The Rest of the Old Old Story

This is a defense of Rose Creek Village … sort of.

It’s not about Rose Creek Village. It’s about you.

I’ve heard, recently, several people complain about some friends of mine—leaders at Rose Creek Village—who are intimidating. I agree they’re intimidating; that’s not just the opinion of the complainers. Pushy is probably a fair description, too. The complainers definitely felt pushed around by my friends, and I am certain that at least a few times those feelings were legitimate.

Of course, these are my friends, so it was self-evident to the complainers, while they were complaining, that however my friends treated them, they would have treated me the same way, at least in the early days of our community. So, more than once recently, I was told, "Well, that doesn’t happen to you, of course. You always spoke up." That’s always followed by some statement about how I don’t let myself get pushed around.

Worse, that’s always said as though it’s some sort of excuse for others. They’re not like me. Indeed, they cannot be. Apparently, I must be bold by nature. My personality innately stands up to others and refuses to be intimidated.

Laughable.

There were very few children more timid than me. I was pushed around by everyone. I stood up for next to nothing. I did homework once for a kid in 9th grade, much bigger than me, because he asked me and I was scared of him. Afterward, he taunted me publicly for doing it. I never did anything about it, and until this day I’ve never even told anyone that it happened. (And now I’m writing it on the internet; go figure.) In fact, it didn’t much matter to me that he taunted me in class, since I was neither friend nor acquaintance of most of the kids in the class. All my friends were from the street I lived on, not from the school.

I never went to a school dance, not even Homecoming or the Prom. I was 21 before I was brave enough to ask a girl out on a date, and I never had an official girlfriend until my wife-to-be when I was 25.

It wasn’t until I met her that I first worked up the courage to return a fast food meal that wasn’t made right. Telling a waiter or waitress in a real restaurant that my meal wasn’t right would have to wait till I was in the my 40′s, and I’m pretty certain I’ve only done that once in my life despite the fact that incorrect meals have happened to me a lot more than that. I was in my mid-30′s when I began to work on looking at strangers in the eye if I crossed paths with them in a store.

Yeah, I was painfully shy and embarrassingly timid.

In other words, standing up to other people does not come naturally for me. It is very easy for me to let people intimidate me. I prefer that to confrontation, even if that confrontation is telling a merchant that they got my order wrong. (To this day, that’s still true. I’d rather pay money I don’t owe than have a confrontation about money. You’d love doing business with me.)

But I’m not allowed to live like that in the church!

Since the day I became a Christian I have believed in God. (Some Christians only believe in God in theory, not in practice.) God is greater than dictators, kings, and especially than leaders of Christian churches, whether real ones or self-serving ones.

Early on at Rose Creek Village (actually before it was called Rose Creek Village) I had my first run in with leadership. They wanted me to be baptized, and I didn’t believe I needed to be baptized by this church. I had been baptized before, understanding what it was, and thus I had been baptized both into Christ and into the body of Christ. There was no need for me to be baptized by Rose Creek Village.

The head elder, Noah, overrode the others and said, "Maybe he’s right. Let’s leave this in the hands of God."

(Over the next few months, the leaders won that one. The story is too long to tell here, and I don’t have answers for all the theology, but God convinced me that they were right, and I was baptized.)

A few months later, a couple leading men came up with a whole morass of rules for the house I was living in. I didn’t like it, but I decided not to say anything. I would wait for God to provide some examples of whether these rules were a good or bad idea.

But one of the other men spoke up. It turns out I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like it, so I felt free to talk. We debated the rules, though I was left as the only spokesman for the anti-rule group. Eventually, a person who’d been around a lot longer than me said that I was taking the gift of God—their rules—and throwing it on the ground. I couldn’t take the conflict, and I just turned and walked out. I went for a drive for an hour or so and just prayed.

When I got back, everyone had decided to put the rules on hold. I think they were concerned that they’d hurt me.

I want to point out here before I tell any more stories, the issue wasn’t just that they felt they’d hurt me. God is in control of my life, and God is in control of the church. God will always show the willing and malleable where to take a stand. If I’m part of the church, then God will ensure that where he makes me stand, he will make the church stand as well. What he’s saying to one, he will say to all.

How could it be otherwise?

A few months after that, it was Noah who laid a bunch of rules on that very same house. Again, I opted not to say anything and to wait and see what would happen.

My wife, who’s a lot braver than I am, wasn’t so willing to sit back and wait.

No problem. I’m the head of my wife. I told her to just give it time. I specifically told her not to say anything to Noah.

So the next morning I walked onto the porch and my wife was giving Noah a piece of her mind. I was surprised, somewhat upset with her, and somewhat afraid of the situation. I was not prepared for this confrontation.

Noah looked at me. He was clearly angry. He asked, "Do you feel the same way your wife does?"

"Yes," I said.

"Great," he replied. "You make me feel like some kind of cult leader ordering people around. I can’t believe you didn’t say anything!"

I gave some feeble excuse, and he stormed back to his room. (Apparently, God was overriding my husbandly authority. Some day we can do a blog on realms of authority and talk about why I was the one who was out of line.)

