It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.  (Hebrews 6:4-6)

I believe in positive preaching that, like prophecy, is designed to strengthen, comfort and encourage.  But there is also a time to issue warnings to the body of Christ.  Hebrews is a letter both of encouragement and warning.  To set the context, 30-40 years have passed since the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Persecutions had broken out throughout the Roman Empire.   Several decades had passed and Jesus had not yet returned. Pressure from Jewish friends and families who still kept the Law of Moses was probably applied daily to abandon this “Jesus sect” and return to the Law.  

In the context of those things, there were some believing Jews who were beginning to fall away from the church and drift back to the Law of Moses and the temple services in Jerusalem. Something in us tends to want something more tangible, more concrete, more about us than faith sometimes offer.  These believers were beginning to drift away from the truth that we are saved by grace though faith in Jesus and by no works of our own.  They liked a temple they could touch and smell, sacrifices and “good works” that seemed to put them in control of their relationship with God, and a priesthood that could be religious for them.  Although, the law enslaved men, they wanted to go back to the Law like some in the days of Moses had wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt.

In the face of that “falling away,” the writer of Hebrews penned the warning above. There are only a few things in the New Testament that are deemed impossible, but this letter lists one of those.  The writer says that when a person has been enlightened (when they have been taught the truth); when they have tasted the goodness of God and his salvation and experienced the Holy Spirit and his power…if they fall away…it is impossible for that person to be brought back to repentance.

I don’t believe that the writer is telling us that God won’t receive us again, if we repent.  I believe the warning is that our hearts can become so hardened and so indifferent to the prompting of the Spirit, that there is a point beyond which we will not and cannot repent under any condition.  This letter warns us that we can cross a point of no return in our faith.  It may not be a moment we are aware of.  We may not recognize hoe hardened or indifferent our heart has become after we have quenched and grieved the Spirit for so long.  Many will take up an offense toward God because something in their life did not go as they planned or because some prayer went unanswered.  That offense turns to bitterness and the bitterness to unbelief.  They write God out of their lives like an old boyfriend or girlfriend who was unfaithful. You write them out and then after a few years you simply don’t think about them anymore. 

The apostle Paul revealed a prophecy for the end times in his first letter to Timothy.   He said, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (I Tim. 4:1-2).

In these last days, we are seeing many believers fall away from the faith.  They are rejecting the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way to heaven.  They are embracing compromise in the name of tolerance and calling things good that God calls an abomination (abortion, homosexuality, transsexuality, etc.). They are abandoning the local church to stay home and be Christians as if they can separate the head from the body without consequence.  How many of us live out a casual Christianity that shows up or serves only when it is very convenient?  How many of us trade on God’s grace by participating in sin year after year without repentance, believing that God will excuse our indifference to holiness? If we are honest, how many of us have slipped into a mindset that we will still get to heaven because we are better than most people?  How many of us can truly point to the evidence that Jesus is Lord of our lives as well as Savior?

The warning in Hebrews is that we can be drawn away by false prophets who preach a partial truth or even by prophets of culture.  We can forsake our spiritual family by becoming a faithful member of the “electronic church.” We can easily become casual about Jesus and his holiness.  And we can come to a place we don’t recognize, but at which point, our hearts will no longer respond to God again.  All the time, Satan will be whispering that we are in no danger.

The warning is intended to make us wise so that we keep guardrails up around our faith.  The guardrails are staying in the Word, staying connected to spiritual family, staying accountable to other faithful believers, putting ourselves in positions to hear the truth that most often will be counter-cultural, and practicing confession and repentance so that we maintain a concern about our holiness and invite the Spirit to constantly do his work in us.

We live in dangerous times…especially, in the spiritual realm.  The spiritual roads are slippery, dark, and tricky. Don’t be casual, don’t be a compromiser in the name of tolerance, and don’t disconnect from spiritual family.  When you find yourself being apathetic about Jesus, do something about it.  When you know you have sin in your life, acknowledge it, repent of it, confess it. Never allow yourself to even get close to crossing the point of no return.

I’m currently involved in a study of Genesis.  The first nine chapters have turned out to be fairly controversial as nearly every writer and commentator tries to make the narrative of Genesis align with current scientific views of the beginning of the universe and the beginning of life on planet earth.  There are a number of ingenious efforts to do so…the gap theory, theistic evolution, progressive creationism, etc.  All of these are ways to try to adjust what seems to be the natural reading of Genesis to the age of the universe and earth as projected by many contemporary scientists and to find a place where evolutionary theory can also fit into the Genesis account.  Some of these attempts have some merit and are possible interpretations of Genesis, as scholars study possible meanings of Hebrew words, etc.   But many of these attempts seem to be a result of giving science more authority or, at least, the same authority as scripture.

The question arises…what if you cannot marry current scientific views with the Genesis account in any satisfactory way?  Do you choose science over scripture or do you keep insisting that science find other explanations for their observations and theories until they can match the Genesis narrative in satisfactory ways. By the way, there are a number of high caliber PH.D’s out there who do hold to the natural reading of Genesis. They assign dating miscalculations to results of a world-wide flood and point to many geological and paleontological observations that don’t fit the evolutionary model.

