Blowing in the Wind

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.””
John 3:5-8 NLT

Jesus was a Master at using everyday objects and events to explain spiritual truths. His explanation of new birth to Nicodemus starts off all very logical. He said, “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life”. A natural life, and a spiritual life. Both within each person who has been created in God’s image. But then Jesus uses the analogy of the wind to explain that there is a mystery about being born of the Spirit. 

In the last week or so there has been a lot of wind in Scotland. Several storms have crossed the country, wreaking havoc in their path. Trees downed, slates and tiles blown off roofs. Travel arrangements disrupted. And everyone has been aware of the noise generated by the flow of air around buildings and trees. In fact any solid object above ground has felt the effects of the wind. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that the wind can be heard but not seen. The wind is a continuous entity with no beginning and end. No-one knows where it starts or finishes. Of course we can see or feel the impact of the wind. A piece of paper blows down the road. A tree sways backwards and forwards, perhaps creaking or rubbing against its fellows. When driving over an exposed section of road we can feel the gusts tugging at the steering wheel. Trying to walk or cycle against the wind is well nigh impossible sometimes. 

When applied to the Holy Spirit and His work, the analogy of wind fits very well. We cannot see the Holy Spirit but we can see the impact He makes on the people in whom He is working. Lives changed. Prophecies forthcoming. Even miracles and God-induced events. And our spiritual birth comes about by the Holy Spirit working in our lives. In John 16:8 we read, “And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment“. That’s the wind of the Spirit blowing through the world. Sometimes He brings a storm and revival breaks out. At other times He gently blows through receptive hearts bringing change and a touch from God. But like the wind, we can’t see it directly. But we see the effects. So do we pilgrims look a bit wind-blown today? If not, then we only have to ask the Holy Spirit to come.

Father God. We pray for the wind of Your Spirit to blow away every cobweb in our hearts and lives, leaving us pure and presentable to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Reproduction

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life”.
John 3:3-6 NLT

Nicodemus just didn’t get what Jesus was saying. The concept of spiritual birth was beyond his comprehension. So he made the contemptuous and sarcastic statement about repeating his physical birth in all its natural ways. But Jesus responded with two interesting facts about God’s Kingdom – the entrance qualifications are that someone has to be born both physically and spiritually. If either requirement is missing then membership of the Kingdom of God is not possible. Jesus said that a person has to be born by the natural process created by God – “Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!”“ (Genesis 4:1). But then Jesus said there was another birth through the Holy Spirit that gives birth to a spiritual person. This process happens as described by Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it“. Paul also told the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!“

We humans are both spiritual and natural beings. To be a citizen of the Kingdom of God, we have to fulfil both the entrance qualifications, and this is only possible while we are alive. A person who hasn’t yet been born can’t apply to be a member of God’s Kingdom and neither can someone who has died. We have a relatively short opportunity to be obedient to God’s call in our natural lives. Once they have passed it is too late to apply. The Apostle Peter succinctly set out the application process in Acts 2:38-39, verses that are heavily underlined in my Bible. “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God”. 

We pilgrims heard the “call”. We received the “gift of the Holy Spirit” when we were saved, when we made that momentous decision to follow Jesus for the rest of our lives. And through that Gift we were born again, spiritually,  into God’s Kingdom. A simple process on the face of it, but so profound. And so important because, unlike our natural citizenship to our countries into which we were born or adopted, the Kingdom of God is an everlasting Kingdom that will never end. And so when our natural bodies die we live on spiritually. John 3:36, “And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment“. 

The people in this world have a stark choice, and doing nothing, deferring a decision, is not an option. We can choose to be born spiritually in God’s Kingdom or we can turn our backs on the most important choice we will ever make in this life. We need to propagate that message at every opportunity. It’s very serious!

Dear Father God. You created us in Your image, and we have a “hole” within us that only You can fill. Thank You that You care for us. Amen.

