I worked so hard to make everything fit in just right in my head.
There is no peace in trying to create peace through what you think.
I wanted to feel better, when what I really needed was a greater revelation of how good God is.
For years, I wanted to fix my feelings. For years, I was looking at maintaining some kind of emtoinal equilibrium in order to make it through life.
I was living under law, not under grace.
I had no idea that God Almighty has been providing all things for me.
Grace? Never heard of it. Christ? I understood that He died for me, but I did not have a deep understanding of what His death on the Cross meant for me.
When I was upset or angry, I tried to fix it with what I was thinking or doing.
Such will be the case for a person who is trapped in the Twelve Step cult.
Keep coming back. It works if you work it.
No, it does not work at all.
No, it does not work.
More importantly, though, He is working all things for us.
Jesus did not just die on the Cross for our sins. He died to give us His life and standing through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness (Romans 5: 17) -- His righteousness.
The very thing which Jesus told His would-be disciples to seek, we freely receive.
O, so much is revealed to me this day. So much.
I had heard of Him by the hearing of the ear, but today I see Him, just as Job did in the next to last chapter the book named after him.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Not Our Thoughts and Feelings - His!
We are not our thoughts, our feelings, or our ups and downs.
Any cult which tells you to keep looking at your feelings, is a cult from which you should feel an immediate need to get away from.
Alcoholics Anonymous gives its members the false notion that they have to maintain an emotional balanced in their lives or else.
Couple these frauds with the falsehood that we have to feel God's presence in our lives, and then a man will find himself going around and around in circles.
I was often fearful of the future, of people, and the potential challenges which I would face.
Now I realize that there were fears, tumults, and upsets in my body and mind which I was never supposed to identify with in the first place.
I am not my feelings, I am not any sense of shame, fear, dread, etc.
God is not bound by what I feel or think. He is working actively and intimately in my life, and more importantly He is doing the same for you.
It's all about Jesus.
It's all about what He has done for us.
He is all about doing everything for us.
He wants us to trust Him, to put our mind at rest, to believe that all our sins are put away, paid for, and sent away.
AA makes people do everything possible to upend and frustrate the new covenant of God's grace.
I cannot tell you how many times my mother, who was knee deep in the AA cult, would talk about Jesus.
Not one mention of the blood. Not one mention of His High Priesthood.
Not one mention of anything associated with what His death does for all of us who believe on Him.
The more that I look back on all the terrible things which I had "learned" the more I realize how badly I was lied to. Lied to, and all in the name of "working a program".
AA kills, AA deceives. AA is Satanic:
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)
Forgiveness for all the terrible things I was taught was not easy, at first.
When I learned that I did not have to identify with how I felt or what I thought, then forgiveness was easy, because Christ lives in me and works within me both to will and to do for Him.
The recurring patterns of bitterness, fear, and anger are not mine to do anything with. They are all ashes all burned away, since the old man has been taken, and a new creation is born to me in Christ.
Any cult which tells you to keep looking at your feelings, is a cult from which you should feel an immediate need to get away from.
Alcoholics Anonymous gives its members the false notion that they have to maintain an emotional balanced in their lives or else.
Couple these frauds with the falsehood that we have to feel God's presence in our lives, and then a man will find himself going around and around in circles.
I was often fearful of the future, of people, and the potential challenges which I would face.
Now I realize that there were fears, tumults, and upsets in my body and mind which I was never supposed to identify with in the first place.
I am not my feelings, I am not any sense of shame, fear, dread, etc.
God is not bound by what I feel or think. He is working actively and intimately in my life, and more importantly He is doing the same for you.
It's all about Jesus.
It's all about what He has done for us.
He is all about doing everything for us.
He wants us to trust Him, to put our mind at rest, to believe that all our sins are put away, paid for, and sent away.
AA makes people do everything possible to upend and frustrate the new covenant of God's grace.
I cannot tell you how many times my mother, who was knee deep in the AA cult, would talk about Jesus.
Not one mention of the blood. Not one mention of His High Priesthood.
Not one mention of anything associated with what His death does for all of us who believe on Him.
The more that I look back on all the terrible things which I had "learned" the more I realize how badly I was lied to. Lied to, and all in the name of "working a program".
AA kills, AA deceives. AA is Satanic:
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)
Forgiveness for all the terrible things I was taught was not easy, at first.
When I learned that I did not have to identify with how I felt or what I thought, then forgiveness was easy, because Christ lives in me and works within me both to will and to do for Him.
The recurring patterns of bitterness, fear, and anger are not mine to do anything with. They are all ashes all burned away, since the old man has been taken, and a new creation is born to me in Christ.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Still So Wonderful
The pain and the strain in my mind would set me off so much of the time.
I had no idea what to do in the past.
Every time that I got angry or fearful, I believed that I had to do something about the feeling. I had to make sure that the sense of upset and frustration went away, so that I would not be distracted and frustrated.
This afternoon, I began to realize what has been the problem, and I realized how directly the frustration had been impacted me.
I kept confusing feelings with faith.
If I felt torn up or frustrated when I would feel upset or blocked on the inside.
I kept thinking that I had to do something about the feelings so that I could believe on Him for anything, for all things.
I would even ask God to remove the feelings, for some reason.
The more that I would ask God to remove the feelings of frustration, anger, tension, fear, etc. the response I would hear in my heart was:
"Why do you need the feelings removed?"
Indeed, why did I have to feel a certain way?
I had confused faith and feelings. That's not right.
The thoughts that would trigger upset feelings, moreover, were never mine to begin with.
That was the cycle I found myself in time and time again.
I had to make sure that I felt a certain way. I had to make sure that there was no tension in my head. As soon as I was troubled in some way, then I would get upset, convinced that I had to do something about it.
Jesus Christ has taken care of everything already.
Therefore, you and I do not have to feel bad about feeling bad, because He is on the job taking care of us.
Cast your cares on him, therefore, and let not your heart be troubled.
I had no idea what to do in the past.
Every time that I got angry or fearful, I believed that I had to do something about the feeling. I had to make sure that the sense of upset and frustration went away, so that I would not be distracted and frustrated.
This afternoon, I began to realize what has been the problem, and I realized how directly the frustration had been impacted me.
I kept confusing feelings with faith.
If I felt torn up or frustrated when I would feel upset or blocked on the inside.
I kept thinking that I had to do something about the feelings so that I could believe on Him for anything, for all things.
I would even ask God to remove the feelings, for some reason.
The more that I would ask God to remove the feelings of frustration, anger, tension, fear, etc. the response I would hear in my heart was:
"Why do you need the feelings removed?"
Indeed, why did I have to feel a certain way?
I had confused faith and feelings. That's not right.
The thoughts that would trigger upset feelings, moreover, were never mine to begin with.
That was the cycle I found myself in time and time again.
I had to make sure that I felt a certain way. I had to make sure that there was no tension in my head. As soon as I was troubled in some way, then I would get upset, convinced that I had to do something about it.
Jesus Christ has taken care of everything already.
Therefore, you and I do not have to feel bad about feeling bad, because He is on the job taking care of us.
Cast your cares on him, therefore, and let not your heart be troubled.
Stopped Trying to Figure Things Out
Today I realize why times were so tough.
Religious programs and cults like AA are all about men and women trusting in their efforts and trying to figure things out.
We are not called to figure out everything in this life.
He is our life, and He has everything all figured out.
We can trust Him to take care of all things.
Not in wrestling matters in our heads, but rest our hearts in His grace, thus we overcome ever challenge.
More wonderful revelations are breaking through now.
The patterns of hurt feelings, bad thoughts, and bitter reminiscences -- they do not belong to us at all.
For so long I was owning these thoughts, these feelings these setbacks,
They are not mine to deal with, at all!
Where did these dumb ideas come from in the first place, that I had to settle every bad thought or feeling in my flesh in order to do or be or have anything in this life?
It all starts with the false notion that this life is mine, or more specifically, that I create this life.
Not at all.
This is not a life of works and strain, but grace and peace:
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied." (1 Peter 1: 2)
and also
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord" (2 Peter 1: 2)
We do not get grace and peace in our lives by working Twelve Steps, or doing more good works. Grace and peace enter into our lives as we learn more about Jesus, and more importantly as we realize how much He knows and cares for us.
For years, I would spin around in my head, trying to figure things out.
No. I do not have to figure things out. There is no further reason for me or for anyone else to struggle within to figure everything out.
He holds everything together, including every step that I take. He cares about the birds (Luke 12: 6), and I can rest assured that He cares for me even more (Luke 12: 21).
I have stopped trying to figure everything out today. Now, I just want to know more about Him who has been from the beginning, and He who is all about taking care of me.
And He is all about taking care of you, too!
Religious programs and cults like AA are all about men and women trusting in their efforts and trying to figure things out.
We are not called to figure out everything in this life.
He is our life, and He has everything all figured out.
We can trust Him to take care of all things.
Not in wrestling matters in our heads, but rest our hearts in His grace, thus we overcome ever challenge.
More wonderful revelations are breaking through now.
The patterns of hurt feelings, bad thoughts, and bitter reminiscences -- they do not belong to us at all.
For so long I was owning these thoughts, these feelings these setbacks,
They are not mine to deal with, at all!
Where did these dumb ideas come from in the first place, that I had to settle every bad thought or feeling in my flesh in order to do or be or have anything in this life?
It all starts with the false notion that this life is mine, or more specifically, that I create this life.
Not at all.
This is not a life of works and strain, but grace and peace:
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied." (1 Peter 1: 2)
and also
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord" (2 Peter 1: 2)
We do not get grace and peace in our lives by working Twelve Steps, or doing more good works. Grace and peace enter into our lives as we learn more about Jesus, and more importantly as we realize how much He knows and cares for us.
For years, I would spin around in my head, trying to figure things out.
No. I do not have to figure things out. There is no further reason for me or for anyone else to struggle within to figure everything out.
He holds everything together, including every step that I take. He cares about the birds (Luke 12: 6), and I can rest assured that He cares for me even more (Luke 12: 21).
I have stopped trying to figure everything out today. Now, I just want to know more about Him who has been from the beginning, and He who is all about taking care of me.
And He is all about taking care of you, too!
Friday, April 25, 2014
I Lived in Condemnation for Years
I lived in a condemning household.
I was filled with shame and regret about the things that I did, the thoughts that I had, the feelings that I had felt.
Wow!
I cannot believe that today, I can write about the freedom which Christ Jesus has purchased for me, which man-made cults like AA try to take away.
My mother was so caught up in the AA cult, that she took my sister and me away from our father for a period of time.
She wanted to raise us rigorously, religiously in AA.
The nine months were really bad for me.
It was a terrible, painful time for me. I felt sad, miserable, depressed, pressed upon in many terrible ways.
For years I lived with so much shame because of what someone else told me.
The sin consciousness of one person brought me into great bondage.
Now that that person is gone from my life, but more importantly, now that I understand the fullness of all that Jesus has done for me by dying on the Cross.
I lived in condemnation for years, convinced that my sins were so great, that I could not confess them without going to jail or dying.
The shame, the pain from the shame, was so great.
When I began to walk in a newness of peace, I started to wonder -- why was it that I had no peace in my life. I have the Scriptures before me which declared: "You are justified by grace through faith."
Why, then, did I not believe?
