For Those Who Don't Know That They Don't Know

Mat 7:21-23
(21) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
(22) "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
(23) "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

NOTE: Current selection is below introduction

Jesus ended what we now refer to as the Sermon on the Mount with these words. Few Christians have not heard them, yet I fear fewer still have taken the time to ponder the implications. Jesus is warning professing Christians, for they are the only ones who call Him Lord, that not everyone who call's Him Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of the Father in Heaven will enter. Further, he warns that these will be many and these many will be very surprised. Look what they say: "Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name and do many wonderful works?" Jesus does not deny the works, He merely declares that He never knew them and to depart from Him. I believe that these are the most devastating words that anyone could ever hear, that they had been deceived or (more likely deceived themselves) with religion.

If you have put your trust in a doctrine or creed, a catechism, a baptism, or your assent to a "sinner's prayer" you may find yourself upset at what I have written here. But, is it MY writing your are upset with? I have merely pointed out the obvious that Jesus Himself said. However, if you are upset I fully understand how you feel, because I have been there and my question became "how do I know if I know?"

I grew up in a devout Baptist family. My parents believed what they understood of the scriptures. They believed the preacher and taught me what they believed. I believed them too. After all, I had good reason to believe them, for I cannot ever recall either of my parents ever telling a lie to anyone.

I did what was required and expected of me. I walked the aisle at 11 and was baptized. I believed in Jesus by hearsay and thought nothing of it. I believed because I had no reason not to believe the teaching, but I did not know God, nor did I have any inkling that one could. Certainly there was no evidence around me that I could see that anyone else did. Except maybe the preacher. He said God spoke to him and I had been taught that preachers were special; that they were “called.”

I had been told that I was a sinner and that I was lost, yet Jesus had died on the cross for my sins and if I believed that and accepted Jesus as my personal savior that I would go to Heaven when I died. So I believed this, as I had no reason not to, and for the 18 years I spent in the Baptist church I heard very little beyond this basic message. Sure we should cheerfully give to the church, and do service in the church, but even if I didn't I was assured of my "salvation" and it could never be lost. If I was saved, I was always saved they said. So while further reading of the Bible and serving was a good thing, there seemed to me to be little point to it since I was already assured of going to heaven when I died.

Since it had been my habit since birth, the first two Sundays at college I showed up at the 1st Baptist Church where it seemed I was invisible. The third Sunday I slept in instead and then proceeded to do the same for 30 years, except when my parents visited. During those years I began to be schooled in the heart of man. As I said, I was raised to be very trusting and had little experience with deceit and betrayal.

That changed suddenly upon graduation when my first boss cheated me out of $4,000 that I had borrowed from my parents to invest in the company. Within two months I was a newly wed with no job and no money. The money was all spent before he even raised it. Confused, I confronted him. How could he do this knowing that I had to borrow this money from my parents? I never forgot his answer: “It was a business decision for business reasons.” He didn’t even blink. I knew then that if I was going to be able to play in this new game of business that I had some toughening up to do.

Thus, began 30 years of working for Laban. I learned that every contract could be disputed and breached no matter how clear the language. I learned that employees would kill profitable ventures for their company out of jealousy and I became convinced that I must be one of only two or three people in the country who could read and write with understanding. My sport and life was business and I meditated on it those 30 years day and night. Literally. And, I got pretty good at it and succeeded for many years on almost everything I put my mind to. I had complete faith … in myself. Then, in 1994, I entered into a new business venture that should have be the best of all, but no matter how hard I strove, the goal was always just one step out of reach. I was making bricks without straw but didn’t know it. But, I continued to labor, for I had never failed to achieve something that I set my mind on and this should have been a very good venture.

After four years of this, about 2:30 in the morning I suddenly woke up with a start as I heard a voice say “It’s time.” My heart leaped with inexpressible joy (that is the best I can do, for I have nothing else to compare to it) and I felt a warmth flow over me from head to toe leaving a coolness in its wake. I remember weeping and saying “It’s all true.”

