All posts by 5Q

Predestination vs. Free Will

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“For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”1

Somebody said, “The difference between predestination and free will is: “Predestination is the hand you were dealt; free will is what you do with that hand.” Good point.

While we weren’t responsible for, nor did we have any choice in what gifts and abilities we were born with, we are totally responsible for what we do about discovering and developing these gifts and talents and for how we use them.

Furthermore, regardless of our background, which I acknowledge has a profound effect on us, with God’s help and the support of encouraging friends, we can refuse to allow our past to determine our future and we can overcome much of our past, develop our talents, and become the person God wants us to be and do what we believe He wants us to do with our life.

It all boils down to choice. Either by conscious choice or by default we all choose what we want to become and do what we choose to do. As another has said, “Everyone is self-made, even if the rich are the only ones who will admit it.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to discover what my gifts and talents are—both spiritual and natural—and develop them, and find a productive way to use them for the benefit of others and for your glory. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Timothy 1:6 (NASB).

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The Power of a Creed

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“He [God] has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”1

Creeds are principles by which to live. If we want to live worthwhile and purposeful lives, it pays to choose and believe in a worthwhile and purposeful creed. Many have been written by others. A well thought-out one was written by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. It is as follows:

“I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

“I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

“I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

“I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living, but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

“I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business, or personal affairs.

“I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order.

“I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character—not wealth or power or position—is of supreme worth.

“I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free.

“I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God … and that the individual’s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness, and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will.

“I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.”

We would all do well to read this creed often and practice it all year long.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to live according to a sound creed, the principles of which are all in harmony with your Word and your will. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Micah 6:8 (NIV).

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Do You Want to Be Healed?

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“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”1

One of my favorite Bible teachers was such an inspiration to listen to. There was only one point where I disagreed with him. He taught that we only need to confess our sins to God. Wrong.

James disagreed too. True, we need to confess our sins to God but also to one another. This doesn’t mean that we need to confess to the “whole world” but we do need to confess to at least one safe, trustworthy person.

A safe person is someone who, when we confess our sins and failures, won’t judge, condemn, shame us, or tattle on [gossip about] us to anyone else, but love and accept us as we are—as God does.

Confession is needed for healing because unresolved guilt as well as super-charged repressed negative emotions such as resentment, anger, grief, shame, pride and so on either cause many of our physical sicknesses or greatly aggravate them. When we confess our sins and get this poison out of our system, the way is cleared for healing. Unconfessed sin is a killer. It’s like a spiritual/emotional cancer and if we don’t get the “cancer” the “cancer” will get us in one way or another. It’s not without good reason that God’s Word teaches us to confess our sins before we even pray for healing.

Sadly, too often we are afraid to admit and confess our sins and failures for fear of being judged, criticized, or even condemned so we keep them well hidden. Consequently, there is limited healing, for without confession there is no healing when our sicknesses are caused or affected by our hidden unconfessed sins.

It is interesting that the Bible teacher mentioned above came down with a debilitating illness that slowly took his life—quite possibly before his time. I say this because he didn’t believe in what James said we needed to do to be healed.

When any healer avoids this principle of confession before praying for healing, he may do more harm than good in the long run. God isn’t going to heal me of a sickness or problem that is a symptom of a deeper fault. The mind can be very tricky. I may get rid of one symptom but if I don’t deal with the cause, I’ll exchange it for another and kid myself that I’ve been healed!

Speaking personally, I learned early in life to repress and bury all my negative emotions but am physically healthier today than I was when half my age. I used to have terrible hay fever and had painful bursitis in both shoulders. When I got in touch with and confessed/expressed so much buried grief, hurt and anger, I was healed of both hay fever and bursitis. When I bury my grief, for instance, where do those tears go? I either express them in a healthy way (by sobbing them out) or they will affect me in an unhealthy way. The same is true of all super-charged repressed negative emotions. We either express them creatively, or we will, in some way act them out destructively.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, here’s a list of sins/faults that I have never confessed to another soul. Please help me to get in touch with any and all buried negative emotions and any sins of pride, jealousy, resentment, grief and so on so I can confess and resolve these. And please help me to find a loving, safe, and accepting person to confess these to—as well as confessing them to you—so I can be healed. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 5:16 (NIV).

