More Acceptance of Peter Scazzero's teaching

I need to bring to you more information in regards to Peter Scazzero. I firmly believe that once Pastor Scazzero has more of a voice and his teachings are accepted. They will become the next "Purpose Driven".

This article is so disturbing because of his close ties with the Gospel Coalition. Maybe he doesn't understand that the "daily office" is just borrowing from eastern mediation? Please again understand my motives and my concern is with love.

Go back to my first post.

Here is a blog that you need to read from Apprising Ministries.

http://http//apprising.org/2010/01/28/tim-keller-also-promoting-mystic-guru-peter-scazzero/

"Breathe In, Breathe Out"
"What happens when a pastor has an ‘experience’ with the Trappist monks? Peter Scazzero's experience launched him into... "
“…a journey over the next two years to visit a variety of Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox monastic communities to learn more. From Taize, France, to the Northumbrian community in England to the monks of New Skete in upstate New York…(we)participated in all kinds of variations of the Daily Office."
(pg.158, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality)


This is the Daily Office taken from his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality:

Centering(pg160-162, EHS)
“Scripture commands us: “Be still and know that I am God”…I often spend five minutes centering down so I can let go of my tensions, distractions, and sensations and begin resting in the love of God. …
-Be attentive and open
-Sit still
-Sit straight
-Breath slowly, deeply
-Close your eyes or lower them to the ground
When you find your mind wandering, let your breathing bring you back. As you breathe in, as God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. As you breathe out, exhale all that is sinful, false, and not of him.”

Working in health Care for a lot of years. I have seen many people suffer and die of various lung disorders. Most of the time one of the medical tools that is used to help people breath is to give them Oxygen. Now I have a question that I did bring to my former Pastor. How does breathing a certain way in order to talk to God work for someone who has great difficulty breathing in the first place? Doesn't this sound more like works instead of Grace? Does the person who has COPD (lung disease) who can't breathe like a healthy person reach God just as well? Or maybe he has to do more in his prayer.
Can we breathe in God? Can we breathe out sin? "Something is not right with this teaching. Isn’t it odd that Zen, Yoga, Vipassana, Prana, Buddhist, and Self-realization meditation use these same steps?"

Yoga breathing:
# Sit on a chair or if you prefer, cross-legged on the floor. Sit straight. Unless your spine is erect, some of the benefits of the breathing exercises will be lost.
# Breathe deeply and slowly, without strain.
… While doing deep breathing the spine should be kept straight, so as not to impair the free flow of the life-force, or prana.
-holisticonline.com

Then there’s Zen meditation that also teaches breathing methods of Zen monks who just “be still and know”. (-meditationiseasy.com)

The following is from THE WAY TO PRACTISE VIPASSANA MEDITATION:
(http://web.ukonline.co.uk/buddhism/pandita3.htm)

1. Which place is best for meditation?

The Buddha suggested that either a forest place under a tree or any other very quiet place is best for meditation.

2. How should the meditator sit?

He said the meditator should sit quietly and peacefully with legs crossed.

3. How should those with back trouble sit?

If sitting with crossed legs proves to be too difficult, other sitting postures may be used. For those with back trouble a chair is quite acceptable. In any case, sit with your back erect, at a right angle to the ground, but not too stiff.

4. Yogi, why should you sit straight?

The reason for sitting straight is not difficult to see. An arched or crooked back will soon bring pain. Furthermore, the physical effort to remain upright without additional support energizes the meditation practice.

5. Why is it important to choose a position?

It is true that to achieve peace of mind, we must make sure our body is at peace. So it is important to choose a position that will be comfortable for a long period of time.

6. After sitting down, what should you do?

Close your eyes. Now place your attention at the belly, at the abdomen. Breathe normally, not forcing your breathing, neither slowing it down nor hastening it, just a natural breath.

7. What will you become aware of as you breathe in and breathe out?

You will become aware of certain sensations as you breathe in and the abdomen rises, as you breathe out and the abdomen falls.

11. When the mind wanders off and you start to think of something, what should you do?

At this time, watch the mind! Be aware that you are thinking.


Is the Daily Office of centering prayer any different than these meditation methods?

