Pretender

Thursday, January 12, 2023

I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ.  You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all.  You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.  Galatians 1:6-7

That ancient descriptive about a wolf in sheep’s clothing is all about pretense, pretending to be something, in order to gain another’s favorable view.  The sharpened teeth of that gain is when the wolf eats the sheep that has given trust.  When Jesus sent his disciples out to spread the good news of salvation, he commissioned them with a cautionary bit of advice:

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.  Matthew 10:16

Wolves that pretend to be sheep is a caricature of those who would eat you alive if they can gain your trust.  And the chief tool used by spiritual wolves is the same as any other – the lie.

Apostle Paul was shocked at how the Galatian church had been turned by lies so quickly.  Human nature is fickle, and this is why studying and meditating on God’s Word (which is entirely unadulterated truth) is so important.  Internalizing the Word of Truth is a guard against the twisted claims of pretenders.  Consider these two bedrock necessities for the believer:

Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed.  Proverbs 12:19
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  Psalm 119:11

The crux of the issue in the case of the Galatian churches was truth, twisted to suit bending these new believers away from the freedom and strength of the Gospel, in order to enslave them to follow these spurious teachers who would take them even further from Jesus’ way.  Our day has plenty of parallels:

·       Prosperity Lies – which attempt to make the Gospel a pyramid scheme, an easy entry into gaining wealth or power if you subscribe to the cult’s twisted version of God’s Word.

·       Healing Lies – focusing on physical well-being of the body as something that can be extorted from God’s power by twisting Scripture out of its context…making the focus all about our human bodies, which by definition are flesh that is passing-away (wouldn’t it be terrible to live in these aging,  sagging, weakening human skeletons forever?).

·       Sexual Lies – these days have no end.  In my youth (1950’s/60’s) the so-called sexual revolution “liberated” fornication (sexual activity between unmarried couples)…it became accepted, even lauded.  In the 1980’s same-sexuality relationships started to become normal.  A neverending barage of media and social campaigns culminated during the Obama era of legalizing same-sex marriage, flaunting man’s disdain for God’s commands.

·       Spiritual Lies – have the result of destroying long-standing faithfulness to godlinesss, and have even turned sanctuaries consecrated to worship of God into houses of human idolatry, “sanctifying” same-sex marriages.  The United Methodist Church, descendant of Wesley’s strong foundation in the Scriptural Word of Truth, is undergoing a complete devolution in this lie.

In our day the lie has gained a reputation for truth.  Sad.

For You Today  

Be a dove kind of sheep…but be different than the Galatian brand; be as shrewd as snakes.  Beware the pretending wolves in sheep’s clothing.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

The Third Day  and  Living in Sodom

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

The Kingdom is Like...

 

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?  How can I illustrate it?  It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.”  He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like?  It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread.  Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”                           Luke 13:18-21

Speaking in parables (metaphorical messages) Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to the way God created the tendency to grow in the natural world.  Mustard seeds are tiny; they quickly grow into a tree big enough for a bird to build its nest.  Yeast causes growth to a little pile of dough. 

But wherever God has created good, evil is certain to twist in the opposite direction.  When we moved to North Carolina 22 years ago our little ½ acre was mostly untamed, with large trees – mostly pines, cedars, and poplar.  Some of the trees were already dead; wild vines had wrapped the living trees when they were smaller and sucked the life out of them.  They looked impressive, tall, and stately but they were rotted, ready to fall.

This is Satan’s characteristic stock-in-trade; it is his unchanging nature to deceive and pervert.  Satan made his entrance on the stage of world drama by deceiving Eve in the garden; that serpent has never/will never change. 

Scripture tells us he will pay the ultimate penalty for his rebellion:

This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.  Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last—salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.  For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth—the one who accuses them before our God day and night.  Revelation 12:9-10

In other parables Jesus taught us about life, death, and learning to live a Godly life in His kingdom.  That living must continually be awake and aware, because every good thing God created has an evil counterfeit-lure stalking us in the shadows.  This is why, with all the wonderful teaching Jesus offered of the good things in God’s wonderful creation, He balanced the picture with reality-101 – the caution we must have about the pitfalls of temptation, sin, and the Devil’s way:

Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.  So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.  Matthew 10:16

For You Today

There’s an old saying about how to be wise in dealing with others:

