A restless evil, full of deadly poison

I had a conversation a few years ago with my friend who is involved in Youth Ministry. Her youth group was struggling with how to love their gay friends. The problem as they saw it was "If we love them then when are condoning what they are doing. If we don't support them, then we obviously don't love them." It was a problem that we spoke about and came to the conclusion that God would want us to show our friends love, through our actions and words, even when we can't support their actions. 

Today, I have found myself sickened by the retorts of "Christians" bashing a Bishop in Sweden. After I wrote my first response which was simply "Remember John 3:16, WHOSOEVER" I went to town and completed my errands. While I was out, I shot off a few short prayers about how to handle this situation. In my soul, I felt God whisper, "Until she has a real experience with Me, I won't be real to her." After a stop at the library, I shot off another short prayer and this time I felt the spirit say "Until your last breathe, I can save you." 

When I got home, I was reading the responses and I was being attacked, left and right. I even said "Maybe she's never had a real encounter with God; but He could change her." and "Until she breathes her last, she can be saved." Immediately someone named Edmond Greer went to my Facebook page and said "Oh, I get it now...you're a crossover." I knew full well what he meant, but I wanted to see him write it out. Evidently I was born a man...something that was news to me, because my official birth certificate says I was born a girl. 

Friends, your words matter. According to Dr. Mark Pagel, Language provides the rails on which thoughts ride. The words we use — and how we use them — matter immensely because they shape the way we perceive the world and participate within it.

Chris Hazell states "As Christians, we try daily to use our words with care and to cultivate understanding. But still, we fall short." As a matter of fact, James 1:24 says "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless." Proverbs 18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits."

Are you scaring people away from God with your words? 

Ephesians 4:29 urges us to "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

Job 6:24-25 states "“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray. How forceful are upright words! But what does reproof from you reprove?" 

When it comes to my Homosexual friends, I want everyone to know that as a Christian, I believe that every individual is made in God's image: "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27). This means that everybody is loved by God and has innate dignity and worth as a human being. And when the time comes to answer the question "Is it possible to believe in Jesus and be a homosexual at the same time?" The answer, as I see it, is both yes and no. I take the view that there's an important difference between feeling gay and acting on those feelings. As with any form of sinful behavior, the transgression comes not in being tempted, but in willfully engaging in activity that is contrary to God's law. So yes – you can be a Christian and struggle with homosexual tendencies at the same time; but no – you can't be a faithful, obedient Christian while willingly involving yourself in homosexual acts. Anybody who seriously desires to follow Jesus Christ needs to make it his or her goal to abstain from sexual practices that the Bible clearly identifies as sinful.

Now, before all of my LGBTQA+ friends get angry, I want to go a bit deeper; the great mystery of the Christian life is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). Not alongside you, not over you, but in you. This is the deeper reason why a practicing homosexual cannot be a practicing Christian. The same would go for any human being engaged in any sexual sin; just as Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!" (1 Corinthians 6:15). When we accept Christ as Savior, we also make a decision to live the way He wants us to live – righteously by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Death of Discernment and The Shack

"Don't you dare put my God in a box!" "God can be anything and do anything...including a woman named Papa." "God is greater than you know, and everyone will be saved!" 

These are just some of the things that people often tell me when we discuss The Shack. If you don't know the story of "The Shack" let me provide you with Amazon's description: 

