Perversion of Truth

For Jews of the first century, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was a radical change from life as usual.  The Apostle Paul was spreading the good news that they no longer needed to be circumcised, they no longer needed to offer animal sacrifices at the temple, and they no longer needed to do all the other ritualistic activities of their religion to keep themselves in good standing with God and their teachers.

This revolutionary doctrine told them that the works of the Law no longer removed guilt. Now, faith in Jesus Christ replaced the arduous tasks once required.  That was good news indeed.

But for many, it was just too much.  Judaizers, those who embraced Christianity as long as some of the old customs were included, began to follow the Apostle Paul on his journeys.  They began to “disturb” the Galatians by distorting the gospel of Christ saying that those who had faith in Jesus Christ must also follow some of the old covenant rites including circumcision. This bit of tweaking in their message, in one fell swoop, negated everything Jesus did for the salvation of the world.

Their mission greatly angered Paul to the point that he wrote to the Galatians condemning those who preached another gospel, other than what he preached, as accursed.  He repeated this statement twice, back to back in the beginning of the letter to the Galatians showing that he meant what he said.

These men had so swayed some of people that Paul stated in his letter, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel...Gal. 1: 6 He goes on to say that what they were preaching was a perversion of the truth.

These Judaizers were treading on shaky ground. They spoke the truth, but added just enough deception whereby the whole message was distorted. Many followed them and were, once again, enslaved to the old rites of their religion.

To skew the Gospel, to preach just enough truth while adding a bit of untruth into the mix is dangerous for the preacher and for those who blindly follow along. 

There is a world of deception present in this age.  It seems, more than ever, the devil successfully makes his way through the church doors unbeknownst to many, leading captive men and women who are not well versed in their faith.  

Studying the Word of God and the teachings of the Church can protect us from these charlatans. This daily practice will enable us to be good workers for God and enable us to discern what is right and what is false in the current spiritual theater and political theater. 

But, I love you Lord!

One of my favorite retellings of the conflict between sisters Martha and Mary is in the book The Messiah by Marjorie Holmes.  

Luke writes about the incident with just the bare details.  Holmes takes the account, without compromising Luke, and fleshes it out with Martha’s side of the story, which is also my story and maybe yours too.

Luke 10 says:

Now it came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord' s feet, heard his word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me.

And the Lord answering, said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things: But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her. 

My paraphrase of Holmes’ story goes like this: 

Martha began her preparations for Jesus’s visit in the wee hours of the morning.  Her excitement was on her sleeve as she received a delivery of food that she ordered for the evening meal.  An expert in the kitchen, she marinaded meats, sliced vegetables, and mixed up breads and cakes for the oven before breakfast. By midday her meal was half done, so she took care to make herself presentable. 

A few days before, she had splurged on a new, modest outfit and taught herself to comb her hair in a more flattering style; things she was not accustomed to doing. So, while the meat was simmering and the baked goods were cooling, she got ready for her special guest.

Later, back in the kitchen, her meal was near complete. Except for the sauces, all that was left to do was to set the table and lay out the food.  But where was Mary, she wondered?  She looked into the dining hall and saw Mary had already set the table and  found the most beautiful bouquet for the center piece. Martha was pleased but also jealous that, once again, Mary seemed to be one step ahead of her.

She went back to a kitchen that was suddenly becoming very hot and closed in.  She checked the ovens and found that her meats were overcooking and drying out.  She hurriedly pulled a tray out only to be burned by juices that spilled onto her hand and her dress.  

Running to cool off her scalded skin and dab her dress, the sweat began to bead on her brow spoiling her new hairdo.  A feeling of resentment, knowing that Mary was in the cooler part of the house tending to small details, began to overtake Martha.

The burn, the wilting hairdo, the guests who were late, and the overcooked food drove Martha to a state of self righteous despair, and during dinner, her anger towards Mary spilled over when she hurried into the hall, half blurting and half crying, “Lord, why don’t you make her help me!” 

Jesus stopped what he was saying to the other guests and turned to her, in what seemed to her to be the first time she had been noticed.  He got up from his seat and looked into her eyes and said, “Martha, you are so busy, so busy.  Why? I don’t expect you to slave in the kitchen for me.  I would much rather have you here along with your sister.  She has chosen the best part, and I don’t want her to leave right now.” 

“What?!” Martha blanched to herself, as her stomach doubled over inside of her.  Mary had won again. 