The Ten Commandments were featured prominently in my home, but more importantly, those awful Twelve Steps imposed a perpetual sense of sin and shame.
And the person who continued to push it? My own mother, who was a stepper Mom. Very sad then, but I am glad now that the truth of the Gospel has set me free today!
I was filled with shame and regret about the things that I did, the thoughts that I had, the feelings that I had felt.
Wow!
I cannot believe that today, I can write about the freedom which Christ Jesus has purchased for me, which man-made cults like AA try to take away.
My mother was so caught up in the AA cult, that she took my sister and me away from our father for a period of time.
She wanted to raise us rigorously, religiously in AA.
The nine months were really bad for me.
It was a terrible, painful time for me. I felt sad, miserable, depressed, pressed upon in many terrible ways.
For years I lived with so much shame because of what someone else told me.
The sin consciousness of one person brought me into great bondage.
Now that that person is gone from my life, but more importantly, now that I understand the fullness of all that Jesus has done for me by dying on the Cross.
I lived in condemnation for years, convinced that my sins were so great, that I could not confess them without going to jail or dying.
The shame, the pain from the shame, was so great.
When I began to walk in a newness of peace, I started to wonder -- why was it that I had no peace in my life. I have the Scriptures before me which declared: "You are justified by grace through faith."
Why, then, did I not believe?
The Ten Commandments were featured prominently in my home, but more importantly, those awful Twelve Steps imposed a perpetual sense of sin and shame.
And the person who continued to push it? My own mother, who was a stepper Mom. Very sad then, but I am glad now that the truth of the Gospel has set me free today!
The Fight Is Finished
There was so much pain in my head for a long time.
The pain, the frustration, the self-imposed mind control was more than I could bear, for so long.
I had spent so long thinking that what I was thinking was what I was thinking, or rather that I was responsible for every thought flowing through my head.
We will have negative emotions, we will have troubling remonstrances.
We do not identity with our heads, but with our hearts, for out of our heart spring the issues of life which the Spirit of God grants to us.
We must stop looking at ourselves, and stop worrying about the fears and tremors which upset us.
This is no longer a life of looking at our thoughts and feelings.
This life is His life living in and through us.
I cannot tell you how many people, how many Christians I meet, who are convinced that this life is a life which we live, and Jesus is there to help us.
Jesus is not just driving the car, so to speak.
He is the driver, the car, the road, the pathway, the speed, the gasoline.
John reverentially recorded Jesus' defining Himself:
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
The fight is finished, so that in Christ, we find that He is taking care of all things, and through Him we receive all things, too!
The pain, the frustration, the self-imposed mind control was more than I could bear, for so long.
I had spent so long thinking that what I was thinking was what I was thinking, or rather that I was responsible for every thought flowing through my head.
We will have negative emotions, we will have troubling remonstrances.
We do not identity with our heads, but with our hearts, for out of our heart spring the issues of life which the Spirit of God grants to us.
We must stop looking at ourselves, and stop worrying about the fears and tremors which upset us.
This is no longer a life of looking at our thoughts and feelings.
This life is His life living in and through us.
I cannot tell you how many people, how many Christians I meet, who are convinced that this life is a life which we live, and Jesus is there to help us.
Jesus is not just driving the car, so to speak.
He is the driver, the car, the road, the pathway, the speed, the gasoline.
John reverentially recorded Jesus' defining Himself:
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
The fight is finished, so that in Christ, we find that He is taking care of all things, and through Him we receive all things, too!
Thursday, April 24, 2014
He Cares About You -- Inconceivable (Yet True!)
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5: 6-7)
He cares about you and me.
God cares about you and me.
How long will it take for us to receive this wonderful truth?
For me, it has taken too long, and I am tired of working so hard, and getting so little for all that I do.
Have you noticed that all our efforts are strained, and often fail?
The A-student streak which our public schools impress (or rather impose) on students makes young people think that our efforts, our striving according to the set rules of someone else's games cause us to succeed.
That is simply not true.
Then comes AA, which offers twelve suggestions, but which turn into a list of requirement, because to drink is to die according to the "anonymous" writers of the Big Book.
This Great Big God has made all things for us, at least that was the plan in the Beginning.
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:" (Genesis 2: 16)
When man fell, God already had a plan in mind not just to redeem, not just to restore, but to promote us:
"
He cares about you and me.
God cares about you and me.
How long will it take for us to receive this wonderful truth?
For me, it has taken too long, and I am tired of working so hard, and getting so little for all that I do.
Have you noticed that all our efforts are strained, and often fail?
The A-student streak which our public schools impress (or rather impose) on students makes young people think that our efforts, our striving according to the set rules of someone else's games cause us to succeed.
That is simply not true.
Then comes AA, which offers twelve suggestions, but which turn into a list of requirement, because to drink is to die according to the "anonymous" writers of the Big Book.
This Great Big God has made all things for us, at least that was the plan in the Beginning.
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:" (Genesis 2: 16)
When man fell, God already had a plan in mind not just to redeem, not just to restore, but to promote us:
"
14And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Genesis 3: 14-15)
When Jesus died on the Cross, the following took place:
"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:3-6)
And then
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: " (Ephesians 2: 1-6)
John follows all of this with these powerful statements of identity:
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." (1 John 3: 1)
and then
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Because we are in Christ, accepted in the Beloved and thus Beloved, we can come boldly to God our Father for all needs, which He will meet according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19)
This wonderful God is inconceivable, and therefore any religion, any "spiritual system" which invites people to choose their own conception of God is doing themselves a grave disservice, as well as dishonor God's goodness, by relying on their limited view of God and themselves, convinced that they are left to their own devices in this deceitful, discredited world.
That is not the case. We are not alone, and we need never feel lonely, because He cares for us.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
He is Fixing Me
Another reason why I despise the AA cult.
The awful regimen of working Twelve Steps, going through the motions, working this program, trying to make amends to everyone you have harmed, creates more problems because instead of growth in grace and peace, men and women find themselves living a life of disquieted desperation.
I was never used to the idea that God Himself is committed to taking care of everything for me, that He is not just watching out of me, but wants to step into every situation that I am facing and working in me, too.
For so long, I was upset about my thought life so consumed with myself, trying to fix myself, focused on maintaining a set of thoughts and feelings, unsure of what I wanted to do countered with the feelings that I felt.
Sometimes, I feared that what I was thinking would prevent God from working in my life.
In many instances throughout my life, I had no idea that Jesus is taking care of me at all times in all places. I was afraid of other people because I had believed for so long that I was on my own for everything.
No wonder I tried to have this life figured out in my head.
No wonder I was in so much pain, as are so many other people.
No wonder so many people resort to drugs, alcohol, or other medications to deal with the stress of "modern life".
Life without Christ is not life at all, but a struggling death, coupled with a sense of loneliness, this aching anxiety that I am left to care for myself.
We are cared for, however, and we do not have to fight our battles in our strength, but can rest and rely on His.
Christ Jesus is fixing us through His Holy Spirit, and even when we fear strain or frustration in our walk, we can rest assured that GOd our Father is making our enemies our footstool.
Forget AA, and forget all other man-made attempts to justify yourself. Let Christ be your righteousness, and let Him bless you with all spiritual blessings.
The awful regimen of working Twelve Steps, going through the motions, working this program, trying to make amends to everyone you have harmed, creates more problems because instead of growth in grace and peace, men and women find themselves living a life of disquieted desperation.
I was never used to the idea that God Himself is committed to taking care of everything for me, that He is not just watching out of me, but wants to step into every situation that I am facing and working in me, too.
For so long, I was upset about my thought life so consumed with myself, trying to fix myself, focused on maintaining a set of thoughts and feelings, unsure of what I wanted to do countered with the feelings that I felt.
Sometimes, I feared that what I was thinking would prevent God from working in my life.
In many instances throughout my life, I had no idea that Jesus is taking care of me at all times in all places. I was afraid of other people because I had believed for so long that I was on my own for everything.
No wonder I tried to have this life figured out in my head.
No wonder I was in so much pain, as are so many other people.
No wonder so many people resort to drugs, alcohol, or other medications to deal with the stress of "modern life".
Life without Christ is not life at all, but a struggling death, coupled with a sense of loneliness, this aching anxiety that I am left to care for myself.
We are cared for, however, and we do not have to fight our battles in our strength, but can rest and rely on His.
Christ Jesus is fixing us through His Holy Spirit, and even when we fear strain or frustration in our walk, we can rest assured that GOd our Father is making our enemies our footstool.
Forget AA, and forget all other man-made attempts to justify yourself. Let Christ be your righteousness, and let Him bless you with all spiritual blessings.
AA is Mind Control -- Evil!
We do not fix the pain and hurt in our minds with our own efforts.
The verse in 3 John could not be clearer:
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
Literally, our souls prosper themselves. We do not prosper our souls by our efforts, and we do not restore our insides with outside efforts.
This work belongs to the Holy Spirit:
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5: 16)
The Spirit of God lives in us and flows through us, but more importantly teaches us all things:
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14: 26)
and then
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
He transforms us, not we ourselves.
This statement makes sense now, but for a long time, I believed that it was up to me to change me.
This passage stands out regarding man's efforts to improve himself:
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64: 6)
This verse should discourage anyone from thinking that they can fix themselves. Our righteousnesses, or righteous deeds, not only do not clean us, but because they are filthy rags, they make us more dirty.
Can you imagine that frustration? The more that you try to make yourself OK, or to improve yourself, the worse it gets. Terrible.
Paul talked about this conflict in Romans 7:
The verse in 3 John could not be clearer:
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
Literally, our souls prosper themselves. We do not prosper our souls by our efforts, and we do not restore our insides with outside efforts.
This work belongs to the Holy Spirit:
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5: 16)
The Spirit of God lives in us and flows through us, but more importantly teaches us all things:
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14: 26)
and then
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
He transforms us, not we ourselves.
This statement makes sense now, but for a long time, I believed that it was up to me to change me.
This passage stands out regarding man's efforts to improve himself:
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64: 6)
This verse should discourage anyone from thinking that they can fix themselves. Our righteousnesses, or righteous deeds, not only do not clean us, but because they are filthy rags, they make us more dirty.
Can you imagine that frustration? The more that you try to make yourself OK, or to improve yourself, the worse it gets. Terrible.
Paul talked about this conflict in Romans 7:
"14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
"21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Romans 7: 14-25)
We cannot fix ourselves, and the more that we try to, that law of sin and death breaks out in greater strength and force.
Instead of trying to earn righteousness through what we do, God our Father invites us to receive it and keep receiving it as a gift:
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)
"Receive" should be "are receiving"-- this gift we do not seek through our efforts, but we receive and keep receiving because of God's grace through all that His Son did for us.
Why do I review this information? The more that we know who we are in Christ, the more that we see that His Holy Spirit transforms us, not us trying to transform ourselves, then we stop getting alarmed when we find ourselves thinking bitter, angry thoughts, or getting anxious and fearful.
I am learning to rest and believe that He is making my enemies my footstool.
AA teaches, not deceives people into thinking that even though they have been "reborn", they need to spend a great deal of their time fixing themselves, maintaining a set life of sobriety, taking their inventory, working the steps, reaching out to other alcoholics ,etc.
