Today our culture seems bent on removing all personal responsibility for individual choices in the name of science and social tolerance. That path leads to some extremely negative consequences. First of all, it is a rejection of God’s Word which clearly declares that God will hold us personally responsible for our choices and our actions. God makes a clear distinction between sin and righteousness. He then deals with the problem of sin through the blood of Christ, confession, and repentance rather than excuses and the claims of science that men and women are controlled by physiological processes over which they have no control. Much of the current thinking comes from recent research in genetics and brain science.

Caroline Leaf, a leading researcher in these areas and a believer, has some very helpful things to say about this “scientific trend.” I would like to quote her. “Today there is a massive split in the world of neuroscience. Many scientists believe that the mind is a result of firing neurons: they see the mind as an emergent property of the brain. On the other hand, many scientists (myself included) are mind-body dualists: we argue that the mind changes the brain. The neurocentric perspective of the former argument arises out of humankind’s desire to worship the created brain instead of the Creator…why is this neurocentric vein of thought so dangerous? Essentially, the ‘oversimplification, interpretive license, and premature application of brain science in the legal, commercial, clinical and philosophical domains’ can lead us into murky waters when it comes to taking responsibility for our actions. Are you a murderer or did the different activity seen in the brain scan make you do it? Are you addicted to food because your brain is wired that way…or because you have made choices? Once you start down this path, you will ultimately have to question your belief in free will, since a predominant focus on the brain takes the control away from the individual and places the blame squarely on the brain” (Carline Leaf, Think and Eat Yourself Smart, Baker Books, p.129-130).

The amazing thing that science is now discovering is that although a tremendous amount of genetic predispositions is passed down from generation to generation, the predispositions are essentially turned on or off by external influences. This phenomenon is called epigenetics. What we choose to think, see, listen to, and surround ourselves with actually shapes the brain which then influences our thinking. Although neural pathways that form in the brain because of our repetitive choices push us back to those choices, we still have free will and can begin to prune old pathways by our choices to think differently and involve ourselves in a different environment.

The word of God tells us to mediate on the Word day and night. What is understood through that command is that our choice of filling our days and nights with focus on the Word also precludes the worldly reinforcement we used to open ourselves up to on a daily basis. Through consistent meditation, memorization, writing the word, etc., we can lay in new, godly pathways empowered by the Spirit while we prune the old pathways of toxic thinking and sin. Paul instructed the church to make a consistent choice to think on “whatsoever is true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil.4:8-9). In doing so, these believers were laying in neural pathways that would automatically produce thoughts in line with the Word of God rather than leading us back to thoughts opposed to God’s word.. This is part of the process of renewing the mind.

Many believers are still dominated by toxic thinking because they have not done the work required to renew the mind. The newest brain research demonstrates that our choices – what we say, what we do, what we read, who we spend time with, what we eat, what we hear, etc. all impact and create either healthy or toxic cellular environments for physical, spiritual, and emotional health or toxicity. God has made us so that every choice contributes powerfully to our brain, our genetics, our physiology, our health, and emotions, and our spirit. Our free will is a powerful tool and God will hold us responsible for our choices despite the cries of a fallen culture.

The good news in this is that personal responsibility empowers us to make choices that can make a huge difference in every part of our life and well-being. We are not helpless, powerless pawns doomed to a destiny over which we have no control. Alcoholic parents do not doom us to alcoholism. Generations of depression do not guarantee that we will be depressed. The genetics of depraved ancestors do not lock us into the depravity. God has given us a way out through taking personal responsibility, repenting, confessing, and by contact with the blood of Christ. He has given us divine weapons of the Word, worship, prayer, fellowship, even fasting and solitude that help rewrite our very DNA and create plasticity in the brain so that our brain begins to default to God’s thoughts rather than man’s.

A culture that declares that our identity, lifestyle, response to life, mental health and morality are all predetermined by genetics and brain chemistry takes away man’s power to choose good and become good. It is a strict secular doctrine of predestination in which the physical brain has total sovereignty over your life rather than a God in heaven. When I feel no responsibility for my choices and at the same time feel powerless to overcome my genetics and physiology, then Satan has won the day. This view is a current “big lie” of the enemy that we must push back on rather than caving in to pseudoscience. There is some good stuff our there by world class researchers who are also dedicated believers. I encourage you to read some in this area. Caroline Leaf’s books would be a great start. Blessings in Him and choose to have a good day.

I’ve put off commenting on the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage because everyone and their dog have been commenting on it from every direction. For some it was no surprise – just the inevitable end of a long slide toward anti-biblical and anti-Christian values in America. For others it was the last nail in the coffin that will surely bring down the wrath of God on this nation. For still others it was a step in the right direction for tolerance in America moving us toward a “just America” where everyone is equal in the eyes of the law.

