
More importantly, those seeking GOD:
For most people then and now, ALL they want from God: benefits for this life; help when needed; sympathy in disaster; assurance in death. Otherwise, leave them alone. Those who come to God want him:
You have to be forceful if, in this degraded age, and fast degrading further, you want Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, no matter how popular or unpopular it makes you, however many friends it gains you, or loses, whether you find yourself in a group of Christians witnessing, or yourself ALONE holding fast to Christ. All that matters is Christ, and Christ and Christ! End Part III
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Consider the first truth applicable from Matthew 11:12 and Luke 16:16: Spiritual violence characterized Christ’s every attack on Satan’s presence in humanity.
Like the German guns sweeping Omaha Beach D-Day, June 6, 1944, every available satanic problem confronted Jesus: sickness, deformities, demon-possession, disunity, leprosy and death among them, death the unconquered enemy of living things. And in every collision of wills between satanic strength and Christ’s spiritual Grace, Jesus WON the battle. When he said:
When he said:
Jesus WON. Every time. Without fail. And SO ON! Each challenge summoned spiritual POWER excelling the spiritual problem masquerading as physical disability. None of the damage Satan caused could be:
Spiritual violence had to explode in Satan’s face to banish his presence, to cause his panic, to bring his flight, leading his underlings away ashamed and humiliated, they yapping their sympathy, he cursing them to SHUT UP! Almighty God came in Christ demanding Satan’s evacuation of every place he had usurped. And, Praise God, he had no choice but to obey the order to GET OUT! End Part II Matthew 11:12 and Luke 16:16 use a single Greek word translated in Matthew as violence and in Luke as force. The Master’s reference teaches spiritual truth Christians often overlook.
First, however, while the texts offer difficulty, it’s minimized by interpreting them in the context of Christ’s over-all ministry, particularly in those men and women God used to establish Christianity in history. Remember the rule of interpretation: obscure or difficult passages should be studied by clear-meaning ones. Joseph, step-father of, and Mary, mother of Jesus, modeled spiritual force. John the Baptist, Jesus and the Apostles embodied it, initiating, directing and empowering the church. John fierce-force; Jesus spiritual grace-force; the Apostles, once Baptized in the Holy Spirit, Christ’s Vicar-force, like elephants trampling opposition, like tree-trunk shredders, chewing up and spitting out in little pieces any satanic obstruction faced. Consider others in that first-generation of leaders and the force they expressed:
And on and on. Hardened by confronting life-circumstances; softened by experiencing God’s Grace; quickened by following the Holy Spirit’s leading, they blazed the spiritual trail we follow today. But who now would claim to rival their Spiritual Force? Let alone equal it? Let alone surpass it? At our best, we dim lights can only study Bible passages to some depth, hoping to cast SOME scriptural illumination to those listening. In the next blogs, great truths surfaced in the words violent and force. Ted Helsett enjoyed a career as explorer and leader of expeditions into British Columbia’s wilderness. Tested by the unforgiving terrain, sometimes close to death when challenging it, he survived to tell tall, true tales of his life there, the source of his calling and purpose.
He found in the wilds a kinship that the Christian finds in knowing Christ and the:
However, consider the disciples’ superior life. First, where Helsett found himself alone one night in the forest, having broken his leg, he found nature unconcerned, uncaring. And only by his own exhausting effort did he stay alive till rescued. The Christian remains alone only by his own mistaken choice. For Jesus promised to oversee and remain with us, WHATEVER happens, by sending the Holy Spirit as our companion John 14:15-18. Second, while Helsett found no help but his own determination to stay alive, the Christian never suffers that desperation. The Holy Spirit remains our constant helper, comforter and guide. We may weaken; He never does. We may stray from Jesus; the Holy Spirit constantly remains true to the Savior’s teaching and purpose. Third, where his wilderness disaster left Helsett in a hospital for six months, and in rehabilitation for two years, no life circumstance ever eliminates the Christian’s spiritual role. Whatever. Our purpose is always fulfilled by our personal commitment to Christ, not by any particular service we render. Fourth, while Helsett had a slight limp to remind him of his close call with death, the believer has better memories. We may not have the apostle’s physical reminders of Christian service, I Corinthians 4:9-13, II Corinthians 11:23-33. But all we have experienced has left us convinced of God’s faithfulness. Any work tried for him has left us humbled by his Grace accepting our poor effort. Any offense against us by others has left us more than willing to forgive based on God’s instant forgiveness of any sin we commit. Any effort left short of perfection is useful since Christ’s all-pervasive Grace completes it for us. And on and on. No experience anyone has in a career, whatever it is, however successful and rewarding, will ever compare with the JOY Jesus gives every believer in his Name. Reader’s Digest, 70 Most Unforgettable Characters, pp. 245-246 An American paratrooper found himself lost on D-Day. He finally saw a farmhouse at which he stopped, knocked and asked for admission. The woman hurried him in and hid him in a closet.
