What I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career.

What's skills are you developing? Who will you be tomorrow? The harsh fact or, maybe, the encouraging fact is that you will be tomorrow the skills you develop today.

In the movie Taken, Liam Neeson's character, Brian Mills, was a former CIA operative. When he received a phone call from the person who took his daughter hostage, he said in a dark, mysterious, and firm voice, "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you." Brian Mills had skills that I don't have. Skills he acquired over a long career in the CIA. That skill set enabled him to pursue the kidnappers of his daughter and save her.

Although Taken was a fictional story, skills in real life work that way. We can only do things today that we set out to learn and do yesterday. This is a theme that I regularly repeat in these articles because it is something I need reminded of along with it being something that we all need to grasp if things are going to be better tomorrow than they are today.

Nothing is more dangerous than getting caught in a rut and just going through the motions. Our wheels just spin, getting us nowhere. We've all seen this happen to people, churches, communities, and other organizations. When we become comfortable or complacent in our rut, life will just pass us by. We have to strive to be who we want to be because we will never be able to accomplish the dreams we want to accomplish tomorrow unless we work on developing ourselves today into a person who has the skills to do those things tomorrow.

However, this isn't just some pop self-help idea despite being a practical concept useful for businesses or any other organization. On the individual level, many people imprison this idea of working toward a better tomorrow to their financial and personal realms. It becomes only about making a better me. A better me that the world values. We want to work hard and study hard so that we can get a good job that will provide us with nice houses and good vacations. But on the other side of having a good job, nice house, and good vacations is meaninglessness if that is all there is. Those are all good things. I hope that you can all have good jobs, nice houses, and good vacations. And I believe you can if you set out a plan, work toward it, remain disciplined - if that is what God is calling you to.

Which brings me to something more important than creating an environment conducive to bringing us personal pleasure. We need to be faithful servants to God. People who bring His kingdom here to earth as much as possible. Sometimes God calls us to experience Him in ways that aren't immediately perceived as blessings. When that happens, we need to be faithful. Sometimes he calls us away from the good job, the nice house, and the good vacations. Again, when it doesn't make sense, we still need to be faithful because it is more important that we become who God wants us to be rather than invest our time and resources chasing after the fleeting pleasures of this world.

Being who God wants us to be - like the good job, nice house, and good vacations - won't happen by accident. It's something we have to think about. It's something we have to work on. It's something we have to pursue. We might not be saved by works, but we can't be involved in bringing about God's will into this reality unless we work. Unless we get busy doing the things God wants  us to do.

Augustine said, "For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them." Too often, we are only concerned about being saved, but God has saved us for something other than just getting to heaven. It's amazing how when we are faithful to him today, he calls us to do greater things tomorrow. We can be involved in bringing God's will into this broken and fallen reality. Even if heaven were not a reality on the other side of the grave, the life God wants us to live today is far greater than selfishly pursuing the things of this world.

You were saved for something. Are you going to get there? Are you going to realize God's dream for your life, or are you going to miss Him and His plan for you among all the physical things this world throws our way. The distractions. The blessings. The trials. They are all things there to shape us into someone spiritually better than we currently find ourselves. But they will only transform us into someone better if we let them. 

God is not going to force His will on you. You must choose to accept it. You must decide that you are going to invest your time into developing the skills that God will use tomorrow to fix the broken things in this world. To comfort the hurting. To restore justice. To help the oppressed. God's plan for this world is bigger than you or me, but the amazing thing - or should I say the peculiar thing -  about God is that we are in those plans. He is not going to force His will on us. We must choose. We must act. A better tomorrow depends on it.

How People Received the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts

In the last year, I have been accused of believing in something that the attackers labeled as "open fellowship."  It means that I accept people as brothers and sisters in Christ who have not been baptized.  To that, I plead guilty.

One of the people who left our church when we were making changes left because I would not say that those who are not baptized are going to hell.  Again, I plead guilty.

These views stem from the same thought.  Here is my study of the arrival of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts.  Taking Acts at face value, rather than reading a presupposed theology into it, leads me to believing in "open fellowship" and accepting people who are not baptized as brothers and sisters.

