Deleted Off the Pastor’s Friend’s List

Wow … I just got deleted off of the friend’s list of a previous pastor; or should I rather say ‘my’ previous pastor. wow. …. All I did was send him an email asking him a few questions. Questions that are so honest that I’ve even posted them here on my blog so that others can see.

I changed the name below because I’m not interested in slandering the guy. And although there is a ‘part’ of me that wants to “bring him out”, I realize that I don’t have to bring anyone out. That God is fully capable of bringing things to light if ‘he’ desire it. And God isn’t interested in being impatient with anyone; in this life God has taught me that He takes his time because he wants everyone to “turn around” from their own ways and give in into His ways. Thank God He ‘has’ given me His patience.

Timothy L. Gott November 4 at 9:50am
One of the things that I like about Facebook is the open forum, a sort of a group discussion where everyone is able to learn and grow from each other.

I checked for the comment that I made on your profile and it is gone. … That actually hurt a little bit because I put a lot of thought and effort in my comment and thought it was valuable. There is always the possibility that there was some sort of Facebook glitch or you deleted it on accident, or perhaps I’m looking for my comment in the wrong place.

However the likelihood of the former seems a little less than the likelihood that you intentionally deleted my comment. If that is true, would you have “deleted” my comment during a small group?

Pastor G. November 4 at 7:13pm
Tim, don’t take it personally. I use facebook to just communicate a simple, friendly, positive message…like God wants to bless you. I don’t have the time to debate through multiple comment exchanges. If someone honestly doesn’t know where I’m coming from and asks a question is one thing. But someone like you, who is a theologian and is just wanting to wrangle about the prosperity message…that’s not what I use FB for…sorry. Again, I’m keeping it simple and delete “counterpoint” messages like this frequently. I’m not interested in this forum for that. Thanks for understanding.

Timothy L. Gott November 4 at 7:48pm
What do you mean by theologian … I’m not even in the possession of a business degree let alone a doctorate in theology :-)

I’ll let this sit and digest this for a little while. … My wife just got home and I should get her to sleep early tonight (there’s twelve hours difference here).

Thank you for taking the time out for a thoughtful reply to my email. Have a good night … well night for me day for you :-) … take care and do God’s stuff !

Pastor G. November 4 at 7:58pm
cool

Timothy L. Gott November 5 at 8:57am
> I use facebook to just communicate a simple, friendly, positive message…like God wants to bless you. I don’t have the time to debate through multiple comment exchanges.

Do you often have people that are interested in debating through multiple comment exchanges? If you do then that might explain why you might have thought that was my intention. As far as debates go, I picture a “debate” being something where there are several exchanges back in forth where no one benefits.

Though I am eager to learn and to help others to learn, I can’t think of a single time over the last several months that I have responded more than twice in any facebook exchange. I figure one response to “put my thoughts out there”, and a second response might be needed to add clarification. However after that I don’t think a multiple goings back and forth would be edifying for anyone. In everything I pray that God will lead me by His Spirit.

My intention relates to this Facebook medium. I’m hoping for a ‘group’ discussion where everyone learns from each other; sort of a virtual smallgroup … I’m certainly no theologian. That is as long as the definition of a theologian hasn’t been reduced to what the Bereans did (the whole daily examination of scriptures thing),.

Before God gave me faith I used to use the sentiment of others “not taking things personally” quite often. I used to use this management technique as a buffer between myself and the statewide organization that I was running. Specifically as a buffer between the rules that I had set and the people that were affected by them. It was a way of emotionally detaching myself from the way that others were affected by those rules so I could focus on what I thought was best for the organization.

God changed that when I realized what he has done for me. He gave his ‘Son’ for me. He has loved me so much and there is ‘no’ buffer between him and me. He ‘is’ affected by the way that I feel; and even as I write these words I can’t help but be affected by the way He feels. Yes, I love him because he loved me first. He has taught me by his example that there is no exchange too little or too great for me to address with as much time or as little time as He would lead me to use to address it. To the world and it’s “time management” philosophies, this is foolishness; but God is my “Executive Director”. He has laid out where and how my time should be used and I will submit to Him as best as I can get this sinful nature of mine to do so.

As far as “a lot of back and forth” goes you don’t have to be too concerned about that. If you reply to the above (in whatever way God leads you) then I am appreciative of that. If the Spirit leads you to not reply at all, then I am appreciative of that. However if you or anyone says that they are my brother in the faith and they come up with their ‘own’ ideas about how they should manage ‘their’ time (as if that time really belonged to themselves) then I am here to correct them if it is the Spirit of God that leads me to do so. I am even more eager to be corrected. I find so few followers of Christ are willing to be used by the Spirit to that however; they’re too busy.