I guess I will share my thoughts now to add to your own. First of all, God was not taken by surprise when the edict from the Supreme Court was announced. In fact, very few of us were surprised. We had hoped for another outcome but did not have a great deal of expectation. A large majority of states has already legalized same-sex marriage and the number of homosexual couples in America did not suddenly spike because of the ruling. Those individuals were already living the lifestyle and won’t be anymore displeasing to the Lord today than they were a week ago. In addition, all of the heterosexuals in America who are cohabiting or secretly sleeping with someone else’s spouse or abusing their children won’t be any more displeasing to the Lord than they were a week ago.

I’m not saying the decision doesn’t matter. It does. Leadership matters. The White House or now “the Rainbow House” has not only tolerated the homosexual agenda but has now elevated it to a celebrated lifestyle. This, however, is just one more example of a nation’s leaders labeling those things that are good as being evil and those things that are evil as being good. My biggest concern is that this public declaration by the Supreme Court will convey the idea to our children and teens that homosexuality is now a moral lifestyle because it is protected by law. Remember, however, that at one time, slavery was protected by law. A nation’s law may say something is good or acceptable, but does not make it so.

I am also convinced that since our leaders continue to align themselves with Satan, they have opened the doors to even more demonic activity in America than we have seen before. We will be seeing a spike in the “spiritual warfare meter” over America. The mainstream media will be complicit with this agenda and will celebrate and continue to normalize same-sex marriage so that our children will grow up believing that it has always been part of the fabric of American culture – along with the sexual immorality, violence, and “real housewives” behavior that they see hourly now.

In the midst of this, what is our response? We live for Jesus. Our King is still on his throne and has not compromised. We have dual citizenship as Americans and as citizens of heaven but our citizenship in heaven must always have our greatest loyalty. As the light of the world, His church should shine even brighter in this darkness. Our values do not change even as culture ebbs and flows. Our assignment is still the same – make disciples of all nations beginning now with America. Will there be persecution in America? Probably. Christians who stand on the Word of God will be labeled as intolerant bigots and those who demand tolerance will attempt to crush those who don’t agree with them. But that is already happening.

Undoubtedly we will begin to feel some of the heat that our fellow believers in the rest of the world have felt for decades. Believers in America will have to decide whether they will stand with Jesus or bend to the culture trying to seek acceptance. Is all lost? Not at all. The church survived the brutality of Rome and built churches on the ruins of that nation that tried to stamp out the faith. The church is thriving in China while government bulldozers level church buildings and drag pastors off for interrogation and re-education. House churches are springing to life in Muslim nations where there are severe penalties for being a Christian. The church will prevail. The only question is whether we will be faithful or not.

Is it too late for America? That probably depends on the church. God would have spared Sodom for the sake of ten righteous men. There were many times that Israel seemed doomed to be erased in the dust of history but God would raise up a righteous leader, the people would repent, and Israel would prosper in peace again for a generation or two.

No doubt the Supreme Court decision is another wake up call. Judgment may come on the nation but God’s judgment always has a redemptive purpose and he will be with his people in the midst of that judgment if it comes. The church can roll over and let culture have its way or the church can rise up in prayer, holiness, love, and disciple-making and exalt the name of Jesus in this nation once again. Paul reminded the church at Corinth that many of them had been in bondage to sin as adulterers, drunks, homosexuals, swindlers, and so forth ( 1 Cor.6) but that they had been redeemed and transformed. Our culture is not beyond the reach of God and his power to save.

If you have seen the Apollo 13 movie with Tom Hanks, there is a scene in Mission Control where some are beginning to talk about the disaster that the probable loss of the spacecraft and crew will be for NASA. Everything was against them. A multitude of unknown variables probably did mark the flight for disaster. At the moment everyone else was despairing, however, Gene Krantz, the flight director played by Ed Harris, stands and says, “I believe this is going to be our finest hour.” A few minutes later the Apollo 13 capsule landed softly in the ocean and the crew was retrieved shaken but unscathed. I believe this too can be the church’s finest hour in America if we will stand.

Jim (not his real name) was, at one time, a well-known church leader in our area who ministered  to homosexuals in our area because he was once heavily involved in “the life” himself. God had delivered him. Jim had what seems to be a standard story for men who have fallen into homosexuality. As a young boy, he was molested by an older man and as a result developed profound confusion and shame about his own masculinity and his own sexuality. He began with homosexual experiences in high school. Those accelerated in college. Jim was a Christian who attended church and served faithfully in his church. He had a leadership gift so he was expected to marry, have kids, and succeed in life. He did just that but; in addition, he had a secret life and a secret struggle in which he was not succeeding. After being married for a number of years he gave into his secret, abandoned his family, set his faith aside,  and embraced an openly homosexual lifestyle. However, his family and friends did not give up on him and neither did the Lord.

After two years of living out his homosexual yearnings he repented, returned to his faith and family, confessed everything to his church, and began to walk in sexual purity as the Lord gave him strength. If you ask Jim, it took the Lord, his family, and his church to overcome his homosexuality.

