God's last name isn't damn!

By John Stallings



I didn’t believe Bill Clinton when he said he smoked marijuana but didn’t inhale; neither do I believe Sen. Barack Obama when he claimed he was unaware of the incendiary, racist anti-American sermons of his pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

It stretches credibility for me to believe that the Sunday after 9/11 when this nation was shaken to its core & multitudes that rarely go to church crowded into places of worship across America to mourn, Barack Obama decided to skip church.

I was born at night but not last night.

But to be fair, I also have to blame our liberal media who should be fair & balanced, for not having found this story long ago. I mean, look what happened in 2000, when George Bush stopped by Bob Jones University to give a standard stump speech during his bid for the presidency. That was one single moment but the media had a “conniption fit,” while 20 years in Obama’s church life is explained away when his “crazy uncle” married him & baptized his children too.

All of us make mistakes & that includes the Rev. Wright & most of us apologize when we transgress, except those who obviously feel an apology would so diminish them they can’t get it out. But it seems to me that Rev. Wright is sticking by his abominable rhetoric because as far as I know he has offered no apology.

Forgiveness in my mind is automatic in one sense, especially for the believer, but in another sense its greatest work hasn’t come to fruition until an apology has been made by whoever needs to make it.

Forrest Gump’s statement comes to mind; “I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is.” If Forrest could figure that out certainly you & I are smart enough to know by the tone of a person’s voice when they are speaking minus Christian love.

But the good Senator Obama has thrown his granny under the bus & now it seems he’s put Rev.Wright there also, likening him to a “crazy uncle.” Clearly in his attempt to deflect from Wrights anti-American rantings Obama stepped in another hole about the race issue.

Rule number rule one for public figures, -- when you’re in a hole, stop digging.

The Rev. Wright may have enough degrees to be called Dr. Fahrenheit but his statements are among the most uneducated ones I’ve ever heard.

It’s immaterial to me if he preached hateful things often or only occasionally. It doesn’t take much language like that to do real damage. Rat poison is 95% wheat & other tasty products rats like, & only about 5% poison. If that wasn’t the case no rat would eat it & I hear they gobble it down.

I’ll guarantee you if you told your wife you didn’t like the way she cooked & kept house just one time, you’d find out how much damage can be done with one statement like that over a twenty year period.

Before I leave the Rev. Wright, I’d like to humbly suggest some words he could use in the future if he wants to offset the damage he’s done.

INSTEAD OF – “GOD ----- AMERICA,” WHY NOT LEAD US ALL IN THESE WORDS THAT ACTUALLY COMPRISE A PRAYER PUT TO MUSIC BY IRVING BERLIN, THE YEAR I WAS BORN;

“While the storm clouds gather across the sea,
Let us pledge allegiance to a land that’s free.
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer,

GOD BLESS AMERICA,
Land that I love,
Stand beside her, and guide her,
Thru the night with a light from above,
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
GOD BLESS AMERICA, MY HOME SWEET HOME.”

Notice the second line of that prayer’s chorus; “Stand beside her.” America certainly isn’t perfect but in reality she’s us. She needs we, her loyal citizens to “be supportive & prayerful-- “& guide her through the night with a light from above.” That “light from above” invokes God’s concern for the affairs of our great nation. “Through the night”-- represents the dark night of terrorist’s attacks & an avowed enemy who prays & works for America’ destruction. “My home sweet home” reminds us that we do have an awesome homeland & those who hate us are only jealous of “what God hath wrought.”

But the purpose of this blog isn’t to discuss Obama, nor really for that matter the right honorable Rev. Jeremiah Wright. I want to discuss the power of words & the taking of the Lord’s name in vain.

First- -- the power of words.

In the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey, there’s a variety of crane that tends to cackle a lot. I guess it’s in their DNA to do it, like we humans yawn without really planning to.

All that noise gets attention from eagles, one of their natural enemies & they just swoop down & grab one up for a tasty meal. The experienced cranes have found a way around this & they will pick up a rock large enough to fill their mouths thus preventing them from cackling & becoming an easy lunch for an eagle.

Isn’t it strange that mankind has been able to split the atom, walk on the moon, construct enough WMD to destroy this world many times over, yet can’t seem to control an opening in the front of the human head called a mouth & the little small piece of muscle tissue that lives there?

