Christian Discipline and Hearing the Voice of God - Chapter 4 b

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Wisdom Means Sitting Under Gifted Teachers and Wise Counselors

God Commands Us to Sit Under Wise Teachers and for Some To Be Teachers

Now part of the church experience includes sitting under wise teachers, or having the gift of teaching.  It seems that God didn’t think his Bible was all we would need to work out our Christian lives.  Priests, judges, prophets, teachers, preachers, elders, apostles are just some of the job titles of teachers that God appoints to help us to greater understanding of His Word.  

But, if you’re anything like me, I hated school, even though I loved learning.  Maybe you aren’t like me and you loved school, but learning wasn’t high on your list of fun things to do.  Either way, God has made it abundantly clear that we need teachers.  

Some of the critics of my writing in the business world say that I merely present common sense.  I take that as a complement, of course.  But they mean that I haven’t given them something new and exciting that will change everything we know.  And yet the best selling book of all times by many multiples was completed 2000 years ago.  There isn’t anything being added to it today.  It is certainly all common sense today, though some think it is old fashioned, and we need something new.  

2000 years old or not, it was created as a foundational guide to the best possible life on earth, and the direct path to heaven for those who choose to trust it.  Foundational.  Teachers add the walls, roof, and furnishings.  If we are to truly get to know God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in the way God intended, we need to sit under solid Bible teachers.  The Bible says its so.

A note:  The issue of following God’s directions for our lives is a matter of faith and trust.  We either have faith and trust that He showing us the best possible way to live our lives, or we do not have that faith.  If we have too little faith, it may not keep us out of heaven, but it will certainly keep us from getting and giving all that God wants for us.  

It goes to the very heart of this journey we are on.  Let’s say you had someone under your direction, an employee or an assistant. You give them very specific directions which they then decided to disregard.  When asked, they tell you that they thought their way was better.  In other words, they lacked faith in your method.  

You might fire the person on the spot, or you might give them another chance.  If they did the same thing a second time, you would be fairly foolish to continue to give them new assignments.  You certainly would not give them a larger, more critical task.  

So, too with God.  If you aren’t able to trust him enough to read His Word, attend church, sit under good teaching, love your enemies, and submit to authority, how can He give you larger tasks? Why would He think you would trust Him when the road to completion gets rocky or precipitous? Why would He believe that you would have the spiritual maturity to seek His direction or open your Bible to gain insight as to how to proceed.  We need to show ourselves to be trusted and trusting in the small things in order to be offered the chance to handle bigger things.  

Wise Counsel of Brothers and Sisters

 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.    Proverbs 12:15                                

                                            

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.      Proverbs 11:14                            

           

Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.    Proverbs 19:20-21                            

   

Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.     Proverbs 15:22   

God clearly intends us to be under the counsel of others.  The Bible says that Solomon was the wisest person ever, and yet in his writings, he repeated states that seeking out of wise counsel is necessary for safety, wisdom, and success.  If the wisest man in  history needed counsel, how could we think it is right for us to go about life without such counsel.  

Where can we find such counselors.  They are all around us.  The Holy Spirit can use anyone as a resource for giving you great advice.  However, you should do your part in choosing your advisors.

Personally, I’m seek out the advice of those whom I believe are mature in the Lord.  Next, I want those whom I’m going to trust with my deepest and most critical issues to be trustworthy, and not inclined towards gossip.  If possible I prefer individuals who have empathy for my circumstance.  In other words, they have lived through something similar to my situation.  And finally I look for someone I believe truly cares about me and will likely be praying about and for me and my situation.  

Experience has shown me that God will consistently provide these guides as needed and/or requested by me.  I have to do my part and seek them out.   Then I need to listen carefully to their guidance.  Finally, after testing their advice against the Bible, I should be prepared to actually do what the propose.  

I have had the experience of getting two opposite pieces of advice on the same subject.  One time in particular was dealing with tithing.  I was going through a difficult patch financially, and didn’t have enough income to pay the tithe.  It was literally buy food or pay the tithe.  Both advisors met all the criteria I outlined above.  But there answers were directly opposite one another.  However, I now had their wisdom, and it was helpful in choosing a path.  

When you are deeply involved in your church and have made great friends who know you at a deep level, you generally have the immediate brother or sisterly advisor just a text message away.  If you are isolated and not involved, God can still provide you with someone to fill this role, but your own part in the process becomes much more difficult.  When you are a strong member of the body, you also become available to be that counselor when others need your direction.  

Do you have difficulty seeking others for advice?  Do you seek advice and then listen half-heartedly?  Or do you receive the advice of a wise counselor, only to disregard it in the end?   These are all evidences of pride and a lack of faith in God’s clear directions.  Here is another one of those places where you would be wise to repent of that pride and lack of faith, and ask God for wisdom and to provide you with a circle of wise advisors.  

