WATER OF LIFE

We have a really unique battle as Christians that is summed up in Romans 12:9: “Really love them. Hate what is wrong.” You can’t have one or the other and still serve God, it takes both.

We have a President who says he is a Christian yet fails to hate what is wrong. He promotes religious pluralism and supports immorality such as homosexuality.

The Pharisees with all their legalistic following of laws and rituals were good at hating what was wrong but they had no love in their hearts.

We have Christians groups united against things like abortion and gay marriage but even they must make sure they have love in their hearts for those who are committing those sins and making and supporting those laws.

If you really love the person, you hate the sin because that sin is hurting the person (or leading them to hell). If you have to pick one of the two, err on the side of loving the person more than hating the sin. In the scripture love comes before the hate and it emphasizes REALLY love not REALLY hate.

If a CHRISTIAN FAILS TO FOLLOW THE SCRIPTURE TO HATE WHAT IS WRONG THEY WON”T BE MORAL SALT AND LIGHT (in the workplace or community) but instead like a lamp that is hidden under the bed (see Luke 8:16). Christians that lose their saltiness (i.e. not preserving what is good) are no longer good for anything (see Matthew 5:13).

One Christian pointed out that we are up against the secular humanism of the world. The President used the Golden Rule as his excuse for supporting gay marriage. He was probably referring to the Golden Rule in the Bible but according to Wikipedia, “Many different sources claim the Golden Rule as a humanist principle”. Yes, we are up against humanism and other kinds of deceptions but is not God’s truth greater and more powerful than any philosophy of man? Fear not man but God.

He gives us the weapons of spiritual warfare: The sword of the spirit, the shield of faith, the helmet of righteousness, the belt of truth, etc. Armor is a defensive covering and a protective outer layer used in combat. Is your armor rusting in the closet from lack of use because you’ve failed to follow the other half of this scriptural command?

In 1 Kings chapter 13, God sends a man of GOD FROM Judah to Bethel. The man of God confronts the king but the king does not turn from his evil ways. The king tries to bribe the man of God to come with him but he rejects the offer. However, there is an old prophet who lives in Bethel. He claims to have a word from God and tricks the man of God into listening to him instead of the command God had given him.

The old prophet of Bethel was a false prophet because he lied and said he had a command from the Lord when he really didn’t. “I am a prophet just as you are….but the old man was lying to him” 1 Kings 13:18. The false prophet was probably wise in the ways of the world, a smooth talker, and skilled in the art of deception because he convinced the man of God to turn from God’s command whereas the king himself was unable to convince or bribe him.

The old prophet lived in Bethel amongst the pagan and idol worship. We don’t know whether the false prophet confronted the idol worship in Bethel or if he was comfortable with it but we do know that God sent a man of God from Judah to speak against it. (The prophets Hosea and Amos also spoke out against the sin in Bethel.)

What are the signs of a false prophet?
• Fear. WHAT WERE THE FALSE PROPHETS MOTIVATIONS? MAYBE FEAR FOR HIS POSITION, just like the false prophets who attacked Jeremiah.
• False prophets fail acknowledge the sin around them they also fail to acknowledge their own sin. This false prophet didn’t show remorse for his part in the death of the man of GOD. Jesus also confronted the Pharisees (who were about to kill him), on how they now revered the prophets but failed to acknowledge that their fathers were the ones who killed them.
• False prophets think righteousness can be gained through association with the righteous. This false prophet, after the man of God died, acknowledged he was a man of God and put the man of God’s body in his own tomb with plans to have his own bones laid next to the man of God after he died.
• False prophets are just as dangerous as a physical attack. The false prophet probably didn’t know that his lie would lead to the death of the man of God but it was a definite consequence of it. False prophets have a deceitful way of turning you away from God’s Word that can lead to a spiritual death (which is far worse than physical death).

There is the lesson of being wary of false prophets, but there is also a lesson about standing up and speaking out. Frequently, Christians live amongst sin and take the easy way out of not confronting it. Sometimes they become so accustomed to the sin around them that it takes an outsider (e.g. someone new at work or at church) to address it.

We don’t have to have a gift of prophecy to stand up and speak out for the truth. One chaplain stated, “The testimony of Scripture is that there certainly are people called to a prophetic ministry and commanded to confront people with God’s standards of conduct and of true belief… up to and including passing on a message from God that the person who fails to repent of sinful behavior or persists in false belief will be damned. However the tests to discern a true prophet - who has truly discerned God’s message and accurately proclaimed it - are clear, as is the implication that few are called to that ministry. The Bible also cautions that arrogating such a role to yourself, if you have not been called to it by God, is deadly dangerous, spiritually. The rest of us are called to a more restrained and winsome approach - yet we are still called to discern between evil and righteousness and between false doctrine and true, and to stand up and speak out for righteousness and truth.”

We get emails from Parents Magazine and one of the articles for Earth Day was “Raise a Kid Who Loves the Earth”.