There was a gathering that morning (the rough equivalent of a church service), and we had the gathering outside. We sang a couple songs, and then Noah stood up.

He said. "God has shown me that his people are to be free. They are to be ruled by God, and not by rules. I repent for trying to put rules on the people of God."

He then gave public thanks to God, crossed the circle, and kissed both my wife and I on the foreheads.

We’d been part of Rose Creek Village less than a year. We had no position. We were just some of the new people.

I’ll tell you one more story, also from the early days here in Tennessee. All of this would have taken place in 1996 and 1997.

Originally the house I was living in had 7 bedrooms. We had added a couple rooms in the basement, and we had an RV or two outside, so there were five or six families living out of the house. In 1997 (I think), we built an 8-bedroom, 4-and-1/2-bath addition onto the house. It was three stories tall, and the bottom story became a dining hall. Between all those bedrooms, some additional RV’s, and a cabin we built outside, at one point around 100 people were eating in the 900-square-foot room.

The room wasn’t carpeted at that point, and with all those people, many of them children, it could get very loud. Noah and another brother were having trouble handling the noise, and so they were making extreme efforts to get everyone to be less noisy. I’m pretty sure that most people felt like the biggest disturbance of the peace was not the noise but Noah’s and this other brother’s complaints about the noise.

Once again, I took it upon myself to talk to Noah about it. I never wondered why someone less shy hadn’t already gone to him. I knew from the talk around the house that I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. The question to me, though, was not whether people were doing what they should be doing. The question to me was whether I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.

So I talked to him, and he got mad. There was nothing to do but have a heated discussion with him.

I hate discussions like that, especially with someone a lot braver than I am, so it was easy for me to keep one ear tuned to God. My prayer to him was pretty simple: "How do I get out of this conflict as fast as possible without having to back down?"

I felt like I wasn’t allowed to back down. It was Noah who had taught us that peace comes from God, not from outward quiet.

But reminding him of that wasn’t helping.

Finally, God dropped something to say into my spirit. I said it, and Noah stopped talking and looked at me. Then he hung his head and said, "You’re trying to help, and I’m talking to you like this."

(In Noah’s defense, due to the subject of this post, I am leaving out all the parts where I was in the wrong. He had to talk to me about skipping gatherings, complaining about church activities, exploding on a brother in a situation where I was completely wrong, and other things that I’m sure I’ve forgotten. However, this blog’s about talking when needed, not about my numerous faults.)

How many people would just have judged the rules that were handed down in my first story above? How many people would have let those first rules happen, then let Noah’s rules happen, then let the situation in the dining room remain unchanged, full of pressure and complaints about leadership?

How many would later have walked away from the church saying, "You wouldn’t believe the terrible things that happened! There were all these rules! And then there was complete chaos in the dining room, and the leaders were upset and making it worse. Everyone knew and agreed with me that the chaos was all the leaders’ fault, but do you think they changed?"

The real question, however, does not concern how many but concerns only one.

You.

Would you have just let those things happen? Would you have been wondering about whether those rules were the will of God, and would you have taken it upon yourself to speak up for God if you felt no one else was?

Or would you just walk away later and talk about all those terrible people and the terrible things they did?

There are reasons that you are not allowed to remain a coward, making excuses for not doing the will of God.

Let me tell you one more story.

When I was a very new Christian, attending an Assembly of God church down in Florida in 1982, a very excited evangelist came to town. His name was Danny Duvall, and if anyone ever inspired me to a Christian walk that was both practical and zealous, Danny Duvall did.

He didn’t just preach about being zealous for Jesus, he took us out and showed us how to do it. He took us door to door in town passing out flyers for the revival he was preaching. He also took us to the tourist section of town to witness.

I was terrified. Remember, I didn’t talk to strangers. I didn’t even ask girls out on dates until shortly before this time. Stopping people to talk about Jesus when all they wanted was a good time at the bars along the beach … that was not my idea of something pleasant.

Fortunately, I was with a friend that I knew had no problem talking to strangers. Before we were Christians, he had been a real ladies’ man, chatting up any girl he ran across and every bit as comfortable with men as he was with women.

Danny Duvall explained that the technique was simple. He didn’t bother with smooth approaches. He just picked a person, then told them he wanted to talk to them about Jesus.

I was curious to see whether this would prove effective. Danny sent me off with by brave friend and with another young man who’d been in the church much longer than us. If this blunt method of Danny Duvall’s worked when they tried it. After that I would do it, too, even if it terrified me.

As we walked to the tourist section the young man from the church asked, "Who’s going to go first?"

"Not me!" my brave friend said.

I stared at him. What did he mean he wouldn’t do it?

The young man from the church echoed my friend’s sentiment. Then they made it clear that if it boiled down to one of them being the first to dip their toes in the water, then we might as well head back to the car.

I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do but to volunteer. God sent us out there. We weren’t street witnessing because we thought it was fun!

God made sure the experience would set a pattern for the rest of my life.

The first people to come along were two guys who were everything I wasn’t. They were big, their demeanor made it clear they were tough, and they were at home in the party scene.

I stepped in front of them.

"Can I share Jesus with you?"