Trust, but Verify

As believers, we are to trust God, and test the spirits[1].  We must heed the lesson Adam and Eve were handed…Satan NEVER tells the truth!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Wikimedia Commons   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] See 1 John 4:1

Small Package - Big Message

[1]

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers.  Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.  Turn away and keep moving.  For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.  They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.  They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence!  Proverbs 4:14-17^(NLT)

If your father is the wisest man in the universe, and he tells you “don’t even think about it…keep moving” – well, it pays to heed the advice.  Solomon characterized the two ends of the spectrum of human character – the low end goes to evil continually, eating the food of wickedness and drinking the wine of violence.  The other, higher end of human character is that which aspires to Godly kindness.   Solomon told his son to watch out for the wicked…just turn and keep moving! 

Mother Teresa of Calcutta made a lifetime of doing that.  In 1979 this humble sister of the Roman Catholic Order of the Missionaries of Charity received the Nobel Peace Prize for her worldwide orphanage work based in Calcutta.

She was born in Skopje, a little town that is part of Kosovo, the scene of much violence and human brokenness.  It would have been quite normal (and much easier) to sit with violence and wickedness, but Teresa walked the different, higher pathway, touching the lives of millions with the love of Christ.

Physically she was only 5’ tall, but it would be wrong to characterize this physically-diminutive woman as tiny in character or courage; she had the heart of a lion. 

In 1988 she received an honorary degree from the University of San Diego and used her address to the crowd of 6,000 admirers like Solomon counselling his son about good and evil.  Here’s what she said:

"Abortion has become the greatest destroyer of peace, because it destroys two lives, the life of the child and the conscience of the mother," she said. " . . . Let us thank our parents for wanting us, for loving us, for giving us the joy of living. . . . You are priceless to God himself."

In her address, Mother Teresa also recited an anecdote to illustrate that every person, whether rich or poor, is significant in the eyes of God.

She talked about a desperate father who arrived at her mission with his only son, who was sick and dying. The doctor had given the child a prescription, but the father could not afford to purchase the medicine. As she was talking to the father, another man walked in with a basket full of medications. At the top of the pile was the medicine needed by the child.

Even with "millions and millions and millions of children in the world," God was still concerned with "that little child in the slums of Calcutta," said Mother Teresa.[2]

Remember that Mother Teresa was speaking to a graduating college crowd at the end of the 20^th century, and she was doing so in California, to privileged young people steeped in the wine of personal privilege and rights, only a decade after Roe vs. Wade made abortion legal.  She was being honored, and could have basked in the sunshine of the moment; she chose to speak truth against the tide of cultural power!

Small woman; big message!

For You Today

As you move about in this world, keep it in focus that Solomon never told his son to ignore evil; he told him to turn from it.  That means move in the other direction, but it doesn’t mean take your eyes off it. 

Like another wise man said:  Be harmless as doves and wise as serpents![3]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image:  By Martin-loewenstein Ölbild von Żaba, Hamburg 2010, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] H.G. REZA, Mother Teresa Calls Abortion Greatest Threat to Peace, (L.A. Times, June 01, 1988)|

[3] Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:16

Living Wisely and Boldly

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Friday, January 8, 2016

Devotion VIDEO here

Then Daniel went in to see Arioch, whom the king had ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him, “Don’t kill the wise men. Take me to the king, and I will tell him the meaning of his dream.”  

Daniel 2:24^(NLT)

So be careful how you live.  Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.  Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.  Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life.  Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.   

Ephesians 5:15-19 ^(NLT)

Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man on earth, had a bad dream.  He summoned all his magicians and soothsayers to interpret the dream.  But, to make sure they weren’t faking an interpretation, he demanded they first tell him what the dream was.  Well, they couldn’t do that, so the King was going to have them executed.

Enter Daniel…Hebrew slave, born in captivity to the Babylonian empire.  To make a longish story short, Daniel was minding his own business, and the whole mess got dropped in his lap.  He went to prayer and boldly followed God’s leadership to disclose the king’s dream and what it meant.  Daniel was rewarded with the king’s favor, wealth and position in the kingdom’s hierarchy, along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. 

End of story…we all lived happily ever after; right?

Not so…Daniel and the three Hebrew boys didn’t have entirely smooth sailing.  It was still an adventure living in Babylon, avoiding the intrigue and sub-plots of palace life in a hostile land that was not their own; especially that fiery furnace event!

