July 24, 2025July 31, 2025 Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Healing

Acts 3 begins at the Beautiful Gate. While there is some dispute regarding its location, we were told when we were in Israel that it is sealed because it is the gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, Mat 21, on a donkey, and will reenter from the same spot when He returns to rule in the Millennium. It sits directly across from the Mount of Olives, upon which both Jews and Christians expect the Messiah to descend.

While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?
Acts 3:11-12

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Zechariah 14:4-11

A lame man who had lain daily at the gate asks Peter and John for some stuff. The Bible calls it alms. Peter replies,

“I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”
Acts 3:6

One question that sticks out in our minds is, “Does that imply that Jesus would have passed him by?” If so, was it so that God could heal him as Peter told him to stand and walk?

In any case, everyone begins freaking out and as is usual with human beings, they begin assigning power and significance to people. Peter counters with “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?“

This is the first Apostolic healing. Peter establishes an important truth that frames every incidence of healing thereafter.

The power of God, not the power of people heals.

After rebuking the Jews once again for delivering Jesus to Pilate to be killed, Peter declares,

And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
Acts 3:16

My first question here is, “whose faith?” Was it the faith of the lame man that healed him? Was it the faith of Peter? Or did the faith of Jesus alone in the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy that healed him?

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5

The exact interpretation is the jumping-off point for a major theological controversy in the body of Christ. Word of Faith adherents maintain that physical health is a right of all believers. They maintain that healing itself is the emphasis behind divine healing. An absence of healing correlates with the absence of faith. Some claim the faith of the one praying determines healing. Some claim it is the faith of the one receiving the prayer. Others hold that the sole purpose of healing is to glorify God.

“Doesn’t all healing glorify God?” You ask.

Not necessarily. As someone recently said, “One thing we don’t do well within the charismatic stream is illness.” We have seen parents blamed for the partial paralysis of their child.

“You need to take authority! Command him to walk!” They said. “He’s not healed because you don’t believe!”

If the parent assumes the blame for their child not being healed, then it follows that they would get the credit if the child is healed. A similar dynamic can be seen in those who take credit for leading someone to the Lord. That’s great that you did that! But that also means it’s your fault anytime someone refuses.

Thankfully Paul was clear about his and our responsibilities in God’s plan.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7

In John 9 Jesus declares the man was specifically born blind for the purpose of Glorifying God. Similarly, in John 11, Jesus declares of Lazarus “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Then again, in Mark 10, Jesus declares of the blind man, “And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” Jesus declared the same thing regarding the woman with an issue of blood in Luke 8:43-48. “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” Was their faith in the sovereign deity and the power of Jesus? Or was their faith in God’s desire that they should be healed?

It seems that our role as believers is to be faithful and obedient. I don’t pray for people because I believe I have the power to heal. I pray because I have the power to know when and how to obey God. If someone is healed or delivered when I pray, it’s because God did it. I simply obeyed the word that the Holy Spirit brought to remembrance. If He doesn’t heal, it’s because His will or maybe His timing is different, as was the case with our friend Crystal who was repeatedly prayed for by Todd White before and after he became a celebrity.

If you insist that God always wants to heal our flesh and to say otherwise is heresy then please click on the link above.

Also consider Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9

For the record, while it is common for people to project the sin they have yet to overcome onto Paul and claim it as their own thorn, Paul was speaking about his poor eyesight. He could not read or write though he was a scholar among scholars and had to depend entirely on Luke. If it is always God’s will to heal then Paul must not have believed. Obviously, the argument falls apart when we apply the laws of coherence and noncontradiction.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Mathew 28:18

Either Jesus has been given all authority or He has not. If indeed Jesus is on the throne then nothing can happen that He does not cause or allow. “But all sickness is Satanic!” you say. Perhaps. But God causes all things to work together for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. If Satan can sift us, Luke 22:31, apart from the will of Jesus, then Satan, not Jesus, is on the throne. To say otherwise is completely incoherent.

Given the location of the opening scene in Acts 3, I can’t help but wonder if this first Apostolic healing wasn’t a prophetic eschatological foreshadowing. After all, a man who could not stand or walk stood and boldly marched through the gate that marked the beginning of Jesus’s journey to the cross that is the source of all healing and into the very city and temple from which Jesus will one day rule.

At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.
Jeremiah 3:17

In fact, the entire third chapter of Acts is framed by prophetic declarations beginning with Moses.

The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you…
Deuteronomy 18:15-18

Interestingly, Moses’s prophecy regarding Jesus emphasizes a warning about false prophecy.

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak…
Deuteronomy 18:20-22

I often think many of our would-be contemporary prophets and prophetesses would do well to meditate deeply on these verses.

In any case, Peter reminds them that all the prophets since Samuel have prophesied the coming of Jesus. He reminds them they are the sons of these prophets and are of the covenant God made with Abraham.

‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’
Genesis 22:18

I could be wrong, but healing when it happens seems bigger and more significant than our flesh and comfort on earth. “But people come to Jesus as a result of miracles.” That’s not what the Bible says.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:44

Jesus denounced the places where He did most of His miracles because they did not repent of their sins. Matthew 11 People who are divinely healed but don’t truly surrender to Jesus may actually be worse off.

Are there healing and material blessings in this life? Of course. But these are not the determining factors for God’s love. We know God loves us because He gave Himself for us. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. Transgressions are sins we have committed. Iniquity includes the pressure to sin. The power of God is most clearly described in 1 John.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:5-10

One thing is certain everyone reading this is going to die. Barring some form of unexpected instant death, there is a good chance people will be fervently praying for you to be healed while you pass.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die..
Ecclesiasties 3:1-2

Again, physical healing in this life does happen. But it may not be the main point, or the main event.

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him
Hebrews 9:27-28

Everything God does on earth serves His purpose in drawing the current aeon to a close with Christ’s return followed by the reset of all creation according to His original plan.

I could be wrong, but I think human beings are myopic by default. Entitlement and ingratitude are also common. Some of us are so consumed with seeking superior natural experiences that defy natural law because we have never embraced the miracle of creation itself. We are so easily consumed with the present, often presented on a smartphone, that we forget we are living in eternity. Those chasing the manifest presence of God often forget, or perhaps never knew that at one point, we were destined for eternal torment.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Ephesians 2:1-3

How many today have really embraced the reality of that from which we are saved because of who He is, not because of us. It about,

HIM, HIM, HIM!

Not

“US, US, US!”

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Ephesians 2:4-5

I am convinced that our primary focus in reading scripture should be eschatological from the start. Or as Steven Covey wrote,

Begin with the end in mind.
-7 Habits of Highly Effective People-

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Ephesians 1:3-10

Maranatha

January 27, 2025January 27, 2025 Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Commentary

For The Love Of Pua

A lesson in gardening

Pua
Flower, blossom, tassel and stem of sugar cane; to bloom, blossom. To issue, appear, come forth, emerge, said especially of smoke, wind, speech, and colors, hence to smoke, blow, speak, shine. Progeny, child, descendant, offspring.
Hawaiian Dictionary

Whenever you see a “For the Love of ____” blog, you can be certain I have emerged from a period of examining myself to see if I am in the faith. Am I on the right path Lord? 2 Cor 13:5 We have learned through the years that God periodically tests our faith. James 1:2-4 Everything we do that is anything is for His glory alone. While those who plant and water are not anything. God gives the increase when we are faithful to fulfill our part.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Cor 3:5-9

Some know that Cathy and I ran a coed faith based transition home for furloughed inmates on Kauai called Live Again The Walk. Translation: we had 5-10 inmates and sometimes their children living in our home for 12 years.

Anyone who has engaged in prison ministry knows that the odds of success are stacked against you from the start. Those who fail to understand and embrace the realities of 1 Corinthians 3 usually abandon all hope and move on before the miraculous increase happens. So many inmates that came to our home failed over the years, that I used to joke that we ran a fruitless ministry. Yet the Lord had called us to it and we didn’t have His permission to quit. That’s not to say that we wanted to or that everyone failed. Our first resident loved the lord. He became a successful carpenter and independent contractor with a family before he died. Our second got her master’s degree and now teaches at a High school on Kauai. We had nearly ten years of experience under our belt when Pua arrived.

Pua (a.k.a. Kimberlynn) didn’t want to come to our house at first. As she says, “I was planning to get high.” But the KCCC Warden Neal Wagatsuma had other plans. Pua had to see the judge before she could be released. Neal told her Cathy would be there to pick her up. Pua says she didn’t believe it. Why should she? She’d been homeless for three years before she was arrested. She’d been homeless a lot growing up as a child of addicted parents in Waianae, Hawaii. Waianae is probably the roughest community in the entire state. She suffered the most unspeakable things you can imagine. But Pua is tough. In fact, she was the self-appointed “mayor” of the homeless camp before she went to jail. Apart from one or two prison Bible studies, Pua didn’t know Cathy at all. Imagine her surprise when Cathy turned out to be the first person in the courtroom when Pua arrived. Those who know Cathy will understand when I say,

Pua came home with Cathy.

Traumatized women require a lot of love, patience, listening, and gentle guidance from those who are willing to take the time to earn their trust. Yet it didn’t take all that long for Pua to allow herself to be planted. She never lied to us, never stole, never drank or did drugs, never became violent, and was never promiscuous. She got saved and filled with Holy Spirit and has been a walking, talking joy bomb ever since. No one loves Mondays like Pua. I promise you will have no greater understanding of joy than if you meet her. That said, follow her on Instagram and tell her we sent you to get joy bombed.

Like a lot of women fresh out of addiction and criminal lifestyles, Pua’s only real temptation was in the area of relationships. To love and be loved are genuine, valid human needs. And like most women from traumatic backgrounds, Pua had a broken picker when it came to men. So Pua got creative. She used stuffed animals as a coping tool. Bub was her favorite.

She’d been with us about two years when she came home and confessed that she was attracted to some guy in the community. Romantic relationships were normally forbidden for our residents, but Pua had been with us for a while and we knew it could not last forever. So I investigated. Sure enough, the guy was a stoner and toxic for Pua. I reminded her in my characteristically blunt way, that her “picker was broken.” I held the stoner’s picture in one hand and Bub in the other. “Seriously?” “He looks exactly like Bub!” I said, “Oh my God!” Pua said.

