SPIRITUAL WARFARE: Holy headlocks and saintly slams!

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."

Ephesians 6:11-13

The Associated Press recently reported on a wrestling priest in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Sergio Gutierrez, with clerical collar, has been in the ring for 25 years. It’s true the bouts are staged but there’s still an occasional outbreak of real violence; Gutierrez has broken his nose, ribs, ankle, and arm.

Gutierrez is known in the ring as Fray Tormenta: Brother Storm. Proceeds help fund a 200-bed home for underprivileged boys Gutierrez opened some 15 years ago.

Brother Storm is training Manuel Ortega, another priest, to wrestle part-time to also raise more funds. Ortega holds a black belt in karate, which he earned before entering the priesthood.

Popular in low-income neighborhoods in Mexico, professional wrestling sometimes draws crowds upwards of 10,000. Fans see the matches as a kind of morality play: good versus evil. One of the priests’ major opponents, Damian, is a taunting, mocking wrestler with 666 on his forehead and flames around his eyes.

The real match, the one Paul calls “our battle”, is real and vicious warfare. Yet, the devil wants the Soldiers of the Cross to view it with the same earthly eyes as spectators at a Brother Storm match.

Satan’s greatest weapon is deception; if he can deceive large numbers of believers into viewing our battle as nothing more than religious extremism … well, the body of Christ would be no different than Adam and Eve in the beginning … “naked” and “afraid” [Genesis 3:10].

Christianity, Illustrations,
Religion, Spiritual warfare

MARRIAGE: Separation is not the answer!

"The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."

Genesis 2:22-24

John Wesley Powell is a name not well recognized today … he was the one-armed, Civil War hero-explorer of an American national treasure, The Grand Canyon and it's great Colorado River.

Something not well known by many people is a place Powell named “Separation Rapid.” This is where three men separated from the main party and attempted to walk out of the canyon by themselves.

What precipitated this separation? A major dilemma! The Powell party had earlier lost one of its four boats and over half their food to the river. The rapids they now faced were more menacing than anything they had previously encountered.

Normally they “portaged” (i.e., carried) their huge wooden boats around such difficulty, but here it was impossible. Two choices were available to the explorers: 1.) abandon the exploration and walk out, into uncharted and hostile territory; 2.) face their fears and plunge headlong into the rapids, trusting themselves to make it.

Three chose the former, while the seven remaining men chose the latter. To everyone’s surprise the rapids only had the appearance of omnipotence; within minutes they cleared “Separation Rapid,” unscathed and with all their provisions. The three separators were never heard from again.

Many times marriage presents seemingly impenetrable obstacles which in fact have only “the appearance of omnipotence.”

In many cases it is true that the couple cannot “portage” their marriage around the obstacle. However, facing their fears and forging ahead, trusting in the grace of God [Matthew 19:26; 2 Corinthians 12:9], may bring a Grand Canyon-like surprise. Taking the “separation” route in marriage is fraught with danger, many have taken it to their great detriment.

When couples come seeking my counsel I remind them a marriage is similar to a front lawn, right out there in the public’s eye: if it’s nurtured and maintained it will serve them all the days of their lives, even though some must periodically be cut nearly to the roots; if ignored, abused, or trampled on it will die.

Christianity, Illustrations,
Marriage, Religion

CREATION: “Ah ha!”

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Genesis 1:1

They call it the “Ah ha!” experience. Kathy Hummel, media and production director of the National Scrabble Association says, “It comes from creating something out of nothing, you stick your hand in a bag and pull out seven random letters and build words.” The game is known as Scrabble.

In the beginning, Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect from Poughkeepsie, NY, decided he wanted to create a new game. He analyzed many games and found they fell into three categories: number games, such as dice and bingo; move games, such as chess and checkers; and word games, such as anagrams.

Wanting to create a game which would use both chance and skill, Butts combined features of anagrams and crossword puzzles. First called Lexiko, the game was later called Criss Cross Words. To decide on a letter distribution, Butts calculated the letter frequency on the front page of The New York Times.

In the depths of the Depression, Butts and entrepreneur James Brunot rented an abandoned schoolhouse in Dodgington, Conn., and turned out twelve games an hour, stamping letters on the wooden tiles.

In 1949, Brunot made 2,400 sets and lost $450. Then in the early 1950s, as legend has it, the president of Macy's discovered Scrabble on vacation and ordered some for the store. Within a year, demand was higher than supply and Scrabble had to be rationed to stores. Recently, Hasbro began selling Scrabble on CD.