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of what he refers to as 'The Great Sadness,' Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant 'The Shack' wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" However, as Eric Barger points out in his video The Shack, the Death of Discernment, we need to examine EVERYTHING that claims to be a message from God. Friends, even mature Christians are being deceived by this movie/book.  Paul tells Timothy that this is coming. Check out 2 Timothy 3:1-7  But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.  In 2 Timothy 4:1-8 he goes on to say  I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.  6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.  How many Christians, can truly say this? How many will be able to say that they will receive a crown of righteousness? Today I see so many Christians turning and listening to every wind of doctrine, many so much so they that they have no training in apologetics, which in a lot of ways isn't their fault because the church has greatly ceased teaching discipleship and landed on the repetitive "GET SAVED, GET SAVED, GET SAVED" message. While there is nothing innately wrong with this message, something has to come after "Getting Saved!" Otherwise, how do we grow?  This is where apologetics comes in and really apologetics is a big seminary word that means "Defend your faith!" If the church isn't discipling people we aren't teaching them to defend their faith! When I was in elementary school, I was pegged to play the "Center Guard"--evidently there was something good about being 5'11" in 5th grade. Yet, I didn't really know what that position did. My coach would say "Defend the goal." Okay, but how? I wasn't being trained on how to defend anything. Faith is like that too, if you aren't trained in defending your faith, then when the time comes to use discernment, you really don't know what to do.  What is discernment? Simply put discernment means "perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding." In other words, to judge something and see if it lines up with scripture.  What teachings don't line up with scripture in The Shack? I can name at least 13 teachings that do not line up with scripture in the Shack as well as some things that are said by "Papa" that don't line up with scripture. So let's start with the 13 heresies.  1. God the Father was crucified with Jesus. Because God’s eyes are pure and cannot look upon sin, the Bible says that God would not look upon His own beloved Son as He hung on the Cross, carrying our sins (Habakkuk 1:13; Matthew 27:45). 2. God is limited by His love and cannot practice justice. The Bible declares that God’s love and His justice are two sides of the same coin – equally a part of the personality and the character of God (Isaiah 61:8; Hosea 2:19). 3. On the Cross, God forgave all of humanity, whether they repent or not. Some choose a relationship with Him, but He forgives them all regardless. Jesus explained that only those who come to Him will be saved (John 14:6). 4. Hierarchical structures, whether they are in the Church or in the government, are evil. Our God is a God of order (Job 25:2). 5. God will never judge people for their sins. The Word of God repeatedly invites people to escape from the judgment of God by believing in Jesus Christ, His Son (Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 4:1-3). 6. There is not a hierarchical structure in the Godhead, just a circle of unity. The Bible says that Jesus submitted to the will of the Father. This doesn’t mean that one Person is higher or better than the other; just unique. Jesus said, “I came to do the will of Him who sent me. I am here to obey my Father.” Jesus also said, “I will send you the Holy Spirit” (John 4:34, 6:44, 14:26, 15:26). 7. God submits to human wishes and choices. Far from God submitting to us, Jesus said, “Narrow is the way that leads to eternal life.” We are to submit to Him in all things, for His glory and because of what He has accomplished for us (Matthew 7:13-15). 8. Justice will never take place because of love. The Bible teaches that when God’s love is rejected, and when the offer of salvation and forgiveness is rejected, justice must take place or God has sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for nothing (Matthew 12:20; Romans 3:25-26). 9. There is no such a thing as eternal judgment or torment in hell. Jesus’ own description of hell is vivid. It cannot be denied (Luke 12:5, 16:23). 10. Jesus is walking with all people in their different journeys to God, and it doesn’t matter which way you get to Him. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one will come to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). 11. Jesus is constantly being transformed along with us. Jesus, who dwells in the splendor of heaven, sits at the right hand of God, reigning and ruling the universe. The Bible says, “In Him there is no change, for He is yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 11:12, 13:8; James1:17). 12. There is no need for faith or reconciliation with God because everyone will make it to heaven. Jesus said, “Only those who believe in me will have eternal life” (John 3:15, 3:36, 5:24, 6:40). 13. The Bible is not true because it reduces God to paper. The Bible is God-breathed. Sure, there were many men through 1,800 years who put pen to paper (so to speak), each from different professions and different backgrounds, but the Holy Spirit infused their work with God’s words. These men were writing the same message from Genesis to Revelation. If you want to read more about the place of Christ in the Scripture, read “We Preach Christ” (2 Timothy 3:16). If this doesn't worry you, maybe the 21 statements made by "Papa" will.  “The first aspect of God is never that of the absolute Master, the Almighty. It is that of the God who puts himself on our human level and limits himself” (from p. 88).This statement, to say the least, is over stated. God has revealed himself both as being Almighty, as transcendent, as beyond us in omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. Yet he also is One who desires a deep relationship with his people, as being immanent or close to them. “When we three spoke ourself into human existence as the Son of God, we became fully human” (99).While this statement reflects knowledge of the Trinity, it represents serious, even heretical distortion. Only the Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate. Jesus and the Father are one in nature or essence (John 10:10; Hebrews 1:1-3) but only Jesus became a human person. Throughout his life he submitted himself to do the will of the Father as a distinct person of the Godhead who had not become incarnate, as even the Lord’s prayer recognizes (Matthew 6:9-13; see also Hebrews 10:5-10). As Jesus faced the greatest challenge of his human existence, his death for sinners, he committed himself in the Garden of Gethsemane to do the Father’s will (Matthew 26:36-45). Finally, Paul the Apostle asserts that all the fullness of deity abides in Jesus in a bodily form (Colossians 2:9). And in 1 Timothy 2:5-6 the distinctive natures of the Father and Son are delineated: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” Jesus Christ is the perfect bridge between God and human beings because he alone has two natures—divine and human, with the latter being acquired at his nativity. While there is much beyond human comprehension in understanding the Trinity, nowhere in all of Scripture is it ever said that the entire Trinity became human. The movie, “The Shack,” is extremely deceitful here regarding the Trinity (see BDS, chap. 2). “Although Jesus is fully God, he has never drawn upon his nature as God to do anything” (99-100).Yet on rare occasions Jesus did manifest himself as equal with God. Note that he could pronounce that someone’s sins were forgiven, which only God can do (Mark 2:5-7). He was self-consciousness that he is God (John 10:30). He proclaimed himself to be divine (Matthew 26:63-65). His death was both human and divine in the sense that he died as a human being dies but in that he died for the sins of all humankind he did a divine act (BDS, chap. 2). “God cannot act apart from love” (102).Again this is an over statement and misrepresents God’s true nature. While love is always a constant in God’s nature, and The Shack contributes to our understanding of God as love, the Bible asserts that holiness too (Leviticus 19:2) and righteousness (several times mentioned in Romans 3:21-26) are equally and perfectly eternal attributes of God. Both love and righteousness/justice are found mentioned together in many places: Exodus 34:6-7; Psalm 45). Thus God always acts in both love and holiness. Since Paul Young later says things which limit God’s holiness or justice, his statement here is a distortion of who God is. But it is in line with the basic tenet of UR that God’s justice and holiness are trumped by his love (BDS, chap. 2). The Father, the Spirit, and Jesus were together at the cross and together were crucified (95-96, 102, 222).This teaching clearly constitutes heresy. While the Trinity was indeed present at the cross, and Jesus never ceased to be God and One of the Trinity, yet Jesus alone became human and he alone made the sacrifice of atonement for sin. While the divine nature of the Trinity is the same for all persons in the Trinity, different persons in the Godhead have differing roles. Countless Scriptures make this clear—that God the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world (among many, note John 3:16; Romans 3:21-25-26; note again the Biblical texts cited under #2 above). Indeed, the prophecy of the death of Jesus, found in Isaiah 53, reveals the role of the Father as the One who brings forth the sacrifice of Jesus (almost every verse in this great text affirms this truth). God planned the sacrifice of Jesus, and Jesus was the One sacrificed (BDS, chap. 2). God says: “I am not who you think I am” (120).The next point (#7) is in the immediate context where this statement is made. It is Papa’s reply to Mac when he asks whether God is a God of wrath and punishes sin. It follows a discussion in earlier pages (107ff.) where holiness and love are discussed. In light of the following chapters in the novel and scenes in the film, the words are meant to portray God to be supremely love, that he doesn’t judge people in hell, that all are his children. Thus this statement, as other reviewers have also recognized, is the bedrock of the whole story of The Shack. Paul Young is seeking to redefine God as UR consistently does. All of God’s other attributes are subjected to his attribute of love. Yet this redefinition of God destroys God as revealed in the Bible where all his attributes, including love and holiness and righteousness, are in perfect balance, are equal, and are in harmony. Indeed, the Apostle John, who expands the direct speech of Jesus in John 3, describes God who out of love gave his special Son to give eternal life to those who believe (v. 16), also describes God as the God of wrath for unbelievers (v. 36) (BDS, chaps. 