These Times

This past week has been something hasn’t it? If you are retired like I am and dependent on your investments for your standard of living you face a pretty certain adjustment in the days ahead. We have experienced the worse decline in the stock market in history and our portfolios reflect it. Unfortunately that adjustment may not be over and certainly the recovery time is quite unknown. It is easy to pass this off as something that will soon pass, but the severity of the event and the reaction by governments all over the world say that this is may last for a time.

Scripture informs us that there will be a time of sorrows. Some say we are in those times. Some Christian prophets have pointed towards this financial melt down in very specific terms for years.

These times test our Christian resolve and demonstrate as nothing else could where our true loyalties lie. Have you found yourself focused on your losses and their devastating effect or have you had a sense of the Lord and His presence in you during this time of testing? I have to admit that I have experienced both. I have lamented the losses we have accrued (only paper losses at this point), but I have also been conscious of Christ in me and that my small “fortune” is not where my security lies. I believe Jesus is in both our desire to preserve our storehouse and our knowing that He is the source of all things in our lives. Mourning our losses is a real emotion that I am certain the most dedicated among us is feeling. Being a Christian in hard times does not demand that we deny our humanity.

The fact is that the harder the times the closer we draw to the Living God who indwells us. The negative feelings and events help us to see all the more the power of God in our lives. His Spirit brings to us comfort and wisdom and even joy in times that seem absolutely hopeless and impossible.

You will hear all kinds of “Christian” advice over the next weeks and perhaps months. Job got a lot of advice also. Very little of it helpful. Most of the advice we get can be dismissed with a smile and a nod as regurgitated religious speak.

Pray for wisdom in the coming days. True Christianity is far simpler than what you will be hearing. God does not desire sacrifices or any of our good works, he desires vessels in which to dwell and through which He can act. Remember you are always and forever near God because He is in you.

As we move forward accept your emotions your fear and anger and loss. Above all do not condemn yourself for these troubles. And while you work through your feelings look for Christ to manifest himself in ways that will surprise and delight you.

Perhaps there is a new move of the Spirit coming. It will be manifested in ways we have never seen before. If indeed these are times of sorrows, then we are ever closer to the coming of our Lord.

May the Lord bless you mightily in these times that test us.

A Song From Norman Grubb's Book "Yes I Am"

IF THE LORD SAYS I AM, YES, I AM

If the Lord says I’m a Christian, yes, I am, Acts 11:26

If the Lord says I’m made new, yes, I am, 2 Cor. 5:17

If the Lord says I’m one spirit with Himself, 1 Cor. 6:17

If the Lord says I am, yes, I am.

If the Lord says I’m a son, yes, I am, 1 John 3:2

If the Lord says I’m an heir, yes, I am, Rom. 8:17

If the Lord says I’m a citizen of His kingdom
here and now, Eph. 2:19

If the Lord says I am, yes, I am.

If the Lord says I’m a vessel, yes, I am, 2 Cor. 4:7

If the Lord says I’m a branch, yes, I am, John 15:5

If the Lord says I’m a temple of His
Holy Spirit in me, 1 Cor. 6:19

If the Lord says I am, yes, I am.

If the Lord says I’m a saint, yes, I am, 1 Cor. 1:2

If the Lord says I’m elect, yes, I am, 2 Tim. 2:10

If the Lord says I’m a partaker of His
divine nature, 2 Pet. 1:4

If the Lord says I am yes, I am.

If the Lord says I’m a priest, yes, I am, Rev. 1:6

If the Lord says I’m a king, yes, I am, Rev. 1:6

If the Lord says I am seated in the heavenly
places in Christ, Eph. 2:6

If the Lord says I am, yes, I am.

If the Lord says I am holy, yes, I am, Eph. 1:4

If the Lord says I am blameless, yes, I am, Eph. 1:4

If the Lord says I am unreprovable in His sight, Col 1:22

If the Lord says I am, yes, I am.

If the Lord says I’m complete, yes, I am, Col. 2:10

If the Lord says I am perfect, yes, I am, Phil. 3:15

If the Lord says that I am as He is in this world, 1 Jn. 4:17

If the Lord says I am, yes, I am.

If the Lord says I am filled, yes, I am, 1 Cor. 4:8

If the Lord says I am strong, yes, I am, 1 Jn. 2:14

If the Lord says I am more than conqueror
in this world, Rom. 8:37

If the Lord says I am, yes, I am

If the Lord says I’m not I but He in me, yes, I am, Gal.2:20

If the Lord says I’m the world’s light, yes, I am, Matt.5: 14

If the Lord says I’m a god to whom His word
has come, John 10:34-35

If the Lord says I am, yes, I am.

