Bad Memory is Godliness

“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgression for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins,” Isaiah 43:25.

There are two things in the passage that strike me. We are made in the image of God, Who says, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake.” When those to whom you minister, those who minister to you, those you minister with, and those to whom you will never minister do something to hurt you, the thought of the transgression can haunt you for years. It only takes a name being brought up, an event of the past, or a painful experience to renew the transgression. If the hurtful person completely disappears from the scene, never to be heard of again, he can still take up residency in your head and heart. As I often note, the purpose of forgiveness in the Bible is restoration. However, there are those who do not want restoration; hence, they would see no need for forgiveness. There are relationships I have tried to restore in the past by asking for forgiveness, only to be told of more offenses and to stay away. For my own good, I need to forget. Oh, to able to forget, to wipe out a transgression, to remember the sins no longer, just for our own sakes. When I got married, Betty quickly realized what was ahead of her, for each day I would ask, “Have you seen my keys? Have you seen my wallet?” Everything would shut down while we looked. Then a few years ago I got glasses, and we have added them to the list of things that are lost daily, along with a cell phone and the key to the mailbox. You get the picture. “Betty, have you seen my keys, wallet, glasses, phone, and key to the mailbox?” One day, justifiably, she said, “Can’t you remember anything?” I jokingly said, “Forgetfulness is a sign of godliness. Only God could wipe out transgressions and remember no more, and we are in His image. I am glad that in His image, I can forget. I just do not want to remember everything from my past, and if not being able to remember where my keys are is part of not remembering, then it is a fair tradeoff.” You can see why I can be difficult to live with! However, to forget is a great blessing. Research (if it can ever be trusted) says that the average person only loses about 10% of the ability to remember. The difference is that past age 60 it takes more physical effort to correct the forgetfulness. In the younger years, we forgot the mail and thought nothing of running back to get it. In the older years the extra effort is a frustration. My grandfather used to complain about his memory loss, and I would remind him that I had worked with him most of my life and never remembered his having a razor-sharp memory, only now it was annoying him. Start this day knowing that the Lord wipes out your transgressions for His own good. He does not want to think about your failures all day long, so why should you? Second, He does not remember your sin; it is the enemy coming from your past. Guilt is the undertaker’s best friend.

Many Religions and One Faith

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” (Eph. 4:5)

While traveling in a remote area of India, we were passing by an estimated 500,000 pilgrims walking barefooted (up to 500 miles) toward the temple of Shiva that rested on top of a mountain. Many had bloodied and blistered feet. Once they reached the temple, their heads would be shaved and they would receive a bit of sandalwood paste that had fallen off of an idol. Drinking the paste in a mixture would secure the favor of Shiva, and they would get the desire of their heart. Not long afterward I found myself in Tibet, where the pilgrims were falling forward to reach the great temples of Buddha. Some had come as far as 300 miles in this manner; they would stand, make a praying motion with their hands, and fall forward. While lying prostrate, they stretched out as far as they could and placed a piece of paper at the end of their fingertips; this was the marker for where they were to stand next and fall forward. Men, old women, and children alike, were working their way to Lhasa by the length of their bodies. Some even had callused foreheads. These types of activities are played out around the world.

We often look at the passage in Ephesians where Paul mentions that there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism and apply it to the Christian Church. However, it must be viewed in a broader sense. Taken as a whole, the world brandishes very many religions, but there is only one faith. Religion, as it is most easily defined, is success resting at the feet of man. All religions have this in common, even the Christian religion, for it becomes a religion when the enemy and the flesh of man move focus away from the work of God to the work of man. I visited an Orthodox Religion “church” building in India after visiting several Hindu temples. I turned to my friend and said, “Do you think a Hindu would feel the least bit uncomfortable in this Orthodox religion?” He replied, “No, the Hindu would have everything he needs here: candles, icons, idols, a secret place for priests, gold altars, and more.” The common thread of religions–that success rests in man’s effort–is often accompanied by the tantalizing hope for success through somehow twisting the arm of the false god to get a favor. In contrast, there is only one faith, so never let it be said that people belong to different faiths; they only belong to different religions. The one faith is faith in the only God, His only Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

The success of the one faith ends at the feet of God, who loved us and gave us His son. God works in us, Christ moved into us and is our life, and the Holy Spirit makes the things of God and Jesus not only reasonable but also doable in His power. It is all about the accomplished and ongoing work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Move from the one faith that believes in what God does, period, and move into an obsession with self and what men must do, and find one of the most miserable religions in the world, which is Christianity without Christ.