Alex Dunlap has written a tract entitled- Ten reasons why I swear, the purpose of which is to show us how foolish swearing is. Here are the reasons he gives;

1. It indicates how clearly my mind works.
2. It’s a fine mark of my manliness.
3. It shows my awesome self-control.
4. It pleases my mother so much.
5. It makes me such good company & such a brilliant conservationists.
6. It leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind about my good breading.
7. It impresses folk that I have more than an ordinary education.
8. It’s an unmistakable mark of culture & refinement.
9. It allows me to fit in with people of culture & refinement.
10. It’s my way of honoring God who says; Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.
The Third Commandment deals with much more than filthy words. This commandment deals with the profane use of God’s Holy Name. God’s Name is Holy & isn’t to be used unless it’s in connection with His praise or His proclamation. But sadly it seems that God’s name has become nothing more in many quarters than a curse word to be thrown around at will.

Profanity is defines as, “Characterized by irreverence for God, impious, base, a profane act or utterance.”

Profane speech is typically language that involves taking God’s name in vain, vile or vulgar, viciously degrading to others, and/or gutter in nature. The Bible regulates man’s speech. [Ex.20:7, Jas.3:10, Matt. 12:36, 37.

A little girl was attending Sunday School for the very first time & as she heard the Christmas story she blurted out; “why did they name that sweet baby a swear word?” It was the first time she’d ever heard His name used outside of a curse.

We’re literally surrounded by profanity. Did you know in one year’s time prime-time T.V shows 8,333 acts of violence, 14,313 incidents of sex & 23,566 uses of profanity? Words that were once banned are now heard about once every five minutes on prime-time T.V, sitcoms.

Many movies that are now considered family oriented contain vile, filthy & cheap language. There’s a movement in America to promote filthy speech. According to an article appearing in the Rocky Mountain News, September 8, 2001, by Diana West, the major television networks NBC, ABC & CBS have a pledge: “According to a front-page report in The New York Times, the networks’ solution to restore their endangered audience is this, to put more dirty words on the air.” This isn’t a joke, it’s a movement.

Most stand-up comics would be speechless if all profanity were kept out of their routines. The goal seems to be lower & lower levels of degrading language to the point of wallowing in the mud.

1. GOD”S NAME IS A VENERABLE NAME. [Sacred, Holy, worthy of respect.]

There are many names given in the Bible but let’s concentrate on just 2.

1. LORD---When you see this name in the Bible it’s the English rendering of the word “Jehovah.” It describes God as the self-existence eternal One. It’s the name “I AM.” He revealed Himself the Moses in EX.3:14. This name is used to declare God’s nature that is unchanging & eternal. Mal.3:6—James 1:17. In the Bible Jehovah is coupled with other words to form compound names for God which reveal more about His nature & his attributes.

Some are;

A. Jehovah- Jireh- “The Lord will provide”—Gen.22:14
B. Jehovah-Nissi—“The Lord is my banner.”—Ex.17:15
C. Jehovah-Shalom—“The Lord is peace.---Judges 6:24
D. Jehovah Shammah—The Lord is there---Ez.48:35
E. Jehovah Tsebaoth—The Lord of Hosts”—1 Sam.1:3
F. Jehovah-Rohi—“The Lord is my Shepard”—Psa.23:1

2. GOD—Elohim—refers to the One Supreme, faithful triune God. This is the most common word for God in the Bible, being used over 2,000 times. In fact when God stepped out of eternity to reveal Himself to us that’s the Name He chose; a name depicting Him as the Strong, faithful dependable God.

Other names for God in the Old Testament are, El-God, El-Shadday-God Almighty & Adonai—Lord.

It’s interesting that one of the first lines in The Lord’s Prayer is, “Hallowed be thy name.”
We should also keep in mind that included in the words we are forbidden by God to use are words that curse & degrade man. While I’ve never taken the Lord’s Name in vain, I’m sure that during unguarded moments I’ve put people in the “spiritual burn unit” with my words. For that I greave & have repented & will do so by God’s grace each time I miss the mark. Listen to James 3:9;

Therewith bless we God even the Father; and therewith we curse men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Pastor James goes on to further explain in verses 10-12 that when a person uses speech to blaspheme God or degrade man, he is showing the corrupt nature of his own heart. Listen;

Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing & cursing. My brethren these things ought not so to be.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water & bitter? Can a fig tree my brethren bear olive berries? either a vine, or figs? So can no fountain both yield both salt water & fresh?