3-4). “I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it” (120).This statement is in the context of #6 above. While this statement is true it is not the complete truth. It ignores the fact that people are born in sin and commit sins. The Bible says that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The consequences, the wages, of sin is death for everyone who has not accepted the gift of forgiveness and eternal life found in believing in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). God punished sin when Jesus took the punishment we deserve and bore this in his death on the cross. (BDS, chap. 4). In a “circle of relationship” involving God and people there is no authority, no hierarchy, and no submission (122-124).Yet Jesus claimed that all authority over all creation belonged to him and he commands his followers to obey him (Matthew 28:19-20). While Jesus calls them brothers (Hebrews 2:10-18) and friends (John 15:14-15), in the New Testament his followers never call Jesus by these titles. Jesus also is teacher and Lord to his followers (John 14:13; Colossians 2:6ff.; Romans 10:9-10). Jesus said that our obedience to him proves our love for him and becomes our source of joy (John 14:15-24; 15:9-17). In many other ways this definition of relationship is false. All pure relationships ultimately betray people and are doomed to failure. Relationships require structure in order to have a stabilizing and positive influence on culture. Finally, the Apostles themselves identify subversives in their day as those who “reject authority” (Galatians 2:4; Jude 8). They pray that God be given glory and authority through Jesus Christ (Jude 25) (see BDS, chap. 5 where I note the failures of a “pure relationship”). God cannot send any of his children to an eternity of hell just because they sin against him (162).This is a summary of what Papa says in several conversations. The problem with this belief is threefold. First, it obscures who his children are. Because all people have been created by God all people can be labelled “God’s children” or “offspring” in a general sense. The Apostle Paul does this in Acts 17:26-28. But in a more exact sense only those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ are God’s children. Again this is why Paul insists that those who are God’s children in a general sense must repent and believe in Christ who has been raised from the dead: Acts 17:29-32. They believe that Jesus Christ has taken their sin and for them paid the penalty of eternal death. The rest of humanity will experience an eternity in hell. Second, it is the sin of refusing to believe in Jesus that condemns people to an eternity of judgment in hell (John 3:16-18, 36). Jesus himself said that unless a person is born again—spiritually reborn—he cannot see, will not enter, God’s kingdom (John 3:3-8).  Finally, hell must exist and be everlasting if heaven exists and is everlasting. See BDS, chap. 9. “Your understanding of God is wrong.” I’m not one who will “condemn most to an eternity of torment” (162-164).This is typical universalist thinking. It goes to the heart of who God is and what he does. UR redefines God. UR believes that the attribute of God’s love trumps his attributes of justice and holiness.  By such reasoning God cannot condemn anyone to hell but must rescue all humanity and even the fallen angels from an eternity of judgment. If people don’t believe the gospel about salvation in Jesus before they die they will repent in hell by means of the corrective (not punishing) fires of hell. Yet such teaching effectively destroys who God is—one perfect and complete in all his attributes. And Jesus spoke clearly that there are only two destinies: “eternal life” for his people, who serve him; and “eternal punishment” for those who reject him (Matthew 25:46) (BDS, chap. 9). A major fault with UR is that while it sounds reasonable to human thinking it violates Biblical teaching (=God’s thinking). God loves all his children the same, equally, and “perfectly,” but “differently” (154-163).As pointed out above under #9 not all people are God’s children in the sense that they belong to him on the basis of faith (=the only basis). The Bible says: “To all who received him (=Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13) (BDS, chap. 9). “Mercy triumphs over justice because of love” (164).This is probably the most central affirmation that universalists make about the actions of God. For them it explains why hell cannot be forever, why God cannot punish sin, why God does not judge, and several other statements in the present list. It is close to a quotation of James 2:13 but is actually a misquote and misinterpretation. Young adds the words, “because of love” (not in the verse) and uses these words to explain God’s actions when in the context James is describing what people should do—they should be impartial and not judge their neighbors. Indeed, Young omits the first part of the verse that actually affirms God’s judgment (something which universalists deny): “For judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy.” God will judge believers for showing partiality (note verses 8-11). (BDS, chap. 9) “Judgment is not about destruction but about setting things right” (169).These words are an exact quote of what the early church father, Origen, a universalist, said in the third century. They contradict Jesus’ words that the broad way leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13); and the apostles spoke of the destruction of the wicked (Romans 9:22; Philippians 3:19; 1 Thesssalonians 5:3; 2 Thessal. 