God's Grace

I cannot fully describe grace sufficiently through human words. And to attempt to surround God’s grace with words is an awesome journey whose destination can be found in the journey itself. Suffice it to say that we have only scratched the surface concerning the grace that is only found inside the shed blood of God Incarnate. Because we have minimized the depravity of our own sin, not just the concept of sin theologically, it follows that our definition of grace lacks the depth that would be revealed against the relief of the true nature of our sin. We are great theologians concerning sin, but when it comes to identifying our own personal sin, even after knowing Christ, we are woefully inadequate and mostly volitionally shallow in our assessment of our sin as compared with the sin we so easily observe and forcefully condemn in others.

But the life is in the blood. And life eternal comes only through God’s grace which is only found in that same shed blood. It sounds so medieval and unsophisticated in this climate of technology, psychology, and a general exaltation of human endeavor of any kind. But that grace alone is what saves, what sanctifies, and what provides a door into the Divine. All good works and deeds should lift up that grace and should never lift up any man or even the works themselves. There is only One that is good, and there is only one good work, and upon that finished work stands or falls all other works that claim to be good. In Jesus’ name they are good deeds; apart from the name of Jesus they are counterfeits designed to lift up man himself.

But how easily we who have received of God’s grace demand law from those without. The gospel is grace and grace alone. Just believe and be saved. How arrogant it is for those of us who have been rescued from the dunghill and eternity’s horrors by grace through child like faith, to rise up and condemn sinners for behaving in a manner consistent with their nature. Our message is “look and live” and our banner is Yeshua Hamasia. If this isn’t the age of grace what is? Do not fret over anything, beloved, but in passion and love preach and live the grace of God through the Person of Christ. We stand on the Rock called Grace and from that Rock we persuade men with a genuine love for their souls and gratefulness for God’s grace in our own lives.

Release the things of this world and let words of grace and redemption flow from your lips. But what about the evils of this present world? The greater the sin, the louder the call of grace. The gospel is good news for the unrighteous and bad news for the self righteous. Jesus Christ has come to save sinners, so allow Him His mission, and in fact, be a true yokefellow of His heart. Some will be saved with compassion, making (an eternal) difference.

Let us strive to be conduits of gospel grace and not dissonant voices that condemn from the safety of God’s grace. Judgment will come soon enough, but for now we must lift up the Redeemer in thought, word, and deed. The days are evil and the time grows short. Most of the harvest is in the barn, but the fields still bear the whited grains of fruit not yet plucked. There is no higher privilege than to present the good news of Jesus Christ to the vilest sinners among us and see what work grace can accomplish in the heart of a former enemy of Jehovah.

I stand as one of those and publicly admit it was all of God and His grace and none of me. It continues to be so today and it will redound to the glory of God throughout eternity!

I Guess I'm a Liberal!

I believe in liberal love, liberal grace, liberal mercy, liberal philanthropy, liberal faith, liberal hope, liberal atonement, liberal forgiveness, liberal prayer, and liberal obedience.

I guess I’m a liberal!

Disclaimer: I do not believe in liberal/conservative labels. They are manmade and lead to judgment and self righteousness. There are only saved sinners and lost sinners. The above is meant to show the counter productive nature of labels through satire.

His Glory Manifested

There is no glory like the glory of the Risen Christ. All other claims to glory are frauds and counterfeits. Within every believer dwells that glory. We can never be content with the inward dwelling of Him and His glory; we must strive diligently to break the alabaster box of our selfish lives and let those in darkness see and experience His glory living through us.

It is time the world sees a dynamic and authentic level of Christianity that is more reflective of the Sermon on the Mount and the One who preached it. The entire world, from our next door neighbor to those in far away lands, need to see Jesus alive today. Not gimmicks; not success; not bravado; and not the power of the flesh. Where are the self denying, humble, eternity seeking, and powerfully meek conduits of the Savior of the World?

Answer: We are still embracing the cross of Christ but rejecting the cross with our name upon it. We live - He dies. We die - He lives.

Living in His Kingdom

The New Testament is addressed to believers and provides us with the mind of God on many subjects both practical and spiritual. One of the most overlooked, and in fact tortured, subjects is the relationship a believer and the body of Christ should have with the country in which they live. In America we and our children have been taught that America was birthed as a Christian nation and that it came into being by the hand of God. Of course everything exists under the sovereign auspices of Almighty God, but the suggestion is that God directly orchestrated the Revolutionary War in order to begin the country known as America. Even the Pledge of Allegiance has the words “one nation under God” in its wording. And the words “Creator” and “God” appear in the Declaration of Independence.

And although none of the founding fathers could be considered evangelical, it is true that some of them may well have been believers even though some of them were slave owners and had problems with infidelity. The Lord knows the beginning from the end of everything, and it is without controversy that God has used the body of Christ that would live in this new nation. And it is also without controversy that the hedonistic and humanistic culture in this nation has slowly enveloped God’s church until it made the Scriptures bend to accommodate such behavior. Teachings like the health and wealth gospel, the go into debt building programs, and the alignment of Christ and allegiance to the nation are a result of the culture. All of these core teachings and practices were borrowed from the culture and incorporated into ecclesiastical belief and practice.

But the New Testament only commands us to obey the laws, not to form any alliances with any earthly nation. Even the obvious prophetic hints concerning God and Israel in the future carry no suggestion that we align ourselves with Israel. We are a holy nation, and our citizenship is in heaven. All earthly citizenships can be leveraged for the kingdom’s sake as did Paul, but Paul, being a Roman citizen by birth, would never have shown any allegiance to that secular nation. And who could imagine Paul accepting the role of a Roman soldier and being used to defend or expand the Roman Empire?

Romans chapter 13 is a guide for Christian behavior under secular governments, but it has been misused to suggest that since God can and does sovereignly use earthly governments for His own purposes that we as believing followers of King Jesus should get entangled with the affairs of this world. And now the church has long since waded into the murky and carnal waters of politics and presented the gospel of Jesus Christ as some moral and conservative cause. Much of the lost world in America sees our faith as a moral crusade that includes marriage, capitalism, democracy, and all sorts of issues. They are blinded to the redemption of Jesus Christ because we have presented a message of condemnation rather than redemption. It seems Christ’s followers have forgotten that He Himself did not come to condemn that which is already condemned.

When you travel to other countries around the world and speak with other believers, you may find that most, if not all, hold very little allegiance to their native country and many are offended at what they deem the arrogance of America’s believers. We have been duped by a falsehood that proposes that not only is America interested in the good of all people, but that God is on her side. The New Testament truth is that all nations are before Him, and that there are none that are good and there are none that seeketh after Christ and His kingdom.

My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

There is only one heavenly kingdom, and it lives within the heart of every believer. It knows no earthly nationality; it knows no race; it knows no gender; and it only receives the word of one King. Every believer lives with certain providential aspects of his life. His birthplace, his parents, his physical attributes, and a host of other issues began with the providential plan of the Father and are being manifested by all of us. But the Father never planned for us to grow an affection for our environment and to parse out our loyalties to anything and anyone but the Lord Jesus. All our earthly obedience, all our humanitarian ministries, all our participation in the mundane issues of life, and everything about our lives must be lived through the power of the King and with the unmistakable and undiluted fragrance of His exalted and unique kingdom.

How can we be so content as to blend in with political agendas and national interests? How can we Americanize the gospel and be distracted by issues that cannot save and have no eternal essence? Where did we lose the axe head and yet continued to pretend we are still sacrificially following Him who blazed a trail of redemption through His own culture? How is it that we claim to be inhabited by the Creator of the universe and yet remain so unremarkable within a kingdom of darkness? Can we not see that we have constructed a gospel of convenience and ease that mirrors the surroundings in which we live?

The blood has long been absorbed by the ground on Golgotha, and the tomb has long since given up its dead. The upper room set a handful on fire with the gospel message and that fire lit the known world with the light of Jesus Christ. That light was so bright and brilliant that men either embraced it or killed those who shined. But one thing the world could not do was ignore that light. But today in America we are given a seat at the pluralistic table, and we cling to some indigestible scraps of revisionist history that claim a Christian origin. That’s all we have, brethren? Some historical argument over which religion some of the founding fathers seemed to espouse? Our power is somehow manifested in quoting dead men and interpreting them in order to leverage respect for our so called Christian roots?? What a pitiful lot we are!

Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where is the power to which we claim access? And why is Jesus so much more prominent in our teachings and theology than He is in a living and vibrant display of our lives insomuch as sinners cannot help but notice the distinctiveness of our existence. Away with all labels that attach themselves to us without bearing the Savior’s reproach! Away with conservative or liberal; away with Democrat or Republican; away withMoral Majorities or Religious right; and away with proudly claiming to be an American, the country which murders the unborn and embraces all gods. The nation that fares sumptuously while children starve. The country which uses violence to achieve its national interests. Away with anything but Christ and Christ alone.

Radical, you say? I challenge you to read through the New Testament in one week and ask the Spirit to make it know to you once more.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Without hashing over whether we should sell everything, let us begin with “What do we actually sacrifice for Christ and does it even remotely reflect that parable?” Warning: Unless you are willing to see things that make you uncomfortable, then as the sign says, “I’d turn back if I were you!”

Patriotism

Patriotism is a subtle form of paganism.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2010

All of Him

I have no goodness in me, and I own no claim to eternal life through any works of my own. This day in which the church calls Easter, is actually the day of resurrection celebrated every first day of the week. And it is upon Christ and His finished work of redemption that I place myself wholly and without anything added or taken away.

One million years from today I will be worshiping Him all because of Him and none of me.

A True Story

Last week my best friend and his two sons (15 and 13) went with a church group to minister to Haitian pastors in a week long conference. There were small groups during the day and revival services every night. There were three people delivered from demonic forces during those services which resulted in a public burning of many voodoo artifacts.

But as most of you know, I have consistently suggested that the western church continues to drift from the love of Christ. With that in mind I share this story which happened this week at the pastor’s conference in Haiti:

It was about 11:00 AM and my friend was teaching a class about being a Christian man. As he was speaking the door to the 15’ x 15’ room that was to hold 40 men opened and seven pastors walked in. They motioned for the interpreter and asked him to apologize to the group for their tardiness. The reason they were late? They had to walk 7 hours to get there.

I will share other stories in the future, but let this one exhort us to take inventory of our own commitment.

The Moral Crusade of Jesus

Some Christians fight a moral crusade with words, protests, votes, and artillery launched from a platform of self righteousness void of redemptive grace. Jesus fought that same moral fight with a cross. He asks us to use His weapon not ours.

Living Our Christian Imposter

We in the west have been and continue to be deceived. Our brand of Christianity and its practice is a fraud. From the orthodox to the liberal, and from the watchmen to the emergent, we all live and promote a falsehood that claims to follow Jesus but hoards money, incurs debt, bows to nationalism, enjoys a plethera of entertainment whithin a stone's throw of the poor, all but ignores prayer, and in general sacrifices nothing. In general we spend more on our pools and pets than we do on ministering to the poor and worldwide missions, to say nothing on mortgage interest payments for a place to sit on Sundays.

Aside from important doctrinal issues, the form of Christianity we all practice is a self serving construct that cannot claim any resemblance to Jesus or His teachings. We cannot be blamed for being born into such a Christian imposter, however we are to blame as we hand it unchanged to the next generation.

Where is Jesus and His Church?

There are two words that are related. In fact, they are Siamese twins and one without the other is a fraud, or in the metaphor of the New Testament, without each other they are dead. These words are orthodoxy and orthopraxy. The word orthodoxy defines what we believe, and the word orthopraxy defines how we live and act. In short, they outline faith and works.
The relationship between these two components of what we call Christianity must be understood and addressed and respected. Any imbalance runs the risk of a mischaracterization of truth and in fact a mischaracterization of Jesus Himself. The more significant the imbalance results in the greater mischaracterization until eventually there is an actual deception. The imbalance can reach a point where the deception is so profound that redemption is no longer possible within that framework. So let us examine both twins more deeply so we can accurately understand and implement both orthodoxy and orthopraxy in their intended symbiotic relationship.
Orthodoxy is usually defined as Biblical truth that has been understood and taught within the mainstream of the evangelical church throughout history. Now there are wide and varied interpretations of these truths raging from free will to no free will and from all sorts of ecclesiastical structures and practices. To say that the interpretations of Biblical truths have been expressed through many different ways and understandings is to severely understate the width of those parameters. Just look at all the different denominations and sects within Christianity and you can see just how pervasive are the differing perspectives of Scriptural truth.
Many denominations and doctrinal perspectives even argue and debate the most meaningless and insignificant aspects of New Testament theology. Arminians, those who espouse the free will of man, have matriculated into nano-doctrinal segments while Calvinists who may agree on 98% of their doctrinal issues will divide over the remaining 2%. It is quite a spectacle and is to this day a detriment to spreading the everlasting gospel to a lost world. The issues around which Christians will create a doctrinal Maginot line are deeply regrettable; especially when you consider the amount of time and energy it drains from the message of redemption through Jesus Christ.
But as unfortunate and counterproductive are these squabbles, there still is a core nucleus of Biblical truth that surrounds the gospel of redemption and which cannot, and must not be compromised.

