Wannabe Christian Doorman

A lie served up with a truth, can be so much more difficult to see.
I think that I first saw this in a TV programme once.

There were two agencies working on a case, when one wanted to direct the second away from something. They tried to do this by handing over a lie, an altered photograph. But the photo was handed over with other evidence, which was truthful.
When the lie was exposed, the question was asked, as to why was the lie given with the truthful evidence? The answer was very straightforward, “A lie is best served up between two truths.”

The two truths, can tend to validate the lie.
The two truths have proved to be good, and this third one has come from the same source, so, I can trust this one as well then, …. can’t I???

If the third one is actually truth, then yes, you can trust that one as well.
But if it is a lie, then it’s a lie, hidden between two truths.
A lie is a lie, regardless of how many truths it is surrounded by. It just might be more difficult to see, if a truth is standing next to it.

It could be like ground up glass, mixed in with sugar. It may be difficult to see the difference. But if you taste it, the difference will show itself up, very quickly. (Do not test this theory out. That would be a very foolish and dangerous thing to do!)

Why am I going into all this though?

When we hear from Our God, then we are meant to test if it is actually from Our God.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-24

¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.
²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

We can see from the above, that we are meant to test all things. To hold onto the good and to reject every kind of evil. If something is part good, then we should take hold of the good, but let go of the not so good. We need to be careful to not take in something that is wrong, just because it is covered or hidden in something that is good.
We need to be on our guard against things that could lead us astray or cause us harm. If we are unable to separate the two, then would we be that much better off, to just avoid the questionable source altogether?

So where do we look to for how we should act or go?
For us people who call on and look to Our Heavenly Father, He should be, needs to be, the first port of call for who we look to!
His Word, the Bible, is how we can test, to see if the way we are heading is right, or not.

Psalm 119:103-105

¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts;
    therefore I hate every wrong path.

נ Nun

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp for my feet,
    a light on my path.

In today’s modern world, there are so many sources, trying to show or teach us everything. (Or at least, try to.) But how many are leading to a wrong path, whilst masquerading as the sweetest, best thing?
How many sweet words, will turn into the most vile and bitter of aftertastes?

The best way to protect ourselves from wrong thinking, is to know Our Lord God’s words, and His way for us to go, and to then follow His path, that He has laid out for us.

With a title like this one, well, who’s going to read it??? 🙂
I’ll leave the spotlight shinning to The Lord Our God, and hope that He directs those, for who it is meant for.

Are you Grieved?

This was a word that was brought by someone after a week of prayer, not by me. It was brought with a heavy reluctant heart. But the person, who I know to be a man of God, brought it all the same.

I may get some of the details of what was said wrong, but the the question was posed, “Are you Grieved?”
The bits I heard, that may or may not have been said, was, “Are you Grieved, for what you don’t have?”

I believe that this word came to the word bringer, about the same time that I got last week’s post. Will you let the Chaff Fly Away. They could be linked.
Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press, when he was visited by the angel of the LORD (Judges 6:11). Gideon was grieved.
“Where are all the signs and wonders of times gone by?” Was the tone of Gideon’s thoughts. (Judges 6:13)
In some ways they echo my thoughts in the here and now.

Where are all the signs and wonders that SHOULD accompany the preaching of the Gospel?
Where is the Power of, The Lord Our God?
In short, where is the Revival, that we are all waiting for? (Are you waiting for it?)

To them questions, Yes! I am grieved.
I hear and see that there could be, should be soo much more, but for some reason, we are lacking.

Why is this?
Unfortunately, I don’t have the definitive answer.
But, do we need to let the wind, take the chaff away that much more?
Do we need to let go of that, which has so little value, but we cling to all the same?
Do we need to be refined by Our Lord God’s Fire, so that we can then be Pure and Holy so that we can then be, what we are meant to be, in the first place?
Are we willing to go through the fire?
Are we willing to let the wind, take the chaff away?

During the week, another word was spoken. It was a prayer (from Lectio 365 Devotions)
“Lord, I pray for my church. If steadiness has become stagnancy, come and stir us up.
If peacefulness has become sleepiness, come and wake us up.
There is a wide, wild, and wonderful world to explore and to win with you. Help us not to miss it!”

Are we receiving a wake up call?
If we are, then how will we respond to it?

Our Lord God,
Search me and try me.
Seek out if there is any offensive way in me.
Help me, as You refine me.
Let me be, as You want me to be.
Amen.

___________________________________________

Are we too Pleasant to each other? (At times)
Are we truly real with each other?

Are we like the Church at Laodicea?
A follow on from “Are we too Pleasant to each other? (At times)”

Is your greatest trophy just a foundation stone?
Are you living in the past or are you willing to step into the new?

Somebody else’s problem
Will you pick up or put down what Father tells you to?

The Church on the Cliff Top
Will we listen for the small steps as well as the vision?

I’ve been reminded of a picture recently. It’s the title of this post.

In the picture, good and bad meet up to play a game. The outcome of the game will determine whether good or bad will be poured out onto a situation.

As they are playing, good is playing good and bad is playing bad.

A neutral observer watches the game, and immediately makes a complaint to good. “Hey Good, did you see that. Bad just cheated!”

Good just smiled at the observer and said, “Of course bad cheated. It’s what bad does. I wouldn’t expect anything else. After all, bad is bad. You just need to know that the outcome of these games are determined by who we are.”

The observer was a bit upset and perplexed by good’s response. He thought, “If bad keeps cheating like this, then bad is going to win through blatant cheating. This just isn’t right!”