An SS troop soon arrived, found the American, seized the farmer and ordered them both outside. There they shot the Frenchman dead and put the American in a small shed and bolted the door. After he escaped confinement and efforts by the SS to kill him, he appeared again at the farmhouse door…knocked softly…met by the widow, pale-faced, eyes swimming. “Will you hide me?” he whispered. The very man who caused her troubles at her door again, begging for help again. What would we do? SHE replied, “Yes, be quick.” Turning the story around, we see a parable of Christ’s appeal to Christians. He repeatedly knocks on our door, seeking our:
Even if we’ve said NO before. Even if we’ve said YES, but forgot our promise. Even when we’ve tried our best, and failed. He returns and asks again, in patient persistence, “Will you serve me now?” His return to us is a no-brainer, really. For, however:
Jesus has no one more capable of being his witnesses than those:
Who but those enriched by grace can be witnesses of it to those without it? Who but those filled with the Holy Spirit can explain the formidable nature of his security than those possessing it? Who but those assured of a new body and brain in God’s new world can be confident in giving hope to those so sure to die? Christians, let us rise to our spiritual enfranchisement. If we do not, WHO can? If we don’t NOW, WHEN will we? We can learn something about God from psychology, philosophy, history, archaeology and economics. But if we want to know about God all we NOW CAN…we must read his word, pray over his word, meditate on his word, assimilate his word until we embody his word.
Why then would we first seek answers about God in disciplines that teach only partial truths about him when:
Three stories from WWII offer such illustrations. In Asia, Allied women in internment camps, AKA concentration camps, decided to be decent with each other for the sake of their children. In Asia Allied military personnel along the River Kwai found wholesale CHANGE in attitudes and behavior by studying the Gospels. In Germany’s death camps women under the tutelage of God’s word taught by Betsy and Corrie ten Boom produced blooming spiritual life in bodies wracked with disease and starvation. Why did the women at Kuching learn to simply “get along” with each other, while those in Germany saw spiritual life bloom in unmistakably depraved conditions? And the men in the Kwai camp experience the same spiritual revival affecting daily life? One reason. The men in Asia, and the women in Germany began a study of the New Testament, which led to personal change. While at Kuching, Catholic sisters lived with the internees and offered comfort. That was, that is, that is always going to be the difference between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Christianity. Protestants read, study and apply God’s word to life, and CHANGE occurs. While mere religious leaders simply make the best of bad situations. Which has historically been the response of Catholic leaders to their people: suffer patiently in grace. While preachers who persistently proclaim God’s word see the Holy Spirit challenging people to change from what they ARE to what Christ leads them to BECOME: living epistles read by others. A disturbing question: what kind of preaching do we see in Christendom today? Straight from God in your-face truth that challenges us to CHANGE ourselves and, therefore, change life, or pleasant homilies that make people feel comfortable with religion? The homosexual (HL) lobby lies every time it takes a breath. Refusing to believe the FACTS: that only 1% to 2% of the human population is homosexual, and that by perversion, Romans 1:18-32 (18-27 the sexual result and 28-32 the moral result), they demand a larger number, though they manufacture it out of illusion.
They understand that God limited sexuality in the animal kingdom to male and female—the lesser creation. But inconsistently say he created so much distance between the human sperm and egg that any number of genders could be produced! That distance allows any sexuality in the newly born, and everyone equal to the original male and female—if such was ever intended! Therefore, God was wrong when calling creation with male and female leading “very good” Genesis 1:31. That means homosexuals are born that way, not made that way and are as natural in their sexuality as heterosexuals. If any blame occurs, let God assume it for not being as clear in his human creation as he was in the animals. That’s always Satan’s way: blame God. Wrong. Everyone comes from the womb WHAT GOD intended him to be. Any influence that makes a person question his gender, at any age, is a satanic attack on God’s miracle of birth. Satan won’t stop the human race from having sex—to him, the more the better—the more depraved the better example of our animal ancestry, he says. But through the HL Satan has found a mouthpiece in a left-wing liberal President as a willing toady. And here Christians find themselves under attack as “intolerant reactionaries.” Much as his generation considered Jeremiah “a liar” when teaching God’s truth, Chapters 41-44, especially 43:1-3. Nothing being said now by the HL about Christians differs from what the Hebrews said about Jeremiah. Our society, like his, said no Absolutes existed. That every generation had to make its own rules as it went along. Even if in making existential decisions they spit in God’s face. Christians…accept the charge of intolerance in opposition to the HL SINCE in defending Genesis 1 we choose to believe God. Let us never demean him by being merciful to those who want their Self-Will to replace God’s truth. Two postal carriers, each in his own mail truck, took offense with the other in a small Maryland community. In public view they began banging on the other’s window, then used their vehicles as battering rams against each other. They continued the battle around the corner, spilling mail from both vehicles on the street.