However, man's greatest need is righteousness, which allows Christ's life to break out within us. When we receive His gifts of righteousness and grace, then we stop trying to fix ourselves, and we trust that whatever needs to be done, He will do it:
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" (Philippians 1: 6)
How about that?
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2: 10)
AA is mind control, which tells you that you have to think and feel a certain way in order for God to work in and through you. Wrong!
He is working already and He is willing and moving in you, Beloved, if you have believed on Him for all things.
Do not worry about trying to fix your mind or your feelings, but trust that He is taking care of all things for you.
Wow!
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Out of the Heart, Not the Head
"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." (Proverbs 4: 23)
When we read every passage in the Old Testament, we have to read it through the light of the New Covenant, which was also promised in the Old:
"33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31: 33-34)
This New Covenant was cut for us at the Cross, where Jesus Christ took all our sins and gave us His righteousness:
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
That perfect gift of righteousness signals that the enforcement clause of the New Covenant is in effect: "I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more."
So, we are no longer trying to keep our hearts, because now the grace of God keeps us in all things:
"Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." (Hebrews 13: 9)
Now, this life is His life:
"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)
This life is not something that we create, but the He is creating, because He is our life (Colossians 3:4)
Now comes this morning's revelation to me.
I have lived in my head for a long time.
I lived from the false perspective that the life I need to live, the right thing or the wrong thing, had to come out of my head.
We are not called to live out of our heads, but out of our hearts, and our heart is no longer wicked as stated in the prophet Jeremiah:
"
When we read every passage in the Old Testament, we have to read it through the light of the New Covenant, which was also promised in the Old:
"33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31: 33-34)
This New Covenant was cut for us at the Cross, where Jesus Christ took all our sins and gave us His righteousness:
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
That perfect gift of righteousness signals that the enforcement clause of the New Covenant is in effect: "I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more."
So, we are no longer trying to keep our hearts, because now the grace of God keeps us in all things:
"Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." (Hebrews 13: 9)
Now, this life is His life:
"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)
This life is not something that we create, but the He is creating, because He is our life (Colossians 3:4)
Now comes this morning's revelation to me.
I have lived in my head for a long time.
I lived from the false perspective that the life I need to live, the right thing or the wrong thing, had to come out of my head.
We are not called to live out of our heads, but out of our hearts, and our heart is no longer wicked as stated in the prophet Jeremiah:
"
7Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17: 7-9)
Take another look at that New Covenant. Because of all that Jesus has done, we receive a new heart. He also works within us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2: 12-13)
This lesson is one of the harder lessons for me to accept.
Jesus Christ is actively taking care of everything, including the smallest matters in my life:
"26Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10: 26-31)
and in Luke:
"4And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. 6Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? 7But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Luke 12: 4-7)
God our Father cares so much for us, that even the hairs on our head are numbered.
So, one could say that Jesus has our head covered, as well as our heart.
For me, for the longest time, the peace in my life was based on knowing what was going to happen. I had to have everything figured out in my head.
What I am learning know is that life does not begin and end in my head, but in my heart.
"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10: 4-5)
This has been the hardest thing to do -- to let Him live through me, rather than my trying to have everything figured out in my head first.
That can never work.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
"You're Too Happy to Be Here!"
When I was forced to go to AA meetings, some of the members there told me that I did not belong there.
They were right - but they should have included those who were struggling with sobriety as well.
I was never an alcoholic. I have shared this fact many times on this blog.
My mother forced me to go to those terrible meetings, as she was convinced that whatever was holding me back in life could be fixed by sitting in those meetings and listening to other "recovering alcoholics" heal.
Yeah, right.
When I look back on what happened to me as I was growing up, living in a home where the Twelve Steps was treated like Gospel Truth, I fully realize why life on life's terms was so difficult.
There is no life with Christ Jesus. There is no life without His life flowing through you.
We cannot add a set of rules to the mix to help us have life, either.
Life is the very Person who comes to live in us:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14: 6)
Either you believe it or you do not believe it.
As long as I believed that I could have Jesus and work the Twelve Steps, too, such actions ended up voiding my faith in Christ, as well as the faith of Christ living in me.
This new way of walking is so unique, and so carefree. I never knew that life could be so wonderful.
So, there I was in those cult meetings.
People would see me there and wonder what I was doing there.
"You're not an alcoholic! You just ran a few red lights."
I never ran red lights, and I was never drunk behind the wheel of a car, either. Now, I do not advertise myself as "better than" just because I never drank alcohol, let alone got drunk. No matter how well we may behave, no good things dwells in our flesh. We need His Spirit, His life, to live out the holiness that He is.
Still, the fact that I had never fallen into alcoholism, let alone ended up working an evil cult set of steps to get sober again, all point to the truth that there is no joy or happiness in AA meetings. Most people are barely hanging on as it is, and even then very few people get sober and stay there with any joy or peace in their lives.
Plus the fact that the program perpetuates an evil conscience, and no wonder the success rate for sobriety is so low, and why the suicide rate is disturbingly high.
As for those of us who are "too happy to be there", I know that the program never was designed to work, no matter how hard anyone works it, and I am more than happy to tell as many people out there as possible to get away from AA!
 |
| Too Happy to Be in AA Stay Happy - Stay Away from AA |
I was never an alcoholic. I have shared this fact many times on this blog.
My mother forced me to go to those terrible meetings, as she was convinced that whatever was holding me back in life could be fixed by sitting in those meetings and listening to other "recovering alcoholics" heal.
Yeah, right.
When I look back on what happened to me as I was growing up, living in a home where the Twelve Steps was treated like Gospel Truth, I fully realize why life on life's terms was so difficult.
There is no life with Christ Jesus. There is no life without His life flowing through you.
We cannot add a set of rules to the mix to help us have life, either.
Life is the very Person who comes to live in us:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14: 6)
Either you believe it or you do not believe it.
As long as I believed that I could have Jesus and work the Twelve Steps, too, such actions ended up voiding my faith in Christ, as well as the faith of Christ living in me.
This new way of walking is so unique, and so carefree. I never knew that life could be so wonderful.
So, there I was in those cult meetings.
People would see me there and wonder what I was doing there.
"You're not an alcoholic! You just ran a few red lights."
I never ran red lights, and I was never drunk behind the wheel of a car, either. Now, I do not advertise myself as "better than" just because I never drank alcohol, let alone got drunk. No matter how well we may behave, no good things dwells in our flesh. We need His Spirit, His life, to live out the holiness that He is.
Still, the fact that I had never fallen into alcoholism, let alone ended up working an evil cult set of steps to get sober again, all point to the truth that there is no joy or happiness in AA meetings. Most people are barely hanging on as it is, and even then very few people get sober and stay there with any joy or peace in their lives.
Plus the fact that the program perpetuates an evil conscience, and no wonder the success rate for sobriety is so low, and why the suicide rate is disturbingly high.
As for those of us who are "too happy to be there", I know that the program never was designed to work, no matter how hard anyone works it, and I am more than happy to tell as many people out there as possible to get away from AA!
Monday, April 14, 2014
No Program For Sin in the Flesh -- But a Perfect Work
I used to bother people all day and all night about my fears, hurts, struggles, sins, hang-ups, hurts, all the rest.
Terrible but true, and the best thing that one person could do more was to tell me stop calling him and crying about how bad I felt, etc.
The truth remains that as long as we believe that we can fix ourselves, that we have to do something about the sinful tendencies and emotions in our flesh, in our heads, then we are destined for nothing but frustration and bitterness in our lives.
Life becomes a tragic dance of trying to fix one problem after the other in our lives.
That is not life and that more abundantly, which Jesus promises to all who believe on Him.
We are promised a life more than conquering, not one conquered by sin and failure, matched with defeat upon defeat.
He is our life, one who lives and moves in us.
We are not responsible for bringing up this life in our strength, but rather permitting His life to flow in us.
I am not trying -- He is vying.
For people like me, who grew up with a heavy religious background based on trying one's best, I found that this life and that more abundantly just eluded me.
A sense of fear, a lack of strength and vitality, a chronic case of frustration and upset seemed so dominant.
Such is the case if you wake up every day, convinced that this life depends entirely on you.
That is not the promise which God grants to us through His Son:
"
Terrible but true, and the best thing that one person could do more was to tell me stop calling him and crying about how bad I felt, etc.
The truth remains that as long as we believe that we can fix ourselves, that we have to do something about the sinful tendencies and emotions in our flesh, in our heads, then we are destined for nothing but frustration and bitterness in our lives.
Life becomes a tragic dance of trying to fix one problem after the other in our lives.
That is not life and that more abundantly, which Jesus promises to all who believe on Him.
We are promised a life more than conquering, not one conquered by sin and failure, matched with defeat upon defeat.
He is our life, one who lives and moves in us.
We are not responsible for bringing up this life in our strength, but rather permitting His life to flow in us.
I am not trying -- He is vying.
For people like me, who grew up with a heavy religious background based on trying one's best, I found that this life and that more abundantly just eluded me.
A sense of fear, a lack of strength and vitality, a chronic case of frustration and upset seemed so dominant.
Such is the case if you wake up every day, convinced that this life depends entirely on you.
That is not the promise which God grants to us through His Son:
"
10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
Jesus is that good, and God our Father loved us so much, that in giving us His Son, to be our propitiation for all our sins, a New Covenant was cut for us, that we would be one with God through His Son, and receive all things through Him.
There is no program for fixing our flesh, because in Christ we are perfected forever (Hebrews 10: 14), that we may be dead to sin (Romans 6:11-12, Colossians 3: 4)
We live and thrive in a perfect work. Let His work perfect you in thought and deed today!
Paid in Full -- Not Paying Still
Fears, resentments, tumults, all sorts of issues.
Wow, what a terrible, frustrating, bitter existence it was.
No, it was not life and that more abundantly. Not at all.
It was a wildness of going around and around, trying to fix everything, trying to maintain some sense of peace and serenity in a world which could so easily take it away.
The world did indeed continue to dominate me.
The AA cult lies to people, giving them the impression that working those "simple" steps will grant peace and serenity.
In reality, we end up tilling the soil, trying to perfect flesh which cannot be fixed.
We do need to be delivered from the bondage of self, but we cannot exit from the old without receiving a new, better self -- which is Christ, Himself.
The program tells people that they can create their own God, yet anything that we create is automatically tainted with ourselves once again. No peace, no restoration, no rest.
We need to know that every paid, every hurt, every setback in our lives has been fully paid for.
It is not enough for us to say "Oh well" to the hurts against us, and the hurting we have done to others.
We need to have an eternal satisfaction for ourselves, plus a deliverance from our fleshly nature, which holds onto grudges, which lusts for vengeance rather than resting in His promises to be a God to us.
He is greater than our understanding, and because of His greatness, we do not have to hold onto the lie that this world depends on us, or our thinking in some way. We know that He is for us, because He was against His Son, in that His Son became sin, that we would receive His righteousness and all blessings with it.
Wow, what a terrible, frustrating, bitter existence it was.
No, it was not life and that more abundantly. Not at all.
It was a wildness of going around and around, trying to fix everything, trying to maintain some sense of peace and serenity in a world which could so easily take it away.
The world did indeed continue to dominate me.
The AA cult lies to people, giving them the impression that working those "simple" steps will grant peace and serenity.
In reality, we end up tilling the soil, trying to perfect flesh which cannot be fixed.