The Spirit comes on people whenever God knows their heart is surrendered.  For many, this occurs at baptism.  For others, it can be upon hearing the Gospel, upon the laying on of hands, or even some other experience.  If there is one exception to baptism being the place to receive the Holy Spirit (and we have four in Acts alone), then that means that people can receive the Spirit, which is the seal of salvation (2 Cor 1:22, Eph 1:13, Romans 8:9-11,16-17), outside of baptism.   

Alexander Campbell said:

Should I find one [baptized as an infant] more intelligent in the Christian Scriptures, more spiritually-minded and more devoted to the Lord than…one immersed on a profession of the ancient faith, I could not hesitate a moment in giving the preference of my heart to him that loveth most.  Did I act otherwise, I would be a pure sectarian, a Pharisee among Christians.

 Barton Stone reiterated:

None of us are disposed to make our notions of baptism, however well founded, a bar of christian fellowship.  We acknowledge all to be brethren, who believe and obey the Saviour, and, who walking in the Spirit, bear his holy image; yet, in the meekness of Christ, we labor to convince such of their duty in submitting to every ordinance of the Lord.

But then there was Moses Lard, stirring the seeds of exclusivism early on in the Restoration Movement.

I mean to say distinctly and emphatically that Martin Luther, if not immersed, was not a Christian...If a man can be a Christian without immersion, let the fact be shown; or if a man can or may commune without being a Christian, let the fact be shown.  I deny both.  Immovably I stand here.  But I shall be told that this is Phariseeism, that is exclusivism.  Be it so;  if it be true...then am I so far the defendant of Phariseeism and exclusivism.

Where do we find ourselves?  On the side of Lard?  Or on the side of Campbell and Stone?  Really, it doesn't matter.  We need to find ourselves on the side of Jesus and the clear teachings of Scripture.

This discussion becomes fruitless when we begin to parse when the Holy Spirit comes and at what point salvation begins.  We need to focus on total surrender, which will include baptism, and living our lives completely for Jesus.  Minimal Christianity, a Christianity that is just focused on being saved, is no Christianity at all.  People will ask what they must do to be saved.  We will respond by telling them to become disciples, surrender their heart to Jesus, be baptized, and follow him all the days of their life.  If you want to be assured of your salvation, give your whole life to Jesus.  Baptism will not save you without that.

Here is a run through the relevant verses in Acts.

And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself" [Acts 2:38-39 (ESV)].

When we want to put the reception of the Holy Spirit into a little box, this is the verse we come to.  However, we will see that the rest of the book of Acts does not adhere to this box that we like to place receiving the Holy Spirit inside.

"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" [Acts 2:4 (ESV)].

The Apostles received the Holy Spirit without baptism.

Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God." [Acts 8:17-21 (ESV)]

   
The Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of hands.

While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy  Spirit fell on all who heard the word (Acts 10:44).   As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning (Acts 11:15).

The Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles and Cornelius when they heard.

And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”...And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and  prophesying (Acts 19:2,6).

They received the Holy Spirit at the laying on of hands after baptism.  Paul expected them to have received it when they believed.

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us (Acts 15:8).

The heart being surrendered to God is the key to receiving the Holy Spirit.  Nobody see someone's heart by asking them to show a baptism certificate or proof of membership in some church.  They show that they are a vessel of the Holy Spirit through their fruit.  We can accept anyone who professes Jesus as Lord and shows the fruit in their life as a brother or sister in Him.

The State of Our Heart is the Key to Salvation

Just a brief definition disclaimer before we begin. When I use the word "heart" I mean "heart" in the sense of the way it is used throughout the New Testament as the word kardios. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament states the definition of heart as: "The heart is the center of the inner life of man and the source or seat of all the forces and functions of soul and spirit." In the LXX (Septuagint), kardios is the same word translated as heart oftentimes in the OT.

***

I was one of those obsessive and immature guys who liked to know the status of my relationship with a girl or girls when I was dating growing up. I hankered for a tangible definition to something that was not really tangible. That temporary yet stated status gave me confidence and assurance.

