"Foreknown, Predestined & Conformed"

I have heard many believers claim that a person must come to accept Christ if they want to be saved. Needless to say, there will be an acceptance on the part of any believer, in this process, but it’s an acceptance of what already exists. As believers, we did not choose or accept Christ. In fact, as scripture points out, it is just the opposite: Christ, accepted and chose us!

“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” (John 15: 16-19)

As this scripture points out, Jesus chose His disciples and all believers. Salvation is from God, and He chooses who will come to this reality and acceptance, not the other way around.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8: 28-31)

We, who have been chosen to believe, in this age, were “foreknown” and “predestined,” by God, to be “conformed” to the image of His Son. We have been “called,” “justified” and “glorified,” according to God’s purpose and sovereign will. Our righteousness and salvation is freely given and bestowed on us by the righteousness of our Father in heaven!

As anyone can see from these scriptures, we did not choose God or His son, so we cannot take credit for accepting the Christ and truth of God or our own salvation! Our salvation is “by faith, alone, that no man should boast.” We should be thankful and humble for these blessings and gifts from God, and all of this should make us desire to seek and hear the Spirit of God more clearly, since it is He (the Spirit) Who is guiding us into all truth!

“To Live is Christ…” #3

Here’s the third installment of my testimony.

At the end of the evening, I met several of Sarah’s friends, and they invited me to their “home church” that week. I agreed to come, even though I had never heard of a “home church.“ Xenos, is one of many fellowships that believe true, Christian relationships can only be formed in an informal, intimate setting like a home. This is known as a “Home Church” model. The structure is set up like this: there is a central meeting place, which I had just attended, where all of the fellowship can gather together, and then there are smaller gatherings, which occur in the homes of the fellowship members. Xenos, at this time, had three-thousand people in fellowship, with thirty or more home churches. So that week I attended Sarah’s home church. I met Sarah, and we drove to the house. The meeting was in the basement, and, as I started down the steps, I noticed that the basement was packed with probably sixty high-school kids and adults. Everyone was milling around and talking. Sarah, began to introduce me to these people. I felt a little uneasy, but not nearly as much as I had the preceding Sunday. The routine was much the same as it had been at central teaching. After we were there for a while, a man, my age, stood up and said, “let’s get started.” This was Danny, who would become, over the next weeks, someone very important in my life. Then we prayed, and Danny began to teach. I was amazed with all of these young people. We were all squeezed into this little basement, and as Danny began to share his thoughts, on a chapter in the bible, everyone was completely silent and focused. Again, I began to hear God speak to me. At the end of Danny’s teaching, he asked for questions and comments from us. One by one, these kids began to ask questions. The questions they asked amazed me. I could tell that they weren’t just asking for the purpose of getting attention. On the contrary, they were quite simply and eagerly seeking the truth. I had some questions myself, so I raised my hand and Danny called on me, and said, “I don’t believe I know you, so please tell us who you are, before you ask your question.” I told them my name, and that I was a friend of Sarah. I don’t remember the question I asked that night, but what I do remember is Danny’s desire to give me an answer.

At the end of the night, I was invited to go to the local McDonalds, drink coffee and continue our discussion. I was with five or six teenagers, and they were sharing their lives with me, as well as answering many of my own questions. One thing I learned that night was a person doesn’t have to be fifty years old, with a theology degree, to receive and transmit God’s truth. I was blown away by the maturity these young people exhibited while sharing their experiences with God. From this night on, instead of dreading these meetings, I would look forward to them all week.

Several weeks passed, and I had continued to attend the home church and central teachings. Over those weeks, I continued to be changed in my mind and heart, and my self-hatred and longing to die began to dissipate. I felt as if the world had been lifted off of my back, and I could breathe and live again. One night, because of work, I had arrived at home church a little bit late. So I crept down the stairs and found a place to sit. Another person was teaching that night. Joe, was a great guy and a good teacher, but in my mind, he was no Danny. At the end of the teaching, I raised my hand, and he called on me. I began to ask my question when, all of a sudden, Danny blurted out, “You’re here!” All of the kids started laughing, and Danny looked a little bit embarrassed. I completed my question, and Joe gave me an answer. The night ended, and I went up to Danny and we started talking. Danny’s surprised response, to finding out I was there, might seem small to some, but to me it meant everything. I had only met Danny just a few weeks before, and yet he was concerned that I might not be there that evening. This event helped anchor me to these people and God. I respected and loved Danny, and his influence on me was huge. Danny, would become a close friend, as well as my mentor. There were many of the younger people I became close with also. I don’t see many of them anymore, but they still burn in my mind and heart!