I do not believe true and authentic Christianity is being practiced to any large extent in the west. Listen and read as professing believers join hands with political parties and issues, and trash people who genuinely need Jesus, but the political agendas take precedent over their redemption. President Obama is now the target of virulent and caustic attacks from people who profess to believe in and follow Jesus Christ. Morality and money are now the Dagons in western evangelicalism and the message of the cross and its eternal redemption has become a page on our doctrinal statements but is nowhere to be found in our actions and prayers.
Millions worship America and bow before her and suggest that the Creator is somehow concerned with preserving whatever they think was worth preserving in the first place. The “Founding Fathers” are heroes even though many were slave owners, promiscuous, and far from anything that can be considered evangelical. The Constitution has become an appendage to the Bible, and the Revolutionary War is considered an orchestration, rather than an incorporation, of God’s will. The American flag is displayed in most church worship centers, and usually pledged allegiance to on the 4th of July weekend. The entire mess is an affront to the gospel.
The list of sinners that are hated continues to grow: illegal aliens, Democrats and Republicans, President Obama or George Bush, the entire gay population, Muslims in general, and anyone else who does not fit within some patriotic and moral parameters regardless of their desperate spiritual need. It no longer is the gospel of Jesus Christ; it is now the gospel of moralism, nationalism, hedonism, or some concoction of all of them. Some desire to dismantle any sort of Biblical truth while the other side parade their systematic theologies as proof of their membership card to the body of Christ. And when asked which people are remarkable and observably different within the western culture most would be hard pressed to identify anyone outside the practicing Amish. Peculiar people? Clothed in humility? Walking in love? You’d have to be a deceived liar to authenticate any of those monikers in America today as it concerns the overwhelming throng of evangelicals. Even the Joel Osteens and Ed Youngs are unashamed hedonistic profiteers.
And then there are the doctrinal idolaters that are consumed with doctrine on paper and are light with living the epistles they so completely articulate. There are legions of books that outline the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures in a systematic way in order to keep the faith tethered to the actual teachings of those Scriptures. And while that is certainly important, it is not enough just to believe the correct doctrine, it must be lived. When Biblical “scholars” say “doctrine” they almost always mean one of the “ologies” such as soteriology or theology. Rarely do they treat humility, love, mercy, patience, or grace as doctrines. Who says "That man is orthodox in his love?" Who says "That man is orthodox in his humility?"
The entire world suffers every single day. Children are beaten and abused and many will starve to death this very day. Mothers watch with blank stares as their child nears the end of his life simply because there is no water or food. Who in God’s dear name is our neighbor? Our street block? Fellow Americans? Of course Jesus was teaching us that our neighbor is everyone in the world. And yet professing believers get all caught up with issues, moral and material, while much of the world lives in darkness and great distress. Christians even whine about being “persecuted” in America which reveals how little they know of real persecution but are fully versed in complaining.
What does a life that reflects Jesus look like in this western hedonistic culture? Is it enough to avoid smoking or cursing or getting drunk? Are the “don’ts” what really defines a life that overtly manifests the Person and character of Jesus Christ? And is the life and power of Jesus Christ so tepid today, and only really unique to the gospel accounts, that His followers so neatly blend in with their cultural surroundings? Is this unremarkable cultural existence a genuine representation of people who openly claim to have Jesus living inside them, and they themselves sacrificially following in the living footsteps of the Eternal God?
Our commission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as a witness to who He is and what He has done. But there are other admonitions that are meant to mold our lives. And I would like to address one main and important aspect of the life of the church. This goes beyond being kind on the grocery line, or letting someone pass you on the street, or even helping your neighbor take out his trash. This element of a believer’s life has been largely lost on the church, and in fact, it continues to be countermanded openly by the teachings and practice of the western church both personally and collectively.
At the center of a life that reflects and models the life of Jesus Christ are the poor. They exist as either an indictment that discredits our claim to follow Christ, or authenticates that very claim. There is something about the poor, the downtrodden, and the rejected that holds a special place in the heart of their Creator. Jesus, in His early ministry, entered Nazareth.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them,
This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Why would Jesus identify the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind, and the bruised as His redemptive targets? Why not just collectively say sinners? Throughout the Scriptures God takes observable notice of the poor and disenfranchised. And even in the early church there was an acknowledgment that caring for the poor was part and parcel of being a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus refers to the giving of alms to the poor, and even James says “God has chosen the poor rich in faith”. But the lame and embarrassing ministry to the poor by us western believers is a residual effect of a greater deception; it reveals just how far we have strayed from New Testament Christianity. We have concocted a doctrinal fortress that helps us sleep soundly at night knowing our systematic theology is intact, while living, breathing people are suffering greatly with hardly a thought.
While the local assembly builds a monstrous, high tech edifice to enjoy, complete with an obscene amount of debt, they feel quite comfortable with some paltry food pantry that ministers to the handful that can come and get some help. And the overwhelming percentage of money collected will go to the mortgage and the staff salaries and accoutrements. Watch as they pat themselves on their backs if they can claim 10% goes to missions. And if that assembly considers themselves as “orthodox”, their emphasis will be upon proclaiming and protecting that doctrinal orthodoxy and the needs of people will be given little consideration in the yearly budget.
We western believers have changed and overhauled the entire construct of what it means to be followers and imitators of Jesus Christ either individually or collectively. It is infinitely easier to stop smoking and cursing than it is to give sacrificially of our lives and treasures and go without the camp to seek and minister to those who may never place one dime in our coffers. The one hour religious theatre that passes as meeting with and worshiping the Risen Christ is a redundant exercise in making us feel good and preparing us for a soon following meal and perhaps a televised sporting event. The slightest sound system malfunction becomes an irritant to any artificial ambiance.
And while we meet in air conditioned opulence, even in our own communities, many bear the physical and emotional marks of their social condition arrived at by either events beyond their control or the fruits of their own counterproductive labors. Either way, there they are; stretched out and hidden from our physical eyes so they can be addressed much easier with compassionate words rather than inconvenient and “costly” actions. But the glory of our enhanced worship music, and the erudite offerings of our preachers, and just the ambiance of gathering together with others within the walls of artificial lavishness, soothes the soul and uplifts the spirit to go out from there and live the next week as we have the previous one. And the dogs continue to lick the sores of Lazarus beyond the gates of the church’s existence while we build bigger and more expensive places for people to sit a couple hours every week. Perhaps my words seem too radical?
If this is true Christianity then there must be another Bible since this ecclesiastical construct cannot claim any symmetry with what we now call the New Testament. What did the body of Christ do when it was the original Incarnation? Did that Jesus live in opulence and comfort? Did that Jesus seek out the wealthiest people and raise money to provide a meeting place that would fit their accustomed lifestyle? Did that Jesus go weeks on end without ministering to the poorest among the community? And did that Jesus seek to avoid any contact and interaction with the most identifiable sinners in the city? Did that Jesus borrow money from Caesar to build buildings while still claiming access to the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills? In short, was that Jesus a hypocrite?
Did that Jesus get involved with all sorts of political issues and take either a conservative or a liberal side? Did that Jesus pledge allegiance to any country or government? Did that Jesus heap up money for Himself? Was that Jesus concerned with eternity or with the things of this world? And did that Jesus spend time with the poorest peasants and the vilest sinners? And so I ask you, which Jesus do we claim to follow?
The proof of orthodox theology can never lie exclusively with any systematic extrapolation of the written Scriptures, but there must be the corresponding actions that authenticate what the heart actually believes juxtaposed against what the Scriptures actually teach. Doctrinal orthodoxy without a living epistle that conforms to the living image of Jesus Christ is like a body without blood. And no one can enjoy the luxury of culling out those doctrinal truths from Scripture that do not demand observable evidence such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, the penal substitution, and many others, without also being held accountable to the veracity of those Scriptural truths that demand observable evidence such as love, mercy, humility, and a passion concerning the ministry to the poor and downtrodden.
And against the backdrop of the ultimate compromise of God becoming a man in order to address the needs of His enemies, how deep are we willing to compromise our own personal surroundings in order to be used to meet the needs of others? Are the needs of others given such priority over our own needs and the needs of those with whom we have relationship that we are resolved, and even willing, to forsake our own desires and reasonable objections so as to be a selfless conduit to help the poor without finding some remonstrance which soothes our conscience but leaves the poor just as they are?
No government can either prevent us from doing Christ’s work or enhance that same redemptive labor. We should, and we must, operate in a different and unique kingdom which has no common subset with any earthly government or other organization. God can and does use and incorporate the acts of men, even the acts of unregenerate men, into His sovereign and providential scheme, but without that eternal blueprint we must adhere strictly to what we have been called to do – preach Jesus and live Jesus. We cannot serve two masters. To embrace or assail any particular government is to fight the wrong battle with the wrong weapons against the wrong people. There is little that compare to the compromise that is contained in nationalism.
Millions upon millions of professing believers are more interested in protecting the so called original intent of the country called America than they are protecting and projecting the original intent of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have become Americans at the expense of being followers of Jesus Christ. It is very tragic, and extremely difficult to see with any objectivism. It is like attempting to view the back of your head without a mirror. Without the help of someone else you cannot see it. And without the help of the Spirit, beginning with a painful and self sacrificing seeking of the truth regardless of what it might reveal, no one can really see what we have become instead of what we should be.
Our salt is tasteless, or hill is flat, and our light is dim. Without a revival we are reduced to sojourning in spiritual obscurity. Have we wandered so far that we cannot return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple? Are we so consumed with Babylon that the Spirit has no access to our hearts?

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and that You would come down, that the mountains might quake and flow down at Your presence--As when fire kindles the brushwood and the fire causes the waters to boil--to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!
When You did terrible things which we did not expect, You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence. For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who earnestly waits for Him.
You meet and spare him who joyfully works righteousness, uprightness, and justice, earnestly remembering You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned; we have long continued in our sins prolonging Your anger. And shall we be saved?
For we have all become like one who is unclean and does not know it or care, and all our fake righteousness is like filthy rags or a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities and our self righteousness, like the wind, takes us away from knowing and serving You.
And who calls passionately upon Your name and awakens and bestirs himself to take and keep hold of You? For You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the prison of our own iniquities and religious contentment.
Yet, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, or remember iniquity forever. Behold, consider, we beseech You, we are Your people.
But Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, the gathering where our fathers praised You, is burned with fleshly fire, and all our pleasant and desirable places are in spiritual ruins.
Considering our condition and the hardness of our hearts, will You restrain Yourself, O Lord and not come to our aid? Will You keep silent and not command our deliverance but humble and afflict us exceedingly?
For Your glory and none of ours, we pray ourselves to be broken by Your Spirit and remade after the likeness of the Redeemer Lord. We stand in need of Your awakening touch that crucifies us once again and resurrects us in the power of His glory. And use us, O Lord, to reach those in need and to reveal the Risen Christ in such a way that men must say, “We have never seen it like this.”

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and that You would come down and reveal Jesus in us.