In the New Testament Paul understood that kind of messy, vague life, where you’ve got a clear vision to serve God, but there are plenty of temptations and trials to throw you off course.  His advice to us is to live, not as fools, but wisely, keeping sober and on our knees, so we will know what God wants us to do, as the Holy Spirit fills our hearts and lives with purpose, leading us to follow God’s will.

The key to living wisely with boldness is never to do a bold thing without God’s direction, and never hold back from boldness when God has said to do something.  When Jesus turned his disciples loose to go minister he warned them:

Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.  So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.  Matthew 10:16^(NLT)

Daniel understood that; he didn’t go to the king until he’d spent time on his knees before God.  You need that for developing both shrewdness and harmlessness.

Before he was renamed Paul, he was a persecutor named Saul – more of a zealot to eradicate the church than anyone.  Saul found out just how painful it can be to go against God’s will.

So did I.  I once preached a very bold sermon to a congregation; actually, I only thought it was bold – it was really just a stupid reaction of anger that I hadn’t prayed over, and let God direct me.  I wound up alienating half the church and confusing the rest. 

And I believe that is where the difference is to be located between living wisely and boldly as opposed to living as a fool – anger and selfishness.  If you have a passion to do something for God, and locate any bit of anger or self-righteousness in your own heart over what you’re contemplating – don’t do it…you’re not following God, you’re just being foolish.

For You Today

When you find yourself tempted to do something foolish…take time to pray, sing a song of praise; make some music in your heart to praise the Lord.  Then ask your closest friend, God’s Holy Spirit, what it all means.  He just may give you the words your Nebuchadnezzar needs to hear.

You chew on that out on that Rocky Road today…and have a joy-filled and blessed day!

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[1] Title image:  By Internet Archive Book Images, via Wikimedia Commons

Wise Snakes; Harmless Doves

Friday, October 24, 2014

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.  So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.”      Matthew 10:16 (NLT)

Jesus knew that idealism in the extreme accomplishes little other than gridlock or martyrdom.  

Every harmless dove needs a little shrewdness; every shrewd snake could use some harmless tempering.  This may be have been John Wesley’s muse for developing the Middle Way. 

While I’m no expert on Wesley (or much of anything else) it seems the founder of Methodism understood “moderation in all things” to be something we should take seriously.

Current day Methodists seem to miss that.  We are embroiled of late in a push from sociological (not theological) extremes:

          ·        On the right, weighing in at 320 lbs of pure conservative Pharisaism are those who would ban anyone who isn’t heterosexual from planet earth.

          ·        On the left, weighing in at 320 lbs of purely liberal progressive humanism are those who would do away with every commonsense appraisal of Scripture’s take on sin.

Neither group gets Wesley’s understanding of “hearts holding hands”.

The Middle Way understands that we are not all cut from the same cloth, and always will differ in opinion on issues.  We stay together and work together because the middle is where you meet to find common ground to finish the mission; the fringe is where plans are made to dismember the body of Christ.

I hate hidden agendas. 

Having revealed my “snakey-shrewd” pessimism, I will temper it with “dovey-nice-nice” – we all have our agenda issues.  Progressives who twist Scripture to validate sinful behavior, and Traditionalists who react with hatred in self-righteousness are moving more on agenda than Spirit breath.  Church life becomes all so agenda-driven

Cutting to MY real agenda today:

I just hate the falseness of when someone hides their real intentions to gain your trust; it’s then that the rug underneath gets shaky.  I am of the opinion, and willing to stand there – that every person who holds a different point of view than I hold, is welcome to stand with me in worship and in working for the Kingdom of God. 

I really mean that.

And by that I mean – worshiping God, not self’s agenda.  If you’re into that, I’d rather not be in the room.

The “baggage” of our sin (progressives and traditionalists alike) only belongs on an altar – not on a calendar of issues for the Judicial Council to bless or ban.

At this point I have to say shame on we Methodists for calling ourselves United!

OK…Rant over!

For You, Today…

To my traditionalist friends:  Have you worked through the Pharisee-hardened side of your heart?

To my progressive friends:  Have you worked on that Zealot-humanism side of your heart?

Let’s be shrewd; let’s be harmless…there’s a middle way.

An invitation:  Let’s go to the altar, place our sins where they can be handled by the proper authority…and then let’s do communion; let’s be communion.