Over the past twenty-two years, since that night, I have had people say to me, “You have no proof that your God exists.” They’re right! I have no “empirical” evidence to prove that God exists, nor is that my reason for being. My evidence of God is in the unseen realm (as well as the seen), the realm that sets humanity apart from the animals and plants. My faith in God lives in the evidence of things that I have needed and hoped for, over the years. By “things,” I don’t mean cars, boats, houses and money. The “things” that I speak of are answered prayers for health and deliverance for myself and others, as well as the knowledge of God and all that entails. This, by any stretch of the imagination, is not empirical, scientific evidence. God’s manifestation is His responsibility, not mine (Romans 1: 19-21). Even if I sensed it was my responsibility, I couldn’t get it done, because I’m not God. “A man needs to know his own limitations,” a human adage that has some truth to it.

“To Live is Christ…” #2

This is the second installment of my testimony:

During the next twenty-four hours, I was anything but relaxed and happy about what was coming Sunday night. I even considered calling Sarah and canceling, but I knew she would ask me again. So Sunday night came, and I went with Sarah to her fellowship, which was called, “Xenos.” When we arrived, I was looking for the steeple and stained glass, but there was none to be found. The building, where they met, was a converted warehouse. As I entered, I noted immediately that there was no altar, crucifix or pews. People were sitting on stackable chairs with bibles, notepads and coffee. On the little stage up front, was a band playing Bluegrass music. In the corner was a snack-bar: selling coffee, cokes, chips, candy and donuts. No one was dressed in suits or skirts. Instead, most people were wearing bluejeans and flannel shirts, some were even wearing shorts.

Sarah, led me to a group of people and introduced me. I was still very nervous and felt out of place, but I returned their greetings and sat down. Most of these people were my age or younger, and they immediately began to talk with me. They didn’t preach at me, they just talked to me like normal human beings. At this point, I was still unsure about being there, but I couldn’t help admitting that this was different than any other church I had ever attended. In looking back, I believe this informal setting really helped me to calm my anxiety about being there.

After we had been there for a short while, the lights were dimmed and this man gets up and walks on to the stage. He went to the lectern and said, “Hello, Everyone. Let’s get started.” I would come to learn that this was Gary, one of the two main elders. He was short, with semi-long hair, and he was wearing bluejeans and a flannel shirt. He then said, “Let’s pray. Would anyone like to start?” I couldn’t believe it, the minister, at the beginning of a service, exhorting the congregation to pray. Off in the distance came a voice praying, and after a few more people had prayed, then Gary finished up with a prayer. What almost everyone had prayed was for God to make known, to all of us there, His truth through the word.

For the next hour or so, I heard God speak to me. I didn‘t hear an audible voice, what I heard was inside of my mind and heart. I can only try to describe what can’t be described in human terms. I felt God lance the boil, that was my heart, and gently begin to soothe the wound He had opened. I felt God’s words, through Gary, begin to convict me and then caress me, as if to say, “It’s alright David; I know what you’ve done, and how you are laid low with guilt, shame and pain, but I forgive you and accept you. David, the days of self-loathing, blood-guilt, fear, bitterness and anger are coming to an end. Through My Son, I have taken them away! You are free. I love you, David.” In 1st Corinthians 15, it says, “We shall all be changed, in the twinkling of an eye…” If this event is going to happen again, at some point in the future, I do not know, but I do know that it already happened to me on this very night. In one, short hour, my whole existence had been altered, once and for all time.

I have never, since this time, experienced anything like that first taste of God. All I had ever heard from Catholic priests and Protestant ministers was sin, works, hell, fire and damnation; but God had begun to shine His light on those lies, and His work continues in me until this day. What the ministers, priests and preachers couldn’t accomplish, in thirty-six years, God had accomplished in one, small hour. And the messengers God had used were a man in bluejeans and a seventeen year-old girl.

"To Live is Christ…" #1

This is the first installment of my testimony. God, was gracious and loving to reach out to such a wretched man as myself, and I-now-want to share my love and gratitude for God and His Son with others!

I had met Sarah while working at a local music store, in the Fall of 1985. She was working with the younger kids who were hired to clean rental instruments. Sarah, had just turned seventeen when she started working there. She was-outwardly-a beautiful, young lady, and she was just as beautiful in her mind and heart. Sarah, was the kind of person who could walk into a room and light it up with her smile and personality. People were drawn to her light, as was I. Some nights, Sarah would work later in the evening, so, quite often, it was just her and myself in the repair and clean-up shop. We would talk as we worked, and Sarah would share much about her daily happenings with me. Quite often, she would talk about her church and the people she loved there. Every once in a while, she would turn the subject to me and how God loved me also. These conversations always made me uncomfortable, because I still was opposed to God and hated the church. When she would bring up God and me, I would try to convince her that I was beyond redemption, I was too far gone. Almost always, she would end the conversation by saying, “No matter what you have done wrong, God still loves you, and so do I.”