I was thinking about something recently. I’m not saying that George Bush has been perfect & I’ve certainly had my differences with him & have said so publically. But I’ve watched the news & stayed abreast of current events about as much as anyone in the last eight years, & I can’t remember ever having heard Bush say a negative thing about anyone. Maybe you can enlighten me here but I just haven’t heard it. I’ve heard him chide the Congress for their laxity but to be frank there have been times I’ve felt he should have said more. But never have I heard the man engage in a personal attack against anyone & that’s more than I can say for most politicians.

I’m just saying that the fact that hardly anyone will say good things publicly for the president nowadays is as much a comment on us as a nation as it is on the man. One man's opinion.

I heard Brother Andrew speak for the first time just recently. I don’t know much about the man other than he’s legendary all over the world for his missionary work & his writings. The statement he made that stuck with me was in reference to a conversation he had with a devout Muslim recently. The Muslim man said, “You Christians aren’t doing a very good job of following Jesus & you need to get back to your book,” meaning the Bible.

Brother Andrew agreed with the man’s statement. Then the Muslim man said, “We Muslims aren’t doing a very good job of following Muhammad either. We need to get back to our book.” He of course spoke of The Quran. Brother Andrew continued, [of course he was now speaking to his audience, not the Muslim man,] “We’d better pray they don’t start following Muhammad more closely if they do there’ll be a blood-bath all over the world.”

Then brother Andrew asked the man what he felt the Muslims wanted as a people, whereupon the Muslim man answered, “We want someone to tell us who God is.” Think about that statement. In the final analysis they are hungering to know about the real God of heaven & in all probability wondering deep in their souls if they’ve found the right one. We of course know the answer to that. The thought struck me that we in America who are acquainted with the true & living God should be doing a better job of educating people as to who our God really is.

Of course the first thing we must do is stop using God’s name so casually & began to ascribe worth & honor to His name in every way possible. We will all stand before God & give account for the ways in which we’ve used His Name. When we make promises & vows to God then turn around & do the opposite we’re misusing His Name. The person who uses God’s Name in vain can never be fully right with God & in a position for His blessings until that sin is repented of.

I heard about a foul-mouthed old miner who after he was saved had to retrain his mules. It seems after he cleaned up his speech the animals weren’t able to understand a command he gave them.

One day a farmer was late getting home & his wife asked him why it took as long. His reply was, “Well I picked up the preacher down the road & after that moment those horses couldn’t understand a thing I said.”

God’s plan for His people is for us to guard our tongues in everything we say, especially when we use His name.

Years ago a missionary to the Orient witnessed a 20 year old native approach a heathen idol, kneel down, pull out a knife & cut his tongue out. Within minutes the young man had collapsed in a pool of his own blood & died at the idols feet.

God wouldn’t be glorified in our doing such a foolish thing, but He does want our tongues consecrated wholly to His worship, His adoration & His glorification.

I love The Gaither’s song,

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there’s just something about that name.
Master, Savior Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all heaven & earth proclaim,
King’s & kingdoms shall all pass away,

But there’s something about that name.

How are we using our tongue?

REMEMBER, GOD’S LAST NAME IS NOT DAMN!


BLESSINGS,

John

DEATH IN THE POT

By John Stallings

…..Oh thou man of God, there is death in the pot…… 2 Kings 4:40


There was a famine in the land. Food was hard to find. Elisha was the master of a group of young prophets. As he traveled with them the time came for them to eat & he told them to put a pot on the fire.

They did have faith because even though there was a famine they believed God was able to provide something for them to eat.

In the mean time they went looking for food. I think what they had in mind was a nice vegetable stew. One of the young men found a wild vine & shredded the gourds from the vine into the pot. A mystery stew or “Gourd Goulash” was concocted & when it was done the prophets prepared to eat, not knowing that one chef was getting ready to accidentally kill a bunch of preachers.

