The Kindness of God's Judgment

Judgment Day

  For so long orthodox theology has placed a deep seated fear in people's heart for judgment day.  I want to give you peace in regards to this.  I've spoken with my wife, my mom and other people.  The topic of judgment typically leads to either one of two feelings (or worse, both) fear, or self righteousness.

  Neither is the purpose of God's judgment.

  This is what my mother wrote in regards to judgment;

If you or anyone stands before a righteous and just God on Judgement day and the truth of the matter is you are lacking because you frittered your life away on worldly pleasures instead of engaging with people and relationships as God calls us to do, I don't think that person will be rejoicing. I think they will feel the disappointment of not living up to Gods standard. I don't have to judge other people now or ever , Hallelujah, thats His job! I just want to be hearing Him say to me "Well Done".

  This is not the proper way to look at judgment.  She's not alone, in this kind of thinking.  Many Christians out there think that this is the way it's supposed to be.  We are so geared from childhood to seek the approval of our parents.  It's only natural to believe that God is going to be like this.  Unfortunately, we don't see the negative aspect of this attitude - that while we may be exalted and approved, the others are going to be condemned and cast away.

  God's judgment is not going to be a place of condemnation. We need to remember, our God is a God who created us specifically to lavish his love upon us and every single purpose from the day of man's creation up until the close of the eons is to benefit mankind.  Even judgment will benefit those being judged.

  First off, we need to realize there is nothing that we can do to be better than anyone else.  We are the clay in God's hands.  Nothing is our own achievement.

  Remember Pharaoh of Egypt, who persecuted the Israelites?  He did not do so of his own will.  

Exodus 10:1
... For I Myself have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers so that I may set these My signs among them, and that you may relate in the ears of your son, and your son's son, that which I set in action in Egypt, and My signs which I placed among them, that you will know that I am Yahweh.

  God himself hardened the Pharaoh's heart.  The persecution of the Israelites was not the design of egyptians but God's own design so that He could teach the Israelites to seek God's help. God is in control, and this is the lesson God is teaching us through all of history.  This is the reason we're here.  That evil exists, and the most important thing we need to lay hold of.  God is in control.

Isaiah 10:5-7
5 Woe, Assyria! club of My anger! And a rod is he in the day of My indignation! 
6 Against a polluted nation shall I send him, And against a people of My rage shall I commission him, To loot loot and to plunder plunder, And to make it a tramping ground like the clay of the streets.
7 Yet he is not planning so, And his heart is not devising so, For it is in his heart to exterminate, And to cut off nations,  not a few.

  Years later Israel was to be shattered, 10 tribes were to be scattered throughout the world and only 2 to remain in the Holy Land.  In order to accomplish this God used the King of Assyria to shatter Israel.  The King of Assyria woke up that morning honestly wanting to get corn flakes and watch the latest game in the courtyard, God had other plans.  He changed the King's heart to go to war against God's own people in order to accomplish God's plans.

Isaiah 10:12-15
12 So it will come to pass that Yahweh shall complete all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Then I shall visit evil on the fruit of the insolent heart of the king of Assyria And on the vaunting high haughtiness of his eyes. 
13 For he has said: By the vigor of my hand I did it , And by my wisdom, for I have understanding; So I am taking away the boundaries of peoples, And their equippings have I robbed, And I am bringing down those who sit like a sturdy one . 
14 My hand is finding the estate of the peoples, as in a nest, And as one gathers forsaken eggs, So do I gather the entire earth, And there is no wing ruffling,Or mouth opening wide and chirping.
15 Shall the ax vaunt it self over the one hewing with it? Should the mace magnify it self over the one swinging it? As if a club should swing the one raising it up! As if a rod should raise him up who is not wood!

  Later the King of Assyria exalts himself, believing HE has accomplished all this.  God does not judge him for his actions, He judges him for his ATTITUDE.

