During the seating of the guests and for a few minutes at the beginning of the service a series of pictures from his life were projected on a large screen in the front of the room. Dozens, maybe scores of pictures were chosen by those he loved  and left behind to present the most important and memorable scenes and seasons of a remarkable life lived large. Watching them brought tears, laughter, and sometimes both at the same time. This was a great guy and a touching review of his life’s celebrations and values.

As I watched I was struck by the fact that, out of the tons of pictures that were selected, not one of them showed him at the office. Not that he didn’t have one, the man had an extraordinarily successful business career, and no doubt there could have been bunches of pictures of awards won, sales made, promotions gained, etc. from a professional perspective. But, in the retrospective view of his life they were pushed aside by pictures of family vacations, weddings, births, graduations, and grandchildren.

Each of his five sons-in-law wrote or spoke of their relationship with him, his closest friends shared precious memories from sports, fishing trips, ski vacations together, and work-related relationships, but no one mentioned degrees, or net worth, or worldly accomplishment, although they surely could have. But at this point all of those things had lost their meaning  and had no real significance.

It will be the same for you and I. One split second after we take our final breath so many of the things that we think are important now will become totally unimportant to us or to those that we love most.

I’m so glad that I knew this man and also that I was a part of the celebration of his life. It was both an encouragement to me to press on and a reminder that, when our time comes, and it will,  our lives and our legacy will be the sum total of the choices that we have made and the priorities that we have lived. Choices have consequences and how we will be remembered will be the reflection of the priorities that we have lived. “Priorities are what we DO, everything else is just talk.”

This man made lots of right choices. He wasn’t perfect, only One is, but he made lots of good choices. So…

• Have a daily quiet time with jesus.
• Go home early and hug you children’s mom.
• Don’t miss a game.
• Give when it hurts or until it does.
• Listen.
• Never skip a vacation to work.
• Delegate.
• Say “No” sometimes.
• Laugh at yourself – often.
• Remember if you can’t be happy with what you’ve got, you’ll never be happy with what you’re trying to get.

Press on! Run through the tape!

And Gene… well done! See you at home big guy!

It was early and I was not expecting anyone to call so I picked up the phone with a bit of concern. The person calling, a man, asked to speak to me and I acknowledged that he was. “Good,” he said, “I was hoping to see you this morning. I think that I have a message from God for you.”

“Who are you, and what is the message about, and why do you think it is for me from God?” I asked. I am by nature a skeptical person and, while I fully believed then and do now that God does speak to us personally at times through others, I am slow to accept it and careful to try to discern the basis and credibility of any such event.

The man laughed disarmingly and told me that his name was Richard Plache and that he had formerly been a high official in a worldwide cult, leading their operations in Europe. Through some miraculous intervention, God had revealed the lie of the cult and the truth of the Gospel to him and led him to faith in Christ about four years prior. When he tried to share his new found faith with his associates, he was of course asked to leave. He had returned to the US and had started an intense period of study and search in the Scriptures hoping to learn God’s plan for the rest of his life.

He told me that he was attending a church that I knew of in California while attending a well known bible school, and had just learned that his father, who happened to live in the city in Illinois that I lived in, Aurora, was ill and about to have surgery. He had no money to fly home and in answer to prayer had been led to a Gospel singing group that was driving to Chicago in their bus for a performance and who had invited him to ride along. Aurora is a suburb of Chicago and his brother could pick him up and drive him home.

He said that as he settled in the seat of the bus to begin his trip that he felt something under him, stuffed between the cushion and back of the seat. He pulled out a magazine called Voice, a publication of the Full Gospel Businessman’s Fellowship. Out of idle curiosity he opened the magazine and was surprised to see that the article he opened to was the testimony of a man from Aurora, Illinois, the very city he was headed for. The man’s name was and is Buck Jacobs. My ears perked up substantially.

He told me that he sensed that, because of the rather unique circumstances, God had a special reason for our meeting, that it had to do with what he had learned as a result of his study, and that he would like very much to come over that morning to talk to me about it.