I really don’t want to try to evaluate all the views that arise from the first few chapters of Genesis, but I do want to point out the danger of letting culture have so much influence over us that we begin to choose the current views of intellectuals and influencers over scripture.  When it comes to faith, it is imperative that we constantly align our thoughts with God’s thoughts.  It is imperative that we give God’s word more authority than the words of men.  Does that mean that natural science, history, archaeology, and so forth cannot inform our understanding of scripture? Of course not.  But we dare not begin to ignore scripture that conflicts with those views or do violence to a text in order to make it fit the “current scientific view.”

I keep saying “current view,” because science is always changing, while the word of God is eternal.  If you scan the New Testament, you will find dozens of scripture warning, us to be directed by heavenly wisdom, rather than the wisdom of the world.  You know the old propaganda adage that says if a lie is told often enough and with enough conviction, people will begin to believe it is true.  What we see in our culture, in our schools, and in the media is a steady promotion of anti-biblical views and values designed to desensitize us and indirectly make us believe that a cultural stance is true because we see it and hear it all the time.

In our culture, theories are regularly presented as proven facts, as if, no one with any intelligence even questions what is being presented.  Many are “following the science” because it lends credibility to their narrative, rather than because it is true.  Evil is called good and good is called evil so often that we begin to wonder if we have misread our Bibles.  If we don’t read our Bibles, we are certainly easy prey for the world’s propaganda.  There is always danger in coming into agreement with Satan…the prince of this world.  Adam and Eve adopted his view of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and their alignment with Satan ushered sin and death into the world. Alignment with Satan, in any part of your life, will open a door for his activity in your life and the life of your family and the results will be destruction.

I am simply posting a warning here that choosing between the values and positions of the world and God is a serious thing that has real consequences.  As believers, I think we need constant course corrections in our thinking because we are so inundated with lies from the enemy with every facet of culture as his vehicle. With the steady drum beat of culture everywhere we look,   we can slowly but surely be drawn away from God’s truth.  When we feel the pull to agree with something that doesn’t seem to agree with God, we need to slow down and pray for wisdom.  Perhaps, our biblical understanding needs to be tweaked but, perhaps, we are being drawn away from truth in the name of science, education, religion, art, or tolerance.

Paul wrote, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:26-31).

This verse suggests that much of what the world presents as wisdom, intellect, and truth are just the opposite of heavenly wisdom, intelligence, and truth.  So, evaluate what you are hearing, seeing, and being told by the voices of the world.  Do not be afraid to disagree and do so without being disagreeable. Do not be afraid to stand on biblical truths and values, even in the face of criticism and ridicule because you will be receiving praise from heaven.

Destiny

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  Psalm 139:14-16

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

These two familiar passages affirm a very important principle in the life of every believer.  God had a direct hand in making each of us with a design that reflects an ordained purpose for each of our lives.  According to the psalmist, God wrote, in a book in heaven, all the plans that he made for our lives before one of those days came to pass.  The “good works” mentioned in Ephesians are the works ordained for each of us to accomplish.  In summary, he equipped each of us to fulfill our destiny with just the right  natural abilities, temperament, and spiritual gifts.  Even though this is a well-documented biblical truth, it seems that many believers have difficulty discerning what their destiny might be.  Let me suggest two reasons.

Each of us has been designed for greatness in the kingdom of heaven.  However, we must remember that God’s view of greatness is not the same as the world’s view.  The world’s view of greatness is measured in fame, possessions, power, the number of people who serve you and fawn over you, an extensive Facebook platform, and the number of celebrities with whom you keep company.  If we take those standards as indicators of our destiny because they appeal to us, we may chase something that causes us to miss God’s purposes all together.

In fact, by those standards, Jesus was a colossal failure while he walked on this earth.  He had no bank accounts.  He had no palace or even a home to call his own.  Most people did not know who he was or what he looked like.  We still don’t know what he looked like. He served others rather than being served and shunned celebrities as well as celebrity status.  In the only popularity contest in which he participated, his own people chose a murderer named Barabbas over Jesus.  Any yet, by heaven’s standards, he was the greatest who ever lived or ever will live.

God’s desire is that we find and fulfill our destiny. I think many of us miss it because we are measuring opportunities to advance by the world’s standards rather than heaven’s.  We choose the career path with the highest earning potential instead of the highest serving potential. We pick a path that we anticipate will impress or please people we know rather than impressing our heavenly father.  We often seek the spotlight on earth while Jesus tells us to do many things in secret, seen only by God.  Jesus even warns us of missing a reward in heaven because we have already gotten our reward on earth.  As we seek our destiny, we need to measure it by heavenly values, not the values of the world.  We need to teach our children that same principle.

As much as God wants us to fulfill the destiny he has written for us, Satan wants to prevent us from fulfilling it.  First of all, he will misdirect us in our choices and, perhaps. highlight the motives for career choices that the world offers so that we end up not pursing those things that would have actually given us the most fruitful and most fulfilling life.  

If Satan hasn’t been able to set us on the wrong path, then he will simply oppose those things we are trying to accomplish in order to convince us that we are on the wrong track after all.  In his book, Unlocking Destinies from the Courts of Heaven, Robert Henderson says that Satan feverishly hunts for curses that can be activated in our lives so that he can use them to oppose our destinies.  Curses give him a legal right to hinder, oppress, or torment people and he does so to hinder our progress and effectiveness in the kingdom.  That means we must be aware of areas in which we are not flourishing and scan our lives to see if something in our own life or family line is giving the enemy a legal right to oppose us month after month and year after year.  When we find it, we must remove it so that we can begin to fulfill our written destinies as God intends. 

