“Just a quick note before I stop doing anything that resembles “work”
for the night:

I’m really, really grateful for you

It’s thanksgiving tomorrow here in the U.S. and I got to thinking
about all the things I’m grateful for and I’m really glad you’re
a subscriber of mine.

Thanks
Caleb”

Here’s the reply I got from one guy:

“I am sorry, I’ am sure you believe you are, but you’re not?

And thanks giving was another religious scam to exploit people, namely the American Indians, just like the crusades, witch burning and all of that.  And Christopher Columbus was a rapist.

You are full of crap.  People like you keep re-hanging Jesus on the cross, over and over again.

– Johnson L.”

GEEZE…

The most touching part of this email to me:

“You are full of crap.  People like you keep re-hanging Jesus on the cross, over and over again…”

Well, you know what:

Thank God I keep hanging Jesus up there!

Cause I mean, Christ being crucified was like the greatest thing to ever happen for mankind… EVER!

I don’t think Mr. L intended his email to be a compliment, but I’ll take it that way anyways, hahahaha

With Love

Caleb

Does this really make sense?

Does God REALLY not answer the prayers of non-believers?

Does He really only hear the prayers of those people who have “prayed the sinners prayer”… asked for forgiveness… and accepted salvation?

Nope!

God hears everyone

Paul says in Romans 2:4 (NASB, emphasis mine):

“Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”

God’s goodness leads people to Him…

I’m sure you’ve heard a salvation story like this: Non-believers are in some dire straight, in some horrible situation, and they call out to God, begging Him to do something for them…

God answers and helps that person… and this action is so amazing it causes that person to follow God from that point on.

Seek and Find

God is gracious, loving and if someone is “seeking” God they will find Him. (Matthew 7:7)

Can this seeking also include a non-believer who doesn’t yet know they need to “get saved”… but knows their is a God… and just wants to talk to Him?

They will pray to God without knowing first to “pray the prayer of salvation”… and God will definitely not hide himself in this situation, wouldn’t you agree?

Why this lie is dangerous

It puts God back in the box of “do this and you’ll get God’s approval and goodness” because the thing to do in this situation is “be a believer and THEN God will be pleased with you”.

It puts God back in the “If… Then…” box so many years of religion, human traditions, and faulty understandings have tried to put Him in.

If you were an unbeliever and you heard “God only answers believers”, would you want anything to do with a God who doesn’t care about you until you commit to Him?

Hell (Fire and Brimstone Included) NO!

But what about a God who is so loving, so gracious, so full of goodness, mercy and overall awesomness, that He not only answers the prayers of everyone… but loves them unconditionally no matter who they are, what they’ve done in the past, present or are going to do in the future.

You think that might be a God that you’d want to get to know? Yeah, me too.

With Love

Caleb

This is something you hear a lot, especially when you start talking about Grace.

The idea is “God living through us, Christ living through us will keep us fulfilling God’s law without even trying”

This is a good sounding idea — but it’s still a feeble attempt for us to be “in control” a way for us to look for a set of rules and regulations to follow to make sure we’re in God’s good graces’.

But it’s a lie…

The truth is you’re dead to the law

Paul said in Romans 7:4-6:

“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”

Just like a marriage relationship being gone, totally removed from you when your spouse dies, your relationship to the law is totally dead because when you were placed in Christ you died to the law (through Christ’s death and resurrection)…

You don’t keep it. You don’t break it. You have no relationship to it.

So the idea that the life of Christ inside you will enable you to keep God’s laws is incorrect, it’s a lie, you have no relatinoship to the law now that you are in Christ.

In the mean time I just want to wish everyone Happy Halloween!

And if you’re one of those legalistic, stuck-in-the-mudd Christians who doesn’t celebrate Halloween — yes, you can be mad all you want about me celebrating this “holiday” but really… come on… it’s just candy man!

I remember when I was a kid, we didn’t always celebrate Halloween on account of it being “the devil’s holiday” and all… and it really SUCKED. Seriously. If you have kids — don’t subject them to that torture — mmmkay?