She dropped the stoner like a rock and kept Bub.

Incidentally, Pua named me Dutch.

That should make perfect sense to anyone who knows me and has seen the movie.

In return, I named Pua “Boove”, after the main character in the Pixar movie Home.

That should also make perfect sense to anyone who knows Pua and has seen the movie.

Today Pua has a boyfriend named Kali. Naturally, I investigated. It turns out he is a solid, spirit-filled, hard-working guy, and perfect for Pua. Cathy and I approve.

Now, you might be wondering what specific kinds of teaching, discipleship, counseling, interventions, etc., we employed to make Pua the person she is. What curriculum did we use? If so then you still don’t get it. Christians everywhere are grasping for false identity called self-esteem while struggling with the reality that he who plants and waters is nothing and that

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God
1 Cor 1:27- 29

It continues to amaze me that so much false pride and boasting exists within Christian ministries. It seems that believers everywhere are either vying for a platform or idolizing one.

You can not manualize transformation. As I’ve said, Cathy and I know what it is to be utterly broken. As I wrote in the previous post, our brokenness is our resume. God comforted us in our affliction. Now we can comfort those in their affliction. 2 Cor 1:4 That’s it. That being said, the closest we have to a manualized formula is contained in Proverbs 3:5-8. We said yes to the Lord, fell in love with Pua, and had a whole lot of fun doing it. Granted she has a slightly different perspective.

Hanae, pronounced (Hana-ay), is the Hawaiian word for adoption. Not just formal legal adoption. Kids can also adopt parents. Like a lot of people with millennial kids, Cathy and I have adult children from whom we are currently estranged. Pua said we had faith? The truth is she had enough faith to trust us even though she didn’t know us “Haoles” (foreigners). Yet she came to live in our home and accepted us as her own despite our previous failures as parents. God knew we needed her to inspire us, to help us persevere and grow amidst rejection by some of those we love most.

Today the Pua to whom we provided a place to be planted and bloom has become the Lord’s increase. She took over our transitional home when Cathy and I left for the foreign mission field. Now, she works for the county of Kauai as the number two person in charge of a program that assists all the homeless on the island. She oversees transitional homes and feeding programs all over Kauai.

So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:7

As we always say, God calls us to help certain people because He knows it is the best place for us to receive the help that we need. That revelation, if we get it, will squash false pride and enable us to follow Jesus’s command to “Deny Self” and become His disciple.

In addition to the transition home where I lived, I also worked as an adolescent substance abuse treatment counselor in a school-based treatment program. It seems like just yesterday that I had a 13-year-old boy named Elijah. God used him to teach me a powerful lesson about mercy, grace, hearing His voice, and that, quite often, He works despite rather than because of what we think and do. It remains one of the most formative experiences in my faith walk with the Lord.

To say that Elijah was a handful is an understatement. I remember looking at him as he was causing trouble in my classroom and thinking, “There is no point! I can’t help this kid. He is destined for jail.” We were scheduled to go on a bi-yearly camping trip, and I did not want to take him. But he begged and pleaded and promised to be good until finally I gave in.”Fine!” I said. “But I’ve got to check your bags.” “Uh…uh…oh-ok…,” Elijah said. It took all of thirty seconds for me to find a bag of weed, a lighter, and a pipe.

“Elijah I trusted you!” I lied.

I didn’t trust that kid as far as I could throw him.

Everything in the code of conduct, every rule I had sworn to uphold told me to turn him into the principal so he could be suspended from school. But I felt an undeniable check in my spirit. It made no sense. But it seemed like the Lord wanted me to take him on the trip.

Seriously Lord?!

So I gave him the “justice, mercy, grace” speech. Justice – getting what you deserve, Mercy- not getting what you deserve, Grace – getting what you don’t deserve. “Which one do you think you are getting?” I asked.

“Uh…Grace?” Elijah replied.

I flushed his weed down the toilet smashed his lighter and threw his pipe in the dumpster before loading everyone up and heading off to camp.

My nickname on Kauai at that time was “The Hammer” and or “Warden 2”. Anyone who knew me then could tell you that it went against everything I stood for to let Elijah go on that trip. Boundaries are to be preserved not willfully and flippantly violated. Not only that, but I was putting my most prized commodity on the line: my integrity. Yet, God was clarifying His voice in my spirit along with my faith and obedience to it. That same paradoxical and seemingly contradictory obedience would save our lives more than once when I finally got to the mission field.

As soon as we got to camp Elijah was back to his old defiant and delinquent self. Naturally, I questioned myself,

“Did I really hear God?”

I’ll let you decide.

That was seventeen years ago.

Elijah is thirty today. He approached us after I preached a sermon about our spiritual resumes. Going to jail is a huge part of mine. “It’s the legendary Mr. Gray!” he began. “Oh were you in jail too?” Cathy asked. “No!” Elijah said. “Hina Mauka Teen CARE at Kapaa Middle School!”

“Elijah?!!!” I said.

“I think about you all the time.”

“You know”, Elijah began. “You showed me mercy once in a way that really impacted me.” “It was grace.” I thought to myself. “Was it the weed?” I smiled. “Yeah maybe.” He said. “All I remember is that you trusted me and I let you down.” “It was my lowest point,” he said.

“I’ve never forgotten it.”

“Neither have I,” I replied. “You have been part of my testimony for years.”

Elijah didn’t remember the weed or my speech. He had no knowledge of the ethical dilemma in which he had placed me, let alone what God was doing in me. But rather, the imaginary trust that he believed I had in him made him realize the inherent value of being trustworthy. For all intents and purposes,

I was a mere prop in God’s plan.

I’d seen Elijah once in passing since middle school. He was graduating from high school. “Clean and sober!” he’d exclaimed. “I’m going on a mission trip!” I never got to talk to him beyond that. Church leaders at Pukas Ministries on Kauai tell me that Elijah is humble and a genuine servant today.

One thing is certain when it comes to those whose lives I have purposed to touch. I plant, often without knowing it. Other people water. God gives the miraculous increase. In the end, Pua and Elijah bloomed like flowers in the field while I wasn’t even looking. Today, they water the seeds of my ever-growing trust and obedience in and to the Lord. Today, they are the Lord’s confirmation that I am indeed walking the path and doing the things that God prepared beforehand, and I should walk in them. Not because He needs me to. But because I get to. Our works are never for our significance but for His glory alone. Given what Cathy and I are about to undertake, all I can say is that “I really and truly needed this!”. It might be the main reason for our trip to Kauai. Pua and Elijah’s growth was never about me. But it was, at the very least, partly for me. I am so very grateful and blessed that God used them to increase my faith, awe, and appreciation of His goodness, omniscience, and power.

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. The days of man are like grass. He grows like a flower of the field. When the wind blows over it, it is gone. Its place will remember it no more. But the loving-kindness of the Lord is forever and forever on those who fear Him. And what is right with God is given forever to their children’s children,
Psalm 103:13-17

Maranatha

July 3, 2024July 3, 2024 Brian and Cathy Gray Red Pill Diaries

Always Faithful

We finished Romans 4 this week. Anyone who reads the first four chapters of Romans should have a clear understanding of Justification by faith and that faith is demonstrated by works. As we learned Pístis – faith, is a noun. Pisteúō – belief is a verb.

Belief is faith in action!

Now we move on to Romans 5 where Paul gets into the meat of what faith looks like in practice.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Rom 5:1-8 NKJV

Peace is eirḗnē the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.

Glory is kaucháomai to rejoice.

Tribulation is thlîpsis anguish, burdened, persecution, trouble, pressing together, pressure.

Do you have faith? What about peace? If so, in what do you place your faith? One thing is certain, what we elevate, we serve. Are you consumed by world events and the cares of this life such that you are prone to forgetting God? Or are you so terrified that you refuse to even look at the world? Being consumed can take the form of obsession with circumstances or the fear that drives one’s head into the sand.

The Bible tells us that people perish for two reasons; lack of knowledge and lack of vision. The correct approach is to view the signs of the times while remaining unmoved by circumstances. Mat 16:1-3 True faith is to stare reality dead in the face and remain at peace knowing that God’s purpose and plan will be fulfilled. Faith is partly produced by our history with God. Hope elpís is faith projected into the future. True hope says “I know God will complete what He started because I’ve seen Him complete it thus far.” False hope succumbs to absurd pipe dreams concocted by a misinformed, human imagination.

I wrote Truth or Trump in 2019 discussing how public opinion and markets are manipulated by media via our confirmation biases. I stood amazed as I watched otherwise sane friends and family or what I call the “lobotomized left” defer to a long-standing Marxist agenda whereby Jesus was reframed as a refugee oppressed by the white male patriarchy that he came to overthrow. Meanwhile, the wackified right proclaimed Donald Trump a Biblical Cyrus sent by God to Make America Great Again. Cyrus sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem after Israel repented in captivity. I was mocked and blocked on social media when I disputed the absurd exegesis and typology. For the record, God is not a man and can not be oppressed. The moral state of the USA has far more in common with Mystery Babylon than a repentant Israel emerging from captivity.

That said, today the wackified right and lobotomized left seem like muzzled dogs waiting for a coming fight.

Given the current global geopolitical environment and the level of insane online chatter regarding the potential for another civil war on American soil, it might be wise to have some extra beans and rice on hand.

For the record, Cathy and I are political atheists. We pick politicians like plumbers. We want the best job done for the least amount of money. At this point, we view all politics as leaven. Mark 8:15, Mat 16:1-12 The leaven of Herod is the world with its pride and lusts. The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees represents a religious spirit / political spirit.

There is no political solution to a spiritual problem.

Enter the Russians

Philosopher and Geopolitical analyst Alexander Dugin, a.k.a. “Putin’s Brain” is a former geopolitical advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. I wrote more about him in Did You Say Prepping? As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, Dugin sees the ongoing conflict between Russia and NATO as the parable of the sheep and goats being played out in real time. Mat 25:31-46 While admittedly unwinnable for either side, Dugin, says a war between Russia and NATO remains inevitable. He says it will be a sovereign act of God and a final separation between the sheep and goats in which case,

Russians will go to heaven as martyrs. NATO members will go to hell.