What is critical is that we do not ignore the reality that God has chosen a destiny for us and part of our reward in heaven will depend on how much of that we pursued and accomplished in this life.  Too many believers choose career paths, relationships, and priorities without any thought as to whether or not they fit into God’s plan for our lives or we abandon his plan altogether as soon as resistance comes our way.  As a result, our lives do not live up to our expectations for joy and fulfillment.  

If we could add a beatitude to the Sermon on the Mount, we might say, “Blessed is the man or woman who finds themselves in the very center of God’s will for their lives, because it is there that we find the true joy and abundance that Jesus promised.”  On many occasions, I have visited with men in their fifties who feel unfulfilled as carry a vague sense of failure.  They have provided for their families, but for years have labored in a career that was not fulfilling or exhilarating and they feel as though something significant has been missing from their lives for years.  They don’t want to end their lives feeling as if they missed something incredibly significant that others somehow found.  This is the stuff of mid-life crisis and the stuff of middle-aged affairs.  It is often because they tried to fit into a role for which God did not make them. The very things in which they invested most of the hours of their lives seem to have no eternal significance.  They discover that what they gave a great chunk of their lives to may not matter at all 5 seconds after they die. That is the price of missing God’s destiny for our lives. 

I’m not saying that all of us have to be preachers or missionaries or worship leaders or Christian writers.  God has made us to fit into every nook and cranny of society so that we can be a redeeming force in that slice of our culture.  He has called us to be teachers, truck drivers, policemen, store owners, nurses, bakers, artists, technicians, soldiers, etc.  When we are following our destiny, what we do makes sense to us.  It almost comes naturally.  We find it fulfilling because we sense a purpose in it greater than the check we get at the end of the month.  We see ways to bear spiritual fruit in our career setting and ways to influence people for Jesus.  If we ask ourselves if we want to do other things, we simply know we are already doing what God has designed us to do.  It is a very blessed place to be, even if the material rewards aren’t all we would like them to be  The emotional and spiritual payoff makes up for the big house and the new pickup that will have to wait another couple of years.

If you haven’t thought this way about the path of your life or if you started out seeking your calling in Christ, but got detoured, I hope you will return to that quest.  Hopefully, our New Year’s resolutions will help us pursue God’s purposes for our lives and reflect the priorities of heaven rather than earth. I believe finding our calling or destiny and stepping into it is the key to the abundant life Jesus has promised.  

The new year has crept in with all the threats from 2021 still hanging over us like a dark cloud.  Covid variants, runaway inflation, natural disasters, Russian empire building, Chinese economic threats along with their claims on Taiwan, a fiercely divided America, and so forth, still stand unresolved as we try to find hope in 2022.  

I believe this coming year is going to require that we truly keep our eyes on the Lord and stand firmly on the tenants of our faith on many issues.  I’m not sure that life in our time is more threatening or more complicated than in other epochs, but we are certainly more aware of every crisis in every corner of the world, , which certainly makes life more stressful and seemingly uncertain. Every issue we can imagine is in our face 24/7 because of the news on television, social media, and talk radio.  Every event, large or small, is dissected, analyzed, and “disasterized.”  Fear is a major component of media that seems to keep us glued to each station, hoping that the most recent crisis won’t get any worse and that solutions will arise.

On top of global crises, many of us have faced personal crises this past year as well.  The loss of loved ones, challenges to our own health, stressed marriages, increased crime, open boarders, economic loss because of covid restrictions, and so forth.  We wonder if this coming year will bring more of the same.

So…now that I have cheered you up, how do we face a world that seems so bent on self-destruction?  The only way to face such a world with any measure of joy and confidence is through faith in the one who created it, and his promises that the day will come when there will be no death, no war, no sickness, no hatred, no division, no natural disasters, and no lack for any need.

This may be the year to discipline ourselves to watch less news, be less politically charged, and less invested in this world.  I’m not suggesting that we bury our heads in the sand or ignore what may be coming our way, but I am suggesting that we need to believe that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, God will meet every one of our essential needs.

Jesus lived in a world of poverty, famine, earthquakes, political unrest, religious upheaval and military oppression.  His solution was not to worry or be obsessed with the things we cannot affect except through prayer.  His solution was to seek God and believe in his care and protection in the midst of crisis.  Jesus never said we would not have trouble.  In fact, he said that in this world we would have trouble, so we need to keep our expectations biblical.  But in the face of that reality, he also promised that he would always be with us.  Just as the disciples, when crossing Galilee, encountered a storm that threatened their very lives, the presence of Jesus brought peace and safety.  

If you are like me, I often pray for a life that is trouble free, and yet, a trouble-free life requires no faith.  The truth is that faith is the currency of heaven and without faith it is impossible to please God.  Faith is that conviction, that in the midst of trouble, God will see me through…in spite of what appears to be a hopeless situation. I’m not saying to pray for trouble, but I am saying that when it comes, God is with us and the trouble itself, is not evidence that God has abandoned us.  