The food seethed into a stew & as the young men begin to chow down, one by one they realized something was wrong & they spit out the stew shouting, “Master, there is death in the pot.” Thank God they had the good sense to immediately reject the poisonous food & spit it out without apology. They just couldn’t get it past their gums. Elisha found some meal & threw it into the pot & suddenly Poison Porridge became a Succulent Stew. Now we’re talking a blue ribbon dish worthy of Martha Stewart, perfectly seasoned with not a hint of a bitter aftertaste. All the harm was removed & they could eat it. The meal offering was a type of Christ & it was put in the pot to cancel the damage done by the false, death-dealing vine.

Certainly we can see a spiritual parallel here to our day & time. Elisha & his students were in need because of a famine. In spite of the gospel that is constantly being beamed out through television, radio, shortwave, cyberspace, books, Cd's, DVDs, etc. there’s a famine of the Word of God in America & people are spiritually dying.

THE YOUNG PROPHET WHO PICKED THE POISON GOURD WAS SINCERE-- BUT SINCERELY WRONG.

I don’t want to be too hard on this young man because the mistake he made in choosing the gourd was, as far as we know an honest mistake. He wasn’t a very good botanist & was probably even a worse cook. However he didn’t hire on as a cook but was helping as best he could. He was just lacking in discernment about what could & couldn’t be eaten.

If anything gives me concern these days, it’s the fact that in spite of the tidal wave of spiritual resources & knowledge available in this nation, a large segment of the population has a huge deficit of spiritual depth & discernment. When we think about where the nation stands at present, it’s obvious what the next national election could mean to all of us.

It gives us pause when we consider the prospects of an extreme liberal politician entering the Oval office, standing against just about everything we stand for as Christians.

Thought I’ve always kept this blog a place where folk can come & be edified by the Word of God, anyone who’s ever read my jottings know where I stand on Billary.

BUT—WHAT’S IN THE OBAMA POT???

Obama’s pastor of twenty years, Jeremiah Wright, has been on my radar screen long before I ever heard of Obama.

I won’t belabor the point here & put you through a morbid re-visitation of what Wright is all about, but suffice to say, to call Wright a radical is like saying the Pacific ocean is a little damp. I hear that he retired last month & to be frank I don’t know if it’s because the IRS is investigating his church because of some of his over the top rantings, venturing deeply into the realm of politics. Sounds about “Wright.” Obviously the man is a lightening rod.

As I’m sure some of you have, I’ve recently listened to & read from various disgusting excerpts of Rev. [“God---America!”& that middle word isn’t bless] Wright, Obama’s pastor says that America’s “chickens are coming home to roost.” My problem with this man is not simply that he is a radical though well-meaning black pastor. My problem with him is that he’s a nut & the more Obama tries to deny this, the worse it gets. He readily confesses that he took the title of his book, - "The audacity of hope” from a Wright lecture.

There can be no doubt that some keys to Obama’s success are his education, diction, charisma, & sense of decency. To many who lack discernment there’s a “what’s not to like” quality about the man.

But there are several basic concerns with Obama;

1. He’s wet behind the political ears. He’s done nothing that I know of,- of importance in his career but use flowery words that mean nothing. We don’t know what his “change” really means.
2. Obama is the most liberal or “far left” person in Congress & that includes Ted Kennedy & John Kerry.
3. He seems to believe the press about himself, for example that he just might be the political “messiah.”
4. He will surrender in Iraq & remove our army immediately, which will bring untold chaos & bloodshed if not outright genocide.

5. He also openly says that if elected president he’ll all but end our military superiority in the world, scale down our nuclear prowess & have Americans depending on hope instead of the kind of military might that has kept us safe during the last sixty-plus years of the nuclear age. He would never allow nuclear weapons to be used for any purpose at any time.

6. Obama is a “foggy man,” meaning we know little about him. Too little.

7. Obama’s church, Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, started Trumpet Newsmagazine in 1982. Each year the magazine gives awards in various categories. Last year they gave the Dr. Jeremiah Wright award to Louis Farrakhan saying “he truly epitomizes greatness.” Farrakhan’s history is a rancid stew of lies & turning history on its ear.