In conclusion, please understand that the journey I’ve invited you to travel with me assumes that you want to hear the voice of God with clear directions for your life and potential service for Him.  If you don’t have that desire, these disciplines and directions will still help you to live the best possible life and have the best preparation for heaven.  But if you do have that desire, these would be critical steps in moving you towards hearing His voice.  

****If you are late to the party, this is the 5 section of a book I am writing online.  Each Wednesday and new section is added.  I ask for your comments, good and bad.  Even spelling errors or sections you don't get what I'm attempting to say.  Your additions are fine.  Maybe you don't agree with some aspect of my theological point of view.  Happy to hear.  

To find the first 4 sections, just check along the way on each Wednesday (or sometimes Tuesday late).  On Friday, I am going to put up the combined total of the 5 sections up until now, if you'd rather read it all in one place.  I may even do this as a PDF.  We'll see.  : )

Complaint! - Folks Inside the Church Just as Messed Up as Those Who Don't Go to Church

Church Should Provide Example to the World of How Christ Changes Lives - Or Is Church a Hospital for Sinners, so Expect Many to Still Be Messed Up.

Do you sometimes feel as though you have something all figured out, just to have something happen
to confuse your assumptions?  I would love to get your input on this subject as it is kind of a bone of contention on several levels. 

According to polling firm, The Barna Group, only evangelical, born again Christians showed a distinction from the general population in behaviors that would show evidence of their faith. 

Christian evangelicals are a small proportion of the national population, representing just 7% of the adult mass. However, they are the group whose faith is most clearly evident in their behavioral choices. The survey divided the population into five faith segments (evangelicals, non-evangelical born again Christians, notional Christians, adherents of non-Christian faiths, and atheists/agnostics). Evangelicals emerged as the group most likely to do each of the following:

• discuss spiritual matters with other people
   
• volunteer at a church or non-profit organization
   
• discuss political matters with other people
   
• discuss moral issues and conditions with others
   
• stop watching a television program because of its values or viewpoints
   
• go out of their way to encourage or compliment someone

Evangelicals were also distinguished by being the segment least likely to engage in the following endeavors:

• contact a political official
   
• view pornographic media
   
• read their horoscope
   
• use tobacco products

There is a strong connection between the faith views and practices of evangelicals and their lifestyle. Evangelicals also emerged as the group most likely to attend church; pray to God; and read the Bible. By definition, they believe in the accuracy of the Bible, contend that they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with others, claim that their religious faith is very important in their life, reject the idea that Jesus Christ sinned, describe God as the Creator who still rules the universe today, and believe that Satan is real. That body of beliefs - and the worldview it represents - has produced a distinct way of living in an increasingly postmodern culture - a lifestyle that is increasingly at odds with the accepted norms. 

So if the vast majority of "Christians" can't pass the test of having actions that testify to their being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, how can the church persuade others that a decision for Christ is going to be beneficial to them?

Eugene Peterson, author of "The Message," a modern version of the Bible, takes a slightly different point of view when do his introduction to the book of James:

When Christian believers gather in churches, everything that can go wrong sooner or later does.  Outsiders, on observing this, conclude that there is nothing to the religion business except, perhaps, business - and dishonest business at that.  Insiders see it differently.  Just as the hospital collects the sick under one roof and labels them as such, the church collects sinners. Many of the people outside the hospital are every bit as sick as the ones inside, but their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised.  It is similar with sinners outside the church. 

So Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of good behavior.  They are, rather, places where human misbehavior is brought out in the open, faced, and dealt with. 

So, can we have this cake and eat it, too.  Can we have people calling themselves Christ followers who behave just like those who are atheists, members of other religions, or even anti-christ, and claim to be of value, actually creating significant change in the lives of our members. 


Earlier today I was listening to a radio pastor who I can't now recall, who said that the Bible represents the greatest tool for change of any concept in history.  So could it be that:

• The high divorce rate has to do with one half of the couple changing and the other doesn't like the new Christian version?
• Those who are still into porn are doing it less, more troubled by it, or working with wise counselors to overcome it?
• Those who don't discuss spiritual matters with the other people are ... I can't think of anything here.  

So, it's your turn.  Help me out here.  

Christian Discipline and Hearing the Voice of God - Chapter 4 a

Being Part of a Community of Believers - The Church

One of my favorite churches.  Kihei, Maui

Just how smart are you?  How wise?  How learned?  How mature?  How Spiritually Alive?  Be honest.  God says he wants us to be wise.  He wants us to eat meat and not still live on milk.  He calls us to be zealous, not luke warm.  He provides us with all the tools to achieve “A’s” in all of the above.  But many who say they are Christ followers claim they don’t need the tools he lays out for us.  “We’re doing just fine,” they say.  

In addition, being of the male persuasion, I hate instructions.  In particular I loathe Ikea furniture instructions, and surround sound instructions, and other things that need to be hooked up to TV’s.  I pretty much would be fine with never opening another instruction book.  My male pride protests that I should be able to figure it out myself.  I am even more defeated when I can’t figure it out with instructions.  