At the time of this writing, Dimitri Medvedev has made concrete threats regarding nuclear war. The Biden administration has authorized the use of US weapons by Ukraine inside Russia. Putin has responded by positioning Russian Naval ships 70 miles off the coast of Florida. As many as eleven Russian Submarines are positioned along the East Coast of the US. He also signed a mutual defense agreement with North Korea. North Korean troops are expected to be fighting alongside Russians in Ukraine within a month. Biden just made selective service registration automatic for men between the ages of 18 and 26. While it hasn’t been implemented, the mechanism to do the same for women is being created. If all that wasn’t crazy enough, a terrorist attack using US-made, internationally banned cluster munitions just took place on a beach in Crimea. Russian news sources (see below) are claiming that the targeting could not have been completed without US intelligence support.

“On June 23, during the great Orthodox holiday of the Holy Trinity, the US-backed Kiev regime carried out a horrific attack on civilians in the Russian city of Sevastopol in Crimea. 151 people were injured, including 27 children. 4 people died, including 2 children. All those responsible for this latest terrorist attack will be brought to justice. There is no doubt that the United States is directly involved in this crime…”

“…The US and its satellites, committed yet another heinous terrorist crime against civilians in Russia by firing missiles at Sevastopol. For their terrorist attack, they specially chose a day – Holy Trinity Sunday – one of the most important holidays celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church. Four people were killed, including a two-year-old boy, who was playing on the municipal beach, and a nine-year-old girl. 151 people applied for medical assistance; 82 – 55 adults and 27 children – were hospitalised, many of them in a grave condition. All patients are receiving skilled medical aid. – According to the Defence Ministry of Russia, the attackers used US ATACMS operational missiles with cluster warheads for greater kill ability. All flight data was entered by US military crews based on US reconnaissance satellite inputs. A Global Hawk US reconnaissance drone was on duty off Crimea.

The Investigative Committee of Russia has promptly started an investigation into this crime. All those implicated in this and other terrorist attacks in the territory of the Russian Federation will incur inevitable punishment.”
– Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Nebenzya, and Russian Foreign Ministry statement on the terrorist attack at Sevastopol –

The Russians do not make idol threats.

The sheer insanity of repeatedly poking the Russian bear in the eye and daring her to respond is beyond my comprehension and probably yours. Hence your confirmation biases might be telling you to dismiss all of this and return to Sports, Netflix, and video games. Do not be deceived.

The Russians are saying they are ready to fight WWIII.

Enter Donald Trump

Donald Trump looked like a perfectly composed genius compared to Biden in the recent debate. While I view Trump as gasoline on a match rather than a savior, his final statement guaranteeing WWIII, if Biden is reelected resonates with what Russia has promised. Just this past week Alexander Dugin wrote the following regarding the upcoming election.

Most likely, the globalists behind the weak Biden will try to remove the strong Trump from the election and prevent him from becoming president at any cost. Any methods may be employed here: assassination, imprisonment, organizing riots and protests, up to and including a coup or civil war. Or by the end of his term, Biden may start a third world war. This is also quite likely.
-Alexander Dugin-

To be clear, the Russian goal is a decentralized multipolar world where individual nations respectfully compete with one another to find the best solutions for all. In their minds, the primary obstacle is the current unipolar world controlled by the hegemonic USA and its European globalist partners.

First and foremost, a second term for a US president with such an ideology will show that the first term was not an accident (for the globalists), but a regular occurrence. A unipolar world and the globalist project will be rejected not only by supporters of a multipolar world — Russia, China, and Islamic countries — but by Americans themselves. This will deal a powerful blow to the entire network of the liberal-globalist elite. And most likely, they will not recover from such a blow.
-Alexander Dugin-

In the above podcast, Dugin says that the Russians believe they can negotiate with Trump, but not those backing Biden.

The US elections in November 2024 will answer the question of whether humanity has a chance or not. No more, no less.
-Alexander Dugin-

Meanwhile, Israel is prepping for war with Hezbollah as it continues to fight Hamas in Gaza. Iran says it will intervene directly if that happens. If the US and NATO intervene, Iran says it will attack NATO. Biden says he will pull all support if Israel attacks Iran. That might be because Russia says it will attack anyone who attacks Iran. The common denominator in all of this is gradual, continued escalation toward Ezekiel 38-39. That’s another conversation. Now let me ask you a question.

What is your reaction to the above?

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Mat 24:6

Can you look soberly and realistically at the threats we currently face and remain at peace?

There are just a few reactions anytime I discuss these things with or around Christian brothers and sisters. The most common is dismissal. “God loves us. These things have always been,” 2 Pet 3:3-7 they say. “Social media just makes everything seem worse.” Others see a clear and present danger but react in the flesh. Some place their hope in Trump. Others are stocking up on guns and ammunition as if righteousness will be gained by shooting. Others remain willfully oblivious. “I don’t know what’s going on,” they say. “I don’t want to know. I can’t handle it.” Finally, there are a few who view the signs of the times and the emerging threats with 1 Peter 5:8 sobriety.

Calm, Dispassionate, and Circumspect

As Cathy and I preach, counsel, and teach it has become clear that people, including those in the body of Christ, are splitting into two groups. Those who are losing their minds or will lose their minds as their hearts fail for fear of what is coming. Luke 21:26 And those soberly preparing their hearts and minds to bring the gospel of peace into the chaos. One thing is certain. The world is not becoming saner, more moral, or stable. Could revival come? Certainly! Still, anyone who has studied the history of revival knows revivals are preceded by crisis and a renewed fear of God that compels people to repent.

The root of the matter for believers is in the question: In what is your faith? What does it look like in practice?

Semper Fi

Semper Fi short for Semper Fidelis is Latin for Always Faithful. It is the Marine Corps Motto. Given that I was a Marine it’s got me thinking about belief (faithfulness) and what it means for us in the context of the Christian walk.

The practice of Semper Fidelis is reflected in the Marine Corps Code of Conduct. HONOR, COURAGE, and COMMITMENT. The expression of Semper Fidelis in the life of an individual Marine is rooted in personal character. Every Marine understands that character is produced under pressure. It is defined by one’s actions under pressure. Marines hope for the best by preparing for the worst.

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Rom 5:3-8

Honor, courage, and commitment in the life of a Christian do not mean we charge off to kill the people we are called to disciple. In fact, Semper Fi for believers today might mean resisting the pressure to kill those we are called to evangelize. The faithfulness of an individual Christian is produced in the transformation of one’s character. Christian character is defined by faithfulness under pressure. So often people are in search of a specific outcome that produces or extends comfort instead of endurance 2 Tim 2:3 and the ability to stand. Eph 6:10-14

If you are young you may be inclined to validate faith and belief according to the intensity of the histrionics displayed. The greater the passion, the greater the faith. Mat 7:15-20 In my experience faith in action is correlated with sobriety, not theatrics. I find that the most histrionic people are often the first to fall when the pressure comes.

I promise you, that a deeper, more sober faith will be required in the coming days. Sobriety produces a calm, dispassionate, wise, and circumspect approach to circumstances. Sober faith understands that God causes or allows circumstances for the refinement of our character. Hence, Jason Upton quotes theologian Walter Brueggemann in his song In the Silence,

“Sometimes praise can be a manifestation of our doubt. God wants to silence us to get to the root of what’s really going on.”

Am I saying the worst-case scenario is guaranteed? Absolutely not. I am a watchman, not a prophet. I am saying that Biblically we are on a trajectory that includes enduring tribulation at some point. We are called to peace, rejoicing, and hope in the midst of it. The purpose of this post and others like it is to pose the question,

Are you spiritually prepared?

Will Romans 5 peace with God be enough if we are called into a time of crushing and breaking? Will we lose our minds and fall away 2 Thess 2:1-3 if our expectations never come to pass? Or will we embrace the transformation of our character and the hope that it brings knowing that in the pressing (tribulation) that we endure for a season, God is making new wine? We may not be faithful, but God is

Semper Fi.

Maranatha

April 17, 2024April 18, 2024 Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Without Excuse

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Rom 1:18-20

Before we delve into why they are without excuse for their disbelief, we need to review how we establish proof of anything. For believers, this means identifying the reasons (arguments) for the hope that is within us. 1 Peter 3:15 Fair enough. Yet it also involves identifying the logical fallacies driving arguments that oppose God. Charismatics tend to cringe at the idea. “Listen!” They say. “I already know that I know so who cares?!” While some believers are repelled by intellectual arguments, the fact that these arguments exist at all is in itself proof of God’s existence.

World View

While you may not have given it much thought, everyone has a worldview. It is a paradigm – a conceptual model of reality. This includes but is not limited to ideas about God, and the origins of life. Every worldview can be reduced to one or more empirically unprovable presuppositions. That the phone I am holding will fall to the ground if I let go is an empirically provable presupposition. In contrast, “God exists.” Or “God does not exist.” are empirically unprovable presuppositions. Hence both are statements of faith. The question that follows any two opposing statements of faith is,

Which of them has the most logical supporting evidence?

Some might view this as splitting hairs. However, millions of young people are being argued out of their faith by falsehoods framed as proven facts.

Please don’t misunderstand. I am not rejecting alternative forms of knowledge. Spiritual discernment, prophecy, revelation, dreams, visions, or any other supernatural encounter with God and His truth can be equally valid. Rather I am establishing what Paul means by

they are without excuse.

God is the author of the laws of logic, mathematics, and science that govern His creation. It was the revelation that It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter Prov 25:2 that drove mankind to discover science which means knowledge in the first place.

Presuppositionalism

If you are a 2 Tim 3:16-17 Bible-believing follower of Christ then you are by definition a presuppositionalist. The presupposition is that All scripture is God-breathed and therefore inerrant. Can we prove this empirically? No. Or at least not yet. We are being intellectually honest when we admit that we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Cor 5:7

In contrast, Atheists normally claim intellectual superiority over those who walk by faith. Perhaps the most famous of these is Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. When asked how atheists should respond to Christians he said, “Mock them!” Because “religion “subverts science and saps the intellect”.