First, through serious Bible study he was convinced that homosexuality is sin regardless of what the homosexual lobby declares. His openness finally took his sin out of the dark and brought it into the light so others could pray and help. His wife, who had continued to pray for him after he left her and his children, forgave him and took him back knowing that the road ahead would not be easy.

Jim will tell you that what he needed most was absolute truth and absolute love in his life and men who showed him how to have godly friendships with other men without sexual overtones. Jim told a group of pastors one time that when he was young he really didn’t understand what it meant to be a man. He said the world of men fascinated him but he just couldn’t  crack the code for entry into that world.

By nature, Jim was sensitive and artistic but didn’t find many masculine models for men with those traits. After being molested, his confusion was even greater. However, when he returned to his church and family, the men in his congregation affirmed his masculinity and began to introduce him to other parts of the masculine world that were foreign to him such as sports, hunting, fishing, etc. They made Jim part of the group, extended healthy hugs, let him ask questions without embarrassment and, in essence, let his latent masculinity develop at his own pace.

Over time, the old man diminished and the new man flourished. His yearnings for sexual encounters with men went away and he learned to enjoy a sexual relationship with his wife. He is still serving the Lord today but his “old identity” no longer defines him. Jim is a man who was set free by love, the work of the Holy Spirit over time, and learning what it meant to be a godly man through friendships with other godly men. Jim never experienced any kind of demonic deliverance but still found freedom through openness and a committed church and family.

Jim believes that, in addition to the molestation he experienced as a young man, he also had a genetic predisposition toward homosexuality. We need to be clear that God does not make us with that predisposition, rather when we live in a fallen world many things are broken and damaged as well as our genetics. Because I have a predisposition to something at birth does not make it God’s will for me  to give into those predispositions. I was born with a predisposition toward lust, lying, selfishness, and laziness. As I got older, those intensified because of my fallen nature until I submitted those sins to the cross and the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, we are called to overcome those predispositions by the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s divine weapons. If something is called sin in the Bible then God provides a way out. It may be a truth encounter, a deliverance session, a spiritual family who prays for us and models healthy gender roles, or even the supernatural healing of damaged genes.   In the meantime, God calls us to resist those temptations with his strength until we find freedom from those obsessive promptings.   As a heterosexual, I am called to live a celibate life if single or a faithful life if married. I am called to tell the truth when it seems easier to lie and to avoid drunkenness when I want to medicate some disappointment in my life. I am called to submit rather than demanding my way and to forgive those I would rather reject.  Homosexual leanings fall into the same category.

A person can have homosexual leanings or temptations, not give into them, and still be pleasing to the Lord just as a heterosexual  can have strong desires for someone to whom he or she is not married,  not give into the impulses,  and still be pleasing to God. If any temptation has become an uncontrollable obsession then the believer has fallen into some form of bondage and deliverance is probably in order.  But with every temptation the Lord provides a door of escape. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Cor.10:13).  We can find that door  if we sincerely seek it.

Homosexuality is not a new sin that has taken God by surprise. In our generation, the church must be clear that it is sin while at the same time creating an atmosphere where this sin can be confessed like all other sins and God’s remedies applied. I’m sure there are issues I have not spoken to related to homosexuality but, perhaps, some of the stories I have shared will be helpful to some. Be blessed.

Randy was in his 30’s and had been struggling with homosexuality off and on since high school. In the past three years his desires toward men had been obsessive. He was married with children but had been arranging clandestine meetings with men he met online and his shame and feelings of helplessness had become overwhelming. In my last blog I talked about his encounter with Jesus that had opened the door for hope again and the realization that he was still loved by his Heavenly Father.

After Randy had felt the arms of Jesus around him, his determination to resist the powerful temptations toward homosexual encounters was renewed. But the battle seemed constant and inevitably unwinnable. I began to speak to him about spiritual realities and spiritual warfare since Paul clearly states that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms (Eph.6:12). Randy had not heard much about that side of our faith in the denomination in which he had grown up yet his “supernatural” encounter with Jesus had opened him up to new possibilities.

One of Satan’s most destructive strategies is to assign demonic spirits to whisper thoughts that we experience as temptations and then to convince us that those thoughts are our own and that those thoughts define us. That was certainly true with Randy. I began to encourage him not to receive those thoughts as his own but as temptations or whispers from the enemy. His response should be to treat the thought as one being whispered by a spirit and to command the spirit to leave him in the name and authority of Jesus. That seemed a bit “out there” to Randy but he began to verbally command tempting spirits to leave him and the obsessive and oppressive nature of the temptations began to decrease but the voice was still a constant companion.

At that point I began to suggest deliverance from spirits of sexual perversion and homosexuality that were not just passing by but that had attached themselves to him. That thought was a profound jump for him and one he wasn’t immediately willing to receive.   However, he was determined to overcome this issue that had defined his life for years and so one day Randy, out of fear that he would eventually regress, consented.