I doubt it would be good to call the creation an “Ah ha” experience but, “In the beginning God” also created something out of nothing [we call it ex nihilo; Romans 4:17]. However, I believe if you and I had been there it might fairly be called the “Oh, my!” experience.

God didn’t have to reach into a bag to do it, either; He simple spoke it into existence [Hebrews 11:3]. But He did have trouble selling the idea … and still does. You see saved-man lives by faith and not by sight [2 Corinthians 5:7], while the unsaved insist on “seeing is believing.”

Also in the beginning was the Word. Only this Word was not made up of seven letters, it was made up of the Son of God [John 1:14]. And no one had to go to the front page of anything to see which words should be used in composing His Word.

Christianity, Creation,
Illustrations, Religion

PARABLE: One bucket per person!

"Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, 'Behold, we are your servants.' But Joseph said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.'"

Genesis 50:18-20

I had been told my work would end, just as the others’ would end, when the canyon was emptied … or when I died, whichever comes first. Ages ago, during an extremely violent natural disaster, the canyon had been filled with rubbish and debris. The owner had a special place in his heart for this canyon and wanted it cleared.

One bucket of refuse was removed by each of the owner’s servants each day. When the canyon was empty all our labors would end. In the early days, my bucket was not too difficult to carry, it didn’t seem so much to take just one bucket of trash out of the canyon each day.

After months of load bearing, I noticed the canyon wasn’t emptying very quickly; it was then my bucket began to grow heavier each day. And it was then I began to grumble, reflecting often on my initial, though foolish, optimism.

I now began to wonder if the others, those who carried their loads out before and after me, were just slackers, pretending to carry a bucket of waste each day. Or perhaps they found a way to get out of doing the work altogether. Maybe, I thought, the owner has favorites, or shows favoritism.

One day I complained loud and long until one of the owner’s assistants arrived to see what all the commotion was about. After listening patiently and carefully, the assistant agreed to take the issue up with the owner.

The next day the assistant returned just as I was about to go out for my daily bucket of litter. “Follow me, we’ll get you another bucket.” He said. Soon we entered an equipment yard where buckets of every kind, large and small, were scattered about.
In the middle of the yard was one tremendous bucket. “Whose is that?” I inquired.

“Oh, that one belongs to the owner,” the assistant said. “Every day he carries one bucket of trash just like the rest of you.”

“What about those other buckets? The really big ones?” I asked. “Those belong to the owner’s special assistants. The largest red one is mine.” He responded.

It was then I saw a small bucket, over in a corner. My mind instantly grasped the significance of this small bucket. If I had the smallest, I would never have to worry about others carrying less junk than me. “I’ll take that one! It’s perfect.” I exclaimed.

“That’s interesting,” the assistant said. “Why?” I asked curiously. “Because that’s the the one you came in with!” The assistant said softly.

So you think your burdens are too heavy? The Lord’s is heavier! You think others are slackers? Perhaps their burden is enormous compared to yours! You think you’re asked to do too much? Perhaps you’re not asked to do enough! Perhaps you think you’re one of God’s special agents! Perhaps you’re not so special at all! Perhaps you’re load is right where it ought to be!

Christianity, Illustrations,
Parable, Religion, Submission

FLOOD - Don't ever do that again!

DIVINELY HIDDEN SPIGOTS! [Genesis chapters 5-8; Other topics - judgment]

A few years ago, Scientists researching ice flows in the Whitmore Mountains of West Antarctica discovered an active volcano under mile thick ice. Ice melt from the volcano’s heat is evidently soaking the surrounding ground and lubricating nearby ice streams. These phenomena led to the volcano’s discovery.

The West Antarctica ice sheets are of critical importance to oceanic research … you see its base is below sea level, the only one of its kind, making it intrinsically perilous. Global sea levels would increase by as much as 20 feet were the ice sheet to collapse.

Science is a two-edged neighbor of biblical truth: on the one hand, its discoveries and theories often cause the questioning of Scripture; on the other hand, it continues to reveal secrets which provide plausible insights into events buried in the dust of the ages.

For the sake of discussion, let’s say not only do the ice sheets of South Pole collapse but those of the north melt as well. If one sheet can raise the sea level an average 20 feet, how much might the content of dozens?

Biblically speaking, the Great Flood did not take place in this way but it certainly allows one to see the possibility of the flood actually happening … a thing I don’t doubt, with or without the revelations of science.