*******
Do we really know who we are in the Lord? Do we know Christ as us?

Obedience

What a word. That word just sits there and demands that we do something. We learn from a young age to obey our parents. That means that we learn that we have to do what we deep down don’t want to do and if we don’t obey we suffer consequences, a slap on the bottom, or no TV for a week. We think of obedience and we think of pain and suffering and growing up. We think of a hard boss and a demanding spouse. When asked to obey we find no willingness inside us to do so. Much of our obedience is given begrudgingly, or only on condition of a substantial reward.

Of course we grow up. We see some benefit in obeying. We join the military and obedience becomes automatic, someone says jump and you jump. You hear a command and you do the command. It is a simple life, but not a very free one. We do grow up and we make rules for ourselves, rules that govern our behavior, rules that affect our ethics and our moral choices and we obey them as best we can. We become meticulous in our fervor to be good. We find God in our lives and we read his commandments and we hear the Sermon on the Mount and we have a higher sense of what is demanded of our obedience. This is religion.

The New Testament put an end to religion. It ought to also put an end to our perverted view of obedience. James Fowler on his web site Christ In You Ministries outlines the biblical concept of obedience hupakoe. Part of his outline is extracted as follows:

Legal context
a. Nowhere in the New Testament are the words for "obedience" or "disobedience" used in direct connection with the Law or any corpus of behavioral rules and regulations. (cf. Isa. 42:24)
b. Yet, "obedience" developed a Law-based interpretation
(1) rule-keeping
(2) commandment compliance
(3) performance according to precepts
(4) "works"

We need a definition at this point, what does HUPAKOE mean.
Obedience, HUPAKOE means to listen under.
Disobedience means to listen around.

The word is relational. It pictures two persons talking to one another. One hears, while the other talks. The hearer responds to the talker in a positive, obedient, way or in a negative way (as though he had not heard) therefore in a disobedient way.

Let us be clear. This is not a coming under authority. There is another Greek word for that where we place ourselves under the authority of a slave master or a Governmental agency. In those circumstances there is no exchange in the same sense as HUPAKOE. You are told to do something and you do it period.

The New Testament view of obedience is ontological, the word to be heard and obeyed is a Person, it is God Himself in the person of Christ (Jn 1:1-4).

Christ dwells in us and expresses His life in and through us. God speaks to us in that process. “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” His presence in us is a law written on our hearts, and it is a dynamic for expressing what God wants to do in us. We listen and when we know what we have heard is from God and is for us then what we heard is met with a willingness within us to respond. That willingness to respond is not of our own making. It comes out of our trust, our faith, in Christ who is in us ready to express Himself through us.

Obedience in these terms is not a religious act. Obedience comes in a Christian’s life because he worships a God who is willing to speak to him and he worships a God who is willing to dwell in the hearts of men in a way that accomplishes all that He asks of them.

Do you experience this freedom in your life? Have you discovered the wonder of obedience of faith?

Christ in you the hope of glory.

Dr. James Fowler's site is Christ in You Ministries.

Mr. Obama

No I am not entering into a political discussion. That is not the purpose of Christian Epignosis. My writing here is focused on what we know (epignosis) as Christian’s. The corollary is to talk about what we do not know.

The world presents us with a wide variety of things Christian. This buffet that is spread before us is tempting, appealing and often not Christian at all. We as Christians ought to know what it is to be Christian and in simple terms be able to express what our faith is about. Central to our faith is Christ.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. (Mat 16:13-17 ESV)

Christ means anointed of God. He is God’s Son. He stands before the disciples fully man. He is God become flesh living in His creation. He is far more than a prophet or a teacher or a great man living his life more fully than other men. We know who Christ is only by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. We know it because God the Father reveals it to us.

I am quoting from a 2004 interview with Barach Obama found here:

“Who’s Jesus to you?

(He laughs nervously)

OBAMA:

Right.

Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he’s also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher, and he’s also a wonderful teacher. I think it’s important for all of us, of whatever faith, to have teachers in the flesh and also teachers in history.”

This is not the Christian understanding of Christ. Obama says that Jesus “serves as that means of us reaching something higher”. He is a wonderful teacher.

Is there some truth in these words? Yes. Jesus did teach wonderfully. Much of what He taught was that man was in desperate need of a Savior. People point to the Sermon on the Mount as His greatest teaching. A major point of this teaching was that man did not have within himself the means to change, to act as God intended for him to act. Man was fully affected by sin affecting his thoughts, his will and his actions. Man required far more than a good teacher to get them out of their dilemma, they required payment for their sins, thus they required a Savior.

