May 2008

Watch the vid below by Steve Mcvey, Christian Religion Lie #46: “We Need A Fresh Anointing“ and my comments follow…

This lie, like all the lies we’ve covered sounds “good” and religious and like it’s a good goal to have.

But it has a way of changing your thinking… making you believe that you actually need something else — other than JUST Christ.

What is the anointing?

Christ is the anointing.

So when you enter into Him via faith — you have the anointing already — the life of Christ.

1 John 2:20-21 says it like this (The Message, emphasis mine):

“But you belong. The Holy One anointed you, and you all know it. I haven’t been writing this to tell you something you don’t know, but to confirm the truth you do know, and to remind you that the truth doesn’t breed lies.”

Christ IS your anointing… He IS your holiness… and when you entered into Him by accepting His free gift of salvation you received Him into your life — exchanging your old, dead spirit for His life, and now He is your anointing.

Christ’s anointing is sufficient AND everlasting.

So we shouldn’t be seeking a “fresh anointing”. We should be turning to the only anointing that we need — the only anointing that we’ll ever need — the life of Christ that resides in us as Christians.

1 John 2:27 say it like this (emphasis mine, The Message)

“I’ve written to warn you about those who are trying to deceive you. But they’re no match for what is embedded deeply within you—Christ’s anointing, no less! You don’t need any of their so-called teaching. Christ’s anointing teaches you the truth on everything you need to know about yourself and him, uncontaminated by a single lie. Live deeply in what you were taught.”

So you can see that we don’t need to seek any “fresh anointing”… we don’t need to seek anything other than a deeper relationship with the one who is already in us — Christ and Christ alone.

With Love

Watch the vid by my main man Steve McVey, Christian Religion Lie #45 “We Need To Pay The Price To Be Used By God” and my comments follow…

This Lie is appealing because it activates our flesh, our ego, to “do something” to be used by God. Makes us feel useful.

Because then, if we suffered through something… whether it be religious works or persecution or anything else… then we feel like we “did something for God” and then we can BRAG.

But this is simply a Lie.

God can use anything and anyone no matter what price they pay to accomplish His will. Plus, the more you “pay the price” doesn’t get you any special treatment from God.

Paul put it like this in 1 Corinthians 27-30 (NIV, emphasis mine):

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.“

Once again, it’s NOT us… it is ONLY Christ…

So you see the idea that we “pay a price” to be used by God goes against His divine plan.

God chooses the foolish things… the weak things… the lowly things… the despised things… the things that are not… to unfold His will in the world. Why? So that Nobody can boast “it was because of me”.

The truth is: it is because of Christ IN YOU that you receive your righteousness, holiness, and redemption. So Paul goes on to say, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Why God is NOT an “investment vehicle”

Most Christians treat God like an investment vehicle… which is a shame.
You don’t have to treat God like an “investment vehicle”. You don’t stick in prayer, bible study, fasting and religious works hoping to get something out of the effort.

There is nothing you can do to inspire God to bless you (or curse you for that matter). God just does what He does. He accomplishes His will either way.

So what should you do “to be used by God”?

Faith.

Our ONLY responsibility is to recognize that Christ does it all… and… wants to do it through you.

This doesn’t mean you’re entirely removed from the equation. The Bible says we are “co-laborers with Christ”… what this means is that Christ is the divine empowerment and our true self… and He shines through our unique gifts, talents, personalities that He has blessed us with.

Our job is to believe in faith that He is capable to do it… to realize when we’re getting in the way… and to surrender to His doing each and every day moment-by-moment by faith.

How will you know when Christ is expressing Himself through you?

You don’t need a WWJD bracelet… or a set of rules… or a preacher telling you what is “Christ like” to see if your behavior matches up to it.

Here’s the simplest test in the world:

God is Love. Christ is God. Christ is LOVE.

So if your behavior is rooted in unconditional Love for God and your fellow man… then rest assured this is Christ expressing Himself through you

Watch the vid below by Steve McVey, Christian Religion Lie #44 “God’s Patience Is Wearing Thin” and my comments follow…

This lie is used to try to motivate people to change their ways…

You hear pastors saying, “you Christians out there… you’re not doing enough work for God… you keep sinning and God’s patience is wearing thin… eventually you’re gonna pay for it… so you better hurry up and start being a good Christian before it’s too late!”