Paper Redemption

The western church has morphed into a company of judgmental complainers which only offer redemption on paper.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2010

The Poor

There are millions of poor, sad people whose main goal is just to get through another day. If we do not care with much more than words, we should at least have the integrity to stop using His Name.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2010

The Revelation

The Book of the Revelation has been debated over the years concerning the actual time placement and the chronology of the events. How much is metaphorical and how much is literal are subjects that have long been discussed. But let us not forget that the book is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So the most important question is "Am I"?

Worship

“The worship service was so good this morning.”
“That worship leader is so anointed.”
“That is my favorite worship song.”

We are all guilty of making such statements. They are well meaning and are an attempt to honor Christ, and in our hearts many times they do. But a closer look reveals an insidious detour from Christ and into an experience that is compromised by music, worship leaders, and the ambiance of the event itself. Nowhere in those three statements is Jesus even mentioned, and although it is very possible that we did indeed acknowledge Him at some point, those statements still reveal a tendency to be affected by the structure at the expense of Christ Himself.
Very few of us actually worship Jesus. We may praise Him and we may lift up His name, but very few believers enter in to worship. Even the word “worship” has been diluted by the western church so as to accommodate our busy and hectic lifestyles and still claim to worship. Worship today is seen in terms of music, outward demonstrations, and a designated portion of the gathering. Some modern preachers now teach that we can worship Christ while doing other things such as driving, mowing the lawn, and even taking out the garbage.
But such teachings only diminish Christ Himself, and reduce worship to a modest exercise of praising God with some or even most of our attention directed on Him. They say we can worship God in the grocery line, while making dinner, and even while taking a shower. Perhaps we can and should praise God and give Him thanks in those situations, but worship is not an appendage to our everyday activities. You cannot multi-task worship. Worship requires preparation; worship requires sacrifice; worship requires brokenness; worship requires repentance; and worship requires the entire heart and mind.
Worship must change us. If we are to claim we have entered into the very secret place of Christ, and if we contend we have met with the Risen Christ in the mystery of His throne room, and if that assertion is indeed true, then its veracity will be verified by how we have been affected by it. In fact, a “worship service” may not prove to be so “wonderful” if indeed we have met the Living and Awesome God in spirit and in truth. The deepest and most authentic worship may profoundly break us and remove our spiritual façade in such a way as to render us undone…gloriously undone. It may prove to be some of the most excruciating spiritual experiences we ever have.
That is a far cry from lightly discussing some wonderful worship service over a post service meal at Denny’s. And the subject of the conversation will not be the worship leader or some worship song or even the worship service itself. In fact, if we actually enter into the worship of the Risen and Glorified Lion of Judah, there may be many times we cannot effectively share with anyone the magnitude of that experience. True worship will take you to a spiritual place that you thought you desired, and yet when you arrive you are taken aback and overwhelmed. To come before the Lord Christ is not just some uplifting and encouraging experience. Worship will bring into focus the reality of who Jesus is and the unvarnished reality of who you should be.
Worship brings forth all sorts of strange and wonderful emotions and understandings. You can feel completely grateful while feeling ashamed as well. You may feel exhilaration that elicits weeping and tears. You may experience a personal diminishing and smallness while still feeling a strength not known to this world. Worship can break you down and remove the mask you have worn. Worship can convict and inspire; it can bring low and yet uplift; and worship can strip away another layer of pretense and self caricature and in the pain of that process you are set free. And most importantly of all, worship reveals the Exalted Lamb of God in a clearer and more pronounced and revealed mystery. By His grace God has revealed Himself to you personally and pulled back the veil a little further.
We have shortchanged God with our culture and religious practices. We hurry to church without spending time with Christ and beseeching Him to change us at the gathering, and then we hurry away to dine sumptuously and prepare for fellowship, football, and the afternoon nap. And we have the audacity to claim we met with the Risen Christ in worship. That is not worship; that is repeating a shallow religious oblation that severely lacks the fruits of a disciple and the integrity of such a claim of worship. The western Christian construct continues to insure that, should Jesus tarry, future generations will sink deeper into a tepid, bland, and even embarrassing form of following Jesus.
We must return to worshiping the Living Savior of the Universe. But take heed, the road back to that kind of sacrifice is not paved and not well lit. It is surely lonely and filled with all sorts of temptations to quit as well as temptations of self righteousness and judgment. Prepare to be exalted by being brought low. Prepare for an inner conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. The flesh will present a continuous deception of all sorts of creative evils which are rooted in the wisdom of man, the weakness of the flesh, and the condemnation of others. Your flesh will help you share any experiences God has allowed to you with the express and clandestine motive of exalting yourself.
But if you are willing to suffer, and if you are willing to be mute when you feel like speaking, then you will find the joy and exhilaration of a painful and self denying journey that leads to rivers of revelation of Him. Nothing that is born of God is easy, and the road less travelled is the road hidden in His glory. The accolades of men are stumbling blocks, and when you share some things they will lose what God had intended them to be for you. This idea of worshiping God is not some subject you share over dinner or lunch with a friend. In fact, it may turn out that when you enter into this journey God might just test you. God may not allow you to speak about the particulars of your journey at until someone actually senses a real and substantive change in you and your spirit and inquires of you first.
Only then may He exhort you to humbly share what He has been doing in and through you. And the Spirit will place a watch by your mouth lest you stray into a well meaning exaltation of yourself and your experience and not the exaltation of the Risen Christ Himself. To be more open than is comfortable, I have had fits and starts, and I admit that I am not nearly where I should be on the journey I just outlined. But remember, this is not about, and never will be about, you or me. This must always be about Him and Him alone.

And knowing that, when we truly have just come from worshiping the Master,

we will not be interested in the service or the music or the pastor;

we will have been with Jesus, and the overflow of our hearts and lips will be about Him.

The Love of Jesus

Oh the love of Jesus. So wonderful, so deep, so glorious, so enveloping.

So bloody.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2010

The Sculpture

How can we create a living sculpture without a model? Or how can our sculpture be accurate when the model is wrong? And when we have labored over our sculpture, and when the clay is now hardened, how can we reform it after we realize it has been shaped after our own imagination and not the model after which it was to be commissioned to reflect?
Oh it looks so nice and polished, and we have worked very hard to finish it. And when standing alone it seems beautiful and a wonderful product of our sincerity and skill. But when we place our sculpture alongside the original model we are astounded and aghast, for it looks so unlike the model after which it was to be fashioned. All that labor must be undone? Can’t we at least make a few adjustments that will improve it without dismantling the entire sculpture and begin once more?
We as western believers can continue in the journey to follow Christ personally and collectively as we have sculpted it up until now. We can admire our handiwork and tell ourselves that we are imperfect but our ecclesiastical structure is a reasonable representation of the life, ministry, and Person of Jesus Christ. We can tell ourselves that, but we would be speaking a lie. So what do we do?
If we are serious in serving and reflecting the will of God through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, then we must be willing to begin again. And most of the present day models must be discarded, and before we can create another sculpture we must first place in front of us the eternal model. And that living model can only be found and extricated from the living Scriptures of Almighty God. Not some of the Scriptures, but a powerful mosaic that brings to life the Person of Jesus and the fullness of His gospel, and we must decide then and there if we will go back to our own sculpture or if we are willing to let this eternal Model sculpt us into a living reflection of Himself.
The stone of our flesh does not sculpt easily. And when the rifflers and chisels of the Spirit begin to shape us, our flesh recoils and demands its former shape back again. During this process, both painful and glorious, the flesh will strongly suggest that the Sculptor is removing far too much flesh. And many times during this process we will passionately contend that He should leave us alone for awhile and let us recover. In fact, can’t we just stop here and glory in the past victories without moving forward to more pain and discomfort? We seem to be a better sculpture than we were, and much better than most other sculptures.
And yet we have begun to realize that the Model is also the Sculptor, and even though we suffer pain and discomfort, it is miraculously assuaged by how it pleases our Sculptor. And even more than being comforted, we sense a profound spiritual power that both emanates from and returns to this Sculptor Model. We have found what we were created for and our eternal destiny.
If we wish to participate in that scenario, we must break the sculpture we have created and return like a little child to the Scriptures again. Without preconceived ideas or personal reservations, we must search this mirror with the impressionability of a child and the passion of a thirsty man.
What will we be looking for in our search? Him, Jesus. In the gospels and in the epistles and in the prophetic and in the narrative we are looking for Him. And not just the particulars about Him, but the deepest revelations of Him in all His fullness. And if we are looking like someone who searches for treasure without caring for his everyday needs, then will come across many astonishing and disturbing things we have seen before and yet not seen.
We will come across the Incarnate One standing with spit dripping from His face. We will see the Creator of the Universe washing the feet of vile sinners. We will see Him who has all power refusing to block the fist that will claim His face. We will see the One who can execute justice offer redemption to those who will take His very life. We will see the One to whom all glory honor and Majesty belongs, lower Himself with unspeakable humility and die at the hands of wicked men.
And if we spend time and meditate upon this Messiah with a fresh look inside and out at our own sculpture, we must be awakened by the Spirit to the unsettling but resurrecting challenge that lies ahead. The dying sacrifice draws a living sacrifice from those who have eyes to see Him. And if the things of this world do not grow strangely dim…stop and look again…because you are still missing His glory.