As he spoke to me, something within me stirred and I moved past my normal skepticism and eagerly arranged for him to come by a little later after I had breakfast and some family time. We agreed on ten o’clock. To prepare for our discussion he asked me to read and think about Galatians 2:20 which reads, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I live now in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” I did read it a couple of times wondering what was on his mind and not seeing anything particularly in the verse.

At ten o’clock Richard appeared and we immediately related well. He was personable, very easy to talk with, and did not seem to have any agenda except to follow what it appeared God was leading him to do. We shared some background, found much in common, and he started in to his story, which led to our being brought together.

He began to explain to me his search for a way of living in which Jesus is truly at the center of one’s life as opposed to mere religiosity which results in legalism and which had been at the heart of his experience prior to being born again. The cult he had been a part of was based on a “works” doctrine, typically purporting to show the way to God by obeying a strict set of rules. It had sounded good but never really brought peace or true meaning. As he had studied after his conversion to Christ he had been led to investigate a different way of relating to life. A way which various notable Christians had practiced through the centuries with profound results. Men such as John Wesley, Hudson Taylor, George Muller, and D.L. Moody, as well as some Christian mystics like Madam Jean Guyon and Brother Lawrence, a  way called variously “the deeper life” or the “replaced life.”

He explained that the heart of this concept was found in Galatians 2:20 and that the true meaning of this key verse had been obscured by various doctrines which had developed over the years. As he spoke I became somewhat agitated because I was not able to grasp or understand the significance or meaning of what he was trying to explain and help me see. He was very patient, taking me to the tense of the Greek verb which is at the heart of the issue here. It is the verb translated “have been crucified.” Richard explained that this word is used in the perfect tense, meaning that it is an act done in the past and completed, yet has continuing effect. The significance, he said, was that when Christ died on the cross, as I had become one with Him at my new birth, so did I. And since I had literally died sin no longer had power over me. He said sin has no power over a dead man, which I could understand, but, according to Richard, I was apparently very much alive and dead somehow at the same time. He said it was like when you add salt to water, the salt becomes one with the water and thus participates with all the water has been, is, or will be from that point on. He took me to many other scriptures to support his contention that, at new birth, each believer is united with Jesus in His eternal Spirit and thus becomes eternally one with Him. Including verses such as 1 Corinthians 6:17 which says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him”, pointing out that a spirit is not limited by time or space. And Romans 6:3-9, especially verse 6 which says, ”knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him…” He pointed out Colossians 1:22 which says that the mystery of the gospel is“ Christ in you the hope of glory.” He was far more a Bible scholar than I and had an ease with the subject that was obviously born out of long hours of study and prayer.

Richard told me that God had made me to be a unique container for Himself and that this purpose was fulfilled by my accepting His gift of forgiveness in Jesus and receiving His Holy Spirit to live in me. As Jesus lived in me and through me His plan for me and my life would be actualized. He said that it was to be Jesus in me, through me, as me. It was this part that I was struggling with and at this point I simply could not understand. It was extremely frustrating. I strongly sensed that there was an important truth being presented to me and, that if I could only understand and appropriate it, my life would change for the good. But I just could not get it. And I had an additional problem; I was getting very time-compressed.

Years before our church had “adopted” a group of mentally handicapped adults who were residents of a home near the church. One in particular, Jimmy Walker had become very dear to our family and had visited us often. Through Jimmy we also met Sherman Tatarsky, his roommate, and Sherman occasionally joined Jimmy at our home for Sunday dinner after church. Jimmy had died a couple of years earlier and Sherman had sort of assumed that he had inherited our invitation and us. And, as he was very bold and demanding in some ways, was not the joy to be with that Jimmy had been. Nevertheless we had felt that we should continue to see and share with Sherman who was Jewish and did not know Jesus. I had promised Sherman that he could come to spend the day with us and have dinner that Saturday. And to keep my word and be on time to pick him up, I would have to leave by noon. He became very upset if I was late.