· Obama voted against banning partial birth abortion.
· He voted no on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions.
· Supports affirmative action in Colleges & Government.
· In 2001 he questioned harsh penalties for drug dealing.
· Says he’ll deal with street level drug dealing as a minimum wage affair.
· Admitted marijuana use in high school & college.
· He’s willing to meet with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Kim Jung IL & Mahmoud Ahmaadinejad.
· Among his first goals after being elected would be to have a conference with all Muslim nations.
· Opposed the Patriot Act
· First bill he signed that was passed was campaign finance reform.
· Voted no on prohibiting law suits against gun manufacturers.
· Supports universal health care.
· Voted yes on providing habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees.
· Supports granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
· Supports extending welfare to illegal immigrants.
· Voted NO on making English the official language of the USA.
· Voted yes on comprehensive immigrant reform.
· Voted yes on allowing illegal aliens to participate in Social Security.
· Wants to make the minimum wage a “living wage.”
· Voted with Democratic Party 96% of 251 votes.
· Is a big believer in separation of church & state.
· Opposed to any efforts to Privatize Social Security & instead supports increasing the amount of tax paid.
· Voted NO on repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax.
· Voted NO on repealing the “death tax.”
· He is ranked as the MOST LIBERAL SENATOR in the Senate today & that takes some doing.

This tidal wave could very well undermine the very foundations of this great country.

Just yesterday Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York resigned in disgrace after being caught having dealings with a prostitution ring during a period of over ten years. The call girl he hired for $4,300 per “date” was not much older than his oldest daughter. The man was either viciously self-destructive or pathologically arrogant believing he wouldn’t get caught.

The irony of it was that the reformist Gov. Spitzer campaigned for the office with a strong morality message & was in the process of enacting a new felony statute to punish human trafficking.

“Hypocrisy, thy name is Spitzer.”

I read somewhere that Spitzer’s name was even being mentioned in conjunction with a run for the White House at some point down the road. When we see how corrupt people in high places can be, it underscores the fact that Americans need to be extremely discerning in the months ahead. Certainly “there’s death in our political pot.”

The good news is Christ is still the answer to all of man’s problems & He remains the only antidote for the deadly toxins that abound in our society. My heart goes out to Spitzer’s wife & three precious daughters. Will you join me in prayer for him that he will find forgiveness, redemption & a new life through Jesus Christ?

Discernment pops up everywhere in the Bible. Proverbs 27:7 states, -The full soul loathes the honeycomb but to the hungry soul every bitter things is sweet. We’d better get some spiritual discernment quick in America because there’s death in the political pot we’re about to dip in to.

Notice in the story that the prophets were so hungry they probably would have eaten bitter soup. The problem with this stew wasn’t just bitterness, it was deadly poisonous. There was truly death in the pot. [I’ve eaten a few poison Tacos in my time, & guzzled a few glasses of poison Tea down around the Mexican border, but that’s another story] The pot had to be healed & the meal Elisha added to it caused a miracle.

WE HAVE TOO MANY ENTRY-LEVEL CHRISTIANS WHO STAY THAT WAY.

In some of the flat mid-western states after a strong thunderstorm on a hot summer day, a site may appear that looks like a huge body of inviting water to swim in & even drink from & be refreshed. But as we step in we suddenly realize that though it may look like an ocean of water, it’s only an inch deep. In the same way, we may appear to be deep Christians but if we’ve lived our lives for self-only, we’ll be a mere mirage of maturity. When people get close to us they’ll perceive the illusion—Width-without-depth.

Let’s analyze what’s happening in America. In many churches, deep-level Bible teaching opportunities & discipleship classes have just about disappeared & we’ve gone for one big Sunday morning worship service. People love it & the attendance is doing quite well, thank you very much. Other services have fallen through the cracks except that big service. People are coming in droves. Things are exciting & people like it. The music is lively, the sound is neat, & there are cool spotlights, quality dramas, need-oriented preaching & magnificent musicals.

Morale is up. Attendance is up. Excitement is up. But is Godliness up? Is Christlikeness up? Is there any maturity in evidence or do we just have larger & larger audiences coming to watch the performance? Are people as concerned as they ought to be about real Christian commitment?

Are people just “coming to see the show?” Are we just letting people breeze through the church that aren’t really letting their religion cramp their style? Are people picking & choosing what appeals to them & letting the rest alone? Are the people our churches are producing a shallow but happy lot?