Here are some basic meditations questions answered from a guruji:
Question: We have seen many people sitting with closed eyes. Is this meditation? Then what is meditation?

Guruji: When you close your eyes and sit still, then your mind gets dragged from the outer world to your inner self. Once in your inner world, the thoughts reduce and slowly by practice, you reach a thoughtless state. This thoughtless state is meditation. Only the awareness that “I am living today, now and here” remains. This is meditation. But we cannot say that all those who sit with closed eyes do meditation. Only those people who live in their day to day life with non-attachment can attain this state.

Question: Would you please tell us something about the appropriate sitting posture, place and time for doing meditation?

Guruji: A meditator should sit erect so that the spinal chord will be straight and perpendicular.

Please take this information with love and concern! Why do we have to follow new things to reach God. It seem like these new things in Christinaity are just old pagan ways.
For those who have ears to hear, please hear!

Emotionally Healthy Church: Is this Biblical?

Here are some other influential Christian organizations that are now promoting and spreading Peter Scazzero's books and things:

*Steve Brown radio:
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality - Pete Scazzero on SBE
September 11th, 2009
http://stevebrownetc.com/podcasts/steve-brown-etc/emotionally-healthy-spirituality-pete-scazzero-on-sbe/

*Willow Creek:
Emotional Healthy Spirituality and Willow Creek Partner to Spread Contemplative Spirituality
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=1148

Focus on the Family (Canada) now promotes Scazzero’s Roman Catholic mysticism:
Focus on the Family Canada and Contemplative Spirituality
http://morebooksandthings.blogspot.com/2009/09/focus-on-family-canada-and.html

Rick Warren (Saddleback Church Conference):
Rick Warren leads the way over the bridge to Rome
http://muddystreams.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/rick-warren-leads-the-way-over-the-bridge-to-rome/


A lot of my research was from http://morebooksandthings.blogspot.com but there I a few sites that have given helpful information on the teachings of Peter Scazzero:
http://apprising.org/2009/12/11/peter-scazzero-promoted-by-rick-warren/
http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/blog/?p=486
http://www.9marks.org/CC/article/0,,PTID314526_CHID598026_CIID1880196,00.html
http://muddystreams.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/do-christian-leaders-understand-the-contemplative-prayer-movement/
http://www.erwm.com/NewAge.htm
In the foreword of The Emotionally Healthy Church is states:

“Late one cold winter evening our phone rang. A young pastor I had known and admired for some years was unexpectedly calling. His voice was tense as he poured out the story of the crises he was facing...I listened, gave some words of encouragement and counsel, and prayed with him....
That young pastor was Peter Scazzero...”
Leighton Ford



WHO IS LEIGHTON FORD?
Ford heads Leighton Ford Ministries, which seeks to help young leaders worldwide to lead more like Jesus and more to Jesus. For many years, Ford communicated Christ around the globe through speaking, writing and media outreach. He is the 70 year old brother-in-law of Billy Graham.


Quotes From THE CALVARY CONTENDER VOL. XVII NO. 20 Oct. 15, 2000:

Leighton Ford's New Ministry akin to New Age Mysticism
LEIGHTON FORD'S NEW MINISTRY-Leighton Ford, Billy Graham's brother-in-law, served 31 years with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and is Honorary Life Chairman of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. But the 10/2 Christianity Today says his new ministry is "spiritual direction," mentoring, etc., which seems dangerously akin to New Age mysticism. In 1993, he heard Princeton Seminary's Diogenes Allen speak about the Benedictine discipline of lectio divina, a very ancient Catholic art which involves "a slow contemplative praying of the Scriptures which enables the Bible to become a means of union with God." Ford is now said to be "simply walking in people's souls" and finding out what God is doing there... He recently said individuals "should preach the gospel," but they shouldn't "be so negative as to refuse to endorse or work with those who belong to a group that proclaims a different gospel."