We do need to be delivered from the bondage of self, but we cannot exit from the old without receiving a new, better self -- which is Christ, Himself.
The program tells people that they can create their own God, yet anything that we create is automatically tainted with ourselves once again. No peace, no restoration, no rest.
We need to know that every paid, every hurt, every setback in our lives has been fully paid for.
It is not enough for us to say "Oh well" to the hurts against us, and the hurting we have done to others.
We need to have an eternal satisfaction for ourselves, plus a deliverance from our fleshly nature, which holds onto grudges, which lusts for vengeance rather than resting in His promises to be a God to us.
He is greater than our understanding, and because of His greatness, we do not have to hold onto the lie that this world depends on us, or our thinking in some way. We know that He is for us, because He was against His Son, in that His Son became sin, that we would receive His righteousness and all blessings with it.
Sin in the Flesh Nothing New
Men and women are flawed creatures.
There is a propensity to evil in all of us.
It does not mean that men and women must be ruled or resigned to depression about the sense of death, upset, shame, or condemnation in their bodies.
The problem actually occurs when people believe that they must live in accordance with it, or that they must do something about it.
From the late 1700's onward, the "Enlightment" suggested that human beings could overcome human failings, and that a perfect society with perfected people, through human means, was possible.
Then issues like happiness, personal satisfaction, and even self-actualization became key features in our culture, then human civilization took a turn for the worse.
The medieval mindset had a healthy recognition of the flaws in human nature, but more importantly, the grace of God was more resplendent, as individuals recognized that everything we have depends on the goodness of God, not the greatness of ourselves.
From the Enlightenment, which would displace God's views of the world with a man-centered belief that human knowledge could understand and overcome eternal verities, philosophers and thinkers began to discard the basic knowledge of man's brokenness.
Then philosophers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and later Freud argued that the will, drivers, or unconscious motives were driving people.
As if these discoveries were novel.
Yet the Bible had discussed these frailties at length, starting with Adam and Eve's treason to eat from the Forbidden Tree, to David's lamentation for God to cleanse him secret sins and create within him a clean heart.
Yet the world ignores the unpleasant truth about God's love for us, and the frailty of man without the grace of God in our lives.
The world disdains the powerful truth and liberty found in Christ and Him Crucified, as well. If we do not have His perfection, then we will go back to looking at our empty, broken, imperfect selves and strive to fix the death in our members with all our strength -- efforts which are certain to fail.
When men and women see these imperfections, especially Christians, they become discouraged and angry, even despairing, convinced that their flesh can be perfected or at least improved.
No such luck. Just as Adam and Eve resorted to covering themselves with fig leaves because of their shame (which really had nothing to do with their being naked, but rather a knowledge of good and evil which caused them to see themselves as always wrong and in need of a fix)
We need to understand not only that the sin in our flesh will not go away as long as we are alive, but more importantly, that every sinful feeling and emotion has been condemned in the flesh of Jesus Christ our Lord:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4)
Every sin, every shame, every negative emotion has been covered, paid for, and sent away because of Jesus and His blood, which cleanses us even today and forever more (1 John 1: 7)
When we have the revelation that imperfect flesh encloses our perfect spirit, we can then rest at ease and spend more time renewing our minds to the truth of the Gospel, rather than trying to fix what cannot be fixed, but has already been condemned, that we may be dead to sin, yet alive unto God in righteousness (Romans 6: 11-12)
Sin in the flesh is not a new thing, either, but in fact was resurrected, ironically enough, by the very atheistic thinkers who wanted to debunk and remove all recognition of God in our lives, and especially the gracious goodness of Jesus Christ. Those atheistic "thinkers" actually forced men and women, even the most elite to recognize that academic knowledge would never bring men and women to a great status, or create a better society.
Yet all they had was the brokenness of man, without the grace and peace which comes through the broken body and billowed blood of Jesus.
As long as Christians do not understand this reality about the sin in our flesh, they will seek "help" from evil cults like AA to work some kind of program, as if our efforts can do something about the sin in the flesh. Not a chance.
Or we find that well-meaning people go to psychiatrists, counselors, or talk to friends for hours and hours on the phone, as though all of this protestation can do something about the sin in their flesh. Not doing more but believing more sets us free from all condemnation about the sin in our flesh. When we receive to recognize or identify with these awful tendencies, then we receive His power, and we are then fully more-than-conquerors in Christ Jesus (Romans 8: 37)!
God uses even the reproach of His enemies to honor His Son.
There is a propensity to evil in all of us.
It does not mean that men and women must be ruled or resigned to depression about the sense of death, upset, shame, or condemnation in their bodies.
The problem actually occurs when people believe that they must live in accordance with it, or that they must do something about it.
From the late 1700's onward, the "Enlightment" suggested that human beings could overcome human failings, and that a perfect society with perfected people, through human means, was possible.
Then issues like happiness, personal satisfaction, and even self-actualization became key features in our culture, then human civilization took a turn for the worse.
The medieval mindset had a healthy recognition of the flaws in human nature, but more importantly, the grace of God was more resplendent, as individuals recognized that everything we have depends on the goodness of God, not the greatness of ourselves.
From the Enlightenment, which would displace God's views of the world with a man-centered belief that human knowledge could understand and overcome eternal verities, philosophers and thinkers began to discard the basic knowledge of man's brokenness.
Then philosophers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and later Freud argued that the will, drivers, or unconscious motives were driving people.
As if these discoveries were novel.
Yet the Bible had discussed these frailties at length, starting with Adam and Eve's treason to eat from the Forbidden Tree, to David's lamentation for God to cleanse him secret sins and create within him a clean heart.
Yet the world ignores the unpleasant truth about God's love for us, and the frailty of man without the grace of God in our lives.
The world disdains the powerful truth and liberty found in Christ and Him Crucified, as well. If we do not have His perfection, then we will go back to looking at our empty, broken, imperfect selves and strive to fix the death in our members with all our strength -- efforts which are certain to fail.
When men and women see these imperfections, especially Christians, they become discouraged and angry, even despairing, convinced that their flesh can be perfected or at least improved.
No such luck. Just as Adam and Eve resorted to covering themselves with fig leaves because of their shame (which really had nothing to do with their being naked, but rather a knowledge of good and evil which caused them to see themselves as always wrong and in need of a fix)
We need to understand not only that the sin in our flesh will not go away as long as we are alive, but more importantly, that every sinful feeling and emotion has been condemned in the flesh of Jesus Christ our Lord:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4)
Every sin, every shame, every negative emotion has been covered, paid for, and sent away because of Jesus and His blood, which cleanses us even today and forever more (1 John 1: 7)
When we have the revelation that imperfect flesh encloses our perfect spirit, we can then rest at ease and spend more time renewing our minds to the truth of the Gospel, rather than trying to fix what cannot be fixed, but has already been condemned, that we may be dead to sin, yet alive unto God in righteousness (Romans 6: 11-12)
Sin in the flesh is not a new thing, either, but in fact was resurrected, ironically enough, by the very atheistic thinkers who wanted to debunk and remove all recognition of God in our lives, and especially the gracious goodness of Jesus Christ. Those atheistic "thinkers" actually forced men and women, even the most elite to recognize that academic knowledge would never bring men and women to a great status, or create a better society.
Yet all they had was the brokenness of man, without the grace and peace which comes through the broken body and billowed blood of Jesus.
As long as Christians do not understand this reality about the sin in our flesh, they will seek "help" from evil cults like AA to work some kind of program, as if our efforts can do something about the sin in the flesh. Not a chance.
Or we find that well-meaning people go to psychiatrists, counselors, or talk to friends for hours and hours on the phone, as though all of this protestation can do something about the sin in their flesh. Not doing more but believing more sets us free from all condemnation about the sin in our flesh. When we receive to recognize or identify with these awful tendencies, then we receive His power, and we are then fully more-than-conquerors in Christ Jesus (Romans 8: 37)!
God uses even the reproach of His enemies to honor His Son.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
More on Sin in the Flesh
There is no perfecting ourselves in our broken selves.
We do not need self-improvement, we need an improved, better self.
AA claims that members get "reborn", but in reality, the program induces people to make up a false god, one out of one's own conception, then try to rely on this God for more power.
We do not need more power to do better in our own efforts.
We need to give up our efforts and let Him work and through us:
"for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh," (Philippians 3: 3)
We do not rest in our efforts. We do no trust in the symbols of the Old Covenant, but glory in the New Covenant, in Christ Jesus (risen and glorified at the right hand of God the Father), who is our righteousness, who ministers on our behalf by the power of an endless life.
The part which no one had explained to me, and which I fear many preachers still do not understand, is that sin still dwells in our flesh, and the tendency toward sin does not go away.
There is no good thing in our flesh -- no good thing at all.
But we are not called to live in the flesh, but to walk in the Spirit:
"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." (Romans 8: 13)
To live through the Spirit means that we walk in the light of God's grace, not our works:
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5: 16)
We cannot walk in the Spirit of we are still under law:
"1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (Galatians 5: 1-4)
We cannot receive the full power of the Gospel if we do not recognize that the ordinances against us have been fulfilled:
"13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2: 13-15)
Most people do not see the deep revelation in this verse, which posits that Satan uses God's own law against us to condemn us.
Does this statement sound heretical? Check out this scene:
"1And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. 4And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. " (Zechariah 3: 1-4)
Satan stood before God to condemn us for our unrighteousness. Now, God does not dismiss the devil arbitrarily. He answers every demand through the Cross, where every sin is paid for, and God's righteousness is accorded to us.
Yet we will still see sinful thoughts and emotions in our body. Then steps in evil cults like Alcoholics Anonymous, which teaches people to condemn themselves perpetually as alcoholics, to identify with the sin in their flesh.
The solution to breaking free of any sin in our lives begins and ends with the Cross, where all our sins were paid for, and our identification with sin (status as well as actions) ends forever as we are then dead to sin but alive before God in Christ (Romans 6: 11-12)
The sin in our flesh will still be there. Instead of feeling condemn, we get to praise God for taking away the condemnation, shame, and reproach of these sinful feelings and tendencies.
Hallelujah!
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Oh the Pressure of a Cult Life
This part cannot be repeated enough.
I lived as though everything in this life depended on me in some way.
It was all up to me, if nothing happened, then nothing happened.
But wait.
When I woke up this morning, I did not do that.
When I went to bed last night, He put me to bed, as well.
He is greater than our times and troubles.
He is interested in everything that we are doing, and He is working in us for all things, too.
I am still upset, at this time.
No had ever told me that God was. . .no, is this good.
I lived as though everything in this life depended on me in some way.
It was all up to me, if nothing happened, then nothing happened.
But wait.
When I woke up this morning, I did not do that.
When I went to bed last night, He put me to bed, as well.
He is greater than our times and troubles.
He is interested in everything that we are doing, and He is working in us for all things, too.
I am still upset, at this time.
No had ever told me that God was. . .no, is this good.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Perfected in Christ -- Forget AA
We do need to make ourselves better.
We cannot improve ourselves by our efforts.
We need God, but not some conception of God which gives out the hollow falsehood that He helps us to be better people.
God who sent His Son makes us the best, by putting us in His Son Jesus:
"1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3)
While the spirit of world tells us that we have to strive for blessings, that we have to make ourselves better, and that we can improve ourselves with the right efforts, the truth is that no matter how hard we try, we are never good enough.
