Romans 6:6-7, Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

Many view slavery to sin as analogous to a machine and a driver. A machine has no will of its own, being completely dominated and controlled by the driver, who turns it on, moves the handles, expects response from the machine, and turns it back off. This is the “life” of a machine; its state of being without a will, without the ability to choose, shows a true example of passivity. Many unbelievers and believers alike have embraced the philosophy toward the slavery of sin wherein sin is the driver and the unbeliever or believer is nothing more than a machine. Sin has complete control over the unbeliever or the believer, who in turn must yield to its dictates. This view of life is soul killing in that it strips man of all hope. If one cannot choose, why even get out of bed? Why keep moving forward to a pre-determined judgment? When those in the world say that their sexual orientation is pre-determined, they have just confessed to being a hopeless machine slave. To convince a believer that he has an addiction is to persuade him that he has no choice. What, then, is there to do but allow sin to turn his switch to on, move him in its direction, and turn him off at its bidding? Oddly, the heterosexual is told that he or she can say no to sex, but the homosexual cannot.

We are not machines, and sin is not the driver. Unlike the piece of machinery, we have free will. However, our Creator, the Master, has set the parameters of our choices. Though thus limited in our choices, we still have choice. As a slave a person can work or not work, live or be killed, eat or not eat, sin or not sin, love or not love. There is a lot that a slave can do and a lot that a slave cannot do. Certainly he cannot leave. Spiritually, sin might be the master, but still the person can choose to do good (follow the Law) or choose to sin (disobey the Law). Now, sin does not sit on a believer or unbeliever controlling; instead, sin manipulates by appealing to pride and the desires of the flesh. Sin cannot control; it is not allowed to do so. Sin gets its adrenaline rush from manipulating someone to choose against God, choose sin, or choose the keeping of the Law. Anyone can simply say “no” to sin. I have seen and met unbelievers that one day said “no” to this or that sin; they meant it and it stuck. How much more empowered is the believer? Sin is a big annoyance, it has the power to deceive, and it is relentless. When someone is the slave of sin, all choices are calculated by sin to serve sin. However, the capability is still there to choose, or how could an unbeliever choose Christ? Once Christ is chosen, a person is taken out of the dominion of sin and placed in the Kingdom of God. He is still a slave (serving a wonderful Master!). However, the parameters are much grander and the choices far more varied. A slave still must choose. We read in John 5:19, “the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” Jesus did do something; He chose to do nothing on His own. That is not passivity.

I once finished a meeting and was verbally attacked by another. I did something: I prayed, I listened, I rested, and I heard nothing from Jesus, so I said nothing. It appeared to others that I did nothing, but I was actually doing a lot of choosing. As a slave of righteousness, I can do a lot of choosing. At other times I have actively done nothing by waiting and listening, and He spoke. In those instances I spoke what I heard, and it was redemptive, as Jesus always is. Again, it is soul killing if as a believer I think I am a machine without free will. I am a slave to Christ, but I do not just sit around waiting for Jesus to get in the driver’s seat. I work within the parameters He has set for me, his slave, and I have so many choices and freedoms that He actually calls me His friend, His beloved, His brother, and His bride. This slave must put one foot in front of the other and walk by faith. This slave must deny his lying emotions. There are many things that my Master will not do for me, because it is His will that I do them for myself, and I am to obey my beautiful Master. What a wonderful kingdom is His; what a great day it is to be a slave. Now, the old slave died, so sin can no longer lay any claim whatsoever on me as a believer. If sin wants to grab back the old slave, it will just end up with a handful of spiritual dust.