Many of us, maybe including you, and certainly including me, have that same approach when it comes to living this life and preparing for the next.  Sure, God lays out in great detail the tools and methods he expects us to use in order to excel in life.  They sound right and all, but “maybe next week I’ll get around to it.”  Maybe when I’m really needy after not following the instructions.  Maybe too late when I’m standing outside the door and knocking, and God says he never knew me.  

Let’s take the hardest instruction or discipline first.  Church attendance.  Just about 85% of Americans claim to be followers of Jesus, believe he is Lord, and call themselves Christian.  We can discount some of those who are just mouthing what they have always been told or said, but who don’t have a clue about trusting Jesus as their savior.  But we all know lots of folks who are pretty savvy on Jesus and God, and who say they don’t want to, or don’t need to, or don’t have time to, or can’t work their schedule to, or can’t find the right church to go to.  

Now it is easy to find fault with “organized religion.”  And it is even easier to be critical of specific pastors, denominations, or church bodies.  It is super easy to find fault with the Christians who go to church.  They are judgemental, hypocritical, easily led, and not living very much different day-to-day than the folks who don’t go to church.  

Besides, which one should I attend.  Which one will fill my needs best and ask the least.  Where can I go and sit quietly, be fed solid food, not feel like the preacher is talking directly to me, escape after the service without needing to socialize, and where the music is my style and not too loud.  I’d also like soft pews, please, and … hold on a minute, let me get out my list.  

I’ve searched scripture and I can’t find a single verse that deals with churches filling the needs of the churched.  I do see quite a few references to church being a place where we go to help those in need, meet together for prayer and remembrance, to teach and learn, and to lift our voices in praise together.  I suppose you could work backward and figure that if the church exists in part to help those in need, that there must also be members in need.  This is true.  In fact, almost every member is or will be in need for the prayers, hands, feet, and words of their brothers and sisters in Jesus.  But it isn’t the reason we go.  It is a benefit of our belonging.

The church is also the wellspring of outreach to the community for both service and evangelism.  I rarely meet the person who is not attending church who is serving or evangelizing on their own.  Sometimes, but very rarely.  

And then there is the whole bride thing.  Jesus says that the church is His bride.  We can try mightily to define the church as being all believers.  But then what do we do with all those verses about meeting together, the prayers of two or more “gathered,” and so on.  

And finally, though I’m sure you could add to the list, where does the person not attending church pay their tithe.  Pretty sure they don’t.  Some who are disabled in some way might be having church on the television, and sending their tithe to TV churches.  In those circumstances, it is hard to argue.  That is, unless it is just another excuse for not being troubled to join a body of believers and bring our skills and talents to that body.  

**** If you have not had a chance to read the first three parts of this book, please check in the posts of the past three Wednesdays.  If you want to be alerted to future posts in this book, please subscribe to the blog.  You can also come back each Wednesday.  

In the meantime, I do generally post on Friday and Monday, too.  These are generally on related topics, Christian book reviews, or just things that are on my mine. 

Experiencing the Voice of God - Part 2

 

Model of Jerusalem at the time of Christ

Appendix 2:  Sin Gets in the Way of Finishing a Call from God

If you read part 1, you will not be surprised that it was way more fun to write than this one.  God gave a call.  I was in a perfect position to accept the call.  I tried my best to mess up God's plan, but in the end, the results were so amazing that I couldn't possibly take the credit.  God had to intervene in astounding ways, and He did.

So, there is a premise in the Bible that tells us that if we are faithful in the small things God will give us more things to handle for Him.  Many years after the Sex Kills book, I had a vision, like a day dream, but very much all laid out in detail.  The "vision" came just like before.  It came at a time when I had clearly made myself available to God to use as He pleased.  Not because I am special, but because I was immersed and disciplined, and desiring proactively to be used.

The Vision

So as with the book, I believe that God gave me a clear vision of creating a Christian theme park.  I mentioned it was huge!  Without going into what eventually became a book length description of the park, it was to be the quality of a Disney Park.  The primary design was to create a place where a guest could discover the Bible in a way that would meet them where they are in the 21st Century.

The park would have at its center, a full-sized model of Jerusalem at the time of Christ.

As if to confirm the fact that the vision was from God, the next morning the first thing I looked at over breakfast was a Los Angeles Times huge feature article on how theme park rides are designed and what they might look like in the future.   The story included interviews with major designers and mentions of the very kinds of companies I might need to help create the park.

I can assure you that I was serious about this.  In fact, I put together a board of directors made up of successful business owners who were all sold out Christians.  The board met and began the process of making decisions about how to move forward.  In addition to the board, I met with my pastor and other "wise counselors" to explain the vision and to confirm that the idea was indeed a vision.