Romans 11:30-33
30 For even as you once were stubborn toward God, yet now were shown mercy at their stubbornness,
31 thus these also are now stubborn to this mercy of yours, that now they also may be shown mercy.
32 For God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all.
33 O, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

  We likewise are no better.  We are exactly like the King of Assyria.  God uses us and we do all things according to HIS will.  That time you worked in the soup kitchen?  God used you to do that.  That time you kicked that kid in the face in the school yard?  God used you to do that.  God is in control of everything in your life.  You simply have the illusion that you are in control and God blesses you with that.

  God controls all of us, and leads us into an understanding of his mercy.  This is the purpose behind it all.  So we fathom how helpless we are, and need Him.  Unfortunately, not all of us will understand this when this life is over.  THAT is what the judgment is for.  For God to expose our hearts and fix it.

  Judgment is corrective, not condemning.  He corrects the attitudes of our hearts.

   How can it be condemning?  God's righteousness has already been satisfied by the blood of Christ.  He is conciliated towards us, there is peace now.  Jesus' sacrifice at the cross has brought salvation to ALL mankind.

Ephesians 2:13-16

13 Yet now, in Christ Jesus, you, who once are far off, are become near by the blood of Christ.

14 For He is our Peace, Who makes both one, and razes the central wall of the barrier
15 (the enmity in His flesh), nullifying the law of precepts in decrees, that He should be creating the two, in Himself, into one new humanity, making peace;
16 and should be reconciling both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in it.

  Judgment is GOOD NEWS!!!

Travis

The Humility of God

Good morning, hope y'all have had a good weekend.  Mine was busy.  I ended up fixing things around the house, and working on a project for my parent's afterschool.  I did get some time in with my daughter and my wife but all in all, it was a very busy weekend.  I'm really happy that vacation is coming up soon though.  Yay for Summer break!

The Humility of God

   The greatest tragedy that religion does, is how it alienates people from God.  Believers and unbeliever both.  There are so many people I've met who are angry at God because they just don't understand him.  That's because religion has painted such an ugly picture of God.

  The God of "Love me or die", the God of "He's so powerful, but indifferent to our suffering." and even the God of "He's so powerful, but also so powerless because of our sin."

   I'm telling you, these perspectives of God are all a complete lie.  A craftily cunning lie that Satan has dispersed widely through the help of Christianity.  Let me tell you, everything that God has done he has done to demonstrate who he is to us, to teach us, to raise us and to prepare us for a future beyond this world.

   Yes, God created evil.  That child starving in Ethiopia, or down the block?  He intends to transform that into something good.  Those crazy terrorist that destroyed the WTC?  He intends to use that for good.  The Holocaust?  He intends to use that for good.  Evil itself will not last, instead it is the tool God uses to transform us and prepare us for what is to come.

Isaiah 45:5-7

5 I am Yahweh, and there is no
other; Except for Me, there is no Elohim; I am forearming you,
yet you do not know Me, 
6 That they may
know, From the rising of the sun and from the west, That there is no one apart from Me; I am Yahweh, and there is no other. 
7 Former of light and Creator of darkness,Maker
of good and Creator of evil, I, Yahweh,

make all these things .

  The more you learn about God the more you discover how deeply he loves us.  He does not rejoice in the evil that disrupts our lives, but like a father who does not take pleasure in the pain of his child's discipline, he does so knowing that it will reap a lifetime of benefit.  The more we grow in our understanding of God's love, the more we can grow in the mature acceptance of the necessity of evil.

   ------

  I want to give you a glimpse of how deeply God loves us by taking you through a powerful Old Testament template that perfectly illustrates the power of the Cross.  I guarantee you, most of you have never heard of this before.

Genesis 3:3-5
3 And it came to be at the end of a year’s days that Cain brought an approach present to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. 
4 As for Abel however, he brought some firstlings of his flock and their fat portions and Yahweh gave heed to Abel and his approach present. 
5 But to Cain and his approach present He did not give heed; so Cain’s anger grew very hot, and his face fell.

  In ancient times, and even in some cultures today, an approach present was required to be given before you could "approach" a royalty.  For example, If I were to request the audience of the Prime Minister of Canada, I might buy a box of expensive cigars, and forward that to the PM before I came to visit him.  I would hope that my present would be welcomed and make me look favorable to him.