Richard could see that I needed to talk more with him and that I was close but not yet understanding what he felt it so important that I know. He gladly agreed to come by after church the next day and share some more. I walked him to his car as I left for Chicago to pick up Sherman. “Don’t worry Buck,” he said, “God will show you what He wants you to see.”’

I left and as I drove down the interstate I began to grumble to God. “Lord” I said, “What am I doing? Here you send a man all the way across the country to tell me an important truth. You put the Voice under Richard’s seat and you put on his heart to come to see me and share what you’ve given him with me. And then I have to leave to go and pick up this hardheaded Jew who isn’t very nice, doesn’t care to know You, and probably doesn’t even appreciate my trouble. Lord, why am I doing this?”

I have never heard God or Jesus speak in an audible voice. I don’t doubt that He does or that some others have heard Him do so. I have never, but there are and have been times where I have known just as surely as if He had spoken aloud, that He did speak. God makes Himself heard to me somehow at times just as clearly as if He spoke out loud and this was one of the clearest. Just as I said, “Lord, why am I doing this?” He said, “YOU’RE NOT, I AM.” And in that instant all that Richard had been trying to tell me, and that I could not understand, came clear as glass. No, the Buck who was would never have taken the time to even speak to Sherman Tatarsky, let alone go out of his way for him, let alone have him in his home. The Buck who was saw all people in terms of their utility or value to him, and certainly Sherman was anything but utilitarian or valuable to me. He was a pain pure and simple.

But it wasn’t the Buck who was driving the car, going to Chicago to get Sherman. It was Jesus in His Buck outfit. Jesus in me and, to Sherman, Jesus through me. It was true, the old man, the Buck who was, had in fact died with Christ. And it was and is now Christ who lives in me. My personality, gifts, talents, and quirks still intact – me – but energized by Him, in me as me. The life that I was now living I was living by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me. No, Buck wouldn’t mess with Sherman, but Jesus would, and was, and Richard’s words became so real to me. Jesus in me, through me, as me. I could hardly wait to get home to call him and tell him.

That Saturday morning was over twenty five years ago but it is as fresh in my mind as today. There are of course many doctrinal and theological things that need to be explained to try to understand the concept of the replaced life and we don’t have time or space here and this is not the forum to go into them. This segment is hoped to be a testimony and a call to those who struggle with who they are and why they live as Christians.

To those who God brings across our paths each day, whether they are our family members, our neighbors, our customers, our competitors, sales people, or others we trade with and meet through our business, we are Jesus. We are to the degree we understand the truth illustrated in this testimony and allow Jesus to live through us. God has designed us, called us, saved us, and given us all we have, not to waste on our pleasure, but to let Him live through – to others. The mystery of the gospel is Christ in us, through us, as us. The fact is that Jesus doesn’t live in buildings made of bricks and mortar. We don’t go to church to meet with Jesus, we bring Him to church. He lives in and through His people. He doesn’t live as a statue nailed to a cross. He left the cross 2000 years ago to go to the grave as a prelude to proving forever who He really is by rising from the dead. He sent His Spirit to live in as many as received Him.

Now it’s our turn. He lives in us and He will live through us as us if we will let Him. The as us part is important, don’t miss it. The reason I was having such a hard time getting what Richard was telling me was I thought I had to change to be like someone else in order to be like Jesus. Now I know that what I really have to do is let Him do what he wants to do through me. Him as me. There is a world of difference.

As a footnote to this story: Just before we moved from Aurora, Illinois to Florida twenty-five years ago, Jesus as me thought I should take Sherman Tatarsky to lunch. He had been moved to another home even further away. The new place was much better than the first with many activities and support for the residents. We had sort of slipped away from a monthly visit with Sherman to a once in a while type thing which he didn’t seem to mind. I really didn’t have the time but I felt I needed to see him and tell him we were going to move so I called and arranged to take him to lunch at his favorite restaurant.

After we were seated and gave our orders I asked Sherman what was new. I almost fell out of my seat when he answered, “I got baptized last Sunday!”

“You did” I asked, trying to hide my amazement, “How did that happen?”