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Faithful in the Little Things

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“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”1

While what I am about to say will not apply in every country, but where I live if we want to find work when times are tough, we need to be willing to work at whatever work we can get. To give government handouts to people who are able to work but are not willing to work at whatever work is available, is irresponsibility on the part of the government which, in turn, is keeping people irresponsible and immature. Furthermore, mothers who keep having babies so they can live on government support is also a travesty of justice. And people in prison should be given work to do and pay their own way. As God’s Word says, “Whoever does not work should not eat.”2

When overseas students write to ask me for financial support to help them to come to America to study, I share my experience with them.

When I came to the U.S. from Australia to study for Christian work, I had no means of support—no student allowance, no scholarship, no family support, and no government help. Survival meant working part-time during the school year and full-time during the summers to put myself through college.

I took any job I could get even though I was a technical college graduate and a skilled tradesman. I scrubbed floors and walls, weekly cleaned a black soot-filled coal-burning boiler that heated an entire factory; I crawled through huge factory equipment on my back to clean it. In the summers I drove a city passenger bus in Chicago (got lost in it a couple of times) in the morning and evening rush hour shifts, painted houses in the middle of the day, and worked at a large city church as a janitor at nights and weekends—seven days a week!

No job was ever too menial, but I was never out of work and all my bills were paid. I always thanked God for his provision of work. I am sure that this did as much to train me for my life’s work as did my formal education. I never asked God to give me money … what I prayed for was that he would help me find work … and I never went hungry.

So, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” and in due course “you will reap if you faint not!”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to keep on being faithful in the little things because they are as important as the big things. And help me always to work with a positive attitude and a grateful heart. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NIV).

2. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 (NLT).

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Seeds of Faith

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“Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”1

“A woman has a dream where she wanders into a shop at the mall and finds Jesus behind the counter.

“Jesus says, ‘You can have anything your heart desires.’

“Astounded but pleased, she asks for [the fruit of] peace, joy, happiness, wisdom, and freedom from fear. Then she adds, ‘Not just for me, but for the whole earth.’

“Jesus smiles and says, ‘I think you misunderstand me. We don’t sell fruits, only seeds.’”2

It’s true … what we sow is what we reap. If we sow seeds of bitterness, we will reap bitterness. If we sow seeds of disharmony, we will reap disharmony. But if we sow seeds of joy, we will reap joy, and if we sow seeds of love, we will reap love.

So whatever you do, be sure to plant the seeds of whatever it is you want to reap.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to plant seeds of love, joy, peace, gentleness, and kindness everywhere I go. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Galatians 6:7 (NKJV).

2. Bruce Mc Nichol and Bill Thrall, The Ascent of a Leader, Jossey Bass, 1999. Cited in Encounter magazine (Australia) June/July 2004

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Loneliness Is a Sad Affair

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“God sets the lonely in families.”1

“Loneliness,” as Karen Carpenter used to sing so sadly, “it’s such a sad affair.” Indeed it is. It’s one of the plagues of modern Western society.

Dr. James Lynch, a former medical researcher at John Hopkins, contends in his book, The Broken Heart, that loneliness is the number one physical killer today. It can literally break your heart.

“Using actuarial tables from ten years research, Dr. Lynch says that those who live alone—single, widowed, divorced—have premature death rates from two to ten times higher than individuals who live with others. Living alone, he says, does not necessarily produce loneliness, but the two are often related. Among divorced people, suicide is five times higher, fatal car accidents four times higher.

“People who live alone visit physicians more frequently than married people, and they stay in hospitals twice as long for identical illnesses.”2

It may not be the most desirable for everyone but we can live without romantic relationships, but none of us can live healthily without at least one or two healthy, close, loving relationships. Without such we limp along in the shadows of life, eking out a lonely existence … and die a little every day.

Dr. Lynch also reminds us that, “If we fail to form loving human relationships, our mental and physical health is in peril.”

Besides one’s family (if one has one) there’s no better place to find love and a sense of belonging than in a healthy, non-legalistic church where unconditional love, acceptance, and friendship are expressed in open, positive, and practical ways. In such a church God does set the lonely in families—that’s one reason God has designed the church as a family—the family of God.

Here, too, one can find God—the only one who can satisfy our innate sense of spiritual loneliness. “To live apart from him,” says psychologist, Dr. Norman Wright, “is the most pathetic loneliness of all.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in my loneliness help me to always look to you and to a church where the people are loving and friendly—and never to any false substitute which would only end up increasing my sense of loneliness. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
‘

1. Psalm 68:6 (NIV).

2. From Perceptions—Observations on Everyday Life by Maxine Dunnam

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WYSIWYG

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“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”1

In the computer world we’re probably all aware of the initials, “WYSIWYG” (pronounced wissiwig) meaning “What You See Is What You Get.”