The first thought that hit me was that my dad had died and was on his way to heaven. I was so convinced of this I fully expected the phone to ring from my mother informing me of such, but when the day dawned there was no call. This still amazes me, but when that call did not come, it was like this experience never happened. I remembered it, yet here I had just had the most profound and unique experience of my life but when what I had reasoned it to be did come about I paid it no further attention. This is what happens when faith is not present. The experience alone is not enough.

Two months later, I was laid low with an extreme case of bronchitis. I was very weak from lack of sleep and I began having a series of night visions and other experiences which I have no name for, except they were more real than “real” and had something to do with the Kingdom of God and Christ's coming reign on the earth. At the end of this week I was hospitalized. When I got out I was humbled and shaken.

The doctors explained my experience as a hallucinatory side effect of my anti-biotic, but I could not shake the notion that all these things had something to do with God. I was like Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind where he cannot shake the vision of the mountain. He is drawn there even though he does not know what to expect and goes even at the threat of death. He MUST go. This is the state I was in when I reentered “the Church.” Something had happened to me. I was sure God was involved and I was looking for answers in the church and in the Bible. I became like Dreyfuss sculpting his mashed potatoes into the vision of the mountain. I had seen, but men looked like trees walking around. I needed a second touch. I had to know.

This began what I call my tour of the seven churches, the first stop of which was an apostate Methodist Church where I quickly saw that the pastor had no clue. I would ask him questions about the Bible and was greatly alarmed to learn that he knew less about the Bible than I did and I had not cracked it in 30 years. Weren't these guys "called?"

So I began to move from one high place to the next seeking the true church. I had no awe of men any more, church leaders or not, and I began reading the Bible for myself. As I did, I began seeing that virtually every familiar passage had its meaning twisted out of context. These were not difficult passages either. I found great distortion and disagreement on the most elementary teachings. I thought "if they are wrong about the things that seem so simple, why should I think they are right about the deeper things?" And, as I read, I found voluminous material that I had never heard discussed, much less preached from the pulpit.

Yet, ironically, as my distrust of religious men grew, my trust in God grew, for it was clear that He was the One showing me the error. I knew Him. He was now my Teacher and I needed no other. He was real and present. When I prayed, there was a Presence and my prayers were answered. Some before I finished speaking. There seemed to be a new life stirring within me. I could feel it, like a woman with child feels her child stir. He opened my eyes and I could see that He was directing my path, in real time, and I wanted Him to do so. Even when the path got exceedingly difficult, I had wanted to stay on it. Where else could I go?

There was a time when I was very reluctant to share my experience. I figured most won't believe it and I was afraid that the ones that did might have their faith upset if they had not had a similar experience, but now I don't think that was of the Lord. You see, there is a big difference between a belief that is the product of reason and that which is received by faith. If we have seen Him and have received that by faith by revelation, we cannot be shaken by the discrediting of a doctrine or teaching.

I began to read some of the writings of godly men who have already gone on with the Lord, and found their testimonies to be similar. Consider this quote from A.W. Tozer:

If you have to be reasoned into Christianity, some wise fellow can reason you out of it! If you come to Christ by a flash of the Holy Ghost so that by intuition you know that you are God's child, you know it by the text but you also know it by the inner light, the inner illumination of the Spirit, and no one can ever reason you out of it.

When I was a young man I read most of the books on atheism. I had my Bible and a hymnbook and a few other books, including Andrew Murray and Thomas a Kempis, and I got myself educated as well as I could by reading books. I read the philosophy of all the great minds - and many of those men did not believe in God, you know - and they didn't believe in Christ. I remember reading White's Warfare of Science with Christianity, and if any man can read that and still say he is saved, he isn't saved by his reading, he is saved by the Holy Ghost within him telling him that he is saved!

Actually, many of those philosophers and thinkers would take away all my "reasons" and reduce me to palpitating ignorance. On the basis of human reason, they would make a man just get down and walk out and toss his Bible on a shelf and say, "There goes another one!"