From the fall of man to the present day, man has sin in his flesh. He is flawed and broken with sin, and the answer cannot be found in anything that we do.
There is no perfecting ourselves in our efforts. AA is an evil cult by directing people to look at themselves to improve themselves, which never happens.
We are perfected in Christ, our conscience purged from any sense of wrongdoing, because Jesus did not just die for our sins, but in Jesus' flesh God condemned our sin, too.
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4)
So, our sin in the flesh will still be there, but it has been condemned, paid for, deprived of any power to condemn us.
Like Pastor Prince, who shared this truth so powerfully, so boldy, so vividly, I wish that someone had told me this.
Instead, I was told to keep taking my inventory, to keep asking people for help, for forgiveness, for any kind of comfort.
That is not life, that is not worthwhile.
What the Gospel delivers to us is far greater than anything that the world can offer, including the wicked, bankrupted AA cult.
We cannot improve ourselves by our efforts.
We need God, but not some conception of God which gives out the hollow falsehood that He helps us to be better people.
God who sent His Son makes us the best, by putting us in His Son Jesus:
"1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3)
While the spirit of world tells us that we have to strive for blessings, that we have to make ourselves better, and that we can improve ourselves with the right efforts, the truth is that no matter how hard we try, we are never good enough.
From the fall of man to the present day, man has sin in his flesh. He is flawed and broken with sin, and the answer cannot be found in anything that we do.
There is no perfecting ourselves in our efforts. AA is an evil cult by directing people to look at themselves to improve themselves, which never happens.
We are perfected in Christ, our conscience purged from any sense of wrongdoing, because Jesus did not just die for our sins, but in Jesus' flesh God condemned our sin, too.
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4)
So, our sin in the flesh will still be there, but it has been condemned, paid for, deprived of any power to condemn us.
Like Pastor Prince, who shared this truth so powerfully, so boldy, so vividly, I wish that someone had told me this.
Instead, I was told to keep taking my inventory, to keep asking people for help, for forgiveness, for any kind of comfort.
That is not life, that is not worthwhile.
What the Gospel delivers to us is far greater than anything that the world can offer, including the wicked, bankrupted AA cult.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
I Was Focused on Feelings, Not the Truth
The truth which sets us free is the Gospel of grace.
We are set free when we understand that we are justified freely from all things, that the Law of Moses could not justify us from (Acts 13: 37-39)
We are set free from all our sins, even the sins of our future, which remain in the flesh.
This flesh issue does not get enough attention in our churches, mostly because church leaders are more focused on trying to get people to be better, when there is no good thing that dwells in our flesh, and thus we need something more than something better - we need Someone better, who lives in us to grant us eternal life.
I was convinced that I had to create this peace in my life, that I had to force my mind not to wander. I placed these heavy demands, believing that as long as I was doing my "one percent", then Jesus would so the 99% I have since then learned that there is not one thing that I can add to all that Jesus and does for me.
Not one thing. I am saved by grace through faith in what Jesus did, and there is not one thing more that need be added to it.
Yet for a long time, I continued to believe that that was the case.
Such was the trauma into which I found myself placed.
If I felt bad, or got angry, then I would get scared, because I had to do something about how I felt so that I could go back to taking care of what ever was in front of me at the time.
How frustrating this life became.
The pain, the pressure of trying to hold your inside together so that the rest of the world outside of you would be held in place, too.
Never was I called to that setback. Never.
We are called to cast all our cares on Him, for He cares for us.
But because I did not believe in the New Covenant, because I never realized that all my sins were forgiven forever, I could not rest.
The feelings, the feelings were all too often what I relied on to stay at peace. If I felt bad, then I actually believed that God was not OK with me. Outrageous!
But that is what I believed.
We are not saved by feelings. We are saved by grace through faith, and this faith focuses on what Jesus did at the Cross.
That is the truth:
"To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." (Galatians 2: 5)
Paul defined the Gospel earlier:
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:" (Galatians 1: 6)
It is the Gospel of Grace which sets us free -- that is the truth (John 8: 32)
Focus on the truth, everyone, and the feelings will follow every time!
We are set free when we understand that we are justified freely from all things, that the Law of Moses could not justify us from (Acts 13: 37-39)
We are set free from all our sins, even the sins of our future, which remain in the flesh.
This flesh issue does not get enough attention in our churches, mostly because church leaders are more focused on trying to get people to be better, when there is no good thing that dwells in our flesh, and thus we need something more than something better - we need Someone better, who lives in us to grant us eternal life.
I was convinced that I had to create this peace in my life, that I had to force my mind not to wander. I placed these heavy demands, believing that as long as I was doing my "one percent", then Jesus would so the 99% I have since then learned that there is not one thing that I can add to all that Jesus and does for me.
Not one thing. I am saved by grace through faith in what Jesus did, and there is not one thing more that need be added to it.
Yet for a long time, I continued to believe that that was the case.
Such was the trauma into which I found myself placed.
If I felt bad, or got angry, then I would get scared, because I had to do something about how I felt so that I could go back to taking care of what ever was in front of me at the time.
How frustrating this life became.
The pain, the pressure of trying to hold your inside together so that the rest of the world outside of you would be held in place, too.
Never was I called to that setback. Never.
We are called to cast all our cares on Him, for He cares for us.
But because I did not believe in the New Covenant, because I never realized that all my sins were forgiven forever, I could not rest.
The feelings, the feelings were all too often what I relied on to stay at peace. If I felt bad, then I actually believed that God was not OK with me. Outrageous!
But that is what I believed.
We are not saved by feelings. We are saved by grace through faith, and this faith focuses on what Jesus did at the Cross.
That is the truth:
"To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." (Galatians 2: 5)
Paul defined the Gospel earlier:
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:" (Galatians 1: 6)
It is the Gospel of Grace which sets us free -- that is the truth (John 8: 32)
Focus on the truth, everyone, and the feelings will follow every time!
Why I Was So Turned Up and Frustrated (As If!)
Dark times had descended upon me in my life.
Dark times.
I was having a hard time in life.
Even when everyone else was telling me that I was doing a good job, I never felt OK.
I never believed that everything would stay OK from one day to the next, either.
This sense of fear, of foreboding, was always haunting me.
Today, I know what that feeling was:
"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. " (Hebrews 10: 26-27)
The truth which the writer of Hebrews is speaking of relates to the Gospel, that in Christ all our sins are put away and we are fully justified, made righteous.
Furthermore, when Jesus died on the Cross, He cut a new covenant with the whole human race, which we receive as follows:
"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Dark times.
I was having a hard time in life.
Even when everyone else was telling me that I was doing a good job, I never felt OK.
I never believed that everything would stay OK from one day to the next, either.
This sense of fear, of foreboding, was always haunting me.
Today, I know what that feeling was:
"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. " (Hebrews 10: 26-27)
The truth which the writer of Hebrews is speaking of relates to the Gospel, that in Christ all our sins are put away and we are fully justified, made righteous.
Furthermore, when Jesus died on the Cross, He cut a new covenant with the whole human race, which we receive as follows:
"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
Everything is taken care in Christ, for we receive His life, and His laws (the law of the Spirit, love, life, liberty, and faith), and we are guided by His grace and peace.
He supplies to us, as well.
I had no knowledge that I was supposed to live by faith in all that Jesus did for me. There is so much more to the Gospel which I was not aware of. The big reason why? The AA cult, which taught me to keep looking at my faults and failures, rather this His Finished Work and His faith.
If we are still looking to ourselves, then what we left with? Our sins and habits, which are not removed from us, plus the fearful looking after of judgment.
That fear was unbearable. I believed that the whole world rested on my shoulders, and I had to hold my feeling and thoughts in check so that the world would not fall apart around me. The pain and struggle was just so great.
I had misconstrued a scripture, a misunderstand which had forced me to think that I had to engage in a debilitating mind control to be safe and sound.
I had no full understanding of the Cross, of what it meant. I read through so much in my life, and I was incorporating everything in the Bible through AA. That was just wrong.
And evil, and destined to inflict nothing but bondage.
I was so turned up and frustrated because I had not been rightly dividing the Word of God, and such failed outcomes are inevitable when placing Jesus next to anything else, as if what He did at the Cross was not enough.
I had misconstrued a scripture, a misunderstand which had forced me to think that I had to engage in a debilitating mind control to be safe and sound.
I had no full understanding of the Cross, of what it meant. I read through so much in my life, and I was incorporating everything in the Bible through AA. That was just wrong.
And evil, and destined to inflict nothing but bondage.
I was so turned up and frustrated because I had not been rightly dividing the Word of God, and such failed outcomes are inevitable when placing Jesus next to anything else, as if what He did at the Cross was not enough.
Sin Condemned, not Removed, in the Flesh
Capnklump July 14, 2012 at 5:31 AM
I have been STRUGGLING with this a few years now. I am a born again Christian, who has been led to believe that I "suffer" from this "disease" of alcoholism..... The more I study The Bible, the more I'm led to believe it is not a disease at all, but a work of the flesh. I am coming more & more to believe that what is really needed is for me to truly repent from dead works of the flesh & take the hand of Christ & be led in the way to everlasting life.
One of the first posts which I prepared for this blog -- Errors of Alcoholics Anonymous -- focused on debunking the hollow, awful, and evil-distorted lie that alcoholism, or any other perversion/addiction.
I hope that Capnklump reads this post, too, when he has a chance.
I realized earlier that alcohol addiction is a work of the flesh. I reported on this truth when I was reading Galatians.
What I did not yet learn was that even though we have this flesh on us, this self-life principle which longs to do wrong and yet try to make itself right, this flesh has been condemned, and the sin which emanates from our flesh can no longer bring us into condemnation:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " (Romans 8:1-4)
There is no condemnation in Christ. None. Even when we sin (action). I accept that. Even when I fail in my actions, fine.
But when it came to upset feelings or resentments, I would still get hung up.
And the biggest issue that would take me down: this ugly little voice inside of me that would badger me with "What are you doing to do when this person or that person makes you mad? What are you going to do about it?"
That is the voice of the enemy.
Not only have our sins been paid for, but the sin in our flesh has been condemned, as well:
"3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"
We still have sin in our flesh. Not just works of the flesh, but the sin in our flesh is still there.
But it is condemned, and in Christ we are dead to sin:
"8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 8-11)
Dead to sin means dead to the condemnation of sin. We will still have sinful tendencies in our bodies and our minds, and we will still fall short, but every sin has been paid for forever in Christ. There is no need or value in our confessing our sins or going through the motions of doing good works to pay for what we have done.
We have received a perfected, purged conscience in Christ Jesus!
While at the time I revealed that alcoholism is a sin of the flesh, not a disease from which we can never be cured (which kind of begs the question -- why call it a disease in the first place?).
The issue for us, then, is not to get rid of the sinful feelings, nor to ignore them, but to recognize that all our sins have been paid for. The bad feelings, the bad thoughts -- have been paid for! They have been condemned in the body of Jesus, so that we can stop condemning ourselves:
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2: 24)
Notice that when we are dead to sins, we live in righteousness, and those sins were all paid for in Jesus' body, not His spirit.
The sin in our flesh, including alcoholism and drug addictions, or even sexual perversions, have all been paid for. To the degree, however, that we try to control those perversions, as long as we think that we can do something, or that we can control it in our own efforts, we are setting ourselves up for more failure, frustration, depression, destined to wonder and wander in the wilderness of our flesh.