The idea is to try to motivate people back to God by painting Him as an angry old man in the sky who is gonna be pissed if people don’t come back to Him.

The truth is — God has infinite patience

God is love (1 John 4:8)… more than that… God is UNCONDITIONAL Love — this means He loves us irregardless of our behavior towards Him.

Along with that infinite love comes an infinite patience. The Bible says “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,” (Exodus 34:6)

Now notice the verse I just used to describe God as being “slow to anger”. You would think that because of this verse God’s patience could “wear thin”… but… that it would just take a LONG time right?

Notice where that verse is from in the Bible? The Old Testament!

God is not even “slow to anger” ANYMORE!

Why is this important?

Because God got mad at sin in the Old Testament… even though He was “slow to anger” about it.

But now — Christ has changed EVERYTHING!

God sent His son into the world to absorb the punishment for sin (John 3:16). Christ, when He died on the cross, absorbed the punishment for all the sins of mankind, past, present and future… and with that He absorbed all the anger God could ever muster about these sins.

Now…

There’s nothing for God to get angry about!

He has already sent His son to pay the punishment for sins…

Right before His last breath Christ proclaimed “It is FINISHED” (John 19:30).

So to think He would then turn around and get angry about something He has already forgiven would be to go against His perfect and righteous nature. Furthermore… because He has nothing to get angry about anymore…

God has NOTHING that will make His patience “wear thin”!

Christ gave a glimpse into God’s unconditional love and infinite patience with the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15)

This idea that God’s patience is wearing thin is a religious lie to try to change people’s behavior… but all it does it separate us farther from the father because it gets us intimidated. We think of God as this angry old father figure who is mad at us and His patience is wearing thin… and if we ever come running back to Him He’s surely going to spank us!

Nothing could be further from the truth…

God is loving, long-sufering, full of grace, and patient… When we see Him like this it makes us want to turn to Him again.

The scriptures confirm this — we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

So stop believing this lie that “God’s patience is wearing thin” and start believing the truth! God is unconditional love and His patience will never wear thin… so you have nothing to lose by running into His arms and staying there forever (like the prodigal son)

Watch the vid below by Steve McVey, Christian Religion Lie #43 “Evangelism Means Leading A Person To Pray For Forgiveness For Their Sins” and my commens follow…

This is the common definition of evangelism: “Getting people to pray for forgiveness of their sins”.

So much emphasis is put on people being sinners… and how God want to send them to hell for eternity… and they better repent now before it’s too late… that they forget the entire purpose of why our sins our forgiven in the first place.

Jesus’ main purpose was NOT the forgiveness of sins!

Jesus said in John 10:10: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”…

The purpose of Christ was to give us life, spiritual life. But God can’t “co-exist” with sin… so in order for Christ to be able to enter into your life He had to first forgive you of all sins past, present and future.

So the forgiveness of sins is just a by-product of what Christ has done for us.

In other words, if you’re just evangelising to people… trying to scare them with hell and damnation because you think the most important thing about salvation is the forgiveness of sins… you’re missing the point entirely!

Make disciples… not forgive sins

In the great commission Jesus said to “make disciples of all nations”. He didn’t say “go get everyone’s sins forgiven”.

Christ wants unbelievers to run back to Him and embrace His loving arms (like the prodigal son). He doesn’t want us to scare people into getting their sins forgiven because we hold the threat of eternal damnation over their heads.

What happens when we focus on sin?

This is why most Christians think being a Christian SUCKS!

If the ONLY good news is our sins our forgiven that’s so empty. And that’s where the majority of Christians are stuck today.

That’s why no one is excited about being a Christian. It’s why no one likes to be a Christian… or is excited about going to church on sunday (compound that with the fact that after they get there, most preachers want to tell them how bad a job they’re doing BEING a Christian… but I digress).

So what should evangelism be?

Evangelism is the telling of the good news.