Economics professor Bob Nelson wrote a book called, The New Holy Wars: Economic Religion versus Environmental Religion:
“As Nelson has written in his books and articles, the belief in economic progress (with economists as the priesthood) was the most influential religion in terms of influencing public policy in the twentieth century. For most economists, economics is not just a technical field of study, Nelson says, but helps to frame their whole way of understanding human motivations and behavior and the way the world really works. “That is part of what makes economics religious,” Nelson said. “You can say the same about environmentalists and environmentalism.” (see full article here)

There is nothing wrong with religiously carrying out ones beliefs but there is a problem when that belief system is a substitute for God or twists the truth of His Word. Psychology is an example of replacing God Word in American Government, Schools, etc. Economics is the same. Environmentalism is taught to our children in school and celebrated on the Environmentalist holy day called Earth day where there are various activities for children. It’s scary how they are targeting our children. Environmentalism is an integral part of the New Age religion (see related article here). All of these contribute to the apostate progression of our nation.

And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:41-42 ESV)

In my dream I am holding a cup, something that I brought in with me from a previous get-together. We’re at a bar in front of a club and a female bartender is trying to sell me an oversized blue martini. It’s fancy and expensive and I don’t want to buy it and I also feel I can’t afford it. The drink I am holding is half full but still passable as a drink that I’m still working on. I’m thinking their expectation is that you should buy the martini before going in the club but I’m still going in and it looks like no one is going to stop me.

Here is what I think my dream means: The cup I’m holding in my dream was like the glass banquet water cup I drank Kool-Aid in at the national prayer luncheon last week. “A primary Old Testament symbol for the kingdom of God was a banquet table.” The banquet cup symbolizes my Christian values–as opposed to a nightlife set of values symbolized by the martini and club. The martini is the James Bonds drink “shaken not stirred”. Bond is a symbol of spy games, espionage, conspiracy, sex and intrigue. For me these correlate with the values at work. For example, spy games is the gossip mill and espionage is managers who share with their cohorts confidential information from meetings and emails; and conspiracy, intrigue, and sex relates to all of the drama and sexual/sexist jokes.

My drink, in my dream, had some ice in it and I think it was non-alcoholic, nothing fancy. The one they were trying to sell me was a blue martini. You also find blue in tropical drinks because it’s a symbol of relief from worry, calmness and tranquility.  I’m attracted to this color (especially since I love the tropics) and because I don’t like confrontation. If I accept the martini cup of values I would have greater peace at work but I refuse to do that in my dream because it’s too high of a cost. Besides, just like in my dream, I think I can make my way into the club still holding onto my Christian values.

Also a couple weeks ago, one Christian co-worker was drinking the same oversized blue martini at his going away party. He was a great Christian example of dealing with the martini values in the workplace and still being a faithful, loving Christian.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. Psalm 16:5

In contrast here is a another dream I had on September 2009:

I was in a hospital, drugged and about to have surgery. I just wanted to rest and crawl under the table. People were asking me why I was angry at the hospital people/nurses. I throw a huge glass brandy snifter over their heads and it smashes on a reception desk and there are shards everywhere. No one got hit but they’re mad and trying to avoid the shards. I’m wondering if I’m gonna have to go to jail.

I couldn’t figure out what the brandy glass in the dream meant but I knew it was a warning to not get angry so I reminded myself to keep that in mind that day. So at the end of that day I was about to get ready to close the computer lab and I sent up a kid to tell them I needed someone to come down on the floor. The kid came back and told me they said the floor wasn’t open. I sent another kid and my coworker finally said to send them to the homework room. I was getting very angry at the moment and I was going to go upstairs and tell off my coworker, Brandi, for sitting up at the receptionist desk and talking to the receptionist while I needed someone on the floor. Then it hit me that I was supposed to be careful of my anger and it all fell into place, the huge brandy snifter I threw at the receptionist desk was about my coworker named, Brandi, and all that morning I was thinking it had something to do with alcohol—she didn’t even pass my mind. God made me forgetful until that very moment. He gave me a little shock with my dream realization and it completely threw me out of my anger. I just went wow, thats what it was! And I wasn’t angry anymore. I felt like I had God on my side and I went back to the lab and closed up.

My dream was the Lord foretelling and warning of events to come that day. Additionally, God was telling me that my workplace was a hospital where he was doing surgery on me. And that was why I felt so numb that day and couldn’t do much, such as socialize with my coworkers—except for a Christian coworker named John. I felt like God sent him in twice that day just to strengthen me.

I do know from the Bible that the Lord God gives all interpretation to dreams. I don’t know if He speaks to us through all our dreams, or if all our dreams are a message from Him, but I do know that to those whose ears are open to Him, he does speak frequently and in many different ways.

In contrast, shamanism is divination and soothsaying which is strictly forbidden and considered evil by God. Divination and soothsaying is attempting to ascertain answers and the future through communication with spirits (and spirits of the dead like Saul tried to do with a medium). Obviously, this is wicked because they are not God’s spirit but spirits of the enemy.

So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.
(1 Chronicles 10:13-14 ESV)

If we seek the Lord with all our heart He will speak to us and one of those ways is through dreams. And to some He even gives the gift to prophesy, to speak a word to others given to them by God, sometimes through dreams, and sometimes telling of the future.