Ironically, he calls himself a “cultural Christian” today. 🤔

Having listened to Dawkins for years I think this is hilarious. However, the most pertinent point to grasp is that ALL purely intellectual atheists are intellectually dishonest. Richard Dawkins is the perfect example in that he would never admit that his firmly held “there is no God” presupposition is in fact, a statement of faith. Even more important is that the above video illustrates the sleight of hand that so many atheists use in debating theists. Instead of making an argument for what they do believe, atheists redefine terms and argue for what they don’t. Here Dawkins arrogantly assumes the right to redefine the term Christian. Yet, only God and His word can define a follower of Christ.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16

This narcissistic, self-aggrandizing nitwit has led countless students away from God. He is a quintessential representation of the spirit of anti-Christ. He actually believes that

he can claim to be Christian without believing in Christ.

If that sounds mean, consider this. I call Dawkins a nitwit because what Islamic extremists would do to him here on earth is nothing compared to what he will face in eternity if he doesn’t repent and believe.

Proof

Just as only God can define God. Only empirically proven facts can define empirical truth. Everything else amounts to faith in a presupposition.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1.

The good news is that genuine faith is backed by evidence such that it becomes evidence itself. The more evidence we gather, the stronger our faith and hope grow. People like Richard Dawkins listen to my subjective personal testimony then mock me and say I am nuts. But subjective does not mean untrue. As believers, we tend to confirm our subjective experiences by correlating them with similar experiences reported by others. That’s great if our faith increases. If frustration and confusion arise it is probably because we are treating subjective truth as if it were objective. Correlation is never proof of cause in itself. Hence, an atheist might simply say it is expected that we would align with, and build consensus with other mentally ill people. Can Holy Spirit confirm our subjective truth claims in the hearts and minds of unbelievers? Certainly. Yet we must understand. The fact that someone debates our subjective truth is not what Paul said will leave them without excuse.

We need to understand and acknowledge this if we claim to love unbelievers.

Those without excuse namely vehement atheists almost always validate their presupposition by using the subjective nature of our experiences against us. First, they point out the subjective nature of spiritual experience itself. We present what we think is supporting evidence but is really just more subjective truth. Then they claim we are delusional. If we take the bait, they trick us into arguing that we are not. The harder we try, the more frustrated we become. At that point, the atheist mocks us. We step into guilt, shame, and condemnation because we feel stupid. Or we get offended and warn them they are going to hell. We repeat the experience a few times until we give up and stop talking about God to strangers. If only we would grasp and understand that we plant and water. 1 Cor 3:5-9 That is all. The best we can hope is that our subjective testimony and objective evidence we are about to present will inspire others to,

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

It’s important to think deeply about what Paul means when he says, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

He is speaking specifically about the objective proof of God. That proof has grown exponentially since Paul’s day as Daniel so aptly predicted.

…Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. Dan 12:4

Those who are without excuses are not accountable for rejecting our testimony. They are accountable for rejecting the proof that was in front of them the entire time. They are accountable for the sorcery and lies to which they cling because they love their sin and their rebellion. Those without excuse do not want God to be God. In the words of a very honest atheist Thomas Nagel,

“I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.”

–The Last Word – 1997

Thomas Nagel is a perfect example of what is in the heart of every committed atheist. These are those whom Paul says are without excuse. Any purely intellectual atheist will change their mind when faced with the objective proof of God that modern science provides. The problem is that many believers remain totally unaware of how much genuine scientific confirmation of our faith exists.

What follows is a list of evidence for the reader to explore at their leisure. While not exhaustive, the list contains some of my favorite arguments and evidence for the truth that Holy Spirit has already confirmed in the hearts of genuine believers.

Cosmological Argument

Something can not come from nothing. Those claiming it can have yet to provide the smallest shred of supporting evidence. Hence it remains a bad presupposition – an unsupported statement of faith.

Whatever begins to exist has a cause. Once again, Newton’s Third Law of Thermodynamics which no atheist would dispute says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Saying that things exist without a cause amounts to saying that reactions do not require a precipitating action.

The universe began to exist. No scientist anywhere would seriously postulate that the universe has always existed. Finding and recreating the moment it began is the primary goal of the Hadron Collider known as CERN in Switzerland.

Therefore, the universe has a cause. That cause would have to be outside space and time otherwise known as creation. Because something can’t come from nothing and every reaction has a precipitating action or force outside itself that set it in motion.

At the end of the day, the Cosmological Argument is a bullet-pointed breakdown of what most people call common sense. Common sense is what Paul means by …clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. Here is another example.

Intelligent Design

Imagine you were an alien landing in a forest on Earth. Trees, plant life, and birds were all you saw as you walked for miles. Suddenly you found a wristwatch buried in the leaves. You investigate further by taking the back off and notice all the miniature circuitry, the battery that powers it, and the tiny LED display. Obviously, you conclude that the watch is an aberration, the product of a random act of nature. That sounds logical.

Right?

Of course not. Comonsense tells us that complexity always indicates design. Design requires an intelligent designer. Still, many reprobates continue to argue the point. None would dispute that if it takes 23,000 engineers and three billion lines of code to run Google, the largest repository of knowledge and information on earth, it would be dumb to dispute the existence of intelligent designers behind Google. If that is the case it is just as dumb to dispute the intelligent designer of a cell weighing less than several ten-thousandths of a gram and requiring what amounts to two billion lines of code using four amino acids, adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T) to operate.

Prayer

At this point, many might assume that prayer could only be relegated to the realm of subjective truth. While the impact of prayer on the external world remains subjective, there is some fairly solid objective evidence regarding prayer’s impact on the one who is praying.

Most will remember the geologic layers they learned about in junior high or Middle School Earth Science.

The layers allegedly proved the earth is millions of years old. The existence of coal was one major proof point. While you won’t hear about it from secular sources, coal was formed during the Mt Saint Helen’s eruption in 1980. In addition to the linked article above the YouTube channel Is Genesis History is a fantastic source for scientific evidence of the Biblical story of creation.

Fine Tuning

That the earth’s position just happened to be so perfectly fine-tuned to support life defies the laws of mathematical probability. In fact, the mathematical probability of fine-tuning being a random event is 1 times 10 to the minus sixty power. Just to add context, a mathematical impossibility begins at 10 to the minus fifty power.

In case you are confused by minus 50 – 60 powers.

To give you some perspective the odds of your being struck by lightning in the United States in your lifetime is 1.5 times 10 to the minus 4 power.

The Primordial Slime

The probability of life occurring randomly out of what Evolutionary Biologists call the primordial slime is in the same range of impossibility. John Lennox is an amazing scientific Christian apologist who has successfully debated the likes of Richard Dawkins and others on the mathematical and scientific accuracy of the Bible.

That’s a whole lot to chew on.

As believers, we know the ultimate proof that God exists is found amidst our relationship with Him and in all the mighty subjective confirmations He gives within our hearts where eternity is written. Ecc 3:11 Again, we don’t provide evidence to prove God exists. Rather we provide it so that those who have been sold a fake scientific narrative can see that the science that claims to prove the nonexistence of God is not science at all. True science beholds his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, which have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made and are awed by them. True science is worship. The evidence we present causes sincere truth seekers to question what they have been told such that they open their hearts and call out to God and He will answer. Isa 65:24 Then they can taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Those who reject God do so because they don’t want there to be a God; they don’t want the universe to be like that.” It is for this reason that they are

Without Excuse!

MARANATHA

November 22, 2023November 26, 2023 Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Character Reloaded

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:1-2

We were locked down in Honduras when I wrote the original version of this blog. COVID cases had begun to double daily. The borders and airports were closed. No one could leave the country. There was a 6-month to 2-year jail sentence awaiting anyone who violated the lockdown. Ironically it had been just two months since I’d presented a teaching based on the book The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy-What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny. By William Straus and Neil Howe. I had no idea at the time how prophetic it was. My audience was comprised of Millennials and Gen Z-ers who were learning how to be missionaries. My message was not well received. You can read the book or better yet, its sequel The Fourth Turning is Here,. You can also view my original post for a quick synopsis. Suffice it to say that we are in what Straus and Howe called The Fourth Turning otherwise known as

“The Crisis”

Today we find the globe moving deeper into the Fourth Turning that is scheduled to peak sometime between 2025 and 2030. If the cycle simply repeats it will usher in another First Turn “High”. Just to give you some context, the previous High was 1945 -1965 and gave birth to “The Boomer Generation” and the proverbial “American Dream”. That the cycles of history repeat is as unavoidable as it is undeniable. The key to surviving and thriving is rooted in recognizing the season and responding correctly. One of the most common errors people make during Fourth Turns is to mistake them for a First.

For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time when it suddenly falls upon them.
Ecc 9:12

The Root of Crisis

Judge and judgment are among the most contentious words these days. This is especially true in the context of Christianity where “judgment” has become a pejorative. The WOKE especially like to cite Jesus in Mat 7:1-3 “judge not lest ye be judged” usually in response to any mention of sin. Today love is increasingly defined as tolerance of sin. Conviction is hate. The Greek word for judge in Mat 7 is krínō, meaning to “condemn or pronounce sentence upon”. The absurdity of one person judging another for judging them aside, we agree that no man should krínō another.

There is more than one word for judgment in the Bible.

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.” 1 Cor 2:14-15 “judge” is Anakrínō – to discern.

I Anakrínō right from wrong – truth from lies etc. In practice Anakrínō looks like intuition or “gut instinct”. Yet it is a knowing in one’s spirit that can be later verified with God’s word.

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment… Philippians 1:9

Judgment here is Aísthēsis – perception by the intellect as well as the senses, discernment, Cognition, moral discernment in ethical matters.

Among other things, Aísthēsis is the bedrock of a 1 Peter 3:15 Apologia, a defense for the hope that is in us.

Still, there is one other word for judgement.

That word is Krísis, the word from which the English word “crisis” is derived.