Be Blessed!

It’s the same thing as Video City

One of the teens made an interesting comment to me this morning; a line of thought that I had not considered. “Downloading pirated movies again I see.”. My comment didn’t have a chance to even lose it’s moment before she replied “It’s the same thing as Video City.”.

I had nothing to say in response to that. I had nothing to say because I had two lines of thought and I didn’t know which one, if either, would be of any benefit at that moment. “Wow” I thought to myself, “if this teen really did think that Video City was renting pirated movies than that shows that this teen’s conscience has no problem with watching stolen movies from ‘any’ source as long as they can watch the movies. This just confirms how little this teen must know about what Jesus and the apostles taught about the seriousness of what we do against God’s will … in consideration of Heb 10:26-27 … What someone wants to watch is another story.

Now there are ’some’ debatable issue in life ( Rom 14:1 ) which we should not go back and forth about. If anyone doesn’t think that taking something “for free”, without the permission of the owners, which others are selling in stores isn’t stealing; then well there isn’t much for me to debate. It might be helpful for me to understand ‘why’ they don’t think that is stealing though. Usually those that are doing this like to bring up issues of how much the owners are charging for the product or how they can’t afford it. How would either of those points make stealing ok to a God that could give us anything anything He wants to give us. I think if God doesn’t give us enough to have more than food and clothing, than He must in his divine wisdom know that we don’t need those things.

And as for the point about Video City having pirated videos, well there is no way I could know that for sure, just as it would be so hard to be sure if ‘any’ DVD or SVCD were pirated. All I can say is that this news article and also this report I read and the licensing information that I looked at, make it difficult to believe that the Video SVCDs are of the pirated variety. Yes, it’s still possible. But just quite unlikely.

I think that, as a God that searches the heart, that God is looking for those that are ’so’ affected by what they know was done for them through the sacrifice of his Son, that they will do everything they can to fight their inner self gratifying natures. Does this mean we will be perfect, no. But each of us can answer the question ourselves as to whether we are doing ‘everything’ to fight that inner self seeking nature for the sake of Christ. Am I fighting that nature at all?; are you?

Be a Part of ‘Our’ Ministry

Gratefully God is not phased by TD Jakes pride or arrogance. One of the best things that TD Jakes does is he gives the credit (Glory) to God. But one of the worst things that he does is hail how great his ‘own’ ministry is and sell the idea that others should become a part of ‘that’ ministry. It’s not ‘that’ ministry (his) that anyone should ask others to become a part of. It’s not even the words “I want you to share in this ministry of God” that should ever be said out of someone’s mouth. With the subtle underlying message always going back to whatever ’small’ ‘insignificant’ part that each of us play (including me).

God’s kingdom is ’so’ much bigger than the small part that each of us play. Even if (with worldly eyes) we see millions of people being a part of it and are fooled into believing that it’s size is large. … Large compared to what; God? And I’m not saying that I have never done this myself. It has been rare, but yes I have. And I’m not saying that TD Jakes is alone in this arrogance and pride. Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, pick any biggy or smally. The size of your worldly ministry doesn’t make you immune to this.

We are all evil. It’s important not to dismiss it, sweep it under the table, or to simply say we’re forgiven by Christ and we don’t have to think about our failings or sins anymore. Recognize and admit your own sin (me too) and God is faithful and will forgive you. Check out http://tinyurl.com/gottesteem for more on the “we are evil” part.

The Laundry Woman’s Husband

Just got information about our laundry woman’s husband. She showed up here in tears just a couple of hours ago when I was not here.

One of the problems after the flood is so many people with previous problems (like diabetes) have had wounds that were infected by the dirty standing water as they attempted to save items from their homes and/or clean their homes. Her husband’s wound on his leg has become ’so’ infected that it is already purple now all the way up to the knee.

Just got information about our laundry woman’s husband. She showed up here in tears just a couple of hours ago when I was not here.

One of the problems after the flood is so many people with previous problems (like diabetes) have had wounds that were infected by the dirty standing water as they attempted to save items from their homes and/or clean their homes. Her husband’s wound on his leg has become ’so’ infected that it is already purple now all the way up to the knee.