Prophets

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10).

I have constantly run into prophets in the course of traveling these many years. In these times, prophets are increasing, and I wanted to pass on to you some observations.

1. The real deal. I love those guys; they are purely Christ-centered and point to Jesus in a Spirit-empowered way. They would not let someone spend one second talking about them, for they are pointing to another, Jesus. Many times I cannot remember the names of these brothers who have impacted my life in so many ways, because they were consumed with Christ. Just as with Jesus, there is nothing psychopathic about them! They are not into dreams or visions, their teaching is in the realm of real life, and they are very natural. Also like Jesus, they are defined by their refusals. They refuse to proclaim themselves, to crush anyone, or to further discourage the already downhearted. There are relatively very few of these, but they have been a great source of encouragement to me.

2. False Prophets. I have met only a couple. They were shocking in that they were actually “speaking on behalf of God” and leading people away from Jesus into blatant sin. They can be found in many mainline and orthodox type churches. They are authoritarians who present to believers spiritual and intellectual contentions that right is wrong and wrong is right. These fellows will consistently be trouble.

3. Those that enjoy the title of Prophet. Africa and India are full of these brothers wanting a title, like an American might want to flash around a Ph.D. They generally do some ministry but want to be set apart as having a higher calling and a perceived authority. Many times I do not think they have any idea of what a prophet is; it just sounds better than being a servant. I do not mind these fellows. Generally, after they introduce themselves they do get on with the work of sharing Christ.

4. The neurotic. They are quite common in the West and the “prophets” with which I have had the misfortune of having the most dealing. They are people that have had heaps of childhood rejection, everything from a vicious father to no father. Generally their temperament is Thinker, and at some point they committed suicide of the personality. They do not like who they are in real life, they have had very few successes, and they are not the kind of persons others would naturally gravitate toward. In short, no one would put them in charge of a company. These rejection cases have found a form of Christian religion enabling them to impose, for the first time in their lives, some power and influence over weak believers. They have a deep self-hatred and attempt to manipulate through their special “prophetic” gifting to attract followers. They need followers to validate their existence, and to keep followers on the hook, they dispense “secrets” slowly; they create a dependency on themselves and away from dependence on Christ. They claim to be hearing God personally for their followers or having visions of heaven that really are of no help to the struggling believer other than to be a short diversion from the realities of life. If questioned or starting to feel deserted, there will be veiled or overt threats concerning God’s judgment and what will happen to the followers if they abandon the “teaching.” Usually there is an obsession with repentance and revelation; often they say they have been given a date for the Lord’s return. The book of Revelation is open to nearly any interpretation, and therefore these “prophets” like to camp there. Remember, a neurotic person builds castles in the sky and a psychotic person moves in. The whole thing can easily become psychotic when the new identity is put in the hub of the wheel and every spoke made to feed it. If people call these deluded people prophets, that proves they are; if people do not agree that they are prophets, then that, too, proves they are. I do not discuss with psychotics their “prophetic call”; I direct them, and therefore I refuse to ask them obvious questions like, “Why is God telling you things about me and He is not telling me Himself?” or “How does the revelation move out of heaven into my home?” These they would immediately use in some distorted way to prove their prophetic gift. It does not help to discuss in any way the prophetic gifting, for in so doing, the beast is being fed. It is best to stick to Jesus and the real need a rejected person has: the revelation of Christ. The psychotic prophet only sees two options: remain a prophet or move back to being a rejected nobody. Our goal is for him to embrace a third option: Become a child of God and glory in the Christ that dwells within. I have seen the Lord break through and get people out of varieties of psychoses.

In the end, let Christ be the Prophet. He will speak truth, lead, guide, intercede, and be the mediator. I believe Jesus will send real prophets our way, and when He does, we will walk away with our heart singing and our eyes on all that Jesus is doing for us.

Contacting ALMI

The International Ministry of ALMI

"Life Line" Newsletter Archives

Following the Cross

Why Did God Create Alcohol?

Blood that Possesses Its Own Life

Don’t Muzzle the Ox

Next Page »