John Nazigan and Water Bottles

Here is an interesting piece of food for thought that I first heard from Mr. Nazigan last summer at the Word of Life Ranch where I was a counselor.

If I have a water bottle in my hand and you bump my arm and water spills out onto the ground, why did the water come out? Because you bumped my arm, right? Wrong!

What? But if you hadn't bumped my arm, the water wouldn't have come out! You are responsible! Wait. There is a deeper reason. Water came out because water was in the bottle in the first place. If orange juice had been in the bottle when you bumped my arm, water could not have possibly escaped onto the ground.

But of course. What's so profound about that?

Let's apply this principle to our everyday lives. There will always be trials that will "bump our arms," so to speak. Yet those trials are not at fault for what comes out of us. If anger comes out, it does so because it was already present deep within our hearts. If love comes out, it does so because love was inside of us. Neither you nor I can ever change how we react to those "arm-bumps." What we must concern ourselves with is what is present inside our hearts. If we are controlled by fleshly emotions, then what escapes us will only be displeasing to the Lord and embarrassing to ourselves. On the other hand, if we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, then the fruit of the Spirit that shines after each "arm-bump" will surprise the watching world and bring glory to our Father.

What do you want spilling out of your water bottle today?

Spiritual Malnutrition Personified

Have you heard about the "revival" going on in Florida under the leadership of a man named Todd Bentley? My dad played Crosstalk's show about it the other night at the dinner table so our whole family could be informed about it.

Here's the deal. Mr. Bentley is receiving angelic visits such as a fairy-like "Emma" who sprinkles gold dust on people in the church to bless them financially; as well as a fourteen-foot tall "angel or whatever" (his words) called Winds of Change who, interestingly enough, has also visited other charismatic leaders such as the Bob Jones of Kansas City.

He is receiving messages - from God, he says - to heal people by banging one woman's legs against the platform like a baseball bat or kicking another old lady in the face with his biker boot.

He is covered in tattoos and body piercings.

He shows off gold teeth that "God has given people."

People start barking like dogs and clucking like chickens.

He preaches that "the Anointing is Jesus . . . . the Anointing is not Jesus . . . . the Anointing is Jesus . . . . the Anointing is not Jesus."

I don't know about you, but this sounds like chaos to me. And we know from Scripture that God is not the author of confusion. The Bible says in another place to "test the spirits, to see whether they be of God." Does this really sound like the Holy Spirit we read about in the Bible, or maybe more like some other spirits we see in the same Book?

Here is what's really scary: A lot of supposed Christians - evangelicals, actually - are falling for this guy, driving down there to hear him, getting him to lay his hands on them, and then taking this stuff back to their local churches. Where are these people's Bibles?

Check out these links for more information.
http://www.crosstalkamerica.com/
http://http//blog.thewaycf.com/2008/05/pastor-strader-speaks-on-todd-bentley_31.html
http://www.wingswatchman.org/

A New Game!!! I love it! :D

This past Sunday my awesome brother Caleb was trying to think of a good game we could play that would be fun and, at the same time, honor the Lord on His Day. This is what he came up with:

One person picks a random verse in the Bible (that the other people are not likely to know already) and acts out the important words through charades. Once the audience has learned as much of the verse as possible, the first person reads the verse aloud and everyone memorizes it. Then someone else takes a turn.

It's so enjoyable and makes memorizing so much easier! In one afternoon we learned Proverbs 6:23, Psalm 137:2, Proverbs 8:34, Isaiah 65:24, 2 Kings 22:11, and two other verses that I can't quite recall off the top of my head. Try it! I'm sure that it will bring both laughter and blessing to you and your family.

Bread, Milk, Meat, Water, . . . Candy?

So maybe you are eating well physically, but how about your spiritual diet? Could it be that the Church of today is suffering from malnutrition? A brief nibble of Scripture here, a token prayer there, a small cup of milk at church a few times a week, a hunk of meat every once in a while, and lots of sugared "worship music," fast-food devotionals, and fun and games with other starving spiritual children.

So many times this is the true picture of my life. But it isn't God's picture of what He wants for my life! On the contrary, He would like us to be feasting daily on the real soul food of the Word of God, prayer, communion with the Lord, and fellowship with other believers.

"But he answered and said, 'It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God' " (Matthew 4:4). Whole-grain bread is one of the excellent foods God has provided us, but even good physical bread is not enough. We must live by every word of the Scriptures! This means that we must be in the Word all the time, reading and studying and meditating and memorizing. We must really know the words of God. We must hide them in our hearts. And then we must obey them.

"As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2). Pure, personalized milk straight from the breast of a healthy mother is the perfect food for babies to grow into healthy children and adults with strong bodies and immune systems. But again, what is more important than food? Soul food (1 Timothy 4:8)! The Word of God is the perfect food for our souls to grow into healthy and strong spiritual adults, no longer tossed about by every wind of doctrine but instead ready to guide younger believers in the Way.