In my own life it is during walks that God most often speaks to me. “You are selfish! How? By spending so much time thinking about yourself! But how? You are to set your mind on the things above. But you set your mind on the things below. The things below are not just sin. The things below include questioning past behaviors, decisions, wondering if you were a good father, a good husband, how much of the work was Mike-inspired and how much was God-inspired. These things come from below. And what are they to Me? If you did good in the morning, give God the glory. If you did bad, confess, but don’t bring it into the now. When your eyes are set above, you will be filled, and next your eyes will be on others. It is selfish to spend that much time on self.” Next a message came. Jesus is not a general with troops walking in lock step, fearful of making the wrong move. Jesus is the Shepherd, and He leads. He leads, and the sheep do what is natural. I had to ask myself the question, what do I do naturally? I disciple, lecture, and write. I could see that the sheep also eat the grass that looks good to them while the Shepherd leads. I am free to pick the grass while I am doing what I do naturally. What freedom! I can pick the grass I like; not all sheep pick the same grass. I can pick to go to Ukraine, Latvia, or anywhere if it looks good to me. For at the end of the day and the end of the year, I will have been led through what I do naturally to the exact spot I should be. Every believer is led to the exact spot. Now to receive freedom, we must have faith. Unbelief will always emphasize man’s role in getting to the right place in life by listening, plotting, seeking, trying to understand, and deciphering the signs. Is it good? Is it my wants or His wants? What will happen if I make a wrong move? It is bondage, but we think about it. Is it not truly simple because God is so big? As I finished my walk there was one more lesson. It glorifies God that we walk with Him because we want to. In that last day we will all stand before Him, and God can proclaim, “You chose to be here.” God does everything permissible to help us make the right choice. He will close all doors but one; however, ultimately walking through that one is our choice. He does everything He can to push us to the right place. I could see that all of creation had been stayed by the hand of God. Every tree and rock, if given the freedom to do so, would burst out with His praise. Jesus said the rocks were ready to shout, and David said the trees clap their hands. But God will only allow nature to whisper of its Creator, for any more would infringe on choice. But every created thing is proclaiming Jesus.

I Cor. 1: 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Sometimes it is comical to watch the world and its wisdom. Leaders sit in their meetings acting as though the weight of the world is on their shoulders and it will be their wisdom and cooperation that will make for a better world. They actually, in their pride, believe themselves to be the sharpest knives in the drawer. They never really help people, and the facts have proven it, for the issues with which man is haunted are not addressed. Nothing is said about relationships with God, with family, or with self. Since they have no insight into the important things of life, they try to convince us that what they do know are the real issues of life. It is folly, for the foolishness of God is much greater than the wisdom of man. Jesus has the answer, believers have the answer, and we must not allow ourselves to be brainwashed.

A lie can produce physical symptoms in a person.

“The father of lies”
I was being told of many people in Africa, believers and unbelievers alike, who suffered afflictions put on them by demons. I can understand a demon’s dwelling in an unbeliever; however, nowhere does any writer of the New Testament–despite dealing with a variety of sins, behaviors, and problems—refer to the casting out of demons as a way of deliverance for a believer. Paul had to deal with immorality, idol worship, and all the deeds of the flesh. His solution was to point people back to Jesus. Here there are visible signs of demonic attack among many of the believers: wounds, sores, and a variety of ailments that have beset them because of the demonic. However, I don’t think Satan is the primary cause of such oppression. Satan is the father of lies. When a father and mother divorce, the father is given a piece of paper that gives him the legal right to visit his children. A lie is Satan’s child; if you invite in a lie, Satan has the legal right to come and visit it. A lie can produce physical symptoms in a person. This is most obvious in the Aboriginal culture of Australia, wherein a witch doctor can “point the bone” at a man and the bone will start to grow in the man until it kills him. Doctors, though, have found a solution; they will give the man a local anesthesia, make a large cut, put on butterfly stitches, and give the man some unrelated random piece of bone as if it had been removed. At that the man gets well. The man had received a lie that manifested itself in physical symptoms that would lead to death. The same is taking place in Africa. Remove the lie and both Satan and the physical symptoms will leave. The lie that needs to be removed is that Satan has more power than God. The people have been taught this through parents, culture, and experience, and they have received it. Because of this false concept of God, the lie is received that Satan can harm the elect, a lie that is used by the enemy to steal joy, confidence, and victory. I would recommend that the focus on Satan might be removed and all such lies invited out, so the Christ within can flow freely to fill the void, and the father of lies can have no legal right to visit. Some believers focus on Satan and deliverance for the removal of the symptoms, and it is better to get deliverance from the source of all freedom, which is Christ. It is important that we all guard against any part of the lie that Christ is weak. Again, the revelation of the truth of Christ will fill the void left when the lie leaves, and the symptoms will go.

The way to life is narrow and will take a narrow mind.

