About one more month or so is left before the next chapter of my life begins up in Chicago, Illinois. I can almost sense the dry, humid 95 degree summer nights of Texas passing by as I will be spending my time, effort, ministry, and prayers up in a new land I have only visited once before in February (probably even more humid than down here, from what I hear). In preparation for two particular classes I will be taking I have been reading through the entire Bible. I have just finished the Old Testament about a week or two ago, and now am embarking on reading the New Testament. So instead of chapter after chapter, and book after book of pretty much, "You have all angered Me in your sin, therefore I will punish you in your captivity and pestilence, but there will come a day for a Savior," The New Testament to me is like a light at the end of the tunnel as grace was made manifest to us on Earth in the fullest through the Person of Jesus Christ.
For the last couple years I have met some pretty interesting characters when it came to the subject on spiritual things. Back in high school I met a kid who literally told me that he bases everything he knew about an afterlife on something so ever-changing as music. I have tried to reason with others who believe Hell is a place where the party never ends, literally. A common answer I get on the streets when asking people where they will go to after they die would possibly be, "It depends on what you believe," as if we are the authors of where we go, whether it be Paradise with many virgins, Summerland, Heaven, Hell, or even complete annihilation of thought and consciousness. Sad as it is for me to go out week after week and talk to people who are literally dead to any warnings of a Judgement Day, what pricks my heart the most would be talking to those nicely dressed missionaries who come to your door, smiling big and offering "new revelation" that God has apparently revealed. Truth be told, I am not just talking about the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses, but anyone trapped in the Kingdom of the Cults (Christian Science, Unity, Scientology, Bahai, Unitarian, Father Divine, etc.). It is one thing to deal with people who trust in their own presuppositions about life and death, but it is a totally different, emotional roller-coaster to deal with people who trust in another person's or organization's teachings about spirituality.
Back in my senior year in high school (which I would say would be the starting point of my future calling to the cults in general), there was a group that met by one of the pillars in the commons every single morning. Later on I found out they were all from the same Mormon ward just down the street. I finally had the chance to witness to one of these guys, to which I left the conversation with great sadness. She seemed to repeatedly say, "Oh that's what our church teaches too!" Now in the back of my mind I knew there was something off here. Either she was right and I was out of my mind talking to her about Christ, or a redefinition of terms (God, Jesus, sin, salvation, etc.) was in order. The latter was the case, yet it took me a couple more months to figure that one out. Define who God is to Mormon and they will quite literally tell you He was once a man, but through much diligence elevated Himself to Godhood. Jesus to the Mormons is one god among a pantheon of god, the spirit brother of Lucifer, and the product of sexual relations between Elohim and the Virgin Mary. Salvation, according to Mormonism, is clearly laid out in their own Book of Mormon: "...For it is by grace we are saved, after all that we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23).
Other opportunities have come to my door...literally. My neighborhood seems get a lot of Spanish-speaking Jehovahs' Witnesses (due to the local Kingdom Hall's ability to perform diagnostic tests of what the majority race and ethnic background is in each neighborhood in the surrounding area). On very random days you see a train-load of those ministers walking up and down the street with copies of "Watchtower" and "Awake" magazines. It is very humorous as to the approach of how they go door to door. As you open the door to a curious knock, you find either a man or a woman, or two women and a little 5-year-old child, as if the Jehovah's Witnesses slogan to you is, "Hell: a family-oriented community." You can see why I am so blunt as to make that claim, due to the fact that Jesus to them is not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible is God Himself in human flesh, whereas Jesus according to the WatchTower is Michael the Archangel who came to Earth, died and rose again as a spirit being, ascended back into Heaven, and came back invisibly in 1914 to establish His headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. Salvation is attained through your good lifestyle and works (including going door-to-door) and even then, no one is able to enter Heaven because it is filled up, but the next best destination that is available is Paradise Earth.