Jesus @ Jerusalem

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”“
John 2:13-17 NLT

The previous verses place Jesus in Capernaum with His mother, brothers and disciples, so the next event in John’s Gospel was Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem for the Passover celebrations. In the Temple He found a sad scene of materialistic mayhem as the local merchants engaged in practices designed to supply pre-approved animals for sacrifice and converted money into the only coins acceptable to the Jewish priests. To the Jews, the Temple was a sacred place – just read the accounts of its inception and the dedication ceremonies that took place. Jesus must have made a fearsome sight, as He whipped His way towards clearing out all those who shouldn’t have been there.

The Jewish religion had become hijacked by customs, materialistic expediencies, that assisted the outward form of its practices but had totally missed the whole point of why the sacrifices were taking place in the first place. Religion had veered away from what God intended into a box-ticking process that must have broken His heart. In Hosea 6:6 we read what God said to His people. “For I desire and delight in [steadfast] loyalty [faithfulness in the covenant relationship], rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Amplified version). 

Today there can be a tendency to focus on denominational liturgies rather than the spirit that should be behind them. The more traditional facets of Christianity major on the recital of established prayers, and singing familiar hymns. Nothing wrong with this until liturgies replace relationship with God. Customs become more important than being in God’s personal space. 

We read that Jesus was passionate, zealous even, for the integrity of His Father’s house, the Temple. But we pilgrims know that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Do we share Jesus’ passion for the temples in which we live? How do we treat it? The list of harms that we can do to our bodies, corrupting this sacred place, doesn’t bear thinking about. But before we embark on the latest diet fads and fancies, it’s not just about foods but about our attitudes to something special created by God in His image (Genesis 1:27). We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us to the sacred rather than the secular.

Dear Father God. It is a sobering thought that You cared enough about us to install within us somewhere for You to dwell. Please help us to keep it sacred. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus’s Glory

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“This, the first of His signs (attesting miracles), Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed His glory [displaying His deity and His great power openly], and His disciples believed [confidently] in Him [as the Messiah—they adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Him]. After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.”
John 2:11-12 AMP

From the day He was conceived, Jesus had a latent glory. This had to be so, because He was the Son of God, after all.  The Amplified version of John 2:11 explains His glory as “displaying His deity and His great power openly”. But Jesus’ first miracle at Cana wasn’t some conjuring trick, as perhaps some people thought. It must have created quite a buzz, particularly to those in the know, such as the servants who were involved as the miracle developed and unfolded before them. The disciples must have looked on in amazement. But for them this probably confirmed to them that this was no ordinary rabbi – this was the Messiah Himself. And as the events of the next three years played out, they were more and more convinced that God had indeed come to live with His people.

The disciples, we are told in John’s account, believed confidently in Him as the Messiah. They trusted Him, and relied on Him. And they followed Him closely for the next three years, being taught the fundamental truths of the Kingdom of God. Step by step, parable by parable, miracle by miracle. Day after day on a whirlwind training course heading for their graduation on the day of Pentecost. That was when the believing was enhanced by the doing. As Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” (John 14:12-14). That was the reality of life for the disciples – the potential of doing great things for God in Jesus’ name. 

We pilgrims must wonder sometimes if Jesus’ glory ended on a Roman cross, and after He returned to Heaven. It would have done if it wasn’t for the gift of the Holy Spirit that He gave to mankind. Have we received the transforming power of the Holy Spirit? Have we used this power in Jesus’ name to see great works? If not we only have to ask. Jesus said, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him”(Matthew 7:11). The gift of the Holy Spirit is there for the asking. And through the Holy Spirit’s power we can propagate the glory of Jesus to those around us.

Dear Father God. Thank You for the plan for the salvation of mankind, a plan that involved Your Son Jesus. We worship You today. Amen.