Until Sarah appeared in my life, I was always looking for an opportunity to tear down any Christian trying to save me. Most of my energy, then, was spent blaming God and religion for my broken life. This was easier, of course, than blaming the real culprit, who just happened to be me. I was in denial about the cause of my troubles, and I hated myself so much that I didn’t want to hear about God’s forgiveness and love for me. What I desired, more than love and forgiveness, was the courage to end my life. My desire for self destruction was a constant companion, in those dark days. I was brutal with people who reached out to me, I didn‘t want or need their “fairy-tale“ advice. I despised Christians and considered them nothing more than blind fools. But there was confusion in me now, because of Sarah. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out how She could escape the wrath that normally dwelt in me.

The music store had a little bulletin board hanging over the work bench, and the kids would leave messages on it for management and co-workers. One night, as I was working by myself, I paused for a moment and looked up, and there, on the board, was a verse that Sarah had left for anyone to read. The verse, as I would come to learn, was in Philippians, and it stated, “To live is Christ, to die is gain…” I remember sitting there and staring at these words for a long time. I was thinking, “What does that mean?” As I continued to work, the words kept nagging at me. I thought, “How can death be considered a gain, and ‘To live is Christ…’ doesn’t even make sense?” Over the following weeks, I would continue to see that verse and ponder. Little did I know that, in the coming weeks and months ahead, I would begin to understand this verse, and it would change me forever.

Sarah, and I continued to work together, and she continued to speak of God’s love for me. One Saturday, almost a year later, I went to lunch with her and a friend. On the way back to work, Sarah, out of nowhere, said to her friend, “Dave’s going to go to central teaching (church) with us, Sunday night.” She turned to me and said, “Aren’t you?” To this day I can remember sitting in that back seat thinking, “I’m not going anywhere Sunday night.” But that wasn’t what came out of my mouth. Instead, my response was, “I guess I could go on Sunday.” I still can‘t fully explain my answer that day, except to say that I was filled with so much misery and torment that my heart evidently overrode my confused mind…

The Tree of Knowledge

Here’s an article on the Tree of Knowledge, which is from a great site entitled, The Christian Scribbler. The link for this article is below.

Why the Tree of Knowledge?

I’ve had several conversations with people lately surrounding the idea of the Tree of Knowledge. Why was Adam given the choice, or opportunity to disobey God…or rather, to not have faith in God?

That answer is quite obvious; Adam had to be given some form, or kind, of choice in order to truly have free will. It is plain that God does not want humans as robots, or else He could’ve very easily made Himself a bunch of automatons to populate the earth. So, in order for there to be free will, there absolutely must be a choice available; The Tree of Knowledge was that choice.

Now, I in turn ask the question; Why was the Tree of Knowledge the choice? Why didn’t God just say; “You see that tuft of purple grass…don’t step on it.” Would that not have been a free will choice between obedience and faith or disobedience and a lack of faith? So, why the Tree of Knowledge in particular?

Isn’t it amazing how God works His will in, around and through us! It was through the very object that stumbled Eve and Adam that would ultimately show all of us our way back to God. This is yet another example of God’s sovereign and unchangeable will!

Why the Tree of Knowledge? « The Christian Scribbler.

The Way, Truth & Life VIII: The Church

I don’t wish to dwell on this subject, but I can’t ignore it either. The church that people attend today began with a Roman-state created and operated religious system. This system was created by the emperor, Constantine, in the second to fourth century and for the sole purpose of bringing political stability to a divided and crumbling empire. This religious system, or “church,” as we call it, ultimately became what we recognize today, as Catholicism, which merely means, “The universal church.” In other words, and in a politically, manipulative way, “The one and only true church, which is ordained by God.”

(What I write here is not an attempt to convince people to stop attending their churches. “God will work all things to the good,” in the end, even the mediocre and ineffective. My intent is, however, to show why I question organized Christianity’s validity. As Paul said, I think I have the Spirit of God, also!)

Without writing a dissertation, every church, or denomination, since this time has been modeled after this first system. Nowhere in the Word of God will we find any scriptures that portray the Body of Christ as this politically-inspired concoction of man. Church leaders, today, will point to the first, three chapters of Acts, as proof that the current religious system is what God had intended. Nothing could be further from the truth, in my estimation.