One of my biggest pet-peeves in all the world is to have someone say they had missionaries at their door, and yet they hid themselves within their own homes so that the missionaries would not know they were there. Why does this bug me? Simple...it shows that the Christian Church is scared of the cults. One lady went up to a minister and said, "Oh I have found a perfect way in dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses!" The minister, curious about the lady's excitement, asked, "How?" The lady then replied, "As I see them walking down the street, I pull the shades and lock the door!" I CANNOT BELIEVE that the Christian Church has been reduced to a generation of shade-pullers and door-lockers! We should be a generation of opening the doors wide open, pulling them in by the arm, and saying, "WELCOME! Let me tell you about Jesus Christ friend!" For years, we as Christians have buried our heads in the sand, and hoped that the cults would go away like a bad dream. Reality tell us that they are the ones perishing...with Bibles in their hands at that! In this world you have Maharishi, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, Maharishi Mahesh Yoga, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Christian Scientists, and about +84 million people running around saying, "THIS WAY TO GOD!" There is only one way to God, according to the Scriptures. "Neither is there salvation in any other, there is no other name given under Heaven among men where by you must be saved [Jesus Christ]" (Acts 4:12). Here Peter was talking about the real Jesus, the real Gospel, the real Holy Spirit, and it's time that the Church stood up to answer the Atheist, the Agnostic, the Skeptic, the Cultist, and the Occultist, and say, "This is of Christ, and that is of the Devil, now let's take a stand on it!"
He who has ears to hear (or in this case, "eyes to read") let them hear to what the Spirit of the Lord says to the Church. The people in the cults are not the enemy. They're just pawns in the chess game of Satanic deception. They smile just like us, cry just like us, hurt just like us, and most importantly, sin just like all of us. They are human beings and the Church's brothers and sisters under Adam. We should not hide ourselves from them if we have a truth that is able to save their souls from Hell. We should all love them all a lot more. In the words of the late Dr. Walter Martin, "Will you not bear the voice of the Lord of the Vineyard? See these fields of the cults and the occult, and reach out to them in the name of Jesus."
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Monsters
When you hear the word "monster" what pops up in your head? A three-head, sabertooth tiger with wings like a bat and 8 legs? Maybe you imagine our favorate Japanese monster from the classic "Godzilla" movies? I used to not believe in monsters, but in recent years my perspective has changed quite a bit from the one I had when I was that cute, adorable, chubby, Barney-loving little brat I was. Monsters are oh so real and have the ability to keep you away from that life you so desire for yourself. They have the ability to scratch, claw, and squeeze the life out of you until you drop. Monsters can take the form of just about anything, and depending on their form, can decieve others in thinking they aren't really there at all. Sounds strange? Well sometimes monsters can decieve us in a way where it will take us literally months or years for us to realize what kind of damage they have been causing in our lives. Don't believe me? Well my friend, I ask you in return, "why?"
Up until now this may seems silly coming from me. "Nick believing in monsters?" Well, before people think I have regressed to the age of diapers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the monsters I believe in are quite different than the ones you might find on tv or in books. My monsters have been a part of my very own life for a long, long time, and no matter how much I fight them, they seem to gain more strength over me, like some mutant bathing in a pool of radioactive sludge until he reaches the size of a skyscraper. "Time" seems to be their source of nutrition, and they are on that calorie-free diet for one purpose: to utterly make my life complicated and troublesome. Right now I think about the monster of Lust who seems to allure me with false promises and decieving looks, all the while strangling me until I fall in a ditch before my Savior. Anger brutally beats me with blow after blow in the face as I try to justify hating others who are more successful at life than I am. Jealousy has whipped me with it's tail plenty of times as I look upon the popular and "pretty" people. Anxiety has caused so many divisions in friendships I've made that it makes me want to break down and cry whenever I think about the people I have failed and caused misery. These monsters I hate so much, and if I can I would love to eradicate them from my life forever.