Do you know what I would do after I would read a chapter or two and find arguments that I could not possibly defeat? I would get down on my knees and with tears I would thank God with joy that no matter what the books said, "I know Thee, my Savior and my Lord!"

I didn't have it in my head - I had it in my heart. There is a great difference, you see. If we have it in our heads, then philosophy may be of some help to us; but if we have it in our hearts, there is not much that philosophy can do except stand aside reverently, hat in hand, and say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty."

This my purpose for writing this, that you should know that you CAN know and once you know there is no teaching can ever shake it, for you no longer trust in WHAT you believe but in WHOM you believe and like Paul you can say, "For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He can keep that which I have committed unto Him until that day." We have an unspeakably rich inheritance awaiting us in Christ, but many, like Esau, are trading it for a bowl of soup.

May God give you all a second touch.








Monday, February 7, 2011

Does God Speak Today?

I recently received emails of two heartwarming Christmas stories.  The question, of course, always comes up "are these anonymous stories true."  When I read them they both rang true in circumstances, meaning if they weren't factual to their authors, the principles are true for someone, in fact many someones.  In this they reminded me of a story I received from someone over 10 years ago entitled "Does God Speak Today?" so I Googled to see if I could find it.


I did; on a website called Truth or Fiction.  The website gives a summary of the story and then the following commentary:

"The Truth:   
For those who believe in God performing miracles, this story is not hard to believe.  The problem, however, is that there are no names, dates, or places that would help give the story credibility.  The world is filled with people who have first-hand experiences of this nature, and those are the versions that need to be circulated, not ones that are written in a way that feels like fiction. "

He has a good point, so here is mine.

About 10 years ago, I was driving to a dental appointment in Cerritos.  As I exited the 605 freeway at South Street there was a homeless man standing by the off ramp.   I was paying little attention for I had passed him by many times before.  But, this time as I passed I received a prompt in my thoughts "Go buy him lunch."  Startled, I said "Lord, was that you" and then began an internal debate as to what I should do as I had no time before my dental appointment.  Finally, I said "Lord, if that was You and he is still here when I come back I will buy him lunch."  I then proceeded to go to the dentist's office.

On the way back, I decided to stop by Carl's Jr. and pickup a meal to go.  I figured if the homeless man was not still there I could eat the burger myself.  As I got out of my car I noticed a homeless about 75 feet away in the parking lot looking at me and it made me feel uncomfortable.  I thought "these guys are everywhere"  and didn't recognize if he was "my homeless guy" or another one.  I went inside, bought the meal and when I came back out the man was gone.

I got in the car and as I was making a left turn onto South St. there was the homeless man across the street.  I couldn't stop as there was traffic and I was turning into the inside lane.  Besides, at this point I wasn't sure this guy was the one I had seen at the exit.  I continued to drive past the off ramp and saw that the homeless man was no longer there.  I could and should have turned around, but I did not.  After all how could I know that this was God and not my imagination?  Besides traffic was heavy so I drove home and ate his lunch.

The very next day I received an email from someone I didn't know which contained the story I referenced above.

A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study.   The Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice.  The young man couldn't help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?"  After service he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways.  It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home.   Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, "God...If you still speak to people speak to me.  I will listen. I will do my best to obey."

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk.  He shook his head and said out loud, "God is that you?" He didn't get a reply and started on toward home.  But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk.  The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. "Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk."  It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience.  He could always use the milk. 

He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.  As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, "Turn down that street."  This is crazy he thought and drove on past the intersection.  Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street.

At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh.  Half jokingly, he said out loud, "Okay,  God, I will.”  He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop.  He pulled over to the curb and looked around.  He was in semi-commercial area of town.  It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of  neighborhoods either.  The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed.

Again, he sensed something, "Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street."  The young man looked at the house.  It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep.  He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat.  "Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid."   Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk.



He walked across the street and rang the bell.  He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it?  What do you want?"  Then the door opened before the young man could get away.  The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt.  He looked like he just got out of bed.   He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep.  "What is it?"  The young man thrust out the gallon of  milk, "Here, I brought this to you."