1:9; 2 Peter 2:1; 3:16). In Romans 8:1 Paul said that there is “now no condemnation [=judgment] to those who are in Christ Jesus.” The implication is that those who are not in Christ are under judgment already (BDS, chap. 9). “Every human institution is the matrix, a diabolical scheme” (122-124).Yet the Bible teaches that God created the institutions of marriage (Genesis 2; Ephesians 5), the government (Romans 13:1-7), and the church (Matthew 16:16-19: it is “his” church). It is a false dichotomy to oppose relationships to institutions. Without institutions there cannot be lasting, meaningful relationships, but “every person will do what is right in his own eyes” (BDS, chap. 6). “I don’t create institutions—never have, never will.” The institutions of the church, government and marriage are the “man-created trinity of terrors that ravages the earth and deceives those I care about. It’s all false” (179).Clearly again this is universalist thinking. Throughout its history the proponents of UR have opposed the evangelical, Christian church as an obstacle to their success. As stated above under #14, God created the three institutions as part of his wonderful plan to bring light to the nations and to stabilize society and relationships. These institutions preserve culture and needful structures. Without these the world would collapse into darkness under the sway of anarchy foisted on the world by Satan, the prince (John 14:30) and god (2 Corinthians 4:4) of this world. Because Young falsifies and opposes the three necessary institutions as “a trinity of terrors” he is an anarchist, terrorist, and demonic. See a fuller defense of these institutions in BDS, chap. 10. About all people Jesus says: “I have no desire to make them Christians” (182).Again, UR thinking wants to distance itself from Biblical Christianity and thus makes this silly argument. It is true that Jesus never used the word “Christian.” It first comes into play after Jesus ascended and returned to heaven. In Acts 11:26 the disciples, the believers in Christ at Antioch, are first identified as Christians. But it is Jesus’ desire to make disciples from all nations and he commands his followers to do so and to baptize them in the name of the Trinity (Matthew 28:19-20). Disciples and Christians are one and the same group (see further in BDS, chap. 10). “I am now fully reconciled to the world. . . . It’s not the nature of love to force a relationship but it is the nature of love to open the way” (192).Reconciliation means that God has taken the initiative to make peace with sinners. It’s one of the great doctrines of the Bible. But while God has made reconciliation available for all, he has not reconciled anyone until a person believes. Without faith a person remains alienated from God and an enemy (Colossians 1:20-23). Indeed the world hated Jesus and his disciples before and after the cross (John 15:18-16:4). If UR “opens a way” by which the will of some not to believe is voided, how then is this belief not “forcing a relationship” and thus contrary to love (BDS, chap. 11)? See #20 below. God has opened “a path of reconciliation” (222).Again, the Biblical truth is that only believers in Christ are on this path of peace with God. Faith is the condition. People must be “in Christ.” Otherwise, people are on the path to destruction (2 Corinthians 5:17-21; and Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:13-14). Note that the words above are “a path” instead of “the path.” Universalists don’t want to exclude anyone from a destiny with a loving God; they want to include all. They don’t like Jesus’ exclusive claim in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I devote two entire chapters to the Biblical word “reconciliation” and what it means, in BDS, chaps. 11-12. The Holy Spirit says: “I have a great fondness for uncertainty” (203).While we can appreciate the mystery surrounding how the Holy Spirit works we can be sure of one thing: the Spirit, Jesus said, will never speak independently but will speak and lead in accord with what Jesus has said and says (John 16:12-15). The Bible makes it clear that the Spirit must be in agreement with our Lord’s teaching—in accord with the truth (1 John 2:21-22, 26-27). If Jesus spoke of the certainty of eternal judgment and eternal life (so Matthew 7:13-14; 25:41) the Spirit cannot and will not contradict this—or breed uncertainty about Jesus’ teaching. One thing of which believers can be certain is the Spirit’s witness to them that they belong to God. He assures us of our salvation (Romans 8:13-16). False, subversive teachers do not have the Spirit (Jude 19 says) (BDS, chap. 13). “For you to forgive this man (the murderer) is for you to release him to me and allow me to redeem him. . . . He too is my son. I want to redeem him” (224).Here the issues of forgiveness, redemption, and sonship are deeply intertwined. It is necessary that Christians forgive those who harm them. But the relationship of being a son or child of God in the narrow sense (see # 9 and 11 above) is reserved only for those who repent (confess that they are sinners; Romans 10:9-10), believe in Jesus Christ and receive him as their Savior (John 1:12). Finally, God’s desire to save or redeem anyone (as 1 Timothy 2:4 expresses it) cannot be accomplished unless that person wishes to be saved. It is here that UR becomes extremely deterministic. It teaches that in the end God overrides a human being’s will not to believe before death to bring one to salvation after death. UR teaches that God voids human will. “In Jesus, I have forgiven all humans for their sins against me, but only some choose relationship” (225).The Bible teaches that being forgiven by God is to enter relationship with him. Young’s failure to mention faith as the only means whereby one is saved from the judgment for sin (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16) and receives both forgiveness and relationship with God is really the face of non-loving. It is like a scientist withholding the key to a box containing the antidote for a worldwide plague. Universalists doom all humanity to eternal separation and death. Friends, there is no universal salvation for people, you either call upon Jesus as your savior or you don't. As Mandisa says in her song Dear John "The Father is waiting with open arms, but you get to choose." You can choose heaven or hell, life everlasting or death. You can choose to think I am a quack or heed my words to learn more and to challenge yourself. However, I urge you to take a HARD look at Scripture and compare it to what The Shack actually teaches, and I promise you won't see the secular teachings of William P. Young in the Bible.