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” –Jesus Christ, John 12:32
Isn’t it interesting that so many things are contagious rather than received because they inspire belief? If a church is having great success at bringing in believers from the other churches, pastors and committees flock there to discover and imitate the program. Sometimes the program is quite complex. Everything must be timed to the minute. Songs must be ordered in such a way as to lead people to worship. The facility must be user friendly, and the latest pet social ill must be addressed with the utmost sensitivity. Well, amen! An old friend of mine, whose pastor was on to a new church growth plan, stopped him by saying, “This plan costs too much and is too complex!” At that the pastor answered, “Don’t you see that both parking lots are full?” The old man responded, “The parking lot at Walmart is full every Sunday, too. Now here is my plan for growth. It is simple and doesn’t cost money. ‘If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me!’” The pastor shook his head and walked off, but what the old man said was true! We do so much work, when a focus on the crucified/resurrected Savior would ensure that He did the drawing. I am sick of the work of drawing. If God gets all the glory, then He does all the work. To hear many evangelists speak, you would think that they are doing the drawing. They have yet to learn the difference between a crowd and an audience. A fellow said to me the other day, “Wells, you know all the repetition of your message isn’t keeping people away; it’s why we come. I like hearing that Jesus is everything.” I know, then, that it is Jesus Who will draw the people. However, this simplicity takes faith; unbelief will always make things complex. The way to life is narrow and will take a narrow mind. Man will not enter in through the broad way or a broad mind. The narrow mind believes the simplest of things.

“Peace, peace, where else could I go for peace but Jesus?”

Sadu Sundar Singh had one word that kept him at the feet of Jesus, something that every Hindu seeks, in vain, to find. It is the Hindu word for peace. In Jesus he had found peace. When questioned about his faith by the Hindus, he would often say, “Peace, peace, where else could I go for peace but Jesus?” The old man in Eastern Nepal, the one God worked through to bring Christ to that remote area, had a different word. His word was revelation. Jesus had brought him revelation, and nowhere else could he go to find revelation. Revelation (knowledge of the heart instead of the head) was something that could only be found in Christ. Upon being beaten and left for dead for preaching, he would not surrender his preaching and acknowledge any but Jesus. His reason: “Where would I go for revelation?” I was traveling with one of my Indian teachers, told him of the two men, and asked what word did he have. Without hesitation he spoke, “Because! Because He went down, I have gone up. Because He died, I live. Because He experienced hell, I will experience heaven. Simply because. The word because is keeping me near.” So what is your word? What is the word that keeps you at His feet? My word is “welcome.” I remember being in His presence, and there was so much going through my mind for which I was thankful, for which I had been forgiven, and all that He had done through me. Before I could say a word, He spoke to me, “Welcome.” I didn’t have to say a word; I was welcome! Everything was okay! Then He said it a second time, “Welcome,” but the meaning was different. He was welcoming me into His presence, into participation with His Son, and into the revelation of His Son. Again, I was “welcome!” It is a little word but it means so much to me. He is happy to say, “Welcome,” to me. “Welcome” keeps me at His feet. When I asked Betty, she had one word, “here.” He is always “here,” wherever, and will never leave nor forsake us. Because He is “here” we have everything. Well, there are many words that believers have sent me. What is your word?

Psalmes 89: 46“How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever?”
There are certain temperaments that see general communication as a waste of time. Many just hate to play what they see as the people game. On the other extreme is the person that is uncomfortable with quietness, though it can reveal a lot about a person. Just be quiet and let a person keep talking, and soon you will learn many things. This is why I believe that God is often quiet; He waits to see what comes out of my heart when He is quiet. His quietness will not create something in my heart, but it will reveal something. Often I see believers experiencing the quietness of God and beginning to complain, moving into unbelief, and almost immediately looking for another option. These things have always been within them, but quietness revealed them. Sometimes when the Lord is quiet it is good to be quiet yourself and see what comes out of Him. You will be amazed.

I John 1:22, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?” Every believer must be prepared for the day when they are accused of being a false teacher or a cult leader. It has happened to me. I have started nearly every conference with the admonition that everything I say is not true. I am a man in process and make mistakes. However, the one thing I always will say in a conference that is truth is that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As Ray says, “I know what I am saying, but I am never sure of what people are hearing.” Sometimes I say the wrong thing, sometimes I am wrong, and other times I am misunderstood. However, there are those with an agenda to discredit the message of abiding in Christ moment by moment by discrediting me. Each word written or uttered is examined to confirm a pre-established bias. These believers, like Saul, want to stir up the crowd, have them lay their robes at their feet, and stone any who don’t agree with them 100%. They throw around words such as cult, false teacher, and heretic. Honestly, that is a bit harsh an assessment of one who teaches there is nothing but Jesus that matters. I have often said to those who are looking for something with which to discredit me that if they will simply sit down with me, I would give them a list. I have been negative, I have not always abided in Christ, I have walked in the flesh, I have judged, I have been bitter, I have not walked in love, and the list goes on. But then again, knowing my own frailty is why there is no record of my ever trying to get anyone to follow me. My emphasis is consistently to follow Jesus. Well, amen, false judgments must come, and some with a vengeance.

There is a purpose in being judged falsely.

When someone you love is falsely accused, just respond by talking about Jesus.