One of the people I called was a very dear friend who had tons of knowledge and understanding about Biblical History and the designs of historical facilities.  He was an artist and had designed replicas of historic buildings. 

But as I told him about my vision, he listened in stunned silence.  He had a relative who was trying to raise funds for a similar effort that would ultimately include my friend in the design of the theme park.  You may believe in coincidences.  I don't.  This only further cemented my conviction that the source of the idea was God.

As I look back on this time, I was personally as excited by almost everything around me as I could possibly be.  Things weren't perfect.  They never are.  But they don't get much better than this period in my life.

The Fall

Today I can't be sure which things were causes and which things were consequences.  My best guess is that my companies financial condition, and my sinful response to it undermined this project and a whole lot more.  Again, the details are not necessary, but I engaged in business practices that were extremely inappropriate in order to keep the company going.  I hurt several people who were witnesses to my behavior and others who I asked to cover my tracks.

At the worst possible moment, the landlord decided to ask us to move after 18 years for no other reason than they wanted a different kind of business in the location.  We were light manufacturing, and they wanted distribution such as import/export or wholesale.

We made the move, but it was a disaster.  The cost of the move put us deeper in the hole.  Just after the move, the building was actually hit by lightening.  What more of a sign did I need???

We put the business up for sale.  I got caught in my transgression.  But I have to say, the person who was most effected by the sin was very kind and forgiving and is still a close friend today.

As soon as my behavior became sin, I quietly stopped working on the project.  I believed that maybe the problem would be solved quickly and I could face God and see about picking up and keeping going.  That just wasn't going to be the case.

I stopped all efforts on the project in 2006 and would only consider myself remotely back to where I might be trustworthy again.  And that, only in the last few months.

So, just as in the Sex Kills book adventure, the evidence of Divine involvement seemed clear.  In both cases there are dozens of people who know every bit of these what took place and can confirm them detail for detail.  But in one case, the call was answered and executed, even if in a stumbling manner.  In the second case the call was answered, but the world tripped me up, and I allowed myself to fail on a level I never thought possible. 

Experiencing the Voice of God- Part 1

Appendix 1.  Successful Following of God's Clear Call on My Life

In 1992, I had enjoyed a period of time when my Christian discipline was at a peak.  I was serving
God as best I knew how and desiring to do more.  I had even dealt with (at some level) the big stumbling block of being proud of my devotion and service compared to others.  Of course, none of that made me "perfect" in my day to day walk.  Not by a long shot.  I believe good discipline should dramatically effect our Holiness when we are that sold out.  But we are still just sinful humans.

In the course of my reading at that time, I was trying to move towards surrender.  The great hymn, "I Surrender All" haunted me every time I sang it.  I knew I didn't surrender all.  This next part is precisely how I remember what took place in 1992.

In my prayer time I told God I was ready to go anywhere, do anything, uproot my family . . . anything that He wanted me to do to serve Him per Isaiah 6:8.  However, when I prayed this (and I meant it), I added at the end:  "Except Haiti!"  And I meant that, too.  I had been in Haiti, known others who had been missionaries to Haiti, and wanted nothing to do with spending even another hour there.

Then one morning I changed the prayer.  I was probably (don't remember for sure) effected by the Abraham/Issac story.  God wouldn't ask me to go to Haiti unless it was going to be a huge blessing.  So I specifically prayed a prayer of complete surrender and added:  "Even Haiti."

Not long after that prayer was first offered, then repeated, it happened that I got into a minor spat with my wife just before bed one night.  We turned out the light, and the chill in the room was nothing that could be changed by turning up the heater.  After a bit, I prayed over that fight in a way I was not accustomed to doing.  I prayed for God's clear voice as to what I was to do regarding the fight.

God clearly told me I was to ask her to forgive me, then He immediately changed the subject.  In the next hour or so, he laid out a project in such detail that it was breathtaking.  The project was not anything that was remotely on my radar, though the subject was on my heart then, and now.  And it was a subject that I had studied over 20 years before in college.

The Call

God said that I was to write a book entitled Sex Kills.  He laid out the format for the book, chapter titles, and details of what the book was to include.  He further indicated that the book was to be completed in time for the Promise Keepers Convention the next Summer, less than 9 months away.  I had just sold a book to a major national publisher, and knew that researching, writing, finding a publisher, and getting it printed in that time frame would be virtually impossible, even if I was free to do it full time.  However, I was running a company, had a family of 5, and plenty else going on.

The details prescribed were enough to make me believe it was clearly from God.  There was no "audible voice."  But the difference between audible and not was inconsequential.  The conversation was virtually the same as a conversation with a friend.  I argued with God about the timing, and He made it clear that this was the timing He required.

What unfolded in the following nine months is just as amazing as the source of the call.  Over and over the clear intentionality and intervention of God was obvious to all who were involved.