Krísis is God’s judgment.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17

Discussions of God’s judgment may trigger charismatic believers. We may encounter a similar emotional response is when discussing spiritual gifts with reformed cessationists. Theological paradigms get rattled and arguments are formed as we debate whether or not God really is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yet almost no one would dispute that God can not be mocked. We reap what we sow. There is a point on the path of sin where God turns his head and gives those who remain in it over to do that which ought not to be done. Rom 1:18-32 This turning over is for the destruction of their flesh in the hope that their soul might be saved . At the end of the day, the wages of sin is death. God does not cause us to sin. He allows us to sin. It is not God’s desire that crisis falls upon us. He desires that we wake up and rise from the dead. Yet all are without excuse. Rom 1: 18-32. Therefore God does not change the consequences of our chosen rebellion. Does the devil play a role? Certainly! In fact he thinks he is winning. Little does he know that he is God’s stool pigeon. The pressure (Thlipsis- tribulation) that Satan is allowed to impose on us is used by God to conform us to the image of His son Rom 8:29 and remove the spots and wrinkles from His bride. Eph 5:27 Imagine what might happen if we took responsibility for our collective sin and resulting Krísis like Daniel did in Dan 9 instead of assigning power to the devil and deferring blame upon Him.

Consider how that might shape our prayers.

While the scandal at IHOP at least partially inspires this post, the allegations against Mike remain as yet unconfirmed. Please don’t get lost in speculation regarding his innocence or guilt. Rather I hope that you will consider the Krísis that has been brought to light within the body of Christ.

Having attended Ravi Zacharias’ School of Apologetics, I was devastated when his lifelong sexual sin was exposed immediately following his death in 2021. No man has impacted my theology and faith more than he. If I have ever placed a man on a pedestal Ravi was it. I cried when his ministry, life’s work, and legacy collapsed. Yet Ravi’s sin was not the root cause of his ministry’s implosion. It was the leadership team who knew about Ravi’s sin and covered it up to protect the ministry that detonated its demise. Despite the title, the video below is not about Mike Bickle per se. It is Lew Engle’s public confession of his porn addiction at a One Thing Conference in 2018. I think we were in Ecuador on the Amazon at the time and had no idea this had happened. The current scandal at IHOP is the only reason I – and maybe you – have become aware of it now.

Clearly, there is a crisis in the body of Christ.

How did we get here? As Ray Comfort says, “God comes to us with a subpoena in one hand and a pardon in the other.” Today we love to tell people about the loving pardon. The subpoena…not so much. We emphasize grace and joy and downplay God’s justice. We thank Him for His goodness and redact His severity and Holiness. In a word, there is no fear of God. Instead, we fear man and man’s rejection. We redact the truth in the hope that we will be accepted.

All who live Godly will be persecuted.

Praise God for Lew’s courage and transparency even if it took him fifty years to get there. I’m not being snarky. It’s just a fact. He has ministered to at least two generations of new believers all the while being double-minded and therefore unstable in all his ways. Sexual sin’s portal is a man’s eyes. It is the number one sin that threatens to beset all men. No man is immune. If you think you are then take heed lest you fall. One reason I don’t have a porn problem today is because I know that I could. The other reason is that I understand how real the battle is and how it is fought.

Lew mentioned years of futile prayer and fasting against his compulsion. That makes perfect sense. The Bible tells us to flee youthful lusts. Prayer and fasting is for unbelief. Those who fail to heed the warning to flee soon find themselves caught in the snare of addiction. Now they must expose it Eph 5:11 before they can hope to flee it. Exposure is what many people fear most because the required vulnerability produces suffering. This suffering may be the result of shame, the loss of the esteem of men, position, and or material consequences like the loss of a career or even one’s freedom. Fear of exposure keeps us stuck in our sin. As the 12 Step adage goes,

“We are as sick as our secrets.”

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.

What I found most perplexing about the video is that Mike Bickle seemed embarrassed by Lew’s transparency. The words he chose were anything but supportive of accountability. Mike seemed quite familiar with Lew’s struggle as he attempted to minimize and rationalize the sin. Thankfully Lew Engle wasn’t having any of it. The fear of God was on him and he quaked in his boots as he publicly repented.

But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 1 Cor 11:31

The reason for God’s judgment on the house of God and global society is that we have avoided addressing the subject of sin for so long that today we increasingly call good evil and evil good.

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. 1 Pet 4:1-6

Arm yourself with the same way of thinking… is similar to gird up the loins of your mind and having done all to stand, stand therefore… Could any true believer engage in a besetting sin if they were present at Jesus’ crucifixion? Peter is calling us to Jesus’ battle. It is a call to be ready to suffer like Jesus amid a reprobate society. It is the act of resolving to lose one’s life to save it, …to overcome by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony and to NOT love our lives onto death. Mind you it is not a call to pursue suffering or martyrdom but a willingness to embrace it if necessary. Still, the question remains;

Suffer for what?

Paul calls it persevering. Once again, tribulation is Thlipsis (pressure) and specifically refers to a form of Roman execution where a large bolder was placed on the victim’s chest and slowly crushed the life out of him. In this context, pressure could be iniquity which includes the pressure to sin. We refer to this pressure as temptation. Yet iniquity left unaddressed becomes generational. The longer we remain isolated in secret sin the greater the iniquity and the more fragmented we become. Fragmentation is the opposite of integrity. Both fragmentation and integrity are opposing expressions of character. Our character is what God seeks to transform and conform to the image of His son. Persevering under pressure is God’s formula for transformation that produces hope.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Rom 5:3-5

One thing seems certain Krísis reveals character. While it is often misconstrued as wrath to which believers are not appointed, it is in fact, the discipline of a loving Father and a catalyst for transformation. The pressure increases according to our resistance until we surrender and repent or ends in death. The choice is ours. The final outcome is determined by our response. How silly we must look to the principalities to whom we are called to make the manifest wisdom of God known any time we pray against God’s Krísis in Jesus’ name. This is one way many have and will be caught in the aforementioned snare. Everything will be shaken. Only what can’t be shaken will remain…our God is a consuming fire. Who we are and what we do “will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.” Only that which is of God will survive. Therefore arm yourself with the mind and character of Jesus. If we suffer with Him we will be glorified with Him.

One thing seems certain. Hard times and big challenges lie ahead. More and more we will see true character exposed both in and out of the church. I understand the importance of the honor that so characterizes my own faith stream. It’s true context applies to missions and becoming all things to all men in order to save a few. We honored Muslims in Africa to earn credibility and the right to be heard by them. Honor was never intended to be a perversion of do not touch God’s anointed – a proverbial bunker in which leaders avoid accountability. God is not having it. My prayer is for wisdom and courage for all of us to judge ourselves and that we allow the transformation of our character wherever needed so that we can faithfully fulfill what God has called us to in these last days.

Every outcome will ultimately be determined by our character.

Maranatha

July 20, 2023July 20, 2023 Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Prophetic Joy

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1Pet 1:8-9

Peter is writing in the context of his previous exhortation to endure trials that test the genuineness of our faith. “Tested Faith is genuine faith”. Tested faith is evidence of belief apart from which we can not be saved. Mark 16:16 Some of our most profound experiences with joy arise after we endure the testing of our faith and we behold more clearly and fully that we truly are IN HIM. Eph 2:1-7. It is a clear and present joy that verifies,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Cor 5:17

The joy of encountering the manifest presence of God on the proverbial mount of transfiguration during worship and other encounters is an important part of the Christian walk. Mat 17 The joy of passing the test in the valley is another. God reveals Himself on the mountaintop and we rejoice. Meanwhile, our character is revealed in the valley. Character produces hope. Rom 5:1-11

“…joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” is chará – cheerfulness, calm delight:–gladness, fulness of joy.

In my mind “calm delight” implies a deep fearless, assurance of His salvation that is rooted and grounded in His love despite circumstances. Eph 3:17. This is the eternal perspective that sets our minds on things about not below. Col 3:1-4

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 1 Pet 1:10-12

The Old Testament Maranatha prophecies about Jesus are so very clear in retrospect.

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Maranatha 1 Cor 16:22 is usually translated as “Come Lord Jesus”. Yet Maranatha is an Aramaic word with a twofold meaning.

Jesus has come. Jesus is coming.

We walk in joy each day that is rooted in assurance. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, Eph 1:13 This is the first Maranatha, the fulfilled gospel of salvation about which the prophets searched and inquired carefully.

The second part is prophetic and refers to the fulfillment of the Gospel of the Kingdom. …the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Eph 1:14

We spoke a lot about our full inheritance when we studied the book of Ephesians. As good as the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit is in our lives is now, it is a downpayment- a taste of what is to come when the second half of Maranatha is fulfilled.

Still, I wonder what went through the mind of Isaiah as he wrote the script for the first part of Maranatha 700 years before it took place. Isaiah 53 Did David know he was quoting Jesus nearly 2500 years before He was crucified?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? Psalm 22:1

There are at least 350 prophetic references to Jesus in the Old Testament that connect perfectly now that we have the whole canon of scripture. We can rest in the assurance that the Gospel of the Kingdom will be fulfilled because we now see the intricacy of the fulfilled promise of the Gospel of Salvation.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Mat 13:16-17

1 Peter is framed in the context of our faith being tested and found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet 1:7 As I said there is a unique experience of joy that attends our passing the test in the valley. Similarly the joy we experience in the valley here is but a taste of the joy that is to come when our tested and genuine faith is found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Let’s face it. Most of life is lived apart from the mountaintop experiences that so many covet and roam from conference to conference in search of the Shekinah Glory. However, there are times when we may feel we are drowning in grief and suffering. We may wonder if God has abandoned us. We can take comfort in the fact that even Jesus had the experience of feeling abandoned by the Father. He wasn’t of course. It is for this reason that Paul instructed us to …rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer. Rom 12:12 We rejoice in hope while waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13, Mat 24:29-31.

We rejoice in the reality that Jesus has come and experience joy because He is here directing our paths. Prov 3:5-8. We also rejoice in the fact that Jesus is coming...for the he Joy of the Lord is our strength. Neh 8:10 The prophetic nature of Maranatha joy is even more poignant if you understand the eschatological significance of the Feast of Booths. And while many do their best to imagine streets paved with gold and eternal life devoid of pain and tears, what lies ahead is beyond our wildest dreams.

This is the seed of prophetic joy.