"I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able" (1 Corinthians 3:2). As a baby gets older, he eventually needs to be weaned from his mother's milk and fed with meat like grown-ups. He needs to eat real food. Milk is good for babies, but eventually we do expect them to grow up. The same goes for Christians. We need milk for a while, but the idea is to be continually growing and learning more and more, reaching higher and higher and deeper and deeper.

"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). Pure water is so vital to our existence! If we go without it for more than a few days, we will die. Spiritual water is just as important. We need to drink daily, moment-by-moment, from Christ, our fountain of living waters. Just as pop brings temporary refreshment but no real nourishment or quenching of thirst, so the pleasures of this world and spiritual candy are only broken cisterns and can bring us no true aid, no true quenching of the deep thirst of our souls.

God's design for us is to abide in Him (John 15), to delight in His Word (Psalm 1), to commune with Him in prayer throughout every day (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and to fellowship with other believers (Acts 2:42). This is true nourishment. This is how our souls will thrive!

What Is a Healthy Diet?

Have you ever read the book What the Bible Says About Healthy Living by Rex Russell? If you haven't, put it on your booklist soon! It's so good! Here is the book summed up in just a few sentences:

The Three Principles

Principle 1:

Eat only substances God created for food. Avoid what is not designed for food.

Principle 2:

As much as possible, eat foods as they were created - before they are changed or converted into something humans think might be better.

Principle 3:

Avoid food addictions. Don't let any food or drink become your god.

This looks simple, but it is extremely profound. Just mull it over for a few minutes, then begin thinking of how you can begin implementing it into your life in little ways.

Are You Healthy? (Part 1)

You may not have an obvious sickness right now, but are you really healthy? Here's how the Webster's 1828 dictionary defines being healthy -

"HEALTH''Y, a. Being in a sound state; enjoying health; hale; sound; as a healthy body or constitution. 1. Conducive to health; wholesome; salubrious; as a healthy exercise; a healthy climate; healthy recreations."

I think sometimes that even though I do not have any particular obvious sickness or disease, I am not necessarily as healthy according to this definition as I could be. I am not really in shape or physically fit. Lemuel's mother could not have pointed me out to her son as a girl who "girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms" (Prov. 31:17).

After some thought on the matter, I think that there are basically seven essential ingredients to a truly healthful life.

1. A Healthy Diet - Out of the seven deadly sins, the one we tend to think about the least is gluttony. It’s like a bad word. It offends us. It steps on our toes. Yet the Lord used it twice in His Word, as well as phrases like being “overcharged with surfeiting” (Lk. 21:34) and having one’s belly for an idol (Phil. 3:19). And every time, it is associated with a heart that loves pleasure and self-indulgence more than it loves the Lord. Ouch!

How is this true? God’s Word tells us that our bodies are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psa. 139:14). In addition, we are temples of the Holy Spirit and, therefore, are to glorify Him in our bodies (1 Cor. 6:19-20). As a matter of fact, we are to glorify Him in everything we do, but specifically in our mealtimes (1 Cor. 10:31)!

It is said that Jonathan Edwards, that great theologian whose preaching God used to spark the Great Awakening, often pushed himself away from the table early. What if we practiced this habit? What self-discipline such a practice would instill!

But what do we so often choose instead? I, for one, am more likely to take an extra cookie, or a second helping. My dad just so happens to be a Baptist preacher, so we get to hear a lot of food-related Baptist jokes. Like the time when the kids' class at school was studying religion and each student was to bring some special item and explain its significance. Kind of like a "Show-and-Tell." Well, the first little boy brought a rosary and said, "I am a Catholic, and the rosary is special in my religion." Then the little girl brought a star of David and said, "I am a Jew, and the Star of David is special to my religion." Finally a little boy brought a casserole and said, "I am a Baptist, and the casserole is special to my religion."

That's funny, and we can laugh. But is that really what we want to be known for? Is not that gluttony - the worship of food? Even if we don't overeat, we can worship food in other ways. Is there some food that you cannot go without for more than a few days? Maybe it's ice cream, pop, chocolate, coffee, or anything else. A Christian is to have no addiction other than Jesus Christ.

Or what about eating unhealthy foods just because they taste good, even if we know they are harmful to our bodies and therefore perhaps cutting short our lives and abilities to serve God? What if we know that so much sugar and white flour is bad for us, but we just can't say no? What if we know that drinking so much pop is corroding our organs, but we just have to have it? What if our taste buds don't really enjoy water, whole-grains, fruits, and veggies, so we just don't take them? Is this not also idolatry?

Food is a means to an end. And that end is the glory of God. When eating food begins to interfere with our ability to bring Him glory, something needs to change.