Another Baptism

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.””
John 1:32-34 NLT

In John 1:33, John introduced another baptism, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. While he was baptising the people in the Jordan, he was on the lookout for the One who was the baptiser with the Holy Spirit. And sure enough, it happened. John saw something that no-one else did – the “Holy Spirit descending like a dove”, and resting upon the head of Jesus. The implication of this can be missed or overlooked in Christian circles, but without that Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence, no Christian can realise their full potential in God. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit occasionally fell upon someone and they were empowered to do some task as God ordained. But in the New Testament we find that people were permanently indwelt with the Holy Spirit. This was something that Jesus promised, as we read in John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you“. And then, just as Jesus was about to leave Planet Earth, He said to His disciples, “John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”(Acts 1:5). 

The Holy Spirit is offered by God as a gift for everyone who believes in Jesus, and He said that the Holy Spirit is available for everyone who asks. Luke 11:13, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him“. The Holy Spirit empowers all believers in the ministries they have been assigned. He constantly supplies gifts and He helps us in our needs. In other places the Holy Spirit is likened to rivers of living water, refreshing our very souls. 

So, pilgrim, have you received this baptism in the Holy Spirit? A believer without the indwelling Holy Spirit is like a car without any petrol. The car might look very nice and shiny, and be packed full of all the technology ever needed, but it won’t go far until it has been refuelled. So it is with us pilgrims. We need a constant supply of Heavenly resources, supplied through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Father God. We pray for more of Your Spirit to fill us to overflowing, equipping us to be Your beacons in a sad world. Amen.

The Other John

Posted on by Adrian Clark

”God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.“
John 1:6-9 NLT

John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin, and was born to elderly parents, as we read in Luke 1:7, ”They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old”. But John’s dad, Zechariah, had an angelic encounter and was told he was going to have a son, ”But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John” (Luke 1:13). Zechariah received some amazing information about his coming son in the following verses, such as “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth” and “he will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah”. Luke also wrote that John would “prepare the people for the coming of the Lord”.  John’s coming was foretold by the prophet Isaiah, “Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! (Isaiah 40:3).

The Jews in those days were very much aware that there had been no prophetic voices for 400 years, ever since the prophet Malachi. No messages from God. No encouragement that He was even there. And to make things worse, the people were oppressed by the occupying Romans. The fiercely independent Jews longed for the day when they had their own country again. John lived his adult years in the desert eating “locusts and wild honey”, and then there was the day when he emerged into history dressed like an Old Testament prophet in coarse camel hair and a leather belt. His message was simple, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2). And, in true Old Testament prophet style, he denounced the religious leaders for their hypocrisy and self-righteousness. But John’s mission was also to introduce Jesus. He said, “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matthew 3:11). Later on in Matthew’s Gospel we read that the people thought John was a prophet, and some even the coming Messiah. John’s life was tragically cut short by the wishes of an evil woman; he left this world violently, as many of the Jewish prophets did. But his ministry had achieved what God desired – he introduced Jesus, the Messiah. What a privilege!

What do we pilgrims learn from John? His zealous commitment to share the Good News of Jesus was total. It didn’t matter to him what others thought, he just did what God had commissioned him to do. The message for us pilgrims is the same. We are commissioned to tell the Good News about Jesus. Of course, we can’t all step into John the Baptist’s shoes, though some of us will be called to a special role to fulfil God’s plans. But we are all called, like John, to a life dedicated to God. We don’t know, but the next person we share the Gospel with might become the next Billy Graham. We all have our own unique places in our towns, our cities, our communities, and we pray that God will lead us to the next divine encounter, where another child of God is born.

Dear Father God. Lead us to divine encounters we pray, so that we can share the Good News of Jesus. Thank You. Amen.