  Even today, when we go to a friend's house, we might bring a case of beer, or a bottle of wine, or a desert.  Usually we will all consume these, but this is a mark of politeness to incur favor with our friends and to increase the likelihood we will be welcomed and invited again.

  This is similar to what is happening in this early scene in Genesis.  Abel gave an approach present, he wanted an audience from God and brought one that was favorable to God.

   The approach present is typical throughout Genesis in many different settings.  In Leviticus it is written out how to properly bring an approach present to God.  Traditional translations usually call this a sacrifice or something similar.  It loses it's meaning however, when you limit it to a sacrifice.  Sacrifice is all about appeasement.

  The approach present however, is about granting a favorable audience.

  It is significant to note that the very first set of instructions in Leviticus is on how to give an approach present.

Leviticus 1 (I will spare you the reading, you can find it yourself on www.concordant.org) God is giving Moses specific instructions on how to properly prepare it and goes on for 2 more chapters detailing the proper administration of it.

Ephesians 2:8-9
8For in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not out of you; it is God's approach present,
9 not of works, lest anyone should be boasting.
  God himself has given us an approach present so HE can approach US.

  This is a huge reversal of custom.  Instead of us approaching royalty, HE APPROACHES US!

  Can you fathom this?  Faith is given to us by God, we are saved by the faith of Jesus Christ in God.  And God himself sacrificed his own son in order to gain a favorable audience with us.

  This is completely upside down from orthodox religion would teach us.  God is not angry, God is not vengeful, God is not bloodthirsty or distant.  He is reaching out to us and seeking to be reconciled to us.  He humbles himself, giving up his own son in order to demonstrate the depth of his love to us.  He would not withhold even his only son from us.

  This is the dramatic humility of a God unlike anything religion teaches.

  Believe it, find peace in it, and know that God is conciliated towards ALL Mankind.  That is how deeply he loves us.

Travis

A Truly Powerful Quote

I just love this quote and had to share it this morning with everyone I can;

"We believe that Christianity has lost view of the divine dimensions by overemphasizing the importance of individual salvation. Christianity has placed herself and her own salvation at the center of all her knowledge and has become egocentric, ignoring the beautiful truths of God’s word. Thus she is unwilling, and consequentially unable, to recognize God’s goals that go behind the salvation of today’s believers. She presents a similar show as Israel did two thousand years ago, when she barricaded herself against the thoughts of God for the nations. So the Christian believers do today against the counsel of God for reaching the whole world through judgment and grace. But the counsel of God still stands."

—E.F. Stroeter

The 2 Gospels

For some of you who may have been confused what I'm talking a bout.  I hope this chart helps somewhat.  I found it on Martin Zender's website.  Of course, I'll continue talking more on this, but for your own study and edification - this may help.

Friday morning thoughts

  Well I'm finally starting to feel better.  Not 100% but certainly not as nauseous and gross as I have been.  It turns out my wife and daughter were feeling much the same.  Lets just say there was quite alot of gas building up in our house.  To the delight of my daughter who would laugh and go "ew" constantly.

  As funny as that was, the nausea and cramps were no good.  The mere sight and taste of food was extremely off putting.  Oddly enough, drinking a glass of wine helped calm my stomach last night and I relaxed into a nice sleep overnight.  My poor wife, working so hard, worked until 2am.

  Martin Zender has recently been doing a series on contentment.  Based on the passage 

Learning to Hold Loosely

1 Timothy 6:6-10
6 Now devoutness with contentment is great capital;
7 for nothing do we carry into the world, and it is evident that neither can we carry anything out.
8 Now, having sustenance and shelter, with these we shall be sufficed.
9 Now, those intending to be rich are falling into a trial and a trap and the many foolish and harmful desires which are swamping men in extermination and destruction.
10 For a root of all of the evils is the fondness for money, which some, craving, were led astray from the faith and try themselves on all sides with much pain.