And so, one afternoon in my office, a member of our congregation named James Morris, who had a great deal of experience in deliverance, and I prayed with Randy. We had him not only confess his sins but renounce them as well and forgive the man who had molested him years earlier. Then in the name and authority of Jesus, we began to command these spirits to release their hold on him and to leave him immediately. For the first few minutes we saw little happen but then Randy began to cough and gag. As we pressed in, Randy left his chair, hit the floor and began to crawl around with the spirits shouting, “No!” each time we commanded them to stop afflicting Randy and to leave. After a half hour of resisting, these spirits departed. Randy was absolutely sure that something had left him and although he was exhausted he was also at peace. James and I prayed for God to fill Randy with his Spirit, to grant him sexual holiness, and to restore his masculine soul. We told him to treat any further temptations as a spirit and to command them to leave.

Randy left my office that day and told me three months later that his love for his wife and sexual desires for her had returned. He was serving in his church again. Temptations from his past arose from time to time but without the power they once possessed. Randy wasn’t just managing his homosexual impulses but was free from them. The last I heard from Randy was about three years after his deliverance and he was still walking in freedom. I believe a demonic spirit had entered John through the molestation he had experienced as a child and as his confusion grew about his own masculinity and sexuality other spirits joined the first to create the shame and compulsions that ruled Randy for years. As the song declares, “There is power in the name of Jesus.”

Is every person involved in homosexuality ruled by demonic spirits? Probably not, but I believe many are and could be set free just as Randy was. I also know a young woman who was content to be single, serve the Lord, and live the busy life of a social worker. One day she met an older woman and developed a friendship with her but the friendship soon developed into a lesbian relationship with the two living together. That went on for a year with her concerned family praying for her each day. One day she simply walked away from the relationship and later said that she could pinpoint the moment when a spirit entered her and she could pinpoint the day it left. When it left, so did her desires for any sexual encounters with women. Again, a strong spirit had been at play in this woman’s life. Jesus has an answer for that.

In my next blog, we’ll talk about genetic propensities toward homosexuality and how some believers have dealt with that issue in their own lives. Blessings in Him.

Homosexuality is not monolithic. There are various roads and causes that lead to people defining themselves as “gay” and giving in to the impulses and lifestyle. In my last blog, I talked about Mark who had mistaken friendship for homosexuality. In this blog we will look at another path.

Randy (not his actual name) came into my office several years ago. He was in his thirties, a professional in his community, and had driven a considerable distance to see me at the recommendation of a woman who lived in his town with whom I had worked several months earlier. John was raised in a conservative Christian denomination which he still attended. He was married with small children and worked in a profession that made him a very public figure. John came in and after a bit of chitchat about where he grew up and what he did for a living, he collapsed into his chair and announced that my office was his last stop.

Obviously, that phrase got my attention because it could have meant any number of things. Randy then began to tell me his story. He was raised in a good Christian home but when he was seven or eight years old a family friend had molested him. That experience filled him with confusion and shame and created a secret in his life that became a place where the enemy could work freely and without hindrance as he does in all the secret places of our lives. Randy had begun to have some homosexual experiences in high school but pushed back against the impulses. He continued to feel the contradictions in his life but married in college and had children. His wife was totally unaware of his secret struggle.

Randy told me that there were seasons in his life when he was able to manage his homosexual impulses but there were seasons when his impulses managed him. He was in one of those seasons and was obviously filled with shame as he told me about the secret liaisons he had been having with men he met online. He felt alienated from his wife, who was a great wife and mother, but for whom he felt no attraction. He believed that God hated him and that there was no way back but hoped that I could say something that would change his mind. Randy told me that if I could not give him hope about his situation he was going to leave his wife, his children, his job, his town, and his faith and fully embrace “the lifestyle” because he could no longer battle the impulses.

Randy’s first great obstacle to healing and freedom was his belief that God hated him, was repulsed by him, and would no longer have anything to do with him. After all, he had prayed “a million times” for God to take away the feelings he had for other men but those feelings had persisted. His conclusion was that God no longer heard his prayers because he was so disgusted by Randy and his secret life.

I asked Randy if he had ever heard God speak to him. He said that he believed God had spoken to him clearly once or twice in his life as he grew up and made career decisions. I asked if he were willing to let God speak to him now about his situation. He was reluctant but desperate so he agreed. We closed our eyes and I simply asked Jesus to speak to Randy and tell him how he felt about him. Within seconds, Randy began to weep and sob almost uncontrollably.

After a minute or two, I asked him what Jesus had said to him. Randy replied, “ He didn’t say anything…but I literally felt his arms around me and I know he still loves me. He’s not done with me.” That was the first necessary breakthrough for Randy because that supernatural moment with Jesus restored his hope that life might be manageable again.