The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway speaking loudly in Spanish.  Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen.  The man was following her holding a baby.  The baby was crying.  The man had tears streaming down his face.  The man began speaking and half crying, "We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of  money. We didn't have any milk for our baby.  I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk.

His wife in the kitchen yelled out, "I asked him to send an Angel with some.  Are you an Angel?”

The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man's hand.  He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face.  He knew that God still answers prayers.

 As I read it I noted how similar the young man in the story's reactions were to mine and I began to weep tears of joy and sorrow at the same time.  Joy because I now was certain I had heard  the Lord.   Sorrow because I had not believed sufficiently to obey.   I asked for forgiveness and as I did it seemed my Father was gently saying "It's OK, I know you weren't sure it was Me."  Joy returned and I resolved that if I ever thought I heard the Lord again, even if in doubt, I would try to obey. 
 
A few months later I got another chance.  I suddenly woke up at 2:30 in the morning KNOWING that I was to get out of bed immediately and go up to the hilltop in the middle of Turtle Rock.  There was no voice or urging, I just intuitively knew I was supposed to go there even though I had never been there before nor had a desire to go.  Immediately, I began to question as I did not want to get out of bed at 2:30 AM.  Then, I caught myself as I remembered that if I got another chance and thought that God MIGHT be speaking I would try to obey so I got up, dressed and went up to the hilltop to see what might happen.

I climbed up and looked at the lights of Orange County spread out before me and sat down on a rock.  Nothing.  I was still sleepy so I got up and began walking like a sentry back and forth a hundred yards or so across the hilltop.   As soon as I did thoughts began to flow that "sounded"  like my thought speech, but was far more articulate.  It was like I was listening to myself give a teaching sermon on a variety of scriptures only with the subject matter far beyond my level of knowledge.  This continued uninterrupted for about two hours, then it suddenly stopped.  I asked "Lord, are we finished?  Can I go home now?"  Just as I said this I caught some motion out of the corner of my eye about 150 feet away on the other side of the hilltop.  (Thinking back on this I am surprised that this caused me no concern even though it was 4:30 in the morning and the sign at the bottom of the hill warned of mountain lions in this area.)  Nevertheless, I walked over to where I had last seen the motion and found a young man sitting on a rock with a Bible in his lap.   I sat down and told him I had been waiting there for him for 2 1/2 hours.


We began talking and he told me he lived in Orange, had been a Christian for 6 months, and had never come to this hilltop before.  We talked about the Kingdom of God and the scriptures for a half hour or so.  Then, as the sun came up, a dozen or so men suddenly appeared climbing up the rocks and gathered in circles behind us and began praying.  I thought "this is quite a  popular place" but the young man paid no attention to them so we continued our conversation until he had to leave for work.  I never saw him again, but later found out that these men who had gathered behind us were members of a cult.  
  

 Later, in 2003, while I was in Florida caring for my parents, I used to take walks through the neighborhood in the cool of the morning and evening.  One day I felt restless and decided to take a long walk leaving at 10:30 AM.  I ended up taking a very long walk to the bay front, most of the time praying to the Lord.  About 2:00 PM I was hot, tired and hungry and I was walking purposefully to get home and eat.  As I passed a house about a mile  east of my parent's house, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man in a wheelchair wheeling up his driveway, but I paid no attention.  As I passed his driveway I heard a voice in my thoughts saying "Go talk to him."  I stopped and looked back and said, "Lord, was that You?  I don't see him."   Then I clearly heard "Go to the door."  Now, I knew it was the Lord because the last thing I wanted to do was to go knock on a stranger's door.   What would I say to him?  I was wrestling with these thoughts as I retraced my steps back to the driveway and looked at the house.  I repeated "Lord, I don't see him."  Once again I heard "The door" and as I looked again I saw the man sitting in his wheelchair in the back of his garage.  I laughed and started walking up the driveway trying to figure what to say to open the conversation.  Noticing that there was a neighborhood garage sale going on I said, "Looks like you are the only one in the neighborhood that is not having a garage sale."  His reply was "Praise Jesus."