Jesus demonstrated that man’s reliance on himself leads only to God's judgment. Jesus offered Himself as the only way for man to avoid that judgment. Jesus taught clearly that man had rejected God and instead relied on his own view of the world.

Jesus did not give us teaching that could provide a path to something higher based on his teaching and a responding human endeavor. Man's works have no standing in God's sight. In fact Christ brought an end to any delusions concerning such schemes of self improvement.

Another quote:

Do you believe in sin?

OBAMA:

Yes.

What is sin?

OBAMA:

Being out of alignment with my values.

What happens if you have sin in your life?

OBAMA:

I think it’s the same thing as the question about heaven. In the same way that if I’m true to myself and my faith that that is its own reward, when I’m not true to it, it’s its own punishment."

Obama's understanding of sin is that it is being out of alignment with his values. The point of reference for Obama is himself.

The reality is that at its heart sin is man's reliance on himself and a rejection of God. Obama's point of reference for sin is not God, or the Word of God. or God's moral law, or God's character. Sin for Obama is defined as not being true to self which is the the very root of sin.

This is not a judgment of Mr. Obama. It , however, saddens me that he holds to a false gospel that is represented as Christian.

The Church needs to be discerning. The world needs the true Gospel desperately. Many are following a false gospel today. A gospel with man at its center. A gospel where we are free to establish our own values and rules. A gospel that provides a means to God no matter what your faith. Be fully aware that this gospel is empty of hope. It can not satisfy a righteous God.

Salvation is found only in Christ. If you are looking for God's approval by your good works and good intentions, you are lost in your sin. Your salvation will come only when you give up on your self and turn to Christ as Lord and Savior.

Read the interview. You will find that Mr. Obama rejects such a narrow gospel.

My prayer is that you do not.

Hope

http://www.christasus.com/

Hope
Fr. James Keller, M.M.,

HOPE opens doors where despair closes them.
HOPE discovers what can be done instead of grumbling about what cannot.
HOPE draws its power from a deep trust in God.
HOPE ''lights a candle'' instead of ''cursing the darkness.''
HOPE regards problems, small or large, as opportunities.
HOPE cherishes no illusions, nor does it yield to cynicism.
HOPE sets high goals and is not frustrated by repeated difficulties or setbacks.
HOPE pushes ahead when it would be easy to quit.
HOPE puts up with modest gains, realizing that ''the longest journey starts with one step.''
HOPE accepts misunderstandings as the price for serving the greater good of others.
HOPE looks for the good in people instead of harping on the worst.

May the GOD of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

By: Fr. James Keller, M.M., Founder, The Christophers

Christ in you the hope glory.

Our only, true and lasting hope is found in Jesus.

What does it mean to be spiritually dead?

One of the crucial tenants of Calvinism is "total depravity". There are two words used to quantify this condition, one is extensiveness and the other is intensiveness. If you compare the Calvinists of today to Calvin or to the Westminster Confession you find a change. The extent of depravity is pretty much the same. All aspects of man are touched by the fall including our mind, our emotion, our nature and our will. Where the change is most notable is in the intensity of the depravity of man. Calvin and the confessions hold that man is utterly depraved. He can do no good. Current writers go to great lengths to assure us that unsaved man can indeed do good.

If man's depravity was absolute, then society would have fallen apart long ago. This softening of the view of depravity opens the door to a discussion about where to draw the line. How depraved is man? What capacities remain in him to allow him to do good even though he is in a fallen state.

The Calvinists hold that fallen man is unable to make any move toward God. He is totally incapable of reaching out to God and His offer of Salvation. Man is only saved when God reaches out to those He has elected and regenerates them so that they might give assent to God. Even though man's depravity is not absolute as the modern apologists argue, man still requires God to initiate the process of salvation by regenerating that person so that they might believe. This view is scripturally awkward to me.

The Armenian view is that God provides a prevenient (preventing) grace that allows man to believe the Gospel message and thus be saved. Pressed too far the Armenian position opens itself to a semi-pilagian heresy where man is saved by a cooperation of effort between God and man.

The Biblical view is somewhat different. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In Christ God presents the truth propositionally with full knowledge that man can respond to that truth. John wrote his gospel in order that we might believe. He presents the truth rationally knowing that his hearers and readers could rationally process God's truth and make reasonable judgments about what was being said and taught. The Scripture makes clear that God's Spirit is an essential part of that process. God also arranges the circumstances of our lives to drive us to His feet. God is truly the "Hound of Heaven". Man was made in the image of God and that image was not destroyed at the fall. The extensiveness of the fall was severe, but the intensiveness was limited by God.

