August 13 -- Afraid, Pushed Around -- Kraków, Poland

Good Morning, I just fixed my third cup of coffee and have it set close at hand beside the keyboard.  It is a cool and cloudy morning here in Kraków.  Mariusz has left to go for his morning swim. In the quiet of the morning I have been thinking of you and listening to Holy Spirit about some concepts.

Those of you who know me well know that as I read the Scriptures I understand quite clearly that many things I learned in my religious upbringing were nothing more than popular myths that sounded good for getting people excited.  Sounds good but is false -- that is a fair definition of deception.  For example: "Pray for revival."  That sounds so spiritual.  Sadly it is a concept that does not appear anywhere in the New Testament.  "The Rapture" that will take us up into Heaven before all the trouble and persecution starts -- That sounds so wonderful.  I think it would be delightful.  If true, we do not need to get the Bride matured so she can overcome Satan because she is not afraid to die.  But, the Truth is we have been warned. During the great tribulation, if Father God does not shorten the time, even we, the saints of God, will be among the ones who are deceived.  I do not know how that is possible if we are safely tucked away in Heaven.  Other scholars have published books demonstrating that almost all of what is done in a typical Sunday morning worship service has no basis in the Scriptures.  Some of what is commonly practiced is plainly in violation of what the Scriptures teach. Understand, I am not saying here that all religious organizations are evil.  Any organization is simply a man made tool.  Some tools are useful and helpful.  Some are destructive and not helpful.  I would never recommend doing brain surgery with an axe.  Neither would I make a scalpel my first choice for cutting down a tree.  But, I do urge us to re-examine all we are doing in light of what the Scriptures actually say not by what traditions say.

I encourage each of you to read your Bible with two thoughts in mind:  1.  Be suspicious of every traditional practice or teaching you have ever heard.  Examine every one of them and look to see what the Scriptures actually say.  2.  Every major translation of the Bible was made by men who had a deeply developed set of cultural and religious traditions.  As such every translation necessarily contains some institutional and some personal biases.  I recommend for those who have never studied Hebrew and/or New Testament Greek, get a computer based Bible program that directly links the translated words with the Strong's Concordance .  That concordance enables you to see the root meanings of the Greek or Hebrew words.  It also enables you to see how those same words were used other places in the Bible.  Let me show you what I mean by an example.  

In one of Jesus's earliest teachings, the Sermon on the Mount (a traditional title), He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." {Matthew 5: 3 (NASB)}  One of the traditions that has been drawn from this verse (among others) is that there is some virtue in being impoverished.  This tradition has been strengthened by groups in the church organizations who have taken vows of poverty.  Even though this tradition plainly contradicts the Scriptural teaching that righteous men will prosper financially and that God provides for us out of His abundance.  The traditions continue and so influence our society that in many parts of western civilization wealthy people are thought to be inherently evil and poor people are thought to be worthy of our admiration and support.  In each case just because of the financial condition.  But, when we look at that word "poor" it is actually a Greek word that means "cowering" as in afraid or pushed around because they have no power to defend themselves.  Later when Jesus describes His ministry by reading the opening verses of Isaiah 61, again the word poor appears (the same Greek word).  If you go back to Isaiah, you see the concept again in the Hebrew describes people who are afflicted, people who feel socially unable to defend themselves.  When we look at this we begin to grasp the bigger concept that was so important to Jesus that it was almost His first significant statement in His ministry.  It was also His continuing theme.  There is a blessing for us when we recognize we are spiritually unable to defend our selves. We are spiritually powerless and blind.  When, unlike the Pharisees, we are able to admit our blindness and powerlessness, then God in His grace and mercy becomes our rescuer and defender.  He shows us the true nature of His Kingdom.  But, so long as we insist we can see, and we can make it by our own strength and power, we remain stuck in our sin and miss out on the blessing of entering into His Kingdom.

There is a wealth of revelation from Holy Spirit available to us when we let go of our traditions and allow Him to show us what He means as He shows us the Scripture unburdened by our myths and traditions.  Let me give you a fun exercise.  Go read I Corinthians 14:26.  Then ask yourself what does it mean for you when you come together with your Christian brother: at your son's football game; or at the end of the aisle in Walmart; or at his home eating a meal together.

His, thus Yours,

  Stuart