But if the fire is too hot, and if the chisel seems too sharp, and if the sacrifice is too much, then return from whence you came, dust off the old sculpture, and tell yourself again how marvelous it is in your sight.

That is if you can…

The Bridegroom Comes...

It is over. Prepare your heart to meet the King. He is coming. The time is short; the days are evil. The veil is about to be lifted, and the shout will precede His entrance. The glory of all ages will burst upon this world and some will be clothed with His glory while others will be consumed. The Risen Christ along with His angelic entourage descends to take up His throne and begin His everlasting reign.
The world is consumed with every imaginable evil while the church either slumbers, parties, or exercises its self righteousness. No longer do people look for Him; no longer do they long for their Bridegroom; no longer do they wail at the abominations of the earth. But nothing can thwart the eternal plan laid down by the Great God before the Christ spoke the worlds into existence.
But what if the white horse is just a symbol? And what if the trumpet is just a metaphor? Do not fear, beloved, if indeed the gold and silver and precious jewels are just objects to help us understand, the reality of all those things will surpass human knowledge and stretch the imagination far beyond the mind’s pitiful ability to comprehend. The expanse of the place called heaven will shame the greatest imagination and render useless all words that hoped to describe it. All the earthly metaphors and similes will melt under the eternal weight of the vastness of God’s manifested glory. To realize that it cannot be fully known here is to lightly touch the hem of the reality, and in that touch we stand astonished.
And yet have we known the King by faith and not yet by sight and ultimate presence. Upon that day, the day above all days, we will look upon Him with the eyes of perfection and with the God given understanding of Who He is and what He has done. The knowledge we have of those things now is colossal and alters our lives, however the very moment we are ushered into His everlasting and glorious presence we will experience in one moment more than we have experienced in our lifetime. Joy, praise, love, gratitude, awe, brokenness, will all fill our beings with worship that no angel will ever know.
And that one moment will be the first of an unbroken chain that leads forever and forever. Has your mind begun to recoil? Do not fret since these things are for those who have shuffled off their mortal coils and by God’s grace have had their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb. They say our Sun can burn for billions of years still, and we do not doubt it at all. Then how can we ever doubt that God’s Son will not shine upon us forever? Forever is a glorious thought, but He Who created forever possess all glory. And the glory that shall be revealed in us…will be His glory. It will be Jesus Himself.
Look around and fall in love with this world and all its hollow enchantments if you so desire. But the end is gaining upon us; the final chapter has begun; tomorrow is today; and the fragrance of the King, drenched in all the roses of Sharon, precedes His arrival. Bow down your heart and prepare ye the way.