I realized earlier that alcohol addiction is a work of the flesh. I reported on this truth when I was reading Galatians.
What I did not yet learn was that even though we have this flesh on us, this self-life principle which longs to do wrong and yet try to make itself right, this flesh has been condemned, and the sin which emanates from our flesh can no longer bring us into condemnation:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " (Romans 8:1-4)
There is no condemnation in Christ. None. Even when we sin (action). I accept that. Even when I fail in my actions, fine.
But when it came to upset feelings or resentments, I would still get hung up.
And the biggest issue that would take me down: this ugly little voice inside of me that would badger me with "What are you doing to do when this person or that person makes you mad? What are you going to do about it?"
That is the voice of the enemy.
Not only have our sins been paid for, but the sin in our flesh has been condemned, as well:
"3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"
We still have sin in our flesh. Not just works of the flesh, but the sin in our flesh is still there.
But it is condemned, and in Christ we are dead to sin:
"8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 8-11)
Dead to sin means dead to the condemnation of sin. We will still have sinful tendencies in our bodies and our minds, and we will still fall short, but every sin has been paid for forever in Christ. There is no need or value in our confessing our sins or going through the motions of doing good works to pay for what we have done.
We have received a perfected, purged conscience in Christ Jesus!
While at the time I revealed that alcoholism is a sin of the flesh, not a disease from which we can never be cured (which kind of begs the question -- why call it a disease in the first place?).
The issue for us, then, is not to get rid of the sinful feelings, nor to ignore them, but to recognize that all our sins have been paid for. The bad feelings, the bad thoughts -- have been paid for! They have been condemned in the body of Jesus, so that we can stop condemning ourselves:
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2: 24)
Notice that when we are dead to sins, we live in righteousness, and those sins were all paid for in Jesus' body, not His spirit.
The sin in our flesh, including alcoholism and drug addictions, or even sexual perversions, have all been paid for. To the degree, however, that we try to control those perversions, as long as we think that we can do something, or that we can control it in our own efforts, we are setting ourselves up for more failure, frustration, depression, destined to wonder and wander in the wilderness of our flesh.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
He is Our Life and Our Rest
I have written at length, with uncompromising zeal.
There is no life or recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.
None.
The idea that I can turn my will and life over to a power greater than myself is pure nonsense when you talk about a higher power that you came up with.
Right away, your higher power is just not high enough.
Even the 16th century rationalist had more knowledge and understanding than that. If you can think of a Supreme Being, right away your idea of God is still too small.
Granted, such a priori thinking can get slippery really fast, but it bears some scrutiny because God cannot be conceived.
He conceived us.
And He has great plans in story for us, which cannot fit within the hollow bounds of Twelve Steps or religious formulas.
Yesterday, I remembered the following verse:
"28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11: 28-30)
This verse presents to us our Lord Jesus, a tireless servant who wants us to lean on His direction and guidance, and trust that He is doing all things in our lives.
Rather than forcing outcomes through our efforts, we see His life pouring out through us.
I am not living this life. He is living in me.
I am not trying to do anything on my own. He is the Life who lives and works in me.
It has nothing to do with my thoughts or my feelings, either.
Now that I realize how good God really is, the next set of questions emerge: why did I not believe that Jesus is this good? That his yoke is easy and His burden is indeed light. In fact, Jesus' burden is not only easy, but it creates ease. It blesses us. It is gracious!
Too many people want to minimize God's goodness and maximize "our part."
When you see yourself weary and heavy-lade, it's time to see Him as the true yoke-fellow, and see yourself putting every need on his shoulders, casting your cares on Him (1 Peter 5:6-7)
Again I have to ask: why did I not believe this?
I grew up in a household where law and works and man's effort had such preeminence. It was all about "God helps those who help themselves."
There is just one BIG problem -- our selves, ourselves, is completely bankrupt. We need His help, and not just for some things, but for all things.
A conception of God is simply not enough for us to comprehend how great -- and how good -- Jesus is.
He wants us to rest, and He wants us to know and believe that His love is so great, that all our needs are met in Him!
He is our rest, He is our everything. I do not want to settle with some petty conception of God which is only as big as my thinking.
He is our life and our rest.
I kid you not. I simply asked the prayer, that I could understand how He is taking care of all things. There was so much about the Finished Work of Jesus Christ that I simply did not know. I was not aware of how active and real He is, I was so busy looking at myself.
No.
Let us look to Christ Jesus, seated at God the Father's right hand. For that is where we are!
Can't conceive it -- just believe it!
There is no life or recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.
None.
The idea that I can turn my will and life over to a power greater than myself is pure nonsense when you talk about a higher power that you came up with.
Right away, your higher power is just not high enough.
Even the 16th century rationalist had more knowledge and understanding than that. If you can think of a Supreme Being, right away your idea of God is still too small.
Granted, such a priori thinking can get slippery really fast, but it bears some scrutiny because God cannot be conceived.
He conceived us.
And He has great plans in story for us, which cannot fit within the hollow bounds of Twelve Steps or religious formulas.
Yesterday, I remembered the following verse:
"28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11: 28-30)
This verse presents to us our Lord Jesus, a tireless servant who wants us to lean on His direction and guidance, and trust that He is doing all things in our lives.
Rather than forcing outcomes through our efforts, we see His life pouring out through us.
I am not living this life. He is living in me.
I am not trying to do anything on my own. He is the Life who lives and works in me.
It has nothing to do with my thoughts or my feelings, either.
Now that I realize how good God really is, the next set of questions emerge: why did I not believe that Jesus is this good? That his yoke is easy and His burden is indeed light. In fact, Jesus' burden is not only easy, but it creates ease. It blesses us. It is gracious!
Too many people want to minimize God's goodness and maximize "our part."
When you see yourself weary and heavy-lade, it's time to see Him as the true yoke-fellow, and see yourself putting every need on his shoulders, casting your cares on Him (1 Peter 5:6-7)
Again I have to ask: why did I not believe this?
I grew up in a household where law and works and man's effort had such preeminence. It was all about "God helps those who help themselves."
There is just one BIG problem -- our selves, ourselves, is completely bankrupt. We need His help, and not just for some things, but for all things.
A conception of God is simply not enough for us to comprehend how great -- and how good -- Jesus is.
He wants us to rest, and He wants us to know and believe that His love is so great, that all our needs are met in Him!
He is our rest, He is our everything. I do not want to settle with some petty conception of God which is only as big as my thinking.
He is our life and our rest.
I kid you not. I simply asked the prayer, that I could understand how He is taking care of all things. There was so much about the Finished Work of Jesus Christ that I simply did not know. I was not aware of how active and real He is, I was so busy looking at myself.
No.
Let us look to Christ Jesus, seated at God the Father's right hand. For that is where we are!
Can't conceive it -- just believe it!
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
SHAM: The Humpty-Dumpty Syndrome
Now here's an idea I never thought about:
"[T]he impresarios and self0styled healers of the twelve-step world went one better than finding a need: They created a need by devising a twisted metphysic wherein caring about people equals codependency. . .For the individual consumer, Recovery may be worse than merely wasteful. 'The problem with a lot of it,' says James Q. Wilson, 'is the unfortunate and diabolical human tendency to reject the good news while embracing the bad.'"
Wow! How true that is. No wonder Adam and Eve were in so much trouble the moment that they looked at themselves after eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. No matter how hard we try to cover up our imperfections, the need to fix something else will replace whatever we took care of. Reminds me of one scene from the movie "Manic": You have a problem. You fixed. You have another problem. Then you fix that."
Not much of a life, yet a pattern which defines much of self-help, especially the AA cult.
Salerno continues:
"Therein lies the supreme and fatal paradox of Recovery, and of so much for self-help in general: It is easily capable of persuading followers that they're gravely flawed. But getting people to the next step--that they can change--is a major stretch. Many in this created class of victims never attain 'wellness.'" (Pg 158-159)
I know and believe that for Bill W. with Alcoholics Anonymous, he knew full-well that there would be no wellness for the converts forced into that awful cult. To stigmatize individuals as alcoholics, as though the malady is a disease, and then inform the newly-christened (or cursed) as alcoholics creates the very problems which the struggling suffers were seeking to overcome.
"The result is what some label the Humpty-Dumpty Syndrome--wherein we're taken apart, but your pieces can't be put together again."
Honestly, all the pieces can come together, through Christ:
"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." (Colossians 1: 15-17)
That word "consist" means "held together", by the way, in that Jesus holds this world together, and us as well.
While men are good at point out what is wrong with us, the Holy Spirit has been introduced into our lives to manifest the Gospel, that we receive a new bearing, a new self, and a deep conviction of righteousness (John 16: 8-11)
While because of Adam all men fell, like the Big Egg Humpty Dumpty but with far greater and messier consequences, the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, not only puts us together again, but fills us with something sweet, and then enshrines us like the most priceless Faberge egg out there!
Forgive me my metatophors, because all that Jesus has done for me is more than I can share in just one post, and still I am learning!
"[T]he impresarios and self0styled healers of the twelve-step world went one better than finding a need: They created a need by devising a twisted metphysic wherein caring about people equals codependency. . .For the individual consumer, Recovery may be worse than merely wasteful. 'The problem with a lot of it,' says James Q. Wilson, 'is the unfortunate and diabolical human tendency to reject the good news while embracing the bad.'"
Wow! How true that is. No wonder Adam and Eve were in so much trouble the moment that they looked at themselves after eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. No matter how hard we try to cover up our imperfections, the need to fix something else will replace whatever we took care of. Reminds me of one scene from the movie "Manic": You have a problem. You fixed. You have another problem. Then you fix that."
Not much of a life, yet a pattern which defines much of self-help, especially the AA cult.
Salerno continues:
"Therein lies the supreme and fatal paradox of Recovery, and of so much for self-help in general: It is easily capable of persuading followers that they're gravely flawed. But getting people to the next step--that they can change--is a major stretch. Many in this created class of victims never attain 'wellness.'" (Pg 158-159)
I know and believe that for Bill W. with Alcoholics Anonymous, he knew full-well that there would be no wellness for the converts forced into that awful cult. To stigmatize individuals as alcoholics, as though the malady is a disease, and then inform the newly-christened (or cursed) as alcoholics creates the very problems which the struggling suffers were seeking to overcome.
"The result is what some label the Humpty-Dumpty Syndrome--wherein we're taken apart, but your pieces can't be put together again."
Honestly, all the pieces can come together, through Christ:
"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." (Colossians 1: 15-17)
That word "consist" means "held together", by the way, in that Jesus holds this world together, and us as well.
While men are good at point out what is wrong with us, the Holy Spirit has been introduced into our lives to manifest the Gospel, that we receive a new bearing, a new self, and a deep conviction of righteousness (John 16: 8-11)
While because of Adam all men fell, like the Big Egg Humpty Dumpty but with far greater and messier consequences, the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, not only puts us together again, but fills us with something sweet, and then enshrines us like the most priceless Faberge egg out there!
Forgive me my metatophors, because all that Jesus has done for me is more than I can share in just one post, and still I am learning!
SHAM Reveals So Much More
SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made American Helpless
Steve Salerno's book has been quite a helpful book.
