Giving Keys to Thieves

After church one day a few years ago, a solid Christian woman began to be overcome with feelings of extreme sadness. A few of us, my wife included, went with her into a room to intercede for her away from the crowds.

As we prayed, a demonic presence appeared to manifest. She started to growl, drool and claw at the floor like a wild animal. Honestly, I was kind of freaked out. Though we eventually saw her receive deliverance from the evil spirit, within a few weeks it happened again. When I got a call about her experiencing her third bout with the demon, I sensed God telling me to ask her if she had been harboring bitterness and resentment toward a certain family member.

Unfortunately, this is not the only time I have ministered to brothers and sisters in Christ where prolonged bitterness and an unwillingness to forgive allowed evil spirits to have their oppressive way. Sometimes these Christians heard audible, evil, and berating voices, and one believer even heard voices telling him to do harmful, malevolent things to others.

In Ephesians 4:26-27, Paul makes sense of this situation. He writes, “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” The word translated “opportunity” in this verse (topon) has a lexical range that includes “place,” “region,” “seat,” and “opportunity.” Jesus says in John 14:2 that He is going to God the Father to prepare a topon, a dwelling place, for His disciples.

So basically, remaining bitter with someone and refusing to forgive him or her is like handing a thief the key to our house. Specifically, Paul tells us this thief is the devil, and the house for which the key is made is our body. To be sure, handing over the key to our house is not the same as signing over the deed to that person. Just because someone has a key to our house does not mean he or she owns it. We still own the house.

If you have been born again, God hasbought you with a price and your body has become the temple of the Holy Spirit. The devil cannot own or possess something that is owned or possessed by God. However, if you have given away the key to your house to him, he has the ability to cause much damage to your life. Again, as Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). Knowing this, why would you willingly give the key to your house to the thief?

Though what you just read may be outside of your tradition, the early Christians affirmed that unrepentant Christians can be oppressed and demonized by evil spirits.

Holy Scripture teaches us that there are certain invisible enemies that fight against us. And it commands us to arm ourselves against them. … We receive certain initial elements and (as it were) seeds of sins from those things that we use agreeably to nature. However, when we have indulged them beyond what is proper and have not resisted the first movements to intemperance, then the hostile powers size the occasion of this first transgression. They incite and press us hard in every way. They seek to extend our sins over a wider field. – Origen 225CE, ANF Volume 4, p.   [CD-ROM]

Thankfully, all of the individuals experienced full and lasting deliverance once they repented of the sins of bitterness and unforgiveness. They experienced the Spirit of God cast the evil spirits out from their bodies through the power, authority, name and blood of Jesus Christ. These Christians felt incredible spiritual and physical relief as a result of the repentance and deliverance that had taken place. One of them was finally able to start having a full night’s sleep after roughly two decades of restlessness.

What about you? Has a root of bitterness been allowed to run deep in your life for too long? Is there someone you need to forgive?

Today is the day for reconciliation. Today is the day for freedom. Today is the day to reclaim the keys of your house.

Grace Pt. 3 - Through Jesus' Eyes

My wife often teases me about how many toothpicks I carry in my car. The habit started a few years ago after having lunch with a buddy of mine.

I ate a hamburger that day, and when I got back into my car I happened to look in the mirror. What I saw horrified me. A huge piece of lettuce was stuck between two of my front teeth.

The lunch lasted at least a couple of hours, and I finished my burger after the first 45 minutes. So that gigantic leaf was waving hello to my friend for well over an hour, and he just let it happen. He never said anything.

I get it. It can be awkward to point out people’s flaws, but if you’re like me, you’d rather them say something than let you keep on looking like a slack-jawed-yokel. But, for a while ignorance often does feel like bliss.

Have you ever heard someone teach that because of God’s grace, when God sees Christians, He sees them through the lens of the blood of Jesus? Maybe they extrapolated on that thought and declared that God therefore sees Christians as always only holy, righteous and forgiven in His sight. After all, scripture does use those words about what God’s grace has done for those who are in Christ.

But pause for a minute and humbly dwell on this question: Is that always what scripture says God sees when He looks at Christians?

Why does James call the Christians he’s writing to adulterers in James 4:4 if they are always holy, righteous and forgiven in God’s sight?

Why does John say in 1 John 1:8-9 that if any Christian claims to be without sin they are a liar and the truth is not in them, but if they confess their sin, God will forgive and cleanse them – if they are always holy, righteous and forgiven in His sight?

Maybe someone out there is taking a low view of the inspiration of scripture and thinking, “Those scriptures don't clearly show God’s personal view of Christians.”

Well, if you’re a Christian, do you believe that Jesus is fully God? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is fully God? Then what about when they speak as one in scripture to Christians? Does that count as God speaking? If so, how do you feel about the words of rebuke and warning Jesus and the Holy Spirit spoke to five of the seven churches in the book of Revelation?

Here’s what one early Christian had to say:

Unravel the meaning of “what the Spirit says to the churches.” He imputes to the Ephesians “forsaken love;” reproaches the Thyatirenes with “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;” accuses the Sardians of “works not full;” censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; rebukes the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general warnings to repentance—under threats of vengeance, it is true; but He would not utter threats of vengeance to one unrepentant if He did not forgive the repentant. – Tertullian 195CE, Volume 3, p. 1153 [CD-ROM]

To the early Christians, Jesus really saw and Jesus really knew. And as usual, Jesus didn't waste words. If He issued a grave warning, it was because He meant it. If He offered the opportunity to repent, it was also because He meant it.