The bigger of the two made a face that indicated utter disgust. He raised his hands, sidled around me on the sidewalk, then rushed off with his friend laughing.

I promised myself I would never use the word "share" in public again.

I was utterly dejected, but I was going to give it one more shot without using "share."

The next guy was a shorter, slightly chubby and much more cheery looking young man. I worked up a more masculine demeanor, stood up straight, deepened my voice, and said, "Can we talk to you about Jesus?"

"Sure!" the guy said. He seemed thrilled to talk to us.

He didn’t wait for us to begin the conversation. He explained quickly that he was a "disciple" of Richard Bach.

Have you heard of Richard Bach? People who have read a lot and are at least my age are probably aware of the book Jonathon Livingston Seagull. In 29 years of telling this story, which happened in August of 1982, I’ve never met anyone who has read his other book, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.

I had, however.

I had devoured it. I loved Richard Bach.

Illusions had completely reinterpreted Jesus, and Bach made a lot of claims about what the Gospels say that just aren’t true. Because Richard Bach had been central to my own thinking as a teenager, I was aware of both his claims and the verses that contradicted those claims despite having only been a Christian for a month.

We talked with the charming young man on the sidewalk for two hours. We were there so long that the police eventually came by and ran us off.

I knew that God had sent that young man along. I also knew why God hadn’t sent him first. The first two guys, representing everything I had been scared of and intimidated by as a school boy, were sent by God, too. He wanted effort from me.

The other two guys? I don’t know what happened to the young man from the church, but I know my friend fell away.

God’s will is dependent on you.

God’s will, in the long run, is going to happen anyway. You, however, will never see it unless you participate in making it happen. It can go on all around you, so that there’s no direction you can look in which God’s will is not happening, and you will not see it if you’re not participating in it.

God doesn’t give his gifts to the lazy.

Nor to the cowardly.

In my day, I was a full-fledged coward. Cowards, however, are the first people listed among those who will be throw into the lake of fire. They are ahead of the unbelieving and the abominable (Revelation 21:8).

I’m not really interested in having my part in the lake of fire, so turning away from my innate cowardice has been a priority in my life for 30 years.

It needs to be a priority in yours. If you can’t speak up, the problem’s not the nature you were born with.

It’s the belief, work, and effort you’ve lived without.

Who am I to be fabulous?

Who am I not to be?

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. … And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. (Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love.)

I have chosen not to be a bank robber. I have chosen not to vandalize my neighbor’s property. I have chosen not to shoplift.

We don’t commend such choices. We punish and look down upon those who don’t make them. Whether Christian or not, theist or not, virtually every human alive agrees that each of us is obligated to avoid that type of behavior.

Are we not equally obligated to do what is good?

Are we not equally obligated not to waste the life we have been given?

Today, I was told by a nurse that patients like me are the minority. Most do not have a positive outlook. Most do not look for the best in their situation.

As she was telling me this, she said, “Of course, no one reacts positively when you first find out such devastating news.”

I did.

I didn’t tell her that. It seemed not very humble to say it. Later, though, I got to thinking about the quote that I started this blog with.

As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

We all have our strengths; we all have our weaknesses.

We don’t all use our strengths, and we don’t all work on our weaknesses. Some of us just give in. We float through life.

Are we any less obligated to avoid that attitude than to avoid being a thief?

It was not an accident or a quirk of my nature that allowed me to receive the news of my leukemia with joy from the moment I received it.

I practiced receiving such news for years.

I asked myself whether I was really a Christian. I asked myself whether I really believed what the Bible says. In fact, I found out that I believe what Jesus said. I believe what Moses said. I believe what the apostles said, and I want to follow Abraham’s example. I believe in the inspiration of the Bible, but I really don’t believe that the earth was made in 7 days. I also believe that when serious science competes with literal Bible interpretation, science always wins, and the unyielding literal interpreters of the Bible always end up, well, looking ignorant and foolish.

So I admitted who I am on evolution. The fact is, I trust scientists more than I do the fundamentalists because scientists have better fruit, are more honest, and slander people less.

But when it comes to believing the Gospel, I believe it. I believe that all things work together for good to those who love God and who are the called according to his purpose.

Therefore, for decades, as angry as I might get about being fined $600 when I was broke for a car accident that a president of a bank caused, then lied about and sued me over, I would acknowledge that it wasn’t the bank president who did that to me. It was God. And it was for my good.

For decades, I made up my mind to first question my own judgment about myself rather than the judgment of a person who accused or admonished me.

For decades, I practiced what I believed.

By that, I don’t mean that I did everything I believed. I practiced. I worked at it. I trained, and I got better.

Then one day, God said, “You’ve come far, Grasshopper. You are now ready for a real test.”

And so far, I’ve passed.

We all have different strengths.

What are yours? And what are you doing with them?

Or are you just lucky there’s no laws against coasting through life, being a lazy, evil steward of the gift of life that God gave you?

There are numerous words in our English Bible that aren’t translated, but transliterated. Sometimes that’s not a big deal, but there are some cases that it’s at best a theological cop-out and at worst purposeful deceit.

Baptizo

An example of transliteration, rather than translation, is rendered baptizo as baptize rather than dip, plunge, immerse, or drench.