Twisting Scripture

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.”
2 Peter 3:15-16 NLT

Almost as an aside, Peter rushes to the defence of his spiritual brother Paul, who was a trail blazer when it came to theology in the early years after Jesus was crucified. Paul’s life was overturned on the Damascus Road, and regarding his message, we read in Galatians 1:12, “I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.” In the first and second chapters in Paul’s Galatians letter we get a hint of the preparatory process Paul went through before he was able to set out that “direct revelation from Jesus Christ”, and God’s plan for mankind, but it was, at that time, probably so radical, particularly to Jews, that he suffered much abuse, not only because of his message, but also his theology. People in his day misinterpreted what he said, and, as Peter wrote, “twisted his letters to mean something quite different”. But the same process goes on today. 

The Bible is not difficult to understand. The Gospel message is perhaps too simple for some. The problem is that when we get to a passage or verse of Scripture, that might not fit in with our sinful world view, we try and make it say something that it doesn’t. The Bible was written over many years and the last contribution to it was nearly two thousand years ago. In those days the culture was different. The geography was different. In our technological age, however, Western Christians are sometimes left puzzling over what God thinks, but the answers we seek are in the Bible somewhere, if only we look. A modern approach to Scripture involves “liberal” thought, where people miss out or reinterpret Biblical truths to suit their own point of view, or try and make it more palatable, so they think, to the secular society around them. So someone of a particular sexual orientation will ignore what difficult verses say. Jesus’ teaching about marriage makes some people feel uncomfortable, so they say it was for that culture but it doesn’t apply today. And then we find the Anglican bishop who even denied that the virgin birth actually happened.

As an aside, an Anglican vicar, David Goodhew, summed up the dangers of liberal theology, when he said, “churches trimming faith to fit in with culture have tended to shrink, and those offering a ‘full-fat’ faith, vividly supernatural, have tended to grow.” A religious observer, commenting on the previous quote, wrote, “Christianity is not dying – rather, it is becoming more conservative. Congregants don’t want to be preached to about politics. What they want is the full-fat version of faith.” There is no point in going to a church that has effectively become secular in what it offers to society around them. We can find all the secularism we want in the local pub. Only Bible believing churches will survive, because they regard the Bible, in its entirety, as the inspired and eternal Word of God. Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever“.

Paul aptly summed up the Bible when he wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We ignore this verse at our peril, something that Peter emphasised, as he wrote that life for those twisting Scripture will not end well. And the same end is waiting for those who ignore the parts of Scripture that fail to fit in with secular thought.

To avoid misinterpreting Scripture we must rely on the Holy Spirit within us to lead and guide us and bring to our minds exactly what God intended. So we precede reading a difficult passage with a prayer, and we allow the Holy Spirit to do what Paul wrote, teaching “us to do what is right”. And we definitely don’t ignore those Bible passages that challenge us.

Dear Father God. We pray for Your Spirit to open our eyes to the truths embedded in Your Word. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Make Every Effort

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.”
2 Peter 3:14 NLT

Peter starts off this verse with a passive “wait”. As we pilgrims look forward to the new heavens and earth, we wait. I don’t suppose we have any choice, because only God knows the future and will make things happen according to His plans and purposes. But in that we can play our part. The previous verses in 2 Peter 3 implied that we have a role in hurrying along the coming “day of God”. We pray, we share our messages of hope, we praise and worship the coming King. We do all we can and we wait, but Peter came up with another specific requirement. He wrote “make every effort” to do something else – “to be found living …”. We need to get ready for the coming Lord, and in an active way that will impact every remaining moment of our lives. 

Firstly, Peter wrote that we should be found “living peaceful lives”. That has two element to it – living at peace with those around us, but more challenging perhaps, living at peace with ourselves. The first is perhaps one in which we can work at quite easily. We avoid doing anything that will upset anyone else. Paul wrote in Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men“. The writer to the Hebrews went a step further, “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). It will take effort, but it is achievable. There will of course always be those looking for a fight, but as the Proverb says, “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare” (Proverbs 15:1). With the Holy Spirit within us, we are empowered to live at peace with those around us. So when we face a difficult situation, we pray for the right response. When someone provokes us, we remain silent. When we have the opportunity to stand up for ourselves, perhaps if wrongly accused, we gently and non-confrontationally, state our case. When Jesus was before Pilate, we read in Matthew 27:12, “But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent“. Jesus also said, “And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said” (Luke 12:11-12). So as far as we are able, we live at peace with those around us.