They may need to amputate later, but for now he needs a shot that will ease the infection and the pain. Our laundry woman is only asking that she can borrow the money. That she will work it off later. But for now her husband is in urgent need.God has given us enough to help with this but it is still hard. I think about the money that I have set aside for the purpose of helping others according to God’s will; but then I also think about money that we were saving for other medical and education “needs” of the family and how that is going down faster than it is going up.

Like most people I have this part of me that wants to believe that it is money that I need in order to provide for what my family needs. The part of me that is unfaithful to God’s promises wants to trust that the money we have set aside is what I will find my security in. However, just as my phrases ablove alludes to, I know that instead I need to trust in God.

Though there is an unfaithful part of me that wants to say trusting in what God has given me is the same thing as trusting in God; I know better. I know that “trust” is intricately bound to the very essence of “love”. So, if I trust in what God has provided me (and my mind is on the wealth that He provided me) then what I am actually trusting in is the wealth itself; as if God was only able to work through money. Though there is nothing wrong with money, the ‘love’ of the stuff is the root of all things that separate us from God.

God has given us the opportunity to give. And moreso I need to remember that He loved me so much through His son to give us life eternal. That was a very hight cost that was paid. And it’s not this world that we are taught by Him to invest in. It is the kingdom that will be prepared for all those that believe.

Choosing God’s Best revisited

Once upon a time I wrote a post about “Choosing God’s Best” and said that I would like to write more about that later. … Well, I never got around to writing that ‘more’ that I was referring to, but I am glad that you were able to write in your blog about it.

I do have a comment about the “High Standards” that you refer to however. I find that there are many people, influenced by the world’s view on things, who have created this criteria for a person they are looking for and that criteria gets in the way of God’s choosing ‘for’ us.

Allow God to be the ‘full’ match maker. Drop the “check-list” and simply tell God make it clear for you whether He wants you to be single or to be married. In that total surrender to His will you will find that He ‘is’ able to make it clear to you and you don’t have to have any criteria other than Him.

Consider in Gen 24 how Abraham allowed God to choose a wife ‘for’ his son. His son  Isaac didn’t pick his own wife, and Isaac’s wife wasn’t even picked by his father. How’s that for not having standards. The only “standards” that you might see from this story is the criteria set by Abraham of ‘not’ getting Issac a wife “from the daughters of the Canaanites”.

I think that had to do, if memory is serving me correctly, with a command God had given about the influence that a woman might have in serving the god of other peoples. But notice the criteria that he set had nothing to do with social status or outward appearance.

The reason I mention this, and I do realize I don’t know you and I am making an assumption here, is that in the American culture that I am from, the use of the phrase “I have high standards” doesn’t usually apply to the idea that someone is looking for a man/woman who has a similar faith. Instead it usually applies to looks, age, social standing, financial stability, or whether or not someone has a vehicle.

Worldy man’s perspective; “God wouldn’t want me to be with a woman that I’m not attracted to would He?”.

Worldy woman’s perspective; “God wouldn’t want me to be with a man that couldn’t provide a good life for me and our family would He?”.

Both perspectives are skewed and twisted (custom designed ideological dementia from the father of lies himself). But I’ll leave any further ideas that I have about this for another time.

Disney Channel Christianity

It’s good to see that God has given you a faith. I don’t yet know what kind of faith it is because I don’t know you.

However since God has given me faith in 2003 I have taken seriously the charge; “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” … Heb 3:12-13

And as such I challenge every brother and sister in Christ to not accept the mamby pamby, Leave it to Beaver, Walton’s Mountain, Disney Channel christianity that seems to proliferate wildly like some fiendishly inspired disease.

A false Christianity that simply carries over from the “American Dream” that fed the imaginations of millions now repackaged as a form of Christianity pulled loosely from scripture promising health, big houses, “good” jobs, and advanced schooling at a “good” college for all of your children.

“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Dream – Feb 11, 2009

Had a dream last night that I was being mocked from the speaker’s stand. There was someone presenting a message, perhaps the pastor, and he had said something I thought important to add to. The pastor was making the point that it was important for us to do what we thought was right.

And to his chagrin I spoke up regarding the importance to emphasize seeking God’s will instead of what ‘we’ think is right. The speaker was familiar with my line of thinking. And in response to what I said he could not stop himself from responded to me in a somewhat mocking tone; “Well except for those of us that think they have a closer relationship with God than others.”. Honestly I felt a little disconcerted at his response. However I also felt a little sadness because all I wanted is for as many people as possible to understand what I myself often have to keep in prayer and resist. I wanted everyone to know that the two lines of thought are very different.