“Pastor Jack Hiles sent a bus to pick me up and take me to church at his church” Sherman said, “he asked me to get saved and I did.” A big smile lit up his face. I can still see it. Jesus in me,as me rejoiced.

Let him step to the music that he hears, however measured or far away.“  Henry David Thoreau

So, whose drum are you listening to? We all are hearing one you know. Listening, following. Is your drummer the incessant beat of the materialistic, hedonistic, “stuff” is the answer of our current culture? Are you caught up in the swirl of busyness and breathless aquisition that is the norm of our day? Many if not most Christians are. In fact in every measurable or discernable way the mass of what the world sees as contemporary Christianity looks no different from what they see in the mirror. We value what they value. We chase the same things they chase. The beat goes on.

The drummer whose beat we follow is the one who will lead us to the Judgement seat of Christ where the final evaluation of all that we have done with the lives that Jesus died to give us will be done. (II Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:11,12, I Corinthians 3:11-15) It’s commonly called the “Bema” and each Christian will pass through it alone on the way into eternity.

There are basically only two drummers playing and we have to choose which to follow. One is much louder and far more popular than the other. His beat is sensual, seductive and filled with promises of physical and emotional pleasures. Oh and it is so loud! It’s populsr,pervasive and accepted by most people. The only problem is that the promises are empty lies. “There is a way which seems right to men but the ends are the way of death.” (Proverbs 16:25) Listening to this drummer is like drinking salt water, it can’t satisfy, only makes one want more, and ultimately kills you. 

The other drummer beats a different tune and He has a problem. He doesn’t attempt to compete with the volume or tempting promises of the competitor. His sound is quiet and confident but requires an effort to hear. His promises are long-term and require faith and delayed gratification. They are focused on our inner being and have little to do with the shiny, sensual, temporary pleasures of this world. He promises all we need to follow Him but nothing more, but He actually leads to life abundant and fulfillment beyond our ability to imagine. The second drummer speaks in a still, small voice and we have to tune out the first drummer to hear Him.

By now you know who they are, the two drummers. One leads to death and loss, the other to life abundant. The question is; which are you listening to? 

Sometimes following the second drummer feels lonely, especially when we feel it in church where we expect others to be lisening for Him but find that they are not. The second drummer undertsands lonely. He spoke Truth to thousands, healed and delivered hundreds, but when He was paying their bill He saw them turn away, listening to another drummer, and only a few continued to listen to Him play.

As I sit here in the quiet of my living room I can hear Him playing; Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I hear Him, can you?

I can’t really talk about it yet but I have posted some pictures for those of you who might be interested. It is a sacred place and my dad really rests where he needs to be. He was proud of his service and I am proud of it too. I took a book, “Flight Quarters”, the story of the aircraft carrier that he served on for three years with me and reread it the night before my visit. I also reread the poems he wrote while at sea, many of them to my mother and me. The best one was written on my 4th birthday called “Takeoff at Dawn.”. Between them I was really set for the visit.

I didn’t expect the emotion that gripped me as I walked up and recognized dad’s marker, it was one of the most intense that I have known. I may have been holding it in for 39 years. I spent about an hour in a cold mist that was actually perfect for the time. I just soaked it all in and let my tears flow with the rain. Before I left I faced his grave and saluted.  Well done dad! I left in peace.

Money isn’t anything like air. I can live a very long life and experience all the really important qualities of life without money, but I can only live a few minutes without air. In God’s economy of sovereign abundance He has made all the most important things for the abundant life the easiest to obtain and most freely available.

Air is first on the list, followed by water, food and shelter. Money never appears on God’s list of important things. Money is utilitarian at best, not essential. God is our source. He is sovereign  and He can and will provide all we need to do all He wants - with or without money. Money is never the limiting factor in doing what is most important to Him.

I know that this sounds like radical thinking but it really isn’t, in fact it is eminently logical and Biblically provable. Let’s take a couple of simple examples.