First of all, the ekklessia, or gathering, in Acts came together as a reaction to the truth of Jesus being spread and the miracles being worked (right after Pentecost, in Jerusalem) by the original disciples. The book of Acts describes this event as being spontaneous, and that it continued, day after day, throughout the city and homes in Jerusalem: gathering together, praying for the disciples, sharing their possessions and meals and “having all things in common.” Acts also speaks of three thousand people, after listening to Peter speak, being saved in one day. However, what the church of today doesn’t want to remember or acknowledge is that this gathering, as described in Acts, only lasted for a very short period of time. Persecution by the Sanhedrin, as well as the sect of believing Hebrews, which was led by James, the brother of Jesus, would cause the dispersal of these believers. Therefore, these early believers were driven to meet in private and in very small groups, which, by the way, was how the Body of Christ spread so quickly throughout the Mediterranean region.

As I noted above, James, the brother of Jesus, had taken his brother’s message and mingled it with the law of Moses, as well as the traditions of the Pharisees and basically had invented the first, tainted denomination, which was given the stamp of approval by the Sanhedrin. This first denomination of James would ultimately aid Rome in the development of Catholicism.

Seems to me that, just maybe, God used the Sanhedrin and James to break up this overwhelming mass of believers into very small and intimate groups? Perhaps, God, didn’t want a large centrally run, as well as tainted, Body of Christ, and this was His way of sending the early believers His message?

By the time that Paul had been murdered by the Romans, which was around the year 60, all of the “churches,” ekklessias, he had established and served had dispersed and deserted him (Read II Timothy). If this had been God’s permanent design for the Body of Christ, do you believe it would have fallen apart so quickly and easily? Do you believe that God is sovereign?

There’s so much more, and if the Spirit leads, then go and examine the evidence. Don’t take my word for it, or anyone else’s!

The Way, Truth & Life V: Sin and Legalism

First of all, I am a Gentile, not a Hebrew! Although I am “grafted” in, by the grace of God and His Christ, I am not a grafted-in “new Hebrew,” as much of organized Christianity claims, nor do I belong to any of the twelve tribes of Israel. I was not given the law at the mount, nor am I a partaker of the covenant that God made with Moses and Israel. I am, as Paul said, a “revealed son of God” in the dispensation, or “mystery,” that God has revealed to the powers in this age. I am a “new creation” in Christ, as Paul said! Why then would I want to place myself under the law that God gave to Moses and the Hebrews? God gave Moses the law to show His people how far they had fallen short of His glory. Read Leviticus and see how impossible it is for a mere human being to meet the righteous requirements of God by his or her own effort. Two thousand years later, when Christ gave the sermon on the mount, people were overwhelmed at His teaching. Why? Because, even with Christ’s coming fulfillment of the law, they couldn’t adhere or attain to his teaching: unconditional love (agape), faith in God, service to others, a personal relationship and trust in the Father! “The law came in that grace may abound even more.” This is why the law was given to the Hebrews. God wanted them dependent on Him, so He could be their God and they could be His people. God knew that humanity couldn’t observe the least of His laws without stumbling, as they most certainly did and still do! We should be aware of Leviticus, as well as all other scripture that reveals God’s righteousness and why He sent Jesus to die for us, but we should never allow that knowledge to turn us back to an existence that Christ died to set us free from!

“Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” Galatians 3: 24

As believers, we are part of the “mystery” of this age, which is revealing the “manifold wisdom of God,” according to Paul. If we have been foreknown, chosen and called by God (Romans 8: 23 on), then we are beyond the drudgery of focusing on sin and the law. This is not to say that we should be cavalier about what God calls sin, as Paul said, “may it never be!” But our power to resist sin, unlike a Hebrew, comes from “Christ in us, the hope of  glory.” I need only be diligent to turn (repent) from and confess my sins to God and brothers in Christ, and then fall on His grace, which covers all of my sins-past, present and future. Paul said, “Not looking back, I press on towards the goal and the prize of the upward call of Christ.” Here is our accountability before God: pressing on, trusting and believing, in faith, that “if God is for us, then no one can be against us.”  “There is-therefore-now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” Christ died once and for all of us and our sins and unrighteousness! To add any amendment to these scriptures is to deny Christ and his sacrifice.