But, secondly, what about inner peace? There is a worldly route to inner peace and tranquillity, the “gurus” will claim, through meditation, mindfulness, the use of therapists and other strange and, in the end, useless methods. There is only one route to inner peace, peace with ourselves, and that is through Jesus. He is the Prince of Peace. Inner peace is wholeness in mind and spirit, and it includes our consciences. Many people suffer dreadfully from a lack of inner peace because they are full of guilt and their consciences are constantly nagging them, dragging them down. They can become ill with symptoms caused by their mental chaos. So they end up with a psychiatrist who may help for a while, but in the end it is only God who can heal an inflamed and enraged conscience. Confession and restitution can work wonders in restoring an inner peace. In the world around us there is much that can cause us anxiety and destroy that inner peace. Wars, political instability, secular ideologies and so on. But these are all temporary phenomena and boulders put there by the enemy to trip us up and destroy our peace. We pilgrims look beyond the circumstances at the horizon where we see the emerging light of a new dawn. 

Peter wrote that our lives must be “pure and blameless in his sight”. It’s all about holiness and there is a connection with peace. Our lives must be found to be holy in His sight and there is only one way – Jesus. We reach out again to Him today, connecting with the Prince of Peace, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, our wonderful Saviour.

Dear Prince of Peace. We thank You for Your words of eternal life, bringing us a future and a hope. Amen.

‭‭

Supernatural Beings

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings.”
2 Peter 2:10-11 NLT

We pilgrims have all met them. People who “scoff at supernatural beings” denying that anything spiritual actually exists. They deny there is such a thing as God or the devil. And they certainly deny angels exist. Their office bravado is delivered to impress their fellow workers with their boldness and courage. While they are at it, they deny the existence of anything ghostly or unexplained. The word “scoff” is a good one, as it captures their behaviour exactly. 

But the “supernatural beings” referred to by Peter seem to be fallen angels, or demons, because if they were the angels in Heaven, Peter would have said so. The evil angels are being held in a place called Tartarus, as we read in 2 Peter 2:4, “For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell [Tartarus], in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment“. Perhaps some of these fallen angels have been incarcerated, but others are still free to roam, as demons. But the meaning of 2 Peter 2:11 is not very clear, although there are several theories around.

Practically, however, what do we pilgrims think of angels and demons? Relevant to our everyday lives, or myths from a by-gone and more superstitious age? Because they are not in our faces every day, we perhaps neglect to consider them too seriously, but in days gone by the impact of the supernatural, and in particular, evil forces, had a negative impact on society. If something strange, or even tragic happened to someone in those days, then the blame game would have started, with spells and curses from malevolent spirits coming into the picture. The Bible is clear, however, and Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places“. The picture emerges of an unseen and powerful enemy who is out to get anyone who sides with God. 

We know from Revelation 12:7-9 that demons originated in Heaven, “Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels“. Because there can be no sin in Heaven, the spiritual beings of angelic origin could no longer live there, so the only other place they could find was on earth, to the detriment of the human race. Peter warned us, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). 

We “scoff at spiritual beings” at our peril. There’s nothing the devil likes more than to find the people he  wants to destroy in denial. People who don’t think there is a devil or demons, are adopting a dangerous strategy. We are very familiar with God’s armour, as we read in Ephesians 6. We are well equipped for every demonic eventuality, and in the end we follow Peter’s advice, “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. … ” (1 Peter 5:9). Great advice to follow in this sad and bad world.