Good had no such concerns. Good knew, that in order to be good, good needed to play by the rules and not concern itself with what bad was doing.
If good was to cheat, then he would no longer be good, but would become the very thing that he was trying to defeat.

When the final score was in, Good had won.

Good turned to the observer and said, “I knew that we would win, you see good always triumphs over evil, if good can just remain true to itself.”

I know that the above picture doesn’t always appear to be true in real life, but can the principal of good being good and bad being bad, be something that is worth reflecting on?

Does the ends of doing …… justify the means???
What if the means, that we do, then becomes the something that we don’t like?

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

As I have been writing this, the words of Psalm 73 have been coming to my mind. Verses 16 and 17 mainly.

Psalm 73:16-17
¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
    it troubled me deeply
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;
    then I understood their final destiny.

It’s a bit like, before verse 16 the writer of Psalm 73 is looking at the world and is seeing the wicked prosper.
But after the writer comes to God, in verse 17, he then sees the final result. You could consider reading psalm 73 to get the whole picture.

So, will we endeavour to remain true to who we are?

Will we allow God and His Goodness be the main guiding force in our lives?

Father.
I know that You are Good.
Please help me to hear, know and follow You that much better, so that I can follow Your Good example.
Please help me to remain in Your sanctuary all the days of my life.
Amen.

Last week I wrote about the parable of the ten Virgins, in Matthew 25:1-13. Five were wise and five were foolish.

This week something happened that could be a retelling of the lesson. 🙂

My wife has a bottle of Oil of Olay moisturising cream.
For some reason, she doesn’t bother to put the lid back onto the bottle. It appears that she just couldn’t be bothered to do so. (She is the one who suggested that this might be a post to write.)

One morning she was trying to use the Oil of Olay, and started to complain, “I can’t get any out.” So I just took the bottle, and had a go at squeezing some out, with a vice like grip.
Little did I know, that the small hole for the moisturiser to come out of, was blocked. It was soo blocked, that nothing was going to come out, that way.
Instead, under the pressure of a husbands vice grip, the whole end stopper shot out like a cork released from a bottle, along with a handful (and a bit more) of moisturiser with a sudden splurge.
It was a bit of a shock. 🙂
It seemed that my wife’s top, the floor, and a few other places needed a bit of moisturiser too. 🙂
We both ended up laughing about it, but a bit of a clean up, was needed to be done.

When I looked at the Oil of Olay cap, I noticed that it has a small pin like bit on the inside of the cap.
It seems that the maker knows that the hole could get clogged, and as such, has made a way to clear the hole the moisturiser goes through, if the cap is used as it should be.
Namely, all the time.

My wife (and myself) got caught out, in effect, because the effort of putting the top on and off all the time was too much for her.
She was acting like one of the foolish virgins who didn’t take any extra oil with them.
She has since told me that she will change her ways, and now make use of the lid, in turn, using the all important cleaning pin.

She has in effect, decided to stop acting like one of the foolish virgins, and to instead, act like one of the wise virgins.

In today’s world of all inclusiveness, is it permitted to say, “That path isn’t open to you?”

In short, is it ever OK to say, “No” to anyone, anymore?

Sometimes, “no” is the right word to use.
If a small child wants to play with matches or an electrical socket, then who would just let them? No should be the answer.

But what about older and supposedly wiser people?
I do believe that the answer should be, it depends on the circumstances.
But who sets the boundaries for what is allowed and what is not?

This is where we can find ourselves possibly with different opinions, which could then lead to difficulties on some level.

I guess that what I am trying to get around to, is the question of, can the church say no, to certain things anymore?
Is, or will the church be allowed to believe and practice biblical truths?

I’m not trying to say that everyone Must buy into what the bible says. (Although, from my point of view, that would be a good thing to do. 🙂 ) We all have freedom of choice, and as such are able to make our own choices, of what we believe and how we act, for the better or worse.

I’m also not trying to say that you need to reach any kind of standard or act in any way to be able to go to church. Hopefully all churches are open for all to enter in, so that all can then have the opportunity to make a connection with Our Lord God Almighty.

To be honest with you, even trying to write this post feels like trying to walk through a minefield. I also think that many would quickly understand that thought.

As I was about to go to work one day this week, the road in front of my house was covered with rubbish from a split black bag. I knew where it had come from, as it had happened before.
Now I had a choice, just ignore the rubbish and drive over it, or, at the very least, move it. I didn’t like the idea of just driving straight over the rubbish, it could contain something that could damage my car. So I went and fetched my broom, and then swept the rubbish over to the front of my neighbours drive. (Hopefully, the right neighbours drive. 🙂 ) If I was a better neighbour, I might have picked it up, and put it in another black sack. But this time I wasn’t, and I just didn’t have the time.

This post in some ways, is just trying to sweep something, that is just there, slightly to the side.
In some ways, it is trying to say, “There are some issues, which we may need to navigate in some way.” How we navigate them, well …. ???

A picture comes to mind.
A police station is a place of safety for all.
All are free to enter into the reception area to seek help, safety or protection, regardless of who they are.
But the other side of the desk is another matter. To be a police man (or police woman), a certain standard needs to be met. Anyone may be able to apply to join the police force, but some may be told “No, your application will not be processed any further, because a standard has not been met.”
Who would be happy with a known bank robber being a member of the police force. A known bank robber might have a tough time getting a job as a bank manager as well. 🙂

So, are there actually some roles and responsibilities where someone will need to be told, “No, that path is not open to you.” ?
Will we be allowed to say “no”, without fear of recriminations?