I believe this quite innocent line of thinking “doing what ‘we’ think is right” is what has caused so many people to fall short of God’s will. Those that try to do what is right will very often find themselves in a different place than those that do everything they can to do God’s will. The latter keeps in mind how completely unintelligent we are as we stand before what God has in mind. What we may naturally think is “right” can and does find itself standing in opposition to the will of God.

Proverbs 16:25 says there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to destruction. This line of thought stands in direct opposition to those that are so often too proud to see their error. “Well I think God gave us a mind and wants us to use it!”. I’ve heard this several times in my life. Just something else that makes me a little sad. Because they are right in that God wants us to use the mind that he has given us. However the enemy has successfully twisted this “use” into our seeking the “right” that ‘we’ think we should do instead of the right that God knows we should do.

And who am I to tell someone else what the difference is? I am nobody. It is not for me to tell someone which choice is God’s choice and which choice is their choice. It is only for me to tell them that there ‘is’ a difference and it is only to seek the former and to often consider the latter to be a snare.

Are God’s Hands Tied?

It seems that the “christians” in the U.S. have so often been influenced by the society/culture ( 2 Ki 17:15 and Romans 12:2a ) they live like the people around them instead of drawing to God in such a “sold out” unrestrained way that they would have God instead as their primary influence. … I have been guilty of this myself, but I fight it today, and I fought it yesterday. I pray that I will not slip into it again with so little resistance from me. For me, this influence I slip into, takes the
shape of believing money is “what is capable or needed” instead of giving money no more consideration than I would give to water or air.

Money is just another “element” in the life God has given us. The question for me should be, “How can I be a good steward with what God has given me”; whether that be water, strength, food, air, or material items such as wealth. The question for me should never be how can I get more of any of these things. The temptation is “Wouldn’t it be great if I had more money so I could do more”. For the Lord never directed me to seek to have more of anything except for Him. If I am a good steward with what He has given me then it will be Him that provides everything that is needed; whether that be water, strength, food, air, or material items. … Are God’s hands tied if I don’t have a dollar in my pocket?

Waiting

You have ungodly intent when you ask the questions that you ask. You ask your questions based on worldly desires of relationship and family. You justify your worldly intent by saying it is God’s will that you or someone else should have a husband or a family or a wife and a family. You quote scripture after scripture showing examples of men and women who were devoted to each other and with self-righteous indignation say “here, here is the proof that shows there is nothing wrong with my desiring a husband, a wife, or a family.” Instead you should not look for what God permits, but instead you should look for what God desires.

A man or a woman of God who looks to please God, who understands what was done on the cross, instead of looking for what they want they have come to understand the love that has been given to them and look no longer to their own wants but instead to the wants of the one who gave His life for us. And therefore they have been taught “to die” to themselves and the wants of the world, yes even the want of a wife, a husband or a family. “God do you desire that I should be married or should I be single?” This is a question that will begin from a man or woman that has been given to God in a holy matrimony to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. “Should I ever marry, I will wait on you Lord!” This is where we should begin, we who have been ‘bought’ with the blood of the Lamb.

Instead you have asked “Where is the one you said was coming back to you?” you ask with ill intent. You don’t look to a hope that has been given by God but instead you look for a hope that is given in this world. God is Spirit! To the contrary your happiness for someone else is based on whether they will acquire their heart’s desire in this world. And when they do not acquire a worldly promise you have in mind then your questions encourage them to be unhappy in that worldly promise not being fulfilled.

Instead, if ‘your’ mind is on heavenly things, you should be asking them questions that will assist their mind and heart in keeping with God’s eternal promises and not on worldly promises. By the questions that you ask you prove that you have little to no concern regarding the eternal promises that have been given by God through the Christ, the Son of God.

Has God provided you with a new job, a livelihood for your family? Is your family well? Is your son well? How is your father? How is your mother? Has the Lord blessed you with a new home, a new car? … These are all questions that are based in worldly concerns. You can find stories in the Old Testament you can compare with regarding physical prosperity but not so much  in the New Testament. You may find promises of lands flowing in milk and honey and camels on a thousand hills in the Old Testament but not the New Testament.