Am I against that one big Sunday morning service? A thousands times no! As an evangelist, [with a lot of miles on him] frankly, speaking from the natural, I’m happy when we can sing & preach only once on Sunday morning & go kick off our shoes for the rest of the day. The problem is we’re producing shallow Christians. We’re producing a “spiritual river” that’s a mile wide & an inch deep & entry-level Christians who’re not growing.

The writer of Hebrews said; Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection……..Heb. 6:1

My concern is that we have so democratized & lowered the threshold for salvation enabling everybody to call themselves a Christian, that we now have many who’ve never been truly converted. Peter was saved but Jesus told him when he was converted he’d strengthen the brethren. Luke 22:32.

A young single evangelist friend of mine told me about dating a girl who actually pressured him to have sex with her. When he explained to her it was wrong to have sex outside of marriage she responded by saying, “that’s what’s wrong with a church like yours. At our church we can do anything we want to do & God forgives us.”

I don’t think for a moment that her pastor preached that message; at least I certainly don’t want to believe it. I don’t know if the young woman picked that up by not having a keen listening ear to the message being preached, or if the message was preached with such lack of conviction it came across as compromising.

For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? 2 Cor.14:8

I think it significant that Elisha’s young prophets, though they may not have been proficient chefs, had the discernment to quickly recognize that the stew meant death if eaten & promptly spit it out.

I’m not exalting one church denomination above another here but may God help us to have discernment to recognize false teaching when we hear it & not get caught up in it to the damnation of our eternal souls. Listen to Paul’s words;

Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils….1 Timothy 4:1

A man equipped with a diver’s suit & all the necessary equipment, slipped below the surface of the sea & plummeted into the murky depths below with a small ship waiting for him above. All at once the diver got a message through his radio from the ship above him saying, “Come quick, the ship is sinking.” The story may be a little silly but the diver is supposed to be the one we would expect to be in distress & the ship is there to haul him up in case of an emergency. But in this story the diver is fine but the ship is sinking. That diver isn’t going to be much help to the ship.

We often see this dynamic; the individual, who ordinarily would be the one needing to be strengthened & supported, is doing just fine. In fact the individual is stronger than those above him who’re in leadership. This of course isn’t always true but in some cases the person, the institution, the school or church that sits atop the hierarchy is the one that’s sinking. Isn’t that what we’ve just seen in the case of Governor Spitzer of New York?

We should respect those whom God has placed in leadership because of their position, but not to the point of blind adherence, when we see them veering off from what we know to be the true & right path.


Notice how Elisha’s story ends. Not with a group of preachers rubbing their stomachs & rolling in pain; but with them talking with one another about how great was their God who can turn poison into porridge. God can bless in spite of our blunders.

In the world we’re living in, there are many false vines that, though they look good & healthy bring death. Often we don’t see the death-dealing quality at first blush.

Have you ever heard a politician or preacher say things that bothered you on a deep level? I know I have. Dear friend we have to know the difference between the deadly vines & the True Vine.

If a television minister or a politician tells us something that is opposite to what Jesus says we must be able to say;

Let God be true and every man a liar.

Unfortunately, many Christians aren’t good at discerning because they don’t know their Bible. But the good news is I believe a revival of Bible teaching is coming in short order. Maybe this disturbing political situation will wake the Church up & once again pulpits from coast to coast will go back to teaching the Word of God.

All kinds of things will get people through the doors of our churches but it’s only God’s Word that will change an individual’s mind-set, values & life-style.

But though we, or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we have said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Gal.1:8-9.

Blessings,

John

MONSTERS FROM INNER SPACE

By John Stallings

One of the sayings of Christ that used to baffle me was;

There is nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him those are they that defile the man. Mark 7:15

I pondered this statement for quite some time before finding the simple answer. My thinking was; --- surely we know that ingesting strong drink, inhaling tobacco smoke, eating too much of the wrong foods, ingesting poisonous things, or breathing air laden with pollutants are the things that defile us. But Jesus is saying it’s just the opposite; the things that go into a man aren’t what defile him, but rather the things that come out of him. How strange, until you get the revelation.

One day I was in a grocery store & God used a very simple object to reach my simple mind. He said, “Why don’t you go ask the man in the veggie department to wrap you up a half pound of malice?Then go by & ask the butcher to wrap you up a couple of pounds of hate. Check in the drug department & buy some fear, envy, lust & maybe some hypocrisy. Then on your way out pick up some fraud & deceit & maybe a sack of anxiety.”