Maranatha

July 13, 2023July 14, 2023 Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Tested Genuiness 👀

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet 1:3-7

Trial or Temptation (KJV) is peirasmós the temptation by which the devil sought to divert Jesus from his divine errand – the trial of man‘s fidelity, integrity, virtue, constancy – adversity, affliction, trouble: sent by God and serving to test or prove one‘s character, faith, holiness.

The books of First and Second Peter deal heavily with the reality of and the correct response to trials. Still, it can be hard for us to imagine let alone identify with the persecution Peter faced in a devolving Roman society under Nero who burned Rome and blamed it on Christians to justifiy impaling them on poles and burning them as candles to light the streets of Rome. Peter was eventually crucified. Perhaps a better comparison for us today would be the exiles in Asia Minor who in comparison were harassed more than persecuted at the time Peter wrote. Did they understand that Peter’s exhortation would apply more fully in twenty years when Domitian reigned?

The best way I can comprehend Peter’s word is to consider that at nearly the exact same time that we survived our landslide in Honduras, people to whom we had ministered during Harvest School in a village near Palma Mozambique were beheaded by Jihadist rebels.

Our relatively minor trial ended in a little more than a day. Meanwhile, several pastors trained by IRIS Global continued to see their villages burned and their wives and children killed before their eyes. Yet testimonies continue to pour out from Mozambique showing that grief-stricken as they were these men remained unshakable in their faith.

Most of us can’t imagine facing a trial like that.

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,for they loved not their lives even unto death.Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” Rev 12:11-12

Maybe it’s because I am a former Marine trained to think “If this, then this.” Maybe it’s because God called me to be a watchman on the wall. But I think we should be aware of the devils schemes Eph 6:11 contemplate potential faith-testing scenarios, count the cost Luke 14:28-29, and do all to stand Eph 6:13.

For Example

As I wrote in Watchman on the Wall the world’s economic elite recently coined the term “Polycrisis” to describe the overall status of our world in 2023. According to them the growing frequency and intensity of crises are proverbial red flags that should capture our attention and spur us to action. However, the psychology and theology driving the current global leadership, are in my view the true proverbial “canary in the coal mine”.

For example while Vladimir Putin is generally portrayed as a villain by western media, I believe he has correctly assessed the overall satanic cultural trajectory of the West.

And it is Satanic

Ironically Putin recently required Christianity to be taught in every Russian college and university. But don’t defect just yet. The Russian Orthodox Church leadership believes that Russia is the New Testament Israel. This is an age-old heresy called supersessionism.

It follows that Putin views the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as the parable of the sheep and goats Mat 25:31-46 played out in real-time. Russians are the sheep. NATO countries are the goats. Putin has stated that he would not hesitate to push the nuclear launch button and destroy all of humankind if Russian sovereignty “faced a genuine existential threat”. “There is no point in the existence of life on Earth without Russia.” Putin advisor Alexander Dugin euphemistically known as “Putin’s Brain” says a nuclear war between Russia and NATO while admittedly unwinnable for either side is nevertheless inevitable. Dugin and Putin both regard its eventuality as a sovereign act of God and a final separation between the sheep and goats where “Russians go to heaven as martyrs.”

“All NATO members will go to hell.“

If that isn’t a rock solid argument for the Acts 17:11 approach to God then I don’t know what is.

In addition to horrific exegeis, we have the shear insanity of resident Biden poking the Russian bear in the eye by sending F-16s.

Biden is also sending cluster bombs previously deemed illegal by the USA to kill Russians in Ukraine. Statistically, cluster bombs kill more civilians than soldiers. Meanwhile, Biden’s alleged neocon opponents like Senator Lindsey Graham are heralding the deaths of Russians as “the best money we’ve spent.”

The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. Psalm 11:5

If you look deep enough everything about the conflict in Ukraine amounts to sheer madness. The only logical conclusion is that contemporary Mathusians want billions of us dead. That said, the obliteration of planet Earth does not fit with the current Biblical prophetic timeline. A lot has to happen before Isaiah 34:4 comes into play and we get a new heaven and new earth. Rev 21:1-3 Again, I’m not trying to get you to build a bunker in your back yard. Rather, given our tendency toward complacency and apathy in the prosperous first world I think contemplating our response to one of many potential crises is a great way to identify with and understand the plight of Peter’s audience in Asia Minor. For example, I can imagine a Nero-eqsue scenario whereby the insane actions of Uniparty Neocons and supersessionist Russians posing as Christians become fuel for Satan’s minions on Earth. What a great way to justify the mass persecution of believers everywhere. Imagine blaming the followers of Jesus for a limited nuclear war instead of a mere fire. Similar to today I imagine some of Peter’s exile audience would have taken Peter’s exhortation to heart while others would have dismissed it in favor of hearing sweeter things. Isa 30:9-13 .

Speaking of Nero, Domitian, and now Biden, if we look at the history of church persecution in the context of today we find a direct correlation with the devolution of the social-moral fabric in the society in which the persecution occurred. Rom 1:18-32

Four current and former members of the Biden Admin and one comedian. Can you tell which is which?

Again, my hope is that in facing the very real potential of enduring our own trials, we will align our hearts with the current trials of a rapidly growing number of persecuted believers in the world today and learn from them.

Some know that we ran a home church in conjunction with our prison and inmate reintegration ministry in Hawaii. During that time we partnered with The True Light Church in Lahore Pakistan. We built a website for them and began raising money to print Bibles in Urudu and rescue families from Brick Kiln slavery.

As our Pakistani brothers, Pastor Tariq and Ammir said from the beginning, “We don’t care if they cut our heads, we will serve the Lord.” Rev 12:11. They’ve been true to their word through the years. A few of the True Light Church Pastors were severely beaten while preaching the gospel in Talaban-controlled areas along the Afghan border.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the recent Koran burning in Sweden.

As I write, the Pakistani body of Christ is suffering the consequences of this incredibly stupid act. It is being used as fuel to justify the persecution of Christians all over the Muslim world. Ammir told us today that Muslims are protesting and burning churches all over Pakistan.

As we would expect, The True Light church is planning a revival meeting in response.

A lot of Americans are angry about the uncontrolled illegal immigration at our border. Many are terrified of hordes of proverbial invading Huns coming to destroy our sacred and prosperous North American way of life. What many Americans fail to understand is that Latin American Society in general is deeply Christian and traditional especially when it comes to topics like gender, marriage, and family values. The people storming our border are told by the media in their respective countries that they have a free pass into the USA if they can get there. While there are always a few bad apples in every bunch the majority of these people just hope to make ten dollars an hour instead of ten dollars per day. I’m telling you this because it begs the question as we study 1 Peter; are we identifying with the contemporary exiles in our daily life? Lev 24:14

Are we numbered among the persecuted or the persecutors?

Cathy and Karen in Cerro Azul Meambar Honduras

Our friend Karen from Honduras has been slowly making her way to the US border for the last six months. It’s a hard and incredibly dangerous journey, especially for a single woman. At one point she was kidnapped by Los Zetas but somehow managed to escape. She is a God-fearing woman with no desire or intention to cross the border illegally. That would have been safer and easier albeit more expensive. Her family could conceivably have paid a coyote, (a cartel-controlled human trafficker) to escort her safely to her final destination in the US. But Karen is trusting God.

Based on our conversations, her faith is well on its way to being found more precious than gold.

Karen is very special to us. She was the person of peace, Luke 10:5 whom we met when we moved to the mountains of Honduras at the beginning of 2020. She located the house in which we lived, introduced us to the community, and showed us the mountain trails between villages. We slept in her church when the landslide hit. Her family dug a few of our possessions out of the mud and Karen hand-washed the mud out of some of Cathy’s clothes. Then her sister provided another house for us to continue our Honduras mission for over a year before God called us to Greeneville TN.

Karen’s sister Alba and their nieces presented us with some of the possessions they’d recovered.

Many believers in the first world recoil at the idea that God would allow let alone intend that His children should suffer. Yet scripture is abundantly clear that He has and does. Isa 53:10, Mat 10:24-25 Not because He hates us, but because He loves us. Rom 8:29 Granted these soulish flesh tents in which we reside for seventy or eighty years of eternity abhor the idea. Yet as we’ve said, God will have a bride “without spot or wrinkle”. Our faith will be tested. James 1:2-4 It will be proven genuine, and found to be more precious than gold tested by fire. Or it will be burned off as dross. 1 Cor 3:12-16

I find it poignant that gold does not burn. When it is purified the goldsmith subjects it to fire. Only the impurities and dross are burned. The goldsmith knows the gold is sufficiently purified when he can see his own reflection in it. Likewise, God will know we are purified when He sees His reflection in us.

While we can never be fully prepared in the natural when faced with the trials of our faith, it is worth learning about how others have endured their own. How have you, or will you respond when faced with a trial of your faith? Christian families in places like Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan are asking themselves these exact questions every day.

They are hard questions.

“If this…Then this…”

Maranatha

May 16, 2023May 18, 2023 Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Commentary

Trust God?

Given that I am very visual, I have always likened faith to Indiana Jones’s “leap of faith” in the movie The Last Crusade. Ironically it is the final step in his search for the Holy Grail, the cup from which Jesus drank that he needs to save the life of his father. Left with no other option but to trust the instructions he was given he fans the flames of his courage and steps off the edge as a bridge appears beneath his feet. As is the case with so many Christians today, faith is portrayed as the tool he needs to

Git’er Done!

If you’ve read the book of Job then you are familiar with the quagmire associated with answering the question; why do bad things happen to good people, especially when spirit-filled believers pray the prayer of faith? It’s confusing because Luke 10:19, says that Jesus has given us all power– exousía (authority) over the power dýnamis (strength, supernatural Power) of the enemy such that nothing can hurt us or stop us from manifesting the hope of His calling. Eph 1:18

Why then are we hurt and why do believers still get sick and die when we pray?

My Word of Faith friends say this is the first question they will ask when they get to heaven.

That said, scripture does not contradict itself. Only my understanding does. It would seem that scripture says power is the birthright of all who are born again and in Christ Jesus. Eph 2:1-6

So what am I missing?

Maybe it’s a question of how we access that power.