Dreams Do Come True...Even in the Form of a Form Letter

Dreams come true, even in the form of a form letter. All my life, I have wanted to meet the Queen of England. I know it’s a weird dream for a young American girl. Most people want to meet the President or a Hollywood star. Not me, I was a nerd, I loved British history, I could name all the kings and queens of England from William I (William the Conqueror) to Elizabeth II…and still can: 

Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee,

Harry, Dick, John, Harry three;

One, two, three Neds, Richard two

Harrys four, five, six... then who?

Edwards four, five, Dick the bad,

Harrys twain and Ned the Lad;

Mary, Bessie, James the Vain,

Charlie, Charlie, James again...

William and Mary, Anna Gloria,

Four Georges, William and Victoria;

Edward seven next, and then

George the fifth in 1910;

Ned the eighth soon abdicated

Then George the sixth was coronated;

After which Elizabeth

And that's the end until her death.

I loved learning about the American War for Independence; to me the bagpipe was the sound of heaven on earth and the Highland games were as close to Scotland as I would ever get in m life. I had a vocabulary that my friends in the UK understood, but usually got me fussed at by my parents. 

When I was 8 years old, I wrote a letter to the Queen (but never mailed it). I remember one of the lines I wrote was “I would very much like to meet you, but I know it will be God’s will if that is to happen.” As I have gotten older, the Queen has also gotten older. I mourned the death of Elizabeth the Queen’s Mother, and the Queen’s sister, Margaret, as well as Diana, the Princess of Wales.

Over the years, despite my unique likes and interests I have found many friends with the same interests. However, despite that I have always felt like a loser. When I couldn’t handle middle school due to bullies, my family homeschooled me and when I would spend days in a row at the library usually studying and reading—one employee would often ask “Doesn’t she need to be in school?” And even called the truancy officer against me. Yet I made it through High School and graduate in 1998, but when I went to college, I attended Mitchell Community College. I wasn’t good at math or writing—and ended up taking remedial classes. When I took algebra, my teacher called my mom and said “Please tell her to drop the class, she won’t pass.” When I decided to take a science class and luckily for me, my teacher would come to school early to help me understand what we were learning. Yet that didn’t fulfill me. 

I went to photography school and after I graduated digital photography took over and everything that I learned, was suddenly unemployable since I was a darkroom trained photographer. Then I chose to attend Liberty University for Christian Counseling, but that wasn’t fulfilling. Lastly, I was able to attend Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary and one of my cousin’s said “Rachel, get a degree in something you will actually use!” And honestly that broke my heart because I wanted to be a Chaplain/Community College teacher. Still I felt like a loser. This led to years of depression and the fact that I didn't like myself because I was different. Being different is hard! However, I clung to my difference and to the promise of Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

It didn't help that I saw my younger cousins living out their dreams and getting blessed left and right. Matter of fact, I was down right jealous! Then my friends all got married or started dating and again life was moving along and I was getting left right on in the dust! However, this year I dared to dream; and to DREAM BIG! I wrote a letter to HM The Queen of England. 

My letter read: 

Madam, 

On the occasion of your 92nd birthday, I am sending my sincere congratulations. 

Your Majesty has been an important role model in my life. I believe that your unselfish service should inspire every person in every generation to a life of service to their country as well as their universal neighbors.  As you know, the United States and the United Kingdom share a unique relationship given our mutual history.

I would like Your Majesty to know that when I felt the calling into pastoral ministry, two years ago, I went back and listened to your 21st Birthday speech. This speech served to remind me that my calling is lifelong, be this life long or short.

It has been and will continue to be my pleasure, to keep you and the rest of the royal family in my prayers knowing that as head of the Church of England, but also as the leader of the United Kingdom and her commonwealths, faith is an important part of Your Majesty’s life. 

I have the honour to remain, Madam, Your Majesty’s most humble and obedient servant.

So I sent my letter to Buckingham Palace on June 12th. I received some emails and private messages as to why I would call myself a “humble and obedient servant” of the Queen, when I am an American. Well truthfully, I am an American, but I feel that I am also a servant of the Queen. The US and England share a mutual history and interesting kinship; and honestly we never really know when we can be of service to our country, but also to our international family. 

Today, nearly 3 months letter I received the following from Balmoral Castle today, it just proves that DREAMS DO COME TRUE!