It’s not going to make you or your family one bit holier if you don’t let your kids go get some Reeses Pieces or Twix or Musketeers or Snickers… or…

And the last time I went Halloween’ing — I know it’s crazy but — I didn’t run into any devil worshipers! I know it probably happens on Halloween… but guess what?

It happens every single night over the year as well — personally I think you’d have to GIVE the devil this holiday to call it “the devil’s holiday” and I like it right where it is — God’s generous, gracious, loving gift to me of two things:

• Beautiful, Scantily Clad Women — it’s “dress your girl provocative day” for grownups and…
• Chocolate — which is just awesome too. And with red wine and the aforementioned women?

THANK YOU GOD

You might have heard this whopper…

“God gave the law to show his righteousness… and that’s why we need it today”

While it IS true that you can see a GLIMPSE of God’s righteousness in the law (the meaning behind every law for that people of that time (ancient Israel) was to give examples of loving behavior)… the real reason for the law is much better!

Why Did God Give The Law?

Real reason: Romans 5:2 (NIV):

“The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,”

God gave the law to “stimulate” more sin.

To show our need for a saviour. To show our need to seek Him. The law was only a glimpse of what the full righteousness of God was.

“How Can We Know What Is Righteous Then Without The Law To Guide us?”

Paul says in Romans 1:16-17 (NIV, emphasis mine):

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”"

This righteousness from God that is revealed is the person of JESUS CHRIST.

So we don’t need the law to show us God’s righteousness, we have Jesus who is the PERSONIFICATION of God’s righteousness.

Jesus Christ reveals God’s righteousness and by the abundance of God’s grace (Romans 5:17) we receive that righteousness by faith.

No law… external code… morals… set of “rights and wrongs” are needed. Only the life of Christ, only faith in Christ and God. And God will lead you correctly, as you trust him moment by moment, day by day in faith to do so.

So don’t believe this lie anymore that we need the law to reveal God’s righteousness. You and I are under no law, no rules, we are living under the law of Love.

With Love

Caleb

This is the idea that you can’t express anything negative… or feel negative about something… or just feel bad, or not so positive about a situation.

That no matter what happens you’re HAPPY about it…

That if you really HAVE faith… if you’re really being FAITHFUL… “a good Christian”… you’ll always be positive about everything — no matter the situation or circumstance.

Why is this lie hurtful?

Because it causes Christians to become hypocritical, to live a lie.

If you believe this lie, you’ll think you always have to put on a “mask” of feeling positive all the time, and never feeling bad about anything…

You have negative emotions, you don’t need to lie about them. You will face times in your life when you’re not happy, when you’re depressed, when your outlook is not so “positive”… and it’s ok.

Does the Bible say we should always be positive?

No!

The Bible affirms the fact that we are all human and that we are going to face times that will knock us off balance… crush our happiness… stomp our positivity and even kill our will to live… BUT the Bible never shows God condemning us for feeling this way.

Look at Job, look at Paul, both were depressed, both weren’t looking at everything “positively”. Job poured out his case to God, deeply depressed over everything that had gone wrong in his life.

Paul said he despaired even to the point of death… But they didn’t sin, there’s no problem with this.

Even Jesus didn’t feel positive about everything. Before His arrest, He was so stressed He was sweating blood… and asked God more than once if He could somehow avoid His fate of being crucified… He certainly wasn’t looking forward to it!

But there was no sin in this lapse of positivity…

What Faith Is (and Requires)…

The only requirement of faith is NOT being positive in every situation. The only requirement is in being positive of WHO is in charge. In being positive of who God is…

Faith only requires that you trust God. You don’t have to be happy through every moment of your plight, you don’t have to fake positivity, you can feel like crap… just trust God to be who He is. Love.

And trust that He always has the best in store for you… that your life is unfolding according to His perfect plan… that no matter what His heart is one of GOODNESS and LOVE towards you.