Quotes From the article (back in October of 2000) in Christianity Today :

From Evangelist to Soul Friend
Leighton Ford's new ministry is, in many ways, like his former calling—only more personal.
Better known for his revival evangelism, sweaty preaching, and making thousands of new converts in a single night, Ford has traded in the pulpit for a quieter one-on-one ministry. After a globetrotting lifetime of service wherever God—and brother-in-law Billy Graham—called him, the 70-year-old Ford now spends most of his time listening to God's still, small voice. He prays for hours. He cultivates intimate relationships. Mostly, he says, he is learning to be a spiritual friend...
...Ford needed a sabbatical by 1992. He headed to Vancouver, British Columbia...
In 1993, Ford heard Princeton Theological Seminary's Diogenes Allen speak at a Charlotte church about the Benedictine discipline of lectio divina...
—repeatedly reading a passage of Scripture prayerfully in order to hear God—and Ford began teaching it in his leadership course. The practice was not entirely new to Ford.
...The discipline of lectio divina
For Ford, that work is spiritual direction.
His library is now littered with dog-eared, marked-up copies of his favorite books on the subject—Keith R. Anderson and Randy D. Reese's Spiritual Mentoring, and William A. Barry and William J. Connolly's The Practice of Spiritual Direction. Ford provides focused spiritual direction to one person, and sees many other "spiritual friends" regularly. A note on a table in his study summarizes his purpose: "To deepen and energize emerging leaders on their journey with Christ, through significant interactions, strategic teaching, and spiritual friendships."
Ford realized by 1999 that if he was going to be a mentor, he needed to be mentored too.
He began to make a monthly trek to the Rock Hill Oratory, 30 miles south of Charlotte, to see his own spiritual director, Father David Valtiera.
...Ford is not the first evangelical Protestant to rediscover ancient spiritual disciplines that, until recently, were considered the domain of Catholics.
...The experience of Susie Stevens... "Spiritual direction has turned my life around," she says. "With my director's help I can now see not only where God is working in my life today, but lots of places Jesus was working before, only I was too busy trying to figure out the lotus position to notice."
After overhearing Ford's restaurant conversation, Stevens went to Amazon.com and ordered Luci Shaw and Madeline L'Engle's A Prayerbook for Spiritual Friends:
Then she called an Episcopal priest she knew from college and asked him to set her up with a spiritual director. Within months, she had exchanged her tapes of 13th-century Sufi poet Rumi, widely embraced by New Age adherents, for the music of Jars of Clay; started attending a Bible study; and attended an Ignatian retreat.
...Ford's ministry may seem humbler and quieter than it did in his days with Graham. But Ford's ministry has expanded, not shrunk, says Randy Reese, coauthor of Spiritual Mentoring and vice president for advancement at North American Baptist Seminary. Reese believes Ford's vocation recalls that of Catholic writer and spiritual guide Henri Nouwen.


Is it possible that the reason Peter Scazzero has gone contemplative because of the influence of
Leighton Ford and the monastery? It seems like the pull of the monks is very strong

Quotes from Chapter 1 of the Emotionally Healthy Church book that make me go “huh”?

Scazzero: “My spiritual foundation was finally being revealed for what it was: wood, hay, and stubble(1 Cor. 10-15).”
“The foundation of my own personal character and development could not sustain the church we were building. It was a shaky foundation, waiting to collapse.”
Huh? The foundation is Jesus Christ! He builds the church!

Scazzero: “The sad reality we discovered was that Jesus had penetrated only superficially into the depth of our persons-even though we had been Christians for almost twenty years.”
Huh? What about being a new creature in Christ?

On Juan and Marta, friends who pastored under them but were now exhausted and overwhelmed:
Scazzero: “I admitted later to Geri(wife) that a part of me was sad to have led them to Christ and to being pastors.”
Huh? How can you regret leading someone to the Lord and saving them from an eternity in hell?

Scazzero: Geri and I knew that something was missing. Our hearts were shrinking. Church leadership felt like a heavy burden. We were gaining the whole world by doing a great work for God while at the same time losing our souls(Mark 8:35)
Huh? Isn’t that talking about the love of the world and the things of this world? How can you lose your soul if you are a Christian?


Finally, at the end of the first lesson, Scazzero recommends to go deeper and “embrace the fullness of your humanity” and to start a “Feelings Journal.”

