A Picture of Hope

Just wanted to share another new favorite picture, one I ran across today during my many searches for clip art for my website. We often tell people to "cross their fingers" when we're hoping for the best in a situation. I've never been able to understand what crossing the fingers does for luck or fortune. We also cross our fingers if we don't mean what we promise. I'm not sure what that means, either.

I guess this picture reminds me of the difference between the hope of the world and the hope of the believer. The world's hope is a hope that something may come true even if there is no assurance of a result. It is a crossing of the fingers. A blind optimism. But the hope of the believer is not blind optimism. It has nothing to do with crossed fingers or well wishes. It has to do with certainties -- particularly the certainty that God keeps His promises. We hope in what God has promised, not because there is some doubt that God will fail but because we know that God will succeed. He always keeps His promises. And when He says that He will love us, that He will save us, or that He will comfort us, we can count it as truth. Hope does not disappoint, Paul wrote in Romans 5. My computer dictionary says that hope is an expectation, something looking forward. God has told us what He will do for us in certain circumstances of our lives, such as times of trial. We hope in His promises. And we watch them come true time and time again.

And that makes crossed fingers rather silly, don't you think?

The Smile of a Satisfied Soul

She couldn't stop smiling. He couldn't either. Neither could I.

Tonight I helped to video a wedding at my church. I didn't know the bride or groom, though I must admit that I recognized a bunch of people in the audience. That tends to happen when one of the church's youth gets married. We all have a unique circle of fellowship. Anyway, I filmed the wedding from the back of the auditorium and just soaked in the sights and sounds of the place. There were candles arranged left and right of the seating area and even more lining the stage. It was absolutely beautiful! A rolled out pathway of white paper served as carpet cover and everyone was dressed to the nines.

Then the bride entered the room. Escorted by her father, as is tradition, she practically waltzed down the aisle and into the arms of her beloved. She smiled when she saw him standing there. He smiled when she arrived in his arms. They both smiled until they faded from view, long after the ceremony ended.

It was a marvelous sight on a marvelous night.

Video Blog: How Fortunate

Just a little prophecy fun.

What is Truth?

There is a new heresy infiltrating the church today but most Christians -- including many leaders -- are not aware of it. It's found in the philosophical movement called the "emerging church" movement. There is no simple definition of what the emerging church movement is made of. It is, in a whole, an attempt by some Christians to reach out to the post-modern generations (Gen X and Y) by opening up the Gospel message to critique, re-evaluation, and re-definition. The rock-solid foundation of absolute truth no longer exists in the emergent movement. Everything is open to question, from the life of Jesus to the mission of the church. Even salvation itself is open to redefinition in the emergent mindset.

Just today I read an Associated Press article interviewing Brian McLaren, widely considered one of the founders of the emergent church movement. In the article, writer Rachel Zoll asked a series of questions about what Mr. McLaren believes about absolute truth, the evangelical church, and the future of the emergent church movement. If you read this article, I want you to understand that what Mr. McLaren believes about the Bible, Jesus and the Gospel message is different than what you probably learned in church. In fact, his views stand in opposition to many basic doctrines of the faith. So be forewarned.

My personal response to Mr McLaren is too long and complicated for this blog. Maybe I'll write a paper on the emergent church movement one day. But I believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God, a measuring stick for all philosophy, doctrine, and theology. Jesus spoke of absolute truth and He spoke of it absolutely. There ARE answers to our spiritual questions. You know, my generation may ask a lot of tough questions about truth or social justice but we aren't looking for more questions. We seek answers. The emergent church movement only wants to facilitate an environment of question asking. But it is not willing to give answers because it fundamentally believes that there are no answers. Only questions. It rejects the truth of Jesus Christ's word, deeds and charges to his disciples. How can it even be called a "church"? I call it heresy.

'A Man Has to Stand for Something'

This clip is from the CBC News program 60 Minutes and features a Dallas man who was wrongly convicted of killing his girlfriend and spent 27 years in prison. He was recently exonerated of the crime and now his story is making the rounds. He never confessed to killing his girlfriend and maintained his innocence for 27 years. Despite the justice system's blindness, he held onto the truth of his innocence until DNA evidence proved him to be so. It's a reminder to me of how believers should stand for the truth at all times, even those times when the alternative would seem to make our life easier. All the man had to do was admit his guilt and he could have gotten out on parole. He had 12 opportunities to confess. There is a 30-second commercial (courtesy of CBS) before the clip begins.

Passive Spiritual Warfare?

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory His army shall He lead,
Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed."

The words come from the hymn "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus," written by George Duffield, Jr. in 1858. It portrays an aggressive Christianity, a militant Christianity, that marches out to war with the "banner" of Christ and Christ Himself as the commanding general. The goal is to vanquish foes and make Christ (or help Him to be) Lord.

But is this a biblical view of spiritual warfare? Some of my brothers and sisters in Christ believe it is. They see the Christian life as being a battle of good and evil, with demons around every corner and prayer warriors in every church. Are we at war with Satan? If so, should we be, somehow, spiritually fighting?

The words disturb me because I can find no New Testament command to fight. None. Not spiritually, anyway. There is no "attack" or use of "force." Even the armor of God illustration Paul uses in Galatians 6 is not for the offensive. Nowhere in the Bible are Christians called to fight. Can you find a passage? We are to either be on the defense or absorbing the blows. One passage often used in spiritual warfare sermons is 1 Peter 5:8-9, in which the apostle says, "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in [your] faith." James commands us to, "resist the devil and he will flee." Resist. Resisting is not offensive. It is a defense. The dictionary defines resistance as "withstanding the actions or effects of something." To withstand is to endure. Not to attack.

The armor of God is to defend truth and extinguish the enemy's flaming arrows. The sword of truth is not to be used to slice demons to pieces. We are not soldiers. We are citizens of heaven, children of the Father and brothers of the King. And true spiritual warfare is to be done on our knees and not at the end of a sword. Resist. Persevere. Turn the other check. Bless those who curse. We stand up for Jesus not by attacking but by living holy lives in public and loving the lost. We stand up for Jesus by standing up for truth in a graceful way. We stand up for Jesus by persevering in every trial and placing our hope in the One who has promised to never let us down.

Hymns like the one I used paint the wrong picture.

The Path to Exaltation

Just a few words about what I learned from my church's men's conference, going on right now in North Texas.