Perhaps the most obvious is God’s total and sovereign sustenance of the nation of Israel in the desert for 40 years. He didn’t use money or any other medium of barter or exchange to care for them.  He just supernaturally provided all they really needed to live. He doesn’t need money to care for us either.

When Peter asked Jesus how they they would pay the temple tax Jesus told him to go catch a fish. The money for the tax was to be in its mouth. I call that fish God’s bank.

Did you ever notice that when Jesus taught His disciples to pray He told them to prays “Give us this day our daily bread” not, “Give us the money to buy our bread?”  Money was used while Jesus was here. He knew about it. He knew all about it.

How about this; there is no mention of money in the garden of Eden. It wasn’t needed. It’s not mentioned in any description or discussion of the New Jerusalem either. Adam and Eve worked, but not for wages, they tended the garden as stewards and God provided all they needed to do all He asked.

Here’s a really radical thought about money; it is an alternative to trust in God provided by Satan as part of an alternative worldview that he has been promoting since he appeared to Eve as a snake. What he did then, and all he really does now, is offer plausible sounding but false alternatives to trust in what God has said to man. It is true that the world system that has developed and is the result of the first sin of disobedience does need money, and also that as He does with all things, God does use money, but He doesn’t need it. Neither do His children although they may use it too. God uses everything but He doesn’t need anything.

What we need is faith… Faith to trust God and to take Him at His word…First, faith that He loves us so much that He sent His Son to take the punishment that we deserve for our sins… faith to accept that gift.

Next, faith that His written Word is true, all of it. In it He promises over, and over, and over again to provide all we need to do all He asks and to take responsibility for it. Think about it friends! If God can’t or won’t do this He isn’t God at all and our faith is a joke!

If God has a unique plan for each of our lives, which He says he does in His Word. (Ephesians 2:10)

And, If He will judge our performance within that plan, which He says He will. (II Corinthians 5:10)

And if there will be consequences, both reward and loss, based on that judgement, and He says there will be. (I Corinthians 3:11-15)

Then how can He judge us unless we have the ability to do what we are being given to do? Is the God of the Universe just? Is He?

Yes! He is just! And that’s how I know – I WILL ALWAYS HAVE ALL I NEED TO DO ALL GOD WANTS. If you trust Him you will too!

Take it to the bank!

There is a hooker though, it’s the phrase that says “to do all HE wants.”

                                                                                                Galatians 6:9

 “Let us not grow weary….” Do you ever feel weary? Tired, wornout, burned out? Does the burden of being somone chosen by God to deal with the particular frustrations and difficult people that make up your life and relationships in its environment ever make you wonder if it is all worth the effort required? Do you ever feel like just chucking the whole deal and simply taking a walk? I do.

One thing is for sure, if you answered “no” to any of the above you will lie about other things too! We all grow weary at times. If life were easy we would never need God. He would be irrelevant. God is never irrelevant.

No one gets a pass from the challenges of life, everyone has a piece of the action. A perfect life without trail or pain doesn’t exist, yet. But the Bible quote that we started with tells that we shouldn’t “lose heart.” Have you ever lost heart? I have. When I take my eyes of the reality of life and look through the lens of wrong expectation it’s easy to do. Let’s ask ourselves some probing questions and reflect on our answers. Jot down your rresponses to:

• What is the “good” that we are called to do in our roles as Christ-followers? And who calls us to do it?

• Why do we get “weary” even doing what God asks us to do?

• When that happens, what or who would you suppose is the most likely cause?

• What do you think might be the most powerful cure for weariness?

• What can we do to avoid getting weary?

• Who determines what “due season” is?

• What shall we reap if we remain faithful and don’t lose heart?

Take your time and think through these questions and then ponder this statement; “The circumstances of life don’t make me what I am, they reveal who (whose?) I am.” Only by accepting and adopting the true eternal perspective on life abundant”can we have any chance of not growing weary and losing heart and, even then, to maintain perspective we need the encouragement we gain by association with other like-minded Christ-followers to sustain it.  

So, how’s life workin’ for you?

I do not like these dirty crooks, neither how they cook the books.