On page 165 Scazzero mentions "Leighton Ford, one of my mentors". Leighton Ford, as we discovered several weeks ago, could be the one who influenced Mr. Scazzero to start walking down this pathway. Not only are Mr. Scazzero and his wife now very much involved in contemplative spirituality, but his book is filled with quotes from contemplative authors and recommendations of other unbiblical sources.

Here is just a quick review of just a few of them:

Henri Nouwen, contemplative Roman Catholic priest who advises pastors to follow the way of the ‘desert fathers‘(contemplative monks)

Thomas Merton, a Trappist Monk and Catholic Mystic who before he died saw no contradiction between Zen and Christianity. He commended Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist, and Islamic mystics as "those who had experienced...union with the God of truth and love."

RICHARD FOSTER, a psychologist, Quaker, and founder and president of Renovaré. Dr. Foster maintains that this deeper spirituality can only be attained through the practice of spiritual disciplines, which are basically a form of "Christian" Zen--Buddhist meditation techniques mixed with Roman Catholic traditions. Also a big promoter of the teachings of Thomas Merton.

John Bradshaw, the psychological "Guru" for the New Age in the early 1990’s, who uses the term, "I AMness" and says that "my I AMness is like God’s I AMness. When I truly AM, I am most like God." He urges you to discover this "I AMness," or "true self," "authentic self," "core godlikeness," "true meaning of perfection," "meditate on nothingness," on "just being." His New Age meditations are characteristic of Hindu pantheism rather than Christianity.

Daniel Goleman, who studies behaviour and brain psychology science, and mindfulness meditation with Buddhist monks to control emotional impulses. He was recently involved in a study where scientist and monks and the Dalai Lama merge meditation with emotions, combining ancient spirituality and science together, read about it here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/meditation/

Dag Hammarskjold, the former UN secretary general, mystic, founder and designer of the eerie United Nations Meditation Room, ‘dedicated to the God whom man worships under many names and in many forms'.
Parker Palmer? Well , Scazzero extensively quotes from him and his book Let Your Life Speak. So who is he?

According to Publishers Weekly, Palmer took a year's sabbatical to live in a Quaker community in Pennsylvania and remained there for 10 years. In his book he openly discusses his burnout and depression, and suggests being authentic by following your natural talents and limitations. “Since hearing one's "calling" requires introspection and self-knowledge (a Quaker expression), Palmer encourages inner work such as journal-writing, meditation and prayer.”
(also at Quaker Books: http://www.quakerbooks.org/get/0-7879-4735-0 )

A interesting Parker Palmer phrase listed in 'The Desert House of Prayer' daily Centering Prayer exercise, under ‘Meditations’:
"The demons are our friends. To ride into the depth of our being with the demons that beset us can take away their power. (From "The Active Live," by Parker Palmer.) Do I have the courage the change "us" to "me/mine" in that sentence?"
[Incidentally, that book is about embracing “the monastic virtues of silence, solitude, and contemplation without becoming full-time contemplatives.”]
Now I don’t know if that quote is taken out of context or what, but I do know that Quakers hold some very different beliefs about the doctrine of the Trinity.
For instance, the Quakers and inner light:
At the very center of the Quaker faith lies the doctrine of the Inner Light, the principle that within every human soul there is implanted a certain element of God's own spirit and divine energy.

Another surprise in the Emotionally HealthyChurch book is that Peter Scazzero recommends that couples in his church have a GENOGRAM done as part of counselling and instructs them to "look beneath the surface".
“Given the time, we will probably sketch a family genogram with each of them to understand how their past family situation have impacted the present. “ (pg. 85)
Question: What is a genogram?

If you go onto a Jungian psychologists website that explained it as a psychological "family tree where we explore one's family of origin and the various roles that have been played out through the family drama.”
The genogram is basically a version of the Myers-Briggs enneagram which is a personality type questionaire and they are commonly available together.