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Galatians 2:21

I existed, for almost seventeen years, in a life entrapped by man’s religious doctrine. Much of this doctrine (not all), was legalistic, which only caused, in me, guilt, confusion, fear, anxiety, anger and a false sense of separation from God. I was always being confronted with my “sin-life” and made to feel helpless, because the person at the pulpit always seemed to have answers that didn’t respond to my questions about God, myself and salvation. The message, for all intents and purposes, from the pulpit of organized Christianity always contained the emphasis on self help and will, “You must overcome your sins or God will not be able to bless you!” I always thought to myself, “If I have to deliver myself from sin, then why was Jesus crucified and resurrected?” “If I’m responsible for my salvation and blessings from God, then I’m lost and Jesus died needlessly.”

“The powers, the principalities, the spiritual forces of wickedness and the rulers of this dark age, as Paul described the enemy, have done their job for almost seventeen hundred years. These contrary-to-God forces, have clouded the truth of the cross with the desires, fears and religious traditions of man. Most of this disruptive work has been accomplished, unfortunately, from inside the Body of Christ, and has taken the form of what Christ said he had come to fulfill.

“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years…” Galatians 4: 9-10

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5: 1

“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” Galatians 5: 18

The bible tells us that we are made in God’s image-not the reverse! It also tells us that we are led by the Spirit (and therefore, not under law) who was sent to “lead us into all truth.” The scripture didn’t say man would lead us into all truth, but that the Spirit of God would! Organized religion, in order to maintain control and exist, must make God, to some degree, in the image that religious man believes he needs and desires. The major way (one of many) organized religion accomplishes this goal is through fear. What better tool to use than the sins (weakness) of the congregation and thus the threat of separation from God for all eternity, which is the complete opposite of the truth?

In God’s reality and truth, we are more than forgiven, we are justified in His eyes and not by our own works, good or bad, but by our faith in His Son, alone! The emphasis on sin (legalism), self holiness and all other religious dogma will only lead to a lack of Knowledge about, as well as a personal relationship with, God! Listen to the Spirit that God sent to each of us to lead us to His truth, and if anyone is teaching contrary to this truth, then depart from their company, as Paul warned the Galatians!

The Way, Truth & Life II: Justification by Faith

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Galatians 2: 21

As a believer, and in order to be “free indeed,” I had to first comprehend my right-standing with God and what this meant to me in reality. As Paul said above, “…if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly.” Paul, also said, “Righteousness comes by faith alone and not of works, that no man should boast.” As with Abraham, when God draws us to Himself, through the faith He has given us, it is then, by God, “reckoned to us as righteousness.”

God, drew all of us to Himself by the faith, through His grace, that He had already given us, and then, on top of this, He saw us as the righteousness of Christ. All of this was and is freely given to us and with no hidden agendas or charges by God. When we deny this truth in any way, we are, in reality, making a claim that Christ died needlessly, and thus we are not truly set free from the bondage of guilt over our sins. This keeps us in a constant state of spiritual immaturity, which ultimately leads to more ungodliness and guilt, as well as separation, in our own minds and hearts, from the love and grace of God. (I know this to be true through personal experiences with others, but also with myself.) It’s a vicious cycle and one that is perpetrated, to a great extent, by the legalistic teachings of many denominations, as well as our own need for self-reliance. And yet, even with this spiritual arrogance or ignorance, God, still sees us as the righteousness of Christ. God, isn’t hurt or angered by this incorrect and immature way of believing and walking, we are! In this scenario, we become our own worst enemy!

How do we deny this most fundamental tenet of faith? By trying to adhere to the law, or, in other words, by trying to make ourselves righteous and worthy, through our self-will and actions, in our own eyes, as well as the eyes of God. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t desire or seek to live by Christ’s example, but we have to consider our motivations for doing so. If we desire to live, love and serve others, as Jesus did, then we have no need to be concerned when we fail (sin), and we will fail. But if we have to be righteous in our own eyes, then, even though we’re righteous in God’s eyes, we’ll never receive the blessing of this truth.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Romans 8: 28-31

First of all, God, will work all things, in our lives, negative or positive, to the good, which is according to His perfect will and pleasure! Paul, says that we were foreknown, predestined and called by God to be conformed to the image of His son. Because of this, we, who are called in this age, are justified and even glorified (through faith) by God and with no action or responsibility of our own required or needed. God, is for us, no matter what! Nothing else matters! Where is our responsibility, in any legalistic or dogmatic sense, in all of this? If we were foreknown and predestined, then we are single pieces of a much larger puzzle, which God is solely responsible for and will put together in His perfect time and will.

Jesus, said that he came to give us life and that abundantly! There can be no abundance of life in guilt and fear of retribution from God, which I have come to understand the hard way. This is not what God intended for us, as is witnessed by the life, death and resurrection of His son and His Word to us. Let’s start living the life-together-that Jesus suffered and died for, and let’s cast off the chains of human, religious dogma!