The good news is that God loved you so much He sent His only son to come give you life… spiritual life… eternal life… and a life full of unconditional love even while you’re still here on earth!

Yes, a “by-product” of receiving this life is that all your sins are forgiven, past, present and future… and that is something to be excited about and thank God for daily… but the good news… the GREAT news is that Christ came to give you and I life.

And after you’ve accepted this gift of salvation… this gift of life… you are now only required to do one thing: Allow Christ to express Himself through you… surrender to His loving each and every day, moment by moment… and you do this by faith, by believing in Him that He will do it, that He is faithful to do it and trusting Him to do it.

That’s it! That’s the secret to a great Christian life!

So don’t believe this lie anymore that we have to go out and get people to repent for their sins… instead share the GOOD news… the news that Christ came to give them life… and all they have to do is accept it today

Watch the great video by Steve McVey below, Christian Religion Lie #42: “You need to do your part in the Christian life” and my comments follow.

I’m sure you’ve heard this one before

This lie gets told in a variety of different ways…

“If you do your part — God will do the rest”

“Do your best and trust God to do the rest”

“If you work hard for God — He’ll be faithful and work hard for you”.

Sounds convincing right? But it’s a LIE.

Why is this lie dangerous?

When you believe this lie, it’s like getting on the religious treadmill of religious activity. You hop on and start walking… slowly at first… going to church reading your Bible– “doing your part”.

Then you see other Christians who look like they’re doing a better job than you — maybe teaching Sunday school… or singing in the choir… or witnessing regularly. So you start to “jog” to catch up — “if that’s them doing their part — then I should be doing at least that”.

Next, you notice that the Christians in your Bible study all have a quiet time that’s double yours — you start to speed up — they tithe more money than you — you’re running now — oh, that one Christian mother makes it look so EASY parenting her family of five — so you’re now in a full on sprint desperately trying to “do your part” of religious activity.

Then it happens!

BANG! You burn out — you can’t keep sprinting — running full force forever. And then it sets in — Satan is right there next to the treadmill like some demonic Richard Simmons, ready to jump in and heap condemnation and guilt and shame on you. He tells you you’re such a poor Christian because you can’t do your part… you can’t “run the race” faithfully like “everyone else” who is a Christian. “God can never use you” He’ll say — “You can’t even do your part!”

Is this what Christ spoke of when He said…

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

What The Christian life is NOT:

The Christian life is not about you “helping” God accomplish His will (the Creator of everything is MORE than capable of helping Himself)… It’s not about God “helping” you in your life either — like God is your life coach.

It’s not about “doing your part” and letting God take up the slack.

It’s not about treating God like an investment vehicle, i.e., “I do this for God and He’ll do this for me”

What the Christian life IS:

The Christian life is about receiving salvation and with it the very life of Christ… and… then letting this indwelling Christ express Himself through you moment by moment… each and every day.

Paul says in Romans 15:18:

“I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— “

It is everything CHRIST and Christ ALONE is doing through you.

Your only “job” in the Christian life is to BELIEVE. To have FAITH that Christ is doing this through you… and WILL do it. And rest assured — He will be faithful to do it!

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:24:

“The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

So it’s settled then eh?

Stop believing this lie that you have to “do your part”… get off that religious treadmill… and embrace what Christ wants to do through you by opening to his leading moment by moment each and every day.

With Love

Watch the video below by my main man Steve McVey, Christian Religion Lie #41: “You should befriend unbelievers to lead them to Christ” and read my (as always) heated comments below

This is one of those lies that sounds good too (most of them are). In fact, there’s a friend of mine at church who will go out of his way to “befriend” people and act friendly towards them… do stuff for them… and more. Only because he wants to lead them to Christ.

Is this what Christ had in mind?

Let’s find out…

Who is Christ… and… who are you?

God is Love — Christ is God — Christ is Love.

Christ is in YOU now — He is your true nature now (because you’re a Christian).

So your true nature is to be LOVE. To Love people.

You should have no ulterior motive… there should be no “hidden” agenda… there should be no reason for your unconditional Love. You just simply allow Christ (Love) to be expressed through you — to whomever you may meet each and every day.