The Apostle Paul was no stranger to monsters in his own life. In Romans 7 we read, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me" (vv. 15-21). I find it interesting that the Apostle Paul is not that much different than me. He desired to do what was right and pleasing in God's eyes, and yet he had the tendency to do the exact opposite continually. I feel like a failure most of the time..but so did Paul. Just like him, I agree that God's law is good, but my flesh seems to find it a hobby to war against His law.
Two times in the past I have allowed anxiety to creep in and doubt not only two tremendous friends, but God's goodness overall. The first friend is about two years older than me, and no matter how many times she called me her little brother, I still doubted the validity of her truthfulness. The second friend I will be seeing up at Moody possibly, and what a grand jerk I was to her...to both girls really. These two girls shared with me the deepest, darkest secrets of their lives, and yet I trampled on what was oh so precious to them, actually assuming they were just using me as some emotional crutch. Now it's one thing to have strange thoughts flowing in and out of your mind, but to actually come out and say it to these old friends of mine and treating them like dirt (out of my own anxiety and stupidness)...I can only imagine the pain they felt...
Lust seems to be the most basic battle for men as we seek to live out a godly life. Me personally, I want to be a light to others. I find myself desiring strength continually from God to help lift up my friends and to carry out His message to a dying world. I want to be the sort of brother to all my precious Christian sisters where if they need strength, I will be there to freely disperse it. If my sisters need someone to tell them how pretty they look today, I want to be the first one to remind them of their beauty. I also desire to be a great godly man to my future wife one day, and to be the kind of husband who will not only nurture her heart, but be her best friend. Yet...I am quickly reminded of my weaknesses once I catch a glimpse of a girl wearing a short skirt during the summer and entertainign certain thoguhts. Instances like those make me feel like crud...How in the world can I be a light to my sisters when I find myself so drawn to such sinful attractions?
The point of this post? Specifically, I'm not unloading my failures and problems in "type form" like a guilty Roman Catholic, attending Confession in order to seek forgiveness. I am writing about these monsters of mine because of my guilt of actually basking in the continual praises I get for being this "superhuman Christian." I'm a sinner too, just like you, and just like you, I have broken God's law countless of times. I am the worst of the worst sinners I know, and if there was a guy who struggled more with sin, I'd be the heavyweight champion of the world. Echoing Paul's words, "I am the chief of sinners."
I seek to be more loving and caring to my darling Christian sisters, to be more humble while I am out evangelizing, more caring to my family, and more of a courageous warrior to even my "Moody family" whom I will also be spending at least a year with starting this upcoming Fall. I want to be a role model to my deciples who admire me so much, and the person people, whom I love so so dearly, go to whenever they need help...Yet how can I when I am in the nasty state of sin I am in? Paul goes on in Romans 7, " For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death" (vv. 22-24)?
Praise Him who is able to forgive me of my sins so exceedingly more than I can ask for. I love my Savior. This may have been a "spur in the moment" blog, and therefore lacks real substance and thought, but to echo the words of a particular sister I admire, "I'll often pursue expression at the expense of perfection."
"Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..." (Romans 7:25-8:1).
Up until now this may seems silly coming from me. "Nick believing in monsters?" Well, before people think I have regressed to the age of diapers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the monsters I believe in are quite different than the ones you might find on tv or in books. My monsters have been a part of my very own life for a long, long time, and no matter how much I fight them, they seem to gain more strength over me, like some mutant bathing in a pool of radioactive sludge until he reaches the size of a skyscraper. "Time" seems to be their source of nutrition, and they are on that calorie-free diet for one purpose: to utterly make my life complicated and troublesome. Right now I think about the monster of Lust who seems to allure me with false promises and decieving looks, all the while strangling me until I fall in a ditch before my Savior. Anger brutally beats me with blow after blow in the face as I try to justify hating others who are more successful at life than I am. Jealousy has whipped me with it's tail plenty of times as I look upon the popular and "pretty" people. Anxiety has caused so many divisions in friendships I've made that it makes me want to break down and cry whenever I think about the people I have failed and caused misery. These monsters I hate so much, and if I can I would love to eradicate them from my life forever.
