Or maybe a good title would be tempting the tempter?

If you’ve followed my blog you know that I have a strong conviction that God will avoid giving signs to even his most beloved children for the sake of the relationship. I have never heard this preached nor taught except indirectly through the scripture. Perhaps the most direct instance was when Christ said “blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” There are many scriptures (like the “seeking a sign” verses) that speak to this topic and looking at them all in context leads me to believe this to be a fundamental truth and spiritual law. I truly believe we are able to offer more joy to God in faith than in any other way.

There are two ways in which understanding this law can enhance our relationship with the One True God. First, and perhaps simplest, is to recognize that God saves death bed grace for people on their death bed. I’ve heard many supposed supernatural interventions tossed around by people in what seemed to be attempts at proving their merit as a Christian. God showed me this, God told me that… tweaking a completely natural and common occurrence to sound very supernatural and then bragging about it until they’re blue in the face. Outsiders will spot this from a mile away and immediately be most likely cynical and have their skepticism reinforced by the perpetrator. They’ll say, “I had a dream last night too, and sure enough today my mother called just like in my dream… that must mean that this evening I will go flying on my vacuum cleaner to the zoo to see some aliens.”

Now don’t get me wrong, God uses very “common” occurrences to communicate with His children regularly. Just remember, God often gives you the message because it is for you. Not for everyone you can possibly find to brag to. We humans will most certainly fail at this point, knowing when and when not to share a message, but we need to be aware… it’s not ALWAYS for EVERYONE and it sometimes is just “an undigested bit of beef”…

Death bed grace is what Stephen had upon his martyrdom. From Acts 7: ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’. That was supernatural… The profile of a woman in a piece of toast. That will most certainly make a joke out of the faith. Of all the names of God mentioned in the bible Dog and Pony show is not one of them.

The second important thing is to realize that the more you lean on these “signs” no matter how small they are… even if they aren’t signs but just little blessings… the more you lean on them the more you actually may find yourself provoking the accuser. A series of very uncanny situations occurred back-to-back-to-back-to-back for us in the past few months. Situations where what appeared to be great blessings were taken away then given back then taken away… well you get the point. The situation has not threatened our ministry at all, but I personally had put a lot of stock in those blessings. I had said to myself in a way: “there’s proof that God will provide for us.” or … “now I can rest assured that everything is taken care of.” Those statements seemed so harmless… “If I boast I boast in the Lord!” Isn’t that okay? Well, maybe, but sometimes in the midst of giving God glory don’t we find ourselves keeping just a little for ourselves? Maybe even thinking… “now there’s proof that God loves me. Look everyone, here’s my proof, now show me yours!”

I don’t want to get too far down that trail. Please try to keep focused on the mirror and not the people around you. It’s a problem and I only mention it because I believe it is what ultimately gives the “accuser” the authority to snatch it away from you.

In Revelation 12 satan is referred to as the “accuser of our brothers” or for you old English fans “accuser of the brethren” … In the book of Job we get an AWESOME tutorial on this process. Believe it or not bad things happening to a person may well mean that they are … well let me use God’s own words: “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (Job 1:8) … it could mean there is “no one on earth like him”. Or consider the opposite, someone who seems blessed, Psalm 37 tells us about an evil man who flourishes like a tree in its native soil. He sure appears blessed.

The accuser says to God: “You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” (Job 1:9)

And POOF you know the story. All those blessings went away. The argument the accuser made was that Job loved God only because of the gifts that came from God. My assertion is, don’t lean on the gifts, lean on the giver. When you do the accuser will have little evidence against you.

Finally, consider the scripture “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (1 Cor 10:13) Job’s pious counselors made real fools of themselves. They thought he must have done something wrong to get such punishment. Perhaps they should have considered the fact that he might be so tempted because he could bear more than any of them, because he was maybe even God’s favorite on the whole earth? … How many times over has the church been just like those counselors? How many times have I scorned a beloved of God while cherishing an evil man that just happened to be flourishing like a green tree in its native soil? Which am I?

God help me.

-ICA

Matthew 21
The Parable of the Two Sons
28″What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29″ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

hy·poc·ri·sy
1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.

Christian beware! The yeast of the Pharisees (Luke 12:1) is making it’s way through the dough… And you may be surprised at how it’s happening.

There are hard lessons to be learned in this life, and most come while looking honestly in the mirror. You see, to be honest, I dislike myself. I want to change things. I want to talk more gently, I want to be “nicer”, love better… Today, while running through my list of most despised vices I keep thinking at the end of this I just want to be like Jesus.