I used every spare minute to research and to begin to outline and write the book.  This was just before the dawn of the internet age, so every bit of the research had to be done at libraries.  I commonly spent my lunch hours at the local library, searching out the details that I needed to give credibility to the book.

Of course, there is more to writing a book than merely research and writing.  There is editing, rewrites, finding a publisher.  Finding a publisher turned out to be the first major test of faith and evidence of God at work.

I honestly had no idea how any publisher would be able to take the book through multiple edits, format the final effort, create a cover, then plan and execute the printing in less than 6 months.  As the writing of the first draft was now taking me into March, I was at a crossroads.  There was only 120 days until Promise Keepers, and I had not had any luck finding a publisher.

I started months before by asking my publisher's agent to present the idea to Warner Books.  Warner had just bought a book from me, so this was the obvious first choice.  They also had a Christian division.  I put together a marketing proposal and sent it to the editor.  He quickly rejected the project, and actually was upset that I would be losing focus trying to promote two books at once.  (If they'd only known that I had also finished a book for the bicycle industry that was coming out the same year.)

I went back to my agent and asked for her direction and opinion.  She wasn't happy with my splitting available time and energy resources in such diverse directions.  She suggested that it would be much better for my career to concentrate on one type of writing, especially since it was a part-time effort to begin with.  In other words, she couldn't help me at all.

Now I started researching for publishers and agents in the Christian book business.  Most of the non-fiction agents were handling major writers, and I was getting nowhere fast.  I was truly puzzled.  I had just sold a book to Warner.  I should have been a hot property.  And besides, God was in my corner.

Decision to self-publish

As March's lion was turning more lamb-like by the day, I decided that I needed to be prepared to self-publish.  I hadn't done that before and had no idea where to turn.  More research.  I set a date of March 31.  If I didn't have a publisher by then, I would do it myself.

While all this is going on, the Warner book is now on the shelves and Warner wants me to help publicize it.  I'm getting a few reviews, a radio show or two, and one minor cable TV program.  But the going is slow.  I really want to get on KKLA Christian Talk during the evening drive time.  I write and call the host and finally get a conversation with him.  But he can't see how a book about starting and running a small business will really fit his audience.

Then I tell him about the Sex Kills book.  I promise to give him the inaugural interview on that book if he'll bring me on for the business book.  He asks me to overnight a copy.  I send it and he agrees to the deal.

The Radio Interview

I do the interview live at the station since I live only a few miles away.  I'm going to tease the "Sex Kills" book during the interview, but I don't have a publisher.  We do the interview.  It goes well, and I head back to my car.  I turn on the radio to the same show so I can hear the next guest.

This guest has also just published a book.  I'll never forget the title.  "Gays and Guns."  That's almost all I remember about the book.  What I will also never forget is the first ten minute of the interview.  It had to have been very nearly the worst 10 minutes in radio history.  There could not have been 10 people listening to that ten minutes who would have been remotely interested in what was being talked about. 

It seems this fellow had written a college thesis on "Gays and Guns."  He now wanted to sell it as a book, but he too was faced with some kind of deadline.  He spent that 10 minutes telling the host how this publisher had been able to turn his book around in three months.  It was hugely exciting for the author, but the rest of the audience probably had no clue that it normally took longer than that or cared one fig.

But there was one listener in the audience who cared a bunch.  I memorized the name of the publisher, Huntington House, as I drove home (no smartphone to jot a verbal note).  I figured it was too late when I arrived home that night to call, but why not?  I called and a man answered.  I said that I was an author with a finished manuscript.  Who could I talk to about them publishing the book?  He said that everyone else had gone home, and that he was the Senior Editor.  What was the book about?

Ten minutes later he wanted me to overnight a copy so that he could review it over the weekend.  The next day he called to say that he would send a contract by overnight to reach me on Monday.  He hadn't waited until the weekend to read enough for a decision. 

In just over 24 hours I had gone from having no clue as to where to even try next for a publisher, to having a contract on the way to me with a company that was willing to do the book in less than 90 days.  And that stemmed from my listening to the worst 10 minutes in radio history for everyone else but me.

If you followed that, and I know it might have been the worst 10 minutes in blogging, I hope I conveyed that this series of events was implausible as a storyline for a action movie.  A miracle?  Maybe not.  The stakes weren't high enough, maybe.  But it certainly seemed to be a God thing.  As you will see, the publisher's role in this get crazier and crazier.

But God Told Me!?!

Good to their word, Huntington House put the pedal to the metal and had editors sending me blood red manuscripts in place of the black and white I had sent them.  We were on track.

As we got closer and closer to the Promise Keepers event, I was having no luck finding any way to have a booth at the PK, or to be able to advertise or promote it.  But I kept the faith that God had a reason for the timing.  Then I got the first call that tested everything.  And I flunked the test.

The editor called and said that there was a problem.  He and his sales manager had been pitching the book to some of their best Christian book store customers, and there was universal interest in the book . . . BUT and it was a big but, they hated the title.  To a one they said the book would not do
well in a Christian book store in 1993 with the word Sex in the title.