What am I to do? First, I must see God in it. David looked at the man on the hill cursing and spitting and refused to allow the man to be harmed, because he wondered if God had not allowed it for a purpose. There is a purpose in being judged falsely. Again, I want to be able to love enemies, but I don’t want any enemies. I want to learn to bless those that curse me without ever having to be cursed. I want to rise above distraction and follow Jesus, but I never want the distractions. Just as Judas delivered up Jesus, and from that treacherous act Life was given to man, so God sends us our own Judas, who in ignorance delivers us up in order that we might discover that the Jesus within is greater than the slander without. If I am not preaching Christ crucified, then in all honesty I want God to remove me from the lives of others. But if I am preaching Christ, I will let God deal with the detractor on the hill. Second, I cannot allow the judgments of the carnal to become my focus. This is the most demonic side of accusations, that a hitherto unknown person might actually steal our focus away from Jesus. In a worse case scenario, assuming what is being said is true, health would come from a glance back to Jesus, not a prolonged look at and dialogue with the detractor. Therefore, when I am attacked, don’t be surprised if I go silent and start talking all the more about Jesus. I don’t want to waste time defending myself. All that we have done at ALMI has been in the open. To win the alliance of an accuser is not a victory! By attacking me and making me his focus, the accuser proves that he doesn’t agree with the message of keeping our focus on Jesus. Third, this is where those who love me come in. They can help by not defending me to anyone. I am God’s servant, so send those who accuse to the Master of the servant. The servant is not greater than the Master; the Master is all that matters. We defend the preaching of Jesus, always. We defend the messenger, never. When we start defending someone we love, our flesh is stirred, our focus moves from Jesus, our peace departs, and our accuser has accomplished the goal of the Accuser of the Brethren. This is the most difficult thing for me; I can stand to be slandered, but I can’t stand seeing those I love slandered. It is important that we do not defend men, for it is always a trap the enemy has set. When someone you love is falsely accused, just respond by talking about Jesus. Our goal is Jesus. Remember, a detractor’s job is to detract you from Jesus to a lesser issue. Fourth and finally, I want to have compassion for those who make false judgments. I have done it myself. I have gotten everything wrong. Having this in my past, I can say with complete confidence that I would rather be the one being judged than the one doing the judging. The one being judged can come away sweet, but the one involved with judging will always go away depleted and under the judgment of God.

None of us have flesh that wants to die for the sins of others.

II Cor. 4: 7-12, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12So death works in us, but life in you.
Col. 1:24, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.
What an odd thing for Paul to say, “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions,” and yet every believer should be able to say this very thing. In the fullness of time, Jesus came and died for all sins past, present, and those in the future. We are now in Jesus, and Jesus is in us. Therefore, we share in Him in every way. His salvation is ours, His victory is ours, and the fellowship that He has with the Father is ours. But so is His suffering for sin. There are many days in which a believer will die for the sins of others. We experience the death that has come from the sins of those who have long ago passed away from the presence of the earth. I can’t walk about Africa or India without seeing and experiencing the sins of those who hundreds of years ago oppressed the people. We wear those sins. In the present, we suffer because of the sins of those in our society. The disgruntled teen shoots a gun in your window. And one day we will see the sins of the future. In a simple practical illustration, an automobile driver cuts in front of you and is cursing you. Your response is to bless those who curse you, so you just wore the other’s sin. Someone in your family offends you, it is unmerited, and you take it, die, bury it, and say nothing. You have suffered for that one’s sin. The rebellious child sneaks out and in pride is quite happy, and yet the parent hurts and wears the sin. We don’t want to die for the sins of others. We don’t want our flesh to share with His and come under the cross. We want to rebel against the injustice. But we must, and we must learn to do it in Him joyfully. Until His return, as long is He is on this earth in the form of His body, the Church, the eternal now will bear in His body afflictions. We are that body and must bear these afflictions. I remember the man in Africa and the story of his vision. He was in heaven, invited to eat at Jesus’ table, where there was food that wasn’t exactly food. There was a bowl of Christ’s righteousness, a plate of Christ’s love, or a bowl of Christ’s holiness. He sat down, intending to eat, but instead looked at Jesus and immediately began to curse Him. He thought to himself, I must have a demon! However, Jesus knew what was in his mind, looked at him, and said, “You don’t have a demon, it is your flesh not wanting to come under my control. Sit and eat; it will be quieted!” None of us have flesh that wants to die for the sins of others. However, it must if we are to rejoice. When we are offended unjustly, we must bear that sin, that affliction, and that suffering. It is all part of being in Him.