“But, I love you Lord, I always have,” her voice convulsed.  “I don’t know how to show it like Mary can, but Lord I LOVE YOU.” The cries came in violent waves as her long kept secret emotions boiled over.  Everyone there was shocked at this spectacle, but Jesus pulled her to himself where she wept copious tears into his tunic.

She loved him through her work, but somehow the work got in the way of loving him in the best way.  Her anger and indignation overcame her fear of showing her love, but after her outburst, her love for Jesus was able to flow like a river.  

Marjorie Holmes continues with her story showing Martha as a new woman, changed forever by her new ability to give her love freely to Jesus.

I am she who is not

I had never read nor heard the following quote before, until one morning I came across it twice in two different publications.  Incredible, I thought and most worthy of contemplation.

The Lord made himself manifest to a woman in Mexico in the early 1900’s and asked, “Do you know, my daughter, who you are and who I am? If you have this two-fold knowledge you will be happy. You are she who is not. I am He who is. If  you keep this truth in your heart, never will the enemy be able to deceive you, you will escape all his snares...”

Every week this notion is in my heart.  I cannot do much of anything and especially write, on my own.  When my head becomes a block of wood and nothing but nothing comes on the page, I conscientiously say, “I  cannot do this, I don’t have anything to say. Please, help.” In short order, the help comes.

For me, this only happens when I exhibit my understanding that I am, indeed, she who is not and that He who is can do mighty works through me if He so chooses.

If I decide that I am competent enough to do a certain thing and move forward to do it, the thing usually doesn’t turn out very well.  But if I start out in the right frame of mind that allows God to be who is, the thing turns out better than I imagine. 

Many years ago I used to make large pictures out of fabric on my sewing machine.  One of my pictures was of me as an eight-year-old standing on the step in front of our old trailer house.  I depicted myself squinting in the bright sun and wearing a pretty dress. On the side of the trailer I added a stand up propane tank. The details of the picture were nothing out of the ordinary, but just how I remembered that old house and my childhood.

A week or so later, when I was near finished with the picture, my eyes beheld the overall composition and saw things done that I had not known I had done.  I was not conscious of certain design elements incorporated in the picture until then, but those things were what made the picture one of the best I had ever done. That is because I made a conscious effort to hear His direction while working on it. 

Every now and then, I made pictures that did not turn out and ended up in the trash fabric heap. Those were the ones I did attempting to convey a political philosophy or sometimes to be “artsy”. Doing it my way and being deceived by the deceiver into thinking what I wanted to do was more important than what God wanted me to do.

Love God first

I’ve often wondered, when standing in the grocery store checkout line, who the people are who write for and publish the magazine “Self”.   The in-your-face body shots, the racy articles, accompanied by the magazine’s name tell me these people are most honest in declaring their narcissism.  Most other magazines are as geared to fueling the narcissism in all of us, but this magazine boldly comes out and tells us so, without shame or guilt because putting number one first is how the world works. Unfortunately,  this is also how too many marriages work and un-work.

If you are married to someone who puts himself or herself first, you know what a cesspool relationship it can become.  When one loves himself first, the “love” goes no further than that.  Like a pond where there is no inlet or outlet, that kind of love becomes scummy and lifeless.

I have experienced that kind of relationship and I vowed to a friend that I would never let that happen again. I would rather be alone than be near someone whose love was only for himself.

I told her that the only way I would ever marry again is if the man loved God more than he would love me. I knew that I could live in a close second place if God was in first place.  Well, she thought that was a too-tall order, and so did I.  So be it.

Then one day God introduced me to a gentleman who was the most exuberant Christian I had ever met. I soon learned that he was that way because he loved God first and most over any other. 

It would seem that this “imbalance” of the distribution of his love would cause him to be “too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good”. But the result of his choice to love this way makes him more able to love others.  His love for God first, makes him a conduit to love others well. 

As his wife, I am the recipient of this kind of love and I can, in turn, love him back selflessly.  Loving God first allows us to both receive God’s love for us through each other, which eliminates the narcissism and selfishness that plagues so many marriages. 

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added onto you, best describes the workings of this kind of love. I pray that husbands and wives who read that scripture would practice that principle in their marriages.

 

Sweet dreams

My husband and I like to go to a favorite prayer chapel when we are in town.  While there I read scripture or some other Christian book, meditate and pray. At least I try to.

But too often I end up dozing in my seat. Then later on I lament that I was not awake the whole time carrying on a conversation with the Lord.

My husband tells me that that is not bad.  He says we are resting in the Lord.  Literally, that is what we are doing. But when the hour is done, we both feel we have been in the presence of God.