What if, in this year, we spent the lion’s share of our free time in the Word, in prayer, and in worship instead of on social media and listening to all the bad news the media can discover or even invent?  What if my great concern was in faithfully serving God rather than championing a political party?  Again, I believe we should vote and believe that Christians should be involved in bringing godliness to the political process, but we must always remember that our hope is in Jesus and no political leader, party, or movement. Any organization or movement led buy man will ultimately fail us.  Only God is faithful forever.  

If I am to navigate 2022 successfully, my primary focus will have to stay on heaven and not on earth. I need to know who Jesus is to me before the trouble comes so that my faith does not fail.  Maybe, that priority needs to be clearly stated in our New Year’s resolutions…more this year than ever before!

[I apologize for the length of this blog, but perhaps, you will have time during Christmas to read it.]

Christmas has arrived once again. As a pastor, I see many responses to the season. For some it raises treasured memories of traditional church plays filled with squirming children, bright trees surrounded by carefully selected presents, the warm aroma of favorite foods, and a familiar house filled with love. For others, it registers disappointment and memories of “not-so-good Christmases” stained by alcohol or emotionally toxic family members. For others, grief surfaces once again in a memory of making funeral plans for a loved one that pushed out the joy of Christmas that year and for several years to come. Others face sheer loneliness as they anticipate sitting in an empty house with no one present to share the day that should be about giving and receiving, loving and comforting, laughing and belonging.

As multilayered as Christmas can be, there is always the heart of the story that should encourage us and realign our perspectives, no matter what our situation might be.  Each year as I think about Christmas, the Lord simply reminds me of how costly the coming of Messiah was for him and those who were nearest to the incident. 

We tend to compartmentalize Christ’s sacrifice and suffering and attach it only to Easter – his arrest, his abuse, his crucifixion. We also tend to forget the pain of those who loved him most as they watched their son, their Rabbi, and their Messiah breathe what they thought was his last breath on a Roman cross. Passover and Easter certainly highlight the incredible cost of our salvation, but our salvation story not only ended that way, but actually began that way as well.

Christmas cards sanitize the story so that it might be almost unrecognizable to Mary and Joseph. Susan and I have already received a few with Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus serenely surrounded by peaceful, adoring animals in a pristine manger along with appropriately awed shepherds and joyous angels. Typically, the scene may also present three royally adorned visitors from the east bearing precious gifts (although they did not actually arrive until months later). 

There is some truth in that scene, but it misses one point. The Christmas story begins with Gabriel appearing to Mary in the backwater town of Nazareth. Luke tells us that at his appearance, Mary was greatly troubled. The original Greek would amplify this word to mean confused, disoriented, and deeply disturbed or distressed. The angel greeted her first, but then added quickly, “Do not be afraid.” You don’t need to say that unless someone is visibly shaken and beginning to panic.

Gabriel then goes on to tell her that the Holy Spirit is about to fall on her, impregnate her, and she will have a son whom she is to name Jesus. He will be called the Son of the Most High and he will reign on David’s throne forever. That’s a lot to take in for a 13-year-old Jewish girl brought up simply, humbly, and traditionally. 

The true implications of what the angel had just said were probably not comprehensible…except the part where she would be pregnant without having gone through a wedding ceremony and without her marriage being consummated with Joseph, her fiancé. Surely her first thoughts were about the impossibility of telling Joseph and her family and the almost certain unlikelihood that anyone would believe her.

The liability of being seen as an adulteress must also have loomed somewhere in the back of her mind. Adultery, in those days was, taken very seriously and was still punishable by stoning. In Jewish culture, her engagement was considered marriage, although the sexual union could not occur until after the ceremony. To break the engagement required a divorce. Apparently, her worst fears were realized because, when Joseph discovered she was pregnant, he decided to divorce her quietly to minimize everyone’s shame and for her safety.

 Undoubtedly his heart was shattered by her perceived unfaithfulness and he carried as much shame in the tiny village of Nazareth as she did. Her story was unbelievable even to him…until an angel confirmed what she had been telling everyone.  Still, he had to wonder if he had actually heard from an angel or simply his own imagination trying to excuse what had happened.

The story does not describe the family’s reaction to Mary’s pregnancy and her unbelievable story, but Mary and Joseph’s trip to Bethlehem may give us some insight. According to Luke, Caesar issued a decree for taxation that required the head of each household to register in certain cities. Joseph was a descendent of David whose lineage came from Bethlehem, so off they went on a ninety-mile trek with Mary late in her pregnancy. She was not required to go to Bethlehem. Joseph could have gone alone, but she went along anyway on a trip that may have put her at risk and the child as well. 

To me, the only explanation is that she did not feel welcome in Nazareth, even by her own family, and the birth of her son would not be the joyous occasion she had always envisioned. She had also lost her dreams for a wedding feast with her proud family and friends and a wedding night in which she and Joseph would consummate their holy union. Joseph had given up any dreams he had been harboring as well. So…this teenage mother went with her husband to a place in which they were apparently unknown, only to discover, on top of everything else, that no lodging was available.

Only a small barn or cave was available where she would have to make do with some fresh hay while being surrounded by the smell of animal urine, feces, and barn rats. No family members travelled with them to help with the birth. Apparently, no midwife was available in Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary must have felt somewhat abandoned by God and their families and must have felt very alone. They must have been wondering where the blessings were for their obedience because, day by day, things had not gotten better but worse.