When you understand who God is, you don’t have to be happy about every little thing that happens to you (even if it’s bad)… you don’t have to put on a pretend mask of “positivity” in every situation.

You can relax into your emotions, not fight them, and simply choose to trust in God when you don’t know what else to do. You can tell God all about how you feel. So don’t believe this lie anymore that faith requires you to be positive.

With Love

Caleb

There’s a new movement called “red letter Christians” who follow everything that Jesus said. You know the Bibles that have Jesus’ words in red letters? They claim to follow His words exactly…

So should you follow all of Jesus’ words — to the T?

Nope!

What does the Bible say?

The Bible says we should “correctly handle the word of truth” in 2 Timothy 2:15. What does this mean?

This means knowing:

• Who the author of Bible passages was…
• Who they were speaking to…
• What they were speaking about…
• The culture and times of the period, so you have context…
• And other contextual things to get the full MEANING of the passage…

Most Christians don’t realize that Jesus wasn’t speaking directly to YOU but was speaking to specific people at a very specific time in a very specific place…

Also, more important to born again Christians is that Christ was talking to people who were still under the Old Covenant. Because Christ hadn’t died and been resurrected yet (establishing the New Covenant), the people in that time were still under a different covenant and therefore had a different relationship to God than Christians today.

Christ told a lot of whoppers!

I don’t mean Jesus told lies, but the custom of the day was to use the most outrageous examples and most colorful language to make a point. And He had certain points He was trying to make… he made a lot of exaggerations to prove a lot of points…

For instance, Christ said if your eye causes you to sin you should pluck it out (Matthew 18:9)…

He said if your hands or feet cause you to sin you should cut them off (Matthew 18:8)…

Do you really think He was serious? No. He was making a point. Just like you and I aren’t serious when we say “it’s flooding out there!” when it’s just a really hard rain. We (and Jesus) use figurative/exagerrative language to make a point.

To be extremely literal, Jesus even told his disciples to wash each other’s feet like He did (John 13)

When was the last time you washed someone’s feet?

This is another example of things Jesus said being meant for a particular group of people, at a particular point in time, in a particular situation. Not for you and I.

What’s wrong with believing this lie?

1. You’re not supposed to do everything Jesus said. Many things He said don’t apply to you now that Christ has established the New Covenant.

And 2. You can’t do it all those things anyways. And what happens when you fail? You feel bad, self-condemnation sets in, you re-dedicate you life and start all over again.

What’s more, this is another lie that keeps you focused on yourself… on what you are doing… instead of focusing on Christ, instead of focusing on God.

This is bad, this is not what authentic, true Christianity is about. Christianity is about your relationship with God, your relationship with Christ — and enjoying and growing in that relationship every single day.

So don’t believe this lie anymore that you should do “everything Jesus said”. It’s not possible, it’s not your duty and it’s not a good way to live anyways.

With Love

Caleb

You hear it all the time:

“Come Holy Spirit”

“Jesus be with us today”

“Father, we invite your presence”

“God be with us here today”

You know what I think?

I think…

Most Christians Think God is a VAMPIRE!

Why?

Because vampires can’t come into a person’s house unless they get invited in. And many people think the God of the universe, the creator of all things, the all powerful, all knowing, all in control being who is already everywhere — NEEDS an invitation to come to church with us Christians.

Funny when you look at it like that aint it?

What does the Bible say?

Jesus said this in Matthew 18:20:

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”"

How is this possible? Why is Jesus with them?

Because when you were “reborn” into Christ… when you entered into life (God) through Christ, through salvation you exchanged your old spirit, your dead spirit, for the very life of Christ.

So God is already with you wherever you are, wherever you go, there’s no need for you to “invite him in” like He is some vampire that needs permission to enter

What to do instead?

Try this next time: instead of inviting God’s presence into your church service, or asking Him to be with you in some time of need (whatever that may be)… just thank Him.