The Apostle Paul was no stranger to monsters in his own life. In Romans 7 we read, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me" (vv. 15-21). I find it interesting that the Apostle Paul is not that much different than me. He desired to do what was right and pleasing in God's eyes, and yet he had the tendency to do the exact opposite continually. I feel like a failure most of the time..but so did Paul. Just like him, I agree that God's law is good, but my flesh seems to find it a hobby to war against His law.
Two times in the past I have allowed anxiety to creep in and doubt not only two tremendous friends, but God's goodness overall. The first friend is about two years older than me, and no matter how many times she called me her little brother, I still doubted the validity of her truthfulness. The second friend I will be seeing up at Moody possibly, and what a grand jerk I was to her...to both girls really. These two girls shared with me the deepest, darkest secrets of their lives, and yet I trampled on what was oh so precious to them, actually assuming they were just using me as some emotional crutch. Now it's one thing to have strange thoughts flowing in and out of your mind, but to actually come out and say it to these old friends of mine and treating them like dirt (out of my own anxiety and stupidness)...I can only imagine the pain they felt...
Lust seems to be the most basic battle for men as we seek to live out a godly life. Me personally, I want to be a light to others. I find myself desiring strength continually from God to help lift up my friends and to carry out His message to a dying world. I want to be the sort of brother to all my precious Christian sisters where if they need strength, I will be there to freely disperse it. If my sisters need someone to tell them how pretty they look today, I want to be the first one to remind them of their beauty. I also desire to be a great godly man to my future wife one day, and to be the kind of husband who will not only nurture her heart, but be her best friend. Yet...I am quickly reminded of my weaknesses once I catch a glimpse of a girl wearing a short skirt during the summer and entertainign certain thoguhts. Instances like those make me feel like crud...How in the world can I be a light to my sisters when I find myself so drawn to such sinful attractions?
The point of this post? Specifically, I'm not unloading my failures and problems in "type form" like a guilty Roman Catholic, attending Confession in order to seek forgiveness. I am writing about these monsters of mine because of my guilt of actually basking in the continual praises I get for being this "superhuman Christian." I'm a sinner too, just like you, and just like you, I have broken God's law countless of times. I am the worst of the worst sinners I know, and if there was a guy who struggled more with sin, I'd be the heavyweight champion of the world. Echoing Paul's words, "I am the chief of sinners."
I seek to be more loving and caring to my darling Christian sisters, to be more humble while I am out evangelizing, more caring to my family, and more of a courageous warrior to even my "Moody family" whom I will also be spending at least a year with starting this upcoming Fall. I want to be a role model to my deciples who admire me so much, and the person people, whom I love so so dearly, go to whenever they need help...Yet how can I when I am in the nasty state of sin I am in? Paul goes on in Romans 7, " For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death" (vv. 22-24)?
Praise Him who is able to forgive me of my sins so exceedingly more than I can ask for. I love my Savior. This may have been a "spur in the moment" blog, and therefore lacks real substance and thought, but to echo the words of a particular sister I admire, "I'll often pursue expression at the expense of perfection."
"Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..." (Romans 7:25-8:1).
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Updates From A Texan Bloke
It is now JUNE and you can literally feel the 98% humidity in the air caressing your body as you make your way to your mailbox to get the mail. It is only about week 4 or so since classes at Tarrant County College ended and I couldn't be anymore happier. Now, instead of reading about Shakespeare and sitting in a classroom while a feminist professor bashes on the Bible, I am now currently using my free time reading the Bible and studying more Apologetics. Oh blissful days...