With baptizo I understand. I once read a list of the various ways baptizo is used in Greek literature. It’s used even of a wave “baptizing” a beach. In almost every case, the object being “baptized” was completely soaked.

On the other hand, the Didache, a very early church manual. mentions that while immersing in a flowing river or stream was the preferred means of baptism, it’s acceptable to pour three times over the head as well. The Didache was written in Greek, so we English-speakers can’t accuse the writer of misunderstanding baptizo.

Others, though, I’m not okay with.

Angelos

Angelos is used 186 times in the New Testament. 179 of those times, it’s rendered as “angel,” which means it’s transliterated, not translated.

The word means messenger, not angel. It’s stupid—there’s probably a better word I should be using—to render it angel. Worse, it’s not very honest to render it angel 179 times, then never let people know that in the few cases where it refers to an earthly messenger, rather than a heavenly one, you translated it as messenger.

For example, when the Scriptures talk about John the Baptist being sent as a messenger to prepare the way of the Lord, it uses the word angelos (Matt. 11:2; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:27). Jesus sent messengers into Samaria in Luke 9:52. The word there is also angelos (well, angeloi, the plural). John’s messengers, sent to ask Jesus whether he was really the one, are referred to with the same word (Luk. 7:24).

Hebrew’s worse. Malak is rendered angel 111 times, messenger 98 times, and ambassador 4 times.

Don’t you think we’d understand better if angelos and malak were actually translated? Gabriel’s not an angel, he’s a messenger. Yes, he’s a heavenly messenger, and a powerful being, but he’s a messenger. That’s what the word means.

Maybe Gabriel didn't look like we think he did …
(Jeremiah Briggs has this image for sale.)

Seraphim

I have a whole web page on this one. This one irritates me because I find it dishonest.

There are seraphim mentioned in Isaiah 6. They fly, and they cry out praises to God night and day. They have six wings.

There are seraphim mentioned in Numbers 21, too. They bit the children of Israel in the wilderness. They were poisonous, and the children of Israel died.

There, in Numbers, the translators, who can’t seem to figure out what the word seraph means in Isaiah, have no problems rendering it “snake” or “serpent.”

It’s funny, though, in Isaiah 14:29 and Isaiah 30:6, they don’t seem to have problems figuring out that seraph means snake or serpent, either. It’s only in Isaiah 6.

Maybe we just don’t like the idea of flying snakes in heaven.

I like it. I call them “dragons.”

Diakonos

This one really bugs me, too.

Diakonos is in the New Testament 31 times. It’s only rendered “deacon” three times; in 1 Tim. 3:8 and 3:12 and Php. 1:1.

That’s ridiculous religious terminology. Give me a break. Translate the word! It’s SERVANT, thank you … SERVANT!

The really ridiculous translation is when the word is used as a verb, diakoneo. That’s in the NT 37 times, and they transliterate it, sort of, just twice, both times in 1 Tim. 3.

You can’t really transliterate it, though. “Deacon” is not a verb. So, when they don’t want to correctly translate it, like they did the other 35 times it’s found in the NT, and they instead want to lie to you, deceive you, trick you, and get in the way of your following God, they have a problem.

So they got around it by turning the one word, diakonos, which simply means “serve,” into “USE THE OFFICE OF DEACON.”

What????

That’s ridiculous.

In 1 Timothy 3, we should be reading about the fact that one has to qualify to be a servant in the house of God. It’s a position of honor, and those who serve well (not “use the office of deacon well”) obtain good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Grumble, grumble, grumble. Now I’m all irritated.

I hate dishonesty. Both goats and wolves mingle comfortably with God’s sheep because their “shepherds” are not honest, brave, trustworthy, properly taught, or really even shepherds at all. I want to run them all out so that God’s sheep, so few as they may be, can actually be the flock of God, shepherded by real shepherds raised up by Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd.

I wrote someone recently and told them that the best argument for some of the things I teach is Rose Creek Village. (Not that RCV does what I teach; I teach what RCV does.) I described “great power, great joy, and great satisfaction in God.”

Honestly, though, not everyone at Rose Creek Village believes that’s true.

I know a couple people, right here at our village, who would say that they can’t do anything because they can never get permission for the things that are on their heart. I always wonder if they live at the same place I do. In fact, I ask them, when I hear something like that, whether they live at the same place I do.

I’m talking about real personal stuff here, but it applies to all Christians.

The difference is not where we live or what we’re told. Those couple people and I have two major differences.

• I don’t think I’ve been told no until I’ve been told no.
• I’m willing to risk making people angry if I think I’m doing God’s will.

Maybe those both could be summed up in one statement: I care less what people think about me.

It’s not that I’m assertive by nature. All the psychological tests I’ve ever taken say that I’m extremely introverted. Growing up, I was shy and picked on all the time. I’m terrified to talk to strangers.

It bothers me greatly when people don’t like what I’m doing. When I say something controversial, and people don’t like it, I get nervous and jittery. It takes a great effort of will to choose to stand on a controversial truth.

But I do it.

I don’t feel like I have a choice. If I give up on a truth that comes from God, then I believe that God will give up on me. I get that from the verse where Jesus says that if we’re ashamed of him here, then he’ll be ashamed of us there.