The enemy loves to prompt us to sin, fill us with shame about our sin, and then whisper that God has turned his back on us because of our perversion. It usually takes more than quoting John 3:16 to overcome these lies of the enemy. It usually takes a personal experience with God to give us hope again and demonstrate that God is still there for us. Randy received that experience that afternoon in my office and it made everything else possible.

More about Randy and his victory over  a spirit in my next blog.

I honestly can’t remember what I have written about this subject in my blog before this morning, but I feel as if the Lord wanted me to speak into this issue again. The issue is homosexuality. Who would have ever thought 50 years ago that our culture and many churches would have embraced this lifestyle, framed it as a civil right, and declared it to be good or natural? I want to say from the outset that I have no personal axe to grind with those who struggle with homosexuality. Some of the most talented and likeable people I have known struggle with this issue. However, the “rightness” or “goodness” of an issue cannot be determined by how nice or talented the person is who practices the sin. There are also many talented and likeable adulterers in our culture as well as pedophiles, drug dealers, embezzlers, gossips, liars, and child abusers.

The standard that establishes whether or not a behavior is a sin is the Word of God and if we are to be faithful followers of Jesus we cannot disregard that Word regardless of our cultural standards or even our personal feelings.   There was a time when slavery was the cultural standard but thankfully the church did not give into or embrace that standard forever. What if homosexuality is a kind of spiritual slavery? If we give in to the cultural norm then no one gets set free.

Without quoting all the scriptures that clearly define homosexuality as a sin I will just site a few references here for you to pursue if you are not already clear about the biblical standard – Gen. 19:4-7, Lev.18:22, I Cor. 6:9, Rom.1:26-27. By the way, Paul did not write his letters in an era uninformed about homosexuality. He wrote his letters in the midst of a culture in which homosexuality was widely practiced and accepted by the ruling and the “educated” classes of Rome.

I have not had extensive experience ministering to those struggling with homosexuality but I have had some experiences that may be representative and may be helpful to someone reading this blog. These stories will require a couple of blogs so I hope you will be patient. Let’s begin with a young man I will call Mark. Mark walked into my office one day as the young adult son of church members where I served as an associate pastor at one time. Mark had just graduated from a Christian college and was still trying to figure out life. He came in, dropped into a chair, and got right to the point. He asked, “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?” I took him to several passages in both the Old and New Testament and read those to him. He sat there devastated and explained that we was a practicing homosexual and a Christian but had trusted his friends who had told him that scripture, especially the New Testament, had nothing whatsoever to say about homosexuality.

I asked Mark to tell me his story. He had gone off to college and was assigned a dorm room with a new friend named Ron. He said that they hit it off immediately and soon became close friends. After a year as dorm mates they were so connected as friends that they moved off campus and shared an apartment together. At some point they felt so emotionally connected that they couldn’t imagine life without that relationship.

Mark told me that eventually they came to accept that they must be “gay” to have those kinds of feelings for one another and then just gave into the lifestyle and the urgings of other “gay friends” they had met. I asked Mark if he had been sexually attracted to Ron before they discovered their “homosexual selves?” He said, “Of course not. But once we understood who we were, we started being sexual with one another because that’s what you do.”

Mark and I visited for another half hour. We talked about David and Jonathan whose “souls were knit together” as best friends without being homosexual. We talked about Jesus and the apostle John who seemed to have a very deep connection. I explained to Mark that we can enter into deep, same-sex friendships that are just that – friendships – and the relationship can still be godly. Here’s the problem: Our culture is so broken that we can’t separate love from sex so when people discover a deep emotional connection with one another (as brothers and sisters might experience), our culture imposes a perverse sexual template on that relationship rather than letting it stand as a deep friendship. Solomon himself said, “There is a friend who is closer than a brother” and he was without question a blatant heterosexual. Satan loves to take what is holy and distort it into something perverse. He has done that with friendships. Mark was struck with the possibility that he was not, in fact, homosexual by nature and left my office in an almost dazed state. I didn’t see him again for a long time.

Two years later, I was sitting alone in the LAX airport waiting for a connecting flight and Mark walked up to me out of the crowd with an attractive young lady next to him. He introduced me to his wife who “knew his story” and although they were working on some issues they were doing fine. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” In Marks’s case, he had been deceived into believing he was homosexual by nature but the truth released him to live out his life as God intended. I’m convinced that others are in bondage for the same reasons. God created us to have deep same-sex friendships without sex and without sin and those deep feelings of friendship do not make us homosexual.

In my next blog, I will tell you how being set free from a spirit of homosexuality released two people I know personally from a lifestyle of homosexuality. Be blessed in Him.

As we continue our walk through Luke 11 and the sorrows Jesus pronounced over the Pharisees we need to continue to check our own hearts to see where we stand with the Lord in these areas of faith.

The Second Woe

“Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces  (Luke 11:43).

Again, we need to remember that when Jesus said “Woe” he wasn’t pronouncing a curse but more of a warning for impending sorrow and even destruction if their hearts were not realigned with the Father’s heart.  The diagnosis given by the great physician here was that these men who presumably loved God, loved the admiration of men even more.  Jesus spoke to that issue on numerous occasions.

Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets (Luke 20:46).  Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ (Mt.23:5-7).

In the Kingdom of God motives matter.  These religious leaders were more motivated by the praise of men than the praise of God.  It’s not that they weren’t doing good things.  They were certainly solid citizens who lived moral lives and frequented the synagogues and temple on every occasion.  More than likely they gave generously to the temple and even gave alms to the poor. But Jesus nailed them on their motives for doing good things – “Everything they do is done for men to see.”

The Achilles heal of these religious leaders was that they wanted to fit in.  They wanted to be well thought of.  They wanted status and standing and invitations to the best events.  In a sense, they assumed that if they were pleasing to men and if they were given the most honored seats at the table then they must be pleasing to God as well. Without knowing it, they gravitated to the desires of the flesh and in doing so became insensitive to God’s leading.  Ultimately, their desire for the praise of those closest around them eventually moved them into a compromised position with the culture at large.  In order to maintain their standing among men – which included fine houses, fine clothes, and invitations to state events – they became politically correct in their proclamations and even in their theological positions.

Undoubtedly they justified their compromise with the thought that they had to meet the Romans halfway in order to stay in their leadership roles and they could only protect the faith and the faithful by continuing in their positions as leaders. They could only cash in on their political and business connections for the “sake of the church” if they continued to move in those favored and powerful circles.  In the end, they crucified Jesus for those very reasons.

Jesus is clear that man cannot serve two masters.  We cannot be friends with the world and friends with God. There will be many times when we can’t please both men and God – we will have to choose and the choice is the thing. John tells us that, “among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:  For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (Jn.12:42-43).

In our own hearts it is easy to slip into compromise with the world for the sake of getting along and even for the sake of maintaining relationships. Jesus does not ask us to go around picking fights with everyone and everything that doesn’t line up with the Bible. What he does ask is that in our own hearts we make the decision that when forced to choose, we will always choose Jesus and be obedient to him even when that choice will cost us favor at work, potentially damage friendship, or even a end a romantic relationship if you are single.

We have entered an era in America when Biblical Christianity is not popular or acceptable in many circles…even among many who claim to follow Christ.  In our culture, declaring that Jesus is the only way to heaven rather than one of many ways will place you in the camp of the intolerant.  To stand in a classroom and make a case for creationism will place you in the camp of the ignorant. To take a stand against abortion will cast you in the role of the oppressor trying to take away the sacred rights of women.  To speak out against homosexuality will define you as an opponent of civil rights and since you oppose civil rights you must also be a racist.  In the face of cultural condemnation we will, like numerous politicians, be tempted to compromise or water down our statements to avoid offense.  We will be tempted to speak in generalities and talk around clear biblical truth.

At each of those moments we will simply have to make a decision – will we seek the praise of men or the praise of God?  If you want the grace and the power of God to flow through you then check the biblical record.  God worked in powerful ways for and through those men and women who would not compromise with the world or bow the knee to the idols that kings had commanded them to worship.  Moses, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Daniel, the prophets, and the apostles were all politically incorrect and inevitably placed themselves at odds with the culture they were trying to win for the Lord. But consider what God did through them.  They turned the world upside down.

We must all check our hearts from time to time to see whose approval we truly desire the most.  When we fail to speak to someone about Jesus, fail to pray for the blind woman in Starbucks, fail to seek our prayer language because our family might think it is weird, or fail to speak out against sin in our culture…it is simply because we fear man rather than God or want man’s approval more than the approval of our King.  We have all given into the impulse and we all have to guard against it for “woe” to us when we do things primarily to be seen and accepted by men.  When I know I have given into that fear then repentance is the key.  Recommit to live without compromise and ask God for the boldness to live with him as the audience we care about.

Father, give me a heart that desires to please only you and the boldness to act on that desire.   In Jesus name.   Amen

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.(Ps.1:1-3)

This is a familiar psalm but I was just taught something that made it even more meaningful.  Of course the progression of walking, standing, and sitting is important. As we open our ears to the wicked we often are drawn to their point-of-view or their worldview. I’ll just define wickedness as anything contrary or opposed to the will of God.  The “wicked” are those who live contrary to God’s will and in opposition to his truth.

Think about our current culture and the power of media. When we lend our ear or our sight to the values supported by most of the media we run the risk of being drawn into the world’s value system and seeing life through the distorted lens of culture. How many of us have watched so many television dramas or situation comedies that we have experienced the “normalization” of things we once found shocking, offensive, or troubling?  There was a time when television would not even depict a husband and wife as sleeping in the same bed. I think that’s extreme but the sensitivities of the culture pushed back against anything sexually suggestive in primetime.