Behold…the Bridegroom comes…

Defending the Temple

from the Outside

For all of us who by God’s grace have been saved and given eternal life, we must remain thoroughly thankful and filled with praise and worship. And when we see how we have grown in the knowledge of Christ and His Word, we again must be humbly grateful. And God has called us to stand firm in His Word and the redemption that is only found in the Lord Jesus. And from time to time we must address, correct, and rebuke those who teach otherwise.
But there are two things that must consume us: The spreading of the gospel message and the formation of the Person of Christ in our lives. These two issues must be our highest calling. The elements that are inherent in our lives are Scripture, evangelism, and worship. And all these elements and their many tributaries must emanate from knowing and loving the Lord Jesus Christ. He must have all the preeminence in our lives. He, personally, must inhabit the supreme place in our hearts, and that place of unequalled prominence must give us a continuing passion to please and obey Him, as well as a life of broken worship always before Him.
When we use the word “temple” in the New Testament we do not mean an earthly building. In fact, we ourselves are the temple of God since Christ, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, inhabits us in a mystery. The temple to which we refer is a place, a spiritual place of the heart and mind, where Christ’s presence is sought and experienced in a way that leads a believer temporarily out from this earthly reality and dimension and into a tabernacle of communion and worship before the Risen Christ. It is a place of faith and brokenness, and it is a wonder and a mystery that once experienced, it will beckon us to return for the rest of our lives.
Inside this temple dwells the eternal richness of Christ’s presence, and within it are many different levels of repentance, worship, praise, change, prayer, and complete brokenness. If you have never been inside this tabernacle then you cannot fully understand that of which I speak. However, if you have been drawn into it even once, you can identify with the feeble descriptions I have given. I realize that there are those believers who eschew and reject any form of experience or mystery, but that is to their own detriment. The Lord has not left us without any means to know and experience His awesome presence here on earth, and although we must not build our faith upon experience, we should incorporate His presence into our spiritual journey.
Our faith is built upon Jesus Christ and His Eternal Word to be sure. Without the Word we would surely be more divided and scattered than we already are, and without the Word we would be wild inventors of all kinds of divergent and false doctrines. Yes, even more false and wild than are being created in these last days. We cannot stray from the Scriptures, and we must dig deeper and deeper into the treasure they contain for us. But the Bible cannot just be some spiritual Algebra book designed to be studied and outlined with a doctrinal coldness that misrepresents its mystery and eternal glory and life changing power. We are not just some religious engineers that create more and more elaborate and detailed systematic theologies and then step back to admire our handiwork. The written Word is the force of God through which He changes us every day, not just has changed us years ago.
Our belief in the clear and orthodox teachings of Scripture must not be our glory. We must not tout our doctrinal orthodoxy as a badge of our own applause and as proof of our love for Christ and His blessing upon us. Our adherence to Biblical truth cannot be the proof of our discipleship or even our regeneration. There are legions of systematic theology books that are considered orthodox and Biblically sound. Does that make those books followers of Jesus or lovers of Christ or imitators of Jesus? Can those books do the works of Jesus? Can theology live as Jesus lives? Can doctrine alone walk as light in the midst of a dark and lost world? And I ask you this: When God has graciously called you into His presence, and while there your soul has been broken and restored, brought low and lifted up, and you have worshiped the Risen Christ in all His glory and splendor, how often in those moments have you thought about different points of doctrine? Doctrine without the presence of Christ is dead, even though God honors His Word in those dead circumstances.
Just because there are false teachings does not mean that there are no authentic and true teachings. And just because some are misusing experience and even incorporating techniques from other religions does not mean that God will not meet with us in a way that can only be described as a sacred experience. The experience is a residual reward for seeking the face and presence of Jesus Christ, and I am sad to inform you that rarely will that occur during a one hour, scripted meeting on Sunday morning. Perhaps the come and go continuum on Sundays that fulfills a religious obligation is enough to make you spiritually content, but it does not please Christ and that sort of obligatory oscillation will not change us. In fact, that structured ecclesiastical format has petrified the church and deceived us into believing that the power of Christ is so limited and so unremarkable that even within a sinful and dark culture such as ours the church is indistinguishable.
And are we to believe that when believers come together to worship the Lord Jesus that His presence is so bland and so ordinary that even a seventh grade soccer game generates more excitement, interest, and emotion than being in the presence of the Creator does? Let me ask you this question. Let us say that you were there when baseball was invented. And over the next five years you watched and played baseball and saw and experienced many exciting games, some that even went into extra innings. You loved to play baseball.
But one day you took a trip overseas to another country and the people asked you if you wanted to play baseball. Of course you accepted that invitation and you were all excited as you rode to the baseball field. Your team was up to bat first and one member of your team went up to the plate. The first pitch was a strike. The second pitch was a strike. After that second pitch the team that was in the field began running toward their dugout and your entire team began collecting all their equipment and headed for the cars. Immediately you asked what was happening and you were told the game was over and everyone had just played baseball.
You were astounded to learn that these people thought that two pitches was the entire game and that this five minutes was considered an entire game. But you knew that what they had just done was not really baseball and was, in fact, a creation of their own culture that greatly misrepresented the genuine game called baseball. When you attempted to inform them as to the game of baseball that was played in its original format they seemed interested but could not see that long, nine inning game being played in their culture. They had grown accustomed to the two pitch variety and had even formed a liking for the kind they practiced. They loved their kind of baseball.
The early church gathered together to sing, worship, pray, fellowship, give, and even break bread together. They were not constricted by time and schedule, and their desire for Christ was insatiable. They separated themselves for an entire day just to be with those who believed in and followed Jesus the Christ. Most gatherings were held in people’s houses, and there were no gimmicks or advertisement techniques used to attract people to their gatherings. They had no schedule except to follow the Spirit’s leading. Each Lord’s Day would bring a new and refreshing spirit of love, brotherhood, and worship, and they would leave the gathering changed by the Spirit of God. Many times they met with the knowledge that if they were caught they might lose their lives.
Now go back in time and bring one of those early disciples of Jesus into the church realm of today. As he walks through the door of a palatial building, still burdened by massive debt, he is taken aback by this monstrosity. He hears people speaking of sports and politics, cars and houses, and money and things. As he looks around he does not see any group of people in prayer before their God, and he is handed an order of “service”. He is very uncomfortable as he sits in padded pews, and in a few moments the music begins and the service starts. As the services wades through music and welcomes and announcements, a perfunctory prayer precedes the message. He listens to 30 minutes of polished oratory complete with jokes, relevant stories, and a redundant form of post sermon evangelism which seemed to be out of place given the “How to be a success” theme of the message.
And now I ask you. Would that person consider what had just taken place as a true Christian gathering? If that believer had as his reference his early church gathering, would he believe that what he had just experienced the same thing? And if idol worship is defined as giving your time, efforts, and thoughts to something, what would be the western idol among professing believers? It becomes obvious that we have slowly and not so slowly drifted into a comfortable Christianity that sacrifices very little and still enjoys the emanates and hedonistic lifestyles of her unbelieving neighbors. We have lost our way and are not even looking to, much less desiring to, find our way back to a Christ reflecting life.
And yet we who would embrace the moniker “orthodox” so often feel that our calling is to confront false teachings and heresies, and in that we are drawing closer to Jesus. That is a deception in and of itself. Amidst the growing apostasy there are millions that have taken up the banner of redemptive truth and held it up against the tide of error and compromise, but so many have left it at that. Listen to the preaching, the books, and the conferences and hear orthodox preachers protect the temple of doctrine and castigate the purveyors of error and heresy. But where are the voices crying aloud and sparing not against the sins and the stagnation of we who are orthodox?
Again, we are like Samson who was ignorant of his own condition and assumed that his past would suffice for his present. And while some are attempting to destroy the Temple, we must defend it. But just as the defenders of God’s Temple under Nehemiah, we must also be about building that same Temple in our personal lives. In fact, the devil has stolen much of our spiritual power by having so many obsess over false teachers and become blind to the consistent spiritual drift in the orthodox evangelical community. The elephant in the ecclesiastical room is that the only genuine and effective way to stem the tide of apostasy in the western church is if the remnant of orthodox believers seek God’s face for a massive revival in our own midst. No amount of blog posts or books or conferences will slay the dragon of apostasy in our midst. And if we truly desire repentance for others, and if we are not experiencing a fleshy enjoyment in exposing others, then we must allow the Holy Spirit of God to shine His light of repentance upon us without the diluting distraction of seeing the sins of others.
We are certainly at a crossroads, and we seem to be in the midst of the generation that Jesus spoke about when He asked if He would find faith when He returned. And our own self righteousness has convinced us that we could not possibly be included in that assessment. The apostasy has been identified and will continue to grow, but that cannot be our spiritual mainstay. Our journey, our pursuit, and our passion must be Jesus and His gospel. For too long we have sacrificed the best on the altar of the good, and we ourselves are in desperate need of a deep awakening to our own sin and lethargy and profound compromises.
So as we point out the grievous errors and false teachings by men like Osteen, Bell, McLaren, Warren, and a laundry list of others, the Spirit would agree but with one major caveat. God would say to us, “Those things you confront you do so rightly and with sincerity, but what about you?” Do not assume that defending the Temple is the same as entering the Temple and worshiping the Lord Jesus. The orthodox community has lost its way as well and in a destructive symbiotic relationship we have let the pied pipers of apostasy lead us away from Jesus Christ. Oh we have not joined in their doctrinal heresies, but we have left our first love and we now are married to our systematic theologies, our original language credentials, our Biblical knowledge, and the narcotic affects present in the self congratulatory atmosphere of the “We are orthodox” world.
We have defended the Temple of truth, but we have left the sacrifice. In Genesis 15 God makes a covenant with Abram. God instructs Abram to take a cow and a goat and a ram and a pigeon and turtledove, and Abram divided them in two pieces. God then communicates to Abram in a dream of the things Abram and his people will face and the mighty hand of deliverance that God will extend to this people. But before Abram fell asleep verse 11 tells us that Abram spent some time chasing the birds away from the sacrifice. This was probably necessary, however this was not Abram’s calling. Abram was called to listen to, obey, and worship the Lord his God. Had he spent all his time chasing birds he would have missed what God was saying to him.
There will be much time to identify heretics in the future, but let us return to our Master and allow Him to speak to us about our condition before Him. There are very few interested in hearing God address their own sins, and there are fewer still willing to pay the price for obedience and drawing close to Christ. What did God require of Abraham? A total change of scenery and a complete leaving of his former life. All Abraham had was God’s promises, and that was all the guarantee God would give to him. Even before Abraham arrived in Palestine, he would lose his aged father. And even though God would fulfill His covenant, it would have been much easier for Abraham to remain in Ur.
The church is sleeping. Even the watchmen and town criers are in slumber. Unless we hear the Spirit’s voice we will continue to enjoy our spiritual sleep in many forms. Battling the enemies on the east side of Jordan requires much less sacrifice and brokenness than battling west of the Jordan. Why? Because the enemy of the west side of the Jordan River will also be a formidable and familiar enemy. It will be our own flesh and our own spiritual plans. And God doesn’t just want to deal with Jericho and Ai, He wants to deal with us. So as we come against the Bellites, and the Warrenites, and the McLarenites, and the Osteenites, and the entire array of “ites”, are our ears bent toward hearing God about ourselves?

Judging by our own prayerless armchair perches we have yet to have ears to hear.

Compromised Christianity

I am a significant compromiser in several areas, so I do not speak from any spiritual perch. But I consider nationalism and patriotism to be draining the essence of following Jesus.
If we considered everyone our neighbor, and if we considered everyone higher than ourselves, we would view the Palestianians differently, the gays differently, the Muslims differently, the Democrats differently, and most importantly the scope of the ministry of Jesus differently.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2010

A Living Faith

Christianity believed is Christianity lived; anything less is religious rhetoric.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2010

Doctrines

Doctrines alone are not fruits.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2010

Religious Chat Rooms

Bible studies without a direct life result are little more than religious chat rooms.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2010