His team had worked on a new title.  How did I like "A Generation Betrayed:  It's Time to End the Sexual Revolution?"  I don't do titles.  I write books.  Others do my titles.  In this case God did the title.  We argued.  He said that the deal was off if I stuck with the title.  I didn't consult God!  I made the decision to go forward with the new title to make the date.

I didn't write down any of these specific dates at the time, but within a short time after that conversation, I got another bad news phone call.  The Christian Bookseller's Convention was also coming up in August, and there wasn't a printing press in the US that could take our book in time for the PK convention.  They had all been reserved by other major book companies who needed to be in stock in time for the booksellers conference.

If these two setbacks were a test of my faith that God had sent me on this path, I'll never know.  I do know that I was charging full steam ahead.

The Book Is A Major Flop

I have 8 books that have been published.  Six have been very successful.  One was okay, but not great.  This book was a complete disaster.  I believe that it sold less than 1000 copies and I sold most of those back of the room at places where I spoke.  To this day, I believe that if the title had been Sex Kills, the book would have sold tons.  Oh.  Did I mention that the cover art was worse than the title.  Check out the picture.

The Story Doesn't End There - By a Long Shot

Huntington House, the publisher, may or may not have been any good at titles or covers, but there were gifted at publicity.  They had said from the very first conversation that I needed to be prepared to give lots of interviews, mostly radio talk.  This was their method for selling books. 

And they were good indeed.  In the next year, I was interviewed on over 200 radio shows.  The message that God wanted to get out, got out.  These radio shows were often secular shows, and I got some pretty crazy callers trying to shove the Biblical concepts contained in the book down my throat.

The reason we got so many requests for interviews was due to an add that the publisher placed in a talk show magazine.  The headline . . . go ahead and see if you can guess . . .  "Sex Kills."  Some of these shows had a few thousand listeners, some might have had 100,000 or more.  Then one day we got a call from Geraldo's daytime TV show.

They were doing a show on bisexuality, and needed an expert guest against it.  Could I do the show?  We agreed to do the show.  Within hours we had a call from Montel Williams who wanted to do an interview about the book.  We said sure.  Turns out that when Montel heard we were already booked on Geraldo, that deal was off.

So off to New York and the limo and the green room I went.  The show featured 3 bisexual young adults from the Seattle area, Geraldo, and me as the only one against bisexuality.  The show was seen by several million on the initial showing, then aired in repeat at least 5 times that we know of.  Millions and millions got the books message, and Geraldo only booked me because the ad said "Sex Kills."  Even though the book was shown on the screen to those same millions, the book still didn't sell. 

Some might look at that entire story and say, "interesting set of coincidences."  If the origin of the idea had not been a completely out of the blue request from God during prayer, I would have an easier time agreeing with that observation.  I believe that it was all orchestrated to make a statement to the budding bisexuality movement, and to speak to millions of others on radio about Biblical purity.  There were many other voices being heard at that time, including Promise Keepers and the entire purity ring movement.

The tide actually turned in 1994, the year after all of this.  There were fewer high school pregnancies and their seemed to be an awakening about STD's and the other negative consequences of sex outside of marriage.  Unfortunately, I think in 2013, the waters are rising once again.  If God wants me to do a rewrite, the Title is definitely going to be whatever He says it should be. 

Appendix two will be the story of my failure to complete what God called me to do after the book.

Hearing from God Through Reading His Word - Part 3

The bible used by Abraham Lincoln for his oath of office during his first inauguration in 1861. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First Step to Getting to Know God on an Intimate Basis - Read Your Bible

First a couple of notes from the first two chapters.  A close friend pointed out in Chapter 2 that God knows everything about us, and therefore my statement that our journey to intimacy would include “God getting to know us” was unsound.  I have removed that section. 

My sister pointed out that since this is not yet a book, there is no place for those who want to hear about my two previous experiences with "hearing from God" to go and read them.  I will take care of that in the next few days.  I'll post the links as soon as they are ready. 
 

"I Believe in God, but I'm Not THAT Religious."

I spoke with an associate today who told me, “I believe, but I’m not religious.”  That isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone say that, and in fact I personally might have felt exactly the same for all of my 20’s and into my 30’s.  Maybe you’ve heard the same thing from friends or felt the same way at times.  

She happens to be one who has very strong beliefs in many areas of her life, including that  GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) are dangerous and should never be eaten, nor should we eat the meat from animals that have injested GMO corn or other food products.  

She isn’t a scientist, but has widely read the online literature on the subject.  Through this reading, she has come to trust those who insist that the chemical companies are knowingly providing various seed stocks to farmers that they know will cause harm to animals and people.  She trusts this information, and is prepared to argue for hours that it is true.  