The New testament brought a greater truth, a greater treasure. Now the focus is no longer in a worldly treasure. No more talk about camels on a thousand hills, no longer any talk of physical prosperity, but now all the promises are about a heavenly dwelling. This is really hard for someone who can focus on nothing other than what their hourly wage is, the size of their weekly paycheck, or whether their car will make it to work. However God has taught us not to focus on the physical any more. But those that want to keep worrying about the physical ‘and’ keep their faith in God, well that group mentally run around trying to focus on all the old promises of the old testament. Then they justify their focus on these old promises by saying God does not change. Truly God does not change, He has always been Spirit with the goal always being heavenly (not temporal). It’s ‘we’ that were not yet ready for that spiritual message. Now, as the scripture says, God has revealed a fuller measure of the promise to us. The patriarchs were looking forward to this time in history. And ‘we’ are living in it !

A wicked and perverse generation ‘expects’ even their basic needs to be fulfilled by God. Understand the context of this statement, this is not contrary to the simple meaning in the Lord’s Prayer “give us each day our daily bread”, this is ‘not’ the sentiment I refer to when saying looks for “ even their basic needs”. Notice the true followers in the first century, as you can read about in the New Testament were not concerned with these things. They simply concerned themselves with living in the hope of Christ they were given and they knew all of their other needs would be provided for. They were not excited about God’s physical provision. To the contrary what they were ‘excited’ about was the promise in their heavenly dwelling, they were ‘excited’ that their name was written ‘is’ written in the book of life.

Jesus came to show us this better promise and fulfillment of a spiritual truth and in a spiritual home where physical provision was of little concern. We of faith who follow Christ will draw near to Him and ask questions of our brothers and sisters to keep their/our hearts and minds focused on Him and we already know that those of us who do that will suffer trial’s of many kinds, we might not even have “a place to lay our head” just as our Lord did not have a place to lay his head, but food and clothing we will have enough of. God takes full responsibility for the life that has fully submitted itself to Him. If we have the bare necessities of just food and clothing the cry out “God is Good!”, if God has given more to us ’so’ we can help provide for the needs of others then another opportunity to give God the credit. But don’t mistake physical gifts as being something that is meant for our comfort and pleasure. We are in fact warned regarding how easy it is for us to be distracted by worldly comforts and pleasures.

This is a hard teaching; the mothers and the fathers cry, “You can never understand, I must provide for my family!” This teaching is not new; it is the same teaching that was passed on from Jesus Christ himself. Understand it wasn’t primarily to the wealthy or to the singles that Jesus Christ was saying, “Do not worry about what you will eat or drink or what you should wear.” Jesus was saying this to a large society based on a family culture, to fathers and mothers who have often worried about the hungry mouths to feed. I have written all of these things to remind you to focus on spiritual matters.

So in regard to the question I started this article with, if you ask “When is this man coming back?” are you asking because you have a hope that he will come back or has God spoken to you too and told you that he is coming back? Are you looking for the fulfillment of a promise of God or are you a simple lot of busybodies (2 Thes 3:11) who have no greater concern than to know whether or not some man, some simple human being is going to do as he said he was going to and return to the Philippines because he said he would. Was it a promise that originated from himself? Was it by his own will and desire that he said he would return to the Philippines?

Do you remember that this simple human being always said that he was going to return according to God’s will, and it wasn’t his own desire that he was basing his return on but rather the desire and the plan of an eternal God who has given us a hope in a house not built with human hands. Remember God’s promise was and is not that I should return this month, or next month, or even in one year or the next. His word was simply that He would send me back. And that promise is not for my happiness but rather for his purpose and His happiness. My happiness nor the happiness of any true believer should ever be one founded in whether God is going to fulfill his promise of a worldly objective. Instead rejoice that your name is written in the book of life! (Luk 10:19-21). I am given courage to keep my hope in Him as I write these words. I pray you too will be given courage to keep your hope in Him and not in the day and the time of my return.

How many scriptures come to mind when you think of God’s timing? How many times is God’s timing measure in days? how often is it measured in weeks, how often is it measured in years? How often is God’s timing subject to our desires or what we do to “make it happen” and who are we to question his timing. Remember the words of the song “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness.”

MegaCenters, MultiCenters, and Monuments

I just came back from downstairs. It’s still a little early for me; a few minutes after seven. I checked the website that Malu gave me. She’s staying at PHINMA, some kind of educational training center in Tagatay. She gave me the website to this place. I looked over the website and I’m not impressed.

I imagine that many people get excited about the “exclusive accommodations”, the “training facilities”, the “US$9.6 Million” price tag that is touted on the web site, or any of the other things that are pushed at people that come to find out anything about that place. But I’m not impressed. Not because I am anyone to be impressed, but rather because I know that I am nothing(1). But it doesn’t stop there. Not only am I not anything but this building that is being glamorized by the marketers who directed the creation of the web site are also nothing.