Jesus our Eternal Rest

Somewhere inside the human heart there is a void. It is a hard taskmaster that demands a search for fulfillment and meaning, and it can achieve a level of contentment with the things of this world. Money, purpose, health, family, friends, and a list of temporal enjoyments are often used to fill this void, although they can never completely fill this gaping chasm. It can also be appeased by constructing a deity that accommodates man’s desires and intellect. Such are the world’s religions, including Christianity.
The word religion is a man made term that defines an organized concept of a deity who both created the universe and interacts with it as well. Religion usually has rules and tenants, and it usually outlines a lifestyle that must be adhered to in order to please or appease this deity. And so most of the world trudges through life stretching from one momentary satisfaction to the next and deriving a sense of destiny with whatever religion is available in that culture. In short, the world is one colossal community of lost sinners who have become quite adept at masking their true identity and blindness through paths of personal accomplishments and organized spiritual enlightenment.
“No rest for the weary” says the proverb. And yet mankind finds only stepping stones of rest interrupted by bouts of doubt, failure, and an insatiable need for more or different. Even in most religions there are levels to climb and badges to be gained through greater knowledge and adherence to the set of rules made especially for that particular religious cache. When viewed as a whole it is a gigantic cosmic treadmill occupied by the sea of humanity. It never ends, never arrives, and strives to control those within it by systematically moving the target and many times these religious systems do not even provide any place of rest and destination. Such are religions of every kind and variety; their common thread is control, human effort, and usually a caste system of division and hierarchy.
Even many constructs that call themselves “Christian” have borrowed from other religions as it pertains to practice and methodology. These false structures offer little rest and are religious streams that continually demand more and even teach that peace can only come through a regimen of human endeavors designed to please/appease the Father God. They promise life while teaching death, and they promise freedom while bringing men into bondage. And remarkably enough, while so much of western Christianity has been fashioned according to this world, and while so much of the evangelical structure appears to be liberal and with very little sacrifice and discipline, in reality it has become a prison that offers only more of the same and void of any true rest. Believers follow a religion or a denomination or a church but not the Risen Christ.
We as professing believers should not follow rules; we should follow Christ. It may be a subtle difference sometimes that is often lost upon the evangelical Bourgeoisie, but the difference is life and death. One believer does not get drunk because his denomination teaches it and his preacher preaches against it, but another believer refrains from intoxication because the love of Christ constrains him. “What’s the difference”, you ask? The distinction defines the difference between bondage and freedom, between love and law, and between Jesus and religion.
Look with your imagination as hordes of sinners who name Jesus as their Lord march to and fro on Sunday to a building, only to repeat the spectacle the following week; watch as they chit-chat in the parking lot about almost everything but Jesus. Observe the enormous amounts of money given to pay church mortgages and inflated staff salaries. If you could invisibly follow many church pastors and staff members you might be surprised. You might see many hours talking on the phone with friends and family; you might see weekly golf games and many elongated lunch appointments usually with peers and/or the higher element of the evangelical membership. You might observe hours speaking about financial investments and energy spent talking about things which are not profitable. You might even watch as your pastor gets the bulk of Sunday’s message from the internet or some sermon book.
And behold how creative are the sermon series that are designed to keep the interest of the congregation and simultaneously draw in sinners interested in solving their particular problems. And Biblical unpleasantness is ardently avoided and relevant bridges are built to appeal to the earthly interests of mankind. Jesus is usually an aside who makes a cameo appearance at the sermon’s end as the preacher attempts to leverage the raising of hands. It is all so predictable. Arrive at the building early on Sunday and count the heads that are bowed in prayer; include the staff and pastor in your count. And when the “service” is over, follow the staff and parishioners as they sashay to the nearest restaurant and enjoy a post theatre repast. It appears so free and footloose and yet it is the most insidious form of bondage.
And as you follow your church leaders, count the hours in prayer. In fact, do a personal survey concerning the proportion of activities to the number of corporate prayer meetings. Is it that bad? Fast and pray for four days and at the end ask the Spirit how bad it is. But be prepared, the Holy Spirit will also hold up a mirror that reveals things about you and me. But this mirror is not meant to condemn and bring us into bondage; this mirror is meant to increase hunger and thirst for righteousness which is only found in the Person of Jesus, the Risen and Reigning Lord of All. The time is ripe for a revival. I do not speak of some contrived healing revival with miracle snake oil salesman and dog and pony shows. I speak of something much deeper and much closer to God’s own heart.
We need a return to Jesus. If you have been paying even the slightest bit of attention to what has been happening in the western evangelical church you probably are aware of at least one thing; there are movements afoot that are preaching another Jesus. This Jesus is interested in political issues and social injustice and earthly pleasures but this Jesus is not interested in eternal redemption. That Jesus is a false Jesus and that Jesus cannot save. But perhaps you have missed another issue in the western church, namely that those of us who profess and confess the true Christ have become self righteous, hedonistic, judgmental, militaristic, and content with our own profoundly lacking spiritual journey to follow Jesus.
And it is there where I wish to take us. All the things I have addressed about others may be accurate and true, but if we are satisfied with identifying the spiritual needs in others but are blind to our own incredible need for repentance and revival we are no better than the ones we criticize or indeed the Pharisees of old. We are in desperate need of seeking Jesus and finding our complete rest in Him once more. We get so caught up with so many issues and doctrinal nuances that we have left our first love. The cultural tsunami has overwhelmed us and like Samson we do not even know our power is gone. The church blends in nicely with culture, and I do not just mean in terms of hedonism and seeking wealth, but many times the issues of love, mercy, and grace are unremarkable in the context of humanistic manifestations of the same. Shouldn’t followers of Jesus exhibit pronounced manifestations of the characteristics of Jesus Christ that are light years more profound than are their unbelieving counter parts and are indeed unexplainable by pure human logic?
It is not enough to be “doctrinally pure”; we must also be pure in our life revelation of the Redeemer. It matters what we believe, but it also matters how we live what we believe. Paul calls us “living epistles” that are read by people who do not read the Scriptures, and in Paul’s day, could not read at all. Think about that for a moment. Many people came to believe in Jesus primarily through observing those who followed Jesus and hearing them share about Jesus. Can you believe it? The ministry of the Holy Spirit called redemption is active even without all the relevant bells and whistles we leverage today.
People are searching for rest, and tragically they do not see that rest in the western church. We as believers have been searching for rest in homes and cars and careers and investments, but we have quit resting in Jesus, except as a doctrinal core of redemption. And even that is rapidly dissipating among evangelicals. We run to and fro just like the lost world, but with our lips we profess Jesus is our rest. He is not…He has not left…we have. But let us now turn our eyes and hearts to Jesus.
Jesus. He is the eternal rest…the only eternal rest. Perhaps those who die without Christ are sentenced to the torture of attempting to work more and more in order to gain an entrance into heaven, only to find it impossible, but being unable to stop. But Jesus has provided an eternal rest. But that rest was not without cost. There is absolutely no way to fully understand the suffering that Jesus took upon Himself to purchase our eternal rest. And even while he endured the pain and the shame for our sins, and even in the midst of suffering the horrors of hell itself, He knew that most would reject Him while others would even deny the gift that God was providing by eviscerating the essence of the substitutionary punishment He was displaying.
He became sin for us that we may be made in His righteousness. Just the thought of such a thing soars above the fallen mind, and even with the guidance of the Spirit we are left spellbound with unsearchable amazement. Jesus, our Jesus, has become our exclusive and complete rest. We dare not attach any human hands or ceremony to His pristine redemption, for they not only detract, they may indeed nullify. Framed in the eternal moment is Jesus. There are only forgeries and pretenders other than Jesus the Risen Christ. God’s work is finished, and we either enter into that work by faith or we die with our own efforts.
Put down your religion, O sinner, and take those hands off the tiller of your own ship. Count up all your good works and burn that tally sheet as if it was an enemy. Cease any self pleading and intercession and sit down undone and without any claim to any goodness at all. Render yourself perfectly helpless and churning incessantly both inside and out seeking a rest that cannot be found. Have you come to your end, or have you energy still that bids you to search for your own answer? Are you still willing to toil in your own garden or have you come to the end of yourself and your own righteousness? Lay it all aside forever and cling by faith to the crimson robe of the High Priest of Eternal Rest. Away with all earthly endeavors that attempt to purchase some temporary rest, and away with all religions that add and subtract to the glory of that one and singular harbor of rest, namely the Captain of our Salvation Jesus.
Recline on those scarlet wounds and drink deeply of the divine blood that was shed for you. Put on the Lord Jesus and repose in the finished work of His cross. Allow the serenity of His eternal peace to energize your heart and mind, and with that knowledge of Him, let it empower you to walk in Him and not yourself. It is Him and Him alone that must shine forth, and men must see your good works as His and not in any way medallions of your own righteous power. In all things He must have the preeminence.

And so fellow pilgrim, board this ship of Zion and await the Captain’s orders.