I suppose the fun all started when Joseph and Lindsey Durant (the big sister of Jon and Seth as mentioned in my last post) flew back home from Moody. I seriously have almost forgotten that big smile and innocent personality of Lindsey's (I mean afterall, I only knew her for a week). It is funny to note that during the time with the Durants I have had the fortune of spending with, I know Gina (the younger sister) a lot better than Lindsey. The two are complete polar opposites from each other...one literally is able to bounce off the walls while the other would possibly just stand in the crowd and laugh at the silliness. If the two were to be compared to animals, one would almost be an energetic rabit while the other would be a laid-back, yet graceful, cat. Nevertheless, I love the girls as my own sisters and would love to know them more and see who in fact they end up marrying in the future.
Joseph and I have spent much time together since he's been out here. Lindsey seems to find it great joy having the two of us in the same room with her. Apparently she finds it hilarious to observe all the inside jokes and fun the two of us can ignite. So far Joseph and I have gone out for pizza, did some one-on-one evangelism, swing danced, and even open air preached both in Southlake Townsquare and Downtown Fort Worth. One time Lindsey came out to preach and that brought back wonderful memories from when I first met her up in Chicago. I just came back from Joseph's house, watching both a video of him preaching and a Star Trek episode. It is real awesome to know that the person who taught me evangelism is going to be my roommate for my first semester up at Moody!
Sad to say I have been neglecting my time with Gina Durant these past weeks or so, and not only her, but Jon and Seth. I have been so busy working and meeting with other outside of work that time with the others have had to be placed on the back-burner for now. Gina truly is a great girl, not to mention dancer! I believe I know the best dancer around :) Jon and Seth I wish I can spend more time training in evangelism. At one point, Jon expressed a wanting to open air preach, a wanting I hope will eventually push him to preach, if not now, then later. On one occassion in Downtown Fort Worth, Joseph and I ran across a young man my age by the name of Alex Long. Apparently, he leads his own church's youth group out to evangelize! Expressing a desire to learn how to open air preach, we are now considering getting together and merging teams, not to mention teaching him out to be a bonified preacher, like Joseph and myself!
So I suppose it is safe to say I will be missing the Texan life I have lived thus far, not to mention the bonds I've established out here in the blessed South. If I wasn't going to Moody, I'd love to train Jon and Seth more. Outreach to the cults would definitely be on the forefront of my mind and heart. Lindsey would be staying down here for about a semester or so, which would eventually lead to us spending more bro/sis time together, and Gina and I would have more time to bond as well! I really feel that if God hadn't called me to Moody I would've lived this "alternative life" where I can still still see myself working security overnights, preaching with Alex Long and our new combined team, while on Sunday afternoons having lunch with the Durants at their house. During my time down here, Gina and I would be doing some more swing dancing, Lulu (Lindsey's nickname) and I would be tackling Muslim mosques, and Sterling (a friend of Gina's) and I would be having sushi at least once a month! Oh how my thoughts travel to far off places, stepping into a doorway that leads to another life! Now do I wish I spent more time down here...? To tell you the truth...NO! I hate living in Texas just as much as I hate watching the gas price rise over a span of two weeks. Yet, in some weird, mystical way I would like to spend more time with the friends I have made more without ever prolonging my time before I fly up to Chicago...Lindsey is deifintely coming back to Moody sometime in the future, while Gina still has about another year in homeschooling before she can head off to college.
To sum up, it has been a long, emotional/spiritual ride for me...To sum up, God has taught me the importance of being led by His Spirit instead of either running too far from It or lagging behind It. It is important to note that if one pursues an avenue that is not in accordance to the will of God, you can expect Him to pull you out and shine bright lights in your face until you agree to submit to His authority. Currently I am brushing up on my Mormon studies in hopes of visiting two Mormon churches (or at least one) and asking the attendees questions as they come out, praying that the seed of the Gospel will be planted.
2 more months until Moody!...the pendulum swings...God I'm going where you want me to go...