And that is how I met Roland Rhodes, a former Navy submariner, who had been paralyzed for over 20 years after suffering a massive stroke in his thirties.  He had been living alone in that house for over 12 years.  The first two he spent drinking, but then encountered the Lord as he was channel surfing and heard the Gospel.  The last 10 he had spent virtually all day praying and reading the Bible.  He rarely ever had a visitor.  We spent that first meeting talking non-stop about the Lord in his driveway for 1 1/2 hours that passed like 10 minutes.  Over the next year I visited him every week.


Now let me tell why I think the story in the link above is based on fact even if the story itself is not factual. What I mean by that is by now, 10 years later, I have heard the first person testimony of several follower's of Christ and found that their experiences were very similar to mine and the story of young man.  And, these are very similar to examples in scripture.  So I think the story's details line up very well with the ways of the Lord and the story, even if fiction, is based on facts.  I fully agree, however, that first hand experiences are far better, however, one reason one seldom hears such accounts is that those who have had them quickly learn they are not believed.

When I reread the story the first thing that strikes me is that the young man begins by questioning whether God STILL  speaks to people today.  Why does he question that?  He didn't get it from reading the Bible for the bible is filled with examples of God speaking to His people from beginning to end.  The sad answer is that his doubt is most likely due to other Christians who have taught him theology that teaches now that the Bible is given to us God no longer speaks.  This theology itself requires a great leap of reasoning to find biblical support and if one case out of the thousands of testimonies over the last 2,000 years is true, then the theology is false.  All it takes is one healing, one miracle, one instance of God speaking and the closed Canon theory is refuted.

Second, the young man is not sure it is God speaking.  It is very difficult to explain what he heard.  It is described as "strange thought", "urged", and "sensed."   He is not sure he is hearing or imagining.  This is very realistic, as is the story's citation of Samuel.  This behavior is common throughout the accounts in scripture.  Gideon is another one.  The common question of the man in question is "how shall I know this is true or real."

Third, there is the matter of fear of looking foolish.  If God indeed is speaking to someone that speaking is not going to come without spiritual opposition like "Who are you that God should speak to you" or "People will think you are crazy."  Think of the absurdity of caring what someone you have never met nor will ever see again thinks of you versus hearing and obeying the voice of the Creator.  Yet this is a very natural response.  I did the same.

I find that my encounter on the hilltop and with Roland both fit the following pattern:

Act 8:26-31
(26)  But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, "Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a desert road.)
(27)  So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,
(28)  and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.
(29)  Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot."
(30)  Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
(31)  And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

In the above passage we see that first Philip is commanded by "an angel of the Lord" to go out on a road in the desert.  He is not told where he is to go on the road or why.  Then, after he obeys and encounters the Ethiopian in the chariot, it is the Holy Spirit that tells him to go up and join the chariot.  When Philip obeys and runs along side he then hears the eunuch is reading Isaiah.  In both cases, the confirmation of God speaking comes after obedience.  If II had not gotten out of bed or retraced my steps, I would have never known if God had spoken.


The same pattern is true in perhaps the most famous one:


Exo 3:2-4
(2)  The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
(3)  So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up."
(4)  When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."


Moses' attention is captured by a burning bush.  That should be nothing unusual, except Moses looked at this burning bush long enough to notice that it was not being consumed by the fire.  Note that "when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him." 

The three personal examples I described above were noteworthy to me for their clarity, but there have been many others, some more subtle but all requiring a step of faith and obedience.  But I can testify unequivocally that God does still speak to His people.   He speaks in many ways yet frequently He does so as He has given us examples in scripture.  Unfortunately, many times have we been too preoccupied to notice our burning bush or failed to obey due to unbelief.  And worst of all, we may have heard but dismissed it because we have been taught by other Christians that God no longer speaks.  That is a tragedy indeed. 
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