Residents called 911, and the Post Office sent a third vehicle to collect the scattered mail and deliver it to customers. Hopefully, both of the offending drivers were fined and sued for damages by the Post Office—maybe even fired. Since the route’s regular carrier was on vacation, residents couldn’t identify the warring offenders. No report on the cause was given. San Diego U-T, 6/12/22 The account does have spiritual lessons. One, Christians have often been better at fighting each other than confronting Satan. And the result is a lot of spilled testimony abut Jesus that gets trampled in the conflict, not delivered to sinners. Shame on Christians who would rather condemn believers just as serious in serving Christ as they than commit to offering Jesus our best personal witness to awaiting sinners. Two, no Christian ever goes off-duty as Christ’s witness. And that’s just as well…since, despite our weaknesses, no other person can ever be as good a witness of Christ as Christians. Only we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the Master’s testimony to the unsaved. Therefore, Christians…let’s commit to “shaping up as disciples.” Let’s live our claims. Rise to our privileges. Boast only in the Christ. Bear patiently with other believers. Presently accept our differences about God. Knowing he will eliminate ANY difference at Judgment so we can ALL be in ABSOLUTE AGREEMENT on every point forever! A study published in Health Affairs looked at the basic reason health costs have soared. Previous studies blamed the consolidation of medical providers. This one noted the real reason: of the 19 regions with the highest hospital costs, 11 existed in California, the “most regulated state” of the nation. That statistic shocked those who study such things. For REGULATION had the opposite INTENDED effect. San Diego U-T 6/7/22
Really, however, it’s a no-brainer. If you do basic math, you realize that more regulations require more regulators. Which require bigger bureaucracy, which require more bureaucrats to draw salaries, which require higher prices charged to those receiving services. But some people are too intelligent to do simple math. They dream of the outcome they WANT achieved by their bloated bureaucracies—and FEEL they’ll achieve them. Don’t bother them with details! The nature of bureaucracy doesn’t matter—secular, medical, business or religious—each becomes in itself the reason for its existence, an all-consuming absolutist organization that considers its rules sacrosanct, its decisions final and submission to its presence inviolable. Jesus faced it every day of his ministry, confronting intelligent men with no give in their take, no ability in their flex and absolutely not an inch of accommodation in their perspective. That’s why the KISS rule applies to administration: keep it simple, stupid—but never to teaching and preaching. No one ever suffered brain-damage from messages HARD to understand. But no limit exists to the number of people experiencing brain-death by hearing the KISS method applied to the teaching of God’s word. That’s my opinion. What’s yours? Phil Mickelson, San Diego’s contribution to Pro Golf, told a story that explained Arnold Palmer’s popularity with the public. It happened in Palmer’s last U.S. Open in 1994, while he signed autographs in the Volunteer Tent. He looked at each person, smiled at all, giving a “thumbs-up” to each “thank you.” Furthermore, he wrote his name legibly. He explained to Mickelson: never look at people as if they’re invisible; and always take time to make a good first impression—since THEY make it possible to play golf for a living. Arnie, pp. 238-239
It occurs to me that Jesus only once wrote in public: that in two strokes, and the added stroke because religious hypocrites pressed him to make a mistake they could use against him. Instead, whatever he scrawled in the dirt those two times sent them reeling, the oldest to the youngest. Had we been among them, we would have followed them out! Then, in deathless words he SPOKE, he:
That attention to the guilty lady—and, by the way, since the Law of Moses demanded death for both partners in fornication, where was the male?—proved that Jesus saw INDIVIDUALS, not CROWDS. No one ever walked by him unseen, as if they weren’t there, whatever their bodily affliction, whatever their soul’s corruption. Shouldn’t we “go and do likewise?” |
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