I suppose the fun all started when Joseph and Lindsey Durant (the big sister of Jon and Seth as mentioned in my last post) flew back home from Moody. I seriously have almost forgotten that big smile and innocent personality of Lindsey's (I mean afterall, I only knew her for a week). It is funny to note that during the time with the Durants I have had the fortune of spending with, I know Gina (the younger sister) a lot better than Lindsey. The two are complete polar opposites from each other...one literally is able to bounce off the walls while the other would possibly just stand in the crowd and laugh at the silliness. If the two were to be compared to animals, one would almost be an energetic rabit while the other would be a laid-back, yet graceful, cat. Nevertheless, I love the girls as my own sisters and would love to know them more and see who in fact they end up marrying in the future.
Joseph and I have spent much time together since he's been out here. Lindsey seems to find it great joy having the two of us in the same room with her. Apparently she finds it hilarious to observe all the inside jokes and fun the two of us can ignite. So far Joseph and I have gone out for pizza, did some one-on-one evangelism, swing danced, and even open air preached both in Southlake Townsquare and Downtown Fort Worth. One time Lindsey came out to preach and that brought back wonderful memories from when I first met her up in Chicago. I just came back from Joseph's house, watching both a video of him preaching and a Star Trek episode. It is real awesome to know that the person who taught me evangelism is going to be my roommate for my first semester up at Moody!
Sad to say I have been neglecting my time with Gina Durant these past weeks or so, and not only her, but Jon and Seth. I have been so busy working and meeting with other outside of work that time with the others have had to be placed on the back-burner for now. Gina truly is a great girl, not to mention dancer! I believe I know the best dancer around :) Jon and Seth I wish I can spend more time training in evangelism. At one point, Jon expressed a wanting to open air preach, a wanting I hope will eventually push him to preach, if not now, then later. On one occassion in Downtown Fort Worth, Joseph and I ran across a young man my age by the name of Alex Long. Apparently, he leads his own church's youth group out to evangelize! Expressing a desire to learn how to open air preach, we are now considering getting together and merging teams, not to mention teaching him out to be a bonified preacher, like Joseph and myself!
So I suppose it is safe to say I will be missing the Texan life I have lived thus far, not to mention the bonds I've established out here in the blessed South. If I wasn't going to Moody, I'd love to train Jon and Seth more. Outreach to the cults would definitely be on the forefront of my mind and heart. Lindsey would be staying down here for about a semester or so, which would eventually lead to us spending more bro/sis time together, and Gina and I would have more time to bond as well! I really feel that if God hadn't called me to Moody I would've lived this "alternative life" where I can still still see myself working security overnights, preaching with Alex Long and our new combined team, while on Sunday afternoons having lunch with the Durants at their house. During my time down here, Gina and I would be doing some more swing dancing, Lulu (Lindsey's nickname) and I would be tackling Muslim mosques, and Sterling (a friend of Gina's) and I would be having sushi at least once a month! Oh how my thoughts travel to far off places, stepping into a doorway that leads to another life! Now do I wish I spent more time down here...? To tell you the truth...NO! I hate living in Texas just as much as I hate watching the gas price rise over a span of two weeks. Yet, in some weird, mystical way I would like to spend more time with the friends I have made more without ever prolonging my time before I fly up to Chicago...Lindsey is deifintely coming back to Moody sometime in the future, while Gina still has about another year in homeschooling before she can head off to college.
To sum up, it has been a long, emotional/spiritual ride for me...To sum up, God has taught me the importance of being led by His Spirit instead of either running too far from It or lagging behind It. It is important to note that if one pursues an avenue that is not in accordance to the will of God, you can expect Him to pull you out and shine bright lights in your face until you agree to submit to His authority. Currently I am brushing up on my Mormon studies in hopes of visiting two Mormon churches (or at least one) and asking the attendees questions as they come out, praying that the seed of the Gospel will be planted.
2 more months until Moody!...the pendulum swings...God I'm going where you want me to go...
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