Outside of Bethlehem, another disturbing scene was unfolding. In the middle of the night, shepherds, who were minding their own business, were suddenly confronted by extraterrestrial visitors…angels filling the sky. Luke simply says they were terrified. Of course, the angel said, “Do not be afraid” and eventually calmed their nerves with news that Messiah was being born to them and could be found in a stable in Bethlehem. Eventually that night, they found the stable and shared what they had seen and heard with Mary, who must have been exhausted.

Another hint about the atmosphere of shame, gossip, and suspicion back in Nazareth was that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus did not return to Nazareth after the birth. As far as we know, two sets of Jewish grandparents had yet to see their grandson. Matthew tells us of the Magi, wise men or astrologers from the east, who had followed the Star of Bethlehem to find this newborn King of the Jews. This was apparently 18-24 months after the birth of Jesus and they were still in Bethlehem. It looks as though Mary and Joseph had simply settled in there. 

These unexpected visitors from the east showed up unannounced and brought gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense to Jesus. Mary and Joseph must have been relieved to receive such a nest egg for the family and began to believe that, perhaps, peace and blessings were finally coming their way. Maybe he could expand his business or they could build a little house. But they immediately discovered that these were to be traveling expenses.

Herod, hearing from the Magi that a king was being born just seven miles from Bethlehem, determined to exterminate this threat to his own throne. Joseph and Mary were warned in a dream to flee the region and so suddenly became political refugees trying to find safety in Egypt. Herod, in order to secure his throne, simply had every male child under two years old in the vicinity killed that night – a night that became known in Jewish history as the Slaughter of the Innocents. That’s not something we see on Christmas cards. So, the Christmas story is not just a story of angelic visitations and good news, but also a story of fear, shame, rejection, loneliness, lost dreams, and a poor refugee family fleeing their homeland for several years to live once again among strangers where Hebrews had once been slaves.

If you read Isaiah 6, you will also perceive another cost that was incurred, even before the birth of the child.  In that text, Isaiah sees the Lord, high and lifted up, surrounded by his glory and angels that declared his holiness day after day.  John tells us that Isaiah was actually given a vision of Jesus (Jn.12:41) in his glory before surrendering the privileges of deity. At some point he stepped down from his throne, shed is glory and power, and shrunk down to the size of an ovum, only to grow helplessly in the womb of an impoverished teenager.  From there he would be born into a scandal and later deemed illegitimate by many – part of the reason those in Nazareth could never accept him as Messiah.  What cost did Jesus pay even before the cross and what cost did those pay who were near him…even in the beginning of God’s odyssey on earth?  

The ultimate price for our salvation was, of course, the cross. But there were significant payments all along the way that we should not forget.  This thought should not produce guilt in us, but wonder and rejoicing at the value God has placed on each of us.  

Salvation is a gift because we are saved by grace and by no works of our own.  But there is also the gift of knowing how much we are loved, how much we are valued by the Creator of heaven and earth, and how much we can value ourselves as well as all the others Jesus died for.  Be blessed this Christmas knowing that your greatest gift cannot be placed under a tree and that you were purchased at such a price.  Merry Christmas.

Children and Deliverance – Part 3

Scary Things

When I was a kid, my grandmother owned a two-story house.  When we spent the night at her house, the kids had to sleep upstairs.  The upstairs was one large room with a fairly large closet and in the closet was a door to the attic space around the room.  My grandmother used to tell us that if we didn’t behave, the boogey-man would come out of that door at night and “get us.”  That knowledge did not help our sleep patterns when we stayed at grandma’s.  Kid’s have great imaginations and sometimes imagine the “monster under the bed.”

However, I’m also convinced that many children see into the spiritual realm and often report seeing “scary” things to their parents that are written off as simple imagination.  I’m somewhat convinced that all children see into the spiritual realm until we teach them to ignore what they are seeing by calling it “imaginary.”  So…when our children come to us reporting such things, how should we respond? 

Seth Dahl is a good resource for such questions.  I probably don’t agree with everything Seth says, but I don’t even agree with everything I say six months after I say it.  However, I do agree with much of what he says.  regarding this question. He says, “When we see things that are scary or demonic, we must keep in mind that the enemy’s first goal is to make us afraid.  Why? Because fear is agreement with the enemy and is permission for the demonic to keep on visiting. Once fear enters our hearts, we have opened a door for the enemy’s second goal to be fulfilled: control…Fear is like an open door in the spirit world through which the demonic can enter.  If we do not fear, their access is stopped…Imagine that your child calls you to his or her room in the middle of the night and tells you there are three weird creatures near the wall…giving into fear is the first thing to avoid.  The second thing we do not want to do is to act as if the spiritual battle is not going on. Too many parents tell their kids that what they are seeing is not real or that it is just their imagination. There are, of course, times when kids make things up, but we need to approach each situation as if this is not happening. When we discount what our children experience, they begin to discount their own ability to trust themselves and what they are seeing.  Simply because we do not see it, does not mean what they are seeing is not real.”  

Dahl goes on in his book, Raising Spirit Led Kids, to suggest that we ask our children questions about what they are seeing.  We might ask if they also see Jesus or an angel in their room.  If so, then we can ask what Jesus or the angel is doing or what Jesus or the angel is asking them to do. The key is that we direct our children from a focus on the threat to a focus on the solution or the protection that Jesus provides.  We direct them from fear to faith. In those moments, we can also show them the power of the name of Jesus to command spirits to leave.  Even if the moment turns out to be a moment of imagination, we can direct our children to imagine Jesus defeating the creature or sending it away.  Those moments can be practice sets for the real thing.