Prophecy

A BRUISED HEAD CRUSHES NO MORE! [Genesis 3:15; other topics - Good News; Protevangelium; Satan]

Recently a South African newspaper reported a man escaped the crushing grip of a python by biting it. He told reporters, “I decided the only way to save myself from this monster was to bite it just below the head.”

This man must have read Genesis 3:15, subconsciously imitating the Lord.

APOLOGETICS - I'm sorry but your wrong!

CONFUSING, ISN’T IT? [Genesis 11:1 & 9; Babel]

Back in 1993, the Trenton Times carried a story of “a 46-year-old Massachusetts man who walked away from a car accident with an unexpected problem: He spoke with a French accent.” This, they reported, is an example of “a rare neurological problem” known as Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a brain disorder caused by sudden head trauma. The phenomena has been documented “about two dozen times since 1907,” the article continued. [Parade, January 2, 1994]

Isn’t it amazing that the one field of study which continuously and persistently ridicules the faith of Jews and Christians is the same group which discovers and reports on phenomena (such as FAS) which tend to cast light upon the biblical stage? The Bible first says, “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” Shortly thereafter, it says, “Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth.”

MORE THAN A FOOTPRINT! [Isaiah 7:14; advent (both), Christmas, creation, signs (as in seekers of signs)]

Sometime ago someone shared with me that Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe needed just a single footprint in the sand to convince him: 1) that a two-footed human inhabited the island with him, 2) of the direction in which that inhabitant was going, 3) that the inhabitant had come from the opposite direction, 5) that the inhabitant was a man, 6) that he was alive, and 7) that he had recently passed this way.

The Creation as well as Christ's First Advent and His soon Second Coming have more evidence than this ... still, man insists on more evidence. Norman Geisler, a great Christian apologist, was right: "Many people suffer from a terminal case of unfalsifiable bias against the truth."


WHAT A FRIEND I HAVE! [Psalm 119; bible, scripture, word]

I’ve a friend (we’ll call him Jude) who’s been acquainted with another friend of mine (we’ll call him Ward) for about five years. In fact Ward has been my best friend for over twenty years.

Jude talks to me about Ward: he says there’re many things he likes about him but, bottom-line, he couldn’t be trusted. I asked him to explain why. He gave a few vague references to some negative things he had heard from other friends. He also mentioned a few mistakes Ward was supposed to have made which these other people had seen or heard about. I told Jude I didn’t think any of these accusations had any substance. But he countered, “Why would my friends lie to me?”

I also reminded Jude that I’ve known Ward for over twenty years and that he’s never let me down. I explained I’d never known him to be in error about anything unless it was a misunderstanding. I did admit some things he’d said had the appearance of error but they were apparent only. I added I had other friends and acquaintances who had know Ward all their lives and their testimony concerning him was matchless. Jude responded that I felt that way because I’d grown too close to him. He said he preferred to be more cautious.

I challenged him to join me with Ward and go over his concerns, taking them one by one to see what he would say about each of them. “No thanks,” Jude said. “You know Ward, you can make him say anything you want him to say.”

No matter how I reasoned with Jude, I couldn’t get him to see that he possessed a bias against truth which was unfalsifiable.

Many people are very much like my friend Jude, in their approach (or lack thereof) to the Word of God. No matter how you approach them, they are more convinced by rumors, myths, half-truths, and lies … after all, why would anyone lie to them about something as serious as the Bible?

MARRIAGE - Two rivers come together as one!

BILLBOARD WEDLOCK [Mark 10:2-9]

A Pennsylvania bride-to-be coveted an elaborate, therefore expensive wedding. But her want exceeded her supply. So she and her fiancée decided to get some help paying for the fancy affair. The couple decided to sell advertising. They offered various space on their invitations and as well as displays at the ceremony itself ... instead of saying, “I do,” the bride said, “Did somebody say McDonalds?”

Divorce is a major problem for the church; the divorce rate among Christians (in Western, developed nations) is tracking that of the non-Christian world. With this we know for certain the institution of marriage is in big trouble. Marriage is not respected as it once was; it has become a fashionable but temporary convenience for many.

A parallel problem is the intrusion of the world into the church. One would expect the world to conceive of advertising at a marriage ceremony but who would anticipate a man of God performing such a service while invoking the name of God?