When Christ was approached by the rich young man who wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. Scripture is clear about how Jesus treated the man, Mark 10:21 says: “Jesus looked at him and loved him“.

I can hear what you are thinking right now…

“But shouldn’t I try to lead them to Christ?”

No.

Here’s what will happen:

When you Love unconditionally you are allowing Christ to express Himself through you. And people will notice. They’ll be magnetically drawn to you.

Sidenote: If you’re a guy — women will definitely be magnetically drawn to you. Look at Jesus’ ministry, He ALWAYS had women following Him around wherever He went. Because He had NO ulterior motive for loving women (like most guys who “act nice” or pretend to “love” a woman — they’re doing it because they WANT something from that woman). He just simply loved them and they couldn’t get enough of Him.

And they’ll want to know where this Love comes from. How you can be that way… That’s when it’s time to tell them where this Love comes from. That it comes from Christ who is now your very spirit — you exchanged your old life for His and now you’re just letting Christ love people through you each and every day.

This is how you “win people to Christ”.

Did Jesus ever start preaching to someone before He showed them Love? No. He first showed them Love… showed them Mercy, Compassion, empathy, forgiveness and sympathy (all of which come from Love). Then people wanted to know “WHO ARE YOU?” and that’s when He introduced Himself as the Messiah.

A small warning if you still choose to believe this lie…

You’re not fooling anyone!

People can tell when you’re being inauthentic.

They can tell when you have an ulterior motive.

You know how you feel when a Mormon knocks on your door… acts nice… and wants to talk with you? Then they tell you, “If you need anything, anything at all — just give us a call!” You KNOW exactly WHY they’re being so nice. They want to make you a Mormon too! It’s fake… a pretense… an act to try to get what they want from you.

It’s the same feeling you get from a salesman who really doesn’t care about you, but is acting REALLY nice.

This lie gives Christians a bad reputation…

And then what happens? You screw it up for the rest of us Christians who really are trying to let Christ express His love through us to people… and unbelievers think…

“yeah, He’s just being nice because he wants to turn me into a Christian and make me go to church, and give up drinking, cussing, smoking, sexing, etc… etc… I’m not falling for that one again!”

So, the way I see it you have two options:

1. You can just be who you REALLY are. Which is Unconditional LOVE.
2. You can come off as a sleazy salesman or Mormon.

I know which one I’m choosing.

P.S. My apologies to all the Mormons who read this and were offended — I of course Love you too — I was just making a point

Watch the video below by my main man Steve McVey, called Christian Religion Lie #40: “We Need a Revival“ and read my comments that follow…

This sounds good, but it’s not true. That’s the way MOST of these lies are presented… and that’s why they’re so easily believed and are so easily deceiving. If you hear something over and over from the pulpit — you start to take it as gospel… even if it’s not.

But let’s set the record straight on revivals today…

Revival is an Old Testament (Covenant) idea…

The word “revival” is not found in the New Testament anywhere. Why?

It’s because it’s an Old Testament idea. A Revival comes and goes . All it is, is an emotional uplifting, getting people excited about God and challenging them to “live better”… to “do something for God” … to stop “being in this world” and “start living for Christ”.

And what happens?

People go to revivals… they get excited… they have an emotional experience that is very powerful and they are convinced this is the “Holy Spirit moving” and they ride that wave of high emotions and excitment… only to crash months…. days… or even just hours later when they’re no longer around the stimulus of the “revival”.

Then what happens?

Well meaning Christians go back into their daily life… determined to keep this emotional high going (the emotional high they have mistaken for “being closer to God” or “being filled with the Holy Spirit”) and they’re sorely dissapointed.

It doesn’t last long… and then what? They logically assume — “What we NEED… is another revival!”

You only need a revival… if you don’t have Christ!

Christ came to put away this need for “revival”.

Before, in the OT, The Holy Spirit didn’t dwell in the body of believers. God’s spirit “came upon” believers for a certain amount of time, so that God could accomplish something through that person — and then left. (Because the ultimate sacrifice, Christ hadn’t come to take away the sins of the world yet… so the Holy Spirit couldn’t dwell in sinful people).