We pray to our Heavenly Father. He loves us. He cares for us. He wants the best for us. But the devil and his minions want the opposite. However, we have no reason to buckle under the enemy’s attack. We read in 1 John 4:4 “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world“. Victory is ours and when we find ourselves oppressed and struck down, we remember that we’re on the winning side, even if the circumstances around us say differently.

Dear Father God. We pray for Your love and presence to surround us like a cloak. Close to You there is nothing to be afraid of. Amen.

Heresies

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.”
2 Peter 2:1 NLT

In this, the second chapter of 2 Peter, the old disciple warned his readers about false teachers and false prophets. He wasn’t the only one who could see a problem coming down the tracks. Jesus Himself warned about such people. We read in Matthew 24:23-25, “Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. See, I have warned you about this ahead of time.” Jesus’ warning came in the middle of His discourse on the End Times, but this wasn’t going to be the only time for falsities. They can happen at anytime. The Book of Jude, just a short letter, is almost exclusively devoted to “The Danger of False Teachers”. In Jude 1:3-4 we read, “Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvellous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” 

So what are the false teachings, the heresies, that can trip up a believer? Peter called them “destructive”, and they were delivered in a clever way to deceive true believers. Early heresies on record include ones like Docetism, which maintained that Jesus did not really have a human body. Instead He was Spirit, and only appeared to have a physical body. But the Gospels clearly recorded that Jesus ate with His disciples after His resurrection. We read in Luke 24:38-43, ““Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet. Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.” A clear confirmation that Jesus did in fact experience a bodily resurrection.

Another heresy was Gnosticism, adherents of which believed that they had to have access to a higher truth known only to a favoured few, and salvation came from finding this divine knowledge, freeing them from the consequences of sin. Paul wrote about being saved by God’s grace alone. Ephesians 2:8-9, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it“. 

We pilgrims know that the only source of infallible truth is the Bible. I meet people from time to time who maintain that the Bible is out of date and needs re-writing to bring it up to date. But they miss the whole point, which is, the Bible, and only the Bible, is the inspired and true Word of God. Sadly, sects emerge who try and rewrite parts of the Bible to fit in with their own particular doctrines. In this respect, the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to mind.

So we pilgrims have a responsibility to maintain the purity of our faith. And the only way in which this can happen is through a knowledge of the Bible. If we are told something new, or in a way that we do not recognise, we must check it out. If there is a falseness in what we hear, then it will not sit easily with the truth that we know through the Holy Spirit within us. We need to emulate the people of Berea. Acts 17:11, “And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth“. One way that error can creep into the church is through social media and channels such as YouTube. It is easy to find a video about something in the Bible that extrapolates what we know in Scripture to fill in any gaps in our knowledge. I recently started to watch a video about Noah’s Ark which tried to determine how big it was, where it ended up and so on. Many scientific and archaeological facts were included. It all looked very plausible and may have been harmless enough, but it is through such channels that subtle “facts” can be introduced into our thinking that aren’t in the Bible. In another example, I recently heard a sermon in which the preacher proposed a theory as to why Jesus didn’t heal all the sick people lying under the colonnades around the Pool of Bethesda (the story is in John 5). It was a perfectly plausible and harmless part of the message but what was said wasn’t actually backed up by Scripture.

We pilgrims must also be careful about taking Bible verses out of context or in isolation. I recently watched a well-known Christian author saying that the 1 Thessalonian 4 story of what we call the Rapture will happen before Christians experience the worst of the End Times, and so world events just now, with all the wars and atrocities being committed, shouldn’t be of concern. A great encouraging message, but such a teaching doesn’t really fit in so well with the End Times account in Revelation, and the part believers will experience. 

Peter warned his readers to beware of heresies, a warning that we pilgrims would do well to listen to and act upon. And in the process, we must be careful what we say to others because the life of a false teacher will not end well.

Dear Father God. Teach us, we pray, only the truth that You want us to hear, and we pray for protection from error. In Jesus’ name. Amen.