Spirits are a reality.  Many of us cannot see into the spiritual realm because we were taught to ignore what we were seeing and to give credibility only to the natural realm.  The ability to see into the spiritual realm is a gift of discernment that should be developed rather than quenched. 

Secondly, when we as parents model faith rather than fear, our children will take on the same perspective.  Our reaction should not be one of fear ourselves or dismissal of what our child is seeing, but rather a confident reaction that “Jesus has got this!”  Even our attempts to deny the reality of something our children are seeing or think they are seeing is an expression of fear.  We tend deny what we think we cannot cope with.  We must always choose faith.

The enemy is very active in the world right now and as we move closer to the return of Christ, we can anticipate that he will be even more active.  If we try to convince our children that what they are seeing or even feeling in their room is not real, we risk teaching them by implication that the unseen or spiritual realm is not real.  These are opportunities to equip our children for the fight that lies before them because our struggle is not against flesh and blood (Eph. 6).  The key is for us and our children to know who we are to Christ and to know who he is to us: King of Kings and Lord of Lords who has all authority in heaven and on earth.  The earlier our children learn those truths, the more able they will be to fulfill their destiny in Christ.

This is the last blog of three on Children and Deliverance, I’m sure I have not answered every question, but hopefully have pointed you in a good direction regarding this topic.  Blessings in Him

Last week we discussed the reality that children can be demonized as well as adults.  They can be afflicted through generational curses and spirits that attach themselves to bloodlines.  They can be afflicted when those who have authority over them speak curses over their children…intentionally or unintentionally.  They can also be demonized through trauma.  

One question that usually arises when parents discover the realities of spiritual warfare and generational curses is whether or not the enemy’s right to afflict their children is extinguished when the parents break the curses and are themselves delivered from any demonic affliction.  

The answer is that the enemy’s right to afflict the children has been taken away, but demons rarely leave simply because a legal transaction has occurred.  

Typically, like bad renters, unclean spirits need not only to have papers served but often, with bad renters, the sheriff and a few deputies have to show up and escort them off the property.  The first step is to break the generational curse through the blood of Christ.  That action revokes a spirit’s legal right to afflict the child, but then the demons afflicting the child must be commanded to leave in the name of Jesus.  That is best done by parents who have spiritual authority over their children or by those representing the parents – perhaps, someone with more experience in deliverance than the parents.  

So, if deliverance needs to be administered to a child, what does that look like?  We certainly don’t want to traumatize the child by telling them that terrible things from the devil are living in them and then begin to scream and shout to cast them out.  First of all, if you have authority you don’t need to scream and shout.  We need to be stern, but we can do so in a calm, quiet manner.  For small children, believing parents or some experienced person trusted by the parents can firmly but quietly command spirits to leave while the child sleeps. 

I would actually recommend deliverance when children are very small…and, especially, children who have been adopted or biological children when there has been notable sin, witchcraft, violence, etc.  in their bloodline. If the adoptive parents know any background on the biological parents and know there has been violence, abuse, drug addictions, excessive anger, etc., then spirits that may be present because of those things should be named and commanded to leave.  The same should be done over biological children where bloodlines need to be submitted to the Lord and spirits banished. In our experience, nearly every adopted child may carry spirits of rejection or orphan spirits.  These should also be dealt with. Sometimes we can’t be sure of the presence of such spirits, but it doesn’t hurt to “cover that base.”  If nothing is there, then no harm has been done.  If something was there, you have gained a real advantage over the enemy.  

If you need to minister to deliverance when the child is awake or a little older, do so quietly and calmly with the mindset that such things are normal and ordinary. You can convey that you believe that spirits are harassing the child and you simply want to send them away.

In general, as children mature we need to teach them some of the realities of the spiritual realm and, of course, this should be done appropriately based on their maturity.  I believe the primary thing we need to teach them is who Jesus is and who they are to Jesus.  We quickly make children aware of the dangers in this world (don’t play in the street, don’t play with electrical outlets, etc.) and that there are dangerous people in this world (i.e. don’t talk to strangers, etc.) We need to teach them that there are also spiritual beings who would try to lead them away from Jesus and into disobedience.  When tempted, they need to know how to say “No”  and even how to call on Jesus or command those unwelcome spirits to leave in His name.  They need to be aware that Jesus is watching over them and that angels are watching over them because we have asked the Lord to assign those angels.  

In the same way that we teach children to be cautious (not afraid) as they play in the yard or go to school, we can teach them to be cautious (not afraid) of spirits that would tempt them or lead them away from God. The focus should not be on Satan, but on Jesus and his great love for them. Teaching them the power of prayer and the declared word of God are great ways to help them develop in the area of spiritual warfare without being weird or scary.  In summary, we teach our kids enough to be wise about demons but our real focus is on Jesus, his love, his power, and his authority for them.

In my next blog, we will talk about children seeing scary things in their rooms, around the house and other places.  Are those things simply the imaginary “monster under the bed” or is it possible they are seeing into the spiritual realm?  How we navigate those moments is important.