In the real world it’s pretty much the same; or it could be worded this way, “What you look for is what you find.”

Steve Goodier in his book, Are You Living in the Past? Shared how both the vulture and hummingbird fly over the same desert. The vulture sees rotting flesh. The humming bird sees colorful desert plants. Each sees and finds what it’s looking for.

We do the same thing. What we hunger for and thrive on is what we look for and find. As Frederick Langbrige put, “Two men look out the same prison bars, one sees mud, the other stars.”

If we hunger for evil, that’s what we’ll find. If we hunger for material wealth and possessions, that’s what we’ll seek after. If we hunger for illicit love, that’s what we’ll look for, see, and find, etc., etc. But if we hunger for righteousness that’s what we’ll pursue, and if we hunger for God, we will find him.

Mary Norman summed it up very well: “I’ve never seen the face of God / To draw it in a book / But I have seen the hand of God / It’s everywhere I look.”

It’s true in that what we see is what we get and what we look for is what we find. It depends on what we hunger and thirst for.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to develop a thirst for righteousness, for things of eternal value, and above all a hunger and thirst for you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 5:6 (NIV).

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Put Your Chin Up and Fight

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“In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”1

In his book, Life Changes, James Hefley writes about Barry Luppin who was just twenty-six when a rare nerve disease sent him into the world of silence. Unable to pursue the law career he had planned, he drifted aimlessly for eight years bemoaning his deafness.

Then he determined, in his own words, to “put my chin up and fight.” He learned to lip read and went into the auto leasing business. The business prospered into a multi-million-dollar enterprise.

Barry never allowed his handicap to keep him from normal work. When a customer calls, his secretary picks up an extension phone. She hears the caller and mouths the words silently to Barry who sits nearby. He replies in normal speech never letting on that he is stone deaf.

“If you have a physical handicap, you can run into a corner and hide,” says Barry, “or you can just try harder than the next man and make a success of yourself.”

In many ways life is what we make of it. If we choose to live in harmony with God’s will and his purpose for our life—no matter what our circumstances—our life can then be an investment not only in this life but also in eternity.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to see what my God-given life purpose is and live in harmony with that and your will. I come to you as I am—warts and all—and trust my life to you. Please make something beautiful of my life. And in the words of the hymn writer, ‘Here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for your courts above.’ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 56:11 (NIV).

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Is Psychology of the Devil?

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“Foolishness brings joy to those who have no sense; a sensible person stays on the right path. Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many counselors bring success.”1

Before I started publishing on the web, a man spoke to our ACTS board of directors seeking to have my writings rejected. Displaying several outreach brochures that I had written, he said to my board, “Are you going to allow this literature to be published? It has psychology in it and psychology is of the devil.” Our board obviously didn’t heed his advice.

Just recently I was asked, “Are you aware that psychology is based on the teachings of godless, and in some cases, Anti-Christian men?”

Sure, some psychology and counseling can be godless and some of the devil—so can some theology and preaching. There are plenty of both but does that make all psychology and all theology bad? Of course not.

As theology is the study and understanding of God, psychology is the study and understanding of man’s psyche—that is, the study of his mind and inner self, which involves his emotions and motives. Keep in mind, too, that God “desires truth in the innermost parts,”2 which includes personal honesty with one’s emotions and motives.

The book of Proverbs urges us to seek wise counsel. And Jesus, more than any person ever, always understood what was going on in the mind and heart of his hearers—as well as that of his opponents—which made him the Master Psychologist par excellence.

Actually, if we don’t have a well-balanced understanding of people (psychology), it is all too easy to use theology and the Bible to manipulate people and keep them bound in denial and trapped in their problems. Such teachers have little or no understanding of the human mind and heart and can do considerable harm to the psyche of the people they seek to counsel. They are usually stuck in denial themselves. The religious Pharisees of Christ’s day were a classic example of this and we all know what Jesus had to say to them. It wasn’t nice!