He reveals how a modern matnra of "self-improvement" has done anything but.
Just like a frustrated OCD patient with dirt on his hands will continue to clean himself, and only make himself dirtier, so too men and women in the world, whether born again or not, continue running to self-help books to break themselves free of their problems, as if the next guru, the next spiritual program, the guide on weight loss or relationships, will break them out of their frustrated, empty lives.
Mankind is empty because they have removed God, they do not understand the riches and the fullness of all that He is.
They have not look on the Savior, to see a loving God who wants to provide all things, who wants us to take our eyes off ourselves and place them on Himself.
On Him who has been from the beginning:
"12I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 13I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." (1 JOhn 2: 12-14)
We need ot know that all our sins are forgiven. All our imperfections are taken care of, too, paid for at the Cross. This truth is much needed in our world today, where replacing God with ourselves has created a culture of men and women who do not grow up, who believe that everything is about them, and finding that they do not measure up (or that life is rather dissatisfying) they spend their lives trying to improve themselves or their circumstances, as if all of these things will make them feel better.
Oh, that mantra "feel better" -- how that has contributed to make us feel all the worse!
We do not need to feel better. We need to know and believe the following:
Fathers - who know Jesus, who has been from the beginning, the source of life, the beginning and the end of all things. Strictly speaking, when we understand fully that life is not about us, but about Him, then we have His Life, and that more abundantly!
Now, what does a discussion about SHAM -- Self-Help and Actualization Movements -- have to do with Alcoholics Anonymous?
Too much which has not been revealed.
At its core, Alcoholics Anonymous is all about teaching people that they can progress from their illness, which also defines them, and have something better today compared to what they did yesterday.
A program which points out that self is our biggest problem, at the same time aggravates self by pushing self-improvement, even though the Twelve Steps allege that there is some Higher Power which is helping us.
We do not need a Higher Power to help us. We need the Highest Power, who is all things, and works in and through us.
We need to know this God as Father, we need ot know that through HIm we have overcome all dangers and upsets. We also need to understand that Jesus, the only Son and very image of God the Father, holds all things together.
And He loves us! Wow! He loves us!
This love cannot be communicated through our own conception, and requires us to stop looking at ourselves and start paying attention to His payment for us.
Steve Salerno's book has been quite a helpful book.
He reveals how a modern matnra of "self-improvement" has done anything but.
Just like a frustrated OCD patient with dirt on his hands will continue to clean himself, and only make himself dirtier, so too men and women in the world, whether born again or not, continue running to self-help books to break themselves free of their problems, as if the next guru, the next spiritual program, the guide on weight loss or relationships, will break them out of their frustrated, empty lives.
Mankind is empty because they have removed God, they do not understand the riches and the fullness of all that He is.
They have not look on the Savior, to see a loving God who wants to provide all things, who wants us to take our eyes off ourselves and place them on Himself.
On Him who has been from the beginning:
"12I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 13I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." (1 JOhn 2: 12-14)
We need ot know that all our sins are forgiven. All our imperfections are taken care of, too, paid for at the Cross. This truth is much needed in our world today, where replacing God with ourselves has created a culture of men and women who do not grow up, who believe that everything is about them, and finding that they do not measure up (or that life is rather dissatisfying) they spend their lives trying to improve themselves or their circumstances, as if all of these things will make them feel better.
Oh, that mantra "feel better" -- how that has contributed to make us feel all the worse!
We do not need to feel better. We need to know and believe the following:
Fathers - who know Jesus, who has been from the beginning, the source of life, the beginning and the end of all things. Strictly speaking, when we understand fully that life is not about us, but about Him, then we have His Life, and that more abundantly!
Now, what does a discussion about SHAM -- Self-Help and Actualization Movements -- have to do with Alcoholics Anonymous?
Too much which has not been revealed.
At its core, Alcoholics Anonymous is all about teaching people that they can progress from their illness, which also defines them, and have something better today compared to what they did yesterday.
A program which points out that self is our biggest problem, at the same time aggravates self by pushing self-improvement, even though the Twelve Steps allege that there is some Higher Power which is helping us.
We do not need a Higher Power to help us. We need the Highest Power, who is all things, and works in and through us.
We need to know this God as Father, we need ot know that through HIm we have overcome all dangers and upsets. We also need to understand that Jesus, the only Son and very image of God the Father, holds all things together.
And He loves us! Wow! He loves us!
This love cannot be communicated through our own conception, and requires us to stop looking at ourselves and start paying attention to His payment for us.
Monday, April 7, 2014
I Really Was Thinking Too Much
"Stop thinking so much!" people were always telling me.
I was thinking too much? I thought that we had to think, that we had to figure everything out, that we had to have all the answers.
No.
We do not need answers. We need the Answer. We do not need to figure everything out. We need to know Him who has everything figured out.
I did not need to be thinking so much, as much as I needed to know that He is thinking and taking care of all things.
Yet why did I not submit myself to the simple rest of trusting that Jesus Christ, He who has been from the beginning, had been taking care of everything from the Beginning?
1. AA
I was raised to live "my life" by those hollow, crappy, wicked precepts, all of which presuppose some kind of strength in man.
We have no strength apart from Jesus:
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
Because of Him, though, we can do all things:
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4: 13)
and
"Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Colossians 1: 29)
and also
"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
And don't forget this:
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4: 9)
As long as my understanding of Jesus was crippled by a cult which taught me to look and teach myself, which told me that I could make myself better, with God's "help", I could look forward to nothing but going around and around, wandering and wondering why "my life" was going nowhere.
When we understand that He is our life (Colossians 3 : 1-4), then we find that He is taking care of all things, and thus we do not have to think about everything, as if God Himself is not on the job. He is not only on the job, but He is the job, for He is working in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2: 12-13)
It is not our job to think about what to do, as if we have to make up for God's lack of energy, or that we have to live this life.
He is our life, and He is living and working in us for all things. Our job is to believe on Him, that He was sent for us, to die for us, to live for us, and that He is all things for us, whatever we may face.
I was thinking too much? I thought that we had to think, that we had to figure everything out, that we had to have all the answers.
No.
We do not need answers. We need the Answer. We do not need to figure everything out. We need to know Him who has everything figured out.
I did not need to be thinking so much, as much as I needed to know that He is thinking and taking care of all things.
Yet why did I not submit myself to the simple rest of trusting that Jesus Christ, He who has been from the beginning, had been taking care of everything from the Beginning?
1. AA
I was raised to live "my life" by those hollow, crappy, wicked precepts, all of which presuppose some kind of strength in man.
We have no strength apart from Jesus:
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
Because of Him, though, we can do all things:
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4: 13)
and
"Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Colossians 1: 29)
and also
"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
And don't forget this:
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4: 9)
As long as my understanding of Jesus was crippled by a cult which taught me to look and teach myself, which told me that I could make myself better, with God's "help", I could look forward to nothing but going around and around, wandering and wondering why "my life" was going nowhere.
When we understand that He is our life (Colossians 3 : 1-4), then we find that He is taking care of all things, and thus we do not have to think about everything, as if God Himself is not on the job. He is not only on the job, but He is the job, for He is working in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2: 12-13)
It is not our job to think about what to do, as if we have to make up for God's lack of energy, or that we have to live this life.
He is our life, and He is living and working in us for all things. Our job is to believe on Him, that He was sent for us, to die for us, to live for us, and that He is all things for us, whatever we may face.
We Need a New Self: Himself
AA is wrong on too much, because there is a little bit in AA which registers some truth.
We need to be reborn, but this rebirth presupposes the truth that we have received a new life, and that we have become a new creation.
The Bible offers us Sonship through the Spirit of God.
AA condemns us to sin and shame, a status of "alcoholic" which a member can never relinquish or flee.
In effect, man is no better in an AA meeting, since the sin in our flesh remains the primary identity of the member.
Then it gets worse. As members who are defined by the very perversion from which they wish to break free, is it any wonder that so few people actually get sober in an AA meeting?
Even those members who do get sober have very little to show for the empty life which they are called to. What value is there in an a life in which you have to take your inventory every day, where you find that those "defects of character" never go away?
They can never go away, for we are beyond help in and of ourselves.
We need a new self:
"That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." (Matthew 8: 17)
Infirmities speak of our sinful flesh not just our sins, but the very sin nature of dead Adam which we have all received because of the first man and his sin against God.
Yet God's love is greater than man's sin, and through this Love, we receive life and that more abundantly!
We cannot fix ourselves, and we cannot maintain any semblance of life and hope through our efforts, as good as we try to make them. Righteousness is not something that we earn, but something that we receive and keep receiving through Christ Jesus (Romans 5: 17)
For years, I never understood what it meant to let go and let God, because the very cult which presume to teach us to let go never reconciles the fact that the whole Twelve Step program is something that we do.
If we are turning our will and life over to a power greater than ourselves, then should not this power be able to live in and through us, too?
Exactly:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2: 20)
This Jesus cannot be conceived, He is so good. We either believe the truth of the Gospel, or we don't.
The Biblical record is the place for us to see Him who has been from the beginning. Either you believe Him and receive more of Him, or you fall back into your own efforts, the way of Cain, and gain nothing but bitterness and upset.
We need a new self, not a new way to fix our old self. Receive Himself, and reign in life!
We need to be reborn, but this rebirth presupposes the truth that we have received a new life, and that we have become a new creation.
The Bible offers us Sonship through the Spirit of God.
AA condemns us to sin and shame, a status of "alcoholic" which a member can never relinquish or flee.
In effect, man is no better in an AA meeting, since the sin in our flesh remains the primary identity of the member.
Then it gets worse. As members who are defined by the very perversion from which they wish to break free, is it any wonder that so few people actually get sober in an AA meeting?
Even those members who do get sober have very little to show for the empty life which they are called to. What value is there in an a life in which you have to take your inventory every day, where you find that those "defects of character" never go away?
They can never go away, for we are beyond help in and of ourselves.
We need a new self:
"That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." (Matthew 8: 17)
Infirmities speak of our sinful flesh not just our sins, but the very sin nature of dead Adam which we have all received because of the first man and his sin against God.
Yet God's love is greater than man's sin, and through this Love, we receive life and that more abundantly!
We cannot fix ourselves, and we cannot maintain any semblance of life and hope through our efforts, as good as we try to make them. Righteousness is not something that we earn, but something that we receive and keep receiving through Christ Jesus (Romans 5: 17)
For years, I never understood what it meant to let go and let God, because the very cult which presume to teach us to let go never reconciles the fact that the whole Twelve Step program is something that we do.
If we are turning our will and life over to a power greater than ourselves, then should not this power be able to live in and through us, too?
Exactly:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2: 20)
This Jesus cannot be conceived, He is so good. We either believe the truth of the Gospel, or we don't.
The Biblical record is the place for us to see Him who has been from the beginning. Either you believe Him and receive more of Him, or you fall back into your own efforts, the way of Cain, and gain nothing but bitterness and upset.
We need a new self, not a new way to fix our old self. Receive Himself, and reign in life!
Self-Help Is Anything But
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (16: 25, KJV)
"Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self." (Matthew 16: 25, The Message)
The more that I have been research the self-help movement, and self-help books like Alcoholics Anonymous, one of the most devious and poisonous cults I have ever encountered, I began to see a trend inescapable
All of this self-help really was not helping. Well, aside from giving the book writers more money, the whole self-help dynamic is quite pathetic as well as disappointing.