As a church that has ministered deliverance to adults for years, we are often asked about children and deliverance.  The questions generally are:

• Can children be demonized?
• If parents break generational curses, are the children set free from the effects?
• Should you minister deliverance to children and, if so, how?
• What should you do if your child tells you that he/she is seeing something scary in their room?

These are legitimate questions that books on deliverance rarely deal with, so I thought I would take a couple of blogs to respond to these.   By the way, there seems to have been a definite increase in demonic activity in the last year, at least in our area, and children are being affected as well.   As many in America pursue sin and perversion and as many of our national leaders do the same, the spiritual gates have been opened wide for the demonic to be active in our nation. Because of that, we can expect demonization of individuals and demonic manifestations to be heightened.  The enemy always pursues the most vulnerable, so we can also expect children to be targeted as well as adults.  

The first question is whether or not children can be demonized.  I guess we ask that because we assume that God would protect children because he cares for them in a special way (Matt.18:10) or because they are innocent and Satan should have no legal right to afflict them.  In Mark 9, a man came to Jesus whose son had been tormented by demons manifesting as seizures.  The text says, “When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’ ‘From childhood,’ he answered. ‘It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us’” (Mk.9:20-22). Clearly, children can be afflicted by demons. 

Demons can attach themselves to children as a consequence of generational sin, curses, or trauma. The trauma of abuse, the loss of a parent or sibling, a severe injury or illness, etc. can easily open a child up to a spirit of rejection and/or fear.  Spirits of trauma can also attach to physical or emotional wounds and hinder their healing.  

Curses spoken over the child by those who have spiritual authority over them (typically parents) can also give the enemy a legal right to afflict a child. This can happen in unplanned pregnancies where a parent might say that he or she wishes the child would miscarry or “never be born” or that this child would bring them nothing but pain and sorrow, etc.  Words like that can open the door to spirits of rejection, infirmity, death, or an orphan spirit. 

Generational spirits of fear, anger, infirmity, lying, rejection, stupor, etc. can also be passed down to a child. We have seen these show up and manifest as learning disabilities, feelings of self-hatred from an early age, cutting, extreme anger, obsessiveness, chronic lying, etc. even in young children.  Of course, all these conditions can be physiological and not demonic, but in our experience, many have a demonic componnt.

I always feel a need to remind anyone reading this that demonization is not possession. Demonization means that demons are afflicting an individual in one part of their life while the rest is fairly functional. One part can impact the other parts, but typically the person is out of control in only one or two areas and not all of the time.  The most effective demons are those that mimic physiological or psychological conditions that exist in the natural realm.  They do so without manifesting in such extreme ways that we might suddenly wonder if something beyond the natural was occurring.

We also need to remember that demonization does not nullify salvation.  Demonization effects our ability to mature spiritually or develop fruits of the Spirit, but does not affect our salvation. Sometimes, believers want to deny demonization because they think it means they belong to Satan and are, therefore, lost. Deliverance is about sanctification rather than salvation.  

So, how do we know if a child’s “issues” come from the natural realm or are a manifestation of the spiritual realm?  Sometimes, it is hard to know.  However, if everything has been tried that should help, but has not brought any lasting healing or freedom, demonic activity could be indicated.  If you see something in the child’s eye’s that seems unnatural when an issue is manifesting, it is likely demonic. If a child tells you that something or someone is telling them to hate, hurt, or be afraid, that could be demonic.  If a child has been abused or traumatized, then be sensitive to the possibility of demonization.  Before anything else, ask the Holy Spirit to show you if something demonic is in play.  If you know someone who has a strong gift of discernment, ask that person for their impressions.

Our general rule is that if we are unsure, minister deliverance. Cover the base.   If something manifests or something changes, then demons were involved. If not, keep seeking answers in the natural realm.  Next week, I will talk about appropriate deliverance for children and how to equip them appropriately for spiritual warfare.

The holidays are wonderful times of love and laughter for many families as they gather around a warm Thanksgiving table or around a brilliant Christmas tree.  For many others, the holidays are darker because their family get-togethers resurrect old emotional wounds inflicted by some family member in their past or because they know that before the day is over, “that person” will say something hurtful to them again.  

I’m officiating a wedding this week and, in that ceremony, I will take a moment to talk about the power of our spoken words.  The familiar proverb (Prov. 18:21) declares that “the tongue has the power of life or death.”   Never is that more true than in marriages and in families.  

Years ago, when I first became aware of that proverb, I thought of it as figurative language that was reminding us that we could hurt people with our words or encourage people with our words. That is certainly true, but I now take the proverb literally.  Our negative words cannot only sting a person’s heart and assault a person’s perception of their worth and value, but can also set things in motion in the spiritual realm to enforce the things we declare over others.  That is the nature of a curse and curses are very real.  

In Numbers 22-24, we encounter the story of Balaam.  In the story, Balak, the king of Moab, tries to hire Balaam to declare a curse over Israel. Israel had encamped on the borders of Moab and were so numerous that Moab was terrified of them.  Apparently, Balaam was well known and had a track record for cursing and blessing because Balak declared, “Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps, then I will be able to defeat them and drive then out of the land. For I know, that whoever you bless is blessed and whoever you curse is cursed.”  