Thank Him that He will never leave you… that He is always there with you… that He is faithful to be with you until the very end… and thank Him for being the incredible, loving, amazing God that He ALREADY IS.

Try this and see if you don’t like it better. So don’t believe the lie anymore that you need to invite God into your church service — He’s not a vampire… He’s already there.

With Love

Caleb

Sounds good doesn’t it?

But the truth is: God doesn’t just want you to be happy, he wants you to be joyous. Full of Joy.

And in God’s usual, gracious manner — He will flat out GIVE you Joy… but first…

What’s the difference between Joy and Happiness?

I covered this in another post called: Joy VS Happiness, but here’s the basic gist of it:

Happiness comes from “happenings” (your circumstances) and joy comes from within, it’s something that you possess no matter what. No matter what happens to you.

How do you get joy?

You receive and will experience joy when you understand who God is… how much He loves you… what He has done for you.

It’s an overflow of feeling unconditional love being poured out on you.

How do you do this? You talk to God, you read about God, you read about how much He loves you… how much He has done for you… how much He wants to continue doing for you — and you can’t help but feel loved.

Here’s a tip:

You could even say affirmations of truth each day to yourself like this in the mirror, out loud: “I am truly Loved by God” over and over until it FEELS right when you say it.

Why is this lie bad?

Because if you suffer from depression you’ll think you’re sinning by feeling depressed. You’ll think you’re always supposed to be happy no matter what the circumstance. You’ll think it’s your fault you’re not always the happy, bubbly, “nothing ever goes wrong” Christian you’re supposed to be.

You’ll lie to people, especially other Christians, pretending that everything is ok and you’re happy when you’re really not.

Instead, if you focus on the joy that comes from God, that comes from your relationship to God (not dependent on your circumstances) then you’ll never have to feel this way.

Joy is a “Grace Gift” from God:

Here’s something interesting I came across:

“The Greek word for ‘joy’ is chara, derived from the word charis, which is the Greek word for ‘grace.’ This is important to note, for it tells us categorically that chara is produced by charis of God.

This means ‘joy’ isn’t a human-based happiness that comes and goes…Rather, true ‘joy’ is divine in origin…it is a Spirit-given expression that flourishes best in hard times. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 1:6, the Thessalonians were under great stress due to persecution; yet in the midst of it all, they continued to experience great joy. In fact the Greek strongly implies that their supernatural joy was due to the Holy Spirit working in them. Paul even called it the “joy of the Holy Ghost.” (Sparkling Gems from the Greek, Rick Renner)

God is great isn’t He? He gives us EVERYTHING without needing to just because He IS Love. Amazing.

So don’t believe this lie anymore that God wants you to be happy — God wants to give you joy.

With Love

Caleb

The idea behind when people say this is:

“You’re so bad, such a horrible sinner that God has to put Jesus in between you and Him to act as a “filter” so God can look at you”

This is NOT true, here’s why…

Your life was changed/exchanged at salvation.

It is called being “born again” because you were born INTO Christ.

God sees you IN Christ and Christ IN you. Because you are both one, you are joined together with Christ in union with Him.

You’re absolutely righteous because of this.

You’re no longer a sinner. You may still sin, but it is now a righteous person who occasionally does what is not in his/her nature–acting out of independence–sin. It’s NOT a sinner doing what is natural to him/her–acting independent of God–sinning.

Jesus is not “hiding” your sin.

He is your life, and because He is your life, you’re righteous. So there’s no need for Jesus to be a “filter” in between you and God.

God can look at you (the real you!)

He delights in looking at you. He created you for His enjoyment and Love and affection. He gave His son to restore you back to Him, to bring you back to Him, so you could have this relationship with Him.

So don’t believe this lie any longer that Jesus is a filter whom God looks through to see you (because you’re so sinful He can’t stand to look at the “real” you.)

The truth is you are now In Christ, and Christ is in you, you’re in union–a partaker of the divine nature and because of this you need no filter–you are righteous and holy and pleasing to God just the way you are.

With Love

Caleb