So I don’t like it, but I do it anyway.

I’m a pretty good teacher, you know. I can be entertaining. I can say what people want to hear, and they’ll all pat me on the back when I’m done. Sometimes, when I lead a Bible study and I encourage everyone to talk, I’ll have people come up to me after and say, “I came to hear you talk, not them. You’re a lot more interesting. Do those others have to talk?”

I have a couple friends who are pastors. They became pastors by, well, lying. They said they agreed to a statement of faith that I know they don’t agree with, and they did so because they were told everyone does that. One of them told me, “You can’t repair a sinking ship from the outside.”

I can’t do that. I can’t do that at RCV, either. I’m at RCV because it’s the church. No, I don’t mean its the only church. I mean it’s the church. It’s people, gathered together for the purpose of following Jesus Christ.

So I listen to the church. When I say, “I think this,” and everyone disagrees with me, then I assume that the church is the pillar and support of the truth, not me. I yield.

But when everyone frowns, and says, “I don’t like it,” that doesn’t mean anything at all. I make them think about what they don’t like. If I think it’s God, then I go do what they don’t like. Maybe I’m wrong, and I try to pay attention to God putting a stop to me, or a brother running me down to say I’m sinning, but otherwise, I go on.

And if you’re trying to follow God, you’ll find that people don’t stop you. God has a way of moving everything out of the way, leaving the path open, and allowing you to blaze a trail …

… while everyone’s frowning at you.

Now, keep in mind, this only works for people who want God’s will. For those that are full of their own opinions and who have no fear of their own self-deceit, I just described a route to self-destruction, heresy, and destructive behavior towards the church that will result in God destroying you.

It’s good to be afraid.

But it’s good to be more afraid of God than you are of people.

That way, you won’t be confused into thinking that just because people frown at you a lot, they won’t give you permission to do anything. Get off your rear end and do something that you’re pretty sure God wants you to do!

I really wanted to try to get a post up every day in December. Looks like I made it, assuming I actually finish this post. I need to take a break and drive the rest of the way home from California. I’m in Fort Smith, Arkansas as I start this. With the RV, it will take about 8 hours to get back to Selmer.

I was singing a song as I drove yesterday, and I really like it. The chorus is worth recounting to you:

We’re the people of God
Called by his name
Called from the dark
And delivered from shame
One holy race
Saints every one
It’s because of the blood of Christ
Jesus the Son

The second verse, though, begins with, “Hear us, O spirits of darkness … ”

Some Christians like to talk to spirits of darkness. They like to rebuke the devil, and they like to do it as sharply as they please. We don’t think much about statements like Jude 9:

Michael the archangel, when he was disputing with the devil in contention over the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a railing accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."

There’s something about respect, even when it’s given to a terrible and evil opponent like the devil.

Notice that it specifies what sort of accusation Michael was unwilling to bring. He wasn’t willing to descend into "railing." The picture I get is uncontrolled temper or insult.

Christians who get carried away with rebuking the devil often say whatever they want with no restraint.

I don’t believe they know what they’re getting into.

Spiritual Warfare

We love to do spiritual warfare. We love to rebuke the devil, and some of us are just looking for the opportunity to cast out a demon. We bind things, loose things, and claim the spiritual armor of protection. We plead the blood over ourselves …

And we miss the spiritual battles going on all around us.

We miss the little temptations. We miss the times when we’re blinded to the need around us. We miss the voice of the Lord trying to get us to go some other direction than our own.

We think we’re doing spiritual battle while we loudly insult the devil, but in the meantime his evil demons are leading us astray minute by minute.

The Devil’s Not Toothless

(Finishing this back home)

I’ve heard this ridiculous theory that the devil, who, according to 1 Pet. 5:8, walks around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, is toothless.

What?

The devil devours Christians all the time. More than ever. Yes, even in the Charismatic churches, where they’re pronouncing that he doesn’t devour anyone.

Look around!

The reason Christians can be foolish enough to think he’s toothless is that we’re so used to being scattered across the hillsides that it doesn’t bother us when members of the "flock"—or perhaps better said, the non-flock—go missing.

No one notices when Christians disappear. The good shepherd knows the name and condition of every one of his sheep. If one goes missing, then he leaves the 99 and goes to find that one.

Today, if one goes missing, no one notices.

I didn’t capitalize "good shepherd" a moment ago because when Jesus talks about his being the Good Shepherd, he contrasts it with hirelings who don’t care about the sheep. One of the main ways the Good and Great Shepherd shepherds the flock is through good shepherds who are not hirelings; who care about the flock.

Elders are told to shepherd the flock repeatedly (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2). We need not only the Good Shepherd in heaven, but the Good Shepherd using his body on earth. (Heads, you may realize, don’t shepherd very well without a body.)

Resist Him Steadfast in the Faith

We’re in a battle with a real enemy who not only fires arrows, but fires flaming arrows. He not only has teeth, but he has actually dragged off Christians and killed them (spiritually).

You can debate the theology of that all you want. My answer is, look around. I don’t care whether you think they lost their salvation when they were dragged off and left crippled in the world, I just care that we stop that from happening!