Balak wanted Balaam to speak words over Israel that would invite or direct demonic forces to afflict Israel. Perhaps, spirits of fear would rob Israel of courage on the eve of battle.  Perhaps, spirits of infirmity would inflict some sickness on the people so that they could not fight or fight well. Perhaps, a spirit of confusion would cause them to choose battle plans that would be doomed to fail.  That is the nature of a curse.  Some words give demonic spirits permission to afflict, harass, or oppress someone.  That is especially true when one person has authority over another…such as a parent over a child. Words can also bring blessings. That is the nature of our prayers and words of good will we speak over others.

Before we write off the story of Balaam as an expression of superstition by Balak who “believed such nonsense,” we need to note that God himself took the curse very seriously.  If you read the story, God told Balaam that he must not curse those he had blessed.  Balaam, kept trying to find ways to declare the curse because he wanted the payoff from Balak.  God took the curse so seriously, that at one point, God sent an angel to kill him if he persisted in his efforts to declare the curse.  

All this is to say that our words have power to bless or curse those we speak them to.  Many families and even spouses have spoken curses over one another with their hurtful and accusing words and those words have invited the enemy to come and fulfill the words that were spoken over a family member…perhaps, for generations.

God directs his people to speak only blessings over others…even our enemies (Luke 6:38).  We need to speak positive things over ourselves as well. This is simply a reminder to speak positive words over others because most of us know the damage of negative words.  If you are with a family with a hurtful history during the holidays, this may be a challenge. However, speak life even over your enemies or hurtful family members, regardless of what they might say to you. When we speak, we are sowing seeds of life or death and we reap what we sow.  Curses come back to us, but so do blessings.  So, watch your words and be blessed in all you do.

Well…Thanksgiving will be upon us in just a few days. It is one of my favorite family holidays and is traditionally intended to be a day of thankfulness for the blessings that we enjoy.  Hopefully, that is not the only day we express thanks for the good things in our lives.  What I want to suggest in this blog is that Thanksgiving should not be merely a day, but a lifestyle. In fact, I think it is a very powerful form of spiritual warfare.

The apostle Paul told us that we should not be unaware of Satan’s schemes.  He should never be our main focus, but we do need to be wise in his ways.  Satan doesn’t seem to have many strategies, but only a few which are expressed in many ways.  The first encounter with him is recorded in Genesis where the “serpent” tempted Adam and Eve.  This strategy is a primary strategy that he uses over and over. Basically, he did what every successful salesperson does…he created a sense of discontentment  with their circumstance so that they began to feel a desire for something different or something more in their lives. 

Satan planted a seed of distrust in Adam and Eve when he said, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the Garden?’”  With that question, which was more of a statement, he implied that God had a stingy side that might be withholding good things from them.  He was hinting that he knew Yaweh was the kind of god that would surround people with abundance, but then refuse to share it with them. He knew there was only one tree from which they were not to eat, but his question suggested that there was something spectacular and good to be gained from that tree, that God did not want them to have.  

Suddenly, instead of being thankful for all that they did have – every tree in the Garden, including the Tree of Life – they suddenly felt a lack in their life and began to resent God for withholding the “one thing they really needed for happiness.” As soon as they accepted the premiss that God withholds good things from his people, they came into agreement with the enemy which gave him open access to their lives.  Within a few years, they were not only living outside the Garden,  scratching a living out of a hostile earth, but one son murdered the other.  

Satan loves to get us to define God by something he hasn’t done for us that we think is the key to our happiness, rather than defining him by all the things he has done for us. If God has answered ten thousand prayers for us, we are prone to only think about one prayer that has not yet been answered or was not answered in the way we wanted. We then begin to believe that God doesn’t hear our prayers or that he doesn’t care about us.  That view of God makes us very susceptible to the schemes of Satan.

A lifestyle of thanksgiving is a very effective way to push back against the lies of the enemy.  We need a lifestyle of thanking God for every blessing we encounter…large or small.  If it blesses us, thank God for it.  Thank him for Jesus, your salvation, his grace, his patience, his Spirit, but also a beautiful morning, a parking spot, hot water, an old car that still gets you where you need to go, an amusing squirrel, friends, purpose, a job, health, four inflated tires in the morning, etc.  These are things we don’t always pray for, but they are gifts from God none the less and we should thank him for each of those as we go through our day.  

When we recognize and verbalize the abundance of small blessings from God that make up our lives, it creates a belief in us that God is, indeed, good and faithful.  

When we have that view of God, it is much more difficult for the enemy to suggest to us that God may not have our best interests at heart after all, and is keeping from us the very thing that would give us happiness.  Remember, Satan is the ultimate salesman and he has been selling lies for thousands of years.  He is always highlighting what we don’t have and convincing us that there is something or someone out there that would make our life complete and worth living, if God were not standing in our way.  

Paul believed that God would always give us what we needed for life, love, joy and peace. He stated in his letter to the church at Philippi, “for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil.4:11-13).

Paul believed that God is a good father who always gives us what we need in every season and, in his wisdom, sometimes says “no” to what we want.  A lifestyle of thanksgiving helps us walk in the same contentment because it keeps is focused on what we have, rather than what we don’t have.

So,  this Thanksgiving, give thanks for all the big things, but all the small things as well….then keep it up for the next twelve months.  You will find that a heart of thanksgiving slams the door on Satan in many, many ways.