It was like a light-bulb was turned on in my mind. That store didn’t carry those articles. Fear, murder, adultery, lies, envy, malice & hypocrisy aren’t concocted by the pharmaceutical industry and don’t roll down the conveyor belts of any manufacturer. These things aren’t even resident in the hearts of the brute animals of the jungle. They can’t be found in the hearts of cats & dogs & birds or the fish that swim the murky depths of the sea. The only creator of these monsters is the darkened, fallen, sinful heart of man.

1. WORRY & ANXIETY ARE MONSTERS FROM INNER SPACE.

We think that somehow worry comes to us from the outside but in truth worry is something we do, not something done to us. That’s why Jesus commands us not to do it. Matt.6:26-27---33-34.

I heard about a man who worried so much it gave him an ulcer. He hired a man to do his worrying for him & paid him $100,000. One day he was telling a friend about what he’d done & the friend asked “how in the world can you afford to pay someone that much money to do your worrying?” He answered, “I don’t know, I’m letting him worry about that.”

Wouldn’t it be great if we could pay someone to do our worrying for us?

Back in the sixties I read a book by Dale Carnegie called “How to stop worrying & start living.” It’s an excellent book, & among other things, he gives a four-step rule for dealing with worry.

Carnegie tells in the forward of his book that in the mid-nineteen thirties, not long after the great depression ended, he realized how prevalent worry was among professional men & saw that worry was actually killing people. He looked through libraries to find books on the subject but couldn’t find any so he wrote his book on worry.

As far as I know Carnegie wasn’t a Christian but he includes many passages of scripture in his book so it’s obvious that he found as others have that the Word of God is the definitive book on worry & anxiety.

Philippians 4:7 says;

Don’t be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer & petition with thanksgiving present your requests to the lord.

This is a command of God. From start to finish the Bible tell us plainly not to worry, presents us cases where people have been worried & then shows us how they came out of it with God’s help.

Mental health experts say more than half of our hospital beds are filled with people suffering the effects of worry. Mental distress can cause headaches, arthritis, cystitis, colitis, backaches, ulcers, depression, digestive disorders, & even death. When we add to that the mental fatigue of nights without sleep & days without peace we get a glimpse of the havoc worry plays in destroying the quality & quantity of life.

The mortality rate of worry is astounding. Worry is bad for us because it has no nutritional value for the body or for the soul. Some people try not to let anything happen to them that they haven’t worried about well in advance. They have raised worry to an art form. God never intended that the people He created & saved should hang between certainty & doubt, filled with anxiety over so many things.

It’s been said that the average person’s worries break down like this;

40% about things that never happen
30% about the past that can’t be changed
12% about inaccurate criticism from other people
10% about health which gets worse because of worry
8% about real problems we have to face

Someone said, “When you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure nine of them will fall into the ditch before they reach you.”

If you’re a close observer, you can look at a person & see worry on their countenance. It makes them look haggard & bends the body over choking the creative life out of them. Worry is serious business. You can almost feel sorry for them & feel like saying, “There, there, things will be alright.” But God says, “No! Repent! Stop this way of life.” Worry is a radical kind of unbelief & it drives the dagger of slander into the ribs of God’s integrity.

When we worry we take the imagination that’s supposed to see God in everything & misuse it by conjuring up things that have no redeeming value. When we hear a voice telling us how bad things are going to be, we can be certain we’re not hearing God’s voice. It’s not God’s voice because God doesn’t dwell in the nightmare, “never- never” world of Apocalypse Now.

I’m going to say something now that will shock you; worry, real hard-core worry is worse than drug addiction. It’s worse than other sinful behaviors & monsters that are also born in the shadows of our inner-space. Why-you say? Worry is worse because worry is actually the father & progenitor of many of these heinous monsters such as drug & alcohol addiction.

Worry can cause a person to get into drugs & alcohol in order to drown out the pain it brings. It can cause people to lash out at everybody & alienate friends. Worry has many bad “monster cousins” that slip right into our lives when worry opens the door. Worry has a close friend called anger. Worry has a close traveling companion called self-pity. Many people go into adulterous affairs because they are feeling sorry for themselves & tell themselves their flesh needs a little pampering. It all started with worry & anxiety, and then slipped into self-pity.