I ask her to consider two ideas.  One:  science finds out that it is wrong about some earlier notion, headline theory, or prediction pretty much every day.  Sometimes it is just the small stuff, like the Alar scare, or that cranberry juice will give you cancer.  Other times it is on much larger issues, such as the origins and nature of the universe or the origins of life, both of which have been completely revised multiple times in the last 60 years.  

So I am amazed at her trust of science to this degree, and in this case the science is not even remotely settled.  She is quite willing to change her diet, carefully study labels, question restaurants, and pay extra for food that is supposedly GMO free.  She may turn out to be right.  I have no idea.  But right or wrong, she isn’t alone in her belief, or in the intensity of her belief.  Millions of citizens who have even less scientific understanding and/or have read even less on the subject have the same view. That is certainly great faith.  They are quite religious on this subject.

I then ask her to ponder two or three prophecies from the Bible.  In the Old Testaments God tells Abraham:

Gen. 12:2  I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Then Ishmael.  The angel told his mother Hagar:

Gen 16:10  “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

If either of these two things had not happened, the Bible would be just another book.  The world would simply point to the big miss on a critical issue, and the argument about the Bible being inerrant, perfect, is over.  The fact that almost half of the world’s population are descended from these two men is amazing indeed.  

Then, the Old Testament is clear that a very small religious sect will be scattered all over the earth, but will be regathered in Israel.  In 1948 the Jews, the very subjects of the prophecy, were regathered in Israel and became a state.  This after being scattered and persecuted for 2500 years.  These miraculous prophecies are just a few of hundreds that have come true in great detail, and that can only be confirmed thousands of years after being written.  (See this post)

I asked why her faith was so strong in the science of these websites, but so weak when it comes to a source (The Bible) that has proven itself over many thousands of years.  Why would she change her lifestyle on the basis of these authors and scientists she doesn’t even know, but not change her lifestyle based on the Bible.  

We Are All Like My Associate

Then it occurred to me that all who believe could make the statement she made.  We believe, but we aren’t THAT religious.  Meaning our faith is not complete.  We may have enough faith to go to church, to pray when we’re in trouble or over a great happening.  We may have enough faith to put some of our money in the offering, help out a poor person, or forgive someone who is not deserving of forgiveness.  

But we might not be faithful enough to be joyful in our giving, helping, or forgiving.  We may be joyful in giving what we can afford, but not joyful about giving what would represent sacrifice.  We may have the faith to keep us on a narrow path regarding stealing, but think maybe gossip is not so bad.  We certainly do not have the faith to move mountains.

Following God in the Basics

So, the first step on our journey, which we will need to repeat often, is the step of repentance.  We need to be prepared to acknowledge that we are working under our own rules, ideas, assumptions, and attempting to “work” on our faults, rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us away from sin.  We are attempting to be the source of our faith rather than asking the Father to give us the kind of faith we need to do what He would have us do.

How can we work on intimacy with God if we are not following His will even in the basics?  It would be like trying to become intimate with a friend when our relationship was entirely by text and Facebook.  And how can we feed our heart, soul, and body with the right spiritual food if we aren’t reading the word? Therefore repenting of our pride of self-sufficiency, and beginning to meet with God on a regular basis by reading the Bible will get us moving in the right path.

We don’t have to guess whether God wants us to read the Bible.  If we believe what it says, we can find dozens of specific statements in the Old and New Testaments about the importance of ingesting the Word of God.   John 5:39  Acts 17:11 Job 23:12  Ps 119:148  

While we can hear from God in many other ways, there is no clearer resource than the Bible. There is no more complete, detailed, deep, wide, well written, easily digestible, way of hearing from God.  We have been promised that the Holy Spirit will help us to understand the Bible when we are unclear.  We have teachers, preachers, and writers who have provided us with unlimited amounts of background and interpretation of the Bible.  If we want to know God and hear from Him, the door couldn’t be more wide open.  

Which brings us back to a the questions:  “Do you want to hear from God?  Do you want to hear his voice?”   If you do, you can.  Any time of the day or night, for as many hours per day as you choose; in hundreds of languages, with notes to help you, and the Holy Spirit to guide you.  

It seems hard to understand why we are “not that religious,” but John reported it clearly - John 6:60.  "Many disciples heard this and said, 'This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow.'  …  :66 After this a lot of His disciples left.”  (The Message)

Too tough to swallow, or just don’t want to.  The result is the same.  We don’t want to do what the Father has called us to do.  And we end up on a merry-go-round.  We don’t read the Bible, therefore we can’t learn more about God and hear from Him through His word.  We don’t trust God or the Bible enough to even follow the discipline of Bible reading.  We can’t build trust without intimacy and so it goes, round and round.  

If you want to hear what God has to say about you, your life, your eternal salvation, how to relate to others, and how to live life joyously now, and if you are excited about your future with Him in heaven, then the journey starts with Bible reading.  The more you do, the more you will understand God, be intimate with God, love God, trust God, and be willing to surrender to Him and His perfect will for your life.