Meeting Someone Where They Are

Pick up your Bible, go ahead, I’ll wait! Pick it up! Find me one perfect person, other than Jesus. I’m waiting…

So did you find anyone? Probably not; matter of fact, one man came with questions about religion, and he did so at night so no one would know. One woman came with her same, she had been thrown out in the streets and labeled an adulteress. One man came and begged for the healing of his child; another was so eat up with demons that when the demon was asked it’s name, it replied “Legion” because there were many. 

Over and over and over again we see people come to Jesus, and despite where they are, their circumstances, their past and their frailties—He met them—where they were. Psalm 34:4 states God met me more than halfway, he freed me from my anxious fears. (The Message)

This week, I got to meet someone right where they are. I was terrified. You see at my job, I am known as a Bible Thumper, a Christian, some of my co-workers call me Pastor. When I was going through a draught in my faith; my friend Vicki would often ask me “Why would my favorite Chaplain ever say this or that?” When I worked in the school system, I was the one that had no problem going to a classroom and saying a prayer for a teacher or with the teacher who was facing a battle that she didn’t want to face alone. Yet, I never really knew what it meant to be a minister, even as a Christian. 

This is the image on the hoodie, I in NO WAY
endorse the Black Craft Cult Clothing Line. 

This week, this amazingly stressful week, I got to do just that. You see I walked into work and a young man was walking in front of me wearing a Black Craft Cult (Satanic Clothing Line) shirt. Immediately I felt my hands start to sweat, and I got nervous. At the time I didn’t realize that the clothing line was Satanic, but I knew the image that was on the shirt had a lot to do with the Church of Satan. 

Then I remembered the words of John Wesley taken from the Apocrypha “Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent: for if thou comest near them, they will take hold of thee.” (Sirach 21:3) But here I was facing the serpent himself. Granted it was an image of the serpent; the Goat Baphomet. 

I sent my Pastor a text and told him what I had encountered, but the oddest thing happened. As he sat down at his desk, one of my co-workers saw me walking by and said “Hey Pastor! Come here!” So I walked over to her desk and the new employee just watched me. My friend asked a question and I answered her and then proceeded to my desk. 

Later that day as I rounded a corner, this young man said “Oh, excuse me, ma’am.” I told him “Oh, no worries. My name is Rachel.” He said “Oh, so you’re the one they called Pastor? Are you a Pastor?” I explained that I wasn’t officially a pastor, but that it was my calling and that I had been deferred by my dCom. He bid me a good day and I walked away feeling really kind of gross. You know the feeling, the one where you feel dirty, but you know that you had a bath?

On my last break, I went outside and sat in my car. The young man came walking up beside it to get in his car and he was swearing up a blue streak, and when he saw me he hung his head and said “I’m sorry, Pastor Rachel.” I told him “It is quite alright, we all have our frailties and things we need to work on.” One of the guys he was walking with kept walking and when the young man caught up with him, he said “Are you really wasting time talking to a pastor?” The new employee said “Yeah, just because I wear this (his Satanic hoodie) doesn’t mean, I can’t talk to her.” 

Friends, that is meeting someone where they are. I didn’t ask this kid to change, I didn’t talk to my supervisor about his clothing, I just answered questions from co-workers about the symbolic meaning of his shirt; and he saw something different. I can’t tell you all his name, but I hope that you will pray for him. Pray that I can be a light to him and show him Jesus in a way that maybe he’s never experienced. 

As I am able, and if I get permission, I will continue this article later.

Uncomfortable and Unpopular: The Cost of Following Christ

Earlier this weekend, my pastor and I were talking about playing it safe. As many of my readers know the United Methodist Church (UMC) is in the midst of working out the language towards traditional understanding on homosexuality and marriage—and ultimately whether or not we follow Scripture as our basis for belief or do we become socially acceptable and lose our identity as Christians who follow God’s word. In addition, my readers know that I am in the midst of becoming a candidate for Licensed Local Pastor in the UMC. After being deferred by my local dCom; I told my pastor that I thought it would be best to “Fly under the radar” until I could get through dCom and become licensed. Over the weekend, as I spoke to my pastor about his sermon and the UMC in general, he alluded to the fact that we have conservative Pastors in the pulpit who will not speak out about what is going on in our UMC. Why you may ask? In my opinion, it's because they are scared, they are nervous about what their congregations will think of them, and because they may be asked to step down from the pulpit by their local congregations who may be more liberal. They are uncomfortable and their true beliefs and stances will make them unpopular. However, what really gave me a chuckle was that he stated “Rai, here you are, talking about things on your blog that our ordained pastors need to be addressing…I thought you were going to fly under the radar and here you are—addressing what needs to be addressed in our churches!” 