We often take the same approach to salvation. I would like to have tangible salvation with a formula; however, it is the underlying heart that really matters - not outward actions or intellectual beliefs. Actions and beliefs can be revealing as to the state of one's heart, but just like the mean girlfriend from the past that ripped my heart in two, people can be fake and treat us like spectators at a performance. Some have this instinct to be fake so ingrained in them that artificiality spews from them without them ever realizing it. Only God can see behind the curtain and into the depths of our girlfriend's heart, and only God can see into depths of people's hearts when it comes to salvation.

There are many different proposed formulas for salvation: The four spiritual laws, the plan of salvation, some focus on just believing, or some other plan. The various formulas are scattered across the internet and are mostly based on Scripture.  All pick out Scriptures here and there to make their point. The formulas proposed are one of the most divisive areas in Christianity.

It doesn't matter what denominational or non-denominational background the teaching comes from, every formula seems to leave out elements that are linked with salvation in Scripture. The formulas also seem to emphasize one-time events. The focus is on getting saved rather than living saved. The formulas, which are the nature of formulas, exclude most if not all of continual aspects of salvation.

If you've said a prayer for salvation or been baptized, yet you ignore helping a neighbor, your one-time salvific event doesn't guarantee anything.  We have neglected what truly matters, and what matters are hearts being the home of the Holy Spirit. It is meaningless if you've completed all the steps in your formula and help your neighbors, yet your heart is not the home of the Holy Spirit. Its the depths of people's hearts that matter, and we cannot see past the surface into people's souls. We can't tell if our neighbor is saved. We have to have some sort of trust that people have transformed hearts when we consider them brothers and sisters based upon what they claim they are. It is impossible for us to examine the depths of anyone's heart.

I use the following example because it is the background I am familiar with. This logic could be applied to any steps of the various formulas that are spread throughout all the different formulas for salvation in Christianity. Many members of the Church of Christ/Christian Church have problems with accepting people as saved who have not been baptized. My question would be "Why did they ignore baptism?" If it was because of ignorance due to the fact that they were brought up in an environment that taught them it wasn't important, then salvation would not rely upon baptism but upon their heart, which they would show was in good standing when they decide to become baptized upon hearing that is what they should do. If it was because of stubbornness and disobedience to a teaching that they knew they should do, then we can almost be guaranteed that they are an individual that does not have a transformed heart.

This is all very reminiscent of what one of the founders of the Church of Christ said during the Rice-Campbell debate on on September 15, 1843. Alexander Campbell stated,

 "God is the judge of the world, therefore, judgment should be left to Him. It will require a Judge with infinite knowledge and wisdom to determine the fate of each individual on the basis of the opportunities for knowledge and the degree of ignorance, or of deliberate refusal to obey, or attempt to create and authorize the traditions of men in the place of the commands of God."

 Campbell echoes Paul in his letter to the Romans:

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
Romans 2:14-16 (ESV)

Many American Christians are in the group of ignorance rather than the group of rebellion. Most are not Bible scholars and have not studied Scripture like an educated believer, nor do they come from backgrounds that teach that laymen should. Churches from all branches of Christianity, even the Church of Christ, are guilty of this. Does that mean the apathetic studiers are not saved? Could an apathetic studier still have a transformed heart?

Even if someone has followed their church's formula for salvation to the letter, it doesn't mean they have a transformed heart. Back to my upbringing for instance. It could mean they grew up in a church that emphasized baptism and they did not want to be outcasts or disappoint their family. Baptism, without a transformed heart, is irrelevant and sacrilegious; however, a transformed heart is relevant even without the steps in a specific formula because a person with a transformed heart will do the steps in the formula once it is revealed to them to do so. They have a heart that is focused on following God. The process of their salvation has begun. It is this transformed heart that becomes home to the Holy Spirit that matters: All intellectual beliefs and physical actions are meaningless without that transformed heart.