The devil is walking around looking for people to devour, and he is devouring them!

He’s devouring a lot of people who insult him and call him toothless.

Real warriors don’t spend their time insulting their opponents. They fight him.

We are called to resist the devil, standing strong in the faith. We are called to follow Michael’s example and avoid railing accusation. The weapons listed in Ephesians 6 do not include insult, boasting, or denouncing.

Rallying to the Battle

Sheep do better together with a shepherd watching over them. When they’re scattered on the hillside, God gets really mad (see Jer. 23).

In 2010, I got to hear about people–people in high places!–who were saying that and making it happen. They were actually preaching that Christians ought to obey Christ, not just get a free ticket to heaven, and they were calling them to do it together. How exciting!

In 2011, let’s jump on the bandwagon.

Now I’m actually going to say something really practical. If you don’t know how to do that, do this:

If you’re already part of a flock, you can use that resource for ideas for keeping tabs on one another. We all need it.

Oh, Yeah, About That Battle

Oh, and make sure you actually work on possessing those weapons listed in Ephesians 6—Faith, the Word of God, a Love for Truth, Salvation—because the devil, who’s not toothless, really doesn’t like Christians developing spiritual family relationships. It leads to real shepherds (rather than mere club presidents giving speeches every week) watching over a real flock.

And a real flock is a real force.

I don’t know how your Christian walk has been, but in mine I’ve found myself having to overthrow parts of my personality regularly.

Right now, I’ve having to overthrow the part of my personality that doesn’t want others to feel bad. The reason I’m such a lousy salesman—which I am—is because I don’t like talking people into what they don’t want to do. I don’t like to make people uncomfortable. In fact, I don’t like to even risk making people uncomfortable.

And I certainly don’t like to risk making them angry.

The problem is, a helpful person is always going to make people angry. A loving person is always going to make some people angry some time because people, in general, need help doing what’s right.

As the Scripture says:

Exhort one another daily … lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Heb. 3:13)

We need exhortation because even as Christians, obeying God does not always come naturally. Sometimes obeying God is painful. Sometimes obeying God goes against some deep, ingrained parts of our personality.

There’s another verse that applies here …

Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works.

"Provoking" means that we’re going to have to say some things that are difficult for people to hear. We’re going to have to say things to one another that give strength to their good side, their spiritual side, and that cause their flesh to rise up and war against their soul.

If you’re the one who’s spoken whatever it is that is overthrowing their fleshly desires, then they are a lot more likely to be angry at you than angry at the good part of themselves that agrees with you.

For some people, such exhortation comes naturally. It’s not difficult for them. I think, however, that there are an awful lot of us who like the comfort of having people never be angry at us, so we are quiet when we ought to speak.

What I’ve found for myself is that when I choose what’s right and say what I ought to say, even though I want to be quiet, I don’t feel wonderful afterwards for helping by brother or sister. Instead, I feel awful because they’re angry at me. I question myself, and I wonder whether I was mean, whether the issue was too petty to comment on, or whether I had no room to speak because I’m no better than they are, even in the specific area I was admonishing them about.

So I tell myself all the time that feeling bad is not an important issue.

I have to speak when I ought to speak. It’s going to have to be okay that I feel bad afterward. It’s going to have to be okay that I question myself.

It’s even going to have to be okay that I really had no room to talk. Who cares if I’m no better than they are? Humility requires me to not even consider whether I’m better than anyone in any area, anyway. We don’t speak to one another out of a superior holiness. We speak to one another because it will help the brother or sister we are speaking to—even if we look like hypocrites in the process.

If I really am a hypocrite, then it would be great for them to speak back to me and provoke me to love and good works as well!

Admonishing One Another Isn’t the Only Issue

I picked the topic of admonishing one another because I tend to feel bad after I admonish a person.

When we’re talking about feeling bad, though, that’s not the only topic that applies.

If you’re a Christian you need to get used to making moral choices and being okay with feeling bad afterward.

Yesterday I read a story in Reader’s Digest about a guy who overcame his addiction to prescription drugs cold turkey and on his own, without getting help from anyone else.

Talk about feeling bad! I assure you that when he made the wise, moral decision to quit taking those pills, he did not suddenly feel good about it. In fact, he went through a real, physical withdrawal, which means he felt terrible about it.

Later, when the physical feelings went away, I’m sure he felt great about his decision.

Today, I watched an episode of Undercover Boss, and it addressed the Boss’ history. He had quit playing music with a band after he quit doing drugs and drinking in order to ensure that he didn’t go back to the drugs and drinking. I’m sure he hated not being able to play music; he did go back to it years later when he had the help he needed to stay clean.

Small Decisions and Feeling Bad

These people made really big decisions in their life that they stuck to despite feeling bad. We all look at them, and we think, "Wise decision."

But the fact is, as Christians we face such choices every day. They’re not as big, so we don’t pay much attention to them. We give in to our desire to avoid feeling bad, and we barely notice because the offense is so minor. It’s just "the way we are."

We read about missionaries whose life’s work happened because they made small but hard choices. Perhaps we read about someone who began to get up very early to read the Scriptures and to pray for an hour or more before they did anything else in their day.