There is a problem with this thing. Personality type tests have their root in ancient mythology and astrology. There are occult books on the ancient occult symbol, the Enneagram, and personality and character types. Most people don’t know about Jung and his philosophies and think they are all right. But that is not true. The Meyers-Briggs Personality Profiling was conceived from Carl Jung practicing Divination through a spirit-guide named Philemon, his advisor, who came to him out of the imaginal realm:
Jung states:
"Philemon and other figures of my fantasies brought home to me the crucial insight that there are things in the psyche which I do not produce, but which produce themselves and have their own life. Philemon represented a force which was not myself. In my fantasies I held conversations with him, and he said things which I had not consciously thought. For I observed clearly that it was he who spoke, not I. . . . Psychologically, Philemon represented superior insight. He was a mysterious figure to me. At times he seemed to me quite real, as if he were a living personality. I went walking up and down the garden with him, and to me he was what the Indians call a guru." Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, op. cit., p. 183.

The Christian Research Institute Journal states that:
“The enneagram is particularly popular among Catholic groups, with parishes and retreat houses offering workshops across the country. Rarely are teachers or participants aware of its occultic origins, something that should be a source of real concern for the Christian church. Echoes of a false, Gnostic theology are heard in enneagram teachings, though its occult roots are masked.” (CRI Journal)

Unfortunately Carl Jung is greatly influencing our churches today, not to mention Christian universities. For example, Carl Jung and genogram courses are offered here at this Christian university.

After reading the facts, why would any church allowed this teaching to come in?

The Bridge is Out: Peter Scazzero

It had been a year since I wrote my e-mail to my Pastor about my concerns over what had happen the Sunday evening before. One of the leaders were introducing listening prayers with encouragement to breath a certain way before we prayed. My concerns were looked at without taking any second look or discernment over this practice.
A year later the Pastor announced that a class was going to take place on The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero. Before I went to the classes I did my research. Not with bitterness or attempting to become superior to any one. But practicing what I attempted to teach my children when they were growing up and still encourage them to do so in their adult years. "Be careful!" "What does the Bible say?" "Check it out to see if there are dangers to your life and walk with Jesus Christ." And a question I wish I would have asked more when the children were young. "Does it add to scripture, does it add to grace?"
I looked at the information for this teaching and the dangers of Mr Scazzeros teaching. I read and re-read the reviews and research that others had made. I read half the book. Looked at several interviews on youtube and listen to several of his sermons. I wanted to give this man a fair hearing before going to the class. I came to the conclusion that there were dangerous areas of concern which I will bring up later.
Through the weeks of listing to this beloved Pastor teaching this class. I made a decision that I would not challenge him on what he was teaching. Based on how he responded a year before. I came to the realization that the teachings that he had accepted as normal Christian life were deep seeded and have been developing for years. He would have to leave his presuppositions before he would even listen to my cries of danger and warning.
So today and a few blogs I am crying out to you. Please Beware of Peter Scazzero's teachings. There is no doubt in my mind and heart that this Pastor really loves God. But his methods or "laws" of reaching God are dangerous. Is this the Jesus of experience or the Jesus Christ of Scriptures.
First is a video of his discussion with a youth Pastor and the second video of His definition of "The Office". You need to understand that a lot and I mean a lot of the evangelical body has accepted his teachings. All I am asking you is do the homework. Find out why Pastor Scazzero is teach another jesus.

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Pt. 10

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Pt. 9

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Pt. 8

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Pt. 7

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Pt. 6

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Pt. 5

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Pt. 4

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Pt. 3

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Pt. 2

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. Prt 1

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy

It has been a while since I read this book by John Piper. I first read it after my sister told me that she had cancer along with her chronic respiratory disease. And about a few months after finishing my failed treatment for liver disease. I traveled by bus to go see her and other family members. I some how heard about this book called When I don't Desire God: How to fight for Joy. So I wanted to read it on the trip. I knew my history of low times and depressed times. Most of all when I do not feel well. I had just recently heard that I was created for God's Glory and not for my own. So I really wanted to show His Glory when I felt sick and miserable. I mean, why not. Is it possible? Why does my Joy for God have to depend on how I physically feel. So I started to read this book. A few months later I listen to the audio and years later I bought the dvd
I would like to share this with you. May this challenge you the way it did my thinking.
Here is a little of the first chapter of the book But I encourage you to get the book an let the scriptures inside transform you into someone that shows joy to glorify God.