I do not like when Congress steals, I do not like their secret deals.

I do not like the speaker Nan, I do not like this ‘YES WE CAN’.

I do not like this kind of hope, I do not like it, nope, nope……………, nope!…

Copy and repost if you agree,  We must let them know you see….

Thanks to Diana Van Der Noord for this!

The good news is…IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!!!!

For Christians it doesn’t matter because our God, not our government or any world power or economic system, is our source! It is He who promises to supply all we need to do all He asks… period! What God asks of us is faithful, dependent, obedience to His Spirit moment by moment. If the sun shines or it rains, in good times or bad, in sickness or in health, in democracy or totalitarianistic socialism – our call is to trust Him for all we need to do all He asks AND HE WILL!!!

There is no need for weeping and wailing or gnashing of teeth! IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! Don’t waste time or energy!

This is like the endless and wasteful debate over the return of our Lord, whether He will come before, during, or after the tribulation! IT DOESN”T MATTER! It is just a distraction! What matters is moment by moment trust and obedience now, in the moment. He will come again for each of us and when He does, whether that is before, during, or after the tribulation, all that will matter will be our trust and obedience. He has a plan for each of our lives and He will always provide all we need to fulfill it! No power in heaven or on Earth can stand against Him. Jesus isn’t dependent on any form of earthly government or economic system. He is the absolute sovereign and infinite power of the Universe.

So, don’t be discouraged. Of course we have preferences concerning our government and who is best qualified to lead it, and we need to be informed and vocal in support of candidates who represent our values and views. But no matter who leads the country this is not our home and it will never be perfect or even really close, and it will never change our Source or what we need to do to receive all we need to live abundantly from Him. We are here for a short term as Ambassadors for Christ and then we’ll go home. Faithful Ambassadors don’t look to the country where they are sent to serve to supply their needs, they look to home. Press on, the Bema awaits!

These three are  supported by the fourth lie. This is one of the most damaging and crippling lies and distortions of all, and has been the foundation for so much damage to the work of Christ that it can’t be calculated. It is the lie of The chasm between the clergy and the laity. This lie is so deeply embedded in The Body of Christ that it would appear hopeless to remove it, failing a truly miraculous work of God.

This lie comes to us in so many subtle ways, but they all have the same basic message; that pastors, priests, and missionaries are the truly anointed ministers of God, and that the rest of us lay people are really second class serfs who are sent to labor in the fields of the world to grub out some mammon to bring to our holy leaders that will allow them to carry out the work of God. We are told this lie subtly and overtly, and it is so powerful because it is told to us by the very leaders to whom we look for truth. And even more devastating is that the very system that depends on the perpetuation of this lie is the system that trains and prepares the leaders we look to for the truth of our way in life. The seminaries and the hierarchies of our denominations would be drastically changed, and their prominent place in religious society altered, and their security threatened, if they taught the truth of the priesthood of all believers and the true call of God on the life of every believer. Many would cease to exist entirely. Jesus warned us that “if the light that you have within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.” When we take in a lie, which is darkness, and believe that it is truth, which is light, we are doubly deceived, and this type of deception is very hard to remove.

              The greatest lies are those which contain the most truth. This lie, number four, is a perfect example of this technique. It is true that pastors are gifts that God gives to The Church. They are specially called and equipped. (As are missionaries, evangelists, and prophets and teachers.) But not to do the work of ministry, their call and equipping is to prepare and equip the “saints”, you and I, for the work of ministry. It is not to do it themselves! The religious professionals are not an elite group of ministers to whom all the really important work of ministry has been delegated. They are the teachers and trainers who are called to enable and encourage you and I to do it!

            The list of destructive effects that are traceable to this lie is amazingly complex. But, in sum, we can say that like perhaps no other, it hinders the work of the Church in reaching the world for Jesus, and as a little realized but devastating byproduct, robs believers of uncounted eternal rewards.