Now, however, adultery or every kind of sex outside of marriage is so commonplace on television and in the movies that were are no longer offended when we see it.  It has become so much a part of the landscape that we have begun to view it as normal and once we view something as normal we are tempted to consider it acceptable – not just on the T.V. screen but also in the lives of people we know and maybe even in our own lives.

Homosexuality was once considered so perverse that it was not even talked about in public settings.  Then it became a tagline in jokes that people laughed about.  Then television began to depict homosexuality and lesbianism in “cutting edge” dramas.  Then comedies began to include a cute, funny individual who was gay but very likeable and harmless.  Now gays are depicted as heroic for “coming out.”  The value that homosexuality is not only acceptable but laudable has found it’s way into our culture and if we entertain that message long enough we will find reasons to agree with the culture and reject God’s word.

I am not “gay bashing” here because we all struggle with brokenness in our own lives, but I am illustrating how once we begin to walk (or listen to) those who maintain values opposed to God’s truth, it is only a matter of time before our values are compromised.  At first we walk and then we stand and talk and then we take our place with them.  After all, we think that so many people agree with them and it all seems kind of normal now anyway. The church has certainly fallen into that pattern over the past fifty years or so.  Few of us can deny that in these past decades the church has not shaped the culture but culture has shaped the church – at least in America.

But God says “blessed” is the man who avoids that steady, inch-by-inch compromise. Instead, the man God praises is the one who spends his time in the Word of God rather than being glued to his favorite television series. He praises the man who exchanges ABC for NIV or ESV or KJV (for the more traditional).  Lot, the nephew of Abraham is an interesting study in this.  At first he spent all of his time with Abraham but when the flocks became so large that the pastureland in one place couldn’t sustain them they separated.  We are told that Lot chose a well-watered area in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah.  But later we find him living in the city and sitting in the city gates as an official of Sodom even though he was apparently troubled by the immorality there.  Eventually his comfort level with wickedness cost him everything but his life.  My guess is that his wife’s desires had something to do with that move but my guess is also that his wealth caused the leaders of Sodom to reach out to him.  Flattered by their attention, he may have made concessions for their behavior.  Although he didn’t participate he also sat in silence.  How many believers have compromised their values in the business sector, entertainment, or in politics to be “part” of the inner circle?  At first the association is occasional but then instead of walking by we stop to chat and then we find ourselves sitting with those who oppose God.

The key is the verse that emphasizes a lifestyle that dwells on the Word of God.  He doesn’t just read the scriptures but meditates on them – chews on them, processes them, and internalizes their truth.  He does so night and day, not just on occasion or not just for five minutes a day in a devotional read.  He sets his course by God’s word.  He walks according to that word rather than walking with those who oppose it.  The prophet asked the question, “How can two walk together unless they are agreed”(Amos 3:3)? When we walk with someone it suggests agreement with him. We can walk with the world or walk with the Word. Most of us assume that we can walk with both but scripture warns against being double-minded.

This man is like a tree planted by waters that grows strong and bears fruit.  What I learned today was that the most likely tree this refers to is the acacia tree found in the wilderness of Israel.  These trees will be found along a wadi – a dry streambed or ravine that sees water only when it rains from time to time.  These trees grow slowly and live for hundreds of years.  They put roots deep into the soil in the riverbed where water will flow in due time and when that time comes, the roots suck up every drop of water they can.  It’s as if the tree hungers for water as the man of Psalm 1 hungers for God’s Word.

When we read this psalm we probably think of great trees in forests perched along deep rivers that run throughout the year.  If you lived in the desert where Moses wandered and where David hid from Saul, you would think of acacias. This was the tree from which the Ark of the Covenant was made – hard wood overlaid with gold. A friend of ours, who is part of our weekly small group, informed us that Mesquite trees in our part of the world are members of the acacia family.  They really have two kinds of roots. They send out long shallow roots all around that suck up any moisture as soon as it hits the ground but those roots feed a taproot that goes down fifty or sixty feed looking for underground water and anchoring the trees to stand in the face of storms.

The man God applauds sends out roots that soak up God’s truth wherever he finds it and the Word he absorbs anchors him with a taproot of faith that goes deep in the ground. Those trees are a great benefit to those who find them.  They provide shade from the desert heat.  The Bedouins boil the sap and make medicines and ointments from this tree.  Camels feast on the leaves and dried branches provide a hot fire for cooking or staving off the cold of a desert night. Those who mediate on the Law of the Lord day at night are blessed by God and, in turn, bless those around them as well.

Each day is a question of who we will walk with – those who don’t know God and whose values and beliefs stand opposed to God’s word or God himself, soaking up all that his Word and his Spirit have to tells us.    Be blessed today.  Choose less of the world and much more of God.  I’ll join you.

Lies are a great strategy of the enemy to take us out of the game.  It’s simple.  If you hear a lie often enough you come to believe that it is true.  Once you believe that it is true, you will act in ways that seem to confirm the truth of the lie you have believed. Satan is a master at orchestrating such deceptions.