Jesus names unbelief (distrust) as the reason for the disciples’ failure to do so.

“For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Mat 17:16-20

More often than not I see nothing happening when I pray. Still, I’ve seen enough signs and wonders to know they are real. I prayed and saw a demon cast out once. I prayed again and a man with a stomach ailment was healed. Three weeks after being saved Cathy prayed for her dad’s colon before his surgery to have a tumor removed. Soon after the dumbfounded doctor emerged and proclaimed “he has a healthy colon! We didn’t find a thing!” She says she had no idea what she was doing at the time. We’ve seen deaf ears opened once and the miraculous replication of food twice. Ironically the first time no one prayed. We were trying to get rid of the food as fast as we could. It just wouldn’t go away. The second time a group of five-year-old Mozambiquens prayed. You might accuse me of negative expectations or unbelief. The truth is I had negative expectations and unbelief every time something happened. When I fully expected something to happen nothing did, at least nothing I could see. I feel like my faith must be a lot smaller than a mustard seed. If indeed faith is the key to miracle-working power then

The obvious question is how do I get more?

We can’t believe God unless we first hear His word. Hence we know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Paradoxically the word of God also produces the ability hear. Rom 10:17 Most Word of Faith people claim they are growing in faith. That seems sound. After all, Galatians 5:22 says faith is a fruit. Then again Ephesians 2:8 and 1 Cor 12:9 say that the same faith (pístis) is a gift. Hebrew 11:1 says faith is the substance of our hopes and the evidence of what we can’t see. Paul separates the gifts and healing though they are given by the same spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:4–11. That might explain why some are healed and others are not. However, the consensus among the charismatics I know is that faith drives healing. 2 Tim 1:6 says faith can be imparted – that we can fan the flames or stir whatever gifts we have. But it does not say how we should do that. Finally, as far as I know, scripture does not say that faith is something we can will into existence of our own volition.

Maybe I have a wrong perspective.

Could it be that my desires are out of alignment with God? You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:3-4

Hold on, Brian! You just went off the cliff. Paul is clearly talking about lust and hedonistic pleasures there, not prayer. We pray for others because we care about them. Fair enough. I’m not saying that you don’t. Still,

whose desires motivate you?

What would you say if I told you that altruistic people are driven by selfishness? That selfishness has been inescapable since the fall of man in Gen 3.

I find it both ironic and comforting that when questioned by a reporter regarding why she chose the life she did, Mother Teresa replied, “When I looked inside myself I saw Hitler”. She later stated that she was the most selfish person she knew. While it might not meet the world’s criteria for selfishness, Mother Teresa was insightful enough to recognize that at her core she lived as she did because it provided her with a sense of meaning and fulfillment. Interestingly, only two documented supernatural healings are attributed to her even though healing in Jesus’s name was her life’s work.

If I am honest, I find selfishness is at the root of all my most righteous thoughts and deeds. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags… Isa 64:6 Paul reiterates this principle in Rom 3:11-12 Yes, of course, we are new creations IN CHRIST JESUS. But the self-centered, self-willed self has no part in Him. Mat 16:24 I’m not implying that we are not clothed in His righteousness. 2 Cor 5:21 My point here is that the people addressed in both Isaiah 64 and Romans 3 were obsessed with their “identity”. They believed their salvation was sealed because of who they were instead of who He is. How many today refer to THEIR identity as confirmation of their salvation? There is a subtle but important distinction here.

Still, disagree?

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Phil 1:21

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Cor 5:8

Why would I dictate that God keep someone I love away from Heaven and the fullness of seeing Him face to face especially if they are suffering except that I am selfish? Not only that but doesn’t my overwhelming desire to remain in the world for as long as possible still qualify as

“friendship with the world”?

Maybe. Maybe not. It certainly seems worth asking.

Still, it was in response to Peter’s seemingly selfless concern for Jesus’s well-being that He said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Mat 16:24-25

“Awww… But Peter loved Jesus.”

Jesus explained what loving Him looks like. John 14:15-31 No, Peter was led by his emotions rather than the will of God. The idea of losing someone he loved was too much for him to bear and he inadvertently sided with Satan.

Perhaps I’m not as mature or on as high a level as some. Perhaps some of you are more like Paul who viewed his remaining days on earth as a sacrifice – a delay in receiving his full inheritance for which Holy Spirit in us is just a downpayment. Eph 1:13-14 While I am certainly more sanctified and detached from the world than when I first believed, I am also so, so very grateful for everyone and everything in my life. You might debate me on this. But there is a fine line between gratitude and attachment. Paul’s mind was fully set on the things above. Col 3:1-4 Mine could just as easily be set on my next meal. If I am honest, I remain more consumed with the affairs of this life than the Bible says I should be.

No man that warreth entangles himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 2 Tim 2:4

Hang on. It gets worse.

Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:6-10

I could be wrong but the hubris that we know as contemporary pride aside; am I not prideful if I assume the right and power to dictate to God what should be done in His name? Am I not prideful when I proclaim the indisputable rightness of my views regarding His character and nature especially when others read the same Bible verses differently? Furthermore, why do I seek things like His manifest presence or joy except that I want it for me? Why don’t I just forget about me and ask on behalf of those dying in Ukraine, or believers who are being persecuted in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, or Iran? I must be really important. “He wants to give it to ME because He loves ME.” you say. This may be true. The question is; who am I really magnifying and why?

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. Psalm 34:3

Once again, old things are new and I am now a beloved son. Eph 5:1 Embrace the paradox… Still, I have had the repeated experience of realizing that so much of what I previously regarded as my righteousness in Christ was just selfishness and pride in disguise. One thing is certain, the closer I draw to our Holy God, the more I am convicted of my remaining double-mindedness.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

It seems that wherever a spiritual failure or shortcoming exists; self is there.

Self is insidious

I find it noteworthy that in the context of assuring the disciples that the power to move mountains is theirs and requires so little faith, Jesus prioritizes humility.

Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Mat 11:25-30

Lowly is tapeinós: humiliated (in circumstances or disposition):–base, cast down, of low degree, brought low with grief, depressed, humble, deferring servilely to others.

How often are believers caught up with such a desire for supernatural power and outcomes that they skip the most fundamental principles such as the fact that we are barely saved? 1 Pet 4:18 And,

deny self!

Once again, Deny is aparnéomai –to utterly, disown, abstain:- affirm that one has no acquaintance or connection with someone, to forget one‘s self, lose sight of one‘s self and one‘s own interests.

If the power to heal and cast out demons begins with faith then faith begins with the abrogation of self, not the embellishment of “my identity”. If I miss this, my theology will always be more self-centered than God-centered and powerlessness will be the result.

Could it be that faith is proportional to the degree of my self-denial?

In my observation, my faith grows when I empty my hands in voluntary surrender or utter despair – when I submit to the reality that HE

Is our Father, We are the clay, and (He) is our potter; And all of us are the work of (His) hands. Isa 64:8

It is with hands up and arms wide open, emptied of all to which I most desperately cling, that my faith seems to grow. In my experience, faith is never the exercise of my will in His name. Rather it is the fruit of my delighting in Him alone until His desires become my desires. Psalm 37:4 and I become an unconscious instrument of His will.

Faith increases to the degree that I Trust in the Lord with all my heart, and lean not on my own understanding. When in all my ways I acknowledge him, he makes my paths straight. If I remember to not be wise in my own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. Prov 3:5-8

I find that my trust in Him grows.

Viewed through the lens of scripture, it seems that the flames of faith are fanned by trials and testing. James 1:2-4, Mat 5:48 I have found that my faith expands most when amid testing and trials, God preserves me like Jacob in Gen 32:30. Preserve is natsal to preserve, recover, rescue, to snatch away, deliver, rescue,

to plunder, to strip.

My faith is stirred when I surrender all to Him despite my circumstances in a spirit of, though he slay me, I will hope in him…Job 13:15

Weakness and brokenness always result.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 51:17

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor 12:9

So why do bad things happen to good people, especially when spirit-filled believers pray the prayer of faith? I could be wrong but I suspect it may be because what we call prayer is often a veiled attempt at “dictating to God”. While many “git’er done” believers view the signs and wonders that Jesus performed as ends in themselves – that healing was and is for healing’s sake. I suspect the real purpose is to facilitate dependence that produces absolute, unadulterated trust. At the end of the day, everything we see is temporary 2 Cor 4:18 this life is a vapor James 4:14 and this earth is not our home Heb 13:14.

It’s probably no coincidence that Oswald Chambers said it best on the very day that I finished writing this post.

If only we could get it.

“The only aim of life is that the Son of God may be manifested and all dictation to God vanishes. Our Lord never dictated to His Father and we are not here to dictate to God; we are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. When we realize this He will make us broken bread and poured out wine to feed and nourish others.” – My Utmost for His Highest, May 15th –

The “Pale Blue Dot” is a photograph of Earth taken Feb. 14, 1990, by NASA’s Voyager 1 at a distance of 3.7 billion miles from the Sun. It just happened to be caught in a reflected ray of sunlight.

All our self-willed striving in His name is backward. At best all our claims regarding His thoughts and ways reveal just how silly, small, and ignorant we are. If only we could recognize our utter dependence on Him for every breath and heartbeat, every thought that is true, maybe then we would

Trust God to do what only He can do!

“God, we love you and we thank you for your amazing, amazing patience. I can’t imagine what it’s like to watch us down here chasing our tails scratching all our itches thinking we’ve found answers. We’re digging holes in the ground calling them wells – just starving little people. But God if we’d open up our hearts to you – trust you – you’d do something only you can do.” -Casting Crowns- Here’s My Heart-

MARANATHA

March 20, 2020August 10, 2024 Brian and Cathy Gray Uncategorized

Character

We are locked down in Honduras as I write. COVID cases have begun to double on a daily basis. The borders and airports are closed. No one can come in or go out. There’s a 6 month to 2-year jail sentence awaiting anyone who violates a curfew. Hondurans in our little community are obedient and calm. They are familiar with crises. Two older American friends in another part of the country are locked down too. He is a retired architect and has had a series of strokes. His wife is left to cope with his rapidly deteriorating condition by herself. They don’t have COVID but COVID is placing his life in jeopardy.