All of this fascination with ourselves is precisely the problem.
We do not like what we see in ourselves, and yet we think that we can improve what we see.
The problem is that if we are broken and need repairing, what gives any of us the idea that we can improve ourselves in the first place?
"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5: 14)
Death reigns in all of mankind because of Adam, but the second Adam arrived, so that in Christ we no longer have to be dead in our trespasses, but we can live and sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2: 1-6)
When we look at what happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, in that they believed that they could know right from wrong and live without God directing and supplying them, we find a perfect example of self-help, in that they sought out the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and ate of its fruit, convinced that they coud figure everything out on their own.
Instead, the whole creation and fell, and with it the glory of God was taken from man.
To this day, even in Christian circles, men and women are trying to perfect and improve themselves, when in fact all they can do is amplify the dead failure of the frail flesh and dead spirit.
Self-help does not help ourselves, for ourselves are beyond help. Self-help is not help at all , but when we realize that our selves are beyond help, then we can help ourselves (and ourselves) by receiving a new self, Himself!
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17, KJV)
"This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day - our standing in the world is identical with Christ's." (1 John 4: 17, The Message)
"Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self." (Matthew 16: 25, The Message)
The more that I have been research the self-help movement, and self-help books like Alcoholics Anonymous, one of the most devious and poisonous cults I have ever encountered, I began to see a trend inescapable
All of this self-help really was not helping. Well, aside from giving the book writers more money, the whole self-help dynamic is quite pathetic as well as disappointing.
All of this fascination with ourselves is precisely the problem.
We do not like what we see in ourselves, and yet we think that we can improve what we see.
The problem is that if we are broken and need repairing, what gives any of us the idea that we can improve ourselves in the first place?
"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5: 14)
Death reigns in all of mankind because of Adam, but the second Adam arrived, so that in Christ we no longer have to be dead in our trespasses, but we can live and sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2: 1-6)
When we look at what happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, in that they believed that they could know right from wrong and live without God directing and supplying them, we find a perfect example of self-help, in that they sought out the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and ate of its fruit, convinced that they coud figure everything out on their own.
Instead, the whole creation and fell, and with it the glory of God was taken from man.
To this day, even in Christian circles, men and women are trying to perfect and improve themselves, when in fact all they can do is amplify the dead failure of the frail flesh and dead spirit.
Self-help does not help ourselves, for ourselves are beyond help. Self-help is not help at all , but when we realize that our selves are beyond help, then we can help ourselves (and ourselves) by receiving a new self, Himself!
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17, KJV)
"This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day - our standing in the world is identical with Christ's." (1 John 4: 17, The Message)
Not Self-Help, But a New Self
I hate AA.
I hate any program which makes me look at myself, to tell me that I can make myself better with a little more effort.
That is the essence of self-righteousness, which is right down there with trying to make yourself better, otherwise known as self-help or self-actualization.
The more that man tries to help himself, the more that he find himself helpless.
We are not here for ourselves, for we did not make ourselves.
"3Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." (Psalm 100: 3)
We came from God, and so anything that we are, that we have, that we do must start with Him, not with us.
From the moment that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they chose to trust in their own efforts rather than rest in God and let Him be their life.
The very idea that we can live this life on our own and through our efforts is a complete joke, yet a very fatal and not very funny joke.
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1: 4)
If we want life, if we want light, then there is just one source: Jesus!
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8: 12)
and then
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
This verses are not open for debate. Either you believe Him or you don't.
By the way, the one work that He calls us to? To believe on Him whom the Father has sent (John 6: 29)
There is no need for self-help, because in Christ we receive a new self, one endowed with His perfect life and strength and standing.
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8: 15)
and then
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
New creation, new person, no longer in dead Adam but alive and reigning in life through Christ Jesus (Romans 5:17)
And of course, John wrote this truth so well:
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Does Jesus need self-improvement? So are you in this world! Does Jesus need to take His inventory or work a Twelve Step program? Then so are you in this world!
We are called to be in Christ, not in ourselves. There is no need for a counselor for the Wonderful-Counselor, our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9: 6), ministers on our behalf after the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7: 16)
He is our help, and when we accept that we are helpless in and of ourselves, then He is our Help:
"1For the Chief Musician: a Psalm of the sons of Korah; set to Alamoth. A Song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Psalm 46: 10)
And because He is our high-priest forever, we come boldly before Him in any time of need:
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4: 16)
Forget self-help, and help yourself to all of Jesus!
I hate any program which makes me look at myself, to tell me that I can make myself better with a little more effort.
That is the essence of self-righteousness, which is right down there with trying to make yourself better, otherwise known as self-help or self-actualization.
The more that man tries to help himself, the more that he find himself helpless.
We are not here for ourselves, for we did not make ourselves.
"3Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." (Psalm 100: 3)
We came from God, and so anything that we are, that we have, that we do must start with Him, not with us.
From the moment that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they chose to trust in their own efforts rather than rest in God and let Him be their life.
The very idea that we can live this life on our own and through our efforts is a complete joke, yet a very fatal and not very funny joke.
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1: 4)
If we want life, if we want light, then there is just one source: Jesus!
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8: 12)
and then
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
This verses are not open for debate. Either you believe Him or you don't.
By the way, the one work that He calls us to? To believe on Him whom the Father has sent (John 6: 29)
There is no need for self-help, because in Christ we receive a new self, one endowed with His perfect life and strength and standing.
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8: 15)
and then
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
New creation, new person, no longer in dead Adam but alive and reigning in life through Christ Jesus (Romans 5:17)
And of course, John wrote this truth so well:
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Does Jesus need self-improvement? So are you in this world! Does Jesus need to take His inventory or work a Twelve Step program? Then so are you in this world!
We are called to be in Christ, not in ourselves. There is no need for a counselor for the Wonderful-Counselor, our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9: 6), ministers on our behalf after the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7: 16)
He is our help, and when we accept that we are helpless in and of ourselves, then He is our Help:
"1For the Chief Musician: a Psalm of the sons of Korah; set to Alamoth. A Song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Psalm 46: 10)
And because He is our high-priest forever, we come boldly before Him in any time of need:
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4: 16)
Forget self-help, and help yourself to all of Jesus!
Sunday, April 6, 2014
No More Guilty Conscience in Christ
When we believe and receive all that Jesus Christ has done for us at the Cross, there must be and of guilt, shame, and upset in our lives.
We are to have a good conscience toward Christ, not an evil conscience.
Unfortunately, I was brought up to believe that a good conscience or a bad conscience meant that I had done something wrong, or that I had been doing things right.
The passage often presented to me was:
"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:" (1 Peter 3: 21)
Despite the traditional understanding of this passage, the very language itself bears witness that a good conscience has nothing to do with what we do, but with what Jesus has done. Our good conscience is not the "putting way of the flesh", which includes taking a ritual bath in water as well as not doing bad things.
We need only review the wonders of all that Jesus did for us at the Cross to realize that His death and resurrection at the Cross accomplished so much more than just dying for us:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4)
There is no condemnation in Christ -- none. And we are in Christ. We are not outside of Him, or next to Him. We are in Christ, and He lives in us. This is a full new identification, because we are a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5: 17).
We still walk around in these bodies, in which sinful emotions are present, but they are defanged, condemned, and no longer a part of us.
The AA cult forces its members to keep looking at the failings in our thoughts and minds, that we are alone with our sins, that we have to work hard to maintain a spiritual program.
Is it any surprise that AA members are cursed with an evil conscience and fall into deep depression, or even death?
The guilty conscience is something more than what we think or do, but has everything to do with who we are in Adam.
And because of religious cults like AA, men and women attract a conscience seared:
"1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;" (1 Timohty 4:1-2)
Now this business of conscience seared has confused many, who have initially interpreted this verse to mean that men and women will no longer know right from wrong. Once again, putting away the traditions of men and letting the Bible speak for itself, we find that the passage speaks of an intensified religiosity. The word "seared" carries a connotation of never leaving someone, a stain that is not removed. A stain, a smear, a mark of damage is never a good thing, much like the stigma used in ancient Greek times to signal that someone was guilty of a crime.
To have a seared conscience is to have a feeling that you are always guilty, and that you must keep doing something to maintain some sense of peace and right standing, through your own efforts.
In other words, self-righteousness. Anything that we do cannot grant to us the final peace of a perfect conscience:
"1For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." (Hebrews 10: 1-4)
We need a complete and holy blood to take away our sins -- and keep taking our sins away:
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
We are to have a good conscience toward Christ, not an evil conscience.
Unfortunately, I was brought up to believe that a good conscience or a bad conscience meant that I had done something wrong, or that I had been doing things right.
The passage often presented to me was:
"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:" (1 Peter 3: 21)
Despite the traditional understanding of this passage, the very language itself bears witness that a good conscience has nothing to do with what we do, but with what Jesus has done. Our good conscience is not the "putting way of the flesh", which includes taking a ritual bath in water as well as not doing bad things.
We need only review the wonders of all that Jesus did for us at the Cross to realize that His death and resurrection at the Cross accomplished so much more than just dying for us:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4)
There is no condemnation in Christ -- none. And we are in Christ. We are not outside of Him, or next to Him. We are in Christ, and He lives in us. This is a full new identification, because we are a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5: 17).
We still walk around in these bodies, in which sinful emotions are present, but they are defanged, condemned, and no longer a part of us.
The AA cult forces its members to keep looking at the failings in our thoughts and minds, that we are alone with our sins, that we have to work hard to maintain a spiritual program.
Is it any surprise that AA members are cursed with an evil conscience and fall into deep depression, or even death?
The guilty conscience is something more than what we think or do, but has everything to do with who we are in Adam.
And because of religious cults like AA, men and women attract a conscience seared:
"1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;" (1 Timohty 4:1-2)
Now this business of conscience seared has confused many, who have initially interpreted this verse to mean that men and women will no longer know right from wrong. Once again, putting away the traditions of men and letting the Bible speak for itself, we find that the passage speaks of an intensified religiosity. The word "seared" carries a connotation of never leaving someone, a stain that is not removed. A stain, a smear, a mark of damage is never a good thing, much like the stigma used in ancient Greek times to signal that someone was guilty of a crime.
To have a seared conscience is to have a feeling that you are always guilty, and that you must keep doing something to maintain some sense of peace and right standing, through your own efforts.
In other words, self-righteousness. Anything that we do cannot grant to us the final peace of a perfect conscience:
"1For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." (Hebrews 10: 1-4)
We need a complete and holy blood to take away our sins -- and keep taking our sins away:
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." (Hebrews 10: 14-18)
That last verse bears review: "There is no more offering for sin."
All of our confession, contrition, communion, calumniation, condemnation cannot make up for or culminate what Jesus completed for us at the Cross.
That includes taking our inventory and working Twelve Steps.
In fact, if we insist on working Twelve Steps, or doing something else to grant us peace, we are not walking in faith, we are not resting in His Finished Work, and we have entered back into unbelief.
We have all things by grace through faith in what Jesus has done. There is no more guilty conscience, for because of the blood of Jesus, we are perfected forever, as the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from all sin (1 John 1: 7)
Screw guilt, as members of the AA cult often say, but know that your guilt, all of it, was screwed at the Cross!
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