HOW CHRISTIAN LIVING BECAME IMPOSSIBLE
This discovery was devastating to me. It still is. I was made to know and
enjoy God. I was freed by the doctrine of Christian Hedonism to pursue
that knowledge and that joy with all my heart. And then, to my dismay,
I discovered that it is not an easy doctrine. Christian Hedonism is not a
lowering of the bar. Out of the blue, as it were, I realized that the bar had
been raised. Manageable, duty-defined, decision-oriented, willpower
Christianity now seemed easy, and real Christianity had become impossible.
The emotions—or affections, as former generations called them—
which I was now free to enjoy, proved to be beyond my reach. The
Christian life became impossible. That is, it became supernatural.
Now there was only one hope, the sovereign grace of God. God
would have to transform my heart to do what a heart cannot make itself
do, namely, want what it ought to want. Only God can make the
depraved heart desire God. Once when Jesus’ disciples wondered about
the salvation of a man who desired money more than God, he said to
them, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are
possible with God” (Mark 10:27). Pursuing what we want is possible.
It is easy. It is a pleasant kind of freedom. But the only freedom that lasts
is pursuing what we want when we want what we ought. And it is devastating
to discover we don’t, and we can’t.
THE MOST COMMON QUESTION I HAVE RECEIVED
This is why the most common and desperate question I have received
over the last three decades is: What can I do? How can I become the kind
of person the Bible is calling me to be? The question comes from an
aching in the heart that rises from the hope of great joy. People listen to
the biblical arguments for Christian Hedonism, or they read Desiring
God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist.3 Many are persuaded. They
see that the truth and beauty and worth of God shine best from the lives
of saints who are so satisfied in God they can suffer in the cause of love
without murmuring. But then they say, “That’s not who I am. I don’t
have that kind of liberating, love-producing, risk-taking satisfaction in
God. I desire comfort and security more than God.” Many say it with
tears and trembling.
Some are honest enough to say, “I don’t know if I have ever tasted
this kind of desire. Christianity was never presented to me like this. I
never knew that the desire for God and delight in God were crucial. I
was always told that feelings didn’t matter. Now I am finding evidence
all over the Bible that that the pursuit of joy in God, and the awakening
of all kinds of spiritual affections, are part of the essence of the newborn
Christian heart. This discovery excites me and frightens me. I want this.
But I fear I don’t have it. In fact, as far as I can see, it is outside my power
to obtain. How do you get a desire that you don’t have and you can’t
create? Or how do you turn the spark into a flame so that you can be
sure it is pure fire?”

IT WILL NOT BE AN EASY JOURNEY TOWARD JOY
I take this task seriously. Our journey in this book is not across easy
territory. There are dangers on all sides. Spiritual desires and delights
are not commodities to be bought and sold. They are not objects to be
handled. They are events in the soul. They are experiences of the heart.
They have connections and causes in a hundred directions. They are
interwoven with the body and the brain, but are not limited to the physical
or mental. God himself, without body or brain, experiences a full
array of spiritual affections—love, hate, joy, anger, zeal, etc. Yet our
affections are influenced by our bodies and brains. No one but God can
get to the bottom of these things. “For the inward mind and heart of a
man are deep!” (Ps. 64:6); and not just deep, but depraved: “The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand
it?” (Jer. 17:9).
So the answer to the question, “What should I do when I don’t
desire God?” is not simple. But it is crucial. The apostle Paul said, “If
anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed” (1 Cor. 16:22).
Love is not a mere choice to move the body or the brain. Love is also an
experience of the heart. So the stakes are very high. Christ is to be cherished,
not just chosen. The alternative is to be cursed. Therefore life is
serious. And so is this book.