Let me give you a simple illustration.  A young woman is brought up in a home where she experiences a great deal of criticism and rejection.  On occasion she is told that she is worthless and that no one will ever want her.  She stores that lie up in her heart and comes to believe that she is unworthy of love and friendship.  She comes to believe that if anyone ever truly got to know her they would reject her. To avoid inevitable rejection she avoids relationships.   On the first day of school she arrives early and sits in the back where she won’t have to risk much interaction with others students who she believes will reject her just as her parents said. When students come in, she avoids eye contact and appears sullen. If they speak to her she makes little response. Her body language announces that she is not interested in striking up a conversation and so the new students honor her non-verbal sign that cries “Stay Away.”  At the end of the day no one has spoken to her and in some classes no one even sat next to her.  She leaves that day with her belief that she is unlovable and unworthy of friendship reinforced.  The lie she believed about her lack of worth and significance produced behaviors that reinforced the belief.  All she had to do was smile and be friendly to have a totally different experience.

Some lies are planted in our homes behind closed doors while others are planted by our culture through the media and our education system. Several years ago I had a young man whom I had never met come into my office.  I’ll call him Todd (not his name). He was the grown son of some members of the church where I was serving.  He introduced himself and quickly and got to the point.  He simply and bluntly asked me what the Bible had to say about homosexuality.  I read several passages to him from both the Old and New Testaments that clearly stated that a homosexual lifestyle was sin.  He looked devastated as I finished reading the passages.  I asked him why he came in.  He told me his story.  When he was eighteen he went off to college and shared a dorm room with another young man he had never met.  However, they soon became close friends and in their sophomore year left the dorm and shared an apartment.  Todd then told me how emotionally attached they became to one.  It was then than both of them gave into their feelings and began a homosexual relationship.  He felt a great deal of shame about it but couldn’t bring himself to break off the relationship.

As we visited, I asked him if he and his friend had been sexually attracted to one another in the early stages of the relationship.  Todd seemed to be shocked that I had even asked the question.  His answer was revealing.  “No! The thought of it was repulsive but because we felt so strongly about one another we knew we must be gay and so the sex just naturally followed.”  We continued to talk about the possibility that men and women could have deep friendships and emotional bonding without a sexual component to the relationship.  Scripture says that David and Jonathan had such a deep emotional bond that their “souls were knot together.”  Solomon said. “There is a friend who is closer than a brother.”  There is no suggestion that there was any sexual component to these friendships.  They were just best friends.

The cultural lie that Todd had bought into was that love and sex are equivalent.  Somehow we have lost the ability to separate the two – even among friends.  Fifty years ago boys had best friends with whom they shared their deepest fears and greatest hopes. Young girls did the same and even walked around in public places holding hands.  There was nothing sexual about the relationships.  The all grew up, got married, raised children and continued to stay in touch with best friends.  Now the lie is that if you feel emotionally drawn to anyone of the same sex you by definition are gay.  If you are gay then the relationship must become sexual.  That is simply a lie and our media and education system reinforce the lie.

We speak of homosexuality as if it is another gender – male / female / homosexual.  God did not create that category.  He simply made them male and female. I’m not saying that all homosexual relationships are friendships distorted by deception. There are other factors as work in many of those relationships. But I know many are deep friendships that have been redefined and distorted by our culture. Deep same-sex friendships without lust are very biblical and healthy.  Our cultural preoccupation with sex has all but stolen these godly friendships from us.  Those who are caught up in the gay lifestyle are afraid to walk away from it because they fear they are doomed to never have love in their lives.  But love and deep friendship can exist without lust and sex.  Deep emotional connection can occur between friends just as it can with family members.  This cultural lie has cost us on many fronts

Todd was astonished to discover that his relationship with his partner could have remained a “best friends” relationship without sex and without shame.  In that moment he realized that perhaps he wasn’t born with a genetic mandate to be gay. He thanked me for my time and walked out the door.  Two years later I was sitting alone at an airport in L.A. waiting on a connecting flight.  Out of the crowd Todd walked up to me with a young lady next to him.  He introduced me to his wife.  He said she knew everything about his past and that he still had some struggles related to his past  but they were working through all that.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” If truth sets us free then lies keep us in bondage.  Satan is the master of lies so we must be masters of truth. Scripture is our foundation and if anything is true, then it is God’s truth – whether it comes by scientific discovery or revelation.  It is all God’s truth and will not contradict God’s word.  Whether a lie is planted in our hearts by hurtful families or by cultural propaganda, it blinds us to who we are in Christ and the destiny and glory he has for each of us.  Paul told Timothy not to lay hands on any man quickly.  He meant that Timothy should not be too quick to give authority to a man he had not proven.  The same is true for cultural beliefs and assertions. Don’t be too quick to agree just because you keep hearing it stated over and over.  Weigh it against God’s word.  Do your homework.  Know the truth because knowing it will keep you free.  Be blessed today in God’s truth.