I've beaten this to death, but there isn't a formula or a prescription for salvation. We cannot measure when salvation begins in other people. I wish it was all so clear as to be biblically prescribed, that we can complete a checklist and be saved. It seems to be that way to many people; it isn't that way to me and many others in Christendom. I'm sure taking this stance will make me evil in some eyes, but I believe our difference in opinion is because I have a different approach when it comes to studying the Bible, not because I don't believe the Bible has authority. My theory that the transformed heart is the key to salvation leaves room for disagreements on methods of studying Scripture because an intellectual pursuit such as how to study the Bible is in no way a measure of one's salvation.

We do not know the exact time of salvation because the heart is a nebulous thing, but we do know that salvation is not always linked to an outward action or a belief statement. It is linked to a change of one's heart. This change of one's heart will bring about proper beliefs, which will result in proper actions; however, proper beliefs and/or proper actions are meaningless without the change of heart. Proper beliefs and actions don't happen overnight. I don't even know if the process of us having proper beliefs and actions will happen on this side of the grave. Our complete transformation is a process, a process that begins with our heart becoming the home of the Holy Spirit.

A surrendered heart that is the home of the Holy Spirit cannot be separated from proper beliefs and actions. This concept seems to lend a stronger credence to baptism and all of the other key actions of the salvation formulas. A kingdom heart will do all of the actions God desires of it. To Focus on having a person live out the actions of a kingdom heart is fruitless until their heart is inhabited by the Spirit.

There seems to be various gateways to the Spirit inhabiting one's heart, which I equate with the beginning of kingdom living. It can happen at baptism, laying on of hands, upon hearing the Gospel, upon believing the Gospel, and at various other times - the Holy Spirit coming into a person's life and taking over cannot be kept in a neat, little salvific box, nor does it really benefit us to argue about that particular point at which a person begins kingdom living. The key is that the beginning is just that, a beginning. It is not something to get overly hung up on. At the point when one's heart is inhabited with the Holy Spirit and sealed for salvation, one's thoughts and actions will begin to align itself with God's perfect will. Having one's heart changed is the beginning of a process, not the arrival of perfection. Everything we do from that point on should be done to help us perfect our thoughts and actions as our heart was perfected.

This makes sense of our struggle with being saved yet continuing to sin. Our heart, the seat of all the functions of our soul and spirit, has been sanctified, yet our thoughts and actions are still out of tune with our sanctified heart. This doesn't give us an excuse to sin; it just assures us that when we catch ourselves sinning, our salvation is still secure. Our thoughts and actions still cling to the fallen nature of our self while God is trying to redeem our whole being and all of his creation, not just the heart where he started.

This leads me to ask, "How do I change my heart?" And the answer seems to be, "I cannot." We must stand on the truth that we are completely saved by grace. I would argue that at the sound of the gospel, whether that arrives through the voice of a person or an echo of God in nature, everyone's heart is knocked upon by the Holy Spirit. He wants to come into our heart and begin to change our life. We might give intellectual consent before allowing the Holy Spirit in, or our heart might be craving it without our intellect knowing. Sadly, some hearts will resist. I do not know the formula of how to have an open heart to God's Spirit, but all of the formulas provide physical and intellectual things we can do to help that process if it hasn't already occurred. But how we have an open heart is one of the great mysteries of Christianity. Opening up our heart isn't something we can manipulate; it is something that has to be a desire at the core of our being.

'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,' he also adds, 'I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.' Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin (Hebrews 10:16-18).

***

Here is a list of some of the verses that inspired these thoughts:

"I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve." (Rev 2:23)

Acts 1:24 - "Then they prayed and said, 'Lord you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen..."

Acts 15:8 - "And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us..."

Luke 16:15 - "So he said to them (the Pharisees), 'You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God."

Romans 8:27 - "And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

Galatians 4:6 - "And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his son into our hearts, cring, 'Abba! Father!'"

The heart appears to be the home of the Spirit in us.

1 Thessalonians 2:4 - "Just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts."

Romans 5:5 - "Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 - "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment." This is a very similar passage to Ephesians 1:13-14 - "In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked wit the seal of the promised Holy SPirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory."