THE AIM IS NOT TO SOFTEN CUSHIONS,
BUT SUSTAIN SACRIFICE
The misunderstanding of this book that I want most to avoid is that I
am writing to make well-to-do Western Christians comfortable, as if the
joy I have in mind is psychological icing on the cake of already superficial
Christianity. Therefore let me say clearly here at the beginning that
the joy I write to awaken is the sustaining strength of mercy, missions,
and martyrdom.
Even as I write this sentence Christians are being hacked to death
outside Kano, Nigeria. Yesterday a twenty-six-year-old American businessman
was beheaded in Iraq by terrorists. Why him? He just happened
to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This kind of death will
increase especially for Christians. In Sudan water is systematically withheld
from Christians as they die of thirst and malnutrition, while desperate
attempts to visit wells are met with murder, rape, or kidnapping.
Fresh reports come every month concerning the destruction of Christian
churches and the arrest of pastors in China. In the last decade over five
hundred Christian churches have been destroyed in Indonesia.
Missionaries are at risk all over the world.
When I address the question, “What should I do if I don’t desire
God?” I am addressing the question: “How can I obtain or recover a joy
in Christ that is so deep and so strong that it will free me from bondage
to Western comforts and security, and will impel me into sacrifices of
mercy and missions, and will sustain me in the face of martyrdom?”
Persecution is normal for Christians. “All who desire to live a godly life
in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). “Beloved, do not be
surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though
something strange were happening to you” (1 Pet. 4:12). “Through
many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
In the New Testament this sobering truth does not diminish the
focus on joy—it increases it. “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces endurance” (Rom. 5:3). “Blessed are you when others
. . . persecute you. . . . Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great
in heaven” (Matt. 5:11-12). “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you
meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith
produces steadfastness” (Jas. 1:2-3). “They left the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the
name” (Acts 5:41).
The fight for joy in Christ is not a fight to soften the cushion of
Western comforts. It is a fight for strength to live a life of self-sacrificing
love. It is a fight to join Jesus on the Calvary road and stay there with
him, no matter what. How was he sustained on that road? Hebrews
12:2 answers, “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the
cross.” The key to endurance in the cause of self-sacrificing love is not
heroic willpower, but deep, unshakable confidence that the joy we have
tasted in fellowship with Christ will not disappoint us in death. Sacrifices
in the path of love were sustained in the New Testament not by
willpower, but by joyful hope. “You had compassion on those in prison,
and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you
knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one”
(Heb. 10:34).
The aim of this book is not to salve the conscience of well-to-do
Western acquisition. The aim is to sustain love’s ability to endure sacrificial
losses of property and security and life, by the power of joy in the
path of love. The aim is that Jesus Christ be made known in all the world
as the all-powerful, all-wise, all-righteous, all-merciful, all-satisfying
Treasure of the universe.
This will happen when Christians don’t just say that Christ is valuable,
or sing that Christ is valuable, but truly experience in their hearts
the unsurpassed worth of Jesus with so much joy that they can say, “I
count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). Christ will be glorified in the world
when Christians are so satisfied in him that they let goods and kindred
go and lay down their lives for others in mercy, missions, and, if necessary,
martyrdom. He will be magnified most among the nations when,
at the moment Christians lose everything on earth, they say, “To live is
Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
“Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach
he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is
to come” (Heb. 13:13-14). This we will do for the joy that is set before
us. And this joy will hold us and keep us, if we have tasted it and fought
to make it the supreme experience of our lives. Christ is supremely glorious
and supremely valuable. Therefore he is worth the fight.

Loving God

Paul Washer talks about a love of God that should be beyond Passion. To me it should be more than breath. Not taken for granted. But recognizing where the air comes from. Knowing the Mercy of God when that very air becomes transformed into molecules that pass through the circulatory system. And then resting in thankfulness, another series of blood vessels get rid of molecules that are transformed to air to be exhaled out of our bodies. Just within 3 seconds. (Warning: please do not mistake this for breathing God in! We have His Word!)
Oh Father God through your Son Jesus Christ. Help me to love you!

Stop following the Man!

This is such a important video to start the year with. I remember when I first started to become dissatisfied with just drinking in one sermon on Sundays. I started to want more of God speaking to me. But like anything the focus of the attention may be focused on the creation instead of the Creator. Paul Washer addresses the danger of living off the preacher more then our own seeking and pursuing after God. It is so easy to just be attracted to preachers that are "good" then to those that are just faithful. They may have a dry voice and their pitch is the same. But if they are preaching the Word of God. Does their delivery really matter. We may have to work harder to listen and keep our attention. I have discovered a few preachers that are faithful in Preaching the Word. But the Purpose Driven Crowd would not find them worth the time to listen to. That I am sure would grieve the Holy Spirit to use that "old man" to bring out the Word of God that they need for that time in their lives. Please think about this! Pursue after God this year as your first Treasure!