So why do I fall asleep there?  And why do I fall asleep as soon as I start to pray at night?  Am I being slothful, disobedient, and lukewarm?

To answer those questions, I will pose these questions.  When my grandson snuggles on my lap, why does he fall asleep?  And why does he fall asleep when I rock him before bedtime?  Is he being disobedient, and am I offended that he is not wiggling, and chatting with me the whole time I am holding him? No, he is at peace and understands all is well with his world, and I feel most honored that he feels that way with me.  He trusts that he is being cared for and that Grandma and Grandpa or Mommy and Daddy will be there when he wakes up.

He is so much fun to hold and play with when he is in a “live-wire” state, but it is pure joy for us when he is snuggly and peaceful. Those are the times when we can gaze on his sweet sleepy face with wonder that this beautiful child God has created is in our midst. 

I like to think that God feels the same way when I fall asleep in the chapel or drift off to sleep at night while His name is on my heart.  When I am at rest physically, I am at rest spiritually. All is right with my world and I know that God will always be with me when I awake.

 

Why?

When we are sick, we go to the doctor.  We go because we want to know why we are sick and how we are to become well.  We ask questions and we listen to her advice, and we follow through and take the steps needed to become well again.

When our cars give problems, we take them to the mechanic.  We ask questions and we listen to his advice and hand over the money so he will fix it. It hurts, but we do it because we want the cars to run right.

We recognize when we are physically ill and when our cars need repair, so why can we not see our own sinfulness and take the steps to clear our consciences and be free of our offenses against God and our neighbor?

Why do we, every week, carry our burdens of sin into church and out again without taking the steps to have them removed?  We go through the motions of singing hymns, taking communion, praying, and listening to sermons, then we continue on with the same old sins and habits that are detrimental to our spiritual health.

The answer came to me when I read an article, yesterday, about three women who worked for Douglas Karpen, the notorious abortionist in Texas.  They all witnessed this man’s methods of pulling out alive babies, wrenching their necks as though they were just farm chickens on slaughtering day. They saw the man throw the babies into the trash can and they did nothing, because they thought it was legal!

One of the assistants said, “I thought, well, it’s an abortion you know, that’s what he does, but I wasn’t aware that it was illegal…Most of the time we would see him where the fetus would come completely out and of course, the fetus would still be alive.”

Maybe too many of us think this way; that if some action or activity is declared legal by our courts or our congress, by golly it must be right. Or maybe too many of us assume that our pet habits are right because they feel right. Feeling right about something takes precedence in our minds regardless of what the Bible says and what the Church teaches.

So we carry on supporting and practicing whatever we want because it’s legal and it feels right. Our burdens become too heavy to carry, but instead of confessing our sins, we work to legalize more of them in hopes that we will feel good.

This ramble I have written has just answered another question I have been pondering for some time: Why is the pharmaceutical industry booming and why is there a drug store on every corner of every city in this country?

In the heat of the battle

Then the angel said to me, "Don't be afraid, Daniel, for from the very first day you applied your mind to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come in response to your words.

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand.....” Dan. 10: 12-14

Do you ever wonder what is happening in the heavenlies? I would bet that if we could see with our eyes what goes on around us in the spirit realm, we would faint dead away. That is exactly what Daniel did when the angel came before him, three weeks after he started a fast in hopes of gaining understanding of a vision God had given him. As soon as Daniel saw the angel, he fell on his face and fell “into a deep sleep”.

According to the angel, help would have arrived as soon as Daniel “applied his mind to understand”, but the angel was detained by a demon who contended with him for the whole three weeks of Daniel’s fast.

After fighting the demon alone, another angel named Michael came to help the one who was assigned to speak to Daniel.

Clearly, the prince of this world does not want any of God’s children to set their minds on anything God would have them understand. He would rather we all just set our brains in idle and content ourselves with the things of this age.

I am very much guilty of this malady.  Facebook, Pinterest, gmail, and news take up far too much of my brain time, but as soon as I set my mind to understand God, He is so gracious to commune with me. 

Any effort I make to hear God, is an assault on the devil. My times of meditation and prayer are times when I am also in the battle with the angels of heaven.

I have to always keep in mind that the “ho hum” syndrome I often feel when I focus on God is a major strike against me. Too often it is a successful attempt by the devil to divert my attention to focus on innocuous things.

But when I dodge this temptation and instead sit quietly before the Lord, above me the battle rages as God’s legions strike against the spirits who are warring against me, my friends, my family, and everyone else God puts on my heart to pray for.