There exist orthodox and sound approaches to the concept of depravity that avoids the issues raised by hyper-Calvinism and by an overly humanized Armenianism. What is required is a refocus on the Scriptural models that are readily available.

Self-Consciousness and Christ Consciousness Part 2

www.ChristAsUs.com

Self-Consciousness and Christ Consiousness-Part 2

Norman P. Grubb

Here, then, we come back to our former consideration ---- the dual consciousness of Paul and all of us that, though made anew, with Christ as our life, we are conscious of two selves, our self and Himself: "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me"; because we are still members of a fallen, divided human community, the world of man. But the fact that we have human constitutions, human appetites and passions, human and corruptible bodies, and are immersed in all the human activities of this divided world, does not mean that we still have the fallen nature: it died with Christ; we have the human nature, and are not yet clothed with "the building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"; with a nature so completely unified that there will be no consciousness of separation, of good and evil, of temptation.

Our present privilege is to be God's redemptive agents, in every faculty and appetite responsive to our environment, for by us men God now offers His grace to men, even as by a Man He redeemed man; therefore, as humans among humans, we are as open as Jesus was through our human natures to all human enticements, as in our spirits to the drawings of the Spirit. As Paul tells us, we "walk in the flesh" (2Cor.10:3), but so far as our real life in the spirit is concerned, we "have crucified the flesh" (Gal. 5:24), and are "not in the flesh, but in the Spirit" (Rom.8:9), and do "not war after the flesh" (2Cor.10:3), and do not "mind the things of the flesh" (Rom.8:5). In other words, once again we are in the flesh, but not of it, in the world but not of it, and in self, but not of it.

Self-Consciousness and Christ Consciousness

A word from one of my favorite sites. www.ChristAsUs.com

Self-Consciousness and Christ Consciousness

Norman P. Grubb

We are desperately conscious of the two opposing principles of good and evil through all life. They confront us in human nature, in the business, political and social world. They give rise to the constant tensions among nations, races, classes, right down to our own family circles; They are the theme of ethics and religion. They come closest home to us in our own personal lives, the conflict of flesh and spirit, the interweaving of prosperity and adversity, joy and sorrow, friendship and enmity, justice and injustice, health and disease, kindness and cruelty, through the whole garment of life.

Now, though we are Christ's, we share in this divided world. We are part of it. We eat its food, partake in its activities, earn its money, taste of its sorrows and tragedies, and endure its temptations. Though one'd with Christ in spirit, we are still one with the world in body. Therefore, though new men in Christ, we still have a duality of consciousness: we have self-consciousness, world-consciousness, we are in the world (but not of it: John 17:13,16), in the flesh (but not of it: Gal.5:24), in self (but not of it: Gal.2:20). A great proportion of our waking hours must necessarily be spent in the affairs of this world, with Christ in the background rather than foreground of our consciousness. Sin only enters when we are consciously drawn into activities and attitudes which we know to be displeasing to Him. While we are in this divided world, we cannot have solely a Christ-consciousness. We must also have a self-consciousness: certainly it is the renewed self which knows how to maintain its abiding place: yet it is also a self-conscious self, responsive to all the stimuli of its environment, therefore as open to temptation fleshward as to Christ-control spiritward. It is still a case of "nevertheless I live", as well as, "yet not I, but Christ liveth in me".

The name God has given to humanity separated from Himself by the Fall - is "flesh" (Gen. 6:3). We are all flesh, Even the Savior, when He came to be among us, was "God manifested in the flesh". Not until the resurrection of the body, the final and complete state of unification with our ascended Head, can any member of the human race cease to be flesh. Flesh implies consciousness of separation from God, self-consciousness apart from Christ-consciousness. That does not necessarily mean something evil. Christ "in the days of His flesh" was conscious of his human self as apart from the Father with whom He was one (e.g.John 5:19).

It is not flesh, which is evil, but the lusts of the flesh. And even they are not evil unless they are permitted to reign instead of serve. Self-consciousness, flesh-consciousness, is the normal and essential prerequisite, as members of this fallen human race, to a continuous life of faith, for it compels us constantly to "look away" from our helpless selves unto Jesus (Heb.12:2): and as we do so, flesh then becomes the servant and manifestor of Spirit. But the moment we fail to look away, then flesh becomes an evil thing, natural "desires of flesh and mind" have us in their grip, and become dominating, discordant lusts, and we their slaves.

Dilusion

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:3-6)


We delude ourselves when we place our confidence in what we can do for God. Indeed disciples in Christ learn to pray, they read their Bibles, they enjoy digging into what Scripture can teach them, they minister to others and they are generous with their money and their spiritual gifts. But true disciples do not place any confidence in any of these activities, they place their confidence in Christ. They know that Christ will work in and through them in powerful ways and He will make them competent ministers of the new covenant.