[The Sacramento Bee, 18 August 1999]


TAKE A SEAT! [Genesis 2:24; other topics - love; relationships, renewal] (added 28 January 2006)

Rebecca was looking through the family photo album with her grandmother, she was fascinated with the sepia-style pictures and old-fashioned clothing. As she leafed through the pages, her grandmother identified various family members and friends.

Rebecca noticed there were no photographs of her grandparents standing together, they were always seated. When she asked why this was, her grandmother explained, "I was six inches taller than your grandfather and he was sensitive about it.

"Grandma," Rebecca asked, "how could you have fallen in love with a man six inches shorter than you?" "Honey," she said, "we fell in love sitting down, and when I stood up, it was too late."

Rebecca's grandmother instinctively pointed out a fact relative to romance and marriage: we really do fall in love sitting down. In other words, early in a relationship, it is easy to overlook our partner's shortcomings.

If, in your current relationship, you and your partner are figuratively standing up, you probably don't recall the things you regarded as important when you first fell in love, things you now take for granted. This is probably true of the relationship as well. So, why not just sit down? You never meant to drift apart, it just happened.

Day boaters on the Niagara River, above the famous honeymoon falls, are warned -- there is a point of no return. There is a point on the river, beyond which, you will be swept over the falls. You won’t be able to recover your course. In marriage, the same is true. What are you waiting for, the point of no return?

If you and your partner are standing and the things which divide you are more apparent than the things which bring you together, sit down and reflect on what brought you together.

[Adapted from “The Duet” by David Sisler in Agape Press, February 7, 2002]

PRIDE: First sin in the Garden!

THE PARABLE OF THE WHALE! [Proverbs 16:18]

Remember, it's when a whale surfaces that it gets harpooned. Whales blow to clear their air passage of water in order to replenish their air supply.

Man doesn’t blow to get air; he blows to get attention. So, beware, if you plan to rise to the top in order to blow your horn, keep the parable of the whale in mind … that’s when you’re most likely to get harpooned.

[Neil Anderson (Practical Theology class notes); edited for publication]

Modern Man - Same Old Problem [Genesis 2:7 (11:6)]

Edie Lau, Science Writer at the Sacramento Bee, writes, “The cute and healthy-looking ones get names such as Dolly, Amy, Betty and Daisy. They get their pictures taken. But for every good-looking lamb and calf conceived in a laboratory dish, a confounding number of animals come out oversized or malformed or aren’t born at all.”

What is Lau talking about? He's talking about cloned animals. The problem is so tenacious in “artificially reproduced and genetically engineered animals that some scientists are devoting their full attention to what they call Large Offspring Syndrome.”

Lorraine Young, a research scientist at the Roslin Institute, said, “I think at the moment, (the syndrome) is the norm.”

Nowadays, animal cloning is not as impressive as it once was; chances of producing healthy young from cloning and other reproductive techniques involving genetic orchestration is quite low, ten percent at best. Scientists want to know: Why doesn’t it work more often?

Lau quotes Dr. Torben Greve, a veterinary researcher in reproduction at the Royal Veterinary Agricultural University in Denmark, “The prospect of hidden health problems troubles [me].”

Greve says, “The main problem ... is the subtle differences that nobody wants to admit to. What if life expectancy is changed?”

In discussing in vitro fertilization, the scientists note that the same technique has been used for 21 years to assist humans to conceive, with no obvious ill effects in their babies. They ask, “What is the difference?”

“It’s extremely curious,” remarked Young, noting that mice also seem not to experience the syndrome. “We don’t understand that yet. .... [But] just because it hasn’t happened in people doesn’t mean it won’t,” Young lamented. ”I would feel happier knowing (the cause),” she said.

Young said scientists believe “imprint genes” from the male promote growth because it’s in the father’s best interest to have the biggest and strongest babies. The mother’s interest, on the other hand, is best served by limiting womb damage so she can bear several babies, so her genes limit growth.

Somehow, so the theory goes, manipulations external to the body topples the balancing act. If true, Young says, the challenge will be to identify the factors controlling these genes. “I don’t think (the problem of abnormal offspring) has to be the norm,” she said. “We think we can improve it.”

Man always thinks he can improve on it: he continues to build his Towers of Babel, when what he really needs is the Ark of the Lord. Man, it seems, will go on and on trying to elevate himself to the same level of God; if that doesn’t work he will try to pull God down to his level.

As they said, “It is in the Father’s best interest.” [Adapted from “Dark side of cloning perplexes scientists,” The Sacramento Bee; Aug. 18, 1999]

Christianity, Illustration,
Pride, Religion