marked by faithfulness not vindication

nothing grows a heart colder to love than lawlessness and injustice. it seems when evil prevails in spite of our prayers and supplications to god for vindication and a righteous king to take his throne on the earth we forget the promises of a faithful and patient god towards our brethren who are in need of grace and mercy. jesus' promise still remains, "the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. this gospel of the kingdom of god shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations,..." (matthew 24:12-14).

part 3: stepping out of the goo

...i have found that there is a lot of demonic activity that is being written and absorbed by our culture (james 3:14-15). not because demons and satan are fun or entertaining but because what is presented as an option by this perverted creature is a picture that to most of us seems ideal. the natural strives for the ideal, do you hear me, STRIVES for the ideal rather than the REAL. the natural will slowly replace reality to many because that is our tendency anyway, to look for the natural as truth. we have been created to search and seek but not search and seek alone but we also hold a capacity to find. we were created with an ability to find, and if you want to be technical, the ability to find our creator. so when self-criticism doesn't exist you have and then further develop a very corrupt idea of reality...at best. for correction i believe, as with everything that separates us from our creator, we acknowledge first, we...are...wrong. stopping here would be foolish rather so after admission then continue in the effort at making right what is wrong. do not misunderstand me you shall never be able to earn your salvation and justification comes only by faith in jesus christ (romans 5:1). you can't fully understand what you can do until you understand what you can't do. i don't care how many times someone preaches phil 4:13. the aspect of your ability flows ONLY from the cross alone; knowing and believing jesus conquered something pretty significant 2000+ years ago which now gives you power. power to do what? to be courageous and say to your flesh...

SHUT UP!!!

the power to say and deny and the power to claim and speak possibility is what "idealists" will say is impossible.

"one of the chief uses of religion is that it makes us remember our coming from darkness, the simple fact that we were created"

-g. k. chesterton

part 2: stepping out of the goo

...it's not that i think there isn't any opposition or enough criticism or even critical analysis. i believe it is extremely evident in our nations leaders that we have plenty of criticism and opposition...i would say we have a plethora of criticism (for those who appreciate clean comedic relief). even within every facet of every societal function criticism exists into the smallest form. it seems to abound in efforts to expose heresies and hypocrisy in people. so we have plenty of it, except on one level i seem to find that we tip the scale and that level is...self. the word of god is an instrument, i believe, meant to critique every thought, every motive, and every behavior in our existence on a daily basis. whats the problem?...its got to be a daily basis. oh let us return to the god breathed text as authority over our lives and the governor of our hearts.

you might be thinking, "what about those individuals who take scripture, twist, distort, and pollute it by pulling text out to confirm half truths of their own agenda?" absolutely they exist, and they constitute those in whom i am referring who are part of the problem. how about those individuals, i would respond, who should know enough reformation has taken place in order to understand gods ablility to speak to them personally, one on one, so that instead of confirming the heretical lunacy of their pastor/leader/priest they are able to hear from god on their own and follow a true shepherd who follows christ and acknowledging his being the only way? again, we come back to this issue of self-criticism (which, for the record, is NOT the same thing as negative self-talk. i think it is pretty clear throughout scripture that god is not for destructing those whom he has created for himself).

we don't live in a culture where we are to worry about too much self-criticism. quite the contrary, we live in an age where we get what we want when we want it unbeknownst to the effects of its abuse upon our lives. think about how ridiculous it is we can, at the push of a button (ok more like 2 or 3), find out how many starbucks' are within a 5 mile radius. this is in reference to an ability we occupy to live way beyond our means...and why? because we don't critique ourselves.

let us not suppose, as i mentioned briefly before, that by self-criticism i mean we are locked in a dark room with no windows and in a fetal position, or rocking back and forth professing, "woe is me." i mean, reading the word of god, finding his truth, and admitting it needs to correct us. quite possible depression takes root not because of the circumstances alone but because you have tried for fulfillment over and over and over and over and have not found anything to sustain you like god promises his truth would. jesus said this in john 8:31-32 "...if you continue in my word...you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." when you begin to look at things outside the word that have aroma's and elements of truth of god of course it will capture your heart.