You know being honest with ourselves is very difficult. I believe it is that fact that prompted Jesus to warn us about the “yeast of the Pharisees”. Not only that, but it has laid a foundation for a church that actually promotes hypocrisy.

Look honestly at what we have come to value in Christian circles. Gentle answers, nice friendly speech… in general the first priority is making people feel good, appearing genuinely at peace in any circumstance.

My own mother used to give me this advice: “if you don’t have anything good to say don’t say anything at all.” It is very wise. Say only good things and people will like you, you will succeed, you will prosper.

It’s in the bible: “a gentle answer turns away wrath” or “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure…” … WAIT JUST A MINUTE! Let’s look at that list again:

Philippians 4:8
whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

The very first word is TRUE. Here’s the bad news. It has to be TRUE. No credit for lying. Why would there be? Satan is the father of lies. In fact Jesus emphasized TRUTH, in fact… He wasn’t always nice.

What a dilemma! How many of you are thinking: “well you ain’t Jesus” right now? LOL, you are right. So of course I shouldn’t try to be like him… Wait a minute that is what we are supposed to do! What happened here?

That is the yeast, spreading through the dough, once it is there it is impossible to remove. The pigeon hole leads us to an emphasis on making people feel good, perfecting a Buddah-Ghandi personality, and claiming Jesus’ life to be all peace despite what he himself said. We promote people like that, put them in charge, and watch as they teach everyone else to be like them… and not like Jesus.

This isn’t a matter of physical violence. Don’t make the mistake Peter made. It is spiritual violence, and I can assure you it is just as dangerous if not more so (Matthew 11:12). Put away your sword true believer. Your battle is not against flesh and blood.

Satan would have the church become a place where words and deeds are far separated. He would have us so busy practicing our Sunday school answers in the mirror with a smile that we never actually live any of it for real. We say “sure God, we’ll do it” but never show up to the vineyard, while the people who had the nerve to say no initially actually get their hands covered in the red juice of the harvest.

I’ll say this without hesitation, the “tax collectors and the prostitutes” may well be still entering ahead.

So next time you are taken aback by not-so-nice but honest words of another, consider this… Would you prefer they just make something up that they figure you want to hear? Is that what God values?

Finally, have you seen this 200 year old list before?

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?

These are 22 questions the members of John Wesley’s Holy Club asked themselves in their private devotions. I was shown this list by a national pastor here. Plain and simple, I fail at every point. God help me.

-ICA

Pronounced Tool-o Mahn-chay.

It means “Big Man” or “Big Person”. People here use the phrase as part of everyday speech. The saano maancheharu (small people) all recognize the disease and all of the problems it causes. People here strive for power and position, and once they get it they indulge in their reward of making people wait on them hand and foot. Yep, even if before they once recognized it as a disease, now that they have the power it becomes a reward, even a right.

Thousands of man hours a day are wasted here indulging Thulo maancheharu. For even the smallest things the guy in charge loves to treat people like rats in a maze. So far my funniest example is buying a stamp at the post office. Here’s how it goes… You ask for a stamp at one window, they direct you to another window, there they give you a piece of paper that you take to the next window, there you pay and are given a receipt to take to the next window, there you get confirmation and may proceed to the 5th and final window for your stamp. I hear that the Thulo maanche had many cousins who needed jobs.

The very big people here are in charge of the ministries. Ministry here meaning government office. They run things the same way, only instead of a rat maze they take great pleasure in just watching people grovel. That is how it has been with our visas. We are very blessed to have people who know how this works taking care of it for us, but it has been an uphill battle.

So what’s the deal with this? I heard a fantastic message at church the other day. The speaker started right in on this topic. Except, it wasn’t government ministry he was referring to. It was Christian ministry. This disease is present in the church!

The message ended with a challenge. “What is your most cherished ambition?” … Of course as a Christian that should be to please God. I hope you know that those who would please God must be a servant to all. If your ambition is power and position, to have people obey you, to order them around and answer your every whim… If that is your ambition then it will be impossible to please God. If that is your motivation then you will only corrupt the world more with your indulgence.

That message was so challenging. That desire is waiting to consume us. Crouching at our door. The act of catching a disease does not change it from a disease to a privilege. It is still a disease. The greatest (aka one who pleases God) amoung us will likely be the most unknown. “I must become less, He must become greater.”

Matthew 11:7.5-11.5 – “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. … Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.”

-ICA