Here’s what I think is going on in the modern church: God’s grace is so amazing that many Christians have become caught up in its majesty. Then, they overstate what scripture says grace actually does. Unfortunately, this love of an overstatement of God’s grace has led to some rather unfortunate natural conclusions.

For instance, some teach that since Jesus died for all sin, everyone is already forgiven. Everyone on the planet. People just need to come to this awareness. Basically, salvation is through knowledge of God’s gracious act of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Modern Gnosticism. 

Some Christian teachers proclaim that since everyone is already forgiven, to ask forgiveness for anything is actually a rejection of grace.

Others teach that since every Christian is already holy, behaviors like homosexuality and other forms of sex outside of marriage are not sins for Christians.

In this series of blogs about grace, I’m going to be discussing several things the Bible says that grace does, and some things modern Christendom believes grace does that it actually doesn’t. I hope you’ll join me on this journey.

But for now, will you pray with me this beautiful, soul-searching prayer of David, so that we may align ourselves with the truth of God?  

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. - Psalm 139:23-24

Grace Pt. 1 - Grace for Repentance

About a week ago, a friend of mine for almost a decade died of an overdose. It was tragic news that immediately brought about feelings of both sadness and anger.

As I’ve experienced in the past, addiction is complex and wages war against the mind, body and soul. In addition to the actual demonization that can often accompany addiction, one lie that the devil frequently convinces addicts of is that they are fated to be enslaved forever.

The early Christians completely rejected the idea of fate. Tatian wrote, “The demons introduced fate, a flagrant injustice. They teach that … the murderers and the murdered, the wealthy and the needy – they are all the offspring of the same fate (Tatian 160CE, Vol. 2, p. 68).”

Some may feel chained to a fate of addiction, but grace says otherwise.

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. – Titus 3:3-7

Enslaved addicts are no match for God’s grace. As powerful as addictions can be, God’s grace is more powerful. As stuck as an addict may feel, God’s grace can lift us out of the worst quicksand.

So why do some people remain stuck and some see their chains loosed? God has generously given everyone the grace to repent, and He has also graced us with free will. The Lord God implores both Christians and non-Christians alike to put the grace of repentance into practice.

These things, beloved, we write unto you, not merely to admonish you of your duty, but also to remind ourselves. For we are struggling on the same arena, and the same conflict is assigned to both of us. Wherefore let us give up vain and fruitless cares, and approach to the glorious and honored rule of our holy calling. Let us attend to what is good, pleasing, and acceptable in the sight of Him who formed us. Let us look steadfastly to the blood of Christ, and see how precious that blood is to God, which, having been shed for our salvation, has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. – Clement of Rome 95CE, Volume 1, p. 11-12 [CD-ROM]

So with the grace of God's repentance set before you, may I ask: What sinful practice or mindset have you become convinced is to be your fate? An addiction? A wrong you feel you can never forgive? A cycle of fractured relationships? A destructive secret compulsion?

May you believe in chain-breaking power of the grace of repentance. And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Colonoscopies, Fried Chicken and Repentance

Most men are pressured to get their first colonoscopy around age 50. I had the pleasure of receiving mine about 7 years ago at age 29.

It all started one week when I had some of the best fried chicken and fried okra from a great barbecue joint down the street. The next day I ate a large pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars, and the constipation had taken full effect. This story is already gross, I know, but it gets worse. I bled every time I went #2 that week.

But instead of telling Stephanie, I just kept on doing what I was doing. And the second week was quite similar to the first. Tasty, yet excruciatingly painful. Eventually, though, I let her in on my struggles and she gave me a thorough tongue-lashing. It was well deserved.

According to medical professionals, you shouldn’t bleed every time you poop. It is probably a sign of some bad plumbing.

So I went to the doctor and got set up for a colonoscopy, which freaked me out. But, of course, the actual procedure was not anywhere as frustrating as the colonblow. You know, the preparatory drink they give you to cleanse your system that keeps you up all night? It’s the worst.

My problem, evidently, was that I consumed way too much fried food, pizza and soft drinks, and not enough fiber and water. That, and I had developed a case of diverticulosis, where small pouches had formed in the wall of my colon.

The doctor basically gently rebuked me for about 10 minutes about my poor eating habits and need for greater self-control. At first I felt myself getting defensive, but then I realized that this man was trying to save me. He wasn’t against me, he was for me. But in order to be for me, he had to call me to repentance.

Repentance? From what sin? James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” I knew I shouldn’t have been eating that way, and yet I kept on doing it for so long. Living in a self-destructive way, all because it made me feel… good?

I was being a bad steward of the body God gave me and I needed to repent.

2^nd Century writing the Shepherd of Hermas says this about repentance:

Repentance is great wisdom. For he who has sinned understands that he acted wickedly in the sight of the Lord. He remembers the actions he has done, and he repents. He no longer acts wickedly, but he does good generously. He humbles… his soul because he has sinned. – Hermas 150CE, Volume 2, p. 22

For some reason, our culture has turned repentance into a negative word. Even large circles of Christianity have cleverly maneuvered their way around scripture to develop systems of theology that insinuate that repentance is no longer necessary because of the cross.

Let me assure you that’s not what the earliest Christians believed. And that’s not what the Bible teaches. Repentance brings life, heath, peace and reconciliation. So may you experience the wisdom of repentance today!