  It's given me a great deal to think about.  To be content is great capital.  That's money in the bank people.  If you're content, you're richer than Bill Gates, think about that.  If you're content, you're no longer DISCONTENT.  That's more peace than most people have.

  I was standing in Memory Express the other day, one of our major electronics stores; and naturally a store dear to my heart.  I was looking around and thinking... This world is passing away, Jesus will snatch me away soon and... none of this will be coming with me.  It's all bound to be burned.

  It hit me then the deepest secret to our contentment.  We can be content because we know where our real investment lies.  I'm looking forward to the celestial allotment that I've been guaranteed.  The new Body I will have the new work I will be doing.  The more I think on this; the more excited I get and the less the material things of this world matter.

  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind my hobbies and passions, but they can't consume me in the way they once did.  I need to learn to let go of things, and hoard less.  Give more.  And hold loosely... Be willing to let it go and not be grieved by the loss of things.

   You know what WILL go with you though?  The experiences we have.  The love we share.  The memories we create.  I think I'm going to spend more of my money, more of my time into those things.  Watching my daughter grow.  Taking a vacation as a family.  And growing in my love for friends, family, and people around me.

  There are a great many thoughts I've had, spurred by Martin's podcasts on this subject.  Much more than I could write in a morning.  I will probably come back to this again and again.  As it gives rest to my soul.  So stressed out my family and I can be at times.  It is difficult to lose most of an income in order to raise a child. It is difficult to pay off debt and labor under the crushing weight of interest rates.  It is difficult to pay bills and taxes.  It is also difficult to work to make money, less than to work doing what I truly love.

   Praise God that he meets all my needs.  We have food, clothing, shelter, and in comparison to most of the world - we live in relative luxury.  PRAISE God for all of that.  Thank you, Father, who meets all my needs and also calls me according to his purpose.

Amen,

Travis Penner

The Reason for it All

  Hi folks, sorry I didn't get anything done yesterday.  I felt completely miserable yesterday.  So lousy that I couldn't put two words together.  I managed to get through a day at work and  take care of our daughter when I got home, but went to bed shortly after she went down.  I think I was fighting a little bug or something  of a kind.

  Still feeling a touch tired and blegh today but... I'll get through it.  I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.

The Reason for our Hope

  After talking about death for a week I still feel the need to elaborate on the most essential reason for grasping the totality of death.

  It was necessary, for salvation's purpose, for Jesus to die as all men did.  When Jesus died, he ceased his existence.  The destiny of all mankind.

1 Cor 15:3-5 
3 For I give over to you among the first what also I accepted, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
4 and that He was entombed, and that He has been roused the third day according to the scriptures,
5 and that He was seen by Cephas, thereupon by the twelve.

  Let me belabor this.  Jesus completely ceased to exist at his death.  He had no more earthly consciousness, nor spiritual consciousness.  He was plunged into oblivion and were it not for God himself who roused him 3 days later, he would STILL be dead.

  This is the whole of the gospel and it's pivotal point.  It is not, then, our faith that saves us, but Jesus OWN faith in his father to rouse him;

Romans 3:21-23
21 Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God is manifest (being attested by the law and the prophets),
22 yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no distinction,
23 for all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God.

  Jesus who had no sin in him, died for our sakes, and TRUSTED that God would rouse him from the dead 3 days later.

  I remember how this hit me only a few months ago.  I was sitting at work and just got hit with... WOW... He DIED.

  At that moment, I had a mix of elation and grief.  Knowing that when he came to earth he had no divinity.  When he died, he CEASED TO EXIST!

  Our faith then, is only the recognition of what has already happened.  Jesus has already saved us, whether you believe it or not.

  Your faith is simply punching the ticket into Eonian life.  Nothing more; but what a ticket that is!!

  This is why it is so essential to understand the lies that trip us up in this faith;

Trinity - this essentially denies that Jesus Christ died.  God by definition CANNOT die.

Eternal Conscious torment/Hell - This portrays God as an unjust and completely incapable God.  If Jesus' sacrifice was insufficient to save ALL mankind, then God sinned for he did not achieve what he set out to do.