2 Corinthians 3:3 - You show that you are a letter of Chirst, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tables of human hearts."

2 Corinthians 4:6 - "For it is the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Acts 16:14 - "A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul."

Hebrews 10:21-22 - "Since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

Romans 10:9-10 - "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved." Paul doesn't just write "believe" but "believes with the heart" and "believe in your heart". It is much deeper than just intellectual assent.

1 Corinthians 14:25 - "After the secrets of the unbeliever's heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship him, declaring, 'God is really among you'."

Creating a Jesus State - On Christian Exodus

I've been trying to avoid being contentious, but I can't.

The other day when I brought up Christian Exodus, Crystal replied in a follow-up post saying, “Now concerning a Christian Nation, the logistics will shoot that idea down quicker than anything else. Land, roads, taxation, etc etc.” Although she went further, she wasn’t alone in this reply. I also talked to Josh Kissling and he brought up the same thing in my store.

What should be our proper response has been plaguing my heart ever since. I didn’t want to bring my conclusion up because I don’t want to cause strife and I like both Crystal and Josh, but I have to get it off my chest or I will go crazy.

When the topic of Christian Exodus comes up, the thought that it isn’t possible should be the least of our concerns. If God is calling people to it, then whether it is possible doesn’t really matter. Should we be the type of Christians that worry about whether that which God has called us to is possible? Or are we to be the type of Christians that follow God’s calling no matter how irrational or illogical it may seem? I think it was very irrational for Jesus to die on a cross to save the world. Hosea could have been saying, “Lord, it is not logical for me to marry a prostitute.” Abraham could have told God, “This is where my family is and where I am supposed to be. That is completely irrational that you would want me to leave this land I was born in and go to this so-called ‘Promised Land’.” But it is in the things that are irrational or illogical that God turns the ways of the world upside down.

The first and most important thing is whether Christian Exodus contradicts Scripture. That one I am not sure on. If it contradicts Scripture, I would love to see verses. But we cannot say that just because the Bible doesn't give directions on how to do government means that God doesn't have a plan for it. We are given the Spirit to help us work through things the Bible doesn't directly address.

The second thing we can look at is church history. The modern church seems to be oblivious to the past. But in order to understand if this is something God calls Christians to, we can look at the past. Because if he called people to it once, then it is something he can call people to again. Was John Calvin called of God when he tried to create a theocracy in Geneva? Do we think God called the Mayflower over here to start a Christian colony? Many of the American colonies were started due to people being “called” by God to sail across the ocean and start governments that would be focused upon doing the will of God. They had to leave behind their present environments where they could’ve been more effective personal witnesses of Christ, but, apparently, they were called onto a different path because God had bigger plans in the works than just the one or two individuals they would win to the Lord through personal relationships. God is always trying to redeem the whole world. He always is looking at the big picture which we sometimes have trouble seeing.

Now this leads to the heart of the matter of Christian Exodus. I believe God is in the process of not only redeeming individuals but of also redeeming societies, which would include governments. The question that is important, and that we should tackle, is whether God would call anyone to leave their environment, go to another place, and change a corrupted government into a government that is focused - although they will fail - on following God. They key thing is that they would be striving to be what God wants them to be.

The American government is not Christian. It might have resemblances of Christianity, but it is failing on many levels. It is not striving to be what God wants it to be, and I do think a government can try to be what God wants it to be. However, I do not know what the proper response of this is. I am not a total supporter of the Christian Exodus, but I am not a naysayer yet. I actually haven’t heard a solid reason to be a naysayer. The most convincing argument is being a witness to those around you, but history has shown God's call away from that in the past. All of the people against Christian Exodus act like it is obvious to be against it and don’t explain why it is obvious. I am having trouble understanding how it is obvious when I look at this in the context of history. God wants to redeem the whole world. Would Christian Exodus somehow prevent God from waking people up or might it be the alarm clock the world has been waiting for?

Maybe I'm wrong. Please let me know where I am, so that we all can grow.

And watch out for the potholes.