Meanwhile there are about two hundred North Americans, most of whom are short term missionaries stranded here. Several of them are demanding their rights and that the US State Dept does something to evacuate them. We strongly encouraged people to postpone their trips weeks before COVID first reared its head. Unfortunately confirmation bias reigned supreme. I guess their plans, ministry and mission were too important. I can empathize. I remember thinking and feeling the same way as a short-term missionary myself.

As Seth Barnes founder of Adventures and Missions, (AIM) an organization with whom we serve as World Race GAP Year Coaches, said in his blog Courage and Prudence

“We are now in a wartime footing in most of the country. Most of us have no idea how to live life there. The things that worked before no longer work. COVID-19 is changing everything.”

Several months ago, I gave a teaching based on the book

The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy-What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny. By William Straus and Neil Howe. I had no idea at the time how prophetic it was.

Howe and Strauss are Historians and social scientists who observed an Ecclesiastes 3 cycle in American history that shows a new era, a season or “Turning” every 20 -25 years. Four turns or seasons amount to a Saeculum or the length of a long lifetime. In simplest terms, the most recent “First Turning” 1945 -65 was the “High” and could be likened to a honeymoon period. It was marked by the end of WWII and the birth to the American dream. Families were strengthened as were social institutions like schools, local governments and church. Individual roles both inside and outside the family were clearly defined.

The “Second Turning”, 1965-85, the “Awakening”, was a period of questioning all those things. It was a time of spiritual upheaval, when the old order came under attack. It was marked by things like the birth of ERA, the Vietnam war and the subsequent student lead peace movements, the Water Gate Trial and Impeachment of Richard Nixon. Basically, every social institution was challenged.

The “Third Turning”, 1985-2005, the “Unraveling” was a time when the individual reigned supreme. Punk rock and rap glorified criminality and anti-social behavior, swinging, divorce and open homosexuality became normalized. And culminated with the HIV AIDS epidemic and the destruction of the twin towers in New York. Post Modernism grew to become the dominant world view and continued corruption and government scandals fueled an already growing distrust of nearly all established authority and institutions.

The “Fourth Turning” 2005 -25 is the “Crisis”. We are in the thick of it now.

As Straus and Howe wrote in 1996.

“The next Fourth Turning is due to begin shortly after the new millennium, midway through the Oh-Oh decade. Around the year 2005, a sudden spark will catalyze a Crisis mood. Remnants of the old social order will disintegrate. Political and economic trust will implode. Real hardship will beset the land, with severe distress that could involve questions of class, race, nation, and empire. . .The very survival of the nation will feel at stake. Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II.”

“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort — in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.”

Howe and Strauss predicted we Americans will be forced to make decisions that mirror the hardest ones made by our predecessors as

“great peril provokes a societal consensus, an ethic of personal sacrifice, and strong institutional order”. “And it will require us to admit that our faith in linear progress has often amounted to a Faustian bargain with our children. Faust always ups the ante, and every bet is double or nothing. Through much of the Third Turning, we have managed to postpone the reckoning. But history warns that we can’t defer it beyond the next bend in time.”

There is always talk of the end of days whenever a major crisis hit. I don’t claim to be a prophet and I certainly don’t know for sure. My own bias is to doubt it. Even so, my wife Cathy made a keen observation the other day. The beginning of sorrows that Jesus spoke about in Mat 24:8-13 translates to “Birth Pangs”. Birth pangs progressively increase in frequency and intensity until the water breaks and the baby is born. If this is the beginning of sorrows it will usher in the millennial reign of Christ. Fourth Turns gradually come to an end and are followed by another High.

In either case if we are to survive in a war time footing, we need to accurately discern the time. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their lack of discernment in Mathew 16:1-4.

“Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

Everything they needed to identify Jesus was already in the scriptures. The problem was that Jesus did not match their interpretation and resulting expectations and Jesus remained hidden in plain view.

A lot of us have the same problem today.

Signs, wonders and spiritual gifts are all the rage these days. Myriad charismatic leaders inspire people to follow in their footsteps. Evangelists, prophets, those with gifts of healing and an angle on prosperity abound. Those with the most dramatic, feel good performances and the biggest followings on social media become heroes of the faith even if their teachings are scripturally unsound. Jesus said,

“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke 6:26 and “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Mat 24:37 Noah preached repentance and righteousness 2 Pet 2:5 then built an ark in the middle of the desert. He was mocked and rejected as a result. How much more are those who preach the same message in 2 Timothy 3 world rejected?

Cathy just read some headlines as I write.

“Vegas strip club offers drive through peep shows” in response to COVID and “Man beaten to death by mob for having Corona Virus.”

You might be on fire for Jesus. But a quick skim of the daily headlines should be all one needs to discern the times and the message that the world needs.

Discernment drives action

I’ve heard people quote and seen people post Psalm 91 so many times in the past few weeks that everyone including unbelievers should have it memorized by now. Problem is – many receive it as a magic incantation that allows them to fearlessly continue with their lives as if nothing was happening.

A cursory word study quickly reveals that dwelling in secret place of Psalm 91:1 upon which one’s protection is contingent, refers to both the secret place Jesus talked about in Mat 6:6 . It also means a literal “shelter, a hiding place.”

By the way, has anyone stopped to consider that COVID could peak during Passover?

I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.

If nothing else this situation is facing us with a very real question. God or mammon?

Many young people are assuming, they are invincible and choosing to party rather than comply with recommendations, warnings and ordinances. We have young friends and relatives who seem utterly oblivious to the crisis at hand.

The keys to surviving a crisis and thriving in the subsequent high lay in how we respond. There were people who jumped to their deaths from high-rises when the market crashed in 1929. Those more prudent made fortunes. The most grievous error we can make is to fail to discern the time. We may assume a Fourth Turn crisis is the end and enter what AIM calls the “Q” (quit) zone. Or we could mistake the crisis for a First Turn high as so many spring breakers are doing now.

Good things come out of crisis. Rom 8:28

“Great peril provokes a societal consensus, an ethic of personal sacrifice, and strong institutional order.” That means a return to First Turn values. People have been praying for and prophesying revival for decades. Yet how soon we forget that revivals begin with radical repentance. More often than not this repentance is preceded by an event that causes people to recognize their spiritual bankruptcy. An event like like the great San Francisco earthquake that preceded the Azuza Street revival in 1915. Yes, Jesus healed and does heal people but His primary reason for coming was to be a propitiation for our sin. He came to rescue us from hell. Miracles and healing look more spectacular to our disbelieving and entertainment hungry eyes. But they are secondary to dealing with our sin. John 1:22 As Ray Comfort says, “God comes to us with a subpoena in one hand and a pardon in the other.” We love to tell people about the loving pardon while avoiding the subpoena all together.

As the current COVID crisis grows, I have yet to hear anyone under the age of 85 preach a message of repentance. There seems to be a correlation between this and the fact that those 80 and older were alive during the previous Fourth Turn. Hope for a nation that has murdered over 61,000,000 babies’ since Roe v Wade, maligned the name of Jesus as a matter of public policy and rejected His substitutionary work on the cross isn’t going to be found in Psalm 91 without embracing 2 Chron 7:14 first.

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chron 7:14

My oldest surviving uncle Lester will be 90 in June. He built his own sugar house and makes his own maple syrup in Ashfield Massachusetts because he needs something to do when it’s too cold to work.

His wife Nancy is a retired biologist with a passion for conservation.

The last time I visited, Aunt Nancy had just chased a mother bear and her cubs away from her beehives on foot. At dinner Lester and I spoke about the last Fourth Turn. Uncle Lester is a retired Navy Vet. His brother fought at Normandy. He doesn’t speak a lot but when he does it behooves people to find the parable. Uncle Lester grew up poor during the Great Depression but says he didn’t know it. He never complains and talked a lot about the value and power of gratitude and community during hard times. Elders in places like Ashfield Mass still work hard and have a lot of character. They are our national treasures.

I recently saw a meme directed at chronic COVID complainers.

If our culture persists in a collective belief that our individual rights reign supreme, that we are somehow owed something and that it’s the government’s job to provide it for free at the expense of other people simply because they have more; then I can assure you that the authoritarian outcome or worse mentioned by Straus and Howe is almost certain.

Instead I found an example of the requisite attitude for success, especially for Christians during a Fourth Turn in Acts 14. During the Apostle Paul’s 1st missionary journey he and Baranabas were kicked out of Antioch. So they traveled 85 miles to preach the Gospel in Iconium. Unbelieving Jews stirred up dissension and tried to beat and stone him. So, Paul and Barnabas moved on to Lystra and Derbe where taught and people were healed. Everyone thought they were Zeus and Hermes and started to worship them. No sooner had they put an end to that craziness then the previous Jews who had followed them from Iconium showed up. This time they were successful in stoning Paul. They dragged what they thought was his dead body outside the city gate and left him there. The disciples gathered around him probably in mourning. But before they could do anything Paul jumped up brushed himself off and went back into the city where;

“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22

This May we will have lived in Honduras for three years. We’ve been through our share of crises and we stocked up on beans and rice a few weeks ago in anticipation of what is happening now. The other day we gave some away to a neighbor in need. I’ve been racking my brain as to how we are going to feed people when the food runs out. What will we do if someone gets sick? How will we care for people? Last night some girls from the tiny Catholic church down the road delivered dinner to our door. Being a full-time missionary is teaching me just how unimportant I am.

I don’t know what is happening or is going to happen. If you read my previous blogs, my conclusions regarding COVID remain the same.

Believe what we want “We still don’t know jack.”

What I do know from both God’s Word and my own experience is that

Jesus did not come to give us our best life now. He came to redeem and transform us.

Everything will be shaken. Only what can’t be shaken will remain. Heb 12:26-28

Who we are and what we do “will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.” Only that which is of God will survive. 1Cor 3:12-15

While our eternal hope is definitely in Jesus. Our ability to remain in that hope will be determined by our individual and collective character. Character is produced by perseverance. Tribulation is its catalyst. Rom 5:3-7

Please keep us in prayer. Apart from divine intervention we are in big trouble if COVID gets a hold of us.

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