            Each believer has a unique and personal destiny and ministry created in the heart of God. Finding and fulfilling that ministry and destiny is the purpose of the life on earth of a believer. The process of the seeking, learning, and doing the will of God in his/her life and unique ministry is the “reasonable service” of every believer, not only the religious professionals. How much of our true spiritual heritage, and how many eternal rewards will you and I forfeit because we feel we are “second class” Christians?

            The fifth lie feeds many of our human weaknesses and temptations. It is the lie that God wants every one of His children to be rich in worldly terms, and everyone can be rich financially.

            This lie is at the heart of the “name it and claim it” and “health and wealth” distortions of Christian doctrine. Again, this lie has its’ roots deep in the truth. God does want all His children to prosper “even as your souls prosper”, and Jesus did come to give us “life abundant.” But the prosperity and abundance He refers to have absolutely nothing to do with worldly riches! The prosperity and abundance of God are of the inner man and not dependent on anything external. A poor man has equal access to God’s prosperity and abundance with a rich man. When God grants one riches they are only tools to be used to fulfill His call and plan for the life and ministry of that one, and the one to whom they are given will be responsible to Him for their use for His purposes. Worldly riches are a responsibility to be carefully handled, not a blessing that God wishes He could give to all His children.

            God doesn’t want all His children to be rich, He wants us to be holy. He doesn’t want us to be conformed to the image of Solomon, He wants us to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

            Receiving this lie, even in part, causes many Christians, who God has called to humble service, in small businesses, churches, or ministries, to fall to the sin of comparison and envy, and to do things He hasn’t called them to do, like borrowing money, to try to grow to be as big as others. It encourages an ungrateful spirit and an unthankful heart which hurt God. It makes true contentment impossible and leads to stress and frustration. God has not made us all to be rich, but He has made us all to be wealthy in true life abundant.

            The last lie we will deal with, but by no means the last Satan uses, is the perhaps the daddy of them all, at least of those we are affected by today. This is the lie that says; The Bible ”contains truth, but isn’t wholly true. There are many permutations of this lie, but they all have in common the purpose of opening a crack in God’s written revelation to man. A crack that, once opened, will allow such an increasing dilution and distortion, that over time will render it meaningless altogether. We are seeing the results of this lie in our lives almost daily as we watch one truth or one principle after another be explained away under the guise of modern critical interpretation. In our day men who call themselves Christians tell us that oral sex isn’t sex at all, homosexuality is an “alternative lifestyle”, lies that don’t hurt anyone aren’t lies at all, and that we must respect all ideas equally. We are told that we must read the Bible in the “light of the culture in which it was written”, meaning since our culture is now so different the Bible can’t be applied. This lie has been so cleverly implanted that we now have turned from the use of the Bible to judge other works, to the use of other works to judge the Bible. This lie reduces the Bible to equality with every other religious book such as the Koran or The Book of Mormon.

            If  we accept the lie that any part of the Bible may be untrue then we open the door that any other part may not be true. The task of picking and choosing which parts of the Bible are true and which are not is a hopelessly impossible slippery slope, and no one can stand on it. Once one steps there, there is no stopping. If we Christians give up our objective and extrinsic standard of truth, the written revealed Word of God, we have lost the fight forever. Oh, we may not appear to have done so immediately, but it is over nonetheless. ONLY if the Bible is NOT totally true can Christianity be positioned as only one of many great religions, and its’ teachings treated as optional. Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible makes NO room for other faiths. Period.  The Bible never even infers that there may be even one other way to God let alone many, and only if the Bible does not tell the whole truth is that thought even an option.

            To the degree we as Christians have been influenced by these six fundamental lies we are being hindered in doing what God has called us to do. Jesus said, “IF you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Free from lies and to be all He designed, and to do all He planned. Think about it:

            If the Bible isn’t totally true, I can’t trust it.

            If God wants me to be rich and I’m not, something must be wrong with me.

            If my faith shouldn’t be a part of my business, then it’s all about money.

            If my faith can’t be a part of my politics, then it’s all about power.

            If morality can’t be legislated, then the immoral will rule.

            If I am a second class Christian, what I do doesn’t matter much.