Make a decision today.  A commitment.  A chapter a day.  20 pages a day.  15 minutes a day. Find a translation that works for you.  The easiest of all is the Children’s International BIble.  My kids learned to read using this Bible.  It is a full translation at the 3rd grade reading level.  It might be perfect for you.  Another very easy read is “The Answer,”  also known as the New Century Version.   

I’m reminded of bowling.  You don’t want to start trying to bowl with a ball that is so heavy it takes all the fun out of the game and makes it hard to succeed.  Find a Bible that makes it fun to read and easy to succeed in making Bible reading a habit.

A brief review.  I started by asking the question:  Do you want to hear from God?  Do you want to hear His voice?  Would you like a clear statement of His perfect will for your life in the Isaiah 6:8 sense.  

I then offered you a possible way to get to that result.  Understanding God in an intimate way would require knowing Him.  A consistent life of Bible reading is offered as a necessary first step to that understanding.  You may be able to guess the next step which follows in the next chapter. 

Continue to part 4 (ready Wed May 15, 2013)   

50% of Old Testament Prophesies Now Fulfilled - Bryan P. Mistele

The Crust Was Removed from My Eyes.   I See So Much Better Now

Almost no other religion has stepped out on a limb and offered to make predictions about the future.  Most who have done so have either had predictions that were difficult to interpret, so general as to be useless, or turned out to be dead wrong.

The Bible, on the other hand, has at least 1000 Old Testament prophetic statements, and the New Testament adds hundreds more.  Like many reading this post, I have read about these prophecies my entire life, argued about them with those who didn't trust the Bible, and attempted to share and explain them with my kids, friends, and in this and other blogs.  (see http://GodvsNoGod.blogspot.com)

But until this weekend and finding an article about Biblical prophesy by Bryan P. Mistele, The Bible's Most Amazing Prophecies, I had no idea how easy it is to prove that Biblical predictions alone create a proof for the Bible being supernatural that is beyond reason to dispute.  Until now, most of my debates centered on the prophecies surrounding Jesus.  And I have to agree with the doubters that taking each of those prophecies one-by-one, you could make a case for Jesus or His followers purposely meeting the prediction, or writing the Gospels to meet the prophetic statements.  This is not to say that I agree, but only that there was an argument to be made.

However, Mistele points out that there are dozens of specific prophecies that we know were written at least prior to Christ's birth, that are very specific and not open to interpretation, that have been fulfilled in ways that are not in question.   So here are a few things to think about before I get into the details:

If the Bible predicted something clearly, in plain language, not subject to interpretation, which would have necessarily needed to have already happened ... even ONE such thing ... and it didn't happen as predicted, what would become of the Bible?  The World would laugh until it cried.  Game over.

For example, if the Bible said specifically that the Temple would be torn down by the Egyptians and rebuilt by the Assyrians after the fall of Babylon, and it didn't happen, there would be a theological crises over this fact.  Proof?  Follow the trail of modern archeology as many spend their lives trying to find a Biblical error.  They can't wait!

But what if the Bible predicted a string of events, and all of them came true; one after another, throughout history.  The odds of being right on just on would be huge.  But the multiplying effect of being right time after time and never wrong is beyond human comprehension.  

But we don't need archeology or any other science  for the following: 

The Old Testament predicts:

• That Abraham will be a father to a great nation and have descendants to numerous to count
• The same prediction is made regarding Ishmael
• Then again for Isaac
• That the Jews will be dispersed throughout the world, but will be gathered back again.
• That Nineveh will not merely be destroyed, but will be an unmarked grave
• That Sodom and Gomorrah will be destroyed and never rebuilt

You see, there are these and many more instances where the statements are unambiguous and 100% factually known to be true today.  They are not in dispute.  One could suggest that Nineveh has been located, but only 2600 years after it was destroyed.  

There is no need for interpretation.  No way to say that Israel has not become a state and a member of the United Nations, to boot.  Can anyone say that Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael did not produce descendants to numerous to count.  There is no chance of doing an accurate census of even the Jews, much less the Arabs. 

What are the odds of a prediction made 2,500 - 4,000 years ago being true today?  Try it.  Make a prediction right now about anything specific that you believe will be true 250 years from now.  Will America be a world power?  Will cars be a mode of transportation?  Pick a human being alive today that you think you could predict will be the father of nations. 

These six examples should be enough to persuade every thinking human being that the Bible is God breathed. But according to Mistele, 500 of the 1000 prophecies from the OT are known to be clearly factual today.  I'd suggest that you read his article at http://yeshua.org/bible/the-bibles-most-amazing-prophecies/ .  Then I would suggest that you read his book:  I'm almost finished with it, and my faith has been buttressed immeasurably.  I had to repent this morning of my lack of faith.  The book is "The Truth About Prophesy In the Bible," and is about $10 on Kindle.