But now that Christ has come and as Christians, we have accepted His free gift of Salvation… we are now In Christ… and Christ is in us. (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19)

What we need instead, is a REVELATION

And when I say “revelation” — I’m not talking about some tent meeting full of emotion pumping. I’m talking about a revelation of the mind. A “renewing” of the mind — that transforms us into people who understand WHO we are IN Christ. (as the apostle Paul said in Romans 12:2).

Paul says it like this in 2 Corinthians 3: 7-11 (NIV, broken up and emphasized by me):

“7. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,

Paul makes two important points here. The ministry of God was so glorious the Israelites couldn’t even look at Moses’ face because it was glowing — just because he was in the presence of God. That’s how awesome it was — the presence of God. BUT — that glory “fading as it was” didn’t last. Because Christ hadn’t been sacrificed and joined to all believers — that glory FADED — it didn’t LAST. Just like the “glory” that people claim to feel after a revival… it doesn’t last — it’s just an emotional high. But let’s keep the idea of how awesome that emotional high feels in mind … even though it doesn’t last…

8. will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.

Paul contends that the Ministry of the Spirit is EVEN MORE glorious than this fading emotional high (the only thing you can get from a Revival). The Ministry that brings righteousness (that is the life of Christ) is even more glorious. And says what WAS glorious has no comparison with this surpassing glory of CHRIST.

11. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!”

And then Paul closes the argument up by saying “if that seemed so glorious… and it faded away almost immediately… think of how much more glorious our position in Christ is NOW — because it LASTS forever and ever and ever!”

If Paul was talking to us today, I’m pretty sure he would of said something like…

“When you realize your position in Christ — you’ll never need that revival “feeling” again!”

Because we have accepted Christ into our lives — we are now totally COMPLETE in Christ (Colossians 2:10).

That means you don’t need a revival to make you “closer to God”… or “on fire for God”… or you don’t need to do anything at ALL for God to be more pleased with you — you are completely and totally complete in Christ.

And not only that — you’re now a saint (1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2)

You were chosen by God… HOLY and DEARLY LOVED (Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4)

God has done it ALL. Your job is simply to rest in His completed work (this alone is your only job)…

… and when you try to understand ALL that He has done for you… you will find the emotional high you used to get from revivals is no comparison to the bliss of joy and love you experience now that you are in Christ

Watch the video below by Steve McVey – Christian Religion Lie #39: “You need to think about the sins you’ve committed“ and read my comments afterwords…

Jesus came to put away sin… to remove it from you, once and for all so that He could put His very life into you. And this was accomplished the moment you accepted His free gift of Salvation and received it.

The Bible says that His sacrifice was the PERFECT sacrifice — that it took care of all sins for all time. Hebrews 9:26 says it like this (the message, emphasis mine):

“… For Christ didn’t enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn’t do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.“

Now, once you’ve been forgiven of your sins, God says they’ve been removed from you as far as the East is from the West (Psalms 103:12).

Why would you think about sins that God has ALREADY forgotten?

God has forgotten your sins, because when He looks at you He no longer sees a sinner in need of salvation… or grace… He sees the very life of His Son, Jesus Christ IN you — and you’re completely perfect in His eyes because of it!

Why is it so dangerous to think about your sins?

Because dwelling on your sins… your mistakes… your “mess-ups” only leads to self-condemnation. And God says there is no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1-2).

Not only that, but thoughts direct your language and your language directs your actions. So if you’re sin obsessed… pretty soon you’ll start sinning more.

What should you think about?

Christ. God. Focus your attention on Christ. Focus your attention on Him… how much He loves you… and how much He’s doing for you daily… and you will see this keeps you living a Great Christian Life automatically!

Watch the video by Steve McVey, Christian Religion Lie #38: “There are sacred and secular things in life“ and my comments follow…

As a Christian you are “Holy” — “set apart” — “sacred” because the very life of Christ is now YOUR life.

So everything about you and around you is also sacred by extension of being a part of you.

There is no “real world” and spiritual world. They are one in the same. Just like you are a spiritual being.