But we don’t do the same because we’re not morning persons.

We read about, say, David Wilkerson, who put his TV up for sale for just half an hour in order to find out whether God wanted him to give up watching TV. After the TV sold in 29 minutes, he gave the time to other things, some spiritual, some not so spiritual.

One of those not so spiritual things was reading a magazine that gave him a heart for reaching youth in New York’s inner city.

Besides the result that youth in the inner city were reached, that decision also produced the book and movie The Cross and the Switchblade and the powerfully effective Teen Challenge ministry. Today, thousands of people read what David Wilkerson writes because he made the small but difficult and feel-bad decision to sell his TV.

That small decision led to the big decision to risk his life, out of faith in God, by talking to gang members in Harlem.

That big decision has effected and changed thousands of lives.

Jesus said that it is faithfulness in little things that leads to faithfulness in big things.

Let me make it one step simpler than that. Are you willing to feel bad today in order to make a choice you know is right in some little thing that you don’t generally notice?

And are you willing to do it again tomorrow?

Do the same things, and you will get the same results. Are the results you’re getting today the results you want for the rest of your life?

The difference may be as simple as getting used to feeling bad.

This is another email I sent in response to questions that were asked.

In addition to the email I was responding to, I have had several recent emails from supporters of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Most are unable to even consider a thought outside their little boxes, and false beliefs about their “grand” heritage puff them up so they can’t imagine that they have to consider anything except their point of view.

This is why I dismiss their claims …

The Fall of the Church

I generally stick to the fathers from before Nicea because I think that after Nicea the church was basically destroyed. In A.D. 300, perhaps 10% of the empire called themselves Christian, but in A.D. 350 it would have been closer to 90%. That number jumped because the emperor “embraced” Christianity, not because the Gospel actually converted 80% of Roman citizens in 50 years.

Christianity Before the Fall

Before Nicea, I find the agreement among Christian writers remarkable. They have a view of the Trinity that is slightly different from ours, but they completely agree among themselves, and the Nicene Creed expresses their view, not ours. Their description of the basics of the faith is consistent, and their understanding of the church, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper are consistent.

Church leadership changed over that time. Their church meetings got larger, and so they got more organized, more often, and more centered on leaders.

The Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and Trees Bearing Fruit

The problem with the Orthodox and Catholics boils down to one Biblical issue. Jesus said that we would know those who spoke for God by their fruit. The Orthodox and Catholics have not had good fruit for centuries, and at times the fruit of the RCC has been as evil as it is possible to be. Even today, almost all Catholics and Orthodox are Christian in name and ritual only. Their faith really doesn’t affect their behavior, and most of them have no idea what it is like to have the Spirit of God living inside of you.

If the fruit is bad, the tree is bad.

Salvation Outside the Church

Yes, both teach that there is no salvation outside the church. How I wish we could still teach that!!!

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, there was only one church. All churches that held that the apostles had taught the one true Gospel were united. They were holy, they were empowered by God, and they were separate from the world. They were an excellent testimony for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To willingly choose not to be a part of those churches, which constituted the one church and one mother of us all, was clearly a divisive and thus evil act.

Alas, we no longer have such a situation. To choose to be a part of the Catholic or Orthodox church will do you no good at all. If you are holy in their churches, it is because you learned to be holy somewhere else–whether from the Bible or from a Christian that has the Spirit of God. You will not learn to be holy from Catholic or Orthodox teaching.

Thus, they are in no position to say there’s no salvation outside their churches. The fact is, there is very little salvation inside their churches.

Salvation That Is "Revealed"
(Can Be Seen)

Paul said that he was not ashamed of the Gospel because it was the power of God to salvation, producing a justification that was revealed when people believed (Rom. 1:16-17). The RC and Orthodox Gospel produces no such justification.

Words vs. Power

Modern Christians are way too busy throwing words around. The life of Christ is not about words, it is about power. There’s a lot of talk among RC and Orthodox churches, but almost no power. Among Protestants, power to save and justify is found here and there, but you have a lot better shot than among the RC and Orthodox.

Finding People

My advice is always to look for the people who preach a Gospel that saves and that can be seen to save. You will know the good tree by its fruit, not by its empty words.

Hang with those people, and you will learn the doctrines that God cares about.

It takes me too long to get around to finishing series I started.

This may be the most important blog I’ve ever written.

If you DO this, it will change your life and the lives of all those with whom you have regular contact.

I’m sorry if the post is boring, or isn’t broke up enough, or is hard to skim. I try to write interesting things that are easy to skim, but this is worth working your way through!

I started on a series on the appearance of the apostle Paul, and I only got through 3 parts before I needed to write on other things. As a result, it’s been over 3 weeks since the last one.

Now I’m skipping part 4 because I like part 5 better. I’ll do part 4 some other time.

Today’s Scripture

You know how we exhorted, consoled, and testified to every one of you, like a father does to his children. (1 Thess. 2:11)

God’s Worker

Are you one of God’s workers? Are you one of those that labors among the brethren, takes the lead, and admonishes? (1 Thess. 5:12).