Friends, I recently read an article about “Playing it safe” and these four quotes stood out to me. 

Craig Groeschel said, “To step toward your destiny, you must step away from your security.”

In The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus says, “To follow Christ is to abandon the luxury of safety and security.” 

In Radical, David Platt touts the same principal: “Radical obedience to Christ is not ... comfort, not health, not wealth, and not prosperity in this world. Radical obedience to Christ risks losing all these things.”

Francis Chan says that comfort and safety make no sense in the life of a believer. In his book, Forgotten God, Chan writes, “Why would we need to experience the Comforter [the Holy Spirit] if our lives are already comfortable?”

Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

Most Christians want a comfortable enough, get-out-of-jail-free kind of faith. They want to go to heaven, but not now. Heaven is for the distant future, when they are very old and die in their sleep after having dozed off in front of the television. But Jesus, the radical revolutionary who overturned tables and cast the money changers out of the Temple, who called the Pharisees "blind guides, leading the blind," that Jesus is more than they want. They are both afraid of and unwilling to follow the history-changing Jesus who moves societies by moving individual human beings. They resist and even denounce the Jesus Who radicalizes His followers' minds with counter-intuitive teachings such as "Blessed are the poor," and "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” They don’t like the Jesus who said "You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon.” That Jesus, the Christ, the God made human who calls us to be more than the petty greed and selfishness that is humankind's pit in which we all wallow, is not at all to their liking. He is, at best, uncomfortable. At worst, He is convicting in ways they refuse to be convicted.

You notice that many of our liberal pastors (yes, I did say liberal pastors) can’t handle even these teachings. No where did Jesus ever teach, “after the narrow gate there would be a wide path.” Matter of fact, he taught us that the narrow path wouldn’t be easy, it’d be hard to find and follow. 

Pastor friends, especially our conservative, evangelical pastor friends, stop being scared. I get it, maybe you want to be liked, popular, and want to keep that big congregation; speak up. Trust me, I know I have secret admirers, I get your private messages in my emails or on Facebook. I know you agree with me. But the time is coming when we are going to have to stand up for our beliefs. As Luke (9:23) states, take up your cross, deny yourself and follow Christ! 

Friends, I encourage you to speak up, you can’t expect members of the laity to continue to speak for you. A friend recently said “Why aren’t your elders speaking up? Those are the officers, you are merely a soldier.” My response was “Sometimes your greatest generals, rise from the enlisted ranks.” However, we also know that great lay servants (enlisted ranks), only shine because they have great leaders (officers). 

Colossians 3:16 states “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” 

Ephesians 4:15-16 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Matter of fact, follow Peter and John’s example in Acts 4:18-20 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” David Westerfield sums these verses: 

Peter and John’s response to the Sanhedrin sums up what the Christian life is all about. They were with Christ for three years, they saw Him crucified, saw Him die, buried in the grave, saw Him alive after His resurrection, saw Him ascend into heaven, and were given power and strength by the promised Holy Spirit, the very Shekinah glory that was once only behind the curtain in the temple, but now lived within them as a result of the work of Christ on the cross. From everything that had taken place, their response was one of awe and amazement, “For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” They were so struck by the glory of God, that they could not but speak of the amazing things they had beheld in Christ. To shy away and speak of anything less or opposed to what had happened, would have contradicted everything they had seen, heard, and experienced.

Your silence, friends, is contradicting everything you have experienced, everything you have read, everything you have taught your parishioners to do…so as one who may never be a licensed local pastor, but one who is called to speak the gospel, I am encouraging you all to take up your cross and follow Christ—speak to your churches, speak for your churches and most of all speak for the truth—as contained in our discipline, but most importantly the holy word of God—the Bible. 

As I close this blog post, I am reminded of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, in this last verse, he talks about taking the road that is less traveled; and that made all the difference.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

In this poem, he’s talking about the road that people don’t often take (think narrow path). And in his life, that made all the difference. Why? More than likely because it led him where he never thought he’d end up. It was probably a road much like “Christian” takes in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress—fraught with many different characters, some well meaning, others not so well meaning and some that just didn’t know what they were doing there.  However, in the end Christian’s journey lead his wife to follow the same path, with many of the same characters. Friends, Hebrews 12 tells us we have a great cloud of Witnesses that have fought this same fight—there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to the fight that Christians are going to endure-Christ himself endured this-however, we must take heart, speak up—or you can be like Hebrews 12:14-17 states “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. [emphasis mine]

It is time to SPEAK UP!