Doctrine of Free Will - Only one will is sovereign and in control, either God is in control or man is in control.  Free Will denies God's sovereignty and denies that JESUS did the work of salvation - NOT man.  It denies that we were powerless in our sins to save ourselves, and rejects that we needed God to do the saving work.

Romans 5:6
6 For Christ, while we are still infirm, still in accord with the era, for the sake of the irreverent, died.

To be infirm means to be powerless.  We were helpless, unable to do anything for ourselves.  It was for our sakes Christ died.  We share NO Part in the work of salvation. NONE.  The doctrine of free will denies this.


Immortality of the Soul - If the soul is immortal, then we are not dead. If we are not dead and dying, then Christ never died either.  If Christ did not die, then no sacrifice for sins was made.  If we are not dead, there is no need for resurrection.  Do you see how insane this doctrine is?  It makes madness out of everything.  Either the Bible is true when it says we die, or it lies, and in which case we might as well use our Bibles for kindling.

However 1 Corinthians 15:16-18 puts it quite succinctly;
16 For, if the dead are not being roused, neither has Christ been roused.
17 Now, if Christ has not been roused, vain is your faith -- you are still in your sins!
18 Consequently those also, who are put to repose in Christ, perished.

So, one more time.  Christ died for all mankind, and completely ceased all existence in any form whatsoever, he was buried in a tomb, and was roused to life again on the third day, vivified in spirit.  He alone is now our hope for Resurrection.  How AWESOME is that?!

Travis

The Way of a Man With a Maiden...

  I've been so busy the last little while I haven't spent as much time reading as I should.  We had a nice family evening last night, which is rare.  My wife usually works most nights so I'm often at home in the evenings taking care of my daughter.  The rain let up and we all went for a family walk.

  It was Cassidy's idea, she came to me with the dog's leash, her way of telling us - it's time to go for a walk. Family is good, making memories with family is even better.

It's an Old Old Story

  When I was young I was so anxious to find my one true love.  My parents had a happy marriage, and I was under the illusion that once you discover your true love, it's all happily ever after after that.

  Unfortunately, unscrupulous men also are aware that young men particularly are driven by this desire.  It's natural;

Genesis 2:24

Therefore a man shall forsake his father and his mother and he will cling to his wife, and both of them will be one flesh.

  Men are driven to seek his wife and cling to her.

  When I encountered the International Churches of Christ, it was the carrot that Marty Udall dangled before me.  "In 6 months you could be married!!"  That is what he quite literally said.

  Of course for a young man, with raging hormones and desire for not only friendship, and romance - but also sex, this was like holding out the holy grail and saying "In 6 months this can be yours!  Just a small down payment in the form of baptism and swallowing our teachings whole!  Don't forget to give until it hurts at the offering!"

  He quite clearly understood the natural drive for single men seeking to begin a family and start their lives.

  He's not the first one to take advantage of this drive men have in  Genesis 29 we learn about the courtship of Jacob for Rachel.  He worked 7 years to earn her hand from her father.  What happened at the end of those 7 years?  He switched girls during the wedding and Jacob married the wrong woman.  Again, he worked 7 more years for Rachel, ending up with two wives.

  I too had the rug pulled out from under me, I spent nearly as many years before I got out of my situation.  6 years in the ICOC.  Fortunately God transformed my curse into a blessing.  I never ended up with the one I pursued originally in that Church.  I DID however end up with the best woman for me, in spite of how men originally intended to frustrate me.

  If you're in a cult or a situation right now, as a young single person and you find yourself yearning for that relationship, and it's mutual.  God does not intend for you to live in frustration.  In fact, it's his design that it should be this way.

1 Cor 7:2 Yet, because of prostitutions, let each man have a wife for himself and each woman have her own husband.

1 Cor 7:9 9 Yet if they are not controlling themselves, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to be on fire.

  Don't allow deceivers to take advantage of you.  God has built all humanity with natural desires, the unusual frustration of them leads to all kinds of unnatural perversions.  

  God bless, and be at peace, for God is at peace with you!

Travis