to some degree i wonder if not everything created is still god's truth. even the atheist that denies his existence was created by god, no? the decision is of a truth that has been created for them...free will. in addition, if they die without acknowledging christ as lord they then become apart of another known truth that was created by a loving god, hell. by god telling them to depart from him he is righteously hating sin as he has always done even from the beginning of time.

i close with this statement...i am not opposed to literature outside of the bible; i too hope to write a book one day...

part 1: stepping out of the goo

only because i don't have a mass audience to preach will you hear the rumblings of what god is stirring in my soul

i don't really find it all that absurd that one might believe in the theory of organic evolution, or the idea of our existence merely happenstance. that is "natural" or what i might call "ideal." in opposition, i think about life on this planet and the biblical account where god has strategically placed earth where it is in order for life to even subsist. i dread the summer months had he positioned it one inch closer to the sun. likewise, imagine our plummeting temperature during our winter solstice had this wonderful land been placed slightly away from our natural heater. there is no doubt amongst all communities the earth is in a position that is so unique in all our known solar system that it holds the only element no other planet holds...humanity. my tendency to be drawn to the chance theory of my modernistic counterpart and their unique case when it tickles my curious funny bone. much has been concluded concerning life on other planets in our solar system. the distinctiveness of earth makes me wonder what the big deal is. how come earth displays such uniqueness? what makes it so great? i would "naturally" conclude nothing. which makes the "per chance" theory seem so plausible and real.

so realistically, what i find is that science can't solve this issue. because the focal point should be on humanity and not the environment/location. meaning, naturally, if you deny an influence with a higher power this will close a door to any possibility, whether desired or not, of understanding there is more to us than location. so absolutely there is no reason to wonder why a naturalist would seek organic evolution as an explanation of the origin of the earth. this is STILL the age old philosophical inquiry of man and his purpose. the truth about science, besides it NOT being the enemy of faith, is that it will give us mortal/finite/transient/perishable entities a limited glimpse of a current reality that will barely even fit into our current scope. it has no antidote for diseases, sufferings, death, or psychological abnormalities. if this seems to not be true please buy tomorrows newspaper and/or watch the evening news. things aren't necessarily getting better. modernism, which birthed much of what we find in our journals of health today, is only what we say it will be, due to empirical research on ourselves as subjects. in 150 years a different, regurgitated, heretical ideology that has was breathed from the mind of satan long ago will be reintroduced in a different pretty painted package, permeating society in depth.

the issue then is not a scientific one but a spiritual one. i like g. k. chesterton's way of putting it, "there are some people, nevertheless i am one of them, who think the most practical thing about a man is still his view of the universe." rightly put, if there were not a god there would not be an atheistic mindset to have to try and deny the truth of his existence. i find myself embracing all the more this so called "game." god's riddles and unanswered entities are far more satisfying and enjoyable to pursue than anything man has thought he has been able to answer or solidify. i know man to be finite that is all. how are we to judge what part of the story we are in when our supreme text (the bible) seems to place our redeemer's actions in the middle of his story, not at the beginning as we would have hoped, nor at the end as most epics carry out. we have no way of knowing where we are or at what point we find ourselves. so i end this segment with one question that will continue on in the next entry...

i find the real issue is not whether evolution is right or wrong but rather who is quicker to admit they are finite, and who is willing to admit they are defective outside a moment in which they have been caught in such defective behavior?

an accusation in need of grace

it is absolutely amazing how god, even in his instruction to leaders and their dealings with backsliding individuals, finds a way to correct and reinstate within the accusers the amazing restoration he has designed for their lives.

take note:

1 timothy 5:21-22 (nasb)

21) i solemnly charge you in the presence of god and of christ jesus and of his chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality

22) do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share in the responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin

to hastily of an accusation and sentencing confirms, in others, certain entitlements. in other words, it allows accusations to not be properly nor biblically processed. there is a responsibility in leaders handling of certain individuals that even in their way of dealing with them they help correct and rebuke the sin in the accusers. This is profound in that it brings forth restoration in those accusers by no means of their own efforts. proving once again, through another type of relationship, the amazing gospel dispensation for all of those who would receive the gift of our heavenly father.

father forgive us for hastily judging, accusing, and laying hands upon individuals who are meant to reveal in us a part of our own need of your saving grace.