The heart and soul of good psychology and counseling is to seek personal honesty—being honest with one’s self, with God, and with at least one trustworthy, non-judgmental and safe person. It involves the confession of sins, of buried and denied super-charged repressed negative emotions, and acknowledging our motives and seeing the reasons behind many of our negative behavior patterns and impaired relationships. Besides teaching personal honesty and integrity, it emphasizes the necessity of personal responsibility and growing towards wholeness. I’d say that’s about as biblically sound as one can get.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to face reality about myself and be ruthlessly honest so I can see both my strengths and my broken parts and bring the latter to you for your healing and recovery. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

P.S. True, we are all sinners by nature but unresolved personal issues cause us to act out in even more self- and other-destructive ways.

1. Proverbs 15:21-22 (NLT).

2. Psalm 51:6.

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The Bible on Polygamy and Same-Sex Marriage

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“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach.”1

1. Polygamy

A Daily Encounter subscriber from Africa asks, please let us know what the Bible teaches about polygamy as here in Africa it is taken for granted even by some Christians.

It is true that in Old Testament days it was not uncommon for men to have more than one wife; this was true of both King David and King Solomon. In some instances if a woman’s husband died, the brother of the husband who died was to take his late-brother’s wife to be his wife even if he was already married (See Deuteronomy 25:5). This was to preserve his brother’s family line. It is my understanding, too, that in other instances men had more than one wife so that some women wouldn’t be forced into prostitution, slavery or starvation in order to survive.

In the New Testament, however, 1 Timothy 3:2, 12 and Titus 1:6 give “‘the husband of one wife’ in a list of qualifications for spiritual leadership…. While these qualifications are specifically for positions of spiritual leadership, they should apply equally to all Christians. Should not all Christians be ‘above reproach … temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money’ (1 Timothy 3:2-4). If we are called to be holy (1 Peter 1:16), and if these standards are holy for elders and deacons, then they are holy for all.”2

Furthermore, in Ephesians 5:22-33 wherever the Apostle Paul is giving instructions to husbands and wives his directives are always in the singular; that is, they are never plural in either multiple wives or husbands.

2. Same-Sex Marriage

Another prominent question that many are asking today is what does the Bible have to say about same sex marriage?

“While the Bible does address homosexuality, it does not explicitly mention gay marriage/same-sex marriage. It is clear, however, that the Bible condemns homosexuality as an immoral and unnatural sin. Leviticus 18:22 identifies homosexual sex as an abomination, a detestable sin. Romans 1:26-27 declares homosexual desires and actions to be shameful, unnatural, lustful, and indecent. First Corinthians 6:9 states that homosexuals are unrighteous and will not inherit the kingdom of God. Since both homosexual desires and actions are condemned in the Bible, it is clear that homosexuals ‘marrying’ is not God’s will, and would be, in fact, sinful.

“Whenever the Bible mentions marriage, it is between a male and a female. The first mention of marriage, Genesis 2:24, describes it as a man leaving his parents and being united to his wife. In passages that contain instructions regarding marriage, such as 1 Corinthians 7:2-16 and Ephesians 5:23-33, the Bible clearly identifies marriage as being between a man and a woman. Biblically speaking, marriage is the lifetime union of a man and a woman, primarily for the purpose of building a family and providing a stable environment for that family.”3

The Bible makes it clear that marriage, which is ordained by God, is to be between a man and a woman. Same-sex marriage is thus a perversion of God’s plan for marriage. (Genesis 2:21-24; Matthew 19:4-6).

And as Ronald Reagan so wisely said some years ago, “As goes the family so goes the nation.”

In My Genes. Many gay and homosexual people claim that their attraction to and desire for the same sex is in their genes so there is nothing they can do about it but give in to it. This may or may not be true but the fact is that sin is in my genes (actually in everybody’s genes), as the Bible says, “For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me” Psalm 51:5 (NLT). But does this give me the right and an excuse to do what I hunger or “passion” to do? Of course not. Such would be absurd and end up destroying just about everyone.

Keep in mind, though, while God loves all sinners—including you and me—he hates all sin because sin is totally destructive to those whom he loves: you and me. Christians are to do the same; that is we are to love all sinners but not accept any actions that God’s Word labels as sin. We are also called to be the “salt of the earth” and as such we need to take a stand against all sin and evil and live as well as speak the truth.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Bible, which gives all mankind clear instructions for every area of living—all of which is for the protection and good of all mankind. Please give me the desire to learn what your Word teaches and the desire, will and help to live accordingly. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Timothy 3:2 (NKJV).

2. From Got Questions.org http://www.gotquestions.org/polygamy.html.

3. From Got Questions.org http://www.gotquestions.org/gay-marriage.html.

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