There is no need of life boats or the maps of men.

And in the power of His love and redemption…rest in absolute obedience and worship.

Did I mention that this ship you board already rests in the eternal harbor?

Did I mention that this ship has already completed it's voyage successfully?

Did I mention that this ship has already been shipwrecked once?

Did I mention this ship rose from death's depths?

Did I mention that this ship's name as well as its Captain is Jesus?

The Captain invites you to dine at His table...forever.

Ten Dangerous Deceptions Today

If you are an orthodox Christian believer you will identify with these things:

We need to work on humility, love, grace, witnessing, and a broken and fierce desire to emulate and obey Jesus Christ.

But there are things that are being promoted by a number of liberal and evangelical sources that are slowly but surely being espoused and even championed by the western church. Here are ten issues that are being obviously touted by forces within the western church.

1. A serious reductionism of the Scriptures. Little by little the Scriptures are being reduced to nothing but metaphor and imagery and are open to everyone’s own interpretation.

2. A redefining of Jesus. The incarnation is being diluted in favor of a more human Jesus.

3. A replacing of the gospel by human works. Feeding the poor and social causes have replaced the preaching of the gospel.

4. A serious and drastic moving away from the cross of Jesus. The cross is almost ignored in many evangelical circles and the sufferings of Jesus get hardly a mention.

5. Redemption is losing its eternal essence in favor of elevating people’s earthly standing and condition.

6. The resurrection is now a metaphor for starting over and no longer is preached as the exclamation point over the victory over sin and death.

7. An open door policy to all sorts of heresy without even the slightest rebuke or correction. Even John Shelby Spong has just recently been given a charitable platform by an emergent leader.

8. Sin is almost ignored and is downplayed as it concerns the cross and as it concerns our lives as believers.

9. Intellectualism has fast become an idol as it concerns understanding the Scriptures. Philosophy, higher criticism, and Hebraic prisms are now in vogue in interpreting the Scriptures.

10. Universalism, the teaching that all will one day be saved, is rapidly gaining acceptance within western evangelicalism. Eternal punishment is considered archaic and almost assigned to ignorant snake handlers. This age of enlightenment has moved beyond such distasteful and ignorant doctrines.

Of course there are more issues, but these ten are very prominent. Guard your heart and be a stingy caretaker over your ears and eyes. Deception comes draped in truth and many times is much more appealing than is the truth.

Deception

Perhaps the most insidious deception of all is to be deceived about deception itself.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2010

The Emergent Heretics

First it was a discussion on the nature of Scripture. Then came the nature of redemption and the cross. And finally it is the nature of Jesus Himself. Bishop John Spong is an open heretic who dismisses the New Testament as fiction and teaches that Jesus was not God in the flesh as we understand it. If you need more than that and if that does not outrage you then perhaps you are in league with Mr. Spong.

Listen to the interview from this post and see if the warnings about Rob Bell, Doug Pagitt, and Brian McClaren and the entire emergent movement are warranted. All of us will give an account one day.

The God of the Church

There is a god who is worshiped and revered above all other gods and God. This god is sought with countless hours of sacrifice and energy, and for this god many will gladly give up their very lives. This god reigns supreme in the church of Jesus Christ, and although this god has another name he still rules in the affairs of the western church. This god has changed the gospel and compromised even the most committed saints. He laid the foundation for his authority slowly and with clandestine cunning, but eventually he ascended to his throne openly and with the applause of those who claimed to follow Christ. He now enjoys the attention of the church both personally and collectively.
When this god sends his blessings Christians are happy, and when his blessings fail the church is despondent. There is no sacrifice too great to please and appease this god. Many will sacrifice health and family to offer acceptable obedience before this god to elicit the blessings they seek and realize can be gained through this god. The God called Jesus is no longer in authority over the western church but the church has been careful to speak his name and present all sorts of contorted caricatures that have a whiff of Christ but are cleaver and self serving imposters; this god being the most prominent imposter of them all.
This god offers himself to everyone and is no respecter of persons. He has molded himself so as to claim that not only is he not against the Lord Jesus, but he is indeed the Lord Jesus. This god comes as light and is committed to everyone’s well being and earthly life. He has surreptitiously removed scores of Scriptures from the New Testament, and those he cannot hide he reinterprets to fit nicely into his “ministry”. Many former generations that followed Christ would believe it would be impossible for such teachings to be embraced by anyone and yet this god has accomplished the impossible. Western believers by the millions believe, receive, and practice his teachings while still claiming to follow Christ and believe His Word. To say it is a paradox is to treat it much more lightly than the situation would warrant. It is blind rebellion against the Lord God and His Christ and it is utter and profound apostasy.
This god is much more interested in practice than he is in theology. He ignores the core teachings listed on the church statement of faith and instead he makes his own disciples from the members of that very church. His technique has been an amazing success and millions now profess to believe and follow Jesus and yet openly follow this god. And tens of thousands of churches that claim to believe the Bible openly disobey some of the most overt and simple commandments and principles. And unlike many followers of Christ, this god doesn’t just receive worship on Sunday morning. His followers bow before him every single day.
Throughout the western landscape are monuments erected in honor and glory to this god. He is relentless in his pursuit of followers and his thirst for obedience is insatiable. He is generous to those who will seek him and follow his leadings. His motto is “more” and to this end there is no such thing as compromise. He operates within many different institutions and he is not impressed with small sacrifices; he demands complete and consistent loyalty to his cause. Through many decades he has bestowed his blessings upon the western believers and the church in general, and without the church realizing it his blessings have become chains.
This god has many names. Greed, avarice, hedonism, and the love of money are but a few. But the name he prefers is “Blessings”. There are many roads to Lord Blessing and all them are good and right, and if by chance you can connect the Lord Jesus to any of those roads all the better. But to do that you must ignore or at least change the clear teachings of Jesus and the New Testament as a whole. Here are some of the verses that must be eviscerated and repackaged to accommodate Lord Blessing.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

There was a day when followers of Jesus did not even count their lives as precious, to say nothing of their possessions. But the western church of today infuses the evil culture with billions of interest dollars because of the massive debt they incurred on their buildings. Have you ever heard of a church borrowing a million dollars to give to missions? But most churches think nothing of getting into presumptuous debt as they build larger and more elaborate buildings.
And the average congregation member is currently heaping up money for retirement which may never come while believers in Darfur and elsewhere starve. Lord Blessing is a demanding god and he cares nothing for starving people in other and distant parts of the world. Who is my neighbor? Is it whoever lives in a 25 mile radius? The same state? The same country? Are we as Christians held accountable for the dire needs of people around the world? And given the amount of waste, entertainment, debt, and other misuses of our monetary recourses can it really be said we are doing the work of Jesus?
So Lord Blessing whose middle names are “material” and “self” continues to play his flute and the church continues to dance. There are those instances where preachers are revealed to have million dollar houses, jets, and all kinds of hedonistic lifestyles. But do not be fooled into thinking they are an anomaly. They are just the magnification of the general spiritual condition of the western church in general. Why does a pastor of a larger church get paid more? In my experience he has a larger staff and generally the pastor of 100 members works as hard and sometimes harder than the megachurch pastor. Many large church pastors also have investments on the side as well as their high priced salary. The Apostle Paul was born 2000 years too early. The reason the pastor of a larger church gets paid more is because the church is modeled after the secular business community.
We are blind and in darkness in the west. We have left the life of Jesus while still dotting all our doctrinal “i”s on paper. In fact, if a group of believers decided to live like Jesus here they would be considered a dangerous cult. Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man returns will He find faith on earth?” He would find an organization that used His trademark, but in reality it would be an aftermarket brand that is non-compatible with the original. The western church today worships Jesus with their lips and Lord Blessing with their lives. The god of the church is no longer Jesus.

Death Loves

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The list of approved mediums through which one can express love to another is wide and varied. But there is no deeper and more profound way to express one’s love than to die for someone you love. But when that someone you love is your enemy, and yet you still choose to die for them, well, that my friends cannot be completely understood by any human mind or heart. That kind of love soars beyond the reach of the combined imaginations of all the greatest poets ever born.

And what does that love ask in return?

It only asks us to believe, just believe.

Selah...Selah