Worriers have a subtle way of dumping on others. They transfer their worry to other people so innocently if you blink you’ll miss it. After the worrier leaves others can’t figure out why they’re now in depression. It’s because the worrier always sees the dark side & bring their troubles in, spreading them all around. Sometimes worry even masquerades as “prayer concerns.”

Before we make the decision to dump on others we need to remember that it takes eight positive thoughts to cancel or cover one negative thought. That’s why God is so serious about our mental attitudes. He doesn’t suggest that we don’t worry & fret, He absolutely forbids His children to worry & fret about anything.

Longstanding anxieties & worries arise out of a lifestyle in which we’ve forgotten God & His wonderful provisions for us. I wish I knew a gentler way of saying that. I don’t want to come off pompous here because I’ve had to fight worry in my life like fighting the demons of hell. But I can tell you that in those times when I’ve allowed worry to climb into the saddle, it’s been times when I wasn’t bringing God into the equation. Doesn’t that ring true with you?

If the Bible commands me to “be anxious for nothing” & the Bible commands me to “fear not,” I can be sure that it’s within my power to stop it. I can choose to believe God’s presence is with me & in His presence fear & anxiety are swallowed up. There’s no twelve step formula to be free from worry. We are freed from worry by our fellowship & relationship of trust with the living God.

Have you ever noticed when reading the Psalms; you’re overhearing a man talk to his God? He’s not telling the church or his friends, he’s talking to his God. The Psalmist is clear about how he feels. Sometimes he wants people dead, their wife widows, & their children orphans. He comes out of it but that’s because he went to God with it. Have you talked to God lately in real honesty? He can handle it. Don’t pretend you’re not worried, angry or upset, but take it to God in prayer & let Him know your true feelings.
Watch out now because I’m going to throw you a hanging–curve ball.

GOD DOESN’T ACTUALLY TELL US NOT TO WORRY!

If God were to say, --Be anxious for nothing---he’d actually be dooming us to certain worry. God would never tell us not to worry. The way we’re physiologically made-up, a command -not to worry-would assure us that we’d worry. We’d worry so much that if we ran out of something to worry about that would worry us. Telling us not to worry would be like walking into a dark room & trying to throw the darkness out. No! What do we do in a dark room? We turn on a light.

God doesn’t say – “be anxious for nothing, try to get your mind off of it.” God doesn’t say— “Be anxious for nothing, attack worry with everything you have in you.”

What does God say? He says---Be anxious for nothing—pray! God doesn’t leave us without a plan, but says—Be anxious for nothing BUT in everything by prayer & supplication make your requests known unto the Lord.

Don’t try to come against worry; you’ll lose just like you would if you cursed the darkness. Instead, turn your attention to God & let your requests be made known to Him…..in everything by prayer & supplication---turn to God & let Him know exactly what the cause of your worry is….let your requests be made known. Fully uncover it to God.

In Luke 24:17 & following, The Risen Christ joined Himself to two men as they walked toward a town called Emmaus. Jesus started asking the men questions about what their problem was. He said, in essence, “What’s bugging you guys?” Jesus wanted them to spill out their requests & needs to Him. After they told Him their problems of disappointment & disillusionment, then Jesus started to minister to them. Do you realize the risen Lord wouldn’t deal with their problems until they poured out their hearts to Him? God doesn’t ask questions for information. He already knows everything. He asks questions to get us to talk to Him.—let your requests be made known. Give it all to God!

Don’t just come crashing in asking God for things before you remember His goodness to you in the past…..With thanksgiving let your requests be made known. Forget not all His benefits.

Then we have a wonderful promise. ……The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts & minds through Jesus Christ. ---Phil.4:7

Rather than dumping my gloom on people, I can just tell it all to Jesus & he’ll give me peace that’s incomprehensible. What a promise!

Take your tomorrows that don’t yet exist, take the person & the thing that is giving you cause to worry & fret & just give them all to God.

Whatever your tomorrows hold for you, your spouse, your children & your children’s children, put all of it in God’s hands.

The peace of God will keep you, will garrison you round about as you live for Him Who lives in you. It’s true for all of us! Praise His name!

Blessings,

John