The verses above are so rich and profound. As one commentator has said these verses are about life and death issues. The letter kills while the Spirit gives life. The letter in this context is the Law, the Law of Moses, God's moral law. Paul says that under the new covenant He is not a minister of the law (shockingly God's moral law), but of the Spirit. He is a minister of life.

When we impose expectations on ourselves for a certain standard of behavior we are subjecting ourselves to the law. We strive to meet the standard. If we succeed we become prideful, breaking God's moral law. If we fail, we condemn ourselves and strive all the more, never reaching a place where we feel competent to meet our own standards much less God's. But Paul speaks of the "confidence we have through Christ towards God." This is a confidence that God changes hearts. Verse three of this chapter in Corinthians reads: "And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. The Spirit of God is active in a believer changing their very character and motivation. Out of those changes come actions that please God and meet in every way His standards (including His moral law). Paul says that there is nothing coming from us that can please God, the only thing that pleases Him is what He produces in us. God and God alone is sufficient.

Are our churches ministers of the law or are they, like Paul, ministers of the Spirit? The last verses of the chapter read: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

What do you believe?

What is your theology? Do you just trust the Bible? Do you depend on what you see and hear at Church to inform you about God and theology? Does being a Christian depend on what you believe? There are a vast number of systems of theology in this country. Which one do you follow? Do you know what it is and what influences it has over your view of life and the world around you? What are the essentials of the Christian faith? What are the non-essentials? Is there any value in asking these questions in the first place?

Most of us don't pick our theology, we grow up in it. Our theology is just with us and envelopes us. It is a familiar blanket that keeps us warm and cozy. The blanket might have some holes in it, but that's OK, it is old and well used so it is entitled. How much of your theology is Christian and how much of it is simply the current philosophical trend of thought? Is the world shaping your theology? Are you comfortable with some of the conclusions that your theology draws?

The average Christian would never think to ask these questions. To many it would seem sacrilegious to do so. Others will defend their theological system to the death while at the same time hardly knowing its roots and its implications.

I have a love hate relationship with systematic theology. At some points the systems seem to capture truth about God and about man that is vital to know. At other times the theology comes to conclusions about us and God that simply don't line up with Scripture. God will not allow Himself to be contained in some intellectual box that man constructs about Him.

Jesus had a pretty simple approach. Come follow me. Who do you say I am? I came to die for you? I will pour out My Spirit upon you? I come to bring you abundant life. You will be one with me as I am one with the Father.

God has revealed Himself in Scriptures and He continues to reveal Himself to those who would follow Him. That reality for me stands above our systems of theology. Our theology is ever changing. Are we not reformers? God's truth does not change. The more our understanding of God aligns with His Truth, the stronger will be our Christian witness and our walk with Him. What we believe is important. Who we believe in is infinitely more important.

Truth is not of your own making. Truth is not a product of your own efforts or actions. Truth is not the product of consensus or community agreement. The notion that your truth is right for you and my truth is right for me is a lie. Any view of truth that is derived from self is an illusion. Such truth does not exist.

Truth is transcendent and discoverable. Truth exists. Truth is not of our making it is of God.
Jesus tells us that He is the way the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father but by Him. Simple truth. God's truth.

Is that a part of your theology? Is this a part of your world view? Do you live your life in total reliance on this being a statement of truth?

If you reject this truth, what is your basis for doing so? What is your standard? What is your authority for doing so? Ultimately a rejection of the truth is a rejection of Christ and an affirmation of self as the sole adjudicator of what is true.

A lot of what you experience at Church today has it backwards. The Church is often more a proponent of man's truth above God's truth. The sad part is that the lambs are too docile to ask the hard questions that are required to challenge their leaders and teachers.

During the Pope's visit I heard on several occasions form Catholic Fathers that there are many routs to God. Over and over again I hear from the TV Protestant pastors a message of human potential and effort which is a direct teaching of existentialism. We are so easily led astray.

Are you? What is it that you really know?

Christ in you the hope of glory.

επιγνωσις

επιγνωσις

What do you know? I don't mean what you have knowledge of, but what do you know that you know that you know?

We can learn certain facts. They are real to us. They have meaning and are useful. There exists other facts that become a part of us. They change the way we view the world. They change the way we react to circumstances in our lives. They become a part of who we are.

This is what the Greek word επιγνωσις [epignosis] means: to know intimately. It is the knowing between a husband and a wife.

What do you know that deeply? What have you learned in this world that has become deeply ingrained in who you are? There are things that are worth knowing this deeply. They are life changing. This site will explore these things.

Join us.