Olympic torture

I'm sitting at the NWA airport lounge here at Gatwick airport, waiting
for my flight to Minnesota.

Sky News is broadcasting live the ceremony of the lighting of the
olympic torch. For me it's a real tor-ture to watch the pathetic show
of modern paganism. Ladies dressed in ancient Greek dress carry around
bowls filled with flames, waiving them to the sky as in offering a
sacrifice to the imaginery gods of their scripted pseudo religious
ritual.

A pro-Tibet protester breaks through security drawing attention to
himself. All is not peaceful at mount Olympus.

Reciting paganistic mantras of humanistic hodge-podge poetry, the
pseudo oracle of the Olympic Committee reaches out to a small cage
and brings out a white pigeon. She passes the torch and an olive
branch to what looks like an athlete.

The pigeon is released. The athlete bowes his head and takes off. The
crowd is clapping. The pigeon is released. It's over. For the next few
months the media will have one more non-consequential thing to talk
about. The only interesting moment appears to be the upcoming passing
of the torch through Tibet in June, when hopefully the media will
remember to remind the world of the tortures of freedom loving people
in China, including the oppression of Tibet.

Another pro-Tibet protester dashes through security roaming around
being chased by police. I wonder if the "gods" from the International
Olympic Committee will strike the unbelieving infidel with a thunder
of fines and other administrative measures aimed at restoring peace
on earth.

Dealing with negativism

REVELATION: In this world bad news trumps good news. And before you
get religious on me and start telling how great is God and how we're
winning, consider this: the whole news media industry is based on the
premise that bad news sells better than good news. This of course only
proves the fallen nature of mankind. For those who know the Word of
God, the core revelation that counters this perverse trend is found in
Phil. 4:8 - "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever
is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -
think about such things." (TNIV)

OBSERVATION: Many years ago I had to face the fact that I'm a negative
thinker. At that time I was in Bible School and every day after school
we had Prayer School. We had instructors who taught on prayer and also
led us in corporate prayer and intercession. One of these afternoons,
while in the presence of the Lord, the Holy Spirit showed me the
condition of my mind. In fact I realized that it was more like a
subtle layer of thinking pattern working in me, running parallel to
the thought process I was aware of. If you had asked me whether I was
a negative thinker, I would have told you no, based on the thought
process I was aware of. But somewhere there was lingering a repeated
thought pattern which I now can only describe as "negative."

I had to ask myself and the Lord, how did this pattern end up being
there? I had to face up to the fact I had allowed the enviroment
around me, the spirit of this world, to establish itself in my mind
through negative thinking in my subconciousness. When you have a
negative subconcious thinking, you tend to believe bad news easier
than good news. You tend to expect the worst easier than the best,
both when it comes to people and circumstances. Needless to say, my
deliverance has been crucial to me, to say the least. After all,
that's what I do - work with people and circumstances. By the grace of
God, I have been able to experience a deep "reset" in my subconcious
mind, to where now I'm a determined "positivist", if there was one.
That doesn't mean I don't get down sometimes or that occassionally I
don't wrestle with negativism. Gladly to say, those are the
exceptions, not the rule. I've allowed Phil. 4:8 to become the
dominant mechanism of thinking in my mind.

IMPLICATION: Negativism may be good for the news media industry, but
it's incredibly unhealthy for you. It will set you on the wrong course
in life. It will deform your relationship with God and people. Go to
the mirror of God's Word! Allow the Holy Spirit to bring to light
whatever negativism your subconcious mind may still harbour. Replace
fear with faith. Train your mind to think along the lines of Phil.
4:8. Your eyes will begin to "open" to a whole different realm of
living. Best of all, our loving Father stands by your side to warrant
the word He has spoken over you. You're not a fool, taking lightly the
sad reality around you. You're a smart believer, who has peaked beyond
the shoulder of this visible realm and has discovered you have all the
reasons to trust God and what He says about you, your future and
everything around you.

Changed into a different person?

The month of February was a different month for me. As my closest friends in ministry already know, few days before February 1st, I felt the Lord led me to unplug from all ministry and business activity and take the month off to fast, pray and seek the Lord. 

So how did I fare? That's an open answer. Because only time will tell. The simple answer is, I had fantastic moments with God, powerful experiences and fresh revelation of Jesus. I can even say I've fallen in love with Him all over again. I've made some quality decisions about the way I'm going to live and work in the future. Decisions that were probably long overdue. But I'll be careful to say I'm changed into a different person (I can hear my wife saying here "...and you should be" :) 

You see, looking at the Scriptures, the idea of being "changed" is a rather serious proposition. Let me explain, it may do you some good, too....

The whole month of February the Holy Spirit led me to a new place of intimacy with Jesus. He's more real to me now that He has ever been before. Remember, we believe in a God we can't see with our natural senses, even though we can see plainly the handiwork of His awesome creation. But we still worship a God who is a Spirit (John 4:24). Moreover, we, his creation, are also spirits who have a soul and live in a physical body. So we can't see Him, who is a Spirit, but guess what, we can't even see people, who are spirits, too. We can discern people's spirits and motives, but we can't see them with our plain, physical eyesight. One day we shall be revealed in fulness when we are glorified with Jesus at His coming. (1John 3:1-2) But while in our earthly vessels, we remain limited to who are appear to be based on our physical features, way of presenting ourselves, etc. 

Now what does change have to do with this? 

First of all, when Jesus came, he called people to repentance, which really means a change of mind, change of direction, change of allegiance. So change is a huge theme in the New Testament. The word repentance of course is a rape victim of the spirit of religion and may be, just may be, a new generation of believers can bring a new life to this concept some time soon. 

See, that's why I'm careful in declaring "I'm changed!" I feel changed, I feel like a different person, but...I'm reminded of another fellow who was changed into a different person, only to slip back into being his own rotten self faster than you can say "who was that". 

I'm referring to the tragic figure of Saul, the infamous first king of Israel. Prophet Samuel pours oil over Saul, kisses him (a seal of sonship and covenant) and gives him a powerful promise: you will be changed into a different person (1 Sam. 10:6)

So he did. Saul finds himself among the prophets, the Spirit of God comes upon him and he is turned into a different man. For a moment, that is. 

You see, Saul never retained this change. He failed to capture the promise of this experience. This was his divine moment and he failed. How do we know? Time showed it. Saul began his journey in God in the company of prophets, but ended it up in the company of compromisers. He never really remained changed. Just like so many Christians today. We begin well, we start by having powerful experiences with Jesus, we're dramatically changed into a different person so that everyone takes notice. But with time we cool off. Our inner person, our inner spirit begins to decay and yet we fail to take notice and come back to the Source of our salvation. 

I don't know what you might need in order to reverse such process, if indeed it's in motion already. I know I had to take a month off and come back to the centrality of Jesus in my life. I experienced some powerful emotional release and healing, some physical manifestations of God's power, some awesome revelations. 

But whether I will allow retain the spiritual substance of these experiences, is a completely open question, which only time will tell. I will strive to remain changed. I will apply all willpower and will trust God to keep me in this new place of devotion I've found myself in. But here I stand before Him and everyone else and am the first to admit and make myself vulnerable - I may fail! I may slip back into being overly busy and drifting away from the intimate fellowship of the Spirit. I may end up my journey in the company of compromisers. Sounds like a scary admission? I prefer to look at it as refreshingly honest. 

I'll end with a quote from Keith Green's song "The grace by which I stand": 

"And how I wish it had been explained that as you're growing, you must remember, that nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand in Jesus" 

PS: If you can ignore the corny graphics, you can hear the song here.

Or here, if you really don't want to deal with the corny graphics :)