Then this lesson, like the others in this series, is one you’d better learn.

Exhorting

Paul chose some pretty general words in today’s verse. Of the three verbs—exhort, console, and testify to—"exhort" is the most general.

I love the word exhort. I learned what it means the same way all of us learned to speak English. I listened to it being used.

The Greek word for "exhort," in 1 Thess 2:11, is parakaleo. It is used 109 times in the New Testament. It’s two noun forms, parakletos and paraklesis, are also in the New Testament 34 times. I looked up all 143 occurrences.

It’s translated with about 10 different English words, depending on your translation.

It’s used in all kinds of senses. There’s places where he’s clearly talking about comforting someone, and there’s other places where he’s clearly referring to rebuking someone. In other places, it’s clearly asking or pleading.

The noun form is used 4 times of the Holy Spirit, and it is translated "Comforter," but it could just as well be exhorter.

The noun form is also used of Jesus in 1 Jn. 2:1, where it’s translated advocate. I’ve read that parakletos can mean defense lawyer, though it doesn’t in 1 Jn. 2:1. (You don’t need a defense lawyer with God. He already loves you and wishes the best for you.)

Being an Exhorter

I came up with one overriding definition for parakaleo after seeing it used 143 times:

To use words to get someone to do something good

You can do that by comforting, begging, or admonishing, but in the end if you are "parakaleo-ing" someone, then you are trying to get them to do something.

Paul did it all the time, without fail.

Watch, and remember that for 3 years I did not stop warning everyone night and day with tears. (Acts 20:31)

What do you think would happen to you if you were encouraged, warned, admonished, and comforted every day, night and day, with tears?

Don’t you think that would move you? Give you strength? Help you believe?

Paul did.

Let me give you another one. Do you believe that smoking is bad and that people who smoke are foolish?

Very few people believed that in the 60′s. Smoking was manly and sexy both.

What changed?

What changed is that the US government ran ads for 20 years. They warned us night and day through our fears, and the opinion of over 200 million people was changed.

Exhortation Examples in the Scriptures

It’s not just in Acts 20:31 and 1 Thess. 2:11 that this is said. It’s mentioned repeatedly …

I will not be negligent to always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the present truth. (2 Pet. 1:12)

[Paul and Barnabas] returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:21-22)

Consoling

The next word Paul uses, consoling, is also a wide word.

The Strong’s definition of paramutheomai is …

To speak to … whether by way of admonition and incentive or to calm and console.

In other words, no matter how you have to do it, get them to follow God.

You can admonish, give incentive, or console them, but talk to them and get them to walk in the commands of Jesus Christ.

It’s the very commission, Jesus gave the apostles …

Go therefore, and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matt. 28:19-20)

Testifying

The last word is translated "charge" by the KJV and "implore" by the NASB, but Strong’s and the note in the NASB say that the word means to testify.

So Paul uses two very general words that can mean admonish, comfort, or beg, and then he adds testimony.

In other words, tell them how it’s worked for you.

It’s the example we were given by the Israelites …

These words, which I command you, shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You will talk about them …

• … while you sit in your house
• … when you walk along the way
• … when you lay down
• … and when you get up.

You shall secure them to your hand as a sign, and they shall be hung between your eyes. You shall write them on the posts of your house and on your gates. (Deut. 6:6-9)

Do you think God wanted us to be consumed with his words?

Paul was consumed with them. He talked about them night and day with tears, and he reminded, pleaded, implored, encouraged, consoled, exhorted, and rebuked the disciples so that they would be followers of Jesus Christ, doers of his Word.

Like a Father

It’s not just workers in the house of God who should be doing this.

Paul says this sort of exhorting, consoling, and testifying is what a father does with his children. It’s part of training them and bringing them up in the way they should go.

Or were you confused into thinking that training your children means just spanking them when they do something wrong?

Training involves positive teaching, correction, and encouragement, not just punishment when something wrong is done.

In fact, I think it would be fair to say that punishment is a rather minor part of training, reserved for the uncommitted learner, who needs encouragement and warning at least as much and probably more than discipline.

What About Me?

I was going to title this section "What About Us," but, hey, let’s pick on me, not you.

I’m a father and a worker in the house of God, and this post is horribly convicting to me.

Is this how I father? Is this how I deal with people in the house of God?

Sometimes. I could make excuses for myself. I could talk about Bible studies I’ve led with my children present. I could talk about telling them stories while I drive. I can talk about lectures I’ve given them on how to live life and what their life should be for.

But the fact is, I don’t even come close to "night and day with tears."

I don’t talk about the commands of Christ when I’m sitting down, walking, entering, leaving, getting up, and going to bed. I don’t have them tied on my hands and forehead, nor written on the posts of my house.

I don’t believe we’re supposed to literally write Jesus’ commands on our hands and forehead.

God has something better for us. Live for Christ and exhort, console, and testify so much that every time someone sees you, it might as well be written on your forehead; so that every time someone goes through your door or sees you along the road they think of Christ because that’s what you’re about.

So I have to close now and write a couple of these Scriptures down on Post-It notes so that I can hang them on my mirror and bookshelf at home.

I have a lot of work to do …